Humbling Moments

Abused and Water Logged

2009-07-10T15:09:00.002-04:00

As you know I recently started going to Aquafit...okay it was really recent...as recent as last Monday. It was a very interesting first class on Monday. I completed the class feeling very proud of myself that not only had I gone but I had actually completed it and was actually able to walk and fricking breath without coughing up a lung!

When I returned to work on Tuesday I did a little bit of bragging to some of the girls about how well I did and one of the girls I previously was "boss" to told me she would also be going on Thursday. One of her questions to me about the class was so did she do alot of the suspension work with you this week as well and frankly not knowing what she was talking about I told her that it was more like a cardio workout without the sweaty, kill your knees feeling. Heather just looked at me and smiled.

Today is Friday and I must say I know now why she smiled!

Apparently it was a great thing that I enjoyed the first class. The second class went a little like this with the new to me instructor.

Setting- me in pool at the front trying to be in a spot where I can hear and see what's going on, instructor on deck.

Instructor with finger pointing at me: You, yes you! You new to this?
Me: thinking wholly f*ck what have I gotten myself into! Yes...first class was Monday.....
Instructor: Well glad you came, get ready for a workout.

and what a workout....I tell you that woman took great pleasure at pointing her finger at me telling me what I was doing wrong. At one point she was curling her finger at me as if to say come here...what she really wanted for me to do was move forward so I didn't kick the person behind me. When I didn't understand what she was signing...she yelled at me:

Instructor: curling her finger at me and yelling: "Do you know the person behind you?"
Me: looking over my shoulder and yelling right back:"as a matter of fact I do!"
Instructor: looking at both Heather and me: "well that's good you won't mind kicking each other when our newbie here runs right into you"

Okay so I'm feeling uncoordinated, picked on and fat and sassy in my bathing suit that matches the one my lovely daughter decided to wear....how bad can it get! In my mind I just kept saying it's gonna be over soon and she's only doing this to help me and protect those around me!

Honestly there were at least 20 ladies there all way older than me and I'm positive not all of them was doing things correctly but frankly what could I do? I sucked it up, did what I was told and then suddenly she looked right at me again:

Instructor: pointing finger at me and concerned tone in her voice: "You okay?"
Me: looking kind of stunned to be asked this and calling her a bitch in my head: "Yeah, I'm fine."
Instructor: still same concerned tone: "Are you sure?"
Me: thinking "are you kidding bitch you don't even care, you are just doing this to humiliate me!": "I'm sure, doing fine!"
Instructor: "well that's good 10 more minutes! You think you are gonna make it?"
Me: in my head"f*ck you bitch you can't make me more embarrassed!" : "Thanks for asking! I'm Fine"

Proceed to end of class in change room, Kate my other friend and Jennifer my daughter comment on how attentive she was to me! Now I feel much better as they both say they are glad that she didn't pick on them like she did on me or they wouldn't come back!

Oh I will go back, she won't stop me! I always like a challenge and I always learn quickly in times of high stress:

Lessons I learned:

Front of the class not a good idea in all situations and check with Jen to see what bathing suit she's wearing before next class. Forbid her to wear the same one I have, ever again!
Also, people that you previously were the boss of take great pleasure in watching you be picked on and then proceed to tell everyone that you also used to be "Boss" to what a great time they had watching you get picked on!
If you can't laugh at yourself and learn from all adventures....well hell, what's the point in getting up in the morning!

I'll keep you posted next week on how our next meeting goes.
Have a great weekend folks!
TTYL

Ah.... the sultry slow days of Summer

2009-07-09T14:00:00.002-04:00

I don't know about you but there hasn't been anything sultry about this summer. It's been slow to start is what it's been.

It's hard to believe we are in the early days of July. We've rarely had two days of sun and warm weather (above 25 celcius or 77 for my American pals) In fact I had the conversation that discussed how if it had been a day like this in May we would have been smiling from ear to ear for 19 degrees (66 F) but darn it this is July and it just ain't right!

All that aside, the summer always makes me want to curl up in a deck chair in the sun with a great book! I get a lot of reading done in the summer. After all there is little on the TV that amuses me in the summer.

I've decided that this summer would be filled with "Be nice to Linda" things. So starting this week

1)Monday- Aquafit- yes you read that right....I started doing Aquafit. Absolutely loved it. The hardest part was actually getting my ass in the car to ge there. Once I was there it was a challenging workout for this oversized lard-ass but I did it and felt great. I even roped DD#1 into coming with me!
2) Tuesday- more about me....I went for a massage. I gotta be honest I was supposed to be getting a big burly man to give me a deep tissue massage and they pulled the old bait and switch...got me roped in cause he was a big man with big hands and he was quiet! That's important cause there is nothing worse than having somebody chat you up about your life and theirs (as if I care!) while you are trying to relax! When I arrived it was this 20 year old tiny little cheerleader girl that would not shut the hell up! She did have man hands though! Honestly, next time I'm going with the gut instinct (i have a big gut I should always listen to it!!) WALK AWAY and come back when they got the right RMT!
3) Wednesday- shopping therapy after my appointment with a new client (shopping mall owner) I got a cute little pair of white sandals for work that were so cheap and then to celebrate I went and had a pedicure! Okay so the pedicure was planned! The one fun thing about the diabetes is that my doctor keeps telling me that my feet are very important and so it makes it okay to go for regular pedicures and who could resist getting lovely bright polish and a fancy flower painted on their toes for all to see!
4) Thursday- that's today and I'm off to Aquafit again tonight! Yes folks! break out the celebratory drinks...I going again!

Tomorrow is Friday and I have not figured out what will be the next treat but I know I'll think of something fun!! Maybe if it's nice I might call in dead to work and sit on my patio with a great book....hmmm....that is a thought!
I'll keep you posted.

So what about you? What are you doing to celebrate summer and You?

Blah....not so well

2009-06-17T16:06:00.001-04:00

That's what we did in the tournament this past weekend.....Not So Well!

Clean Slate....pick up our cues and bust some balls and try again for next year!

Once every 6 months...not bad

2009-06-12T07:20:00.005-04:00

We're on a roll! Blogging once every six months that's gotta be a new achievement!

Lots has happened in the last 6 months since I last wrote. Things have been so damned busy in my life!!
In February we traveled with our good friends Dawn and Mark and Mark's brother Tom and his lovely wife Wendy and their two kids. Tom and Wendy and the kids booked their trip on their own and we found out quite by accident that we were all going to the same place on exactly the same dates! I was a little concerned at first that the inclusion of children would not make for a great holiday but honestly, the kids were amazing! They are seasoned travellers and very well behaved! Tom and Wendy are amazing as well!
So, our destination was Costa Rica!
This was the view from the lobby!

Beautiful if you ever get the itch to go hang out with monkeys and amazing scenery! We went to the Arenal Volcano for a day, got some great pictures of a big old red iguana thing and a really slow two toed sloth....

We hung out in the hot springs, totally amazing!

When we weren't of travelling somewhere we hung by the pool. Unfortunately, although where we stayed was amazing, it was on a bay and you couldn't really swim there because of the manta ray's and the other scary things in there!

We went to Nicaragua for a day, also very cool! Beautiful scenery and an amazing volcano that we stood at the very top and peered into!

Another day we rented a car and checked out the beach. We went to Tamarindo which is apparently the surfing capital of Costa Rica. The boys rented surf boards and boogie boards and took some surfing lessons. The ladies swam and enjoyed the water, waves and the people selling their wares on the beach! It was a great day!

Back to work for everyone and boy things have been busy for Rob and I. I've been doing some travelling with work. From Montreal, to Ottawa then out to Calgary all in a short time. Then again just last month to Banff for a client's supplier showcase. That was a great trip. Short but Jean and I absolutely crammed what sight seeing we could into the time we were there when we weren't working!

Over the last couple of months we've been seeing some shows! We went to see "We will Rock You" and "Jersey Boys" Both amazing!

Now here it is June and the weather is finally getting nice and it's a time when there is little on TV except "So you think you can dance" (can I tell you the dancers are amazing this year!!!) so alot more time is spent in our yard enjoying the back deck and the new beautiful gardens and the hot tub of course!!

Also in June comes our annual chance to play pool for Vegas! This year my mixed team didn't do so well and didn't even make it to regional play but my Ladies team (that has been to Vegas 2 times) rocked the year and we are playing for the trip this weekend! My next post will likely be abou how amazing that trip was!!

Anyway, In case I don't update for another 6 months....Keep well, smile alot and remember "Life is not in the moments we breath but in the moments that take our breath away!!"

Stay Safe and Happy this summer!!
Cheers

I've been a bad, bad blogger......

2009-01-06T17:10:00.003-05:00

OMG I looked at the last time I posted and just realized that time has passed very quickly without me updating the world on happenings at the Casa de Linda.

Okay, so the new car is a hit and the heated seats are very welcome in all this cold weather we've been having.

Christmas and New Year's have passed (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year by the way!) without a lot of pomp and circumstance.....however, I did get spoiled! In fact we all got spoiled this year!

I was off from December 19th right through to January 5th and although it was filled with cleaning, eating, drinking, sleeping and more cleaning...it was a great time.

On Christmas Eve we gathered around our dining room table and ate BBQ'd steak and steamed crab legs until we couldn't move any more! This year I didn't even go through the motions of making potatoes or veggies cause no one ever eats them anyway! After we ate, we retired to the family room to open our one Christmas eve gift (always new pj's so we look pretty on Christmas morn!) then we played Rockband and Singstar till it was time to go to bed and wait for Santa. Matt and Jen came home for the night so they would be there with us to open gifts in the morning.

Christmas morning we opened gifts till there was no room left on the family room floor from the excessive amounts of wrapping paper! (we aren't very clean openers!) After breakfast, the kids left to have dinner with the families of the men in their lives. No turkey at my house! Brianne and Rob and I ate left overs from the night before and filled in with appetizers that we had hanging around the house. I spent the afternoon watching season one of Buffy with Bri and then I watched the "Sound of Music". A very nice and quiet day!

It was a good Christmas overall.

I did finally cook that Christmas dinner on the 27th. Jen came home for it but Matt had the stomach flu and couldn't be with us.

The next few days were spent cleaning and organizing until New Year's eve.

Hubby and I spent New Year's Eve in the hot tub with our very good friends Mark and Dawn. Everyone else that normally comes around had other plans and although we missed them we had a really nice time with too much food and drink and lots of laughter and wishes for a fabulously good year to come!

I will try and be a better blogger this year....no promises though!

I got a new car and other news.....!

2008-11-21T14:10:00.005-05:00

I got a new car and I'm excited! Did you catch that reference to car? Yes a car! I'm actually pretty proud of my environmentally practical self. Okay, it's true it was also partially (mostly) about the deal that I got and the price of gas and the fact that I absolutely LOVE my service adviser at the dealership (that's love in the "he gives great service" kind of way!!)

It's a real beauty.....I will take pictures of it when I pick it up tonight and post them this weekend.

SO here is what it should look like.....
Only bigger!
This is the 2009 Luxury Edition Kia Rondo. It's actually a crossover vehicle so it's not your typical car! The colour I got is Black Cherry (so in the sun you are supposed to see a hint of red, we'll see if that actually is true when the sun comes back out in June!)
I actually got a great deal and this baby has all the toys! I got leather seats (heated), sunroof, CD player,sirius radio, mp3 and bluetooth both play through the stereo, cruise control and so many other features.

I also got 5 years of car payments and that sucks but I suppose we'll always be paying for something!

On the home front.....

We (and when I say we I mean all of us including Jen and Matt) are going to have dinner with Aimee's boyfriends family tonight. Aimee wants us to be on better than best behavior...not really sure what that is but we'll try I guess.

I've started my Christmas shopping and aside from stocking stuffers, I'm pretty much done except for hubby's stuff...cause I don't know what to get him.

Brianne is working 2 jobs and I think she hates them. This makes me happy! It means she just may be serious about going back to school!

I've been very tired lately! I can't get past 9pm most nights before I have to go to bed (or at least start wishing for it!) and Aimee feels the need to chastise me about that not being a reasonable bed time for an adult. She gets all "sleep expert person" on me and I have to remind her that I am her mother and can still beat her into being nice to me!!

I guess that's it for news on this front...will post pictures asap!!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Seeing is believing!

2008-11-07T13:30:00.003-05:00

So the verdict is in....the van is definitely a write off but still no word on how much the insurance is willing to pay...

Here is a picture to give you an idea of what a fight with a deer can do to a perfectly good vehicle!
My advice....only hunt deer with a registered firearm! Use your vehicle for driving!

Such a Deer

2008-11-03T15:17:00.002-05:00

No that wasn't a spelling error! I really meant DEER!

What I should have said was DAMN DEER! Please tell me what you were doing on highway 403 at 1:15 am on Saturday night!

If you had just been grazing in the woods taking care of little Bambi, I wouldn't have hit your big ass!!

So there you have it, while traveling home from an evening out with a friend I hit and possibly killed a deer with my van.

Score: Van 0
Deer 1 (possibly 0 if I in fact killed the damn thing. We don't really know because after I hit it I may actually have totally lost my mind and I don't even remember what happened until I pulled over to the side of the highway to call police/cry and get angry...all in that order.)

We went looking for the deer to no avail. It's quite possible that it ran off into the nearby woods to die or possibly it jumped back on to the highway further up the road only to be hit again by a little black Mercedes that limped over to where we were waiting for the OPP to show up. He had also hit a deer...his died!

Anyway, I'm fine....I will live. We'll see what the insurance adjuster has to say.

I'll keep you posted!
Luv Lin

Things to be Thankful for

2008-10-10T08:09:00.002-04:00

It's that time of year again when we Canadian's break out the turkey and stuffing, the potatoes get mashed up for the sea of gravy that we will add and the cranberries get tossed in for color and sweet treats. It's also the time to reflect back on the past year and be thankful for all of the little moments that make up your very busy life.

This year I have tons to be thankful for, so let's get started!

1) My Family- always my family! My family will always be first on this list, there could be no other place for them.

This year my family has experienced some wonderful moments. We've gone through a renovation together with wonderful results, we've cheered for our oldest as she makes her move into a wonderful new home and life together with Matt, we've celebrated Aimee's successes in her learning career as she moves forward towards her PhD and we've cheered Brianne to the finish line as her career at High School ends and she walks to receive her diploma. We have celebrated that Hubby, after 4 long years, has finally been hired on full time at his work and will be rewarded with fun things like higher pay, great benefits and even a pension plan! Mom and Dad continue to make their annual flight to warmer climates and although we will miss them we are thankful when we see how happy it makes them.

This year my family has experienced some challenges and not so wonderful moments as well but we are thankful for those as well as they make us stronger and our bonds tighter. We watched one of our family members Kilo struggle with age and deteriorating health....you may scoff at the fact that Kilo was a dog and why the big fuss...Kilo was a member of our family for almost 13 years and we truly miss her.

My Friends...what can I say? Next to my family, my friends are of such importance!!

It's been a busy year. This year I helped a very good friend plan a wedding that went off without a hitch. Dawn was a beautiful bride and her man Mark is pretty cute too! This year, I cried with Colleen as she struggled with the loss of her father. This year, I pray for her to find strength as she faces the everyday challenges that sometimes make her sad. Heather had a baby last year and must now return to work and leave Wil in the care of others. It's a tough time but Heather and Adam will find the strength. Mark and Kate are having baby #2 soon...VERY soon and we rejoice with them as they celebrate their baby miracle! The Ladies Pool Team is going strong. We're still having a good time and maybe, just maybe this will be the year! We can always hope!!

Various and sundry things to be thankful for this year......

the neighbors from hell bought a trailer in a far away land that takes them away from home every weekend! things have been very quiet for the most part in the hood! Very thankful for that
we got a new puppy and although he's not totally trained (ahhh!) he's very cute
finding GREAT Renovators! my spa bathroom rocks! My bathroom makes me want to get up in the morning. Shout out to RynoBoy!!
Arctic Spas- OMG We love our hot tub! Happy 10th Anniversary Husband!
both hubby and I still working and reaping the rewards of our dedication. This is a very good feeling.

On a very personal note, I experienced some very scary moments this year that still make me cry just writing about it! Having a potential brush with something as serious as breast cancer and the possible loss has made me even more appreciative of what I have. Thankfully for me, the results of all my tests were GREAT! No cancer! Those are such relieving words! I am truly thankful for the breast that is taking a little longer to heal...take what time you need booby...thankfully I have all the time in the world!!

So my blog reading buddies...

Here's to another great year! May all of your hopes and dreams be fulfilled and may you be thankful for them all!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Well I otta.....

2008-09-22T13:31:00.002-04:00

Blog more often so I don't get tagged for these Meme things by people like Mary Pat over at My Second Journal

I love MP to death but ahhhh! I really hate memes...I'm not any good at them and I am very unspectacular so this one might be truly appropriate.

So here goes:

6 Unspectacular Things About Me
directions:
1. link the person who tagged you
2. mention the rules on your blog
3. list 6 unspectacular things about you
4. tag 6 other bloggers by linking them

I love my Husband and Kids more than life itself and I get very upset when they don't spend time with me on a regular basis
I'm hooked on my Blackberry. Apparently, two hours after surgery I was asking for it.
I watch no tv in the summer and way too much of it in the winter!!!
I was a very bad girl recently and spoiled myself with a very expensive purse (shhhh!) but it was so worth it! I love my purse!
I love to gamble and control the obsession with an occasional (2x month) trip to the Bingo
I love to do things for others and sometimes that gets me into trouble!

Tagging 6 other bloggers....nah, I can't do it.

If someone that visits wants to do it....well so be it!

Other than that....I'm back at work, things are healing, the weekend was EXCELLENT and it's getting fricking cold out.

I'll blog more often when I have some spare time.....

TTYL!

A Beautiful Bride

2008-09-08T15:30:00.003-04:00

This past weekend was the Wedding that I've been planning towards all summer.
On Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner at my house. The bride cooked up some lasagna's and we practiced the ceremony down by the lake. That night I kicked the groom-to-be outta my house so that we could get some much needed rest. On Saturday morning we woke up and started doing the wedding bouquets. They turned out beautiful even if I must say so myself!! I personally think we did an AWESOME job! We did 5 bouquets in total. We did 6 corsages and 8 boutonnières.
Once that was done we headed over to the bar where they were having their reception to decorate and get the desserts cut up for the evenings dessert table.

Once all that was done we headed home to get washed and prettied up for the big event!

It was a beautiful day! It was a beautiful ceremony. The Bride was beautiful!

Okay, I'll admit it...baldy was pretty cute too! He cleans up well!

