I'm standing at the counter in the store, arranging and rearranging, and in he walks. That boy, I just can't help myself, he makes me do a double-take. He's the boy who makes me remember what it felt like to be an awkward teenager in the presence of a beautiful member of the opposite sex. The boy...well, he really is just a boy. I should be ashamed of myself.
He's speaking, smiling that broad gleaming smile, dark eyes with a mischevious glint. There's an air of confidence about him suggesting he knows more than I did at his age. I point him in the direction of the items he's requested in the hardware section. I watch him out of the corner of my eye. He's tall and lean, stuck upon the precipice of manhood, and I imagine not yet his full height.
He's found that thing he was looking for and is in front of me again at the counter. He's chatty in that "Nice day out there" sorta way. I'm like a giddy schoolgirl, in daydream mode, wondering how my hair looks.
And then it all comes to the screeching halt I SO deserve.
Boy: "Uh, can I mark this down on my mom's account book?"
Whoa! I can hear the sound effects going off inside my head like in the movies....the sound of tires laying rubber on the pavement and then the crash. I picture a truck pummeling through the front door of my store.
How's that for a quick SNAP back to thirty-something reality, girl? That's what you get!
I shake my head and chuckle out loud at my ridiculous self. He's probably wondering what the heck just happened.
"Yeah sure," I say, "Have a good day!"
The door slams in his wake. Look out girls, you could be in trouble! Or maybe you`re all smarter than me.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Search is on
Actually there are not many search options available when it comes to the housing market here in the sprawling metropolis of Birchy Head, NL.
Here are our current choices:
1. Live in the upstairs of the store. The previous owners did it about 30 years ago. The apartment would have to be completely gutted out and renovated to make it liveable again.
Pros:
-The space is already there and it's ours.
-Would be the least expensive of our options right now.
Cons:
-We would be working and living in the same building, never getting a break, and that, to me, means heading in the direction of insanity.
So I believe it's safe to say Jamie and I have decided that living in the store would be the LAST option we would take.
Let's look at the houses for sale:
1. Jack's house next door to the store.
Pros:
-Next door to the store = convenient hop, skip, and a jump over the little brook away.
-Old house = lots of charming potential
-Nice lawn for Sarah to run around on.
-Price not bad.
-I LOVE IT!
Cons:
-Seller keeps putting us off because his granddaughter is thinking of buying the house as a summer home.
-Next door to the store = people assuming that because you live next door they can call you at all hours to accomodate them and the fact that they forgot to buy milk during the 12 hours we are open during the day.
-Old house = LOTS of renovations and potential for things to start falling apart.
-Renovations means lots of additional cost on top of the mortgage.
House #2: House in the beach.
Haven't even looked at it because Jamie doesn't like it.
Pros: Cheap
Cons: It's old, it's run-down.
House #3: Old School house
I actually attended this school. Beautifully re-done if my memory serves me correct although it's been a long time since I was inside.
Pros: Beautiful!
Cons: Way too EXPENSIVE!
House #4: The teachers house
Went to look at this one on the weekend.
Pros:
-Jamie LOVES it!
-Beautifully landscaped with a nice lawn, trees, patio, firepit out back, small basketball court, wooden swing set, and a shed with a loft/balcony for sitting out on warm summer nights.
-Newly renovated kitchen
-Partially finished basement
Cons:
-More than we wanted to spend (tho' it seems to be the going rate of houses here now, unfortunately).
-Typical "newfie" house (some of you know what I mean): 3 bedroom bungalow, small bathroom, small closets, front door, big picture living-room window on the left side with the bedrooms down the hall on the right.
House #5: No house at all
Wait to find a piece of land although I feel we've exhausted all efforts to find anything. That is, with the exception of living halfway up the mountainside behind my parents house.
And there you have our options. We are currently leaning toward choice #4. Wish us luck.
Here are our current choices:
1. Live in the upstairs of the store. The previous owners did it about 30 years ago. The apartment would have to be completely gutted out and renovated to make it liveable again.
Pros:
-The space is already there and it's ours.
-Would be the least expensive of our options right now.
Cons:
-We would be working and living in the same building, never getting a break, and that, to me, means heading in the direction of insanity.
So I believe it's safe to say Jamie and I have decided that living in the store would be the LAST option we would take.
Let's look at the houses for sale:
1. Jack's house next door to the store.
Pros:
-Next door to the store = convenient hop, skip, and a jump over the little brook away.
-Old house = lots of charming potential
-Nice lawn for Sarah to run around on.
-Price not bad.
-I LOVE IT!
Cons:
-Seller keeps putting us off because his granddaughter is thinking of buying the house as a summer home.
-Next door to the store = people assuming that because you live next door they can call you at all hours to accomodate them and the fact that they forgot to buy milk during the 12 hours we are open during the day.
-Old house = LOTS of renovations and potential for things to start falling apart.
-Renovations means lots of additional cost on top of the mortgage.
House #2: House in the beach.
Haven't even looked at it because Jamie doesn't like it.
Pros: Cheap
Cons: It's old, it's run-down.
