Happy New Year! Another year overwith. Time flies after you hit 25 years old! LOL. In lieu of the ending of 2007, I'll do an entry like I did last year and recap my 2007 for you. Have a good evening tonight everyone and be safe!
January
-2007 started for Ryan and I by waking up at Kim and Jon's house after a New Year's Eve party at their place.
-my car wouldn't start and I discovered on the internet that my make of car has a poorly designed ignition switch, which should be recalled by the maker won't do a recall. I gave the dealership a piece of my mind and got the part replaced with a better one for free.
-I fainted out at Ryan's parent's place due to the jacuzzi and drove two of my teeth through my bottom lip. I missed a week of work and still have a scar on my lip.
February
-My Dad celebrated his birthday on the 3rd.
-I received training to take calls for Brand B with my company.
-Anna Nicole Smith died.
-I took a day trip to shop in Houlton with Shelly.
-Had a wonderful Valentine's Day despite a wicked snowstorm we got that evening.
March
-I started preparations for the stagette party that I was throwing for Carrie.
-Ryan started his current job as a car salesman.
-Carrie and Chris drove home for their wedding in April.
-I threw Carrie's stagette party.
April
-Carrie and I did all sorts of last minute things in preparation for her wedding.
-Got my hair "did" for a trial run and my nails done for Carrie's wedding.
-We got another horrendous snowstorm the day before Carrie's wedding.
-Carrie got married on April 7th - Easter weekend.
-Ryan celebrated his birthday on the 13th.
-My aunt Sandra passed away.
May
-Spring finally arrived
-My company switched me back to taking Brand A calls.
-Carrie discovered that she conceived a baby on her honeymoon and was due in January 2008.
June
-Hosted a BBQ at my house for some friends.
-Went on a girls camping trip with Angela, Kim and Alisha.
-Carrie came home for a visit.
-Angela got married.
July
-Ryan and I had a steak and scallop BBQ for Canada Day with Carrie and Chris.
-Walked down to the green from our house with Carrie and Chris for the Canada Day fireworks.
-My brother celebrated his birthday on the 4th.
-While cruising on their motorcycles together, Ryan's friend Chris F got into an accident when a man drove out of his driveway without even looking and slammed into Chris F. He was ok luckily, but his bike was a write off.
-Angela moved to San Diego, CA.
-Ryan and I travelled to P.E.I. with friends Matt and Melissa for an Aerosmith concert.
August
-We went camping NB Day weekend with Shane, Val and their two kids.
-I celebrated my birthday on the 17th and got spoiled rotten.
-Carrie came home for a visit.
September
-Carrie's grandfather passed away shortly after she returned home to Ontario from her August visit. It was nice to have Carrie back home again, but the circumstances weren't the best.
-Carrie, Andrea (one of Carrie's bridesmaids) and I had a girls night at my house.
-Ryan and I went to the big 250 race at the Speedway in Geary.
-Went to Harvest Jazz and Blues festival with Shane and Val.
October
-Enjoyed two Thanksgiving dinners - 1 at Ryan's parent's, 1 at my parent's.
-Got a passport in preparation for our trip to Arizona in April 08.
-Carrie and Chris drove home for a visit, the last time I'd see her before she became a Mommy. I was on vacation the week they were home, so it was great to spend that time with them and do some day trips with them.
-Spent Halloween passing out treats at my brother's house.
November
-Christmas music started playing in the malls the day after Halloween.
-I started and finished my Christmas shopping, complete with having it all wrapped.
-We received our first snowfall of the winter.
-Ryan and I booked our spring trip to Arizona.
-Had dinner out with Shelly.
-Val and the kids came over and we walked to the end of my street to watch the Santa Claus parade.
December
-Ryan went on a trip to Sugarloaf with the ski patrol crew he volunteers with. They travelled home in a bad snowstorm, taking them literally all day to drive back from Maine.
-I put my Christmas decorations and tree up the first weekend of the month.
-Angela arrived home at the beginning of the month from San Diego for the holidays.
-Had dinner out with Angela and Sherri.
-Christmas came and went so quickly.
-Carrie went into labour early on Boxing Day.
-Brayden Christopher Westbrook was born at 3:21 a.m. on December 27th.
-Ryan and I had my parents, my brother and my aunts Nancy and Barb over last Saturday for a raclette dinner, which was super fun. If you don't know what a raclette is, google it - it's pretty cool (I got one for Christmas)!
-My parent's are taking us out for our annual New Year's Eve dinner tonight. From there we're not 100% sure what we're doing, but do have a couple of party options. It's just a matter of which one we choose, lol.
Monday, December 31, 2007
Friday, December 28, 2007
EI, EI, O....OOOPS!
Yah so my first day on the job as a new Auntie, I receive a failing grade! My new nephew's name is spelled with an E and not an O like I had been spelling it, D'oh! So it's Brayden not Braydon. Oops!
I went up to my parent's place after work yesterday for supper and we talked about Carrie and baby Brayden. I was eager to talk to Carrie herself, but figured it would be about a week or so until I got the opportunity, given that she was in the hospital and all the busy-ness that comes with bringing home a new baby and having lots of visitors over. I went home after spending some time with my family and there was a message on my answering machine. It was Carrie! I was so bummed that I missed her call and couldn't call her back since she was in the hospital.
I got a new tv for Christmas (as you know) and took the old one from the living room upstairs to replace the teeny tiny tv that was in the master bedroom. I never got around to switching them over before, just took the old living room tv upstairs. So last night was switch-a-roo night. I went to bed shortly afterwards as I was so tired from being up most of the night before, anticipating the call about Brayden's arrival.
At about 11 p.m. last night the phone rang and it was Carrie! It was so good to hear her voice and talk to her about her birthing experience. I'll spare you the details and just let you know that everything is going well with the new happy family. Carrie expects to be released from the hospital tomorrow afternoon.
I went up to my parent's place after work yesterday for supper and we talked about Carrie and baby Brayden. I was eager to talk to Carrie herself, but figured it would be about a week or so until I got the opportunity, given that she was in the hospital and all the busy-ness that comes with bringing home a new baby and having lots of visitors over. I went home after spending some time with my family and there was a message on my answering machine. It was Carrie! I was so bummed that I missed her call and couldn't call her back since she was in the hospital.
I got a new tv for Christmas (as you know) and took the old one from the living room upstairs to replace the teeny tiny tv that was in the master bedroom. I never got around to switching them over before, just took the old living room tv upstairs. So last night was switch-a-roo night. I went to bed shortly afterwards as I was so tired from being up most of the night before, anticipating the call about Brayden's arrival.
At about 11 p.m. last night the phone rang and it was Carrie! It was so good to hear her voice and talk to her about her birthing experience. I'll spare you the details and just let you know that everything is going well with the new happy family. Carrie expects to be released from the hospital tomorrow afternoon.
Thursday, December 27, 2007
IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm a new Auntie!!!!!!!!!
Braydon Christopher Westbrook arrived this morning at around 3 a.m.-ish Ontario time. He weighed 7lbs, 11oz's, has lots of dark hair and looks like his daddy.
I'm so happy that although I'm extremely sleep deprived, I actually drove to work this morning with a smile on my face.
I talked to Carrie on the phone for about an hour or so on Christmas Day evening. She told me that she could tell her body was preparing for baby's arrival, but nothing major was happening. Carrie's parents and her brother went up to Ontario for Christmas, so she was hoping that she would deliver soon, while everyone was still there. Her dad and her brother are coming home this weekend and her mother was going to stay up there until she had the baby, so it's nice that Braydon arrived while all three were up there to meet him.
Chris' (Carrie's husband) family was having a large potluck get together on Boxing Day and I was teasing Carrie telling her that her water was going to break at the dinner. Well, that's exactly what happened! As soon as they finished eating dinner, her water broke so off they went. Carrie called me from her cellphone on the way to the hospital to tell me it was time. We didn't talk long because they were getting close to the hospital and well, the woman was in labour.
I went to bed excited, knowing that I wouldn't sleep well, awaiting the news of baby's arrival. I got a call early in the morning from one estatic Grandmother telling me the good news! Although he decided to come a little early, he's a healthy baby boy and Carrie is doing well also.
Braydon Christopher Westbrook arrived this morning at around 3 a.m.-ish Ontario time. He weighed 7lbs, 11oz's, has lots of dark hair and looks like his daddy.
I'm so happy that although I'm extremely sleep deprived, I actually drove to work this morning with a smile on my face.
I talked to Carrie on the phone for about an hour or so on Christmas Day evening. She told me that she could tell her body was preparing for baby's arrival, but nothing major was happening. Carrie's parents and her brother went up to Ontario for Christmas, so she was hoping that she would deliver soon, while everyone was still there. Her dad and her brother are coming home this weekend and her mother was going to stay up there until she had the baby, so it's nice that Braydon arrived while all three were up there to meet him.
Chris' (Carrie's husband) family was having a large potluck get together on Boxing Day and I was teasing Carrie telling her that her water was going to break at the dinner. Well, that's exactly what happened! As soon as they finished eating dinner, her water broke so off they went. Carrie called me from her cellphone on the way to the hospital to tell me it was time. We didn't talk long because they were getting close to the hospital and well, the woman was in labour.
I went to bed excited, knowing that I wouldn't sleep well, awaiting the news of baby's arrival. I got a call early in the morning from one estatic Grandmother telling me the good news! Although he decided to come a little early, he's a healthy baby boy and Carrie is doing well also.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Happy Boxing Day!
I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I certainly did! The only thing that would have made it better was if I had this week off of work, but alas I don't. It's hard going to work knowing that everyone else is home sleeping in, lol! Especially since I'm pretty tired and wish I was still in bed myself, lol.
So Monday after work I went up to my parent's house for our Christmas Eve supper of baked ziti. It was extremely delicious! We then went to my parent's church for the Christmas Eve service. On the way home to my parent's house from church, we stopped and picked up some egg nog to have a couple of drinks of rum and egg nog back at my parent's place in preparation for Santa's visit. We were going to watch the movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, but after sitting in the living room chatting for a while, the movie watching window had passed and we all retired to bed fairly early.
Christmas morning we got up at around 8 a.m. and discovered that Santa had indeed found us. The living room was filling full of gifts and then shreds of wrapping papers, boxes, two crazy dogs and a crazy cat, lol. I received the following wonderful gifts from my parents: a new tv, pajamas and a robe, a raclette grill, new bedsheets, a remote control caddy and some spending money for my upcoming trip to Arizona. My brother got me Shrek 3 and the final season of the Sopranos on DVD, completing my collection of seasons of the Sopranos. My dad then cooked us a big breakfast and we vegged in the living room until about noon.
When we could finally move after eating so much in the past couple of days, my brother helped me load up my bounty and take it home to my house. He then helped me set up my new tv and then he went home to his place to take his bounty home. I learned how to program my tv, straightened up the house a bit and then waited for Ryan's arrival for our Christmas together. I had a great Christmas with Ryan as well and received a new purse, leather gloves, a scarf and hat set, new fluffy socks and slippers, a gift set from Fruits and Passion, a new gold chain and lots of stocking loot. Ryan's parent's gave me a set of Paderno mixing bowls, a pair of pajamas and some body butter. I guess I was a good girl this year!
So Monday after work I went up to my parent's house for our Christmas Eve supper of baked ziti. It was extremely delicious! We then went to my parent's church for the Christmas Eve service. On the way home to my parent's house from church, we stopped and picked up some egg nog to have a couple of drinks of rum and egg nog back at my parent's place in preparation for Santa's visit. We were going to watch the movie National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, but after sitting in the living room chatting for a while, the movie watching window had passed and we all retired to bed fairly early.
Christmas morning we got up at around 8 a.m. and discovered that Santa had indeed found us. The living room was filling full of gifts and then shreds of wrapping papers, boxes, two crazy dogs and a crazy cat, lol. I received the following wonderful gifts from my parents: a new tv, pajamas and a robe, a raclette grill, new bedsheets, a remote control caddy and some spending money for my upcoming trip to Arizona. My brother got me Shrek 3 and the final season of the Sopranos on DVD, completing my collection of seasons of the Sopranos. My dad then cooked us a big breakfast and we vegged in the living room until about noon.
When we could finally move after eating so much in the past couple of days, my brother helped me load up my bounty and take it home to my house. He then helped me set up my new tv and then he went home to his place to take his bounty home. I learned how to program my tv, straightened up the house a bit and then waited for Ryan's arrival for our Christmas together. I had a great Christmas with Ryan as well and received a new purse, leather gloves, a scarf and hat set, new fluffy socks and slippers, a gift set from Fruits and Passion, a new gold chain and lots of stocking loot. Ryan's parent's gave me a set of Paderno mixing bowls, a pair of pajamas and some body butter. I guess I was a good girl this year!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Merry Christmas to all!
I am at work right now. I am in a crappy mood right now because I am at work and because the people I'm dealing with today at work are all morons. Anyway, enough of that.
Despite both myself and Ryan being stuck at work today, I am excited! It's Christmas Eve! Yeah! After I put in what I know is going to be a long day's work, I'm heading to my parent's place for Christmas Eve dinner and then church with them. For the past 10 years, I've been going to Carrie's parent's place on Christmas Eve, but won't be this year as Carrie is home in Ontario this year, waiting for "Baby B" (my nickname for her baby) to arrive shortly.
This past weekend saw me spend the majority of it in my kitchen. Friday evening Ryan and I were going to go to Shane and Val's for a bit, but Ryan ended up falling asleep on the couch. I took advantage of this time to get a head start on my Christmas baking. Half of my baking has been distributed to my parent's and the other half that remained at my house is about 1/2 devoured already, lol. It's to the point where I'm debating on doing more baking :S.
Saturday I finished up with the baking stuff, went and paid my cable bill, did laundry at my parent's place and helped my brother tie up his loose ends in preparation for Christmas. Saturday evening Ryan and I joined my brother, his girlfriend and a couple other friends at Cannon's Cross for nachos. They were delish! I don't particularly care for nachos because I hate salsa, but I loved the nachos at this place because they make them with brushetta mix...mmm!
Sunday I slept in later than normal and woke up to Ryan downstairs making breakfast, which was super sweet. In the afternoon I started the challenge of Christmas Eve dinner. For the past five years or so, I've always made something special for my family for dinner on Christmas Eve. My mom makes a huge turkey dinner for us on Christmas Day, so I make Christmas Eve's dinner. This year we're having Baked Ziti tonight for supper and I'm so looking forward to it! It's not a real popular dish around here, so you may have not even heard of it. It's a pasta dish, kind of like lasagna but with a different type of noodles. It's also got tomato sauce, beef, italian sausage, parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta and provolone cheeses in it. My mouth is watering thinking about it, lol. Anyway, I devoted yesterday afternoon to preparing and assembling the ziti. We just have to put it in the oven tonight.
I'll probably be back here on Wednesday with a Christmas report, as the only day I have off work is Christmas Day. Have a safe and Merry Christmas everyone!
Despite both myself and Ryan being stuck at work today, I am excited! It's Christmas Eve! Yeah! After I put in what I know is going to be a long day's work, I'm heading to my parent's place for Christmas Eve dinner and then church with them. For the past 10 years, I've been going to Carrie's parent's place on Christmas Eve, but won't be this year as Carrie is home in Ontario this year, waiting for "Baby B" (my nickname for her baby) to arrive shortly.
This past weekend saw me spend the majority of it in my kitchen. Friday evening Ryan and I were going to go to Shane and Val's for a bit, but Ryan ended up falling asleep on the couch. I took advantage of this time to get a head start on my Christmas baking. Half of my baking has been distributed to my parent's and the other half that remained at my house is about 1/2 devoured already, lol. It's to the point where I'm debating on doing more baking :S.
Saturday I finished up with the baking stuff, went and paid my cable bill, did laundry at my parent's place and helped my brother tie up his loose ends in preparation for Christmas. Saturday evening Ryan and I joined my brother, his girlfriend and a couple other friends at Cannon's Cross for nachos. They were delish! I don't particularly care for nachos because I hate salsa, but I loved the nachos at this place because they make them with brushetta mix...mmm!
Sunday I slept in later than normal and woke up to Ryan downstairs making breakfast, which was super sweet. In the afternoon I started the challenge of Christmas Eve dinner. For the past five years or so, I've always made something special for my family for dinner on Christmas Eve. My mom makes a huge turkey dinner for us on Christmas Day, so I make Christmas Eve's dinner. This year we're having Baked Ziti tonight for supper and I'm so looking forward to it! It's not a real popular dish around here, so you may have not even heard of it. It's a pasta dish, kind of like lasagna but with a different type of noodles. It's also got tomato sauce, beef, italian sausage, parmesan, mozzarella, ricotta and provolone cheeses in it. My mouth is watering thinking about it, lol. Anyway, I devoted yesterday afternoon to preparing and assembling the ziti. We just have to put it in the oven tonight.
I'll probably be back here on Wednesday with a Christmas report, as the only day I have off work is Christmas Day. Have a safe and Merry Christmas everyone!
Friday, December 21, 2007
Gonna Get My Bake On
Finally Friday and finally starting to feel better, although I'm still slightly sick and am hoping that this dang flu will be completely out of my system by Christmas. It feels like this is the last work day before Christmas, which sucks because it isn't. Maybe it feels that way to me because last year it was a Friday that was the last work day before Christmas or maybe it's because the majority of the workforce doesn't have to go into work on Monday and it really is the last workday before Christmas for them. I forsee us being very busy today and Monday.....sigh.
