Goddess in Progress

Happy Friday everybody! It’s the long weekend (CDN THANKSGIVING).  YAY!

I have so much on the go right now and I haven’t had a chance to post as much as I would like. Exercise has been non existent. Food has been decent. Class is going OK. I got 91.5% on my first test.

Not much planned for this weekend. Tonight will be tae and assembling my AVON order. Yeah, one order. Ho Hum. Well, at least it was a decent amount so I can’t complain too much.

Tomorrow will be definitely sleeping in. The kids no longer have weapons b/c they just weren’t having fun anymore and dreading going b/c the instructor was so grumpy all the time. I’m hoping to make it to the gym for yoga and I have a massage scheduled for afterward. Then it’ll be cleaning and laundry. Sunday is swimming, church, and the gym. The evening will be resting. Monday is Thanksgiving. I don’t think we’re having a big dinner or anything but I probably have my parents over since they have everything packed and there’s not much they can do over there. My sister will probably be busy with her new house too. At some point, I’ll have to complete a couple of chapters for English and a writing assignment.

That’s about it for me. Have a good weekend everyone.

Here’s my weekend wrap up:

FRIDAY
Studied all evening for my HR exam on Saturday until I couldn’t read any more. Went to bed at around 10:15 or so. I was so tired.

SATURDAY
Up bright and early to write the exam. I was dreading it. I just had this sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to do very well. There was just so much to remember. Got through the exam in 2 hrs (we were allotted 3 hrs). It wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. I think I did OK. I won’t find out my final grade for another 2 wks or so.

After the exam, I went home and got ready for my cousin’s wedding. Made it to the church ceremony with time to spare. After the church ceremony, I went home, showered and got dressed for the reception.

The reception was a lot of fun. I’ve posted some pics on FB. Toward the end of the night my stomach really started to hurt. I had major cramping but I didn’t have to go to the bathroom or anything. The next morning I felt better but then started to get some cramping in the afternoon again. My stomach still hurts a little bit today. DD was in the bathroom all night Saturday night so I think there was something going on with the food.

SUNDAY
Got up early and took the kids swimming. Then I did the laundry and cleaned up, made dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the evening. It was so nice to not have to read any chapters for school. I did want to go to the gym yesterday but I didn’t end up going b/c DH took forever coming back from soccer. DS had a friend over and I didn’t want to leave the three kids at home alone.

Not much planned for today. I have a few things to do at lunch but I’m not sure which errand I want to run. Cheater is off sick today. Boss is here but I hope he leaves so I can catch up on some Avon paperwork. Sales haven’t been good at all. I really need to think about where I can drop off more brochures.

Well…I think that’s it for today. Have a great day everyone!

Hello Everyone!  Thought I’d get on here and post a quickie.  Work has been busy…go figure.  ;P

Anyway, Vicki and Tawnya were asking what’s involved in the HR course.  This course was actually an elective.  I thought it would be easy…payroll, etc.  It turned out to be so much more.  This course entails job criteria, recruiting, interview and selection process, training, orientation, payroll, benefits, managing grievances and claims, union establishment, union rules, standards, ethics, laws, budgeting, etc.  It’s endless!  Sheesh!  I’ll be happy to get this class over with.

I got my first in-class English report back yesterday and I got 9/10.  The teacher said there are no problems with my writing except for a few minor grammatical things, i.e. sentence structure, etc.

I don’t think I ever updated you guys but my interview last week went really well with the admin assistant.  Then I met with the VP, the person I’d be reporting to.  His questions were hard and I left there feeling not so sure.  I did get an email later that afternoon requesting the 2nd and final round of interviews (today).  I had no idea what the salary range was.  I tried in vain to reach someone in HR and I only got a hold of someone today.  Turns out their high range is exactly what I make now plus two weeks (non negotiable) vacation.  I had to decline.  Why would I drive to the other end of the city and pay for parking for the same amount of money plus lose 3 weeks vacation (I currently get 5).  I sent a “thanks but no thanks” email and cancelled tonight’s interviews.  I feel OK about it though.  I was really torn about working so much farther.  Plus, now that my mom is moving in two weeks, there would be no one close enough to pick up DD from school should something happen.  If I stay here, I’m only 20 minutes away.  So that’s that.

Yesterday was my birthday so I didn’t really watch what I ate.  Actually, now that I think about it, it wasn’t bad at all except for a piece of ice cream cake for dessert.

That’s it for me today.  Boss has landed back in town and I expect him back in the office tomorrow.

Hello everyone!

Didn’t get a chance to post this weekend, so here’s my wrap-up:

FRIDAY
Went to tae w/ the kids. After that didn’t do a heck of a lot.

