Another ear infection....

Well, Mason is SICK again with an ear infection. We took him into the doctors about 3 weeks ago and he was prescribed Amoxicil (sp) I guess that didn't work, or it might have killed off one of the bacterias, and he had more in there. On Tuesday night, Mason woke up after 30 mins of sleeping just crying and crying. I thought it was a nightmare, but I had him calmed down 1 hr after. He than woke up 20 mins later with a fever and from than on, he kept on waking up crying. At around 4am, he fell asleep until 830am. So the Wager household had about 4 hrs sleep. We took him into the doctors and she prescribed a different type of medicine. We've been taking him into the walk in clinics because he seems to need to see a doctor on the weekends when his doctor isn't open. The walk in clinics haven't been sending Mason's file to his doctor, so she wasn't aware of anything going on.
Mason is definilty not his normal self. He actually lets us hold him on the couch without trying to get away and run and play. He hasn't been eating much either and I'm starting to get worried about it. Grant is home with Mason while I work the 2-10 shift. I have off tomorrow, so Grant is going to have a full day of much needed time ALONE.

Jedi Mason
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Look. Mason has hair!!!
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Masons appt

We've got a speech therapist appointment for Mason. He isn't hitting the milestones for his age in speech. He does say little words, but for example, he won't finish the word "bottle". He will say "bot" He's great at understanding what we say.
I'm not too worried about it. I just want to see if there is anything I can do to help Mason. Plus, Grant didn't speak until 3, Mason might be following in his footsteps.

PMQ's are definilty not long term housing.

We've lived here in Kingston for 1 year and 2 months. We are going to be the
senior tenants on the street tomorrow. The family that is leaving tomorrow are heading to BC. Three other families have moved from our street in the course of a year!

We're getting a new car!

Finally, I won't have to scramble in the back seat to put Mason in the carseat!
We saw Mitsubishi Outlanders on the net, and than went to the dealer. We thought maybe a 2005 would be good for us. The 2006's were out of our price range. The dealer said that there wasn't any 2005 automatic transmissions left in Canada! They had a stick shift on lot but neither Grant nor I can drive a stick.
We did see a 2004 for a good deal. It rides great! So smooth compared to our car.
Well, we should be getting the new vehicle sometime this week. They're putting new tires on it and some other things.
The colour is green, a little darker than our car colour now.

Grant went out as an 80 hair band member. No, he really went out as Gimli from Lord Of The Rings.
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!
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There's another pirate in the Wager family.
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Time to Celebrate

Mason went pee on his potty twice!
He's really good about letting us know if he has went to the bathroom.
Masons turning into a big boy!!!

We found out today...

What the baby is!!!
If anyone is planning on making or buying anything, please make it PINK.
Yup, it's a girl.
I had a feeling all along@

Guess what I bought today??

.......... the complete 1st season of Fraggle Rock!!! I'm so excited to watch it.
I loved the show as a kid. I hope Mason enjoys it.

This is a really good picture of the two guys!
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A trip to the fair

We went to the 175th Kingston Fair yesterday. It rained a little, but that was ok. Mason went on the Carousel and even the farris wheel! He loved both of them. I'm not fond of rides, so Mason and his dad can go to Canada's Wonderland when Mason gets older and go on all the rollercoasters.
We watched a horse show for a bit, but Mason was more interested in eating popcorn.
The chickens and roosters made Mason shiver, he didn't like their noises.

Isn't this the best chair????
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!
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Mason's offroading.
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pretty gross

I think that there is a dead animal in our vents. I smelled something nasty in our room, and checked everywhere for the source of the smell. Grant came in and said it smelled like a dirty aquarium. Well, Grant's nose led him to the vent in our room. We're both afraid to look inside.
YIKES

Get a van or another car?

We're contemplating getting a new car. We will need 4 doors, and more room for two carseats plus a passenger in the back. We were thinking of a van, but Grant tells me whoever he talks to about it says "NO" don't get a van.
We thought about getting another small car instead of a van , so we'll have two cars.
What do you think??

Doctors Appt

I met with my doctor for the first time on Tuesday. She's really nice, and experienced! She has 25 years experience delivering babies.
I got my blood checked as well, for iron deficiency and for the regular stuff that you get done when you're pregnant. If my iron is low, they'll call me. If not, I'll just find out the results when I go in on the 17th.
The doctors here don't give you an ultrasound at 10 weeks. There is a study going on called the Safer Study. It detects down syndrome and any spinal defects. You get your blood tested at 13 and 16 weeks and you also get an ultrasound. We're thinking of signing up for this study.

ugh... Morning sickness

Well, I was a bit worried that I didn 't have any sign of morning sickness. And than, I woke up one day and I was sick. I've got the all day sickness too. I'm on dicletin, but they don't seem to work very well. I have a doctors appointment on Tuesday. Hopefully my blood will be checked for low iron. I'm extremely tired now too.
I'm almost 9 weeks now..so about a month left of this crazy stuff.

Another one of my fave pics.
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Garrett managed to pull Mason over a couple of times. I think this was the time when both of them started to cry.
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Mason looks like he's going to attack the toy..g
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Waters a bit cold.
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This is Mason in our new pool! He's definitly a waterbaby.
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Got some good news

Mason's going to be a big brother!! I'm pregnant. About a month along.
And guess when the baby is due?? March 14th, on Mason's 2nd birthday. Kinda freaky huh? We're all excited here.
I did manage to get a doctor to take me on as a patient during my pregnancy. I do not see her until I'm 10 weeks.