It was an awesome day that went off without a hitch!!

We had a wonderful time!

Congratulations to the Happy Couple!

Pot Pourri of life

2008-09-02T15:36:00.002-04:00

Life is like that don't you think? A hodge podge of happenings that occur when you least expect them to! At least that's what my life is like. A wonderful melee of fun and not so much fun.

Looking back on the last few weeks life happenings....

Bathroom and renovations complete and then they weren't. We found that suddenly one day there was water leaking through our new crown molding and walls. Stan our wonderful renovator came back from holidays to find a horrid mess. He's a stand up guy and in two days we were all water leak free and had new walls and crown molding. Rob finished the painting and everything is A-OK now.

Puppies hated each other and then they didn't. It seems that when you bring an aggressive 10 week old male puppy into a predominately female household it thinks it can rule the roost....silly puppy! Hunny fixed his little princely demeanor really quick and now things are getting back to normal. Both dogs are acclimatizing well. I forgot how much work a new puppy is...blah!

Aimee and I started a cleansing program 7 days ago. Aimee did a lot of research and found one that had great reviews. We followed that research up with an email to my Aunt and Cousins out on the west coast that are all naturapaths and healthy folks and they confirmed that we should see some pretty funky and good results from this stuff.
I have to tell you I am having the best poops I've had in many years!! The stuff is all natural and doesn't seem to be too harsh on the system and the good thing is we can still eat (healthier, but we still eat everything) unlike some of those crazy ones that tell you to starve for days on end.

Other news on the home front....after four long years Husband is officially an employee of the place that he's been spending the other half of his life at! A full time employee complete with better wages and benefits (like a pension plan and stuff!) It's such wonderful news and he's SO deserving!

Remember me mentioning the stag and doe and shower I hosted here a few weeks ago? Well, this weekend is the wedding! I'm very excited for the happy couple. I know my friend has been looking forward to this happy day for many years and it's all coming together. On Friday we will be picking up fresh flowers for the bouquets and the wedding cake to make the final decorations on it. Then we'll be preparing the desserts for the wedding and shipping them over to the hall for storing. I'm hosting the rehearsal dinner here at my house on Friday night to give a central location for all participants and Dawn will be spending the night with us here the night before her wedding. On Saturday morning we'll be goingover to the hall to oversee the decorating/table setting etc and then racing home to my house to make the bouquets. Then the girls will all gather here on Saturday afternoon to get ready. The wedding service is being held at the gazebo down by the Bronte Harbour and it will be so lovely! Prayers for good weather are welcome!! Our good friend Colleen will be taking pictures along with a long time friend of Dawn's family. The boys are all getting ready at Mark's parents place....that should be interesting.
Thankfully, Dawn has chosen Rob to drive the guys to the service....this way they should be on time and I'll be here to kick Dawn's ass into overdrive. Honestly those two are never on time for anything. It's gonna be a busy week!

I wasn't scared and now well, I am, a little. As the day draws closer to this surgery I'm getting a little nervous. I've been to see the surgeon and he assures me that this is gonna be a piece of cake (or boob)! Today I went to see my family Doctor and got the prescribed pre-surgery physical. Seems like my recent stress that was making my blood pressure rise must be gone and I've either died or something good is happening. Both my blood pressure and sugar levels are in the normal range (in fact the blood pressure is so normal that she thought that maybe I had mistakenly woke up in someone else's body this morning!)

I'm kind of excited because all the new TV seasons are starting and frankly although I haven't watched TV all summer I'll be glad for the distraction. I've already taped a couple of shows and will watch them tonight after hubby goes to work.

So this post makes me think of Tom Cochrane's song...."Life is a highway" and really I do wanna ride it all night long!

Hope you are enjoying your pot pourri of life as much as I am mine!!

Booked

2008-08-19T08:34:00.002-04:00

I'm booked but not for the destination vacation that I would love to be taking. I'm booked for surgery on September 11th to have the blocked ducts and the benign tumors removed. That's right! The results of the biopsy are in and they are benign. This is a great relief.

The surgery they have planned for me is a one day procedure and according to the surgeon I should recover completely in a week to 10 days no problem! The only reason that we are taking all the bad ducts and the tumors out is for future protection. No sense leaving bad stuff in the body that might cause problems.

Just thought I'd share that cause some folks have asked and I think some folks have been afraid to ask....

Fear not my friends...it seems like all is well!!!

More updates when I've got more time....

{HUGS}

Done, Done and Done and then again...just begun!

2008-08-14T11:01:00.009-04:00

I know....it's been a long time! Not as long as Aimee but a long time just the same. What can I say? We've been very busy.

The renovations are done! I now have a brand new furnace, Central air conditioner, new bathroom, new toilet in the powder room, new ceiling in my den complete with dimmable pot lights and crown molding. I have crown molding in my dining room, new fixtures on the main floor and in the hallway upstairs, a new electrical panel to keep us safe. We also have a new deck and hot tub.

The cleaning and re-organizing is done! Jen moved out a couple of weeks ago and I now have a spare bedroom that is nicely organized! We've cleaned all our windows and screens, and culled out the closets in every room.

The party planning and organizing is done! We held a stag and doe at our house for our very good friends Mark and Dawn on the Friday night and since they were in town we decided to hold Dawn's Bridal shower as well on the Saturday afternoon. Both were a great success

Some of the folks playing blackjack at the Stag and Doe.
This was a fun little money raiser. We had two boxes that you would put spare change into. One said Bride and one said Groom. You would put your money into the box of the side you wanted to have throw the pie. In this case Mark's box won by over $60. Dawn was a great sport about it she took the pie in the face like a real trooper!! I kicked the last person out at 3:30am. We still had to clean and get ready for the shower the next day.

Group shot of the Bridal Shower the next afternoon. Dawn got a lot of really nice gifts. People must really like her.....LOL!

On Sunday afternoon Aimee threw a housewarming party at Jen's house for her. Aimee had already worked like crazy helping me so the least I could do was provide a little assistance there!
Jen's housewarming was quite successful as well. I left early and went home for a nap!

Oh, I think I forgot to mention that through all of this we also had a new family member to welcome into our home....
This is Bandit. He's 10 weeks old now and he's cute as a button! He's crate trained but not totally trained for outside. Hunny and Bandit are finally getting along, it took a while but Hunny is finally getting back to her old self again.

So that's it that's all folks....

Lightning Struck the - - ithouse- a Rynoboy production

2008-07-22T17:07:00.003-04:00

So a quick post to fill you in on all the fun things going on in Casa de Linda....

A++!! That's the grade my beautiful washroom gets in its 98.5% finished state. Yes folks Rynoboy has completed his work in my bathroom and it is so beautiful it makes me want to live in it. I will soon take pictures and post them!! Now, all I have to do is choose a paint and get it done!!
4 more sleeps and my oldest birdy will fly the nest....I will miss her quirky little songs, noises and other strange acts of a slightly odd primary school mistress....
my den has a beautiful new ceiling, potlights and crown molding courtesy of my wonderful renovator (see a) above) my dining room has a beautiful, elegant medallion and hook up just waiting for the wonderful light fixture that will grace it's wires....also courtesy of same dynamo! Soon it too will have wonderful crown molding that will bring further joy and elegance into my life! Stan really is the man!
I'm lovin' hot tubbin! Arctic Spa and Billiards! I really am enjoying the healing properties of it and it enhances our backyard enjoyment tremendously! Sometime in the near future Hubby and I may get to spend some time in it together...alone! Right now our schedules don't match exactly and the rest of the time the gang wants to hang out and enjoy the tub as well. This is great for us to spend genuinely good family talking and relaxing time!
Since Kilo's been gone, Hunny is lonely and needs a friend. Last night she went looking for one and almost found a 2000 pound metal one! I guess we weren' t paying attention and she got out sometime while tools and things were being packed away outside. Thankfully a neighbour down the street scooped her up and held onto her until she heard us calling in the street. It only took us 1 hour and 20 minutes to find her!! Today that neighbour received a very nice thank you card complete with LCBO gift card!
I'm helping my very good friend with her wedding preparations and planning her Stag and Doe and wedding shower...all very fun stuff!
Update on the booby saga....another ultrasound and another biopsy on the 28th of July and then who knows from there....

Well I'm positive there's more but I have paint to choose and rooms to paint!!...soon I'll have some pictures and we can sit down and really talk!

Enjoy!

Cell Phone + Popcorn Kernals=Holy Shit!

2008-07-09T08:22:00.001-04:00

Téléphone Portable + Maïs = Pop-corn - Vidéo

This is too weird! I don't even know if I believe it!

Sneak Peak

2008-07-08T07:58:00.005-04:00

I snuck in when RynoBoy wasn't looking and grabbed these pictures. I hope he won't mind....

This is our gutted bathroom without the moldy walls but still with rotted floors.

See the nice new piece of plywood around the toilet hole....it's a great thing that we are not going to end up sitting on our john in the dining room!

The gutting of our washroom was a massive job. There was plenty of mold and rotted wood. No surprises according to Stan. He had a clear idea right from our initial consultation that there would be all of that and more. In fact he asked if anyone was having breathing problems because he could smell the mold.

Stan started the job when I was on holidays and when I came back after his first day, I was surprised to learn that he had totally removed all of the fixtures from the washroom by himself. DD#1 said he was a "Beast"! He is, but he's a kind and gentle beast!

In the first week he rid us of the old and in with the new. Stan even had the forethought to give us the use of the bathtub (5 adults...no shower, you do the math!) He's done extra little things around the house for us this past week without being asked.... he helped hubby with the last contractor fiasco so that we could get the hot tub in, he repaired the drywall above my patio door claiming the original people had realized how unprofessional they had been and come back to fix it!

He's a great contractor and a wonderful man and we are lucky to have chosen him. If you are in the GTA you really need to go look at his web-site and check out some of the work he's done. My bathrooms not in there yet....but it will be!

I took this picture yesterday....see the nice shiny new tub, the beautiful chrome fixtures and the AMAZING tiles and tile job!!!!! I have all this because STAN IS THE MAN!!!

Lovin' Hot Tubbin!

2008-07-07T08:00:00.003-04:00

Ta Da!!!

There it is folks! The moment I've been waiting for since the snow began to melt! On Thursday afternoon the hot tub was finally delivered. This picture is hubby having a beer after work at 7am Friday morning. That's right a beer! He deserved it! A long night at work followed by a cold beer or two in the hot tub, that is the life!

The construction of the deck was less than smooth. The company I hired were less than professional, in fact anybody reading this in the GTA stay away from RENOCLUB! They are slow, unprofessional and not cheap! The only good thing about them was the carpenter they sent. The carpenter and his crew did an extremely good job. The deck is well constructed. The carpenter finished his part on time considering all the mix ups (remember the posts!!). The clean-up took an entire week to get done! In fact, we did most of the clean up and just left it on the side of the road for the company to finally come and get it. My bathroom guy helped!

Oh, my bathroom guy! I'm in love with my bathroom guy!! Stan called me and wanted to start my bathroom project 4 days EARLY! That's what I said....EARLY! The bad part is I couldn't let him because my deck still wasn't complete and I was in contractor hell! I really didn't think I could handle the stress of one more contractor in my midst. He agreed to start last Monday. We are one week into living without a main washroom and not only have we not killed one another but we've made a new friend in Stan! Stan has come to my rescue to stop the leftover insanity from the other idiots. He assisted me in readying the backyard (by hauling leftover materials, garbage and stuff the other idiots still hadn't taken) for the delivery of the hot tub, he fixed my overflowing kitchen sink, all the while completing the first part of a very nasty bathroom demolition! To give you an example of how wonderful and thoughtful Stan is....he worked very hard to get all of the mold and rotted stuff out of the bathroom and ready for tub install within the first week so that we could actually take a bath in our new soaker tub!! That's right, first week all the rotted removed, all the new electrical, new plumbing, new water resistant drywall membrane (I dunno, I'm not a bathroom renovator!!) stuff put in so that me and the girls could get clean in the bath! According to Stan we should be totally complete this week except for the granite counter top that can't be measured until the vanity is installed on Wednesday. Hell, no sink....piece of cake....we've been without a shower for a week.

I have pictures and I will post them when I have some more time!!

Have a great week folks!

Posts in.....posts out and other stuff

2008-06-24T13:36:00.002-04:00

So let's see where we were.....this time last week we were ever so excited because the posts were completed and we were awaiting the amazing carpenter that was going to create my masterpiece. Last Saturday morning, Hubby and I were sitting in our backyard admiring the posts when up pulls a truck with 3 guys to the front of our house.

It's them! They had finally arrived! I was sooooo excited! The deck was finally just a few nails short of complete!

Yeah, not so much! Carpenter and his crew load all of the materials into the backyard and then they begin to measure and discuss and suddenly there was silence and head shaking. :(

That's right folks! Why should anything be easy for me? The sub-contractors that installed the posts were idiots and according to the Carpenter they were all wrong! Not aligned, all different heights and all in need of being dug up to start again!

Can you say F*CK?

I can! In many different tones and levels of loudness!

Yesterday they dug up the posts, they dug new holes (that are like 4 feet wide and 4 feet deep!) making my backyard look like moonscape! Honestly, who could dream up this shit! This morning the inspector came to re-inspect the holes and everything is fine. Apparently the Carpenter is coming to frame the deck and put up the fence tomorrow and will finish it on Thursday....

I'll believe it when I see it!

Today our new stainless steel Weber BBQ got delivered! Yay for that! We won't be using it until the deck gets done but....well it's gonna be nice to look at!!

On another unhappy note, I've booked the appointment for our poor old girl to be put to rest. She's doing some crazy shit that can't go on much longer. In her vomit the other day we found an old washrag that she had eaten! She's sleeping in my closet and because she doesn't want to go downstairs to relieve herself, she's just going and doing both on my side of the bed on the opposite side of the room. Now we have no carpeting, just hardwood; but I object to getting up to go pee in the middle of the night and stepping in wet or squishiness, if you know what I mean!

So tomorrow at 3:30 pm we will say our final goodbyes and wait with her as she goes for her final sleep.

I'm very sad and yet relieved that she won't be suffering anymore!

This weekend is a long weekend for me and I soooo need it. I've arranged for DD#1 to stay home for the weekend and watch over DD#3 and make sure she gets to work and back etc....so that Hubby and I can go away to a friend's cottage for the weekend.

So, a very busy week ahead, leading to another busy week next week when bathroom reno's begin and the roof gets done!

Maybe some time I'll be able to really enjoy all this new stuff at home! Maybe.....

Just the posts and nothing but the posts!!!

2008-06-17T07:47:00.002-04:00

My frustration levels are mounting. The rise of bile from my tummy each morning as I survey my backyard and see our progress on the deck increases to the point where one day....when the contractor finally arrives I will probably toss my cookies right on to his big ole workboots!

So where were we the last time we spoke....oh yeah, it was a happy day and the sun was shining....
Fast forward to this morning.

Today, I have 8 cement posts in my backyard. No deck. No fence. Just posts.

Want to do a quick flashback and hear the story? If so...just keep reading..if not, stop for the love of all that is sacred!

Last Wednesday when I went to get my building permit that they had told me was ready, I was surprised by a lovely gentlemen that informed me that I required yet another type of permit and this one came along with a significant requirement in the form of a $200 fee, a $1,500 deposit and yet another 12-14 business days wait time. It was 4pm. I was caught off guard and just burst into tears....poor front desk man, watching this 45 year old woman blubbering at his desk must have given him nightmares for a week! By the time I had caught my breath, composed myself somewhat and was able to actually talk it was 4:30 and the Town's offices were closed for business...this was gonna be a miserable night!

When I got home that night, I called our town councilor and explained to him that I was confused by this whole permit process and I really couldn't understand why oh why hadn't they just said something in May when I applied for the building permit that I might require this Site Alteration permit because we were changing the grade of the land? I mean it was right there in the plans, removing grass replacing with rock, building the hot tub platform by raising the grade 20 inches in a 7x7 foot area. Had I known, I would have made the application the same day! I was actually beside myself! Our councilor agreed and said he would see what he could do the next morning. The other thing I noted upon reading the building permit was the steps that had to be inspected..the first inspection is due once the holes for the deck are dug (before the cement is poured!) Now, I have officially broken the law of building inspectors everywhere! AHHHHH! More tears followed for hours after that discovery! I'm probably the most honest numbskull out there...I mean really I now know why folks don't get a permit for a deck!

On Thursday morning prior to my meeting in the city, I went to the town offices to submit the application and make the necessary payments. When I walked into the offices the poor guy at the front desk just looked at me with fear all over his face that this crazy woman had returned to cry at his desk. I had to giggle a bit and soothe his fear. I told him everything was fine. I understood the requirement. I had come to make the application and pay to get the process rolling again. I apologized for soaking his stationary, creating the electrical hazard with the pool of tears so close to his desktop computer the previous day and he said he completely understood my frustration. He even said he was going to try and see what he could do to speed things up. Next stop, building permit office to break the news that I jumped the gun and had the posts done complete with cement....need some advice here gentlemen! We made an appointment for the building inspector to come out the next day. There I would have to explain to him how much of a building code moron I am!

On to my meeting...

When I returned to my office at noon after my meeting, I called home to see if there were any messages from the town councilor. He had called to let me know he was playing telephone tag with the person he intended to speak to but he still had hopes that he could speed the process.

At 4:00 my office phone rang...Hi, this is the Town calling to tell you your permit is ready for pick up! OMG somebody was definitely looking out for me! When I went in to get the actual permit the nice man behind the desk just smiled and after I jumped across the desk and laid a big smooch on him I thanked him profusely! (I didn't really smooch him, but I thought about it!!) He just smiled and said, enjoy your weekend ma'am, good luck with your deck!

The next morning the inspector came and I explained how I had moved way to fast in my excitement and I told him that we had honestly had been trying to do everything within the letter of the law and never had I thought this would be such a complicated process. He laughed at me and showed me his little appointment scheduler that said the following:

"very nice lady, needs advice"

He passed my posts for the inspection and told us he was going to leave the note on the file!

Aimee and I just laughed!

Anyway, that should have been a great funny story to tell the grandkids about but the damn saga continues and because of the possibility of having to wait for the permit my contractor cancelled delivery of the materials last week and moved on to start another job. I'm hoping I can do something to lure them back to me this week cause the hot tub is supposed to be going in on Friday!

Ah, the joys of renovating!!

