A Thankful Day

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner tonight. There was a ton of food, lots of wine, lots of laughter and an abundance of things to be thankful for. This wasn't a dinner with my family. This was a dinner with the "B" family.

I first met the B family back in 1997 thanks to their daughter who I met at University. Since I couldn't afford to go home for Thanksgiving, I was invited over to her family's house for dinner. Fast forward 15 years and I'm still being invited over for dinner. The fact that they count me in as one of their own makes my heart smile and I am so grateful for them. When I joined them for dinner in 2010, I was miserable. I was jobless and feel at odds with the world. They made me laugh and smile and gave me hope that things would get better, and they did. Being around them all today gave me the same feeling.

Mr and Mrs. B live out in the country in a lovely farm house. When we got there today, the men folk were out in the back 40 putting in fence posts. Mrs. B and I had stepped outside to take a photo of the beautiful sugar maple when her grand son came up to us. Turns out the tractor had run out of gas. So I volunteer to walk one of the spare gas cans out to them. It was a lovely fall day and the leaves were beautiful so a wander through the field was perfect. After delivering the gas and getting caught up with people, Mr. B says "Can you walk up ahead and hold up the next fence post?". So I troop through the tall grass and find the next pole and hold it until the others can get to me and then they banged it into the ground and attached the wire to it. The next thing I know, I've hunted down the next 10 poles. LOL. Just like my own family. If you show up, you're put to work. I was more glad to help out and it was very nice being outside too.

The dinner was great and the turkey was huge!! It was almost 30lbs. The best part of the night came during dessert. My friend's sister in law is a vegetarian so she doesn't eat turkey. She also doesn't like pumpkin pie. So, my friend and her husband got a "Turkey" ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for dessert (and a pumpkin pie). The frozen turkey cake was a huge hit! Photos were taken of the sister in law eating the "turkey" and we all got to try a piece. I have to admit, it was pretty awesome. And pretty damn funny too.

It was a great day and evening. I am truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and people in my life. I appreciate them more than they'll ever know.

Before dessert was served, Mr. B had everyone at the table say what we are thankful for. I think I'm going to end tonight's blog with the answer I gave:

I am thankful for surviving the layoffs at work and having a job. I am thankful for friends who act as a surrogate family. And I am thankful for pants which fit looser coming out of storage than they did when they went into storage.

Good Night!

Sarah

Sugar Maple tree

Attack of the Munchkins

I had a bit of a busy day. I managed to hit up 3 different malls today! I bought my Hallowe'en costume this morning. It's a "sexy witch" outfit. I have to admit, it's a little on the short side. There's a Hallowe'en party that I want to go to (have to win to get in) and if I pull that off, I'll find some fishnet tights to wear under it. When I wear it to work, I'll put on a pair of leggings. Either way, it's a fun costume and I'm looking forward to wearing it. I love Hallowe'en :)

I picked up a new CD today. It's "Transit of Venus" by Three Days Grace. I'll listen to that one tomorrow.

While I was at mall #2 today, I met up with my friend Xtinktor for coffee. His wife and daughter were at a park nearby and after an incident with a man wandering the park naked, so opted to leave the park (after the police showed up and took the man away) and they came to hang out with us. As you know, I'm terrified of children.

So we're sitting there, chatting away, and Xtinkor's daughter (she's 4) starts telling me all about the man in the park who took his clothes off. It was all I could do not to fall over laughing. I understand that the situation wasn't funny from the mom's perspective and I'm sure if I'd been in the same situation, my first worry would be able the child. But hearing about the story second hand from a 4 year old was insanely amusing. She also made me smile when she started to dance to the music from the local shoe store.

Anyhow, after we'd finished and were walking down the mall, something grabbed my hand. I looked down and the munchkin had a hold of me. I'm quite proud of myself for not screaming "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" and jumping around like I had a spider on me or something. I was quite shocked actually. I was surprised that a kid I'd only met a half hour earlier trusted me enough to grab my hand. Most kids that I've met seem quite leery of new people. Not her. LOL. She seems to be quite the free spirit. I didn't panic. I just kept walking as she held my hand and played the "don't step on the lines between the floor tiles" game.

Truthfully, she was quite adorable. I don't know if it's my newly found exposure to babies thanks to my adorable niece and the super cute Baby D or if I really do have some deep seeded maternal instincts but whatever it is, being attacked by the munchkin wasn't so scary. It kind of felt nice.

