TGIF

What a foggy, rainy day out there. Gross.

So glad it’s Friday! I’ve been really tired this week, I don’t really know why, I have been getting the same amount of sleep I get in any other week. And I’ve been really hungry lately, not a good combination. I only have 20 flex points left to get me through until Monday. Yikes! I have a feeling my Monday weigh-in isn’t going to go so well. Nuts. I’ll try to get as much exercise as I can in on the weekend, which will help.

Tomorrow, CT and I are going to look for wedding bands. We’re going to go to the same place he got my engagement ring (Spence Diamonds) and see what their price is for a platinum wedding band. I found one that I like on BlueNile.ca, so I will use that as a price comparison. I have a feeling BlueNile will be cheaper, so we may get it from there. I have heard good things about that website, I have a friend whose engagement and wedding rings are from there. If CT doesn’t find anything that he likes better than the one he already has picked out, then we’re going to stop in Oshawa and order the one he picked out a few months ago. That’s the one he wants, so at least one of us has already decided ;) I hope that my the end of the weekend, we will have both our wedding rings ordered.

We’re also working on the father/daughter and mother/son dance thing. I think we decided to have that as one dance. My dad is not much of a dancer, so I think that would be much less stressful if the 4 of us are dancing instead of just 2. So, now we just have to find a song. I have a few ideas, so we’ll have to listen to them and hopefully one will jump out at us.

Oh, and I got my bonus today! Which is great! The only sucky part is the stupid government took 48% of it away in taxes. That’s ridiculous!!!!

Free lunch!

Today is Administrative Professionals Day, and since the 3 managers of my company are out of the office today, I am next time line; therefore, I get to take our Admin Assistant out for lunch. I’ve known her for years, long before she started working here. I’m sure we’ll have a great time. And of course I’m going to use my company credit card to pay for it. Sweet!

Hmmm, what else. I’m starting to get back on the wedding planning train after taking a few weeks off. Seems I go in waves of planning and then take some time off. Next on my list is: shopping for wedding rings (which CT and I are doing on Saturday), find shoes for the wedding (which mom and I are going shopping for on May 5th), and start working on the reception cards. I am aiming for the invitations to go out mid to late June, and nej and I have made the invitations already, but I also need to include a card which gives the details on the reception (time, location, map of how to get there, and indicate that guests can stay over in the lodge the night of the wedding if they wish and how to book a room). I also need to meet with the ceremony musician and dj sometime in the next several weeks. That’s a lot to pack in, so I guess I’ll take it one task at a time.

Does anyone have any opinions on a father/daughter and mother/son dance? Do people still do those? My dad is not much of a dancer, but I’m sure he would dance with me. I was thinking that maybe we could combine those two so that it would be me and my dad dancing as well as CT and his mom dancing, but is that totally tacky? Any ideas?

Monday again, sheesh.

I had a good weekend, but like most weekends, it went by way too quickly. And now I’m back at work…boring! The good news is that my grandmother is taking me (and my brother, maybe both brothers) out to Red Lobster for dinner… YUM! And she specifically told us we can get lobster (which I normally wouldn’t order when someone else is paying since it’s pricey). I haven’t had lobster in ages, so this should be yummy!

Other than that, this coming week should be a pretty quiet one. I’m thinking this weekend, CT and I should look a few more places for wedding rings and hopefully order rings if we find ones we like. CT already has one picked out, I guess it’s just me who needs to find one! I’m just torn over whether to get white gold or platinum. My engagement ring is platinum, so I kind of wanted my wedding ring to match in terms of type of metal. But white gold would be way less expensive. I guess we’ll get a price on both and make a decision then.

I just found out today that we will be getting bonuses soon at work, so I will definitely put that towards wedding expenses. It seems that when I get really stressed about money, something I wasn’t expecting happens. Like when I was really stressed about Smokey’s vet bills, a week later I did my tax return and my refund was within $20 of Smokey’s vet bills. And yesterday I was getting stressed thinking of how we’re going to pay for the rest of the wedding/honeymoon costs, and my boss tells me today that we’ll be getting our bonuses soon. It will certainly help with some of the wedding stuff. Pretty cool!

I think spring has finally sprung!

It is absolutely gorgeous here. Sun is shining, it’s 22 degrees, and the whole weekend is supposed to be wonderful. I can’t wait. I’m sitting here in my office, with my window open, so I can smell the fresh spring air (too bad my building is next to a propane place, takes away from the “fresh” part). Only 90 minutes and I’m outta here for a wonderful weekend of relaxation and fun!

Nej is coming up tomorrow, so we are going to make the most of the weather and go for a long walk. In the evening, we’re meeting up with a couple girls for a 30th birthday bash for one of them (a girl I used to work with). A girls night out consisting of dancing, good company, and yummy drinks, sounds good to me!

This made me happy!

I had a massage last night and my massage therapist noticed that I’d lost weight. Which I thought was pretty cool! As of today, I’ve lost about 8.5 pounds since New Year’s, so I’m happy with that. It’s a slow process, but that’s okay. I think I am more likely to keep it off if I lose it slowly and sensibly without totally depriving myself.

That just made me happy because she’s someone who only sees me once a month and doesn’t know I have been trying to lose weight, so it made my day that she noticed.

Weekend was relaxing.

My weekend was quite good, I didn’t really do too much. Yesterday, was my grandmother’s 79th birthday, so CT, my mom, and I took her out for lunch after church. Other than that, my weekend was pretty quiet. Smokey is still doing well, we reduced his meds on the weekend, he’s down to 1 pill per day now for the next 2 weeks. If he’s still doing well in 2 weeks, then we can stop the medication completely and just keep him on the good food. I am so glad that he’s been doing better lately! He seems even more happy now than before this whole ordeal. Makes me wonder if maybe he had some crystals in his urine for awhile which was causing him pain before it actually blocked up.

Koby is still doing well also. He has not had another seizure since Thursday, so we’re happy about that. He may/will likely get more in the future, but since it’s been 4 days since his last one, then he is likely not going to be one of those dogs that gets cluster seizures (more than 1 per 24 hours).

This coming week at work is going to be a busy one since I have a big project due on Friday. And I am going to be out of town all day tomorrow meeting with a client. Good thing I have a massage booked for tomorrow evening, I’m going to need it!

Hitch-hiker has not called me since Friday. I stopped by on my way home to drop off the things he forgot on his desk and to pick up his keys. So that should be all I hear from him. It’s so nice to have my rides to work alone back! I never realized how much I liked the peace and quiet on my way to work until I started giving him rides. And now I don’t have to wait for him outside his house every morning anymore, it’s great!

Pet updates and hitchikers getting canned

So the results of Smokey’s urinalysis were very good. She said his urine was very clear, no blood, and they had to look really hard to find anything. They did find some very small crystals, but when they compared it to the urinalysis they did when this first happened, it is like night and day. His urine now has a pH of 6 (whereas before it was 8) and it has a very low struvite crystal count now (whereas before it had a score of 4+ which is the highest score they give).

From here, the vet recommended keeping him on the good food indefinitely, which is fine by me. I’ll do whatever I can to give him the best chance of not having a relapse. We’re going to continue with the medication for another 2 weeks (at a reduced dose) and if after 2 weeks, he’s still fine, then I can stop the medication. If he has no more problems, she wants to see him again in 3 months. Sounds quite positive. She couldn’t really give me any indication of whether he will relapse, nobody knows that, but I am hoping for the best. If he does have another blockage, then we may need to consider the surgery, but I won’t worry about that unless he gets worse again. So far, so good.

As far as Koby goes, I haven't heard from my mom yet this morning, so I am assuming he has not had any more seizures. He has to be under close observation, so I hope he's okay! It was very scary for him as well as my family. At least now that they know what to expect, my mom won't think she's watching him die if he has another seizure. She was so scared yesterday, it was awful. She thought that by the time we got to the vet's office, he was going to be dead. But, apparently epilepsy is somewhat common in goldens of his age. I wish she would have known that before, then she might not have been quite so hysterical!

Oh, someone here at work got canned yesterday. And I am really happy about it because it was my hitchhiker! I’m sure I’ve complained about him on here in the past, he was a mootch and I didn’t like him at all. It was like pulling teeth just to get him to chip in on gas money since I have him a ride to and from work everyday. Took me almost 4 months to get some money from him. And he was never on time either, I had to wait outside his house for him every dang morning, which made us late quite often. So, I am quite relieved that he is no longer working here!!! I hated giving him rides all the time. He called me last night twice. I didn’t answer, but he left a message. He wants me to call him so we can arrange a time for me to go to pick up his office keys. What a guy! Like it’s MY responsibility to go to his place to pick up the keys that he forgot to give back. I guess I could tell him to put them in an envelope and put it through my mailslot at my house. He lives just a block away, so I think he could walk to my place to drop them off. Man, that guy drives me nuts.

One more thing about this guy, yesterday morning (so before he got fired), he told me that he needs to give a girl in our office some money. I asked what he owes her money for, and apparently she goes out for lunch a lot and always offers to pick him up something. I guess he has never given her any money and now he figured he owes her $100! I was shocked! I guess she’s not getting any money now since he’s gone!!! I couldn’t believe that. If someone offered to pick me up some food, and I didn’t have any money, I would have made sure to give them money the very next day. This guy let this go on for months and racked up a huge tab!!! I would be pissed if I were her, actually, I would have stopped offering to get him food after he didn’t pay me the first or second time! Sheesh, some people! I am so glad that he no longer works here!

