typealice

I’m about to expose my very first blatant rip-off of my crafty career. A while back KnockKnocking was featured on Etsy and I fell in love with her wreaths. Shortly after reading her interview, I picked up some supplies at a thrift store to make my very own yarn wreath. I bought the only wreath that the thrift store had- a straw one- which coincidentally is the kind she uses- and two fake, kitschy birds.

And then the bag containing those things stayed exactly where I put them for months.

Until this weekend, that is, when I finally found some yarn that I liked. First, I rolled the two colours of yarn into balls to make the processes of wrapping the wreath much easier (less knots), and then started going around and around and around the straw, trying to avoid having any straw showing.

After a couple of hours of wrapping, my wreath looked like this:

I had to find/make some bits to have the whole thing look a bit more interesting, so that’s what I’ve been working on last night and today. I made some felt rosettes, seen below, and have added some cute buttons and will be exploring other options. I’m not sure if the birds will make it on there or not. I’ve already made and discarded two other kinds of flowers that I made from tutorials online, including this one. Keep tuned for the pictures of what it looks like when it’s all said and done.

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I can say, however, that I happily made this bird’s nest without ripping off anyone else’s idea. It’s for the window of the store where I work. All of the employees are crafty, so we’re trying to give the store a bit more personality, specifically the windows, in the hopes that it’ll draw a lot of attention. I love this bird’s nest and may want to take it home with me.

One step closer.

There’s a fantastic online auction happening right now, but only for a week, comprised of a talented group of creative people who’ve donated their wares for a good cause. (Pip included.)

Please go and check things out, over at To Haiti with Love

If you’re interested in what Pip’s got to offer, check it here.

Hit by Twwly, it’s been requested that I tell you 10 things that you may not know about me.

1. It’s weird being bisexual in such a hetero lifestyle. I was going to write a full entry on this, but that sentence pretty much sums it up. There’s not much more of a hetero lifestyle than being married and a mother. All my friends are straight, married and have kids. It feels very lonely, it feels like I can’t talk to anyone about this aspect of my sexuality. I feel that most of the people who I talk to don’t understand it. I feel like I should suck it up and turn that part of my self off since I’m in a committed and established relationship, but I can’t help but feel like something is missing.

2. I love knowing what the current gas prices are, what the temperature is and what time it is. I have a habit of accidentally looking at the clock at exactly 12:34. At my last job (while I was pregnant) it happened so often that I actually started keeping track of how many days of the week I caught that exact minute without trying. It was a LOT.

3. I want Halifax to legalize having chickens within city limits, because I would love to raise them. I want Ash to be able to see how a garden is grown and how animals are raised ethically as I did when I was a child. There’s a video of my sister and I at a very young age going through our huge garden and pointing out to the camera the different plants, bed by bed. I remember feeling a sense of pride when I was a girl that I was able to correctly identify the small leaves of plants and also the footprints of the wild animals in the snow and mud on our property.

4. I will always regret not learning how to skateboard and how to play the drums. I have wanted dreads for years and years and I’m confident that I will never have those either and I’m sad that I’m “too old” for those things (whether in my head or in reality, whatever, it’s how I feel about them).

5. If I could have a talent, it would be to sing. I have no interest in performing, but I think it’d just be nice to have that ability. When I sing, Ash tells me to be quiet, just like I used to when my mother would try to sing to me.

6. Even though my weight was only this low for a couple of months, I long to be this skinny again. I achieved it by kicking my sugar addiction and smoking a LOT of cigarettes. I was between 125-127lbs and comfortable in my own skin. Coming from someone who’s been close to 160lbs, 125 is definitely the better side of the scale.

7. I could eat sushi every single day. I love inari, edamame, avocado rolls, “prego” rolls, sweet potato tempura rolls especially.

8. I wear $35 foundation and recently spent $27 on a tube of concealer of the same brand name. My foundation lasts 1.5 years, and I’m usually able to buy it with Shoppers Optimum points. Outside of mascara, all of my other makeup comes from Abbey St. Clare, a mineral makeup company. My favorite toner is by Anointment Natural Skin Care, a local company in Halifax.

9. I’ve only ever had three good haircuts in my life. Two of them by my current hairdresser, and I’m so happy I found her.

