It's Been Awhile...

Things have been a little busy and the few times I have had time to blog, the website wasn't working for some reason. Oh well, alas, I try to update now...

Work: Things have been steady. Some busy days, some slow days... it all kinda evens out I guess. A few things have been happening lately that make me question whether I'm capable of doing this job, esp. since Thursday is Sandy's last day and I will be completely taking over her job. Not gonna lie, I'm a little worried...

Not work: Went camping @ Half Moon Lake w/ Mom & Dale this weekend. I think it was exactly what we needed. It was nice to just get away and enjoy the nice weather and the time together as a family. Boo for sunburns tho! haha.

The next big thing I'm looking forward to is Matt getting here on WEDNESDAY! I CAN'T WAIT!! I'm soo excited to see him and we have some fun stuff planned while he's here so it should be great. I can't believe what was once a month of counting down is now only a day and a half...!! :)

Gotta run for now... Happy Canada Day tomorrow!! *imagine fireworks going off here*

Murphy's Law Monday

It was kinda a murphy's law Monday today. We had a power surge at the office and our credit card/debit machine completely crashed and can't be replaced till tomorrow. So we had to totally change the way we entered orders for the day which was a total pain in the butt and took way longer, the mouse for the computer in the shipping room stopped working completely and on top of all the craziness, our product order arrived today. (Which is good because we're no longer backordered on product... but it made the day even more hectic). And to top it all off, I was stuck inside the office while it was a gorgeous day outside. Then when I got home I found out that Debbie's cancer has spread still further... she's lost control of her bottom lip/jaw which means there's nerve damage... probably a result of the cancer moving towards the brain. At this rate, I'm pretty sure she's not going to make it through the summer. Kinda sad to think about considering she just turned 33 last week... *sigh*...

On a happier note, I did get to get out and enjoy the sunshine this evening. I took both my dogs for a walk around the block and enjoyed some fresh air. I also took advantage of the nice weather to FINALLY clean out my car. An hour and 45 minutes later... it looks pa-retty niiicee :)

Wonder what tomorrow has in store...

Down on the Farm

Dad and I went down to "The Farm" (Stienwand's in Castor, AB) this weekend. I think it was exactly what I needed. Down on the farm you don't think too much about everything else that's going on in your otherwise hectic/chaotic/sometimes stressful life. Everything just kinda slips away when you're hunting gophers (I got 10!), riding around in the tractor, riding horses through the coulee to round up cattle (I felt like a bonafide cowgirl!), and fishing in the late evening when the pond is so calm and the sunset behind you is beautiful. (It helped that I caught a fish too!) It's kinda sad that it's back to work tomorrow... but I enjoyed the break from the day-to-day routine. It was rather refreshing... except that I don't feel very good right now. I'm not sure if it's a cold or if it's allergies... oh well, you can't win 'em all!

This is Me Sometimes...

Monday, hard to wake up
Fill my coffee cup, I'm out the door
Yeah, the freeway's standing still today
It's gonna make me late, and thats for sure
I'm running out of gas and out of time
Never gonna make it there by nine

[Chorus:]
There's gotta be something more
Gotta be more than this
I need a little less hard time
I need a little more bliss
I'm gonna take my chances
Taking a chance I might
Find what I'm looking for
There's gotta be something more

Five years and there's no doubt
That I'm burnt out, I've had enough
So now boss man, here's my two weeks
I'll make it short and sweet, so listen up
I could work my life away, but why?
I got things to do before I die

[Repeat Chorus]

Some believe in destiny, and some believe in fate
I believe that happiness is something we create
You best believe that I'm not gonna wait
'Cause there's gotta be something more

I get home 7:30 the house is dirty, but it can wait
Yeah, 'cause right now I need some downtime
To drink some red wine and celebrate
Armageddon could be knocking at my door
But I ain't gonna answer that's for sure.
There's gotta be something!

[Repeat Chorus]

("Something More" by Sugarland)

Running in the Rain

(got this in an email from my Uncle Bill... keep in mind this is the one who has cancer...) A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in. 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said. 'What?' Mom asked. 'Lets run through the rain!' She repeated. 'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied. This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain.' 'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said. 'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm. 'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?' 'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!' The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in thenext few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. 'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

Does this bother anyone else?