In the meantime, last Wednesday night DD#1 and her man asked me to go with them and his parents to look at a house they were thinking of buying. We went and it was absolutely beautiful. They put in an offer, rec'd a counter offer from the seller and they are now the proud owners of a beautiful home that they will take possession of at the end of July provided the house passes the building inspection tonight. We've asked my Dad to be there during the home inspection so that Jen's interests are protected (and so my Mom can go and have a look at the house) We don't expect any problems there! I will post pictures of her new house at a later date (maybe I'll have pictures of my finished deck then, LOL)

So for now, that's all I got....
Have a bright sun shining day!

Finally getting somewhere!

2008-06-11T13:14:00.002-04:00

Today is a pretty good day!

Woke up this morning, showered, coffee on and contractor in the yard!! YAY!!!! All this before 7:15 am. Honestly, who could ask for anything more?

Today work has finally begun on my backyard refuge. This is good news as I was really concerned that Hubby might become homicidal if they didn't start soon! The posts are getting dug and placed for start of fence and deck! This soothes the Beast that is my husband

Doctor's appointment this morning provided a little mind rest for me! Mammogram came out clear. The ultrasound not so clear but certainly with much better outcome than first imagined. I have a number of cysts that an upcoming appointment with a surgeon will be biopsied and also another test called a ductogram. This will indicate which ducts may have a problem and require removal which can be handled in day surgery. Overall....very good news I think!

Tonight I am going with my eldest daughter and her man (and his parents) to see the house that they are putting in an offer to purchase on. It's a very nice semi-detached in a really good neighbourhood and they are very excited. That makes me excited for her!

Today is turning into a bright sunshiney day!!

Hope yours is too!!

No News is ....just that....NO NEWS!

2008-06-10T07:44:00.002-04:00

I'm tired. Yup, I'm emotionally spent.

The last month has been one of many ups and downs.

Our old girl (the dog) was diagnosed as terminal and she's still kicking around and pooping where ever she has to....even in my dining room, YUCK! Makes me crazy but I totally understand husbands feelings on it and for now we will let her live out these final days in peace.

My backyard masterpiece has not yet begun! Delay after delay are making me fricking crazy! The first day the crew was to show up...nothing! Why you ask (me too!) Well apparently water skiing isn't the safe and fun sport that we might think it is and the lead carpenter broke his foot and is out of commission for 6 weeks or so. No problem, I say, find another carpenter! Another carpenter was found and now further delay's have cropped up...first, the project coordinator forgot to call the utility companies to have line searches done...you know the whole call before you dig thing....it's important. Well that took a further 3 days because everyone and their grandmother is doing construction right now and they are super busy! So now that is complete and the post holes are supposed to go in today...

I officially hate the Weather Guy! That's right that really attractive face on tv that tells me it's gonna rain today (thunderstorms in fact) and what do you wanna bet my holes ain't gonna be dug today! Tomorrow it's supposed to be nice and the posts could be done then...but Friday it's gonna rain again!

AAHHHHHHHHHH!

My hot tub is in! Good news right! Great news in fact, except that I don't have a deck to put it on and all these delays mean that the tub is not being delivered until Friday the 20th!

All of this is making things tense at home! Husband is saying things that he doesn't mean just because he's frustrated. This in turn makes me even more anxious about everything and as I said...I just can't take much more. I hate that I drive home after work at night and use that time to cry! I'm not generally a crybaby but I don't think there has been a dry drive home in two weeks. It's almost like I can't stand to face what waits for me next at home!

Last weekend we played in what was to be the chance to win my Vegas vacation for this year. That's right, our 8 ball team was playing in the regionals for the grand prize, the all expenses paid trip to Vegas...we failed miserably! I played and lost and then two of my team mates followed me and did the same thing. Within 4 hours all the work that we had put in over the year was gone...yup, just like that! I cried that night and I'm still actually bitter about it.

This weekend the Girls 9 ball team enters into the same competition for the same prize and I can assure you.....we will be playing to achieve a much different outcome! There will be no sad tears dammit!!! Only tears of joy!

Okay, the last thing that's been causing me grief is the whole booby issue... I went for the mammogram and ultrasound as scheduled. That is not supposed to be a comfortable experience and trust me it met expectations. Nothing like flattening the girls and seeing what's up! The ultra sound should have been a relatively non-event except that the little bimbo technician taking care of it couldn't keep her mouth shut and half way through decided that she would ask me a question that would send me into hysterics.... what could she possibly ask that would make you hysterical you ask?? Are you ready? ....

" So, are you here just checking to see if your cancer has spread further?"

Yup....this sent me into tears and her into apology mode. Anyway, my doctor says she had no business saying a thing! She's a technician that knows nothing and is not trained to diagnose. My Doctor was reporting her and although I feel bad that she may lose her job....well I feel bad for anyone that may have to suffer that kind of stupid question.

I don't have the results from my tests yet. Tomorrow morning I go to see my Doctor and we'll see what's going on. This is another thing that is making me crazy and another reason that I cry each night. The uncertainty that comes with all of this is very stressful, mix it in with everything else and I've decided that I need a planner. Kind of like a Wedding Planner...you know they come in, they see what you have to accomplish and they make it happen. My planner would be a "Fix my Life Planner".

Anyone want the job? Let me know and I'll send you the job description.

Keep Smiling Friends....cause it will make me feel better if at least someone is!

Just an update

2008-05-21T07:34:00.002-04:00

LTD....

Our girl is still with us. She's not gotten any worse but she's not getting any better. Hubby is not ready to let go of his old girl and although I respect his love and affection for her, the constant worry of coming home and finding that she's taken a turn for the worse is very straining.

Renovations......

Our application for permit to build is in to the Town....now it's just a hoping and praying and waiting game. We hope and pray the Town will give us a permit and we wait for 10 business days for the response. After the installation of our new furnace and massive central a/c unit it was discovered that we needed to upgrade our electrical panel and that is being done early next week. (mo' money!) We have removed 30 feet of cedar hedge from the property line in anticipation of the new deck and fence. That was a lot of work! I have weeded the back garden in anticipation of the new bulbs that I will plant for my summer blooms (my ass was cold last weekend which prevented me from continuing to plant). We have purchased a new faucet for the kitchen sink and in trying to install we opened up another can of works that has put us in the position of hiring a plumber to come and fix what we started. (even mo' money!)

my falling apart body.....

Got my sugar levels under control...in fact I'm very proud of the changes that I have made that are keeping my levels in very acceptable region! I've got my blood pressure well into the norm levels despite all of the crap above going on....but it seems that my boobs have decided to give me something to worry about. About a week ago I was getting dressed (cause it's what people like me should do before they leave the house so as not to frighten little children and animals alike) and discovered a bloody discharge from my left breast. This is not something to be casual about. Don't yell at me! I've been to see the Doctor and we are actively doing the tests to ensure that this is not the big "C" and if it is...get it treated ASAP. I'm going for a mammogram and ultrasound on May 29th and then they will be scheduling a biopsy of the small lump that was found. I'm not gonna lie...I'm scared shitless! I've been through every emotion possible and this hasn't even been fully diagnosed. The waiting game is not really fun either! The Doctor tells me that it's likely an intraductal papilloma and that 90% of the time they are not cancerous. I'm going with this. It means removal of the duct and I'm okay with that....in fact I would be okay with getting the breasts removed if it meant I would be cancer free....I've given that one a lot of thought! So until I get the results of the tests I'm keeping a positive attitude and getting on with my very busy life!

There are no classes in life for beginners: right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.
Rainer Maria Rilke

Have a terrific day! TTYL!

How can you make an appointment for this?

2008-05-13T16:57:00.002-04:00

My old girl LTD (leaky twat dog) (big dog on the right) has some serious health issues.

Last night we took the lovely lady for her regular checkup to our Vet. The Vet checked her out and basically decided that there would be no vaccines or heartworm meds for her this year. LTD has an enlarged heart, a very resonant heart murmur with serious arythmia problems. Along with this there is probably kidney issues that would make treatment of the above very difficult.

Now, don't get me wrong......we knew this was coming. The old girl is going on 13 years old, that's a lot of years in doggy speak. She's lost her hearing, she's losing her sight and this morning she lost her bowels all over my dining room floor. The stinky mud she left for clean up was riddled with blood.

When I called the Vet this morning to report this new condition he basically advised that there was no point in spending any money doing tests to determine that she was old and her body was failing her....this came with a further warning that things would only go down hill from here. The next step was to schedule a quiet time to come into the office with her and then determine if we wanted to have her ashes returned to us. He didn't talk cost....my guess it's very expensive and please don't make me out as a horrible person....but we are not having the dogs ashes in my house!

My poor husband and youngest daughter are totally distraught. I thought this would be easier for me....my attachment is more to the little dog....but I picked up the phone twice today to call and make the appointment and couldn't dial the number to do it. How the hell do you schedule something so final as a beloved pets death!

Damn it all.....I'll try again tomorrow! I'm supposed to be the strong one! Why am I having such a hard time with this? I think it might be because I love my hubby and kid so much that I hate to see them so upset and setting the date will just be like I'm doing this awful thing to them.

OMG...I never thought I would have such a problem with this! Maybe I really am just a big softie where the animals are concerned.

Happy Birthday Aimee!!!

2008-05-09T07:52:00.005-04:00

25 years ago today I was up getting breakfast for my one year old daughter and suddenly it happened....that first pain, the one you feel and you know that something wonderful and exciting is going to happen. Always knowing at the same time that pain is ahead....great big horrible pain.

That's why they call it LABOUR! It's gonna be hard horrible pain.

As the morning moved on I decided to call my sister-in-law to come and get the little one and take me to the hospital to check and see if things were for real and not just giving me practice for the real thing.

Jennifer the oldest was so excited! At a year old, all she knew was that she was going to have a baby brother or sister. I was scared and excited!

My husband at the time had just started a new job and he was at his new job and I didn't want to call him until it was absolutely necessary.

I laboured away until I couldn't take it anymore and the nurses decided it was time to give him a call so he could be there to see his baby born. Luckily, this baby was practical from conception and she courteously waited until it was his lunch time to make her arrival into the world. Daddy arrived, a couple of good hard pushes and into the world came my FAVORITE MIDDLE DAUGHTER AIMEE!

Aimee has become a beautiful, wonderful caring daughter. She is as practical, hard working, extremely brilliant and wonderfully funny! Aimee is loving and extremely thoughtful and yet at times she can be wickedly sarcastic.

She has made me smile since the day she tore into my life 25 years ago!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl! Your Mama Duke loves you loads!!!

Girls at the office

2008-05-08T12:58:00.005-04:00

I'm a really lucky girl when it comes to co-workers. I have some very good folks that I work with on a daily basis and I have been very lucky that they have become friends as well.

When you have to spend as much time with people it's nice to know they've got your back.

In the space directly to my right I have Sports Illustrated Girl (we'll call her that because she's cute and fashionable and on her last trip away she took a whole bunch of pics that were SI worthy!) SIG is young and she's just a great pleasure to work with! Her role in our department is to assist us with our proposals, contracts and various and sundry other duties that take patience when dealing with all of us!

This is a view of her back because ....well she wouldn't turn around for a picture....

The person that sits to my left is JD....she is one of the most upbeat people I know and frankly I admire her for her integrity! I actually convinced her to come and work in this department and I know sometimes she'd love to wring my neck for that but she doesn't hold it against me....in fact she even still talks to me!
We get to show her face...cause she posed and knew that I was going to blog about the office ladies!

And now for the space that is mine...without me in it!
This is the little space that I use to do all my great work! See my blog! See my collection of Winnie The Pooh stuff on the shelf....I also have a collection of my pool trophies on the shelf. They make me remember that as a team you can accomplish anything!!

So these are the Ladies that I work closest with on a daily basis and this is our environment...one is definitely better than the other. That would be the Ladies...in case you were wondering!

Aimee saved the day!

2008-05-05T21:57:00.009-04:00

Aimee found a cord that I could use to upload pictures! YAY Aimee!

The first step of project "Renovate in 2008" is complete. Here are the before and after pictures.

Before pics, inside and out

Window is out and the cutout is done....

Door is in but the capping still needs to be done

Kids today...you just can't keep them from texting!

Finished product view at night.

It is absolutely lovely, if I do say so myself.....and I do!! When they initially made the cut out for the new door I thought that maybe i had made a mistake getting a 6 foot door. Now I'm not sorry at all!

Tomorrow night the architect comes with the finished drawings to take to the Town for a permit to build. We hope that playing by the rules will not hinder the progress of the deck!

On Wednesday the HVAC guys come to make sure we don't roast this summer and that we don't freeze next winter. They are also moving everything around in the basement to give us more storage space.

The first step is done and hopefully the ones to follow are as easy!

I've lost my camera cord......

2008-05-05T09:29:00.002-04:00

I've lost my camera cord and I don't know where to find it.....

The house is in total disorder. The renovations have begun and there are people here tearing a big hole in my wall as we speak. It's a good thing though...the patio door is finally going in. It was supposed to go in on Friday but the rain caused a delay and so here we are.

We went out Friday evening and looked at hot tubs. The company that we want to deal with were having a sale on used tubs so we went to have a look. We decided that it wasn't the best way to go. The savings didn't really make up for the fact that we couldn't get the ozonator/saltwater virtually maintenance free tub that we wanted and the fact that there is no warranty on used tubs....well you get my point. It's kind of like buying a used car....when you don't know who had it, how they cared for it and all that stuff. We see the way our stupid neighbours care for theirs....they don't! So bottom line, we ordered the tub we wanted. We got a great deal because we know the owner of the company. We saved almost 50% off the price of the tub. We are very pleased and the tub is being delivered in the first week of June, which gives us time to get the deck built (we hope!).

So when I find my cord to download pictures, I will make up for the days I've missed!! I promise.

Day 2-MP's Request

2008-05-02T11:23:00.004-04:00

MP asked for a picture of me as a child and my daughter Aimee had some pictures scanned that show me as a young child. This particular picture brought back such happy memories for me I thought that I would use it.

Every year at Christmas, my Mom (the good looking chick with the fancy hairdo) would dress me up in Sunday best and take me into the big city of Toronto. We would go and see all the front display windows decked out with wonderful Christmas scenes at the big department store. We would then get to have our picture taken with Santa! I have pictures of us for many years and with each picture you could see the evolution of both hair and clothes fashion. My Mom was a hairdresser and she always had the best hairdos! This particular year I'm wearing a matching sweater and hat set that I'm positive my Grandmaman made for me. My Grandmaman was the most talented knitter/crocheter (are those even words???) I don't think I've ever seen nicer work! I have some of the pieces that she made for my brother and my girls as babies tucked away for them when they have little ones...since I don't knit or crochet!

I figure this must be 1965 or 1966 (I'm probably 2 or 3 years old). I think I was pretty cute ,kind of looked like a boy, but I was cute!!.

Are you playing?

Photo a day for May

2008-05-01T16:04:00.003-04:00

Alright I'll play!

According to MP someone decided this would be fun so since I hate to be left out of anything...here goes...

This is the man that makes my heart sing! He puts a smile on my face and he makes me giggle everyday. He is the man that I will sit on the back porch with (when it's built) in my old age. Hopefully the porch is paid for by then....Since this picture was taken on the last day of 2007 his hair has taken the colour of "Arctic Blond" and it's quite stunning with his lovely husky blue eyes (you'd be able to tell if he weren't smashed and squinting so much).

This picture was taken at New Year's and he's half in the bag here. He's most annoying in this state but he still makes me laugh and that's part of the reason I know that it's forever.

Isn't he handsome! He's mine and I'd fight ya for him!!

I can't believe it's almost May!!!

2008-04-29T17:31:00.002-04:00

Well another month is quickly coming to an end and I'm finding it hard to believe that time passes this quickly without me noticing it! Somehow I woke up and here it is...April 29th...BLAH!

Life just doesn't stop because you are tired..have you noticed that? WTF?!?!?

Stress levels have been at an all time high with all this planning of renovations. Last night at dinner Hubby made me laugh out loud when he looked at me and said....hmmm, I guess we need to get our mortgage renewed soon huh!... I honestly laughed out loud and shook my head. He's really cute, but he really doesn't pay attention. Honestly, I've been dealing with getting that and the renovations in order for over a month now. It's not that he didn't know. He just wasn't paying attention. Around our house these things just get taken care of!

BY ME!!!!

We had a lovely weekend past. The weather was fabulous. We had the Snowbirds (my Mom and Dad), home from their nest in the south, over for lunch on Sunday. That's always an enjoyable time. A chance for us to catch up on each other's lives and listen to the bantering between my parents on who's version of what happened, who did/said it etc is more correct. It's always in good fun and I can honestly say that I aspire to have that kind of relationship with Rob when we've been married for that many years....one of loving good spirited tolerance. LOL! Although my parents live down the street from us, a visit from them for a meal has in the past been a serious special occasion. One that sees the family scurrying around to make sure all the nooks and crannies are cleaned to perfection, every hair is in place and the meal must be pleasant to the palate and not to far from ordinary to meet my Dad's generally ordinary likes. This isn't because my parents care....cause I don't think they really do; BUT I DO! Don't tell the kids, but I use these occasions as an excuse to get everyone helping around the house at the same time. It generally works well and it gets done in record time. I've decided if they are agreeable that we're gonna do this more often but it's gonna have to be on Friday evenings in the future I think. The meals will have to more simple and the house less than perfect (because of work) but Sunday's just aren't going to work for us anymore. Brianne is working every Saturday and Sunday and Aimee and Rob have softball starting next Sunday. This is going to make the weekends jam packed. This year I'm making an effort to have them over more than 3 times!

We are starting to be able to sit in the backyard again and now all we do is dream about what it's gonna look like with our lovely new screened in porch, how our tired old bodies are gonna enjoy that hot tub!

"sigh"

I'm looking forward to May....are you?

Good Help is sooo hard to find!

2008-04-25T08:32:00.003-04:00

Over the past few months we've been interviewing and gathering estimates from contractors for the renovations that we would like to begin May 2nd!

We've found a bathroom guy and we have tentatively booked him for the last week of June (that's the earliest he could start). He provided great references and he does great work. He really gave us a warm and fuzzy feeling right from the word go. He sat his 6'4" hulk on the side of the tub in my bathroom and gave me the bad news....likely mold behind the walls of the tub surround, floor rot from all the water damage, bad plumbing etc...and then he gave us some pretty excellent ideas...but I haven't heard back from him for sure on timing so...we'll keep looking for others.

Finding a good contractor for the deck....a little more difficult. We've got a ton of companies lined up to give estimates but nobody seems to be coming through very quickly. We even had one of the big guys (you know the guys with the orange aprons!!) come last week but we haven't seen the estimate yet...

I just want it to be done so I can be sitting in my patio, doing my crossword with hubby and relaxing in my hot tub!

