This Post Brought To You By The Letter "L"

Lopez. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxwof8rNM0c
My work-friend Chris Lopez got arrested this past weekend along with his brother-in-law, wife and some other un-suspecting folks.  Luckily it all got sorted out and they were released, but not before they shut down the Deerfoot with a Police Barricade.  I'm still laughing - sorry Chris.

Love. 

Total Helicopter Mom moment this week.  On Monday I was a block from the Honda dealership to drop it off for a service.  I got a phone call from the school telling me Avery was at the office with no lunch and she had no snack earlier in the day.  I felt TERRIBLE!!  There was no way I could get there before her lunch hour was over and I was obviously upset, humming and hawing about what to do.  The secretary offered to buy her lunch at the kiosk, of course on my way home from the dealer I stopped and paid her back.  I spent the rest of the afternoon missing everyone: Emm, Av, Phil...So I decided I needed a hug from someone.  Wasn't sure Phil would be really happy with me showing up at the shop to get a hug, so I stopped back at the school.  Yep, I made them pull my kid out of class just so I could give her a hug.  Maybe L actually stands for Loser, but I don't care.

Lazy

Didn't matter what I did to that picture, I couldn't get it to rotate!  Anyway you get the idea.  That's pretty much how I spent my whole day today.  I took the laptop, my phone, my book and my remote and hung out in my bed all day.  I have one day off this week and all I wanted to do was chill.  We even ordered pizza for supper. I definately felt guilty in the afternoon, I shouldn't have wasted a day but I will work extra hard tomorrow to make up for it.

Labels

Gasp!  I said it - LABEL!!  Yeah I know we're not supposed to label one another but can you honestly say that when you think of your family, friends and co-workers some label doesn't come to mind?  I know sometimes the label may not be positive, but we're not talking about those right now!  I'm talking about the one word that pops into your head when you first see that person or hear their voice on the other end of the line.  Here are some (not all!) of my list of "labelled friends".  What's your label for me?

Phil - love

Emma - sweet

Avery - fun

Shelley - constant

Jeremy - brother

Deseray - laugh

Jody - same

Mom - always

I survived!

Well I survived!  I worked 8:00 p.m. - 4:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday night this week.  I've done the occasional over-night in the past, but it's been a long time.  It was fun seeing some of my old over-night friends, we chatted all night Friday night.  Last night was a tad quieter, it was just Bill and I after 1:00 a.m. so we had some "quiet time" and some good chats about my mortgage.  I don't love the over-nights because right now I feel like it's about 10 in the morning but really it's 3:45 in the afternoon - confusing.

Moving on, I've decided to exercise my democratic right to my day in court.  Last Sunday I was doing a bunch of running around Airdrie.  I was on my way from the dance store to my friend Shelley's house, I had just turned onto the main road to her house when a fluorescent green vest stepped into the road in front of me.  My first thought was, "crap!" but I glanced at my speed-o-meter and it said 50, so my next thought was, "huh?"  When the BY-LAW Officer approached my vehicle he advised he recorded me going 50....IN A 30 ZONE?!?!?!?  What?!  This road is a main road that has two "service roads" on either side of it that front the residences, it never occured to me the main road was 30 km/hr. 

So I immediately pull out my license and insurance and hand them to him. He opens the insurance folder and tells me the insurance is expired, "crap again!"  I told him I have insurance and it must be at home on my counter (keep in mind I'm in Airdrie, home is a 5 minute drive.) He says..and I quote: "No problem, give me a minute to check on it.." and walks back to h

is car.  I'm feeling a tad relieved, obviously he has the magic cop-computer in his car and it will tell him I am a good law-abiding citizen with valid insurance.  I've seen "To Serve and Protect" that computer has lots of good info in it.  Just to be sure though I make a panicked phone call home.  It goes something like this:
Phil "Hi"
Me "Quick, look on the counter and see if I have a valid insurance card there."
Phil "Huh?"
Me "JUST LOOK FOR VALID INSURANCE, I GOT A TICKET!!  CALL ME BACK"
I wait, and wait, and wait...
Me "Gawd, what's going on?  Why haven't you called me back?  Did you find it?"
Phil "It's been like 3 seconds!  Yes it's right here.  Where are you?"
Me "THE SAME SPOT YOU TOLD ME NOT TO SPEED IN LAST NIGHT!  I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!"

Rent-a-cop comes back to my car and has 2 TICKETS IN HIS HAND!!  He's holding them kind of layered one on top of the other so I can't see how much the second one is for.  He gives me a speech about how he could have my car towed for failure to produce insurance but he believes I have insurance so he is just going to give me a citation.  He says, "Try to have a better day" and hands me the tickets.  I throw them on my seat and continue up to Shelley's house.  When I look at the tickets I see the speeding ticket is for $124.00 (and my husband has just informed me I will get demerits for it!) The Failure to Produce Insurance ticket is for $176.00!!!

