Not only have I been homesick being away from my own family, I’ve also noticed I’m becoming very homesick for Jo’s family!

We had such a wonderful time in Newfoundland in December and on into January! His entire family welcomed me with such big, opened arms and made me feel like that was exactly where I needed and wanted to be! I miss his sister a lot! She might only be 16 but she and I shared (still do) a wonderful bond! Every time either of us got onto the computer and even sometimes when we didn’t, we’d write one another little notes! Mine were usually “Good morning sunshine” or notes where I called her a “dork” about something she did the night before! She’s a total sweetheart, even with all her teenage drama!

And his mom.. I don’t even know where to begin with his mom! She is such a special, lovely woman! As is his Nan! She just glowed every time we were around, like we shouldn’t be anywhere else but with her! I am blessed to have such a wonderful second family!

I really miss Newfoundland though. If I had my way, we’d be living there and not Calgary, even though I just adore this city so much! I’d love to be near my in-laws! I couldn’t imagine being one of those people who just can’t get along with their in-laws or who’s in-laws drive them crazy! My in-laws made me feel so loved and so happy!

I wonder if we’ll ever find ourselves living there. A girl can dream?

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The two products that really grab my attention are the hands-free hair dryer stand (what female couldn’t use an extra hand when styling!) and the smart spin! My mom owns the smart spin, which she paid around $25 for at the time and it’s a great way for her to keep her kitchen organized, while keeping her storage containers and their lids together and easily accessible! You can get this product and many more for much less, at TV products for less!

All of these product’s are “As Seen on TV” and available to you without having to wait for the products infomercial to order it!

Today has turned out to be not so great! Despite all my efforts, I can’t make lemonade out of the enormous lemon of a problem I just stumbled onto.

What am I talking about? Well, when we were getting things prepared for our move from Georgia, USA to Calgary, AB, Canada.. we were given permission to bring our vehicle over by the lien holder (since the vehicle isn’t paid for in full yet). I found out today that our lien holder is revoking their decision. This means we no longer have permission to have our vehicle here, permanently!

Their reasoning is this; they believe that if we do not continue to keep our payments current (which they’ve always been current), then they cannot be guaranteed they’d be able to get the vehicle back! I could understand this more if it were a case where we were delinquent but that is not the case!

It isn’t like we have moved overseas, we are on the same continent! You can get to where we are by bus, train, automobile, plane and even by walking (if you wanted that kind of exercise)!! I feel they’re doing this to be a pain in the rump! I used to work for the “lien holder” and I know how they all work! They are greedy, rude people!

It isn’t like we’ve gone into hiding in an effort to avoid paying them! We have been in touch with them since our decision to move here was made! They have our current phone number, both home and cell phone, they have our landlords name and contact information, our address and our insurance information (which is with the same company as before). If we were planning on ditching our responsibilities as “borrowers”, we would’ve left without a trace! We would’ve never given them our contact information! We would’ve not made an effort to do the right thing, period!

And after shedding my tears and explaining how necessary our vehicle is to us (duh), they still had not changed their minds! Sure, Calgary is a big city and because of that, has public transportation! The only thing with that is it’s inconvenient time-wise! For instance, when I take Jo to work, it takes a mere 5-7 minutes of drive time! When he takes the bus (like he did the other day because of the horrible road conditions), it takes over an hour! It’s doable but I don’t want “doable”, I want the freedom to get into my vehicle and go run my errands, pick up my groceries and what have you!

My tears have dried at this point! My father has helped with that after reminding me that if their decision stands, I can tell them they can come to Calgary to pick it up or have it shipped back to them at their own expense! If they choose to do either of those, it will be rather pricey and because of that, they’ll be at a rather large loss because of their own unwillingness!

I’m not sure what we’ll do in the event that we cannot keep our truck (which is more than evident at this point)! My dad is about to purchase a new vehicle, so I’m hoping I can get my 2002 Altima back (long, long story) from him.

This day went from fair to crapppppppppppppy!

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So, the Calgary Flames are out of the playoffs. Yep, the Redwings won game 6 here in Calgary last night in double overtime (which was sudden death overtime). The game was pretty intense! I was really hoping we’d pull through with the win.. at least one more win but it just wasn’t meant to be! There’s always next year though!

It’s finally clearing up outside. I can barely see the mountains, so I’m hoping within a couple of hours it will be cleared up enough that I can walk over to the park and take some shots of them and hoping to take some of the city skyline at sunset and possibly at night! We shall see!

