Inside My Head

Shallow new love

2012-01-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

Waterproof felt tip liquid eyeliner. Seriously, where have you been all my life?

I've lived with smudged eye make up for years and now here you are! I am in love!

I got contacts on Saturday. They hurt my eyes and I feel like I can see less than with my glasses. Boo. I hope I get used to them soon, because seriously - no glasses and smudgeless eyeliner? I'm a whole new me!

Back to School

2012-01-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

My 3 week mini-holiday is over :( Back to University today. Thank God I don't do this full time! Seriously.

I am ready to start this semester however. I'm hoping I pick up a few more things that will help me get going with my job. I did learn a bit last class, not as much as I'd like and as judging from the marks on the final and overall in the class average - many of my classmates probably feel the same. I'm hoping I know someone in this class, but if not, meh I guess I'll meet some new people, which was something I had wanted. Basically the reason I chose going to University over online classes. That and I'm such a procrastinator with things I don't want to do that I'm afraid I would put it off for too long.

What have I been up to:

- Making Christmas cards for next year. I was too busy with school work to get many done this year, so I'm preparing for next year. That and I didn't get to play with nearly enough sparkly paper this year.

- I've joined a wellness program at work. I'm determined this year. I want to get an elliptical and R is on board with a menu change. Should be interesting in the beginning that's for sure! It's so cliché though.

- I'm getting really sick of the staff in our other location not listening to me. Is it really that tough when we ask you to do something????? Join in or get out. Ugh.

- I'm headed to that location to spend the day tomorrow - sure am not looking forward to that. They are asses sometimes.

- I put winter tires on my SUV, studded winter tires, because winters here suck and guess what? No snow since I put them on. Haha go figure.

- I need to get my butt in gear and get divorced. Like seriously. I have the at home paperwork/kit. I was waiting for the house to transfer and it did finally, but now I have to figure out how to file my divorce. I would send it to my ex, but he would mess it up so it's up to me. Reason number four billion and seventy six of why I left...

- Pet-peeve as of lately: people who ignore and don't respond to emails!

Awe

2012-01-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

I'm working from home today. I've never done this before and it's a good thing I don't very often, haha. Too many distractions!

Here is a short clip of my niece from Christmas time. She started singing after hearing the song only twice. She's 2. Such a cutie.

Screw It

2011-12-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not feeling very pro-work currently. I actually have a case of the F...-it's. You know, where you've reached the point where you just want to say F...it, let's go home and start vacation!

Instead of being grumpy and negative, I'll shower you (whoever actually reads this...hopefully there are still a few out there) with photos instead as an update.

I'm super happy about Christmas this year. Who know why? Maybe because last year sucked and R and I are making up for it this year? We have lights on the house, the tree and most of any other surface I could find is decorated. The presents are wrapped under the tree - except one dammit! We listen to Christmas music all the time. I can't wait to see my family in a few short days. This is even my desktop - woo hoo! Check it out!

My new bangs. Did I post this already? I cut them myself. Which I don't recommend if unlike me, you haven't been doing it for years. And I have. Literally. Why pay $35 for a trim when you can cut your own bangs?! Ha.

I've also been making Christmas cards like mad lately. Here are a few of the ones I've been working on...

I want this for my mom. And since I didn't get it done in time, it will be late for Christmas. Oh well, the thought that counts right? I do have other stuff for her.

Our tree and Miss C. She was told not to touch the tree, so she drug her chair this close so she could get a good look, but not touch. Haha, it was hilarious.

The Bass Pro trip that never amounted to anything. We went for Santa photos, but the wind was blowing so bad it blew out a window in Santa's workshop. That was the closest we got to Santa this year. Damn. I'm not even sure we'll get her there now. Who wants to go on December 24th? Not this lady. Either way Miss C and I had fun. She's such a poser.

My other kids. Well my sister's kids. Can't. Wait. To. See. Them! Ugh only a few more days. I miss them so much. Such cuties.

My new fave thing to do? Snap pics with my iphone of stuff that either I want or R tells me he wants. That way I generally remember where it is and exactly what (more for him) that he wanted for Christmas. It worked super well. I want this book. I've read the others by her and I loved them. There is one that was a movie not long ago, Something Borrowed I think....

Now that you've been inundated with pictures do you feel more festive? If so, great, just doing my civic duty. If not, what the hell? Christmas is this close! Get festive dammit! :)

Merry Christmas!

I really wish I had time to post...

2011-12-13T07:33:00.000-07:00

Seriously. I think I underestimated how hectic life would be with work, school and trying to have some kind of home life!

Recap:

- I have almost finished my course for this semester. I'm heading into the final on Thursday with an average of 85%. It should be 87% but my prof sucks.

- I can't wait to have my final over and done with. Ugh.

- My Mom came up to visit last weekend, it was nice to get a visit.

- My Dad and step-mom are coming up this weekend to visit. We are headed to Zoo Lights this weekend after we deep fry a turkey! I can't wait for this whole weekend, it's going to be a blast! All my school work will be done until January 9th, my parents are up, good friends of ours are joining us. Should be great.

- I still haven't started making Christmas cards yet. I don't imagine I will do any other than the must-do's. I've run out of time.

- I'm almost finished my Christmas shopping. It never takes me this long to finish it up! I'm always, always, always done way before December even starts!

- My sister finally moved out. I think this is a post in itself that I need to write. I wish I could help her. Her husband of 10 years has been cheating on her. With everyone, her "friends", random girls, in her house, in their bed, while she was home. It's so bad. Now her ex won't send her the proper child support. My parents are paying her legal fees (which they can't afford) and I'm trying to help her as much as I can. It's not like I can do much however. Ugh. It sucks.

Update

2011-11-18T07:12:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for being so MIA lately. I can't keep up with everything that I need to do. I'll run with an update and promise a real post soon!

- First off, thank you for your sweet comments on my rant the other day. I feel better about it. We will work through it because we need to and this won't fix on it's own, but for now, I have no time to move forward on this, so we will make it work as best we can for the next month.

- My schedule for the next 2 weeks bites my ass! I worked 11 hours yesterday. Ugh.
Saturday - baby C all day.
Sunday - work on my partner project for school. We have to write an 8 page paper, put together a presentation. Boo!
Monday - meet with my boss, drive to RD, do an orientation for a new hire and train her. Come back for class.
Tuesday - launch new wellness program here at this office, full day.
Wednesday - launch in RD, full day, come back for class.
Thursday - start a 2 day orientation for trainer in my office.
Friday - get everything finished and ready for company Christmas party (I'm the chair).
Saturday - Christmas party.
Sunday - Baby C all day.
Monday - Paper is due (I need to finish this before this day).
Wednesday - partner project and presentation due.
The following Sunday - kids Christmas party at work, I'm a volunteer.

- I need to get some Christmas shopping done, pronto! I'm wayyyyy behind for my usual standards. Crap.

- I've been working my ass off, but my boss appreciates it. She tentatively offered me Flames tickets for the game tonight, she would let me know. I told her I wanted to buy tickets for the Flames and Canadiens as my Step-Dad is a huge fan. She said those were already spoken for (our company has season tickets). She text me this morning that she was going to use the tickets for tonight, but that she left me something in my file at work - guess what? Canadiens tickets!!! My step-dad is going to be thrilled! I'm going to be the number 1 kid for a bit! hahahahaha. 7 rows behind the bench! woot!

- The receptionist here makes me insane some days. I'm the chair of the damn committee yet she gives me shit for doing stuff without her. WTF.

- I booked holidays for the 4 days between Christmas and New Years and I can't wait! I need that holiday. Now!

- As of yesterday, I have 23 hours of overtime banked. By Christmas I will have enough OT to take that time off and I can save my vacation hours.

- I'm planning a trip to Nova Scotia this year. R needs a break badly and wants to see his family. Come on seat sale!!!!

Whew. Wish me luck.

Rant

2011-11-14T06:48:00.000-07:00

I hate that I'm so busy lately. I have no time to blog and even though I don't have any time right now, I need to rant out the frustration so I can get on with my day.

R's ex is at it again. The woman is insane! I swear. We've been wanting to have baby C sleep over night at our house for awhile now. Having her every Sunday is draining on us and we never seem to get much done, basically because we only have 1 day per weekend. I usually spend it doing homework and R catches up in the garage or on projects. Anyhow, she is 2 now and A was adamant that we wait until she was a year and a half.

So yesterday when we picked up baby C, R asked A about it. She apparently got quite upset and said no that it wasn't going to happen any time soon and that baby C wasn't ready. She was going to provide a list of the reasons why so A and R could talk about it.

When we dropped baby C off last night she gave him a written note of all the reasons. I told R that I just got 12 years younger, are we in high school?? Anyhow, on the top of the list was that baby C would still rather sleep in mommy's bed. That is how she wrote it. This woman has an English degree! Ugh. The point in that she had agreed to R that she wouldn't let baby C sleep in her bed any more - a year ago!!! She also wrote that she is still nursing her. Something else she agreed to stop 6 months ago.

She told R she didn't believe that baby C was napping at our house, called him a liar basically. All because A can't get baby C to nap unless she rocks her and nurses her. Remember baby C is over 2 years old now! I'm just so tired of this. Today its better. Yesterday I was pissed. Like seriously, can she just stop for one moment and think of what is best for baby C??

R wants to spend more time with his child and A won't let him. Her solution is that we take her Friday evenings for 3 hours and Sundays. That doesn't work. Plus it would be about 2 hours driving on Friday and Sunday each. Mostly because A refuses to drop baby C off at our house.

Rant over.

I think...

2011-10-21T19:11:00.000-06:00

...I might be dying. No seriously. Can't. Stop. Coughing. All friggin' day and all friggin' night. R got so fed up last night that he went and slept in our spare bed. Grrr. It hurts, I almost vomit often and it's annoying. Needs to stop!

...I should be writing my paper, not blogging. But blogging is more fun than writing a paper so guess what? My paper can wait until tomorrow.

...It's getting colder. There was frost on my SUV this morning. And I forgot to turn the heat up so my remote starter would defrost it. Oops.

...I need a mini-holiday.

...I'm gonna be downright mad if I get a crappy mark on my midterm from this week. It was hard. Damn.

...I hope R gets home from work soon. I need some cuddle action.

...I also need some vapor action. As in Vicks. Have you tried the Vicks scented Kleenex? Seriously, when a friend of mine brought them, I thought she was insane, but I tried some while I've been sick. I'm in love. They smell soooooo good. Ahhhhhhh and they ease that tightness.

..I need to go buy some cough medicine before bed tonight.

What's doin'?

2011-10-11T13:33:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the MIA. Between work, homework, school and house stuff, we've been busy. *whew*

Tonight I'm going with my good friend Dee to Avril Lavigne!! Which feels somewhat juvenile, however we are going to have fun - even if we are the oldest ones there, hahaha.

Friday my good friend came to visit. We've been planning this girls night for months now and after putting it off 3 times we finally managed to get together. She is a photographer, that is still learning so we picked up the baby and went out to get some family shots. It was fun.

Some of my favorites from the day.

She had a lot of fun running around.

This next one was taken just as I averted disaster...

Little miss thinks she's too big to sit on the slide, so she just tried to go down without fully sitting. I was at the bottom waiting for her to come down, R was at the top (we do this ALL the time) and she just went. Luckily I was able to grab her off the opposite side of the slide and catch her before she dove head first into the rocks. Scared the crap outta me. She, however didn't even notice.

All in all, we got some good photos and it was a good day.

My friend even got some good shots of our view...

These are some shots of what we can see looking out our front window at our house. I love that view. It's harder to see in the pictures, but in the distance you can see the mountains.

I'm off work today as well - Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends. Tonight is the concert, but today I'm working on a research paper - boo.

Happy Tuesday!

Breathe

2011-10-06T07:42:00.000-06:00

I'm sitting at my desk, drinking my tea and trying to breathe before this day ramps up and gets out of hand. I know it will happen soon - I'd say in the next hour. Open house at work, showcasing a new product. Things need to be done and organized.

I hate my work shirt that I have to wear tonight. HATE it. It doesn't fit right, it's not a style I ever wear and I'm really, really uncomfortable in it. I'll be wearing it for 8 hours too. *Sigh*

I'm off for 5 days after today - thank goodness! I need a break. Ugh.

My girlfriend from high school is coming up to see me tomorrow. Girls' day! I'm very excited. Saturday she is taking photos of R and the baby and I.

Am I slightly annoyed:
- That A felt she had to tell R that it wasn't appropriate for us to take photos with me and the baby? (and he didn't tell her to shove it) ;)
- That R wants some photos of just him and the baby?
- That I'm secretly dreading the clothes that R picks out to wear? (the man seriously needs an intervention)
- That it's cold and rainy today and it's supposed to last?

Yes to all. Mostly annoyed at the first 2 however. But I digress.

I have a homework to do. I've been keeping up on the reading, but I didn't do the last 2 assignments. I have to read another chapter and some questions need to be answered. I have a paper that is due on October 26th, but it is 6 pages and I want to do it this weekend. The second part of the paper on the same company/topic is due in mid-November and will be another 8 pages. I need to jump on this. I hope to get all my research and an outline done this weekend.

What are your weekend plans?

What I did last night...

2011-09-29T07:42:00.001-06:00

I went to Ovo of course!

It was so so so good! I've never been to Cirque du Soleil before.

If you haven't either I highly recommend it.

I'm too tired for heels.

2011-09-28T06:56:00.000-06:00

Seriously I am. The walking, the stairs, ugh. But these pants look so great with them. So I'm wearing them. But I'm complaining about it.

I'm getting worn out again. Work is ridiculous. I did 2 hours of overtime last night and between work being so hectic, University and homework, I'm spent.

I'm pretty excited that for Thanksgiving (Canadian = sooner :) I have 5 days off! YAY!

This Morning...

2011-09-23T07:31:00.000-06:00

...I was almost late for work.

...I got something brown on my white shirt somewhere between putting the shirt on and then coming downstairs.

...I then dropped my mascara wand on the same white shirt. After I got the brown spot off.

...I had to go back upstairs and change.

...I couldn't find anything to make for lunch so I brought some veggies and cheese.

...I saw the most beautiful sunrise and I've decided to not let yesterday's bad day carry over to today.

Happy Friday.

Balancing Act

2011-09-20T15:23:00.000-06:00

As life changes I seem to be focusing more on balancing things out. I have a massive to-do list that makes me go a little crazy when I even think about it, but I can't ignore it either. Balancing life, work and school is a bit more than I think I can handle most days, but then I sit back and remember I have no choice. Am I going to stop living? Am I going to quit my job? Am I going to quit going to University? No. So suck it up honey and get on with it.

Work is...well work. Busy, stressful, hectic, overload. It's not going to change. I can only come up with a few options...bring it home with me, or leave it at work. Since I don't get paid to work at home, then work stays at work. I'm trying. It's hard to leave the office and not think about all the things I have to do but somewhere along the way I remember that it's not my #1 priority and it will still be there tomorrow.

School is getting better. The first class I was assigned a chapter to read, a case study and 7 questions. For the class the day after next. I got it done, but it took me forever and half the questions were wrong. I was pretty disappointed and frustrated. My third class was better. The homework went much faster and I did the homework properly. Amazing what it does for your confidence. Tomorrow is my fourth class, I have homework to do tonight. *sigh* I need to get used to the fact that for the next 12 weeks I'm going to have homework.

