Birthday, Anniversaries and Fireworks!! OH MY!!!!!!

Wow, it has been a VERY busy month. It started at the end of June with Amanda's birthday, which was fun. Then 8 days later we did Dave's birthday. Amanda was busy doing dinner's and everything for both of them. Since people were working we didn't do theirs on a Sunday, we did them during the week. Timing wise we did Dave's a day early on Canada day. That was fun. The kids and some of us got into the spirit wearing our Canada t-shirts. The funniest part was when the kids arrived.

Dave and I were in the back playing bocce ball when they got there. They came out from the house with water guns and just attacked him. We got to finish our game and not long later they went after him full force chasing around the back yard. They tried hiding in the shed but they didn't know there was a window. He got them soaked before they could even figure out where the the water was coming from. Dave even only had squirting thingys and not a gun. He asked for them for his birthday so I got him some, which he opened after the fight. Good thing Karen brought pj's for them!!

Then 5 days later was Cache's birthday. We did that during the week too on his actual birthday. He was pretty excited. I got him some G.I. Joe stuff, and so did mom. Diana got him a pretty cool Iron Man 2 car. He definitely got spoiled. The best part was his cake. We usually have Diana make the fancy cakes around here but Alex decided to make it and he, with Karen, did an AWESOME job with camouflage fondant, fondant rocks and trees and water. Cache and Veronica had fun picking at the letters, rocks and trees and eating them while waiting for Karen to cut it.

Next on the list was Ivy's first birthday. We celebrated hers 3 days early, which made it 4 days after Cache's. Diana did a BBQ and cake with the whole family on both sides. I had been there a couple days before and helped pick out what she was going to do for a cake. Ivy had been a bit sick and had fevers on and off that week. She had an especially grumpy morning the day of her party. I got there early and helped Diana set up, clean up, finish the cake and then just watched Ivy when she woke up so both Diana and Spencer could finish setting up. One of the cute parts was the card mom made for Ivy. It has a picture of Ivy, Grandma and Grandpa Hunt. Ivy pointed at dad quite a bit when looking at it.

Diana had made Ivy her own personal cake. She was quite cute with it. She kept trying to feed it to Jax before she figured out that is was cake and then boy did she dig in. She didn't eat tons before she starting waving her arms that she was done and wanted out. We didn't even have to bathe her. Shelley and I got her cleaned up pretty quick, but it definitely took two of us.

Then Tuesday July 13th was Ivy's actual birthday and my mom and dad's 50th anniversary. I stopped by mom's house after work to see if she wanted to go out. Karen and the kids happen to be there and she jokingly said something about going out and then I said, heck I was

thinking that too. Dave was out of town and Shelley couldn't come but Spencer came in with Ivy, Diana came from work and Karen brought the kids alone (Alex was working). We had 5 adults, 2 babies and 2 kids. It was actually a lot of fun. Ivy had been given her shots that day and was in a surprisingly fantastic mood and hilarious. She ate a tonne of food too. We all enjoyed ourselves. Veronica made mom a card to celebrate. It was nice to do that and still celebrate together.

Last of all, I talked with Nathan just on Thursday and he suggested I come down south to Thunder in the Valley. I said I would if he got us a place to stay and he did. His mom is so awesome and had it all set up for us by the time we got there at 2:30 am. I have to admit that Thunder is a fantastic display of fireworks. I enjoyed the day a lot. We hung around the town and ran in to some friends just before we set up in the field. J, L, and A came and joined us. We all had fun visiting together. We got bored at times sitting there just because the day seemed to go on forever, but it was fun to catch up with them.

Now, to just survive the rest of July. A couple more birthdays, but they should be easier. Karen, Alex and the kids are out of town and I miss them a tonne. I feel lonely and they've only been gone 2 days, but they are gone for 2 weeks. I sign job papers Thursday and start that in October. I still have to quit my job, which is the hard step #3, but then comes the fun part in #4. I get to buy my plane tickets to AUSTRALIA!!!!!! I'm excited to go and Erin and I have some great ideas and we'll plan it all when I get there!!!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!!! Life is freaking fantastic!!!!!!!!!

Nervous Excitement

Things are coming along nicely. I got an e-mail yesterday saying that the guys want another meeting next week. Then T emailed again a few times asking me to call him this weekend to "prep" me for the meeting and what will happen. It kind of made me nervous when he said he wants to "prep" me. I'm not quite sure what that means, and I'm a little afraid to know. Then he emailed again asking what my full name and address. It's kind of freaking me out, but in a good way. So I'm a tad bit panicked. One thing is for sure though, I have absolutely NO doubts in my mind whatsoever that I am doing the right thing. I kind of even am ready with how I want to tell my current boss that I'm leaving.

I e-mailed my friend in Brisbane too to discuss the plans for when I come. She's totally AWESOME!!!!!! She's offered me the use of her car when she's working plus she suggested some fun road trips. Driving down the western coast to Sydney where we'd have a free place to stay!!!!! Now how much more fun can you get than that!!!! I'm totally excited and plan on booking my tickets as soon as I get things figured out and find out what's going on at the meeting next weekend. This is going to be the best time ever!!!!! In the mean time I need to try and not freak out about calling T this weekend and the meeting next week. All still kind of makes me nervous, and excited. Yippee!!!!!!

