Day Off

Yesterday I slept until noon. What a great feeling.
After watching "Star Trek" with Munish (the room mate) over eggs and sausage I got ready for the day.
Uncle Bob picked me up and drove me to Richmond. I had a great meal of Prime Rib with Uncle Bob, Auntie Linda and Jackie. It was great. Relaxing.

One week to go until Logan gets here!

Speaking of watching TV reality drama...I love Big Brother. Maybe because it is on in the summer when everything else is in reruns. Maybe because all they have to do is be catty. Maybe because their challenges are so crazy and fun. Survivor type shows I get mad at because people aren't working or building or hunting etc. With Big Brother there is no responsibility, it is full on people watching.

I would like to start a Big Brother Pool this go around. They don't have any of the players on the site yet, but I figure each person could put in $5 and be assigned a player. If they post the people before it starts it will be a random draw. If they don't put them up until after the premiere I was thinking that each person could pick their top two or three choices and see if we can work it out like that.

Let me know if you are interested.

Jon and Kate Plus Eight

I watch the show all the time. I started watching it during the first season. I love watching those little kids. They are so cute.

This is not a post on their divorce or about what I think about their divorce. This is a post about the crap you can read about them.

In the Calgary Herald you can read that the Mistress will be joining the show "because she is apart of Jon's life". But if you read another article it says that she will not be on the show. Further, they are suggesting that they aren't even together anymore. They say that he is now with the 23 year-old daughter of the plastic surgeon that did Kate's tummy tuck.

Another Headline says that Kate "used to give him only $5 to spend a day". If she is the one doing the paperwork and bills for the house, and they have 8 kids to raise with his IT job, perhaps $5 a day is reasonable. Why do magazines report this crap. He was lucky to have $5 a day.

"Production of future episodes of Jon and Kate Plus 8 ceased yesterday after producers stated they didn't have enough good footage to air the remaining episodes on order. The show will continue to be filmed and will supposedly return in August." Not enough good footage. That is terrible. Are they yelling at each other? Is it as tense and awkward as all of the episodes on this new season? I can't imagine that these episodes could get any worse. I love the show but these last five shows have been different/awkward.

I do have to agree with most of these articles. That the rating are all over the place because fans of the show (like me) are not interested in the new style of show (cross over city: Ace of Cakes, Emril, American Chopper) but that people are tuning in to watch the drama.

I feel bad for those little ones. I watched because the kids did funny things - and there were six of them running around (I think the twins are annoying). I am not watching them for the lies, cheating and drama. I watch Big Brother for that.

Unemployment

We are going home to Regina tomorrow. It is the first time we have gone home since we got our new Rouge. We leased it in September. It has been a while. A nice road trip to test out the new CUV.

In honour of Earth Day today I printed out the research I have done on homemade cleaners. You know, mostly vinegar concoctions. I think that as we run out of the cleaners we have I will sub in the homemade stuff and see how it goes. I have already started with a general spray cleaner.

The candle party last Monday was very successful. And as a bonus April had an offer that if you have 10 buyers and a booking for a subsequent party you get 40% of the sales in a credit. Also there were some nice looking host specials with items 50-75% off at $20. Also, the total of my sales was enough to get me two half price items of my choice. I got tons of stuff. I am excited.

It is snowing here right now. Not just snowing but accumulating. Saturday was so nice that while I was working on the deck I had to take a couple of shade breaks. Yesterday it reached 21. Today we have a couple inches of snow. Why do we live in this crazy country.

Any other random bits of information I can put into this post... My mystery shop was successful and they have asked me to do more. I found it when I was looking on line for money saving ideas (the homemade cleaners were one of them). I got onto the Smart Cookies website and they suggested being a mystery shopper. I clicked the link to the company they thought was reputable and I got started. I had to go to Joey's in Eau Claire on one of the two days listed between 12 and 1. I had a 6 page survey I had to complete after lunch with very specific things we had to do while there. We will be reimbursed for $35.
It was a pretty nice day but when we arrived and they offered the patio I was skeptical. But the other option was waiting for 45-60 minutes for a table. The hostess told us that if we gave the patio a try she would throw in free coffee and bailey's. Not one to turn down a drink we went for it. It was nice. Good meal and free. Our bill with tip and tax was $38.