Patio door gets installed on May 2nd and it's gonna look like this...

I'm excited about this. It's the first step and a good one at that!

We'll keep you posted! If I remember I'll even get some pictures of the progress and post it.

Weather is beautiful here....hope you are getting the same! Have a great weekend!

A love so great......

2008-04-15T08:27:00.004-04:00

....that nothing could keep them apart.

My Oncle Ti-Blanc passed away on Thursday last week. Ti-Blanc had been battling his own health concerns when his wife was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and Tante Therese passed away 3 weeks ago. My mom said he had put aside his troubles to attend to his wife, to ensure that she was comfortable and happy in her last moments.

I can only surmise that once he had said goodbye to her that he realized that he didn't want to fight anymore....he really wanted to be with his greatest love.

My Mom's email to let me know said this and I think this says it all....

Oncle Ti-Blanc died last night. He was very sad with Therese's death. He was at the hospital and went fast and peacefully. I'm sure he is now with Therese and smiling at all of us.

My prayer's go out to the family that is left behind. It must be so painful to lose both your wonderful parents in such a short time!

"When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure."
Author Unknown

News from afar

2008-04-11T08:34:00.002-04:00

Got an email the other day from one of my favorite Aunt's. It was just a quick email saying Hi and asking how we were doing. Nothing special you say....well I beg to differ! This to me is like sunshine on a cloudy day! You can't even imagine how happy I was to get even a little news from someone that was so special to me growing up.

I know I've talked about spending each summer with my Maternal Grandmother and all of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins. The memories of those summers sometimes overwhelm me! They are both good and SAD! Good because they were a time when our family was very close! Everyone hung out, camped, socialized together as a great big family unit. I remember going to Tante Diane and Oncle Roger's house in town and hanging out with their family. That's where I learned about putting vinegar on plain chips! My Oncle Roger had a wonderful deep laugh that always made me want to hug him. My Tante Diane always took away the feeling of homesickness! She has the best smile and a real strong hug!! Their girls were my two of my favorite cousins! Joanne and I were close in age and we got along well! Lissa was younger and she tagged along and she had a smile that just beamed! I don't know, maybe I was just young and this is how I saw it. It's sad now because I haven't had much communication with anyone in many years. In fact this is the first time I've heard directly from anyone in the family besides a few emailed jokes since my Maternal Grandmother passed away. I've gotten all of my news second hand from my Mom.

It was nice getting that email. It makes me want to plan a holiday up north...

I invited my Tante Diane to come visit me on my blog....so if you are reading this Tante Diane....I want to thank you for all of the wonderful memories!! My summers spent up north with all of you will be cherished memories forever! Je t'aime beaucoups!!

A Smile to Remember

2008-04-07T09:11:00.002-04:00

$200 spent on clothes for the new job.....
$100 in earned wages.....
The joy of seeing the kid liking the job that I made her take....PRICELESS!

This weekend I sat on the sidelines and watched my baby successfully complete the first two days of her new position as a cashier. She came home both days with sore feet and a very satisfied smirk on her face. She likes her new boss, she likes the people that she works with and although the first day was scary...apparently things were sufficiently slow enough that she got a good hold on how things were done and on the second day they allowed her to answer phones and the traffic was such that she got a good feel for how things would be once things are busier. It seems that it may be successful for both employer and employee.

I'm excited for her that she likes her first job. Not everyone can say they liked their first job.

Putting the Children to work!

2008-04-03T15:04:00.002-04:00

I've taken the bull by the horns and used my skills as a human resource specialist (putting people to work skills) to put my youngest to work.

Our youngest daughter Brianne is 17. She's finishing her last year of high school and had very little life experience. She's a great girl and she's matured significantly in the last two years. Her little life experience has not prepared her to make the decision to on what she wants to do with her life. She therefore has decided to take a year off and get a job. This saddens me in some ways because I am very afraid that she will never go back and get the education that she will require to get a career and will always have just a job. I know that just having a job is not a way to really plan for the future. It's a difficult road that she is choosing and one that I will strive to make the potholes so big and ugly that she will want....no NEED....to go back to school.

Anyway, I'm still her Mom and I still love and cherish my little girl so I've asked a very good friend Neil to take my little one and put her to work for him. Neil is a great guy. She will be safe with him, but he's a difficult guy to read and the road won't always be easy for her! She will come home and tell me that he was being himself and I will help her through it. Although this job will start as a part time cashier's position...who knows, she may become interested, valuable to them and perhaps once she is out of school full time...well you never know. At the very minimum it will be experience.

On the home front, her wages will be free and clear until September when she will have to work full time and she then will have two choices to make. Choice #1) pay room and board of some predetermined amount or 2) put half of your earnings into savings for college and Mom and Dad will match it when you return to school. The choice will be hers. They won't be easy choices but the final decision will be hers.

Cause you know.....at our house NOBODY rides for FREE!

Helloooo! It's been a while!

2008-04-01T13:25:00.002-04:00

Well hello there! It's been a while, I know, but damn I've been busy!!

Many things are happening in my neck of the woods. Work life is crazy (not much change there) and personal/home life has had an increased intensity in all aspects.

On the home front, this past month has had us, saying goodbye to dear friends and relatives (which is always difficult personally and for friends and family) and preparing a plan of action for impending home renovations that require a fine line between what do we WANT and what do we NEED and how do we decide which to go with.

Hubby and I decided that we wanted to make this the year that we get done those things around the house that need doing. So here it is in order of importance:

New Furnace- yup when we moved into the house 10 years ago they told us then the furnace owed us nothing....well it owes me lots now. 10 years of high natural gas bills cause of it's inefficiency. I figured out the annual savings will be approximately 40% on my utility bills by moving to a new more efficient furnace.

New Roof- it's not leaking but our neighbour wanted to do it last year and we put her off so probably best to get it done this year before we have problems.

New Washroom- we've got mold and mildew from past leaks that just doesn't seem to want to go away, rotted floors and drywall make this one a necessity. According to my good friend Colleen any $$'s I put into this will add value to the house if we ever sell (after this much work...I'm going NOWHERE!) This renovation scares me a bit. We're gonna lose use of our only complete washroom for the period of the renovation and the only company that has had outstanding references and good prices so far is quoting 2 weeks to complete!

New Patio door and screened back porch- okay this is where the "wants" come into play. For the months that encompass Spring, Summer and Fall you will find my family in our yard. We sit and talk, play games, do the morning crossword, have our meals, have campfires, entertain....well you get the point....we rarely leave the comfort of our yard and in fact many of our friends and our children's friends hang out with us during these months. We love our outdoor socializing and therefore we've justified turning this want into a need. We need to turn the unused space behind our house into a usable space that services us in all weather during these warm months. If funds permit we're gonna get us a hot tub as well. I have always wanted one for the relaxing elements and as I get older well I want it MORE!!!

So all this has led to many people coming through the house and providing estimates and references and all the stuff we need to help make our decision. The estimates and references have varied and frankly this whole process is very tiring. Good companies are hard to find but I'm starting to use the old woman's intuition on some of these guys and hubbies even getting good at reading people that know what they are talking vs. people that haven't got a clue.

So that's what we've been doing at our house.....what have you been up to?

Talk to me!

Saying Goodbye when you are far away....

2008-03-17T15:48:00.002-04:00

My Aunt passed away. She battled cancer of the brain right to the end and her husband, children and grandchildren will miss her greatly.

I'm dealing with mixed emotions today. I feel the tears build up and then they recede a little knowing that She is in a much better place today. I feel the tears build up thinking about her immediate family, knowing how much they will miss her warm smile, her great laugh and her always warm hug and then they recede a little knowing that they wouldn't want her to be in pain anymore and they will always have her memory in their hearts. I feel the tears build up for my Mom knowing that she will miss her for all the reasons that you miss a big sister...even if the age difference is so significant that she felt more like a Mom at times and then they recede a little knowing that she too has happy memories of her youth, their friendship and the many vacations and holidays that were spent together.

When I was a little girl I spent a lot of time visiting with Ma Tante Therese, Mon Oncle Ti-Blanc and their children. She was among my favorite aunts and as a child I was very discerning! Okay, so I wasn't that discerning. My method of determining how much I liked an aunt or uncle was based on how much attention they showered on me.

Ma Tante Therese showered alot of attention on me when I visited. Ma Tante Therese had only boys and I think she enjoyed being given the opportunity to shower some attention on a little girl who missed her Mom! After all I was the only daughter to her youngest sister.....and frankly that made me special! Or at least I like to think it made me special..... Those summer's I spent in Northern Ontario were a special time in my life. They became the basis for everything I knew I wanted for my future family. A big happy family that spent time together laughing and enjoying one another's company. I was young and an outsider. It was summer and I think just the fact that there was no snow made everyone happier than normal!

They were special times and Ma Tante Therese was a special lady. Today I will cry and then the tears will recede because I will keep her memory and all that she meant to me forever tucked away in my heart.

Salut Ma Tante Therese, je t'aime beaucoups! Merci pour tout!!!

This is the year....the 45th year!

2008-03-07T14:23:00.003-05:00

This week my 45th birthday came and went.

Honestly, I've never been one to place a lot of emphasis on birthdays. I guess I've always thought that it's a personal thing and once you've passed the single digit birthdays and the teen ones it's time to use each birthday as a time to set goals or mourn....your choice. For myself, I've done both.

When I turned 30, I mourned. I mourned my youth, my dreams of living childless in a loft in Toronto with all white furniture and a pair of cute "Royale" kittens to keep me company at home and my chic successful executive co-workers that would share my life when I was not home with the kitties. The reality in my life when I was 30.....single mom to 3 beautiful daughters, in a shitty paying job with little more than a pot to piss in and the truth....I WOULD NOT CHANGE IT FOR ANYTHING! I don't really know why I cried that day but I did. I continued to cry for a few days.

When I turned 35, I became daring. I celebrated that birthday by getting a Tattoo. A tattoo of "Pooh" on my butt. The year that proceeded 35 was a good one. I agreed to marry my best friend that year and spent it preparing for my wonderful white wedding. My career took a turn to improvement. I made peace with who I had grown up to be.

Since that 35th birthday, the celebrations have been laid back and most have passed with little more than a birthday dinner and small presents from hubby and kids. Lots of hugs and lots of kisses. Many birthday greetings from friends.

At 45, I look back and thank GOD that my life turned out the way it did. My three kids, the trials and tribulations of raising them as a single parent, my marriage to the wonderful man I call Husband and Friend, my wonderful friendships, even the health issues that I've had, have been fulfilling and I know today that the "unachieved dream" I cried over on my 30th birthday would never have brought the happiness and fulfillment that I now have.

I look forward to what the future brings and smile when I look back at what my life has given me.

In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson,

"Live well,
Learn plenty,
Laugh often,
Love much."

Miss Me, But Let Me Go

2008-03-06T07:59:00.002-05:00

Miss Me, But Let Me Go
Author Unknown

When I come to the end of the road,
and the sun has set for me.
I want no rites in a gloom-filled room.
Why cry for a soul set free?
Miss me a little—but not too long,
and not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love that was once shared.
Miss me, but let me go.

For this is a journey we all must take, and each must go alone.
It’s all a part of the master’s plan, a step on the road to home.
When you are lonely and sick of heart, go to the friends we know.
Bear your sorrow in good deeds. Miss me, but let me go.

Early this morning the world lost a wonderful kind man and my best friend Colleen lost her Dad. It's a very sad time for her and her family.

It's a very sad time for us, as Colleen's friends, to find ways to help her find the strength to remember the good times and know that her Dad is always looking down on her and her family.

Always in our thoughts and prayers!

We love you Colleen!

He's at it again!

2008-02-29T07:53:00.003-05:00

Remember last year at this time my concern for my father's direction in his later years. Yeah that's the one. Remember how I said that I would be big girl about it and be totally accepting....well I still am, but I'm really getting worried about my Mother's safety both mentally and physically.....cause he's joined a gang!

This year he's changed his look (it is a good one Dad!) He does look great don't ya think! Oh he's the one on the far left. He's definitely the Ring Leader! I know this cause there could be no other way!

I love the long copper coloured hair!

In all seriousness, my father is one hell of a team player! He gets himself involved in these great activities down there in the warm regions of the US and he gives it his/her all.

You look faaabulous Dahlink!!!!

Making Reservations for Celebrating Good Times!

2008-02-28T15:00:00.003-05:00

It is 3pm and it's official! Aimee is moving on to do her PhD. Apparently the six men recognized her brilliance and the decision was made after one hour of questioning and 3 minutes of deliberation!

Congratulations Aimee! I'm making reservations for dinner at the restaurant of your choice...let me know where!!

Love Mama Dukes

Lots and Lots of Mommy Luck!

2008-02-28T08:36:00.002-05:00

Every time there is some big test in the lives of my girls there has been a tradition that I offer up some of the Mommy Luck that for whatever reason helps boost the confidence level for them.

The girls are always well read and even overly prepared for whatever faces them and they always do very well......they still say it's because of that Mommy Luck. I'm okay with that. It's very nice to know that even as they get older they can still be calmed by a positive thought from a Mom that knows they are going to just fine.

Today, I am sending out TONS of Mommy Luck to Aimee. Aimee is defending her Master's Research and her plan for PhD Research. When she passes (note the confidence) she will be transferring from her Master's program to begin her next journey into Doctorate work. I am very confident that the weeks of preparation she has done and her love for her work will shine through in her presentation to the 6 members of the committee that will decide her immediate future.

I am so confident that I want to make reservations at the restaurant of Aimee's choice for tomorrow night so that we can celebrate together!

So Aimee.....even if you don't call me before you begin today....I love you loads and send you TONS of Mommy Luck even though I know you don't really need it cause as Rob would say...they just have to look at you, hear you speak for 5 minutes and they will agree that you are going to be introducing the world to wonderful and exciting new research!

Love Mama Dukes
xoxoxoxo

What would Jesus do?

2008-02-21T17:48:00.002-05:00

So I have to tell you.....I have recently been charged with asking myself "What would Jesus do?" in my daily situations and dealings. I'd also like to mention that the person that suggested this brief discussion in my head was a very important person in my life. I'm not going to specify who cause I don't want to insult anyone but frankly when I heard that my first thought....."Who the FUCK cares what he would have done 2000 years ago in a time that was very different from today!"

So you might ask yourself what am I gonna do about this?????

1) I'm going to take off my shoes and socks
2) get a pedicure and put on some sandals
3) take off these constricting clothes and put on a caftan
4) take a course on making wine out of water
5) pick up an industrial size bread maker
6) brush up on my fish recipes

and last but not least......

7) get me a hot tub so that year round baptisms can happen at my place with little inconvenience and no loss on comfort

Some people just blow me away with their stupid ideas!!!

God Bless you my children! Have a great day!

The nerve of some people's children!

2008-02-13T08:43:00.002-05:00

Our area of Ontario has been all over the news of late. We have been getting some really crummy weather. Last week we got hit with significant snowfall 2 times in 36 hours. This week there was promise of another 20 centimeters and last night was the night it was supposed to really hit. Well let's just say we did get some.

I mean honestly, it's winter! You can't really be that surprised that we're getting snow! Living in Canada means that at this time of the year...it is a possibility! We all still have to go to work, school and any other commitments that we make. Don't get me wrong if there is major weather happening, I don't expect anyone to risk their butts if they don't absolutely have to! But come on people! Haven't you put snow tires on your vehicle? Is this your first time seeing the white stuff? We got some snow. In comparison to other times....no PROBLEM.

So please tell me why.....the team we were supposed to be playing at Pool last night didn't bother to show. The one guy that was there plays on two teams and he was playing with the other team last night so basically our team showed up for nothing!

The nerve of some people's children!!!!

Good Times, Good Friends!

2008-02-12T08:18:00.000-05:00

It's not often we find people in our lives that we work with and really want to spend time with them.
In my last job, I found a great group of gals that fit that bill. Over the years we've all changed jobs, some have found new love, one has gotten married and had a baby. All of us have conquered great challenges in these past years since we all worked together. These challenges have made us strong, beautiful women!

See what I mean! All beautiful women with a passion for life!

On Friday night we got together for dinner and drinks. It was a great evening! We chatted and caught up on each others lives. Getting together with this great group of girls was comfortable, it was like putting on a trusted warm sweater....one that is sure to make you feel cozy and warm once on and one that you hate to take off. We laughed, we bitched, we laughed some more.
More importantly, I think we all remembered what we missed about our times together and I hope that we will all take more time out of our busy schedules to get together more often!

Cheers!

Fun and Games in the Winter!

2008-02-11T14:46:00.001-05:00

A very good friend of mine made the decision to pack up her worldly goods and make the move to a city about an hour north of Toronto.

Dawn hates the cold. She hates the snow.

I knew that this may be a problem. I think after last weeks snow fall she may be reconsidering her position!

Let's play "Can you find the car"

This is what she woke to that fateful morning! LOL!!!

All's well that ends well!

2008-02-11T12:50:00.001-05:00

Aimee's boyfriend was released from lockdown around 6:15pm last week after what turned out to be what they are calling a false alarm.

From boyfriend's point of view.....not a chance. He figures that the guy, whoever it was, got out before police showed up when they announced the lockdown. Gemini was in the immediate area of where the supposed gunman was and his class was all windows, providing very little coverage. The fear was very real.

I think it will be a while before students feel truly comfortable that this is over. The thought that what if he just did walk out after the announcement...what if he wasn't finished doing what he wanted to accomplish...what if he comes back!?!?!? All very real questions and concerns.

Just another reason to LIVE, Love and Laugh every moment to its fullest!

Update

2008-02-08T16:49:00.001-05:00

Apparently the situation is not under control and the school is still under lockdown.

Keep checking and I will let you know what I know...when i know!

When violence is sooo close to home!

2008-02-08T15:51:00.000-05:00

It's very scary when violence is so close to home. This afternoon our local community college was "locked down" because the police received a call about a gunman.

Here's the story

It's even scarier when you know someone you love is locked inside with the scary gunman!

Aimee's boy was there and when I spoke to her she sounded very upset! I totally understand that, knowing someone you love is in danger is a very scary feeling. She was able to contact him and he is fine.

It's scary when you realize there is REAL danger out there and it is in your backyard.

Computer Crisis

2008-02-04T22:05:00.000-05:00

Another great week, off to a wonderful start at the gym this morning.....blood sugar levels totally off the wall still and no amount of being careful seems to be helping. (are you hearing the sarcasm!?!?!?!)

So track and monitor and this will be an issue the Doc is gonna have to assist with. I'm truthfully behaving myself.