10. I don’t have any piercings left.

Tagging: Kate!, Caitlin! (oooh, the double tag!), Jessica and April.

If I was a betting lady, I’d say (with fingers crossed) that night nursing may be coming to a close.

I’ve been trying to slow down for months (hell, years) now, but was always met with so much resistance (read: THE DEVASTATION! the wails! the earth-crumbling tears!) that I figured that it was just easier to go with it and keep him happy and asleep and when he was ready, it would stop.

Well, the past few months have been hard, with me spending my days and then evenings working so much, to be woken up every two hours through the night to nurse (and then to have the demand to “switch sides!” vocalized by a little 27lb man), I just was too tired to keep up with it, so started saying “no.” Again, with the wails. Some nights I stuck with it, and just tried to comfort him other ways, some nights I just gave in, and some nights I tried to say no, but then would give up and pretend like I was just saying no until he said “the magic word.” He smartened up pretty quickly and would then ask, “milk please!!!”

Then he started getting angry when I’d tell him no, and the hitting started. For a few weeks, he’d fling his arms and legs out, with the intention of hurting me, getting back at me for telling him no. Then the hitting suddenly stopped, and in the past week or so, I’ve been able to tell him “soon” instead of no, and have successfully switched it from every two hours to ONCE a night, usually between 4:30-4:40am. He still demands to be cuddled and to “touch them” (his words, not mine), and if he could sleep with each hand cupping a boob all night long, that’s exactly what he would do. I figure this will slowly stop too, and then we’ll be done with nursing.

My milk supply is quickly depleting. Clive mentioned the other day that my boobs are almost back to their normal size (which was a C, they’re currently a D), and because it’s happened so gradually, I’ve hardly noticed. I’m working on a blurb book for Ash and came across this photo of him and my ENORMOUS BOOBS and could hardly believe it. I always thought there were a DD at their biggest, but he’s about two months old in that picture, and they’re way bigger than a DD. I remember looking down at my newborn and realizing that my boob was about twice as big as his head, but seriously- those suckers are huuuuge. I do not miss them.

Now, whether I’ll miss nursing is hard to say. I mean, of course I will. I almost feel “ready” to let it go. I never offer Ash the boob, he always comes to me, but I dread the idea of trying to get him to nap during the day or to fall asleep at night without the power of my milk. Clive can get him to go to sleep on his days solo with him, but only by driving him around (the beloved “Drive of Shame”), and that is not a reasonable alternative for me.

I’ve given up hope that he’ll get the chicken pox before we’re done nursing- there was a major attempt at a small Pox Party before Christmas, but nothing came of it, but he’s sick right now and his appetite is absolutely gone (yesterday he ate about 30 raisins, and today he drank diluted apple juice and french fries), so I’m happy that he’s getting a least a little bit of my milk, albeit a very small amount- at least it’s best possible thing he could ever ingest.

It’s the small changes I notice; when he’s hurt now he doesn’t immediately ask for milk. When he’s hungry he doesn’t immediately ask for milk. When he comes home from school he doesn’t immediately ask for milk. When he stirs in the middle of the night he doesn’t immediately ask for milk. I’m 100% following his lead on this one, and I’d be happy to nurse once a day for the next year, but I have a sneaking suspicion that that won’t be happening.

I’m glad I bought my motorcycle when I did because when the Pip money was flying in, it was easy to justify spending well over $2000 on making my oldest possession-dream come true. Now that people have purchased their winter-wear for the season and sales aren’t as easily come by, but there’s still a lot more money to be spent, it’s much harder to lay down the cash.

I signed up for my motorcycle safety course this week, setting me back another $450. Not that I mind- this is something that was non-negotiable, by me and by my insurance company. Tomorrow Clive and I are going to visit some local motorcycle accessory stores tomorrow and see if I can find a full-face helmet, a protective jacket, gloves, boots and maybe chaps. I’d like to buy second-hand if I can, but I need to figure out what I like first, seeing as I know nothing right now.

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I’ve been doing the 30-Day Shred for the past couple of weeks. I’ve only got a couple more days of level two, and I’m feeling good. I’ve missed two days, out of sheer laziness (both of them were on Thursdays, it’s bad enough I have a 10-hour work day, I really find it hard to get inspired to work out, even for 20 minutes). I somehow gained a bit of holiday weight without even overeating that much (it must be my 30s creeping up on me), and pants were snug to the point of being uncomfortable so it wasn’t any kind of New Year’s Resolution, but rather out of necessity.

