Day Off - Attempt #2

As you may recall, I took a day off last month. And it snowed. And snowed. And snowed. As a result, my day out with NB and Baby D didn't turn out as well as planned (except for the wonderful catch up time at her place). So, we opted to try it again today.

Thankfully, Mother Nature co-operated and we didn't get the all day flurries that Environment Canada had been calling for. Yay! Making things even better, NB's hubby took the day off and came with us so that he could help out with Baby F, which meant we got time to go and shop. And shop we did. I only came out of the day with 3 new tops but NB cleaned up. Baby D seemed to enjoy his day out too and even had a rather nice nap while we hit up one last store after finishing at the mall.

It was a very lovely day and I'm glad I got to see all of them. We didn't get to chat quite as much as I would have liked, but we did have fun trying on clothes. The pink "Jessica Simpson" pants I tried on at The Bay made for a good laugh. I also discovered that Mrs. Tiggy Winkles has more awesome stuff in it than I ever remember it having. Baby D got 2 new, very cool toys there. He sure seemed to like them. I almost broke down and bought some toys too. I found some awesome stuff to get for my nieces and nephews later on and  even found stuff I want (like the Big Bang Theory trivia games). Baby D really is friggin' adorable. At one point he did something that made me laugh and then he laughed at me laughing at him. So cute! Watching him interact with other kids and babies is just incredible. I'm really happy that NB and I got to spend some "girl time" together and got some pretty decent shopping done in the process. I'm sure everyone is going to sleep well tonight. I think we all managed to tire ourselves out.  But it was worth it to get nice new clothes for spring. Now we just need Mother Nature to co-operate and bring us Spring!

And I'm pretty sure we saw a coyote while we were stopped at a red light too. That's not quite something you see every day. It goes along with the two deer I saw last night en route to the Sens game.

The Sens game. It was Ottawa vs. Boston. I've never seen Boston play so it was a new adventure for me. I was originally going with Gidget from work but alas, March struck again and she had to go home for a funeral. So my back up plan was put in place and that saw Xtinktor and I heading out. Only problem? X is a damn Montreal fan. It's not as bad as a Leaf's fan but still. It turned out to be a good game. We had decent seats and the teams were well matched. Sadly, Ottawa lost with only 1:04 left to play in the 3rd. Shots on goal were 28 for Ottawa and 29 for Boston so, like I said, it was evenly matched. There wasn't a single penalty called in the first period. Sadly, the refs made some questionable calls in the 2nd and 3rd (for both teams) and made a couple really questionable off side calls too (again, for both teams). Other than that, it was a great game. There was a woman there who's 95 and was attending her very first Sens game. I thought that was really cool.

So it's been a pretty cool last day and a half. I got to go out and about, spend time with some awesome people and be able to get away from work and stop stressing for a bit, which feels AWESOME!!! And the best part? It's the weekend so I have 2 more days to relax and do whatever tickles my fancy.

Oh, and congrats to my baby brother for passing his practical exam, despite being in pain/having ringing in his ear. Seriously, he's the most accident prone person I've ever met. But he's now got his certification (pipe fitter?? Not 100% sure on that...) and that's awesome.

Ok, I think it's time to pay one last visit to Facebook and the head to bed. I'll leave everyone with some photos from the game last night.

Good Night!

Sarah

Super Woman and Snow

I don't even know where to start with today. It's been all over the map and despite a rocky ending, I'm kind of laughing about it. But that might just be because I'm really sleepy right now.

So, I took the day off. I had 2 holiday days left at work and they're "use them or lose them" ones so I decided to use one. I arranged a shopping date with one of my very best friends(NB) and her adorable child (Baby F).  I got to sleep in this morning, which was awesome. Sadly, sleep did not come so easily to NB and Baby F, but he went down for a nap early so things were looking up. Mother Nature was cooperating at the time but soon decided that throwing ice pellets at us would be fun. I took the bus out to Kanata to meet up with them, which was quick and painless. Walking through the mall parking lot while being pelted with little ice chunks was the hard part. Once inside, we got our shop on. Baby F got to pick out a new toy and seemed very happy with all the new things to look out. He even helped me pick out a bottle of hair dye (he had some help from his mom). We then ventured onto Chapters which involved a caffeine stop at Starbucks for NB and I. I got a new book and we headed out to find lunch.