Have a good weekend!

I hate March

Yesterday it was beautiful outside. So nice that I pulled a kitchen chair onto the deck to eat my lunch. While I was eating Charlie was running around and Logan was putting up chicken wire to keep the dog out of the mud. There was no snow. None in the backyard except the pile in the shade that Logan was breaking up and Charlie was chasing. We weren't wearing jackets and it was glorious.

I had a two show day yesterday. Before the shows, see above. After the shows, it was a winter wonderland. As a result I drove two of the girls home. Not a big deal, I can handle a little bit of snow.

This morning I opened the door to let Charlie out and we were both taken aback by what we saw. I am sure we got over 6" of snow. Charlie couldn't walk, his belly was scraping the snow so he had to hop around. There was a snow drift on the stairs to the point where you couldn't tell where the stairs even where.

I gave myself a little over an hour to get to work today. 20 minutes of that was digging the car out. The snow was up to my knees around the car. I was soaked in no time.

In the suburbs the snow is up to your knees, but downtown it is just a series of rivers for roads and lakes for intersections. I am so glad that I only have one show today and don't have to drive when it is all a frozen mess.

Stupid March.

While checking out the wrong clubs Jason was saying that there were many Flames tickets being dumped on Ebay for cheap. I had said that I had never gone so he should keep his eye on cheap ones.
He found some $95 tickets or $45. Stef, Logan, Jason and I all went to the game. It was great! Seats on the second bowl (as Stef described the first bowl is like First Class, the second bowl is like Coach and the third bowl is Economy). I was entertained by the show of it. The intelligent lights, the video show, the fire, the spectacle. It was great fun. I am really glad that we went. The game was good too. Well, the first period was pretty lame. We scored in the first 45 seconds, they scored at 3 min and then nothing. Both teams were very sloppy.

The first intermission had a Russian Bar Trio. It was a cool acrobatic event, a cross between balance beam and trampoline.

The second period was far better. 3 - 1 for the Flames.

The third period was a bit slow. Jason informs me that they were protecting their lead. I think they were just skating around.

It was all very exciting. In the last minute Colorado pulled their goalie and we were able to grab another point. It was all very exciting.

On a side note, Tori Spelling, Dean McDermott and Liam their son were all at the game. After the game were were waiting around to avoid some of the rush. We saw Tyler (our security friend) rush by us quickly, all business on his face. It turned out that he was going to escort Tori and family out of the building. Some serious business.

A great week off

It isn't really a week off so much as unemployment, but who really cares about the details.

Logan and I went to Golf Town to try out clubs for Logan's birthday. I don't know a thing about golf clubs. But I now know that there are steel and graphite clubs and the difference between them. I know what a hybrid club is. I know what an approach club is, that it is between a pitching wedge and a sand wedge and is 56 degrees. He picked out the set of irons that he likes (Taylormade R7 Combo, Steele).

Monday Sef and I drove down to Chinook to meet one of her friends and wander about the mall. While we were out her friend ordered Cheese and Broccoli soup. We were inspired. We made an awesome soup. It started as Cheese and Broccoli but ended up having potatoes, carrots and asparagus in it as well. I was excellent. The biscuits that I made to go with them were not that great, tasted good but very flat.

Tuesday Stef and I made a "quick" trip to Golf Town to pick up the set that club that he had already picked out. I pointed to the set on the wall and he brought us a box. We did some other running around and then returned to Auntie Shelley's to show off our purchase and to keep them there. Jason pulled them out of the box and they were the wrong ones. We had to return and make the trade. What started as a quick trip took all day.

Winter Weather

Yesterday winter really began. It was wild. Stef and I were out Christmas Shopping and it was snowing like crazy. There were winter storm warnings on the radio, "10-15 cm of snow". There was quite the snow drift in front of our door when we returned.

