Secret Family Enterprise...??

hmmm...I guess you'll never know. ;) Chapman's Ice Cream...created by David Chapman (also my dad's name...coincidence? hmmm...) Great ice cream I might add...one of the best out there (no bias there at all). I got to go on a tour through their plant in Markdale on Tuesday. I saw how they make all kinds of cool things! The checkerboard ice cream, sorbet, icecream cups....etc etc. It was pretty sweet! Quite the system of machines. The reason I was there was because they are one of my customers. Now I know you're probably wondering what the heck an ice cream company needs from an industrial and construction supply company. Well, all that ice cream is made in machines, and those machines need repairs and constant maintenance, so we supply them with a bunch of fasteners. Don't worry...all the products that they make are run through metal detectors, so you can rest assured that none of my fasteners will be in your next tub of Chapman's mint chocolate chip ice cream. (oh, and did you know that Chapman's also makes the no-name ice cream sandwiches?? They apparently make a lot of PC products too...I hope I'm allowed to share that info...) Well, that was my exciting story of the week. :)

In other news, I'm getting an apartment on Jan 1st, which I'm quite thrilled about! It'll be nice to have my own space. Tomorrow I'm heading down to Kitchener for a work Christmas party, which should be quite fun. Crystal is coming with me and we get to dress all pretty! :D yay!

I don't think I have anything more to say right now. :)

The Journey Continues

I'm being pulled along in life's journey, still unsure of where it's taking me. Not that I'll ever really know where I'm being led to, or what will be next in this great adventure. I guess that's what makes life interesting. You follow along, thinking you have a pretty good idea of your life and how things are, and then BOOM, something unexpected comes along and you're flying in a totally new direction trying to figure out how on earth to handle the situation. God is great. Well, more than great, He's Awesome, Magnificent, Wonderful....! I'm so glad that He has the reigns in my life. It's such a huge comfort to know that whatever situations come up, He is in control. It doesn't mean that decisions are easy, but He opens and closes the doors, all I have to do is trust and follow.

Though I say all of that, I'm still struggling to trust and follow. I'm struggling to have complete faith in God, struggling to spend time with Him, struggling to seek out His will for me, struggling to live completely for Him and set aside my own human desires, struggling to live like Jesus. Life is a struggle. I love life...I love the challenges, though sometimes it gets discouraging. I hate that I fall so easily and bend to pressures and temptation, even over little things that don't seem to make much difference in life. I guess that's the challenge of it all.

Things have been good. I went to training in Minnesota for two weeks and I really enjoyed it. Most people were anxious to go back home, but I was actually enjoying it (I guess that's part of having a pretty boring life :P). I met a few great people, some of which I'm sure I'll continue to keep in touch with. I'm excited to go back in a few months for a longer, more extensive training course. I'm not sure when that'll happen, but hopefully within the next 6 months.

I'm looking at an apartment tomorrow, which I'm thrilled about! I hope it's a decent place. It'll be available at the end of December. Yay :D I'm anxious to get my own space!

Not a whole lot more happening right now. It's Halloween today...there have only been two kids who have come for candy so far and it sounds like it's raining out now, so there probably won't be any more. :P

B-O-R-E-D

Well, I'm bored...so I figured I'd sit down write for a bit. Not that I have anything much to say. Work has been a drag for the past two days, and I'm sure tomorrow won't be any better. Joey took off to Kitchener for three days of training and left me by myself in the branch. I've been working on quote after quote for customers and I'm tired of it. :P At least it's kept me busy and I'm not sitting there doing nothing all day.

I didn't do too much today. I ran out to the bank and to grab a couple of things in town. I love driving my little bumblebee, cranking my music, and singing for all I'm worth. :P I'm sure if anyone could hear me they'd think I was nuts. :) Maybe I am....

My poor little car has a few problems...I ran up a curb with it a couple of weeks ago and it has this odd clunk in the front tire. You only hear it every so often, but I don't like it. And my reverse lights still don't work! My dad played with them for a while and got them working, but they stopped within a couple of days. I'm not really looking forward to fixing that problem. She seems to be running good though, which I'm quite thankful for! I've been travelling around so much I think half of my paycheques go into the fuel tank. I need to get myself a place here, so I can start staying around on weekends.

