One more day

Until my Birthday!!

Another year gone. I'll be 27. That was always my 'number' of the bridge from young and carefree to Adult. Holy frick I'm going to be an adult. The fact that in a month Dave will be 28, well, that's freaking me out and come next birthday I might be drunk rocking myself in the corner.

I'm not really sure what I will be doing tomorrow. I usually try to get my friends and family together for a nice dinner out. However being in Alberta I don't have any family and only a few friends here. Maybe I'll convince Dave to take me out for dinner.

I got spoiled today and shopped till we dropped.... or well, until my gift cards ran out. haha! Dave got me 3 stacks of paper and a whole lot of glue for my crafts! I'm so excited! I'm off to do some creating now!! Hope you all have an awesome evening.

Swagbucks update

I figured I would do a bit of an update on the whole Swagbucks thing. I posted about it the day I started here, which was Dec 10th. Now, Dec 23rd, I've earned almost 800 Swagbucks! (as of this second I have 795) With 450 Swagbucks I can get a $5 Amazon gift card. Now, I'm sure some people are thinking, that's a lot of bucks to get a $5 card. But think about it, I'm doing searches, things I would normally use google for, plus, instead of just typing in facebook, twitter or even blogger I search it instead. It's one small extra step, but at this point I've almost gotten $10 in free amazon cards!

Now, here's the other exciting point. For every person I refer, signs up through me, and earns Swagbucks, I earn them too! Yes, I am excited about that. haha. Of course, if you want in on some of this free gift card goodness, and who DOESN'T like free, you can sign up! Just click on the little picture below here and it will take you right to the site to sign up! When you sign up, you immediately get 30 Swagbucks to start.



Also, for those that sign up this week if you enter "SignUp2010" right after registering you get a bonus 20 Swagbucks. Just let me know if you need any help with signing up or anything else and I will try to help you out as much as I can!



p.s. did I forget to mention if you shop online, there are sites you can get to (like best buy) through Swagbucks and earn 2 Swagbucks for every $1 spent. I've found Dave's Birthday present request on there, cheaper then in HMV, and I plan on ordering it for him.... because we both benefit!

A little bit of a giggle

I was trying to get austin to lay still in bed with me. He didn't want to. I had a brilliant idea to bring up youtube. I did a search for funny dogs or funny cats, I can't remember which one, and eventually found a video. He thought it was the best damn thing ever. I don't think I've ever heard him laugh like this, and I replayed the video numerous times and he thought it was funny every time.

If you need a pick me up and a bit of a giggle here you are.

I'm stuck

Just a little cuteness for you.

Raise your hand if you're resourceful.

Ooh Ooh, I am I am! *raises hand*

I had the ultimate "holy crap am I ever resourceful" moment tonight.

We had a glorious date night, saw little fockers. After the movie I head to the bathroom. A few movies let out so the bathroom was busy, people are talking, toilets are flushing, water is running and hand dryers are blowing. I pee, and then realize.... There is no toilet paper.

I could politely ask someone to pass me some, but no one would hear me! I start to panic. What do I have in my purse. I start thinking..

Nope, I threw out the napkins I grabbed for the popcorn. Crap. I don't have tissues. Crap.

Then it hits me. Well, I know I have tampons. I could try those....

I start digging through my purse and I find the answer. A clean diaper. If Austin can pee in it, I'm sure it would do the trick for me.

Let me tell you. It does. haha. I had a smirk of "bahaha I am so smart" on my face while washing my hands and while walking out the door. My husband thought it was hilarious. I think it's resourceful.

What do I want for Christmas?

Why a Hippopotamus of course!!! Not really, but every time I hear the song (and I hear it often because *I.LOVE.IT.* I always think to myself the same thing at the same line.


Just after the chorus again, the song goes
" mom says a hippo would eat me up, but then
teacher says a hippo is a vegetarian."


My thoughts when I hear that line is - how much does that mom hate that damn teacher.

Now being a mom myself I can totally see me saying oh you can't have a hippo for Christmas it will become vicious and mangle you to death then you won't be able to see or jump rope or live. Because really, getting your kid a hippo for Christmas is probably the stupidest gift you could ever get them, you know, unless you own a zoo. (and I am talking a real live one here.)

But then!! That damn know it all teacher (who of course is good looking, young and skinny. You know the ones men's dreams are made of) just has to speak up and tell your child that a hippo is a vegetarian so now you can't lie to your kid and tell them they will get eaten alive by the stupid hippo.

The same hippo that will be stubborn and not want to move and will park it's ass on the most breakable item it can find in your house. And lets face it, come January 6th this:

"there's lots of room for him, in our two car garage
I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his masage"

will not happen any more. You will be the one in there every day throwing that oh so adorable hippo it's 3 square meals, hosing the sucker down and cleaning up it's poop. As if you don't have enough shit in your life, you get a hippo's too. And masaging it. HA! Anyone with a husband can tell you how long the promises of a masage last! haha. You will end up with that job too. Next thing you know you are fantasizing all the ways you can off the hippo. If only it moved a little quicker you could just tell your kid it ran away from home and now you can't find it. Put a few signs up and forget about it. Nope! Not going to happen. You're stuck with that damn Hippo from Santa.