Life is good. I'm working at finding a balance between the things I have to do and the things I want to do. I'm doing the laundry when I find the time. I'm trying to get out and try new things. I'm outside my comfort zone and it pushes my limits but I'm working through it. I'm meeting new people and finding new friends in strange places. R and I are getting things done around the house - which is great. I'm buying Christmas presents and I love it!

I'm realizing that just because I take on more things doesn't mean they will get done, or won't get done, or that they'll be done poorly. It just means I have to rearrange my life and my schedule and make it happen. I'm learning that even my best scheduled day goes to hell because you never know what is going to come down at the last minute and need to be dealt with. The best I can do is to make the short list of what absolutely has to be done today and do my best to deal with it.

Creepy

2011-09-14T07:12:00.000-06:00

I'm at work at 6:41am this morning. Why you ask? Because I was late.

Monday and Wednesday afternoons I have my Recruitment and Selection class, so I leave work early. If I come in at 6:30 and eat lunch at my desk, when I leave at 2:30 I'm not short any hours. I was all set to leave for work when I heard someone yelling outside. An odd occurrence at 6am. Whatever. I was putting on my shoes when someone pounded on my front door, asking for help! I froze. And called for R.

Turns out, some homeless guy saw our lights on and says he needed an ambulance for a cut on his leg. R told him to walk the block to the ambulance/fire station. I was seriously freaked. It's dark outside, I didn't want to walk to my car. *shudder*

Now I don't have anything against homeless people, but usually R leaves before I do for work and if I had been alone, I would have called the police. I'm not a fan of scary people pounding on my door at 6-freaking-30 in the morning.

Today I have:
- 2 interviews
- 1 meeting
- My class and the remaining homework I didn't finish yesterday.

Should be fun.

Eek!

2011-09-12T07:15:00.000-06:00

10 years after I started the first time and 7 years since I was last there...

I go back to school today. Last time was a College, this time University. Freaked? You betcha!

Tiffany Love

2011-09-09T15:08:00.000-06:00

I have a serious Tiffany affliction. I mean, I lufffffff it. As my sister would say. A while back, R bought me the Tiffany charm bracelet for our anniversary. I had no idea it was a charm bracelet, lol. I jokingly mentioned I would provide him a list of charms to get him through the next 10 years of anniversaries. I found 13...

How cute?! I text him XOX all the time, so I figure it's appropriate.

Can't forget the pooch.

Every girl needs a little luck.

I like butterflies, what can I say?

This is classic me, it says Nice on the other side ;)

Sweet.

Classic Tiffany's. Love.

Adore the snowflake. So pretty!

I love purses...

And shoes...

For me.

For R.

I truly am a girlie girl.

(All images from Tiffany's)

It's been a busy day, week, month. I hired a Parts Driver today, did 3 interviews, set up 4 more interviews. Ran around like crazy. It's been good, but it's time to go home.

Career Fair Do's and Don't

2011-09-06T18:34:00.000-06:00

As some of you may be aware, I'm in Human Resources. I was at a Career Fair today and although this is my second attempt at this, it is increasingly becoming obvious that some people have no idea why they are unemployed. Yikes!

I'm pretty tired, but I haven't posted in a long time. Here is a short list of Do's and Don't for you job seekers out there. Please share this list if you know someone that is looking for a job.

Don't
- Show up to a career fair (or interview) in your flip flops, ripped jeans, dirty t-shirts or with a skateboard in your hand.
- Don't bring your spouse or children. It's impossible to interview someone when a child is demanding your attention.
- Don't be afraid to approach the recruiters, we look for people to come to us, not the other way around. If you stare us down in the booth, but wait for us to approach you, it's a bad impression.
- Don't say that you are a skilled worker with only a high school education and mechanics in high school.
- Don't take more than one of our free promo's, they are there to give out to other people than your spouse, your kids, etc.

Do
- Come prepared. Print 10 more resumes than you think you will need.
- Do staple those resumes together. When I collect 50 - 100 resumes, they need to be stapled. If I were to drop the box, I'm not going to spend time searching for the first or second page of your resume, unless it's a damn good resume.
- Do dress for the job that you want. If your looking for a job as a Heavy Duty Mechanic, wearing a suit and tie will make me think you have no experience in the job or industry.
- Do take the time to talk to me. If I'm talking to someone else, wait your turn or come back when I'm free.
- Do give me a resume. Always. Just because I'm not posting for a position, doesn't mean there isn't one open right now that isn't posted, or that one might open up tomorrow.
- Do be honest. If you lie on your resume it's going to come out when I verify your employment or call your references. Then you've wasted both our times.

I'm still surprised at the lack of skilled labor in the workforce right now. It surprises the hell out of me that some people come to interviews with greasy hats on and flip flops. Are you a professional? Then dress and act like one!

If you have any bad or funny experiences with hiring or job interviews, let me know!

The Dark Side

2011-08-31T14:19:00.000-06:00

We all have a dark side. You know it. The side that when someone makes a snide comment where you want to bat one right back? Even though you know it won't help and it won't make things any better.

I'm very good at ignoring the dark side at work. In a professional side it doesn't help anything and usually does more harm than good. When I first moved to Calgary I'd come home in tears once in a while. I remember one instance where I had asked the department managers to assist in a project (mandatory) and when they didn't my boss asked me what their responses were, I had no choice but to tell her. She reamed them out in a managers meeting and then one manager, turned and yelled at me that I didn't do what she was asking so how would he know.

I've learned since that that particular manager is passionate and his first response is anger. I let it go in the meeting and didn't argue because I knew it would turn into a he-said, she-said. After the meeting my boss asked to see my email asking for their assistance. I provided a copy for her, which detailed that he was wrong and I had asked. Later on, he came to me and apologized.

It didn't take out the sting. When someone yells at you in front of 7 people and then apologizes in private, the damage is done.

I've been dealing with a manager who does one thing and says another. Constantly. I've been working on flyer's for the 2 departments and they have to agree. I have an email copy of both agreeing to this flyer. I made up the flyer and sent it for approval and he emailed back saying he hadn't been consulted and that he wouldn't participate.

At this, I emailed him a copy of his previous email asking why he approved the ideas and not now. He ignored me. I emailed my boss at this point. I let the dark side out and I threw him under the bus. I told her that he was wasting my time (true, I spent 2 hours on that flyer) and that he was making his own flyer's (also true) even though he had been told clearly that all flyer's had to go through me and be approved by our boss.

She had me email on her behalf and cancel all flyer's from this point forward.

It pisses me off that his childish behavior cancels something that could benefit everyone. And that he still thinks he can do whatever he wants.

So frustrating!

Vent and the Cha Cha

2011-08-27T00:39:00.000-06:00

2 posts in one day you say? Yes, because I'm annoyed and if I don't get it out, I'm liable to march upstairs, wake R up and b*tch slap him.

Do all men get all cranky when they stay home and their girlfriends, wives, significant others go out? Because I'm on round 2 and baby let me tell you, I'm getting mighty sick of it. Seriously. C used to get cranky at me if I was out too late and what was I doing, blah, blah, blah.

R isn't like that at all, but the man doesn't think ahead or notice anything. If I make an effort, put on a dress, you should damn well say something about it. Especially if I put on a dress to go out with you! But no, he never notices, I never get a "you look nice". Why is that so difficult?

I went out tonight with a girlfriend. I don't do this too often so I was excited, dressed up a bit, what did he say? Ooh you're wearing a dress. And...that's it. No "you look nice" just you're wearing a dress - well thank you Captain Obvious. So he knew I was going to be out a bit late. I call him at 11:30 and he's sleeping, ok no big deal, but he gets all cranky on the phone because I woke him up. Well 99.999999% of the time he's up until after midnight 7 days a week - I figured he'd be awake.

I tell him I'll talk to him when I get home, he says I've already woken him up, but then he doesn't talk. Whatever. I get home and he didn't leave any lights on for me and didn't bother to mention there is a big stinky tent set up - in the freaking living room!

So annoying. I'm partially annoyed because of the stupid little things but I'm also annoyed because another night out that was a lot of fun, had a shitty ending.

The upside - tonight was fun! We went for dinner and drinks and then to a dance class, learned the Cha Cha and East Coast Swing. After the class there was a 2 1/2 hour dance party that you could stay for. Got my groove on, got asked to dance, had some fun!

Sheesh Men!

Fail

2011-08-26T07:42:00.000-06:00

Ok, I fail at blogging lately. I just don't have time. I'm going to try to keep doing the 10 day challenge, but it's gonna be spread out. lol. Maybe next week I'll try again. I'm not sure who I was kidding when I figured I could blog 10 days in a row, lol.

Last night I learned 2 new things.

1. Irish Cream Fudge is good. And easy to make. I will post the recipe later this week. Yum!

2. Ink does not come out of a carpet easy, but it will come out. My dog the bugger that she is, feels the need to jump on the desk and steal things when she gets bored during the day. It's sporatic, some times she won't do it for weeks and then sometimes it happens daily. Wednesday she got a hold of a pen. She's not great at hiding things, so leaving the pen pieces on the carpet was my first sign.

I threw it away, gave her crap and moved on. I noticed she had some ink spots on her (freshly washed I might add) leg that same night but figured whatever. Last night I happened to walk past and see this spot on the carpet. We have this area rug in the living room, huge rug that has a tall pile and it shaggy. It's a cream-ish color, with some grey and brown threads that run through it. I took a look and found this ink spot.

I tried to blot it up with paper towel and it just made a bigger mess.

I Googled it and found out you can use WD-40 or rubbing alcohol. Since I have a dog and at any given time she or the baby or R will roll around on the carpet, I chose the rubbing alcohol, it evaporates and doesn't stink like WD-40.

Long story short, I was able to get 90% of it out, however, it makes a bigger mess first. The alcohol dissolves the ink but spreads it around. I need to have another go at it tomorrow and see if I can get the rest out.

Moral of the story: Give the dog a kong with treats once in a while and keep the desk clear...it's less work.

10 Day you Challenge

2011-08-24T07:38:00.000-06:00

Normally today I would do a What I'm Loving Wednesday post, however, I don't have a lot of time, so I'm a day late, but I'm going to join in on the 10 day YOU challenge, that I found here.

Here we go!

10 Secrets:

{one} I worry that I will never be able to have children.

{two} I have a love/hate relationship with my Dad and ESM.

{three} I'm not photogenic. at all. Ugh.

{four} I'm really hoping my sister will move back to RD, after she gets her mess sorted out.

{five} I hate writing minutes for the meetings that I attend each monday. I love the details I'm privy too at those meetings however.

{six} I'm nervous as hell to go back to school.

{seven} I'm terrified to go back downtown where I ended up going to wrong way on a one-way street. I'm afraid it's going to happen again.

{eight} I'm a bit concerned about whether or not my predecessor will be coming back after her mat leave term. I know I'll have a job regardless but the dynamics will change between my boss and I, or I'm worried they will and I have no idea what either of us will end up doing with this position.

{nine} I was in a spelling bee when I was in the 5th grade. I just had to spellcheck predecessor.

{ten} I hate getting up at 6am, especially when it's still dark out.

I guess those weren't all secrets perse, but ten secrets is a lot harder than you'd think!

I'll try to get 9 loves later so I can catch up!

Weekend Review, A.K.A. the post with a lot of pictures

2011-08-23T07:32:00.001-06:00

This is where I spent my weekend. It was beautiful. I forgot how much I enjoy camping. The water was cool and refreshing, the weather beautiful, not too hot, but warm enough that the water was enticing. We had a bit of a rocky start. We left later than we anticipated due to R working late and not pre-packing the jeep earlier. Then we stopped to use the washroom and found out the jeep was leaking oil from the rear diff and then every place in that town was closed. When we finally got there it was dark and getting cool. Setting up the tent in the dark wasn't fun, but we managed to shake it off and start fresh Saturday morning. R took my nephew B fishing, so cute.

We could see this view from our chairs around the firepit. I love BC. So beautiful.

Chiquita came too! She's starting to be quite the little camper. This was at the start of the trip, she had her bed and she could look out the windows so she was happy.

R was pretending to be annoyed at my picture taking. Lol. I've starting bringing my camera with me everywhere and taking pictures whenever possible. I got some good ones this weekend.

I'm a bit mad I didn't get a picture of my sisters and I this year. We took this one last year in someone's tent, although I'm not sure who, lol.

Although I did get one of some sisters! My SIL on the left and my sister on the right.

Matching toe rings. That you can't really see, haha.

B and his snake. He played with it. All. Day. Long. For hours. He was so careful with it too. He was very gentle and wanted to keep it.

Little K. She's had the nickname Bam-Bam (Flintstones anyone?) forever, but this weekend she adopted the name Pig-Pen and oh my, was she ever.

She was happy when she was in the dirt. Clean clothes? Nope. In her jammies, in clothes, no shoes or with shoes, she was filthy all weekend. And quite happy.

As was my dog. Rolling in the dirt or sleeping in it. She loves the sun!

R cooking in his silly camping hat. Good thing it's only a camping hat. The man never wears hats but he wore this one the whole time we were there.

And possibly one of my favorite photos from the weekend, some loves with mommy.

We got home late on Sunday, tired and dirty. It was a good thing I was off Monday. There was a ton of laundry to do and unpacking. I also had to get an oil change and go to the lawyer for the 3rd time to have the mortgage papers signed. I hope that is final soon. Ugh.

Back to work today and it should be a good week. I have enough to keep me busy and some stuff that will feel great to cross off the to-do list.

What I'm loving Wednesday

2011-08-17T13:11:00.000-06:00

Linking up with Jamie for another edition of What I'm Loving Wednesday.

I'm a bit all over the map today. Work is hectic and I'm trying very hard to get some of my most time sensitive work done. This is the first day in months that I've been able to focus on my work and not filling in for someone.

I'm lovin' that for sure!

I'm loving my dog, Chiquita, because let's face it, she's super cute! This is her cuddling with me before bed last night. I let her into bed for a bit before I go to sleep and she always gets very excited and tries to lay on my face, lol. And give me doggy hugs.

I'm loving (and excited) to go camping this weekend.

Lack of photos this week...Not lovin that.

However, my present to you is a list of my current fave blogs!! In random order:

Diary of a reporter

A Fabulous Disaster

Confessions of a 20 something

Joyful Ramblings

The Inner Circle

My Twenties Blog

Dancing with Sunshine

Living a barefoot and crazy lifestyle

A complete waste of makeup

A babbling brunette

The glamorous life of a housewife

Enjoying the small things

All in my twenties

Carly Chubby Cheeks

There, your welcome!

And if I missed someone, sorry! And if you read me and your not on the list, leave a comment and I'll come check you out!!

Happy Wednesday!

Joyride

2011-08-15T11:06:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went cruisin'. In the jeep. No doors, no roof. Had a FANTASTIC time. Was such fun!

I have no time to write about it, but here are a few pics :) Happy Monday!

And for some stupid reason, blogger won't let me turn the photo sideways...grrrrr....

It's ok...

