Prayer Request

My grandfather is in the hospital due to swelling in his legs. He hasn't been well in awhile, but has been in and out of hospital a fair bit the last month to 6 weeks in particular. He's 84 years old, a war vet, and a tremendous person, and my gramma is working overtime to take care of him and their household. Those with faith - any prayers - and those who are more earthly in their bent, any thoughts - are appreciated. Thank you so much.

Is this supposed to be a comedy?

Given Oliver Stone's history, I suspect his new biopic on our current president, "W.", is supposed to be a serious treatment.

Perhaps W.'s life is just that comedic. Or tragic for the rest of us. Nonetheless ... it looks interesting and I suppose I'd check it out. He doesn't deserve to be made to look presidential anyway.

What a weekend. It's been a good one. This place is like in PERFECT shape finally, like, PERFECT shape minus the sort of unplaced furniture in our future nursery - also the futon we no longer need which is being stored in there. I'm quite happy with our home. The final incentive to get the last few things done was having company over on Saturday - Ari's best friend Tim, his wife Lynn and their baby Wade came by and it was such a nice visit. Today we went to the beach and visited my parents, for whom we are pool sitting this week. Both nice experiences.

I would like to invite a particular friend whose family Ari and I enjoy spending time with, either out to said beach, or over to the pool we're sitting, next Saturday, if she thinks the kiddos would enjoy the water and be safe around it. :) AP - the beach is in Port Dover, and you're halfway between us and there; and my mum's is in Roseville (near Cambridge). If you're interested let me know. :)

Of course I've turned back into a pumpkin this morning, as my former landlord is STILL not being particularly responsive about letting me into our old apartment to claim the clothes I left in the dryer (was SO rude to Ari last week when he asked), our car alarm seems to have a mind of its own today and Ari's back to work ... but I'll muddle through. Especially if things work out in the paragraph above, and because my BESTEST FRIEND EVER! is coming back to town on WEDNESDAY! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! My summer is about to get a whole lot betta.

Enjoy it all y'all too.

Feist teaching Sesame Street how to count to 4

The greatest thing ever:

Thanks N

For making my day! A child I tutor was playing with her dolls as I left yesterday, featuring a character named Sarah, the famous teacher. Have been having a kinda blah week - I think the boy's mood has been wearing off on me - and this really brightened it up. Thanks.

Young and the restless

Can't wait for this! :D

RIP Estelle Getty

I would just like to take the time to say goodbye
To one of the greatest TV personalities of all-time.
Estelle Getty played Sophia on the Golden Girls.
She and Bea Arthur - Dorothy -
Were one of the best comic teams of all time;
Certainly of the 1980s.
In recent years Ms. Getty suffered from dementia.
While sad to lose her, it is also a relief
To know that she is in a better place.
The Golden Girls was the first TV show
I really watched -
With my mom and my grandma -
At a very young age.
I don't remember much about it,
But I remember Sophia
And her sharp tongue.
Estelle - vaya con Dios. You will be missed.
XO

ARGH!

OK this is one of those days that I have stuff to do out of the house; which is great. I'm going a bit stir crazy here to be honest, I'm out maybe 2-4 hours a day, three days a week for work. But I'm having trouble, as much as I want to get out there and get this done and get a change of scenery, motivating myself to get dressed, brush my teeth, and MOVE at 1:30 pm. lol ... Anyone have any cures for "LYDLYWD" (less you do, less you wanna do) syndrome? ;)

HOT but lovely

So usually I would have posted a blog yesterday, but it was a busy one. As you can guess from my previous post, my brother's a drummer. He's actually a world champion drummer, performing with the Fraser Highlanders, who placed 3rd at the World Piping Championships in Glasgow last year, and their drum corps coming in first. Well yesterday was the Cambridge Highland Games nearby, and we got to go check them out in competition. They of course swept the grade 1 category - they're a world class pipe band after all - and my brother came in FIRST for tenor drum solos. Makes me prouder and prouder every day.

