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And It's Clean, Too.
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Slideshow Test
 
Got Gas?
Another beautiful day in Prince George. I don't think I've seen the sun for this many days in a row (3) in...I honestly don't know how long. It was a bit of a challenge on the 7 hour drive here on Monday, being directly in our eyes, but driving back today will be easier with it behind us. I'm stealing a few minutes of leisure with coffee and computer while Todd's on the phone and before we get packed up to go. We have a bit of shopping to do before the long drive, but hopefully we won't make it home too late, as I have to work in the morning. But I really can't pass up the opportunity to have a look for some vacation-type clothes, the few stores at home won't have that kind of thing for months yet, and we leave for St. Lucia in less than a month. A new bathing suit would be nice but finding that might be pushing it, even here! Our meetings went well yesterday, there was a TON of information that made my head ache for the whole evening. We have some really serious WCB legislation regarding mandatory prepayment for fuel coming into effect Feb 1, and it causes a major logistical and operational issue for those of us that don't have pay-at-the-pump technology. How does someone prepay for gas when they don't know how much they're going to pump? If they overestimate, how do you refund them (currently our system doesn't allow for refund of fuel)? How do you award them their loyalty points, the added congestion of already busy sites...it's just a nightmare. All the oil companies with retail fuel outlets are scrambling to figure out how they're going to conform to the new legislation and serve customers as efficiently as possible. New equipment is essential but takes time, so I think it's going to be a bit of a painful period as far as that goes. Hopefully a year from now our station will have the capability to offer a number of options for prepayment. For now, we flub it, mickey-mouse it, and try to make it work. I'm sure customers will be at least as annoyed as we ourselves are, but nobody has a choice. I imagine it will be much like 2000, when the smoking ban came into effect. People were mad, it was a hard transition, but now nobody even thinks about it anymore; it's just normal. Time to get moving. Let me know what you think about mandatory prepayment of fuel 24/7!
...is bored with Facebook now.
Okay, so I think I'm finally bored with Facebook. I've found everyone I've ever had even brief contact with my entire life (or they found me), and now it takes me all of 60 seconds to read my mini-feed and check everyone's status to see what they're up to when I sign on. Maybe a few minutes more to browse through photos if someone has added new ones. Or reply to the occasional message. Then what? Bored! And no, for the last time, I am not adding Funwall, thankyouverymuch. Like I need another spam venue? Okay, time to catch up. Yes we moved, and no, not into the trailer. Apparently the landlady didn't want 'our kind' in her trailer park, and so denied us tenancy. Just so we're clear, our kind is marine surveyor, business owner, and auxiliary RCMP officer. Okay? We had every right to arbitrate it, as poor credit is the only legal reason she can deny a tenancy transfer, but we had to stop and think ~ even if we had the time to do that (which we didn't; the sale on our house was final in mere weeks!) and won...what exactly would we be winning? The privilege of dealing with this whack-job on an ongoing basis! No, thank you. Everything happens for a reason. I was very upset about the whole thing at first because that left us in pretty urgent need of a house. We were even limited to looking at only vacant properties, because there wasn't enough time for someone to move out. We narrowed it down to what was available given this criteria, and spent a whole evening with the Realtor going through places. In the price range we were interested in (after all, the point was not to have a mortgage anymore), and empty to boot, let me tell you...some of them were pretty awful! I could feel the panic and the tears welling after a few hours, but we finally walked into one and just had That Feeling. We knew it could be home. What a relief!! 
