Guaranteed Income

Right now, I only work per diem work, meaning it's like relief shifts. I still get quite a few shifts, almost full time hours, but that's not always guaranteed. I am just waiting around for full time at this point. It will come, I just need to be patient.
Once I get full time, I will have a salary, which will be exactly what I need to finally get my finances in order and develop a real budget. And, of course, with said guaranteed monies, I have some plans.

When I get a real person (full time) job, I want to get:
1. An iPhone (But my current phone, a Motorola Krzr is less than a year old... so I can't justify it yet.)
2. A real couch (Can I do this and keep my loveseat? It's a pretty small apartment, but the loveseat is kind of sentimental.)
3. A big girl bed (I currently have a twin, I want at least a double. And a pretty new bedspread.)

It's all about becoming a grown up really. I have an interview tomorrow for full time. I think there might be a few people ahead of me to get the spot, so I may not get it this time... but it's worth a shot! Wish me luck.

All These Things That I've Done

I've now seen this on fab obsessed and apartment #412, etc and decided to do it myself. I made all of the things I've done on the list purple. And all the things I want to do are blue.
Enjoy!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyworld/Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you were not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been laid off from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

One More Award!

Courtney at Once Upon a Bookshelf gave me this here award a while back. The rules are to list 7 things I love and then to tag 7 people who will play along.

Things I Love:
1. My crazy but endearing cat. He's the main man in my life and I don't know what I'd do without him.
2. My Teddy Bear. His name is Teddy. Yes, I am in my 20s and still have a Teddy Bear... I got him when I had my surgery at 3 years old and he has been everywhere with me ever since.
3. Getting mail. No, not the electronic kind, but real old-fashioned snail mail.
4. This place.
5. My family. I appreciate them more and more every day that I work in the youth shelter. I never knew before how lucky I was.
6. Being from a small town. I used to hate it, but now that I really live in the city, I am glad of where I came from. I am pretty good at acting like a city person (for example, when I ride the subway and don't want people to bother me), but I don't think I'll ever truly be a city girl. I feel most at home surrounded by farmers fields and dirt roads, not by concrete sidewalks and subways.
7. Diet Pepsi. Up until recently, I was a Diet Coke girl, but I've been won over to the dark side and fallen in love with Diet Pepsi. I love the taste, and since I don't drink coffee, I need the stuff to get through my day.


And the award goes to...
1. Karen at The Transformation of Kern
2. Erin at The State That I Am In
3. Ria at & That's The Way Life Goes
4. Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
5. Lily at Lily Speak
6. Ashley at Writing to Reach You
7. Alyssa at How Lucky We Are

Award O'Clock!

Recently, I was lucky enough to recieve not one but two blog awards! Here we go:


I recieved the Honest Scrap Award from Rialeilani!

The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or 2. Firstly you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly you have to tag 10 people with the award.

1) I had surgery on my kidney when I was 3 years old. I still have a giant scar across my side from it. You know that tube that goes from your kidney to your bladder? Well I had an extra one, only it didn't go to my bladder, it went nowhere. Now I have a kidney and 3/4s. The only real thing that means is that I could never donate a kidney. I used to be embarrassed to tell people why I had the surgery, because it meant that I was deformed. Now, I don't care.
2) I have a magazine buying problem. Mostly it stems from my quest to find a replacement favourite magazine post-Jane. Currently, sitting on the floor beside my bed I have: Glamour, Lou Lou, Real Simple, Nylon, and Naked Eye. Still, none of them quite live up to Jane.
3) 3 is my favourite number. Has been forever, no idea why!
4) The past few days, when I have spent a great deal of time sick in bed, Thunder Kitty has started cuddling with my legs. It makes me extremely happy.
5) I feel naked if I'm not wearing a watch. I have worn one every single day since I started being a camp counsellor in... 2002. My parents get me a new one pretty much every year for either Christmas or my birthday. That sounds fancy, but they own a jewellery store, so it's okay.
6) If you follow me on Twitter (@ewalker9), you might remember that I am adopting a turtle. His name is Maurice (named after Marice Starr), and he has been a camp pet since 2001 if I remember correctly. Every year I was senior staff at camp, I took care of him, and even when I didn't work there, I harassed the staff who did into taking proper care of him. One year, way before me, he was left there alone from August to October when someone finally found him. Now, the camp doesn't want him and the girl who was taking care of him is going to Nepal and nobody wants him. So I said that if nobody will take him, I will, because I couldn't stand to let him go homeless, I like the little guy. And so, I am adopting my third pet from camp that nobody wanted (the first being Clark the hamster, now deceased, and the second being Thunder Kitty). I thought my parents were going to kill me, instead they just rolled their eyes. I will properly introduce him when he arrives at my place.
7) I have a small collection (4) of tribal masks on my wall. I both love them and scare the crap out of me. I got my first when I worked at the campus art gallery at university. They have a high-end yard sale every year as a fund raiser, where people donate items to sell to raise money for the gallery. Somebody donated a tonne of African masks, and I loved them. I told myself that if there was still one left on the last day, I would buy it. There was, and I did. After that, I bought 3 more on various Carribbean islands that we stopped at on our 2 cruises. The Carribbean ones are much more friendly looking than the African mask. I will likely collect more on my future travels.
8) This is my least favourite time of year. Winter has long since overstayed it's welcome and excitement, spring is nowhere to be seen, most days are cold and grey, and the snow is dirty looking. I cannot wait for spring to come.
9) I used to name my houseplants. I had Ezra (because I loved the name) and Annabelle and Annabelle 2 (she was a sprout from Annabelle the first).
10) Last night, my friend and I were driving back to my apartment, and in the alley outside of it, a guy flagged us down and asked if we could help him jump his car. I did it, luckily he knew what to do because I didn't even know where the button to pop the hood was at first. We got his car started and he was good to go. I was so happy that my friend was with me though, because I grew up being taught that people in the city are scary and not to be trusted, especially when you are a female alone, so I likely would not have stopped to help or at least I would have been torn about it. It was nice to be able to help him, and cool to see what to do to jump start a car. Also, he had a really nice voice.