Sometimes when things are slow at work we go online and check out the headlines on the MSN home page. Things like Montreal's gas prices being at 1.50/L and a BMI calculator to tell us whether we're overweight. Just something to pass the time and give us something to talk about. Today I glanced at the MSN home page and found a link to this article. I couldn't believe that stuff like this makes it on to the MSN home page. Does this bother anyone else??

Ridiculous

No wonder our society is so messed up.

Life's Like an Hourglass Glued to the Table

...Cause you can't jump the track,
we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass,
glued to the table.
No one can find the rewind button, boys,
So cradle your head in your hands,
And breathe... just breathe,
Oh breathe, just breathe

There's a light at each end of this tunnel,
You shout 'cause you're just as far in
as you'll ever be out
And these mistakes you've made,
you'll just make them again
If you only try turning around.

2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper,
it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary,
screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them,
however you want to

But you can't jump the track,
we're like cars on a cable,
And life's like an hourglass,
glued to the table
No one can find the rewind button now
Sing it if you understand.
and breathe, just breathe
~Anna Nalick

I'm still alive... I think

Let me tell you how much I wanted to get up this morning when the alarm went off... NOT AT ALL. This weekend was crazy busy. Friday night was fun, the steak dinner was great and the band was awesome as usual. I was pretty tired to get up and play ball all day Saturday though. We won both our games and then I worked at their dinner & dance. The DJ was decent and I made some sweet tips so it was a pretty good night. Yesterday was 2 more games (both of which we won... WE WENT UNDEFEATED THIS YEAR WOOHOO!) Then it was James' 2nd bday birthday party and then Phil & Jon's gift opening. The weekend was fun but exhausting. I was pretty tired (and sore!) all day today at work and the fact that it was a stereotypical Monday didn't help any. Everything seemed to be going wrong and all of us just wanted to go home and go to bed. Oh well tomorrow is another day...and I think it's time for a nap...

Productivity Report

My first week at work has been pretty good. I think I'm back in the groove of how things run around the office and all the passwords and logins for our applications are coming back to me. I think I'm getting the hang of most the stuff on the computer that Sandy has been showing me. The biggest accomplishment for the week was probably the 56 customer service calls that I made in ONE DAY. Luckily a lot of them were voicemails so that makes things a little easier... but that's a lot of "Hello, this message is for ____. This is Nicole calling from the Aloette office. I was just calling to let you know about a summer sale that we're having on some of our Aloepure products...." and on and on it went.

It's been a busy week outside of work too. Tuesday nite I went for dinner at Dad's. The nicest part of that evening was going for a walk around this park not too far from his house. It was a gorgeous evening and there were ducks on the pond and it was just beautiful. Wednesday night brought several hours of getting Rollyview ready to participate in "Communities in Bloom". Of course people say they're gung-ho about it but then they don't do too much. It was basically me, Mom & Carrie that did the bulk of the work. Oh well, it's going to look great. Go Rollyview Go! Tonight brought babysitting Faith and then set up at the hall. This weekend is going to be nuts. Here it is in a nutshell:

Friday: BBQ @ hall w/ live entertainment from Tracy Millar
Saturday: Play in the HH ball tournament and work at their BBQ that nite
Sunday: Play more ball, James' 2nd bday party (Debbie's son) and Phil & Jon's gift opening/BBQ

I'm going to be exhausted and sore on Monday morning when I have to get up for work but hey.. it'll be fun right? haha

Jumping to Conclusions

I was trying to talk to someone today about one of my friends who has struggled with depression and cutting. This individual that I was talking to, while normally a sensitive person, jumped to a pretty hurtful (and upsetting) conclusion. I was trying to describe my hopefully somewhat accurate idea of the mindset that people in her situation get into (not from personal experience but from how extensively I have talked to the cutting individual). Apparently I didn't get my point across however and the individual I was talking to said they couldn't understand why someone her age would do something like that except just to get sympathy. You know what? On half of that statement, you're right. You can't understand it. And you won't begin to understand it until you're in their shoes (or at least talking to them a lot about it). But just because you don't understand it, doesn't mean you have to jump to conclusions about their intentions. You have no idea what kind of @#$% that girl has dealt with and I would think twice before implying she's pathetic and just wants sympathy.

Moral of this rant: Some people need to try a little sensitivity!!