I haven't forgotten about you dear readers. I've just been busy. I have been writing, well journaling to be precise. And as soothing as this journaling has been, it's not exactly appropriate materials for Blogland.

We've been enjoying warm weather lately. Granted the warm weather comes with thunderboomers. Today was our first rain free day since Saturday and prior to that we had nearly a week of rain. I'm beginning to wonder if we'll have a repeat of the summer of 2004 -- rain rain and more rain and cool temps.

My visit with mum went well. We had a lovely Sunday afternoon shopping for books and having lunch at a delightful local cafe. She's home safely now and I'm looking forward to my vacation in August when I'll see her again.

I got a hair cut last week too. And although I have taken a photo (my cousin requested one) I'm not overly impressed with it, so I might wait a while before posting a photo of me and the new do. I can say that it is a massive improvement over the state it had currently reached. There's something refreshing about having a hair cut and looking good. I read once that you may not be able to change your life circumstances but a new hair cut does help!

I now have a stack of books on my coffee table that are waiting to be read. A thriller during the Reformation period in Europe, an alternative history of Atlantis, a biography of Judas, a book about Geography and the fifth chronicles Astronomy. The bookstore had a really good sale.  Most of these books retail for between 30-40$ each and I got all 5 for 10$. Sweet deal :)

I've also been busy lately knitting. A certain family member has requested some more facecloths for their birthday this summer. 2.5 done, a couple more to go :) I haven't decided how many I'll make, I'll just keep knitting until it's too hot or I've run out of time.

Right, back to my laundry. Trying to clean all my blankets that are covered in cat fuzz! Crazy how the little guy can shed all over the place and never show a bald spot. Brat!

Ciao,

Maggie

*Scroll down for editions made at 8pm.

8:16am

I've been awake since about 7am when my alarm went off. It's a dry heat in the apartment and I'm mildly annoyed that I had turned the fan off in the living room last night before bedtime. Never mind. My day doesn't truly start until 10am so I have some time to just lie in bed and lounge.

I'm happy it's Saturday. We have a big day planned today. Firstly, my mum is in town! She stopped by the office yesterday, Friday, for lunch, and my coworkers were kind enough (her words) to allow her to play scrabble with us. Mum is so modest. Of course she could play! We might be a bunch of odd ducks here at the office, but lunch time visitors are ok. We all sat around the large meeting table, eating our respective lunches and playing Scrabble. Even my boss spoke to her and after she left he said I could leave early 'seeing as how your mummy is in town' (his words). I thought that was very kind of him but I ended up staying until about 4 pm. Not to worry mum was sound asleep in her hotel room.

Ahh yes, people find that odd that when my parents come to visit they don't actually stay with me. Well have you seen the size of my apartment??? It's the size of a shoe box, comparatively speaking to other places. And my parents have always liked their privacy and their ability to just putter around and not get in the way. besides, this is her tax refund and this is how mum chose to spend it. Who am I to judge?

Anyhoo, I'm sure you're all dying to know how the meet and greet went last night. It went wonderfully! The restaurant was crowded and that's when all 3 of us realized that none of us have ever been to this place on a Friday night. The last time mum was in town I took her to the same place but it was a week night.

Oh well, we still had good food, great conversation ranging from: which language is more difficult to learn? Are some of the more ancient languages more difficult to add new concepts to, in particular the notions of technology? What exactly is a robot and why is modern society so afraid of them? Robots in an industrial setting versus an android, and are they really the same thing? String instruments versus brass instruments versus woodwind. And then the two of them went off on a tangent about Jazz composers and I was completely and utterly lost. I'm not a fan of Jazz per say. No wait, I'm really picky when it comes to Jazz and I think it's very much mood and setting dependent.

Needless to say we did not run out of stimulating topics and nobody spilt any food or drink. Though I did end up taking a doggy bag home as I had a HUGE serving of pasta. That's ok, guess what I'm having for breakfast today? Heehee....pasta!

The last item of the evening was the exchange of a gift at my place. A certain someone has a birthday coming up soon and he hates to have a fuss made over it. Last year I gave him a home made card and he was quite happy with that. Well this year his gift was just a piece of paper. Well ok, a bit more than that.

I gave it to him last night and said, If you would rather wait until the actually day to 'open' this, that's fine, but I thought you'd might like to have it. Kevin was a bit uncertain as to what I had done, seeing as how there were paperclips holding this rolled up piece of paper ( I couldn't find any ribbon, or elastics for that matter. I suppose in retrospect I could have used yarn but the paperclips worked). Well as he starts to unroll his gift and he sees what's tucked inside of it and what it actually is, his eyes got as wide as saucers. Like a little kid in a candy store! And I was excited to as I had planned this out since April lol

Well, I had purchased for him two tickets to see a Yankees game in Toronto and I had written it up as if he'd won a fantastic all expenses paid trip. Kevin has always said that if you are to see a Jays game you should really go when the Yankees are in town. So I took the advice to heart, checked out the Jays schedule to see when they were playing the Yankees and if it fit with my summer holidays and was after he was done school. Yes and yes! So I went ahead and bought them. And then had to wait 2 months to tell him! gah! I was bursting at the sides last night. heehee In addition to that I said he was eligible for a 'Fun in the Sun' package to a private beach side resort (my parents cottage) and to RSVP to this activity as well.

