One Part Inspiration...

 M.A.D.D.:  Mothers. Against.  Dumb. Dogs. Maybe he was bored.    Perhaps he was lonely. Could have been hungry. Or Maybe He was just being himself. But really??? My     Christmas-gift-from-my-sister sweater? That I'd only worn ONCE? I was so M.A.D.D. I put him outside and told him I hoped he never came back. [But he did. .....Although he knew he was in still in trouble when I let him back in.] By the next day, he'd forgotten what he'd done,  but he could tell I was still M.A.D.D. He was very quiet for two straight days. And when the 3-day windstorm hit us on the weekend, and the garbage bags got thrown all over the lawn, he didn't get into them, like he usually does. So I thought he might have learned his lesson. Until this afternoon when I found a wool sock on his mat. M.A.D.D. (Mothers. Against. Deconstructing. Dogs.)

A few months ago, I was listening to a radio program and heard that overused phrase: " At the end of the day ".  A.g.a.i.n.  As in: " At the end of the day , the hockey team just has to win more games to get into cup play".  and " At the end of the day , we know that people will never stop using overused phrases". I've added it to my pet peeves about the way people use the English language, along with " There's a disconnect ".  I plan to charge a dollar to everyone who says either of these phrases from now on.  I may become a millionaire. I recognize that we treat English in a much more casual manner than when I was growing up. Spelling, and the correct placement of nouns and verbs has become much less important in this era of I.M.(Instant Messaging). We are all in a hurry and have the need for speed. But when I read " I relly want to believe that UR smrtr than me " it makes me want to scrape my fingernails down the neares...

They are installing new water mains along our street.  The people are very pleasant, and when they see you are turning into your driveway, instead of continuing down the road, they make every effort to scale back the work and let you through. Since we have some room on our driveway, they have used it to dump loads of gravel, park huge excavators, and pile up pipes.  The other morning, I was pulling out of the driveway, and because there were so many workers and big machines to my left, I decided to turn right and go around all the construction. The sun was in my eyes, I was on a bit of an incline and the van sat a little higher than a car.  So,  I drove right into the large hole they had dug, in preparation to install the pipe.  CRUUUNNNNCCHH.  Having got myself into the hole, I realized quickly, that I also had to get myself out of the hole.  I avoided eye contact with anyone and CRUUNNCCHH drove out of the hole, and kept going.  ...

When the Minister of Finance is about to table the budget before the House of Commons, it is tradition that he don a new pair of shoes in the tone which matches the kind of budget he will present to the House.  I have often wondered why he does this.  Apparently it is a signal to those around about the kinds of budgetary measures which are about to come down the federal pike. I thought about that this morning again, and I think I know a different reason.  It is to make himself feel better about a job that is very tough to administer.  No one wants to hear what new taxes will be charged, or which cuts to which services will have to be implemented.  The Finance Minister cannot look forward to a bunch of invitations to hang out after he finishes presenting his budget.  He's not going to be that popular.  So what better to make him feel extraordinarily groovy, than a great pair of shiny new shoes! I tried out a version of this idea ...

This is my laundry tub. It has been a life saver. Once it was installed (even though temporarily), it meant I no longer had to wash my dishes in a basin. I can now run to the laundry tub and rinse out my cloth easily.[ Sidenote. It looks a little dirty in the picture, because I had to clean out a container which had a plant which died.] [Sidenote #2. Most often, the picture would show you how everyone loads the laundry tub up with dirty dishes waiting for the dish fairy to load them into the dishwasher..] This is my dishwasher. Love it. It has saved my hands from looking like a map of the desert. It was a gift from a coworker, who heard I didn't have a kitchen sink, and donated it to my cause. It loads up quickly, and holds quite a lot of dishes, and I have added a knife holder, which means I can wash the 'hand washable' only knife in it. Much as I love my dishwasher and my laundry sink, every once in a while the logistics of it get to me. To get at the lau...

Ah yes. The eternal internal argument. I feel lousy. Should I stay home tomorrow, or go to work? How bad does one have to feel before it is o.k. to decide the night before, that work is not an option for the next day. The problem that arises is,that if I don't go to my job where I get sick benefits, I can't really show up at the other ones where I don't get sick benefits. It's not "Kosher" in my vocabulary. So far this week, I have cancelled three of those jobs. It's a costly decision - not that I have to give the money back, but at the end of the month, that's money that won't come in. I have been trying to circumvent the symptoms - downing hot lemon and honey, like I have stocks in the company and been sucking on Strepsils like they are candy. This has resulted in a throat that is less sore, but still scratchy. One moment, I feel like "Hey, I think I'm on the upward swing". The next, my husband is elbowing me in the ribs to jostle...

