Welcome Guests, Goodbye Dust

  Why is it our house is never so clean as when we have company coming to stay? Don't we deserve to live in the cleanliness we give to our visitors? Can I not admire a sparkling mirror or dust-free coffee table as well as my guests? The short answer.....nope!

  Today we have a very special house guest coming. And even the kids have taken notice. Both bedrooms have been cleaned and vacuumed. If you are the parent of a teenager or two you know that's a rarity. Sheets changed and dishes brought downstairs. It's a Christmas miracle! One that will last only as long as the visit does but I'll take it.

  We are all guilty of it. Even the meals we prepare are a little nicer with guests. Better presentation and we even tend to eat at the dining room table not standing around the island or in front of a tv somewhere. Like civilized people. Or a family that doesn't inhale their food as the kids argue and the parents continually telling them to stop.

  ......It's now three days later. I got sidetracked cleaning and didn't come back to finish writing. The house is still clean. Maybe even cleaner than Thursday. And while we are enjoying the cleanliness we are all aware that it is the visitor that is important NOT the lack of dust bunnies!

  Ang

Lesson Learned

  I made a mistake yesterday. It was a foolish one and I instantly hated myself for it. It's been a very long time since I fell prey to it but in a moment of weakness I gave in. You might have guessed it already...I responded to an internet troll. Huge mistake.

  We all know the phrase keyboard courage, some of you might even be guilty of it. Those who try to get a reaction out of total strangers by spewing venom out into the Twitterverse. Normally when one of these trolls comments on my post I ignore it. If a second comment appears and I give no response it's normally the end and they move on. But last night my better judgement disappeared and not only did I engage but I attacked back. Not very smart on my part.

  Once there was engagement the comments became more and more aggressive. I found myself defending an opinion that was neither controversial nor outlandish. Just my own and widely well-received. And each comment, both his and my own, angered me and made me want to respond even more. A vicious cycle that I can see clearly now. Not so much yesterday though.

  Most angering today is I know better. It's not the first time this has happened and I'm sure it won't be the last. My reaction to it was disappointing and I will think twice before I engage again but disappointing none the less. It's a weakness I need to work on.

  A few months ago a "friend" on social media attacked my opinion on a topic and was relentless to prove me wrong. Several times the phrase "your opinion is irrelevant" was stated. That is my red flag. No opinion is anything except your own and you are entitled to one. Telling me mine doesn't matter because yours is correct is arrogant and a little cruel. Especially to someone you consider a "friend". FYI...we are no longer friends.

  When we put our thoughts out into the social media universe we cannot control other people's reactions to our words. Only how we respond to theirs. From now on I'm not responding at all.

  Maybe...

  Ang

  

Election Hangover

  Canada is waking up this morning to a post-election day hangover. Once again we went to the polls to see who will be our leader and now we need to live with our choice. Depending on where you live you are waking up to some different representatives. But it's done and it's time to get back to the issues we need solved. Time for those 338 folks to get to work.

  This time we have a minority government with Justin Trudeau back in the Prime Minister's chair but he will need some help from the NDP's to pass things and keep power. While some like the idea of checking one party's power others not so much. With a $445 million dollar price tag, they better make it work long term! We cannot afford to have elections every year or so at that price. Not to mention the weeks and weeks of campaigning. It's too much.

  One major thing I noticed is that different parts of the country have no idea what the other parts are thinking. The prairie provinces went completely Conservative except for six seats. Folks in major cities, who tend to be more liberal, can't understand why. But that bewilderment goes both ways. I've seen many people on my own social media feeds who are ranting about Trudeau and how horrible he is. They all tend to be voters from rural areas. Scheer gets just as much criticism from the city dwellers.

  I know I say this too often but because we have lived across the country we happen to have first-hand knowledge of the huge differences in thinking from different areas. The majority of Albertans are more concerned about oil and gas production than anything else including healthcare and education. It is the basis of their economy so it naturally is number one. But city folks, who have access to many more unique forms of industry and careers have different priorities. If you are on the east coast of Canada you want to not be excluded from the growth other places seem to be enjoying and local access to healthcare. None is more important than the other.

  Now that it is all over, including the crying, let's move ahead. No matter who you voted for this is what we got. Let's hope they have some wisdom, a little decency, some common sense and a desire to do good. 

  Let's hope we aren't doing this again too soon. My brain couldn't take it.

  Ang

  

Wrong...So Very Wrong

  There are 27.4 million eligible voters in Canada. Of those, 1.4 million marked an "X" beside the NDP candidate giving them 26 seats. Another 850,000 voted for the Bloc, only in the province of Quebec, resulting in 32 seats. Look at those numbers again. But wait it gets worse. With just over 600,000 votes the Green Party of Canada now has...wait for it....3 seats! How can this possibly be???

