Seven

"All Seven and we'll watch them fall". HAHA, sorry, when I typed the title of this entry, I instantly thought of Prince's song Seven. If you're not familiar with that one, that's the first line of the song that I typed in quotations.

I suck at blogging now. I know this. I've been blog-hopping lately and a lot of people have been posting the "7 weird things about me" meme, so that's what I've decided to do for today's entry. Here goes.

1) I hate (most) condiments. I have been - and think I always will be, a picky eater. This is not limited to just food (mainly vegetables is who I have a bad relationship with) but also condiments. When I order a burger, the only thing I'll eat on it is cheese/bacon/BBQ sauce. That's it. NEVER any ketchup, mustard, relish, BLECH! Same goes for a hotdog. I will eat ketchup on french fries however. You'll never see me eat mayonnaise either.

2) I lock my car atleast twice after I've got home and parked it for the night. Ryan's car got broken into once in my driveway, so ever since then, I've been worried someone will get into mine too. I (usually) lock my car with the key faub as I'm walking up my steps to go into the house, but later on in the night, I am hit with the "did I lock my car" question and will hit the button on my key faub again, just to be sure. Hey, better safe than sorry right?

3) I love 80's music. People close to me know this as I've subjected them to it for countless hours, lol. If I never heard a newly released song again, I would be completely fine with that. Now that I think about it, I don't think I've heard a "new" song in many, many months. But yah, the big hair, cheesier 80's music, the better!

4) I don't have internet at home. Yup. I think I'm about the only one left on the planet without internet at home. I have a computer at my house (my parent's old one) but no internet. I'm poor, so all my surfing is done on my work computer, my parent's computer or my brother's computer.

5) I first drove a car when I was 14. It was my Aunt's and it was a manual transmission. I love driving manuals and both cars I've owned have been manuals.

6) I'm addicted to lip balm. You will never not see me caring lip balm. I've been addicted to the stuff for about 15 years. I can't stand the feeling of dry lips, so mine are always coated in balm, lol.

7) I used to hate the color red. It doesn't bother me as badly now, but I still don't think I'll ever own a red car. To be honest, red clothing actually looks pretty good on me, lol. Go figure.

Springing?

When people keep saying "It'll all be over soon (meaning winter)...Spring is on its way" I roll my eyes and look at them with that "Yah bull$hit" expression on my face. That was until yesterday. No, the massive piles of snow haven't disappeared and no it's not magically 20 degrees outside now. What's making me believe that spring is on its way you ask? Yesterday when I got home from work, I was sticking my key in the lock to go inside the house. I just happened to glance down at my flower bed and saw some flecks of color peaking out from the snow. My tulips are starting to come up! I couldn't believe it! Spring has got to be on its way!

Carrie and Brayden have now gone back home to Ontario. It was so nice to have them home for two weeks and I eagerly await their return in a few months.

I had a nice Easter weekend last week. It started out with some of us heading to Cannon's Cross for some of their famous nachos. After that Ryan and I headed over to Shane and Val's for a little bash they were having. It took us an hour of waiting and calling two different cab companies before we arrived home at 5 a.m.! Needless to say, Saturday was pretty much reserved for sleeping, lol. Sunday Carrie and Brayden came over and we said our farewells. From there we had a big Easter dinner at my parent's place.

Not too sure what's going on this weekend. I'll more than likely be getting things together for our big trip!

Short Week

Yeah, the work week is almost over! I luckily don't have to work tomorrow for Good Friday. Now if I were only able to get Monday off too, like our government workers are blessed with, lol.

Raclette night last weekend went great! Lots of good food, beverages and the company was great! I hadn't seen those old friends for almost a year, so it was really nice. You can certainly tell that we're getting older though, as the party was over shortly before midnight, lol.

Tonight a few of us are going out for a few beverages and some eats at a local pub. Not much else planned, other than Easter dinner at my parent's house. Ryan has ski patrol that day and has to work until 6, so he'll be motoring it back from the hill to make it for dinner.

