Searching For A Stress-Free Job

We're only two days into the week and it seems like it's been a long week already. LOL. Work's been one issue after another. Lots of fun there. I've been crazy tired at home too. I keep waking up in the night and worrying about stuff that still needs to be done at work. Sigh. My nightly mantra is "stop worrying about work." One night I might listen to myself. Things are slowly coming together so I'm hoping the worry will leave soon too. Some days I wish I had the kind of job where I simply forgot about it when I walked out the door at the end of the day. No stressing. No worrying. Maybe if I win it big in the lottery I can find a job like that. Everyone knocks working in retail. I kind of liked it. I didn't like the sore feet from standing around all day but I liked the staff discount and getting to talk to people and the whole 'when you leave work, you leave work behind you' thing. Sadly, I can't afford to live on a retail salary, especially if I keep buying stuff from the store where I work. Working in a book store would be cool but I'd spend all my money at work and I've already run out of room for the books that I already own. That would present a major problem. I think it might be fun to be a chef too, so long as someone else did all the dishes.
Being a dog walker would be cool too. Unless one of the dogs ran away. That would be stressful. And I don't think I'd like to walk them in the winter. I hate winter. I hibernate in winter.
Maybe I could get a job as a personal shopper! Then I'd get to shop but spend someone else's money. Only downside is that I don't get to keep anything that I buy. That would be a bummer.
Ironically, my dream job is to be the Governor General of Canada. I'm guessing that job comes with a fair bit of stress. But then again, you could always pass all of your work off to someone else. Hmmm. Something to think about. I need to start getting in friendly with the Prime Ministers if I want to be GG for Canada.
Or maybe I just need to win it really, really big in the lottery and then I don't have to worry about working at all......

Eyes are closing.

Good Night!

Sarah

This Won't Hurt...Much.

Another day, another dollar. Or so they say. Work went by a little more quickly today and thankfully, I didn't have any disrespectful people to deal with today, so that is a major plus. The weeks ahead are going to be very interesting ones and I really am not sure how things are going to play out. I'm going to take a "go with the flow" approach and hope that works.

After work was Curves workout #2, which was our first 'real' workout. Meaning that we did the full circuit and a half without the aid of the coaches. Sure, they did yell out some encouragement or gave tips on a specific machine, but for the most part, Steph and I were on our own.

It went really well. I have to admit, the time really does fly by. The stupid pull up machine was still awful but a few of the others that gave me trouble on day one seemed to behave better today. And, of course, there was some laughter. I almost went ass over teakettle while doing our cool down stretches. One of the stretches is where you reach behind you, bend your leg up and grab your foot and pull it towards your ass. Like this:



Anyhow, I can't do that. So they have this big stretchy rubber band to help. I looped it around my foot and then you pull the band up and over your shoulder. Well I kind of lost balance while doing this and ended up doing a fun pirouette instead, which allowed me to regain my balance. If I hadn't, I would have fallen over since my foot was otherwise occupied and I couldn't have put it down to stop me.

I'm finding that every time I get up off the couch or out of my chair this evening, I'm stiff and various muscles protest a little. Nothing major. Except the pulsing pain in my right boob. But that has nothing to do with my activities at the gym this afternoon. That's all hormonal. Stupid hormones.

Anyhow, Steph's insane and wants to go back tomorrow. One of the coaches said that if you do work outs back to back like this, you get to go less intensely on the 2nd day. I might be able to handle that. I also might not be able to move come Saturday.

Guess I'll just have to wait and see how that plays out too.

Good Night!

Sarah

It's all about balance.

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

Out With The Old...

Not too much to report on today. I spent the day cleaning and listening to my iPod via a very cool speaker thingy that my mom bought me after Christmas. Which meant my mind got to rest as I really wasn't thinking about much.

I got the kitchen cleaned and started to throw out a bunch of crap I really don't need/use. I donated a few things to my fellow residents. We have this ledge under the stairs where people put items that are still good but that they no longer want and other people take it. It's kind of a cool system.

I made some major progress on the re-organization of my apartment. And that feels good. Better than I thought it would. There have been several studies that show when you de-clutter your space, your stress levels drop. I think they might be right. On the up sides, if I get rid of a bunch of stuff, I get to buy new stuff to replace it. LOL. Like my towels yesterday :)

I really wish that the awards shows would get the big ones out of the way at the begging. Or end earlier. I always end up going to bed before the big awards are announced. I did stay up late enough to see Jodi Fosters wonder acceptance speech though. She's a stand up gal. But alas, I shall miss the rest. I'm sure the news will bring me up to speed in the morning.

Good Night!

Sarah

These are the old towels but this shows how small my bathroom is!

