Processing Deadline

Holding on a while longer..(THIS IS DEPRESSING)..but now I have something updated to work with.

Americas

Visa Office	Processing Times IN MONTHS (based on a complete application package)
Bogota – Colombia	16
Buenos Aires – Argentina	13
Caracas – Venezuela	22
Detroit – United States	12
Guatemala City – Guatemala	26
Havana – Cuba	10
Kingston – Jamaica	16
Lima – Peru	15
Los Angeles – United States	10
Mexico City – Mexico	12
New York – United States	11
Port-au-Prince – Haiti	9
Port of Spain – Trinidad and Tobago	15
Santiago – Chile	15
Santo Domingo – Dominican Republic	14
Sao Paulo – Brazil	9
Seattle – United States	10

So, today on the Forum someone brought to everyone's attention that the Application Processing times has significantly changed from 90 days to 66 days. That's for Step 1 that I have completed already. (You see....vacations are over and people have gone back to work. lol) Their comment prompted me to go ahead and have a look at the website. With all the changes that have been going on with the closure of the Buffalo office and such, they hadn't updated the site in a while for Step 2. Low and behold, having a look at Step 2 brought me this updated table. Yup...finally updated as of August 20th, and done quarterly. They removed Buffalo from the list and added the individual Visa offices that are processing the applications. Ie. Detroit, Los Angeles, New York and Seattle. Clearly, you see that I have highlighted the office that we are waiting on. lol

It's a LONG ROAD!!

Unfortunately, the 10 months is CONSECUTIVE to the time it already took for us to complete Step 1. So yeah...we completed Step 1 early May and that's when our clock started over. This means that as of today, we can possibly be waiting another 6 months for completion of our application before we would really be able to contact them and ask them what on earth is going on. Say it isn't so!! Like I said earlier...THIS IS DEPRESSING!! But, many others have had their applications completed in 6-8 months from beginning to end. My friend Art is a great example of that. He should be ready to Land here in October to join his wife. Why are we the unlucky ones? Ok Ok...I need to get a grip. There is still hope. We are now completing our 7th month of waiting and starting our 8th month from the very beginning. Hopefully we can also fall into the 6-8 month group. My fingers are still crossed.

At least now I have a Processing Deadline. And, you can better believe that if this drags out that long, that I will be on the phone with them a day after that 10 month mark. Oh gosh....that's all the way in.....March of 2013! Oh, but let's look at the positive. Always gotta look at the positive. Right? We aren't Guatamala!! Did you see that? 26 months! And that's just for Step 2. Holy cow!! Another positive - Furman's Visitor Record is good till May of 2013. 
For now....I'm holding on to falling into that 6-8 month mark. Let's see what happens. Come on September! Holidays are over, back to work people!! lol Government workers usually take lots of summer holidays. You know i'm right!! lol

Anyways....I just wanted to bring this to your attention as it was brought to mine. We have a Processing Deadline to work with now. And yes...WE STILL HAVE TO WAIT!!!  lol Only, for the next little while, we'll be waiting apart.

Miss my Furman!!

Lonely Without Furman

He's gone! For a while that is.
Missing my hubby sooo much already.
His leaving was interesting to say the least. Was almost a sign he needed to just stay after a 3 hr delay. Lol. Always his luck for something to happen. One time he was sitting on a plane watching them refuel only to see the fuel pouring out of the plane from over fueling, causing an obvious delay to change planes. lol

Thank goodness the airport had free wi-fi to keep him occupied while he waited. Funny thing is, that sometimes it's difficult to find an outlet at the airport to charge your cellphone or plug in your laptop because they are often already occupied. Well, Furman is always prepared for that. lol He told me that he got a few laughs from people when he pulled out the extension cord that he travels with. Yup..That's MY Furman!  hahaha Gotta love him.