I’ve also managed to cut out ALL candy (save for one splurge of a few jelly beans one night), and it hasn’t been horrible. And I eat A LOT of candy. I’m talking easily putting back 1000 calories every couple of days, no problem.

I’ll post the results once I am through with level three, which, by how I reacted to the first few days of level two actually means once I come back from the dead because seriously, THIS SHIT SUCKS.

It’s been nearly a year (!!) since I went back to work. I still love my job. I love the customers, I love my coworkers, I love the owner of the company. I was asked recently, “so, do you do sales?” and it caught me off guard a little bit because even though I know I work in a retail store and I do sell stuff, I never thought of myself in sales. It made me squirm a little bit. Sometimes going back to work outside of my usual IT field feels a bit weird. We were joking around at work on Saturday saying, “it’s not sales, it’s peer pressure” when we were trying to convince a hesitant dad that cloth diapering isn’t as bad as what he imagines.

But then, I spoke to a woman on the telephone on Saturday who wouldn’t stop praising my “10 Things I’d Wish I’d Known” post over at the Nurtured blog, everything felt right again. The owner and I (and the rest of the girls, of course) really try to make the store feel more like a community of like-minded (or open-minded) parents, rather than just a store. When we first opened I really pushed to have a breastfeeding support group the owner found a volunteer doula (who is a mom of five) and is just as passionate about breastfeeding as I am and is FAR more knowledgeable than I am, and it’s been up and running since the early summer. When I see new moms come into the store looking totally desperate and then they spend some time with the facilitator and leave looking like new life and hope has been breathed into them, it’s amazing. I feel so privileged to be part of this center of natural parenting in Halifax.

Anyway, in case you can’t find it, my Ten Things entry is below:

A little backstory: I was like April- and probably like most women out there- I did my research before giving birth. Actually, I did a LOT of research. Before having my son, I was in the IT field, and the job I had “allowed” me to spend seven hours a day reading- and that’s what I did. I read every single thing I could about being pregnant and giving birth. Every book, website and online forum that I could get my hands on, I absorbed. I absolutely loved reading about it, and so for eight months- no word of a lie- I read about being pregnant.

What I didn’t read much about was what to expect post-partum. I blame it on the fact that there isn’t a lot out there about it. It doesn’t makes sense! Our bodies go through the most major change it can in a very short period of time- the transition from going from pregnant to not pregnant and that’s enormous!

Forget the birth, you’re warned that it’s probably going to be the hardest thing you’ll ever go through, and it IS hard for most of us, it’s the next couple of weeks- or months sometimes- that can really effect you as a person.

I had a 35-hour labour with 2.5 hours of pushing and a successful vaginal birth with no episiotomy or forceps or other intervention. I did have an epidural after 22 hours, which wore off before my son was born, and I turned down all the other pain medication they offered me.

Here’s what I wish I would have known:

1) How brutal my recovery was going to be. Along with a long labour, my son was posterior, and although he flipped just before exiting my body, he sprained something in my tail bone area and I was unable to walk for about six weeks because of the extreme amount of pain that even just standing caused me.

The swelling that comes along with a vaginal birth was something I was unprepared for. I remember my doctor commenting on it when she was stitching up my small tears, and the nurses recoiling at the sight of me when they would come in to check on the size of my uterus and the condition of my vagina after I gave birth (which they will do to you, too). The swelling only lasted about a week, but everything was unrecognizable and uncomfortable. I remember taking a mirror out on day four and was horrified- and the swelling had decreased a lot at that point! I was terrified that things were not ever going to look the same again.

2) That you can bleed for six weeks straight. Oh, how I wish that I would have had cloth pads for my recovery time. No tampons, no Diva Cup, you’re committed to wearing a pad 24/7 for your entire post partum bleeding. The thread from my stitches would get stuck to the weave in the plastic pads, and would pull and darn near kill me. (I only use the cloth pads and diva cup for my period now, and I will never, ever go back to plastic and tampons! April and I joke that the cloth pads are like “sitting on a cloud!”)

