Alarmed!

It's over!
My Staycation is officially DONE today.
I'm relaxed. I really am. Just wish I could have slept in this weekend.
Awake wayy too early for the second time, through no fault of my own, so I thought I would blog.
I'm pissed actually! So really, i'm venting. Preventing myself from texting someone to do something they can't do right now anyways. Turn off their damn alarm clock! Not funny.
My neighbors go away pretty much every weekend which normally leaves the house quiet when compared to what is heard throughout the week from them. New Neighbors - Time to Leave
This weekend, they must have forgotten and left an alarm clock set and ready to go! So, Saturday morning I was taken out of my slumber by the sound of a digital alarm clock (Sound I'm hearing!) which wasn't even in their bedroom. WTH? I thought I had been dreaming. Couldn't get the sound out of my head so I got out of bed to investigate. I figured it was coming from my daughters room and that it just wasn't doing it's job in waking her up. But, when I went to turn it off.....it wasn't hers. Sooo, I strolled around the house in the dark and what was supposed to be quiet to follow the sound. I didn't have to go far. It was intermittent and was driving me crazy! It was coming through the walls. OMG! I couldn't turn it off and nobody is home. What do you do? But growl! It wasn't waking anybody else in my house up. Why me? How long do these things go off anyways? I waited, and waited. And growled as I turned on my television to block out the sound. I'm awake now!  I composed a text message to send to my neighbors. After all, i'm awake by their clock so they should be too. lol Was it going to buzz all day? But, when I figured to send the text message after about an hour and a half of buzzing, I noticed that the sound had finally stopped. Ok Ok. No text message sent. But...I wasn't keeping in mind that it went off by itself and that I would go through this again Sunday morning. I was just soo happy the sound stopped. And....here I am again!

I'll text them later and tell them about their alarm clock. Damn straight I will! I can't go through this another weekend. They are nice people unlike what I've had to deal with previously. Only reason i've been soo tolerant of all the noise. We'll be moving soon enough though. Furman is landed....so after we find him some employment we can start making some changes.

Ok...I've vented...so let me just say...I'm not looking forward to returning to work. Was having fun playing Siskel. You know? Of Siskel & Ebert. The movie critics.
Yeah.... I've taken a liking to Netflix and had made my living room the screening room. Lol. So, this past week I had grown roots and just watched movie after movie with my hubby. With him having an American account, we had more of a selection to choose from than what they offer Canadians. Go figure!
It was great! I search a movie on Netflix then look it up using the Imdb app on my iPad so I can review a possible trailer. Once I've selected the movie and watched it, I returned to the app to add my own rating and then share it to Facebook with my own comments. Lmao. I know, I know.... Who made me the movie expert? Lol. Wasn't trying to be an expert at all though. Just sharing my opinion. And... According to a few comments I've received, my posting my opinion has actually been helpful to a few others that have considered watching a movie that I just watched. Nice to know. One person even asked where on earth I was finding so much time to watch movies. Lmao. I guess they missed the update, "I'm on a Staycation!" Lol
Which is now over!

One of my favorite moments from my Staycation was on Friday. We spent the day hanging out with some friends and then we started our search for some snowpants or something. We have plans to go tubing with our Married's Group at church this coming weekend. That'll be interesting. lol Stay tuned. So, after checking Walmart and Costco, we went into the thrift shops. Salvation Army. We couldn't find anything for Furman, but saw a few things for me. Well, Furman found one snow suit in particular that looks almost like new. I tried it on and it fit perfectly. The price - $14.99 for each piece as far as we could figure. What do you think? It had a tag on the jacket and one on the bottom. That was ok because it certainly seemed to be worth $30 to me. We checked it thoroughly wondering what was wrong with it. Zippers were ok. Couldn't find any tears. I'm telling you....it is in great shape.  So, I went to pay. At the cash, they had a sign posted saying that Feb 15th was 50% off all clothing items. Really? Would that include my snowsuit? When it was my turn I struck up a conversation with the cashier while she rang up my snowsuit. Oh..and two matching hats I picked up that were 2 for $1. All of a sudden...I felt like the Ikea lady in this commercial!!  One of my favorites. LMAO! I really did. Couldn't wait to tell Furman.

