Packing and Unpacking

Last week our office moved up from the 1st floor to the 4th floor of our building. Just far enough that we had to pack everything and unpack everything, and we have a lot of things! It has been a good excuse to do some spring cleaning and I did find some hidden gems.

I found a note that Lil' Bro had written for me when he was in Grade 5. I was giving a presentation for his class and then had to meet with one of the local police officers to talk about my video project. My Lil' Bro lives about an hour from me and while I was pretty sure where the police station was I wanted to be certain. I asked the teacher to give me directions and Lil' Bro pipes up and says he knows the way and he will write the directions for me. This is what he wrote

- left from school

- left at Daliys

- left at lights

- left at licker store

- left at poleice

I found a print out of the article about the "All Ice Cream Fertility Diet". I think I'm still carrying around some of the "High Fat" from that one. It didn't work but maybe I just didn't try hard enough. Just in case, I had ice cream twice last night.

I found some pictures of our Birthday Weekend a couple of years ago and discovered that our new bookkeeper knows my friend's ex and had met RB a couple of times before.

I found an email that RB recieved from someone when she was doing the online dating thing. The guy wrote in all caps about how he couldn't have overnight guests where he lived but he did have a car. A great pick-up line when you are 16 but not so much in your 30's. Besides WRITING IN ALL CAPS THAT YOU WANT TO DO IT IN YOUR CAR GIVES A KINDA CREEPY VIBE. I'm really glad that she eventually found a really good man who is very good to her.

To wrap up the week, we took my boss out for drinks and dessert on Friday night. Hubby came to pick me up and had flagged down a friend on the way. She joined us for dinner and then I dropped her off at home on my way to a 'stitching function' with the girls.

On the home front, Hubby got his date to go for his surgery. He goes in on the 28th, surgery on the 29th and if all goes well we'll be home by the 30th. In the meantime, he is preoccupied with Hockey (Go Habs) and he and Monkey are having a hockey playoffs sleepover tonight while Lil' Sis is writing her final exam. Foxy will be coming too! We got permission from the landlord and he'll be gradually moving in over the next few weeks.

Do you think I can pull off a hot new look?

I came home yesterday after a lonnng day at work and an appointment discussing transplant centers with the cardiologist and decided that all I wanted to do was lay in the sun. I changed out of my work clothes and stretched out on the living room floor under the picture window. I was going to pretend it was a beautiful sunny day and not the last week of March.


It lasted for about 2 minutes before the kitten decided to pounce on a shadow and use my face as the launch pad. OUCH! I had two fresh scars for my presentation tonight. I tried my best to pull it off as the newest fad. It is two bright red lines coming from the corners of my eye. I put on a pound of make-up, darker lipstick to draw attention away from my eye. I also posted a picture of the vicious 8 pound puffball that attacked me as the backdrop for my presentation.

It must have worked because I had some very positive comments on the presentation despite the fact that the material is dreadfully boring. I'm leaving tomorrow for my last tax law information session. I can't wait to have it over and done with. On a high note, the script for my video new video for youth victims has been approved I will soon start to working on a project for youth in foster care. Something with more 'life' to it than tax law.

I'll be taking my WIP to work on in the hotel! I can't wait for a little downtime, I can lay around without fear of a kitten making trackmarks on my face.

Hello again

I finally got a few minutes to myself on Easter Sunday to catch up. When I last wrote Hubby was waiting for surgery again. They did not end up doing the surgery in January. When he got to SJ they did all of the tests, got him prepped for surgery and just minutes before they began the surgeon decided to run the diagnostics again. He thought that it may just be a matter of time before the lead settled into place and decided not to do the surgery.

A few weeks later with a change is meds Hubby is feeling much better and is back to work (promoted even!). Unfortunately, the wire did not settle into place and we are once again waiting for surgery. They are consulting with other surgeons to see if they should proceed. At least this time he will not have to be in hospital waiting.

In the meantime, I have been working my butt off to get all of my work projects wrapped up by March 31st. Once the projects are done I have to pack up my office for a move to the 4th floor. This is a pain in the neck but good news. It means I will be able to open my curtains and enjoy the sunshine. Being on the ground floor, I had a view of the loading bay and lots or delivery guys staring in. I kept my curtains closed so I didn’t always feel like I was in the zoo.

