Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue
Broken hearts are being unbroken
Bitter words are being unspoken
The curse undone, the veil is parted
The garden gate will be left unguarded
Could you believe that everything sad is coming untrue?
Goodness. It's high time I updated this blog. It's high time I started blogging more again. I've been realizing that this sort of writing helps me to know myself, and I could really use some of that these days now that I'm morphing into... No, don't make me say it! An adult.
Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.
It's the insurance. Paul said he remembers watching his Mom struggling with insurance forms when he was a kid and instinctively knowing they were going to be his least favourite part of being an adult. I have to admit, for me, they probably rank somewhere between general nausea and vomiting on my dislike scale.
Things that have happened since my last post have been numerous to the extreme. I tried pointforming, but I just don't do that. So here's the novella.
I purchased a second two-drawer filing cabinet and completely refiled both of our lives into four drawers and a couple of permanent storage boxes in preparation for taxes. I'm not sure if I should be horrified by the fact that this was one of the most relaxing things I did in the month of March? We are getting our new accountant to do bookkeeping for us from last year. I don't know how much it cost us yet, but I do know it was utterly worth it. Taxes for 2010 are pretty crazy, but tomorrow we sign the documents and they're done.
I put up my first completely public art show at Calories. I've already had one call for more information on purchasing a custom piece, and I'm not sure if anything there has sold yet, but people have been admiring the pieces a great deal! The satisfaction of getting all those prints in the mail and seeing just how utterly beautiful they all are has been wonderful. Coming to Saskatoon to take it down will involve checking to see if anyone's signed the guestbook, which I would be happy if there were just two comments, and I'm hoping for more!
I've made plans to go to New York with Paul, a trip that's coming up in just three weeks. I am SO excited to go to New York again, I loved it so much the first time when I was jetlagged and tired out of my mind. This time with a nice relaxing trip, I should be even more excited. Paul: "It's so awesome that I'm going to New York with someone who thinks getting lost on the subway is fun!" Paul and I also have plans to go to B.C. to visit Janta when she comes back from Britain to visit family, and I am officially registered for Image Explorations this year.
Biggest news. One day in early March, Paul and I were very tired. I had a chiropractor appointment, and I was about to cancel it, but Paul said if he drove, maybe we could go. I remember thinking that I probably shouldn't be letting him drive when he was that tired. Too bad I didn't listen to that very small voice. At one of Edmonton's ridiculous nonsense intersections, we ended up having a medium-sized front-end collision with an SUV. And then when we started the insurance claims, we were told that they probably wouldn't cover us. Paul got an email from the adjuster a few days later saying she was "recommending that the claim be denied." And then she was out of the office for almost two weeks. We were devastated at contemplating the financial ruin of paying for the repairs on the other car, purchasing a new car and private insurance (after a recent accident), covering the $500 salvage yard and towing costs - all of which could, worst case scenario, have added up to nearly a year's wages and put us back ten years for debt load. We cried a lot, and argued about little things a couple of times, which is serious for us because we so rarely fight about anything. It was stressful.
Paul managed to get a decent and flexible job almost immediately, which he has kept, working in a private home with a young girl with disabilities. He likes it, and it will be good for his resume. I interviewed for a job that I did not get, thankfully. My business is starting to get too busy to make into a part-time affair. I was downright horrified of the idea of getting another job.
After a great deal of research in just a couple of days after the accident we bought a car from a Hyundai dealership, a beautiful electric blue Mazda 3 Hatch, same color and year as our old Hyundai sedan. It's sporty and every time I drive in it it makes me ridiculously happy. The stereo is tripped out with tweeters, there's a sunroof, it has pickup like no car I've ever had, and officially, it's my second car. I kind of inherited Paul's, but it never quite seemed like mine the way this one does. But all this was dampened by the insurance. The car? $10,000. The insurance to insure it for one year? $6,000. And that was a good offer - another company simply refused us.
Privatization is evil. Long live government corporations.
It was around this time we had an Afternoon Tea party, and we really enjoyed it - it helped make us feel like the world was a brighter place. A couple of the girls even bought us flowers, which was really sweet of them. We're starting to develop solid relationships with Paul's fellow students here, and another couple recommended to us from a friend as well. I'm also enjoying getting to know Paul's family - they're all awesome, especially including his sister and brother in law who are living here in Edmonton with us. It's getting less lonely here - partly because we're learning to make the effort to contact folks back in Saskatoon, and partly because we're making an effort here, too.
But back to the car stuff.
Then one day just last week, Paul came in to wake me up in the morning saying he'd gotten a call from SGI. Our claim was overturned at a high level of management - they are covering us now. Ten years of financial burdens off our backs in one phonecall - a lot of people were praying for us. We even managed to get the gentleman who we'd sold our car to (it was costing us $40 a day to keep it at the lot, and we couldn't afford that - plus we thought it was ours to sell back then) to sell it back to us for SGI to appraise it. Plus, my chiropractic care, and probably some massage therapy which I am heartily looking forward to, will also be covered. Crisis averted by the grace of God.
