Rose's Cantina

Aside from nearly losing my two front teeth during a dog walking accident, it's been a ridiculously wonderful Christmas for me. It began with the acquisition of the Christmas pug, Sophie Tucker, who, as we speak, is engaged in a heroic battle to the death with the gynormous Finnigan. Sophie weighs less than four pounds and most of it is teeth. She spent the last four days sweeping the kitchen floor while attached to my suede slipper. The last two pugs on my watch, Gordie and Ming (he of the preent, she of the past) were kind, sweet, woo-wooing little dogs. Sophie is evil. Aside from tormenting the deserving-of-torture 90 pound Finnigan, she has already caused a major rug calamity after diving through the air, like some kind of Wallenda, from Scott's chair to the table and toppling a rather large glass of Merlot onto the beige carpet. She considers herself an indoor girl and, while she grudgingly squats for a pee outside, she also has managed to find crannies about ...

Over the past week, we've come to accept that we are living beyond our means. We don't have car payments or massive debt, but the day-to-day has become somewhat precarious. It's scary being in your mid-fifties and not having a retirement package. I used to be a saver but ten years living as a single mom to three kids sucked me dry. Scott is in the same boat, though he has a small pension from CBC; he lost his nut to an expensive divorce. We're still living from paycheque to paycheque, which is hard because the magazine I work for only pays me every two months. Scott is in commission sales so is at the mercy of the Ottawa economy, not to mention the elements. You might have seen the story in the paper today about all the car dealerships in Ottawa that have new cars that look like golf balls thanks to this week's storm. Scott was lucky this time around; his KIA dealership is one of only a handful in Ottawa's east end that dodged the bullets of hail falling...

What a weird Christmas this is turning out to be. I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet. There will be no presents under the tree come Christmas Day. None. Nunca. Nada. That's because we were expecting a big cheque from one of our government clients weeks ago and it hasn't come yet. It was promised. You'll get it before Christmas, no problemo. But the government lies. So we had to take out a short term loan just to pay our massive Hydro bill. Presents? Fagetaboutit. Smartly, Scott went out and bought the fixings for Christmas dinner a few weeks back. That's because we don't trust the government to make good on its promise. Sheesh. Fortunately, Scott got paid this week -- a whopping $500 from his car sales business. His boss is a multimillionaire, but instead of giving the plebes Christmas bonuses, he's making them work six days a week all month for no extra money. The $500 "draw" will at least pay for Christmas eve dinner, ...