3) Cosleeping feels good. I figured it would, it was one of the things that I knew I was going to do before my son was born, but it’s still one of my very favorite things about being a parent. Though I know it’s not for everyone, it really made my nursing relationship easy. My son has never cried at night- not once- because I was always there for him. It was easy for me to get to him before he got upset, which meant less stress for me and more sleep for everyone.

4) Are you in your first trimester and eating everything? Or do you remember the constant hunger that your pea-sized baby caused you to have? It’s NOTHING compared to breastfeeding hunger. I was never full, I was constantly stuffing my face, only to be finished a full meal and be starving all over again. Feeding that little baby gives you a good guilt-free reason to eat whatever you want to. Cherish it!

5) Do you know why you’re going to be constantly hungry? Because that baby WILL ALSO BE CONSTANTLY HUNGRY. I hear it time and time again at Nurtured- moms coming in, thinking that they’re doing something wrong, that their milk isn’t working, that there has to be something more they can do to make that baby eat less often. Honey, I feel for you, because just like yours- and everyone else’s- babies eat ALL THE TIME. Nursing every half hour for an hour and a half? Normal! Especially during growth spurts (the most desperate moms I see are the ones around the 10-14 day mark, which was also my lowest point. Day 10 was the worst day I’ve ever had as a parent, because I literally nursed from 9pm-6am non-stop).

6) I was lucky and didn’t suffer from an ounce of post-partum depression. Instead, I saw everything through rose coloured glasses. I was high for days, weeks, heck, I KNOW I don’t see the world like I used to. My child, my beautiful child. Everything he did and does is magnificant. And you will probably feel the same way too. However, there are devastating lows. That day 10 I was talking about? I was throwing pillows at the wall, yelling, swearing, because I just.wanted.to.go.to.sleep. When it’s good, it’s great, and when it’s bad, it’s bad. Hormones rushing, sleep deprivation like you’ve never experienced in your life, and someone else- who is a mere eight pounds- is suddenly your boss… I’m telling you now, you’re going to be up and down, down and down. Love like you never though possible, and stress like you’ve never experienced in your life. If you feel out of control, go and seek help, immediately. Please.

The biggest thing that helped me was just “surrendering.” It’s something I’ve always practiced once I realized that it was the easiest thing to do. If my son wanted to be awake in the middle of the night and he was just NOT falling asleep and I was getting more and more irratated, I would surrender and just get up with him. Giving in to what he wanted- even if I didn’t want to or see the sense in it- that was my answer. If he didn’t want to stop nursing for three hours, and I spent the first two hours gritting my teeth and muttering under my breath to just be DONE ALREADY, I’d surrender and spend my last hour giving in. It took lots of reminding myself- but they are never trying to inconvenience you, they are never trying to manipulate you- their wants are their needs. Period. Let them tell you when they need to eat or sleep, don’t try to control them, because it’s just going to be more of a headache.

7) You’re going to be invisible. Pregnant women are complimented and stared at and spoken to and asked questions and worshiped. YOU WILL NOT EXIST when that baby is born. If you’re lucky like I was and had a mother who made it a point to greet me before the child, who nurtured me before anyone else, then it will be a little more bearable. Find those people and spend as much time with them, because everyone else will see the baby and you will be forgotten. Strangers will ask you the same questions over and over, “boy or girl, how old are they, what’s their name” instead of your usual “when are you due, do you know the sex” etc etc.

I got so used to being invisible in fact, that when I went back to work after 18 months I felt totally NAKED when I walked down the street without my kid. It took me weeks to get over it, because I was so used to being ignored and having everyone past me, and at my child. They finally saw ME as a person, not just as someone’s mom.

I would get so annoyed at strangers who would tell me, “Cherish this time” because I really felt like I was, but I really didn’t know how fast it would all go. They tell you that, too, but it’s true. One of the best things I ever did was write my son a very detailed monthly newsletter with pictures and stories and details about that month’s achievements. I love to look back and have a record of his development, otherwise I would have forgotten so many of the small details.

9) Happiest Baby on the Block is my very favorite book to recommend to pregnant women and new parents. It saved my butt. (There’s even a DVD!) It’s got methods to decrease the crying (and therefore stress) in the first three months in plain and simple language. It lets you know key tricks (swaddling, side/stomach position, shushing sounds, swinging, sucking) that seem like common sense, but in that sleep deprevation haze may not be clear. It was one of the very best parenting books I’ve ever read.

