Americanuck

Phew! My hippies are still in the Amazing Race, although stripped of all their ‘possessions’ those that hippies would carry I guess (nudge, wink).. AND penniless. It’s the first ‘non-elimination’ round they had all season so far, I guess to mix it up but oh my gosh they had me going! I was all ready to cry ‘n stuff. I know they are cheesy but I love their freakishness. I am also glad to hear that the total narcissist of American Idol has gone the way of the Do-do. Yeah ok, I’m addicted to T.V. but at least I admit it.

I’m really looking forward to this weekend, the first four days in a row that Tom and I have had together at one time in a long time. We are expecting some pretty awesome weather this weekend too. Sean wants to learn to juggle from ‘New Dad’ as he’s jokingly called, a ‘Simpsons’ thing… (or Step-Dayddy-Tom) and supposedly I’m gonna try to as well. Yeah. That’s gonna be pretty. I have ZERO eye hand coordination. I’ve tried in the past, both my parents could juggle (and play the harmonica, but that’s another story) but I was born with the juggle gene missing from my dna. I’ve warned him. I’ve hurt people doing a lot less.

Tom is really good at the juggling thing, he does the clubs and everything. While it’s a skill I admire, I’m not as confident as him that I can actually learn to juggle, even scarves. Same theory he has for me driving a standard. Automatic cars were invented for losers like me!

I had a really good day today at the office. It’s been a while that I’ve had the time to focus and tick off a number of tasks of the dreaded ‘to-do’ list and I got a LOT done. Usually I’m being pulled in a number of different directions and it’s not always conducive for analysis and creative thought and project implementation which really is my primary focus.

I’ve got a big project for a process improvement I’m working on that I planned, designed, process mapped, wrote the business requirements for and it’s now waiting for analysis from two of the three majorly impacted groups and I’m quite excited about because it’s from my own little coconut. I LOVE projects like that where I get to use my creative side as well as my own depth of knowledge as a S.M.E. (and my anal retentive qualities are a plus at work!)

I’ve had projects like this in the past and they are the biggest high when you’re working on them and when you see them in production it sure makes you proud. Of course it’s lots of stress and hair-pulling along the way, especially over things that you can’t control especially for a control freak like me, but in the end it’s kind of like a legacy you are leaving behind. The people that use what you created every day have no idea that you exist or what you did was all that wonderful, but you do yanno what I mean?

Anyway my wonderful Hubby should be home any moment, I actually get to see him in the daytime for a change yay!! He’s been pulling a lot of lates lately and we’ve been two shadows in the dark for the past week or so. We are gonna snuggled up on the couch and watch some more of that T.V.

Got word today that we are good to go, vacations approved, locked and loaded and awaiting countdown! Yippeeee!! Come ON July 31st!!

Tom was going to book earlier in the day but we had “issues” with my misplaced mileage card and the U.S. Credit card which is normally locked away *cough*inmywallet*cough* but all is well! It’s a done deal. As torturous as it is to push that final ARE YOU SURE button is. Right Hon? *teehee*

I bought the bulk of the U.S. Dollars today because the rate was good and with the Staff rate I get even better!! The way things are going it’s gonna be the ’70s all over again. Wouldn’t that be something, even for a while having our dollar on par with the States.. eh probably never happen but it’s nice to be this close instead of paying over a buck fifty for a U.S.Dollar like not so many years ago!

The Boys had spent the Easter weekend over at their Father’s place and will be part of this week too, so this was the first day both of them were here at the same time to do participate in the annual “Great Easter Egg Hunt.” Chris didn’t even change out of his uniform it was game on!

These Boys have been in serious competition since they were small and this event has gotten very competitive. I think it’s hilarious that they still go at it with such gusto, in particular Chris at 18, but it’s this whole challenge thing and well it’s chocolate and who’s gonna turn down free chocolate. I had to miss the race this year as I was at work but Tom took pictures for me.

I asked who the winner was as I was driving them to their Father’s later on this evening and they both shrugged and said they didn’t know. That’s the FIRST time they didn’t count egg for egg (and Hershy’s kisses too if you want to get technical) and declare an absolute winner while mocking the loser (laahuuu-zaahurrr). Maybe maturity has set in? NAHHH what am I crazy?

I’m not sure what it is about spring that bring out the shoe shopper in me. I know a lot of women that believe that any day ending in a ‘Y’ is reason enough to go on a shoe bender. For me it’s spring. Winter I tend to go on a shoe diet and subsist on a couple of pairs of boots and maybe the odd pair of sneakers; but Spring brings the promise of warmth and bare toes. Bare toes make me happy. My feet like being naked. Spring isn’t quite naked toes time, so that means it’s shoe transition time, which means shoe shopping.

I go with the best intentions. To find shoes that take me from the winter blahs into those spring rain/sun-combi days and maybe, just maybe something for those lovely dog days of summer. Visions of cute and comfy footwear dance in my head and all is right with the world.

These days though, I’m finding it a lot harder to find the right shoes.
Gone are the days of suffering for the sake of style. Nowadays, a kitten heel is pushing it for me, and that’s only on special occasions. Give me comfort! But why, oh why dear shoe designer does that often mean UGLY??

I felt my cheerful shoe shopping mood wane a bit when I got to the stores and really looked around but I didn’t come away completely empty handed. They aren’t really cute, but they ARE comfortable and casual and there is always room for that in my shoe closet too.
Cute and comfy shoes, I know you’re out there. Come to Momma.

MMMMM catnip
Originally uploaded by beezzez.

This kind of love outta be illegal.

It’s rare that we don’t have the Boys for at least part of the weekend so I took advantage of that fact as well as the fact I have extra days off this weekend to go hang out at the station.

We had a nice relaxed breakfast and then headed out. We stopped on the way in to pick up some Easter candy for the folks and had the newly baked treats in hand as well. It was pouring by the time we got downtown but there was enough overhangs on the buildings to keep us pretty much dry with the help of Tom’s umbrella. Me? I rarely have owned one and living in Vancouver it’s almost crazy. Most of the time I’m just some state of soaking WET.

The evening cleared up some though and by the time we had dinner break the sun had kind of come out a bit. I SO love this time of year when there are masses of cherry blossoms everywhere you look. Even in an urban center like downtown Vancouver.

We grabbed a bite to eat and headed off to London Drugs. I had mentioned to Tom that they were selling a multi-region DVD player there really cheap (someone at work had mentioned it) and it turned out it was even on sale so cool! We managed to scoop one so yay! Now I can go nuts at Amazon.uk and buy up some of those Brit-coms they don’t sell here. The funny part is it’s also a karaoke machine and it came with a couple of free microphones… We immediately started planning our next evil Christmas plot for the boys.

The evening went by pretty quickly considering it’s a full shift with really nothing for ME to do except watch but it’s still interesting for me to watch the inner workings of tv so I don’t get bored. Plus I get to see Tom on a stretch of lates where I wouldn’t normally. They don’t mind me there, I stay out of the way and I bring treats =).

After a long day once we got home we treated ourselves to a relaxing wind down with a nice glass of WINE!