Stupid Vista!

I know I'm not the first one to mutter that phrase, and I'm sure I won't be the last.

The surprising thing is that we haven't had a lot of problems since getting our new computer over a year ago. A lot of people talk about the problems they've had with Vista, but we've been lucky. That is until now.

I just crossed over to the dark side and bought myself a Blackberry. I get home, and I'm syncing all my information from my old Palm Pilot to the BB, and realize that BB is not compatible with Vista (surprise, surprise!). So now I can back up my schedule onto a file on my computer, but can't view my schedule on a calendar on my computer.

GRRR....Stupid Vista!

Pictures of Mikey

We've been looking at buying a new digital camera and found a fabulous new Canon Powershot at Best Buy for a great price.

I've been playing with the camera this week and here are a few pictures I snapped of Mikey this week while he was "hiding" on the chair at the dining room table.

Holy Engagements Batman!

So we've had some good news over the last few weeks. Two of our friends have gotten engaged. Andre's friend Mike, and my friend Lindsay. Both have decided to take the leap with their respective mates and get married. Looks like we'll have two weddings over the next year or so, and both will be in the cooler weather.

Mike and his fiance Lisa have set a date for March 2009, and Lindsay and Greg have set a date for January 2010.

I think we were a little surprised to hear of Mike's engagement being his nickname in the group was "Hugh" (as in Hefner). Mike had a reputation as being quite the ladies man, so here's hoping that Lisa has managed to convert him into the dutiful husband. Then there's the matter of where they're going to live as he lives and works in Bermuda, and she works and lives in Australia. Should be interesting.

Lindsay and I got together just this past Thursday for dinner and I finally got to hear all the details of Lindsay and Greg's engagement and how their wedding planning had been going. Apparently her in laws to be have decided that they should in no way be responsible for any part of the wedding, and that it is the bride's families responsibility to pay for everything. And they made that opinion made by e-mailing their opinion to both Lindsay and Greg, as well as Lindsay's mother. Yeah, they're crazy. The best part is when they called Lindsay's mother to ask why her ex husband was only inviting 11 people because of budget constraints. Who does this?!!

I'm so thankful Andre and I avoided that problem all together by just paying for our wedding ourselves. Our parents contributed, but it was because they wanted to, not because we made them.

I had an awkward moment with Lindsay too when we went out for dinner just this past Thursday. The most fun moment when a friend gets engaged is when you get to see your girlfriend's engagement ring for the first time. Who doesn't love showing it off?! Well we sat down at the restaurant and then I asked for the hand so she could show off her bling.

Hmmm, well it was small, like really small. Not we opted for a flawless diamond, and this is what we ended up with, but just small. And it was yellow gold. She only wears white gold. It seemed like she had been trying to hide it while we were out, so I asked her about the setting to distract from the diamond. It was set with her birthstones on either side, so it was a nice setting.

Then she asked to see my rings. The first thing she says is "holy crap Jenna, your ring is huge!" (it's not) How do you respond to that? So I told her that it only looks big because I have six prongs so it makes it look bigger. (which is true). Then she asks me how big the stone is (kill me now). I tell her, and she's like "yeah, I think mine is what they call a diamond particle." I immediately changed the subject to something else.

I think I'm going to skip the whole looking at the engagement ring next time.

My Mission of Organization

I don't know why but I have been on a mission to organize this weekend. It all started with the pile of clothes on the chair in the bedroom. This is my pile during the week. The clothes that get taken off at the end of the day that aren't dirty usually get thrown on this chair until I get around to putting them away. This usually doesn't happen until the end of the week.

So on my break Thursday afternoon I decided they had to be put away. That inevitably lead to having to go through all the clothes in my drawers because I had not only most of my fall clothes out, but also all of my summer clothes. So after some ruthless purging all the summer stuff was in a pile to be put into storage for the winter and another pile was set aside to go to Goodwill.

I wasn't done there though. One of Andre's best qualities is that he is very organized (for the most part). This is also one of his biggest faults because he likes to keep all the packaging for everything that we buy! This drives me MENTAL! So while we were at Zellers picking up plastic storage bins I broke the news to him that we were going to go through all the boxes he had kept and the contents were being labelled and packed into a little storage bin and the boxes were going to be recycled.

(note: by saying "we" were going to do this, it really means me ;o)

So the end result was all of these boxes being sent into the recycling bin:

And the contents of all those boxes being packed up and put away for safe keeping in our handy dandy little tote:
Now whenever we have to look for a manual or need the software for something it is labelled and safely packed away.

Famous Cookies

I'm going to temporarily jump on the Food Blog Bandwagon and post the recipe for some cookies I just made today. It's the second time I have made them and they are so delish. The recipe is from: Company's Coming: Cookie Jar Classics.

