Been a little preoccupied with Facebook this past week.
Blogging has taken a back seat.
But a telephone conversation tonight revealed that at least one person is missing me.
So this is for you. (p.s. I'm a little too tired to be witty.)

Been working on my knitting lately.
With the winter weather settling in here, I'm spending less time in my scrap room in the basement and more time upstairs knitting on the couch.
We need a little heater for the basement, but we keep forgetting to pick one up.
And for all these evening hours logged on the couch, I can't say that I've been catching anything particularly good on tv.
Thursdays are the only tv night I look forward to.
The fact that will not be a new episode of The Office is making a little bit cranky.
I mean, really.....why???

Taking a 'Mental Health Day' today.
Spending the day baking cookies, getting groceries and cleaning up.
Tomorrow is my birthday.
I don't want to have to do ANYTHING tomorrow besides enjoying my day.

I was tagged by Val.

A= Available~ nope.
B= Best Friend~ Jimmy.
C= Cake or pie~ vanilla, cake or cupcakes.
D= Drink of choice~ Mmmm, Jimmy's been making amazing strawberry smoothies for us lately. I've been drinking them for breakfast, instead of a snack and/or for dessert. And when I'm fending for myself, I'll drink water.
E= Essential item you use everyday~ moisturizer & toothpaste. I really can't choose between the two. Don't make me.
F= Favorite color~ red.
G= Gummy bears or worms~ neither.
H= Hometown~ Timmins ON Canada.
I= Indulgences~ homemade cookies, sleeping late on weekends and beautiful stationary/notebooks.
J= January or February~ January. I'm a January baby.
K= Kids and Names~ none yet, but I definitely have names picked out.
L= Life is incomplete without?~ laughter.
M= Marriage date~ July 16, 2005.
N= Number of siblings~ one younger brother plus a sister and brother in law.
O= Oranges or apples~ not a huge fan of either in their fruit shape.....but in juice form, I'll take the oj.
P= Phobias or Fears~ the dark and being home alone.
Q= Favorite Quote~ not sure enough to say any are my favorite.
R= Reason to smile~ Banner.
S= Season~ I hate winter....any other season is a breeze.
T= Tag 3 or 4 people~ nope. tag yourself if you feel like doing this.
U= Unknown fact about me~ i'd rather be the passenger....you can even drive my car.
V= Vegetable you don't like~ celery and onions.
W= Worst habit~ eating when I'm bored.
X= X-rays~ just of my teeth.
Y= Your favorite food~ grill it on a BBQ and it's my favorite.
Z= Zodiac Sign~ capricorn.

p.s. I know you might not think it's as cool as MySpace.....but I'd joined Facebook. Add me if you'd like.

Awww, a fresh new year!!!!
2007.

Got my new calendar, got my new agenda....
I opened to January and the first note I put into each was my birthday.
And I actually stopped and asked myself "Am I really turning 29 this year?!?"
before saying to myself "Way to go Raina, you already made a mistake in BOTH of your brand new calendars!!"
(Yes, as a matter of fact, I absolutely do talk to myself.)

Umm, it wasn't a mistake.
I really am turning 29 in a few days.
Not sure how I feel about it.

Skipped the resolutions last year.
This year I decided to try again.
I'm not a smoker. Or much of a drinker.
And deciding to lose those extra 10 lbs I've put on in the last year-ish.
Yeah, they're not going anywhere.
Instead, I've decided to just take better care of myself.
I'll start eating breakfast.
I'll remember to take my vitamins every day. Not just when I open the vitamin cupboard looking for tweezers.
Then I'll book an checkup appt with my family doctor, with my dentist and my optometrist.

I already miss Christmas.
I’m ready to do it all over again.
Mostly because I didn’t get any pictures on the 24th or the 25th.
Very unlike me….
But got a bunch at the annual Boxing Day Bash.
Too bad I can't share any......Blogger's been uncooperative for the last two days......which is how long I've been waiting on posting this.
Finally gave up and am posting w/out pictures.

Got all sorts of cool stuff for Christmas.
But Mom wins the prize for getting me the most fabulous, perfectly perfect ‘Raina’ winter jacket. With the matching purse, of course.
And Jimmy wins the prize for making me cry. A good cry
And last but not least, cousin Dan wins the prize for making me laugh so hard I cried.....
"Raina is soo pretty she doesn't need to work. She should just be supported."
Bwa-hahahahahaha!!!
Obviously, I asked Dan what his feelings were on cousins marrying their first cousin.

Christmas Eve Eve

It hardly feels like Christmas here.

We’re having some strange weather.
Don’t get me wrong, the fact that I can see my grass out in the yard is pretty rad!!
I practically neighbor the North Pole. It’s usually cold and snowy here this time of the year.

But as much as the weather is making me cheery, it’s not enough.I’m more poopy than I am merry this holiday season.

Last year as Jimmy and I sat in church on Christmas Eve, we held hands and whispered promises to each other that “next year will be different, we’ll have a baby. Or at the very least, we’ll be expecting.”

But it didn’t happen.
This year we celebrated our first wedding anniversary and bought our first house.
A small cozy house and in it, we have a really sweet little room painted yellow.
Waiting.
Empty.

We have a house, two full time jobs, health benefits, food in the refrigerator and a sweet puppy face greeting us every time we walk in the door.
So I should be grateful. I know.
I actually am.
But I’ve been bit by the baby bug.

