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Archived Ailsa At Home - June 2004

More Archived Updates

June 21st - June 17th, 2004 (I know, it's backwards...!)

Monday, June 21st, 2004. Hi, Honey! How you been keepin'? Did you get through Father's Day -- I mean, did you enjoy it? Those Holidays that are specific to one person in the house who may or may not deserve a big HooHaw for how they handle the role, but Hallmark has made it a big fancy day that you have to observe -- it's weird... but we had a nice big Family Dinner, and that was tasty, at the very least. I forgot an entire Dish of Veggies and all the Rolls, but it was still a ton of food, and everything was nice. As far as I could tell, Dwight seemed to enjoy his day... and I just spent the day cleaning and cooking -- my favorite two things to do...(yes, my tongue is stuck firmly in my cheek!)

One thing I started doing for these Dinner Parties that has made my life a whole lot easier (no, that's not true -- it's has made dinner parties somewhat easier... there -- that's closer to the actual truth...!) is to set up a separate Table (one of those Folding Tables you can store in the Garage) where all the Food for the Dinner can be served. Especially when you have a whole pile of people at the Table, it doesn't clutter the table up with all that food. And people can go ahead and serve themselves, 'Buffet Style' instead of having to ask for everything to be passed -- that's always a bother to have to pass some enormous platter of meat from one end of the table to the other -- and if you're lucky enough to have an 'Uncle Frank' who insists that he "Don't wanna bother nobody", so he leans over the whole table to grab the item he wants (yuuuck!), then drags himself through a few other dishes on his way back into his seat... hmmmmm. Yes, the 'Buffet Table' works wonders! And then you can just pack it up and put it back in the garage when you're all done.

Finally, Summer is officially here -- Thank God for that! And, we have some sun! Until Wednesday, when it'll turn cold and rainy, again... and guess who finnaly arrived? That's right, our Bobcat Guy! WooHoo! It's funny how excited you get when any specific worker guy (or gal!) shows up! You feel like it's your lucky day... we drove home from the Okotoks Parade that Cara was in on the Weekend (great parade, by the way, and it lasted well over an hour, it was so big -- who knew??), and the cars were all parked on the road and off the Driveway -- a great sign when you're desperate to get your Driveway Paved! All the Large Gravel had been scraped off the Driveway and placed on either side of the house.

There was so much gravel that Dwight had some of it moved under the Hot Tub Deck and some was used as the base for his special 'Gravel Garden'... we gave him a hard time about that, but Dwight doesn't see that the idea of a gravel garden is slighly 'off', so he didn't laugh at all... I think he lost some of his sense of humour when he lost all that weight! Ah, well -- what are you gonna do? I know one solution, and that happens to remind me of a little conversation we had last night -- what would it be like to Date, again, and would we even bother... I think Dwight would have no difficulty finding 'a new chick'...provided he didn't arrive at the date with his black socks hiked up to his knees along with his white sneakers -- every girl's Dream Date! ha,ha,ha,ha! But here's the funny thing -- Ifind that when we are with other poeple at a party, or something, it almost always crosses my mind, "Oh My God -- what if I were on a Blind Date with this loser?" Yeah, thanks to Roger Lodge on one of our favorite Shows, Blind Date -- I don't remember Dating being that bad, but maybe I've just cast those memories away! ha,ha,ha!

Tip of the Day: You can make good use of the Space under a Deck by putting a good solid amount of Gravel under the deck, to cover the entire area. If you just leave it with the dirt, it'll be all muddy and gross, and you won't be able to do anything with it. This is particularly useful if you have a fairly high Deck, and can walk under it -- both of our Decks are very high off the ground, and because the Hot Tub is set into the Deck off the Sunroom, Dwight needs to be able to access the Controls, so having gravel under there makes it a whole lot neater, so the 'swear factor' outta go down a fair bit! ha,ha!

Okay, let me go see if I can get the computer to accept my new pictures -- be right back!

Here are the two Decks -- the first shot is the Sunroom Deck through Aidan's Bedroom Window -- the Sunroom juts out from the house over on that side... then the Deck through the Sunroom -- pretty, eh?

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And then that's the Back Deck off the Dining Room -- you can see how high off the ground they are, so why not use that extra space for storage? At the very least, Aidan keeps his tiny lawn mower and assorted Trucks under there -- keeps them off the lawn!

Thank you for coming in for a little visit! I'll see you again, tomorrow!

Later, Baby! Ailsa!!

Well, I just like this link -- funny, huh?!

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It be The Weekend! June 19th & 20th, 2004. What's happenin', Baaaby?? I hope you'll have some time to chilax a bit this weekend! And I hope that for myself, too... 'The Guys' are coming out to the house, today, to get some work done outside, and I hope to God the Bobcat Guy shows up so we can get that damn Driveway done -- the gravel still hasn't been scraped off, yet, in preparation for the Rolling Stage of getting ready to Pave the Driveway ... and we have 4 full days of sunshine in the weather forecast, so we can't waste those sitting around, waiting...

