Melissa McLean Montgomery

I'm obsessed with storage: there I've said it. I am obsessed with putting things back in their CORRECT place and NOT looking for the scissors, twist ties, rubber bands or the stapler. My neighbour is an interior designer and I'm always looking through her windows and comparing my chaos with her perfect world of impeccable white chic. At present , I have the entire contents of my storage locker in the living room. I am rooting through everything and everything will be perfectly stored before it it is re-stored in the storage locker. Labelled, packed, tissue papered....discarded, donated, sold. Those are the categories. Those are the rules. How and when did I aquire so much stuff? I remember when I lived in a bachelor suite and all I owned was 2 plates and one black sweater. Now it's tire chains, chain saws, Christmas decorations, brass fittings, stuffed donkeys....it's enough to make one become a Buddhist monk!

I found my secateurs! Relax everyone. They were in the box with the transmission fluid. I am too young to be having senior moments but I swear, I didn't put them there. I had narrowed it down to either: a) The fact that I had thrown them out with the Christmas tree clippings b) They were in storage with the Christmas decorations I'm relieved to have them back. I ws forced to rip liliac off the branch with my bare hands on Saturday. Normally at this time of year I have my secateurs with me at all times for moments I call " judicious pruning ": when I snip off a little lilac, a wayward rose, a forlorn bluebell and take them home. My rule is ' if the tree, bush or plant is on city property it's fair game. ' Normally I confine my activities to lanes and side streets. I have only been reprimanded once by a stranger ( at a mall parking lot where I was 'trimming' the hydrandeas) and it was awkward to say the least. I couldn't think of ONE comeback. Ge...

There are so many birds about. I love listening to their diffferent calls. There is one bird ( I don't know it's name) and I swear its call sounds like, " Cheeseburger! Cheeseburger!" I saw an eagle yesterday - flying low, directly below a small seaplane. Now I know where they got the idea for the first plane! I went to Steveston recently and saw orioles, herons, assorted starlings and a few chickadees. I love birds! One of the reasons I love living in Vancouver. Not much planned for the weekend, assorted tasks, errands, I'm cat-sitting for a friend, laundry, and playing outside. Caio for now, brown cow!

1. I got my UGGS today- ah, nice! 2. I found my orange peeler 3. The recycling is overflowing 4. The eenzy leak has mysteriously disappeared 5. Roast beef for dinner tonight 6. I just ate an orange 7. Laundry to be done- I swear I don't know where it comes from! 8. Blackie? He's been fed 9. I still can't find my secateurs 10. I lost my detailed shopping list and will have to hunt through the recylcing to get it ( if it's even in there!)

Christ has risen! Chocolate for all! I don't know the realtionship between chocolate and Jesus, but I just had the most delicious pain au chocolat for brekky. Yum! Here are some random thoughts for this Easter Monday morn: 1. I must have UGGS- my feet are freezing! THERE MUST AND SHALL BE UGGS! 2. My neighbours have traded in their truck 3. Someone gave me a bedspread- which was not my sleeping bag that I had asked for 4. There was an eenzy drip coming through my bedroom window last night 5. I donated the bedspread to the MCC Thrift Store 6. I can't find my orange peeler 7. There is laundry to be done 8. Why don't people signal when they changes lanes? 9. Where are my secateurs? 10.What's for dinner? TTFN, MMS

Someone fling me a cup of tea, I'm off coffee. And this time change isnt' helping either....whose idea was this, anyway? I was walking around in a fog last week. Perhaps it wasn't the best time to give up coffee. I do feel more energetic, however mornings are still a drag without coffee. Mornings are always a drag for me...I don't think that will ever change. I watched Withnail and I again over the weekend ( for the 16th time ). What a brilliant film. I have had my Withnail days and now I look back on them fondly- I wouldn't want to live those days again. They were fun, they were sad, they were appropriately insane, but I am not sad to see them behind me. Today is also my nephew's birthday- HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY WINSTON!! I must go and reorganize my cutlery drawer now. TTFN!

I'm busy watching a re-run of Oprah. There is a man in the lane scouring the recycling bins for bottles. He drives a blue mini van. He comes here a few times a week. Is it possible to make a living scouring the recycling for bottles and returning them? I have seen him driving around the neighbourhood, scouring all the recycling bins. How can he maintain a vehicle on that income? Or maybey this is just pocket money. Or a hobby. Oh well. At least he's not coming at 3am anymore. Thank God for small mercies.