My first night at home alone. 
The house was quiet...eerily quiet.
No Furman.
My daughter wasn't around.
My son wasn't around.
They are pretty much grown and don't need/want mom anymore. It's all about their friends. lol
So...it's just me and my God. (And, the turtle in the other room).

I watched a few shows that Furman and I would normally watch together after eating whatever was leftover in the fridge. After a few hours...I couldn't take it anymore. Went to bed! lol What else was a girl to do? I swear I was in bed by 8:30pm. Couldn't fall asleep right away though. As I laid in bed I started to hear sounds that I wasn't sure should be there or not. lmao Starting feeling like a little kid afraid of the dark. Go ahead...laugh! So, I put the bedroom television on just because. Didn't drown out certain sounds though. Was my mind playing tricks on me? Had to pause the tv a few times to try and figure out what I was hearing. Never did. I usually sleep with the door closed but not last night. Oh no...left that baby open. Maybe it should have been closed. I dunno. If somebody was in the house that shouldn't be...I wanted to see them coming. lol Trust me...last night was a trip! I wasn't getting out of bed to investigate anything!! With my kids home I would have, because that would have been the protective instinct kicking in. But, home alone? No way!
Took me back to the days when I was younger and lived with my mom. I remember being a little girl laying in bed in the dark afraid of what clothes sitting on a chair looked like - a person. hahahaha I was that little girl again last night. Seriously! Had a flashlight nearby and ready to aim. Eventually, I sucked it up, turned off the tv and just fell asleep. Thank goodness. Didn't hear a thing when my son came home. Tonight will be better. lol I'm putting a plan in place. Yeah..right! I guess you can say I got used to having Furman around.

Anyways....pictures and videos are starting to come in from Mud Hero. The Mud Hero Finish (We are around 24:50 marker)

Funniest picture we found from our Mud Hero experience so far is this one. I just had to share....my expression is PRICELESS! hahaha This is exactly why we do crazy stuff like this - the memories.

And you can see Furman is always ready for the camera!!

Well, I just wanted to post how I got through my first night without Furman. lol
It's going to be a long month.

  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -Philippians 4:6

Tonight, I'll continue my tradition of going to the movies but obviously without my hubby AND without my daughter. lol My son....well, he never goes with me so I kind of just stopped asking. But, he knows my routine. Both my kids know the routine. So, if they ever......

I got a date though, so I wont have to go alone. Yay! The same kid that joined Furman and I before. My daughters friend that has kind of adopted Furman and I as second parents. See...we can't be that bad. hahaha Such a sweety. I think we are supposed to see The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Then...i'll probably go home and go right to bed after touching base with my hubby on the phone. hahahaha

I really gotta find something to do with myself! Any suggestions? Be nice now. lol

Oh, but hey...I got back on the treadmill this morning like I said I would. I sure am Rusty! lol

Mud Heros

Yes..we are!!

What an awesome weekend!

See the BLING! Woo Hoo!                                                        And the gear that came with our Bibs


And here is our.....
BEFORE                                                   and                    AFTER shot.  hahahaha
                            

Oh yes...we got muddy..just like we asked for.  It was soo much fun. Furman did his GoPro video but it seems that there was some condensation on the lens from the heat that made the video look kind of foggy. It was a hott day on Saturday. I personally think the video is fine. But, Furman doesn't like it because it's not clear. So...I wont have a video to show. For my friends on Facebook, I shared a few funny clips I took with my iPhone. lol Sorry blog readers. But let me just say..if you've never done anything like this...go for it! It was certainly an experience. I am soo proud of my cousin Michelle for doing it with us. As well, I am super proud of my friend Paula who came out to be crazy too. We kind of lost her in the race but waited to cheer on her finish. Something like this was a first for both of them. We had a great team of people actually - about 10 of us. Of course my partner in crime, Catie, was there and she was able to bring along a few of her friends. We all wore white t-shirts but thanks to my cousin Michelle who actually managed to get a few of them printed as shown in the photo above. "WARNING. I LIKE IT REAL DIRTY". hahahaha  True True. lol