He thought it was quite funny his gift. I even included some graphics so it really did look like a prize notice. He immediately gave the Yankee tickets back to me for safe keeping. I sorta figured  he would. And he was pretty stoked when he left. I said to him that the 'beach side resort' is optional. I plan on going there anyways for my holidays, but I'm definitely the 2nd person going to the Yankees game. Well yeah! He completely agreed with that.

So here I am the next morning with a big goofy grin on my face. I get to see the Yankees play! Wahoo! I've never been to a baseball game before in my life. Kevin's gone twice, but never to see the Yankees play.

And my mum's in town and in an hour or so we're going to head off on our adventure. We're planning a drive to a family friend's camp to check it out for the day and have lunch there. And do some sightseeing and touristy stuff. I have the directions to the camp with me, and although I've been before, I've never gone on my own. Mum has never gone.

I should probably got eat my breakfast, tidy things up a bit and pack my bag for the day. Including my camera so hopefully I'll have some pictures to post when I come back :)

8pm

Home sweet home. Mum was experiencing some slight car trouble Friday night so she decided to go to the car dealership first thing in the morning to have it checked out. Now down south the service bays at dealerships are opened at 8am on a Saturday. Apparently here in the north the dealership doesn't open until 10am and even then there's no one in to do services. Mum didn't know this and neither did I. (Why would I? I don't own a car.) She ended up waiting two hours to find this out. In the meantime my dad had phoned the dealership back home, spoken to the service tech, described the situation and the tech said that it's a minor issue and they'll take a look at it next week when she comes home.

Needless to say we were delayed getting on our way today. We had planned to leave the city by 10am and be at our destination for 12:30ish, give or take a bit. We needed to stop at Bell to purchase some minutes for mum's cell phone. Waited 20 minutes in line only to be told by the clerk that they had run out of prepaid mobility minutes. Were told you could purchase the cards at the grocery store. Trudged back to the grocery store, didn't see the cards with the rest of the prepaid phone cards. Tracked down a clerk and asked them. They informed us that they are behind the service counter. Ok, managed to find some only to be told that the debit machine wasn't working! Gah! Luckily we had enough cash on us for the card. Loaded the cell phone and I called our friends to let them know we would were running late.

The last stop we needed to make before we left was to get gas. Well the debit machine at the pump wouldn't work properly and then it wouldn't print out a receipt. Got that cleared up and then had to wait nearly 15 minutes for the moron in front of us to move his vehicle. He decided to run some errands while parked at the bay. As if!

Finally at 11:30 we left the city. We had a lovely drive out to our destination. Made a couple of pit stops along the way to get a snack. Arrived at our friend's place a bit after 2pm. They weren't overly concerned at our late arrival. We had a tour of the camp, including a walk along a short trail. Saw some pretty things too, including some flowers:

Even saw some 'devils paintbrush' (below)

Camp is situated on the edge of a farming valley.

We were even 'attacked' by some wild life!

This is grouse and it literally came flying out of the bush along the trail. And yes, I did scream as it scared the heck out of me. I was expecting to see fox, snake, maybe even bear, but not large birds. At first I thought it might be a turkey buzzard but then realized it's the wrong shape and size. It was so close to us that we could have reached out and wrung its neck and had it for dinner! We didn't :)

Eventually we had to say good bye to camp and head back home. We did stop at an artistry tourist shop on our way. I found a nice Christmas gift and mum found a few treasures. We had an uneventful ride back home until we were about 45 minutes outside of the city. The ice capped I had picked up earlier had hit my bladder and really really had to go. The potholled/bumpy highway was not helping matters. We found a roadside tourist hut which had a couple of johnnies on the spot. And a little something else.....

 Mum actually spotted the turtle. It was off a ways from the toilets and trying to cross the roadway. We tried to get closer, but he was rather shy....

Every time we got closer to him he would retreat further and further into his shell. He did sit still so we could take a couple of snaps of him. Rather cute I think!

And here I am, home, mum has gone back to her hotel and we've made tentative plans to go grocery shopping tomorrow after church and perhaps see a movie. Either that or go browse for books at Chapters.

I plan to have a quite evening in with my Budster. Perhaps do some more knitting and have an early evening. I hope everyone else had a lovely Saturday!

Cheers,

Maggie

I have many good things to share with you!

Firstly, our mini heat wave has dissipated. Still warm, but not insanely hot. Haven't had to have ice packs in the bed at night since the weekend. Nor do I wake up in the night due to the heat.

Secondly, I met with my boss this week to discuss the progress of my work (Project A). I'd been dreading this meeting for a bit, mainly because every time I thought we'd meet, we'd have to rescheduled. But, we met yesterday and it WENT WELL! He was impressed with what I had put together and that I had obviously not been twiddling my thumbs but had done more than what was required. He will, obviously, have to review my work (all 120 plus pages) to determine if I am indeed on on the right page and not off in la-la land.  Which is not entirely far-fetch as we have a tendency to look at this project from different lenses. I lean more to the Qualitative side of things and he's a strict Quantitative researcher. Phew. In the meantime I have another mini project to do for Project A to tide me over.