First thing I did when we stepped out of the store was double check my receipt. My total purchase was $7.99. I'm thinking..."You can't be serious!" I expected that if I got 50% off that i'd still be paying $15. Did she make a mistake? I wasn't going back in to ask. Should I have? Customer may always be right, but not today! I was wrong....the $14.99 tags didn't mean that was the price for each piece. The tag did say it was 2pc. I lucked out! Feeling blessed! Now...let's see if we get as lucky with something for Furman. But, after a couple more stops, we figured that wasn't going to happen. It's ok, we still have time to find something for him. Even though we'll be tubing with or without. lol

So...I'm back at work tomorrow.

Enjoyed my time with the hubby very much.  

Now...to wake him and my daughter up so we can get ready for church.

Still can't believe they slept through that alarm clock!!

Love you Furman. Thanks for putting up with me. hahaha

Later...it's another movie...with my daughter. She is studying The Shawshank Redemption. Awesome movie.

Missing...nope, Found

Day 2 of my Staycation and I'm loving Netflix!
Pyjamas all day!
Just me and the hubby.
But we had to put the movie on PAUSE so that Furman could clean out the turtles tank. Remember the turtle we adopted some time ago, the replacement? The turtle my daughter bought that Furman ended up taking care of. Lol Mourning the Loss of Baby Turtle

The funniest thing happened....

Well, when Furman was finished with the tank we got back to our movie.

In the house walks my daughter .
Few minutes later she asks, "Where is the turtle?"
I guess checking on the turtle is something she still does, although Furman has been taking awesome care of him. lol
Naturally we have screw faces wondering what she is talking about. "What do you mean where is the turtle?"
PAUSE the movie. Furman tells her he just cleaned the tank and left him basking under the light. That's what they love to do. See the photo above...legs and neck out just chillin under the heat lamp. lol (Certainly much larger than the quarter size when we got him) Then, they jump into the water to cool off for a bit and back up to bask again. Well, I guess the turtle had other plans because Furman and I ran to check the tank....low and behold, he was Missing! WTH?

How did he get out of the tank? Clearly, he climbed out and fell over. Must not have fallen on his back though...can't imagine how on earth he would turn over. lol This photo kinda shows how his basking platform was obviously now too close to the top of the tank. Now that he's bigger and clearly more adventurous, that will be lowered or something....when we find him!!

Now, we are circling the bedroom to see where it would have gone. After all, a turtle isn't known to move that fast right? Crazy.

Yeah yeah...I've heard the story of the tortoise and the hare. lol

This little bugger was nowhere to be found. You should have seen us all tossing stuff around, on our knees with flashlights trying to see in corners, in the closet, under the bed and other spots that would normally be difficult. Lmao. Oh man! How can we lose a turtle? Furman reminded us that we gotta watch where we step or he is toast! We were figuring that he only could have been gone within the previous 15 minutes or so because Furman had just sat back down to get back into the movie we started watching. Seems that was enough time for him to make a clean getaway. Oh my! The turtle ran away!! lol My daughter knew that he had to be somewhere warm because she had done research on the internet when she was planning to buy him in the first place. They like warm places. And, in googling Missing Turtle online for a photo....yup, missing is something they do!  hahaha

Well, maybe about 30 minutes later, he was Found. Furman found him asleep behind the laundry basket. Yup...cold knocked out! When they sleep their arms, legs and head usually retreat back into their shell quite a bit. Oh boy....turtle was all linted up from the carpet fibers too. After all, he does have quite the claws on him now. Too funny. He had quite a journey. Meanwhile, we're still trying to figure out how he got to where he was. I mean, we could figure out how he got out of the tank, which would be a bit of a fall. But then, off the desk? That's quite a fall as well. Obviously he must have fallen on something soft that was on the floor. lol Maybe he couldn't get farther than he was because he was dizzy from the fall? Who knows. This turtles adventure had come to an end! No sense on giving him a lecture. Good thing he wasn't a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle....he might have fought his return to the tank. haha

Gheez....Remember when kids used to go crazy over these guys. lol 

My son used to.