Sigh... I'll admit, I'm a little over analytical about pretty much everything. And for that, I'm sorry. But come on... that mom has to be hating her kid's teacher after that comment. And I think about that every time I hear the song.

Oh, and to Austin - No. You will never get a hippo for Christmas. Sorry buddy. How about a hot wheels car instead. Just as much, if not more fun. Just sayin buddy, it could be fun.

Almost done

this year. it is almost done. I can't believe it. What a crazy whirl-wind year we've had. Crazy. I have big plans for my blog in the next year. I want to boost the readers and really get myself out there more. Maybe a few more giveaways? Who knows! Anything is possible. lol.

I'm sitting here, both my husband and my child are in bed sleeping. I'm listening to christmas Carols, looking random things up online and learning cool new things.
--I've learned how to check the stats on my blog and see what has been searched to get to my blog. I've learned how many page views I've had. For example, I had 702 people come check out my blog last month. that kind of rocks! I had no idea that many people stopped by. I guess I should try and make it a bit more interesting over here. haha!
--I learned that the hottie dr Avery from Grey's is actually Jesse Williams and he was also in Sisterhood of the traveling pants 2. I also decided I love his eyes even more and his... Um.. I mean... uh... new topic!!
--I did some research about One for the money, the movie based on Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I love the books, I really hope the movies don't disappoint.
-- I won aprox 20 swagbucks in all my learning tonight. That puts me up at 578 swagbucks. woo hoo!

Yup, that was my exciting night. My jaw is hurting. I would like it to stop hurting. I think it's been hurting since... June maybe? Not 100% sure. Either way.. it can take a flying leap.. stupid jaw.

The Saddest Thing ever

I heard Austin start to whimper then start to Cry last night so I jumped up and ran into his room. This wasn't a "hey look, I'm awake and want to cry come get me" cry, it was a "please come I'm scared" cry.

So, off I went. He was lying on his side crying out "Daddy! Daddy! Where you go?!?" then crying some more. It was the most heartbreaking thing I've ever heard. I tried to rub his back and soothe him but it was like he didn't even hear me. He just kept crying. I had to call Dave out of bed to come in, and once he heard Dave's voice he calmed down. What on earth am I going to do when Dave goes back to work? What if he gets a camp job and is gone for a few weeks.

Sigh...

Swagbucks

Hey! So I've decided to try something new. I'm trying out Swagbucks. It's free to join and you get points or 'bucks' for searching the web and doing surveys and stuff. Then you trade them in for stuff. You can get amazon.com gift cards. We'll see how this turns out, and if it doesn't work, then, well, it was free to sign up. lol. If you are interested in trying this out, you can join up by clicking the sign up on the widget at the very bottom of the page or you can click the banner below!. Good luck!

Adorable.

When we first moved here to Alberta we went on an ikea shopping trip. We bought Austin a set of lights for his room to use as a nightlight. We put them up yesterday. Night light it is not. We could start using them to light our entire house if needed. lol. Still, he loved them so we figured we would leave them on at bedtime. 8pm, we put him down. I went in to check on him and it was the most adorable thing ever.

He was sitting on his bed, and had undressed his monkey Bananas. He had the cream in his hand, still closed, and was rubbing Bananas tummy. Then when he noticed me he pointed to Bananas bum and said poop poop! He then proceeded to get out of bed, run to the bathroom and put Bananas on the potty. It was the most Adorable thing I have ever seen. I'm glad he's getting the concept of potty training.

Finally at 9pm I unplugged his lights since he was still playing with his monkeys and after some protest (ok a lot, he loved having his lights on) he finally crashed.

I think Potty training is going to make a return in our house. Hopefully the flu doesn't interrupt this time.

Mmmm Pizza!

*tune of Brady Bunch* Here's a story, about man named Murphy. He made a very different pizza store. You walk in, and place your order. Then you take it home to bake it on your own.... Ok that's all I got. haha.

So Last night we decided to try out Papa Murphy's Pizza. It came highly reccomended to us.

I got in the car and drove over there. BY-MY-SELF. Yes. all alone. This is the first time I've been out of the house without Dave or Austin since we got here, other then the 2 shoppers drug mart cold medicine runs. I think I need to go out alone more often. lol.

I must have had a look of panic or unkown on my face because they figured out I'd never been there before. lol. I quickly figured out what I wanted and ordered. Dave is a huge meat lover, and I'd been told about their double decker pizza with 5 meats on it. So I got him that one. I ordered just a regular pizza. They make the pizzas right in front of you, and it only takes about 5 minutes.

