Things That Make You Go "Hmmmm…"

Some of the best conversations with strangers happen at the hair salon.

I was nearing the end of my hair appointment yesterday. I had just finished under the dryer and was going to be styled. I came from the back area into the main part of the store, and there were a few other ladies there. One was a young girl. The other two were older (at least mid 40s & 50s). At first the two older ones were just chatting about parking…actually complaining about parking was better. I just listened to what they had to say. I was just thankful that in a place like Winnipeg, parking is free in many areas and still cheap enough downtown. Something you can take for granted until you travel. Then, the conversation started to morph and eventually reached to the topic of marriage.

The oldest lady was saying that she doesn’t want to get married. And that’s totally fine. Marriage is not for everybody, nor is everybody marriage material. This world is no longer a perfect place, and it’s becoming almost some sort of archaeological quest to find a great life partner. So someone asked her why she didn’t want to be married. In a nutshell, she’s seen too many horrible things happen in marriages, and she doesn’t want that for herself. All of her siblings have bad marriages. Of course I had to ask her then if she knew anyone with a good marriage. She said no. I told her that she needs some new friends. She also mentioned that men tell you what to do when you get married and she didn’t want anyone changing her or controlling her. I was happy to tell her that that doesn’t happen in all marriages. She looked at me like I was nuts. Thank God I was able to tell her that I am happily married and my husband does not control me. Suddenly I had some credibility. Meanwhile, the 2nd oldest lady piped up and make some crack about how men tell you that you can’t spend money when they’re married. And then she shut up for the remainder of the conversation. If I had the time, I would’ve asked her more about that. Both people in the marriage should be keeping an eye on the finances/budget. If a spouse has to tell another to stop spending, I’d hope it was because you were spending foolishly!

As the convo went on a bit more, it turns out that the older lady knew of one couple with a good marriage–her parents. But she chose to overlook their example and watch her siblings poor example instead. She was letting fear run her life. I was just saddened at how she had the power to break the cycle in her family and set a positive example for her young nieces & nephews, but she refused. She automatically assumed that if she were to marry, it would end up to be bad. And I guess she has a point. If you walk into any relationship with negative thinking and assumptions, that will be the driving force behind what you put into it. I have yet to see negativity breed positivity.

She talked a bit more and mentioned that she was perfectly fine single and quite happy where she was in life. Then she mentioned that sometimes she gets a bit lonely for male attention, but otherwise she’s fine. I had to back her up. She doesn’t want to get married, so why is she lonely for a man? Then she tried to say that sometimes you want someone to go to coffee or dinner with, and then go to your separate homes at the end of the night. I asked her if she had any girlfriends–they should do the trick for your loneliness. Yeah, she meets friends, but sometimes you want a guy. Then I had to ask her what is the point of dating around if she has no plans to ever commit to one person. She quickly jumped on the defensive saying that she’s not dating many people and she’s not about seeing multiple men.

Poor, confused lady. As I was leaving, someone asked her if she had ever prayed for a good man. Her reply was that she used to, but she never got one so she stopped asking. And again, that was another comment that I couldn’t just let slip by. I asked her if there was a time limit on her prayer request…

Hmm… the life lessons you can learn from people just by listening to them. It’s sad to see her so bogged down in bitterness and hurt and talking nonsense. She did say though that about everything else in life she’s positive. She’s only negative when it comes to men. I’d love the chance to chat with her again…about a different topic this time. I’d like to hear some happy thoughts for a change.

They’ve Lost Their Minds

I almost couldn’t believe a story I read in the paper this morning. It was about former grow op houses and how they’re listed on the market as sellable homes. The specific example the paper had used was a house I’d seen listed a few weeks back. It’s a big house, about 2000 sq ft, with double attached garage. It’s in the Garden City area of the city. It is older. But the pictures were atrocious, to say the least. The house was a downright mess. The amount of mould in the place was disturbing through my computer monitor, let alone to envision seeing this place in person. There was mold everywhere…and I do mean everywhere!!! In fact, the house was in such horrendous condition that it stated in the listing that the home was not available for showings. Only the potential buyer would have the chance to walk through the home after their offer was accepted. Oh, and the appropriate hazardous attire would be issued for this walk-through. Now, if a house is in such horrid shape that it would be a danger to my health to walk through it, it should just be free, right? Right?!

