MUDSlinging

Amidst my crazy busy week I had to find a moment to blog about this!!
After very little sleep, I came into work early to put fingers to keyboard just for you.
WHAT A NIGHT!



I thought the Republicans vs Democrats were bad.  They got nothing on the Union Election experience I had last night. Never again!! 6 hours!! I missed my dance class for this foolishness.

Let me back up just a bit.
My office, has a union. Can't really comment about how good they are, but we have one nonetheless. lol Certainly pay enough in union dues.

Anyways, last evening they were holding union elections for which there was a very high turnout for CHANGE! Yup...that's what people wanted. I have nothing against the people we were trying to change though. I've worked with almost all of the people that were running for their positions, so I knew the personalities and was able to make an informed decision. Oh, and even share my personal opinion with those who asked.

There were about 5 categories that needed to be voted on.  President, Vice-President, Chief Steward, Health and Safety and Secretary-Treasurer.  Thank God, someone had the nerve to put a motion forward to get the voting done FIRST. THANK YOU! Usually they make you sit there and listen to union business before getting to the good stuff. But, the motion was carried and shortly after things started, the voting began.

Here is what is soooo dumb!  Lack of organization i'd say.
They did each vote one at a time! No lie!
About 130 people lined up to vote for Union President. This is no electronic voting. Oh no! First, you had to initial that you got a voting slip. (For which you didn't need to show any ID). Then, vote behind a cardboard wall and re-initial that your vote had been cast. Next....you had to sit and wait for everyone to go through the process to cast their vote and then sit again to wait for the vote to be counted and result to be announced.  After the announcement, it started again for the next category. In this case, it was Secretary-Treasurer. WTH?
Shouldn't the Vice-President vote come after the President? Ya think? hahaha Nope. Not sure who was calling the shots but people are not happy. And...the night only got worse.
Oh....and there was NO FOOD!  They served us free tapwater. No coffee or nothing. At least until much later in the evening with all the complaints. We eventually got to share cookies that I think the President ran out and bought. One employee decided to take advantage of the situation and decided to walk around and sell some of his own Girl Guide Cookies. lol People were hungry!!

So finally, we got to the Vice-Presidential vote. One of the big votes that our office went to support. After the first vote, the third person on the ballot was eliminated. But, they had to do the voting again because the winner didn't have the majority. ??? Vote totals were 51, 29 and 28. Winner needed 54. Here is where the drama begins.  The person that got eliminated stepped up to the microphone and thanked everyone for voting for her. Then, she publicly endorsed the second candidate because she's had this crazy rivalry with the guy who was leading. SMDH! Wrong Wrong Wrong!! Really and truly, the drama didn't start at the voting hall. Oh no....the drama started earlier in the day with the arrival of pricey colored flyers and emails about why people should not vote for a particular person. lol It was crazy. MUDSlinging!! But, the announcement the girl made was still shocking because it was very out of order! Sore loser. I feel bad for her. All she ended up doing was really pissing a lot of people off. I'm confident she swayed a lot of votes in the direction she didn't want just because of her stupid antics. lol That was the whisper!

Time for the second vote. Wait....how is it that there were 90 signatures and 91 votes? Something like that. Somebody is clearly up to some kind of sabotage. lol At least in the heat of the moment that was the thought. In all honesty, it's possible that somebody got a double slip because of how things were done. Hell, when I went to sign off that I was voting somebody had already signed off on my vote with their own initials. Huh? After all this.....we are down to a third vote!!  This was really getting ridiculous. Throughout the night we kept losing people because it was getting just too late. People have kids. We gotta be at work in the morning. People have a life!


Here we are about 10pm running a third vote!! Grrr....and still had two more categories to vote for. I don't understand why they just couldn't hold all three votes at the same time. Or why while votes are being counted for one category that we allow people to vote for another category if the same people weren't running. I guess it made too much sense. Can you imagine if they had gone forward with their usual order of business before the voting? Thank God there were many from our office that were soldiers!!  They stuck it out to the end with hopes that the right vote would prevail - The winner of the first two votes. Me...I stayed till the end. I live too damn far to quit now. And, as I mentioned, I had changed my plans to be there and lend my support. I had to finish.