House #3: Old School house
I actually attended this school. Beautifully re-done if my memory serves me correct although it's been a long time since I was inside.
Pros: Beautiful!
Cons: Way too EXPENSIVE!
House #4: The teachers house
Went to look at this one on the weekend.
Pros:
-Jamie LOVES it!
-Beautifully landscaped with a nice lawn, trees, patio, firepit out back, small basketball court, wooden swing set, and a shed with a loft/balcony for sitting out on warm summer nights.
-Newly renovated kitchen
-Partially finished basement
Cons:
-More than we wanted to spend (tho' it seems to be the going rate of houses here now, unfortunately).
-Typical "newfie" house (some of you know what I mean): 3 bedroom bungalow, small bathroom, small closets, front door, big picture living-room window on the left side with the bedrooms down the hall on the right.
House #5: No house at all
Wait to find a piece of land although I feel we've exhausted all efforts to find anything. That is, with the exception of living halfway up the mountainside behind my parents house.
And there you have our options. We are currently leaning toward choice #4. Wish us luck.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Triple Blade Action
Ashamedly, I suddenly realize it has obviously been a very long time since I shaved my legs. It's been so long I think I'll need to take care of this matter in three shaving steps.
1. Serious shaving cream lather to soften things up to take off the top layer of overgrowth.
2. Shave again to take off the stubbies (like when one NORMALLY shaves)
3. Triple action to touch up those hard-to-reach spots I missed the first TWO times around.
It's no wonder I'm not gettin' any...
or maybe it's the squeakiest bed in history located immediately next to my parents room. Yeah, that could be a part of it.
The moral of this story: WE NEED A HOUSE!!
1. Serious shaving cream lather to soften things up to take off the top layer of overgrowth.
2. Shave again to take off the stubbies (like when one NORMALLY shaves)
3. Triple action to touch up those hard-to-reach spots I missed the first TWO times around.
It's no wonder I'm not gettin' any...
or maybe it's the squeakiest bed in history located immediately next to my parents room. Yeah, that could be a part of it.
The moral of this story: WE NEED A HOUSE!!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Beware of Fire
Another tale from the adventures of my sister and her family. This tale, however, not such a nice one at all.
On labour day, my sister and Richard decided to take the girls camping. My sister hates camping. The kids love it and so it's kinda become a bit of a tradition to take them.
Here's how it all went down:
They had just arrived and were unpacking, just struck up the fire, starting to get dark, and they discovered the batteries in the flashlight had died. The girls were all running about and enjoying themselves. Richard went to the camp store for batteries. As the girls were playing at the picnic table, my sister turned her back for a moment to light a citronella candle. And then she heard the scream!
I can almost hear you gasping as you imagine what happened!
Tracey said she knows she was there in a flash but at the time it seemed like it took forever, like she was frozen in time. Olivia had fallen in the fire!! Tracey grabbed Olivia up and just started opening the bottles of water and pouring it all over her and started screaming for help. There was a nurse in the next site who came running to help and called 9-1-1. During the panic, Richard got back and didn't know what the heck was going on. Poor little Isabella, Tracey said, cried more than Olivia did because she's scared to death of fire and had constantly been warning Olivia to be careful "HOT". All she could do was run round and round in circles.
And off to the hospital they all went. They had to give Olivia several shots of morphine to basically "knock her out" and ease the pain. Gladly, the burns were superficial, although 1st degree burns are the most painful. The doctor said she would heal very well and would probably not even scar. Sadly, these accidents happen ALL THE TIME, the doctor said. Often the children are not as fortunate as Olivia and burn much worse.
So here's what Tracey thinks may have happened although she didn't see. Olivia went BACKWARDS into the fire. If she was running and tripped then she would have went face-first. Another reason to THANK GOD...face-first would have been MUCH worse. Livi must have thought she could sit down on the edge of the fire pit, not realizing how hot it was. She had actually not gone right backwards into the fire, her hair was not singed, her clothes were not burned. She was wearing shorts and the backs of her legs were all burned and the palm of her hand was burned where she had obviously tried to catch herself and get up.
She was treated with lots of burn cream, her entire legs bandaged, and her whole hand bandaged making it look like a big giant paw. The skin had come off her legs, her hand was one big blister. And she was released from the hospital with lots of pain meds. Tracey, understandably, did not want to go back and stay at the site of the accident and then they couldn't find a hotel within 50 miles, everything was all booked up! They eventually did find something very late and then had to get up early again to go back to the hospital to have the bandages re-wrapped and checked.
And for a few days, poor Olivia, didn't want to get picked up because her legs hurt too much. She didn't want to go to the bathroom because she couldn't very easily sit. Olivia kept waking up at night saying she got burned in the fire, obviously having dreams about it. My sister was a mess because she felt so guilty about the whole incident. We tried to reassure her that it was an accident but I imagine I would feel the same way if that had happened to my baby.
And now, Livi, is doing much better. Her legs have healed very well and new skin is growing back already. There are a couple of "bad" spots taking a little longer. Her hand is the main concern as it's not healing as quickly but is still doing okay.