  The need for election reform is evident in the previous paragraph. NO WAY should this be a reality. You only run candidates in one province, get six hundred thousand fewer votes than another party, yet you have six more seats? WTH?? This is so wrong on so many levels. We need to fix this and now.

  Yes our population is spread far and wide and yes most people are based in Ontario and Quebec but they are not the entire country. And they shouldn't have a bigger say than other places. But the idea that a party that runs in only one province can have more seats with fewer votes than one with significantly more votes is....well wrong.

  Tomorrow I will talk more about the election but I really needed to get this off my chest tonight. Not really a rant but close. Night all!

  Ang

Vote Vote Vote

  It's been a long 40 days but we made it through! It's election day in Canada!! Time for all Canadians 18 and older to get to their local polling station and decide who gets to run this great country of ours. What a responsibility. What a privilege. Now we wait to see what the next government will look like.

  Unlike the US our elections are fast. This year roughly 7 weeks were spent campaigning, advertising and debating. Even in that relatively short period of time, we got sick of the rhetoric. We were tired of hearing what the other party is going to ruin for the country. Our patience for politicians seems to be quite low.

  Four years ago 68% of the eligible voters actually voted. That seems like a lot but apparently, it's historically not. People don't vote for many reasons and not all make sense. Some don't want to be called for jury duty which seems like the most ridiculous reason. Others believe all politicians are crooks and won't waste their time. Still others believe that their one little ballot won't make a difference so why bother. All of those statements are false. Well not the jury duty one but definitely the others. 

  Those who do not vote lose their right to complain about decisions the government makes....in my humble opinion. If you refuse to be part of the process you cannot gripe about the conclusion. 

  Do your civic duty today. Go vote. Have a say in the running of your country. Then sit back with the rest of us and hope we made the right choice!

  Ang

Post Debate Recap

  Last night I spent two hours watching the Canadian federal leaders debate. Now we were really looking for a fleeting glimpse of our future Prime Minister son in the audience. He was the sixteen-year-old who looked like he had just won the lottery in the front row! But I also took a few things away from it that I never realized before. I thought I would share them in case you didn't watch.

  Whoever decided that the leader of the Bloq Quebecois, Yves Francois Blanchett, should be on the stage was 100% wrong. This party is only running candidates in Quebec and their main focus is on separating from Canada. So why give him a countrywide platform? To spread their hatred for the rest of the country? To let him talk about Bill 21 that is hate-filled and racist? It was disgraceful. However....it does show how confident we are in our freedoms to allow a party based on separation to exist.  But Mr. Blanchett should have stayed home.

  Jagmeet Singh is fun. He was very natural and more laid back so to speak than the others. I could almost believe his answers were unscripted, though I doubt that was the case, and his one on one debates showed his ability to throw a punch or two. Of course, he had the sound bite of the night with "Mr. Delay & Mr. Deny". That was laugh out loud funny. I'm not sure if he garnered any votes last night but he certainly didn't lose any.

  Andrew Scheer is not the world's greatest speaker. And he didn't seem to want to answer any questions but was very good at insulting Trudeau. But we aren't Americans and that doesn't necessarily go down well with Canadians. We are a polite country remember?  He seems to have forgotten that his party was in power for twelve years and a lot of what he was talking about not being done was under a PC Prime Minister. That's a political trait, not just one for their leaders.

  Elizabeth May is.....well she is Elizabeth May. She is animated, two-topic focused yet and easy to dismiss. She might be the savior of Canada and the air we breath if we stopped and listened. I believe she should not be running the country but she sure as hell should have the head of the table chair when it comes to combatting climate change. Both here and abroad. 

  Prime Minister Trudeau was his normal calm relaxed self that comes from years of practice. But he's not a good debater. A good speaker yes but not a debater. Sometimes all I heard was blah blah blah. No substance. Oh wait that could go for several of them. He will probably be re-elected in two weeks but I'm thinking not as easily as last time. Last night certainly did him no favors.

  I've left Maxime Bernier for last for a reason. Blanchett is a separatist and proudly states it. He hides behind nothing and is brutally honest in what he wants for "his people" and "his Quebec". But Bernier...he is sneaky. He is a racist and wants no more immigrants admitted into Canada. Yet he doesn't say that. Not really. He wants immigration but with very stringent rules and a cap. Bernier even went to far as to say that immigrants should take on "our Canadian values". Mr. Bernier with all due respect your Canadian values are not mine. Nor are they the ones most Canadians live by. You are exploiting people's fears and prejudices and trying to become a northern Trump. Again we are not Americans and we will not stand for your hate.

   There you have it. My humble take away from last night. Though I will share with you the true winner of the debate....my son. He was excited, overwhelmed and in awe. He told me he never imagined being in the same room, and in the front row no less, with the five leaders of our political parties and that he would remember this night forever. That sounds like a clear win to me!

  Ang