sitting out on my deck...

being a total geek before my guest get here...I have been listening to my iPod and txting my friend Laura on my cell...after I spent the majority of the day cleaning and laundry and cooking and stuff.....do you like stuff? I like stuff!

Here is a picture of Jethro with the 'stuff' he caught...a grasshopper...yuck!


ok so our friend rick and colette are coming for dinner...billy has the van stuck in the lake trying to take the boat out...i might post pictures later...

company is here..ttyl dudes....

Just another day in paradise :)

I took a picture of the board announcing my QA score...there are few things that I can do well in life...one is to tan and the other is to talk. This is proof that I can talk well?

Billy took me pickrel fishing tonight and while grabbing our tackle boxes out of the shed, I noticed another one of my sunflowers had bloomed. A faint reminder of the summer we never had...

So although we didnt catch anything, it was nice to just troll back and forth and enjoy the peace and quiet!

Tomorrow is FRYday...I have to work till 5:15 and then Im off till Monday...whoo hooo :) And of course, its going to rain. Looks like the boat will be taken out of the water this weekend as the water is dropping constantly as is the temperature.

Hump Day is over with

Oh man...Im working Friday this week so my Wednesday was really a Wednesday. I had a feeling it was going to be a bad day when I got a call at 8:00 am that ended after 9am. When your allowed 4 mins and 30 seconds for a call...this guy killed my stats for the day. Enuff of work stuff...

So I guess I should find some pictures from the summer to post here...as I have only posted on facebook (crackbook) and people dont really look at pictures on there.

This picture was taken at our friends Sue and Johns house on labour day weekend. We love playing with their dog Molly :0 She is so well behaved. Here is a picture of her jumping off their dock to catch the ball!



And here is a picture I took from their boat that same weekend. Our boat was being repaired so Sue & John were kind enough to take us out in their boat:)



Thats enough for now. Cant wait for the weekend to get here!!

It WAS my lucky day!!!

So I get up at 2:20am thinking about things I needed to do today at work. It was impossible to shut my brain off. As well I was excited about attending the Kick Off Breakfast for the United Way at The Ambassador at 7am too:) While getting ready to leave, I noticed that it wasnt a commerant, duck or goose sitting on the mooring ball, it was our local Blue Heron, who I call Mork:)

The early morning event was a blast...I took a few pictures and almost cried when they played the campaign video as I know the artist (Emily Fennel) as well as the music producer. (Chris Koster) Here is a picture of some of the people at our table:

Our boss, Kathy Burke is this years campaign chairman, and I have been honoured by being chosen for the United Way Executive Committee at work this year. Here is a picture of our 'boss' Kathy giving her speech this morning:

Members of our local media were on hand to deliver this years campaign goal:

After returning from work, I was told a few hours later that I name was in the local online office publication as I had won a $50 prize for a suggestion that I submitted last week. SWEET!
An hour after that, they posted the 5 people who attained 97% or higher on their monthly QA scores...I was one! As I was in a 2 hr training session, a co-worker met me in the hallway and informed me that I had just won a GOLD award for sitting on another committee that had to with reducing our total call time by simplifying our IVR when our customers call in! The award is in the amount of $75 :)
I neglected to mention the fact that we saw the results of an accident right outside our office this afternoon too. This was on the corner of Fortune Cresent and Gardiners Road. Unfortunately none of the newspapers are interested in publishing it, so I will keep it to myself:)

Another lucky thing happened to me today ... I won a ticket for this years United Way Fare for Friends Garden Party this Sunday (my scheduled day to work) however I was fortunate enough to find a co-worker who would switch shift with me so I have Sunday off this year!!! (Thanks Kim...your awesome!!!!)

All in all, this one of the best days I have had in quite some time:) It made me blog again...a natural form of therapy so says my friend Snoshi:)

This is very odd

I did create two new posts and now they have taken a flight to the land of cyber space. I viewed them last night however they have vanished this morning.

Today is a holiday but I am at work...the pool was open so I went swimnming. The sun is out and I am inside.

But Spring is coming...this I am sure of!!

Post number two of 2008

This morning (the only day I had to sleep in) started at 630am. The sun is starting to come up earlier and earlier every morning; Im confident we WILL have an early Spring:)

We went to the Legion for breakfast this morning with our friends Rick and Colette. Our days plan was to travel to Brockville to visit some friends however there is 2 large storms on their way and we dont want to experience 6 hrs of freezing rain while we are travelling:( So we cancelled the trip.

Im trying to remember how to post pictures on here...lets try an experiment :



That is my pal Jethro with a swiffer-thingy around his head. Bill did this while I was at work one day. Then he had balls enough to take the picture too:)

Billy is out playing on his 4 wheeler...last I saw him was out on the ice. What a kid he is:)

Welcome back to me

I believe I should use this place again...it may actually keep me off crackbook!!!

Today was spent viewing through a few of my posts and I realized how much I miss blogging. Maybe I can even post a few pictures up here instead of facebook.

So many things have changed since I posted last April...new house...new job...sigh Where do I begin?

