Story Blob

Employment Resume for the Professional Mother

2009-11-15T00:14:00.000-05:00

I thought it would be cool [may be for real one day] to have resume section designated to parenting responsibilities, experience and accomplishments. They say that it is hard to find a job when you are away from work for few years raising children, but then who said that parenting is not a 'work'. Since I had such a great thought I decided to write my first resume draft here.

May 07, 2008 - Nov 07, 2009
Title: Mother

RESPONSIBILITIES
° Breastfed on demand around the clock for one year. Continue to breastfeed on the occasion during the day, and sometimes at night. Planning to stop when our child reaches his second birthday. Following the African breastfeeding model.
° Cooking for our child since he was four months old. All the food is high quality home made. Due to limited access to prunes, the prunes jars are bought from the store. Excellent source of fiber, and it works if you should ask why I give it to our child.
° Bathing our child every day before sleep. Soaps and shampoos are used on the occasion, and some virgin olive oil to cure the cradle cap. It is a very nice and relaxing time to spend with our child just before bed.
° Ensured that our child got fresh air every day, thus daily 1-2 hours walks to the playgrounds or parks.
° Continue with toilet training that started about 6 months ago. At first it all started with our child playing with the potty, then sitting on it for fun, then actually going for number two with the diaper on, and now our child goes without diaper - all this in the period of 6 months. One more task to go, and we are done - yes I need to teach our child to tell us instead of us telling him.
° I have been reading to our child since he was 2-3 months old. The results are showing, at age of 18 months our son can clearly pronounce over 30 words, combine some words together, name each letter of the alphabet, spell every word around the house, and speak to us 'baby talk', which 80% of time we don't understand.
° I performed some sawing on the occasion to alter some of the children's clothing. I believe in comfort more than the look, therefore, I took all the baby body suits and got rid of the bottom section.
° Additional chores: laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping, baking, event planning, and very little television watching. However, I am making sure that I am keeping up with latest technology trend called blogging.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS
° Successfully planned and organized baptism, and first birthday.
° Successfully raised 18 months old son, of course, I am not done yet.
° Thought our baby words, letters, some spelling.
° Successfully completed 75% of the toilet training.
° Reduced diaper usage by 50%, a substantial cost reduction in our family.
° Learned how to cook efficiently for our baby. Can prepare meal with three courses in 10 minutes.

Cover Letter to follow ...

Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation (Україна має талант / Ukraine's Got Talent)

2009-10-29T23:44:00.001-04:00

I know I have not posted here for a while, but I am back again. For my come back I wanted to share with you this video I came across a while ago somewhere on other blog. I watched it first time and I fell in love with the concept. This girl on the video is a real talent. I never knew about the art of 'sand animation', and I will not go into a detail here. All you have to do is watch this video and you will see for yourself.

Sleeping During Lecture

2009-09-16T13:26:00.003-04:00

It is good to remember good times, and university was one of them. I only remember good times. All other times where we had to study hard and sometimes results were not so pretty are gone and I never looked back once. But then let me tell you this funny and memorable story.

In our fourth year of university we ended up having tough professor for one of the solid mechanics course. He was a happy individual, but tough. He was one of those professors who wants you to pay attention in class - so guess what, he would ask questions, and if you didn't know then you are shining star on the spot light.

Well, one day the lecture wasn't very interesting, but we all tried hard not to show how bored we were, otherwise, this usually initiated question and answer period. Well there is always that small percentage of the population that will surprise you. So we are vividly paying attention, and suddenly professor points at one student in the auditorium - 'Hey you in the brown jacket, would you be kind enough to wake that guy up beside you' - he said. The student in the brown jacket looks back at the professor and answers - 'You put him to sleep, you wake him up'. I could see that probably every hair including mine, on every student got stiff when hearing the reply. But to our surprise, the professor started to laugh, and said - 'That was good one, I guess I will have to wake him up'. We all laughed, and the sleepy head didn't know what did just happpen.

Calculation Bloopers - Conversations and Blobbing

2009-08-27T12:49:00.008-04:00

Dog's Lung Capacity
- So how did your test go?
- It was okay.
- Just okay. You probably did well. I saw you study a lot.
- Yes I did, but you know how it is when you have to calculate something under lot of pressure.
- Oh yes I know, I know. But you always did well. It seems like you are thinking about something.
- Yeah. I am still trying to figure out what I did wrong.
- What do you mean?
- There was this problem I had to solve, and I cannot figure out what I did wrong.
- How do you know you did it wrong. Did you know the answer ahead?
- No no, it was logical calculation, meaning real life numbers. So if you see the answer then you will know that you did something wrong.
- Okay then....
- Well, I left this problem to the last thinking that it was the easiest. It wasn't much time to go back and to correct. Boy... the teacher is going to have a good chuckle.
- Aha...
- Okay, the problem asked to solve the dog's lung capacity, meaning to determine the size of the dog's lungs.
- Okay, and then what?
- Well, don't laugh! My result showed that the lungs were bigger than the dog.
- Ouch....can I laugh with you.

Beam to Space
- Hey I finally finished my report. Do you want to see it?
- Yes yes, show me.
- Here it is.
- Wow you are so neat and organized, this is very nice looking report you have.
- Thank you!
- Do you mind that I look at the numbers, I used to take the civil engineering statics course.
- Yes go ahead. I checked my numbers and they seem okay.
- Just okay.
- Yes, but please do look it over.
Looking over the report briefly.
- So, did you really check your numbers.
- Yes I did. Why? What is wrong?
- Oh nothing, just a small mistake - it looks like your beam is bigger than our Mother Earth circumference. Please tell me that the problem asked for it.

