Say What?

I have no opions of late. No great revulations or great discoveries.

I spend my days working, and when not at work I'm planning cub scout activities. And in the spare time i find i've been self teaching myself the guitar.

I'm mostly organized for the holidays. Just have to send out my holiday cards and a couple of packages.

So unltil i have something more to say enjoy listening to what a fox may say....

Lost and Found

I was lost, missing something in my life.

I found it when I started volunteering for my local scouting group.

I have been missing being involved in scouting for 11 years. But I'm back now.

My plan was to help with the cub scout group. Taking a back seat type role this year as the assistant leader, being the extra eyes and help with working with the youth. Well that plan failed. I along with the head leader have great enthusiasm and have developed a head team of sorts.

We work hard to provide an exciting and energetic program, keeping a group of 8-10 year olds busy and engaged can be tough at times.

One thing we've worked into our program is geocaching. The kids love it! Treasure hunting in this new high tech age!

I'm fired up and excited, maybe even more than the kids.

2 for 1 Wednesday

So its official, this year I will be a cub leader. Meetings start in two weeks with the kids. I'm excited to be back in scouting.

Two week ago I attended a fundraiser for our local animal shelter. For a donation you could get a professional photo taken with your pet. Unfortunately they didn't have a great turn out but I got some great pictures of the dogs (and me).

Me and the dogs, Finnegan, Lady & Molly

 

Finnegan, mutt(germand shepherd and australian shepherd) 7 minus 2 months yrs old

 Lady, Standard Silver Poodle, 7 3/4 yrs old

Molly, Border Collie, 14 3/4 yrs old

Molly, Border Collie, 14 3/4 yrs old

Death Becomes the Turkeys

Last Saturday was the end of the turkey's living life. They now will live out the remainder of their exsistance in our freezers until they are consumed.

My brother and dad and my brothers father -in-law were in charge of killing them and de-feathering and gutting. I and mom were in charge of packaging and grinding up 2 birds for ground turkey.

My brother and dad were surprised how strong the birds were. Well duh, these arent spring chickens we're dealing with. For the most part killing them went on without a hitch until the last bird, when Nick didn't quite have it killed by ringing its neck and when they chopped the head off....blood sprayed everywhere....but i guess one bird out of 10 isn't too bad???

Plucking is an area that needs improvement. We did the water dips and had a machine to take the feathers out easier but I found it messed up the skin too much and one bird even lost its skin -completely but mom took that bird and we ate it on Monday -tasted like turkey!  So if anyone has any tips on an easier plucking method I'm all ears.

Gutting went well too. Except dad isn't as tough as he says he is and was a little green when he decided to step in when Nick (my brother) took a break.

We also had the "help" of a couple young folk, Nick's in-laws were babysitting a 8 and 6 year old and they jumped right in to help and jumped from one thing to another. They were right into the whole process and was quite a learning adventure for them. They played with the guts separating the organs, playing with the leg tendons to make the foot open and close. Their parents thanked us for letting them help out saying its important to understand where our food comes from, which is something I agree with.

I forgot that raw meat smell was like when we were grinding them up in my kitchen...grinding went well with the help of my kitchen aid stand mixer with the meat grinder attachment. We did loose a tad bit of meat when mom used a wooden spoon and it got chewed up in the grinder...oops. And I only gagged one when I was trying to remove a blood cot from one of the bird's legs -one of my birds had been limping the last couple of days...I had to call one of the guys in to butcher the clot out.

All in all it was a sucessful turkey raising project. Our largest bird was 18 pounds and smallest 12 pounds, most averaged 16 pounds. And because of 3 birds dying and our start up costs the birds cost us $3.21 a pound. Next year we should be down around 2.20 a pound mark, which is a decent price for fresh turkeys around here.

Turkey Time

The turkeys die this saturday coming. They're nearly 16 weeks old, and its time before they get too big and wont fit in the freezer or worst in the roast pan. Its been an interesting venture being a back yard turkey farmer. Yes i still have my bird phobia, though its tiggered more by smaller flighty or unpredictable birds. Now that they dont jump at me i find the turkeys and i get along better. All in all i say I've had a pretty successful summer fattening them up, we haven't even killed them and mom is talking about next year. We shall see how the kill and butchering goes this weekend before we make any plans.

Future advice

I just read this article on Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ferrett-steinmetz/dear-daughter-i-hope-you-have-awesome-sex_b_3755185.html. It's basically a letter from a father to a daughter about life, growing up, discovering yourself, sex, and the hopes the father or any parent may have for their kids.

I've save the words to hopefully recall upon and use in the future, when I need to pass on some advice or just express my hopes.

With Hope They Waited

Over 3 years ago now, a man was killed in a fire just north of my home town. With him lived alot of dogs, most were the unwanted pets of others that he would take in and care for. When news of his death hit the animal welfare rescues and groups, many volunteers banded together to help the now orphaned dogs.

The author of this book, Marilyn Dickie, was one of the kind hearted people that adopted one of the many dogs we rescued. Upon hearing about the journey these dogs have gone through she took it upon herself to compile a memoir of the rescue of the dogs from Mile 26.

I am delighted to have had the opportunity to house many of the rescues at my kennel as they were being transported to shelters across Ontario. Marilyn asked a couple of us "angels" to write a little something about our part in the events that unfolded; so I am also happy that I will be forever published in my four pages in this book.

