Just NB

"Explore Montreal" has been on my To-Do List...for far too long. Last summer, just when things started to get good, I hurt my leg and was on crutches, and then off-crutches, I couldn't walk for very long, and I had air-conditionning in my car was broken, and I was too afraid to go and see what it would cost because I wasn't working...and I was still kind of exhausted, so I didn't explore very much. It was kind of cruel because two weeks before I hurt my leg, I went exploring and spent the entire day outside and it was fantastic. Since then, I've went to a few places here and there....but for the most part, my focus has been on finding a job, keeping a job, and making sure I have enough energy during the week for my job... Depression has played a huge role in my life since 2014. I was sort of getting better until February of this year, which is a story for another day (if you haven't already read it on my other blog). So this weekend, it was my goal, to w...

I’m sure it’s come up a time or two that I haven’t met any “true” friends here. I’ve met some people that I hang around with….a friend that I keep in semi-regular contact here….but no one…really “solid”. Add to the equation of 7 months of not working, an injury that kept me in crutches for 2 months, and some pretty low moments with my depression... I hosted a brunch one day and met some super people I met, and I predicted that a natural friendship would take off, but work came up, I was sick, then stressed, then sick and stressed, and while they reached out, I kept forgetting to reach out back once I felt better (it’s still on my to-do list…) I’m realizing that instead of searching for “true friends”, I need to meet more people and most importantly, I need to realize the people that I already have in my life. Example: the dog walker. I met this guy while I was sweeping up leaves on my patio at my first solo apartment in Montreal. Maggie ran up to the other dog that he wa...

I can't decide if I should write the long version or the short version. Ok, short version since I just deleted ten paragraphs of the long version and am making a second attempt at this. I bought my old Honda Civic in Alberta, went through a bunch of stuff, then my husband and I drove it across country to Quebec, where we would re-start our lives together....again. Things started to go downhill on the drive half-way through. I was depressed and fighting just to be ok. We had planned the trip to be a honeymoon/sightseeing of sorts....and I couldn't deliver. We arrived in our new little city, now to make up a family of four. I tried to adapt to being some type of step-mom to the girls, who are wonderful, but no matter how wonderful they are or I was....again, depression was running the show while marriage stress came in at a close second. Certainly we had our ups and downs as step-parent and step-child (since they were almost of age), but even more certain, I loved when th...

Well, so much has happened since I last wrote… A snowstorm (like a serious one). And yes, snowstorms happen back in the “country” back where I’m y’all from y’all….but we have like…1/10 of the population (made up number – but its much less) and 1/100000 of the construction (not a made up number – it’s ridic here) I went blonder and finally finally FINALLY got glasses! Mine were eaten by a puppy (but full sized) boxer I was babysitting…and since I’m like blind….they usually run me around seven bills, and I don’t often just have seven bills lying around that I want to spend on glasses I was in a small fender bender (with no damage) and the guy road raged on me and I had to call the police  And of course, the piece de resitance: I completed the third week at my new job. The new job isn’t like any other. It was previously a private company, kind of has that “old boys’ club” that kind of reminds me of a 50 year old company that I’d work for in Alberta. (We aren’t 50 y...

It hasn't been that  long since my last post of snow-mageddon (like Armageddon....but with snow? 😀😀) But what an eventful couple of weeks. My car cost $1400 in repairs, I went to pick it up the following Saturday, it died on the way home, I had to get another rental car and then I picked it up on Wednesday and SO FAR, all is well..... Let's hope I don't have to go through another round of that. Why the rental car, you ask? Why not just use transit since it's the easiest and most cost effective way to get around Montreal? 'Cause I had two job interviews that were pretty freaking important and I could not handle the stress of sitting on a bus hoping that their timing would be exact so that I could show up on time. These interviews were 20km away, which made it harder to get by bus. So the result of these job interviews....was that I got the job and I start on Monday. LIKE IN THREE DAYS FROM NOW. When I first found out, I completely panicked. It was like ...

Well, yesterday , I was complaining, shall we say, about the snow removal process in Montreal. And, seriously, thank you thank you thank you WORLD for this man in my life, that offered to leave work early yesterday to help me dig my car out of the snow, so that it could be towed. I know that most of you think that a tow truck would dig my car out of the snow, but because it happens so often - they don't do that. It's only if it's slightly stuck. Not buried in cocoon of the heavy, damp, disgustingness. I literally never complained about winter before I lived in Madagascar. It's like complaining about taxes. Do they suck? Yeah. Do politicians or lobbyists or whoever runs the world change them in the suckiest of ways? Yeah. Are you going to change them? Nope. So why bother. Winter happens every year and if you don't like it, save every penny, go bottle picking, donate blood, participate in a medical study, and move to another country. Yesterday, we arrived to this:...

So, Montreal has this OBSESSION about snow removal. Back where I come from (said in a red-neck old man accent), the major streets get cleared as they get cleared. The side streets....don't often get cleared and when they do there are big giant sandwich board signs up for a few days before. We learn how to drive on the snow. Here's how it works in the good old YUL. Let me tell you with an example: The weather forecast calls for 5 inches of snow tonight and then 8 inches of snow tomorrow. But, the good old Montreal Snow Removal Schedule that was planned in 1988 indicates that side streets Frere-Jacques, Dormez-vous should be cleared. The following two scenarios exist: Scenario 1: Magic elves come and tag every single street sign along Rue FJ and DV (Frere Jacques and Dormez Vous) with an orange sign that indicates no parking between the hours of 7pm and 7am. So anyone parked on these streets moves their cars to another street. Which certainly doesn't cause a problem...