Where have I been?

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

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?

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

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!

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!

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

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.