Weight Loss Calculator
I don't know what was wrong with this online weight loss calculator, however, according to the data I entered, I have to loose additional 50 pounds. You tell me if I should. I am 125 pounds and 164 cm tall. I think the prefect name for this calculator would be - 'Become Anorexic' Calculator. Oh wait a second, may be they got their units wrong.

When Children Sing My Heart Breaks - 'Tell Me Why'

2009-08-15T03:15:00.006-04:00

The other day I took a small tour, okay, not that small, through the youtube. Just searching for songs by children. I love when children sing. Their voices are so innocent and pure, and my heart breaks. My little Matthew who is only 15 months enjoys music very much, he sings and dances, of course as toddler would do.

Here I found one song 'Tell Me Why' I liked very much and would like to share it with you. Wishing you good and relaxing weekend. Enjoy!

Someone Little Enjoys His Food

2009-07-20T12:16:00.015-04:00

My Matthew who sometimes looks like a little man in the baby clothes is definitely growing. Not just physically but mentally too. His little brain is processing everything he sees, and everything he sees he wants to do - one of them - eat like we eat.

You Are Getting Your Own Dinner Plate. It was time to give Matthew big dinner plate, and let me tell you why. Every breakfast, lunch or dinner Matthew would reach out for our fork or spoon, and dish full of food. He wanted to eat what we eat. It was fun for while, but us eating spaghetti with the spoon did it. 'Matthew you are getting your own plate' - we said. He absolutely loves it now as he can choose from three different foods I put on his dish. To our surprise Matthew started to pick his own food with his fork right into his mouth. The nice thing is that he knows when he does something new, and he is so proud of himself - the big smile on his face tells it all.

Spaghetti Time. Matthew is now almost 15 months, and he got total of four teeth - two on the bottom and two on the top. We thought that eating spaghetti would be tough, but we were wrong. Matthew would grab this long pasta and grind into pieces with his four teeth, and then with more shredding on the back and then its all gone. The best of all is to watch him how sometimes he would try to put long pasta onto the fork and then into his mouth. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't work, and this is when his face looks like tomato smugged in the ground beef.

Let Me Clean Your Face. No not Matthew's face. In fact my face needed to be clean one day. With few sneezes around food, and with Matthew sometimes eating from my dish and then grabbing my face for a small hug and kiss, it is hard for me to keep my face clean. In addition, Matthew likes to pick small crumbs around him with his little fingers and eat them. So one day Matthew finds a small bread crumb attached to my face, picks it and eats it. This time I laughed.

Chocolate. Did I mention the chocolate yet?... Yes Matthew loves apple cinnamon chocolate loaf !!!

As life goes on, we continue our messy breakfasts, lunches, snacks and dinners. One day when I am old and washing my floor around the table, the greasy stains will remind me how wonderful and precious eating times we had together.

Apple Cinnamon Chocolate Loaf from Heaven

2009-07-10T01:40:00.010-04:00

'Okay, are you ready for my baking again?' - I asked.

'Looked at me, do I look like I need another cake?' - he said.

'Yes you do look like you need another cake to eat, and I need one too.' - I said.

'Then lets bake it.' - he said.

With touch of love and good ingredients I finally I got a recipe for a chocolate cake that all three of us like. It goes like that.

Take one stick of the unsalted butter - yes unsalted because love is not salty. Or is? Okay sometimes we get angry on each other, but hey its better to release that pressure than store it. So take that one stick of unsalted butter, that is 175 grams of butter fat and mix until fluffy with 2/3 of a cup of golden cane sugar. Yes this sounds very prestige, but by all means you can use granulated white sugar too. Better not discriminate against sugars - sweet stuff is needed. So by the time I finish this paragraph, the butter and sugar mixture should be fluffy by now. And if not just get closer to the oven - the heat does wonders, but do and do not melt the mixture.

Two ingredients down. Now let the woman get the apple. Yes we need apple. Ironic that apple in the bible was a bate. But love can conquer everything, so apple will not stand in our way. Peel one large size apple, dice it into 1 cm cubes and coat with cinnamon. Let it wait its turn.

Now visit your pantry and find that aging flour like I do. God only knows how old my flour is. Okay not only God, but me too. This time do not take my advice, just get some fresh whole wheat flour, or if you live in Canada, Robinhood got special nutri blend flour of white flour and bran. You will need 1 and 3/4 cup of this fine powder. Yes, Robinhood, but bet he doesn't have the 2 tea spoons of the baking powder. Use any brand, and just mix it with the flour.

Now, we need hen. No not for the cake, but for the eggs. Ask hen for four eggs, and if not available, just go to the store and get some. Once cracked, beat them lightly. And remember to take out that white disgusting amoeba floating stuff around. I don't know what is going on with those eggs but they have more of that stuff in them lately. Next thing we will be able to hatch those eggs. But don't take my word for it - think the fertilization process is necessary for the chic to be produced.

And now the best part, 1 and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

The rest is easy, throw beaten eggs into the sugar butter mixture. Mix it. Throw flour and baking powder mixture. Mix it. Throw cinnamon coated apple cubes, Mix it. And lastly dump the chocolate, and mix that baby.

