The Season of Procrastination

The countdown is on. Only 12 short days until my final exam. My brain hurts from all the studying I've done over the years for this. Finally - one left, and I feel spent. I hope I can manage enough energy and desire to study sufficiently for this exam. I'm doing quite well going into it. My mid-term which I was so nervous about, (and which I would have probably marked at 65%, I got a 91% - how that's even possible, I don't know, but I'm not complaining. Anyways, I think I'm going into the exam with 25% already - so I'd be pretty hard up not to get at least a 70% in the class. We'll see. This next 12 days can't come quickly enough, that's for sure.

Life has been busy lately. Work, entertaining, hanging out with my amazing hubby, keeping my house reasonably clean, (I've even started to think that paying someone to do it wouldn't be too bad...) and getting ready for our trip. Its been a gong show. I'm feeling extremely tired...probably due to my caffeine overdose on Monday. Normally I drink 1 cup of coffee a day, and sometimes a diet pop. That's it. On Monday (my Mother-in-law was over) I started off the day with 2 cups of tea, then in the afternoon, I enjoyed a large Tim Hortons Double Double (which won me another in Rooooll up the Rim to Win). Then I drank a pop for dinner, and then another coffee at Cathy Hooge's place. I was exhausted, but I was vibrating from all the energy inside me. Anyways, I didn't sleep a wink until about 6am that day. That sucked.

I've also been having tough luck with booking this online - and so the saga continues.

A couple weeks ago, I booked a hotel for us in Berlin for 3 nights. A whopping 274 Euro's (which was cheaper than the one I'd originally booked for us). Immediately after booking, I noticed their site had in small print, far below the reservation, that they charge you a deposit of 1 nights stay, which is non-refundable. I also noticed that they made 2 bookings for me. I immediately (literally within 1 minute of sending the reservation) I sent an email advising them there'd been an error, and would they please cancel my reservation. They advised me they have "laws" and could not cancel the reservation without charging me the non-refundable deposit. Also they would not cancel the 2nd reservation without the non-refundable portion. (which is $140 Canadian). I finally wrote an email to the original booking centre (BOOKING.COM which I would highly recommend), and they had this hotel cancel the one booking, but they were unable to help with the deposit. Fine.

Anyways, its 2 weeks since they charged my credit card, and they still haven't returned the 2nd deposit. Its making me really mad. I think despite the charge, I think we're going to stay somewhere else...I hate supporting businesses that have horrible business practices, and I feel like that's what this company has. What kind of company, charges you 20% of your entire stay, if you decide to make a cancellation with them well over a month in advance of the booking? That's bizarre.

Anyways - that's one of the weird things I'm having to deal with - well actually I deal with these things, until they get messy, and then my amazing husband steps in, like superman, and fixes the whole mess I've made. I like him (not superman, my husband).

I got to talk to my Dad for a long time today. I like him. I wish him and I lived a lot closer to one another, or else I wish one of us had a plane. One of those comfy ones that they have on Criminal Minds with the comfy leather seats, and stuff - anyways, I wish we had a plane, and could take a plane ride to each other's house for lunch if we wanted. That'd kinda be a waste of money, and the green people would probably have a hemorrhage, but it'd be really fun. Its been about 9 months since I've seen my Dad, even longer since I've seen my Mom. I guess such is life. I decided to move West.

I should be studying - I told Troy I would have to spend the night studying, however I've done very little studying...bad shara. Its so hard...I have so many other things I'd rather be doing, including pulling out my toe nails, and cleaning toilets.

Plus I'm sleepy.

I better go find Troy to see if we can watch Big Brother, I've missed it the last 2 nights. Or maybe I should really study!

S

Problems

I have problems. Last week I ordered a dress for my Mom's wedding online - I ordered it to the wrong address, and in the wrong size. I also didn't give them my expiry date on my credit card. Then today, I booked a flight for my Mother-In-Law to come to visit for Easter, and instead of booking her from Kelowna to Calgary, I booked the flight from Calgary to Kelowna, which won't really help her. Then on my way home today, I forgot to put the lid on my water bottle, and the entire 2 liter of water leaked into my seat (this is not the first time this has happened!). Seriously, what is wrong with me? Apparently I have problems.