EDIT 10:35 am

The hitchhiker just called me AGAIN, this time at work. He wants me to stop by his place on my way home tonight to give him a couple of things he forgot on his desk and so I can take his office keys. I'll just stop by on my way home, since I thought about it and I would rather not tell him where I live. This way, one 5-minute stop at his place, and then this will all be over. I can understand why he called me, he probably considers me the closest to a friend that he has here. I'm just glad I don't have to deal with him any more after today!

I’m beginning to think my family is cursed…

So I go to pick up my mom at lunch today since she was going to come with me to Smokey’s appointment, and when I get there, she is hysterical. I guess about a half hour prior, her dog Koby (4 year old golden retriever) was barking at the mailman like he does everyday, and then he started shaking, vomited, pooping uncontrollably, and thrashing around. She said it was the scariest moment of her life; she thought she was watching her doggie die. She started screaming and luckily my dad and brothers were home, so they carried him to the van and rushed him to the vets office. So, mom and I went to get Smokey and headed out there as well.

Apparently, Koby is the right age and breed for adult-onset epilepsy. They diagnose epilepsy by ruling out other things, so they took some blood and did some tests for any kidney or liver damage. I just heard back from mom, and apparently there is no damage to his organs, the vet said he has “beautiful blood”. He did have really low phosphorous levels in his blood, which is classic for after a seizure. So, now we just have to watch him really closely for the next few days to see if he has any more. Very scary.

As far as Smokey goes, they were not able to get a urine sample because there was not enough urine is his bladder. So, I left him there for the afternoon and they are going to try again to get a sample later. I am going to call back in an hour or two and see if they were able to get one and then I’ll pick him up after work. Once they get a sample, they are going to check to see if there are any crystals in his urine, so I should get the results when I pick him up.

Oh, and on top of all that, my parents van had a flat tire when they came out of the vets office. Sheesh. What a day. Actually, what a few weeks!!! First I thought I was going to lose Smokey, and then today I thought we were going to lose Koby! I’m beginning to think my family is cursed!

150 and counting...

As of today, it is exactly 150 days until my wedding! Hard to believe that I am about halfway between when I got engaged and when I will be getting married. I think I’m in pretty good shape as far as the planning goes, still have lots to do, but there is also lots that has already been accomplished. One thing I need to get on is finding shoes. Ideally I would like to have them a few months ahead so I can break them in a bit and I will need them for my first dress fitting, which will be in late June/early July. I haven’t seen any that I like yet. I’m sure I’ll find some, just have to keep looking.

So tomorrow is Smokey’s follow-up appointment with the vet. I am looking forward to it because I really hope that the outcome is good and that the urinalysis will show that he has no more crystals. I will let you know how it goes.

Relaxing weekend

I had a really good long weekend. I didn’t do too much and it was great. Friday and Saturday I just relaxed, did a little cleaning, did some exercising, and that’s about it. On Sunday, it was CT’s 29th birthday, so our easter dinner was a combined easter dinner and birthday party. CT’s parents came as well, so it was a lot of fun. It was the first time CT’s parents met my brothers and my grandmother and it went really well. My grandmother must have really liked them because she has never been that nice to people she just met, I was quite pleased.

So now it’s back to work. Why can’t every work week be only 4 days long?

On the Smokey front, he is still doing well. I am taking him back to the vet on Thursday for a check up and they are going to do another urine analysis where they look at his urine under the microscope so they can see if there are any crystals still in his urine. Hopefully there will not be any! He’s been on the good food for over 2 weeks now, so it should be helping to break up and prevent the crystals. If the vet thinks he’s okay after that visit on Thursday, then I think I can finally relax and put this all behind us. Of course, he’s still at risk to re-block since he got it once, but if I keep him on the good food for the rest of this life, that will give him the best chance of it not happening again. What a scary ordeal!

Oh yes, and I am quite dissapointed that the leafs are playing golf early this year. Sheesh.

Since a few of you asked…

The ipod I got is an ipod nano 8GB. I charged it up last night and put some of my music on, and it’s great! I really like it so far! It organizes all my music for me so I can play by genre, artist, album, whatever. I’m sure it will take me the weekend to figure out all it can do. I am also going to see if I can find any good deals on ebay for accessories. Too fun!

So glad tomorrow is a holiday, I need some time to catch up on my sleep. I think that now that I am pretty sure Smokey is going to be okay, I am starting to relax, so the last 2 weeks of very little sleep is starting to catch up with me.

This weekend I have 2 easter dinners to attend, so that’s not going to be good for my weight loss efforts! Oh well, I will try my best and then start again fresh on Monday. Today is also a potluck at work, but I will try my best to be good. I’ll have to make sure I exercise lots this weekend to make up for all the food I’m going to eat. I find it relatively easy to stay on track when I am planning and cooking my meals, but during potlucks and family dinners, it’s not so easy because there is always mountains of fabulous food.

Enjoyable day off yesterday

I was in Toronto yesterday. I took mom and CT to a leafs game as a birthday present for both of them. What an exciting game! The leafs won and it’s a good thing too, otherwise their playoff hope would be over. I am losing my voice a little from all the screaming I did last night. It was great! Before the game, we met up with CT’s cousin (the best man) and his wife for dinner. It was a good time!

We also went to Costco on our way to Toronto and I decided to buy myself an ipod. I have been wanting one for awhile now, and I was able to sell my old mp3 player to my mom, so I used that money towards my ipod. I can’t wait until I get home tonight and I can charge it up and figure out how to use it ;) Eventually, I would like to get one of those speaker/stereo systems where you can plug your ipod into. I saw one at Costco where you can use your ipod with it, and it also has radio and plays cds. Something like that would be nice. It will be awhile before I can afford that though, so I have some time to decide what I want ;)

I was a little worried about leaving Smokey home alone for 12 hours yesterday, but when we got home, he was as happy as could be. No problems at all. The vets office called yesterday just to see how he’s doing, so I am going to call them back today to let them know he is doing great! I think I can finally start to relax. He’s been home for almost a week now, and seems to be back to his normal self. He is still going small amounts at a time, but he is no longer struggling at all, he is in and out of the litterbox in 10 to 15 seconds. I am so glad that he’s doing so well! He’s still at higher risk to re-block for about another week or so (of course he is at risk to re-block for his whole life), but I think this is all behind us. I will make sure to keep him on the special urinary tract food for the rest of this life, so hopefully this never comes back!

My little prince

Smokey and I had a little sleep together yesterday afternoon. I am so glad to have him back.

In other news, I did my tax return yesterday, and I'm getting a refund that is within $20 or so of Smokey's vet bills! I thought that was pretty awesome! I was just going to be happy to break even (since I had some rental income for the first few months of 2006), but I guess all the money I put into the house and all the money I contrbuted to RRSPs meant I get a nice sizeable refund so I can pay for all the vet bills for Smokey. Yay!

More good news!

Smokey had a regular-sized pee overnight!!! So, he's been home for almost 2 days, and it's looking better everyday that he'll pull through!

Thanks so much for listening to all my Smokey updates. I'm sure you all understand that I've been sick with worry in the last week. He's not totally out of the woods yet, he's at risk to re-block for the next week or two, but everyday is looking more hopeful that he'll be okay.

Still doing okay...

Smokey is still the same. He's in great spirits, playful and happy. The only issue is he is urinating small to medium sized clumps more frequently instead of a few large clumps per day.

So, me being the paranoid mommy I am, phoned th vet just before lunch to give her an update. I told her everything, that he seems very happy, doesn't seem to be in any pain, eating, drinking, the only thing is he is only peeing small clumps. But, I have timed him to see how long he is in the litterbox each time, and it's on average 30 seconds, which isn't bad at all.

The vet said at this point, I shouldn't be too concerned. It would be better if he wasn't emptying his bladder so often, but I need to look at the quantity he is peeing per day, if he goes smaller amounts 8 or 10 times a day instead of large amounts 2 or 3 times per day, that's still okay. Not ideal, but no real cause for concern given what he's been through. She even said "that's encouraging". So, she obviously thinks that he is likely going to be okay.

I was nervous leaving him alone for 2 hours when I went for lunch (since when I left him alone on Monday when I went to work, that's when he took a turn for the worse), so I came bursting into the house looking for him. And he was asleep on my bed ;) Probably didn't even notice I was gone ;)

So, I am quite relieved. Every day that he hangs in there brings a little more hope. The first real test will be how he does on Monday when he is by himself. I have asked my mom to come down in the afternoon to check on him.

Daily Smokey Update

Smokey seems to be doing better today. He is back to his old self, he's been eating and drinking (I've been trying to get him to drink more, but it's difficult). He has been urinating, but like yesterday, it seems to be frequent and small amounts. Which is okay, at least he's not blocked. It just means he's still feeling some irritation and goes more frequently. At least he's not straining nearly as much as he was before, so I'm still optimistic that he'll be okay.

What a week. It's been the week from hell. I am so glad I was able to work from home today, I would be a total mess if I had to be at work. I would be constatly worrying about him. I am meeting my coworkers at a new Thai restaurant for lunch, so that will be nice to at least have a distraction for an hour.

In completely unrelated news, I think CT and I have picked outr first dance song. We didn't want something too "lovey-dovey", but we wanted something with nice lyrics, and something that was our style and we both are more into rock/alternative songs. So, we chose "When I see you smile" by Bad English. I think they are one of those 80's power ballad bands, but as soon as I heard the song, I just loved it!

Smokey is finally home!

I picked Smokey up after work, so I am SOOOOO glad to have him back!

The vet said he had 1 really good pee this afternoon, so that's great! I have to watch him really carefully for the next few days to make sure he urinates more normally. We want him to urinate large quanities a few times a day rather than a few drops or small clumps many times a day.