In the end....we got a new VP, the one we wanted.
The two other votes are now put off because of time. Oh, and because people who couldn't vote for one category were able to vote for the delay. Made no sense but oh...they were the majority and whether they could vote or not they had to be counted. Let me tell you....wonky business!! Smh People are not happy for soo many reasons. And then the union wonders why people don't turn out for this stuff. Uh...HELLO!

Anyways....I am soo glad it's over. When in reality, it's really not over yet. Another important vote needs to be held. The one for Chief Steward. I already know how that will turn out. But i'm just sorry that we didn't get to get it over with last night. What a waste. Just wonder how and when the next vote will be handled.
The office is surely buzzing today!!
But TGIF! I gotta get my day started, as tired as I am.
Looking soooo forward to tomorrow. This is going to be a crazy busy weekend.

Giving Thanks

Hope everyone had an awesome Canadian Thanksgiving holiday.
Lord knows, we all have much to give thanks for....just, many don't even realize it sometimes. It's hard to think about giving thanks when things in life aren't very good.  I know, I've been there too.
But the list really does go on and on of why we should give thanks.
Like my Pastor mentioned on Sunday....we focus on Thanksgiving but many don't even mention who they are actually giving thanks to!!  Smh.

Almighty God....

I certainly am Giving Thanks!!

On Thanksgiving, and Everyday!

My greatest blessings are my two wonderful children and very handsome husband. And then I can't forget to mention my Mom. Love her dearly. Her health has been great the last couple of years and for that I am also very very thankful.

Now, after sharing an awesome Thanksgiving Dinner with some awesome friends..(Thanks so much to them for including us)...I get back to the gym this week. After all, I haven't been doing anything since We Did It! Again!  Yup, I've been a bit lazy. Ok, maybe more than a bit....but that ends now!!  But wait, maybe I am going too far by saying I haven't been doing anything because I have been going to my dance class.

What I'm supposed to wear.

In fact, last Thursday was hilarious because I forgot my shorts that I wear for class. LOL  I accidentally brought two tops.

Lucky for me....I had something in my trunk that I could use. Smh.

What I ended up wearing.
You can laugh!

My daughters old Solo Baton Costume.
I squeezed my butt into it.
Was too funny.
When I told Furman he begged me to please take a picture. hahaha
When I told my daughter she laughed and figured that I must have the biggest wedgie!!  hahaha
Awwww.....it wasn't that bad.
I ended up losing a few stones rubbing up against the pole though.
As I did my thing I heard something hit the floor and made a dash to collect what I could so that I could glue them back on. After all, my big butt shouldn't be in her costume messing it all up...but I was desperate. lol

I got the job done though!  Had a great class and learned how to do the Helicopter!!



Anyways.....I gotta start my day. Thank God it's a short week!  Looking forward to a very busy and exciting weekend. This week, I've gotta start getting used to new neighbors. (You have no idea!)
At work, I've got some ladies that moved in beside me who were previously moved to the office that I will soon be transferred to and who have now been moved back. Must have been some fight! Go figure! Long story! Wish I knew the secret. But I'm not going to start thinking about that upcoming move because my migraines will kick in. Instead, I'll think about other moves that I am excited about. And, enjoy my new neighbors. And remember to keep Giving Thanks!!!

Have an awesome week everyone!!

God Bless!!

We Did It! Again!

Can't believe it!

Really can't!  Lol

So proud of both of us.

So thankful for my husbands awesome support and capturing of our special moments in picture and video....and for that of my FB friends who took the time to post encouraging and congratulatory comments. 

I am blessed.
Sorry it took me several days to blog about it....but I needed some time to recover. lol
 We were completely exhausted!
But not too exhausted to pose up with our BLING!
                                           

Did I mention that I can't believe we did it? lol
What a feeling.  (Song came to mind...I just had to!)