If anyone would like a copy you can email withhopetheywaited@hotmail.com with your name, address, and number of copies you would like. Books are 20.00 each plus shipping. Payments can be made by cheque or e-transfer -which can be arranged once contact has been made with the mentioned email. 100% of the profits are being donated back to non-profit animal rescues in Ontario.

(disclaimer updated aug 18 2013: books by email are 20.00, I had posted that they we're 15.00 as that is what is quoted on the last page of the book on how to order more copies; Marilyn asked me to change this post to the "correct" price. I appologize for any confusion as I was just taking the info that was printed in the book.)

Truths

Thought it would be fun to post some truths.

1. I‘m not a fan of the dark. Especially if i‘m alone.

2. I hate living alone, yet I enjoy the quiet and freedom it gives me.

3. Birds freak me out. The turkeys are not helping me get over that fact.

4. I love living in the country.

5. I would have no problems living as a farmers wife. Cooking and feeding the family and farm hands. Early morning chores and gardening, etc...

6. I have no desires to have biological children. I would love and will either foster or adopt children within the next 5 years or so.

7. I am a great friend. Many of my friends I‘ve had since high school or before.

8. I am fiercely independent and have a hard time accepting help or asking for help.

Rehab

So another issue to my declining blog posts is that the manager at my store decided that it would be a good time to go to rehab. I don't have all the details but stress, drugs and a messy life are all to blame. Shes being moved from the local detox centre to some kind of centre -that will focus more on councelling and getting her life together. I wish her all the best at figuring things out.

I on the other hand have been cannon-pulted into the managers job on top of my regular grooming job. Holy! is what I say about that. I've been working 12 hr days trying to straighten out her mess and learn how our computer system works with inventory and invoices and whatnot. I enjoy the work but all I really want to do is groom. Time will tell if she comes back to work or not; she is lucky that the store owner is a tad forgiving in that respect and she has a job to come back to. If she returns I have a feeling that there will be some awkwardness between us employees and her. How do you build trust with a person who just left you out to dry???

Last Chance to RUN!

This past weekend I was honoured to be the dudette(maid) of honour at my best friend of 20+ years' wedding. She was the last of my high school friends other than myself to tie the knot.

This cutie pie is the groomsman's step daughter she is a barrel of fun and energy. We didn't have a rehersal so all we told her is that her job was to carry a sign and walk to where the groom was standing. The first thing she did when we put her on the porch to get ready is yell the grooms name to find out where he was. It was precious. Then as she got closer to groom and people could read her sign there was nothing but laughter -the groom didn't know she would have this sign it was a surprise from the bride. It was great to start the wedding off on a fun light note.

 

It was just a gorgeous day, hot hot hot and sunny.

This is a sneak peek of one of the pics the photographer took, she works with the bride and just completed her photography course at college.

 Another one of the sneak peek pictures.

 Making it good and legal and official.

 

 

 

This picture captures the bride and groom perfectly. This was taken the day of the wedding later in the evening. It was a laid back backyard bbq wedding complete with a smores bar. They had matching t-shirts (the black ones) that has Mario and Princess Peach with the words game over under and then their wedding date. The groom had to change into the zombie t-shirt after the whole wedding party and a few friends conspired to throw him in the pool.

 

I was glad to be part of festivities, it was a great wedding.



Royal Tour

A big thank you to Royal Canin and their educational trip/conference/tour! My tour to visit the Royal Canin factory and distribution centre was fantastic. Not to mention it was an all paid trip. They spared no expense. I got my own king suite at the hotel, vouchers to eat at the hotel's fancy restaurant, transportation costs covered, and after a day of learning more about their products we were treated to a wine tour and fantastic meal at Rockway Winery.

I am impressed with Royal Canin's "sales pitch" as well, its more of a we're going to inform you about what dogs and cats need in their food nutrition wise and de-bunk how pet food in general is advertised and sold and let you form your own opinions on what you promote to your customers. It was pretty similar to some of the topics that got covered when I took my grooming course.

I was impressed with the cleanliness of both the warehouse and factory. I was also very impressed with their systems of quality control. It was also interesting to hear the history of the company and hearing about their research facilities. And as an added bonus they're very environmentally friendly!

I'm not entirely convinced that my dogs should be eating their food, mainly because their price point is still quite high, but atleast I know why its a premium pet food now.

Wrathful Wednesday

A couple updates before getting to my main story.

Bird phobia is still in full swing. However the turkeys and I seem to have worked out a system of sorts. Not entirely sure how this is going to progress as they continue to get larger. I may be calling in a support team. I'm also down another bird, so 11 turkeys left.

Work has been busy. On top of my grooming I'm helping with some re-organization and the store is in desperate need of it. Plus the manager and I are trying to get it all done before Friday so it will be all set before we go to our conference and before she goes on holidays. We're getting close.

Now to my main story:

Back in May a local man was attack by a black bear. The bear allegedly attacked his livestock(chickens), his dog(killed it), then went after the man. The man suffered many laseration wounds to his head and shoulder. To me the story sounds fishy, there's something just not right about the whole situation. Here's an article in the Timmins Daily Press http://www.timminspress.com/2013/05/12/man-injured-in-bear-attack. The bear was suposedly killed by the MNR. There has been no coverage as to whether or not there was something "wrong" with the bear or if it was a freak accident/attck.

