Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Sun Is Always There, Just Behind The Clouds...

















I took this picture of the sun rising last Sunday, April 20th at 7:00am when we left home to start the drive to Toronto for a doctor's appointment I had on Monday. We picked up my mom in Kemptville and then started out on my journey.

It was a quick trip with us coming back Monday night, but was definitely worth the travelling. We were lucky and had beautiful weather and were lucky to stay with my aunt and uncle in Burlington overnight who we had not seen in some time so as well I got to enjoy their company the night before a stressful appointment with the surgeon to discuss gastric bypass surgery. We sat out on the patio, my uncle barbequed pork tenderloin and my aunt as always had made a lovely dinner for everyone.

The appointment went well, the wait was worthwhile as I am now on this waiting list for surgery and although I have many things to do before that, I am happy to hear that the wait is six to eight months and not one to three years like I had originally been told. I feel like things are finally going my way - my new government job begins in less than two weeks; I was so unsure about this appointment and it went well; and I still have an appoinment in June in Utica, New York to see about perhaps having surgery sooner, perhaps within a six to eight week period instead of months, but we'll see as I won't make my decision until I have all the information.

I feel as this sun is rising on a new day, that the better life I want for myself is within my grasp and the journey although long is very worthwhile.

Until next time :)

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

101 things in 1001 days

So I decided since I had really not accomplished enough on my list and that I had thrown the list together to get it up and running by January 1st, 2008 that I would amend the list a little and then start again on my birthday, April 18th, 2008.

I hope to update more about it, and actually be able to complete more now that the better weather is here. I really dislike that I was not able to get it done and need to start again, but better to try again then to completely abandon the list as a failure... besides I have completed a few of the items - went to a concert in February, try to laugh more, been trying to sort out my health more, going to my consult for wls on Monday, went to a support group for wls, use my flickr account more and so I will begin again and try to fulfill another goal - procrastinate less!

And so all my posts are not text only lately - a photo of my recently updated magnet inspiration board:


















Until next time :)

Monday, April 14, 2008

What goes up, must come down...

So I've been a little busy...

After having my contract extended twice at the company I was working for, the company was bought out and in the first 30 days they have made many, many employee changes - including not renewing any terms for contract employees. I had been told numerous times not to worry too much when the first talk of them being bought happened as my boss wanted to hire me permanently as soon as the circumstances allowed. Unfortunately, that never happened - might have been a good thing as knowing what one of my co-workers made, I doubt they would have offered me enough money to make it worthwhile...

I finished my last day Friday March 28th and advised the employment agency I was working through that I would again like to be on their available list. I started the job search Monday morning, hoping to find something more fulfilling and a bit better paid without having to work in a call centre. Most of my experiences in the last few years were in a call centre, and I am good with customers, but I did not want to do this again as I am tired of being chained to a desk, tethered by phone cord. I am going to miss the flexibility of my last contract and how it felt to be trusted to get my work done and not worry about when I took a break as long as the work got done... And the people were great too.

So my time since has been spent job searching, following up with the employment agency, helping with my nephew when his sister, my niece, goes to school every day and sorting out the doctor appointments needed to pursue my wls surgery journey.

In trying to take care of my health, I had an appointment with my sister's gynecologist; he was not taking new patients, but with my doctor's referral he did so as a favor to my sister as I have not been able to find one here in the city since I moved back. He was great, I was worried I wouldn't like him as I have usually had a female gynecologist; but he was really professional; friendly and straight up. He has referred me for an ultrasound and blood work and then we'll go from there... so I feel better about taking care of my inner workings and that it is another step in the right direction to a healthier me.

