cheese_fairy2

We had a lot of financial challenges through the years and are still struggling for a variety of reasons. We are big on the old adage "use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" In this society, that's pretty radical.
When Marya's computer died; we couldn't afford a new one. Gradually over the months; she has started reading more and doing more art work. She does use my computer from time to time for projects and to check her facebook etc. She doesn't seem to miss it.
We do have satellite tv but we get the rock bottom basic package. Over the Christmas holidays; a bunch of new kids channels (like family channel and Nickelodeon) appeared. I didn't think much of it and Talitha really liked them. However; they disappeared just as quickly after Christmas and it turned out that they were a "teaser promotion" to get kids hooked so they would demand their parents pay for the channels (and extra $25 a month minimum)
Well we didn't and after a few days; Talitha forgot about them and went back to appreciating her rock bottom choices. She still does a lot of crafts and plays with her dolls.
When we told this story to Myke's brother and SIL; they were floored. (you can say no to your kids???) The thing is that kids don't need a bunch of extras to be happy. Keep the standards low (my kids still think Value Village is a kind of department store! LOL); the food plain (Talitha used to think the drive through was a car wash line) and the presents at Christmas and birthdays and you will get a lot of bang for your bucks.
I think Joel and Elliot thought we were a bit weird when they were kids as we didn't have all the bells and whistles at home that their friends had; but these are our values and in this materialistic worlds; clinging to non materialistic values is tough but if you can stick it; it's so worth it.

I make a point of reading craigslist (especially the free section) and freecycle regularly. You never know when something you need is going to be available (and hopefully close by)
I also used craigslist to get rid of extra stuff when we were moving over the past few years.

The thing is; I guess I'm just a very straightforward person who thinks that if you are getting rid of something for free or very cheaply; you take the first person who offers to come and get it and that's that. Maybe I'm unusual because I can't tell you how many of these supposedly free offers come with strings attached.

Must go to charity.
Needy or deserving people only.
Single mothers only.
Preference does not go to the person who responds the quickest. (huh??)
I would really like to donate this item to someone who is having a hard time. (does this offer come with a means test?)
Write me a little about yourself and why you think you deserve to get this.
I had so many requests that it took me some time to decide who I should gift this to.
I have two of the same item and want it to go to two different people to share the wealth.
(my personal favorite) Write to me and tell me a bit about your child and why you think they are deserving of these toys.

Any kind of baby/children's clothing seems to be particularly laden with emotion and desire to give it to the "right" person.

Um; do these people have a life?? Do they just get a kick out of playing Santa Claus or something?

When I give something away; the person who takes it is also doing me a favor as I don't have to dispose of it myself. I don't care what happens to it either.

People are truly amazing sometimes.

One random Saturday last year; Myke was backing the car out of the driveway when we saw this car parked in front of our house. (maybe I've told this story before but it's always with me)
Anyway; there was this car parked in front of the house and this ordinary guy sitting in it. Immediately we were on hyper alert. Who was this guy? Was he here to serve us papers (first thing to enter our minds), collect a bill (mental check as to who we owe the most), Who else??

So he sees us and gets out of the car and we get out of the car with big trepidation. The tension completely dissolves as we figure out that he's here to service the generator; an appt made weeks ago and I completely forgot. But even then; we're left with this weak relieved feeling like we've just dodged a bullet.

This seems to be a theme in our lives: expect the worst case scenario and hope for the best. Open the front door by peering around it cautiously. Never answer the phone if the number seems unfamiliar or too familiar (thank you call display)

We have been burned many times and walked through the fire. We aren't the sort of people who can make light cocktail party conversation and mean it. (although it kinda sounds like a fun thing to do)
We live intense lives and some of our best friends are sometimes people like us who've been burned. Having friends like this means they sometimes leave without warning but we remember them with feeling.

I don't know why I feel life on the edge more in the Christmas season but I do. Maybe it's the passing of another year of struggle; trying to make ends meet and get ahead. We are making it but progress is slow.

Myke says to take things one day at a time. It's been like that since we moved in here. For the first time in two years; I do see a tiny light far away at the end of the tunnel. I'm trying to focus on the light; get something good out of each day; walk quickly towards it and hope but winters end; it's not so far away.

