Yesterday I saw a commercial on tv that KFC was partnering with the Susan G. Koemen Breast Cancer Foundation. For every pink bucket of chicken they sell, 50 cents would be donated to this foundation with a minimum of 1 million dollars with a vision to hopefully reach 8 million in donations.
I was concerned about this. As a breast cancer survivor I have worked hard at eating healthy, exercising and trying to take care of myself as best as possible. KFC does not promote a great lifestyle in regards to eating habit. Anytime in the past that we ordered chicken it has always arrived to our home greasy and just gross. But you ate it not realizing how bad it was for you.
It bothered me that this foundation would go in a business venture with a company that does not promote healthy lifestyle. Yes they now offer grilled chicken but really who orders grilled chicken when you order from them? So I wrote to the foundation telling them that I felt KFC was doing it for THEIR bottom line which was making money. They are only giving 50 cents for every bucket but if they had even 50% increase in people ordering because they "felt" they were helping out then they made way more money then they would have. I wrote that if KFC wanted to help out why not just donate the million dollars?
Well I never expected to hear back from them especially not within 24 hours. Here is their answer:
Thank you for your email to Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. We do appreciate you taking the time to tell us how you feel about our partnership with KFC. You should know that our partnership with KFC is designed at the core to educate millions of people we might not otherwise reach with breast health information – outreach that we consider critical to our mission to save lives and end breast cancer. We are reaching people with life-saving messages through KFC’s 5,300 restaurants (about 900 of them in communities not yet served by a Komen Affiliate), with information in the store, on the buckets and in advertising directing consumers to KFC’s bucketsforthecure.com website, with links to www.komen.org.
Second, this partnership is helping generate millions in funding – a goal of $8.5 million to be raised in six weeks – to further the nearly $1.5 billion in research and community programs that Komen has already spent over the past 30 years – programs that are literally saving people’s lives through better treatments, early detection and advocacy at the federal and state levels. Because of partners like this, our $500 million in research funding has paid enormous dividends – 98 percent five-year survival rates for cancers that haven’t spread from the breast and better and more effective treatments for late-stage breast cancer patients, Further, these partnerships have enabled us to invest $900 million in our communities, providing financial and medical support for women, particularly low-income women, who desperately need help gaining access to the medical care system.
Some ask what we are doing in terms of prevention. About 10 percent – or $50 million – of our research budget over the years has gone to prevention research. We’ll invest another $20 million of our $55-$60 million research grant program to prevention, and continue funding programs that educate women about their risks.
We recognize that this partnership brings up a conversation about obesity and health related to cancer. Our partnership highlights the healthy options at KFC – grilled chicken and vegetables, for example. Ultimately, the decision to maintain a well-balanced diet lies in the hands of the consumer. KFC provides tools to make those choices, by providing a healthier choice menu at its restaurants and advice on its website on how consumers can limit fat and calorie consumption in its products.
We hope that you will take a moment to visit the bucketsforthecure.com website to learn more about the partnership and see the stories of hope, education and empowerment being shared there.
We appreciate your concern and thank you for sharing it with us.
Very truly yours,
Margo K. Lucero
Director, Global Corporate Relations
5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250 | Dallas, TX 72544
1-877 GO KOMEN | www.komen.org
Friday, April 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Jackpot and Ancestors!
I have decided when I get to my next life and will meet my perfected body I will do what today I cannot do. I will jump up and down for great joy! Today I have found some ancestors that I have been researching for ages. I found out from my mom a year or so ago that her maiden name was not her actual name that it had been changed from another name at the time of her great grandparents. I had been talking to her that I had been blocked time and time again in researching my grandfather's paternal line. That was when she told me..she also told me she was sure she had told me that before. Uh no mom..I have been researching our line for decades..I would definitely remember you telling me and I would not have wasted so much time locating something that was not there.
I asked her what the name had been and she said "Solange (what she calls me when she is upset or exasperated with me) I am almost 80 years old you want me to remember something I overheard my parents talking about when I was a young adult? Uh yes!!! She said she would ask her older sisters to see if they remembered but no one else knew the name had even changed. I found a website that gave you name changes for french names and I found 5 names that my grandfather's name had been changed from. I called her up and said I had 5. She told me if she heard it she would recognize it. It was the 3rd one and she said that's it!!!
I was then able to go back 3 more generations at that point (gee the things you find when you have ALL the CORRECT information!) But once again I was stuck. As often happens with me, when I get blocked I tend to put that line aside and work on another line so had not been back at it since last summer. Well today I went to our main city library downtown Vancouver as I knew they had a lot of research books we did not have in our family history centre and as research books are not allowed out in inter-library loans I headed over.
I knew the books I wanted, all 7 volumes of them. They are quite heavy so could only carry 2 of them to my table at a time. When I went to get the 3rd one I reached down (of course has to be on the 2nd shelf from the bottom!!!) but my hand grabbed a different book...the ones I needed are red, thick, short but bulky..this one was blue, tall, wide but not very deep. So narrow in depth that it didn't even have room to have the title on the binding. I thought that's weird..so I flipped it over and read the cover (good thing I read French!) and here was this book that was the recordings of marriages in 1666 in Quebec BEFORE it was even Quebec when it was called Nouvelle France (New France). I thought huh...ok.
So I put it on the table and got the other big ones I needed. Because that one was so much smaller I decided to go through it first. Ideally it would have been so much easier for me if whoever had recorded all the information had put it in alphabetical order but nope they had it in order of parishes. I started with page 1 and worked all the way to the last one.
I have to tell you I found names on EVERY SINGLE LINE of my family!!!!! Because I have been researching for many many years, I was able to recognize names from my lines as ancestors. Those I found I knew by name but had never been able to get their marriage date or date of entry into Canada from France..but now..this...well I was ecstatic. 5 hours later Keith called my cell to tell me he was on his way to pick me up..Already??? Seemed like I had barely started!
As soon as I got home I started entering the data I had furiously scribbled onto paper into my computer. I ended up having to take Lareta and Darien to their meetings so popped in to the FHC and kept working. I was agitated for lack of a better term..I knew these were my ancestors but I had a hard time with matching them to the first of the ancestors I had on my records.
But finally after an hour and a half I was able to connect one of the lines I had found!! I was thrilled. I know to some of you reading this you must think is this woman for real?? These are dead people! I know.. ain't life grand???? :-D
I have my regular day at work tomorrow and a staff meeting to get ready that night but man it will be so hard to not work on my own work tomorrow! It is after midnight here now and as Keith went to bed an hour ago he said "Well I guess I will see you at the table still when my alarm goes off?" hehehehe he knows me well!
I asked her what the name had been and she said "Solange (what she calls me when she is upset or exasperated with me) I am almost 80 years old you want me to remember something I overheard my parents talking about when I was a young adult? Uh yes!!! She said she would ask her older sisters to see if they remembered but no one else knew the name had even changed. I found a website that gave you name changes for french names and I found 5 names that my grandfather's name had been changed from. I called her up and said I had 5. She told me if she heard it she would recognize it. It was the 3rd one and she said that's it!!!
I was then able to go back 3 more generations at that point (gee the things you find when you have ALL the CORRECT information!) But once again I was stuck. As often happens with me, when I get blocked I tend to put that line aside and work on another line so had not been back at it since last summer. Well today I went to our main city library downtown Vancouver as I knew they had a lot of research books we did not have in our family history centre and as research books are not allowed out in inter-library loans I headed over.
I knew the books I wanted, all 7 volumes of them. They are quite heavy so could only carry 2 of them to my table at a time. When I went to get the 3rd one I reached down (of course has to be on the 2nd shelf from the bottom!!!) but my hand grabbed a different book...the ones I needed are red, thick, short but bulky..this one was blue, tall, wide but not very deep. So narrow in depth that it didn't even have room to have the title on the binding. I thought that's weird..so I flipped it over and read the cover (good thing I read French!) and here was this book that was the recordings of marriages in 1666 in Quebec BEFORE it was even Quebec when it was called Nouvelle France (New France). I thought huh...ok.
So I put it on the table and got the other big ones I needed. Because that one was so much smaller I decided to go through it first. Ideally it would have been so much easier for me if whoever had recorded all the information had put it in alphabetical order but nope they had it in order of parishes. I started with page 1 and worked all the way to the last one.
I have to tell you I found names on EVERY SINGLE LINE of my family!!!!! Because I have been researching for many many years, I was able to recognize names from my lines as ancestors. Those I found I knew by name but had never been able to get their marriage date or date of entry into Canada from France..but now..this...well I was ecstatic. 5 hours later Keith called my cell to tell me he was on his way to pick me up..Already??? Seemed like I had barely started!
As soon as I got home I started entering the data I had furiously scribbled onto paper into my computer. I ended up having to take Lareta and Darien to their meetings so popped in to the FHC and kept working. I was agitated for lack of a better term..I knew these were my ancestors but I had a hard time with matching them to the first of the ancestors I had on my records.
But finally after an hour and a half I was able to connect one of the lines I had found!! I was thrilled. I know to some of you reading this you must think is this woman for real?? These are dead people! I know.. ain't life grand???? :-D
I have my regular day at work tomorrow and a staff meeting to get ready that night but man it will be so hard to not work on my own work tomorrow! It is after midnight here now and as Keith went to bed an hour ago he said "Well I guess I will see you at the table still when my alarm goes off?" hehehehe he knows me well!