SATURDAY
Woke up, starting cleaning and started the laundry. I was planning to go to yoga but when I finally looked up at the time there was only 15 minutes left before class started. There was no way I was going to make it on time, so I didn’t end up going.

In the late afternoon, the family went to Wal-Mart for a few things and then DH wanted to go for dinner so we headed to Kelsey’s restaurant. We had a nacho fully loaded appetizer. I didn’t have very much of it b/c my side caesar salad came out at the same time, so I ate that. I also had a sausage stuffed ravioli in tomato sauce for dinner. The raviolis were rectangular in shape and there were about 8 of them or so. I also splurged on a lime daiquiri. Yum. Of course, I was sleepy within minutes.

We went home and I tried to stay up for SNL but I fell asleep about 1/2 hr into the show. Just couldn’t keep my eyes open. Didn’t sleep very well. I was cold.

SUNDAY
Woke up early and took the kids to swimming. Then we went home, showered, and headed to church. After church, I waited around for my mother who was 1 1/2 HRS LATE for furniture shopping. We didn’t end up checking the stores I wanted to see b/c there was just no time. We only visited two stores. I could’ve stayed home to study instead. >:(

Tonight I’ll be hitting those stores with DH. My mom said to buy whatever b/c she trusts my taste, so I’ll see what I can do. After the shopping, I need to read chapter 4 for English and continue studying for my Human Resources exam this Saturday. I’m starting to feel like I’m running out of time.

That’s it for today. I’m somewhat busy at work trying to keep track of all the designer’s changes so I might not be able to read/comment until later on tonight.

Have a great day everyone!

BTW…food was pretty lousy on Sat/Sun but I’ve recorded everything anyway.

Good morning everyone!  It’s finally Friday.  I’m working 1/2 day today b/c I have an interview at 1 p.m.  I’m dressed professionally, have subtle makeup, and am lightly scented.  On the downside, I have a hive on my right eye!  GEEZ LOUISE.  Thanks a lot.  I took 2 Benedryl this morning to see if the swelling goes down a bit.  It’s not incredibly noticeable but my eyes look a little off balance, if that makes any sense.  Hopefully it’ll go down completely before I get there.

I don’t have many plans for this weekend other than the usual cleaning and laundry.  I would like to study as well b/c my human resources exam is next Saturday.  English class was OK last night.  I don’t mind it so much.  The teacher’s pretty cool.

Food is still OP.  I haven’t had any exercise fit into the equation yet so I need to get my butt in gear with that.

Sunday I’m going furniture shopping with my mom for her new condo.  YAY!  Can’t wait to see what’s out there.  I haven’t been shopping in a while b/c I’m trying not to spend. 

I think that’s it for today ladies.  Have a great weekend!

Good morning everyone! I hope everyone’s doing well.

I’m happy to report that food is still OP. I had a bout of the munchies last night so I had 10 almonds just before dinner. DH and DD were munching on Doritos. I tried to avoid them but the stuffing was taking long (or so I thought…things take much longer when you’re hungry). I ended taking 4 1/2 Doritos and I stopped there. Basically, I asked myself if I wanted to break out with hives and I said no. That’s all there was to it. Boy did those 4 Doritos every taste good. LOL. Zesty Cheese!

I headed up to the intermediate class for the kids’ sparring class. After that class was over, the other double black striped kids shuffled into class while mine sat out in the lobby. There were 3 new adult students. I can’t help but think that DS was bumped down to make room for these adult students, which is just plain wrong. Whatever happened to loyalty? Anyway, I sent him an email this morning to let him know that DS was going to be taking his appropriate (advanced) classes and that DD was going to the intermediate class for sparring only since she’s so tiny. He sent me an email again and apologized for everything. That actually helped me to feel less angry. As it stands, everything’s OK and I hope it stays that way until grading. BTW…someone asked what grading was in my comments. Grading is basically the test that’s performed before they advance to the next belt. Black belt grading is incredibly taxing and grueling. I think the last BB grading started with laps, 500 jumping jacks, 200 push-ups, crunches, etc. Then you have to do all the kicking drills, punching drills, walking drills (kicking and punching while you walk), patterns starting from 4 corner punching followed by patterns 1 to 10, sparring with your classmates and sparring with each of the black belt panel, breaking boards with hands and kicks, and finally…the cool down which is another set of jumping jacks, push-ups and ab work. It’s quite normal for the student to take the next day off school b/c they simply can’t move. Poor thing. I’m going to be crying LIKE A SUCKER! My poor son…;). I’m so proud of him!

I had started this post earlier in the day and it’s now just after lunch. I worked on some homework during lunch. I better get this thing posted. Have a great day ladies!

Wednesday…that’s about all the excitement I can muster.  LOL.

