Promotions and snow and four day weekends....

After only six months on the job, Mark received his first promotion yesterday! This means moving up a step on the job ladder AND a nice pay raise! :)  It is so nice to see this wonderful man finally get recognized for his work ethic and values. In the Navy, promotions are based on test results and 'points' accumulated due to medals earned etc. While Mark made rank as fast as was possible, you really can only get 'promoted' once every four or five years due to politics etc. SO. It is just nice that he can get promotions based on what he does and how he does it, and not on some political formula! So, Congrats to my sweet man on his promotion and YAY for me to have more money to spend! :)
Snow.....we have been told we will get snow this weekend. While the rest of the country is sick to death of snow after being buried in it for months, we are still waiting for a big snow event here. We have had two small snowfalls, neither one lasting longer than a day. It would snow at night, then be gone by the next afternoon. I am trying to tell God that this would be a GREAT weekend for it too, after all, we DO have a four day weekend!
Speaking of the four day weekend, it is going to be such a nice break! This is my second to last week of this current term at school, which means I have not only had the regular load of homework, but have been writing papers for the final week. All my big projects are done, and by the end of tomorrow, I'll have all my weekly homework done, so this four day weekend will be SUCH a nice break! My academic supervisor screwed up my schedule, so I have three back to back terms to do. That means 24 weeks with maybe a day or three in between each one. This is the first of the three terms...I start three days after this term ends on the second of the three back to back terms and so I will be busy, busy, busy until Easter. I plan on having a pajama weekend! :)

So whatever this weekend is going to bring you, enjoy it! I know I am going to!

Hugs to all,
Jaye

National Lox and Bagels day...

Along with my regular facebook page, I also have a 'food' facebook page simply because I had so many people wanting recipes of things I had talked about making on my facebook page and I wanted THEIR recipes, so it just seemed more efficient to create a page dedicated to my foodie friends and I. I have to admit that I am bad about keeping up with it. Life gets in my way..but I'd love to really post once a day on there and maintain it...perhaps one day when the craziness of homework and psych papers being due subsides I will actually be able to do a daily post. In the meantime, it is very hit and miss. I DO try to at least post the 'National Day of______' whatever it happens to be that day. Today is National Lox and Bagels day. This got me reminiscing about a little deli that used to be in my hometown. It was actually a fish shop- but it was run by a Jewish man so I guess that is why you could also by the worlds best bagels at this fish shop. There was nothing better than getting to the shop in time for the bagels to still be warm from the oven. The owner would slather them with cream cheese...not just your run of the mill 'kraft philly' cream cheese either...but thick cream cheese that came in these lovely big tubs...then he would stack thinly sliced, MADE IN HIS SHOP lox over the top...oh Heavenly goodness...it was lovely. The shop is no longer there...well, the building is, but there is a new business in it and life goes on.
This memory got me to thinking about my hometown, and all its little shops and cute little quirks. Art is  a big deal in this town. Lots of artists live 'in the creek'. If you are from there you'll know that this doesn't mean they literally live IN a creek, but they live in a town called Roberts Creek..affectionately known as 'The Creek'. The town boasts lots of little independent shops...book shops...art shops....pottery shops...and I use the word 'shop' intentionally. These are not 'stores' where you are in and out...but they are 'shops' in that even if you don't buy anything, you want to spend time really soaking everything in....
These memories all get me to realizing how homesick I am at times. I love my life. I love my family. I love the States. But I am a Canadian and always will be. Canada is my home. And I miss her. Once we get our passports we will be making a trip 'home'. I need to drive in kilometers. I need to put liters of gas in my car. I need to listen to people talk who lilt their sentences at the end. And I need dill pickle chips.
Oh Canada....how I miss you.

Hugs to all,
Jaye