During the run we both felt awesome. Kept checking in with each other to make sure that nobody was having any knee pain or hip pains. When we needed to slow down just a tad, we did so. We are a great team.
The result - A finish time of 2:20!!!
Not bad for our very first Half Marathon. Furman figured we'd finish somewhere around 2:30. Hell, we would have been happy with that too! So, it was nice to make him proud and blow our own minds. lol. When we got down to the last stretch, Catie reminded me that it was time to book it to the Finish Line. Lord knew, I didn't have very much energy left because those last few kms were hard as hell. (Definitely is mind over matter) But....I did my best. Couldn't let Catie finish ahead of me when we stuck together the whole way. Noooo....we had to not only start together, but end together too. And, that's what we did. Grabbing each other's hands and raising in the air as we crossed the finish line.

We've earned these now!!
 Already on my car!!!  Woo Hoo!

And....just when you thought we had enough.......we've already registered for the Ottawa Race Weekend.
Yup....we are going to travel to Ottawa for May long weekend and run another Half Marathon. Go big or go home!!  It'll be a beautiful route that allows us to run through two provinces apparently. We'll be crossing the bridge into Gatineau along with running along the Rideau Canal. I sooo can't wait. Already knew I wanted to run in Ottawa, just never expected that it would be a Half Marathon!!  And guess what.....Furman can run this one with us. Yay!!  He laughs...because while we said we would NEVER run a full marathon...he already knew that we'd sign up for another Half. lol I guess he is right....we got the bug. We are addicted.

But...no gym for me this week. I'm gonna rest up before I get back in gear. In fact....i'm on holidays next week because my husband and I will be celebrating our Second Wedding Anniversary!! Imagine that! My, how time flies. And....I've got a birthday right after.
Oh...and as a treat for my birthday....I will be spending the day with my dear Half Marathon Running Partner (no, not Furman) - Catie.....at St Anne's Resort and Spa. Oh yes....we most certainly deserve to be pampered and get one of those Athletes Massages.  Can't wait. So happy that Catie decided she will be joining me!!  Love her!!

Anyways....I just wanted to make sure and update you all on my Half Marathon.
I FINISHED!!!    
DAMN SKIPPY!!!



Yeah baby!!

Race Kit Pickup

Today was quite the adventure that I had to tell you about it.
Why? Because there was a lesson learned. lol

As I mentioned in my previous post....today was Race Kit Pickup day.
I had to make the trek into the city between 10-2pm to get our kits because yesterdays time for pickup was during rush hour (3-7pm) and that wasn't happening. Especially since I was on a Mental Health Day. So, on a yucky rainy day...I head into the city.
I decided that I would make an adventure of it. How? Well, by parking where I knew so I wouldn't have to hunt for parking near my destination. Parking where I knew was several blocks away which means I would have to make a trek in the rain to my destination.

Although I had an umbrella, I decided I would take an adventure....the Toronto PATH system. An underground network of shopping the connects several buildings for 28 kms. I had this downloaded map on my iphone to help me navigate because while I've lived in this city all my life, I've never successfully navigated through the PATH from one point to another. It's like a maze as the map will show you.

But.....before I could start my adventure, I had to park. That has never been an issue before but it was today because I didn't have my credit card on me, which is what I usually use for the machine. I didn't worry about it because I was pretty sure that there was a change machine on one of the parking levels. I was wrong!!
I swear there used to be one there though. I swear.

So, I started counting my change.

When I found that I was a couple dollars short of the $6 flat rate fee that I needed, I started digging in my car. Moving the seats to check for fallen pocket change. It helped. But not completely. I needed $0.50 more.
Luckily on the fourth level of the parking garage was a section where people are able to vacuum out their vehicles. A car pulled up near me to do so. Soooo.....I went begging. hahahahaha I sure did! Two guys were getting ready to vacuum out their SUV so I sauntered over and asked them if they could spare $0.50. Don't remember my exact words...lol But, I put on the charm. Lucky for me, it worked. They generously donated $0.50 to my cause. So, I went to the parking machine to get my ticket.