Since this attack the paranoia over bear potentially attacking at random has sky rocketed. I think people are insane. Sure we should be aware of bears and educate ourselves on bear safety but really having arms at the ready just incase a bear strolls through your yard. I keep going back to "they are more afraid of you than you are of them", make loud noise to scare them away, let the dogs bark at them, keep garbage inside, clean up bird feeders etc. bear safe common sense seems no need to apply these days. Sure maybe the re-instatement of the spring bear hunt may help keep the bear population at bay, but I also think that we can learn to better co-exsit with them. Don't want to co-exist move to down town Toronto (or other equally large city).

Into thin air

So I was working away today, grooming my heart out. There's not much to concentrate on while grooming so my mind tends to wander while I'm going through my steps to beautify dogs. I had 2 or 3 great ideas for blog posts. Now that I'm at home; nothing.  I am going to have to start jotting down my ideas when I have them instead of filing them into my mental space to retrieve at a later time.

So in the mean time....

The turkeys turned 4 weeks old on wednesday. I had ordered 12, got 13; one died last friday so I'm back down to 12. They arent as ugly as they were, theyre starting to get their adult feathers and look less like naked chickens. This weekend I'm going to be brave and let them out of their pen while I clean their shed, its not terribly dirty yet but I want to get into the habbit of letting them outside while I clean the shed and I think them exploring their pen should be fine, they're big enough not to escape through any holes in the fence.

This weekend I get to work again...I need the money soo its not too bad. And i have no life, plus I'll have 7 dogs at my house so a couple hour break saturday morning will be nice. I'm also on stand by for our new student if she runs into any trouble she can call me and I'll go to her rescue. Shes also kind of being thrown under the bus this weekend too. As the manager is out of town for a fishing derby and the student who usually works weekends has her prom and is apparently not capable of working the day after prom, nor even coming in on Saturday at 1 to work for 4 hours. Whatever happened to going to work hung over or still drunk? Kids these days...I do have full confidence in our new hire, she just needs a little more practice time and her confidence will improve as time goes on too.

I am looking forward to the 24th. Sam, the manager and I are headed off on a mini work vacation/conference. We're headed to the big city of Guelph to visit the Royal Canin pet food plant. The trip is entirely paid by Royal Canin, meals, hotel, gas money, plus once all the business seminars are done we get to go on a wine tour for dinner. We're only gone for 3 days but who can say no to an all expence paid (plus our wages) oppotunity to get away. Then on the 29th I'm on the road again for my aunts 65th birthday party, then home on the 30th for my friends parents anniversary party, then Canada Day festivities on the July 1. And then 8 days of work and I'm off to my best friends wedding.

Busy busy. And I should be tidying the house(house proofing for 7 large dogs and 1 small dog), and getting myself organized. Hopefully I won't loose too many more ideas for interesting blog posts.

Feeling Broke and Jaded

I don't often shop at our local grocery store because the prices are outrageous. I look for their sales or just go their for fruits and vegies and cheese.

Tonight I decided I wanted to get some "good" meat, a steak, for a dinner this week, and I was craving something sweet.  40 bucks and 5 items later I leave the store!

My haul was a T-Bone steak that was on "quick sale" cuz it will be soon past its freshness date and even then it was nearly 13.00, 2L of Chocolate Milk -I very rarely buy milk let alone drink it but every 3 or 4 months I'll have a craving for chocolate milk which I usually fill with a lunch or dinner at subway, but I splurged tonight and spent 5.05 on milk. I got some jalepeno poppers at a price of 4.99 for 8 poppers, a case of Presidents Choice ginger ale, which was on sale, and after tasting it doesnt compare to Canada Dry(remember when I case of pop was 24!). And to fill my sweet tooth some President Choice Decadent Chocolate Chip Cookies, also on sale.

I am most upset at the cookies. I buy cookies less often than I do milk. Usually I bake my own. So when I open the bag theres only 18 cookies in it?!?! WTF? 18 cookies?!?! I was expecting atleast 24. Shame on you Mr. Wheston. Needless to say I'll go back to baking my own sweets.

Plea to all Parents...and a Thank you to mine.

Parents you are not doing your kids justice by waiting on them hand and foot.

My most recent eye opening to this fact is that at work we have 2 co-op students working with us...One student clearly has chores to do at home, she is very good at cleaning up after herself, even knows how to clean and do laundry.  The other student had a huge learning curve. She had never done laundry, washed floors, and clearly has someone that picks up after her at home. Both are very nice polite, pleasant girls to work with, and I'll be sad to see them end their term with us.

Back to my topic, parents please fight with your kids to clean their own rooms, do the dishes, wash and fold their own laundry, sweep and wash the floors, shovel the driveway, cook meals for the family, cut the lawn, dust, feed the pets, clean the bathroom. They will thank you when they are older.

So thanks mom and dad for making me do some chores. Learning some of those basic life skills truly help shape people into well rounded independant individuals.

Turkey Time!

 

 

It's turkey raising time at my house. I was expecting 12 ugly 3week old large white turkeys and got 13, never fails you almost always get an unexpected guest for dinner (at least this one will I'll get to eat ;) ). Hopefully they make it through the next couple of days and we'll be good to go; the reason I say that is the next couple of nights its suposed to get pretty chilly at night, mind you not the below zero temps they were calling for a couple days ago. 

