New Year's Eve Eve

So...

I'm in the process of emailing all my old files to myself through Yahoo. It seems to be the best way for me to get my files. I haven't got a disk drive on the new computer, and I haven't got a CD burneron the old one, so I think that I'm going to be SOL if I can't get the stuff by email. What a pain in the arse.

And now the old computer's not recognizing the internet connection. Bleh!

I was going to tell you about my Christmas holiday, but I don't think I will. Some things are best forgotten quickly.

New Year's Plans? Heather's coming down for some consolation, and we're going to go festing to a couple of house parties. Randy is coming with us. Lynn's spending the day with her boyfriend, so la di dah. Heather broke up with her boyfriend over the holidays, and she's having a rough time about it. That stinks. I feel really awful for her, but as I pointed out--better sooner than later. They jumped in pretty quickly, as they were only together for 3 months. Heather's the breaker, not the breakee, but she still feels bad about it. She's feeling guilty because she wasn't physically attracted to the guy. I pointed out that you can't control who you're attracted to.

Anyway, I'm hoping that we have a good time tomorrow and she doesn't get soppy. I intend to put my new resolve to the test. My goal for this year is to be more adventurous in terms of relationships. I intend to be less concerned about what people may think about my personal choices. My goal is to be more open to possibilities and less judgemental about potential dangers. That's it for now, anyway. This is always open to revision! :)

I need to go to bed, so I can get up early and clean my apartment and get some groceries and some beer. Lots to do tomorrow morning! :)

Night folks--happy New Year!

well

I made it. In fact, we all did. My entire family made it out alive. Barely.

This has to go down on record as being the worst Christmas ever.

There were a number of things that made it the Worst Christmas Ever...but I'll skip over most of them. Suffice it to say, that a) my mother had flu for 4 days. B) I'm apparently a terrible person. C) being a terrible person, I still managed to NOT see my best friend, have any fun, or drink the copious amounts that would have made the last 14 days bearable. D) BLEH. E) yeah....moving on.

So, the absolute BEST part about this Christmas, is this computer. Well, that and Christine's comment about "That's my cousin Bill and his sister Becky's boy". That, folks, is comedy.

This computer kicks ass. I had found myself alternately wavering between "It's far too expensive a gift! I don't need it" ...and..."If you're going to spend that much cash, give me the money so I can fix my car!" I'm really glad I got selfish and bought into the 'you really NEED a new computer' and 'If you're going to be in business, it will help you to have a good computer' lines of reasoning. Because, this computer kicks serious ass.

Yikes. I didn't realize the computer clock was still on Ontario time...that hour makes a huge difference in being up a little past bedtime, and being exhausted tomorrow. Woopsie.

I love my family. I don't want anyone to get the impression that I do not. However, I will think twice next year before I venture home. It's such a stressful, intense holiday--and this year everyone seemed to be loaded for bear. I never thought I'd come to a point where I didn't want to be with my family for the holidays. Now, I know that if some small child asks me--the point at which you no longer NEED to be at your mom and dad's is 34.

Missed you all--and especially Christine. Although, I asked Bob to get me my own Rick Mercer for Christmas next year, and I may have to work on it a bit throughout the year, but I think that maybe he'll come through.

Ahem.

Okay...so this "I'm going to post all the time over the holidays" plan stinks.

But...it'll be better soon. I know, you've heard that before. But this time, I mean it!!

The kick-assiest present ever...is a new computer for MOI! God bless my mom and my sisters! :) I've been shopping for days, trying to determine what I NEED, what I'd like, and how best to not get ripped off. It's hard! I don't know the first thing about computer equipment, and solid (RELIABLE) advice has been hard to come by. I think I've found it, but I'm having the shakes about spending so much cash. Particularly when it's not my cash to begin with. Bleh. Anyway, I'm looking at a notebook instead of a desktop, as I want to be portable.

