2010 MS Walk!

I just finished registering for the 2010 MS Walk, and I wanted to let everyone (if there's anyone actually reading this) know!

For those of you who don't know, my stepmom has MS. She has handled it very well over the years, though it's been getting to her more and more in the recent past. Regardless, she is the reason my family and I are so close to this walk. My sister and dad have been doing the walk for several years now, and last year I joined them for the first time, along with Aden.

This year, we have a team -- Wendy's Warriors! Pretty badass, don't you think? I like to think so. We're hoping that having a team will help us to raise more money than we have before. Here's hoping! It's a really good cause ... I would very much like if everyone could do their part. Even donating $10 helps in the long run!

I'm posting a link to my pledge page, so anyone who reads this can donate -- that is, if everyone even reads this! Your donations are greatly appreciated!

Click this link to donate!

Still Working

So, it turns out I didn't lose my job after all.

Now ... be warned, this story is absolutely ridiculous and everytime I tell it I think "Can a place of business really be that bad at communicating?" Well, yes ... apparently it can.

I arrived at work yesterday around 4 -- Richard drove me in early and waited in the parking lot, because if I was fired, I wasn't going to stick around for my whole shift. Once I got to work, I went into the break room to see the schedule for myself; sure enough, my name was nowhere to be seen on the new schedules that had been posted.

So I went to find the manager of the baby department, to see if she had any answers for me. She was surprised to hear that my name was not on the schedule at all, and she directed me to one of the managers of the store, who was also there last night. So I retraced my steps to the front of the store and found him. He also had no idea why I wasn't on the schedule, and he disappeared into the managers' office.

At least 5 minutes later, probably more, he came back and said he doesn't know what happened, but whoever made the schedule had screwed up. I still have a job. He explained to me that everyone's hours had been cut back ... which I know, but that doesn't explain why my name wasn't even on the schedule. Regardless of whether or not I had hours, my name should've still been on there.

But whatever, I still have my job. In all honesty, I was really looking forward to getting the chance to see the bitch-face I work with and hope to tear her a new one ... but I guess that dream will have to wait awhile before it comes true.

Oh, and I'm not the only person who's name had mysteriously disappeared from the schedule. I think whoever made the schedule got a little overzealous when they removed the people hired just for Christmas, and removed several other people too. There were a couple other people working last night who were thinking they, too, were let go, when that wasn't necessarily the case.

Gosh, I'm SO glad I work in a place where things like that are so well-communicated. The managers are clearly quite on top of things ...

Possibilities and Bravery

I found out yesterday that I might be losing my job. Yup ... apparently my name isn't even on next week's schedule. I have no clue why this might have been brought about ... but it appears that's the case. And of course, due to the fact that no manager at my job has any respect for the floor associates, no one could even tell me about this. I had to hear it from a friend who happened to me looking at the schedule ... and then it was confirmed by another friend.

I really don't know how to feel about the whole thing. I'm a little on the fence, I suppose. Losing this job makes me sad, because I really did enjoy doing what I did there ... not to mention all of the friends I've made while working there. I looked forward to going to work most of the time, because I had a little bit of a social life while I was there, despite not ever seeing them outside of work -- yet. I've developed some really awesome friendships with people there ... so at this point, I'm just hoping they won't end because my employment there is ending. After all, it's been awhile since I've had really close friends. Making those friends was, by far, the best part of my job. Sure, a lot of those friends are younger than me and don't have kids (and a few are older than me and don't have kids), but I've made friends WITH kids too, which is awesome. I'm even inviting a couple of them to Aden's birthday party in March. That is ... if we're still friends by then.