So this weekend I'm going to get totally baked. I'm going to stay in my kitchen for hours upon hours and get totally baked! What? Doesn't everyone get baked this time of year? LOL! I'm planning on making our annual cocoa-crispie roll, shortbread cookies, hello dolly squares, pumpkin bread and maybe a few other things if I have time. I'm looking forward to baking as it's been months since I've done any. I really enjoy baking, but when you're trying to lose weight, it's not exactly the best thing to partake it, lol.
So this weekend I'm going to get totally baked. I'm going to stay in my kitchen for hours upon hours and get totally baked! What? Doesn't everyone get baked this time of year? LOL! I'm planning on making our annual cocoa-crispie roll, shortbread cookies, hello dolly squares, pumpkin bread and maybe a few other things if I have time. I'm looking forward to baking as it's been months since I've done any. I really enjoy baking, but when you're trying to lose weight, it's not exactly the best thing to partake it, lol.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Sick
I am sick...again. This time it's worse than a couple of weeks ago :(. Ryan was saying on the weekend that he thought he was getting sick and I was feeling like my cold was returning, but it wasn't enough to slow me down much on the weekend. Last evening I was starting to feel worse and this morning it's full blown. I have the flu and Ryan does too :(. I have a fever, my sinuses hurt and are runny, my ears ache, my throat is sore. It hurts me to talk, so I'm not sure if I can make it through the whole day at work today or not. I was "sick" for four hours yesterday because of the freaking snow storm we got (no more snow please!) and it took me forever to dig out my driveway. My body is sore from shovelling for hours upon hours too, so I'm not in good shape today. I am trying to conserve my sick time, but I have a feeling the majority of it will be getting used up by the end of the week. And by the looks of it Poet, I don't think I'll be able to make it out to your place any time soon :(.
Despite feeling like crap right now, I had a great weekend. Friday night Ryan and I went to Shane and Valerie's place. Saturday night my brother had a Christmas party. Ryan and I went over at around 8 or so. Ryan stayed for a couple of hours and then went home because he had to get up early the next morning to do ski patrol. I stayed at my brother's and we all then went out to the Twenty/20 club afterwards. It was a fun night! Sunday I got together with some of the Saturday night crew for a hang over breakfast and then I went up to my parent's place for supper. Sunday night is when the freakin' snow storm hit us. Ryan was out at Crabbe Mountain all day doing ski patrol and had to drive home in that mess. Luckily two hours later, he made it back safely!
Despite feeling like crap right now, I had a great weekend. Friday night Ryan and I went to Shane and Valerie's place. Saturday night my brother had a Christmas party. Ryan and I went over at around 8 or so. Ryan stayed for a couple of hours and then went home because he had to get up early the next morning to do ski patrol. I stayed at my brother's and we all then went out to the Twenty/20 club afterwards. It was a fun night! Sunday I got together with some of the Saturday night crew for a hang over breakfast and then I went up to my parent's place for supper. Sunday night is when the freakin' snow storm hit us. Ryan was out at Crabbe Mountain all day doing ski patrol and had to drive home in that mess. Luckily two hours later, he made it back safely!
Friday, December 14, 2007
Enough Already!
Ok I've had enough! I want no more of it! It's too much for this time of year! Dear God, please stop the snow!!!
This week has been hell at work and it's only going to get worse in the next couple of weeks. It's our peak season because of the Christmas holidays and every man and his dog wants to rent a car. Well as you can imagine, we're sold out in every major city. People cannot grasp this concept and continue to verbally abuse you when you tell them you are sold out. I feel like screaming at these people and saying "Look you moron....you know it's Christmas....you know lots of people travel on Christmas....you shouldn't have left it until a week and a half before Christmas to call us"! Yesterday was especially a hard day. I've worked here for 8 years so I've handled pretty much every type of call in the book. Sometimes though, even people like me have days where they just break down and can't take the stress of continuously being called horrific names for something you can't control. I was taking little breaks to compose myself after every 5-10 horrible calls. Luckily in the afternoon my supervisor had a bunch of extra work she needed help and asked me if I'd like to give her a hand. I was all "Ah....YES"! So luckily I got a nice hour and a half break yesterday, lol.
Our team is having a Swiss Chalet party this afternoon at work, so I'll get to have an hour away from my job this afternoon too! At the end of October my supervisor asked me if I would be the canvasser for our team for the United Way campaign in November. I canvassed last year and had no success in signing anyone up for payroll deductions last year. At this year's canvasser's meeting with our center's director I brought up the fact that we need an incentive for people to sign up. Our director said "What do you want"? I said "I dunno, something for our team to look forward too, but not a pizza party, since we have those quite a bit. We should think of something different". The director goes "Ok, what about this. If any team can obtain 100% participation of their members to sign up for donation, then that team will win a chicken and ribs dinner party from Swiss Chalet". We canvassers were floored and thought it sounded good to us! Well, I am happy to report that I am the only canvasser in the whole center who managed to get 100% participation from their team, so our dinner is today! Woohoo! I'm excited. It's a good way to end a stressful week here!
This week has been hell at work and it's only going to get worse in the next couple of weeks. It's our peak season because of the Christmas holidays and every man and his dog wants to rent a car. Well as you can imagine, we're sold out in every major city. People cannot grasp this concept and continue to verbally abuse you when you tell them you are sold out. I feel like screaming at these people and saying "Look you moron....you know it's Christmas....you know lots of people travel on Christmas....you shouldn't have left it until a week and a half before Christmas to call us"! Yesterday was especially a hard day. I've worked here for 8 years so I've handled pretty much every type of call in the book. Sometimes though, even people like me have days where they just break down and can't take the stress of continuously being called horrific names for something you can't control. I was taking little breaks to compose myself after every 5-10 horrible calls. Luckily in the afternoon my supervisor had a bunch of extra work she needed help and asked me if I'd like to give her a hand. I was all "Ah....YES"! So luckily I got a nice hour and a half break yesterday, lol.
Our team is having a Swiss Chalet party this afternoon at work, so I'll get to have an hour away from my job this afternoon too! At the end of October my supervisor asked me if I would be the canvasser for our team for the United Way campaign in November. I canvassed last year and had no success in signing anyone up for payroll deductions last year. At this year's canvasser's meeting with our center's director I brought up the fact that we need an incentive for people to sign up. Our director said "What do you want"? I said "I dunno, something for our team to look forward too, but not a pizza party, since we have those quite a bit. We should think of something different". The director goes "Ok, what about this. If any team can obtain 100% participation of their members to sign up for donation, then that team will win a chicken and ribs dinner party from Swiss Chalet". We canvassers were floored and thought it sounded good to us! Well, I am happy to report that I am the only canvasser in the whole center who managed to get 100% participation from their team, so our dinner is today! Woohoo! I'm excited. It's a good way to end a stressful week here!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Carrie's Christmas Wish May Come True
Well, not much to report from the weekend. It was pretty quiet. Friday night Ryan and I had supper and relaxed for the evening. He had to get up early on Saturday for ski patrol, hence the quiet night.
Saturday I got up early when Ryan did and went up to my parent's place to do my laundry up early. While I was there I helped my folks put their Christmas lights up. My brother showed up at their place and wanted me to go shopping with him to pick out a birthday present for someone, so I did. Saturday night Ryan came home around supper time. Carrie called while we were eating and said she'd call back in a half an hour, which she did. I talked to her for about an hour and when I was finished and came back out to the living room, Ryan was fast asleep on the couch and stayed that way for the majority of the evening, lol. I watched The Grinch (the one with Jim Carrey in it) on tv while he slept, lol. It's nice to have relaxed weekends like that.
Last night I went out for supper with Sherri and Angela and had a fantastic meal at Swiss Chalet. Angela and I went back to my place afterwards to hang out and Ryan came home around 8:30 or so. Shortly after Ryan got there, the phone rang and it was Carrie. Since I'd just talked to her on Saturday and she and I had been emailing back and forth all day yesterday, I knew something was up. I asked her what was going on and she said "Oh, I'm real nervous" and I said "Why, are you in labour"? She said "No, but I went to the doctor today and she took me off work (this was her last week of work before starting her maternity leave) because apparantly there are four stages of labour and I'm through stage one". I couldn't believe it when she told me that she is progressing already! She is 37 weeks along now, so really she could go anytime now. She told me that the doctor told her not to wait when she does start getting big contractions, to just go to the hospital, because her doctor thinks that when she does go, she'll go fast. I'm so excited and happy for Carrie and Chris. She has wanted to give birth before Christmas, so maybe just maybe she'll get her Christmas wish!
Saturday I got up early when Ryan did and went up to my parent's place to do my laundry up early. While I was there I helped my folks put their Christmas lights up. My brother showed up at their place and wanted me to go shopping with him to pick out a birthday present for someone, so I did. Saturday night Ryan came home around supper time. Carrie called while we were eating and said she'd call back in a half an hour, which she did. I talked to her for about an hour and when I was finished and came back out to the living room, Ryan was fast asleep on the couch and stayed that way for the majority of the evening, lol. I watched The Grinch (the one with Jim Carrey in it) on tv while he slept, lol. It's nice to have relaxed weekends like that.
Last night I went out for supper with Sherri and Angela and had a fantastic meal at Swiss Chalet. Angela and I went back to my place afterwards to hang out and Ryan came home around 8:30 or so. Shortly after Ryan got there, the phone rang and it was Carrie. Since I'd just talked to her on Saturday and she and I had been emailing back and forth all day yesterday, I knew something was up. I asked her what was going on and she said "Oh, I'm real nervous" and I said "Why, are you in labour"? She said "No, but I went to the doctor today and she took me off work (this was her last week of work before starting her maternity leave) because apparantly there are four stages of labour and I'm through stage one". I couldn't believe it when she told me that she is progressing already! She is 37 weeks along now, so really she could go anytime now. She told me that the doctor told her not to wait when she does start getting big contractions, to just go to the hospital, because her doctor thinks that when she does go, she'll go fast. I'm so excited and happy for Carrie and Chris. She has wanted to give birth before Christmas, so maybe just maybe she'll get her Christmas wish!
Friday, December 7, 2007
Baby, It's Cold Outside!
It is so cold out there this morning! There's a light up sign by the mall that I work in that I drive by every morning, which gives the time and the temperature. This morning it said -22 degrees. That's sooooooo cold! BRRR! It's always cold where I sit at work too, I swear that there is cold air blowing out of the ducts! So I'm sitting here literally shivering while I type this.
This week has gone by really fast. I guess only working 4 out of the 5 days this week helped speed things up! Monday night we got dumped with over 30 cm's of snow. It was a crazy storm, one of the worst I can remember. Ryan was on his way home from Sugarloaf, so I was worried sick about them travelling back in the storm. They finally arrived home at 11 p.m. - after leaving Maine at 8 in the morning. It's a six hour drive, so that tells you how slow they had to travel home.
On Tuesday morning I set the alarm for 6 a.m., to get up early and shovel out the yard. I have to be to work at 7:30 in the mornings, so I figured an hour would be plenty of time to shovel especially with two of us working at it. Wrong! I could not believe how much snow we had gotten overnight. When I went outside, the snow was way up over my knees! It took an hour just to shovel the stuff at the end of the driveway where the plow had gone by. We finally got enough shovelled to get Ryan out of the driveway and I stayed behind and cleaned out the rest of the driveway. Three hours later and a phone call to work that I wouldn't be in on that day, I was finished and exhausted. The snow was so heavy and saturated that it was a tough job and my arms are still tired. My cold returned from being out in that crappy weather so long, but I'm starting to feel much better now.
On Wednesday night I went up to visit my parents for a bit after supper. When I got back home, there was a message on my answering machine from Angela, who had come back home from San Diego for Christmas. She came over to my place for a visit and we chatted just like old times until almost midnight.
Not too much planned for this weekend. The only thing on my agenda is sleeping in, lol. We may head over to Shane and Val's on Saturday night. Tonight will be a tame evening because Ryan has ski patrol training all day tomorrow.
This week has gone by really fast. I guess only working 4 out of the 5 days this week helped speed things up! Monday night we got dumped with over 30 cm's of snow. It was a crazy storm, one of the worst I can remember. Ryan was on his way home from Sugarloaf, so I was worried sick about them travelling back in the storm. They finally arrived home at 11 p.m. - after leaving Maine at 8 in the morning. It's a six hour drive, so that tells you how slow they had to travel home.
On Tuesday morning I set the alarm for 6 a.m., to get up early and shovel out the yard. I have to be to work at 7:30 in the mornings, so I figured an hour would be plenty of time to shovel especially with two of us working at it. Wrong! I could not believe how much snow we had gotten overnight. When I went outside, the snow was way up over my knees! It took an hour just to shovel the stuff at the end of the driveway where the plow had gone by. We finally got enough shovelled to get Ryan out of the driveway and I stayed behind and cleaned out the rest of the driveway. Three hours later and a phone call to work that I wouldn't be in on that day, I was finished and exhausted. The snow was so heavy and saturated that it was a tough job and my arms are still tired. My cold returned from being out in that crappy weather so long, but I'm starting to feel much better now.
On Wednesday night I went up to visit my parents for a bit after supper. When I got back home, there was a message on my answering machine from Angela, who had come back home from San Diego for Christmas. She came over to my place for a visit and we chatted just like old times until almost midnight.
Not too much planned for this weekend. The only thing on my agenda is sleeping in, lol. We may head over to Shane and Val's on Saturday night. Tonight will be a tame evening because Ryan has ski patrol training all day tomorrow.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Ah-choo!
A weekend I was looking forward to turned into a miserable weekend for me. The weekend started out wonderfully, but I am currently battling a cold/flu and not liking it one bit.
Friday I went up to my parent's place after work and did my laundry. I left their place while a load of laundry was in the dryer and headed out to finish my Christmas shopping. I only had a few things left to get and I am happy to report that I am completely done all of my Christmas shopping. I'm finished picking out gifts for everyone (I'm finished wrapping those gifts too), I'm finished shopping for stocking stuffers and I'm finished shopping for Christmas goodies - i.e. chocolates and other treats for the coffee table for Christmastime.
I went back to my parent's place, loaded up my laundry and then headed home. I went down to the basement and brought up all of the boxes labelled "Christmas" and decided I'd tackle them the next day.
Saturday morning my dad and I went to a couple of Christmas bazaars and I helped him finish his shopping for my mother. I went home and began unpacking the Christmas boxes and started decorating. After I put up all of my decorations, I began to tackle my Christmas tree. I took it out of the box and after some aggrevation and a few choice words, I had it up. Now when I brought up all of the Christmas boxes from the basement, I felt like I was missing one. Well, I was and it was the most important one. The box with the majority of my tree ornaments was missing. I scoured and tore apart my basement (which isn't that big) from one end to the other and the box with my Christmas ornaments is gone. I have no idea where it could have gone to. It's a mystery and I'm still upset at the loss of the ornaments I've collected over the past 5 Christmases I've had at my own house. So yes, I had to go out and purchase all new ornaments for my tree...an unexpected expense that has put me over budget, so here's to scraping by for another couple of weeks until next pay day! Luckily my tree topper (which I love) and about a dozen other tree items (like ribbon, icicles, etc.) were packed in the box that held the tree skirt and our stockings, so I still have those items. My tree looks great, but I'm a little sad when I look at it and I remember this ornament or that ornament, how I received it and that it's gone now.
Sunday I woke up not feeling so great. I didn't think anything of it because sometimes the electric heat does make me feel this way when I get up in the morning. It usually passes after about a half an hour or so after I get up. Not yesterday, I was miserable all day. I layed like a lump on the couch all frigging day. Luckily one of my favorite shows "Jon and Kate plus 8" was on a marathon on TLC, so I watched numerous hours of that yesterday, lol. I was thankfull that I got sick yesterday while I was off work, but not happy to be sick. When I went to bed last night, I looked at myself in the mirror and freaked out a bit because my face looked swollen and droopy. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something, so I took a benadryl before going to bed.
I do feel a bit better today, although my face is still looking droopy. I'm still a bit snotty and achy, but I came to work anyway. I'm trying to conserve my sick time incase I need to be "sick" over the holidays if I get drafted to work. I may opt to go home on my lunch break as I probably shouldn't be here feeling the way I do and my achy-ness is increasing.
Ryan is coming home today from Sugarloaf. I've missed him being away for 4 days, but I'm glad he wasn't home yesterday, lol. When I'm sick I just want to be by myself. I don't want anyone around me at all, so I was glad to have the house to myself to mope in yesterday. We're supposed to get dumped with upwards of 30 cm's of snow between now and this time tomorrow. I hope they get home safely!
Friday I went up to my parent's place after work and did my laundry. I left their place while a load of laundry was in the dryer and headed out to finish my Christmas shopping. I only had a few things left to get and I am happy to report that I am completely done all of my Christmas shopping. I'm finished picking out gifts for everyone (I'm finished wrapping those gifts too), I'm finished shopping for stocking stuffers and I'm finished shopping for Christmas goodies - i.e. chocolates and other treats for the coffee table for Christmastime.
I went back to my parent's place, loaded up my laundry and then headed home. I went down to the basement and brought up all of the boxes labelled "Christmas" and decided I'd tackle them the next day.