Take a loaf pan, coat with butter, and put strip of parchment paper on the bottom. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan, and bake this loaf of love for 1 hour at 325 F.

Three days later.

'Should I make another loaf?' - I asked.

'Looked at me, do I look like I need another cake?' - he said.

'No you do not need another cake honey.' - I said.

'But make sure you take a note of this recipe, okay?' - he said.

'Yes I will write it down.' - I said.

A day later....

'Not to the whole world, ouch.' - he said.

'Honey we need to share.' - I said.

Pop Star Michael Jackson Dies at Age 50 - Moment of Silence

2009-06-25T18:54:00.007-04:00

What is going on lately with all the Hollywood stars, Natasha Richardson not so long ago died, Farrah Fawcett today and now Michael Jackson. Not him. Despite all the crazy stuff he did, I loved his music, entertainment and still do, and let's not forget the Thriller which scared me when I watched for the first time. Let's observe moment of silence.

End of the World December 21 2012, Hoax or Truth? or The Killer Bees?

2009-06-20T23:32:00.005-04:00

What 2012? What day, time? Where can I hide? Oh my I only got three years to live, and my life been so great especially now with a new child on board. It will be interesting to know if this time someone will get it right. Yes get it right this end of the world hoax. Seems like someone predicted totally wrong for May 2003. I do too recall when I was in grade three and someone was already predicting the end of the world then, and I have been curiously waiting since then too. May be this time the guess or prediction will be right, or not, or at least I hope not. But then do we really know what the end of the world means. My silly vision is still the same as I had one in grade three. The Earth will crack on two halves from the impact of the asteroid. Earth will loose its gravity and all of us will fall into space. Disclaimer note - my imagination not necessarily supports the laws of physics.

Furthermore, how about other possibilities. The sun will overheat and we will all fry and then the Earth will melt away - another possibility. Yes never know who will screw up that sun dial and instead of regulating the heat, will crank it up too high. After all we are one living dust particle in the Universe, and the traffic may just get worst. Yes, all we need is another dust particle bumping to us - yes another possibility. I tell you the possibilities are endless; however, I still pose one question, what does really the end of the world means, and will it happen in matter of seconds or matter of years, or million of years - are we already degrading without knowing? Many writes about the 2012 end of the world, and if you want to educate yourself on that recent hoax and the panic of some, you can read more in here. It is all about some imaginary planet Nibiru making its way to solar system and at the same time wiping us out.

However, premeditated end of the world is possible also at any minute - how about wars, how about nuclear weapons, one of the Einstein's warnings, a button to press and an evil mind - that scares me the most. That would destroy us in matter of seconds. A deadly virus created in the lab wouldn't do any justice to us either. Then population growth, hunger, naturally evolving viruses. Okay, okay I think you got the picture.

The bottom line is that I don't want to die yet. This world is too beautiful to be wasted just like that - just look around you. So I tell you what, I will pray for this world, I will pray for people to be good, and I will ask God to give us one more chance. Oh dear God, just blow those malicious particles away from the Earth, don't let them hit us, and may be when you are cold over there, just think we may be hot over here - don't touch that dial please. As of us people, I will do my job here on Earth and ensure that there will be no more evil, okay may be less evil. I think this matter, we humans can look after. After all you gave us the intelligence and rational thinking.

However, you never know may be I am too late with my prayers - so I better go and get my survival kit ready. I watched enough space movies to learn something from them. Never hurts to be positive and believe in survival. Okay who in the world is spreading that hoax again. For what! Just to get me wired. Happy life to all of you, it ain't going to happen. Peace. And just in case it will end, dear God do it when I am sleeping, I am used to my bad dreams anyway.

Oh wait my dear readers, I am not done yet. I just had wonderful discussion with my husband about killer bees. He brings up the topic, and I go over my head again. Oh no, this is not getting any better, I am going to be stung by the killer bee and die. No this cannot happen. I hate being stung. I got stung in my feet so many times, I don't want to die like that. Yes this is my panic mind at this moment. The truth is no we are not going to die because of the increasing population of bees. In fact, it is opposite, because of the declining population of bees as per second warning from Einstein. And how this works is simple. The bees are necessary for pollinating number of crops we consume. Decline in bee population means in lost crops, thus loss of food source. The population of bees been declining due to unknown factors, or if there are known factors they are theories. So how this for the end of the humanity. If bees die we die too? Yes, it is possible. Therefore, now I will pray to scientists to have a back up plan - start growing more bees or discover new method for pollinating crops because I want to live.

I have a feeling that you had enough of my speculations and blobbing here, and thinking there will be no end to this post. Therefore I am going to go now, and if you need more information there is always a Google search engine. Just type some 'end of the world' phrases and you will find thousands of links to millions and millions of websites, hopefully mine too but probably somewhere on the end - search result 1,000,000,001.

My Grandmother Used to Drink Miracle Multi-Vitamin

2009-06-03T23:47:00.008-04:00

I don't drink alcohol at all, but I tell you some of my family do, and may be if you read my previous post about drinking on the trips - yeah drinking in Europe was and is very common. I still remember the martial law in Poland in early 80s, when we lived on food coupons and allowed only one bottle of vodka per household. And even better I remember those days when those who liked to drink, sat in front of the store drinking perfume and eating pickles. This being story for another day, let me then tell you this cute story about my grandmother.