Mud Hero wasn't as tough as the Spartan Sprint as the Spartan required more strength for the obstacles (think Mud Hero had more obstacles)...but Mud Hero was definitely a dirty mess...a complete blast. I am certainly not bruised like I was with Spartan. I wish I had trained harder for it though. lol I guess with Furman getting ready to head back to Miami that I will have nothing but time on my hands to get my workout in. Yeah...because now, my legs are sore from not working out as much as I usually do. I gotta get back to that though because my next race is the Zoo Run. lol I haven't been to the Zoo in years...so this is one way to see it...running through it doing a 10k. All by my lonesome this time. I'll just have to make some friends.

Funny thing happened at Mud Hero.....Furman came across several strangers that actually recognized him from Spartan. lmao Seriously! I'm like are you kidding me? My man is a superstar! lol No, really...several different people came up to him because they remembered seeing him at the Spartan Race and/or had seen his YouTube video of us doing the Spartan. Furman's Spartan Sprint Video lol It wouldn't surprise me if they look for a Mud Hero video from him. lol Sorry people, next time I guess.

Anyways....I'm about to go to bed. Gotta drop my husband to the airport on my way to work tomorrow. Figured that I would blog tonight as opposed to tomorrow because I might be feeling 'blah' at the temporary loss of my husband. Traveling Mercies to him. Looks like Isaac has found somewhere else to go that may not affect his travel home. Thank God.

I'm going to try and keep busy while he is gone though.
I have a movie date for Tuesday and promised mom that i'll go to Bingo with her sometime this week too. She also invited me to go to the C.N.E (The Ex) with her on Saturday. She mentioned that she is supposed to go with my sister though. How can I tell my mom No? lol She was shocked when I told her YES. hahaha She was like 'Really?' Nope...nobody will keep me from hanging out with my mom when she asks me to hang out with her if I can help it. So....Saturday should be interesting if it ends up being me, my mom AND my sister. (Considering my sister and I don't have a relationship, for those who don't know). I'll pray about it, cause Lord knows..... She might cancel when she finds out i'm going. Or, she might bring her husband for...? Well, we'll just have to wait and see now wont we. lol

Oh..before I go I'll let you know that a post I read on the Road To Canada Forum has definitely given me a bit more patience on this immigration thing. Apparently one of the users who has almost completed the process and is ready to Land commented 'Never believe E-CAS it's the devil and I'm quite sure it was developed to drive us all insane'. lol  They said that because the website still shows their file as Application Received just like ours. Yet, they've been approved and have gone through all the steps except landing. Go figure! So..that makes me feel a bit better because i've been checking the website for updates almost on a daily basis. At least now I know that I may possibly never get an update till this thing has been completed. lol That sucks...but gives me a sense of hope that stuff is still happening. Like I mentioned before...we might receive the request for Furman's passport while he is in Miami. lol We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Going to miss my honey!
My house wont be the same without him.
I'm sure his mom will be thrilled to have him home for a while though. lol Love her!

                                          

Traveling Mercies!
It's not Good Bye...It's SEE YA LATER ALLIGATOR!

Ready To Get Dirty!!

                                                         

Friday is finally here and tomorrow is Mud Hero!!!
                                                                                 
Can't wait! It's going to be soooo much fun.  Toronto Course Map-Obstacles Looks like we've managed to coordinate us all wearing white t-shirts so we can look like a team. Several of us decided to get something printed on them. Oh, but I won't mention what that is quite yet. I wanna wait until we get some pictures!!! You are going to laugh though. lol I've slacked off the last few days on my workout...but, i'm ready! With this race, it's about having fun and not about your time. If you can't do an obstacle, you don't have to do burpees like with the Spartan....naw, you just have to wait a few minutes and you can skip to the next obstacle. lol I wont be skipping obstacles though. Hell no! I can't punk out like that. lol I gotta make my Furman proud! I gotta make myself proud. My kids....they are off in their own worlds not concerned with the crazy stuff that their mom is doing. lol

This is our last weekend together for a while. Not sure what else we will try to cram into it before Furman leaves Monday morning. I'm going to miss him sooo much. You have no idea! He's been watching the path of Issac to project any possible delays in his travel back to Florida. Either way, he'll get there.