Saturday morning my dad and I went to a couple of Christmas bazaars and I helped him finish his shopping for my mother. I went home and began unpacking the Christmas boxes and started decorating. After I put up all of my decorations, I began to tackle my Christmas tree. I took it out of the box and after some aggrevation and a few choice words, I had it up. Now when I brought up all of the Christmas boxes from the basement, I felt like I was missing one. Well, I was and it was the most important one. The box with the majority of my tree ornaments was missing. I scoured and tore apart my basement (which isn't that big) from one end to the other and the box with my Christmas ornaments is gone. I have no idea where it could have gone to. It's a mystery and I'm still upset at the loss of the ornaments I've collected over the past 5 Christmases I've had at my own house. So yes, I had to go out and purchase all new ornaments for my tree...an unexpected expense that has put me over budget, so here's to scraping by for another couple of weeks until next pay day! Luckily my tree topper (which I love) and about a dozen other tree items (like ribbon, icicles, etc.) were packed in the box that held the tree skirt and our stockings, so I still have those items. My tree looks great, but I'm a little sad when I look at it and I remember this ornament or that ornament, how I received it and that it's gone now.
Sunday I woke up not feeling so great. I didn't think anything of it because sometimes the electric heat does make me feel this way when I get up in the morning. It usually passes after about a half an hour or so after I get up. Not yesterday, I was miserable all day. I layed like a lump on the couch all frigging day. Luckily one of my favorite shows "Jon and Kate plus 8" was on a marathon on TLC, so I watched numerous hours of that yesterday, lol. I was thankfull that I got sick yesterday while I was off work, but not happy to be sick. When I went to bed last night, I looked at myself in the mirror and freaked out a bit because my face looked swollen and droopy. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something, so I took a benadryl before going to bed.
I do feel a bit better today, although my face is still looking droopy. I'm still a bit snotty and achy, but I came to work anyway. I'm trying to conserve my sick time incase I need to be "sick" over the holidays if I get drafted to work. I may opt to go home on my lunch break as I probably shouldn't be here feeling the way I do and my achy-ness is increasing.
Ryan is coming home today from Sugarloaf. I've missed him being away for 4 days, but I'm glad he wasn't home yesterday, lol. When I'm sick I just want to be by myself. I don't want anyone around me at all, so I was glad to have the house to myself to mope in yesterday. We're supposed to get dumped with upwards of 30 cm's of snow between now and this time tomorrow. I hope they get home safely!
Friday, November 30, 2007
A Weekend I've Been Waiting For...
I've been looking forward to this weekend for quite a while now, so I'm very happy that it's here! For one, today is pay day! I have been so freaking broke that it's not even funny. When I got paid two weeks ago, it was completely gone in a matter of 2 or 3 days. I had my car payment, all of my utilities and not mention some Christmas shopping that took care of that paycheque. I have been scrapping by waiting to get to today, to get some more money my way. Granted that things will still be very tight for a while now, it's good to know that I have some money today to go buy a few groceries with.
Ryan is heading to Sugarloaf this weekend. He's going on a group trip with the ski patrol he volunteers for. Since there's no snow here and the ski patrol isn't really doing any patrolling, they organized a trip to Sugarloaf. Our good friend Troy (who isn't on the patrol) is going too, so Ryan will have a blast I'm sure. Troy knows someone else who is on the patrol and is going as their guest. I didn't want to go as Ryan's guest because a) Money is tight and b) I don't ski and never will, lol.
Given that I'll have the whole weekend to myself, I plan on getting a lot of done. I'll be able to do all of my errands, do the mountain of laundry that's piling up, finish up my Christmas shopping, wrap the rest of the Christmas presents and most importantly - decorate for Christmas!
I have been waiting to decorate and put my tree up for a long time! I almost gave in and started decorating last weekend because Santa Claus came to town with the parade, but I held off. I told myself that I wasn't going to put anything up until the first of December (for risk of being made fun of like years past, lol). Well December 1st just so happened to fall on a Saturday this year, so this worked out perfectly! Ryan will be surprised when he comes home to a house full of decorations and the tree up! LOL!
Ryan is heading to Sugarloaf this weekend. He's going on a group trip with the ski patrol he volunteers for. Since there's no snow here and the ski patrol isn't really doing any patrolling, they organized a trip to Sugarloaf. Our good friend Troy (who isn't on the patrol) is going too, so Ryan will have a blast I'm sure. Troy knows someone else who is on the patrol and is going as their guest. I didn't want to go as Ryan's guest because a) Money is tight and b) I don't ski and never will, lol.
Given that I'll have the whole weekend to myself, I plan on getting a lot of done. I'll be able to do all of my errands, do the mountain of laundry that's piling up, finish up my Christmas shopping, wrap the rest of the Christmas presents and most importantly - decorate for Christmas!
I have been waiting to decorate and put my tree up for a long time! I almost gave in and started decorating last weekend because Santa Claus came to town with the parade, but I held off. I told myself that I wasn't going to put anything up until the first of December (for risk of being made fun of like years past, lol). Well December 1st just so happened to fall on a Saturday this year, so this worked out perfectly! Ryan will be surprised when he comes home to a house full of decorations and the tree up! LOL!
Monday, November 26, 2007
We're Booked!
Our plane tickets are now booked! Woohoo! Ryan confirmed our booking on Friday afternoon, so we'll be Arizona and California bound before we know it! Next year is shaping up to be a busy year so far!
Friday after work I went and picked up a turkey at my brother's house. His old roommate had left one in the deep freeze and my brother was getting tired of looking at it and asked me if I'd cook it for him. I told him I would if I could have some of the meat off of it, to which he said sure. I went back home and then Ryan got home from work. I made a quick batch of cookies before we headed over to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. Val and the kids were coming to my house the following day for the Santa Claus parade, since it goes right by my street when it's on the Northside every other year.
Saturday I got up fairly early, threw the turkey in the oven and started cleaning the house. My brother called and said that the SPCA were doing pet photos with Santa and wanted to know if I wanted to go with him while he took his bulldog Mack. I took a quick drive with him down to Green Village where the photos were being taken and then back to the house to remove the beast from my oven. I carved up the turkey and then made a hearty turkey soup. Val and the kids showed up shortly afterwards and we walked to the end of my street to watch the parade. The parade was nice, but it was so freakin cold out! We hurried back to the house as soon as it was over and tried to defrost with some hot chocolate. I was frozen the whole night and still couldn't seem to get warm even the next day!
Yesterday I went back down to Green Village with my brother to pick up the pictures of his dog and then up to mom and dad's to do laundry and have Sunday supper with them. After I got back home I had a shower and got things in order to start a new work week. Ryan and I watched the Amazing Race and after that was over, he wanted to watch the end of the Grey Cup that was on. I have absolutely no interest in football, so I went upstairs and crawled into bed to watch Desperate Housewives. I fell asleep half way through the episode, so I'm a little upset with myself as the previews looked like the episode was going to be really good, and of course all the good stuff happens in the last half of an episode.
Tonight I'm going Christmas shopping with my Dad. Each year I go with him and help him pick out things for my mother - who is the world's hardest person to shop for.
Friday after work I went and picked up a turkey at my brother's house. His old roommate had left one in the deep freeze and my brother was getting tired of looking at it and asked me if I'd cook it for him. I told him I would if I could have some of the meat off of it, to which he said sure. I went back home and then Ryan got home from work. I made a quick batch of cookies before we headed over to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. Val and the kids were coming to my house the following day for the Santa Claus parade, since it goes right by my street when it's on the Northside every other year.
Saturday I got up fairly early, threw the turkey in the oven and started cleaning the house. My brother called and said that the SPCA were doing pet photos with Santa and wanted to know if I wanted to go with him while he took his bulldog Mack. I took a quick drive with him down to Green Village where the photos were being taken and then back to the house to remove the beast from my oven. I carved up the turkey and then made a hearty turkey soup. Val and the kids showed up shortly afterwards and we walked to the end of my street to watch the parade. The parade was nice, but it was so freakin cold out! We hurried back to the house as soon as it was over and tried to defrost with some hot chocolate. I was frozen the whole night and still couldn't seem to get warm even the next day!
Yesterday I went back down to Green Village with my brother to pick up the pictures of his dog and then up to mom and dad's to do laundry and have Sunday supper with them. After I got back home I had a shower and got things in order to start a new work week. Ryan and I watched the Amazing Race and after that was over, he wanted to watch the end of the Grey Cup that was on. I have absolutely no interest in football, so I went upstairs and crawled into bed to watch Desperate Housewives. I fell asleep half way through the episode, so I'm a little upset with myself as the previews looked like the episode was going to be really good, and of course all the good stuff happens in the last half of an episode.
Tonight I'm going Christmas shopping with my Dad. Each year I go with him and help him pick out things for my mother - who is the world's hardest person to shop for.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Preparing To Book!
This week was our "vacation bid" week at work, meaning the time when we book or "bid" our weeks of vacation for the following year. I am very pleased to report that I got everything I wanted. I have the holiday week off in August, a week in February to go up and see Carrie after she has the baby and two weeks off together in April to go to Arizona and California.
Ryan and I have started seriously shopping for flights the past two days and things started out good, but then started to take a bad turn. On Wednesday I found us flights on Travelocity from Maine to Arizona with only one stop over for $450 each, taxes in, round trip - which is damn good for travelling so far. We mulled it over and kept searching. Then the best deal we could find was Air Canada flying out of Fredericton for almost a thousand dollars, so double the first price we found. We were like "uh-oh"! We were also finding that a lot of the airlines were now selling out for the dates we wanted. Ryan went on a mission yesterday while at work and managed to find us the first deal I was talking about from Maine with the only one stop over for $488 each, taxes in, etc. Only forty bucks more but this is booking through the airline directly as well, which gives us the flexibility to modify the booking (which booking with the travel website doesnt - once you book it on the travel site, it's set in stone. Better hope you don't get sick or anything else happens) and by booking with the airline directly, we save the surcharge that Travelocity charges for making the bookings, so we're probably coming out ahead in the long run.
So Ryan has "held" the tickets and he's going to confirm them today. It's hard to believe that this trip is actually coming together! We've talked about it for years now and once Angela moved to San Diego we thought we should go for it. We have Ryan's parent's place to stay at for free in Arizona, we can stay with Angela and Darren in California, we're never going to be able to travel to these places any cheaper and we might as well do it now before we have a family.
Ryan and I have started seriously shopping for flights the past two days and things started out good, but then started to take a bad turn. On Wednesday I found us flights on Travelocity from Maine to Arizona with only one stop over for $450 each, taxes in, round trip - which is damn good for travelling so far. We mulled it over and kept searching. Then the best deal we could find was Air Canada flying out of Fredericton for almost a thousand dollars, so double the first price we found. We were like "uh-oh"! We were also finding that a lot of the airlines were now selling out for the dates we wanted. Ryan went on a mission yesterday while at work and managed to find us the first deal I was talking about from Maine with the only one stop over for $488 each, taxes in, etc. Only forty bucks more but this is booking through the airline directly as well, which gives us the flexibility to modify the booking (which booking with the travel website doesnt - once you book it on the travel site, it's set in stone. Better hope you don't get sick or anything else happens) and by booking with the airline directly, we save the surcharge that Travelocity charges for making the bookings, so we're probably coming out ahead in the long run.
So Ryan has "held" the tickets and he's going to confirm them today. It's hard to believe that this trip is actually coming together! We've talked about it for years now and once Angela moved to San Diego we thought we should go for it. We have Ryan's parent's place to stay at for free in Arizona, we can stay with Angela and Darren in California, we're never going to be able to travel to these places any cheaper and we might as well do it now before we have a family.
Monday, November 19, 2007
Weekend Update
Another weekend in the books. Hard to believe that this coming weekend is the Santa Claus parade. It's be Christmas before you know it!
This weekend wasn't overly eventfull, but it was nice. Friday night I picked Valerie up after supper and we went to the craft fair at the market. There were all kinds of beautiful things there that I would have loved to get, but I didn't want to spend a small fortune there and my house is also very tiny, so I don't exactly have a lot of room to put a lot of stuff. I did buy a metal star.
Saturday Ryan got up early for work and I got up at the same time and went up to my parents house and did my laundry up early. After lunch I went and paid my bills and did a bit of Christmas shopping. I'm up to I'd say 90% done now! I even wrapped a bit of it on Saturday.
Saturday night Ryan and I rented Oceans 13. Ryan fell asleep about 10 minutes into the movie and I watched the whole thing and really enjoyed it. Normally the movies that Ryan picks out, I don't particulary enjoy, but I did this one.
Yesterday I slept in and then Carrie called me and we talked on the phone for over an hour. It had been a couple of weeks since we'd last talked on the phone, so it was good to chat with her. I went up to my parent's place for our traditional Sunday supper and then went home. Ryan and I watched the Amazing Race and then he watched Oceans 13 (it was a two day rental) and I went to bed.
Today after work I'm going out for supper with my friend Shelly. I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks, since Carrie was last home, and it has been a while since she and I have done anything together just the two of us.
This weekend wasn't overly eventfull, but it was nice. Friday night I picked Valerie up after supper and we went to the craft fair at the market. There were all kinds of beautiful things there that I would have loved to get, but I didn't want to spend a small fortune there and my house is also very tiny, so I don't exactly have a lot of room to put a lot of stuff. I did buy a metal star.
Saturday Ryan got up early for work and I got up at the same time and went up to my parents house and did my laundry up early. After lunch I went and paid my bills and did a bit of Christmas shopping. I'm up to I'd say 90% done now! I even wrapped a bit of it on Saturday.
Saturday night Ryan and I rented Oceans 13. Ryan fell asleep about 10 minutes into the movie and I watched the whole thing and really enjoyed it. Normally the movies that Ryan picks out, I don't particulary enjoy, but I did this one.
Yesterday I slept in and then Carrie called me and we talked on the phone for over an hour. It had been a couple of weeks since we'd last talked on the phone, so it was good to chat with her. I went up to my parent's place for our traditional Sunday supper and then went home. Ryan and I watched the Amazing Race and then he watched Oceans 13 (it was a two day rental) and I went to bed.
Today after work I'm going out for supper with my friend Shelly. I haven't seen her in a couple of weeks, since Carrie was last home, and it has been a while since she and I have done anything together just the two of us.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Heat Wave!
Holy crow it's warm out there! It's mid November and we've been experiencing temperatures in the minus now for a little while. I've been keeping an eye on the weather forecast this week, so I knew we were expected to get some warm weather our way. When I walked outside of my door to come to work this morning, it was actually warmer outside my house than it was inside my house. Granted, I don't keep my heat up very high in the house. It's so freaking expensive and my house is old and the heat escapes quite easily from it, so winter time I shovel out the money to NB Power. If I didn't "scrooge" on the heat, I shutter to think what my power bill really would be. However, I do keep it at a warm 15 degrees. It is currently 17 degrees outside right now. There are mornings in the summer when it's not that warm at 7 a.m.! Let's keep this weather up, lol!
Yesterday at work I had a meeting for an hour and half. I was nervous thinking to myself that a meeting that long can't be a good thing. It turned out that it was only a code of conduct meeting. Meaning we watched two (lame) videos that taught us what sexual harrassment was and one that told us not to steal from work and not to fight with people at work, lol. Common sense stuff really, but they also stressed confidentiality. I know I've never disclosed the actual name of the company I work for on here, so I know I haven't done anything wrong, however I've decided to not b*tch about work on here anymore. This is a work computer I use to maintain this blog and well, it just seems wrong to complain on here about the place that is allowing me to publish this. I still hate my job and always will, I just won't b*tch about it here anymore, lol. Plus, b*tching about your job always brings a person down doesn't it? So no more SC stories on here, sorry Poet, we'll have to save those for a coffee get together.
Nothing huge going on this weekend. I'm heading to the craft show at the market tonight after work with Valerie. This show is my favorite of the few craft shows that are in town this time of year. This one has the most "country" type crafts, which are the types that I enjoy the most. I also find the items at this show are way more affordable, so I'm really looking forward to going over.
I plan to do some more Christmas shopping this weekend and perhaps may even finish my gift buying. I'm about 75% done now. I like to get this part overwith early. Because of the huge expense of buying gifts, I like to spread it out and also I like to have the last couple of pay cheques before Christmas to use on things like a few new decorations each year, wrapping paper, bows, and the always huge Christmas grocery order. You all know what I'm talking about. Each year the amount of "special" things you buy at the grocery store for Christmas seems to get more and more and you seem to dish out more and more money.
Yesterday at work I had a meeting for an hour and half. I was nervous thinking to myself that a meeting that long can't be a good thing. It turned out that it was only a code of conduct meeting. Meaning we watched two (lame) videos that taught us what sexual harrassment was and one that told us not to steal from work and not to fight with people at work, lol. Common sense stuff really, but they also stressed confidentiality. I know I've never disclosed the actual name of the company I work for on here, so I know I haven't done anything wrong, however I've decided to not b*tch about work on here anymore. This is a work computer I use to maintain this blog and well, it just seems wrong to complain on here about the place that is allowing me to publish this. I still hate my job and always will, I just won't b*tch about it here anymore, lol. Plus, b*tching about your job always brings a person down doesn't it? So no more SC stories on here, sorry Poet, we'll have to save those for a coffee get together.
Nothing huge going on this weekend. I'm heading to the craft show at the market tonight after work with Valerie. This show is my favorite of the few craft shows that are in town this time of year. This one has the most "country" type crafts, which are the types that I enjoy the most. I also find the items at this show are way more affordable, so I'm really looking forward to going over.
