My Christmas tree is still up!

So I don't feel that late blogging about this... it still feels like Christmas here hehe.

Christmas was lovely! I pleaded my case to mom and she agreed to make the list over the phone with me, so we could cross off the ingredients we already had and divide the rest of the items so that we could finish all that food shopping before Christmas Eve, so that we could relax and spend as much family quality time together. The plan worked beautifully, when everyone arrived on Christmas Eve, we could immediately relax, Christmas style.

Our (recently - since Steph and I moved into our house) traditional chinese fondue & Cranium Christmas Eve was better than ever! We played cranium until 4am and as always, laughed our asses off. I don't know why I have such a hard time getting anyone to play Cranium, even knowing that once they do they'll laugh their ass off! (Is laughter not a very pleasant emotional and physical experience?)

For the first time EVER, my mom decided that we could open our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, because really at 4am it's more like Christmas morning anyway. On top of our awesome Christmas gift that my parents gave us in early December (Hey, do you guys want new winter tires for Christmas? Um, Hell Yes.) they also gave us thermal socks (Steph), facecloths (me), a cool elephant tea light holder... and when all gifts were opened, mom asked for a pen and dad followed her into the guest bedroom and they closed the door. Um... we all knew something was going on that involved a pen and a secret hiding spot. It was something good. We all talked awkwardly while they were gone, no one mentioning what had just happened... Mom and dad came back in the living room and gave me & Steph and Brian & Tammy cards with money in it! Ours said : Have a great trip in New York!  Brian's said : Get back on your feet!  Wow, were we ever spoiled this year!! 

We all woke up late on Christmas Day and had a mid-afternoon turkey meal, which was delicious as always, because mom made it with love. Mom did all the cooking and I did all the dishes, I loved that arrangement. I think that it's time that I admit it to myself : I am a horrible cook. There. Steph cooks most of the time, and I clean most of the time. Oh yeah, have you seen my Facebook pictures with the huge ass turkey my mom made my buy, before Brian announced that he was going to Tammy's side of the family for turkey!! After my parents took a post-turkey nap, mom and I watched "Coco avant Chanel" and laughed at the horribly translated subtitles! The movie was great though, I really had no idea what Coco was avant Chanel.

On Boxing Day we woke up early, Tammy brought the kids over (they were with their father for Christmas this year.) and they opened their gifts. We were running late so we had to leave while everyone was still home, because we were meeting Steph's side of the family for breakfast & a movie. Between breakfast and the movie, we exchanged gifts in the parking lot hehe. I'm sure when Steph's parents get back from their big motorhome roadtrip, we will have more traditional holidays with his side of the family hehe. My nephew JL is so shy with us, since we see them so few times a year... so it really made my day to see him open his gift and grin from ear to ear screaming : NERF!! hehe.

Christmas 2009 was a lovely success :) 

31 Days of Giving Final Update!

Dec 1 - Sent all my Christmas cards, including one to a colleague from head office in which I wrote a very thankful message.

Dec 2 - Took a 2 hour lunch with Sophie to help her find a dress and accessories for her work Christmas party. The dress was on sale and she looked smashing in it! 

Dec 3 - Gave a donation to Simon (Rebecca's Dog) for his surgery. Get well soon Simon!! 

Dec 4 - Gave 4 Lindt d'or Chocolates to my coworker Sonia.

Dec 5 - Gave Loki & Chanel a special treat - Ham & Sausage.

Dec 6 - Gave a friend break-up advice.

Dec 7 - Gave a compliment to a fabulous friend.

Dec 8 - Gave a turkey to Sue Stultz Turkey Drive for all the families needing one in the Greater Moncton area. She met her goal of collecting 3500 turkeys! 

Dec 9 - Bought and donated ornaments for our office Xmas tree.

Dec 10 - Gave chocolates to my coworker Matt, for his little girls.

Dec 11 - Donated a big bag of clothes to the Canadian Diabetes Association

Dec 12 - Gave myself permission to spend an entire day Keeping up with the Kardashians.

Dec 13 - Gave the bathroom the scrubbing of its life, without expecting DH to perform a chore of equal or greater value. A chore freebie. The chore I despise the most. 