He's been home for an hour and a half and he's eaten, drank some water, and had a medium-sized pee. So, that is a great start. I am trying to encourage him as much as I can to drink lots of water because the more we can keep his system flushed out, the better.

I will update tomorrow with his progress, but so far, so good!!!!

Potentially good news.

I just called the vet’s office. The vet wasn’t available to talk to me, but the receptionist was able to tell me that he has been cleared for release and I can pick him up at 5:20pm today and the vet will go over everything at that time. So that’s good news! They wouldn’t send him home unless they thought he was ready.

There’s no guarantees that he won’t relapse, the first few days are critical, but I am just hoping and praying that he will pull through. I’m going to work from home tomorrow so I can be with him all day to keep an eye on him.

He's a fighter.

I just talked to the vet. She said they are going to take the catheter out this morning, and her goal is to send him home this evening. He has been on the meds for long enough now that they should be working. And he has been eating quite well which is also a good sign. That should help break up the remaining sludge that is in his urine. So, I am supposed to call back late this afternoon (like right before I leave work) just to check to see if I can pick him up tonight, but the vet wants to send him home because he may be more relaxed at home and have a better chance at urinating on his own if he is in his home environment.

If it turns out this doesn’t work, then the vet will have us come back to talk about options. The only options left would be to put him down, or to have the surgery. She said the surgery is quite successful. I asked if he would be at risk for bladder infections, and she said academically yes, but her experience has been that cats who have the surgery rarely have problems. So, it is really a cost issue. I’m not really sure exactly how much it would cost, but I think I remember her saying before that it would be between $1,000 to $1,200, which is what we’ve already spent on him in the last week. The good news is she said that for this last stint of visit, they are not going to charge me any extra for last night and today. What they quoted me on the phone on Tuesday of an extra $400-$500 will be the total cost (on top of the $700 we paid on the weekend). So, it has been an expensive ordeal, but I just don't think I could have lived with myself if we hadn't paid to have the treatment. I would have always wondered "what if".

So, I'm not going to think about the surgery yet, I'll cross that bridge if we come to it. I wouldn't want to make that kind of decision until I have had a long talk about it with the vet and have all my questions answered.

Who knows, he may be okay and not need the surgery. The next few hours are critical since he needs to be able to pee on his own. But, he's been on the medication for long enough now that it should be working. And the food he has been eating is supposed to help break up any remainaing sludge or crystals in the urine.

So that's the update for today. I won't know anything more until late this afternoon. I really hope I get to bring him home tonight! If that's the case, I'm going to try to work from home tomorrow so I can be home to watch him.

There's still a glimmer of hope...

When I talked to the vet at 5:oo, she said they they still had the catheter in. They said they wanted to keep it in until he produces clean urine, and so far, that hasn't been the case. His urine is still gritty. But, he is eating and seems to be resting confortably, so that's a good sign. So, I won't know anything more until tomorrow. So, more waiting...

For some reason, I don't know why, but I seem to have a lot more hope than I did yesterday. It's not like the vet said anything that was particularly reassuring, but I don't know, the fact that he's eating tells me that he hasn't given up yet. He's still fighting, so I'm not giving up yet.

I really hope I get good news tomorrow! And of course, I will update as soon as I know anything. This has been so hard to go through, but I don't know, something in me is telling me not to give up. So, I am going to continue praying and maybe he'll be okay!

Still no news…

I am waiting to hear back from the vet. If I don’t hear back by mid-afternoon, I am going to call them. I imagine they don’t really know too much yet. They would have taken the catheter out sometime this morning, so now it’s just a waiting game to see if he’s going to be able to pee on his own. I really hope so! It has definitely been a rough week. Thanks for all your support girls; I really appreciate it!

Edit (2:00pm)

I just talked to the vet and apparently Smokey is still not doing too well. They want to give him some more time, so they told me to call back around 5:00. I really hope they have better news then. I was praying for good news, but no good news yet.

Roller Coaster

I think the reason I am having such a hard time with this is because Smokey is only just 1 year old. I have lost pets before, but in all those cases, it was a decision we made once the pet was old and no longer comfortable or had a disease that couldn’t be cured. We knew it was coming. This time, this has been a total shock. Everything was just fine… until Friday morning. That’s when it all changed. And the worst part is, they don’t know what causes urinary tract problems. And it’s not something easily fixed.

I thought he was getting better. He was doing great on the weekend. Then Monday, he was not doing well anymore. I sure am glad I left work early yesterday. I just knew I had to check on him, and sure enough, he had to go back to the vets.

Well, I decided to spend the extra $400 on the catheterization because I think my peace of mind is worth that much. There is a chance that it could work. If it doesn’t, then at least I know I did all I could for him. So, I won’t know anything more until tomorrow afternoon. They are going to put in the catheter for 24 hours and hope the fact that he can pass urine freely with that will help him so once they take it out, he will be able to urinate without problem.

Man, my coworkers must think there’s something seriously wrong because I have been teary all day. I just know if I try to talk about it, I will be sobbing uncontrollably, so I am trying my best to keep my mind off it. That’s not working too well. At least I get to go home in a couple of hours.

I’ve barely eaten anything all day. Last night, I cried all evening and then I slept in my clothes because I cried myself to sleep and just didn’t bother getting up to change. So, I’m pretty much a total mess. This up and down and waiting totally sucks. He was fine, then not, then somewhat fine again, now not. I hope the next thing on that list will be that he’s fine again!

This sucks

Smokey is still not doing too well. When I got home last night, he was just lying on his side in the kitchen and wouldn’t move. I knew something was wrong. I tried checking his bladder to see if it was full, and he meowed loudly and went to the litterbox and didn’t do anything. He had vomited up his lunch and there was pee all over the floor (which I guess is a good sign). I’m thinking that when he is dozing and relaxes his muscles, that’s when he is able to pee. So, I called the vet and they said to bring him back in. So, I took him in right away. I was afraid that he was blocked again.

Thank goodness he wasn’t blocked, but they said there was urine in his bladder that his muscles were too tense to let him pass. So, they said they needed to do something to relax him. They gave him a shot of valium. Which of course made him totally stoned. Apparently it worked at least a little because he was able to pee after that a little better. They said they didn’t need to keep him overnight, but that it was a good idea. They gave us a reduced rate since they weren’t really going to do anything to him, just keep him for observation. I decided it would probably be best to have him stay there because then I could relax and get some sleep and not have to keep getting up to check on him.

What an ordeal. I am going to call the vet’s office around 9 or so to check his status and see how the night went. I really hope he’s okay. I don’t know how much more of this I can take. I thought he was getting better and then I get home last night to him obviously having trouble again. I really hope this valium worked and that we can bring him back home today and that he’ll be back to normal soon!

Edit (9:07am)

I just talked to the vets office and they said that Smokey didn't urinate overnight, so they are going to re-assess him now and that I should call back in an hour. They will know more then. This isn't looking good. I don't really know what to do. I have this awful feeling that they're going to say there is nothing more they can do.

Edit 11:09am

I just talked to the vet again. They have re-assessed Smokey and he doesn’t seem to be doing any better. We have a couple of options. Option 1 is to wait a little longer to see if the drugs work. She wouldn’t want to leave it overnight though because he would be in a great deal of pain as his bladder fills up if he can’t release it. Option 2 is to put in a catheter for 24-hours which would allow his urine to pass freely and this would hopefully give his muscles a chance to relax. She said this procedure does work in some cats, but not all. She said it would like be a 50/50 chance. If it doesn’t work, then there are only 2 options left, we either give him surgery to widen his urethra (which they don’t like to do because it messes with the anatomy of the cat), or put him down.

I have until mid-afternoon to decide what I want to do. The catheterization would cost likely an additional $400 (which includes the treatment he received last night). I think what I’ve decided is to go ahead with the caterization, but if it doesn’t work, then it’s time to put him down. I don’t want to have the $1,200 surgery which will mess with his anatomy because I just don’t think he’d ever be the same cat after that, not to mention I wouldn’t be able to afford it after we already will have spent over $1,000 on him in the last few days. So, I am just hoping and praying that this catheterization will work. At least if it doesn’t, then I can put him down knowing we did everything we could.

Smokey Update

We got to pick Smokey up on Saturday morning. They said the procedure went well, but they only give him a “better than 50/50 shot of being okay in the long run”. So, I was quite worried once I heard that. I thought he’d have better odds than that. We have to watch him quite closely to make sure he is able to go to the bathroom, and so far, he has been doing okay. He is still struggling a little bit, but I think that’s from the bladder infection so it makes him feel like he has to go when really his bladder is empty. Because he has been able to go, so that’s a good sign. He’s on two types of medication right now, antibiotics to clear the infection and some other drug to help his muscles relax so he doesn’t tense up so much when he tries to go pee.

What a scary ordeal. He’s not out of the woods yet, but the fact that he has been going pee is a good sign. We just have to wait it out and see with the antibiotics clearing the infection, whether he is able to go pee without struggle. I sure hope so! I hope he’ll be back to normal real soon.

Thanks for the link, burger. Right now, we’ve been feeding him the food the vet recommended, and they recommended he be on it for at least 2 months, but after that, we will definitely look into the food you recommended. I checked the “store locator” and there are 2 places in town that sell it. Thanks!

