the mob squad

I've just always wanted to use that title in a blog. I think it sounds cool. How is everyone? It's snowing here. Again. I know I shouldn't complain about Calgary weather, because when I was living in Saskatchewan, we would get more snow in October than I've seen in the past 2 winters. But still. I've gotten spoiled, so I'm a bit upset that it's almost March and it's snowing again. But it's supposed to get nice out again by Wednesday.

I did almost nothing this weekend. It was wonderful. Friday night I went out to Strathmore to have dinner with friends. They have 2 little girls around Cassidy's age, so she loves it. They're best friends. Little Jayden (she's 4) gave Cassidy one of her bracelets and declared them friends forever. So cute. And Taija (6) is quite the little ballerina, so she teaches Cassidy all of her dance moves. They crack me up. Watching the 3 of them play together reminds me of why I want another baby someday. Of course by the time I'm ready for that to happen, Cassidy will be too old to play with it so I'll have to have 2 more. But I'm not sure if I can handle 3 kids. That's a lot of kids. But then I'll have so much more fun when they grow up. My whole life I thought I would never have kids, and now I'm talking about 3 of them? Must just be the weather. It's affecting my logic. On Saturday, we finished off the clothing drive for The Mustard Seed. We did really well, if I do say so myself. We got a ton of clothes and they were way grateful. (yes, I've been watching Clueless with Cassidy again). After the drive, Cassidy had a birthday party to go to. I hung out there with some of the parents because the house was beautiful and they had those super-yummy Koala drinks. It's always good to hang out with the parents of kids in your kids class every now and then. That way when their kid comes home saying "Cassidy kicked me today", they'll realize that we're really nice people and she may have just had an off day. Then I went shopping. I bought this cute little black purse and a really neat hat. It's got little jewel thingies in it and on the front, there is a silver symbol that kinda looks liek the one Prince used. I like it. Then I rented movies. Cassidy was dead set on watching Selena so I went to 3 different movie stores to find it. My movie wish list was quite unrealistic considering it was the day before Oscar night. However, I am quite peristent. I managed to find Babel, The Departed and The Prestige. All 3 were fantastic. I must say, Leonardo DiCaprio is turning into one of the finest actors of his generation. I'm really starting to appreciate him as an actor. Still don't really like Brad Pitt though. He didn't do much to add to Babel. Great movie, though. If you haven't seen any of the 3, please do. I loved them all.

Speaking of the Oscars... what did everyone think? Personally, I liked it. I read a lot of the reviews and lots of critics thought it was a snoozefest. I thought Ellen was fantastic. She made me laugh out loud a few times, which is something a host rarely accomplishes. It was disappointing that there were no surprises, with the exception of Eddie Murphy. And he was not happy when he lost. I guess he knows that he should stay away from Big Momma's House from now on and he may have another shot. Best moment of the evening has got to be Martin Scorcese's win. Finally. The man is a living legend. I love all the movies that he is involved in. The Color of Money, anyone??? It almost made me cry when he won and they gave him a standing ovation.

I have started studying again. Argh. Is that even a word? Argh? Anyways, I have to go back to university to get my CPP certificate, which consists of 4 classes and 12 seminar credits. Which isn't too bad, I should be able to wrap it up in just over a year. But it's a lot of work. Which I'm not crazy about. I'm taking the condensed course, so a semester's worth of class time is being squished into 2 weekends. But it's easier that way because then all I have to worry about is 4 days of baby-sitters. Of course, the down side is because there is next-to-no class time, all the pre-course work has to be done ahead of time. I got a little scared last night when I read the entire first chapter and could not answer one of the reveiw questions at the end. Not even one. So apparently I've forgotten how to study. My thoughts tend to wander. It probably didn't help that I was watching the Academy Awards at the same time. Then my thoughts turned towards Grey's Anatomy and the fact that there isn't a new episode on until March 15. Then I realized it's Tara's birthday this weekend and I have to get her a gift. I need to seperate myself from distractions and I'll probably absorb a lot more.