Went to a concert

On Friday, I went to see Theory of a Deadman at Stages here in Kingston. It was a good show. Two bands opened for them. The first band was called "Suface Rising" I think they're a local new band. I didn't care for them. Their method of singing was, well, screaming. The second band was called "Hurst" The lead singer used to be in Econoline Crush. I was a big fan of them back in the day so I was happy to hear him.
Stages used to be a theater. We had a great view of the stage, and I didn't want to leave where we were to go to the washroom. They washrooms were upstairs. So, I had to rush home aftewards.
I got a drink spilled on my foot by a drunk lady! She also kept pushing into us and was leaning on my friend John. I don't think he mind tho haha.
I don't think I'll go to a concert there again though. My ears are still ringing.

How nice...

I had to do a course at work, to get me "introduced to customs" Pretty basic stuff, but it was a good refresher. Anyways, I recieved 98% on my exam, and thought nothing more of it. On Monday, head office sent me a card, a certificate and a PBB t-shirt. My manager told me not to tell the other staff because they didn't recieve anything when they wrote the exams. This is a new proccess management is implementing to boost morale.
I'm now doing another course which is more in-depth, but again a good refresher.

We're being invaded!

My mom noticed what she thought to be specks of bread crumbs, which turned out to be tonnes of ants on the kitchen counter and cupboard!! I called housing
authority to advise of the situation and to see what we needed to do about them. They're called "Thief Ants", and we just have to spray raid. We had to throw out all the cupboard food for fear ants making their way into them. I don't know yet where they are coming from, but I think they're crawling up the front wall and into the window.
GROSS

Weekend in Sarnia

I ventured out to Sarnia on Thursday, accompanied by my mother and Mason. Traffic was great all the way to Brantford where I stayed with Grant's Grandparents. I was a little nervous driving on the QEW, but I managed. The fireworks on Canada Day in Sarnia were really good!! It was a cold night tho.
Mason and Garrett played together on Saturday night. Mason has the advantage of being able to walk, so he'd go full force at Garrett and bowl him over. Mason also ran full force under the stairs and into the cat litter!!!
On Sunday , right after I filled up with gas I noticed orange stuff leaking under my car. I drove back to Val and Wayne's and Wayne opened the trunk. Lo and behold, the water pump was broken and was spraying coolant everywhere. I did get the car fixed, and left around 6pm to get back to Kingston.
All in all, it was a great weekend!

What do you see me doing???

What do you see me doing as a career ?
There are many things that I'm interested in, but I'm not able to make a decision at all. So, any suggestion on what you think you can me doing would be helpful!!!

Leeroy Jenkins

Alright, let's do this. LEEROOOOOY nnggg-JENKIIIINS!!!!!

- Grant

Mason's enjoying his picnic table.
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This is at the Penitentiary musem. It was a neat place.
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Work

Work is going really well. This past Friday was really busy. One co-worker had the day off so we were down a person. I'm not looking foward to the summer vacations when we're down a person for a week or two at a time.
Salaries are being amended, whohooo. I know at the end of my three month probation, I get a raise if I did well. I guess PBB is known as the lowest paying broker, and upper management said that by the end of June, that will change. So this upcoming raise might be substantial!
Again, I'm rethinking my choice of career. I know I go through this train of though often, but I seriously am up in the air. I can't afford to go to school just yet and I'm not even sure what I'd go to school for. I know I don't want to work at a broker, just be a worker bee and input date into the computer for the rest of my life.

If I hear this one more time...

I'm going to go crazy. Grant plays World of Warcraft, and I guess one of his friends showed him a website that had some sound bits from the game. A guild was planning a big attack on some enemies, and even had people crunching numbers to see the probability of survival. Anyways, outta nowhere, this one player comes in, yells' LEEROY JENKINS, LETS DO IT!!" and than they go attack. I don't remember what else is said, but Grant absolutley loves that saying. So , he plays it every frigging chance he gets. I even think it's on the computer when we boot up. It was funny the first time I saw it, but after 100 times, No way.
I don't mind World of Warcraft. I play sometimes for about 30 mins. I'm a night elf priest, so I don't kill things, I heal. I just usually go on to talk with other ppl.

Too many regulations.

The regulations for crossing into the States are getting stricter each day. I know there was talk about having a passport to get into the States. And now, commerical shipments HAVE to be set up electronically before the truck gets to the border. They were issuing fines for not having them set up before the trucker gets there, something like 5 grand for the first infraction. They've since done away with that, but they're turning away drivers if they don't have their shipment in the system.
That makes it hard for small businesses that need to bring something down to the states. They have to declare it as commerical goods, and than they need to go through the trouble of getting a broker, getting barcodes to be able to put their shipment into customs computer shipments.
And Canada is going to be like this as well. Canada customs was supposed to implement this in spring of this year, but have postponed it until next fall. Thank goodness. What a mess this is going to be.

What I'm Reading

I've finished off The Hounds of Baskerville, as well as the Red Headed League.
I really do like Sherlock Holmes books. I'm still reading "Torment of Others"
After that, I'd like to read Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. There's also a book called Border Guards, and it's written by someone from Kingston area and the book is set in the Thousand islands.