  So far...looks like he might be ok.

Remember I told you in my previous post how Furman went to Wonderland with some family friends. Well, he had a great time as expected. He definitely wants me to check out Splashworks. lol He was telling me about how in his day he was in line for one of the rides, and a young kid waiting behind him fell in love with the drawstring Bob Marley bag he was carrying.
It was a nice bag. This isn't it but the one he has was just as nice. lol Anyways, being the awesome person that my husband is, he took his stuff out of the bag and gave the bag to the kid - a complete stranger. He sure did. He was telling me about the kids reaction and how shocked he was that a complete stranger gave him something soo cool. lol He even laughed about the reaction of the kid that he was travelling with. hahaha After all, if he knew that Furman would just take and give away his bag, then he probably would have shown his own love for the bag. Too funny. Knowing my husband, I know that when he is back in Miami he'll probably pick up a few. What did I tell you already? Good Moral Character.

Enjoying himself at Wonderland on Wednesday, he ended up going alone back to Wonderland for something to do on Thursday. Yup...that's my hubby. He's crazy!  hahaha He said he really just likes to pick me up from work. lol Isn't he such a sweetheart?

Yesterday....I spent the day getting our Backpacks together for the Backpack Program. I swear I thought it would only take me a few hours. Took me all darn day. The employees in our office did amazing. Most came from another office in the same building...but we still managed to fill quite a few backpacks. 57 to be exact!! Who knows how many last minute donations will come in on Monday. That's when I want to have them picked up or dropped off so that the kids receiving them have them in time for school. I think it's just awesome to see how people can be so giving. Society needs more of that.


Anyways....just wanted to touch base before the weekend like I usually do. I'll update everyone on our race AFTER the weekend. Hopefully i'll have some cool photos and/or video to share. We might even check out the Toronto Buskerfest for something else to do. Sunday.....I just wanna hang with my Furman.

No Immigration updates! Surprise, surprise.
I've been checking the website to see if they've at least updated my name as per my email to them about my new passport. But, they haven't even done that. Maybe I need to look forward to September. Maybe they've been on skeleton staff over the summer. I just don't know. lol So, i'm making excuses for them. It'll be interesting if they request Furman's passport while he is back in Miami. Why? Because the next step is for them to do that. He would have to send in his passport and wait for them to do whatever they do in preparing his Permanent Residency. If he has to do that while he is in Miami....hmmm? He just might have to come back to Toronto before we send in his passport. That way, he'll be with me while waiting for its return.

I've already booked my next flight. After all, we've got our First Anniversary coming up! Woo Hoo. Oh yeah..the day before my birthday. How can we forget? hahahaha Was I good or was I good with that plan? lol I won't even tell you what our plans are. Oh no...not yet. lol

Have a great weekend everyone!
For us....it's gonna be REAL DIRTY!!  hahaha



Next post....Furman will probably be gone.

Good Moral Character

                                         

Splashworks! Canada's Wonderland.
That is where my husband is today with some family friends while i'm stuck at a desk. hahaha I know he'll have a awesome time because he's with good people. His second time out and about without me! lol This time, with my friends family that absolutely adore him. She is stuck at a desk too. lmao Just got me thinking to the type of man that my husband is - a good one. Of course, that's why I married him. He is a man of Good Moral Character! I am blessed.