Well my husband is home, and I should go and sop up my seat...

S

I Love Mondays

Mondays are my day of solace in a crazy busy time in my life. I've been able to sleep in a lot lately, so that's been a blessing in itself, because I'm not the best at sleeping. Today I slept in until about 9:45am, and then got up, had some yogurt and some water, and then showered, and headed off. I had a couple tasks to do today. First of all - the Bottle Depot.

I know a lot of places are not like this, but in Calgary, you do not have some nice man, driving by your house in a big truck, picking up all your treasures which you place in a blue box on your curb. Neither do we have the same "service" we had in our old condo, where your garbage was rummaged though, for any special treasures, mostly by homeless people. I felt like I was doing a good deed by depositing my bottles/cans in there for them, because then they found a treasure in the midst of the leftover spaghetti (and don't think I'm that cruel - I normally put them in a separate bag). No longer do we have any special service people, picking up our cans. Before Christmas I put a bag of cans in my trunk, hoping to make it to the bottle depot. Well - its March 3rd, and this is the first time since we moved in in June that I've gotten to the depot, for a couple reasons.

First of all, it really stinks in there. Like stale beer - amongst other things. Its also really dirty, and gross in there. Also, its always SO busy, so not only are you spelling nasty smells, you have to wait for a free "table". And finally - you get only pennies. take for example this. My entire trunk was filled. You couldn't have fit anything else in there, if you tried. And my cute little civic has a pretty good sized trunk. Anyways - $16.75 is all I got back. Oh well. Its better than a trunk full of cans I guess. I think that should be a saying.

From there, I headed over to my massage therapists, for a relaxing lovely massage. It was wondrous.

I had a few things to pick up, so I thought I would make a trip to the Superstore. I love this store - although it has its quirks too. I spent a while in there picking out some new cloths, and looking at all the home deco's. The one thing you need to look out for at superstore, is overcharging. I've had it happen a couple times where the posted price is not what comes up when they ring it through. If you're not looking carefully, or not paying attention, you'll end up paying more for what you're purchasing. for me today, this was a hurricane bowl. It was on sale for $7.44, and it rang through at $19.99. Good thing for me, I caught it.

After my fun at superstore, I was off to vote. Unfortunately, they moved the polling station from the place they had it for the last election. So after parking at the far side of the parking lot, and walking all the way to the school - there was a sign that said the voting was going to be done at a different school. So I had to drive around a little bit, cause I wasn't totally sure what school it was, but there aren't too many in Renfrew. I tried another one, only to find that I wasn't on the voting list, because I was at the wrong school. With an address in hand, I was off to find yet another school - which wasn't even in Renfrew. How weird is that? Finally found it - and it was kinda funny cause the guy looking me up on his list, didn't even know the alphabet, he had a very difficult time finding Bierman.

Is it weird they don't need Photo ID to vote?

Since then I've been home, keeping up to date with Oprah and Dr. Phil, and tidying my cute house. Troy should be home soon - assuming he has no problems finding the polling station.

Anyways - Have a great March 3rd!

S

Brain Fried

Well I think all that studying psyched me out for my exam. I'm sure I passed, and I know the brains that God gave me, generally, are good ones, but I think I fried them with all the studying, because I don't think I did nearly as well on my exam as I could have done. Have you ever had something so silly on the tip of your tongue, and yet you can't remember it? That's how I felt throughout my exam. I can honestly say, I did the best that I could have. But in hind-sight, I know the area's I should have studied a bit better now. :)

I'm exhausted but so glad to be done, I'd like to celebrate, but I doubt that's going to happen. Such is life...and I'm not quite done yet. In 5 weeks, I'll be done, and I can't wait.

Calgary is the only place where we can have a blizzard in the morning, and by the afternoon people are driving around with their convertible tops down. What a weird place.

I better get to bed.

S

Still Studying...