Wow, this was a really long blog and I didn't even have anything important or exciting to say. Guess I should wrap it up.

It's that day again.

Yes, I am referring to Valentine's Day. I. Do. Not. Like. Valentines. Day. And that is not just becuase I am single. I think it has turned into a ridiculous, overly commerialized scam created so that Hallmark and Hershey make a killing and in return, so does your bank account. Seriously, why do we need a special day to show somebody how much we love them? I think it's sad that we put so much emphasis on Valentine's Day. However, I am a little bitter because Valentines Day is always so much worse when you're single. But... I do have Cassidy. She's a riot on Valentine's Day. Partly because she's going to come running home professing her undying love for some cute little grade one boy. It's funny. And we did order these amazing cupcakes with a crazy amount of icing for our volunteer meeting today. So it's not all bad. Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Now if I can make it home without hearing "I Will Always Love You" on the radio, I'll be happy.

Mom, Dad and Lane are coming up tomorrow. They'll be here for a few days. Tomorrow night I get the honor of taking all 3 of them to their first NHL game. It should be a blast. Lane is so excited. He'll be a little less excited when I tell him that I'm withholding the tickets until he can figure out how to wire my TV/VCR/DVD so that I can tape Grey's Anatomy and actually have it play back. I totally think that's a fair trade. Apparently, somebody dies tomorrow. An actual important character. I can't wait. Then Tara and I are taking Mom to The Oasis for pedicures on Saturday. It's this crazy fancy spa that we can only afford when we get gift certificates. So that'll be fun.

I registered for my first class today. Gulp. Back to university. But only for a few classes, so I should be able to handle it. I'm excited, actually. I love school. And when I'm done the course I'll have something to prove that I deserve more money. And more money = good.

I also got another fish today. So now I have 2 betas in my tank. It's a really cool tank. it's got a divider down the middle so they don't eat each other. this morning, they were looking pretty stressed out. They kept trying to attack each other through the glass, so I had to put in the colored divider so they don't die of heart attacks. Can fish die from heart attacks? Anyways, I named the other one Thunder. Storm and Thunder. I like my fish. Although I do still get harassed about the last fish incident I had.

I have successfully killed 1/2 an hour. I don't have to come back to work for 5 whole days! yay.

mistakes

Do your mistakes define who you are? A timeless question that I don't ever think will be fully answered. I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and my thoughts were brought on by the lengthly debate happening on Leah's blog. If you want to read about it, read her blog. For now, I just wanted to try and make sense of this. I think that your mistakes have to define who you are to a certain extent for the simple reason that you learn from your mistakes. Or you should, anyway. If you're incapable of learning from your mistakes, that's another conversation entirely. So now, how big do those mistakes have to be before your name is tarnished? I made a mistake 7 years ago and had unprotected sex. Now I am branded a single mother. However, I have learned from that mistake (as I still only have one child). Furthermore, I no longer see it as a mistake and stopped seeing it as a mistake the second I held Cassidy in my arms. But regardless, it was still an error in judgement. And I paid for it, believe me. Anyone who has children can attest to that. I guess my point is that nobody should be held in such high regard that they are not accountable for their actions. If you make a mistake, you pay for it. If you break the law, you're punished and you have a criminal record. Maybe I'm just not open minded enough, but in my opinion, I think this this is fairly straightforward. The extent of the penance for your mistakes is what I consider gray matter. Am I way off base here? I don't know. Sigh.

Anyway. I had my first annual performance evaluation this morning. I "exceeded expectations". Woo hoo!!! Hopefully that means my salary will now exceed my expectations. Then maybe I'd actually be able to do some of the things I've been wanted to do for ages. Like go back to Saskatoon for a few days to visit the only people who read my blog! that would be nice. I want to go to Poverino's. I love that place and I haven't found one in Calgary yet. I haven't looked very hard, though. I did discover Chuck E. Cheese's recently. And made the mistake of telling Cassidy that I discovered Chuck E. Cheese's. So we went. And she had a great time, so it was worth it. But I do not recommend it. It took us an hour to even get in and get a table. The food is below average and expensive. I spent $50 for just me and her and all we got out of the deal was a couple pieces of soggy pizza and a silver plastic magic wand.

