Oh How Fast They Grow!

This boy with the blue ribbon could potentially be my new 'brother'! :) As mentioned a few weeks ago, my parents are getting themselves a new puppy under the contition that I take him to my place any time they want to go away. My mom gets second pick of the 6 boys in this litter and this boy in blue is her favourite so far. They are 17 days old today, so about one month now until he gets to come home!

A Long Wait is Over

I have been anticipating a new release from Pilot Speed (who are still, and always will be, Pilate to me) since their last release 3 years ago! Yes, 3 YEARS!!! I pre-ordered "Wooden Bones" so that it would show up on my door Tuesday when the album was officially released. After giving the album 2 good listens, I believe it's safe to say that the wait was completely worth it. In my opionion however their debut album, "Caught By The Window" which was released in 2004, is still my favourite album of theirs. I fell in love with Pilate after seeing them perform at my university and then purchasing that album. It is an epic album that will always be in my top 5 favourites. "Wooden Bones" came close though. Although their sound is a little more mainstream, it is still the Pilate I came to love all those years ago and I couldn't be happier with their 3rd album. If you have never heard of this amazing CANADIAN band, check them out on youtube or something. Their singer, Todd Clarke, has an such amazing voice that you'll find yourself wanting to hear more and more.

SwagBucks Update!

On Sunday, April 26, I cashed in for yet another $5 amazon gift card and am already half way to another. :) Yesterday I recieved my first amazon package using solely gift cards from swagbucks. I got 2 cds and a book and it only cost me $10. Want to win your own gift cards? Sign up by clicking the picture above.

Is It Going to Get Better?

Ugh... Things just seem to get worse and worse around here and it's beginning to get harder to stay optomistic. Two weeks to the day since my head office announced that we all had to take one day off per month no pay, the lay offs begin. Completely unexpected by everyone! Apparantly 35 people in Ontario from my company and out of our 51 branches, 2 were from mine. The one person was understandable..he had only been here just over a year and was not exactly qualified for his techie position. But the other... I am still in shock a week later. The second person in my branch was a good friend and had been working here 27 years! I think I am in shock of the fact that he is gone, but also of the fact that I'm not! Or others for that matter! I am just so confused as to why they chose this person. Our warehouse has more than enough people; they spend a lot of time doing nothing because they have so many people. Yet they lay off a sales person, leaving only 3 in here now. Yes, we're losing money. But we're losing money because we're not making the sales! So why would they lay off a sales person who could by trying to get more sales instead of a warehouse employee?? Ugh.. it's so frustrating and scary. We've been all sitting here wondering -- who's going to be next? If they get rid of another person in the office, I'm scared that I would be next! So scared that I've actually been browsing around online for job postings. *sigh*... when is this going to get better?

The Recession Has Hit My Life

I haven't made any blog posts in a while, simply because the recession has finally hit me personally, and I've just been down about the whole thing.
I've already been having a LOT of trouble handling all my bill payments. I don't spend any money that I shouldn't be spending. I rarely make any splurging purchases and have still found myself living from pay-cheque to pay-cheque. It's been a rough road, and will remain so pretty much until my incredible bf is ready to move into my house and help me out. Things have already been going pretty rough for me and then we get the announcement at work. Effective immediately, every single employee Ontario-wide from our company must now take one day off a month with no pay. We don't physically have to take that day off, but they are automatically deducting the one day from our second pay each month - until furthur notice. Yes, I do have to be happy about the fact that I still have my job, But...... DAMN! I'm already just scraping by and now I'm going to be out probably around $100 a month! That's a LOT! I really do not know how else to tweak my budget, and it's getting very scary. I've been paying the most important things on time - ie. my mortgage, car loan, horse board, etc... but some of the other bills and credit cards are starting to pile... I never in my life had credit card debt up until last summer when this whole recession thing started with gas at $1.35+/L! This debt is terrifying me! I think I have a rough several months ahead of me...

SwagBucks Update!

After only 5 days since my last cash-in, last night I cashed in for yet another $5 amazon.ca gift card! It has not even been 2 months since I joined swagbucks and I've already recieved $25 for amazon.ca just by searching with swagbucks instead of google! Want your own free $? Sign up by clicking the picture to your left. :)

Do your part on Earth Day..

..and get free Starbucks coffee!! :) Bring in your travel mug to any Starbucks location on Earth Day - Wednesday, April 22 - and they will fill it for Free.

Puppies!