Thirdly, approval for the next phase of Project B came through! Wahoo! This will mean an insane amount of work for me, but very different than what I have been doing up to this point. Which has been ridiculous amounts of reading. (side note, if you've wondered why I haven't blogged about books I've read it's because I literally, spend ALL DAY at work reading that when I come home in the evening, I'm too pooped to contemplate reading. Hopefully with this change of pace I'll be back into reading for pleasure)

But the most important bit of news --- my mum arrives tomorrow! Double Wahoo! I haven't seen my mum since Christmas, though we have spoken on the phone at least 3 times a week. Not quite the same. I have a couple of things planned for her while she's in town. Dinner at a posh (I love the word posh. Sounds so haut couture) Italian restaurant. A drive in the country/bush on the weekend -- this will make for an exciting a day in my life entry for June. Maybe mum will even let me drive the car? I haven't been behind the wheel in over a year. Eeek.

What else? A possible meet and greet between boyfriend and mum. Can we say nerve wracking? Granted I do think that it'll be easier to meet my mum than to meet my dad. My dad's a bit old school. He threaten once, when I was in High School, to give a questionnaire to a prospective boy once. He had found it on the Internet and printed it out for me to see. He never did make the boy fill out the form, but the thought was always there. And in general, I think dads are just more intimidating that mums.

I do have a question though....do you think it's appropriate to bring your parents to the office? Whenever my parents have come to visit me and I was working, they've always popped by the office. Usually at lunch time or the end of the day to drive me home. Does this seem like an odd practice? I don't have an issue with it, and I'm not embarrassed by it in the least. And is it any different than when a co-worker has a new baby and they bring the baby into the office for everyone to meet? I've mentioned it to mum as a possibility while she's in town and depending on time and weather we might swing by. If only to drive by and show her.

Oh this is funny....and I think the fellow followers of voluntary simplicity will get a chuckle out of this. I was walking home last night from one my charity meetings. Not late, still dusk-like, when the property manager drives by. He honks the horn and carries on. When I get home he's still there and I go to speak to him about a different matter. I had a movie I wanted to lend him (side bar: unlike my previously landlord who was never around except to collect the rent and even then that was iffy, our present property manager (representative of the new landlord) is always around the building, fixing things up, doing yard work, chit-chatting with us. Extremely approachable guy and quite friendly.).He asks me if I recognized him driving by earlier and I said that I had; I don't think I had waved back as I was lost in my revere admiring the fading beauty of the lilacs. He mentioned that he was hmming and haaing if he should have pulled over and given me a lift (we were about 2 blocks away) and he decided not to. "You're always out walking and you seem like a nature nut that I figured you wouldn't mind."

I think he meant that as a complement. In fact, I am going to take it that way. Because it's true. I am always out walking if possible, if not carpooling or public transit. And as it was only 2 more blocks it wasn't as if it was going to hurt me. And I enjoy walking. I like to be able to get lost in my thoughts, to admire the trees, flowers, people doing yard work. Or I'll count how many houses are for sale (only 1), or apartments for rent (end of may it was 3 in my neighbourhood, rather unusual given the very low vacancy rate for these neck of the woods.) And hey, God gave me two working legs, I might as well put them to good use.

And on that note, I am going to walk on over to the kitchen and get me some grub! I'm starving!!!

Cheers,

Maggie

Have you ever noticed while commuting to work that you usually run into the same people over and over again? Perhaps not in the mega-cities down south but up north you certainly do.

I love to people watch and I find that when you're partaking in public transit you've got a captive audience. There are those who get on at the same spot everyday and off the same spot everyday. Like clockwork. There are those who are half asleep, or those who are warming their hands over their cup of Tim's. And then there are those who are glued to their Ipods off in their own little dream world.

I've noticed lately on my morning commute to work 2 sets of friends. A pair gets on before I do and always sit together. They're both French and speak at the fastest clip possible. One has amazing skin. I'm always taken aback at how blemish free it appears. And she always looks put together, the right accessory with the right pair of earrings. Not overdone and never underdone.

You can tell she's not from Northern Ontario. It's not that we're not fashionable. Some of us are. We just don't have that air of effortlessness. And given the quality of this particular girl's French I suspect she's from Montreal. Explains a lot.

Then one day last week I noticed that these two girls got on the bus at the same stop, but didn't sit next to each other. In fact, they didn't even acknowledge each other's presence. I spent the ride wondering if they had a fight. What was the fight about? Are they frienemies? What's the deal. The next day the Montrealer showed up with her boyfriend (who is an Anglophone which surprised me as I'd never heard her speak a word of English) and thought perhaps they had a falling out over the boy. Then this morning they're back to sitting together. Oh so strange.

The other pair of girls are a bit more difficult to pinpoint. Not Francophone. One is very fashion-conscious though frankly I don't always agree with her wardrobe choices. And both of them carry around those monstrous purses that resemble bowling bags. I usually spend my time wondering what on earth they carry around in those monstrous bags. is it a bag or a purse? Could you even consider it luggage? Would it be accepted as carry-on luggage on a plane or a purse? What on earth compelled them to have such huge bags? One of the purse-girls came today with her bowling bag AND a shopping bag. Good grief! And I think I carry a lot of stuff with me.

Cheers,

Maggie

These last few days have been perfect. I consider my weekend to have started on Thursday night. I was suppose to head out to a strawberry social that evening with some friends but our plans fell through. Not to worry, Kevin came to rescue.... showed up at my door with treats and toys in hand.

