The Rush of Christmas...

Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly!



Ahhh. Yes it is that time of year again folks. Christmas is an unusual event because like the way of most national holidays it seems to have gone completely Hallmark. Is Hallmark still in business?? If so than it should be very proud indeed. To have made a nick name for holidays that have lost all meaning except that shiny manic edge of commercialism. Christmas and Easter are two very fine examples although Christmas has been more thoroughly saturated than Easter.


There is a poster that aptly applies here when it comes to the celebration of Easter...for those who are easily offended avert your eyes...

Then of course there is the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas time. Was Christ born at Christmas?? Without having to do too much research lets leave that alone. Christmas just is not what it once was...hasn't been for awhile now and the more I walk into Wal-Mart looking for gifts for those I love, (or some other equally packed department store) I want to punch someone and wash my hands of the event. Do I have very little patience or anger issues? Hmm. That's for a different blog altogether I think.

Christmas is just for kids.

There is more truth in that today than we might want to think....parents or other family members scrambling to get the biggest, best thing that the child can demand. Once again the only thing I could think of doing is saying forget it. Remember, Santa only brings gifts to good little boys and girls. Does that mean good throughout the whole year?? Impossible. Santa would have a rather short drive on Christmas eve if that were the case. In fact, the whole conception of Santa Claus as we know him today is a product of Coca Cola. Round, red and jolly. Yes, commercialism at it's best. We buy the idea of the holiday though. We crave it. In fact aren't we all like black ravens?? Attracted to shiny glittery objects and lets face it, holidays gone commercial are the biggest gems of all.

In closing I will quote my mother, for all of her infinite wisdom and advice there is nothing more backward that made perfect sense. "Why pick it apart if it seems to be working? You don't have to enjoy it but don't ruin it for everyone else." Is there a word for a scrooge on every calender holiday that's scheduled? Cause right now, as I write this blog entry every one of those words just might possibly describe me.

Canadian Side Note:

Hi Canada...what the hell is boxing day about? I know. Do you?? Its give away the gifts you got at Christmas time that you didn't like, to the servants of the house. Wow. What a day with such deep felt meaning that the entire country felt the need to take the day off. We're not England, the historical "tradition" isn't even our own to uphold. So whats the deal??

Things to think about while having a merry Xmas. Ho ho ho.

Cornell, Vedder making a comeback...common sense and real feeling in music?? NEVER!

Have you ever experienced that feeling inside where absolutely anything and everything is possible? A wondrous surge of adrenaline as you think about how and where to begin...Life can be like that sometimes. For me to feel this special feeling I only have to play one song only. This is the song that makes me feel like I could climb mountains and not have to catch my breath. Rise Up by Eddie Vedder. I can say with great regret it took my watching the movie Into the Wild before I knew that Vedder had even been producing music still. My days of pining for the sound of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and other various groups having lessened and soon faded practically out in 1999. I forgot how it was to be moved by the deep resonating male voice leading the instruments as they create musically indepth masterpieces.

I have to give my due to the wonderfully talented singer, Chris Cornell who suddenly was alive for me again when that American Idol singer brought the spotlight back to him. Sure Audioslave had a good run but to be realistic he's much better on his own. Billie Jean? A great song that needed the twist that Cornell put to it. All of this is not new news to the music buffs out there, but I am far from a music obsessed individual, even when the teenage years were upon me I never reallly did go out of my way to find out much about the bands themselves. Music has the ability to move and...not move all the same. If it speaks to me than I like it. If it doesn't than it's a pleasant distraction from the silence while I drive my car. Most main stream radio can have that effect. Who knew how many times John Mayer said the same lyrics over and over in the same song until it was played twenty-five times a day?

But that's what most music is today right? The same over and over...can't be a song until you sing the same thing at the end of each verse, add a couple of those lyrical note jumping riffs and...well... there you go!

Planning for a wedding

So this is the beginning of a great deal of work. Not that I am adverse to working...in the right capacity it can feel productive as opposed to tiring. Weddings are supposed to be a gathering of family to celebrate the union of two people. This has been a union a long time in the making cause the engagement period took long enough, let me tell you!
The idea of an engagement had first begun with Egyptians, a process created for the soul purpose of getting to know one another and ensuring compatibility.

You want me to sign a prenup?

Yes, a prenuptial agreement is not exactly new news folks. Its been around for a VERY long time indeed, doing the same job it was always meant to do: protect the interests of the parties involved. Going all the way back to the beginning of course it was a little broader in the scope of prenuptial agreement, at one time including the interests of the entire "clan".