City Slickers vs Rural Saskatchewanites :)
THE RULES OF RURAL SASKATCHEWAN ARE AS FOLLOWS
Listen up City Slickers!
1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.
2. Turn your cap straight, your head isn't crooked.
3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive,
you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it.
Don't like it? Hwy 1 goes east and west, Hwy 6 or 9 goes north and south Pick one.
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $ 200,000 combines and hay balers that are driven only 3
weeks a year.
6. So every person in rural Saskatchewan waves. It's called 'being friendly Try to understand the concept.
7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope
you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
8. Yeah, we eat meat and potatoes. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer hunting season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first
of November.
10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
11. There's little for 'vegetarians' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of
ham & turkey.
12. When we set a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.
13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.
14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair
15. Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Minor Hockey is as important here as the Maple Leafs and
Montreal Habs, and more fun to watch.
16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.
17.. Colleges? We have them all over. We have Universities and Community Colleges. They come outta there with an education plus
a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come for the holidays.
18. We have a whole ton of folks in the Armed Forces. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.
19. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we
want to see your boxers. (Refer back to #1)
20. 2 inches of snow & ice isn't a blizzard - it's a vacation. Drive like you got some sense in it, and DON'T take all our
bread, milk, and bleach from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska , worst case you may have to live a whole day without
croissants. The pickups with snow blades and tractors with snow blowers will have you out the next day.
Listen up City Slickers!
1. Pull your droopy pants up. You look like an idiot.
2. Turn your cap straight, your head isn't crooked.
3. Let's get this straight; it's called a 'dirt road.' I drive a pickup truck because I want to. No matter how slow you drive,
you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.
4. They are cattle. They're live steaks. That's why they smell funny to you. But they smell like money to us. Get over it.
Don't like it? Hwy 1 goes east and west, Hwy 6 or 9 goes north and south Pick one.
5. So you have a $60,000 car. We're impressed. We have $ 200,000 combines and hay balers that are driven only 3
weeks a year.
6. So every person in rural Saskatchewan waves. It's called 'being friendly Try to understand the concept.
7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and 3 does are coming in, we WILL shoot it out of your hand. You better hope
you don't have it up to your ear at the time.
8. Yeah, we eat meat and potatoes. You really want sushi & caviar? It's available at the corner bait shop.
9. The 'Opener' refers to the first day of deer hunting season. It's a religious holiday held the closest Saturday to the first
of November.
10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.
11. There's little for 'vegetarians' on the menu. Order steak. Or you can order the Chef's Salad and pick off the 2 pounds of
ham & turkey.
12. When we set a table, there are three main dishes: meats, vegetables and breads. We use three spices: salt, pepper, and ketchup.
13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.
14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot, drive a truck, and have long hair
15. Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League and Minor Hockey is as important here as the Maple Leafs and
Montreal Habs, and more fun to watch.
16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards - it spooks the fish.
17.. Colleges? We have them all over. We have Universities and Community Colleges. They come outta there with an education plus
a love for God and country, and they still wave at everybody when they come for the holidays.
18. We have a whole ton of folks in the Armed Forces. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.
19. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump crap ain't music, anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we
want to see your boxers. (Refer back to #1)
20. 2 inches of snow & ice isn't a blizzard - it's a vacation. Drive like you got some sense in it, and DON'T take all our
bread, milk, and bleach from the grocery stores. This ain't Alaska , worst case you may have to live a whole day without
croissants. The pickups with snow blades and tractors with snow blowers will have you out the next day.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Next project
Remember last year or so I talked about going to this humongous shoe sale where everything was 75-90% off and how rude people were yanking things out of your hands or out of your basket etc? Well one of the pairs of shoes that I had bought for 10 dollars no less was this beautiful blue pair. I have no idea what shade of blue it is but I fell in love with it! I also knew I had absolutely nothing in my closet that even matched it but I did not care. We are talking shoes here and this pair was talking to me!
After sitting on the pair for months and trying to find something that matched it I gave up. I even tried finding something new but nothing so Lareta and I headed over to the fabric store. We had found a pattern at Walmart that I could use for different outfits (by the way most of my clothes I make)and the patterns were on sale for 1.99 so bonus.
It took a long time to find fabric because everything was too blue, or too tourquisey (is that a word) or too teal etc...Lareta finally found this fabric (She is the BOMB!)that was perfect so I got enough to make a dress, a suit, shorts, and pants. Because it is a multi coloured fabric I can alternate between taupe colored pieces with the patterned one and vice versa. (It is a little hard to make out the actual color but there are 2 different shades of blue stripe, a beigey stripe, a taupe stripe, and a medium brown stripe. I already had a suit jacket the exact shade as well as skirt in the taupe. At Christmas time I had been out shopping for my granddaughters and Ardene's had these buy 1 get 2 free kind of thing so for 5 bucks I got the 2 belts. The jewelry I already had.
So enough fabric for jacket, skirt, top, dress, shorts, pants and thread/buttons etc came up to under $40.00, 2 belts $5.00, blue shoes $10.00 (Brown ones I already had) and for a grand total of $55.00 including tax I have all these new outfits! So this is my new project for when I get back from my Mom's in May :)
After sitting on the pair for months and trying to find something that matched it I gave up. I even tried finding something new but nothing so Lareta and I headed over to the fabric store. We had found a pattern at Walmart that I could use for different outfits (by the way most of my clothes I make)and the patterns were on sale for 1.99 so bonus.
It took a long time to find fabric because everything was too blue, or too tourquisey (is that a word) or too teal etc...Lareta finally found this fabric (She is the BOMB!)that was perfect so I got enough to make a dress, a suit, shorts, and pants. Because it is a multi coloured fabric I can alternate between taupe colored pieces with the patterned one and vice versa. (It is a little hard to make out the actual color but there are 2 different shades of blue stripe, a beigey stripe, a taupe stripe, and a medium brown stripe. I already had a suit jacket the exact shade as well as skirt in the taupe. At Christmas time I had been out shopping for my granddaughters and Ardene's had these buy 1 get 2 free kind of thing so for 5 bucks I got the 2 belts. The jewelry I already had.
So enough fabric for jacket, skirt, top, dress, shorts, pants and thread/buttons etc came up to under $40.00, 2 belts $5.00, blue shoes $10.00 (Brown ones I already had) and for a grand total of $55.00 including tax I have all these new outfits! So this is my new project for when I get back from my Mom's in May :)
Friday, April 09, 2010
40 questions about me
1. Have you ever been searched by the cops?
Searched yes, when we were coming through the border once going into the US and another time when we were coming back into Canada we were searched and the car was searched.
2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
Doesn't everyone?
3. When's the last time you've been sledding?
2 summers ago
4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
someone, I won't even go to bed if Keith isn't with me
5. Do you believe in ghosts?
Considering they talk to me I had better
6. Do you consider yourself creative?
hmmmm that's a hard one, I don't think I am but I keep getting told I am
7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
100%
8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
Angelina Jolie without a doubt
9. Do you stay friends with your ex's?
no
10. Do you know how to play poker?
yes I learned when I was married before as my ex used to lose his whole paycheck in poker games. I learned how to play so I could win it back then he would think it was his again..uh have you never heard the term possession is 9/10th's of the law?
11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
many MANY times
12. What's your favorite commercial?
the Coke one when they sing "I'd like to teach the world to sing"
13. What are you allergic to?
wheat, adalat and erythromycin
14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?
Never, I'm a good girl.
15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
nope Keith knows everyone
16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Neither
17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
Yes. but sad I can no longer do it
18. How often do you remember your dreams?
constantly, because I never go into REM all I do is dream
19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
On Saturday when we watched Old Dogs
20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?
Hey Jude, You say yes I say no, She loves you, Imagine, Lucy in the Sky
21. What's the one thing on your mind now?
money
22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass barbie is?
no
23. Do you always wear your seat belt?
always
24. What cell service do you use?
ROgers
25. Do you like Sushi?
some
26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?
yes and I care to never repeat it
27. What do you wear to bed?
depends on weather outside
28. Been caught stealing?
yes
29. what shoe size do you have?
11 narrow
30. Do you truly hate anyone?
no
31. Classic Rock or Rap?
Classic Rock
32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
Keith
33. Favorite Song?
Dance With Me
34. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?
yes
35. What food do you find disgusting?
brussel sprouts
36. Do you sing in the shower?
at times
37. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours"?
I have no idea..it would have had to have been when I was too young to know what I was doing
38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
sadly when I was in elementary school
39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
absolutely
40. Have you ever been punched in the face?
yes
Searched yes, when we were coming through the border once going into the US and another time when we were coming back into Canada we were searched and the car was searched.
2. Do you close your eyes on roller coasters?
Doesn't everyone?
3. When's the last time you've been sledding?
2 summers ago
4. Would you rather sleep with someone else, or alone?
someone, I won't even go to bed if Keith isn't with me
5. Do you believe in ghosts?
Considering they talk to me I had better
6. Do you consider yourself creative?
hmmmm that's a hard one, I don't think I am but I keep getting told I am
7. Do you think O.J. killed his wife?
100%
8. Jennifer Aniston or Angelina Jolie?
Angelina Jolie without a doubt
9. Do you stay friends with your ex's?
no
10. Do you know how to play poker?
yes I learned when I was married before as my ex used to lose his whole paycheck in poker games. I learned how to play so I could win it back then he would think it was his again..uh have you never heard the term possession is 9/10th's of the law?
11. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight?
many MANY times
12. What's your favorite commercial?
the Coke one when they sing "I'd like to teach the world to sing"
13. What are you allergic to?
wheat, adalat and erythromycin
14. If you're driving in the middle of the night, and no one is around do you run red lights?
Never, I'm a good girl.
15. Do you have a secret that no one knows but you?
nope Keith knows everyone
16. Boston Red Sox or New York Yankees?
Neither
17. Have you ever been Ice Skating?
Yes. but sad I can no longer do it
18. How often do you remember your dreams?
constantly, because I never go into REM all I do is dream
19. When was the last time you laughed so hard you cried?
On Saturday when we watched Old Dogs
20. Can you name 5 songs by The Beatles?
Hey Jude, You say yes I say no, She loves you, Imagine, Lucy in the Sky
21. What's the one thing on your mind now?
money
22. Do you know who Ghetto-ass barbie is?
no
23. Do you always wear your seat belt?
always
24. What cell service do you use?
ROgers
25. Do you like Sushi?
some
26. Have you ever narrowly avoided a fatal accident?
yes and I care to never repeat it
27. What do you wear to bed?
depends on weather outside
28. Been caught stealing?
yes
29. what shoe size do you have?
11 narrow
30. Do you truly hate anyone?
no
31. Classic Rock or Rap?
Classic Rock
32. If you could sleep with one famous person, who would it be?
Keith
33. Favorite Song?
Dance With Me
34. Have you ever sang in front of the mirror?
yes
35. What food do you find disgusting?
brussel sprouts
36. Do you sing in the shower?
at times
37. Did you ever play, "I'll show you mine, if you show me yours"?
I have no idea..it would have had to have been when I was too young to know what I was doing
38. Have you ever made fun of your friends behind their back?
sadly when I was in elementary school
39. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew?
absolutely
40. Have you ever been punched in the face?
yes
Saturday, April 03, 2010
Moms
WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2... Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.
What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your mom marry your dad?
1... My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.
Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them..
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter.. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2... Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.
How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.
What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.
Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.
What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.
What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?
Why did your mom marry your dad?
1... My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on.
Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.
What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them..
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.
What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.
What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.
If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter.. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Gardening ~ it must be spring :)
What a long exhausting day!! When we lived in Vancouver we had a community garden plot. I think I have mentioned this previously. Anyway it has taken me a couple of years to find another one in Surrey. There was actually 4 of them. Two had at least a 3 year wait list and we applied to the other 2. One is walking distance to our house but the plot is only 5' X 10". The other one is an organic one and is 16'X16'. Today we found out we got the 2nd one as well WOOOHOOO!
As it turned out both gardens had their orientation where we were assigned our plot numbers and given all the do's and don'ts. We also nominated/volunteered to be part of the committee etc. The smaller one is brand new, they are actually still building frames for our plots so we can't do anything with that one. The large one we got to choose our own plot (by first applied first pick)and as we were there early..I had the one I had wanted. We were seventh on the pick list and as each of the first 6 gave their numbers I would cheer that it wasn't ours!! But I wouldn't tell them which one I wanted to jinx it lol.
I have no idea why no one wanted it! When it was our turn I yelled out 55!!! When we went back after we were all done I was so happy. I guess people just thought it was overrun with weeds and old plants but what they did not realize was all mixed in with the old plants were nice clumps of rosemary, sage, lavender, parsley, cilantro, oregano, winter onions, turnips, several strawberry plants, peppermint and rhubarb!! And right next to our plot was a huge evergreen tree with a picnic table as well as a nice park bench to use :) How perfect is my life going to be!!
Will take pictures next time we go over so you can see our wonderful garden and know why I am so thrilled!
As it turned out both gardens had their orientation where we were assigned our plot numbers and given all the do's and don'ts. We also nominated/volunteered to be part of the committee etc. The smaller one is brand new, they are actually still building frames for our plots so we can't do anything with that one. The large one we got to choose our own plot (by first applied first pick)and as we were there early..I had the one I had wanted. We were seventh on the pick list and as each of the first 6 gave their numbers I would cheer that it wasn't ours!! But I wouldn't tell them which one I wanted to jinx it lol.
I have no idea why no one wanted it! When it was our turn I yelled out 55!!! When we went back after we were all done I was so happy. I guess people just thought it was overrun with weeds and old plants but what they did not realize was all mixed in with the old plants were nice clumps of rosemary, sage, lavender, parsley, cilantro, oregano, winter onions, turnips, several strawberry plants, peppermint and rhubarb!! And right next to our plot was a huge evergreen tree with a picnic table as well as a nice park bench to use :) How perfect is my life going to be!!
Will take pictures next time we go over so you can see our wonderful garden and know why I am so thrilled!
Friday, March 26, 2010
I really am part of an alien nation
Ok those of you who have been reading my blog for any length of time, know that I have been researching my family history for a very long time, almost 4 decades actually, which might be hard to believe considering I am only 53 years old. But I digress. I have talked about my maternal grandmother(Clara Prive)'s maternal grandmother(Marie Louise Cloure). I have talked about how many brick walls I have hit trying to find information on her. She has never shown up on any census ever anywhere in the world, there is no birth, marriage or death records anywhere. I have basically always said that this woman, Marie Louise Cloure, fell on the earth to have 2 children and then just as quickly fell off the earth again. Only through a very very hard road of searching have I been able to locate information that she actually had THREE children not the 2 that the family has always stated. But still no record of her parents etc.
Well on Wednesday while I was working, I decided to search a couple of sites that I had gotten some training on last month (we bring in different presenters every month at our family history centre to teach our patrons and staff on different topics). But it took me a while to get the chance to go and check out a couple of spots. When I was on one of the sites I just entered her name and hit search expecting to see the usual sorry no such name located. But it beeped...huh? So I clicked on the link and burst into laughter!!! The other 2 staff members that I was working with came over to see what was so funny and I said you know this elusive female ancestor that drives me crazy? And they said yes. I said you know you have heard me say many times that she fell on the earth from some other planet? They said yes. I said look at this screen. There in black and white was a site that dealt with UFO sightings. The report came from the Department of Defense. Most of the report was blacked out (which kind of made me go hmmmm what's that all about) but there was enough to read a description of the UFO and that there had been 4 adults and 2 children that reported the sighting all with the same description. One of the 6 witnesses was a Marie Louise Cloure as a child. But as she had been born in 1848 and this report was in 1949, I knew that this was not the same person.
But needless to say it did make me laugh and it did reinforce my belief that she really did fall on the earth from another planet to have her now 3 children and went back to her mother planet just as easily because I have never known any other person that did not leave some sort of paper trail. I do swear though that when Judgment Day arrives, I will locate her and have a sit down with her so she can explain to me why she has blocked my every attempt to find her.
Well on Wednesday while I was working, I decided to search a couple of sites that I had gotten some training on last month (we bring in different presenters every month at our family history centre to teach our patrons and staff on different topics). But it took me a while to get the chance to go and check out a couple of spots. When I was on one of the sites I just entered her name and hit search expecting to see the usual sorry no such name located. But it beeped...huh? So I clicked on the link and burst into laughter!!! The other 2 staff members that I was working with came over to see what was so funny and I said you know this elusive female ancestor that drives me crazy? And they said yes. I said you know you have heard me say many times that she fell on the earth from some other planet? They said yes. I said look at this screen. There in black and white was a site that dealt with UFO sightings. The report came from the Department of Defense. Most of the report was blacked out (which kind of made me go hmmmm what's that all about) but there was enough to read a description of the UFO and that there had been 4 adults and 2 children that reported the sighting all with the same description. One of the 6 witnesses was a Marie Louise Cloure as a child. But as she had been born in 1848 and this report was in 1949, I knew that this was not the same person.
But needless to say it did make me laugh and it did reinforce my belief that she really did fall on the earth from another planet to have her now 3 children and went back to her mother planet just as easily because I have never known any other person that did not leave some sort of paper trail. I do swear though that when Judgment Day arrives, I will locate her and have a sit down with her so she can explain to me why she has blocked my every attempt to find her.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Ingredients List
Chicken McNuggets®: White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary). Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.
oh yummy
oh yummy
More chicken
So today will mark the 3rd day of my 5 day chicken in a row on one chicken. Yesterday Keith said he gave dinner a 9 out of a possible 10. At first though he had scrunched up his nose asking what it was and kind of picking it.. he likes his meat and potatoes separate :)But he loved it..the idea is that you can get 5 meals out of one 5 pound chicken and with all the necessary items to make a full dinner all for 20 dollars or less depending on where you live. The author obviously does not buy organic or lives in an area that has cheaper prices. Mine came up to just over 25.00 (I eat organic Keith eats regular food) Tonight is going to be Sesame Noodles with chicken in a peanut sauce. I LOVE peanut sauce on Asian food ...Keith does not. He hates Thai food. But I will tell him to keep an open mind and think of yesterday's dinner :)
Will keep you posted :)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/sesame-noodles-with-chicken-recipe/index.html
Will keep you posted :)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/sesame-noodles-with-chicken-recipe/index.html
Monday, March 15, 2010
Precious
This past weekend Keith and I had been out running errands when we decided to stop at Rogers to rent a movie. It had been a long time since we had seen a movie and thought hey it would fit our budget..wouldn't matter if BABY decided to come, we could pause it, plus I could watch it in jammies.. not a feat usually done in the theaters hehehehe.