"Being of good moral character is to have a collection of attributes which make up your personality and define the way in which you act which are considered 'good' - honesty, integrity, kindness, loyalty and so on. A person with these personality traits may be said to have 'good morals', meaning they act in what is considered to be an unselfish, kindly way. In short, those with good moral character believe in helping others and providing benefits to society that will impact positively on everyone, rather than only considering the well being of themselves."  http://www.blurtit.com/q233514.html

You know whats sad though...in thinking about this definition I just posted...I've never really dated a man of Good Moral Character before. Seriously! Nobody that I can remember anyways. lol Boy...I really didn't know how to pick 'em and that was my problem. I guess that's why it took me so long to marry. I wasn't waiting on God. I'm happy I didn't marry when I was younger. lol I'm not trying to blow up my husbands head with praises because he is not perfect...but he is perfect for me! I'm just stating a fact. We are perfect for each other and "it feels so good when somebody loves you back". (Yup..that was on my wedding cd) My husband being a good man is something that someone else recognized and had me thinking about enough to write this post. I got a good catch! A great example for my son and daughter. However, my son is a young man now and my daughter is a teenager. Hopefully what they've already learned from me as a single parent is already helping them be people of 'good moral character'. I've really tried to set good examples for them and continue to do the same, and now I have my husband to help. However, as a parent we have to realize that we aren't the only ones raising our children - society is. We can only teach them and protect them so much from all that is horrible out in the world. They are going to do what they are going to do. All we can do is love them unconditionally...and that, I do!

                                         

I'm a lucky woman! My children are lucky..they just don't know it. (At least I don't see that they do) I came to my senses, listened to God having Faith and was rewarded. I say that I listened to God because when Furman and I reconnected I did a whole lot of praying. I sure did! I was tired! I didn't want to get hurt again. So..I prayed that if Furman wasn't for me that God would please take him away. Honest to God! It was the first time that I had been praying like that. I was dead serious too! On my knees! And, I continue to pray...for my children, etc. You pray that your children heed the lessons you have been and continue to try and teach them. For them to recognize and surround themselves with those who are also of 'good moral character'. Birds of a feather flock together right? That's why as a parent it's scary when you see some of the people your children choose to hang out with. Oh boy! When your kids start making decisions you have no control over...Double Oh boy!

                                              

Last night I found myself up in Keswick, Ontario. And I thought I lived far. But noooo....Keswick is far. lol I was invited out by a lady from my church. A lady that I can now call a friend and sister in Christ. We've always done Church in the City together which is feeding the homeless but never really had much communication other than that, and sharing posts on Facebook. Then, one day her and her husband prayed for us after I shared something that I have been struggling with lately. She could relate. She later reached out to me as a friend. Did God tell her to do that? Lord knows what I need. Especially these days. I lost a few friends when I got married. Not that my husband isn't a friend. Oh no...he is my bestie! But sometimes you need another woman, a fellow mom to talk to. (Not that I don't have one...but one closer in proximity) That's what we did. Hung out and had Sushi at a place called Sushi Minato. Was really good. She recognized a need and I am grateful. All Glory to God because He always knows what we need, when we need it and who to send our way. Look forward to building a friendship with her. Reason, Season or Lifetime. I may not have a lot of friends in my life...but I got the right friends. Friends...of Good Moral Character! I love you all!

Tonight....is our regular movie night!  SPARKLE! Whitney Houston's last movie. Look forward to it. Hope you all check it out yourself if you haven't already.

Funny Things Happened

New Passport Received! Took exactly 7 days.
Was that quick or was that quick? Impressed.
So, I sent off an email to CIC as the Immigration website seemed to direct me to. Just to ask them to update my name on my application since it's supposed to reflect the name on my passport, which is now my married name.  I was a bit confused as to who I should be notifying, CIC in Mississauga or the Visa office in Los Angeles that is supposed to be processing Furman's part of our application. Hopefully, just getting my email and having to look at our application for the update will give someone an "Ah ha" moment and move our application along. lol We'll see. At this point it looks like our getting that final decision might happen while Furman is back home in Miami. At least I hope so because it's been long enough already. You see the counter to the right of this blog? Yeah...so we'll see.

