Paying for Kids

  Omg I read the strangest, strangest thing this morning. A couple bought three plane tickets from Vancouver to Toronto on Air Canada. Two adults and a two year old. Now a two year old must have a seat and it's a full price ticket. 

   Here is the best part....parents you will appreciate this......there is no guarantee that your child will sit with you. In the same cabin yes but not beside you or even in the same row! Wouldn't that be awesome???!!! 

  Their only guarantee to sit with their child was to pay $40! Times three. An extra $120 so they can sit with their precious off spring. That's funny. Seriously I would never pay.

  Picture it...you get on your flight and sitting beside you is a four year old. Alone. No parent in sight. Would you stop the flight attendant and say "what the hell???"  Of course you would. 

  I am assuming, and I think it's a safe assumption, that every single flight attendant will move people around til the family sits together. They have done it for us on several occasions. Or we've been in an emergency exit row with the kids. You must be 16 to sit in that row.

  It sounds like another cash grab. Like paying for luggage...except if you take it to the gate where they will force you to check it. Most of the time for free. Which I must say irritates the hell out of me. But that's another discussion for another day.

  Next time you want to go on vacation, better plan on paying extra if you want your little angels sitting with you. If they are good travelers.....pay the fee. If they aren't.....well.

  Who am I to judge?

  Ang
  

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

  Today is my Mom's birthday! I'm the worst card sender on the planet so she didn't get one. Last year we sent flowers and she sneezed and coughed til they died. No flowers today either. 

  She wants no clothes or knick knacks. Mom lives in a small town so restaurant gift cards are out. There are no movie theaters or live theater close by so that's out too. What does that leave? Cash. She doesn't want that either.

  So here is your present....We promise to face time more often. Especially Alex and Riley will only be able to play you one song on the piano for you instead of his normal twenty. We promise Riley won't call you for money for whatever fundraiser he is involved in.  And finally we promise that the next time you come to visit you can sleep alone.....for one night at least.

  Happy birthday Mom! Oh and don't hold us to those gifts. You know it's not going to stick :)

  Ang

Little Blessings

  When you get up at such an early hour....5:15 this morning......you have more time to contemplate things. Or at least I do. In fact I've fixed most of the countries problems while still on my first cup of coffee. That's pretty amazing if I say so myself.

  So keeping to that positive note, here's a few things I'm thankful for today and every day. In no particular order.

  My kids are healthy. They are happy, except when together, and decent. Again decent to others but not each other. Brothers.

  The entryway drapes. They let in the early morning sun but keep the walkers from looking into my house. I've seen you. You know who you are. 

  Dollarama for selling cheap batteries for the remote so I'm not forced to use the Wii controller. Trying to figure out which wires I need to change would be torture this morning.

  Seat warmers. Even in late April. I'll never buy another car without them. Ever.

  And last, but certainly not least, the clothes dryer. Alex would have been leaving today in wet jeans, or worse yet, those sweat pants he loves with the hole in them. Oh wait...he packed those.

  Look for those little blessings. Some days that's all you've got.

  But not today!

  Ang

  

Teachers

   I spent the morning helping out Riley's class. They were having a science demonstration and needed some volunteers. Every time I walk into a classroom I am blown away but the amount of work a teacher does. Every single day.

  School is not like you remember it. Nor should it be. Every few years the system gets an over haul. Times change and our education system needs to keep up. The one thing that never changes is the teachers influence. And trust me, you should be glad of it.

  Take an average grade three class. Twenty one students. All eight or nine years old. One teacher. No EA's...education assistants. Commonly there is at least one child with either a learning disability or behavioral challenges. One teacher. One or two students are behind in reading while the same amount are struggling in math. Again only one teacher.

  The scene looks like something Picasso created. Many different colors, textures and situations all going on at once. At first glance it's chaos but when you take a few minutes to really study it, you see the chaos is controlled after all.....at least that's how I see both Picasso's art and the modern classroom.

  Every child is different. And teachers must teach all of them. They must make time to help Susie with her spelling while helping Andy with science and keeping Jimmy from eating the paste! Talk about multi-tasking.

  On top of everything else they are front line care givers. Making sure bruises or broken bones are from falling off a bike and not something more sinister. Reassuring children whose parents are getting divorced that they are still loved by everyone. Feeding those kids who don't have enough lunch. It's not a one dimensional job.