Also got to run into family and other people who I'm starting to consider friends myself - my brother's girlfriend Dawn, who's moving into THEIR new apartment in two days, before going to Scotland herself to perform at the Edinburgh Tattoo - the largest pipe & drum/military tattoo in the world - as a highland dancer, as well as his best friend Josh who's a tremendous piper, actually piped at our wedding, and whose band is also going to worlds in Glasgow this year (as well as Kyle's again), plus my mother and my in-laws. And then best of all after a VERY hot and humid day at the fairgrounds, we got to head to my mom's for a swim and barbecue, as the evening had cooled off. And all that before it started raining, which REALLY cooled things down.

Not to mention I now have actually ZERO laundry to do today - I finished every last bit today - and we ran our dishwasher last night for the first time - massively cool, runs great, and simpler to use than I thought, given it's a portable and not a built-in one - it has actually been a very, very pleasing weekend to me despite the fact I do not suffer heat well or gladly. Couple that with going over to my dad's tomorrow (or else having him over) for some wine and wrestling, and I must say the summer's turning out quite nicely thank you very much. :D Now if only I can convince my ... uh ... frugal ... husband to take me away to a cottage for a few days in August, and the adoption goes thru nicely now that we're settled into our home, it will be the summer of my dreams! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

My favourite drummer

Well ... one of them ... my grampa's up there too. :) But this is my brother Kyle's performance at Winter Storm 2008, where he placed 3rd in the Gold Medal Comp.

The "N" word

An interesting discussion at the View today re. Rev. Jesse Jackson's use of the N word and use of the word in general. It's an interesting conversation and Whoopi Goldberg just came the closest of anyone to convincing me that black people using that word is not the complete evil I thought it was - "words have meaning because we give them meaning". Now I still think it's naive to ignore the meaning of the word the rest of us understand, as it has had a prevalence of hundreds of years; but it's at least not the completely ignorant, assanine thought process I used to think it was. Check it out here:

An ode to my mommy ...

She came over
Mowed my lawn
Helped me finish unpacking
And invited me over for a swim tomorrow
As it's to be humid tomorrow
And hot
And I have no air conditioning
Have I mentioned
I love my mother?

Pay Per Post - and a Big Thank you

OK so now that I got that dreck off my chest ...

Think I was just hungry and tired; had some dinner and did some PRODUCTIVE things around the house & online and feel much better. Better enough to tell you about something I should have gotten around to a long time ago!

My friend Alex over at http://theverydaymother.blogspot.com mentioned a LONG time ago in one of her blogs about a neat program called Pay Per Post. Basically there are opportunities to advertise things (that you believe in, without being obnoxious about it of course) in your blogs, to let people know about stuff you enjoy, and make money while you're at it (click "make money" if you're interested). And the best thing? You either get to keep the money, or you have the choice to donate it to various charities. I definitely intend to do that as well. Ari and I keep saying we should do more for charities, but can never choose which charities to donate to, or how much - this is a great and painless way to be able to do that.

As for the money I decide to keep - I'm hoping to use it as blow dough, either towards some travelling or something fun around town, or else to fund my online poker playing. I've been playing the last few years now without actually putting in a dime; this might be a great way to be able to do so, without actually cutting into our real-world income! :) What would YOU do/have YOU done with your Pay-Per-Post money?

Anyway, for those like me who tend to hate ads and stay away from this sketch 'selling out'-type nonsense, or for those readers who are afraid this is going to become the Home Shopping Network for blogs - don't worry. This is cooler than other 'advertising in your blog' schemes because they recognize you need to maintain a balance between shilling and being a blog artiste. There are rules in place which ensure you keep a balance between those posts and 'real' posts - they insist you have one non-sponsored post in between each PPP Post. But it's a great chance, if there's a product or service or company you believe in, to be able to blog about it, plus maybe make some money too, doing something we all do - blogging about stuff that interests us. So please, check out the link - and make sure, if you sign up, to mention you heard about it here. That's $$$ too. ;) Cheers.

