moved and how i became retired

well, some of you will know that i have picked up and moved, far far away. i've moved to this small little town called pembroke, well its not so small about the size of burg but less stuff in it. and how is that possible some of you may ask, well believe me i was surprised too, and get this it takes over an hour and a half to get to the next city that would have everything you needed, no driving to shwa, or the petes.

so my first two weeks here have been pretty quiet. not much going on except unpacking. i've come to the realization that if you don't want to unpack you can just reorganize the boxes and it looks like you have made progress. it took me over four days to unpack the kitchen alone! i'm anal about making sure all new products, and products that have been boxed in basements are washed before using. i don't even know how many dishes i washed.

its been great fun finally seeing all my (i mean our) wedding presents. it was like christmas all over again. thanks to all of you who helped with that!

i would also like to thank those who helped with donations to our new apartment. we started out with no appliances and now we have a fridge, stove, washer and dryer.... and best of all a pull-out couch!

so here's the real hiccup. so far i have no friends up here (well that's not true i have two friends from university and college, i should call them). but i know what your thinking what no friends? how could this happen to manda? well its true, its hard to walk up to someone on the street and say "hey you look nice, do you want to be my friend?". imagine doing that... they would think that i'm a little creepy. although i did almost have a friend the other day, he was nice, but i don't think he would fun to hang out with and do fun things. and this is the story of how we met. i think if i did that i would be part of my new game i made up, which i won't tell you about for fear of being harassed for the unpolitical correctness of the rules but boi you know what i'm talking about.

i was walking through wal-mart (that's right, i have to shop at wal-mart up here, there is harldy any other place that i have discovered that has things i need) and i wanted to get down this aisle but there was this elderly lady in my way with her husband in tow. now how did i know she was elderly, besides the fact that she was wrinkled? it was her sun glasses. she had those great glasses that attach to your sunglasses that flip-up, you know the ones grandma's every where sport them. well i kindly waited for her to finish snapping at her husband and for them to move out of my way. and then grandpa (that's his new name) turns and see me and asks kindly "were you waiting for me to move?" and i reply "no, worries, i have all the time in the world." (which is true, did you know as a house wife there isn't a real schedule, you don't work 9-5, you may work 6-8 then 9-5 and then 5:03-6:48 (dinner time) and then sporadically throughout the evening as your husband tells you the things you forgot to do that day (i.e. wash the floors, doing his dishes) well you get the point... and so i usually take my time when i'm out in the community, to really slow down and enjoy life) right back to the story, so that was it for my encounters with them in wal-mart.

scene change. now i am shopping in food basics (quality food at low prices!) and i notice the same couple (only in a small town can you choose the exact same stores to shop at randomly, i would like to see that happen in toronto). so grandma is leading grandpa around telling him what to put in and what to do (i sense grandma is a little frustrated with grandpa). i nod a grandpa in acknowledgment and he nods back. when i was done my shopping i get into the shortest line which happens to be behind my new grandparents. well, grandma is getting frustrated even more with grandpa as he is using the wrong box to box their groceries and that he is taking to long and that he is in my way. to which grandpa cooling responded to her "don't worry, that young lady is retired too." and i began to laugh, and think he gets me he so gets me, i wonder if we could be friends? but sensing grandma's possible problem with me asking if i could be friends with them or if they would adopt me as their granddaughter (which i thought of doing) i just laughed and said goodbye.

oh the stories i have to tell about my new home town, and hopefully i will tell you them right here. but i must go and work as a house wife (which has so many fun stories all of its own). but if i know you personally, you will have to come and visit us in our new apartment, (warning you may have many boxes in your room, unless i reorganize them) and if i don't know you personally, sorry you can't visit, it would be weird and a little scary.