In the crafty end of things my last project turned out great! My friends Wordnerd and MD just had a beautiful baby boy and I made a pillow for the nursery. The new Papa produces his own comics including one that features their very handsome beagle, Genghis. I took one of his drawings and turned it into a knitting pattern for the pillow. The back is a very soft plush. It was a hit! You can a few shots of the pillow in a fantastic short video Papa MD made of baby’s trip home. (Love, love, love the video.) I am so glad they are finally all home safe and sound. I also got signed up for Ravelry. I think it will be great when I have more time to play around with it. If you are on you can look me up as TheCraftyCanadian.

I’m looking forward to catching up more with everyone when March is over.
C.C.

Busy Week

It just never seems to slow down, I just finish my year end reports and I have to dive right into finding funding for this year. Ah, non-profit life. Why did I decide not to go into private practice? Money woes aside things are going well, the new staff have jumped right in and seem to be working out great.

Monkey and I have had two play dates this week, including tonight's trip to the library. Tomorrow we are heading back to the in-law's to prepare for the up coming Birthday Beach Bash Extravaganza! Lil' Sis and Monkey will be coming with us to do some beach combing.

It looks like we will have over 30 of our closest pals join us for the beach party. Because my FIL has a broken paw we will be going to set up the screen house, the outdoor shower etc. It promises to be a wild time. We have all of the regulars and a whole bunch of newbies at the Club Med of the North. In honour of my FIL, this year's slogan is "Break a Leg!"

I am more excited about the birthday weekend than I am about my trip to Monteal. Although I have to say I am thrilled that we got tickets to see Lewis Black!

What a week!

As expected, this was a crazy busy week. I am trying to wrap up two publications, we started our audit, and my year end report is due at the end of the month. Just writing about all of the work I did this year makes me tired. On top of all the writing, editing and project management, it turns out I gave my youth justice presentations 30 times to over 1300 people. Whew! I need a vacation.


Unfortunately three things that make this upcoming week look just as busy are the continuation of the financial audit, a dentist appointment, proofs from printers to review, and to make matter worse the boss is gone for the three days before the AGM which means lots of work for EB and me!

Hubby and I had a pretty uneventful weekend considering the chaos around us. Hubby was really hoping I'd surprise him with some good news on Father's Day but sadly that wasn't possible. I did however surprise him with a book he's wanted and a letter saying what a great dad I think he will be some day. As much as these types of holidays get to us our weekend was a breeze compared to the rest of our family.

On Saturday night I got home late and came throught the door at 12:30 to the phone ringing. My brother called to say he had just come home from a business trip to find his girlfriend had taken off with the Mouse! He was frantic and waiting for the police to show up. He was filing a missing person's report and trying to reach her at her mother's place. My sister has since had an email from her saying that she and the baby are fine but not saying where she is. My poor big brother is a wreck and won't leave the house for fear he'll miss her call.

Sunday Hubby called his Dad for Father's Day to find out they had just gotten back from the hospital where his father had surgery on his foot. He had told Hubby on Saturday how he had set up a "hammock district" in anticipation of our long weekend trip with three hammocks for us to use. Apparently that night he was enjoying the fruits of his labour when the hammock he was in came undone and he badly broke his foot in the fall. The rushed him to the hospital 45 minutes away where they did x-rays and then sent him off to a larger hospital 2 hours away for surgery. He know has pins and plates in his foot and will likely have pain the rest of his life. At the least, he is laid up for a few weeks in a cast and will be going snakey.

At this point I'm calling my Papa (step-dad) to find out if he made it back from his sailing trip with his dad and brother before the thunder storm rolled in. Thankfully he had made it back just in time. I was unable to reach my Dad in BC yesterday but I know he's alive because I got an email notice saying he got my e-card.

You know how they say bad things happen in threes? This morning Lil' Sis tells me that the Monkey's grandfather on his Dad's side had lost two fingers in a band saw accident! Good greif!

Myself, I just tried to take it easy this weekend. I read Snow Falling on Cedars which was a terrific book. All of my plans to go biking fell through, Hubby's bike needs a tune-up before he can go and Canknitian and I were rained out on Sunday. I did spend Sunday afternoon with Sis, Hubby and the Monkey enjoying the sun. Actually I was enjoying the shade, Sis was enjoying the sun but she is paying the price for it today.