At the same time, it might be kind of a relief to be leaving. I liked the job, but there is so much BS going on there. Most of the managers don't respect anyone, and they treat all the floor people like shit. If you go to them with a problem, they make you feel like they'll do something to fix it ... and then it doesn't get fixed. It simply gets passed around as gossip and then forgotten about when something else comes up. Either that, or they'll turn the problem around on you and make it your fault, regardless of whether you had anything to do with it or not. I've been on both ends of the spectrum there. All I did was try to make my job more enjoyable for me, and in the end, I got screwed. Sounds fair, right? Nothing I ever did there was appreciated, and everything fantastic I did went unnoticed. I did a lot of good there. I made a lot of customers feel good and comfortable ... and helped a lot of first-time parents make good choices. But no ... none of that matters. All they want are people who have almost unlimited availability. It doesn't matter if you know what you're talking about in the baby department -- you could be an expert on all things baby, but if you are only available a couple nights a week, nope, you won't be working there long. Hell, my availability wasn't even that limited. I was available all weeknights, Saturdays after 1, and all Sunday. I think I made them mad by asking for days off ... but it's not like I requested those days for no reason at all! And I was only going to ask for more in the coming months -- Aden's birthday is in March, for one ... and since I'm a bridesmaid in my best friend's wedding, I had a lot of commitments coming up for that too. So, in a way, I guess it's sort of a blessing in disguise if I'm fired.

Of course, I will need to find another job ASAP, but with the mall here now, I shouldn't have as much of a problem with that as I did in the past. I doubt I'll find a job that I liked as much as this one, but there are a lot of places there I wouldn't mind working. Hopefully I can find something before too long.



Now ... all that aside ... I want to talk about bravery.

I have a friend, Ashlee, who is the bravest, strongest, most amazing woman I know. She had her son on January 4th, and nothing has been easy for them. I don't know all of the details (I've been told them, I just can't remember shit), but I do that he has a heart disease. Ashlee found out that only 70% of the people with that disease live to be 20. The life expectancy for them is about 25-35 years, she says. Those are just a few of the facts I know right now ... as I keep forgetting the rest and I don't want to say them wrong!

Anyway ... Ashlee has been amazingly strong throughout all of this. If I were in a situation like that, I certainly wouldn't be that strong. I admire her so much for her strength. There are a lot of parents out there who might've given up by this point ... and parents who might not have wanted a child in the first place, and would give up on him as soon as they found out anything was wrong. But not Ashlee. Her son is so lucky to have such an amazing mother. She has cherished every moment he's been alive, and she'll continue to do so -- I know it.

If I ever find myself in a difficult position like that, I will have to do my best to channel some of Ashlee and try and gain some of her strength. She's amazing and inspiring ... and I've told her so many times in the last while, since her son's birth and even before.

I just wanted to talk about that a bit ... because she's just that amazing to me! There aren't very many people in the world who are as brave and strong as she's been ... and she deserves to know how amazing that is! Love you, Ash!

Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

I realize that we're already five days into 2010, and I'm only just now doing my first blog of the year ... but this is apparently the first chance I've had to just sit down and type. That, or I'm just making excuses. Either way, here it is, my first blog entry of the year.

I also realize that it's been awhile since I last blogged anything -- a month and five days, to be exact -- so I clearly have quite a bit of updating to do here. So bear with me ... I'll try and remember all I need/want to say.


I'll start with a little replay of 2009 -- at least ... the parts of 2009 that come to me. We all know how good my memory is!

I guess if you really think about it, not much really happened in 2009 -- perhaps that's why the year went by so fast. TOO fast, even. It sort of just ... slipped away from me, you know? When 2009 began, Aden was almost 10 months old ... and now, he's already almost 22 months old! Yeah, that's obvious math ... but I still can't believe it. He's grown so much in the last year. It's almost sad to me! He's not my little baby anymore! When 2009 started, he was just starting to walk everywhere, and although it was clumsily, he was still getting around really fast! He's still clumsy ... but he's running, jumping, rolling, and spinning -- CONSTANTLY! Back when 2009 started, he could say a few things, like "mama", "dada", "hi" ... things like that. Now? I can't even understand all of the things he says, since he's learning several new words every day! My current favorites are "look", "see", "what's that" and "there she is"! He amazes me when he says things like "Oh, thanks, Mama!" and "Oh, hi, Dada!" -- I just adore hearing him talk. He's such a boy too -- he loves to drive his cars, he pretends to play hockey, and he shovels everything in sight. I just love to watch the things he does.