I bought the reseller. I originally went with a different reseller provider but realized I read the description incorrectly and there wasn’t as much space with it as I’d thought. So I went with Resellerzoom! I’ve read some great reviews on them, so I’m hoping things work out nicely! I purchased the domain for the group photography blog, it’s a domain me and Stacey had before called “photographygirls”(dot com). That is why it’s for “girls/women” only! Get it?! lol

I will also be moving this domain to that account, to give Nicole her space back.. I cannot thank you enough for hosting me the last couple of months. I haven’t had a single bit of downtime, to my knowledge! I couldn’t have asked for a better host! :]

I really need to figure out some ideas for 365 days. I’ve got a few brewing right now.. but it’s going to take some warmer weather to do them.. haha! If you have a flickr account, add me! herbrokentoy via flickr.

I’m going to scat now! Just wanted to give a quick update!

It’s official. I am not cut out for snow! No way, Jose! We woke up this morning to a blanket of the white stuff on the ground, on our vehicles and best worst of all.. on the roads! I’m not sure if it’s that the Flames one won (oopsy haha) the game last night (3-2 by the way, yay!) and the road crews didn’t make it out early or what but the roads were horrendous this morning! I’m so not used to driving on ice and snow, heck, dirt roads in the rain scares me. hahaha! There’s no way I’m going out in that stuff today!

It’s April.. not January! Ugh. haha!

This is what it looks like from my apt window! My poor truck and poor Calgary Flames flags. lol

Edit; How neat! My 365 days photo for today - day 5 made it into “Explore” on flickr!!! I went to make my little “poster” thingie and noticed I had 3 other photos that made it into Explore and I didn’t even know it! haha!

I have the most horrible kink in my neck right now! It’s so bad, you can literally feel the knot and see the swelling! I’m also coming down with a bit of a cold, which is probably from going from warmer temperatures to much colder ones with rain and snow showers!

I didn’t sleep well at all last night! I was so stuffy and congested and for some reason, having some crazy dreams! The first dream was weird! It was like in real time, like I was in bed with Jo beside me and the cats sleeping between us. At some point, I tossed and turned so much that I was upside down on the bed. Like, my head at Jo’s feet! I kept getting short of breath during the dream and waking up to find my head, locked between Jo’s legs. LOL! How crazy! It happened several times throughout the dream before my mom appeared and rescued me from the mean grip of Jo’s legs! I did wake up once gasping for breath! It’s amazing how dreams have that kind of effect on a person! I know I’ve woken up from emotional dreams in the past, where I’d been crying and my eyes were filled with tears! Weird!

Tonight is game 4 between the Calgary Flames and the Detroit Red Wings! I hope the Flames play like they did Tuesday night! Like I said, it was an awesome game! I hope we come out with another win!

So, I purchased my reseller along with a photography blog domain, as Stacey mentioned I should! It’ll be for girls (or should I say women lol) only, which is mostly due to the name I purchased! If you’re interested in joining, let me know here or by emailing me at herbrokentoy [at] shaw.ca! I’m thinking of having no more than 7 people join for now, so besides me and Stacey, there’s 5 slots open!

I need to find a “working” plugin for flickr. The couple that I’ve tried just aren’t working, it’s driving me nuts! Guess I’ll keep looking and keep trying!

Go Flames, Go!!!!!!

Flames won game 3, 3 - 2!!! Man, talk about a good game! That first period was awesome! Heck, the whole game was just one huge adrenaline rush!!! My absolute favorite player, Jarome Iginla scored his first playoff goal! I felt like I was watching the team of 2004! When the Flames scored the first goal of the game, some of our neighbors were on their balconies cheering and you could hear people honking their horns! Finally!!!!!! I hope this has set the momentum for Thursday’s game, game 4! Yay, yay! I cannot wipe this smile off of my face!!

So, as mentioned, I had been thinking of doing the PPP thing. My blog was approved but now I’m having second thoughts, at least for this blog. I’m considering doing it from my livejournal, possibly (if that’s allowed?). I don’t know. I don’t really want to break SS.com from being a personal space and I feel like if I do the PPP thing, I’ll lose that personal blog feeling. I think that’s why I’m so frustrated today! I’ve noticed a lot of webmasters/webmistresses are, to me, losing sight of their personal blogs because they’re so crowded with PPP entries and I’ve noticed a huge lack in their personal interactions with other bloggers and those who comment on their sites. I don’t want to lose that, even though comments are becoming few and far between these days (which could be from my lack of updating because of my move or because they’re too involved in making money from their blogs, they no longer have time for the interactions). We’ll see how I feel in a few days.