Mason's passed out. This is on the way home from Connor's baptism. What were they giving him at the Church nursery?? Spiked holy water.
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We tried giving Mason spaghetti and meatballs. He didn't really enjoy it.
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Grant's got Mason hooked.
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What's new with Mason

Mason's recently contracted a tummy bug :( He was throwing up and had very messy diapers. But he's doing well today.
We have to keep a close eye on him, he loves to climb up on things. We're afraid he's going to fall off something and bonk his head.
We also have to move the book shelf up into our room. He rocks the whole thing and tries to climb it and books are falling off.
Mason has all his molars in now, so in total he has 12 chompers.

Happy Day to us

It's our 2nd anniversary today. We went out for dinner at the Grizzly Grill, thanks to a 25$ gift certificate we recieved in the mail. Grant had a great steak! And I had great chicken.

What's new in the zoo

I haven't been updating the blog like I should. I don't really come online after I get home from work.
The dreaded bugs are gone, thank goodness. But we have a little problem with hornets in the house. So far we've killed three, we have to find out where they're coming from.
Grant went to Ottawa lastnight with the military. He saw the self-help houses that we'll be living in once we get posted there. We've been told horror stories about them, but Grant reports that they're not all that bad.
We've been BBQ'ing lots thanks to the Grant's wonderful parents. In fact, tonight we had a shin-dig with our friends. Steaks were to be had by everyone.
Mason's doing well. He's eating more adult food now, whooohooo. Oh yah, we do have a funny story about him. We were letting him walk naked around the upstairs while we were getting his bath ready and we hear a *tinkle tinkle* We looked over to see him peeing on his exersaucer with a great big smile.

Well, I'm sure there are more things to say but I'm getting kicked off the internet. Grant want's to play his with his new love, World of Warcraft. I'm getting jealous.

I'm such a doorknob

Yesterday I locked the keys in the car and had to get Grant to come and get me. I had the ignition key off the key ring and when I went into the store I just took the ignition key. The door key was sitting in the car.
Today, I did the same friggin thing. It was raining so I took Mason out through the front with me, and I left the keys in the cupholder. Grant couldn't get me because I was at Walmart at the other side of town. Luckily CAA came to my rescue.
Seriously, I'm going braindead.

The flies are taking over Kingston.

We have a serious problem with these little black flies in Kingston. There are swarms and swarms of them outside. We cant open our door for more than a second because tonnes will get in the house. The cars are covered with this bugs, and I wear my coat over my head cause the bugs'll get in my hair.
YUCK.
Where's pest control???

Grant's Bday

It was Grant's bday yesterday; he turned 25!A quarter of a century. I got him the DVD "House of Flying Daggers" and a wireless control for the playstation.
Some of his buddies came over and they had a couple of drinks and went to the bar. He got delivered back to the house pretty drunk. Needless to say, hes in bed right now and will most likely remain there for the weekend.

Good report

I had my first months probationary review last week from work. My boss said some really nice things about me :) I thought I wasn't doing all that good. When I input data into the system to clear drivers coming to the border, I have to hand it off to my co-worker and she'll go over the information to make sure I have it all correct before sending it to customs. It seems like every shipment that I've done she changes something. But I've now come to realize that she is very anal and likes things done her way. An example is if goods are shipped in bundles, and I pick BDL for bundle, she'll just change it to PCE which is piece.
They also think it's funny that I've got little sticky notes around my computer screen for reference. Well, there are tonnes of clients that we deal with, and having those notes up at eye level are just so helpful!

Crocheting

I should finish crafts that I start. I have so many crocheted and knitted things on the go. I'm almost finished the baby blanket that I'm making for my friend who is due in 2 weeks. I need to go to a wool store here in Kingston to ask them to help me do the border. I don't understand how to.
I'm also in the middle of making a scarf for my sister. It's a really cool scarf. Just a normal garter stitch but it has a wool called "Matrix" and another wool that has sparkles in it. I'll post a pic once I'm done.
I have so much wool that I don't know what to make with. I'm going to have to stop buying it, I'm getting a surplus of wool.

Where are the tow trucks??

I wish I had a cell phone today. I went out to Food Basics because they have an awesome sale on. It's their 10th anniversary so they're selling lots of things for a buck. A couple of items that grabbed Grant's attention was the fruit roll-ups, sodalicious and Michelenas. So I went and got some this morning. Well, I forgot to get cat food and had to go back out. The place was packed. Cars were parked in the lot where there were yellow lines baring you have parking. Ppl were parked right under the NO Parking zone. If I had a cell phone I sure would have called and got them towed. I hate ppl who park in places they're not supposed to. On K-rock the other day, one of the morning djs was complaining that he almost got a ticket for being in a parking spot and not paying for it. He said he was just waiting for his wife to come outta the store. He should have paid for the spot, he's taking up valuable space where someone else might want to park.

Baby Thrift Sale

There was a baby thrift sale at one of the drill halls on base today. I ventured out, vowing never to return. It was a mad house. Ppl were almost pushing to get to the baby items. We ended up not buy anything. Most of the clothes were girl clothes and the toys were great for younger babies. It'd be an excellent place to shop if you were pregnant for the first time or had a newborn.
I was looking for a jogger, but they didn't have one there. Our stroller isn't turning corners like it used to. I think maybe we have to take it in for an ole tune up.

