One More Month of Freedom!

Hello Everyone,

lol

I'll have to tease Jerry tonight.

We had our 3.5 year dating anniversary last night so I got to eat ice-cream in bed. I was tied up finishing my school assignment that I didn't realize we were missing ice-cream until I was already in my pjs.

We had some excitement at our house yesterday. Someone set fire to Keith's old truck in the alleyway. The fire department thinks it was the arsonist who's been setting garages on fire. They figure he couldn't get into the garage so the truck was the next best thing. Keith was planning to donate it anyways so there wasn't much value lost. Just the inside of the cab damaged. All the tools in the back were safe and no damage to anything outside. Luckily a neighbour saw the truck smoldering and the fire truck was only a few blocks away.

I'm a little over half done my school course. Still haven't learned anything amazing yet. I chatted with Jerry last night and he's willing to support me getting my BA in management once I'm done my certificate (which should be completed spring 2013). The extra courses will take 5-6 years. But as long as work is willing to pay for it...

Have a great day!

A good week

Hello Everyone,

So, school is coming along, which has meant some computer-filled, Jerry ignored evenings. But he's very understand and has been very helpful. Last night I had him holepunching some wedding stuff and tying ribbons. It was very cute.

I should be done my Excel tonight, which puts me ahead of schedule and will give me extra time for PowerPoint and Access. I'm glad for this as I rarely use PowerPoint and I haven't used Access in almost 4 years.

I got my mark from my payroll final exam - 74, which is a couple marks higher than I predicted but was still in the range I was expecting. I really do prefer when they set out the marking scheme right on the exam so there are no surprises. I haven't decided on my next class yet but I'm looking toward something not computers. There's a one week (intense) benefits course I want to take in June so I'll need to put my request in shortly for the time off. And in the meanwhile, have another course going on since Athabasca gives you six months to complete one course. Plenty of flexible time.

Had an overdose of girliness on the weekend. Was very glad when Jerry got home tp bring balance back into my life. They were off snowboarding for the weekend and a friend of mine wanted to make sure I wasn't lonely. So, we saw Burlesque on Saturday - enjoyed it, quite fluffy and predictable but was better than my expectations. On Sunday we went to Bridal Fantasy show. Crazy over the top stuff with a castle themed fashion show - complete with story line of dancing peasants and fairies.

I think Jerry'll be home this weekend as snow conditions are unpleasant. We'll do wedding stuff I think.

Have a great day!

i miss coffee

Hello Everyone!

So, I picked up Martha's wedding magazine last week and she had some bride preparations tips (diet, exercise, stress management etc). One of the tips was cutting your coffee intake to 3/week and subsituting it with green tea.

I only drink one regular travel coffee sized cup (about 2.5 cups on the coffee maker) during the week day. And that's throughout the day.

But I decided to take Martha's advice and went one step further. No more coffee until the wedding. Apparently the green tea has some stupid antioxidants and other healthy crap in it.

So Jerry's now making me jasmine green tea in the morning. I bring the tea bag with me so I can drink as much as I like at work.

i miss my honey sweetened coffee.

i'm spoiled.

(oh, and the tea is rather lovely. I've also found I'm not as hungry throughout the day too - added bonus. i'm just complaining about something I can't have.)

Have a great day!

Happy Wednesday!

Hello Everyone,

My small piece of lasagna looks rather sad on my plate but it's my own fault - too many sweets at Christmas means small meat/cheese portions and lots of fruits and veggies. It's good lasagna though - first time I made it from scratch. I followed the recipe on the whole wheat lasagna noodles box.

I tried on my dress on the weekend to make sure it still fit. It does (with some crazy acrobats getting the zipper up now) so all I need to do now is tone up my upper back and shoulders. And it turns out I was putting my veil in my hair wrong. I experimented by putting it on the side and having the veil go sideways over my hair and it looks so much better. My test hair appointment is at the end of the month so I'll bring everything in and have them photograph it.

I'm getting rather excited - a month and a day before we fly out.

