I've made a decision and...

you're looking at the newest member of Lee Valley's customs team.
I was offered the job yesterday. The pay just a tiny bit less that what I'm making now, because I don't have all the experience that they want. But in six months time, if I'm doing well I'll get a pay raise!!

I don't start until March 19th. I told Livingston today and they want me to stay for the two weeks!!!

Lee Valley or Livingston?

Lee Valley seems like a neat place to work. They've got such a cool building. They have a showroom, a green house to test out products, a library! Comfy chairs and couches to sit on while you are on your break.

The job seems good too. I'll actually be doing stuff that I've learned. Currently, I'm just an admin clerk. I get papers from a couple of places around where I work, put a cover sheet on them and scan them into the computer. I have been doing a lot of faxing because I still don't have my user ID for the computer yet. But I've been ordering paper/supplies, getting mail ready. I haven't done much in the way of customs yet. My boss said because I do have experience that I'll move quicker and do more challenging things.....but.....I don't think I can do this for much longer.

My current work is 3 mins from me...Lee Valley would be 20. If Lee valley will offer what I'm getting from Livingston, I'm not sure if I should take it. I'll prolly end up spending more on gas. But, it's a much better job.

What would you do???

Expensive!

Mason and Eve need some new clothes so I visited the local Value Village lastnight. Well, let me tell you this, it definilty aint a "value" to go there.

I saw a turtleneck for Eve for $4.99. And they were selling a bucket of magnetic alphabets for $2, but I saw them at the dollar store for $1.

I did end up buying an almost new pair of pj's for Mason for $4.99 and a nice shirt for Eve for $2.99. I still need to go out today. I'll try the other two value villages and I'll go to the Salvation Army's.

First day of work

It went pretty good. But I did have an awful time leaving the kids behind.

I actually got a call from Lee Valley Tools...saying they have a traffic and customs clerk position open. I am going to see them on Wednesday!

Hi from Ottawa

Well, we are finally living in Ottawa. We were in a hotel from Monday Jan 29th to Feb 5th!
It took 6 days to get our furniture from Kingston to Ottawa. Crazy. Mason enjoyed the hotel here in Ottawa...it has a pool and we went in it every day.
We are still unpacking. Grant has to go back to work tomorrow, so I have to stay with the kids and unpack.

I have a job now. I actually had 2 jobs. I took the job with Livingston....It pays better, is 3 mins away from me and I have worked with them before..well I worked with PBB but it is merging with Livingston.

Our Ottawa Trip

The interview went well yesterday. I actually had to do a little test for them, and didn't do that great. I haven't looked at customs related stuff in about a year, I'm rusty. My interviewr understood that. I did get a couple of questions right that most ppl get wrong though. The position is for dealing with exports. I am an import kinda girl, but I have dabbled with exports and I want to learn. I'll learn my fate in a week. She is interviewing 2 more ppl.

The president of the company who interviewed me is really nice. The office seems nice too. It isn't too far from where we will be living as well.

I got an email from another company in Ottawa that I applied for. They want to set up an interview. The unfortunate thing is, is that I don't remember what job it was for :) We just got a new computer and my email is on the old one that I sent to them. I'll have to hook it up and see what i can find out.

We also looked at the house again. It isn't that bad. The bathroom and kitchen are the best things in the house.

Eve's doctors visit

We went in for our 9 month check up yesterday. Eve is 17.5lbs and 29 inches. The doctor is pleased with these stats. She is doing very well. I was concerned with how unstable Eve is when she sits but the doctor said not to worry. She was very impressed that Eve could stand up with just the support of one hand holding her. She was also impressed that Eve can do patty cake, wave bye bye and dance :)

Job situation

So we're moving to Ottawa at the end of the month. I've been looking for jobs down there. I "resigned" from my job at PBB, or so they say. I emailed my manager and said I won't be returning to the Lansdowne office but I'd like to get a transfer to the Ottawa office. There aren't any positions open in Ottawa so the company resigned me. I have an interview tomorrow with another customs broker and I did have my customs officer interview back in Dec. It went SO well, but I still can't take a job if offered to me.

I've applied to the Costco head office Customs Team, um..the Lee Valley Head Office, and I believe Giant Tiger.

so my mother, Eve and I will be travelling to Ottawa tomorrow. Grant and Mason will have a fun filled time at home together. I hope both are in one piece when we return.

New Years Resolutions

1. No more procrastinating. I have to put things away right NOW, not later. I've got to make calls NOW, not later. I've really been slacking.

2. Be more organized. Organize my scrapbooking stuff so I don't spend an hour looking for supplies for a page and than lose my creative mojo. Keep important papers in the files that we have set up.

3. No more clutter. This goes back to my no more procrastinating resolution. I can't just pile stuff on stuff. I'll put it away. And if I don't need it and haven't used it in a while, I'll freecycle it.

4. Remember ppl's bdays and try to send a card. I am not the only one in this house that forgets bday's. Grant is notorious for it. I have to get a day planner and put everyone's birtdays in it and look at the daily! Julie, I know your bday is coming up soon, (Jan 10th rings a bell) but if it has passed, happy belated bday.

5. Get out and exercise more often. If I can, I'll walk to work quite a bit. I have been so BLAH. I need to get more energy back and get the old Suzie back.

Well, I think that's about it for now.

