Holidays Are Over :(

Well, today is the last day of hubby’s 2 weeks of holiday. It was a great 2 weeks, but I’m sad it’s over(fortunately he has 2 more weeks in early September, yay!).

A lot happened in 2 weeks. We got some yard work done, got a little bit done inside the house(though not as much as we wanted, it just got too hot and with no a/c going in the house we just couldn’t do it in the heat). Went to the Calgary Stampede. We went camping for a couple of nights, cut it short by a night because the heat was just too much for everyone, but we enjoyed the 2 nights we did have. We spent all day every day together, had our 15th Anniversary and for the first Anniversary in a while we actually got to spend it together! We went for burgers and out collecting firewood for our fire pit lol, I’m a cheap and easy date because it was all good for me!

I got a phone call while camping on Wednesday. My Mom and Dad had just got back on Tuesday after being gone for a month because of my Grandpa passing away(my Mom’s Dad), then just the next day after being back they get the call that my Grandma passed(my Dad’s Mom). She was 96. I haven’t got to have a good cry over it yet, I know I need to. But I don’t like crying in front of people. I’ve had some small break downs that I’ve managed to hide. Now I just have one Grandma left. It’s been hard to go from not knowing losing anyone to losing 2 special people less than 3 weeks apart. There’s a bit of guilt in there too because I haven’t seen them in such a long time, but we just never had the money to go visit.

On a more upbeat note; hubby and I finally got to go out on a REAL date night last night for the first time in a very long time(probably last time would have been hubby’s Christmas Party for work 2 Christmases ago). I was on Twitter yesterday and saw a tweet from the Calgary Stampede to go to their Facebook page and enter to win tickets for the Johnny Reid concert that was last night. In order to enter you had to post a picture of the Stampede. I almost wasn’t going to do it, I hesitated a few times then finally decided to post a picture we had taken of us at the Travel Texas booth. After posting it we went out to get some groceries, I started to feel a little sick because it was so hot and muggy out so we decided to finish the shopping later and come back home. I went to lay down when we got back home but decided I would check Facebook quick first…..and when I did I found out I was one of the winners!! I realize Johnny Reid may not be so well known to some, he’s a Scottish born Canadian Country Music singer. I’m a HUGE Country music fan and I have loved this man for a while now but could never afford to go see him when he came. It was short notice, but fortunately we had no plans for the night and our kids are now old enough that we don’t have to worry about finding a babysitter. We had such an amazing night!!! The concert was absolutely incredible, I love this singer even more now! It was a fantastic way to finish off hubby’s holidays. I can’t remember the last time I went out and had such a great time! Even though when we came back home the stresses of money issues and other things and the sadness of the loss of my Grandparents was still there, it felt so good to go out and enjoy myself for the night.

Now I need to get back on track with our regular schedule, blogging better and more often will hopefully be a part of that! Most important thing I have to do is make money though, have to figure out what I’m going to do and very soon. Sadly as much as hubby likes where he is, he might have to look for a job that pays more, he’s not getting paid the going rate for his position in this city as it is and his raise is going to be so low it’s a slap in the face and that after being told they probably won’t get full bonus and yet the company is doing amazing and growing all the time. Neither of us are too happy about it, when he went to work there 2 years ago it was with the plan of him staying there long term and hopefully eventually retire with the company. But the type of position he works should pay enough for a man to support his family, especially considering we are a pretty frugal family, we don’t buy extravagant stuff or go on expensive holidays or anything like that. With the job he has we shouldn’t be struggling like we are. So unless they clue in to that he’s going to have no choice but look elsewhere, which it looks like they won’t because they just lost a guy who worked there 18 years because he got a job with WAY more money and less responsibility and then they go and give hubby this pathetic “raise”(can’t even call it that, it’s less than how much cost of living has gone up). Currently almost every one of their supervisors is looking elsewhere over the same issues, so it’s not just us being picky or whiny.

Anyway, I will make an effort to get back on track with blogging regardless of what ends up going on .

Jolene

Just Saying Hello

Just a quick hello post!

Today my hubby and I celebrated 15 years of marriage! How fast that time has gone, hard to believe I’ve been married for that many years already!

Tomorrow we’re going to the Calgary Stampede, other than one year when we were living down in Texas I have not missed a year of going since my family moved to Calgary in 1988. We don’t do a lot, in fact tomorrow will probably only be a couple of hours of walking around just looking at stuff, but the Stampede is such a big and wonderful thing and we love and support our city so we always go. We just can’t afford all the rides and games and shows and stuff. The $20 for parking(provided it didn’t go up this year) and the cost of getting in is already more than we can really afford.

Next week we’ll be going camping. I’m a little concerned because it’s supposed to be very hot and I don’t handle heat well, but we’re going anyway and hopefully I’ll do ok and we’ll have a great time. At least the car will be right there so if I start to get my usual heat exhaustion I can sit in the car with some a/c blasting if I have to lol.

I’m sure I won’t be able to post again for at least a week, so I hope everyone is having a great summer so far and hopefully I can get to some great posts I have in mind soon!

  Jolene

Friend Makin’ Monday

I am slacking big time, aren’t I? I’ve just been so busy and now hubby is on holidays, and we all know holidays mean being even busier, right? LOL. I don’t know how much I’ll be posting these next 2 weeks while he’s on holidays, we have this week planned with getting stuff done around the house, the week will end with taking in the Calgary Stampede, and then next week we’re going camping again(pleeeeeease let the weather cooperate!!). So don’t be surprised if it’s another couple of weeks before I’m posting much. I’m definitely feeling better than I was in my last post and have lots I want to blog about, just haven’t had the time.

Since it’s Monday I thought I would quickly participate in this weeks Friend Makin’ Monday.

If you’ve taken part in FMM then you know the rules. If you’re new, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog then add your link in the comments section here at: www.alltheweigh.com so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links here too so everyone has to opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

FMM: Quick Questions

1. What are your plans for Independence Day? I live in Canada, but we just had Canada Day yesterday. We spent the day working outside in the backyard.

2. What is the last thing interesting thing you drank? I never drink anything overly interesting LOL, but I treated myself to my favorite coffee tonight, Tim Horton’s XL Double Double, yum!

3. Share on of your favorite quotes. Not much of a quotes person(becoming more fond of them lately though), but I’ve loved a good many quotes from the great Ronald Reagan, one: "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."

4. Name someone or something that makes you smile.  My husband and my children

5. What will you/did you eat for lunch today? the usual, nothing LOL. My small appetite is definitely helping with the lack of money situation lol!

6. What’s the last movie that you watched and enjoyed? Can’t remember the last movie I watched, it has been a couple months since I watched one.

7. Share something sweet and unexpected that someone did for you recently. My hubby gave me a little back massage last night, LOL, I don’t get those very often anymore.

8. If you could spend ten days on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?  That’s a tough one. I would either want some gorgeous beach somewhere, or spend it on a road trip visiting ghost towns and other points of historic interest….there are so many ruins all over the world I want to see so badly.

9. What are you currently reading? Blogs LOL, that’s about it.

10. Share at least one thing that you’re looking forward to this week.  My hubby not going to work! And going to the Calgary Stampede on Friday. And most of all, my 15th Wedding Anniversary is this week!!

Now it’s your turn to answer the questions on your blog.  Don’t forget to come back and link up in the comments!  Happy Monday!