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Rhonda RParticipant
Hi, Heidi,
News Flash! News Flash! News Flash!I have an interview Tuesday with the director of projects here in Calgary. Pretty excited.
So the good vibes you sent worked. I KNEW good things would happen when I got home.
Got a chiropractic appt this morning and found out I have Alberta Health Care Blue Cross. Unexpected. They covered half my appt. I’ve got to apply for dental. Probably won’t as its based on salary and I’m doing better than many.
So I also have a date Monday….. or at least he asked me for a drink Monday night. Still waiting to hear on a specific time and place. But that will be fun. With Dave. Same man I had a date with last New Year’s Eve. We were to go snow shoeing the next day and he ditched. Then my phone died and I didn’t have a way to contact him. A couple months ago got a friend invite from him on FB. Not sure how he found me on FB but he did. Then I didn’t hear from him. So a week or so before I came home I messaged him and told him I was coming home. So a couple days ago he asked for my number and then today asked if I’d like to meet again. So we’ll see.
And….. Dean. I just keep scratching my head with him. We’ve messaged on FB on and off through the year. I told him I was coming home and suggested maybe we meetup for a walk or something. He put me off. I doubt I’ll see him while I’m home. But then we were messaging the other night and he said I should take retirement and go with him on a trip to the States with him. He’s either making several trips or taking one long 3-month trip. Couldn’t quite tell. Be he suggested I “tag along”. ???? And he sleeps in his car, not in hotels. He’s going to his time share just out of Canmore in Sept. I told him I would come visit him there. Don’t get it. Seems like he doesn’t want to meet while I’m home but then he turns around asks me to tag along on a long trip. Don’t get it.
Had a wonderful time with my boys. I want to find a man like my boys. My oldest takes care of the dogs, does the cooking and cleans up the kitchen. Gave his wife a kiss on her head has he headed to the grocery store for some last minute things for dinner. Trav came home early from work (he works nights) so he could go with me to the airport Monday morning. I got downstairs and he was helping Dustin put dishes in the dishwasher. Trav just got a $1/hour raise. They called it an off-cycle as he was the only one who got a raise. He’s feeling appreciated there. Even though he’s not making good money ($18.50 now) he said it would make it harder to leave after the raise. He talked about this is really the first time he’s felt appreciated. He did get his title finally so he got the registration for his car and got his drivers license switched to NY. So things are looking better for him.
Headed to Banff tomorrow. My poor car is drinking gas. My neighbor filled it up for me and I just put another 20 litres in it. Seems to be getting about 10 miles to the gallon. Maybe 15. I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Little Boy Blue is 10 years, 11 years old and almost 200,000 miles on him. He’s kind of falling apart. I’ll have to retire him when I get home in March. I will miss him. We’ve done a lot of exploring together.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
Thank you. And a happy late Thanksgiving to you! Hope you had a wonderful day.Yes, got into Rochester ok. Had a minor glitch with my phone, but all good. Really enjoying my time with my boys. Have a friend picking me up in Calgary, so excited to see her again, as well as be home.
Have an AWESOME day today!
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Spyce,
Well, today is not such a good day. Work hasn’t been tops this last week or so. I see today that Buffalo, NY (75 miles from my boys) is supposed to get 4 FEET of snow this weekend and weather service is predicting bad weather and travel delays for next week. It remains to be seen whether I’ll see my boys or not! And then getting out of there and getting home could be fun as well!Oh well. Roll with the punches, I guess. Not much I can do about it and won’t know for sure till I land in Chicago next Thursday. Weather is supposed to be a LITTLE better by Thursday so we’ll hope all goes well.
Will be SOOOOO glad to be out of here – even if it does take longer. It’s raining again today. Right around 50 and very high humidity. Seen very little sun since October.
Have an AWESOME weekend!