I need to find a church here too, or a church group. I've been meaning to look into it, but by the time I get home and eat I don't feel like calling around, especially after spending half the day on the phone at work. I can't imagine any of the churches even have anyone working in the evenings...I'm not really sure how I'm going to get information. I guess I'd better look into it...no more procrastinating!!

Oh! Dave Lisson came to visit me this past weekend. We had a bunch of fun! My dad ended up going out and coming home with Nintendo Wii! SWEET DEAL! It was a lot of fun! I once again made it quite clear that I'm not a very good video games player, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. Dave also brought me a birthday present (my birthday is next Tues. the 9th). He got me a Lite-Brite! In an earlier post that I wrote, titled "Five interesting or unknown facts about me...", my number one was this:

1) I used to refer to my ribs as ribbins....not quite sure why. My mom had told me the story of Adam and Eve and how God used one of Adam's ribs to make Eve, so a few days later I went running up to my mom saying 'I got a lite-brite ahind my ribbins!' Took her a bit to figure out I'd swallowed a lite-bright peg, and it was behind my ribs.

So that's the story behind the Lite-Brite, which I'm having a grand time with! :P Thanks Dave! I haven't swallowed any yet. :)

This weekend is Thanksgiving, so I'll be heading home again. It should be a good weekend, and the weather is supposed to be nice, which is a bonus.

Well I've blabbed on for long enough...almost time to get ready for bed!

Poster time

At work all of the branches in North America are having a 'Best Looking Store' contest. I was pretty excited to enter into this contest, even before our District and Regional managers made it manditory, but the deadline is this weekend, and it's taking way too much time! We have a brand new store here in Owen Sound, which means things are pretty organized, and it's a very nice looking store as well. You'd think that would make entering the contest easy.... Well, I've been working my butt off trying to make sure banners are hung up, displays are neat and tidy, and that we have a special sales display set up. I spent an extra three hours at work last night. Tonight, my evening will consist of making posters, Sale! signs, and a 'One Year Anniversary Giveaway' sales flyer. I have no idea why I'm putting so much effort into it. Joey says to just take the pictures and not worry about it! :P I hope we win....or at least come in the top numbers. There are over 2,000 branches in North America, which makes for tough competition.

Brief update

Summer was a busy one! I'm not sure where the time went, but it is gone. Crystal and I managed to go on a two week road trip to visit the East coast. It was a grand time! A LOT of driving though...we put over 8,000kms on her car. We left from Kitchener and drove the first day to St. Andrew's, NB. After touring NB for a few days, we headed on to PEI. We didn't spend a whole lot of time there before venturing on to NS. There was a lot to see there, and we stuck around for a few days and were able to visit Lucas for a little while, which was wonderful. From there we did the Cabot trail then made our way to the ferry to take us to NL! That province was an adventure in itself! We didn't go to Labrador due to a lack of time. We spent most of our time driving but the scenery was just amazing...and we got to see icebergs!!! Just two, off in the distance, but we weren't supposed to see any at that time of year. Getting the ferry back was kinda scary because there had been a bomb threat the previous weekend, which backed everything up and we almost didn't get on! Thankfully we did though, and the drive back was pretty much uneventful. We were exhausted, but it was a good trip.

I'm not sure what else happaned in the summer....I've been in Owen Sound, still living with friends of the family and I'm currently looking for an apartment. As of yet, I have still not spent a weekend in Owen Sound. I mostly go back home to Barrie.

My sister was just married this past weekend. The wedding went well and it was good to see a lot of family again that I don't get to see very often.

Work is still going well. They're sending me away for training in October for two weeks! I'm somewhat excited about that. Not so excited about the partying that will be going on around me though.

