Let's move on

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It is almost Halloween after all... and now that we've had the spooky post below, let's have a fun one above it.

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Today at work, there was a pumpkin carving contest. Big deal, right? Yeah, that's what I thought too. Oh my gosh was I wrong! WOW

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Each department got into it and they were soo competitive. I've never seen anything like it. Now I didn't have a camera handy to take pictures of all the different departments, and because this was a raffle for charity, the pumpkins have already been 'won' by people so they are gone.

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But I do have some shots that I received via email from a co worker of a few of the departments... including the department who won the contest.

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Here's what we did all day at work, lol.

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First up:

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Finance Department

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They turned their pumpkin into Cinderella...glitter and everything on their pumpkin. How stinkin' cute is that? This was the first pumpkin on display, so it raised the bar. No one even thought about add-ons before this....lol

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Next up, came

Police Department

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Theirs was the most fun one. If you look closely you can see the half eaten doughnut and coffee on the car. And they are carrying a smaller pumpkin behind them (there is a sign on top marked 'paddy wagon', lol)

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Ours is the

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Tax Department

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We pretty much freaked out when we saw the other ones, as our department consists of 5 girls. Our idea of carving a pumpkin was cut out triangles and a mouth. So, we downloaded some 'easy clown mask pumpkin tips' from the internet and went to the dollar store to buy a carving kit on our break. Then, I called my dad and asked him to raid my daughter's toybox and bring me her Mr. Potato Head's arms so I could use them.

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I am not sure what the next one is really supposed to be:

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Community Services Department

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And the winner is

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The Planning Department

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It's no wonder they deal with building permits and construction by-laws. I mean just LOOK at their work of art. This must have been planned for for a while. I mean, seriously, did they create blueprints for it? It was awesome. I even voted for it to win, even though I told the girls in Taxes that I voted for ours, tee hee.

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My only question is, for the people who won these pumpkins... I wonder how they took them home in one piece?

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I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

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You want spooky? Read this!

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Okay so I am pissed.

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I spent about a week and a half thinking of what to do about this blog. As you all know, I went private for 2 weeks to privately mourn when JP left. Since he's come back and we're working things out, I wanted to make the blog un-private again.

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Then I saw a website that my lovely ex boyfriend put up about me. So I clammed up and quickly went private again, when I realized this person is STILL keeping such close tabs on me.

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I mean, seriously? You still read me? WTH?

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I am angry, freaked out and a bit disturbed by this. He has taken posts that i've written in the past, and spun his own interpretation of it on this web page. Never mind that he's taken something out of contest, or that it's not even true.

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Those of you who have read me for a while will remember these posts... after each post he claims something.

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At first he claims I went private because I wanted to bad mouth my exhusband Richard. As you all know, (since you've read me for 2 years) that is not the case. I went private because this nutbar (still clearly) followed my life on the blog and I was uncomfortable with that.

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Then he claimed I lied about our wedding day. No I didn't. As you all remember, I got married in July and our pictures got lost. We re-did our pictures on our Alaskan cruise, which was in September. (Sept. 11 also happens to be the day we met, so we alwasy from the Alaskan cruise on have referred to that as our anniversary)

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Third he claims I bad mouthed JP for leaving me (which you ALL KNOW I DIDN'T) and he claims JP left me for a 'not keeping my legs closed'.... dumbass doesn't know what he's talking about.

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Lastly, (on a private blog that only a handful of people still read) I revealed that we were expecting. Obviously that wasn't meant to be, since we lost it are no longer pregnant. He pokes fun at that as well and claims I must have lied since the picture on my blog shows me thin.

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I have not retalliated, but I have contacted the municipal police department. I had filed a complaint with them before about him, about a year or so ago... so they have that on file. They told me that if I could prove he's lying and they can do something about it, because its slander.

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Now I have two lawyers (Dave and Karen) who read this blog... tell me what my options are here, as I'm getting really fed up of turning the other cheek.

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And now, after all that, here is the website (I am only showing you because I contacted Blogger and they said if enough people 'flag' his website they can take action against him as well.)

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http://www.jpandmichelle.blogspot.com/ *and yes, for those of you who remember, this was my original blog about how JP and I met, but I deleted it after this asshole found it... then he goes and re-instates it and writes this crap about me*

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You tell me, WHO DOES THAT?!

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And what should I do about this? Un-private-ize it so he can see that I'm exposing him? Or just keep staying private?

Speaking of odd..

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So I took my toyota to get serviced this weekend. All nice and good. When I went to get in and drive it home, I noticed that all my radio pre-sets were changed. WTF?

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WHO does that to a vehicle they service?

