today was not a good day

today wasn't a good day at the office i just had to get that off my chest in fact it was totally crappy! way too crazy not enough pairs of hands to do the jobs that needed to be done i wasn't even working where i usually do which sometimes its nice to have a change and it wasn't as bad as where i should have been working! their day was worse by all accounts and it saddens me that my work mates had such an awful day.... i got away from work 30minutes late so arrived home at midnight and as you can see its 01.15 and I'm still wide awake.... ohh 11.15-23.15 shift i DO NOT LIKE YOU and i would be alot happier if you was not part of my life. I have 3 days off now before i return for 2 day shifts and 2 more of them shifts i hate :( on the up side i get to spend Canada day with my hubby who i have missed so much this week.

so i am going to finish my white wine spritzer and try to go to sleep

Goodnight

English Rose

What a week :)

Well its been some time since I last posted and so much has happened in the last week all for the better ! firstly I had a wonderful email from my nephew whose in the navy to tell me he's going to propose to his girlfriend, who also happens to be in the navy so they don't get to see each other that much and I'm soooo excited, i will eventually get to wear at hat to future wedding,  also my wonderful hubby gets himself  his second pay rise and complement from his boss and on top of all of that we have finally booked the flights for the kids to come visit their dad and me, they arrive in 3 weeks for 3 weeks and i cant wait they are so excited to see what British Columbia has to offer. Then just when i though i had received my 3 lots off good news I get a call from the bank to say that the Canadian immigration has finally cashed our bankers draft!!!! which means they are dealing with our permanent residency application and will send us our letter to tell us to go and get our medicals done and shortly after that we shall be permanent residents in this amazing country. All the tears, leaving family and close friends and making new lives here will have been worth it...its already been quite a journey!

We have made some further renovations to our rental house, now that the downstairs powder room is finished, and the deck has been extended I bought 3 new rugs for the hall and a gorgeous bright red futon which is in our living room...its quite racy! and we love it ...well it was a bargain. We still have the upstairs bathroom to upgrade yet.

I have lots of bleaching and cleaning to do before the kids arrive and trips to plan, they want to stay over in whistler and Seattle so i must get a move on and get the dogs booked into the kennels for those nights, I cant believe its been over a year since we left the UK and its been amazing I love my new life. We also have my mum come and stay with us at the end of august and i think she may stay for 3-4 weeks....look forward to that. Well that was my week, i feel quite exhausted and I'm currently working 3x 11.15-23.15 shifts at work i hate them with a passion, i get home and cant sleep!!!!! in fact I'm lucky if i am asleep by 3am after getting home at midnight, management really need to address this issue!!!! ENUF SAID.

well thats it for now

English Rose

Happy Father's Day

I know your not here for me to say to you happy father's day, you've been with the angels 13 years now and i think of you everyday and miss you very much..... Love you dad ! xxx

Bertha is back :)

I am so much happier today, I finally got my truck back, not at 9am like the garage man said - it was gone 2pm!!!!! but alas she is parked up outside with a happy owner on the inside ....yeahhhhhh.

Its been hit and miss today with the weather a bit gloomy and miserable and its starting to affect my mood, Ive been in a 'I cant be bothered' mood, even the dogs spent the day sulking..... the worst thing is for me when I feel like that is I eat....LOTS and its all the feel good foods like pastries and cinnamon buns etc, then I feel sick and disappointed in myself......


I just want summer to hurry up !!!!!!!!!

with that said I'm going to go to sleep and dream of warm sandy beaches, golden sands and sangria

Ohhh dismay....my truck is sick :(

I bought myself a 'truck' in Feb 2010, I called her Bertha because she is big and beefy its a UK thing to give your vehicle a name but alas she became sick on our way home from our trip to the Golden Ears Park, the mechanics bill is on the large size but I get Bertha back in the morning :) I miss her when she's not parked on the drive in all her glory. Bertha is a 1997 Ford Expedition and her Air-Con decided it wasn't going to play anymore the poor old girl, I'm hoping she will feel like a spring lamb again with lots of energy when I go to pick her up. The garage man has been so nice...which you would expect - he's the one who gets the job done and takes all your money but this man (Jason) drove me home this morning as I had no ride and he's coming to collect me at 9am as he knows I would have to get a taxi to pick Bertha up. I was flabbergasted at this service and I can tell you now - you wouldn't get that kind of service in the UK!!! I made a point of telling the nice garage man this and his reply was 'its the little things that help us keep our customers' well I have a feeling I shall be seeing the garage again in the future and would highly recommend them. Personal thank-you to Paul (H) for suggesting them to me :).

