Silver Lining

Last week I drove up to Toronto for an interview. The interview was for a temporary promotion to cover a maternity leave. I knew I didn't really have the amount of experience for the job level outside of my project, but thought with my experience on this project it might just be enough. I waited all week to find out what was going on. The interview itself was really intense and I spent several days going over what was said, what I didn't say etc.

Yesterday my director called to tell me I didn't get the job. He seemed kind of sad to give me the news. I appreciated that he called me and explained to me what was going on. Basically, the lack of experience is what killed it for me. We talked a lot about what he wanted to see from me and how he wanted to help me advance in my career. He's worried that I'm going to become pigeon holed in communications and he sees that there is more for me with my skills and talent. Not really something a lot of managers are able to tell their employees. I was pretty grateful that he took the time to explain his reasoning to me and also let me know how to improve. I was also able to ask some questions about a previous manager I had had issues with and see if he had any feelings about my performance during that time. It was good to find out that he thought I was doing a great job and had no questions about my ability to perform in my role.

I was disappointed of course. I haven't heard the whole "not enough experience" thing in a while. And I completely understand in this case. I wanted the job to get the experience but a part of me also didn't want the job just for the B-S that goes a long with it. Lots of people you have to keep happy, lots of overtime, lots of stress, lots of what ifs and of course the added element of fear if you fail. While I'm sure I could have done it, I just wasn't ready in my long term path to take on that responsibility especially if something went wrong.

So instead of getting down about it, I decided to contact Ryerson University in Toronto and see about some public policy and administration courses. I talked to my director about it in the past and he thought it was a good idea. So I decided to just bite the bullet and find out. I can get a certificate in public policy through distance education. It's just the whole "buckling down" and doing it part. If I can get in, I can start in the fall and work my way through the eight or nine classes I have to take. I'm also going to look into Business Administration courses at the University here too. It can only help.

Today it's just cleaning up, cleaning out, organizing and working on some other projects to get out of the way. Being away from home the last few weekends and being involved in other projects the other weekends has left me with a bit of a creative mess and now I'm working on putting it all back together.

Non-stop weekend

This year Canada Day is on a Tuesday so that means a day off sort of in the middle of the week. So what I did was take Monday and Wednesday off. Monday so I could stay here in London and Wednesday so I could see my niece play baseball.

I ventured out to the scrapbook store on Saturday so I could stock up on some cardstock. I've running low on double sheets (I like to use it as my "base" on my layouts and then put the patterned paper on top) and needed to get a few. Also picked up a few other things to play with as well. I'm looking forward to seeing all the new stuff at CHA later in July.

Also took the girls to see WALL-E. GREAT movie. Loved every minute of it. I was laughing so hard at the Pixar short at the beginning of the movie and my niece looked at me and shook her head. That's the thing I love about those movies....that they incorporate good stuff for adults too. But the message was good and my nieces are quite impressionable.

The bad part about the weekend is that we have had overcast or cloudy days every day. Friday night we had a big storm so that meant a little moppet in bed with me at 4 am because she was scared. Saturday night was another 4 am visit but this time for a stuffy nose. Which was dealt with (my sister and her husband took a weekend away for themselves...much needed in a busy marriage and parenting schedule!)

I had a nice visit with a new person on Saturday night and for all my worry about what to talk about and what to say...that wasn't really a worry. We had a great conversation and I'm looking forward to seeing him again. I love getting to know a new person but I hate the worry and shyness and wondering if you've said the right thing or not. He might be joining me at the fireworks on Tuesday night.

Today, with more grey skies, we're probably taking a trip over to this clothing store to check it out (my sister went on Friday and found some neat stuff) and also to get some Canada Day stuff to decorate bikes for the big parade. Hopefully it will clear up a bit so we can take a dip in the pool. Otherwise we'll be hanging out so I can read one of my new books (Ecoholic and My Sister's Keeper) and just hang out and chill out.

Uncertain

I had an interview in Toronto today and it reminded me of writing my final exams in high school and university. You know the stuff, you know you know the stuff yet a part of you is still scared about what will be asked. Or how it will be asked. And then of course there's the moments afterwards where you think about what you said and what you wrote (yes this interview had a written portion) and you wonder if you did the right thing/said the right thing.

I wasn't really worried about the interview until I listened to the first question. All I could think about was "get your points" which in my world, is how these interviews work. It's all based on what words you use in your answer instead of just experience/past behaviours. I just hope they didn't see my nervousness. Or maybe that's a good thing.

The written part was equally as stressful. It wasn't really clear in the question whether or not A or B happened. So I had to write a plan A and a plan B in order to answer the question. That took me the full hour so I was freaking out on the way home that I didn't really get to explaining what specific/unique tools I would use and why. I just said the tools and that was it. Hopefully it was a given in the other areas of the plan I drafted.

I spent the entire four hour ride home (yes, it really was four hours from Toronto to London because of backups on the QEW) worrying and wondering and then I pulled off the highway and saw this big beautiful rainbow over the roadway and told myself there was nothing I could do about it now. And when I got to my cousin's house, she told me I was going to get a letter (there was a thread on my jacket--didn't know that old wives tale...). So I'm going to stop stressing about it and just continue what I do.

Good day

Today? Was a good day. For those who know me, and know what I do, you can do a little google search and see what I'm talking about. For those who don't, email me and I'll tell you what it was.

Today was one of those stand on your feet for 8 hours of a 12 hour day kind of day and because I was dressed up, my legs and feet are a little sore. But that's ok because it was worth it.

Tomorrow will be another good day that I will look forward to the end of. But the best part of the day will be the visit to the office of my manager with her new baby for a little welcome baby luncheon. Can't wait to see everyone together, can't wait for everyone to see her and the babe, and can't wait to just spend some time together enjoying things outside of work.

The best day will be Saturday though. That day will include a nice morning sleeping in!

Changes. Rest. Love.

This week has been challenging. Three fourteen hour days that started at 6 a.m. and then a drive through Michigan to come home for the weekend. I also had to have a difficult discussion with my director that reminded me that while I can think things through (and sometimes over think them) I tend to not really be able to express my thoughts in words (something that is surprising since I'm technically a "writer" in my job). He understood though and we were able to have a very interesting discussion about some things. I like that I can talk to my director like that and with all the stress this week, even with everything going on, we were able to express our displeasure at other stuff effectively and still be on a professional level. If that makes sense. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really love my job and it's been great since last August. Even with all the challenges, I am very fortunate.

The hard part about all the long days this week was the lack of sleep. Monday night we had a huge storm so the pressure outside caused my head to go crazy and I woke up at 4 a.m. with a massive headache that just wouldn't abate no matter what I did. Tuesday I ended up really sleepy. Then Tuesday and Wednesday night's meetings caused me to go home tired, but I ended up laying awake thinking about work causing lack of sleep. I took yesterday afternoon off but had to make a few runs to a couple of stores in Michigan so crossing both border crossings (Detroit and Sarnia) was frustrating. I was able to sleep a bit this morning (even though I had one monster crawl into bed with me at 4:45 a.m.) which was much nicer than having to drag myself out of bed at 6 a.m.

Now I'm spending time with my lovees. My youngest niece always manages to make me laugh with the thoughts that go through her head. Last night she was explaining what song she was going to have in her "cellaphone" when she gets big (my phone ring is Rihanna's Umbrella) and also this morning when my sister talked about wanting to win the lottery she said then they could buy the White House and live in it. My sister explained to her she has to be president to live there, my neice, undeterred, answered "but you already are president".

Saturday

The phone rang this morning at 9:51. I didn't answer it. I was still dozing and trying to decide if I wanted to get up. Frankly, I could have spent the entire day in bed but I decided I should be productive.

Our air conditioning has been broken this week and it was ok at the beginning of the week when it was cool and rainy. But we hit a record high on Friday which meant that Thursday began to get hot and humid. Not pleasant when you're looking at broken A/C.

Reliance was supposed to come out on Wednesday but signals got crossed and they couldn't make it. So when I called them Wednesday night, their systems were down and they had to wait to reschedule us. As is the case with almost anything anymore, the call centre they have is somewhere in India/Pakistan so they called back at 1 a.m. My aunt dealt with them and we rescheduled. Except, the service guy didn't really get that 1:30 meant 1:30 not 12 pm. So my aunt came home and spent the rest of the afternoon screaming at the customer service people because they refused to do anything about it. When I came home from the movies at 9:30 an emergency technician was just leaving--they had ordered the wrong part at the beginning of the week. You can imagine what we were both like by 10 pm. It got fixed yesterday so by 9 pm last night the house was a little bit cooler. I sleep with a big fan on me. It kind of reminded me of my apartment in London with the heat and the inability to sleep.

