SHAUNANOVA

Alyssa has been seeing a speech pathologist for a few months now, she was referred to one through the autism society when she had her initial assessment done. She enjoys going there, and has made quite a bit of progress thus far with her language development.

The day my grandmother passed away I missed an appointment. I will admit I was a no call / no show. I called about thirty minutes after her appointment was scheduled and explained that I had lost track of time at the hospital and my grandmother was very ill and passed away. The woman was very compassionate and said it was no problem. She also told me to phone back in two weeks because she wanted to give us time to grieve, etc.

I have been calling and leaving voice mails on her answering machine for a week as of today. She never returned any phone calls. I’ve called the main office and they would just transfer me to her direct line and I would leave a voice mail again. This has been going on every single day since May 10th and before that I had called both may 7th and may 2nd also leaving messages for her.

Today I come home from work with a letter in my mails box saying:

Dear Shauna,

It is company policy that we release Alyssa from our treatment as you have missed an appointment with a no call /  no show. if you have any concerns in the future please have another referral faxed to us and she will be placed on our waiting list.

Sincerely,
X

Needless to say I’m a little bit upset. I made it very clear why we had missed the appointment and she never once mentioned anything about not being able to see Alyssa anymore. Even if this is company police and after one no call no show they stop seeing your child she could have had the decency to return my phone call. It just seems like the polite way to handle things.

I called her pediatrician today. He wasn’t impressed and apparently I’m not the first person who has had a complaint similar to this. He also said it’s company policy that if you miss 2 appointments with no call no show they discontinue seeing the child.

He wants to see Alyssa next week. Once he sees her he will go from there as to whether or not he feels like she still needs the speech therapy. She has come a long way in the past 6 months, but I still feel like it would be beneficial to her. He’s going to speak with the daycare as well.

I do realize that a no call / no show can be very unproductive for the speech pathologist. I also understand if I had of given notice they could have seen another child. But how am I supposed to know something like this was going to happen? I feel bad, I called a half hour late. I apologized. I thought everything was good to go.

I’ll be interested in seeing what happens next.

I have been working part-time for quite sometime now. I had been hoping that by now I would have been able to obtain more hours or a full time position with the company I am currently employed with but so far this hasn’t happened.

I love my job, I really do which is why this causes such a dilemma for me. I really need at least 30hrs per week and I’m just not getting them. Sure I can make the extra money up doing paid blogs, etc but I also don’t want to crowd my site with ads for stuff I haven’t ever even tried nor care about. I’m just not going there.

I have thought about applying for a second job with a different company but then I wonder how the schedules would conflict and what the chances are of getting two companies that will work around one another for scheduling purposes. It also doesn’t help that employment is very scarce around here.

There are quite a few full time positions posted on the job bank that I would be interested in, however, I wonder if it’s worth leaving a job I absolutely love?

I’m torn, but somethings got to give. I either have to bring in more money or cut down on costs at home. I’m not a big spender so there isn’t really much to cut at this point.

I know, I know. I always say I am going to stick with blogging but it’s really not entirely my fault this time. I have legitimate reasons as to why I haven’t updated in over a month (was it really that long?). For those of you who follow me on twitter or have me as a friend on Facebook you may already know these reasons but for those who don’t I’ll explain.

For a week in April my hosting was down. That was difficult because I had the whole week off of work and actually had time to work on my site and couldn’t. It’s not a huge deal though. We all know how much I procrastinate. I probably wouldn’t have done too much on it anyway.

This past Friday I started feeling sick. I went to Emergency only to find out I have  strep throat and some fluid in my lungs. The doctor gave me various antibiotics and medications to help with that and today and is really the first day I’ve felt like even getting out of bed.

My grandmother was admitted to the hospital in early April. She passed away on April 13th. Her funeral was held April 28th and to be bluntly honest, I am not taking this well. She lived right next door to me from the time I was born until I moved out of my moms house at the age of 18. I seen her at least 3 times a week and since she was diagnosed with cancer I took a partial role in her care helping with baths, meals, etc. I think the hardest part is my three year old daughter asking where she is at. I also feel some guilt. I’m not sure why. I guess it’s because I feel like instead of seeing her 3 times a week it should have been 4 or 6. I always think I could have spent that much more time with her.

