As explained previously, on a Very Special Entry -- we don’t actually celebrate the [ahem] winter holidays, here @ Shoe Central. Short version: No panicked shopping, dealing with family angst, or blinky-light-induced insomnia. And this is fine by us.

However this year our previously merry eating, drinking etc were overshadowed by a bit of ( Read more... )

When these two things land in your inbox almost simoultaneously:

--Your mother gets told by your cousin that he can't believe she's taking 'social and family advice from [Shoe]!... we all know that [Shoe] is and has always been socially maladjusted..."

--BobandRay.com sends you a newsletter offering the latest CD set -- including liner notes by, well ( Read more... )

So… I was going to launch straight into a long heartfelt essay on where I’ve been this while: how, over the Labour Day weekend, the problem Shoesis announced her decision to marry in six weeks.

After a whirlwind three-week courtship. To a widower with three half-grown kids. Three years after having rejected him once, on the grounds of refusing to ( Read more... )

So I have just seen the final version of my... *ahem* the Bob & Ray CD liner notes. Which my article appears in. Which OH DID I MENTION I AM INSANELY HAPPY ABOUT THIS?

Because I so am. Tempered only slightly by the Grandshoes' refusal to get into the spirit of the thing during a recent visit, especially once they found out I wasn't getting paid. ( Read more... )

...It's not that I don't like living here... well, OK, it's that I don't like living here.

I do like living in this apartment, though. It has a sunroom, which is divided from my bedroom by sliding glass doors, and I will probably never get over thinking that ever so sophisticated. Also, it is on the fourteenth floor, meaning out of any random ( Read more... )

So I went to Niagara Falls this weekend, and came home with a fairly wicked sunburn.

This -- for those of the readership not au fait with So. Ontario springs -- is, to put it mildly, odd. The wind- and rainstorm that's now blowing up in the sun's wake is more typical... assuming this were mid-July, that is.

That said, I had a pretty good time at the ( Read more... )

I'm moving to Brampton.

Not with Shoemom.

And I have to type this fast because a) there's a kitten trying to annex my keyboard and b) all of this is happening as of January 15th. Good thing I don't celebrate Christmas, as it turns out this year. Really good thing.

Right, backstory. About a month ago, the three of us had this epic family blowout ( Read more... )

Apologies to the six-seven people who're probably wondering if I've dropped off the face of the earth. Short answer: No. Longer answer: I've been working on the snark project described below, and as often happens, it touched off so many unforeseen wellsprings of aggravation that editing the rant is taking more time than actually writing it ( Read more... )

So Shoesis, the professional cleaner aka the only person I know who flips out over messes that haven't even happened yet, is also on vacation this week -- in Florida. Which frankly has a lot to do with the extra-peachiness mentioned below ( Read more... )

In case you're wondering why Shoemom and sis haven't been gracing these pages much lately, despite allegedly living with me, fear not. It's only that Shoesis has lately acquired Season Seven of Little House on the Prairie, and the two of them are currently eye-deep in the amber waves of schmaltz.
We all watched this show as kids. Some of my fondest ( Read more... )