Nej came up on Saturday and we made all the wedding invitations. It was fun! They turned out really well!! We rock ;)

Poor Smokey

Turns out he has a blocked urinary tract. They don't really know what causes this sort of thing, but if we hadn't brought him in when we did, he would have been dead in 48 hours. So, CT called me as soon as he got back from the vet and we had to make a decision. Either we put him down, or we pay the $750 to have the procedure to clear the blockage. And that is the reduced price since we told the vet that we couldn't pay the original $1000 estimate. So, once CT called me, I burst into tears at my office. I composed myself enough to talk to my boss, but as soon as he asked me what was wrong, I started sobbign again. Great, I sobbed in front of my boss. He was really nice about it though, and sent me right home and said I could skip out on our meeting this afternoon if I needed to.

I cried the whole way home. I called my mom, and she just happened to be at home today, so she met CT and me at our house. We all talked about it, and we decided to pay to have the procedure done. My only hesitation was whether he would be prone to get these in the future, but the vet said the procedure has a very high success rate.

So, I am feeling much better now. It's a lot of money, but I just couldn't imagine living without him. My mom has offered to give me some money towards it, and if I put it on my credit card, then we'll have a month to save the money, so I'm sure we can save up for it by then.

What a morning. I've managed to pull myself together, so I'll still be going to my meeting.

We get to pick Smokey up tomorrow, I can't wait until we have him back. And I'm really excited to see nej again, so I'm sure the weekend will be great!

For any of you who are curious…

The meeting with the pastor last night went very well. We discussed the ceremony mostly, everything from candles, to positioning of everyone, to where the receiving line will be. I decided that I wanted the receiving line after the ceremony. Apparently, that’s not really the way most people do it, most people have the receiving line as people arrive to the reception. But, I thought that everyone was supposed to be seated at the reception and then they announce the family and wedding party and we all walk in. That’s kind of how I envisioned it in my mind. So, I’m doing it my way ;) The receiving line will be limited to just the wedding party and parents, which is still 10 people, so I think that’s enough!

We also talked about vows and the wording of the service. We want a traditional service, so the pastor had 2 examples of wording, one I liked much better, except for the actual vows, I liked the other one better. So, I think we’re going to blend the two and use most from one and the vows from the other.

It feels so good to get a lot of the ceremony stuff taken care of! I also counted the pews so I know how many “pew decorations” to make. Not really sure what I’m going to do yet, something relatively inexpensive yet still nice looking. I’m thinking some nice ribbon bows or something.

The pastor wants to meet with us twice more before the wedding, once in late May to finalize the ceremony details and then once more in late June/early July as a little marital counseling type deal. He said that last meeting was option, but I think it’s a good idea. We would also give him our marriage license at that point so he can keep track of it for the big day (we’ll have enough to worry about that day!).

So, it went really well, I was quite pleased. Carlos and I both agreed that now that we’ve discussed the ceremony details, we wish the wedding was tomorrow instead of 5.5 months away! I’m sure that time will go by quickly though, hard to believe we’ve already been engaged for 4.5 months! Wow!

I have a meeting this afternoon with the MOE and a client, so I will be very relieved when that’s over. I don’t know why, but after 3 years in this job, I still get nervous before meetings. Not nearly as nervous as I used to get, but I still don’t like them all that much.

My poor little Smokey seems to be sick today. CT is going to take him to the vet. We think there may be something wrong with his digestive system/urinary track. He keeps squatting on the floor and meows loudly whenever we go near him. And he spent a half hour in the littler box this morning and didn’t do anything. I hope the little guy is okay!!!! I’m quite worried…

Why can't my clock be fast too?!?

I have been a report-producing machine lately! Go me! It has been a very productive couple of weeks at work.

I have also recently purchased shares in the company, so I am officially a shareholder now. Very exciting. Of course, I didn’t have any extra money for this with the wedding expenses this year, so my grandmother gave me a loan (as long as I paid interest and provided her with a strict repayment schedule). I am very excited about this. We are coming up on the end of our first year as a new company, so after that, they are going to have another “valuation” done and then I’ll see whether my shares have increased in value. I’m sure they have, we’ve had a great first year.

Tonight, my grandmother is taking CT and me to Red Lobster for dinner. I am looking forward to it. I think my grandmother will be on her best behaviour if CT is there too. She is usually quite a critical woman, but I don’t think she’ll say too much in front of him. So, I think we’ll have a good time.

Tomorrow evening, CT and I are meeting with the pastor. Which I am somewhat nervous about. I just don’t want him to find out we’re living together before we’re married and refuse to perform the ceremony. I highly doubt that would happen, but I’m still worried. I guess if there were any “deal-breakers” for him, he should have asked us about it before he agreed to perform the service back in November. He told me that he wants to meet with us 3 times before the wedding. The first one is to discuss the ceremony (order of service, readings, vows, candles, etc.), and then the other two times are to discuss marriage and some situations that can cause problems in marriage and how to avoid them. So, I don’t think it will be too personal. Very different from when I was engaged the first time. My church had a different pastor back then and he made us fill out this huge questionnaire and go through pre-marital counseling (although we only made it through 2 sessions before the engagement ended). So, I guess it all depends on the pastor. I don't know this one very well since he's quite new at my church and CT and I haven't been attending much lately (we have been going to another church that we like the style of service of better).

Productive Weekend

I had a very nice weekend. It was quite productive actually. On Saturday evening, I got in a “cleaning mood”. I don’t get in those moods very often, so when I do, I make the most of it. I washed all the dishes, cleaned all the counters, cleaned the stove, and even cleaned the inside of the fridge, which was way overdue. It felt so good to get that all done! I also organized my files, updated my financial software (it had been awhile), and got all my tax stuff together so I can do my tax return sometime in the next couple of weeks.

We didn’t get as much wedding planning stuff done as we would have liked, but, oh well. I did pick up the paper I had ordered for the invitations, so I have all the supplies I need to make the invitations, yay! I also bought a tiara. I went to some of the local bridal shops with my mom a couple of weeks ago and saw a tiara that I absolutely loved. I tried on a bunch and discovered that they come in different sizes, who knew! Many of them were too big. So, when I found one I loved that fit me perfectly, I thought about it for a couple of weeks, and decided to go for it. Thought that would be better than getting one online since I wouldn’t be able to try those one. Very excited! I managed to get a veil online for $20 (with shipping and everything!), so I saved a lot of money there, so I figured I could spend a little more on the tiara. It’s sooo pretty!

So, I didn’t do much for St. Paddy’s. CT and I stayed in and relaxed. Here are a couple of pics of us relaxin!

My darling boys...

As requested, here are some pics of CT's and my little darlings.

The birthday boy, Smokey, hanging out on our bed.

Smokey playing with his favorite toy.




Smokey and Gino relaxing after a hard day of chasing each other around the house.


This week has been a very productive one. I have got almost all my reports out, only one more to go! I should be all finished them today and they will all be sent out by tomorrow!! yay!! That means no working this weekend for me! I will have the whole weekend to catch up on housework and do some more wedding stuff. Can't wait!

All work and no play.

This weekend was filled with work. I took yesterday off from work though, yet I was still out of the house from 10am – 6pm, so I didn’t get much R&R time. Sheesh. Can’t wait for March to be over! I will be somewhat less stressed come April since I won’t be on deadline anymore with all these dang reports.

I also walked 20 km on the weekend on my treadmill, so I was happy with myself for that! I did it in 3 chunks, each approx. 6.7 km long. One on Friday evening, one on Saturday morning, and one on Sunday evening. I was so tired when I got home yesterday, but I still went on the treadmill, so I was proud of myself for my determination, even though I just wanted to go to bed.

It was also Smokey’s 1st birthday on Saturday, so I made sure to sing him Happy Birthday and I gave him a couple treats. He’s such a cutie!

I really hope I don't have to work this coming weekend! I will work really hard during the week this week because who wants to work on St. Paddy's Day?!?!

I need to win the lottery.

I just found out that the place I worked at during co-op in highschool is for sale. And I really want to buy it! Too bad it’s $1.3M! It is just outside of town, in the country, has 11 acres of land including a house, barn, 2 ponds, and the business. The business is “The Pet Hotel”. It is like a luxury pet boarding place. It has 21 dog rooms and 4 cat rooms. One of the dog rooms is a “deluxe suite” with a twin size bed and a colour tv! Each dog has their own indoor room and outside kennel and then there are also 2 large areas for the dogs to run and play. The whole place is fenced in. I would absolutely love to run that type of business since I have always wanted to work with animals and this is a great place! Too bad I don’t have that kind of money! Sigh, maybe someday… I can dream, right?

As of today, my wedding is exactly 6 months away. Yay! I think I’m in good shape in terms of the planning. Everything is really coming together. Oh, Mrs. JB, I was able to find those “favor kits” in Michaels. Thanks! I just wasn’t looking in the right place before ;) I’m going to wait until I go to the workshop on April 1st before I buy any of the supplies for the favors. But, I think I’ve pretty much decided to do some candies and a bookmark. And I should be able to keep the favors to approximately $1 each, which was my goal.

Church and wedding talk.

I had a very relaxing weekend. Saturday was my “day of nothingness”. I just relaxed all day. It was great. The only downside was that CT wasn’t feeling well, so I was worried about him. He’s feeling better now, so I think it was just some strange 24-hour type of thing.

Yesterday, I went to my home church with CT, my mom, my brother Alex, and Alex’s girlfriend. I was quite sad through the entire service. This is my home church, so I have a lot of history there, but it is just not at all what I like in a church. In the last few years, my church has taken a turn and become much more traditional. In comparison, I went to a new-to-me church the week before, where it was lively and wonderful, and the pastor kept my attention the whole time. When that service as over, I was so disappointed. I could have easily stayed for another hour or two. I actually wished the service was longer. Yesterday, at my church, I as constantly looking at my watch hoping it would be over. Very boring. I was really sad because I love my church, it is just not somewhere I enjoy going anymore.