The story goes - as kids my parents used to give us all kinds of vitamins. Mind you on top of that we used to eat out the garden - current, plums, apples, goose berries, strawberries - and some of them never got to the ripe state. Yes we loved sour. Yes, yes the vitamin story! Did we ever needed, never know - I guess my parents were on the mission to grow healthy kids, thus they finally got hold of this miracle multi-vitamin for us, them and my grandmother. In the liquid form, tasted just like very sweet sweet strawberry juice - and we liked it. It was hard to get this particular one, but my dad being very useful TV and radio repairman in the neighbourhood - he got all kinds of favors, and especially from the pharmacist.

You probably saying get to the point, so I will. In the late 80's we came to Canada, leaving my grandmother behind. One day my parents came across the same multi-vitamin here in Canada. Then they decided to send some to my grandmother, since our departure she wasn't able to get one. We send one bottle, then been asked for more - she loved it. She would ask, send me some more. 'I feel really really good every time I have a shot' - she would pass this message in the letters from my aunt. Yes, she loved it - so we sent more. Twenty years passed, my grandmother is now gone, resting in peace. I got married, got new home, and a bottle of the vitamin in my fridge - brand new, never opened, with label reading 12% alcohol.

Go Green - No More Boxer Shorts

2009-05-24T23:15:00.008-04:00

Some of you can agree with me that doing laundry to most of us can be a second nature, meaning doing it without thinking. Then if we can do it without thinking, I on the other hand think about something else. I just plan things doing laundry - yes why waste time. So one day, I was washing most of the clothes in the cold water, using cold water detergent - being environmental of course. I was then thinking this is good, saving some energy not using the water heater. My water heater on the other hand sucks, it always accumulates rust water on the bottom of the tank, so instead of white clothes I get shades of of white, but that is not even a story for any day. So to make sure I at least get one post in May on my blog, I will make is short and sweet. I came up with - or may be someone already did - to go green, men should wear briefs instead of boxer shorts. Boxer shorts kind of look more stylish, but forget the style and save the energy - with briefs I can cut my laundry loads in half. But don't you talk to me about G strings for women, because all the strings would get may laundry screwed up by jamming the drum or I probably would have to untangle them one by one, and that would take forever - don't like that!. But then may be if weather permits we all should cut down on clothing. The idea of uniform continues to hover over my head, and is looking better and better every day. Got crazy go green ideas, go for it and let the world know!

My Baby is Showing Affection - Unforgettable Moments

2009-04-22T11:52:00.012-04:00

My reflections - unforgettable moments with Matthew.

'The first touch,
The first smile,
The first eye to eye contact,
The first hickey, a hunger call,
The first lick on the face, a wet one,
The first hug, for the bear,
Very shy every time,
Then snuggles to me,
- its all my baby.'

I was sitting on the sofa and watching Matthew playing. He is now 11 months plus. With his little hands he takes the white Easter bunny and hugs him on the left, then on the right side, and playing shy at the same time. That was so so cute, and I wish I had the video camera, but I knew soon as I get one all will be over. I continued to watch, to my surprise, Matthew is now talking to his prayer duck, of course in his own language. Then I get up and get the camera, but the unforgettable moments are now over. Truly unforgettable.

Earlier today we went to church for Ukrainian Easter Good Friday. It was his third visit to the church. Unfortunately we were not able to take him on regular basis on Sunday before, because of his eating and sleeping schedule, especially that he likes to eat and sleep at the same times as all the church masses. Well on the parking lot we ran into two priests who knew my father and came up to greet him. One of the priests immediately ignored my dad and dived to play with Matthew. Matthew responded by pointing and reaching out to him - next thing the priest is kissing his little hands. Another unforgettable moment.

Matthew started to show true affection around nine months but earlier around six months Matthew had these interesting ways to express hunger. When hungry he would latch to my chin and give me a hickeys. He would also make suction motions with his lips where we though it was hunger, but no he was massaging his gums. But try to explain this to his uncle who insisted that I feed him - I guess he got paranoid when Matthew made a move on him with his lips. Another unforgettable moment to share.

The true affection surfaced when Matthew started to hug his blue plush bear and a big brown bear. It was and still is so cute to watch him as he embraces the big brown Bear's head with his little hands. And then it is nice to watch him when he embraces the small plush bear with his little hands and brings close to his body to hug him. Many many unforgettable moments.

'Matthew can I have kiss kiss' - we would ask. 'Matthew I love you' - we would say all the time. 'Matthew eeee eeee eeee' - we would squeak. And there he goes with his mouth wide open and tongue across my face, a wet wet lick. Unforgettable feeling.

We Used to Drink on the School Trips

2009-03-30T21:23:00.007-04:00

Imagine this, twenty five kids on the bus going on the school trip, and once in the while some of them would take a bottle of Vodka from their knapsack and drink, including me. Yes, we used to drink, but it wasn't a Vodka, it was a tea or some kind of juice. Back then we didn't really have good drinking plastic bottles to bring our drink in, so we used whatever we had at home. Since the Vodka bottle was the only bottle with the screw top, that was the most popular bottle taken on the trip, some of them still with a label on it. So this is how we used to drink on the school trips in the elementary school. The scary part was that they actually let us drink on the bus while bus was in motion. Luckily we didn't damage our teeth. So one day here is me, drinking my Vodka from the bottle, suddenly I stand up on the bus and yelled out to my friend beside me - did you see this, wow? And suddenly my teacher gave me a look that I had to bury myself in the bus chair, turning red, and trying to drink my Vodka, and of course to pretend that nothing happened. Can you guess what I saw? I will give you some clues: it was in Europe, it was a big tree, parked bike on the side of the road.