So now I have to get some work done. I have some cleaning to do and also an album to make for my friend Jill who wants one for her new nephew. I have three meetings at night this week and since we're down two people, that means 14 hour days for most of the week. I'm going home next weekend for my mom's birthday and I'm really looking forward to taking my nieces to see Kung Fu Panda. Not rest for the wicked though as we have more activities at work for the next two weeks after that. Which is why it's good I didn't spend the day in bed.

Detoxify

Ok so detox is going alright so far. It's been a stressful few days at work and not having caffeine has definitely hit me hard. Monday was extra stressful and I got the lovely withdrawal headache somewhere around 10 a.m. That was really pleasant...except not.

Other than the caffeine withdrawal and the intense desire to have bread, it's going well. If I can remember to drink my lake full of water, I'd be laughing. I'm having trouble choking that back down. Added to that, the waking up at all hours of the night as a result of the water is not pleasant.

What I don't get though, is how it is that your body gets all weird when you're taking OUT the things that are bad for you. Like fats and caffeine and alcohol and sugar and white flour. Why is it that your body gets all wrangy on you? That part I don't understand.

Today though, I woke up with lots of energy. A by product of the detoxification process. My body isn't sluggish from all the extra stuff. Finding stuff to eat though is kind of difficult. I miss my mid-morning yogurt. And my lunches that used to be easy to prepare. Now it's tuna. Or cottage cheese. Or cottage cheese and tuna. Today I broke down and just had another bowl of high protein cereal and soy milk. I'm hoping it gets a little easier as I get into next week.

I was going to do this for seven days but decided to do the full 10. That should clean out my system quite well and when I'm done I can start to re-add some of the good stuff. Like yogurts and fat free milk. I'll take it easy on the caffeine and go back to drinking green tea and this new white tea I bought. Fingers crossed.

Tomorrow will be hard though...we're finally going to see Sex and the City and I adore movie popcorn. I think I should be ok though. I'll have my trusty bottle of water.

Detox

I woke up this morning and decided the time was right to do a little body detox. No sugar, no flour, no caffeine, limited dairy (plain yogurt in smoothies and some cottage cheese) and balancing all meals with protein good carbs and healthy fats.

So far, I have survived the day with a full stomach. It wasn't easy though. I am seriously craving some caffeine and had to load up on the water to make me forget about my cans of diet coke sitting idly in the garage.

This is good though. I'm trying desperately to get back into my summer clothes from last year. I told myself no new clothes until I lost some weight. The winter foods just crept up on me and no amount of gym or weight watching has been cutting it. I know that I had to pull out the big guns this time and I am determined. I think the little bits of things that creep into your diet are what is killing it for me. Which is why I have said goodbye to my extra large steeped teas, my cans of diet coke, my breads, my pastas, and my sugars. Now it's all whole foods and good vegetables.

Lord help me.

Added to this, I'm trying to detox other behaviours as well. As in, stopping old habits and moving into some new ones. My sister has been bugging me about her new neighbour who is single. And I will admit publicly that after talking to him, it's nice to have someone new to talk to. Someone to look forward to talk to. Granted, he lives in London and I live in Windsor...but still, having another single person around is nice when I go visit. And it's not something I would have done before. I actually find myself looking forward to talking to him.

Knowing my luck I'll go back there in two weeks and he'll be married.

Also trying to detox the negative behaviours that influence my life. Not listening to the trivial complaints of others, trying to push negativity out of my life, trying to think positive things in everything that I do. Instead of "wow I hate that" it's "well, I may not like it, but let's give it a try".

We'll see how I'm doing in two days when the lack of caffeine hits me.

Nice piece

This would be the piece of art I designed for the Luxe Design Team search. I didn't make the team but I ended up with a pretty sweet piece of artwork. It's sitting at the front door for now while I figure out where I want to hang it. Which means I have been showered with compliments and a few discreet requests for one for themselves. Personally, I think it's pretty awesome...but that's just me.

Lipo would be easier

I swear I have no luck when it comes to Yoga. I think I should just give up now.

Two years ago when I joined the local gym I started going to the yoga classes. The first one I went to was ok but I was kind of on the fence. Decided to stick with it and went to the second one. Hated it. I ended up in a power yoga class and the downward dogs were killing me. To the point where I think my wrists were seriously considering divorcing my arms.

I again, decided to stick with it and the third class was awesome. I loved the teacher. She was a sub from a studio in town and was just fantastic. I loved the way she spoke to us, loved that she kept the talk to a minimum and also worked the room to make sure we were all in positions that challenged us but still didn't hurt.

I ended up in another power yoga class and then gave up. (I'm a quitter, what can I say?)

I decided to try it again after rekindling my desire to do yoga with a few at home videos. They were helpful and I liked doing it again. The class I'm in now is alright. I really don't like all the talk that the teacher does. She has to explain everything. To the point where she explains OTHER yoga moves that we aren't doing. It's making me crazy. Added to that, the moves she does in these classes kill my knees. We do it on a cement floor and the mats don't help at all.

Sigh...I'll stick it out though. We'll see how far I get. I might break down and join the Pilates Classes at that studio in town.

Waking when it's over

Last weekend my body must have known what was going to happen this week. It must have said to itself, this week is going to be tough, so lets get as much sleep as possible.

You see, I had big plans last weekend to get a whole lot of stuff done. I wanted to clean up my little "studio" area in the basement, I wanted to clean out my closet, I wanted to go shopping, I wanted to do a lot of stuff. Instead, I slept until about 10 each morning (well, I got up to let the dog out at 7 both mornings and then went to bed) and then went back to bed for a nap in the afternoon. I didn't get my stuff cleaned up. I didn't go shopping. I did get my closet cleaned out, but there wasn't much to do.

Then Monday came. We had a really big day at work on Thursday. Like national news kind of day. Well, actually, it was a national news day. So that meant I was at work until after midnight on Tuesday. At work until after nine on Wednesday and at work until after six on Thursday. And being at work that late doesn't mean I go home and sleep. Nope, it means I go home and lay awake thinking "did I change the font on that one fact sheet"? "Did I make sure I included all of the other edits?" "What if there are changes?" "Did the whole thing line up?" Or on Wednesday night I think about getting to the venue on time, what I should bring with me, what did I leave at the office, should I email my boss at 3 a.m., does she have her blackberry with her in her bedroom so it will wake her up when she's eight months pregnant?

The day went really well on Thursday and lots of really important people were quite pleased with us. And when I got home on Thursday, I was going to take a nap before Grey's and Lost but ended up not able to sleep AGAIN. After Lost, I knew it would be a struggle again so I took something. The six hours of sleep was much nicer than the four or three I had gotten the rest of the week.

But of course, this fatigue hit me yesterday when I had big plans to take the afternoon off and do something fun. That something fun was getting lost in Kent County. I decided to stop at this neat stamping store in Chatham on my way up to London. They gave me directions to Future Shop and then to the highway. Stupid me, thinking if I just followed the county roads east, I would reconnect with the highway without having to go backwards. Yup, you guessed it. I ended up going north west and spent about an hour travelling in a big huge circle. No, I don't have a map or GPS and I'm wondering why...

I finally got here around 3:25. Too late to pick the girls up at school which they love but early enough to get them from the bus which I love. My sister and I had a nice evening together and today we're going to celebrate National Scrapbook Day at Michaels. Big fun. I had an excellent night of sleep last night for the first time in a week or so and I'm really looking forward to just enjoying my weekend and doing fun stuff. Glad that the mess is over but sure it will all start up again soon.

Maybe I should buy a map or something this weekend...

Down with Customs!

I ordered a package almost two weeks ago.

I placed my order, got the shipment tracking info and waited.

Instead of my package coming from the store I ordered it from right to my address here, right across the river from the U.S., it went to Quebec.

Yup, went to a big fat customs warehouse in Quebec. Not because the store did anything wrong. But because Canada Customs sucks.

From there, it had to spend several days in transit from their warehouse in Quebec to my house, right across the river from the U.S.

I wonder if anyone has this much trouble buying anything from Canada, GOVERNMENT!

Stupid customs. I'm getting a P.O. Box. It will solve many of my problems!

