Friday, October 29, 2010

Happy Halloween Everyone


It's three days before Halloween.

Do you know what you are going to be?

Today, I am a fairy. Not a Disney fairy, just a fairy with green wings, a green crown and a green wand.

As Sunday night is suppose to have a windchill, making the temperature feel like zero, I think I will be Maleficent, the witch from Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

She is an impressive woman with a long flowing gown – perfect for layers.

Happy Halloween, everyone.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Thank you, Mangiabella

I received a message on my blog yesterday that I am a winner of the $25 gift certificate from The Vintage Pearl, courtesy of Mangibella.

In my three decades plus of living, I think I have won one thing in a contest – a bag from the IODE (Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire).

I used to create about five new weekly contests for our readers, ranging from books to trips.

When calling the winners, I always appreciated the people who were excited about receiving a prize and who remembered entering the contest.

I am not sure if my initial email to Mangiabella showed my appreciation of winning a gift certificate from The Vintage Pearl.

But I did want her to know I not only appreciate the gift certificate, but the winning made a stressful week a happier one.

Thank you for picking me. I look forward to picking out something beautiful.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Squeezer

I might be overly critical today because I have spent most of my commute this week sitting in traffic so slow my spedometre didn’t register for long periods of time.

However, I think I really dislike The Squeezer.

You know this person. Perhaps you yourself are a Squeezer.

These are the people who ignore the large space I have left for people to merge into my lane but instead choose to squeeze themselves into a spot one car ahead.

I particularly like the Squeezer who does this to transport trucks.

People, truckers leave this space because they take longer to slow down. By squeezing in, you deserve to be hit.



My initial feelings about the Nissan Cube remains – this is one ugly car.

And one particular Cube driver is not only a Squeezer but also a jerk. After squeezing in, he continued to go really slow, effectively blocking in the guy he cut off in the first place.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Election Day – Anniversary of Persons


It's Election Day in Ontario.

I have voted in every election since I have turned 18. It is my right – and my duty – to learn what I can and vote with what my heart is telling me.

It angers me people don’t vote, although I have stopped voicing this opinion to those around me.

People have to do what they feel is important but the reasons for not voting – not knowing who is running and what they stand for – doesn’t fly particularly now we have the Internet and a quick search would give you everything you need to know.

Now there is another reason, particularly for women, to take the opportunity to vote.

I received this email from my aunt this morning. It’s a powerful message that shows why we need to exercise our right and vote.

As a note, I do not know the validity of this email. However, it's a fact women stood up and fought for our right to be a person and to vote. I think these women, and women like them, would be horrified to know people are choosing not to vote today due to laziness.


Anniversary As Persons (WOMEN) – forwarded email
This is the story of women who were ground-breakers. These brave women from the early 1900's made all the difference in the lives we live today.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but when, in North America , women picketed in front of the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote, they were jailed.


And by the end of the first night in jail, those women were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'


(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.

(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.

For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a
chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited.
She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

All women who have ever voted, have ever owned property, have ever enjoyed equal rights need to remember that women's rights had to be fought for in Canada as well.

Do our daughters and our sisters know the price that was paid to earn rights for women here, in North America ?

2010 is the 81th Anniversary of the Persons Case in Canada ,
which finally declared women in Canada to be Persons!

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know, so that we remember to celebrate the rights we enjoy.


"Knowledge is Freedom: hide it, and it withers; share it, and it blooms" (P. Hill)

Photo is of Alice Paul and was attached in the email. I do not know who to credit either the email or the photo. But thank you to that person.

Friday, October 22, 2010

It’s The Weekend – Yaaaaaaa!


On Friday mornings on the way to daycare, I tell my little guy 'It’s Friday.'

I then ask him: ‘Do you know what that means? It’s the weekend.’

And we both clap loudly and say ‘Yaaaaaa.’

Despite having a wonderful day off yesterday – the boy is now two – I am glad it’s Friday.

It means a visit with the family Saturday, likely some jumping in leaves, napping and playing.

It’s Friday everyone. Yaaaaaaaaaaa!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Happy?


Whenever it's someone's birthday, I ask my guy if we should sing that person the birthday song.

He often says yes, but then interrupts the singing to say I should sing to Nana and Popa rather than whoever's birthday it actually is.

The babe is now at the age where he will ‘sing’ along to the song, injecting the words he knows into his humming. It’s really cute. So we will be singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and he will say ‘high’ and ‘up’ and ‘sky’.

The Little Duck song is filled with unknown words then ‘fat’ and ‘tall’ and ‘one’ and ‘quack, quack, quack’ said so quietly you have to strain to hear what he is saying.