I had my first try at Guitar Hero and realized it's definitely more difficult to do than it looks. I think there's a reason why I don't play guitar for real but it was fun to give it a whirl. We had pizza and wine, Sparkling Shiraz, for dinner. Wine is something I rarely drink mid-week which is probably why it felt like the weekend for me. And I rarely listen to loud music either but we were definitely rocking away. At one point we heard a knock on the door and I was sure that it was my neighbours going to complain about the noise, but surprise surprise it was the Pizza delivery boy with dinner. Whoops.

I did make my way into work on Friday, although I admit I really didn't want to. The mercury has been steadily climbing these last few days and it was to reach 30C Friday. It didn't get quite that hot on Friday, but it was warm enough. The construction crews were humming along as well. The mini-earthquakes rumbled throughout the day but eventually 4 p.m. rolled around and the weekend could truly start.

There was a good steady breeze all day on Friday. Early evening I went out for a walk to rent a few movies but stopped to chat with my neighbour and landlord who was around doing yard work. The girl asked me how I was coping with the heat and I said just fine. She and her boyfriend just installed their a/c because it's soo hot. I spend my days at work shivering in an air conditioned building that I really don't want to have to do the same while at home. Instead I keep the blinds closed/downed during the day to keep the sun out. Use a ceiling fan in my living room to circulate air, wear loose fitting cotton clothing inside and rest when it's ridiculously hot. On really hot nights I place ice packs between my sheets to cool the bed. I also eat copious amounts of ice cream when it's too hot to even contemplate anything else. I usually survive the summer.

I do own an air conditioner. And every summer since I've moved to my tiny abode I contemplate installing it those afternoons/evenings when it's insanely hot. And the moment usually passes. I've survived X-many summers, I can survive a few more. I'm not made of sugar and I surely wont melt. If even it feels like it.

Like clockwork, after I had found some movies to rent and had plopped myself down to watch them and eat a bowl of pasta, Kevin showed up. We watched movies, worked our way through Rome and drank copious amounts of Wine and beer. Ok, only 2 glasses for me but that's still copious in my books.

Saturday morning I dragged out my bin of summer clothes and dressed in a sundress. I always feel like a kid in a sundress. Remember those spaghetti strapped sundresses with a layered skirt that little girls wore in the 80s? You know the ones that just look adorable?

Something like this dress. I think I'm about 4 or 5 in this picture. Taken at a summer family reunion. Man I had short hair lol. Anyways, these style of dresses have recently come back into fashion for adults and I bought two last summer. One in brown with yellow flowers and another in white with green ivy and red flowers. I always feel childlike in a sundress. Plop on a hat and some pretty sandals and you're ready to do just about anything.

Well we had a wonderful day just puttering around. Went out for breakfast and did laundry in the morning at the laundry mat. (just washed, hung dried at home on my drying rack) Went window shopping and I walked away with two Christmas gifts. I  guess that's not really window shopping is it?

Went for a drive to the park and attempted to watch a movie on the lap top while there. There are electrical outlets at the park but the glare from the sun hitting the laptop was a bit too much. So we figured this was more an evening activity, something to store away for future reference when we want something different to do.

Instead we headed home and watched it there. Passed the afternoon away watching movies, a few more episodes of Rome while drinking whatever remaining alcohol I had in my fridge since new years.  4 bottles of beer and 5 coolers, as well as the bottle of wine. Even managed to get some knitting in and a little siesta.

Around 6ish Kevin suggested we headed out for a walk. Which we did, I didn't even bother to take my hat or purse with me. Felt rather naked I admit without those two accessories. But the breeze was nice and we had a lovely stroll through the old neighbourhoods and ended up at this hmm...how do I describe it? Half bistro/half outdoor cafe/part watering hole/part pubbish like. Ate wonderful homemade artichoke pizza and cucumber & sprout sandwiches on rye bread in the little cafe garden.

Wandered back home and had a relaxing evening. Can't really remember what we watched. But I think we saw another movie or maybe an episode of Rome. Played with the Budster, who has been rather lethargic given the heat.

Despite a late evening, which ended with a moonlit midnight stroll :), I was up around 7 am. Puttered around folding clean laundry, doing the dishes, tidying the living room and watching Coronation Street.

Went to Church later on and witnessed an amazing service, complete with Smudging with the four traditional medicines: Tobacco, Sage, Cedar and Sweetgrass, calling of the Ancestors, and Drumming. Even heard a Grandmother Moon song. Very powerful and beautiful service.

And then at the other end of the spectrum we had this amazing amazing rendition of Just as I Am, sung in a mixture of Cree and English during Communion. Talk about haunting! You had to be there to witness it. Followed by a rendition of Lord Nelson's Mass by Hayden.

After the service we had a special luncheon for our guest preacher. The Anglican National Indigenous Bishop Mark MacDonald who spoke about his ministry.

All in all a near perfect weekend.

Cheers,

Maggie

Those few words sum up the last few days.

You see, Canada really only has two seasons: winter and construction. The snow HAS FINALLY stopped falling. The Lilacs are blooming! It smells heavenly. Actually saw a vase of them in an office today. And of course it's construction time.

I shouldn't complain too much. Construction is good. It's a sign of progress and apparently Northern Ontario is 'booming' (whatever that means). But the smells and the noise that accompany it!

