My New Toy
Well, Matt and I joined the gym this week, and I love it. I didn't think I missed working out, but apparently I did lol. My favourite thing to do is workout on the Eliptical, or Cross-Trainer. It's so much fun hehe. Although, not so much fun if you're not listening to music. You notice the time drag on a lot more lol. They have the radio playing but it's so quiet, and the radio pretty much sucks around here lately. Too much bad 80's rock...not my bag baby. Anyway, Matt and I have an mp3 player, but technically it's his, so I feel bad asking if I can use it lol. I don't want him getting bored either. Well, he let me use it on Saturday for my running, and the time flew by so fast! It makes it much more enjoyable. I had been thinking about buying my own mp3 player up to that point but I hadn't completely decided. Well, that solidified my decision. I was on the hunt from that moment on. I hit Future Shop this morning and found the one I wanted.
It's an MPIO 555 512MB. I looked at a 1G one, but I don't need one that big lol. It's really not a huge deal to delete songs and reload. It's so simple stupid to use that I can change my music whenever I want. I'm very anti-iPod, so that wasn't even a consideration for me. And the Future Shop guy agreed with me. The sales guy was actually very helpful! He asked me what I wanted it for, and he helped me pick one based on what I needed it for. He didn't steer me towards the most expensive, and he told me which ones to avoid. He was very good at his job lol. I didn't mind giving him his commission lol. So yeah, that's my new toy! Now I can't wait to hit the gym again!
My other favourite part of going to the gym? I've become quite keen on lifting weights lol. It's kind of fun, in a painful sort of way!! And the swimming at the end of my workout is like the triple-decker chocolate sundae on a hot summer day. It's my little reward for doing such a good job being good!!
Sara
-Who almost wants to go workout again...too bad her arms are so sore lol.
Songs of the moment...
Well, I went to see Curious George this week. It was outstanding, for a children's movie. They were so true to the o
riginal Curious George stories. They caputred the spirit of that adorable little monkey in the most amazing way. Even though the movie is computer animated, it's done in a classical animation style, and for me, that's key. I'm getting tired of the computer generated characters, it's nice to see the classical-style coming back. (Even if it is still done with computers).
Anyways, aside from the movie being the most adorable movie I've seen in my life, the soundtrack is too fabulous for words. LOL Okay, besides the fact that it's done by Jack Johnson and I'm a huge fan, for a children's CD it's phenomenal. There are only a couple of songs that are anywhere near "child-like". There are 5 songs in particular that I just can't stop listening to. They are as follows (and I'll post the lyrics to the one that is so simple and yet says so much):
1) Upside Down
2) Talk of the Town
3) Jungle Gym
4) Wrong Turn
5) With My Own Two Hands (with Ben Harper)
With My Own Two Hands
I can change the world
With my own two hands
Make it a better place
With my own two hands
Make it a kinder place
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can make peace on earth
With my own two hands
I can clean up the earth
With my own two hands
I can reach out to you
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I’m gonna make it a brighter place
With my own two hands
I’m gonna make it a safer place
With my own two hands
I’m gonna help the human race
With my own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
I can hold you
In my own two hands
I can comfort you
With my own two hands
But you got to use
Use your own two hands
Use your own
Use your own two hands
With our own
With our own two hands
With our own
With our own two hands
With my own
With my own two hands
It's such a simple song, but the style of the song and the combination of Jack Johnson's and Ben Harper's voices makes the song come alive.
Change of Plans?
Well, after talking to my mom and hearing all about how inexpensive their upcoming trip to Ireland is going to be, Matt and I are suddenly rethinking our honeymoon trip to Hawaii. We don't deny it would be fantastic to see Hawaii, but in reality we agree that financially we don't think we can pull it off. It's been a concern of ours since we decided that's where we'd like to go. We were talking about it last night, and just the flights alone to Hawaii are going to cost us a fortune, whereas flights to Ireland, for two return flights, would only cost us $1000 plus taxes and airport fees, etc. My mom said that her and my dad are getting their tickets for $1304 and some change. TOTAL...isn't that crazy?! Right now the cheapest flight I can find to Hawaii is $800 return per person. That's almost double what my parents are paying lol. It's certainly something to think about.
