Home and Lifestyle

Spring Resolutions

March 21, 2006 by Tricia

I don’t get out much.Yes – I just came to that realization. I went to the doctors yesterday and I was sitting there trying to think when I last stepped outside my house and I think it was for my last doctors appointment about a week and a half ago. Pathetic isn’t it?

You’d think I was an old lady from what I just said above wouldn’t you? NOT. I just have a belly ache that won’t go away. I’m starting to feel like this is my theme song:

“She put the lime in the coconut, she drank ’em both up (3x)
Put the lime in the coconut, she called the doctor, woke him up,
and said, Doctor, ain’t there nothin’ I can take,
I said Doctor, to relieve this bellyache,
I said Doctor, ain’t there nothin’ I can take,
I said Doctor, to relieve this bellyache”

Actually, just listening to that song makes me feel better. Maybe I should either play it all day, or trying putting the lime in the coconut and drink it all up? I’d probably end up adding some rum if I did the lime and coconut though. Wouldn’t you?

But it was nice being out yesterday. My husband and I made an outing of it and got some groceries done and stopped to get some food for the turtles. No- I’m not going to tell you what we bought for the turtles- it will gross you out.

I sat in the car while my husband popped into the store. The radio was playing a run of David Bowie songs. I forgot how much I like David Bowie. They were playing China girl while I waited. Kind of ironic since I was sitting in Toronto’s little china town in the East end at that time.

That’s what I should do to make myself feel better, play music all day. But of course if I play music all day I’d eventually end up dancing to a song or two. Might as well set up a webcam if I’m going to do that and be like the Daily Dancer. Yep, I could give all my visitors a daily dance. Of course since I’m a girl some of you would probably want to see a different kind of dance than what the Daily Dancer does.

Anyway, I’m glad that Spring is finally here! That should make me feel better too. I can’t wait for my garden to really start waking up. Naturally, as it starts to wake up I’ll have to get out and there and do some work, but I enjoy that.

I’m also going to try to get out for a walk everyday now that spring has arrived. Murphy’s Law dictates that as I sit her typing out this post it’s -8 Celsius. Brrrr. I think I’ll wait until the afternoon when it’s bound to be warmer.

Oh, I think I have a way to solve some of my upcoming money woes! No- I’m still not going to do that kind of dance! I’d need to put a lot of rum in the coconut to end up doing that! Get your minds out of the gutter will you?

A few people that my husband and I work with rent out a room in their house to students coming in from other Countries to study English or other courses. Sometimes the student stays in your home for as little as one week, or two weeks. I think the longest is one month. One agency pays $750 for boarding a student in your home for a month. I believe you have to provide one or two home cooked meals a day along with the room. No problem. We have a three bedroom house, and right now there is just the two of us. Our co-workers who do this say that the students are barely ever home. If that’s true we’d still have a lot of privacy. I think we are going to try it out. At least it’s short term and if we don’t like it we don’t have to do it again.

I’d like to thank everyone who has commented on my new theme. I’m very happy with it. The color is a nice spring – like color isn’t it?

Gurgles and growls

March 19, 2006 by Tricia

Does your body ever make noises that make you wonder just what the heck is going on? No … I’m not talking about gas!

In my case I’m talking about my stomach and upper digestive tract. Every time I take a drink of something I can hear it- very loudly, gurgle it’s way down to my stomach. Then it errrrps and eorrrrs for a while. Same kind of thing happens when I eat. It’s not your normal stomach growls- like when you are hungry.

It’s almost like my abdomen is talking. Talking very very loudly! This goes on for hours- pretty much from the time I get up in the morning and take my first meal until well after the last meal of the day. Grrrrrrr, urpppp, eoooooooooow. It’s like I have a baby dinosaur in my tummy, or at least the sounds it makes is what I imagine a baby dinosaur would make.

It’s probably happening because my insides are inflamed and narrowed … but it’s so loud! My husband can hear it from across the room. I’m not embarrassed by it … well, a little when I’m at work and taking care of a patient. I just tell them I’m hungry, even though it does not sound like hunger growls. Mostly I find it amusing. It’s as if my stomach is having a conversation with me.

