Monday Moanings

I am tired, my feet hurt, and it feels like I've already lived through a very long week and it is only Monday! As Mondays go this was not the worst I have ever lived through, but it has certainly been far from the best.

It started with Casey stumbling out of bed this morning and promptly falling back to sleep on the sofa, wrapped up in his fleece throw blanket. He had a good time at the youth camp out over the weekend, but he was complaining last night of not feeling well again. So, I called the school to record his absence. This was his third missed day of school since last Monday, but there is a lot of nasty stuff going around.

Then my phone rang, and I knew without looking at the call display that it was my workplace. Could I start at 8:00am instead of 9:00am? Normally, I cannot make it in until 8:30am, but things worked out well enough this morning for me to make it there at the requested time. Someone had called in sick late last night. I'm not sure why that was a last minute surprise, since this same person was sick all of last week and had a doctor's note to stay home. Go figure!

So we were short-staffed at work today to start with, and then another co-worker was sent home from work two hours into her shift, because she was experiencing major back pain. It's a good thing the two owners came in around lunch time, because we would have been down to 3 employees for a while!

As if being short-staffed wasn't bad enough, we were also forced to work around a couple of men and equipment for the entire day. We are getting new tills, so the guys were installing wires and cables and doing whatever it was they needed to do. Meanwhile, we tried our best to do our jobs, while dodging the boxes on the floor, the guy on the ladder in the doorway, and the ultra-expensive new till balanced on a stack of milk crates in the drive-thru corner. Fun, fun, fun.

The co-worker who called in sick late last night dropped by this afternoon to show a doctor's note excusing her from work for the rest of this week, too. Of course, that means that I was asked to once again give up a day off and come into work on Wednesday. As much as I wanted to say 'No', I couldn't. Wednesday is Take Your Child to Work Day, and I am taking Casey to work with me. Since I wasn't scheduled for that day, I was going to volunteer an hour or two of my time to do dishes and take care of the lobby with Casey. It's kind of hard to say no to a paid shift when you're going to be coming in anyway.

And lastly, I am fighting something. I've been dealing with a sore, scratchy, froggy throat for over a week, although some moments/days are better than others. I have also had a cough that can be persistent at times, like last Friday night when I coughed more than I slept. This morning I awoke to a stuffy nose, and it has been asking for attention most of the day. I am not sick enough to justify missing work, but if I continue to be pressed into extra hours of work, then I am going to have a difficult time fighting this thing off.

Writer's Block

It is the first of November. Already! Yikes!

And so begins a month of frantic writing...at least that's the plan. November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and also National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo). A few days ago, I was thinking that I could do both, but now that November is here I feel inadequate and like a failure before I even begin.

This is my first time for attempting NaBloPoMo, but I have never yet posted a blog every day for a month. I think the blog challenge will be the most difficult for that reason. At least for the novel challenge there is no daily requirement; I just need to write a story with 50 000 words and submit it before the end of the month.

No sweat, right?

Wake Up Call

I am trying to look both behind and ahead, but it seems like I am constantly stuck on today. There is so much going on that I am afraid of missing something, so I push the pause button on so many tasks and goals. Staying organized is like trying to climb a steep sand dune, sliding two steps back for every step upward. All my lists, charts and planners can only keep me quasi-organized...so long as I can remember to look at them often. Unfortunately, the things that tend to fall through the cracks first are often the most important!

I stayed home from church yesterday, because Casey was sick. Kane brought home an envelope for me from a friend with a note inside. The message was brief, but it hit me right between the eyes. There was no condemnation, no anger, no finger pointing, just a request for a shoulder to 'cry' on, some friendly support. I suddenly realized that I am so busy living life that I haven't been a very good friend of late.

There have been times when I feel somewhat neglected or lost in the shuffle, especially when I am not in regular contact with my friends. One friend seldom reaches out to 'touch' me, even when I have made the effort to initiate contact, and so I no longer try too hard and attempt not to care too much that I am not in her loop. Still, my heart desires to be a good friend to all my friends, but I fall flat on my face sometimes.

Blindsided

I was feeling rather good when I arrived at work this morning. When I saw the chaos surrounding me, I felt mostly good but a little frustrated, knowing that there doesn't need to be such disorder yet powerless to change it. So I plodded along, doing my job and trying to keep a firm grip on my good mood.

Toward the end of my shift I made a mistake. I innocently asked some questions about our new tip-sharing policies and was quickly snapped at. I tried to explain that I wasn't upset. I wasn't even completely disagreeing, but there are some flaws in the system which are benefiting only a few while leaving others with empty pockets. I do not think I deserve the same amount of tips as those that started work at 5am or 6 am. After all, I started work at 10am, but I went home with no tips at all. However, the employee who started at 8am and the employee that started at 9am both went home without tips, too. How is that fair? At the end of the day, I am not going to whine and complain or lose sleep over whether or not I get tips at my job. Honestly, even before this new sharing policy, there were more days where I got no tips than days that I got any tips worth getting excited about! It's just the nature of the fast food business. But, I didn't really appreciate the huffy response I got for raising a few questions.

So I left work feeling slightly deflated but generally fine. My head hurts, my back is sore, and I am not very excited about cleaning my kitchen or making supper.

I got home and gathered the mail from the mailbox. There was a greeting card-sized envelope with my name on it, hand-written, no less! Excitement bubbled up like an underground spring pushing up through the mud. No return address. Who could it be from? I so seldom get any personal mail I couldn't help but feel thrilled...until I opened it to find a card from a business trying to get my business. All that joy and excitement disappeared in the blink of an eye, leaving me vulnerable to sadness and self-pity.

Family

This photo was taken after our Thanksgiving lunch this past Sunday. Most are members of my family, but one of Kane's brothers is also in the photo. It was good to have family over for a good meal and fellowship.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Thanksgiving

It is the beginning of Thanksgiving weekend, which is one of my favourite times of the year. Okay, I like any excuse to cook a big turkey meal! What can I say? I love cooking the big meals.


The photo is of an apple pie that I baked earlier this week. Unfortunately, it is no longer with us, having been consumed by the ravenous masses that occupy our home. It was very good, even if the crust was store-bought! I did attempt to make some pie pastry for a second apple pie, but my results were less than wonderful, resulting in a 'wrapper' pie. It wasn't even worth taking a picture of...I can bake lots of things, but pie pastry just seems to be beyond my grasp.


It will be a bit of a busy, crazy weekend. I am off work today, which meant I had last minute running around to do along with regular household stuff. I work a full day tomorrow from 7am to 3pm. After work, I will need to bake pumpkin pies and do some other prep work, so everything is ready to get the turkey in the oven in the morning. No rest for the weary! Sunday is when we'll be digging into the turkey, followed by slipping into near coma-like states after lunch. Monday I am back to work with another full and early day, 6am to 2pm. The nice thing about working Monday is that it is a stat holiday, so I will be working with the part-timers and there is no manager on until later in the day. There is always potential for disaster or chaos on days like that, but I would rather work one of those days than some of the bad days with the full-timers.


Thanksgiving Dinner Menu:

roast turkey, of course!
mashed potatoes
stuffing
gravy
Brussels sprouts
carrots, although I haven't decided if they will be cooked or raw or both
crescent rolls
ham
pickles, an important food group for my kids
pumpkin pie
and possible another dessert option
and my mom will likely make sweet potatoes, not something I enjoy


I have no idea who we can expect for company, but that seems to be the way works with our extended families. We could have anywhere from 7 to 18, although I highly doubt that our numbers will reach that high. My best guess is that we'll have 10-12, including ourselves.

