White Wednesday

Had some snow falling madly this morning as Maxx was on his way home from work after 7am ... not sure exactly when it started falling, but we had a fair amount on the ground.  Of course, by the time I was on my coffee break at 11am and had the dogs out, it was raining, so I couldn't get out there with my phone and try to take some video of them playing in the snow on the ground.

Won't it be nice if we ever get the combination of lots of snow on the ground, daylight, and not actively working so I can get outside and catch some great footage of the wee ones playing?

Scary Saturday

So, while I was working Saturday and doing a couple hours of OT on top of my shift for a 10-hour day, Maxx headed over to Richmond for a pre-Christmas visit to take over our wee gifts for the niece and nephew, and he took Hobgoblin and Elf with him. While I really wish I had had the day off and could have been in Richmond for the visit, I SOOOOO glad I was not on that ferry! 

Below is the series of texts during his trip:

**starting at 8:17am**
Maxx: 4 cars ahead of me, and that's even after stopping for gas!
Maxx: It's FREEZING out here!
Maxx: So far it's only raining, though
Maxx: On board right now, front row. I can see the ocean all around me.
Maxx: I'll let you know once I get to Holly's
Me: Have a good voyage, nice and safe and get a nap.
Maxx: I'll try.
Maxx: Have a good day at work

**picking up at 9:01am**
Maxx: Holy F**k! A wave just washed right over the f**king ferry!
Me: Yikes!
Maxx: Water just came in every window almost at once!
Maxx: And it just happened AGAIN!
Me: Please keep texting me every few minutes until it calms down (and confirm that!) so I know you're safe
Maxx: They just issued a warning to leave the outer decks and stay inside the vessel at all times.
Maxx: Every car alarm is going off right now
Maxx: Wave #3
Maxx: And #4
Me: I hope you guys stay safe!
Maxx: Water is sluicing off the deck now in rivers
Maxx: Wave #5!
Maxx: No water came up to the top deck that time, but the whole ferry bucked like a wild horse
Maxx: #6! It felt like we hit something that time! The dogs fell down and the car slid forward
Maxx: 7&8. Two massive waves washed totally over us again!
Maxx: We are now halfway there, and the ferry feels like a rowboat. #9 just sprayed the upper car deck and the car
**at 9:16am**
Maxx: 10 & 11 double teamed the boat and the car is rocking side to side
Maxx: The spray is so heavy I can't see the water ... And I'm at the front!
Maxx: We just got broadsided and the ship is rolling back and forth. I'm worried about sliding into the truck beside me or the poles on the other side
Maxx: We just crested a wave
Maxx: We dropped several meters that time
Maxx: The Captain just changed directions. We are now facing the waves
Maxx: I can smell hot metal. Probably steam from salt water contacting the engines.
Maxx: We're running up one side of the waves and down the other. I'm guessing easily a 30% grade
Maxx: My cell signal is getting weak here. I'm not sure how much longer I'll be in contact
Maxx: Multiple waves from multiple directions. Some washing the upper decks
Maxx: I just saw a dude get washed down and swept between cars
**at 9:301am**
Maxx: Both dogs are sea sick. And I don't blame them
Maxx: We're doing the "figure 8" sway now
Maxx: We're bucking wildly right now! And Go**am is the wind over cold!
Maxx: One of the props spun out of the water! Holy S**t!
Maxx: The ship is jumping and bucking like wild!
Maxx: Wow ... something below deck sounds like a growl
Maxx: It's pretty loud
Maxx: Ah ... that would be metal flexing under stress
Maxx: Whoa ... Suddenly smooth water
Maxx: Ok. so at this point the storm has blown us off course so we're going to be 20-30 minutes late
Maxx: Whoops! My bad. I guess that was the eye or something because WOW did it ever get violent again!
Maxx: yeah, that last wave came from the other side
Maxx: Whoa! Ship listing and the announcement is all static
Maxx: I see land. But ... I thought we were blown off course
**at 9:46am**
Maxx: Medical announcement. That's fun.... I couldn't quite make it out over the wind though
Maxx: Gods Above and Below! That's Bowen Island and we're almost touching it!
Me: I wish you'd stayed here this weekend!
Maxx: I'm kinda there too Princess
Maxx: Well ... that's exciting
Maxx: 80 km/r winds pushing us towards the rocks
Maxx: Ok. We're getting more distance from the shore
Maxx: Ok. the ship is bucking and rolling less. And it's not listing as badly anymore. I think the island is starting to shelter us now
Maxx: Elf just s**t himself
Maxx: God does it stink!
Maxx: Brb
Me: Oh, poor wee fella
Maxx: I think I can see the harbour. Kinda
**at 10:01am**
Maxx: Wow. It's still windy, but this close to the island there's almost no waves
Me: Thank goodness
Maxx: Getting something hot to drink
Me: Go upstairs carefully, please
**at 10:17am**
Maxx: I go up them like a gibbon
Maxx: Ok. Hobbes barfed while I was gone
Me: Sorry it's turning out to be such a hell trip
Maxx: At least I haven't s**t myself
Maxx: Yet
**at 10:31am**
Maxx: Ok. Pulling into the dock now. Almost time to drive. NOW things get dangerous!
Me: Glad you've made it to land, honey
Maxx: Yeah. Me too
Maxx: Ramp down. Time to drive

For a while there yesterday morning I was sure I was going to lose my husband and two of my little dogs on that ferry. Thank you to the crew and captain for making the crossing and getting in to harbour safely.