Semi-Productive

I went to my friend's baby shower yesterday. I'm so excited for her. She's my coworker and we've known each other for a little over two years and when you've been in the trenches like we have, you become "brothers" if you will. I'm kind of sad she'll be leaving us on mat leave, but again, so excited for her.

The shower meant lots of work. I made the cake and it was the second "special occasion" cake that I've made since I started taking these courses. It was pretty cool. She's not one of those fru fru baby people so I found this cute cake topper from Wilton that is a pregnant super hero. Totally her. So I made a two tier yellow and blue cake with pink stars. Turned out too cute. But these cakes man, they're so time consuming! I baked until about 9:30 on Thursday night and then put the whole thing together on Friday night.



I'm working on the idea for a cake my sister wants me to make for their friends new baby at the end of the month of May. I'm thinking another tiered cake with morning glories (which are too cool and that we learned how to make) and butterflies made out of sugar paste. We'll see how that whole idea pans out.

Today it's pull out the summer clothes, put away the winter clothes, vacuum a few carpets and finish off my last entry for the Luxe Design Team entry. I'm kind of scared about it. I really want to be on the design team but I know there are many more people who are much more creative than I am. Added to that, I'm struggling with a bit of "idea vs. execution" drama. I have this idea in my head but when I actually put it out there, it doesn't look quite as good as I thought it would. We'll see though. I may just be a little overly critical of myself.

Ace of Cake

One of my new year's resolutions was to learn something new. Well, that happens just about every day so we'll go with "take a class and learn something new" instead. So since tv was on hiatus and it was winter, I decided to take a photography course and also a cake decorating course. That one course led to the whole three course offerings at Michael's and now I'm done.

While I enjoyed each week of the course learning something different and cool, it was really tedious and I got sick of making cake or icing or both each weekend. One night of class turned into a whole weekend of work. Last weekend was spent pretty much at the kitchen table making roses out of gum paste. Big fun anyone will tell you--not!

So my final cake turned out really cool and now everyone wants me to make cakes for them. That is, everyone in my family. I'm not about to start doing this as a profession, I make enough money doing what I do at my day job. And really, I'm a little too high strung and anal to bake cakes every day. I'd get all freaked out that they were crooked or didn't taste right or had some other issue. Not to mention I'm one of those people that just gets frustrated and gives up.



The courses are actually pretty cool if anyone wants to take them. I figured they were worth it for the $20 they cost. You do have to buy a crap load of supplies, but I didn't hear anyone complaining about my cakes. I loved that I now know how to actually ice a cake properly and I can also apply fondant to a cake. I was tempted to go to this big cake convention type thing in Vegas to learn even more neat tricks but I'm sick of cake. And I don't want to turn into a crazy person...well, more crazy than I am of course!

Final critique

I took a photography course at the college this term to sort of learn a few things. I had bought a nice fancy camera and while I know how to take photos normally, I wanted to be able to do all the new fangled cool stuff like lights and night shots and blurry action etc. I figured this would help me.

Now I'm the kind of person who is a total hands on learner. I can't have someone say to me "you need to set the camera to this and then do this this and this". I have to have them show me the photo and then tell me how to get it that way. As in, to get this shot like this, you have to set the shutter speed as slow as possible and then change the f/stop to something like "a".

Needless to say I spent the entire semester feeling like a total loser because I felt like I was lost the entire time. In the end, I know what I'm doing, have grasped the concepts and did a good job. I had been stressed about our final critique for weeks. I thought I wasn't doing things right, hadn't taken the right photos and was just going to fail the class (I'm an overachiever, did I mention that?) But it was all good. The teacher brought in her friend who shoots mostly digital to help with the critique. Not that I want to brag or anything, but I'm glad I took a different array of shots. Everyone else had either shots from the field trips they went on, flowers, or shots from the zoo. I tried to touch upon all aspects of the course. So here are my photos, what I was thinking, what was said etc.


This is actually a rose. I wanted to take a cool macro shot but didn't have a lens that could do it. The developer thought it was a flame on the screen and it took both my teacher and her assistant a double check and a close up view just to figure it out. She loved the veins in it, he loved the aspect of the shadow across it. I loved that they had to look twice to figure it out.


This one was fun. My coworker is engaged to a firefighter and I wanted a neat mirror shot. I figured they would have a convex mirror in the bay but they didn't. So we played with the mirror on the truck a bit. In the end, my teacher and her assistant couldn't figure it out. He thought it was a school bus and when I said it was a fire truck AND had a firefighter in it, they both had to stand there and study it a bit. Kind of like a "Where's Waldo" thing. Again, score Lesley!


This one I knew what I did wrong. And now that I know how to take sparkler photos, I'm actually kind of excited. It was all in the setting of the light etc.


I LOVE this shot. If it wasn't so cold, I would have stayed out there and taken more. But it was too cold and I didn't have a tripod so I just rested my camera on a hydro box on the corner. I would also go somewhere much darker (down by the river) and take a photo that way. Really cool technique and I'm so impressed I know how to do it. They both loved it.


This was the assistants favourite shot. He said it was great because it drew the viewer in, the rule of thirds was in it, and it was cut perfectly to include the crane and the hydro poles in the background etc. But the reason he loved it was because he said it was like a Flinstone's cartoon, the crane looked like it would drop the metal girder at any point on the heads of the people in the shot.


This was my teacher's favourite shot. I loved it as well. The angel looks so real. But the funniest part about this photo is the story behind it. I took my oldest neice out with me to take photos thinking she could be my "model" if I needed. I didn't realize she hadn't been to a graveyard before. This was at Mount Pleasant in London, a really old and historical graveyard with neat stuff. The questions she asked me were hilarious. Does Jesus have any relatives. Are they still alive. Do you have to be dead to have a headstone. How do they decide what box to put you in. Do they just put you in a box and then put you in the ground. Why do some people have big houses (mausoleum) for their bodies. There's more than one body in there. Are kids allowed in the cemetery. The questions went on and on. I've probably scarred her for life now.

All in all, I'm glad it's over. I had a fun time and I liked my classmates but it was really tedious going in every Thursday night for four hours. Added to that, the stress of the photo taking, it was not pleasant. I forgot how nerve wracking school can be. Tonight was my final cake class. That was a burn that I am glad is over. I'll post those photos another night.

Spring

I have a serious case of spring fever today. And I? Love it!

The sun was out at 7 when I unlocked the office door this morning, the sun shone all day today and now, at 7:10, it is still shining. Love it love it love it!

Which means it will probably snow this weekend.

But I will not think of snow, or darkness, or cold, like the kind that kept me awake last night and forced me to put on another blanket on the bed. Nope, I will think spring today. Happiness abounds!

Added to all this, I have finished choosing my photos for my final critique tomorrow night in class. SOO glad to have this class over. This critique has been hanging over my head for weeks!!! Then it's the last class for my Cake course at Michael's on Tuesday night and then I am done with school!

I'm also looking forward to this weekend. It's the first one in a long time with no company, no travel, no events, nothing to do but do some spring cleaning, some spring organizing, some spring crafting, some spring springing! Can't wait!

Go Figure

This week I reached a milestone. I finally paid off my student loan. It was also the last loan I had outstanding from my "twenties". Two student loans, a line of credit that turned into a consolidation loan and two credit cards.

Now, to be honest, I racked up so much debt because I spent two years unemployed and six years making less than twenty thousand dollars after taxes. When you factor in trying to pay rent and actually function, you end up with a lot of bills. At one point I pretty much had to live off my credit card. Suzy Orman would have a heart attack I'm sure.

So you can imagine how great it felt to finally pay off that last loan. It actually felt kind of weird seeing as I had been putting a large chunk of each paycheque into my savings account anticipating the pay off. I also waited on this last loan because here in Canada you can use the interest on your student loans on your taxes. And when it all came down to paying it--you have to call the bank to have them close out the account, it ended up taking longer than I expected and more phone calls than was really necessary.

In the end, I paid it all off, had a little hyperventilation moment and realized I was officially broke.

How did I celebrate you ask?

By paying for an oil change, a fuel system flush, new brake pads, a tire rotation and four brakes serviced. That was the moment was when I was officially broke. At least my credit card company will be happy.

The Morning After

I think, in my family at least, if a party is a night on the town, then the kitchen is the hangover the day after. No matter how hard you work before, during and after, the kitchen never looks quite clean enough the day after in the morning light.

