I'm getting out of bed and I'm packing the nice clothes… Juno Awards 2015!

After spending most of February in my bedroom, wearing my Pook suit, under a comforter, with the door shut and the baseboard heater on and the dog curled up on my feet, it's time to get up and clean up and go party in a large building in close proximity to Rock Stars!

Up here in Ontario, it turns out February was the coldest month in…EVER.

Today, I am packing suitcases.  It's that time of year again… sigh, gotta take a shower and brush our hair and put on our "nice clothes" oh what a pain… I'M KIDDING this will never get boring!!!!

There he is, top 5 in Canada!

This nomination means that we get some free tickets!  And also, it's happening only an hour from the Ol Homestead, so no plane tickets! This will be much less costly, which is good with the crap year we've had, but, we've learned that it's worth it to book The Good Hotel where All The Important People are staying. This is a business trip.  There is partying going on, but it's business.  You have to make opportunities to bump into people in the elevator, and honestly, there are some people we genuinely like, and we only see them once a year at the Junos!



It also means, being nominated, a walk down the red carpet.


Or, for me, this year, a wobble down the red carpet.


You might be wondering how I'm doing.  (Awww, that's so thoughtful of you!)  I'm okay.  I'm doing.  Y'know? I'm okay.  And that's good.  I'm in this weird state where my mental state seems to much better, although I still have to talk myself down and give myself speeches about how okay everything really actually is, reminding myself that I am not dying and the world is not trying to kill me and the worst is not happening.  But I still feel like this medication is dragging on me.  It's helping in the way it's supposed to, but I'm tiiiiiired.  I wear out way too easily.  I've never been a person with loads of inexhaustible energy.  I have limits, I know where they are, and I try not to push beyond them until I absolutely have to.  But normally I can work.  And I do.  Not these days.

The good news is, I'm back up to twice daily barn chores and one slow walk around the yard with the Pug.  The bad news is, I have to go lie down after that.  But hey, more good news, I don't feel like puking all the time!  However, my diet has changed because I don't want any meat that wasn't swimming in its life.  Also, no sweet potatoes.  Weird.  Why that?  I don't know.  And I haven't been eating wheat either, so I'm like a picky 5 year old.  Next, I'll be refusing to eat anything red.  It's probably not a bad way to eat but it is inconvenient, especially when you live with a bunch of meat eating Mennonites -- of which I used to be.  Meat eating, that is.  I'm still Mennonite.  Wheat flour or no, I'm gonna eat that apple pie!  There's no beef in it, right?

The hardest thing to deal with is the unsteadiness.  It's getting better, but for most of the last two months, I aim to walk in a straight line but take a few steps sideways first.  I'm not dizzy.  I just can't get my feet to go where they're supposed to go.  At least now I don't have to get through the house by hanging onto furniture.  I feel solid enough to walk past the horses without wondering if I'll end up under their hooves.  I'm very fortunate to have such gentle horses, I'll say that.  Climbing up on the hay wagon to throw bales down is… rather terrifying.  But I'm doing it because my dad was doing all the chores while Selina was in town house sitting and I don't want to wear him out.

That's kind of ridiculous.  The man is 72 years old and he just keeps going and going.  Besides, he told me one evening as he was digging horse poop out of the snow, "I forgot how much I like going out to the barn."  Jethro reminded me that before we moved back here, he'd been going to the barn every day of his life - specifically, this barn.  So maybe I'm not as worried about the ol man as I am about my sad little wounded pride.

It's getting better.  Slowly, but I'm improving.  I'm learning about patience too.  I'm forced to learn.

So.  Since early February when the nominations were announced, I've been thinking, "How am I going to handle Juno weekend?"

Very early on, I made the decision to not freak the hell out over it.

Just, don't.

Let's count it out:

-I will be with people I love and trust
-who all assure me I can hang onto them if I feel wobbly.
-I don't have to go to the parties.  I can go back to the hotel and hang with my underage son.
-Selina can represent me.  Heck, everybody thinks she's me anyways.  Poor kid.
-How wonderful is it that we can bring the kids again this year?  I mean, honestly, it's been a total crappy year and we can't really afford it, but they are young adults now and we have to take as much time with them as we can!


After much internal debate, I made the decision to pack the big heels.  Mostly because my beat up cowboy boots, while comfy and cute, aren't good with my $25 "vintage" dress.  I know, I know, I'm the girl who wore cowboy boots with my wedding dress.  But this just didn't work.  Besides, I do this dressing-up thing once a year.  If I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna DO IT.

BONUS: the temperature has been above freezing for almost a week and is expected to stay that way all weekend.

I'm looking forward to it, once I get past the anxiety.  This is fun and never gets old.  We've been doing this for…TEN YEARS.  Wow.  It's been a few years since his last nomination though.  I still, after all this time, thinks it's absolutely hilarious and fascinating what happens when you roll out the celebrities and line up the screaming fans.  It's just wall to wall screaming.  Every time a car stops, scream.  Every time someone, anyone, gets out of the car, scream.  If a complete nobody on the red carpet waves, scream.  We go through before the telecast, before the photographers are interested, and in fact, actively avoid us non-famouses!  It's so funny to me!


Oh Hey, if you're still reading, here are some links for you:

JUNO AWARDS SITE


WANT TO WATCH THE SATURDAY NIGHT GALA, where most of the awards are handed out and very few people get to attend?  They're live streaming it!  Come watch the speeches made by those who do not have PR people and media training! It's awesome!  (Hint- the Engineering award is part of the Gala!)

I am super stoked for the telecast, because Jacob Hoggard is hosting, and he is so many kinds of awesome!

You know how after the Oscars I said Neil Patrick Harris should host everything?  Well giving the job to Hoggard is even better. 

Also Alanis will be there and I will laugh my head off if somebody with mild face blindness mistakes me for her.  

It's the hair, right?  I'm pretty sure it's the hair.  

If you want to see pictures, go to 

INSTAGRAM