Famous Cookies

3/4 cup Hard Margarine (or butter), softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup Granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups Quick-cooking rolled oats, processed in blender for 10-15 seconds

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup chopped pecans

2 Sweet chocolate baking squares (1 oz., 28g, each) grated

Cream first 3 ingredients in large bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla. Beat until smooth.

Combine next 5 ingredients in medium bowl. Add to margarine mixture in 2 additions, mixing well after each addition until no dry flour remains.

Add remaining 3 ingredients. Mix well. Roll into 1 1/4 inch (3cm) balls. Arrange about 2 inches (5cm) apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake in 375 F oven for about 10 minutes until edges are golden. Let stand on cookie sheets for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheets and place on wire racks to cool.

Makes about 60 cookies.

*Notes: Since Andre is allergic to all tree nuts, I substituted 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips instead of pecans.

For the grated chocolate I use 2 oz of Victorian Epicure chocolate (it comes already grated).

I don't know how they say this makes 60 cookies, I only end up with about 3 dozen. Maybe mine are bigger?

Let's talk about Faith

I have such interesting conversations with clients. I talk about sex, husbands, housework, stress, depression, you name it, I've probably talked about it with someone at one point in my career. Even the two taboo subjects (politics and religion) I have talked about with my clients. Now these are two of the subjects that I won't even talk about with some of my closest friends, well especially since my best friend is an agnostic.

I have the most amazing conversations about religion with my clients. Now I'm pretty open about my faith. I mean, someone would only have to look as far as the cross that hangs around my neck 99% of the time to know that I am a person of faith. If someone asks me about anything regarding religion or faith I will answer and speak openly. I will answer (just about) any question that someone asks, but I don't like to push my opinions and beliefs on others (although people have tried to do that to me).

Just yesterday I was talking to one of my clients about the owner of the chiropractic office that I work at. We were discussing how she is always happy, always has a smile, or hug for her patients, and just exudes enthusiasm the entire time at the office. We were joking about how we just don't know how she does it for 12 hours a day without the help of well alcohol, or pharmaceuticals! Then my clients mentioned that her (the chiro's) faith shows through in everything that she does.

Then we started talking about people that we've met, and how their faith just amazes us sometimes. How it's almost as if every word, every action that they do during the day is just a display of their faith, their thankfulness for everything God has given them. It makes me think of my own life, my own actions. Do I do the best I can everyday to live as a person of faith? How can I improve this?

"Faith is the light that guides you through the darkness."

~- M. Eckhart

Awkward Meeting

After practicing as long as I have (9 years). I've met a lot of people. Hundreds of people even. Occasionally while out and about I will run into them. Hell, while picking up a few things at the grocery store last Friday afternoon I ran into three! I've learned over the years to wait until the client makes eye contact in case they feel uncomfortable, whatever. People are strange sometimes. Usually people give a smile, the usual "hello, how are you?" sort of thing.

Just the other week I was weeding out some of my inactive files and I was wondering about a few of my clients that haven't been in for awhile. Wondering if they were okay, etc, etc. I was out grocery shopping with Andre on a break this afternoon and he was loading the groceries while I ran into Shoppers Drugmart for a few things. There in the nail care aisle was one of those clients.

She noticed me and smiled and asked how I was, but it was like she was trying to walk out of the aisle as fast as she could while still trying to be polite. The whole time trying to make small talk, she was walking backwards out of there. Now I'm not offended when people stop coming to see me. It happens.

I almost feel like wearing a sign while I'm out just in case I run into an old client. It would read: Don't worry, I'm not going to ask why you haven't been in, it's okay!

I'm getting tired of this

I don't know what has gotten into my clients. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's the time of year. Maybe they're stressed out. Or maybe, just maybe, I've been way too nice to them up until now and now they're just taking advantage.

I've had countless clients just not show up for their appointments lately. I'm not talking once every other week. I'm talking almost daily. At least one appointment daily that is a bust because that person didn't show up for their massage. Not only am I losing money (which sucks!) but I'm left sitting doing nothing at work.

Just this morning I'm in the bathroom getting ready to blow dry my hair and I hear the phone ringing and Andre grumbling on his way to it. Who was it? My office.

office: Hi Jenna!

Me: (knowing this can only mean one of two things) Hello

office: Umm, I have a question for you.

me: Yes?

office: Well, I just wanted to check what time Bob Smith (clearly not his real name) has his appointment with you?

me: 10:00. (it was 9:15 at the time)

office: Oh, well he's here.

me: Well I've never start before 10 am on Wednesdays, so there's nothing I can do about it.