And then on the very same day, I had my appointment; I received some good news that afternoon... In October, I worked for a month as a clerk at Passport Canada in Gatineau before budget cuts ended our contract for about 60 employees. I really enjoyed the job, was good at it and worked independently, listening to my mp3 player. So I was a little upset when it ended so abruptly as I was hoping it would lead to longer employment and a way into other government jobs... Shortly after this ended, a close friend who works in HR in the government and is always keeping her eye out for available positions to send to people she knows, forwarded me an email letting me know that the Passport office was hiring again for 2 positions. I quickly applied and prayed that it would be my way back in. However, the government hiring process can take some time and since it was not the first government job I applied for, I wasn't holding my breath.

The website the government uses to post jobs and their status; kept postponing the results by a month every time I logged in... and then in March, the hiring process was put on hold indefinitely... So to say I was surprised when they called me on Thursday, would not be a strong enough word to describe the shock I was in when I was speaking to the agent from their office. I wrote everything down just so I would not think I was dreaming when I got off the phone.

Well after many hoops including an exam in early December that had me freaking out and a very thorough security check, I secured a year long contract with the Passport office starting May 5th. I am so excited about this, estatic might not even describe how happy I am to finally have made it through to the position since I have been on another government list for their pool of administrative candidates for almost 3 years without any headway.

And funnily enough, when it rains it pours as later that afternoon I not only received confirmation of a one day reception contract I fulfilled for 10 hours on Friday but as well was contacted about another job in a technical call centre...

Alright, well I'm off to do some errands and take care of my emissions test for my vehicle so I can renew the license plates before the end of the week...

Until next time :)

Monday, March 24, 2008

Beautiful Butterflies...




















Recently Kay and I decided we wanted to try completing the Weekend Creative Prompt from Ali Edwards website to make a Spring Mobile. I asked Kay after looking at other photos of mobiles on Flickr what kind of mobile she would want to make, and she liked Ali's butterflies so much that she decided she would like to make a butterfly one as well.

So Friday night last week, I stopped at Michael's to pick up a dowel to hang the finished butterflies from, and some wooden butterflies. I was sure I had enough paints, sparkles and embellishments in my scrapbooking and craft supplies to finish the butterflies. I bought 8 butterflies but we only ended up using 6 and I think that will be more than enough to space across my bathroom window.

So Saturday afternoon, we decided to paint the butterflies. Kay decided on yellow, purple and blue, so I painted mine the same colors. We finished the painting the next day and then began to decorate the butterflies. We added stamps, glitter, sparkles and even mettalic daisies:

My first yellow butterfly - painted, then mod podged to hold the glitter sparkles on to the paint and then I added a daisy to give it some depth.














Kay's first buttefly - painted blue, then stamped with ink on star and heart foam stamps, then she added glitter and her own daisy.


















So even though I am not a great artist when it involves anything besides scrapbooking, I thought we did a great job, it makes me smile whenever I see it as it reminds me of the fun we had making it too.

Until next time :)

Monday, February 18, 2008

Oh What A Night!

Sean and I spent Valentine's together at a Blue Rodeo concert at Scotiabank Place. I was lucky enough to be one of the few people to respond to the email that went around offering free tickets to Blue Rodeo, I think it had to do with the fact that I responded a minute after it went out.

I only found out I got a pair on Monday morning after Sean had suggested alternate plans of dinner and a chick flick :) And then I lucked out some more in being the first one to pick up our tickets, so I also received a free parking pass in one of the closer lots to the building. This is key in not spending an hour afterwards getting out of the parking lots and onto the road for the drive home.

The music was great, I couldn't have asked for a better date night. Sean and I enjoy spending V-day together but don't always go all out for this crazy holiday, we're happy to take the time all year round to remember to show that we love and appreciate each other. Our tickets were for a box seat that the company I am on contract with holds jointly with 2 other companies. We had the 2 seats in the first row on the right of the box, it was cozy and a pretty good angle to the stage. I think if we were on the other side of the box we would not have been able to see as much. The box was in the 100 level, so it was a great location.