Its nearly time for my test. At this time tomorrow I'll be doing a little jig of celebration that my mid-term is over. Studying is so boring, although I'm proud of myself that I've been doing it so dilligently. I studied SO hard on Monday and last night, and on my lunch breaks. Tonight I had my floor hockey game, and now I'm tired, my brain is fried, and Big Brother is on. Who can resist. So I'll take some rest time, and then back to the books...

Please "say a little prayer for me..."

S

All Studied Out

I've been keeping my nose in the books - hopefully it helps in my upcoming exams. I don't think I've ever really done excellent in exams. I'm not great at articulating myself under pressure unfortunately. I've always passed my exams, thank God for that, but I've never ever aced a written exam. Pardon me, I think I got 99% on my Music Theory exam a couple years ago, but that was thanks to the devoted pressure of my music teacher, and the excellence she demanded. I should pay her to be my tutor for everything. :) Everyone should pay her to be their tutor for everything for that matter! Myself and my lovely friend Michelle aced our grade 11 drama exam (I think it was grade 11). We did a dialogue - I think it was 45 minutes long, and pretty shocking;y dramatic. I believe it was between two very disturbed young women. In fact, we did so well at it, that our school of 800+ students had an assembly and Mitch & I performed our dialogue at it. It was pretty cool. WE got 100%. I think that may have been because our teacher was...how can I say...a bit of a push over. Michelle and I would tell him that we were going to practice and wouldn't be able to be present in class that day, and somehow that was fine with him, even when he came to check up on us, and we happened to be cooking waffles in the hallway for those who passed by. That was interesting. I think I also aced some music exams in High-school - once again attributed to an excellent teacher, who inspired excellence. Or perhaps I just do better at exams than I think.

Do you think its a bit of a crock that your exams are not returned to you? I do. They don't even re-use exams, or exam questions anyways, what would be the harm. I bet they would have so many more review requests that way. I am just curious to know how badly I butchered the questions, or which answer on the multiple choice was correct.

Anyways. Oh High school. Speaking of Michelle - I remember the day we met. She was sitting in front of me and my friend Julie in our science class. I believe Mr. Collie was our teacher - although I'm not sure why the gym teacher was teaching science, but that's ok. Julie & I decided we should be nice and say hi to the new girl, and wasn't that one of the best decisions I ever made. Michelle is one of the most loyal devoted friends anyone could ever think up. I love her, and I'm totally bummed we have to live so far away from one another. Maybe one day that will chance. I miss her.

I don't think there's too much else to write, except my brain is fried, and I can't wait to go to bed. I didn't sleep well last night unfortunately, and I'm paying the price right now. Hopefully everything I've studied today has sunk its way into my brain.

Oh and its probably been long enough now, that I can make a post about this, my cutie-pie baby brother Andy has been offered a job on Waterloo Regional Police, as a good ol' Police Man. I'm so proud of him.

S

Thank - You Troy!

Thanks Troy for making me this lovely blog! You're so creative and talented!

Pretty

Isn't my new blog format cute? I absolutely love it. My husband worked all day at this, and having never designed a blog like this before, I think he did fan-freakin- tastic! He still has a few tweeks to make, including changing the photo (I think the one above makes me look like a fat head).

In other news, we spent the evenings with the Pritchards. I love moments I get to share with Jack, even though I know, I'm pretty much at the bottom of the totem pole of people he likes to spend time with. Anyone pales in comparison with his Mom, followed by his Dad as a close second. Anyone else is basically at the bottom, and I am fine with this, as even short spurts of moments where I can read him "Cowboy Bunny" or play horsies with him, or just snuggle him are work everything in the world. I love him, and he has the most adorable smile. I'll post one, so everyone can see what I mean.

Chelsea and I went to see "Definitely Maybe" tonight. It was adorable, and I loved it. Andrew and troy went to see some weird Jack Black movie. I love Jack Black, he's hilarious, but I'd definitely go see "Definitely Maybe" again. It was great.

Once again, I'm up too late. Here's Jack, and I'm off to bed.

S

Rip Off

I can't buy games for my new "Bierman Europod" aka - ipod Touch. We bought the one with the 32 wha-cha-ma-call its (whatever that means), and I can't even play games. What is it good for anyways. Boo. At least it says "but mostly belongs to Shara" on the back (engraved). At least its mine. :)

Its so wonderful outside right now. I may think differently if I was sitting outside, but I am sitting in my cloud-bed, typing on my laptop, with my window open with a soft breeze floating through the window. A little chills, but mostly so wonderful. I can't wait until spring.