Dwight's home, this morning -- that's a good thing for some wives, but I can't stand it because he hates when I work on the computer (and here I have an enormous Website... but whatevah...!), and I'm just in the middle of writing this! Ah, well. What do other women do when their husband wants their undivided attention until some shiny baubble distracts them, again?? (Something shiny like a Bobcat, I'm hoping...! ha,ha!) I've already given him his breakfast -- what more does he want?? ha,ha! Hey, you know how I was saying I should write a bit about Marriage, and include it in the Site? Actually, I have written some long thing, and it must be around here somewhere, but I haven't come across it (my method of looking for things is when I get a minute, I'll spin my Office Chair around, and if the item I'm looking for happens to magically appear in front of my face, Voila! I've found it! And if not, I have no clue where it is, and maybe I'll find it when I move...!)

The Marriage thing is endlessly intriguing for me, though, perhaps because I struggle with it so... but here's something I've learned in this marriage (this is my second marriage, and one of my favorite jokes is "Third Time's the Charm!". I'm lovely like that! ha,ha,ha! Anyhooo, the trick to staying married any length of time is to not talk too much outside of your marriage about what's really happening in it -- especially to a close friend. What happens is that you vent your aggravation, your friend listens to the whole thing, then you look at your spouse at dinner and forget all about whatever annoyink thing happened between you (because you have a whole life built up between the two of you and who ever else you've brought into the mix -- children, not other adults, hopefully! har, har!). The next time you vent to your friend, they say, "Hey, haven't you already told me this story 129 times? Last week??" They don't have the opportunity to see the way things have either been resolved or forgotten, so then they want to hold you accountable for what you've said, and that can be difficult, especially if you're busy trying NOT to be accountable! ha,ha!

Almost everyne in long-term marriages that I know exists on this "Let's pretend everything is great" Level, and it seems to work. My problem is that I'm crappy at operating like that -- I always want to resolve issues as they arise, not pretend they don't exist at all -- I just can't do that. Dwight would be thrilled, I'm sure, if I could develop that wonderful skill. I said to him the other night, "Hey, why don't we forget everything that has happened up until now, and pretend like we don't know one another, and try Dating, again?" Dwight said, "What do you mean?", because he's got that whole denial thing down to a fine art! ha,ha! And then I remembered that we used to have a running joke that whenever we had a bad dinner out, or went somewhere and it ended badly, I would say to Dwight, "Ah, well. Lucky it's not our First Date!" Because he wouldn't have been invited back! Then we would laugh and forget about it. And that worked for quite a while.

I'm asked a lot (I wonder why??) whether building this house was hard on our Relationship... that's a good question, because many couples do not survive it through a Build or a Renovation, even a tiny one. It's surprising how much you can hate someone because of their love of, say, Purple... ha,ha! There are so many decisions to make, and you have to work very closely together and come up with a speedy agreement -- unlike the rest of your marriage where you can pretty much wile away the years trying to make up your mind on any particular thing... And many's a house that was never finished, or sold before Completion, because the couple couldn't stand each other anymore. It happens. For us, I think the Build has been more of a glue between us, because neither of us wanted to lose any money, so at least we have that in common! Hey, you gotta have something, right?? ha,ha!

The easiest way to make it intact from the start of a Renovation or Building Project is to be very clear from the beginning WHY you're doing it. Is it to make money on the property? Fine, go with that, as long as you're both on track with that. And if it's to make you're home 'perfect' for the next 50 years, good luck with that... the problem with trying to make everything perfect for the next 50 years (because there's no plan to ever, evah move..."Til Death do us Part" is mostly for your relationship with the house! ha,ha!) is that you and your spouse might not have exactly the same taste, and if he wants everything Rose Pink with some off shades of lavender (well, now I think you have a whole other issue, but I'll let you pretend that's not happening, too, and it'll probably all work itself out...! ha,ha!), and you were thinking Navy Blue, you're in for a rocky road -- which, of course, reminds me of ice cream, which reminds me of chocolate...

Oh, and I went into Costco, yesterday, to load up on all sorts of things we probably don't need but they looked really appealing while I was there (Hankies and Toilet Paper in the 100 roll package! ha,ha! Enough for a week, or so...)... and I looked right at the Crunchie Bars, which have been my 'chocolate of choice' since I bought a case of them the last time I was at Costco... but I decided that maybe I should try weaning myself off of them, so I bought a case of the new S'mores, instead. Ugh. What a mistake. I must stop trying things by the caseload... what was I thinking? I'm an advertizer's dream, because I saw it on TV, and they looked deeelicious, and I love a campfire, and have made many, many s'mores over the years... anyway, they don't taste like that -- not at all. I had a couple of bites and wrapped it up to put in the cupboard. As a chocaholic, that's like a Crack Addict putting some rocks aside, "Maybe for later... I'll see how desperate I am...". I have to assume that's what a Crackhead would say, since I don't actually know any.... Hey, remember the Crackhead from The PJ's? (Eddie Murphy's Animated Show that was absolutely hilarious a few years back...) He was my favorite Character -- I used to love when he would invite everyone back to 'his mattress' for a party! Whatevah -- that appealed to my sense of humor! ha,ha!