Well, I encountered a new issue surprisingly.
As I stood there depositing the loonies (Canadian dollar coins), quarters, dimes and nickels....when the tally got to $5.90 the machine wouldn't take any more change. WTH? Is there a quota as to how many coins you can use to make your $6? Nothing on the machine said so. I tried again. Same problem. So close but yet so far. I couldn't get a darn parking slip so I could be on my way. Smh.

Now....I decided to drive up a level of the parking garage to where I would more likely encounter people because the level I was on was pretty much empty. On that next level I stopped a man that had just parked and asked him if he could give me a loonie in exchange for four quarters. In fact, he gave me two for eight. This should work. So, back to the parking machine I went. It worked!!! I was on my way. Finally. Don't even ask how much time I spent trying to deal with this change issue. lol

After that, I was headed for the PATH. After all, I was on a deadline. Nothing crazy to share about my venture through the PATH. It was just like going through a maze. Turn a corner, reach a dead end, retrace steps and go another way till you find which way you should be going. Look at signs for direction and still not be sure which sign to follow. The map I shared above was a bit helpful. Sooo....I made my way and was so proud of myself. Found my way to my destination to get our race kits for tomorrow.
                                       

This will be us!!

ISLAND GIRLS!!!

Wish us luck!

Say a prayer.

Stay tuned.  Finish line.... Here we come!!

Oh... And lesson learned....parking machines have some kind of quota on how many coins you can use. Lol. Seriously!!

Mental Health Day

Today I took my very first Mental Health Day.

At least I don't recall having ever taken one.  Lol. Days off is not something I'm good at. 

I originally had the day off and decided that I would go ahead and work it.....only to decide to take it off after receiving some absolutely horrible news at work.  I need a moment or three to digest what they just gave us to swallow. They are relocating my team with no ifs, ands or buts. No real good reason, but just because they can. Cohesiveness and Collaboration. Smh. I'll be haunted by those words.

Of course, this news is devastating for all of us for a variety of reasons.
We tried to communicate this before.....when the threat was first uttered. Change is..
Powers that be might as well be wearing these t-shirts.....lol

Myself and another colleague live the farthest from our current office location. We already both drive just over an hour to get to our current location. So travelling to the new office location will be no joke. I've done it before for a week of training and it wasn't fun. The ride home was a definite assault on my patience. Oh my nerves!! Having to do it everyday? OMG. Let me say it again...

o m g!!

But I'm not going to get into my anger because its not going to make me feel better getting it out.  Nope...I digress. I will simmer quietly as I try to figure out how to put together all that this disrupts in my life. The list is long and started coming to mind as I left my dance class last evening. Oh..but let me just say...yes, I am still happy to have a job.

But.....today....I decided to take a day to avoid getting a migraine from the stress of this now pending move. Didn't want to go to work and talk about it. Because you know that would be the topic for the day since it was just announced. There would be no way to avoid it. Ugh! Nope...today I relaxed and happily prepared for another change in my life that is welcome. Oh, uh....more to come.

It'll be a nice long weekend for me. I took Monday off work as well.....you know, to recover from my First Half Marathon. Thought I might need it. Two more days before I can join an elite group of people. So, tomorrow I pick up our race kits and eat some pasta and just relax in general.

On that note....let me get back to my day/evening.
I may not be at work...but I was getting some work done at home. No more slacking off!
It's the weekend baby!!!

Oh....and I want to dedicate this song to my first born with lots of love!!

Keep me in your prayers this weekend.

That I finish my half marathon and with no injury.

Have an awesome weekend.

God Bless!!!

Getting Ready to Run

Excited?

I must say, I'm not exactly there yet.

Concerned is more like it.

