the feel good meme

Viked from melspeth, who viked from safiye, who viked it from jopickles...

I know that 2009 was pretty horrid for a lot of people, and to be honest, 2010 has been no great shakes so far. One way we might make the rest of 2010 a bit better is to spread some love around. So if you care to reply to this post I will give you a response of something I like about you.

If you like participating in these sorts of things and want to repost this in your LJ, that would be fun, too.

Public Service Announcement

As some of you know, my day job is working as a legal assistant. I work specifically in the areas of family (divorce, separation, etc.) and wills and estates. This means I know lots about the legal stuff that can happen when a couple splits up (and what they're legally entitled to and not entitled to), and lots about what happens when someone dies. Unfortunately, technically I am not allowed to give out information that would be considered legal advice, because I'm "only" a legal assistant. (and don't get me started on this topic, because I could rant for hours).

I think I'm pretty safe in saying the following, however:

Did you know that if you die without a Will, it has the potential to cause one hell of a mess for your surviving friends and family? If you have children, you should have a Will. If you own property, you should have a Will. If you have any substantial amount of savings or investments, you should have a Will.

If you don't have kids and all you have is debt, seriously, don't bother. LOL.

I have seen too many files that have caused huge headaches for all involved (including me!) because the person didn't bother making a Will. I've seen DNA tests have to be run, I've seen big fights over whether someone was or wasn't a common-law partner, and I've seen people not get what they should've gotten because of other greedy people.

Wills don't have to cost you a fortune, and despite what a lawyer will tell you, you do NOT have to get them to draft it for you.

(and if you are a friend of mine, live in Canada, and need a will... talk to me. Jus' sayin.)

Ahhh, much better!

I had the best sleep I've had in probably a month last night, and feel like a million bucks because of it.

Back in December, I was advised to put airtight covers on our mattress and boxspring, so we did. I'm now convinced that unless you shell out for super-expensive ones, these things are completely useless. We bought a less expensive, vinyl one for the boxspring, and the cats promptly slashed it open with their claws and climbed inside. We spent a little more on the one for the mattress, but it was still rustly and icky feeling, and it didn't fit snugly and would trap air bubbles inside when you sat on the bed, and then get all wrinkly underneath you while you slept. It also prevented the sheets from breathing, so I would wake up clammy and sweaty in the middle of the night. I slept so poorly on Sunday and Monday nights that yesterday I declared I was fed up, I took the cover off the mattress, bought a brand new sheet, and washed it and the rest of our bedding and made the bed up fresh before I went to sleep (I normally wash the bedding once a week, but I wanted everything fresh and clean last night). And I slept like a baby. At least until Ian decided he wanted to snuggle at 5am and woke me up with the insane amount of body heat he produces.

I've also finally gotten going on organizing the few remaining boxes of crap sitting around that haven't been unpacked, as well as organizing my craft stuff into my new bookcase. I'm down to one box left, and that's full of paper - old bills/statements, magazines, etc. that need to be gone through. I still have credit card statements laying around from when I was 19! I'm working on a massive purge of all this crap, and can hardly wait until I'm finished.

This weekend won't give me any more organizing time, though, because we're finally going to be heading to visit my family for the weekend, in place of the Christmas visit. My mom's planning a big perogie and ham dinner for Saturday night, we're bringing some Ikea stuff over for my sister, and I'm planning to spend a good chunk of the weekend talking photography and cameras with my dad. I'm planning my next lens purchase already, and am hoping he'll let me try out some of his lenses (we both use Nikons, so they're interchangeable) so I can figure out what I want to save for after that. I'm really looking forward to it.