Twenty days to catch up on. Sheesh... I almost have to address my bedside journal so I can remember what all went on over these last three weeks. The first few things that immediately come to mind are....
Rose
Libby's recovery. I could easily put that terrifying weekend down as a thorn, but I'd rather focus on the positive for this one. Even though there's still a long road of follow-up surgeries and doctor appointments ahead, it's so wonderful to know that she's okay.
Thorn
Our community garden getting trashed twice by a wild pack of loo-sahs. Not surprising since it's such an easy target. After all, the big stone wall along the path is always getting 'deconstructed' in the summertime, likely by the same gang of bored teenagers. But seriously... get a life.
Rose
On the bright side, since the mini media blitz (thanks to Jim who was the one who contacted CHBC & Castanet), the mayor contacted our garden coordinator and said that she has asked the RCMP to patrol the area. She's also going to look into other possible security measures. So I guess we'll see how that goes...
Also, there has been a generous outpouring from all kinds of locals. A woman in Salmon Arm has offered to donate a ton of tomato and pepper plants and marigolds. Another person has an additional 80 tomato plants to give. AND, the Greenery is coming to our BBQ tomorrow to show their support with a whole bunch of vegetable plants and flowers. How thoughtful! Too bad I already bought all my replacement plants, backups, and backup backups. But I'm not complaining... it cost less than $14 to restock my junior jungle.
Thorn
Watching Jim burn the midnight oil working on his animatics. Okay, I realize that this has nothing at all to do with me, so it shouldn't really be a thorn. But even so, just watching him work away, his neck getting achy and his hand cramping up, I always wish there were something I could do to help, like take over drawing for a couple hours.
I did offer to look up a few sound effects for him and I mustered up the courage to do the temporary female voices (which were absolutely awful!) until our producers replace them with real actors' voices. Otherwise, there hasn't been much I can do but offer words of encouragement every time I pass his desk. I'm like a little cheerleader only without the pom-poms. "Gimme a J! Gimme an I! Gimme a JIM! You're a great artist and you have a nice bim!" Ha ha. I'm such a geek. ;)
Rose
My birthday.... which I already told you about a little bit here and more here.
Thorn
The invisible prick in my flip flop. It seemed that every time I wore my brown flip flops down to the garden, now n' then something would pick the bottom of my foot. At one time, it even bled a little. I inspected my sandal, but couldn't figure out what the hell it was. Finally, after the millionth incident of getting picked, I folded my flip flop in half, and out of this microscopic hole, a tiny sliver of wood popped up. I removed it and haven't had a problem since. So annoying though...
Rose
I got tickets for something. Can't say what, where or when, because it's a surprise.
The invisible prick in my flip flop. It seemed that every time I wore my brown flip flops down to the garden, now n' then something would pick the bottom of my foot. At one time, it even bled a little. I inspected my sandal, but couldn't figure out what the hell it was. Finally, after the millionth incident of getting picked, I folded my flip flop in half, and out of this microscopic hole, a tiny sliver of wood popped up. I removed it and haven't had a problem since. So annoying though...
Rose
I got tickets for something. Can't say what, where or when, because it's a surprise.
Thorn
Although the tickets were already on sale, four days later there was an even bigger sale. Argh. I could've saved some additional coin had I of known. Unfortunately it's one of those things where I can't go back and say, "Hey, I just bought these, can I get the same deal?" as the sale was for new purchases only. Oh well... C'est la vie. I'm not gonna cry over it.
Rose
I've been doing this 30 day meditation challenge thing, and while it's definitely been a bit of a challenge some days, other days it feels really, really good. I'm thankful I'm doing it. (And I'll be even more thankful if I win one of those cool meditation chairs!)
Thorn
Okay, this final thorn is a bit of a blog post in itself, and once again it has absolutely nothing to do with me, except that it totally pissed me off, so I'm gonna share....
First, a little background: My hometown is next to a military base. On Fridays everyone is encouraged to wear red to show their support for the troops. Apparently it's a really big thing, and almost enforced in some classrooms. (A side note: A friend of mine had a kindergardener who was in tears when she couldn't find something red to wear to school one Friday. Concerned, my friend discussed this with her teacher, who basically said, "Well, she can wear whatever she wants, but she won't fit in if she doesn't wear red." Great f*cking advice! Teaching kindergardeners that they won't fit in if they don't conform - especially when they are they're too young to fully comprehend the why behind the red. Ah yes, but that's a soapbox for another day...)