This isn't the best photo, but it's the only one I can find right now. Todd must have taken it early one morning before he shoveled the driveway. It's a few weeks old; our snow piles are MUCH higher than this now! Anyway, only the right side is ours, and as you can see, Todd has a little garage; he's reclassified it as a 'workshop' because there's too much tools and equipment to be able to fit a vehicle in there! There's a nice little yard in the back, and I'm really looking forward to getting some flowerbeds and a small sitting area on the go this spring. The kids can both walk to school, play outside, go to the store, meet with their friends... all with no hassle. (We were pretty isolated before.) Finally, a manageable house and yard, after 3 years of WAY too big!! We've learned our lesson, bigger is not necessarily better, and won't magically make you happy. More space=more crap=less peace. Kind of like a big purse. We were all happier here immediately, it was quite strange. A real sense of relief. Even the cats settled in with no problems. Welcome HOME, family! Christmas was pretty quiet this year, and as stress-free as we could possibly make it. Like that's not great enough, both Christine and Bruce came for the holidays. That was the highlight by far, we had a lot of fun! Christine was here for a whole week, and it sped by in what felt like only 2 days. We always have a lot of fun together, and we're both continually amazed at how easy our friendship is. Given that neither one of us are very social, or has many close friends, it never fails to strike us how lucky we are that we stumbled across each other . (Thanks to Todd, who will plunk himself down and start talking to complete strangers.) I sure wish we lived closer! The kids had a good Christmas, and were happy with their gifts. I can't say they got everything they wanted, because they didn't want anything, can you believe that?! I was happy to see that they weren't overloaded with a ton of stuff, because they had just been through the huge task of culling their belongings for our move and had been very pleased at how easy it was to keep their rooms clean. And it still is, so that's great for them.  Todd and Bruce look more and more alike every year. (I'm not going to be able to imbed all the photos that I want to share in this blog entry, so I'll have to make an album. Go have a look to see more.) Time and time again, people would ask 'Are you twins?', the boys would shake their head no. 'Brothers?'...and, deadpan, they would shake their head, no. Completely flustered, the inquirer would sputter how much alike they looked and it was amazing that they weren't related. Aren't they AWFUL?! I couldn't stand it, whenever I was around I'd rescue the poor person by telling them that yes, of course they were brothers. Sheesh!  Mandy & Todd's Vacation Paradise Next big thing on the horizon is our vacation to St. Lucia in just a few weeks. I had no idea where that was, except I knew it was tropical (which is the important part anyway). Geography (and general sense of direction) is not my strong suit...so here's a map for the similarly challenged. We'll be there for 11 days total, including the 7 day trip that we won through work and the 4 day extension that we booked ourselves. We figured it was way too far to travel for only 7 days! The extension was our Christmas gift to each other, and I think it'll be fantastic. Just a few days ago our villa for the 4 days was upgraded to this, due to a booking conflict. WOW!! Unbelievable...you can bet I'll be posting a ton of photos upon our return, so look for them! OK I think that's enough for now...is there anyone else still out there on Spaces or has everyone defected to Facebook? LOL Happy New Year, everyone!!
Lost Art? Apparently.
Last week I managed to squeeze about 45 minutes in cleaning and tidying my office. I've discovered that, for me, the main purpose of a page-a-day calendar is to show me exactly how long it's been since I cleaned my desk (June 18). Bonus: the chunk I had to rip off goes to the bathroom reading shelf. Hey it's the Far Side, you can't just throw it away.
It looks like we'll be moving into a nice little mobile home in about a month. There's a few things to iron out but I'm confident they won't pose a major problem. The big thing now is to get rid of most of our stuff! We're talking 3000 square feet to about 1000, if that. What a big job, but I'm looking forward to it being finished. Todd and I have been discussing how best to utilize our new smaller space, especially when it comes to the kids' bedrooms and storage areas. We found some great loft bed ideas on the 'net, we're undecided if we'll make them ourselves or just order them, but it's a starting point.
My kitchen table is too large for the dining area and really, it's time for a new one anyway. The current owners have a cute little wooden set, they let us know that it's for sale and I was planning to buy it...but then I spotted *exactly* what I wanted in town yesterday. Picture that popular new(ish) 'pub' style set with the square table and 8 chairs, all a bit higher up than normal. I've loved this style for a couple of years now. Imagine my delight when I come across a mini set like this that will fit in my cute new dining room! Only one chair per side instead of 2...perfect! I call Todd over, we sit in it. We agree it's the one, even though we're not there shopping for a table & chairs. And he's only agreeing because I so obviously love it, immediately. (It's very unlike me to express a desire to have something.) Only one hitch; there's no price on it. I'm worried because an unreasonable price tag can (and almost always will) force me to rescind my adoration for (insert whatever-it-is here). We continue browsing what we're actually there to look at; televisions and bedroom sets. Before we leave, we ask the manager, our friend Andy, about the table set. I've convinced myself that it's going to be way too expensive, so when the price comes up at $400, I'm shocked! And pleased! And I WANT IT! I talk to Andy about stock, availability, shipping eta (we live in the North, this is part of life), I'm figuring best time to have it arrive in relation to when we're moving....but wait, why is Todd so quiet? He's all unsure now, has he changed his mind? Is my perspective on 'expensive' out to lunch? He's trying to get me out of here to 'think about it and discuss it'. Does he NOT want me to have this table that I love so much? Yes, that must be it. Cue righteous indignation. It immediately becomes that rare moment that I dig my heels in for a Material Want. They are sold out until the end of October, and selling units from the shipment expected at that time. I say ominously, "If they sell out, and this disappears..." There's no need to finish. He finally goes out to the truck to get his wallet & credit card. Only when he slaps it down on the counter does he say to me in exasperation, "You SUCK at negotiation, Mandy! I never pay sticker price!" Oh. Understanding dawns. Andy is laughing gleefully while filling out the bill of sale. Oh shit, what an ass! I start a number of defensive sentences, "I didn't think it was....But it was so...it's a TABLE...Andy wouldn't..." But clearly, Andy would. He's a salesman, after all. His head is down in front of me so I smack the top of it, saying "This is the point where you tell Todd that no, you couldn't do any better on that price anyway. Back me up, here!" But he's red as a tomato, and laughing too hard. He doesn't say anything. Shit.
