I Homeschooled For a Day...

and it was crazy.
Somehow word leaked out that I am unemployed for the next while, SO...a friend of the family asked if I would watch their four homeschooled children while they raced to Kelowna for a day for an appointment.
I knew there was no REAL reason to say 'no', and that it would be a "good" thing to do. I actually do have a fairly healthy conscience. So I said I'd do it. After all its ONLY eight hours, right?
Well let me tell you I have a new-found respect for my mom, and all other mom's that make the crazy decision to homeschool their kids. I don't know HOW they manage it day after day after day! I am thoroughly exhausted from simply being with those kids (I don't know their exact ages, but I'm guessing they were between 7 and 12) and always hounding them to get back to work, or helping them figure out (aka TELLING THEM) which of the four words in the list are misspelled, or trying to remember how to create common denominators...my poor little brain is only used to taking Tim Hortons orders, not teaching kids school stuff. It was unbelievably hard to keep up with four different "lessons" at the same time, and then move on again and make sure everyone was getting stuff done and not just taking advantage of Mom being out for the day and duping the stupid babysitter.
I think I was just as eager for school to get "out" as they were!!
Tomorrow's sleep-in is well deserved.

Checking In

So I endured a weekend of being called an un-employed slacker, which is completely unfair because even if I WERE employed, I am entitled to my weekends.
So today was my first day of legitimate slacking.
Sleeping in was definitely nice. I got up about nine, had a nice hot shower, a lesiurely breakfast, not too shabby.
Then I helped my mom grocery shop (my good deed for the day), and then shopped at good ol' Value Village with friend Liz. We figured we couldn't miss 50% OFF day...but we could have. We each found three items, waited a half an hour in line for the change rooms, and were unsuccessful. Sigh.
Then after a little coffee time at Zacks, we froze our butts off downtown, and bussed home.
I don't really remember much after that, except I vaguely recall a episode of 'Remington Steele' season one...
Its really scary how little you can get done in a day.
Tomorrow shall be a little less relaxing...I'll let you know how it goes. I may even have pictures.

New CD

I recently bought this CD, and I'm really enjoying the music. Leeland is a relatively new band, but very good. They write the kind of songs that get stuck in your head and you can't get them out alllll day! And that's a good thing. Check it out, you might like it.

Blast Off!!!

Check out my new best-seller! Its a big hit.

So...
Its over.
Weird.

Today went pretty much like every Friday at Tim Hortons goes. The only thing different was everyone saying goodbye to me. It made me sad, because I don't know when/if I'll ever see them again. But it was nice to know I'll be missed. I plan on sending them a postcard from Quadra!!!

Thanks for rooting me on to the end of this week guys! I'm not gonna lie, I could have done it without you, but it sure is nice to get such supportive comments :P

EDIT: If you're looking at that picture and thinking "what the hecK???", you obviously were not ferociously force-fed the teachings of this book.

One...

MORE DAY!!!
I just need to make it through one more gruelling 8-hour shift, and then I'm home-free. I'm even beginning to feel better, so maybe I won't be spending my free weeks before I leave in a coma. Its a cheering thought.
Oh and I have GOOD NEWS!

The Prodigal Chapstick Has Returned!
It was lost, but now it is found.

See, I have very specific chapsticks. I have a purse chapstick, a coat chapstick, a home chapstick, and an at-work chapstick. The above is my at-work chapstick, and the other week at the bus-stop when I needed it most, I couldn't find it. I seriously turned my bag inside-out looking for that chapstick!!! It was nowhere to be found. I figured I must have left it in the locker at work, but it wasn't there the next day. I was very sad.
So, imagine my delight when it turned up yesterday. I don't know where it was hiding, but it saw fit to return to me, and that's all I need to know. I'm just happy its back. Its Vanilla-Minty freshness was missed.

Two...

More wretched days at Tim's.
I had a wonderful blog all planned out for today, but when I got home I curled up on the couch with my sniffles and misery, and watched a movie instead. And now I'm going to bed. Better luck tomorrow.

Three...

more days at Tim Hortons!
Yes, I'm back from the near-dead. Though not 100% healthy, I was able to go back to work today. I feel kind of ripped off though. Sure sleeping lots and taking Monday off as well as having a free Saturay and Sunday MIGHT sound pretty nice, but trust me, it wasn't. Being sick is never fun. So my weekend was wasted. sigh.

Sick

I am sick. I can hardly talk because my throat is sore, and I have no voice. On top of that, I also have a perma-headache. It refuses to leave. Waaah. Yes, I know I'm whining. This is your cue to comfort me.

Welcome Home, Liz!!!

For the last seven months my good friend Liz has been off adventuring in the lands of Australia and New Zealand, and tomorrow she's coming home! I'm so excited to see her again!!!

