Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Welcome back Sunshine! How was your vacation? Do you have photos?

(Sunshine) Hello everyone. I missed you all very much. Our vacation was amazing. We had a great time. The weather was beautiful. I love Hawaii! It is always warm and sunny with a gentle breeze and virtually no bugs. We lathered on the sun screen but we still got burnt and are all pealing except for Little Miss Sunshine. She has great colour and tanned beautifully. The tsunami part of the vacation was a little tense. It was the first night that we arrived and our resort was originally going to be evacuated by 2:00a.m. But then we were downgraded to only evacuation to higher ground within the resort itself, 3rd floor and above. The swimming pool and lagoon and all beaches on the island were closed on the following day mostly due to clean up of debris. We were on the Kona side of the island and certain areas within Kona were affected much more than we were. A short ten minute drive along the coast and you could see what was affected. Three days after the tsunami hit there were still store windows boarded up, trees in the ocean and a house floating in the ocean. This was the only area that we actually saw effects of the tsunami, although I am sure that there were many others. The crazy thing is that the news was reporting that they were glad that the tsunami was arriving at nighttime because it would be pitch black with nothing to see. Apparently, if it was approaching during daylight there would be big problems with people wanting to get close enough to see what was happening and most likely there would be some severe injuries. As the news was reporting this at about 1:45 am you could see someone on their bike riding by the shore on the beach that the camera was shooting. People can be curiously crazy.

Well, the rest of the vacation was great. I could feel a sense of calm and relaxation as soon as I started swimming in the salt water ocean and the sun hit my face! We really did have a wonderful time. On the way back, we spent two night in San Francisco. It is architecturally such a beautiful city. The cable cars are a little crazy though. Do you know that they manually turn each car at the end of the line in order to go back up the mountain? We had a great time!

Cathy, you would be proud of us. We travelled to LA with carry on luggage only.(yeah!) I had no clothes on vacation with me but we accomplished your goal. The rest of the trip, Mr Sunshine was not as concerned about loss of luggage so we checked our luggage on the next flight and both times on the way home. They did however take my bananas in Hawaii and would not let them on the plane to San Francisco. Strangely enough from San Francisco to Toronto, they let me keep the bananas and the apples and took a water bottle that we had forgotten was in our carryon bag. Little Miss Sunshine had to go through the body scan machine in Toronto and the rest of the trip was pretty easy. Thanks for all of your great tips Cathy!

Well, I was back to work this week and it feels as though I never left. Talk about sucking the vacation feeling right out of someone. As usual, it was drama, drama and more drama. Oh well, the work week is over and I am looking forward to the weekend.

OK, to change the subject. I have stepped on the scale and I realize I have "20" pounds to lose!!!
Where did they come from? I think my metabolism has come to a complete halt! So, I have determined that I cannot be trusted to "just do it" on my own. I try for a day and then the next life gets in the way..... or the couch. I get it has to be me, but can't someone come and be me for the next three months so that I can make a habit stick, please! (Carolin) Welcome to the other side Cathy. We have lots of room on our couch.

Well I am at the end of the my March Break :( . It has been a nice two weeks. The little one and I did a few day trips and on Wednesday we went to see, "Billy Elliot," with my mom. It was very good and we all enjoyed it. Then we met my aunt and went for dinner. The weather was very nasty and we had a mini blizzard so I didn't get home on Wednesday till close to 10:00 pm. The little one spent the night at her Grandma's house for the first time.

I went to work yesterday to set up and I had a delivery coming. But really all I did was clean up the kitchen from others who had used it during the break. What a mess! I don't understand, how people can just leave it they way they did! Floors were covered in food and spilled juice, counters had leftover food and dishes on them. One of the fridges was full of half eaten food. It had all been there for close to a week! Thank goodness my staff and I had locked everything we could think of or my stuff would have been used or taken. I guess it doesn't matter if you are a regular church goer or not, some people are just disrespectful pigs!

On a happier note, the teenager got herself a full time summer job. She is pretty excited and even though she won't give me the credit, I am taking some of it anyway. I was the one who told her to apply and how to apply. She will be working for the city (yeah, I know she already works for the city) but this summer job would be with the parks and maintenance division. She applied for numerous jobs on the weekend, they sent a email requesting an interview on Tuesday. She went for the interview Wednesday morning and they called Thursday afternoon! She said it helped that she new one of the interviewers from one of the pools she works at. Also, when she went into work Wednesday night her boss told her he had got a reference check about her. She does not know what her position will be yet. They told her the head horticulturist will call her next week as they have a couple areas they would like her to work. She is pretty excited.!Congratulations!

Have a great weekend everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another Federal Election?

I have been following the politics of this week. It seems that Friday we will find out if there is to be another Federal Election called. This will be due to a non confidence vote by the opposition. How many federal elections have been held over the last ten years? It seems like quite a few. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the last election held for the same reason? Did anything change or get better? I have some questions. I will vote as I always do, however how do I decide my vote? Do I look at the qualities of the leader of the party? Do I just look at the policy of each party? Or do I look at past history?

