I'm buying a house soon!!!

So last week was a really rough week. Long story but was getting very frustrated with things and with life. It doesn't help that I've been stuck in this stupid condo for 7 1/2 years. It was a great place to move in to when I needed it, but I am SOOOOOOOOOO finished living here. I'm tired of the neighbours and I just don't feel comfortable here. It's an apartment conversion so there is no in-suite laundry (it's on the second floor), and there is next to no storage. It's not bad when you're young and just starting out with little money, but when you start making money and getting nice stuff, it's kind of cramped. I have no place to store any camping stuff or luggage, or whatever I might use.

So, after having such a rough week, I decided to go out show home shopping to feel better. I started with the big homes I'd never be able to afford. I did that just for fun. When I was younger, my parents, two younger sisters and I would go looking at show homes for fun. It's a tradition of sorts we'd do just for fun over the years. I eventually got to some of the townhomes that are more in the area that I could afford. Some of them were okay and nice, then there were some that are ridiculously over priced. They have quartz counter tops and all kinds of crazy expensive things to them. I don't get why anyone would pay that much for a townhome, when some of the nicer, much larger homes were about the same price. I don't know, maybe that's just the practical, cheap side of me coming out.

I saved the one I thought would be the best for last. It's about a block or two from Karen's house and just more of what I want. The garage is in the basement, so the basement is only half size, then you get the laundry down there too, but hey, I'm just happy to have laundry in the same house. That's a HUGE thing for me. I've picked out my favourite main floor plan and am still deciding between a 2 master and a 3 bedroom upstairs. Moms idea of the 3 bedroom isn't bad. The one room is decent size and the other could be a good office. I'd even have an en suite bathroom and walk-in closet. OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I was happy when mom came home on Tuesday and I took her to go see the 3 show homes they have on Wednesday. I have 2 different stories from the different days/people of what section is going to be developed next but either way, I know what I'm buying, it's just a matter of when they open up that part and the kind I want.

The other thing to is, that you never know if one of the floor plans I like (that they have already built and will be ready in the fall for the people who have already purchased them) will be sold by someone who bought it and is just trying to flip it. I can't quite afford anything yet, and the ones that will be being developed soon will be more in my time frame. It depends how the job thing goes over the next year and how much the raises will be and what they'll be paying me. The other concern is selling this old place. I mentioned it the other day to some people I know, just randomly and they thing their son might be interested then in purchasing this place. He can't afford it quite yet and is saving up a down payment, and wants to move out of his parents place (they can't blame him at all) so we'll see. I'm about a year away, but as soon as the plans open up of the one I want, in a section I want I'll be the first in line to have a deposit on it and be ready for purchase.

This means a year of tight money and working hard to pay off the current mortgage to have more equity, but I'll get there and I know it will work out. I just have a feeling that this is the right thing to do. The timing is a little bit hazy as I'm not sure exactly when it's going to be over the next year, but I have a plan and that's the start. Jut the fact that I have a plan makes so much of it so much better. I feel much more relaxed and at peace with a lot of things. Life is good, and somehow, I'll make it through!!!

6 WEEKS!!!!

Well, this weekend is the middle of 6 weeks, 6 weeks, 6 weeks, and 6 weeks. Very strange and funny I know. So it starts, 6 weeks notice at the old job (aka 6 weeks till I started the new job), have already worked 6 weeks at the new job, it's now 6 weeks till I leave for Australia (massive YAY!!!!!) where I'll be staying for 6 weeks. I laughed when I realized that.

Life is going okay. I still have a few stresses of things, but I know I just have to survive the 6 weeks till I can relax for a while. I did something yesterday that helped me relax a bit about stuff. I went show home shopping and found the perfect place. Now it's a townhouse, which I wasn't sure I wanted, but I really like it. It has a 2 car garage underneath, and I fairly nice kitchen/living room and I'd choose the 2 master option over the 3 bedroom. Just makes things a little nicer and I don't need 3 bedrooms just for me. The best part of the deal is that they are still selling models over the next few years and the next phase available will be ready for January 2012, which is when I'd be financially ready to afford it. It couldn't have worked more perfectly. I'm beyond giddy!!!!! It put more things in perspective and helped me to realize a few things, even about what I'd like to do when I grow up. That part is a long story, but for another time.