Tip of the Day: Before you start on any Building Project, be very, very clear with your spouse or insignificant other (yuff, yuff! And I guess that could still be the same person! ha,ha!) what the job will be, WHY you're doing it, and how you'll manage conflict. Even if you agree to disagree, settle on anything that is neutral (for resale if you don't make it -- come on, now -- we have to be practical...!) in order to get the job done. It's all about Completion, ain't it?? And keep your 'Eye on the Prize' (the completed job) the whole way through. And if you're looking for a little 'couple entertainment (couples arguing), head on down to any Home Improvement Center and listen in on a few conversations... it's like watching TV, only live!

I think I'll have to get the pictures later, since Dwight is still waiting for me to turn off the computer -- really, you'd think he'd go find something else to do... (which is what Bill Clinton did, no?? ha,ha!). I'll post them as soon as I can!

So, in honor of Father's Day, here's the Dad in our house -- Dwight! There he is Grouting the Sunroom Floor (I'm on the other side wiping up the grout and making perfect lines, since that's my job...), then there's Aidan and Dwight out in the Garden to the South of the House -- pretty, eh? I love that picture!

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And then ther's Dwight in the Lower Level putting in the In-Floor Heating, before the cement is poured in the Basement Floor. Cool, huh? And that's one of the jobs that Dwight does that allowed us the opportunity to build this house! (And my job in this bit was to go around and trim off all the little 'ties' that hold the red tubing down to the rebar -- about a thousand or so of them! I'm all about the glamour! ha,ha!)

Thanks for swingin' by for a little visit! I love to have lots of visitors! And I have a whole case of S'mores, if you'd like to try a couple....! ha,ha,ha! Me, I'm gonna go have a slice of the Lemon Cheesecake I got at Costco, yesterday -- yum! I'd give you a wee slice of that, too! And some Gin, which is the Traditional Drink to go with Lemon Cheesecake, I think -- I'm not completely sure about that, but go ahead and put them together until there's an intervention to make you stop... that'll be a good plan! ha,ha,ha!

You can enter the Contest for your own Mother, if you like -- or your Girlfriend or Wife (or Both -- I don't know -- is Billy Clinton reading this?? Because he CAN?? ha,ha,ha!

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Happy Father's Day to all the Great Dads Out There!!

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Friday, June 18th, 2004. Hey, HEY, Hey! You know what I just realized? I was putting the Daily Updates after each other, instead of starting at the Top of the Page every day -- now what was I thinking?? So if you're looking for yesterday's Update, just scroll down a wee bit. And I have to try to remember to start a whole new page every Week, I guess, so I won't have the bother of having to Archive a zillion pages later, when I realize that the Page is soooo long you can't possibly get to the bottom... ah, well... live and learn, right? I can't wait for the day when I learn things the very first time, as opposed to now when I have to make the same mistakes over and over again before it dawns on me "Oh, why I've been down this path before, and wasn't there a Wicked Witch at the end and her house wasn't really made out of candy??" I'm suckered into that one every time! ha,ha,ha,ha!

They have this brand new thing from Google Adsense that I use on My Site (those are the Ads at the Top of the Page...) and I am very excited about it, because hopefully it will help my site make more money (which is essential...) and I don't have to do the massive amount of work I thought I might have to do to accomplish this little task (I use 'little' facetiously, of course...) -- anyhooo, Google is Providing an Automatic Site Search and added to that is a World Web Search ... how great is that?? Now I don't have to go all through the Site and try to figure out every page any particular page or idea is on -- man, that would easily have taken me 6 months to a year to do, so I'm thrilled with new Service! It's funny what you get excited about as your life takes all these twists and turns to places you never even knew existed before! Makes life very, very interesting, that's for sure!

So now I need to figure out how my Site Readers can make me their Home Page, so they can all use me for their Search Engine... drop me a line if you know that sort of thing... I know you can mark a Page by Right Clicking and going to Add To Favorites, but I think there's some other way to add it even easier, I just don't know what that is... I'm still a little 'Newbie'! ha,ha!

Well, I just ate my very last Crunchie Bar from the Giant Case of Chocolate Bars I bought at Costco, so you know what that means -- that's right -- another Trip to Costco! I haven't been for about 6 weeks, I guess -- I should measure time by the 'Caseload' -- Case of Chocolate, that is! ha,ha! (I'm giddy at the thought of going to Costco! ha,ha!)

Cara's in her Big Parade Float, tomorrow -- we live close to a relatively small town, Okotoks, and really there's just the one Main Road, conviently called 'Main Street'. Now, this is not a very long road, and the Parade starts at 11:00 am, so I'm guessing it'll be over about 11:03, or if they all turn around and come back down the street, 11:07... that's just my own estimation, but I have been wrong a number of times per day for many, many years now, so I could be wrong on that, too! aha, ha!!

It's sooo much fun being in a Parade -- I used to belong to The Trenton Citizen's Marching Band (my main instrument is the Flute), and we went all over Southern Ontario, Canada to March in all these Small Town Parades -- and a couple of times in Toronto (not a small town anymore! ha,ha!)... I used to really love my Uniform, and it was a lot of fun to see the kids at the sides of the streets -- adults really get into a Parade, too, it's one big giant fun-fest! And a great experience for kids. Cara is in it to promote the Play her school is putting on this summer -- The Bard at the Big Rock (Dwight wants to know who the Bard is...), and they'll be performing Much Ado About Nothing. I love an outdoor performance -- they have Shakespeare in the Park in a lot of towns in the Summer, so if you have the opportunity, try to catch one. Quite often they'll provide a Picnic Lunch, too, so that's fun to have a little picnic and watch some Shakespeare!