10) Don’t get too comfortable. If you have a great night of sleep, it doesn’t mean the next night is going to be the same. My son is 28 months old and has slept through the night six times. SIX. I found myself thinking after each night that he’d sleep through that things were going to stay that way. Lo and behold, the next night wouldn’t be the same as the night before, so I stopped setting myself up for dissapointment and I just rolled with it. I took every night, good or bad, for what it was, and never tried to predict what the next night was going to be.

I guess to sum things up, I’ll say: It’s hard. It’s wonderful, but hard. Follow their lead, TRUST YOUR BODY (especially your breasts!) and get as much support as you can. “This too shall pass.”

You’re going to be great!! You’re already great! Way to go!

Dear Ash,

You’re 28 months old today! Outside of Christmas, it’s been a pretty uneventful month, with us hunkering down and trying to make it through these cold days.

This month we made our very first snowman together, which you named “Frosty,” of course. You got a kick out of him, especially watching him melt in the warmer days following the snowstorm.

Christmas this year was fun and I spoiled you. Lots of cars and trucks, some knitted play food (a sandwich, a cookie, a strawberry- inspired by the fact that you’d bring me car tires piled high and tell me that it was a sandwich), a puzzle and your biggest present was a wooden parking garage. You were very excited to see it, and you’ve hooked it up to your train tracks and play with it as often as you can.

After our own little Christmas here at our house we went to my mother’s house, your Nana’s, with the rest of the family. Ambera and Oliver, Jarrod and Ellie (who are expecting their first baby this spring), and Nana and Dee. We opened more presents and ate dinner and played with toys.

This was the first Christmas I’ve been really excited for in years and years, and I know it’s just going to keep getting better. I love seeing the world from your eyes.

I had a week-long vacation between Christmas and New Years, so you and I got to spend a lot of quality time together. It was lovely. One of those days was really warm, so we packed everyone up and went to Peggy’s Cove. You really loved the lighthouse and waves (this was your second or third time there), and your dad was helping you “jump” over all the big rocks. You laughed the whole time.

This month you started the “watch me, mama!” phase as you do something random and make me watch you intently. I remember it well from my own childhood, but definitely not this early. I used to make my mom rate my dives into the water from 1-10 and cartwheels and whatever else. You don’t need anything like that (yet), but you enjoy my attention. You tend to be much more self-sufficient while you’re alone with your dad- he can leave you alone in your room while you play with cars and he surfs the internet or naps on the couch. When you’re with me, it’s all me, all the time. If I try to check my email, you drive your cars on my keyboard or directly in front of me, if not ON me.

You know a zillion songs. School taught you all a ton of carols, and you love Wheels on the Bus, Five Little Ducks, Do You Know the Muffin Man, The Itsy Bitsy Spider, the list goes on. Every single common song out there that’s meant for kids your age, you know it off by heart. You’ve also started singing, not just reciting.

In our basement is where you and your dad hang out in the mornings, and there’s a tricycle, wagon, bicycle with training wheels, your ride-on lawnmower that you got for Christmas from Nana and Dee and your beloved plasma car you got for your birthday. You’ve mastered it, and like pushing it with your feet more than how it was designed to work, and you’ve gotten fantastic at what you and your dad call the “power slide.” Your dad now makes you wear your helmet, which was this crazy ugly plastic and Styrofoam thing, until your dad spray painted it black and stenciled your name on it.

You also like to pretend to have fallen off your plasma car. Your father is very obviously concerned bout your well being.

We had a big snowstorm this month, and you really liked “helping” shovel, and so your dad bought you your very own little shovel, but here you are with a big one when you and I went out together.

One of my favorite things about you getting older is your ability to express yourself so that I get to learn more and more about who you are and how you feel. Your emotions are out there for everyone to see, right on the surface, ready to boil over, regardless of whether it’s tears or laughter.

My very favorite part of the day is when you come home from school in your father’s arms, and he sets you down on the kitchen floor, where I’m waiting, kneeling down with my arms outstretched, and you run into them with a huge smile and collapse into me with the weight of your entire body and a huge smile on your face, and I cover you with as many kisses as you’ll let me give you. I had no idea how much that moment meant to you as well until one day when I was on the telephone when you came home, and we missed our reuniting hug and then you wouldn’t speak to me or look at me for far too long. I promise to never miss another hug the instant you walk into the house after a long day of being away from me. You need it as much as I do.
I love you.