That's pretty much all I've got to say for right now. My birthday is in three weeks. I'll be 23....kinda weird really. I used to think I'd be married by the time I was this age. Oh well, I think I'm glad I'm not married yet, and that there's no prospects or any chance of me getting married soon...relationships are overrated. :P

Busy Summer

It's hard to believe that spring has come and gone, and summer is already here and passing quickly! I'm still alive and well in Owen Sound. I don't feel like I live here yet, but I guess I do. I work during the week, don't do much in the evenings, then leave for the weekends. The majority of my weekends have been spent back home in Barrie, though I've managed to make a few trips elsewhere, such as St. Clements, Cambridge, & Peterborough. I was living with an older lady downtown Owen Sound, but I moved about two weeks ago in with some family friends who live in the area and just built a new house...with a pool! :D I like this town. It's quite small and has a country feel to it, and the people are really great.
I would really like to get my own place sometime soon, but I'll have to be a bit more patient. Crystal and I are going on a road trip to the east coast in 12 days, for two weeks! It will be a blast and I'm really excited about it! It'll be a lot of money too, but once I'm back it'll be time to save up for my own place.
I've been wondering what God's plan is for me. How long does He want me here for? Sometimes I really enjoy it here, and other times it's tough because I don't really know anyone, and don't have much of a social life. It's like I'm only here to work. I'm hoping to feel more settled by the fall, or at least have an idea of what God wants for me and to feel confident that I'm doing His will.
I must go for now, but I will be sure to write more soon. God bless!

Settling in

This is now my third day in Owen Sound, and I'm actually quite enjoying it! I love the new store I'm at. Business is a lot slower here than in Barrie, but it's a better way to learn, because I can spend more time focusing on our products and how to do certain things. So far I've had to call the Barrie branch every day to ask questions. :P My manager, Joey, is pretty great. He's still learning too, so we've got a lot of work ahead of us.
Owen Sound is a cute little city...only 21,000 people, so it shouldn't take me too long to explore it. :P The house I'm staying at is pretty much right downtown so I can do a fair bit of walking around and exploring. Armintha Belbeck is the name of the lady I'm staying with, and she is very sweet. She lives on her own, so it's only the two of us in the house. I found out that she plays piano quite proficiently, I've yet to hear her play, though. Hopefully soon!
I'm heading home to Barrie this evening...it's going to be a semi-busy weekend. Mel has planned a dress shopping excursion on Saturday for wedding dresses, so that should be fun. On Saturday night I'm going to the T&T (Twenties and Thirties) group from Nathan and Chantals church.
I should get back to work now.
God is good! He is in control and knows what is best and does a much better job controlling my life than I do...Praise Him for that!!

When life throws a curve ball...

...swing for all you're worth and hope for a homerun! Well, I don't know if that's always the case, but it seemed like a good idea in this instance. My manager called me on Thursday morning before I started work and said he just wanted to give me a heads up because our district manager was going to offer me a full time position in Owen Sound. I was surprised...I still have so much to learn, but apparently he thought I could do it. After talking to him about the position, he told me to call him back the next day. To say the least, Thursday evening was busy trying to figure out it the move would be worth it. I don't know anyone in Owen Sound, I don't know any churches out there...I'd be completely uprooting from Barrie and moving myself out the the middle of nowhere. :P After looking at the pros and cons and spending time in prayer I figured it was a good idea, and I told my DM that I'd take the job. So now I'm moving to Owen Sound, about two hours west of Barrie. So I have lots to figure out now before I go, and I don't even know when I'm starting out there; it could be as early as the 16th, or maybe not until the beginning of May. I'm really excited about it though! It wasn't anything I was expecting to happen this soon, but I'm glad it is. :) God is good! I'm sure there are some tough times ahead, especially with knowing no one out that way, but I know that God will be there and in reality, He is all I need!

5 interesting or unknown facts about me...

So apparently I've been tagged by the dearest Luke Bruce and I am now supposed to give five interesting or little known facts about myself. Let's see what I can come up with...

1) I used to refer to my ribs as ribbins....not quite sure why. My mom had told me the story of Adam and Eve and how God used one of Adam's ribs to make Eve, so a few days later I went running up to my mom saying 'I got a lite-brite ahind my ribbins!' Took her a bit to figure out I'd swallowed a lite-bright peg, and it was behind my ribs.

2) I'm terribly afraid of making mistakes...for some reason my brain thinks it's one of the most horrible things I could do...strange, eh?

3) I have a 'rubbish' mark on my leg...I fell off of my brothers dirt bike into a pile of rubbish and sliced my leg open...I refused to have stiches, so I now have a long, wonderful scar on my leg I like to refer to as a beauty mark, which others quickly point out is actually a rubbish mark.

