Wednesday, November 28, 2007

We both heard it, so I can't be THAT crazy!

Ozzy has a special meow that he reserves for travel: as soon as we put him in his carrier or into a vehicle, he starts with his hollowed-out, rounded, mournful rowr! This morning, he had an appointment with the groomer to be shaved, so Bear and I wrestled him into his fancy blue soft-shell carrier with the mesh windows, backpack-style straps, and suitcase-style wheels and retractable handle. Of course, as soon as the zipper is shut on him, he starts his travel-meow. And as Bear and I are putting on our shoes, he has a little freak-out, rattling and bumping his carrier.

"Watch out Oz," Trent warned him, "You're going to fall on your face."

Sure enough, moments later, his carrier fell forward on its mesh-windowed front with Ozzy still inside. For a second, he was silent and still, then came the muffled complaint from inside the bag: "Ow!"

Bear and I looked at each other and chuckled a bit, and for a long moment, Ozzy was quiet and still in the overturned carrier. Then, clear as day, he called out to us (presumably to make sure we hadn't abandoned him in that undignified and helpless position):

"... Hel-lo?..."

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Teastuff in our Garage:

A printer-fax, a loveseat, twelve dining chairs, four bar stools, an easy chair, an ottoman, three coffee tables, two mini-fridges, a commercial dishwasher, a toaster, a panini grill, eighteen plates, twelve bowls, twenty-four saucers, thirty-four mugs of various sizes, thirty-six spoons, twelve butter knives, twelve forks, twelve dishrags, twelve towels, three milk jugs and a microwave.
On its way to our garage: another loveseat, a couch, a full-size fridge, two more easy chairs, and an upright freezer.

I can't wait to rent us that cube van!

Monday, November 19, 2007

Tea Update

Dear diary,
Today I was pompous and my sister was crazy...
(Sorry. Couldn't resist beginning with my favourite Firefly quote.)

Dear diary,
Yesterday I was pompous and crazy. And then Trent and I spent a shitload of money on furniture that strangers will sit on. We got a real (but cheap) brown leather couch from the Brick, and two pleather loveseats, a pleather ottoman and twelve pleather dining chairs from Wicker Emporium. Our teahouse will be spill-proof! Our cabinetmaker is building tabletops for four used table stands that our equipment saleswomen found us, and our garage is now full: two mini-fridges, a commercial dishwasher, toaster, panini grill, eighteen plates, twelve bowls, twenty-four saucers, thirty-four mugs of various sizes, thirty-six spoons, twelve butter knives, twelve forks, twelve dishrags, twelve towels, three milk jugs and a microwave. Our full-size fridge and stand-up freezer just arrived at the brick warehouse, and we are still waiting for some of our furniture. Hopefully, the espresso machine, four-foot refrigerated showcase, slush machine and coffee grinders will be delivered right to the shop!

Hana (my pickpup truck; keep up, guys!) was looking a little worried until I told her not to worry: Trent and I are going to have to rent a cube van next week or the week after to get all this stuff to the teahouse. Cause we're not serving tea out of our garage.

Yay! a cube van!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Let me clarify: NOT a vacation!

Whew! Bear and I are home from our whirlwind trip to Edmonton! I both hope and fear that, right now, you're saying, "What? Edmonton! You didn't call me!" (Hope, because it means you love me, and fear, because I don't want to piss you off.) Here's the thing: we didn't call anybody, except Trent's Gran, who is celebrating her 84th birthday this month and Andrea, who just turned 40. (Yeah, sis, I'm telling the internets you're 40!) We were very, very, very busy: we were in Edmonton for teatraining.
I think I've told everyone already, but if not, here's the skinny: Trent and I have bought ourselves the franchise rights to C&J teahouse for downtown Halifax! Our store is under construction on Barrington and South Streets! So... we had to go to Edmonton for training this weekend. It was kind of a secret trip because there are so many of you that we love and miss in Edmonton, but it was literally an all-weekend thing: we got to town late Friday night, were in training all day, every day, until two hours before our plane took off on Tuesday afternoon. It was exhausting. And exciting. Guys, I'm going to be a Tea Baroness!
And here's the (other) awesome part: we left just before the big snowstorm in Halifax, and got back just as the weather in Edmonton was getting cold and nasty. I have to rub it in: today was T-shirt weather in Halifax...