Friday 27 April 2012

MIA... Apolgies... been a bit busy!!

Not sure how this post will turn out as it seems blogger has changed everything around since the last time I posted and I don't seem to be able to find anything I want!  My Granny had a saying... 'if it aint broke, don't fix it'... wish the Blogger blokes would take a note of that!!
Anyways, the new carpet and flooring is now down and looking all new and fresh, it was a nightmare of a task and I would like to point out to anyone crazy enough to do such a thing to think ahead as to where they are going to put all their furniture and belongings whilst this mammoth task goes ahead!!  We have a basement... so Chris and I boxed everything that was lose and moved all the smaller bits of furniture (and some bigger bits) down there... but yes, we were having the basement re-carpetted too but I told the guys that they would have to do the top two floors first and then do the basement carpet on the last day once we had a chance to put things back into the 'done' areas.  See, good planning eh? ;)  Hmmmm, end of day one they had completed the carpets in the bedrooms and lounge and part of the stairs and tell me they are doing the basement next!!  Just to compound the problem... it was the warmest day of the year here in Calgary... a lovely bright sunny/hot 27 degrees C!!  I have never moved so many boxes in such a short space of time in my life... and people that know this blog know that I am pretty good around boxes... have had plenty of practice!!
Here's our bedroom all nice and new again.
The kitchen and dining area got laminate and it looks much better now.
The basement looks much bigger and lighter with the new carpet.
It was a busy week all round as we also went to Fluor's 100th Year Celebration and Pin Party.
Chris and I all dressed up for the Fluor Annual Party.  I have to admit I thought it was strange that it started at 2.30 in the afternoon... with dinner at 7 p.m. and dancing after that... something should have made me question this... but it said there was presentation and such like all afternoon so I took my cocktail dress along so I could change for the later evening event and my friend Odelia let me use her hotel room to get changed in.  We arrived fashionably late just before 3 p.m. and were handed a glass of champagne and urged to take our seats at our tables... which we did.  Now, those not in the know, will not realise that Fluor's head office is in Houston, Texas.... all the other places we work from are home offices for the various different countries and there are quite a few of them as you may realise from our constant moving about!  Thus the 2.30 p.m. start time... they were trying to accommodate all the different time zones... because someone had the brainwave that they have the party in Houston and we all get to watch in live-ish via video link!! 
 Yep, I got all gussied up to sit on a dining chair for THREE HOURS watching the peeps in Houston have a lovely party!!  Now how is that for economising? LOL  Nope, the economising didn't stop there... we had tables of 8 and on said table was a water jug and two plates of crackers with bits on them... the crackers had obviously been there a lot longer than we had as they had that interesting bendy texture to them that crackers get when you put cheese and stuff on them too far ahead of a time. :(   So, we all sat with our champagne, yep, the original glass we got when arriving... and bendy crackers... and a jug of water... for 3 hours.  Nobody came with juice, tea or coffee... coffee would have been good as I nodded off at one point and a bag of crisps would have been welcomed with open arms and we sat and watched all the lovely celebratory things going on in Houston... speeches and acrobats and more speeches and a new soundtrack that would have suited an Alfred Hitchcock movie that was composed and conducted for the 100 year anniversary by a young 19 year old that was well paid for what he did. ;)    At 6.15 they released us and our now very flat buttocks from the dining room for 'cocktail' hour... stuff the cocktails, judging by what had been on offer up to this point... we all took off to the hotel to get changed and raided the VIP lounge for some decent food and a fruit juice.
We then went back to the same table for dinner... and the food was very good and I can't really complain about the fact that my steak was red in the middle as it would have been an impossible task to feed 1500 people all with different steak cookedness and the dessert was lovely and YAY... look, I finally got something with 100 year of Fluor on it to scrap... nope... even I, who will scrap almost anything can't really scrap a chocolate wafer... so I ate it!!  The pin party was good... it's always nice to see people get their service pin for the number of years they have worked for the company and our friend Bruce went up for his 30 year pin.  Chris has worked for Fluor for 38 years of those 100 years... but you only get a pin for multiples of five... so he has to wait another two years for his 40 year pin. (after my moaning I probably won't get an invite to that one)... LOL
If you have got this far... give yourself an award!! I ordered some stuff off Etsy a while back and it arrived a few days ago... took 3 weeks to get here from Hong Kong and inside the parcel I find these...
and yes, I did order them... what I need to know is why did I order them?  What brainwave did I have that required little cupie dolls with no clothes on?  Any ideas?  Answers please on a postcard...

9 comments:

  1. The flooring looks good Annette (as does that desert).

    Poor you having to sit for that length of time.

    As for the Blogger changes, I see you dropped by (thank you for the comment) - I hope Lindsay's instructions have enabled you to restore the old format; even if it is only for a short while.

    I agree 100% - if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

    Toni xx

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  2. Oh me oh my, premature upheaval! Good Job though huh, and didnt they ( and therefore you) work fast! Do you know, I don't think there's much worse than sitting around watching other people enjoy themselves...specially when you do nt know them fromAdam and you can't even get a drink! blimey, what a crud idea!! never mind, at least the evening panned out better!

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  3. hi, I know this is going to sound really stalkerish but I've been following your blog for years, I love your mini books they are amazing, I first saw your work via UK Scrappers but I don't go there anymore tho I do have your blog bookmarked. I recently started my own blog so I am now able to 'comment' on blogs! You made me laugh talking about blogger, i just had a rant on my blog about people reinventing the wheel all the time! Anyway, this is just to say 'hi' and to say I admire your work and enjoy your blog. Good luck with your move back to Scotland, hopefully our weather will play nice to welcome you home! Yes, I live in Scotland too, in Glasgow. Best wishes x

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  4. You are obviously going to "alter" those dolls like you did to that other poor thing. Perhaps you were thinking of dangling them from a dress form or flattening them with a hot iron..... I think kewpie dolls are sinister, like clowns so whatever you do will be too good for them

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  5. Hopefully you were going to dress the poor little things! And to think when I started reading this I thought Flour was a person!LOL

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  6. Make earrings out of those little kewpie dollies.

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  7. I have not turned my computer off since the tornado, so I'm still using the old Blogger interface. I am staying with it until the very end, since I want to use Scott's offsite storage as long as possible, instead of Picassa, which I won't be able to do once the new interface is the only one I will have.

    I'd be exhausted from all you went through. First the boxes would have been a nightmare, and believe me, I'm getting better with moving and unpacking boxes, at least the ones that make sense, or that I have packed. But a forced hurry up job must have been difficult, trying, and time consuming.

    That party was a nightmare. Aren't you glad you weren't in South Africa or maybe Singapore, where it would have been 2:30 AM.

    The desert looked decent, but it would have been a lot better if you had not had to sit through all the garbage ahead of time. I get bored easily, and would have had to find different entertainment! Glad to know you are far more patient than I would have been. At least you had friends there to ease the pain and help pass the time.

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  8. Despite all the waiting you look stunning in the dress and glad the food was better for the main meal too,Then in 2 years time when DH gets his 40years service pin, remember to take a packed lunch and flask ;-)
    xx
    Lisa

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  9. You so make me 'larf' Annette.

    Keep em coming, love reading.

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Thank you for taking the time to leave your comment, it is truly appreciated - sort of confirms that it is more than my Mum and husband that read this thing! :)