Mason John Wayne Wager
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Mason got some portraits done at Walmart. This one is our favourite out of the bunch.
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Mason's dr visit

We had Mason's well baby check up and 12 month shots today. He cried when he got them :( Poor guy.
He's just over the 50% mark for weight for babies his age, over the 90% for height for babies his age and over 90% for his head circumference for babies his age. We always knew his head was huge!!

The weekend is going by too fast!!!

Wow, it's Sunday already. What a beautiful weekend we're having. We didn't do much yesterday. We went for a walk down around the water at Ft. Henry. We saw the old guard watch station and read that there used to be a hospital at the site too. Its a really nice area, with lots of walking trails. Mason was in his fancy push car, he was thoroughly enjoying himself.
Today is a day of gardening and yard work. It's scary out there. There's a huge patch of mud where the workers dug up the water lines in the fall. I hope military housing comes to put down sod soon.

Work is going by really fast as well. I can't believe I've been there for almost a month already. Everyone there is sooo nice. On wednesday, our babysitter decided not to wake up when I dropped Mason off so I had to drop of Grant first and than come back to bang and kick down her door. She finally answered her door, but by than I was going to be late for work. So I called in and explained my situation to my manager and she was totally cool about it. All she said was "Yah those things happen, just don't drive like a maniac to get here, you'll be here when you're here" That's pretty nice!!

Baby Einstein

Mason turned on the dvd player yesterday, pushed play and turned the tv to video. He also climbed up on the couch and got the remote.
Coincidence? I think not.

What I'm reading.

I finished a book called "The Singing Fire" It was a really good book. The author is very descriptive. It was about 2 main characters who are both Jewish and come over to England to start a new life back in the late 1800's.
I was starting to read "The Full Cupboard of Life" but I just couldn't get into it.
On Val's advice, I'm reading "The Hounds of Baskerville" by Doyle.

French Test

It was a waste of time doing the french test. I was hoping that there'd be less than 100 ppl there so even if I failed I'd still go on because the top 100 scores do. Well, about 210 ppl wrote the test. And if you're successful in the french test, than you'll have to do an oral test with the public service commission.
The last 15 questions or so , I just guessed. I've never guessed so much on a test before.
As well, the weather was just horrible on the way there and back.
I was talking to the port manager at Lansdowne, and he said that once they're done hiring the bilinguals and getting them in place, than a unilingual competition will open.
The gov't is doing an over haul with customs, and if you get hired under the old system, you'll be sent for 13 weeks to customs college. They'll pay your salary and travel expenses. But if you get hired under the new system they only pay for an allowance and for you to get to Rigaud and back.
I wouldn't want to leave Mason and Grant for 13 weeks. So maybe this is for the best that I don't have a chance for a position just yet.
I am enjoying my new job, and it's great that I'm getting experience.

A waste of time.

The french test I did was a waste of time. I was thinking that if there were less than 100 ppl , than I'd go on. Well, about 210 ppl wrote the test. If you're successful than you have to do a oral exam with public commission service. So if by chance I guessed luckily at the answers and do go on, I'm screwed with the oral exam.
The writing part was ok, it was multiple choice. The reading part kind of got me. It was multiple choice as well, but some of the answers were very long and I didn't know a lot of the words. So the last 15 questions or so, I read through the question so quickly and just made a guess.
I talked to the port chief at Lansdowne and he said that they are hiring for 9 bilingual positions right now. After they're hired than they'll start a unilingual english competition.
They told us about the pay which is great. But they're changing over to a new system and if you get hired before the new system is implemented you'll be sent to Rigaud PQ for 13 weeks. It's a customs inspector college. They'll pay you your salary and pay for travel. But if you get hired after the new system is in, they'll only pay you an allowance while you're out there and travel to get there to the camp and back.
So, I think I better take some french classes. The administrators of the test said that if you ever wanted to get transfered to Ottawa to work at HQ , you definilty need to speak and read french.
And to top it off, the weather was CRAPPY. It was raining so hard all day. I was getting a bit nervous driving in Brockville because I'm not familiar with the city and I couldn't see too much because of the darn rain.

This is my favourite picture of our little man.
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Mason has a crush on Dora.
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Walking boy. Pedro looks pretty scary in the background.
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Okay, my amended formula

Okay, I actually did some really bad math on my last formula. Like Brock pointed out, I forgot to add the sum from Single Jeopardy to the two Double Jeopardy Daily Double calculations. I also thought that there were only 5 categories for some reason. So, here's my new, fixed, and correct formula. It's a little less confusing than Brock's crazy bracket bombardment.


(((6000+4800+3600+2400+1000)*2+(12000+9600+7200+4800+1600))*4)*2
=((17800*2+35200)*4)*2
=((35600+35200)*4)*2
=(70800*4)*2
=283200*2
=566400

So, I have found that Brock's sum was correct, and the REAL max possible total for a perfect game of Jeopardy is $566,400.

Ken Jennings won $2,522,700, so,

2522700/566400=4.4539194915254237288135593220339.

So, it would take roughly 4 and a half perfect games to match, well, actually beat, Ken Jennings' winnings. Take that, Ken!

