Travelin` Tips

So.... I read in a travelling book about things that you should bring when you are travelling. There were many excellent ideas and I followed many of them such as

• bringing along `certain`tummy medications... definitely worth it if you plan on eating at a large national chain coffee drink or a global fast food restaurant. Don`t worry about it if you are eating in the market where you are only an aisle away from people cutting raw meat to bbq fresh for interested parties... you`ll be fine there.
• sunscreen... such a nice thing to need when you felt like Nanook of the North beforehand
• handwash cold water laundry detergent... really important when you are traveling light

One of the ones that I didn`t follow was a sink stopper or a traveling clothes line for a washroom. This is an excellent idea... as demonstrated by KC traveling

• In a warm climate, you`ll need to wash your clothes often
• Trying to keep water in a sink without a sink stopper is a challenge
• You can bravely try to fill a shopping bag full of water at the shower head while her sister is still sleeping

This leads to my traveling wisdom for you

• Cold water wash means COLD water that you have to stick your hand in
• Bags tend to lose their shape when they are filled with water
• Cold water wakes you up really quickly when the bag loses shape and gushes all over you... we`re talking soprano singing here!
• Canvas shopping bag tends to lose water really quickly and so you have to scrub your clothes quickly
• Hanging the clothes on a clothes hanger on the shower head is a great idea (at home!) but the dripping shower head won`t let your clothes dry
• You can quickly have your hotel neighbors get to know you by having to hang your clothes on your window in the rapidly setting sun

So lesson learned. If you are going to travel. Take a sink stopper!

An authentic Christmas

My cousin confessed to some of her Christmas things. She's inspired me to share with you all my non-secret Holiday Hall of Shame:

• I have never put up a Christmas tree as long as I've lived on my own (post-college). Yes, that would be 11 Christmases but I keep on meaning to buy one on a Boxing Day sale but then I'm never around for a Boxing Day sale... and some of those people scare me.
• My mother loves Boxing Day... the thrill of getting wrapping paper at 75% off is enough to thrill her heart for years to come. Me-I just reuse the lovely gift bags someone gave me last year. And if I don't have enough, I run to Dollarama for inspiration. A toonie later, I'm a happy camper.
• I do not like the song Christmas Shoes. It makes me a little peeved and I always feel like someone is trying to yank my emotional chain at Christmas. I have working in a helping profession for long enough to know that Christmas time is a very difficult season for people who have faced loss in the past year. They'd don't need that song. Say what you want, I will not change my opinion.
• I don't really love turkey. It can get dry... and I don't want to eat turkey leftovers the same day after day-it remains the same. You people who go to someone else's house for Christmas dinner and then cook your own turkey for the leftovers... please get your head checked.
• A white Christmas is great... if you can skate, cross country ski, build snowmen and such like. Feeling every single eyelash and nose hair freeze as you are scraping your car off in the morning evokes no romantic feelings for me.

Every year at Christmas, I feel so blessed. This year my work has facilitated the sign-up and execution of 50 holiday hampers. The stories and locations of these homes make me realize that I truly have nothing to complain about. In one family a mother had requested a mattress for her son sleeping on the floor. The sponsor family sweet talked a mattress company into donating a mattress for the boy. The mother started crying that someone took care of that big dream of hers.

No complaints from me this Christmas-I have my health (way more than last year), I've made big transitions this year, have @ least 10 friends in the 10K club-they'd give me $10,000 and a kidney, have had lots of laughs and I get to make a difference in my work. But it doesn't stop me from being 'delightfully' unique.

I'm BACK!

If anyone checks this out... I'll be shocked. I've been totally out of the loop in the last little bit. A dead computer for a good chunk of a month Really doesn't help.

So a month in review:
*Winter totally sucks!!! Being in a deep freeze at -37C is not fun... and the fact that this city doesn't clear the roads very well allows someone to rear end you. (I'm fine... just have my schedule at the mercy of the auto shops... those people must be loaded in this city!)
*When you have to be super duper creative at work, sometimes there is nothing left for any creativity when you get home. Imagine someone wandering around saying, "What was I going to do? Dinner-what's that?"
*Having a warm vacay to look forward to makes the winter better-worth every single second of hosting two-three students this summer.
*Christmas baking sounds way more romantic than reality proves itself to be. Flour gets everywhere-what would I do if I had a dog? I'd have Jackson Pollock-esque art all over the floors.

