You find out how much stuff you have and how much you don’t need. We packed every thing. We figured we would sort it all out when we got to the new place and had more time to look at every thing. It has been very easy for me to let go of some things that before I hung on to. It is the whole move thing, the changes that come with it. For the first time we have a home, not a place to live, even though we are still renting. It changes how you look at things. For the first time in my life I looked for house accessories, and bought some thing because of the way it looked. Ok it was not a big buy, but it was the first time I have ever done this. I bought oven mitts with matching hand towels that you hang of a door or some thing. For me it was a big thing. I cared about how some thing would look. Kind of wow for me. I figure it will take time but we will get a small thing here and there to get the look we want.
The other big change is having a washer and dryer. I have to change my mind set. We don’t have to worry about not having the money to do the laundry, so we don’t have to hoard clothing. I would buy lots of clothing at second hand shops, and garage sales so that my kids would always have some thing to wear even when we did not have the money to do laundry. We were spending about $60 a month, and that would be a good month. So what happened, well I can now see how much clothing my kids have. It used to be about half their stuff would be in the laundry. Now it is all clean, and as we unpack I am finding we don’t have room for it all. The good thing is that they are both growing very fast so we will not have all this extra clothing for long. I already have boxes set up so that if some thing does not fit them in it goes. Once the box is full off it goes to a clothing exchange or our kid’s daycare. It is going to be interesting to see what kind of balance happens, how much clothing is going to be the right amount to meet their ever-changing needs. The good thing is now that I don’t have to buy so much I can just concentrate on getting what they like. Mind you, I am still going to be shopping at second hand places and in the summer garage sales. Have you seen the price of kids clothing today?
Over all it has been a strange transition. It has not been just moving from one place to another. Some other change has happened. I actually care about this place and how clean it is, how it looks (buying things that actually match). It has let me feel like I have a home for the first time in my life. I even want to work in the little flower garden area under my front window. Wow, what a big change in my attitude and expectations about where and how I live.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Monsters are everywhere, some hidden in plain sight.
I was part of the SCA for years, however I have not been going to events for about four years. Now I am glad. I found out a few weeks ago a story about some one I knew. This story was confirmed last weekend. So what could this story be?
Well when James moved down here one of the household showed great interest in him, as he was a fighter. He joined the household, the Marines (known as the squids). I had known most of these people for years. Bruce was part of the group. I had known him for about 5 years. When we went to Pensic and camped with them we had some issues. Bruce and James did not get along and this caused us to pull away from the household, but James was still part of it. We came home from Pensic with a very common souvenir, I was pregnant. Once we had our son we found we just could not manage merchanting at events and a baby, so we decided to stop doing events for a bit. Our son is now 4 and we started looking at the SCA again. It turns out that it was a good thing we had stopped going.
It turns out that Bruce is a pedophile. He was preying on children in the SCA and had been doing it for years and years. Kids I knew! The children of people I had known for years. He was charged and is now in jail. My response when I found out was shock, not that he did it, but that he was still living. I knew some of the people hurt by this and the people around them. I have no idea how Bruce made it out alive.
I know that people think I am over protective of my kids, maybe even paranoid some times. Now I don’t think I am. I am glad that I have never let any one take care of my children outside of daycare/pre-school. Why, because this monster was in my home, with my baby. I used to spend time in their home every week and see them at fight practice. His wife offered to baby sit! I cannot think of how I would be feeling now if I had let her baby sit. I think about how I knew this man for years and never much though any thing about him, he was just one of the fighters and an ok guy, friendly but not my type. James disliked him and that is a big reason for why we had stopped hanging around that particular group of people.
There was nothing about this man to put up flags. He was for the most part known as a friendly helpful guy with a bit of a temper but over all a good guy. I never saw him act inappropriately with any one, let alone a child. There was nothing to let any one know who he really was, or what he really was. How can you tell? The reality is that you cannot tell who is the predator, the pedophile, the child molester. How many people do you come in contact every day? Can you tell if some one is a pedophile? I cannot, but I do know that they are out there. I am going to stay over protective of my kids. A pedophile can be behind any face, even one you know.