I’m going to be purchasing a reseller account, hopefully tomorrow, and will begin my side project (blogging about my life here in Calgary). As per Stacey, I’m going to also attempt a group photography blog. As this is set up, I’ll get with anyone who may be interested in participating. I’m thinking of doing weekly themes, to keep it fresh and challenging!

There was something else I was going to blog about but I’ve lost my train of thought, I’m getting sleepy for some reason. That’s weird, considering I went to bed around 10:30pm (Mountain time) and woke up at 11am. Man, did I ever feel lazy this morning! All I wanted to do was laze around in bed all day! That didn’t happen though, since we had some errands to run and shopping to do!

It looks like we’re in for more snow over the next couple of days! Ick. I love to look at it and it, for the most part, doesn’t bother me but it’s a pest to drive in! Thankfully, the grocery shopping has been done for the next couple of weeks, errands have been run and really, we shouldn’t need to be “out and about” during the snowy/rainy weather!

I really need to get some pictures of the apartment and post them! I don’t have any yet but I do have a photo, courtesy of my 365 days photo for today! You can see my lovely floors!

I think that’s about it for now!

Like the subject says, I sometimes wonder why I even bother with having a blog. Here I was thinking about opening a second, but I’m questioning why I even have this one. I’ve even considered closing it all together because I’m starting to feel it’s all a waste of time! Eh.

Game 3 tonight. Calgary Flames vs Detroit Redwings. We’re hoping for some winning action tonight. I can’t imagine losing 7 games straight (the two losses in Detroit followed 4 losses in the regular season). I was expecting to see more “Flamin’ C’s” around the city today but there were no more than usual! I did hear the new “Anthem” song, Bringing Stanley Back. It’s cute, I still love the Guns N Roses - Paradise city one better, but it’s not bad!

I have a few things to do around here before it’s game time. We’re going to watch the Ottawa game before “our” game and it starts in about an hour.

So, the other morning after Jo heads into work, I decided I would treat myself to Tim Horton’s. Made my regular order, which included my beloved Iced Capp. They ask me to pull to the window for my total and once it’s tallied, it pops onto the little outside display. The display showed $6.66!! How creepy! If I didn’t love my Iced Capp so much, I would’ve sped away! hahaha!

Speaking of ordering! Can you imagine the troubles I have when speaking to people and ordering! I have to repeat my orders at least 3 or 4 times before the person taking it realizes what I’m ordering!! And the other night we decided to order some individual pizzas, wings and bread sticks from Pizza 73 (which is so delicious by the way) and the guy taking my order just simply couldn’t understand me when I gave him my address! I said it 3 times, the last 2 times being loud and slow! Then he asked me to just spell it out, which I did! He repeated it back to me and I said “No (insert my giggle-fit), it’s blah blah blah!”.. so he read it back to me again, laughing a bit and I said “No, that still isn’t it! I’m sorry if I’m making this hard on you, I’m from Georgia and we speak in a much slower pace and have funny accents!”.. We laughed for a bit and eventually, we got it right! It’s often frustrating for me, so I can only imagine how it is for the person on the other end of the conversation! I cannot help that my accent seems so harsh up here! lol!

I’ve been toying with some ideas for a project I want to start! For myself. I’ve discussed doing it as a group thing at one point, with a few friends and I’ll eventually do that as well! For now, however, I am thinking of starting another blog which will, for the most part, pertain to my life in the city of Calgary (and surrounding locations like Banff, Lake Louise and Drumheller)! I’ll document events I may attend (concerts, hockey games and what not), document experiences at restaurants or resorts (like when Jo finally takes me to places like Banff), places I may venture out to like galleries or parks. Things like that! I’ll include photos with my posts, on most occasions! I plan on exploring this city for the next few months, just getting a feel of things and figured I should document the process! If it goes well and others become interested, I may turn it into a group thing, where users/members can document their own lives, in their own cities!

Yay, nay?

I’m also considering starting a home business! It’s something I’d been thinking about for quite awhile and even spoke to my mom about a few times! My lovely friend Jess runs a small candle business from her home and she is the biggest inspiration in my “idea” and “plan”. I’d like to start up something along the lines of doing gift baskets! Make my own candles, stationary (though I’ll have somethings to figure out with that), greeting cards (maybe post cards), possibly jewelery (this is a stretch, but it’s worth mentioning because it’s bouncing around in my thoughts) and also baked goods, if I can figure out the best way to keep those goods (cookies and candies) fresh. I suppose on the baked goods, it would just be based on the order and not premade (that wouldn’t work lol), so that shouldn’t be too hard to figure out! I have always enjoyed baking and over the last few months, I’ve gotten really good (so I’m told)!