Soooo...Furman had a great time at The Ex with mom and my Auntie as I knew he would. He got to really see how my mom is and how people so easily take advantage of her. She is soo damn kind. lol That's where I get it from! And he saw my mom in action collecting the freebies, only to send home with him...for ME! hahahaha

                                     

Then....we went to see Creflo Dollar at Roy Thompson Hall and heard an awesome service. He was really good. I was impressed and enjoyed his message very much. He even had a Christian comedian open for him which was different. Comedy with no cuss words. They also were throwing t-shirts into the crowd like at concerts...Furman caught one with his right hand like he was catching a baseball at a ballpark. It was too funny.

Maybe the word HATE is too harsh. lol

Funny thing that happened that night was that as we walked into the auditorium to see Creflo I ran into someone that I used to know. No, not my sister. I ran into a girl that I had been friends with for about 25 yrs. Unfortunately, when Furman and I got back together she decided to no longer be my friend for like the 10th and last time. Go figure. Misery loves company and I wasn't miserable anymore...that's all. My interpretation. We no longer had anything in common. Not that we really did in the first place. We were really quite the opposites and always had been. She decided she didn't want to be friends and had given me a letter terminating our friendship. Smh. No comment. Then, she had my part time employment at her workplace terminated, because after deciding to not be my friend anymore it was too hard for her to work around me. Second and last time she did that too! First time she fired me was after I defended my sister after a disagreement she had with her over a vehicle. lol (A bunch of long stories here) Let me just say that it's been a couple years since we spoke or even saw each other and when I saw her at Creflo Dollar I had every intention of just passing her by with a smile and a nod. Wrong or not, I was doing it. She wasn't having it though and got a bit stink about my attempt too. lol (She's always been the in your face type which used to be something I liked about her. lol) She pulled me over for me to allow her to hug me and then she hugged and congratulated Furman. Guess she heard we got married! lol Nothing else was said. Was just strange to see her there. Like I've said before..it's a small world. lol

Saturday, the Canfitpro Fitness and Wellness Expo was interesting. I have a bag full of information and samples of protein and protein bars to go through. lol Lots of walking. Even ran into some people I know. Kinda like family. Readers of my blog. We listened to a few lectures and even watched what was supposed to be a Best Body Contest. lol No comment. They threw t-shirts and protein into the audience and Furman caught some stuff. Just like he did at Creflo Dollar. I couldn't catch a damn thing. lol Had fun though. I got on a bike where you had to peddle as fast as you can against someone else for 30 seconds to win a t-shirt and peddled my ass off! My score wasn't captured for some reason. Guess I broke the machine. They gave us both the t-shirt. A good one too. Dry fit I think it's called. Really wish I got the score though cause I was peddling man! Got my first Thai Massage too and after listening to Tommy Europe speak on fitness, I got his autograph before leaving for the day. Just because...I was there. lol
 Wore my Spartan Race t-shirt with my yoga pants because I had to fit in somehow. lol Furman said that everyone would be wearing yoga pants anyways and he wasn't joking. People were prepared with their workout clothes and yoga mats because they had tons of workshops and fitness certifications going on. It was a good day.

Oh yeah...Got this done too!

                                   
After the show we headed out to Brantford as planned and I got to meet one of Furman's friends and her family. Very nice lady. We ate at Crabby Joe's. Wasn't too bad. Got an invite to see them again in Windsor. Looking forward it. She said she makes a mean lasagna! I love lasagna. My Aunt Bonnie can attest to that.