Other than the cost of the flight, my parents are renting the cutest little cottage in Ireland for 2 weeks, and it's only costing them just under $700! A COTTAGE!! Matt and I would be staying in a hotel room paying over at least $100 a night guaranteed it will be more, and we wouldn't be getting that much room, plus a yard, patio, incredible view of the Irish landscape. This is starting to sound better and better right? But wait, there's more!
My parents are also renting a car for the two weeks they're there. It's only going to cost them just over $400 for the whole two weeks, and they get unlimited kilometers! A Ccr rental isn't even something that Matt and I have taken into consideration for our trip yet. There are obviously different parts of Hawaii we'd like to see, and we'd like to see them on our own, not part of a tourist bus or anything. So there's another cost we hadn't thought about.
My mom sent me her itinerary and at first I didn't really pay close attention. I looked at it and got very excited for them, but it didn't occur to me just how inexpensive this trip really is in the grand scheme of things. Where our trip to Hawaii is going to cost us at least $3500 if not more and that doesn't include any sightseeing or touristy stuff, their trip to Ireland is going to cost them $2500 and they get to tour a large part of the island in that two weeks! And here's something else for us to cons
ider. When we go, we're likely not going for two weeks, we only plan on going for a week or maybe 9 or 10 days max. So that brings our cost down even lower. This itinerary my mom planned even works perfectly for us for cost because we'll be travelling at almost exactly the same time of year.
I think that Matt and I are definitely convinced that we'll go to Ireland instead. It's a place I've always been fascinated with and looking at pictures of it just always makes me feel so content and at peace. You wouldn't be able to wipe the smile from my face if I could actually go and see it. That's why I'm so excited for my mom!! She's wanted to see Ireland since she was a teenager but has never had the means or the time to do so. Now she does, so her and my dad are already paying for stuff and they're finally doing it! I can't wait for them to go, and I'm so thrilled for them!!! I can't wait to see all the pictures they take!
Sara
-Who's pretty sure Ireland will be the honeymoon destination.
Emerging from the ever growing mountains of snow....
Okay, so it WON'T STOP SNOWING!!!! I mean, really I have no right to complain. The first two months of winter were pretty good. We had really mild temperatures, it even rained some days, and we got very little snow. Even in January we managed to avoid the usual deep freeze we get. Well, apparently Mother Nature had a rude awakening prepared for us for February lol. In the last month we have gotten over 100cm of snow....yup, you read that right...over 1 M OF SNOW!!! And it shows no signs of stopping. It's currently snowing, as I type this out! The picture to your right is me standing beside a snow bank outside our building after one of the storms this month. Now, we've gotten about another 30 - 40 cm of snow since this picture was taken. Isn't that sick!? And we haven't even hit March yet!
Now, I have a tiny little bone to pick with Mother Nature. All winter I've managed to keep my dislike for winter to a bare minumum because it really hadn't been that bad. It was a tolerable amount of snow, a few nostril-sticking cold days here or there, but nothing I couldn't handle. February has been the month from frosty hell!!! I kid you not. There have been mornings where it was -33 degrees celsius BEFORE the windchill. Okay...that's the temperature issue taken care of. Now the snow issue. It can't come in small doses, no NO, that would be asking to much lol. Mother Nature feels compelled to hit us with copious amounts in the matter of 3 storms, strategically placed throughout the month. (Mostly on weekends, although the last one was a whopper last night). At the daycare I work at, the kids can't play at the play structure because there's too much snow. The snow is piled up almost as high as the fence. When you're walking on the snow you're almost completely level with the top the fence. And we're supposed to get about 20 more cm before the end of the weekend, 10 of which is supposed to fall tonight. I don't thinkI can say this enough, I'M SICK OF WINTER!! And this is the time of year when people are all starting to suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, so people are grumpy and moody and overall real joys to be around...myself included lol. When I see it snowing outside I just want to scream, and then I want to scream even louder when I take the car out because you can't see over the 8 - 10 foot snowbanks. And don't even get me STARTED on the stupid drivers in the city, who's brains (if they have any at all) seem to go to mush or freeze the second snow starts to fall. LOL Ahh the joys of living in Northern Ontario, where it's a miracle that there's any spring at all.