On a completely different note, I started over on my 365 Days, which you can keep up with at my Flickr page! I hated that I had to quit in the latter part of last year but I knew that I’d eventually start back up! I figured it was about time I did just that! I’m hoping to get some inspiration from some of my pals that have been doing this since I began the first time! Hopefully I’ll get more creative with time!

We’re doing a “date” day tomorrow! Jo’s off from work and we’ve decided we’re going to do “dinner and a movie”, by feasting on Singapore Sam’s (which I love, even though I was told I was eating crab meat the first time I ate there.. only to find out it was Calamari!! aka, SQUID! ewww) and then we’re going to catch 300, if it’s still playing!

We have a few errands to run as well! We need to set up a separate bank account, that I can use with my paypal and what not, which will be completely separate (different bank as well) from our primary accounts! Then we have to run to a few stores to pick up a few things, like a new office chair! My behine is going to be so thankful to get into a much comfier chair! I’m hoping the weather is going to be nice too, I’d like to take a walk when we get back from doing everything! I’m thinking of brining my camera along for the walk and possibly get some shots of the mountains from our area!

I think for now though, I’m going to catch up on a few blogs and emails! Then I’m going to dry my hair and hit the sack!

Edit 3; *sniff sniff* Well crap..!! Guess we’ll look for some wins when they bring it home to the Saddle Dome (catch my rhyme?) for Tuesday’s game!
End Edit

Edit 2; Yay, Calgary scored.. we’re on the board and the Flames seem to be playing better now!!!!!! I hope it continues like that!
End Edit

Edit; Intermission. The first period is over and we’re down 2 - 0. Bah! Penalties, penalties! I hope they can get it pulled together and come out with the win.
End Edit

In just under an hour, the Calgary Flames and Detroit Redwings game will get underway!! It’s game two! The Redwings won game one, 4 - 1, but today, the win is ours! *crossing fingers & eyes*

I’ve never enjoyed a single sport as much as I do hockey and never loved a team (other than the Georgia Southern Eagles football team) as much as I do the Calgary Flames. I may not have been born and raised in Calgary, Canada period.. but I’m just as much a fan as any other!

I love watching Jarome Iginla on the ice, he’s been the captain since 2003 I believe! Their goalie, Kiprusoff is amazing. You should see some of the saves he’s made and makes!

When I was a bit younger and still in high school, I remember my dad flipping to a hockey game and all I could think was “What a silly sport.. Men chasing a little black thing on skates!!”.. My, my how my opinion has changed! I get a rush watching them, like I’m one of the team. Silly, I know but haven’t most die-hard fans of any sport felt like that? I may be female, but I also enjoy the aggressiveness of the sport.. like when the brawls break out! lol

Jo joined this thing at work, where he pays $1 a paycheck, and he gets chances to win all kinds of things.. including FLAMES tickets! He told his boss that if he didn’t sign up for this and I found out, he’d never hear the end of it! He’s right and he’d probably be in the doghouse (or storage room I should say)! I am hoping that they do this with some playoff tickets and Jo’s able to score them for us. I’d love to see any game live but especially a playoff game!

I bet 17th Ave is hopping right about now. A part of me wishes I could partake in this “The Red Mile” thing or check out the new “Flames Central”.. but the more sane part of my brain says “Are you nuts??!!”.. I can only imagine the crowd! I’m sure most are out to support their love for the team but some people just can’t help but cause trouble! They had some problems with vandalism and such in the past on “The Red Mile” and have decided to enforce a “bad behavior law” (or clause? something, anyway). Spitting is even considered bad behavior, which even if it were not.. how gross! lol Hopefully with the increased law enforcement, things won’t get out of hand!

With that.. all I have to say is Iggy Iggy Iggy.. Oi Oi Oi! ;]

I’m going to grab some snacks and a drink and relax a bit before the game! I skipped breakfast so I could snack, since I’m bad about snacking during movies/tv shows/hockey games!

I can’t believe I’ve blogged three days in a row! Go me! :]

I got tagged by Casey, weeee!