Love,
Mama

Pip Robins has been slowing down for the season, even though winter just started a couple of weeks ago. The business is a far cry from the months of getting several orders of cowls a day. There was one evening where I got seven orders in four hours. No more daily post office trips, no more sewing until midnight. I have more spare time than I know what to do with, and to be honest, it makes me a little uncomfortable. Now that crafting is in my life, I don’t know what I did without it! It feels very weird. I much prefer to be busy all night than sit around and do nothing.

Since cowls are so seasonal, I’m struggling to come up with a new idea for warmer weather. I am tired of purses, even though I have a dozen of them cut out and ready to sew, I just can’t bring myself to finish them. Making them brought out the creative side to my personality, something I’d never delved into before, outside of writing, I suppose. I don’t want to let Pip Robins die during the warmer months, so I have to find a new product.

I’m experimenting with these collars that I invented. I haven’t seen anything like this out there, ever. Sure, there are lots of different kinds of collars, but these ones are reversible and close with a magnetic clasp (I was accidentally sent the wrong size clasps by a supplier, so I had nothing to do with them until I figured these out). I was walking to pick up Ash from daycare one day and trying to figure out a closure other than a button or a snap (neither of which I’m good at doing), and the magnetic clasp popped into my head and I got SO excited that I could hardly wait to go home and sew my prototype (which you can see in my About page).

I was originally thinking about making the ones with clasps for children, but since my son is a terrible clothing model (he just wants to rip them off), I couldn’t really showcase them properly, so I never ended up doing them.

I don’t know. I really like them, I like to wear them, and I’m hoping they catch on for the rest of the year. Last year everyone was wearing those fashion scarves, so in an ideal world, people should switch to cowls!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/piprobins

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Stayed at a job longer than eight months.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I don’t do new year’s resolutions anymore because I always break them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Clive’s sister, a few friends from afar and online.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No.

5. What countries did you visit?

How about provinces? We went to Ontario in the spring.

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

A psychologist.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

April 1: My first day back to work since Ash was born. He was 18 months old and still such a baby.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Pip Robins’ success this autumn was a pretty big step for me. I am thrilled, and I hope it keeps up.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Leaving my son in the care of other people when I wanted nothing more than to be with him. I still have mixed feelings about it on a daily basis, even though I love my job.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

My tattoo made my foot swell for a couple of days and that kind of sucked.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

A motorcycle.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Clives, as always. He is a magnificent man.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

Mine. The glory that is mom guilt.

14. Where did most of your money go?

A motorcycle, fabric, and daycare.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

The success of Pip Robins.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

n/a

17. Compared to this time last year, are you: a) happier or sadder? b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

I don’t remember how I felt last year. I’ll say I feel happier because I’ve found myself again. Probably about the same weight-wise. Richer.

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Cherish the little time I have with the boy.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Stress out. Get angry. Eat candy.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

Morning at our house. Afternoon with the extended family. It was lovely.

21. Did you fall in love in 2009?

A hundred times over. Every single day.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Dexter. BY FAR!!

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

No.

24. What was the best book you read?

Hahha, books!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don’t know.

26. What did you want and get?

A cozy new home. I love, LOVE our apartment.

27. What did you want and not get?

I can’t think of anything.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

I don’t know.

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I was 29. I have no recollection of what I did! Oh dear.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

A vacation to somewhere warm.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

It started off with a mom haircut and one pair of jeans. When I went back to work, I got a brand new haircut and then went shopping in Ontario and spent $600 on new clothes and fell in love with skinny jeans. I am a changed woman. I was also introduced to colours in clothing. You mean there’s more than just black?

32. What kept you sane?

Working. And then spending time with Ash. Then going back to work again.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Don’t care.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

SWINE FLU, MOTHER FUCKER. And those UNSAFE and UNTESTED vaccinations!!!@#!@$@#%@#$

35. Who did you miss?

My child.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

My coworkers, and even though I “knew” her before, my boss April. Everyone I work with is fucking incredible.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

Do not assume.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

I don’t know, sorry.