On that note, I bought myself a delightful little pot of Crocuses from the CNIB to put in my patio door. They're already starting to bloom. It's my little taste of spring to tide me over until the snow leaves. Which won't be for a while yet. *sighs* BUT, I keep myself semi-sane by reminding myself on a regular basis that with each day that passes we're one day closer to spring. :o) Whenever that might be lol.
Sara
-Who's trying to remember what it's like to go outside and not have her nostrils instantly freeze together.
Amelia's Adventure With Dust Bunnies
Amelia’s Adventure With Dust Bunnies
Amelia is a little girl with an active imagination. Amelia’s had adventures in the Arctic, in the rainforest, even with a dragon, but today Amelia isn’t feeling very adventurous. Today Amelia has to clean her room!
Amelia was looking forward to a Saturday morning of cartoons, sugary cereal, and playing outside. Amelia’s mom had other plans. Amelia’s mom said Amelia’s room was a pigsty and must be cleaned before she could do anything else. Amelia huffed while she sat in her room thinking that it didn’t look much like a pigsty at all. So what if there were socks all over the floor, pajamas hanging from her mirror and cheesie bags under the bed. Amelia liked it that way! But Amelia decided to clean it up if it meant she could go outside!
Amelia picked up a cheesie bag that was half under the bed. She tugged on it but couldn’t get it out. It must have been stuck on something. Amelia wondered what it could be. Maybe it was one of those Dust Bunnies her mom was always talking about. Amelia closed her eyes for a second to imagine what they looked like.
Suddenly, the room started spinning and twirling and spinning some more! When Amelia opened her eyes she was under her bed, except she was so little! Her bed looked huge!
As Amelia looked around she couldn’t believe her eyes! There was her favourite pair of slippers! There was the sucker she lost two weeks before! Amelia saw all sorts of stuff she thought she had lost forever! As Amelia looked around some more she heard a quiet snickering in the background.
Snicker, snicker.
Snort.
Chortle.Amelia squinted and looked into the dark corners. She thought she could see something moving…
Snicker, snicker."Ow! Don’t ye be pushin’!"
"I wasna pushin’! Stop yer yammerin’! She’ll ‘eer ya!"
Amelia took a step closer and listened for a moment.
"Hello?"
No answer.
"Who’s there?"
Still no answer.
"I can hear you, you know." Finally Amelia walked over to the dark corner. She saw a fluffy bunny that looked like it needed a bath…badly. It’s back was turned and it was facing a group of similarly dirty bunnies who were watching Amelia approach with wide eyes.
Amelia tapped the bunny on the shoulder. The bunny screamed, jumped, and turned around armed with one of Amelia’s dirty socks.
"Argh, why ye be doin’ that, lass? Ye almost scared the life outta me!"
"Sorry," said Amelia, "but I wanted to ask you who you were, and what you’re doing under my bed."
"Oh, we’re Dust Bunnies ‘o course! We live under all beds, or at least the dirty ones."
"Oh. But, how - ?"
"How do we get here? We move in ‘o course. Aye, we found this spot advertised in a paper." The Head Bunny pulled out a tattered newspaper ad and cleared his throat. "‘Nice, messy, very dusty and dirty. Cheesie eater, and sucker licker. Sock Monster comes free ‘o charge.’ Nice spot ye ‘ave ‘here!"
Amelia looked around "Sock Monster?"
"Oh, aye," replied the Head Bunny, "That there sock monster loves ter eat yer dirty socks. Sometimes 'e just collects 'em and sleeps in 'em, but mostly 'e likes ter eat 'em."
"But where is he?" asked Amelia.
The Head Bunny pointed to the other dark corner on the other side of the bed. Amelia squinted and took a close look. She saw something move and then step into the light. The Sock Monster was huge! As far as Sock Monsters were concerned. It looked somewhat like an elephant, but with short little ears. He definitely had the long trunk though. Amelia couldn't help but laugh a little at the pile of socks behind the Sock Monster.
"A sock monster, huh? I guess that's why I have so many mismatched socks."
"Yep," replied the Head Bunny, "The sock monster doesna really like ter eat more than one type 'o sock. He prefers a variety, he does." The Sock Monster nodded in agreement and wandered back into the dark corner.
