Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Letters and feet...

...so remember I told y'all about sending a letter to the local MLA? Anyways, I did, complaining about the lack of maternity benefits for self-employed women. I got a response listing a bunch of stats strengthening my position...like this statement:

" According to Statistics Canada, in 2007, more than 900,000 women were self-employed in Canada. This represents 35 per cent of self-employed workers, and about 11 per cent of Canada’s female workforce. It is unsettling to note that the vast majority of self-employed women take less than four weeks of maternity leave, compared to an average of nearly six months for employed women."

Well that's wonderful...thanks for letting me know I'm not alone...now what? Solution anyone? So in his letter he urged me to write to my local MP. I thought, what do I have to lose...after all, it is an election year. I wrote to him the exact same letter and to my surprise, he phoned me personally last night. He advised that the Liberal Platform had a plan addressing exactly what I'm looking for: Maternity/Sick Benefits for the self-employed!!! YAY! He also told me that in fairness to the Conservatives, they also had a similar plan so no matter what happens during the election, it seems like I'll get my wish!! I thought that was very honest of him to tell me that both parties had something for me. Now I will do some more research before I make a decision on my vote. Thanks to both my MLA and MP for the responses...and note they are both from different parties...working together to help me.

DISCLAIMER: Just so y'all know, I don't want to use my blog to bash or favor any party or politician. I have some respect for all of them as they're doing a job that I wouldn't want at this point in time. I will remain neutral and just state things I find interesting about this election, be it the US one or the Canadian one.

Now let's move on to something more serious...my clumsiness! I failed to tell y'all about my falls over the weekend...kinda embarrassing, but funny now that I think about it. Picture this....so me and my two friends get ready to leave the hotel and go out for some supper. We get to the elevator and the door is closing. I run to catch it, but it's too late, the people in the elevator are staring at me while they do absolutely nothing about the fact that I want to go down and that's where they're going. I hit the down arrow and all of a sudden, the doors open again! The man by the buttons must have felt bad and pressed the open door button...YAY...so I go to walk in the elevator...and it happens...I take one step and fall flat on my face in the elevator at this guy's feet. Ya..I know...do do do, I'm walking straight then BAM...in the elevator I go. Apparently when the doors closed the elevator went down a little so when it opened again there was about a half a foot drop between the hallway floor and the elevator floor. Basically it was like I walked from the dining room into a sunk in living room, missing the steps. Lovely...so I get up and dust myself off...trying not to laugh and noticing everyone else was biting they're cheeks too. How embarrassing? Anyways...let's fast forward to Sunday morning...walking into the breakfast place. We're going up the stairs and I completely ram my big toe into the cement stairs. I fumble to stay up and catch myself on the rail...I'm ok, but my toe - not so much. I think I broke something on the top of it as it still hurts to move. I've come to the conclusion that I'm unfit to be out in public. I am my own hazard. People worry about having a car accident, crashing in a plane, falling off a high building...not me...I worry about hurting myself...with myself!

"...Then I ran into your garden,But I tripped out the gate" - Hedley

Monday, September 29, 2008

Sir Elton John...

...so I had the honor of going to see him on Saturday Night...one word...PHENOMENAL! He was even more talented than I thought. His piano skills were amazing and his way of connecting to his audience was even better. He sat at his piano and played for nearly 3 hours with no breaks. He had a standing ovation after each song and mouthed the words "Thank You" many times throughout the night. I waited patiently for "Benny and the Jets" and was overjoyed when those glorious chords starting coming out of the speakers.

The fans were a little crazy though. The lights were getting dim and we were trying to find our seats. We were a little late cause we had just spent $5.50 on each a beer and realized we couldn't bring them to our seats so we stood there and guzzled them like boys at a frat party....we were hot... so anyways, when we finally got to our row we realized our seats were all the way at the other end of the row. We apologized to the people we had to sneak by and they were all real nice till this one lady one row behind us yelled "SIT DOWN!!" in the meanest voice ever. I looked up, puzzled as Elton wasn't on the stage yet and we were simply trying to get to our seats...then she yells it again! I couldn't believe it so I stopped, looked at her and said "Listen lady, we've paid the same amount of money as you and we're trying to get to our seats...HOLD ON!" I was surprised someone could be so rude. We got to our seats and were still kinda annoyed with that crazy lady...I mean, could they get any rude-er? OH YES...we met her match...the lady in front of us! Elton starts "Our Song" and we were totally mesmerized. We were such in awe that we just sat there with our jaws wide open the entire song and didn't say a word. Once he was done and people were clapping, we talked amongst ourselves to say how exciting this all was...then it happened...the rudest lady ever...she turns around and says "SHHHHH!!!!". I chuckled cause, I mean, she couldn't of been Shhh-ing us...then she does it again.... "SHHHHHH!!!!"....UN FRICKEN REAL! Here we are...section 43...almost touching the roof...thousands of people screaming and crying....and this lady says "SHHHHH" Nuh-uh!!!...wasn't having that. We started to laugh...and laugh some more....and are now crying cause this lady had the nerve to tell us to SHHHHH...boy was she in for it once we started singing along!!