How do you decide?

(Carolin) I know its not Friday. But I think by having so many elections in such a short period of time will reduce voters turnout. As it is a turn off to the people and by doing this the government then can do more with out the public knowing or even worse caring. I wonder how many people vote for the party leader, or for the party, or they vote for the person for their area. As we only get one vote but have to make three choices with that one vote.

Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) Hi ladies, I hope everyone is having a good March Break so far. Carolin, you are so lucky that you get two weeks for March Break. Does anyone know if the year round schools get two weeks now as well?


Hubby took Thursday off and after I came home from work we all went for a two and a half hour hike up in Caledon. We hiked in to Cataract Falls. It was a great hike; the sky was blue and it was warm! We will definitely go back when it's not as muddy. After hiking we were starved so we voted to go out to dinner on the way home. We went to Heritage Fish and Chips! The same one we went to last Good Friday. The boys were reminiscing about sitting on the curb in the parking lot waiting for the call of #76!! We ate in this time and were the only ones in the restaurant for the first while. Hubby and I ordered the Fisherman's Platter! It had haddock, halibut, scallops and shrimp with fries........ yum! We were pigs and ate it all. I had thought we would have a doggie bag to bring home. I have never eaten in at Heritage but we get Fish and Chips from them once every few months or so.


Changing the subject, it's shift bid time again at work. I have yet to see them and I know I say this every time, however, this time we are in for some not very nice shifts. Also, we are working without a contract and have been advised that the company and union have had to request conciliation from the labour board. I'm not sure what this means. I hope it's a positive move. All I know is that we will have to wait longer to see the new proposed contract.


Sunshine and family come home this weekend. I look forward to hearing all about the trip. I really want to know if Sunshine survived taking carry on luggage only!!!



(Carolin) Wow the first week of March break is almost over. The little one and I went to the McMichael Art Gallery on Tuesday. She had done a project on Emily Carr and wanted to see some of her work. On Thursday my car was back in the shop for the day as the break lights would not turn off. Thursday night we went to a showing of the Secret Keepers Girls Pajama Party http://http//www.secretkeepergirl.com/. It was OK, seems it was the first time in Canada (might want to work on some of the jokes). They did this bit on what celebrities really look like which I wasn't to impressed with. Since we don't watch Family Channel the little one didn't know who most of the actress' where and then they showed a before and after picture of one of the actress from Desperate Housewives. The last photo was of Madonna, one shot as is and one with all the retouching. I sure hope that my daughter was not the only young lady who didn't know who Madonna or Eve Langoria were.

(Friday)The little one and I just got home from my most favoutie place to visit. Yes thats right we spent the day at Black Creek Pioneer Village. Just love that place, it holds so many great memories for me. I so want to live there.



Have a good week everyone!

Catch Up Fridays

I just read Angie's post from her blog, "Linen and Verbena" and her thoughts echo mine. It is high time we stop destroying our planet. Our prayers go out to all who are affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan this morning. The reporters are claiming that this earthquake is the fifth strongest one on the planet, ever! God is speaking to us and we need to start listening. It seems to be a never ending reporting of natural disasters these days and they seem to be escalating in power and destruction. Maybe this is a natural cycle for our planet, maybe not. We are living on an overpopulated, polluted, selfish planet and something has to give. I hope and pray that the turn around will happen soon so we can start to celebrate the joys instead of mourning the losses.

(Carolin) Not sure if I agree with you Cathy. Humans know that there are earthquakes, tsunami, hurricanes, tornadoes etc. But we still decide to take the risk and build our lives in areas that are of high risk. I think we just like the thrill of playing Russian roulette with nature. I believe God is a God of Love. I don't believe he spins the globe and where ever his fingers land that day is where he spreads his wrath. I relate it to our kids; we can tell them not to play on the road they might get hit by a car. 99 times out of a hundred they are fine but eventually they will get hit. If you decide to live on a coastline by a fault line eventually you will be hit. True enough, I do still believe however, that we still do too much damage to this planet. We drill and mine and change water flow with dams and basically upset the natural flow. Is what we do huge enough to incite 'natural disasters'? Maybe not. What we do is probably akin to a bug bite. When earthquakes occur we are horrified at the loss of life and rightfully so. The plates of earth that we live on are constantly in motion and we were all taught that at one time all of the continents were together to make one mass of land. As things cycle it's possible that the continents will one day be together again.

On a lighter note: Its March Break!!!!!! Two weeks of no school, no after school activities, no work. Well I will do some work but the best thing is NO ALARM CLOCK!!! My vacation is over and I will be back at work Sunday at 6:30am. I also remembered that we put the clocks ahead one hour. I will miss that hour of sleep!

I have a very serious question to ask all the bloggers out there: How come when I wax the upper lip, chin etc (gross I know). The wax rips my skin off but the hair is still on my face. So now I have a red scabby hair face. How is this a good thing? Exfoliation is always a good thing, ha ha ha! What about using that Nair stuff?


Well, I got to go cause I have nothing to do and its March Break. Woot, Woot!!! Yadda, yadda!
Have a good week everyone!