Economic Crisis or Greed Crisis - AIG Bailout, Chrysler Bailout ... You Name It

2009-03-18T22:51:00.019-04:00

I promise to write something nicer next time, but I just cannot take anymore all the crap about economic crisis. I think they are more greed crisis, than the economic crisis. The two examples on the news, 'Obama 'outraged' at AIG bonuses' - I am too, and so are the US taxpayers.

'CAW face clash over wage cuts' - Chrysler autoworkers in Canada are getting paid $76 per hour, which translates to $608 per day, $3,040 per week and $12,160 per month. Someone tell me what is wrong with this picture. There are people who make $76 per day who probably may have even more skill than the autoworkers. Never mind the spa benefit. And now I am really outraged. I think Stephen Harper, Prime Minster of Canada should speak out too. Or do I have to write him another letter?
Here are two examples, and I will call this government mistakes. So before government gives out more bailout money, please learn and more due diligence next time. I am just disappointed hearing stuff like that and I had to vent - after all some of my tax money are paying for someones massage.

A Tip, Parents Do Not Loose Your Children at the Zoo

2009-03-06T22:14:00.004-05:00

About two years ago we took our 5 year old nephew and 3 year old niece to the zoo. It was hot sunny day so we really needed to have some mouth watering ice cream. We split, I took my niece and sat under the tree full of peacocks. Yes, the peacocks were hiding in the tree. We decided to be brave, and lucky no flying patties or rain from the sky. My husband took our nephew to get the ice cream. I think the ice cream man was making that ice cream from scratch since there were only few people in line and took them forever to deliver that mouth watering ice cream to us. The funny thing was that there were few young Amish girls same age or a bit older as my nephew and they couldn't take their eyes off him. I watched from far away as he would at times put his head up and pretend not to see them. It was kind of cute.

The ice cream was really being made from scratch. We gave up waiting, just sat under the tree and observed by passers and by standers. As the time lapsed, by standers would come and go. Then one cool looking guy, not good looking guy, but cool looking guy made a quick stop to have a cigarette. He played cool, blowing smoke to the sky. Good thing it was to the sky and wind was blowing away from us, because I am allergic to the second hand smoke and I can smell it miles away. This cool looking guy was not approachable, he just looked like one of those if you are lost somewhere, you rather be lost and not ask questions.

We continued to wait. Many people passed by us, especially lot of parents with children - walking, being pushed in strollers or pulled in wagons. As we watched all these people passing by, suddenly a child fell out the wagon. The parents continued to walk not seeing what happened. The victim of the situation was 1.5 or 2 years old girl. The second older child in the wagon, the brother, was reaching out with his hand saying something, but because it was loud no body could hear him. The little girl was stunned for a moment, so she just sat there for few seconds trying to recover. There were lot of people, so no body really noticed anything, just us and the cool guy.

I really underestimated the cool guy, he was actually first to notice and first to yelled out loud - 'excuse me, excuse me' - he at first said in deep cool voice. No response from parents. 'Excuse me, you lost your child' - he finally yelled really loud, and started to move towards the little girl. It all happened in matter of seconds, and since I knew that the cool guy was taking care of the business I just got myself ready just in case. The parents finally turned back, the girl started to cry. The parents picked up this little girl and just walked away - looking kind of embarrassed. Well may be this is why the cool guy is cool guy - he got no thank you, or even a nod of acknowledgment. And I was ready to give him a medal.

The moral to the story - don't underestimate others by their behaviour or look or cool look, they may be first to give you a helping hand after all, and probably the last to be thanked. And the main moral to the story is - strap your children to the wagon, especially when at the zoo, because it isn't just the zoo of animals, but zoo full of people and you can easily loose your child as these parents did.

Mr. President Barack Obama Thank You For Visiting Canada

2009-02-19T21:13:00.015-05:00

Mr. President Barack Obama, you probably will never read this thank you letter, but I am sure you can see in people how thankful we Canadians are for your visit to Canada.

The fact that you chose to visit Canada first it means a lot, but the fact that you purchased maple leaf cookies cookies from the local baker it means even more. I actually got goose bumps hearing that on the news. Your risk, I am sure your secret service will get you in trouble later, made our Canadian baker very happy.

Mr. Obama, I watched your presidential race, but watching you being President of United States is even more impressive. Your leadership is beyond my expectations - you are definitely a people person. Your strong focus on the economic crisis and how you handling it so far is on the scale 1 to 10 - I am giving you 8. Sorry I cannot give you 10 just yet, just little too early, but I am sure you have great potential outperform.

It was also nice to watch you and our Prime Minister Mr. Harper getting along so well. You may not have the same views 100%, but I see that both of you have great respect for each other and willing to work together to get us out from the economic crisis.

Mr. Obama, thank you again. And before I conclude this thank you letter, I want to tell you that leadership as yours is needed especially during crisis. If you are good to the people, people will respond positively and will be motivated to work together on the same goal. Like they say, one person can do so much, but together we can do even more.