Last week it was if a mini-earthquake was ripping through our office. It went on for about 30 minutes. Stopped for 15 and then started all up again. I was seriously waiting for the paintings to fall off the walls and onto my desk.  And then I thought the backhoe was going to come careening through the office window. It was a scene right out of The Terminator: Rise of the Machines! Or worse, pierce the gas line and BOOM .... there goes the building.

Of course, it did not. But now they've moved on to painting. And tarring the roof. Between those nauseating smells and the fact the majority of my office has got some sort of bizarre stomach virus -- we're all clutching our tums and Pepto-Bismol as if our lives depend on it -- I haven't really been up to blogging lately. I actually stayed home one day this week with a low grade fever and wonky stomach. The worst part is I'm ravenous as a horse but every time I eat I get very icky. Grrr! Luckily I can handle Ginger Ale in very small sips. And I haven't had the dry heaves today for the first time in days. TMI, eh?

Menh. I don't care.

On the bright side.... mum is coming to visit later this month! Wahoo!!!!! Hopefully I'll be feeling better when she comes to town. We're taking her out to dinner at this fabulous Italian restaurant. Yum yum!

Ciao!

Maggie

I recently went away to a Church retreat in beautiful Muskoka. We lucked out and had amazing weather. Warm enough to wear sandals, and t-shirts! Some wore shorts but I felt it wasn't that warm, so summer pants it was instead. Below are some of the pictures I took while on retreat. For those who read via RSS Feed, you might want to pop on by to view pictures. I have no clue how the RSS Feeder works, or if you'll be able to view all the images.

< -- The view from our cabin that we stayed in. Gorgeous indeed! There is a little beach at the retreat location but I chose not to go swimming in the lake, still too cool for that!

  ----> This is a imagine of the cabin that we stayed it. It was actually 4 small cabins linked together. Sort of like mini condos. Each cabin in this set had a huge living room, large bathroom and gigantic bedroom with 3 beds. Lots of room to stretch and relax.

These two above images are of the cabin. You don't need to see the washroom. What the living room image doesn't show you is that to the left of the desk is a large flat screen TV. and behind the sofas is another long table, small bar fridge and free standing sink. So that you can get ready in the morning even if someone is in the washroom.

The last set of images (below) are taken from the main house. I love Muskoka chairs. They're very relaxing. And the view is breathtaking.

 Enjoy!

Maggie

This is wacky weather. I woke up to snow this morning. None that I could see on the ground, but apparently it was cool enough for snow to form this morning. It changed to rain and it's been drizzly all day.

On the bright side we do have lovely green grass. And yesterday I saw dandelions in bloom. Have yet to see any lilacs in bloom; granted, it's been too cool for them. Perhaps in June they'll open up?

Did anyone watch the season finale of Bones this week? Were you as dumbfounded as I was? 2 days later and I'm still in awe that that was the way the writers decided to play it out. I didn't see that twist at all. But as a co-worker pointed out, none of us saw Adam Beach's character on Law & Order:SVU get written off either. That was a real shocker.

I think I will go russle up some grub and tackle my laundry.

Cheers,

Maggie

I've been thinking lately about the concept of enabling.  In particular the notion that we often enable those around us.  Or are enabled by those around us.

One of the blogs I read on a fairly regular basis, but don't often comment on, is Like Merchant Ships. Meredith, the blogger, wrote last week of an incident within her family.

To recap: her younger late-20s sister got into a car accident. Her mother is going through the process of finding a new car to buy for her, one that she, the mother, can afford the insurance for. Mom is worried that the sister won't be able to get to work without a vehicle and possibly loose her job.

Meredith points out that her sister lives less than 2.5 miles from work. Easily walkable. She's even lent her a bike. Apparently this isn't the first time little sis has had a car accident.

Now I'm not retelling this story because I find it weird, or intriguing or wrong. Or even bad. But rather I find it reflective. How many times in our lives when we have hit a brick wall have we run to mum and dad? I know I have. And my parents have probably 'enabled' me on several occasions.

When I was in university, 2nd year, I was having a really rough time. A week's worth of migraines, driving lessons (ugh, how horrible!) and assignments piling up. I reached my breaking point during a driving lesson. I actually started to cry in front of the instructor. I was so frustrated. I think the lesson was parallel parking. Heck I can't remember what it was about. But what I do remember is just crying uncontrollably and wanting my mum. No, I didn't actually tell the instructor this, I did have some dignity! He drove me home and I collapsed into bed. The next morning I called my parents.

They drove up the same day. 12 plus hours on the road. They stayed for the weekend. Did my laundry, bought me groceries. Even drove me to school to drop off an assignment for me. A statistics assignment if I am not mistaken -- now that's enough to drive anyone round the bend!

Granted my parents are retired and they joked that they had nothing better to do that weekend. Plus the weather was good for a drive. However, that being said, my mum was very clear to point out that we kids get one shot. Only one chance while away at school to have them drop everything and come and fix things.

Now before you think my parents are uncaring, I'm sure if it was a 'major event, i.e. a serious illness or horrible accident, they would make an exception. But the point was that we got one freebie for when we had a series of little things all piling up into one giant pile of poo which just seems insurmountable. Then we could call mum and dad and they would come and help out.

And there are have been a couple of other times, for instance when I was flat broke  and not working and wanted to come home for the holidays that my dad paid for my bus ticket home. And my mum was a huge help, acting as a sounding board when I was writing my thesis and had no clue what I was doing.

Back to Meredith.

