Another delay in the house building process

I talked to our builder today, and the completion date for our house has been delayed now until February. I am SO sad. At first they said November, and then there were delays with permits and it would be december, and then they said end of december, and then january, and now it's FEBRUARY!

I just want to MOVE IN ALREADY. Jeesh. My parents are coming at the end of february so I really hope there are no more delays in this whole process.

Thursday!

Another day at work. It only took me an hour to get to work (which normally takes about 30 minutes on a good day) so we have progress over yesterday’s 2 hour commute J I don’t have much to do, except take some meeting minutes for an executive committee meeting. This temp job doesn’t have a lot of tasks so my days are quite boring (and I can leave early, which is great except then I don’t get paid and I already took a huge pay cut as it is). Anyways, I hope to hear something today from the Consulate, although from past experience with the interview process when they say “you will hear by the end of the week” that really means we will call you NEXT WEEK. So I’m trying not to think about it too much.

Austin has worked late both nights, to the point where I don’t even see him. He worked Tuesday night at work until 10 pm, and last night he did come home at 7 pm but worked upstairs on the computer until midnight so I didn’t see him except for the dinner I made and practically shoved under the door. They are trying to hit some big deadline which is today, so I hope that tonight things will get back to normal and I will see my dear husband again J Plus, it’s the Office tonight and that’s my favorite show EVER! J

That’s all folks!

Snow...we have snow!

We have snow in Denver. A nice amount, not too much, not too little. However, my drive this morning to work was hellish. What usually takes 45 minutes took close to 2 hours. Eek. I work in Boulder, and it turns out that the City of Boulder doesn't actually plough their streets, clear them of snow, put ice melt or gravel or sand down or ANYTHING to try to help drivers be safe on the road. Needless to say t's one big icing rink and I feared for my live several times as I couldn't gain traction and neither could anyone else.

Fricken Boulder. I hope to leave at 4 tonight so I can get home by 6 and not drive in the dark when it's this crappy out. And really, the weather isn't all that bad, it's just the lack of snow and ice control in Boulder that makes it bad.

Smoke is coming from my ears...

There are plumes of smoke coming from my ears. I came home today, after a long commute home (due to the snow that was falling...why do people freak out when it starts to snow?) I enter the house, and low and behold, there is a card from a real estate agent on the counter. Normally, that'd be a great thing. We'd LOVE to sell our house, in fact we'll do whatever it takes. However...our real estate office is supposed to call us and give us a minimum of 2 hours notice that we are having a showing. usually, we get about 1/2 hour notice. But, for two weeks in a row, someone has entered our house WITHOUT US GETTING A CALL AT ALL. It creeps me out to think someone was in our house without us knowing. And, we have cats too. If it's during the week a lot of times we can't get home, but you never know. Sometimes we can get home and make sure the house is all tidy (in this case, it isn't. It is in fact, a disaster zone...kleenex everywhere becuase both of us are sick etc). It's not pretty.

SOOOOOOOOOOO frustrating.

The interview...

So, I had the interview this morning. It lasted about 45 minutes. They didn't really care all too much that I was Canadian which was a disappointment. They are interviewing a total of 5 candidates today, and hope to make a decision by the end of the week. I am really hopeful that I get it. It seriously would be such a joy to work for the Canadian Consulate :) I would skip to work every day (ok maybe not EVERY day but come on, with how much I love my home and native land it would make me feel LESS home sick). And YES, i still get homesick for Canada sometimes.

So anyways, I hope to hear later this week.

On other news, The House of Commons voted in Canada to recognize Quebec as a "nation within Canada" and voted overwhelmingly so. Quebec has always wanted to be it's own country and feels that it needs to be on it's own to retain it's culture (which is think is such a crock, since Canada is SUCH a melting pot as it is and is so accepting of other cultures). But anyways, it was a historic decision. I'm curious to see where this goes from here!

We are expecting a cold arctic front to come through Denver today and last a few days. It dumped a ton of snow in the Seattle area and Utah, and while the mountains near Denver will probably get a lot of snow, we probably won't see anything but cold cold temperatures. I wish it would snow already!

Have a great day everyone. Oh, and thanks SO much for all of your positive thoughts with my interview...it's nice to know I'm loved out in blog land :)

I got an interview!!!

I have an in person interview tomorrow at 9 am with the Canadian Consulate!!! I don't know how I'm going to get out of work but whatever...

YAHOO YAHOO!

The poopy sewage backup

The poopy sewage backup
Originally uploaded by grumpysnickles.

