Big Scare

Aaliyah gave me a huge scare today. See I was busy cleaning up the house and she was down for a nap and near the end when I was almost done and getting close to just taking a break before finishing off the last bit of housework she woke up and I could hear her in her room playing and what not so everything seemed fine from what I could hear of her in her room while doing housework.
Once I was done completing most of the housework I walk into her room to let her out and the first thing I see is her standing on top of her infant couch style chair for one scared me (the least once I tell  you what happened next) she was smiling at me then puts her hands in her mouth and was some what gagging and then she pulls out a tack! Yes a tack that is used to pin things up on the wall. Then I freaked out and ran to her and took it from her and out of the fear running through me I smacked her behind then looked around on her walls to see what was on the walls that was no longer there which was mini string lights on the floor. Which I used tacks to hang them up on the wall. Part of the string was slightly hanging for the past week in reach for Aaliyah to grab, and she was grabbing at it all week and it seemed sturdy enough for her to pull on with out it budging.
However, this time obviously she tugged hard enough to yank it down along with the 3 other tacks that were holding it up in place. Fear running through me when I realized that the two other tacks that had helped hanging this mini string was no where's to be found. So, then I got to thinking that she swallowed the other 2 somehow. I was sticking my fingers down her throat, with no luck of getting anything. So, I watched out for signs for about 10 minutes, because if she started coughing at all then that would be a clear indication she might have the other 2 lodged in her throat. But thank God after waiting I really searched her room and found the 2 other tacks in one of her toy boxes.
So, to my relief she hasn't choked on or swallowed the other 2 at all. I am telling you I was so scared, I have never felt so scared about anything in my entire life. My greatest fears as a kid growing up does not compare to the fear of something harming your own child.
After I found the 2 other tacks I took into a hard deep heaved crying fest holding and hugging her and kissing her and thanking God she was going to be okay. I am sure I was sitting on the floor holding and hugging her for a good 30 minutes before I could compose myself. I am so thankful that I do not have to be calling 911 to bring her to the emergency to get a scan to see if she fully ingested the tacks or got any of the tacks lodged into her throat and possible surgery to have them taken out. That would have to be the worst thing ever in the world.
I have definitely discarded those damned lights along with the tacks. I am not hanging up anything in her room at all that requires a simple tack. Only cute little disney sticker art for her bedroom or tape. Other than that nothing will be going on her walls for a very long time.
I am so grateful to God for protecting her. Jonathan and I pray for her everyday for her safety and protection from him and I know that during my time of house cleaning he was there protecting her until the very moment I walked in her bedroom to get her.

Trouble With Getting My Mind Onto Paper

I've been meaning to make more out of 2013 with my writing, but I always seem to get either distracted with the regular every day busy life with my toddler, that by the end of the day when she is in bed, I am not just physically drained, but mentally also. Or I get discouraged when I actually do get the time sit down and write, because I get in the habit of instead of writing while on my laptop I sit there and think of the minor free times I do get through out the day when I am not being kept busy by my toddler to jot down ideas that randomly came to me for another event to take place in my book. So I tell myself I will do it later, but then when later comes I forget that idea and then I get discouraged and starting silently bashing myself.
I've got some what of a good story, but the thing is I don't have writer's block I know what I want to write. Sometimes I just here as well playing it all in my head for the chapter I intend to write, but not even write it down. I already know how my books ends and I haven't even got to that part yet, I am only at the middle, plus on top if it all. I've got my poetry, which just comes flowing out of me and I always jotting down ideas on pieces of paper when I am in a place at the time where I really shouldn't be writing them down, mainly in church when I am suppose to be listening to my pastor I get a good start to a poem and then write it down and I not only feel bad for not giving my 100% undivided attention, but then my purse seems to eat everything I can't find that piece of paper with the ideas I've jotted down. Sometimes, things come to me when I am in the shower or taking a bath, so I always leave something to write on in there just in case.
Sometimes, I think it is useless writing stuff down. I've promised myself a millions times over that I will be myself a voice recorder and I always keep putting it off due to bills. I feel that if I had that instead of paper that it would be a lot easier to get out of me, because we all know that we can speak faster than we can write, type, jot down.
I even think it won't just help me with my poetry, but if I used it for my book as well it would be somewhat useful, because things come to me when I am driving and there is nothing I can do about that.
Anyways, my toddler is on the go and keeping me busy, and I should have been jotting ideas or doing something useful with my writing instead of being on here complaining. This is exactly what I am talking about. I get involved in other things that take away from my writing. 2013 is off to a bad start and I need to start to fix it now or else I will be going through this year like this forever!