Busy day at work.....to many things to do and not enough hours in the day. It doesn't help that I know I'm away for 2 days at a conference and I have client appointments each and every day! This just adds to the excitement.

Tonight we made Shrimp stir fry for dinner, served on a bed of rice...(half cup to be exact) and I couldn't even eat all of that! Pills are still making me feel funny but this too shall pass they tell me.

Aimee is busy working on her PHD applications due on Friday and 7 and 1/2 pages out of 10 pages into it her computer crapped out!

Diagnosis......NOT GOOD....HARD DRIVE DONE like dinner!

Now Aimee is generally very good about backing things up on her external hard drive and thankfully 2 years of work is not lost. However...PHD application not saved. We called Dell and they were unable to assist except to offer a new hard drive covered under warranty.
I called a company in town and they told me that they would analyze and estimate data retrieval for between $400 and $4000 all done within 6-10 weeks. Hmmmm, lots of money for little help. I called in a favor from a great friend that plays pool with me and he came over and laid it on the line. Hard drive is toast and nothing he brought with him was even recognizing the hard drive. He took away the hard drive to see if he could rescue any of Aimee's data off of it. He's actually going to stick it in the freezer as a last resort...something about loosening things up once they shrink that might help?!?!?!?

Good thoughts that whatever our pal George does works and Aimee might be able to sleep between now and Friday!

In the mean time...this is a really busy week for me and likely little time for updates.

So to all my friends....Have a Fabulous week!
TTYL

2 days in a row.....

2008-01-29T09:06:00.000-05:00

I've got nothing! Honestly, I've got nothing to write about. I've been eating properly...or at least as properly as I know how based on the fact that the stupid diabetic clinic still has not set up a time for me. I've been taking the medication the doctor prescribed even though it makes me feel like shit.

I have, however, gone to the GYM...yes you read that right...the GYM 2 days in a row! I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I told Aimee this morning...I'm going because I know I have to but I will NEVER, I repeat NEVER like it! There is nothing nice or fun about going and sweating your ass off and feeling all tired and yucky after. I used the elliptical thing yesterday for 20 minutes then the treadmill for 20. They have this weight thing in the middle that I used to work on my flabby wingspan. Today I only did the treadmill cause I think the elliptical thing hurt my back. We'll see how I feel tomorrow...who knows maybe it was the opposite way around. I think someday I actually might be able to fly cause i feel the flab melting as we speak....OMG! I need a nap and a massage!

Good Friday Morning!

2008-01-25T07:30:00.000-05:00

I think Mary Pat has convinced herself it is her job to ensure that my brain get the mental gymnastics training required to keep fit! She's tagged me again!

So here is my early morning attempt to appease the masses!

7 Random/Weird things about me....

I hate going to work but I love to work. I really hate getting up in the morning and wasting time showering, dressing, putting makeup on, making lunch and commuting the 12 minute drive to work. It just seems like such a waste of time when I could just get up, make coffee and hit the computer.
My day cannot start properly without my coffee and crossword. I need the stimulation that both bring to ensure I'm not thinking totally inside the box all day! Even on the weekends Hubby and I have coffee together while doing the Saturday and Sunday Stumpers!
I simply adore Winnie The Pooh! I have a tribute to Pooh on my butt! It looks like this sort of. I got the tattoo on my 34th birthday because I love Pooh and wanted to be able to say...."I have Pooh on my butt!
I love mustard. I love it to the point that I could and have eaten mustard sandwiches.
I love my children immensely, but some days, I don't really like them and I'm not afraid to tell them!
I have very few people I would call friend, but those that get that title...I would give them the world if they needed it and asked!
I hate memes and emails that ask you to forward them but I do them anyway cause I a) I feel obliged to do the memes since someone took the time to think of me and type my name (MP!) and I'm kind of supersticious about the emails ....I mean I wouldn't want to lose my luck/money/sex drive/arm/leg/sense of humour if I didn't forward to 5,000 of my best friends in 30 seconds! That would just be horrible!

So now it's done and since I really only want to read about weird things if you want to write about them...I'm not tagging anyone, but I will throw out the idea if you need something to write about....

Have a great weekend folks, mine is being spent getting estimates on a new furnace and plumbing for my main bathroom.

Cheers!

Update.....

2008-01-24T07:49:00.000-05:00

It's been a really busy week and I've not had a lot of time to update everyone on how things are going...so briefly here it is.

Monday I went for the other test the doctor wanted me to take to lock in the diagnosis. The test results pretty much sealed the deal. I saw her briefly that morning and she prescribed a drug called Metformin that I take in the morning with breakfast and in the evening with dinner. Along with taking the medication will come testing my blood each day at whatever intervals they suggest, changing my diet and exercise.

NONE of these things is that bad. I mean really, taking a couple of pills not difficult at all. Diet now that's a little more difficult. I've never had much willpower. The funny thing is I don't have a sweet tooth either. In all the research Aimee and I have done we've discovered there is something called the glycemic index....it's all about how carbs actually turn into sugars and we've found some really interesting facts. Carbs....I love carbs! They are my best friend and worst enemy!

Fun Facts:

Did you know that sweet potatoes are better for you than plain old baked potato- they are lower on the glycemic index, making them a low GI, which means good stuff for someone that has my problem! They make a very interesting french fry and the good thing is that because I can't really put vinegar on them I won't totally pig out on them!

A switch to a whole wheat or multi grain bread from white bread is another easy change and although I've never really given it much thought....multi grain bread is so much tastier than white bread!

Within the next week or so I will be spending some time at the diabetic clinic learning to prick myself (one of the more difficult things for me as I REALLY hate self inflicted pain!!) to test my blood sugars, spending time with the dietitian and learning to make these changes cause I really like the fact that I have for now...relatively healthy organs, good eye sight for an old gal and all my extremities!

See this is all positive. As my Mom said, "you've been given a few warnings now, don't ignore them.

The other positive thing is I'm going to start using the treadmill in the gym in the building where I work. For now I figure if I walk for 30-45 minutes everyday on that thing it will be more than I've been doing up till now and every little bit counts. I will start that on Monday.

We had pool finals for our 8 ball team and we WON!!! Yay! It makes me happy that we double qualified for Regionals! It proves that our team may not always finish in first place but we can beat out anybody if we put our minds to it! I'm convinced this is the year this team will enjoy VEGAS!!!

It's been a busy week and I need a nap! Have a wonderful day folks and we'll catch up again soon!!

Under the Weather

2008-01-19T20:20:00.000-05:00

Been feeling under the weather lately. A real feeling of listlessness, just want to sleep, lots of headaches....then the feeling thirsty all the time and the constant having to pee. It became quite apparent that a trip to the Doctor's was going to be needed.

I went last Monday and explained all my symptoms and she sent me for blood tests. Taking blood from me is never pleasant. I have very small veins and after many attempts even seasoned technicians have been forced to put a baby butterfly needle in my hand and squeeze the blood out of me that way. This last time was not really that different. Two technicians 4 attempts before they successfully got the blood to flow into their tubes for testing. I left with 4 new holes and bruises that would develop before I got home.
Anyway, it was good that I went as my suspicions were correct....my blood sugar test came back really abnormal. Apparently, the excessive weight that I'm carrying has complicated things into what may look like diabetes and my blood sugar was at 20.5. This is not good. I'm going for a fasting sugar test on Monday to see what that shows and likely I will be required to a) lose weight b) start monitoring my sugar levels and take pills for now to try and the levels to a more normal level of between 6-9. Abnormal enough that she'd like to follow it up with a fasting blood test. So tomorrow night I will stop eating and Monday morning I will go and submit myself to more puncture wounds.

Aimee and I went to take the Yorkie for her grooming today and our ritual is to go for brunch at the restaurant at the mall nearby where they serve all day breakfast. I had just received the message from the Doctor and my head was in another place. Aimee asked why if I suspected that something was wrong...didn't I go before. I didn't have an answer. I just looked at her and started to tear up. I couldn't answer...generally I feel like crap. My fibromyalgia has me in constant pain. It's especially bad in the winter. Sometimes it's all I can do to close my hand and make a fist in the morning and my last couple of years of back pain and nerve damage that leads to sciatic like shooting pains if I don't religiously take my medication have made me ignore the aches and pains. The sleepless nights, that even the CPAP machine that I use religiously, don't help and have given me something that I have been blaming most of the symptoms.

Honestly the answer is to lose the weight I'm carrying and this really scares me as my attempts to lose weight in the past have been totally unsuccessful. I've got to find it in me somewhere....my skinnier self is in here somewhere and she's really healthy. I know she is....if only I could find her!

I'm scared.

So...menu's have been planned and with the help of my family and friends I'll do it.

Moving right along...

2008-01-16T10:57:00.000-05:00

Yes, some serious ass was kicked! Everyone played well and the results were positive. Now I have all week to worry about next Tuesday's round.

Meeting with client....wait on that one as well.

The week is halfway through and I am still trying to shake off the Monday BLAH's....must be the weather.

I really need Friday to be here.....I need to sleep!

Is it possible....

2008-01-15T08:06:00.000-05:00

To be nervous and excited all at the same time?

Today is a big day. Big proposal going to a big company and I'm scared shitless! I'm nervous about this one! This proposal if accepted would be a very good start to the year for me!

I'm excited about pool tonight! We start the playoff games for another chance to go to a regional tournament in June with the grand prize being...yup...you know, the great trip to play in Las Vegas! We have to win playoffs to get a chance to play in those regionals. Some on our team would just say....no problem, we are already qualified but to me the whole purpose of each session is to prove to ourselves and those in our division that we are "IT" . There is nothing better than being "IT" So tonight, I will go out and if they play me...I will KICK some very SERIOUS ASS!

I have to go vomit now! Have a good day folks!!
TTYL!

Monday, Monday, won't go away!

2008-01-14T11:42:00.000-05:00

Not my favorite day of the week.

Monday's should bring wonderful new adventures for a new week, don't ya think? Not buying it are you?

I don't buy it either! On Monday mornings it's hard to get out of bed. It's hard to get geared up for the stuff you have to do because WHO can remember what/where they left off on Friday.

This morning...I had a 7:00 am breakfast meeting. Who scheduled this? Me....I am a complete imbecile at times and really on Friday when I was trying to close the deal I would have agreed to almost anything. So I guess on Friday, having to get up early and be out the door by 6:00 am didn't seem like a problem!

Reality check! BIG PROBLEM! Honestly! I could barely get outta bed this morning and holy jumping I was cranky with myself since there was no one else up and around to be cranky at!

Made the meeting, closed the deal...so I guess all is not lost.

Leaving the house that early is not without it's problems though! I forgot my lunch and even worse.....I forgot to throw on the crockpot.

Saving grace.....Aimee is home to turn on dinner.

So tired.....need a nap! Hmmm.....hungry to!

Damn Mondays!

To Crock or not to Crock

2008-01-09T08:27:00.000-05:00

I've owned a beautiful crock pot since I got married. Someone bought it for me...I can't remember who..

Since I've had it, I've used it once a year to make swedish meatballs at Christmas. Recently some of the ladies at work have been spewing about the wonderful meals they've lovingly made for their families in crockpots. They actually put the ingredients in the pot, turn it on and leave the house! This is unheard of! Leave a small electrical appliance that cooks food unattended....how could they?

So there you have it....my fear of leaving the damn thing plugged in and on in my house unattended is why I have never used it for it's actual purpose. I mean honestly...isn't that kind of like doing laundry and when you get the clothes in the dryer you leave the house! What if it catches fire! It just seems so wrong!

This is a new age, a new year...time to try new things and therefore I decided that I would be a brave girl and try using the crockpot and leave the house to go to work. It's not like it's really on all day with no one there...Hubby is there, he's sleeping but he's there and I'm sure if there was smoke and fire he would wake up!

On Sunday, I prepared all of the ingredients for stew and threw them in the crockpot. On Monday morning I awoke, turned on the crockpot and left for work. At work I stewed about the stew at home in the damn crockpot all day! When I got home that night I found the house still in one piece and a wonderful dinner all warm and toasty!

I love my crockpot! Today we are trying it again with curried chicken. I'll keep you posted!!

Goodbye 2007

2008-01-01T17:08:00.000-05:00

Today I asked my middle daughter and my husband to tell me what made their year a good year! They were very general at first and then I reminded them of all the wonderful things that happened to us this year!

Jennifer got her first real job teaching.
Aimee got to go to Australia to show the world of sleep what she's all about with good results.
Brianne has made real progress at school and is finally finding herself with great results because of hard work.
Rob and I got to go to Cuba for a wonderful vacation, we finished more renovations to the house and we celebrated our 9th year of marriage.

It has been a good year for our family!

I know that I take the small things for granted. The things that make me smile every day. My family, our pets, the people I work with that make me smile every day. These are small things in the grand scheme of things, but all of these small things make up the happiness of my life.

For some this year has not been so happy, or maybe it was until that fateful event that changed their everything. The event that is so unimaginably sad that there are no words for those that are living with the consequences.

My cousin's 12 year old little boy decided on Christmas Eve that he had nothing to be thankful for, nothing worth living for and he took his own little life by hanging himself in his bedroom closet. It came as a shock to the family, especially to his 13 year old sister that found him there when she went to get him to attend mass. This past Saturday they buried their little boy.

On Monday, amongst my friends in the bar, celebrating a friends birthday I cried when I got the email from my Mom. Not because I knew the boy that well, they live 800 miles away and I haven't been back up north to visit since my Grandmother passed away....I would say I didn't know him at all. In fact, I barely know my cousin because of the distance and we don't communicate. I get my news from Mom.

I cried because I can imagine the pain they must all be feeling. The confusion, the guilt and the great sorrow that all of the family are feeling, especially the 13 year old little girl that found her brother and was unable to change the result of his hasty action.

Their future Christmas' and every other day will be blemished with this sad moment forever.

For them and everyone that has experienced this or any other kind of deep sadness, my prayers and thoughts are with them.

New Year's Eve was a quiet time at our house, spent with close friends and family. We reminisced about the year that was passing and told each other our dreams for the future.

Today is a quiet one, everyone doing their own thing. Some are watching movies on the TV, some, like me, are finding quiet refuge in their laptops.

I hope that for you the past year has been a great one and the future holds only good health, great happiness and unending prosperity! Remember to love each other everyday!

Happy 2008!

Merry Christmas To All and to All a GREAT Night!

2007-12-24T10:58:00.001-05:00

Well the day is almost upon us...in fact for intents and purpose it is! Tonight is the night that my children consider their favorite night...even better than birthdays!

A few years ago our family started a tradition that got combined with a family tradition that my Mom and Dad started. On Christmas Eve, my brother and I always got to open one gift. That gift was always the same but that NEVER stopped us from being excited about opening it. The gift is always brand new warm and cuddly pj's. At our house that tradition continues and we added a new one.

Along with having three daughters that are getting older and finding special people to share their lives with (boyfriends I mean) came the realization that they would eventually have to share the holidays with other families. To accommodate this and to make it easier to let go, we introduced a new tradition that makes the boys all come to our house on Christmas Eve. Yes, that's right....I bribe the men with what no man can resist! (Get your minds out of the gutter! It's Christmas!!!) FOOD!

On Christmas Eve we do Surf and Turf. It started out as steak and then one year crab legs were on special and since then they've become staple. When Matt (Jen's man) came into our family we found he was not a fan of either steak or crab legs so we added shrimp to the menu to keep him happy. This year Rory joins us and he eats all of that...no additions required. Brianne's boyfriend is a young East Indian boy that has never eaten steak...so tonight we will see if he likes any of our traditions....in the 4 months he's been around his favorite seems to be burgers....we may have to add a burger to the BBQ for Manic.

Yes a Mom's gotta do what a Mom's gotta do to keep her babies around for at least one day of the season. I'm not ashamed that I resorted to this!!

After dinner we will open our pj's and a new family game that we will play until it's time to dream of sugarplums dancing in our heads!

So today, I take this opportunity to wish all my Blogger Friends and their families

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Wii.... isn't this fun!

2007-12-18T18:25:00.000-05:00

Eldest daughter Jen wants to give boyfriend (read "the man who will save us all our sanity by marrying her") the Nintendo Wii for Christmas. Jen has been lovingly searching the stores for them with no luck. She has been attempting to win them on ebay with even less success. The Wii is an elusive bugger! Upon arrival in the stores they choose their new owners with no concern for who will care for them the best...first come first serve.

I have been trying to get in the Christmas spirit by listening to Christmas carols and one of only radio stations I get in the office is 97.3 FM. This radio station have been partnering with Winners (you know the Canadian version of TJ Max/Marshalls) to raise money for the needy by auctioning the elusive Wii. On the auction of 3 Wii systems they have raised more than $25,000. That's right 3 kind generous fools have bid on these machines that must bring mucho happiness and they have spent more than I pay in property taxes for these things! I have not been bidding. I did however, catch them when they said that Winners across Ontario would have systems in their store on the 18th of December. That's right Folks...Today!

Being the most best Mama Dukes, I offered to take Jen's credit card and go stand in line at 6am to try and get one at our local store. Driving past the store on my way to get my morning Timmies before settling into the cold line I noticed that there seemed to be quite a few people there and decided to drop in at get a status report. Much to my surprise the sign on the store said "We have 20 Wii systems in stock today" and the Manager was handing out tickets for them while another stock person crossed out the numbers until there would be no more available. This happened before 7 am.

That's right, I am the bestest Mom (okay me and 19 other very cold parents) and I got a ticket! I got ticket number 10. This meant that all I had to do was wait for the store to open at 9:30.

So this year Jen's man will get his game. Hopefully that makes him feel welcome into the family enough to ask Jen to be his wife and will Wii, Wii Wii her all the way home to his house.....Mama Dukes needs a bigger closet!

I love the smell of paint in the morning!

2007-12-17T09:11:00.000-05:00

See, he didn't really hate me and since no one called to tell him to stop whining I guess he just decided it was going to have to get done to make me stop beating on him!

If I could only find my camera in my total home reno mess....I would have posted some pictures. So for now you are going to have to trust me that my "Sandpiper Beige" walls with beautiful "Decorator White" trim in the hallway looks absolutely lovely next to my "Sundried Tomato" walls with "Decorator White" trim in the kitchen!

It's done. I can rest easy that everyone that enters my happy little abode will never miss the paint chipped smooshy painted walls that were once mine for 9 years!

Hubby did great work this weekend! He even got the new carpet layed on the stairs so they are looking lovely and cushy as well!