After a weekend that saw six cake mixes made (one slab cake and a shaped cowboy cake for the 1st birthday party and one cake for Easter dessert and one cake for my class tomorrow night), one first birthday party, one easter dinner and the normal easter festivities with two kids, we are cleaning up and putting things away. If you're counting, I have broken one wine glass and two shot glasses this morning. Oh and cut my finger with a peeler while peeling potatoes yesterday.

It was fun though, nice to spend time with the family and to celebrate my cousin's first birthday. The funniest part of the party was when my 17 year old cousin took a bet to eat an anchovy and ended up regretting it once the thing was in his mouth. I'm glad it's all over though and that we're back to normal. While I didn't get to bed before 2 a.m. twice this weekend, my aunt didn't really get to bed at all on Saturday night. How she did that amazes me.

Friends

According to my Glamour mag and my O Magazine, it's friends month. As in, celebrate your friends month. I haven't made it through my Cosmo yet so I'm sure they will agree, at least, I hope they don't do the whole have great sex this month...with friends...because we all know what Cosmo is good for.

Anyways...I digress....it's celebrate friends month. And luckily for me, the girl who has trouble making new friends, I have some pretty kick ass friends.

But it was today's post by Jen that got me really thinking. I hate seeing any of my friends go through turmoil or trouble and from what someone else's friends felt/said about her, it made me start to think about all the wonderful things that make my friends such great friends.

I like how they always tell it like they see it, no holds barred, brutal truth. You can do that when you're a friend. I like how they support me, love me, respect me unconditionally. I like how they have such diverse and differing attitudes/opinions/perspectives. I like how I can call them up, email them, or just drop them a line to say "hey" and they know there's nothing behind it. I also like how when I haven't had time to do that, it's like we had just talked the day before. I like how they "get" me. As in, get my lame sense of humour or other ticks I have. Most of all though, I like that they're my friends, and not someone else's. (That sounds selfish, but I don't care).

So to all my wonderful friends, in case I don't say it enough, you're awesome and I love you! Thanks for being so great and for keeping me in your lives!

Fun

That would be the interior of
Splash Universe Dundee, MI where we took the four girls for three days this week.

My nieces spent three days with me for their March Break and since my cousin's two girls were coming down to spend the week with their grandparents (my aunt and uncle) we decided to do something fun with the four of them. Hence the three days in a water park.

I took the whole week off this year not only to burn up some vacation I probably won't get a chance to use this year and also to just take a break and relax before what is going to be two to three months of craziness at work.

The hotel was alright. I was kind of disappointed in Holiday Inn and their "misrepresentation" of the prices. They advertised a $75 off on the suite and then when you went to book it by phone (the only way to get the deal) the price was $225. If you booked it online it was actually $199. Hardly a deal. We ended up staying in a regular room and the girls had a great time. The hotel had the indoor pool and then the waterpark attached to it and then an arcade that they spent a great deal of time in. I loved seeing them having so much fun. My youngest niece loved that she could have donuts for breakfast (complimentary breakfast that had unripened bananas as the only fruit...nice).

I'm sort of not looking forward to going back to work tomorrow but only because I don't want to get up early and have to spent the day trapped at a desk. I joined the fitness club of the new community centre they built in town so I'm going to go back to the gym as it were. I also start my last cake class this week and with easter on the weekend, it's two weeks of four days only. I guess I shouldn't really complain...

Recharging

Some days I can't tell if I'm coming or going. Which is why this week is a good week. It's March Break and I decided to take the week off. My cousins girls are here and we're going to this cool hotel with a water slide in it later this week. This is a really good week to just recharge.

We had not one but two snow storms last week. And if you think about it, it's actually three snow storms in one week since it snowed on Friday, then Monday night then again on Friday. Which is actually a lot of snow. Add all that to the other five snow storms this winter and you can colour us up here a little anxious to get winter over with.

I managed to get stuck in the driveway on Tuesday morning. Then stuck again at the end of the road. Then stuck again trying to exit the expressway. The crews had not cleared our parking lot at work so that was another adventure trying to get in. It also made me extremely unhappy with my little car. Once again. I also got stuck at a construction site on Thursday, which would have been disasterous since my car was parked right at the edge of a big hole. I finally got someone at GM who would listen to me about the car and they're helping me out with an incentive to go into another GM car. Something I want since I've been eyeing the VUE hybrid. Good for the environment and good for the Canadian winter!

Monday I went to my cake decorating class and had totally forgotten to pack the essentials--towel, wet cloths and wax paper. That was fun. Then Tuesday and Thursday I had appointments after work so you can imagine what that was like rushing from one place to the next. This weekend I baked my cake and made all the flowers I need to make (including 67 leaves with really thick icing) so my arms are a little sore.

I'm looking forward to some relaxing around the house, some sleeping in in the morning and some nice vegging out time this week. Because work is going to kill me the next two months. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and I won't get sick.

Tagged

It's taken me a few days...but here I go:Jen tagged me and here are seven weird, wonderful and out of this world facts about me. Ok weird is true...don't know if wonderful and out of this world is true...

1. I love the smell of dirt and freshly cut grass which sounds kind of weird but it's true. There is nothing more wonderful to me than the smell of freshly cut grass or dirt in the spring. There's this wonderful mossy earthy smell in the spring when the snow melts and the flowers come up and I love it.

2. When I was a kid I didn't like ice cream which my siblings thought was odd but it's completely true. And while I still don't "like" ice cream, I will eat only two kinds...Laura Secord chocolate chip or Baskin Robbins gold medal ribbon. It's more a "prefer" thing. I would "prefer" something other than ice cream but I have been known to crave it every now and then. Again, has to be chocolate chip though. Or I'll eat the ice cream sandwiches or certain ice creams with cake.

3. I'm really anal about being "clean" meaning that I have to shower every day and wash my hands about a million times. I'm the kind of person that if I've been out in public and haven't had a chance to wash my hands, I feel like I have the equivalent of about an inch of mud on my hands. I can't do the whole "don't wash your hair for a few days" type of thing. I'm also that person who used their shirt sleeve or a paper towel to open the doors of public washrooms.

4. I'm not an outdoors person making number one a strange thing but seriously...I don't like being outside. It's actually really strange because as a kid you couldn't get me out of the water and I got frostbite three times from being outside in the snow. I just don't like it. I don't like to be cold, I don't like wet snow, I don't like the heat and I definitely don't like sweating in the heat. Give me a nice temperature controlled area with a big window looking outside and I'm fine.

5. I believe in the adage do unto others firmly in fact its a mantra I try to live by. Which has gotten me into trouble more often than I would like. It also leads to being taken advantage of or walked all over. But still, it's a good mantra to live by so I'll let it be.

6. I am addicted to "noise". This one is a hard one to explain. I don't like silence. I feel uncomfortable during silent periods. I have to have some noise on in the background. Otherwise I am completely freaked out. Whether it's the sound of the television, the radio or my sound machine (white noise) at night, it's just something that I have to have.

7. I am inspired if I am in the shower, or in the car, or going to sleep or listening to music. If I have to write something or need to think of something creative, it always happens when I'm in my car or in the shower. At night, when I can't turn my brain off, I find myself thinking of stuff I want to write about or that makes me think of stories in my head. As a kid, I used to crawl to the night light in the hallway with my notebook and jot down poetry. Now I find I can solve just about any writers block by going for a drive.

So there you go. I don't know seven people with blogs so I can't tag them (well, ones that Jen doesn't know...) but that's me.

Out of sight

The last two weeks has been a bit of a blur. After that snow storm I made my venture over to the states. What should have taken me about two hours ended up taking me almost four. It took me two hours alone to cross the border! This is odd since I live about 25 minutes from I-75 with no line ups. Waiting on the bridge all that time was not fun. From there I went home and made my three batches of royal icing and one batch of colour flow icing for a class that ended up getting cancelled (fun) and then came this week.

This week I had to be in Toronto for three days which meant four days of travelling, three nights in two separate hotels and if you factor in two snow storms, a class I had to attend and a delayed train...it was not a fun week.

Although...it got me thinking...I was surrounded by some really annoying people. Several of them on the packed trains I had to endure...others just out and about. What made me wonder was...am I as annoying as they are? I haven't heard from a couple of my friends in the last few weeks...friends that I normally talk to regularly and suddenly I find, I haven't talked to them. Now really, I could just email them and say "hey what's up" but I'm all paranoid that maybe I've annoyed them. I'll continue to stew about this for a while.

