I have been particlarly annoyed by certain radio commercials lately. I am in my car many hours of the day and spend every second listening to the radio (except when I'm on my cell phone - for which I use a bluetooth, don't fret). I spend the first hour listening to 680 news. Once those stories start repeating, I switch to music stations and flip between them for the remainder of the day.
Why in the world would anyone want a commercial that says "If you have a wallet with something in it, we want you at Kooy Brothers". How much more rude can you get?! They may as well say "we don't really care if you are happy with our service or products. We just want your money".
What about the Toronto Blue Jays commercials? They're trying to say that specific players were born to play the game. There's a little voice singing the ABC's, only he sings them "A-B-C-D-E-R-A". Ha ha. E.R.A. Very funny. Not.
These companies pay people a lot of money to come up with these ideas - not only that, but they pay a lot of money to get these commercials on the radio! Why waste everyone's time and money on crap like that? Every time one comes on when I'm tuned in, I certainly feel like that was 30 seconds of my life that I will never get back.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Sunday, March 8, 2009
**Kitty Trauma
Okay, so here's a story I didn't share with almost anyone. Back in October, after thinking about getting a kitten for many months, I found a lady on CraigsList who lives in Markham giving away 5 week old kittens for free. We hummed and hawed but decided to go see her, and ultimately brought her home. It was a Sunday. When we first brought her home she hid under the couch for hours. We had an idea to bring her into a room that had no place to hide so that she could get to know us. In my daughter's room, the kids played with her with pieces of string, they scratched her and snuggled with her for about an hour and a half. Then my son had what I thought was an asthma attack. He was trapped in that room with all of little Keisha's (the kid's named her) allergens and he started to cough and wheeze. He hadn't done that in years. His asthma was pretty much gone.
Hubby and I escaped from the kids and the cat and decided (with much drama and hesitation) that we had to give her back right away. Even her spending one night here would make it even harder for the kids to let go. We called the owner and she completely understood and told us to bring her back. The moment I walked into that room to tell the kids that Keisha had to go back was probably one of the worst family moments I can remember. Both kids collapsed in tears. My daughter sobbed into her hands and my son cried "No! No!" repeatedly.
I told them a white lie. I said that **I** was allergic to Keisha. I didn't want my son to feel responsible. I wasn't thinking clearly at the time, and most of it is a fog, but I am glad that I made that decision. I didn't want to make my daughter resent him, and I didn't want him to feel worse about the situation then he already did. I explained that as much as we love her already, after only a few hours, it is much more important to have a healthy Mommy. I explained that if we kept her, Mommy would have a sore throat and cough every single day, and that would make me tired and grumpy and no one would want that. They agreed, but still cried - for what felt like hours.
My husband drove Keisha back to her owner and handed her back to the amazingly understanding woman while I stayed home trying to comfort the kids.
The next day, my son came down with a terrible cough and cold. It lasted weeks and my daughter got it too. It made me feel that maybe we jumped the gun. Perhaps we returned Keisha too soon and it was just this terrible virus coming on. I made an appointment with an allergist. He tested NEGATIVE for a cat allergy. The allergist told us that all cats have different dander, and he could be allergic to one and not another. He suggested (and explained how to) do a home allergy skin test with dander from my mom's cat. We did it. NEGATIVE.
Keisha has since found a good home (the day after we returned her), and Keisha's mommy has given birth to a new litter of four kitties. Now a new dilemma arises. Do we do it again? If we do it again, we have to be sure that we are adopting this kitten for life. I won't put them through this again. Part of me tells me to leave well enough alone, and the other part of me says that they would really benefit from a kitten so much, and we have made pretty sure that it wasn't an allergy, so why not? It would make them (and me) so happy, and it will mend the wounds of Keisha (who they still talk about regularly).
I am bad at making big decisions - extremely bad. The owner of the kittens has agreed to let us visit them about a week before they're ready to go home and spend an hour or so amongst their dander and saliva - even having them lick my son - to ensure there is no reaction. He has never reacted to a cat before...ugh. I HATE making tough decisions!!! I keep thinking what if.....
(The picture above is of our Keisha. She was ours for a whole 6 hours.)