So to the lady in Section 43, with the Blond out of date hairdo, and the real acky sweater, who thought that by Shhh-ing three ladies out of a whole stadium of people she'd hear the rumble of the crowd better....GET A LIFE! HAHAHAH!

"...how wonderful life is, with you in the world." - Elton John

Friday, September 26, 2008

Angels...

...so today is a somber day. Two of my good friends lost a very special Aunt last night. I know today will be a very difficult day for them and their families as they were all so very close to one another. She was a vibrant woman who had so much to give. She was very athletic and a great mother, sister, wife and Aunt. Although it is hard to see her go, she is at peace now and has left her loved ones with many great memories that I'm sure they're cherish forever.

Thinking of you Nursemaid and Preggo #2...XOXO

"You're in the arms of the Angel; may you find some comfort here" - Sarah McLachlan

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Lovely, fricken lovely...

...so I went to the Dentist yesterday to fill a cavity. Haven't done that in years and I was soooo nervous that I chewed the inside of my cheeks all day. I got there and the dentist told me the needle may hurt a bit but after that I wouldn't feel a thing...he promised! So, he did the needle and that didn't feel great, but I dealt with it and slowly my cheeks and tongue started to get numb. After a few minutes of watching some kind weird show on Discovery, the dentist came back and started to drill. He did it for a few seconds then stopped and asked if I was ok...I responded yes and then he said "See, I told you that you wouldn't feel anything!" After that he proudly drilled my tooth again till I jolted! He stopped and I told him that I felt something...kinda resonated down my jaw...not cool, at all....so he said "oh great, I guess you made a liar out of me, more freezing for you!" Lovely...fricken lovely...so here goes another needle in my mouth and it hurt a little so clearly I needed it. After a few minutes he started again and everything was fine. Now, you can only imagine what my face looked like...frozen from my ear to past my nose, up over my eye and halfway down my neck. I could barely smile and now I had to face the waiting room...AND talk to the receptionist! Lovely...fricken lovely. I managed to make a fool of myself by talking with a really bad lisp, along with a pile of drooling coming down the right side of my face...hot stuff ,I was. If Botox feels anything like that then I definitely know I'm never getting any!

Today things are back to normal, but I had a rough time with the coffee maker. The filters we have are round and we really need the cone ones but we've made do for the last few months...but NOT TODAY! I made 3 pots and all of them resulted with grains all over the place and coffee all over the counter. I was so grumpy...this girl needs her coffee...I even tried my paper towel trick and still had coffee everywhere...(note to self: don't use industrial strength paper towel as it soaks it all up ...lovely, fricken lovely.) I ended up going to my favorite bakery to get some coffee instead...and this is the first time I've gone there and not bought a treat. It was real hard resisting the shortbread with chocolate drizzle cookies...and the cheesecake....and the new chocolate clumps that look like bird poop but taste like a little bit of chocolate heaven...I felt like it was too early to eat sweets, plus I drove and I really should walk there to get my treats...makes me feel better...or so I try to convince myself.

"If a picture paints a thousand words then why can't I paint you..." -Bread

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

"Things that make you go hum?!"

...so in today's paper I read an article about a lady in Bridgedot that was permanently injured by her own tombstone....yes, you read that right...her tombstone. According to the Chronicle Herald, her tombstone fell on her ankle and she is seeking compensation from the manufacturer for her pain and suffering. She claims she advised the company that it wasn't set properly and they advised her they had fixed it, but apparently they hadn't...or so she claims.

Now, let's get to the burning question in my mind...What on earth are you doing visiting your tombstone and jiggling it around? Do you not find that a little creepy? I certainly do. I know many people buy their tombstones ahead of time and have then set in place for when the time comes they need to "use" them. I can assure you this is not something I would do as I plan on leaving money for someone else to order one. After all, it means something to those left behind...what do I care what it looks like if I'm 6 feet under? Anyways, let's get over that and assume I did buy my own tombstone...I can't see I'd go visit it...let alone touch it. The cemetery is not a place I like to go...and especially not to go visit my future home. Rather odd, don't ya think?!

"How bizarre, how bizarre" - OMC

Monday, September 15, 2008

NO NEED!!!...