I am still glad I’ve decided to get married in my home church though, because of the history there and because both my mother and grandmother were married there. But, after the wedding, I think CT and I will go to the other church regularly. He has not been a regular church-goer at all in his life, so I really think it’s important that we choose a church where we both enjoy it and actually look forward to going. And he and I both agree that this other church is just that. We both really enjoyed it there. But, from now until the wedding, I think it’s important that we make an effort to go to my church since that’s where we will be getting married and I think it’s important to show the pastor that we are committed to attending (for now). So, maybe for the next 6 months, we’ll alternate weeks back and forth between the 2 churches or something.

Also yesterday, mom and I went to our favorite place, Michael’s craft store, and got some more stuff for the centerpieces. We’re so funny. We go in every week with the 40% off coupon they have in the weekly flyer, and get one item each. We have collected all the vases for the centerpieces, so now we are working on the mirrors.

I’m still not sure what to do for favors. There is still plenty of time, but I would like to start gathering ideas so I can start pricing things out. If possible, I would like to keep the favors to approximately $1 to $1.50 each. I was thinking of doing something similar to what Mrs. JB had at her reception, so Mrs. JB, where did you get those clear plastic boxes to put the candies in???? I have looked around, but have been unsuccessful so far. I was thinking of doing a box with candies and then a bookmark attached with ribbon. Anybody else have some ideas???

Moocher alert!

Okay, I am in need of some advice. And feel free to tell me if I’m being stupid and petty about this.

We had a new employee start with us back in mid-November. He doesn’t have a car and our office is located just south of town. Turns out he lives quite close to me, so on his second day on the job, he asked me if I could give him rides to and from work since we live so close together. I said sure and have been picking him up and dropping him off everyday (that I’ve been in the office) since. It’s not really that much out of my way, but some mornings I go to the chiropractor before work, so I drive downtown and then back to his place to pick him up, then to work (this trip is out of my way because my chiropractor’s office is already on the way to work). It is also a pain if I am not planning on going home after work. I do tell him sometimes that I can’t give him a ride if I am not heading home after work. But, 95% of the time, I pick him up and drop him off. Super convenient for him, and I don’t mind.

When he was here for his interview in early November, he did say he was planning on getting a car.

So here is where the problem is. A few days after I started giving him rides, so back in November, he said to me “I appreciate you giving me rides. If you like, I could chip in for gas”. He was probably expecting me to say no that’s not necessary, but instead I replied “that would be great; yes”. Well, that was 3 months ago and I have yet to see a dime.

How do I subtlety remind him that he offered to give me gas money? I really don’t want to give him rides anymore if he is not going to give me some gas money. I don’t want to be mean, but it does cost me extra time and gas to give him rides everyday. Any advice?

Feeling the pressure...

I’m feeling quite stressed out lately. Work is crazy busy and I just have no time to myself. So, this Saturday, for the first time in months, I am doing absolutely nothing. No working at home, no wedding planning, no nothing. I am just going to relax. I seriously have not had a day to myself since December when I had one day. So, it’s high time I have a day. I really need to recharge my batteries since I’m feeling really worn out. Looking forward to my day of nothingness!

Tomorrow I have a meeting out of town for work. I don’t have time to go, but it’s one of those things that I have to do. Between the preparations today and the meeting tomorrow (which is out of town), that will chew up 2 days, which I don’t have. Yikes! I am so scared about this coming month! We have a crazy amount of reports due at the end of March, I don’t know how I’m going to get them all done! Okay, deep breath…

And it doesn't help that I am totally discouraged about the lack of weight loss I have been seeing. I am seriously ready to throw in the towel. I have been working like mad for almost 2 months (along with a moderate effort 4 months prior to that) and still have yet to lose 5 pounds. I am doing everything I'm supposed to. I take a multi-vitamin everyday, I stay within my points range, I drink lots of water, I exercise, I eat lots of veggies. I'm totally stumped. Last time I was on WW, I lost 35 pounds in about 6 months, and this time I am putting in WAY more effort than I did last time. WHY ISN'T IT WORKING?!?!?!?!

Variety weekend.

I had a great weekend, for the most part. I did a little bit of everything. On Friday night, I went to a party that a woman I used to work with was hosting. She lives a half hour out of town, so I carpooled with another girl that lives close to me. She drove this time. After the party, we were almost back at my house, and she was waiting to turn left, and couldn’t see around this car, so she decided to just go (bad decision!). There was another car (big pick-up truck actually) coming, so it hit us. Not cool. It just clipped the back end of her car, so we weren’t hurt at all, but her car was and the truck had some damage as well. I felt really badly for her since it was totally her fault, so she will likely have to pay for her damage as well as his.

On Saturday, CT and I went to pick out the tuxs for the wedding. It was very easy to do and I am really pleased with what we picked out, I think the men will look awesome! We then went shopping for wedding rings. I found a really nice one for me. It would be white gold (we could do platinum, but it would be way more money), and has several small princess cut diamonds channel-set in the band. It looks really good with my engagement ring since the diamonds end at the same point along the band as my diamonds do on my engagement ring. So it is definitely a possibility. It is on sale right now too for $250, so that’s not bad! I guess I just have to decide whether I want a plain wedding band or one with stones. I will have to give that some more thought.

Mom and I also ordered the paper for the invitations. I will arrive in approximately a week. Then we will be all set to make the wedding invitations in terms of supplies. All I need still is to find some nice ribbon that I will use to hold it all together. Haven’t found anything I like yet. I think I’ll have to check out a sewing store.

Mom and I also went to look for mother-of-the-bride dresses for her. She found some really nice ones. Definitely some possibilities. I also asked about alterations to my dress. I am going to take it to the place I bought it and my first fitting will be 2 months before the wedding. I was sort of embarrassed to do the whole “I bought my dress here 5.5 years ago, and I want to have it altered for my wedding this year” thing, but they were really nice about it. I also found the perfect tiara for me. I tried a bunch on, and I didn’t really realize until I did that that they are not all the same size. Some were way too big on my head. My favorite one fit me absolutely perfectly though. So, I am leaning towards getting that one. It’s a little on the pricey side ($150), but that’s only $50 more than the ones I found online and I would feel better getting one I could actually try on first.

Yesterday, CT, mom, and I went to a different church to watch my bro Tom play bass. I really loved the service! The lady who is going to play the music at the wedding (family friend for years) was leading the music at this church, so I was glad to see her again and thank her for being my ceremony musician. I tell ya, I absolutely loved this church. It was the first church service in ages where I was disappointed when it was over. I think I will start going there every once in awhile. I don’t want to give up my home church, but maybe I’ll alternate weeks or something.

I worked yesterday afternoon, so I was glad to be able to get some overtime hours to bank for time off.

Back to pole dancing class tonight. I hope I am not as sore afterwards as I was last week. I could not move for days!

Things I'd rather not know...

I just ate 2 pieces of bread and as I was finishing it, I looked at the last piece I was about to put in my mouth, only to discover it had little specs of mould on it... Ewwww. I just ate 2 pieces of mouldy bread. That's just great.

Wow, is it ever snowing out there!

I am worried about my sweetie. He should be at work by now (he starts at 11am on Thursdays), but I am still worried about him with the weather being the way it is. But, the good news is, only another week and a half and then he will be working in town! Then he could walk to work if he needed to.

So, here we are at Thursday, but I keep thinking it’s Friday for some reason. Wishful thinking! This coming weekend, CT and I are going to look at and hopefully decide on the tuxs for the wedding. We signed up for this deal at a bridal show to get $30 off per tux. CT gets his rental for free anyways since it’s pay for 4, get one free, so his 2 groomsmen and my 2 brothers will pay for theirs, then CT will get his free. Should be fun! I have an idea of that I want. Black, simple, with medium blue vest and tie for the men except for CT, whose vest and tie will be white. Funny how I get to pick out what they wear, with CT’s input, of course ;), whereas CT can’t hear anything about, much less see my dress before the wedding!

Mom and I are also going to order the supplies for the invitations. My mom is really into rubber stamping, so she has all the embossing supplies, so all I need to buy is the paper and ribbon. I should be able to get all that for under $50. Add another $30 for postage, and I should be able to do all my invitations for under $100, not too shabby! MUCH less expensive than having them professionally done, that would be at least $500.

Mom and I are also going to go to one of the bridal shops in town because she wants to look for mother-of-the-bride dress ideas and I want to look at shoes, jewelry, tiaras, veils, and undergarments. I also want to ask them about alterations. My dress will only need minimal alterations, but I want to make sure they can do them since I did buy my dress there, it was just 5.5 years ago.

Other than that, we are going to be going to a different church on Sunday. My bro Tom is playing there and it is also the church the lady who is going to be my ceremony musician attends, so I would like to have the opportunity to thank her for accepting that job and we can talk about what I would like for music a little bit. I haven’t really given it much thought, but I guess I’ll have to come up with some ideas to discuss with her. There’s still loads of time before the wedding, so I’m not worried.

It's not as easy as it looks...

I am back at the pole dancing classes again, and the first one for this session was last night. Man, my quads are killing me today. At least I know I worked them hard! After being away from it for 4 months, I guess I’m a little rusty. I think I just need more practice and then I’ll be awesome. I’m thinking about getting my own pole, I’m just not sure where I would put it. I’d want one that you can take up and down quite easily because I wouldn’t want it up all the time. Especially since my grandmother has this nasty habit of just dropping by unannounced ;)

In other news, it's exactly 200 days until my wedding! YAY! I am so excited and the planning is going really well. We've made a lot of progress in the last few weeks!

Best Valentines Day Ever!