I plan to do some more Christmas shopping this weekend and perhaps may even finish my gift buying. I'm about 75% done now. I like to get this part overwith early. Because of the huge expense of buying gifts, I like to spread it out and also I like to have the last couple of pay cheques before Christmas to use on things like a few new decorations each year, wrapping paper, bows, and the always huge Christmas grocery order. You all know what I'm talking about. Each year the amount of "special" things you buy at the grocery store for Christmas seems to get more and more and you seem to dish out more and more money.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Would It Kill Ya To Throw Down Some Sand?
When I came downstairs this morning and looked out my picture window, I got the feeling of Christmas. I love Christmastime and I honestly got that special Christmas-y feeling looking out the window. There was snow everywhere. Granted this wasn't the first snowfall we've seen here in the past month, it was the first snowfall I had seen at my own house (remember, I was out at Ryan's parent's place when it snowed the first time and was then all melted when I got off work). Yes it's true, I do hate snow, but for a very small fraction of time it made me feel good today. Now I can't wait to break out the Christmas decorations!
I brushed off my car and left for work. My tires were spinning underneath me as I changed my transmission from reverse to first gear. No biggie, my street is covered in snow. They rarely plow side streets unless it's a huge amount of snow. I'm thinking "By the time I get to the main road, it will be fine". Wrong. Oh how very wrong! There was not a grain of sand to be found on any of the city streets. I couldn't believe it. We had gotten more snow this falling than the previous and after the first snowfall, my car was covered in sand that salt brine stuff that they put down on the roads. There was nothing down today. There were cars slipping and slidding everywhere, missing the turn off to the bridge, missing streets all together, it was nuts. I was shocked that the city wasn't out there doing something, considering that in about 30 minutes time it would be the big "quarter to eight" rush for everyone to get to work. I took my time and drove very slowly and made it to work no problem, but the radio was saying there were a lot of accidents in the area.
The long weekend passed by too quickly. Friday Ryan rented the Fantastic Four (another movie that I did not enjoy one bit, lol). Saturday Ryan had to work. I went shopping with my brother to help him pick out some dress clothes and we went out for lunch. Saturday night Ryan and I went over to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. Another friend Mike was over there as well. Sunday I went to my parent's place for dinner and rented Knocked Up for Ryan and I to watch that evening. I've been wanting to see it for a while now and Ryan hadn't wanted to. While we were at Shane's place on Saturday night, Mike was saying how good the movie was, so of course Ryan was willing to watch it now. Figures eh, lol. Yesterday we didn't do anything, it was a super lazy day. We were debating going shopping in the US for just a day since we couldn't get any hotel rooms in Bangor for the weekend, but we didn't even do the day trip. I was fine with that though, as I'm a little short on cash at the moment.
I brushed off my car and left for work. My tires were spinning underneath me as I changed my transmission from reverse to first gear. No biggie, my street is covered in snow. They rarely plow side streets unless it's a huge amount of snow. I'm thinking "By the time I get to the main road, it will be fine". Wrong. Oh how very wrong! There was not a grain of sand to be found on any of the city streets. I couldn't believe it. We had gotten more snow this falling than the previous and after the first snowfall, my car was covered in sand that salt brine stuff that they put down on the roads. There was nothing down today. There were cars slipping and slidding everywhere, missing the turn off to the bridge, missing streets all together, it was nuts. I was shocked that the city wasn't out there doing something, considering that in about 30 minutes time it would be the big "quarter to eight" rush for everyone to get to work. I took my time and drove very slowly and made it to work no problem, but the radio was saying there were a lot of accidents in the area.
The long weekend passed by too quickly. Friday Ryan rented the Fantastic Four (another movie that I did not enjoy one bit, lol). Saturday Ryan had to work. I went shopping with my brother to help him pick out some dress clothes and we went out for lunch. Saturday night Ryan and I went over to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. Another friend Mike was over there as well. Sunday I went to my parent's place for dinner and rented Knocked Up for Ryan and I to watch that evening. I've been wanting to see it for a while now and Ryan hadn't wanted to. While we were at Shane's place on Saturday night, Mike was saying how good the movie was, so of course Ryan was willing to watch it now. Figures eh, lol. Yesterday we didn't do anything, it was a super lazy day. We were debating going shopping in the US for just a day since we couldn't get any hotel rooms in Bangor for the weekend, but we didn't even do the day trip. I was fine with that though, as I'm a little short on cash at the moment.
Monday, November 5, 2007
Weekend Update
With the time change yesterday and us gaining an extra hour, you'd think that this would be a Monday morning where I would feel very well rested, but I feel just as tired as every other Monday, lol.
Friday night I went up to my parent's house after supper to do two quick loads of laundry. My mom informed me that my second cousin had died tragically earlier that afternoon. The amount of cousins that I have on my mother's side is huge, so I didn't really know this cousin, but it's still very sad to think of how he passed away. It's all I've been thinking about all weekend.
After I finished up my laundry I went home and put it all away. Ryan picked me up and we went to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. We had shared some good laughs and a few beers and took a cab home at about 2:30 a.m.
Saturday I took Ryan to Shane's to pick up his car as he had CPR training all afternoon and I then took my mom for groceries. She doesn't drive and my father was in Bangor with my brother for the day. Valerie and the kids then picked me up later in the afternoon and we went to the craft fair on the Exhibition grounds. It was the first time that I'd seen the kids since we were camping with them in August, as they're always in bed when Ryan and I go over on the weekends. It was good to see them and they were very well behaved while Val and I browsed the crafts.
Ryan came home from CPR training and we had supper. We then decided to go out to his parent's house for the night. They were supposed to be coming home from Victoria on Saturday night but their flight was cancelled until today. We drove up the hill and in the short amount of time it took us to get up the hill the effects of hurrican Noel were in full force. The rain was pelting down and the wind was whipping! We stopped at Zellers in the Fredericton Mall for a few things and got drenched!
Sunday the wind had died down substantially from the night before, but it was still strong. We decided to go for a drive in the afternoon. We went out to Mactaquac, up to Bear Island, across the Scotch Lake Road, through Springfield, Staple Settlement, Zealand, Hanesville, Burtts Corner, Keswick and then home to Nasis. When we got home to my house, my Dad and my brother were there. My Dad was up on a ladder and I was wondering what the heck was going on. It seems that during the storm last night, a big bunch of metal flashing that was along the roof blew loose and my Dad was up on the ladder pulling the rest of what was left loose of it, off the house. He had said that there were 4 or 5 pieces of it that had blown into my backyard and one huge piece of it. It's a miracle that none of it hit my car as it blew past it. Here I was worried that my milk can that is on the porch would blow off and into my car. I should have been more worried about stuff blowing off the house, lol!
I then went up to Mom and Dad's for traditional Sunday supper. After supper I headed out to Ryan's parent's place again and we watched the premiere of the Amazing Race. I love that show and am so glad that it's back. I had heard that they weren't bringing it back, but apparantly that rumour wasn't true.
Friday night I went up to my parent's house after supper to do two quick loads of laundry. My mom informed me that my second cousin had died tragically earlier that afternoon. The amount of cousins that I have on my mother's side is huge, so I didn't really know this cousin, but it's still very sad to think of how he passed away. It's all I've been thinking about all weekend.
After I finished up my laundry I went home and put it all away. Ryan picked me up and we went to Shane and Valerie's for the evening. We had shared some good laughs and a few beers and took a cab home at about 2:30 a.m.
Saturday I took Ryan to Shane's to pick up his car as he had CPR training all afternoon and I then took my mom for groceries. She doesn't drive and my father was in Bangor with my brother for the day. Valerie and the kids then picked me up later in the afternoon and we went to the craft fair on the Exhibition grounds. It was the first time that I'd seen the kids since we were camping with them in August, as they're always in bed when Ryan and I go over on the weekends. It was good to see them and they were very well behaved while Val and I browsed the crafts.
Ryan came home from CPR training and we had supper. We then decided to go out to his parent's house for the night. They were supposed to be coming home from Victoria on Saturday night but their flight was cancelled until today. We drove up the hill and in the short amount of time it took us to get up the hill the effects of hurrican Noel were in full force. The rain was pelting down and the wind was whipping! We stopped at Zellers in the Fredericton Mall for a few things and got drenched!
Sunday the wind had died down substantially from the night before, but it was still strong. We decided to go for a drive in the afternoon. We went out to Mactaquac, up to Bear Island, across the Scotch Lake Road, through Springfield, Staple Settlement, Zealand, Hanesville, Burtts Corner, Keswick and then home to Nasis. When we got home to my house, my Dad and my brother were there. My Dad was up on a ladder and I was wondering what the heck was going on. It seems that during the storm last night, a big bunch of metal flashing that was along the roof blew loose and my Dad was up on the ladder pulling the rest of what was left loose of it, off the house. He had said that there were 4 or 5 pieces of it that had blown into my backyard and one huge piece of it. It's a miracle that none of it hit my car as it blew past it. Here I was worried that my milk can that is on the porch would blow off and into my car. I should have been more worried about stuff blowing off the house, lol!
I then went up to Mom and Dad's for traditional Sunday supper. After supper I headed out to Ryan's parent's place again and we watched the premiere of the Amazing Race. I love that show and am so glad that it's back. I had heard that they weren't bringing it back, but apparantly that rumour wasn't true.
Friday, November 2, 2007
Belly Full Of Candy...Merry Christmas?!?
Another Halloween in the books. Is it just me or are the trick or treater numbers declining each year? We had 27 kids this year at my brother's place. Last year he had 60-ish. My parent's got 44 this year and there were days not too long ago when they'd get 200 kids. Is everyone taking their kids to the mall and then Douglas Avenue? It's crazy how much of a decline there's been. Going house to house trick or treating in your neighbourhood is what Halloween is all about. It wouldn't surprise me that if in the future you HAD to take your kids to the mall to trick or treat.
Other than the lack of trick or treaters, Halloween night was good. I went to my brother's place right after work and got to work getting things in order. You know, putting out the pumpkins, ordering the pizza, getting out the treats, dressing my brother's bulldog in his costume....lol.
My brother's front door also has a second metal screen door in front, but the screen is ripped out of it. My brother never bothered to get it replaced because when someone comes to the door, he doesn't have to open it to get things like pizza, or mail from the mailbox, etc. He can leave it closed and reach out, to keep the dog in. When the kids would knock on the door for their treats, Mack, my brother's bulldog would trot over to the door (because of course, everyone was coming to see him in his opinion). Being that he's a bulldog, he's not an overly tall dog, so when I'd first open the door, the kids wouldn't see him. They'd say "trick or treat" and then Mack would jump up and poke his head out the top half of the door where the screen is missing. Remember this is a metal door too, so when he'd jump up, it would make a loud noise. This noise combined with the sudden appearance of a dog would scare the crap out of the kids. They would then laugh hysterically and pet the dog. It was really quite funny. I dunno, maybe you had to be there.
You may remember that where I work is attached to a shopping mall. The mall continuously plays music and we get their music in our bathrooms (our bathrooms used to orginally be part of the mall). I walked in there yesterday and the song "Joy To The World" was playing. I kid you not! Now I love Christmas just as much or maybe even a little more than the average person, lol. I can't wait to put my tree up and start decorating, but even I think it's too early for the malls to be playing Christmas music. I mean, just the day before was Halloween!
Other than the lack of trick or treaters, Halloween night was good. I went to my brother's place right after work and got to work getting things in order. You know, putting out the pumpkins, ordering the pizza, getting out the treats, dressing my brother's bulldog in his costume....lol.
My brother's front door also has a second metal screen door in front, but the screen is ripped out of it. My brother never bothered to get it replaced because when someone comes to the door, he doesn't have to open it to get things like pizza, or mail from the mailbox, etc. He can leave it closed and reach out, to keep the dog in. When the kids would knock on the door for their treats, Mack, my brother's bulldog would trot over to the door (because of course, everyone was coming to see him in his opinion). Being that he's a bulldog, he's not an overly tall dog, so when I'd first open the door, the kids wouldn't see him. They'd say "trick or treat" and then Mack would jump up and poke his head out the top half of the door where the screen is missing. Remember this is a metal door too, so when he'd jump up, it would make a loud noise. This noise combined with the sudden appearance of a dog would scare the crap out of the kids. They would then laugh hysterically and pet the dog. It was really quite funny. I dunno, maybe you had to be there.
You may remember that where I work is attached to a shopping mall. The mall continuously plays music and we get their music in our bathrooms (our bathrooms used to orginally be part of the mall). I walked in there yesterday and the song "Joy To The World" was playing. I kid you not! Now I love Christmas just as much or maybe even a little more than the average person, lol. I can't wait to put my tree up and start decorating, but even I think it's too early for the malls to be playing Christmas music. I mean, just the day before was Halloween!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Happy Halloween!
It's trick or treat night! The day that we can all eat lots of junk and not feel guilty about about it. We can say with confidence "But it's Halloween...so I can eat this"!
I'm going to my brother's place for Halloween tonight, as I've done for the past three Halloweens. I don't get any Halloween-ers (my mom's definition of a trick or treater) lol, so I go to my brother's place to hand out treats and see all the kiddies costumes. My brother is a typical guy. He participates in holidays, but does the bare minimum. Meaning, he'll buy the treats, but he doesn't want to pass them out. That's where I come in. It's a system that works. Plus, he orders pizza for us for supper, so it's a winning situation all around! LOL.
I love to see how the costumes evolve over the years. They're getting more and more spectacular each year! I remember when I was a kid, the majority of Halloween costumes were made by our moms. My first Halloween that I can really, truly remember, my mother made me a Mickey (or maybe it was Minnie?) Mouse costume. She even made a tail that she pinned on my bum. I remember this because the safety pin kept sticking into my bum the whole night, lol. Did your mothers make your costumes for you when you were little? Do you remember what you dressed up as when you were a kid? What are you dressing your kids up as this Halloween?
Can you believe the snow we had yesterday morning? I stayed out at Ryan's parent's house that night and when I got up in the morning, I was shocked to see how white everything was. Where Ryan's parent's place is, they usually get more snow than in the city because they're at a higher elevation, so I figured that the snow was just in their area. Wrong! When I drove into town to go to work, there was snow in Fredericton too! Not as much as there was out at Ryan's parent's place (I'd say there was a good inch and half to two inches out there at 6 a.m. when I got up) but there was snow. I hate snow. Except for on Christmas.
I'm going to my brother's place for Halloween tonight, as I've done for the past three Halloweens. I don't get any Halloween-ers (my mom's definition of a trick or treater) lol, so I go to my brother's place to hand out treats and see all the kiddies costumes. My brother is a typical guy. He participates in holidays, but does the bare minimum. Meaning, he'll buy the treats, but he doesn't want to pass them out. That's where I come in. It's a system that works. Plus, he orders pizza for us for supper, so it's a winning situation all around! LOL.
I love to see how the costumes evolve over the years. They're getting more and more spectacular each year! I remember when I was a kid, the majority of Halloween costumes were made by our moms. My first Halloween that I can really, truly remember, my mother made me a Mickey (or maybe it was Minnie?) Mouse costume. She even made a tail that she pinned on my bum. I remember this because the safety pin kept sticking into my bum the whole night, lol. Did your mothers make your costumes for you when you were little? Do you remember what you dressed up as when you were a kid? What are you dressing your kids up as this Halloween?
Can you believe the snow we had yesterday morning? I stayed out at Ryan's parent's house that night and when I got up in the morning, I was shocked to see how white everything was. Where Ryan's parent's place is, they usually get more snow than in the city because they're at a higher elevation, so I figured that the snow was just in their area. Wrong! When I drove into town to go to work, there was snow in Fredericton too! Not as much as there was out at Ryan's parent's place (I'd say there was a good inch and half to two inches out there at 6 a.m. when I got up) but there was snow. I hate snow. Except for on Christmas.
Monday, October 29, 2007
I'm Ba-ack!
I'm back from vacation - wishing I wasn't, but am back nonetheless. It's always hard coming back to work after having a week off, but let's not dwell on that anymore.
So let's see what have I been up to lately? The weekend before last was when Carrie and Chris got into town (on Saturday the 20th) but I didn't get to see them until the following day (Sunday). That Saturday Ryan and I rented a movie and got a pumpkin pie blizzard from Dairy Queen, which I must say I was a tad disappointed with considering that I love pumpkin in any form.
The next day Ryan asked me if I wanted to go mudding in his parent's 4X4, so I said sure. We headed out to Mazerolle Settlement Road and up through a ton of trails on Mountain Road, taking in the gorgeous views. Ryan knows this area well and said there was a hiking trail that would take us to Woolastook park. I was all "Yah right, Woolastook park is WAY far from here". Well little did I know that he wasn't pulling my leg. We hiked (downhill on the way in mind you) for a while and sure enough we ended up in the back campground lot of Woolastook park. I was shocked and a little disappointed that we didn't take full advantage of this by bringing a blanket and a picnic lunch. We hiked another trail that took us to a ravine and then another that took us to Kelly's creek and then finally hiked out (uphill!) and went back to the truck. I was tired and thankfull that I'd lost 75 pounds in the last year because I don't think, no, I know, that I wouldn't have made it without doing so. We continued on out through Mountain Road mudding and splashing our way to Harvey. We stopped for a drink and a quick carwash and then met Carrie and Chris for dinner. It was so good to see her and Chris and her expanding belly! We went to the Back Nine downtown. It wasn't bad, but holy crap it was expensive!
