It is Halloween!!!!!!!!!

“Trick or Treat, give me something sweet to eat
Not to big, not to small
Just the size of Montreal”



I love Halloween; I have been Trick or Treating as far as long as I can remember. I don’t even think I have missed a year of trick or treating for as long as I have been old enough to go out on my own. I have been fairies, garbage bags, dressed up as man quite a few times. Come to think of it, I have been a pillow once or maybe twice. I have been that 15 year old that showed up on the door step saying “My sister is sick; I am Trick-or Treating for her.” Got a lot of looks for that one and a couple of “You are so sweet for doing that for you sister, here, have some candy for you too!” And then my friends started having babies – my lowest point ever with this chocolate crazy event, yes, I have borrowed other people’s children for my own greed. And then I had my own children…….Life is sweet as chocolate.

This Halloween will be the first Halloween that I can ever remember missing and yes this makes me very sad. I don’t eat chocolate that much any more, but I love watching the children go door to door, and I have been that person who gives out the candy a couple of times and to tell you right now I do make them sing and dance for the sugary treat. I am passing the torch on the father of my children for this one and only time. To make sure the kids are worn out and gobble up as much candy as they can before going to bed. Yes he would also need to enforce the five minute scrub of the teeth. And he would need to follow my number one rule of Trick or Treating, “Always check the candy before giving the candy to the kids”. It is a good thing that my friend is going with him for he would most likely be needed to be reminded about that rule. After all Halloween has and will always be my department. Russians don’t do Halloween.

It has been a while scince Halloween has fallen on Friday, so their are going to be a lot of drunk people out there goofing off and being idiots (as my brother likes to say) and a lot of them will be behind the wheel. I will be driving two hours tonight and I don’t drink and drive, I am totally against this. So for all of you out their celebrating the night we get to dress up and be somebody or something else – please, for the safety of our children and the safety for the rest of us who can’t celebrate because of classes and other obligations. Don’t Drink and Drive!!! It would mean a lot to rest of us that we all be safe on the roads tonight.

Have a safe Halloween.

College Student Now........

Wow!!!!

I almost forgot what my Blog looked liked. After being away from it for two and half weeks and just coming back to it now, I love my pumpkins more then ever. It is too bad that I am going to have to find a new skin somewhere to replace them in the next couple of days. (I guess I am going to have to fight with the kids for computer time)

I would like to say sorry for not posting an entry but my weeks have been very busy with School, family and other obligations that I have and it is just now that I my self and my family have found a good routine regarding the new changes around the house. The big change is that I am now a part time student at Camuson College. 3 nights a week I am at school. My classes start 3:30 in the afternoon and do not end until 9:30 at night. It takes me about 45 minutes to commute both ways from home to school.

My son is starting to get used to being by him self after school for an hour after gets off the school bus and my daughter getting used to the baby sitter, and my husband is getting a ride to work and back from one of his bosses. Small “D” my son, is still finding weird that when he comes home from school on the days that I don’t go, I am doing homework. So as you can see some big changes in my house.

Just to remind people what I am taking at college; I am doing the H/RCA course and will not be done with that until June of next year. Other words, I am going to be a Nurses Aid. After I am done my course, I am strongly considering doing the bridge course from H/RCA to LPN, but before I can do the jump from one course to another, I need to log 850 hours as a RCA or HCA.

OH!!!!! An interesting tid-bit that I have learnt from school, the age classification of what a young adult is in the health field has changed to 19 – 35 years of age. (Middle age is 35 – 65 years of age, the golden years is 65 and up) So you see I am still a young adult and therefore forgiven for being a late bloomer when it comes to postsecondary education. (A big smiley face here!!!!!!)