The relationship between Richard and I has changed a lot in the last year too. We "celebrated" our two-year "anniversary" back in February, and got "engaged" in May ... and things might have gone downhill from there a tad. Not immediately, but they did. Last month, shortly before Christmas, we came VERY close to breaking up. Things just hadn't been right for a couple weeks prior to that. We weren't saying "I love you" to each other, and we weren't kissing each other. We didn't really enjoy being in the same room at all either. I found out, through ways I will not talk about, that he was trying to find a "mistress" sometime in 2008, I think. That sparked a fight, and we talked a lot about our relationship. We decided to stick it out until after Christmas, and we both hoped that the financial stresses from the holidays was what was causing the unease in our relationship. We didn't want to break up right then and there, and end up ruining the holidays.

Things are better now, though, I'm happy to say. I'm not sure if it really was the holiday stresses causing all of our hostilities, but all the anger seems to have gone away since Christmas ended. THANK GOODNESS. I don't know yet if we'll stay together for a long time from now, but I have more hope in what we've got. It'll be three years we've been together, come February.

What else?

I've been working at Toys R Us for 5 months now, and though I'm still liking it, I'm certainly not enjoying it as much as I was before. I'm still having problems with the one girl I don't like at work -- the WSL they hired about 3 months ago now. I haven't worked with her since before Christmas, which is nice, but I work on Thursday, and so does she ... so it'll be a LOVELY start to my year. Mhm ... THAT was sarcasm. I'm not looking forward to it. It doesn't help that I haven't worked since the 27th of December, so it's probably going to be hard to get back into that work mind -- the combination of that, and working with her on my first shift back, probably won't be fun. I'm just hoping I can manage to hang onto my job for awhile yet, despite the obvious clash between the two of us.


And that's pretty much the replay of 2009.

So what do I hope for in 2010? I'm not really sure. A few months ago, I would've said "another baby!", but I don't know about that anymore. If it doesn't happen in 2010, it won't be anytime soon. I would also LIKE to move to a bigger place, but the way things are financially, I doubt that will happen too. I suppose that if we don't have another kid anytime soon, that's not really a necessity. If we don't get a bigger place, I would like to make this one more homey. It's sad to me that we've been here over a year now, and it still doesn't look like we've moved in yet. If we're going to be stuck here another year, I want to make it comfortable! Two more things: First, I want to get back into a workout routine. I put on a few pounds and inches over the holidays (damn that irresistable holiday food), and I need to get rid of it. Second, I want to get my learners'. I'm not telling that one to Richard, though, because he'll work me like a dog!

Now, I'm not considering any of those things to be resolutions ... because then I'm just setting myself up for failure. I'm just considering them ... goals, I suppose. Things to aim towards for the next 12 months. That's a long time, I think, to try and complete those things.


So, here's to a wonderful 2010. 2009 was awesome, so I doubt this year will be loads better ... but as long as it can live up to 2009, I'll be happy.

One Year!

It's December first today, which means we have been living in our house for a year! Wahoo! After this, the longest we've ever lived somewhere is 6 months! I can't believe it's already been a year since we moved into this place. It certainly doesn't feel like it's been that long. Aden was only 9 months when we moved in here! And now he's nearly two years old! Crazy, I tell you.

Yep ... the longest we've ever lived somewhere before this is just 6 months. We lived in Richard's parents' basement for a few months before we moved into the condo, and we lived there for 6 months. After that, we had to move back in with our parents, and we lived seperately (sort of) for 3 months. From there, we moved into Jenn's place, and lived there for 2 or 3 months. Then in December of last year, we moved into this place.

Of course, with any luck, we won't be living here much longer. It's just not big enough for our needs. Two bedrooms, one bathroom (all downstairs), and a very small kitchen just doesn't suit our needs. I'm thrilled that we've lived in the same place for a year already, but I certainly hope we're not here for another one! The sad part is, we never even fully moved into this place. The walls aren't decorated, there are still boxes of things sitting out, and lots of things have never found their rightful place -- I guess there just isn't enough room for everything to found a home!

Anyway ... happy house anniversary to me!

Here's a photo of Aden when we first moved in here:



And here's Aden today!



Crazy how things change.

A Much-Needed Update

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted, so I figured an update couldn't hurt.


Work has been good -- I'm finally getting the hours I want/need, which is awesome. It's exhausting, but I love it. I need the money, and as awful as work sometimes is, I really do look forward to going. I've made lots of friends at work -- some who are even parents! -- which is such a relief! I really look forward to working with some people! Of course, there are other people I really can't stand working with, but luckily there aren't too many of them.