Dec 14 - Small donation to the New Brunswick Food Bank Association.

Dec 15 - Gave more chocolates to my coworkers. Hey it's Lindt D'or, the good stuff!

Dec 16 - Left 3x my usual tip to the hotel maid, with a "Happy Holidays!" note.

Dec 17 - Small salvation army donation, and gave all my change to the cancer society booth at Wal-Mart.

Dec 18 - Thanked a Soldier (www.letssaythanks.com) (A US Soldier but there's no .ca hehe)

Dec 19 - Praised an employee to their manager.

Dec 20 - Gave someone a 2nd chance. Also gave one of my best friends a little Christmas gift.

Dec 21 - Gave to the sick kids foundation and to the MIRA foundation.

Dec 22 - Gave a smile and said "That's alright" to the guy who accidentally rammed me really effing hard in the ass at the grocery store. Also bought tons of food to entertain/feed my family for the Holidays.

Dec 23 - Bought a tin of chocolates & passed a card to be signed for the cleaning lady at work. Donation to Salvation Army lady standing at the Liquor Store.

Dec 24 - Fed my family. Fed them REALLY well.

Dec 25 - Gave tons of gifts to people I love.

Dec 26 - Donnation to Cora's Breakfast Foundation.

Dec 27 - I have waited too long to write down everything since Christmas, I can't remember what I did on this day! I'll throw in an extra 2 days sometime in January, to make up for it, in case I didn't give anything hehe.

Dec 28 - Helped a couple of people fill out their custom forms for crossing the USA border.

Dec 29 - Gave money to a band while having dinner in Little Italy.

Dec 30 - Gave money to a Subway car singing quartet. 

Dec 31 - Gave money to a Subway band.

 

I have really really enjoyed doing this! Some days I'd get home and think : Oh crap, I forgot to give something to someone today! And then realized I had actually given something to someone. I think I'm just a very generous person in general. Sometimes naively generous. (You know how I can't say no..) But doing this, especially during this time of year, made me make a conscious effort to do it everyday and it felt great! 

31 Days of Giving Update!

Dec 1 - Sent all my Christmas cards, including a special Thank You for all that you do message inside a Christmas card for a coworker at head office.
Dec 2 - Took a 2 hour lunch with Sophie to help her dress shop and give fashion advice.
Dec 3 - Gave a donation to Simon (Rebecca's Dog) for his surgery.
Dec 4 - Gave 4 Lindt d'or Chocolates to my coworker Sonia.
Dec 5 - Gave Loki & Chanel a special treat - Ham & Sausage.
Dec 6 - Gave a friend break-up advice.
Dec 7 - Gave a compliment to a fabulous friend.
Dec 8 - Gave a turkey to Sue Stultz Turkey Drive for those in need. (www.suestultz.ca)
Dec 9 - Bought and donated ornaments for our office Xmas tree.
Dec 10 - Gave chocolates to my coworker Matt, for his little girls.
Dec 11 - Donated a big bag of clothes to the Canadian Diabetes Association
Dec 12 - Gave myself permission to spend an entire day Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Dec 13 - Gave the bathroom the scrubbing of its life, without expecting DH to perform a chore of equal or greater value. A chore freebie. The chore I despise the most. 
Dec 14 - Small donation to the New Brunswick Food Bank Association.
 

Halfway there! I have decided that I will definitely give more and/or perform Random Acts of Kindless a lot more in 2010. I just won't impose a schedule on that because it's not so Random if it's planned daily hehe. I will most definitely redo the 31 Days of Giving next December and hope to make this a tradition. It helps put me in the Holidays Spirit and hopefully does the same thing for the recipients of my Random Acts :) 

Three strikes you're out!

Did I ever bog about finally making it into the 'qualified pool of participants' for the Federal Government? After 2 years of testing and interviews, I finally made it. Then I learned that the pool is only valid for 1 year. What?! Not fair! It took me 2 years to get in! And THEN I learned that if you decline 3 job interview invitations, you're out of the pool.

First strike.