And she was definitely better behaved than some of the kids that I ran into today. Like the little girl in the women's washroom who kept trying to crawl under the walls of the stalls. Or the 3 that were running loose at the entrance of the magazine store so no one could get in or out. When did parents stop being responsible for their offspring? I wouldn't have never got away doing stuff like that when I was a kid. Xtinktor and his wife did tell their wee one to knock it off when her dancing got a little too wild and she listened. Pretty much everywhere I looked today, there were small kids running amuck. When did this become socially acceptable?? Seriously people, if you're not responsible enough to look after your kids, DON'T HAVE ANY!!

Ok. That's the end of my rant for the day. It's been a good, fun day but now it's time to spend some quality time with my bed and my kick ass soft sheets :)

Good Night!

Sarah

My "fallen angel" costume from 2006

Calm and Rockin'

Friday agrees with my brain. For the first time all week, my head is a fairly quiet place. All the things I've had on my mind this week have been compartmentalised or ignore so I'm feeling much better. Now I'm just mostly tired. The sheer insanity of work has a lot to do with that. I was very happy to get out of the office only 45 minutes late tonight. I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that I'm able to sleep in tomorrow. Yes, I'm excited about sleep. I know, I know. I need a life. That's a work in progress.

I decided to share some of my favourite music tonight since I don't quite feel like writing.

First up is "Chalk Outline" from Canadian band "Three Days Grace". I'm digging it. I'm not totally in love with it yet, but it's growing on me.

Next, this is "Still Swingin' " by Papa Roach. I love this one and have since the first time I heard it. I also like the video. It's got a cool 'zombie' theme to it.

About a month ago I happened upon a band called "Throw the Fight". They're American and they're pretty damn good. Their new single is "Not So Hollywood" The song is good but I like several of their other songs on their album much better.

Here's another Canadian band, "Art of Dying". This is my favourite song off their album. It's called "Raining". It features the lead singer of Three Days Grace, Adam Gontier.

Last one is "Second Chance" by Shinedown. This is off their last album and I got to see them perform it live this summer and it was amazing. Their new album is pretty cool too.

I'd better turn off the rock and head to bed before the neighbours complain. LOL.

Good Night!

Sarah

A little fuzzy but this is Shinedown at Bluesfest this summer.

Nobody Said It Was Easy

I'm very happy to report that the bake sale was a hit. I'll know just how big of a hit sometime tomorrow morning once I can do a final count.

I really don't have much to say tonight. Instead, I'm going to let someone else do all the talking. I'm sure most people have seen this clip already. It's all over Facebook and Twitter. I've watched it a few times myself. It's one of the things that has been rolling around in my head all week. I personally think that we need more role models like her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIwBwJzl5eI&feature=youtu.be

Good Night.

Sarah

Charitable Baking

My apartment currently smells like a bakery. I made butter pecan cupcakes with french vanilla frosting. Which are topped with fall sprinkles. I also made a pan of Peanut Butter squares. No, I'm not trying to bake myself into a sugar coma. It's all for charity. Tomorrow we're having a bake sale at work. I might not have a big bank account but I know how to bake :)

French class was long and boring. Some random crazy guy asked me for money while I was outside on my break. I didn't have anything on me other than my phone. After I told him know, he started talking to the stairs beside me about righteousness and Jesus Christ and God. It was odd. But still more entertaining than class.

Back onto the charity topic for a minute. We got a letter at work today from Plan Canada. Last Christmas the office took up a collection and we sent 3 "Library in a Box" to Haiti. The letter from Plan Canada was them updating us on what they did over the last year. It was great to know that we'd been a part of helping others. When we all came together as a group, we did something great. And that's an awesome feeling. I think I may look into charity giving as an option for Christmas gifts.

I'm still processing all the thoughts in my head, but my mind wasn't buzzing as badly this evening. I think focusing on the baking tonight was a good distraction. I'm also kind of hoping that some answers will just appear out of thin air and help me out. Just like I'm hoping to win the lottery every week :)

Sleep time.

Good Night!

Sarah

Didn't make these this time, but I'm sure they taste just as good.

"It's Not That Quiet In My Head"

Did you know that today's date is a palindrome? It's the same forwards and backwards: 2.10.2012. Kind of cool eh?