New Job

I got hired for this job here in Edmonton. It is pretty cool. I will be a telemarketer for a painting company called SuperPro Painting Systems. It will be strictly business to business calls instead of calling people at home. So I won't have to worry if I disturbed someone during their supper time. What is really cool about this company is my soon to be boss starting March 4th he use to own a franchise of hair salons called SuperPro Cuts. He started it in 1996 and sold the business to someone in Minneapolis. He did well with it for a long time, but felt the need of change.
I had the grand tour of the place yesterday, it is very nice! He will be training people on painting within the same building where I will be doing my calls. The place is huge though, so I won't even notice it! I actually know for sure that out of all the call centres I have worked for that this one I will enjoy, because of the fact that I will be dealing with other businesses and they won't be telling me to go (INSERT PROFANE WORD HERE). Businesses have to maintain a form of professionalism and they would drive away people if they spoke to you in the same manner they would a telemarketer calling them at home.
The pay is right for me and there is a bonus and also commission's too!
What I really like most is my soon to be boss. I never usually get to meet the actual boss of any place I have ever worked at besides you know supervisor's, managers etc. He is the one that hired me and he is easy going and good to talk to. And actually wants me to talk to him about anything and everything.
I know for a fact that I will love this call centre more than the others!

Lovey Dovey Day

So today is that big day we all celebrate showing our love to our special someone. It is a nice thing to celebrate for sure. When Jonathan got home from work last night he gave me my valentine's gifts then. He got me (I mean him) a box of lindor chocolates. If anyone knows Jonathan he loves his treats and when he buys me the best of the best for valentines day it is because he wants some as well.
The funny thing about valentines day is we chose cupid to represent valentines day, but I don't understand why. When I think of romance the last thing on my mind is a short chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.
That is not romantic in anyway. We are to show loving, caring and kindness to our special loved one on this day and I think it is stupid to have a chubby toddler represent that, because he however is not sharing the love in anyways, pricking us or shooting at us with his arrow in reality will NOT make us be all lovey dovey. We all know that if this truly happened that a lot of us would be in the ER of a hospital getting arrows removed from our bodies.
I rather think of romantic things on this day. Like flowers, chocolates, hugs, kisses, a special breakfast and a special bedroom romance (if you know what I mean) hahahaha lol. Those are the things worth doing on valentines day. Real love.
Today though we won't be doing much of anything. I actually have an interview today at a call centre here in Edmonton. I hope I get it. Than after that Jonathan, Aaliyah and myself are going to save on foods grocery store and are going to pick up a tray of my all time favorite, BAKLAVA! Then we are going to head out to value village. Yes, I said value village. And I am not ashamed of second hand clothing. I once use to be, but hey! Who cares?
It is frugal and cheaper.
Well I best be going my coffee is getting cold and I need to wake up.
So happy valentine's day to all you lovely people out there.

Sweetness!