Well when James moved down here one of the household showed great interest in him, as he was a fighter. He joined the household, the Marines (known as the squids). I had known most of these people for years. Bruce was part of the group. I had known him for about 5 years. When we went to Pensic and camped with them we had some issues. Bruce and James did not get along and this caused us to pull away from the household, but James was still part of it. We came home from Pensic with a very common souvenir, I was pregnant. Once we had our son we found we just could not manage merchanting at events and a baby, so we decided to stop doing events for a bit. Our son is now 4 and we started looking at the SCA again. It turns out that it was a good thing we had stopped going.
It turns out that Bruce is a pedophile. He was preying on children in the SCA and had been doing it for years and years. Kids I knew! The children of people I had known for years. He was charged and is now in jail. My response when I found out was shock, not that he did it, but that he was still living. I knew some of the people hurt by this and the people around them. I have no idea how Bruce made it out alive.
I know that people think I am over protective of my kids, maybe even paranoid some times. Now I don’t think I am. I am glad that I have never let any one take care of my children outside of daycare/pre-school. Why, because this monster was in my home, with my baby. I used to spend time in their home every week and see them at fight practice. His wife offered to baby sit! I cannot think of how I would be feeling now if I had let her baby sit. I think about how I knew this man for years and never much though any thing about him, he was just one of the fighters and an ok guy, friendly but not my type. James disliked him and that is a big reason for why we had stopped hanging around that particular group of people.
There was nothing about this man to put up flags. He was for the most part known as a friendly helpful guy with a bit of a temper but over all a good guy. I never saw him act inappropriately with any one, let alone a child. There was nothing to let any one know who he really was, or what he really was. How can you tell? The reality is that you cannot tell who is the predator, the pedophile, the child molester. How many people do you come in contact every day? Can you tell if some one is a pedophile? I cannot, but I do know that they are out there. I am going to stay over protective of my kids. A pedophile can be behind any face, even one you know.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Some times miracles do happen
I now have more in my life then I ever expected to have.
We just moved to a town house. We had a lot of stress for the last two weeks before the move. Things worked out, things fell into place. We got the money we needed so we could do our festival. We did ok at the festival and made a lot of contacts. Lots of people did not have money that day but took our card so they could check out the web site and buy items when they had some money. We are not expecting much but may get some sales out of it. The more people who check out our site the better.
We were able to get a fridge from Sears; they have a great deal where you can make payments over 24 months. We have to make a big payment in the next few weeks when the bill comes in but after that it will be about $30.00 a month. We can do that. Having a fridge that works was very important to us.
We did not have a stove so we bought a two burner hot plat, and a cheap BBQ so we would have some thing to cook on. We were already using our toaster oven more often then the oven. So not having an oven was not going to be a big deal. However miracles happened. We were looking on kijiji to see what was out there and found a guy selling a stove, washer and dryer. He indicated that they were older but in good condition. He did not give a price but asked for best offer. I asked him what he was looking for. He said $50.00 each. We had enough money for that. Even better he would drop them off. Every one else wanted people to pick things up, and seeing as we don’t have a car or any thing that would have been kind of hard. This was great for us.
Then he told me the story about what was going on with these items. His mother sold her home and moved into an apartment. She was unable to sell them and was not sure what to do with them. She called some one to take them away for scrap. The guy told her it was going to be $200.00 for him to pick them up. Her son said “no way”, he works moving peoples things and has a truck. He decided to just get some money for moving them. I then told him our story and how much having this was going to help us. It worked out for every one.
Then he shows up with them. Old, um no! The washer was 5 years, the stove not to sure but is in perfect condition. You could tell that it was well taken care of. His mom only used it for the once a month family dinner. The dryer is older and well used but works and will do for us. They are all top of the line name brand items that we could never even think about buying. Wow. Miracles do happen.