And I never want to be in the situation I was in earlier this week. I was ACHING to get to my mother's so I could get online and read some blogs. I wanted to post some stuff, and I wanted to read my email. None of which I could do, because Mom's computer was at the shop having its modem fixed. Then, when it came back, and I thought I was finally good to go...I found out that it wasn't really fixed after all, it was only 'sorta' fixed. It's not bad now (Quick, knock on something wooden!) but it's just an uncrossed finger, or a stubbed toe away from a crash at any moment. So. I am looking forward to having my own portable hookup wherever I go.

Whee :)

My mom's had the flu pretty much since I got home, so we haven't had much opportunity to spend time together. I feel bad about that, but...what can you do? She is definitely bearing the brunt of it--as she's been absolutely miserable. She finally went back to work yesterday, and came home at noon. She did the same thing today. Is it selfish for me to want her to stay at work so I can plan my day around actually LEAVING THE HOUSE? Yes, it is. I know. But I'm learning to cope with my selfish ways.

Hey, I want her to be better too...but I really want to be able to make plans and actually get out of this building. It really stinks when you're trapped in a house that you call 'home' but for all intents and purposes is worse than the Holiday Inn. You see, at the Holiday Inn, at least there's a pool and cable TV. Here, no cable. Intermittent internet. Livestock*. And none of my stuff.

It's hard to fill 8 hours a day of alone-time with NOTHING. If I were at my house, I would at least be able to clean. Here, my mother gets offended if I do anything more intense than the dishes. She's afraid I'll break her washing machine. Folks, this is the woman who gave me instructions on how to leave her a message on the answering machine.

I called from my sister's place when I hit town to arrange a pick-up/drop-off/transfer...we discussed, I said I'd talk to Amy and call her back. She said "I may go out to the barn, if I do, the machine will pick up. It will beep--be sure to leave a message AFTER the beep." The details got more involved over the next two minutes. It was all I could do to refrain from saying "Mom! I'm 34 years old! I think I know how to use an answering machine!" I just said "Yes, mom, of course I"ll leave you a message if you're not inside". I'm a good daughter. I decided not to be condescending and bitchy too early in the visit. Gotta earn the Christmas booty!

*Livestock. We have livestock. And not in the barn where you might expect it to be. Nope, we keep ours conveniently located in the middle of the kitchen.

Now, my mother has horses. We've always had horses. The horses live in the barn. We have barn cats. We've always had barn cats. The barn cats live in the barn.

This is where it starts to get interesting.

We have always had a dog. Mum just got a puppy. He's adorable. He's a chocolate Labradoodle. He's awesome. VERY active, but he's a puppy. It's just been a Loooooong time since we had a puppy around the house. We also have a house cat. His name is Ike. He's the spawn of Satan's very own cat. He's evil. He's Resident Evil.

Mum also has a pet bunny. It lives in a cage in the kitchen. He is white, with brown ears. His name is Chocolate. He's a white chocolate bunny. {insert giggle here} Yes, I knew you'd get it.

My mother has a weakness for animals in distress. She is always taking in horses that need a good home. Horses that are broken down and can no longer race. Horses that are too old to have foals. Horses that other people don't want to put down, but neither do they want to pay for their room and board until they kick off from natural causes. So my mother takes them in. The Humane Society has her on speed dial. I'm not even kidding.

A friend of hers works at the SPCA. This 'friend' called up my mother because they had an unusual animal in need of a new home. The SPCA had found a baby chicken running loose on the roads of downtown and didn't know what to do with it as they are not set up to house stray CHICKENS.

My mother took in the chicken. It lives in the cage with the rabbit. For those of you keeping count at home, the kitchen now houses 1) a very active puppy, 2) an evil cat, 3) a harmless white bunny with an unfortunate name, and 4) a chicken. I called my mother Mrs.MacDonald the other day. She didn't find it amusing. But...I did.

Particularly when two mornings ago, the phone rings about 7:00 am. I think to myself, "Self? Who can she possibly be talking to this early in the morning? Perhaps it's a snow day and there's no school." Nope. It's her friend from the Humane Society. Asking her if she could make a home for A GOOSE. A fully grown goose that someone couldn't bear to give the hatchet for dinner like they had been planning. She said no. But I'm sure it was only because she was afraid I'd make fun of her.