Edited to add:

It looks like we can expect to have 15-17! My bad! I forgot that one of my sisters was living in town again...but it will all be good. Maybe we can even get a family photo with most of the extended family...



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Falling Forward

It's a cool and drizzly kind of day. The past couple of days had me feeling not so great physically. I may not be out of those gloomy woods quite yet, but my attitude is upbeat today. There is a pot of stew simmering on the stove for tonight's supper, and freshly baked banana bread is cooling on the counter. How can you tell it is Autumn?

I am realizing that I need to start remembering to grab a jacket when I head out the door later in the day, that my thin sweater just isn't enough to keep me warm when the sun goes down for the night. My feet are beginning to feel the chill, although I will hold off on wearing socks for as long as I possibly can! We turned the furnace on a few days ago, but we have it set low enough that it has barely kicked in. So far. I have pulled out my fleece pyjamas and magic bags to keep me toasty warm, and both quilts are in use instead of just the top sheet. The thought of an Iced Capp doesn't entice me the way it once did, and I find myself thinking about steaming mugs of Earl Grey tea instead.

As much as I realize that warm weather is passing us by with winter weather soon to arrive, I must say that I am also finding myself a little at odds with it. A part of my brain isn't ready for fall, let alone winter, thinking that we're still in the midst of summer. Sam is still playing tennis, although I came home from his last tennis session with icicles for fingers and toes! We are still watering our grass, new as it is, and doing yard work typically reserved for the spring. Our maple trees are typically late in dropping their leaves, so there isn't quite an aura of autumn around our house. At least not for one part of my brain...

Welcome to Fright Night!

Blogging and journaling tend to take a back seat to life, which is rather silly since journaling should flow out of life...



Here is an overview of my life this week, which is very much like every other week since mid-September. Keep in mind that my work schedule fluctuates from week to week.



Monday, September 28 (I just realized that was only yesterday! Just goes to show how overloaded I am...)
-drop Casey off at school at 8:20
-work 9:00 until 2:00
-home to shower & change and wait for Abby to get home from school
-several minutes of surprise, anger, dismay, frustration, and resignation when a friend came home with Abby, even though I had told the mother that this particular day would not work!
-2:50 leave the house for Abby's dental appointment with friend in tow; frantic cell phone calls en route for mother to pick her daughter up at the dentist's office
-meanwhile, Casey is finished school and beginning volleyball practice from 3:00 until roughly 4:30
-also meanwhile, Sam is finishing school and catching a ride with a teacher to the Rec. Centre for school tennis games from 4:00 until 5:00
-3:45ish Abby is finished having her teeth cleaned, but it takes ten minutes to sort through the paperwork before we can leave.
-4:00ish hit the Subway next door to the dental office for a sandwich for Sam and realize that I forgot to bring Sam's water jug with me
-change of plans...drop Abby off at home around 4:25 and pick up Sam's water jug
-arrive at the Rec. Centre to watch the last half hour of Sam's school tennis
-Sam has tennis lessons at the Rec. Centre (thank the Lord the lessons are at the same courts!) from 5:00 until 6:30, hence the Subway sandwich I brought along for Sam to quickly eat between his tennis sessions
-arrive home around 6:30 and scrounge in the fridge for some supper
-relax, because that was only one day!



Tuesday
-start a load of laundry, the dishwasher, and do some light tidying between 8:00 and 9:00am
-at 9:00 go to my work place to meet a co-worker. She had some plants to give me.
-9:30ish pick up a few grocery essentials
-10:00 arrive at library to return and pick-up books
-10:45 arrive back home to change loads of laundry, put away groceries, and unload plants
-11:00 have lunch
-put plants into the ground, etc.
-1:00 change loads of laundry
-enjoy some down-time for a little while
-most Tuesdays (but not today) Sam has an after school class from 3:30 until 5:00, so he would need to be picked up from school
-6:00 parent meeting at Sam's school


Wednesday, September 30
-no work today but probably a bit of running around scoping out camping equipment for Sam's Outdoor Ed. class trip mid-October
-maybe do some baking?! It will depend on how insane I am in the morning.
-Casey has volleyball practice again after school, same duration
-Sam has both school tennis and tennis lessons, same times as Monday
-Abby has a church pre-teen club from 6:30 until 8:00
-Kane has a men's church group from 7:00 until 9:00, which means I need to go pick Abby up at 8:00


Thursday, October 1
-I work 10:00 until 2:00
-Casey has a volleyball game from 4:45 to 6:45 at a school in a neighbouring city
-Abby has a church drama/music group from 3:30 until 4:45
-Sam has a dental appointment at 4:00, which means I will need to pick him up from school before I drop Abby off at church (hopefully! Abby's friend will likely complicate things.)
-after Sam's appointment (if it doesn't take too long), pick Abby up from church and head to Casey's volleyball


Friday, October 2
-no work today
-will likely need to catch up on laundry and housework and errands
-Casey is supposed to have a volleyball tournament today and on Saturday
-Abby has a babysitter's course tonight
-I'll be in bed by 9:00


Saturday, October 3
-I work 6:00am to 2:00pm
-Abby has a babysitter's course from 9:00 to 2:30
-Casey has a volleyball tournament


Sunday, October 4 is currently a free day! Hopefully, we'll make it to church and continue our new tradition of 'family night'. Other than that, it will be a day of relaxing and catching up.

Next week is more of the same, less the dental appointments (though there are at least a couple more scheduled in the near future), tournament, and babysitter's course. I don't know my work schedule for next week yet, and Sam wraps up both tennis sessions on October 7th. Abby's friend will be coming to our house after school until her mom is finished work. I am not sure if it will be an every day kind of thing or just a few times a week. The family is Korean, and I often struggle to understand the mother and vice-versa. She usually picks her daughter up around 3:30, which isn't normally a problem, but it is this week with the dental appointments!

From Blah to Yeah!

(Blogger apparently loads the photos in the opposite order that I do, so these are seen in reverse order.)

The front yard is looking good, but we still have work to do before I can say that it is a project completed.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Bobcats and Back to School

Today is the first full day back to school!


The weather is grey, cool and rainy, but I love it. I feel optimistic and excited for the year, like I've just woken from a long, deep sleep.


The haircut helped, so did colouring my hair. I knew that I was frustrated and tired of my 'old' hair, but I am still surprised by how much I feel like a new person since the haircut!


The cooler weather helped. I like summer. I like the sunshine. But I love autumn more! As much as I prefer to be sockless and shoeless, I'd take cool, crisp fall weather any day.


The end of summer helped. I worked a lot over the summer, which is typical for my summers, but crazy. Returning to "regular" routines always feels like a breath of fresh air. Life won't be any less crazy, but at least there is routine to the madness and I don't need to get up at an obscene hour every day!


The bobcat in the front yard is helping! Kane and I have finally come to agreement on the basic plans for the front yard. As I type, the front yard has been leveled, and the first load of topsoil has been dropped off. By the end of the day, we will have the shaping of a yard with berms around the edges. There is still lots of work to do, but it is exciting to see progress and change.

After!