Enjoy your cookies and good night.

Regards,
Anna

Can I Schedule An Appointment To Have My Nails Done – Call to The Body Shop

2009-02-16T13:32:00.003-05:00

I am sure we have done stupid things in life that are worth laughing at. I had many and this is one of them. Back in 1998 me and my husband were planning a wedding. We were very conservative trying to negotiate every item we needed as we just spend all our money on the house. We tried to prepay as much as possible – that was important item on our list of all. At that time I was working at the large corporation, had some flexibility to do some of my planning.

Needles to say, I am not very big on make up, pedicures, manicures – but looks like every bride was doing so was I. Bottom line is - I hated it. I remember I came home once from a trial makeover, oh God, I looked like a scare crow. May be it was nice, I just wasn’t too comfortable, so I guess my face was looking not very happy. But that is not the story, however, the make up was scrapped from my list – a lipstick and some powder did the job.

If not make up, then may be I just will have my nails done. Where do I start I thought – yellow pages sounds good. I flipped through and I got to the section, body shop. Have you ever shopped at The Body Shop, I did. Got some creams once. To your surprise, they have cream for every part of your body – may be that is why it is called The Body Shop. I guess calling body shop was a good start. During a lunch time I took yellow pages and got the phone number of my first contender.
- ‘Hello’ – a man answered on the other side of the phone.
- ‘Aha’ – I thought, now man are in this business too, that must be one darn good business then.
With quiet voice, not to disturb co-workers I said:
- ‘I will be getting married in 2 weeks and I would like to have my nails done’. Sudden silence.
- ‘You would like to have your nails done Miss?’ – man repeated.
- ‘Yes, yes’ – thinking he understood me.
Suddenly there is honest laugh on the other side of the phone, and the man replied:
- ‘But Miss, we don’t do nails here, we are a body shop and we fix cars, but Miss if you would like you can drop by and see what we can do’.
He had to rubbed it in.
With embarrassment and trying not to start a further conversation, I apologized and hanged up the phone. For the rest of the day I sat in front of the computer laughing to myself and having trouble concentrating. Hopefully no body saw me laughing, they probably would think I was going insane. After all we had a very busy year at work and almost every one was going insane at the same time.

That night I told my husband-to-be this eventful story, and later in the week I broke the news at the office – we had one good chuckle.

Something to Laugh About - Television Is Watching Me

2009-01-29T18:29:00.007-05:00

I have not realized that its been few weeks since I posted here. Just got involved in some renovations of My Only Photo blog - and now I am done. However, I will make this post short and sweet just to get some energy flow here. Something I want to make a note of. I had small talk with my mom over the phone, and somehow we started to talk about television. Oh I remember now. When I put Matthew [9 months old] to watch a cartoon, he will not watch. But if I put him front of the News channel, boy he watches. I think I know why? They are talking to him. Then my mom said, never mind listen to this story. When our neighbour got first television, it was after the war. She made this comment, 'Oh my God I didn't clean the house, and the whole world is watching me here'. Its amazing what people thought of the television then. But then get this, the old televisions used to have lamps inside, and I always thought that all the people on TV live there.

No Child Should Ever Be a Victim of the War

2008-12-22T12:56:00.031-05:00

Every day I look at my baby, I look into his eyes, and I wish that every child in this world received same love as I give my baby every day, every hour, every minute, every second. No censorship anymore, media is telling us all. Everywhere we turn and look, everywhere we hear, children die - accidents, sickness, diseases, murders, abuse, hunger, poverty and war.

'A little girl playing outside her home in the dirty sand. Assembling a small structure from small pebbles and dry sticks, and a leaf, and some dirty sand. Her golden hair is getting in the way. With little hand she moves her hair off her eyes, with the other hand she is trying to keep the pebble wall to stand. Her face is getting dirty, her blue eyes are full of tears, she is struggling to put her little farm together. A boy near by runs around with a stick and a string attached to it. It is his homemade fishing rod. Suddenly dark flying machines are flying over the girl's and boy's head. They look up. Oh, not again - they know. Bombing starts. Noise is unbearable. More wind with dirty sand. The boy somehow escapes in the potato fields. Lays there half covered in the sand and scattered around potatoes. He is scared. He follows asleep. As he opens his eyes, he looks around. He is safe. People are talking. The little girl stands in the middle of the field, dirty sand is hitting her small gentle body, but she stands there like a little trooper. She is not moving. She is looking at her little farm falling now apart. She wants to reach out for the falling pebble wall, but she cannot. A man grabs her small body. Pulls her to his chest. He holds her tight. He is protecting her. Its too late. Her eyes never opened again. Next morning she dies. She dies from shock. People are crying.'

The little girl is a victim of the WWII. This little girl in the above story is also my dad's sister, she was only 5 years old. She died of shock. Even though the story is dramatized a bit by me and enhanced, I am sure that in the real time, it was even more dramatic then I could ever describe. At later time, my dad's another, only month old sister also dies. Result of local bombing, falling off the bed, trauma and shock to the little fragile body.

WWII indirectly killed many innocent children, unrecorded, never mentioned. Unmarked small wooden crosses deteriorated over time. Burial grounds became empty fields filled with tall green grass swaying left and right. The little lost souls dance forever in the wind.

This Christmas as we celebrate this glorious day, let us remember those little souls that never got to enjoy the small presents, home baked cookies, warmth of the fire place, Santa Clause, and love.