I'm back and now have more inspiration! News about my exciting life to follow!

Have a great CHristmas holiday. News to follow about my mom's great Christmas capers with the Neighborly Christmas cards contest.

Pardon me?

One of our great volunteers came into the office today so I went to the Tim Horton's drive thru to grab him a coffee as a thank you. No worries right? Well... all is normal except for the incredibly 'creative' guy who had a foreign car that he drove backwards through the drive thru so he could access the window. 

About ten car lengths there was a driver reversing it backwards. You should have seen the looks... or the even more incredulous looks as this guy was reversing it, and then taking breaks to have kissey-poo moments with his girlfriend. 

All the sudden I feel SO normal. It's amazing how little it takes!

Flittering around!

I just went to a conference and there was a Dress Up as your Favorite Literary Character party. Talk about stress! Thankfully a co-worker came to my rescue with a Tinkerbell costume.

Here's what I learned as Tinkerbell:

• people want you to grant them a wish
• you can blame the fact that you are a 'wide-load' coming through on your wide-span wings
• sitting on chairs is a tad more challenging
• it's definitely a whack-load of fun to pretend to be someone who is very sparkly

If you'll excuse me, I might just put on my wings for a fun time vacuuming my house.

Shopping escapades

So... yesterday was zoo-ey at work. I'm heading out this afternoon for a few days of training (scored it free for my work and a workmate by volunteering... here's hoping they were joking about the yodeling!)

No problems... I work a solid ten hours running from meeting to meeting and then try to finish up some paperwork at the end of the day. As I race out of work, I hit the worst part of traffic and it takes me ten minutes to drive the three blocks that my workplace is located on... so I can take a convenient shortcut.

After battling traffic for forty minutes, I arrive at my destination  the shopping mall and then go to the Disney store to purchase a Tinkerbell t-shirt for my costume for the literary character party at this convention (if I wasn't volunteering, I'd go as a Nancy Drew... quietly watching everyone in plain clothes). No problems, right? WRONG! All their clothes were stopped at the border. So I race through the mall to find black tights that will fit me (why do stores have XS, S and XL?) There's a lot of living in between those sizes. 

I pick up some chicken for my student and her friend who are often at my house. I race home all proud of myself for only being ten minutes late and still being a good host mom.

Ahh! Relief... I'm home... Internal dialogue: I'm happy to serve. You don't get lots of kudos for it but it is the right thing to do. Moms who manage to balance working at demanding jobs, raise lovely children and feed them are the heroes. I won't be in their category but this is my training.

Guess who didn't show up for dinner last night? Guess who's friend didn't show up for dinner last night? You can't win... and all my self-congratulatory thoughts were all in vain! Pride goes before the fall, I guess:-)

In which I become my mother

Sorry about the lack of chatter from my world these past few weeks... I have become my mother and it has been taking up a good chunk of my time ... as demonstrated by the following:

• I finally am fed up with my 'dress size' or the size of my assets... although the mutual funds aren't in any place to retire these days, the other assets are becoming quite an outstanding issue. So, I signed up for Curves. I always thought of it as an old lady place until I tried that stupid machine for your arms and the lady kept on saying, "Faster, Faster!" I know that you are trying to encourage me... but seriously, I just want to die right now.
• My student is constantly on the computer msning, facebooking and talking on her cell phone all at the same time in the evenings. This impedes my ability to blog, surf the web or post pictures on my favorite ravelry discussion group.
• I have heard things like, "I don't want to make lunch unless you're going to eat it or I will make this lunch and if you don't want it, feel free to make your own."
• I have been buying yogurts in a tube (on sale of course!) to trick my teenage student into eating more healthy options.
• I got all excited about a healthy eating option for purchasing foodstuffs so that I can 'hide' more healthy options in the food.

And last but definitely not least:

• I met a kid err adult that I knew from when I was a college student from my parents' hometown last night who faced some incredibly deep waters as a teenager. I hadn't seen him in probably close to 13 years and he is married, has a lovely little baby girl and is doing well at a job that is making a significant community difference.
• I was so blessed by seeing him that I went home with such a grateful heart. That's the sort of thing that would carry my good-hearted mom for days and I intend to let it carry me through a pretty intense week that I have ahead of me!