Logan worked at 5:00 and I had a show. So I dropped Logan off at work at about 4:15 and hit the Deerfoot. From Country Hills Blvd to Beddington (the very next ramp), it was regular winter driving. Not that bad, just snowy. That is where the driving ended. I didn't move faster than 20km the whole trip. The road was packed with people just rolling along. I was pretty relaxed, I had left myself an hour and a half to make my 25 minute drive. I started to get a bit angry when the three lane Deerfoot suddenly had four lanes. Okay, no one really knows where the lines are. But then the taxi pulled out of the "fourth" lane and created his own lane. That is when my temper started to rise.

I had to be at work at 5:30. At 5:28 I pulled off the Deerfoot onto Memorial and came to a stop. A solid stop for the first time my whole trip. It took me over 20 minutes to make it off the ramp. At this point I was attempting to call the theatre and let them know. Well, my phone rang busy and said "network busy". Great.

I finally pulled into the parking lot at 6:18. Two hours after I set out. Nearly an hour late.

Route 301

Now that we live out in the sticks I cannot walk to my downtown theatre jobs any more. I get to take the bus. Good 'ole reliable public transportation. This really isn't a big deal. Especially since bus fare is $2.50 each direction and parking is $27 a day.

We happen to live right next to a major bus route. It is called the BRT, what is stands for I don't know, but it is the express bus to downtown. It takes me 25 min on the bus and 20 in a car. It stops almost right out side our little circle. It comes around every five minutes in peak times, every 10 minutes on the times surrounding peak times and every 15-30 minutes in the middle of the day and evening.

Yesterday was my first real example of how bad this could be. Yesterday was a holiday. So the buses were running on holiday hours. I called to see if parking was on holiday rates and it was not. That meant there were only buses every half hour, and about 10 minutes sooner than I am used to. So I hurried my butt out the door to make it for this earlier bus. I had 6ish minutes to walk about a minute and a half. As I stepped onto the main road from our circle I see the bus at the stop. So I run. (I forgot to mention that I have a tray full of cupcakes that I was volunteered to bring for the birthday of our Scrooge.) The bus waits for me. I hop on and it is already full. I guess lots of people took the holidays as Monday and we are all trying to fit on one bus that is usually one every five minutes. I put my cupcakes on the "my bag is too big" holder and stood. The bus was like a sauna. I had my coat off before the next stop. To make matters worse the driver had a very heavy foot, both on the gas and the brakes. We lurched out in the sauna for about 15 minutes before I had to start calculating my options.
-sit down, then I won't be able to see out the front window
-open a window, I am so far away from one I wouldn't feel it if I opened it
-get off at the next stop and wait for the next, half an hour later I would be late
-just breathe through it and hope for the best.

When we were rolling over the Center St Bridge I almost thought I couldn't make it those last couple blocks. As we pulled to a stop I grabbed my stuff and was off the bus so fast. I sat on the wet, granite steps of the building we stop in front for 10 minutes before the feeling of throwing up had passed.

I felt sick for the rest of the day. Then I had to get on the bus to get home. In comparison, the bus ride was much more pleasant. Except that I still felt that my stomach was upside down from the first ride. Seabands and all I still felt like I might just chuck on the good ole 301.

Unemployed Again

Today was my last day at the Home Depot. Yipee. That place was sucking the life out of me...and gave me the flu (currently) and bronchitis when I first started there, not to mention the other particulate I have inhaled. Oh I can only imagine what that place has done to my immune and respiratory systems.

I start at Theatre Calgary for Christmas Carol on Thursday!

Planning a big Halloween party for the 31st. Very excited. Have a spider theme for decorations and all of the food on the menu has creepy names. Should be fun.

And a cute picture to close. My boys napping.

Names other than your own

Many people have nickname. Most people in fact. Many people go by shortened version of their own name or words that seem to have no connection what so ever.

Some people call me Stace. Not many. I find it a very personal jump to drop that 'y'. Sometimes I mark the progression of a friendship with that leap. And sometimes it comes from the wrong person way to soon. For example, if we work together and speak one or twice a month and you jump to Stace when you want to ask a favour - not cool. If you just met me, it is Stacey. If I don't like you, keep it to my given name please.

