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Finally reviewed!

September 26, 2006 by Tricia

A very long time ago, ok maybe last May, I submitted my site to be rated over at Bloggy Award. Now, several months after I changed this blogs domain to feverishthoughts.com my site has been rated.

My site was apparently rated last Thursday, if you’d like to read the article and tell me what you think you can find it here.

I thought it was pretty good as ratings go. He must have gone to the original site of this blog (http://triciaswaterdragon.com/blog ) and didn’t pick up on the fact that it had changed domains when “it took him to a new domain when he clicked on a link”.

I can’t find any kind of link on the Bloggy Award site to e-mail him and let him know that the link should be updated to my new domain, and that my sidebars roll up now, so they hopefully look a little less cluttered. I just did that last week, don’t you think it looks a bit better?

If you read the article of my site come back and let me know what you think of it.

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I’m being stalked! No, no it’s not my old lady neighbor Sofie this time. Well, yes she still continues to stalk me by knocking on my door or calling me each day if she doesn’t see me at least 5 times a day. No this time it’s another blogger!

Shelli from Shelli’s Sentiments has fixated on me this week. I don’t know if I should be honoured or scared? I think I’ll go with honoured and pleased since she’s saying such nice things about me over there. You should check out her site if you haven’t been there recently. She’s really sweet and I love her site. She’s also the winner of the Compassionate Award from the Blog Emmy’s. She deserved the win!

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Another person you should go visit is Doctor Mom. See that square thumbnail of her site in the left upper corner of the page? yep, she’s my renter this week. She’s renovating her cul de sac – thanks to someone called Mr. Fab who wants a bigger lot on the street, and she need a place to stay. The idiot of the week has been chosen. Go on over and see who it is, I’m sure you’ll get a laugh when you do, the photos are Hilarious!

It also turns out that she likes baseball – the Minnesota Twins I think. Speaking of baseball, my hubby and his dad when to the Blue Jays game last night. They beat Boston!

So go on over and vist Doctor Mom at You’ve got 2 B Kidding would you? Let her know that her favorite landlord sent you. I just know you are going to love her site.

Son of Darth Vader?

September 22, 2006 by Tricia

My 200th Post!

Sleep apnea nose mask This is what I’m going to be greeted with each night when I go to bed. Lovely huh?

Chris was diagnosed with severe Sleep apnea in June or perhaps early July. Shortly after his diagnosis the company that supplies the machine and mask called and asked that Chris come in to get his machine and be shown how to use the equipment. We didn’t know how much it was going to cost us so we delayed a bit. It turns out that our government actually pays for the machine ($750 or so) but Chris has to pay for the special nose mask and I believe the tubing. I haven’t checked yet but I think I can submit that bill to our medical insurance company and perhaps get some of that money back. I hope so ’cause it cost us over $400.

I still don’t really know what it sounds like other than the light purr of the machine beside the bed. You see, Chris was told to slowly work his way into using the mask all night. Which means he’s only using it for about an hour or two at a time and then taking it off. I’ve been having a very bad week with my pain so I’ve been on the main floor in the living room working on the computer when he’s been trying out this mask.

He’s had the machine for a week or so but hasn’t used it every night. However, on the nights that he does use it for a short while he seems to snore less. Hopefully by the time he works up to wearing it all night we’ll both end up getting better sleep!

I was pretty sure that Chris has sleep apnea for oh, pretty much the whole time we’ve been together (yikes 17 years!). When my doctor was sending me for sleep studies to try to figure out why I can’t sleep after working night shifts (even though I haven’t been working at all lately) I mentioned Chris’ snoring to her and told her that I thought he had sleep apnea, mainly because he snores, snores, then doesn’t seem to breath for a whole minute or so, then the snoring starts up again. As usual I was right.

I’m happy that we’re finally addressing the problem. It’s quite common for people with sleep apnea to end up having heart problems. We’ve already been through a heart scare with Chris. Two years ago he kept passing out at work and he had changes on his electrocardiogram that looked like a very rare cardiac arrhythmia called Brugada. He ended up staying in one of the best hospitals in Toronto for cardiac problems and had many tests, but they couldn’t reproduce the arrhythmia. That’s good, ’cause he would have ended up with a built in defibrillator if they had diagnosed his problem. He has permanent changes to his ECG but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with his heart. We know something happened but we don’t know what. So far so good though, he’s been feeling pretty good for most of the last year.