Amelia watched the Sock Monster leave. She was stunned! Sock Monsters were real? Never mind that, Dust Bunnies were real! And they liked dirty rooms! But she had to clean her room.
"I’m sorry, but my mom said I have to clean my room"
"Aye, so clean. We’re alright under ‘ere."
"But, I have to clean under here too."
The Dust Bunnies all stopped. They’re ears fell, their whiskers twitched, and their eyes started to well up with tears.
"B-but ye canna clean ‘ere! Tis our home! There must be another way!"
Amelia was at a loss. How could she clean but still let the Dust Bunnies keep their home? They were kind of cute in a very filthy sort of way. And they did do a good job of eating her cheesie crumbs. Then suddenly Amelia had an idea.
She picked up a dirty sock and looked at the Bunnies.
"I have to clean my room, my mom said so. But I think I can help you stay here."
"Oh, aye? We’re listenin’."
"Well, I eat cheesies a lot, which you know. And I have a lot of mismatched socks -."
"Tha’s our sock monster. Loves yer dirty socks."
"Yeah, you mentioned that. Either way, he can't have the matching pairs, he can only have my mismatched ones. I need the good ones back."
Amelia heard a sigh from the other dark corner. After a few seconds it was raining socks. The Sock Monster was throwing all of Amelia's matching pairs of socks back at her.
Amelia picked up a sock, "Anyway, if you let me clean up, I promise I’ll leave all the dirt that’s in this dark corner. That way you can stay but my room still looks clean."
"Do ye promise to still eat yer cheesie things?" asked the Head Bunny.
"Of course, if you’ll help me clean," agreed Amelia.
The Dust Bunnies huddled together. As they huddled their ears rubbed together and created a huge cloud of dust. Finally the Head Bunny turned around.
"Okay. We agree to yer terms and we’ll help ye clean on one condition. We want two dark corners. For our Sock Monster 'o course."
Amelia smiled and picked up another sock. "Agreed. Now help me collect these socks."
Amelia and the Dust Bunnies worked together to clean. Amelia noticed the Dust Bunnies seemed to make her socks dirtier than they already were, but they were just going to get washed anyway. Eventually they got her room clean. That is, all except for two dark corners under her bed.
As Amelia picked up the last sock she looked at the Dust Bunnies. Their dark corners looked full of a lot more dirt than before they started cleaning. Amelia was going to say something but decided not to. At least her room still looked clean.
"Thank you, Dust Bunnies. You were a big help." Amelia smiled as she shook their hands. Amelia blew dust off her hands and looked at the Bunnies. "I have a gift for you." Amelia grabbed two mismatched socks and handed them to the Head Bunny. "I think you can use these more than me." The Head Bunny smiled and tossed the mismatched socks over to the Sock Monster.
"He gets right snarky if he doesna get enough socks ter eat."
Amelia smiled, and said thank you again. The Dust Bunnies cheered. As they cheered a huge puff of dust surrounded Amelia. Amelia closed her eyes and started coughing. As soon as she closed her eyes the room started spinning. Suddenly, Amelia opened her eyes and she was back sitting in the middle of her room, except now her room was clean! Amelia couldn’t help but start laughing.
Amelia’s mom heard the laughing and opened the door.
"What’s so funny, Amelia?"
"The Dust Bunnies helped me clean my room, mom. They promised to help if I kept two corners under my bed dirty for them. Once we were done I gave them two socks to give to the Sock Monster they have."
Amelia’s mom gave Amelia a funny look and shook her head, "You have an active imagination, sweetheart. How about some lunch?"
As Amelia was getting up from the floor there was a bumping and thumping sound under the bed, then a puff of dust billowed out from under it. Amelia’s mom looked from Amelia to the bed, to Amelia again.
"But -."
Amelia took her mom’s hand and lead her out of the room.
"Just an active imagination, mom. Let’s go have lunch."
The End.
Copyright Sara Janssen. February 2006. All Rights Reserved.
Google Comes Through!
Well, whoever said that Google was a waste of time was WRONG!! (Although I don't think anyone has ever said that! lol). Just for kicks this weekend I was searching names of people in my family and different friends. For some reason I decided to search the name of an old friend of mine from Sault Ste. Marie. Low and behold something came up! Only one google image came up with her name, and there was an email address as well. I wasn't going to email her, but I just couldn't resist. There was so way that I could do that search, find a picture (that looked so much like her it was scary!), and NOT email her. I'd constantly be wondering if it was her. So, I bit the bullet and fired off an email. Well, turns out it was her after all!! Now we're exchanging pictures and emails and catching up on all that lost time!
