Life's Whirlwind Adventures

So I have been watching Gene Simmons Family Jewels for a couple years now.  I actually really enjoy watching that family, they seem very grounded considering the fame and notoriety that Gene has surrounding him.  Especially, when you consider, this family to other Rock star families, this family seems very real and not completely swallowed up by the hype that seems to live and breathe within LA.  Through the first six seasons, Gene has been opposed to marriage, and Shannon hasn't really pressed the issue so much as she has been busy with the kids and the home.  Gene says that he and Shannon have been happily unmarried for 2X years.  He is content with being unmarried and being in a relationship with Shannon that still allows him to live his rock star life in public with girls hanging off his arms.  But this season you see a change. I don't think this change happens because Gene wakes up one day and is like hey marriage isn't so bad, but because Shannon ...

I read a book a couple years ago.  It was a novel that was a collection of short stories about people going on vacation to a specific resort.  It got me thinking that it might be fun to write stories for a YA audience that tells all the stories that teens go through in high school.  So I began working on some stories.  I find that sometimes my writing is quite dark, quite focused on the dramatic things that aren't always positive in high school. Which is weird because it's not like my high school experience was filled with dramatic experiences of horror. So I am wanting some critiques of my stories so here is a sample of one of the stories..... it's the introduction. I never thought my dream date with the college boy would end up in a nightmare.  I remember telling my best friend how excited I was to finally be going out with a real guy, a man, not just some high school boy like I was used to dating.  She was so jealous! Her face was green with envy....

So I am not sure what the point is anymore.  It's super frustrating to be perfectly honest.  I mean what's the point of vandalism???  Is there a point or is it just the point that the person is angry and needs to break something of someone else's??  Maybe that's the point, but I bet it didn't make them feel better. I was opening my blinds this afternoon to let in some late light into my front room.  Usually I open them earlier but I was being a cave dweller today so I didn't. Then while I was on the phone I opened my front window.  As I opened the second blind, I saw a hole in my window.  Yup a big old hole in the window.  I was rendered speechless.  Then I checked the last window and ANOTHER hole in my window. They  are double paned windows so they only broke the outer pane, but still need to get those windows replaced.  It's going to be a big pain in my butt, especially with the wedding and stuff.  Hopefully, since we hav...

I do not have a green thumb.  Nope not at all.  I try and I put in a valiant effort, but most plants I come into contact with seem to die, rather quickly. It's sad really.  However for the past two years I have had a garden in my new home.  (Before I was always renting and had no place to have a garden.)  It still amazes me that anything will grow when I plant it since nothing I keep in my house wants to stay alive.  Literally, I have had a dozen different plants in pots and they have all hit my compost bin in the past year.  I don't know what I am doing wrong, or how to change it, but plants inside (which I LOVE) and I do not go hand in hand.  My garden seems to be a different story.  Last year I had a truly successful year.  We had potatoes and peas and tomatos.  It was a late start to planting, but everything I planted grew up and provided for us abundantly.  Well except for the carrots (totally not my fault, my dog dug t...

Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will. Jawaharal Nehru There are many different views on what our life is about.  Is our life predestined or do we get to forged that path as we make decisions in life?   I have long believed that my life is mine to make.  But like roads, each decision I make will take me down a path with a choice that has been determined before I even make the choice to go down that way.  Much like roads and streets, that lead you to specific intersections, I believe the choices I make are my free will.  I believe that free will exists, that I get to choose my paths in life.   I think many times in my life I am able to see that I am going down a specific path, a path I could not avoid, but how I travel down that path is up to me.  I am able to choose my outlook on the paths, I am able to choose how fast I get down this path, I have many options and tha...

I was given my first blogger award last week (The Versatile Blogger Award) by my terrific friend Mireille Chester. I am super excited. :D Be sure to check out Mireille’s blog http://mireillechester.tumblr.com/post/6723792402/versatile-blogger-award#disqus_thread There are requirements for accepting the award. The most important one is that it must be passed on to others. The other rules are listed below. The rules 1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you. 2. Share 7 random facts about yourself. 3. Pass the award on to 5 newfound blogging buddies. 4. Contact the winners to congratulate them. So, seven random facts about me… 1. I have dual citizenship, so I often consider myself a citizen of North America. 2. I love Survivor and Big Brother, but I don't watch any other Reality Television, I think the rest is fake. lol 3. I have travelled all over the western provinces and states, but have only been out to PEI in the east. 4. I have worked in a bakery, rest...

Today is Father's Day and I am going to write two posts, one for my father and one for the man in my life that is a father in my household. My earliest memory of my father goes back to when I was 10 years old. I was staying at his house for a few days while my mother was visiting with my Aunty in Pleasanton.  It was one of the first times I was staying with my dad overnight without my mother there.  Since the divorce I hadn't really seen much of my dad, but I knew who he was.  Since we lived so far away it was hard to really spend lot's of time with him, but I did enjoy the time I did spend with him. This particular time, I got sick while I was with him.  Not real sick or anything just a head cold or sinus infection. I remember being really stuffed up and uncomfortable.  I think I even had a fever but Dad was on  top of the situation.  He got me some medicine and made me some chicken noodle soup.  He gave me a cool cloth and turned on cartoons ...

My sister, who is my Maid of Honour, and I went to the movie Bridesmaids last night.  It was a busy night in the theatre but we made it there early enough and got good seats.  I have heard great reviews about this movie and sometimes that worries me because it increases my expectations and then I end up being disappointed that it did not live up to my expectations.  This movie, however, did not disappoint, it exceeded my expectations by leaps and bounds. The movie was excellent!! So funny and it had a real story-line.  People do get crazy when it's wedding time so the situations were believable and they just showed them for the absurdity that can happen when women are involved in weddings.  Especially when a bride is trying to get all her friends together that don't normally hang out together.  Especially when girls feel like they are the number one friend and come face to face with someone else that feels the same way. It was a great comedy movie. ...