Saturday, February 28, 2009
**Surreal Experience
I ran into an ex boyfriend at East Side Marios tonight. Hubby, the kids and I were leaving the restaurant when he walked in. He was one of my significant significant others. I have had two or three other significant others - other than hubby. Confused yet? The point is, I was caught off guard - as anyone would be running into an ex. We all have them, we all dread the day we see them...it's natural. But as if running into him wasn't creepy enough, I had been told by some who had seen him more recently than I (which was 1996), that he is married to a girl who's first name differs from mine only by one letter, and she looks just like me. Well, they weren't kidding. She really does look like me.
I was not prepared for how it made me feel. It was such a weird feeling to be standing face to face introducing eachother to our kids. Kids that only exist because I broke up with him for hubby. Speaking to him, I flashed right back to highschool - as if I was right there. In that moment, I felt 18 again, sitting on a bench in the cafeteria sharing a Mr. Big and skipping class. I didn't expect the feeling to be so familiar.
Exes are exes for a reason - things didn't work out. We weren't the right match obviously, and I never looked back, never second guessed that, and am blistfully happy with my family - obviously, but I didn't expect it to feel so strange. Memories came back that hadn't entered my mind in over a decade...how he DJ'ed my sweet 16...I hadn't thought about my Sweet 16 in probably 15 years!
As we walked out of the restaurant, my five year old daughter said to me "Mommy, who was that?", and for a moment, I wondered how to sum up who that was in a few short words. The feat seemed impossible. I mumbled something like 'someone I knew in highschool', and she seemed happy with that, but wow, what a spectacular understatement that was!
I was not prepared for how it made me feel. It was such a weird feeling to be standing face to face introducing eachother to our kids. Kids that only exist because I broke up with him for hubby. Speaking to him, I flashed right back to highschool - as if I was right there. In that moment, I felt 18 again, sitting on a bench in the cafeteria sharing a Mr. Big and skipping class. I didn't expect the feeling to be so familiar.
Exes are exes for a reason - things didn't work out. We weren't the right match obviously, and I never looked back, never second guessed that, and am blistfully happy with my family - obviously, but I didn't expect it to feel so strange. Memories came back that hadn't entered my mind in over a decade...how he DJ'ed my sweet 16...I hadn't thought about my Sweet 16 in probably 15 years!
As we walked out of the restaurant, my five year old daughter said to me "Mommy, who was that?", and for a moment, I wondered how to sum up who that was in a few short words. The feat seemed impossible. I mumbled something like 'someone I knew in highschool', and she seemed happy with that, but wow, what a spectacular understatement that was!
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
**Density
It really bothers me that I can't wrap my head around certain things. I consider myself to be a fairly smart, educated, experienced person, but there are a few things that just boggle my mind, and I just cannot seem to grasp the concepts.
The first one is football. There are large men, grunting a lot, bumping into eachother every few inches, and they all seem so happy. There's a ball and kicking - though I'm unsure of when it is appropriate to kick and when it is appropriate to throw - and big piles of large men on the middle of a field painted with numbers. I have had people attempt to explain this sport to me and it goes right over my head.
Honestly, I don't loose much sleep over not understanding football. It does bother me, however, that I don't understand much to do with finances and investments and the such. I have an RRSP, I have savings accounts, I contribute to them, but where my financial advisor takes my money to make it grow, that is the part that I don't get. There are mutual funds and stocks and bonds and whoknowswhatelse, and he may as well be speaking another language, because I don't get it. I hope he's not doing me wrong, but honeslty I wouldn't know (gee I hope he doesn't read this blog!)
The mechanics of cars is another thing that I feel upset that I don't understand. I take my car in, they tell me lots of things, and I nod and smile. I have only ever done regular maintenance on my cars - oil changes, brakes and tires - never anything else, and they seem fine! Do I really need new air filters and to have all my systems "flushed" as they tell me every time? My car seems pretty happy without those things...it never complains, doesn't appear to need flushing and to be truthful, I'm really too cheap to pay some greesy man to run dirty tap water through a hose and charge me $300!
So there are a few of my downfalls...don't fault me for them, don't laugh, and please don't tell my financial advisor or mechanic!! I didn't even get into the part of my brain that is missing when it comes to world geography...that is a whole other blog!
The first one is football. There are large men, grunting a lot, bumping into eachother every few inches, and they all seem so happy. There's a ball and kicking - though I'm unsure of when it is appropriate to kick and when it is appropriate to throw - and big piles of large men on the middle of a field painted with numbers. I have had people attempt to explain this sport to me and it goes right over my head.