Its nearly the weekend, and I can't believe how fast time flies. Its nearly the end of February! Wasn't it just Christmas?

I have my mid-term next week on Thursday, so aside from spending the evening with my bestest friend in the world Chelsea tomorrow, I think I'll be keeping my face in the books for the next week. BOO TO THAT. But the end is near. 2 short months from this very moment, I will be finished with my CIP designation, and my goal will be accomplished.

When I started my job, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I figured I should do as much at the job I currently had, as I could. (I was a receptionist). So I let my employer know I was interested in becoming an insurance broker, and they did everything they could to assist me in that, and I challenged the licensing exam shortly after that, and I got my insurance license. Then I decided it would be best if I worked towards the same designations as my boss had, so I set my mind to that, and a couple years later, got my CAIB designation. After a short break, I embarked on a bigger challenge, and that was to get my CIP designation. Once April rolls around, and I write (and hopefully pass) my exam, I will have the same educational designations as my boss. (I say educational, as I'll never have the experience, or brilliance she has for this stuff I don't think!)

Anyways, I am proud of myself. So Nearly 6 years later, and after 13 courses, 4 - 3 & 1/2 hour exams, 8 - 3 hour exams, and I'll have accomplished this goal. :) I can't wait. My next goal may be to get a designation one of my peers has called "The Fellowship", but that idea is more of a "it'd be fun to be in the fellowship (of the rings)", but we'll see. That's a pretty big goal to have, considering the course requirements is at least as many courses as I've already done, all in University - so we'll see.

So much work talk. Its just that I've been super busy, dealing with only complicated situations, so its difficult to get my mind off work. I wasn't able to pull myself away from work this week, in order to take a lunch break, until today when I made myself. It was really good and therapeutic to get away, even for a short hour.

I'm rambling and once again, am up later than I intended to be, as I'm overtired.

Good Night all, thank you for reading.

S

Cranky in Calgary

I am cranky today. I'll just start off by saying that, in case you can see that coming though in this post. Troy is currently as far away from me as he can get in this house, and I think that's probably a really great idea. I think its a combination of being tired, not being faithful in getting up early to read my bible, and a crazy busy day with no stopping for breath. I didn't even have time to take a lunch break, and as I was sitting at my desk, after closing, I looked to see if anyone else at the company I work at was still working - to find out it was only me. :) I don't think that's ever happened on a week day before.

I'm relaxing now, and watching American Idol. I love reality tv, - BIG BROTHER is really fun too. Totally smut television, but so interesting. And this dude currently singing - Garret, he's horrible.

I've recently discovered that I may be accident prone. This past weekend alone, I've fallen down the stairs, cut my finger on my food processor, and knocked over an entire cup of coffee on our newest and funnest board game, and knocked a can of coke all over our carpet in the family room. The more I think about it - the more I realize how true that really is. I think I must be accident prone.

Anyways, I'm tired.

S

Sleepy Times

I should be off to bed, but I'm too tired to make it upstairs, and shower my sweaty self. I just got home from my floor hockey game. It is not my idea of fun, to play floor hockey at 10pm at night. Especially when there are only 3 girls on my team this year. BOO. Anyways, we haven't done so well this year, I think we're in the bottom of our league, but we do have fun, and we normally manage to find something to gripe about, regarding the other team.

Do you know of certain things that used to drive your Dad crazy when you were a kid? Some of my Dad's were slurping soup off your spoon, allowing your teeth to contact your eating utensil, and drawing pictures on the inside of car window's. I can honestly say, that last one, is getting to me too. SORRY DAD FOR ALL MY YEARS OF WINDOW PICTURES. I guess you don't hate that someone else does it, until you're the one who has to clean it, or the one who has a hard time seeing out the window when you're driving because of it.