Tip of the Day: Be realisitic. I know,that seems so very obvious, but you'd be surprised how many folks live their lives with their heads so far up in the clouds (is it the clouds or was it somewhere else...? No matter -- I'm sure you're on the same track as me, now...! har, har!) that they never are able to accomplish or attain what they really want. When it comes to Building and Renovation, it invariably costs waaay more than you think is humanly possible, so do yourself a gigantic favor and get every price for every tiny thing you are going to have done in writing.

A 'friendly quote' is not enough, especially if you're heading down to see the Banker to beg for -- oops, I mean 'borrow' some money. Often you have to provide a huge list of everything that will be done before you can get a Builder's Loan or a Home Equity Loan. Frankly, I would be more inclined to Search for these Loans online, first, so you can see where you can get your Best Rate. And just so's you know, a Home Equity Loan for a Renovation is much easier to get because it's based on the amount of Equity in your Current Home, so they're much easier to come by, which is lucky!

Okay, better go get some pictures! Be right back!

Sometimes it's sooo much work to come up with a new meal idea every single day... so if you like Chicken, here's an easy way to make some really tasty Chicken you can BBQ or pop in the Oven.

In the morning (or the night before...) put fresh or Frozen Chicken fillets or pieces into a Freezer Size Ziploc Bag. Pour in enough Italian Salad Dressing to cover the chicken for one Marinade. (It's really yummy -- we had that last night, that's why I happen to be thinking about it...). Zip up the bag and pop that into the fridge until you're ready to cook the meat.

Two other really easy Marinades are BBQ Sauce -- any kind you like -- this is very tasty... and the other one I'm very fond of is a mixture of 1/3 cup vinegar, 2/3 cup Vegetable Oil, then any spice you like -- I use Greek Spices sometimes, and Montreal Steak Spice other times. It changes the flavor of the meat significantly, then I generally serve that with Barley or Rice and some nice Veggies. It looks great and always tastes delicious! Hope that helps you think up something good for your own dinner, tonight! And then every other night for the rest of your life -- sounds exciting, don't it?? ha,ha!

Oh, yeah. You can use different sorts of meat in those types of Marinades, too -- I'm particularly fond of Pork Tenderloin (I think I'll have that for the Father's Day Dinner...), and the Montreal Steak Spice is the best Spice for that. Use your kitchen as an experimental grounds -- try new things and see how it works out -- nothing too weird, but it's fun to try something new and you find you love it, then you can add that to your regular Meals!

Thanks for popping in for a wee visit! And did I tell you that you look fabulous, today? You really make that Comb-Over thing work for you, so I say, "Keep it"... you can Date some other time...! ha,ha,ha!

These eSupport Groups have a little something for everyone, so check it out and see what's in it for you!

Great Dads 'n Grads Gifts -- it's not too late to Order Stuff Online -- Father's Day is this Sunday! (And I add new stuff in every day, to keep it interesting!)

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Monday, June 14th, 2004. I had a whole thing on how great it is to take Summer School Courses, because I spent some time earlier this morning getting Cara set up in one for July... and I took a whole years worth of University (my 2nd Year of my Bachelor of Arts Degree from Queen's University) in the Summer -- one summer. What a deal! It was a whole lot of work, but it saved me a bundle of money and a whole extra year at University, so I felt that was well worth it. I'm also a big fan of Online Education -- I feel like it's the wave of the future, what with it becoming next to impossible getting into the Universities, and you can work away at your own pace, which I also like. And, it opens up the world of University to everyone - did you know that the vast number of Universities will alow you to take one course, regardless of your High School Marks, and provided you are an Adult, to allow you to prove to them you can handle the work. If you get 65 or above, you can continue on with your Course Work. Isn't that a great idea? Then we can all make more money!

Well, it's already 6:30 pm, and Dwight will be home for dinner any second, so I better leave it at that for today, but this is where I'll write the Daily Updates for this week until I can figure anything else out! Se you tomorrow!

Later Baby! Ailsa!

(You know what to do!)

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Tuesday, June 15th, 2004. Hi, Honey! You're Home... and just in time to try my new take on my favorite Apple Crumble for One -- I tried it out last night, and now I think it'll be a real 'pick-me-up' during the day when I'm completely fed up (have you noticed that's been happening a lot, lately? Yeah, me too...!)... anyway, I happened to be making a new batch of the Crumble Mix for the Apple Crumble, and I couldn't find the new bottle of Vanilla that Dwight had hidden in the Fridge. I can never figure out how Dwight decides on where any particular item purchased at the store should go when he puts the groceries away -- I always say to him to leave the groceries and let me put them away, but he's delusional about knowing where things belong and insists on 'helping'...