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Spyce,
I love your name. When I see it I think of “sugar and spice and everything nice”. I think of cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves and all the yummy spices that go in cinnamon roles, apple pie, ….. I don’t think of the hot spices. LOL. My cousin married a man from Sri Lanka so I understand that hot food. I like it in smaller amounts. But cool. Sounds like you have a fun Thanksgiving planned. I like the Friendsgiving. Enjoy!So had an interesting conversation with Bridget today. She’s the Worley global support person for SmartCompletions. She’s trying to get me on her team (again) to do the same thing in Calgary that I’m doing here. I joined her team in 2017 but 6 weeks later funds were cut and I went back to the project level. Even if I don’t get on her global team, there is a huge project in Vancouver (made of several smaller projects) and since she did the demo for the Calgary project managers more of them are asking for SmartCompletions on their projects. Looks like I may be coming back here to pack up, close up all my accounts and turn around and head back. Possibly end of January instead of end of February. I’m guessing may be end of Feb still. We’ll see. But looking pretty good for something back there. I’m excited. I’ll keep praying.
Can’t believe it! Five more days and I’m heading home! Caught a cold on my trip to Germany. Feeling some better but need to hurry up and get over it totally before I travel. I’m so anxious to get out of this damp cold. It was raining today – again. Very little sun here during the winter.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Spyce,
Yes, I miss having meetup groups to do things with. Have 2 friends there right now and some acquaintances. Looking forward to making more friends when I get home. Calgary is big enough I can find people with the same interests.It helps to be in a financial position to be able to go a month or so without a job. While I was supporting the boys it was imperative I had work whether I liked it or not. Now I have a little more freedom.
Yes, traveling is stressful. LOL. Navigated another trip this last weekend. Troubles heading down on the train. Glitches coming back, but I found out a while ago how to get my phone on roaming so had my phone and internet and have learned to use the German train app so could adjust for the glitches easier than before.
Thank you. It feels good to have some confidence in who I am and what I’m worth. Been a long time coming, but think I’ve made progress. Looking forward to socializing and looking for dates again. 🙂
Germany was foggy and cool. Ended up walking back to my apartment from the train (2.2 k) and it was cool and very damp. Woke up Monday with a sore throat. That damp cold gets me every time. Tonight coming back from the office was raining and cold. Now I have a tight chest. Will be glad to get to dryer climate!! One week from tomorrow on the train to Amsterdam then one week from Thursday on the plane to NY! Yay.
Are you ready for Thanksgiving? Anything special planned?
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Spyce,
Thanks for poppin’ in. You do understand me pretty well. I’m just not myself when I’m in flat, humid country, which is where I’ve been for the last, well, since Feb 2020. Did enjoy my visits to Switzerland and fell in love with Norway. But not quite like home. I do much better in the higher, dryer climate and there’s something missing in my soul when I’m not near my mountains. So, yes, I’m very, very excited to be going home for the holidays!
My contract is over Feb 28. My boss asked what I wanted to do and I told him I wanted to go home. Mentioned I hoped I had made myself valuable enough to Worley that they would keep me on and let me work from Calgary. He hinted he would be open to that. Emailed both him and my line boss (my working boss is in Belgium, but the gentleman who hired me is in the Netherlands) last week but didn’t get a response from either of them. It’s unlike Ron not to answer, so not sure what’s happening. He’s usually pretty good at responding when I email. Either way, I have no intention on staying. There’s a possibility of a project in Vancouver. I love BC and could easily get home once a month so I would be totally open to that. I also can apply for social security in April and get enough to survive on, especially with what I would also get from Canada. So I do have options.
I’m sitting in a tiny hotel room in Muden (Mosel) Germany tonight. Three for three on a horrible train trip in Germany. Took an extra hour to get her (6 instead of 5). Will go to Cochem tomorrow to see the castle. It’s a mile from the train station. I didn’t plan well. I’ll have to take my suitcase. Had I realized I’d be walking that far I would have stuffed everything in my backpack. I was actually planning on going this afternoon, but being an hour late I didn’t have time to go and walk there and back before dark. The hills are pretty high here and the sun was already behind the hills at 3. It’s 5 now and dusk. Breakfast isn’t open here till 8 so I won’t make the 8:00 train. Will have to wait til 9, so, yeah…. but it’s only 15 min down the track.