2011-08-11T07:51:00.000-06:00

Today I'm linking up with Neely for It's ok Thursday. I'm a bit off today so this one is short.

It's ok...

...that I'm cranky when I'm sick, like right now.

...to not be able to start my workday without reading a few blogs.

...to be reading several books at one time, depending on my mood.

...to not want to come into work this Sunday.

...that when I'm sick I like to watch corny chick flick movies and insist that R watch with me.

...to look forward to fall and putting away the shorts and pulling out my sweaters.

...to want to go back to bed. Right. Now.

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-08-10T10:10:00.000-06:00

Today I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for another week of What I'm Loving Wednesday.

(Sorry for the crap-tastic picture) I'm not feeling very well this week. I'm fighting off a cold. In the process my Chiweenie, Chiquita has been cuddly with me. Here she is watching me cook. This is her perch, I swear she thinks she is half feline.

I'm new to the Big Bang Theory. We've just started recording it and I've only watched a handful of shows. I really find it funny. I love the DVR as well, so easy to use. I love skipping the commercials and that I can watch whenever I want. How did I live without this for so long??

I love my blue strappy sandals. They are super comfy and I get a ton of compliments on them. Bonus - again my love for crackle nail polish!

Raspberries and Saskatoon berries from our yard. I'm picking a ton of raspberries every night. As in a 10 cup bowl. We have a ton of them! I'm past the eating them stage, haha and I'm just freezing them. We made jelly with the Ming Cherries from the Cherry tree so we might do the same with the other berries. Yum!

Photo Credit I'm meeting up with my sisters and ESM sometime this month to make homemade salsa, I can't wait! Love my girls weekends.

I found this chunk of cheese with a bite mark in my fridge last week. It made me laugh. I'm assuming that when my sister was visiting my 2 year old niece went shopping in the fridge, lol.

My cricut! I love this machine. I still am not fully sure how to use it, but I need to make a display for a career fair and I plan on bringing it to work with me in the coming weeks so I can use it to make the display POP.

What are you loving this Wednesday?

Random Thoughts

2011-08-06T23:52:00.000-06:00

I should be sleeping...but I can't.

I have thoughts in my head that keep me awake. Frustrations, hurts and confusions. Emotional outbursts that lay awake yelling at me and won't let me sleep.

My family is in a crisis right now. I am fine, it's not me. However, I hurt for those involved. I won't go into detail on such a public space for privacy of those involved, but I hurt for them. I cry for them. I pray and wish I could change things, but I can't. All I can do is show my support and love and be there. It's very hard and I feel like there is a hole inside me. R doesn't understand how I'm feeling and I have no ways to explain it to him.

I feel a bit more emotional that usual lately and he is shorter on patience that usual. Which of course leads to arguments or squabbles over senseless things. Tonight for example:

R: What do you want to do tomorrow?

Me: What do you mean?

R: I have enough to keep me busy all day so if you want some downtime on your last day off I can be in the garage.

Me: Why don't we do our stuff until noon and then do something together? Spend some time together?

R: What do you want to do?

Me: I dunno. We'll figure something.

And then it goes off course from there. Him getting all agitated because I don't know what specifically I want to do. Me because I figure that since we've had company and been very busy lately I'm simply happy for us to spend time together, even not doing anything.

I feel unappreciated lately. I tell him this, he sighs and gets mad. It's frustrating as hell. I say he doesn't clean the kitchen, he says I don't give him the chance. I say how much time do you need, he says more than an hour after the meal.

I am emotional. I know it, but I don't understand how he can't understand why. He knows what's going on with my family, he knows I'm hurting, but he doesn't understand how affected I am or how I feel. He rolls over and goes to sleep. I lay awake with thoughts running around inside my head.

When does life get easier?

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

2011-08-03T13:25:00.000-06:00

Again this week I'm linking up with Jamie at This kind of love for WILW. I don't usually have structure to my blog but I seem to be getting way more visitors this way, so I'll keep it up. Plus it's fun!!

I'm loving my holidays this week! Today is day 2 and I'm loving every second of it. Yesterday I went to the University and walked and walked and walked across the building. I picked up my textbook, my parking pass and got a student ID card. I'm set! I also met up quick with my sister and then picked up the photos at Costco. I was able to start my scrapbook - which I'm also loving!!

This is the first page that I did yesterday. I'm pretty happy with it. Although the pictures don't do it justice I'm afraid.

Again, so hard to see. The colors are deep brown and bronze with sparkles and shimmer to them. But you get the general idea.

I am absolutely loving my new workspace! It seriously rocks! I can walk away from the mess and not have to worry about cleaning off the table before supper. I should have done this a long time ago!

I'm also loving my new distressing tool. It's called Imaginisce and it does all the work for you! 2 pages up, with the lion on the bottom right corner, those edges are distressed - again, hard to see but it looks really cool.

Last night I baked up some Raspberry Bran Muffins - yum!

And super easy! Including cooking time I was finished in a half hour. I love easy.

I'm taking advantage of extra time to do some new or more involved cooking this week. Last night I made a meatloaf and it wasn't too bad. The flavor was good, but it needed more oomph. Luckily I know how to do that, lol.

Tonight I'm not sure what's on the menu. I'm kinda thinking Thai Coconut Chicken, but I might do that tomorrow as it's quite easy. I think it's time for lunch though however, lol. All this talk of supper has made me hungry!

What are you loving this Wednesday?

Progress

2011-08-01T21:28:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to tackle the scrapbooking mess. I say mess because it was all contained to appear like it was organized and put away. It looked like this before:

It actually looked ok. I didn't know where anything was, but it was contained in my travel case, a rolling set of drawers and a few baskets and boxes. The plastic drawers on the left were given to me by my sister 2 weeks ago. I opened everything up and it looked like this for awhile...

It was a bit daunting...however, I tossed a bunch of stuff I won't use and stuff that was given to me. I was able to clean it up in a few hours and now it looks like this:

The picture is a bit blurry...oops, guess I was just so excited lol. Anyhow I know where most things are too! It's fully sorted and my travel cases are empty. So I can use them for travelling, not storage. I'm super excited to work in this space now! I ordered a ton of pictures from Costco online on Sunday, not realizing they are closed for the holiday today. So they will be ready tomorrow by noon. And I'll be able to get started on my project. I have almost 2 full days to work on it. I still have to deal with this mess:

But it's only ribbon and nothing in the box, so I just need to think of a better system. I have a ribbon bag, but that is more for short pieces not 10000 yards lol. Although I love how pretty it looks and it is super useful for shorter lengths, it's just not practical for anything over 1 yard:

I need something like this:

Although a dowel would work just fine too. Now that I don't need to keep my stuff as mobile, it's a lot easier to set up.

Apparently today was a scrapbooking tour! I love organization.

Concern and Setbacks

2011-07-31T23:28:00.000-06:00

It's been an odd day, well week.

I found out a few months ago that my BIL made a stupid mistake. He got drunk and kissed another girl. Bad thing about it is that it was my sister's best friend. He claims she instigated it and he didn't stop it right away. Fast forward almost a year and he told my sister. Things have been rocky and she was hurt, but it seems that they were somewhat struggling along and things were getting better.

When they were here a few weeks ago, they seemed ok. Together. Happy.

The other night my mom said that she is taking my sisters kids every other weekend for the next while. Which surprised me, since my mom needs a break too. Until this, my mom didn't know anything about the situation. So she said she cant' talk to me about it. I'm not sure if something new has happened or if she has just found out about what happened before. The plan is to give my sister a break and let them work things out.

I've spoken to my sister a few times and she hasn't said anything about something new going on. My BIL posted a strange comment on FB tonight about trying to get it back or something equally concerning. I text m sister to see if she was ok and she didn't answer me.

I'm quite worried for her. I hope they are ok. I'm a bit emotional tonight and I could cry for them. I'm praying for them. They've been married 10 years this coming Thursday...

Moving on...earlier tonight R found a bed on Kijiji for the baby and asked me to go pick it up for him. No problem. I had to go through downtown briefly but it looked simple enough. The street my GPS told me to take was closed due to construction so I had to take another bridge, when I got to the end it told me to turn and I was confused and somehow ended up going the wrong way on a one-way street. A mainly, usually busy street. I noticed within seconds and by sheer luck there was minimal traffic. I pulled up on the curb and whipped around to go the right direction. Whilst trying not to freak out.

Within 5 seconds I was pulled over by a Sheriff who saw the end part of my turn, over the second curb. At this point I was shaking and trying not to cry. He asked me what happened, I told him I was new to the city and got confused. He told me there was a sign and it was a $172 ticket for not obeying traffic signals. He took my license and insurance. By this point, there was 2 more police cars and they blocked the entire 2 lanes of the street.

He told them I turned wrong, they laughed and drove away. I was in tears. He came back and lectured me a bit, I took off my glasses and he told me not to cry and that he wasn't going to give me a ticket. But to pay more attention.

I still don't know where I was supposed to go on that damn bridge.

I kept driving and finally got to the house. To find out that they had sold the bed 20 minutes before I got there. Even though R had told him I was going to be there in an hour. I was pissed.

Tonight sucks. I'm worried about my sister. I'm going to bed.

I'm that girl...

2011-07-29T07:47:00.000-06:00

(I've seen this a handful of times lately and I love it everytime)

...that has the same routine every morning and it I have to wait for the shower, I'm grumpy for at least an hour. And will be late for work.

...that checks the weather before I get out of bed on weekdays.

...that checks her email a zillion times a day, but rarely updates her facebook status.

...that hates to have naked toes in the summer (ie. no polish).

...that texts instead of picking up the phone.

...that talks to her mom on the way home from work everyday.

...that talks on her cell phone while driving. All. The. Time.

...that scrapbooks.

...that checks her work email at home.

...that while mad does her best cleaning.

...that doesn't really like summer. (Sorry) I'm basically allergic to the sun.

...that has pastie white legs because of the above.

...that loves sheets and bedding and shopping for them.

...that reads every night before bed.

...that would rather stay home and read than go out.

...that can't remember the last time she was in a bar.

...that forgets how to update her ipod and doesn't do it very often. No joke - I've had one for 3 years and I still don't know how to make playlists.

...that is fine talking to new people on the phone at work, but hates calling new people for personal reasons.

...that is seriously addicted to candles. I have my own personal supplier :)

...that is counting down the hours until vacation...8 more to go!

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-07-27T07:53:00.001-06:00

I've been blog stalking lately...er that is checking out other faves and adding to my own. I start my day every day by reading a few. I've seen this one a few times and I like the WILW so I thought I would link up today and share a few, mostly girly things I'm into right now.

Black OPI crackle nail polish! It looks awesome. I've tried it over hot pink and silver so far. Love!!

Ummm...love so much I bought silver too? Haha. I've tried silver over purple and I love that too. And with blue. I've been painting nails and toes every few days lately. And with a top coat it lasts several days, which I love!

R surprised me last weekend with this Return to Tiffany bracelet! I've been wearing a knock off for over a year now and I love the style. He knows I'd never go and buy it for myself so he surprised me and called it a late anniversary gift. I was very surprised. He is so sweet. Then I started looking up charms. Who knew? There are at least 10 that I'm in love with. I think he set himself up for years worth of anniversary gifts lol.

Paint colors. I'm going to paint the focus wall in my house next week on my week off from work. I know I want a teal color to go with the browns I'm going to use for the other walls. And I already have throw pillows and accents to match. Now I just have to pick the perfect color. So. Many. Choices.

What are you loving today?

Friday Five

2011-07-22T07:46:00.000-06:00

I'm tired today and a bit cranky. I'd rather be in bed than at work. Blah, blah, blah. Whatev's. It's been a long time since I've done this. I remember Forest used to do this every week... meh. Perhaps I need some structure in this blog.

The Bad:
1. R has this insistent need to play with the thermostat in the house. Makes me mental. Since we've moved in, I've managed the fans, the thermostat, closing the blinds, ect, so we don't bake in our oven-like house. Yes it's cooler today, but that doesn't mean turn on the furnace...WTF? It's summer, duh. Put on a damn sweater.
2. I'm cranky.
3. We were supposed to go camping this weekend, but we have the baby tomorrow, which = plan no-go. I'm disappointed since I feel like I really need a break.
4. I have a weekend full of house chores that need to be done. And a TON of laundry.
5. The traffic last night took forever to get home.

The Good:
1. Weekend is here!!!!! Almost...
2. My boss finally just told me to come up with a job title for myself so I can order my damn business cards. Should be interesting.
3. I put a roast in the slow cooker this morning, mmmmm...supper will be half done before I get home, ya ya!
4. My holidays start in one week.
5. It's supposed to be a cooler day here and I dont mind that at all!

What's your 5?

My rescue

2011-07-18T10:12:00.000-06:00

Nah...nothing dramatic like that. But a crappy way to start the week.

Last night I couldn't sleep. My sister and her kids were still there, my nephew was upstairs with us and he kept getting up. It was hot and sticky and I kept waking up. I finally pulled my butt outta bed around 6am and was ready to leave at 6:30.

Hopped in the car and drove a block and realized something was wrong, car was pulling to the side, hard and starting to smell. No dash lights but I knew what it was. Pulled over...flat tire. On the ground flat. Damn.

So I tried to call R. No Answer. I called his work cell. No answer. Text him. Still no answer. By then I was flustered and mad. Called my sister. No answer.

So I walked the 4 blocks home. Glad I was close. Not so glad I was wearing strappy sandals today. Woke my Brother in law up and he jumped out of bed to come help me.

Because I was flustered I forgot to set the park brake and the car rolled a teeny bit, enough to wreck my jack however. Grrrr. Either way he changed the tire and I drove R's cell phones to him at work. As I pulled in, he pulled in behind me. He had driven to the house to get them. Haha.

Stupid thing is that I know how to change a tire. I've done it before. The only thing I'm not sure of is where to place the damn jack. So the day I was going in early I was 1/2 hour late. My boss was fine however.

Ever want to start a day (or week) over?

Surprise!

2011-07-15T12:21:00.002-06:00

I was asked to do the interview today, not observe...and I rocked it!!

Woo hoo!

Friday my love, you're finally here!

2011-07-15T07:45:00.000-06:00

What a week. *whew*

Poor R left the house at 5am yesterday to go to work and didn't get home until after midnight! I'm glad he likes his new job, because he's working a ton of hours! More than he's ever worked before. I think a standard 60 hour week so far. Thank God for overtime pay! Woot!

I have 2 interviews today. I'm stoked. It's been a long time since I've gotten to interview someone. And since I'll be very happily handing payroll over to the new person, I'm hoping today goes well. Funny how I can advertise for 6 different positions and get 50 resumes for this position and none for 4 of the others. Apparently for tradespeople it is very much an employee's market. Either way, 2 interviews today and 1 on Tuesday and if nothing from these I have another 12 or so really good resumes to choose from.

My sister will be here tonight! And I'm wayyyyyyy excited to see her! My house isn't so tidy and I have dishes in the kitchen, but what can a girl do? I'm busy. Life will go on.

We don't have immediate plans. Tonight will be a lay low night, tomorrow maybe some markets and go-karts for the boys. The girls will shop (of course) and Sunday hit a splash park. Should be fun. 3 kids on Sunday. Oh my...

