Cartoons can bring back memories to, who knew?

Cartoons can bring back memories too, who knew?

November 12, 2017

Now that I have little my television watching has definitely changed, long gone are the days of CSI or NCIS or whatever other acronym crime drama is on now. Now my evenings and weekends are full of Disney Junior and Treehouse. It use to be Treehouse but as I evolved as a parent so did the selection of cartoon channels.

The boys have their favourites, some old and some new but overall they’re cartoons and something to entertain them with. I usually have them on in the background for noise or in the hopes that something might catch their eye and slow them down just a little bit. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn’t.

One Saturday morning I had the boys up and the opening theme to ‘Go Diego Go’ came on and I stopped drinking my tea and had a little bit of a daydream about me on my mat leave with the boys last winter. That show was on back to back to back at one point in time and I remember the boys being somewhat interested in it.

They glanced at the screen as they probably recognized the theme as well and then went back to what they were destroying at that moment. I chuckled a little bit and was also sad as I remember them being in their ‘circle of neglect’ bouncing up and down, getting excited about the toys attached to this contraption. They were so teeny tiny them and my heart skipped a beat as I realized they are growing up way too quickly. This was only last winter for crying out loud and now they’re little terrorists.

They’re into everything and anything they can get their hands on. Both smart as a whip but curious nonetheless. Who knew that the opening song to a cartoon could make me think back to the winter before when all my waking hours were spent with my little munchkins. Makes me almost want to have another little one…but then again I’m happy with the two that I have right now.

The Last Piece of Bread

The Last Piece of Bread

October 26, 2017

I decided to make some toast this morning and grabbed the loaf of bread or I guess what was left of the bread. It was the end piece (the heel) and the second slice in, at first I wasn’t going to use the bread and realized that I had been throwing the ends of the bread out. I don’t know when that changed or what happened that made me think that I could be one of those people who can just throw out good food.

I think the reason this is a little bit of a big deal is that I didn’t grow up with a whole lot of things. We were a one income family as my dad insisted on being the bread winner and wanted my mom to be at home for us. We would go shopping once every two weeks and the food had to last us until the next paycheque came. So to us, we wouldn’t even give it another thought to not eat the end piece of the bread, in fact I think there were times we fought over that piece of bread and here I am years later just wasting it and throwing it out.

Now that I have kids of my own, I want them to appreciate the food that we work hard for and don’t want them to waste things. I want them to know that we work hard for our money and everything we buy. I want them to also work hard for things and also appreciate things so that they won’t waste things either. How do I do that when they see me throwing out the end piece of the bread…as they will think that is a normal thing and I don’t want them think that’s ok.

Amazing how a piece of bread can make you really think things through. Every time I make toast or a sandwich I will always make sure to use the end piece of the bread. I hope that I can pass this along to my kids so that they can appreciate things, food and everything that we work hard for.

Wow, the last piece of bread…so insightful.

Sad to see you go

Sad to see you go

October 17, 2017

I was saddened to hear that Sears had announced that it’s starting to liquidate it’s stock, the final nail in the coffin. The media had made it sound like there might have been hope for Sears to recover initially but sadly that wasn’t the case. A pang of sadness passed through me as I explained in one of my earlier blogs that I had worked there and it was a very big help for me financially and emotionally.

I enjoyed the time I worked there, the people and the atmosphere. Not only was I an employee there but I also shopped there. I shopped there on a regular basis, not only when I worked there but afterwards.

But the biggest thing that I use to look forward to from Sears was the ‘Wishbook’. I don’t think that I was alone in this. I would eagerly wait to get the Wishbook each and every fall, not only as a kid but as an adult. There was always something I could order in the catalogue that was only specific to the holiday season. It was something that wasn’t in rotation throughout the year and wasn’t overly priced. There was always so much to see and no matter how many times you went through the Wishbook you would still peruse through it again and again.

As a kid I would mark the pages and circle the items that I wanted or ‘wished’ to get. I can totally understand why it was called a Wishbook…I think that is what I will miss the most when Sears is gone.

I don’t know what will ever replace that as online shopping just isn’t the same. I feel like I’m getting so old as a lot of the things that I use to find as part of my generations lives are disappearing. I just wish we weren’t losing the Wishbook.

Ella you little bitch

Ella you little bitch!

October 5, 2017

After the boys went to sleep the Mr. and I were sitting down to relax before we hit the hay as well and the cat that I inherited from my mom decided to come down for some pets. She made her way to the Mr. but just as he was about to pet her she ran away. The Mr. looked at her and said “Ella, you little bitch”. I stopped dead in my tracks, as that is exactly what my mom use to call her cat.

The reason that it caught me by surprise was that yes that is verbatim what my mom use to call her. Not only that the Mr. never met my mom, ever. He never had the opportunity to meet her or see with her cat, that is why it surprised me and stopped me dead in my tracks.

I found it funny that the Mr. would call her that and I decided to ask him why he called her that and his response was pretty simple. “Because she is a little bitch”. I remember back in the day I had asked my mom the same question and oddly enough she said the same thing. How odd that these two people who never met but have me and this cat in common have come to the same conclusion about this cat.

I know that it’s an odd thing but something that happened to catch my attention at the time it happened. Despite my mom never meeting the Mr. this just makes me feel like I made the right decision that they both had the same sick sense of humour. I think she would’ve liked him and sometimes I wonder if she’s secretly sending messages through him.