To add to his happiness this weekend, Hubby was just a little pissed on Friday when he found out that all this work he's doing to make our home beautiful before our friends come over for our open house...well he's not going to see the look on their faces cause he has to work that night! Yup that's right, the company decided that he has to work Friday night so that he can have Sunday night before Christmas off! He's working on alternate arrangements as I type....maybe a well deserved vacation day....maybe a new job?
Who knows!

So the countdown begins for me....today is Monday and that officially means I have only two more days of work and my holidays begin. I will be off from December 20th right thru to January 7th! I'm so looking forward to hanging around and spending time with my gang at home.

Only 8 days of shopping left till Christmas....are you done?

He Doesn't Really Hate Me !

2007-12-12T13:16:00.000-05:00

He's just saying that because I am a slave driver and he is my slave!

Alright, maybe looking at me is making him crazy these days. All he can think of is the enormous amount of work that I am creating for him.

But let's think clearly on why this always happens at this time of year.

In the summer there are always better things to do than paint. He rides his bike, he takes the dog on long jaunts, he sits in the backyard and drinks beer and listens to bad music!
In the summer, I make him cut the lawn, water the garden, wash the cars, blow the driveway clean of all the grass clippings. That was the deal....he does the outside and I (the girls and I) take care of the inside.
In the summer the days are longer and warmer and precious weekend time is taken up by doing the fun things that I mentioned above and he didn't want to paint then!
I work all summer at priming him for the things to come! It's not like I just sprung it on him! All summer I said...."I'd really like to get my kitchen and hallways painted! We have been here almost ten years and it's never been done before!" Now that's what I call advance notice!

Honestly, I think I'm a very good wife where the "honey do list" is concerned. I don't change my room colours like some change their wardrobes! I'm very good about it! It took me 9 years to figure out a kitchen colour. I haven't bitched that the baseboards in the basement still aren't done! (I did however go out and find them and now will buy them and have them installed after Christmas along with the framing of the doors that he installed in the basement!) All of this will be done with the immensely expensive tools that I have bought and intend to put under the Christmas tree for him this year!! I enlist my talented daughter Aimee to assist wherever possible. She doesn't procrastinate, she just plans and then she gets it done! See kitchen floor for proof of that and in all honesty...she is the reason the basement actually got done! She painted 23 hours straight to ensure that we could use that room for Christmas! She is the WonderChild!! Every mothers dream kid!!

So here is the "Before Christmas Party Dec 21st Honey Do List"

install the painted baseboards in the kitchen (I will finish painting them tonight so they will be ready for the weekend)
paint the hallway
install the pieces that will transitions ceramic to hardwood
find a place for the stereo so that it's not on my coffee table!
replace the carpet on the basement stairs

That's it and he's welcome to enlist any help he can get to get these things complete!

Somebody call him and tell him to stop fricking whining and get to work!!!

Warm and Lovely.....and fricking expensive, what a busy weekend!

2007-12-03T10:03:00.000-05:00

All the painting was done in the kitchen with care! It's beautiful. It's warm and lovely and makes me feel happy!

Hubby hates to paint but he does it to shut me up! He is actually pretty good at it but because he can't be perfect at it, he hates it!

I'm not a perfectionist. I appreciate the effort that people put into things and therefore can't find it in me to be critical especially if they are doing it as a favour and not professionally. Now if I hired someone...that's a different story, I would demand perfection.

This is a perfect example of something that I would demand perfection on!

On Sunday we went to get Hubby an outfit for my Christmas party. Hubby is not your standard sized guy. He's got really short legs and arms for a man, but he also has a long torso. So he's your average size guy in height....5 foot 9 inches, but not in a regular fitting way. Anyway, after an hour and a half of trying things on he finally chose two sport shirts and 2 pair of pants (charcoal grey and black). Now keep in mind that Hubby is a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy. He hates to dress up and anything with buttons and a collar is considered dress up. This is the conversation we had in the store:

Me: That looks great on you, are you sure you're going to wear it?
Him: Of course, it feels good. I look good!
Me: Yes, Yes you do! I would be happy if you'd dress like that more often!!!
Him to the sales assistant: Yup, these two pants, these two shirts and the black suspenders.

We go to cash out, pay extraordinary amounts of money for the goods and the alterations and then have this conversation in the car:

Me: YOU my Husband are a spoiled brat. You remind me of our youngest daughter!
Him: WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING?
Me: You are spoiled. We just spent an extraordinary amount of money on clothes that I don't think you will ever wear except to social functions at my work and that's once a year! It cost about $60 just to have them altered to fit you properly and you probably won't wear them more than once!!!
Him: Well, you spend money on clothes!
Me: Yeah, but I wear them!!! I would have been more comfortable buying you the one pair of pants and a shirt that you needed for Friday and then going to wherever and spending the rest on 5 t-shirts and 2 pairs of jeans! You Sir, are a spoiled brat and I will find formal occasions for you to dress up, just so that you wear those outfits! When you go to pick up the clothes on Thursday night you need to bring your good shoes and try them on again to make sure the alterations are all good and don't even think about leaving the store if they don't fit you perfectly! We paid as much for alterations as I pay for a good outfit!!!

It really went on for a bit longer than the above but he got the point!

When we got home he bragged to the girls about what he'd gotten and they looked at him with a confused look on their faces and asked a great big "Why???"

He got the point from them as well!

On another note....the Christmas tree is up and decorated and like my kitchen it is warm and lovely!

Tis the season!

Being a good girl for the holidays!

2007-11-27T12:40:00.000-05:00

I was over visiting Kate this morning and she was very excited that she was able (because of an unexpected business trip) to decorate the family home for Christmas earlier than in the past! Kate's one of those people! Yes, I said it with that tone...one of THOSE people that loves the holiday season! She's all bubbly and festive and shit! Honestly, I'm not sure how we've managed to remain friends (and very good friends, might I add) for so long with such definite differences. Okay, well maybe I do know.....she's got a wicked sense of humour, she's kind to a fault and did I say she has a wicked sense of humour? You know the saying opposites attract....well, I could for all intents and purpose be her husband on this topic.

This year though,because I value the opinions of my good friends Kate and Colleen , I've decided to model my holiday thoughts and actions after them!

Tonight I will start by going to a {{choke}} mall and start to Christmas shop. I will have my shopping done before December 15th.

This weekend I will force the younger people in my house to remain home and create the wonderful atmosphere of Christmas by decorating the house. This will be done at the same time as I hog tie my husband to a ladder in my kitchen so that he can paint the kitchen! I can do all this because they fear me!! This is a good thing!!

Wish me luck!~! TeeHee!

Wow that's some expensive cookie!

2007-11-20T08:09:00.000-05:00

Last year Colleen and I made a day where we got together to bake for Christmas and we decided that we would do two of whatever we were making and share. That would then provide us with double the types of goodies and a fun way to spend a day together. This year we opened it up to other folks and Aimee and Dawn decided to join us.

Yesterday Aimee and I went to do groceries and get the items at the bulk food store we needed for our get together as it's coming quickly.

This year I am making butter tarts (Colleen's hubby likes them alot and so does my family), sugar cookies (Aimee likes them a lot and they are good to have around at holiday time) and raspberry jam thumbprint cookies..(it wouldn't be Christmas without them!, my Mom used to make them for us and they have to be my favorite cookie!).

Aimee has chosen to go into the realm of new and exciting. She's young and adventurous and maybe just a little on the snotty side (LOL, shhhh! don't tell her I said so!)(Aimee, Mama loves you!). She's decided to make Biscotti! I don't know about you but I always think "Ooowww biscotti at $2.50 a pop, that there is for rich folks, not me, the little old poor person" Aimee worked at one of those specialty coffee shops all through high school and she used to bring us home the day old baked goods like muffins and such but since biscotti has such a great shelf life (like 3 weeks) there was never any of this coming home for us. Anyway, back to our shopping spree for biscotti ingredients...we went to the local bulk food store to buy the nuts and dried cranberries that Aimee needed and walked out with the most expensive plastic bag of groceries I have ever bought!! Now I know why they charge $2.50 per cookie at those stores!

I'm so very excited about having biscotti in my house that I might even go buy one of those tall glass biscotti jars to put on my counter so that I can show everyone that comes that we have come along way and can now be classified as people that eat $2.50 cookies as a regular item. That's right Folks....biscotti is not just for treats anymore!!

didn't even get into the stadium.....

2007-11-19T08:07:00.000-05:00

This was a great weekend.

On Friday night we supped at an Italian eatery that was short on Fettuccine Alfredo (saving it in case someone ordered it for takeout), were totally out of spaghetti and Parmesan cheese and the wonderful pepperoncini's that are usually in their salads were totally being rationned as well. Truly disappointing. The company was good and that certainly made the evening entirely worthwhile!

On Saturday, the dog got groomed, the house got tidied, Aimee and I had breakfast together and then went and chose a couple of paint colours for our kitchen. We took the colours home, slapped the sample paint on the walls, made a final decision. The chosen colour is Benjamin Moore's CC-62 Sundried tomato. It's a deep warm red colour that just makes me SOOOO happy! Then I got a nap and then went for dinner to my good friend Colleen's. Again another great day!

On Sunday, my friend "B" came over to practice her pedicure giving skills on us. Ahhh, I finally understand the feeling the rich and famous people get from being pampered in their homes . There is something very cool about being able to sit on your own couch and have someone pamper your tender tootsies!

While "B" was there hubby arrived home from his football weekend away. It seems he had a great weekend but he didn't get in to actually see the game. He and another fellow that was in the gang of 6 that went, refused to pay $180 for a scalped ticket to a college football game! See I told you he was smarter than the other men in my past! So he enjoyed the game on t.v. in the comfort of some tavern in Ann Arbor Michigan. He had a great weekened with the guys! Seems like a long way to travel for a football game on t.v. in a bar! He could have just gone down to the corner and watched it for a small fraction of the cost of his little trip. He did have fun though and he brought me back a big bottle of Bailey's that he got at the duty free and he brought back some cash....all in all not so bad. p.s. Hubby didn't have the same feelings for the paint that I did...but I win and he will paint.

Aimee made 6 wonderful quiches for dinner on Sunday and we wrapped up the evening with the kids teaching me how to play poker. I could never profess to be ready for poker with outsiders but I enjoyed it and might even try and give the kids a run for their money sometime soon!

You wanna go where?

2007-11-16T08:32:00.000-05:00

Husband called me last night with another of his last minute invitation things from his buddy....yes, this is the same buddy that invited us to see Genesis with them because the people he had originally intended to go with backed out...remember it ended up costing us a fortune! It was a good time but had we been able to plan for it...well 'nuf said you know what I mean.

So this time Dude is inviting Hubby to a football game. Not just any football game, but a football game that requires 2 overnight stays away from home, conversion of currency and again leaving today Friday!

So because I am a softie and hate to see my hubby disappointed, he is off to Michigan to watch a Michigan State University Football game. I want you to know however that I did not give in without giving the grief that should rightly accompany the trip.

Here are my points:

1) why are you the fill in guy! I know this guy didn't just plan this trip last night! He's got a wife and two babies at home that I'm positive would not be so agreeable to last minute arrangements! Why are you not good enough to invite to these things in the first place? Why is it he's always calling you at the last minute?

2) we have alot of shit going on around here that could use your half hearted attention! Like the problem in the basement! The painting of the kitchen and the hallway...maybe finishing the stepup things on the doorways so people aren't stubbing their toes on ceramic tile!

3) it's 5 weeks till Christmas and you wanna spend how much going to Michigan for what? A football game??

He kept saying, "Well if we can't do it hun, I'll call him and tell him I can't go". Picture Eeyore saying "Oh bother" that's what hubby's face looked like!

Honestly People he sucks! He does this to me all the time! Calls me when I'm out and puts me on the spot!

Boys are dumb!!!

"HOW MANY" shopping days till Christmas??!?!?!?!?

2007-11-14T14:00:00.000-05:00

Oh heavens.....when I start getting emails that countdown Christmas I get scared for my sanity.

I Love Christmas....the family gathering, the happy, warm fuzzy feeling of seeing everyone happy and in one place and especially the food!

I hate Christmas because of the shopping! Who cares how many more days of shopping till then...for me that really means how many more days of procrastination before the absolute necessity of fighting the crowds. How many more days of mind bending despondency over what the hell to buy those kids!

So if you are reading this children.....send lists, with lot of suggestions, sizes, where I can find it and I will get busy! Aimee....tell your sisters since they don't bother with my blog!

Thanks, Christmas Crazy Mama Dukes

part three and the saga continues.....

2007-11-12T17:07:00.000-05:00

Taking the time to write about my past has been somewhat cathartic. I mean the emotional purging not the bowel kind, although sometimes....well we'll not go there. Sometimes it's difficult to look back on so many stupid decisions and find any semblance of sanity! Then there are times when I look at the times I started over or moved on and want to slap myself on the back and say good for you....feelings so mixed. So many hurt feelings, so much risk of damaging little lives that were in my care; decisions made that in hindsight could have been absolutely horrible except for the grace of God and my Mom and Dad, I think!

Anyway, part three finds me and my three little treasures in a rented old farmhouse, in the middle of city, by ourselves again. Although the rent was reasonable, the utilities were exorbitant! This old house had a lot of good things going for it. It was centrally located, a block from my Paternal Grandmother's house, a huge yard for the kids to play in a relatively upscale neighborhood just a 10 minute's drive from my Mom and Dads. The other good thing it had going for it was a spare room on the main floor that could be rented out.

To me, a single mom with no money, this seemed like the answer to my immediate problem of greater cash outlay than cash! Immediately, I rented the room to a guy that I had become friends with that had just lost his place due to a split with his girlfriend. The extra money that this provided me was the difference between struggling just to keep oil in the furnace to eating well and a night or two out on the town.

Unfortunately, this second source of income soon found a new girlfriend to move in with and I loss that little taste of freedom.

One night at pool, I mentioned to an older gentleman on my team that I needed to replace that income and he suggested that his son move in and rent that room from me.

His son had just moved to Canada from Los Angeles and had unfortunately worn out his welcome at his dad's seniors apartment.

I offered for him to move in to our home. He accepted. He lived with us for an entire year. He became a part of our family. He became my best friend until one day I got notified that I had been accepted into social housing and he couldn't come with us. It was a time that was filled with mixed emotions, I was finally going to be living in housing that I could afford but I would miss his opinions on the guys I was dating and the kids would miss his advice on how to deal with their crazy mom!

He moved in with an acquaintance of mine into a room that she had for rent. We would still see each other in social settings...it became soon became obvious that he hated his new living arrangements and that we missed him being a part of our everyday lives. It became evident that there was only one thing to do.....despite the cautionary warnings of our common friends, we started dating. Many people warned us that we were ruining a really good friendship by moving to this new level.

He moved out of his bad rooming situation into an apartment with a guy that he worked with and we continued to explore this new dating phenomenon.

After about 6 months of this new exploration, he proposed and I accepted. When we announced to the world that we going to cement our relationship under the law and get married we received nothing but grief from our friends and from his father. One night his father actually verbally attacked me in the bar at pool.

I totally understood his concern. I had been married before. I had three kids. I wasn't going to have any more.

These were all things that we had discussed. My former roommate and now fiancee assured me that none of these things were important to him. He loved me, he loved my kids and for him that was enough. That is what he told his father.

That was 11 years ago.

This year we celebrated our 9th anniversary and he's still alive. I haven't poisoned him and he hasn't stabbed me!

He is the love of my life and he can read....and he can write and he makes me laugh. He loves my kids. He thinks my Dad is hilarious and he loves my Mom. He is a true part of our family and most importantly, he loves and respects me!

This story hasn't even come near an end.....fortunately for me.....there are many new and exciting adventures ahead of us!

it's my life....part two

2007-11-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

So where did we leave off....oh yeah, two kids, no hubby and me trying to finish up at college.

In my last year at college I met "illiterate idiot #2". He was extremely attractive, very persuasive and he had a dark side. The fact that we could barely communicate should have been the first clue that he would be good for a good time and not a long time. He was of Portuguese descent, dark and extremely handsome and he was definitely convinced that I was the one!

By this time I had been alone for a couple of years, the kids I went to school with were all years younger than me and besides I had 2 young kids that took up what spare time I had. Again, I was looking for someone to love me, pay attention to me, tell me I was beautiful! He did all those things for me (later I found out he did the same for others, yes at the same time!) Next stop, daughter number 3! When I was in the final stages of pregnancy it came time to start trying to pick names and I was torn between Natalia and Bronwyn. I soon ruled out Bronwyn because he couldn't say it and then ruled out Natalia because apparently, that time he disappeared for a weekend, he was off assisting his other girlfriend in the birth of their daughter whom they named Natalia! Baby # 3 came into the world while he was out boozing it up with his buddies I think cause he wasn't at the hospital and the older girls were with a neighbor. Yes, this was my life! During this time I was fostering two little girls and it came time for them to go back to their Mom. This was a sad time for us to say goodbye to Sandy and Miranda who had been a part of our family for some 2 years. Anyway, things just went from bad to worse and when I got a job to support my growing family (cause hell knows he couldn't hold one) it was in a neighbouring community that turned out to be that much closer to my Mom and Dad.

So, I did what came naturally! I packed up my kids and "illiterate idiot #2" and moved back to my home town. Another city, another fresh beginning! Within a year, youngest baby 18months old , I found myself alone again except now with 3 little girls to support! Not to worry though because I had always been the one to struggle with the supporting part! My parents again stood by me while I figured things out.

Thankfully this was the BEST thing that ever happened to me! I was finally rid of the illiterate idiots in my life and grown up enough to realize that although I would perhaps meet other idiots...I was never having anymore babies and I was never supporting another man's stupid ass! That was 16 years ago. My girls do not know the "illiterate idiots" that are their biological fathers. The oldest girls haven't seen theirs since they were around 8 years old (they are 25 and 24 now) and except for the annual call after they turned 18 to see if he could stop paying the $100 a month he payed for child support we haven't heard from him. The baby (now 17) has no idea what her dad looks like as she's not seen him since the day he walked away with our car and stereo and whatever else he could fit in the vehicle and we all say "GOOD RIDDANCE"!

This was to be the last territorial move my family made but not the last big family change.....oh the stories....

stay tuned for part 3 "how the guy that rented the extra room became the Love of my life"....

because you asked.....

2007-11-08T10:48:00.000-05:00

Mary Pa t commented that she thought the fact that I had moved many times to a new city just to start over was an interesting concept and she wanted to know more....

Well here goes nothing!

When I was a young rebellious 17 year old idiot, I felt like the world was against me and I needed to have a fresh start.