I spent the rest of the morning scrap booking and playing with the cricut machine which I'm starting to like more and more, I managed to get 4 pages done, they need a few more embellishments yet but I'm pleased with my 1st attempts. Lunch time quickly crept up on me - my girlfriend (AS) called and we went out for coffee and a catch up which was lovely.

I spent the evening relaxing with Mr E.R,a glass of wine and the dogs by my side on the sundeck, chatting about our day....... BLISS !

What's a girl to do?

Ive been feeling a little fed up since Sunday, we took the dogs out early morning to Allouette Lake at the Golden Ears Park, it was lovely, hubby took some fab photos with his new camera everything was going fine until we were half way home when my truck decides to pull a 'sicky' we took the risk to attempt to get home and she did us proud in getting us that far...thanks Bertha (yeah that is her name) now she is parked on the drive looking very sad as she is poorly and i feel like i have been stripped of my Independence again ! I'm worried that she wont be feeling better by Monday when i have to go back to work .

So since Bertha was rendered 'out of action' I've been doing the usual chores around the house cooking, cleaning, washing and spent 3 hours ironing yesterday. I moan about wanting some me time and when i get it i don't know what to do with myself !!

I have the daily ritual where i check the e-mails, check flights for the kids to come from the UK this summer ( they still haven't reduced in price) then i check facebook and usually catch up with family on their but even that has been quiet this past few days.

I just don't know what i want to do with myself..... I think i might head off into the scrap booking room and see if I can find my inspiration

Bye for now

What a year!

A year ago today my family and I emigrated from the UK to British Columbia and what a year its been, a complete fresh start, there is something quite exhilarating about that..... we look back at the week before we moved here what utter chaos, removal boxes everywhere, giving our belongings away, the goodbyes and heartache, the worry of whether the pets will survive the plane journey and now......what joy to be here. We have met some amazing people, settled into the Canadian ways and enjoying our jobs. The pets have settled in very well too. We have achieved so much its hard to think how we have managed to do all of that in our first year but we have.

Were going to friends today to watch England play the USA in the world cup..... were not 'footie' fans really but are looking forward to it and meeting new people but just for now I'm going to sit here on my sundeck for a little while longer enjoying the sounds of the birds whilst I sip my coffee

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.”



Lewis Carroll

Spring Cleaning...Yuk!

Spring Cleaning is a job I loathe....a strong word I know but I really do hate it......but have to say I find some kind of peace and achievement when its done, this morning was spent bleaching the window frames in our rental, they were a little mouldy but not any more *smiles. Its been a long time I wore bright yellow marigolds and I'm thankful I did because that industrial bleach hurt my eyes and throat....would not have liked in on my skin! It certainly did a good job, I'm pleased with the result.

This afternoon I took a trip back to Best Buy which happens to be my third trip in two days *sighs..... Mr English Rose has been longing for a Digital SLR camera for some time now, he use to enjoy his photography way before we both met and as it was his birthday a few days ago I decided I would treat him, so in between my night shifts I went to Best Buy and managed to get a really good deal on a Canon EOS T2i DSLR 18 Megapixil with Accessory Pack- this included a bag, UV Filter and Battery....after I had bartered and got myself the deal I was told by sales assistant that they didn't have the camera in stock Arghhhhhh, delivery would be that day after 3pm, well I couldn't wait as I was on Nights, so finally got it the day after, hubby was very pleased and shocked....after unpacking the accessory pack my hubby realised that the battery didn't fit his camera it fits the Canon EOS T1i. *huff and after all of that the shop doesn't stock the batteries !!!! not BEST after all. Never mind there is always eBay !!!! so here's me hoping for some amazing photos in the future .

