My Life As You Know It

I have been feeling very low lately, so low in fact that I have had trouble doing anything. I can't even write about it. Part of it is because I feel so guilty for feeling this way, especially at this time of year when we are reminded of just how lucky we are. I have been reading all the blogs that I normally do but haven't been able to comment for one reason or another and I am sorry. I am fine and I will be back at it soon enough, but I just thought you all might want to know. Talk to y'all soon! :)

I apologize to anyone that normally reads my blog and could care less about Canadian politics. As some of you may know I have a degree in Political Science and I am quite passionate about it, but I have kept my political ramblings to a minimum because I understand that not many of you care about it as I do. However I feel the need to have this post dedicated to politics, just to warn you. So Karina made a great point on her blog about the looming possibility of the toppling of government and the possibility that our government may soon be led by a coalition party consisting of the three opposition parties. The reason that I feel the need to blog about this today is that I feel through comments made by many Canadians, although valid, are lacking a big piece of the picture. So I will do my best to outline the big picture as best I can in an attempt to help people fully make sense of the mess that we find ourselves in. So the Liberal Party of Canada and the New Democratic Party (socialist...

So I got my new licence in the mail the other day and noticed that under eye color they put "brun" translation: Brown. This really annoys me because I don't have brown eyes. It's not that I don't like brown eyes, but mine aren't brown. It's not even that, I would love to have brown eyes if they looked as good as these: But my eyes don't look like those. They look like this: (click on it to get the "full effect" lol) Is there brown in my eyes? Yes there is in the middle surrounded by greeny-grey. The grey I get from my Dad and my Grandparents, the brown from my Mom. My eyes are hazel, and sometimes look blue, sometimes green, once in a while they look brown. But they're not. I don't know why it bugs me so much but I just feel like it's inaccurate. It's not like I am asking for them to describe my exact eye shade, but at least use the most appropriate term. My eyes to me are the one thing that make me feel better about myself...

Okay so I have been up to a bunch of stuff lately. I went to the dentist last week for the first time in five years and the dentist told me that he was really impressed with my teeth! (Besides the tartar build-up! :P ) YAY ! If you are ever looking for a good dentist in Toronto, I say go see Dr. Sim at the Yonge Finch dental clinic. He's great and super friendly. He also made sure that I knew what he was talking about when he was talking about my teeth to his assistant, which was important to me since I am so nervous at the dentist. Last night I went to the Grey Cup, which is like the CFL version of the Superbowl. It was sooo much fun! I love live sporting events! My team (the BC Lions) got knocked out in the Western Conference finals, which was sad cause le boyfriend's cousin plays for the Lions and it would have been cool to see him play. The team that knocked out the Lions (the Calgary Stampeders ) won, which was kinda sad because the other team was the home team...

Okay so I have been really sad about the lack of comments on my post recently so I decided that I wasn't going to post again unless I had a decent amount of comments on my last one! Shallow I know but sometimes you just need to feel the love! So Wedding stuff is taken care of. My parents insisted on splitting the bill and I skimmed some stuff off the tab. I am making my own centre pieces and stuff like that. So YAY! I also had to make the decision to do two tiers of invites (I don't care how tacky that is) we are inviting only family in the first wave and then we know how many friends to invite based on the family "no's." I am not too worried because we can have 100 ppl and le boyfriend doesn't think that he'll have more than 40 ppl there, so that leaves plenty of room for my huge family and a select few friends. I had to make sacrifices and since our wedding is on a Friday and out of town for most people hopefully the guest list will work itself out! I al...

Okay so whoever said "oh wedding planning must be so fun!" is an idiot. Do I sound bitter??? Well maybe that's because I am at that point of working with the wedding planner and she says "and here's how much this will cost." The total is $20,000! I nearly wanted to throw up! How the hell am I going to afford a $20,000 wedding? I mean I know that that's not a lot of money for a wedding (my cousin's cost $60,000) but seriously. I was looking forward to a honeymoon, but now that's out the window. I am not even getting anything too fancy! WTF? I know that all the married people out there know what I am going through and will know that at this point the LEAST helpful thing people can say to me is "oh well maybe you can not do this and do that." I always just want to say "f*#k you! Was I there trying to get you to compromise your wedding to save a few bucks?" I know that I need to cut costs, but seriously I am not spending a lot of ...