Oh, and a 5 time champ (the old cut off was 5 games) could win:

$2,832,000

Eventually, I'll get around to figuring out the odds of that happening, but the placement of the Daily Doubles would make it astronomically unlikely (assuming that they're random). I'm guessing somewhere in the 5 billion to 1 range.

I just realized that I have way too much time on my hands!

News from Eastern Ontario.

Kingston isn't a really safe place anymore. A 23 year old guy got stabbed in the neck at one of the popular bars and died on the way to the hospital. They nabbed the killer. He's from Toronto and was in Kingston recording a hip-hop cd.
A week before that, a girl had to get 100 stitches or so because she was cut with a broken bottle in the women's bathroom at that same bar.
And, a little bit after the 23 year old dying, a man was stabbed on the corner of Montreal and Stephen by 2 guys. He's in critical condition at the hospital.
Oh, and this one idiot didn't like his cat so he beat it with a shovel. Needless to say, the cat died. I was tempted to go up to where he was from and beat him with a shovel.
In Bancroft, two ladies went though an embankment wall with their car into the York River. The current was strong and pulled the car down the river, right to my cousin's backyard. There's a dam there, and very deep waters. Three men jumped in to pull the ladies out of their car, and the two ladies are being treated for hyperthermia as well as two of their rescurers.
Crazy eh??????

French Test

I'm off at 11 today to go to Brockville for the french test.
There's even a winter storm warning in effect! I know I won't be in Brockville very long.
Wish me good luck everyone, I'm going to need it.

Jeopardy Winnings By Grant

Okay, I always wondered what the most you could possibly win on Jeopardy is. So I decided to do the math. Here it is:

Max Jeopardy winnings:

((5000+4000+3000+2000+800)*2+(10000+8000+6000+4000+1200)*4)*2
=(14800*2+29200*4)*2
=(29600+116800)*2
=146400*2
=292800

Therefore, the most you could win on Jeopardy if you answered all questions, got the Daily Double in Jeopardy on a $200 as the last question, bet it all and got it right, then got the two Daily Doubles from Double Jeopardy on $400s as the last two questions, bet it all both times and got them right, then bet it all on final Jeopardy and got it right, is $292,800.

That's a good half-hour's pay. And a long sentance!

Oh, and I also did it up in an algebraic formula if you want to see that too.

My week at work

It went fairly well. The computers we use must be the first computers invented. The keyboard actually has 24 "f" keys. The system at PBB is almost the same as Bucklands, so I'm finding the transition easy. PBB is a lot anal about the little details, and that's where I'm having a bit of trouble.
But all is going well.

Happy Birthday Brock!!!!

Happy Birthday Brocko!
Have a good night at The Mongolian Grill, babyless!!!!!!!

DaVinci Code

I finished the book yesterday. It was good, but I thought it would be a lot better.
I've read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown, now I have to go out and get Deception Point and the other book by him.
We saw Constantine yesterday too! Not too shabby.
I'm reading a book called "Hurry up and wait" By Diane Collier. It's about being a Canadian Military wife. The author's husband was in 2cer up in Petawawa and Grant says that his name sounds familiar. He might have been an officer in command or sumthing like that.

Can I become Bilingual in 2 weeks?

I applied to work at the border about a month ago. I got a letter in the mail today saying that I passed the screening process and that I've got to go write a french test in April. The top 100 scores will than proceed further on.
Well, on the application, I explicitly stated that I don't speak french, I don't read it well and I don't write it. But they still screened me in!
I'm going to write the test anyways, and hope that less than 100 ppl write it and than I'll go on through to the interview.

The Teething Woes.

Mason is teething again. He is getting 3 molars in! He's had a fever for a couple of days now. Poor baby.

Bathing a baby??

We took Mason out of his bath seat a couple of days ago so he can have freedom in the tub.
But he's just TOO crazy and hard to handle. He goes wild in there, splashing, standing up, crawling. He's bumped his head a couple of times already too. We don't want to hold him a lot when he's in the tub, because it would just be like he's in his seat. But we don't want him to hurt himself.
So what are we going to need to do with him? Soon he's going to be too big for the seat and I'm worried he's going to really hurt himself because he's just so crazy in the tub.

Happy Birthday Mason!!!!!

It's Mason's 1st birthday today!!!!!
I can't believe it's already been a year. *SNIFF*
He hasn't mastered walking just yet, but he sure is doing well. He can make it across the carpet.
He's getting quite the personality too. He's such a boy! We have a bouncy chair that goes right into a rocking chair. Well, he loves to stand in it when it's a rocking chair.

A phone call tonight...

And it gave me great news. I got the job with PBB. The manager apologized profusely about not getting back to me earlier.
So I start on the 21st. I have another week to stay at home with my little Mason.

A phone call tonight...

And it gave me great news. I got the job with PBB. The manager apologized profusely about not getting back to me earlier.
So I start on the 21st. I have another week to stay at home with my little Mason.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Sooooooooooo I found out that the wonderful manager at PBB still hasn't made a decision. She said maybe she'll have one by the end of today. Maybe being the operative word!!
This is really crazy. She had said to me that she wanted someone in by the 14th. Well obviously she isn't going to have a person working by that date.
There may be a lot of ppl that she's interested in and having a hard time deciding, or she's just not very decisive!!
Let's hope Monday will be the magical day. I believe that Monday will be a good day, because it's Mason's 1st birthday. Only good things can come outta that day.

