Good morning!

One more day and we get the computer back! Whoohoo! I'm supposed to meet Rick up at his work tomorrow night and we'll go to the store together to get the motherboard. It seems like a good one and has some good on-board stuff... and it seems to be cheaper than getting an entire new system and then scalping the parts - why buy parts you don't need?? Oh well... I finished the SIM's on my gameboy this morning. I may start another person, but I switched to Mario... Super Mario 3, the original SM3 from Nintendo *grin* It was weird playing that one on the bus... but I conquered World 1. On to Desert Land!

I had a really good night out last night. A friend of mine, Al, took me out for dinner. It was very nice of him :) We went to Casey's and had a very enjoyable time talking for a couple hours; talking, drinks and food - a great combination!! Hopefully we'll be able to get together with Rick sometime soon too, so that he can meet him. I think the two of them would get along really good.

Rick mentioned last night that he may send a general email to the place where Michele works. It's been over a week now since we've been sure that they've arrived... what if something happened to them? I'm almost positive that they're fine, but how are you going to know for sure if you don't hear from them?? Oh well, I gues they'll contact us when they can... or Rick'll email them and prod them a little hehe

I emailed my grandparents yesterday. You know, part of me still cannot believe that my GRANDPARENTS are on email. Grandma Ainsworth learned it a couple years ago, after Grandpa died, and I was so proud of her!! Over 80 and emailing :) She took some lessons from a high-school volunteer who taught her. It's great that I can sit down and write when I want to... I'm a lot faster at typing than writing, and hitting the send button is a heckuva lot easier then finding an envelope, then the address and waiting for money for a stamp. I WILL be sending cards to the boys and Gracie, however as they're birthday's are next week! Well the boys are at least... I cannot remember when Gracie's is exactly, so I'll buy the cards and mail them all at once. Hopefully, Lee-Ann'll actually give them to them. God, I miss them. *sigh*

Well, it's about an hour later, and I'm still working on this... not much else has happened lately, so I'm going to sign off. I'll probably wait until we get the 'puter back up and running before "blogging" again... so talk to you soon.

Monday Blah's

Hey there... the weekend was actually pretty uneventful. Rick and I spent the weekend at home, watched TV played Gameboy, and the computer, until it blew itself up Saturday night. That really sucks. We've tried moving things around so that we actually have one that works... but that's not working either.... apparently our motherboard blew. But Rick's found another one at tigerdirect.ca that we may be picking up this coming weekend. So we have a week without a computer. That really sucks, ya know. LOL So I'm doing my blog at work, between calls and hoping that I can get it done through all the breaks in thought. No much to think about though to be honest.

Work is going well. Things are actually being fixed so that I can do things a lot easier than normal... I like it. I have more windows open than normal, but I can handle it....

Anyway, I'm losing my train of thought, to be honest. It's been almost 3 hrs since I started this... so I'll find some time tomorrow to put my thoughts together better :)

Hee-Haw, its FRIDAY!!

Yeah, I know it's supposed to rain this weekend... but it's beautiful out now, though a tad chilly... I'm not complaining :) I have a KILLER headache, just took two Advil, and I forgot my lunch. Oh well, won't be the first time I've gone hungry during the day. What can you do, right?

I have realized, or it has been realized for me, that the comment I made about Michele regarding the last time we saw each other, should not have been said. I'm not going to delete it, however, as it was how I felt at the time. Neither, should you feel guilty, Michele. I'm not trying to make you feel anything. I just wanted to let you know how I felt at the time.

We're looking forward to our trip to Victoria, BC, though. Rick and I have been doing a lot of research on flights and stuff, hey - we just found out that WestJet now flies to Victoria!!! They didn't before. I even called their number to get a couple questions answered that we were curious about and guess what?? THEY DON'T HAVE RECORDINGS!! I'm not kidding! Most places (including where I work) you have to go through a convoluted automated system to get to a representative. I called the number, and someone picked up right off the bat. Boy was I impressed! AND, their customer service is top-notch (well, so far at least). Being in the customer service industry, I'm quite picky about the service I receive, but I was very nicely surprised :) So, a few things to think about in Victoria.... Rick's cousin, Erica, lives outside of Vancouver. She's offered to pick us up at the airport, take us back to her house for a visit, then drop us off at the ferry to go over to the island. OR, they could meet us at the aquariam one day and spend the time with them there. Rick and I are still debating over what we should do. We'll let Erica know as soon as we figure it out.