Monday I took my car into the dealership to get an oil change, have my tires rotated and to get the annual inspection. Carrie and Chris picked me up at home (the dealership shuttled me home after I dropped my car off) at around noon. Carrie was craving a kabob, so we went downtown and got some lunch from George's canteen and then went to the mall. They then dropped me off to get my car and $129 dollars later, I had wheels again. In the evening I went to my friend Derek's house to get him to guarantee my passport application and hideous passport photo, lol. Ryan and I are planning a trip to Arizona in April of next year and well, you need a freakin passport to fly into the US now. I decided that now was a good time to get my passport as I was away from work this week and had to waste waiting at the passport office, lol.
Tuesday morning I got up and headed over to the passport office. I waited there for an hour and a half and handed over $87 for the privilege of George W. Bush allowing me to visit his country. I then went crib shopping with Carrie and Chris in the afternoon and then in the evening we went to Bingo (and lost, lol).
Wednesday I rose bright and early and got on the road to Moncton with Carrie, Chris and Carrie's mom. This was primarily a shopping trip, but I didn't end up going too crazy. I came home with a Christmas gift for Ryan's parent's, 4 t-shirts from Old Navy that were $1.97 each, 2 long sleeve shirts for 10 bucks each from Costco and an industrial supply of popcorn from Costco, lol.
Thursday was a pretty boring day. I didn't see Carrie and Chris at all. I went to Ryan's parent's house in the evening and we watched Survivor.
Friday was lunch date day. Ryan and I, Carrie and Chris and Mike and Shelly all went for lunch at Ringo's uptown. I hadn't eaten there since Shelly got married 7 years ago. We had a "stagette" dinner there for her. The food was really good and fairly well priced. In the evening I had coffee with Carrie and her family and said our farewells. It's hard to believe that the next time I see her, she'll be a mom!
Saturday my brother and I went to Saint John just for the hell of it. Ryan was working, it was a boring, rainy day, so off we went. We went to the Moosehead brewery store, to the mall, Old Navy (where I scored again with some cheap shirts! lol) and to East Side Mario's for lunch. My brother had never eaten there before and had always wanted to try it, so he got his chance. That place is so good and they really need to get moving on the plans of building one in Fredericton! Saturday evening Ryan went to a Halloween party (I didn't want to go as I didn't really know anyone there) and I did laundry, made some Halloween cupcakes and carved a pumpkin for my mother, which she was nagging me to do for her.
Sunday I made the traditional big breakfast for Ryan and I and we relaxed for the majority of the afternoon. I then went up to Mom and Dad's for supper and a visit. Later I headed out to Ryan's parent's place and had a nice, quiet evening with him.
So let's see what have I been up to lately? The weekend before last was when Carrie and Chris got into town (on Saturday the 20th) but I didn't get to see them until the following day (Sunday). That Saturday Ryan and I rented a movie and got a pumpkin pie blizzard from Dairy Queen, which I must say I was a tad disappointed with considering that I love pumpkin in any form.
The next day Ryan asked me if I wanted to go mudding in his parent's 4X4, so I said sure. We headed out to Mazerolle Settlement Road and up through a ton of trails on Mountain Road, taking in the gorgeous views. Ryan knows this area well and said there was a hiking trail that would take us to Woolastook park. I was all "Yah right, Woolastook park is WAY far from here". Well little did I know that he wasn't pulling my leg. We hiked (downhill on the way in mind you) for a while and sure enough we ended up in the back campground lot of Woolastook park. I was shocked and a little disappointed that we didn't take full advantage of this by bringing a blanket and a picnic lunch. We hiked another trail that took us to a ravine and then another that took us to Kelly's creek and then finally hiked out (uphill!) and went back to the truck. I was tired and thankfull that I'd lost 75 pounds in the last year because I don't think, no, I know, that I wouldn't have made it without doing so. We continued on out through Mountain Road mudding and splashing our way to Harvey. We stopped for a drink and a quick carwash and then met Carrie and Chris for dinner. It was so good to see her and Chris and her expanding belly! We went to the Back Nine downtown. It wasn't bad, but holy crap it was expensive!
Monday I took my car into the dealership to get an oil change, have my tires rotated and to get the annual inspection. Carrie and Chris picked me up at home (the dealership shuttled me home after I dropped my car off) at around noon. Carrie was craving a kabob, so we went downtown and got some lunch from George's canteen and then went to the mall. They then dropped me off to get my car and $129 dollars later, I had wheels again. In the evening I went to my friend Derek's house to get him to guarantee my passport application and hideous passport photo, lol. Ryan and I are planning a trip to Arizona in April of next year and well, you need a freakin passport to fly into the US now. I decided that now was a good time to get my passport as I was away from work this week and had to waste waiting at the passport office, lol.
Tuesday morning I got up and headed over to the passport office. I waited there for an hour and a half and handed over $87 for the privilege of George W. Bush allowing me to visit his country. I then went crib shopping with Carrie and Chris in the afternoon and then in the evening we went to Bingo (and lost, lol).
Wednesday I rose bright and early and got on the road to Moncton with Carrie, Chris and Carrie's mom. This was primarily a shopping trip, but I didn't end up going too crazy. I came home with a Christmas gift for Ryan's parent's, 4 t-shirts from Old Navy that were $1.97 each, 2 long sleeve shirts for 10 bucks each from Costco and an industrial supply of popcorn from Costco, lol.
Thursday was a pretty boring day. I didn't see Carrie and Chris at all. I went to Ryan's parent's house in the evening and we watched Survivor.
Friday was lunch date day. Ryan and I, Carrie and Chris and Mike and Shelly all went for lunch at Ringo's uptown. I hadn't eaten there since Shelly got married 7 years ago. We had a "stagette" dinner there for her. The food was really good and fairly well priced. In the evening I had coffee with Carrie and her family and said our farewells. It's hard to believe that the next time I see her, she'll be a mom!
Saturday my brother and I went to Saint John just for the hell of it. Ryan was working, it was a boring, rainy day, so off we went. We went to the Moosehead brewery store, to the mall, Old Navy (where I scored again with some cheap shirts! lol) and to East Side Mario's for lunch. My brother had never eaten there before and had always wanted to try it, so he got his chance. That place is so good and they really need to get moving on the plans of building one in Fredericton! Saturday evening Ryan went to a Halloween party (I didn't want to go as I didn't really know anyone there) and I did laundry, made some Halloween cupcakes and carved a pumpkin for my mother, which she was nagging me to do for her.
Sunday I made the traditional big breakfast for Ryan and I and we relaxed for the majority of the afternoon. I then went up to Mom and Dad's for supper and a visit. Later I headed out to Ryan's parent's place and had a nice, quiet evening with him.
Friday, October 19, 2007
One More Day Til I'm Free Of Work For A Week!
One more day of work and it's vacation time! I can't freaking wait to log out and be rid of work for a whole week. I haven't had any vacation time since the first week of June, so this is well needed. The weather was still chilly and not "summer" weather when I was off in June, so it was very hard to go all summer and not have any week's vacation in there.
My week of vacation is at a great time too - Carrie will be here tomorrow! I'm so excited! It's not by accident though that she's going to be here the same week I'm off. See, for the past three years I've gone up to visit her in Ontario during this same week in October. It's Pumpkinfest in her town this weekend, which is a huge event and I've gone up to visit her during that week. Once I found out she was pregnant, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford to go up to see her this upcoming week and after the baby was born, so she decided to come to Fredericton during the week I booked off to originally go and see her and I'm heading up her way in early February after the baby arrives.
There are no real plans for the week off. We're thinking of doing some day trips and I've got some errands to do too while I'm off. I need to get my oil changed and my car inspected and I'm dropping off my application for a passport too, so Ryan and I can take our trip to Arizona in April. I got my passport pictures taken on Wednesday after my hair appointment and let me tell ya, they are gorgeous! HAHA, of course I'm being sarcastic, they are absolutely horrific. Then again, does anyone ever take a good passport picture?
Speaking of the hair appointment, it wasn't completely disasterous, but I will not be making this place my salon of choice. The package that Ryan got me for my birthday is a four visit deal. The first visit it says you get hair consultation and a designer cut, shampooing, deep conditioning, scalp massage, blow dry and style. I was at the place for a total of 20 minutes, so do you think I got all that? Ah no. I get there and she takes me to wash my hair with shampoo - no deep conditioning treatment. And I guessing the "scalp massage" was her washing my hair, lol. I go to her chair and she asks me what I want done to my hair. I was all "Ah...I dunno" because I thought I was supposed to get hair consultation and a designer cut. I said "Well, I don't want to go super short and I don't want bangs, so I guess whatever you think from there".
She cut a couple of inches off and gave me layers...which I had to begin with, so I basically got a "trim". She then started blow drying my hair and said "this is just a quick blow dry, for $10 I can fully dry it and style it". I was thinking to myself "Huh? This is nuts, they're going to send me home with wet hair unless I pay 10 more bucks"? I was a little fed up at the sh*ttyness of the value of the package deal, so I told her "No, just do what comes with the package". So yes, my hair was still somewhat wet and not styled at all when I left the place. I don't think I looked any better, and maybe even a little worse off, then when I had first arrived there. Honestly, it doesn't even really look like I got my hair cut either. Ryan didn't notice, I had to say "What do you think of the hair cut" with a smirk and he said "It honestly doesn't look any different" and he's right, it doesn't really. Ah well, it didn't cost me anything other than the "gratuitie" that wasn't included in the package. I guess that's why they stress that "gratuities" aren't included in the package, because they suck and you wouldn't give them one voluntarily, lol. We'll see how the rest of the visits go. I honestly don't really want to go to them, but since Ryan already paid for them, I kind of have to.
My week of vacation is at a great time too - Carrie will be here tomorrow! I'm so excited! It's not by accident though that she's going to be here the same week I'm off. See, for the past three years I've gone up to visit her in Ontario during this same week in October. It's Pumpkinfest in her town this weekend, which is a huge event and I've gone up to visit her during that week. Once I found out she was pregnant, I knew I wouldn't be able to afford to go up to see her this upcoming week and after the baby was born, so she decided to come to Fredericton during the week I booked off to originally go and see her and I'm heading up her way in early February after the baby arrives.
There are no real plans for the week off. We're thinking of doing some day trips and I've got some errands to do too while I'm off. I need to get my oil changed and my car inspected and I'm dropping off my application for a passport too, so Ryan and I can take our trip to Arizona in April. I got my passport pictures taken on Wednesday after my hair appointment and let me tell ya, they are gorgeous! HAHA, of course I'm being sarcastic, they are absolutely horrific. Then again, does anyone ever take a good passport picture?
Speaking of the hair appointment, it wasn't completely disasterous, but I will not be making this place my salon of choice. The package that Ryan got me for my birthday is a four visit deal. The first visit it says you get hair consultation and a designer cut, shampooing, deep conditioning, scalp massage, blow dry and style. I was at the place for a total of 20 minutes, so do you think I got all that? Ah no. I get there and she takes me to wash my hair with shampoo - no deep conditioning treatment. And I guessing the "scalp massage" was her washing my hair, lol. I go to her chair and she asks me what I want done to my hair. I was all "Ah...I dunno" because I thought I was supposed to get hair consultation and a designer cut. I said "Well, I don't want to go super short and I don't want bangs, so I guess whatever you think from there".
She cut a couple of inches off and gave me layers...which I had to begin with, so I basically got a "trim". She then started blow drying my hair and said "this is just a quick blow dry, for $10 I can fully dry it and style it". I was thinking to myself "Huh? This is nuts, they're going to send me home with wet hair unless I pay 10 more bucks"? I was a little fed up at the sh*ttyness of the value of the package deal, so I told her "No, just do what comes with the package". So yes, my hair was still somewhat wet and not styled at all when I left the place. I don't think I looked any better, and maybe even a little worse off, then when I had first arrived there. Honestly, it doesn't even really look like I got my hair cut either. Ryan didn't notice, I had to say "What do you think of the hair cut" with a smirk and he said "It honestly doesn't look any different" and he's right, it doesn't really. Ah well, it didn't cost me anything other than the "gratuitie" that wasn't included in the package. I guess that's why they stress that "gratuities" aren't included in the package, because they suck and you wouldn't give them one voluntarily, lol. We'll see how the rest of the visits go. I honestly don't really want to go to them, but since Ryan already paid for them, I kind of have to.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Breaking Routine
Right from the get go, today has been and will continue to be a busy day. I'm tired and have huge bags under my eyes too, so that ain't helping things, lol.
I had a bath last night early in the evening. I got out of the tub at around 7:30 and the phone rang. It was Ryan. I was surprised because on Tuesday evenings he has training for Crabbe Mountain Ski Patrol. He was on a break and was calling me to ask me if I wanted to meet him out at his parent's house at 9 when he was finished, since they left for Victoria earlier that day. We both enjoy spending time together at his parent's gorgeous home, but I wasn't sure I wanted to head out. My hair was wet, I had my pajamas on, it's a 20 minute drive out of town and not to mention that I would have to get up that extra 20 minutes early in the morning to drive to work. He twisted my arm (lol) and out I went.
We didn't do too much, watched some tv and talked. At 10:30 I decided it was time to go to bed since I had to get an earlier start and I was yawning like every 2 minutes at that point, lol. I was out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. Even though it was only 20 minutes earlier that I got up this morning, it felt like it was 2 hours earlier than usual.
So I got ready for work and managed to squeak in something quick to eat for breakfast. Out to my car I went and it had ice on it. Yes, ice. Not the regular moisture that has been on cars in the morning for the past couple of weeks. Ice. Frig. I dunno if it was because I was out the Hanwell and at a higher elevation than in the city or what, but there was frigging ice on my car. I didn't have my snow brush/scrapper in my car yet. Frig again. So I sat in my car for what felt like forever with the vents turned up full tilt waiting for the windows to clear off.
Like the majority of the working world out there, I need to have a coffee every morning to get me going and ready for the day's work. Since I was out at Ryan's parent's place all night, this threw my morning routine completely off so I opted to treat myself to a coffee from Tim Horton's this morning. I never have Tim Horton's coffee, I actually prefer "home brew" lol, but the thought of not having to actually make a pot of coffee this morning was nice. Even though it wasn't busy, I decided to skip the Tim Hortons on the Hanwell and opted to stop at the one that's close to my work. This particular Tim Hortons is located in a strip mall with the drive through operating behind the mall. So I pull into the mall and start to drive around the building to approach the drive through. I get to the back of the building and the cars are lined up the complete length of the building. I couldn't believe it was that busy! This was before 7 a.m. people. I could see if it was just before 8 a.m., but before 7 a.m. - holy crap! I needed my coffee fix and any time I've opted to not go through a drive though and go inside the store instead, it's always taken longer inside than in the drive through, so I waited patiently in the drive through line. While I was waiting, I was watching the advertising monitor. One ad that it showed was that for 25 cents you could add a pumpkin spice flavour shot to any beverage. Since I love pumpkin flavouring, I decided that I would try it. I got my coffee and drove to work with the warm aroma of pumpkin pie filling my car. I couldn't wait to get inside of work and crack open that coffee. Let me tell ya, I was disappointed. It sure smelled good, but it didn't taste any different than what a coffee with no "flavour shot" would have tasted like. How disappointing.
As soon as I get off work tonight, I have to to head to the salon for 5 p.m. to get the first of my four spa sessions that Ryan got me for my birthday. Yes I know my birthday was back in August, but I'm just getting around to getting this done now. The salon is so anal with their "rules" for this package too. You have to schedule your appointment atleast a week in advance, you have to allow atleast a week before each session, blah, blah, blah. There is seriously a big list of rules on the back of the spa certificate. Not to mention the big cautionary line that "gratuities are extra". That peeves me off. To me a "gratuitie" or "tip" is something to offer someone for a job well done. This is a reward you offer for exceptional service. It bugs me that you are required to offer this reward regardless of the service you receive. I know that Ryan paid a lot of money for this package, so it bugs me knowing that they expect more money on top of what he paid for it. Mind you I always do tip a hair stylist for a job well done, so it probably would have happened anyway, but just the notion of being required to do it bugs the heck out of me.
Anyway, tonight's session is "hair" and the certificate says that I'll be getting a designer hair cut. I'm both nervous and excited for this. I am looking forward to a new hair style, but I don't want them to hack off a bunch of my hair. It's taken me a couple of years to grow it back and I want to keep some of it's length. We shall see what happens. After getting my hair "did", I'm going to try and swing by the SuperStore and get my passport picture taken. I want to submit my passport application next week while I'm off and free during the day to do so and I need to get my guarantor to sign not only the application but my passport photo, so I have to get that done a.s.a.p.
I had a bath last night early in the evening. I got out of the tub at around 7:30 and the phone rang. It was Ryan. I was surprised because on Tuesday evenings he has training for Crabbe Mountain Ski Patrol. He was on a break and was calling me to ask me if I wanted to meet him out at his parent's house at 9 when he was finished, since they left for Victoria earlier that day. We both enjoy spending time together at his parent's gorgeous home, but I wasn't sure I wanted to head out. My hair was wet, I had my pajamas on, it's a 20 minute drive out of town and not to mention that I would have to get up that extra 20 minutes early in the morning to drive to work. He twisted my arm (lol) and out I went.
We didn't do too much, watched some tv and talked. At 10:30 I decided it was time to go to bed since I had to get an earlier start and I was yawning like every 2 minutes at that point, lol. I was out pretty much as soon as my head hit the pillow. Even though it was only 20 minutes earlier that I got up this morning, it felt like it was 2 hours earlier than usual.