For the past two years; my aunt (age 79) has been helping her best friend who was diagnosed with Alzheimers. Although the diagnosis was recent; it soon became apparent that this had been developing for years. Her apartment was just filled to the doors with so much clutter and stuff that I could take all day to list it. My aunt and friends set about the task of decluttering but while this woman lived there; it was pretty difficult as she insisted on examining every slip of paper; every envelope of junk mail.
If I was to go back 16 years to the time I was asked to help her set up her VCR (remember those?) and although I can understand her having trouble with that; it was the moment when she asked me how she could get her CD player to work and I pressed the play button and she asked me how I did that that I should have twigged on to the fact that something was up. However it was just brushed off by my aunt as "well you're so mechanically minded" (yeah right; press the play button and I'm a genius! LOL)
This woman was really brillant in her time; a natural student who was a teacher and later a Protestant minister. As a child; I was quite intimidated by her in general.
Finally after two years of losing the skills necessary to live independantly (such as being able to drive, even use TTC, shop, cook or even remember how you get dressed) she agreed to go to a retirement home (which has a progressive system of supports as you decline)
Back to the apartment. Even after moving her and some furniture, clothes etc, what remained had to be seen to be believed. Today we found 40 handbags of varying condition from brand new to rotting with age. (just one example)
The thing is; I think about these things like the three boxes and two suitcases of slides we threw out that represented numerous trips she'd taken literally all over the world and now can't remember and I think of how her live has shrunk. Also as I uncover hand towels,sheets, and all manner of linens in the dozens some still with faded price tags on them; I think of what an impulse shopper she was and how this image of her racking up all this clutter just doesn't seem to fit with the well respected teacher and minister she was in her public life.
I then think of my possessions and imagine someone sorting through them (I know I"m getting morbid here) and what kind of snide comments they'd make?  In general I'm not really a pack rat and even if I was; multiple moves in my lifetime have forced me to downsize repeatedly. But even then; sorting through someone elses stuff because they don't have the ablity to do it themselves really seems to bring me face to face with the brief span of our lives and eventual mortality. (ie please let me go with all my marbles and preferably in a painless way that doesn't cause too much suffering to loved ones)
It also reminds me of having to do this same task in a far smaller way over ten years ago with my mom (who also moved several times and was subject to my hand in decluttering while she lived with us)
In a few weeks; I hope we will be finished. The only thing waiting is for some of the relatives to claim the few items of any value (a dining room set, a set of china and a few prints on the wall) and a few other friends who seem determined to eak every penny out of the remaining fairly worthless stuff (ie couches, some old furniture and a bed)
When the dust settles; at least I will have helped my aunt and she can move on to visiting her friend in the home. Fortunately my aunt's apartment is fairly organized and I won't be going through this in the same way again. (sigh of relief)

I have four kids. Everyone says "oh you must be so busy" or "it must be really busy at your house". But the thing is I have four kids but not all at once. My boys are now grown and plus they left home over 7 years ago. Marya is 14 and Talitha is 6. That translates into not too much work. Also this is the first time in 7 years that all four of my guys are in the same city!!
So this past month; I finally had all four together for dinner and was able to do something other families take for granted. Take a picture of all of them; together.



From the left: Joel age 23, Talitha age 6, Elliot age 21, Marya age 14 and me age 47.

It took long enough. 

Today I made a rare visit to Sherway Gardens; our local large fairly upmarket mall. I had to get Talitha a raincoat and wanted something reasonable but better quality than Wal Mart. Raincoats are a hard item to find sometimes as I'm always going in the wrong season (which seems to last about two weeks of the year and everyone knows when it is but me)
I did find something (on sale! :)) but before I did; I did a bit of window shopping.  If you don't go to malls much or places other than Value Village, Goodwill etc; malls can feel very glitzy and overwhelming. I took a quick walk through Eddie Bauer (I love their clothes but mostly I love them used! LOL) and immediately I was confronted by a salesperson on the prowl for a sale he could lock down and execute. (is it my imagination or do salespeople seem more aggressive now?) I quickly thanked him (just looking) and backed out of the store. I didn't even bother trying Gap or anywhere else but headed quickly for Sporting Life to get the raincoat (last one in the store except for some that were 89.99 marked down from $160???? Yeah my kid will sweat a bit more in her non gortex coat (29.99 complete with rain pants) but she doesn't seem to complain and it will keep her dry. Then they asked if I wanted to be on their regular shopper list (like for people who buy all their kids clothing there) ROTFL!!!  Well I do shop their regularly once every two years or so when someone outgrows their clothing or it wears out.
The saleswoman said I could roll up the sleeves if they were too long. (you can never buy too big for a 6 year old in my opinion)
Maybe one day our finances will improve to the point where mall shopping is a regular thing but until then; I do feel like I"m visiting another planet when I go to one. Maybe I should savour that experience.