Cassandra read my blog yesterday and sent me a thank-you email, saying she couldn't come over as she was crying too hard. I didn't mean to make her cry... but she did warn me she was a sensitive person. I like that about her :) And I'm going to be using this blog to express feelings about friends and family and stuff... so I'm glad I was able to voice it.

I think I may leave this for now... my head is pounding so I can't think straight. I may, however, write more either later or sometime this weekend...

Ranting... who am I, Foamy?? (to be explained later)

I'm sitting here listening to Yahoo Launchcast (currently playing INXS' New Sensation) and in the background is Rick's gameboy playing Zelda sounds. We watched the new Smallville tonight and made pasta for dinner. Nothing special happened today, to be honest. Got up before the alarm for once, played some Sims on the way to work, worked, came home, playing Sims on the bus home too, and that was it. We did get our shift bid results at work today, though - I'm 10-6:30pm starting May 2nd for another 6 months. It's better than 11:30-8 so I'm not complaining.

A lot of thoughts have gone through my mind in the past few days. Cassandra, Michele & Bill, Lee-Ann... Cass is the only one I haven't mentioned yet... she does have the address to this blog so I know she's going to read this, but I actually wanted to put into print how great a person she is. In a short amount of time, she has become a very good friend, someone I can trust, someone that trusts me, and an all around great person. We've vented to each other, confided in each other, shared breaks together (and I don't smoke!)... Her and I are still getting to know each other and what makes us tick, but I honestly feel I've made a friend that can continue outside of work. That doesn't happen to me often (I have one total that I used to work with, and she's going to China!). Cass, regardless of what happens, know that you are a strong and beautiful person and you mean a lot to me. Thank you for trusting me, thank you for listening and thank you for just being you...

Michele & Bill... I know Rick misses you more... but I do miss you. Even knowing you're an email/phone call away, and we didn't see you often enough as it was... it's a mind thing. You're across the country, in a different TIME ZONE for Cripes' sake... but I wish I could hug you one more time. Michele, when we left that last night, I told you I loved you. I do, friendly, sisterly type, just so's ya know *smile* ... you never answered. I don't even think you acknowledged. I don't know if you were distancing yourself, or what... but I think of that. I probably shouldn't say anything, but there, I said it anyway. I hope you guys find happiness in BC.

Lee-Ann... will probably never read this. I currently don't care if she does or not, and I won't give her the address at this point. If she finds it, it's another thing, but she won't find it from me. I had a very interesting discussion about Lee-Ann with my boss of all people yesterday in a coaching session. I haven't even told Rick about this one yet, I keep forgetting. Hey, I'll tell him when I'm done typing, or he'll just read about it tomorrow LOL (Honey, if I forget, please forgive me). Apparently, a few months back, I told Norbert (my boss) about the fact that Lee-Ann isn't talking to me. I can't even remember how it came up in conversation yesterday, but I basically gave him the run-down of our encounter (and lack of one - see entry 1 for details LOL). He was dumb-founded that she would be so tactless. (I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany started playing, I haven't heard this in years!!) He honestly cannot understand what her problem is. Hell, I've taken responsibility for it. I've even paid Mary back the $150 we owed her from last year. Does Lee-Ann pay for the fish tank and equipment that she so conveniently "lost" that we lent her?? NO! Does Lee-Ann care that she is depriving her children of knowing their Aunt? NO! And if she does, far be it for me to know about it. I love Pete and all three kids to death... Lee-Ann I couldn't give a shit about right now. She's my sister, and I'll always love her, but I don't have to like her. Even if she does deem me worthy, I will never trust her again. I won't be anything but surface with her. The kids I will spoil to my heart's content... You know what? She's probably doing this on purpose because she wants to hurt me. And you know what else?? FUCK HER! There, I said it. Lee-Ann can go blow. If it's so bad that my MOM, who has multiple times said that she's staying out of it, gets involved, then Lee-Ann can continue to be a bitch and go live in her own little world. Just let the kids out to play once in a while as you closet yourself in your own galaxy, Bitch.

Ok... Calm down, Vicky... I've gotten out of the habit of swearing unless I'm in the company of one that does a lot, or unless I'm pissed off. It's just so FRUSTRATING!! Ok... I'll get off the topic of Lee-Ann...