So I got ready for work and managed to squeak in something quick to eat for breakfast. Out to my car I went and it had ice on it. Yes, ice. Not the regular moisture that has been on cars in the morning for the past couple of weeks. Ice. Frig. I dunno if it was because I was out the Hanwell and at a higher elevation than in the city or what, but there was frigging ice on my car. I didn't have my snow brush/scrapper in my car yet. Frig again. So I sat in my car for what felt like forever with the vents turned up full tilt waiting for the windows to clear off.
Like the majority of the working world out there, I need to have a coffee every morning to get me going and ready for the day's work. Since I was out at Ryan's parent's place all night, this threw my morning routine completely off so I opted to treat myself to a coffee from Tim Horton's this morning. I never have Tim Horton's coffee, I actually prefer "home brew" lol, but the thought of not having to actually make a pot of coffee this morning was nice. Even though it wasn't busy, I decided to skip the Tim Hortons on the Hanwell and opted to stop at the one that's close to my work. This particular Tim Hortons is located in a strip mall with the drive through operating behind the mall. So I pull into the mall and start to drive around the building to approach the drive through. I get to the back of the building and the cars are lined up the complete length of the building. I couldn't believe it was that busy! This was before 7 a.m. people. I could see if it was just before 8 a.m., but before 7 a.m. - holy crap! I needed my coffee fix and any time I've opted to not go through a drive though and go inside the store instead, it's always taken longer inside than in the drive through, so I waited patiently in the drive through line. While I was waiting, I was watching the advertising monitor. One ad that it showed was that for 25 cents you could add a pumpkin spice flavour shot to any beverage. Since I love pumpkin flavouring, I decided that I would try it. I got my coffee and drove to work with the warm aroma of pumpkin pie filling my car. I couldn't wait to get inside of work and crack open that coffee. Let me tell ya, I was disappointed. It sure smelled good, but it didn't taste any different than what a coffee with no "flavour shot" would have tasted like. How disappointing.
As soon as I get off work tonight, I have to to head to the salon for 5 p.m. to get the first of my four spa sessions that Ryan got me for my birthday. Yes I know my birthday was back in August, but I'm just getting around to getting this done now. The salon is so anal with their "rules" for this package too. You have to schedule your appointment atleast a week in advance, you have to allow atleast a week before each session, blah, blah, blah. There is seriously a big list of rules on the back of the spa certificate. Not to mention the big cautionary line that "gratuities are extra". That peeves me off. To me a "gratuitie" or "tip" is something to offer someone for a job well done. This is a reward you offer for exceptional service. It bugs me that you are required to offer this reward regardless of the service you receive. I know that Ryan paid a lot of money for this package, so it bugs me knowing that they expect more money on top of what he paid for it. Mind you I always do tip a hair stylist for a job well done, so it probably would have happened anyway, but just the notion of being required to do it bugs the heck out of me.
Anyway, tonight's session is "hair" and the certificate says that I'll be getting a designer hair cut. I'm both nervous and excited for this. I am looking forward to a new hair style, but I don't want them to hack off a bunch of my hair. It's taken me a couple of years to grow it back and I want to keep some of it's length. We shall see what happens. After getting my hair "did", I'm going to try and swing by the SuperStore and get my passport picture taken. I want to submit my passport application next week while I'm off and free during the day to do so and I need to get my guarantor to sign not only the application but my passport photo, so I have to get that done a.s.a.p.
Monday, October 15, 2007
Boring Weekend, But I Ain't Complain'!
This weekend I did absolutely nothing! I seriously mean that, there is nothing whatsoever exciting to report on that I did this weekend, lol. But that's ok, because sometimes weekends like that are good! LOL.
Friday night I got home from work, made supper and was just puttering around the house. Ryan called and asked what I was up to. I told him nothing and he asked if I wanted to just rent a movie for the night and take it easy. I told him that sounded great to me as I was beat with the work week having caught up to me and I didn't feel up to much for the evening. He hadn't eaten supper yet, so he said he was going to swing by a fast food joint and pick up something to eat and asked if I could run over and pick up the movie. Not a problem, so off I went.
The video store was packed and there was hardly anything left on the shelves to pick from. I ended up selecting Blades of Glory which was decently funny. We watched the movie and hit the sack soon after as we were both zonked and this was Ryan's Saturday to work.
Off to work Ryan went on Saturday morning. There was a corvette show going on at the dealership that day, so he was a little excited to go to head to work that morning. I got up and made something to eat, did some work around the house and then decided to go up to my parent's house and do my laundry instead of waiting to do it on Sunday, like I usually do. I had a nice afternoon visiting with the folks and I stayed and had supper with them.
Back home I soon went and Ryan followed home not long after me. We were sitting on the couch bored, wondering what to do and if we really want to go and do it. We didn't come up with any solutions. We decided to go and get a six pack of beer, return Blades of Glory, pick up a new movie, get something good to eat and stay home again. If I thought the video store was lacking with selections on Friday night, you should have seen Saturday. It was terrible! So terrible that we ended up watching Norbit that night, so that tells you right there that we had nothing to chose from. After the video store a stop at the neighbouring grocery store to pick up something good to eat. A Chicago Deep Dish pizza was chosen. It was alright, but nothing spectacular and definately not worth the many calories I indulged in. Oh well.
Sunday I made the usual big breakfast for us and we were in our "blah" mode once again, sitting on the couch like lumps, not doing anything, lol. I suggested that we get up and go somewhere, but where was the question. There is precious little to do for excitement here in Fredericton. It was cold and windy outside, so doing something like going for a walk or hike somewhere, etc. was out of the question. I suggested we go to the flea market or the mall, but Ryan wasn't feeling like shopping and blowing money on stuff that neither of us needed, which I had to agree with him on. So we stayed on the couch, watched tv and ate some Halloween candy, lol.
Now most of you know that Ryan hates what he calls "Crap-ality" tv, a.k.a. reality tv, so it's rare that he will watch any of it with me, with the exception of Survivor. So I was in the kitchen, come out and what does he have the tv on, but MTV - which is just one big "crap-ality" channel. Well Sunday was the "Life of Ryan" marathon. I swear to God I'm not making this up, lol. I never even knew this show exsisted, so we watched the "Life of Ryan" marathon for the majority of the afternoon, making comments about if they were filming the life of my Ryan right now, there wouldn't be much footage, lol.
After a couple of hours of "crap-ality" tv we both had enough. I know, me who loves reality tv have enough? LOL. I went up to my parent's place for the usual Sunday supper with them and Ryan went to his parent's place to spend some time with them. They're heading to British Columbia tomorrow, where Ryan's grandmother lives. Grandma had a nasty fall over Thanksgiving weekend and broke her hip, having to have it replaced with a plastic hip, so they're going out to help her as she's getting out of the hospital soon.
Friday night I got home from work, made supper and was just puttering around the house. Ryan called and asked what I was up to. I told him nothing and he asked if I wanted to just rent a movie for the night and take it easy. I told him that sounded great to me as I was beat with the work week having caught up to me and I didn't feel up to much for the evening. He hadn't eaten supper yet, so he said he was going to swing by a fast food joint and pick up something to eat and asked if I could run over and pick up the movie. Not a problem, so off I went.
The video store was packed and there was hardly anything left on the shelves to pick from. I ended up selecting Blades of Glory which was decently funny. We watched the movie and hit the sack soon after as we were both zonked and this was Ryan's Saturday to work.
Off to work Ryan went on Saturday morning. There was a corvette show going on at the dealership that day, so he was a little excited to go to head to work that morning. I got up and made something to eat, did some work around the house and then decided to go up to my parent's house and do my laundry instead of waiting to do it on Sunday, like I usually do. I had a nice afternoon visiting with the folks and I stayed and had supper with them.
Back home I soon went and Ryan followed home not long after me. We were sitting on the couch bored, wondering what to do and if we really want to go and do it. We didn't come up with any solutions. We decided to go and get a six pack of beer, return Blades of Glory, pick up a new movie, get something good to eat and stay home again. If I thought the video store was lacking with selections on Friday night, you should have seen Saturday. It was terrible! So terrible that we ended up watching Norbit that night, so that tells you right there that we had nothing to chose from. After the video store a stop at the neighbouring grocery store to pick up something good to eat. A Chicago Deep Dish pizza was chosen. It was alright, but nothing spectacular and definately not worth the many calories I indulged in. Oh well.
Sunday I made the usual big breakfast for us and we were in our "blah" mode once again, sitting on the couch like lumps, not doing anything, lol. I suggested that we get up and go somewhere, but where was the question. There is precious little to do for excitement here in Fredericton. It was cold and windy outside, so doing something like going for a walk or hike somewhere, etc. was out of the question. I suggested we go to the flea market or the mall, but Ryan wasn't feeling like shopping and blowing money on stuff that neither of us needed, which I had to agree with him on. So we stayed on the couch, watched tv and ate some Halloween candy, lol.
Now most of you know that Ryan hates what he calls "Crap-ality" tv, a.k.a. reality tv, so it's rare that he will watch any of it with me, with the exception of Survivor. So I was in the kitchen, come out and what does he have the tv on, but MTV - which is just one big "crap-ality" channel. Well Sunday was the "Life of Ryan" marathon. I swear to God I'm not making this up, lol. I never even knew this show exsisted, so we watched the "Life of Ryan" marathon for the majority of the afternoon, making comments about if they were filming the life of my Ryan right now, there wouldn't be much footage, lol.
After a couple of hours of "crap-ality" tv we both had enough. I know, me who loves reality tv have enough? LOL. I went up to my parent's place for the usual Sunday supper with them and Ryan went to his parent's place to spend some time with them. They're heading to British Columbia tomorrow, where Ryan's grandmother lives. Grandma had a nasty fall over Thanksgiving weekend and broke her hip, having to have it replaced with a plastic hip, so they're going out to help her as she's getting out of the hospital soon.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Riki's, Here I Come!
Short week almost over! Weekend's almost here! It was so nice to only have to work four days this week, instead of five. Then I'll work five days next week and have a week off for vacation! That and Carrie is coming home that same week that I am off! I'm so excited! This will however be her final visit home before the baby is born (due January 7th). I'm hoping that I'll have enough Air Miles to fly up and see her after the baby comes. As off right now I need exactly 200 Air Miles. I'm not sure if I can pull it off, but I'm hoping so. I've got my parents and my brother collecting for me too and I am making a point to shop at stores where you can collect Air Miles as opposed to ones you can't.
Yesterday was a hard day at work. It seemed that every annoying person who wanted to know every little nit-picky thing was calling. I felt like I was listening to nails down a chalk board all day. Then something cool happened. My message light lit up, I called and was asked to come to the promotions area. I went up and it turns out that I won a gift certificate for Riki's/Bootlegger. It couldn't have come at a better time, because I desperately need long sleeved shirts. I bought some new fall/winter clothing last year when I started losing weight because my "fat"clothes were getting too big. Now this year the new clothes that I bought last year are getting too big, so they need to be replaced. It's both a good and a bad thing at the same time. I'm happy to still be shedding the pounds, but it's hard on the pocket book to keep dishing out the quid for new duds. The gift certificate isn't a huge amount, but I'm hoping to stretch it far enough to get a couple of things.
Yesterday was a hard day at work. It seemed that every annoying person who wanted to know every little nit-picky thing was calling. I felt like I was listening to nails down a chalk board all day. Then something cool happened. My message light lit up, I called and was asked to come to the promotions area. I went up and it turns out that I won a gift certificate for Riki's/Bootlegger. It couldn't have come at a better time, because I desperately need long sleeved shirts. I bought some new fall/winter clothing last year when I started losing weight because my "fat"clothes were getting too big. Now this year the new clothes that I bought last year are getting too big, so they need to be replaced. It's both a good and a bad thing at the same time. I'm happy to still be shedding the pounds, but it's hard on the pocket book to keep dishing out the quid for new duds. The gift certificate isn't a huge amount, but I'm hoping to stretch it far enough to get a couple of things.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Gobble Gobble Weekend Update
What a busy weekend but it flew by so quickly! It was great to have the extra day off in there as well, to shorten the work week.
Friday night Ryan and I went to Shane and Valerie's house for a few drinks. We ended up staying at chatting with them until past 3 a.m! That's the latest I think we've ever stayed there...and we weren't even playing poker or anything. I was exhausted to say the least, having gotten up at quarter after 6 Friday morning to go to to work and then not getting into bed until almost 4 a.m.
Saturday we slept in and I did some housework and then headed off to my parent's house in the evening to do laundry. Ryan headed downtown with some buddies who were celebrating one of the guys' last night of freedom - his wife is expected to give birth any day now. While at the bar, Ryan ran into his brother and some people from the wedding that his brother was in and ended up going to an after party with them.
Sunday was turkey dinner # 1. We went to Ryan's parent's house for the first installment of turkey dinners and dinned with Ryan's parents, his brother Brad and Brad's girlfriend Aimee. We stuffed our bellies, sat around and talked and watched a little TV and then Ryan and I and Brad and Aimee went to the movies and saw Good Luck Chuck. It was surprisingly not that bad of a movie.
Monday was turkey dinner # 2. Monday I cooked us breakfast and then Ryan went golfing at lunch time with his Dad and brother. I made a dish for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents (candied sweet potatoes) and just "chillaxed" in the afternoon while Ryan was golfing. He got back mid-afternoon and we went to my parent's place for dinner. Dinner was very tasty, but the evening was slightly foiled by my parent's dog and my brother's dog who are nuts...and embarrassing...and kept relieving themselves on the floor. That evening reaffirmed to me why I do not want a dog.
Friday night Ryan and I went to Shane and Valerie's house for a few drinks. We ended up staying at chatting with them until past 3 a.m! That's the latest I think we've ever stayed there...and we weren't even playing poker or anything. I was exhausted to say the least, having gotten up at quarter after 6 Friday morning to go to to work and then not getting into bed until almost 4 a.m.
Saturday we slept in and I did some housework and then headed off to my parent's house in the evening to do laundry. Ryan headed downtown with some buddies who were celebrating one of the guys' last night of freedom - his wife is expected to give birth any day now. While at the bar, Ryan ran into his brother and some people from the wedding that his brother was in and ended up going to an after party with them.
Sunday was turkey dinner # 1. We went to Ryan's parent's house for the first installment of turkey dinners and dinned with Ryan's parents, his brother Brad and Brad's girlfriend Aimee. We stuffed our bellies, sat around and talked and watched a little TV and then Ryan and I and Brad and Aimee went to the movies and saw Good Luck Chuck. It was surprisingly not that bad of a movie.
Monday was turkey dinner # 2. Monday I cooked us breakfast and then Ryan went golfing at lunch time with his Dad and brother. I made a dish for Thanksgiving dinner with my parents (candied sweet potatoes) and just "chillaxed" in the afternoon while Ryan was golfing. He got back mid-afternoon and we went to my parent's place for dinner. Dinner was very tasty, but the evening was slightly foiled by my parent's dog and my brother's dog who are nuts...and embarrassing...and kept relieving themselves on the floor. That evening reaffirmed to me why I do not want a dog.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Happy Turkey Weekend!
Woohoo! Long weekend, here I come...after I put in 8 hours at work today that is. I'm so looking forward to having an extra day off this weekend. It's been a long week at work with the new computer system. I'll be on vacation in two weeks too, so I'm happy about that. Carrie is coming home again that week and then that will be her final visit until after she gives birth. I can't wait to see her.
This weekend will bring lots of eats...after I've been going 3 weeks strong with Weight Watchers. I hate to "cheat" this weekend, but it is turkey weekend and it's not like I can say no.
Ryan and I may be going to Shane and Val's tonight. We haven't hung out with them since Harvest Jazz and Blues weekend, so it's been a while. I hope we are able to make it over there tonight, but it depends on what's going on with Ryan and his brother being home, etc.
Tomorrow will be sleep-in day and I plan on heading to the mall at some point to finally get around to spending my gift certificate that Carrie gave me for my birthday in August. It's not often that I go to the mall, so it does involve me having to make an effort to do go, lol. I'm also going to try and get a passport picture taken somewhere and get moving with my passport application so we can book our trip to Arizona for the spring.
Sunday will be Turkey Dinner #1. The first round of turkey will be at Ryan's parent's place. It's the first time I will actually have dinner with his family, so I'm a little nervous. Yes, I know that sounds weird that after 4 years of us being together I've never had dinner with them before. Keep in mind that they live in Arizona during the winter, so they're only in town for half of the year. The time that they are here, they are always on the go, travelling locally, etc., so they're rarely around. I'm sure it will be lovely and it will be nice to have the whole family together while Ryan's brother and girlfriend are home from Newfoundland.
Monday will be Turkey Dinner # 2. Dinner number two will be at my parent's place with Ryan joining us. Turkey Dinner is my absolute favorite meal, but even I'm wondering if I'll be sick of it after two seatings of it in a row, lol. My mom pulls of an amazing turkey dinner though, so I'm sure that won't happen. Now, if I can only keep myself away from the desserts. Yah, like that will happen!
Enjoy your turkey lurkey day wherever you may celebrate it!
This weekend will bring lots of eats...after I've been going 3 weeks strong with Weight Watchers. I hate to "cheat" this weekend, but it is turkey weekend and it's not like I can say no.
Ryan and I may be going to Shane and Val's tonight. We haven't hung out with them since Harvest Jazz and Blues weekend, so it's been a while. I hope we are able to make it over there tonight, but it depends on what's going on with Ryan and his brother being home, etc.
