The Sweet Joys of Family

Well Folks, this has been a very bumpy last couple of weeks for me and for my girls! We are all struggling with our own demons. I'm struggling with November planning, Aimee's struggling with getting in line for the General Record Exam she writes on Saturday(tomorrow) (which she will ace, I'm sure!!)as part of her Master's acceptance, along with keeping her 3 jobs and her classes all on the go...a lot of balls in the air and she's really mastered it, (no pun intended LOL) and Miss Crayon (Jen) is struggling in a class of Grade 8 kids that have no respect for anyone and no desire to learn...oh the joys of teaching our youth! Brianne, well for her, her biggest dilemma is how can she convince her Mom to give her more than $10 a weekend! Her time will come!

Good news is, tomorrow, all us girls are getting together to celebrate our struggles, accomplishments and our love for one another! An actual day where us girls just hang out, eat Chinese and maybe even go see a movie! I'm VERY EXCITED! I miss sharing that with my girls! I want them home with me and they wanna be home!

So what new movies are out??...

ONE MORE SLEEP!!!!!
TTYL

NOVEMBER PLANNING SUCKS!

Just a quick note to say....
I MISS YOU ALL!
Work is very busy and not only have I not posted for myself, I've barely read anybodies blog but my daughters. (because I rarely have spoken to her as well) (BAD Mom) Oh the guilt is overwhelming.
But...good news is that it will all be over by Dec 15th...just in time for Christmas!
TTYL

Bestest Friends and Babies

So, by now, everyone knows that one of my bestest friends is a guy. He's a guy that I know that if things ever got shitty for me in any way he would be there. He's a guy that I would consider going into business with and he's a guy I would trust my children with. Next to my hubby, he's my bestest male friend!

When Mark and I first met we hit it off immediately. He was young, open minded and openly crude! He was single and having girl issues. Each week he would come to pool and lay out the woes of the week. He brought a couple of dates to pool for us to check out and after a while we had to tell him that his taste sucked! These girls were no match for him! Mark seriously needed someone that was strong willed (to put up with his shit) open minded (to effectively deal with his cockeyed view of the world) and she definitely had to have patience and understanding (to be able to break his crude, only child sense of the world and retrain his ass into a man that one woman could love and live with) One week he brought us that girl to meet! In walks Mark with this fabulous overall wearing girl that had a sense of pure strength about her! She also had a sense of humour that matched ours (on the dirty side occasionally!). This wonderful girl was soon to become his wife! Kate has become a part of my life and for that I will always be grateful.

After a very long time of trying to conceive, Mark and Kate recently announced they were expecting their first child! This announcement made me cry tears of joy for ...well I still get teary eyed when I think about it! Seeing so much love and joy in the eyes of such deserving people is truly beautiful.

Kate will be the "Best Mom" on the block. She will be the Mom everyone turns to, the Mom that everyone calls Mom! Kate's Mom was that person and I think that because of that Kate learned tolerance for others, patience and understanding. All the qualities that make her a wonderful person will make her a wonderful Mom!

Mark will be a wonderful Dad. Mark has always had strong views on parenting. "My kids will wear what I say they can wear" was a comment that he made when we discussed what the girls were wearing to school these days. My response, "just wait Mark, your day will come when your little girl says she just has to have that pair of shoes, pants, blouse, mini skirt...or she will die!!!" and then you will melt and Kate will take over for you and find a reasonable compromise that keeps everyone fashionably cool and relatively calm! Mark will be a wonderful Dad cause he has a heart as big as North America despite the crude, gruff exterior that he likes to pretend is him! He is opinionated...but he's a big soft suck when it comes to those he loves and these are just some of the things that will make Mark a Wonderful Dad!

Mark and Kate...CONGRATULATIONS my Friends! Auntie Linda can't wait to hold that wonderful bundle of joy!!! And Brianne is offering up babysitting services and she promises she won't hog the TV like some babysitters uh hum..Mark ;)

TTYL

Butterfly Nausea....or mixing business with pleasure??

A couple of years ago my good friend and I considered a venture into the world of self-employment. For me, this was to be a way to marry my hobby and my passion for working. Yes!, my name is Linda and I am a work-a-holic. Unfortunately, at that time it was not to be! Over the recent years my constant frustration with day to day politics of the business world and working for "the man" has led me to think there has got to be a better way! This is seriously something that I have pondered and even dreamed about everytime I feel on the verge of a mental breakdown (more and more regularly these days!!!)

Well, We're at it again. This time we are doing the full scale business plan! We are reviewing everything from marketing plans, statistics, target markets, one year p&l's, projected cash flow statements and 4 year financial plans. We plan to make an offer that can't be refused!

As my buddy would say....venturing away from the "norm" is scary but I want to do something that uses my full talent, my abilities and something that I'm passionate about.