MY LITTLE BRO GOT ENGAGED!!!! Yup that's right my little bro proposed to the swede on her birthday. It was actually a really cute proposal. Her mom and her mom's bf are visiting from Sweden and they were all going out for dinner and out to a hockey game. What the Swede didn't know was that my bro had weeks in advance planned out this night in detail. They went to dinner at a restaurant where a friend of him works and he had gotten a menu and re-did one of the pages so that it said "Swede, will you marry me?" So when she opened the menu she saw it and then he gave her the ring and I'm sure that it was a very beautiful moment. (I was not there, but this is what my bro told me would happen I have to get the details later!) Congrats bro! Congrats Swede, I am not going to welcome you to the family because you have been a part of it for a long time, so instead I'll say congrats on this next stage in your life! xoxoxo

So two exciting and one scary thing are happening today! I can only talk about two of the things because one of the things is a surprise and I don't want to ruin it! With this said I really really want to say something because I am excited and I think that the way this surprise is being done is very nice and I think that the person for whom the surprise is for is going to be VERRRYYY happy! Arg I've said too much... Okay for the scary thing. In two hours I have a job interview. Normally I wouldn't be this stressed (I actually threw up last night) but the entire interview is in French. I may have lived in Paris last year and I may have studied French in school from Kindergarten to grade 12, but my French still isn't that good. I am freaking out and considering not even showing up, but that is a cop out and I am better than that, but I am scared out of my mind! The second exciting thing is that I am going to have a horseback riding lesson today!!! YAY!!! Horses! ...

Well today is election day for my neighbours to the south. I wish you all the best and hope that you are all getting out to vote cause that's important! In Canada 42% of registered voters didn't even bother to get out and vote, so I hope that that 42% shuts up if something happens that they don't like. I mean seriously if you don't vote you have no right to bitch and moan if your candidate doesn't get elected or if the government does something that you disagree with because you chose not to have a say so SHUT UP! Sorry I have just had a debate with one of those 42% and I have no patience for them. On a more positive note I have chosen to bake an apple pie in honour of American election day! This is my first attempt to make a pie, so it may not turn out so well, but oh well! I have been making a lot of stuff for the first time lately. Last night I made lamb stew and it was grreeeaaat! I have been cooking the "French" way by getting a recipe and then ...

Okay so I am sitting at home on Halloween watching the Ghost Whisperer (I have never watched this show before) wishing that the Charlie Brown movie was on. I mean why isn't this classic on TV? Jeeze! Anyway that's all I have to say really. I just wanted to wish everyone a happy halloween! I hope that you are enjoying whatever you are (or maybe aren't) doing to celebrate this spooky holiday! :)

First of all I would just like to give a shout out to all the readers who have popped up all the sudden! Thank you all so much for reading and commenting and following! I am very excited and happy to have you all! I just got back from Buffalo NY (my first time in NY state!!!) We were visiting with le boyfriend's twin bro, his bro's wife and his nephew for his nephew's first birthday. Too cute. The kids are starting to call me Auntie now, which is sweet! Oh and I got to go to Target and I LOVE Target! :) I am still looking for a job, blegh, but I want to thank you all for your support and Courtney I have posted my resume on Monster thanks a bunch for the tip! Last I want to say that I love election time (both American and Canadian.) I am a politics nerd and I love seeing the way that the election can mobilize and ignite a country. I LOVE hearing everyone's opinions about who they like and who they don't it's so interesting and people are so insightful! I...

So if any of you have read Karina 's blog over the last few months, this may sound like deja-vu. I am in the process of job-hunting and there is no single more soul sucking activity I'm sure (and yes I am including wedding planning and bikini shopping!) I have never in my life felt more useless and like a bigger waste of space. My confidence is at an all time low and I am feeling the scary shadows of depression closing in. I had two job interviews today. The first was for a receptionist position for a shady "marketing" company and the second one was for an HR position for a great company that has some great perks (eg they pay 80% of tuition if I decided to go back to school.) The first interview never materialized. There was no one at the office that they sent me to, which was fine since after consideration I really didn't want that job. The second interview was going great, the office has a really casual vibe and I really could see myself fitting in with th...