With Joel and Elliot, my mom was around to teach them phonics and reading seemed to come fairly easily to them. Both were reading by their sixth birthdays. Marya had severe auditory learning difficulties so that was another story. Two sessions of Fastforword, $$$$ of tutoring by abcdecode and finally the summer before grade three; she started to read chapter books silently. (her first one was a Finding Nemo book and she's never looked back)
I find that people tend to typecast kids with reading difficulties and use the word dyslexia a lot. The see the kids as always being poor readers; hating reading and struggling through life until we get them a computer that spells and reads aloud to them. I tend not believe in giving kids skills not crutches.
Talitha has had her own problems with not deciding if she's right or left handed and reversing letters and words. Some would say she has dyslexia but it's a strange thing; they did MRI"s on the brains some kids diagnosed with dyslexia before and after tutoring and found changes to their brains once these kids learned to read. So do they still have dyslexia now that their brains have made the right connections (or different pathways to the same end?) I don't think so.
Talitha and I have been working together for a year now. First a session of Fastforword and then later in March; we started working on stringing letters together; a bit of abcdecode and then learning to blend. It has not been easy and there's many days when I have to force her to work. (she always gets three small chocolate pieces like Kit Kat bites or Malteasers afterwards; I do believe in incentives (cough! bribes)LOL
In March we struggled with blending words like cat (while also working on nonsense sounds like ab ag id ) She would sound out each word letter by letter (I can hold up under torture; I really can)
In June she was better but still reversing b and d as well as words like no and on. I did feel dispair but forged on. She got print fatigue on the  readers so I kept changing materials. Anything we could read was ok.
By July I could introduce one of the readers and although it was painful we worked through Six Ducks in a Pond (SRA series C) We then went on to King on a Swing and are now in Kittens and Children (for which I paid a hefty $70 as I couldn't find it second hand like the others and it's worth every penny as it really works on introducing words sequentially and Talitha really needs this) I call these prescriptive readers and you won't find them in most public schools in Canada partly because of the cost and partly cause of the idiots who decide curriculum going with the educationaly theory/flavour of the month. You will find them in many private schools which for me is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval (as well as the fact that I can see how good they are)
Anyway September is knocking and I feel more confident. It's not that I want to be pushy but they do place higher demands for earlier reading and I want her to be in the winners group.
Once I feel ok about the reading; we tackle math....

Society used to be a fairly predictable place for kids in institutions like school and camp. Adults laid out expectations and ruled with an iron fist. I came through when this was partially true but fading fast.
In the past; teachers would have classes of 50 kids in rows and have no problem controlling them. Yes there was corporal punishment but the day was also highly structured and society (not just in the classroom) expected you to behave everywhere.  Even if you had ADD and it was difficult; you made the effort basically out of fear. Never underestimate the power or fear as a motivating tool.

Today; it's all about self esteem and self motivation. Which is great if you child has it but if they don't; suddenly those happy clappy teachers are frowning and using phrases like "does best with one on one" or "a smaller class would best serve his/her needs". Yesterday's teacher didn't try to palm off a troublesome student but considered it a source of pride to deal with it on their own. (yes there are way more difficult cases today that wouldn't have made it past the front door of the school a few years back)

Camps are no different. Yesterday Talitha started a week long VBS camp.  Unknown to me; they had brought in a whole new set of people to run it with a completely different program than the fast paced package deal they had last year. I got there at 8:50 and no way no how were they ready to start until 9:30.  Their fall back plan was to keep the kids busy colouring until they got their act together. Well I have news for you guys; the world is divided into kids who will passively colour until their fingers fall off and those who will finish one picture and then look around expectantly for something new to do. (and kids who won't even sit still to colour one picture etc)

The thing is today's classrooms/camp settings have none of the built in discipline of yesteryear and all of the same expectations that kids will fall in and conform to their expectations. Which a certain percentage of all kids will do; waiting patiently for you to get your act together.  And then there's kids like mine who aren't capable of waiting well (and she's improved big time actually if you don't put her to too much of a test like waiting mindlessly for a half hour)

Part of having a kid with a shorter than average attention span is helping them to cope and mature (as mine will according to the doctor) and finding programs/ teachers who are the right fit. I thought i had that with the VBS but then they changed it on me. Miraculously she seemed to have a good morning but if she had been just a shade more difficult I imagine it would have gone south pretty fast.