They called Friday to invite me to interview for a job position to replace someone on sick leave for 2 months. 2 months!? If this were closer to the end of my contract (End of June) I could consider this more and perhaps take a leap of faith.. but I just can't be jobless in February! Then what? It's hard enough as it is to find a job... It sucks to have my first strike, but I just can't imagine taking that big a risk! Oh well. It wasn't meant to be this time. But I hope that my other 2 invitations won't be for only 2 months also!

It's a beautiful sunny day! This is me ignoring the white shit on the ground. Seriously? Mother nature had to give us this kind of snow for our first snow? You know the kind that freezes into ice, the sidewalks are a mess, my street is a skating rink. This is the only reason I hate snow - It's too slippery!!

It's my coworker Sonia's birthday today! I don't know what I'm going to do when/if she ever decides to move on to greener pastures, I love love love her! 

My parents are coming to town today with my Christmas gift! It's so unusual for mom to allow us to have our Christmas gift before the morning of the 25th, but this year she called and asked : Do you want winter tires for Christmas? Um, Yes!! But 1 - They would take too much room under the tree and 2 - It's kind of best to put them on now.

My parents almost came on Sunday, but we had a snowstorm. We were planning on watching movies in the living room. For once, we were going to actually relax together. I love my parents to death but every single time they come to town it's either running all over town with them to do errands, or waiting at home all day while they run around town doing errands, hoping to see them for five minutes. We almost never just RELAX together. Even when they're in town for an occasion, we still have to run around for all the ingredients and/or gifts, preparing meals etc. For Christmas, I'd like a coupon book full of "This entitles you to spend a day with your parents just hanging out." 

Just Sayin'

I confess.. I just kind of realized something while reading about a boardie becoming an aunt.

- We have infertility problems

- My little brother is back with his gf and her children are grown teenagers and she can't have babies anymore. (And met those kids when they were already teenagers..)

- My three best friends :
....1. Is vehemently Child free by choice
....2. Has 3 sisters
....3. Has 2 children but is very very religious therefore, obviously she needed to pick someone who's actually religious..
- Steph's brother and his wife's kids were born before we were married, and Steph wasn't chosen as godfather either anyway.
I'll NEVER be a freakin' godmother!! Not to toot my own horn too much, but I would make SUCH A kickass godmother.

- I'm really not close to any other people that have children or that are planning too.

I confess that I'm wondering why the universe is keeping its children away from me? Would I be such a horrible mentor or something?

Sorry for the downer post.. I swear, I'm not down. I was just wondering...

31 Days of Giving!

I read this idea on Mrs. Lukie's blog : 

Ready to hear it? Your challege, should you choose to accept it...

    ...is to give something, to someone, every day of the month, and then blog about it (at your leisure!) The goal is to act with kindness, generosity, hospitality and love. This does not require money or even having to leave the comfort of your home (though it would be AWESOME if you do!) You can volunteer or donate your time/old clothes/extra food/etc. You can pay someone a compliment on their smile or their sweater. Send an encouraging email to someone who may need it. A text message to someone, just to let them know you're thinking about them. Just do something ...anything!... out of the kindess of your heart for another person. Even when you're feeling crabby, are pressed for time, or just plain ol' don't wanna.

I think that this is a FANTASTIC idea, and what a great month to do this too? This is the month to do the little things I always say I'll do someday but seldom do.. like giving a random person on the street some spare change.

I think that I'll write a "31 Days of Giving" update every 7 days or so. I'm still enjoying the break after nablopomo so I don't want to promise daily blogs hehe. Here's what's on my list so far: (And please, I really don't want to come off as show offing or anything, I'm just throwing this fantastic idea out there and hoping to inspire others to do the same!) 

Dec 1 - Sent Christmas cards to all the people that I love (at least the ones whose addresses I have) and that includes sending a card with a Thank You message to an awesome administrative support girl at head office.

Dec 2 - Took a 2 hour lunch, picked up Sophie and we went to the mall where I helped her pick out a dress for her Christmas party. (And we found an awesome one that gives her an incredible hour glass figure. Very elegant and classy. Best part - It was 50% off on sale! 

Dec 3 - Gave a donation to Simon (Rebecca's Dog) for his expensive but crucial surgery. http://helpsimon.blogspot.com/

What a Nightmare!