On the crafty front there hasn't been much going on. I kind of overdid it a bit last weekend and have put the needles down for just a bit. I am anxiously awaiting my swapee for the Virtual Vacation and I have also signed up as a memeber of Team Canada in Dish Rag Tag.

Now it is back to work!

Oh, I should thank Sharon for her comments on my last post. It made me laugh to think I gave someone the impression I was a hard core biker. I am definately not, although I do have a great Schwinn 5-star Cruiser which my hubby refers to as my "Pee-wee Herman bike". (He's just jealous!) I'll have to post a picture of my sweet ride!

A great day!

That's right two posts today. How could I wait I had such a good day. Today started off as a good day from the minute I stepped outside the door! I nearly walked right into the delivery guy who was bringing me my package of goodies from the Spring Felted Bag Exchange! What could I do, I didn't have time to take it back inside and I was certainly not going to wait for tonight to see what was inside so I took it to work!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU Laurie C!

The first thing I noticed was that it was from Georgia and I thought "Hey I know a super cool blogger from Georgia who leaves me wonderful notes!" My suspicions were confirmed by those sneaky Canada Customs people who insist on having the name on the declaration slip.

Look at all the goodies that were in the giant box she sent.

In this very poor phot you can barely make out the Lamb's Pride in Green and the Galaway in Brown that was included. There were two books ( I love the patterns, I will be an expert knitter in no time!), some wool needles with a handy dandy case, tissues with bags on it, a stitch counter, three pink grapefruit scented products and a lovely card.

The small gold pouch on top of the book is my brand new, very first ever beaded stitch holders. My days of stitch holder envy are over thanks to my very generous Swap Pal.

Here you can see the fabulous colours of the yarn.

Thank you again Laurie!

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I told my Director that I would love to get some work done for her today but I was going to have to go home and knit something. She didn't agree. Today was crazy busy workday, I barely got up from my desk all day and as many things as I got done there were twice as many things on my list at the end of the day.

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One of my rare excursions from the office was put together some materials for an order. On my way to the storage room I noticed there was some odd green foam board outside the IT office next door. It did not look like anything you would normally associate with computers and I wondered what it was. When I passed it again on my way back to the office I thought it looked a like something used for sound-proofing (how I know what soundproofing looks like I'm not sure, may be a remnant from my college radio days). Again I thought it was a strange thing to be outside an IT office. I had a fleeting thought that they may be tired of listening to my boss yell into her speaker phone or argue with her research partner.

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Don't get me wrong, I really like my boss, most days. But she is easily frazzled, stamps her feet and swears when something goes wrong and has the most annoying habit of ONLY using speaker phone. There has been an ongoing feud between her and the guy next door. He bangs things agains the wall and sneezes so loud I've had people say they could hear it on my phone. Last year "they" (not sure who "they" were) made her switch her office around so that she was not facing their shared wall when she was yelling into the phone.

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Today was particularly loud as she and her research partner were argueing and both yelling into the speaker phone to the research assistant. It made for a long afternoon but when I stopped in to say goodbye to my boss I noticed that they had actully covered the other side of the wall in sound-proofing- including the windows at the top! I have to say I laughed all the way home. I can only imagine how much complaining he had to do to get them to actually soundproof the office! Too bad they didn't leave enough in the hall to soundproof the other wall which divides her office from mine.

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Tonight I had Pilates, it was a small class with quite a few people missing. Not sure where all my pals were tonight but we had a good time, lots of laughs and enough crunches to ensure that I will not be able to move tomorrow with out calling the instructor names. After class, those of us who were good enough to go to class decided to undo all of the work we had done with a trip to DQ. Mmmm ice cream, my favourite!

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Some of my fellow fertility bloggers have had a rough week this week and my heart goes out to them. It is so hard not to get your hopes up. When the Doc told me there was increased pregnancy rate following the HSG I told myself that I was not going to get my hopes up but I can't help it. I realized today that my hopes are definately up since I have been taking prenatal vitamins faithfully which I never do (stupid horsepills), I have been extra careful about not missing any of my daily pills and taking them at the same time every night. I also made sure that Hubby and I had lots of ... er... um... 'quality time' on the peak days. While I know deep down that it probably will not happen I just can't help thinking that maybe, just maybe this will be the month.