After my family moved from the Soo back in 1990, we rarely had a chance to talk to Berina and her family. We saw them a few times when we would be in the city, but eventually the ties were cut off and we lost contact. I never stopped thinking about them and what they were doing, but I didn't know how to find them. Well, Google showed me the way lol. Who'd have guessed?? So, it's fantastic to finally be able to talk to her after all this time. So much has happened in both our lives since the last time we spoke that it's going to take a long time to catch up, but it'll be a lot of fun :o)!! We're both very excited, and so's my mom!!!
On another note, today at work couldn't have been better! We had the municipal "inspector" there for a better part of the day watching our activities, routine, and just analyzing everything. I came into work at shortly after 8, not unlike what I normally do. I came in and saw that the kids were having a bit of a hard time today, and so were Cynthia and Luba (my co-workers). I decided to sit down with the kids and help out while my co-workers got the rest of the kids together. Apparently this really impressed the inspector. She wasn't aware that I wasn't supposed to start until 8:30, so when she mentioned me to my boss, my boss told her I wasn't actually supposed to start until a little later. Well, like I've said, the inspector was really impressed and so was my boss! So much so that even though I only worked an extra 10 or 15 minutes, she told me to claim an extra half hour lol. My supervisor came and told me all this while I was getting my kids ready to go outside. She also told me that the inspector was impressed with my abilities with the kids. She said that she could tell I had good control over them, and I did an excellent job.
Later in the day while I was on my lunch the inspector decided she had everything she needed and that she was going to leave. She got all the teachers together to compliment us in a job well done. She told us how much she enjoyed coming to centres where she got to give the workers good news. She told Cynthia and I how great a job we did, everything we did right, and added that she could tell we were naturals in the field and that we'd go a long way. We were both on cloud nine! But wait, it gets better!!!
After lunch we had a short 5 minute staff meeting. Nita (my boss) filled us in on the only three things that we needed to work on. In the grand scheme they were very insignificant so we weren't worried about them at all. Nita was very proud of the hard work we did. Then she revealed the REALLY good news. She told us that we would be receiving bonuses sometime in May. She explained that the government was giving extra money to non-profit daycares to compensate the workers. Well, normally we wouldn't be eligible because we're a "for-profit" daycare. But, our owner, Nita's husband, went to council and fought for us. He defended his position by saying that even though we're a for-profit daycare, we still deserve to be recognized for all the hardwork we do. Well, after a good deal of fighting he won!! Nita says they're not sure how much they're being given yet, but that once her husband has all the details worked out, we'll be receiving our bonuses, and that it should be sometime in May. Needless to say we were all very excited! Now there's one problem...there's a job posting on Job Bank for a fulltime daycare position at Laurentian Childcare (my old university).....to apply or not apply?? That is the question....
What a Day....
I thought this day was going to be fantastic! I got to work and we had so few kids because of the huge snow storm last night. It was going to be a really easy day, and I was right. So easy in fact that I got to go home early. I called Matt to let him know, because we were going home to Elliot for the weekend. I was thrilled. We could leave in the daylight and get to Elliot at a decent time. Apparently Fate had other ideas. We were driving down Douglas St on our way out of the city when a cab blatantly cut us off and rear-ended the vehicle in front of him. Matt stopped for obvious reasons (ie: an accident lol) We just finished commenting on that fender bender and coming to a stop when WHAM....we got rear-ended. I kid you not. We got out to see the damage and it wasn't huge, but it was significant enough that we need to get repairs. It turned out that the guy broke our brake light panel, right in the middle.