Apparently a tornado hit the city the night before last!!! I live in a large city so it's not that strange that on my side we didn't know. The city is divided into 4 quadrants, SouthEast, NorthEast, SouthWest, NorthWest. I live in the SouthEast and it hit in the SouthWest. Crazy!

Must go, work calls.

Any fun weekend plans?

Checking out

2011-07-14T10:23:00.000-06:00

The next 7 days at a glance…

- 18 appointments
- 8 Interviews
- ½ day course
- 2 meetings

I quite honestly don’t think I would remember to do half the things I need to remember to do without my Outlook calendar. We have a love-hate relationship. I love that it helps with my organization and so that I don’t forget meetings, but I hate it when it beeps at me when I’m too busy to listen to it.

I’m in the process of scheduling interviews for 2 positions. Half of them I don’t (think) I have to be a part of, but the other half I’m a bit worried I’ll end up leading the interviews. It’s not my position to interview for. I was asked to sit in and I’m great with that, but sheesh. I also sorted through and picked out the potential candidates. Should be interesting as they start interviews tomorrow. It’s for the payroll position that I’ve been helping to cover. I’ll be very happy when it’s filled!

My Dad and step-mom are coming to stay/visit tonight. I didn’t even get the house cleaned up. I was so tired, I ended up having a nap on the couch. My sister is coming up Friday and I was going to clean up for that too, but then she told me she’s bringing her dog. Her big, hairy, black lab. Who is a sweetheart, but sheds terribly. I didn’t end up vacuuming. Why bother?

I need to organize my day. It’s after 10 and I’ve been running all over. I need to prioritize what needs to be done and what can wait.

It’s getting close to holiday time and I’m super excited about it. This girl is B.U.R.N.T. out. I’ve been running like crazy for months and if I don’t take a break soon, I’m likely to scream. And possibly lose my mind. R might have the time off, he might not. He just started with this company so he won’t have vacation time saved up. Either way, if I’m off alone, I’m ok with it. I’ll keep busy.

We are going to go camping next weekend I think. He mentioned it last night and it sounds fun. We both are in dire need of a break. This weekend will be the 3rd in a row with company.

Where have I been?

2011-07-12T08:24:00.000-06:00

I'm here. Still here. Reading blogs just not writing.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Will and Kate coming to my fair city. Although to be honest, other than the fireworks and the Calgary tower lighting up, I wouldn't have even noticed. The traffic on that day and the day prior was terrible, but apparently that is just the way it gets during the Stampede. The Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth. Thanks but no thanks. Too many people.

We've been lying low. We've had company come and go and more is coming this week. Life has continued to keep busy.

I also borrowed this from here.

Tell me about the shirt you're wearing?

A hot pink tank under a zipped black short sleeved hoodie with a hot pink and white Fleur de les on it.

What's currently bothering you?
I’m a bit tired. I have a lot to do today.

What do you currently hear?
A salesman down the hall talking about his house reno’s.

When was the last time you had your hair cut?
2 weeks ago. It’s finally getting so that I can do things with it, it was cut too short…

When were you last outside?
Half hour ago on my way into work.

Are you wearing shorts?
Black capris.

Does the thought of marriage scare you?
A bit. I’ve been there and it failed. The next time however, I’ll be sure before hand.

What are you doing today?
Working. I have a ton to do and I’ll likely end up with overtime.

Look to your left, what is there?
A battery back up on the floor and box of promo materials for the next job fair.

What time did you go to sleep last night?
Around 10:00pm.

When is your Birthday?
April.

The way to win your heart?
Honesty, Humor, Loving, Kind.

What are you going to do this weekend?
My sister and her kids and husband are coming to visit. Should be a good and loud time lol.

Were you happy when you woke up today?
I wasn’t unhappy, but I didn’t want to get up.

Have you ever crawled through a window?
Yes.

Would you ever donate blood?
I want too. I keep saying I should, but I’m a bit afraid of the needle.

Has anyone ever mistaken you for a family member?
Nope. Just that I have resemblance.

Do you have reason to smile right now?
If I think about something, I’m sure I could.

What do you do when you're stressed out?
Cry. Vent. Blog. Walk.

Would you honestly say you'd risk your life for someone else?
yes.

Do you open up to people easily?
Nope.

Has anyone upset you in the last week?
Yes.

What is the last pill you swallowed?
An allergy pill last night.

What was the first thing you thought this morning?
Morning already??

Who do you blame for your bad mood today?
No one, I’m not in a bad mood.

Where is the person you like right now?
At work.

What was the first thing you did this morning?
Rolled over, said good morning to R and snoozed for a bit more.

Do you care of what people think of you?
I try not too, but I think everyone does.

Who was the last person you took a picture with?
R. My Step-mom took a pic of us at the Stampede Breakfast on Saturday.

What are you looking forward to right now?
The weekend

Do you miss someone?
Not really.

Does your crush like you?
He loves me!

If you could go back in time and change something would you?
I think everyone could go back and have regrets and make changes, however that is useless so I try not to think about that and just not make the same mistakes again.

Do you hate smokers?
No. I don’t like smoke and try to stay away from it however.

Ever had a near death experience?
I’ve had some close call vehicle accidents. None my fault 

Something you do a lot?
Talk on the phone. Email.

Last person you cried in front of?
R.

Have you ever been to a tanning bed?
A long time ago. Not anymore. My skin doesn’t like the sun.

Does anyone hate you for no reason?
I don't know.

Have you ever kissed someone whose name starts with the letter J?
In high school my boyfriend’s name started with a J.

What are you stressed out about?
Getting the house painted.

What was your favourite grade?
I don’t remember. None probably. Lol.

When is the next time you'll see your best friend(s)?
This weekend :)

Are any of your friends pregnant?
A blogger friend, but none that I know of. Yet.

Favourite number?
4

Ever been in love?
Yep.

Are you wearing make-up?
Yes.

What were you doing at 11:30 last night?
Sleeping.

What's the last thing you said and to who?
Yes I changed my name, to a co-worker on the phone.

Do you sleep on your stomach?
Yes, I sleep every which way. And I move a lot.

What do you hear?
Phone pages.

Are you ticklish?
Very.

Last time you saw fireworks, with who & where?
Saturday night. The Stampede fireworks can be seen from my house 

A little of this and that

2011-07-07T10:32:00.000-06:00

There is a ton of things going on in my head right now, and I want to get them out, also I want to complain to someone! hahaha

- My allergies are making me miserable. Last night I was weeding some of the flowerbeds (there are tons that need to be done) and I was fine. However, a few hours later I had a reaction. I was itchy everywhere, even my ears. I was uncomfortable and it was hot in the house. I took some Benadryl and it put me to sleep.

- I'm still sleepy from it this morning. I need to go to a pharmacist and find a better alternative.

- My boss has been out of the office for a week. I need her to sign and go over a bunch of things with her, but apparently she is cranky and busy. *sigh*

- ESM arrived after 9 last night and it sounds like we are a crashing pad only. *sigh again* R won't be very happy with that. She has appointments downtown today and plans for dinner tonight. I'm not thrilled as this is her first night here. However, since both R and I work today the daytime doesn't matter so much. Her plan is to leave either Friday night or Saturday morning. There won't be much visiting, which annoys me when you are staying with someone. Saturday we have to go pick up a shelf and in the evening we have tickets for a dinner. She won't be here, but if she leaves tomorrow night I won't be offering my house anymore. We are not a free hotel.

- I'm a bit grumpy.

- I'm trying to write a procedure/policy and it's annoying me because I can't seem to get it to make sense.

- I'm finally making progress on my to-do list, but all that's left is the crap I don't want to do.

- I weeded 2 flower beds last night. I have 7 left that need to be done. 6 of those 7 are very large. I'm aiming to do one per night and see how that works out.

- I'm a bit pissed at R over the flower bed weeding. I would never had said yes to this house had I known that I was going to have to do all the weeding myself. He indicated to me that he would help. So far, he's been too "busy" with other stuff to help me. Grrr...

- I'm taking Sunday off. I'm staying home all day, not leaving the house, not weeding or laundry or anything. I'm in dire need of a vacation and I need a break!

Keep up? Or Catch up?

2011-07-06T11:20:00.000-06:00

At some point you just have to throw in the towel and accept the fact that there might not ever be a point of catching up. Keeping up is a pipe dream. I'm at that point. My to-do list keeps getting longer and longer every day. Blogging right now is not a scheduled event, but I need to take some time to gather my thoughts.

Work is chaotic. With filling in for 2 positions plus my own very busy position, I'm not sure I can keep going like this. I have a lot to do and I try to keep pushing, one step at a time, but I'm overwhelmed this morning. There is just too much to do. *sigh*

Home is not much better. We have been trying to finish with the last of the setting up. While at the same time, prepare for company, clean the yard, keep up with the housework and try to stop and have a break every now and then. We knew the yard would be a huge undertaking. I know the flower beds need tending. There are multiple beds and they all need weeding. I have been putting it off. By the time I get home from work, make supper and clean up I'm beat. I have no inclination to go outside and bake in the sun, wedding over-grown flower beds.

R is grouchy too. He feels the same as I do. That we are constantly running around. He mowed last night and built some shelves in the (finally) build shed. I need to pick up some gardening gloves (maybe at lunchtime today?). Tonight my step mother (ESM) is coming to stay for a few days.

Both R and I work Thursday and Friday so I'm not sure what she is going to do during the day on Friday, and I have no idea how long she's staying for. Although that is typical ESM behaviour. Either way my plan is to tackle at least 1 flower bed tonight. I might cheat and pick a small one, but I will get one done tonight. ESM won't arrive until 8 or 9 so I should be able to do one tonight. Maybe I just have to set smaller goals like that.

I made Thai Coconut chicken last night (over rice) - it was delish! And it's hot today. Welcome Summer! You're FINALLY here!

Oh and my allergies are still here. Slightly better, but still here. Bah! I'm so ready for a holiday...

Allergies

2011-07-04T09:45:00.000-06:00

I do NOT love pollen. I love spring, I like the prettiness of outdoors, but I have seasonal allergies. And they are bad. They seem to change from year to year. Some years I don't even notice them, this year however, it is not the case.

Earlier in the year I started feeling the effects, however it was quite early in the year and there had been a ton of rain, so it was odd to have my seasonal allergies be making an appearance, so I chalked it up to a possible spring cold and forgot about this.

This weekend however, they came back with a vengence. I've been sneezing, runny nose, dry - itchy eyes, stuffy - tickly nose. You name it. And my allergy pills aren't working. Arg. They take away the dry itchy eyes but do nothing for the other symptoms. I have Benadryl, which works like a dream, but it puts me to dreamland. One pink pill and I'm snoozing before I know it. I think I need to go see the pharmacist and see what I can find. Either that or don't leave the house and keep all the windows closed for the next month...

We had a good weekend. It was busy as usual. Friday was a holiday and I cleaned the house, scrubbed it and made it sparkly clean. I also donated a bunch of stuff. Saturday I went to my great aunt's house and lent a hand again. Brought home a bunch of stuff, donated a bunch of stuff, tossed a bunch of stuff. My mom and step-dad came to stay for the night.

Yesterday we had the baby. She was quite entertaining yesterday. We went to Ikea to look for a spare bed and while R was in the bathroom, we walked around the kids section looking at toys. She was checking out the stuffed animals and would look at one then hand it to me and then choose another and put it back. She came across a very soft, stuffed dog and gave it a huge hug and tucked it under her arm. And she would not give it back to me. She was in love.

It was $8 and since we don't spoil her or buy her things very often we let her have it. She was very happy. For the rest of the trip she would not let go of this dog, not even to put her in her car seat, lol, it was adorable. We even found her a small dresser for her bedroom for $40. Love good deals!

It was a good weekend.

Happy Canada Day!

2011-06-30T11:49:00.000-06:00

This is my desk at work. My goal for today is to clean it off before I go home. I used to clean my desk off every day before I went home, but lately I'm just so rushed and busy that I don't bother, or at the very least I pile it up nicely. I hate a messy desk.

It is an ecclectic mess however: various company cell phones, sticky memo note pads, water bottles, laptop, incident reports, social committee binder, sparkly hand lotion, a bookmark, a memo that needs revising. My personality is somewhere on this desk, however it's a bit in hiding currently. You can see the flower that I taped to my monitor on the top left. It's a silver poinsetta flower from Christmas, but I like it, so it stayed up. I have my 'Book of Answers' on the desk corner and various things placed here and there. Either way, my day is half over, thankfully. I want the weekend to be here!

Tomorrow is Canada Day and a holiday. I somewhat doubt we'll be doing anything fun related, other than watching the fireworks. Apparently we can see them from our front yard, so I'm hopeful.

Tomorrow R will be moving the garage (tonight too) and I'll be house cleaning in preparation for my mom and step-dad coming to visit. Saturday I'm going back to help clean out my great-aunt's house and Saturday evening my company arrives. Sunday we have the baby as usual. I'm hoping to get the house cleaned up and the final stuff put away - it's time.

I want to pick paint colors too. And get started.

Any fun weekend plans?

What a view!

2011-06-27T19:15:00.000-06:00

I think it's about time that I finally posted some photos of our new home! It's still a work in progress, a bit cluttered and needs paint, but you get the general idea.

The living room.

Other half of the living room and the dining area. Notice the ugly end tables?

They will be going away soon, I hope...

The other half of the living room.

Our rocking chairs, lol. We actually love to sit in them and look out the front window.

Part of our view, as looking out the front window. It's not a very clear day, but you can see downtown, and on a nice day, you can see the mountains.

This is another angle from the front window. We love the view. It's hard to tell off a cell phone camera, but seriously the view is amazing.

More pictures to follow, once we clean up a bit more, and paint, and if we get a clearer day soon, I'll get some of the mountains with an actual camera.

Thoughts

2011-06-21T07:54:00.000-06:00

My little man. Blayden. My nephew.

B and I have a connection. We always have. Since he was born. I missed his birth due to a phone malfunction, to which I promptly bought a cell phone. My sister lived in the same town as I did then and I spent a lot of time with them. I was at her house at least once a week, sometimes more. B's initials are on my right shoulder - like I said we have a connection.

I am his favorite auntie. He has an uncle and 2 other auntie's that live in the same town as they do now. I miss him a lot. I miss my sister, but often when I plan a visit it's because I want to see her kids. The youngest is a free spirit and wild. B is a bit more grown up. They both often surprise me, K (the youngest) decided that she was a big girl and basically potty trained herself in less than 2 weeks - before she was even 2! The other day (she's just over 2 now) she picked up the phone when I called my mom's house and she sang me twinkle, twinkle.

I mail B books on cd and crafts - when Canada Post is not on strike.

I think I need to plan a trip to visit. I miss my kids :)

This week is rolling on, busy as they always are. I have 4 meetings booked this week already and I'm sure more to come. I'm still filling in for payroll, but fortunately I don't have anything payroll related to do until tomorrow afternoon so I can continue to work on my job tasks. They have taken a backseat since mid-April so I'm happy to be getting my very long to-do list back in order.