This little experience reminds me that many kids will do fine however lame the circumstances but my kid may falter if it's not a good fit for her personality. It's a harsh reminder.

Here's to hoping that the grade one teacher she gets can be a good fit and help her on her way to conformity and learning (which is necessary in the public school system) without too much trauma for either of us.

So I got my twice daily phone call from Marya confirming that she caught the bus home from Summer school. (I"m on a course this week) Then she complains; "Mom, did you know that the Lakeshore bus comes at 12 noon and that's when I get out of school. Then I have to wait a long time like a half an hour for the next one to come along. I think I should leave school earlier so I can catch the one that comes at 12" (LOL!) I'm like: "Yeah well it just doesn't work that way. The harsh fact of life is that buses schedules don't always mesh with life schedules. Why don't you bring a book to read while waiting?"
Marya: "I can't do that; I'd get too engrossed in the book and miss the bus"
Me:  "Well you can't leave school early!" "Sigh".

Today the weather looked great so we planned a trip to Port Dover. (about 1 1/2 hours SW of TO.  Anyway things were going great until I rubbed my eye and sent my contact lens into the underneath of my eyelid and couldn't find it to put it back.
The nearest hospital was in Hagersville. ( read back of beyond population 45,000 with three towns combined. It's also partly on the Six Nations Reserve (lots of signs for cheap smokes!)
Anyway I was a little reluctant to go to a small town hospital but Myke was right in that the wait time would probably be less.
They took me in and I sheepishly explained my situation. They take people sort of in order but triage means if a three car pile up comes in; you just have to wait longer. Also fortuneately I always keep my OHIP card in my wallet but I'm sure I would still have been seen.
Anyway in less than an hour I was seen by a doctor (really nice) who dug around and no way could he see the lens. His plan then was to put a call in to the opthamologist at McMaster General in Hamilton (the next biggest city) and have me seen there. While I was waiting; I went back into the washroom one more time and low and behold with a bit of pulling; the contact came into view and fell out. (huge sigh of relief)They were courteous and kind and even though the waiting area was a bit dingy; it was clean and they had a pile of kids books for Talitha to look at (and she was amazingly well behaved)
So basically I've been to a few emergency visits and each time; the service is pretty good. So all you guys out there who complain; it's not so bad. The other thing was at least two of the other patients weren't Canadian (one middle eastern family from Germany and one group from somewhere in the US; both groups here on vacation and Hagersville being the nearest hospital. And they were also well treated as far as I could see; I think the American spent a lot of time on the phone arguing with his insurance company or something as they'd never heard of Hagersville but in the end; his relative was still seen.
So while I'm sure everyone has an "visit to emergency from hell" story; I think by and large; our tax supported hospitals do their best and are generally filled with decent hard working people who do their best to see people in the best order they can. No complaints here.

Why is it when our faithful Leader of the Opposition meets with the Prime Minister and actually get him to make some concessions that he's criticized for not bringing down the government?  I thought that one of the strengths of a minority government was that the PM has less power and must to a certain extent tread carefully.
Iggy is no fool and if he got Harper to concede on anything (normally Harper would cut his throat rather than be agreeable) then I would say it was a rather successful week. It's not like Canadians want an election this summer anyway.
Lets give the Liberals time to plan more and the Alliance (oops sorry Conservative Party) more time to mess up. They're doing a pretty good job of it right now I'd say.

Today Talitha and I are meeting a friend for a playdate. In High Park. Did I mention the forecast was showers and thunderstorms???

Now personally I would have had alternate plans but no she was like "well we can bring raincoats and warm up with hot chocolate in the restaurant afterwards"

How do I find these people? Oh and yes I'm probably glad I don't live in Vancouver where they must do this all the time if the alternative is never leaving the house.