The last big thing is the marriage contract (new phrase for pre-nup). I've ordered a kit so we can write one up. Although neither of us really has anything and we're heading into this marriage as equals, Jerry's a business owner. He felt so afraid to ask me for one (his lawyer clients advised him to get one) so I shocked him when I told him I was going to ask for one anyways. Mostly for him since it keeps his business stuff out of our marriage. You don't have to go to a lawyer - just have a couple witnesses sign. And I've told him I want a clause that if there are any children, the contract is void and a new one is drawn up. Kids brings in a whole bunch of other stuff. We just need a super basic one. And I picked up a will kit too since your will becomes void when you get married.

Did lots of tidying around the house on the weekend as the boys were down playing in powder. They told me it was the best conditions in several years and had a lot of fun.

I have my Office Applications exam booked for the day before we leave. Definitely put me on a schedule. I'm a quarter done now and I don't anticipate any issues as long as I remain focused. Picked up a couple things in the Word chapter but I don't see a lot of the info being useful for what I use Office for. This would have been a lot more useful 2 years ago when we switched to a Microsoft based payroll system, with most of the data entry done using Excel.

Whiskers was running around the house last night and seemed to have a lot of fun. We had to shut Mike's door so he was a bit confused and then she chased him down the hall. She eventually hopped back up on the couch and I gave her a cuddle before putting her back in her home.

This weekend I think I'm going to see Burlesque at the cheap theatre with a friend, do wedding stuff and homework. I think I'm losing the guys again. It's amazing how much stuff I can get done without them. Cleaning can be a challenge because Jerry tends to get distracted by side jobs he discovers mid-cleaning. But at least he helps with cleaning and is much better at certain tasks than I am.

Have a great day!

Yummy food

Hello Everyone,

From December 31 to January 2, I managed to eat the following tasty animals:

duck
lamb
pig
bison
deer
elk
chicken

We had Chinese for New Years eve and headed out to Banff Saturday morning. A very relaxing weekend. Went to Sunshine on Sunday. Rather sore today. A bit cold in the morning but it was a nice afternoon.

Now we're back and putting away the Christmas decorations. We're reorganizing the livingroom after a major purchase - a flat screen tv we got an amazing deal on. It fits on the fireplace mantle (fireplace doesn't work) so we've eliminated a crazy fat tv and a table. I'll be glad to get the livingroom put together so I can start working on the other rooms again. It seems that just as one room gets to the point that I'm happy with, another room needs to be decluttered, mega cleaned and reorganized.

I'm coming down with a cold so I've mixed my apple cinnamon flavoured Neocitran with hot chocolate. It tastes pretty good with marshmallows. The straight apple cinnamon tastes like ****.

Have a great day!

New Lipstick

Hello Everyone,

So, I was cosmetics shopping with a friend and found the most wonderful shade of lipstick. It's L'Oreal Colour Riche 301 - Real Red.

You know how sometimes red lipstick can be a bit too orange? Or they're a tacky fushia red? Well, this is a rich red, leaning toward a cherry tone.

And I picked it up at Murale, which is a branch of Shopper's Drug Mart for only $12.49.

So I had to share.

Because I think it would look pretty on everyone.

Have a great day!

A Good Tuesday

Hello Everyone,

The payroll is looking good so it's not been the stressful week that I imagined. Took it easy on the weekend. Watched Knight and Day - the Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz "spy thriller". It was hilarious! So, I now understand why it was trashed so badly. If you were expecting an actual spy thriller, it was terrible. If you saw how much they were making fun of spy thriller movies, it was very well done.

Got my Christmas (now "winter" since they'll be too late for Christmas) letters printed off so they'll be dropped off at the post office tomorrow. They should arrive sometime in January.

I have my Christmas baking left to do. I'm not doing much this year so a good chunk will be done tonight and the rest over the next few days. Everything else is done and this'll be the first Christmas in years that I'm not stressed about presents/travel/work/lack of sleep.

Have a great day!

sigh of contentment

Hello Everyone,

So I just sent off the last bit of information to the resort for the wedding. Bouquet, cake, breakfast etc confirmed. And made the final resort payment yesterday. I giggled when I got off the phone and a big weight lifted from my shoulders. Now, anything extra is just that - extras we want but are not mandatory.

And so I updated my to-do spreadsheet and it's looking very reasonable. No craziness of busy wedding stuff like I see on tv. The spreadsheet has 3 columns - Karen, Jerry and Both. Jerry only has a few things on his - mostly paperwork. I have the most but it's all very manageable and things I enjoy doing.