Tomorrow will be sleep-in day and I plan on heading to the mall at some point to finally get around to spending my gift certificate that Carrie gave me for my birthday in August. It's not often that I go to the mall, so it does involve me having to make an effort to do go, lol. I'm also going to try and get a passport picture taken somewhere and get moving with my passport application so we can book our trip to Arizona for the spring.
Sunday will be Turkey Dinner #1. The first round of turkey will be at Ryan's parent's place. It's the first time I will actually have dinner with his family, so I'm a little nervous. Yes, I know that sounds weird that after 4 years of us being together I've never had dinner with them before. Keep in mind that they live in Arizona during the winter, so they're only in town for half of the year. The time that they are here, they are always on the go, travelling locally, etc., so they're rarely around. I'm sure it will be lovely and it will be nice to have the whole family together while Ryan's brother and girlfriend are home from Newfoundland.
Monday will be Turkey Dinner # 2. Dinner number two will be at my parent's place with Ryan joining us. Turkey Dinner is my absolute favorite meal, but even I'm wondering if I'll be sick of it after two seatings of it in a row, lol. My mom pulls of an amazing turkey dinner though, so I'm sure that won't happen. Now, if I can only keep myself away from the desserts. Yah, like that will happen!
Enjoy your turkey lurkey day wherever you may celebrate it!
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Can't Think Of A Good Title
Sorry for the slacking in the post department. I haven't really felt like blogging and not a whole lot has been going on really.
This weekend I cleaned out some neglected areas of the house, went to the Country Pumpkin and got some corn stalks, bails of hay and a pumpkin to decorate my porch with for Thanksgiving this weekend. I have a couple Scarecrows out there too.
Yesterday I had training at work for a new computer system. I'm not going to comment a whole lot about it because it will be negative if I do. I'm just going to say that the whole thing sucks! LOL.
Ryan's brother and girlfriend are coming home from Newfoundland tomorrow for a wedding this weekend. Ryan's brother is actually in the wedding. I think they're here until Monday.
I'm not sure what the rest of the week or the weekend has in store for me. I'm off on Monday (yeah!) and my family is having their turkey dinner on that day.
I'm starting to get a cold I think. Yesterday afternoon I started sneezing and having itchy eyes. I just thought it was allergies. When I went to get in my car yesterday after work I had the most throbbing headache and maintained it for about 3 hours...even after taking tylenol. I also felt clammy and had a bit of a fever. I've been pumping the echinachea into me in hopes to fight it off. This morning I woke up feeling sick, but not too bad. I'm certainly not 100% better, but I do feel better than I did last evening.
After supper last night I went for a little walk to return a movie and went in the hopes that the fresh air would do me some good. I just got back to the house and flopped on the couch when my brother stopped in with a bag of apples for me. He works with a guy who's father owns an orchard, so he got me a bag from him. I love biting into a freshly picked apple. It's about the only time that I crave an apple and could eat more than one at once. Thanks Rich!
This weekend I cleaned out some neglected areas of the house, went to the Country Pumpkin and got some corn stalks, bails of hay and a pumpkin to decorate my porch with for Thanksgiving this weekend. I have a couple Scarecrows out there too.
Yesterday I had training at work for a new computer system. I'm not going to comment a whole lot about it because it will be negative if I do. I'm just going to say that the whole thing sucks! LOL.
Ryan's brother and girlfriend are coming home from Newfoundland tomorrow for a wedding this weekend. Ryan's brother is actually in the wedding. I think they're here until Monday.
I'm not sure what the rest of the week or the weekend has in store for me. I'm off on Monday (yeah!) and my family is having their turkey dinner on that day.
I'm starting to get a cold I think. Yesterday afternoon I started sneezing and having itchy eyes. I just thought it was allergies. When I went to get in my car yesterday after work I had the most throbbing headache and maintained it for about 3 hours...even after taking tylenol. I also felt clammy and had a bit of a fever. I've been pumping the echinachea into me in hopes to fight it off. This morning I woke up feeling sick, but not too bad. I'm certainly not 100% better, but I do feel better than I did last evening.
After supper last night I went for a little walk to return a movie and went in the hopes that the fresh air would do me some good. I just got back to the house and flopped on the couch when my brother stopped in with a bag of apples for me. He works with a guy who's father owns an orchard, so he got me a bag from him. I love biting into a freshly picked apple. It's about the only time that I crave an apple and could eat more than one at once. Thanks Rich!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Me-OWWWW!
Ok. Can someone please explain to me why my cat does not understand the concept of I leave you alone when you sleep, why can't you leave me alone when I'm sleeping! GRRR!
At 2:30 a.m. he wakes me up by scratching at the bedroom door wanting in. I have to sleep at night with the bedroom door closed so that he doesn't come in and jump on the dresser and pull everything off of it, get under the bed and start crawling upside down and clawing at the box spring, sharpening his claws on the night stand, chewing the phone cord, you get the idea. I get up and let him in briefly. He'll usually jump up on the bed, knead me for a couple minutes, then I'll pick him up, take him out in the hall and close the bedroom door. He's usually good for the rest of the night after he's had this fix.
So the fix was completed for the night and I guess I didn't shut the door tight all the way. The next thing I know about an hour later, I'm woken from a dead sleep with a cat who's jumped up on the bed and landed square on my stomach. I was scared crapless, awoken this way. He realizes he's scared me and jumps off the bed and into the window sill. I had the window open last night because it was so hot out last night (can you say Indian Summer?) and he does like to sit in the open window sill. I figured "OK, He's content in the window, just stay there and let me sleep". Nope. He starts up his above listed shenanigans, so out he goes.
At 5:55 a.m. I hear his scratching at the door once again. F*&K! I'm so fed up at this point and being that it's a half an hour before I'm supposed to get up for work, I'm super pi$$ed. I'm the type of person that can't fall back asleep if I accidentally (yah, let's call this accidentally) woken up an hour of so before I'm supposed to get up. I just lie there and think, Frig, I have to get up soon...I have to get up soon.
I love my cat, I really do, but nights like last night make me want to let him become an outdoor cat and see what happens, lol.
At 2:30 a.m. he wakes me up by scratching at the bedroom door wanting in. I have to sleep at night with the bedroom door closed so that he doesn't come in and jump on the dresser and pull everything off of it, get under the bed and start crawling upside down and clawing at the box spring, sharpening his claws on the night stand, chewing the phone cord, you get the idea. I get up and let him in briefly. He'll usually jump up on the bed, knead me for a couple minutes, then I'll pick him up, take him out in the hall and close the bedroom door. He's usually good for the rest of the night after he's had this fix.
So the fix was completed for the night and I guess I didn't shut the door tight all the way. The next thing I know about an hour later, I'm woken from a dead sleep with a cat who's jumped up on the bed and landed square on my stomach. I was scared crapless, awoken this way. He realizes he's scared me and jumps off the bed and into the window sill. I had the window open last night because it was so hot out last night (can you say Indian Summer?) and he does like to sit in the open window sill. I figured "OK, He's content in the window, just stay there and let me sleep". Nope. He starts up his above listed shenanigans, so out he goes.
At 5:55 a.m. I hear his scratching at the door once again. F*&K! I'm so fed up at this point and being that it's a half an hour before I'm supposed to get up for work, I'm super pi$$ed. I'm the type of person that can't fall back asleep if I accidentally (yah, let's call this accidentally) woken up an hour of so before I'm supposed to get up. I just lie there and think, Frig, I have to get up soon...I have to get up soon.
I love my cat, I really do, but nights like last night make me want to let him become an outdoor cat and see what happens, lol.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Monday, Monday
Another weekend overwith and in the books. I've said it before, I'll say it again - they're never long enough!
Nothing too exciting to report from the weekend. Friday night I got some groceries, had supper and went up for a quick visit to my parent's place as I hadn't been up there all week. I went back home and Ryan and I were both exhausted. We were invited to go to Shane and Val's house, but we just watched t.v. for a little bit and were both in bed, sound asleep before midnight.
Saturday was bachelor-party-all-day-event for Ryan, lol. It started with golfing and then heading to Grand Lake for the night. I had the day to myself to drop a couple hundred dollars on bills and to do housework. Fun stuff I tell ya. I did laundry at my brother's house, hung it on the line all afternoon, then went back to get it around supper time. Back home, I barbequed for supper and then decided to tackle my bedroom closet. This is something I really hadn't done since I started losing weight over a year ago. I mean really tackle it - as in take every single thing out of it and go through it all. I ended up with only a small wardrobe left of clothes that I can actually wear. On one hand it was a great feeling (I even tried on a pair of jeans I had when I first started dieting, just to see how much weight I had shed and could not belive how HUGE they were. I seriously could have fit another person in there with me...sad that I was that big once) on the other hand it sucks knowing that I hardly have any clothes now and hardly any extra money to go out and buy a bunch of new ones with. I'm leary to buy a bunch of new ones now anyway as I'm still losing. I've said that about the clothes that I currently wear now, but I needed some stuff, lol. There's a great, cheap clothing store up by Carrie's house in Ontario that sells new stuff that are seconds. I love that place and have yet to find any flaws with anything I've bought there before, so I'm hoping to hit that place up when I fly up to see Carrie in February, after she has the baby. The place is fantastic like $3-$5 for shirts, I got a Tommy Hilfiger sweater there for $10, new jeans for $10, it's so cheap!
Yesterday I woke up very early at the crack of dawn with a cold. I couldn't get back to sleep, but also didn't want to be up and around either. I felt terrible, I just wanted to lie in bed and sleep. I finally fell back asleep at around 9 or so and slept for about an hour. Ryan came home around 11-11:30-ish from Grand Lake. I had breakfast (he'd already eaten with the boys) and sat on the couch talking with him for a bit. There were a couple of open houses that we wanted to go to in the afternoon, so we talked about those. We're just started to look at houses right now to get a feel for the market, don't get too excited for us just yet, lol. At about 12:30 I told him I was going to go upstairs and lay down (I had still gotten no relief for any meds I'd taken up to this point and was running a fever) and for him to wake me up when he was ready to go. He fell asleep on the couch (understandably after only getting 3 hours sleep the night before, partying with the guys, lol) and came upstairs and woke me up at around 3 p.m. We decided to go to one of the houses on our list, so off we went. The house was cute, but is definately a fixer-upper and has some flaws. It's not one that we're really that interested in.
I then went up to my parent's place for supper and weighed myself. As of yesterday I lost 5 lbs this past week. Pretty good I thought for my first week back on the program. The first week you always seem to lose more, so I highly doubt I'll have another five pounder week, lol.
I talked to Carrie on the phone for a bit last night, which was great as we haven't chatted on the phone for a little while. Sorry I had to cut the conversation short though Carrie! Ryan rented us the movie Vacancy to watch as there was nothing on t.v. that evening. The movie was alright, but nothing spectacular. It was one of those very predictable horror films.
Nothing too exciting to report from the weekend. Friday night I got some groceries, had supper and went up for a quick visit to my parent's place as I hadn't been up there all week. I went back home and Ryan and I were both exhausted. We were invited to go to Shane and Val's house, but we just watched t.v. for a little bit and were both in bed, sound asleep before midnight.
Saturday was bachelor-party-all-day-event for Ryan, lol. It started with golfing and then heading to Grand Lake for the night. I had the day to myself to drop a couple hundred dollars on bills and to do housework. Fun stuff I tell ya. I did laundry at my brother's house, hung it on the line all afternoon, then went back to get it around supper time. Back home, I barbequed for supper and then decided to tackle my bedroom closet. This is something I really hadn't done since I started losing weight over a year ago. I mean really tackle it - as in take every single thing out of it and go through it all. I ended up with only a small wardrobe left of clothes that I can actually wear. On one hand it was a great feeling (I even tried on a pair of jeans I had when I first started dieting, just to see how much weight I had shed and could not belive how HUGE they were. I seriously could have fit another person in there with me...sad that I was that big once) on the other hand it sucks knowing that I hardly have any clothes now and hardly any extra money to go out and buy a bunch of new ones with. I'm leary to buy a bunch of new ones now anyway as I'm still losing. I've said that about the clothes that I currently wear now, but I needed some stuff, lol. There's a great, cheap clothing store up by Carrie's house in Ontario that sells new stuff that are seconds. I love that place and have yet to find any flaws with anything I've bought there before, so I'm hoping to hit that place up when I fly up to see Carrie in February, after she has the baby. The place is fantastic like $3-$5 for shirts, I got a Tommy Hilfiger sweater there for $10, new jeans for $10, it's so cheap!
Yesterday I woke up very early at the crack of dawn with a cold. I couldn't get back to sleep, but also didn't want to be up and around either. I felt terrible, I just wanted to lie in bed and sleep. I finally fell back asleep at around 9 or so and slept for about an hour. Ryan came home around 11-11:30-ish from Grand Lake. I had breakfast (he'd already eaten with the boys) and sat on the couch talking with him for a bit. There were a couple of open houses that we wanted to go to in the afternoon, so we talked about those. We're just started to look at houses right now to get a feel for the market, don't get too excited for us just yet, lol. At about 12:30 I told him I was going to go upstairs and lay down (I had still gotten no relief for any meds I'd taken up to this point and was running a fever) and for him to wake me up when he was ready to go. He fell asleep on the couch (understandably after only getting 3 hours sleep the night before, partying with the guys, lol) and came upstairs and woke me up at around 3 p.m. We decided to go to one of the houses on our list, so off we went. The house was cute, but is definately a fixer-upper and has some flaws. It's not one that we're really that interested in.
I then went up to my parent's place for supper and weighed myself. As of yesterday I lost 5 lbs this past week. Pretty good I thought for my first week back on the program. The first week you always seem to lose more, so I highly doubt I'll have another five pounder week, lol.
I talked to Carrie on the phone for a bit last night, which was great as we haven't chatted on the phone for a little while. Sorry I had to cut the conversation short though Carrie! Ryan rented us the movie Vacancy to watch as there was nothing on t.v. that evening. The movie was alright, but nothing spectacular. It was one of those very predictable horror films.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Friday's Here!
Yeah it's Friday! I can't wait to sleep in tomorrow! This week hasn't been as hard on me as last week, sleep deprevation wise. I'm starting to get more used to getting up at 6:30 a.m. instead of say 10 a.m., lol.
Ryan and I went to the Taproom on Wednesday with Brent, our friend who teaches in Japan and is home for a visit. He hasn't changed a bit in the over two years since I'd seen him. Last night Ryan had to stay late at work, working on a deal with a couple for a new car. His nights to work late are Monday and Wednesday, so technically he wasn't supposed to work beyond 6 yesterday, but you've got to do what you've got to do for the customers.
After he got finished (and got the deal!) at work, we watched the premier of Survivor China. This season is particuarly interesting to Ryan (anyone who knows Ryan, knows how much he hates reality tv...but tolerates it to some extent for me, lol, so it's funny to see him actually want to watch this) as he was in Hong Kong this time last year (which is an island within China...Ryan compares it to being on the northside of Fredericton [Hong Kong] looking over to the southside of Fredericton [China]) and he's also in a Survivor pool at work.
As we were watching the beginning of the episode where they were showing the contestants in the temple, Ryan said that it looked exactly like a temple he was at when he went to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island (which was where he lived and also where the international airport is located). At first we figured it was just another temple that looked exactly the same, but the more I think about it, it probably was the same one, where the airport is located on Lantau Island. The producers probably took the contestants there as soon as they got off the plane, filmed the segment and then sent them on their way across the bay to mainland China and into the jungle.
Nothing really exciting going on this weekend. Ryan and I were thinking about going to Maine for two nights for a getaway and also because the dollar was almost at par when we were talking about going (it has since hit par!). We aren't going now as we figured we'd still spend a fair amount of money (which is somewhat tight right now) and also Ryan was invited to a Bachelor all-day party on Saturday, which begins at 2 p.m. with a round of golf. I guess my plan is to do all sorts of exciting things like grocery shopping, dishes, scrubbing floors, cleaning the bathroom.....I hope I can contain myself with all the fun, lol!
Ryan and I went to the Taproom on Wednesday with Brent, our friend who teaches in Japan and is home for a visit. He hasn't changed a bit in the over two years since I'd seen him. Last night Ryan had to stay late at work, working on a deal with a couple for a new car. His nights to work late are Monday and Wednesday, so technically he wasn't supposed to work beyond 6 yesterday, but you've got to do what you've got to do for the customers.
After he got finished (and got the deal!) at work, we watched the premier of Survivor China. This season is particuarly interesting to Ryan (anyone who knows Ryan, knows how much he hates reality tv...but tolerates it to some extent for me, lol, so it's funny to see him actually want to watch this) as he was in Hong Kong this time last year (which is an island within China...Ryan compares it to being on the northside of Fredericton [Hong Kong] looking over to the southside of Fredericton [China]) and he's also in a Survivor pool at work.
As we were watching the beginning of the episode where they were showing the contestants in the temple, Ryan said that it looked exactly like a temple he was at when he went to visit the Big Buddha on Lantau Island (which was where he lived and also where the international airport is located). At first we figured it was just another temple that looked exactly the same, but the more I think about it, it probably was the same one, where the airport is located on Lantau Island. The producers probably took the contestants there as soon as they got off the plane, filmed the segment and then sent them on their way across the bay to mainland China and into the jungle.
