I Got the Internal Job!!

Hey, I got the Commercial Loan Accounting job that I applied for earlier last week. This job is in a new location, across the hall from my current job. I will have way more responsibilities but will be dealing with only commercial loans. The interview went well and she asked me every single "tough" question and most of the behavoiral questions. I wasn't sure if this was something that I should be applying for but when I look back I can see how Heavenly Father had made everything possible, from the time Jelena approached me about applying for this, during the interview and afterwards when I found out that I got the job. I didn't feel excited or nervous/anxious because I knew that whatever happened it would be fine. With this position it means that I am now a Full-Time permanent employee with TD Canada. I was permanent before but on a casual status which meant that if they needed to cut my hours from the full-time hours I was working, they could no problem. Also, I have full benefits but I now get two weeks paid vacation and a little more money towards my health spending account. What a blessing! There are a lot of changes happening in my life and I think this is heavenly father's way of keeping me around in the Lower Mainland a little bit longer. I will go, I will do, the things the Lord commands. I know the Lord provides a way. Yay!

Change is to birds as singing is to karey - Often!!

Haha, I hope Karey appreciates the little tribute I have made re: her karey-oke confession. Since my last confession, I mean post, I have gone to the driving range with Robert Mowat (possibly related to farley). Everything was dutch so don't you all get any funny ideas. It was a good time except for his attempt at trying to give me golf tips. Why do guys think that because I am a girl and am not a pro-golfer must mean that I really want their advice on how to improve my swing? I can safely say that out of 60 golf balls, I had only sliced about 2o of them. I heard him say, I want to see you swing...I turned around and said, what are you doing? then he restated what he said and let me tell you, first strike flashed before my eyes. When I swung and hit the ball, he said, wow, that's straight. After that, he just focussed on his own swing. Sheesh!

On Monday, Nikki and I spontaneously went down to visit jenn. I was having jenn withdrawals
:( I love visiting her and her girls! Abbey is talking up a storm and loves saying my name because its Barbi. I had called on Sunday and was speaking to her on the phone so she could tell me all about her ear piercing. Apparently, someone told her Barbie was on the phone and she thought that she was speaking to the doll "barbie". While we were at the dinner table on Monday, she exclaimed, "You're barbie!" and I said yes, that's me. Now she always says to me "Hi Barbie" and waves to me. So CUTE!! Visiting Jenn is an event. I say that because we told them we had to go at about tenish and by 12:45 we were finally in the car saying goodbye. I love it! I love visiting with her and klif. Thanks Nikki for indulging my whim!

Tuesday an internal job posting went up around the office for a Level 3 Commercial Loan officerand all full-time and part-time/casual staff could apply. This meant that if accepted then you would move to across the hall and be working with a whole new team doing entirely different work. I thought nothing of it because I was not really interested in moving but it would be an opportunity to move from casual status to Full-time status. My team leader came up to my desk later int he day and asked if i noticed the posting and then said that if I was interested to let her know. She said that this would be a good way to gain full-time status. So I said I would think about it. I discussed it with my co-worker who sits across from me and she said go for it, so I told my team leader that i was interested. We went into an office to discuss my qualifications and she said that she would put a reference in for me and stated that getting this position would be really good for me because they are finished with their cut-backs over in the commercial area and in our area they weren't. Also, who knew when a full-time position would open up in CAS (where I work now). She is really rooting for me to get this job and it gave me some confidence to hkeep going in my application process. She told me that if it comes to the point that I get to the interview process then she will go over the questions with me so that I will be prepared going in. What a great leader! So, who knows if I'll get the job but at least I know that my supervisor has confidence in me. By the way, I am a Level 3 Credit Administration Officer right now so I wouldn't be changing levels.

Well, how did I do at boring you? I'll try harder next time!