Of course on Friday it was mild and sunny. It will also be mild and sunny tomorrow.

So yesterday Talitha and I were visiting my aunt at her apartment. As we were walking down the hall to the elevators; I saw this bunch of people come out of an apartment all carrying folding chairs. Some of them were pretty elderly so the chairs looked heavy.  Anyway I asked :Where's the show?"  And the old guy answers "My sister died yesterday". (um Oops) (um sitting Shiva anyone??)
I made the appropriate apologies and then quickly dug a hole in the corner and escaped to another dimension in time and space.

Contents of my bedside table. (yes I'm planning on clearing it some day soon)

2 rosaries
spool black thread
crochet hook and knitting needles (one set)
1 salt shaker (we share)
$3.50 worth of loonies, toonies and quarters
1 pedometer (which I occasionally wear when I think I'm slacking)
4 packages of different dental floss (which I do use; I like the citrus flavoured one)
1 stitch ripper
1 dental pik rubber tip
1 dental pik (the between the teeth kind)
2 pens
2 hair clips
1 jar vaseline
1 tube of nystatin
1 book The School at the Chalet (I love boarding school stories)
1 empty wine glass (which will be removed; washed and probably refilled tonight! LOL)

(I won't go into the contents of the drawers; too lengthy)

Contents of Myke's bedside table

1 clock radio with twin alarm settings (6am and 7am for us)
1 portable phone and base
6 remotes (do we really need all those remotes??)

I guess that says a lot. I go up to bed earlier than Myke and spend time reading. I also occasionally mend clothing, knit etc. Hopefully that explains some of the contents. By the time Myke gets to bed; the room is dark and it better stay that way. He finds his way around by the light of the clock radio. (set on dim)

Today at Mass. "pssst mom; Fr. R. looks like Santa Claus"  Me: "No he's wearing the liturgical colour and today it's Pentecost so the red is lke the tongues of fire from the Holy Spirit" Her: "well I still think he looks like Santa Claus but I do like purple best" Me: "Yep well gotta wait until Advent."

The Confirmation Mass went well except that afterward; Fr. R. recommended that next time Marya wears high heels; she should do a bit of practice walking in them first! LOL

It was ten years ago that Joel was Confirmed. Elliot never made it as he had moved out by then.  :( 

Two years from now; Talitha makes her First Confession and Communion.

I mentioned to someone after Mass that Marya was my second Confirmation event and they asked how many more kids I had left. My answer: "I have no idea; I'm not putting any limits on numbers!"

I'm giving myself a pat on the back; I finally remembered to fish Marya's gym stuff out of her backpack and throw it in an already swishing load of clothes (well there were 35 minutes left so that should do something; and the water looked kind of soapy...)  I don't remember the last time I did this; I keep asking her but it never makes it out of the backpack; like in maybe 2 months???  One more month of school or so and then the outfit gets packed away for Talitha as she'll be getting a new one for high school.

I was thinking a lot about Marya lately. She went to the fun fair today at the school and offered to do caricatures of people for money ($2 a pop). It was very popular.  She is really gifted but didn't show well early. By that I mean that gifted kids in books are always portrayed as being very mature for their age and early talkers. I guess I showed that way although I have no idea if I rate as "gifted" as I've never been tested.  Instead; Marya talked late/had auditory processing issues that hindered communication and had very little tolerance for new situations she didn't like or clowns. (don't you noticed how popular they are at events and birthday parties these days? Well you would if you had a kid who screamed in terror whenever she laid eyes on one) I never much like clowns anyway.
When she was at the library the other day; a woman commented that she sounded a lot older than 14. She does. She has a very eclectic taste in books and topics and relates better to adults that her peers (although this is changing as they "catch up" to her in age)
At age 4; she was rejected from six private schools and the one that took a chance on her tanked after a year. We were left to the public system (God help us) during the famous "Mike "I'm going to chop every cent of funding I can from Toronto schools" Harris.  She could communicate in a very limited way (ie like a younger child) in terms of her needs and wants but took a long time to do well carrying on a back and forth conversation. As I said; in public she did not show well.
I feel sad for these lost early years. I was mistaken to even try to send her to school back then as it so did not meet her needs. I finally took her out to homeschool for a year or so (I just don't have a homeschooler temperament) and things did improve. I just wish I had had more faith that she would progress as far as she has and is rather than being discouraged by nay sayers.
Samples of really encouraging comments (not):
"Well she's made a lot of progress but as she gets older that gap between her and typical kids will widen."
"She's doing well now but as the work involves more abstract concepts she's run into trouble with all her processing difficulties"
"When the hormones kick in in adolescence; she'll find it difficult" (Ha ha ha she's like a model child now)
"She's high functioning for someone like her"
"She'd do better in a small sheltered classroom with fewer expectations"
"You're setting her up to fail"