So, it was listed for $120,000. We were joking around when we’d seen the listing about how we could probably get it for like under $100k and then use the rest of our money to completely demolish and start from scratch. I refuse to mess with mould. And, being a former grow op, who knows what other kind of surprises were hidden in the foundation and other necessary areas of the house itself?

Well, turns out the listing realtor got over 1500 phone calls about this house. He had a total of 61 offers… No, not six point one, but sixty-one!!! It finally sold for the grand total of $191,000. That’s what, not 70,000 over list price, right? All for a crappy house, literally.

And that’s what made me mad today. At the moment I’m homeless, largely in part to these types of over-offering people. (Thank God I’m not shelterless though!!!) But houses that are many a times over priced are being outbid for ridiculous amounts. And there are actually people out there willing to pay some amount that’s substancially above list price. Why?? Because they can?? But the kicker is that you then have to turn around and do renovations of some sort in the house. Our grow op winner could just give me the 71,000 dollars he’s/she’s got kicking around and I could buy a nice, and CLEAN, piece of land and build a fantastic house.

What is this world coming to?

No, I Didn’t Quit Laughing…

I’m still chuckling away over here. Funny how I rename my blog, and then take a long pausing post. Coincidentally, the NaBloPoMo peeps are running this contest 12 months a year now, with November still being their main month. I’ll probably attempt it from the sidelines, without officially signing up. I know that there’s no way I can keep up…for real.

So, the car was still kinda acting up. Turns out there was a good reason–we needed a new battery. Last Saturday morning, we went to start the car and nothing happened. So, Jono got all bundled up and went outside to manually start it…it was deader than dead. CAA came by twice in about 30 minutes. The first time, the boosted it and told us to keep it running for a good 30 minutes. No prob. Jono presses the command start button (so that we can remove the key from the ignition and prevent auto theft) and the thing dies!! The second time, the guy mentioned that command start takes more energy than the manual start. We let it run for a good while, then piled in to head to church. We backed out of our spot beside the garage, and managed to pull in front of the garage (to straighten out enought to drive off) and the car died again, right there!!! This time, we borrowed the sisters ailing car to boost ours. Long story short, my bro came and got Jamayia & I for church. And Jono never did make it. My mom picked him up after church for lunch. The long weekend was spent going back and forth to Part Source. The sillyness finally ended Tuesday when they gave Jono a new battery (praise the Lord for warranty!!!) and we’ve been cruising ever since.

What else–I’ve been enjoying my “working” life at the Baby Bin Boutique. I meet all kinds of people. It’s been fun to scope out all types of nifty baby gadgets and items. Anyone looking for unique gifts, head on my way. I work a lovely 8 hrs a week–perfect since I don’t have any other childcare. My bro was helping, but he just got himself a job, so that’s out of the picture now. Oh well…congrats though, Bro!

What else?? We’re heading down to Cali (yes, again…**laughs mischieviously**). My sister graduates in June, so time to go and support again. Oh, Ontario Mills Mall, we shall reunite!!! And Jamayia still flies free :-) Big, big grins.

Of course, with the icky airlines stroller/luggage rules, I’ll need to be purchasing an umbrella stroller now too. Any suggestions??

Well, sleepy time. Thanks, to my loyal reader fan, who actually misses it when I don’t post regularly. Word on the street is that we have something in common 😉

Nighty nite!

My Car Started With Divine Power

I haven’t blogged since mid-Jan?? Sorry, all my loyal readers. I now have motivation and inspiration to do better. What’s up with us? Well….

I’m enjoying work. It’s been 2 months now, and it’s going well. I’m very blessed, to be working for a local business and only 8 hrs/week. It sure takes the stress off arranging childcare. I’m having fun and meeting all sorts of people. You learn lots too, just from observing people.