Who's paying for this shindig?

On the banks of the Nile is where historically the groom would pay for his bride, then the grooms family would fit the bill for the celebration. Not true in all cultures throughout history, until recent years it was the brides family who would see to that tiny detail. Now, it's a scramble for not just the families of the bride and groom but the bride and grooms themselves to cover the cost. With the ever increasing industry that the business of weddings has become we are seeing prices soar with it. Shark fin soup anyone? It's all about presentation, preparation and execution. Showing family and friends a good time while impressing them thoroughly is the number one concern on any modern brides "to do" list. In many parts of Asia as well as the rest of the world a show of wealth is made by the menu. How so? As mentioned above shark fin soup is quite the rage. Never mind that the shark fin itself is completely tasteless and all you're eating is some broth with a bit of fin in it...it's all about the cost. If mom really wants it and she's willing to pay for tradition at a premium dollar is there really anything to quibble about? Don't worry that sharks are destroyed for the soul purpose of their fins and thinning out dramatically in population. In the end it can be from shark fin soup to the finest delicacies made by an award winning chef, clout comes with the dollars attached to the event.

Parades to promenades...

Way back in the old country...wherever that old country might be it was a tradition to have a parade or celebration to show off the engaged or newly married couple. Imagine...strutting your stuff and waving like the Queen of England down the main street of a large city just cause your getting hitched finally. Well, no longer the style we have seen that tradition morph into something far more modern--the party. Yes, another party in a long line of parties to come...the big finale being the wedding reception itself. The engagement party, the stag and doe, the bridal shower, the bachelor party, the bachelorette party and finally the wedding. Did I miss any? Maybe. The point is, when your planning a wedding you undertake not just the main even but others as well...makes my head spin thinking about the organizational skills required to pull it all off successfully and without a hitch in the giddy up.


Planning a wedding can be a harrowing experience, for this reason I caution all young loves and couples with big plans for the future to pick carefully when assembling their wedding party. A good wedding party can make or break the wedding from the early stages of planning all the way to the execution. While the marriage can often turn into something you may want to forget, the celebration of that marriage should be something to remember!

Life as a Personal Support Worker

So I have begun my journey as a PSW, still taking a class for the certificate but have been hired by a company to do things that I have yet to be trained in class to do. Hope they plan on showing me a few things otherwise I'm gonna be that menace coming to your house to perform pericare without a clue on how to do it. Wonder when they will put a college of PSW's together so the profession can be regulated...I realized that PSW's do a broad range of stuff so it is hard to pin down a specific list of tasks although it can't be impossible...I mean, what do nurses not WANT to do...and there you go, you have tasks that are specific to a PSW. I mean, my friend calls herself a poop connosiuer, not exactly the full aspect of what she does but when she is taking stool samples and cleaning ostomy bags, its pretty much a good discription. Hospitals are finally hiring PSW's full time to do the jobs that nurses claim they have no time for. So does that mean that if PSW's were not around the nurses weren't doing their jobs correctly?? hmm food for thought.

In a recent conversation with my cousin she said that she didn't want to become a PSW because she would be a 'nurse's bitch'. Not a very flattering comment at all when you think about the thousands of PSW's out there making not a bad dollar from picking up the slack that nurses don't find time for. She continued to make a comment about my temporary choice of being a PSW. "Do you really want to work under the nurses?" Well my retort was simply this: You will always have a supervisor and you only answer to that supervisor it doesn't matter what kind of job you have. I mean, nurses answer to their supervisor sometimes a doctor and yes those with a superiority complex will always be assholes no matter where they are...no matter what profession. I mean I once worked for Tim Hortons and my supervisor thought her shit didn't stink just because she was in a position of power over those around her. Power trips happen anywhere.

My ultimate goal is to become a Registered Practical Nurse, not even close to the kind of profession I fancied for myself while growing up, but priorities change and health care pays.
An RPN is a nurse, although not the same as a Registered Nurse (RN) I can't imagine going to school for four years at university to come out with a degree in nursing. Quite frankly I don't have the time, not many parents do. So the obvious choice is RPN. Shorter schooling period, with a darn good paycheque at the end of it all...did I mention that it's half the cost if not cheaper than that even?

Anyway. I lost the point of my rant somewhere in the body of my blog. oh well.

Word of the Day -- Descry

de·scry

tr.v. de·scried, de·scry·ing, de·scries

1. To catch sight of (something difficult to discern).

2. To discover by careful observation or scrutiny; detect: descried a message of hope in her words

Neighbors: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.

