Step 1: Finally decide that it's time to start the 3-4 loads of laundry just begging for attention. Teaching in the nude is frowned upon up North, you see.
Step 2: Realize that washer will not turn on. Pull washer away from wall (approximate time required: 8 minutes. Approximate weight of 1970s washing machine: 8 tonnes, give or take 1 elephant).
Step 3: Fiddle with wires, and hookups, and widgets and gadgets. Try to feel like you have some semblance of an idea what all of said widgets do.
Step 4: Contortionist/trapeze act to get out from behind washing machine. Put washing machine in its rightful place. Clean floor from brown goo that has appeared during above steps.
Step 5: Fiddle with buttons. Oh, it works! Success. Or so one would think.
Step 6: Laundry complete. Remove, insert into dryer.
Step 7: Press GO button on dryer. There will be no public nudity or smelliness tomorrow!
Step 8: Halt victory celebrations and festivities. Dryer doesn't want to work.
Step 9: Yank dryer off of wall. Oooh, delightfully lighter than washer.
Step 10: Realize thingees cannot be accessed without moving 8 pound washing machine. Repeat Step 2.
Step 10: Realize during the washing machine battle, metal shiny thingamabob came unhooked. Re-hook it.
Step 11: Realize that the shifting of the washing machine and dryer has subsequently trapped me behind them.
Step 12: Take 5 minutes attempting to squeeze through and jimmy machinery.
Step 13: Attempt to crawl over. Failure.
Step 14: Jump. Success!
Things learned in 24 hours: washing machines from the rock ages are heavy.
Also learned: citronnella candles are apparently only for outdoor use. I am not a mosquito.
Ok, I'm in love with several apps (weather! ski trails! Timmy's GPS!) but the one that I find the most amusing is my Cree Language app. That;s right. My iPod is loaded with translator, syllabics converter, and syllabics chart. How cool is that?
Boxes, boxes, boxes!
I've been unpacking since Thursday evening; some end is finally in sight. That is, until the boxes I shipped arrive in the next few weeks.
The walls are too bland and white for my taste. I suppose this is something I will just have to deal with.
Went wandering to try out my new snowshoes today, since it was my favorite type of day: sunny, -10, wintery.
I actually get 2 TV channels. One of which is CBC, so I'm popping popcorn (microwave miraculously came back to life...), and getting ready to watch hockey.
Ok, ok, so as hard as leaving is (I didn't cry this time! Progress!) I'm actually rather glad to be back in Waskaganish. Miiight be heading out Monday for a week in Ottawa/North Bay/Mtl. Trying to get out of it to work on... well, work, but if not, c'est pas la fin du monde.
Slept til 1:48 PM. Travelling by plane, even without a time zone difference, kills me.
Goodnight, cyberspace
Oh, what a sketchy airplane. If you don't believe me, google image search: interior, beech 1900. They actually, after the 2nd stop, made all of us in the back get up and sit in the front to balance out the weight, as the luggage is in the back end, much like a car trunk.
The reason for this post: when you come in to land at the Chibougamou-Chapais airport, there are many lakes. One lake caught my eye because: there is an island in the EXACT shape of a Goldfish cracker. Seriously, this is the sort of thing I think about.
I wish I'd taken a picture of the fish island.
My keys (which I lost in the bathroom of the Granby mall yesterday) turned up at security today. I won't have to break & enter my own home on Thursday afternoon.
It seems weird to think I'll be skiing Wednesday night, and at pottery in Wask on Thursday night. I've gotten used to it being a day, day and a half trek to get from Here to There (or vice versa), that makes flying direct feel a little surreal.
I probably won't be home until Easter/Goose Break, ergo 3.5 months. Trying to stock up on fun, skiing, and essential items. I've discovered you can pretty much order anything online through Amazon... if only I could get a credit card, alas.
Not taking my skis... but hoping to get in a few days of skiing during the ski trip if all works out... debating having my skis shipped by Canada Post later this winter. We all know by now that, regardless if I'm up North or in Shefford, Canada Post has a personal vendetta against me, and are hellbent on losing/near destroying 3/4ths of my mail. I find it more comical and funny than anything at this point...
Bed time.
First blog post of 2011.
I love a new year, in its first days. It's all shiny, and new, full of unknown.
What will happen? Will I lose my car keys, and house keys for both North and South? Wait, I already did that today at the mall...
Not much to report. Much shopping, all has been shipped North. When it arrives, I'll post pictures of my new favorite decoration items.
I swapped in the giant Eiffel Tower for a more transportable reasonable one.
Not that, of course, a giant metal Eiffel Tower is ever either of those criteria, I suppose.
A few last days of freedom from work and stress.
Not that getting everything ready to head back, and fretting over term 2 marks is relaxing.
I'm fine with going back to Waskaganish for another 4 month stretch... I do, however, have a ball of stress and dread whenever I think of work, teaching, math, etc. Reading facebook statuses assures me that other teacher friends are living a similar heartattack waiting to happen...