 

And here's hoping I can get over my bird phobia and get these guys to 15-20 lbs. 

busy not so busy...

So I've been busy, in the sense that I just haven't taken the time to blog about anything...

Last weekend was our local Sportsman/Trade Show. It was a very long weekend sitting at the arena all weekend. However my co-workers great idea of giving fish away was a huge success. For a dollar you got 3 tries to throw a ball in a cup, if you got it you got a fish. We must have given away 50 or so fish. Friday night we even ran out of goldfish and had to "steal" extra fish from the store on Saturday. We also held a fundraising draw for the local animal shelter, for every dollar donated you got a ballot to enter to win a 35 dollar gift card, we raised about 50 dollars for the animal shelter. It was a great weekend of PR but I'm glad its over until next year.

This week is busy busy. My birthday on Thursday so dinner and dessert at moms. Friday I'm going to Timmins with Mom and Dad to see the new Star Trek movie, I just invited dad but mom invited herself to come along too guess she's going to treat us both for our birthdays. Then Saturday I'm off to Ottawa to throw a surprise bachelorette party for my BFF! She thinks I'm coming down to celebrate my bday with her haha wrong! It should be a fun weekend. Then I'm back home on Tuesday in time for supper at the parents for dads birthday.

We're also planning and finalizing things for my turkey raising project...Nick and Dad are building the turkey house this weekend while I'm away.

And things are in the works for me to get back into scouting as a cub scout leader. I'm excited. I've missed volunteering and especailly being involved in scouting. It's going to be very hard for me not to jump in with both feet and get uber involved like I was before, but I want to take thing easy at first and see how things have changed in the last ten years.

Hope everyone is enjoying their spring.

Giving back in Scouting

I took the first steps to get back involved in scouting. Our local scouting groups are looking for new leaders. And I've missed scouting ALOT! It's been one of those voids in my life, I knew it was there and tried to fill it with other volunteer work but it wasn't cutting it. It's been just over ten years since the "incident" (which I'm not going to rehash, in the interest of moving forward) I'm not entirely sure my parents will be pleased with my decision with regards to the "incident" but I like to think that by getting involved again I could possibly help and prevent anyone else from having to go through a similar incident. Scouting also teaches and promotes a number of skills that I think all young people should be exposed to: adaptability, being reliable, responsible, accountable, independance, team work, leadership, survival skills, gets kids away from the tv and video games along with many other good things. Some of my favorite memories are those that involved scouting. How could I not let other kids enjoy in some of those good times of their own; Its like giving back.



(my reinvolvement with scouting should hopefully give me a couple bonus points when I get the ball rolling on fostering/adoption; which also reminds me that I saw a poster up town looking for foster families I should find it again and get the contact numbers)

Snips and Snails

What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of?

Snips and Snails and puppy dog tails,

That's what little boys are made of.

 

 

This weekend I'm travelling to a city 4 hours away to go to a cousin's baby shower. Sam is my third cousin I believe (her grandmother and my mother are sisters). Recently, a month ago,  another one of my cousins had her baby shower in town, I however decided not to attend -I have a HUGE famaily with more cousins than I can possibly know so even though I probably shoudn't claim to have favorites I do. I used to babysit Sam and her younger brother and sister. My first memory of Sam is her sitting at my grandparents house (the house I now own) at the kitchen table in front of the window, with her long dark hair with bangs and a huge toothless smile. Sam is going to make a great mother, albeit she is young at only 20, but her parents were also young and have done a fairly decent job at raising their kids. Sam and her boyfriend Andrew have also been dating for the last 3 years and living on their own the past 2 years. So its kind of exciting to be having a new baby cousin. Oh and the most exciting part is Sam's baby due date is my birthday =) I'm hopeful that I'll have a cousin to share the great day of May 16 with. Another cousin is also expecting in July, and her shower is next weekend and though I would have loved to travel 6 hours to the shower its not in the cards but I'll be sending her a gift once her and hubby settle into their new home in New Brunswick. I'm on a DIY kick and I made personalized onsies for each.

 

 

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?

Sugar and spice and all things nice,

That's what little girls are made of.

 

 

Sam is having a boy. My other cousin a girl. It was kind of nice getting to make onesies for each gender. My mom knit the cutest outfit for Sams baby too, its a camo coloured vest with a poor boy hat and she bought pants and a shirt to go with it. So cute. If I remember I will try and get a picture. To go with the onsies I made I am also going to be getting each one of my favorite books as a child. I havent quite decided which books to get, I had so many favorites that I still have today -top contenders are a book by Robert Munsch or something by Dr. Seuess but another of my absolute favorite childrens book was one called Harold and the Purple Crayon, where the boy Harold uses his imagination and his purple crayon and goes on an adventure, then again I could find a book of nursery rhymes. I think my choices will ome to me when I get to a Chapters book store Saturday before the shower.  

 

 





Tell me something i didnt know....

Arm diagnosis is tendonitis. Advice stop using is so much. Sure no prob ha! For now i get a fancy brace to wear when im working/grooming/doing every day things i need to get done to survive. I can continue with yoga as its not too hard of the joints and tendons and such. Over the counter creams and drugs for now, then possibly prescribed creams and meds and cortizone shots, then if that fails surgery that may not fix it.

While at the docs they wanted to update my file.