Anyhoooo, that was a long story to get to the bit about 'The Rum'... so I'm searching the kitchen and the fridge for the Vanilla, and what did I see at the back of the Fridge but a bottle of Vanilla RUM! Yum. Rum... Now, you know me fairly well by now, so I'm sure it's not a real stretch for you to see that my next thought was to add that to my Apple Crumble Recipe! ha,ha! Then I remembered that I have this for breakfast, and there's that stooopid rule of 'no drinking until after breakfast .. except for on the weekends and Thursdays..." I think that's the rule -- it's hard to recall these things with any real degree of accuracy! ya'ha, ha!

I finished making up the Crumble Mixture and put it in the giant Freezer Bag, since I make up enough to last me about a week to 2 weeks, depending on how crappy my days are...then I felt I really should TEST it, then I thought, "Ooooh, I should test it with the Vanilla Rum...", so I added some Vanilla Rum to the Applesauce, and stirred that around, added the Crumble Mix and popped that into the microwave for a minute ... man, was that deeelicious! Just that little KICK that you might enjoy every now and then (afternoon and evening... ha,ha,ha!). Give it a 'Shot', so-to-speak! ha,ha!

I wrote a thing yesterday that ended up not going through, so I suppose that was a good thing, but it's still a matter that is important to parents, especially parents of teenagers. We're at the satge right now where Cara and her friends are all turning 16 -- it's a magical age. Magical in that they all think they are infallible, and that's a frightening thing. It can lead to all sorts of choices that could ruin their lives as they know them, or God Forbid, much, much worse. Because we live out in the country, you have to take the ighway to get to our house, which is fine for regular Adult Drivers, but scares me beyond belief when it's Cara in a car with other teenage drivers. I have no problem with them driving in town, on surface streets (I learned that term when I lived in L.A., and everyone took 'surface streets' to avoid the traffic on the Freeways...) -- it's the Highway I have a huuuge problem with...

Now, I'm not big on confrontation or 'laying down the law' with anyone -- generally speaking, that just makes people mad and rarely works, but my big goal right now is to get Cara from 16 to 18 without any damage... so I'm thinking about maybe sending Cara to Scotland to stay with her Grandparents when Summer School is out. It would be fun for Cara, give her a new perspective on her life (whenever you go back to your Ancestral Place, it dawns on you that you are a part of an enormous cycle -- it had a profound affect on me when I went over when I was 23...). Anyway, I think my Mum and Dad are going over for the summer, so we'll see if that might work out (if you're new to the Site, I'm Scottish, but was raised in Canada, spent some wonderful years in Los Angeles, California, was dragged back to Canada where I've been waiting to become free to make my own choices again -- whatever they may be... I just want to be free to make the choices myself...).

So some difficult days -- you can see why that Vanilla Rum seemed so very appealing last night! ha,ha! There are times when your kids will not like you very much, if at all, and that's just a part of parenting -- it's not your job to be their buddy, or to placate them at any expense -- it's your job (and my job this week...) to make the decisions that will keep your child safe until they are truly old enough to make all their own decisions, and then you just have to hope to god you've covered all the basics and they make reasonably good choices, and can survive the all to talk about it later in therapy! Ya gotta do what you gotta do, right? Sometimes it's just really hard, but it has to be done...

Tip of the Day: Are you trying to lose some weight and having a tough time with the whole 'not eating so much' thing? Here's a little tip that might work for you -- it's cheap and worth a try -- Get yourself a small jar of Vick's Vapour Rub. (It doesn't have to be Vick's, but now you can picture it in your head... and some of the knock-offs smell weird...). Keep the Jar handy during the Day and in the Evening when you have your 'trouble times' -- most people have certain times during the day or evening when they are most likely to want to eat -- aside from regular meals, I mean... So every so often, open the jar and 'take a big whiff'. (Great if you're on 'e', too...ha,ha,ha! I'm kiddink, of course -- not to be taking 'e', if at all possible... ha,ha,ha!) Don't wait until you're starving before you breathe in the menthol -- breathe it in every so often. It'll really curb your appetite. And make you want to dance all night... yuff, yuff!

Okay, gotta go get some watermelon for Aidan -- he doesn't like to get his fingers sticky, so I have to cut it away from the rind -- just one of his many 'quirks'! I'll be back in a minute to get you some pictures!

Here's where Tia spends a good portion of her day when it's rainy outside! It's the Laundry Room Sink -- now that crazy Dwight wanted to put in one of those enormous Laundry Sinks -- it was a huuuge fight during the Build of this house! Funny, when I think of it, now, but infuriating at the time... you know how that is...Dwight had some notion that I would be slaving over this huge Laundry Tub, soaking every item of laundry to be washed -- uh, noooo... not with the modern-day technology I like to call "The Washing Machine"... Please, what was he thinking??

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Anyway, it has always been my job to clean Tia's Paws since she was a little puppy, so I knew I needed a sink that wasn't too deep that I could just set her in to clean her up. I actually wanted a bigger sink than the one we settled on, ironically enough, but by then Dwight had found this medium sized sink and had put it in... along with a Spray Nozzle, which is perfect for cleaning muddy paws!

Tia looks like she really loves getting cleaned up, too, don't she?? ha,ha,ha,ha! Her favorite part is getting her paws dried -- I like it too, because I hold her like a Baby, and she falls asleep in my arms, which I love... she's a sweet little girl!

