HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Contrary to popular belief, I have not been kidnapped by aliens.( Just demanding children) I have let everything slide lately. I have been having a week where I just want to fall off the face of the earth. Other than checking my emails, I haven't really kept in touch with anyone. I do plan on catching up on everyone's blogs. I hope to get to it today but I can't be sure.

Those Halloween costumes are killing me. My daughters may be twins by birth but that is where their similarities end! They are so totally different. Take their costumes for example. My one daughter wanted to be The Thing from the Fantastic Four. My other daughter wanted to be Scarlett O'Hara. May I remind you all that I am NOT Martha! In an emergency, I can sew on a button but that is about it. How was I supposed to make these costumes? ( I will post pictures later)

Remember when I last posted pictures of the snow we got? That snow melted, but yesterday we were supposed to get 10 - 15 cm of snow. I haven't heard the offical measurement, but it is pretty close. There is nothing I like better than slogging through snow to go trick or treating. Do we know how to have fun here or what.

Sometimes I wonder what our ancestors thought when they first settled here. I am guessing they arrived in the summer and thought " What a beautiful place. It is warm and sunny with lots of natural resources. (or something like that). Let's live here." Then October hit and I bet they thought " What the hell is this? It is cold and frozen and everything is covered in snow. Surely it will melt soon." They probably told themselves that for the next 6 months then gave up all hope of ever seeing green again. Makes you wonder doesn't it.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Halloween and only gets treats no tricks. I will try not to fall into any snowbanks and get lost til spring. Take care

I WANNA BE A COWGIRL

The light is not that great in this picture but it was the best I could I do. Happy Halloween HNT!

CIVIC ELECTION DAY

TODAY IS THE CIVIC ELECTION HERE IN WINNIPEG. I don't care if we vote the same or differently just get out and VOTE!!! I will let you know how right I was about my choices tomorrow. Have a good hump day.

THOUGHTS IN MY HEAD

WOW, It has been a while since I have been here. Not alot new and exciting here.

I did manage to find the only patch of ice between my house and the bank and went for a little fall. It is funny how your first thought isn't " am I hurt?" It is " Gee, I hope no one saw that". I hurt my knee again but what is new about that. I am thinking I should find a toddler and we should learn how to walk together. Apparently, I didn't get it the first time.

My MRI is tomorrow. I am a little scared. I am slightly claustophobic (sp?). The idea of sticking my head in that machine is a little frigtening. I am hoping I only go in as far as my waist. We will see.

In my family, everything can be related to an episode of the Simpson's. That is how I explained death to my kids. All the major life experiences, my kids will relate it to the Simpsons. For example, whenever we go to the waterslide, I think of poor Homer getting stuck in the waterslide. Then I worry, I might get stuck too. Let's face it. It would take about a dozen Paris Hiltons to make one of me. Anyway Mr Burns has an MRI in one of the episodes and he gets mangled in the machine. Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't happen to me.

I did something slightly stupid on the weekend. I got my nails done. Here comes the stupid part. I got my pinkie nail pierced again. The problem is I have to remove all metal from my body before my MRI. Farewell nail ring. Damn. I really like it too.

Just in case you were wondering, I did really well on my mid term. Turns out the instructor pretty much walked us through it. So I completed it with an impressive 96%. Woo hoo.

I hope everyone is having a good week. I will let you know how the mangled I get in the MRI machine.

...and Honkie, I think I will dress up as a pregnant nun with a sign that says "The Devil Made Me Do It". Just in case you were wondering.

ONE OF THE WORST DAYS OF MY LIFE

Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life. I have never been so scared in my life. One of the boys I look after didn't come home after school. He went missing. I was terrified. It is amazing that when you are faced with a situation like this, you can recall every detail of every child abduction story you have ever read.

I have this piece of shit car that never starts for me and I was in a panic. I called a wonderful friend of mine and told her the situation. She dropped everything and came and picked me up. She drove me everywhere looking for this boy. While we were out looking, I had my son phoning friends. No one had seen him since school let out. It turns out he went to another friend's house. No one would answer the door or the phone though, so we didn't know he was in there. Of course we found him about 10 minutes after we called 911. Then I had to call and cancel it. They were all very understanding. I am glad this boy was found safe and sound. Turns out he didn't know he was supposed to come to my house after school because in the morning I said " Have a good day" Not the usual " See you after school". Oops.

I can sure feel for the parents of missing children though. I can't imagine the horror they must feel. I hope they are fortunate enough to have their children find their way home safe and sound too.

