Not a dumb girl! July 23, 2008

I would just like to say for the record that I am NOT a dumb girl!  Yes, there are some VERY dumb girls in the world… but there are also some friggen smart women out there…

I LOATHE when people assume that just because I’m a female, I don’t know anything… Let me explain.  I have a background in construction and design.  For the last 5 or 6 years, that’s what I’ve been doing.  Designing interiors of homes, making structural changes, renovating… So it’s not new to me.  I know what standard sizes are for sink cabinet cutouts, standards for countertop and cabinet heights… standard clearances and I can think on my feet on the fly when faced with the question ‘how would we renovate this area to do XX’.

So when I’m in my 13 hours of construction walkthroughs yesterday, I was very off put by the fact that some guy who is the sales rep for the equipment we’re installing, seemed to think he knew more than me about construction and had to DRAW ME PICTURES!  When really, he has no idea what he’s talking about… to the point that he didn’t see a problem with putting a bar fridge in the cabinet UNDER THE SINK!  It was INFURIATING to be treated like a dumb girl, when I am very knowledgable in my field and my expertise goes beyond what color you should paint the walls!

I don’t understand why in this day and age of equality and acceptance that women are still pigeon holed into this role of being unknowledgable in the trades, when in many cases we know just as much, if not more about construction than the men!  If men can cut hair and be decorators and do things that used to be a ‘womans domain’ then howcome I have to FIGHT for men to believe that I might… just MIGHT know what the fuck I”m talking about!

I think maybe his snotty tone this morning had something to do with the fact that he asked me out yesterday and I turned him down, but if you’re going to talk to me like I’m a stupid child in front of the group of people, then I might say this to you:

” Rob, we are not renovating your kitchen.  This is a HOSPITAL.  We will be required to meet BC Building Codes and Fire regulations on everything that we do.  You can not put plumbing and electrical that close together.  This will not be a ‘jimmy’ job, it will be done properly, so  can you please leave the designing of the cabinetry to myself and the architect, as that is what our role in this project is.  Your role, as I understand it is to make sure that we have the proper requirements such as power and cable for the equipment and ensure that we have left enough clearance for the drawers to open.  From what I understand, you’re the sales rep from the manufacturer?  Not an architect or a contractor?’

GAWD!

~P’Cess

Reminice This: July 18, 2008

Ever remember something from your childhood (or last week) and fantisize about it in your head until it is a mere skeleton of the real deal?  Well, I did that today… with a Blizzard.  Not exactly from my childhood, but all I could think about was a Blizzard.  I don’t eat carbs during the week, so when I think about the weekend’s free pass, I usually pick something to obsess about and then have that thing.  This weekend that item was a Blizzard.  Let’s just say it will (should) be a LONG while before I go fantisizing about Blizzards again!

But that got me to thinking… how many memories do we have from childhood that, were we to go back, aren’t even remotely accurate anymore.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Many things that we remember from our youth are things that make us smile when we’re down, or have shaped who we are.  Has the shape of who we are been made upon a myth is what I want to know. 

I, like most people I think, have a great tendancy to erase AAAALLLL the nasty bad things from my mind.  I do it a bit faster than most and can’t remember what the argument yesterday was from…but many people have a pretty glossy recollection I think.  (obviously there are those that have had instances that are too horrible to gloss over… that’s not what I’m talking about).  An example?  I have a VIVID memory of one Christmas with my sister when we were around 14 or 15 and we layed in front of the fireplace in our old house one Christmas Eve (it may not have actually be Christmas Eve, but in my mind it was…. SEE!).  Anyway, we both remember and often bring up laying in front of the fireplace having quiet time and really relaxing and enjoying eachother’s company and the season.  I distinctly think that this has likely been glossed over and made to be a ‘better’ memory than it was.  Not because it wasn’t a good memory or a lovely time.  But because things get foggy, or blurry, or tainted with our desires at the time or feelings when reliving the memory.  I know that both of us think about this time almost every Christmas when we’re stressed to the max with work, family, presents, and the general mayhem of the season.  It was a time that we remember to be calm and without stress.  Does it matter whether that’s an accurate picture of the event?  I’m not sure.

What I do know is that there ARE many things out there that aren’t exactly accurate in our minds and I don’t know if that’s such a tragedy.  It means that you can take what you need from a memory or experience and leave the detritus.  That’s how I see it anyway.  Maybe someone else sees it as dramatizing something fictional and not keeping a firm hold on reality. 

I also know that when you think of something like a Blizzard, or 5cent candy or anything of that nature, it’s best to take your ‘memory’ with a grain of salt!

~P’Cess

Less Talking, More Drinking, I Always Say! July 15, 2008

It’s always a good philosophy that it’s better to be laughing than crying.  We figure that if we can’t be laughing then we should be drinking! 

 

We’ve put this website together to give ourselves an outlet for the random crap that happens in daily life.  Rather than each have a website we thought we would share (yes, we share now…not so much when we were little!).  You’re likely to get a laugh out of this site, you may roll your eyes and you may mutter at us under your breath.  That’s fine.  We’re telling our story and if you like it then that’s a bonus!

 

Contrary to what my sister alludes to, we are not actually alcoholics!  Occassionally though, the ridiculousness of life needs a little numbing of the beverage variety! 

Stay tuned, two life stories, told together….with pictures!

Red Wine and Fireball! July 15, 2008

An odd combination you may be thinking?  Well… as a matter of fact, yes!

But get used to it now.  Because we may be twins, but we’re an odd combination… here to amuse and enlighten you.  Join us for a wacky ride… down memory lane and off into the future.

I will be the one with a red wine stain on my lips and Shanny will be the one with a shot glass glued to her hand!

Welcome!

~P’Cess