I like it! A lot! But it will probably never look exactly like this again. The hair-dresser straightened my hair (knowing that I am not likely to do it myself), so normally there would be a bit of wave and curl.

My head feels so much lighter, my hair feels healthier already, and this style should work with my extremely low-maintenance system. It is rather nice to have hair that feels weightless!





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Before

This is the 'before' picture, taken only minutes ago. It certainly isn't anything special, and I don't exactly like looking at photos of myself, but it is a reminder of what I look like at this moment in time. In four hours I will be sitting myself down in a hair-dresser's chair and placing my trust into a stranger's hands.

I cannot remember when I last had my haircut, except to say that it has been a very long time! I've been fretting over split ends since the spring, so I know that a haircut was overdue even months ago. The thing is that I can never fully decide what I want to do with my hair, and so I put it off and put it off until my hair drives me crazy and I can't stand it any longer. Probably not the best way to do things, but it is how I operate, at least with my hair.

I am looking forward to the haircut, although I still don't know what I want! When I booked my appointment, I said that I didn't know what I wanted, except for someone to take a look at my hair, my face shape, and create a new me. The voice on the other end of the phone seemed to understand my request and seemed eager to take on the challenge. Now I just hope that she is as good as her enthusiasm.

I don't think I am an overly vain person. I am not the type of person to primp and preen in front of the mirror. I do want to look nice, but I am not willing to spend loads of time and money on the effort. I am too cheap to make regular six week trips to the hair-dresser. While I do have some styling products in my bathroom cupboard, I can't be bothered to use them, except for special occasions. My hands are all thumbs when it comes to using curling irons and blow dryers, so I seldom use them. Okay, so I haven't used a curling iron in at least a decade and only own one because I bought one for my pre-teen daughter, but I have used my 20 year old blow dryer at least once in the past year. (Twice if you include using it to defrost my upright freezer!)

So, I am placing my hair into a stranger's hands. It is a little scary but exciting. There is a box of hair colour in my bathroom cupboard waiting to be applied to my new head of hair in a couple of days. Unfortunately, grey hairs are starting to show, but I wanted to wait until the split ends were gone before colouring.

'After' photos to come...

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Strike!

I could get used to this, I think!

I went on strike Wednesday evening. I had had enough of my children asking for the world and doing little in return. A quick family meeting was called to order, so that I could proclaim my temporary resignation from laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking/baking, and all other housework from the time of that meeting until the kids go to bed Saturday night, with the additional threat of an extension if results were less than favorable. They would even be woken up when I got up each morning, including 5:30 AM on Saturday! I told the kids that they were responsible for three suppers and Saturday's lunch and would have a $100 budget for any groceries over those days.

It has been interesting to see how the kids have had to deal with the menu planning and grocery shopping. Of course, they want to include pop and chips and candy...until they start to realize how much real food costs! They got off easy for supper last night, as Sam, Kane and I were at a tennis wind-up. Tonight's supper is spaghetti and Caesar salad. Tomorrow's supper is tacos. They have decided that tomorrow's lunch will be tuna melts and/or grilled cheese and leftovers.

I took Sam and Abby to the grocery store this afternoon to purchase their groceries and gave them some tips and advice on getting the most bang for the buck. Sam has always been rather thrifty with his own money, but Abby likes to spend every penny she gets as soon as it touches her hands. I think it was eye-opening for her to realize how much even some basic groceries can cost and the range of prices depending upon brands and serving sizes. They did a good job today. They had spent $25 on a few things Wednesday night, which left them with $75 for the rest of their groceries. They wound up spending $45 and even managed to include their pop and chips (although they were the last things put in the cart)!

The real test is yet to come though...the cooking, the baking, and the cleaning! Spaghetti and tacos are not difficult meals to prepare. In fact, they have been responsible for making tacos on more than one occasion, but they still need to work together which always presents a challenge. Abby wants to bake cookies tonight. I think she can do it. Then there are their regular chores and "my" chores of cleaning the toilet and tub. I expect to come home from work tomorrow to a sparkling clean house. The kids are not happy about being woken up at 5:30 tomorrow morning, but this is a one time thing, and if I can do it so can they!

Yes, I could get used to this!

17 and Counting...

Kane and I were married 17 years ago today! We're going out for dinner in a couple of hours. It should be a nice, relaxing, enjoyable evening...but I'm already starving.

Forgiveness

While cleaning earlier this week, I came across a notebook that I used for taking sermon notes. Coincidentally or not, the earliest, and perhaps most pertinent sermon note to myself, was dated August 21, 2005-exactly 4 years ago today! It is no big deal, but I often notice stuff like that. What is important is the topic of forgiveness, which was the theme of the sermon. Forgiveness is often a timely topic to touch on, because it is difficult to go through life without being hurt or wronged.


On a deeper level, this is an applicable topic for me when I consider a severed relationship. I would like to believe that I have forgiven this friend, but I have my doubts. I would like to think that I am a big enough person to have already forgiven and moved on with my life, but I know my frailties all too well. My memory can be very good, especially when it comes to recalling something I truly don't need to remember. Sometimes there is a warped sense of righteousness to be found within our pain, and so we keep our wounds fresh. It isn't pretty.


Life is busy and often crazy, and I've allowed myself to drift with the current, content merely to hold my head above the water and exist. I have been lackadaisical with forgiveness, because I have lost sight of what it truly means and entails.

Forgiveness is not denying that a hurt happened, nor does it require forgetting the transgression. It is not the same thing as trusting; trust is earned! Forgiveness is an action, an act of my will, not a feeling. Forgiveness breaks a cycle (revenge never gets even!) and carries a cost. (What that cost is I cannot say! I suspect that the cost varies from person to person and depends upon each situation.) Most importantly, forgiveness heals...me! There is an emotional toll to being at odds with someone. Why not let go of the bitterness and let God be God? I am only responsible for myself.

It is difficult to accept that summer is drawing to an end. I think time flies regardless of whether one is having fun or not! Of course, I don't want to imply that I am not having fun, although work hasn't always been enjoyable this summer and life has been rather uninteresting. Here we are with scarcely two weeks left in August, followed by a few days of bonus time before the kids return to school...feels like just last week that they were set free for summer break!


I've been enjoying the change in weather of the past week. We had the rainiest day ever, which was lovely, even if I was stuck inside at work most of the day. The rainy days didn't disrupt life for us, and we enjoyed the cooler temps and fresh air. I was able to bake muffins one day, and I even baked bread this morning, although the temps are starting to climb again. I think the extreme highs are gone for good until next summer; I don't mind. I like warm weather, but I really enjoy crisp, fall weather, when a cup of tea hits the spot, a sweater or throw blanket makes you comfy, and the smell of fireplaces tickles the nose while you're walking outside. Oh yeah! I'm ready for that kind of weather!


Looking ahead to the fall, I have begun gathering school supplies and sorting through the kids' clothes and shoes. I cannot help but feel the urge to purge once again. There is always more junk to toss or give away to someone who sees it as treasure. Someday my house will be clutter-free, I hope. The biggest obstacle in my way is time. With my busier work schedule, I don't have very many consecutive free days. Most of my free days are crunch days. This is what this week looks like for me: work day, free day, work day, free day, and on it goes. My rhythm and momentum comes to a crashing halt when there is a day-long gap, not to mention the fact that I still have a dozen other things to take care of on my days off! Aargh. Sigh.