Freaking LIVESTOCK in the kitchen.

On that note, I wish a Happy Vacation to all of you. May you not have to change the cage, empty the litter, or pick up puddles for the entire holiday season!

Hurray!

Oh my god, I thought I was going to die!!!

After the 'no freaking spacebar!!!' fiasco, I managed to make it to my Mom's. Only to discover that her freaking computer had gone in for servicing!!!

I thought we'd be able to pick it up yesterday, and whiz-bang I'd be posting again...but No. DENIED. Stupid computer-geeks couldn't replace the modem in the 15 minutes you or I could do it....nope, it took THREE DAYS!!!!

So, tonight...we have the inter-web!! We have live, active computer!! We have hot keyboard action! And we have a tired Sadie.

But. Now that I'm connected, I will be back. I will regale you with tales of shopping with my dad (Slightly less painful than driving with my mom--but that's a horror story for another day!). I will hopefully finally get in touch with Christine and then we will be able to hang out, and then I'll have fun and crazy stories of us terrorizing old ladies and shop-keepers.

I'm so glad to be connected!!!!

Oh yeah! And wait until I tell you about the absolutely kick-assiest Christmas present in the WORLD!!!!

Trouble,in,spacebar,city

Okay=so,I,made,it,to,Toronto.

When,I,get,to,my,mother;s,I,will,talk,about,the,trip.
It,was,mostly,uneventful.

I,am,now,at,Amys,and,I,just,got,up,a,bit,ago..I,will,soon,
shower.I,decided,to,try,and,read,some,blogs,and,post,to,
my,own,while,I,drank,my,coffee..As,you,can,see,the,
spacebar,does,not,work.The,apostrophe,is,intermittent,at,
best;and,I,had,a,heck,of,a,time,logging,into,Blogger,without,
access,to,a,functioning,underscore..ARGH!

Anyway=Im,here..Im,well..Soon,I,will,be,clean..Then,I,will
find,Christine,and,hopefully,my,vacation,will,begin.

I;ll,post,again,tonight,from,mums,so,that,you,all,can,read,
this,more,easily.

You,know,you,could,just,look,at,all,these,pauses,from,the,
viewpoint,that,I,am,on,vacation,and,am,just,moving(and,typing!)
much,more,slowly..You,could..But,youd,be,wrong.

Help?!

Have any of you ever tried to compare cell phone plans? Got a few days and a penchant for Soduko? If so, I need to borrow your mad ciphering skillz.

I've been considering for a month or so now, trading in my home-phone for the cellular variety. Not because I'm crazy to have a cell-phone. Because, really? I'm so not. But because I think I can save some cash this way. Also, because cell-phones are portable--as are the numbers that go with them. I'm thinking this might make it easier when I finally do move, so I don't end up losing track of some bills and payment due dates as I usually do.

Rogers is offering a great deal (well, it SEEMS like a great deal) right now. $20.00 (plus 911 fees, registration, etc. - about $8) including 250 weekday minutes, free nights and weekends, plus unlimited Canadian long distance on weekends. This seems pretty darn sweet to me, except that you have to sign up for a 3 year contract.

But I will have a phone no matter what...and local telephone service, not including long distance, runs minimum $25.00/month plus 911 fees and services.

An added bonus (and the main reason I started looking at cell phone flyers in the first place) is that I can buy a RAZR phone for $99 if I sign a 3 year deal. The phones retail around $400. This is what Jenny wants for Christmas--and I can get my mom and my sister to pitch in for it. I.e. I will purchase a cheap phone for me, and the cheap RAZR, and we will collectively pay for both phones and give Jenny a kick-ass Christmas present.

Assuming I decide to cave to the gods of the cellular world. And I hate cell phones. We shall see...but I need to decide by Monday. So I think I"m on my way to the mall to compare plans with pushy salespersons.

