Will Ferrell

Can anyone out there tell me why the movie studios are still letting this guy make movies??????

I mean really.....his movies are not in the least bit funny. Okay, so Elf was not too bad...but everything since that is complete rubbish. Is it just me? Have I watched too many movies that actually make me think or evoke emotions and feelings other than pure nausea??

I just do not see the appeal........not at all....

A Little Discussion on Etiquette

Am I the only person left under the age of 75 who finds the wearing of hats indoors, by anyone, just rude????

I know we live in a society of live and let live......but.......when I see a man or woman, boy or girl.....whoever it may be......wearing a hat (especially a ball cap, trucker cap, farmer cap, etc) indoors, it instantly makes me question their intelligence and upbringing.

Just last night I had ordered take out from one of the nicest restaurants in the small city close to where I live. I was sitting there waiting to pick it up and I looked around and saw ball caps on heads everywhere!!!

Where are the days when men knew enough to take the hat off as you go through the door and hang it on the coat rack? Is it really that difficult? Are you afraid some stranger is going to steal your hat and risk getting head lice?? Are you worried someone will see your hat hair?? (which wouldn't happen if you didn't wear the ugly thing in the first place) Hat hair can be remedied by this neat little invention called a COMB!!!! They are small, portable and fit right in your pocket...amazing! Are you concerned that the cute waitress might notice that you are going bald??? Here's a little tip for you........SHE ALREADY KNOWS!!!!! She figured it out when you refuse to take off your hat.....and they also know that the constant wearing of the hat actually irritates the scalp causing you to lose even MORE HAIR!!!

For the love of all things good....please take off the hat!!!

The Lesson

Lessons are everywhere. Not always pleasant, not always desired, not always profound...but as long as they are learned, they are always positive.

I have been learning lessons all my life. Admittedly, I have not always WANTED to learn the lesson.....and most definitely have not always ADMITTED to having learned the lesson. In fact, in my very stubborn French/Scots kind of way I will tend to argue a point that I am NOT learning a lesson from a specific interaction, just because.......well.......because I am a stubborn French/Scotsman.

For any of you out there that may have been involved in one of those stubborn French/Scots conversations with me, rest assured....on much introspection and soul searching.....and a self humbling brought upon by a serious feeling of fear and loss..... I have learned the lesson.

Things I do believe:

there is only one soul mate, and when you find it, you must hold on to it, and stop being a stubborn French/Scotsman

two stubborn Frenchmen together can create a lot of loud fireworks.....(take from that whatever you wish)

I have come a long way, but I have a long way to go

love is the single most important thing to have in life. And the person you love is the single most important person in your life. The opinions, feelings, emotions, reactions...everything....of the person you love need to be acknowledged and validated....always. I am striving to be the person who does that....and in turn, I need to learn to expect that in my own life.

every story, argument, situation has at least two points of view....to love someone is to be able to see those things from the other person's point of view, and acknowledge and validate that.....even if it differs from your own....

unconditional love is hard to get, and even harder to give......but is of utmost importance to strive for

mistakes, while they can prove to be devastating, painful, uncomfortable and damaging...are a necessary part of life.... we learn lessons from mistakes.... and sadly, until we actually learn that lesson, we will keep making that mistake. Mistakes are not usually the end of the world, even if they feel that way at the time.

All Things Bright & Beautiful

Life is looking better. I am no longer a puddle of emotions every time I turn around. Now don't get me wrong, I still miss Jacques to death and pray every day that he will come home to me sooner rather than later......but, I don't wallow in it. And Tracy, you were right.......I didn't die....I am here.....to annoy the hell out of you for a good long time yet.

Funny how time has a way of adding perspective to all things.

Can you die from a broken heart??

There are people that say you can.

Jacques was here for six months. There were ups and downs. All relationships have ups and downs. For the most part, we were happy. We enjoy each others company. He is my best friend.

But now he is gone. He had to go back to take care of some things. We don't know when he can come back. And even though we are still together, my heart is broken. My arms ache to hold him. My lips ache to kiss him. I miss his being here every day. I miss his cooking (he is amazing). I miss his laughter, so enthusiastic and robust. I miss him. I just miss him so damn much.