Literally in the last day, he has asked for ‘Happy?’ (yes, said as a question), wanting the Happy Birthday song, which is the babe singing the tune and injecting ‘Happy’ into the appropriate places.

It’s my guy’s second birthday tomorrow. “Happy’ birthday to him.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Why Joan Rivers?


Joan Rivers is the new spokesperson for Shops at Don Mills at Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue in Toronto.

Each time I heard the ridiculous radio commercials promoting the local mall, I wondered what Shops at Don Mills was trying to say by using the comedian.

According to http://www.extremegroup.com/work/63, “If Joan Rivers thinks it’s fabulous, it must be.”

Does the average listener care what Joan Rivers has to say? Does the average person really believe because Joan Rivers thinks something is fabulous, it must be? Does the Extreme Group really believe because Joan Rivers thinks we should go to Shops at Don Mills at Lawrence, we will?

I find the commercials so stupid, I don’t want to set foot at the Shops at Don Mills. In fact, by using Joan Rivers as opposed to a Canadian celebrity, I don’t want to spend any of my money at Shops at Don Mills.

Note: No offence is meant to Joan Rivers. The photo has been taken from her website at http://www.joanrivers.com/

Friday, October 8, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving


Canadians are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend.

While the holiday falls on Monday, we have always had our turkey dinner Sunday.

As a child, it involved gathering leaves and chestnuts and creating baskets for our aunts, uncle and grandparents with the preserves mom made in the summer. It was a day to hang out with cousins, go for a walk through the trails behind my parents’ house and enjoy great food with a fantastic family.

Now it involves two turkey dinners (no, you can not have too much turkey).

Saturday, my stepdaughter comes home for the first time since we dropped her off at her college residence in September. Her boyfriend, my brother-in-law and his girlfriend will join her.

We will spend the day with our family, catching up on news, playing with my son and walking throughout the neighbourhood after dinner and before digging into dessert, which will include the apple caramel pie found at October farm’s blog.

Thank you again, October farm.

Sunday, we’ll make the drive to my parents’ house, where I will hang out with my cousins and aunts, enjoy great food and fantastic family.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Everyone Knows. Obviously!

Everyone knows.
Obviously.

These are three words that should never be in copy – print, online or broadcast.

Everyone knows.
Really!

Does the writer know every single person knows everything about a type of music or designers, for example?

I don’t know about designers. I don’t know a lot about music – past or present – unless you include Disney tunes, Christmas music or musical soundtracks.

You should never assume someone knows something.

And then there is ‘obviously.’

‘She obviously voted for herself.’

Why is that obvious?
Maybe she had cold feet and decided she didn’t want to be elected and voted for the competition.

It’s not obvious because we don’t know what she did or what she is thinking.

While we are at, take out ‘of course’ when it precedes ‘everyone knows.’

‘Of course, everyone knows…’

See above for why this is a double yuck.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Kid Talk

I didn’t want to be one of those people who talk about every thing her child has ever said or done.

Instead I became one of those people who talk about her cat.

Realizing this, I now I try to talk about neither.

Because while people often ask about the babe, when I begin to chat about what he did or said, their eyes start to glaze over so I know they really aren’t that interested.

Thankfully, most people like to talk about themselves so it’s easy to steer the conversation in a direction they are interested in.

Friday, October 1, 2010

I Can’t Speak for Rob Ford, But I am Offended

Municipal elections are in full swing in Ontario.

The mayor of Toronto race is heating up with a candidate no one thought had a chance becoming the frontrunner.

Rob Ford is a longtime councillor who is hoping to bring his say-it-like-it-is, penny-pinching ways to the mayor's office, and Torontonians have embraced it.

Last night at an all-candidates debate, a man stood up, introduced himself as a doctor and told Ford he was looking at him as a patient. He said because Ford is so big, the doctor was worried Ford wasn’t healthy enough for the job.

Ford, surprisingly, answered the man’s question by saying he knew he had to loose some weight but he has always been a big guy and his doctor had given him a clean bill of health.

Ford also said he was offended by the question.

I am disgusted. What gives anyone the right to question someone’s weight? What business is it of anyone other than Ford? And how dare someone get up in a public forum and ask Ford that sort of question.

I guess this is another reason why I couldn’t be in the public’s eye. I would have told the doctor to piss off.

Poem in Remembrance

A few of my friends and a fellow blogger recently had to put down their cherished pets.
My aunt sent me this poem when we put down Sylvester, a year ago in August. I thought it was lovely.

They are gone
From your sight…
But never our memory,
Gone from our hearing…
But never from our hearts,
Gone from our touch…
But their presence is felt,
And the love that they gave us
Never departs.