Christmas Holiday

We had a great Christmas. We spent Christmas day here in Kingston and travelled up to Sarnia on the 27th. The trip there wasn't too great, as we stopped 5 times. Eve isn't a good traveller. Mason was carsick 10 mins before we hit Sarnia, so once we stopped I ran him in the house. Eve was bombarded with new faces and freaked out . She got over that quickly and was enjoying being held by everyone.
Mason had a great time with Connor, Garrett and his grandparents. Kids do say the funniest things. We were in Value Village and the cashier had a bit of acne on his face. Mason was saying "mommy look, lots of dots" .. I didn't understand him at first, but once I did I had a hard time containing my laughter. I distracted him with something until we got out of the store.

The trip back to Kingston was a lot better. We stopped once to eat and change diapers.

Grant was supposed to get his new computer yesterday but the store didn't have the ram he wanted so now he was to wait until Friday. He was really upset about that.

I made a scrapbooking page with all of the Christmas cards we recieved!

Have you read this book?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?
I just recieved it in the mail today. I bought a box of cereal 2 months ago and there was a code in the box to input on a website and you could pick out of 10 books. I thought I'd go out on a limb and get a book that I normally wouldn't get.

Just wondering if anyone has read this book and what you think of it?

Drivers here

I HATE THEM. They have NO consideration for anyone other than themselves.
Example: I was going down Ontario St just past Princess. There are two lanes, one for turning right and one for going straight. This jackass was parked in the turning lane, waiting for someone or something at a restaurant. He wasn't very far from Princess St, so he made a major traffic jam with everyone trying to go around him.

2nd example: I was turning down a street right next to the hospital. It's a pretty narrow road and ppl were parked on the side even though there are signs saying NO PARKING. Anways, I saw a handi bus coming up the st, so I just pulled over as far as I could on my side to let the bus go by. Well, a lady in a car came up behind me and thought I was parking or something and she pulled ahead of me and wedged herself in between the bus and the curb. The bus couldn't get by her and she had to sort of drive up on the curve. The bus driver had this look of exasperation when she passed by me and we both shook our heads. How stupid this driver WAS.

I think I may go out with my digital camera and take pictures of every parking infraction I see, print them off and send them into kingston police with a note. Kingston police traffic services SUCK.

I think I've made up my mind

I've been really thinking about my job situation. I do have the customs inteview in December. And I have been really excited about the prospect of getting offered a job. But now that I have been actively thinking about it, and with Grant's input I think I might have to turn down the opportunity if it arises. I just can't go 9 weeks for training at my kids' stage right now. If they were in school it'd be a lot easier. I don't get a salary when I'm in training, just an allowance. So money will be tight as well.
And another major issue is the long drive down the 416 which can be treacherous in the winter. My work days will be very long.
If I work with Livingston, I can walk to work which would be So nice. If one kid is sick at the babysitters, I can get home so quickly instead of having to be there 1 hr after the fact.

What do you think?

What I dislike

Our Union Gas bill is supposed to come out of our bank as direct payment every 10th of the month. Well, they haven't taken their money out yet.
I hate it when they don't take it. I mean, I understand if it's on a weekend but the 10th was a friday, a working day.
I'll have to call them and see what's up.

Internet is a great thing

In bed lastnight I was thinking about books I read when I was a child. I remembered this book about a girl and a witch, and she would throw down a comb and trees grew and she threw a mirror and a lake emerged. I couldn't remember the name of the book. So I searched on google for "girl throws down comb, trees appear" and lo and behold, I find my book.
It's called "BONY LEGS"
I ordered it from Chapters, as I went on Amazon and it was $165.50. Crazy!!

pictures

Here are the pictures. I tried the Hello Program to upload the pictures but I signed up with beta blogger with google and I can't. So,you have to go to the link to see them.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/CdnSuzie/P5030052.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v316/CdnSuzie/P5030002.jpg

You'll have to paste that url into the address line... I dunno why you can't click on it. Darn beta thingy.

Halloween pics

Mason , like Garrett, dressed up in the same pirate costume as last year. The hat actually stayed on his head this year. Mason did pretty well in the candy area and we did pretty well in keeping a lot. Maybe 20 kids came to the door lastnight.

Eve was a pretty princess. I took her to the door to give out the candy. She wore the outfit for quite a while until she puked all over it. She was a pucky princess.

Imaginations of the child

Mason has such a great imagination. I love to sit back and watch him play. The other day we were playing outside and he was pretending that the bushes and trees were monsters. The monsters were sad because they lost their mittens (leaves were mittens) Mason gathered some leaves up and put them on branches and they were happy again.
And Grant got him going on magic beans. Mason was picking up little pieces of the carpet on the stairs and Grant asked what he had. Mason hesitated before answering so Grant offered "magic beans" and Mason thought that was a good name so he used it. Now every piece of fluff is magic beans. He'll bring some down in the morning that he picks off his blanket and he'll hold them or put them someplace safe. If he can't find them or if he dops them..he says "MA BEANS" It's hilarious. I went to try to find mighty beanz but couldn't find any so I bought a mini bowling set and gave him a pin. I thought maybe he would use that as a bean but he went back to the fuzz.

Kinda creepy

We had some chain-link fencing in our yard that we were going to put up but didnt get to it, and my neighbour had a deck she wanted to get rid of so I put them up for offer on freecycle. Well, I got inundated with requests for both items. I posted that they were taken and emailed every individual advising same. While I was out to the store, someone called and asked if it was still avail. Grant told me this when I got back. I got to thinking, hmm...where did they get my phone number. I didn't post it in the message. The person who called went to the trouble of looking at our email addy, than going to the phone book and finding it. I can't believe to what extreme this person went too. It is creepy and pathetic.

This is for Brock

Hey Brock, I read on your blog about Colbert mentioning Sarnia and watched the clip. Well...here's an even better one!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9sVKbdGvk