When Shopping Becomes An Adventure Sport

I was awake before anyone else this morning. Partly because I was cold and partly because I was sore. The new mattress that my parents bought a few years ago, for the bed in my old room, is a little on the hard side and my back really doesn't like it. So for the first 3-4 nights here, I wake up in a bit of pain. My mom was up shortly after me. She claims that the reason was that she didn't want me downstairs alone in case I snooped through the presents. Ha! She's the biggest snoop of us all.

When my dad and I got back from shopping yesterday afternoon, we hadn't been outside of the car for more than a minute and I looked over and someone had her head sticking out the front door, trying to see what bags we had. She did the same thing today but from the front hall window this time.

I went shopping with both parents this morning (and we only lost dad once) and then we had a nice lunch together, after which we dropped off my mom at home and dad and I ventured out into the wildest shopping place of the day: Walmart. The place was a zoo. My dad was even blown away by just how bad it was. He didn't think it would be that bad. He really has no grasp on Walmart shopping. The line up for the photo studio was down the Christmas cookie aisle, the seasonal and toy departments were like a giant ring of bumper cars, but with karts, the bakery was sold out of mincemeat pies and the 1 main thing that we went there to find, was no where to be found. Thankfully we were able to find the rest of the stuff we were looking for.

After Walmart, we hit up Shopper's Drug Mart so I could mail off my last present - headed to Calgary. The lineup there was actually pretty short and quick, so that was nice. Next we headed to Zhers so we could get the damn mincemeat pie (which my dad couldn't see, despite looking right at it!) and my dad got my mom some pretty holiday flowers too. Our final stop was Food Basic for a gift card and then we came home.

After dinner, dad started on a wrapping spree which seemed to be a success despite the occasional swearing I heard coming from the dinning room. For me, it was arts and crafts time. My friend Stephanee was making a Christmas tutu for her niece and I decided to make one too. For the record, I hate tulle. That stuff is terrible to work with/cut! Somehow I managed to get it all cut and believe it or not, I made a tutu. It actually looks pretty cute. I think it might be a bit on the big side for my niece though. We'll find out on Monday I guess.

All in all, it was a good day. I have finished all of my Christmas shopping and just have to worry about wrapping everything now. I can sit back and relax and not stress about any last minute things.

I think it's getting close to bed time. My mom got tired of me bitched about how cold it is and she shut my bedroom window this morning. My room is still cold, it's just not damn cold anymore :)

Good Night!

Sarah

Christmas 2008 - this is what I have to do to keep warm at home!

Who knew that blogging could be so Therapeutic?

Wow. 4,026 page views. Incredible. My random ramblings have been viewed 4.026 times. That still blows my mind. I can't believe it. I can't believe that this is post number 129 either. I guess I've been blogging for almost 4 months now. That's pretty cool. And I've blogged every night except for one..the night of the Hallowe'en party. That's a pretty good track record. And to tell you the truth, I think it's helped me a lot. My mind is quieter. I do lie in bed thinking about the day quite so much anymore. I think I'm a little less stressed (well, some days). I think being able to sit here and write what's on my mind and just leave it here on the screen is helping me to deal with things.  Which then allows me to walk away with a clearer head. Who knew that blogging could be so therapeutic?

I had a good day today. I was productive, which means I started to see results in my cleaning/re-organizing/getting rid of crap I don't need/use quest, which in turn made me feel better. My back is a little pissed at me as I managed to stain it at some point but oh well! A little pain in the pursuit of progress isn't so bad. The trick will be carry this momentum through the week with me. If I do little bits and little areas each night, I'll be in awesome form by next weekend. It's all the little bits that seem to add up. Like emptying out and organizing the bathroom closet, then kitchen cupboard, my pantry shelf, dresser etc...I'm also thinking about re-arranging the livingroom but that can wait.

My parents finally got their computer fixed today. They've been having an issue for 2 years now with it so dad enlisted the help of a "computer geek" friend of his to come over and help. Now I don't have to listen to them complain about it anymore and hopefully this now means that they can buy books online and update the library on my mom's Kobo. Now if they'd only get their act together and give me a decent Christmas list to work with....Sigh. Same for my brother and his wife. I think I'm getting them all coal :) Christmas is only 1 month away.

I'm really looking forward to going home this year. I'm happy about going home every year, but I'm usually somewhat apprehensive about it too. But so far this year, that apprehension isn't there. I'm just really looking forward to going home, spending time with my family and getting to relax for a bit. It's not some warm sunny beach in some tropical paradise, but in my world, it's pretty damn close.

I think it's time to turn in. I've got a full week ahead of me so sleep is a good idea.

Good Night!

Sarah

View from the observation deck on Sulpher Mt. in Banff, AB