Vindicated

There is this one woman at work, who is not even in my department, that I have to work with from time to time. I'm going to try to be nice here...but she really is not the brightest star in the sky. She doesn't listen even though you tell her a gazillion times. She can't get things straight. She takes credit for a whole group's work. She takes forever to do anything. She doesn't get what goes on. And she's cheap as hell!!!

Being cheap is not a bad thing...but when you're at a fundraiser, if you spend money, even if it's a little more, you know it's going to a good cause. She spent a whole 75 CENTS for a brownie. But then, when the half price was going on, she came back downstairs, bought some more brownies, but then complained that she had to pay the full price of 75 cents for her first brownie. Hell if I was going to give a refund.

But I digress on why I think she's extremely difficult to work with. I have this one project (unfortunately, I have other projects with her) that I have to work with her on. I always provide my information and any changes that go along with it. However, she refuses to share her information even though, the process and our roles ensure I get the information. She can't give specifics on anything because she doesn't know or she doesn't want to share. So, I called the lead to ask what the actual process was. I wasn't tattling...but I thought maybe I was the one that was wrong. Maybe I didn't truly understand the process.

But when I talked to her, she actually said that was going to call me as the woman that I'm referring to actually tattled on me saying that I was doing everything wrong. Interesting timing. So I explained my frustrations and asked questions to clarify my role.

The best part was when the lead said that I was doing everything right. I'm not wanting to gloat but I just feel vindicated. All that frustration of working with this woman who is a few bricks short of a full load went away. Ok, it wasn't me.

The lead even said that it's unfortunate that this woman doesn't understand because the project does deal with the safety of employees...so I, as well as this woman who is about as sharp as a marble have to get it right. The lead will be calling the boss of this woman who is a few fries short of a happy meal to discuss the matter. I expect that I'll be receiving my information shortly.

Another Reason

Yep. I just wrote about why I wouldn't be moving anytime soon. Well, after hearing what it would cost my friend, there's definitely no reason to move at this time.

Of course, my friend was in San Francisco. He called a number of different moving companies San Francisco to get the best deal possible. But as a Canadian, you're always converting money which isn't the smartest thing to do. When you're in that country, only think in that currency or you'll never sleep. And of course, his move is going to cost him way more than he is expecting.

But I've given some thought to perhaps moving to a cheaper province. The idea that I could possibly sell my house here, move to a cheaper city, get a bigger house and acreage and STILL have money left over for everything else is a real draw. I did give my parent some indication that I was thinking about it. But I did preface it with, "I'm not going to even think that hard about it until you both are dead." They thought it was funny. And if you're offended, it was one of those "you had to be there" moments. I know if I did move now, it would kill my parents.

So until my parents pass away, which is hopefully far into the future, I won't be thinking about moving too much. Or at least, not until I see the next housing complex ad in my area.

Browsing

I was on Facebook today and I happened to see some ad on some new houses in my area. I rarely click on the ads, but this one seemed interesting as it is only about 5 minutes from my current residence. I LOVED the downstairs floorplan. But I'm not sure how I'm going to eeek out $35,000 to finish it right now. But having a plan is the start. From there, my husband and I can build it slowly. It won't cost as much considering we'll be doing it ourselves.

But soon as I browse one house ad, I tend to other ones too. I saw one for Outer Banks foreclosures. Sweet waterfront properties and cheap. There was even one that was right on the beach...and they had a stable for the horses...so you could ride the horses on the beach on any given day. Wow. What a luxury. Seems like a movie if you ask me.

But back to reality. I'm not looking to move, at least not yet. I hate the process and honestly, I'm a pack rat. I'm not sure where I could find that many boxes if I needed to move.

Perfection

It doesn't exist. So, I don't know what it is about moms and their obsessions to get it perfect. And no Mrs. C.M., I'm not talking about you (read your blog...hee hee).

But honestly, we moms are amazing as is. We carry and nurture our child as they are growing within us. We nurture them for 9 months or some weird number of weeks. We give birth to these beings and protect them every step of the way. We try to make sure we teach you properly, to get you in the right classes, to help you grow into a contributing member of society.

All the while, we make sure that there is food in the house, cook everyday, clean, laundry, work, ensure all the special occassions are taken care of, everybody's needs are taken care of, and if we have time, try to take care of ourselves. I'm sure moms around could add tons more stuff to this list of everyday things that they do. But that's the thing. We do a TON in a day and yet we get mad at ourselves for not being able to do more and comparing ourselves to what we think is a perfect mom.