The best part of my week though? The kids! I visited with my cousins yesterday and got to spend time with their little guy. He is hilarious. Funniest parts? How he growls back at you or when he climbed into and then out of a basket of toys (and got stuck in the process) in order to get a toy on the other side of the basket. Funny because he could have just crawled around the basket rather than go through it. And of course my youngest niece meeting me at the train station tonight and being so bored waiting there that she actually looked past me when I came up and hugged her. Oh, hi, I'm happy to see you....stranger!

Ugh

Ugh is the only word I can describe the weather as. This would be the third storm system this month to come rolling through the central Great Lakes region. The first two dumped a pile of snow (one dumping saw me driving up to London to see the family) and today's is a lovely icy rain dumping.

I had planned to trip on over to the Detroit area to hit Joanns and Michaels to pick up a few supplies for my cake class but will probably have to wait.

Lots of family here this weekend to remember my uncle's sister who passed away a few weeks ago. It was a bittersweet party last night out at her best friend's cottage as we all remembered, shared stories and enjoyed good food. It's been nice to spend time with my cousins and their families.

Probably going to spend my day crafting and working on a few projects. Tomorrow will be the day I go and get my supplies I need. Hopefully the roads will be cleared up by then.

Stolen from Mary

Not sure where this came from but hey, it's pretty fun!

1. If your doctor told you TODAY that you were pregnant, what would you say?
Say? Please call the pope, and get me some smelling salts.

2. When was the last time you flew in a plane? January 2 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Detroit

3. What did the last text message you sent say? Sent you a job

4. What features do you find most attractive in the opposite sex? Nice teeth, good laugh, great personality.

5. What is a goal you would like to accomplish in the near future? Pay off my last student loan.

6. Shoe size? 7 1/2

7. Been to Mexico? No

8. When is the last time you had a massage? Yesterday

9. What was the last TV show you watched? Good Morning America

10. What are your plans for the weekend? Just got back from 27 Dresses, sleeping in, playing with my craft crap and sleeping in.

11. If your significant other asked you to marry them TODAY what would you say? I'd say, nice to meet you significant other, you want to WHAT?

12. What is in the back seat of your car right now? A bag full of stuff I really should bring in.

13. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Starting my car so it could warm up and melt the three inches of snow off of it.

14. If you could marry any celebrity today who would it be? Dude, Gerard Butler, all the way.

15. Have you ever been to a strip club? Yes

16. What is the best ice cream flavor? Laura Secord Chocolate Chip or Baskin Robbins Gold Medal Ribbon

17. What is the last sporting event you watched? The Super Bowl

18. Ever go camping? Unfortunately

19. Last phone call? To GM Customer Service where they told me that they would not explore lease termination options right now because my car had been fixed even though it wasn't under warranty.

20. Are you allergic to anything? Yes, lots of stuff.

21. What is one thing you have learned about life recently? That sometimes good things DO happen to good people.

22. What do you do at work? Write "propdaganda" and design the odd logo.

23. What is your mom's name? Linda or Marg, depending on if you're the principal or a friend.

24. Ever cried for no reason? This isn't normal?

25. Can you do the Crank Dat dance? Not very well.

26. What is your favorite color to wear? Red

27. What is the longest plane ride you have ever been on? DFW to Detroit August 2006, oh wait, you meant figuratively....Amsterdam to Washington Dulles

28. What is the longest road trip you have ever taken? NYC to London, January 2004, don't ask.

29. What are your turn-offs? People who drive Hummers. In the city. Very slowly.

30. What was your last alcoholic beverage? Champagne, new year's eve.

31. What are you craving right now? Nothing, I just had a low fat sub and some light jello pudding with fat free cool whip.

Whoa

My favourite time of the year...sneak peek time...so far I have only seen a few things...of course the new Luxe stuff and the Maya Road stuff...but for sure, the one thing that caught my eye yesterday....from Fontwerks:


Counting down the days to the releases at next week's CHA...

Cheering up....a bit

This might make me feel better. A little.

Sigh...I still remember the days of buying Teen Beat and watching Much Music to see the boys from Beantown...

Stupid fine print

I'm kind of ticked today and it may make me think twice about shopping at Kohl's again. Back in November, during their big "After Thanksgiving Day" sale, I purchased a Kitchenaid mixer. Well, actually, I purchased two of them (well, actually, someone else actually got them for me, I just gave them the money)...but anyways...if you bought one, at $159.99 you received a rebate for $30. Or rather, the advertisement was $129.99 after $30 mail in rebate. No mention in the ad about one per household, one per customer, one per anyone. Not like I went in there and bought 50 of them...I just bought two.

So when you purchased said mixer, you received a rebate slip and on that slip it said "one per household". Which is ridiculous. Because what if I wanted one and I bought one as a gift? Why shouldn't I get a rebate? Why should it be limited to the number of people at one address? What if you had three bakers who lived in the same house and wanted to claim it? You bought the item, shouldn't you get the rebate?

To make a long story short, they denied my rebate. So I'm out $30. And now I'm just waiting on my aunt's rebates because she bought the digital picture frames that were on for $10 off by mail in rebate. She bought three or four of them as gifts. Which again, is legitimate, so why shouldn't she be able to do that?

My argument is this...if you want us to shop in your store, and you're going to advertise a price to get us to shop in your store, then you should honour that rebate, not put conditions on it as here. It's ridiculous. Otherwise I'm just going to go to another store and buy it there.

I'm still waiting on the response to my strongly worded email to them regarding this. I'm sure it's going to be one of those "rules are rules" kind of emails but it felt a little better to send it. I'm still pretty ticked.

News you won't see on CNN

Sadly, I do not have Anderson Cooper's rugged sexiness, shocking splash of premature grey hair or incredibly delicious biceps...what I do have though, is news you won't see on CNN.

I am left alone with the dog. I have self diagnosed him. He is suffering from Separation Anxiety. This from the symptom list: loss of control of bodily functions (vomitting--thank goodness for small favours that it's not diarahea), excessive licking (which bugs me), pacing (equally disturbing), and other weird behaviours like barking at my uncle's car in the driveway because he thinks I have him hidden in the garage. Last night I got creative and left him in the hallway with my room and the spare room doors open and a gate across the stairwell. He still got sick. And a trip to the pet store meant a new toy that is supposed to help with the anxiety....he got it open in record time (it's supposed to occupy him for a while) and managed to chew off the little strings on the end. Lovely.

Tomorrow I get Expressvu. CANNOT wait. I ordered the PVR (aka-fake TiVo) for $10 a month. Now once the writers go back to work...ahem...the studios get their heads out of their asses...I can pause, rewind, fast forward etc. live tv. This makes me happy. At least until I remember that there's no shows on. Or that I'm alone with an anxious canine.

I have a new coworker. I like her. She's pretty awesome. I like having someone sitting with me at the back of the office now. It was getting lonely. Oh and I like her in a totally platonic I'm not gay even though I said that stuff about Anderson Cooper way.

I seem to have mastered the Wilton Rose for my cake class. Something that was quite difficult. Now all I have to do is make the four hundred cups of icing for class. Well, not four hundred. Just eight cups of icing. For two weeks worth of classes.

And the cake too. Almost forgot about the cake.

My photography class is a lot harder than I thought it would be. Totally full of theory and really hard core basics. Not like "point and shoot" it's more like "measure the light by taking these five readings up against this expensive piece of camera equipment, then once you've done that, set all the readings in your camera to these totally obscure settings that you will need the manual to figure out...." and that's where I'm lost. I think I got lost somewhere around 32 point matrix. Nope, I got lost at "how is everyone doing tonight".

Yup and that would be the boring news. Which of course CNN doesn't have time for.

Sigh...

Rockstar

Learning how to ice cakes. I'm a big rockstar people...behold:



Ok so not a SUPER rockstar, I need to work on my smooth finish on the top. But hey! It's my first cake!

And I didn't eat any of it either!

That should score some points....

Haphazzard

This morning I took my aunt to the airport in Detroit. I decided yesterday that if I was going to go to the airport in Detroit, might as well hit a few other places as well. No point in wasting the $8 toll and the great story through customs (where were you? at the airport). So I hit a few places.

One of the points of this trip was to check out a few of the other scrapbook stores in the area that I have yet to check out. I know, I know...BORING but this way, I can go back over if I'm looking for anything in particular. I had this idea that I would buy a little something in each store to sort of make it worth going in. Didn't quite happen that way.