NO MORE OF NO POWER BC HYDRO

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving week-end. Turkey Dinner at friend’s place where I got to meet some wonderfully funny people, having beers around a bond fire on a cold, crisp autumn night – should I mention most of those beers were birthday beers. Happy Birthday to two wonderful people – You know who you are. Cheers. A side from being sick with a hacking cough and a fever yesterday and today, my long weekend was a good..... **sniff - sniff**

The only problem that I have had so far with my long weekend was the power outages. BC Hydro all I have to say to you is @#$#$!! &^%%&!! And @#$#!! I have had 5 power outages in the last 9 days. It wouldn’t be so bad if I was out of power for an hour or less, but I am talking about outages that last for four to five hours at the most. And what gets me is none of the outages are storm related. My house hold woke up 5:30 this morning with no power. Made the call to BC Hydro and they were not aware of us having no power. Needless to say after waking up with no power, I fell a sleep on the couch and missed waking up my son to get him ready for the school bus. He missed the bus and I am sure he is thanking BC Hydro for NO POWER as I write this entry. Saturday over 300,000 people went with out power during their turkey dinner and countless other times before the long weekend with NO POWER! I am tired of NO POWER. I had an enough of NO POWER. I am up to eyes with NO POWER. I am tired of buying candles and tealites and more candles and tealites. No more of NO POWER!!!
**sniff** **cough**sniff**sniff***

I have vented and now I feel better. I am going back to my couch and have my tea with cough medicine and countless of other cold remedies to make my self feel better and count how many days it will be before the next power outage. I put my money in four days for the next one. What would you think? **sniff - sniff**

[Sorry Folks, I mean Sunday over 200,000. with out power while eating turkey dinner]

***sniff***cough**sniff**cough**cough**sniff**

Should I also say I am tired of being sick.

To Cute! I Had To Share...

Secret Knowledge of Grown-ups

The Rule: don't leave your choths lying around.

The Adult reason for the rule: They will never get washed.

The Truth: The creature hiding in your bed will eat your cloths! You see, he gets hungry lying there, so some day he'll come when your sleeping! That's not snoring that you hear by your mom or dad! It's the creature eating your sock! Infact human's don't snore at all!

Written by a student at my son's school. This won a spot on the biweekly news letter sent home today. LOL - had to share.

A Man's Heart

There is a saying: “A way to a man's heart is through his stomach,” and I couldn’t agree more. One of the interesting aspects of my relationship with my partner is that we are what you would call an inter-racial mix. I am Canadian and he is Russian. And believe it or not our two cultures are very different from one another; everything from Religion to food. Every now and again he and I have to improvise with one another to make our relationship work and blend our two cultures. So as a result we celebrate two Christmases, New years and a couple of holidays. And as for food, I do go way out of my way to give him a taste of home. Yesterday was one of those days.

I prepared a dish called “Perminee.” It is like a Perogee, but with out Potatoes. This dish has a meat mix inside. Perminee is a very tasty dish to eat, but very time consuming to make. I made 130 Perminee and it took me 4 hours to do it. Plus I had to walk to the nearest store to pick up milk, so add an extra hour.

When I came home from the store, I noticed that he had called twice on his lunch hour. I called him back and he asked what I was doing, (he was bored) I told him that I was getting the kitchen ready to make some Perminee’s. He said “Ya-right, you are now.” Kind of like I need to see it to believe it. Any ways time moves on and I have flour every where in the kitchen, all over me and my daughter had destroyed my house. My son came home from school, he help make a couple Perminee and before I knew it, it was Supper time and I had just finished up with the last of the Perminee.

The phone rings. It’s the Russian. “What are doing?” he asks. I tell him that I am getting ready to eat Perminee. “You made Perminee!” I tell him that I had told him earlier that I was going to make some. “You made Perminee!” he asks again and the next thing I heard was “I love you!” So you see, it is true, the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach.

Happy Friday!

Baby Formula

5 days a week I wake up before my son, put his cloths for the day into the dryer to warm them up for him, make him a warm breakfast, make a warm lunch and send him off to school on the school bus. After he is gone, I make my self an extra strong Americano and enjoy my first cigarette of the day. (I know, nasty habit) After that I sit down on the couch, pick up my laptop and read my news on the Time’s Colonist web site. After I read the news I make another Americano and reflect about what I have read.