Honestly, I don't loose much sleep over not understanding football. It does bother me, however, that I don't understand much to do with finances and investments and the such. I have an RRSP, I have savings accounts, I contribute to them, but where my financial advisor takes my money to make it grow, that is the part that I don't get. There are mutual funds and stocks and bonds and whoknowswhatelse, and he may as well be speaking another language, because I don't get it. I hope he's not doing me wrong, but honeslty I wouldn't know (gee I hope he doesn't read this blog!)
The mechanics of cars is another thing that I feel upset that I don't understand. I take my car in, they tell me lots of things, and I nod and smile. I have only ever done regular maintenance on my cars - oil changes, brakes and tires - never anything else, and they seem fine! Do I really need new air filters and to have all my systems "flushed" as they tell me every time? My car seems pretty happy without those things...it never complains, doesn't appear to need flushing and to be truthful, I'm really too cheap to pay some greesy man to run dirty tap water through a hose and charge me $300!
So there are a few of my downfalls...don't fault me for them, don't laugh, and please don't tell my financial advisor or mechanic!! I didn't even get into the part of my brain that is missing when it comes to world geography...that is a whole other blog!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
**Randomness
This was originally a challenge on facebook - to list 25 random things about yourself. I had gotten the request multiple times but never had the time or energy to do it. Once I did, I actually found it kinda fun, so I thought for all that hard work I would post it here too! Enjoy!
1. Pineapple makes my tongue tingle but I eat it anyway because it's yummy.
2. When I had my first baby I felt angry that no one except Oprah told me how tough it would be the first few months.
3. The way I drive scares most people, but I am always safe.
4. My right leg is much larger & more muscular than my left because I drive a lot for work.
5. One of my favorite things to do is sing harmony while someone else sings the melody with pretty much any song.
6. My daughter resembles me to a crazy extent - even little things like pesky eyebrow hairs that point in a different direction than all the rest are exactly the same on both of us.
7. Both teeth on either side of my front middle ones are fake. I was born with "peg" teeth which my grandmother had too and I am afraid my daughter will have them!
8. Every night when I get into bed I sigh and say outloud "I love my bed".
9. I am always feeling cold when everyone else is hot and vice versa.
10. I cry at pretty much anything. Even things that others don't find sad.
11. I am very happy that I have managed to balance my young family with still being able to go out and have fun for myself.
12. I am deathly afraid of spiders. I would rather find a snake or mouse in my house than a spider.
13. I love cottage life which seems uncharacteristic of me.
14. I worked in a pet store all through high school and college and used to touch snakes, lizards, crickets, feed baby parrots by syringe, but had someone move the tarantulas to the top shelf where I couldn't see them at the start of every shift.
15. Whenever someone bakes something like lasagna or brownies, I love to eat the corners.
16. I like to burnt cheese.
17. I really want to try dim sum but don't know what anything on the menu is so I can't order.
18. I hate being late for anything - to the point that I am always chronically early.
19. I have an odd knack for remembering numbers - phone numbers I have dialed only once, my credit card numbers, airmiles number, even library card number. Weird.
20. I have a "list" like on Friends only there are more than 5 people on it.
21. I have eaten the same thing for breakfast for the last 7 years - one egg, one slice of whole wheat toast and a coffee.
22. I love gadgets. My cell phone (aka mini computer) and my roomba vacuum give me an odd amount of pleasure.
23. I write like a doctor. Few people can read it, though it seems crystal clear to me!
24. I like getting to know random things about other people.
25. I am, and always have been, extremely flexible and can still easily do the splits.
1. Pineapple makes my tongue tingle but I eat it anyway because it's yummy.
2. When I had my first baby I felt angry that no one except Oprah told me how tough it would be the first few months.
3. The way I drive scares most people, but I am always safe.
4. My right leg is much larger & more muscular than my left because I drive a lot for work.
5. One of my favorite things to do is sing harmony while someone else sings the melody with pretty much any song.
6. My daughter resembles me to a crazy extent - even little things like pesky eyebrow hairs that point in a different direction than all the rest are exactly the same on both of us.
7. Both teeth on either side of my front middle ones are fake. I was born with "peg" teeth which my grandmother had too and I am afraid my daughter will have them!
8. Every night when I get into bed I sigh and say outloud "I love my bed".
9. I am always feeling cold when everyone else is hot and vice versa.
10. I cry at pretty much anything. Even things that others don't find sad.
11. I am very happy that I have managed to balance my young family with still being able to go out and have fun for myself.
