Thursday Thirteen #1

Here's to my first Thursday Thirteen

So, here are 13 things that I have had to explain to the locals...

1. The saying, "they couldn't organize a piss up in a brewery".

Meaning, the person/group are horrible at organizing; as a 'piss up' (getting drunk) would be incredibly easy in a brewery.

2. Universal Health Care

...and how you don't die waiting to be seen!

3. That not all Canadians say, 'eh'!

I have never said it in my whole entire life!

4. What a 2-4 is.

A case of beer, 24 in all.

This is actually only a 6-pack but I just love this picture!

5. The word bathroom or washroom.

Down here it is a restroom. I'm still trying to figuring out what 'resting' is done in there!

6. "bugger"

used either as 'little bugger' or 'bugger off'

7. Where Nova Scotia is

...northeast of Maine...Maine, is on the east coast kind of above NewYork...google it, and google Maine while you're at it!

8. That we drive on the right hand side of the road.

9. Christmas is celebrated on December 25th

10. The Queen does not make our decisions for us.

11. Not everyone is gay or a lesbian,

although there is not a problem with being either, or both. ;)
and NO, IT IS NOT 'CATCHING'!

12. We say 'zed' instead of 'zee' and I say bum instead of booty.

13. We are not ruled by the United States!

No joke, someone seriously thought that the United States "owned us".

Wallowing ended; First day of the rest of your life, Yada...Yada... Yada...

Here ends all wallowing in loneliness!!!

We still miss The Gray's but on with life!!! Meanwhile...checking for seat sales to Washington.

Our friends leaving has given us even more of a push for us to go back to The Motherland. It's no secret that we are unhappy here.

I am now on a mission. To make our last year fly by. Well, specifically MY year fly by!!! For the most part, I've realized that when I'm happy...things in our family run a lot smoother! Funny, that?!?!?!

So, here is what I am doing or about to do to make that happen...

Get back into running!

I have actually started this...so far no one has had to come looking for me. I was up to 4 miles before everything happened with the house. Plan on a 5K in the beginning of fall!!!!

Keeping things simple.

More organizing / de-cluttering / down-grading and slowing down to actually enjoy ourselves.

Opening up my own Etsy store.

I have been making jewelry for a while now and have a great stash to sell.

Going (even more) Green!

I have, little by little, been switching all our cleaning products to earth-friendly ones. We have also changed to organic meats and eating meals without meat (okay, sometimes just less!). Organic fruits and veggies when possible. It's a little hard to do all this here, but I'm trying!!

I am going to calm down with the exclamation points.

A friend informed me that I have a problem;
"you need to ease up on the caffeine. too many exclamation points. Seriously, I love you, but all those exclamation points make you seem like a 15 yr old cheerleader after 12 Red Bulls. I thought it was an e-mail thing like sometimes periods turn into question marks, I thought your periods were turning into "!!!". "

Check out various charities and/or volunteer work I can do in the fall.

I've always wanted to help out, so why not now?!?!?

For now, I'm going to work on these things.

What is on your list?!?!????

Sunday Song #1

I can spend hours on youtube watching videos...mainly of the music kind.

Sometimes I'll go 'all old school'.

That's a lie...most of the time I do!!

Once in awhile I'll go for something new.

I've decided I'm going to use my Sunday's to share my findings with everyone else.

Here's an oldie but a goodie. It came out when I was 9 (do the math and you can figure out how old I am). It shows the beginnings of my secret love for pop music... and hair!!!

Y'all, I just need some time to wallow in loneliness...

Well, yesterday the day I was dreading came...

My (Southern) BFF moved away.

Today I had to drive by while the moving truck was packing up.

I had to have Geordie, once again, console me.

As soon as we saw the truck he said, "It's okay Mummy, remember we're going to visit them and when we move back to Canada they'll visit us!"

We all had a great day together on Tuesday. In the afternoon Nora Jane came down to play with Geordie, then Alaina came down to play with me.

When the time came for them to leave it looked like it was going to rain so we drove them up...
then we had to come into the house to get some of their fridge stuff...then we just had to stay for a little bit longer...then Kevin said that we had go out for supper with them...Alaina and I piled into our car with one child, Kevin & Callum and the rest in their car...we ate supper...then Alaina and I had to get gas...then we had to come into the house for a couple more minutes.

