Leap Day Post!

Well since this date only comes around once every 4 years, I thought I should register a post on this date ;)

I am looking forward to the weekend, as always I suppose. Since I’m so busy at work these days, I am definitely going to appreciate the break for 2 days! We don’t have many plans for the weekend. Have some running around to do, cleaning, and some visiting. We’re going to go visit Oma tomorrow since she’s back from Florida now.

So tomorrow is officially March. And I am so glad that February will be done with; it’s been a bad month! I have a feeling the next few months will be awesome to make up for the less than stellar February ;)

A few people have noticed I’ve lost weight, which makes me happy. I have only lost 5 pounds so far, but even I have noticed that is has made a big difference in how my clothes fit and how I feel. I will keep at it this weekend and make it 6 weeks in a row that I will have been on plan! Now that I have a ‘streak’ going, it makes me more motivated to not give up.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Various things

Yup, Canada Post lost the questionnaire. Oh well, at least I called and wasn’t just waiting endlessly! They are going to send him another questionnaire to fill out. I asked if they could send it by fax to save time, but I’m not sure if they will , they may prefer to mail it. We’ll see. Even if they mail it, hopefully it won’t take too long. I am getting quite anxious now since it’s been almost 2 months since I sent in my application. Although I knew it would likely take 2-3 months before I heard back. I just have to be patient ;)

At my weigh-in last night, I gained 0.5 pounds. Which really isn’t much. I had a big loss last week, so I wasn’t expecting to lose again this week. It seems like my weight loss goes in spurts where I have been alternating between weeks of loss and gain, but my losses are always bigger than my gains, so that’s good. And mom and I have decided that we’re going to measure success by whether we’ve stayed on program because that is something we can control. It seems like the number on the scale doesn’t always match up with our efforts. So as long as we stay on program, sooner or later we’ll lose weight. As an aside, mom lost 2.5 last night, and she was on vacation last week – amazing! She got her 2nd 5 pound star and has lost a total of 10.5 pounds in 5 weeks. Atta girl! She’s doing amazing! I’m proud of both of us actually, we have both been successful so far.

So Oma gets home today. I don’t know why she wanted to cut her vacation short, I guess she missed us. We’ll make sure we go to visit her on the weekend.

CT and I have our 6-month anniversary coming up next Saturday (the 8th). I can’t believe it will be 6 months already! It doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was getting ready to walk down the aisle. Time flies for sure! I think we’re going to go out on a date on the 8th to celebrate. Maybe we’ll go back to the pub we went to on our first date and the night he proposed. I’ll see if my hubby has any ideas.

Stupid Canada Post

Yesterday, I decided to call PEO just to check the status of my application. I know my 3 referees had received their questionnaires, filled them in, and sent them back. So, I have been checking the mail every day for the last week or so thinking that I could be receiving my P.Eng. any day now. So, I decided to call them just to see whether I could be expecting it soon or whether it would still be awhile.

Turns out, they are still waiting for one of my referees and I know that his questionnaire was mailed back on Feb. 8th. That was over 2 weeks ago, so they should have received it by now! So, it was either lost by Canada Post or PEO received it and it somehow did not make it into my file yet. I’m hoping it’s the latter. Otherwise, they will have to mail him another one and he’ll have to fill it out again and mail it back (since he didn’t take a copy of his completed questionnaire before mailing it back), which could take another couple of weeks. So, at this rate, I won’t likely hear back about whether I got my P.Eng. until mid-to late March at the earliest. Which is fine. I’ve been waiting for years to get my P.Eng., what’s another few weeks? It’s just annoying because I could have it already if that wasn’t lost in the mail!

I’m just really glad I called because I don’t know how long they would have waited for this before contacting me. Sheesh!

Okay, this is strange

The date of Saturday’s car accident: February 23, 2008.

I was a passenger in another fender-bender last year. Can you guess the date? February 23, 2007 (I knew it was in February, so I looked back in my day planner and sure enough, the 23rd).

And, to make it even stranger… they were at the exact same intersection! Needless to say, I will be not going anywhere near that intersection on February 23rd next year!

My finger is healing well

I just got back from my second appointment about my finger. He took the splint off and had me bend a bit, and said everything looks like it’s healing well. I still have to wear the splint 99% of the time, but I can start taking it off a couple minutes a day to start bending my finger a bit as long as it doesn’t hurt to do so. It if hurts, splint goes back on and I try again in a few days. I go back to see him again in a month and hopefully at that point, I won’t have to wear the splint anymore.

Oma is coming home from Florida early, she was supposed to come back on Sunday, but she’s coming back on Thursday instead. It will be good to have her back. I’ll make sure to go visit her on the weekend.