Okay so I got tagged for the Perfect Blend of Friendship Award by Vegas Princess and as part of this I have to answer a few questions: 1. Do you have the same friends since childhood? If you count high school then yes. I moved around a bit when I was younger so I never really had any solid friends until high school. I do have 1 friend that I've had since grade three though. 2. What do you value most about your friends? Honesty and loyalty. I really value loyalty because I am not perfect and I need to know that my friends have still got my back even when I am wrong, but are honest enough to let me know I am wrong! 3. Are your friends your sounding boards? Yup to an extent, if I am really struggling I'll reach out, but most of the time I don't go to people to talk about my problems. 4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends? Lunch, brunch, coffee anything that brings us together to do something and we get a chance to catch up. And now according to th...

So I am on hold with the Quebec DMV to make an appointment to get my Driver's licence exchanged, I have now been on hold for 15 minutes... I have a feeling that everyone is on lunch... So because I haven't written in a while I will demonstrate the reason... I can only think in random thoughts.. So I have had a very boring existence lately. I look for jobs online, I look up wedding stuff, I get frustrated and upset and I sleep... oh and I eat a lot. I know it's bad, but I can't stop eating. I do love Montreal however, it's so pretty! I just wish I could find a damned job! I have now applied for 30+ jobs with no response... BOO! Oh and I screwed up a test that I was going to write for my dream job in the Federal government. I kinda didn't pay attention to the date, assumed it was a Monday, but it was a Sunday and I missed the exam and they will not reschedule, so I have to wait for them to re-post the job, which could be any time between 6 months and two yea...

So in 24 hours I will be in Montreal. I. Am. So. Scared. I had a pretty big fight with le boyfriend about nothing just because we are both tired and stressed out, so that put a dark shadow on everything. I am also sad, because I won't see my family until Christmas, and although I went a lot longer without seeing them when I was in France I still always knew that I was coming home eventually. This time when I come back here it won't be my home. I will be a guest and not a resident and that sucks. That's scary. So now here I am on the verge of tears getting ready to leave my home, permanently and FREAKING OUT! I'll tell you all about the jerky movers another time... I am freaking out too badly today! And here come the tears...

You know that girl who has always dreamed of her wedding? The one who has planned out pretty much every detail of her "big day"? Well that's not me. In fact the thought of having a big wedding with lots of people staring at me gives me hives. I want to get married at the courthouse with no one but our witnesses but le boyfriend does not, so I will be having a "small" ceremony, more than likely at a tropical location, and I am getting hives thinking about it...

Yes that's right Jim Carey said something on Oprah that was so inspiring, that I felt that I needed to share it. But before I did that I wanted to say that I am in mourning today for the loss of one of my favorite blogs. Vegas Princess has decided to give up her blog and I think that the blogging community is worse off for it. I want to take this opportunity to say goodbye to Vegas Princess, and thank her for her blog, which provided many hours of smiles and laughter. I am truly saddened by the loss of this blog. Okay on to my Jim Carey inspiration. So I never in a million years thought I would ever find Jim Carey of all people inspiring, but alas I did. So it was a show about "Warrior Moms" and he was talking about falling in love with Jenny McCarthy (who has an Autistic son) and more specifically they were talking about how many single mothers feel like they will never find a man who will love them and they're children. (I also think that this applies to many ...

That's right folks I am now "officially" someone's fiance! Ahhh crrraaaazzzy!!!! It hasn't sunk in yet and I am still without a ring, but none of that really matters. I am packing up a storm and trying to stay sane! My parents seemed happy, I think that it's hard for them a bit cause that makes me an adult and makes them old! I am really really happy that le boyfriend (and yes he will keep that name for now until I think of some other cute moniker) finally told our families, I felt sort of like I was lying all the time and I have been so happy about our decision that I just wanted to tell everyone! Plus I was being kinda insecure thinking that he didn't want to tell people because he was ashamed or something silly (really he just wanted to wait for the ring.) Anywhoo, that's all for now. I can finally tell EVERYONE and be as happy and excited as I want. I can look at bridal magazines and browse wedding websites without worrying about the floor d...

Okay folks, I am in fact alive and a little worse for wear and although I cannot share all the gruesome details about the past few weeks with you I'll do my best to go over most of the big stuff. First off I have been reading a lot and I finally broke down and read the Twilight series. I was surprised at how much I loved it! I must admit I sort of hated Bella and thought she was an idiot (especially in Breaking Dawn ) but I was still captivated by the story. I am now really looking forward to Midnight Sun even though it may never come out! As for the movie, well I am of two minds. First off I know that they are going to gloss over a lot of the best parts of the book and that may just piss me off AND I really disagree with some of the casting (Nikki Reed as Rosalie? Really?) However I really loved the book and I know that I am going to drag le boyfriend to see it when it comes out. Secondly I am trying to get all ready for the big move. This means going through all the stuff that ...