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I guess nobody likes country anymore...

~~~~~

I *heart* my new job.

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The benefits are amazing, we even get to use the gym on our one hour lunch break if we want to (for a nominal fee each pay period). And we get to park underground - for a nominal fee each pay period. We pay 6% of our pay to our pension plan each pay period (the govt matches our contribution), and (yes, you guessed it!!) for a nominal fee each pay period we also get to have cappucinos or all sorts of goodies delivered to our desks each day.

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(I can already FEEL me gain back all that weight I lost, haha)

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However, by the time you add all these nominal fees all together, I figure I'll be bringing home about $5 every two weeks...

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SUPER!

You've got a social life? You must not have children!

"Mom - I've got a playdate with Cameron" my son informs me today.

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And I've got a playdate with Neeve" interrupts my daughter.

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My son wants to go to his friend's house. My daughter wants to have her friend come over to our house.

I quickly do a mental check and try and remember if I've cleaned up the dishes from this morning... yup, all clear.

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Phew.

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Now I just gotta figure out a way to drop off my son and make it back to my place in time for my daughter's playdate. And then, of course, once that is over, race over to my son's friend and pick him up again.

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Did I mention I need to make dinner but instead I'm running around like a chaffeur?
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I spend more time making phone calls on behalf of my offspring, arranging and re-arranging playdates than any phone calls I make for my own social life.

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In fact, my big calendar on the fridge is colourfully marked with all their activities (my daughter has Sparks and Art and my son has Karate twice a week) as well as playdates.

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The other day I was trying to schedule some alone time for me and my husband, and I had to 'fit it in' between all the children's activities!!

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Who knew 8 and 6 year olds could have a more active social life than their 35 year old parents?

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Dear Jerk behind me in line at the grocery store

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If my children hadn't been with me today, I would've decked you. Right in front of all those witnesses.

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I know that you were quite vocal in your displeasure with my son today, and I congratulate you about not only embarrassing yourself and us, but about making a little 8 year old boy feel truly humiliated.
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You see, this is the type of behaviour I expect from kids his age at school, though luckily there hasn't been any. But not from a 40 something old in a public place.

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I realize that the loud squeaking coming from him bothered you. In fact, I think even the cashier heard you complaining about it, and she was a few feet away from us. And I couldn't help noticing you giving him a dirty look when he kept jerked his head back repeatedly. I especially am impressed with your sensitive nature when you loudly declared "there's something wrong with this kid"!

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My son's tics got progressively louder after that, and he couldn't wait to get back into the car. Him and I both.

Your insensitive and thoughtless act has done damage to a sensitive young soul. I am very glad that my 6 year old daughter had the sense to scold you and tell you to 'stop being rude'! You see, she understands that when someone is different - we do not point or loudly talk about that difference. She also understands that the person that is different than her, has the same feelings that she does, and therefore she wanted you to stop making her brother feel bad.

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If you had been nicer, or perhaps more sensitive, I could have told you that my son has Tourette's. He has involuntary tics. He squeaks, he grunts and he blinks his eyes a hundred times a minute. He also shrugs his shoulders and leans his head backward.

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These don't usually occur at the same time, and they are usually not loud/pronounced enough for anyone to comment on them. Surpressing a tic only works for a short period of time. And it requires tremendous amount of concentration and effort, time better spent on other things - you know, like being 8 years old. A tic is like a sneeze, you can hold it back for a while, but eventually it has to come out.

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I am mortified at your behaviour, I am amazed that I felt powerless to defend my son - normally I am much more confrontational when I feel strongly about something. I guess you took me off guard.

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I went home and talked to my son about people like you. We both agree that you wouldn't make a very good friend.

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Today I had a glimpse of what life could be like for my son. But I also had a glimpse of the strength that his sister displayed and the grace with which my son handled the situation. I would've burst into tears if I had been 8 and I had a grown up talk about me like that.

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My son is wise beyond his years.

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You however, need to go back to kindergarten.

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I think you may have missed out on the first lesson:

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Treat others like you want to be treated.

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Now that Big Brother's over...

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Yesterday the cleaners got fired, so we all had to take our garbage to the dump ourselves.

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Nothing like trotting across the parking lot in stilletos and a white leaking bag of crap.

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Today the water guy came in an proceeded to remove our water cooler.

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Did I mention we're on well water? Hello!!!

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Anybody else smell layoffs coming?

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Blogland

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Reposting this for Fned ....

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Blog land. It's a different kind of place.

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For those of you who have recently moved to the neighborhood, welcome. This is really the kind of place most people usually only read about. It's nowhere in particular, but right outside your front door. You can be yourself. Or anyone else for that matter.

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You can be as open or as raw as you wish. You can be as creative or as imaginative as you wish. You can be the person next door, or you can be the one that's unreachable.

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Blog land has rules, as most good lands do. But blogland's rules are a bit sketchy and not as rigid. Most of us who live here are easygoing and there are not a lot of hooligans around. I am only guessing, but if we were to be asked what motivated us to move to blogland, I bet most would say we were just looking for a place to be ourselves .

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Be it fact or fiction, entertaining or dramatic, we all want a piece of our own land, here in blogland.

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So we moved and we built our own little space, eventually we met the neighbours. Like all lands, we'll have many that we instantly click with and like to catch up with every day and some that we don't click with as well, but feel like we have to stop and wave every once in a while or they'll get mad.

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Sometimes we get stuck in a neighbourhood with that one neighbour that nobody likes but everyone sort of puts up with. Probably the lady with the hundred cats, who nobody visits. She'll sometimes come by and you just think to yourself " I bet those cats would leave too, if they weren't locked in"...

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Another common trend in our land is voyeurism. We all have those familiar faces that we see, and start to recognize, but for some reason they never stop to wave or say hi. They just watch us from the car. Then they leave just as quickly as they came, but days later, we spot them again. Makes me wonder, why are they here? Are they scouting the neighbourhood, trying to decide if they want to move there? Or are they simply lost? Should I say hi first?

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I wonder if it's hard being a police officer in blogland. It's really not a very fast paced place. I doubt the officers get to write a lot of tickets for not stopping at the red blog. Or taking off too quick from another one. Indeed it's the kind of place where all happens at your own pace, and on your own time. If you don't have time for it today, blogland waits for your tomorrow.

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Sort of like Florida I would imagine.

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Sometimes it seems like a "masquerade party".... everyone has their own masks on, looking for clues to other's identity. Some are quite cleverly disguised...like the cat lady, (who I bet, if you look closer is probably male) and some not so much.

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After almost a year of being here, I have decided that I am glad I moved here, and have all of you as neighbours. I am happy to come home and catch up with you, learn about your day, and even after I am asleep, it feels good to know that you can still check up on me.

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Yup. I sure do have great neighbours here. I'd lend each of you a cup of sugar anytime.

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Even those of you who never stop and say hi.

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