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. "
~ Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Letter to Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

2008-12-08T21:17:00.025-05:00

Dear Mr. Harper:

At first I would like to thank you and all the Parliament Ministers for finally running this country in order. In the past I wasn't interested in politics, but since the sponsorship scandal and knowing that my tax money was misused by the Liberal Party of Canada, I have decided to do my due diligence and vote for the party that can be honest, organized, stable and give to the people. And these are four magic words that I can describe the Conservative Party of Canada - honest, stable, organized and supporting people of Canada. Not to mention that you speak to us in simple language so we can understand better.

Unfortunately, when I finally started to vote, I did not support your party, as I do strongly believe in the environment and the Green Party was my choice. However, the vote given to them was a free vote, no due diligence was done. I realized it was a mistake, because as much as the Green Party can do for Canada's environment / worldwide, the Conservative party can do the same. Thus since the last two elections, my votes were yours.

Mr. Harper, I have watched closely your strategic approach with your Parliament Ministers to run our country. I must say you have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. People of Canada must realize that it isn't easy to do this job, and now in the time of the economic crisis, they must realize that you do not have a magic wand to continue to give us 'goodies' as you have done in the past, or so called wanted stimulus package.

Further in my letter to you I would like to mention a few items that were very beneficial to me and my family as from your last budgets. I think you gave us more than enough, therefore, I don't expect to get anything major in your next budget presentation.

The Goods and Service Tax [GST] cut from 7% to 5%. In our house every penny counts.
The Universal Child Care Benefit [UCCB] of $1200 was an excellent idea. I don't know what other Canadians do, but I took that money, some cash gifts for the baby and invested in my child's future education the Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP]. Because I maximized the investment, I received from the government a maximum match of $500. I think this is a good deal, even banks cannot give me 20% interest rate.
The tax free account is even better than the Registered Retirement Savings Plan [RRSP]. I think every Canadian should save their money, or as ING advertises - Save Your Money. It is always good back up money for crisis in case we loose our jobs.

What happened recently with a goodwill government housekeeping strategy of yours, sparked a lot of fire in the opposition parties. However, I think we as Canadians should be aware of how our tax money is being spent. You were willing to take a cut in the federal funding of the political parties. I think that was a brilliant idea. I know it did not go through and did not go well with the opposition parties, but as a result of that it showed us the following:

How unstable the opposition parties are.
What is their main goal? A goal to take you down Mr. Harper. I can see that there is a bit of personal matter. They seem to be angry with you. And I really think that no matter how good the budget will be in January 2009, it still will be not good enough for them.
It is all about who is in power. The opposition parties showed their true face. Its all about political power and not about the Canadian people or economic crisis.
The coalition party formation, the most pathetic action ever taken, it shows how very reactive the opposition parties are. You always urged us not to panic, and they did not listen. Truly, they behave like the stock market.

Mr. Harper, we Canadians need a stable and organized government. Canada is a superior country compared to many countries in the world. We are spoiled, we have so much and when the times boom we want more and more. Yes, in fact we became a bit greedy. We need to reflect back and evaluate what we have, and be happy, and everything else extra is a bonus. It is not completely government's fault that jobs are lost. It is the economy crisis, and the governments role in this is to help the businesses. I think at some point we would know that too many cars will be built, and demand will fall. Definitely the automotive industry is in crisis, but what can you do in such a short period of time, let them build more cars?

That is all I have to say to you today Mr. Harper. Please continue to do what you and your Parliament Ministers have done for our country. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to comment on my blog. On the side note, you will be seeing more political letter series on my blog, therefore feel free to drop anytime. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna :)

My Animal Stories - Lesson Learned About Cats & Dogs

2008-11-27T22:22:00.011-05:00

I don't know if I can describe myself an animal lover. Something happened when I was very young that made me fear all animals in general. I know that I had once an episode with small black dog barking at me. It was a surprise from nowhere, and I was only four or five years old. Until today I still remember those sharp white teeth going after me and those white eyes saying 'I am going to get you'.

In the old days, when I was ten years old, we lived on this semi-farm, where my parents and grandparents had one cow, one pig, few chickens, ducks, horses and may be rabbits. All for food. It was just like living on the organic farm. Most of our food was almost home made. 'Good old days' - I say. But not so good if I had to deal with the farm animals. I still remember those geese or roosters going after me, never mind dogs. I guess animals can sense if you fear them.

At times I was asked to take a cow to the fields. Until today, I remember how I did it. I simply took the cow, I was trembling then, and position this one big black cow so she walked on the other side of the street and me on the other. I for some reason kept looking at her, straight into her eyes, all the way to the field. Boy, the five minutes felt like hours. I pinned the cow, and ran home. Never again. Next day I asked my parents not to do it again. To my surprise, they agreed. So my five year old sister then took the cow to the fields. All I have to say she was a brave child.

Years passed with very little interest in any domestic animals. They were just cute to me, but nothing more or less. Let say that later when I was in my late twenties, I found out two things about cats and dogs.

Few years ago I was visiting my sister in her apartment. By the end of the night her cat and me finally warmed up to each other, thus the cat ended up sitting on my laps. Suddenly, the cat's body started to make funny sound and emitting funny vibration. 'Oh my', I told my sister, 'I think there is something wrong with your cat, do you think we need to take him to the washroom?' She laughed, and replied, 'the cat likes you'. Lesson learned - the cat was purring.