I’m hoping that now that we are taking care of the apnea perhaps he’ll do even better, or that at least treating the apnea might prevent further trouble from developing.

Does anyone else have a spouse with apnea? One who uses the breathing machine? Does it make much noise? I hope it doesn’t end up that I feel like I’m sleeping with Darth Vader or something!

God! With my abdominal troubles and Chris questionable heart problems and now sleep apnea it sounds like we’re getting old. We aren’t! Look at that pic of Chris we’re both still relatively young, but I guess we have a few more problems going on then others. Oh well.

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I’d like to thank my two landlords this week:

Neurotic Mom – we’re plotting against the famous Mr. Fab Muhhhaaaah!

And ITTM – Does it mean they like my site that they picked me, or just that I was first to bid? Hmmm

The Brazilian Boarder

September 15, 2006 by Tricia

I mentioned earlier that I’d tell you about our third boarder. Well, the time is now.

We’ve taken in few boarders over the last few months to help pay the bills around here. I’ve been off work due to illness for over 9 months now and I have NO income coming in. So we had to come up with a plan to bring some money in or else we’d be in a lot of trouble with bills or rather with not being able to pay the bills.

Since I keep hoping that I’ll get better soon and get back to work, we didn’t want any long term boarders. That’s probably a good thing since the first two, particularly the second, didn’t turn out to be very good boarders. We are “home stay” parents. What does that mean? Well people from other Countries come to Toronto to learn English in a private school. While they are in Canada they stay in English speaking homes so that they are truly immersed in the language that they are here to learn. The students that we “host” could be anything from teenagers to adults of any age. The average stay seems to be two or three months.

Our first two boarders were from South Korea. The first was a male and he was 19, and the second was female and she was 21. The first boarder didn’t talk much – he slept a lot though! – and we couldn’t get a good read on his personality. This made things a little awkward and uncomfortable. The second talked too much and ended up being extremely demanding and lied to us about just about everything. She even told our neighbors that she had three body guards back home. I’m certain that was a lie too.

For our third boarder we decided to switch agencies (Various agencies put students in touch with families willing to house them and teach them English). So now we have a Brazilian man staying in our home.

I was really hoping that our Brazilian guy would be great eye candy. Hey I deserve that after the brutal experience that I went through with the last boarder don’t I? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with his looks, but sigh, he’s not the gorgeous hunk I was hoping for.

Our Boarder is a really nice guy. Very polite and helpful. He arrived last Thursday. I wasn’t feeling very well when he arrived so Chris took him out and showed him a little bit of Toronto. They came back with a case of beer! I didn’t think this was the best start … but it’s worked out ok. The boarder had paid for half the case – something the other two would never have thought of doing.

Chris was off work on Friday and Saturday and I was feeling a little bit better, so we took our boarder out around Toronto again on Friday. Mostly it was just to a few shopping malls because he wanted to pick up a few things. Saturday I had kind of been hoping that we’d go to the Zoo. I haven’t been to the Metropolitan Toronto Zoo for a few years and I really enjoy it. However it was a rainy day, well at least the morning was anyway, and I wasn’t feeling quite as well as I was on Friday. We did end up going to the Toronto beach area and we walked around for a couple of hours on the Beach and in the touristy area nearby.

On Sunday the boarder did his own thing, and then he started his classes on Monday. We’ve fallen into a nice pattern. He must be touring the town on his own because he usually doesn’t come home until about 7 pm. We have dinner shortly after he arrives home, and then he sits with us for a while. He’s usually up in his room studying or preparing for bed by 9 pm or so.

So far so good … but then I thought the other two were doing well in their first week too, so I’ll reserve final judgment for a while. He’s 31, so he’s more mature than our other two boarders were, and he seems to be a generally nice guy. He even tries to do the dishes each night after dinner … at least his own, and he’s been washing his breakfast dishes in the morning too. So no fuss, no mess, and he’s not in our face all the time like our last boarder was.

It is a bit taxing having someone around who’s first language is not your own. It seems that our male boarders haven’t been quite as good at English as our female boarder was. The latest one understands most of what we are saying, but there’s times when we say something and have to try to explain it several different ways before he begins to understand. For the most part this is fine, but when I’m not feeling all that well it can be a bit draining.

At least I’m not ranting this time round!

The sirens wailed

September 12, 2006 by Tricia

A little action in the neighborhood on Sunday:

A fire Engine in front of my house!