I debated sharing this story - it's all so terrible! But then I thought it might help someone to just take those extra precautions and watch your children LIKE A HAWK when you're in a new environment, whether at the cottage on the lake, or having a campfire, whatever. Yes, accidents do happen and sometimes it's completely unavoidable, as in my sisters case. But if telling you about Olivia's accident can help prevent another child from being burned then that makes a bad situation a smidge better.
Take care!
On labour day, my sister and Richard decided to take the girls camping. My sister hates camping. The kids love it and so it's kinda become a bit of a tradition to take them.
Here's how it all went down:
They had just arrived and were unpacking, just struck up the fire, starting to get dark, and they discovered the batteries in the flashlight had died. The girls were all running about and enjoying themselves. Richard went to the camp store for batteries. As the girls were playing at the picnic table, my sister turned her back for a moment to light a citronella candle. And then she heard the scream!
I can almost hear you gasping as you imagine what happened!
Tracey said she knows she was there in a flash but at the time it seemed like it took forever, like she was frozen in time. Olivia had fallen in the fire!! Tracey grabbed Olivia up and just started opening the bottles of water and pouring it all over her and started screaming for help. There was a nurse in the next site who came running to help and called 9-1-1. During the panic, Richard got back and didn't know what the heck was going on. Poor little Isabella, Tracey said, cried more than Olivia did because she's scared to death of fire and had constantly been warning Olivia to be careful "HOT". All she could do was run round and round in circles.
And off to the hospital they all went. They had to give Olivia several shots of morphine to basically "knock her out" and ease the pain. Gladly, the burns were superficial, although 1st degree burns are the most painful. The doctor said she would heal very well and would probably not even scar. Sadly, these accidents happen ALL THE TIME, the doctor said. Often the children are not as fortunate as Olivia and burn much worse.
So here's what Tracey thinks may have happened although she didn't see. Olivia went BACKWARDS into the fire. If she was running and tripped then she would have went face-first. Another reason to THANK GOD...face-first would have been MUCH worse. Livi must have thought she could sit down on the edge of the fire pit, not realizing how hot it was. She had actually not gone right backwards into the fire, her hair was not singed, her clothes were not burned. She was wearing shorts and the backs of her legs were all burned and the palm of her hand was burned where she had obviously tried to catch herself and get up.
She was treated with lots of burn cream, her entire legs bandaged, and her whole hand bandaged making it look like a big giant paw. The skin had come off her legs, her hand was one big blister. And she was released from the hospital with lots of pain meds. Tracey, understandably, did not want to go back and stay at the site of the accident and then they couldn't find a hotel within 50 miles, everything was all booked up! They eventually did find something very late and then had to get up early again to go back to the hospital to have the bandages re-wrapped and checked.
And for a few days, poor Olivia, didn't want to get picked up because her legs hurt too much. She didn't want to go to the bathroom because she couldn't very easily sit. Olivia kept waking up at night saying she got burned in the fire, obviously having dreams about it. My sister was a mess because she felt so guilty about the whole incident. We tried to reassure her that it was an accident but I imagine I would feel the same way if that had happened to my baby.
And now, Livi, is doing much better. Her legs have healed very well and new skin is growing back already. There are a couple of "bad" spots taking a little longer. Her hand is the main concern as it's not healing as quickly but is still doing okay.
I debated sharing this story - it's all so terrible! But then I thought it might help someone to just take those extra precautions and watch your children LIKE A HAWK when you're in a new environment, whether at the cottage on the lake, or having a campfire, whatever. Yes, accidents do happen and sometimes it's completely unavoidable, as in my sisters case. But if telling you about Olivia's accident can help prevent another child from being burned then that makes a bad situation a smidge better.
Take care!
Thursday, September 04, 2008
I Miss Myself
Although that sounds incredibly egotistical, it's true. I mean it. But mostly I'm referring to my blog, my writing, my readers (tho' they were few and far between, I still miss them). My life has changed so much in the past few months and I've had NO time to spend on this, one of my favourite pasttimes. I love to write and I never do it anymore.
So here's to trying to get back on track. My creative juices need to start flowing again to get some interest stories down in true "Chocoholic" fashion. And have I mentioned that since having a baby, well, half the time I can't even TALK properly let alone articulate for reading enjoyment? Bear with me, it may be a rocky start.
And I've been thinking for a long time about starting a new blog about the store...with some funny stories from our customers and experiences. Planning to keep it anonymous, I think, just in case I were, perhaps, to step on a few toes or manage to wedge my own toes very deeply into my mouth. Keep me in your search thoughts in the near future.
So here's to trying to get back on track. My creative juices need to start flowing again to get some interest stories down in true "Chocoholic" fashion. And have I mentioned that since having a baby, well, half the time I can't even TALK properly let alone articulate for reading enjoyment? Bear with me, it may be a rocky start.
And I've been thinking for a long time about starting a new blog about the store...with some funny stories from our customers and experiences. Planning to keep it anonymous, I think, just in case I were, perhaps, to step on a few toes or manage to wedge my own toes very deeply into my mouth. Keep me in your search thoughts in the near future.
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