I picked up my very few belongings and made my way to the great white north. Back to the place I spent my summers as a child. This is where I married my first illiterate fool. I met a man that was 14 years my senior. He seemed to have his shit together and I needed somebody to love, cherish and take care of me. He fit the bill quite nicely. (at least for a short time!)

At 17, my judgment was impaired. Here I was, a fairly booksmart literate teenager, with a very skewed idea of what the world should be....there he was, an illiterate lumber worker with a job, an apartment and little else.

Together we moved from this small town to another small town for a fresh start after he lost his job with the lumber mill. When we got to our new location he spent months looking for a new job and by the time he found employment, I found myself pregnant with baby number 1.

By the time baby number 2 was born 12 months 22 days later, he had been fired from 3 jobs and was out of work again. I worked in various occupations from manager of 2 retail stores to Bartender at the local strip club. By the time Baby number 2 was 6 months old we had separated 4 times and in a last ditch effort to find a job "the illiterate one" had moved to Southern Ontario on his own. I stayed behind, working and raising babies. I was all of 21 years old.

Due to a combination of my own stubbornness and other things, my relationship with my parents was still strained at best, but we were working towards a mending of ways because of the grand babies. Grand babies have a tendency to bridge wide gaps. When "the illiterate one"
called to say "he had a great job, a fab apartment and a wonderful fresh start, would I please bring the kids to Southern Ontario for a new beginning" my parents were quick to agree that this was a good idea. Basically this would put their grand babies living 45 minutes away instead of 10 hours away.

I agreed for the sake of my little family that this was the way to go. I gave notice at my job and my apartment, packed up our belongings and prepared to move south.

One week before actually leaving I got this call from "the illiterate one" that told me he had no job, no apartment but a really cool campsite that was close to town and the job was just a matter of time! I packed up and moved anyway, leaving my worldly goods stored in my Grandmother's garage in my hometown 45 minutes away form the "cool campsite"

When I arrived at the "cool campsite" there with 2 babies under the age of 3, it was to find "the illiterate one" with nothing but a pup tent and a great tan! In the month of June some would consider this an adventure. I was young, energetic and momentarily STUPID. We lasted 6 weeks in that campsite and then one sunny August day I decided enough was enough and the babies and I moved to a less than wonderful apartment that had running water, a roof and electricity. Oh yes, "the illiterate one" one came eventually as well but it didn't last long. By September, separated again I returned to High School to finish up my grade 12 so that I could move on to college.

In the next 4 years, my Parents were my rock! Without them I don't know that I would have made it! They helped out with finances, they helped out with the kids and basically they provided the support that I needed to finally make the break from the first "illiterate one". I graduated from college but not from the world of "Stupid in Love" .

So this is 3 major moves between the ages of 17-24. This doesn't count the individual moves within town while going to college (4 more times within 4 years).

There is one more major move that we made but the story surrounding that one is also a long one....so we'll leave that for another time!

For the Love of MP!

2007-11-05T15:41:00.000-05:00

This seemed easy.....and well, we all love MP and therefore must do her memes so that she knows it! Highlighted stuff is what I've done.

01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink (not)
2. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone (no thanks, they'd just ruin it by wanting sex, good one Kate! I agree and besides not gonna get two in my bathtub unless one is the 9 lb Yorkie! )
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped (not on your life...or mine for that matter)
11. Visited Paris (would like to)
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea (not fond of the lightning thing...usually find me hidden somewhere if I know it's happening!)
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise (oh to be young again)
14. Seen the Northern Lights (yep...beautiful)
15. Gone to a huge sports game (unfortunately)
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables (once...then decided too much work easier to do the farmer's market)
18. Touched an iceberg (ice cube maybe)
19. Slept under the stars (yep not as romantic as it sound...dew it's a bitch
20. Changed a baby’s diaper (shit yes)
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon (sounds nice but not a fan of a basket being the only thing between me and the ground)
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne (yuck!)
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight (and water and many other fun things to clean up after!)
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger (in my younger days)
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb ( fed a baby goat as well)
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster (yep and hate it every time)
35. Hit a home run
36.Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day (only to do telemarketing when I was younger)
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving...Lucky to get me in a plane let alone to jump out
51. Visited Ireland (would love to)
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them (not by choice)
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs (why bother?)
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day (actually lounged on a couch for 3 days)
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving.
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business (gave that up when idiots started calling outside business hours))
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class (payed for a martial arts class)
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married (yep- twice!)
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced (necessary to attempt the second marriage)
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch (of course...how else do you make cookies)
78. Won first prize in a costume contest (at work, got three extra vacation days as first prize!)
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo (yep, damn it hurt!)
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Gotten flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas (NEED TO GO BACK!)
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark (husband's idea...not my idea of a great fish!)
88. Kissed on the first date (kiss...interesting approach)
89. Gone to Thailand (someday!)
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents (buried both my in-laws but thankfully not my parents!)
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently (not simultaneously but thanks to Mom...yes)
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour (just a band that came through town...to the next town!)
98. Passed out cold (yep)
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over (SO MANY TIMES!!!)
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn't’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds (probably should...)
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray (no....again with the mutal respect thing)
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show (nope, Bingo's and Casino's but never TV)
113. Broken a bone (Yep...just a wrist and tailbone)
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol (shot and killed Bambi's Dad during hunting season)
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild (ahhh no)
118. Ridden a horse (for sure hated every moment of it )
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet (ICK)
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents (lord these people have money)
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat (does kangaroo jerky count...have some of that at home...gonna have to break into that!)
127. Eaten sushi (yum)
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed ( now that's a sight)
132. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair (would a Christmas Bazaar count?)
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Well that was fun! NOT!

tada!

2007-11-01T13:11:00.000-04:00

Here they are...the pictures you've all been looking for!

I know this is not as exciting for you as it is for us but this is my new floor! This weekend we will finish putting baseboards and cupboard kickplates or whatever they are called back in and then the next project will be to paint my walls a warm shade of red.

I'm excited!

Once again good job Tile Queen! Mama Dukes loves and appreciates everything you do for us!!!

and the winner is......

2007-10-31T12:21:00.000-04:00

Me!

Got a phone call late yesterday afternoon that I was the winner of an 80GB iPod classic. That's right, a business card into a fish bowl at a conference can lead to much more than an unwanted salescall!

Nice huh!

Yeah real nice....except not sure if you remember that I am technologically stunted! I don't understand stuff like this and I don't feel that I want to get to know the stuff by reading some manual!

Kind of like my crackberry (that I still can't use the phone on, but that's another story!) I know how to use the basic things in the crackberry....i can answer and send email, play the brick game and use the messenger feature....but aside from that...nothing! In fact I haven't figured out how to send or accept meetings in the calendar portion of it and that really sucks! I can put in an appointment for me...but then I have to use my regular computer to schedule a meeting that might require the presence of others.

So the prize goes to the Tiling Queen, who conveniently got hers swiped from her backpack and she'll actually take the time to use it! Plus she's deserving!

I think she'll appreciate it more than I ever would!

Thank you Tile Queen!

2007-10-29T13:54:00.000-04:00

This past weekend Aimee aka Tile Queen installed the most beautiful Porcelain Tile Kitchen floor that you have ever seen. (and you will as soon as I get the kitchen back in order with baseboards etc.

On Friday morning we woke early to get things ready and realized we didn't have the proper scraper appliance thingy...so Aimee and I headed out to Home Depot. At Home Depot by 7:17 and back home by 7:30 to begin. Aimee and Rob got to work mixing the flexbond stuff that sticks the tiles to the floor. Then Rob went to bed and the next assistant started (Aimee's man Gemini). Laying the tiles was an all day process from 7:45 am to around 5:00 pm. My job was to ensure that they had all the food, drink and anything else they needed to complete the task at hand.

On Saturday morning I got up early and started cleaning off the tiles of their yucky cement like stuff so that they would be beautiful for grouting. The grouting seemed like a much simpler process than the actually laying of the tile and was completed in a little under 2 hours! Aimee is the TILE QUEEN! In fact I think I would be bold enough to say that she is in fact the Home Renovation Queen and if this whole PHD Science Researcher/Professor thing that she's going for at University doesn't work out for her she could actually run her own general contracting business. She has a long list of hands on experience that she learned while fixing up our home. She'll make some man very happy one day (I think her current man is kind of intimidated/turned on by her home improvement knowledge!)

So Hats off to you Tile Queen!

Meme Thursday

2007-10-25T15:31:00.000-04:00

Mary Pat loves to make me think about crazy stuff! Today, I was expecting to go over for a relaxing visit and what do I find....a stupid meme with the order that anyone who is reading it ...should be going home and doing their homework and telling 7 Random things about themselves.

So because I like MP and I generally do what I'm told...here goes nothing!

1) I love Jerky! Any kind of jerky! Aimee brought us Emu and Kangaroo jerky back from Aussie Land...haven't tasted it yet, but I'm very excited about it. Every Tuesday night at the pool hall there is a guy, I call him the "jerky guy" and he brings me new meat! He is a god! A Beef Jerky God! Hubby doesn't even mind that I call him that as he too loves the "jerky guy"!

2) I wear sandals until the snow falls. I hate closed toe shoes and I hate socks even more! There is just something about enclosing my little tootsies that makes me sad. Some people strip to their undies when they get home from work...me it's back to barefoot.

3) I loved being pregnant. I was the happiest girl when I was carrying my babies! There is just something so special about carrying a little life inside of you and being able to indulge guilt free in whatever foods your little heart desires all at the same time! Sheer HEAVEN I tell you! I also liked being "barefoot and pregnant!!"

4) My two favorite condiments are mustard and vinegar. I think I got this from my Mother. (at least the love for mustard) When making a sandwich, it must have lots of mustard...in fact maybe more mustard than meat! I eat vinegar on my fries and gravy and on my plain potato chips. Some think that is very weird.

5) I love to drive! I would drive to the ends of the earth! My idea of a great trip would be to jump in my vehicle with no limits to time or money and go wherever the path led me! I love adventure when it's share with someone you love! I wouldn't want to do that kind of thing by myself!

6) I cannot start the day in a good mood without doing the daily crossword puzzle. I used to do this privately and not tell anyone because I felt a little foolish to have this kind of need, but one day hubby caught me doing it on the weekend and now he's hooked as well. When we get old we are still gonna get along fine cause I love his mind!!

7) I'm not a quitter! I've never successfully quit anything in my life! I've tried giving up smoking, over-eating and even cursing! Nothing works as I have no willpower! I'm also not a starter! I've never started exercising, dieting or killing anyone, even though I've often thought that quitting or starting any of these things would solve many of my health issues!

I'm off for a long weekend now...going home to supervise the installation of porcelain tiles on my kitchen floor starting tomorrow morning. That reminds me, I really should take some before and after pics...

Have a great weekend folks!!

A Look to the Future

2007-10-24T08:20:00.000-04:00

I have been known to keep abreast of current events. I'm led there by default in my search for the daily crossword. Good headlines have a tendency to pull you in and make you read the article and this one caught my eye:

Why your children may never leave home by Jennifer Wells a columnist for the Toronto Star.

Jennifer's story could have been mine! Go here to read and substitute "Three Boys Inc" with "Three Girls Inc."

See what I mean! It's so totally me. So I got to thinking. What exactly will my girls have to do to someday own their own home?

Aimee and I have talked about doing the joint thing. You know what I mean....big house with a little in-law suite for Rob and I to last out our days when we are old and can't do anything anymore (you know , next year!) We definitely saw that as a possibility but we also saw that it might be problematic in some areas.

So instead of the morning crossword...I head over to the MLS real estate listings and have a boo to see what's out there. Real Estate is booming and housing prices are so high in our area. Now I know it's a little early to be worrying about all of this..but they are my "Three Girls Inc" and despite what Jennifer Wells the columnist may be contemplating...well this just isn't an option for me. My girls will always be welcome in our home, even when their 40!

Then it hit me as I dig through my wallet for change to put in for the lottery (this week the prize is a sweet 20 million) I guess I should stick a couple more bucks onto this one and hope for the best!

Just Imagine! hmmm, a post for another day!

How did this happen?

2007-10-22T10:58:00.001-04:00

How did I become the person that people look to?

How did I become the strong one?

How did I become the great giver of advice?

How did this happen?

I'm feeling especially emotional today! I'm feeling little and weak and all I really want to do is hide in my bed and try not to cry. I don't even know why! I'm sitting in my office and I can't stop the tears!

Please don't talk to me, please don't look at me...just let me have my moment of weakness!

And NO, IT'S NOT THAT TIME OF MONTH! , it could however, be that time of life!

It's only Monday and confrontation has abounded this morning and I'm feeling very much like I'm going to have to resolve it and that SUCKS!

Hope you all are having a better day!

Enter if you dare.....

2007-10-18T16:26:00.000-04:00

Last night I was visiting friends that I haven't seen in a very long time. I made a statement that I'm not comfortable in social situations, mostly because I don't like most people.

I'm pretty picky about the people I surround myself with as I get older.

I don't want to deal with people that feel it is necessary to drink until all of the alcohol in a 40 km radius has been consumed and then try and carry on a conversation or even worse sing!
I don't want to deal with people that feel it is necessary to pay enormous amounts of money for their worldly goods, rub it in my face and then don't even appreciate what they have and don't fricking use it (yes, referring to stupid neighbours with hot tub and built in pool that has not been used more than 5 times this calendar year!).
I don't want to deal with people that can't hold an intelligent conversation and feel the need to prattle on about NOTHING of importance or repeat the same uninteresting story over and over until I just want to SHOOT myself!

In fact I just don't wanna deal with anyone that hasn't been pre-approved by the "Linda says you deserve to step within the circle of love" The pre-approved people know who they are! They are good with this! They don't introduce new "people" into the circle before going over the qualifications .

Let's face it ....most people suck!

Thank Heaven's for 4 day weeks.....

2007-10-11T08:04:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been a mixture of work and travel for work, family and entertaining family...and celebrating things to be thankful for.

I thought it appropriate on this wonderful Thursday to make a list of the things I'm thankful for.

my family- okay that seems pretty lame when I put it like that, I mean everyone is thankful for their family aren't they? Alright, maybe not everyone. I, however, am! I have two great, healthy parents that I've finally realized love us for who we are even though they don't approve of everything we do...I'm 44, it's about time I realize that, don't you think? I have 3 great kids that have made me proud to be a Mom. They make me laugh, cry, pull my hair out and I now realize that they are infinitely smarter than me...they already know I love 'em no matter what! Last but not least...see I did these in the order that they affected my life....my wonderful hubby. He makes me laugh, makes my heart sing when I look into his eyes and my skin tingles when he hugs me or brushes my hair away from my eyes.
my friends- I have the very best friends a girl could ever ask for. I have Hubby and he's my bestest bff. I am thankful for Colleen. She makes me laugh, makes me cry..she makes me feel! I know that she's there for me to call before pool and just go over and hang at her house. We are comfortable together. I can tell her anything and she gets me! She's funny, she's smart and she's the kindest gentlest soul hidden behind a fun bitchy exterior...i guess alot like me...soft and squishy on the inside and tough on the outside (kind of). I am thankful for Dawn. Dawn is always late, but worth the wait. Dawn is always the voice of reason. Dawn is always calm and strong! Dawn is the best BINGO player I know! Dawn makes me smile and she makes me laugh. I have a bunch of acquaintances that I play pool with, work with and blog with... people that listen to and read my trivial little thoughts and don't tell me they don't wanna hear it anymore...for them I am also very thankful!
my job- yup, I'm thankful for the folks I work with, for the clients that teach me new things everyday and for the paycheck that pays the bills
my home-the great money sucking fixer upper is my wonderful house! I love my little house. It truly is a home where, I believe, people feel comfortable coming over to mostly untidy home. They hang out, tell their secrets and above all they laugh! Notice the common thread in the people and things I surround myself with....LAUGHTER! I love to laugh!
my pets- yes FLD and LTD make me laugh as well. LTD is not only leaking all over the place but something is dying inside her and it's trying to make it's way out in gaseous form leaving behind the worst farts that anyone has ever smelled, even she leaves the room after doing it. FLD had a hayday with the turkey carcass this past holiday. We thought we were careful and put the garbage out after cleaning up out thanksgiving dinner but it appears as though FLD stole the turkey carcass out of the garbage when we were eating and hid it in two pieces in her mom's laundry basket for future chewing fun.
my crackberry-'nuf said....I just love it!
pumpkin pie-yum
extension cords- they keep shit working when you can't figure out what's happening in the fusebox. That's important stuff!

You know there are many other things that I am thankful for but damn work is getting in the way and I have to do some....

Have a great day and THANK HEAVEN for 4 day work weeks cause Friday...here I come!

come out come out whoever you are!

2007-10-03T13:56:00.000-04:00

It's today...the day I've been waiting for! I love visitors!!!

Weekends make me wish for more weekends!

2007-10-01T11:28:00.000-04:00

Do you ever feel like that? When you sit down at your desk on Monday morning...well, the only thing you can think of is how fast to the next weekend?

This week is going to be especially long because next weekend we Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving and it's a 3 day weekend with Monday as the holiday.

This past weekend the whole family (yes all three girls were in attendance, a definite rare occasion on the weekends) went out for dinner at this really nice Chinese restaurant called the Mandarin. I had never been there...the food was pretty good. Of course when we got home all of the girls scattered to random points of the earth with their boys and I retired to my usual Friday night position...lying on the couch catching up on my TV.

Saturday morning up early to give Hubby his weekend exercise (get your minds out of the gutter!!) doing the on-line crossword puzzle. In the afternoon, Aimee and I attended a baby shower for Heather. I would point to her blog but what would be the point? Her last blog was last January, promising to be a better blogger! The shower was fun and there are so many fun new things out there!

Saturday evening...all girls out again leaving hubby and I alone together again with me in my favorite location, the couch and hubby inviting a friend over.

Sunday morning, up early to exercise hubby's brain again and then off to pick apples. We got alot of great apples. Honey Crisp just came into season and Red Delicious and Mac's are usual favorites at our house. I also picked up some Blossoms (little individual pies) for people to feast on when the dessert need strikes.

All in all a great weekend that makes me wish it were next weekend!

This weeks going to be a busy one. I'm off to the great North on Thursday, Thunder Bay is the destination. It's about 950 miles due north west of where I live. It's a quick turn around though, fly in on Thursday and out on Friday afternoon!

Hope your weekend was good and your week is better!!

another addiction to beware of?