And for anyone curious, the final decision on my future name. And this was the closest we came to an argument. Professional and in the eyes of the government, I will remain "Halliday". Socially I will be "Hoult". I will change my driver's license to "Halliday Hoult". In Canada, taking a married name is not a legal name change so if I change my mind in the future, I don't have to do any major paperwork. I'll use my Halliday name at one bank and Hoult at the other. That way, if someone writes me a cheque, I can still cash it :-) Jerry was hoping I would take his name but when I explain all the issues (SIN, pension, work logins/e-mail, certificates etc), he understood where I was coming from. I don't think he really understood my initial hang-up of me suddenly losing my identity. So, a different approach was needed. We're both content with the solution.

Oh, and I tried on my dress and it fits just like I wanted now. It's back in the box, hiding in the closet. Jerry's been worried that he'll accidently see it but I've been reassuring him that it's super obvious. After all, it a huge box - about 2'x3' and says "David's Bridal" in big writing across the front. And it's behind my storage unit on my side of the closet. Once I have it packed, I'll bring out the box so we can laugh.

Jerry's off to the mountains this weekend. I'm not sure if it's just for 1 day or all weekend. It'll give me a chance to get things done around the house before Christmas. And have a proper de-stress weekend. I'm very much looking forward to a long soak in a bubble bath.

We had a lovely few days of warm weather (averaging around 0ish) but the cooler weather is back to the minus teens.

So, I'm content. Life is good. Have a great day!

Satisfied with Exam

Hello Everyone,

I did my exam last night and feel confident enough to say I passed. It takes about 6 weeks to get the results. But we knew the marking scheme of each question and I had more than enough solid answers to pass. I'm guessing my mark around 72-75 but if they want to be tough, it could go as low as 67. And since 60 is a pass, that's good enough for me. I'm not one of those people who tries to get the highest mark - I'm not that good at exams and I don't think the stress level is worth it for this type of course (balanced against work).

So now I get to focus on my computer course (Microsoft Office applications) and Spanish (Rosetta Stone). I hope to have the computer course done by the time we leave for Mexico (68 days!)and I'll have a better idea if this is realistic by the end of the month.

And I just found out my final payroll course I need will be offered on line next fall. Which means no more dealing with transit to get to Mount Royal University! That should get me my Certified Payroll Manager designation mid 2012. And yes, I use this blog to help keep me on track with my schooling.

Oh, and we've changed the first part of our Mexican adventure. We were originally heading to Tulum when we arrived to stay at the nature park there. I worked out the logistics and it would be a bit messy. We're now going to Merida, the capital of the area. Jerry had mentioned a couple times about the place, I checked it out, and both of us think it would be a better introduction to the Yucatan. I'm hoping to take a cooking class while we're there. And our hostel is right on a plaza in the old quarter. And very good bus connections between there and Cancun.

That's about it for now. Christmas will be my next focus and I'm still aiming to get our Christmas letters out before the day. Now, that's not saying they'll be at your homes by then...

Have a great day!

Rice Cooker Pot Roast

Hello Everyone,

Yes, you can make pot roast in a rice cooker
...and it tastes pretty good.

I found though after hour 2 you may want to flip your meat. It got a bit caramelly on the bottom but not burnt.

On another note, I finished my cue cards questions to prepare for my exam on Monday. Tonight I'll start on my exam sheet - a one page cram sheet that I'll need to re-produce by memory so I can remember everything. It seems to work for me. Then, once I get my exam, before I open it and panic, I write my cram sheet on the spare paper, take a breath, and then look at what I need to do.

Today is our work lunch Christmas party and Jerry's work Christmas party is on Saturday. We're having some of his co-workers from Edmonton staying with us for the weekend and I warned him I cannot play host. I'll be in our room studying, only coming out for caffeine and cuddles with the furry family.

But soon it will be over and my goal is the required 60%. I'm not one of those people aiming for perfect. I'm looking for a reasonable result, since most of this material should be referenced rather than memorized.

Have a great day!

A clear winner

Hello Everyone,

So we ate some fruit cake on the weekend and Jerry's favourite was 2. Just like everyone elses. Grandma Armstrong wins! It actually tastes good and was the easiest to make.