I have policies to update, forms to create, job ad's to make and post. I forgot to mention my application for University was processed. I had to re-apply this time from open studies into a program and I was accepted. I paid my $125 deposit and tomorrow I can register for my course! I'm going to take 'Recruitment and Selection' - which sounds a bit dull, but should be great for work. I love that my job is paying for my education!!

However, work is calling. Again.

Weekend

2011-06-20T07:51:00.001-06:00

This weekend went way too quickly!

Friday I took the afternoon off work and drove to RD to meet with the lawyer and sign over the mortgage. It was ok. Really it was. The only part that got me was when it was over and everything was signed, he sat back in his chair and told me he was always sad to see a marriage end and he can't imagine the pain we are both in. I teared up a bit, bit my lip, thanked him and got up and left.

There was nothing to say.

Saturday I did some shopping while R moved some of the garage stuff over. I got him a few things for Father's day and an anniversary gift. Today is our 1 year anniversary :)

Father's Day we celebrated relaxed style. Chloe was dropped off, we did some errands, went to the farmers market, she gave him her gifts and we played. I made supper and we watched a movie.

R's procrastination came out. I had no idea he had work to do and prep for this week, so at 9pm he started his work. I went to bed to read and passed out around 10. He didn't get to bed until closer to 11pm.

He got up and left at 5am and he'll be away for the next 3 days. This is the first time I've been alone at home with him away. I've gone away for work but not him, so this might be interesting. I do, however wish he was here for our anniversary today :(

There will be more. We'll celebrate this one on Friday instead.

Flowers from my sweetie showed up this morning around 10am, Awwww!

Either way this will be a busy week, as they all are for me now. I have a new idea for advertising so I'm excited to look into pricing this morning and see :)

Happy Monday.

Angst

2011-06-17T08:27:00.000-06:00

Today I'm a bit conflicted.

I sign over the house to my ex today. Part of me is quite happy to have this over with and feels like I'm moving on, but part of me knows I'm going to cry on the drive home. I try not to look back at my mistakes and feel sad or mad about them. I could look back and think that time has been wasted or that the mistakes have been huge, but what's the point in that? I'm not sure I would do things differently. I might, but it's not like I can go back and change them so why focus on it??

I've been working very hard to clear up debt. I have accumulated some because of my ex and although it makes me mad, again there is nothing I can do about it. I have a line of credit that is because of him and it's high, but not completely un-manageable and with the money he is paying me (for his half) I should be able to wipe it out in a year or 2. Then the only debt I have is my SUV. That feels good.

Today I'm saying goodbye to another (larger) piece of my old life. I look at it in 3 big pieces, with, of course some smaller chunks mixed in there. Piece #1 was moving out. Piece #2 is signing over the house to him. Piece #3 is the divorce.

Funny how I chose this life and I AM happy, but I'm also a bit sad. Part of me is leaving today. It's so hard to explain. The life I thought I was going to have is no more. The house, the partner, the children...that life is gone. I have a newer, better life and for that I am grateful, but I'm still a bit sad.

I lived in that house for over 2 years. Every curtain, dish, floor rug, shower curtain, photo on the wall was chosen by me and placed with care. It was a home I loved. A home I was proud to live in and invite people too. I left half of it behind. I took what mattered to me (and some of the best stuff :) ) and left the rest. Today I sign on that line that that home is his.

Somewhere along the line, it went from a home to a house. It's hard to pin point where things changed exactly, but they did. In 5 months we will qualify for a divorce based on 1 year living apart. We will file ourselves and split the cost. There will be no lawyers, no alimony, no arguing.

And once it's over with, no talking. I will change my number, he doesn't know where I live and it will be done. It's a long process.

Today I will grieve however, just a little bit. I will allow myself to be sad about the dreams that didn't materialize and the life that I imagined that I'm leaving behind today. Because I believe that you have to live the moment before you can move on. I'm not looking forward to today.

Please send good thoughts my way today.

Thank you friends.

The Art of the Backhanded Compliment

2011-06-15T07:59:00.000-06:00

I have a co-worker who has mastered the art of the backhanded compliment. You know, the one where you say thank you but then you are left wondering what it really meant...

"You're hair looks great today...you almost can't tell you need a haircut."

Excuse me?

That would be my co-worker. The one who gets all worked up when I tell her that I think 'Pool Towel' is a terrible name for a candle scent. I would think 'Pool Towel' would smell like chlorine and musty old towel. But I digress.

I have a full office day today. Yesterday I was in another Workers Compensation Course for a half day, then I was preparing for the Job Fair I've lined up for tomorrow. The Job Fair is a full day, however, I'll only be working half of it. I have a few scheduled meetings that I need to run so I can't be away the full day. I was going to pass it onto my Health & Safety co-worker, but he gave notice on Monday.

This means 2 things. I have to fill in for him for some things until they hire someone else, which will be awhile and I have to sit with him soon (hopefully today) and basically write down all this information...login's, contacts, any pertinent information. Fun.

However, I am getting a bonus out of it. My boss is buying me a Cricut! I've wanted one for so long, but couldn't justify the cost. Either way, hopefully it's here by the weekend :)

Life is crazy. The dog versus the house debate with the landlord has been settled, it will be fine. An additional deposit, but otherwise fine. I skipped dance class last night and had a nap on the couch instead, it was great.

I'm ready for the weekend. I need a break. It's my 1 year anniversary with R on Monday and Father's Day on Sunday. We'll have the baby on Sunday so I will get him a card and a small gift from her, although I have no idea what just yet. For some reason I was thinking our anniversary was on Saturday, we might still go out and celebrate Saturday. It's been one hell of a year :)

Over reacting

2011-06-07T12:32:00.000-06:00

I have a tendency to jump the gun. I have to work really hard at controlling my emotions and not freaking out about something and waiting to find out what is actually happening. Some call it over reacting. I prefer not too because of the image it portrays in my mind.

I happened to notice something today that basically I shouldn't have. Well not really, because as part of my job, it would have come to my attention sooner or later anyhow, but I've seen something that is unfair to me and I've worked really hard at it.

I could be wrong and it could be in the process still, but it doesn't look like it. It frustrated the hell out of me and I'll need to talk to my boss about a problem I'm going to have with her if what I saw today is actually true.

I feel under valued and over worked. And upset about it.

Randoms

2011-06-06T15:47:00.000-06:00

- Tonight is an at home date night. We've busted our butts for weeks and we need a fun relaxing night. Pirates of the Caribbean movie marathon and Alfredo lasagna...mmmmm yum!
- We did a great job of unpacking. The house looks great. I'm thrilled with how close we are to being finished! We even managed to get rid of a few things!!
- Will managers ever believe that someone on compensation is actually hurt? It seems like every time someone gets hurt they immediately think it's faking. It's tiring to have to babysit every comp case. You know. Just in case.
- I finally had a productive day today. Been super hectic and never seem to have time to get to the smaller things on my list.
- I found out today that the Disability Management Course I signed up for on Wednesday is actually a full day course. Dammit! That is going to be dull! And I don't really have time to use an entire day for it. *sigh*
- It's raining today. I don't actually mind, I like the rain.
- I found out the disability claim that I've been covering the position for is likely going to be denied. That should be fun to tell the employee. Not. And further does that mean we can proceed and hire? Because filling in for her sucks big time!

On the upside, I'm thrilled with how great the house is starting to look!!! Pictures will come once it's all set up and more organized. Followed by before and afters haha, we still have to paint...

Happy Monday!

Changes

2011-06-03T07:59:00.000-06:00

Last night R went to talk to his ex about us. We didn't really know what to expect so all in all (so far) it far exceeded our expectations. She was upset that he didn't tell her sooner that he was dating and that she was finding out he was dating after he had moved in with someone. I understand her feelings. Thinking back, in hindsight he should have told her sooner, but it wasn't an easy situation.

Either way she knows now. Part of it anyhow. She got upset and cried (however R tells me that is her first reaction to everything, cry then talk it out, or get mad, or sad, or whatever). She wants to meet me, which we expected. He wants us all to be friends....never gonna happen!

I tried to explain to him that no matter what, she could under other circumstances be my best friend, but in these circumstances, it will never happen. I hope for civility and consideration and go from there. I'm pretty sure it will be this weekend so we'll see. We are supposed to have the baby on Sunday (as per our usual).

She told him that starting in Sept. she wants him to take the baby on Saturdays. Which I do NOT want to do. It limits us in so many ways. She won't let the baby stay over night (because she says the baby is not ready, but really his ex is not ready). This means that if she won't let us have the baby for a weekend, we won't be able to travel together from Sept - Dec. And although R doesn't really go further than a day trip, I do. I like to take vacation time in the fall. I say every other Saturday and then Sunday, alternate. We'll see what happens.

I just hope she doesn't talk to a bunch of her man-hating friends and freak out worse after she thinks about it. Ugh.

Cranky

2011-06-02T12:11:00.000-06:00

It's not enough that my everyday job is so super busy that occasionally I have to work overtime to catch up. But now that I'm half covering payroll, well I'm much, much busier. So busy in fact that I'm going to have to work late tonight just to get the super important things done today that should have been done weeks ago. Great. I don't overly mind.

What I do mind however, is a former friend of mine from our other location, giving me crap yesterday about a number on her paystub. For sick days accrued. It was wrong. Yes. It's wrong on most paystubs, however making sure that people actually get paid is my main focus. Excuse me. so yes, your personal day was denied, but are you more mad that I was the one that denied it, or that you've already used up more personal days this calendar year than you've accrued. Why is that my fault? I'm following the damn rules.

So having her manager call and be rude to me after she was rude yesterday? Well that pisses me off. I'm ready for a break. I need to book days off before I blow up.

R is going to talk to his ex tonight and tell her about me. Partially anyhow. That he is dating someone new and that we live together. She is going to FREAK out. I figured he should tell her before she shows up on Sunday to drop the baby off. Should be interested. I'm a bit worried she'll react wrong and not let him see the baby...I hope not.

*sigh*

Progress

2011-05-31T07:59:00.000-06:00

We're getting closer!

Last night after work we went to the old place and cleaned it up. I mean scrubbed! The owners are super particular so we did a really good job of making sure it was clean. We scrubbed walls, floors, bathroom, everything. I got there about 45 minutes before R got there. All in all it took about 2 hours. But it was worth it in the end, we were given back the full deposit. Yay!

I went home after to see how the banana head was doing, lol. Before we moved to this place, for her entire 2 years, Chiquita (my dog) was left in a room during the day (usually the office). Because she was a turd and would get into things. However, I get tired of this and wanted to let her roam in this house. We don't want her upstairs on our bed during the day so we'll end up putting a gate up for that, but we let her roam otherwise. So far, 2 nights in and 1 day and she didn't get into anything, yet. I'm sure she will at some point or another, but I like that she has more space to play. Chances are she sleeps all day but at least I feel better about it now.

So I made supper, R had to run to the garage (it hasn't been moved over yet) and then we unpacked a few boxes. And by we, I mean me. He set up the computer and desk, which is good because it was all just piled in the way so at least it's functioning now and that corner is set up.

Tonight we are going to unpack! R is going to bring as many boxes into the house as he can until he drops and I'm going to unpack the kitchen and then just direct the boxes into the right rooms. It didn't help getting home around 7:30 last night. Although I did cook a meal for the first time in a few days :)

Today I'll be spending the day in the payroll office...well at least the morning. I have a lot to do in there and I'm tired of the emails about where stuff is. I'm working 2 jobs people, jeez relax!

The best and the worst

2011-05-30T07:48:00.000-06:00

I could likely come up with a post long just on the complaints of how I'm feeling today. But I won't. I'll roll with a 5/5 instead. Happy Monday!

Good:
1. The move is done, we have everything in the new house.
2. The weather this weekend was beautiful, so sunny!
3. I have a really busy day planned today, so it will go by quickly.
4. R and I woke up before the alarm this morning, we got a nice snuggle and chat before getting up to get ready for work.
5. The traffic was minimal and the drive to work this morning was great!

Bad:
1. Everything hurts this morning. Arms. Legs. Ankles. Head. Eyes. Everything.
2. I didn't sleep well last night at all. New noises, new house, who knows, but I didn't get much sleep and I was tired before I went to bed.
3. All the boxes are at the house, but most are in the garage and still have to be unpacked. I'm wearing jeans today - I found work pants but couldn't find a shirt.
4. We're going after work to the old place to clean it up tonight. Yuck. I'm sick of cleaning.
5. I knew we needed to paint the new house, but didn't realize the entire first floor would have to be painted. It's going to be a bigger job than I thought, but it will be amazing!

Are we there yet?

2011-05-26T07:56:00.000-06:00

I've been reading miscellaneous stuff online when I need a brain break. Lol. I'm actually fine with my co-workers, but I thought this was hilarious!

I'm about done. I feel my stress level at the top. R and I got into a fight last night about the stupidest thing. He made a flip comment and I lost it. I'm tired of him making fun of me for not lifting the heavy boxes. I know my limit. Sheesh.

Anyhow, he came to bed 3 hours after I did around 1am and left while I was in the shower this morning. Ugh.

My list:
- Moving in 2 days, not finished packing, don't know if we have help with the furniture, it's pouring rain, we have an open truck.
- Super, super busy at work. Covering 2 positions. Can't. Keep. Up.
- Need a holiday.
- Trying to find a way to get my ex to qualify for the mortgage - we are this close and they aren't working with him. This means I have to talk to him more often than I'd like.
- He told me yesterday he was told that we have to have legal separation papers drawn up and be in place for a year before we can divorce. WTF? That is not what I understood. Seriously? I'm in no rush to get re-married, but I have to be separated for another year?

I'm freakin' tired.

The Truck

2011-05-25T08:15:00.000-06:00

R is ridiculously proud of his truck. Most times I'm ok with it. I'm into old vehicles, but I'm pretty happy that we don't have to rent anything to move our stuff in. I like the truck well enough, but it needs seat belts :)

This is from last night. (Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my camera on my phone? It totally takes awesome pictures!)

Anyhow, the 3 ton beastie did a great job the past 2 days. We could only load up to the top of the box each time, because being 12 feet long, we didn't have a tarp large enough to cover it stacked any higher. Either way, we got it finished!

And I totally appologize for the picture being sideways. I took it on an angle (on purpose) but for some reason no matter how I've saved up, every time I upload it, it turns it sideways. I really hate uploading photos for this reason. It never works for me!

We got the move done last night before it rained, so I'm happy. We have another 2 loads including all furniture and then we are done! I can't wait!!

Happy Wednesday.

Cram Full

2011-05-24T12:31:00.000-06:00

This day has been incredibly busy already!

I got here early, which is good, because that would likely have been my only quiet time all day. Had a quick breakfast, drank some tea and hit the floor running. It hasn't stopped.

I had a surprise new hire come in. No one had told me. Since I do ALL the offer letters, I wasn't aware. She was basically hired on the spot (remember my post about sexist managers?) Anyhow, so I had to get her into a pre-employment physical then book her orientation.

After that, an hour long meeting, then back to my office to try to organize a few things that are getting away from me. I have 2 new hires to organize for this week then 2 the week after and another in June. Since I'm also partially covering payroll it keeps me busy. Get the manual copied, find all the new forms. Go over some forms I just recieved from the other branch, send them back to be filled out correctly (*sigh*).

