I've been blessed to have such wonderful parents. Every day this summer, while I'm at work trying to bring home a bit of bacon, they spend time making sure that my girl is well-cared for, and loved. They never ask for a dime, and have always insisted that it's better that she's there with them, than in a different summer daycare program every week. Finances aside, they've insisted that Kole's well-being means far more to them, than free time. Even when she's at school, they are very inv...

I've always dreaded imagining my girl coming home with dreams of signing up for figure skating. Or hockey. Or soccer. Selfishly, I intensely dislike the idea of getting up at 5 o'clock in the morning to get my kid to the rink in time for a 40 minute lesson, with her dressed in fancy, sequined dresses and leg warmers, or heavily padded and safety helmetted uniform. And I cannot even think about the idea of sitting out in a hot, sweltering soccerfield at 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning. N...

My sister told me a story about a woman she met in the park. My sister remarked on her daughter's straight brown hair that was waist-length, the same as my neice. While their daughters played in the wading pool, the woman told her about her used-to-be friend and neighbour. Turns out that the neighbour had offered to babysit sit for the woman one day while she did some shopping. When the woman got back to pick up her daughter, she found out that while she was gone, the used-to-be friend ...

I've been thinking about switching back to the nightshift. I worked it last October, and ended up dropping it because I wasn't sleeping enough. Nights started at 10:00pm and ended at 6:30am. Back then, I was going back to my parents' home to wake up Kole, get her ready for school, take her, and then wake up in time to pick her back up. Unfortunately, I was finally getting home around 9:00, getting to sleep around 9:30- 10:00 and then trying to wake up at 2:30 to pick her up for 3:00pm. On...

For all the smarts I acquired in both college and University, I never really learned that much about financial planning. I know next to nothing about interest rates, the difference between net and gross pay, and what percentage of my income should go to savings. And forget about education plans for Kole or retirement funds for me in the future. But that's the thing; I don't want to forget. I don't want to look back at 65 and not be able to retire. I finally got off welfare a little m...

I'm from an artsy town. Or at least, a small town that has a rather strong collection of artistic-type people. We haven't produced a Meryl Streep or a Al Pacino; Dustin Hoffman has never dropped by. We've got musicians that you may or may not have heard of, but really, my town is always going to be small. The local University has influenced enough of us to be able to dissect a performance to the bone, and most have enough of a critical theory background to use some really big words about th...

I fall in love too easily... After 300 articles, it's not hard to gather that I have a habit for having crushes on guys that usually lead nowhere. Well, actually, my crushes generally end up with the two of us becoming good friends, but nothing more. What makes me the buddy girl? After many years of experience, I know that its more due to my own reticence than a disinterest from them. I have a bad habit of just letting crushes die instead of proactively showing how much I care. ...

So, I finally finished off Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince at Chapters yesterday morning, but just before I did, I felt somebody standing in front of me. I was positive it was a Chapter's employee about to denounce me in front of the rest of the customers for being a book thief. Because, even though I hadn't purchased the book that I was now 500+ pages into with only 20 so or more to go, it was quite obvious that I had read every single proceeding page at that particular store. ...

My blogging activity has almost come to a stand still. I always mean to write more, but since I don't have a computer with internet access at home, I find it difficult to post on a regular basis. I think a lot of my fellow bloggers go through this. I haven't 'heard' from Muggaz in months, and where oh where are Mignuna, Macky, and others that have left the scene? BlueDev, is busy with work and home, and other people have simply just stopped posting without a goodbye. I miss 'em all, ...

My girl graduated from Grade One to Grade Two, and I couldn't be prouder. Way to go, honey...

I've been surveyed. Check it out, because I'm pretty interested in hearing some feedback about it. I don't want to say anything in this article, because I don't want to give anything away about it, but after you've completed the survey, respond with your thoughts. And don't read any further until you've completed it.

I spent an enjoyable evening just drinking pint after pint of Wellington's SPA, laughing a lot, and fending off an amorous man. I had no plans in mind when I set out after work, but I did happen to walk by the martini bar that I frequent quite regularly while working nights. I met up with the best girl in town and talked for a bit, headed next door to my regular haunt and spent some time there with a girl who is definitely the right girl for a good friend of mine. After he closed his bar, and...

I’m not saying that I can’t get all emotional, but I usually don’t. For example, the movies that I pick are generally not the kind that one tends to get all weepy about. Bring on starships, enemy fighters and the kickass fighting moves, but these ingredients don’t generally bring on the tears. Count me out on any movie that going to elicit criticisms of the scholarly kind. I can get all didactical about influences, tone and geographical inconsistencies in film, too, but I don’t want to. I don...

Every once in awhile I feel like just reaching out for the phone and placing a well-timed call. I want to talk to someone who would jump at the chance of a sudden road trip, a unplanned weekend getaway, or a night of bar-hopping in a city unknown. I'd like to call up someone who has a newspaper nearby and say 'pick a concert, and lets get going." I'd like to ride up to someone's house with a picnic already packed and say, 'know a good place to relax?' I want the unpredictable to happen, and ...

I'd complain about the heat, but since I spent so much time this winter complaining about how bloody cold it was, I'll say nothing at all... I went to the recycling centre out on Pido Road this morning, and I couldn't help but remember how often I end up there, aiming to get a free blue box. Maybe it's the area that I live in, but I've yet to have less than 3 months go by before I make the same trek all over again. Living by a high school gives a good guess as to why the latest one has d...