Exhaustion

Pulling me down ... down ...
6 hours last night ...
3 hours today ...
Should not still be tired
Feel like Ophelia
Can't breathe
Held it together to meet
A family I will be babysitting for
Going forward
Good family ...
Good kids ...
I look at the boxes ... can't do it ...
But want it done ...
Want to cry,
But it would take too much energy
And dry out my contacts.
Not 'depressed' exactly ...
Actually things are pretty good
With having found work
And having Ari home
For the weekend
And all that.
Just for no good reason ...
(except maybe the less you do
the less you want to do)
Exhaustion.

HAHAHAHA

Our local Walmart is closed today. We had copious quantities of rain fall last night and the store was flooded, therefore it did not open this morning. Looking at the sea (OK, more like great lake, but the point remains the same) of confused, lost, dejected souls outside the store who could just not compute that Walmart=Closed, would have been amusing if it weren't for the fact it's highly sad. Dudes and Dudettes, I present to you the reasons Walmart's temporary closure is NOT the end of the world.

1. Note the middle word in that statement: TEMPORARY.
2. There is another, bigger, better Walmart in Kitchener not a 10 minute drive away from the mall - if you have time to be dragging arse around Walmart during the day on a weekday, you have time to go up the road a ways to the other one.
3. There are 2 - count 'em, 2 - other department stores in the mall, plus a variety store and a pharmacy under 5 minutes (wait for it ... don't hyperventilate when I say it) WALKING distance (gasp! sigh! shock!) away from the Walmart to meet the shopping needs of those who don't feel like driving those extra few minutes up the road to the other WM.
   
4. Walmart is not the only discount department store in town - to wit, Costco, Zellers, and the aforementioned other Walmart.

Like, good Lord people, I went to the mall to hit up Walmart for some milk, some toiletries, and some other small basics too - but my world did not crumble when I found out it was closed. We are not a bunch of Chicken Littles, and no, the sky is NOT falling. That was last night. ;)

Cheers all.

Anyone out there ...

Know what the going rate for babysitting is these days? I put an ad on Kijiji for childcare, and I've received a couple emails in response, but when they ask about 'my rates' I'm not sure what to answer, as I don't want to sell myself short - this is to be a source of income over the summer - but I also don't want to aim too high and shock parents. I'm sure it's gone up from the $4/hour for the one child, plus 50 cents an hour per additional child I charged when I was a thirteen year old lol.

When we have kids

We have finally really and truly decided on and narrowed down the names we've chosen for our future kids. We've chosen 4 - two for each gender - because that's what we've been talking about having numbers-wise, but we at least know we probably won't be having more than that. At least that we'd be naming anyway (eg if we go nuts and adopt like 5 or 6 kids, or have foster kids, at least some of those would be older/already have names or whatever I'm assuming).

FOR GIRLS (order of preference):

1) Rachel Jean
(meaning: "Female sheep/Ewe", "God is Gracious" - but mainly that this incorporates the name - or middle name - of both of our grandmas).
2) Rebecca Naomi
(meaning: "To tie", "Beautiful, pleasant" - but mainly just like the names)

FOR BOYS (equal preference ... this will be a toughie):

1. Kevin Liam
(meaning: "Beautiful at Birth", "My People" - but Liam is a derivative of William, which is a name which runs in my family but seemed to die with the younger generation)
2. Jaden Jacob
(meaning: "Grateful", "Supplante , held by the heel" - the first one we picked for the meaning, the second because it's a nice name even if it DOES have a weird meaning)

Please check out ...

My wrestling blog, In This Very Ring, at http://inthisveryring.blogspot.com, for an opportunity to read about and donate to a very worthwhile cause. I appreciate any support that can be given, and I will post when donations are open for those who wish to contribute. Merci!

Ever notice ...

How when you go to bed at midnight and wake up at 6am because you're hot and itchy or maybe just plain not tired, there's not a whole lot updated between those times on the internet? MAYBE CNN.com is different from when I looked at it before bed last night - everything else is about the same lol. Oh well - here's a new posting bright and early then. :)

Today's supposed to be another hot one - as great as this house is, especially now that it's coming together, and as happy as I am with it, I DO miss the Central Air Conditioning of the old apartment I must say, on a day like this when it's supposed to hit 32 degrees C. As I said to Ari, I should probably hide out at the mall (air conditioning) until the thunder storm and resulting cooling breaks later this aft. :P Definitely time to break out the window unit at least for our bedroom to make sleeping nights comfy.

