Antique Shopping: Vineland + Jordan Village

Is my conscience required to stay?

So I scheduled the whole weekend to tackle my assignments, knowing it'd be time consuming (resume revamping, writing about strengths, weaknesses, threats, opportunities, a bio, character sketch, and an elevator pitch!) and naturally, I decided cooking and baking was a more pressing matter. Honestly, the best times to invite yourself over is when I'm avoiding something (which is often. and most likely assignments).

So what churned out of my kitchen over the weekend? Roasted sweet potato wedges,banana bread with cream cheese icing (my favourite so far), and some comfort food. No, not cut up hotdogs with ketchup! Much more sophisticated than that, thank you very much. Good ol' hamburger beef chunks marinated in Diana bbq and hot wing sauce. The sophisticated part being the caramelized onions. Heehee- And don't you dare judge me! I know you'll bring up my previous post about eating healthy, but clearly, you can see the huge bowl of salad that accompanied the beef! Clearly. I think I'm being extra beastly with my meat intake these days because I suspect major changes to come after reading Foer's Eating Animals. It honestly scares me to think that I will potentially quit not just meat, but also dairy products. But we'll see; I might be giving myself more credit and willpower than I'll actually be able to exercise. But back to the banana bread. The recipe I tried in the past was good but very dense. This one is more of a coffee/tea type of bread and it's round and shorter so there's more crunchy crusts to go around!

We've also had Korean lettuce-meat-wrap two nights in a row. This restaurant at Warden and Lawrence called Makkal Chon is affordable, the portions are generous, and just look at the vegetable variety! I love soft cabbage.

Went on a second mini antique road trip with Jules and it sucked! Since I know that nobody from Hamilton reads this blog, I'll just come out and say it—I didn't much like it there! However, we drove through a neighbourhood that's similar to our fancy schmancy Bridlepath 'hood, but with more character and beauty. Will post photos up another time...along with the promised pictures from the first trip.

The dogre and I also had a heated argument (one sided...me) when we got back. Basically, the property manager of this unit finally (I lost count of the number of viewings, mostly because they started doing open house!) scored a future tenant but then emailed the dogre late at night to tell us that they would be coming in the next morning to take measurements of the place. Well, I'm almost certain this is illegal. They had the right to do showings to acquire tenants and they have access to enter for maintenance/fix-ups; but they definitely can't just stroll in during our time, for which we paid for, to allow the upcoming tenant to take measurements! So I took issue with how it was legally wrong, and at the very least inconsiderately last minute, but I also took issue with the fact that the dogre was quick to bend over and take it. Especially when it was inconveniencing me as he wouldn't be home. I got into a whole schpew about principles and him not considering my viewpoints and our general lack of assertiveness with these kinds of things. It all boiled down to selecting the road with the least hiccups and ass-paining, as well as not wanting to add another item on his plate (which I wholeheartedly admitted was large and I've been trying to ease). Why am I telling you this? No clue...Just making conversation, you know? Geez. Maybe I'm documenting this to remind ourselves to be better to our own tenants, should we decide to go down that route. Or, maybe it's because I'm such a gossip that I've even resorted to airing out our own "dirty laundry" to friends and strangers alike. But most likely, it's to use as ammunition for a future spat! Hehe. Who knows. In any case, you're here reading it, so you're no better!

Oh, and I wasn't completely unproductive over the weekend—my resume now (barely) fits onto one page! Hoorah- It's actually very intimidating to draft a resume as an aspiring Graphic Designer...Have you seen samples!? Look here. And here.

By the by, most of my titles are pulled from songs. This one, which I really like, is from Baby Now by Nichole Alden, used here:

Bullet proof vests are like hugs!

Had dinner at Banjara (over by Christie Pitts) with friends last night and then shamelessly gobbled up my leftovers just before passing out on the sofa (seriously knocked out. drool everywhere). Guess what I learned? Indian food gives me crazy nightmares. I woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, took forever to fall back asleep, and startled yet again after another nightmare! Oh, and the dogre did little to comfort. Jerk. So new rule: no indian cuisine after nine o'clock. That face over there sums up how I felt.

We've been very busy creating box towers all over our home and visiting the dogre's parents' house to assist with the cleaning before they list next week. This is a snapshot of the attic at Prudhommes Antique Market but is very similar to how cluttered their house is. After twelve years, they've amassed many antiques, artwork, and more cups and plates than the five-storied antique shop holds!