4) When I was about seven I had the hugest crush on Elvis Presley! I would cry when he didn't appear on tv at his scheduled time...how sad. :S He was a pretty good looking guy back in his day though. :P

5) I won every no-hands food eating contest that I had at camp...I don't know whether to be proud of that or not. :P I beat any boy that I competed against. :D

Not the most interesting, but they'll have to do!
So now I believe it is my turn to tag a few people, so I tag, Mattymac, Dave, Cole, Saba, and Gordie, if any of them even read this anymore, which means they must come up with five interesting or little known facts about themselves for their blogs, and then they can tag five people. :)

Life has been good. It makes a difference when you spend time with God. Other than the constant questioning about what God has next, I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now. My job is going well, aside from too few hours. I'm hoping to be bumped up to full time by the summer. Until we get our sales up I'll continue to be part-time.
Mel just got engaged on the weekend, so she's pretty thrilled about that. It'll be a busy next few month trying to get things organized and what not. It should be fun.
I bought a car too, on Monday. It's an '02 Chevy Cavalier Z22, yellow with black racing stripes. :P I'm excited to have my own car finally, though it's standard and I don't know how to drive it yet. My dad is supposed to help me tomorrow when he gets back from Sault Ste. Marie. (which is where he's working right now.) I'm happy that I'll have a bit more independance. I don't always like living at home. I feel somewhat confined I guess. It's been a pain having to live with my sisters again, but I guess it's teaching me to be patient and learn to love them no matter what. I'd like to get my own place eventually, but that won't happen until I get a bit more money coming in. Who knows where God wants me next...only Him, so I need to just wait and trust. Easier said than done sometimes.
I'm hopefully going to be doing some road trips around Ontario to visit people soon. It'll just be weekend trips, but I miss everyone so much. It's hard not having close friends near here.
I'm heading out to Nova Scotia on the 23rd to visit Luke for a few days. I'm really looking forward to that. If anyone has anything they want to send with me they'd better get it here super quick. :P
Well that's my update for now. Oh, here are some pics of my car. :D

Monthly blog? :P

I've really been enjoying my job. The people I work with are great and we have a lot of fun. Just this week we got a new manager, which was a little scary even though we had heard great things about him, but it's all working out well. I found out last week that I'll be able to move up in the company within the next few months if I'm willing because there are a bunch of new branches opening in nearby areas. It would be a pretty exciting endeavor but I have a ton of traning to get done first. There are so many things to learn about the products we sell. The new manager is focusing on getting us all trained pretty quickly so that we can get the sales up in our branch. If I get hired as a full time employee I'll get salary and benefits, and maybe eventually commission if I do outside sales to the companies around us.

It's weird to think about...I've never really had a plan for what I wanted to do. If you'd asked me I wouldn't have told you that I wanted to be a manager for a company that sells fasteners. :p The more I think about it though, the more it appeals to me. I like learning about all of our products and I like that there's a huge opportunity to move up in the company. I'm not sure what God's will is for me in the future, but right now I'm enjoying this. It feels good to be able to apply myself to something. It's not quite enough hours a week, but that gives me a little more time to focus on training.

Christmas was pretty busy here. My grandpa wasn't dooing well at all, so we didn't plan much over the holidays because we thought we might be having a funeral. Amazingly enough he seems to be doing better lately, though not well yet. He doesn't want to live, he has just wanted to die, but God's kept him here. He's feeling very weak and sick. When he was in Sunnybrook a couple of months ago he picked up a superbug as they call it and it attacked him hard. He has congestive heart failure because of it, and because of all the antibiotics he got Thrush, which is like a yeast infection. It was in his mouth and throat so he couldn't eat or swallow very well and it hurt him a lot. That's been clearing up and he's actually making an effort to eat and regain strength now. I'm not sure why he's had the change of heart, but we're all praying that God will heal him of this, if it be His will.

Hmmm...not much else is new and exciting...we started Awana again yesterday and it was our big bang opening. A gentleman from my church does Gospel Magic. So we had him come out and do a show for the kids. They really enjoyed it. And we had two new girls come out which was exciting. It's only a small club right now, but we're praying that more people will hear about it and bring their children out.

I think that's it for now...prayers for my grandpa would be greatly appreciated. Only God knows the outcome of that situation. :) I hope you're all enjoying this winter weather. :P We finally got some snow today...took long enough to get here.

~Love and prayers~