Oh Happy Day!

Friday, May 20th was the last day of my contract at work - I've been working for the Ontario Disability Support Program since November, I've had two separate contracts during that time - and it really seemed like I was leaving for good this time.

Now, for the first five or six months, I really didn't like the job. And, to be honest, I had a countdown going to my last day. But, surprisingly, things changed, and when I was down to the last six weeks or so, I realized I didn't mind the job so much anymore, and I didn't want it to end.

So, Friday, May 20th is not the happy day I'm referring to in my title.

Knowing that my contract ended on the 20th, Curt and I booked a trip from May 21st to May 28th...so, we were off to Branson, Missouri (more on that soon).

I left not knowing if I would have a job to return to, but tried not to let that bother me. I think every co-worker told me that I would probably get called back for another contract, but the managers never said that, so I just couldn't be sure. I knew I could go back to work at the golf course if I needed to, but that certainly wasn't my first choice.

Anyway, fast forward a week...as soon as Curt and I crossed the border, and arrived back in Ontario, I turned my phone back on and checked my messages. And, guess what?!? I had a message from my manager at ODSP, and she was asking me to come back to work on Monday, May 30th! A few months ago I would have dreaded that message, but at that point, I was really excited!

I actually ended up taking Monday off, just to get organized back at home after our trip, but went back to work today - and it was great to be back! I was excited to see all my co-workers, and they seemed pretty glad to see me, too!

Oh Happy Day!

Now, of course I'm on another contract, so, I've got my job back until September 30th (which is longer then I expected!), and we'll see what happens from there?!?

Friday the 13th

Friday, May 13th was a special day - and it had nothing to do with the superstition that it will be a day of bad luck - it was because my niece, Abby, turned ONE! Wow, I can't believe it's already been one year?!?

Curt and I made the trip to Acton on Saturday so that we could attend her Disney Princess Party.



A few pics of the birthday girl and I. This is before the party started - she was so cute in her birthday dress, and her hairband and flower were adorable!

And, no first birthday party would be complete without a mess of cake and icing! There was a cute princess icecream cake for the adults, but Abby got to enjoy a cupcake...with lots of icing!


Digging in, with no hesitation!


Now that it's all over both hands, she's not sure what to do.


And, she's officially a mess! I don't think she actually ate any of the cupcake...she played with the icing, and maybe tasted a little bit of it, but then she started throwing the cupcake around so we had to take it away :)

After dinner and cake, Krystle decided that Abby should try on some of her new clothes - more specifically, her new bathing suits (she got three). Here she is modelling the bathing suit that Curt and I gave her.


She had the best reaction when Krystle got this on her - it seemed like she really liked it!

Now, these guys aren't as cute as the birthday girl, but I had to include this picture anyway.


This is my dad and brother, they had to BBQ in the rain - but, as you can see, they didn't seem to mind too much!

And, now I have to apologize for the picture overload! I had planned on making more collages with Picnik, but it was taking too long.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and it was great celebrating with so many people who clearly love Abby as much as I do!

Weekend Happenings - Day 2

We woke up to another bright and beautiful day on Sunday morning.

It was my turn to help in the church nursery, something I always dread on my way to church, but usually end up enjoying once I get there. This Sunday was a quiet one in the nursery - there were only 12 little ones! ha! I've been in there with 18 kids, now that was busy!

I've been helping in the toddlers nursery for a few years now, and one thing I'm enjoying this year is the fact that some of my friends kids are in there. My little nephew Luke was there on Sunday, so it was fun to hang out with him, too!

After church we went over to my in-laws for lunch - we were celebrating Mother's Day and my nephew Joshua's, ninth birthday!

I'm pretty sure my MIL was happy with the laptop bag we got for her. And I know for sure that Joshua (and his brothers) were thrilled with the electric guitar we got for him! Yup, we are that Aunt and Uncle :)

Our neighbour was having a garage sale on Saturday...he didn't seem to be selling a lot (maybe because he wasn't set up until 11am), and Curt and I felt sorry for him. Curt went over to see what he had, and spotted the guitar and little amplifier that came with it. It was in good shape, and a decent price, so he bought it.