Met a really nice girl on the train coming down. She’s from Russia. Working in The Netherlands. Did a student exchange to TX when she was 15. Really nice lady. Gorgeous brown eyes. She was going to Austria to visit friends for the weekend.
I am looking forward to getting back to socializing again when I get home. It’s funny. Sometimes now I have the attitude, feeling that I know I’m a high quality woman and happy with myself so I don’t have to try to convince the men I’m worth it. I used to stress trying to figure out what I could say to make the men want me. I don’t feel quite so much like that now. I can just be me and they’ll figure it out. That’s a first for me. Granted, I don’t feel like that all the time, but some of the time is better than never. 🙂 Hope that’s a better change, anyway! 🙂
Thanks again, Spyce. Do you have any fun plans for the holidays?
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantLOL, Hi, Heidi,
I think I write too much. I think I posted maybe 3 times before you responded? LOL. I think maybe you just saw the last one.My sister emailed me and said my dad’s health is declining. She said she noticed a difference in the last 3 weeks. I wrote and asked her to keep me posted. No response. I did book a flight for Dec 9 to Dec 12 – my birthday and that’s not how I wanted to spend my birthday. Had to change my massage appointment. I wrote earlier I’m feeling kind of guilty as I am really grumpy about having to go. Don’t have the money and really didn’t want to take the time. But I feel obligated and I know I would feel bad if I didn’t go see him before he passed. I was closer to my dad than my mom. I emailed my sister I was coming and got no response to that either. Of course if I said anything to her about not responding I’d get this Oh, I’m so sorry and some excuse. She’s a major drama queen just like my mom. Anyway, going for 2 days. That’s about all I can handle.
Alex, Dustin’s wife, is still very much tied to her mom’s apron strings. They live maybe 1-2 miles from her parents and spend weekends and holidays there. So no, any traditions we had are gone. I’ll get into Rochester in time to eat dinner with them as they eat quite late. The Christmas cookies are something I always did with the boys. Debbie will come over and do cookies with me, so that will be fun. Twelve more days till I leave! Will start packing as soon as I get back from Germany. So many things to think about!
Do you have any fun plans for the weekend?
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
No, same company, but totally different areas and divisions. I didn’t talk with my bosses here about the job in Vancouver. Bob had asked me a couple weeks ago what I was thinking of doing when my contract is over and I told him I wanted to go home but was hoping I had made myself valuable enough to Worley Netherlands that they would keep me on and let me work from Calgary. Bob’s response gave me the impression he was open to that idea, so that’s what I was asking about – another possible option, stay on with The Netherlands but work from Calgary. One of our projects currently has someone working from Calgary on it. I was fishing to find out if I might have another option besides the project in Vancouver. I’ve not gotten a response from either of them yet, so don’t know.You’re probably right about Bob. He’s in Hungary now and completely redoing things. He’s changed the schedule, is changing all the check sheet assignments and some of the check sheet contents. I worked 11 1/2 hours today and will work probably 48 hours this week to get changes done for him. They’re into construction already so while they don’t need the check sheets immediately, the need them very soon.
Yes, two weeks from today I’ll be getting into NY to celebrate Thanksgiving with my boys! Yay!
Signed up for a meetup for Dec 17. Am starting now to watch which ones I can sign up for. I’ll be gone weekend of the 10th, making a quick trip to see my dad.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
Stomach is better. Had some issues with it earlier today. But overall doing better.Heading to Germany this weekend. Leaving early Saturday morning. Hope the trains are better now than they were in August!! Need to be in Utrecht by 8 so probably will leave the apartment around 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Get back maybe around 8ish Sunday night. Can’t believe I’ll be heading for Amsterdam 2 weeks from today and fly to NY 2 weeks from tomorrow! Yippee! But again I’m getting my pre-travel jitters.