I am woefully behind but such is life!

The blog theme for August is 'tomorrow', and tomorrow is a day that I am looking forward to...and the next one, and the one after that! The next three days are days off work for me, and so I am excited to be able to:

-sleep in, although it is unlikely that I will sleep too late
-go to the library
-catch up on laundry and housework (I know that isn't terribly exciting, but I hate it when everything falls too far behind)
-stay up late if I want to, because I really don't like going to bed at 9:00pm
-do some cooking and maybe even some baking, especially if the weather remains on the cooler side


Last week was a crazy, busy week of work. I had nearly 40 hours which is not a typical week for me, and my back was feeling the effects by day 4. Last week was also not a very good week in terms of work environment. Saturday was a good day though. This week is closer to what I am used to, and I am glad.

August Rush

It's been too hot, and I've been too busy to do much more than work and exist. Today is somewhat cooler, only 27 degrees Celsius, but I would really appreciate a couple days of rain. We have also been experiencing a lot of smoke and ash in the air from the Terrace Mountain fire across the lake. My throat has been somewhat sore for the past couple of weeks, and I'm sure the smoke is the cause.

The police caught the kid who stole Sam's friend's shoes. They caught him the next morning. T has had to do the police line up and go to court, and there is still the possibility that Sam may be required in court as well, but we haven't heard anything further at this point. I still find that whole situation rather mind-boggling! It is one of those things that you hear about in the big cities, not where you live.

Sam has been doing well in his summer tennis league. Last week, he pulled off a major upset by defeating the best player in the league. Sam started off strong winning the first four games, struggled a bit and lost the next four, but wound up winning in a tie-breaker! It was an exciting game to watch.

I am working a lot this week, because several key staff are away this week. I still have three more full days left in my week, but the following week looks a little more relaxed.

Sam looks to be travelling to Vancouver this weekend to watch some of the Vancouver Open (tennis). He will be going with his tennis coach and a couple of other boys from the league. It should be a fun time for him.

Mugged

Sam phoned me last night shortly before 11:00 pm. I was expecting this call, assuming that it was now time to pick him up from his friend's house, but what I heard was something quite unexpected. Sam's friend T had been robbed while they were walking to meet another friend. The full scope of what could have been wasn't revealed until I had picked Sam up.

Sam and T were walking to meet a friend. They entered a playground/park area nestled within a subdivision and were surrounded by a group of 6 or 7 young people. This group told the boys that this was their park and made other comments before letting Sam and T walk on. They didn't get too far though before two of the young people got back into Sam and T's faces. Sam started to back up, while one guy, holding a knife, told T to give him his shoes or get stabbed. T took off his shoes, and everyone left. T called the police on his cell phone. The police came. Sam and T were driven back to T's house in the police car and questioned. T did recognize one of the group (not one of the two though) and provided that name to the police.

Both Sam and T were scared and shaken up when this happened and for a little bit after, but they both appeared steady and okay by the time I picked Sam up. I handled it well, although I am still somewhat shocked that this even happened in the first place...and over a pair of shoes! T had on a pair of new and expensive shoes. Sam also had on a new pair of shoes, but I don't spend a hundred dollars on a pair of shoes! I guess the thieves weren't interested in a $30 pair of shoes from Wal-Mart, and I'm okay with that. What does bother me is the fact that a group of teenage boys acted in such a hostile and threatening way towards two teenage boys just minding their own business, and then threatening them with a knife! Even if a knife had never come into play, a gang of 6 or 7 teenage boys could still inflict a lot of damage if they wanted to. I am thankful that all that was taken was a pair of shoes and a bit of innocence!

T phoned Sam this morning to say that the police had caught the guy with the shoes. T will have to pick him out of a line up.

Start Your Engines

Sam passed his knowledge test yesterday and officially has his "learner's license"! Now the real fun begins...

TGIF

Tomorrow is Friday! It is not just another day on the calender. It is also the 'Friday' of my work week, and it has been a very long week, indeed. Tomorrow will be my fourth shift this week, and each day has felt impossibly long and heavy and not just because of the forest fires and hazy skies.

It began nearly two weeks ago, when I went to work on a Monday morning and wound up somehow in the middle of one of the worst work days ever. I've not yet recovered.

I've been told by my boss that the matter has been talked about and dealt with, that there was miscommunication and hurt feelings, but my problem is that her definition of the matter being 'dealt with' is vastly different than mine. The co-worker that made that shift miserable for myself and others has not apologized for her behaviour or her words, and she never will. She never apologizes! And therein lies part of my lingering problem...I know that she won't apologize, and so I feel perpetually slighted and trod on. There is no genuine joy in the act of going to work each morning. Instead I feel empty and leaden. A fake smile gets pasted on for customers as I go through the motions of doing my job with heavy heart and hands. Sadly, I don't think I am the only one feeling such tension and weariness at work.

Most days I truly do enjoy doing what I do. It isn't glamorous, and it won't make me rich, but it is usually fun and busy work, with just enough routine to balance out the constant changes. I am good at what I do and, while I have become pretty good at rolling with the punches, I still get caught by a sucker-punch every once in a while. I recover well, most of the time. As much as I like my job I know that it is just a job. But it is never enjoyable working with tension as thick as pea soup or egos that have been allowed to grow to gargantuan proportions. This co-worker can be a good person to work with. Unfortunately, she is also often the source of toxicity in the workplace environment.

The heaviness I feel comes from the knowledge that nothing will change. This co-worker is a good friend of the boss and has far too much "power" to ever give it up. She won't change. The situation won't change. She and the boss talked, so everything is supposed to be fixed, except that their little chat doesn't repair the damage inflicted on others. This incident has basically been swept away, and we're all supposed to return to being a big happy family.

Someday I'll look forward to going to work again but not just yet.

Ring of Fire

We've been down this road once before, nearly six years ago, but familiarity does not necessarily bring comfort. Fires are raging in our area, although this time across the lake and directly affecting a neighbouring community. We once lived within that community, worked and played and attended church there. Friends live there and acquaintances, co-workers. Thousands have been evacuated, while many more are filled with the uncertainty of being on evacuation alert. My family is safe from evacuation and flame, but we breathe, smell and taste smoke even within our home. Rain would be most lovely right about now. Instead we have more wind and sun.

I had a killer headache yesterday. It started while I was at work, slowly until my shift was over and I was home, then it exploded! I hate that type of headache. It builds at the base of the skull and pulses with every laugh, cough, or rapid movement of the head. At times I felt almost nauseous, though not from my stomach but my head. The strongest pain reliever I had was an extra-strength muscle relaxant, which still took at least a couple of hours to dull the pain to manageable levels.

This morning I awoke with the remnants of that headache echoing in my skull. By 10:00 in the morning, the headache was once again a raging monster hell-bent on my destruction. By the time I was finished running errands it was about noon, and the headache had settled into a simmer. It is now nearly 11:00 pm, and the headache is still simmering away at the base of my skull.

The weekend begins tomorrow, but it will be a long, hot and busy three days of baseball and trying to survive the heat. Casey will be umpiring six games over the weekend, and Sam has been roped into umpiring two games. Somewhere in there I need to do some laundry and housework and such. I still haven't managed to write a card of sympathy for a friend who just lost her mother, and another friend's husband has a birthday this weekend and I've been meaning to send a letter, or at least an email, for a couple of weeks now.