Raclette

I'm hosting another raclette dinner at my place. Tomorrow night in honor of Carrie being home, Ryan and I are having seven friends over for a raclette dinner and chocolate fondue for dessert. I'm looking forward to it very much! It's a lot of work buying and preparing all the food, not to mention getting the house prepped for people coming over, but I think I'll be ready as I'm pretty organized when it comes to that stuff. I did all of the food shopping last night, started prepping some of the stuff that had to be precooked early this morning before coming to work, tonight I'll do all of the chopping of the veggies and fruit and the slicing of all the meat into small pieces. That work is tedious, but it's all worth it in the end.

So yah, Carrie and Brayden arrived safely on Tuesday. Her husband Chris didn't come home with them this trip as he's attending a construction convention in Las Vegas this weekend with his work. I couldn't believe the change in Brayden in only a month! He's so much bigger now and his face is alot fuller. It's amazing how quickly they grow!

Still Here

Yah, yah I'm still here. I just don't feel like blogging much lately. The weather is so crappy and I'm so done with winter. I hurt my back last week shovelling after the snow then rain down pour. Started feeling better and then blam - we got hit again last weekend. Started feeling bad again after shovelling on the weekend. Then started feeling better again. Then blam again yesterday and my back is back to being sore again from shovelling this morning. I've been shovelling "properly" by bending with my knees, but when you're lifting shovel-full after shovel-full of soggy, wet bricks of snow, it takes its tole on you. Will the BS of winter ever end here? I'm seriously having my doubts. The snowbanks are taller than people! It's freakin' ridiculous. I feel like I'm constantly stuck in a snow maze. I cannot remember ever a winter as bad as this one. If global warming is what was giving us the shorter, warmer winters we've been experiencing the past few years, I'm about ready to start throwing more stuff in the trash and not the recycling bin, LOL.

Carrie and Brayden come home next week! I'm super excited! We're having a dinner party at my place that following weekend with some close friends, should be a great time :).

I'm Ba-ack

Well I suppose it's time that I updated this thing, lol. It's been a while since I've updated here and honestly, I really haven't felt like updating. I'm just not feeling up to blogging lately. Maybe that will change once we start to get rid of the ton of frigging snow we have here. Apparantly I picked a good week to be away, with Fredericton getting two bad storms while I was gone.

So I left for Carrie's place on Friday, February 8th. I had no problems getting there, despite the amazingly boring three hour wait in Montreal for my connecting flight. The first weekend we didn't do a whole lot because the weather was so windy that you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face, with the blowing snow. They don't have a lot of snow up that way, just a light dusting, which really surprised me.

The first of the week I accompanied Carrie to her doctor's appointment and took care of Brayden while she was in the doctor's office. We went out for lunch, went to the candle factory and the peanut factory - yum! We also went to Brantford to do a little shopping at Walmart and for lunch.

I spent Valentine's Day with my sweet little nephew Brayden. Carrie and Chris went to the spa to get pedicures together for Valentine's Day and I watched Brayden for them. It was their first outing alone, just the two of them since they became parents, so it was even more romantic that it happened on Valentine's Day. I was missing Ryan quite a bit on Valentine's Day, not that I hadn't any other time that week, but just extra missing him on Valentine's Day. We talked on the phone for a bit that night, but it wasn't the same as being with him. I booked my trip up to Carrie's before Christmas and failed to realize that I booked it over Valentine's Day until after the fact.

On Saturday I got up early to head to the airport. After a teary farewell, I headed for security to board my first flight for Montreal. When they issued my two boarding passes originally, the one they gave me for the Montreal to Fredericton flight didn't have a seat number on it and had the initals CDX on it. They agent in Hamilton who took my luggage told me that I'd have to stop at customer service when I got to Montreal to get a seat number. I asked her why and she said she didn't know. I had a suspicion that they had bumped me off that flight as I knew it was full, having checked it the day before I left.