Today, we went to church as we always try to do. Then...we hit that Canada's Wonderland baby! Took care of our second visit! And...we remembered to travel with the collector cup we bought on our last visit there. $10 for the 32 oz cup allows you refills of drink for $1.99. So, we brought it back with us for the refills. Pretty smart if you ask me. lol Got wet this time, but that was the plan. Oh yeah...we got on the White Water Canyon ride, Timberwolf Falls and Riptide with the friends we love to hang out with. They met us at Wonderland just like they met us for the Expo. We even got on the bumper cars. hahaha Haven't been on those in ages.

Funny thing that happened at Wonderland was our running into my son's aunt. What was funny about it was that she found me by recognizing my husband first. Seriously!! A man she never met. She had obviously seen my photos of him posted on Facebook. Too funny! What a superstar that Furman. haha

Now...to get ready for the last week before our Mud Hero and Furman's departure back to Florida.
Man oh man! I want to think about Mud Hero but not about his leaving. My house wont be the same with him absent. Trust me on that one! But hey...I got my new passport now so I can start firming up those anniversary plans once and for all. 1 yr baby..just around the corner!!

The Ex

Noooo....my blog title has nothing to do with Ex boyfriends or girlfriends. lmao  In fact, it has to do with something I talked about in my previous post Already Making Plans, the C.N.E (Canadian National Exhibition)...or as we love to call it The EX.  "Let's go to the Ex, Oh Baby!"

Here is a vintage commercial from 1982. lol

As I mentioned in my previous post, I wasn't sure if we were going to make it there this year because we are trying to get our money's worth from our Canada's Wonderland passes. (Planning visit #2 on Sunday, after church of course) Well, no sooner did I write that did my mom call with the invite to The Ex for Friday. Today, is opening day. Unfortunately for me...I have to work. Mom always forgets THAT, yet i'm always honored she thinks of me. lol Then, without a thought, I offered up Furman. hahaha I probably should have asked him first but I figured he'd probably jump at the opportunity to get out of the house and hang with family that just love him - Mom and my Aunt Bonnie. So...I suggested that mom give him a call after Bingo to ask him herself. I figured that would be a nicer touch than me passing along the message. lol How could he say no? But he had me worried for a minute. He is always playin! When he was talking to mom he was teasing her making it sound like he really didn't want to go anywhere without me. That i'm all the fun. Huh? lol Hearing mom convince him he didn't need me was cute. So, he said he'd give her an answer about his joining them the next day. Oh gheez. I felt honored and all, but then I was thinking that maybe I should have warned him about mom's call. Give him time to think about it first. lol What did he have to think about? Well...how on earth to get there and make it happen. He is such a planner. Details...Details! After all, I'll be at work. He hasn't really traveled transit by himself yet. Driving to The Ex...not a good idea! Parking...crazy and probably a bit pricy. Entrance fee to the CNE....$8 today only. Half price off for opening day..not bad!

Yesterday, mom made sure to call to find out if he was coming or not. I just love how she always remembers stuff, except that I gotta work all day every day. lol By the time she called, we had the plans all figured out though.

So, i'm stuck at work and Furman is gone to meet up with my Auntie and my mom...without me. Womp Womp! lol Wish I could hang out with them today. It would be a nice something to do. I'm sure they wont be there too too long though. While my mom can walk a marathon, my Aunt Bonnie's knees are not in the greatest of shape. She is a soldier though! Always has been. She'll be having surgery on her knees real soon and will be back in tip top shape i'm sure. They'll have a good day, and I can say that Furman got to experience The Ex. lol I was trying to tell him about it. He'll find out now. I won't feel like I need to take him this year. 

He's in great company! My Aunt and my mom are a trip. I bet they'll probably have him playing Bingo and stuff down there. lol Told him to make sure and check out the Food Building too. I know he wont be messing around with no deep fried Mars bars and stuff though. lol  Hope he takes pictures.

Then tonight, we're going to check out Creflo Dollar. I found out through a Facebook post that he will be in the city at Roy Thompson Hall on his Change Experience Conference. For those not familiar with him, he is a televangelist. Now I know that he is no Joyce Meyers or TD Jakes (my favorites),...but i'm interested in checking him out just the same.  