Off I go to save the world... well, honestly, just to get to work and try to have enough energy to face fixing that computer tonight!

Life races by

So... yesterday I was Auntie Knittinchick being a hero to 5 and 8 year old dear friends. We went to car racing with cars, little mini cars, big trucks and everything. I had gotten in for free and their parents (dear friends of mine) kept on thanking me for taking their kids with me. I kept on thinking, "Are you kidding? They are what will make it fun!"

The boys were adorable... and the only things that they quasi disagreed about was who got to sit on Auntie's knee or cuddle while we cheered on the cars, observed tire blowouts, watched tow trucks pull out different crashes. Overall a great afternoon for families and it tended to be a tad red neck (but incredibly kind and funny) crowd.

I had moments where I was thinking about the environment and all the exhaust etc. But it all didn't matter. I was Auntie Knittinchick and a hero to the cutest guys ever who gave me lots of hugs and thanked me over and over for our Date yesterday afternoon.

On the ride home, we started planning our next Auntie Date. Even though we talked about lots of things, we are either going to go swimming or bowling next time. I don't think I've enjoyed a date in a long time!

Excuse me sir

Conversation recently heard inside my head,

"I am so happy to be leaving work at a human hour like 3:00. I'll stop at Costco and get a new anti-virus program for my computer... b/c I am such a fun girl!"

"Why did I think that stopping at Costco and then standing in line was a great way to spend a gorgeous afternoon? Now I'm stuck in 4:00 rush hour."

"Oh, this is the challenging part... to get over into the next lane of traffic quickly when it is so packed."

"There's a nice man with a car full of family. He'll let me in... why isn't he letting me in? I'm signalling, waving, trying to get his attention and basically making the people behind me want to write down my licence plate. Sir! Sir! Sir!"

"Oh my word, he is texting. Texting! TEXTING! in the middle of rush hour. Sweetheart (aka Dumbhead's wife), you might want to think about driving next time.... I think that when they make all these media pleas for people to pull over when they are talking on their cell phones, they just assumed that no one would be texting in the middle of rush hour while people are driving fast in stop & go traffic. I guess the insurance bureau could make some serious money with me and my new ad campaign for Just Say No to Texting in Traffic."

"Seriously!"

Feeling safe

Lately there has been a lot of media news about how the economy is not so hot and shootings and all those things that impact your feeling of safety.

However, I have found a few things that help keep my faith in humanity and keep me knowing that I am safe (trust me, with my brain still screwed on...)

• Two of my four students got lost this summer in my suburbia neighborhood (all the houses look alike) and when they asked strangers for help, these people started their cars and just drove them here. After my mini-cardiac arrest about them taking a ride from strangers, they all couldn't stop talking about how friendly and kind Canadians are.
• Working at a non-profit often means that I have to ask for services for a Gift-in-Kind receipt or a discount (not that I feel guilty... it is about the children and youth we serve). I was working on rolling cabinets for our school programs and the wood working shop guy so got our vision. He got discounts on laminate, plywood and even got the wheels donated from a wheel shop. So... Knittinchick went to the wheel shop and thanked the owner who donated. side note: Now if women ever want to meet men, that might be the place-the place smelled like testerone (or maybe that was all the wheels smelling like rubber)
• I know that I can rest easy about my safety as well due to the new Neighborhood Patrol. It has taken over the local park every night as they rehearse and get their moves down. The fact that it is about 6-8year olds having Light Sabre Practice makes me feel even safer. How can that not make you smile?

Hope you can find the things that make you feel safe today!

For your safety

For your Safety, the following Public Safety Announcement is being made:

“There is rumor of potential innocent people being attacked when opening the kitchen fridge. Lower your chances of being attacked by mystery meat trying to evolve to the next level, yogurt gone bad or a massive flat pop by….

1. Taking your lunch out of those massive plastic grocery bags. It saves room for the later day working crowd and reminds you of what you brought.
2. Bringing your lunch in small Rubbermaid containers… not big ones. Big ones hurt more when they fall on your feet.
3. Assuming responsibility if the Lunch That Went Bad grew up in your home. No one will think any less of you for quietly sneaking into the kitchen in the middle of the day and pitching reminders of the lunch that went the wayward way.

On behalf of all those who love their olfactory senses and space for their lunch, we thank you!”