Vancouver project has asked for more info from me, so we’ll see. Emailed both my bosses today and asked them about the possibility of working from Calgary in this position. No response from either of them. I’m still kind of up in the air on how Bob likes my work. So we’ll see. When we talked before he seemed to want to see if we could make that happen, but then again, he might be just as happy for the opportunity to get someone else in here. Dunno.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
I am SURE Dutch people are half duck! Yowers! Rain, rain and more rain. 50F, breeze blowing, raining, humidity is 100%. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!!! I’ll take snow and Calgary weather over this any day! Right now it is about 4 F and 78% humidity, but that weather doesn’t last long. This junk in Holland lasts all winter! Yuck. Take me HOME!!!!!Went into Rotterdam for dinner with a co-worker and some of her friends. She’s Chinese and her three friends were Chinese. They all talked Chinese. Vicky was kind enough to translate some of the conversation for me. Guess I’m not used to Chinese food, or I ate too much….. Stomach was bloated and tight when I got back to the apartment. But had an interesting experience on the way there. Went to the bus stop and an older man was sitting there alone and it sounded like he was crying. I finally asked if he was ok and he said No but waived his hand at me like Go Away. So I moved a few feet away and faced the street. Then he started talking. I told him I couldn’t speak Dutch and brought up Translate on my phone and asked if he could put in the phone what he was trying to say. He started speaking broken English. He felt his wife was lying to him and she was supposed to show up to go with him to take back some shoes. I just listened and told him I understood and told him I was sorry he was sad. He calmed down. He thanked me a couple times for listening to him and caring about him. Bus came and we got on. I sat a couple rows behind him. A lady got on and sat across from him. When we got off (end of the line is at Alexander train station and the mall is right there), I caught up with him and said I hoped everything would go well in returning his shoes. The lady turned out to be his wife. She had made it to go with him. She was hurting as bad as he was because she said she told the truth and he wouldn’t believe her. I felt very bad for both of them. Something just didn’t seem right with the gentleman. I think he wasn’t quite all there. He, at least, thanked me several times for listening and said it helped and he felt better. When I talked briefly with her, she also seemed appreciative and I told them I would pray for them (she said they had just come from church) and hoped they had a good afternoon.
Last I looked it’s supposed to be partly sunny this weekend. Sure hope so. It’s my over-nighter to Germany so hope to have good weather. Would be fun if there were snow there, but I doubt it. We’ll see.
Did you get more snow? I see AZ and southern CA both got snow.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi Heidi,
Found this. I think this hits the nail on the head for me.I need to watch its several times.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
Yes, my vote is you go visit the wildlife sanctuary. I’m sure it will be awesome!I’m not sure why Dutch don’t bake or cook at home. They just eat out a lot. And they like to eat outdoors. Most restaurants/cafe’s have outdoor seating. There are lots of cookies and sweets in the bakery area in the grocery stores and ice cream stores are very common. But I do think they may be more active. Almost everyone rides bicycles. They have lots of transport bikes that will carry everything from kids to groceries. One guy I work with says he has 6 bikes – each for different purpose.
Oh, sigh, morning was beautiful. Sunrise is around 7:45 and I left at 8 to walk to the metro station. Sun was just coming up turning the clouds to a peachy pink. A few trees still have red leaves and the sun was shining on them. Walked Zevenhuizerplas (another large lake) at Nesselamd with a co-worker. So 10 k so far 2 to the station, 6 around the lake and 2 back from the station. Was going to do another 8 around Kralingse Plas, but rain has started somewhere in Rotterdam and I can just imagine getting half way around the lake and it starts raining. Rain, rain, rain. Raining almost every day. I’d far rather have snow!
I’ve put together two calendars, one of the places I’ve been in Europe and one of hte animals and birds here. Also, my menory book is 45 pages so far. Still have a trip to Germany next week to add and maybe a few pics from home to add. Much larger book this year than other years.
