Wednesday afternoon

I have been demoted at the Beer Store. What does that mean? it means that while I applied for a better position (Permanant Part Time, what kind of crap is that?) instead of giving me the job, they moved someone else who is a PPT to our store. That means that everyone, get's fewer hours. We hardly had any hours to begin with!! It doesn't really affect most of the people working there because they are going to school but I was getting less than 30 hours a week already. This week I'm down to 21 and have to work Sunday to even get that many. The reason for the new person is because Ontario has this new program that is starting next week where everyone will be paying a deposit on all LCBO containers now and they can then bring them back to the beer store and get their deposit back. Well you can imagine the loads of hoarded liquor bottles that are going to just create havoc at work. At work it is this big thing that everyone is getting so worked up about. I try not to get involved except that I have now been demoted. They say that once the program starts I will be back up to 40 hours a week. I'm sure I will get more hours then but probably just for the first month and those hours will probably be mostly evenings with no supervisor pay. I was really ticked off about it. I called my boss, had a big long conversation (I think I got too emotionally involved in that one) and then left it. Some of you are going to wonder why I didn't mention it in previous conversations (on the phone, and such). The reason is that I really don't want any pity. I'm not really angry or upset about it anymore. I had Mon, Tues, and now Wed. off! It was great. We do need the pay check but those two days at home, reading my book (the one by Mark Haddon, intersting...) were really great. I cleaned, bummed around, slept in and read. It was nuturing. I also thought about this work thing and figure that I should take it as a great but push out the door. The beer store really isn't where I should be biding my time. It's a great place of employment and one that I will keep my foot in the door at but I shouldn't get complacent there. I need to keep looking at what is next. I was told I need to face the future full of expectancy and hope. Because its all coming my way. It's a complicated issue in my head but one that I'm not going to make much of a fuss over. I'm sure it really won't make much of a difference. I will be busy again soon enough, I'm sure.

I still didn't make the falafels. Everytime I plan on it I just don't end up with the right amount of time. This week was a productive home week. I cleaned the house from top to bottom (well, not really, I cheat a lot) and stacked all the wood that Dan cut up. That's a lot of wood! If you don't believe me you'll just have to wait till I post the pictures. Maybe on Sunday.
I picked Alisha up at the airport this afternoon. If you didn't know about that it's because it was a surprise. I hope i haven't ruined it for anyone yet. I would have time to write a whole bunch more but I have to go back to the airport now to pick up her luggage. They sent it to the wrong place in Canada. It's back in Hamilton now and they said if she has it picked up they will give her a $100 voucher. She was hoping they would lose it for a few more days so she could make a bit more money on it. :)

If you haven't read the comments for the last post, you should. Mom wrote a recipe for the tzatziki that she made. I'm definately up for posting the falafel recipe too. I even think that Dan would like them if he didn't know that they were made with chickpeas. A good experiment. If I get the recipe before tomorrow night maybe I'll try it then. We have a party to go to on Sat. night so to save our "close talking" breath we should eat something harmless that day.
In class last night Brenda started with some silence. She said that she had a crazy day and just needed some silence for a minute or two. I'm not good at being silent or letting my mind be silent (I think I'm a bit A.D.D.) but I went along with it. Later in the class she was talking about how our lives are so busy that we don't have those quiet moments. As an example she asked if anyone had been outside that day around 4:00 and saw how beautiful all the ice covered trees looked in the sun. I thought, yup, I saw all that because I was outside chipping the ice out of the animal's water buckets and refreshing their water. I walked around the property with the dog and took pictures. My life out in our backwoods area makes me stop and be silent and I forget how lucky I am to live this way and that I have this opportunity right now. Or maybe, I just need this kind of thing and have drawn myself to it. I'm sure that one day I will look back on this time of my life and realize how precious it was.
I had a good time at Hannelle and Jon's again last night. It's good to get together with her every week. We decided to go out for breakfast again this week but this time we took Jon too. After dropping Hannelle off at school for 9:00 Jon and I went to check out the secondhand book store again. He's a sucker for books of all kinds and hadn't been to this place that Hannelle and I have raved about. In his excitement about getting a whole bunch of books I got drawn in and ended up getting some books too. Two of them were for the class and the third book was a novel. If you haven't read Mark Haddon's "The curious incident of the dog in the nighttime" you are missing out. (Check out this link, it's an intro/reading of the book!) It is such a great book. I love the way the author was able to take on the voice of the first person narrator. (first person, right?) The main character is an autistic kid. I didn't really know much about autism but this book sure taught me a lot. Really interesting. Try it. Anyways, I bought this book too, even though I've read it already.
So I've spent the morning shopping again. (Oh, and I got an ice scraper since Dan stole the one from my car and I didn't find out till I really needed it - late after work with my car covered in ice.) I work from 2-9 which means I'll be home late tonight but that's okay because I'm home in the evening for Friday and Saturday.
So that's all that's new for now. Here's a question to end things: Do you buy new novels that you haven't read before hoping that you'll love it and be glad that you bought it or do you buy novels that you have read before and know that you love but won't be reading anything new? I struggle with that. I bought 3 new novels in the past week. One is the "curious incidend" book that I just talked about. The other two books are "A spot of bother" also by Mark Haddon (I figured I like that book so much that I might like this one too) and "Lullabies for little criminals" by Heather O'Neill. The second book is a book off of the CanadaReads list. They talked about it on the CBC and I want to be in on the discussion. I've bought books before that were acclaimed so I thought I would like it but I didn't. ("The Polished Hoe". Am I crazy? Is this a really good book that I'm just missing out on?) What do you guys do? And does anyone want that copy?