I was also at the hospital when she passed away. I held her after she was gone and it’s a moment I will never forget. I loved my grandmother dearly and I was so blessed to have such an amazing woman in my life.

Sorry if this post seems jumpy, I’m not 100% sure on how I should’ve brought my grandmothers passing in or how much I should share. I want people to know how much I love and miss her but I also don’t want to go too in depth or seem careless.

I guess that’s all I have to say for now. I’m going to try and get some rest while I can. Hopefully I’ll start feeling better and be able to get more on track with blogging.

Happy Monday!

Yesterday was day one of my 90 day challenge and I must say it went by a lot easier than I thought. I was feeling great and able to remain under my caloric goal for the day.

The thing that surprised me most about these shakes is the feeling of being full. My routine is as follows:

• Breakfast = Shake
• Snack
• Lunch = Shake
• Snack
• Supper – Meal

When it came time to eat snacks I almost had to remind myself to do so. I felt great, and my energy was through the roof. Usually around 7-8p.m. is when I would want to snack normally, last night I was up past midnight and did not have the urge for anything other than a drink of water.

I took a before picture yesterday, and as soon as I get it uploaded I’ll post it here. I also did all of my measurements which by the way, surprised me! I didn’t realize I was that round. I also weighed in at a starting weight of 202.6lbs. Woah. That’s a far cry from the 127lbs I was before I got pregnant!

I rejoined My Fitness Pal as shaunanova if any of you are interested in following me. I’d also love to have some more people to follow for support.

I know a lot of people are against the meal replacement diets, or feel like it’s an easy way out but keep in mind it was recommended by my doctor and I’m being monitored by him and a dietician. it’s not going to be a miracle diet by no means. Healthy eating and exercise gets you where you want to be. I just need a little boost.

After many failed attempts to lose weight, seeing my doctor, a dietician and exercising as much as I could given my hectic schedule my doctor pointed me towards a new “diet”. I don’t like to call it a diet, but more of a challenge. A 90 day challenge to be exact.

Basically what happens is you have 240 cal Shake + Snack + 240 cal Shake
+ Snack + Evening Meal. Keeping in mind all snacks and your dinner meal must be kept healthy.

I placed an order and received it yesterday. Started the shakes today and I am going to keep track of my journey on here. (Possibly a subdomain) either way I will be taking photos, measurements, weight ad throwing it all out there for people to see. I’m hoping I have some support and success in this.

If you are interested in seeing more about the 90 challenge you can visit my site by clicking here.

I am not being paid to talk about these shakes or the 90 day challenge. I am doing it because my friends have done it and have had great success and I am hoping to too. The only benefit from referring people to the challenge is that if you refer enough you qualify for free products. That’s not why I’m in it. I’m in it to lose weight.

Sometimes finding the motivation to do certain tasks is not easy. I know for me losing weight is something I find hard to keep motivated with. I also find it difficult to stay motivated with blogging and other online projects as well as taking time out of my busy schedule to spend time with friends.

The weight loss has been at a plateau. I’m still working out but I know I could be doing a lot more. I just feel like I’m always faced with a long to-do list and my spare time is spent with my family. I’m thinking I may start getting up an hour or so earlier to try and get some exercise in before my day even begins. I’ll see how that goes and then go from there.

Blogging has become something in the past for me. I used to spend so much time writing about my daily activities, posting photos and videos and taking the time to comment on other peoples blogs. I haven’t been able to do that as much as I’d like to but one benefit with my new job is there is somethings an hour here or there of downtime (like right now) so I’m hoping to maybe use that time efficiently if there is no work to catch up on.

Most of my friends all have families, so not seeing them is not entirely my fault. Conflicting schedules are difficult to overcome. I think I may call a few friends today and see if we can arrange to meet up for supper sometime this week, kids included. It would be really nice to catch up with them.

I’ve really been up to the same old stuff lately. I have some new ideas for some online projects and keeping more involved. Like I said, it’s just to stay motivated.

On Tuesdays I get overly excited because garbage pickup is the next day. I think this is probably due to the amount of sorting we need to do and the bags that add up. Garbage for us is well:

• Green Cart / Compost – Any food scraps, soiled paper, paper towels, Kleenex, etc
• Blue Bag #1 – Any paper or cardboard
• Blue Bag #2 – Plastic, and cans
• Then we have to keep our redeemable recyclables separate. We don’t actually have to but I like to return them and get my money back.
• After all of that is said and done we have our general garbage bag which houses anything that didn’t fit in the above mentioned bags.