I ordered the little boxes for it to go in this week. They're called a double truffle box and I got them online. Most of the boxes I've seen were square, which wouldn't work since the cake is just over 2" tall. These boxes will fit a 1" piece quite nicely.

We also ordered a horribly tacky cake knife and serving set. I think there will be a cake cutting at the reception but I couldn't justify spending a lot of money on these items. Most of them were impractible (bows to get stuck in icing, heart shaped servers that won't slide a piece of cake very well). So, on the same website where I got the boxes, I was able to order From Fashioncraft’s exclusive Finishing Touches Collection, the 13” long knife and 10 ½” server both have stainless steel tops (blade and server) and white poly resin handles with dipped beaded design tops, elegant carved seashells and starfish, a faux pearl accent, a sea foam blue wave design at the tip and blue rhinestones sprinkled throughout. Truly one for the ages, each beach themed wedding cake knife and server set comes delightfully packaged in a white with ivory seashell design gift box with a clear acetate window front for beautiful display and storage. I giggled when I saw it and Jerry agreed that everything we saw looked pretty bad and he enjoyed my giggling.

I also went to a seamstress last night concerning my dress. Although my dress fit from the waist down, there had been something bothering me about the top. I had bought my undergarments earlier in the week and was ready to see what was wrong. She pinned a few things and I lost 15 pounds caused by fabric drape. Once she was done, I got back up on the round stand and almost burst into tears because the dress looked so pretty. I pick it up in two weeks. I'm not concerned about having it done so early because a) I needed the reassurance that the dress would look right and b) even though I'm working out to get toned up, the areas that's she's bringing in won't be affected, or at least not enough to make a noticeable difference when it comes to the fit c) if something happens to the dress - slip in crazy road crap filled puddle and soaks the dress - I still have enough time to order a new one.

The design for the wishing tree is coming along so now it's just a matter of pulling the branches out of the pile in the alley and getting the tags ready. I'll probably do that this month so it's one less thing on my to-do list.

Overall, wedding plans are coming along nicely. No major deadlines or stressful things to worry about. More just fun things to deal with.

80 days left according to the registry!

A break in the weather

Hello Everyone,

The weather changed overnight, which meant almost a 15C temperature change between yesterday and today. I'm happy though, as that frigid weather was very draining.

No Banff this weekend after all. Jerry's folks don't have their winter tires on yet and his Mom fell yesterday on the ice outside their house and broke her arm. They're staying with Jerry's brother and sister (yes - this is correct. They're Jerry's half siblings so neither are blood related to each other) recovering.

So, the weekend will be busy with Christmas preparations. Final big tidy before we decorate and this'll be the last weekend I have Jerry as the mountains are calling.

Have a great day!

Brrrrrr

Hello Everyone,

So an Arctic front moved in last Monday night and it's been -20 ever since. It should break on Thursday night but it's made for some challenging times. Jerry got his winter bike built up on Wednesday. I wore snowpants today (last week it was other layers)and we need to get the plastic up on the windows. Our home is very leaky. Even the walls radiate cold. As a plus though, Jerry was out snowboarding on Saturday and he enjoyed himself.

Things are quiet with me. Big school assignment due next week. Course done in a month and I will be very glad for it. Most of my Christmas shopping done and I'll start planning my Christmas baking.

This weekend I'm taking my future mil to Banff with my friend Lara. Jerry'll spend the weekend with his Dad. We're heading up after lunch on Saturday and back around the same time on Sunday. Jerry's in charge of American Thanksgiving to be served Sunday night. The Christmas lights get to be turned on on Sunday. Yippee!!!

Have a great day!

Willie

Hello Everyone,

We have a new addition to the household - Willie. Willie is our xbox Kinect. Jerry adopted him on Saturday.

I've actually had a lot of fun with Willie. I'm not a video game person so I think xbox designed Kinect for someone like me. In my non-technical jargon, it's like a video camera that scans you, figures out how far away you are and then puts your image on the tv screen. Last night I was doing the work-out game. The scan was rather unflattering but realistic to what my body shape actually is. When you wave to Willie, your image waves too. I had a lot of fun with the work outs and the games they had. I was playing the adventure game on Saturday where if you flap your arms, you can fly and pop bubbles.