Last night I had a scary nightmare. I'm so used to having nightmares about someone or a group of people chasing me and trying to kill me, that those don't even phase me anymore. I wake up from them, roll over and go back to sleep. But last night I had one of those nightmares that's still scary once you're awake. But I cuddled close to Steph, it made me feel safe, and then I went back to sleep.

I dreamed that my brother had sold his soul to the devil! When I woke up in my head that's all I could think "OMG Brian sold his SOUL to the DEVIL!". But when I think about my dream, it was more like he was posessed by a demon. He made me swear to not tell anyone, not even Steph. He was talking slow and weird, kind of like playing a record bakwards to hear the subliminal messages. It was so creepy! 

Is it because 'in real life', I wonder what would ever posess him to go back to HER

(Is she the Devil? hehe) 

PS - What makes me angry the most is not even the fact that we thought we were finally rid of that cougar, or the fact that our house is constantly being mistaken for a revolving door Hotel V. What makes me angry the most is that he has NOT called me since he went over there to 'talk' on Sunday evening and never came back. He was online playing World of Warcraft last night while Steph was on, and Steph told him twice that I wanted to talk to him on MSN and he never came. Doesn't he think that I could use a little explanation, or at least a notice of when he's coming to pick his crap up or re-arrange the basement like it was before he messed it up to make room for himself? 

Nablopomo DAY 30!!!

I did it! I blogged every single day during the month of November! Are you sick and tired of me yet? Should I take a sabbatical? 

To celebrate the end of Nablopomo - Bullets hehe.

  • Tonight is our office Xmas party at the Pumphouse, and I'm not even pumped. It's this early because M is off to Thailand for 2 months.
  • I stupidly picked and scratched at a blackhead on my chinny chin chin, and I've managed to take a whole layer of skin off and it looks like a blister/cigarette burn. Add that to my 5 star period zits that are still not totally gone, and I look like a fat crack whore.
  • My tree is decorated and 75% of my decorations are up! 
  • We're starting to re-think Tavern on the Green for NYE.... the price is great, in theory it sounds great.. but the reviews... awful awful awful. But then again they're going bankrupt and this is their last Hurrah and we could say that we've had one NYE at TOTG... Sigh. What to do ? 
  • Someone at work is stealing mugs. I'm not kidding. 2-3 weeks ago I said "OMG, we only have NINE mugs left?" and this morning, while I was prepping for the Minister and Deputy Minister, I realized that we're down to 6 mugs! WTH! These are hand made artisanal pottery mugs with the province's flower on it etc. I don't now if it's employees, clients, or the cleaning lady....
  • I am so unorganized for the NYC trip. It's because I'm waiting to purchase the NYE party tickets first, because the price of that will have an effect on all other activities...
  • Maybe we should go to TOTG anyway and hope that they dont' want a Halloween fiasco repeat? 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

There's still no snow on the ground and we're still enjoying unseasonably warm temperatires, and I'm still enjoying it so so much! 

Today was *awesome*! Brian did the last of the yard winterizing and went up the roof to fix the Christmas lights. Steph helped me re-arrange the living room furniture and mopped the floor.Then Brian and Steph assembled the tree while I sat and watched. It was a Christmas miracle!! The tree is up and decorated, and 75% of the decorations are up :) 

Wednesday night I'm going to go help Sophie shop for a dress and shoes for her Christmas party, that's going to be fun! 

Did anyone else hear that "Green Monster Mash" song?? (The Grinch & Shrek) Love it!! 

If Santa was Rich

This would be my Christmas list : 

  • A nice DSLR Camera
  • A flat screen tv for our bedroom
  • A fence for the yard
  • A "Spring Cleaning" gift certificate for Molly Maid
  • fashion jewelry
  • A pair of jeans that fits great
  • A really really tall ladder
  • A new master closet
  • A trip around the world.
  • New floors
  • New underwear
  • A box of Chili & Lime flavored Spitz
  • A new "Satin Taupe" M.A.C. eye shadow
  • A new "Naked Lunch" M.A.C. eye shadow
  • New make up brushes
  • The Sex and the City Boxed Set
  • A Blue-Ray Player
  • A GPS 
  • A remote car starter
  • Cute fuzzy slippers

Yep, I really had nothing else to blog about.