I still have some wrapping to do.
And I have to clean two toilets.
But other than that, I’m ready for tomorrow.

And I’m excited to see what the man in red leaves me tomorrow night.

Santa, you got my list, right?
And you know I was definitely nice this year, right?
On the off chance my letter didn’t make it to the North Pole, here’s my list again.

a baby
a maid
to be 10 lbs lighter
365 days of good hair
grace and poise
2007 The Office calendar


It’s a safe bet that I won’t be posting till after all the holiday hoopla is over.
So I’ll take this time to wish you all a very delicious Christmas.

Cheers!! oxo

Got the fa-lalalala kicked out of me on Saturday.
I guess I waited a little too long to try to finish up my shopping.
I’m gonna head back on a weekday evening. Gotta finish it this week.
So I can steer clear after that, sit back and actually enjoy.

This is exactly how long it’s been since I’ve uploaded pictures from my camera.


spooky 

I’m not in the picture. I took it of Jimmy’s brother in law, his sister and Jimmy passing out candy at my in-law’s.

And Scotty requested a picture of our new van a few weeks ago…..I actually took it back when he requested it. The picture just never got uploaded till tonight.


the chickmobile. 

And of course, a few holiday pics too.


hohoho 


snowfolk 

My theme this year is snowmen.
The plates were the first decorating I did this year.
This is an old picture....I took it sometime in the last week of November.

Jimmy and my dad have been busy working on my Christmas present upstairs so I took on the task of decorating the tree in the basement. And with Jimmy absent for the tree decorating, I was able to decorate the tree MY WAY!! I went 'matchy-matchy'. I hung my new red, burgandy and gold Martha Stewart shatterproof balls and only my snowmen ornaments. If it isn't a snowman, it isn't up there.

And I'll leave you with a picture of Banner. Does this look comfortable??


Banner 

Apparently it is very.
It is also the exact position Banner is in every single day when I get home from work.
Yeah, the life of a dog sure ain't bad!!

Ok, I’m inspired…..
I’m feeling holly jolly all over and will finally (since Halloween) dig out my USB cord and upload some pictures.
Some Christmas pictures, some Banner pictures……all sorts of stuff.
When I get home.

ETA,
Nicole, you're right. It most certainly doesn't sound like anything I'd ever say. In my wildest dream!!
But unfortunately, today I found out just how low I really can stoop.
I'm actually a little embarrased now that I re-read it. Santa's gonna be disappointed for sure.
But then again, I've been taking abuse from this patient for almost two years and she's in every three months for her shot. She had it coming.

----------------------------
Nothing like a good ol’ fight with a patient to get your blood pumping!!
Dr. X caught a ‘Christmas bug’ and left me to cancel our office today and tomorrow.
I called every patient to reschedule.
Only one gave me trouble.
Not the patient who needed follow up for heart surgery, the patient with a lump in her breast, or the 3 oncology patients nauseous and in pain from chemo.
But a 23 year old wild child who was scheduled for a birth control injection.
She yelled, she cursed, stated Dr X was a f***ing sh*t doctor.
I was on the phone with this little psycho for 15 minutes.
As always, I start out polite and empathizing.
And rebook as soon as possible.
But I just KNEW this call would be something else.
She has a history of throwing fits on me.

I offered to rebook asap. (The very first day Dr X is back in the office…..pretty damn good if you ask me, right?)
Not happy….

I’ll spare you the whole conversation but share the ending…..You can bet that I took advantage of Dr X’s absence in the office to speak freely.

After about 10 minutes of abuse, I started to loose my composure.

Me: LISTEN, Dr. X is SICK!!! He won’t be in until THURDAY!!! What do want???
Her: I want to go in for my appt today. Or tomorrow. Or earlier on Thursday. I took today off work for my appt.
Me: Listen, you have a job??? When your boss tells you to do something, do you do it? Cause I sure as hell do what the person who signs my paycheck tells me to do. And I’m not going to call him at home and ask him to drive in to town specifically to see you.
Her: Well, this is bullsh*t. I waited 3 months for an appt and now you’re cancelling it.
Me: Yup, deal with it. I’m not just cancelling your appt sweetheart. I’m cancelling everyone who had an appts today. This is not “let’s screw ***** out of an appt day.”
You want to see someone, you can walk in to any walk in clinic or the hospital in town. They’ll make you wait anywhere between six to thirteen hours because you’re not coming in for an emergency!!! You act like a bitch every single time you call here for an appt and frankly, I’m tired of you!!!
You think I’m a stupid receptionist and you can yell at me because you’re a skanky airplane pilot?!? I’ll tell you a little something……I’m not a lowly receptionist. I’m Dr. X’s medical assistant. I’ve been trained and I know my SHIT!!!! I can read every diagnosis in your chart and tell you exactly how many STD’s you’ve caught in your short little life. I made the conscious choice to move back to Timmins and work as a receptionist at this job because I wanted to be near my family and also because I know Dr. X will ALWAYS have my back in situations like these. And that IS worth lowering myself to also working as the office receptionist.
Now my final offer is the appt I offered you on Thursday. Take it or leave it. I don’t give a shit. But one last thing to keep in mind for the rest of your life is that it’s always in your best interest to make nice with any receptionist you come across. We ARE the ONLY way you’ll have access to whatever services you’re inquiring about. I will never compromise your health. But I can definitely make you wait three months for an appt while others will be booked in for appts ahead of you.

And then……she hung up on me!!!!