Thursdays at the park

It's a rainy Thursday morning and once again, hurray, we are all here. The Tamil demonstrators are a very hot topic for today. Carolin's life has been interrupted by them twice now, coming and going from the downtown core. We don't even really know what their actual cause is because we are too upset with them keeping us hostage in our own city. It's all over the news and what's happening in their country is awful but what can we here in Canada do about this? We are a peaceful country and why are we subjected to this from this organization? Carolin says, can you imagine if one of the bridges in New York were closed down because of this? Cathy says, that it would never happen anywhere else. So why is it OK here in Canada? It was supposedly a spontaneous gathering but we all think 3,000 people in a spontaneous gathering. Give me a break. It is so similar to the whole Christmas thing, says Cathy. We have to be careful not to say, 'Merry Christmas', and to be politically correct about it. Carolin says its the corporate money and the liberals not the actual cultures and religions. Carolin read something that said that the Muslim religion is growing in numbers very quickly more so than other religions and that someday the other religions and cultures will be almost non-existent. It's not about conversion from one culture or religion to Muslim but rather the expansion of their families or population. The Christian religion is actually the most converted religion says Carolin. So why is that asks Louise? What religion are the Tamils anyway I ask? We don't know. I don't even know what a Tamil actual is says Carolin. Cathy has an explanation and I will let her speak to that because I can't type that fast....I don't know exactly what they stand for, all I understand is that they are in the minority in Sri Lanka and they are wishing their own political border and land within Sri Lanka. Is it similar to the situation in Israel? Can someone shed some light on this for us???

By the way Cathy's hair looks really nice today.

Now talking about gas in our bodies and the discomfort that it can cause and how it can sometime be mistaken for other things in young children who don't know any better. (Carolin) Let me say we all were not talking about gas just two of them. This topic is almost as boring as the next one you will read.

Cathy bought a new reel mower at Canadian Tire yesterday one of the manual lawn mowers. Funny thing is that I was looking at the same thing as my sister and I went shopping for the same thing yesterday. I actually had the same one in my hands yesterday and went to the cash but put it down at the last moment because I thought that even though its a really good deal I would check with my husband first as it is on sale for the rest of the week. I would like a manual lawn mower because I would mow it twice a week and the clippings left on the grass are actually good for the grass. When I talked to my husband he said not at this time we have two lawn mowers in the garage right now (news to me) and we can't spend that money at this time. Well Cathy said that one of her children actually put the mower together within minutes and was off and going, No says Carolin, off and mowing!

Now to work and finding a job again. We are the three of us the non workers who are constantly sending off resumes and not getting any responses. It is so difficult to find a job right now with this economy. Louise needs to find a job yesterday. She is presently working part time but she needs a good full time job. She also will need daycare for one of her children and part time for the second. It's finding something full time which will make enough money to cover all of the expenses and be ahead after paying for day care costs.

We are all complaining about our utility accounts and why when we call to change something, our husbands names are first or the primary and we have no authority to change things on these accounts. It's funny how we have all had this angry conversation with our husbands about when we set up accounts and I am not with you make sure that you put the account under both of our names. Why are we even having this conversation. It is something that we just assumed was already set up that way.

And insurance, with this loss of jobs, insurance coverage is dwindling as the months go by. So we are trying to get the dentist appointments in before the end of the month before the coverage stops.

Money seems to be at the heart of many issues in our homes. We are all a bit frightened with what the future will hold. We hope that things will resolve themselves.

Now to kids and activities. Track and soccer and costs and time and transportation. Life is busy and it's a lot of running around. Louise says, that she feels like she is running around like a chicken with her head cut off.

Now to getting fit. Running, walking, jogging and forms of exercise. How about marathons. It's a nice thought but pretty unrealistic we think. I am considering a marathon in the fall. My husband just ran a half one on mother's day and I am thinking about joining him in the fall. Maybe I will start off with a 5 or 10k and maybe I'll see if the kids and I can do the smaller one together. Blah, Blah, Blah we have heard this before. (Carolin) I don' t know about running it all the way but maybe walking it. Cathy talks now about body cleansing, should we do it? Does it work? How about the 100 mile food diet on the food channel. I did see that and I thought that it was pretty difficult. What about our fruits and vegetables?

Kid's in high school, so different now from when we went. I think it is a lot more intense than when we went. The kids leave middle school where they had no control or choice and enter high school where they have to already know what they want to do with their future. They are given so much freedom and we as parents have to try to balance us and them. And let me say I am losing the balancing between teenager and parent. (Carolin)Teenagers and hormones and knowing when to draw the line in the sand! How do we stay sane?????

We stay sane by ALCOHOL and lots of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cathy is talking about how drunk she was a few months ago and her husband had to take her for a walk to clear her drunk, she even woke up drunk. Only in my dreams would be I able to get that drunk! Two glass' of wine and its heartburn city for me.

Its a hour later and Sunshine and Cathy are back on the lawnmower subject (boring) Now the two are discussing how a garbage man makes more money then a teacher! Now on to mothers and sons verse mothers and daughters. Sunshine has decided that women and girls are just to much work. Amen to that!

Now this discussion is on enviroment, eco crap. And planting a vegetable garden. I will have a vegi garden this year for the first time since we have lived in this house (8 years). Cathy says she has alot of her vegies already in the ground but it seems a bit early to me, I think I will plant after this long weekend.

Everyone is to keep the Sunday of Labour Day weekend free for Cathy's house for a swim and bbq. Nothing like leaving it to the last minute! Thats our Cathy.

I'm just happy to be feeling good today. The last few days have been very hard and very blue.....We are coming to the end of our meeting, and it's been nice to get together and have some adult conversation.

Until next week...........