And while I only had two work shifts this week, those eleven hours of work were the longest hours I've worked for a very long time! Yesterday was four hours of pain (head and back) mixed in with apathy and heaviness, which I know is fall-out from the drama of Monday's shift.

My job isn't glamorous or significant, but I enjoy it. What I do not enjoy about my job is the drama that seems to swirl around certain employees. A little drama I can handle, but too much attitude and drama leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I'm a hard worker, a good employee, and I'm adept and competent, even a quick learner, so I really do not appreciate another employee basically insulting myself and our co-workers just because a manager hurt her feelings. I am certainly not keen on working with this diva anytime soon. There has been no apology offered. Management has heard complaints about this behaviour and has "talked it through" with this person, but it is all double-speak for soothing diva's ruffled feathers, while down-playing the damage she left in her wake. I guess that's what happens when the owner and the diva are friends.

I am not looking forward to work on Monday...

Dream a Little Dream

I don't often dream about people that I actually know. Most of the people in my dreams are nameless and faceless with the odd celebrity thrown in for good measure. So, when a familiar person does make a dream appearance, I find myself kind of thrown for a loop. Sometimes the dream is nothing special, and I think nothing of it at all. But, sometimes the dream feels incredibly real and relevant to real-life situations, and I woke up questioning whether I had a dream or whether I actually had that experience!

Last night's dream revolved around my former friend, the one who pushed me out of her life. She hasn't been in one of my dreams for a very long time, maybe even a couple of years! To be honest, up until about a month ago, I hadn't even seen even a glimpse of her for at least a year! I did unexpectedly "see" her at the ballpark in June and then again while driving last week. It had been so long since I last saw her, that both of these glimpses took me by surprise. I think I actually reacted physically as if an invisible rope around my neck had been yanked. It has been significantly more than a year since I last spoke with my former friend, but I think about her frequently.

In my dream last night, I was sitting somewhere, doing something. The 'what' is hazy, but watching baseball is a probable scenario and more likely to result in the two of us bumping into each other. C. saw me and walked over to where I was sitting and stood right beside me, expectantly. I believe she even said hello. I wasn't sure how to respond or even if I wanted to respond, but I said hello in return, though warily and less than warmly. The rest of that dream escapes my memory.

And so the dream resembles real life. Although I haven't physically bumped into C. for more than a year, I do believe that I am just a little scared of what would happen if it did happen! How would I feel? How should I feel? What would I say? What would she say? Do I even want such a meeting to take place? I do not know what I would say. I'm sure I could manage a hello and maybe even some additional generic 'how are you' queries, but I don't know that I want that. So much effort in the past has been thrown in my face or left hung out to dry...do I really want to exchange pleasantries with someone who ripped out my heart and walked all over it? Part of me would wonder what she was up to in talking to me. After all, she's been so efficient at shutting me out and ignoring me in the past! What would be her motivation for talking to me now?

It's all moot for now, of course, because this was only a dream and she has not even stepped within 50 feet of me anyway. Still, for a dream, it was interesting and thought-provoking, if nothing else.

Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This

Some days it just doesn't pay to go to work! Seriously.

Monday is the start of the work week, even for someone like me who doesn't work a standard work week. I'm not a big fan of Mondays and the start of a new week of work isn't always very exciting, but I usually head off to work looking forward to the day. Today was no different. My alarm went off at 6:15 am, and I was out the door by 6:35. At 7:00 I was ready to start my work day, went out to take my place, and was immediately stomped on. Not literally, of course, but I would not have been surprised if a co-worker's shoes had actually mashed me into the tiled floor.

This co-worker made life miserable for most everyone today, but especially for myself and another co-worker who were working in the drive-thru with Ms. Temper Tantrum. More than once K. and I exchanged eye rolls, grimaces, and glares as we listened to Ms. Tantrum rant and rave for most of the morning. We listened as Ms. Tantrum loudly complained and ranted to customers about how she was 'being put out to pasture', 'being phased out', and how she obviously wasn't good enough or fast enough! We listened as she slapped our faces by saying that she is the only one who has won a customer service award, as if the rest of us are incompetent or incapable of giving equally good, or even better, service! We listened as she loudly asked customers if they were hiring or knew of job openings, because she was being pushed out of her job and wanted a new one. When Ms. Tantrum had had enough of ranting, she decided that she had nothing else to do, so she proceeded to do everyone else's chores. Instead of doing her job in the drive-thru, she shouldered all the responsibilities that are supposed to be divided up between all the employees working during that shift. She did so at the expense of getting every one's breaks done in a timely fashion, but she had no qualms about making sure that she took her break when she wanted it, irregardless of where she fell in the pecking order.

This co-worker has always been a source of consternation and intimidation, but I've worked with her long enough to understand her nature and roll with it. But I have my limitations. She may claim to be the only one who does the job "right". She may claim to be the only one who gives great service. Heck, she can claim whatever she wants, but truth is a lot more discerning. She is not perfect, and she is often wrong, even if she doesn't think so! She has far too much power and is not held accountable for all her actions and bad attitude. Of course, she is good friends with the bosses.

I can get along with her most of the time, because:
a) I don't work with her all the time,
b) I'm a good and competent worker, thus I'm not typically one of her targets, and
c) I try not to let my job take over my life

But, sometimes it gets to be a little too much! Ms. Tantrum had a tantrum last Friday. She had another today. I can put up with a lot of her crap, but today went too far. Quite honestly, she was acting like a two year old, and I would not have been surprised had she thrown herself on the floor. This is a mature woman who should know that part of being a good employee is to NOT bad mouth the boss and co-workers for everyone to hear. It doesn't look good to the customer. It doesn't look good to the boss. And it doesn't look exactly build teamwork and a positive environment amongst co-workers.

I am so glad that I do not work tomorrow!

16 Candles

This isn't the order that I uploaded the photos in, but I guess it doesn't matter!

Sixteen years ago today, Samuel was born. He's a lot bigger now and in many ways.

Happy birthday!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Game, Set, Match

A couple of months ago, we put Sam into a session of tennis lessons through the city's Recreation Centre. He thoroughly enjoyed the lessons and wowed the instructor enough to be moved up to the adult class after a few weeks. The lessons are now over, but the instructor invited him to try out for a Summer League that the instructor runs over the summer. Sam earned one of the six spots in the league, which will run Tuesdays and Thursdays all summer. Last Saturday, we had a potluck and informational meeting time for the league participants and parents. The league games will be held at a private tennis court belonging to a retired couple living on lakefront property next to one of the city's beaches. We were at the house on Saturday for the potluck, and Kane and I fell in love with the property. We were welcomed into the house to watch a promotional video for a tennis fundraiser put on by the couple in support of the hospital. Stepping into their home was like taking a step back in time. I have no words to describe their house and property, but it was simply gorgeous, and I coveted the entire time we were there! ;o)


Sam plays his first league game tomorrow night, if the weather holds. His first opponent is one of the top two players, so it will be a challenging game for Sam; however, he played this same player last night for fun and lost 6-7! Maybe he will beat Jayden by the end of the summer...


Since Sam's 16th birthday is on Saturday, we bought Sam a new tennis racket today for his gift. It's a good racket and popular racket, according to two separate sports stores and Sam's tennis instructor, and it was nearly half the regular price. Sam loves it already. Photos to come...