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I had a great comment from Cass today who said she enjoyed reading my rantings. It's good to know I amuse someone other than myself. (I peeked over at your blog, and can't wait to have the chance to look at it closer.)

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Finally, I have set a lunch date for Friday to meet the one and only Miss Me in person. I have finished her felted bag and can hardly wait to meet her and see how she likes it! She posted some pics from the first package on her site. (I forgot to take any pics myself so I'm glad she posted a few.)

I had the time of my life...

Tonight I went to see Dirty Dancing on the big screen. As part of the 20th anniversary of the film (and to promote the stage show coming to Toronto) they are showing it for two nights. Both days were sold out by supper, luckily I went after work and pick up tickets for me and the girls. I think we counted 3 brave men in sea of women. I had never seen it on the big screen, it was a blast! I can't imagine how many times I have seen the movie, I also played the soundtrack to death.

It makes me miss going out dancing. I remember the days when I spent every Thursday night to Sunday morning on the dancefloor. There is not really any place for adults to go dancing here. It is a university town and the bars are filled with young skinny half-naked girls. It is hard to feel as confident as we did 10 years ago.

The crazies have all but passed and I am feeling much more like myself again. I had a slight set back when my Dr. left a message saying he was increasing the dose again. Poor Hubby may not survive "Triple Crazy". If I set up a swear jar I may save a fortune next month.

All of my friends have recently discovered Facebook. What a blast finding old friends and seeing the pictures people post. One thing I can say is that we have a lot of fun. Hubby and I have a great group of friends who are up for anything and we are always planning some adventure, costume party or ways to improve our annual birthday bash on the beach. (Less than 100 days to go - I can hear the hammock calling my name.)

I think I've come to a decision on the job front. I've decided that it is worth keeping a job that I love until I find a job that at least interests me and pays better. I have so many friends that are bailing on high paying firm jobs because they hate going to work everyday. While I would prefer to work from home any day I have to say that I don't dread going to work. Besides, if I leave who is going to scare the pants off of the kids by telling them what will happen if they break the law. Also, I am the only lawyer in the province, and possibly the country who has their own handy dandy prize wheel.




As you can see from the photo the prize wheel can also be used to encourage bad behaviour!

Do you work for love or for money?

Last week I interviewed for a new job. The interview went very well, I was able to answer all of their questions and had plenty of relevant experience. The pay was MUCH better than what I currently make ($10,000 more + benefits + an extra week of vacation + RSP matching). The work would not be difficult, and I would likely be less busy than I am in my current position. So what's the problem, right?

Problem is I love the work I do. I work for a non-profit organization and make peanuts compared to what I could be making at a firm or in government. But the perks of my job include:
- Interesting and rewarding projects
- There is lots of variety in the projects I work on.
- I can take a sunny afternoon and work from my deck at home.
- There is satisfaction in knowing the work I do is helping people
- It is in my field
- I get to network and take part in committees and conferences.
- There is lots of travel.
- I work in an office of all women who tolerate my Crazy days.
- I can call into work "Crazy" and work from home with no questions asked or hassles.

As you can tell there is a lot to like about where I am. The downside is the pay, no opportunities for advancement,and funding for the position is always hanging in the balance.

The question becomes whether to take a job that is less interesting and more financially fulfilling or stay with a job that I love and earn less. Last time I weighed these options I was offered a position with the government. I quickly decided to stay where I was. The work would have been dreadfully boring and it was only guaranteed for 1 year.

So what would you do? Given your choice between a great paying job and work that is interesting and fun, which would you choose?

Time is almost up!

Tomorrow is the last working day of the fiscal year. For a charity this means making sure every penny is spent and invoiced for tomorrow. (Heaven forbid you might actually have something left.) My projects are pretty much undercontrol because unlike some other people I anticipate the year end chaos all year and trust no one but myself to make sure everything is accounted for. Yes, I am a control freak.

Today was fun, I don't think I repeated myself too many times in the sessions. It all gets very blurry after five 50 minutes sessions. After a rocky start it was all good. Although the first class had some "disruptions" it all went smoothly the rest of the day.