We believe that we have found a very successful business with alot of room for "growth" It is a venture that we are both already involved in through our hobby, we are familiar with the workings and are I believe we have become respected amongst our peers within the environment which would make the transition to owner/operator much simpler.

Man...this stuff is scary. It kind of gives you that mixed emotion feeling you get when you first find yourself attracted to someone. The kind of feeling that makes your belly so nervous you feel like you could throw up, but, you know if you just breath deeply it will turn into butterflies that make excitement the order of the day!

I'm at the butterfly stage now and thinking that as this becomes more and more feasible the nausea may return before the butterflies are here to stay!

I'll keep you posted on our progress.
TTYL

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to give thanks for all the wonderful things that have/are happening in your life! This year we have a lot to be thankful for.

1)I have an awesome family! A great hubby, 3 wonderful girls, fabulous parents, a very kind father in law, a cool baby brother with a very nice wife and two very cute little daughters that I get to call nieces!
2)Everyone in my family is in relatively good health and aging very gracefully
3)Girls are all in school and doing well
4)Have a great home that I love (and will love even more once renovations are complete)
5)Have a great "new to me" car
6)We are both gainfully employed
and the list could go on and on.....but this post is not about things I'm thankful for, it's about traditions!

My Mom and Dad have always made Thanksgiving about Family. It was one of the few times of the year where extended family always got together. Some would bring appetizers, some would bring salads and veggie dishes, some would bring dessert. Mom would always supply the staples, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes etc. At the end of the meal we would all join together to announce what we were thankful for that year. When my kids were young they would attempt to hide in the crawlspace with my much younger cousins so they didn't have to embarrass themselves in front of the adults, but my Mom would always call them up for dessert and while they were nibbling on goodies she would break out the video and make them start declaring all they were thankful for! This tradition gave everyone the opportunity to share good news about new jobs, cottages, vacations or make announcements about upcoming weddings or babies! As the years passed by the family got bigger and bigger, new husbands, wives, children and even in-laws all wanting to be together on this special occasion. It got to the point where Mom was hosting events for 30-40 people or so it seemed.

It was always part of my tradition that Rob and I would retire to the front porch of my parents home for an after dinner smoke. In the beginning there were a few of us and the numbers dwindled year after year as people were giving up the habit. As my kids got older they began to join us to keep us company (not to smoke) and a new tradition was started. This became the place where secrets of years ago were shared when there was no longer a possibility of nasty repercussion of the punishment kind.
We've had tales of "Drunken Kid Storage", Driver's licenses obtained months before and silly fun stuff like that!

This year was different, Thanksgiving was at my house this year, Mom and Dad downsized and don't really have the room anymore. The extended family have now started their own traditions and our occasion was a much smaller event of only 12. We had a wonderful meal, great dessert and fabulous conversation! Everyone but immediate family and boyfriends were gone by 9:30 on Sunday evening. As I sat to enjoy a nice cup of coffee and some relaxed conversation with my family, an animated Jennifer announces to her sister that it's time to tell Mom! Aimee shakes her head...nope I don't think so Jen. Jen disagreed and disappeared returning with pictures that would tell the story of what happens when your parents go out of town! (Sorry M&K for getting the dates screwed and suggesting that I would return the favour! We figured it out I was in NF's playing the Canadian Pool Championships!So it wasn't on your watch!!)
Anyway this is the first picture that was presented to me! Pretty harmless I would say, mostly regular weekend events...




Then came this one.....



The next one gave me a feeling that something sinister might be up...



No the Girls did not burn down my house....but the FireGuy came for a visit all the same!!
That's right My lovely teenage daughters of whom I brag all the time invited a stripper into my home!!!





This is where the photo essay stops today, let me just say that my girls got every inch of this man in print! Very Surprised they got the pictures processed. I will not be posting the remainder of the pictures no matter how much you beg!

So today I sit wondering if I'm pissed off they did this and violated my trust or if I'm pissed cause they didn't invite me!

Hope your Thanksgiving traditions bring you as much happiness as mine!!

TTYL

My Husband is right, I can be a scary Biotch!

I promised myself that I would never do this but I gotta vent! At the risk of sounding like a condescending bitch, I would prefer to classify myself as intolerant. I hate stupid people! I don't mean uneducated! My 15 year old is only as educated as her little life has allowed for and she is not a stupid girl by far! My girlfriend's 3 year old falls also into this category. Not so for some of my acquaintances and workmates!

Let me set the stage...I am asked to prepare a summary of some complicated items in my field. I do this and pass on to the parties that request said info. Now, I EXPECT questions...this is some complicated shit! Two hours after providing info and all seems well until my boss walks into my office and says this to me:

Did you send something to "so and so"? A spreadsheet? I don't really know what it was about but he wants to talk to me about it. I don't know why they came to me? I have no idea what they are talking about. Can you go and see them and see if you can answer their questions?