Tonight I’m going to visit family friends (my ex’s parents) to do some hair colouring, which should be interesting with a broken finger, but I’ll manage. They just got back from visiting their new grandson, so I’m sure they will have tons of pictures to show me. Needless to say, CT decided to skip this one since he doesn’t really want to sit through all the pictures and hearing all about my ex’s new son. I don’t blame him one bit. My mom is coming with me instead since she hasn’t seen them since my wedding.

CT is taking his car in this morning to get an estimate on the damage. The insurance company may pay for a rental car for him to drive while his car is being repaired if it’s going to take awhile. We should know more today.

Is February over yet?

Warning: complaining ahead!

It seems as though this has been a very bad month. I broke my finger (I guess that was actually in January), my family went on vacation without me (the reason I am upset about this goes much deeper), my hubby fell down the front steps when it was icy, hubby has had a cold (and a sore neck, not sure if it was from all the sneezing or his tumble), and then Saturday we got in a fender bender. Sheesh; what a month!

The accident was a minor one, thank goodness. We had our nephew in the car, CT’s car. It was just one of those things, totally not our fault. We were driving down a road with 4 lanes (2 in each direction). We were in the right lane, but the car in front of us was turning right into a gas station, so we went in the left lane to get around them. There was a car pulling out of the gas station turning left, they saw the car ahead of use turning right, so they figured they could go. Turned right in front of us, CT slammed on the brakes, but we just couldn’t stop in time, so we hit them. There was oncoming traffic, so we couldn’t really swerve into that lane, that could have been much worse. Not a whole lot of damage to our car, just took out the headlight and dented the bumper a bit. The car we hit wouldn’t even run though, some pulley was broken, so they needed to be towed. There were 3 people in the other car, all of them smoking. So, no wonder the guy didn’t see us, it was probably all smoky in their car! Sheesh! At least he admitted that it was his fault, so our insurance shouldn’t be affected. CT is going to the collision reporting centre this morning to report it. Just the last thing we needed after a crappy few weeks. But, we’re glad nobody was hurt.

My family arrived home from Florida last night, so I’m glad they’re back safely. I am really upset with them though. Since my Oma has been gone for 6 weeks, I offered to look after her finances and pay bills while she’s away. Well, I got her credit card bill and was shocked to find out she spent over $2,500 on my mom and 2 brothers in the week after Christmas buying them stuff. Now, normally, I would say it’s her money and she can do what she wants, but she had totally forgotten she had spent this money and of course didn’t have the money in her account to cover it. She simply does not have the mental capacity to make financial decisions anymore. It’s quite sad. That’s why I told my mom to make sure Oma doesn’t pay for too much while they’re down there visiting. I wanted my family to pay for some things. Well, my mom is totally broke and has been on the verge of bankruptcy for many years, so of course Oma paid for everything while they were there; all meals and excursions. This makes me really upset because I feel like they are all a bunch of leeches just totally sucking Oma dry when she is so vulnerable. And my brothers totally don’t deserve it since they aren’t even nice to Oma 95% of the time. Their house is attached to Oma’s and they refuse to visit her; I visit her WAY more than they do. The only reason they go to visit her is if she feeds them (since my mom doesn’t cook). And they get rewarded for their poor behavior? Makes me sick.

Okay, so this has totally been a rant-fest, but it feels good to get that off my chest. I don’t know if telling Oma how I feel would make any difference; I doubt it. I just feel like the people who don’t deserve it are getting rewarded while those of us who actually make an effort to have a relationship with her (my dad, me, CT) get nothing. And I am totally not looking for her to buy me things, that’s not what I want at all. I just want my mom and brothers to stop acting like such mooches and getting Oma to buy them all these things when Oma is losing her mind. It’s a sad situation all around. I just feel like I need to stick up for Oma because somebody has to.

Complaining finished.

Okay, onto happy things. It’s almost March which means I only have a few more weeks of report writing madness. Can’t wait ‘til April.

I am so proud of myself!

I realized at 4:40pm yesterday that I had forgotten my WW membership book at home (and it is needed to weigh in). I usually keep it in my purse all the time, but I cleaned out my purse on Saturday so I would lighten the load for carrying around the Science Centre. So that was one of the things I took out, but I didn’t realize it until yesterday. It would have been so easy to just say screw it and skip the meeting. But, I left work as soon as I realized this, rushed home to get my membership book, and got to WW just before the meeting.

And I am ever glad I went because I lost 2.5 pounds this week, bringing my total weight loss to 5 pounds! Which means I got my first 5 pound star! I am so proud of myself! I thought I would be down this week since I gained a bit last week, but I didn’t think it would be that much! I have lost 5 pounds in 4 weeks and I am so pleased!!! This finally seems to be working. And now that I am seeing success, that motivates me to keep going.

Haha, I had to laugh at myself!