...so I'm quite irked right now. Remember I told ya'll I bought a Satellite Radio...it was in March. So I bough a year of service ($206.00)right then and everything has been hunky dory. Well in July, my radio stopped working so I brought it back to the dealer and they gave me a new one right on the spot...I was pleased cause I'd only had it for 4 months so I was relieved it was still under warranty. Now we get to today where I check out my credit card statement and notice a charge from them for $135.00...that's odd cause I haven't spoken to them since I bought the radio in March. So I call to find out what's going on.

Here's the deal...according to the lady I spoke to... when I got a new radio in July I had to activate it so they charged me an activation fee of $75 ish and the rest is the cost of using the radio from March to July and now my radio service is good from July 2008 to July 2009 instead of March 2008 to March 2009 like planned. That's stupid...not my fault the radio broke...I'm NOT PAYING $75 to activate a radio that only worked for 4 months!!! They agreed and are refunding that fee...I WOULD FREAKIN' HOPE SO!! I said to her: "This is real convenient for XM RADIO as they could make sure their radios break down a few months after activation so that you have to go get a new one and pay for the activation all over again to use the service you've already paid for!" That makes no sense!!!

Now let's get to the second part. Apparently, XM RADIO has decided that with the new radio I still get a year's worth of service so since I paid from March 2008 to March 2009 and this new radio was activated in July 2008...I need to pay to have it go till July 2009. I don't have a choice...nope...they've decided that I NEED to do this. I was livid. I told her that I did not authorize the charge on my credit card and I only want the service till March 2008....she told me that it's policy and basically it was too bad. I said to her: "again, this is real convenient as XM RADIO now can have people extend their subscriptions by having the radios break down and forcing them to renew for the new time period"...that's unfair, unethical and really should be illegal. I didn't tell them to charge me...heck, I didn't even know they were going to charge me!!!!

I'M SO ANGRY RIGHT NOW...and that lady knew it...I realize it's not her fault, but I wanted her to know that I was NOT impressed. I'm not done with this...it's not fair...I should decide what I want to pay for...not them...this is totally ridiculous.

I don't have a song for this one...I'm too mad.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The younger years...

...so I dropped off the little one at Daycare this am. He just loves it there! He can't wait to go and gets all excited when I ask him to get his shoes. Once we get there, he runs right to the truck table and plays with the dinky cars...he's in his glory! Today I noticed that this same little girl is always playing at the table with the little one. It's almost like there's a little daycare crush going on...kinda cute really cause they're way too little to understand the meaning of a relationship.

My little one is really affectionate. The other day I brought him to the doctors office for a check up and he got ready to leave...he made it to the door then stopped, turned around and ran back to the Dr. to give her a hug and kiss. It was too cute. Once we got out into the reception area, I asked him to say bye to the receptionist and instead of waving he ran and gave her a hug and kiss...then he went around the room and hugged everyone that was sitting there waiting. There was this lady there was was 97 yrs old...she was tickled pink that he gave her a hug...you could see it in her face....it was very cute. I'm glad he's not shy but I guess I wouldn't want him to hug everyone for the rest of his life. I think he'll learn not to hug people just at random in time. I don't want to tell him not to hug the people in the waiting room as I don't want to him to think that hugging is bad...he doesn't understand...I guess he sees his Dada hug me all the time so he thinks he should do the same...or I hope he sees his Dad hug me and not other women out and about...hum...makes me think now... hehehe

It reminds me of my preschool days. I had little crushes on boys. I even had one boy really like me. I wasn't too keen on him and he was always after me for a hug or to sit in the chair beside me. I guess he got fed up one day of me brushing him off so he wrote me a poem. I'll never forget it...it goes:

"Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
I like big butts
That's why I like you!"

How hilarious is that?? HAHAHA I guess he didn't realize that commenting on my large rump probably wasn't the best plan...but I guess I can give him some credit for trying. He did make a mark on my little grade days as I still remember it. Actually, I might still have it somewhere...I'll have to look. My hubby never wrote me a poem...I'm scared to see what he'd come up with.


"I like big butts and I cannot lie..." - Sir Mix A Lot

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

"A wee um mum a way..."

...so on Saturday night we went to a gathering at one of our friends' house. While there this couple got in an argument...apparently this is a common occurrence...anyways, he was jealous because she went to the store with some other guy and another girl. It was a very ridiculous argument, but it got really heated. Once they were separated, the gathering host went to talk to him and try to get him to calm down and make up with his wife. The guy was saying, "but you don't understand, I'm always wrong...like all day she tells me I'm wrong...nothing I do is right..." the the gathering host cuts him off and says "WELCOME TO MARRIAGE BUDDY!!...get used to it!!" HAHAHAHA I laughed a lot over that one...kinda one of those funny moments that you have to be there to find it as funny as I did.

