5 things

Random pictures for you to enjoy!

5 things I hate:

-muskrats in my garage

-gas prices

-dirty cat litter boxes

-people lazier than I

-thieves! (those who steal 5year old girls bikes especially)

5 things I love

-income tax refunds

-sleeping children

-visiting friends

-sleeping

-Tomasso's Foccacia bread w/oil and vinegar

Toooooo funny!

My sister sent this to me, and I actually laughed out loud! Can't remember when that happened to me last!

TO: GOD:>FROM: THE DOG
Dear God: Why do humans smell the flowers, but seldom, if ever, smell one another?
Dear God: When we get to heaven, can we sit on your couch? Or is it still the same old story?>>>>
Dear God: Why are there cars named after the jaguar, the cougar, the mustang, the colt, the stingray, and the rabbit, but not ONE named for a dog? How often do you see a cougar riding around? We do love a nice ride! Would it be so hard to rename the "Chrysler Eagle" the " Chrysler Beagle"?>>>>
Dear God: If a! dog barks his head off in the forest and no human hears him, is he still a bad dog? >>>>
Dear God: We dogs can understand human verbal instructions, hand signals, whistles, horns, clickers, beepers, scent ID's, electromagnetic energy fields, and Frisbee flight paths. What do humans understand? >>>>
Dear God: More meatballs, less spaghetti, please.>>>>
Dear God: Are there mailmen in Heaven? If there are, will I have to apologize?>>>>>>
Dear God: Let me give you a list of just some of the things I must remember to be a good dog.>>>>
1 . I will not eat the cats' food before they eat it or after they throw it! up.>>>>
2. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc., just because I like the way they smell.>>>>
3. The Litter Box is not a cookie jar.>>>>
4. The sofa is not a 'face towel'.>>
5. The garbage collector is not stealing our stuff. >>>>
6. I will not play tug-of-war with Dad's underwear when he's on the toilet.>>>>
7. Sticking my nose into someone's crotch is an unacceptable way of saying "hello".>>>>
8. I don't need to suddenly stand straight up when I'm under the coffee table.>>>>
9. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur before entering the house - not after.>>>>
10. I will not come in from outside and immediately drag my butt.>>>>
11. I will not sit in the middle of the living room and lick my crotch.>>>>
12. The cat is not a 'squeaky toy' so when I play with him and he makes that noise, it's usually not a good thing.>>>>
P.S. Dear God: When I get to Heaven may I have my testicles back? >

This is Gareth, obviously. He was very lucky to have been chosen to be a contestant on Kids Deal or No Deal this past weekend! Yes, it was for real money! I was also selected to be a briefcase girl! Gareth was down to two cases left. One held $100 and the other held $10. His offer from the banker was for $50 - do you think he would take it? NO! He wowed the crowd by telling the host that he was going to "follow his heart" and say no deal. His case had $10 in it, which is $10 more than he had when he came in. What a great kid I have, eh? He also told me later that he wanted to give it to charity!

VWD Pictures!

Here is my little princess, busting a move Saturday night! She was the first one dancing (my girl!) and was not afraid to get the others up with her. Look at her putting the moves on a new friend! We had a great time, though the music was loud - too loud for Gareth! I will post more weekend fun pics later!

Back to Bedlam!

What a weekend! I really don't know where to start, but I'll try here!
When I called for information on the Eastern Ontario Hemophilia Family weekend, I was curious, as Dad really did not embrace his diagnosis of von Whilebrand's Disease.

What is VWD?
http://www.hemophilia.ca/en/2.2.php

We didn't know a lot about it until recently. Sarah has also been given the diagnosis, as we three girls have it too. There are treatments I could have tried, medicines to help. We didn't know then, but we know now.

So, when I spoke to Colin Patterson he told me of this fabulous weekend for families to get together and learn and have fun, I was very interested. Then he told me there would be NO EXPENSE! Truly, nothing. Nada. Zip. I still didn't believe it when we walked into the Travel lodge in Ottawa. I met Colin, and so many other kind and fun people. I also, for the first time in my life, got to meet other people with VWD. There was so much planned for us, and also an amazing water park inside the hotel. Wave pool, HUGE water slide, and more. 3 Lifeguards too!
For the parents there were seminars and presentations by specialists and Doctors and nurses, all who were not only knowledgeable, but approachable too! And for the kids.... Mad Science, Illusionist Chris Pilsworth, and Deal or no Deal! Gareth and Sarah had a ball! We all did!