I must say, I have no idea how teachers keep their train of thought with the intercom system binging, beeping and blaring constantly. It didn't help that our sessions were off the regular class schedule so most of the bings would have normally been during breaks.

Poopid People Everywhere!

Whew, I think everyone has survived the worst of the rollercoaster for this month. I had a relatively calm day today (slight flare-ups here and there) but all in all I'm getting back to normal. I may even pick up my knitting tonight. (Too crazy to craft is a bad state of affairs!)

I got a great stretch at my Bendy Class. A bunch of friends have been taking private Pilates classes once a week. It is sooo much better to giggle, gasp and groan in the company of close friends. I am the furthest thing from a fitness freak, in fact I left class and came home to roast beast and gravy, but I do really enjoy a great stretch.

Sis called last night to tell me the Monkey, at 4 years old, had outsmarted her. The conversation when something like this:
Monkey: Mom, can I say "stupid"?
Mom: No, its a bad word and we don't use it.
Monkey: mmmm, can I say "Poop"?
Mom: Yes,"poop" is not a bad word, but its still not nice.
Monkey: mmmmmmm, can I say "Poopid"?
Mom: Poopid?
Monkey: Yeah, (giggle)cause its is so poopid(giggle).

She said he played her perfectly. It was so calculated and sneaky and it completely took her by surprise. Not surprisingly "poopid" has become her new favourite word.

Off to bed early tonight! Tommorrow I have to do 5 back-to-back presentations, which means I can either scare the pants off 150 Grade 9 students or I can bore them to tears! I may just switch it up a bit from class to class. I love my job.

Close call

Let me begin by saying, I know I am completely crazy.

Today is probably the peak of this month's Clomid craze but having been on this rollercoaster for quite sometime I have become quite adept at concealling the crazy. I can generally rant internally while keeping up the "sane" facade. I recognize that I have a heightened reaction to those things which normally just bug me.

The problem arises when something that would normally make me angry, upset or frustrated sets off uncontrollable tears, rage or stress. Today I came far too close to letting loose on my boss. The tirade was on the tip of my tongue when I had a split-second thought that this may end badly, and walked away. Rest assured that if I had actually said what was on my mind I would not have a job. Thankfully I had a brief moment of clarity and walked away, packed up my laptop and went to work at home.

Not only am I under the influence of raging hormones, this just happens to be the year end and my most stressful week of the year. By 10:00 this morning it felt like I had put in a full week. I started the day preparing to destroy the first year law student who did some "research" for me. He was saved by the bell when the phone rang and I had to ask The Ostrich to pull her head out of the sand and actually make a decision.

For the greater good I should find something to keep me occupied tonight. If you don't hear from me tomorrow I'm probably in jail.

Don't Tug on Superman's Cape

Family:
Today is my nephew's 4th birthday. I can hardly believe it! It can't be 4 years and 2 days since Lil Sis was in my office telling me we were going to have a St. Paddy's day baby! (Boy was she wrong!) He was such a little beach bum when he was born, he had long blonde shaggy hair. His hair is now dark blonde but he still has the most beautiful blue eyes that twinkle when he is up to no good.

We had a family dinner tonight featuring his favourite meal - take-out Chinese. Mom and The Papa were there but Hubby had to work. After dinner Sis offered to take me up to Hubby's work to drop off the car so I wouldn't have to go back after him at midnight. The Monkey was so excited to see his uncle that we decided to take him to McDonald's so he could play while Hubby had his supper.

He was so cute running around the playground with his Superman pjs on (complete with cape!).
When it was time to take Hubby back to work he took off to the top of the playground. I waited at the bottom of the slide. When he landed he was looking the other way and didn't see me so I leaned in and softly said "Boo". It startled him and he whipped around, looked at me for half a second and then punched me in the nose!

He didn't hit hard, I think he realized halfway through what he was doing and tried to pull back but it smarts just the same. Sis and I are trying very hard to keep a straight face as we tell him not to hit. It was just so obvious that it was a knee-jerk reaction that you just couldn't be really upset with him. It is important to note that he did come back down the slide to kiss my nose better and say "Sorry Teecee".

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Work:

What a depressing (yet productive) day at work. To look at my agenda would give someone who didn't know me the wrong impression.