Eat a quick lunch (now - noon) then a meeting about the Slave Lake fire and some new fund raiser we are apparently going to launch (like I have time), then new hire orientation - start at least. I have another meeting at 2 that will be an hour, then finish the orientation. That will wind up my day.

Go home, load the truck, take another load in the rain to the new house. Oh ya, we started the move yesterday. We moved a load in the rain. It sucked big time! Super wet. The house is still occupied so we put the load in the garage. Another load today, then we can assess and see how many more boxes we'll need to finish.

R is hoping they will be gone and we can move the bed over tomorrow after work. If so, we'll do another load tomorrow after work too and then the rest of the furniture on Saturday. Eeek!

We have to paint the house after we move in as well. It's gonna be a rush! Then clean the old place and be out by Monday. I'm tired just thinking about it.

It's forecasted to rain all week, I sure hope they are wrong this time.

Crazy Days

2011-05-20T08:05:00.000-06:00

Isn't it supposed to be wild nights? They're not. :)

Last night the new landlord called us to meet him at the new house. We did some walking around and looking at a few things outside. We are almost able to move in. A few more days and it'll be empty and ready to go. I can't wait. The yard needs some love, but I'm ok with that too.

We went to home depot after that and looked at paint swatches. I love paint swatches. I can't wait to paint. I don't love the act of painting, but the yellow-orangey walls must go! I want a light tan, brown, sandy-ish color with a dark chocolate focus wall. R said I get to pretty much choose but he just wants to be ok with my choice in the end. See what comes out :)

Today I have a meeting this morning to assist me with some help filling in for payroll. Should help I hope.

My boss emailed me about the Slave Lake Fire, we have some staff from there or that have family that live(d) there. She'd like me to put together some fund raising ideas to discuss on Tuesday and then get it all together by Friday. Ya, right. Like I have time for that. Ugh. I appreciate the cause, and definitely want to support it, but I have enough on my plate as it is.

You're gonna want to see this updated

2011-05-19T10:48:00.001-06:00

**update**
So after that mess from this morning, I spoke to the dean of the business department, she returned my call. Now I have to call the transfer department and have them push through my college diploma to see if my courses will match the pre-requisites of the new courses I want to take. If they do, then I have to call another person and have her switch my admission from open studies to the HR certificate program. Once that is switched and my courses assessed for transfer then I can register and it shouldn't be an issue from this point forward.

What. A. Gong. Show.
******************************************************

Me have a freakin' melt down that is.

How hard is it to register for University? I mean come on? They honestly expect high school students to do this? I'm a college graduate. I'm a professional business woman. I've negotiated a mortgage and half way through a divorce. And I can't get into a damn university class.

- In March I called MRU (University) to ask if my courses from my diploma would transfer, they said I need to email the transfer department.
- I emailed the transfer department with all the courses I have and the ones I want them to be equivalent to. Took them weeks, but they got back to me, saying most likely but they can't tell me for sure until I register for said courses.
- I applied to MRU.
- I called my high school and had my transcript sent to MRU.
- I called my college and paid to have my transcript sent to MRU. (I couldn't send the transcripts - they HAD to come from the academic sources)
- I recieved my admission with info for registering.
- I had registered for open studies at the suggestion of someone in the admissions office. They said I can take the courses I want and then apply them to the HR certificate I want later on when I'm ready to declare a major.
- I attempted to register online this morning. I couldn't figure out the website. I asked our part-time receptionist (who goes to MRU) for help. We found that all the courses I'd want to take, all 5 of them, are restricted.
- I called the admissions department, they said I need to add 'University Entrance Option' to my application and that I need to speak with an evaluator.
- I left her a voicemail.
- She called back and told me she can add it, but I still won't be able to get into those courses so I need to speak to an advisor.
- I called the advising department, they said I can apply to the HR program, but that still won't get me into the courses either. She said I need to speak to the dean of Business/HR Chair and ask for special permission to get into the classes.
- I left her a voicemail.
- I'm still waiting to hear back from her.

Even if she gives me permission and I get into the class I want to take, I then will have to pay another $70 for application to the HR program. And register in October for Winter semester, and will likely have to get permission again to take courses.

I can see why people give up. This is beyond ridiculous! 5 phone calls and 2 hours later and I'm still no further than I was when I started this morning.

sexist

2011-05-18T15:11:00.000-06:00

Is it a pre-requisite for Parts Department Managers to be sexist jerks?

I've sent one manager no less than 15 resumes, at minimum 10 qualified with experience. 5 that would be perfect for the job.

Who does he want to hire? The young girl bartender with no experience and no qualifications. Sounds about right.

Pisses me off to no end. Mostly because what is the point of me pre-screening resumes when he is going to hire the girl with the biggest... ahem... "assets"? ...And no experience.

*sigh* I'm ready for a holiday.

Normal Days

2011-05-17T09:15:00.000-06:00

Nova Scotia, Sept 2008

I'm not sure why I stress over change so much. I thrive on choas it seems...to a point and then it makes me insane. I get worked up over everything when it feels like my life is pulling in all directions and I have no control.

I work hard to deal with my inner-control-freak. I stuff her back down and tell her to chill out when I want to scream and worry and make things all clean and tidy. I don't feel the need to be in control of everything, but when nothing seems to be going the way it should and things are messy, well I get a bit nervous.

It's been over a year since I left C, actually closer to a year and a half. R and my 1 year anniversary is in June. We are moving very soon. I just moved 6 months ago so it's bugging me. And we knew we were going to move again, so we left more than half of my things still packed in boxes - I'm hating it. We were supposed to move in early, around next weekend, but now someone is temporarily living there until the end of the month, so we don't know when we are moving in. Maybe next weekend. Oh, it had better be next weekend.

I hate the rush of moving. Can't find anything, stuff all over, stuff in boxes. The hard, heavy lifting and moving, ugh. The people here are particular so the cleaning has to be impeccible. So here she comes ICF - if we can move on Saturday May 28th and unpack on the 29th and clean after work on the 30th, then it'll all be finished for a walk thru on the 31st - eek!

Work is super busy. I'm doing 1 1/2 positions currently. Mine and some stuff for payroll. I like it, but it's wayyyyyy busy, can't keep up busy. R starts a new job on Monday. He was approached and doesn't like his current job. He's been there just over 3 months.

And then I jump all over. I wanted to take holidays this summer. I wanted us to take a week off. And now with R starting a new job there is no way he'll have vacation saved up for a week off this summer. Ugh. Why stress? I don't get it.

I do need time off. Badly. R says that he's going to have to babysit me when I take vacation time. I don't relax. I keep insanely busy so that when I go back to work, things slow down. I'm always hectic paced. I like to visit my mom, dad or sister but end up running the entire time. I have this issue with doing nothing...there are always things that need to be done.

I keep telling him I need to find a beach and go somewhere where there is nothing I can do, and leave my cell at home. I'm sure the first day might make me stir crazy lol.

Either way I can't wait until the move is finished. I'm super sick of boxes and now we have more as we continue to pack up more things.

Does it make sense that this move makes me a bit sad? I didn't love where we've been living, but it is our first place together. R says it isn't our first place, that it was his place and I moved in and we didn't make it our place together and that this new house will be our first place together. I agree but can't help feeling a bit sad that we are leaving the first place we lived together and in the past 10 months have had a lot of happy memories here.

I think I need a stay-cation after this move. And some serious sleep.

Epiphany

2011-05-16T08:24:00.000-06:00

Ever have a realization that is simple, yet silly?

This morning I was getting ready for work and I realized that I'm on medication. For life. I've been taking this pill every day for the past 2 years, but for some reason it just hit me this morning. It's one of those, I'm getting older moments, but it still caused me to stop and think about it.

What really started it, is that our suite is being shown to potential renters and so since someone is coming in this afternoon, I was looking around to ensure that everything is ok and I saw the bottle on the bathroom shelf with the little pink pills in it. And I realized, I'm one of those people! Surreal. I'm not dying, but I do have hypothyroidism.

Basically an under-active thyroid, which funnily enough took years to diagnose, mostly because all the symptoms are so basic that no one would ever know.

Today will be insane. I have a meeting shortly and after that 3 new employee orientations. I have minutes to catch up on and a RSP/RPP clearing account for payroll that doesn't balance that I need to find out why.

And then all the other day to day things. Better run.

Happy Monday.

Lame

2011-05-13T13:50:00.000-06:00

So while Blogger has been down I realized that it's much a part of my routine. Every morning after I get to work, I sit at my computer, eat my breakfast, drink my tea and read blogs. Before I start work. It's my launch into the day. And I missed it the last day or so. Bah. I'm boring.

I'm also so busy I can't keep up at work. Again. This is insane.

Went shopping last night. Bought 2 pairs of capri's (one needs to go back), picked up a ring that my mom got me for my birthday (it hurts my finger lol) and attempted to find shoes for work. I've never been able to wear shorts, skirts or capri's to work before. I've always worked too much in the shop area and had to wear jeans and boots. I'm pretty happy this year. Although go figure I can't find shoes that I'd like to wear all day. haha, oh well, I likey some shoe shopping!

#54

2011-05-10T10:26:00.000-06:00

Reason #54 I can't wait to move - when there is frost on the car, but it's plus 3 outside, I will know when to start the car early and let it warm up for a minute BEFORE I go outside to leave for work.

I text R this reason this morning lol. I'm so ready to move. He asked for the other 53 reasons, haha, and although I'm quite sure I could list them, I won't. Because I'm sure everyone is tired of hearing about them. Last night R told me he missed Kelli and when is she coming back, I told him after we moved.

Yup, moves stress me out. A lot. I hate the mess and the boxes and half your crap in boxes and then you need something that has already been packed, and what box is it in? Gahhhhhhh. Makes me insane.

I feel uneasy about this move. I have this little deep fear that something is going to fall through last minute and then we're gonna be in a panic. Or moving late on the 31st because of something else screwing up.

Honestly, I'm a positive, optimist, but moving brings out the worst in me.

So this week has been my "piss-off-the-department-managers" week. Not my fault. Totally. My boss asks for some info. I get it to her, then it turns out someone else didn't do what they were supposed to, so then they are pissed at me for pointing it out. Well duh, I was asked too. Frick.

And it's super hot in my office. Hot enough I want to strip down and sit in front of a fan. Yuck.

I've been doing payroll this week. I don't mind it. I was sort-of offered the position, I think I might do it. We'll see. It's not hard. I like the numbers part of it. I feel like I've been running all over the building and I'm not sure what I should be working on right now. It's frustrating. And hot. (Did I mention it's warm in here?)

To the people upstairs

2011-05-06T07:46:00.000-06:00

I understand you think you did us a big favor by letting me move in, however this doesn't really stand when you post your ad for a basement suite for single person or a couple. We are a couple. If you didn't want 2 people you should have listed your ad for one person or said no when you were asked.

You're never going to find a better renters than us. We pay our rent on time, we are clean, quiet, respectful. When you didn't want my dog to pee on your lawn, I took her out the alley behind the house. Every. Single. Day. Even in 3 feet of snow. When you asked us to shovel said snow - even though our lease specifically said that snow removal was provided, we complied.

When your cow-girlfriend verbally b!tch-slapped me for 2 drops of water on the stairs we took it, cleaned it up and let it go. When you changed the terms of the lease, we took it. When you demanded we take off our shoes before entering the house (yep, even in the snow) we did what you wanted.

When our lease came close to an end, even though we don't have to give you notice legally, and even though we told you when we signed the lease that we were leaving when it ended. We still gave you 30 days written notice.

We accepted the fact that you both walk (stomp) around the house like you are elephants without complaining. We ignored the fact that your dog's room was above ours and when you gave him that chew toy/bone to make him quiet (instead of walking him like you should have) and the fact that it sounded like you were drilling into the floor above our bedroom when we were trying to sleep, well we just put in ear plugs and made the best of the situation.

However, at some point, people stop being patient and get tired of the crap. The final straw was GOING INTO OUR SUITE yesterday. I know you denied this, but I am VERY conscientious to turn off the lights and when I got home yesterday the living room light was on. I check every morning and I know I turned the light off, because I turned back to check yesterday before I left for work.

To make matters worse, I don't care that it is your house. It is our suite that we pay WAY too much in rent for. So, when you leave a note on our door giving us "notice" that want to show the suite, which basically is only 45 minutes from when I walk in the door. Well, that right there is not notice. What is the point in leaving a note saying if it doesn't work to call you, if when we do you tell us you are going to show it either way? We both have cell phones, call us. The numbers are on our lease.

You know what time I get home from work, because on a weekly basis your dog knocks me to the ground by jumping on me when I try to get in the house. Is it really that difficult to schedule your showing around 7 instead of the note for 5:30 that you left us. What would have happened if we hadn't have come home before 5:30? Yeah, you probably would have shown it either way.

I know when we leave you are going to try to keep part of our damage deposit, even though there is NO damage, some minor wear on the floors from usage (and the fact you put the cheapest laminate you could find in there), but we still have our own smoking gun. R will do the walk through with you, and if you keep any more than $50, we will report you to the city for your illegal suite.

You've pushed us too far and now we'll pull you with us.

Signed,
The best tenants you'll ever have, but then you screwed us over.

Sick and moving

2011-05-02T08:04:00.000-06:00

So sick. And tired of being sick. I've felt crappy for weeks now. It's time for this to move on. My best friend - the neti pot which I swear I couldn't live without right now. It's kinda gross, but it works like a dream!

Apparently because I'm so loud and stuffy due to not being able to breathe lol - R slept on the couch last night. Haha. I feel bad, but not really.

I would rather be at home today however. I took Friday off but this week is going to be busy and I'm going to make a doctors appointment I think too. I'm sure it's a sinus infection.

On to other news. We gave notice on our suite last night and went to view a house. It's cute. There are some things that I don't love about it but I think we'll be able to manage. We sent in an application today so hopefully we'll know within a few days. It's an older house, but with some work and love we can make it cozy and homey. It has a double garage which R was after, they are putting in a dishwasher, which I like, it's 3 bedrooms that makes us both happy. Laundry is shared - that sucks, the kitchen is small - bah, but the yard is fenced, dogs are allowed :) plenty of parking - which is no small feat in this city. I'm not looking forward to moving, but I can't wait to be moved.

Somehow I need to figure out a way to get my patio set from my ex...should be interesting.

It didn't go away...

2011-04-27T20:19:00.000-06:00

...my crankiness. Well it did sort of. But then I got home and it came back.

Like seriously, is it that friggin' hard to let the dog out when you get home? I mean I know you're going out afterwards, but he was home for an hour at minimum. Frick, it annoys me to no end!

I am, however enjoying talking to no one and having some alone time tonight. Ahhhh silence, I've missed you!

Getting to know you

2011-04-27T07:44:00.000-06:00

I'm slightly cranky today. Likely from being up so late at dance class. Either way I'll stuff the grouch back inside, smile like I mean it and get on with my day.

Welcome to the new 2011 edition of getting to know your family and friends. Here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Have fun and be truthful!

What colour are your socks right now? Pink with hearts (My Valentine's Day socks...I think I need to do some laundry lol)
What are you listening to right now? Lite 96

What was the last thing you ate? A bagel from Tim Hortons

Can you drive a stick shift? Yup :)

Last person you spoke to on the phone? Last night my mom

How old are you today? 29

What is your favourite sport to watch on TV? If I must Hockey, but I'd rather not.

