I have a stalker......  My cat Varuca.  A couple months ago I was running out of her "pee pills".  That's what I call her anti anxiety pills: Amitriptyline/Elavil 10 mg.  The bottle reads: "GIVE 1 TABLET EVERY 12 HOURS".  What a pain!  Trying to get that pill in that cat for the first 6 months of having them prescribed was a nightmare.  I was told by the vet to put the pill in these treats that are specially made for hiding pills.  They don't work.  The packaging even shows the cat spitting out some nasty green mess, the manufacturer knows it doesn't work either....  I'd find the chalky blue pills I'd thought she'd swallowed in a corner or under the table.  I have perfected my technique since then but I have to do it in stages.  The sound of the pill bottle has conditioned her to run and hide in hard to reach places.  

So now, I take the pill out well before I'm ready to tackle the task of giving it.  This caused a bit of a panic in the beginning of the Stage Method as I'd taken the pill out and had left it on the counter and then went out to get groceries one weekend.  I came rushing back all worried that F would think it was candy and eat it.  What a relief, it was right where I'd left it.  When I asked F if he'd thought about eating it he gave me a weird/disgusted look and said "why would I want to eat Varuca's pill?"  I forgot, he pays attention.  

The vet will only supply a one month supply.  Why??  Is this so I don't sell them on the streets?  I hate going there.  They all know the back story, you can find it here.  I endure the smirks.  One woman is particularly annoying about it, she doesn't hide her amusement, it's getting old.

So, when the pills ran out yet again, instead of another trip to the vet I decided I'd try and see what would happen if I stopped them.....  She woke up enthusiastically from her drug induced haze.  We love her like this, she has a personality again, she isn't obsessed with her next bowl of food.  I also noticed something a little strange going on though.  She seemed to have quite the crush on me.  It's also possible she was watching my every move, wondering if I'm bringing out that little blue pill again.  When I make dinner she watches me from the barstool at the island.  She waits patiently for me outside the bathroom door if she's not scratching to get in.  I trip over her in the morning when I get up because she sleeps outside my bedroom door.  I fold laundry, she watches....  I watch TV, she watches me....

Things have been  great for about two months so when she jumped into the laundry basket last week and peed on the clothes I gave her a free pass, my fault for leaving it out.  But, last night F wasn't feeling well and had his blanket on the couch, Varuca took this as an open invitation to pee on it as she doesn't get access to our bedding any more.  I gave her a pill last night and have two left, looks like I'll be making that trip to the vet after all....

Wow, we have been really neglecting our blog in the month of January!  But now it is February and it is time to write about something.  Anything.
  
We have our blog connected to Google Analytics which provides us with stats on our blog (I love statistics!)  It tells us things like which cities and countries our visitors are from, how often people visit, how long they stay on the site, etc.  Basically it helps us to know that we have 1 visitor every day (Hi Mom!).  But the absolute best part of the info it provides is the google queries.  This shows us what people are searching for when our site shows up in their search results.  By far the number one search query has something to do with rashes of the mouth.  I guess our site shows up because of the post where I referenced  my occasional unfortunate reaction to certain face creams.  Wow, there are a lot of people out there suffering from rashes!  I'm not sure what to tell you.  Go to a doctor instead of looking it up on the internet maybe?

The number 2 search inquiry is a tie between Whoodles (I can see why people want to find out more about Whoodles, just look at Oscar the Whoodle, he's adorable!) and something to do with poo or poop.  This has me a little perplexed.  I cannot recall any blog post that had anything to to with poo (or poop).  But there is one thing that I do know, statistics do not lie - so there must be some tale of poop in here somewhere.

It's such a cliche isn't it?  My New Year Resolutions are to eat better and exercise more - and those have been my resolutions for the past decade or longer.  Really since I had children and they wrecked my body (I blame them not me).  I'm fatter than I want to be.  Mostly because I eat too much stuff I shouldn't.  I would love to blame it on my sluggish metabolism, an under active thyroid or genetics,  but the reality is...........I eat too much.  

I really, really love food, and I love to cook (and eat) yummy things.  I'm not interested in eating carrot sticks and hummus for dinner.  So how do I balance my love of food with my desire to shed a few pounds?  This year I have decided that I'm going to try something new each month in terms of fitness and blog about it.  I am hoping that blogging will keep me accountable (kind of like the Weight Watchers weigh in).  I'm also going to try not to eat after dinner (but I can't guarantee that's going to happen, so I'm not going to blog about that).