Once we exchanged insurance information with the guy I called my dad because he has amazing resources lol. My dad managed to track down a used rear brake light panel and a guy who would install it for us, all for just $75 plus labour. Then my dad said that he wanted to pay for it. We just breathed a huge sigh of relief. Even if my dad hadn't offered to pay for it we'd have been able to afford it. Admittedly it would have been a thorn in our side, but we could have managed. So that's been our day! However, despite everything that happened I'm still in a fantastic mood. It must have something to do with being home lol. Matt and I were so excited to leave Sudbury for the weekend. We just needed time away. I also got some more good news this week. I got approved for my interest relief application for my student loans, so I'm able to get 6 months of no payments and interest relief. The government will cover my interest payments for those 6 months. I was so excited. That saves us $300 a month. Now we're just waiting to hear if Matt's been approved.
So, now that I'm at home I'm happy. I'm tired but I'm happy hehe. Here's to a good weekend, and hopefully this is the last shocker Fate has in store for us.
Bruce Willis???
So what does it mean when you dream about Bruce Willis!? lol I had the most off the wall early-morning dream this morning. Me and my parents and my grandma and grandpa were hungry, and we went to go fo dinner. When we got to the "restaurant" it was Bruce Willis' house. EXCEPT his house was my grandparents' cottage with a few minor changes. Bruce invited us into his place for dinner and said we could have anything we wanted, but all he had was different seafood. I remember thinking Matt would have been thrilled, but I wasn't too excited. As we were walking up the boat launch (which isn't part of the old cottage) we got swarmed by bees. My grandpa got stung, we all ran into the cottage. Bruce said that if anyone's allergic there's stuff in the bathroom medicine cabinet to help. My grandps went into the bathroom (Mom, is he allergic???) and came out after a few minutes. I killed a half-dead hornet on the floor with Bruce's slipper. Just after I did that this whole huge Monty Python-style musical started!! I kid you not! There were women sitting on men's shoulders, and they were singing about wanting to be an egg, and fertilizers, etc. It was exceptionally dirty in a very innocent way lol. After the little diddy was over, my grandma was standing behind me, touched my shoulder and said that she had to use the bathroom. She goes into the bathroom, closes the door except I can see her from the knee down. And then I woke up.
LOL Man, dreams sure are interesting. They're good for a laugh if nothing else!!
Well, now don't I feel silly...
So after all my moaning and groaning and pissing and whining I decided to just have a quiet evening. I ran myself a nice bath, used some rose scented bath beads, Matt brought me my cd player and a relaxation CD, and I just relaxed in the bath for about half an hour. I got out, crawled into my jammies, lit some candles, made a chamomile tea and laid on the bed and watched tv for a little while. Matt came after a little while and watched tv with me, and low and behold I feel better. I don't feel excited or anything, but at least I don't feel so "Doom and Gloom" anymore. I don't deny that I'd still love to go home for the weekend, but I'll try not to let that bother me too much. And as far as Matt's employment situation goes, well there isn't much I can do about that except take things as they come and just support him every step of the way. It's hard enough on him not having a job, he doesn't need me being all down and depressed all the time because we can't find him a job. I need to focus more on getting by than on how hard it's going to be. I just have to learn to accept the fact that life sucks sometimes, and I just have to tough out the hard times. (Although the hard times can stop anytime now lol *nudges the universe in the ribs a little*).
*Imagining herself and Matt on a beach in Hawaii - ahhhhh won't it be grand??*
Moms
Life has been getting me down lately. It just seems like one giant struggle. And through all of that I have Matt keeping me propped up. I've been sick, and we've been trying to keep our heads above water, and all our hard work is finally paying off. Matt doesn't have a job yet, but at least we've managed to meet our obligations this month with a little btit of a buffer left. Yet I still feel the need to go home. It seems completely illogical, and I know that I can't really justify it, but I want to go home.
When life gets me down like this, it's mom that makes me feel better. Just the sound of her voice makes my world fall back into place. She just brings everything into focus. She's my sounding board and my advisor. She's able to think of things that I'm not because I'm too involved in the situation. In many ways my mom's my best friend. It's amazing the insight moms can give when it seems like there's no way out, no way to fix things. When I walk into my parents house it just feels like peace. It's so calm, and so peaceful. A wave of tranquility passes over me, and for a few days I forget about life and how crappy it is, and just enjoy the company of Matt and my family. I almost always get to see my grandpa, and of course there's always the snuggles with my Kirby-san. Nothing beats a good playfight and snuggle with the Kirbster.
Here's hoping I get to go home soon. I need a weekend away from the apartment and all the reminders of the ways life could be easier. I need Matt, my mom, my dad, and my Kirby-san for a weekend.