I survived the work week, and the Beauti-Control party turned out alright, I think. After working 34.5 long and crazy hours this week, I was ready for some pampering and spa treatment. Normally, I strongly dislike hosting these types of things, because it is always a chore to get people to come, especially at this time of year, but I was content with the turn out. By the end of the night I was relaxed and refreshed!

I slept in this morning until 9am, but I didn't get to bed until around midnight. I think I slept fairly well last night. My work schedule next week is a far cry from what it was this week...only 11 hours between two days, Monday and Friday! Routine is calling my name, and I'm glad that I will have the time, and thus the energy, to get into it.

In about an hour, we have a potluck for Sam's summer tennis league. This is all new to us, the summer tennis league, that is. The purpose of the potluck today is to explain how things work. Sam is looking forward to it.

Routine

The NaBloPoMo theme for July is ROUTINE, which is a theme that I can dig my teeth into! The only problem is that my normal routine has been thrown for a loop with a suddenly crazy work week. Next week looks to be a little less hectic though, so routine will once again take over.

In the meantime, there is a lot that needs to be done today and tomorrow, before the Beauti-Control party that I am hosting Friday night. Since I am working until 2pm tomorrow, I have a ton of stuff to do today. The problem is that I am so tired, wiped out and drained, that I really don't feel like doing anything, but I have no choice but to carry on.

Last Night I Dreamed It Was Friday, But It Is Only Monday!

It's gonna be a loooong week! My shift today was extended by half an hour, and I was asked to come in on Thursday, my day off, for four hours. I will appreciate the pay cheque, but I am cringing to think about all that I need to get done at home this week and how little time I have to accomplish everything. It definitely won't help that I'll be going to bed early every night and will be exhausted by mid-afternoon. I have a list of things for the kids to do while I am at work but, without supervision, their efforts are lax at best.

My head is starting to hurt. Actually, it started a couple of hours ago, while I was still at work. I am also a little annoyed with a couple of managers. Last Friday, manager G. asked if I would like to switch next Friday's shift with her shift. My shift was 6:30am to 2pm. She told me her shift was 7am to 2pm and explained that she liked to get an earlier start on Fridays. I agreed to the switch, because I wouldn't mind a few minutes more sleep and wouldn't miss that half hour. Looking at the schedule today, I noticed that her shift for Friday is a 7am to 2 or 3pm! It's not a huge deal, but it annoys me a fair bit. I am hosting a party Friday night and wouldn't have agreed to stay until 3pm had she told me the whole truth. Now I am stuck and feeling extra pressure to get everything done in my *spare* time.

Today was my day to count the tills, both in the morning and at lunch time. I started work at 6:30, saw that all positions were well staffed, and went to the office to start the morning tills. Manager B. worked the graveyard shift last night and was to be off at 7am, so I wanted to get the morning tills done before she left, and I am fully capable of doing the morning tills in half an hour! Barely 10 minutes later, B. comes to the office to tell me that we no longer do the morning tills first thing in the morning. Instead, we wait until 9:30, so we basically do tills for the rest of the shift, because we finish the morning tills just in time to start the afternoon tills and finish those just in time to go home! This is what she said to me, along with a comment about doing tills this way so we have 3 people in drive-thru.

So, I stopped counting the tills, even though I was almost finished the 2 out of 4 tills already, and I came out to drive-thru, where there had been three people when I started at 6:30! B. was one of those three people. She gave me her headset and basically stopped working right then and there! I was royally ticked off. Maybe it takes B. and G. 1.5 hours to count the morning tills and 3 hours to count the afternoon tills, but it certainly doesn't take me that long for either set! The morning tills are super simple and a half-hour is plenty of time. The afternoon tills do take a bit longer, because there is a deposit to put together and financial, waste and payroll data to be entered into the computer. However, I can still do the afternoon tills between 1 and 1.5 hours!

Sometimes I can only shake my head at the laziness and incompetence of our management people. I am not officially a manager, but I am trusted and competent enough to be responsible for managerial duties, and I do a better job.

#1

It has been a long, hot weekend of baseball, and I am too tired to 'catch up' on everything that has been happening over the past week or two. Another season of baseball has come to an end, and Casey's team finished well, winning the year end tournament with a 10-3 victory over Westside.



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

A Little Bit of Catch-Up

It is the final day of school before summer holidays, which means that my work schedule is about to become busier in a hurry. I have been working on average 2 shifts a week for the past two months. Next week I am scheduled for 4 shifts totalling just over 30 hours! That's a huge jump from the 8-10 hours I've been getting. Thankfully, both my ankles are no longer bothering me, so I'll just have to see how the back holds up to that much work.

I have a long list of chores that need to be done this summer and another list of chores that need to be done before July 2nd when I am hosting a Beauti-Control home party. The kids will be responsible for many of the chores, but I will still need to find the energy, after long days of work, to finish everything off. It would help out a lot if everyone could get into the habit of putting things away properly and picking up after themselves, but this is one life lesson that seems impossible to drill into them.

Today I baked a couple of loaves of bread and did some deep cleaning in the bathroom. The boys did help somewhat with some minor tidying, although Casey is always more willing and productive than Sam. Sam will be helping me make supper tonight though: Swedish meatballs!

Casey's baseball team played their first game of the year-end tournament last night against our "bitter" rivals. The rival team used to be Casey's team, our baseball association, and we had failed to beat them this entire season. Last night was a great game of baseball; at least for our team! We finally bested our rivals with a 9-3 victory. We have three more round-robin games to play over the weekend. Statistically, we are the better team of the three remaining opponents, but we cannot take these teams for granted. So, one more busy weekend of baseball, and then our baseball year is over, except for Casey umpiring a tournament and maybe a few games. It has been a good year, a positive year, and I have enjoyed every minute of it, even though we still ran into bumps along the way.

Yesterday morning I attended the awards assembly for grade 5/6 students at Abby's school. Abby received certificates of recognition for: Environmental Award, Social Responsibility for the term and for being a lunch monitor, Safety Patrol, Work Ethic, and Academic Excellence for an average of 4.6 and above in core academic subjects. I'm looking forward to seeing her report card when she gets home from school! Casey and Sam both have respectable report cards. Casey received Academic Recognition and Work Ethic Recognition and had all As and Bs. Sam also received a Work Ethic recognition (surprised me!). Most of his grades stayed the same as last term, but he did improve in two subjects. We won't know how he did on his final exams until the end of July.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

We finally received our new garbage, recycling, and yard waste bins late last week with out first pick-up tomorrow! I am both excited and annoyed with these new bins. It will be nice to have yard waste pick-up from spring to late fall, but I question the efficiency of the system in the fall when the maples drop their leaves. In years past, we could set out our 20+ bags of leaves for pick-up. Now we are restricted to what will fit into the yard waste bin with pick-up every other week. Knowing that our trees tend to drop their leaves later in the season, I cannot see how we will ever get all the leaves into the bin before the end of November and yard waste pick-up!

The recycling bin presents another case of uncertainty. We have had unlimited number of bags of recycling pick-up every two weeks, but we're now restricted to what fits into the bin. For the most part, I think this will be manageable, but I am a little nervous, knowing how much we usually put out. It's the end of the school year, which means a lot of paper will be heading into that bin, on top of the normal recycling! But, I think we'll be okay.