By now the ice had stopped but the snow was picking up and the roads were getting messy. We opted for a drive through and eating lunch at home. Apparently shopping tired out Baby F and he passed out about 5 minutes from home. As a result, NB and I had a peaceful lunch. Once the baby was up, it was time for a changing and a feeding. Both were a little rocky as someone was cranky after their nap. NB got through it all in fine form and with minimal swearing. I doubt she'll ever know just how impressed by her I am. After lunch Baby F seemed quite happy and crawled all over the room playing with all the toys, leaving time for the grown ups to chat and catch up - which was my favourite part of the day.

After a couple of hours, I went out to shovel snow out of the way so the garage door would close properly and so that the car would get out and then it was time to go and pick up Mr. NB. The four of us then headed out for dinner. By now, the roads were a mess, traffic was a mess. the buses were all fucked up, broken down, delayed or jack knifed so we figured that waiting until after rush our would see a smoother trek home.

Dinner was nice. Baby F inhaled it. It was incredible to see. LOL. And our server just kept screwing up. The irony was that he was training someone new!! Towards the end though, Baby F started to get cranky and it was time to jet. I got dropped off at the park and ride and they headed home. When I got into the bus shelter, there was a good number of people there so I was taking that as a good sign - I hadn't missed the bus. Turns out I didn't have to worry about missing the bus simply because there hadn't been one yet......and one wouldn't appear for another hour and 26 minutes!!! We kept seeing "out of service buses" coming into the west end and letting people off but nothing was heading back east. I saw 5 local routes too. It was very frustrating. I could have stayed the night out there but I figured I could last a little while longer and it paid off. The ride home was relatively quick and only slightly nerve racking. It did end was my less than graceful exit off the bus and through a snowbank rather than over it, but nothing was bruised other than my ego so I"m fine. I managed to successfully make it over the next 2 snowbanks I had to traverse on my trek home.

Once home, I got out of my wet clothes and checked my email and then went and had a nice, long soak in a hot bath with some Lavender Epsom Salts. I finished reading my book while I was in there and had a chance to reflect on  the day.

With the weather aside, it was a great day. I didn't have to work and I got to spend several hours just relaxing and hanging out with a very dear and awesome friend who I don't see nearly enough. She's such a wonderful and amazing person, even more so now that she's a mom.Just getting to hang out and chat made the day a great one. Despite being very tired thanks to yet another sleepless night, she just kept going, making sure Baby F was taken care of. I couldn't do it. Watching Baby F play and crawl around was great. He's adorable and highly entertaining but I don't know how she does it. She's Wonder Woman. I honestly don't think I'd have the patience and capability to be so selfless that's required when you're a mom. And she certainly has it in spades. I'm in complete awe of her (and her husband). They're amazing people and kick-ass parents :) And I can't wait to see them all again. But next time, the weather had better be much, much better!

Good Night!

Sarah

This is the only place I like seeing snow!

Dinner Out and a Return to Chaos

Well holy shit. You decide to take one night off blogging and you'd think I killed a puppy or something. Everyone's a critic.

It was a good day at work. It was my last day covering for Finance too. I'm back to my regular job tomorrow and the chaos that goes with it. I've really enjoyed the last week and a bit. It was rather stress free and a nice way to ease back into work after being off for almost 2 weeks.

With the help of Xtina, I also pulled off a great bday gift for Stephanee today. I can't say what I bought her just yet, in case she reads this tonight. It's her birthday tomorrow. She'll find out soon enough :)

I had a very lovely dinner tonight. I met up with one of my best friends and we headed out for an "adult dinner". No, we didn't go to the strippers. It meant that we went to Milestones, without her 8 month old son. This was her first time spending any real amount of time away from him. And her husband's first time being home alone with the baby for any real chunk of time. I've heard some horror stories from friends and co-workers before about people not being able to leave their babies for more than 5 minutes and one woman who didn't leave her kid alone at all until after it's first bday. I can't imagine doing that. Thank god my friend was much more relaxed than that, but I knew that she would be :) It was a bit of a short visit for us but it was great none the less. We got to catch up and I loved hearing about how amazing her son is and how he's growing. It's amazing watching her eyes and face light up when she talks about him. Her and her husband are amazing people and they're awesome parents too. But there wasn't ever any doubt that they would be.