At the grocery store tonight in No Frills, Jonathan noticed something different in the store that is not ever been seen in No Frills ever! From what I can remember anyways. So, we bought one to try it out. It is a cylinder long style like stick and has a hard rind on the outside and the consistency of pineapple on the inside and it is sweet.
Have you figured it out yet? What I am talking about? It not I will give you a hint.
There are a lot of companies these days that say they use it in its most purest form in a small tiny grain. But who really knows if they really do. Some people accuse thing sweet thing of making them gain weight. When in reality most people buy this product after it has most certainly been processed and packaged. I am sure that maybe in its purest form it is good for you and can be a very tasty treat.
Anyways I am done hinting around I am going to plain out tell you, since you might not know what it is, and if you have guessed it after the first mini-paragraph then good for you. So, this sweet treat that we bought is indeed a SUGAR CANE stick!
Pretty cool huh? I think so. I've heard of sugar cane sticks from the beginning of time, but never really encountered one. And the most funniest part of this whole thing is; Jonathan thought that it wasn't real, because he use to play farmville on facebooks Zynga games and you can grow crops and he grew some 'sugar cane,' in his crops. He thought it was something made up and never thought it was real so when I heard him say to me in the car after we bought it 'I thought no such thing existed and that farmville was making it up.'
Now that is just plain funny to me. I said to him 'Well, if you really paid any attention to the multiple times we went grocery shopping and bought a bag of sugar, almost all companies who make sugar always state somewhere on the bag 'made with real cane sugar'.
He really didn't even know! I know I am mean and shouldn't be making fun of my husband, but his simpleton moments make me laugh and I guess that is why I love him so much!

Moving Madness

Just sitting here drinking my second cup of coffee this morning and thinking about how much more rich my parents would be, if they never moved so many times in their life. They were living up here with us in Edmonton for a year and went back to Saint John, but after being in Saint John for only a short 6 months, they are moving back out here, because my Dad's on and off boss he has worked for, for years is still a cheap old bugger! My father is making way less then bare minimum of what a high rise window cleaner makes. In bigger cities like Oshawa Ontario (the main place my parents moved to from Saint John at least on 5 or 6 different occasions) is when he is making money. Not only is the city big, but there are a lot of big buildings and also good when you travel an hour out of Oshawa to Toronto itself. Where most of my father's boss building contracts are in Ontario. I never understood why we moved so much! Especially if they enjoy making money and being able to eat well and provide for their family. I don't know what is so special about Saint John, to move back and try to make an attempt to live well in poverty. You're nothing if you don't have a successful company, or are a doctor, lawyer, nurse etc. The list goes on.
I understand that they most likely miss family and close friends in Saint John, but that in my opinion is not good enough for me to want to move back there from Edmonton. Seriously, when you think about it, moving is expensive and selling all the stuff you own to help pay for moving expenses and also moving out of province on 5 or 6 different occasions, it is definitely costly; and that 5 or 6 moves back and forth is only counting for their moving from Saint John to Oshawa.
Add September 2011 to their list of moving to Edmonton from Saint John to their list. My parents are moving back and are expected to be here in the middle of March; well my father is coming up first to work for a couple of week to make enough money to fly my Mother and baby brother up. I think this is the shortest time spent back in Saint John after deciding to move again.
Oh wait, just thought of the year my parents made a deal with my grandma and have me live with my grandma up in Browns Flats (past grandbay), while they lived in Oshawa Ontario for that year to make a quick 'smash grab' at some money to help pay off bills and save up some money. So that is one more moved to their list, but without me in the picture for that year. Although, it must of costed them some money, because I remember my Mother was down a lot from Oshawa at least every second month to come and see me. So paying for air fair every second month would add up if you were doing this for a whole year.
To think if my parents of stayed in one place, they might have saved up some money and had at least a small little house to call home instead of living in apartments all their lives. They both have nothing to show for all this moving, even though my father makes good money doing what he does when he is in big cities. If Saint John had high paying jobs Jonathan and I would still  be there, but were not. We've got to do what we have to in order to provide for our wee one. I thank God that we are not making the same decisions as them. Yes, I miss all my family and friends in Saint John (especially the friendliness of everyone there, people in general will actually open the door for you; which will be worth another blog post on rude people and nice people), however, it is not worth living in Saint John living from pay cheque to pay cheque.
The only way anyone will be seeing Jonathan and I back in Saint John will only be for two reasons, 1. Every year on our vacation visit, 2. When Jonathan retires oh and I have a third reason ( I know I only said I had two), 3. If there was a big boom in the revenue down there.