This month I am trying a new studio class called The Dailey Method.   I tried my first class on Tuesday and am finding it a little difficult to move today.  The Dailey Method is a class that is apparently a combination of yoga, Pilates and ballet.  I'm not sure what moves were what, it wasn't easy!  But I liked it.  I am very inflexible, which is a little embarrassing when you are in a class with a bunch of super flexible women throwing their perfectly straight leg up onto the ballet barre. I used both hands to pry my stiff, awkward, bent leg off the floor and onto the barre.  The super flexible ballerinas smiled at sympathetically and say they had problems at the beginning too, sure you did.  But I didn't let it discourage me, I'm going back tomorrow.  The downside is that it is pricey.  They have an introductory offer where you can get unlimited classes for the first month for $100 (even the intro price is more than I would like to pay).  They also have a video that you can purchase.  So, I figure if I like it I can purchase the video after the first month and just go to class occasionally.

If you have some time on your hand and feel like wasting it, here's a fun website to check out - Model My Diet.  The pictures are from my current and goal weight.  Now, if my before shape was as perfectly proportioned as this I would be a little less worried about my weight.  I look nothing like this cellulite-devoid person in a bikini at my current weight,  but it's fun to play with.

I am not exactly what you would consider lucky.  Prior to this week I had won exactly 2 things in my life.  In grade 2, I won a cake in the Cake Walk at Family Fun Night.  I remember clearly how excited I was, it was pink and frothy and full of sugar.  Now you wouldn't normally think that this would be such a momentous occasion that I would remember it so vividly so many years later.  However, in the SisterUgly childhood home sugar was not something that was readily available.  Our parents didn't think that children should eat sugar (they're right, but we sure didn't agree then!).  Treats for us were homemade granola and bran muffins (woohoo!).  So winning a sugary, frothy, pink cake was momentous when you are surrounded by granola and bran.  Shortly after that big win, at the end of the school year in grade 3 my name was drawn as the incredibly lucky winner of the classroom chameleon.  I was so excited when I brought that chameleon home - a lizard that changed colour? How cool is that??!.  It died 3 days later.  It was the first time I had ever heard the word rigamortis.

Fast forward to this week when I was informed that I had won a pair of Sorel boots!  This is way better than a pink cake or a chameleon!  So how did I win them?  My (and Sister Ugly's) biggest guilty pleasure involves watching the Bachelor/Bachelorette shows.  I know they are cheesy and mostly scripted but I don't care! I still love watching them - Bachelor, Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor Canada, I watch them all.  My favourite so far was the Bachelorette season that was filmed in Vancouver with Jillian Harris.  I loved all the Vancouver scenes and I loved her.  In her real life she is an interior designer with a website which I read regularly.  Over the Christmas season she had a 12 days of Christmas giveaway and that is how I won the boots.  I also just found out that she is going to be hosting another one of my and B's favourite shows - Love it or List it.  Set it up on your PVR, you will love it too.

So, I have a new pair of boots on the way and now I am just hoping it snows again soon so I can wear them!

My electric fireplace stopped working about eight months ago.  X would leaving it running all day when he was at my place with the kids while I was working.  So I shall blame him for this.  I finally got cold enough to do something about it.  I had turned it on one morning last spring and there were some crackling noises, much like a real wood burning fire place, and the lights went out and then there was nothing....  

I referred to the manual, I figured I could just change the light bulbs. This is a green fireplace so there is no actual flame just a pretend one created by six chandelier light bulbs.  It does emit heat, don't ask me what creates that even though I have now seen the insides of that fireplace.  I mean, how hard can it be to change a few lightbulbs??  

Good grief!  I had to dismantle the whole thing and disconnect power?? I better call Dad....  

Dad (D) wasn't impressed with my assortment of tools.  The only tools I normally use consist of a hammer and that tiny duracell screwdriver you sometimes get as a bonus with batteries.  What more would I need?  Needless to say when this turned into a two part project I got a hand me down tape measure to add to my assortment on D's second visit.

We had to remove the glass from the front.  Thank goodness there was an example of a safe storage place.   See FIGURE 11.  Really??  If we  were actually as dumb as the fireplace maker people think we are then why would they make it so hard to change the lightbulbs with risk of fire, electric shock or damage to persons?!  I don't want damage to my persons so I was a little afraid I was going to get D electrocuted now.