I have more to tell you, but this will have to be a 2 parter, as the kids need to drop from all the fun and water! I have pictures too, surprise, surprise!

Here are a few links for you!

http://www.borntoamaze.com
http://www.madscience.org/locations/ottawa/aboutus.aspx

I will be back later!
~G~

Ladies who lunch!

Well, we had a great time at Mexi's the other day, so I thought I would post the pic's for all to enjoy. Carrie's little man was soooo cute, and really has a thing for the ladies! See him feeding Megan? I think he is making a play for her 9 month old already, getting in good with the mom, know what I mean?
Back to work y'all. I am already cranky! But, luckily, I love my job, so it makes it a little better to know I am going somewhere cool with people I like.

Welcome home Cori and Darren!

~G~

Did you see that Leprechaun?

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

In honour of this, the greenest of all days, I joined my girlfriends for lunch at Mexicala Rosa's! Mexican, I know, but there was still green beer and Carrie's desert had green butterscotch on it.

I have had a fabulous day, and March Break, for that matter. Today, I slept in 'til 10, had my shower, sauntered over to Mexi's, watched Muriels Wedding with mom, and then ended my night by scrapbooking with Paula! Quite nice, if I do say so myself.

I wouldn't say that I am looking forward to going back to work, but I am at least rested enough, and prepared to go.

Stumbled upon a neat little quiz, if you are a Grey's fan, like I am. I got two questions wrong, so beat that!
Here is the link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15199441/

I took some cute pics today, but have to get the girls permission before I post them. We don't need any lawsuits here!

Hope it was a great one!

~G~

Meeting Fred

Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting a real gentleman.

He is 97 years old, and was the best man for my Grandfather. What a guy! Said that he and grandpa were good, good friends. I showed him Grandpa's wedding picture, and he remembered it well. He told me briefly of his coming over from England, and how he worked on the farm with him. My grandpa's grandpa owned the family farm then. Fred had to work at the farm for 3 years to pay for his passage. His conversation was sporadic, as I could tell that many memories were interrupting his speech. He told me that Grandpa was very religious, and was very Pius. The first thing Fred told me was that Grandpa called him Blimpo as a nick name. He told us that a few times, so it must have been the strongest memory he had of him. He has a wonderful English wit about him, and a nice toothless smile. I look forward to talking with him again, to learn more about my grandparents from him. He told me I could definitely come back. I and definitely will.

Baby pictures!

Allyssa Anne Sargent

You know, I love this stage in my life. My friends are having babies. I get to enjoy them, and get my "fix" and then leave them with their mothers and fathers. It's a win-win situation!

Here are some cute little pics of Jen and Andy's new addition. Enjoy!

SHE'S HERE!

Just a quickie!

Baby girl Sargent was born this morning, Saturday March 10th at 6:44 am. She weighs in at 8lbs 14 oz - ouch! No name as of yet - stay tuned!

She is beautiful and healthy, and mom is doing great, craving A&W Root beer!

I am going to visit today at 2pm, so of course, pictures will be coming!

Congrats to Jen, Andy and Brooke!

Damn! I did it again!

I know I said I would probably never do that again, but I did.

I watched my My Sweet 16 again.

It was a moment of weakness. I was enjoying a morning of leisure. Fruit Loops in front of the telly, feet up, no place to be.

I saw it on the guide, and wondered what brats were up to lately.

I shouldn't have done that.

OH MY GOD! I don't know who I am more disgusted with.... These self righteous brats or MTV for creating and airing this kind of trash.

In one episode, the Nashville teen got a 6 door hummer. It cost $120,000 American. That was on top of the $100 000 party her father gave her.
In the other, this 16year old girl from Harlem was sooo spoiled! Her mom rented out an entire museum and made her an 80's themed party. Mega mega bucks! An $8000 bike (pedal) and a $100000 range rover to go with that. Plus, her mouth was dressed in diamond grills! EWWWWWWWWW!
She had $700 Nike's from Paris - dayglo!