Thanks for popping in for a wee visit! It's always lovely to see you!

See ya later, Baby! Ailsa!!

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Great Dads 'n Grads Gifts -- it's not too late to Order Stuff Online -- Father's Day is this Sunday! (And I add new stuff in every day, to keep it interesting!)

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Wednesday, June 16th, 2004. Yo, yo, yo! What up, Daaaawg?? L'il Daaaawggies... hey, why not -- it's not like I'm not out here in the Prairies...! ha,ha,ha! And I'm thinking about dogs because Tia has been in my lap a good portion of the morning -- she was outside playing, and I think she thought she stood a pretty good chance of catching one of the little Prairie Dogs she watches from the windows... so by the time she came back into the house, she was covered in mud -- she had managed to get her head into one of the holes those wee Prairie Dogs dig. Her ears were all filthy, and everything! So when I was washing her up in the sink, I had a helluva time trying to get those ears clean, but then when I was giving her a wee cuddle when I was drying her up, she fell asleep, and I started to nod off, too. It's very powerful when other people around you doze off, because we are all so susceptible to what we are surrounded by, right?

So the big Political Debates were on in Canada, last night -- if it's not Hockey, it's Politics... the Election is coming up so quickly, that at least I got some answers to the questions I'm concerned about. I have to say I was very surprised that the Liberals will not bring the issue of Same Sex Marriage to the House of Commons. Paul Martin, our current Prime Minister, wants the Supreme Court to make the decision... I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want those old hoots to make a big decision like that -- for one, they're not voted in, so they certainly don't represent my views... I think the only fair thing is to allow it to go to an Open Vote in the House of Commons, and the Conservative Party with Stephen Harper believes in that -- at least then the people who are making a decision about such a critical Human Rights Issue will be folks we've voted in ourselves, and that's better than the alternative.

One thing that drives me crazy with all this political talk is about Canada nt having a Two-Tier Health Care System -- who are they kidding? Puh-leeease! We've had a Two-Tier System for years, it's just kept hush-hush. I think I've mentioned before that there are the Ads on TV about this poor woman who is in her 30's and is diagnosed with Breast Cancer. The Ad says, "Will she have the Insurance to pay for her $42,000. Bill to pay for the Drugs she'll need??" What? At first I DID think it was an American Ad, since we get a lot of U.S. TV (Thank God, since Canadian Television sucks, for the most part... maybe they could start producing Shows that are actually GOOD, then they could support themselves instead of being subsidized by the Government to make sure we remember that we're Canadian... how stooopid is that? It would be a sad day if we identified with a pathetic Show just because it was made in the same country where you lived. And the few Shows that we DO have that are hilarious -- This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Air Farce -- come under fire and may or may not continue to be funded...).

Anyway, the Ad is for Alberta, and it's for Blue Cross Coverage to make sure you can pay for the drugs you might need. I wonder how many Canadians know they need additional Health Care Coverage to get the drugs they might need to save their lives? I'll tell you -- we're in no position to throw stones at the U.S. Model for Health Care -- I had much better Health Care when I lived in the States than I've had in Canada. Plus, I don't have a big problem with some Health Care Centers where you can 'Buy an Operation' -- if we let people who have the money pay for their own Procedures, won't that open up more beds for people who can't afford that choice? And if my life, or my child's life were ever at risk, and the Waiting List was soooo long (all based on 'fairness') that they may or may not make it -- of course you would go to any length to get the Health Care Service. You'd sell your house or do anything to keep them healthy or return them to good health... I think the option should exist.

Hmmm, I'm just watching an old Oprah Show with a guy who is talking about becoming a Millionaire, and he advocates the Double Monthly Mortgage Payment -- that's TWO Mortgage Payments in One Month... man, I hat ethat stoopid idea. That is sooo hard for regular families to manage, because sometimes things happen, and it's next to impossible to come up with a whole other Mortgage Payment every single Month. It's soooo much better just to put one Extra Mortgage Payment Once a Year -- Twice if you can manage that. It's far less stressful, and will knock years off your Mortgage.

The other thing this guy is saying is that you should Cut Up Your Credit Cards -- no, no, no -- that'll negatively affect your Fico Score, and you don't want that to happen. And I'm not such a big believer in the whole Money into the Retirement Fund thing -- I still believe it's far better to put money aside to Buy Your Own Home, or put that money on your Mortgage. Financial Advice is like any other kind of Advice -- take out the bit that seems reasonable and actually relates to your own life, and forget the rest.

The easiest ways for me to save money were to cut out at least one Shopping Trip per month (then work your way to cutting out one Shopping Trip per week), which saved well over $500. per month, so that was good. And then to be completely aware of how much you spend, and what you spend it on -- if you find you're out buying a whole lot of stuff you don't need a t all, decide whether you really need to do that, and if the answer is 'No', then stop. Make a mental decision and stick to it -- it'll be worth it when there's a lot more money in your Bank Account at the end of every month. Makes you feel nice and secure.

