Fun! Wow!

Damn this is an addictive game!



Oh this is better



Only took me 20 games to get it :)

We've got shoes, we've got shoes on our feet...

I've been driving in a coworker this week, which is fine, it really isn't out of way, except that I'm not a morning person and she is. Mostly I've been successful in tuning her out but the discussion about shoes ("I have over 200 pairs, it used to be an addiction but I'm cured now, I've only bought 5 pairs in the past month") nearly sent me over the edge. I'm pretty sure I haven't owned 200 pairs of shoes in my entire 33 years on this planet. I haven't bought grown-up shoes in years (with the exception of flip flops, of which I purchased two pairs since they were 2/$5 at the GT) and I tend to wear my ugly, sturdy, hopelessly unfashionable shoes until they're beyond dead because I loath shoe shopping. It's such a perverse form of torture, the endless shoving of the feet into shoes who's size bears no resemblance to the number on the sole, the discussions about whether shoes should be "broken in" or fit comfortably from the moment you first put them on (which they never do), the mortgaging of my grandchildren's future that's involved in being able to afford these chunks of plastic and leather. I swear, if I could just carve my own clogs out of piece of wood I could die happy.

I signed up for life insurance yesterday too (I'm going to have that Greenwich Union commercial in my head all day now), I'm moderately young and healthy so a 10 year term is dirt cheap. The oddest thing though, they didn't want to take my blood pressure, weigh me or test my bodily fluids for mortal diseases - no, they wanted a chunk of my cheek to make sure I'm not a smoker. The insurance chick gave me a hard salt-impregnated sponge on a stick to put between my cheek and gum for 2 minutes. The salt dried out my mouth so that when I removed the sponge away with it came two sizable chunks of my gum! I hope they're not DNA profiling me - what if they discover I'm actually the Lindbergh baby? So now my darling husband has even more reasons to off me!

Sooooo tired

Soooo tired.

Stayed up ridiculously late last night, SIL came over with the little one and the kids were having too much fun playing, didn't get Katie and Jonah to sleep until nearly 9 then I was trying to finish a scrap and make devilled eggs (for today's potluck at work). It was well after 11 before I finally climbed into bed and the alarm going off at 5:30 was oh so painful this morning. Oh well, at least I get potluck lunch today, woohoo!

All week I've been training a coworker to be my backup, and all week he's been sniffling and sneezing and congested. He assured me that it was just allergies (and it is allergy season here so I had no reason to doubt it) but today I woke up unable to breath through my nose and with what feels like a tennis ball stuck in my chest. This is not what allergies feel like :( Suppose he passed me an undisclosed cold? I don't have time to be sick right now, grrr.

Tomorrow is the big not-a-baby baby shower for my friend who recently adopted! I'm so excited, all of the girls are bringing their kids so we'll have 4 two year olds (all boys), 2 four year old girls and one almost-7-year old girl. I just know they're going to be unbelievably cute together! I have to confess though, I haven't bought a gift yet. I have a couple of things in mind but I just haven't had time to get out and get them. I hate leaving things to the last minute.

testing...

Hiring practices in the government bear little resemblance to hiring in the real world. In the government instead of reading resumes and picking a few people to interview they check your resume and cover letter for specific keywords - if it contains those keywords you are invited to write a test (or often times 2 or 3 tests). If you attain whatever the baseline score for the test is then - only then - are you invited to interview. Needless to say a huge batch of decent people are weeded out right off the bat (because they don't know how to 'play the system') and an even bigger batch of absolutely unqualified people make it to the testing phase because they know how to pad their resumes with the 'keywords'.

I used to be bitter about it but I've come to accept that this is the way it is, and I've learned how to play the game.

Back in early May a government job was posted that I would be PERFECT for, doing what I am educated and trained to do, requiring experience and knowledge that I have and generally sounding perfect for me (plus it pays more than I make now). I went this morning to write the test and I was shocked at some of the people who were "screened in" to the test-writing phase: a couple of temp workers from my office who I KNOW are lacking both the education and knowledge required, a woman who couldn't figure out how to turn on her computer for the computer phase of the test, a man who would put his head down every couple of minutes and take deep, shuddering breaths like he was trying not to cry... I found the test challenging, a lot of the questions would be nearly impossible for someone to answer if they haven't worked in that directorate (I currently work in the directorate so those were easy) and some would be impossible for someone who hadn't taken the college program that I took.

I guess I wonder why the people running this competition didn't look a little further past the keywords before wasting countless hours of their time and the candidates time testing people who have no hope of passing the test? Not that it makes a bit of difference to me really, I am confident in my skills and knowledge and I don't need a smaller playing field to compete but the waste... well it irks me. Because I'm a taxpayer above all else, and this is ultimately my money being wasted running 4 testing sessions when 2/3 of the candidates were unqualified.

Or maybe that's just sour grapes talking.

Fun!