I just had to post this as it is hard to contain my excitement. My parents are getting themselves a new puppy and their pup was born yesterday evening! So one of those little gaffers in the pic to the left is going to become the new member of our family! He/she will get to come home in June. :)

SwagBucks Update!

It has not even been one week since my last redeption, but this morning, I have cashed in yet another 45 swagbucks for my 4th $5 amazon.ca gift card! In just over one month, I have won a total of $20 in amazon.ca gift cards!! Do you want to win some for yourself? Sign up by clicking on the picture to your left! :)

That Was Fast!

Today marks exactly one week since I went to speak to the manager at Mazda in regards to the crack in my windshield. Well, I just received a call saying that my brand new - FREE - windshield has arrived and will be installed Monday morning!! :)

As I said before -- never give up! It's certainly paying off for me!

The Biggest Loser - My Thoughts of the Day

Things are starting to come down to the wire on the Biggest Loser and people's attitudes are beginning to change while the allow the greed of the end prize get to them. Last night's episode was full of ups and downs and I'm really not sure if I am happy with the results.

The biggest part about last night's show was one of the biggest temptation challenges ever. Approximately 100 covered trays were spread out across the gym. Under the covers, contestants would find high calorie treats, (such as cupcakes, pretzles, pop, chips, etc.), or a pack of Extra sugar-free gum along with a sum of money. There was however ONE single tray that held a golden ticket that stood for sole power of the game this week. The one who obtained that ticket was given the sole vote at the elimination (providing they themselves did not fall under the yellow line).

I was very surprised as to how the contestants handled the challenge with ALL of them picking trays and eating the high calorie food while on the hunt for that golden ticket. Everyone's true purpose in this game was definitely shown. It seemed as though it wasn't about losing weight at that moment, but all about winning the money. Tara surprised me the most because I am rooting for her and she really seemed to have her priorities straight - however, she ate over 4000 calories during that temptation!!! Laura ended up winning the ticket in the end, showing that she was pretty happy with herself. I don't know.. there's something about Laura that irks me. She lucked out and actually lost 8lbs this week, but she still doesn't seem to be progressing as much as everyone else weight wise. She's the one who probably stands out most in regards to the fact that it's more about the money to her than losing the weight.

In the end, Helen and Sione were the two who ended up below the yellow line and Laura ended up sending Sione home. I was kind of upset with that vote at first simply because Helen looks fantastic and has lost an enormous amount of weight. She has also shown that she is able to continue her lifestyle on campus at home. Sione on the other hand, still looked like he needed to be there, to drop more weight. The vote did however end up working for him in the long run! I was shocked when they showed the footage of him now. I know you're not reading this, but kudos to you Sione! You looked fantastic last night! I wish you the best of luck on your path to becoming a trainer.

SwagBucks Update!

With a little help from my friends, I was able to redeem for my 3rd $5 amazon.ca gift card today! I signed up Feb 26, and have since earned $15 in giftcards just for doing my daily searches on SwagBucks instead of google. If you want to start earning your own swagbucks for gift cards or other prizes, join via clicking the banner to your left. :)

Never Give Up!

I just wanted to say to all you readers out there... especially in these hard economic times... no matter what, never give up on something you believe in. Keep your head up high, stick up for yourself, and good things will happen to you.

Why am I coming out and saying this now? Well, long story short, one night during the winter, I was driving home and out of nowhere heard a large cracking sound. The result -- a large crack in the bottom left hand side of my windshield. I was so upset after this happened, thinking how the H*#L am I going to find the $ NOW to fix my windshield! After looking carefully, I realized there was no mark from something hitting the windshield causing the crack, so I thought maybe this is something I could claim under the warranty of the car? (my car is only 3 years old this august) I was at Mazda last week for my regular oil change/service, and to get my winter tires off. I had them look at the crack at the time, and upon inspection, they said Mazda would NOT approve of claiming this under the warranty because there was another chip on the windshield that 'ruined its integrity'. WELL, this chip was not even near the crack and it is literally the size of a pin!!! I was fuming when I left Mazda last week, thinking, how am I going to get $500 to fix my windshield, when I'm struggling to pay all of my house bills?! So monday, I sent an email to the manager at Mazda stating my case, asking if I could come see him. I went back yesterday and after his inspection, he said that his service guys' claim that the tiny dot of a chip causing the crack was BS. He looked up at me and his words were "You know what? I'm going to give you this one." So, I am getting a brand new windshield, installed... for FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Moral of the story ---- as I said above, if you believe in something, please don't ever give up. I could have easily given up after last week's appointment when I was told there was nothing they could do. But I knew I was right and stood up for myself and it's paid off!