The opening act, Cuff the Duke, was not a band I've ever heard of and as I was anxious to hear Blue Rodeo, I probably was a little more harsh in deciding if I liked them or not... the lead singer was pretty good, but some of their songs were a little hard to hear. We found out later that they don't usually play such a large venue. I enjoyed them when they came back out for the last few songs with Blue Rodeo at the end of the night.

I have loved Blue Rodeo's music since highschool and I have seen them live a few times now, but they never get old, and I really enjoyed their new songs they played as well. It was a very good show... my pictures were a little dark, but I was estatic that Sean thought to use my video option to record part of their last song of the set - the last encore which closed the show - Lost Together.



Until next time :)

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Pretty as a Picture...

Okay so I'm a little behind in the challenge as I'm starting from scratch on the 13th day of the year, but life is not defined by accomplishments or failures, but what you do with the lesson you learn from those good or bad experiences... so I shall try again.

I am participating in a quest to keep a paper journal for a full year as part of the livejournal community challenge called embodiment.

The community closes each January 1st and I believe 2008 makes my third attempt for this challenge. Last year I sort of stopped writing in March, so this year I would really like to hang in there for the whole year. Especially since I want to document my 101 things in 1001 days challenge I am participating in.

So this is the simple journal I've created for myself - it is just some paper from a Costco paper stack I had with some glitter chipboard letters from the dollar store and a piece of 4x6 cardstock I cut down to cover a blank lined composition book to create this:


Until next time :)

Getting Back on Track...

So I'm working on my 101 things to do in 1001 days - you can check out my 101 things on the side of my blog. I haven't gotten much done yet, I don't want to make excuses, but a friend passed away recently and I've been a bit discouraged and sad since her death. However, I've realized that she was the type of person that would not really let anything get in her way, and probably would kick me in the butt to get busy, so I am determined to get back on track starting today!

I've managed to write in my written journal almost every day which I hope to keep up with. I've been drinking more water. I cleaned the bathroom pretty thoroughly in the last week which is a task I hate doing. There are a few goals that are easier than others on my list, but some require time and planning and/or money.

I think the next one I will complete is sending a Congratulations card to my cousin as he got engaged over Christmas. You would think this would not need to be a goal, but we don't talk and haven't seen each other in some time. He's on my dad's side and ever since my dad passed away when I was 15, I've had very little contact with that side of the family. At one time in life, I would have said this cousin was my best friend as we were only a year and 3 days apart in age, and I had always wanted someone who was like a big brother to me, but we moved away and I saw him less and less. There has been so much drama over the years with my grandmother that most days it is just easier this way, but I want to at least try to resolve the ill feelings that are there. All I can do is try, and if they are not willing than I can at least feel good about trying.

I never really got going on the photo a day but I am going to start that again. I have posted a few times between this blog and my livejournal, and I've taken some photos, but not enough to feel like I've worked on my goals. Well as they say, today is a new day and I won't give up on being successful. Besides, this list is for me, not anyone else, so the measure of my progress and how I feel about failure and success at this is all up to me. I signed up for this challenge to see what I could accomplish, so we'll see where the JOURNEY takes us!

Until next time :)

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

One Little Word

Inspired by the talented Ali Edwards I decided to choose just one word to describe what 2008 will mean to me. I thought of many words that might apply, but the one that I kept coming back to again and again is a word I use often to symbolize and describe many aspects of my life.

I believe the word that will mean a lot to me this year will be:

JOURNEY


I am on my journey to wls, my journey to living a healthier life, to showing I can do something for myself, to being a wiser and stronger me.

As always, I am on a journey in exploring my faith and beliefs.

My employment options have brought me on quite a bumpy journey the last few years, but I truly believe the journey this year will be professional development where my job will be concerned.

I will believe I can journey towards my goals to fulfill my list of 101 things to accomplish in 1001 days that begins today!

And above all in this journey, I will believe in myself.

So thank you for sharing yet another JOURNEY with me ;)

Until next time :)