A fine way to prolong the inevitable!!

Finally we all said goodbye.


NJ: "Goodbye Geordie, I'm never going to see you again"

Geordie:"Yes, you will! We will be visiting you at your new house!"

NJ: "Geordie, you and I are always going to be best friends, always! You're my best friend!"

Geordie: "Okay!"


That night Geordie woke up just after 10:00p.m. calling out, "Nora Jane?!? Nora Jane?!? Where are you?"


We said goodbye to...

our emergency contact people on EVERYTHING we fill out

our great friends

our family

I am incredibly excited for them and can't wait to go and visit.

For now, I just need a day or two to wallow in loneliness...

Since when is it acceptable to spit?!?!?!?

I can't stand spitting!!!

To me it is one of the most disgusting things you could EVER do!!!

As far as I'm concerned you only spit when you brush your teeth!!!

Today at Geordie swimming lesson there was a man spitting. It seemed like he didn't swallow, just spit!!! It was horrible!!!! Once in awhile you would even hear him 'coughing' something up and then spitting it out.

I looked over at him... he kept on doing it.

I gave a dirty look...he kept on doing it.

I then got up and moved while walking in front of him AND giving him a dirty look... I still don't think he got it!

Moving on to smoking...

I am not a smoker, and really I don't care if you smoke. I just don't want to smell it or have my son seeing you do it!!!

But one thing that really gets me is workers outside their place of employment smoking. Especially in their uniform.

We went to Hobby Lobby and there were some Hobby Lobby employees a little to the left of the door smoking...in their HOBBY LOBBY APRONS!!!

I just think it looks horrible!!! It's even worse when you walk into a restaurant and see the staff outside smoking!!! Now that one just kills me!!!

Maybe today I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and...

EVERYTHING IS ANNOYING ME!!!

Ever have one of those days?!?!?

Sorry, I'm busy organizing and loving it!!!!

This last week I have been quite busy. Had a friend down from back home visiting (that is such a NS sentence!) and we've been sewing up a storm. Damn! That sounds boring.

I have also been de-cluttering a few more rooms. I while back I talked about how I was organizing our world.

I started with the dining room and then moved on to the office/play room. Here's how that now looks...




We have a new rule now. ALL TOYS FIT IN TRAIN TABLE, BASKET OR 'TOYBOX'!!!



If it does not, OUT IT GOES!! If a new toy comes an old one goes OUT to make room. Because of this we decided to get rid of this...


Anyone want to buy it?

This past weekend I did the kitchen. Surprisingly it only took about half an hour. I went through EVERYTHING!!

This is what's going...

(please do not be offended if you gave us something and it is on this table. We had a great time with it and now it is time to have a great time with someone else!)

This was the trash...

Meanwhile, champagne grapes are in season. Geordie loves them. Today I surprised him with them.

"Oh, they are so sweet!!! They are just so sweet and precious!!!"

Sarcasm?!?!?! Is it possible...?!?!?

This morning Callum and Geordie were in the kitchen cutting up watermelon.

It was Callum's first time EVER cutting a watermelon and he was a little unsure...

Callum: "Hels?!?! What do I cut it with?"

Geordie: "A sharp knife!"

After they finished eating...

Callum: "Hels?!?! What do I do with it now?"

Geordie: "you put it back!"


That's my boy!!!!!!

You should have seen him when he was showing Grandpa how to use the vacuum!!!!

07/08

Sk8er Dude!!!

Check out my Sk8er Dude...




Sorry, subject makes quite an annoying sound in the second video.

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Geordie's BFF...Goodbye Legge Blonde!!!

Geordie & Nora Jane, 06/08

A while back I wrote of my Southern BFF moving away. Well, I'm actually not the only one...

Nora Jane has been with Geordie since he was "IN MA BELLY". She is 4 months older than him and was his first friend. We actually arrived to live in Georgia the day Nora Jane was born.

Last night we told Geordie that his BFF will be moving away in 7 more sleeps!

Just before we were about to sit down to eat I mentioned to Callum that we need to tell Geordie. Accentuate the positives and all that stuff... we get to go visit, etc...

We sit down...

Me: "Geordie, next week Nora Jane is going to be moving away with her family"

Geordie: "Why?!?! Where?!?!" *eyes swelling up with tears and chin starting to tremble*

Callum: "Mr. Kevin is going back to school and they are going to be moving to Washington."