It took forever to find a movie that wasn't R rated let me tell you :( How sad is that? But I finally came across the movie PRECIOUS. I wasn't all that familiar about the movie other then Oprah had given it a solid 2 thumbs up and that it had won several Academy Awards. So we popped the corn, got into our jammies, curled up on the couch together and hit PLAY. Well I have to be honest.. we never made it 5 minutes into the movie before we were trying to find the stop button on the remote control.
I don't think I have ever heard such foul language coming out of a young persons mouth in my life. I realize that it was a movie and as such they were "lines" just like any other lines.. but seriously I so wanted to wash her mouth out with soap as well as my ears and not necessarily in that order. Needless to say Rogers got an earful when the movie was returned as to why it only had a "14" as the rating. Are you kidding me? Are you saying that it is ok to have that kind of language for young teens? And what was up with Oprah endorsing a movie like that? I understand the storyline touched her ( I did eventually read up on what the movie was about) but there was no way you could NOT have done the same story line without the language. Either that or change the rating to give people the option of not being stuck on a Saturday night with popcorn ready and no movie!!
It took forever to find a movie that wasn't R rated let me tell you :( How sad is that? But I finally came across the movie PRECIOUS. I wasn't all that familiar about the movie other then Oprah had given it a solid 2 thumbs up and that it had won several Academy Awards. So we popped the corn, got into our jammies, curled up on the couch together and hit PLAY. Well I have to be honest.. we never made it 5 minutes into the movie before we were trying to find the stop button on the remote control.
I don't think I have ever heard such foul language coming out of a young persons mouth in my life. I realize that it was a movie and as such they were "lines" just like any other lines.. but seriously I so wanted to wash her mouth out with soap as well as my ears and not necessarily in that order. Needless to say Rogers got an earful when the movie was returned as to why it only had a "14" as the rating. Are you kidding me? Are you saying that it is ok to have that kind of language for young teens? And what was up with Oprah endorsing a movie like that? I understand the storyline touched her ( I did eventually read up on what the movie was about) but there was no way you could NOT have done the same story line without the language. Either that or change the rating to give people the option of not being stuck on a Saturday night with popcorn ready and no movie!!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
It's a BOY!!
I would like to introduce you to our newest grandchild!! It's a boy!! He is our 5th grandson :-D Conall Erik Keith Eugene..weighed in at 7 pounds 13 ounces and 21 inches long. Labour was pretty intensive for Linda though.. a lot more then with Rosaleen but each delivery is different. I will let Linda give more details as not sure how much they want me to say but mommy and baby are doing fine now and that is what matters. There is not a lot of hair on this little guy hehehe and too soon to say what colour it is going to be.. daddy's red or mommy's brunette. When I left baby had managed to latch on pretty good so I took that as my cue to take big sister home and leave mommy, daddy and baby to bond.
She did go from 3cm to 10 cm in 30 minutes flat and our doctor barely got there in time! Will have more pics tomorrow !!
Friday, March 12, 2010
I change my mind
I have always taken great pride in the fact that I have never had a cold or the flue in my life. I wore that like a badge of honour. I have been seeing a Naturopath physician for the last 5 months or so taking Prolotherapy treatments which I have talked about in previous posts. But 2 visits ago we decided we would discontinue them for now as they did not have the results we had hoped. I did get relief but not at the level I should have been. So he said he would get a hold of my family doctor and my physiotherapist (don't you just love it when everyone works together??)and devise a new plan of attack. So 2 weeks later I go back and after some testing they said I have a build up of toxins in my system that is fighting against me. He asked me if I ever got colds etc and I replied happily that I did not! He said that is NOT a good thing.HUH? I thought he was pulling my leg. He said colds, runny noses, flues etc are all ways the body gets rid of garbage we put in it.
Gee thanks.. I thought I had at least one good thing going for me. So they agreed that he would give me an IV solution and then send me home with a herb that would work at giving me more energy, let me sleep better and just give me a better sense of health. Once we could get that going then we would go back to the Prolotherapy. My inside voice was thinking woohoo we don't have to pay for the treatments for awhile as that was getting expensive.. but no such luck.. the IV and herb was about the same price. He did warn me that as it started working I would in all likelihood get sick, very sick as my body tried to start getting rid of the garbage.
For a week nothing.. I eventually figured huh they were wrong, that I obviously did not have a build up of toxins in me. Last Friday I was waiting for Keith to get home from work about 1am and all of a sudden I started getting nauseous so just laid on the couch. When I heard him drive up I went to get the door for him and never made it past the kitchen sink. By Saturday afternoon Keith had to call our home teachers to come give me a blessing as I couldn't stop heaving. He had been coughing for days at that point but still took care of me, changing the bedding, helping me in the shower, cleaning up behind me..then I would settle down and his fever would spike up and I would get up and try and take care of him, get him some ice water, take his temperature, get him some cool cloths, then I would crash on the couch.. and he would start his turn.
By Monday I was feeling better and started eating some soups and yogurts...next day better... by Wednesday night I started getting a bad headache so took some Tylenol and laid down on the couch waiting for Keith to get home from his work. By the time he got home at 3am I was coughing like there was no tomorrow. He asked how the heck I had gotten sick since dinner time. I just glared and said it was HIS fault as it was his cold I had gotten. But by the next night I thought this is not right, it doesn't seem like a cold not that I had anything to compare it to but I just kept taking my echinachea and chamomile tea staying quiet.
Then today it dawns on me what happened. It was this new drug doing this... ughhhhhh.. I change my mind.. I think I would rather have the toxins just the same :(
Gee thanks.. I thought I had at least one good thing going for me. So they agreed that he would give me an IV solution and then send me home with a herb that would work at giving me more energy, let me sleep better and just give me a better sense of health. Once we could get that going then we would go back to the Prolotherapy. My inside voice was thinking woohoo we don't have to pay for the treatments for awhile as that was getting expensive.. but no such luck.. the IV and herb was about the same price. He did warn me that as it started working I would in all likelihood get sick, very sick as my body tried to start getting rid of the garbage.
For a week nothing.. I eventually figured huh they were wrong, that I obviously did not have a build up of toxins in me. Last Friday I was waiting for Keith to get home from work about 1am and all of a sudden I started getting nauseous so just laid on the couch. When I heard him drive up I went to get the door for him and never made it past the kitchen sink. By Saturday afternoon Keith had to call our home teachers to come give me a blessing as I couldn't stop heaving. He had been coughing for days at that point but still took care of me, changing the bedding, helping me in the shower, cleaning up behind me..then I would settle down and his fever would spike up and I would get up and try and take care of him, get him some ice water, take his temperature, get him some cool cloths, then I would crash on the couch.. and he would start his turn.
By Monday I was feeling better and started eating some soups and yogurts...next day better... by Wednesday night I started getting a bad headache so took some Tylenol and laid down on the couch waiting for Keith to get home from his work. By the time he got home at 3am I was coughing like there was no tomorrow. He asked how the heck I had gotten sick since dinner time. I just glared and said it was HIS fault as it was his cold I had gotten. But by the next night I thought this is not right, it doesn't seem like a cold not that I had anything to compare it to but I just kept taking my echinachea and chamomile tea staying quiet.
Then today it dawns on me what happened. It was this new drug doing this... ughhhhhh.. I change my mind.. I think I would rather have the toxins just the same :(
Monday, March 08, 2010
Rest in Peace
Tomorrow will be a hard day for Keith. Tomorrow his uncle will be buried. There was only 13 years separating them and he was more of a big brother then an uncle. They have always been very close and Keith has talked a great deal about his early years at his grandfather's cabin during school vacation and summer holidays. After his grandfather passed away and his uncle and aunt took over the cabin they always had an open door policy for Keith.
When Keith and I first got together, his uncle took me aside one day and told me to take care of his "little boy" and to make sure nothing bad ever happened to him or I would have to answer to him. I gave him my word I would. Over the years he has many times thanked me for keeping my promise, for standing by Keith, for always believing in him when it seemed no one did. When we lived in Regina, we spent nearly every weekend at the beach and when I felt that we were overstaying our welcome and told Keith we should camp at the campground, his uncle came up to me to ask if they had done something to upset me. I told him no and why would he think that. He said because I didn't want to stay there anymore. I told him we had 5 small children and that it was for their own sanity that we were at the campground. I reminded him that they were their father's children and when I felt they needed a time out I needed to make sure that there wouldn't be anyone they could run to that would override me. He understood that and we came to a compromise. We stayed at the campground to sleep but spent the days and evenings at the cabin.
When I got the call last week of his death I wracked my brain to find a way to break the news to him but there was no easy way. Keith could sense it cause as soon as he walked in he looked at me and asked who died. When I told him, I could see the wall shut down over his face and his shoulders squared back.