Nothing spectacular happening right now.  Food is still OP.  Class was OK last night.  Boss is still on vacation.

During lunch, I’m going to the grocery store to pick up a BBQ chicken and a side salad.  I forgot my lunch in this morning’s haste to leave.  Not sure what sides to make for dinner w/ the chicken.  We shall see.

That’s about it really.  I’m off to read and comment.

Good morning everyone!  Not much going on here today.  I finished up a year end yesterday and I’m working on the second one today.  I think I’ll be done today b/c there’s really nothing to do in this company.  It’s straight payables.  The main company is the one that handles all the taxes, payroll, etc and that’s the one I finished.

Food was OP yesterday.  I didn’t get to the gym b/c DD was feeling sick.  She had a stomach ache the night before and it lasted all day yesterday as well.  She had been throwing up too.  She’s feeling better today and is back at school.

Tonight is class so there will be no gym for me.  I have to complete my homework during lunch and finish up some reading.

That’s about it for me today. 

YOU HAVE TO READ MY PREVIOUS ENTRY FOR THIS ENTRY TO MAKE SENSE.

can you confirm what time friday’s class is? has it been changed back to 8 p.m. or at we staying at the 7 p.m. time?

7pm on Fridays is still the time and I would like Aaron & Raychel to start coming for the 7pm class on Mondays & Wednesdays when they do come. There are more kids their size and I think it will be better for them @ that time. Thanks.

so you want aaron and ray to come at 7 p.m. for all three classes? isn’t that bumping aaron down? he won’t be practising with daniel and steven.

I will be setting up the class on Thursday nights (7:30 – 8:30) for that. Daniel only came back yesterday and it was the first chance I could speak to his father. They are trying to change around his music lessons on Thursday night to accommodate that time and it will take another week or so to confirm. If they can’t do that time, I am going to use the 8-9pm slot on Friday nights, which is why I am leaving that time open and not changing the schedule back. I will be working on patterns with the coloured belts on Friday nights 7-8 and I don’t have anyone Aaron or Raychel’s size in the Wednesday night sparring class so I am just trying to move things around. I am going to do the same move for Mark & Luke Stewart since it’s a similar situation. Everyone once in a while I have to re-adjust the classes so that none of the classes are under or overloaded.

It has nothing to do with bumping anyone up or down. No one in the adult classes have complained and I am just trying to do what I think is good for everyone, so please understand. We can talk tomorrow night and I have no problem involving the kids in the discussion. Nothing is cut in stone yet.

Thanks.

maybe the adults haven’t complained b/c they’re only switching one day, i.e. Friday. i really have to think this over. it just doesn’t make sense to me when a couple of months ago, aaron needed help with sparring so elvis’ class was suggested and now he’s being bumped down to the smaller sized kids. i understand that aaron’s size is a factor but i don’t think he’s going to improve if he’s sparring with lower belt kids. aaron has 8 yrs experience and 1/2 of that class has way less than that.

i had to juggle my schedule to accommodate the extra thurs class with my own classes and now there’s a possibility that that’s going to get changed again?

i’m actually really upset and i don’t want to get into it at class on friday. i have to figure out how i’m going to proceed from here.

If it’s that much of a problem, then we will just leave things as they are. I don’t think you understand what I am trying to do and the last thing I want is to have you or your kids upset. I know that things are tough enough as is, so let’s just leave it the way things are and I will just work on the new Thursday or Friday night black belt class. Leave the Friday night time of 8-9 open just in case Thursday doesn’t pan out. I will keep the other kids in Aaron’s class also (Luke, Mark, Tyler & Sabrina) so that should work out. I haven’t discussed this with anyone else since I always bring things like this to you first, so no harm done. I appreciate your input, as always. I was trying to make things better (or so I thought!), not worse so please accept my apologies for bringing it up.

I know that you switched things around for the Thursday class and I did as well. I explained to the other kids and parents that they had to make the same accommodations and if it doesn’t work out on Thursdays for them, then I will have to do it both nights to accommodate everybody, which I don’t mind doing. Remember that I told you I had to confirm the date and time with everyone, but if you have already changed your own schedule in anticipation of that, then they will have to do the same or I will have to do it both nights. Please try to calm down and I will make this all work out.