Grey Day

Today just seemed fairly grey and dark all day long, even mid-day.  It's definitely almost winter time.  but when you think about it, in just over a week the days start to get longer and the nights shorter ... wonder if we'll get snow this year (and if so how much) ... but we did get our winter tires on the car already so likely we won't see any snow!  That's just the way it works ;)

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chilly!

Still just one degree out, actually wondering if we'll hit our predicted high of 3 today ... checking out the weather report for the next couple of days on my phone I show from today to Saturday, highest temperature expected is 3, lows down to -2, four of the six days show snowflakes on the weather icon ... wonder if we'll actually get any?

Whether it does snow or not, glad to say that as of last Thursday we do have our winter tires on ... plus it looks as though I'm not scheduled for another in-office work day until 2013 ... likely because my supervisor will be on vacation and they don't schedule at-home agents to be in the office on a day when their supervisor is not scheduled to be there as well.

Work Party

The work party was pretty good last night, very crowded with 850 people attending, though.  I got to have a couple of tasty chicken skewers from the hors d'ourves plates that were being carried around prior to dinner (could have have any of the shrimp and sushi ones, of course, and the one quiche I had was just a quiche).  As usual fairly long line ups for the bar, but we each got a drink before dinner, then sat through the presentation and videos .... the one that won Campbell River 2nd place in a recent competition for "Call Me Maybe" was pretty good.

Dinner was tasty as usual.  This year I was actually pretty restrained and just got a bun, salad, mashed potatoes, turkey and stuffing, and roast beef, with gravy.  When finished I did check out the dessert room with Maxx, then went back and got some more potatoes, turkey, stuffing, beef, and gravy, had him carry my one dessert (spice cake) back to the table for me.

Tasty tasty tasty ... but even with being restrained ended up being totally stuffed.

This year we didn't get our photo taken as the line up was just too long.  Too bad, we both looked really nice, too ... and it's impossible to take nice pictures of ourselves at home as the house is such a jumble at all times it doesn't provide any sort of nice back-ground.  Plus, with just the two of us we can't be in a photo together!

Anyhow, today is my second of three days off this weekend.  Slept in late, Maxx is now in bed, will be feeding the dogs in a minute, then seeing what I can occupy my time with for the rest of my lazy, restful, relaxing day.

Holding Pattern

Feeling like I'm in a holding pattern right at this moment ... dishes are all done, not enough laundry to be worth doing .... dogs taken care of ... all the cats inside so nobody to call in ... all showered and hair-washed for tonight's party .... so sitting down, vegging at the computer and munching on some cheese puffs while having a hot iced tea.

Gotta wait before actually getting ready for the party (or I'll be all covered in dog and cat hair ... or at least MORE covered in dog and cat hair), and need to let Maxx sleep as long as possible as he of course got off work at 7am this morning, and it takes him a while to fall asleep in the morning.

Looking forward to a delicious dinner ... it's always good at our work parties!

Tenterhooks

Only four hours left of my week and I am onto my three-day weekend with the work holiday party tomorrow night.  Just on tenterhooks ... wish I could speed up time from 5-9pm and get the week over with!

We've had some sunshine the past couple of days, so I hope we have some on the weekend, too, and are able to get the dogs out for some nice sunny outings.  They'd love that!

Angel wasn't going to let me out of the house by myself the other day when I went to purchase the gift we're giving my Dad for Christmas ... and when I took the gifts up to the store to wrap and mail them the other day she soooo wanted to come again and was not happy when I blocked her from coming!

She gets so excited when she thinks she might be going out somewhere with Mummy.  Last night she even got excited that I was talking to her the she joined me in playing with this funny ball we have ... seems like she's been in pretty high spirits lately, which is so nice to see.

Frustration!

Still waiting on our schedule for January to be released, and Maxx is still waiting for his webstation to show 2013 at all, to see if it reflects the same planned time off in January as mine.

I am an impatient person by nature, but when waiting for such things as confirmation you'll have time off with your spouse or not ... with the "not" option meaning cancelling scheduled time off and *trying* to get some other time off together ... it drives me completely batty!

Calendar Time

I don't have my schedule past Jan 5th yet, but Maxx and I had put in for some vacation time, either starting Jan 6th for 2 weeks or our second choice being starting Jan 13th for 2 weeks.

Looking at my time off manager for 2013, it LOOKS like I got the 2nd option approved for vacation, now we just need to make sure that Maxx was approved for the same time off ... if we get two different choices or one of us gets denied it will totally suck as we'll then have to scrap the approved vacation and try for different dates.

Wish us luck!

Squeee!

During our running around today, trying to pick up some odds and ends for folks who celebrate Christmas, I popped into Wal-mart thinking I could pick up the gift for my Dad, so I can send off the package to them ... but while they do not carry what I wanted for Dad, I DID decide to swing through the plus sized fashions, to see if there might be a dress that I didn't consider ugly or an awful colour.

Lo and behold! I found a little black dress for only $22, which I tried on and really liked as it shows a great amount of cleavage (without being too revealing or slutty), which I figure will most likely draw attention away from my lumpy gut and butt!  I'll wear it with my slenderizing underwear, and my FMBs, my turquoise pashmina, and a nice broach ... and will feel super-sexy for our company holiday party next Friday.

Yay!