So, for now I get to enjoy myself and have a great Christmas. It's going to be chaos but a lot of fun. Especially the babies that are coming then. I can't wait to go away, E is getting married while I'm there to (so much fun), and if you want something special, let me know, cause I'm not buying for anyone unless they give me ideas. ;-)

P.S. I forgot to mention one of the most fun parts. It's just a block or two away from Karen and the kids!!!!! Not that it matters much but it could be fun. Closer to all the shopping too!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!

Well, today I'm another year older and I'm starting to feel it more and more. Mostly the aches and pains. Emotionally and spiritually I feel around 27 still. I liked that age. I had a great weekend with the girls. E, S, K and I went to see Harry Potter on Saturday. We had fun. It was such an awesome movie and it was nice to get out and see it. Then A met us out for supper at the Outback. Now that was a total treat. The best part of that was the cute waiter was there.

He was the Manager for the night and since K had a problem with her steak being underdone and she needed it cooked a bit more, when it came back, he brought it. He made sure everything was okay with us, and it was perfectly fine, K wasn't upset, just doesn't like pink meat (which I can understand). It was awesome. He even asked what we were celebrating or if it was just a girls night out. We mentioned my bday and he made sure to tell me to save some room. He's so freaking cute. I've had him for a waiter twice before and if you want me to be completely honest, he's the reason we choose that place and to go to the West End. The head manager guy is pretty cute too. Em agrees with me on that one!!!

We laughed quite hard that night and it didn't hurt that Em bought me a day calendar that is "What your Poo is telling you". I thought I was going to laugh right off the chairs. Sunday was nice and quiet, but I got the enjoyment of watching Karen's kids in the primary presentation. Now those are some cute kids, and Cache cracked us up a time or two. Especially that cheesy grin of his.

Then today, my actual birthday. Today I am 34, I don't like that number. It's not that I mind being in my 30's, it just sounds so old and I don't feel that inside. But that is perfectly okay. I love my life and I'm happy. I may not perfectly like everything about my life but I am very very happy and extremely blessed. This is the time and these are the moments. I am where I need to be and not yet where I'm going to end up. There is so much more for me out there, and I'm not sure where exactly it's all going but it's getting there.

I was almost worried with J being gone sick at work that they might forget my birthday. I didn't want to be the one to bring it up. I was just sitting there working when M (who I've known for over 2 years) randomly piped up and said, Hey, Happy Birthday Barb. After thanking him I asked how he knew. He laughed and said he just checked his FB. I had a feeling that's what gave it away. I don't want to be selfish and bring it up myself, but dang it, YES I wanted a little attention for my birthday, even if it does embarrass me.

I went and visited mom too before she leaves for a week tomorrow, and then I took advantage of my birthday. I went to Sephora and bought some make up I needed and got the free birthday gift that was mine!!!!! I figured dang nab it, I'm taking every advantage that I can of my birthday!!!! Then I just came home and relaxed. I needed it. Just some time to de-stress and chill. Lots of birthday wishes on Facebook and a few texts too. I'd say it was a pretty good day in all. And to top it all off, only 47 days left, which, with Christmas, is only 30 working days (minus a half day here and there for work party and a PD course). I'm feeling great about that!!!!!

Thoughts

I always have thoughts running through my head and I decided it was time to get them down. They are random about all kinds of things but this time I wanted to be specific. My blog and my journal are for the daily (I have them daily but only write when I feel it's important to share) random thoughts, but I wanted to put something together. Now by no means am I a writer of any kind but I wanted to do this for me and I don't think anyone else will ever read it so it's okay. I've started two books, yes two. They are very different from each other and both necessary for me to get the thoughts out of my head.