The other thing this fellow says (and this is a Financial Guru) is to 'Not have a Budget'... Hmmm. I agree that it's annoyink to live with a Strict Budget, but I think it's very reasonable to look at all the money that comes into your house each month, and make a decision about how much of that money will go to paying for everything in your life. In this house, I have a 'General Budget' of $2500. per month -- in our last house (it was a whole lot smaller...), my monthly budget was $1500. There are always things that come up that cost more than that, but I don't include Building Costs in that Dollar Number. I consider those Costs outside of the Main Monthly Budget. There's a separate Bank Account to manage the Building Costs, and that works well for us.

The important thing about having a General Budget is to know exactly what you have (and don't have) so you can work within your own Budget. One thinfg that constantly amazes me with Financial Advisors is when they see a young Family struggling away in a house they really can't afford, they tell them to put more money aside for a Retirement Fund -- because theirCompany is managing it... and they don't say to the Family -- "Look you need to move. Sell that house where all your money is being sapped up, and 'Buy Down' ... a nice Condo or a smaller home." That is the most obvious thing to me -- it's not more important to hold onto a house that no longer serves your purposes, even if you love it. Financial struggles are not worth any nice house -- it's always better to cut your losses and find a new place to live that doesn't cost nearly so much. THEN, you can recoup your finances in your new place, be more comfortable emotionally and financially. Your life will be so much better right away -- or at least within a couple of months, if it even takes that long to integrate yourself into your new place!

Tip of the Day: If your House has gone waaaay up in Value from the Day you bought it, and you want to 'take the money out of your house', consider selling it, taking the Profit and buying a Brand New or Relatively New House. Just like the Stock Market, if you buy a house and never sell it, it still holds the value it did on the day you bought it, until you 'realize' the dollar difference by selling it. If you bought some stock at $5.00 a Share, and then they went up to $90.00 a Share, but you didn't sell, you wouldn't have realized any new money -- and then if the Stock Market goes back down and then your Stock drops to $2.00 per Share, you've lost money... so if you want to see the money you've made, you need to sell the Stock or the house.

It's always a personal choice, of course -- some folks really like to find one home and stay there forever ("I'm gonna die in this house..."). Me, I like to take the money out of any house and move to another one, reinvest the Equity and eventually have no Mortgage at all, or take that extra money and invest it in other Real Estate. But that's just me -- you need to find where you're comfortable and where you'll be financially happy, then you'll find the emotional stuff will be much easier to deal with, then!

I still haven't been able to get into my Program to get my new pictures into the computer, but when I do, man, I've got some great new shots for you! ha,ha! I'll go see what I can find for today -- be right back!

I was going to put some pictures of the little Prairie Dogs, but then I happened to click on this picture, and it's so cute, I thought I'd just put it on -- since I refer to Aidan and Tia so very much! They're both cute, ain't they?? ha,ha,ha!

This is in the Great Room, and Tia and Aidan vie for the Lounger Settee -- it's everyone's favorite place to sit, because it's an enormous Chair/Couch!

Thanks for swinging by for a little visit!

See ya, Baby! Ailsa!

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Great Dads 'n Grads Gifts -- it's not too late to Order Stuff Online -- Father's Day is this Sunday! (And I add new stuff in every day, to keep it interesting!)

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Thursday, June 17th, 2004. Hey, Baby! 'H' to the 'izzo', which, as far as I understand it, translates into "Good Day, Fine Friend", but not everybody has that kind of time to go through all that formality, so H to the izzo it be! ha,ha,ha,ha! So it crossed my mind, last night, at about midnight, or so, that Aidan will be getting on the School Bus this coming September... hmmmm. I still have him in a Car Seat, so it seems crazy to take him from his Car Seat in my van to the giant Bus with no seatbelt and God-Knows-Who on the other end of the Bus Route all by himself. He's soooo little! And because I just signed Cara up for a Summer School course, it made me think that maybe there's some sort of Home Module for Aidan to do some Kindergarten Studies at home...?

I started out as a Kindergarten Teacher, then my students got older and older (now they're all parents, themselves -- ha,ha!), and now I just consider My Site as my new favorite way to 'share the wealth of knowledge 'dat is ME' with as many folks as I can reach! Anyway, it's not like I'm not trained to Teach Aidan, if I were to keep him home a little longer... I guess I hadn't thought this one through -- Cara went on the School Bus when she was 5, but she was a very different little 5 year old -- Aidan is a little bit crazy around the seams, and I'm not sure of what he will do on the Bus, and what will happen between the time I put him on the bus and when he arrives home... that's the part I'm worried about.

We still have a massive amount of fancy Locks on every Door in the house -- to keep Aidan IN! So how will that work out in School, when they have no locks of any sort -- oh, and here's my Pet Peeve about primarily Canadian Schools -- most Schools in the U.S. accept that bad things can happen, and lock the main doors to the school during School Hours. You have to ring the door bell (why, it's just like being at home and having a visitor identify themselves befoere they come in, rather than just strolling in and walking straight into your office...!), identify yourself, and then they can buzz you in -- just like at any Apartment Building. So it's not like the technology doesn't already exist. It makes me really uncomfortable that our Schools are wide open for anyone to come in, unannounced, and kids can get out without anyone noticing. That ain't good. I think a very simple system of locking the doors when the kids are in Class would be very easy to establish, and would give parents and students a higher degree of safety. That would work for everyone, wouldn't it?