  And as if all that wasn't over whelming enough, they have to deal with parents. Adults who believe their children are perfect. Who are convinced that while a child's successes are their own, their failures fall squarely on the shoulders of the teacher.

  Next time you hear someone say, or you say, that teachers are only in it for the summers off and Christmas holiday, ask these questions. Could I do it? Every day? Without losing my mind? Not shouting at the kids? Giving them the tools for success? By the time you get to question three you already know you couldn't.

  Just like police officers, fire fighters and nurses, teaching is a calling. And it usually calls the best.

  Ang

  

Mike Duffy

  I waited a few days to talk about the Mike Duffy verdict. After waaaaay too long this is finally over. In the legal sense at least. But like many people, I'm not quite ready to be over it. For two very different reasons.

 The first is quite obvious, to anyone who knows me, I am angry. The amount of money spent. The amount of time dedicated to it. Not to mention the amount of work that didn't get accomplished during this time. That makes me angry.

  When the judge said Mr. Duffy was a credible witness I knew what the outcome was going to be. I wonder....if he wasn't a political figure, or wealthy, would the outcome have been the same? Would a less expensive lawyer have made the verdict different? We will never know.

  My second reason for waiting is I am disappointed. When then PM Harper made Mr. Duffy a Senator I was excited. Here was a man Canadians trusted. For years we had watched his political commentary without ever knowing his politics. He was smart, fair and had common sense. Something that seemed to be lacking at that time.

  Boy were we wrong. I was wrong. He became arrogant and entitled. As if there was no accountability at all. And he was right. He "wasn't sure" where his primary residence was. Unclear as to who should pay for his travel to speak at a Conservative fundraiser. Does this sound like someone intelligent enough to help run our country???

  Now the court has said he did nothing illegal. No jail time. Not one day. Not guilty on all counts.

  But you owe us Mr. Duffy. You owe the people of Canada something. You owe us an explanation as to why you quickly went from being a real person to being a politician. You owe us an apology for being arrogant when you were supposed to be one of the people who make, and change, the laws of our country that effect each and every one of us. 

  You owe us to resign. Quietly. With what little dignity we will allow you to have. To retire and go away to your  home in Prince Edward Island. Safe and secure in the knowledge now that it is indeed your primary residence. Live the rest of your life out of the spotlight. Reflecting on when and where you went wrong.

  And you owe us to not collect your large, government pension. Not one penny of it. If by law you must then donate it to a children's charity in P.E.I.......there is never enough government money.

  Because you did do wrong Mr. Duffy. No matter what the judge said. You did do wrong.

  Ang

Peace and Quiet

  Can you hear that? No? Well that's because it's quiet. Absolute peace and quiet. This house is never silent when there is more than me here. We are in a constant state of noise.

  Someone always has You Tube on. The television never seems to get turned off. And with a family of four, the washer and dryer never turns off. Never. Ever.

  This morning I'm enjoying my coffee listening to the uninterrupted quiet....except for the ticking of the keyboard. Knowing full well the dishwasher will be on in a few minutes. I'm going to turn on the weather to see whether I should wear shorts or not. Goodbye quiet.

  Once the family is together the volume goes through the roof. Or more honestly, the windows.  I can't imagine what the neighbors must hear. The kids yell to us and at each other. We yell back to them and to each other. Agggghhhh it's too much.

  Enjoy the quiet whenever and wherever you can get it. Me I'm enjoying it now. 

  Ang

Goodbye Mr. Nelson

  Boy the music business is taking an ass kicking in 2016. Glenn Frey, David Bowie, Maurice White and Merle Haggard. And now Prince. So many great talents gone. 

  Almost all of us can say we have driven down the road, in the summer, windows open, with a Prince song blaring. Just a few days ago my kids were laughing because I did just that to Raspberry Beret.

  I think we are so shocked when a celebrity dies because we imagine they are larger than life. Somehow they will live forever. This is most evident in Elvis and Michael Jackson fans. Graceland is sacred ground and I'm sure Neverland Ranch would have been the same had the Jackson estate kept it.  

  The outpouring of love yesterday for Prince shows just how much music and movies can affect us. These artists are strangers to us. And yet their passing fills us with sadness and a sense of real loss. 

  So in his own immortal words........

Dearly beloved,

we are gathered here today

to get through this thing

called life.

-Prince

  Ang