I do not regret the table, or even the price, for a moment. But I'm not allowed to go into the store when Todd buys the new television.
A Movin' And A Shakin'
Feeling slightly homeless, here; we've accepted an out-of-the-blue offer on our house (it wasn't even listed)and it's not as easy as we anticipated to find somewhere to live! We still own our townhouse/condo, but have long-term tenants who have it until next June, so the thinking is that we find a small, reasonable place to purchase and live there in the meantime, then we still have a rental property when we get our condo back next year. Sounds good in theory, but my gawd, the real estate market is stupid crazy right now, and there's almost nothing available! We're considering a couple of mobile homes right now, and that's looking promising (touch wood). I'm really looking forward to far less space and property, and a much simpler existence. We'll also be able to pay off nearly all of our debt, which will have a huge impact on our monthly expenditures and I still can't quite wrap my brain around that wonderful fact. (No mortgages or car payments? Can that really be true?!) But I'm NOT looking forward to the massive clearing out of STUFF that is necessary to see us living in this smaller, simpler life! Ugh. I do have some beneficial karma happening though; a good friend of mine just opened up a classy second-hand 'trading co' type shop, and is desperately needing household stuff/electronics for consignment and/or outright purchase. *Exactly* the kind of crap I need to get rid of. I'm so fed up and desperate to get rid of it all that I would happily give it all (or throw it all!) away just to Be Done With It, so it feels like a bonus that we'll get a bit of cash for it. Hopefully we can get at least a couple of trailer loads to her this week. It's a bit of a drive to the neighboring town, but it's worth it for the dent it will make in what we have to move. And that's the other thing, I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned it. I. Freakin'. Hate. Moving. I hate the chaos and disorder, the feeling of displacement. I hate trying to maintain peace when everyone has a different idea of what to do and how to do it. I hate finding a way to maintain necessary routine things like work, laundry, and meals. And I've discovered attempting to move and maneuver furniture or other heavy objects together is, by far, the biggest threat to a happy marriage. But there is light at the end of this tunnel, where I haven't felt there has been for the past few years. I didn't even know what I was working so hard for anymore! At least now I feel there is a goal, we're working towards *something*. Simple life. Less pressure. More happy. Everything should be settled by November. I can't wait! 
Fresh Start
Well okay, not totally fresh, as I won't be deleting any entries up to this point. BUT a fresh coat of paint and a new name, and I will feel like I've reclaimed my Space!
Suggestions, please! Looking forward to getting back into the groove. 
Convention 2007 Photos
Yes, Still Alive...
It's hard to write when it feels like you can't breathe for pressure and stress. Every thought is work, and the ability to disengage from it (never mind blog!) seems like an impossibility; a different world. When more money is going out than coming in at such an incredibly alarming rate, it becomes all-consuming. And when you're working hard 12-hour days, it feels suspiciously like impending failure. Add the mother's guilt of kids practically raising themselves, and an embarrassingly neglected house and husband, and you have my last 2 1/2 months in a nutshell. It has challenged even my stubbornly positive outlook, and that's no mean feat! Whenever I wasn't at work, sleep beckoned seductively, and powerfully. I felt like I could sleep for days on end, if only given the chance.
However, I'm happy to report that the pressure seems to be easing, if ever so slightly. I think we've stopped sinking, and will hopefully soon start heading in the other direction.
Not that I particularly relish sharing these types of struggles, but I thought that some explanation as to my absence from blogging was probably in order. No, I haven't lost interest! I'd just temporarily lost the ability to focus on anything else but work issues for awhile. I found myself unable to take a step back, and get that bit of perspective that would allow me to find something light and amusing to blog about, even though those things never stopped happening.
At least, I don't think they did... 
We leave on Sunday morning for Calgary, to attend our annual Convention. It's always a lot of fun, and I'm looking forward to it. It won't be a true 'break' in the relaxing sense, as we're very busy when we're there, but I think at this point any reprieve from our routine will be very welcome. I can't wait to see Christine again, especially. I have every confidence in the staff we're leaving the store to, which I'm so thankful for. So many retailers don't have that, and I'm very fortunate. My main gals are my lifeline!
I'll fill you in and post photos when I get back.
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