This little emergency has proven to me once again what a wonderful police force we have here. Every time I have dealt with the Winnipeg Police, they have been wonderful. The 911 operators, the officers themselves, the detectives I have spoken too. They are all comforting, professional and competent. There were two officers here this morning doing a follow up to my 911 call. They were understanding and polite. I know not everyone has had the same good experiences with the police, but I have nothing but good things to say about them.

This morning I thought my day would be better. Wrong. I log onto blogger and find that one of my favorite bloggers is packing it in. It seems that she has been dealing with rumors, lies and innuendo due to her blog. Leigh, I will miss you and I wish you all the best.

Just to make my week complete, I got a phone call from the dentist office. Turns out our insurance has run out and I now owe my kids dentist $450.00. Ouch. I have a mid term exam tomorrow. I am getting worried that my horrible week isn't over yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I hope yall are having a better week.

A LITTLE MORE ABOUT WINNIPEG

The Lord of the Idiots asked awhile ago for people to tell him about where we live. I got this email and thought he might find it interesting. Some of it was before my time, but alot of it I "get". Enjoy. Add to this the following list of memories. You may not recognize all of them, depending on your age; but anyone NOT raised in Winnipeg most likely won't 'get' a single one.

If you know what "Duff's Ditch" is, you come from Winnipeg. (It is the floodway. Built to protect the city from flooding)

If you know what a Salisbury 'nip' is, you come from Winnipeg. (Burger from Salisbury House. Now owned by Burton Cummings from The Guess Who)

If clouds of 'fish flies' are no big deal, you come from Winnipeg (Beach).

If three or more of your friends had Ukrainian as their first language, you come from Winnipeg.

If you know what game went on at Nordic's you come from Winnipeg. ( beats me)

If you had a heated argument whether to eat at Junior's or at Kelekis's, you come from Winnipeg. (Kelekis wins every time)

If you know what a Goldeye or Tulibee is, you almost certainly come from Winnipeg. (fish)

If you ever tried to beat your best time driving from the North end to the South end, you probably come from Winnipeg.

If you know what and where "Cooper and Mosienko" was, you come from Winnipeg. (?)

If you remember a classy department store where the elevators could be seen going up and down behind an iron grate while you waited, then you most likely come from Winnipeg. (The Bay)

If you ever skated at the Amphitheater you come from Winnipeg.

If you ever rode in a wooden electric "street car" on tracks, you likely come from Winnipeg. ( I am not that old)

If you can fill in the blanks "Does Eaton's sell --- ---?", you come from Winnipeg.

If you remember "Blue Boy" ice cream and "Kik" Cola, you come from Winnipeg. (yum)

If you remember "Pop" Kelly parked in his 'woodie', you come from Winnipeg. (This one is too old for me)

If you remember the"Golden Boy" when it was dirty for years, you come from Winnipeg. (They only cleaned it a few years ago)

If you ever partied at The Royal Alex you come from Winnipeg.

If you know Gunn's from Jeannie's, you come from Winnipeg. (Bakeries)

If you know what the "Keenora" and the "Goldfield" are, you come from Winnipeg. (Beats me)

If you can name the most successful high school in Canadian history, then you come from Winnipeg.(?)

If you ate at any of these: Shanghai, Millionaire, Oscar's, Skinner's, Half-Moon Cafe, Pizza Place, Thunderbird, Mama Trossi's, Pierre's, Pony Corral, or the Good Earth, you probably come from Winnipeg. ( I have eaten at 5 of them)

If you ever played hockey with a "road apple", you might come from Winnipeg. (hasn't everyone?)

If you know what sport Hersh Lerner, Donny Duguid, and the Braunstein Bros. were good at, then you likely come from Winnipeg. (curling I think)

If you now appreciate the superior public school education you had, you surely come from Winnipeg.

If you remember all of these you're Really Old! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Happy HNT,

It is really cold here today. It is -7C. Sorry, I was never good at converting temperatures . If you don't use Celcius, let's just say it is damn cold.

Look, even Mother Nature didn't want to do an HNT picture. She covered up.

That being said, you now know it is too cold today to get Nekkid. So here is the best I am going to do. This is where I like to be kissed. Happy HNT!

TURKEY TIME AGAIN.

As I sit here recovering from three days of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie, I thought I would check in with blogland. I hope all my Canadian friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving. To my American friends I say," you missed alot of good food".

