Thursday, March 31, 2011

Why must I...

...babysit the people I work with?

I mean, seriously?  I've sent out no less than 4 emails about a training course I had set up for this morning.  And guess what?  At the time the course was supposed to start I was still looking for 4 of the 9 people scheduled to attend. 

I found 2, sent them up, the other one I had his manager send up and the last one?  No one can get ahold of him, apparently he slept in ir forgot - despite the reminder email I sent yesterday afternoon.  Annoying. 

Is it really that hard to be at work for 8:30am?  Honestly. 

In other news, I'm glad that I am mechanically inclined.  A co-worker of mine is having car troubles.  She is very naive when it comes to car repairs and has no idea how to deal with companies taking advantage of her.  And she has no idea they are taking advantage of her. 

I'm glad I drove beaters when I was in high school and college.  I'm glad that I know what questions to ask and when to ask them.  Not that I need to currently, as my SUV isn't a year old yet, but I can't imagine not knowing.  It would be a scary thing.  Good thing for her, we work in a large dealership, and our boss is a woman.  She will scare the crap out of the guy who is screwing her over!  lol. 

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Sisters


My 2 sisters and I, about 7 (or so) years ago.  I'm in the middle.

I've always thought of sisters as a fluid concept.  It changes for me.  In real family life I have 2 blood sisters, one to the left of me above and another sister that I haven't spoken to in 10 or more years.  The sister to the right of me is my step-sister.  Her mother is married to my father, but we have no blood relatives.  We are sisters by marriage only.  Technically.  But she is my sister.

I also have sisters and mothers that are not related.  My old friend in BC is my momma.  I need to call her!  Her daughter?  My other sister.  My best friend from high school?  Another sister. 

Sometimes my sisters are plentiful, other times they are less.  Currently I have 5 or so sisters (not including the one I don't speak with). 

I'm craving some sister time.  I was planning on heading to see my sister at Easter, but my mom wants to come up and see us at the same time.  I don't want my mom to feel un-welcome, but I really want sister time.  Not mother and daughters time.  So I'm going to bow out of that weekend so as to not hurt my mom's feelings and go up some other time in April.  I have some bank days I need to take off anyhow. 

It's a bit more complicated sometimes.  My sisters live in the same town as my Dad and step-mom and my other sister from high school.  When I go to visit, there is always a lot to do, and many people to see.  If my mom is there, then my dad can't come visit and it limits my time away from my sisters house where I stay.  The frustrations of having divorced parents that can't stand each other I suppose. 

Either way, I'm very excited for sister-time.  Playing with kids.  Girl talk.  Time away from home.  Staying up late, drinking wine, hot tub. 

R is staying home too, so this will be my time away.  Leaving the dog with him...haha not that he knows just yet.  He'll be working Thursday and Friday anyhow, so it's not a big deal.  But I can't wait!!! 

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Scottish Country Dancing


So R and I decided we needed some culture in our lives. And something to do at night, because if I spend another night just sitting watching TV I might shoot the damn TV. So, when he asks me what I'd like to do, I say take a dance class. I'm thinking, well we live in a large city, it might be fun. A good place to meet people. Get some exercise.

Now, like most average women, I'm thinking dancing, like ballroom or Salsa or something. His idea? Scottish Country Dancing. Go ahead laugh. I'll wait. Everyone else laughed. Hell I laughed too. Then I laughed some more.

So I googled it. And I came up with this. Which was so funny I laughed a bit more. Inside as R was getting a bit impatient with me.

Last night was our first "class". I call it a "class" because if you count him and I stumbling around, bouncing into each other and trying not to crash into other couples dancing, well, then you should be in the class too.

All joking aside, it was actually fun. We laughed the whole time. We were told we needed soft soled shoes or slippers. R went out and bought watersocks which might have been funnier than us trying to Scottish Country Dance. I had some ballet flats from my ex being so damn short. We couldn't wear either as they marked the floors. So we "danced" in our socks.

Apparently we need to buy Lace Gillies (pictured above). I'm not sure where to get such things, but I think I might just get real ballet flats. Either way. It was fun. Surprising. We were by far the youngest couple there. There were 7 other couples and the 2 teachers.

Apparently there are only a few steps and they just vary with the dances. I managed to get 2 of the 3 steps figured out. Poor R was not even close. He was trying so hard, but way over thinking it. But ohhhhhhh my! At one point I thought I was going to pee my pants I was laughing so hard!

Everyone was very nice however and we will go back. It's Tuesday evenings from 7:30 - 9:30 and I'm not sure when it started, I think in January, but goes until Mid-May then stops for the summer. And it cost us $10 each. For the entire year! Lol.

So, lesson learned - you never know until you try. And seriously, something as dorky sounding and looking as Scottish Country Dancing can really be a riot. As long as you leave your self-respect at the door and just have fun.

Work like you don't need the money, Love like you've never been hurt, and Dance like no one's watching.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Why...

...do people not answer phones? I mean at businesses. It's so annoying! And then they don't have specific voicemails. I answer my phone when I'm in my office, unless I'm in the middle of something. But I have voicemail. My own private voicemail.

I'm trying to organize everything I need to finish my University application. Yep, at the ripe age of 28 (for 2 more weeks) I'm going back to school! Well technically I'll be 29 by the time I get there. I'm just taking some courses for now and see where that leads. But I'm trying to get my application completed. I need to have my College transcript sent to the University and my High School transcript. I finally managed to get someone from the College on the phone, they sent me a form which I sent back filled out, but now I need to pay for the damn form. Then I called the high school. Several times. They don't answer. I'm not leaving a general voicemail. So annoying!