There are some people that I remember when they dropped the y. Mr Taylor from elementary school. He was the cool teacher, everyone's friend. I was in Gr. 6 and thinking about running for student council. He called me to his office to encourage me to do so and then as I was leaving he said "Good luck Stac." Mr. VanD in high school was very similar. I was at that school the moment it opened and apart of the student council my whole stay. He was another one of those teachers that really cared. He has certainly affected my life in a huge way. We got along from the beginning. He called me Stace and it created a bond that helped me through high school.

There are other nick names that seem to come out of no where.

There is a gentleman at work who is french and calls everyone baby. Not is a gross kind of way. With his accent it doesn't even sound like baby but his own little word for friend. Guys, girls, doesn't matter "Ok baby". Sometimes he even goes so far as to call me baby girl because he thinks I look so much younger than I am. Today he asked if my husband calls me baby. I said "he calls me lots of things, baby, babe and weirder things like Stac (with a hard c)."

For a very long time now Logan has called me Stac, and then it turned into Stax. This has morphed into many variations of those.

I have two other weird nicknames that are very person specific. My mom calls me Stacer and a friend from elementary school that I speak to only on our birthdays (hers is the day after mine - at the same hospital in the same year). She calls me Slater - always has.

I suppose I shouldn't have told this very kind gentleman this. Now he calls me Stac.

The one, the only

My parents drove into town on Thursday night with concert tickets. Tickets for 4 to Elton John. Mom, Stef, Auntie Shelley and I we to see the diva at the Saddledome on Friday.



It was great fun. I am pretty sure that Stef and I were bringing down the average age of the audience - if you don't count the front three rows of young gay men.

The show was great. There were a couple of song off the top that I didn't know. But the rest of the songs were loved classics, Rocketman, Tiny Dancer, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

It was just him at the grand piano, a keyboard players, drummer, percussion, bass and guitar players. The stage values were small (if you count at least 50 intelligent lights small), but it is Elton John. Somehow I expect more extravagance.

He wore a jacket with tails and blue embroidery on the arms that went onto a huge, abstract face of a woman with beautiful hair (which is what the rest design over the arms was). With that an electric blue dress shirt with matching cravat. When I searched Elton John I was hoping to find an image of him in the outfit he wore. This one is very close - if not the same. Including the blue tinted sunglasses.

I was able to find many images of him in similar but different coats and looks.There was no opening act, just two and a half hours of Elton singing. There was hardly any talking besides short introductions between a handful of songs.

When he left the stage before the first and only encore Stef and I expected a wardrobe change. He did not deliver. Oh well, the music was stupendous. (though I was not impressed with the sound mix - Elton was muffled and his voice was often competing with his piano playing). It was a great show - thanks for the ticket mom.

Rhett Butler's People

I have just finished the novel "Rhett Butler's People" the authorized novel based on 'Gone with the Wind'.  It was superb.  If you have read Gone with the Wind I highly recommend it.  It was far beyond the other authorized novel sequel Scarlet.  Which I thought was good when I read it, but is in a bit of a different writing style.  

If you have not read Gone with the Wind - do.

A full weekend at home

I have been back in Regina since Thursday and it has been non-stop until today. I had three days of prep at the theatre during the days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday. After each of those work days I was off to family dinners - mom's side, dad's side and then Lorne and Andrea.

Today, however, I have nothing to do. I brought my knitting and have been watching TV and knitting. I pulled out the ole piano books and played for a while. Now I am at the computer. I had planned on bringing some editing but left the laptop at home for Logan to have something to do while everything is packed.

But only a couple days until move day. I am very excited. Which could be affecting my restlessness today. If I were home there would be plenty to do.

Countdown

I see from the countdown to possession that we have ten days to go. But sadly I only have two until I am off to Regina. I feel like it has been forever since we got the call saying the house was ours. And yet - I find it hard to believe that I leave two days and have to leave it all to Logan.

As you can see

we have done alot of packing. The kitchen is almost all packed up. All of our electronics are done. I am doing laundry right now - will pack my bag for Regina - and then will pack away the rest of my clothes. That leaves under the bathroom sink, and the necessities in the kitchen. He should be fine!