Seeing as I'm returning to the chaos that is my office tomorrow, I should log off and get to bed. I'm going to need to be firing on all cylinders tomorrow. Plus it's Steph's birthday and I can't wait to see the look on her face when she sees her gift. Tee Hee Hee. I might need to find a cake too.....

Good Night!

Sarah

It's not my bday yet but I needed a cake photo.

I Came. I Saw. I Shopped. It Snowed. I Whined.

I came. I saw. I shopped. And am happy to report that I have a good 75% of my Christmas shopping done and there's still a month to go before Christmas.

And I even braved the snow to do it. We kept getting flurries on and off today. I kept asking Steph to make them stop but she just kept patiently explaining to me that she didn't have that kind of power. Dammit. LOL. We did almost get blown away while scurrying between Chapters and Michaels though. It wouldn't have been so bad out if it wasn't for the wind. God bless Steph for putting up with my whining about the damn snow!

For the record, I don't think I've bought so many baby clothes in my life. I bought stuff for 3 different babies today, one of whom isn't even born yet (but will be in early 2013). Some of the sales were just too good to pass up. I nearly bought myself a new Sens shirt since it was 50% off but I was good and refrained from doing so. I have to admit, I had a bit of a good baby buzz going after looking at all the cute baby clothes today. But then there was a baby on my bus who cried the entire time. Killed the buzz. They're cute. Their clothes are cute. But they still scare the crap out of me.

Steph and I tried to solve a mystery in Walmart today. The area between the front doors at the entrance of the location we were in reeked of rotting garbage. And then, once you got inside the store, the entry area smelt like fish. Apparently, the fish smell is quite common. There's a McDonald's to the left of the entrance but we couldn't fathom the filet-o-fish being popular enough to be the cause. The bakery area of the Walmart is to the right. No fish there. And Walmart does not have a fresh fish counter so we're a little stumped on that one. Maybe they spray the area to keep people from loitering? It was rather bizarre. Our next Walmart adventure was to find the present my nephew had asked for. After 15 minutes of searching, I actually had to call my brother and ask which department the damn things were in. Thankfully, we found them and all was good. I still can't even being to explaining what the hell they are, but I hope the kid likes them. And we still don't know what the smell is. It was still there on the way out too.

My poor little phone was getting quite the work out today. I was having 3 separate text conversations at the same time. Steph took to playing the guessing game everytime my phone chimed to let me know that I had a new text message. I even managed to get a wrong number call (happened while we were scurrying in the snow so I didn't hear it ring). It was a little kid calling to tell her grandma that she hoped she had a good day. It was a adorable. And clearly a message not meant for me!! LOL.

The best deal of the day was the 1.2kg box of Catilli Smart Pasta - Rigatoni at SuperStore: $0.94. Really. 94 cents. I couldn't believe it. I bought 3, two of which I donated to the food bank. 1.2kg will go a long way for a family, so that's awesome. And it's the high fibre kind too. I'm sure my box will last me a few months.

I've also decided that some teenagers are truly insane. While I was waiting for the bus home (I wasn't done shopping so Steph left me at the mall when she went to pick up her hubby), two teenaged girls walked by. One was wearing a dress that was so short it barely covered her ass. She had to keep tugging it down every 10 steps or so. No leggings or tights or anything and it was -10 with the windchill. Insane. And I'm not the only one who thought so. Another teenaged girl and her boyfriend were beside me and the girl commented to the guy something about short dress girl being nuts and I think she mentioned trashy too. Or slutty. LOL.

Tomorrow will be a much quieter day. I have to find a place to store all the presents I bought and I need to clean and organize so that I can decorate :) I'm glad that Steph decided that shopping with me would be more fun than watching hamburger thaw. LOL.