Many of her commenters admitted to having that one relative who is always bailed out when the going gets tough. One even thought it was a generational thing. How the Y generation desires instant gratification, or will call it quits when things get too rough.

I've even heard of horror stories of parents of university aged children threatening professors to change their child's grade on a paper. Ok, if your kid is flunking out of university than perhaps they need to change their study habits, change majors, maybe even schools. I think I would be horrified if my parents did that. Not to mention supremely embarrassed.

Even employers are noticing this about the younger generation, they want that corner office and X-number weeks vacation and Christmas bonus within 6 months of working, not realizing that their parents spent years working their way up the corporate ladder to reach that. Or even to be near that and perhaps not even reaching. And then these Gen-Y employees are disappointed when they don't get that. Or worse when it's not even offered. The real world doesn't owe you anything. You need to earn  that privilege.

And you need to learn to respect your belongings. Watch your finances wisely and not spend recklessly with credit. I suppose it doesn't help that college/university students are bombarded with credit card offers when they go off to school. I resisted the first two years of university before I got one. And when I did people were surprised that I didn't ask for the highest limit. Or worst, that I paid the balance off in full each month. Needless to say that didn't last long. whoops, But, 2 more payments and it's paid off! Wahoo!

But who is really responsible? The credit card companies for handing out the credit nilly willy? The students for spending the credit without realizing the consequences? Or the parents for not teaching their children how to use credit wisely. Or worse yet -- parents who bail out their children's credit problems.

Now I know that I am generalizing here. Not everyone behaves in this manner. Though some days it certainly does appear that way. It certainly has given me plenty to think about. Thank you Meredith.

Cheers,

Maggie

As usual, I have a lot on my mind. Thoughts about books I've read recently, or books I want to read. Musings about movies I've seen or new releases this summer -- Indiana Jones here I come! I'm happy that the warmer weather is finally here, even if with it comes rain. For with the rain comes green grass and flowers. I am happy for the blueness of the sky I see overhead when I walk to Church. I love the sunlight streaming through the stain glass windows. I even like how we Anglicans sing out of key and aren't even aware we do it.

But lately, I've been thinking about a comment I received early this week. On Wednesday I participated in Jenny's A Day in My Life Series, where we record the movements of our days of the 14th of every month for a year. Trish commented that she finds my life so fascinating as it's so different than hers.

It made me laugh. I was quite honest when I said that my life is rather ordinary. I'm just a girl who is eking out an existence just as everyone else I know. I mentioned this comment with my small group later in the week and they wanted to know what was so fascinating with my life lol.

I'm hardly anything out of the ordinary. I get up in the morning, ignore my household chores and go off to work. I enjoy public transit as it affords me with the time to daydream while on the way to work. I've never been able to manage the concept of driving and getting lost in ones thoughts. I've also found driving too draining, too consuming with ensuring I don't do something stupid, or illegal. After work I partake in community activities. As an INFJ we do like to always be on the look out for learning opportunities. On the weekends I spend time with my boyfriend. I read, sometimes watch movies. Ignore my housework 'til the point it has consumed my apartment and then tackle it. Sunday mornings find me at Church. And then I repeat the whole cycle over for a week.

But I suppose there is something rather intriguing about examining the ordinary. There is indeed hidden meanings and possibly even truths in our everyday movements and existence. That is, after all, the purpose of institutional ethnography. Or even semiotics for that matter. In case you haven't figured it out -- I'm a Sociologist. Or at least I like to think I am. Perhaps I require a PHd before I can formally call myself that?

I also suspect that this examination of the ordinary is one of the features to blogging. We all have our favourite blogs. There are some that I read because they are well written. They challenge me. Stimulate me intellectually. They make me think outside of the box. Others I read because the 'art' work, the photographs they include fascinate me. They have a wonderful eye for colour, shadows, lines, and all those other aspects to artwork I'll never truly grasp.

Still others I read because of the creations they produce, be it dolls, clothing, quilts, paintings or earrings are made with love. These bloggers are passionate about what they create.

And yet still there are a few others I read because I've known the authors since kindergarten. Heck, pre-school. And some since they've been in diapers.

Sounds all rather voyeuristic, doesn't it? To be able to glimpse into strangers and family members lives without their knowing it. And yet, while else would we expose our lives for the entire world to see?

I often chat with my mum about some of the blogs I've read. In particular blogs whose author's world view is the complete opposite of mine. I think I read them to remind myself of my own beliefs, to be able to centre myself in my world. Anyways, these blogs I tell my mum about, they often provide very interesting fodder for our weekly chats. Granted I would never admit to my mum I blog myself. And my relatives who do read this (and there are a couple!) are aware not to mention it to her. I think she would be worried for me. As any parent would.

But I digress....I know that I started blogging for the chance to get back into writing. I like to think of myself as a writer. I do spend a fair bit of my time at work writing. And by blogging I am writing to a faceless audience. And quite frankly that seems less daunting than to write something for an open mic session. Or even for a writer craft circle. Internet criticism is easier to handle than face to face criticism.

I also find writing to be very cathartic.  Soothing even. Writing affords me the opportunity to line up my thoughts into a coherent manner. Ok, semi-coherent. As with dialogue, I tend to jump around with my thoughts. Apparently people find it distracting, perhaps even dizzying. Yet people keep coming back to check out this blog...there must be some appeal to it lol

It's late. I need to eat dinner. Tomorrow is a holiday so no work for me! Well, I have laundry to do tomorrow. And some knitting too.