Thanksgiving wasn't all that bad. Dinner with the inlaws was actually bearable. Until my sister in law showed up. I thought it was going too well. If we had just escaped right after dinner like I wanted to, I could have actually said it was a good day. Damn. My sister in law is lacking in her basic social skills. So are the rest of my in laws, but most days the rest of them can pretend they are allowed to play nicely in society. The sister in law is another story. There is no hope for her.It doesn't matter what the situation is, she can manage to either mortify or piss off everyone in a twelve mile radius. Thanksgiving was no exception.

In the summer, my in laws had their 45th wedding anniversary. They treated us to a weekend at a hotel and dinner theatre. It was very generous of them. They requested no gifts. We bought them a sterling silver photo album from our kids anyway. They didn't seem too thrilled with it but my concience was clear. I made the effort. About two weeks later my SIL phones and announces that she has bought her parents a week at a resort they like and we owe her $240.00 for our share. WTF!?!?! We were never consulted on this, I had already bought a gift and we were in the process of sending three kids back to school. That is way out of our budget. I left it with my husband to deal with. Big mistake. On Thanksgiving my SIL hasn't said hello to me yet. She just walks up and says " where is my money." Hello to you to. Now I am pissed. One; the husband should have to deal with this not me. Two; it would have been nice to have her at least say hello first.

I will give her credit though. She is smart enough to do these things when no one else is in the room. I didn't really answer her. I was too surprised. Anyway, I do not have the money this week. So, ( now here is where I do not look good) I borrowed the money from my parents and dropped it in her mailbox. I know she was home, but I was still so mad at her and my husband I didn't have anything nice to say to her. I should have taken the high road and given her the money with grace and dignity, but I didn't. This little incident did end up with the husband and I getting into yet another arguement. I stand by my advice. "Marry an orphaned only child. It is your only hope". I wish I had followed my own advice.

I have yet to tell you what my daughter said to me that night. She said to me " Why doesn't Grandma love me? Rebecca is her favorite. She always invites her to their house and they take her camping. They never ask my sister and me." Oh shit. What am I supposed to say to that? She is right about all of it. My daughter is many things but stupid is not one of them. I did the usual, of course she loves you bullshit. Any ideas how I can handle this one? When I tell my husband what she said his response was to gunt oh. Thanks for your support.

I am glad Thanksgiving only comes once a year.

On the positive side, I did get to go to the Trailer Park Boys movie. I was wonderful. If you are a fan of the tv show, you will like the movie. I won't spoil it for you. I will just say that Ricky sets a new record by getting sent to jail not once but twice. We got to the theatre 35 minutes early. Good thing we did. The theatre was packed. I didnt' realize how many TPB fans there are. The funny thing was, when you stood in line for your popcorn, you could pick out who was there for the TPB. Let's hear it for white trash.

I know it sounds like I am ungrateful for the things I have but I am not I am thankful for

• My children
• My health. ( other than my knee and frequent bouts of depression and anxiety, I am healthy)
• My home
• My parents
• Food to eat
• Bed to sleep in
• My friends ( both in blogland and my reality)
• My sense of humor
• I live in a safe country

There are many more things I am grateful for but neither of us has time for all of them. I hope you all find something in your lives to be thankful for. At the risk of offending people'; God bless you all.

Gee was I channeling Tiny Tim?

****** UPDATE*******

The Weather Channel has just announced there is a winter storm warning for Northern Manitoba. Where I live there is a chance of 10 - 15 cm of SNOW TODAY!! I am still doing shorts and tank tops in the laundry. Now I have to go and find hats, mitts and boots. I am not ready for this yet.

I am in a pretty good mood today all things considered. I have discovered I have the best support system in the world and to top it off, the Trailer Park Boys movie opens today. I didn't think much could upset me today. Then I read >this

So my FUCK YOU FRIDAY is to all these sick people. How people can people use another person's grief to forward their cause? It is just plain sick. I hope there is a special place in hell for these "people"

I hope everyone has a great weekend. To my Canadian friends "Happy Thanksgiving"

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS AND A LITTLE HNT!

It has been an eventful week here. I have been way too tired to post this week. In a nutshell, I thought it would be faster to just list the good news and bad news of my week. Here goes.

GOOD NEWS: No one died this week.

BAD NEWS: Daughter broke finger.

GOOD NEWS: Teacher admitted she blew it when daughter broke finger.

BAD NEWS: Teacher failed to provide basic first aid to daughter with broken finger.

GOOD NEWS: Really enjoyed telling teacher that she blew it and daughter's finger was broken and I was pissed she didn't provide basic first aid.