Tagged:
Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
Lily at Lily Speak
Carmen at My Life in a Nutshell
Cuileann at The Holly and the Ivy
Kern at The Transformation of Kern
Heather at EveryyDayy
Lucklys at How Lucky We Are
Ashley at Writing to Reach You
Ashley at Turquoise Ribbons
EP at Stylish Handwriting




I also received the Arte Y Pico Award (creative blog award) from Ashley at Writing to Reach You! And I would like to give this award to Lily at Lily Speak for having a beautiful blog and being my very first bloggy friend!

The Letter N

Lindsay over at Adventures of a Book Thief made a list of 10 things she liked that start with the letter m, and gave me the letter n for mine.
Leave a comment if you want me to give you a random letter for a meme of your own!


1- Night - I am almost entirely nocturnal if given the option, I would much rather sleep all day and stay up all night.
2- Neverland - Not the Michael Jackson place. Peter Pan is one of my favourite books ever, and the newer live version of it is one of my favourite movies. I would love to live in Neverland with the pirates and mermaids and Indians, and never have to grow up.
3- Nosferatu - Basically synonymous with "vampire". I have had a healthy obsession with vampires for years now, much before the Twilight Saga came out, I read Companions in the Night and Dracula and dreamed of running with the vampires.
4- North - I live in the Great White North, and I really do like it here, though I am not technically all that nothern, as I was born about an hour away from Canada's Southernmost Point (Point Pelee and Pelee Island, in case you were wondering), so technically I have spent most of my life more south than most of Canada and some of the US.
5- Narwhal - What a freaking cool animal. It's got a freaking unicorn horn, do I need to say more?
6- Ned from Pushing Daisies - He's completely adorable! Ned could bring me back from the dead and solve mysteries with me any day.
7- North by Northwest - A Hitchcock classic with Cary Grant. Action packed and full of lines such as: "You're a big girl in all the right places", you can't go wrong.
8- Nano - As in, my iPod 3G Nano. I rarely go anywhere without it. It gets me through my hour commutes to and from work.
9- Nerds - The candies! I especially love the green and yellow ones, in sour and normal.
10- Number 36 - The Dave Matthews Band song. Here, Wikipedia tells us a bit about it's history:

Four days after his assassination, the rock group Dave Matthews Band (whose lead singer and guitarist, >Dave Matthews, is from South Africa) began playing a song, #36, to honour Hani. A live favorite for years, the music evolved into the basic foundation of the 2001 single, Everyday. The Introduction to the popular hit "Everyday" starts with the crowd singing "Honey, Honey, come and dance with me", and the crowd and band occasionally use the reprise as an outro to the song as well. (It was originally written as "Hani, Hani, come and dance with me," but Matthews believed the song to be too cheery with those lyrics, so he changed it.)

Here you can watch it:

25 Things

This has been going around Facebook like wildfire. After being tagged a few times, I thought I would avoid doing housework by doing one myself. And, because it makes good blog fodder, here you go, 25 random things about yours truly.