Moses

Charlton Heston is gone.

Now while I am not a big fan, I do know some of his movies, Planet of the Apes, Soylent Green, Ben Hur....and the original I Am Legend, though I can't remember the name of it, and having watched only a small part of it the other day, I can tell you, it was BAAAAAAAAD!!!

The most memorable of the Charlton Heston movies had to be The Ten Commandments. I used to watch this movie when I was young, and was in awe of the special effects. Now you watch it and think of how much better it could be done today. In fact, that is exactly what Jacques and I were discussing this morning. How much better the special effects would be now. The parting of the Red Sea, the computer generated people following him, even the burning bush......but one question remained.... Who would they cast as Moses today???

We tossed around a couple names....... Anthony Hopkins ~ too creepy......Sean Connery ~ too old.....Brad Pitt ~ too Brad Pitt......The Guy from 300 whose name I do not know.......

We wondered if there was anyone who could do the role with the magnitude in which Mr. Heston did it.....with as much star appeal....or, did it need to be a big star?? Now we put the question to you, the readers.....who would you cast????

Long Time, No Blog

I am certain that the one reader who may have faithfully been reading me at one time, has given up on me. I have felt so very uninspired as of late.

Life here has been good. NewMan and I are settling into life together. There are a lot of bumps along the way, as there are with any relationship. Add in the fact that I have 4 kids, two of whom are teenagers, and the fact that he is so far away from his own children, you can only imagine the ups and downs we feel here daily.

My oldest son, who will be 17 this summer, decided about 6 weeks ago that he did not want to live with me anymore. It has been a very difficult transition for me, but one that really needed to be done. He has had a lot of anger issues in the past, and he has a definite issue with authority. He did not like my rules. I suppose they were unreasonable ones.

1. Get up and go to school every day
2. Come home on time
3. Clean up after your self
4. Do the chores assigned to you without having to be told a million times
5. No smoking, alcohol or drugs

I am a tyrant.

His father seems to think he can do a better job with him than I can. I hope he can, actually. I have had enough, frankly. I took the child to counselling on several occasions to help him deal with his issues about our divorce. I took him to anger management classes to help him avoid some serious trouble he may have gotten himself into. I tried to be a parent rather than a best friend. And all I got in return from him was that he hated me.

It has truly broken my heart and my spirit.

Parenting is Hard

I have never professed myself to be the perfect parent...hell, I have never even professed myself to be a good parent. At best, I am the accidental parent. Not to take away from the beautiful miracle of becoming a mother.... but when it happened to me, I hadn't exactly planned it. I love my children to the death, I would give my life for them (at times, I feel that I already have).

I was only married 5 short months, was in the middle of my first year of Nursing school, when I got pregnant with my first son. I remember being scared, annoyed, P.O.ed at myself. How did this happen to me? But happen it did. I am now the proud mother of a 6' tall, 220lb, blue eyed 16yr old boy with beautiful auburn hair, which he has recently cut into a mohawk. UGH! But, I pick my battles, right?

My other children also present their own challenges. My 12yr old boy struggles with depression, and ADD. My daughter struggles with CDS & OGS....Chronic Diva Syndrome and Only Girl Syndrome. She has somehow developed this attitude that she can do or say whatever she likes and should never have to pay a consequence.

The 4yr old....now he is really a piece of work. I know I have caused this problem with him. He is the baby. I have always catered to him. I have always felt such tremendous guilt about the kids having only one parent that I have over compensated. I have spoiled all my children, but the little one is the worst. And now, I am having to do damage control. I am having to retrain him to not always getting what he wants.

I am having to retrain all of my children. I have created a collective monster of unaappreciation that is wearing very very thin with myself and most others that have to deal with them. Teaching old dogs new tricks is never an easy task. And I am quickly realizing I am not a dog trainer.

Happy New Year!!

Wow, a whole new year. And I don't feel one bit different today.....

I didn't make any resolutions, since they really don't ever hold anyway. Maybe I should make some that I can actually keep, to keep the feeling of failure away...