For the Past month and a little bit I have been keeping my eye on the milk products recall in China, waiting for the recall to effect Canada. And sure enough a recall took place yesterday. And all I can do is shake my head in wonder that anything like this could ever happened. For all of you who don’t know what has happened, China’s baby formula makers have been adding Melamine, a harmful substance that had killed 5 babies, and made thousands of other children sick with kidney ailments. And from what I understand this has been going on for a very long time until somebody noticed that it was the baby’s formula that was making them sick. As the Chinese officials investigated further into the matter, they found Melamine was added into chocolate products and imported around the world.

Two years ago my family had traveled to Far East Russia to visit family who lives a half hour away from the Chinese Border. My Son at the time was going into grade two and my daughter was 4 ½ months old. Because I made the choice on not breast feeding for the trip; my daughter was depended on formula. One of the things that we looked into was bringing our own formula or buying formula for her in Russia. If we bought formula in Russia we would have a lot of room in our luggage for other personal belongings. We made the phone call to Russia and asked about the Baby formula and were told that to bring our own. We did. Later we had learned that the babies in Far East Russia were becoming sick and the local people were looking at China. There was a rumor that there was counterfeit formula being imported into Russia from China. So as you can see this story hits home to me, because my daughter could have consumed Melamine in Russia if we never bothered to call Russia. The sad thing is this had taken more then two years for this come into the open. Our family members and friends who live in Far East Russia were right. It was the Baby formula.

To learn more about the latest recall www.http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=8a952bd5-01cd-4819-86de-275421f24f3e

Food and Books....

Is it my imagination or has food prices actually gone up again? As I was doing my normal biweekly food shopping (for a family of four), I could not help but notice that the cost of food has gone up again. I was quite surprised to see that NN brand concentrate juice (a family pack of nine) had gone from being $ 6.48 to $6.99 to $7.39. There were a few other brands of juice that has gone up as well; Soy Milk has gone up as well, from $3.49 to $4.49 – or close to, but that happened awhile ago. There are a few other things that I have notice that changed price again; I just can’t remember what those items are at the moment. But has anyone noticed? Noticed at all?

Well today was a good day. My other half didn’t go to work again, so I had the car to myself. I scrambled enough money together to buy one Module for my course thinking that it was going to cost $150.00. Before I hopped in the car to drive into down town Victoria, I thought best that maybe it was a good idea to call ahead to the college book store to make sure that the book was available and as it turns out it was. All three books were available and I bought all three together for the price of $59.99. Curse that typo on course info that said the books were a $150.00 each. So I am set for Modules for this term. Couldn’t be happier then a kid in a candy store right now.

Still Waiting For The Wood Guy

Look at me two postings in one day....

I am still waiting for the wood guy to come and give us wood and take our money. So needless to say I am quite bored at the moment. So to occupy my spare time, I decided that I am going to play with my blog and look what I discovered I could do. I found a bunch of free templates on the Internet. I came across some Halloween backgrounds that I wouldn't mind trying out. So don't be sirprised if my blog changes quite abit in the next 3 1/2 weeks.

see ya

Ya Hoo! No Power

As I wait for the fire wood guy to come and collect his money for 2 cords of wood, I minus well share with you my Friday night (yesterday). Every Friday in my house is what we call “Happy Friday” Happy it is. Friday is the day we let loose from all the stress of the other unhappy days and be thankful that they have come and gone. Friday is the day that I like to drink 1.5L of wine, anything over 1.5L is a waste of alcohol. My other half drinks what ever he wants. And we have a good time. We let the kids run loose and stay up late because it is their “Happy Friday” too.

Yesterday was a good night with a twist, we had company come over with their two kids and the power went out. Power outages in my nick of the woods are common like the common cold. We have so many trees around us that BC Hydro can’t keep up with the trimming of the branches to keep them off the power lines. We also live on a high crash road, especially when it is raining; having a car miss a turn and run into power poll is common, but more like the flu virus.

Our power outage last night was caused by an accident (I hope no one was hurt badly). But let me say this, the kids had a blast, running around with flash lights from one dark room the next. We sat around the fire place watching the fire, I had tealite’s going through out the house, and we had my other half play the piano to entertain us. Last night was truly a "Happy Friday" and will be remembered.

“Happy Friday”

Note: 11 days until school starts and next Friday will be my last "Happy Friday". I guess I should change it to "Happy Saturday"?