It really doesn't exist. So stop beating yourselves up mom. If your house is messy, like mine, then take it in stride. Nobody likes their house dirty...but you know what? Everybody is healthy, the major things are taken care of and the mess will still be there tomorrow. I promise.

Your family already thinks your close to perfection...shouldn't that be good enough?

Beat Boxing

I love people who can do the whole beat boxing thing. How fun is that?! At least they sound and look cool doing it. I sometimes air drum, but taiko style. Lame, I know. But I love my drumming...but you look like a crazy person that's ready to beat on someone if they don't know what you're doing.

I share a recent beat boxing video that I was quite impressed with:

Website

Ok, this is seriously one of my new favourite photos. Everytime I look at these photos, I think of some of the BAD family ones I have. But I would never upload them!!!

Oh, these poor souls who will now be forever on this website. I dare you not to laugh. And honestly, the further in you go, the funnier the photos.

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/

Bridge

On Sunday, I got a chance to walk over the new Golden Ears Bridge. If I understand correctly, this could cut 15-20 minutes of my commute time when heading over to Pitt Meadows. Not bad at all. Should be worth the toll.

I must admit that I wasn't really wanting to go. But my husband made a good point. It's been a very long time since anything large project like this has been completed and it should be worth celebrating. True, true.

Let's just say that I'm thankful that I brought the double stroller. Yes, I'm sure people mocked us for having "older" kids in one. But considering the walk, the heat and the actual distance, I couldn't care what people thought. While they had their children crying and screaming, mine were under their little stroller shade, eating snacks and enjoying the scenery.

And I must admit, it was quite cool. The cameras that capture your license plate/trasponder remind me so much of Singapore. The lanes were wide unlike the Lions Gate. And it's like a mini Alex Fraser. Cool.

After bridge visiting, it was off to the in-laws for a bbq to celebrate father's day early with 3 fathers and to also celebrate 2 birthdays. Yep. June is a busy month. Good food, good fun. Went by too quickly, and just like that, Monday is here.....

Praise the Lord

I recently bought tickets to my favourite Christian Pop singer...Michael W. Smith. I'm going with one of my kid's daycare providers. I swear I know about 95% of this guy's music and I'm not shy about it. Yeah, my husband can attest to this.

But everytime I tell my co-workers, there's a mixture of laughter, comments on me being a goof, and those cheering me on. That's because I'm not religious. What I mean is, I don't pray to a god of any sort. People find it odd that I would go to a Christian Pop concert when I don't believe in "the" big guy.

And sure enough, someone questioned me on this. I don't know if this was pure curiousity or if they were miffed that a non-believer would go to something like this.

I explained a couple of things to this person. First of all, music transcends all cultures. Like food, music is a constant and present in every culture around the world. And if it sounds good, then why shouldn't I listen to it?

Secondly, just because I don't believe in the big guy himself (and I have no issues with others believing in him), it doesn't mean that I don't believe that there is something greater out there than what I know. I'm merely human and there are times that I think that there must be something bigger. But what that is, or who that is...I'm not sure. But because I don't believe in the guy...that precludes me from going to a concert?

Thirdly, I try to live a good and honest life. That means no stealing, treating people with respect, loving my family, etc. You get the drift. All religions in some form or fashion ask for these types of things. Does this make me any less worthy to go see a pop star?

And the words in these songs can be understood in so many ways. For example, one of my favourite songs is Never Been Unloved. The word god is never mentioned. It's basically about a person who has never felt unloved because he's always been surrounded by love since the day he was born. You can see that as having a strong family, strong community...just so much love around him. How can this be bad? So maybe I see the words differently....

Perhaps what people have an issue is that I don't have faith. But that's not entirely true. Faith is defined a number of ways...mainly having confidence and trust in a person or thing without proof. I have faith in my family, faith that my friends are there for me, faith that if you work hard, you will be recognized, faith that mankind can be good and that faith comes in many forms. And how is faith in other things any less important than having faith in a deity?

I don't think person liked my answer, but I didn't really care. I don't question their faith because it's theirs. And I don't get pissed with them because they go to certain pop concerts. So, I will merrily go to my Christian Pop concert in July and not apologize for one moment.