This morning I made pumpkin pancakes (to use up leftover pumpkin I had from thanksgiving). I was sitting down to scrapbook, and there was a knock at the back door. I opened it up, and our neighbor was on his phone and told me to check our basement for flooding. I said what, and he said check your basement, ours is flooding. So I run downstairs and sure enough, there is water in the corner a few inches deep and the carpet is soaked.

Austin was just finishing showering, so I yelled for him to come down to help me move stuff out of the way. Turns out, it was sewage backup from a drain that was full of aspen tree roots. I almost threw up when I started to see toilet paper in the stinky smelly mess (luckily no big poop lumps, but my god). The rotor rooter guy came out about 2 hours later and removed the big lumps of roots and we are now back to normal. We plan to throw the carpet out, and the area has been cleaned up and is back to normal. Ew. What a crappy way (pun intended!) to spend your sunday.

I'm not quite ready to go back to work tomorrow. I'm nursing a cough and cold and have enjoyed my 4 days off from work. I did not hear from the Canadian Consulate last week, but I figure with the holiday it might have been difficult to get the right people together and get their schedules synchronized. I really hope to hear from them this week!

I finished a scrap booking present that I made for my mom, mother in law, and aunt. It took a ton of time, but I think they will love it. I can't say what it is, because they read the blog :) Tonight I am just catching up on laundry in the poop basement and I think I'm going to go and watch desperate housewives now!

Have a great week everyone! :)

our house is coming along!

our house is coming along!
Originally uploaded by grumpysnickles.

this is a pic from last week!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope everyone has a great day and good food! I am done with the two pies (pumpkin and pecan) and a pumpkin cheesecake. We have our first dinner at Austin's parents house at 1 pm with the whole family that is local (all 19 of them) and then tonight we are having 6 other friends come over and I am cooking a dinner for them. I still have to do all of the veggies but I will do that when we get back from dinner number one (luckily they live 1 mile away so it's an easy commute!)

We also will probalby run by the new house and see what progress they have made.

Getting to Know Your Friends - Holiday Edition

I just received this as an email and I haven't seen the holiday one before so I thought it would be fun for my blog.

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot Chocolate. Pepermint Hot Chocolate to be exact. I like egg nog, but can't drink more than half of a glass.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa Wraps them of course! My parents use cloth bags that they made using christmas fabric, and then my mom crochet'd santa hats with our initials on them so you know whose gifts are for who.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? I prefer white on my tree, and red and green on the house

4. Do you hang mistletoe? yes. I usually never take it down during the year.

5. When do you put your decorations up? Around the middle of december.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? I really like artichokes.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child? I used to wake my parents up on christmas morning by getting up as early as I could, making coffee, and then turning on the loudest, most obnoxious christmas music i could find to let my parents know it was time to open presents!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? Pretty young, my mom doesn't have much patience for make believe stories so I'm sure she burst my bubble pretty early.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We actually open ALL gifts christmas eve in my family. My mom thought I would grow out of the getting up SUPER early to open presents, but when I turned 17 and was still doing my tradition of making coffee they decided to change the tradition and we now open presents Christmas eve after the first drink (around 9 pm).

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? With balls, lights, and ornaments. I try to avoid things that the cats will break if they play with it, and anything that they can eat.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? LOVE IT! I wish it snowed more in Denver

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, although I used to be a lot better than I am now. Now I'm pretty wobbly.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? One year I received a new MAC computer, that was a good gift!

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Being with family.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? I LOVE desert, all desert is good.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? My favorite holiday tradition is getting together with family and spending time with them.

17. What tops your tree? An angel.

18. Which do you prefer giving or getting? I like both to be honest. I like to get (who doesn't!) but I also like to give and see the joy when I have given a really great gift!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Jingle Bells

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? YUMMO!

Tuesday

Happy Tuesday! What does everyone have planned for thanksgiving? This year, we are going to be having TWO dinners. One will be at 1pm at Austin's parents house with the whole family, and then I am cooking a turkey myself for the group of friends that we have that don't have anywhere to go. I'm really looking forward to it, it should be a lot of fun. I have thursday and friday off of work of course, which is good but I don't get paid for them since I am a temp so my paycheck will be much lower than usual (and usual is much lower than what I am used to becuase this job pays a lot less than what I used to be paid before I was let go).

Speaking of the job, it's ...well fairly boring. I don't have a whole lot to do and spend most of the day on the internet trying to keep myself from going nuts. I really need a job that keeps me really busy, and this isn't the one to do it. I had a telephone interview with the Canadian Consulate yesterday and it went well, so I hope to get a face to face interview with them next week!

I haven't excersized in over 2 weeks :( Shame on me. I've been feeling really under the weather and haven't had the energy to go at all. I'm hoping that on Saturday I will feel up to going to the Body Pump class at the rec center that I always enjoy going to (and kicks my butt). My weight has remained steady over the past 3 weeks, I haven't lost and haven't gained.