Scrapbook Mania in Canton was pretty awesome. I ended up spending $20 (woo woo) on four packs of big flowers in red and black (something I'm finding I use a lot of lately) and a couple of sheets of paper (because I NEED more paper right?). I went back down Ford Road to Ikea because there were a few other things I needed and I wanted to check out this table. Well, not THAT exact combination, but something similar to that. I wanted the Vika table legs that adjusted up and down so that if I was feeling like standing, it would be higher and if I felt like sitting...well, you get the drill.

Yesterday when I came home from work I got to work downstairs cleaning up some stuff. I still sort of live out of boxes, which is actually kind of good because most of it I don't need, but I start to accumulate stuff (christmas ornaments I find, books I buy) and I end up digging through my boxes of tupperware (yes, you read that right, BOXES plural of tupperware) and just make a mess. So stuff tends to creep out of the little corner of the basement all my stuff is in. I bought two new energy efficient light bulbs that are actually equivalent to 100W and they worked FABULOUSLY. Which led to a new desire to get this new table. I work off half a desk in another part of the basement and I want to spread out.

But I digress. So I went to Ikea, looked at the tables and just decided I would wait. I liked the display they had in the store where they put the little bookcase bases on casters. But I wanted to let it simmer a bit before I did anything about it. I managed to pick up what I really wanted there, some paper magazine holders to put some of my rubs and other stickers in by type. This way, I'm not forgetting I have them. With my new found desire to craft, I want to be able to do stuff.

From there I went to Scrapbook Studio. Big disappointment. Then I tried to check out another store--Memory Lane but it looked like it was in a subdivision (read: someone's basement) so I skipped that. I also had to go and find this special wool from this pattern book I have so I can make this absolutely adorable little baby sweater vest so that was the next stop. Also went and checked out another little store and headed home. Took me a bit longer than I though, but I blame the Mobil station in Southgate that refused to authorize my gas pump. Don't really know what was up with that. Once I got home though, I decided to take a nap.

Benny, decided that maybe taking a nap wasn't such a good idea after all. He is my little pet for the week while my aunt and uncle are both away. He does not like me anymore than I like him. Well, I guess he likes me, he just doesn't prefer me. So every noise he hears, he has to get all crazy about. Then he proceeded to stand over me breathing on me. And whine because he wanted out...to fall asleep on the family room chair.

Stupid dog.

Productive

A friend of mine announced she was pregnant on Monday. Like, really pregnant. She's five months along. She was waiting because she was on the line for a promotion and wanted to wait until the powers that be made a decision. So I decided I wanted to make her a cute little album. Not for the baby, but for her. That would be the front right up there.

One of my resolutions this year was to start considering sending my stuff out for publishing. I was all gung ho about it about three years ago and got rejected repeatedly. I kind of just gave up and left it behind. My new found confidence is thanks to my good friends at Luxe and their incredible support of my projects. (That's my stuff featured on today's blog...) It's not like I'm going to be all "MUST BE PUBLISHED" it's just a case of, if I see something, I'm going to consider putting something together for it. Like today, I got an email from Maya Road with an open call for projects using their products. I'm going to submit that and another little album I'm working on.

Also aiding in the productivity was my accomplishment this evening of getting through my to-do list. I started taking a cake decorating class at Michaels and had to make about 8 cups of icing for it. Got through it quickly this evening and also managed to clean up in the basement (been meaning to pack up a few more of my things I've accumulated). Also did some cleaning and now I'm ready to do nothing but what I want all weekend.

Productivity is a good feeling.

Hate the playah, not the game

I swear, there is some kind of weird fate thing working against me. I have proof too. First, the other day I got a package in the mail. I had no idea where it came from (DVD legacy out of New Jersey). Well, turns out, inside was a cute little book called In the Know: The classic guide to being cool. Thinking this was someone's cute little gift I asked the logical people. No dice, they have no idea what it's about. So I have to say, this must be fate that this book landed in my hands. And if so, I am a lot cooler than you think Fate!

Second, and this one is pretty funny, I have an account on Lavalife. I tried the internet dating thing years ago, met nothing but freaks, and gave up. I still have a profile there, with a photo that is so old (pre-braces so my smile is even different) I can't even stand it. I'm sure I could take it down but part of me doesn't want to. Anyways...the past two weeks I have gotten a flurry of emails about how I have messages from people. I had originally changed my profile description to deter anyone over the age of 35 (this was before I was 30), anyone in another country, and anyone who doesn't speak English. This has not deterred anyone. In fact, I think it may be encouraging them. I have received no less than 5 messages from men over the age of 50 in the last week alone. The best one though, is this one, from yesterday. A 64 year old who has been "forced" to retire because of health problems, who lives in Florida because the cold doesn't agree with his achy body and who is looking for this:

I will only "match" with with a consenting women who enthusiastically would support child resulting from Our Physical Love. In effect until it is proven biologically imposible. Maybe I should tell him I don't want children?

He will be in communication until [he] know you not not want me to be. Well in that case...

Also, the IBM company turned against [him] when he was 32. Ya I saw that movie, Mel Gibson was pretty good.

He has to play the cards he has been delt. Get out of the game bud.

And he has "wild" property in New York & Wyoming States and needs a strong woman to SAVE HIM. Hee, wild property.

Again, all I have to say is ha ha funny funny FATE!

The more things change

The more they stay the same...sigh...London is now out. The flight was way more than I expected and the dates they had open in the cheap window were just not feasible for us from a work standpoint. Another time!

When one door closes

Friday I got the bad news that I wasn't needed at CHA in Anaheim. I was a little sad but completely understood why. But today I got the best news from another friend of mine.

Late this afternoon I get an email:

Friend: What dates did you have off for CHA?
Me: Why?
Friend: Would you be interested in going to London England with me?
Me: Seriously?
Friend: I get a companion fare that would add up to about $200 total CDN out of Toronto.
Me: Seriously?
Friend: Ya, seriously, my husband can't go, I want to go, want to go with me?
Me: Uh, ya!

I love it when things work out that way!

Too funny

What is funny about this is that I actually had about ten pounds of scrapbook supplies in a carry on bag I brought with me. And it's also the first time I have flown with a very heavy suitcase that they actually put a sticker on it. And between you and me, it wasn't as heavy as some of my past packed cases.

I'm home and doing a mountain of laundry from before the holidays to now. I am also untangling myself from being all scrunched in a seat because my seatmate felt the need to take up all the armrest space as well as elbow me several times in the side while he was working. He apologized once to me about hogging all the room and then proceeded to spread out even further AND put his glass of water precariously close to my lap.

Getting on a schedule again will be nice but going back to work kind of sucks.

Welcome 2008!

That would be Jen and I last night at Duce part way through one helluva good meal. Duce is this neat little bar/restaurant that Jen loves where we decided to spend our new year having a fanstatic meal with some great company. Said company would be Greg and Matty, the two fabulous bartenders who were helpfully plying us with liquor the night before when we went there for dinner and to scope out plans for the next evening.

The dinner? Absolutely fabulous. I think I might have gotten drunk on good food because by the time they served the Aji Chocolate cake at the end of the meal I was ready to throw in the towel I was so over the edge. Seriously good food, good bottle of champagne and excellent company (although I was a little sad Greg couldn't spend more time with us....of course....just like me to crush on a bartender in another country!)

It's been a fun week here in Texas. I've tried to spend it helping but may have spent more of it getting in the way. Jen lives in a cute little house in Fort Worth and of course my favourite room is the studio. Bright open well lit room devoted entirely to creativity. Love this. We put a few things together that will probably end up on the Luxe blog but that I love and am quite proud of myself for creating.

Tomorrow it's home again. A couple of errands on the way from the airport and then it's home to clean up my room (I distinctly recall the chaos I left there when I rushed out on Wednesday last week) and then prep to go back to work. As much as I am looking forward to getting back on a schedule, I'm kind of sad to say goodbye to my holidays. But that's alright, 2008 is going to be an awesome year!

To all my friends, Happy New Year!

365 shopping days left to next Christmas

I don't know what makes me sad more, the day after Christmas or New Years. I always get sad at New Years for some odd reason. But the day after Christmas always makes me sad. It's like we rush rush rush to Christmas Day and then boom, it's over.

This year I was so busy, I arrived here on Saturday, took the kids to the theatre, Sunday I met with my friends, hung out with the kids, Monday I went in to work, and then we did the usual Christmas Eve. Getting ready, getting the kids to bed, getting some time together in (I hang with my sister and brother in law) and then it's suddenly Christmas morning.