I don't plan on ever doing anything with them, but maybe adding to them over the years, but I need to get the things out of my head. It's way too much to write in my journal ( I still love to hand write and my hand would go numb from all of what I would have to say) and I don't think anyone would want to read it on my blog. I also don't think I want to necessarily share it all out in the open here on my blog. The first book is my life. A sort of autobiography and dealings with some of the struggles in my life. How I survived some of the mania inside of my own head.

The second is my frustrations with the craziness of people. It's not that bad and sounds worse than what I mean. It's not anyone specific, just things I've seen watching single friends over the years what I've observed people doing over the years and am puzzled why. I'm not criticizing their choices, everyone can do what they want, just questioning why people do what they do. That one's really for me just to ramble. We'll see, I don't know how it will turn out and how it will go, but it's given me a project to work on and just relax to at night while I'm settling down for the evening. I'm viewing it more as a fun thing just to entertain myself. I need to do something in the little free time I have.

Oh!!!!! and only just over 7 weeks to go!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely Right Place, Definitely Right Time

You know, there are very few times in my life when I have truly felt that I have been at the right place at the right time. Sure, there are the little instances along the way but only a few rare instances and cases. Well. this new job is definitely one of those HUGE times. I don't think I have ever gone in to a job not nervous. All weekend I was just relaxed and excited and looking forward to it. I wasn't really thinking too much about it either. It helps when you've been "chased" by your boss to come work for him.

I got a tad nervous in the car, and a bit nervous going in to the office, but not a ton. Everyone was extremely welcoming and very helpful. They all came and introduced themselves when they saw "the new girl". That was my name for the day and it was fun. I felt a little bit nervous about a few things. I'm lacking a bit of self confidence in what I'm doing, but that will come with time. When T finally showed up he thought it was reason to celebrate so we got lunch ordered in for us and G was supposed to pick up a cake when he got back from Wetaskiwin, but since he got back late, the cake is coming tomorrow. He mentioned what kind of cake he was going to get and one of the other guys was questioning it a tad, and I piped up "hey, sounds good to me" and G was like, "ya, the new girl approves". It just made the day fun. There was all kinds of nonsense and fun stuff, and yet a lot of work got done too.

At one point today I really thought about it. I have never had such a fantastic first day of work EVER. I have also never had a first day of work where at one point in the day I didn't want to cry. I don't even have the fear that I might, and I pretty much always do at least once within the first week. I knew without a doubt in my mind that I was at the right place at the right time. I am exactly where the Lord wants me to be, and I came when I was supposed to be there. I didn't go when I wanted to (a year and a half ago when I was losing my mind), and I didn't wait for my old boss to retire. I did it exactly when and how I needed to. It's amazing how well Heavenly Father really knows us and does for us what we need. He knew that I wasn't to go sooner, and that later would have been too long. It's right right now. I am very happy and know that this is the best decision I've made for me in a long time. One of the few I've made for me. Most of my decisions revolve around helping my family and friends, but this one was definitely for me and it's pretty dang awesome.

Last Day!!!!!

Well, today is the last day of work at this job. I have had many many good times and some stressful times too. It is time to move on and go for bigger and better things for me. I will miss the people, but not the job. I did get a little annoyed on Tuesday when D was telling a client that I was no longer going to be here. D mentioned that they were bringing in K, the girl I replaced (which I had kind of figured out 4 weeks ago anyway) on a temporary basis as it's a "bad time of year" to find someone and there are no grads to hire. I happen to know, after talking with K yesterday that he hired her immediately after I quit. He made it sound like they couldn't find anyone when really they didn't look. I'm pretty sure D has a buyer too, he met with him a week or so ago, and is moving over there in the next month or so and that K is just in transition until he gets everything moved over to the new place. Whatever, I don't care, I just found it insulting that he was blaming me for a bad time of year to hire, when he wasn't even hiring someone. UGH!!! Just annoying that's all.

