Open Forum - Questions from Jess

Continue to post questions for me in the OPEN FORUM post.

Jess over at Oh, The Joys has asked me a LOT of questions. I plan to try to answer them as best as I can. Her questions are:

Where did you grow up, what were your parents like, how did they shape who you would become, who was your first love - the whole story on that - and then the whole story on every love since him - up to now.

Where did I grow up??? I am not sure if I have grown up quite yet. But my childhood was spent in the small city of Melville, Saskatchewan. I went to St. Henry's Catholic School (no Catholic School Girl jokes please) up to grade 9. Then I attended the Melville Comprehensive High School for grades 10-12. I did a lot more partying than studying back then. I was a bit of a badass. I smoked ...... "stuff".... I drank....I skipped school.

I was the youngest of five kids. I have two brothers and two sisters. None of which are very close to me in age. I think by the time I came to the teen years, my parents were just really tired. My mom was 35 when I was born, and she worked as a nurses aide and was seldom around when I was growing up. My Father was 24 years older than my mother. So, if you do the math, he was 59 when I was born. He was the most influential in my growing up, as he was the one who I spent the majority of my time with. He taught me to strive for intelligent conversation, to exercise my mind, not to waste an opportunity to learn something. That is what I do with blogging.....I read and learn.

As for the loves of my life....well....I was married, as you all know. We were high school sweethearts, and it was expected of us to marry...so we did. We divorced. I was involved with another man for a few years, that did not go well, even if it did produce my little TucMan. I talk about both of those relationships in my other blog, Imperfect Perfections. You can read that article here. I am now with my soul mate, the love of my life.....NewMan. I have never felt happier or more secure in any relationship in my life. I have spoken about him here several times. You can read one of those articles here.

I believe that we are all on this earth to teach lessons to one another. I believe that we do not leave this earth until all our lessons are taught and learned. I believe that some of us have a lot of lessons to teach and learn, and some of us not as many. I believe that most of the time we are not even aware of the lessons we are teaching others, and some of the time we are not aware of what we are being taught.

Jess, my question for you..... can you think of a specific lesson that your mere existence in this world has taught someone else?? Can you think of a lesson that you learned from a brief encounter with a complete stranger that changed the way you think, act, etc???

Open Forum - questions from Audrey

Continue to post your questions for this Open Forum and I will answer them in the order in which they are asked. Each inquisitor will get their own post and a set of questions from me which they will need to answer in their own blog.

Now on to the question from Audrey at Sangria Lover. Her question for me is, "If you could move anywhere in the world, where would you go and why"

I grew up in a small city in south-east Saskatchewan. I lived there for 18 years. Finished high school and got the heck out of dodge. I migrated north to Saskatoon. Both of my sisters lived there with their families and it just seemed like the natural choice. I worked for a couple years, went to university for a few years. Then I got engaged and took a year off work. I moved back home with my mom & dad. I planned my wedding, worked in the nursing home as a nurse's aide. Then when I got married, I moved back to Saskatoon and went back to nursing school. My three older children were all born in Saskatoon. The son I lost is buried in Saskatoon, as is my father. I moved to Alberta in 2001. As much as I love it here, this never has felt like home. I have always longed to be back in Saskatoon nestled in my family.

I would also love to travel the world. I have only travelled to a few places in the US....a few places in Canada......but that is it. I would love to travel to South America, Europe, Asia....basically.....I would love to travel the world. I want to see Scotland, as I have Scots heritage. I would love to go to Paris with NewMan. I would like to go to London England, as that is where my father was stationed during WW2 and he talked of it often. NewMan often talks of places he has travelled to and would like to take me to....I would go anywhere in the world with him, experiencing what he has experienced .... with him at my side.... with my children too.... teaching them that the world does not end at the edge of this small town that we live in.

So the short answer to this question is, I would love to be centered back in Saskatoon, with my family all close at hand....but I would love to be everywhere in the world as well, learning about the cultures, customs, experiencing life.

Can you all tell that my favourite Reality Show is Amazing Race?????

Now for your questions, Audrey......"If you could go on any Reality Show, which one would you go on and why? Who would you take with you (if you needed a partner)? Play to win or play true to your personality? What is that personality??" I know that is way more than one question, but, you need to answer all of those to give perspective.

Open Forum

I have been scraping the lint encrusted crevices of my brain to come up with something interesting for me to write about. As seems to happen so very often, I am stumped.

Again, I am sitting here at work, trying desperately to keep my eyes open. Why is it topics that seem wildly entertaining and witty at 4:22AM appear to be just mindless drivel in the light of day?? I have started several topics over the last couple of nights only to have them look so ridiculous when I get home that I trash them completely. So, my loyal readers, (all two of you....one of which I am sleeping with *wink*), I implore you to give me fodder to write on.

I am opening up the phone lines and I am taking calls. Whatever is on your mind, just come on out and ask me. Have a question for me about my job, my life, my kids?? Go ahead and ask. Have a topic that you would like me to give my editorial commentary on?? Post it in the comments. I will do my best to write on any subject, answer any question, give my opinion or advice on any pressing concern you may have. However, I do reserve the right to censor any freaks, weirdos, perverts (yes, NewMan, that means you too), and other undesirables out of my comments. I will endeavour to do my utmost to be as honest, sincere and entertaining as possible.

I have had to reinstate the commenting rules again, however. You have to have a blogger account and the word verification thingy has been turned back on, because of some spammers hate comments that were plugged into my comment box.

OH, and I almost forgot....if you do post me a question, you have to be prepared to answer one back for me, on YOUR blog......and if you don't have a blog......in my comments. That isn't too much to ask in return, is it?

Let the games begin........

Can we talk about why I don't like time change??

I lived the first 35 years of my life in a place where the time never changed. Every province around us changed, the US states changed, but we never changed. I don't know why we didn't, we just didn't.

So now, my 40yr old body is waging a war against the time change. I just can't seem to do the switch. I have been doing it for a few years now, living here in Alberta, but my body still can't seem to adjust. I had trouble sleeping last night, I can't help but subtract the hour when I look at the clock calculating the "real" time in my head. It can take me a full week to make the switch.

Of course, being that I work weekends, nights, etc....I can often be found working during the time change, and since my karma is a bit of a practical joker, I usually find myself on the crappy end of the time change stick. There is nothing worse than working nights in the fall on the night of time change. Our hospital has automated clocks and when 2:am hits and those clocks roll back, every second is like another toothpick being stuck in your eye to keep it open.

The spring change, which of course was just this weekend in case you missed it, is like a bonus if you are on the night shift, but really bites if you are on the day shift. Nothing like losing an hour of sleep on a Saturday night. You tend to change the clocks early so as to trick yourself into already thinking it is later, thereby going to bed at an appropriate time so that you get enough sleep to get through your shift. That, by the way, never works.

Insomnia hit me last night. I kept looking at the clock, thinking to myself, "of course I am still awake, my body thinks it is only 11pm" "midnight" "1am" "2am"..... you get the picture.......then this morning, my alarm goes off at 6am, like usual, and my brain says......"it is only 5am".....well, actually it said, "F@#$!!!! It is 5:18 am and I missed the alarm"

Amazingly, this morning was like the first time all year that I called the kids for school...ONCE....they all got up....got dressed, made their own lunches and walked to school......ON TIME. I am wondering what my dear friend Karma has in store for me now............