Now, I don't know about you but my answer was this:

No can do boss! I would be far to afraid to scare them out of the building with my charm because apparently my knowledge is not good enough for them and they need you to explain. Perhaps you want to nip this in the bud and let them know that you truly know nothing about this level of operation as it is NOT YOUR JOB!

His response was a hearty laugh and a direct order to pass on that message myself and tell them he said so!

OMG, Now that is stupid!!! They are young and I continuously impress on the younger gang in our office that this is a complicated industry, the rules are changing every day. It's volatile and moving by the minute and questions are welcome. But C'mon people don't fricking go to a VP for answers that the Operations Manager needs to provide! Another thing, when I take my precious time to explain things to you because clearly you don't have a fricking clue...don't tell me "I know" Cause you know what! You don't know jackshit! That's why every piece of work you put out is without thought and with no attention paid to detail! Clearly you all need to get some common sense to go along with those University educations that your parents paid for!

Ahhhhh, I feel so much better...
TTYL

Tagged again! How Fun!

I just love playing these things (hint of sarcasm!)...this one is particularly easy so I'm not too upset. So here's how it goes.

The Rules:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.

23rd Post:
Guilt is BAD!, self imposed guilt is worse!

Fifth Sentence coming up:
Good point I guess, except I believe there are different forms of guilt....there's the type a parent uses to get their kids to do something, the kind a kid uses to get their parents to behave in an acceptable manner or the kind of guilt a boss uses to get you to work over and above the call of duty....I think those are all standard and acceptable forms of guilt.

See this wasn't so bad, a little copying and pasting and reflecting on blogs of long ago!

So Friends here goes-Tag you're it: Aimee, Kate, Mark, Colleen and whomever else would like to play....

Have a great day!

Car Problems, Sylvia Brown and quasi GrandBabies

So the new car is sick! Very,Very sick.... Canadian Tire (where I brought it when I thought is was merely a hose replacement required) quoted $750 to start..Apparently the water pump outlet bleeder housing was cracked requiring replacement complete with new thermostat, oil change, oil and air filters to round it out for starters. After that who knows could need a new water pump itself, head gasket etc.. All this happened on the very day that I must drive to Waterloo to get DD#2..It was Sylvia Brown day and we had been waiting for this since last March when I bought the tickets. All in all an interesting Friday.
Got me a rental (thanks Marty!), got me a repaired car (thanks Nicole!!!)and saved me tons of money!!! (thanks again Marty and Nicole!!!)
Got me a 22nd row, centre stage at Sylvia Brown, (Thanks Jen and Aimee for kicking ass in the race for seats!)

Sylvia was fantabulous, She is an amazing lady! Very insightful and far too much happened to blog about! I will say that the ladies in front of us got a personal reading and when they explained that they had lost sister/mother and Sylvia's reply gave me goosebumps. Syvlia said quite cheerily "Mary is fine, she loves you and is watching over you all the time!" Well this was the right answer....Sister/Mothers name was Mary and girls were visibly shaken! So if you ever wondered if there were people planted in the audience...I would so "NO". Sylvia picked ticket numbers out of a large barrel, first go around was approx. 60-65 ticket numbers and on the second round she picked another 20-25 and the ladies in front of me were on the second go around of numbers.

On Sunday, there came a knock on the door and the pitter patter of little feet upstairs. I don't have many friends or acquaintances that have small children. So you can imagine my surprise when a past "foster child" appeared on the doorstep with her two darling little girls looking for refuge. She left her husband in Detroit and came back to Oakville. She never came right out and asked for a place to stay but it was evident that is what she was looking for. Now, don't get me wrong, for many years I opened my home to stray kids. Jessica was with us for a few years and when she left to go out on her own against our better judgment, she found herself pregnant, uneducated and living in the United States far away from home. In the US, she was unable to work and one income was just not enough to pay the bills. No health care..no that's another problem. Good thing she has some street smarts of sorts, she still had Canadian Citizenship and health coverage so babies were both born here in Canada. After first baby was born we visited Detroit and OMG what a fucking nightmare! Burnt out crack houses, rats in the garbage..overall shitty neighbourhood! I bought baby necessities (high chair, monitor etc) and groceries and gave my opinion of the good for nothing ass that she "LOVED??" Fast forward 4 years later to this weekend, suddenly the lights have flickered and she realizes the errors of his way and has come home with babies. No planning, no phone call just a big Hello I'm here and this is my dilemma. More to come on this subject I'm sure!

Well, gotta cut the lunch hour short and get back to work...gotta go and spring my car this afternoon.

TTYL!