Help me fight for our lungs

I am going to climb the 48 stories of the Sheraton Wall Centre to help fight lung diseases.  I have asthma – luckily not an unmanageable case of it – but some people, (including children) struggle to breathe every day.  One of the most important people in my life died of lung cancer and many of my very good friends have been touched by other forms of lung disease. 

Help me fight for our lungs.  Check out my personal webpage at the BC Lung Association and sponsor me a few dollars!  Thanks so much.  If you have a story to share on the subject I would love to hear it.

Be healthy.  And thanks.

A little controversy in the figure skating world

I think the program is brilliant.  The crowd did too.  I doubt they meant any offence.  What do you think?

Article and video.

huh.

Huh.

Watching television tonight I realized I’ve been through a lot in my life.

I watched a few episodes of a few different dramas and watched the people on these shows dramatize things I made it through.

I am not perfect.  I have made mistakes.  I have lived through a lot and am proud of how I have handled these things.  All of them.  Even the ones I could have done differently.  And perhaps better.

I feel lucky to be healthy.  I feel lucky to be alive.  And I say this in all seriousness.  I feel lucky to be close to a daughter who is healthy and vibrant.  My life is good.  And that is not by accident.  I am earning it.

Day three of vacation

Big day!  Just the highlight for you …

Day two of vacation

Lori’s house is beautiful.  Their front window looks over Osbourne Bay in Crofton.

Papa is tolerating Lily.

Lily is about seventy-five pounds!  Pretty cute girl.

Well Lori and I are off to go pick up chicken and cheesecake at Safeway.  In our pajamas of course!

Day one of vacation

Hopped on the early morning ferry.  Am currently in Crofton at a good friend’s house.  Had a lovely day.  Too much to write.  Tuckered out.

The Beach

The ocean puts everything into perspective.  All those ‘important’ things that seem so big suddenly get cut down to size when you stand facing the ocean.  Instant perspective.

I am thankful for where I live.

People kind of suck sometimes

Somebody really got a rise out of my hackles yesterday.  I was happily walking my dog down my quiet street when a Lexus suv whizzed past us (well over the speed limit of our walking community) screeched to a halt and layed on his horn, all the while swearing at an old homeless guy that was crossing the road with his cart full of his worldly possessions.

It was raining.  Pouring actually.  And Lexus guy had been delayed.  Boohoo.

I felt a bit of the anger shake.  This man was foul.  He didn’t look foul on the outside, but inside – Foul.  He should have felt happy, safe, warm and dry in his shiny Lexus but instead he was ugly and angry.  Would it have hurt him to just slow down for a second and let the guy make his way across?  Did he need to add name calling to the honking?   

I may have walked past the parked Lexus a few minutes later and may have mentioned that I thought it was really disgusting the way he treated that man.

Apparently I was wrong.  Apparently I am just a bleeding heart and I don’t see the big picture.

So be it.  Because if that is what the big picture looks like, I dont want to see it.

Yesterday

The intent was there

In an attempt to tighten my belt after wild Christmas spending I schlepped off to the grocery store this morning with my granny cart and the pre-requisite grocery shopping outfit:  sweat pants, fake uggs and a ratty sweatshirt.  Classy. 

By the time I finished shopping I was beyond hungry and the thought of cooking my own breakfast wasn’t quite as appealing as it was an hour ago.

Enter ? Cafe.  Darn that brain of mine.  I can remember what was on their menu board yesterday (cranberry panckakes) but I cannot remember the name of the actual restaurant!  Gah, I will probably remember the name at three in the morning when I am supposed to be sleeping!

I dragged my granny cart into the restaurant and ordered my food to go – PapaPug would never forgive me if I ate bacon without him.  While sitting there waiting for my food I picked up a small printed ‘paper’.  The kind you used to find in small town restaurants typically highlight local news, horoscope, gossip and ads.  This particular paper was different.   This one made me chuckle.  It is called the “Elated News“.  The idea being only good news, no drama.  Mandate:

“We actually deliver positive news, enlightening humour, inspired editorials and motivating articles.”

I was skeptical.  Humans seem to gravitate towards drama.  Its just in their nature.

I was wrong.

 This paper was entertaining, thoughtful and downright funny. 

I invite you to check out Quinton Carlin.  He was a contributor to this edition of the Elated News.   An excerpt from his article, C.N.N. – Constant Negative News:

Thee years ago I started a 90 day media fast.  No newspapers, no TV and no celebrity gossip for 3 months!  How did I ever survive?  I not only survived, I thrived.  After those 90 days I never picked up the remote or newspaper again.

It made me wonder if he would have a firm grip on the happenings in the world, but after a bit of blog stalking, he seems to not only have a firm grasp on the realities of the world but an interesting take on a variety of subjects.  Too be quite honest, I expected him to be an older, different sort of man after reading his column, don’t know why, I just did.  As usual I was wrong.  Colour me surprised when I found a young, very good looking guy staring back at me from his blog.  Check it out. 

Here.

Ok, all.  I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones.  I know I did!

At that age

By ten p.m. I was in my jammies on a Friday night, watching television and surfing the net.  The music in the apartment downstairs was banging against my floor and the boozy voices were laughing merrily.  I was feeling a little nostalgic for the days gone by when I would have had a bottle of Canadian in hand swaying to some song I loved.  That feeling of a sexually charged pub, filled to the brim with both people you knew and people you wanted to know.  For a second I missed the size 2 jeans, high heeled boots and vanilla scented perfume that made me feel like a woman with the world in her palm and a little sex appeal ready to be shared.

Ah the days.

By midnight the boozy voices downstairs started to sound a little ridiculous.  The enthusiasm with which a woman laughs while pretending to the man of the ‘moment’ that he may get lucky tonight is especially entertaining.  The boisterous voice of the man of the ‘moment’ trying to get some is a little funny actually.

By one a.m. the music was nothing but a bang bang bang on my floor.

By two I wish I had never been the girl whose boozy voice kept somebody up.  I was thinking that if I was sorry enough for keeping my neighbours awake in years gone past that the karma of that thought might shut that party down soon.  Wishful thinking.

At seven a.m. I am thrilled that I do not have more than a sugar hangover.  I am well into my Saturday with a doggie walk under my belt (along with some bacon!).

Im glad the night came full circle so I would wake up realizing how much I love my peaceful life.  The days gone by were lovely but do not need to be repeated.