An extra post this week

I probably will only get to post about once a week but here's a freebie. I'm at Redeemer to drop a book off for Hannelle. Now that I'm in a class I've got reading to do every week. Wierd, eh?
I set up a little reading nook for myself upstairs in our gigantic room. There was an old trunk that I found in the barn when we moved here and i've since cleaned it up and brought it upstairs. I've laid it flat and covered it with the reading material that I most want to read. I brought a big plant up there and put it beside my chair. The chair is the best part. It's a chair that I got from Dan's grandparents. I love it! It's an old green butterfly chair. I don't know why you don't see them anywhere because they are great chairs that cup your body in them when you sit in it and you can pull your legs up in it really well too. I was taking the tour through Oma and Opa's house and I saw that chair and loved it! Opa, being the guy he is, said I could have the chair of course so away I went with this great chair. All I need for the nook now is a lamp and some good art. I've got ideas for both. Now lets just see if I use the space. I hope so.
I made a new batch of yogurt. I'm not sure if it worked out yet. I have to check it. I'm planning on straining it now and making that cheese again or maybe I'll make some tzatziki sause with it. Mom said she made some the other day and it was great. We'll see. oh, and then I can make some falafels with it. ooo i'll do that.
see you all.

Here's a good day for you

Last night I went to the first class for a course that I'm doing this semester. It is at Redeemer again so there isnt' going to be anymore commuting back and forth to Toronto. I'm going to miss that. So I'm taking a class called the Psychology of Spirituality with Prof. Stephenson. Hannelle is taking the course too so I'm planning on sleeping over at her house every Wed. night. This morning we got up nice and early and went out for breakfast. It's nice to do that every once in a while, i think. After breakfast, I dropped Hannelle off at work and met up with Brenda for tea. I love going out for tea with her. It's always a validating, inspiring time. It makes me want to go home and do more reading, gardening, contemplating and just being me... the whole works. After tea I went to Dundas to check out the used book store (again) and bought a cheap one. I had to quickly run to the bank and while I was doing that I passed 2 stores that sucked me in. I couldn't say no. One had a sign in front saying all men's clothes 50% off. What a deal! And Dan has really needed some good pants for those sunday occasions. So I found a great deal, bought them with birthday money, and moved on. But not until after ogling (what a good crossword word) some really great jewellry and shoes. What do you think of me getting some really great cowboy boots. I think I should. The only thing is that they come with at least a 1 inch heal. I still have to learn to embrace this tallness. grrr. After that store I was sucked into a cheese store. Oh my goodness!! I love cheese. I love different kinds of cheese and the process and science of cheese. I love eating cheese (and drinking wine). So as we were talking about cheese they offered me some samples!! Isn't that awsome? I've heard about pasturized and unpasturized cheese tasting different but I thought it was more of a subtle taste difference that only experts could taste. Well let me tell you!!! I first tried a pasturized brie. mmm Then, I tried an unpasturized brie that was made in the same place and the same way and, wow!! What a difference. I really want to share this with someone but I don't know very many people that like that kind of food. As Dan says, it's really pungent. I like really tasty foods I guess. But that wasn't all. Next they moved me on to the blue cheeses. gurgle gurgle..... mmm. It was the same kind of thing. So much more tasty with the unpasturized cheese. I don't know why anyone would go back. I bet i costs a fortune though.
So from there I came back here to Redeemer to type out this quick post and grab a book for a presentation that's coming up already (fun, eh?).
Now I'm off to home depot to pick up some putty to fill in some cracks in the wall (my winter project) and the for another coffee date with another woman. This time I'm meeting up with Shiela again - the woman I met earlier who wrote that book.
Tonight Dan and I are going to Larissa and James' for a wedding party meeting. (Dan is in the wedding party! cool, eh?) I think i'll try to bring some appetizer or something.
I'm really looking forward to tomorrow night. Dan and I have a date to go to Chapters with our gift cards that mom got us. I have a list of books already. I can't wait.