So in every movie there is one neighbor who just cannot help themselves in the nosey dept. That would be me. Or at least mildly if not fanatically. I have been blessed with several neighbors and while for the most part they are great there are a few "questionables" (and who knows, I might be one of those)

My immediate neighbors are your typical neighbors on the outside. The one to the right of me is a single woman with her single dog living her carefree single life but with an older twist. That translates into her NOT partying every weekend which is fine by my family oriented standards.

The neighbors to the left of me are a mother and her daughter. Her rank is an Army Sgt. who is an absolute sweetheart. Her daughter???

What to say, the typical teenager who could do with a dose of reality and what adults do in the real world. Aside from that, completely normal. Now lets look at the neighborhood neighbors.

The single woman to the right of me that I mentioned earlier has a neighbor in the semi units beside our row house. They have two sons the eldest, a 15 year old boy who breaks into houses. How do I know this little tidbit? Well the single neighbor experienced it herself. Found her cell phone stolen and condoms that didn't belong to her lying about. Also found a healthy dose of child pornography on her computer. The military police came over, made a big 'do' of taking away her PC and looking stern. It was a good thing that 15 year old left stuff behind that incriminated him. Not that it did anything. The military police requested that he pay the money required to replace the phone and a letter of apology.

How does one apologise for something like that? Complete home invasion, used for god knows what purpose and to top it all off he was looking at child pornography. This is how it starts, frightening that the MP's have turned a blind eye to it and that no one else can step in locally because it occured on a military base.

The neighbors across the road are an interesting bunch. There are two families that I am most entertained by. One runs a home daycare through the Borden Family Resource Center and everyday these kids are running around and she is just SCREAMING at them. I babysit, but there is no way that I would yell like that especially at children who are not mine. But hey, when you go through the FRC on base here they are supposed to be doing check ups to make sure everything is just fine. I'm sure it is.....................................

The neighbors two houses over to the right across the street have a teenager as well. I don't know much about her except that she is having or really WANTS to have sex with her boyfriend. All day on the weekends and well into the night on week days she sits in front of their house making out with him. They go into these positions that had my daughter been outside with me at the time I would have been upset. He pins her to the wall while she wraps her legs around him....all the while grinding against one another.

And so you see.

The good, The bad, and the just plain ugly of the neighborhood. All observed from the confines of my own property.

Seperation Anxiety

It has been almost four years since Steve and I "tied the knot" (this is not in the literal legal sense either) and if we consider all of the facts I can see a change in my life from that point as so very drastic I find it difficult to recognize it at all. The bottom line is I no longer live in close proximity to home which makes the differences in my life all the more glaring.
People who you would think are your friends to the end suddenly disappear cause they couldn't be bothered anymore and priorities have all completely remade themselves into something different. A one time party girl who was fine going with the flow of life with no real direction other than paying the bills and having a good time, I am a mom who's days are ordered and completely planned weeks in advance. For instance. Mornings are reserved for going outside, we walk to the park play for about two hours and then we come home and read some books. After reading we have lunch it generally ends up being one of three things....mac and cheese, sandwich of some sort with soup or hot dogs. After lunch it is nap time, followed by either crafts or baking. Then we go outside again to finish off the day cause Daddy is home soon after that and it's my break time.
That leaves little time for me to do my writing, a priority at one point it seems to have taken a back seat to...everything. I was a bit of a party girl, I liked going out, I liked having friends around and now that has changed. Im not a big drinker anymore...I mean my birthday is coming up and there is nothing less interesting than getting some drinks and celebrating that way. WHat do I want to do??
I don't know and I think that's half of my problem. Before I moved away and my life changed I knew who I was inside and out with no doubt or questions. Now I am on my own...truly on my own discovering who I am now...all over again. It's hard actually. Because it's not just me that I'm figuring out, at the same time I am figuring out who I am as a parent, a partner and person.
With no new everyday people to call friends here on base its really given me the solitary time to get to know me.
What have I discovered so far in? That I actually like the family I have in London. Who knew? I am incredibly lazy for the most part, I don't like social situations unless I know everyone there already...and I have to know them well in order to actually have a good time. Also, I realize that I am still desperate to be comfortable in who I was before I moved today but find it doesen't work in my current situation.

Who knows. THe bottom line is that I am still trying to figure out who I am and have found it difficult to let go of the person I knew that I was. I think they call that when you become old your glory days...lol