I am so excited about the house that I can hardly contain myself. If it were me home alone in our new house for nearly two months I think that there would be a lot of running around and screaming. That thought was brought about by all of the noise you get with apartment living. Our building is fairly soundproof. But this morning it sounded like someone was hammering down hardwood floors. That and the stupid Canadian Geese that fly up from the river beside our building to the roof of the building next door. They make the worst, loudest noise in the morning and evening - right around the time you are in bed.

I also started my taxes today. As a contract worker though I have to make sure that I get all of the paperwork/T4's mailed to me. I am missing one T4 and the statement of union dues. AGH. Looks like I will be taking it home with me.

Daily Challenge

It started Wednesday night. At 3am the fire strobe in our bedroom started flashing, followed by en extremely loud beeping. I was up and out of bed so fast. I was fully dressed and headed for my shoes and Logan had his jeans in his hand. My first thought was get out. We are on the 12th floor - we are on our own. (He went straight to the window to look for smoke and then the door to smell, but seemingly not in a hurry to get out.)

As I was ready to leave him behind the alarm shut off. I, of coarse, was shaken and certainly not going to sleep any time soon. I was wide awake through Logan's alarm at 4am. When I finally fell asleep again it was short lived. At 5:30am it went off again for about 4 rings, and again every ten minutes for at least an hour.

From this I have realized that fire is my fear. I always knew I was afraid of fire - but if everyone has that one fear - that is mine! I have been since I saw the baby-sitting video where they drop a cigarette butt in the garbage and the whole house is up in flames in less than 4 minutes. And made worse when we were in our old apartment and the alarm went off in the middle of the night and it was a bell that was so quiet once all of our doors were closed that we didn't know what was going on. And then Logan brought home photos of a fire he witnessed that took out three houses in less than 10 minutes.

(It ended up being a water pipe burst in the basement of the other building, it flooded the elevator and either the decrease in pressure in the sprinkler pipe or the flooding of the elevator set off the alarm).

Thursday.
Stef was to pick up Auntie Shelley and Uncle Gord from the airport. She called Logan on the way to say her battery light came on. And then 10 minutes later to say that her car wouldn't start again now that she parked. Logan called me, I picked him up and we went to save the day. We boosted her car with the new booster pack from Lorne and Janet for Christmas and thought we were on our way. We got to the intersection and she stalled in the middle! We crossed three lanes of stopped traffic to boost her again and pull her off the road. Our plan was to drive the car to a near by Canadian Tire and fix it the next day. It didn't move again. So we piled Stef, Uncle Gord, Auntie Shelley, their luggage, Stef's school and over night bag and Logan and I into our Jetta and drove them home. Half way through this trip our car started acting up. Upon taking it (and Stef's car) in - we were told that a bit of tube disconnected and sprayed oil everywhere. Sounds like a little fix - but it got everywhere, which means we had to replace all sorts of filters and the labour to clean it etc. $850.

Friday.
Stef, Tyler and Cris came over to have some tea and hang out. While sitting around I motioned toward a electrical outlet (that we never use) that had appeared to change colour all of a sudden the day before. I touched it and it was screaming hot. I called the resident manager right away. He said turn off the breaker and write up a work order Saturday. We looked for the right one but flipping the ones label to do so - did not. We had to turn out all of the power in the living space to get it to turn off. I called him back to say that it had turned off all of the light. His response was "it shouldn't". Thanks tips! The boys - not satisfied - cracked out the ole flash light and multi tool. Once they pulled out the plug they saw that it was terribly melted and the wires were black. Tyler said that if the manager didn't come up right now to cap off these wires he would call the fire department becuase this was certainly a fire waiting to happen. Very reluctantly, and a little angry, he came up and capped the wires so we could turn the power back on.

Didn't really help the fire fear!

Double Payment

On January 2nd our apartment building took out two rent payments from our bank account. We live in downtown Calgary. As you may have heard Calgary is now the most expensive city in Canada - beating out Vancouver by $5. So, needless to say, taking out our ridiculous rent just once makes a huge dent in funds - taking two certainly put us in the red. Today is the 11th and is a Friday, the issue has not been resolved meaning the soonest we will get our rent reimbursed is Monday the 14th. Can you imagine what would happen if you didn't make your rent payment until the 14th? I believe that would be grounds to evict.