Today's agenda read:

8 am - 9 am Breakfast

9 am - 11 am Sexual Assault

1 pm - 4 pm Child Abuse

I spent the morning in a meeting talking about education around sexual assault law and the proposed changes to the age of consent to sexual activity. The afternoon was spent editing a publication for parents and service providers about reporting child abuse and neglect. While it is all important work it is sad that there is such a need for these materials.

Thankfully tomorrow promises to be much lighter fare!

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Friends:

A great weekend overall. CL came up for the weekend to cheer up Hubby. (His cool new job fell through.) The two of them started St. Paddy's day on Friday evening with a bottle of wine.

On Saturday the gang got together at an Irish pub for lunch to kick off the festivities. The hardcore group went to settle in at another pub, I opted to spend a couple of hours watching movies with JE and working on Hubby's Acadian scarf.

When I returned to the pub, Lil Sis and friends were just arriving. We all managed to get some tables together in the back room. She, of course was sporting her flashy green metallic eyelashes and quickly choose a waiter to flirt with/torment. It is, after all, tradition.

Unfortunately the torrential rainfall kept many people home (weather wusses). Although shortly after the roof started leaking many of our group headed out. Hubby, true to his word, was dragged out of the bar. It was not quite the end of the night as he had planned but the crowd was fizzling so we decided to move the party back to the house.

Being a good DD I drove everyone home and came home to fall asleep on the couch while CL, DC and Hubby watched the "Roast of William Shatner" on TV.

Yesterday was BS' birthday and although he hates his birthday he allowed the rest of us to celebrate with a yummy DQ Strawberry Cheesecake Blizzard Cake. It is a thing of beauty. We took turns butchering songs on the Wii karaoke game. I'm not a singer by any means but I did take top honours with my renditions of both "Uptown Girl" and "Time After Time." I love a singing game that does not require singing skills.

RB helped with some work I was trying to wrap up and we had Greek for supper. Chicken souvlaki is so good for supper but it is still best breakfast on Saturday morning at the market.

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Still No Baby

Today officially marks Day 1 of the next round. In just two short days the crazy begins with a new round of drugs. It would just have to be the last two weeks of the year end.

I can't believe it caught me off guard, the signs were so clear - uncontrollable chocolate cravings, no energy, organizing closets, dreaming I was pregnant, - short of scrubbing the bathroom (which had already been done on Friday) all the signs were there.

EB and I are both going to be unbearable this week so we have put the office on alert. (This is another perk of an all female office.) Today, we decided that since misery loves company we would lock ourselves in a boardroom to hammer out some revisions.

Watch for upcoming subject lines such as: "Vehicular manslaughter can't be all bad", "mmm...chocolate" and "Why is everyone pregnant but me."

I am keeping in mind that this is still a good sign since, I am almost on schedule and therefore the drugs seem to be doing the trick. If all goes well it will just be a matter of time before I am complaining about being pregnant.

Fingers crossed for the next round!

March is coming! March is coming!

Some people just can't wait for March. The winter is nearly over, March break, Saint Patrick's Day, the anniversary of the day I met my hubby, there are good things about March but in the world of non-profit project funding March = Panic!

Like most non-profits, my organization survives on project funding. We apply to the federal government each spring but by the time the project is approved and the agreements signed we have just 6 months to complete the projects by the end of the fiscal year. Every March we are run ragged trying to ensure that all of the money is spent and the work is done.

To add to this year's chaos, this will be the second year in a row that we will be heading into March with an administrative assistant who is leaving us. The admin person we had for 3 years moved with her hubby last March and we have hired 4 others in the last year. We finally found someone who is perfect and she has been offered another job that pays nearly twice what we do. I completely understand her leaving but it still sucks for me!

Why is it that we can find lawyers to work for less than bookkeepers? Oh well, one of the perks of not practicing law is that I can supposedly leave my work at the office, so on to happier things.

I am so close to finishing my first cabled scarf! At 55" I thought it would never end but just a few more rows and it will be done. I just have to decide if I should give it to my Grampy who I know loves cabled knitting but has lots of scarves and less need for it, or to give it to The Papa (my step-father) who could probably get more use of it. I would give it to my hubby but he has made it pretty clear that the scarf he wants will have to be in Acadian colours. Complete with the yellow star.

I will post pics as soon I I learn how!