I might have to send my sister down there. She lives a few blocks away.

We had a great weekend. Did some birthday shopping.

Today I'm buried in paperwork. I have a compensation claim that is form after form after form that I'm almost current on, and then another one happened this morning. ARRRRGGGGGG.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Finished Project - Katie don't look! Lol

It's finished! Took me a while, but I'm ready to send it off. Here are some of my favorites!!






The Front Cover

Quite obviously I don't upload more than 1 picture at a time EVER because they are all out of order. But you get the idea. I'm really happy with how it turned out! I can't wait to mail it. I'm having issues with securing the door knob. R says it's way too big to be proportionate for the door size, but he doesn't understand my art lol. I told him it HAD to be a crystal knob and that it worked. He likened the size to a dinner plate for an actual sized door. I say all the better to get inside with :)
Anyone who commented on my paying it forward post still has the option of getting something too. Perhaps 1 fave photo to frame??? Any takers??











Monday, March 14, 2011

Stolen...

I stole this from here.

And now I want you to steal it from me. GO!

A. Age: 28...for 2 more weeks :(
B. Bed size: Queen.
C. Chore you dislike: Just one...? Dishes.
D. Dogs: One small Chihuahau named Chiquita.
E. Essential start to your day: Silence. Lay there for a few minutes after the alarm or the sun wakes me up. And a good morning kiss.
F. Favorite color: Pink. I really am a girly girl. lol.
G. Gold or silver: White gold.
H. Height: 5' 8"
I. Instruments you play(ed): Nada.
J. Job title: HR/ Health & Safety Coordinator.
K. Kids: Not yet.
L. Live: Day to day.
M. Mom’s name: Barb
N. Nicknames: Mostly just Kel
O. Overnight hospital stays: Nope.
P. Pet peeves: Slow drivers, drivers who don't signal, trains that make me late for work, people who lie, people who milk the system (any system), I could go on...
Q. Quote from a movie: "You can't handle the truth!"
S. Siblings: 2 sisters, 1 brother
T. Time you wake up: Weekdays 6:00am, weekends around 8 usually
U. Underwear: yep, it's there! :)
V. Vegetables you don’t like: Lima Beans
W. What makes you run late: My hair - it's tempermental. R - taking his time.
X. X-rays you’ve had: On my teeth!
Y. Yummy food you make: Most is pretty good , I'm a decent cook :)
Z. Zoo animal favorites: Any! I love animals!

Friday, March 11, 2011

I laughed so hard I cried

Seriously.

I don't have an iphone, but I hear the autocorrect is a pain in the butt. I was sent here and I swear I was laughing so hard I was crying.

Funniest. Thing. Ever.

Go check!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Only Wednesday?

- View of my city at night

I'm starting to really love and hate the city.

I love:
- That I can go shopping, get gas, groceries, anything really you want, at any time of day or night, or day of the week.
- There is culture in the city
- Mail delivery is SO much faster, being a larger distribution center
- I can still see the mountains
- You can pretty well find anything you want to buy or do, you just have to know where to look.
- There are multiples of most stores, so you don't have to drive across the city to get what you want.
- The fast pace.
- My family is so much closer now.
- Awesome radio stations

I hate:
- Rent is so damn high.
- The stupid train that has made me late for work almost every morning this week, come on! I leave an extra 20 minutes early and I just sit waiting in traffic for the train an extra 20 minutes.
- Traffic jams - enough said.

Obviously the good out-weighs the bad, but I'm a bit cranky today. I've had enough work chaos to last me a life time and I'm ready for a weekend already! I'm off to RD again tomorrow for a day trip. I'm half tempted to skip it, but I made a committment, dammit.

I put in 2 hours of OT last night. I don't get paid for OT. I had to drive a guy to the clinic after he was in a company related vehicle accident. It wasn't his fault, but I still think he should be fired over it. Then I had to wait. And drive him to the police to report it this morning. As if I don't have enough to do as it is.

I'm leaving early today.

Monday, March 7, 2011

Monday morning...

...comes way too fast. Friday takes forever to come and the weekend zips by. I think I need a job that gives me 3 or 4 days for the weekend. I'd be happy with that.

This week the GM is out of the office all week. Which should make things interesting. Hopefully not crazy interesting, because that is what a few of us are concerned about. Stay tuned.

The weekend was good. I finally finished my project! Thank goodness. I have an adjustment to make and it will be ready to send! Yay!

Funny story of the weekend - my sister has decided she wants to have boudior photos taken, for whatever reason. So since I live in a bigger city and she doesn't, I've been looking (mostly online) for places for her and sent her a few links. On Saturday she took some of herself with her iphone and text them to me! Lol, too funny. What do you say? Nice rack? lol.

I'm doing some employee meetings this week to get our new benefit provider up and running. This is not the first time we've had to get this all organized. First we did the RSP and RPP plans and now we are doing the Health & Dental. I'm going to celebrate when these are finished! I've spent a lot of time organizing these and lately arguing with managers via email over whether they have to participate or not. Frick. Come on people. The last email I sent said something like - every employee must attend, if you do not attend, you will not have benefits. Let's hope it goes smoothly. We start here tomorrow.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Date Night

Can a girl who doesn't love hockey, take her man who is equally interested out to a hockey game for date night?

Why Hell yes she can! And she will!

I scored FREE tickets to the Flames game this Friday night. Do I watch hockey? Nope. But I used too. So beer and popcorn? Bring it!