We just moved to a town house. We had a lot of stress for the last two weeks before the move. Things worked out, things fell into place. We got the money we needed so we could do our festival. We did ok at the festival and made a lot of contacts. Lots of people did not have money that day but took our card so they could check out the web site and buy items when they had some money. We are not expecting much but may get some sales out of it. The more people who check out our site the better.
We were able to get a fridge from Sears; they have a great deal where you can make payments over 24 months. We have to make a big payment in the next few weeks when the bill comes in but after that it will be about $30.00 a month. We can do that. Having a fridge that works was very important to us.
We did not have a stove so we bought a two burner hot plat, and a cheap BBQ so we would have some thing to cook on. We were already using our toaster oven more often then the oven. So not having an oven was not going to be a big deal. However miracles happened. We were looking on kijiji to see what was out there and found a guy selling a stove, washer and dryer. He indicated that they were older but in good condition. He did not give a price but asked for best offer. I asked him what he was looking for. He said $50.00 each. We had enough money for that. Even better he would drop them off. Every one else wanted people to pick things up, and seeing as we don’t have a car or any thing that would have been kind of hard. This was great for us.
Then he told me the story about what was going on with these items. His mother sold her home and moved into an apartment. She was unable to sell them and was not sure what to do with them. She called some one to take them away for scrap. The guy told her it was going to be $200.00 for him to pick them up. Her son said “no way”, he works moving peoples things and has a truck. He decided to just get some money for moving them. I then told him our story and how much having this was going to help us. It worked out for every one.
Then he shows up with them. Old, um no! The washer was 5 years, the stove not to sure but is in perfect condition. You could tell that it was well taken care of. His mom only used it for the once a month family dinner. The dryer is older and well used but works and will do for us. They are all top of the line name brand items that we could never even think about buying. Wow. Miracles do happen.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Family - funny how we treat each other and the choices we make
It is funny how family can some times get to you. I have not had any thing to do with my Mother for the last year or so. Out of the blue she had sent me an email saying she was no longer my Mother nor my kids Grandmother and that I was not to contact her again. So I have not, she lives far away so it is not that hard. As it was I was the one always calling her so the kids could talk to her, and I emailed pictures all the time. She did not back up the pictures I sent, and when her computer crashed she asked me not to send her the old pictures. I even put them on a disk and sent them to her so she had them and could get them printed. She told me she never printed a picture, the only “pictures” of my kids are the ones I had printed and mailed to her. On top of that she would complain when I sent her pictures, it took to much time to download as she was on dial up. I got the impression pictures of my kids were not that important to her and from that I got the impression that my kids were not that important to her. No real big surprise when I got the email from my Mom cutting off contact.
My Grandmother has contacted me a few times telling me I am being cruel by not calling her (my Mom) and letting the kids talk to her, or sending her pictures of the kids any more. What gets me is that my Grandmother keeps telling me that my Mother would never do any thing to hurt my kids despite the facts. I sent my Grandmother the email my mom had sent me telling me she was not my Mother any more. Why because I thought she was depressed or some thing and needed some help. My Grandmother would not read it and has changed the subject every time I say, “but she is the one who cut the contact”. Some how in every ones mind I am doing some thing wrong, that she would never do any thing to hurt my kids, or in the same breath they tell me she was going threw a hard time at that time and said things she did not mean. I am being held responsible for my Mothers actions and this has destroyed any relationships I had with my family.
Please note that my Mother has not tried to contact me, and has never said she was sorry about cutting us out of her life or well any thing to us, so why am I being held responsible for her actions? Why do I have to be the bigger person, and contact her? I do not want to. She was willing to hurt my kids once by not being their Grandmother any more, she would do it again. It has not been an easy relationship between us to start off with but I had hopped she would have been a good Grandmother. I was willing to deal with her so my kids had a Grandmother. I don’t care who you are, once you do some thing to hurt my kids you don’t get the chance to do it again. No matter how hard they try I will not feel guilty over this, nor will I take on the responsibility for my Mothers actions. She made this choice, now she must live with the consequences. I just wish my kids did not have to pay for her choices as well. They are the ones that lost out in this whole head game my mother is playing.
