Mature Student

So I did get everything packed and the move was relatively easy, aside from my Dad complaining about stairs and that the "door isn't even to code". Yeah, I pretty much ignored him at that point. It's definitely nice having a 2 story place, makes it feel like more like a home with the seperation of the bedrooms from the living area.

So I went to MRC's FYI Plus for "mature students". Apparently what I condsider a mature student and what the school does, differs slightly. Mostly 20-25 year olds. I thought it would be more 25+. I'm glad I went as it did show me alot of what MRC has to offer and I'd like to actually be more involved in school this time around. I have 2-3 hour break in between classes this semester as I registered late so I'm planning to work out 2-3x a week and study. I'd also like to see if it's possible to fit in some volunteering in there as well. I don't want to overextend myself especially the first semester. I also don't want to be picking Liam up any later than 430 as it's going to be long days for him as well come September. I'm very excited and nervous about this.

One piece of bad news, I found out that the apartments are being turned into condos so I will most likely be moving in 8 months again. Yeah, really not impressed as I had asked when I originally looked at the place about that and was told that they didn't know. I call Bullshit on that!! Oh well. These are the times when I want to just go back to Mexico and do my school long distance!! Hahaha

Random Things about Liam

So here's a few things that make me laugh/shake my head about my son.

1. Ordering him a muffin and making the HORRIFIC mistake(by the way he reacted) by starting to take off the paper cup. Trying to reason with him wasn't working so I then squished it back onto the muffin bottom. Wasn't a pretty sight but seemed to appease him.
2. We were in the grocery store and he was looking at the blown up helium balloons. I tell him we have to go and tell him to say "bye-bye balloons". I take a couple steps, realize he's not coming and turn around expecting a tantrum. He's saying bye-bye and giving each balloon a kiss. The florist girl found it quite funny as well.
3. Picking him up from daycare one day and I'm holding him in my arms while I talk to his daycare lady. He had asked for a cookie which I had said yes to but I guess that wasn't enough reassurance for him. He puts a hand on either side of my face and turns it so I'm directly look him in the face and proceeds to babble quite seriously to me with about every 3rd word being cookie. I got the message.
4. He's taken to air boxing while singing. Yeah, I don't really know what else to say about that.

Wishes

Here are a list of things that I wish I could do:

1. Say the word mo-fo without giggling afterwards and sounding like the suburban white girl that I am.
2. Say the word "ghetto" without sounding like Elvis("..in the ghettooooo...")
3. Slap H. upside the head through messenger
4. Zap the batteries of any idiot on the c-train who listens to their music at such a volume that I am able to make out the lyrics from halfway down the car. It's never even good music either. Bad heavy metal, rap or dance music.
5. Put up a sign in the front window of the car saying "YOU CAN'T MULTI-TASK!! GET OFF YOUR FREAKIN' CELL!!!" for the driver in front that is driving erraticaly while holding the cell in one hand to their ear and GESTURING with the other. Hmmmm, 2 hands off the wheel=no hands on the wheel.

So pigs have yet to fly. My package yesterday was my certificate from SAIT. Ah well, it's good to have hope.

Whoops, It's Been Awhile!

Hello, my adoring public that has been waiting feverishly for the next post(hey, you have your delusions, I have mine). Anywho, a fair bit has happened and not happened. I decided not to go to Mexico in July(long story I don't feel like getting into) and went to Yellowknife instead to visit a friend. It's very beautiful and all but unless you're into camping and fishing, a week is just enough time to see pretty much everything. I did have a lot of fun and I can now say that I've been to "The North".

I found a new apartment(again long story). Very excited and nervous. I'll be very relieved once everything is done and I'm moved. I'm moving one community over and will be in a two level so will have some seperation between the bedrooms and living areas. I'm also way too excited about having a dishwasher and possibly a double sink!!

I'm going to start encouraging potty training once we're settled into the new place. Should be oodles of fun. I am totally prepared to bribe if that's what it takes.

I should really be packing right now, but I'm procrastinating. I blame the heat personally. I told H that I would move down to Mexico if he could promise me a pool and air conditioning. He said it could be arranged. I'm pretty sure he was joking. Ooooo, I have a package waiting for me at the post office. Have absolutely no idea what it is as I haven't ordered anything lately. There's that overly optimistic part of me that secretly hopes that H sent me something as a surprise but I'm pretty sure pigs will fly before that happens.

Ok, so it's been a little while since I posted. Did my first day of practicum, that night proceeded to get a stomach flu(I'll spare you the details) and was off sick for 3 days(max. time allowed) and went back to school on Friday(absolutely no recollection as to what I did that day btw). I've also had a change in plans of my future career. I realized that shift work is never going to work as a single parent and with the hours of daycare that I have. I'm also never going to make enough money as a MLA to afford to buy a house/car/vacation/savings etc. I've decided to go back to school to become an accountant. It's a 4 year degree which freaks me out a little, but then again the MLT program is 2 years plus I have to wait at least a year because i didn't get in this fall which will make it at least 3 years before i get in min. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm a paper pusher, I enjoy pushing paper and filling out forms etc. I'm also good with numbers and what not, so it's a good fit I think.

Going to Mexico in June or July. Not sure exactly as my training is the same dates as when I was supposed to go down so need to check if I can rearrange. I'm not bringing my son down this time, I'll bring him down at a later date. I think it's best that I see H. first and figure out the situation before I bring L. into it. Very much looking forward to it, really hoping it doesn't all go sideways. Really, really need to increase/improve my spanish!!