Jerry told me he bought the Kinect for me. His "reasoning" - so I could work out without going to the gym. lol - he's been eyeing up both this and the wii for a year or so. And with the xbox, he can still play his shoot the aliens and decapitate the orcs with a sword games.

Have a great day!

brunette

Hello Everyone,

I'm back to a brunette. I had some red in my hair for the summer but it's grown out and I re-dyed it last night. The red dye was a semi-permanent (1 month)but the colour stuck around like a permanent so I had to go permanent this time. The brown's a bit darker than my natural colour but it's rather pretty.

Made some apple liqueur last night. 1 batch with Macs, 1/2 batch with a Mac/Gala mix, 1/2 batch Gala. We're testing to see the impact of the sweetness of the apple. Last year we did it with crabapples but we got busy when the apples fell and they rotted on us. We'll know in a little over a month if it turned out.

I have tomorrow off work so I'll watch the Remembrance Day observances on tv. Jerry'll be on stand-by as some of the offices downtown will stay open and they move the day off to Friday. I get very upset when they do this (some did it last year too) because they treat it like a long weekend rather than a day to remember the sacrifices our armed forces have made over the years.

Have a great day!

Mike Halliday - Hunter Kitty

Hello Everyone,

It was quite the excitement in our household last night after class. I was tidying up when I heard a yowl from Mike. It was the yowl he does when he needs to you come right away.

And there, right in the front hallway was Mike and his prize.

A cute baby mouse.

Quite dead.

And he was very proud of his new toy.

So I petted him and told him what a wonderful hunter kitty he was and then grabbed the phone to call Jerry to find out what I should do.

Jerry told me to leave the mouse and he'd take care of it when he got home. My brave fiance - taking care of icky stuff.

Mike carried that poor mouse all over the upstairs - dropping it in the hallway, livingroom, dining room, back to the hallway. After about 15 minutes, he got tired of playing with it and went back downstairs. When I went to bed, it was on the diningroom floor and Mike was eating his dinner.

When Jerry got home about 5 minutes later, the mouse was no longer where I saw it at bedtime. We did a bit of a search and found it in another place in the diningroom - missing its head. Jerry warned me so I didn't see the poor little mouse. And Mike looking very proud.

Jerry got rid of the mouse.

So, we have no idea where the mouse came from. Mike could have caught it outside earlier that evening and snuck it in. It may have come from downstairs. Mike has been spending an unusual amount of time down there so maybe he found something. But there are no signs of mice - no droppings, grease marks, holes etc.

I'm just shocked that Mike finally knew what to do with a mouse.

So he's our brave Hunter Kitty.

Have a great day!

107 days

Hello Everyone,

The Bay really knows how to freak engaged couples. When you go to the website, there's a countdown to the wedding. I'll admit the first time I saw it, I pannicked a bit. Now I giggle. So, any time I print it off, I black out the countdown for Jerry. lol

I haven't done a wedding update in a while so here goes...

Dress - fits lovely
Veil - check
Shoes - check (and comfy)
Jewelry - check

Jerry's clothes - no idea. I told him he's on his own and I don't want to know what he's wearing until I see him with the JP. Athough I had a couple requests: no shorts (but capris were fine), no crazy ruffle shirt with tuxedo, and I would still marry him in a speedo (but would have a hard time keeping a straight face saying my vows).

Rings - check. I was initially going to use my green engagement ring as a proxy ring until we chose something together. But I love my karma ring. Once I'm married, I'll tuck it away and wear my wedding ring. I was going to get a ring & band but didn't quite like the look of it. I love my ring and Jerry's band has the same finish as mine.

Hair - growing. It's coming into the bob I wanted and I'll get about another inch. Pretty sure on the style and will do a dry run with my hairdresser to get photos. Will have my hair done at the salon down there

Make-up - will do myself. I like a natural look and I find make-up stylists use too much mascara. When you're getting married at 1pm, you don't want crazy caked make-up. And I'll do my own nails.

Bouquet - check
Cake - flavours narrowed down but no decision yet
Boutineer - Jerry hasn't picked one yet

Paperwork - Got my passport (looks like I'm going to murder someone) but Jerry still needs to get his. All paperwork set up in Mexico. My vaccines are up to date and Jerry's looking into his.