The dog does need to go out soon... and it's after 11, I should go soon. For some strange reason I'm not tired. Hunh. *shrug* I guess I'll play solitaire, or the SIMS! hehe, until I'm tired enough to sleep...............................ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

Are they there yet?

It is currently 9:33am. I'll be changing the posting time when I do get this finished, but I'm currently at work, and I don't know how long it's going to take me to do this (as I'll be typing between calls). I just had my breakfast (buttered cinnamon raison bagel) and have my coffee (butter becan from the Bagel Stop [decided to skip Timmy's today; Bagel Stop was closer]) and am waiting for a call... wondering if Michele and Bill have reached their destination. Rick and I were talking about it last night, and we think that she starts work tomorrow, so that would mean that they'd need to reach BC by tonight. I hope their trip went well, and they enjoyed seeing Canada from the Trans Canada Highway *grin*

Yo, Michele! If you're reading this, email me *smiles*

Yesterday, our cable got hooked back up. It's nice to be able to watch TV without shadows or blurs. It's nice to have choice ;) So we spent most of last night watching TV, Movies on Demand, and flipping channels, just because we could. That, of course, and actually CALLING Rogers 3-4 times to get everything fixed. We found a few channels that weren't activated, either at all, or not on all boxes. But they're working now. It's weird to see the Rogers box back on the top of the TV.

I'm also starting to get addicted to that Sims game I bought with the new Gameboy. It is quite different from the one that I'm used to on the computer (which I haven't played in months) but it's got a few interesting twists. I do get frustrated at times, however, when it's asking you to do stuff (you need to achieve goals in different things in able to move forward in the game) and you cannot find the person you need to speak with. I basically run around town on my new scooter until I see someone that is marked that I need to speak with them. It is SO easy to get caught up in it... but it makes the bus rides to and from work a LOT easier to handle LOL

Not much else is new... work is work, home is home... 'cept Neelix, the MOUTHY cat, definately tried to let me know he was pissed off at me. Usually if I don't clean the litterbox on time, he pees somewhere so I'll find it. The litterbox IS clean, and he STILL peed on my sheets. We had to change the sheets last night. I was NOT impressed. We're just lucky that it didn't soak into the mattress. I'll be doing some laundry tonight, that's for sure!!

Alright.... I think I'm done for now. Nothing else that I can think of writing :) I'll write more when I think of it...

Am I Crazy?

Probably. It's 120 in the morning, on a Sunday/Monday, and I have to be up about 7 in order to leave for work on time... or relatively on time. I'm still awake. In fact, Rick and I just came home... we had our evening out with Mary. It was good. Good conversation (for the most part), good food (Red Lobster) and good movie (Sahara - Matt McC is HOT!) The only downers... Mary talks ALL the time. Nothing new... but she's a lot like me in the way that what she thinks is right IS right, regardless of what other people know. And hey, she may be, but she's WAY too argumentative... problem is, she probably got it from me. She DID live with us for 4 years, she was bound to pick up on some of my faults (Newsflash: I'm not perfect *Grin*). Her and Rick butted heads a few times, but I just tried to deftly steer the subject away... it worked. Kinda ;) Am I rambling? Probably. Anyway, it ended with Rick feeling like shit (we had to stop at home between dinner and the movie to get some migraine medication) and Mary just "not knowing" when the buses run so that we didn't have to drive her all the way home. Is she pretending, or just plain dense? Trouble is with Mary you never get a straight answer or true story, so I guess we'll never know. We ended up driving her home. I'd feel crappy if we dropped her off at Markham and Ellesmere to find her way down Markham to Eglinton, and having her walk all the way up from Eglinton at 1 in the morning. It didn't make Rick feel any better, but we did it. Now I'm waiting for him to get out of the bathroom (You didn't really wanna hear that did you? hehe). The only other thing that happened today was that last night we inadvertently left the inside light on in the car... and the battery died. Good thing we had a little extra money on us - we had to call a tow truck to boost us. $45 later, we were on our way. I hate cars... they're like men, you know? Can't live with em, can't live without them...

Anyway, gonna go check out Heather's blog... she left me a comment :) Thank you Heather!! :) And maybe I'll leave a comment for her. Sleep well.