Someone- not to mention any names (Troy) has scraped nearly every inch of window I can see out of, with a credit card. I know it was Troy cause I, like my Dad, would never do such a thing myself. in fact, did I tell you about the frozen car incident a couple weeks ago? Even in that situation, it never occurred to me, to do such a thing. Anyways, today I had to go get a car wash, because I could not see out my car windows, as my car was too dirty. Literally, every move I made, was in faith, that God would not let me hit anyone, cause I could not see. Anyways, after sitting in the car-wash line for 40 minutes, I finally got my car all shiny and clean, only to notice that now the inside windows of my car are all nasty. I think someone may have a job to do on Saturday (not to mention any names (TROY!!))

Anyways, I better get to bed, or I'll never be able to get up in the morning.

Ciao!

S

Do You Make Sure Your Bills Are Paid?

How closely do you monitor your bank account. Do you ensure that each bill you've set up to be paid by your credit card is paid? Do you ensure that each bill you've set up to be taken automatically from your bank account is taken? Would you notice if your bank forgot to take your mortgage out of your bank account for say ... 8 months? What about your car payment? Would you think they were just doing you a gigantic favor if your mortgage company didn't take the payment from your account....WHOHOO! FREE MONEY!, or would you immediately get on the phone and find out if there is a problem?

I had a client surprised today to find out she has had no insurance since August when her policy was canceled for not paying it. I suppose its a little much to expect she notice that she has a spare $350 in her bank account every month - or perhaps the letter she had to go pick up at the post office telling her it was going to be canceled, or just maybe it was the 3 frantic phone messages left on her voicemail which she didn't return. Anyways.

Waking Up With a Song

Do you ever wake up with a song in your head? Like you may have been singing it all night? I always do. Every day. I actually enjoy it, and it doesn't stay in my head all day, just until I'm out of the shower. It's great. Its usually a hynm or some other kind of worship song that I head on the radio or on a cd. :)

Its the long weekend, and I'm really enjoying it. What I'm not enjoying is remembering at this time tomorrow I'll be back at work! It has been a great weekend so far.

First of all, Friday, Troy made me a Valentines Day dinner. We were unable to celebrate on Valentines day because I had class, so Friday night, he kicked me out of the kitchen, and cooked me a wonderful Maple Glazed Salmon, rice, and Asparagus. For dessert it was chocolate dipped strawberries which he made himself. It was really great. The rest of that evening we relaxed, and caught up on our tv watching (thanks to the PVR, what a great invention).

Saturday we slept in, and tidied up our guest room, doing a bit of organizing in the storage space. Then we headed off to the local gym. Fitness Plus where we became members. We're looking forward to playing squash together. It'll be nice to have a gym SO close to our place. I think its about a couple km away only.

Troy had to head off to the airport to get Darren & Nicky from Palm Springs after that, so I hung out at home, and did some Europe research, while watching a movie. It was Mc.Cheeseball, but still enjoyable. it was that HIllary Duff movie, Cinderella. I recorded it on the PVR months ago, but didn't want to subject Troy to that as well. :)

Saturday evening we went to Darin's place for pizza and a movie. It was a good time, and his place is looking amazing.

Sunday we went to church in the morning, which was interesting, then home for lunch, and hanging out. We didn't do much yesterday really except relax. Had an afernoon nap. (whoever invented those is also brilliant).

Today will be a fun day. In a couple of hours we're going to my friends place for brunch. Then later on we're having some of Troy's friends over and we're going to watch the rest of Indianna Jones (we watched the first one, several weeks ago). We'll add to that a trip to Peters Drive in, who could want anymore!

We're really enjoying our planning time for Europe. We're reading books, spending time on the internet, and only 2 short months away, we'll be waking up in Paris. :)

yesterday I was reading about the Concentration Camp in Poland, I'm going to try to figure out a way we can go there I think. That looked pretty powerful. And Poland could be cool also.

Hmmmmm.....

Anyways, that's kind of a boring post isn't it? Sounds like a 12 year old girls diary..."I did this, and then I did that...." Anyways. I guess that's what you get this time.

I'll leave you with a link of my new toy - we like to call it the Europod.