What is your favourite drink? Pina coladas, vodka ceasar, wine

Have you ever dyed your hair? Frequently

Favourite food? Alfredo lasagna, red velvet cake, cheesecake, pizza, chinese
What is the last movie you watched? It's been so long I don't remember. I tried to get R to take me to Black Swan on Saturday night, but we would have been late, so I tried to get him to rent Life As We Know It, but he took too long.

How do you vent? Rant in emails/texts, cry, swear, blog

What was your favourite toy as a child? I honestly can't remember, my little ponies maybe.

What is your favourite season? Spring or fall.

Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries

Living situation? R, myself and Chiquita!

When was the last time you cried? I dunno, couple weeks maybe.

What is on the floor of your closet right now? oh man! Uh, suitcases, clothes baskets, hangers, storage.

What did you do last night? dance class

What are you most afraid of? Snakes and spiders. Yuck!

Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers? Cheese

Favourite dog breed? Hmmm no fave really, Chihuahua

Favourite day of the week? Saturday

How many provinces/states have you lived in? 2

Diamonds or pearls? I'm all about the diamonds.

What is your favourite flower? Any flowers!! Lilies, roses, tulips

Tid bits

2011-04-20T08:03:00.000-06:00

I've been so busy. More than usual. And I've been working insane hours.

I took Thursday and Friday off last week since I had 2 days of over time banked. I don't work over time, at least I'm not supposed too, but I've had so much to do here at work that I've had to, just to attempt to stay caught up. (Which I'm totally not, by the way).

I went to my sisters in BC. It was great. The weather sucked, but we had fun. I had a nice visit with my sister and the kids. They are so funny. The things that come out of their mouths kill me. The littlest one, who is 2 wanted some fudge. After she had already had a piece and it was after bed time, but company was over. When my sister said no, she yelled back at her, ANGRY, ANGRY, ANGRY and took off. It was hilarious.

There were tons of moments like that all weekend.

Back to work Monday and I ended up working 14 hours. I had to travel to our other branch to do COR Audit Interviews with employees. Bah. It was a long day. Yesterday I was in a Workers Compensation Course in the morning and ended up work another 1.5 hours overtime to just get the bare minimum done that HAD to be finished. I'm tired today.

We keep moving today however. I have a meeting in an hour and then 9 interviews here. Tomorrow there are 11 interviews as well. I figure by the time next week is over, I'll have enough banked time to cover another 2 days off. Meh, oh well though, at least it will be finished :)

Other than that, not much happening. R went dancing last night, I stayed home. I needed to get some sleep, I'm wiped and fighting off a cold. I recieved my acceptance letter from the University Monday night!!! Woo Hoo!! I need to read into it a bit more, find out what the next step is, it's quite confusing.

Busy

2011-04-12T07:34:00.000-06:00

Today is R's birthday. I've been so busy preparing for it and for my trip away in a few days that I feel super behind.

Saturday we had Chloe instead of our usual Sunday's. It worked out fine, we took the dog to the dog park and kid and dog ran all over, both got super muddy and had fun. I did laundry, we cleaned up, then we went to the garage and cleaned both our vehicles. It was much needed!

Sunday R got me up earlier than usual and took me for breakfast to a truck stop diner. Lol, it was actually very good and a quick meal. Then we drove through some of the older neighborhoods in the city and looked at houses.

After we went and viewed the house we are waiting to see if we can rent. We both want it. Bad. It's very cute and spacious. It needs to be painted and a few things, but we wouldn't move until June 1st so we have plenty of time since it's empty right now. R knows the owner so we are just waiting to see if they will lower the price to what we want to pay for it. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Sunday night I made a frozen cake for R's birthday - it's soooooooo good! I can't wait for birthday cake tonight! lol.

After work yesterday I had to buy him a card, pick up some shampoo, find my ipod, cook supper, clean up dishes, download some music for a new road trip CD. Which I accomplished, but the damn CD won't play in my SUV for some reason...grrrrr. Then I did all the prep and made meatballs for supper tonight.

I'm wiped. Tonight we are having a birthday supper, then dance class, then when we get home after 10, I need to pack since I'm supposed to leave tomorrow.

And it's supposed to snow. Right. Perfect.

I'm so ready for this small holiday.

I suck at self portraits

2011-04-08T07:48:00.000-06:00

It took me a very long time to cut my hair. I started 6 months ago when I cut off 8 inches. Yesterday I cut off another 8 inches. Keep in mind I take HORRIBLE self pictures, but just look at the hair...lol.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

I realize you can't really see what's left of my hair in this pic, but you can see there is wayyyyyy less of it (and that I was tired by this time of night, and my make up is smudged, lol, nice). So far, I think I like it. When I got home it was poofy and all over, but once I tamed it with a few bobby pins, it's much better. Funny though, washing it in the shower this morning was STRANGE! There was no hair there lol.

I wanted to look more mature - as in closer to a professional, but not older. Hopefully I achieved that. We'll see what the work reactions are. Haha, so far I've only seen men and not one has noticed. :)

Differences of Opinion

2011-04-07T08:55:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was a trying day. I left mad, upset, frustrated. Most of the day went well, but it ended in a difference of opinion that was not handled well.

I work with the department managers on a daily basis. I have certain job responsibilities that require things of them to send to me. They resent this on a whole, but I deal with it, as it's part of my job. We just did a huge benefit change-over. And by we, I mean me.

When I moved here, we were up for renewal of our benefit carrier. In that they did such a poor job and the rates jumped up over 35%, we started looking for a new carrier. Had various presentations, picked a carrier and ran with it. They required tons of information from us, I had to coordinate meetings with every. single. employee. TWICE. And the companies total almost 100 employees. It took some organization but I managed and it went over rather smoothly, so that was great.

I had to send out emails to the managers asking them to coordinate thier departments to meetings and send me the names of the groups so I could organize the people. The second time/meeting, didn't go as well as the first. I had sent out the email, but 2 of the managers, with the most staff, didn't bother to reply and send me the lists. The day before in the managers meeting, my manager, the GM asked if I was set up, I had to tell her no and why. So she gave crap to the 2 managers, who in turn, one started to yell at me - in front of 6 other managers that I didn't ask for that information and if I had asked then it wouldn't been an issue and why couldn't I communicate with them when I needed something.

I bit my tongue and didn't say a word, because really there was no point in arguing about it. When we left the meeting, my GM asked for a copy of the email I had sent, requesting the information. I gave it to her, which included a line from me asking for their lists. He later came and applogized me to. However, I don't think that when you yell at someone in front of other people, a private applogize cuts it.

Futher I don't believe in management discipling or yelling at someone in front of other people. Again, poor management in my eyes. Bad managerial skills. Anyhow, I let it go.

Yesterday it happened again. This time because the girl I trained in RD was here getting more training, I happened to be in that department walking through, she asked me a question. I answered it. The manager got mad and said that he refused to train her the next day if I was going to answer her questions and he was going to stop wasting him people's time. In front of his staff, then he stormed off. A few minutes later, I had to walk by his office on the way to mine, so I said, she asked me a question, he still insisted he was finished training her and that she was to spend the day with me today. I said no, he said yes, I said no and walked away. Straight into my boss's office and told her the story.

She went and spoke with him and he agreed he handled it wrong. She said he might appologize, which he hasn't and I don't expect he will. Seriously though, I can't get over his attitude. It's so frustrating.

Either way, I was upset and mad last night. Today I'm mostly over it, but I am avoiding him and I won't deal with him directly any further.

Happy Birthday to me

2011-04-05T14:25:00.000-06:00

I was given a gift today. Not the traditional kind of gift, but an offer. An offer of future employment, an offer of longevity. A career.

The controller of our company came to speak with me. There is currently a junior controller in the accounting department, he is working on his applied degree. Once he finishes he will continue working here and will complete his CMA. It will take him approximately another 3 years of combined work and schooling.

The controller came and told me that after I finish a big project that I'm working on right now (until the end of April), that he would like for me to work in his department and assist. This way I can get a more general knowledge base of the different positions in the accounting department. And if I was interested, I could take my applied degree and start towards a CMA designation.

I had to sit back and think about what this means.

He approached our GM and asked her if he could speak to me about it. Meaning, they are thinking of me long term with this company. That they will pay for my education. That they want me to grow with the company. I knew that I would be here for long term, I knew that if the woman whose on maternity leave (whose position I'm covering until April 2012) came back that I would still have a position in this company. I know that they will make a position for me, or migrate me wherever they need help or need me to be. But being approached by the controller of the company on his own ideas of future career possibilities within this company, well I'm a bit shocked.

I guess they've noticed my hard work - in the 4 months I've been working in this office and the almost 2 years with the company.

I love my job. I really do like what I do. But more and more I realize that my life is on an up-swing and making this choice, to leave, to move and start over, well it was a good thing. Better than I could have imagined.

I feel honored and humbled a bit. I feel like I'm in the right place, at the right time and baby - I'm gonna work it, 'cuz I've busted my butt for years to get here, to this place. I'm not going to take it for granted and even though R and I joke that one day I'm going to be vice-president of this company (even though such a position doesn't exist...yet), more and more it looks like I might not be that far off...

Procrastination and Silly Arguments

2011-04-04T08:03:00.000-06:00

I hate arguing with my partner. It upsets me to no end. I used to hate to argue with C, but then it started happening more and more often and soon it was such a part of our life that it didn't upset me anymore. Sure it was annoying and difficult and gave me headaches, but I didn't cry anymore. And that relationship ended. Now I'm not saying that I didn't care anymore, but I just started to hate that life.

It pains me when R and I argue over anything. Especially silly things. He is a procrastinator. Big time. It makes me insane. I don't sit still. Ever. Not even when I sleep. The background...

Yesterday we had Chloe. I had been to a baby shower on Saturday, then it snowed like a foot and a half so we didn't get a lot done. I was tired from running all week and then pushing yesterday. I didn't start the laundry until Sunday morning. We got up, R made breakfast and then he left to go pick her up. In the meantime, (it takes about an hour usually, yesterday it was an hour and a half), I did laundry, cleaned up breakfast dishes, vacuumed the floor and the rug, did general clean up. It's an un-written rule that I do the floors and he mops. I wash and separate the laundry, he cleans the bathroom and helps me put the clothes away.

Anyhow, so while we have Chloe he doesn't help me. With anything. I cooked, I did dishes, I did everything. Which usually I'm ok with, as long as he helps me later. So, fast forward. We like to watch Celebrity Apprentice (ya I know...lol), but it was 2 hours last night, of which I wasn't planning on spending 2 hours watching TV, but whatever, so during the commercials I would get up and go switch the laundry, put away the dishes, etc. And he just sits there.

Then when we go to bed, we end up arguing about it. And I end up crying. I hate arguing with him. It scares me. And we tend to argue over this stupid stuff way too often. I feel like I work hard at keeping our (very small and crowded) space clean and tidy, he feels I make him feel bad for not cleaning like I do. But his procrastination makes me insane! Did the floors get mopped or the bathroom cleaned yesterday? Nope. Why? Because he put it off and then it was really late, too late to do it. Ugh, so frustrating.

In other news, tomorrow is my birthday. 29. I realize it's young, but in some ways I feel old. The last year of my twenties. I had always imagined I would have more accomplished by now. I wanted to be married, I wanted to have a child or be pregnant, I wanted to be living in my own home. I don't have any of those. And as I get older I realize that there is still time, but if I let myself I still feel panicked. Either way, I'm sure hoping 29 is better than 28 was...

Happy Monday.

Internal Memo's and Titanic

2011-04-01T08:45:00.000-06:00

I had the joy of emailing out an internal memo this morning. To all staff in both locations of the general manager, aka. my boss.

The memo indicated that due to our Corporate brand (we are a truck dealer franchise) we must change our hours of operation to 24/7. It was a pretty serious toned email and the staff bought it for about 15 minutes lol. Fun though. I've recieved several emails about it already. I generally don't like Aprils fools or pranks or jokes, but this one was cute.

We finally went to the titanic exhibit last night. Very cool.

This was my boarding pass. We were each given one. Technically this is the front of mine and the back of R's. At the end of the exhibit, which took about 1.5 hours to go through, you could look up on a board to see whether "you" survived. We both did :)

For some reason, blogger won't let me upload more than one photo right now. I have R's boarding pass too. Stupid.

Anyhow, there were some really cool artifacts. Eye glasses, light bulbs, clothing, dishes, it was awesome. If you ever get the chance to see it, GO!

Why must I...

2011-03-31T09:09:00.000-06:00

...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.

Sisters

2011-03-29T08:05:00.000-06:00

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!!!

Scottish Country Dancing

2011-03-23T07:27:00.003-06:00

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.

Why...

2011-03-21T13:52:00.002-06:00

...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.

Finished Project - Katie don't look! Lol

2011-03-15T09:28:00.006-06:00

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??

Stolen...

2011-03-14T12:11:00.002-06:00

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!

I laughed so hard I cried

2011-03-11T07:35:00.002-07:00

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!

Only Wednesday?

2011-03-09T14:38:00.002-07:00

- 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 morning...

2011-03-07T07:22:00.002-07:00

...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.

Date Night

2011-03-02T15:30:00.002-07:00

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!

Preview

2011-02-28T20:32:00.006-07:00

Here is a preview of the project I've been working on for a good friend. I'm almost finished, however I've run into a creative slump. I think the crazy hours at work, the constant running and being so busy have left me feeling drained. Hopefully I can get this finished and mailed soon.

Recap

2011-02-24T20:31:00.003-07:00

Since the big move...
The baby was sick in the hospital
R got sick
Then I got sick
Then I hurt my back - it was bad for 3 weeks
The baby got sick again
And now I am sick again...

I might very well lose my mind. I am back in RD on my last training session for today and tomorrow and if I was at home, I would not even had gone to work today. i am so tired of being sick. What is with all the germs going around

Little of this and that

2011-02-22T15:11:00.004-07:00

It's been a good day. Busy, but then again, I like busy. Busy means it goes by quickly!

I started the day with great news - even though it was at 6am - from a good friend, so that put a smile on my face.

I picked up a netbook on Sunday evening, I've been watching them for a bit now and I wanted something small and basic. I have a good desktop computer, but I miss the convenience of a laptop. I like browsing the net while watching TV, something to bring with me when I'm travelling, and so on. And seriously for $250, can't really go wrong! I bought an Acer Aspire One...it's awesome!

Heading back to RD for the last bit of training this week. I'll be soooo happy when that's finished. I'm tired of the travelling! I'll be there Thursday and Friday this week, so being already a short week (Thank you Family Day, holiday Monday), 2 days in this office and 2 days on the road. I'm happy!

We went out to a winter carnival yesterday. As far as carnivals go, it was L.A.M.E. but Chloe had fun on the horse "wagon" ride. It was too cold to stay any longer. And we got some time outside! We are starting to crave the outdoors. It's too cold lately and too snowy to do much. I'm ready to start the fun summer stuff - the get home from work on a Friday and decide to go camping, or go to a lake or something. I don't like the sun - I burn in like 5 minutes, but I like the shade and warmer than minus temperatures.