So- does your body make noises that you either find amusing or that you find very embarrassing? (again NOT gas!)

And finally-

Lydia tagged me!

The rules:

List seven songs you’re into right now. No matter the genre, whether [or not] they have words, or even if they’re any good, they must be songs you’re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs, then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

Ok. None of these are current songs. I haven’t been listening to the radio lately, but I have been listening to my CD’s, mp3’s, and my husband practicing song after song on his guitars …. so here goes:

Beautiful Day – U2
Daniel – Fuel
Seven Nation Army – White Stripes
Outside – Staind
Psycho Killer -Talking Heads
Lunatic Fringe – Tom Cochrane
Seasons in the Sun – Terry Jacks

Now, to tag 7 people? Hmmmm I’m still kind of new to the blogging world and don’t know that many of you yet. Forgive me if you don’t like being tagged? Please?

Pajama Mama

Pupsickle

Vandelay Industries

Taste the World

Whatchu Tawkin Bout

PlusUltra

Echo Mixed Nuts

The sites above are all very good sites. Visit them and see if they played the tag game. 🙂

Need some ideas

March 18, 2006 by Tricia

So, did everyone go out and have some fun on St. Patrick’s Day? If you did- How are you feeling today? 🙂 I image some of you are barely functioning.

I didn’t celebrate St. Paddy’s day this year. I didn’t even have a drink! Shame on me- I’m part Irish. I’ve even got the traditional auburn hair and occasionally hot temper to prove it. I should have gone out and had some fun. Oh well, at least I won’t have a hang-over. 🙂

We can’t really afford to go out on the town and party right now anyway, nor did I feel much like it. I’ve been off work due to illness for four months now. I’ve been getting sick pay from my workplace, but it’s not as much as my regular working salary. I’m glad to have the sick pay although, in one week it will run out. I’ll then have to apply for medical coverage from Unemployment, and that money will likely be a little less than my sick pay.

What I really need is to start feeling better soon so I can get my life back on track. Unfortunately I just don’t seem to be getting any better.

I guess what I really need to do right now – other than get better! – is to find a way to make some money from home.

My husband is a talented musician, he plays 13 instruments. I wish he had chosen a career in music so he could use his talents to his advantage. He choose not to pursue a career in music after touring with a few bands as a teenager. He didn’t like the lifestyle after seeing how it affected some of his band mates, and he thought that his love of playing music would eventually die if he did it professionally. He’s content to play for his own enjoyment, and being the life of the party whenever he choose to play at gatherings. He has started giving guitar lessons though, and I’m hoping that that will bring us a little bit of extra income.

As I sit here worrying about money I’m also thinking I’m pretty good at procrastinating. I was asked to write an article for a magazine two weeks ago. The due date is April 1st. I stand to make some pretty good money if they decide to use the article but I haven’t written it as of yet. I do have all the background and research done. I just have to write it. Tomorrow- I will definitely write it tomorrow!

I’m eagerly awaiting my Google Adsense pin number as well. I’ve finally made enough money on my four websites to enable me to receive a check from Google, but I can’t start the process of getting paid by them until the pin number arrives. I know that I can’t really rely on Google Adsense to bring in much income, but one of my sites has been doing very well, and it’s picking up monthly. I can’t count on it to pay the bills, but hopefully it will bring in some extra spending money.

I’ve been thinking that I could possibly make graphics for people. Banners, or headers for their sites. I’ve made websites for others in the past, and have 10 years experience running my own websites – which includes marketing them and getting them to the top of the search engine listings for their topics. What else? I’ve dabbled at touching up old photographs with great success and have restored a number of ancient pictures for friends. I have a full complement of graphic software including Firefox and Adobe Photoshop to work with. I also have a Wacum tablet which helps me do fine art work on the computer. I think if I put my mind to it I could put all of these skills and resources together and make something of it.

What else can I do to make some money from home while I wait to go back to work? Do you have any ideas for me? I’d love to get some feedback.

Canadian Tire Guy No More

March 11, 2006 by Tricia

The guy Canadians love to hate has been axed!