Anyways.....i'll get back to my Staycation. 

I'll be very relaxed by the time I return to work. 

But, I wanted to share this little story. 

 Mean Muggin!

Staycation is not without excitement. haha

Hope everyone is having an awesome week.

Thought I'd end with this little tune that seemed slightly fitting. hahahahaha

STAYCATION!

We are having a.....
Yup...I am finally taking a break!

I figure, that after 360 days of going through this Immigration Process that we need to just chill out and relax before Furman gets into the land of the employed. Lol. I kinda figured he'd be Landed by this time. Good planning eh?
So, we're not going to travel out of town. In fact, we are going to spend the week just enjoying each others company. Try to drive each other nuts! Haha. Jk jk.
Maybe, just maybe, (depending on the weather) we'll venture into the city and look for some trouble. We'll see.

Staycation couldn't have come at a better time. The weather outside is absolutely horrible. Took me 2 1/2 hours to get home from work last evening, and that's even with cheating by taking the car pool lane by myself. I was feeling like a Rebel! hahaha Bad To The Bone!  B b b b b bad! lmao

I'm not looking forward to the commute this evening where it is forecast to be even worse. This photo, was this morning. (Ask no questions, i'll tell you no lies) Wasn't too bad getting to work, in MY opinion anyways. CityNews Report I guess because a lot of people stayed home making the roads a bit lighter. Me, I didn't have that option so it was off to work I go! Only saw one vehicle in the ditch. Got to work an hour early and hit the gym. Why not? I just worry for when Furman has to get out and drive in this stuff. He lacks snow driving experience being from Miami. lol

Anyways, the day before holidays is always a great day at work. I wont quite call it a nothing day, but pretty close. A day when you clear up work off your desk so you aren't leaving too much for your backup to follow up on. And, they are preparing to change the carpets in our office next week, so I had to pack up everything on my desk before going on holidays so my space is ready. That being said...hey, my stuff is packed away, how am I supposed to work anyways? jk jk

Counting down the hours till my Staycation begins. I've got prayer breakfast tomorrow morning that I might skip to attend a Stewardship Redefined Workshop at my church. And then, it's Church in the City day - feeding the homeless. My daughter needs to finish her Volunteer Hours for school in order to graduate, because she didn't properly report the hours she already completed. Apparently, she is not alone though. I've heard that several teenagers have done the same thing. Just not handed in the forms. I don't get it. They do the volunteer work and hoard the paperwork? So now yesterday, being the record keeper that I am (Ok, I'm a lil bit of a Beaver (Leave It To Beaver), just nothing compared to my hubby), I was checking my old agendas, Outlook Calendar and Facebook Timeline to get dates of her previous Volunteer Events. Facebook came in handy i'll tell ya! Thanks to my photo sharing I was able to get some of the information I needed. And...managed to get some of her previous volunteer work signed off (again) so that she doesn't have to start from scratch to get her 40hours. She's already done way more than that, just had to prove it....Oh, and she has to hand in the Volunteer Forms to the school to be counted this time. After all, you can't graduate without 40hours of Volunteer Work. Something I think is a great idea that they never had when I was in school. She's applied for College and offers are coming in. Wow...my baby is growing up. Graduating High School this year and going to College? So proud of my baby girl!

Well, I just thought i'd kill a little bit of my time blogging.
I'm on Staycation next week!! Na Na Na Na Na!  lol  I know, I said that.
Can you tell i'm excited? lol

I get to Stay Home!

Safe travels home if you are in an area where you are experiencing this bad weather.

Have an awesome weekend.  

Oh mann....Have an awesome week.