I hate it when.................

I've been waiting today for that all important call from the broker. So far, I've gotten 2 calls, one from a friend and one from a telemarketer.
But yesterday, I didn't recieve one call during the day. Of course, I wasn't expecting a call.
Ahh, don't you hate it when you're waiting for a call, and people decide that it's the day to call you????????????????

Grant is showing Mason his awesome cake.
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My mom and Meghan
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Mason opening gifts.
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This is Julie and Garrett (one with the green hat) and Cheryl and Damian.
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Finally!

I have The DaVinci Code in my hands!! I've waited oh so long for it.
I finished off The Rule Of Four. It was a pretty good book.
It seems like I'm paying so much money in late fees, so I have decided only to take out one book at a time!

Ughh

Now I'm not sure if have this job at the brokerage or not. I was supposed to get a call today from the manager, but I was waiting around decided to call her. She said that she still had an interview to do tomorrow night, and she hasn't made a decision. She'll tell me on Friday morning.
I'm getting really angry. What is she waiting for? She did tell me she wanted to see who is all out there. Well, here I am, waiting for this position with more than enough experience and education.
She doesn't know that I've quit my prior job. If I was still there, and she told me on Friday, and wants the person hired to start on Monday, well that doesn't give enough time to quit.
But I am relieved now. At least I know why she's taking a while. I think she may be getting a little peeved at me being persistant. But she should see that I really want this job.

Sewing Machine

I posted on Freecycle that I'd like to get a sewing machine if anyone has one that they don't need. Well, someone is bringing one over this afteroon. She said that it's fairly old, and she hasn't used it for a while. There isn't any instructions and it'll need oiling before I can use it. Well, that's fine. I'd like to make some very simple curtains for Mason's room. While out at Walmart, I saw some cute fabrics!! We have a star and moon theme going on in the room, but I saw Carebear fabric that I love. Maybe I'll get some and just make a sheet for his bed or something.

Naps

Mason has been awesome at nap time. He's going down sooooooooo easily and staying down for 2 hrs or more! I had a pretty good rest this morning while Mason was napping.

Tomorrow is the day

That I find out that I get the job :) I'm not worried tho, I know i gots tha job.

Not again...

Yesterday around 2, I started to feel crappy. By the night, I was throwing up, um.. having to go to the washroom very often, if you get my drift. I was just so tired. I thought it might have been a bug, or maybe even food poisoning. I didn't eat much tho, I had a cinnabon and some chicken noodle cup of soup. But, the cinnabon was sitting out since Friday, so maybe I got it from there..
Today, I'm much better. I still have pretty bad cramps and my stomach is roiling, but it's better than lastnight.

Party time

We had Mason's first birthday party on Saturday. Lots of fun was had by everyone. We hardly have any pictures on our camera, because we lost it and it resurfaced after the party was over.
Mason got a whole bunch of toys and clothes. He had lots of fun with his cousins too, but he made most of them cry. He also had lots of fun with his birthday cake and was wearing a little in his hair thanks to the helpful hand of his dad.
I thought that the party was a little hectic, but now as I think about it, it's going to be 10 times worse with the upcoming birthdays!
Oh yah, Mason is really working on walking. He's taking a couple of steps at a time by himself. Val says that she thinks he'll be walking by the 14th, when his real birthday is!

chew with your mouth closed litte man :)
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Crooked smile!!!
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I did it

I went for my interview with the broker today. It went very well. The manager was talking like I already had the job. She really is interested, but she has to do a couple more interviews. I asked how many other ppl applied and she said quite a few and a lot of them were truckers. Well, truckers do deal with customs but they don't know any of the behind the scene things. I'll learn on Wednesday if I get it (but I know I will)
So on that note, I quit my job today. I was driving back to Kingston from the inteview and I just couldn't stand the idea of working another day.
Everyone wish me luck that I do get this job!

This hat is slightly reminiscent of Grant's father.
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Oh Yah...

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING: The rule of four. I've been told it reads like The DaVinci Code. (i've got that on hold in the library)
WHAT I'VE BEEN PLAYING: I went out to EB yesterday and bought my very first game for myself. Harvest Moon for GameCube. Obviously, the salesguy thought I didn't know anything about games, but that's ok.

My voice has returned..somewhat.

On Thursday at work, my voice started to go. On Friday, it was totally gone. I called into work and talked to a supervisor and she understood (she could hardly hear me) and told me to call in after lunch to see how I'm doing. I called in after lunch and wasn't doing any better. I talked to a different supervisor, and she was pretty snippy with me. She said I'd be losing a day, and I shouldn't make it a habit or something like that.
Come on, who wants to talk to someone on the phone that they can barely hear and understand?? I don't think I'd be that effective on the phone while being sick. Yesterday, my voice was barely there. Today, it's back kinda. I'm going to the doctors tonight if it's not fully back . I've been sick for a week, it hasn't been letting up and I've been taking Benylin 1 pills and other medicines.