The Temple, a true Treasure beyond Measure

Howdy y'all. Yesterday i went to the Temple with Scott & Pete. I think I had Pete convinced that I set him up with a girl i knew from Oregon and she was meeting us at the Temple but who knows...i 'fessed up before we entered Temple grounds. I have to go in with a clean conscience;) In the morning Scott found out that the waits at the border crossings were two to three hours long, except the Sumas crossing which was 10 min..then the closer we got there, it kept getting longer. We chose the left lane which was slower than, of course, the right, Murphy's Law! When we finally reached the entrance, our lane split off into three lanes..so why did it take so long to get there? We, soon found out...lucky us! Scott chose the middle lane, I wanted the right lane (the one we were already in) and I said, "Just remember, I wanted the right lane." In the middle lane we were behind a truck with a tinted cab/truckbed cover (i have no idea) and I said, "I don't want to be behind this truck." So Scott moved into the left lane and we waited. Scott, Pete and I decided to time who chose the best lane to be in, border games are so fun. Anyway, so the right lane was going at a good pace, the middle lane, we were ahead by one car and our lane was tied with the right lane. Suddenly, it was our turn to go and then we see another border guard join our lady guard and as were are driving up, they put the red light on and signed for us to stop. So here we are in the middle between the stop sign and the border guard, waiting. As we waited, both the middle and right lanes surpass us and so do a lot of other vehicles. When we were finally given the green light again, we found out that the computer to scan the passports was not working and as they were still trying to figure it out the border guard asked us the same questions three times. Where are you from, where are you headed? When Scott said that we were going to the LDS Temple in Bellevue, the other lady border guard asked, so are you going to worship at the Buddhist temple? Then the other guard said, they said LDS, they're Mormons. Sweet hey? Our border guard knows the good times! Nice! After asking us the same questions she let us through, all the while playing with the computer. Needless to say, the guys blamed me for us being in the left lane. I didn't tell anyone to choose that lane. I specifically chose the right lane. Sheesh.

We got to the Temple about 1:15 (we left Pete's at 9am) and then had a little snack and went to a session. Thankfully, there wasn't a lot of people in our session which did not make much of a difference...they let the people sitting in the back rows go first! haha suckers! (Can i say that about people in the Temple?) It was nice being able to sit and ponder life in the Celestial Room, I never want to leave but alas, I must eventually.

After the Temple we went to Walmart (Due to a lot of rubberneckers a 1/2 hr drive took an hour or more but we got to see some sweet vehicles) and Scott picked up a couple of items, went to the Nike Store where Pete and Scott spent a few dollars. The cashier really liked Steed so he got a further discount what a charmer hey? Then we went to the Golden Corral. This has got to be one of the best buffets outside of Las Vegas. Friday was shrimp & seafood day! It was packed! We went in and went straight for the meat, potatoes, and fish. I ate my money's worth of course. I had a grilled salmon steak, deep fried crispy battered shrimp, mashed potatoes (made from scratch) with the best gravy..yummm, green beans, medium rare steak, catfish, sauteed mushrooms, steamed cabbage, yeast roll, and banana bread pudding. The last time I went up I notced they had taco's but I seriously couldn't do it. They had fried chicken, I tasted some fried okra too, and chicken fried steak. I need to go back, that's all I know. But here is the bad part...so many people...some are bigger and are a little backwoods...therefore the restaurant done begun to stink bad! by the time we left. gross. We left the restaurant by 8, listened to some good tunes on the radio and we were back home by 10ish. The border back into Canada was quick because we took the truck crossing. Anyone who took the Peace Arch had about a two hour wait..haha Suckers!

It was a long trip but a good trip. Glad to do it again anytime!

Upstaged by Management..Arrggghhh!

We were upsatged by Management today! Not a good thing when you are trying to make a good word for the committee. Management also put a chocolate on the staff desks (out on the keyboard) and then later, they sent a PM (our E-mail) to the staff stating that they also hid eggs all over the unit! I sent an earlier PM to the managers asking them to send out our message to the staff letting them know what we did, which was hiding two chocolate eggs on everyone's desk (they are called "pods"...lame hey?) and then randomly around the office. But they didn't send it out. Seriously ticked me off. So, I had everyone on my team let their team know or send it to their supervisors to send out. I personally think that some of those chocolates will never be found, I did me job well. Next Wednesday, I'll send out another PM letting people know where to look if they hadn't found their chocolates yet. Fun!

I never thought that we would be upstaged by management but then again, I should have asked...I should have asked.