The garbage bin is what concerns me the most, because it is easily half the size of the recycling and yard waste bins! With a large household producing garbage on a daily basis, I just don't know that this garbage bin will hold it all.

This is a change, just another shift in the way we think about garbage. When I was a kid, there was no such thing as recycling programs. Several years ago, we paid someone to pick up our small bin of recycling every week, and then the city instituted a recycling pick-up program. A few years ago, we purchased a composter, and while we haven't made great use of it, this is something that we will now need to take better advantage of. We have been talking with the kids about the need to think about the garbage we create and how to reduce it.

It kind of goes hand-in-hand with other changes in life: the desire to simplify, baking homemade bread, using natural cleaners, conserving energy and water, being mindful of unnecessary trips in the car, and so on. As always, these changes tend to come through little steps, one foot in front of the other, until suddenly you find yourself running.

The Ankle Bone's Connected to the...

Despite my reluctance to visit a doctor, I forced myself to drive to the clinic, walk in the door and wait for my turn to be quickly shuffled back out the door. I don't even feel guilty for being glad that my doctor wasn't in this morning! In fact, I was rather relieved to see this other doctor instead. I've seen Dr. S. a few times and been content that he takes me seriously and considers all angles.

Dr. S. felt my ankle, moved and manipulated virtually every joint from my hip to my toes, tested my reflexes in both legs, checked out my back, and asked me more questions than I think I have ever been asked before! Some of the questions seemed to be a little beyond the scope of an ankle problem, but I got the impression that Dr. S. had a mental checklist of probable causes and was ticking things off one by one. It may seem bizarre to me that a recent cold might affect an ankle, but there must be a potential connection somewhere! Actually, it was rather nice to be asked so many questions instead of having my problem brushed off without a second thought.

I left the clinic without a satisfactory explanation, although Dr. S. said that there were two potential though unlikely probabilities: gout or a bulging disc. I'm a little young (thank you!) for gout, plus I don't really have the degree of swelling typical of gout, nor any of the other symptoms. The bulging disc, at times, sounds plausible, but again not really. The doctor is just as baffled as I am. He instructed me to take one ibuprofen 3x a day and to make note of what aggravates my ankle or makes it feel better, etc. I was also told to try not to do a lot of sitting. Increased ankle pain while sitting would point towards the bulging disc, and conversely laying down would alleviate the ankle pain, if the source is a disc.

I honestly don't think I have a bulging disc. Wouldn't there be other symptoms going on? I would think so, but I don't know! I do know that as I lay in bed last night, my ankle was in a whole heap of pain along with "heavy" and tingling toes. However, I have noticed today that the pain does tend to intensify if I am sitting for a bit, but two separate periods of laying down today produced different results. The first time made my ankle feel "lighter" and less painful, while the second time seemed to increase the pain somewhat.

I am really no closer to knowing what is going on than I was before, but at least I left the doctor's office feeling like I had been taken seriously.

A Fresh Start

I am not so growly today as I was yesterday. My ankle still throbs though, and it is slightly swollen and even a little red. I still don't know why, and that annoys me almost as much as the physical discomfort.

Sam talked to his math teacher yesterday. It seems the teacher simply forgot that Sam was in class and would fix the attendance record. Good grief!

While I am still not pleased with the baseball communication problems, I am somewhat mollified when I realized last night that I am not the only one sitting in the dark! At least I did find out what was happening and where, unlike most of one team that showed up at our diamond when they were to play somewhere else. There were some less than happy people driving away last night!

And it is raining! All the windows are open wide to receive the cool, fresh breeze, and I am enjoying the smell and sound of the rain. I'm a little cold though between the breeze and the ice pack on my ankle.

Snarky Face

I am just a little snarky right this moment. Actually, I have been rather snarky since I first stepped out of bed at 5:30 this morning. Somehow you just know that your day isn't going to go well when you wake up with pain in a body part where there hadn't been pain when you went to bed!

I've had some pain in my LEFT ankle for the past few weeks, but I knew what the likely reason was as this pain has been recurrent over the past couple of years. Without any medical diagnosis (because my doctor is a tool), I discovered that this pain in the left ankle means I need new shoes for work. I realized this after six months of ankle pain, a trip to the walk-in clinic, x-rays, and a waste of time trip to my own doctor. So, I bought new work shoes last week and the left ankle pain has greatly subsided!

This new ankle pain is in my RIGHT ankle, and I cannot recall the last time I ever had pain or problem in this ankle. I'm sure I probably sprained it once or twice as a child or teenager. This pain is not the same as the left ankle pain, and it is actually in a slightly different location, more on the top of the foot/ankle rather than below the ankle. I am at a loss! Perhaps in my sleep and crazy dreams my foot twisted into an awkward position...as unlikely as that may be.

As if that wasn't enough, this morning I discovered a voice mail left last night by the high school while we were at baseball. The automated message stated that Sam had been absent for a class, and I needed to call the school to confirm if this had been an excusable absence. Sam was still at home, so I asked him and he was as equally surprised as I was. He says that he was at school and present for each of his two classes yesterday. I have no qualms about believing my son, because a) skipping school just isn't like Sam at all, and b) Sam had talked with me about his school day yesterday afternoon. I called the school and was told that he had been marked absent for his math class, first block of the day. Sam says that he was there and told me what they had done in class. So, it is now up to Sam to go talk to his math teacher and get this sorted out. I am sure that it is something as simple as the teacher marking the wrong student absent, but it is a frustration and hassle that is unnecessary.

But the biggest source of my frustration has to do with baseball and communication issues. Abby's team played their final regularly scheduled game last Thursday. Play-offs or year-end, whatever you want to call it, is supposed to be this week, but as of our game last week we were still sitting in the dark as to what the play-off schedule would look like. All that we knew was that there was a scheduled practice for Tuesday night. I frequently, like every day, check the team website to see if there are any updates or changes to any game or practice, because we have been encouraged to use the website for up to date information. Also, for some unknown reason, I seem to be missing out on numerous emails sent by coaches or the team administrator. The missing emails have been going on since the beginning of the season. I've been aware of it and have mentioned it on several occasions, but I still am not getting most of them, even though they have my email address and I check my spam filters regularly.

Yesterday morning, I checked the website again, because I like to know what is planned for my week and was hoping play-off games would be posted. They weren't posted, but I did note that the practice for Tuesday was still on. Late last night I checked the website again and discovered that the practice was now cancelled. No play-off games posted yet though. Okay. I was actually kind of glad that the practice was cancelled, because it then freed me my day a bit and would allow me to go to the gym during Casey's practice (same time as Abby's practices). This morning, I checked my email and found one from the mom of one of Abby's teammates. She had forwarded me an email from the coach which was sent out late Monday night. She forwarded it to me, because my name was not on the list of recipients. This email stated that practice was cancelled, and instead we had a play-off game tonight and another on Thursday night!

My annoyance meter went off the charts! If this mom hadn't thought to forward this email, then we would not have been at the game tonight. I paused to quickly check the website, but it still hasn't been updated to include these games. Once Abby was awake, I told her that she now had a game tonight and Thursday to which she replied that she knew about Thursday's game but didn't know about tonight's. What?! Apparently her coach had told the team about Thursday's play-off game after our last game. Abby didn't tell me, because she thought I already knew. No! And I am a little irked. I did not hear either of the two coaches say anything to the parents anywhere in my hearing. I am not the kind of parent who doesn't get involved. I have been behind the scenes with this girls' team program, maybe not as much this season, but the coaches know me and often talk to me, listen to me, and ask me questions.