Ooooh, I'm sooo easily distracted -- I just tried some new exercises with my Exercise Ball -- I'm really gonna have to find someone to take some pictures of me so I can show you them -- they're lots of fun! No kidding! Here's a quick explanation, and see if you can follow it until I get the picutres -- Lay back on your Exercise Ball -- remember, my stooopid Pin broke while I was trying to blow mine up, so it's about 3/4 of the way full, which I now realize is waaaay better for comfort and 'bounce'. Anyway, now you've got the Exercise Ball in the middle of your back. Keep your feet planted firmly on the floor, and lift your beeeehind up in a Pelvic Tilt position. Get a couple of Hand Weights -- really, probably best to get these handy first, rather than struggle yourself silly in some crazy position ...

So once you're all nice and balanced on the Exercise Ball, Put the Hand Weights over your head (one per hand... I don't know how much you've been drinking when you're reading this, but I figure it's safe to assume you've had at least 3 shots by now... ya'ha,ha!). With relatively straight arms, lift the Weights Up over your chest, then down to the sides. Them hold them both together above your head, and drop them together back behind your head. (Not ON yo' head, for God's Sake... maybe put the bottle down for a second so that doesn't happen too many more times, 'cause that's gonna smart in the morning! har, har!) Do 10 of each 3 times. Very nice little Exercise. You can do those when you're watching Television, but not while you're eating. Drinking should still be fine... ha,ha!

Have you picked up a set of Free Weights, yet? They're really inexpensive and great to have on hand, so-to-speak... I got mine at Walmart -- they have a really good Sporting Goods Section. And if you're new to the whole Weight thing, start with very light weights -- 1 pounders, and get yourself a couple of each size up to 10 pounds each. You'll find that some exercises require more weight, and some require a very light weight. For the above exercises, I would start out with 1 or 2 pounds in each hand, then gradually work your way up to 3 - 5 pounds. It's always better to start with the lowest weights so you don't hurt yourself, because then you won't get any exercise in at all, so that wouldn't be useful at all, now would it? Okay, you can pick up the bottle, again -- what's that? You never put it down? Ah, well. You'll have one arm that has a very well toned 'Drinker's Arm', and that has to count for somethin', right? ha,ha,ha!

Tip of the Day: Well, it has to do with yesterday's Daily Update -- I think I forgot to mention that when you make a separate Payment on pretty much any Loan (Car Loan, Mortgage Payment -- maybe you owe Tony from The Sopranos a couple of G's...), the extra Payment goes straight to the Principal (no, not the Principal at your school -- unless they're desperately trying to 'increase their personal revenues' by running a loan sharking operation out of the Office -- really, Teachers should be paid a whole lot more...! ha,ha!), so that's why making one or two extra payments on your Mortgage a year can greatly reduce the number of years on your Mortgage... or on a Car Loan. We like to pay everything off as quickly as possible, so we can maintain a very low 'monthly payout', then Dwight can save even more -- he's a 'Savin' kind of boy -- that's his favorite thing to do! Ah, well -- it's that special personality trait that allowed us to get into this house, so I ain't complainin'! ha,ha!

Let me go get some pictures for you -- be right back!

I had to go in and give each of the Pie Shell Makin' pictures a name and save them, so that took me a few minutes!

This is the Easiest Scmeasiest Pie Shell on the Planet -- or it's the easiest one I've ever made! ha,ha!

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You just mix the Flour with a little Sugar and dash of Salt, shake up some milk and oil, pour that into the flour mixture, mix it around with a fork, then press it into the shape of the Pie Plate. You can bake it for about 12 minutes if you need a Baked Pie Shell, or just toss in a couple of tablespoons of sugar and 2 tbsp of flour, then pour in whatever fruit you like. You can top that with my Apple Crumble Mix, or the Easy Pie Topping ... hey, did you see the running theme of everything being easy?? ha,ha! I love to bake, but I'm not willing to give up a whole day to do it -- my limit is about half an hour, and then it has to taste delicious, or forget it!

Click here for the Full Recipe for Easy Schmeasy Pie Crust!

Thanks for coming in for a wee visit! And Thanks you to my Kind Readers who are signing up for stuff and cicking on the Ads -- that's the only way I can stay afloat, so "Tank Ye, Tank Ye!"

See ya, Later, Baby! Ailsa!!

Here's a bunch of cool stuff to check out -- and the Big ClubMom Contest is over at the End of June, so Enter it today so you can get your name in to Win Some Great Prizes! (And you're supporting My Site at the same time, so it's totally a win-win, any way you look at it! ha,ha!) Oh, and it's completely Free to Enter -- and you can tell all your friends to stop by my site and they can fill in a Ballet, too -- then I can keep writing my Site and not have to take that job digging ditches.... or Teaching! ha,ha,ha! Thanks for all your Support -- I really appreciate that!

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It's a Great Big Site, chock full of all sorts of Fun Stuff and Useful Information... take your time and have a wee look around -- I think you might be surprised by some of the stuff you find!<