I could go on but you get the drift. It's wonder any kids with challenges rise above them. Marya succeeded in spite of the system; not because of it.

When her speech got better; one of the first things she did was start talking about things that happened when she was to young to articulate them. So she was totally plugged in then and just not able to express herself.

As she heads off to high school; I have no idea what the future holds but I'm sure for her it will be interesting and people who meet her and get to know her will be richer for the experience.

Note: amounts can vary but still produce a good soup
Four chicken thighs (marked down for sale) (cook and debone; feed skin and gristle to dogs)
I onion
four large carrots
wilted bunch of celery
half a 1kg bag of frozen cheap broccoli stems (the kind where it's 50%flowers 50% stems which Myke will not eat)
various frozen soup broths or a 1litre carton of chicken broth (I save all dripping/boil all bones and freeze it)
1 cup cooked barley (that I had previously frozen)
I large can lentil soup (like 540ml or maybe 17oz)
1-2 cups frozen corn and peas
handful of fresh/frozen coriander
dried coriander
shake of Lawrey's Seasoning Salt
1/4 cup or more of Franks Hot Sauce (buffalo chicken style)

Cook and debone chicken
Saute onion, chopped carrots and celery in olive oil and then add broth or some water
do same with broccoli stems but don't over cook
When all veg are tender; whirl in blender to puree and put back in soup pot
Add lentil soup, corn and peas, seasonings,barley and chopped chicken
You can also add some processed cheese slices as desired
Serve

The whole point of this was really the chicken sitting in my freezer (Myke isn't too fond of dark meat but will eat it in soup sometimes) and the dratted broccoli stems which I was ready to pitch but remembered my other recipe for Buffalo Chicken soup that purees either broccoli or cauliflower. Thankfully I have an $8 blender which I bought on craigslist and has paid for it'self a million times over.
This soup is a nice change from our typical ground beef/pork/turkey bean taco type soups.

I make soup at least once  a week to save money and add variety. I think maybe even Marya will eat this as there aren't any visible veggies and she can always add more Franks (and I'm sure she will)

So Victoria Day weekend is upon us again. The newspapers are full of stories of people doing the long drive to the cottage to open it up again and barbecues and firework displays and of course the warnings about drinking and driving/boating/etc.

This is a nice fantasy; this weekend that is supposed to mark the beginning of summer fun but the reality is that 9 times out of 10; it's cold and wet. We sit out there either setting off our fireworks or grilling steaks wearing  gloves and windbreakers. (ok we're Canadian and the parkas are stowed once it goes above freezing! LOL)

We don't have a cottage; I used to fantasize about having one but something in the two plus hour drive each way along with the responsibility etc that turned me off. I did give my kids summer memories of a cottage sort by sending them to camps up north. (Talitha will go too when she's old enough)

The leaves are finally out on our little red oak. It's been a cold spring and it seemed like all the foliage was very tentative like as in "i'm just going to stick my toe in the cold lake slowly" We have yet to have any kind of sustained heat wave (or much over 20 degrees for more than a day.  The sad reality is that our springs are cold and our falls (where they advertise crisp wool sweaters and skirts as back to school wear) are hot hot hot. Shorts and t shirts would be a better suggestion. Somewhere in between the two we have this season called summer and with any luck a few decent weekends where it is hot and dry.

A week ago I got told that our front lawn is mostly dead so I spent last week raking up the dry dead stuff, seeding grass, raking peat and now we do the daily water thingy. (and this was not a trivial task given it was accomplished in the two daily hours that Talitha goes to school) (I shudder to imagine her if she got her hands on a bag of peat; I got my hands on it and that was messy enough)

Yesterday was our 15th anniversary but we are putting off celebrating until (you guessed it) the weather improves. Myke wants to go to Elora (the scene of our famous first date) but our date was in August (come to think of it; it was not a warm day either) so hopefully we'll go in a few weeks. He was out last night anyway as they got bargain tickets courtesy of RIM to see the new Star Trek movie. I'll be watching it on DVD when it comes out; movie theatres are just becoming a state of sensory overload for me with the flashing lights and loud noise.