Vacation - hotels/resorts booked

Language - lol We picked up Rosetta Stone and are slowly coming along. Most of the people we'll be dealing with speak English and the JP will be bilingual.

Vows - have asked for a copy from the wedding planner to look over

Budget - On track

Name - Had a few arguments on this one but we compromised. I'll keep Halliday professionally. And in public I'll be Karen Halliday Hoult. No hyphen. But I'll change my driver's license. Jerry wanted me to completely change my name but I explained some of the complications (SIN, pension & government issues, business accounts/passwords etc) on top of my own preference. Rather than give up my indentity as a Halliday, I wanted to embrace both families.

So, when we get back, Jerry's family wants to host a reception for us. They also want to have a bridal shower for me. Their initial plans were to have the shower on Boxing Day and the reception on Easter weekend. And yes, you can laugh. There was reasoning behind this. We wouldn't have the extra cost of renting a car and most family members are in the Lethbridge area anyways.

We got the shower changed to the end of January and the reception to the end of March. I was hoping for an informal afternoon get-together (like a tea social) but no luck - they were super excited for a full blown reception. It's been almost 20 years since the last wedding in their family and Jerry's the youngest. So, it can be a bit to reign in their enthusiasm (although it's very sweet). As it stands, Jerry's mom asked us for wording of the reception invitations and we found something we like that calls it a party rather than reception. Less formal and more fun sounding. A couple hours socializing, dinner and then dancing.

We'll do a wish tree rather than a guest book. It's a dutch tradition and basically you create a "tree" and people hang notes on it with wishes for the couple. We have some great branches from my lilac butchering this year and some stones from Ontario to put in a vase for a base. I've seen some online and it looks rather pretty.

Fruit cake tasting (hopefully) this weekend. 3 cakes to try and we'll decide on which will work best for the favours. We'll have a real cake at the party for dessert. Dinner we're looking at beef on a bun (to avoid cold lumpy potatoes, overcooked dry meat and tasteless soggy vegetables).

I think on the table we'll have trivia cards with photos of us. I won't know many people and Jerry hasn't seen some of them in several years. That way people can get to know us in a fun way. For example, if you look at our initials, Jerry's are JLH and mine are KLH. I find it funny I won't need to change my monogram. As well, there may be some clay flowerpots with flower seed packets in them. Nothing decided yet. I don't like a cluttered table personally. And I think we're looking at 60-80 people.

We're still planning to have a Mexican fiesta at our place when we get back but I think it'll be pretty laid back. Just friends of ours that we can show photos and socialize. We've got a small home and the weather will be unpredictable. And in all honesty, I wouldn't want a big crowd. Maybe a come-and-go afternoon with snacks and drinks.

So I think that's it for now. Our registry is done except for an item they're having problems adding. We found a beautiful leather sofa and we don't expect someone to buy it for us. If you put it on your registery and buy it within 1 year of your wedding date, you automatically get 10% off. And if you get a Bay card at the same time, another 10% off. And for newlyweds they offer a couple payment options over a two year span. Which when you encompass the discounts, is the reason why we're adding it to the registry.

I don't need to make any more major decisions until the beginning of January, which is when we confirm the flowers, cake, extras with the resort. So, it's a matter of relaxing and making payments.

Have a great day!

The Circus

Hello Everyone,

Jerry & I went to Cirque du Soleil on Friday night (date night!) to see Kooza. First time seeing them live. It was amazing! They had it in a big tent (just like circuses - circi ?) should be. We got 40% off tickets since they're closing in a couple days and I was a bit worried about our seats. Second last row, along the side. But, with the small venue we could see everything, really well. Very exciting, great costumes & music and overall a fabulous time. If you have an opportunity to see them in their travelling show, go for it. It's worth the money.

A cool weekend. Chance of snow. Spent the afternoon yesterday with a friend hanging out on 17th Ave. Interesting shops and a relaxing day. Today I finish my school presentation and report - Legistlative changes to ROEs. It may sound like dry material but within my company, I was the major implementor when major changes were brought in last year.

And we're having turkey for dinner tonight. I really like the Butterball stuffed turkey breasts. Nice portion size - enough for us and a meal of leftovers and very delicious.