1. My initials spell EEW. Thanks, Mom and Dad.
2. As a kid (okay, until a few years ago) I had an unhealthy obsession with moose. Like, as in the animal.
3. I own movies that I've never watched.
4. I have bought myself a "Ferret Frenzy" calendar every year now for 4 years, we started with World Tour, then it was TV Shows, then At the Movies, and now On Vacation. It's ferrets posed in different scenes, wearing clothes and acting out something, in case you were wondering. For February, they are on a cruise ship, dressed in cruise clothing, one is sitting in a deck chair and the other is looking over the side of the ship.
5. I might just singlehandedly keep Matt & Nat handbags in business. I've lost track of how many I have.
6. At our last vet visit, Thunder Kitty weighed 25 pounds. He is on diet kibble now, but I think it's only called "diet" because it must not taste good, he does not like eating it. I realize this is not at all about me... but the reason he is on diet food is so that the vet doesn't judge me as a bad mother when I bring him in.
7. Since last April, I have watched my mother battle - and beat - bowel cancer. It brought our family close together, and made me realize how amazingly strong and beautiful my mother is.
8. I have been on anti-depressants for my anxiety disorder for over 6 years now, it may not be everyone's best option, but it has worked for me.
9. If given the option, I could easily be completely nocturnal.
10. I loved the Twilight series way more than I will admit to most other people (unless they share the obsession). I feel like a 15 year old girl when I admit that New Moon made me cry.
11. I want to travel the world, but first I need to find someone to do it with me because I'm way too chicken to do it alone.
12. I think Dave Matthews is a genius. I would put my anti-adultery morals aside for him. (Too much info? Sorry guys!)
13. I get stressed out when other people are arguing / not getting along, even if I have nothing to do with it.
14. I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up. I like working at the shelter, but I know it's not forever. I don't ever want to feel bored or unhappy with my job.
15. I have considered getting a tattoo, but I am too scared of commitment and permanence.
16. I can't watch those OSPCA commercials on tv without being tempted to adopt them all. If I had a large piece of land and unlimited funds, I would likely adopt a tonne of abused or abandoned animals.
17. I go through periods where I can't get enough of a certain food, and then all of a sudden I can't stand the thought of it and move on to another food. Current food: eggs.
18. I can't decide if I like Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi better. Lately I've been on a Diet Pepsi kick. I drink way more Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi than I should, but I do not like the non name brand colas, I can taste the difference.
19. I like driving. Not so much in the GTA or on 400-series highways, but on the country highways. However, if I had a choice, I would take the train, I love riding the train.
20. I will always love Kenesserie Camp. I would go back to work there in a heartbeat if it was at all feasible for me. It is the first place that I have ever loved.
21. My sister is in New Zealand right now. I cannot even fathom how far away that is.
22. I miss the camping trips we used to go on as a family. The east coast twice, the west coast, Kentucky, South Carolina, Northern Ontario...
23. I had kidney surgery when I was 3 years old. I have a scar across my side that has grown up with me. If given the choice, I don't think I would want to get it removed. That scar is a part of me now.
24. I can bake, but I cannot cook. I almost always screw it up when I cook.
25. I love board games. Most nights I would rather stay in and play them than go out. I love Cranium and Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly.

Underemployment Plans

Now that I'm done school and a real working girl, I have a bit more free time. Okay, that's a lie. Now that my only job is relief work, I'm discovering that I have a lot more free time. It's only my second day off this week and I'm already bored stiff.
I'm still looking for another job (either a full time job or a second part time job), but I'm taking my time, playing it by ear. I want to see how much work I get at the shelter before I look for something else.
In the meantime, I need things to occupy my time. There are a few things that I know for sure I need to do, and a few other ideas I've been thinking about but am undecided on. And, because everybody likes lists, here are my thoughts on things I can do outside of work to occupy my time, in list form:

• Cleaning the apartment, and not just average cleaning, but hardcore cleaning - that way I can keep on top of it for the rest of the year, a la my New Year's Resolution. Yes, this includes the closets and ALL of the laundry.
  
• Finding my local library branch, getting a Toronto library card, and reading, reading, reading - for free! This will help with that other resolution.
• Training the cat to use the toilet rather than the litter box. Yes, I'm aware that this is basically a pipe dream, but I'm still considering it.
• Catching up on the episodes of Pushing Daisies that I have waiting for me to watch on my computer.
• Going for walks daily, bringing my camera, and taking pictures. I'm considering taking part in Project 365.
• Joining some type of exercise group or class. Taking yoga, dance, swimming, joining an organized sport... I'm not sure which. Any ideas?
• Being more artistic: printmaking, painting, photography, etc - just do more of it.
• Taking some sort of art and/or crafts class. Know of any good / inexpensive ones in the GTA?
• Learn to sew, with a machine, meaning I need to procure a sewing machine somehow.
• Borrowing my little sister's Game Cube that she does not use, kicking butt in the games.
• Writing thank you notes to the older generation of my family for my Christmas gifts. I have the cards, I just have to sit down and do it.

Have any ideas to add to my list? Any suggestions? Help me out here guys, I'm going stir crazy!