That was it for me. I had to leave the table for some 'alone time'.

A couple of minutes later Geordie came looking for me.

Geordie: "It's okay Mummy, we will go and visit. I'm sad too, but it's okay to be sad"

We talked a bit more about it all.

How did I end up being the one consoled?!?!?

We started to go back to the table...

Geordie: "Nora Jane, Vivi & Noble won't be living in their house anymore. Maybe Caleb can move there. Or Carson, or Ethan, or Cole & Tristan..."

NJ's First Birthday 10/04

02/05

Easter/05

Easter/05

Spring/05

Halloween/05

December/05

Geordie's Second Birthday (02/06)

NJ's Third Birthday (10/06)

Fall/06 First time outside 'alone'

Halloween/06

Summer/07

Summer/07

Summer/07

Fall/07

Fall/07

Halloween/07 (with Vivi)

Christmas Parade/07 (with Jayley)

When they both learned how to drive a two-wheeler
Jan/08

Geordie Fourth Birthday 02/08

Geordie's 'family'!!
Geordie, Nora Jane, Viviana & Noble

They other night NJ and Geordie performed for us. Helping out is DJ NO-NO!!!!





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Yes, HE did just say that the pregnancy was easy!!!!

The other day I wrote to an old friend who is expecting his first child with his wife soon. I asked how things were going.

This is the answer I received...

"Yep, the time is comin' real soon... 1 month to go...Aug. 14th. Everything is going very well...I'm actually surprised how easy this was...I was expecting some crazy woman...but it's been pretty smooth going. She starting to do a little complaining now about the heat and swollen ankles...other than that everything is great."

left; the old friend is somewhere in this picture (07/00)

You don't really need your right arm...can I have it?!?!?

Last night Callum and I were about to sit down and watch a show on the boob-tube together. He got up, walked into the kitchen. I heard some rustling of a bag and the opening and closing of a cupboard and the fridge.



In he walks with ONE drink and ONE single serving of something for himself.

"You didn't get anything for me?"

Callum: "you heard me! you knew I was getting something you could have asked."

Do you believe this?!?!?! Every time I go to get a snack I always ask him if he would like something. Half the time he says no. When he says no I make sure that I include more than what I want because I know that he is going to want some of whatever I have...
Because Callum ALWAYS wants what ever I have!!!!

On top of that he always asks for the last piece!!!

He still has not yet learned that golden rule...

YOU NEVER ASK FOR ANYONE'S LAST PIECE especially WHEN CHOCOLATE IS INVOLVED!!!

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Why can't I act like I'm 4?!?!?!

Okay, I am usually quite a talker and can talk to anyone. I do not have any problems in that department. I also am usually pretty good on a social level. I "try" and stay away from talking politics and religion (down in these here parts) and I keep a smile on my face.

Some might find me a little loud...once in awhile a little obnoxious. I do not need to be carried (as my mother always used to say) and for the most part I do think that I am approachable.

Then...why is it so hard sometimes to make friends?!?!?!

Geordie makes friends everywhere he goes. The other day I finally figured out his secret!

We were at the skate park and Geordie was skating around with a little boy (who was about 6/7) for a bit and then he says, "hey, you want to be friends". The other boy agreed and off they went.

Geordie and his friends! He just calls them all Dude!
(Geordie is the small one in the blue helmet)

This week Geordie was in soccer camp. I highly recommend it!!!! It's great!!! If you have one in your area put your child in it. If you don't talk to your rec dept. This was Geordie's second year.


Day 1; we get there and I put my seat next to a group of mothers, ALL with syrupy southern accents. Tried to add to the conversation here and there. Conversation was around people at church. Someone asked what church we go too. I said we didn't.

Usually this is where I put in the bit of how we are 'associated' with a certain church and throw out a couple of names as we have found (and felt) that we need to do this to be accepted. But I'm tired of doing that!

Got a couple of weird looks and that ended conversation with me!

Day 2; mothers are sitting in a new place I sit a bit away from them, but smile a greeting. Totally ignored. Truthfully, I'm a Princess and not used to being ignored!!!!

Day 3; don't even bother sitting by them especially since their chairs are put in a semi-circle 'keep out' way. Are we thirteen?!?!?!