I'll be around.

Leave It To "Beaver"

Now the first thing that might come to mind when you read the title of my post today is probably this show. (If you are around my age bracket..lol)

I used to watch this show all the time. Couldn't wait till lunch break to run home and watch Leave It To Beaver and then The Flintstones. Oh yeah. Or was it the other way around? I don't remember. For those who have no clue what I am talking about...this is when cartoons were tha bomb!  lol Ho Hum!

                                   

Anyways.....my blog post is not about old cartoons although there is tons that I can say about them. Scooby Doo, The Jetsons, etc. Noooo, I title my blog Leave It To Beaver because after an awesome Marrieds Class at church last evening, I found out that my husband is Primarily a "Beaver" Personality Type. lol Oh Yeah....and I'm Primarily a "Golden Retriever". (Big Smile) What am I talking about? Well, last night was the first night of our new Core Group.

Loved it! This is what we are studying for the next 6 weeks or so. Who Did You Really Marry? lol Good question. Seeing your marriage through God's eyes.       Do Opposites Attract?    Check out the Promo to the left.

We started the class off by each answering a questionnaire and then checking our answers against our spouse to see how many were the same answers. Furman and I, we got 13 out of 20. Not bad! Not bad at all! lol Hmm? Are WE opposites or more similar? 

Then, we all watched a short video to kick off this series with different Personality Types.  The Lion, The Otter, The Golden Retriever and The Beaver. hahaha No lie! Check on the link for more details on these Personality Types and see what YOU are. I agree that we have a Primary Personality Type as well as a Secondary. In fact, we probably got a little bit of every type in us. Yup..a Wild Kingdom for sure. haha 

Let's see...Furman being what I thought was my opposite is kind of what attracted me to him in the first place. Aside from his good looks and sense of humor. lol Yin and Yang? lol He's a loud trombone and I'm a muted trumpet. haha Something like that. (Was a question from class - inside joke) As time passed, it turned out that we have more similarities than I had thought. Yes...he is wayyy more organized than I am. And yes, I am wayyy sensitive. But, we really do like a lot of the same stuff and compliment each other with the same values...and after this class, I believe that even more. Yup...Furman was made for me. lol (Oh, and he is getting me organized Rollin, Rollin, Rollin...above the many things he brings to my life.) Can you imagine if we were both a Beaver? Both a Lion? Oh no...both Golden Retrievers? hahaha Oh my! Nope, he is the Beaver all right! Now how Canadian is that? He was already on his way to being Canuckinized and didn't even know it! lol

 Yup...that's the Canadian Beaver on our Nickel. lol


We are all different (Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus), and our differences make us unique and able to fit together with somebody special, just like a puzzle piece.
Differences! Reminds me of a passage that we touched on in class....Luke 10:38-42. The story of Martha and Mary. Martha's thought was that Mary needed to be a bit more like her at the time....but Jesus assured her that Mary was doing what she needed to do. They were different, and appreciated. There wasn't one person that was wrong. Quite an interesting story when you read further.

Anyways....I just wanted to share a little about the class I enjoyed and what we will be digging into. Got homework too. lol To make a list of things we might not like about our spouse and put a positive spin on it. Not that I would have a LIST for Furman. lol I am certainly looking forward to these classes. Learning about Love Language and how to Communicate better - The Essentials of Marriage.

Who Did I Really Marry?
I know....I know...

I love my Furman!
I know that I married my SoulMate.
And....we are BETTER because of each other!

                                          

Been There, Done That

Something happened yesterday to make me say hmmmm?

I came across a post that someone I know made on Facebook recently that was a sharing of someone else's story. A story about their struggle with Alcoholism.

