Cheers to a New Year and another chance for us to get it right.

Well so far this brand new year has been good. Oh I know, it’s only 9 days into it, but hey, for me, 9 days is a milestone. The weather has been rather different and some days I can honestly say it’s been downright enjoyable. Yes “Old Man Winter” is going to rear it’s ugly head sometime, but for now I’m just going to enjoy the small amount of sunshine and yes, even the rain while I can. It’s a lot better than envisioning the sound of shovels scrapping off snow and ice from the walkways or the rumbling of snow blowers as they shoot snow out the machine gun like cannon. I am having a wee little problem when it comes to having a very rambunctious Golden Retriever who will find any small patch of dirt and manage to coat his entire body with mud and then expect to be let into the main area of the house as though nothing was wrong. He gives me that “sad, I’m sorry look” and that in turns sends the guilt racing through me as I block him in the MUD room. Ah the joys of owning a dog!

One of my New Years resolutions was that I was not going to blog about my work any more. I had a chance to look back over my old blogging posts and realized that wasting my time and energy worrying about something that I have no control over was not very productive, so…………… no more work blogs, unless there is something really good that has happened. Then and only then will I rip the tape off my hands and let my fingers do the telling. Until that time my fingers will refrain from boring everyone with the same old thing over and over again.

Friday morning I went to get my hair done and what a wonderful laugh filled 2 hours I had. There were times when I was so glad I was sitting because good lord I would have pee’d my pants. So many jokes and a few memories of people’s vacations were told that I’m sure the laughter was heard through the closed doors and windows. I have gotten to know the woman that does my hair on a more personal level and we have connected in many avenues of our lives. What can I say? Sometimes a Hairdresser can be a friend as well as sounding board. She’s heard me gripe about work, co-workers and home life and has extended her hand and shoulder on more than one occasion. This is the kind of Salon where one is offered a tea or coffee while having their locks trimmed, dyed, styled or streaked so…….. with dryers going, scissors snipping and laughter galore, it was the quickest 2 hours that I have spent in a long time!

Always remember this my dear friends.......

All the things we really like are either immoral, illegal or fattening.

The Green Thing..................

I have this posted on my Facebook as well, but to all those who do not have Facebook, I thought I'd share it here as well.

Happy reading.......

Remember when.....
Checking out at the grocery store recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologized and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days." The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations." She was right about one thing -- our generation didn't have the green thing in “Our” day. So what did we have back then…? After some reflection and soul-searching on "Our" day here's what I remembered we did have.... Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day. Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint. But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the green thing back then?

Happy New Year

Farewell 2011

Ok, another Christmas has now rolled passed and most of us wait with baited breath to ring in a brand new year. I’m sure I’m with thousands of other people and hope that 2012 will bring new and wonderful things. The last 12 months have revealed many things to me, both good and bad. I’ve cried tears of joy and hurt as well as swam helplessly as I was humiliated and chastised at my place of employment. I learned many valuable lessons that taught me who was actually standing behind me and not trying to run me over to get ahead in whatever their endeavours were. Even through all of that some wonderful amazing things happened making the bad things seem less painful. So now it’s time to stand waving as 2011 makes a much welcome exit and 2012 is welcomed in.

"In the New Year, may your right hand always be stretched out in friendship, but never in want." -traditional Irish toast

The Renovation Saga comes to an end………..

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne (days of long ago)?
…
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Sometimes I just have to shake my head and give a silent chuckle about the boneheaded moves some people make, but alas it’s the Christmas season so I’ll keep those chuckles silent, for now anyway. Well the tree has been up for a few weeks now and I’m really on the ball and have all the gifts wrapped. The only thing I have to do is shop for the “Big Day” dinner. This year I have to entertain the outlaws for this festive meal. Oh lucky me…not! I can almost hear the comments now but again, tis the season and all that holiday stuff, so I’ll “fa-la-la-la-la   la-la-la-la” my way through it and keep that ohhhhhhhh so sweet and innocent smile pasted on my face the entire time.

Things on the work front haven’t been too bad, although there have been moments when I just throw my hands in the air and look skyward. It certainly hasn’t been easy at times, but I guess with all jobs there are moments when one just may start to contemplate an unlawful act and figure out a way to use the plea of “guilty by reasons of insanity”. I’m still kind of waiting for a shoe to drop since receiving the email Birthday greeting from my Supervisor. I’m sure it will drop it’s just a matter of when, where and how. There have been many changes in the workplace, some for the good and some not, but as far as I can figure it’s all in the way you face changes that makes it easier to adjust. I sure wasn’t happy when the changes took affect, but I had to suck it up and adjust as we all do when things don’t go as we think they should.

With only 6 days left until everyone will be celebrating Christmas in their own unique way, I want to wish everyone the happiest season ever!

Merry Christmas

From my house to your’s

A Greeting card for Dawn from Marnie

A Greeting card for Dawn from Marnie

Surprises come in all forms

Not too many things make me speechless but one incident in particular has my jaw dropping with no words spilling from my mouth. 2011 was not a very good year for me. I learned some pretty hurtful lessons in all facets of my life (work and home). I had to “hike up my big girl panties” do the “suck it up princess” and cry alone on more than one occasion, but through all that I grew into a stronger form of myself and I am better for it. But my pity parties are a thing of the past now. I have begun to cut out a new niche in my little corner of the world and things seem to be falling into place. I have renewed an old friendship and now I feel the arms of a true friend helping me along the way. I have a feeling 2012 will be totally different for me and I’m going to enjoy the different roads that will appear before me.

Okay, now on to the surprise that has made my jaw drop and stopped the words from falling out. Last week I had the uncomfortable pleasure of arriving to work and finding my Supervisor still sitting behind her big desk. It was going on for 6:30pm and she was still there. Apparently she had a meeting in town and didn’t want to drive all the way home and then come back into town so she was doing odds and ends in the office to kill some time. Anyway we got talking and birthdays were mentioned. Hers was coming up on the Sunday and mine was a few days later on the following Tuesday. We did have a few laughs about our ages and thanks goodness she is a few years older than me! Anyway even though it began as uncomfortable I began to relax. I’ll never let my guard down though because I have been told many things about her and did experience a rather pissy moment with her a few months back. Anyway within the hour she did leave the center leaving me to do the tasks at hand that was left on our small corner desk. I never thought much about it until Tuesday afternoon (my Birthday) when I logged on and started checking my different email accounts. I always check my work email last so when I logged in low and behold there was a card for me from her. Maybe now you’ll understand WHY my jaw dropped and the usual rantings that spew from my mouth were no where to be heard. All I can manage to say is wow!