Day 4; start up a conversation with another mother with 'blue states' plates on the way out. Plan on putting my chair next to her the next day.

Day 5; 'blue states' mother is not sitting with "the syrupy church crew" but is talking to a few as they just met the night before as her family recently joined the country club. Invitations were being passed out for something...I didn't get one!

Now, I do have some friends here and they have accepted me AS I AM (I think anyway!). When they start the church talk I do feel a little bit left out but I've gotten used to it!!

When we first moved down here and Callum's work had just opened everyone was making friends with each other as most were transplants. Unfortunately we were stuck in the middle of groups. There were those who were just married or just about to be married and then those with older children. We were six months pregnant, not fitting in with either.

It wasn't this hard when we moved to Toronto. Sure, we had a lot of friends from back home that were also living there but we also made a bunch of friends that we met there.

How do you make friends?!?!?

Do you ever feel left out?!?!

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Hi my name is Helen and I don't turn the channel when Supernanny is on!

Callum and I are known to watch an episode or two of Supernanny. It's one of the few shows that we can watch together. Really, it makes us feel better as parents...

Through the four years, four months and 22 days that we have been parents we have done it OUR WAY but we have also received many parenting ideas from various places.

Geordie is four weeks old

We tend to stay away from books; we find that they all contradict each other. We kept with the Dr Sears book when needed, mainly for their 'liquor cabinet', or was that 'medicine cabinet'. Another reason is (it seems) at the beginning of every second sentence they write that "all children are different". It made you not feel bad if your child was not doing what THE BOOK tells you they should be doing.

B.G. (before Geordie) I was an early childhood music educator at a Montessori school (still can't spell Montessori though, can never remember if it's 2 - s's or 2 - r's). So I have some child psych courses under my belt and experience...as an educator which is, let me tell you, not the same as experience as a parent!!

Our biggest help, we find, is learning from other peoples parenting mistakes. Come on...you know you do it!!!! Goodness, you can even do it with a family you see for five minutes. You see the parents doing something, realize that it's not working and file it away as 'parenting I will not be using'.

Truth is, we have a family that we get a lot of our "don't parenting" from. It's sad to say, but it's true. Sometimes it's not even that they have parented 'wrong' it's just SO NOT US!!

For the most part Callum and I try to stay on the same page (kind of). Try and not overly criticize each other (well, I try...Callum's pretty good at just NOT doing it). We also feel that living away from all family helped us to be confident in our parenting. No one to tell us what to do or how they did it! It also means that we are stuck, alone, together, doing it by ourselves!!

Do we have the perfect child? YES!!! ...for us!!!!

Here's hoping that we aren't someone else's "don't parenting family"!!!!

Do you have a "don't parenting family"?
Better yet, do you think that you ARE a "don't parenting family"?


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Some call it the bible belt; I might call it hell!!!

It's too damn hot here!!!

It's my fifth summer here and I still find the heat ANNOYING!!! I know, I know everyone always says they would rather have the heat than the cold.

My argument... you can add layers when it's cold!! You can't go around naked when it's hot!!! Although didn't the law change in Ontario in the late 90's allowing women to go topless as well as men?!?! Alls fair in sexism!!

So, what do I do?!?! Better question...what does Geordie do?

This morning we had soccer camp. He plays, I sit in the shade. Then we went to the skate park. Again, he plays, I sit in the shade.

Now we're home and Geordie is playing;

Check out the white streamers from our Canada Day celebrations.

...while I am on here;with the A.C. on!!! We are both in heaven!!!

Yes, this basin with water gives Geordie half an hour of entertainment. Isn't that crazy?!?!? I would be bored after three minutes!!! Add in the ice cubes and you get even more time. At first we were using ice cubes from the ice machine but about a week a go I bought some food colouring and now in the evening I make up trays of coloured ice for the next day!!!

When Geordie's tired of the water, I use rice...another twenty minutes of fun!!

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Conversations with Geordie...

Geordie: "Mummy went to the doctor today for a checkout!"

Callum: "check up"

Geordie: "yeah, check up. She went to make sure her brain was okay."

Callum: "okay?!?!?"

Geordie: "she's okay...one time Sponge Bob, his brain grew legs and ran away!"

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Who did you say was a drama?!?!?