Yesterday I met Lisa!!! First time I've met a fellow blogger in real life! Her new office is just down across the street from where I work, so we met in a neat Vietnamese restaurant (that I never knew existed) for lunch. It was awesome! She's so warm and funny and has such an interesting life. I sure hope I can twist her arm into getting together again (Tim Horton's - conveniently located right between us!). PS - sorry I made you late for court!

In the evening C and I took the kids to the St-Albert Curd Festival and got to meet our friends' new little son! He is so adorable, and they are so happy! We ate hamburgers, hotdogs and cheese curds, and cotton candy (which Katie and I adore, and Jonah is afraid of, silly little man!) St-Albert is such a charming little village, I could totally see myself living there, it felt so homey.

And this weekend? We have NOTHING planned! I am so excited, I'm going to sleep in until at least 6:30 (I hope!) and not get out of my jammies until noon! A day of sloth here I come!

Painted ladies

The latest issue of a ladies magazine I subscribe to has an article about cleaning out your make-up bag. It talks about how quickly they "overflow" with all of the glosses and powders that we just have to buy ourselves. So I thought I'd clean mine out.

First I had to shake off the inch thick layer of dust. What did I find inside?

1 tube of marcella tinted moisturizer, SPF 15. Unopened. Purchased while I was working for SDM, 5 or 6 years ago.
1 cover*girl voluminous marscara (in black brown). Purchased in April for a retirees dinner we attended with the outlaws. Still 90% full.
1 pot of blis*tex lip medic lip balm. I don't know how old it is, probably only a year or two.
1 cinnabon flavoured lip balm. This is Katie's, she got it in her Christmas stocking. I hate cinnamon.
1 beautiful clin*ique brown eyeshadow. Purchased for my wedding. In 1998.
I unknown berry flavoured lip gloss. I think I bought it in college. All of the writing has worn off the packaging.
an eyelash curler. I own an eyelash curler?

I don't wear makeup, and apparently it shows. Guess I should at least buy a lip stick, just in case. Never know when I might get an invite to Buckingham Palace.

overheard

Overheard standing in line behind two men at the local Zeller's:

"Has Tammy had her baby yet".
"No, they said they'll let her go until the 19th and then they'll seduce her"

A whole lotta nuttin'

Haven't had a lot to say lately, work just saps my will to live. I try not to dwell on the rampant idiocy that exists in this office but I'm only partially successful. Days like today when one of the supervisors is floucing around the office in her stillettos shrieking and giggling about a concert (or something) she's going to tonight - well let's just say it doesn't do much for the morale of the people who are actually working.

C's brother and fam are up visiting, got to see them yesterday at the in-laws' which was nice, though I had even more trouble than usual dealing with the crowd scene and probably wasn't as plesant as I should have been. There's just no way though of explaining to the SIL that it's nothing personal without opening the Pandora's box that I'd rather not share with either side of the family. It's a shame really since she's a sweetie and I'd love to be able to confide in her. Instead I spent the majority of the evening hiding behind the kids and wishing I was at home.

Had a scare yesterday. The 107 steps - I swear they are the absolute bane of my existance. Walking to the car yesterday, loaded down like a pack mule with bags and kid detritus, Jonah tripped over a mote of dust and hit the pavement fairly hard. I ran up to him and set down all of the bags so I could pick him up. C started grabbing the bags while I checked out Jonah's booboos and comforted him but he didn't have enough hands to grab my purse and left it there assuming I'd see it. I didn't see it (baby-related tunnel vision?) and we walked away and drove off to work with my purse - containing every spec of identification I possess as well as all of the kids' ID, my cell phone, our digital camera, Katie's glasses, my chequebooks, credit cards, inhalers - sitting on the sidewalk.

The good news is that a neighbour found it, found my SIL's number in my cell phone and reached us. But in the two hour interim I was very near hysterics.

You know, I didn't even give my good samaritan a reward... probably would have been insulting to give him the $1.35 in cash my purse contained anyway. He did rather restore my faith in humankind. Like C said, all of the dishonest people must still have been in bed at that time of the morning. I'm just grateful that it all turned out OK.

***And congrats Niki on the house!!! I'm just thrilled for you!

merde

Dead van. Again. At least a week and a half driving the sweatmobile while waiting for our mechanic to come back from his ill-timed vacation (how dare he take time off!) My dad once tried to convince me to keep car problem in perspective but when you're stranded in Gloucester in 41C weather with two cranky toddlers car trouble seems like a very big deal indeed.

Breathe in. Breathe out. Repeat.

Another long weekend at the cottage, the city always seems so loud and heavy after being away for awhile. Fabulous weather, nothing to do, when can I retire and live that way all of the time? True the ferries were so packed that it added a collective 2 1/2 extra hours to the drive but it was worth it (and besides, tim bits and ice cream make the time go by so pleasantly!)

cool girl


cutie pie


art-shot/self portrait (hey, who else is going to take pictures of me?)


Papa's girl


Only one more long weekend left :( As much as I complain about the heat I'll sure miss it when the snow comes back.