I'm also working on changing my SUV insurance over. I'm annoyed about it. I called earlier and they still haven't gotten back to me yet. And the fact that my insurance is moderately priced - $910 a year for full coverage and he told me that because of where I'm living now, it's going to go up "substancially"...whatever that means. Hopefully he gets back to me soon. I want to get this dealt with.

I have to get my butt in gear and finish my special project that I've been working on. I'm almost finished, a few more hours and it will be done and ready to mail. I'm excited and can't wait to put up some pictures!

Happy Tuesday!

She's wearing what...?

2011-02-17T07:36:00.002-07:00

I just wrote an entry and it was deleted...arg! So annoying.

Today is tacky sweater day at work - it's a cool idea if you have participation, but no one here yet is wearing one and I don't want to take my jacket off, bahahahaha I feel like a loser, lol.

I hope someone shows up soon, cuz, baby this sweater deserves to be SEEN!

How have I never...

2011-02-15T12:52:00.002-07:00

...played with my blog layout before? Sheesh! I mean I've changed the background and played a bit, but I had no idea you could get backgrounds outside of blogger! Pathetic!

Things are going well. Today I get to investigate cell phone abuse. Sweet deal hey? I have 3 numbers in particular and I'm looking at pages and pages of old phone bills to see who they are calling and why. And when the new bill comes in 3 days I'll look over that one, then I get to confront the offending parties and ask them to identify the numbers and if they can't or it's personal, I have to ask them to pay for them. Great! One is a manager here who disapproves of my methods as it is...fun.

Valentine's Day was a bust. Well more boring. I swear it's so over hyped. Why the fuss? Go ahead and celebrate love and what not, but do we really need to make such a huge deal over it and go crazy? R took me out for supper on Saturday night - my meal sucked, he liked his. Last night I cooked us supper, we exchanged cards, and he got me a box of chocolates - nice? Yes, but so cliche. Bah. I also argued with C, so suppose that was what threw me off? Maybe.

Social Committee meeting in an hour, gonna be an interesting one. Headed to see my mom this weekend, I'm happy to get away.

We had the baby yesterday. The 3 of us played all day, it was pretty good. all until R went out to BBQ and she screamed bloody murder and had a huge temper tantrum/meltdown. I was livid. Why does her mother insist on "Attached-parenting"?? WTF??? All it does is make the child co-dependant and freak out when a parent leaves the room. R was mad that I was mad. I was mad because who advocates to teach your child that they can't be in a room without a parent? That is not responsible parenting as far as I'm concerned. Just blogging about it fires me up again.

Making it happen

2011-02-10T07:31:00.002-07:00

I could totally rant about the week I've had, but instead I'm going to do a 5/5 and get it out and move on with it.

I'm Annoyed:
1. That the new girl I just finished training is (I'm pretty sure) looking for a new job already. Ugh.
2. I was told on Monday that my shirt was inappropriate - by someone who has nothing better to do than complain. I also checked with other people and they said I was fine - thank you very much!!
3. The people upstairs (along with everyother thing we're not allowed to do) have now taken over our parking spots. They have a garage, we park on the street. He parks like such an ass that I almost have to park down the block. It's my goal this weekend to get home Friday before he does so I can reclaim my spot - and then not move the SUV all weekend...hehehehe
4. I'm chair of the social committee at work, and I feel like I'm babysitting. The other members except 2 are not doing anything to help out, another member is getting resentful because she'd half doing the chair for me, but with trying to do my job and still spending a ton of time helping the new hire for my old job, I have no time to do anything! Frustrating!
5. I feel really tired lately. Super tired. I get up at 5:50am every day and by 9:30pm I'm usually on my way to sleepy town. R comes to bed a bit after me and I'm almost always asleep or falling asleep by then. Boo.

I'm loving:
1. A new project I'm working on! I'm having a lot of fun with it, and surprising myself with what comes out of it. Pictures to come later.
2. A beautiful new friend that I've made! I love our chatty emails!
3. I'm giving R tickets to Titanic for Valentines Day! Come on, tell me that's not romantic...plus I really want to see it, haha. He's taking me out for supper.
4. The weekend is almost here, the weather is getting nicer. R is doing a welding job on Friday night and Saturday morning, so I'm gonna get the house cleaned up and we are going to do something! Not sure what, but it will be good! lol.
5. I pulled out the slow cooker/crock pot again this morning, well last night actually. I want to keep using it and making the meal the night before to go in the pot, then putting it on in the morning. Come home at 5pm to cooked supper! How great lol. Today is the trial run. I usually do it on weekends but not during the week - I know backwards!

What's your good and bad?

Whine

2011-01-19T07:24:00.002-07:00

I think I should've stayed in bed today. Actually I know I should have, but I have work to do and a meeting at 12...I think I've turned into one of those "but I'm too busy to stay home sick" types. I'm rational. I know that my office won't colapse if I miss a day...my desk...well it might buckle under all the damn paper, lol. No just kidding.

I made a compromise with myself...and R. I'll go in this morning, bust my butt until after my meeting, then I'll go home and sleep the afternoon away. I have to travel for work tomorrow and Friday so I need to get better, as in now.

My life is not exciting right now. C is driving me insane, texting, calling, repeatedly. I wish he would just go away.

Woo Hoo!

2011-01-17T11:02:00.002-07:00

I paid off my student loan yesterday!!!!! I'm so frickin excited about it lol. I've been paying on it for 7 - yep you read that right SEVEN YEARS! I finally was able to put a big chunk on it yesterday and just paid the sucker off. I love that feeling!

Other than that...I'm sick today, I have this weird throat thing that is making me cough, I'm running around after mechanics that don't report injuries at work, and now I have to file late paperwork - ugh. I'm also working on short term disability for another employee and modified job tasks for a long term disability.

R is busy, busy at home today. Revamping his resume, working on getting it out, applying for jobs.

Weekend with mom was great. I've missed them both!

I'm back in the other branch Thursday and Friday this week. I'm getting sick of travelling and that hotel. Almost finished though - thankfully!

When it rains...

2011-01-14T08:54:00.002-07:00

...it pours!

R was "temporarily" laid off yesterday. FRICK! I don't feel too worried just yet. I'm definitely concerned. Can we catch a damn break??

He was paid for last night. He filed Uneployment last night, he got up with me at 6am today to update his resume. He's already applying for jobs today. He's calling people he does on-the-side welding jobs for today to find out if they have things coming up. He's a survivor and I'm sure he'll have something by the end of next week.

He wanted to leave that company anyhow...but on his terms...with another job lined up. I'm determined not to stress out about it. Frick though. I'm proud of him for his resiliance and pushing to find something better.

Glass half full? You betcha baby! We are going to rock this. This is what he needed to find a new, better job, working day shift (no more nights - woo hoo!) and better pay. I'm optimistic.

And heading to mom's for the weekend today. I'm only working until 12:30 so I'm a pretty happy girl today, despite yesterday's events.

Torn

2011-01-10T21:16:00.002-07:00

I hate feeling helpless. It's something that makes me mad, sad, upset, irritated.

I feel helpless.

I have a good friend, back at the other office, where I worked before I moved. We've been good friends since I started there, about a year and a half. Strangely enough, we were going through similar situations with being unhappy in our marriages. Both only married for a few years too. It was odd how we connected as friends. We had a lot alike, we liked to do the same things, crafty things outside of work. We didn't spend a lot of time outside of work, but we did get together occasionally or chat on the phone. We did take all of our breaks together and talked through everything that was going on.

She was the first person I told about R and wanting to leave C. We cried together. About her life changes and mine. We gave each other advice and hugs when there were no words left to give. I knew leaving that job would be hard because leaving a good friend behind would be difficult. I knew that it was one of those friendships were I wouldn't travel too often to see her because having no where to stay and not wanting to run into my ex. And she wouldn't come to see me, mainly because of money issues.

Her separation has been much, much worse than mine. Mine was hard, but mine was never physical. I know of at least 3 occasions where he's been physical with her. And a few weeks ago, he showed up at the end of her shift at work and there was an incident, in the building. There were witnesses and the managers called me on the Monday morning to ask me what to do (new position as Health & Safety Coordinator), I had no idea other than to call the General Manager and ask her.

They did and she had them call the police. They came to the building and interviewed her and the witnesses. They decided not to press charges at her insistence. She was scheduled to work alone on Saturday, there was no one to cover, the GM was worried about her and actually closed the building so she wouldn't be alone.

Today, it came out that she is still in daily contact with him, and has done nothing to protect herself. I was asked to call OH&S (occupational health and safety) and the Alberta Labor Board to find out what our responsibilities and obligations as her employer are. Then I had to write an email to both managers in that branch indicating what needed to be done (staff meeting, prohibiting him from the building, talking to her). Further she is being referred to a professional paid by the company to discuss her situation, mandatory.

My boss, the GM is asking me details. Things as her friend I know. Things as a co-worker I would not. I've not given any specifics - not asked. But she asked me, in my opinion:

- Do I think she's in danger? Yes.

- Do I think she's afraid of him? Yes.

- Will she get a restraining order? No.

- Has he been physical in the past? Yes.

- Is she safe? No.

- Will he try to kill her? Yes.

I keep trying to call her, but she's never around, never answers. I finally managed to get a text from her. She told me it wasn't a good time. I asked when and she said she didn't want to talk about anything that has been going on. I understand that. Completely.

But I'm still sad. I'm worried about my friend.

She's turned to partying. That is her out right now. That is her hide-away. She drinks. A lot.

I'm torn between the place where I do what is right, I tell my boss that I'm scared for her safety and try to get her the help she needs so she realizes she's not safe and that she needs to get away. Or do I do nothing and sit back and worry about her? If I try to help, she avoids me because it's easier in the short run to ignore it and I lose my friend, possibly. I miss her. I'm worried.

I tried to talk to R about it earlier and he wasn't much help. His perspective is that he didn't understand how someone can stay. I understand. I tried to explain to him that it's not as cut and dried as when your dating. Being married is a commitment and you want to stay and you want them to change and be the person you know they can be, the person they were. You can't give up so easily. And it hurts. It hurts a lot, because you know the person they used to be, the person you loved, the person that made you happy. We know that logically they aren't that person anymore, but love isn't logical. It doesn't think, it only feels.

And so I'm sad tonight. I'm worried about my friend and in choosing to try to help her and keep her safe, she's not talking to me.

Monday already?

2011-01-10T07:14:00.002-07:00

Ugh, seriously? Monday already, boo! It's wayyyyy cold here today, and snowy and icy and yucky. I got up earlier than usual, 5:30 to get here early, and it still took me awhile to get here, I figured the traffic would be lessened a bit. Not so much.

I'm supposed to travel to train on Wednesday morning, however, I don't think that will happen. All company trucks have been grounded this morning, I've NEVER seen that happen. The transcanada highway is closed for most of southern Alberta, I've NEVER seen that happen either. I think we're in for a messy storm.

2 weeks ago, we almost got into an accident and eek! It scared the crap outta me! I'm sticking to the side roads for now, until it clears. I wish today was a snow day... :)

Pay it forward, #3 gone...

2011-01-05T18:18:00.005-07:00

Well I stole it from Facebook, but I'm thinking of it here as well... Any takers??

‎: Pay It Forward 2011: I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status.* The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent out to your 5 people sometime in 2011

#1: Bobby AKA - Fijufic!

#2: Dorrie AKA - Westy!

#3: Mrs. McCracken!

#4: ???

#5: ???

Oops...I forgot to mention, you'll have to email me your mailing info. too! silvertag@hotmail.com

And I'm not enforcing the must post it on your status or blog rule either...this is just something I'd like to do! :)

Ugly Sweaters

2011-01-02T14:43:00.002-07:00

My family on Christmas Eve, rocking our 'Ugly Sweater Contest'. Btw...I won!

Christmas was great. My week off has been wonderful. We've been relaxing and enjoying the time to do somethings and catching up and days in jammies.

We didn't think we'd make it for Christmas supper at my Sister's place in BC, but we managed to swing it, thankfully. And with just enough time to spare, I was running around thrift stores the morning of the 24th to find us Ugly Sweaters for the contest. It was really funny, too bad you can't see my winning sweater, I'm in the back middle holding my niece. Everyone participated. I think we have a new, fun tradition!

Best. Mascara. Ever.

2010-12-20T10:24:00.001-07:00

Ok, seriously. Best stuff ever. I hate buying the crap - I think it's the cheap in me, but this stuff rocks! :)

I was in total denial. I have absolutely no time to post pictures or anything until vacation, after Christmas before NYE. I promise.

weekend mad house

2010-12-13T07:34:00.002-07:00

I had really good intentions this weekend to get some stuff done. And I did, but of course not as much as I had intended. Oops!

We did:
- get the tree up
- Christmas baking (2 batches of fudge, nuts n bolts, gingerbread cookies, and butterscotch confetti squares)
- Clean up the house
- Laundry

I cooked a breakfast and a supper and so did R. It was freakin' fantastic! I love having someone else help with the cooking and cleaning.

I had a mini almost meltdown over the state of the remaining boxes, but R calmed me down, I got over it. I just hate that Christmas is 2 weeks away, the house is not quite ready, I'm out of town for work Wed and Thurs this week and Friday evening we are headed to my mom's for an early Christmas with her. Eek! Then back home, out of town for work on Wed again, and on Friday headed away for Christmas to my sisters.

There is no time!!!

I swear I'm trying to get some pictures but I only have the before's as the after's are not ready just yet. Although we did hit up this major liquidation center on Saturday and purchased a rockin' rug for the livingroom! I love hardwood/laminate but area rugs are a necessity. chiquita (my dog) agrees...as she is always rolling around on it, too funny.

Happy Monday!

Inside My Head

Shallow new love

Back to School

Awe

Screw It

I really wish I had time to post...

Update

Rant

I think...

What's doin'?

Breathe

What I did last night...

I'm too tired for heels.

This Morning...

Balancing Act

Creepy

Eek!

Tiffany Love

Career Fair Do's and Don't

The Dark Side

Vent and the Cha Cha

Fail

10 Day you Challenge

Weekend Review, A.K.A. the post with a lot of pictures

What I'm loving Wednesday

Joyride

It's ok...

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Random Thoughts

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

Progress

Concern and Setbacks

I'm that girl...

What I'm Loving Wednesday

Friday Five

My rescue

Surprise!

Friday my love, you're finally here!

Checking out

Where have I been?

A little of this and that

Keep up? Or Catch up?

Allergies

Happy Canada Day!

What a view!

Thoughts

Weekend

Angst

The Art of the Backhanded Compliment

Over reacting

Randoms

Changes

Cranky

Progress

The best and the worst

Are we there yet?

The Truck

Cram Full

Crazy Days

You're gonna want to see this *updated*

sexist

Normal Days

Epiphany

Lame

#54

To the people upstairs

Sick and moving

It didn't go away...

Getting to know you

Tid bits

Busy

I suck at self portraits

Differences of Opinion

Happy Birthday to me

Procrastination and Silly Arguments

Internal Memo's and Titanic

Why must I...

Sisters

Scottish Country Dancing

Why...

You're gonna want to see this updated