"Never apologize for what u feel that is like saying sorry for being real.... I don't regret my past just made me who I am and I'm not a bitch I just have no tolerance for bullshit" This was a status from a friend's Facebook page.  I am not sure it it's a quote from another source but for now we will honor S. Ford with it, if I am mistaken, then Google has failed me, because I did search. I try, and sometimes without success, to express myself without putting blame on someone else.  I am a big girl, I can speak up or walk away from any situation I am not enjoying, but if I choose not to walk away, then that's on me not the person that has brought me to this situation.  I get how people can read things and think it's about them, people are very narcissistic and want to believe that everyone thinks of them as much as they do, but if people are mostly thinking about themselves, then how can the be thinking about others?  It's just human nature thou...

http://www.indianchild.com/lesson_in_life.htm  has a quote that reads, "I've learned you don't have to change friends, if you understand that friends change."  It made me think if I understand this??  I think I do, I can only hope that my friends understand it as well. I sometimes don't think I have changed, I think that as much as I still look like my high school, junior high pictures my attitude and behaviours are the same, but unfortunately that can't even be true.  I was not a mom in high school or junior high, so I couldn't possibly have the same outlook.  I even know that I don't have the same interests. Life is about growing, changing and embracing that change in yourself, but also about embracing the change that happens in others.  Sometimes this is more difficult to do than it would appear.  I mean if you can understand that you are not the same person as you were 5, 10 or more years ago, then the same must be true for your friends.  ...

I hate job hunting, I actually hate all parts about it, but it's a neccessity in this day and age.  I am again finding myself to be on the job hunt for another teaching position for the fall.  Every year this seems to be my lot in life, and though I love teaching this job hunting SUCKS. Sometimes I sit at my computer and wonder why I can't be a travel writer.  Why not?  It seems like it would be a good job, it would definitely have a lot of perks and I could technically speaking take my family with me on some of my excursions.  But how do people get into that line of work?  I have no idea but if anyone knows then you can send me in that direction.  I would even work for Travel Alberta or Travel Saskatchewan and write reviews for their events. I think sometimes being able to go places and show how they are or are not good for a family is what people want to see or read about when they are about to venture out of their safe bubble zone of their home. ...

So this is the day I am heading home, I will be honest I was ready to go home by noon, but my flight didn't leave until 7:30.  So we had a whole day practically to do stuff, but we didn't really do much. Grouse was on the schedule but even if we had been able to get out of the house by say 10 I don't think we would have had time to complete Grouse Grind and get me back to Richmond for my flight.  So instead we just went perusing the mall in Richmond and then I got dropped off at the airport. Here is something I learned at the airport, you can ask to get on an earlier flight and if it's not full, they will put you on it for a reasonable cost.  I asked and I got on a flight that was starting boarding ten minutes after I checked in. So through security I rushed and on the plane I got.  I was in Calgary and home by the time my scheduled plane was actually leaving Vancouver. It was a good trip, but here is what I found out about me and travelling. 1) I need my own ...

Having spent the early hours of Monday at a club let's just say that Monday didn't get started until noon.  That's when my girlfriend finally woke up, while she was sleeping I was in the living room reading a book.  it was all fine, but I really wanted to go, it's was nice outside, the sun was shining, how could I not want to go outside. But my friend did not disappoint and she got up before noon and we were on our way.   Our first stop, and really only stop, was Stanley Park.  I have this love for Stanley Park that is hard to explain to other people. It's something about the park that just gives me a sense of peace. I think when I get to New York, Central Park will offer the same feeling.  I am not much of a nature girl, I don't really care for camping, I like to be warm and I hate to be wet, unless I am swimming, but I do appreciate Nature and what it has to offer.  So a park like Stanley Park in a huge metropolis that makes you feel like you are wa...

I am not one to sleep in, not even when I am on holidays.  It's a terrible vice that I have, getting up early, but it is what it is, so sleeping in is not something I get to do or am allowed to do very often.  But surprising this day I did sleep in, I did not become a moving human being until 10 am Vancouver time, that's like 11 my time.  It was crazy. I would like to say that we spent the rest of the day trolling through Vancouver but that's not the case.  I know that there are many things to see, but I am of the belief that you don't just rush through seeing things you take you time and really enjoy them.  My friend really wanted to take me to the Flea Market so that's where we spent the morning.  After a quick meal of scrambled eggs we were on our way to the Flea Market.  I find Flea Markets an interesting place.  There are some definite gems that you can find there but you have to be willing to put in the time to shift through the junk...

Waking up in Vancouver on Saturday was strange as I wasn't really in Vancouver.  I was in Burnaby but let's be honest to anyone not from the Greater Vancouver Area all those little cities are just subdivisions of Vancouver.  I know Vancouverites, (is that what they are called) who read this are swearing at my writing saying that there is a difference, but I lump the Greater Vancouver Area in with GTA it's all the same, just a different GPS location. My girlfriend had to work for an hour or so that morning so we headed home to Vancouver, the real Vancouver so she could get ready for her facial client.  I decided I was hungry so I left her suite in search of some food on Victoria Avenue.  Now I am all for trying new things and experimenting with new foods, but sometimes I just want a good plate of scrambled eggs and sausages and nice cup of coffee.  Well in the area of Victoria that I was in there was no Starbucks, Tim Horton's or any other familiar l...