FREE TO GOOD HOME

Long story short: Girlie is not going back to her previous owner, and is therefore looking for a nice family to live with.
She is a really sweet little thing, LOVES to cuddle and purr, is indoor/outdoor, litter-trained, and CUTE.
I never did follow up on the very long process of getting her and Beebs to tolerate each other, and my parents don't want another cat, especially since I am leaving...so we can't keep her.
I don't want to send her to the SPCA!!! She is too nice a cat to go there. If you want her, or know someone who will take her and love her let me know!!!
She is a very talented cat. Here you can see her working as Beebs' stunt double in our family photo.

Death Of a Hairclip

This black hairclip's life ended abruptly Saturday, January the Twenty-seventh. It was only a few weeks old.
The tragic event occurred after a long road-trip to Vancouver. Experts suspect that the clip was not packaged properly and was weakened after the bumpy ride. When forced into service the following day, it collapsed under the pressure.
In life it served the noble purpose of being exactly the right size and strength for my hair, and in death it shall be remembered as being the perfect clip.
Hairclip, you will be missed.

And replaced for $1.95 at Wal-mart.

Happy Birthday Ju!

Here's to the best cousin a girl could have!

Julie and I were born EXACTLY a week apart and spent years 0-5 inseperably, until my family moved away from Alberta into Kamloops. But that didn't stop us from growing up into awesome friends.
We've shared many MANY hilarious moments and have a limitless library of inside jokes (for example, the names "Herman", "Brandy", and "Hubert" will probably mean nothing to all of you, except her sisters might have some inkling...), both share a deep and abounding love for the Disney animated "101 Dalmations" (and you know what Ju, I LIKE Pongo, I never wanted to be Purdy anyway...), and we even began to write a joint best-seller, titled "Bearlock Holmes", featuring my favorite teddy. It was prime material, but we never did figure out who the killer was.
Its hard to believe we're 19 already, and not pretending to be buck-toothed rabbits inhabiting the Shuswap camping sites, or laughing hysterically over random little stick-people we carved. But we don't let that stop us from having a good time whenever we see each other, so here's to future visits, and to you, Ju. Thanks for all the memories!

Fun Weekend

To your left you can see a very interesting picture.
It is one of three pictures I took this last weekend (the other two were of the same subject*, but didn't turn out).
I'm developing a bad habit of not taking pictures of events in my life. I think I should hire someone to follow me around and photograph different moments of my life. I wonder if one day they'll invent a robot camera like that? That would be awesome! I would totally get one.
Anyway, the pictures that I didn't take, but should have, were of my Young Adults group as spent the weekend up at Loon Lake. It was soooo much fun!
We played "Apples to Apples" (of which I am the undefeated champion WITHOUT cheating, Ryan), ate scrumptious nachos, rode on GT's behind a truck, introduced two people to "The Princess Bride" (we were shocked and appalled they hadn't seen it yet), had pathetic snowball fights, and experienced life with minimal sleep and Mr Coffee.
Oodelally!
I'm going to miss the group so much when I head down to Homewood this March!

*Ryan created a tower of dominos that stayed upright for about 12 hours even though it was highly unstable!

iZombie

I do solemnly swear never to become an iZombie.
(By the way i never knew that was an actual coined word until I googled it. But what else is new?)

Nothing irks me more than otherwise normal, interesting people who choose to zone out and ignore the world around them by wearing head/earphones, and thus declare that their music is more important/interesting than anyone they might meet or talk to.

Ok, a loner of the bus can get away with it because let's face it, half the people on the bus your mother doesn't want you associating with anyway. But when you start to miss out on normal social interactions because you are tuned in to you ipod/mp3 player I think its time to put it away for a while and remember what life was like without an accompanying soundtrack.

So here's the news: I got an iPod nano for my birthday! Yay me! I love it. I really do. What an awesome gift! But I'm super paranoid I'm going to become an iZombie. I don't want to walk through my life ignoring everyone around me, interested in hearing only the things I choose to hear. I don't want people to feel that I'm only listening to them with one ear when they talk to me.

I will strive to only listen to my iPod when no one else requires my attention. If you see me turning into an iZombie, please, please, feel free to unplug me from my new toy and tell me. I'll be listening with both ears.

Thank God for Rational Parents

Honestly.
I was almost out of my mind last night. I'm such a freak-out prone person. As soon as this opportunity came up it send my head spinning in a million different directions.
For so long I've wanted to do something different, and go somewhere different, and try out my little almost-nineteen-year-old wings! This camp thing just seemed so convenient and it's come at such a good time, it sort of scared me. I've been talking about "flying away" for so long, now that the opportunity has come, I'm noticing lot of baby "feathers".
ANYWAY last night the only thing that kept me sane was my amazing parents. They gave me some really good advice, and sort of leveled my thoughts a bit.
So, with their input my tentative plan is to apply for the job in March, as opposed to February. I will spend most of February working at Tim Hortons some more, then take a week or so off to prepare myself for the move and such.
I talked to my manager today and told her February 16th will be my last day serving coffee.
So no matter if I DO got to the Island or not, I will not be at Timmy's past February 16th, which is a relief, and a step in the right direction I beleive.