I hate going to the docs and rarely go unless im in extreme pain. And i have a high tolerance for pain and usually end up puking from the pain before taking drugs or seeing a doc.

I also have different views on how medicine is generally abused these days. People arent meant to go on living for ever, yet as a society we strive to find cures for all sorts of diseases, cancers and ailements. I get thats diseases, cancers and other ailements are tough to understand and cope with and thats the main reason for searching for cures. But by finding cures were also encouraging the over population of our planet and are killing ourselves in the long run anyways. With all the medical advancements we have in this day and age its no wonder we see so many natural disaters; its just mother nature‘s way of cleaning house because as a species we dont apreciate that things come to an end, the circle of life. But i supose thats a topic for another post...

Back to my medical file. They made sure i was to date on vacinations. And i went for blood work to check my imune system and get titre checks for some of the immunizations ive had. Were also going to check for parasites within my system -working with animals puts me in a higher risk zone and im not entirely looking forward to collecting the samples for that one. Plus there was a number of other routine tests i should get done to establish baselines and all that bull poop. Chances are I wont be going for those tests.

And after all that, my 3 week wait for the appointment to be told to stop using my arm, all info i had researched online.

Please tell me something I didn‘t know!

Gobble gobble

So ive been lacking in the posting department. I have no excuse I even had a few ideas to write about...

A little update the arm is in killer pain tonight. It seemed to be getting better, or should say doesnt hurt as much when i dont use it much. Today at work i helped unload the farm feed truck so 150 55lbs bags might have over done it. Doc appointment is thursday.

Im not sure if i previously mentioned it but come June i hope to have a dozen turkeys running around the yard.  Between myself, my parents, my brother and his inlaws were going to spilt the cost of raising a dozen turkeys. They dont have to do any of the work just buy feed and help butcher them. Ive always thought i could do the farm life so im going to start small with a few turkeys. Now as someone whos not a fan of birds at all this should be an adventure unto its own. But turkeys are a bit more of a social bird and shouldnt peck you like some chickens will. Ill be sure to keep everyone posted on my backyard turkey farm. (Just a side note my boss is getting 50 turkeys and just as many chickens!!)

If it aint broke dont fix it

Im broken, well not technically. I have no broken bones so does that mean i shouldnt seek fixing?

At the begining of march my right arm started to get stiff in the elbow joint in the evenings. I took it as normal wear and stiffness from working all day. And for those who think grooming dogs isnt “that physical“ of a job I challenge you to come work with me for a week. A couple of weeks ago my arm stiffness has turned into crazy stiffness and pain. The general self diagnosis from internet info and talking to others is its either tennis elbow or tendonitis.

I wont get a professional diagnosis until next week when I see the nurse practioner - it was faster to get an appointment with her than my doc, why bother even having a doctor??? Whatever the diagnosis I hope it can be repaired or something. Ive been doing some stretches i found for the above mentioned issues, but id also really like to start back to my weekly yoga as well.

If by some unfortunate miracle its something i have to learn to live with my grooming career may end up getting cut short which saddens me to no end. I had planned on continueing my grooming career for atleast the next 25 years maybe even 30.

whistle while you work

I don't normally complain about my job, I love grooming and working with the dogs. I also love working at my new location at the pet store in town. I can't wait for renovations to start in the spring and by next fall I should have a newly renovated grooming area at the store.

Today I had the pleasure of grooming a flea invested cocker spaniel. The poor dog must have had fleas since the fall poor dog, I sent it home flea-less and with a 3 month treatment plan to hopefully rid the dog of the fleas. Just one of the perks of my jobs treating dogs with fleas and notifying owners of any other possible parasites or infections the dog(s) may have.

Last week an owner dropped off a poodle and told me there is no possible way to brush a "dog like that". I thought she was joking at first, but nope dead serious, so then after a 20 min lesson on how to properly brush a poodle. I groomed the dog, when owner picked up the dog she was over the moon happy that I didn't shave him short...yet that's exactly what I did. I used a 7 blade with isn't the shortest blade but blades shorter than that pets can get sunburnt or windburnt or get too cold, in short its not in the best interest of the pet to get anything shorter done, unless its severly matter -which is another matter unto itself.

On a happy grooming note: Today I groomed a "problem dog" she's a biter, a I'm going to eat your face if you touch my legs/feet dog. Today we made huge progress! I was able to use the clippers to shave her legs usually I have to scissor them and they look all choppy. And when I did her nails she didn't do the pull and tug with her leg, snip snip snip snip and nails were done. I did have her muzzled for the leg and feet work but her behavior had greatly improved since I started grooming her a couple years ago.

Last night I groomed my neighboors lab. Since starting grooming at the pet store I've only kept a a small, tiny number of dogs that I'll still groom at home. One is my neighboors dog, to me it makes no sense for them to drive all the way to town when I live next door, not to mention they have a lab, a good bath, nail trim, ear cleaning and a brush and done. Plus I get to spend some time with an incredibly handsome chocolate lab who may have just won the lab gene pool.

HUDSON

Skin-na-ma-rink-ee-doo

Lying in bed and of all the things to be travelling the night thought train, my brain is going to old tv shows like the Elephant Show with Sharon, Lois and Bram or Today‘s Special with Jeff the manican.

What I remember most about these shows are the musical numbers more so with the elephant show.

My bonnie sails over the ocean my bonnie sails over the sea....