First off, a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY goes out to nej! Hope you don’t have to work too late tonight!

I hope everyone had a good Valentines Day. I sure did. I knew CT was likely going to have to work late, so I wasn’t really thinking we’d do too much last night. When I got home, there were little felt hearts all over the floor in the entranceway and a pathway leading up the stairs. So, I followed the path of hearts upstairs and into the bedroom. There, on the bed, there was an assortment of presents and a card that said on the envelope “for my sexy wife-to-be, from your husband-to-be”. It was SOOOO cute! He went to a lot of trouble it seems. I waited until he got home to open the presents. He got me a lovely card that sings when you open it, cinnamon hearts, three little heart-shaped candles, and a spongebob squarepants valentines stuffed toy. I loved it all! I especially loved that he put a pathway to my presents.

For CT, I spent 2 evenings making his present. I didn’t want to buy him something cheesy from Wal-mart, so I made him something instead. I bought a jar and some herseys kisses. Then, I used some pink and red cardstock and cut the cardstock into many strips, I think about 50 or so. Then, on each strip of paper, I wrote “I love you because…” (and finished that phrase with a different reason I love him). Then I filled the jar with the 50 “reasons I love him” and kisses and then I decorated the jar with some stickers. He loved it! He even took the time to read each and every piece of paper. It was a wonderful Valentines Day!

Help me decide!

I have found 2 tiaras that I like and I would like your opinion on which one you like better. These both have the daisy/flower theme, since that is the theme for my wedding and my dress also has daisies embellishments on it.

Here are 2 difference pictures of tiara #1:

And here are 2 pictures of tiara #2:

I can order both of these online, but I am also planning on checking out some of the local bridal shops to see what they have in the way of tiaras before I make my final decision. If I do order online, it could take up to 2 months to be delivered, so I would want to order it in the next month or two.

Productive wedding planning weekend!

I got quite a few things accomplished on the weekend. On Saturday, mom and I went to the flower shop to talk to the florist about the wedding flowers. The florist and my mom have known each other for years, so I am glad we are going with someone we know as opposed to a stranger. So, we went in there and we talked for a bit. I told her that I wanted simple elegant, and I wanted daisies as my main flower. Daisies are significant because my middle name (Margrit) means daisy in German. It is also my mom’s middle name. We were named after my grandmother’s sister Margrit who died in her late 20’s due to brain cancer. So, it has always been a special name in my family. That’s why I wanted to do daisies as my theme for the wedding. My bouquet will be all white and my girls’ bouquets to be a mixture of white and medium blue flowers. The florist made some suggestions and I absolutely love what she suggested. We’re going with a mixture of white daisies and white freesia for my bouquet (freesia is my grandmother’s favorite flower, so her corsage will be freesia). And the girls’ bouquets will be white daises and blue hydrangea. It’s going to be great! And I was pleasantly surprised at the price; she gave me an estimate of $300 which isn’t bad! That’s for my bouquet, toss bouquet, 2 bridemaids bouquets, 8 boutonnieres, and 4 corsages. I was so pleased with the price; I thought it would be a lot more. But I guess the flowers I am going with are on the lower end of the price scale.

We then went to Sobey’s to talk wedding cakes and I wasn’t overly impressed with them. We then had another appointment with a cake artist that my mom knows (my mom knows a lot of people!) who runs her business out of the basement of her home. I was very impressed with her. She said she was booking up for September already, so I booked in with her. She really seemed to know what she was doing and we got to see some of her previous work. I think for the cake I’m going to go with a 3-tier square cake with the top tier on pillars. Each tier will have a medium blue ribbon around it (the ribbon will match the ribbon in the girls’ bouquets. And I think we’ll go with real flowers on the cake, daisies to match the theme. I was also pleasantly surprised at the price for this one; it is estimated at $300. Much less expensive than the wedding cakes at the bridal show, some of them were upwards of $4,000!

I then went back to my parents’ house because I wanted to try on my wedding dress. I ordered it 5.5 years ago when I was engaged and kept it since I still have yet to wear it. When I ordered it, I was approx. 5 pounds lighter than I am now and I tried on the size larger than the one I ordered. So, I was worried that I would not be able to even get it on, much less do it up. So, I thought I should try it on to see how close I am. Well, I got it on…and we did it up, although it was quite snug around the belly. I could wear it at this weight if I had to, but even losing 5 pounds would make it fit much better, 10 pounds would be perfect. So that made me really happy! I had visions of me having to lose 30 pounds in the next few months to make it work, but knowing that even 5 – 10 pounds and I could wear it took a lot of the pressure off! Of course, I would still like to lose 20 pounds, but now I know that I can still wear my dress even if I just lose half that. What a relief! Oh, and when we opened the box with my dress, we discovered that it comes with a pair of gloves that match. I thought that was neat. I’m not sure if I will wear them or not, but it is nice to have that option. I also found out that my dress has a built-in crinoline so that’s one thing I won’t need to buy. I was pleased with that. Since it had been so long since I'd seen the dress, I couldn't really remember the details, but I was happy with it. I still love it 5.5 years later!

It feels so good to get some more items checked off the “to do” list. Next weekend mom and I are going to a wedding invitation making workshop since we want to make our own invitations and then I’m heading to nej’s for a combined dress shopping for her and lj trip and nej’s birthday bash weekend. Should be good times!

This week should be another busy one with work. And tonight is a 2-hour episode of 24! Yay!

Honeymoon booked!

CT and I have booked our honeymoon – yay! We are officially going on a 7-night southern Caribbean cruise from September 16-23 with Carnival cruise lines. It leaves from San Juan, Puerto Rico and goes to St. Thomas, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Antigua. I have done some research on some of these places, and I think it will be a beautiful trip. So far, we have just booked the cruise. We are going to book the flights once we figure out how many extra days we would like to spend in San Juan prior to the cruise. I’m thinking we’d leave on the 12th and have from the 12th till the 16th in Puerto Rico.

The wedding is on September 8th (exactly 7 months from today!), so we’d be back home on the 9th (we get to spend the night at the reception venue, spending the wedding night in one of their suites is included in the package). So we’d have 2 days at home after the wedding to relax and pack for the honeymoon. We may head to Toronto and spend the night there the night before our flight leaves because a lot of the hotels near the airport offer free parking for your trip if you stay with them.

There are so many things to do with the wedding stuff, it’s insane! But it’s a lot of fun to plan it all. I am enjoying it. I just take a few tasks at a time. This weekend is flowers and cake; next weekend is invitation making workshop and then hopefully another dress shopping trip with lj and nej!

Monday update.

I had a really good weekend. On Saturday, CT and I went to Home Outfitters and The Bay and started our gift registries. It was a lot of fun! We registered for more items at Home Outfitters since that is the place they have in town, but we also registered for some items at The Bay as well, since many of our guests are from out of town. It was so neat! They just give you a little scanner gun and then you can walk around the whole store and scan in whatever you want. We mostly registered for bed linens, towels, small kitchen appliances, and dishes at Home Outfitters. At The Bay, we mostly registered for other kitchen stuff and luggage. We can go in as many times as we like to add more things, so I think we’ll go back in maybe a month or two down the road once we have a chance to think of what else we would like to register for. But, we have a good start anyways.

Yesterday, it was CT and my 1-year anniversary. So, we stayed in, relaxed, and watched a couple movies together. It was a great day; it was so nice to just be together since the last few months have been go-go-go all the time.

This week at work will be a busy one, I think. I may need to work some extra hours this week to try to get caught up on some of my work. We’ll see how it goes. The next 2 months are our busiest at work, so I will be so relieved once April rolls around!

I’m pretty proud of myself!

Even though I got home last night at 8:30pm and it would have been easy to skip my exercising, I did it anyways. I still went on the treadmill for 70 minutes. By the time I was done and showered, it was time for bed. Luckily tonight I don’t really have any plans, so I am hoping to do my treadmill thing once I get home from work and then I’ll be all done and showered by around 7:30 (that’s assuming that I don’t have to work late). It’s hard to find time to exercise sometimes! Especially when you are either getting ready for work, driving to work, at work, or driving home from work from approximately 6am to 6pm every weekday. So, that leaves you with 12 hours. Subtract 8 for sleeping, and you’re down to 4 hours per day. Subtract one hour for making and eating dinner, and you’re down to 3. So, of every weekday, I have 3 hours of which to do “my” stuff. One and a half of those are used for exercising and showering afterwards, so I really only have 1.5 hours per day for me. 90 minutes every day when I can do what I want. Doesn’t seem fair. At least I have weekends. But most of those are used up with wedding-related tasks. The next 3 weekends are going to be filled with wedding stuff. Not that I’m complaining, I love the wedding-planning stuff, I am just getting a little worn out. I’m glad I have the entire day on Sunday to go nothing and relax.

Last night, I was at my parents house. My mom is there all by herself during the week since my dad and brothers work out of town, so I went there and we made supper together and then spent an hour scrapbooking. I did my Gradball pages. I wanted to add the date. Does anyone remember the date of Gradball? March __, 2004? If not, I will try to find my 2004 day planner and I can look it up. Just wondering if someone remembered off-hand.

On Saturday, CT and I are going to Home Outfitters in the morning and The Bay in the afternoon to get our wedding registries started. I am excited about that!

On Sunday, it is CT and my one-year anniversary. So, since we have been so crazy-busy for the last few months, we are taking the entire day to do nothing and relax. No commitments, no obligations, we’re just going to laze around and do whatever we want.

Hard to believe we have been together for a year now. The time has gone by so quickly! What a difference a year makes. In the past year, I met and fell in love with CT, moved into my own house, did a TON of renovations, got a major promotion and raise at work, and got engaged. Crazy! That’s a lot to pack into one year!