Why I Loved Teaching ESL for Suzy:

1. For her demonstration for the teachers in front of our students EXACTLY how to put the cap back on the whiteboard marker(included an actual demonstration of the "click" too!)
2. Implying/accusing us of wasting our whiteboard markers. All I can figure is that she thought that we colored in our entire board and then wrote in with our fingers.
3. Using my detective skills to find the one and only whiteboard eraser in the school.
4. Playing scrabble with tiles that had been combined from 3 scrabble boards. In other words, you had 3x the number of E's, no T's or L's and A's. Interesting to say the least.
5. Watching her do oral exams with the students and realizing that the student answered completely wrong and she didn't notice.
6. Watching her do her complicated grading system of checks and x's and come up with some random grade
7. Informing us months later that we couldn't take home blank tests as someone might get ahold of it and copy the test but we could bring home the same tests that the students had written in, to mark them.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Sooooooo, I've calmed down a bit since my last post. Actually found out that no one in my class got into the MLT program so I don't feel quite so bad as apparently I wouldn't have gotten in regardless this year.

I'm going to Mexico to visit my friends and whatnot at the end of June. I'm torn between whether or not to bring my son with me. On one hand, he would have a lot of fun, my friends down there could meet him, he flies for free and his father would have the opportunity to meet him. On the other hand, pretty much all of my family would be against me taking him in fear of his father saying "I love you so much, let's be together" and consequently I just wouldn't return home(uh huh), getting his vaccinations or even getting them in time, god forbid something happening in Mexico and I am also making it very easy for his father. I don't know what to do, I figure I have about a week to decide. Hopefully I will be able to talk to my son's father soon and maybe have a better idea as to my decision will be after that.

Things that I can't believe or never thought I would say since having my son:

1. Don't lick the floor!!
2. Ok, you've got to stop yanking on it.
3. Any sentence that involves the word "poop".
4. Choo-choo's going night-night so you have to go night-night too(as I tuck both train and son into bed).

Pissy Mood

So I didn't get into the MLT program. Apparently they are "unable to invite me to participate in the next round of selection based on the information supplied." Lovely. It's even better that they are unable to tell me what I can do to improve my chances. I guess I work for a year and reapply next year and that's all I'm really going to say about this right now.


As I was looking for my iPod cd last night I came across the following items that I have been looking for:

1. My passport(need to renew it)
2. Book on childhood vaccinations
3. One of two puzzle pieces that are missing from my son's wooden puzzle.(Still looking for the 7)
4. My Kelly Clarkson cd

AND I actually found the cd I was looking for!! What can I say, it was a good night.

Oooh, American's Next Top Model is on tonight!! I cannot stand Renee. Seriously, just because you have a child does not mean that the challenges should automatically default to you because "OMG, that (whatever the prize is) could have totally helped us out in paying our debt!" Know what else helps pay your debt? Getting a job/education and not betting on some reality show to solve your debt problems. Barring that, at least not acting like you are entitled to win because you do have debt/small child/slacker husband/problems cause guess what? You're not the only one.

Adventures on my Bike Circa 1980's

Picture it: Calgary, Sarcee Meadows, 1980-something(anyone know the reference?)

I have the "coolest" bike, sparkly green with a sparkly green banana seat and the long handle bars. My friends, my younger brother and I had gone on a contraband run to the local 7-11. We were in no way allowed to go there by ourselves. Anyhoo, on the way back we're pedalling as fast as we can through an apartment complex and I'm in the lead. We had been gone a while and were trying to get back before my mom came looking for us. As I'm whipping down the road with the paperbag of candy in my hand, I fail to notice the speedbump coming up. Apparently I flew over the handle bars and knocked myself out for a few moments as I woke up to a woman who had ran out of her house to see if I was ok. I immediately turned to my brother and my first words were "Hide the candy" as I hand him my bag. Yes, the terror of my mom finding out overrode any concussion I was most likely suffering at the moment. To this day, I still don't think she ever found out.

Oh, apparently my son(21 months) is "warming up to the potty". As in he uses it to: put his diaper in, hide his toys in, move and stand on to reach something and this morning to use as a lounge chair while wearing my sunglasses upside down on his face while dressed in nothing but a diaper, pyjama top and mismatched socks.

CSI Nitpick

This has been bugging me. I understand that CSI uses a certain amount of darkness/dimness/lack of lighting to create a certain mood. I just don't understand why the lights at the crime scene appear to be working and ON when the crime is committed but the lights are out when CSI appears on the scene. At first I tried to chalk it up to power outage/lightning storm/unable to find the light switches but last night I just couldn't suspend my disbelief anymore. Pitch dark, late night/early morning and the house is in COMPLETE darkness, they are walking around with small flashlights cause ya know it won't be difficult to find evidence or get an idea of the crime scene if you're completely in the dark with a circle of light to illuminate things. Oh and apparently the morgue hasn't been paying its light bills lately as they too were working by daylight streaming in through the window. Seriously! Love the show but the lighting or lack there of is getting a little ridiculous.

Anyways, start my urinalysis practicum on Monday. Yeah, pee! Dipping, analyzing, microscoping etc. Waiting to hear if I get into the MLT program or at least the interview portion of the selection process.

My First Post

Ok, so I was hoping to write this totally insightful, meaningful first post that would make you go "Wow, she's really got something to say" and realized that this isn't at all what this blog is going to be about.

I have to accept that it's pretty much going to be about my train experiences, my day to day musings and random thoughts, my son (and sometimes his father, depending on how frustrated I am at him), how my practicum as an MLA(medical lab assistant) is going and various memories that I feel like sharing.