What's Hot and What's Not

Those of you who ever visited 259 Bay St. in Ottawa may very well remember the "What's Hot and What's Not" list that filled the large white board in the entrance. For those of you who were never there or don't remember, don't worry, you'll catch on quickly. The white board was originally intended for all kind of useful things like grocery lists and reminder notes, yet it quickly became a powerful outlet for Maria and me and all that we have to share with the world. The "What's Hot and What's Not" list is, as the name suggests, a list of the things that Maria and I think are very utterly fantastic or abismal. We often saw the list as therapy and a way of working with things you don't like -- write them on the list, look at it for a week, get over it. Yet, a few of the greats stayed on all year long, like animals for example. Due to the horrid animal problems (squirrels, pigeons, perhaps marmots of some kind of racoons) we had in our apartment, animals were forever doomed to the "What's Not Hot" list. Noting the "What's Hot" items of the week was a way to celebrate our life together and our apartment; we live here and we decide what is cool. Well, now I 'live' here and Maria 'lives' over at her blog, and once again, we shall decide what's hot and what's not.

What's Hot

my garden
crunchy peanut butter
white asparagus
blogging
big hair
saving money
sun-dried laundry

What's Not

zits
chapped hands
slugs
people not being home when you call