He has been going back and forth between the want to be there for the funeral and the need to be here for our grandchild that is due any day. He finally was able to reach his aunt by phone on the weekend and spent a couple of hours with her. She told him he knew how his uncle felt about his own grandchildren and great grandchildren and that is where Keith needed to be right now. She told him they would be dealing with the ashes this summer at a private ceremony and that he could come then.
Tomorrow will be a long day for Keith as well as other as other members of his family and my heart goes out to all of them. Rest in peace Uncle Harry rest in peace
Haysom, Harry Published: 2010-03-05 Harry Haysom 1940 2010 The family is sad to announce the passing of Harry Haysom on Friday, February 26, 2010, in Regina, SK at the age of 69 years. Harry was predeceased by his grandfather Harry Hodgson and his mother Elsie Ring. Left to cherish his memory are his wife Judy; children Bill (Noreen), Randy (Mary Lee), Brenda (Robbie), & Darrell (Angelique); grandchildren Troy, Chelsea, Bryanna, Brendan, Rj, Denby, Alexandra, Courtney, Alyson, Kyle, Layton, Jacelynn, & Curtis; great grandchildren Colten & Katelynn; siblings Bernard, Barbara (Larry), Frank (Jan), Marianne (Mike), and several nieces, nephews and good friends. Harry lived his life to the fullest and believed in giving back to his community. One of his greatest loves was sports with wrestling & football being his favourites. Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm in the Chapel of Lee Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations in Harry's memory can be given to your local amateur sport group. 1453241 ">
www.saskobitsandmemoriams.com
2010-03-05
When Keith and I first got together, his uncle took me aside one day and told me to take care of his "little boy" and to make sure nothing bad ever happened to him or I would have to answer to him. I gave him my word I would. Over the years he has many times thanked me for keeping my promise, for standing by Keith, for always believing in him when it seemed no one did. When we lived in Regina, we spent nearly every weekend at the beach and when I felt that we were overstaying our welcome and told Keith we should camp at the campground, his uncle came up to me to ask if they had done something to upset me. I told him no and why would he think that. He said because I didn't want to stay there anymore. I told him we had 5 small children and that it was for their own sanity that we were at the campground. I reminded him that they were their father's children and when I felt they needed a time out I needed to make sure that there wouldn't be anyone they could run to that would override me. He understood that and we came to a compromise. We stayed at the campground to sleep but spent the days and evenings at the cabin.
When I got the call last week of his death I wracked my brain to find a way to break the news to him but there was no easy way. Keith could sense it cause as soon as he walked in he looked at me and asked who died. When I told him, I could see the wall shut down over his face and his shoulders squared back.
He has been going back and forth between the want to be there for the funeral and the need to be here for our grandchild that is due any day. He finally was able to reach his aunt by phone on the weekend and spent a couple of hours with her. She told him he knew how his uncle felt about his own grandchildren and great grandchildren and that is where Keith needed to be right now. She told him they would be dealing with the ashes this summer at a private ceremony and that he could come then.
Tomorrow will be a long day for Keith as well as other as other members of his family and my heart goes out to all of them. Rest in peace Uncle Harry rest in peace
Haysom, Harry Published: 2010-03-05 Harry Haysom 1940 2010 The family is sad to announce the passing of Harry Haysom on Friday, February 26, 2010, in Regina, SK at the age of 69 years. Harry was predeceased by his grandfather Harry Hodgson and his mother Elsie Ring. Left to cherish his memory are his wife Judy; children Bill (Noreen), Randy (Mary Lee), Brenda (Robbie), & Darrell (Angelique); grandchildren Troy, Chelsea, Bryanna, Brendan, Rj, Denby, Alexandra, Courtney, Alyson, Kyle, Layton, Jacelynn, & Curtis; great grandchildren Colten & Katelynn; siblings Bernard, Barbara (Larry), Frank (Jan), Marianne (Mike), and several nieces, nephews and good friends. Harry lived his life to the fullest and believed in giving back to his community. One of his greatest loves was sports with wrestling & football being his favourites. Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm in the Chapel of Lee Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations in Harry's memory can be given to your local amateur sport group. 1453241 ">
www.saskobitsandmemoriams.com
2010-03-05
| Haysom, Harry
Harry Haysom 1940 2010 The family is sad to announce the passing of Harry Haysom on Friday, February 26, 2010, in Regina, SK at the age of 69 years. Harry was predeceased by his grandfather Harry Hodgson and his mother Elsie Ring. Left to cherish his memory are his wife Judy; children Bill (Noreen), Randy (Mary Lee), Brenda (Robbie), & Darrell (Angelique); grandchildren Troy, Chelsea, Bryanna, Brendan, Rj, Denby, Alexandra, Courtney, Alyson, Kyle, Layton, Jacelynn, & Curtis; great grandchildren Colten & Katelynn; siblings Bernard, Barbara (Larry), Frank (Jan), Marianne (Mike), and several nieces, nephews and good friends. Harry lived his life to the fullest and believed in giving back to his community. One of his greatest loves was sports with wrestling & football being his favourites. Memorial Service will be held on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 2:00 pm in the Chapel of Lee Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, donations in Harry's memory can be given to your local amateur sport group. 1453241
|
Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Migraine Relief
Anyone that knows me knows that I have suffered with migraines since I was a teenager.. which I gratefully thank my maternal grandfather for being so kind as to let me inherit this from him :) I have been on numerous medications for it throughout the last 40 years or so.. some have given me relief but nasty side effects, others worked about as well as the glass of water I had taken with it. But about 10 years or so ago I came across this other product that has worked like magic. I went from a migraine at least once a week that lasted a day or two and about once a month or so I had one that lasted several days with nausea and major sensitivities to light and noise.
Since taking these, I now only get them maybe 1-2 times a month and a really bad one maybe every 3-4 months. I have never gotten any side effects from them. They work as a preventative measure. A couple of times I have thought that I can do without taking the tablets and within a month the migraines are back in full swing.
Now I am not saying that this will work for everyone but it works for me.
http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/international/products/1425.asp
Since taking these, I now only get them maybe 1-2 times a month and a really bad one maybe every 3-4 months. I have never gotten any side effects from them. They work as a preventative measure. A couple of times I have thought that I can do without taking the tablets and within a month the migraines are back in full swing.
Now I am not saying that this will work for everyone but it works for me.
http://www.florahealth.com/flora/home/international/products/1425.asp
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
chicken chicken what's for dinner
I came across this site (Thanks Kim) and I love it! Although I either buy smaller chickens then the author suggests or we eat too much as I usually get only 3 meals from one. But I will try it and measure more carefully and will keep you all posted on how it works out!!
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/02/1-chicken-17-healthy-meals-26-bucks-no.html
http://cheaphealthygood.blogspot.com/2009/02/1-chicken-17-healthy-meals-26-bucks-no.html
Monday, March 01, 2010
Cell phones vs House phone
Keith and I these last couple of months have been trying to cut down our bills. I hyperventilated at the sheer thought of it.. I kept telling Keith it was easy for him to cut back, he is out there in the real world and I am at home.. I needed my HGTV and my Food Network and my TLC..but we compromised and I agreed to let go of my "needs" if we could do it in short doses. So last month was cable...sigh...You don't know what you have till you don't have it anymore... oh well..
This month is the phone...Keith has been saying for a couple of years he doesn't see the need to have a house phone AND a cell. Well sure he doesn't.. he is not a talker... When phone companies came out with this call anywhere North America 24/7 for 19.99 a month we latched on it. Needless to say they no longer have it but it was too late.. I think when we got it was when they went broke with it hehehe I mean seriously have you met my mother? Where do you think I got my knack of endless talking???
But my rationale is now I will be tied to the phone. Anyone that has ever been in my house knows how our phone rings NON stop. So to only have my cell when I go out it would never shut off. As well with no phone in cars, I would spend all my free time answering voice mail. But I had agreed to work with this new plan so last week we went out to the local mall to all the phone kiasks to see what they had to offer. I told them all what our plan was now and what they could do. Every single one of them said the same... they could not even come close to match it. Gee thanks guys.. you were a big help. The only ones that came close were some we saw commercials for or found on the Internet. But they were not known companies and I did not want to go there.
So there lays my dilemma. What to do what to do.. Has anyone done that? Gotten rid of their house phone and just had their cells to use? How did that work out for you? Anyone know of a cell company that gives 200 free daytime minutes, free evening/weekend calling, 200 long distance minutes, free incoming and outgoing texting and web searches (although rarely used) a month and all for $39.99?
This month is the phone...Keith has been saying for a couple of years he doesn't see the need to have a house phone AND a cell. Well sure he doesn't.. he is not a talker... When phone companies came out with this call anywhere North America 24/7 for 19.99 a month we latched on it. Needless to say they no longer have it but it was too late.. I think when we got it was when they went broke with it hehehe I mean seriously have you met my mother? Where do you think I got my knack of endless talking???
But my rationale is now I will be tied to the phone. Anyone that has ever been in my house knows how our phone rings NON stop. So to only have my cell when I go out it would never shut off. As well with no phone in cars, I would spend all my free time answering voice mail. But I had agreed to work with this new plan so last week we went out to the local mall to all the phone kiasks to see what they had to offer. I told them all what our plan was now and what they could do. Every single one of them said the same... they could not even come close to match it. Gee thanks guys.. you were a big help. The only ones that came close were some we saw commercials for or found on the Internet. But they were not known companies and I did not want to go there.