When I read this story, I knew exactly who the post was about (although there were no names mentioned) because the person identified it was someone in our circle while trying to keep them anonymous. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about what I was reading. The fact that such a personal story was posted on the internet for all to read and not by the person who owned the story. Wait a minute....this sounds familiar. Maybe, because I did something similar many months back. Been there, done that! When I did it, I didn't do it with any malice (unlike what many believed for obvious reasons) so when I read this person's posting, I didn't think they did it with any malice either. I understood that they were sharing for a greater purpose, just like I was. Their purpose, to encourage participation in the upcoming Let's Talk Day and to possibly speak to someone in particular who was fighting the same demon. You know, a way of letting them know that they are not alone. Hope the post helps. When I did it, my purpose was a reminder of where someone had been to better appreciate where they were going. My own walk down memory lane and a proud moment. It was something that I would have mentioned and tried to laugh about in person if things had been different. Instead, I took a lot of heat for sharing the story from a few people I had no clue even read my blog. Why? Because they assumed that I was being nasty when they didn't know what was in my heart. And, because they felt that I didn't have any right to share the story that I had a small part in. Clearly I disagree. 

Yesterday, for some reason, I felt a bit protective over the owner of this story (someone I hardly know). I was sensitive to their struggle and wanted to save them from any water cooler talk and/or further hurt. After all, the post shared enough info for ME to guess who it was, so I was sure that others had also. My question was....had the owner of the story seen this post which wasn't vague enough, in my opinion? The same thing I'm sure certain people thought when they read my own posting, and knew who I was talking about. They knew for a fact that the person hadn't seen my post. So, in true gossip form...it was shared, and I learned a bit about who was reading my blog. But back to my question....lol I checked online to see if the author and the subject were Facebook friends, and they were not...so I was concerned. Oh boy.

After digesting the post, I felt I needed to say something to someone but wasn't sure who. Do I just mind my business? Do I go to the author about the wording of their story so it's harder for people to identify the subject? I didn't see anything wrong with sharing the story, (we all have something to learn from the struggles of others) just how it was told is all. Or, do I go to the subject? Well damn, in my case, people went to the subject and one even sent me a nasty message. So, I went to the subject too. I wasn't about to send the author any nasty messages. lol Like I said, I looked at positive intent although I didn't know what the relationship really was between the two. Here, I felt I could talk to the subject better than the author, and I wanted her to know that I was here for her. My intention was not to rat out anyone and cause problems, but moreso to give the person a heads up so they wouldn't wonder about any possible whispers or glares.....because you know how people get. I was just looking out. I get it! I got it before actually, but not as much as I get it now.

So yeah....I pulled her aside and asked her how many friends she had around us. I wasn't sure how many she had shared her story with. Then, I told her about something I read where I was able to identify her as the subject and was concerned others would too. Instantly, she knew what I was talking about so I didn't have to say much more. In fact, the author had asked her if they could share her story. (Unlike myself because I had figured it was partly my story too, and that people who would know who I was referring to wouldn't be reading my blog. lol). I felt a big relief. She was soo happy that I came to her which showed that I had her back. She laughed, and suggested I be an editor. lmao She understood how certain information could have been left out of the post so that people would not know who the subject was. (Yes, I went back and read my old post...just to see) Just like I suspected, the author had good intentions and the subject knew it. You see, you can't always jump the gun and think the worst about people. lol In fact, the subject was at a point in life where they are so proud of their story that they didn't mind sharing it themselves or others sharing it for them. It's all about helping others right? How else do we Glorify God if we don't share our struggles and how he helped us through them. That's just my take.

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)

That being said....I'm proud of myself.
I'm far from perfect and enjoy growing and becoming a better person.
I'm proud of the subject of the post I speak about because she is fighting the battle and is winning the war....and is sharing her story to boot!!
And in case it wasn't understood at the time, I'm also proud of the person that I wrote about. I'll say it again, that I didn't intend to hurt anyone by sharing and I apologize for any hurt I may have caused.
But you see, I write about this persons post and how it relates to my own to show that there is always something to be learned, about each other and about ourselves.
If you are reading this and are facing an unresolved issue and/or are in the midst of your own battle, here is a song of encouragement that I haven't been able to get out of my head the last couple of days.