Four jobs I have had in my life:
ER Registration Rep x two
Admissions Rep
Bank Teller turned Members Service Officer (new accounts / loans)
Photographer

Four Movies I would watch over and over:
Napoleon Dynamite, heck yes!
The Goonies
King Arthur
Pirates of the Caribbean (both, pffth)

Four Places I have lived:
Vidalia, GA
Douglas, GA
Calgary, Alberta x 2 (current location)
only 3

Four favourite Bands/Singers:
Lorraine
Nickelback
Johnny Cash
U2

Four Loves of Your Life:
Jo
Photography
Mom
Nephews slash kitties (haha)

Four Most Memorable Moments:
Graduation day
Wedding day
The birth of my nephews
I’m losing concentration haha

Four Of My Favorite Foods:
Shrimp Scampi
Chicken Carbonara
Chicken Alfredo
Cheese, lots of cheese

Four Places I’d rather be right now:
Nowhere really, except for maybe at “home” (Georgia)!

I’m going to tag Caitlin, Ashley…not sure who else, if you want to do it, feel free!

I’m slowly catching up! I dread catching up on things with sites like livejournal and myspace! Yikes! I’m starting to catch up with blogs, emails and with people on messengers! I have a feeling this catch up is going to take weeks, haha!

I spoke to my mom early this morning and my grandma is doing so much better! I even talked to her for a bit too, she said she was ready to go home where she knows she’d be taken care of. She hates that hospital (not all, just that one)! I told her she had to get well so she could fly up to see me (she hates flying like me) and she laughed a little! She couldn’t talk very long though, she was short of breath and had just taken something to help her rest! It was so nice catching up though! Our conversations had been short, to maybe 10 mins every few days because it drains Jo’s cell phone minutes!

We talked about my sister and the kids a bit and how she’d forgiven my sister and her boyfriend for some things. I won’t get into that but our conversation got me thinking about things myself! There are many people that I need to be forgiving, offline and online. Not only for myself but for them, even if it isn’t something they’re looking for. So I’ve decided since I’m starting anew, in a lovely new city, new place and new surroundings.. with a new outlook on life after many obstacles in the latter part of last year, I should start forgiving people for wrong doings to me. That doesn’t mean I am in anyway ok with the things they’ve done to me, said to me and the way they’ve treated me or will treat me, but I forgive them for their own behavior and actions. It doesn’t mean I want any relationships with them or anything like that. Hopefully if I’ve wronged anyone in the past, I’ll be forgiven too.

I’m also jumping on the PayPerPost bandwagon. Everyone seems to be enjoying doing it and enjoying the payoff. I’ve added my disclosure page and what not and I’m just waiting on approval. I think it’s a good opportunity to cash in doing something I enjoy, blogging.

Guess who’s back? :]

I have so much catching up to do but honestly, I’m too pooped to even attempt it tonight! I will, however, start my massive catch up tomorrow!

We got moved in, finally! Getting everything set up has been a really slow process! Way slower than I would’ve hoped but hey, we’re getting there so that’s all that matters! We decided to go with a different apartment than previously mentioned! We took one on the fourth floor because the view of the Rockies was so much better. The apartment is really nice but we’re a little concerned about some of the things going on here. Jo says we’re going to ask to test drive our next place for a weekend.. lol! The fire alarms go off about every week. That means we have to haul ourselves and the cats out to the car while the Fire Department does up their report. Our neighbor says it’s been going on for 6 years, which is crazy. We’re only locked into a 6 month lease and we’d already decided this place was temporary, so no worries! I also hate the fact that when I come up the stairwell (no elevator but hey, good stair exercise, right?!), you can smell “pot”. I hate it, pffth!

They came out and hooked up our internet (yay for high speed), digital cable and digital phone (yay for unlimited long distance to the states!). I’ve been pretty homesick the last week or so. A lot of that has to do with the fact that my grandmother has fallen ill again and is back in the hospital. She has pneumonia again and has been bleeding internally. The bleeding finally stopped and she’s doing much better. I really miss my mom! I miss my sister and nephews too. Trent keeps asking for “Uncie Jo” and “Teeta”. When they tell him where we are, he says “I want to go to Canada too!” Haha! I spoke to him the other night but he was more interested in talking to “Uncie Jo”.. Go figure!

What else..

Go Flames Go.. I am so happy the cable is hooked up. I was going to be so upset if I missed the playoff game on Sunday morning (Calgary vs Detroit). The Redwings took the first win! Boo!! The Flames had a very sloppy game! Didn’t seem like they were playing as a “team” and man, poor Kiprusoff.. seemed like he was the only one really playing! No worries though.. I have complete faith in “my boys”! The Flames will prevail! We even went out and bought some flamin’ c flags for the truck, which probably looks ridiculous with my license plate, since I haven’t changed everything over yet.. hahaha!

Anyway! It’s been a very long day, I’ve been on the go since 5am, I am so ready for bed.. so I’m going to catch up on a little email and off to bed I go. I will get busy catching up tomorrow!!