Jamayia’s eating better. Her appetite has greatly increased–yeah! Not only does she chew food, but she actually swallows it too!! I know!!! Improvements all around. She’s getting to be quite the ravenous little monkey, which is cool. I’m sure she’ll be slowly packing on the ounces too. Can you believe I’m starting to think about her birthday cake. Yes, her birthday’s in July, but she’s also allergic to milk. I want her to enjoy a fun birthday meal, dessert included. No point in blowing out candles on a dessert you can’t even ingest yourself.

Jonathon’s been mega busy with work. Thankfully he’s been keeping warm as he busses it to work day after day.

Speaking of warm–it so was NOT this past week. Okay, let me not lie. It was gorgeous on Sunday, just a few degrees below freezing point. But please tell me how we plummeted down to nearly -50 Celcius (including windchill factor)??? Brrrrrr…… Which brings me to today’s title.

Tuesday nite, I was heading out with the Sisters-in-love and Baby. (Yeah, I was planning for her to stay home with Daddy, but he got delayed at work). I pressed the button on the keychain to start the car, and saw lights come on in the car. When we went outside, though, the car was off. It’s supposed to run for 18 minutes automatically, and we certainly didn’t take that long to come out. I pressed the remote button again. It tried to start and stopped, start and stopped. Not good… I got in the car and manually tried to start it…had a few problems, but it eventually turned over and stayed on. We had no car troubles on our return trip home. That nite, I asked hubby to program it so that the car automatically starts when the temp reaches a certain point. He thought he did.

Wednesday morning, I tried to start the car. I saw lights and walked away from the window. Close to 1pm, I went to start it again, as I was heading out. This time, I stood watch at the window. Turns out that it would start for a whopping 2 seconds, then konk out. This meant I had to go outside and start it up myself. I bundle up and get in the car. I turned the key and was only getting silence. A couple times, I’d hear the engine try to turn over…but mostly silence. It was dead. Dead, like in the movies kind of dead. I looked around, but there was no knight in shining armour galloping through my back lane. I leaned back on my seat and said an honest prayer. “Lord, am I not supposed to go out today? It’s cool if I’m to stay home.” I tried the car again–it started!! Praise the Lord! Only He could come through like that. The car was so dead, that the odometer has reset itself, as well as all my preset radio stations.

I know you’re dying to ask if my car was plugged in. Short answer: no. The cord from our block heater is actually broken, so we’re not able to use it. Instead, we just program the car starter to automatically start at specific temperatures. We had no problems last winter. And Wednesday nite, Jonathon was sure to program the car correctly. We’ve had no problems since.

Yeah!

I Had A New Title…

I really did have a new, snappy title for this blog. Unfortunately, I forgot it. It came to me late the other nite, while I was tucked away nice & cozy under the duvet. (Sidebar: if you don’t have a duvet, please invest in one promptly!! It’ll be the best sleep you’ve ever had. For real!). I was mulling around a few phrases in my mind, and then something totally cool jumped out at me. And I really should’ve written it down. But that would’ve involved coming out from the warmth, turning on a light and writing this title down. I’m sure that inspiration will hit me again…

American Idol started tonite. I really look forward to the audition process more than the other parts of this contest. The auditions are where you get to hear people’s various life stories. Some don’t have it easy; others think that they are the it factor that causes the earth to rotate. This is also where you get to hear some of the hidden talent in America. Sadly, it’s only some, because not all divas/divos are able to audition for this small contest. And this is also where you find some of the most clueless people out there. People who think that someone else would actually pay to see them perform–ha! I can’t believe how many people have so many tone deaf friends that they suggest an AI audition. To be fair, there are some pretty decent vocalists who don’t make it pass the first round simply because they’re not legitimately suited for the competition. And to be fair, there are those who didn’t get a chance to audition because other jokers stole their spots and wasted time.