Have a great day!

Satisfying

Hello everyone,

My afternoon. Most of the time phone calls I get from employees are "How much was my pay cheque?" (check your bank account - I wish I was allowed to say that), "My pay cheque is wrong." (supervisor entered wrong hours/rate of pay) etc. And it can get frustrating.

And then there are afternoons like this.

Phone call 1 was from an employee that wanted to go over a few things. Then he wanted to talk. We recently had an employee die in a car accident and he wanted to know if there were children. If so, he wanted to start up a fund for them. Couldn't release this info (privacy act) but I recommended he ask around unofficially. This was coming from a guy who's had a pretty rough go at life. Long time employee, in jail for a few year. Within a couple days of returning to work for us, he was on the phone with me letting me know he pays family maintenance. One of the few responsible guys who use the system to make sure his kids are taken care of properly. The call restored my faith in the goodness of our often rough & gruff employees.

Phone call 2 flabergasted me. Someone actually wanted a step-by-step breakdown of his pay and how pay cheques were calculated. What were statutory deductions (complete with each of their purpose and the %), regular & OT calculations, group insurance (health benefits) etc. And then he wanted to know about my education. So, told him about my certifications and my current progress. So then he wanted to know about my experience with Athabasca because he was considering them. Just a super friendly, curious employee who is using his time at the rig to make some money and get out quickly. It's extremely rare for anyone to ask me to go into their pay cheque in this much detail. I think it's only happened one other time in my entire payroll career. I was giddy by the time I got off the phone because I love sharing knowledge with other.

I've still got a smile on my face.

And I wanted to share.

Have a fabulous day!

New Mayor!

Hello Everyone,

I'm very excited - we got a new mayor and there was a large voter turn-out. I think we were all just fed up with how city hall was running. Out of the top 3 candidates (in a dead heat the last week of the campaign), 2 were complete outsiders. And the person I was supporting won. I liked Nenshi's campaign. Really used social media, well thought out platform and ideas, positive messages.

Things are ok right now. Busy and tired but that's how it goes. I have a major project and presentation due on Monday for school that I need to focus on. Money is tight so I'm looking at creative ways to stretch my budget. Luckily I don't any anticipated large purchase over the next few months and most of my Christmas shopping is done.

As for my diet, I can only afford one more visit to the naturopath. My benefits cover most of the consulting fee but none of the supplements. And that powdered drink crap works out to $40/week. Since I don't need it and it just means I would lose the weight slower, I'm cutting it out. I'm also a bit suspicious of the supplement doses she's recommended. It's anywhere from twice to four times the amount on the label. And for the vitamin B12, when she didn't have any of the liquid drops and switched to the under the tongue pill, the dosage quadupled without any comments from her. I'm going to switch to the label recommendations and at my appointment next week, ask her about vitamin d supplement requirements for winter. I haven't noticed any change or weight loss over the past 1 1/2 weeks whereas she mentioned 1-2 lbs a week. And those protein portions are huge! It's hard to eat all that food on the list - I'm just too full. So, I'm still going to stick with the very reduced grains, lots of veggies and healthy food. But I have my doubts. At least my energy level has remained and I'm feeling good about myself.

Got my flu shot on Friday and I can still feel where they stuck the needle. Had a plasma donation in the same arm on Wednesday and after a fiasco there, it bruised. At least it stopped hurting Sunday night. My donations generally go smooth but a night like that with what seemed like a very inexperience nurse makes me second guess my donation. I'm a universal donor for plasma so I'm valuable but I felt horrid for 1 1/2 days and had a sore arm for 5.

Mike is funny. We had one of Keith's friends stay with us Friday & Saturday and he slept in Mike's room. Jerry was in and out all weekend as it was Con-Version (sci-fi, fantasy, horror convention). Mike would not go in his room, even after the guy left. I changed the bedding on Sunday. He still wouldn't go in. I ended up having Jerry put some of his dirty shirts on the bed and Mike quite happily curled up on them. I suspect it was because Mike's room didn't "smell" like Jerry - it smelled like another male. I managed to grab one of the shirts and throw it in the laundry and he's quite happy curling up on the other. Even though he has the entire bed (and entire house) to lounge.

Have a great day!