Sara
Okay...when does life get better?
No really, I'm serious. Matt's been trying so hard to get into policing and it just seems that no one wants to take him onto their force. He kills the prep tests when it's time, and he always really impresses them, but somehow it's just never enough! Now, I know I'm jumping to conclusions here, but man, it's hard not to. When he finished his second interview last week the interviewers told him that he would hear early this week whether or not he passed to the next phase of the application process. Well, it's Wednesday and still no word. I have a sinking feeling that he's going to be getting that oh-so-lovely letter in the mail saying "Thank you for your interest in the position of police constable. We regret to inform you.....blah blah blah." I'm so afraid that that's the news we're going to hear. And as far as job hunting goes for him, THERE'S NOTHING!!! The job market is disgusting!!! And money is tight....it's just so frustrating. Just when you start to get ahead and you think life is going to get on track, BAM...Fate hits you with another one. And I know, we haven't officially heard the verdict on the job with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, but with each day that passes it gets harder and harder to be positive and optimistic about it. I hope I'm wrong.
Sara
There!
I am no longer a copy cat lol. Bea, I thank you for showing me the way to the beautiful new templates. I decided to do a search on google and I found some great templates for blogger! Since Hawaii is a common theme with me lately I decided to use this one. Doesn't it just make you want to sit down with one of those cute little drinks with the umbrellas and just chill out?? So, after much frustration and headache yesterday trying to figure out why the link the template gave me wouldn't work, a stroke of genius struck me this morning at 7:00am. Of all the things to think about at 7am, I'm thinking about my freakin' blog template. (That and how stuffed up I was lol). Anyway, I realized I could host the image on my mom's website and use it that way. Sure enough it works!! I just have to let my mom know now! Once I got that figured out I fiddled with the colours and realized that the original colour scheme really worked best, although I'm not overly fussy about the link colours, I may change that yet. Let me know what you think!
Sara
- who's dreaming of being on a beach in Waikiki with her hunny and a mai-tai.
Here I Go...Copy Cat That I am...
Well, Bea changed the look of her blog, and when I saw it my jaw dropped! I didn't know that they had these cool options! So, right now I'm copy-catting her until I can find another cool one. Now I want to ask my mom how she got her blog background because it's gorgeous, but I'm not sure how she did it lol. I must remember to finally ask her.
Totally off topic, I'm listening to the Curious George soundtrack because I'm a HUGE Jack Johnson fan, and it's awesome :o). Mind you, Jack Johnson could probably sing me the alphabet song and I'd be exstatic. Actually I know I would be, seeing as how I work in child care lol. Anyway, I've had people accuse me of jumping on the Jack Johnson bandwagon because his recent release "In Between Dreams" is the one that made him huge, but alas, I love disappointing them when I tell them I've been hooked for a couple years now lol. I fully admit I haven't been a fan from the beginning, I had to be shown the light by a dear friend of mine, but the fact is, I was a fan before he really hit the radio waves lol. So there :oP.
So being part of this paranormal list has made me very curious to explore my psychic ability, if I have one. Too many strange things have happened in my life to not think I have some sort of "gift". Not so much with being able to "predict" or "sense things" with people, but more with communication with spirits on the other side. I've given myself a new task. I found an excellent meditation geared towards contacting your spirit guide. I don't expect it will work right away, it's something I'm going to have to work at and practice, but I'm very excited to meet my spirit guide and to learn from them. Who knows, maybe they'll be able to help me enhance my ability to speak to the other side. That would be cool. And very helpful!! At least then I wouldn't feel like a clueless shmuck when spirits contact me and I can't help them because I can't figure out what they're trying to tell me! So, I'll keep you posted on that.