The thing that really irked me tonite though was how two-faced people can be when on display. I saw too many poor auditions, that ended with the judged nicely telling them no thanx, this is not for you. The “singer” would grin and sometimes wave and say bye. But as soon as they cross the threshold, they’re yelling/screaming/cussing/cussing/gesturing about how unfair the process is and how the judges have no idea what they’re talking about. I’m wondering which is it: do you try and put your best foot forward in adversity or do you just snap when faced with disappointment?? And then I’m just thankful that they didn’t make it through because they don’t seem to deserve it. They lie and they can’t handle the dips of life too well.

In other news, it’s already mid-January. Time is just zipping on by. Tomorrow’s Wednesday, already. We’re almost at the weekend. Jamayia will be 18 mths old on Friday–yikes!!! She’s growing uber-quickly.

Greetings From The Basement

Yes, we’re still homeless. At the same time, we’re just thanking God that we’re not shelterless. In case you missed the memo, we’re living in a basement. And really, the floorspace here is slightly bigger than our condo. The homeowners rock–they let us visit upstairs and everything. LOL. That sounds wayyyy worse than it actually is. Living here’s been cool and I honestly have no complaints.
Although, I’ve gotta say that it’s interesting to hear different people’s comment. And the majority of them have been negative. The various negative assumptions include the following:
  • we’re broke
  • the landlords are broke
  • my parents didn’t want us
  • we’re mooching
  • we’re not getting along
  • we’re supporting the landlords
  • the landlords are supporting us
  • we’re too picky
I’m sure there are others, but this is all I can remember at this point. Quite frankly, all I have to say is good riddance to the naysayers. Think what you want, but if you want the truth, you should ask me. Until then, I’ll just be catching jokes from the perplexed looks I get from the Negative Neils & Nellies. I will not have a conniption over what you’re thinking! LOL.

How’s the house hunt going? Extremely slowly. The market’s kinda slow right now and the pickings are slim. The other nite, we were on MLS and there was a big $60K gap in housing prices that were currently on the market. The homes on the lower end of the scale are just a shade too small. And the homes on the higher end are just kinda pushing it financially. **sigh** We’ll just have to continue with the waiting game. We refuse to rush into a home just to say that we have one and a whole truckload of regrets too. But I know that when we see the right home for us, you’ll be able to hear it by our joyous celebrations.

In the meantime, here are some photos to catch you up on what’s been happening here.

I Had Lots of Blog Topics

I did, honestly. I just can’t remember them all right at this very moment. There were a few items in my world that merited blogging status. I’ll quickly recap on the couple things that I can remember….

Britney Spears. Oh no, you say, not you too! Bare with me for a brief moment. I’m just wondering why the media, and even the world is so obsessed with reporting about this troubled starlet’s life? The Kevin dude from Entertainment Tonight seemed to be the one assigned to her story. If I were him, I’d just be seeking employment elsewhere. She is a human being first and foremost. Just because she’s been in the spotlight doesn’t make her exempt from living a life with choices. The thing that’s most annoying is that there are countless other mothers out there who are in very similar situations, but are practically going unnoticed. No one seems to be fighting to help the innocent unknown children. No lawyer or respected professional is fighting for that child’s best interest. If anything, there is a lot of good to be found from this Britney situation. It can be call to action to help those families in similar situations.

Obedience. I was chatting with my family tonite, and we were realizing how important it is for children to learn about obedience from young. It’s vital to their safe existence to learn about listening. They need to listen to their parents. They need to obey their parents. They need to follow their parents instructions without question (most times). That being said, it’s also important for parents to do their part too. Give valid explanations for the actions you take. Don’t just fall back on the cop out “because I said so” line as a reason for doing something. It’s weak. When kids understand and can see a sensible reason as to why you’re asking them to do something, they’re more apt to obey. Most importantly, live a life of obedience yourself.

Goodnight all!

So Long 2007!!

Alas, we’ve reached the final hours of the year that was 2007. It sure was an interesting one. Complete with fantastic memories, excellent conversations and an encouraging number of life lessons learned. I’m glad to report that I’ll be walking into 2008 as a different woman than when I walked into this past year. Growth is good, in that way.