The pizzas come on a thin cardboard like plate that you can put right into the oven. (the girl said It won't burn I promise. lol)

I also made my pizzas a combo. BEST COMBO EVER! for $7.99 I got cheesy bread, 2L coke and... and... cookie dough. mm mmm mmm

Here are our pizza's all made and at home.

Mine. mmm peperoni Mushroom and bacon.

Dave's double decker monstrocity. lol

So, I throw the pizzas in the oven. I'm not supposed to bake more then one at a time, but if you know me, you know I'm a rebel... so by these pictures you can tell, I didn't listen. lol

The cheesy bread was devoured by us. It was yummy.

Now, my pizza had to be cooked at 425, and dave's had to be cooked at 375. So, My pizza was all ready and looking delicious, while his went into the oven. (and it puffed up so much!) While we waited for Dave's Pizza Austin dug in to mine. He loved it! Ate all of his piece.

Finally, Dave's pizza was ready. Holy smokes. This thing was big.

He only managed to eat half a piece it was that big. This is his omg I might explode look.

Then, I figured, heck the oven is already on...

In went the cookies too!! I over cooked them a bit, but despite that they taste yummy! (and I might have had some for Breakfast.)

Overall, it was delicious. With the double decker pizza plus the $7.99 combo it was not a cheap meal. I almost had a heart attack . lol. The one thing I have an issue with is the fact you can't cook more then one pizza at a time. There were 2 different times needed for our pizzas. Plus Dave's pizza took about 20 minutes, so mine was a little cold by the time I got to it. That's pretty much my only issue, other then maybe putting the pizzas on something a little sturdier so that it's easier to get everything out of the store.

We have so much left overs it's crazy. So, feel free to stop by for some yummy pizza today!!

One more thing out of the way

You know what is worse then leaving all of your friends and family and moving across the country, to an unknown place where nothing is familiar? Losing your job too. It sucks the big one. That is what happened to us. I haven't really posted much other then on twitter about this, and my tweets didn't come until weeks after the fact.


We moved here, and arrived on Monday. Dave worked a camp job and was flown in and out of the job site for 2 weeks at a time. I drove him to the airport Wednesday. Said goodbye and had a slight panic attack about how I was going to manage once his parents went home and I was there all alone with austin. Thursday afternoon I got the dreaded call from Dave. They have to lay off some people, we don't know yet who or when exactly.....


Let me interject here and say, Dave is part of a union. It isn't as simple as I'm moving here, lets go work. He has his membership in Ontario and was working in Alberta on a travel card. Being a travel card in the Alberta union puts him low man on the totem pole. He gets a job after all the Alberta union guys have their choice. If they don't want it, then the travel cards can take them. Totally makes sense. Since we were moving here Dave applied for his membership to be transfered to the Alberta union. Of course, it isn't as easy as saying, please transfer my membership. They have to make sure that he is dedicated to transferring and he's not going to jump ship within a few months. Again, makes sense. So there are so many hours he has to work here before they will transfer his membership. Then, there is a few weeks worth of paperwork then we're good to go. Now, back to my story......


So, Dave calls and says they are doing layoffs. He is a good worker, but they can't fire a union guy (person) and keep a travel card. Believe me, we had this issue with his last job. So he called back to let me know that afternoon, yes, he's on the chopping block. He has to go to work friday morning for a few hours then he's back on the plane home. There really isn't anything he can do as all the travel cards got laid off. It sucks. He has been going into the union hall every day they have calls in hopes that there are enough jobs and not enough union members to take them. So far, no dice.


I've been getting really frustrated and upset. What kind of Karma do we have to deserve this? I don't recall doing anything bad to anyone recently. I just don't get it. For those of you following me on twitter may remember this tweet

It sucks. It really does. Day after day of holding out hope when he leaves this house at 8am only to be home at 10:30 without a happy tone in his voice saying guess what honey, I got a job. I might cry when that actually happens.

Now, he knows he's getting close to the hours needed to transfer membership as he's been working here in Alberta for over a year now. However he just kept being told "nope, not there yet." It was getting frustrating. But, we had a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, they've approved him for membership. The paperwork was started and we just had to wait a few more weeks.

We got the call today. That awesome phone call saying all the paperwork has been signed by the appropriate parties (aka the union in Ontario) and now he has to go sign it tomorrow. Such a big weight lifted off our shoulders. Not only does he now get job options above the travel cards, but he can be name hired. Meaning if someone likes his work they don't have to get a random guy from the hall to work, they can hire him instead. YAY!! Still, he doesn't have a job and he's heading into the union hall again tomorrow to wait and see if he can get one, but things are looking up a little bit and one more obstacle is out of the way.

We just keep taking it one day at a time, and the days turn into weeks and this saturday? It will be one month of him being off work. I don't know how much longer this will take but I'm hoping and praying that the light at the end of that tunnel gets off it's dimmer switch and starts burning at it's bright and sunny setting.