The kids were up early. Well, the oldest was up at 5 and told to go back to bed. We all got up about 8:30 and headed down to see what Santa brought. Hijinks ensued. Got the turkey in the oven and managed to take about ten minutes to relax after getting ready and cleaning up. My sister, brother, mom and my brother's girlfriend arrived shortly after noon and we opened presents for several hours (that's the part I love about Christmas). And then my cousin and her husband and son arrived for dinner.

We shut 'er down around 2 a.m. when my cousin's husband and her son left. The weather turned so much warmer (fog anyone?) and they just walked around the block home. Now I'm up, saying goodbye to the nieces (they're off to the grandparents) and heading home to pack up my other suitcase for Texas. Can't wait to see Jen and hang out, but still a little sad that it's all over for another year!

Hoping that all my friends had a wonderful fun filled Christmas with their family/friends or whomever they spend it with!

Traditions

Christmas in my family means many traditions. And a few my sister has carried down with her kids. The one in particular that I love is "mom's store". My mom started this when we were kids. She would stock up on little gifts and then she would open her "store" and we would take our money and buy little gifts for each other. Nothing cost more than a dollar and it was a great way for us to be involved in it. We had other gifts for each other that our parents bought, but these little gifts were extras.

Tonight, "mom's store" was open for business. My two nieces went shopping. What's cute about it is a few minutes ago, while my sister was doing some dishes, my younger niece came down with a big sad face saying she needed her to open her store back up because she didn't buy enough for me. Adorable. So my sister's answer was "one, my store is still open, and two, everything is free". She turns and gives me a big grin and takes off to do more shopping. Love it.

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Tonight's sleep will be brought to me by Gravol. Because I am in serious need of some sleep. I swear, I don't know what happened to the last three weeks but they are gone! Tuesday I realized I hadn't sent any Christmas cards out. This was after I started making them in October! I furiously sent out about ten and then gave up. And then, I went and got the last minute things I needed to get for other people on Friday night and went to bed at midnight. Woke up in a panic at 5 thinking I wasn't done! After whipping around yesterday morning to pack, get my stuff organized to come home and pack up for Texas on Boxing Day and then organized and left. Last night we got home from Anne of Green Gables (more in a minute) at 11:30 and I stayed up to talk to my sister. Finally at 1:30 I fell into bed. Again with the wake up in a panic thing. Woke up at 5:30 this time. Fell back asleep and then my nieces came in to me at 8:30. I couldn't get back to sleep no matter how I tried so I just got up. I am a walking zombie!!! I don't know how my sister is doing it. She went to bed at 4 last night!!!

Anne was excellent. I have never seen the PEI version, it is good from what I hear. I decided to do two things different this year. I got front row seats AND we went to an evening performance, instead of a matinee. Neither of them slept and my nieces are the kind of kids who get "drunk" when they're tired. We didn't leave the house until 7:20. On a good day it takes about 30 minutes to get to the theatre and we had to find parking. We actually made it in 20 minutes and found parking right away. My younger niece wasn't so into it. Again. After every song the younger one would turn to me and say "is it over now?" because she wanted to leave. Although, she was hilarious at the end of the play after the curtain call she says to me "I want to be an actor".

My little groupie (the older one) wanted to meet the star so we hung out in the vestibule at the stage door. Drunk moment came along when the younger one tripped on the step. Fell flat and proceeded to cry. My drunk moment was before the show when I didn't grab my camera. Wish I had, it would have been cute to get a photo of them with "Anne". The actress came out and was so good with them. But I have to hand it to my nieces, they say the funniest stuff. Favourite part of the show "when you dyed your wig green" (the youngest). "Where is her tour bus?" from the older one. "She gets paid to sing and dance? Cool!" from the younger one.

It was fun...really looking forward to Christmas Day with them. But really looking forward to some sleep first!

Bring us some figgy pudding

Ok, that's it, I'm done. Well, not quite done. But almost done. Sort of done. Well, I'm done. Other people are not done. So I have to help them be done. Then I'm done.

That is how I describe my final plans for the holidays. Last night I tripped on over to the States to pick up a couple of things and lo and behold...sold out. And it wasn't like it was a fight for dolls in the toy department. These were electronics....FOR ADULTS. Well, not those kind of electronics...so now I have to go and get them here in Canada. Sucks!

I took my car in the other day for the oil change and brake service and also got it all cleaned inside...nice. I love it. That was last on my list. Now it's off to London for the holidays. Have to make a couple of stops then it's pick up the kids and go to the theatre for our annual tradition of seeing a play.

Definitely worth the snow conditions

I have to say, right up front, aside from the substance abuse problems....Nicole Kidman is one lucky woman. While I'm sure her relationship with her husband isn't all roses and candlelit serenades etc....getting to be married to Keith Urban...is a gig I could go for.

I stayed in London last night to go to the last concert of his tour. It was my gift to my sister, she likes him, I've really only heard a couple of his songs in passing and boy was I glad I stayed to go. At one point, on the way to the show my sister said she wouldn't be disappointed if I decided we should turn around. We had a huge snow storm that day and the roads were pretty bad. I told her to do what she thought necessary....she pushed on. Really glad we did.

Urban is an incredible performer...he puts on an amazing show. I can't even quite put it into words...I would have paid $150 for the tickets it was so good. I'm sure others will argue that there are other great bands that put on great shows (I won't argue that U2 is a good show, because dudes, it's Bono!) but he is the best I've seen so far. I managed to get some awesome seats...we were about 13 rows up from the floor so we were above it and could see everything. He has a stage that comes out in a walkway to a circular "in the round" stage in the middle of the floor. He spent a great deal of time walking out into the audience that way. At one point he yelled at security to let people in the section across from us come down to shake his hand. And he made the show so personal by changing words to his songs like "Raining on Sunday" to "Snowing on Sunday" and also adding "wishing I had a snow plow". He's just so great and we had such an awesome time.

I do realize I need a better camera...for some odd reason the photos kept coming out fuzzy in no flash mode...and he's such a nimble little sprite that he kept moving!!! But definitely a great show.

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow?

I think it might have been overkill at "Let it snow" because we have been walloped. I'm not kidding. And this isn't me all Canadian saying "oh that's nothing....when I was a kid we used to get four feet of snow and still go to school!" This is bad.

Thankfully I had already planned to stay in town tonight as we're going to the Keith Urban show in town. But still, I'm a little scared about driving home tomorrow. It took someone else I know three hours to get to Chatham with limited visibility! That's about 45 mins to an hour normally!

But I do have to say, it's kind of funny because my brother in law just got a new snow blower and he hasn't really had a chance to put it to use this winter (a couple of inches isn't really all that good for one of these things...you want the snow storms like we've got now that dump about 30 cm an hour to blast through). Well, the funny thing is, two of his neighbours have come over already to clean out the driveway. Meaning there isn't going to be much for him to do!

Junk in my trunk

I have had one of the busiest weekends of my life, which is surprising since I spent a great deal of time on the couch, or at least I think I did. I also understand why I end up sick...

I went up early because I had an appointment with my doctor in London. I haven't given up my "family doctor" back home because of the shortage of doctors in this province but also because I really like this doctor and he knows me, he knows my history, he knows what works and what doesn't and I'm not about to go and set up that history and rapport with another doctor. It was a nice visit though, we got to catch up and I was able to ask a few questions and find out that some of my worries were for naught. And it was nice to see him so much more positive since the last time I saw him. He's changing his practice and he's hoping it will help him with his patient load.

It was a professional development day for the schools so my nieces were off. I had agreed to look after them. They were with my cousin while I was at the doctor so I went and met her at the mall because that's where they wanted to go. After a nice filling lunch of fries (oh man) we looked around and then went home. I was of course exhausted because I had also had a tetanus shot at the doctor and that just wiped me out. Didn't stop us though. We then went to my mom's house to go for a swim in the complex's indoor pool and after two hours of that and then dinner, we were ready to come home.

Saturday it was go go go again. Errands, things to do, places to go...exhausting again. The kids stayed up to watch Home Alone while I was making some christmas cookies. I taught my niece the saying "junk in the trunk". She thought this was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard. I thought her reaction was one of the funniest things I had ever seen. Until she positioned herself under the Christmas tree and told us all she was a new puppy waiting for Christmas morning. Good times.

After about four hours sleep last night I got up and finished up my cookies and then went to Costco with my brother in law to get a gift. I headed home shortly after that. I was welcomed back to town with icy rain and frozen over driveways. Fun.

