important public service announcement...

we've put this off for a long time but it needs to be said.

matti and i are no longer.

no, neither of us strayed. it was not something matti did, it was not something i did. but it is something that was bound to happen and we're better off for recognizing it now as opposed to 2 years, a marriage, and a bunch of complicated paperwork later.

while we continue to be the closest of friends who share a love for each other, there will be no wedding and the house will likely be put up for sale in the spring.

yes, it is a difficult time and we're both hurting but we thank and love all of our friends and family who have been and continue to be so supportive.

hugs to all...

31

happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!
happy birthday, dear matti,
happy birthday to you!!!

(and marko too!)

postponed...

the wedding of matti and tami has been postponed.

they say that timing is everything and the timing just isn't right for us, right now.

thanks for your understanding...

best birthday wishes to...

emma! yea!

it's only 4 days, what could happen?

so i have been back to work for 4 days and arrived again in oshawa to see how my mother was doing.

her incision is now infected and leaking and she is borderline pneumonnia with a fever, nasty cough, and a pile of fluid in her lungs. she was FINE when i left late monday night. i am not impressed.

people, a little bit of care goes a long way. remember that.

change is good...

okay, so anyone who knows me, knows that i like change. i like moving. i like new places. i like new people. i like new things.

i also like new cars. so... i got me one. zoom zoom baby:


a 2006 mazda3 GT with gfx and luxury packages. in carbon grey mica. with black leather heated seats. oh yeah. it's hot. and it corners like it's on rails...

emma, this one is for you...

so, the last night mom is at the hospital, i am leaving when i am stalked and attacked and repeatedly dive-bombed by none other than one evil june bug. i *hate* june bugs. i would rather sit in a vat of scorpions and play with a komodo dragon before being touched by a june bug.

as i'm walking across the parking lot, i hear the evil yet familiar buzz wizz by my ear. then again. then i feel it land. in my hair. after spastically thrashing about and shaking my head, i run like hell and jump into the car. cue in horror flick scene with chick heavy breathing in car and looking all around while locking the doors and getting the hell out of there.

as i start home on my merry way on the 401, i hear it again. IN MY CAR. the goddamn thing attached itself to me while i jumped into my car and WAITED until i was on the highway to start torturing me again. it starts buzzing around the backseat and i am terrified. i know it sounds ridiculous, but i seriously have a death fear of june bugs.

so i am opening windows and using cds to shoosh the offender out of the window and weaving all through traffic damn near killing myself over some stupid evil little insect that when you squish it, it leaks a greeny yellow puss everywhere. what a disgusting little creature.

i tear home, freaking the whole time, and run into the house. what do i get to kill the damn thing? jonathan. the great defender of tami and emma in times of june bug invasion.

(for everyone else, when emma and i were living in whitby, every summer during "the invasion," jonathan would save the day by rolling up a huge wad of newspaper and smashing the hell out of them. usually, we would hear "bug. smash smash smash. dead." while we hid in the basement.)

so jonathan came out, flicked the thing on the pavement, and crushed it into oblivion. god i hate those damn things so much.

on other notes, the hospital decided that giving everyone rotting vegetables wasn't enough so the floor got expired milk with dinner that night. imagine the fun that has been. but mom is home now and getting better every single day. she is even doing her physio without being pushed, so i am pleased.

HAPPY CANADA DAY! while i would much rather be in ottawa drinking a box of beer on a patio somewhere and enjoying all of the outdoor concerts, i am in da shwa. but alas, it is for a good cause. so instead, i am wearing underwear that says "100% canadian" and since i left my awesome new canada hat at home, that's about that.

emma and oliver arrive tomorrow and i can't wait to meet him! yea!

gestapo alive and well at ajax-pickering hospital...

so i am awoken by a phone call and my mother crying on the other end because one of the nurses had hurt her so bad, she thought her hip had been dislocated. as anyone with a heart would, i went flying down to the hospital. when i got there, mom was getting ready for a shower. then my mother seized up, started shaking, and grabbing for me. why? because the nazi nurse had arrived once again to take my mother for her shower. i asked if she was the one, which my mother confirmed.

so i said to the nazi, "are you the one who almost dislocated my mother's hip?" to which she replies, "no, i merely placed her on the bed. your mother wasn't following directions."

me: "my mother has been here for 5 days. EVERY nurse has been extremely gentle at getting her in and out of the bed. you picked her legs up, dropped them on the bed, while yelling at her to drop her head? then you picked her legs up again and dropped them?"

to which the bitch starts saying that no, she merely told my mother to lie down. my mother disputed that and the nazi nurse started to actually yell at my mother. yelling at a patient? are you kidding me? i have been at the hospital for hours on end helping my mother and watching the other nurses help her. getting in and out of bed is a very difficult, slow, and painful process. there is a way to do it and everyone is aware of that. it's a rehab ward for crying out loud. this isn't new.

i asked the nurse what her name was. she didn't hear me the first time because she was still yelling at my mother in her wheelchair so i asked a little louder. she told me. i said through gritted teeth and blazing eyes,

"lynn, get your hands off my mother right now and leave this room. you are not to touch her again, do you understand me? heaven help you if i find you in here again."

so nazi nurse says something to the effect of, not hurting her and my mom not following directions, yadda yadda yadda. and then, get this, says she knows how my mother feels. i asked her how that was at all possible. she says, because she had the surgery herself.

me: "you had this surgery and you still treat people like this? that makes you even more disgusting. now get out of here and don't come back without your manager."

unreal.

later we heard her arguing with another patient down the hall who was also threatening to file a complaint.

halton, a good buddy of my brother's, has been visiting his grandpa who had the same operation and is a couple of doors down from my mom. apparently nazi nurse also tossed him around a bit. his grandmother is also quite upset.

at least the other nurses are totally fabulous.

today's update: last night's dinner had a certain food item which had been frozen, thawed, frozen, thawed, and then served. the entire ward is now extremely ill. is it just me, or should food made for patients in health care institutions be better prepared? getting food poisoning while in a hospital on a floor with 2 nurses and 25 people who are wheelchair-ridden is completely unacceptable. if you ever have to go to a hospital for an operation, regardless of what it is or how long of a wait period you will face, do NOT go to ajax-pickering. your life will depend on it.

if they don't kill or maim her first, mom should be coming home tomorrow.