Looking forward to getting back into the social world and start looking for dates again. Maybe a year off was good for me. Going back with a bit of a new attitude….. I know I’m a high quality woman and I don’t have to try to convince a man of that. If I’m just me, they’ll figure it out. A new attitude for me. Can’t say it’s a solid, full-time attitude, but it shows up once in a while. But it’s new. Not felt that before. I’ll get in as many social events as I can while I’m home, then maybe re-subscribe to online once I get home again in March. We’ll see.
Hope you’re off to a wonderful day. Is it feeling more like Christmas with the snow?
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
Ok, why did I think you were near CO Springs? Anyway, Boulder looks BEAUTIFUL! I see there’s a wildlife refuge just south of you.Yes, I do miss the sun. It’s raining again. I’d say its cloudy now about 90% of the time. I’m sure its beautiful there with the snow. Unlike most people, I do enjoy winter…. the first half of winter, anyway. LOL. By end of Jan I’m ready for spring. The mountains are beautiful in the summer, but for me, they are spectacular in the winter. Love being out in the snow when its sunny and say -10 c.
Hmmm. Seems pretty common for apartments not to have ovens. There’s a convection stove top and the microwave is supposed to also be a convection oven, but it’s small. Be very difficult to bake a batch of cookies in it. Dutch like to go out to eat a lot. Very few bake. The baking section in the grocery stores here is quite small compared to what we have. Flour is is little 1 lb bags. Sugar? Haven’t seen any brown sugar and really haven’t seen much for white sugar, either. If they bake, they seem to prefer the mixes. I could get cookie mixes or brownie mixes, but that’s not the same and no mixing bowls or baking pans, so…… Lots of bakeries around so Dutch just go buy what they need for baked goods.
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantHi, Heidi,
Ouch. Knee surgery for your mom doesn’t sound like fun. Does she live there in Colorado Springs as well?The Christmas cookies I make is a recipe we made when I was a kid. It’s kind of a sugar cookie but it has oatmeal in it, so it’s a little more firm. I roll it out and use cookie cutters then frost and decorate them. It will be fun. I am looking forward to cooking and baking again. No oven here, no mixing bowls or measuring cups, so no baking. Very tiny kitchen with no real storage, so very little cooking as well. Can’t get black beans here to make black bean patties. It will be good to get home again and be able to bake and cook.
Yes, I saw some snow in my camera last night. No new images today. 🙁 But I heard 20 cm so far and another 20 for this weekend. But quite honestly, I’d take that any day over this here. Raining, chilly, damp, dreary, and this damp cold with the wind goes right through you. Thank you, I’ll take the cold and snow in Calgary. This I hate and so does my bronchial area. Three more weeks! Yippee!
Smiles,
RhondaRhonda RParticipantThank you, Heidi,
Yes, I am very excited about going home. I leave here Wednesday, Nov 23. Fly out of Amsterdam Thursday, Nov 24. I’ll fly to Calgary Sunday, Nov 27 then fly back to Amsterdam Sunday, Jan 8 and get in here sometime morning of the 9th.My friend, Debbie, will pick me up at the airport. Already called my insurance company and will get insurance for my car back in my name on the 28th so I can drive a car again! Haven’t driven a car since I left last Feb. I’ve got a hair cut, a dentist appointment, a chiropractic appointment the first week, then I’m treating myself to a 90 min massage for my birthday the following week. Deb and I will go to Drumheller for their Christmas lights, she’s coming over to do Christmas cookies and I’m sure there will be several meetup activities while I’m home. I want to go on at least one photo run with Jackie. We’ll see how the weather goes. Right now Calgary is getting a snow. I was told they were getting 30 cm, but my camera says maybe 6 so far. Another friend just emailed that it’s supposed to get to -19 c in a day or two. That’s like -5ish F. Cold. I want to see my cousin and her husband and my uncle sometime while I’m home. My uncle lives 2 hours away and my cousin a little over 3 hours.
Want to work full time as much as possible. Want to save all my vacation time for March when I come home. I’m countin’ days. Three weeks from today I’ll be leaving for Amsterdam. Yippee!
What are your plans for the holidays? Do you have something fun planned?
Smiles,
Rhonda -
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