So I am currently in Montreal. I am doing NOTHING but looking for jobs and since I have no money I really can't do anything else. I hate this, I am frustrated and I just want to go home. I am not too sure that I can do this, move here I mean. In Vancouver I could have a job within a week, but here I am at a loss. I used to love this city, but now I am not too sure. Arg I knew these next few months were going to be tough and I have other stuff going on, which I can't talk about and I just feel alone and hopeless. Boo hoo suck it up Odette I try to tell myself, but I am frustrated! grrrrrrr!

I'm here and I am alive! I am just soaking in all the amazingness that is being home! I am SOOOO freaking happy to be home! Time is flying so fast and I am heading to Montreal in just over a week to see le boyfriend! YAY ! so I am sorry that I haven't exactly been around the last little while, but I have been having too much fun appreciating all that is home! :) Do I sound happy? Cause I REALLY am!

Oh man I go away for a few days and everything changes! Hallie's blog looks all spiffy and Vegas Princess' blog won't let me read! I must say I was quite saddened by the latter of those two (invite me! I am now addicted... you can't take away my Vegas fix!!!;) ) I am also kind of sad because I am eating some California rolls and they SUCK! Boo French sushi! In other news I just got back from London. It was fun and I got to see Paddigton Bear and Platform 9 3/4. (Yes I am that big of a loser... here's photographic proof) I also saw all the other stuff like Tower Bridge, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace, so all in all it was a good, but expensive holiday. I can't believe that two weeks today I will wake up in my own bed! That's right I leave Paris on August 6 th , that's just under two weeks away! I have no welcome home stuff planned cause I figure if people are happy I am home they can arrange to see me (also it is easier for people at home to ...

So I have been back for almost a week and my life has been chaos! I have gotten the flu (AGAIN!!!) and on top of that le boyfriend and I have been trying to get his place ready to move. The movers came today and packed up 80% of his (and my) stuff and so now we are just waiting for them to come back tomorrow to pack up the rest and take it all away. On top of that we have had a few "ex-girlfriend issues" (the bitch just won't go away!!!! I mean come on you dump a guy a year ago break his heart and are STILL twisting the knife?) So I have had my self-respect/control/esteem/etc. tested and pushed to the MAX (there's been much crying and "pull it together [fill in my last name here]-ing" going on over the last week and I am tired! Oy! Oh well only two more days to go and then I am off on vacay (hopefully if we can actually book something) and then my Mom gets here on the 25th, so a little bump in the road then back to smooth sailing! :) I know that a lot of you...

So I am heading to Prague tomorrow with a friends from home and I am very excited! I also just found out that another friend from home in in Prague too, so I get to see two friends at once! YAY! In other news I told my parents that I am moving to Montreal and they were cool with it, which makes me feel better. Plus le Boyfriend booked a flight out to Vancouver so that we can spend my birthday together and go to my friends' wedding together. YAY! The only bad news is that I am broke, but that is to be expected! :P So have a great week everyone and I'll talk to y'all when I get back!

That's right folks here I write before you a new woman, a relaxed woman, a happy woman, for I Odette am a nanny no more! Today was my first day of "independence" (sorry Americans but this is the day of my independence from the hell I formerly knew as my job.) I am SOOOO excited! I head to Prague on Tuesday and I may got to the UK the week after. For the next three weeks Europe is my oyster and I plan on enjoying it!!! (Imagine if you will the world's biggest smile and then post it on my face!) Happy 4th of July to all my American readers! I hope that you all have a great long weekend full of fun!

So I am sorry for my last post. Another emotion-filled crazy dramatic rambling. The kind I promised myself I'd quit. I am sorry that I let myself slip. That was an emotional day and I am sure that there are emotional days like it yet to come because that box is not closed. I wish I could say that I'll keep it all to myself, but I know I won't because this is the place that I air all my dirty laundry and I plan on keeping it that way. It helps me to hear what you all have to say. I value your opinions. This is all that I am going to say on this subject for this post. What I really want to talk about it the fact that my time here in France is running out. I'll be back in Canada on August 6th. Wow where has the time gone? It's a weird feeling. I have 4 more days of work with the R's left and then I am on vacation for a month and then it's back to reality. I feel so weird about it. I am so excited to go home. There are so many people that I want to see, and yet ...