Also during my last visit home, I noticed that there's a very popular bumper sticker all over town which reads, "If you don't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them." My BIL is military, and therefore my sister's family sports this bumper sticker. While I fully appreciate the message, I think the choice of phrasing is kinda distasteful... but that's just me. My sister agrees that it's a lame slogan, but she told me that the bumper sticker proceeds go to veterans or spouses of killed soldiers (or some honourable cause like that), which I agree is a terrific idea. I just wonder whatever happened to "Support our troops!"? Why get snarky?
Anyhow, I'm not lookin' to debate anything here. I just want to give you a little hometown flava before I go into the rest of the story....
Okay, so I was recently chatting with my friend Janet, who was telling me about this new surgeon in town who is a Muslim. (This shouldn't matter, but it's obviously relevant to the story....) He has two young children who have birthdays close together -- one is turning 7 and the other 9. To celebrate, they rented out a hall and invited ALL the children from both classes to attend a massive party. They were probably expecting about 60 kids. (I know you can already see where this is going, but I'm gonna finish the story anyway....)
When Janet called to RSVP for her daughter, who was in the 7 yr old's class, the mother of the little boy thanked her a million times. She kept expressing how wonderful it was that her daughter was going. Janet thought the excessive thanks was a little strange, but quickly dismissed it.
Of course, as the day of the party rolled around, it became quite clear why the mother was so thankful. From the 24 children in the little boy's class, only two kids showed up. TWO!! Janet's daughter and another boy, who is apparently an incredibly sweet kid, but isn't winning any popularity contests. A few more kids showed up from the 9 year old girl's class, but still not very many at all.
Janet asked her daughter why none of his friends came to the party. She responded that it's because he doesn't really have any friends. All the kids make fun of him and so he just keeps to himself.
I suppose it becomes very complicated when you have so many military families in town, and parents are flying halfway around the world to fight "the enemy", who shares a striking resemblance with this family. And yet, you can't blame the children, because ultimately it's the parents who make the call. They're the ones who RSVP. Whether a kid likes another kid or not, as Janet said, "A party is a party. Doesn't matter who it's for. All kids want to go to birthday parties."
Sure, some people might've had plans. Or perhaps some kids honestly weren't interested in free pizza, cake and candy. But when you invite almost 60 kids and only a small handful show up... it doesn't add up. And it makes me sick.
I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. My mom is always telling me stories about racist remarks made by local rednecks she knows. Not that everyone in Pemmytown is a racist redneck, of course. For some reason, my mom just seems to know a lot of them. Although I like to think that she makes most of these stories up. I love my mom, but she sometimes has a tendency to embellish a little. Then again, in this case, now I have to wonder...
Okay, I really should rearrange the order of my roses n' thorns, because I hate ending these posts on a sour note all the time.
Maybe I should include one more rose...
Rose
For my niece's 8th birthday (which is just three days after mine), I decided to send her a grown-up gift. It was a necklace with a rose quartz pendent. I kinda wanted to keep it for myself, but then I thought it might make a good gift since rose quartz is symbolic of youth and protecting children. It is also said to promote confidence and self-love, and I thought those were good qualities to instill in her. (Not that a gemstone can immediately instill qualities that need to be fostered over time -- but if she feels pleased as punch when she's wearing it, then it can't hurt, can it?)
Anyhow, apparently she loves it and has worn it every day since it arrived, only taking it off when she's in the tub and then putting it back on right away. And that makes me feel nice in the heart. :)
Okay, so that's it for another week... or three.
Although the tickets were already on sale, four days later there was an even bigger sale. Argh. I could've saved some additional coin had I of known. Unfortunately it's one of those things where I can't go back and say, "Hey, I just bought these, can I get the same deal?" as the sale was for new purchases only. Oh well... C'est la vie. I'm not gonna cry over it.
Rose
I've been doing this 30 day meditation challenge thing, and while it's definitely been a bit of a challenge some days, other days it feels really, really good. I'm thankful I'm doing it. (And I'll be even more thankful if I win one of those cool meditation chairs!)