My approach will be this--find the least likely sales person in the store. The pimply faced 18 year old kid who's working for spare cash on the weekends--and ak them what the best deal is. "If YOU were getting a phone, what's the best package you guys offer?" Most of them will be truthful. Heck, I always try to help people get the most bang for their buck at work. Sometimes they don't want what I'm offering, or are frightened by my suggestions, but I always know what the best deals ARE. I'm hoping some little electronics whiz will do me the same courtesy.

Cross your fingers, folks. I'm going in.

ay carumba!

Well--this has been a week and a half and it's only Thursday!

We had our visit on Tuesday--was supposed to be Monday, but...life happens. Monday the visit occurred in our Dartmouth store, and theirs did NOT go well. 10 pages of detailed 'fix-me-now-or-else!' notes. So Tuesday, everyone was a bit tense around the store. Generally, Dartmouth does better than we do on 'inspection'-type tours. We sell almost twice as much as them, but they're much prettier.

Our visit went incredibly well. One page of notes well! "Your store looked great--well done!" well!

But I was disappointed. I was hoping to meet with David while he was at the store. Other than a cursory "how are you today? Are you taking any vacation at Christmas?" chat...I didn't get any time with him. He was in meetings all afternoon after the tour, and he got called away quickly while I was on my supper break so I didn't get to catch him. Fwah!

The managers were all at meetings today and tomorrow, so perhaps Monday after I speak with my own store manager I'll give David a phone call to start a conversation about my future. I really would prefer to do it in person, as I'm much more articulate face-to-face, but I"ll have to take what I can get, I'm thinking.

I've been working mad hours this week, and I'm exhausted. I've pretty much just tumbled into bed every night this week when I've gotten home. I've PLANNED to post, I've come into the office to read blogs, and by the time I'm reading what all my personal faves have to gab about, I'm too tired to post.

Last Saturday I did a catering gig for Angela's folks--and I have to say I always have fun doing them. I've only done a couple, but they're a good time. It's something that is so removed from what I usually do these days, that it's a nice change of pace. And while I generally avoid getting trapped into the traditional role of caretaker/dishwasher/scullery maid, there's something fun about the camaraderie that evolves in a buy kitchen environment. It's something I really miss about the amusement parks, and the Food classes at school.

The catering gig is also a good time because it's a very easy want to make CASH. We generally get $12/hour, which is good for cash money. We were fast last weekend though. Lynn and I worked for just 2 hours on Saturday night and took home $30. We got extra because we hustled. :) This weekend I'm doing another one on Saturday, and it promises to be more hours--which is good. I can use the cash just before I head home for the holidays.

Sunday I went to the gym, and to Pete's Frootique. I managed to reign myself in at Pete's and not go too wild. I did, however, go a little crazy and spend $4.99 on Emeril's salad greens. A ridiculous price for bagged/boxd salad. However, it's lasted all week, and not a leaf has even begun to turn colour. And, I've been eating salad all week--which I normally don't do. I buy the bag salad, eat it for two days and have to throw out the rest because it's brown. I guess it's not been such a bad investment. And the box had enough greens to have salad every day for 5 days so far, and there's at least another 2 days in there if it doesn't rot...so...I guess I'll do it again. Some times it's nice to not have to feed other people...it makes it slightly easier to justify one's extravagances. (Why I feel the need to justify anything, let alone my salad buying, to a bunch of internet strangers is beyond me, but I do. I feel compelled. You compel me! Cut it out already!)

Monday, I went to work at 7 which was my regularly scheduled time. Then, the visit was delayed, so I worked through until 9 pm. Tuesday, I wasn't scheduled until 10:00 am, but with the visit happening in the morning, I wanted to be there early...so in I went at 7:00. I closed at 9:30 pm. Wednesday, 10-9:30 again. Tonight, 10-9:30. Who's a tired girl? Yep. Me.