I head through security and they took my lip balm out of my purse on me. I've flown a fair number of times and this is the first time I've ever had an issue with lip balm. Whatever. Anyway, I made it through the metal dectector (obviously). My jacket and purse come through after being screened and I see my carry-on bag start to come out of the machine. I then see it getting backed up and going back in the machine for screening. Then the woman operating the machine instructed another officer to do a "swab" on that bag. I was all "Huh, what's going on"? The officer took my boarding pass, asked permission to go through my bag, which of course I gave. (Anyone who knows me well is laughing right now because you know how cautious I am about things, so anything that I could get away with in my carry-on, but have hesitation about, I put in my checked luggage).

The officer has this black plastic wand thing that he puts a piece of tissue paper in and runs it all through my bag. He then puts the "swabbed" tissue in a machine and processes it. It's fine and he gives me my boarding pass and bag back and doesn't say a word to me. I said "Excuse me, may I ask what that was all about"? He said "What"? I said "You doing that to my bag". He said "It checks for chemicals". I bit my tongue from saying anything further, for fear that I wouldn't get on the flight, lol.

So I arrive in Montreal with an hour to spare before the connecting flight to Fredericton. Good thing I knew where I was going from landing previously in Montreal. I found the customer service desk and they said they couldn't give me a seat number because the flight was over sold and that I would have to go down to the gate and they would call my name if a seat became available. I was so pi$$ed off at this point. I've heard of getting bumped on a flight, but never getting bumped mid connection. I could understand if they bumped me originally in Hamilton and I had to stay an extra day or something, but bumping someone mid connection is ridiculous. I was angry too because I had a boarding pass in my hand that was useless.

I went down to the gate area and talked to an airline agent by my gate and asked her if she could give me a seat number. She said no, not until they took the flight off sale. I said "Off sale? That flight is sold out - that's why I'm talking to you right now. I have a reservation on that flight, a boarding pass in my hand and you won't give me a seat. You're telling me you're still selling that flight?!?" The woman looked at me as if she's never been told this before. I tell you, it's flipping ridiculous what the airlines do. So I go and sit down at the gate as instructed and wait to see if my name will get called. I'm thinking in my head "This is wonderful, I have no cellphone to call and tell Ryan to not come to the airport, I'll have to foot the bill for a hotel room and cabs two and from the airport....".

Luckily the crazy lady who I was talking to (the one who was still selling the flight) called my name. I go up to the counter and she's all polite to me now and asks if I would like a window or an aisle seat. In my head I think to myself "Why should there be a choice, obviously someone didn't show up who they gave a seat assignment to, so I should be getting their seat, unless they just like to cause undue stress to people and tell them they may or may not get back home". I said"window" disgruntled and took my new "official" boarding pass as she tore my first one up in front of me.

I finally arrive in Fredericton after all that rigamarole and Ryan is there to greet me. We go home and relax for a bit and then go out to dinner, since we missed Valentine's Day together. We went to the new Jungle Jim's. It was really good, but very slow - which is to be expected with a new restaurant.

It's good to be home (although it was hard to come back to work yesterday after being off) but I miss Carrie, Chris and Brayden already. Luckily, Carrie is coming home with Brayden for Easter in a couple of weeks.

Two More Days!!!

Nothing much exciting has been going on and I haven't really felt like blogging, hence the lack of updates.

Last Sunday was my dad's birthday. We took him out for supper and then came back for cake and presents. My throat starting feeling scratchy after supper that night, so I started pumping myself full of echinacea, vitamins and tea in hopes of fighting off an illness right before I go to Carrie's. It seems to have work somewhat. My throat is a little scratchy still, but nothing too severe and I'm sure I'll be cleared up by Friday.

Friday - ah, I can't wait for you to come fast enough. I leave Fredericton in the morning, transfer in Montreal and then arrive at Carrie's just around supper time. I'm so excited and I'm so done with working this week, lol....head wise I'm done, physically I have to stay here until Thursday at 4:15, lol.