I have recently discovered the joy of Reese's Pieces Ice Cream.

Tonight is my favorite TV night of the week. The OC and Grey's Anatomy. I think I'm gonna make some popcorn and enjoy. Bye!!!

Getting to know your friends

I love these things.


Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends. Okay here's what
you're supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun!
Just copy this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail
that you can send Change all the answers so that they apply to you.

1. What is your occupation? Purchaser and mom
2. What color are your socks right now? Black
3. What are you listening to right now? Nothing. All is quiet on the 17th floor this morning. Or perhaps that is just because my ears are permanently plugged from the lovely cold I've been trying to fight off all week. For the record, I'm losing the fight.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? I don't remember. I haven't eaten much in the last couple days. I have been drinking a lot of tea though. Right now, it's orange and spice.
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Not well. But yeah, I know the basics.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Some kind of funky blue or orange. Wait, I got it. I'd invent a crayon where the wax is 2 different colors and they kind of swirl together so when you use the crayon, you get a streak of 2 different colors. How cool would that be? Then I would definitely be blue and orange. Or maybe blue and silver. I'll give you a definite answer if I am ever actually in danger of becoming a crayon.
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Tara.
9. How old are you today? 26 all day.
10. Favorite drink: lately it's been Neo-Citrin. But under normal circumstances it's wine in the winter, gin in the summer. and weather does not discriminate against Jagerbombs.
11. What is your favorite sport to watch? The Olympics, the World Series and Super Bowl. Go Colts.
12. Have you ever dyed your hair? Yes. I've had a few doozies.
14. Pets? A pet fish at work named Storm 2. I killed Storm 1. Not on purpose though. And Storm 2 may die soon as well if I don't change his water. Today.
15. Favorite food? cheese
16. What was the last movie you watched? In the theatre it was Happy Feet with Cassidy. On DVD it was All The Kings Men (really good show). On VHS it was Armageddon and on TV it was Look Who's Talking.
17. Favorite day of the year? I usually say today, but it's definitely not today so I'm gonna go with my birthday.
18. What do you do to vent anger? Yell, listen to Motley Crue, drink. Wow, I'm pretty self-destructive. Good thing I'm a lover, not a fighter.
19. What was your favorite toy as a child? My pretty blue porcelain doll. That was a jab at Tara who broke it. Seriously, I can't remember. Probably our John Deere combine.
20. What is your favorite Fall or Spring? Spring. I hate snow. And it all goes away in spring.
21 Hugs or kisses? Both.
22. Cherry or Blueberry? Cherry
26. Living arrangements? Just me and Cassidy
27. When was the last time you cried? Yesterday watching Armageddon.
28. What is on the floor of your closet? Lots of crap.
29. Who is the friend(s) you have had the longest? Tara, Allison, Tanya, Sheri
30. What did you do last night? Watched Grey's Anatomy, chugged back some Nyquil and went to bed around 8:30.
31. Favorite smell(s)? rain, my mom's house b/c she's usually cooking, Tara's lasagna, men's cologne, Cassidy's bubble bath.
32. What inspires you? Good parents, success stories, my boss, women executives, my friends, most of my family and Tommy Lee.
33. What are you afraid of? I have an irrational fear of car accidents.
34. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? Double cheese.
35. Favorite car? Of all time? I don't know. Nor do I care. Cars are not my thing. See #33. But if I had to choose, I'd pick the red convertible in Warrant's Cherry Pie video. I can see most of you nodding and saying to yourself "Yes, that was a hot car." If anyone actually knows what kind of car that was, please let me know so I can just skip this whole explanation thing on the next quiz I fill out and just put down the name of the car. Thanks.