So October 26 I will be at Alberta Provincial Court begging for some sort of reduction.  I will be starting a "Save Jesse's Driving Record" Defense Fund.  Please let me know if you would like to contribute.

Life Turned Around

It's 1:42 am.  I'm nodding off a bit as I type.  I am trying to get my body used to night shifts again, and it kinda sucks!  For years I worked evenings and over-nights.  Last May I had the opportunity to change my shift to early mornings.  I am NOT a morning person, never have been.  But the opportunity to switch to mornings doesn't come up very often so Phil and I thought I should take advantage.  The theory was that we would struggle though the summer finding child-care for the girls but come September it would be great because I'd always be home before the girls got off school.  So we did just that - beg and plead with people to take care of the girls in the mornings all summer.  The day the girls went back to school this year I started my new Help Desk position - ON NIGHTS!!  All that worry and struggle all summer was for naught.  So here I am back on nights. 

I am feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I am once again missing dance class and not home in the evenings for my girls to chat with me, read to me, and tuck in at night.  I'm pretty sure this is temporary, in January I get the chance to bid for a new schedule again and hopefully that means mornings again, but there's no guarantee.  Right now I am dragging my sorry butt out of bed early each morning to make the girls a good breakfast, help them get ready, drive them to school and on the days that I don't work too early I am picking them up and bringing them home for a hot lunch.  All that being said, I still feel sad about it.

I know I am just one in a huge group of moms doing what they have to do to help their family survive in this expensive, busy life.  Do you think it's worth it though?

Gettin' Ready

As you may or may not know, I have spent the last 3 weeks in pretty intense training classes for my new job.  My position is now "Help Desk Agent."  What does that mean?  Well actually quite a bit more than I initially thought!  My main goal will be helping Sales Super Agents when they get stuck in a process or trying to make our system work.  I also support them when they use their empowerment to help a Guest in a one-of situation (read: I got the power to make stuff happen!!)  I also book executive travel, after-hours Groups booking, after-hours WestJet Vacations support, LOTS of Travel Agent guidance, promo bookings, Make a Wish Flights, Hope Air...and on and on it goes.  Tomorrow is my first day in my schedule, I am back to evenings.

Yesterday was a good day.  We went shopping for Phil as he is seriously lacking jeans and shoes.  We got a smokin' deal at Mark's Work Wearhouse on jeans and then eaded out to CrossIron Mills.  If any of you know Phil you know he is the cheapest bugger on the PLANET!! (It's good times at our house sometimes as you know I am the exact opposite of cheap)  This becomes an issue when we discuss shoes.  He usually goes for the cheapest thing he can find, which he blows holes through in about a month.  Last time I convinced him to get some Skechers, he destroyed 2 pairs in 6 months!  So this time I was bringing out the big guns!  I convinced my husband to spend the money and buy a pair of Dr. Martens!  Now I am sad!  In high school and college there was nothing I wanted more than a pair of Docs.  I totally planned on ordering a pair of 7-hole White Ninja boots wear to our wedding - but we were too poor.  He won't stop bragging about how great they feel on his feet.  I am jealous.

I still think I should get a pair someday.

Moving on...I just finished reading "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larson. 

Have you read it?  What do you think?  It was a bit tough to read as there were some pretty descriptive parts about serial rapists and stalkers.  Yucky to think about but it made for quite a story.  I finished it last night and went out to buy the next book in the series, "The Girl Who Played With Fire."

All right Friends, that's about all I have for today.  Just came back from spending too much money at the dance-wear store, picked up Wok Box on the way home and am on hold with Shaw.  Oh yeah - fun news of the week: My Best Friend is the Best Friend EVER!!  Shelley and Jeremy gave us a smokin' deal on a PVR!  Now that I am back to night shifts I will be able to record everything I miss.  YAY!  You should click here to go view her latest creation "Halloween Chocolate Dipped Oreos!"

PS - we decided to get the Gardasil vaccine.

Your Opinion Please

All right, so one of the reasons I want to blog is to start healthy debate.  So BE NICE, respect other people's opinions, but tell me what ya think!

Today's Question: To vaccinate or not to vaccinate?  Specifically the Gardasil vaccine.  The vaccine is being offered to my oldest daughter this year.  The things I'm interested in hearing about are: 1. Is it responsible parenting to vaccinate your daughter against an STD?  2. The vaccine has only been proven to be effective for 5 years, is it stupid to vaccinate at 10-years old when there is no proof it will last longer? Chat amongst yourselves...

Everybody's Doing It!

I'm a lemming.  Yep, I can admit it!  I used to blog all the time, back in the day before Crackbook.  Now a bunch of my friends are getting back into blogging and I figured I would too.  What should I blog about?  Well, I'm a mom and wife, a daughter and a sister, a friend and a co-worker.  All of relationships provide me with plenty to think about, laugh about and write about.  So check in when you have a minute!