Some moons ago, my husband and me were attending a birthday party. When food got ready, a group of us got up and started to walk towards the buffet area. As we were walking my brother-in-law took his arm and put on my shoulder. Suddenly, a dog that belonged to my then future sister-in-law, jumped on my one leg and made a happy face. Since I had my brother-in-law close by, I accepted, and out loud with big smile on my face I said, 'look, look, this dog likes me ...'. 'Anna I think its more than that ...', my sister-in-law replied. Lesson learned - the dog was humping me. Yeah this dog was a real leg hugger especially when others hugged too, lol.

I still laugh at myself. But hey some of us learn things later in life.

Wrought Iron Gates - What Is Wrong With This Picture?

2008-11-17T15:02:00.007-05:00

Driving home on the Sunday afternoon. As we get closer to home, we can see more and more snow. I guess we are living in the area where there always will be more snow. Such remarkable change in weather can be seen in twenty minutes apart.

I sit on the back with Matthew and as he sleeps I observe outside the world I used vividly photograph before Matthew was born. Yes, we got second time in three weeks a two inches of snow. Beautiful view, and as sun emerged in the afternoon all the trees sparkled.
- 'Beautiful ', I said to my husband, 'just beautiful day to go outside and shoot and shoot'.

Suddenly a very nice big house comes to my view.
- 'Look what an amazing gate on your right' - I pointed out. A beautiful structure made of iron wrought rods, and concrete support, and located on the one end of the long curved paved driveway. Oh, and has security key pad.
- 'Okay, I don't get it, what is wrong with this picture? There is no fence'. I know, I know, its a decor thing lol.

My Toe Took A Tripple Beating

2008-11-08T22:08:00.018-05:00

For sure I am not the only one that ran into the furniture and suddenly felt excruciating pain in the toe. Couple of nights ago I did it again. About 2 am in the morning after feeding my baby I walked towards the area where I have my water drinking station. Suddenly bang, my foot hits the wooden foot of the ottoman. Oh no, not again, I hate when this happens to me. As I reached out to grab my toe and apply pressure, a technique that always works, my husband heard the noise and he in a furious manner attempted to get up from the bed. That scared me, and I almost fell on top of my water station, that was close almost, lol.

'Why don't you wear slippers?' - a question my husband asked when around 9 pm I ran into the chair with the same foot and exactly same toe.

'Well I was going to get my slippers, but the chair was before the slippers' - I replied.

Somethings just happen in three's. In the late morning I had my dentist appointment. Just routine check up appointment. Everything worked out fine, Matthew behaved himself in the waiting room as he and my husband waited for me for almost 1 hour.

'I guess I will see you in next 6 months' - I told the dental administrator.

'Yes, will see you then, good bye' - she replied.

'Let me get the door' - I told my husband as he was strolling Matthew out the dental office.

'Ouch ouch ouch, for love of Pete' - I made squeaking noise, as this time the stroller ran over the same foot and the same toe.

As we sat in my parents living room this afternoon, we laughed, and I asked, 'So what's next?'
'A tire' - he replied laughing out loud.

In conclusion, I was fortunate that it was only toe self abuse and no real damage was done. However, will this teach me a lesson to wear slippers. I don't know I just like walking in my bare feet.

Intercom Button Please Press For Assistance

2008-10-27T23:58:00.007-04:00

Its been long time since I visited my very own story blob blog. To get myself going, I am just going to rumble about something, like about the intercom button in the gas station.

Matthew my baby is now old enough, almost 6 months, to follow sleep in the car. Before, when he was hungry and we stopped on the red light, Matthew would burst into this very loud cry and then slowly quite down as we started to move. And to our luck, we would get many many red lights. Well few days ago, as we were driving home, he finally followed asleep as we entered our subdivision, oh well don't want to wake him up, so lets drive around. First stop, we got Iced Cappuccino from Tim Horton's coffee place, and then we drove to get lately cheap gas - Matthew continued to sleep, oh how nice.

So here I am in a happy mood. As my husband is filling up the gas, I look over my shoulder and I see this nice green Intercom button. I opened door and asked him politely, can you press this button. He laughs. I said why are you laughing, come on, press this button. He asks why? Oh just for fun - I replied. Well, my husband will not pull any crazy prank like that, but I told him one day I will, and I will run, and he will have to deal with the clerk, lol.

Driving home now. I asked him, why were you afraid to press this button. No reply. Okay, am I the only one here in a good mood. I asked again, what would you do then if I pressed it for you and you had no choice but to answer. He silently laughed. Then, I will tell you what I would say:

- 'I am making sure this button works, sorry for the inconvenience'
- 'Sorry, no speak English'
- 'Sorry, I don't have my glasses, I thought that this was a print receipt button'
- 'Sorry, I thought I need your assistance, but I think I am fine now'
- 'Can you get me cup of coffee?'
- 'This button is in a wrong place, I tried to press car wash button'
- 'Oh man you scared me! You are too loud man! What do you want?'
- 'Please get off this line, I am trying to call my mother'

And you are next, what would you say? I need some good laughs.

A Quote I Can Relate

2008-07-24T22:02:00.005-04:00

I came across Google with this Quote of the Day:

"The things we know best are the things we haven't been taught."

- by Marquis de Vauvenargues.

This is so true, and I can relate.