I think the reasoning for my garbage day excitement is simply because no one likes garbage in their house and I don’t have a lot of spare room to keep all of these bags in one place. Sure I could not follow the guidelines but recycling is good and if you don’t they simply won’t take it. Even if you go to the dump it has to be sorted.

The reason I am posting this today instead of Tuesday is because they announced the heavy garbage or spring cleaning pickup. You know what that means? All the crap I don’t want can be thrown out without being sorted. For someone who recently moved and needs to downsize, this is good.

All of my friends laugh at me like I am the only one. Maybe I am. But I highly doubt it. Other people must generally like freeing their house of clutter and garbage.

Right. Riiiiight?

I’m actually sitting here laughing at this entry. I can’t believe I rambled almost 300 words about my love for garbage day.

Don’t judge me.

I got the job! Turns out I won’t be getting many hours at all, but it’s better than nothing at this point.

Right now by the time I pay phone, internet, cable, power, rent, credit card, student loan, cell phone, daycare, car insurance, gas and groceries I am actually paying out more in a month than I am taking in. I sat down and did the math yesterday, if I could pull in even a few extra hundred dollars I’d be doing good. Right now on average each month I charge $200 or more to my credit card to scrape by.

I’ve really never been in this position before, but I’ve come to realize that when you are financially struggling it can actually make you sick. Last night I laid in bed worrying and having numbers run through my head constantly. See, I used to make a lot of extra money online doing paid blogging, using banner ads, etc but I kind of got out of that and it’s not that easy to get back into especially with a new blog.

This is not a subject I generally like to speak about either. It kind of amkes me feel embarrassed. It happens though, more often than not people just don’t out and say they’re having issues.

Yesterday I phoned ALL of the above mentioned companies to see what sort of arrangement I can make until I get more hours with work. As of now I am on par with payments. All bills except for my credit card and student loan are paid to a zero balance each month, I was just hoping to lower what I can until I have more cash flow.

So what has happened is this, my cellphone is going down to $15 a month for three months. I’ll have limited usage but for how often I do use it it’s worth it. I took some theme packs that I don’t watch off of my cable, my credit card agreed to hold interest rates for 6 months and student loan opted to only take $125 payments instead of almost $300 for 3 months.

So basically with just that I will be saving approximately $250 for at least three months. Which should be enough time to get myself either establishes at work, pick up another part time job or find some ways to make some money in other places.

I was really surprised at how willing companies are to work with you. I guess it probably helps that I never miss payments and always make them in full. I was just scared that at the rate I’ve been going since ending my last seasonal job in January I’d accrue a pile of debts and not be able to get out of it.

Again, I really am sort of embarrassed by this but at least I feel like I’m taking the proper steps to ensure I keep afloat.

Now, to find another part time job.

I had a job interview yesterday and I believe things went well. They said I would be hearing from them either way today which makes me a little nervous because I haven’t heard just yet and it leaves me just sitting around wondering.

This job could do amazing things for me. Right now I’m living off of the money I made over the holidays at my previous (seasonal) job and what little money I gather from doing odd blog posts here and there.

I know I’ve been ignoring my blog, and I have no excuse. Sorry this post is so short as well. I’m trying my best to get things a little more on schedule and therefore have more time to keep things updated.

Crossing my fingers for the job!

I had ordered a hookah and some shisha online almost two weeks ago. I’ve been tracking it every single day so I don’t miss the delivery date. USPS sucked at keeping their website updated ¹, however, once it got into Canada it was updated generously by Canada Post.

As of Friday it was in Ontario, so I knew that by Monday or Tuesday it would be delivered. The thing is, I didn’t think it would move much over the weekend, at least not Sunday and if it were to be delivered Monday it would probably be late. I assumed this only because my friend orders from them a lot and his are always delivered late afternoon. Needless to say I was wrong.

This morning I went to visit my grandmother in the hospital, who is doing quite well I should add. I got home at 12:00p.m and the door hanger was in my mail box saying they had been there at 11:50a.m. Bummer. Now I can’t even pick it up at the local post office until after 1p.m. tomorrow. They need over 24 hours to “process” it.

It’s not really a big deal. It’s only a hookah and some shisha but I’m terrible at waiting!