I'm actually looking forward to going back to work. I might get back on a schedule!

Darn you Mother Nature

I have to buy snow tires.

I have no idea how I am going to go about buying snow tires but I have to buy snow tires.

I have put off buying snow tires in the hopes that really my little car would be ok in the snow and ice.

I have come to the realization that buying snow tires will be a good idea.

I am embarassed to say that I know that they sell tires at tire stores and car stores and other stores that carry tires but I have no idea how to actually pick out which ones are best, which ones are a good investment and which ones will make my car drive better in the snow.

I have to buy snow tires.

I am a little scared.

And so on...

The Future Shop saga continues. Apparently someone at head office is now "looking into it" because they were wrong to deny me the 10% off the difference. I love seeing how that all plays out on the message boards. I took the camera back and got my money back, but still, it's nice to know someone is going to do something about the complete lack of customer service.

Still shopping for the camera though. I keep seeing all these crazy deals but then back away. It's like playing with fire methinks.

You have got to be kidding me

I went and bought my digital camera this weekend. Now this has been quite the shopping endeavour. I have spent the last few months watching and researching this thing. Future Shop had a deal on weeks ago but then it was one of those "while quantities last" kind of thing. Turns out, they only had four per store. So I missed out.

Finally, Best Buy had it on. I went to Future Shop to take advantage of their "Get it for less guaranteed" program where it states that they will beat a competitors price by 10%. Nothing in there about what it is, how it's advertised etc.

So I did this. I wanted to go to Future Shop because I had a $100 gift card to be used. Turns out, their little policy is totally bogus. It only applies to the item that is exactly like what they have there. Meaning, they have to offer the bundle there as well. They matched the price, but didn't give me the 10% off because they don't sell the camera and zoom lens as a bundle (which was what I had). But because they offer the camera at the same price, it's considered within 10% so they don't give you the deal.

Maybe they should make that clear in their policy hmm?

Now I'm trying to decide if I want to take it back over $70 or if I want to just suck it up and forget about it.

Camera phones are awesome

Almost forgot I had this photo. It's totally a shout out to Jen and to my trip to Texas after Christmas.

My favourite things

I love spending time with my nieces. Not for the tantrums mind you (several this weekend) but for the funny things they say. Sometimes I wish I could be inside their heads so I can actually hear what they're thinking when they come up with this stuff. A few samples...

Friday night at dinner, the five of us were sitting at the table (sister, brother in law, girls and I) and the oldest pipes up "Mom, I don't want you to get married again because I don't want to have two dads." No idea where this came from, my sister and her husband have no plans to divorce or remarry. My younger niece pipes up "that's ok, you'll be my favourite" to my brother in law.

Yesterday in the car my younger niece asks me "how did Hilary Duff get famous?" I try to explain to her that she was on a television show that thousands of kids watched. My older niece says "well I've been on the news a few times". I can see in the mirror my younger niece think about this and then say "ya but you're not famous so that's not how it happened." I then proceeded to explain, with great difficulty, the Disney marketing machine and how it pumps out stars. I still don't think she got it.

Then while we were in Canadian Tire she tells me she wants to go look at the Christmas trees. They had all their trees displayed in a forest type of setting so you walk under an arbour and peruse the trees. She holds my hand and stops. Above us is mistletoe. Which she loves because of the idea you have to kiss someone under it. So I give her a big fat peck on the cheek. Then we walk through and her sister ends up under it, then proceeds to jump back because she doesn't want to kiss her. I took the honours. She says to me "I wish it was Christmas all year long so we had to give each other kisses under the mistletoe."

(Note, that sounds kind of creepy but in fact it was pretty cute.)

Then, during the Bee Movie, she shouts out "Sting him again!" yes this is my lovey little niece.

Definitely enjoy spending time with these two.

A lot like...

Christmas is what I was going to say. But really, it's looking like that because I'm in the mood for creative stuff. I was reading Ali Edwards'blog and got inspired. But it may take a bit of work on the part of my sister. I've decided I want to do a "24 days of Christmas" album with the girls this year. They're old enough and it sounds really cool and I love it when my sister calls me in December to tell me something cute they've done. This way we can capture the memories and also do something fun. I want her to take photos of them. Either opening their advent calendars or staring at the tree or of course, the requisite snow picture once we have our first snow fall. (Which if you want to split hairs, happened on Tuesday up there, but who's counting?)

I also loved the idea Ali has for the little mini box advent wall art. I just have to a) find the boxes b) run it by my sister and c) find stuff to put in there. They really don't need anymore candy but I was thinking of maybe a fortune cookie idea. Possibly find a Christmas story or Christmas carol or something and print out the words and put it inside the boxes with a little fun thing they can do or possibly a neat ornament or something. Ideas? Share!

Then I started cutting out the cute little things on the Color Me pages I received from Luxe and I started to get all kinds of ideas for cards and the like. So I will be working on that too. Just can't wait. So excited for that! I love feeling this creative. I also have to finish the three albums I am putting together for Jill.

Also this weekend? I'm trying to decide if I want to take the girls down to the Cenotaph to be a part of the Remembrance Day ceremony. I've never done it, and they normally have a ceremony at school, but I thought it might be unique for them to go and see the veterans that go. That way, they can truly understand what it is that we come together for. Their ancestors fought in the wars. We'll see what they're like and whether or not my sister feels this would be ok.

Running on empty

This week has been a "week" and I'm ready to just toddle off to bed. Yes, I know it's only 7:30 but I'm spent. I've been up and down the highway three times this week and now I'm just ready to tuck in and be done with the week from heck knows where.

It started with all the usual business after I got home from Toronto last weekend. Wednesday it was up to London at quarter to seven in the morning for a meeting with our CEO. Then from there it was up the highway to Toronto for media training. That was interesting. Missed out on all the Halloween stuff I love. Thursday it was the train ride from hell with the seatmate from Fidgetyville and I swear to pumpkin I was ready to break the emergency window and toss her out. I got home, emptied my bag and packed my car for this weekend. I was back in London this weekend to celebrate my sister's 30th (eek, when did we all get so old?) and also crop all day yesterday.

The cool part was that I was recognized as a "Luxe girl" at the crop by someone who runs a store in Dorchester. Talked with her a bit, showed off the new "Colour Me" line and then put together 30 two page spreads for three albums I'm making for a coworker.

Got home a few hours ago, unpacked and am now about to (as mentioned) toddle off to bed. Sleeping never felt so good.

Although I have to say that the best part of this weekend was this morning at brunch when my brother and sister decided they wanted to join us for our Black Friday shopping spree in Port Huron. Gotta love the mob mentality when it comes to ill advised shopping excursions. Speaking of ill advised, don't eat Chocolate Cheesecake at 1 a.m. when you're ready to go to bed.

Because I have the time

Man what a difference having three extra hours makes! I managed to get packed for Toronto, get organized for tomorrow (road trip at 6:30 a.m.? Yikes!) and get my stuff packed for the crop on Saturday. Now I'm about to shower, change my sheets, put my laundry away and get to bed. But first, I've been tagged by Jen, unfortunately I don't know seven people without making Jen's list have to post twice, so I'll just do this for me....here goes....

Rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random - some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names - link to them
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1. I'm double jointed in my right hand. I can get my thumb to bend all the way back in a weird way.

2. I'm completely addicted to shopping in the States now that the dollar is so ridiculously low. I keep thinking of places I want to go.
3. My memory is completely shot. I can't remember anything I need unless I write it down. Case in point, this morning I realized I forgot my boots at my cousin's house. In addition to forgetting several other items at her place on Sunday (which we went back for) and then forgetting my aunts cell phone a second time when we dropped the kids off.

4. I'm constantly waiting for "the other shoe to drop". It's horribly pessimistic of me but I can't help it. I always expect bad things to happen eventually.

5. I have this thing about travelling now. I really want to go away somewhere cool but I'm trying to balance that with paying off my last student loan. Fiji is the next big one. But I have to wait for Elaine's schedule to open up since it's a friend of hers we're going to see.

6. I have this recurring feeling that I'm a bad friend because I don't really keep in touch with people. It makes me feel so guilty it's not funny. It's not that I'm trying to be a bad friend, just that time seems to get away from me for some strange reason.

7. This time of year is my favourite because it means cool nights, warm blankets, good television and the wonderful excuse of it being cold enough to drink hot chocolate. I can actually taste the hot chocolate as I look outside at all the fall colours changing.