12. I am deathly afraid of spiders. I would rather find a snake or mouse in my house than a spider.
13. I love cottage life which seems uncharacteristic of me.
14. I worked in a pet store all through high school and college and used to touch snakes, lizards, crickets, feed baby parrots by syringe, but had someone move the tarantulas to the top shelf where I couldn't see them at the start of every shift.
15. Whenever someone bakes something like lasagna or brownies, I love to eat the corners.
16. I like to burnt cheese.
17. I really want to try dim sum but don't know what anything on the menu is so I can't order.
18. I hate being late for anything - to the point that I am always chronically early.
19. I have an odd knack for remembering numbers - phone numbers I have dialed only once, my credit card numbers, airmiles number, even library card number. Weird.
20. I have a "list" like on Friends only there are more than 5 people on it.
21. I have eaten the same thing for breakfast for the last 7 years - one egg, one slice of whole wheat toast and a coffee.
22. I love gadgets. My cell phone (aka mini computer) and my roomba vacuum give me an odd amount of pleasure.
23. I write like a doctor. Few people can read it, though it seems crystal clear to me!
24. I like getting to know random things about other people.
25. I am, and always have been, extremely flexible and can still easily do the splits.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
***Hmmmmm
Hmmmmmmmm....I wonder if blogs can go dormant and be removed from the blogger site if you don't post in a certain amount of time........
Sunday, January 25, 2009
**Long Time Gone
It has been a long time since I have blogged. Only once in December, to be exact. I tend to blog when I'm feeling happy and content with my emotional life. I have not felt that way recently.
A close friend (as she watched me suffer through these past few months) suggested that it's a "pensive time" which is apparently common as you reach your birthdays on the "1's". (I feel like 680 news - traffic and weather together on the 1's) I turned 31 in October and since then have been in a topsy-turvy limbo of disarray.
I went through a baby phase - not me, myself as a baby, but the thoughts of another one in our home. I was totally convinced I wanted it.
I went through a moving phase. I was SURE we needed a new house and financially had all the pieces in place.
I went through a cutting back at work phase. I actually DID do this one, and it takes effect February 2nd. I am looking forward to that!!
Thankfully hubby is too little of a push-over to go along with my raging plans, because ultimately, I changed my mind on the baby and moving situations. I realized that I was restless. My life has fallen into place exactly as I had hoped. I have wonderful kids, financial stability, a home in a perfect location with a wonderful school a few steps away, we all have our health, and our lives are actually where we wanted them to be. This is what we planned for and worked so hard for all these years.
So my new year's resolution this year is to relax and enjoy life more. Enjoy my kids. Go places, take trips, work a bit less hard because I can, take time for myself. Go out nights, get a babysitter, attend concerts, spas, do fun kid stuff without worrying about missing work a few extra days a year.
I'm glad I maintained my whits about me before making any rash decisions that I would have regretted, and now I'm in a much better place.
I only hope I can be better at this year's new year's resolution than last year's. Last year I vowed to blog more often....(blushing)...oops...
A close friend (as she watched me suffer through these past few months) suggested that it's a "pensive time" which is apparently common as you reach your birthdays on the "1's". (I feel like 680 news - traffic and weather together on the 1's) I turned 31 in October and since then have been in a topsy-turvy limbo of disarray.
I went through a baby phase - not me, myself as a baby, but the thoughts of another one in our home. I was totally convinced I wanted it.
I went through a moving phase. I was SURE we needed a new house and financially had all the pieces in place.
I went through a cutting back at work phase. I actually DID do this one, and it takes effect February 2nd. I am looking forward to that!!
Thankfully hubby is too little of a push-over to go along with my raging plans, because ultimately, I changed my mind on the baby and moving situations. I realized that I was restless. My life has fallen into place exactly as I had hoped. I have wonderful kids, financial stability, a home in a perfect location with a wonderful school a few steps away, we all have our health, and our lives are actually where we wanted them to be. This is what we planned for and worked so hard for all these years.
So my new year's resolution this year is to relax and enjoy life more. Enjoy my kids. Go places, take trips, work a bit less hard because I can, take time for myself. Go out nights, get a babysitter, attend concerts, spas, do fun kid stuff without worrying about missing work a few extra days a year.
I'm glad I maintained my whits about me before making any rash decisions that I would have regretted, and now I'm in a much better place.
I only hope I can be better at this year's new year's resolution than last year's. Last year I vowed to blog more often....(blushing)...oops...
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