On our first attempt we quickly realized that this was not an easy lightbulb change, see above photo.  So D went home and was going to see if we could find a replacement fireplace...

What would you know?  My fireplace is a rare size.  How inconvenient.  They no longer make the size I need.  With the generous advice from a local fireplace repair business D says we are going to fix it ourselves.  This really makes me worry about damage to persons and I think that it's fine I'll just have a fireplace that doesn't work.  

It's apparently easy according to D.  So, again, we remove the glass and store it in a safe place behind the couch as in FIGURE 11.  I'm nervous and I can't believe that it can be fixed.  Now Varuca is in the empty fireplace hole smelling around and I don't like that either but sure enough before I know it, it's done, it's fixed.  Now the moment of truth, we plug it in.... Success!!  I kick V out of her new spot and she relocates to the mantle as soon as the heat comes on.  

My PVR just stopped working, I'm leaving that one for the cable guy, he's coming on Thursday.....

After my favourite day of the year is over I start thinking about heading back to the stores to exchange things (ugh).  After hearing that people were calling 911 because they couldn't get out of the parking lots at the malls,  I was really looking forward to it!  Everyone except for A had things to return and A was very happy to be left home alone to try out his new Xbox games, so off we went.  The parking lot was fun!  People were angry and we even witnessed yelling over allegedly stolen parking spots.  Eventually we stalked a man who was walking through the lot with his keys in his hand and scored a spot.

We started making our returns and exchanges and  this is when I decided that buying any gifts before Christmas is a complete rip-off.  I exchanged my new boots for a different size.  By the time the one pair was returned and the 2nd pair was purchased we had saved $80!  Then I braved Aritzia as a favour for Sister Ugly.  She owes me big for this!  The store was insane and the lines were long.  But I'm an awesome sister so I stood in the line to exchange something she had bought for a larger size.  I purchased the exact same item in a different size and ended up with a $53 credit for her!  The next day I discovered that pretty much every electronic game and gadget I had purchased at Future Shop was now on sale.  I also discovered that they do price adjustments.  I took my receipt back to the return counter and walked away with a $143 refund.

So, I have a plan.  Next year I am going to buy all the presents and wrap them up so the kids have something to open on Christmas morning but they aren't allowed to use any of it.  Then on the day after Boxing Day we're going to fight people for parking spots so we can exchange everything for different colours and sizes and get half my money back.

It is the day after Christmas (also known as Boxing Day) when you start to experience the Christmas Crash.  After six weeks of intense shopping for the perfect gifts, wrapping those perfect gifts, decorating, baking terrible desserts (yes the Christmas Eve dessert was a bomb, there may have been eggshells involved), cooking, etc. etc.,  you realize that it has all come to a crashing halt and it only took a few hours for it to be all over.  All that planning and anticipation and suddenly it is over!  So why do we do it?  

Well for me it is really all about the kids.  It's my fault really, I've turned them into Christmas loving fanatics and they are terribly disappointed if all of our Christmas traditions are not observed.  Also, it feels pretty good when your Mother-in-Law calls to thank you for hosting the perfect Christmas dinner.  Yes! Mission accomplished!  

Last year we went away for Christmas to a lovely, warm location.  It was incredibly relaxing and stress free.  No gifts, no decorating, no cooking, no baking.  I did love the break from the traditional craziness that surrounds Christmas.   I don't know, what looks more relaxing???

                                      LAST YEAR                                      VS                                   THIS YEAR

The kids had a great time during our vacation last year and they would love to go again but they love to spend Christmas at home and a small part of me does too.  But secretly my favourite part of it all is Boxing Day when I get to sit around drinking coffee from our new Keurig (thanks Sister Ugly!) in new jammies and new slippers reading books and magazines and planning next Christmas.  But today is a new day and I must start getting ready for New Year's Eve!  First things first, the floors must be washed, I keep stepping in a big sticky spot that I can only guess is the Sticky Toffee Pudding dessert from Christmas Dinner.

Merry Christmas from the Sisters Ugly!  We'll be busy making memories for the next couple of days.  

The third and final instalment of Dear Diary guest posts from C is up now!  Check it out here! 

Check out our latest post about Christmas baking in We Cook!!