One day last May, we saw that our favourite little house (the one we always secretly wanted to buy) was up for sale in the village and the first open house was the next day. Of course we went, of course we loved what we saw and of course we bought! From the time we looked at the place to the time we moved was less than 6 weeks...this included PREPARING (as that was a f***ing job in itself) our old house to be placed on the market. (I had three days notice and we had to paint, clean, de-clutter and stage the place and have it presentable for an open house)It is amazing which friends show up to help when needed. (sidenote: I probably lost my job because I had 3 vacation days left to use before July & used them to prep the house - the managedment was not happy and held it against me when it was time to decide who to cut out of the department - water under the bridge tho)

So we sold our house to a girl who I used help my friend Linda Poudrier babysit when we were young teens. She (Stephanie) has three boys and certainly could use the room that our old house had. It was way too big for Mr c and I, thats for sure. So we had a full summer here on the water and loved every minute of it. Billy built me a huge deck in the front of the house and I spent my 2 week holiday there at the end of july and beginning of August. Then I went back to work for a few weeks and the company I worked for decided to downsize my department & I drew the short straw. They demoted me from a Quality Assurance Specialist to an agent taking calls for bell Canada and being forced to sell Long Distance Plans, Satellite Dishes and High Speed Internet packages. I managed to do that for a month then had to leave. I left that exact job when Startek opened in July 2001. A job was advertised at Assurant Solutions, another call center in the city, so I applied and was hired. It took me three hours to say goodbye to some old friends at Startek on the day I went back to 'quit'...I cried all the way home, not because I would miss my job, but because I would miss all those great people I had spent many hours with at that building. Even though it was only an employer housed in that building, I had many memories of the people there who touched my life. We all went through 911 together, as well as deaths births and marriages. Enough of that...its a chapter of my life that is now closed.

Ok time for dinner, I need to carry on tomorrow maybe. Thank for reading my blog.

Hockey has me by the arse!

Yes it happens, you walk the walk, you talk the talk and eventually you turn into the people you work or live with. I dont think I was this dedicated to any sport like I am to hockey! Watching the habs loose to Toronto last night was a turning point in my Sports-Loving Career. Now as I type this, the New jersey Devils JUST tied a pivotal game with the New York Islanders with ONE FREAKIN SECOND left in the game!!!! How bizarre is that?? They are still arguing over it but now its down to a 5 minute game to decide if the Leafs will get 8th spot or it goes to the Islanders.

The five minute game came and went with no decision so it came to the shootout and the Islanders won. Oh well...Toronto can start golfing early.

This past weekend was spent getting over a bad cold so I really was too miserable to go anywhere till today. (Sunday) My cousin Wendy invited us over for an early afternoon easter dinner so at least I got to go somewhere in the past three days:)

Tomorrow starts another work week and I hope really hope it goes fast. Those of you who work with me know why...I wont bore the rest of you with the details.

Seeing as this is a photoblog...I better post the latest pictures that my camera has taken. So we had a visitor at work last week and we had to get dressed up (again), so the photo opportunity was there. How I got wedged in the back between my manager and my supervisor, i will never know:


And of course I had to ham it up for the photographer:



Due to the fact that we managed to get more snow for Easter than we did for Christmas, I have a feeling that Spring will be here soon.

The end of March

Can you believe it? Im giddy just thinking about the upcoming boating/summer season...especially when I see the melting ice in the big lake! It's hard to grasp the concept that I have watched the ice slide out of the north channel 47 times now!

After spending 6 hours shopping on Saturday, just in the attempt to find something 'dress-up' for work today, it turns out that our special guest that was to arrive at our call center this morning, backed out! Guess I will have to go shopping again soon:) But I must say, for someone who hates to shop, I had a great time with my friend Louise on Saturday.

So I thought we had better take a picture of myself and my 'boys' today while we were all dolled up:

Wish I could get rid of that double chin faster....

Coronation Street is on so I must run!

Im back

And I have absolutely no excuse for not posting in almost 3 months except for the fact that I have been busy with work and the radio station trying to keep a clean house. Oh, and adhering to a new eating plan. So far this year I have lost 30lbs and Billy has 31lbs off. He is doing Atkins (modified) and I started Weight Watchers on January 27th, after giving up on Atkins as it was making me feel shaky without any sugar.

Instead of going backwards in time, I will move forward with this blog. There are many 'before' pictures of the two of us in the archives so you may notice the difference in the two of us. This picture was taken by my friend Colette at the Legion a few weeks ago as we enjoyed the Sunday morning breakfast.




My radio show on Amherst Island has become the highlight of my week. I have a group of friends who have no fear of being on the air with me. They are all kind enough to bring some different kinds of tunes with them as well as their sense of humour. Last night my buddy Weezie and her husband Mike came over and I swear we just laughed for three hours straight. Here is a picture of Louise and I playing 'air-fiddle/violin'!



and a semi-normal picture of Louise and I:


and Mike and Louise:


and Mike and I:


Tonight is a big night in my house ... the stinkin' habs are playing the Leafs so it will no doubt be a loud evening.

So here's to those who actually read this blog and commented that they 'missed' it.