good news

photo by Cindy Kassab

My work contract ended yesterday and my company extended it for another six months. It's been pretty frustrating, so it came as a HUGE surprise that they wanted to raise my hourly rate by $3.60.

BIGGEST raise I've ever received, and takes a bit of the sting out of the way that they've been handling my whole situation. Now I'm only $0.90 behind Bill, which has him chomping at the bit to get his air brakes course, which raises his rate by a couple dollars.

The snow has been driving us all crazy again this year, and my front lawn is completely covered by 18" - 24" drifts. Yesterday when I let Lola out the back door, she couldn't get down the stairs or across the lawn, so I had to shovel. First the deck, then the stairs, then a trail to the fence where our trash pick up box is, then another trail in a circle so that she could get her business done. It's hilarious watching her as she tries to maneauver through it all, lol.

Our family has been talking about music a lot lately, and we were just saying how Em's generation is the worst one since ours (in the 80's) where the music is disappointing as a whole; major synthesizers, lots of computer generated crap and lots of covers. To be honest, I don't listen to a lot of teen dance stuff anyway, but if someone like Jamie can't handle the new stuff, there must be something to it. Both she and Bill are on iTunes and Youtube every single day.

Happy Sunday!

ice land

photo taken by Arnel, in Calgary, AB, this morning.

Thursday's +0° temps created havoc all over Alberta! Snow that had been mashed into the highways all winter was melted by late afternoon and the next day when it began to freeze, it was bad. Add to that ten cm. of blowing snow and highways were closed by noon yesterday.

That put a damper on the Saturday I had planned with Jamie, which was lunch, shopping and haircuts in a town about half an hour north of here, but we made do. After cancelling and rebooking my appointment, I got on the phone with a few places here in town to find something for Jamie.

The whole time, Jamie was sending me texts.

Cancelling?! Noooooo Mum! I NEED this haircut! *sob*

She comes by the drama naturally, lol.

Anyway, we got her into Magicuts, even though I wouldn't normally book a cut there. Not that I have anything against chains, it's just that I don't trust your average stylist with the kind of hair that I have (and passed onto Jamie.) When we arrived, there were two stylists already working on others and Jamie was passed to this middle aged man who took one look at her hair and said something like "oh, it's so thick I'd better do it dry," and went to work. Jamie thought he'd do a shampoo and style and hadn't washed her hair so when he said he was finished we were a little surprised. Rather than cause a scene we paid the $20 and went to the mall to book a shampoo and blow out, which cost me another $26.

I don't know why I am always surprised when we get terrible service, but we let it go and killed time in between by shopping the lingerie and houseware departments. I even bought a black cross-body bag, which is something new for me - but the fibro is doing a number on my forearms this winter.

Today we're working in the warehouse, but have to clear snow from the sidewalks, back yard and deck. After that, I think Bill is picking Jamie up so that the kids can go sliding.

Happy Sunday!

blah

big drifts in front of the house. Can you see Tokyo looking out?

It's only -15°C, so it shouldn't be too bad getting Bill's truck fixed. Jamie and I are taking the bus from the east side to an industrial business park on the north end, then driving it back to the east side. Then we're going to the college by bus, then taking the bus back to the place where the truck is being fixed.

The plan to replace my truck with an affordable car has been put on hold so many times due to the cost of the holidays, the utilities and the fact that as soon as we try to register the plates, the government will take $250 (for a fine that Bill got last year) and $230 for a fine that I got last year. The insurance will be another $150 (for the first three months) and the down payment will be $500. Hopefully, we can do this on the 15th. Cross your fingers!

Other than my daily lament that we have no car, things are going okay. I am really struggling with wanting to quit my big-box job. There are some really nice people there but two of the five managers are horrible to work with. Yesterday I was scheduled from 9:30-5:00 and got there around 9:24. Sometimes there is a "huddle" going on (small staff meeting) and we're expected to stop at the huddle and listen in. Then we go back to the lunchroom, swipe in and go back to the salesfloor. As I was doing this I noticed a sympathy card and obituary on one of the tables and stopped to pick it up because someone's son had been killed in an accident.

"Kathy!"

I looked up to see Helen, the red-haired, middle-aged assistant manager glaring at me. "Yes?"

"We ARE open, and need you in the fitting rooms." I start thinking that they held me hostage for a good five minutes, listening to them drone on and on about inventory and she's going to begrudge me fifteen seconds to look at an obit? And what was with the mean glare? She's been like this for the past month and I am sick to death of it. I can see myself leaving this job on bad terms, although usually I try not to burn any bridges.

At least I have today and tomorrow to decide. Maybe I'll find a way to get some other income while I'm going to college. One can only hope!

pass me that shovel

my street this morning

Thanks for all the comments! I've been working from 1-9 and have tomorrow off, so I'm looking forward to doing some more blogging.

We have a lot of snow! Snowdrifts several feet high line the sidewalks and we've has a LOT of frost these past two days. Thankfully, it's above freezing (11°C) which means that the walk to the bus will seem shorter than usual.

Happy Tuesday!

yikes

photo by Carin Fausett

Fifteen minutes ago I had just finished lacing up my boots and putting on my scarf when a stiff wind picked up and created a white out. It's been blizzarding ever since and I doubt I'll get to run my day-off errands any time soon. This would normally upset me, but since we finished putting up the tree last night and I have a roast about half done in the oven, it's pretty cosy.

Things have improved a lot since I gave up the Nissan. What an incredible weight lifted from our shoulders! I know that I will face penalties but for this moment - I'm just happy being able to balance the rest of the responsibilities.

Work is going okay now that I'm getting into the groove, but I still struggle with being tolerant. There are only a few things that really get to me.

The worst is bad parenting. Some people stay for four or five hours. Others let their children tear through the store, climbing all over everything or into everything. They leave toddlers alone in the toy department then refuse to buy them anything, or argue all the way to the register. The staggering theft bothers me, especially when I know it's just happened in the last few minutes, while I was nearby. It's hard to not take it personally.

The great thing is being able to see so much merchandise before anyone else, being able to place it on hold, and getting everything at a discount, which will really help this Christmas. Also, we decided to sponsor a family this year and my store helped us by donating bakeware, which was very helpful.

I'm off to get milk, now that the storm has died down. Happy Monday!