Cheers!

Maggie

Here it is, the 14th again. And for those in the know, are aware that Jenny hosts a 'day in the life' for her fellow bloggers. We write about our daily lives, revealing as much or as little as we desire.

Today has been a grey Spring day. It's currently supper time  (6 p.m.) as I type this out and I'm in my pink pjs, listening to the birds outside my window and contemplating what I want for dinner -- toast and cereal perhaps?

I overslept this morning. Not too much, but enough to feel a bit rushed. I've had a bad migraine since late Saturday and it came back last night before bed. Grr. It was grey when I woke up this morning too. But warmer than most days, so I threw caution to the wind, wore a skirt and frilly top, my summer sandals and a handmade ankle bracelet to complete the look.

While having breakfast (toast and green tea) I watched a bit of a Bones episode (side note: this past weekend Kevin and I went shopping and I picked up Season 1 of Bones on DVD, Season 4 of Stargate and a new sewing machine). I packed my work bag -- the shopping tote from New Zealand which is just gorgeous. Walked out the door, only to come back inside to grab my brolly. A bit windy and rainy and I really didn't want to get soaked on the way to work.

The bus arrived at the usual time and I boarded. Listened to Sarah Brightman on the morning commute whilst reading a magazine on Scotland. Contemplated what my game plan of the day would be. The boss is back from a conference and I wanted to make sure I printed out the report I was working on earlier this week for him to review if need be. I tried to print it out yesterday but the program froze on me. Something about not liking 120 page plus reports. Go figure.

It was a relaxed morning. I wrote out a list of things that need to get done -- all non-work related. I want to get a hair cut, thinking if I loose a few pounds of hair that might help with the migraines. Will help with my sanity as I get annoyed with unruly, scraggly hair. Only two more VISA payments to make and then that's paid off (woot!) so then I'll figure out a plan to pay off my smallest of student loans.

It's the long weekend coming up and I want to give my new sewing machine a spin. Which requires shopping for thread and fabric. I already know the project: pyjama bottoms for my one sibling who has a birthday this summer. If I plan to do work on this, this weekend, I will also need to return the sewing machine I borrowed from my instructor. Which means I need to find the manual that came with it.

Kevin and I have discussed purchasing (well me purchasing) a new flat screen monitor for my computer. It would take up less room on my desk and leave me with more room to scatter papers about. Versus scattering them on the floor which I sorta currently do now.

Then I thought about a new storage system for CDs and DVDs, I'm running out of room with my current bookshelf system.

Then I realized I was at work and should really concentrate on my work projects and not my household projects. :)

We have a student on placement for the summer with us. I gave him a run through on a few things, showing him the ropes and suggesting it would be beneficial for him if he work with this one database program we use. It would give him a practical skill which he can say he learned this summer. Also gave him a few articles on the usefulness of Qualitative Research -- Oh the debate of Quantitative versus Qualitative. Quantitative may give you the hard facts and numbers but it won't explain why people do what they do.

Snack time was around 10ish. I had half a chocolate bar and made some hot tea. For the majority of the day every time I looked out the window it felt like nighttime, grey skies and at one point, pounding rain. Then I reminded myself that all this rain is responsible for the green grass and eventually, for pretty spring flowers. Even lilac bushes.

I had some extra time before lunch to dive into my extra-curricular (E.C.) project you could say. I'm actually really excited about this project as it's something that we are spear heading on our own and I don't have anyone to answer to. Well except for the co-worker that I'm working with on this project. I have a stack of reading to situate myself before we can actually get started so I tackled that. It'll be slow going as I don't have any real dedicated time throughout the week to work on it. Just whenever I can snag an hour here or there.

Lunch was very exciting. We managed to get two games of Scrabble in. Didn't have any real spectacular plays and I think I lost the first game. But we don't really play to keep score, more just to pass the lunch hour. And to get our minds off of work. I had half a pastrami sandwich and pasta salad with green tea. Also found some wafer cookies at my desk as dessert.

The afternoon actually passed by relatively quickly. I divided my time between Project B and my E.C. project. And only spent a few moments reading the NY Times. I've brought in Pachbel's Cannon to listen to at work, between that and the Jesse Cook it was perfect mellow music to fit the dreary weather outside.

The rest of the afternoon was spent discussion the next stages of Project B. We have tons of work to do on it still. I did manage to come up with one great idea to tackle a problem that had been road-blocking us. Hopefully it'll be a good solution to the problem and we can get on it as soon as possible. As usual we had some interesting discussions -- none of which I can repeat -- and most of which would probably bore you to tears as you don't know what the heck I'm talking about.

I can mention that at one point we got distracted talking about last night's episode of Law & Order:SVU and how it's Adam Beach's final episode. Boo! That's totally not cool in the least! But I did learn that Beach is Canadian and his wife is a civil servant in Ottawa. You learn something new every day. I also know that this summer we'll be really busy with Project B. But that's ok. I'm up for the challenge.

By 5 p.m. I was home and in my jammies watching the last 1.5 episodes of Season 1 of Bones. I know that I should tackle the pile of dirty dishes in the kitchen, or even the pile of laundry in my bedroom. Or maybe even make the bed. But frankly, I don't want to. I enjoyed my hour or so cuddle on the couch with the Budster. I'll probably call my parents this evening, watch some TV (Criminal Minds and CSI!). I might watch some Stargate. Or I might read. I haven't really decided what exactly I'll do.

