Saturday again?

So I'm starting my second "weekend" within the last 3 days. Those of you who have read the previous post know that my schedule was juggled around a lot and now I'm reaping the benefits.

I'm just starting to watch "Doubt". I bought myself a PVR last week and now I'm able to tape stuff I'm not necessarily able to watch live. Super handy! I can even pause live TV if I get a phone call...

Today it's raining hard again. I'm cuddled up on the bed with my cat and she's purring away, glad for the company.

Tomorrow I'm going to be going to the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney with my friend Mary-Ellen and her 2 daughters. They'll be moving to Florida in 2 weeks and I wanted to spend some time with them before they go. I'm excited. Her daughters are young and it should be very fun to watch them.

My grandmother is back at home now, which is great news. The doctors were keeping her for observation until her blood work came back cleanly, so the fact that she was sent home means her body is recovered but now she's just got to rest.

As I'm watching this movie I'm struck by how different this performance is in comparison to "Julie & Julia" (also starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams). Even though, or maybe even because, the movies are so stark in their differences it shows the range of Meryl Streep's acting and highlights how far Amy still has to go. Don't get me wrong, I love Amy Adams, but somehow you can't see past the actress to get to the character as much as you can with someone more seasoned. I suppose that some actors never really progress past this stage (as is the case with the ever popular Hugh Grant) but I hope Amy does. She's quite fabulous.

The rain is coming down even harder now. I think this calls for some popcorn and a snuggley blanket to watch the rest of this movie. I hope you all have a Monday as relaxed as I do!

Wow... Event Overload!

Hi guys!

So I'm in the midst of a 10 day work "week". Our scheduling allows for 2 days off a week and runs from Sunday to Saturday. What this means for a part-timer like me is that occasionally you get the short end of the scheduling stick.

I've been quite mentally exhausted and I haven't really caught up with myself. I started this job at the beginning on the holiday season (November) and I've been pretty much on a non-stop express since! Christmas, New Years, my niece's birth... It's been a lot of emotional ups and ups and ups. It's no surprise then that the inevitable "fall" has hit me so hard.

My grandmother and I have a fabulous relationship. For a long time in my youth we had very little in common with the exceptions of piano and ceramics, but as I've become an adult, we've become quite close and are very similar people. When I lived in on the mainland, in New Westminster, my husband and I tried to visit at least once every 2 weeks if not more often, depending on how our schedules aligned. We'd have frequent "double dates". Now that I live in Victoria, I try to call her when I have a free moment to see how she's doing and catch up. I really miss her.

In any case, when I attempted to call her this week I discovered that she was in need of medical attention. For her privacy I won't go into details, but needless to say I ended the call with my Grandfather and called the first person I could think of: my dad. He's currently living in Calgary, but I know all of her sons are out of town right now and so of course I leaned on the one I'm most familiar with and who would respond with the same sense of urgency I was feeling.

My dad is very good in a crisis, and I was only on my lunch break at work when I tried to call Grandma, so I knew Dad would run the issue down and find a solution. Dad got in touch with my uncle Matthew (who is currently in Winnipeg) and he called his wife who lives in Richmond (about 30 minutes away from Grandma and Grandpa's place) and she headed over to assist Grandpa. They called the paramedics and Grandma was safely on her way to the hospital.

This did not make for an emotionally stable shift for me, because I kept trying to get updates as to what was happening. It's kinda like finding out the building is burning but not knowing where, and you have to keep doing what you were doing when all you really want to do is bolt.

I was terrified that I was going to lose her. I don't know how I'd be able to cope. My heart was in my mouth the whole night and most of the next day. I know loss is inevitable, but how can you say goodbye to your family, your matriarch and your best friend?

But she's responding well to treatment and she's out of the woods so to speak. The doctors are keeping her under observation until the blood tests they're taking are coming back the way they want them to.

She keeps a blog on Blogger called "Grandma's Bits and Pieces" and I know she has quite a following. I made a post for her friends so they know why she isn't updating (she posts religiously every evening!) and I hope she isn't too upset about that. I know she'd be inundated with emails if she didn't post and people would worry even more then they are now.

I'm on my weekend now and I feel like I can finally try to catch my breath. I had today off, I'll have tomorrow off, I have an 8 hour shift on Sunday and then I have Monday and Tuesday off! Sometimes you get the short end of the scheduling stick but it usually comes around to balance in your favour ;)

The unstoppable Mary Keller

See?

Horrible for consistancy! I'm very distractable...

I think today I'm going to try and work on my photo blog. I'm going to cheat a little and back-date some of the photo posts so its not so horribly bare for the last year.

Speaking of blogs, did you know that if you're a customer of Shaw then you get a free web/blog space? Its pretty awesome! If I'd known that before I got started here I probably would have just done it there. I actually work for them as a TSR (Technical Support Representative). I love it :) I've always been a very loyal employee where ever I worked but this is the first place that they're loyal back, even before you've proven yourself.

For example, I've only been there since October 2010. My sister just gave birth. I let them know that this was going to be important for me and unfortunatly not something I could plan to an exact date. They said it wasn't a problem and to just keep them updated. So I called them when my sister was having her baby and they gave me the time off requested so I could journey 4 hours to go and see her and her new beautiful baby girl! No hastles, no fuss, no "you haven't been here long enough". It was amazing. And Charlotte (my new neice) is amazing!

Today its raining. A lot. My shift doesn't start until 6:00pm tonight so my husband and I are just puttering around. He's vacuuming the bedroom as we speak. I'm sure my cat is none too pleased ;) I think I'll probably work on my blogs today, and get some work done on my fedoras.

I don't make fedoras, but I do paint on them :) You can check out my etsy site to see what I'm talking about. They're fun to do.

Suddenly my day isn't looking so empty anymore!

Lets Try This Again...

I'm quite notorious for starting a blog and then not continuing it. I have a few which I plan to resurrect after some restructuring. In the mean time, I'm going to start fresh.

I'm not much for writing things down, spilling my guts or even keeping a journal. Its a struggle for me to see value in it. However, upon reflection of things that I did bother documenting, either in written or visual form, I am often gratified by the other memories it triggers. This in and of itself is what has prompted me to try again.

Currently I'm sitting in the dark, in bed, next to my snoring husband. It is silently snowing outside and the ethereal glow of the dark yet white environment is only offset by my laptop screen. My battery is about to die since I've been fiddling with the settings for this page so much. I'm also up way past my bed time and I have to be at work at 9:00am.

This is not entirely unusual. Well. Except for the snow. That's highly unusual.

In any case, I should wrap this up before things start shutting themselves down. I will make a full entry tomorrow and hopefully get started on restoring the tatters of my previous attempts (a photo gallery and nifty technology blog).