So there lays my dilemma. What to do what to do.. Has anyone done that? Gotten rid of their house phone and just had their cells to use? How did that work out for you? Anyone know of a cell company that gives 200 free daytime minutes, free evening/weekend calling, 200 long distance minutes, free incoming and outgoing texting and web searches (although rarely used) a month and all for $39.99?
Saskatchewan
I know I know weird topic...but here it is. I was born and raised in Saskatchewan and moved to BC almost 21 years ago. I thought I knew every place and every thing in that province. But I have been proven wrong. I have been known to be wrong from time to time.. not often and especially not when I want to be right but occasionally. One of the pavilions that we visited over the Olympic time was Saskatchewan. Keith has a great love for that province. Not me. I love my family and miss them every single day but I can not say I have a great love for it. BC yup yup yup. But I learned a lot in that pavilion and thought you might like to learn something new this Monday that has nothing to do with medals or 100ths of a second time frame.
-It has more then 2 million hectares of parkland, 2 National parks, 34 Provincial Parks and 95 Regional Parks
-100, 000 lakes... (really?)
-A Saskatchewan angler invented the now famous read and while spoon style fishhooks ( I have like 10 different ones in a variety of sizes)
-They have the world's biggest uranium mine. They are one of the world's top uranium producers
-it supplies about 4% of all electricity in the United States- enough to power New York City!! Glad to know Canada is good for something other then gold medals hehehe sorry I could not resist.. tomorrow I'll behave I promise
-The Dakota Dunes Golf Links was named Canada's best new course in 2005 by Golf Digest and in 2009 it was named the number one golf course in Saskatchewan and Manitoba by SCOREGolf Magazine.
-It has the most golf courses per capita in the world.. again really?
-The province's incredible Aboriginal heritage shines through in teh achievements of its First Nations people. Allen Sapp is a world renowned Cree artist. He has a gallery in North Battleford and shows around the world.
-Every summer thousands of people converge onto Wascana Park in Regina to hear the Regina Symphony orchestra perform Symphony Under the Sky. The RSO is the largest continously performing symphony orchestra in Canada.
-Saskatchewan has 5 of the 10 most entrepreneural cities in Canada
-It is the world's largest exporter of mustard. Seriously? huh
-Has the largest ptoatsh industry in the world - it is a key ingredient in the fertilizer that helps feed a hungry planet
-Has more then hlaf of the world's potash reserves. They are to potash what Saudi Arabia is to oil
-the RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) headquarters is situated in Regina. Did you know ALL RCMP officers are trained there.
-in southeastern Sask you'll find North America's hottest oil play, the Bakken Formation. It produces over 58,000 barrels of oil a day. It is Canada's 2nd largest oil producers. It also accounts for 1/3 of Canada's energy production with coal, oil, uranium, natural gas, hydro and wind
-the wheat fields make it the breadbasket of the world.It also produces more canola, flax and peas then anywhere in the world.
-it not only produces a lot of energy but Saskatchewan is leading the way in reducing greenhouse gases and carbon footprints. The Petroleum Technology Research Centre manages the world's largest monitored carbon storage project. By projects end it will be like taking 8 MILLION cars off the road for a year (well living in a huge metropolis city it would be nice if some of those would be removed permanently so it wouldn't take so long to get to where I am going)
-they have the best fans in Canadian Football League
-in 2009 it broke records for the 5th consecutive year in investment initiatives
-they have a record 9.7 billion in mineral production in 2008 and have over 10 billion of committed project expansions so the future in mining is tremendous
-is home to almost 1/4 of Canada's cattle herd
-International scientists are lining up to do research at the Canadian Light source in Saskatoon, one of the world's most advanced synchrotrons
-the lower cost and less stressful lifestyles associated with small centres make it a great place to call home. It is still cheaper to lve there then in most of Canada
So there you go.. your history AND geography lesson all rolled into one afternoon of light reading!! And if you want to still know more (other then where my mom lives) go to www.gov.sk.ca
-It has more then 2 million hectares of parkland, 2 National parks, 34 Provincial Parks and 95 Regional Parks
-100, 000 lakes... (really?)
-A Saskatchewan angler invented the now famous read and while spoon style fishhooks ( I have like 10 different ones in a variety of sizes)
-They have the world's biggest uranium mine. They are one of the world's top uranium producers
-it supplies about 4% of all electricity in the United States- enough to power New York City!! Glad to know Canada is good for something other then gold medals hehehe sorry I could not resist.. tomorrow I'll behave I promise
-The Dakota Dunes Golf Links was named Canada's best new course in 2005 by Golf Digest and in 2009 it was named the number one golf course in Saskatchewan and Manitoba by SCOREGolf Magazine.
-It has the most golf courses per capita in the world.. again really?
-The province's incredible Aboriginal heritage shines through in teh achievements of its First Nations people. Allen Sapp is a world renowned Cree artist. He has a gallery in North Battleford and shows around the world.
-Every summer thousands of people converge onto Wascana Park in Regina to hear the Regina Symphony orchestra perform Symphony Under the Sky. The RSO is the largest continously performing symphony orchestra in Canada.
-Saskatchewan has 5 of the 10 most entrepreneural cities in Canada
-It is the world's largest exporter of mustard. Seriously? huh
-Has the largest ptoatsh industry in the world - it is a key ingredient in the fertilizer that helps feed a hungry planet
-Has more then hlaf of the world's potash reserves. They are to potash what Saudi Arabia is to oil
-the RCMP(Royal Canadian Mounted Police) headquarters is situated in Regina. Did you know ALL RCMP officers are trained there.
-in southeastern Sask you'll find North America's hottest oil play, the Bakken Formation. It produces over 58,000 barrels of oil a day. It is Canada's 2nd largest oil producers. It also accounts for 1/3 of Canada's energy production with coal, oil, uranium, natural gas, hydro and wind
-the wheat fields make it the breadbasket of the world.It also produces more canola, flax and peas then anywhere in the world.
-it not only produces a lot of energy but Saskatchewan is leading the way in reducing greenhouse gases and carbon footprints. The Petroleum Technology Research Centre manages the world's largest monitored carbon storage project. By projects end it will be like taking 8 MILLION cars off the road for a year (well living in a huge metropolis city it would be nice if some of those would be removed permanently so it wouldn't take so long to get to where I am going)
-they have the best fans in Canadian Football League
-in 2009 it broke records for the 5th consecutive year in investment initiatives
-they have a record 9.7 billion in mineral production in 2008 and have over 10 billion of committed project expansions so the future in mining is tremendous
-is home to almost 1/4 of Canada's cattle herd
-International scientists are lining up to do research at the Canadian Light source in Saskatoon, one of the world's most advanced synchrotrons
-the lower cost and less stressful lifestyles associated with small centres make it a great place to call home. It is still cheaper to lve there then in most of Canada
So there you go.. your history AND geography lesson all rolled into one afternoon of light reading!! And if you want to still know more (other then where my mom lives) go to www.gov.sk.ca
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Haysom Olympic Finale
17 days out of our lives.. a mere 2 1/2 weeks out of the grand scheme of things.. what does it amount to really? At 53 years of age, it's nothing really..but these last 17 days have left an imprint in my life. In case you have been on another planet this past month you know we just had the Olympics here. In 1988 when we had the Olympics in Calgary, I had 5 teenagers at home, a husband who worked out of town and was going to school out of town, I worked full time as nurse as well as part time as a councilor at a sexual assault centre. Olympics? What was that? My olympian feat was trying to keep the laundry pile from being higher then my ceilings, the fridge from completely emptying on any given day, filling hollow legs, fighting crowds in stores for that last pair of jeans/sneakers/sweater/ that was on sale for 5.00.
During the 1976 Olympics in Montreal I had 2 small babies, and was in the hospital. In those days there was no such thing as tv's in your room and if you were lucky there was one old small black and white one in the common room that had rabbit ears on top (and if you have no idea what those are you need to ask your parents) and as I was bedridden that option wasn't there.
Needless to say when these Olympics hit our little city, I was excited!! I'm a winter sports person way more then summer so it works for me. I spent the month prior to it arriving to go over what Olympics were to my younger granddaughters, we looked up all the events, researched them online and found bios on our athletes. even wrote letters to some of them. We talked about winning and losing, the different medals and the dedication it takes to be an Olympian athlete. I talked to them as often as I could about patriotism, about what it means to be a Canadian and why we should be proud of who we are. I talked to them about how the whole world would be watching us and we should always be on our very best behaviour.
We decorated our home inside and out and my car. When we would be driving around and saw another car with a Canadian flag we would honk and wave. It made them smile when the other drivers would honk and wave back :) But it was more then my teaching them; as I mentioned before they taught me too. They taught me to cheer for the other teams so they would play with us again. They taught me that it doesn't matter if we win or lose as long as we have fun. They taught me to keep some things INSIDE my head and not use my outside voice so much. They taught me that I am way too loud when I cheer.