Yep, that’s right folks! No more noisy neighbor bursting into your home via your T.V. screen telling you that your home improvement tools and gadgets just aren’t good enough and that his are better. Nope, Canadian Tire finally came to the wise decision and axed the long standing commercials. I’m assuming that his T.V. wife is also gone with the deal, unless of course she divorced that do gooder and has taken up home improvement on her own- or perhaps she’ll have her own branch of commercials with her rumored secret lover.

Now I know my American and other international readers probably have no idea what I’m talking about, but I’m sure you have some commercial stars that you just love to hate as well. 🙂 Actually … since we get so much American T.V. here in Canada … perhaps you guys get a little bit of ours too? Along the lines of free trade? Aw come on … I know you do- I’ve talked to lots of Americans that actually admit to watching the Red-Green show (Canadian tire guy is a bit like him in some ways- but with tools instead of duct tape, and the things he makes stay together), and Much Music and the CBC. Perhaps you secretly loved to hate Canadian Tire guy too?

Anyway, for those that don’t know, Canadian Tire is a hardware, garden center type store along the lines of a small Home Depot. You know, on one of your trips to Canada you might have had to purchase a battery for your car, or replace a flat tire, or get some camping gear for your trip and ended up stopping in at Canadian Tire. You know, the store that gave you that weird funny money back with your change.

Canadian Tire Money

No that’s not real Canadian money- although ours is colorful and you might think it looks a bit funny. 🙂

Getting Canadian tire money is like getting a coupon towards your next purchase, although you might have to save it for a while to get it to add up to a substantial enough amount that you can actually purchase a product on it’s own with only Canadian tire money. I think at last count I had about $98 in Canadian tire money saved up. Yep, the stack is about a foot high. 🙂

So back to the Canadian tire guy and his almost as annoying wife. Canadian tire ran a series of commercials for approximately 8 years starring this man and his wife, and eventually a son, and dog. Yes it just got more and more grating.

He was the kind of neighbor that would see you outside washing your car by hand and he’d come over with his brand new super deluxe power washer and use it to make all the paint fly off your car! His drill, or power saw was always better than yours- quicker, quieter, handier – simply better.

If you were barbecuing he had a great barbecue for you to use and special tools for you to clean it with; if you were vacuuming a small spill his super sucker could do it best; if you were going camping he had inflatable beds for you, and special inflatable pumps that ran off your cars battery. He plugged the solar powered engine warmer too! Everything and anything that’s sold by Canadian tire- he had it- the newest version and he tried to talk you into getting one too. His wife was often by his side plugging the products too, and occasionally she was on her own offering up her latest housewares.

I’m sure that if these characters were actual people that lived on your street you’d be hiding from them all the time. Keeping your curtains shut; working on your home renovations after hours when the noisy neighbors would hopefully be asleep in bed. Heck- maybe you’d be trying to sell your house just to get away from the overly friendly neighbors?

I Googled Canadian Tire Guy and came up with pages and pages discussing him. There are forums, bl0g posts, a Macleans Magazine article (Macleans for Canada is like the New York Times Magazine). Actually it was probably the Macleans article that did him in, it’s story line was similar to the way I’m writing this post. Macleans own discussion forum was filled with letters of agreement on the article- it had to have caught the powers that be at Canadian Tires eye.

So now who’s next to go? We’ve already lost that creepy Alexander Keith’s beer ad guy who was quickly becoming another commercial character that I personally loved to hate. (He was recently arrested for p0rnography)

Hmmm I wonder if Frank and Gordon the new and still lovable Beaver reps for Bell will be the next to be lovingly hated?

______________________________________

We probably should have posted this on our other site- Odd Planet – since that’s our strange news story and humor site, but well- this is my place and so there! 🙂

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a sign

March 11, 2006 by Tricia

Rant mode:

What would you think of a political candidate who puts a sign in your front yard without asking you for permission first?

I’ve seen this happen TWICE this week! Once to me, and also to a few of my neighbors- from two different political candidates running in our provinces by-election.