Luckily, I don't think my brother and sister-in-law were too mad! Actually, I think Dave thought it was pretty cool, and Sarah just commented that it wouldn't be too bad because Joshua's room is in the basement, so he wouldn't disturb everyone while practicing.

And now, here are some pictures of the boys enjoying their dessert...

Joshua, the birthday boy, blowing out his NINE candles!


Noah, who obviously got distracted and looked away right as I took this picture!


Isaac - gotta love those blue eyes...and his mohawk!


And, Luke, ready to dig into his dessert!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of baby Owen...he slept the whole time we were there, so it was easy to forget about it while the other boys were running around!

Weekend Happenings - Day 1

Ahhhhh, two day weekends are a great thing!

We had a great weekend, a good mix of stuff to do and time to relax...so between that, and the great weather, it was almost perfection.

We didn't have anything to do Saturday morning, so we just took our time getting into gear. Eventually, the sun drew us outside, and we decided to do some work out there - we cut the grass and then started doing some clean up work on the back garden.

By mid-afternoon Curt and I had to get organized for our afternoon plans - Curt was going to play golf, and I was going to watch a skating show.

Rather then having their own carnival this year, the Quinte Figure Skating Club joined forces with another area Club, and together they put on a Celebration Gala. Coaches had the option as to whether or not they wanted to get involved and choreograph group numbers, I opted OUT! I think it was back in February when they asked us to commit - and I couldn't really imagine adding to my already busy coaching/work schedule. So, it was great to go to the show and see my skaters in their group numbers, but not have the added stress of being behind the scenes.

It was hard to walk into an arena on such a beautiful day, but it was a great show, so I was really glad that I went. There were some unique aspects to the show - a graffiti artist who created spray paint art while groups were skating, and four local teenage musicians who sang during the show.

But the best part of the show, in my opinion, was the guest skaters. They had a pairs team, Dylan Moscovitch & Kristin Moore-Towers, and a dance team, Vanessa Crone and Paul Poirer - both of these teams were in Moscow for the World Figure Skating Championships last week!

They also had the Synchronized Skating Team 'Nexxice'. This team was at the Synchronized Worlds competition in Finland this year, and placed fifth. I am always impressed to see synchronized teams skate - it has come such a long way since my day, when it was known as precision skating.

So, the show was great, but it was a little long, so I had to leave early in order to get ready for the next event of the day.

We had our Year-End Curling Banquet on Saturday night. We enjoyed seeing our teammates again, and it was nice to visit with them over a great dinner.

There were also awards presented for all the different leagues - and, despite finishing second in our competitive league, we didn't win anything :)

The night also included a dance, but Curt and I both forgot our dancing shoes, so we didn't stay long!

Reader Participation

I really don't think I have a lot of readers, but, if you're out there, I'm looking for your opinion.

This is one of my favourite recent pictures of Curt and I; it's from our trip to California in July 2010. You may have seen it before, it's in the right hand column of my blog - like I said, it's one of my favourites :)

Anyway, I had this picture framed in our house for awhile, and then I took it out of the frame so I could hang it in my cubicle at work. It had been there for months, and no one had really said too much about it...until two weeks ago, that is.

Two weeks ago, a co-worker said that it was a nice picture, and then asked me if the guy in the picture was my Dad?

WHAT?!?! Was she serious you ask? Yes, yes she was. She honestly thought it was my dad...or my brother...she felt he had to be related, because we look alike. WHAT?!?! We look alike?!?! She said that we had similar dimples, and our noses were kind of alike...I didn't see it in the developed picture, but, I have to admit, I see those two similarities in the picture on the computer. That's it though...and I don't think that's enough to think we look like relatives!

I laughed, and she laughed...but I thought the whole thing was kind of weird.

I took a quick poll of four of five other people in the office, and at least one of the people I asked thought that yeah, we did kind of look alike - that person did say that there was no way Curt looked like my dad though, maybe a brother.

So, now I need to take a poll on here...let me know what you think, honestly!