Renewed Vigor

I have decided to attack the nothingness again. I've been living in a slump and have been really good for 2 1/2 days now. I've started eating right again and worked my but off at X-Fit last night. Some of the girls there even commented that they haven't seen me push that hard. S had been gone for 8 weeks and was surprised. I don't know. I've just decided to give myself a swift kick in the pants. I always feel better when I do.

I find that the summer is the hardest for me. I can lose weight over my birthday and Christmas easily, but every summer I struggle. The only time I didn't struggle was in Scotland but that was because I was walking 8 hours a day. No matter what I ate I lost 5 pounds in 9 days. The plan now is to lose as much as I can in the next 6 weeks before I leave for holidays. I'm sure I can lose 10 pounds and the fact I've been good for almost 3 days helps. Every day that I'm good is awesome.

I'm going to try and pick up my training for TKD too. I figure I'm getting closer to black belt and need to do more to kick myself in the butt. I need to train hard and vigorously to get myself good enough. Here's to new head space and feeling great about me!!!!!

FREEDOM!!!!!

Well, my business meeting went well last night. I learned a lot about myself and how I've stifled myself at my job. I found out that I would have WAYYY more responsibility if I worked there and they want their employees to learn and grow. They couldn't believe that I wasn't doing more and they think I'm too smart to be wasted at my current job. It really got me thinking and helped me decide that no matter what happens with them, I'm leaving my job as of December at the latest. And that I'm going to Australia in January and if I have to line up a different job before I go, I will, but I'm moving on and moving out. I need to, I need that very much for me!!!!!

So, I'm waiting to hear back from them for another meeting to discuss things further after they've had a chance to talk with each other. It's exciting and nerve wracking all at the same time. I think part of the problem why I'm sick of my job is that I'm extremely bored with it. I'm not challenged in any way and I haven't learned anything new in years. I think that self discovery was the best part of the whole night. It's true and others have told me to leave my job before if I was unhappy and that I owed my bosses no loyalty but it was said in a different manner in a words that made more sense and in a way I was ready to hear. D referenced my father in it and he used to work with my dad. He and dad were Bishops of the YSA wards at the same time and like mom said, he said it in a Bishop like manner which was helpful.

I do know that I haven't been ready for the changes until now, and a good part of that is that I needed time to figure out life after dad. I mentioned I had been in a coma like state for almost a year after dad died. D asked what I meant by that because T had agreed with me and T just said that you'd talk to me and nothing would get through. I would just look blank. But mostly only those who knew me well enough knew how blank I was because they know how alive I really am. That discussion is where I cried. I still miss dad a lot and wish he was here. They were very understanding and I even almost got D choked up cause he loved my dad too.

I feel a great sense of relief with the choices I've made and how I feel about everything. Now I just put in some time and enjoy the rest of my summer and look forward to some big new things ahead.

On a side note. Went to my first Condo meeting for the 7 years I've lived here. It was interesting. I was scared to say something at first but the few things I had issues with I got brave to talk about and things got addressed very nicely. They are some great people we've got in there now and for the first time in years we have a better property manager in charge and work is finally getting done. A few of us brought up some big concerns and we were appreciated and thanked after the meeting. It was quite nice to meet others who live here too. The funniest part was where there were a few Colourful people there, 2 of them. They brought up in appropriate things and argued over stuff that wasn't even worth arguing and no one was going to change anyway. It was ridiculously pointless. One was even arguing on the way out the door which was odd because they had decided to keep it the same which is what he wanted anyway. Cracks me up people sometime. Definitely worth going to check out though!!! I got a good laugh at least!!!!

The Suspense Is Getting To Me

Well, things have been pretty good, but stressful lately. The day after I last blogged I went to a wedding reception of a friend of mine and T was there. I was so happy to see him. I went and talked with him about stuff and told him I wanted to come and made sure that the job was mine no matter what. He was like ya, of course!! Then he said that he wanted me to email him with dates that I could go for dinner with him and his partner D and also to write up a proposal. I was like huh? Seriously? He wanted me to let him know what I wanted to do for work, like what parts of the job I did and didn't want to do anymore, and what my salary expectations were etc so we had a negotiating point to start with. I couldn't believe it. I get to choose what I want to do for work? I don't have to do every single awful, dreadful, horrible thing that comes in? Wow!!! That would be nice!!!!

So that Sunday I talked with my sisters and got some ideas from them. Shelley helped me come up with some good salary and benefits plans and I looked up some jobs and what they were paying. Imagine my surprise when I saw that the starting wage for a job doing exactly what I'm doing now was the wage I'm currently getting paid after 7 years of working here. The wage range was mine to $20,000 more than mine depending on experience and qualifications. HOLY CRAP!!!!! I fit all of the qualifications plus 7 years of experience in EVERYTHING CRAPPY. So I put a range of 10-20 grand more than my current wages just because I deserve it. I listed what I currently do and don't do around the office and what I'd like to do and not do when I go. It was kind of fun to list the things and get a say in my work. It was a bit long but it worked.