Now instead of just saying okay, hanging up with me and taking care of the situation herself, she hands him over to me. *rolling eyes skyward*

So I explain that he has two appointments booked this week. 10am this morning, and 10:15 on Friday morning. As usual he doesn't have his blackberry with him (the whole cause of this situation) and can't check what time (if any) he had put on his calendar. So in the end, he loses out on his massage today because he can't write an appointment down.

This isn't the first time that Bob Smith has "forgotten" what time his appointment is at and just showed up whenever. And usually "whenever" is at least a half hour to an hour before his scheduled time. The last time it happened I had a break so I was able to get him in early, but people can't just expect that I have nothing better to do then sit at the front desk of the office waiting patiently just in case they feel like walking in.

Why do people buy or carry around palm pilots, day planners, or blackberry's if they are not going to put their damn appointments in them? I get at least 1 call a week from a client (who I know has a blackberry) calling to check the time of her appointment. Why not just check your damned calendar? Oh yeah, you didn't put your appointment in there. What is the function of those little electronic devices if not to tell you where you need to be at any time? Do they think I'm impressed if they pull it out?

If they really want to impress me, they can just show up on time for a change.

It feels so real now

So Andre and I have decided to say farewell to hormonal birth control. Partially with the intention that will help with my (extremely) low libido, and so we will know what my cycles will be like after years on the birth control pill. Only a handful of people know about our decision (and well of course, now all of my readers!). We will not be telling our parents because they will just get their hopes up for no reason.

We still aren't ready for children right now, so we will still be using other forms of birth control, but for now we will bid farewell to the pill.

I had my yearly physical (oh yeah!) on Friday so I discussed our choice with my doctor and she was supportive our choice and sent me for some blood work to check on my immunity to Rubella so if I do not have an immunity I can have that taken care of in advance of us trying to get pregnant.

Andre and I have been talking about this for awhile now, to make sure that this was a decision that we were both ready for, but for some reason telling my doctor made it seem so much more real. It wasn't just a conversation topic at home, it was real, we were really going to do this. For so many years the main purpose of my yearly physical was just to get a refill on my prescription for the pill.

Now every month I will get to know my body again. It will learn to think and function without the help of artificial hormones. I'm not looking forward to the cramping, the irritability and the acne (especially not the acne!) but I am looking forward to getting to know my body again. I'm sure there will be many exciting posts about how things are going (or not going) over the next few months.

Little Miss Suzie Homemaker

That is who I feel like today. Here I am blogging about my domestic exploits today with my apron still tied around my waist.

I already have turkey broth made from our delicious turkey that we had for Thanksgiving dinner last night cooling in the fridge, and dinner simmering in the slow cooker. Yummy salsa chicken! We were going to have some ribs in the slow cooker today to get away from the poultry but I wasn't chanelling my inner domestic diva last night and as a result the ribs are still frozen solid in the freezer. Ooops.

Everytime I make something for dinner, I think of my great-grandmother. Before she passed, (She passed away 8 years ago when I was 21) she sat me down one day and asked me if I knew how to cook. At that point she was bed ridden as a result of her lung cancer. I told her of course I knew how to cook. Then she got this frustrated look on her face and said that she knew that I could bake, but could I cook dinner for my husband one day?

I probably rolled my eyes and said that she didn't have to worry, my future husband would not starve. I think her and Andre would've got along. She loved to cook, and he loves to eat! I don't know why but I've been thinking about her a lot lately. She's just been on my mind for some reason.

"In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot, and a mom."

~Barbara Costikyan

Our day of shopping

Since everyone (or at least my one loyal reader :o) is waiting to hear how shopping went I decided I would procrastinate making dinner and post instead!

I have to say that the day went 100 times better than I thought it would. I really had no idea what to expect, but expected the worst if that at all makes sense.

She gave me a huge hug when we first met up which was nice since we hadn't really seen each other for so long aside from the accidental meeting at Kelsey's. We actually talked a bit after lunch about how awkward it was when we met up on the Saturday. They are usually visiting his parents on Saturday evenings, and I think it was just weird to see them out at a restaurant, especially since Pam and I had already made plans to meet up on Monday.

We were able to talk about a lot of things that have been going on, some drama that has been going on with her family, what they've been up to, how her husband hasn't been home very much being he's a Mutual Fund Accountant for an American company in Toronto, and it's been busy with the stock market crashing almost daily.

Then we talked about her Post Partum Depression. It's bad, not like she has a hard time getting out of bed, bad, but like she's thought about ending her own life sort of bad. She would never harm the baby in any way, but her depression is at a level it hasn't been in years. She's visiting her psychiatrist every week, and they have increased her medication, but I still worry about her especially since her husband is never home. Thankfully she lives very close to her grandmother whom she visits daily, and her mother who has helped her a lot with the baby.