I resolve in 2008 to:

Eat more chocolate
Yell at my kids more
Exercise less
Spend way more time on the computer
Watch more reality tv

Hmmmmmm........maybe I have something here

The Future Begins, November 21 2007...

I thought I'd come and make a post for Rissy as she has been neglecting her blog for a while now (Bad Rissy). In truth it is mostly my fault. I have been keeping her busy very busy in preparations for my arrival...my final arrival...on the 21st of this month. After a long battle, much bloodshed (ok not so much) and a 350 Dollar 1 way ticket (that isn't too pricey really) I am ready to go. We've been busying ourselves with plans and shipping. I've shipped quite a few things up there and my last box gets shipped out next friday (WOW!)
So much excitement of course doesn't come without sacrifice. This blog has suffered immensely at the hands of our planning and excitement and I know Rissy is sorry for that. I've suffered too trust me (:P) so much that Rissy actually admitted something to me the other day...the dreaded enemy of mankind... P...M...S...

Yes, she admitted it. After a day of general crankiness (we all have our cranky days right?) she admitted it. It was under some great duress, and most likely due to the fact that it would cause great chagrin amongst womankind. I have never understood why women have such a tough time admitting that. I mean, when I'm crabby I admit it. Hell when I'm crabby everyone knows about it, share and share alike I always say :D. I did some checking about PMS on Wikipedia and the sense is that it is a definate condition that has medicine to treat it. I mean, when something has medicine to treat it, it is a condition right...look at restless leg syndrom *rolls eyes*. I will never forget the first time I heard about "PMS" I was 17 at Uni, and someone I was going out with said "Man, I must be PMSing" and I said...before thinking of course..."So there is a Medical reason you are being a jerk right now"...

...
...

As you guessed it...didn't last much longer after that...lol

I love my blog, I really love my blog

But something seems to have hijacked it. It freezes up on me something terrible whenever I try to visit here (apparently it locks up other visitors as well). I don't know what is wrong with it, or what to do to fix it. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them!!!!!

Well, our weekend is over

It was wonderful, but oh too short. The kids loved it, and Tuc clung to him like crazy. I think the kids got more love time than I did, but that is okay too...I have a lifetime of lovin', right?

Tuc, who is usully so shy and wary of strangers, just loved up Jacques....he has been craving a positive male role model. It was just so cute how he had to copy everything Jacques did. Even wearing a robe around the house and tying it the same way.

I am so in love, and so happy the kids are too!

Is there anyone left out there to read this???

Hi all!

Sorry to have neglected my dear blog lately. With back to school and work and all that I have been up to this fall, something had to give, and unfortunately, it was this.

But now for some fun stuff.

NEWMAN IS COMING!!! He is coming to my home tomorrow for 3 days to celebrate the Canadian Thanksgiving with my kids and I. I know he won't be here for the official day on Monday, but really, there are very few Canadians that actually celebrate and hold the meal on the Monday anyway.

We have some tentative dates for his final arrival to live here as well, but I am not going to divulge those quite yet.

YAY!! Happy Thanksgiving to ME!!!

Genius or Psycholgical Disorder?

Tuc has been obsessed with the letter T since I first taught him "T for Tucker". In fact, that is what he calls it, "T for Tucker". He is learning other letters as well, but every time me sees a "T", he just yells out "T for Tucker!!" And with my recent compulsion to play Scrabulous on Facebook 24 hours a day, he tends to see a lot of T's.

I have been made painfully aware as of late of his obsession with numbers and number patterns as well. He sits with me in my room and watches my digital clock and announces with very intense glee when there is a "match" on the clock...meaning more than one of the same number. OMG when it is 5:55...you would think he just won the lottery!

None of this comes as a real shocker to me, I, myself have always had an obsession with number patterns. Phone numbers in particular. I make note of how the pattern of the numbers is punched on the key pad, anything with a particular pattern delights me to no end....like my one sister, whose phone number is 1254....I love that it makes a little "postage stamp" on the keypad. Number patterns fascinate me as well. I remember phone numbers from when I was a kid, just because they had an interesting pattern to them.

