or maybe I just enjoy having things to count down to.
I have 28 working days left until my maternity leave
38 days total if I count weekends.
81 days til the closing date for my NEW HOUSE!!!!
63 days til my actual due date.
I'm not sure when we're going to plan to actually move, but definitely the week of the closing date.. I want outta my apartment dangit. I may end up moving in with my parents for a couple of weeks after the baby is born, but before the closing date. We'll see.. it may just be easier than having people coming in and out of our tiny apartment to catch me breastfeeding, or being slobby cause I have a new baby...
we'll see.
did I mention that I bought a house? :D
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Brace yourself, this will be a long one…I totally just bought a house.
We decided a couple of weeks ago that yes, damnit, we’re going to buy a house.
I despise where we are living right now, the only reason that we’re there is so that I am close to work.. which once I’m on mat leave won’t matter at all. It’s kind of like living in a cave. A fairly pretty cave, with a dishwasher and washer/dryer, but a cave nonetheless. I feel almost chlausterphobic there especially if I’m home alone. The cat paces like a caged lion, and I feel uneasy there as well. We have huge windows.. lovely gorgeous windows.. that we need to keep the blinds closed at all times because when they’re open, we can see into 30 or so other apartments, and they can see into ours. The windows and layout of our apartment make it so that if the blinds are open, anyone can see our *entire* apartment, and I feel like I need to escape into the bathroom to avoid people looking at me all the time. I realize this is fairly irrational, and that chances are, no one is looking at me.. but for someone with social anxiety… it’s a really hard feeling to shake.
Our new house *deep relieved sigh* is gorgeous. It backs onto a huge park, with a play structure just a few minutes walk away. The backyard itself is huge as well, with a maaaaaaaaassive tree smack in the middle of it. Not close enough to the house for the roots to cause damage to pipes and all that mess, and far enough away that it provides shade to pretty much the whole yard. It has a cute lil shed with windows and window boxes to put pretty flowers in. It has a hot tub (we’re not big on hot tubs, but then again, we’ve never owned one, so we just may be hot tub people yet). There’s a gazebo thinger that’s pretty and has netting to keep bugs out (or in, depending who you ask). It has a fairly new deck that won’t need boards replaced anytime soon.
It has a driveway. No need to pay for parking!
It has an entryway from the front door, a little tiled entrance with a closet to hang our coats (oh, and the glass in the door is stained glass). You turn left and there’s a carpeted living room with a big ol bay window (new this year!) that looks out at a pretty tree.
To the right there are stairs up to the second floor, and stairs down to a finished basement. The basement is a bit dark, but has an awesome washer and dryer that I will enjoy doing laundry with! That will be our living room.. while the upstairs room with end up being a playroom/daycare area.. The previous owners have a small child and so baby gates were installed at all the doors and stairs which is perfect for us, and they’re leaving them!
The washer/dryer are in a dingy lil furnace room… but that’s ok, cause I don’t have to hang out in there, I can sit and watch tv in the other part of the basement :D
Behind the “living room” is a gorgeous kitchen. It’s all light wood, which I usually don’t like, but I thought it worked really well. It’s an eat in kitchen which is good for us, we’re not big on a separate dining room, and when we had one, we ended up standing and eating in the kitchen anyway.
Behind the kitchen is a mud room. (we’re gonna have a mud room!). It’s tiled, and neat and tidy, and it leads out into the backyard.
Back to the stairs, and upstairs there are three bedrooms. One is sort of a weird size, but still will work for a guestroom typa deal. There’s only one bathroom, so we’ll definitely need to put in another at one point, but that’s ok. We’ll save up for that.
The master is huge, and has two fairly big windows. It’s a hideous maroon colour with weird brown and cream stripes on one wall, so I would want to paint that room, and possibly the room that we want to use as a nursery.. right now it’s a bright green that I think is a bit icky looking and too bright for a nursery. The washroom was recently redone, and is pretty although very small.