Earlier in the week- let’s call in it Monday – I saw a car moving slowly by our house. It pulled up into a neighbors driveway and a guy jumped out with some signs for one of the political parties. He walks up to my closest neighbors house and starts putting the sign NOT in her lawn but her front flower bed. My neighbor barely speaks English, is very elderly, and always looks at us quite perplexed when we say we are going to vote (whenever there’s been some kind of election going on that is). So I know she didn’t give them permission to put the sign in her yard. I also knew that she would be upset when she discovered it. Then he went to the lady beside her house and put a sign on her lawn and kept moving down the street that way with the car following. We removed the sign for our neighbor.

I was thinking- there is no way my neighbor said yes to a sign, and I’m pretty sure that a whole street full of people all side by side wouldn’t ALL allow signs – most of them have never had political signs on their lawn in the past and definitely not for the party that was being promoted.

Then yesterday I get up and look outside, check my mail, and I notice a little green piece of paper in my door. I pull it out and take a look and it’s from one of the other parties- one we supported in the federal election this past January, one that we did allow to put a sign up at that time. The note was thanking us for allowing them to put up a sign and had a number we could call if we wanted it removed.

What’s this? It sounded like something off the internet where by signing up once you are automatically “opted in” for anything else that comes later, and you have to manually opt out on your own if you don’t want to participate anymore.

When did political parties start taking on sleazy internet type methods of getting people to participate or accept their junk?

Why would they assume that because I was promoting one party in the federal election that I would back the same party in a provincial election? Yes sometimes people stick with the same party both federally and provincially, but not always. Hey, traditionally in Ontario where I live the elected provincial government party has almost always been the official opposition party of the federal government. When the same party is running both the province and the nation it usually works out badly for all – see last two years of Canadian politics for reference.

I come from a very political family. Actually I come from a historical political family. My great great grand-father was one of Canada’s 13 founding fathers of confederation. Other members of my family have also been involved in provincial and municipal politics. But I’m a bit of a black sheep. I’m sure I vote quite the opposite of most of my family members. I don’t always vote for the same party. I vote for whichever candidate I think will do the best for the area that I’m living in first and move on from there. If the best candidate for my area is going to ruin the city, province or nation, I go for the next best candidate.

So, that’s another reason why I’m fuming over this sign that is in my yard. I’m not necessarily voting for that candidate, AND they didn’t ask me if they could deface my property. That’s a big strike against this candidate- and for the other candidate who had signs put up on my neighbors lawn without her permission too. I still have to decide who I’m voting for- I’ve gotta do my research and read up on all the people running for election. So, in the end I might end up voting for this person who ASSumed they could put a sign on my lawn without asking, but they’ve ticked me off and I can’t guarantee anything right now.

Oh and did I tell you the sign isn’t a little one? No, it’s huge! It’s not pounded into my lawn either. It’s attached to the metal trellis on the front of my house with computer ties! I have to go out there with some scissors to remove the darn ties and get rid of the sign.

Odd Mode:

Speaking of signs …

I’ve been intrigued by one of the residents of my street for some time. This person lives several blocks East of me. For the last year or so, whenever we pass by the house, I’ve noticed this persons front porches windows. I’ve noticed them because more times than not they are totally plastered with handwritten signs and drawings. We are always driving when we pass the house and it’s at a tricky curve in the road just past a traffic light, so it’s difficult to stop right in front of the house and just GAWK like I really want to do. LOL

I really have to stop and take pictures some time. As I’ve passed by in the past I’ve noticed the words Murder, killed, blood, rent and just long rants. It’s like this person gets creative and writes out long rants at whatever he or she is mad about that day and then tapes all the pages onto their front porch windows and door. I’m pretty sure the person has a screw or two loose to be doing something like this. I do have pity for his/her neighbors though- it would be hard to try to sell the house next door with the neighbors strangely posted thoughts plastered all over the windows and sometimes lawn next door.

I will get a picture sometime- I’m sure you’ll be as amused and intrigued as I am when you see it. 🙂

Spring Resolutions

Gurgles and growls

Need some ideas

Canadian Tire Guy No More

Signs, Signs, Everywhere a sign

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