Oats baked beans and barley grow...

Theres a hole in my bucket dear liza dear liza....

I am slowly going crazy, crazy going slowly am i....

And many many many more....i wonder how many kids these days can actually receit or sing one of these ditties or even a nursery rhyme for that matter....

virtual garage sale

SALE SALE SALE!!!

Like I mentioned in my freedom 55 post, I will be selling excess stuff.

I am cleaning and catalogueing and taking pictures and making a price list.

Who knew selling a few things was going to be sooo much work!

For me I'm going to take the Kijiji and Facebook routes and post things online to sell. I'm hoping that it'll be a success and I'll be able to sell most of the stuff.

Did I mention all the work that goes into just getting all this stuff ready!?!? If a 'real life' garage sale wasn't just as much work I would have opted for that.




(I know its just a short post today -my brain is blanking on me, all I'm thinking about is the lemon herb chicken and my rosemary roasted potatoes cooking, plus that when I'm done eating I should go clean the yard, and then maybe dye my hair and pack for the weekend and get organized, does it never stop?????? I'm thinking maybe my "relaxed" inexpensive sumer plans may be a good idea after all where I can do nothing, or take up a new hobby such as my failed attempts at having a garden :S)

Fredom 55...ugh 70 maybe?

Depsite not feeling the greatest with this crazy sinus cold, which isn't as bad as it was but I still not feeling up to par, I've also been trying, with some success to consolidate loans, settle debt and figure out a plan to become debt free in the next ten years.

There is nothing, NOTHING more personal than having a complete stanger rake over your financials. Seeing how much debt you've accumilated whether its good or bad debt. Sitting there behind their desks judging, scrutinizing every figure.

Luckily I'm not a worse case senario. My credit rating is good. And the majority of my debt stems from my mortgage and student loans and then is topped off by some credit card debt that was foolishly accumilated after a falling out with roomies while going to college leaving me living solo and footing all the bills, and then again when I opened my business.

After spending a couple weeks going back and forth between the credit card company and the provincial part of my student loans -two of my biggest debtors -I've managed to settle debts with them and shaved off 11k of debt! And the remainder of what I owe was consolidated and will be paid off within 5 years. My next debt to tackle is the federal portion of my student loans.

To help with getting things paid off quicker, I am back out on a job hunt. I'm not overly thrilled with the prospect of taking on a third job again; however working an extra 16hours a week should give me roughly an extra 600 monthly to put strickly towards debt recovery. I'm also going to be going through some things and selling my camper trailer -it's getting older and before its a huge money pit I'm going to sell, it brake my heart because I love camping but I also loved camping in a tent growing up we didn't camp in a trailer soo I'm making the move back to tent camping. I also have a brand new airconditioner that is still in the box that I haven't used so instead of keeping it for that 'someday' .  The other large item for sale is my vacuum, I rarely use it, its a fancy one but its taking up space and is never used soo time to rehome.

Within the next 2 years I will have my small credit cards/store cards -homedepot, sears, amex, and four wheeler paid off. Within 5 yrs the consolidated loan will be paid as well as hopefully the federal portion of the loan. Year 3-4 I hope to be able to afford a new to me vehicle. And then in 15 years the house will be paid off as well. Of course that's all going on the plan I have now....throw in a couple of adopted kids in the next couple of years and a new plan will be needed.

The view from here

I appologize for any incohearance as im waiting for drugs to kick in so i can hopefully sleep. (Thanks for all the well wishes...it still feels like my sinuses are going to explode!)

I was briefly talking to a friend tonight about visit the USA, shes been to 3 states añd claims theyre “weird“. I say no weirder than anywhere else, and to keep in mind i‘ve been to Chile and Qatar a couple places gernerally not on anyones top ten places to visit. People are people are people, sure we may have different beliefs or values or educations, but we are one.

Last week while i was doing my secretary work at the church I happened upon the towns stamp collectors group -didnt even knew we had one let alone that they met in the church basement. But anyway my dad was interested (mom and dad were there to remove decoration from something) Dad got talking to the lady in charge and while i mostly tuned them out i caught bits and pieces. Dawn -lady in charge, got talking with my dad about girl guides and scouts and their role today (thinking day, Feb 21 - a guiding and scouting holiday so to speak was the next day) two things that dawn mentioned got me thinking. She mentioned extra stamps they get they give to Ox-Fam and they educated women, which she supports fully and its something that i understand but didnt get until that night. She said its all well and good to educate boy sexes but when you educate a girl you are educating a future (what?) By sending girls to school and educate them you are educating future generations to come as when they have children both the boys and girls will be sent off to school and those that are or have been educated will only grow in numbers.

My othe ah-ha moment was when she was talking about why there is still girl guides in this day and age. In the back of my mind im stumped cuz from my view point scouts always had more fun. (Mind you my dad made some valid points about why girls shouldnt be in scouting that although somewhat disapointed me as I was in scouting also made complete sense - maybe a subject for a different post). But according to Dawn, we still have girl guides because despite all the advancement on how women are viewed and treated in the world there is still a need for young girls to see other women in strong leadership roles. Huh, I never really thought of it like that but i can see how its true.