I love my Mondays. With such a busy schedule right now, having Monday's to stay at home has been a blessing. I've probably not gotten as much done as I should have, and spent far too much time researching our trip, and checking facebook, but its been a restful time. Today I even got to get a massage! Mmmmm...I'm blessed.

It's been incredibly cold outside lately and I am ready for this deep freeze to be over. Somehow January is one of my least favorite times of the year. Perhaps because there is a long period of time that there's no long weekend, or how cold it is, or that Christmas has just finished, and spring is so far away, I don't know. I'm the kind of person who enjoys having something to look forward to. Buy January is over, and there are plenty of things to look forward to coming up.

Valentines day - the anniversary of the day that Troy and I got engaged. Although its nearly 2 years since that day, I can still remember the thoughts and feelings I had that day, as if it were yesterday. That was fun. Troy is planning something for this Valentines day, and I have no idea what it it. That makes it kind of fun.

So there's Valentines day, and then not too long after that, my Mom is getting married, so we'll be traveling for that, followed by our Europe excursion.

I have been busy planning our time away, and it has been a lot of fun. We've got a pile of tour books, and are trying to take as much from them as we can. It'll be great to get away.

Anyways, I'm procrastinating my day away. I'm looking forward to a bath, and then not so much looking forward to completing a couple of quizes for my class. Then I guess I'll have to prepare for Darin, who is coming for dinner.

Life is fun. Cold, but fun. :)

S

Sleepy

My eyes are heavy, but my mind is very awake. I can't seem to fall asleep. I had the same problem last night, and tonight is no better. Perhaps its all the Alias I've been watching, or perhaps the large tea I drank while sitting in my course tonight. Either way, I'm not overly impressed.

Troy and I have decided we'd like to try to go to Europe following my Mom's wedding. Provided I'm able to get some time off work, we'll be heading across the pond for Paris in the not too distant future. From Paris, we'll travel all kinds of different places, and hopefully spend several weeks there. I can't wait...well I mostly can't wait to find out if I can get the time off work, but supposing I can, I can't wait to go.

I'm not happy with my blog lately. It is so boring, and I look at so many other blogs that are so interesting, I'm going to have to become a tad technical. Boo.

I'm off to try to get some more shut eye.

S

First of 2008

Its been a little while since I posted. I will admit, I know my blog is not nearly as fun as most people's, with cool back-grounds and all of that. But I have abslutely no clue how to do that sort of thing, so I have to stick to the regular layouts that Blogger provides. I've very recently learned how to change the fonts/colors on there, so I can use that to be creative, but that's about it for me, unless someone can explain to me how you do it.

Christmas to me was - awful to put it bluntly. The days leading up to Christmas were fun. Work ended on the Friday, and after work Troy and I went to the Keg to celebrate with some prime rib and lobster. Mmmmmm. Saturday we slept in, and then prepared ourselves to spend the next day at Darren and Nicky's place celebrating with the Bierman clan. We left for their place around noon, and spent the rest of the day there. By the time dinner-hour rolled around, Darren had disappeared, and we quickly found out, he was ill with the flu, and didn't come out of his room all night. Troy and I spent the night there on a blow up mattress in the basement, and were up bright and early to open presents with the family. Vienna and Eden had a blast. I think they're finally getting the hang of Christmas! :) Anyways, when Troy and I ventured out of the basement at 7am, both Nicky and Mom had a bucket in their lap, and had both been up a good portion of the night ill.

Now at this point in time, my chances for remaining flu-free were pretty slim. Everyone in the household there has had the flu in the last month at least once. Troy had it several weeks ago - and I was the only one so far who had not had it. I had a couple days of feeling pretty gross after I returned from Vegas, but besides that, no flu.

We left immediately after presents, stopping for a nutritious breakfast at McDonald's, and spent the rest of the day enjoying our home, and Christmas. We went to a 4pm Church Service, and rushed home after to get ready for company.

Tanis and Alex came over that night, and we played some Scategories with Darin Wilson. A&T left around 10:30pm, and it was about that time that I thought - I've either eaten too much, or I've got the flu. It wasn't too long before I had it figured out. I spent the entire night nearly awake, and hugging the toilet. Lovely.