You would think I could balance a cheque book, wouldn't you?? Yeah--no....

and one more thing about numbers, my oldest son turns 16 today, Lord, Help ME!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IRIS!!!

I would like to wish my Princess a Happy Birthday. The world is a better place because of what happen 41 years ago today, OK maybe that's a little bit on the egotistical side...but I know my life is a better place because of it. Iris, you are a wonderful mother, sister, daughter, friend, best friend and love, to me and so many people. You touch so many people's lives with your care and love that we are all better for it. Happy Birthday, I love you.


Le Nouveau Homme

A little Garth Brooks anyone??

So last night I was watching the final performance show of America's Got Talent (I know, I know...lame, but the kids like it) and there is this ventriloquist who does impersonations of singers...he is actually very good. His usual gig is the Rat Pack, the old standards, and one night he even did Etta James. Last night for his first performance the judges got to choose his song. They chose Friends In Low Places by Garth Brooks. He did awesome. I sang along, being silly for my kids...and The Tuc Man singing too...."I got nice friends in nice places". Made me think of all of you!

Reflections of High School

It has been a long time since I was in high school. Twenty three years, to be exact. I will sit back for a moment while you do the math.... *insert Jeopardy music here* .....yes, that makes me 41 (well, not quite, but in 4 more days.

High school for me was not horrible, but it wasn't exactly a cake walk either. I was not one of the Universally Disliked. I was not one of the Undesirables. I wasn't one of the Ultra Populars either. I floated around somewhere in the middle. I had a lot of different friends, in different social groups. Some were partyers, some were not. Some my friends drank alcohol, some smoked, some smoked stuff....and some did none of those things. Some dated lots of guys, some dated the same guy, some did not date. And strangely enough, I felt comfortable with all of them, even if most of the time, I felt terribly uncomfortable with myself.

I truly had not thought too much about high school in recent years. I had no real connections to anyone from there much anymore....until I found Facebook. Now I have found people I haven't even thought about in years....and I am truly enjoying it!

I have found in myself a confidence that was never there in high school. I know, most people are not truly confident in high school, but there are sure those who seem to be. The ones that owned the school and whom everyone looked up to and admired and wanted to be. In reconnecting with some of the people I knew back then, I have realized that what appeared on the outside was not what was truly going on on the inside. That while I felt so alone with my skeletons and demons while everyone else seemed to breeze through easily, that they too, were trying to keep their demons and skeletons from showing through.

The other part to that is that there are people that may have appeared even weaker than myself, who have blossomed into these amazingly beautiful people, full of care and compassion that was just never allowed to be nurtured in the snake pit of high school. And yet, there are still some people that so intimidated me in high school, that I feel I cannot approach them now, because those old feelings of fear of rejection still linger somewhere in my psyche.

I have grown into a complex, intelligent, compassionate adult human being. I have far more confidence than I ever dreamed I could. A lot of that, of course, has come from my life experiences, negative and positive. From being a parent, to being a single parent, to being a single parent to a teenager. From going through divorce, and the breakdown of a second major relationship. And still not afraid to love again, knowing for certain that this time....third time is a charm. And hoping that somewhere along the way I am teaching my children that people make mistakes, no one is perfect, and that the only bad thing is not trying to fix a mistake once it is recognized. Teaching them that sometimes there can be more love, peace and joy when it comes divided in two. Teaching my children that it matters not who they love, but that it is how they love them that is important.

Thank You, NewMan

I want to take this time to thank Jacques for posting for me the other day, in my absence. I certainly didn't expect such a beautiful post from him! I am a lucky lucky woman. As you can see, I think he loves me a lot! Good thing, cause I love him a lot too. I have decided to keep him on here as a contributor to this blog. He has an interesting writing style and can tell a story to make you laugh. He had his own blog for a short while, but found he didn't get it updated enough for his liking. So when he has a good story to tell, I will encourage him to post it here. Watch out for it!