Im down for the count

I fully intended to comment about the Eric Church concert which was pretty great despite our nose bleed seats. However when i got back from my mini holiday my chronic sinus infection decided it was going to make itself more known. Great. Just great. Ive been down for the count. My head feels like its going to explode and i have a terrible cough that im hoping doesnt turn into pneumonia like it did last year. To give you an idea how ill i feel it snowed on tuesday, 35cms! I only cleaned half the drive way enough so i can get off the road and turn around thats it...usually i could park a transport truck in the yard, im hoping to find the energy to clean it up properly this week.

Hope all is well wherever you are and the cold bugs stay away. I hope to be back to posting more often once feeling better.

Good girls don't miss Church, Eric Church that is

Can't wait for this weekend. I'm going to Ottawa to see a Eric Church concert.  Should be a blast!

I've also been browsing the net to find other concerts I may like to go see this summer and though I would love to see Little Big Town, they arent playing in Ontario any time soon. However I did find out that Kenny Chesney will be playing in Toronto in August! I would love to go see him! And for someone who said they'd never play in Canada I'm not sure if I should pass up his concert north of the border. So I'll see if I can find a concert partner and go on a road trip this summer to see him. Plus one of his opening acts is the Eli Young Band which aren't too bad themselves. Maybe this will be a summer of concerts instead of camping.

Thunderation Week Photos

Adventures in Wonderland

Tropical Vacation Day

Snow Sport Day

Ugly Sweater Day

Pajama Day

the Vision and the Reality

I have a house full of dogs.

For as long as I can remember I've wanted to have a house where I would be able to look after unwanted dogs. Give them a place to live, be sheltered from the elements, feed them well, and enjoy their company.

While in school I did a co-op at a boarding kennel and a light went off. I could do this. Have a place to spend time with many dogs and yet earn money off them. It would be a win win.

I have two of my own dogs. This week I have 6 dogs here, however the other 4 dogs are not paying clients. And I'm getting 3 or 4 more dogs tomorrow night that are also non-paying. Not quite the money earning venture I had envisioned.

However my non-paying four legged friends are special. One is a foster dog whom I've had a couple months now. And the other 3 are dogs from up the coast from a native comunity called Kashechewan (Kash). There is a group of dedicated people trying to educate the people of these native communities on owning and proper care of having a dog. Hundreds of dogs in these communitues are shot for no particular reason other than the fact that their owners don't properly care for them and the dog population sky-rockets thus ending the need to shoot and kills the animals. The other dogs I get tomorrow are also from one of these northern communities.

So though I'm not making money I feel like I'm doing my small part housing these lovely creatures on their journey to a new and better life.

Ontario's Oldest Premier Winter Carnival

That's right my home town of Cochrane Ontario is gearing up for our Winter Carnival! Ten days of winter fun to help break up the long mundaness of our long Canadian Winters. Some of the activities include: Miss Chimo Princess Pageant, Skidoo Races, Torch Light Parade, MS Fundraiser hockey game -Police vs Fireman, Ice Fishing Derby, Polar Bear Dip, Parade, Sliding, Ice Hockey 3 on 3 tournament, Bantam Blues Hockey Tournament, Demolition Derby, Thunderation Week, Ice/Snow Sculpture Contest, Vintage Snowmobile Display and Rides, Helicopter Rides, Horseshoe Tournament, Beer Tent -and night dances on the lake, Wing-a-thon, many many dinners to raise funds for local charities and organizations, plus a bunch of other activities to check it out more here's the website; www.cochranewintercarnival.com .

This year I'm finally working somewhere I can participate in thunderation week and have co-workers with a little enthusiasism. Thunderation Week is every day next week has a theme and you dress to the theme. Monday is Adventures in Wonderland, Tuesday is Tropical Vacations Day, Wednesday is Snow Sports Day, Thursday is Ugly Sweater Day, and Friday is Pajama Day. Monday at the store I'm there by myself as Sam will be out of town -so I'm thinking of doing a Mad Hatter kind of costume. Tuesday we're going to wear our beach wear and have coktails/moktails and our beach chairs to sit under our palm tree, snow sports hockey would be obvious but we feel it will be a popular go to sport so we're going to think of something else we can do, ugly sweater day is perfect since I got an ugly sweater for xmas and pajama day is pajama day! complete with bed head :)  If I remember I'll try and get pictures of us all week.

The crowd gathered on our lake, where we host many of the Carnival events.



A brave soul jumping into the chilly lake as part of the Polar Bear Dip.



One of the many trucks/floats par-taking in the parade.







Mending Fences?

Saturday was one for the books. My sister-in-law invited me to go with her to Timmins for the afternoon. This was her first attempt at mending the very broken fence between us, well maybe not the first as I guess that would have been her appology. It was weird and awkard and by no means things are back to where they were  but it was a start. We chatted about Kelsie and how lost she is in her life -and atleast it was a subject where we share the same opinions and conerns. She invited me to park my camper back at Nick property -which at this point it was nice of her to invite me back but I don't think I can go back there quite yet I don't want to spend THAT much time with her just yet.

This weekend I've also come to realization that decisions regarding the termination of affairs and friendship with A (I will not say his full name due to the nature of our relationship) was indeed the right decision. It had been a tough decision call A on his bullshit and see what kind of friend/human being he actually was, and at first it was heartbreaking and a huge disapointment that the worse was true. But now I can honestly say it was the best thing for me. Having toxic people in your life is not very healthy. In a way I miss the fun we used to have but I don't miss the drama thats for sure. There's just one more toxic person that I can say goodbye to, the rest are unfortunately family that I'll have to find other coping methods to dealing with them.