My Grandmother has contacted me a few times telling me I am being cruel by not calling her (my Mom) and letting the kids talk to her, or sending her pictures of the kids any more. What gets me is that my Grandmother keeps telling me that my Mother would never do any thing to hurt my kids despite the facts. I sent my Grandmother the email my mom had sent me telling me she was not my Mother any more. Why because I thought she was depressed or some thing and needed some help. My Grandmother would not read it and has changed the subject every time I say, “but she is the one who cut the contact”. Some how in every ones mind I am doing some thing wrong, that she would never do any thing to hurt my kids, or in the same breath they tell me she was going threw a hard time at that time and said things she did not mean. I am being held responsible for my Mothers actions and this has destroyed any relationships I had with my family.
Please note that my Mother has not tried to contact me, and has never said she was sorry about cutting us out of her life or well any thing to us, so why am I being held responsible for her actions? Why do I have to be the bigger person, and contact her? I do not want to. She was willing to hurt my kids once by not being their Grandmother any more, she would do it again. It has not been an easy relationship between us to start off with but I had hopped she would have been a good Grandmother. I was willing to deal with her so my kids had a Grandmother. I don’t care who you are, once you do some thing to hurt my kids you don’t get the chance to do it again. No matter how hard they try I will not feel guilty over this, nor will I take on the responsibility for my Mothers actions. She made this choice, now she must live with the consequences. I just wish my kids did not have to pay for her choices as well. They are the ones that lost out in this whole head game my mother is playing.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Hamilton Pagan Pride Day 2007 was an excellent event
The Pagan Harvest Festival 2007 at Gage Park Hamilton, Ontario seems to have gone very well. It looked like a good time was had by all. Even though the day started off very cold and windy, it did warm up enough in the afternoon so we could unbundle and enjoy the day. I love the new layout used for the vendors, bring us all closer together and in the same area was a great idea. From what I could see there was a very nice mix of vendors with lots of unusual and unique product. I could only see so much as I was playing with my kids, as we “looked” at all the vendors. So I did miss out on a lot of the vendors, but I did like what I saw.
From what people were saying the workshops were well done, informative and small enough to still have a lot of individual attention. I never did make it to the kid’s area but I did see kids with their mosaics. The live entertainment was a nice mix of music and dance.
The entertainment was
Heather Dale www.heatherdale.com
Cold Barn Morris Dancers no web site was given
Castalia www.castaliamusic.ca
Jenn Ryan www.myspace.com/jennryanmusic
Tahira Badre and her Desert Gypsies www.tinkerwoman.com
RiverSong no web site was given
They also had an announcement for Hamilton Pagan Pride Day 2008. The featured guest speaker will be Laurie Cabot, also known as the “Official Witch of Salem”. She is an ordained High Priestess descended from Celtic ancestry. Having practiced Witchcraft for over forty years, she founded the Cabot Traditions of the Science of Witchcraft and the Witches’ League for Public Awareness, an anti-defamation organization aimed at correcting the many misconceptions about Witchcraft. She is the author of Power of the Witch, Love Magic, Celebrate the Earth, and The Witch in Every Woman. Sound like she would be an interesting addition to next years HPPD.
I look forward to next year.
From what people were saying the workshops were well done, informative and small enough to still have a lot of individual attention. I never did make it to the kid’s area but I did see kids with their mosaics. The live entertainment was a nice mix of music and dance.