So, again, sorry to abandon you all. I know you can't possibly survive without knowing how my sock choices are going...but, I'm doing the best I can. Okay, so I'm not. But humour me here, would ya?

Tomorrow (Friday) I work at 7:00 am again...but only until 5. We are supposed to be having Girl's Poker Night at Rochelle's house...$20 and you play until yo urun out of chips. Winner take all. I don't have the slightest clue how to play, so it should be fun. Except that I can't really afford to lose $20. So I'm going to play on spec with my catering money from Saturday night. :) It's still cheaper than a night at the bar, is how I look at it.

Saturday is to be spent cleaning my apartment! I'm a bit of a SHE, so I tend to get over-run by my own stuff at times. So this weekend is the Cleaning of Up. It's also the packing of stuff! :) And there will be 3 trips to the gym, one each of the next three days. I am committing to this right now...in front of witnesses. You ARE there, right? If you're not it would make welching on this commitment SO much easier...just so you know.

Monday, long day at 10-9:30 again...then meeting Tuesday at 6:00 am, work until 4, then hit the airport and be in Toronto by 9:00!! Wheee! :) It'll be a long day...but FUN! And I'll be on vacation by supper time, so who cares how long it is? :)

So that's my plan. And I WILL be back tomorrow night, so please don't worry that I"m going to abandon you again. I will quite likely post more often while I"m home for the holidays than I do now. Boredom being what it is, and all.

Have a Happy Thursday, folks.

Friday

So today was my day off, and I had big plans. I had a rather lengthy but attainable list of things I wanted to accomplish. I got a few of them done...but nowhere near even half of said list.

I managed to find, write, and send off the post-dated cheques to the last of the (loan-sharks) people I owe cash to. I also confirmed dates and purchased my plane ticket home for Christmas.

I spent over 4 hours at the mall, and only spent $30.00 (plus airfare--which deserves a capital A) so I was quite proud. Yet, proud as I was of my frugal ways, I was quite disappointed that I wasn't able to find anything really funky for Amy for Christmas. I have mum almost finished, but nothing for the sisters. I purchased a stamp for Grand Cayman--Jen will at least get a card. I hope.

Dad's getting fleece-lined jeans from Mark's Work Wearhouse. He spends a lot of time working outside in the freezing cold waiting for boats, so I figure that warm pants will go over well.

Monday we are expecting a visit from the man who decides if I get a store or not...so I'm planning to spend most of Sunday at the store fixing up my departments and running reports. I will have to cram a bit to make sure I have all the answers to any of the questions he might ask me. I am hoping to make some time with him to express again my desire for my own store. I want to know what i have to do better to make that happen. I really want to get a feeling for if it is ever going to happen with this company. I've spent enough time waiting for my future to arrive, it's time to do something about it. And I had determined that February was decision time, so I need to start collecting data. Cross your fingers, ladies and gentlemen.

My throat is incredibly sore, and has been for several days now. I've been eating clementines like there's no tomorrow, and drinking hot lemon and honey until I am sweetly puckered and incredibly well-hydrated. Neither thing seems to be accomplishing much. I slept for 12 hours last night/this morning...so that should help, I hope. I may have to break down and find a walk-in clinic this week if things don't get better.

I feel okay otherwise, but my glands are swollen andmy throat is SOOOO sore. I have no congestion, and no desire to cough, but my throat is feeling all phlegmy and I keep wanting to clear it...which makes it hurt even more. I'm afraid that if it lingers any longer, I'll find I have strep or some such ailment and will have to hit the meds while I'm home for vacation. Bleh. That'd mean an unfortunate lack of booze--and we can't have that!! I'm thinking this Christmas will have a high booze to days home ratio.

I hit Toronto at 7:30 pm Tuesday December 13th, and I"m home until the 26th at 8--so it should be a good long time. I'm hoping to be able to meet up with Chris one of those days...so if you have to hit a store someplace near T-dot around the 14th/15th? Let me know.

I'm off to bed to battle the evil throat nasties. Happy Weekend, boys and girls.