First Day

I felt like a kid walking into grade one all over again.  Walking slowly but full of purpose, yet at the same time anxious and a little bit nervous.

Today was my first day at work – my first day back to work in 2 years.  I woke up super early this morning, yet at the same time I was rushing to beat the clock to get out of the house on time.  I haven’t found my morning stride.  For the last two years, I woke up – made Hughie coffee and then spent the morning cleaning, organizing, reading blogs and Facebook.  Now, this morning I found myself running around trying to put my retainer in my nose (for my nose ring), get the dogs outside and then…inside, Sekaya in her kennel and Hughie out of the shower so we could take off for work.  By the time I got to work I was already exhausted. 

I know once I get into my routine things will be tickity-boo but until then I may just have to wake up at 5am!  (I don’t work until 9:00am)

Oracle

             

(The Trash Heap, a wise being (referred to as an "oracle"), serves as the garbage dump of the Gorgs. She and her heckling heralds live near the Gorg's garden, and she gives the Fraggles guidance and advice, which the Fraggles regard with reverence, although they do not worship her.) – Wikipedia.org

                      

Yes this is exactly what you think it is – a pile of garbage, or what I kiddingly named “Oracle” and it grew by leaps and bounds as we emptied box after box of items that I haven’t seen in 2 years.  Our long-term storage stuff arrived on Tuesday, a great set of guys who brought along his significant other (wife, girlfriend…I didn’t really ask) and there 4 month Great Pyrenees, who was the size of Sekaya.  Such an adorable little pup.    There was approximately 50 boxes, a half munched on couch, a peed on Papasan chair and about a dozen odd little items that I honestly thought I had threw out many many moons ago.    We did realize that we both read A-LOT!  I believe we must of kept Chapters in business during our stay in Manitoba consider the amount of boxes that were labelled “Books!”

However, I’m now sitting at my dining room table (very carefully I may add  - our tool box is enroute from Kugaaruk) looking around at my ever changing house.  We now have more stuff in it than we did when we moved in.    We also finally got an answer from Future shop with regards to our appliance order:  RANT ALERT!

So on June 30th Future Shop comes out with this crazy 36hour or 15hour I can’t really remember Canada Day Sale, and one of the sales that caught our eyes was the 15% off all Appliances – now we love Futureshop because of their product service plan and all the great service they gave us over the years.  So we jumped on that sale like you jump on grapes during  St. Martins Day Celebrations.  However, weird as it may seem we didn’t receive a “Congrats you have purchased….” email like you usually do.  However, we did not worry as we thought it was normal because they were big ticket items.  Days went by, and we could see the Order Number on our History page – but it wasn’t pulling up our order.  After spending a week calling Futureshop (3 different occasions) receiving the same “We will take your email address and get back to you with an answer”..Hughie snapped – giving the lady his ‘Bad-dog’ voice…..FINALLY after 8 days of waiting for an answer they decided to honour the price that we were suppose to get….  We then decided to ask for a little pain and suffering discount – I mean we are without our fridge and stove, and considering they are now delivering it within a week – I’d be cooking up a storm right about now , if the order wasn’t lost in limbo..so their idea of  pain and suffering is …….offering us $20.00 dollars off the total price… I was shocked to say the least…… But we filled out a form, and received the same “Give us your email…….”So we are not holding our breath – all we ask for is free shipping…I don’t think that is so much to ask for…. But regardless, our Fridge and Stove will be arriving Thursday!

So, with that above rant said and over with I can continue – we now have a guest bedroom that is all outfitted with the required “guest” bedroom materials – although Chakotay & Sekaya have called that room as their own.  Don’ t worry though, the bed is nicely protected from their hair and paws…and the floors are hardwood so Swiffers take care of the fur quickly.

I can’t believe we’ve been living in Nova Scotia for almost two-weeks so much has happened in that time my head is still swimming.  I’m very much looking forward to working in Middleton in the near future.  I did have another job lined up in a town ~35 minutes away but after driving that highway more than once over the last two weeks I’m very happy to be car pooling with Mr. Fidler for the time being. 

Final Talley of Garbage bags:   5 with about 10 bags of Recycling…a big half munched on Couch, a peed stained papasan chair with the added bonus of chewed up wicker, a old television stand and a couple of half broken items that don’t need a claim…. all and all, not as bad as I thought it would be.

The Difference between the South vs North

 

1.  I don’t know my neighbours or my neighbours kids.

2.  Smiling at random kids may have me arrested.

3.  I don’t know where everything is located in my grocery store.

4.  Shopping in my Pj’s while drinking coffee may have me committed.

5.  Too many have alcohol that shouldn’t, instead of just a few.

6. I have to pluck my eyebrows, wax face, shave legs, apply makeup, shower and wash my hair on a daily basis.

7.  Summertime darkness.

8.  HST.

9.  Recycling (Although we love to contribute to a healthier sustainable environment).

10. Humidity. (For the sake of the argument, I love the humidity, although I know not everyone agrees with me.)

The Difference between North vs South

 

1.  I have only seen one Sewage Truck, and it was driving down the highway.

2.  We have two Tim Horton’s within a 5 minute drive from one another.

3.  When people say they drive a “Honda” they drive a Honda.

4.  Fresh produce all the time!.

5.  Cold Beer (Only makes sense if you lived in a Dry-Community)

6.  Wearing seatbelts

7.  No officially designated “Animal Carcass” pile at the dump.

8. Not one white wall in my house. 

9. My water comes from the ground, not a container under my house.

10. I wore short-shorts & a tank-top while shopping in July.

From the GWN to the GGP (Great Green Province)

I can’t believe it has been well over a week since we left the Great White North.  It really doesn’t seem all that long, but if I actually sat down and put everything in perspective over the last week I only wonder how I’m standing. 

The dogs managed the trip – not much squawking or screaming – but on a huge 737 you really don’t hear all that much anyways.  The red-eye flight from Edmonton to Nova Scotia was clutch.  Although considering how tired they were when we arrived in Halifax, I hardly think they slept all that much.  Apparently their seat-buddy down in the cargo hold was a CAT.  I’m sure Chakotay was thinking more along the lines of “this was his airline snack”.

I have to admit we lucked out with the purchasing of our house, by this I mean we had a great team of Lawyers and Realtors – I highly recommend, if you are moving to the Greenwood Area to speak with David Proudfoot & Paul Mann (Lawyer and Realtor respectively) – they held our hand (figuratively speaking of course) the whole way through.  David took the time to outline and made us understand the legal aspects of our mortgage while Paul was a god sent! He helped us more than he ever will realize. 

With that said, we are now living in our house! I’m falling more in love with it every day.  There is still lots to be purchased and organized but I love the feel of knowing that “this is mine”.  I promise I will post pictures as soon as I can, we are still waiting for some valuable items.  [There is a rant with regards to shopping via online with Futureshop for Appliances, but I’ll save that for another post].  Nova Scotia is just as beautiful as I remember – lush trees and grass as far as the eye can see.  I have yet to see a pile of snow or a dog tied up on the outskirts of town with no one around for miles (although I’m sure it does happen). 

I look forward to visiting every nook and cranny of my Province, but for now I’m off to bed – Long term storage is arriving tomorrow.  Anyone like to guess how many bags of garbage that will be.