I wrote the first poem I have thought publishable (even on a blog) in some time. I'm back to writing poetry a bit more often these days. Not much of it has been very good, but keeping poetry on the brain can lead to some good stuff. I've been discovering some excellent new music lately, the best of which has been Jason Gray, thanks to Edmonton's fantastic Christian Music radio station, Shine FM.
On other creative notes, I designed photobooks for our Engagement process and PEI Honeymoon. And I finally got around to putting together the Wedding Guestbook, which I adore. Thanks to a piece of garbage matboard from Michael's framing department and a few lovely bits from a scrapbooking store in St. Albert, it turned out gorgeous! This is how I've been taking time for myself in the midst of all this insurance and whatnot.
Here they are, enjoy:
The quality of my photography has really, really gone up a notch. That new lens I bought and my constant professional development research and self-examination have all paid off. Also, I finally caved and got a paid gallery that thousands of other photographers swear by. It's going to be SO worth it for the amount of time it will save me, and for the fact that it really showcases my work well. I had to compile ALL my former work onto it, and it only took me about two days, including re-sorting everything. You can check it out here. To see what I mean about the quality of my photography going up, check out some of the newest albums of my work at the top of the second section. I am SO happy with everything. I've also just started experimenting with light, un-compromising textures. I used to think I'd never do textures, but I've found a couple I'm really happy with using for photos with a lot of background of the same color to jazz them up a little.
Last weekend on Friday morning I was pumping the tunes in the new car to sunlight streaming in the sunroof and thinking, "Man, what a great weekend for a road trip!" So when I got home I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Calgary just for a day, and he thought it was a good idea, so off we went. The forecast said it was going to be warm with a chance of snow. We'd been on the road for half an hour when we got calls from both Paul's sets of Aunts and Uncles with the weather warning for a blizzard. The rain turned into snow just as we got in, and there was something like 8-10 inches of snow overnight and the next morning. Crazyness. Despite that, we were able to spend time with 3 of 4 sets of relatives in Calgary, and it looks like we'll be back there in mid-May for the official housewarming of the house we stayed in - two of Paul's cousins just upgraded to a life-long house, and a lovely house it is. We were their first official houseguests, and it was lovely to talk with them.
I am madly trying to get all the stuff ready for what I expect to be a huge increase in business in May when we get back from our trips back home to Saskatoon and then to NYC. And I'm going to try and start blogging more here again.
So, Canadians. How 'bout that election? Currently we have a female MP in our riding here, which is pretty cool.
Bitter words are being unspoken
The curse undone, the veil is parted
The garden gate will be left unguarded
Could you believe that everything sad is coming untrue?
Goodness. It's high time I updated this blog. It's high time I started blogging more again. I've been realizing that this sort of writing helps me to know myself, and I could really use some of that these days now that I'm morphing into... No, don't make me say it! An adult.
Shhhh. Don't tell anyone.
It's the insurance. Paul said he remembers watching his Mom struggling with insurance forms when he was a kid and instinctively knowing they were going to be his least favourite part of being an adult. I have to admit, for me, they probably rank somewhere between general nausea and vomiting on my dislike scale.
Things that have happened since my last post have been numerous to the extreme. I tried pointforming, but I just don't do that. So here's the novella.
I purchased a second two-drawer filing cabinet and completely refiled both of our lives into four drawers and a couple of permanent storage boxes in preparation for taxes. I'm not sure if I should be horrified by the fact that this was one of the most relaxing things I did in the month of March? We are getting our new accountant to do bookkeeping for us from last year. I don't know how much it cost us yet, but I do know it was utterly worth it. Taxes for 2010 are pretty crazy, but tomorrow we sign the documents and they're done.
I put up my first completely public art show at Calories. I've already had one call for more information on purchasing a custom piece, and I'm not sure if anything there has sold yet, but people have been admiring the pieces a great deal! The satisfaction of getting all those prints in the mail and seeing just how utterly beautiful they all are has been wonderful. Coming to Saskatoon to take it down will involve checking to see if anyone's signed the guestbook, which I would be happy if there were just two comments, and I'm hoping for more!
I've made plans to go to New York with Paul, a trip that's coming up in just three weeks. I am SO excited to go to New York again, I loved it so much the first time when I was jetlagged and tired out of my mind. This time with a nice relaxing trip, I should be even more excited. Paul: "It's so awesome that I'm going to New York with someone who thinks getting lost on the subway is fun!" Paul and I also have plans to go to B.C. to visit Janta when she comes back from Britain to visit family, and I am officially registered for Image Explorations this year.