The summer job search is now possible with the internet and phone (non-cell) hooked up; I already have an interview w/a temp agency for tomorrow morning, which should be good as they're looking specifically for temporary office workers - hot stuff. I have to admit this house during the day is lonely and quiet w/Ari at work and me off ... and as mentioned in the previous post, I seem to be having trouble getting along w/my main closest friend who's actually in town and might be free to hang out from time to time (others are either away, or new parents, or working ...). It's funny b/c I enjoy my vacation and don't want to work too hard for the summer, but I've been off - really off - a week, and a week in which I've had plenty to do around here, and yet I'm already bored. Guess I'm not cut out to be a housewife, but I knew that already. A stay-at-home-Mom, at least for a certain time, perhaps - I already know from work that kids make things interesting, heheh - but me myself and I, taking care of a house? Boo.

Both my parents are out of town too, which is weird. Not so much Dad, but Mom. Although it's summer, that's kind of her busy time because that's when my step-dad gets some time off work and they get to go places together etc. - especially this summer, as that's one of the silver linings in the cloud of Holly (their dog) passing this year; traveling will be easier for them, and less reliance on us to be around, and available to house sit. Not that we mind, but as we both work, it wasn't always really fair to a high-strung dog like Holly (although we did our best - that's why Mom and Doug trusted us!)

Anyway I guess that was kind of a stream-of-consciousness entry, kind of went everywhere, and definitely gloomier than I intended. I'm not REALLY gloomy, I guess, just bored and a bit overwhelmed all at the same time - wanting those last few boxes (you know, they're like pounds to lose - the last few are the hardest) gone, the A.C. set up so the house is comfy, and something resembling work to go to. Hopefully today and tomorrow will bring me closer to those intentions. Meanwhile, hope everyone so far is enjoying their summer too - it hasn't been a bad one for all I've been grumpy my last two entries, and it's only the last day or two I've gotten REALLY bored and a bit lonely - puttering around my new house, catching up on some sleep and checking out some videos/good books/Nintendo games has NOT been a bad way to kill a few days, it's just getting old now.

And hey! Now that we're settled in, Summer can start for true (gardening, easier working than during the school year, some little weekend travels ... anyone want to join us to go to the beach next weekend? lol) Cheers all!

That took WAAAY too long

So it's about 10pm on Sunday night - I've been putting in 12 hr. days into moving, plus a few interviews for some jobs next year so I won't be subbing ... etc. etc. etc. Plus we weren't ready for Rogers to come over and set us up when we expected them to (like a week and some days ago), so we're only set up just now.

This won't be a long post, just a post to say "Hey" I'm here and I'm back and will be posting more regularly now I promise. Thanks for bearing with me. I hope you haven't stopped reading. Trust me, for those of you who enjoy reading my stuff, this has been more painful for me than it even has for you - my internet, my phone, my TV ... a week without any of the above ... while looking for work ... while hubby is working and I've been quite lonely ... while going through another round w/my ex-bestie and haven't had as much opportunity as I'd like to connect with those who still give a crap, who TELL me when they have a problem with me and have grown up past like, I don't know, high school :P - and yes that's as harsh as I've publicly been on this issue, but like, enough! And I'm just as bad for letting someone so immature, ignorant, and changed get to me - chalk it up to additional stress caused by a move and now officially not knowing where my next paycheck is coming from until Sept. - although knowing I will get one, b/c I'm good at this - job hunting is one of the few things I'm thoroughly convinced I'm good at these days! :D

So given all that, and given my most frequent and easiest contact with the outside world is via this keyboard (due to my unreasonable phobia of phones, enhanced by my stalker - see, dude, REAL harrassment - of a pseudo-boss from last year), and as shallow and spoiled first-worlder as it sounds, thank God I'm back in the land of the cyber-living. Thanks for joining me, and let's all sit another spell. :)

Cheers. - Sar