VACATION

Its true I'm officially on vacation ! sigh ...... I've finished my last set of four shifts five days ago but have picked up three overtime shifts in that time ....how insane and boy do I feel it as I type this. We have so many people off sick at work now, its ridiculous and as much as I miss my work mates I want them all to be well so best to stay away from work till your 100%. I am not due back into work until June 19th and I have a job list so long to achieve in that time which mainly includes painting, the usual chores around the house, I find it so frustrating that we are in a rental and we want to do some renovations but cant, we have family coming to visit in the summer and we feel were trapped inside a 1970's tardis ! The owners have agreed to paying for laminate flooring and new floor tiling in the bathroom so that will make the place nicer, my hubby who does house Reno's for his job has already replaced the downstairs powder room toilet and basin, painted, new flooring and crown mouldings, it looks fantabulous...I must post a pic, we also replaced the whole ceiling in the laundry room which was previously in a sad state with a huge water stain from a leak and some of the tiles missing, now its lovely with a sunken light all at no cost ....that's even better. I'm very house proud you see and its driving me insane to the point of obsession but I tell myself everyday its a rental !!!!!! That day of owning our own ohhhhhh what joy and celebration that will be.

This weekend (June 12th) is a busy day for me and Mr English Rose - not only is there a party invite as its the first England soccer match against the USA in the World Cup, but it is also our 1 year Anniversary of emigrating to BC - its been one heck of a year filled with joy, tears, uncertainties, laughter and happiness, but NO REGRETS, we have made some what we hope will be good friends and have tried to embrace the Canadian way of life as much as possible....whilst keeping the British sense of humour and of course the local Boltonian accent :-) .

So having made it as clear as possible to staffing at work NOT TO CALL ME - I am hoping to fulfill most if not all of my job list...here's to a good vacation......

Smiles of the Week

These are what made me smile this week: in the pic top left is the delivery of my new cricut cartridges :) i intend to play with them this week as I'm on vacation. the picture to the right is of one of my favourite stores in Abbotsford. I just love going in their to see whats new or pick up a bargain in the clearance section.... we all love a bargain! And the final picture is of our two dogs sat next to the dinner table on my husbands birthday, I think they look cute in their party hat's - hubby was too shy to come on the photo, the dogs were treated to beef stew for sitting still for the photo !

MMMMMMMMMMMMM YUMMY!!!

Tonight, hubby and I went to the Greek Island's Restaurant on SFW in Abbotsford. We understand what our friends meant by westernised greek experience.... the atmosphere was pleasant,  the food was quite authentic and service at the restaurant was excellent, We LOVE Caesar salad - a simple dish but ohhh sooo tasty, hubby had lamb and I had shrimp, scallop and crab filo pastry wrap.... it was yummy and of course the vino Blanc and Rouge was freely flowing and continued to do so at home. Were both very tired now, I've only just finished night shift and hubster is back at work tomorrow so its time to say good night all :). Thank-you Greek Island's Restaurant for making our tummies content !

Tea for Two

So I asked my cute little friend Miss C to help me customise my blog and adjust my page layout and this is what we came up with ! I like my background very 'English Rose' I must say. Miss C showed me how to add in cute pictures to my blog like my fellow followers and others do, whilst showing me we came across this Tea Cup which reminded me of having tea with my Nana when I was a little girl, she had a Tea Set just like this one - so thanks Miss C for your help earlier :)

Birthday Wishes

Today is my Husband's birthday, unfortunately I'm doing night shifts over the next few days but we hope to try out the Greek restaurant on Sunday night that we have heard so much about 'The Greek Islands' . We use to holiday at least twice a year in 'Zante' we have fond memories of our vacations there, hopping on our moped and seeking out the secluded little beach coves and taking in the lovely warm sun. We both love Greek food and if they have stifado or kleftico on the menu then hubby will be a happy birthday boy. This time last year we were at our leaving /hubby's birthday party in the UK, so much has happened since that day and I am hoping hubby's 1st birthday celebration in Canada provides him with good memories. I have a few surprises, luckily he will be at work when I get home so I plan to decorate the sundeck, I've hidden his cards from the UK so he thinks he hasn't got any and then it will be off to bed for me.
So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mr English Rose! mwah x