Ironically, I was talking with Kane last night about how frustrating I have found the communication this season. I like to know what is going on, especially when it applies to me, my kids and our schedules. It isn't easy organizing a family of five with a couple of jobs, school, and various sports and activities to fit into a calendar. We are frequently pulled in two, sometimes three, locations at once, so I like a little advance notice of additions or changes to schedules. I understand that sometimes things have to come last minute, but those are the types of situations when communication is of the utmost importance! If you tell parents to rely on the website for information, then that website needs to be accurate and updated as often as necessary. If you're going to email information to parents, then you need to ensure that every email is included. If you're going to verbally tell kids important information, then it might be a wise idea to include the parents in that little pow-wow after the game or talk to the parents as a group before the game begins, because sometimes kids forget what you tell them! If you do all those things and people still don't get the information, then you've done all that you can do and the blame or responsibility falls on the shoulders of the parent.

If it wasn't for one thoughtful and alert parent, Abby would have missed tonight's game and quite likely Thursday's as well. She may not be the best player on the team, but she is still a valuable part of the team and would be missed. And if we had missed a game because of a failure to communicate...I would have been really angry, and you might not like me when I'm angry.

Grrrr!

Shopping Saga

I went to Wal-Mart today, because I needed to get new shoes for work so that my ankle can stop hurting. I dislike shopping at the best of times. Today was an exercise in frustration! The store is undergoing renovations, which means departments are down-sizing and being moved around the store. There are aisles blocked by boxes, and rows of shelving that no longer exist. I don't go to Wal-Mart every week, but I am there at least once or twice a month. Still, I barely recognized the store I entered this morning.

My shopping list was rather short: shoes, AA batteries, milk, magnetic tape, and maybe a pair of shorts. I knew that finding the right pair of shoes would take some time; however, I honestly expected to just find the same style as I have bought the last two times I've needed new work shoes. Why change when one style meets my needs? Of course, the shoe department has been mixed up. The women's shoes are now where the men's shoes used to be, and the "work" shoes are now in an obscure corner of the men's section. And wouldn't you know it, but they no longer have the same style of shoe! The same brand, yes, but not in styles that were what I was looking for. After trying on countless pairs of shoes, I finally opted for a cheaper pair of ordinary shoes. They probably don't have the same non-slip factor as the "work" shoes, but I was not happy with how the "work" shoes fit or the support (or lack thereof) they offered. Really, I just want my ankle to stop hurting, and a new pair of work shoes has done the trick in the past.

The milk was in the same place, so that was easy. The batteries, and the rest of the electronic department, had moved to where the linens used to be at the very back of the store. I had to make a second trip to the back just to find those batteries! I knew I was likely to find the magnetic tape either in the stationary department or the craft department. Since the stationary department used to be close to the store entrance, I started there. I soon discovered that half of the department had disappeared! I found much later near the back of the store. Eventually I found the craft department where the electronics used to be, and so I found my magnetic tape. Finding a pair of shorts didn't require a map-thankfully!

The next time I venture into Wal-Mart I should be better able to navigate...unless more changes take place before I get there!

We have a baseball-free night tonight. It's hard to believe that the season is rapidly drawing to an end. I cannot say exactly how many days we have left, but we're looking at possibly a little more than 2 weeks and definitely less than 3 weeks. Either way, all good things (or bad) must come to an end, and this season has been quite good!





This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

It is another crunch day today, but I don't feel quite so crunched knowing that, after working tomorrow, I have at least 4 days off in a row! Still, today is going to be spend catching up on laundry, some housework, some baking/cooking, and back to the ball park tonight.

Headache. Sore feet. Back pain. Tired. That's me in a nutshell this afternoon!

I wasn't even sure what day it was by the time I finished work today. It felt like Wednesday, and I was sorely disappointed to realize it was only Monday.

Losing My Connection

We lost internet and TV yesterday, when Kane inadvertently nicked or tugged on the buried cable in the front yard. What should be buried a minimum of 12" is only 2-3" below the surface! After a call to the cable company, we were put on the emergency service call list for today. They came, they saw, they set up a temporary fix! Another service visit is needed to fully repair the cable and bury it at the proper depth.

If I had more time I could ponder all the ways that the computer and the internet have been melded into our lives. We didn't notice the loss of TV too much. We had a DVD to watch and things to do. However, we all felt the loss of internet connection.

But, I don't have time to ponder it all in written form...

Abby's team won their baseball game tonight, even though they were missing quite a few players and had only 7 in attendance. The opposing team was also missing some players, but it was a good game overall.

I am glad for the weekend. It was a long and less than enjoyable day at work. Too much drama. Too much attitude. Any joy and enthusiasm I had when I arrived at work was sucked out of my within the first 30 minutes! Next week will be better, I hope.

It is another crunch day, but I am taking this afternoon to relax and spoil myself. After a morning of watching Abby's track & field, going to the library, and doing some calisthenics, I have had a shower, put fresh paint on my toenails, and will get cozy with a book in about three minutes!

A little 'me' time works wonders...and it, the 'me' time, doesn't last nearly long enough! The kids will be home in a couple of hours, and the busyness will begin anew.

76 Trombones...

Tonight was the year end band concert for Sam's band class. I only bothered to take one still photo and one video. Since he plays the trombone, he is always seated towards the back, so visibility is always an issue. I took this photo before the concert began, when "seeing" Sam was just a little bit easier. He is the dark-haired boy sitting in the middle.

Kane and I only stayed for the Sam's group performances, opting to skip out of the other groups. Kane wasn't feeling too great, and my back was already beginning to hurt by that time. However, we did enjoy the music we heard. In particular, I really enjoyed Schindler's List. World War II history is my favourite time period, and the movie is one of my favourites. I also love the song as performed by Itzak Perlman, but the band did a fantastic job (even without a violin!)

To-Do/Ta-Da!

This is a 'crunch' week for me. I am working Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which means that most of my domestic duties will be crunched into Tuesday and Thursday. Sometimes a crunch week can be crazy yet productive, other times crunch week is simply exhausting. Thursday might be a completely different day than today, but I'm feeling pretty good right now!

It is currently 11:20 in the morning, and I have already done a lot. I have baked bread and made home-made double almond chocolate ice cream! (It tastes divine!) The laundry mountain has almost been conquered. My kitchen has been cleaned, all dishes washed. And I even made it to the gym for 30 minutes (10 km) of cycling!

All that is left to do is a bit of general tidying and figuring out the supper problem. What to make and when to eat it?

Super Kane

The NaBloPoMo theme for June is 'Heroes', with the challenge to find 30 to blog about. That is quite the challenge! I don't know that I would even want to blog solely on the topic of heroes; however, I know I can think of a few.

My husband is my hero. It might be sappy and may not always accurately reflect my feelings, but he is most definitely a person that I respect and admire.

Kane is my bestest friend. He is a great dad, who loves his kids and enjoys spending time with them, even at their level. He's a good husband, even though I might find occasion to grumble. He loves me! He cares about me and tries, in his way, to be romantic. He works hard to provide for our family and has worked hard to get the training to be a journeyman plumber. He makes people feel comfortable and welcomed. He isn't afraid to step in and help wherever hands are needed. Basically, he completes me!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.