Wage Rage

I just have to vent somewhere.

Why is it that people working with troubled children and youth, individuals with special needs, and general human service workers get such a piddly wage (except if they magically get a job with the Government/City) and people specializing in sports/entertainment make millions?

I'm feeling down and moody because the only jobs my Bachelors Degree qualify me for don't seem to pay enough for us to get by on. (Maybe I just need a Masters or something to make it more worth it?).

So I'm lashing out at all those darn basketball players and movie stars who will make more $ in a month than I will in my lifetime. Don't get me wrong, I myself am caught up with the entertainment industry, I love a good film and I enjoy awards shows, etc. I know many of them have worked incredibly hard to get where they are, and they are reeling in talent...but really do they all need to have 3 mansions and 12 cars when the rest of us just want to pay our bills? They can still have their nannies and mani/pedi's and lavish vacations and fancy dresses if they made even a quarter of what they make now, couldn't they?

Do I need to gain some perspective? Am I thinking selfishly here? Please someone devils advocate my ass on this one so I do not feel so angry!

my predicaMINT

So my fabulous husband surprised me on Valentine's Day with a receipt for a MINT floor cleaner he had purchased online. I was ecstatic as these little floor cleaners are not exactly cheap...and I've been wanting one for a while but just kept thinking we couldn't afford it right now.

So my man ordered it on Amazon and it shipped from a place in Calgary, arriving yesterday. I was so excited to rip it out of the box and put it to good use. This past week I haven't cleaned my floors in anticipation of getting the MINT...I even told some friends who came over for a last minute visit just NOT TO LOOK DOWN at the floor if at all possible.

Anyways - I rip open the box and find the receipt on top. Within about 10 minutes I had done a quick internet search, made a phone call, and realized that I could get the same product at a store 10 mins. away for $70 cheaper then what my hubs had paid. If you know me - you know I'm the queen of getting good deals, doing my research on EVERYthing I purchase (over the price of lets say $30 or so) and so not getting the best deal in this regard is killing me, even if it was a gift! So of course I haven't opened my new MINT. Of course I emailed the vendor through Amazon and am waiting to hear their return policy. And of course I'm tapping my nails on the counter thinking.....is it worth it....the $70... to just use the darn thing now? And of course, if the vendor emails me and says the product is returnable, as long as the shipping back doesn't cost $70+ then it will be another week of dirty floors for this obsessive deal getter! For now the MINT remains contained in its box...and if you visit my house before this all gets resolved, please, just don't look down.

Counting Down to Disney

My fun volunteer role as a Wish Grantor has allowed me to create the following countdown calendars for 2 separate Wish trips to Disney World, both of the recipients of these calendars have been sweet little girls who love the color PINK! I love using fun ribbon to outline the dates they are counting down. The first one is for a girl who loves bubble gum, so each day she gets to take a piece of gum.

The second one is for a girl who loves Princesses, so I decided halfway through that I would make it in the shape of a crown. Each day she gets to take a crown/wand sticker from the top area and place it in a day square.

Making these calendars made me excited to one day go to Disney World/Land with my own kids and create for them a fun colourful creative countdown calendar! I'm hoping someday someone googles "Countdown Calendar for Disney World" and finds some inspiration from my little projects. But most importantly I'm hoping that they made 2 little girls that much more excited for their Disney trips!

foody (not so) goody

Don't let the title of this post mis-lead you. The (not so) part comes at the end!
I have stumbled across a few amazing food blogs of late, one of them my written by my lovely friend Jenn who never ceases to inspire me as her house is always clean, she has the most well behaved kids, and she makes dinner all the time for her family while simultaneously being a Pastor's wife at a busy church which requires great time commitment as well. Hat's off to you Jenn, I don't know how you get it all done! The other food blog I've found is a teenage girl who LOVES to bake. Some of this girl's creations are jaw dropping (well if cake really inspires you that is), like her 4th of July cake for example .

Anyways. I love to bake, my "trade-mark" if you will, is that I always under-bake things. My dad especially loves this little trick as everything always turns out very soft and chewy which in my opinion is what a good cookie/brownie/muffin should be. My latest recipe came from another blog.I wanted to make some sort of Oreo cheesecake dessert, but I didn't want to feel like a bloated whale afterwards...or do 15 dance routines on my Wii Just Dance game...so I modified and used low fat peanut butter, cream cheese, and Oreos. The result was...okay.

The consistency was wonderful, but the flavour was lacking (obviously from the lack of fat...brings lack of flavour). But I would make them again, this time using full fat Oreos on the bottom, maybe even splurging for DOUBLE STUFFED Oreos, ha! But only for special occasions as I really don't like eating very fatty food. Maybe bake more fruity things, less chocolate?

Which brings this post to a close with my mango disappointment:

I've been craving mangoes and so bought this beautiful looking mango the other day..I was so looking forward to opening it and enjoying the smooth yellow delight....but as the pictures show, I was quite disappointed.

The only good thing about this bad mango experience was that it reminded me of a really funny SNL skit with Robert DeNiro. Maybe its on youtube...just a second here...yup!

2 and some years

Oh blimey. It seems I've forgotten about my blog. I just went through a 10 minute three step process to recover it from an email address that is no longer being used. BUT HERE I AM! I only thought about this ol' blog as I am addicted to reading my friends & hubby's blog, and I feel like it will be more fun to post stuff here then the typical facebook note/photo album, etc. Although my blog is pretty pointless, more for me just to remember stuff by...as other's blogs have more of a purpose, mine is just to babble really.

So lots has happened since my last post--- um to sum it up in a sentence here goes:
went to TIFF with my lover as a little escape/long awaited honeymoon...then back to work, back to being pregnant, got rid of mini van in favor of an opa oldsmobile, back on mat leave with a precious new sweet Fee, moved to an ACTUAL home that doesn't require walking up 4 flights of stairs to get to...now I'm slowly back to work again as mat leave is coming to a close.

I've been scouring the web for a new job that pays enough so that Dust can stay home with the boys...He's looking for the same job deal-o...we're in a race to see who gets a great job first...then the other parent will stay home and play house all day (which is just as hard/harder than being the full time worker - UGH laundry will be the death of me but at least now I have the machines in my own basement! No more lugging hamper's to mom's place, haha) But in the meantime I've picked up my waitressing hat and been settling into that role for the past few weeks! I've been enjoying it...its very strange to be working in the hospitality field again after my last job was incredibly intense supervisory human resource volunteer coordination program facilitation parent contact budget balancing intake assessment craziness...and just waiting tables now seems so EASY and almost relaxing(!?) at times. I would like more of a challenge, and would love to be making a difference in people's lives through my job...but for now the only difference I will be making is that people will enjoy a nice steak dinner brought to them with care by yours truly.

My funny story of the day comes compliments of Dex, the baby in the last entry who is now 3 years old.

Dex gets out of the tub, tries with a cry to get his jammies on while his body is still wet and sticky. I fling some baby powder on his little butt and legs to help combat the stickiness...and with a blink he's all warm and cozy in his jammies.

10 minutes later Dex says to me, "Mommy, do I have power?"
I wrinkle my brow in confusion, "Dex what are you talking about?"
"Do I got power mommy???" He asks, starting to get upset...
"I guess so?"
Dex proceeds to pull down his pants and stick his little hiney in the air,

"See mommy, look, I GOTS POWER!!!!"

ohhhhhh the powder, yes! Silly mommy, how could I forget. A nice little moment that I'm sure will be forgotten about until I read this post again in....2 and some years.