Thought i'd share him from YouTube. Hope you enjoy!

                                       

Love Fridays! 

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Mine will be another busy busy one!

Looking forward to it.

Already Making Plans

                                              

And I am already making our plans for the weekend. WooHoo!

Canfitpro Stage Schedule

We will be there Saturday morning (see video) meeting up with some friends. Thanks girl for telling us about it. We would have never known. This, is right up Furman's alley too! I like Expos. I like FREE stuff. I like learning new stuff too. And, it's nice to do stuff that other people are interested in doing with you. Not that I don't love hanging out with just Furman and I...but you know, sometimes it's good to hang out with other awesome people. So, just like Caribana Weekend, we'll meet up with our friends and check this out together!!

After spending several hours at the Expo, we plan to head to Brantford to meet up with one of Furmans friends. We'll probably find somewhere in Brantford to have a nice dinner and hang out before we head back home. Any recommendations? I don't know Brantford at all, but I've been there. The family that adopted one of my sisters lives out there. She may too still....who knows? But I'm sure they've got a few nice places to eat out there. We'll find something. Any recommendations, let us know.

The CNE opens this weekend, otherwise known as The Ex, for it's 134th year! Imagine that. The opening of the CNE is always a sign that summer is almost over. I remember going there as a little girl with family. In fact, there were several years where I lived with my mom and we actually lived only a few blocks from The Ex. lol Memories! We used to go to the Ex so the adults could play the games like Crown n Anchor and Horseraces. I always had to play the Birthday game! For me, the Ex was never really about the rides but about the games and the Food Building. Canada's Wonderland is about the rides. Polar Express was the only CNE ride I liked.

But yeah, love the Food Building where you could get so much variety at decent prices. The last several years it seems like they've been trying out a lot of weird food stuff too. Like deep fried butter. Oh boy. Hamburgers where the bun is actually a Krispy Kreme donut. (so I guess it's called a Donut Burger). lol  I think I even remember hearing about deep fried koolaid once. WTH? I certainly wont be trying anything funky if I go. Trying to watch my waistline. lol
                                                                                Click on the Food Building link above for the list of what will be new for this year.

I'm not sure yet if we'll get to The Ex this year. I'd like to go just because Furman has never been there for the CNE, but...we gotta get our use of our Wonderland seasons passes that Furman bought. We'll see. At this point it's getting harder to plan what to do before Furman leaves me on August 27th. (Remember we have Mud Hero on the 25th). I'm already thinking that we gotta squeeze in another trip to Wonderland on Sunday after church. Just, so we can get our second visit for our money's worth in those passes. We'll see about that too. It's only Wednesday..who knows what our final plans for the weekend will be by Friday.

Anyways...I got to get back to work. It's Hump Day. I got things to do!
I've been Prime at my office building for another year of our Backpack Program. Backpacks are finally starting to come in and/or get filled. I've got a bit more to do than just my core job. lol
Every year our company runs a program where we collect donations from the employees across the province to fill a backpack for underprivileged children. Since I am always volunteering for different things, I am known around our building as the "go to" person for different stuff. This is one of them. The employees really come through. It's quite awesome. The company provides the backpacks and just solicits the donations to fill them. Sometimes though, the employees will actually purchase the backpack also, which is fine too. We give a target date for collection which all comes to me and I ensure that all backpacks are filled with the list of what we ask the bags to be filled with. Once completed, I arrange for pickup or drop off of the backpacks usually to an agency that works with other agencies for distribution. For example, Windfall Basics. Back to school is just around the corner...so I am hoping to have everything collected so I can arrange delivery next week. Why am I telling you this? Well, so that you can see the kind of stuff that I am always upto. Whether at work or at home, I always try to do something a little extra for other people. Fill a Backpack, Food Drives. Besides, it gives me something to do other than work while at the office.

No Immigration updates!!  Ugh.