That Wednesday I sent it off to T and he thought it looked great and originally set up a dinner appointment for tonight, but the next day had to postpone it till the 28th. So I am sitting around nervously waiting to go check out the office, discuss my proposal and then go for dinner. I'm a little embarrassed to talk about the proposal and stuff but I'll have to get over that. My boss still hasn't responded to them and written back about selling, which is going to make this so hard. After I get the terms of the deal settled, which includes 6 weeks off to go to Australia in January!!!!!, I'm going to have to tell my boss that I'm leaving here when our lease is up. I'm terrified to do it. I know it's the right thing to do and I'm praying every day that I can have the strength to do this.

It's so hard, and after all they've done for me it's even more difficult, but I need to do this for me. My life needs to move on. I need to be in a place where I'm not the only one relied upon for all of the office work. I need to have better vacation times and be able to take off in the middle of tax season without it being a hard thing. I need to be able to come in to work and not worry if J's having an emotional day or not. I mean even just last week she came in for just an hour and she was on the verge of tears making it hard to even want to be there.

So, things are FANTASTIC, but waiting around for the 28th is hard. Plus knowing I have to tell my bosses and procrastinating that, getting harder. So, lots of tension and stress, but it's all good tension and stress. Happy days are ahead, I just have to continue to be patient, and we all know how much I LOVE being patient. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA YA RIGHT!!!!!!

Good News?????

Well, life has thrown all sorts of twists and turns and craziness over the last week. It's been good, but shocking and exciting too. On the work side, things are good and stressful. Last week my boss over lunch brought up my friend T and asked if he still worked where he did. We discussed that a little. I was very careful not to tell him T and I have been talking some. That same day T had emailed me to say we needed to go for lunch/dinner to plan for my work future. That got me excited. Then this week I did some investigating to find out where things were.

My boss still hasn't talked with T's people yet (well as of yesterday anyway) and had been talking with someone else. They had discussed "renting office space" with then intention of eventually selling out and phasing my boss out. My boss turned it down since it's located downtown and after picking the brain of a few clients realizing most of them wouldn't stay at that location. I wouldn't either. So whether D sells to T or goes to another place I'm out. I wasn't going to leave if he just rented his own office space and it was still him, his wife and I, but if he "rents" from another accountant they have techs there. I don't feel an obligation and I want to go where I know I'll be happy. I just need T to email me back so I can secure my new job and then maybe talk to D.

Last weekend was fun. I had an enjoyable time and the SA conference. Some of it was totally cheesy, as usual, but we danced and partied it up good. I had a few good things happen ;-) and a few creepy things too. Nothing exciting. Sunday night was really fun. My good friend J called me and we talked till 2 am. So much fun. I haven't seen him for 2 years so we had some to catch up on. Only reason we even hung up at 2 am was the fact his cordless phone was dying. He's coming up tomorrow for a friends wedding. He's one of the groomsmen and I'm helping serve the punch. The nice thing is the wedding reception is in the afternoon so we can hang out all night.

So somethings are looking up, but until everything is a little more settled I'm still stressed. I'm managing to sleep OK but I don't have much of an appetite for sure. October is coming up soon and I need to figure stuff out. The best news is I get to go visit E, J, V, and A in Australia in January. That's when I'm planning on going and hopefully soon can book my tickets. J even liked the sound of the trip and he might join me and have fun there too. Life is good and I'm pretty dang happy!!!!

OH!!!!!!! and I forgot to mention the best or craziest part of the news. Mom called me last week to inform me that my nephew and his wife of just over a year are expecting a baby in December and making her officially a great-grandmother. That makes me a Great Aunt. HOLY CRAP I FEEL OLD!!!!!!!

Laughed till I cried and almost peed!!!!

OK, I finally decided to do something fun for myself a couple of months ago and bought tickets to go see the Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy. I learned about him from my boss and watched some stuff on YouTube and thought he was so funny. I found out he was coming here and bought 2 tickets right away. So, last night Felisha and I went to go see his show at the Winspear center. Oh my goodness I thought I was going to die laughing.

The show was fantastic and I got laughing so hard I had tears. I had to hold back some or I could have really lost it and been laughing so hard I wouldn't have been able to breathe (quite a funny scene to watch me like that but not necessarily in public). I was so glad I had gone to the bathroom too because I'm sure I could have peed myself at some point. Felisha was laughing just as hard. Afterwards I bought the DVD he had (only $20) and then stood in line to meet him and have him sign it. That was fun too. So worth every penny.

So if you can handle some good humour, a little bit of language (he is Scottish after all) you would love him. There are some good clips on YouTube and he writes some funny things on his blog page too. Go to http://www.dannybhoy.com/dannybhoy/ and be prepared to laugh. I hope you enjoy it, and if not, that's okay too. Everyone has their own sense of humour. He just happens to appeal to mine.