My sock is cold and wet :(

I went out to one of our sites today, and I accidentally got a soaker. I was on ice that was only about a foot deep, and I went through and got a soaker. So, I’m sitting here at work with only one sock on. My wet sock is sitting in my window sill. I just checked it and after 3 hours, it’s still soaked. I’m going out with my mom all evening tonight, so I have asked her to bring me a pair of socks that I can borrow. The last thing I want it so have cold, wet feet all evening.

Mom and I are going to a Creative Memories scrap-booking workshop tonight. I am really looking forward to it. I’m going to work on the rest of the pages from our girls trip out to Alberta in April/May 2006. So far, I have one page of our trip to Banff. Tonight, I am going to do another page of our trip to Banff, one page of Mrs. JB’s wedding reception, and another page of our trip to Drumheller. I really love the Creative Memories products, so I am ordering some from the consultant and I have also found some very reasonably-priced Creative Memories products on ebay. This is my first time using ebay, so I was a little skeptical at first, but it seems pretty cool. Now I can’t wait for my stuff to get here. Should get some this week, I hope!

My weekend was pretty good. The friend I was supposed to stay with on Friday ended up getting sick, so I decided to not go to visit her (I’ve been sick enough this winter). I still went to Toronto on Saturday to meet lj and nej for the bridal show and to look for dresses for them for the wedding. Had I known the roads were so horrible, I would have cancelled. I set out and on the 401, the roads appeared fine, but there must have been some black ice because we were all zipping along at about 100 km/hr, and then there was an accident up ahead, so everyone slammed on their brakes (BAD IDEA). Two cars that were ahead of me started spinning out of control through several lanes. I had never seen anything like it. Very scary. Luckily, they didn’t hit anyone, but it was a very close call. That shook me up quite a bit. The way home was no better. On the 401, there was a HUGE accident, so it was down to 1 lane. I was waiting to change lanes (everyone was going very slowly), and a car behind me got creamed. I had to cancel my lane change to get out of the way, otherwise I would have got creamed too! Very scary. The whole way home I was so tense!!! When I finally got home safely, I was so relieved and happy to be alive that I burst into tears as soon as I got in the door. I cried for a little while, CT comforted me and gave me a back massage, and then I felt much better. What a scary day though! I heard afterwards that there was 100+ accidents in the GTA that day.

Despite the horrible driving, the girls and I had a good time. The bridal show was pretty much a repeat of the one I had attended 3 weeks prior. And we didn’t find too much in terms of dresses, but we’re going to look again in 3 weeks.

My ceremony musician is booked! She said she gave up doing weddings years ago, but that she would do anything for our family. She’s honoured. I’m so glad she said yes! One more thing to cross off the list! Mom and I are going to look at cakes and flowers in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I can cross those off the list soon too!

Hope everyone has a most excellent week!

This week has gone by quickly!

We’re already at Thursday, so that means tomorrow is Friday! Tomorrow after work, I am heading to Toronto to stay with a friend whom I haven’t seem in a couple of months. I will stay with her tomorrow night and then I’m meeting lj and nej to go to a bridal show in Toronto and then we’re going to go shopping for dresses for them for the wedding. It will be good to get back into the wedding mode since I haven’t done much lately. I still have 7.5 months, so there’s lots of time ;)

I have set myself some goals to work towards. I want to have my flowers ordered by the end of February since apparently you need to do that at least 6 months in advance. I also have to start looking into the cake. Mom and I are going to a work shop in mid-February about making your own invitations. And CT and I should book our honeymoon in the next few weeks. At least the cruise portion. I think we have pretty much decided on doing the 1-week cruise from September 16-23, with a few days in Puerto Rico first, from September 12-16 likely. If we book before Feb 15th, we get a free room upgrade on the cruise, so we just have to finalize our decision. Since we are booking our flight and hotel in San Juan separate from the cruise (it’s cheaper and there is more flexibility that way), we could always book the cruise now and then wait a few months to book the flight and hotel. That would spread out the cost a bit. I also have a friend of my mom’s who is really gifted musically (she used to be the music director at my church and I also used to take piano lessons from her), so I would like to see if she would play the music for the ceremony. So, before the end of February, I want to have the flowers ordered, decide on a cake, know what I’m doing with invitations, have honeymoon booked, and have ceremony musician booked. I think I will feel much less overwhelmed if I get some of those details out of the way. Then I will set some new deadlines for the next things on the list.

All in all, I think I’m at a good point in the planning for being 7.5 months away from the big day, I just get overwhelmed when I think of how much there is left to do. Hopefully the next few months will be productive!

In other news, CT has a big meeting today with his supervisor, and he doesn’t know what it’s about, just that it’s good. I can’t wait to find out what it’s all about… maybe a big promotion…. Or he gets to transfer to the office in town (he currently commutes about 35 minutes). I am really curious!!!!

EDIT: 12:05pm

Just got the call from CT. They have found him a position in the local office!!!! Doing full-time retail ads, which is what he really wanted (no more real estate, he hated doing that). There is a girl in another office who would like to have CT's old job, so before he can make the switch, that girl needs to have some time to wrap up her work, then CT needs to train her on his old job, then he can move to the local office. So that whole process may take 3 or 4 weeks. He will get a 10% pay increase with his new position, with the opportunity to make more (apparently they work a little differently in the local office where they make a commission on any ads they work on). But, at a minimum, he will be making 10% more than he is now. He is really happy! But apparently he can’t tell anyone at work until the supervisors make the official announcement, which will likely be sometime next week.

I am so happy for him! Now he will have a 10-minute commute through town instead of the 35-minute sometimes-horrible-in-terms-of-road-condition commute. I don't know what it is about highway 7, but it is dangerous! I am so glad he won't be having to make that drive every day again after he makes the switch!

He and I are definitely going out to celebrate tonight!

Party was a success!

Saturday was a mega-busy day. It started with getting up early and cleaning up around the house and then going to pick up supplies for the party, and then to the grocery store to pick up food and the cake I had ordered. I wanted to be back to the house at 11 (the party started at 1). We had a few extra minutes, so I wanted to stop by the party supply store for some balloons, and you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find grad stuff at this time of year! The lady at the party supply store said they have all their grad stuff in storage, but she was able to dig some “congrats” balloons out of the back room, so we got some of those. They looked really good. CT found some banners to put up, so the place looked good. By the time we got home and had all the food prepared, we only had a few minutes before people started arriving.

The party went really well. My mom was surprised. All I told her was “come to my house at 1:00 and wear something nice”. She thought maybe I was hosting a little lunch with the family or something, she had no idea I invited all her friends. Being host to a large party like that was hard work though! I didn’t have time to eat or sit down until it was almost over. That’s okay though. I was really pleased with how it worked out. I was so exhausted afterwards though!

I think I was all wired from the party or something because I then couldn’t sleep on Saturday night. I woke up on Sunday morning feeling nauseous (and I rarely feel nauseous) and just generally felt like crap. I have no idea what it was. I still managed to go to CT’s parents house for a visit, but they could pick up on the fact that I wasn’t feeling well, so we didn’t stay too long. I woke up feeling a little better today.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Fun times!

Last night, I went to a Creative Memories class with my mom. I had ‘won’ a free class at the bridal show I attended here in town (I think she gave everyone a free class). So, we went last night and it was a lot of fun! I did a page of my trip to Banff with lj, nej, and Mrs. JB. It turned out really well. I think I’ll have to do another page of our trip to Drumheller, and another for Mrs. JB’s wedding reception because I have lots of photos.

What can I say, I’m hooked. I was really impressed with the creative memories products. They are quite pricey, but I wouldn’t get everything from there. Things like paper and stickers I could get from a place like Michaels where it’s a little cheaper. I would like to get an album from Creative Memories though because I think they are really well-made and would last a lifetime. And they have a nice white one with a picture window on the front that would make a lovely wedding album. So, I have my work cut out for me! I would like to do an album of “me and my university girls” (a pre-CT album) now, and then in the fall I’ll do a wedding album. Yay! I think I have found a new hobby! I had done some scrappbooking in the past for presents for my grandmother, but now I can actually do one for me!

The lady that runs the Creative Memories workshops hosts two per week that are only $5 to attend and she gives a short lesson and then we can use all her tools to work on our own scrapbook. Which I think would be great. So, I think mom and I are going to do that sometime soon.

Other than that, the big party for my mom is on Saturday, so I am really looking forward to that. I think she will be so pleased that I organized a big shin-dig in her honour. Then on Sunday, I think CT and I are making the trek up to visit his parents for the afternoon.

We also have to figure out soon when we can begin our wedding registry. Well, technically, we already started one, but it only has 1 item so far (I got a $25 HBC giftcard for starting the registry at the bridal show). We are going to register with The Bay and Home Outfitters. So, we are going to The Bay in Oshawa in a couple weeks to set that one up (we don’t have a Bay here in town), but we would like to set up the Home Outfitters one first if possible since we have one of those in town. Fun stuff!

Winter Wonderland

Sure does look like winter now! Are you happy, lj? ;)

I had a good weekend. One of CT’s friends came up for a visit (he’s in Toronto). He is going to be one of CT’s groomsmen, and I had not yet met him, so it was nice to finally meet him. He brought his girlfriend, so we hung out for a bit at our house, then went bowling and out for dinner. It was a lot of fun.