I'm also pretty pumped about the prospect of adoption, and I may move up my timeline for starting the process. I'm going to visit my best friend Liz next month, and once I break the news to her about my intention of checking out adoption I'll probably contact the local childrens aid and see what they have to say. I am a bit doubtful that my financial situation will kybosh the adoption but I won't know until I check things out.

MTV Loosing IT

Tonights the first time I‘ve seen the show in its entirely. It‘s basically a show about people telling their story about how they lost their virginity. Now i get the idea behind the show, opening up lines of communication to teens and their anxieties about loosing it and their ideas that its going to be this perfect representation of entering into the wonderful world of sex.

They have both straight and gay stories, which in this day and age is fantastic. My disbeleif is how these people can remember all the details of loosing their V-card. I do not remember all the vivid details of my loosing it story. I know who it was with and how old I was but I dont remember when/the date, or maybe whats worse is where we were.

Some random loosing it facts - The average global age that people loose their virginity is 19. The average age in North America to loose your virginity is 17. And on average women have 4 sexual partners in their life. I can see the first two facts being somewhat accurate the last certainly does not apply to me, my number is higher -but not as high as the number is the movie ‘what‘s your number‘.

Do you have a great loosing it story? Or is it more of a non-memory like mine?

I'm Not The Only One

One of my favorite lines from this song is "i may be a dreamer, but I'm not the only one" I'm always on the lookout for "others" like me.

Friday was mom's birthday. After work I joined her and some of her collegues at a local bar for some pre-dinner drinks. It was a good laugh. Teachers are people too, though lots of times as we are students we forget that. Unfortunately for the children of teachers we don't get the chance to forget they are people too. There was some great times shared tones of good laughs and head shakes.

One of the other teachers/ladies that was there is very much like me, in the sence that she is strong, independent, smart, and doesn't take bull shit from anyone, and still single. She's atleast 10 maybe 15 years older than I am, and its both depressing and reassuring that I'm not the only one. Depressing in the fact that if she still hasn't found a man I could still have a while to keep looking for mine, and reassuring that I shouldn't give up the search. It was just a nice little self reminder that I'm not the only one, even though at times it can feel like it.

Living in the Moment

Yesterday I went with my parents to visit some cousins in a nearby town -2 hour drive. We had a lovely visit, I know you're not suposed to really have favorites when it comes to family, but with my super large family these cousins are definately fall into the favorite category. Its all very weird too, finding myself and most of my cousins are now adults, we're not teenagers anymore most of us on headed into our 30s or already there, we're buying houses, living with significant others/getting married (seems like everyone but me on that one), finding jobs that suit our needs, and even some starting families and those that aren't have parents practically begging for grandkids. Which was one of the conversations that came up while visiting, I said I wasn't having biological kids and my mom and cousin said I could adopt and thought I'd make an excellent parent, so that was great to hear. Makes me think I should get the ball rolling even sooner....I have been doing more thinking on the subject and I'm thinking get things rolling in late summer, early fall. My ideal plan would be to adopt a family of kids, brothers and sisters that risk being split up to a max of 4 kids, with none of them being younger than 2. I know it would be crazy and challenging, but I think pretty rewarding in the grand scheme of things. My other plan which I'm not entire sure will work out is to keep my parents out of the loop on this, so I can be like surprise you wanted a wack of grandkids now you have them. But I'm not sure how well that'll work out cuz I know you have to have references and background checks done and show you have a support system and all that jazz when adopting through the government, but I'll see how it goes and keep updating as I go along, especially since I don't want to involve my parents in the process.

Also...on the drive home from our visit there was an acoustic verison of one of Eric Church's songs on the satelite radio, a thought crossed my mind to see if he was playing in ontario any time this year and just as luck would have it he's playing all over Canada right now and will be in Ontario next month. I first asked Rose if she wanted to come but she decided she couldn't afford it, with our Pink concert in march and her trip to Florida and a trip to New Brunswick to visit her Brother and sister in law and new niece of nephew in July. So better than Rose I'm headed to Ottawa and going with bff Liz. And as luck will have it the concert in Ottawa is on the Family Day weekend so I can make a long weekend out of the trip. It's kind of a last minute planning this trip and were up in the nose bleeds for the concert but it'll be a good time and can't go wrong with listening to a couple hours of Eric Church. Plus maybe with some Liz time I can help her get motivated and finally set a date for her wedding :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2gGXlW6wSY&list=PL8965C8040793FA3C&index=2

Baby Brains

It seems like everyone is having babies or trying to have them.

I got word on Wednesday that a close cousin and his wife are expecting in July. It's happy news. Also a big year for them, husband has a new job and they're moving out of province plus the expantant arrival of a bundle of joy.

My brother slightly pissed off his wife this week by buying camoflauge crib bedding. She's pissed cuz she's not pregnant yet, they've been trying but nothing yet. I have a few theories as to why they aren't yet, stress being a major factor.

I've been on and off the haing babies fence. I have no desire to be pregnant or give birth. I would like to skip the first 2 maybe 3 years of having a baby. However I think having kids as part of your life adds a little extra something to it. I've looked into the adoption process it doesn't sound too daunting, but it can still take a while. I'm seriously thinking about it...maybe in a year or two get the ball rolling.