We Let Her Down

I first heard this song just over two years ago, shortly after my mom was diagnosed with cancer ... just days before we lost her.

My heart breaks a little more every time I hear this song. Oh how I miss her.

Wooo!

I've wanted this chair for years. Truth be told, I never purchased it because of the price tag.

BUT! When I found out that I could score this fab chair for 50% off the regular price, I knew I had to.

I get to pick my little white beauty up on February 7. Yay!!

Puppy love!

Those of you who know me know that I LOVE dogs. My favourite pups? Poodle-mutts and French Bulldogs. SO cute!

My friend Danielle is also big on dogs ... and I must pass along another huge "WOOO!" to her, as she & her husband adopted a little pup this past weekend. Yay! The little furry one goes by the name of Emmy and from what I've seen, she is super duper adorable! Congrats on the little addition to your family, D & P!

On topic, let's have a look at another super cute little pup! I have no idea who this dog is, but I saw the pic and I smiled. She/he looks so much like my childhood best friend (my dog Muffin). :)

Photo courtesy of Design Sponge

I ♥ London

A successful budget, I'd say!

I just read an article titled, "Canadians getting better at paying off credit card debt, says Equifax" by Sunny Freeman at the Canadian Press. According to the article,

Canadians are paying off more of their credit card debt and borrowing less as they cope with a weaker economy and some restrictions on credit expansion. The latest national credit trends report from Equifax Canada, released early Tuesday, says the average credit card debt fell in 2011 by 3.4 per cent.

I think this is fantastic ... because I'm one of those Canadians who has seen their debt fall! I put a new budget and plan into place for my own debt reduction in July 2010 ... and I'm happy to report that my own debt is down by a whopping 22%. Yay!

It's a good feeling. I have a long way to go, but still - I'm making progress, and progress is good. And to top it off, I still get to travel. Tee hee! :)

A highlight of 2011

One of the best things that the hubby & I did this year was visit China. Well, Dan was actually there to work for 2 months -- but I'm so glad that we, as a couple, decided that it was a good idea for him to go ... and later, for me to go visit! Neither one of us had any interest in ever visiting China (it was literally the last place on our to-visit list), but we're so glad that we opted to go for it. It was a great opportunity and a great experience.

Let's look at a few pics, shall we? :)

The big event of December

December has also been a busy month! The insanity of work continued, of course - but then there was also all of the annual holiday-related stuff thrown into the mix too.

And on top of all of that, Dan had eye surgery on his left eye earlier this month (December 16). For those of you who don't know, Dan has an eye disease called keratoconus. He had a cornea transplant in his left eye 1995 - at that time, he was told that it was a last resort to repair his eye. It's held up okay since the transplant, but his sight has continually deteriorated. Thanks for modern technology, laser surgery is now an option for someone with kerataconous! So he was scheduled for laser surgery on his left eye - it was basically a similar procedure as the "normal" procedure that a lot of folks get, but with a much greater risk of something going wrong because of the transplanted cornea. A lot of people have immediate improvement with their sight - but in Dan's case we were told that his vision would return to its original level at about 2 weeks after surgery. Then, if all goes well, it will continue to improve after that (for up to 1 year).

The eye drop routine after his surgery has been intense - the first few days following the procedure was insane! I was actually given a spreadsheet by the clinic so I could keep track of the various eye drops, meds, etc. And thank goodness I had a chart to track it all, or I definitely would have lost track! Dan is now down to 4 different types of eye drops and 2 meds taken throughout the day.

He's been back to the specialist 2x since the procedure and his eye seems to be healing as it should. Phew! His distance vision is still pretty bad, but at least he can see up-close better already! It's amazing (let me tell you - his sight was SO bad before the procedure that, even with his glasses on, he had to hold literature right up to his nose in order to read it). He can now read literature at almost arm's-length, without glasses on at all. Wow.

Once this eye is out of the "danger zone" and is well on its way to healing, Dan can have his right eye done. That eye still has kerataconus in it, so it's a more involved procedure. His surgery will actually be part of a clinical study for "Corneal Collagen Crosslinking with Riboflavin". If all goes well, it will not only improve his site, but will result in him not ever needing a cornea transplant on that eye! (errr, if it doesn't go so well, it will mean that he'll need a transplant much sooner ... but we're optimistic this won't happen)

Dan hasn't been allowed to drive since the procedure but will find out on Friday if his vision has stabilized enough to drive. I sure hope so!! And how I hope his sight continues to improve and he's able to see better. Fingers crossed. :)

November in a nut-shell

November was a busy & stressful month, me-oh-my! It ended up that I had to step into my new role at work earlier than anticipated -- that meant taking on the new job without full training in addition to having to hold down my regular full-time job (the small positive in this is that at least both positions are in the same department). It just so happens that November in both roles is an extremely busy time - so it was pretty brutal trying to juggle both.

My life would have been made a lot easier if a replacement had been brought in for my regular role - but it just so happens that the person who will be taking on my role for the next year wasn't able to do so until January ... so that meant that the responsibilities of both jobs fell on me. This was lame, in a BIG way - especially since I was told that working additional hours wasn't an option - I had to get everything done during regular work hours. Yep, that's right - two full time jobs stuffed into the hours of one job. All the while having to learn the new job.

And that about sums up November. All work, no play.

(see why I haven't updated for awhile?)

October in a nut-shell

We came home from Europe on October 9, and both Dan & I were totally sick (the most horrible cold I think I've ever had!). I had applied for a temporary job (14 months maternity leave coverage) just before we left for Europe -- I got an email while I was still in Europe saying that the interview would be the first day I returned to work. So I came back to work, completely sick and still in holiday-mode and had to do an interview with a panel of 4 interviewers. What fun!

I was offered the job about 10 minutes after the interview, so I suppose it went well. :P

I was asked to start training for the position on October 24 - so that meant training for the new job every day for about 4 hours, while still doing my regular job too.

I was really trying to get back into "work mode" after having been in Europe for almost a month ... but it was really hard, as the nasty cold just wouldn't go away. And what really sucked was that it ended up turning into a horrible, nasty, very painful sinus infection. I'd never had one of those before - and truth be told, I wouldn't wish one on my worst enemy! Oooh it hurt so bad. It meant that I had to go on antibiotics, take steroid nasal spray and do sinus rinses regularly.

Nasty cold + sinus infection + stress of having to train for a new job while doing a full-time job = BAD. By the first week of November I was really run down.