Nothing really exciting going on this weekend. Ryan and I were thinking about going to Maine for two nights for a getaway and also because the dollar was almost at par when we were talking about going (it has since hit par!). We aren't going now as we figured we'd still spend a fair amount of money (which is somewhat tight right now) and also Ryan was invited to a Bachelor all-day party on Saturday, which begins at 2 p.m. with a round of golf. I guess my plan is to do all sorts of exciting things like grocery shopping, dishes, scrubbing floors, cleaning the bathroom.....I hope I can contain myself with all the fun, lol!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Back on the WW track
It's Wednesday, half way through the work week. Too bad it wasn't Friday already!
A friend of mine and Ryan's, Brent, is back in town currently from Japan. He's been teaching there for a few years now and is back for another week. Brent was in touch with Ryan last night and Ryan tells me that there are plans for us to meet up tonight after Ryan finishes work at 8 and to go for a beer. It'll be nice to see Brent as it's been a couple of years since I've seen him last. Ryan saw him last year just before Christmas, while he was working in Hong Kong. Brent came over from Japan to visit Ryan, which was awesome since Ryan hadn't seen a familiar face in months.
I've started back up loyally (that doesn't look spelled right...but it is) on my Weight Watchers regime last Monday. I'm a little worried about the temptations this evening I will have at which ever pub we chose to go too, but I'm sure I can hold strong and not give in. After so many events coming up over the summer (camping trips, birthdays, etc.) and me not being able to stay on track with my weight loss plan, I don't want to "cheat" again until Christmas. I am determined to stay focused, lose the weight I put back on *sigh* and get down to my ultimate goal of having lost 100 lbs in total.
A friend of mine and Ryan's, Brent, is back in town currently from Japan. He's been teaching there for a few years now and is back for another week. Brent was in touch with Ryan last night and Ryan tells me that there are plans for us to meet up tonight after Ryan finishes work at 8 and to go for a beer. It'll be nice to see Brent as it's been a couple of years since I've seen him last. Ryan saw him last year just before Christmas, while he was working in Hong Kong. Brent came over from Japan to visit Ryan, which was awesome since Ryan hadn't seen a familiar face in months.
I've started back up loyally (that doesn't look spelled right...but it is) on my Weight Watchers regime last Monday. I'm a little worried about the temptations this evening I will have at which ever pub we chose to go too, but I'm sure I can hold strong and not give in. After so many events coming up over the summer (camping trips, birthdays, etc.) and me not being able to stay on track with my weight loss plan, I don't want to "cheat" again until Christmas. I am determined to stay focused, lose the weight I put back on *sigh* and get down to my ultimate goal of having lost 100 lbs in total.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Weekend Update
Back to the grindstone today. I don't feel as tired this morning as I had each morning last week, but give me a few days, lol.
What a great weekend! Friday afternoon Val sent me a message asking me if I minded if we changed the plans for the evening a bit. Since it would cost us all a small fortune to head downtown for Harvest Jazz and Blues at around 6:30 or so as originally planned, we opted to eat first and then go out. Ryan and I got some subs and then headed over to Shane and Val's place. We had a few drinks there, called a cab and then headed downtown.
First stop was the Snooty Fox where Morgan Davis was playing. We waited inside the pub for over an hour, standing around having a few drinks before we could get a place to sit. We finally got a table, stayed for a few songs and then headed down to the Barracks Tent. I'll just say it was an "adventure" for us to get in and leave it at that, but we did get in and had a great time. Ryan had to work in the morning, so he and I left as soon as the band was done. We called a cab to pick us up in front of the CIBC bank, sat on a bench and waited....and waited...and waited. We then see Shane and Val walking up the sidewalk, so we take off with them knowing the cab will probably never show up. As we're walking up the street, we run into Charles LeBlanc, a proud blogger. He took our picture and posted it to his blog the next day, lol. Here's a link to the photo. Shane and Val then went in search of poutine, Ryan and I opted to walk home.
Saturday I didn't have much ambition as I was feeling the effects of being super tired from lack of sleep all week and also the beers I had drank the night before. I did manage to go run a few errands and pick up some groceries, but that's about the extent of my day. Ryan and I both were beat on Saturday night and didn't do anything. We watched Joe Dirt on TV, which got over at 10:00. I went up to bed after that and was sound asleep well before 11 on Saturday night, lol.
Sunday was birthday celebration day for my mom. Her birthday was actually last Sunday, but she was away with all of her sisters, so we celebrated it yesterday. We went to the Hilltop for supper, where I ran into Funky there, and then back to the house for cake and gifts. I went home afterwards, put my laundry away and Ryan had gotten us a movie, which was all subtitled...great. I can't remember the name of it, something Labrynth (I know that's probably spelled wrong).
What a cold morning it was when I got up today! BRRR! The house was freezing, but I'm reluctant to turn on the heat this early, since it's so damn expensive!
What a great weekend! Friday afternoon Val sent me a message asking me if I minded if we changed the plans for the evening a bit. Since it would cost us all a small fortune to head downtown for Harvest Jazz and Blues at around 6:30 or so as originally planned, we opted to eat first and then go out. Ryan and I got some subs and then headed over to Shane and Val's place. We had a few drinks there, called a cab and then headed downtown.
First stop was the Snooty Fox where Morgan Davis was playing. We waited inside the pub for over an hour, standing around having a few drinks before we could get a place to sit. We finally got a table, stayed for a few songs and then headed down to the Barracks Tent. I'll just say it was an "adventure" for us to get in and leave it at that, but we did get in and had a great time. Ryan had to work in the morning, so he and I left as soon as the band was done. We called a cab to pick us up in front of the CIBC bank, sat on a bench and waited....and waited...and waited. We then see Shane and Val walking up the sidewalk, so we take off with them knowing the cab will probably never show up. As we're walking up the street, we run into Charles LeBlanc, a proud blogger. He took our picture and posted it to his blog the next day, lol. Here's a link to the photo. Shane and Val then went in search of poutine, Ryan and I opted to walk home.
Saturday I didn't have much ambition as I was feeling the effects of being super tired from lack of sleep all week and also the beers I had drank the night before. I did manage to go run a few errands and pick up some groceries, but that's about the extent of my day. Ryan and I both were beat on Saturday night and didn't do anything. We watched Joe Dirt on TV, which got over at 10:00. I went up to bed after that and was sound asleep well before 11 on Saturday night, lol.
Sunday was birthday celebration day for my mom. Her birthday was actually last Sunday, but she was away with all of her sisters, so we celebrated it yesterday. We went to the Hilltop for supper, where I ran into Funky there, and then back to the house for cake and gifts. I went home afterwards, put my laundry away and Ryan had gotten us a movie, which was all subtitled...great. I can't remember the name of it, something Labrynth (I know that's probably spelled wrong).
What a cold morning it was when I got up today! BRRR! The house was freezing, but I'm reluctant to turn on the heat this early, since it's so damn expensive!
Friday, September 14, 2007
Egg-Zaw-Stid!
Well I'm almost through my first week of working day shift and I have to say that I am exhausted! The fact that I'm a night owl, trying to become a morning person coupled with me staying up late almost every night this week after the events of the week, I am completely beat.
I knew the transition of changing from working nights to days would be difficult and it looks like it will probably drag into next week too, as at this point I really can't see myself feeling "chipper" in the mornings next week either. It's all worth it though - I can't tell you how great it is to get off work at 4:15 and not say anywhere from 9 p.m. til 1 a.m. like I have in years past.
Yesterday when I got home from work I layed down on the couch and watched some Family Fued. The next thing I knew it was 6:30 and I could hear my brother outside mowing my lawn. I had fallen asleep on the couch for almost two hours! This didn't hinder my ability to sleep last night though. You know people say if you nap more than 30 minutes then you'll have a hard time falling asleep at bed time? Not me folks, I got in almost 8 hours of sleep last night and had my alarm not gone off, I know I could have slept a good 3-4 more hours.
My break schedule is so messed up for today. The break patterns usually run every two hours - so work two hours, get a break, work two more hours, have your lunch break, work two hours, get a break, work two hours, go home. Well today they have my first break 1 hour after I've started, then my lunch at regular time, then my last break shortly after I return back from lunch break, leaving me with a two and a half hour stretch before I can go home. It might not seem like a big deal, but in a call center environment it's a nightmare. This job is so hard on the head, so having to work extra long stretches beyond when you should have had a break, is brutal. It also makes for an extremely long day. Hopefully when someone from our scheduling department arrives, they can help me out and do some changing of those breaks. If not, it's going to be a l.o.n.g day for me.
Not much planned for this weekend. Shane and Val have invited us to meet them downtown tonight for the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival, so I imagine we'll take that in tonight. If I'm not in a comatosed state, lol. Hopefully I'll catch a second wind and be alright for the night.
I knew the transition of changing from working nights to days would be difficult and it looks like it will probably drag into next week too, as at this point I really can't see myself feeling "chipper" in the mornings next week either. It's all worth it though - I can't tell you how great it is to get off work at 4:15 and not say anywhere from 9 p.m. til 1 a.m. like I have in years past.
Yesterday when I got home from work I layed down on the couch and watched some Family Fued. The next thing I knew it was 6:30 and I could hear my brother outside mowing my lawn. I had fallen asleep on the couch for almost two hours! This didn't hinder my ability to sleep last night though. You know people say if you nap more than 30 minutes then you'll have a hard time falling asleep at bed time? Not me folks, I got in almost 8 hours of sleep last night and had my alarm not gone off, I know I could have slept a good 3-4 more hours.
My break schedule is so messed up for today. The break patterns usually run every two hours - so work two hours, get a break, work two more hours, have your lunch break, work two hours, get a break, work two hours, go home. Well today they have my first break 1 hour after I've started, then my lunch at regular time, then my last break shortly after I return back from lunch break, leaving me with a two and a half hour stretch before I can go home. It might not seem like a big deal, but in a call center environment it's a nightmare. This job is so hard on the head, so having to work extra long stretches beyond when you should have had a break, is brutal. It also makes for an extremely long day. Hopefully when someone from our scheduling department arrives, they can help me out and do some changing of those breaks. If not, it's going to be a l.o.n.g day for me.
Not much planned for this weekend. Shane and Val have invited us to meet them downtown tonight for the Harvest Jazz and Blues festival, so I imagine we'll take that in tonight. If I'm not in a comatosed state, lol. Hopefully I'll catch a second wind and be alright for the night.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Funeral Today
Not much news to report today. It's getting close to 8 a.m. and I'm only at work for another hour and a half today. I was given permission to leave work early today to attend Carrie's grandfather's funeral. It's nice that the company is letting me leave early to attend this funeral, however I'm not getting paid for the time I'm not here.
It sucked so bad to have to get up so early this morning, knowing that I was only going to be at work until 9:30. Ryan said to me "Why are you bothering to go in, just to leave at 9:30" to which I agree, there's not much sense, but that's when work was letting me leave. Originally I thought the funeral was at 2 p.m. today and I double checked online yesterday and saw that it was at noon. I had already told work that I would only need the last half of my shift off (after my lunch break) so I had to go and explain that the funeral was at noon and not at 2 p.m. like I had originally thought. They were good about it and said I could leave on my break (9:30 a.m.), so I guess I shouldn't push it anymore and didn't bother asking for the whole day off...although I did think about it. I guess it's a good thing though to put a couple of hours in today and not lose a full day's pay. Sometimes too you have to look at what's more important in these cases, and in this instance being there for Carrie is more important than money, so I'm not going to fret anymore about losing some pay.
Carrie and I are as close as two friends can be. We are like family and her family treats me like I'm a part of their family, so it's important that I be there today for them. Ryan is leaving work early today and is coming with me to the funeral, which I thought was very sweet. We're going to try and get a lunch date in there today at some point too.
It sucked so bad to have to get up so early this morning, knowing that I was only going to be at work until 9:30. Ryan said to me "Why are you bothering to go in, just to leave at 9:30" to which I agree, there's not much sense, but that's when work was letting me leave. Originally I thought the funeral was at 2 p.m. today and I double checked online yesterday and saw that it was at noon. I had already told work that I would only need the last half of my shift off (after my lunch break) so I had to go and explain that the funeral was at noon and not at 2 p.m. like I had originally thought. They were good about it and said I could leave on my break (9:30 a.m.), so I guess I shouldn't push it anymore and didn't bother asking for the whole day off...although I did think about it. I guess it's a good thing though to put a couple of hours in today and not lose a full day's pay. Sometimes too you have to look at what's more important in these cases, and in this instance being there for Carrie is more important than money, so I'm not going to fret anymore about losing some pay.
Carrie and I are as close as two friends can be. We are like family and her family treats me like I'm a part of their family, so it's important that I be there today for them. Ryan is leaving work early today and is coming with me to the funeral, which I thought was very sweet. We're going to try and get a lunch date in there today at some point too.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Some Sad News
Yesterday Grampie Bean (Grampie Lavigne) passed away. Grampie Bean was Carrie's only surviving grandparent left. He has had severe respitory problems for about a year now and when Carrie was home 2 weeks ago, we knew he didn't have much longer. He has been suffering for quite some time now.
So Carrie is on her way back home again, but this time for unhappy reasons. While she knew that this was coming and is thankful that Grampie isn't suffering anymore, it's still a sad occasion.
Carrie was supposed to arrive into Fredericton last night at 11 p.m. on Air Canada from Hamilton. At around 9 last night her mother called me and told me that Air Canada messed her up completely. They had her booked to fly out of Toronto instead of Hamilton (an hour and a half away) and by the time she arrived at the Hamilton airport to leave, there is no way she could have even made the Toronto flight. All of the Air Canada flights are booked solid for today, so she got screwed over pretty badly by Air Canada. Apparantly a death in the family is not even enough motivation for them to try and help a pregnant lady home. So she's booked with WestJet who fly from Hamilton to Moncton and will be arriving into Moncton at 4 p.m. today. So on top of the stress and all the busy-ness that comes with losing his father, Carrie's dad and mom now have to drive to Moncton to pick Carrie up because of Air Canada's screw up. I hope Air Canada compensates Carrie for this.
So Carrie is on her way back home again, but this time for unhappy reasons. While she knew that this was coming and is thankful that Grampie isn't suffering anymore, it's still a sad occasion.
Carrie was supposed to arrive into Fredericton last night at 11 p.m. on Air Canada from Hamilton. At around 9 last night her mother called me and told me that Air Canada messed her up completely. They had her booked to fly out of Toronto instead of Hamilton (an hour and a half away) and by the time she arrived at the Hamilton airport to leave, there is no way she could have even made the Toronto flight. All of the Air Canada flights are booked solid for today, so she got screwed over pretty badly by Air Canada. Apparantly a death in the family is not even enough motivation for them to try and help a pregnant lady home. So she's booked with WestJet who fly from Hamilton to Moncton and will be arriving into Moncton at 4 p.m. today. So on top of the stress and all the busy-ness that comes with losing his father, Carrie's dad and mom now have to drive to Moncton to pick Carrie up because of Air Canada's screw up. I hope Air Canada compensates Carrie for this.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Goodbye Night Sh*t...I mean Shift!
Yeah it's Friday! This week is one that I'm glad to get overwith. Not that anything particularly went wrong or anything, but it is my last week of having to work nights and I will be so glad at 9 tonight to put it behind me! lol. So yes, starting on Monday I will be working 7:30 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. until February. I'm so happy!
The weather this week has been really bizarre. It's been super cold in the mornings and at nights. Yesterday morning when Ryan was driving to work, it was 3 degrees! Three freakin degrees...on September 5th. That's nuts. But here today it's supposed to get close to 30 degrees this afternoon. My allergies have been driving me nuts for about 3 weeks now and if this wacky weather continues, I'm sure I won't be getting any relief soon.
My back is starting to get better. It's still bothering me, but no where near as bad as it was on Monday. I'm just trying to take it easy and let it work itself out.
My brother is supposed to be buying a new car today. Well a new-to-him car. He's getting a winter beater so he can store his mustang and not have to drive that in the winter. I'm curious to take a look at this beast once he gets it and to see what kind of shape it's in, lol. Ryan found it for him through a dealer and says it's in very good shape and I imagine it is. My brother knows a lot about cars and wouldn't buy junk.
No real plans for this weekend. I kind of like it when this happens from time to time, I can just take life as it comes, lol. My mom's birthday is Sunday, but all of her 8 siblings are in town and they're getting together on Sunday so we'll have to delay Mom's birthday celebrations until next Sunday I guess.
The weather this week has been really bizarre. It's been super cold in the mornings and at nights. Yesterday morning when Ryan was driving to work, it was 3 degrees! Three freakin degrees...on September 5th. That's nuts. But here today it's supposed to get close to 30 degrees this afternoon. My allergies have been driving me nuts for about 3 weeks now and if this wacky weather continues, I'm sure I won't be getting any relief soon.
My back is starting to get better. It's still bothering me, but no where near as bad as it was on Monday. I'm just trying to take it easy and let it work itself out.
My brother is supposed to be buying a new car today. Well a new-to-him car. He's getting a winter beater so he can store his mustang and not have to drive that in the winter. I'm curious to take a look at this beast once he gets it and to see what kind of shape it's in, lol. Ryan found it for him through a dealer and says it's in very good shape and I imagine it is. My brother knows a lot about cars and wouldn't buy junk.
No real plans for this weekend. I kind of like it when this happens from time to time, I can just take life as it comes, lol. My mom's birthday is Sunday, but all of her 8 siblings are in town and they're getting together on Sunday so we'll have to delay Mom's birthday celebrations until next Sunday I guess.
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