I like the fact that today was just a laid back easy day. Don't get my wrong, I got lots accomplished at work -- and I'll have lots to do tomorrow. But it wasn't an overly stressful day. No computer crashes. No lost work. Best part -- no migraine!

Cheers,

Maggie

Some days I swear all I do is read. And to think I get paid to do this :) Great job for sure. Well in my perusals I stumbled across this article in The New York Times, dated May 5th, 2008. The Lost Supermarket: A Breed in Need of Replenishment

Now I've never been to NYC and I don't think I want to, but I suspect that the problem they are discussing here: the lost of the local grocery store in inner city neighbourhoods, is one that can be told clear across the nation, and even across boarders. I don't even recall seeing a grocery store when I was in downtown Toronto last week. Granted I wasn't on the lookout for one. I did see lots of drug stores and banks just as they discuss is happening in New York City!

But I have heard and read stories of when big box stores (in particular Wal-Mart) come to town they set up shop, run all the other businesses out of town, then they too move onto the next town to build an even larger store. Some even claim that Wal-Mart is the death of a small town. I know I usually try and avoid Wal-Mart, it's too crowded I find and leaves me feeling rather empty inside. Eerie too.

If you get a chance, read the comments from the readers. There are some interesting insights there. I did see a Whole Foods store while in Toronto, in the Yorkville region I believe. Didn't go into it, but saw it. I have heard of people raving about how great it is, but I think that's the only one in Canada. I could be mistaken.

The article definitely got me thinking about how happy I am to have a neighbourhood grocery store and to have it within walking distance! There are actually 2, but the one I frequent is just easier to get to -- sidewalks and all that good stuff for pedestrians.

Cheers,
Maggie

It was four years ago this month that I handed in my undergraduate thesis. My how the time has flown by. I slaved away on that paper for nearly a year, and completely unsure of what the heck I was doing. Now most undergraduates who endeavour to write a thesis feel this way. To this day I don't know what possessed me to write one -- it was optional for the program I was in. I could have take an extra course and that would have suffice. But no...I wanted to write a thesis.

There was a new professor to our university my last year of school. They were a genius at Criminology in the Canadian context and I was thrilled that they were going to be at my school -- and teaching in my program! I was certain that this person would take me under their wing and guide me on that road that is a thesis.

That sort of happened. I think. At least I thought they were my advisor. I remember having a few excited visits at the beginning of the school year and making introductions. I do recall being sent on my way with a reading list a mile long and plans to check in again.

Then things are a bit blurry. We had a class so to speak. A time to get together once a week, all 4 of us brave souls working away on a thesis. I continued to read as much literature as I could on my subject matter: Prostitution. Yeah, just a wee bit broad there! That should have been my first clue. But not one who likes confrontation I continued to plod away.

I wrote detailed notes. I visualized how I wanted my paper to evolve. Applications to graduate school had to be sent off, after much agonizing. Then Christmas came and went and with it the dreaded exams.

I remember getting an email in February. Apparently I was now advisor-less. It was too late at this point to drop the course as I would be 3 credits short and not able to graduate with my class. I remember being a bit numb too. I think I might have cried. Eventually I took my head out of the sand and spoke to someone about this. They hummed and ahhed. I continued to write.

I distinctly remember the day we were to defend our thesis. All four of us clamoured together in a room, everyone's advisors present. Except for mine. When someone from the department asked me who my advisor was I looked them in the eye and responded "That's a good question. I honestly don't know."

I handed in my thesis to the department. Classy, eh? They took pity on me. Gave me a month to make corrections and resubmit my paper.  The end result wasn't bad for only having 2 real revisions and me not having a single clue/idea of what the heck I was doing.

That month of revisions was hard. I didn't get into graduate school, but I had already given notice to my landlord. I also had no job. No, that's not true, no permanent job. Or money. And yet somehow I found a place to live, packed my things, moved into a new place and revised my thesis.

I passed the course and was able to graduate with my class. I packed my thesis and all its horrible reminders into a box and hid it away.

Until this past year. I dug it out. Tidied it up and decided to place the one and only copy on the bookshelf.

I took it off the shelf this morning. My coworkers had been asking to see a copy of it. Why I have no clue. It's not exactly my best work. I suspect I feel that way because it was -- an unpleasant experience -- shall we say. Not a time in my life I care to dwell on. But I got to thinking. It's been 4 years, surely I can read it now and gain a new perspective on it.

For an amateur attempt and little guidance -- when I keep that in condition in mind -- it's not bad. It's got room for improvement. Ok...room for a lot of improvement! But it's not bad. It is in English, and part of the time it's even readable.

I've also decided to type it up as I don't even have an electronic copy anymore. I lost that when Sophia I died. I made a photocopy today and left one at the office for my coworkers to read. Reminding them to please keep in mind a) I had no advisor and b) I had no clue what I was doing.

I'm not upset/angry with how things played out my final year of university. I actually find it rather funny to be honest. It'll be a good story to tell my kids when they go off to university. Instead of the usual don't leave your drink unattended at a bar I'll tell them to be certain, completely 100% certain, that they have an advisor their 4th year should