As you have seen also, my aunt is ill. She has been battling cancer for a while, and is now at the end of her battle. My mother had to go to be with her, now until the end, so my annual vacation to my mom's cabin has been cancelled this year. So I am hanging out with my kids at home. I am a firm believer in things happening for a reason, so I am going to just go with the flow.

I am New Man!

While Iris is facing a crisis of family she has given me the distinct honor of being a guest blogger for her. Thinking long and hard of what subject I could post while she is away (she will actually be back tonight from picking up her kiddos) I thought heck...there is only 1 post I could make...

I am New Man!

Yes, I am the legendary New Man...who is the old man...yet...New Man lol. I have had the pleasure of knowing Iris for 10 years and about 8-9 years ago we met got close and fell in love, deeply in love. There were some issues and we went our separate ways. Through our long conversations and time that we've spent getting back to know each other again over the past 15 months we've both admitted that our thoughts drifted back and forth to one another over the years and for me even as far as asking mutual friends about her all time. Life hasn't been without its hiccups over 7 years (3 Children and 2 Marriages teaches a person or in this case 2 people quite a bit) but its amazing what one learns when you are in a place that breeds unhappiness and misery. Finding each other again at the time when we have has been awesome. Drawing upon a deep friendship that has lasted so long and realizing a love has been there but untouched and buried under 7 years of...stuff. It is refreshing. If there is one thing I have learned that when you have been at the bottom, you cherish that which you have lost and rarely does one get a second chance at something so wonderful. I am lucky.


That isn't to say that life is greener on the other side. The process of getting together is just that a process. It is a battle that we are looking at fighting and enduring for at least 2 years. Life changes are massive and they are coming. Those who would think there is an air of naïvité here don't be fooled. Love doesn't conquer all. That IS a myth. Love doesn't conquer all it is not a carte blanche giving people the ability to do as they wish or not be prepared for the worse, or worse yet, not put 100% effort into things. Honesty, trust, understanding and patience are what make love work. I've learned that in the past 5 years that loving a person has to work hand in hand with all listed above. If you can't do that, if you don't see yourself doing that. You will never be happy. To love someone is to not love them, but love their faults and crimes and failures only then will you love someone truly enough to love them forever.


I'm a lucky New Man, who intends on eventually graduating to New Husband. Seeing life as a challenge to be taken 1 day at a time and enjoying every second of it. And together as she knows I eat way too unhealthy (which her nurse side has already threatened to curb), that I have this habit of drooling (I know...ICK)and that yes...I DO leave the toilet seat up (yes women, we all do it...sorry) we will find happiness not only in love...but in honesty, trust, patience and understanding.

I am New Man. Bonjour!

I am not ready to say goodbye

Dear Auntie Dot,

There are so many things I want to say to you. Things I have said before, maybe some I have never said. All things I hope you will always know.

I love you. Not just because you are my mother's sister, but because you are you. My childhood memories of you are so vivid. Your wonderful sense of humour, your hearty robust laugh, that smile that just beams! The amazing strength you have demonstrated in your life, through all of the things you have endured, it is an inspiration to me, and will always live in me. Your compassion and understanding when I talked to you of my own difficulties, it meant so much to me. I am not sure I can ever really explain it, but know, it really helped me.

I know you have said you don't want us to be sad. But, I cannot help it. I am sad for me, though, not for you. If I had been able to change things, of course I would have cured you of your cancer and kept you here forever. But since I cannot, I have to let you go, and take comfort in the thoughts of you seeing Grandma, Uncle Mike, Uncle Bill, Leia and my Dad again. How wonderful that reunion will be! So even though I am and will continue to shed tears, know they are for the pain you are feeling now, and my own pain of missing you.

I will always hold that memory of seeing you at mom's for her birthday. I can still feel that strong, long hug. Just holding on and hugging for long minutes. So much happiness and all emotions rolled into one. How happy I am to have the memory to hold onto. Thank you so much. Thank you for all of the memories, stories, and strength. Thank you for coming back to us. Thank you for everything, Auntie Dot. And even though I am far from ready, and probably never would be..... I must say these words........

Goodbye........

Until the day we meet again....

Love Iris