Anyway, overall.. it’s perfect for our little family
I despise where we are living right now, the only reason that we’re there is so that I am close to work.. which once I’m on mat leave won’t matter at all. It’s kind of like living in a cave. A fairly pretty cave, with a dishwasher and washer/dryer, but a cave nonetheless. I feel almost chlausterphobic there especially if I’m home alone. The cat paces like a caged lion, and I feel uneasy there as well. We have huge windows.. lovely gorgeous windows.. that we need to keep the blinds closed at all times because when they’re open, we can see into 30 or so other apartments, and they can see into ours. The windows and layout of our apartment make it so that if the blinds are open, anyone can see our *entire* apartment, and I feel like I need to escape into the bathroom to avoid people looking at me all the time. I realize this is fairly irrational, and that chances are, no one is looking at me.. but for someone with social anxiety… it’s a really hard feeling to shake.
Our new house *deep relieved sigh* is gorgeous. It backs onto a huge park, with a play structure just a few minutes walk away. The backyard itself is huge as well, with a maaaaaaaaassive tree smack in the middle of it. Not close enough to the house for the roots to cause damage to pipes and all that mess, and far enough away that it provides shade to pretty much the whole yard. It has a cute lil shed with windows and window boxes to put pretty flowers in. It has a hot tub (we’re not big on hot tubs, but then again, we’ve never owned one, so we just may be hot tub people yet). There’s a gazebo thinger that’s pretty and has netting to keep bugs out (or in, depending who you ask). It has a fairly new deck that won’t need boards replaced anytime soon.
It has a driveway. No need to pay for parking!
It has an entryway from the front door, a little tiled entrance with a closet to hang our coats (oh, and the glass in the door is stained glass). You turn left and there’s a carpeted living room with a big ol bay window (new this year!) that looks out at a pretty tree.
To the right there are stairs up to the second floor, and stairs down to a finished basement. The basement is a bit dark, but has an awesome washer and dryer that I will enjoy doing laundry with! That will be our living room.. while the upstairs room with end up being a playroom/daycare area.. The previous owners have a small child and so baby gates were installed at all the doors and stairs which is perfect for us, and they’re leaving them!
The washer/dryer are in a dingy lil furnace room… but that’s ok, cause I don’t have to hang out in there, I can sit and watch tv in the other part of the basement :D
Behind the “living room” is a gorgeous kitchen. It’s all light wood, which I usually don’t like, but I thought it worked really well. It’s an eat in kitchen which is good for us, we’re not big on a separate dining room, and when we had one, we ended up standing and eating in the kitchen anyway.
Behind the kitchen is a mud room. (we’re gonna have a mud room!). It’s tiled, and neat and tidy, and it leads out into the backyard.
Back to the stairs, and upstairs there are three bedrooms. One is sort of a weird size, but still will work for a guestroom typa deal. There’s only one bathroom, so we’ll definitely need to put in another at one point, but that’s ok. We’ll save up for that.
The master is huge, and has two fairly big windows. It’s a hideous maroon colour with weird brown and cream stripes on one wall, so I would want to paint that room, and possibly the room that we want to use as a nursery.. right now it’s a bright green that I think is a bit icky looking and too bright for a nursery. The washroom was recently redone, and is pretty although very small.
Anyway, overall.. it’s perfect for our little family
Friday, September 23, 2011
I'm determined, damnit.
on tuesday I got word from my boss that performance evaluations on all my staff would be due by October 17th.
I got to thinking.. if they are due October 17th, and she has to read through 800 or so.. I probably won't get them approved and delivered to my staff before I go on my Mat leave..So I called her up and asked her if I could have them done this week for her so that I could definitely be the one to meet with each staff and go over their performance.
why oh why do I do this to myself?!
I have fifteen staff. the performance evaluations are 7 pages each. There are two sections for each evaluation, which each consist of 22 subsections. Each of these subsections requires a comment. so.. basically, I had to write 660 comments, each one different and individualized to each of my staff.
I did it though! I had finished five on wednesday and thursday, and was determined to finish the rest today. so I closed the door to my office, refused to answer the phone, and worked my ass off. I finished them! 10 minutes before the end of my shift!