I just went to the washroom and realized I had my undies on backwards. Haha. How did I not notice that?

The meeting last night went very well. Lots of people showed up, which is great. Lots of NIMBYs, which we expected. I got home around 1:00am, and I got to work this morning at 11am. So, short day today for me! I think I’m going to stay until 6pm tonight since WW doesn’t open until 6 anyways. I think I’m going to skip the meeting *gasp* because I have barely seen my hubby in the last few days and want to get home to him. Next week my mom will be back and we’ll continue going to the meetings together. I think I did really well this week, so I should see a loss tonight! I have to keep in mind that last week I gained 1 pound, so I am hoping to see a loss tonight of at least 1 pound. I will update tomorrow with my results.

It’s already Thursday – yay! CT and I are looking after our nephew for Saturday since his parents are on a cruise. He is staying with CT’s parents, so we’re going to give them a break and take him for the day on Saturday. Should be fun!

EDIT 1:09pm

I just checked the WW website, and the meeting tonight is at 5:15pm (for some reason it's at a different time on Thursdays). So, I am going to go right after work (so much for staying late tonight) and I will stay for the meeting and I can still get home by 6:30pm to spend the evening with my hubby.

What's with all the colds going around?

I had a great weekend. Until yesterday when my hubby got sick : ( Poor guy. I think it’s just a cold, but he was up half the night sneezing which also kept me up. I have never seen someone sneeze so frequently; it was strange. Finally, at about 3:00am, he left and went to the guest room so that at least I could get some sleep. This morning, he did not look so good, and he said he felt nauseous, so he decided not to go to work. He has not been very busy at work lately anyways, so it’s no problem for him to stay home. Poor guy! I hope I don’t catch whatever he has because I can’t take any time off work right now.

Tomorrow evening, I have a meeting to attend for work which is about 3 hours away. So, I likely won’t be home until between midnight and 1am. Which means I can go to work a little late on Thursday morning. I should still have lots of overtime hours though, which is always nice! I am thinking about taking a week off work in May just because. We’re not planning on going anywhere, just a week off to relax and maybe do some more work on the house. I’ve never taken time off just to hang out and not go anywhere, so that should be fun.

My family is safely in Florida now. Apparently, on their drive down, they were driving through a tornado watch area and they just missed a bunch of toronados! Scary! They also said they saw the most violent thunder storm ever and wind like they had never seen before. But, they made it to Florida safe and sound and said the weather is gorgeous there. I’m glad they’re having a good time, but of course I wish I was there with them! Stupid work got in the way, but such is life.

I’m a baby

Next week, my mom, 2 brothers, and brother al’s girlfriend are going to Florida. And I couldn’t be more jealous. I was invited to go too, but I have an important meeting to go to on Wednesday, so I can’t get time off work (well, I didn’t ask, but considering I am essential to this meeting, I already know what the answer would be). Nuts. Not to mention I have way too much work to do, getting time off in February or March would be nearly impossible for me due to the deadlines on our landfill reports (March 31st). Oma is in Florida since she rented a condo for 6 weeks, so the 4 of them are driving down to spend a week with her. So, maybe CT and I will have to plan a road trip for sometime this year. We are going to go to Niagara Falls for a weekend for our 1st anniversary. And one of our wedding presents was a night in a local B&B, so I think we’ll use that for a weekend getaway in April. I think that will likely be all we can afford for this year. That’s why I’m so darn disappointed about Florida since the trip wouldn’t have cost me much since they’re driving down and staying in Oma’s condo while down there. Oh well, such is life. I just have to get used to the idea that they are going on a family vacation and taking my brother's gf instead of me. Dad isn't going either since he doesn't have a passport. I'm just being a baby because I am jealous.

Speaking of babies, in the last week, CT and I have found out that 4 of our friends are recently expecting. There must be something in the water ;)

Tonight is ladies night!

My mom, my two brothers' girlfriends, and I are going out for dinner and then to see 27 Dresses tonight. We have been trying to plan this for awhile and tonight was the first night we could find when we are all free. So, it should be fun! I’ve already calculated the points value for what I want for supper, and it means using 4 of my 10 remaining flex points. I’m saving my last 6 flex points for tomorrow and then thank goodness they reset on Thursday!

As long as I stay within my plan, I won’t go over on points this week. Which is amazing considering all the eating out lately! I hope the scale isn’t too cruel tomorrow. I’m on TOM and sometimes that totally affects what the scale says. But, I’m going to try not to concentrate on the number this week. I know I stayed on plan and that should be considered a success. If I see a little blip in the scale, I’m sure I will be back down next week. This is a long process, after all.

I’m back!