Turmoil of the Worst Kind

Minus the gray hair (and the whole general apperance of this very frustrated woman, besides the fact that she is clutching her head), and you have a basic picture of myself.
As my career at Tim Hortons nears its close (I am giving notice...tomorrow? the day after? argh!) I am forced to look at other occuptational options.
In the distant future I was thinking of volunteering at Camp Homewood as an assistant cook for the Summer months. A couple nights ago I asked brother Mike (who works there full-time) to sort of test the waters for me in that department, and see if it looked promising.
Being the laid-back Islander he is, I wasn't expecting a response any time soon. I was mightily surprised to find that he had called this afternoon and left a message for me to call him back.
Well of course when I picked up the phone to do so, I got the "busy" signal. The same sound I heard every five minutes for the next hour and fifteen minutes! By then I was getting antsy. What did he have to say that made him call back so soon? It was totally unlike him!
Well when I DID finally get through, he said he had talked to the Director...and he was eager for me to come as early as February!!!
WHAT?!?!?!?!
That means I could be gone....soon! IF I go. But... but... but...
I'm totally ill-prepared mentally to leave so soon.
What about friends? Family? BEEBS! (i'd really, really, really, miss my little Beebs)
It wouldn't be a good move for making the moola, but I wouldn't be spending a lot either, so I could go either way financially.
And what if I hate it? I mean, I've cooked there before and its hard work, and I liked it...but what if I get sick of it? Would I be stuck there and hating it?
On the other hand:
What if I love it? What if moving away is just the sort of adventure I need right now? I'll get to explore the whole of Quadra Island with some of the funniest people on earth, I'll be closer to my good friend Karissa and possibly see her on weekends, and who knows I might meet someone during the summer that will want to go to Ireland with me!
I'm so confused. I need to think about this. Slowly. Thoroughly. Rationally.

AUUUUGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!

Snow Camp 2007!

Last weekend the youth group went to Gardom Lake Bible Camp for the annual Snow Camp. And this year we had LOTS AND LOTS of snow!!! It was glorious! This meant that we spent a lot of time on their fantastic tube hill. Yes, Snow Camp is much more than tubing alone...but that was my favorite part! Above you can see the hill, it doesn't look so steep in the picture but it is quite scary when you're there.

We went whipping down that hill so fast! Here Angela is holding the remnants of the tube she was riding....AFTER they hit the tree! (no one died, so don't fuss)

Here you can see the classic beginning-of-the-end. The beginning of the hill was quite steep, so the top person would often slide off and consequently be squashed by everyone else as they took their turn (I was that person more often than not).Preparing to launch!!!

The Ultimate Face Wash.

Aftermath.

After a particularly painful wipe-out, I was sure I was bleeding somewhere. And my ear really hurt. When I returned to the lodge, I found out I had broken the stick of my earring (below) and it had scraped my earlobe badly (its scabbed over now, thanks for asking). Luckily, the earring was the only casualty of the weekend (besides the one tube).

WARNING!!! BLOOD!

Don't worry he was fine, just a little scratched up from a stick that was living quite peacefully until it was nastily disturbed by some rowdy children on a tube.

Wahhh....I don't want to go to Tim's tomorrow.

So...
I'm pretty sure I've told almost everyone I know (except -erk!- my boss) that I am quitting Tim Hortons THIS MONTH. I know without a doubt I need to move on from that...that...place.
The only thing holding me back is lack-of-another-job...and I admit I'm not the most diligent job-seeker. I can't think of anything that I could do that would be different from what I'm doing now and that I would like better. uuuugh.
But I'm looking at my calendar now, and since I have to give 2 weeks notice, the LATEST I can break the tragic news is the 17th...a day after my birthday. What a way to celebrate!
In case you can't follow where the point of this post is going, I'll tell you it is entirely me talking to myself and saying, "Hurry up and find another job before you wimp out and don't quit at all."
I know, I didn't catch that either.

Ps. Snow Camp pictures coming soon. yay!

Ack!

Please no! How could this HAPPEN?!
Apparently we must all pack away any hope of wearing comfortable pants that might balance out or hide any imperfections in our figures.
Now, if you are one of those lucky beings that was born with a body that looks good in anything, then you have nothing to worry about.
Unfortunately there are a few of us less fortunate people. And these horrible new "skinny jeans" will exploit a great many of us.
I thought we were done with *shudder* tapers back in the 80's and 90's but it would seem they've made a vengeful comeback. I won't be surprised if waistlines shoot waaaay back up, and we start wearing ponytails on top of our heads soon too. There is no evil those trendsetters will not stoop to.

2007

Things I Want To Do This Year:

-Make exercise a habit
-Break a bad habit
-Visit friends in Alberta
-Challenge myself to not buy clothes that blatantly sport Brand Names
-Expand my library of both books and music
-Get a new job
-Go to Ireland
-Get a credit card
-Move out

I know there is probably a lot more, but I''m tired and this is all I could think of. I'll check in Jan. 1/08 and see how well I did.