I do apologize to my loyal readers for not blogging in December. Honestly, there was no valid reason. At the start of the month, I needed a brief respite after successfully complete NaBloPoMo. And then I got busy and would think to blog, but was unable to do it right at that very moment. Like how can I blog while in the shower??? And then it just kept getting pushed back and pushed back.

The December highlights— Congrats to friends who had a baby at the end of November. We bumped into them at the mall last week; what a cute family. We’re so happy for them!! Congrats to another family on their exciting news!! I’m looking forward to hearing more and more from you… (Yes, I’m keeping them Anonymous until I get the okay to share a bit more…LOL). Congrats to my cousin on her rebaptism. She’s grown so much this last year. I’m a working Mommy. (Chillax…I only work 8 hrs a week and Baby hangs out with Daddy during that time)… Hubby’s on vacation for 2 wks. He just got back from a week long business trip too. I ran into a relative that I hadn’t seen in months.

The December Lowlights— We’re still homeless. But praise the Lord, at least we’re not shelterless! Still no major change with D’s ear situation. Her medical team is exploring other options. I learned the ugly truth about a few close people. All their ugliness just add to my own learning experiences.

Wow, the lowlight list was pretty short. That’s cool! I don’t need to be wasting a blog post with too many complaints.

Happy 2008 y’all!

Day 30: I Made It!

Hip hip…Hooray!! Yes, my loyal fans, we’ve reached the end of NaBloPoMo. Thanks for sticking with me. I had fun doing it, and will try it again next year. Maybe one year, I’ll try my hands at the novel writing month too.

Well, Praise the Lord!! I paid off the last little bit of my student loan today. I started repaying my loan in 3 parts back in February 2002. According to the payment schedule, it was to take me 9.5 yrs to repay my loan, and oodles of interest on top of the roughly $16,000 I was lent for the course. Instead, I finished paying it today, November 2007. That’s like what–5 yrs 9 months or so… I’m quite thankful this evening. That’s definitely an answer to prayer!!

My sister-in-love came home from work wearing one of those now infamous coloured wrist bands. Hers is purple, signifying her commitment to living complaint free. The intent is to cease complaining, criticizing and/or gossiping. I think it’s a wonderful idea, because you’re pledging to improve your life. I don’t have a wristband myself, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t use less negativity in my life. So, in order to encourage healthy living in this home, I’m going to work on curbing my negativity too.

Alrighty, time to read and snuggle with my Baby. Nitey nite, all!

Day 29: Random Musings

Well, it’s been a mixed bag of things here. Let’s see…

Baby slept well last nite and we awoke after 9 am today :-). She was sitting on my lap as we were reading her Bible lesson together, and I felt something quite warm on my leg. Her butt wasn’t on fire, then I realized that my leg was wet. Yes…her diaper was that soaked, that it could hold no more pee!

After changing Baby, we went upstairs for our morning cereal. As I was moving my hot bowl of cream of wheat, topped with cinnamon toast crunch from one room to another, the baby stuck her hand in my bowl. Well, she did not enjoy the sensation of hot porridge. I rushed her to the cold water tap and ran her hand under it for a bit. Thank God I was able to stay calm. I’m not a panicker by nature, but still, it was my baby who was a bit hurt.

My first shift got cut in half to 2 hrs tonite. It went pretty good. It was nice to get out, by myself. Actually, it was downright bizarre to be out by myself. Most times, I travel with Baby, since she loves to mainly nurse still and lack of childcare at the right moments. I’m a super shy person, so I don’t really like to be on the spot. However, it’s time to step out, hence this job. It’ll be neat just interacting with different people and learning more about how a small business operates.

Hubby & Baby picked me up from work. And wouldn’t you know it–Baby fell asleep on the ride home. Which meant what? That’s right, a delayed bedtime. She originally went to bed at a decent time…but took a cat nap! LOL…Only my child, right?! After a few moments of weeping & gnashing of teeth, she went right back to sleep again. At least this means we get to sleep in tomorrow….

1 more day folks! It’s also almost December…