We're off to see our lawyer now to empty out our whole bank account and then head uptown to help out some more. The weather in Toronto is super-duper lovely today, so I'm hoping to squeeze in some evening cycling!

i'm jealous of my tooth.

Mon friends, I can proudly write that I didn't soil myself on Friday. On Thursday night, I was filled with anticipation, wondering what it'd feel like to be drugged. The instruction package advised that the effects would hit me within moments of taking the valium so I nervously popped 10mg in after tucking myself into bed, while my seastar played "soothing" (crickets) soundclips from Youtube and refilled the humidifier. I fell asleep disappointed. At five, I got up to take 5mg and felt nothing. At ten, I took some other type of magical pills and groggily stumbled to my appointment! In the waiting room, I tried to describe to the dogre how my feet and bum were weighed by heavy sandbags and was quickly preoccupied with the realization that my husband had 2 sets of eyes. After that, my memory started to get hazy. 

I recall waving goodbye and flashes of the following: faces peering, requests to open my mouth, commands to open it wider, sipping on Gatorade and lifting my tongue to swallow more (crushed) pills. I also remember a snug blue blanket they mummified me in, and naughtily sneaking out an appendage from time to time, only to be gently reprimanded. It took six hours and even though I was heavily drugged, the procedure still felt long. I can't even remember the dogre collecting me, or the wheelchair ride home. I do know I puked clear green Gatorade in the elevator among strangers and then that's it. I blacked out until Saturday morning, waking in a fit of panic because I thought I was late for my appointment! I was in total disbelief when the dogre told me it was done.

So, that was a bizarre thirty-six hours of my life. Oh, I also randomly cried one tear, asked the dogre to slap my face, chatted about a Korean celebrity, passed out (seriously, like, head rolling backwards) mid-meals, accused him of being stingy with the food portions, commanded that the laptop be brought to me so that I could move the mouse cursor a half millimeter there, a quarter millimeter here, and spoke a whole new language of gibberish. I'm very happy that everything was documented on video because the clips really got me giggling. Also? My heart got all gooey warm, seeing how the dogre had taken such great care of me. He even missed a shift (the first ever! he's a very good employee). I know no one's keeping score but I'm fairly certain that my husband is better than yours! Then again, he did feed me expired KD and hotdog bits. And the pasta was whole wheat (let's gasp in unison).

Looking forward to the follow-up appointment tomorrow, as the tooth needs some serious polishing; the surface is uncomfortably jagged. They also need to readjust my nightguard and fix the bite. I really, really hope the infection didn't spread elsewhere but I have a nagging feeling that my toothache woes aren't over just yet. They never are! So, enough about me, how have you been?

You don't need to talk, you say? Would rather continue to hear my sweet, angelic voice, you say? Well, my cousin—we'll call her Jules since she handcrafts jewelry—and I went out to Vineland and Jordan for some serious antique shopping. I have a ton of photos to share but will show you my one and only purchase for now.

Neat, right? Got it at Vineland Antiques Etc.  Jules bought a few jewelry pieces and a very tasty jar of jalapeno jam preserves. The whole "downtown" strip in Jordan was just so lush and peaceful. We lunched at Zooma Zooma and then visited a few art galleries—Jules took genuine interest in each piece while I pretended to care.

The weekend was mostly spent with the dogre's family, helping his parents prepare for next week's garage sale. Also visited Teaopia at Don Mills and Lawrence with Shoe (clearly, this isn't her actual name! her dad used to call us Gum and Shoe because we were always together. although, I resent the fact that I was the gum...). Had the Dublin Cream (ceylon black tea, whole roasted coffee beans, and jasmine petals), which was very delicious, and took home a tin of Caramelissimo (ceylon black tea with bits of caramel, hazelnut brittle, and biscuit pieces). Oh, and before I forget again (I was still under the influence of the drugs into Sunday afternoon), thank you for the thoughtful butternut squash soup, Finn!

Since this post is (surprisingly) all about me and more specifically, my health ailments, you should know that my toe (recall When Panda Mugs Attack) is not healing well. And I still really hate homework (random but true). To stay positive, I've been dreaming of decorating (countdown: 12 days!) and indulging in some wanderlusting. My seastar is abandoning me with her man-dogress for an international teaching post in Korea, while another friend will be flying off to Sussex for her doctorate. Me? I'm just floating about in the Shanghai sky, courtesy of Garance Dore.
I'm also overly optimistic that we'll have the opportunity to visit them within the next couple of years. You know what? The combination of all those pills really took the edge off and resulted in a more pleasant, amicable, and sociable dogress. But don't worry, I'm back to my cranky self.