Whatever! I still think this is ridiculous. They make a big deal out of handing out invites and making sure they leave out some people to show their reactions. This is bullying at it's worst. I know they don't have to invite everyone, but this was over the top.

I read an entire book last night. Yup, the whole book. It is called Please Stop Laughing At Me, by Jodee Blanco. It was amazing and heartbreaking and encouraging all at the same time. I really recommend it to everyone. As my dear friend Megan (who lent me the book) says, "all kids should read this, or have it read to them". This poor girl has all the horrendous things done to her by the kids at school because she wont conform and bully others.

http://www.jodeeblanco.com/

Check it out. Read the book. I was up until 2:30 am finishing it, because I just had to. It is our obligation as educators to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. And yes, we are all educators! If you have a pulse, then children have something to learn from us.

Well, I am done ranting for now, but I haven't left the house yet, so who knows! Kiddies back tonight.

~G~

She stays sober, she scores! Yeah Shari!

Shari was lucky enough to catch a RIDE program on Friday night, and since she had not been drinking, them police officer gave her some tickets to see the Belleville Bulls the next night. She wasn't able to go, so she gave them to me, and I in turn took Sarah out for a nice evening! We had a blast! It ended up costing me about 30 dollars, but it was well worth it. She is a big fan now! The tickets were donated by MADD, and I think that was such a kind gesture. I will write to them and tell them how much we appreciated them. Sarah with Bully!
The Bulls goalie... can't remember his name... sorry.
Sarah cheering on her team!

. Girls gone wild!

.

.

In the end, the Bulls lost to the London Knights 4 to 3, but they were winners in our eyes! Thanks Aunt Shari!

Okay, Diva pics for real this time...

Here is the "Fab Four" - Me, Paula, Jody and Tracy

Paula and I - Scrappin' Fools!

"I feel pretty, oh so pretty....."

Me, feeling sassy and a little sexy!

More pics to come at a later date!

~G~

Just a sample....... "Diva"

Hi again all! Geeee.... two postings in one day! WOW!~
Here are a few of the Diva pictures I promised you! They turned out great! I have about 65 different shots on my disc (yes, even the "naughty" ones!) and Gerri did a fabulous job. I cannot wait to have family photos done with her. I am going to make a link to her website so you can check her work out. AWESOME and totally afordable!

www.gerriphotography.com

~note~ there is a problem with the site, so I will post the pics later.

~G~

Finally - Dominican Pictures!!!

Okay, Okay... I know it has taken forever (well, a month is forever, isn't it?) but here are some of my Dominican pics. I will try to post a few every day or so and give you some witty comments as well. Remember, I took over 500 photos, and I love most of them, so bear with me!

Okay, not sure how the pic lay out will go, so try to follow along! :)

First one is Mom and Paul on the plane down. We flew West Jet, and I would recommend it to anyone. They had these cool little TVs in the back of the seats that you could watch satellite TV on or order one of 4 movies to watch. I sat with a nice couple and their cute little son. He was adorable and so good. Hardly a peep!
There is a nice picture of the front of our hotel. We had gone out for a walk into Boca Chica.
Also, a nice picture of the beach, with our hotel in the background. It was a huge private beach, so the only ones there were hotel guests. Along the sides there were small walls to keep people out, and also armed guards too. Lots of vendors by the walls wanting you to talk to them.
We had a nice young man, Angelo, as our "guide" to Boca Chica the first time we went down town. He followed us around, showing us the "best shops" that obviously were friends to them, or he got some sort of kick back. I didn't mind him. He was 13, and had braces and a cell phone, so I knew he wasn't that hard done by. I have a picture of Angelo that I will post later.
This is a pic in one of the shops. Mom wanted a picture with Paul and Doreen by the Monopoly game, as they often played it by the hours (sometimes days!@) together.
Last picture is of the street in Boca Chica we travelled down. All touristy shops - I know there was more to this city, but I didn't really get to see it.
That is round one, folks. Good news is that my Diva pics are in, so I will throw a few in here soon.
Take care!
~G~