I am a little upset about this. At first I was just shocked when I saw the balance on our net banking. Then releived when we discovered it was a mistake and we will be able to get that cash back. Then I was a little pissed off when their first suggestion was "I guess you just don't have to pay next month". Yeah, cause we can afford to do that. When they said they would FedEx us a cheque and pay our overdraft charges I was happy - no big deal. That was a week ago!

In other news, 30 hours to go! The realtor told us that the other offer is not going to remove the condition at this time, they have an open house tomorrow and if they get an offer without time conditions they will be in a position to buy. If they don't get a solid offer they will back away from the sale. He felt this was very promising! So, we are still no closer than we were yesterday - but things are looking good.

House hunting

Logan and I are in a place in our lives when the idea of owning a home is really appealing. We are locked into a lease at the moment - but I am always watching. Just checking out the listing pages. My biggest problem is that we have a HUGE decision to make:

Downtown or Not Downtown

If we stay downtown I can walk to work and avoid astronomical parking fees, or hour long transit rides. We are close to everything and can walk to a bar and meet up with everyone. Downtown living is certainly a way of life.

If we move out of downtown we would head to Country Hill or Harvest Hill which is the area by Logan's district office. He could walk to work, I could take the train and save on gas. We would have a home. Our own space, with grass and space and no one above and below and beside us.

Let's compare:

Downtown:
Mission area (the area we are in right now)
$375,000
2 Bedroom + Den
2 Bathrooms
1116 square feet
Heated underground parking
Gas fireplace, slate/carpet/cork flooring

20 min walk to work for Stacey

19 km – about 24 mins drive for Logan

$0 is parking/transit

Close to everything

Not Downtown:

Country Hills (the area of the District 7 Police Office)

$370,000

3 Bedroom + 1 Downstairs bedroom

1.5 Bathrooms

1250 square feet + 600 downstairs

Double Rear parking pad

Backyard, Office, Laundry room, Storage, a house

17.4 km – bus ride for Stacey

10 min walk for Logan

I go back and forth everyday. I don't know how we are going to make this decision. Go thing we don't know how much a bank would give us for a mortgage. For now, they are hypothetical questions.

6 grocery bags of apples

On Sunday night I headed over to Jen's house to pick apples from her mom's backyard. They are huge, the size of your fist. Backyard trees don't usually produce apples of any size. So we picked 13 grocery bags full.

That is alot of apples. I took 6 bags full. Now many of the apples are bruised from an over zealous mom shaking the tree. So I figured that I would not get as much from a bag as I had to cut off the bruise. Not so. I cored and peeled and sliced 1 grocery bag full and made 2 pies and filled 6 freezer bags full of slices ready to go for apples in the future.

I plan to make more jam, and apples sauce and perhaps some apple muffins - but that will only use up a couple more bags. I have offered 2 bags to my aunt. But I am still worried that I will be stuck with a bunch of apples.

Any ideas for what else to make - preferably that I can freeze.

Not So Emergency Alarm

Today while working at my desk a 1st stage fire alarm rang. The Technical Director was in the office with me and we kept working while the alarm rang. The announcement told us to stay put while they investigate. One would think that the time we were given during stage one - we may have taken the time to prepare to evacuate. Not so.

The 2nd stage alarm started and the announcement said to evacuate. I decided that his would be a good time to go home for the day. I took the time to close my programs and shut down the computer, pack up my books and papers neatly and put them in my bag. After this time the Technical Director was still on the computer. We started making our way out, closing doors behind us, running into the couple of other workers still in the theatre.

As we moved into the lobby there were people everywhere. But they were not making their way to the exit. They were sitting having lunch, on the phone or just standing around. I headed toward the escalator and people were coming up. Alarms were sounding, lights flashing and a man announcing the evacuation of the building. As I walked out the door people were heading in off the street - I told them about the evacuation. One lady turned around and walked away, but the other two said "Oh well" and headed in.

Weird. I don't know what ended up happening cause I went home. But it was all very weird.