2007-09-28T08:14:00.000-04:00

It's official....today I officially move into the world of the crackberry. I'm a self proclaimed workoholic and proud of it! I get up in the morning and check my email. I get shivers of excitement when the little envelope shows up with news of a new email. Before I go to bed, I check it again! Now with this little toy

I will be able to check it in bed, in the shower...when I'm having a romantic evening with Hubby!

It's gonna be so much fun! I asked for this. I wanted this! Now I'm kind of scared, 'cause well....Have I told you I'm a schmuck with no technical ability...it took me weeks to get comfortable with the laptop and to this day I still attach a mouse and keyboard to make life simpler! Hopefully I can figure out how to use it competently...I hate looking like a dolt with high tech electronic equipment!!

It's gonna be so much fun!

Just feel the sarcasm as you read my words.......It's gonna be so much fun!

Happy Birthday Baby!

2007-09-21T09:02:00.000-04:00

Well I'm a few days late and a dollar short with this posting.

The other day, my youngest raison d'etre turned 17. 17 is an important age to a 17 year old. It's the age when hormones tell you that you should be able to do whatever the heck you wanna, whenever the heck you want to. Her whatever was to have her first party with alcohol and everything. I have a couple of rules where this type of party is concerned (especially the first one, set the ground rules early)

So before we agreed to allow it this is the conversation we had, I spoke, she listened.

1) Any drivers.....no alcohol! I will not tolerate drinking and driving of any kind.
2) Underage drinkers...their mothers/fathers must be aware they are drinking.
3) under no circumstances will we tolerate illegal drugs of any kind on or about the premises.
4) I do not clean puke, nor do I hold back hair for those that feel the need to do so...recommendation, do not let your friends get to inebriated because you will be cleaning puke!
5) no one leaves here without having a safe ride home
6) there will be no drunken teenage storage at this home and that includes you!
7) All drinking must be done responsibly and as this is your first party, your father and I will be in attendance.
8) I will not buy you your alcohol.
9) If you are hungover you will still be getting up to assist in the preparation of the brunch being held here for your grandparents, no excuses!

Those were the rules set out and she chose to accept the challenge.

Fast forward to last night, the main event!
1) House cleaned and teenagers begin to arrive around 7:30pm. Fire started in the chiminea and music cued.
2) I refuse to admit I know where she got her alcohol, but she had it. A 4 pack of smirnoff ices to share with her friend Bronwyn and a 26er of vodka. Total drank all night 4 smirnoff and around six ounces of vodka that she shared with friends...done drinking by 10:15pm. On to water, she learned from her sisters that water is the key to no hangover the next morning.
3) no drugs that I saw or smelled...not a whiff
4) all drivers drinking pepsi or juice, no questions asked
5) mom's arrived to pick up the last of the tipsy teens by 1:30 am.
6) not one teen puked! Surprisingly she hangs out with a fairly responsible group of kids that all have older siblings that were not so responsible and they learned from their mistakes!
7) not one fight, not one angry parent and no drunken teenage storage, not even her!

All in all a very good night. I'm pretty proud of her and her current batch of friends, they all seem quite nice and seem to be fairly responsible. I even met the boy she's been dating for 3 weeks. Very nice young man, 19 years old...job and a planned out future. For now it works , he treats her well, seems responsible, is respectful of his elders and his peers.

This morning everyone was up early, re-tidied the backyard for our brunch and the family celebrated my Mom's b-day (Happy B-day Mom) that was Friday and Brianne's b-day that was Thursday. We had a very nice time.

I'm proud of my girls, they've all learned that there are rules in life that must be followed and although there is still a leash until they move out of the house....if all remain respectful of each other it's a very long leash with lots of room to grow!

Good Job Brianne! Happy Birthday Ladies, may you have many more!!!

I can't dance....I can't sing.....

2007-09-18T13:04:00.000-04:00

the only thing about me is the way that download that video!

The concert really was spectacular...my videotaping ability...well not so much!

It takes along time for these things so I'm only doing my two favorites!

I tried but damn thing was taking hours

2007-09-12T20:12:00.000-04:00

I'm not talking about hubby either!

I tried downloading the videos to my computer this morning. I started it, went to get my hair cut for an hour and then came back it was only 3% downloaded. After 5 hours the damn camera ran out of batteries and kacked....end of downloading.

I officially give up and if one of my darling daughters doesn't rescue me from downloading hell...oh here they are both to the rescue. Did you know the memory card can go right into my computer. How cool is that!! So apparently it will still take a long time to download but I will get video!

I'm ready to leave for Calgary tomorrow morning at before the sun comes up time and come back at the last possible minute of the last hour of the day...BLAH!

I'll post those video's as soon as I figure out how all this works!

Talk to you Friday!

I wanted to show video!

2007-09-10T07:47:00.000-04:00

I got some amazing video from the concert....I'm computer and camera illiterate! Did I mention that? So until one of my daughters provides some assistance there will be no video... :(

Friday evening we joined our friends at the BMO Field and experienced the return of the old guys. Yes, I say that quite easily. Phil and the boys are old. Aside from an amazing tambourine routine and going between singing and drumming....not much activity on the stage. Phil has not lost that amazing voice..I <3 Phil!

Saturday was spent cleaning, doing laundry and getting the dog groomed for Aimee's return from the land down under. Despite missing a connecting flight in LA she arrived safely in Toronto. Happy to be home and we are happy to have her back!

Today is the start of a busy week, meetings all week and a trip to Calgary on Thursday.

Have a great week folks!

Turn it on again!

2007-09-06T08:32:00.000-04:00

WOO FRICKING HOO!

I'M GOING TO SEE GENESIS TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!

Are you jealous?

I'm a huge fan of Phil Collins and Genesis! I didn't plan this but sometimes Lady Luck has a way of stepping in and making things happen!

A friend of ours bought tickets for the show at the BMO Stadium this Friday night. He was gonna take his wife for her birthday which is also Friday and they were going to take his parents with them. Apparently the 'rents had a change of heart and decided that they couldn't really go....so he thought of us!

AAAAhhhhhh! I can hardly sit still I'm so excited!

ARGHHH!

2007-09-03T19:52:00.000-04:00

I hate this time of year! It's that time of year when you have to start negotiating with your children about what is a reasonable home time! School starts tomorrow after all!

My argument-"Home for 9pm. You need your beauty rest! All right, yes you are already pretty cute but come on it's been a long summer of very late nights and although you have not pushed the limits of my patience once this summer (compared to last summer that's pretty good!), yes I know you are going to be 17 soon! What does that matter? I'm going to be 45 soon and I know that everyone needs beauty rest!"

Her argument-"Mom! I'm going into grade 12, I should be able to come home a little later! I've got my books ready, my laundry is all done and Manik doesn't have to be home till 10! Don't even say it! I know you aren't Manik's mom! Thank God for that, cause that would be gross! Please, can I be home for 10pm? Alright around 10, since he'll need 5 minutes to get home. 'K, Bye see you at 10" as she walks out the door

Hey, I didn't say 10....too late, she's gone!

The youngest daughter has started dating. 'Nuf said right! That's right, I've given in again!

I'm such a loser!!!

btw....I'm taking your man!

2007-09-02T20:49:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd let Aimee know that Gemini is over visiting your ole Mama Dukes!! Uh-huh! See it really is me that he has been coming over to visit.

I hear you've been trying to call....I'm bringing the phone to bed with me tonight.

Love you loads!
MD

Monday 10:29 AM in Cairns

2007-09-02T20:30:00.000-04:00

It's 8:30 pm here and we are kicking back eating homemade pizza and watching Jericho. Not sure why we never watched that series when it was on TV, it's awesome! I hear they are possibly bringing it back! I'll watch it!

It's Monday morning in Cairns and baby girl is hanging out with her sleep cronies at the World Sleep Conference. She's probably getting all excited about the people she's meeting and the research she's sharing....she's academic that way!

Haven't heard from her since yesterday morning, our time, when she was just getting ready for bed to be all fresh for her first day! That's good news that we haven't heard from her, it means she's not missing us too much!

We went to Aberfoyle Antique market today. We took Hunny along for the ride. She wasn't letting me leave the house without her. As soon as she saw me dressed in street clothes she was attached to me, jumping on my leg. I really think if she had thumbs she would have wrapped her little paws around my leg and begged to come! She was good in the car and she loved walking around the park.

Anyway, things here are good so don't worry about us Aimee! We're doing fine, we do miss you though!!!

The end of summer

2007-09-01T08:04:00.000-04:00

Well it's the labour day weekend, for many that means the end of summer. The kids return to school on Tuesday, alot of people are at their cottages for the last long weekend of the summer.

For me it's the end of a busy summer, two conferences, one in Quebec City and one in Ottawa, both places I've never been. Only one trip to the cottage but it was a nice one and last but not least stressing through the ordeal of getting one kid ready for the trip of a lifetime!!

The days will get shorter, the weather not quite so hot and the mere thought of snow and Christmas make me shiver!

This weekend we'll be relaxing and going to our annual rib-fest gathering with many friends that have babies we haven't seen in a long time. I'm looking froward to seeing them and sharing their summer highlights.

Ahhhh summer why are you so short???

Did a dingo steal my baby....already?

2007-08-30T10:35:00.000-04:00

Well officially she's only been in Australia for 9 hours or so...but I haven't heard from her! I followed the news, I checked the internet. No planes went down in the last 35 hours so she must be there!

I know that as soon as she's gotten settled in and as soon as she's got some means of connecting she'll let us know she's okay...unless they got her, the dingo's I mean!

So for now, I will be anxiously awaiting her message!

Hugs Baby Girl!
Miss you like crazy!

Never thought I would be doing that!

2007-08-28T17:06:00.000-04:00

On the weekend we went to the Exhibition. It's kind of like a city version of the fall fair. You know rides, vendors, good greasy quality food and such.

Every year the girls and I go so they can partake of the damn fine deals they get in the various buildings. Every year they come away with new clothing for school on a very slim budget and every year I drool over the hot tubs. I want a hot tub. I know that hot tubs are an expensive investment, I know the expense to upkeep them is significant but I also know the healing benefits of the wonderful big bathtub with jets that knead away the stiff and soreness of the the day!

This year was going to be the year. Rob and I had discussed it last year. Then over the winter the car started to sputter and the roof started to leak and damnit there went the hot tub!

The car is in getting fixed as I sit here to the tune of $2,000 and well the roof will be about the same plus a little more. I hate attempting to be a responsible adult and refusing to go into debt for the luxury items that I sooooo want!

Anyway my point here is I try and be responsible and very rarely do I splurge on anything for myself at the Ex...usually I do the internal sulk..."If I can't have the hot tub, I don't want anything!" This year, I bought myself something that I can honestly say I never thought I would!

Can you guess what it was? Nah, you'll never guess cause I have been adamant that I would never pay the money for that!

I bought these:
Yes they are even this color as this was the only colour they had in my size! Yes, they are pink and orange and they are honestly the most expensive pair of plastic sandals I've ever bought!

They were worth EVERY penny!

Another thing that I never thought I would be doing was dropping my kid off at the airport to go to Australia for 10 days without me! A trip to Australia is what we planned to do if we ever won the lottery.

That's all good though, since now she can take pictures, get the lay of the land and let us know if it's worth the 28 hour travel time. I mean since they've grown up we've all said we'd love to do Asia as well so...a little change of plans never hurt anyone!

So for the next 10 days I'll be a little cranky as I miss one of my brood....but she'll be having the time of her life and showing off her smarts in a land down under!

Could NEVER be prouder!

I'm BACK!!!

2007-08-23T17:51:00.000-04:00

I actually returned from my trip away to Ottawa on Tuesday night but things have been very busy with lots of things going on!!

Ottawa was a very interesting trip. While I was there the American President rolled into town with 400 of his closest aides. This closed down airports, streets and even some shops (I think the owners may have been out trying to catch a glimpse of him (read throw a rock at!)

Aside from that very interesting little bit of excitement the days were long, the nights were lonely and traveling by yourself to an unfamiliar city with demonstrators everywhere around you (my hotel was 2 or 3 blocks from Parliament hill) really does suck!

On my way back from Ottawa, I gave Colleen a call to tell her I wasn't coming to pool and was greeted by my sobbing friend's little "hello..." Clearly things were not going well and when she broke her news to me that her Dad had been diagnosed with the "Big C" just that afternoon...well the rush was on to get home to be there in her absence. I made it just in time to organize the guys on the team into winning spirits. They really aren't good at decision making, keeping score or anything besides playing pool! Anyway, Colleen called me later that night to let me know that although the diagnosis was made, the prognosis was not...more to follow on that one! Please keep Colleen and her family in your prayers!!

After a long day on Tuesday and not seeing my hubby and kids for 3.5 days, I decided to go into work a little later than usual and spend some time with my gang at home. I didn't go in till around 8:30am. It was our wedding anniversary after all and the least i could do is give him a taste of what I was sure he had been missing, in fact I increased the dosage by 10cc's (just kidding!, an increase of that much rat poison all at once...clearly he would notice!!) Anyway by about 8 o'clock he was napping in the chair and the furthest thing from his mind was reminiscing about our wedding day 9 years ago!

Off to work and a busy day it was getting ready for today's presentation to a wonderfully satisfied client! (sarcasm at it's finest!, I clearly get all the good ones!)
Last night when I got home, dinner was being made by the eldest daughter (a very nice schnitzel dinner by the way!!!) and the entire family spent a quality 10 minutes together before making their way off to their other engagements. Hubby left for work at 9pm and I left for my Wednesday night standing date with my other spouse that will soon be moving away!

Dammit another late night and therefore a very painful awakening this morning! Two meetings today and another late night today since it's the girls night to show those boys in the pool hall just what we are all about!

Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday and for me the end of a long week and beginning of a long 4 day weekend since I don't have to be back at work until Wednesday.

Hope all is well with you and remember to say "I love you" even if you're having a bad day!

Hugs!!

The Nation's Capital

2007-08-17T16:09:00.000-04:00

I'm heading out to our Nation's Capital this weekend. I've never been. It's only 5 hours away! Pretty pathetic isn't it. Well no less pathetic than the fact that I live less than 30 minutes away from the CN Tower and until Brianne came to visit from the US last year...I had never been!

Anyway, I'm driving there all by myself. No hubby, no kids, no co-workers...just me and the conference booth and a van full of marketing materials!

Wish me luck!

Mixed Emotions

2007-08-13T10:17:00.000-04:00

Got some news today from a very good friend of mine. In fact, I would probably consider her one of my best friends.

For many years now we have laughed together, cried together, played together and vacationed together. We even slept together! but she sleeps with everyone...LOL!

I've known for some time that she and her fiance have been exploring the possibility of moving to another city about 100 km's away. This is a place north of Toronto that has reasonable housing costs and it will half the distance to their cottage.

She is a friend that has always talked about leaving the job she hates, getting married, having babies, buying a house etc and although I listen to her....well let's just say I never really considered the implications. Let's just say she's TALKED ABOUT IT! for a very long time.

Well, she's found a job in that city and is actually giving her notice today at the job she hates and starting the new job on the 27th of August. Man, that's only two weeks away.

I'm going to miss our standing Wednesday night date.
I'm going to miss our bitch sessions about our men.
I'm going to miss evenings sitting in my backyard, getting rid of her grey hairs and drinking coffee
I'm going to miss our playing pool together on Thursdays Girls Team

I'm going to miss my friend!

However:

I am going to be happy that she is no longer in a job that she hates
I am going to be happy that she will own that house she wants
I am going to be happy that she will now move towards getting married and having a family
I am going to be happy that she is only an hour away and I will still get to see her
I am going to be happy because I have internet phone that allows me to call her daily if I want for free
I am going to be happy that she will still be my friend

True friends are hard to find and when you do find one, you know that no matter the distance between you, you will always be together....

8 things about me.....cause Aimee tagged me!

2007-07-31T11:05:00.000-04:00

My lovely daughter Aimee tagged me because she knows I love to tell my secrets to the world!
The Rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The game rules are posted at the beginning of the post. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment to let them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

Factoid #1: I hate this type of game! It's kind of like the emails that tell you if you don't pass it on to 2000 friends your best friend will develop some terminal illness and you will have bad luck for 25 years! There is an obligation to do it! Don't you think? I mean really if you don't do it you run the risk that your best friend will die and you won't be able to look in a mirror without it smashing to a million pieces, all your cash will be gone when you go to the bank and your house will burn down! That's just my luck.

Factoid # 2: I can't get started on my day without doing the crossword puzzle in the Toronto Star. It's a habit that I can't break. Even on Sunday morning you will find me sitting in my backyard with my laptop and a coffee puzzling over strange new words!

Factoid # 3: I am judgmental. I always judge others by a standard that I set for myself. This is a very low standard on some peoples scales! I insist that if you are going to walk and talk in my presence you should be able hold a conversation at least with yourself! I hate people that can't string two words/steps together without stumbling! In fact I abhor STUPID PEOPLE!

Factoid # 4: My husband is my best friend and I don't know what I would do without him. He is funny, strong and yet somehow gentle all at the same time! He is the only DUMBASS that I can tolerate for more than 10 minutes without wanting to shoot myself in the temple! He can't help that he has that gene that makes him a stupid boy!

Factoid #5: I love my kids! I love having them around! They make me laugh.

Factoid #6: I love to gamble! One of my favorite places is Las Vegas! When drawn near to the casinos here in Ontario I lock my purse, bank card and credit card in the trunk and enter only with the amount I am comfortable losing . I regulate this urge to gamble by attending Bingo once weekly with my girlfriend. It is a controlled spend and sometimes we get lucky. (this past weekend we did something we haven't done in a long time....did more than 1 session in a row, only because we won, total winnings this weekend amounted to over $2000) Husband has recently taken to calling my bingo bag my tools and my evening at bingo my second job. He laughs and says it's like the second pay cheque!

Factoid # 7: I am a control freak. For this reason, I drive everywhere we go. Husband does not mind as this gives him the excuse to have a beer or 6 when we go out somewhere without the worry of having to drive. For this reason, I do not drink....

Factoid # 8: I worry and it hurts! I worry about everything because I insist on taking control (see factoid # 7) and therefore feel responsible for the world so that I can then complain about all stuff people don't do because they know Linda's in control and will take care of it! This is especially predominant in the workplace! It happens at home as well and Hubby and I have been known to have stupid boy conversations about it, where I say that I wish he would do something while all the while never relinquishing responsibility at all! Famous last words...."Never mind, it's easier if I do it myself then try and explain it!, Go forth and do stupid boy things!"

Damn I hate these things....they are never as clever as you think they could be and frankly, I'm just not interesting enough to read about anyway!
I'm not tagging anyone except maybe MP cause she visits me occasionally, everyone else got tagged by the evil one that tagged me!