Weird yes, unexpected, no. In the end, Ella really is a little bitch and I like that she’s kept that name even though my mom is gone. I know my mom would be happy that her cat is happy and is still her ‘little bitch’.

This use to be someone's home

This use to be someone’s home

September 24, 2017

I drove by this house today on my way to a suburb just outside Edmonton and I passed a house well what use to be a homestead. The house had a detached garage and was just off the main highway, in a great location for one of the acreages just outside of the city.

Problem is that was all great and dandy back in the day however with the way the city and infrastructure has grown. It’s now a car lot, it’s housing hundreds of cars. There are cars as far as the eye can see, you can’t even get into the house or garage.

Not that it matters as the house itself is boarded up but still has the beautiful wrap around porch intact. I imagined back in the day it housed a family and had a wonderful view, that the family would play, rest or possibly just sit on a rocking chair and reminisce about all that has happened. How great of a spot they have there and just how proud they would’ve been of all that they have accomplished.

But now, it sits boarded up, vacant and just a memory of a family lived there. It makes me sad to see this, don’t get me wrong I understand that we must move forward with the times and the growth of the city. But to buy someone’s homestead and just have it sit, is just a constant reminder to that family that it no longer exists as a home but as a car lot.

Not sure that I can get behind that kind of change.

What's a CD?

What’s a CD?

September 14, 2017

So I like everyone else in the world has satellite radio, if you don’t I’m sorry to hear this as I can’t stand commercials and too much talking. I subscribed to the service years ago, I can’t even remember when but I can tell you it’s been worth every penny and I absolutely love it.

Today after I dropped my kids off at daycare I was switching channels as I couldn’t find anything to listen to. It was odd but all the songs on all of my favourite channels were terrible and I couldn’t find anything to land on.

After a few minutes of sitting at a red light I took a gander into my console and saw that I had a couple of rogue CD’s in there and I decided to put one of them in as I liked all the songs on them and wanted something I could sing along to and enjoy.

I took it out of the case and popped it into the CD player in my vehicle and let it start to play. To my surprise I started to listen to the CD and sing along with most of the songs and just had such a great time that I had forgotten what it was like to pop a CD into a CD player. In fact I had noticed that having a CD player in your vehicle is an option now, not a standard. I remember when having a CD player was the option and regular AM/FM radio was the standard. When did all this change?

I like having the option of playing my CD, I’m sure like most people I would burn CD’s to play in the car…these burned CD’s replaced our mixed tapes…yes I come from that generation. We have truly come a long way.

I know that I could just plug my phone in and use Deezer or Spotify or any of the new music hubs. But I like having control of the music I listen to, yes again I know I can create playlists on any on my multiple devices but what happened to what you get is what you get? I miss those days.

I ended up popping in my favourite CD, it was Maroon 5, Songs About Jane. I remember listening to this CD over and over and over again, it is my favourite CD. I didn’t know all the songs when I first bought it but I learned them and learned to enjoy them. I sometimes miss the good old days when things were much simpler. Less choices made things less complicated.

For now, I will enjoy my CD while I can as my next vehicle might not come with it and that will be a sad day for me as I will then have to keep up with my playlists. That in itself is a lot of work. How are all these things of convenience suppose to make life better when all it does is create more work for us?

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

To friend or not to friend, that is the question

September 7, 2017

Today I went out for lunch with my friend who I had written about who were friends with ‘the enemy’. One was on my side as she was one of the ones who had talked to me about the situation and the other one was the completely oblivious one to the sneaky and devilish ways of the enemy.

I wasn’t sure how it was going to go but thought I would bring it up and just throw all my cards out on the table. We sat down to lunch and ordered our food and drinks, did the normal pleasantries and then I brought it up.

I said to both of them that I didn’t want to interfere with their relationship with the enemy and that I am totally fine with them being her friend and besides this time I won’t be bringing her up or asking about her or anything. I know she asked about me but this wasn’t the time to bring that up. I just asked for the same respect back is all.

There was about a millisecond of a pause and the woman who is completely oblivious to the enemies wily ways wasn’t as receptive as I thought she would be. She became defensive and started to say that ‘she never said anything about me to her’ (which I know isn't true, but I let it slide) and she seemed as though she really wanted to get off the topic of it. The other woman who is on my side understood and definitely tried to help me explain things to her but the oblivious friend then turned aloof about the whole thing and we just switched gears.

That was when I saw it, she was sticking up for the enemy and this was the end of our friendship. I had let things go for too long and they were good friends and there wasn’t anything I could say or so to change that. It sucks when you can see these things happening and it kind of made me sad to know that it was over between us but I guess that was it. She had made up her mind and that was that, she had made her choice and I will respect it.

We finished our lunch together chatting about my kids and their kids and grandkids, plans for the summer and all those other things you talk to people about when you’re trying to fill the void of dead air. Once lunch was done, we said our goodbye’s and said we would make another plan to go out for lunch but knew that it was just talk.

I will miss my one friend as she was fun to be around, such a kindhearted and giving person and we had some good times together. I will always remember that about her...

I did end up with one friend out of the situation and I will continue to chat and make time for her as she really does genuinely want to be my friend and that’s all that matters. It just sucks that it’s over with one friend, but I will move on and maybe in time we will reconnect. For now I will respect her wishes and step back.