Thorn
Okay, this final thorn is a bit of a blog post in itself, and once again it has absolutely nothing to do with me, except that it totally pissed me off, so I'm gonna share....
First, a little background: My hometown is next to a military base. On Fridays everyone is encouraged to wear red to show their support for the troops. Apparently it's a really big thing, and almost enforced in some classrooms. (A side note: A friend of mine had a kindergardener who was in tears when she couldn't find something red to wear to school one Friday. Concerned, my friend discussed this with her teacher, who basically said, "Well, she can wear whatever she wants, but she won't fit in if she doesn't wear red." Great f*cking advice! Teaching kindergardeners that they won't fit in if they don't conform - especially when they are they're too young to fully comprehend the why behind the red. Ah yes, but that's a soapbox for another day...)
Also during my last visit home, I noticed that there's a very popular bumper sticker all over town which reads, "If you don't stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them." My BIL is military, and therefore my sister's family sports this bumper sticker. While I fully appreciate the message, I think the choice of phrasing is kinda distasteful... but that's just me. My sister agrees that it's a lame slogan, but she told me that the bumper sticker proceeds go to veterans or spouses of killed soldiers (or some honourable cause like that), which I agree is a terrific idea. I just wonder whatever happened to "Support our troops!"? Why get snarky?
Anyhow, I'm not lookin' to debate anything here. I just want to give you a little hometown flava before I go into the rest of the story....
Okay, so I was recently chatting with my friend Janet, who was telling me about this new surgeon in town who is a Muslim. (This shouldn't matter, but it's obviously relevant to the story....) He has two young children who have birthdays close together -- one is turning 7 and the other 9. To celebrate, they rented out a hall and invited ALL the children from both classes to attend a massive party. They were probably expecting about 60 kids. (I know you can already see where this is going, but I'm gonna finish the story anyway....)
When Janet called to RSVP for her daughter, who was in the 7 yr old's class, the mother of the little boy thanked her a million times. She kept expressing how wonderful it was that her daughter was going. Janet thought the excessive thanks was a little strange, but quickly dismissed it.
Of course, as the day of the party rolled around, it became quite clear why the mother was so thankful. From the 24 children in the little boy's class, only two kids showed up. TWO!! Janet's daughter and another boy, who is apparently an incredibly sweet kid, but isn't winning any popularity contests. A few more kids showed up from the 9 year old girl's class, but still not very many at all.
Janet asked her daughter why none of his friends came to the party. She responded that it's because he doesn't really have any friends. All the kids make fun of him and so he just keeps to himself.
I suppose it becomes very complicated when you have so many military families in town, and parents are flying halfway around the world to fight "the enemy", who shares a striking resemblance with this family. And yet, you can't blame the children, because ultimately it's the parents who make the call. They're the ones who RSVP. Whether a kid likes another kid or not, as Janet said, "A party is a party. Doesn't matter who it's for. All kids want to go to birthday parties."
Sure, some people might've had plans. Or perhaps some kids honestly weren't interested in free pizza, cake and candy. But when you invite almost 60 kids and only a small handful show up... it doesn't add up. And it makes me sick.
I guess I shouldn't be so surprised. My mom is always telling me stories about racist remarks made by local rednecks she knows. Not that everyone in Pemmytown is a racist redneck, of course. For some reason, my mom just seems to know a lot of them. Although I like to think that she makes most of these stories up. I love my mom, but she sometimes has a tendency to embellish a little. Then again, in this case, now I have to wonder...
Okay, I really should rearrange the order of my roses n' thorns, because I hate ending these posts on a sour note all the time.
Maybe I should include one more rose...
Rose
For my niece's 8th birthday (which is just three days after mine), I decided to send her a grown-up gift. It was a necklace with a rose quartz pendent. I kinda wanted to keep it for myself, but then I thought it might make a good gift since rose quartz is symbolic of youth and protecting children. It is also said to promote confidence and self-love, and I thought those were good qualities to instill in her. (Not that a gemstone can immediately instill qualities that need to be fostered over time -- but if she feels pleased as punch when she's wearing it, then it can't hurt, can it?)
Anyhow, apparently she loves it and has worn it every day since it arrived, only taking it off when she's in the tub and then putting it back on right away. And that makes me feel nice in the heart. :)
Okay, so that's it for another week... or three.
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