Somehow we are hanging in there; paying off a bit more debt; enjoying the low interest rates (too bad they don't extend to credit cards) and hoping next year will be a bit less lean.
Our fost/adopt course is in a month and hopefully after that we will at last be ready for them to look for a match.

That's all for now.

My mom was a convert to Catholicism.  She was originally Anglican but was attracted to the Catholic Church partly because of the mystery and ritual such as Latin, Novenas, Seasonal festivals etc.
Then Vatican II came along and that all went in the garbage. (literally in some cases)
Well my mom would have been impressed today as I went to our church's Marian procession.  A one hour walk in the downtown neighbourhood (with at least a dozen cops in bikes blocking off streets and I'm sure the streetcar travellers were cursing) saying three mysteries of the Rosary and about 7 hymns. (the oldies but goodies like Hail Holy Queen and Regina Caeli and of course Immaculate Mary)
Our fearless pastor led the prayers in a car with speakers on top while the rest of the priests, seminarians, First Holy Communion kids and Confirmandi followed by us faithful.
Note to others: it's hard to finger the beads while wearing gloves but it was a pretty cold May day (but at least not hailing like yesterday)
We finished up in the schoolyard with some final prayers, hymns etc and a presentation of flowers to the statue of Mary and juice and cookies in the school gym.
I always wonder how my faith would be different if I had had these kind of experiences in my childhood and youth. I think we did the Rosary once (although we did learn the mysteries), no Stations of the Cross (again we studied them) and no feast days or fast days (our church always publishes days of Fast and Abstinence but I grew up being told that they didn't exist anymore)
I do love Gregorian Chant and I'm glad to have found a church where it is a common practice to use it in the Mass but moreover; I've found priests and other religious who aren't afraid to be priests (rather than just trying to be one of the guys) and offer solid spiritual direction from the pulpit.
I really don't see a return to a universal Latin Mass and I personally wouldn't want it but I do like seeing more devotions and ritual coming back. The "New Liturgical Movement" has my vote.

There is an old woman who goes to my church at a later Mass but hangs around coffee hour before that most Sundays. Today we didn't have coffee hour as they are still working on the wheelchair elevator. I hang out in the basement while Marya does her Confirmation class and this woman (Lillian); came down and we got to talking. I'm learning to knit and she mentioned that she started knitting in the sanatorium where she spent 2 1/2 years as a teenager.
Her story goes like this: She grew up in New Liskeard (a small community in Northern Ontario) and was 9 when her mom died of TB leaving her and her 4 younger sisters. (can you imagine?)  When she was 17; she herself was diagnosed with TB after suffering from double pneumonia. Apparently though; the TB was in the lining of her stomach (who knew?). She was sent to this TB sanatorium for 2 1/2 years while they treated her with drugs, good food and rest. She said they were very strict and they had to nap from 1-3pm every day and it was lights out at 10pm sharp. Once every two weeks; they'd give you an injection and it laid you flat for several days (God knows what it was)
When she was better; she came home and had to wait a year to work (that was the law then) but then got a job as a proofreader for the Toronto Star. Then she relapsed and had to go back to the San for another year and a half. So now  she's in her early 20's and after being finally cured; she was able to get secretarial training in Timmins. The government would pay for job training if you had been in the San for TB. Interesting.
I asked her if it was lonely in the San but she said that she was in a ward with teens all her age and that they kept in touch for years afterward; I would guess you'd make friends staying somewhere that long. It's interesting that it was apparently a normal thing in the early 1950's for a TB ward to be full of teens like it was a common illness. She thinks she probably got it from drinking unpasteurized milk and that was a common cause. I asked her what she thought of the Raw Milk movement and she said they couldn't pay her to drink raw milk.
We've come a long way from the time when people's parents would die at young ages from things like TB or possibly other diseases and where teens have to live in sanatoriums but it was an interesting look at a time gone by and I am grateful for her sharing that.