A while back we had a 'situation' with the word Jack-Ask . Well, it came up again on the drive back from Wilmington the other day.

I must add that Geordie has super-sonic hearing now a days!!!

After a car cut us off;

Callum: (under his breath) "Jackass!!"

Geordie: "Daddy, did you just say Jack-Ask?"

Callum: "no"

Geordie: "I heard you!"

Callum: "you heard wrong"

Geordie: "you are a drama!"

Speaking of drama, this was Geordie today at soccer camp...



On another note...I want this!!!


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What's with the hole?!?!?

Had a great l-o-n-g weekend! After having a Canada Day celebration on the 1st we headed over to Wilmington on the 2nd. Just got back last night!

What did we do?!??! Beach, beach and more beach!! Callum and I were also able to go out for dinner one night to one of our favourite places; Boca Bay...and we went ALL BY OURSELVES!!!

On the 4th we ventured out to the beach around 10:00 a.m. We like to do the beach in the morning because (1) there are less people and (2) there usually is a chance of rain in the late afternoon.

While there I went for a walk. I couldn't help noticing the amount of people that were there who seemed to be there for the long haul! Some had propane tanks hooked up to a huge pot, others had coolers upon coolers. But the one thing that stuck out in my mind was how many males dug holes! It didn't matter what the age was!!! There were 2 years olds digging, 20 year olds, 40 year olds and I even saw one man who looked about 80!!! What is it with this hole fascination?!?!?! I don't understand it!!!


I remember years a go when Callum and I were going out. We were getting ready to go to the beach and Callum grabbed a shovel to take down with him.

me; "why are you taking that?"

Callum; (like I'm stupid) "to dig a hole!"

me; (thinking that people would make fun of him) "why?!?"

Callum; "cause it's cool!"

me; (still thinking that people would make fun of him) *sigh*

So, we get to the beach. My cousins are down there, some with their spouses. Also, some friends of my cousins. Callum starts digging a hole...one minute later, all the guys are helping.

HUH?!?!?!?!?!? Does anyone understand this?!?!?

The Apple

Geordie loves apples. Problem is he only eats all the skin, maybe a bit more. There is usually a lot of apple left. Callum or I usually finish it. This time Geordie tried to dispose of it himself...

"I tried to put my apple into the garbage but it fell in the toilet by accident, now its plugged up"

see garbage to the right of toilet, we're not even going to touch on the fact that he was putting it in the garbage let alone the bathroom garbage!

Happy Canada Day!!!!

My top ten reasons why I love Canada...

10. The spelling... colour, favourite, behaviour

9. The poutine...this got me through my pregnancy. I was so sick but for some reason poutine was the only thing I could eat. It's also great for hang-overs!!

8. The people...the peace keeping, the looking out for each other, the ability to separate church from state!!!

7. Smarties & jelly tots!!

6. Gun Control Laws

5. The health care system. It's still not 100% perfect but it's still the one that I would choose!!

4. Keith's - need I say more?!?!?

3. The music of the east coast!

2. Freedom - ex. same sex marriage

1. ME!!!!

...you thought I was going to say Callum didn't you?!?!?! Well, he would be a 1.5 on my list!!!

Honourable mentions;

Our comedy...we are really funny people!!!!
Anne of Green Gables
The culture and history
The cleanliness
The geography & climate (yes, this includes snow and rain!)
If I drank coffee I would say Tim Hortons

Did you know that...

-the longest coastline of any country belongs to Canada.
-Canada is the second largest country, in size, in the world.
-the Bluenose schooner won the International Fisherman's Trophy for 18 years, from 1921 to 1938.
-the comic "Superman" was created by a Canadian, Joe Shuster, who was born in Toronto in 1914.
-Winnie the Pooh is Canadian.
-Wayne Gretzky has the most points in NHL history.
-the Canadarm on the Space Shuttle was made by Canadian scientists.
-the Montreal Canadiens have won more Stanley Cups than any other team in the history of hockey.
-some Canadian inventions include; the zipper, ginger ale, the washing machine, standard time, goalie mask, retractable beer carton holders, pacemaker, insulin (as used for diabetes), insulation, frozen fish (?), lacrosse, the light bulb, IMAX, electric cooking range, disintegrating plastic, fog horn, heart valve operation, and portable highchair just to name a few.

I AM CANADIAN!!!!!