The entertainment was
Heather Dale www.heatherdale.com
Cold Barn Morris Dancers no web site was given
Castalia www.castaliamusic.ca
Jenn Ryan www.myspace.com/jennryanmusic
Tahira Badre and her Desert Gypsies www.tinkerwoman.com
RiverSong no web site was given
They also had an announcement for Hamilton Pagan Pride Day 2008. The featured guest speaker will be Laurie Cabot, also known as the “Official Witch of Salem”. She is an ordained High Priestess descended from Celtic ancestry. Having practiced Witchcraft for over forty years, she founded the Cabot Traditions of the Science of Witchcraft and the Witches’ League for Public Awareness, an anti-defamation organization aimed at correcting the many misconceptions about Witchcraft. She is the author of Power of the Witch, Love Magic, Celebrate the Earth, and The Witch in Every Woman. Sound like she would be an interesting addition to next years HPPD.
I look forward to next year.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Vision Bedding gave me some great ideas for Christmas gifts
I love having and looking at pictures of my kids, and my family. However you can only hang so many pictures on the wall, and I never think to pull out my photo albums. So how do you display all the pictures? I know that some people have their pictures done up on mugs and such. I am thinking about giving some photo gifts for Christmas this year. So I was looking around the web for options and found an unusual solution at www.visionbedding.com. Very cool and unusual ideas for displaying pictures.
They dye the picture into the fabric and make pillowcases, sheets, blankets and even dog beds out of them. It is amazing how far technology has come and the things that can be made using photos. Now I am not so keen on having my kid’s pictures on my bed but I have some great scenic pictures that would look great. I was thinking that a pillowcase with Mom and Dad would make it easer on my kids if they were sleeping over some place. I think that throw pillows with family pictures would make great personalized gifts. I like giving some thing that is useful like a throw pillow, and being able to design it with my photos will make it special.
Now when I was looking at vision bedding I saw some great pre-made designs from stunning scenic photos. A nice change from the usual bedspreads and duvets out there. The question now is what pictures do I use to make my personalized photo gifts? I like the idea of family pictures for my immediate family done up as throw pillows for in the living room. A few scenic ones for my friends, places we have been, also done up as throw pillows.
I was thinking about some very interesting bedspreads made from vacation pictures. I went to Pensic war a few years ago, and have some very cool pictures from it. I know a few people who would love a bedspread with some of the battle scenes. Then I had some wonderful pictures from BC with some great nature shots of wild life and great scenic ones of mountains. I can think of a few people who would love a duvet cover with those pictures. The more I think about it the more things I come up with.
They dye the picture into the fabric and make pillowcases, sheets, blankets and even dog beds out of them. It is amazing how far technology has come and the things that can be made using photos. Now I am not so keen on having my kid’s pictures on my bed but I have some great scenic pictures that would look great. I was thinking that a pillowcase with Mom and Dad would make it easer on my kids if they were sleeping over some place. I think that throw pillows with family pictures would make great personalized gifts. I like giving some thing that is useful like a throw pillow, and being able to design it with my photos will make it special.
Now when I was looking at vision bedding I saw some great pre-made designs from stunning scenic photos. A nice change from the usual bedspreads and duvets out there. The question now is what pictures do I use to make my personalized photo gifts? I like the idea of family pictures for my immediate family done up as throw pillows for in the living room. A few scenic ones for my friends, places we have been, also done up as throw pillows.
I was thinking about some very interesting bedspreads made from vacation pictures. I went to Pensic war a few years ago, and have some very cool pictures from it. I know a few people who would love a bedspread with some of the battle scenes. Then I had some wonderful pictures from BC with some great nature shots of wild life and great scenic ones of mountains. I can think of a few people who would love a duvet cover with those pictures. The more I think about it the more things I come up with.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Why our move is so stressful
I think any change is stressful, and moving is one of the most stressful changes. As we are moving on Sept. 17 it is crunch time for us. We are short boxes but will try to get some more. We have a lot packed, but even more to pack. I think that is normal as well. So what is making our move so stressful?
Well the biggest thing for us is money. We are waiting on a cheque that was to be here last week. We spent our money on things we had budgeted, expecting the check to get here in time. Now there is a question about if the cheque was even mailed. Great. One week to the move and we have used all our money and still have things to pay for. That is very stressful. We have a festival two days before the move, getting ready for both has been a lot of work. We had arranged for the use of a van for the festival about 3 months ago, and last week all of a sudden some one else is using it. We were paying for the use of the van so I am not sure what happened there.