BAD NEWS: Daughter has to wait until next week to see the specialist and get her temporary cast removed and new one put on.

GOOD NEWS: Trailer Park Boys Movie opens Friday.

BAD NEWS: Husband announced he has employee appreciation bbq at work on friday. This will involve beer and he probably won't be home until late. This means I won't get to go to the Trailer Park Boys Movie. I will have no car and since I don't know when he will be home, I can't arrange a babysitter either.

GOOD NEWS: Date for MRI has been recieved. Instead of a three month wait, I only had to wait two months. MRI is at the end of Oct. Let's hope I don't have to wait the full nine months for surgery either.

BAD NEWS: Knee still hurts and I look like Frankenstein with my new knee brace. (See HNT picture)

Happy HNT everyone!

I AM MAD AS HELL!

It is 11 pm. I have just gotten back from the hospital. My daughter is still their with her dad waiting to see a doctor. They have been there for 5 hours now. Surprisingly, this is not what has made me so mad.

Let me back up a little. My daughter joined the handball team at her school. Their first (and probably her last) practice was tonight. When I went to pick her up, she met me halfway. They got out early. The first thing she said to me was " Mom, I think I broke my finger" Uhoh. "Let's see it baby". This poor child's little finger is swollen to twice its size and it horizontal to her hand! I asked her if she told her gym teacher about it. She said she had and her response was...(Here is where I get REALLY ANGRY) " There is nothing wrong with it. Go home now." WTF?!?!?!?

I have had issues with this teacher from her first day of school. I have always taught my kids that when you are playing a game, you play by the rules or we don't play at all. This teacher comes along and tells the kids that it doesn't matter if you break the rules of a game. When my son got upset about this, he was told it was no big deal and that he had to learn to get over it. This teacher also has a big hate on for my other daughter. My other daughter absolutely hates all sports. Therefore this teacher hates her. She blames my daughter for things that are not her fault. Even when witnessess say my daughter is innocent, in this lady's ( and I use the term loosely) eyes my daughter is guilty. Now she sends my obviously injured child home alone.

I understand that when you play sports there is a chance of injury. I am not upset that she hurt herself. It happens. What I am angry about is that she did not even look at her injury. She did not offer first aid, an ice pack or a phone call home to say my daughter was injured. To top it off, she sent them home early by themselves. It gets dark earlier now and I was not crazy about my daughter injured and walking home alone.

The principal can expect a very angry phone call from me in the morning. It won't do alot of good, but it will make me feel better. This principal is useless too. Her favorite saying when confronted is "Really, it is the first I have heard of it" Even if you have been in there a dozen times for the same problem. I know she is going to excuse the gym teacher's behaviour by saying something like the teacher had no way of knowing she was injured. My head is throbbing just thinking about this little conversation we will have tomorrow. Hence why I am MAD AS HELL!

Hope everyone else had a better Monday.

I HOPE YOU HAD THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

Good Riddance Video - Green Day lyrics

Green Day Music Video Codes

Music Video Codes by VideoCure.com

This song always reminds me of Giselle. When I got my tattoo, she was right there cheering me on. Today would have been her 36th birthday. I miss her so much.

At her funeral, I decided that I am going to hell for sure now. (I was pretty sure before but now it is certain). Giselle was never an overly religious person. As far as I am concered that was her business. For her funeral, she didn't want anything religious. She planned her own service. It was held in a community hall and the service was conducted by her boss ( a lawyer). Say what you want about her, she was no hypocrite. Anyway, somehow in her husband's family tree there is a priest. He was there and decided he wanted to speak. He started out by saying " Thank you lawyer lady for letting me speak. I don't know your name." Right there I knew we were in trouble. He went on to say this was the fourth death in the family recently and there was another funeral the next day in Saskatechewan but he came to this one instead. By now I am stiffling a scream. I wanted to scream "I don't care about the other funerals! I care about THIS ONE!" Along he went with his speach. I will admit, I blocked most of it out. Here is the capper. He concluded by saying Giselle would say to us " Go home and dry your tears. I will be waiting here with Christ for you"

WTF?!?!

Giselle would NEVER have said that! She might have said, " Get the hell out and go home I have had enough". I wanted to strangle this man.

This is why I am going to hell. Who wants to strangle a priest? I am evil.

Bottom line is I am glad the funeral is over. It was so hard. I never want to go through something like that again. I hope none of you ever have to either.

By the way, at my funeral, I want this song played. I love it.