Other than that, not much is really new with me! I hope everyone has a great turkey dinnner (or whatever!)

Pretty bored...

I'm pretty bored at work today. There isn't a whole lot to do. I doubt that this temp job is going to turn into something long term for me, all I seem to be doing is pushing papers around, typing up meeting minutes and managing the CEOs calendar in outlook (which changes frequently). It's ok, but it's by far not my dream job by any means. I'm talking to the Canadian Consulate by phone tomorrow, and I really hope that turns into something becuase boy, it sure would be an idea job for me to work for the Canadian Consulate in Denver. The best of both worlds!

Haven't gone by to see the house this week, by the time I get home from work it's dark so it doesn't make sense.

Other than that I don't have much news. I'm sick, don't feel all that great. I have caught a cold that I think Austin gave to me. Blech.

New job

So the new job was tiring this week. I lucked out by having the person who was in the job train me for 3 days which was nice, I'm usually used to just having to jump into the middle of something with no training. I liked everyone that I met, and the job seemed interesting. So we'll see how things progress. 10 people have left in the past month or so, out of a staff of about 30, so that is a bit concerning to me to be quite honest. I haven't figured out why there has been so much turn over lately, hard to ask that question when you just start!

I was exhausted after working though! I was used to my 2 months off where I relaxed, slept in, and had naps during the day! But I'm sure I will get into the swing of things.

On a side note, I did get a call back for a job at the Canadian Consulate in Denver, which would truely be my DREAM JOB to work for them. That would be a permanent job, so I'm hoping I do well on the telephone interview and bring me in for a face to face interview. The job I currently have with the medical clinic is temporary and through a staffing agency, so I don't get any benefits, time off, vacation, etc. So I really am still looking for something a bit more permanent.

I have a new job!!!

I start on wednesday! :) It's a temporary to permanent position with a staffing agency here in Denver, so I won't get benefits or paid time off like vacation or sick time, but it's something! AND, it has the potential to move into something more full time! I'm excited. I will be working with a non profit medical clinic in Boulder, heling run the office etc.

So, tomorrow is my last day of freedom! I'd better make it a good one! I borrowed season 1 of Desperate Housewives from a friend on the weekend (I just recently started watching the show) but i doubt I can get through 22 hours of programming in one day (without going absolutely nuts that is!). It will be nice to get a regular paycheck and use my brain again.

The cats are going to be in complete dispair, since I have been home for the past month after getting back from Holland they have been so attached to me all day long, they like having their mum at home talking to them and giving them lots of pets and attention!

Sunday

It's sunday, day of rest. Except for me, becuase I have no job to go to tomorrow. We went and saw the BORAT movie on friday night, funniest movie. I laughed pretty hard in some parts. But boy it sure was offensive in a few spots ;)

Last night we went to the Colorado Avalanche game. They were playing the Vancouver Canucks, so I got to hear the Canadian anthem which is always so cool for me. I always tear up, it makes me miss my home and native land. The game was a good one, the AVs eventually one the game, but it was close the entire game.

Today Austin is watching football and I am just putzing around. I might apply for some jobs later this afternoon, or do that tomorrow. I woke up this morning not feeling too well, so Christie and I weren't able to go body pump like I thought we could go. I'm sad. I'm just really sore today for some reason :(

Pissed...

I am SO pissed. I called Gleneen (the president of that small company I had 4 interviews with) again this afternoon. She is "in a meeting". She finally calls me back and tells me they decided not to hire me, since she thinks that she can be perceived as a micro manager and I don’t work well with micro managers. Which is totally true, but they knew that after the FIRST fricken interview, not 4 interviews later (never mind the fact I spent 2 hours there on monday observing their stupid payroll).

I'm So pissed. All that time for nothing. I feel like I was strung along for nothing.

And...what kind of fricken name is Gleneen for gods sake?

The waiting game...

The waiting game after one has had an interview (or in this case, 4 interviews!!!) is never a fun one. I had my 4th interview on monday and the gal I met with said they would be in touch. I've heard NOTHING, and it is two days later. I finally broke down and decided to call.

I think I was blown off. I asked to speak to Gleneen, who is the president. Mika, the receptionist, who I have spoken to many times, asked who was calling and I stated my name and she then said Gleneen is out of the office for the day. This is the classic excuse I always gave people when someone didn't want to be disturbed.

I left a message, saying I just wanted to follow up with my meeting with anita on Monday and wanted to find out where in the hiring process we were and gave her my contact info.

Arrrgh.

We didn't end up getting any more trick or treaters last night either.