Sunday Morning Blahs

The past couple of days haven't been what I'd call eventful, but they were at least busy. Friday was work, of course, but also payday :) So afterwards we visited our Home Away From Home (aka Walmart) to get some stuff. We got a couple big laundry baskets, a HUGE garbage pail, a couple cheap movies and dinner. I wanted the laundry hampers to try to start organizing all of our dirty clothes. We tend to throw them on the floor when we're done and they get covered in cat/dog hair. This is normally not a problem but it's a bitch when they get thrown in the washer cuz they all don't get clean. So we're on our way to better organization :)

The big garbage pail is to help get started on the crap we have down in the basement. Can you believe we've lived here 3 years now and we're STILL unpacking? We have a shit-load of boxes and stuff in our basement just begging to be unloaded, or found, or thrown out, or sold... whatever, they need to LEAVE the basement. I don't care if its in a garbage bag or a delivery truck or in the arms of some 5-year old from a yard sale. We need to get it out!! So we've started on that too.

Yesterday, being Saturday, we got to sleep in a bit. I love doing that :) We were to meet up with Litisha around noon at Turtlejacks in Brampton. Beforehand, we actually paid the cable bill - FINALLY! LOL We haven't had cable since August. We've been living off stations we've gotten off the air, which is good... but not a lot of choice. We had cut the cable off when I lost my last job in the summer, because we couldn't pay the bill, and now it's been taken care of. In the next couple days (Monday night at the latest) we'll have cable. So we paid the bill, and drove across the city to Turtlejacks. Rick used to go there when he was in high school, and has been raving about the wings. So we tried them. They were pretty good, actually. HUGE! I got "Zesty Hickory BBQ". Nice zip, and Bulls-Eye BBQ sauce - gotta love it. They weren't the greatest... so far, the best wings are at All-Stars. They're approx 404 and 16th Ave. They have over 100 different flavours. I have two favourite flavours for them - Texas Honey, if I want just nice wings, and Pandora's Box, if I want a little zip. Anything spicier and they have hot sauce in them and that's just gross.

So anyway, we had a great time with Tish. Talked and laughed and had a great day. After lunch we went to the movies (Silver City at Bovaird & 410) and saw Fever Pitch. I love Drew Barrymore :) Rick got me into her, really, but she is amazing whatever she does. I do think she's lost a little TOO MUCH weight... I liked the chubbiness she had before... but she still looks really good. The movie was cute and I'm glad I saw it. After that, we said good-bye to Tish and went to Best Buy. That is almost as dangerous as Walmart!! A new Gameboy (Rick wanted a blue one, so I get the red one), a game each (I got the Sim's, he got Zelda), Aladdin and the first season of Charmed later, we left Best Buy, took a tour through our old neighbourhood, and headed home. Halfway there, we remembered we had to call Tammy...

Tammy is our vet, and also my sister-in-law (Rick's oldest). So we detoured and hit her house in Don Mills to pick out our pet food. While there we visited with Bob (Tammy had to run to Home Depot) and watched him do some renovations. They're redoing their basement, and their ENTIRE house has everything in it that they used to have in the basement. That's a LOT of stuff - it's almost like their house threw up LOL. They have a pathway from the front door to the back, they can get up and down the stairs, and apparently, have a slight path from the bedroom door to the bed so they can sleep. That's it. I hope, for their sake (cuz they're going BONKERS!) they can get this done fast. So Rick helped Bob get one of the supports out from under the supporting beam of their house, so they can replace it. Tammy came home and invited us to dinner, which we accepted, and we had a nice visit. Finally, just around 10pm, we extricated ourselves and went home.

The dog was happy to see us! He had been in his kennel since about 1030am when we left in the morning to pay cable and head over to Brampton. Then eventually, Rick and I sat down to open up our purchases. The Sims on Gameboy is just as addictive as the Sims on the computer! But it's quite different. I like it though :) We then saw some of the first episode of Charmed and fell asleep.... I didn't sleep very well, and was up at 6 or so. Didn't sleep much afterwards, but if I need a nap later, I'll take one :)

Today we're supposed to meet up with Mary after her practice (she's in some musical thing at the church). That should go well (the meeting not the musical) and then we're back to Sunday evening, and work tomorrow.

Yesterday we were trying to estimate where abouts Michele & Bill were in their travles. They did say they wanted to hit Thunderbay by Friday night... but how long does it take to cross Manitoba? Are they through Saskatchewan yet? Are they into Alberta? I think they have to be in Victoria on Tuesday, so they should be in Alberta... I guess it'll take tomorrow to finish crossing BC and find their place of residence for the time being. Hopefully all has gone well.