So today I'm starting to wonder if my car makes animal calls or something. Everywhere I go I have animals coming out from the wood works at me. This morning I almost hit a bird coming down my driveway. I thought he was gonna move, but he stayed right in the way till the very last second. Then I went to an appointment and on the way down their road there was a dog walking in the middle of the road...just minding his own business, not caring that I was right on his tail. On the way back from my appointment on that same road there was a deer standing on the side of the road. It was kinda weird cause at first I thought it was one of those fake deer lawn ornaments...then it moved so it freaked me out. It was right there on this guys lawn, half in the ditch, half on the side of the road. After that I go to town and have to wait for a few minutes for a whole duck family to get out of the road. Really odd, eh? I hardly dare drive anywhere later on...scared to see what else will pop out at me...

"In the jungle, the mighty jungle..." - Unknown

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Uh huh...

...So this is a quote from the Chronicle Herald today:

"Lt.-Gov. Mayann Francis says it’s been disappointing that after two years she still hasn’t been able to move into Government House.

The stone mansion in downtown Halifax has been undergoing $5.7 million worth of renovations, so unlike her predecessors she hasn’t yet been able to live in the official residence of the province’s lieutenant-governor.

"It’s not something I dwell on or get sad over because I just don’t have the time," Ms. Francis said in an interview Friday to mark her second anniversary in the post.

"If I were to dwell on disappointments because I’m not in the house, then I probably wouldn’t be as successful as I have been in what I have been able to accomplish in two years — and that is a heck of a lot."

She has instead remained in her own condominium while receiving a $6,000 monthly housing allowance from the province. For her official duties, she has 2,800 square feet of space in the Maritime Centre, a highrise office building.

She said her role as the Queen’s representative, for which she’s paid $100,000 a year, involves visiting communities throughout the province — a map in her office space indicates the ground she has covered — and hosting dignitaries for various dinners and receptions.

"It’s a challenge," Ms. Francis said. "Is it easy to do it without the house? Of course it’s not. Does it mean I work 10 times harder? Yes."

She realizes the house required upgrades. But not having the staff on hand at such a location — such as housekeepers, doormen and a chef — has cost her some important company, she said. " - Chronicle Herald (http://www.thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1077134.html)

Not right sure what to say after that. Some people can't afford to heat their homes...some don't even have homes...and she's upset cause her multi-million dollar home isn't ready for her "dinner parties". Oh and who can forget the servants...apparently without waitstaff it makes you need to "work 10 times harder"...WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD HONEY!!

"Won't you look down upon me, jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And i won't make it any other way" - James Taylor

Friday, September 5, 2008

Election and other stuff...

...so I try to keep up with the US politics as I find it very interesting. One reason is that what they do affects our country economically so it's best to understand what's going on rather than complain about it. I know many people criticise the idea that we dig into the Presidential Candidate's backgrounds too much...we should leave them alone. I disagree. I know right now people are really wanting to know how Gov. Sarah Palin plans on holding it together should she be Vice-President. She has five kids and one of her teenage daughters just had a baby so basically she's taking care of 6 children. I think that's a valid question. I was working full time with a baby at home and found it very difficult and stressful...how on earth does this lady plan on doing it all? I realize that her husband may stay at home and take care of the kids, but I still want her to comment on it. I feel that women are equal to males in many respects so I surely feel she can do the job, it's just it'll be hard for her. I want to know everything about all the people running in the election...Do they smoke? Are they in good health? What are their hobbies? Are they're kids well behaved? What jobs did you have in the past? Were you a problem student? These are things I want to know on top of what they plan on doing for our country. I treat this like scoping out a Daycare. I want to know everything about a person before I allow them to tend my child...why is this any different? We have to trust that the President and Vice-President can take care of us and our children...so give me some answers...it's not being nosey, it's be cautious.

Ok enough of the serious stuff....did you know that there are 11,000 Millionaires in the Atlantic Provinces? I don't find that to be that many people considering that Ydot has about that many people for a population...magnify that over a few provinces and it doesn't work out to be many per capita. Sadly, I'm not one of those 11,000...but at least I feel better knowing there's many others that are in the same boat as me! I'm in the majority, for once...YAY!

So I watched the model show the other day and don't really understand why they think that putting makeup all over their face like a clown makes ladies look beautiful. I think the less the better. Plus, when I go to the store I don't buy something cause it'll look good with my Halloween makeup. Right before they're photo shoots, they turn the models into these crazy looking creatures and make them bend themselves like origami to take the photos...doesn't really make sense to me. Maybe that's why I'm not photogenic...I need to put makeup from my forehead to my neck in a polka dot pattern then stick out my arms and legs like an octopus, then smile. That should be my next family portrait. Why can't they just put nice makeup on and smile. "Smile with your eyes" is what they say...how about smile with your mouth? Why doesn't that work?

"Circus life, Under the big top world. We all need the clowns, To make us smile..." - Journey