Biggest news. One day in early March, Paul and I were very tired. I had a chiropractor appointment, and I was about to cancel it, but Paul said if he drove, maybe we could go. I remember thinking that I probably shouldn't be letting him drive when he was that tired. Too bad I didn't listen to that very small voice. At one of Edmonton's ridiculous nonsense intersections, we ended up having a medium-sized front-end collision with an SUV. And then when we started the insurance claims, we were told that they probably wouldn't cover us. Paul got an email from the adjuster a few days later saying she was "recommending that the claim be denied." And then she was out of the office for almost two weeks. We were devastated at contemplating the financial ruin of paying for the repairs on the other car, purchasing a new car and private insurance (after a recent accident), covering the $500 salvage yard and towing costs - all of which could, worst case scenario, have added up to nearly a year's wages and put us back ten years for debt load. We cried a lot, and argued about little things a couple of times, which is serious for us because we so rarely fight about anything. It was stressful.
Paul managed to get a decent and flexible job almost immediately, which he has kept, working in a private home with a young girl with disabilities. He likes it, and it will be good for his resume. I interviewed for a job that I did not get, thankfully. My business is starting to get too busy to make into a part-time affair. I was downright horrified of the idea of getting another job.
After a great deal of research in just a couple of days after the accident we bought a car from a Hyundai dealership, a beautiful electric blue Mazda 3 Hatch, same color and year as our old Hyundai sedan. It's sporty and every time I drive in it it makes me ridiculously happy. The stereo is tripped out with tweeters, there's a sunroof, it has pickup like no car I've ever had, and officially, it's my second car. I kind of inherited Paul's, but it never quite seemed like mine the way this one does. But all this was dampened by the insurance. The car? $10,000. The insurance to insure it for one year? $6,000. And that was a good offer - another company simply refused us.
Privatization is evil. Long live government corporations.
It was around this time we had an Afternoon Tea party, and we really enjoyed it - it helped make us feel like the world was a brighter place. A couple of the girls even bought us flowers, which was really sweet of them. We're starting to develop solid relationships with Paul's fellow students here, and another couple recommended to us from a friend as well. I'm also enjoying getting to know Paul's family - they're all awesome, especially including his sister and brother in law who are living here in Edmonton with us. It's getting less lonely here - partly because we're learning to make the effort to contact folks back in Saskatoon, and partly because we're making an effort here, too.
But back to the car stuff.
Then one day just last week, Paul came in to wake me up in the morning saying he'd gotten a call from SGI. Our claim was overturned at a high level of management - they are covering us now. Ten years of financial burdens off our backs in one phonecall - a lot of people were praying for us. We even managed to get the gentleman who we'd sold our car to (it was costing us $40 a day to keep it at the lot, and we couldn't afford that - plus we thought it was ours to sell back then) to sell it back to us for SGI to appraise it. Plus, my chiropractic care, and probably some massage therapy which I am heartily looking forward to, will also be covered. Crisis averted by the grace of God.
I wrote the first poem I have thought publishable (even on a blog) in some time. I'm back to writing poetry a bit more often these days. Not much of it has been very good, but keeping poetry on the brain can lead to some good stuff. I've been discovering some excellent new music lately, the best of which has been Jason Gray, thanks to Edmonton's fantastic Christian Music radio station, Shine FM.
On other creative notes, I designed photobooks for our Engagement process and PEI Honeymoon. And I finally got around to putting together the Wedding Guestbook, which I adore. Thanks to a piece of garbage matboard from Michael's framing department and a few lovely bits from a scrapbooking store in St. Albert, it turned out gorgeous! This is how I've been taking time for myself in the midst of all this insurance and whatnot.
Here they are, enjoy:
The quality of my photography has really, really gone up a notch. That new lens I bought and my constant professional development research and self-examination have all paid off. Also, I finally caved and got a paid gallery that thousands of other photographers swear by. It's going to be SO worth it for the amount of time it will save me, and for the fact that it really showcases my work well. I had to compile ALL my former work onto it, and it only took me about two days, including re-sorting everything. You can check it out here. To see what I mean about the quality of my photography going up, check out some of the newest albums of my work at the top of the second section. I am SO happy with everything. I've also just started experimenting with light, un-compromising textures. I used to think I'd never do textures, but I've found a couple I'm really happy with using for photos with a lot of background of the same color to jazz them up a little.
Last weekend on Friday morning I was pumping the tunes in the new car to sunlight streaming in the sunroof and thinking, "Man, what a great weekend for a road trip!" So when I got home I asked Paul if he wanted to go to Calgary just for a day, and he thought it was a good idea, so off we went. The forecast said it was going to be warm with a chance of snow. We'd been on the road for half an hour when we got calls from both Paul's sets of Aunts and Uncles with the weather warning for a blizzard. The rain turned into snow just as we got in, and there was something like 8-10 inches of snow overnight and the next morning. Crazyness. Despite that, we were able to spend time with 3 of 4 sets of relatives in Calgary, and it looks like we'll be back there in mid-May for the official housewarming of the house we stayed in - two of Paul's cousins just upgraded to a life-long house, and a lovely house it is. We were their first official houseguests, and it was lovely to talk with them.
I am madly trying to get all the stuff ready for what I expect to be a huge increase in business in May when we get back from our trips back home to Saskatoon and then to NYC. And I'm going to try and start blogging more here again.
So, Canadians. How 'bout that election? Currently we have a female MP in our riding here, which is pretty cool.