12 Days To Go....

Today is exactly 12 days before my academic life starts. October 15 is my first day of college. And I am happy to announce that I almost have all my ducks in a row with payments schedules, class schedules and what not. Of course their a few loose ends that need to be tied up, but that would happen with time, I am sure. The only thing left that I really need to do is make my way to the college book store and buy the 3 modules that I need for this term. After making inquiries I found out that each module: HSRC 151 Heath and Healing, HSRC 155 Work Role, and HSRC 180 Lifestyle and Choices, are going to cost $150.00 each. Ouch!! But that is the price one must make for a higher education and a fatter pay cheque.

So for the next 12 days, I am just going kick back and relax at home and enjoy life before school starts. And take it day by day.

I Am We.....

Being that the rainy season here on the Island has officially started today; I decided that it was a good day to tackle the forever growing pile of paper that lives beside my phone and other little piles that mushroomed up though out my house. Some of it important stuff that has to do with my school, bills that have been paid but never made there way to the shredder machine; but the majority of the paper is from my son’s school. I can always tell by the pretty colors that they use, pink, blue, light yellow, and for some reason mustard yellow has been the favorite choice so far.

As I systematically weeded through the pile papers, putting each topic in to its designated new pile, I came across sheets of paper that belongs to my son. I decided that I was going to take a small rest and see just what he had put on the paper. Most of it was drawings, mock spelling test that he and I have done together, but there was one that really caught my eye. It was folded up into quarters and well wrinkled. On the front it said “Circle yes or no if you like it” in my sons writing. Just to let you know right now that the yes was circled and in some other kids writing was the word “funny.” Being very interested in what was so funny I decided to open the paper. This was what was inside.

Say:
I Am We Todd It.
Sofa King We Todd It.

It took me a couple tries to figure it out - call me slow, and then it hit me like a bag of bricks! His father pulled the same joke on me awhile ago and my son must have been around to hear me say those words out load.

I am not up-set with my son for that; trust me it could have been much worse. But it just goes to show just how much children learn from the home.

The Bug Zoo

Yesterday was a good day for a day trip into down town Victoria with my 2 ½ old daughter. The sky was blue with clouds here and there, with a high of 25, most likely one of the last days of summer like weather before the onset of fall/winter weather – Rain.

Every once and while I like to walk to the nearest bus stop (35 minute walk from my house) and ride all the way to Victoria (55 minutes). Just to see what the city dwellers are doing. I walk around and sight see, have a Star Bucks coffee, buy a few nick knacks that I really don’t need and meet up with my better half for a ride home. My son loves it when I do one of my little day trips because he gets the whole house to him self for an hour after school; uninterrupted cartoon viewing.

But yesterday was somewhat special for my 2 ½ old because this day started off for her 2 weeks ago with my last day trip to the city. As we waited for the bus to Victoria, there were a couple other people waiting with us, a man and a woman. The man and the women were in heavy conversation but every now and then the man would look and my daughter and smile. Of course my daughter, the socialite, would smile and wave back. As the man got ready to leave the bus stop, he looked at us and walked over. He told me that I have a very beautiful daughter and I should be proud of her. He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out $20.00. He explained that his daughters are all grown up and would give anything to have the baby years back. My daughter reminded him of his girls. He instructed me to take her out and have fun. I was caught off guard with his kind gesture and didn’t want to offend him by saying no, so I took the money. And for two weeks this $20.00 bill has been in my wallet.

As I was walking around Victoria yesterday I found my self out side the Victoria Bug Zoo, and thought what a wonderful way to spend the $20.00 that was given to my daughter. She has been fascinated about bugs lately and I thought this would be something that she would enjoy. Oh man, did she love it. We spent a good 35 minutes looking at bugs. She was most impressed with the Ants. She got to pet a Millipede (the thing was 4 inches long!) and a Giant Walking Stick Bug. She ran from one display to another just looking at all the different bugs. After looking at the bugs we went to the gift store and she picked out an orange stuffed spider as a bug zoo souvenir. She named her spider “Spider.”

So to the stranger with the kind gesture, as to my promise to you on how to spend the $20.00, my daughter had a blast. Thank – you were ever you may be.