Its funny cause several weeks back, I had watched a movie where someone had been ill for Christmas in it. It then occurred to me that I've never been sick over Christmas, and I thought that was so cool. Anyways - figures I'd be sick for Christmas this year! Anyways, I was very ill for 3 days, couldn't even stand up straight because my stomach hurt so much...but I think I'm pretty much all better.

I don't feel 100% better yet, and my stomach still doesn't feel quite right, but I feel a lot better than I was feeling, so I have started this year off right!

That was pretty much my Christmas. We did open gifts on Christmas day around 11am - but I hardly remember it. I don't remember anything else that day or the following day. Weird.

Anyways, I'm looking forward to 2008. You could say I'm pretty traditional in that I like to make some new years resolutions, I like to think of it as a "fresh start". I know that Resolutions are rarely ever kept, but that's fine. I think the attempt is more important than the failure.

We've spent the day vegging out, which is a much needed activity for us. Troy got me this new Wii game called "My Sims" and I think we're both quite enamored with it right now. YOu get to create your own little town, build the houses, and furnishings, water and plant trees and plants, and explore the area. It's pretty cool. You can evict people from your town, and invite people to live there. Its pretty interesting, and allows a lot of creativity! We only started playing it a couple days ago of course, because I didn't open it till about 3 days ago due to being sick, but its really fun.

My Mom got engaged this past week - on the 29th I guess. I'll keep you posted as wedding plans come along.

We've ordered some Chinese food from Charlie Chan's in Kensington. I can't wait until it arrives, I'm famished.

Happy New Year to all my blog readers (if there are any of you left!).

S

2007 - A Year of Blessing

What a fantastic year. This year has been a year of incredible blessing and enjoyment. This year Troy & I sold our first condo, and purchased another, which is much more like a house, than a condo. We celebrated our first year of marriage in a beautiful little village called Waterton, we had visits from my Mom, Dad and Paula, and Jon, Mary & Richard, as well as visits from Troy's Mom Rena, and a couple of friends passing through. We've had the opportunity to travel to San Francisco, and Las Vegas. We've celebrated my 27th birthday and Troy's 30th Birthday. We've aquired some treasures for our home, and picked a lot of things we will treasure in our hearts. We've spent time with family, and friends. Unfortunately this year, Troy's Dad passed away on July 2nd after a brief battle with cancer (it is a brief episode of time looking back, but while he was battling through, the time seemed endless). However with that sadness, came blessing, as Troy's Dad accepted Christ as his Savior shortly before he died, and went to be with the Lord. Over 40 years of dillient prayer - God answered. What a blessing.

This year God has blessed us. Who knows what 2008 will hold. We're very much looking forward to finding out. Christmas will come and go quickly I'm sure.

God Bless you all.
Merry Christmas!

Shara

Alias

I have a serious addiction. For Troy's birthday, I bought him a season of Alias, which we'd never watched before, but we were curious about. We watched the first season quickly, and purchased the 2nd season, which is where we are in the Alias Saga. WOW. I have serious problems here because I'm so addicted to it. I think about it in the course of my day, like its real life. I'm concerned for cute little Tippen with that wench Francie who's not even actually Francie, what's going to happen to him? And what about Syd, is she going to hesitate to shoot her own Mom again? I admit its a problem, but I need to continue, or it will haunt me forever.

If you have not watched Alias yet, I think you should join my plight. We have season's 1 and 2 if you want to borrow them. I honestly think its the best show I've ever seen, and can't believe its taken me this long to get into it. At least we don't have to wait to watch the next episode though. That would be awful.

Wish Me Luck!!

I've been busy studying this past weekend and am ready. My exam is in 1 hour and 48 minutes. Only 2 more exams and I'll have reached my goal. It seems as though I'm always studying (or should be studying) for one exam or another. I'm looking forward to that being done with. I'm in the home stretch!

The weekends before my exams are always dreadful weekends - for the one and only fact that I'm very distractable and although especially with this subject, I am knowledgable about the text already, however it is so important that I really study and take in all I can, because these exams are tricky. I've never come across a straight forward one - so although this exam is on the "essential skills of an insurance broker" and I better have those skills by now, having worked as a broker for 6 1/2 years, I likely won't ace this exam (just being realistic) cause these exams are so tricky and I've never been very good at writing exams.