I'm not quite sure but maybe, just maybe, the Christmas spirit might be creeping into me. But for now, it's time for bed.

Good Night!

Sarah

Christmas tree that I had in Calgary

Randomness

I just finished my french home work. He gave us 3 activities to do this time. Thankfully, they were pretty repetitive so it didn't take me long to do. Also, the answers to 2 of the 3 are in the back of the book so that helped. There were only 3 words this time that I didn't know. My buddy Xtinktor translated for me. And then laughed at me. Jerk. LOL. Seriously, in what universe do you get "Stapler" from "Agrafeuse"?? French is fucked up. I'm sooo looking forward to class tomorrow. Yes, I was being sarcastic.

What I am looking forward to is Halloween. I'm very excited at the prospect of getting to go out and party/rock the night away. In a fun costume too. I honestly don't get out much. As I said to a friend earlier tonight, "I think there might be too much of Fun Sarah stored up". She hasn't been out much lately. This might be interesting. Thankfully, my wing-woman for the night (ok, it's a dude in drag) is also the DD so I'll have someone to keep me from doing anything overly stupid.
This is kind of when I miss Calgary (shocking, I know!). There were two awesome little bars within walking distance of my apartment. One had cheap wings, good food and hockey on many tvs and the other had reasonable drink prices and good live bands. My buddy Cam and I would venture out to one of them almost on a weekly basis. I don't really have anything near here like that.

It looks like the babyboom of 2012 is continuing into 2013. I've got 3 co-workers on mat leave already, the 3rd should be popping any day now and I just found out that a 4th one at the office is expecting. In addition to that, I two sets of friends who are expecting new bundles of joy in 2013. The babies just keep on coming! I'm still terrified. But a couple of them are growing on me.

BTW, I'm so in love with Pinterest!!!!!! It's awesome. I've wasted so much time on there. LOL.

Anyhow, I need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed (or something like that) for class tomorrow morning so I'd better log off.

Good Night!

Sarah

Young At Heart

Today was an interesting day. It involved someone very old and someone very young.

I went out grocery shopping this afternoon. While waiting for the bus home, an elderly woman at the bus stop started talking to me. Turns out that she's 90 years old. Makes me wonder at one point do people start bragging about their age? Anyhow, she was a very nice and very talkative woman who was clearly enjoying the great weather today. She made me smile and I think she was happy to have someone to talk with.

This evening I went over to visit one of my nearest and dearest friends and her family. Her, her husband and I all met 15 years ago. None of us could believe that's been that long. He husband claims that we all look the same. LOL. I'd like to believe that. It's also were I spent some time with the youngest person today. Their son is just shy of being 4 months old. He's adorable and such a happy baby. He only cried once the entire time I was there and I think that's because he had a bad dream or was hungry. Not sure which. And the crying didn't last long at all. If all babies were as calm and as well behaved as he is, I might re-consider my decision not to have one. Watching my friends interact with him made me smile too. They were definitely meant to be parents.

I still find it very surreal that one of my friends has a baby. It's not that I think they're not ready for one, quite the opposite there, but I don't feel like we're old enough to be having them. Hell, the fact that my brother is a father still boggles my mind and it's been 5 months now. But I have to admit, I don't really feel like I'm a grown up. When I was a teenager, I had an idea in my head about how people in the 30s and 40s were: how they lived and behaved. But I certainly have not become the idea that I had. Maybe I'd feel different if I wasn't on my own. Maybe I wouldn't. Maybe this is how I'm supposed to feel, kind of young at heart. I'm responsible in the fact that I have a job and support myself. I pay my rent and bills, do my own laundry and grocery shopping, but I still listen to loud rock music and love going to concerts. I like staying up late watching movies. I like giggling with my girlfriends. I still buy frivolous items from time to time, like purses, shoes and nail polish ( I own A LOT of nail polish ).

Perhaps keeping a sense of our youth in our hearts is a good thing, something that really does keep us feeling (and possibly looking) young. All I know is that I don't feel as old as my birth certificate says I am and that's a good thing.

Good Night!

Sarah

One of my more silly moments :)