Out With Smashbook And In With Sketchbook

In a previous post I mentioned the idea of the whole smashbook thing where you glue, tape, staple etc everyday things into it from stamps, receipts, tickets, clippings etc, but I did not follow through. I just couldn't get inspired enough. The idea of it was cool and neat, but I always end up throwing away all those things forgetting about my smashbook.
So, another idea has caught my attention and I prayed to God to present the book for me to do it. Which is a sketchbook diary. I got one from Coles book store for 8.99 and it looks like a normal hard cover book. See I love to draw, well doodle in my case, because I am not good at doing portraits or anything of the such, but I always feel at ease when I am drawing and I see things all the time that inspire me to draw. Nothing wrong with doing this, it might help me to actually develop great drawing. This may be something that could help me draw better and in a different way since it is a private drawing diary with no art teachers or big artists around to judge my work. I think that is why I was always making bad grades in my art classes when I was in school.
So out with the smashbook and in with the sketchbook diary. I hope that I can get past the first page, because I have had this book for about 3 days now and can't seem to think anything that I want to draw is worth being on the front page. I read on a google article about other people who sketch all the time and they have the same problem when they buy a new sketchbook after being done with their last one. And they start drawing on the 2nd or 3rd page and when something hits them as to what would be a good drawing on their front page then they do it later.
Well I am done blabbering for today. I have got a family date night to prepare for. Jonathan is taking Aaliyah and myself out to dinner.

My Zeller Deals

I got some good deals today when out at Kingsway Garden Mall down the street from my house. Zellers is well on its way out of business and the signs posted outside are saying anywhere's from 80-90 % off. So I happened to be walking by a bin that had these cute little baby ug boots which I bought for 2.99 and also in this bin was only one pair of black heels and as I looked at the size of them, they were my size and also on sale and for 8.99 regular 29.99. I am so happy with my steals! I even got napkins for 0.20 cents each for when you're having the more fancy dinners. I got a black set and a dark brown set. And I noticed they had some pregnancy tests there too. Which was something I was in need of since I was sure Jonathan and I had a little slip up, but it turned out otherwise. I feel sad about it really, because I actually want another little one, I feel that my daughter is in need of a little friend.
I also got a good deal on this nice sketch book at Coles book store it was I believe either 7.99 or 8.99 and it was decent. It will be good for me to jot down quick ideas and sketch things too. It is not lined paper either which was something I was looking for, for a very long time.
And one last thing we got was a little snack for Aaliyah it was only 50 cents and probably not the best thing to be letting your little one chow down on. It was a big bag of ketchup chips. I don't feel entirely bad for it, because we hardly buy chips, candy, pop or anything of the like. So, what's one junk food for a treat, as long as for the most part she is eating healthy on a regular basis giving her a reward treat should be fine.

Loss

Today is a sad day for me. I have been made aware through a facebook message sent to my husbands account, that a very dear old lady from my church down home has just passed away. She was so very dear to me and I loved her like she was my own grandmother. I feel like crying right now, because knowing that when I go home for my vacation and visit church, she will not be sitting in the pew behind us, passing me some halls, or candy of some sort. Or a toy for my little Aaliyah.
I really enjoyed having her sitting behind me, she had such a sweet way of singing the church hymns.
I just wish I was living down home right now, I unfortunately don't have the funds to fly out for her funeral, I wish I could, because I'd be on the first flight to Saint John in a heart beat. We are saving up for our vacation home and even the funds for that wouldn't be enough for me to fly there and back.
Erma poor Erma, she had such a bad hacking cough. She had bronchitis very badly and to top it off some form of lung cancer. Although, that is not what took her, she had a clean bill of healthy after receiving treatments and such. It was her bronchitis keeping her from being able to breath which caused her death.
I am thankful for one thing though, I decided to call her approximately a week before Christmas and we had a nice little chat. I was up early so I could make sure I was calling her at a good time. She seemed fine then on the phone, but she was also on a breathing machine I do believe she was telling me that day. Poor old soul, I should of clued in that her timing was coming to an end not much longer after Christmas.
I guess I am happy that she is finally done suffering from her bronchitis, but I will truly miss seeing her in church and being surrounded in her presence. I just wish there was a way for me to go home for this funeral. I guess the best I can is send my condolences out to the family. I plan on calling her house tomorrow to talk to Richard (her husband) to let him know that I am thinking about him and the whole family.
Well I am going to stop for now, my eyes are welling up with tears and the screen is not clear anymore for me to keep on typing.