My mind if all over the place tonight and I'm on the restless side. There's a million things on my mind. And I can't articulate any of them. A line from Finger Eleven's song "Whatever Doesn't Kill Me" springs to mind. It says:

"Don't mistake the silences
There's so much I haven't said
It's not that quiet in my head
But I can't even tell you that"

Yeah. That's how I feel. As a direct result, I've been quieter and introverted and neither is overly normal for me. People are starting to notice. Which I don't like. Because then they ask questions and then I have to plaster on a fake smile and pretend that all is right with my world and so forth. And trust me, faking it is exhausting. It's mentally draining. It's not that any one thing is wrong, it's just that I have a lot of things that I'm thinking about right now. Some good. Some bad. Some are downright insane but they're there for entertainment's sake. I just need to process.

I had a bit of a depressing lunch break today too so that didn't help. Everyone was talking about their plans for the long weekend, since it's Thanksgiving here on Monday. My plans for this weekend....clean my apartment, do laundry and fix my fall wreath so I can hang it on my door. That's. it. Oh and I have to decide if I want to do a roast chicken or a roast beef or a ham for my dinner on Monday. Metro has prime rib on sale this week so that might just be an option. I'm used to going it alone for Thanksgiving. It really is no big deal. I've been doing it for 15 years. And I did get to go home last year and went to the fall fair with my parents, which was awesome. We got slightly sun burnt watching the heavy horse show. How insane is that?

But yes, I'm back on my own this year, which really is fine. Like I said, I'm used to it. I've adapted. Developed my own traditions (which reminds me, I need to pick up some wine....). I just hit a little low today listening to everyone else. I think I was just jealous that they have something to be excited about and I don't. That's all. Do I miss my family? Of course I do. But just because I'm not there with them in person, doesn't mean that they're not with me. Took me several years on my own to figure that one out. I'm glad I did.

I think it's time to give my mind a break. After all, I have french in the morning. I can't begin to tell you how thrilled I am about that one. Le sigh.

Good Night!

Sarah

Horses at the Rockton Fall Fair last year.

All work and no play...

I talk about my job and fellow co-workers a lot. That's probably due to the fact that my job takes up a great amount of my life and the fact that my office is often on par with a 3 ring circus. Or at least it feels that way.

Today was one of those days. I'm pretty darn sure that I had the exact same meeting twice today. Once this morning and then again this afternoon. The scenery was different but those in attendance were the same. It was kind of like the first meeting was the planning and the second meeting was the re-cap of the plan, with a few more details provided. It did make for an interesting day. And I only banged myself in the head with my notebook twice. This is an improvement from last week when I banged my head off the wall a couple of times.

I did something today that I haven't been able to do for a while though - I was able to walk away. At the end of the day, after working an extra half hour, I knew I still had stuff to do. But knowing that it would wait, I opted to walk away and head home. This isn't my usual course of action. Normally, I stay and put in more overtime and try to get it done. But lately I've been feeling a little burnt out and that's not good for any of us.

I actually like my job. Really, I do. And I like the vast majority of my co-workers, most of the time at least. But I don't want my job to become my life. I know that I really don't have much of a life and I'm working on fixing that, and my job does fill a big void. But I don't want to be one of those people who has their job and that's it. Unless it's my dream job and then I can maybe see it being my life. I am only one person. I look after nearly 150 people. That's starting to boarder on impossible. Thankfully, I do have someone helping me now and that's great, but the new person still has lots to learn until she's 100% up to speed. Some days I don't feel like I get anything accomplished. Some mornings I can't even make it from the door to my desk without someone stopping me and asking me for stuff. Those are the days I wish I could just shut myself in my office and put everyone on ignore. Two problems with that: 1. I have a cubicle not an office, so there's no door. 2. I freak out my co-workers when I get that cranky and anti-social.  Freaking out one's co-workers is not a good thing, or so I've been told.  But I'm it's a hell of a lot of fun to do.

Anyhow, tonight something inside my just said "walk away". And I did. And it felt very good. It was nice to get home while the sun was still up. And the best part is that until I sat down to write this, I hadn't thought about work all evening. No guilt, no worry. I think I might actually be learning how to let shit go. That's a very good thing.

So is sleep. It helps me deal with the circus and all the characters there :)

Good Night!

Sarah

I miss hockey :(