Catch Up Fridays

(Cathy) So starts my non vacation vacation. What will I do. Well, I have made a hair appointment for mom and I. I'm sure we'll go out for lunch as well. I think I will start on my tomato seeds. I will go through my seed packets and see what else I can start. I hope to get everyone's "stuff" out of my hobby/garden/craft room so I have room to work. I would love to paint it as right now it is drab/faded nothing colour. I think blue and butter cream yellow sound bright and cheerful! What do you think? (Carolin) I think you should do what ever you want and I didn't know you had a hobby/garden/craft room. Where is this hobby/garden/craft room of yours? In the basement, past the bar end of the rec. room, (your favourite room!) I have been in your basement only once cause you know how much I dislike basements!


As for this past week, both Hubby and the younger one were home sick with that cold/flu thing going around. The hardest part about this cold thing is the cough which can last for up to 6 weeks! They are both on the road to recovery. (Sunshine) I hope that everyone feels better really soon!!!!!

The older one just finished his first session of teaching swimming/life guarding and his evaluation was good so Hubby and I think he's set for now. He has a heavy course load at school and with his work hours we thought it would be too much. However, he seems to be the sort who thrives on having a lot on the go. He grades are not suffering so no worries for now! Glad it went well. Smart boy, way to go!!!

Funny story, last Sunday I helped Mr. Sunshine with a change to his flight reservation. Instead of taking two flights and getting in late, I was able to rebook him on to one flight with just a stopover and earlier arrival time. Well, wouldn't you know it......... due to bridge problems at the stopover airport...... he ended up arriving approx. 3 hours later than if had stayed with his original booking!! I wonder if he will ever ask me for help again, ha ha ha! Feels like an episode of , "The Amazing Race". Seems the first plane never lands on time and the last place team becomes first. It's always an adventure. Thanks for helping Cathy it was very much appreciated. Mr Sunshine was asking when we are getting together to keep up with his end of the bargain.

Well, it has been one of those kinda days today. I found out from my numerous sources that 3, Yes three, school staff members were let go today. None of them were teachers but still it was a little surprising. The rumour I heard tonight while at Fuzion class was that the school was spending $4000.00 more a day then they made. I also heard another employee's hours were cut to part time. Makes me wonder what our tuition bill will look like for next year and also just how much more they think they can get from me for next years contract. The positive side for me is I don't cost them anything, they get full tuition from me and a % of my sales from the cafeteria.

On a different subject the Teenager had her court date today to fight the careless driving charge from her accident back in November. Her ticket was for over $500.00 and she would of had a pile of demerit points. The husband took the day off work and went with her to see the judge and she spewed the charm and had the charge reduced to improper lane change which has a ticket of $85.00 and no demerit points. Also, the judge called her a "Cheerful Buttercup"!!!!! Whew!! I'm glad that went well. She must feel so much better. So, what does she get to drive now?? In my experience, it is always worth it to go to court and fight the tickets. In my teenage years, I was pulled over one day and got three tickets. One for speeding, one for not having my licence on me and one for not wearing my seat belt. I did go to court and I was amazed at all the people who were there and fighting there own tickets. There was one young guy who still stands out in my mind. He had gotten a ticket for failing to stop at a stop sign. I remember clearly that his excuse was that he had a cold and his explanation was that he must have missed the top sign when he sneezed. He got off with having to pay next to nothing at all. I thought wow, if he can do that then I can surely get a reduction on my tickets. I was asked a lot of questions and answered honestly and I did get a very considerable reduction. They really do take that you are a student and very young and inexperienced and many other things into consideration. I remember doing a happy dance all the way to the car. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that when I got into my car, there was a ticket on my windshield, I had parked in a no parking zone. Some how along the way to adult land, I developed into a much more responsible person.

It was busy at work as usual. I actually only worked 3 days this week. I took Monday and Tuesday off to nurse my knee injury. I finally got the results of the x-rays and ultrasound on Thursday and I was very disappointed with the results. I was hoping that I had torn something that would need a little bit of physiotherapy and that I would eventually be back to normal. Well the tests show that I have arthritis in my knee and some other long mumbo jumbo diagnosis that I don't remember the actual name of that basically is an injury that occurred when I was running on the tread mill. Unfortunately it sound like a chronic condition that I will have to battle for the rest of my life. The doctor says that with medication and possible cortisone shots to the knee, they should be able to help me manage the pain with the occasional flare up now and then. The really strange thing is that I have never had issues with my knees or legs ever before. I did manage to finish off the week at work but it was really painful by the end of each day. The doctor also said that once we have this flare up under control he would like me to start using the stationary bike to help grind down the bone in the knee that will help alleviate some of the pain. This week I have felt like an old lady limping around and having to sit down when I got home with my heating pad and anti inflammatory ointment. Fun wow. I hope that hings are going to be better then he expressed and I am determined to find a way to make that happen.

p.s. I will be away the next two Friday so I won't be blogging. I will miss you girls a lot. Have a wonderful March Break and enjoy your time off.

Have a good week everyone!