I learned that you CAN be a part of Olympic celebrations without spending an arm and a leg. It became my passion to find things to do that were free. I realized it was way more important to spend the time at the activities with family and friends then to have been there alone. We were there on the first day when the torch ran in our neighborhood, and later that night at the ceremonies in our city. I was able to take my 12 year old granddaughter with me to the opening night celebrations at a free site downtown Vancouver watching the whole thing unfold on megatron size tv's. And I loved her even more then I already did for not standing away from me when I was screaming my head off when Wayne Gretsky came on board.
I had always said you would never catch me dead going up to Yukon but after an evening in their pavilion Keith and I were both so impressed that we know that will be our next big trip in the future. I learned a lot about different countries that I didn't already know. I learned that it's ok for big girls to cry at the drop of the hat over and over again and it's ok. I found out that red is my new favourite color.
It became even clearer to me that I have the BEST husband in the world when he would keep his eye rolling for when I wasn't looking because I wanted yet another picture of the torch even though I already had 100 of them. Even though he knew I would pay for it the next day with pain, he was ok with going back downtown again and again even though he HATES going down there on a regular day let alone when everybody and their mother is on the street.
I loved him for not once saying "I told you so" these last 17 days, nor for saying "didn't you watch that event already?" I loved him even more the day I woke up from having fallen asleep on the couch watching the events and he had covered me with a flag when he left for work. Last night was the last full day we could spend at the events so we went down with 2 of our children and 7 of our grandchildren. It was cold and wet and the little ones were tired and cold but we kept on going. Lots of walking (thank goodness for strollers!) although they sure gave it a valiant effort at wanting to walk on their own. At one point the 5 year old asks me " When are we going to be in Canada?" I said we are in Canada.. and she said "No, we're not.. we have to yell GO CANADA GO GO CANADA GO and jump up and down that's when we are in Canada"...opps.. my bad...I have to work more on geography in the future and less on cheerleading I guess :)
Late in the afternoon, we went in our different directions, our 1 son needed to go home (DIL is due any day with their baby) and our daughter and her family wanted to go in a different direction to find some Olympic items. We kept our oldest granddaughter with us and headed off. We went to the Italy, the French and the Switzerland pavilions. We then managed to scrounge some tickets for a cruise around the harbour. They were getting ready to leave and had some empty seats and they wanted to just fill the seats. So for 2 hours we cruised around Stanley Park, saw the Olympic rings from the water side and the cauldron. When we returned back to the marina we found we could take an aquabus back to the other side without having to wait forever for the train so we hopped on!!! Talk about being at the right place at the right time. It was a great bonding moment and I sure hope she will remember that day for a long long time.
It was a day full of memories that cost us virtually nothing. Today it was the men's gold medal hockey game. We had friends who thought that we cheered the men winning way more then we cheered the women winning their gold and how wrong that was. I had been there watching the women win and I know the city went wild but as I thought it about all afternoon I realized it wasn't because we cheered more for the men it was because of what that gold medal meant. It meant we had beat the record held of most gold medals won at any Olympic games. That was why we went crazy! I went back on Shaw on Demand and rewatched the womens' win again and there really was pandemonium that day from the spectators! We are nothing but equal opportunitistics :) Keith and I had gone downtown to watch it at FreeCity Yaletown that day and I had known there at least it was insane with excitement.
Canada is going to seem awfully quiet this week. I heard something today..we may not be as outwardly patriotic as other countries, we may not all hang flags from our door frames but we do have a quiet pride..it was always there..we just needed permission to know that it was ok to let it all out. So for another 2 1/2 years (summer Olympics) I will put my medals away, wipe my tears, swallow the lump out of my throat, but what I will not do, is forget how for 17 days our country became one. We no longer were French-Canadian, Indo-Canadian, Asian-Canadian etc. We were Canadians.. through and through.. and with glowing pride we stood shoulder to shoulder as one nation, cheered when we won, cried with our athletes when we didn't, we felt every sorrow, every win, every in between. We sang our national anthem in every possible wrong key that could be found but we did it with such pride.
I saw this short video today and thought I would include it in closing as well as "my" medals that has grown since the first one was won. Some of our granddaughters helped me make this poster and as we got a medal I hung a matching on in the window. It became our neighborhood gauge on how the country was doing. I actually twice had a neighbour come to our door to ask where a medal was because we had won something and I had not hung a medal yet. :-D
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/index.html?assetid=16afced6-f953-42f8-88ce-46c9493947e9
During the 1976 Olympics in Montreal I had 2 small babies, and was in the hospital. In those days there was no such thing as tv's in your room and if you were lucky there was one old small black and white one in the common room that had rabbit ears on top (and if you have no idea what those are you need to ask your parents) and as I was bedridden that option wasn't there.
Needless to say when these Olympics hit our little city, I was excited!! I'm a winter sports person way more then summer so it works for me. I spent the month prior to it arriving to go over what Olympics were to my younger granddaughters, we looked up all the events, researched them online and found bios on our athletes. even wrote letters to some of them. We talked about winning and losing, the different medals and the dedication it takes to be an Olympian athlete. I talked to them as often as I could about patriotism, about what it means to be a Canadian and why we should be proud of who we are. I talked to them about how the whole world would be watching us and we should always be on our very best behaviour.
We decorated our home inside and out and my car. When we would be driving around and saw another car with a Canadian flag we would honk and wave. It made them smile when the other drivers would honk and wave back :) But it was more then my teaching them; as I mentioned before they taught me too. They taught me to cheer for the other teams so they would play with us again. They taught me that it doesn't matter if we win or lose as long as we have fun. They taught me to keep some things INSIDE my head and not use my outside voice so much. They taught me that I am way too loud when I cheer.
I learned that you CAN be a part of Olympic celebrations without spending an arm and a leg. It became my passion to find things to do that were free. I realized it was way more important to spend the time at the activities with family and friends then to have been there alone. We were there on the first day when the torch ran in our neighborhood, and later that night at the ceremonies in our city. I was able to take my 12 year old granddaughter with me to the opening night celebrations at a free site downtown Vancouver watching the whole thing unfold on megatron size tv's. And I loved her even more then I already did for not standing away from me when I was screaming my head off when Wayne Gretsky came on board.
I had always said you would never catch me dead going up to Yukon but after an evening in their pavilion Keith and I were both so impressed that we know that will be our next big trip in the future. I learned a lot about different countries that I didn't already know. I learned that it's ok for big girls to cry at the drop of the hat over and over again and it's ok. I found out that red is my new favourite color.
It became even clearer to me that I have the BEST husband in the world when he would keep his eye rolling for when I wasn't looking because I wanted yet another picture of the torch even though I already had 100 of them. Even though he knew I would pay for it the next day with pain, he was ok with going back downtown again and again even though he HATES going down there on a regular day let alone when everybody and their mother is on the street.
I loved him for not once saying "I told you so" these last 17 days, nor for saying "didn't you watch that event already?" I loved him even more the day I woke up from having fallen asleep on the couch watching the events and he had covered me with a flag when he left for work. Last night was the last full day we could spend at the events so we went down with 2 of our children and 7 of our grandchildren. It was cold and wet and the little ones were tired and cold but we kept on going. Lots of walking (thank goodness for strollers!) although they sure gave it a valiant effort at wanting to walk on their own. At one point the 5 year old asks me " When are we going to be in Canada?" I said we are in Canada.. and she said "No, we're not.. we have to yell GO CANADA GO GO CANADA GO and jump up and down that's when we are in Canada"...opps.. my bad...I have to work more on geography in the future and less on cheerleading I guess :)
Late in the afternoon, we went in our different directions, our 1 son needed to go home (DIL is due any day with their baby) and our daughter and her family wanted to go in a different direction to find some Olympic items. We kept our oldest granddaughter with us and headed off. We went to the Italy, the French and the Switzerland pavilions. We then managed to scrounge some tickets for a cruise around the harbour. They were getting ready to leave and had some empty seats and they wanted to just fill the seats. So for 2 hours we cruised around Stanley Park, saw the Olympic rings from the water side and the cauldron. When we returned back to the marina we found we could take an aquabus back to the other side without having to wait forever for the train so we hopped on!!! Talk about being at the right place at the right time. It was a great bonding moment and I sure hope she will remember that day for a long long time.
It was a day full of memories that cost us virtually nothing. Today it was the men's gold medal hockey game. We had friends who thought that we cheered the men winning way more then we cheered the women winning their gold and how wrong that was. I had been there watching the women win and I know the city went wild but as I thought it about all afternoon I realized it wasn't because we cheered more for the men it was because of what that gold medal meant. It meant we had beat the record held of most gold medals won at any Olympic games. That was why we went crazy! I went back on Shaw on Demand and rewatched the womens' win again and there really was pandemonium that day from the spectators! We are nothing but equal opportunitistics :) Keith and I had gone downtown to watch it at FreeCity Yaletown that day and I had known there at least it was insane with excitement.
Canada is going to seem awfully quiet this week. I heard something today..we may not be as outwardly patriotic as other countries, we may not all hang flags from our door frames but we do have a quiet pride..it was always there..we just needed permission to know that it was ok to let it all out. So for another 2 1/2 years (summer Olympics) I will put my medals away, wipe my tears, swallow the lump out of my throat, but what I will not do, is forget how for 17 days our country became one. We no longer were French-Canadian, Indo-Canadian, Asian-Canadian etc. We were Canadians.. through and through.. and with glowing pride we stood shoulder to shoulder as one nation, cheered when we won, cried with our athletes when we didn't, we felt every sorrow, every win, every in between. We sang our national anthem in every possible wrong key that could be found but we did it with such pride.