I am back from my course. The course was over around 4:30pm on Friday, so I decided to go shopping for a bit before heading home to try to avoid some of the traffic. I went to MAC and bought myself some new makeup and I love it! I bought a face primer (to reduce the appearance of large pores), a foundation, and a bronzer. I decided to just start with that stuff and see how I like it. And so far, so good! The thing I love about the foundation is it’s nice a light (doesn’t feel like I’m wearing makeup), but it still has good coverage. And with the primer, the foundation lasts all day. Very nice. I think I may have to go back sometime and venture into their eye shadows or something.

The course was fabulous. A lot to take in, but I definitely learned a lot! The people were really nice. There were 10 of us total, and I was surprised just how far people came from. 3 people had flown in for the course (2 from the states and 1 from Halifax). The other people were from Ontario, the closest being Milton. We all got along really well, we even went out for Indian food together on the last day. Turns out the instructor is a UW geo eng grad, she graduated in 99, so we just missed each other.

This weekend, I was a lazy bum. My in-laws were supposed to come over, but they cancelled because they were sick. So, I spent the day relaxing instead.

So now it’s back in the office for me. I enjoyed my break and now it’s back to being busy busy busy. As usual, I can’t wait until April rolls around! Looking forward to the long weekend this weekend – yay!

Bah!

Since it seems that all posts of the day have that title, I thought I would follow suit ;)

I am having a great time at the course and I'm learning lots. I can't believe there's only 2 days left! I do miss my hubby though, so I wouldn't want the course to be any longer.

I have been doing really well in terms of staying on WW while I'm away. Today is the end of my week (my WW week runs Thurs to Wed), so my flex points reset tomorrow. I did end up going over my flex points this week by 2, but considering I'm eating out for all meals while I'm away, I thought that was pretty darn good!

The weather here is crazy today! It is a downright blizzard right now, I'm glad I'm all cozy in my hotel bed right now. Could be a messy commute tomorrow morning, so take care everyone!

Another successful week on the scale!

I just got back from my WW weigh-in and I lost 2 pounds! I am so happy with myself! Of course, this time I weighed in at lunch, whereas I usually weigh-in in the evening, but I’ll take it! So far, I have lost 3.5 pounds. I am getting close to my first 5-pound star!

I had a good weekend. Didn’t really do too much, just cleaned up a bit and of course, watched the Leafs beat the Sens on Saturday night and watched the Superbowl last night. Before the game started, I decided to cheer for the Giants since between the 2 teams, they were the underdogs. The last quarter was quite exciting!

So, my MIL and FIL are coming up on Saturday since my MIL wants to help me clean and she is also going to provide lunch for us as well as my parents. I decided to just let her since she really wants to help us out. And we could definitely use the help since I’m limited with the use of my finger and my hubby has been quite busy with work lately. I think it will be fun to get our parents together again, that is always a good time.

I am off to Waterloo this evening after work since my course starts tomorrow. I am looking forward to the break from the office. The hotel is supposed to have internet access, so I will still be able to keep on top of my work. So it will be a busy few days, but I think it will be fun.

As an interesing tidbit, CT and I have been together for exactly 2 years today. Wow, so much has changed in the last 2 years! We got engaged after dating for 9 months, married 10 months later, and have been married for 5 months now. Time flies!

Bathroom photos

So the bathroom isn't quite complete, but I thought I would post some photos anyway. The only things left are to put on the baseboards, paint the window frame and door, and install the closet. Other than that, all done! And I love it! It will probably be completely done when I get home from Waterloo next weekend.

Our lovely vanity with marble top, which is 5 feet wide.

A view of the built-in shelf. That was totally my hubby's project. His idea, he built it. Looks great! It will eventually have a divider in it to make half of it 2 shelves.

Our new one-piece toilet.


A look at the mirror and vanity light. Where CT is standing is where the closet is going to be.

Crazy weather, eh?

I’m just glad it’s Friday! I am looking forward to the weekend because for the first weekend in ages, we don’t have many plans. We have a couple more small items to get for the bathroom (accessories), but other than that, I think the bathroom reno should be pretty much done. Except we still need to paint the window fame and door, but that can wait for a bit. So we can start moving everything back into the bathroom and get our house in a more organized state; it’s been an absolute mess for the last month. I think the men were going to build a closet for the corner in the bathroom today for our towels, linens, extra toiletries, etc. since we don’t have a closet for that kind of stuff.

My mother-in-law offered to come and clean my house (she cleans houses and offices as her job). Which is very sweet. She knows we’ve been really busy with the bathroom reno and of course, now I have a broken finger so cleaning has become more difficult. I know I should just accept her help, but somehow it makes me feel like a bad wife if my MIL comes in and cleans my house. But I obviously need the help. CT has been really good with picking up the slack, but he’s been really stressed with work lately, so the house has been taking the back burner. I wish my finger would hurry up and heal already!