I'm proud of me :D
I got to thinking.. if they are due October 17th, and she has to read through 800 or so.. I probably won't get them approved and delivered to my staff before I go on my Mat leave..So I called her up and asked her if I could have them done this week for her so that I could definitely be the one to meet with each staff and go over their performance.
why oh why do I do this to myself?!
I have fifteen staff. the performance evaluations are 7 pages each. There are two sections for each evaluation, which each consist of 22 subsections. Each of these subsections requires a comment. so.. basically, I had to write 660 comments, each one different and individualized to each of my staff.
I did it though! I had finished five on wednesday and thursday, and was determined to finish the rest today. so I closed the door to my office, refused to answer the phone, and worked my ass off. I finished them! 10 minutes before the end of my shift!
I'm proud of me :D
Thursday, September 22, 2011
evil wench...
So this woman has been trying to make life at work hell for me. She is a client, so I need to be "pleasant" and "professional" with her. Yesterday, I chose to speak my mind instead, but I did so with tact, and diplomacy.
Some background info.. she is a bitch. She thinks she knows more about the business that I run, than I do.. and is horribly mistaken. She believes that she could do my job.. she could not, and would get shut down, because she's moronic and far too focused on certain aspects of my job.
She complained about the number of children in a room. I changed the staffing in that room and she still complained to the government about it.. My licensing inspector called me (really nice guy!) and talked to me, I explained her insanity and my attempt to appease her insanity and he was more than impressed that I hadn't just told her to take a hike.
Yesterday, while I was on the phone with another client, she came to the front door (we have a front door with no access code, and a back door with a code, it's a 20 second walk to the back door) and rang the doorbell. She proceeded to stare at me, tapping her foot and ringing the doorbell repeatedly. I ignored her. Eventually another staff member let her in, so she rolled her eyes and huffed and puffed about my ignoring her.
She decided to wait for me to get off the phone, and then confronted me about her "concerns". She said that it's ridiculous that she should be expected to wait at the door to pick up her child while I "dick away" my time...whatever the hell that means. I explained that I was on the phone with a client, and that if it had been her on the phone, I would not have stopped that conversation to get the door for someone who has the code either. She said that if I don't "get off my lazy ass" she'll make another complaint.
I said to her.. calmly "I'd appreciate it if you left my office, and I will speak to you once you've calmed down", she obviously didn't like that, and sat down, refusing to leave. I got up and walked out..mentioning that she had been worried about hurrying inside to pick up her child, yet here she was, sitting in my office instead of picking him up.
She left, very angry with me.. :)
today, she pretended that none of it ever happened, and asked me how far along I am now! moron.
Some background info.. she is a bitch. She thinks she knows more about the business that I run, than I do.. and is horribly mistaken. She believes that she could do my job.. she could not, and would get shut down, because she's moronic and far too focused on certain aspects of my job.
She complained about the number of children in a room. I changed the staffing in that room and she still complained to the government about it.. My licensing inspector called me (really nice guy!) and talked to me, I explained her insanity and my attempt to appease her insanity and he was more than impressed that I hadn't just told her to take a hike.
Yesterday, while I was on the phone with another client, she came to the front door (we have a front door with no access code, and a back door with a code, it's a 20 second walk to the back door) and rang the doorbell. She proceeded to stare at me, tapping her foot and ringing the doorbell repeatedly. I ignored her. Eventually another staff member let her in, so she rolled her eyes and huffed and puffed about my ignoring her.
She decided to wait for me to get off the phone, and then confronted me about her "concerns". She said that it's ridiculous that she should be expected to wait at the door to pick up her child while I "dick away" my time...whatever the hell that means. I explained that I was on the phone with a client, and that if it had been her on the phone, I would not have stopped that conversation to get the door for someone who has the code either. She said that if I don't "get off my lazy ass" she'll make another complaint.