Yesterday, I went to my parent’s house for a bit since I had to do some haircuts, then I had a meeting with my grandma about the party next weekend. Saturday is the surprise “congrats on completing your MBA” party for my mom. Turns out my grandma is going to help out by bringing some food, so that will be nice. Less for me to do. I have to order the cake in the next couple of days, and then I think it’s just small things after that. Balloons, a banner if we can find one, food, and punch. Should be a good party! I hope lots of people show up!

CT and I also went to CAA on Saturday to get some more info. on cruises. It turns out there are 2 different cruises leaving on the same day from San Juan with slightly different itineraries. I think we are still going to go with our original pick because it has one more port it stops at, and it goes to St. Lucia, which I have heard lots of people rave about. My grandma said it is the nicest place she’s been in the Caribbean, and she’s been all over. So our trip to CAA just basically solidified in our mind what we want to do. 4 or 5 days in San Juan, Puerto Rico from September 11th or 12th, and then a 7 day southern Caribbean cruise (with stops in St. Thomas, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Antigua) from September 16th to 23rd. That’s the plan! We’d have 2 or 3 days at home after the wedding before the honeymoon, which I think will be nice because right before the wedding, I’m sure I’ll be busy. So, I won’t even have to pack for the honeymoon until after the wedding. And we’ll have a few days to catch our breath and then go on our honeymoon.

More honeymoon talk!

CT and I have talked some more about what we would like to do for our honeymoon, and we are thinking of going to Puerto Rico. We would spend 4 or 5 days there prior to taking a 7-night southern Caribbean cruise (which leaves from San Juan and goes to St. Thomas, Dominica, St. Lucia, Barbados, and Antigua). The price is right on this one. The cruise is cheaper than the one from Florida, but it costs more for flights. So, it ends up being around the same. From the research I’ve done on Puerto Rico, it sounds like a place both CT and I would really like to visit! We are definitely going to have to take a day trip to go hiking in the rainforest!

And I found this really cute Inn to stay at that is only about $100 CAD a night and it has received really great reviews.

I think we’re going to go to CAA on Saturday (since I’m a member) and see what their prices are for the cruise and a flight. I have also decided that I would like to spend the extra money and get a room with a balcony on the cruise. I just think it would be fabulous to be able to sit on our own private balcony while enjoying some breakfast from room service. Sounds fabulous to me!

The cruise line has a special on right now that if you book by Feb 15th, you get a room upgrade (within the same category) for free. So, we'll have to try to make a decision in the next month if we want to get in on that deal.

Bridal shows galore!

My weekend was filled with bridal shows. I went to the one in Toronto on Saturday with my mom. What a busy day! We left town at around 9:30am and stopped at Costco for a bit. We got to the show around 1pm. The fashion show started at 2, and by the time we got there, there were already no seats left! So, we wandered around and stood to watch the fashion show. There were hundreds of exhibitors there, so it took us all afternoon to see everything. We left around 5ish. I enjoyed it. I got lots of ideas, but a lot of things weren’t really relevant to me since I am not getting married in the GTA. Got lots of free stuff though and entered into lots of contests. Here’s hoping I win something!

We stopped at Yorkdale afterwards for supper and a little shopping, and I bought 2 winter coats which were severely on sale. One is casual and one is dressy. I love them!

Yesterday, I went to another bridal show here in town with my mom and CT’s mom. It was much smaller than the Toronto one, and had local vendors, which was good. What I really wanted was some contacts for flowers and cake. I really have to get on ordering flowers soon since the wedding is 8 months away and most places say you need to order at least 6 months in advance, and apparently September is now the most popular month to get married. My mom knows the owner of a flower shop in town, so we are going to go in and meet with her sometime in the next few weeks. I guess the reason I am hesitating is I’m not set on my colour scheme. I am fairly sure I would like to go with black and medium blue though. So, I guess I just have to finalize that.

CT and I are also trying to decide what we would like to do for our honeymoon. We are thinking of a Caribbean cruise. There is one that looks really good which would be an 8 day cruise, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, and goes to Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Antigua, British Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas. We would also like to spend a few extra days in Florida before the cruise. Neither of us have ever been to Florida before, so we would like to maybe go to Sea World, Kennedy Space Centre, Universal Studios, Bush Gardens, those sorts of things. So, that’s our idea right now. There are plenty of other options for honeymoons, so we’ll have to research and see if there are any other places we would like to go.

Hooray, it’s Friday!

It’s been a bit of a strange week since I’ve been sick. So I’ve only been in the office for 2 days and I worked at home for 2 days. But, I managed to get my report done (it will be finished today), so I am happy about that. The text portion of the report is about 70 pages! No wonder it took me nearly 2 months to do! I’m sure it will take my boss a few days at least to review it, so I can finally get started on some other work that I have been pushing to the back burner. Going to be a busy month! January, February, and March are my 3 busiest months of the year here at work. Can’t wait for April!

This weekend is full of wedding planning. I have taken the last few weeks off from planning, so it’s time to get back into it. Tomorrow, mom and I are heading up to Toronto to go to a bridal show there. Then on Sunday, there is a bridal show here in town. So, 2 bridal shows in 2 days! Makes for a busy weekend. I think while I’m gone, CT is going to install adhesive tiles in the main floor bathroom. That will make such a difference in that room. I am trying to get the house in tip-top shape because I’m hosting a “congrats on completing your MBA” party for my mom in a couple weeks and most of those guests have not yet seen my house. So, I want it to look great!

Oh, and I just have to mention the awesome 10-2 win the leafs pulled off last night! Let’s hope it’s the start of something great because they sure need it!

The year of our Lord 2007

I'm not sure if I posted this before, but it's a neat little piece of trivia. We are now in the year 2007 A.D. The "A.D." does NOT stand for "After Death", it stands for "Anno Domini" which means "Year of our Lord". So, we are now in the 2007th year of our Lord. Cool, eh? I may already posted that, so I apologize if I'm being redundant. I think about that every New Years.

Christmas and New Years were great. Christmas was filled with lots of turkey dinners, visits with family, and I did get a little organized at my house. My mom and I spent one day working on her house cleaning up and then we spent one day on my house. It worked out well. Much more motivating than cleaning up on my own. It's nice to have someone else with you to help.

I have caught a nasty cold, so I went into work for our weekly meeting, but then I brought my work laptop home so I can work from home for the rest of the day. That way I can take a catnap break or make myself some chicken soup whenever I want. I love having that flexibility. And it sure is nice to have a laptop at work so it makes it so convenient to work from home.

As for resolutions, I only really have the losing weight/get into shape one that I have had for the last few years. Since I now have a treadmill though, I think that will make it much easier! I really love it! So I am bound to lose weight if I keep it up.

Merry Christmas!

This will likely be my last post before Christmas. I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a fabulous New Year!

I have a potluck at work today, so I made pasta salad last night. My first time ever making pasta salad. I taste-tested it, and I’m not really sure it turned out all that well. I think it tastes too much like egg and mayo. Think deviled egg taste. And I didn’t even put as much mayo in as the recipe called for! I guess I’ll find out at lunch if people like it. It’s alright, just not great. Oh well, it was my first time making it, so I guess I’ll know what to change for next time.

We also have a gift exchange today. I brought a really nice wine box which has a corkscrew, wine topper, wine pourer, and one other wine gadget in a nice box with enough room to put a bottle of wine is as well. So, I put a bottle of my wine that I make in it. I wonder what present I will get from the gift exchange; we are doing that right after lunch.

Can’t wait until the workday is over! I am hoping my boss will let us leave early today, we’ll see. I may be here until 5, I will just have to wait to find out if he’s in a good mood! Last year, he came around at around 2pm and told everyone to have a Merry Christmas and to leave early. I think I was out of the building in 5 minutes flat.

I’ll be spending the evening at my parent’s house working on the scrapbook. Then tomorrow, I have a massage and then back to parent’s house to finish the scrapbook. It sure is a lot of work! But I think it will be fabulous.

Sunday and Monday are 2 family Christmases (mine and CT’s). Then I have the rest of next week off! I’m sure it will go by quickly since I already have plans to visit with several friends and I want to get my house more organized, etc. But definitely looking forward to the time away from the office! I love my job, but I need a break!

EDIT 1:51pm:

WOOHOO! Boss just came around and told everyone to go home. I'm outta here until next year! Yay!

Is this week over yet?

This workweek seems to be going at a snail’s pace. I’m sure it’s because it’s the last few work days before Christmas and I am really looking forward to having next week off! I have a big report that I wanted to get the draft completed this week, not sure if that’s going to happen. Should be close anyways!

This week, I got a letter stating that I have an opportunity to buy shares in the company. The good thing is they are offering me shares at a certain price and I have 3 months to make a decision. They also gave me some financial reports and I had my mom look them over since she just finished her MBA. She said we are doing very well, have a good asset to liability ratio, so it is definitely something worth investing in. I was offered shares at a really good price, and I would get paid dividends on any profits. Definitely an opportunity I can’t pass up. The only problem is this is bad timing for me money-wise since I’m trying to pay for my wedding. But, since I have 3 months, I am going to try to save some money between now and then and my grandmother has offered to lend me some money as well. So looks like I will be a shareholder in the company in a few months!

I am *loving* my new treadmill! I have used it 8 of the last 9 days. It’s great! I love the fact that I can watch tv or a movie while I work out. I even used the little built-in tv on the weekend to watch a movie. I hooked my PS2 up to it, so I can watch movies. I am just not sure if I can watch tv on it since we have satellite, not cable. I’m sure there is a way, but for now, I use the big tv to watch tv (I just have to turn it and turn the volume way up) and the built-in one to watch movies. I am definitely noticing a difference: my clothes fit better, I look like I’ve lost some weight, and I have more energy. The scale doesn’t really show a difference yet, but I’m sure it will soon!