I saw this short video today and thought I would include it in closing as well as "my" medals that has grown since the first one was won. Some of our granddaughters helped me make this poster and as we got a medal I hung a matching on in the window. It became our neighborhood gauge on how the country was doing. I actually twice had a neighbour come to our door to ask where a medal was because we had won something and I had not hung a medal yet. :-D
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/video/index.html?assetid=16afced6-f953-42f8-88ce-46c9493947e9
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
End of an Era
Friday will mark the end of an era in my life. 3 and a 1/2 years ago a then 2 1/2 year old red headed Princess with her own independent mind came into my household. I started watching her while Mommy and Daddy went to work. This little princess became my saving grace and didn't even know it. On Friday I will find it hard to "give her back". Mommy is going to be on maternity leave while they wait for their new baby to arrive then will be home for a year or so. After that Daddy will become a full time at home dad. Or so that is the plan now.
But this little girl became attached to my soul more then one would think. I realized today after I dropped her off at school, I won't be there for her Noisy Reader time in the mornings at school where the parents etc can come in to read with their child. She was sitting on my lap and told me she was going to miss our snuggle time. She said she would tell Mommy that she HAD to come help me clean and then we could just snuggle lol.
She saved me from my self destruction when I was diagnosed with cancer. Here I had all these adults surrounding me, looking after me, but it was this little 4 year old that "took care" of me. She was the one that got me a cloth when my head spent way too much time in the bucket; she was the one that kept an eye on the draining bags from my surgeries and would tell me that one had more blood then supposed to and I needed to empty it. She would follow me in the bathroom just to make sure I did like the nurse told me.
She gave me back rubs every day; brushed my hair and put clips and ponies all over telling me if I looked pretty then I would feel pretty. We spent days at the library, went to the pool, went on adventures in the forests, treks to the parks and beaches, went to the surgeon every 2 weeks for 6 months, we learned where all the bathrooms were, where all the cool lunch places were and she knew the train stations and when we had to get off.
We had tea parties and sleepovers with her younger cousin and together we would get dressed up in our Queen and Princess clothes and tiaras then would bake something scrumptious for Papa. Together with her cousin, they kept my spirits up when all I wanted to do was to pull the blankets up over my head and escape from the world. We finger painted, sculpted masterpieces and went for trips up to Whistler and many camping trips.
And Friday that will come crashing down all around me. I believe I might just have to be elsewhere when Mommy comes and gets her so I do not have to say goodbye. I know I will see her throughout the week but it won't be the same. She taught me about life, she taught me about slowing down and smelling the roses, she taught me patience (she does NOT move at any speed but hers and that was never mine!!), she taught me about sharing, about playing nice and for cheering for other teams that are not Canadian.
I will miss my morning snuggle and all the I love you mostest no returnies. But most of all I will miss making new memories. But this time now belongs to her mommy and her daddy and her new baby when it comes. And one day I will tell her all this and how much she saved her Nana from her self and what she came to be..Nana's special Princess. Thank you Rosaleen. I truly do love you mostest NO RETURNIES!!! xoxoxoxoox
But this little girl became attached to my soul more then one would think. I realized today after I dropped her off at school, I won't be there for her Noisy Reader time in the mornings at school where the parents etc can come in to read with their child. She was sitting on my lap and told me she was going to miss our snuggle time. She said she would tell Mommy that she HAD to come help me clean and then we could just snuggle lol.
She saved me from my self destruction when I was diagnosed with cancer. Here I had all these adults surrounding me, looking after me, but it was this little 4 year old that "took care" of me. She was the one that got me a cloth when my head spent way too much time in the bucket; she was the one that kept an eye on the draining bags from my surgeries and would tell me that one had more blood then supposed to and I needed to empty it. She would follow me in the bathroom just to make sure I did like the nurse told me.
She gave me back rubs every day; brushed my hair and put clips and ponies all over telling me if I looked pretty then I would feel pretty. We spent days at the library, went to the pool, went on adventures in the forests, treks to the parks and beaches, went to the surgeon every 2 weeks for 6 months, we learned where all the bathrooms were, where all the cool lunch places were and she knew the train stations and when we had to get off.
We had tea parties and sleepovers with her younger cousin and together we would get dressed up in our Queen and Princess clothes and tiaras then would bake something scrumptious for Papa. Together with her cousin, they kept my spirits up when all I wanted to do was to pull the blankets up over my head and escape from the world. We finger painted, sculpted masterpieces and went for trips up to Whistler and many camping trips.
And Friday that will come crashing down all around me. I believe I might just have to be elsewhere when Mommy comes and gets her so I do not have to say goodbye. I know I will see her throughout the week but it won't be the same. She taught me about life, she taught me about slowing down and smelling the roses, she taught me patience (she does NOT move at any speed but hers and that was never mine!!), she taught me about sharing, about playing nice and for cheering for other teams that are not Canadian.
I will miss my morning snuggle and all the I love you mostest no returnies. But most of all I will miss making new memories. But this time now belongs to her mommy and her daddy and her new baby when it comes. And one day I will tell her all this and how much she saved her Nana from her self and what she came to be..Nana's special Princess. Thank you Rosaleen. I truly do love you mostest NO RETURNIES!!! xoxoxoxoox
Monday, February 22, 2010
Playing Nice
All last week little Princess Rosaleen, our 6 year old granddaughter, has been telling me continually that I need to also cheer for the other teams because they are visiting us and if we don't cheer for them or let them win sometime they won't come and play with us again. This morning she told me she was very proud of me that I had obviously been cheering for the other team last night (Men's hockey) letting them win so that they would play with us again. She has been listening to me being so ..hmm well let's just say passionate about my cheering our athletes and has been chastising me continually that it's not if we win or lose but if we had fun that is the most important thing. I have had to bite down to not confuse her with how different rules are when you are at the Olympic level. Better she think that I had been listening to her all last week and that I let USA win just so they would play with us again. But let me be perfectly clear here...
THIS IS OUR HOME, OUR GAME, OUR GOLD!
THIS IS OUR HOME, OUR GAME, OUR GOLD!
Friday, February 19, 2010
End of week one
I have been a proud armchair supporter of the Olympics. I am a avid sports fan, well ok sports to me means hockey and then football in that order but for the Olympics I watch every event Canada is participating in. When the torch ran through our community I was there with some of our family then we went to the city's opening ceremony that night.
On Friday I took one of our granddaughters that had turned 12 a couple of days prior to that with me and off we went. We were in the lineup JUST to get in the gate for 2 hours and 15 minutes in the cold and rain. We were totally soaked but it was so intense. We loved it!! We were the only ones in our large family out here that were there and we took advantage of it. I kept telling her we would probably never get the opportunity to do this again.
When the Canadian athletes walked in well to say it was a screaming frenzy was to say the least!! I was jumping up and down and screaming my head off all the while knowing I would suffer in pain the next day but at that point in time I did not care. Then when they were getting ready to bring the torch in to light the cauldron I kept repeating the mantra "Please let it be Gretsky" over and over again then Rick Hanson wheeled in. Well it wasn't the Great One but it was ok. Then another one then another one and we realized there would be 4.. there was such anticipation in the air where I was. We could see the back of the man but not his face. I knew it was him.. you could tell by the way he stood and his hair.. and when the 3rd torch went to him to light his and the cameras finally panned to his face I screamed so loud and jumped up so much I actually almost knocked myself out and lost my breath. My granddaughter kept looking at me like I was weird. I said Latitia it is Wayne Gretsky!! And she said WHO??? Are you kidding me??
So on the way home I had to explain to her who he was as well as all the 6 people who carried in the Olympic flag. Man they sure don't teach kids these days about who Canadian athletes are! So oh man just to have been that close to him, I would have stood 10 hours more just to have been a part of that whole experience.
Other then Survivor night I have had the tv on 3 different channels to keep an eye on all the events. One of our other granddaughters and I did up some posters and decorated our front window to show our support. Then when we got our first medal I wanted to do something more so I got out a bronze kind of cd and hung it on a ribbon on the one poster that says "Do You Believe?" As we have gotten more medals I have hung them on the poster. Not very "Modern Decor" look but it shows our grandchildren how important it is to support people even when you do not know them.
Of course I am hoping to get enough medals that I will have one window for the gold and one for the silver and one for the bronze :)Tomorrow Keith and I will be heading back to check out all the pavilions and just walk around downtown checking things out. I am sure afer a couple of hours he is going to be fed up with the crowds and ready to go home so will have to make sure we check out the Quebec house first heheehe. Although I know he will suffer through the crowds cause he knows it is so important to me. I even have my autograph book in my bag already just in case I meet someone important.. like you know.. the Great One :)
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Pizza anyone???
I got this from our son Kim and man oh man I am so making this over the weekend!! Good thing the crust makes 2 because there isn't a hope in heaven Keith will eat a pizza with eggplants and tomatoes on it!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/my-favorite-pizza/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pwcooks+%28The+Pioneer+Woman+Cooks!%29
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/02/my-favorite-pizza/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+pwcooks+%28The+Pioneer+Woman+Cooks!%29
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