I said to her.. calmly "I'd appreciate it if you left my office, and I will speak to you once you've calmed down", she obviously didn't like that, and sat down, refusing to leave. I got up and walked out..mentioning that she had been worried about hurrying inside to pick up her child, yet here she was, sitting in my office instead of picking him up.
She left, very angry with me.. :)
today, she pretended that none of it ever happened, and asked me how far along I am now! moron.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
needing to vent
I'm taking my Mat leave starting November 4th. Three weeks before my due date.. and I refuse to feel guilty. I feel like shit all the time, I can't walk without pain in my hips and back, and I keep bursting into tears anytime someone is rude to me (which happens a hell of a lot in my line of work).
Today someone complained about something that I have NO control over, and then when I explained the company's policies and the fact that this particular policy has been in place since long before I was around, and that in the contract that she signed, it is VERY clear.. she told me that I'm an "insensitive bitch" who "doesn't deserve" my job.
All of this, because her child who had a fever of 102, and had vomitted twice.. was being sent home. Her whole argument was that she needs to work to pay for childcare, and we're not helping her out by sending her child home and making her miss work.
I explained that when other people's children are ill, we follow the same procedure and ensure that her child is exposed as little as possible to the ill children.. when I said that she said "then why is she sick?!?!" I felt like slapping her.
I have 37 days left of work. Thank god.
Today someone complained about something that I have NO control over, and then when I explained the company's policies and the fact that this particular policy has been in place since long before I was around, and that in the contract that she signed, it is VERY clear.. she told me that I'm an "insensitive bitch" who "doesn't deserve" my job.
All of this, because her child who had a fever of 102, and had vomitted twice.. was being sent home. Her whole argument was that she needs to work to pay for childcare, and we're not helping her out by sending her child home and making her miss work.
I explained that when other people's children are ill, we follow the same procedure and ensure that her child is exposed as little as possible to the ill children.. when I said that she said "then why is she sick?!?!" I felt like slapping her.
I have 37 days left of work. Thank god.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
My Grampa..
My Grandfather was a funny man, he enjoyed making puns.. he was the kinda guy that you sometimes couldn't tell if he was joking.. he poked fun (which I do too if I like you enough).
I was never close with either of my grandparents, they had an odd relationship with my mother and I have two cousins slightly younger than me, who when I was very young were pretty well abandoned by their father. They were needed by my cousins, and I got a bit lost in the shuffle I guess. I always resented the fact that they didn't seem to have much interest in me.. but I still love them both.
My grandfather always wanted to do everything himself. He's the only person on the planet who owns a sawzall.. and my dad has been borrowing it for every renovation (there have been tons) that he's ever done over the span of my lifetime.
He owned a bike shop.. and over the past while, my husband (a bicycle mechanic who works in his own father's bike shop) and I would visit my grandfather, and talk about bikes so that my grampa could talk about the past and be happy, instead of thinking about now, when he wasn't quite as capable and independant as he would have liked.
My baby is never going to meet him...
My grandfather had a heart that kept giving him trouble.
He was 88 when he died last week, and although I have way too much trouble putting how I feel about it into words... I hope that he knows how much I loved him.
I was never close with either of my grandparents, they had an odd relationship with my mother and I have two cousins slightly younger than me, who when I was very young were pretty well abandoned by their father. They were needed by my cousins, and I got a bit lost in the shuffle I guess. I always resented the fact that they didn't seem to have much interest in me.. but I still love them both.
My grandfather always wanted to do everything himself. He's the only person on the planet who owns a sawzall.. and my dad has been borrowing it for every renovation (there have been tons) that he's ever done over the span of my lifetime.
He owned a bike shop.. and over the past while, my husband (a bicycle mechanic who works in his own father's bike shop) and I would visit my grandfather, and talk about bikes so that my grampa could talk about the past and be happy, instead of thinking about now, when he wasn't quite as capable and independant as he would have liked.
My baby is never going to meet him...
My grandfather had a heart that kept giving him trouble.
He was 88 when he died last week, and although I have way too much trouble putting how I feel about it into words... I hope that he knows how much I loved him.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)