I suck. If guilt could kill you I would probably have died about 2 hours ago, but instead I am reliving the last 24 hours over in my head and wishing I could change it. It all started with this e-mail: Hey So i know you are returning in August and we were wondering what your plans were? The Swede* and I are thinking of moving out, but are unsure if you are going to be around because we obviously still want the place downstairs, even if it is missing flooring. We have been waiting almost a year now, and even after all this time, i am still a little annoyed that a cat has priority over us. Anyway, we don't have the amount of room down here that we want and so we need to figure out what is happening before school starts in September. So can you let me know what you have planned, even if it is not set in stone. If you know you are heading off back east relatively quickly is there a chance we could move in downstairs, and you move upstairs? Is that a possibility? Well let me know what y...

Hey all! So I have made two changes to my blog, the first and most obvious is that I have changed the template! It's like getting a new haircut, it just feels good. Second I have removed the "word verification" thingy on my comments, so no more "advanced hieroglyphics deciphering" needed to post a comment (yes I read on SOMEONE 's blog that they hate it!) So that's it for now! I have just gotten back from a weekend away with le Boyfriend and my cousins, so I am a little sleepy, I'll catch you guys up later! Only 1 more week of work with the R's! I can't believe it and I am all booked for going home! Plus I am going to Prague with a friend from home and my Mom is coming in 4 weeks! Wow so much to look forward to! I am very excited! Hope you are all having a great day!

So Kass tagged me in her "word of mouth" thing, so now I am supposed to do it too! Okay so apparently I am supposed to tell you all about 4 things that I recommend and seeing as I have spent my last year in Paris I thought I'd give it a Paris theme. So here are my "words of mouth" #1 Best Cafe: La Fourmi It's in Pigalle and has a super eclectic funky vibe and the best Chevre Salad that I have ever tasted. I go there at least twice a month for that alone! #2 Best Dinner: L'Ile de Vache It leaterally means the island of cows because it is refering to when Ile St. Louis (where it is) was a farming community to Ile de la Cite, where Notre Dame is and where the original city was largely concentrated. It's expensive 50 Euros a person plus wine, but it is AMAZING! French food without the snottyness associated with it. The best part though is the chocolate mousse, I swear it is so good it should have its own religion! #3 Best off the track tourist dest...

I know I haven't been able to blog in a while and I am sorry, but my cousin is in town and I have been spending some time with her and between that and working I have been busy. Bad excuse, I know! But seriously things lately have been pretty slow, which I cannot complain about. I have had enough drama for the time being! With that said however one very scary thing happened on Friday night. It didn't happen to me and I was not there, but I was supposed to be and that simultaneously makes me feel guilty and relieved. My cousins W (20 yrs old) and A (19) went to a club here in Paris, it was a club that A has been to a few times before (she lives here too) as far as I know everything was fine in the club but they didn't like the music so they decided to leave a little after midnight. After exiting the club they had to walk through a group of guys to leave and A passed through fine, but they all grabbed W and started molesting her, like ACTUALLY MOLESTING HER! Right on the stre...

I was lucky enough to have TWO cousins (C and W) in town over the weekend! It was great I love my cousins! One is actually still here and will be for about another two weeks! YAY! We of course did a lot of the touristy stuff that me and my other cousin A (who lives here as well) are sick of. I have a very close family and we all have a very similar sense of humor and so this past weekend was just so funny! Yay cousin bonding! I have had a couple people (both bloggers and non-bloggers) ask me what I did to bring about my change in outlook and the truth is that I just made a choice to look at the positive. It was as simple as that. I know now that I have it pretty good and I can enjoy all that I HAVE or lament the things that I want or the things that are going wrong. I was diagnosed with a pretty serious case of depression when I was about 12. It's something that I struggle with. I have never been on medication and I am not in any form of regular treatment. In the past 14...