I am fortunate. Most of my days are spent doing things I enjoy. I am truly, very blessed. So I feel a little bad about complaining about the 'time change day'. But I'm going to anyway. For some reason, I have a very hard time changing up my body clock in the fall. The spring is not so bad. But the fall? It gets me every year, no matter what I try. This year, I gave it another go. I started by turning the clocks ahead almost 12 hours ahead of time. I made a late supper, which was actally a regular hour supper according to what would happen the next day. I went to bed according to the new time. But then I woke up every hour on the hour after that, wondering if I'd slept in, and how many more hours it would be dark and if I would truly be able to get myself up at the new time. I had to teach Sunday School, so finally I looked at my cell-phone to see what time it was. It was 6:42 a.m. I had to be at church at 8:30 a.m. I wasn't quite finished my preparatio...

" Would you like a medium or large with your order?" "Would you like butter on your popcorn?" "Would you like to make it a Mocha?" "Would you like to apply for this job?" "Would you like your child to attend the dance?" All of these are questions I have been asked recently. My first response has been " Sure! I'm extra thirsty. Give me the large ". " Butter? Absolutely. Yum ." " Chicken would go great on my salad ". " Job?!! Sign me up! " " Of course I want to let my child enjoy every bit of his grad experience. Let him dance like nobody's watching ." Then the truth is revealed. None of these are inclusive. The large drink? It costs extra. The butter on the popcorn? That will be another 75 cents. Choose the mocha option, and add 25 cents to the bill (before taxes). The job requires a police check (my cost), along with several other items too tedious to mention. ...

Warning: This post contains graphi c illustrations. Viewer discretion is advised. There you are. The mom. All calm-like. Then BAM. MeLTdown! Why in the world does this happen so quickly? Where does it start? You can wake up in the morning and everything is going well, until you see that the garbage which was SUPPOSED TO BE EMPTIED LAST NIGHT, has seeped out of it's bag, all over the cupboard floor. You look a little closer, and now you see that the onions under there SOMEONE WAS ASKED TO put in a dry spot, are now smelling like they need more help than Dr. Phil can give. On top of that, the seepage has gone down through the cupboard into a sloppy mess on the floor which you just washed (and now you have stepped in it). And there you are. In a full scale MelTDOwn. You reach 0 - 60, in 2.5 seconds flat. Sometimes, you can sense a MEltDOWNN coming and try to head it off at the pass. Certain things have been building inside - things like seeing gobs of used toothpaste on the sink, or g...

The other night I couldn't sleep. [Not a new thing in my life, as some of you regular readers may know.] However, I knew I was being rather restless and decided to give my husband a break and head downstairs to the spare bedroom. What to do? What to do? I was too tired to concentrate on watching t.v. But I was too awake to turn off the light and lie there waiting for sleep. So I pulled out an old journal and began to thumb through the pages. There were various articles I had clipped. Some were inspirational. You know the type. "Get -going- and -conquer- the- world" type of articles. Some were about child rearing. There was a few with decorating advice. And there were some journal entries and letters. I read some of my letters I had never sent. I didn't send them, because they ended up too long and involved. ... in writing them I had basically booo-hoo-hooed my way through, explaining the mess that I was in and the things I wished that I could change and couldn't. ...

I am beginnning to worry about myself. At least four times in the last week, I have mixed up appointments, sent cheques without signing them, and posted letters without stamping them. It is embarrassing to phone the company and rearrange the schedule that you never had in the first place (Oh, we have you down as coming Next Week...). Or to wake up in a panic thinking "I have to get out the door", when really, you could have slept in the extra twenty minutes. Or to have to write a little note with the cheque in a second envelope apologizing for not signing it in the first place. It gives a whole new twist to "the cheque is in the mail" now doesn't it? I wonder if there is a medic alert bracelet for "stressed brain syndrome." I guess I will just have to carry around pictures of my family so I will know that I have them. [Or hire a personal assistant to take care of those details while I go and get a massage. ] And then there are the embarrassing things t...