I've got a dilemma

I really don't like what I'll be doing at work. I don't feel comfortable with pushing ppl to stay with the insurance and they don't want. We are role-playing all day today, to prepare for the test tomorrow. Tomorrow, we'll be getting tested on a call. I'm not prepared at all; I just can't flow.
I really do want to stay home with Mason for the day's he's sick. I don't feel it's the babysitters job to watch him when he's sick. Plus, I've got a cold and I can't kick it because I'm not getting any rest.
I might have another job with a customs broker at the Thousand Islands Border. I've been in contact with the manager there, and she told me she has posted the job in the paper for formality, but she'd be in contact with me to set up an interview.
So, I'm not sure if I should quit the job I'm at now and chance getting the job at the bridge. Grant is getting a payraise and a backpay, so that would cover us for some time if I need to find another job.
Ahh, I just don't know what to do.

We need a quarantine sign on our door

Grant came home from work on Thursday deathly sick, and about an hour after that I got sick. Mason was sick as well. I went to work today, and when I came to get Mason at the babysitters, he was really bad. My babysitter said Mason sounded like he had croup. We talked to a telehealth nurse and she suggested we go to the emerg. He does have croup, and boy it's hard to deal with. He is so hard to get to sleep and he keeps waking up.

This is Mason's other persona.. Super Baby!!!
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Saggy Baggy Elephant: a good read :)
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Wager Penitentiary
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Ahah! Freedom
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First week of work

It went pretty well! I'm in training for two weeks, so we haven't taken any calls yet and we've had 2 tests already. They're pretty easy tho; I've gotten 99% and 101%. The ppl I'm training with are all really nice too. I think that I might have a personality clash with one lady. She has a really strong personality, and shes a know it all. She's great in the lunch room, but when we're in class she just won't shut up!
So I now know what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to be taking calls from HBC, Futureshop, bestbuy, um Zellers credit card customers. There are a few more stores but I forget them. Anyways, we deal with insurance that's on your credit card. Customers are usually calling in to cancel the insurance and we cancel it but we have to try to retain them too. It is a pretty good thing to have on your card, depending on which card you have. It can get expensive when you carry a high balance as well, but for the most part it's good. My company will pay off your balance , to the policy max or the outstanding balance (whichever one comes first) if you die, or if you get dismembered. One really good coverage is with the Zellers card. If whatever you buy on the card gets stolen, or damaged than we'll pay for you to replace or repair it. And we'll pay for whatever you've bought on the card within a three year period.

Mason's first steps

While I was at work, my mom saw Mason take his first steps :( Well, I'm glad that a family member saw it and not the babysitter.
He was at the couch and walked over to the chair to his toy. It was only a couple of steps but it's a start. Yay for Mason!!!

Attention Moms: Health Canada Alert..

I read this on a message board I belong too.
It says that three babies have drown in the tub while sitting in one of these seats or rings. Well, their parents stepped away from the tub briefly. Don't step away EVER while bathing your child!
What are you supposed to use to bathe your child when they can sit up by themselves? Personally, I'm still going to be using the seat we have. I never leave Mason unattended in the tub.

Following in Brock's footsteps

I like how Brock has the "what I'm reading" "what I'm playing" "what I'm watching" on his blog... so I'm going to do that too. But for the "what I'm playing" info, I'll put what Grant is playing.

Ok here goes..
What I'm reading: The last precinct-Patricia Cornwall
What Grant's playing: Rome -Total War, Mercenaries
What Suzie's playing: Disaster Report (I've been playing this since Christmas but Grant got a lot of PS2 games so he took it over and little ole me couldn't use it)
What I'm watching: Just tv...we don't watch really any series.

Off to the dentist today again.

I go in today to get a permanent filling in the root canal tooth. It got infected :(
But it's so much better now.

Wow, that's a surprise!

I checked the website for gov't jobs, and noticed that they're hiring customs inspectors at the borders around Kingston. I was shocked! I've been looking on that site every day for like 2 years and this is the first time that they're hiring around here. Well, needless to say, I've applied for the job. There is one small hitch tho; you have to be able to speak and understand french. I don't think you have to be super at french, but you have to know it. I'm hoping that when they look at my qualifications, they'll be impressed and not bother about the whole french issue.

Mommy's here for a week.

I went to Bancroft last Saturday, and came back yesterday with my mother. She needed a break from Bancroft, and she's going to watch Mason when I go to work next week.
We have 2 potential babysitters lined up too. One charges 20 a day, the other 25. I've heard that the one who charges 25 is excellent, and she has only 1 boy who is three years old. The other lady has girls who are 2 and 3 and a boy who is 8. I think that having a 11 month old boy around would be pretty hard on her.
Mason broke his playpen yesterday too. He was rocking back and forth and the leg snapped off! We went and bought a sturdier one in Walmart.

Guess what day it is?

It's my birthday!!! I'm 24, sure getting old.

he's a climber!

We're going to have to anchor our bookshelf to the wall. Mason is attempting to climb it. We have the two bottom shelves for toys, and the top three for books. He's been putting his feel on the bottom shelf and trying to lift himself up.
He also climbs on the tupperware bin we have for his toys. Ahh, and it's just going to get worse, he hasn't even begun to walk yet! His balance is getting so much better now too; he can stand for a while without any support.

The results..

I got a job offer with Assurant Solutions, the job where I had the two interviews with. It starts Feb 7th. I think we have a baby sitter lined up too LOL.