But, I do have to say, that apart from a few things here and there I have been taken care of. J&D gave me a "care package" today. J's afraid that they won't have what I need at the new office so she gave me some stuff. An orange peeler, an apple corer, a calendar notebook, hand lotion, LOTS of hot chocolate (my morning/cold day treat) a thermal mug for my hot chocolate, a gift card to chapters for a new book, along with a new bookmark. It was very cute. I have that along with my box-o-crap to take home with me today. It's sort of bitter sweet. I'm a little sad that I won't see them and be conversing and joking with them anymore, BUT EXTREMELY HAPPY to not have to deal with J this tax season.

I'm enjoying the last couple of days. I've just been sitting on the sidelines while K gets back in to the swing of things after 7 years. She's been raising her kids (the reason she left) and hasn't worked since then. It's kind of funny watching her slowly get back in to it all. Kind of funny that she was the one teaching me oh such a short time ago. It feels like just yesterday and yet feels like a whole other lifetime ago. She'll be fine.

I am quite excited to start at the new place. It's going to be VERY hard and a HUGH adjustment but I know it's the best thing for me right now. Funny thing is, I'm not even really that nervous which is surprising for me. I'm sure by next week I'll be freaking out a little, but honestly, I know my life is going in the right direction at the right time. I am where I need to be and working on where I need to be going. I'm getting back in to shape and making all kinds of positive changes for me. I need this, I want this and I'm excited for this. This is my life and gosh darn it all, I'm going to make it the most fantastic life I possibly can with everything I've been given, whether a challenge or a help. So, here's to me, and all the joy to come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can't wait to get out of there

UGHHHHH. Who knew the last few weeks of quitting a job would be so bad. The work is finally slowing down and I'm almost all caught up. Not a ton to do which is good, but I'm sure more will come in. The problem right now is this one especially lousy clients. Now I usually only see the clients a few times a year. Around their corporate year end a couple times and then the same during personal tax season. BUT this one client never seems to go away.

We do every thing for him. He has all his bills and crap sent to our office and J pays it all (from his account of course). Well, J & D are out of town this week and he chose today to come in and literally harass me. When he first came in he started bugging me that I wasn't working, when in fact I was in the middle of finishing one company up and he interrupted. Then he starts asking if D was in. He clearly knew he wasn't and I told him so, I heard J telling him on Friday that they were going out of town and would take care of things when they got back. He got all defensive when I told him he knew they were out of town.

Then he has been questioning this big repair bill and was calling people on our phones. Whatever, but I wasn't going to leave him in the front and go in to my office and work. Not that I think he'd do something, but it's just not professional. While he was on hold he started asking me how much I got paid to sit around and do nothing. Then he starts to question the last GST return I filed for him. He's asking about this one big house repair bill and if I used it when filing. I said no. He got all upset like why not. I told him he can't charge house repair bills to the company and he know that. He tries arguing that his house is in the company name, blah blah blah and I told him well it's not in our books and we charged him for it in our books. He got mad and tried to blame me and asked if D looks at that stuff or if I just do it, like it's all my fault none of his crap gets written off as a company expense. I told him I wouldn't have done it without asking D and that he always looks over the stuff anyway. He acted like he didn't believe me and called it all BS etc etc etc.

After he was done being on hold and finished we talked a bit about his big expense like what can you do kind of thing. I said, ya I guess you gotta work. Then he said no, he just likes to, then changes his mind and say no, I have to work to pay you a-holes to sit around and do nothing. Oh man, I got mad. I just ignored it but I should have just told him I had quit already and he can just leave and suck it and I didn't want to see him again before I left. UGH, he drives me nuts. I can't wait till J&D get home to let them in on it. J is going to be so mad, she may even tell D he has to go. We'll see, but I'm sure J is going to tell D to tell him that he has no freaking right to talk to their staff, or anyone really, in that way. He's the jerk not me.

My knew mantra is, I'm almost done, I'm almost done. As of today I have 3 weeks left, only 14 working days. I work tomorrow, then 2 weeks, then 3 days that last week. I'm almost done, I'm almost done. I'm sure I'll have my share of difficult clients at the new job, but I doubt they'd keep clients like this guy. D seems to have a hard time getting rid of the jerks, but I know they don't allow that kind of crap at the new one. No one is worth getting peed on like that!!!!!!!