Thank Goodness for the Long weekend!

I got my own Tag Board!

How absolutely wonderful! I got my own tagboard after days of wondering how karey's and laura's got one. So I went to the site, signed up, copied the html format and pasted it in the template. Easy peasy...not so much but let's go with that.

So, today I, along with a few other people, received an invitation from one of the managers to attend the Volunteer Awards banquet that takes place in vancouver every year. He is on the Board of directors and was able to invite some staff where I work (mostly because TD donates to these awards and so it has a table). It will be a gala dinner and the presenting of the awards, on April 24 at 5;30. I have only been actively involved with volunteering with work since Sept or october last year and already I am getting noticed at work. Good Times! I think it is mostly because I am the Social Committee chair but I'm not complaining. This will be one of the best events I could attend.

As a Social Committe at work, we are placing chocolates on everyone's desk for a little surprise and a little easter egg hunt, why should kids have all the fun hey? My vice and I want the staff to be able to have fun and have the staff associate the committee with giving them fun activities, not just things that they always have to pay for. I hope that everyone has a little fun tomorrow finding hidden chocolate eggs on their desk.

I do like my job. It's fun because I am making it fun. It isn't drudgery...only before a long weekend or a vacation because then the days draaag.

Okay, I'm rambling a little but it has been a good day and I can't wait until tomorrow morning to hide the eggs. I love creating surprises for people and then seeing the looks on their faces. That is truly what dreams are made of...making people happy.

It's like I'm becoming a new person

So, Nikki and I were able to find a place after hours of searching for a place. Actually, I am being a brat. We were blessed to only have to look at 4 places before we found that one we wanted. We looked at three more after our dream place but that was more out of curiousity than necessity.

This place is fantastic! My secret desire was that we would be able to find a place that we both liked, that had a gas stove. My dreams have been fulfilled. I saw this place on Craig's list, it was for a good price, the place was described as being on a ground level, and there were two pictures, one of the living room and one of the kitchen. The kitchen showed that it was spacey, which is a definite plus for me yet, I could not see what the stove looked like but I decided to email the person so that we could see the place. The location is in New West and that was one strike against it but it was close to the bowling alley we like...no pun intended;) The home is a duplex, really nice, pink stucco, new look type of house and when we walked inside our place, everything was in good condition and up to date. There is a lot of natural light, which is also one of my favorites when looking for a place, and space. The kitchen has a gas stove, right when I saw it, I said, "well, I'm sold", the lady kind of laughed but I was serious, I didn't need to look further I liked the kitchen and knew this was the place for me! Nikki felt the same way about the rest of the rest of the place. The bathroom is great, the livingroom is nice and there are patio doors to the backyard (nice backyard too) and the rooms are a good size. Nikki's thing is to check the closets. She likes to have good closet space and rightly so!

The walls are all painted with warm colors, the kitchen is a butter yellow, the bathroom is a sage green and the living room is....some color but it's nice.

The owner's liked us right away but she had to show it to others that had made appointments and was going to call us after church on Sunday, we saw it Saturday, to let us know if we had for sure gotten it. Well, she ended up calling me before church and said that it's ours if we want it, and of course I said, I sho do little lady! - no I didn't but it would have been great if I had.

So, we are officially on our way to a new life, of sorts. Nikki, Amy & I will be embarking on a new adventure in New West! I hear the air is better there anyway, right? Fraser river...Good Times! The Riverboat Casino, good FHE activity. Ahh, this is the life!

I can now walk to work and get a little more exercise. Fun Fun Fun!!
Okay, I'm going to stop bragging now, so you won't hate me out of jealousy:)

I Done Gone and Done it

I done gone and done it. I got me a blog site. I done seen karey & laura's and i thought to myself, "Self...i need to get me one of them fancy blog sites too." You know, I have to keep up with the Jones's, even if I don't know them personally, I got an image to start.

Well, now that I am as hip as them young hipsters, let's see if this is worthwhile. I gots things to do and publishing my thoughts on this blog thingy done waste my time.

Well, I gotsta go now because the grits is ready. I'll be back and let you all know what my thoughts are. Right now I gotsta have my grits, it sho' makes my belly feel good.