She is also suffering from a very high level of anxiety which they are treating her for which she has never suffered from. It was a little strange seeing her so compulsive about checking the baby in her stroller. Abbey would be sleeping in the stroller and she would be checking her every few minutes.

I even got her to visit the Early Years Centre at the mall too which I was happy about. I'm hoping now that she's familiar with it she won't be so uneasy about going to the mall alone if she wanted to walk with Abbey but the weather outside wasn't good. They also have a ton of workshops, and groups that they run at different locations in the city, so I'm hoping she'll get out more and meet some other moms once she's feeling better. I think that would be good for her especially since I'm so busy with work during the week.

I don't know how often we'll be able to get together now with work being busier and me not having an abundance of spare time during the work week, but I told her that at the very least I have the first Monday of every month off, so we can at least do something then. Only time will tell how things will work out, but if this day was any indicator, it will be okay, different then before, but okay.

Work Frustration

Back-story: I am kind of like and independent contractor in a medical office. I rent out the space, but am not considered an "employee" there. I am also the sounding board for most of the people there. Aside from one part-time male doctor there, we're all women and all friends. Not to say that there aren't any problems, but for the most part it's pretty good.

Now, lately a lot of the girls in the office have had issues with the office manager. She has a habit of being very judgemental, dishonest, and a hypocrite. For example, she will talk to one of the girls about how they are sharing too much of their person life with one of the patients, but then the next day she will be going on and on about her boyfriend and their relationship with a patient (even if the patient is clearly not interested). Everyone (myself included) as noticed this particular situation occur one too many times, and it's not professional.

Now this office manager and one of the associates have had some run-ins lately. Mostly regarding scheduling issues. Just this Friday the associate had noticed a blank spot in her schedule and knew that with the patient load that she had earlier that day she would be behind and added a buffer. She went into her treatment room and came out a short time later to find a patient had been added where she had placed the buffer.

She questioned the OM about this and she stared right at her and told her "there was no buffer there". She lied right to her face. I was preparing to leave for the day and witnessed the whole thing. The assoc. told her that there was a buffer right there and she was sure of it because she added it herself. Then the OM started to back peddle and ramble about the person being in pain, and needing to come in, blah, blah, blah. What about the people that were in pain on the cancellation list that were waiting to come in? Apparently their pain didn't matter.

The assoc. was LIVID, but couldn't do much at the time since the OM's parents were sitting right in the waiting room at the time this all happened. She's not so angry about putting someone in when a buffer was there (it sadly happens all the time, and as a result she often will be running a half hour late by the end of the day). She is angry because the OM just lied right to her face, and didn't even apologize.

The OM sometimes will come to me for opinions on things as well, and it's getting harder and harder to be supportive when she is just blatantly abusing her power.

It will be interesting to see how things will unfold at work this week.

Surprise, Surprise

My parents had decided that they wanted to take Andre and I out to dinner for our anniversary. We went out to dinner on our own last weekend, so we went out to dinner with them last night. My father requested something "not exotic", so we went to Kelsey's. We're walking up to the front doors to put our name in for a table, and who is walking out the front doors after dinner? Pam and Mike. I think I just stood there and stared for a minute in shock because she had to walk over and tell me to give her a hug.

Her mom had taken the baby for the day so they could spend some time together. They had gone off and seen a movie, and then decided to have dinner together. They were rushing a little after dinner since Pam's boobs were killing her (no breast feeding all day).

I'm sure I will hear all about their day of freedom tomorrow because Pam and I are going shopping with Abbey tomorrow. Yes, I know, an outing. Very exciting. I'm looking forward to it and kind of dreading it all at the same time. Pam doesn't really do anything except visit her grandma and take care of the baby, so I don't know where the conversation is going to go.

I've learned the last few times that we got together that we used to be able to vent about our husbands, but she's started to majorly overreact if I so mention that Andre hasn't done something around the house. She almost freaks out about it. It's weird. Meanwhile her husband does NOTHING, and I'm not exaggerating about this. While she was at home pregnant he would cut the grass on the weekends because she couldn't physically do it. Otherwise she would've been doing that too. I appreciate that he works, but your wife is tired, get off your ass and pitch in. She would be popping Gravol because the pain was so bad she was nauseous and he would be sleeping. Gah!

Man, didn't realize how that still pissed me off! So anyways, yes I will have to filter what I vent about tomorrow. No Andre isn't the perfect male, but he does do a lot around the house, and he puts up with me! This filter will be difficult as Andre has been exercising his selective hearing skills lately which has lead to a few ummm "discussions".

Stay tuned for a post after my shopping expedition tomorrow.