Anyways, of course this morning I'm procrastinating again - I wish it was 9:30am and I could just get this exam started. I'm excited to write it, and see what I've learned this semester.


On a completely different note - "Christmas Season" is in full swing. The malls are packed with people, there's snow and cold everywhere, and our home is decorated for Christmas. I love Christmas. Its my favorite.

I should get back to studying!

S

Surprise of the Century

To some of you, this will be old news. To others, not so much. Troy turned 30 last week Wednesday. Just after our wedding last year, I started to think about what I could do for his 30th birthday - something awesome. I knew I'd have to plan ahead as I wanted to do something really special, and it'd cost more money than I could spend at once, without saving. So I began to save.

About that time, Troy sold his car, and gave me the money he got for selling it, to put towards another bill. I didn't put it towards that bill, but put it in my savings account (which he doesn't really have access to), as my float. Over time, I ended up paying back my float money, and saving up money for our birthday adventure.

I figured I better plan a diversion, as well - in case he was onto the fact that I have a surprise brewing. SO I planned a surprise party, and despite the fact that I called him from our home number, and told him I was out painting pottery - I managed to pull off the surprise, with the help from a few friends.

Finally November 21st came, and I woke Troy up at 4am to tell him that it was time to get up. He asked me if it was ok if he went back to sleep. I told him "nope - we have a plane to catch". He said "no, really?" over and over and over, until I finally managed to get him up - and believe that his co-worker would be by our house at 5am to pick us up, and take us to the airport where we would catch our flight to Vegas.

Despite being very tired, and Troy being sick, we managed to get ready and off to the airport at 5am, and arrived at the airport with loads of time to check in, and catch our 7am flight.

Off to Phoenix (we got to watch Transformers - which Troy's been really looking forward to seeing), and from Phoenix to Vegas. We arrived at our hotel around noon Vegas time, and checked into The Venetian. If you ever get the opportunity to go to Vegas, try to stay here - it was the most fantastic hotel ever. Our room was gorgeous, with a sunken living room, 3 flat screen tv's and at least 3 phones. King sized bed, Marble 6 piece bathroom, with a view of the Las Vegas strip, and 3 of the Venetians 7 pools below. We were on the 10th floor. It was a fantastic hotel. We ordered lots of room-service, and spent a lot of time exploring the huge hotel. There's a mall, with water canal's winding its way through them, with the sky being something quite indescribable. The Venetian is also home to the "Blue Man Group" whom we saw from the 3rd row, as well as Wayne Brady, whom we saw from the 2nd row. Also, as previously mentioned the Venetian has 7 pools. I think they're going for the "Roman Baths" theme, because they all have varying temperatures, so one is warm, then hotter, hotter, hotter. It was fabulous.

Other than our grand hotel, we took a night flight, helicopter ride over the city and had many amazing views. Then we dressed up, and went to the Eiffel Tower Restaurant which is a 1/2 size replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The restaurant is about 1/3 of the way up, and overlooks the fountains of the Bellagio. We had a magnificent meal, while we overlooked the Las Vegas strip as well as the fountains.

We had the pleasure of seeing the Cirque Du Soleil performance "O" which is their water show, only in Vegas. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen, and I spent much of the show with my hand over my mouth in amazement of what was going on. I would go see that show $1000 more times if I could. WOW.

We toured the Las Vegas strip, taking in things like: Siegfried and Roy's Dolphin and Tiger Habitat, The Forum at Caesar's Palace, the Lions at MGM, the Buffets at both the Mirage and Treasure Island, The Museum of Modern Art, Madame Tussuad's Wax Museum (where I nearly killed a stranger in the creepy scary part, and likely made him deaf in at least one ear), The Guggenheim Museum, we took a ride on the roller coaster at New York - (I closed my eyes throughout the entire ride cause I was scared).

We had a fantastic vacation, and it was a blast to give the one I love so much, such a fantastic birthday present. Thanks to all the people who kept the secret, and also those who helped to pull it off.