Gotta go... Rick's playing Zelda, but I know he's bored, so we're going to finish Charmed. Talk to you soon...

First Posting

Today was an unusual day. Rick and I were talking about blogging on the way home from Minden and I decided to start a blog to write out my thoughts. It would also be helpful for when Michele and Bill get to BC and Litisha gets to China, for them to see how we're doing... so where do I start? BTW... if you have comments, feel free to post them. If you want any back-stories, feel free to email me to ask :)

Sunday night, Gord Widdis died. He was my Dad's best friend. He's worked with him/known him for about 30 years. Him and June, his wife, were at our house a lot growing up, so it's like they're a part of my family. He's been sick for a couple of years. I found out on Monday, when Mom emailed me at work. I was able to get the day off, Rick had a floating day off that he took, and we went to Lindsay for the funeral. I wanted to show my support for June, but also for Mom and Dad. They're more their friends than anything...

Dad did the eulogy. It's the third time I've seen him do one... Uncle John's funeral (his brother), Grandpa's funeral (his father) and now Gord's. He did a good job... he also did - injecting bits of humor into it so that we laugh at the memories that he has of the people and things they did. But always keeping it personal so we know how much the person meant to him. I could tell it was hard for Dad. He doesn't cry often - but he was pretty close to it today, and I honestly don't blame him.

One surprise at the funeral... before it started, Lee-Ann showed up. Pete came, too and they brought Gracie. Mark & Ryan were at school. For those who need a refresh - Lee-Ann is my older sister, Pete her husband and Mark, Ryan and Grace are their children. Lee-Ann isn't talking to me. Today, she didn't even acknowledge me. Pete did. Even Gracie remembered me, although I haven't seen her since August. She looked really cute in an orange sweater and matching sun-hat. The surprise wasn't that Lee-Ann showed up, or even that she didn't acknowledge me (I kind of expect that, even though it still hurts)... Rick told me later that Mom actually said something to Lee-Ann. Mom's been pretty ... good isn't the word... adamant? about keeping out of what's going on with me and Lee-Ann. But as she said goodbye to her, Rick said that Mom said to her "You go say hi to your sister!". Lee-Ann didn't, again, which didn't surprise me, but Mom actually got involved. It's a first, but it showed me that Lee-Ann is being a bitch about it, and Mom's noticing. One more point for Mom. At least I got to see Pete and Grace. I miss the boys though. It aches.

Anyway... back to the funeral. Of the people I recognized, Dwight Goden was there. I used to get him and Gord mixed up when I was growing up. Both of them were BIG guys (they've since lost a lot of weight), with brown hair and a mustache. Dwight's gone grey. But I used to baby-sit his kids. It was nice catching up and seeing what they're up to. Angela is now 21 and is going through to be a doctor of something. Patricia is a corrections officer just like our dad's. I gave him my email address to pass on. I hope they write.

We also stopped at Harry Luchies' wine place. He owns a business that you can go in and make your own wine. It was nice to catch up with him. He is April's father (Doris, his wife wasn't there). April and I were friends growing up, but have lost touch recently. I passed on my email for her as well - again, I hope she writes.

Then we made an impromptu trip to Minden. Rick's parents' business is up there, Limberlost Ltd. We ended up taking them out for dinner at a Chinese food place up there on Hwy 35. Yup, a Chinese Food place in Minden - go figure?! ;) We had a good evening with them too... one day I may post what we talked about, but it's too long of a story to put up now... I need to sleep.

Anyway, that's how we ended up coming home from Minden on a Thursday in the middle of the week. A WORK week no less. My prayers are with June and her and Gord's family. I think of Mom and Dad too, knowing that they'll be ok, but also knowing that Gord will be greatly missed. I'm thinking of doing a memorial page for him on my website (www.vreeshouse.netfirms.com). I'll see what I can do.

Anyway, it's late. It's quarter after midnight right now and I'm up about 7 (depending on how often I hit the snooze button *Grin*). I need to sleep... but the next time something happens, or I have some thoughts to share, I'll post again. Michele and Bill, I hope you made it out of the city ok, and I wish you the best on the first leg of your journey.

Love Vicky