It's funny I check people's blogs religiously every day and I am somewhat dissapointed when someone hasn't updated in a few days... and then I realize that I AM that someone! So here's what's new with me: I'M BACK! Ha that's right folks Odette the whiner is gone and the real Odette is back. The one who always looks for that silver lining and is quick to point out the bright side! Yup that's me! I am still not at 100% positivity (eg yesterday I appologized to le Boyfriend for not being pretty) but hey Paris hasn't pushed me so far down I can't get back out! I have once again turned into the girl that smiles and says "bonjour" at the people that make eye-contact with her on the street, that runs after someone who has dropped something, that smiles when she sees a baby laugh or an old man give his arm to his wife to help her cross the street, the person who looks at the world and doesn't see the means to an end, but an endless num...

I know that many of us do it, we associate songs with people. In my life almost everyone has a song and because I am feeling sentimental today I want to list my "people playlist" Here goes: My Bro - "Middle of Nowhere" Hot Hot Heat le Boyfriend - "Bless the Broken Road" Rascal Flatts My first ex R - "Since you've Been Gone" Kelly Clarkson The Ex that followed shortly after J - "Tonight I Wanna Cry" Keith Urban The Ex that broke up with me because a friend betrayed me M-"The Winner Takes it All" ABBA That "friend" L who betrayed me - "Not Ready to Make Nice" Dixie Chicks The Ex who was in the Army and so cute but SOOO wrong for me D - "Irreplaceable" Beyonce Boy # 1 from last summer A - "Bleed it Out" Linkin Park Boy # 3 from last summer J - "Big Girls Don't Cry" Fergie My little cousin H - "Hey Ladies" Beastie Boys My little cousin A - "She's a Rebel...

Okay I know that I've begged and pleaded before about my need for assistance in finding a job, but this time I have REALLY done some work and I am on my way to finding a PAID internship sponsored by the Canadian Government, but I need a resume. I cannot for the life of me come up with a decent resume. I know that you can hire people to do your resume for you, but where do you find these wizards? How do you know if they're good? Seriously I need to get this all figured out so that I can actually get my life back on track, so any help would be much appreciated! Thanks! P.S. Cruise pics etc are up on my Travel Blog .

So life has been interesting lately... Le boyfriend and I got in two actual fights (stress, she's a powerful beast) Mme Renard has now made a habit of calling me and yelling at me after I leave work every day. My cousin A, who lives in Paris with me has Celiac's Disease (I don't know how to spell that)and is going home soon. Baby R has started talking! (he says "chat" which means cat... unfortunately he seems to think that dogs are cats...) It has been HOT like 29 degrees C (about 90 degrees F) and it's only May! I have changed jobs AGAIN within the tour company and am now their Expansion and Sales Manager. I feel like all I ever do on this blog is bitch and whine and I feel badly about that. My life sadly is not that interesting and I do not have much else to write. Plus I don't really like talking too much about my feelings etc in real life and I find it easier to write stuff down rather than verbalize it! I am going to get around to blogging about the c...

Okay so first of all my vacation was AMAZING! But I am not going to blog about that today. Today I am going to blog about a weird thing that happened to me while riding the metro to le boyfriend's house. However I must give you a little background before I explain it. My cousin P died about 5 years ago tragically of cancer. She was in her late 30's and was probably one of the single biggest role models I have had in my life (although she never knew it, I was always a little bit intimidated to talk to her because I held her in such high regard.) The cancer was diagnosed about a month after her wedding and she died almost a year to the day later. I still remember the exact moment I found out that she died. Anyway I could write a novel about all the things that made her great, but I am not going to because even after I wrote the novel you still wouldn't have an idea of the person she was. (I could say the same about almost anyone in my family dead or alive. As I have mentioned...

I'm in Barcelona! Yup that's right I am blogging from the comfort of my hotel lobby. Le boyfriend and I are leaving for our cruise tomorrow and so today we're just taking it easy and gearing up for our much needed vacation. Anyway I just wanted to say have a good week and I'll blog when I get back!

Yes that's right out of many submissions my little fur ball Harley got picked to be a top 3 finalist in Hallie 's Cutest Pet Contest. I couldn't believe it! He got his furry little butt kicked by an ADORABLE puppy, but he still was a finalist and I couldn't be happier. It has been a hard year away from my little fur monster, but I know that his Grandma and Grandpa are taking really good care of him in my stead. In other news, my stress level has gone down significantly from my last post. I am on holidays and am taking a break from my nanny job and that is doing me a world of good! Yay!