15k is one thing.....but a Half Marathon? 

Yup....that's what I'm griping about.  The day is quickly approaching.  It sure is.

I'm not ready for this.  And while I still have several days to get ready....I'm afraid my readiness will never come. Even after I've finished the darn thing. Smh.

Slow and steady wins the race.  Yup....I'm gonna demonstrate exactly what that means. Lol
                                               

Now, we know that I can already run 15k without stopping. Lol

I might forget I can do that next weekend though.  Just sayin!

After completing the Half next weekend, I can't see myself doing another.  Sad, but true. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But I know, I know....never say never!!  Lol  (Oh, and notice I did say "after completing".

In the meantime, we've started making plans for our winter runs. No lie! Lol I am quite serious...and crazy I might add. (Some of you already know this..lol)

It's all Catie's fault...again!  I swear I wouldn't have thought about running in the cold if it wasn't for her. But, she got me again. I couldn't say no.

Soooo...we are separately registered to do the Resolution Run 5k on New Years Day!  Woo hoo....it's gonna be a cold one.  But, a great way to start the year I'd like to think. Instead of bling we get a nifty race jacket. So you know that's really why I signed up. Lol Got Furman to agree to do it with me too.

Oh, but we didn't stop there!!

We haven't registered yet but we have gotten quite a group together to run the Santa Shuffle! Lol Now that one has some nifty bling. At least I think so. 

But...let me not get too far ahead of myself. Let me conquer this Half Marathon first so I can proudly earn my 13.1mile/21.1km magnet for my car!! So, to do that, I gotta keep running.  Have been running 5k about 3 times a week and doing a long run on the weekend. Was so proud of myself running out and doing a 10k last weekend while Furman was at work. I sooo wanted to slack off....but I just couldn't. This weekend will be no exception! One more week to go!!! 1st 1/2

On that note.....i'm off to start my weekend!!!  Have a great weekend everyone. God Bless!!!

Stole photo from my running partner Catie.....and I totally agree with it!

TODAY IS NOT THAT DAY!!!!

                                          

Did Ya Miss Me?

Ok....so now, this time has actually been the longest break i've had between posts.
Never fear....Mrs White is here!  hahaha
Did ya miss me?
For those who actually may have....I'm sorry.
If you did, then that suggests that you are a regular reader which means that you may actually understand why I've been absent and knew that I would be returning. My last post College or Bust explains quite a bit.
At the same time, you may be a parent with a child returning to school and may have been too busy yourself to read. If that's the case, you didn't miss anything. lol

Soooo....lots have been happening for many. It's that time. We just had Labor Day Weekend which signifies that Summer is over. Done! Caput!
What now? BACK TO SCHOOL! For sooo many. With that, comes a lot of happiness as well as sadness for parents and students. Time for kids to learn more stuff and make new friendships. What's even more sad, is the tale of those children that will no longer have this opportunity. I'm referring to recent tragedies that have been in the news in my town involving youth. Who knows what's similarly happened in your town so I wont list mine. Just have to pray for the families and friends of these children everywhere.

I saw this prayer on Facebook so thought I would share it here too because it's dead on.
                                                     
On that note, I want to wish all those who have children returning to school a safe and wonderful school year.

Anyways....even though I haven't written in a while I can't write long. Got lots to do. Have been covering for people on vacation at work which has been keeping me very busy during the day. Was still helping my daughter get settled in her dorm before classes began...which they now have. AND....I'm still getting to my dance classes too. In fact, I have officially ADVANCED!  (Starting next week actually) Woo Hoo. lol
On that note...just gotta share a couple videos of myself.  So proud. Doing the Corkscrew and the Pretzel. Think you can guess which one is which?  hahaha    Spinbuddies


Well....I'm off for now. But i'm here. Will do my best not to take so long to post. Things will eventually slow down which will give me a moment to update you on whatever. lol

Till then.....Have an awesome week.
Oh....and watch out for the little ones on the road!!
God Bless.