As far as the manifestation board goes, matt and I chose fairly long-term desires. Or, they didn't seem long term at the time, but due to the fact that the Sudbury Police Service can only interview and work so quickly, it's becoming long term lol. I was disappointed because I hadn't been given any news on any financial changes, and Matt hasn't heard much about jobs, other than his interviews with the police. I was about to get discouraged with the manifestation board when I realized that things were going well, they were just going slowly. I've been given news that the government has received my request for changes to my tax returns for the last few years, which could give us more money, and Matt has been getting feedback on his interviews. So now that I've realized those things are working, I'm realizing I should have put health on there for me! I've been so sick lately!!! And it's just happening so consistently that I swear there are dark forces at work determined to make me miserable lol. I've told matt that once I get over this last flu and cold, I'm gonna go postal on the next person who feels the need to share their germs with me! I'm armed with chewable vitamin C, extra-strength echinacae, and anti-bacterial Purel for work. I'm going to use it constantly!! I am determined to stay healthy for longer than a week! So let it be known here and now that I, Sara, refuse to be sick ANYMORE!!!!
Sara
List Madness!!!
Alrighty, so my friend Bea had this on her Blog and I thought instead of just replying to it on her comments page I'd actually post my answers on my blog.
1. What are your 4 favorite smells?
- Matt's deoderant (I kid you not, I melt over the smell lol)
- Home baked ANYTHING
- Laundry (but especially Gain detergent, and Jasmine Waterlily fabric softener)
- Lumber
2. Where were you born?
- Sault Ste. Marie, ON
3. Do you like vanilla or chocolate?
- That depends. I'm currently munching on chocolate chips to make me feel better, but I prefer vanilla ice cream.
4. Name music that makes you frisky?
- In general? Swing music gets the booty shakin', but if it comes to good 'ole lovin', I can't resist cool jazz like Mr. Buble, or mellow bouncy stuff like Jack Johnson.
5.What is your favorite breakfast food?
- Blueberry waffles with maple syrup (homemade of course), Pancakes, or eggs benedict. I'm a breakfast food freak lol. Favourite meal of the day.
6. You is your favorite writer?
- Man, you asked an English graduate this question?? I mean I read everything from children's books to suspense, to fantasy. So, for children's authors I am a huge fan of Robert Munsch, and David Shannon, as well as J.K Rowling and Cornelia Funke. For Fantasy I adore Glen Cook and Terry Pratchett. There is one Canadian author I love, and that's Michael Ondaatje. He's the man who wrote the English Patient, but his novel "In The Skin of a Lion" is outstanding. A definite read if you ask me.
7. What is your favorite book?
-Again, why are you making me do this!?! Harry Potter series (with the exception of possibly Book #5, I didn't like that one), Hogfather - Terry Pratchett, Inkheart - Cornelia Funke, In The Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondaatje, The Black Company series - Glen Cook, Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde, Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner - James Hogg. The list could go on and on lol.
8. What are 4 of your favorite films?
- "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" the original and the new one.
- "Moulin Rouge"
- "Lords of the Rings" trilogy does that count as 1 or 3??
9. 3 Things you like about your job?
- The kids
- The things kids say
- Singing songs
10. Name 2 of your biggest flaws.
- Sometimes I let things get to me too easily.
- I find it easier to be negative than to be positive.
11. Name 4 things you're thankful for
- Matt
- My family
- right now, chocolate
- My friends
12. What is your favorite food?
-Right now? Chocolate lol, but usually anything fruit....pineapple, strawberries, kiwis, apples....etc
13. Do you prefer cats or dogs?
-Cats if they're in other people's houses, but I love doggies.
14. What kind of car do you drive?
-1994 Buick Century, pale blue.
15. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?- Married, hopefully with 1 baby already, hopefully in a house, Matt working for the Sudbury police, and me working casual part time for my favourite daycare.
16. Name a celebrity that you're tired of hearing about:
-Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Brad and Angelina, Jennifer Aniston, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Oprah, the list goes on.
17. Name one actor you admire and another that you dislike:
- One actor I admire is Donald Sutherland. He brings a touch of class to every role he plays, his voice is like silk, and no matter what role he plays he outshines everyone else on the screen.
- One actor I dislike is Tom Cruise. He's whinny, not even that good looking. he's cocky, arrogant, and I'm just plain sick and tired of his mug being on the bigscreen.
18. Name a goal that you have for yourself this year.
- To be able to save enough money so that Matt and I can afford to get married AND go on our honeymoon in May 2007.
19. If you could change one thing in history, what would it be?
- Honestly, it's a very generalized issue: I would change people's "beliefs" about there being only one true religion and that every other religion is wrong.
20. What would be your dream career?
- Professional artist, or children's author.