Oh yeah Miss N, you know what I'm doing...pounding my chest with my one fist and waving it...I'll be thinking of you when he sings Friends that night.

Pills

I must be up at odd hours of the day because I tend to see a ton of infomercials. It's as if I have the 24 hour channel for it. But I've noticed a trend (how lame am I to notice a trend in informercials...). The trend is no longer about any type of diet pill but more on the internal flush pills. I honestly don't know the difference, but I assume that they do similar things. But maybe the flush one really just cleanses the inside of you and the diet one helps you feel full?

I probably wouldn't be so damn fat if junk food didn't taste so good. I've always been a proponent of having a junk tax because if they slap on a tax and it makes a dent in my budget, I won't buy it...no matter how good it tastes. My girlfriend's sister is actually in law school and looking at this right now. If I understand correctly, they are actually hoping to slap this tax on by this fall.

I wonder if my thinking will be the same for many others where they will buy less junk food when that tax comes. Until then, I wait for the next trend in infomercials.

Music

When I was younger, one of the highlights of my weekend was to head downtown...specifically to Ward music to get new sheet music. Ahhh...nothing like paying $4.95 for a song you really wanted to play on piano.

Of course, when you're a teen and spend endless time at a music store, they think you're stealing stuff. So I basically had to know what I was wanting before I stepped into the store. But being able to take new music home was so awesome!

Of course, fast forward about 20 years and everything of course is on the internet...including piano sheet music. I love being able to browse for hours and no one is getting upset with me. I love it when you go to the sites where you can hear someone playing the actual music. I remember being disappointed a number of times when I would get home and the music sheet was awful because the piano part was tottally lame.

And I love that I can just look and get an idea if I'll be able to play it. If not, next sheet of music to look at. And the beauty of doing it this way is that no one can get mad at me for making creases on the paper.

I'm thinking a little Ginny Owens sheet music for me.....

Work

Twice a year, I proctor exams. It sounds like I'm a proctologist, but believe me, I'm not. I just need to set exams up, monitor people, and ensure that the collection of everything is done by the code.

But to me, the people are more interesting. The people that take these exams basically want to be financial folks. Some standard that I really don't care about. But basically, you get it, and you can invest people or company's money.

Some folks look like they belong. And some, well, just look like they couldn't give a damn. If I had to pay $600 for an exam, I'd give it some care and thought.

And what's more interesting to me is people's superstitions when they go in or habitual things that they bring. Some brought lucky pennies, some made sure the stickers that their kids gave them were on their calculators, others preferred specific sharpeners, specific hair bands, and my favourite, someone with their specific jeans that they wore last year that had fake candies all over them. Hey, harmless stuff and it gives you an extra boost of confidence, why not?

Of course, others had rituals that I couldn't care for while writing the exam. I swear, this one guy would pick his nose every 5 minutes. I specifically watched the clock because I thought it was a fluke at first. Nope. That was his nervous ritual. Another guy, I thought was cheating, but he kept rubbing this rock or hunk of kleenex every 5 seconds. It was like a nervous twitch. It just kept catching my eyes, so it was actually bothering me.

But this time around, no cheaters. And that's good. It makes for much too much paperwork.

Competitiveness

I think competitiveness is a good thing. It pushes us to be better at whatever it is. But just like anything else, there's a limit. Case and point, a dad at my youngest kid's daycare.

For a while I've seen this dad drop off his kid in the morning. And for a while, it was the usual, "hello, good morning." Fine by me. But then one morning, he started to tell me that the only way he can get his kid up in the morning is to tell him that he wants to beat my kid to school. Ok, that's fine.

But when I see the dad in the morning and he is there before me, he'll say things like, "oh, we beat you today. Guess you guys couldn't get up quickly enough." Ummm. I'm at the office at 7. I can drop in whenever.

But what really pissed me off is when we got there to the parking lot at the same time. I tried to make it light because I honestly couldn't care less who got there first. I said to the son, not even the dad...but the son and said, "Hey, we both made it at the same time! Great!" And the dad says, "Yes, but we'll get inside before you so we beat you."

Ummm. Doesn't that seem juvenile?! Slightly? And it's from there that I really understood why I didn't take to his son. His son shows the same traits as his dad.

I guess the apple really doesn't fall far from the tree...but I don't have to like it.