these are the highlights of our phone conversation:
1. he admitted that he just wanted to move ray but thought he’d move aaron down too so ray didn’t feel bad.
2. he agreed that aaron wouldn’t be improving his sparring techniques if he sparred with the lower belts
3. he agreed and said i had a valid point when i brought up the issue about the patterns. aaron is on pattern #10, which is the black belt pattern. i told him moving him to the intermediate class…aaron would never get to his #10 b/c it takes so long. they run through each pattern about 5 times. i told him aaron was bored of patterns and starting him at pattern #1 over and over again was ridiculous.
4. i told him once aaron was graded i was gone.
5. i told him i didn’t have a problem moving ray down b/c she was smaller and she’s a lower belt (she was originally bumped up b/c her class (intermediate) was full). i told him moving aaron didn’t make sense b/c the three boys grading should be taking class together. i asked him to consider how aaron would feel once i announced he was moving down.

he’s such a spaz. those of you who have been reading my blog for years know the problems i’ve had with the tae club when the original club suddenly folded b/c the owner was stealing money from the parents. well, this instructor agreed to open his own club to continue w/ the children. most of the parents followed. he keeps bringing that up. “the parents asked me to open…they all said they’d follow…there’s only a handful left”, etc. the parents that have dropped out, have done so b/c he keeps increasing the monthly fees (every 3 months or so). he charges different fees for different people. the parents find out and they walk. all the parents that have left, left b/c he screwed them over. he won’t be doing the same to me!

Good morning everyone!  Hope everyone’s been doing well.

There has been lots of things happening here but it’s just way too much to type out.  Here are some highlights:

JOB SEARCH
I have been to an interview with an agency that fills positions for the government. I had to perform some MS Office testing. I guess it went OK. I was told that I could get the results of my testing but no one’s called me back (not for the scores and not for any positions either). I guess that was a waste of time.

I rec’d an email last week from one of Canada’s largest pharmacy chains. They’re requesting a back to back interview this Friday. I will be meeting with two people. I was so surprised to get that email. It was so unexpected. I had to review my applications and it turns out I applied to them August 11th. I can’t even remember the details of the job posting. I do know that it’s for an admin assistant position. Ideally, I was looking for an exec admin position. Oh well, can’t have it all, I suppose.

There is one drawback to this position. It’s in the east end of the city. I’m really not looking forward to the commute. So, I’m going to go for the interview, gets some more details, i.e. salary and benefits to see if it’s worth it.

SCHOOL
I submitted my final assignment for my online Human Resources course yesterday. So far I’m doing really well, so I’m very happy about that! I got the following on my first 6 assignments: 1) 3.5/5, 2) 4/5, 3) 10/10, 4) 10/10, 5) 9/10, and 6) 9/10. I won’t get the results of assignment 7 for another two weeks. Our final exam is October 3rd. I have two weeks to study. I have a wedding on October 3rd so I’ll have to miss the church ceremony and just head to the reception.

My English course is two nights/week (Tues & Thurs). There’s a lot of work to be done and so much to learn. I actually had a bit of a headache after last class. As an adult, you don’t really worry about grammar and writing so much. You just do it. Factor in everything you learned in elementary school and eventually forgot…good lord…nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, past, present and future tenses, prepositions, sentence structure…ahh! That’s just chapter 2. LOL. On a positive note, the teacher’s pretty cool.

WORK
Still the same. Boss is in Italy and won’t be returning until Thursday of next week. Cheater is rarely here since he’s busy renovating his home purchase. Leech has been coming around more often and as always, is a pain in the a$$.

HEALTH
Hives are under control. I get maybe one or two a day. Nothing I can’t manage.

Haven’t been going to the gym on a regular basis but I do plan on going tonight.

Food has been so/so. I’m really good during the day and then just eat whatever at night for a variety of reasons. Mostly b/c of lack of time to fix something proper. I’ve spoken to a nutritionist and I think I’m going to use her services to help me figure out what’s causing the few hives that I do get. I’ve been able to narrow it down to food choices, i.e. namely rice, white bread (refined carbs), potatoes, french fries, and chips. Things of that nature. I seem to be OK with whole grain foods and brown or wild rice. The nutritionist is going to cost me $429. I can break this up into 3 payments and includes the following:
Three Month:
* Initial 1.5 hour session
* Personalized meal plan - includes foods, portions, etc…
* Nutrition booklet, recipes, shopping list, handouts, etc…
* 11 - half hour follow up sessions
* Before and after photo
* Measurements and weight taken

GENERAL
The tae instructor really got on my nerves last week. I’ll have to cut and paste our email correspondence for reading. He really upset me. The jest of it is the following: DS is finally grading for his black belt this December (after 8 yrs of training). There are 3 students in total going for black belt. These 3 students are in the advanced class. Last week I get an email from the instructor telling me that he wants to move DS to the intermediate class. You can read what happened from there. There was a phone call in between these emails as well. I will post the highlights of that discussion as well. I have decided to stick with the club until DS gets graded and I am pulling DD from this club and putting her in another club as of January.

I think that’s pretty much it for now. Off to read and comment!