Poor Project Management

I have moved into my new place for about 2.5 months now. When I first took possession in March, some of the exterior items were incomplete. It is somewhat understandable since 1. it was winter time, and 2. it's mostly cosmetic, so whatever (typical structural engineer thinking). Spring has finally arrived, and Edmonton's mountain high of snow has melted. I think it's about time to get the exterior finishes completed. Of course, the finishes are scheduled to be completed sometime, however, I think the order is a little messed up.

Along my alley, my building was the first to be occupied. The building across mine was occupied next. The building next to mine is still empty and appeared only to be partially sold. The trim around our overhead garage doors were only wood when the buildings were first occupied. Now EVERY building but mine have vinyl siding around the garage doors. Shouldn't our building have priority since we moved in first? Guess not!!!

The building next to mine (the partially sold one) have siding and numbers on the garage doors. On Friday when I came home from work, I found numbers screwed into the wood trims around my garage door. Can I say RETARDED?! The siding is not even on yet. Once they do put the siding on, they have to take the numbers off. Sigh. Talk about poor management.

Mouse Update

Since I last blogged about the mouse, I haven't seen or caught any yet. I hope that is a good thing, hoping it found its way out FOREVER, and not dead inside my wall somewhere. However, my western neighbour (who also had a mouse inside their house when they first moved in) saw a mouse scurrying around our front "yard". So they set some traps outside their corner of the building to trap them before they come in. Lo and behold, I saw three trapped mice. They sure look like deer mice (but I'm no rodent expert). That means they could carry the hantavirus, which could be fatal to human. Damn field across my yard. Why can't the mice just stay there and leave us alone? However, also from my neighbour, she said that she heard there have been proposals for a golf course development. After hearing that, I just heard "cha-ching" to my property value! Having a golf course across the street will definitely be a plus. We shall see. But for now, I must be consistent with my peppermint spray and keep the mice away from my property!!!

One of the three mice caught

Master Roshi

About two weeks ago, I became a puppy mama. My little puppy is a havanese named Master Roshi ( or just Roshi). He came home with me when he turned eight weeks old from his breeder out near Spruce Grove area. He was such a good puppy. Only took him 1 hour to adjust to his crate.

8 weeks old Roshi - his first picture with me... or my hands

I actually picked him out when he was only six weeks old. All his siblings or his "next door" litter were either dead asleep or jumping at each other. He was the mellow one. He either just sniffed his siblings out or roamed about on his own. He was also the second biggest among the puppies. When I had him in my lap, I scratched his tummy and he fell asleep. I was in love. Despite all the prep work and dog training books, being a single puppy mama is hard work. REALLY hard work. It was worsened by stress at work, because my boss was out of town for three weeks. It was hard to balance raising a puppy, being sane, and getting work done. Weekends are better since B is around. And yes, he's the puppy daddy.

Now Roshi is 10 weeks old and I'm into my third week of being a puppy mama. He had grown quite a bit in size in the last two weeks, but he's still a wee little one. His behaviour had been off and on. He could be so cute and cuddly, but other times, he is a nippy barky puppy. He is a smart little puppy though. He already knows how to sit and stay. We're almost there with "down". My favorite is "kiss" where he will just tap his nose on your hand. He knows he can't do his "dirty business" in his crate, but he is still learning the difference between the indoor vs outdoor floors. We'll get it right one day.

Roshi at 10 weeks

I'm finding balance with my schedule, as you can tell, I'm blogging! Now I just have to also find the time to scrapbook (one day, the other blog will be updated!)

His Bowl, Her Bowl

This past weekend, I attempted making ma po tofu. It was a great success. It had enough flavor (the tasteless tofu balanced it out) and it had enough spiciness.

Apparently, B likes this dish. Whenever he has it, he will need a big bowl of rice to mix the tofu and ground pork with it. I like the dish too, but I don't need that much rice - maybe a little more than usual. I had to take a picture of the difference. The best, a perfect pair of mugs to match the "His" and "Her" bowl. In the background, four "Shake n Bake" drumsticks. Yes. "Shake n Bake" with ma po tofu.