There is only one person who really makes me HATE working. She has only been there about a month, and she drives me up the wall. She is a WSL, which is somewhere between assistant managers and us lowly floor associates -- apparently this makes her think she is God's gift to Toys R Us, and boy, does she need to be pushed off her pedestal. She's got more attitude than any of the managers! She treats me like dirt and talks to me like I'm 12. The other day, I was talking to my friend at work about it, and the jerk went and passed it on to her. So she, of course, came to talk to me about it, and said "the only reason I'm harder on you is because you're on the floor. The cashiers don't have the same responsibilities. But you're doing a good job today!" I thought to myself FUCK YOU. She has only been there a month, and frankly, she doesn't know shit about her job -- I have been working for Toys R Us since before our store even opened, and I've been in that store since Day 1. I'm damn good at my job and I don't need that bitch to tell me so. In fact, on Thursday, when I know I'm working with her and the manager of Baby, I'm gonna have a lot of complaining to do. You see, I've heard my manager isn't a fan of little miss High-and-mighty either, so I know she listen to my complaints. And you see, little miss High-and mighty does not know how to follow rules, so I'm sure my manager will appreciate hearing all about it. Oh yes, I can be evil too ...


ANYWAY!

Aden is growing like a weed. He's only 4 months away from being 2 years old! I can hardly believe it. He knows so many words now. We have even had a few actual conversations in the last few weeks! I absolutely love hearing him talk. He goes on and on about Mickey Mouse, Donald and Goofy, he tells me when he wants to watch cartoons or he wants a snack. When he and Richard are taking me to work, he knows when he sees the mall that Mommy is going to leave, and before we've even reached the parking lot he goes "See ya! Buh-bye!". I laugh everytime.

And he is such a little comedian. He loves to do silly things that will make people laugh. Last night, we were driving with Hannah, and he points directly at her and goes "Grandpa." And he just kept telling us over and over that she was Grandpa. Hannah and I were just killing ourselves laughing. He is going to be a class clown for sure.

He loves so many things now too. He won't go to bed unless he has three things: Donald, froggy, and blankey. And when he wakes up in the morning, he has to carry all three of those things upstairs with him -- EVERY TIME. It's too cute. He also loves Gunther -- "Gah-go" as he calls him. He'll just lay with Gunther and drink his bottle in the morning, and he'll pet his head and back, and Gunther loves it.

Potty training is at a stand-still, but it's no big deal. I've decided we're going to get back into it by Christmas -- that's my goal. He'll be getting a big boy bed soon -- Paka is bringing one up from my Grandma's house, and we already have a single mattress for it. Before that time comes, I have to baby-proof Aden's room, and find a new spot for the boxes that have found a home in there. And then, I have to buy some bedding that he'll love to sleep in. I'm hoping he'll be in a big boy bed by 2010.


So, that's about it for my update. Hopefully I don't let it go for that long again.

That Time of Year

It's November 3rd, and I have realized in the last couple of days that I really hate November.

And here's why:

People get way too eager for the Christmas season, and the moment Halloween ends, it's like Christmas is coming any day. This year, while driving about on Halloween night, we saw TWO houses with their Christmas lights on! There were a couple houses that had lights on that went with their Halloween decor, but no ... these two houses were Christmas lights. The same lights they had up last year for Christmas. Seriously. On freaking Halloween. I know they weren't just up for Halloween, because driving home from work last night, we saw the same two houses with the lights on.

It makes me so mad! It's one thing to put your lights up this early ... since it's still nice out and you don't have to worry about ice on the roof or anything ... but to turn them on? That is just too much! It's November 3rd, for crying out loud! There are still leaves on the trees and there is no snow on the ground! It is NOT Christmas time yet!!

To make matters worse, I found out yesterday we'll be playing Christmas music at work starting mid-next week. As if I don't get in a bad enough mood on a busy day at work ... Christmas music is only going to make it that much worse. I really hate working retail at Christmas time ...

For me, Christmas stuff doesn't really start until December. That's when our lights go up, that's when the tree goes up, that's when the Christmas season begins. The only thing Christmas-related that should start sooner is shopping. That's IT. Come on, people!



Anyway ... here's Aden is his Halloween costume!