No, I wasn’t trying to cook again. Really. Actually I think I’m the only one in the near neighborhood that doesn’t set off the fire alarm regularly when I cook. The neighbor behind us sets the smoke alarm off every single time he cooks dinner! I’m starting to get used to that high pitched whine.

[Read more…]

Quick Change Artist

September 1, 2006 by Tricia

Do you have any special skills?

A unique, yet possibly quirky talent?

I do! I’m a quick change artist.

I don’t remember exactly when I realized that I had this super power. I think that acquiring super powers is something like getting a headache. It’s not there, it’s not there, BOOM, Oh my gosh do I ever have a headache. Curiously headaches seem to leave the same way too don’t they?

But I digress, back to my talent.

I can completely change my top in public without anyone being able to see any parts that I don’t want seen. Ah, I know, not much fun for those watching ’cause they probably want to see what I’m trying to hide. Tough.

How did I acquire this hidden talent? And why? Well, I think it had something to do with having a cottage as a child. Huh?

Well, we used to go up to our cottage in the late fall, and early spring, sometimes we even went in the winter. Do you know how cool cottage bedrooms that are far from the Oil heater or fireplace get in the cool months? They’re freezing!

As a child I was forced to master changing from whatever I was wearing- usually pants and a top and perhaps a sweater, into my little nightie or flannel pj’s (depending on the time of year) without actually baring any flesh to the frigid air. This was the only way to avoid massive goosebumps, and a case of the shivers that often lasted 2 hours or so.

So it makes sense that I developed this talent out of necessity as a child, right? But I still use my hidden talent on occasion. Sometimes it’s necessary.

Take for example my most recent quick change scenario:

Last Saturday, while we were in Chicago, we were rushing to find the concert hall that we had to be at before 8 p.m. after leaving the downtown area. We were lost. We’d left the downtown area at about 7:15 p.m. after our afternoon of sightseeing and picture taking, knowing that we were cutting it close. By 7:45 p.m. my husbands brother realized we were lost and finally stopped for directions.

I had a feeling this might happen. I had wanted to change from the t-shirt and shorts that I was wearing while touring downtown Chicago into a nice top and some jeans prior to the concert. Just before we left our parking space I’d grabbed my top out of the the trunk and brought it into the front passenger seat with me. I had a feeling that I would need to do a quick change scene.

Knowing we’d only just get there in time to get in and find our seats before the concert started I decided to change my top. I don’t think I’ve ever done this before while moving slowly through crowded city streets, in the front of a car with the window down and the sunroof open. If I made a mistake, not only would my friends and family get an unexpected exposure, but so would complete strangers who were passing by our car as we drove the crowded streets, or when we were stopped at a set of lights.

I was also trying to be a good law abiding citizen and keep my seat belt (lap and shoulder strap) on while completing this quick change. This complicated matters, as did the fact that I was trying to change into a tiny little tank top with multiple holes for my arms or neck to make a mistake poking through.

It was a struggle! It was probably like watching someone struggle out of a straight jacket. At one point my arm was stuck in an awkward position behind my back, in the tank top that was under my t-shirt. I thought I might have to dislocate my shoulder to complete the act, or be forced to bare it all. Finally, my arm slipped into the right place and the tank top was in place. Off came my t-shirt to reveal the cute tank underneath.

I didn’t know what the concert would be like, dressy, casual or what. So I decided to put a nice open shirt over the tank top. Unfortunately I was still wearing the shorts. What I was wearing on top didn’t quite go with the shorts I was wearing, but I’ve yet to master changing into tight jeans while in a car. If they’d been baggy or looser jeans yeah, I probably would have tried. Oh well.

Since I have these unique super powers I decided to take a test to find out which Super Hero I’m most like:

Your results:

You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man		85%
Superman		80%
The Flash		65%
Green Lantern		65%
Wonder Woman		60%
Supergirl		60%
Iron Man		60%
Robin		57%
Catwoman		50%
Hulk		45%
Batman		45%

You are intelligent, witty,
a bit geeky and have great
power and responsibility.

Click here to take the “Which Superhero am I?” quiz…
Where does Spiderman change anyway? Doesn’t he always just appear in costume whenever he’s needed? Yeah, he must be a quick change artist too. As you can see I’m also 80% like Superman and we all know he changes in telephone booths, right? Kinda like me changing in a car.

So which Super Hero are you, and do you have any hidden talents or skills that match your Super Hero persona?

Come on, talk to me.

Finally reviewed!

Son of Darth Vader?

The Brazilian Boarder

The sirens wailed

Quick Change Artist

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