A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I was thinking that if I hadn't of gotten this job, I would have very little time to find another job.

It's a small world

The interview went really well yesterday. When I first got there, they gave me a description of the job as well as 8 questions that the recruiter was going to ask. They were just the typical scenario questions "tell me a situation where you had to work towards a goal in a time limit"
The recruiter was surprised that I went to the Bancroft highschool, because that's where she's from :) I was in the same grade and classes as her younger brother. Plus, she just got off maternity in Dec, and has a 13 month old girl.
So I think that I did pretty well, and that I'll be called in for a second interview.

Wow, a big appetite.

Mason eats SO much. We really do need to start blending our food together for him instead of buying the jar foods.
He eats 5 jars of food a day. He'll have a bottle in the morning, and for breaky he'll have a bowl of cereal and a jar of fruit. For lunch he'll have a meat jar food and a fruit.. and the same for supper. Sometimes he'll have a little bit of cereal before he goes to bed as well, but it depends on how late he eats supper.
And between this he has a bottle after lunch when it's his nap time and some juice after supper before his bed time snack.
I don't know where all this food is going. Mason isn't fat! I guess he has Grant's metabolism, thank goodness.

Help , we need sleep.

I don't really know what Mason's problem is at night. Lastnight he woke up again at around 3am and wouldn't get back to sleep. And he kept tossing and turning all night. He has a cold, but we gave him medicine and it seemed to help him.
I've heard that he may be going through growing pains. Anyone else heard of that??
Maybe his bed isn't comfortable to him. Well in Grant's words 'Suck It up princes'
Any suggestions on how to make him sleep all though the night??

First Blood

Mason was galavanting around in his playpen today, and smashed his face off his peekablock dump truck. I didn't notice the blood until he took his fingers away from his mouth :( He cut his gum. There wasn't much blood at all, but to a new mother, any blood is too much!
He cried very minimally, and than smiled at me. What a brute he is.

Inteview Today

I've got an interview with Assurant Solutions today. They're an inbound call centre that deals with insurance, warranties and extended service contracts. I applied last week and they got me in to do a test. I passed the test so they wanted me in today for an inteview. If I do well today, I go in for another inteview.
I hope I get this job. I don't want to keep looking for jobs, my maternity benefits are nearly up.

Playgroup = Colds

Mason and I went to a playgroup on Thursday and on Friday he woke up with a cold.
That's the norm for when we go to the playgroup. Mason started playing with this baby; they were sharing toys that went in both of their mouths. After twenty mins of this going on, the mom comes over and says that she's going to take the toy her son was sucking on because he's just getting over a cold. Well thanks for the warning, but it's a little too LATE.

Crazy Walmart

Yesterday we went to Walmart. They're moving to a bigger place on the other side of town, so there were some sales. Well, we went down the toy isle and ran into a wall of people. People were going crazy down there. There were lots of sales, but you couldn't tell what was on sale because the tags didn't have a description. We overheard someone say "if people get in your way, just ram them with your cart" Grant was getting mad very quickly there. He kept saying something like" i love coming to walmart when sales are one. You can see how our society loses all social morales" or something to that effect.
I'll go tomorrow and see the sales, without Grant.

Guess What??

I got my G2 yesterday. Finally, I'm a free woman.
And it only took me 4 years and 364 days. I thought for sure I was going to fail. I was going too slow in the residential area and than I went too fast. I slowed down when I changed lanes. And when I came to an intersection with a red light and was turning right, I'd stop at the line but than inch up. I didn't know that you don't inch up unless you can't see the oncoming traffic.
I think my saving grace was my perfect parrallel park and three point turn haha.
Watch out world, here I come.

Just for laughs was on tv and I guess he heard a joke that made him laugh uncontrollably:P
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This is Mason's newest face. What a cute one EH?????
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Mason's learning how to feed himself.
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Santa Mason sitting the a chair of luxury.
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Good picture of Mason and his daddy
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And to top it all off..

We took Mason to the walk in clinic yesterday at the mall, before the car broke down. We waited 2.5 hrs only to be seen by the doctor for about 5 mins. I really wanted to see how much he weighed but they didn't have a scale in the room we were in. Anyways, he's healthy as a horse. I asked about letting him have some Homo milk and the doctor gave it a thumbs up. I gave him a bottle yesterday afternoon of the milk and he just loved it!
We're going to give him a bottle of milk in the afternoon just before his naptime to start off with.
Oh yah, while waiting for the doctor, I bought a bran muffin. Mason just loved it :) Anyways, while I was chomping away at it, I hit something hard. Well, that hard thing was a part of my tooth! It came off the tooth that I'm going to get a root canal done too on Tuesday.
When it rains, it pours.

Car on the Fritz again

So we're without a car until at least tomorrow, but most likely Monday.
We went out lastnight to Food Basics to see if it was open. Well it wasn't and when Grant tried to turn on his car, the engine turned over halfway, and than the horn started honking and the ALL the lights were flashing on and off. We called CAA and they sent out a battery assist guy. Well, we couldn't get it going with that either. Everytime we opened the car doors, the horn would go off and lights would again flash on and off. So we had to get the car towed down to Canadian Tire and we caught a taxi home.
Grant and the CAA guy thinks it has something to do with the alarm system. The battery was low to begin with, so maybe that screwed up the alarm.