So we had to book a rental truck, and now because the cheque has not arrived the money we need to pay for the truck we don’t have. If we don’t have the truck, we cannot do the festival and there goes the money we were expecting to use for the move. We are lucky that we already paid for 1 trip with the moving people, however if a second trip is needed we have to pay another $100.00. If the cheque does not get here in time we are going to have to leave some big things behind like our couch and chair so we can make sure the important stuff gets to the new place. We expected to have to do this in two trips so we are expecting to have to figure out some thing. If some thing can be taken apart and made smaller, we are doing that. If we had known this was going to happen we would have gone threw our clothing before packing it, and got ride of any thing that did not fit, or clothing our kids had almost outgrown. I figure if worse comes to worse we will leave some of the smaller stuff behind and use the bundle buggy and walk it over. That is just going to take a lot of time. I hope that cheque shows up in the next day or so. It is killing us having things up in the air like this.
We had a stove all ready, and then last week we found out that some one else got the stove. It was given to them in error, but that does not help us. Now we are going to be ok because at Canadian Tire we bought a BBQ for $16:00 and tax and the adapter for $15:00 so we can use full size propane tanks with it. That will do for the next month or so. The big expense was the two-burner hot plate we picked up from Canadian Tire. As I am used to only being able to use one burner it is not going to be to bad. We already use our little toaster oven to do roasts and such, trying to keep the heat down. So not having an oven is not going to be too big of a deal. I will miss Pizza though. We tend to do a lot of pasta casseroles, and I gave away our slow cooker last year so we are going to look at getting an inexpensive slow cooker to do casseroles in. We will work around this. We have survived worse then not having a stove.
What we don’t have is a fridge. And let me tell you after all the problems we had over the last three years with the fridge here we want a new fridge. We are suppose to get a small bar fridge to do us until we get a full sized fridge. However, seeing as this is from the same people who gave the stove away I am not expecting it. It is a good thing we have our own freezer and some coolers. It will work out no matter what happens. We had budgeted for the fridge, out of the cheque that has not shown up. Sears is having a big sale on fridges and we are waiting for some coupons from Sears for even more savings. James has a Sears card, so we will just try to get the 24-month payment plan so we can get a fridge soon. Mind you we are waiting for the coupons to show up in the mail, like the cheque.
We don’t have a washer and dryer and I don’t think we are going to have the money for them any time soon, even used. We had expected to be able to get them, or at least a washer but that is just not going to happen. I was hopping for a dishwasher, even a used one for Christmas but I think that will be some thing for next Christmas. Things like a fridge and a washer have to come first.
We also got a call from FedEx; we have to pay the $387.00 for the Indonesian Customs from when our ring was stolen. So they want us to pay $90.00 for the next 4 months. It is going to be hard as that is 1/3 of our spending money. We are just going to have to cut back a lot and hit the food banks for the next few months. We just cannot afford to have this bill go to collections. So that kills most of our plans for the next few months.
We have been stressed out to the max and it is having a bad effect on our kids. We are short tempered and well we are just not a lot of fun to live with right now. Our kids are stuck dealing with us. They are starting to act out in response to our stress and their own stress about the move. It is just making things harder. I just want the move to be over and done with for every ones sakes. It has not helped that both kids have been sick on and off the last few weeks so they have been home most of the time we have been trying to pack. We expected them to be at daycare and we could just spend days packing. That has not happened. We have all been fighting a flue. And to top it all off, I have lost the use of my right arm/hand due to a repetitive stress injury two weeks before the move. I could not use the computer for a bit, or type one handed, the hen peck method. I am not suppose to be using it right now. So now James has to do the packing, the cleaning and well most every thing as I am very right handed and have a hard time using my left hand. To top it all off my son and I both came down with pink eye on Sat. morning. What fun we are having.
The point of this blog. To get it off my chest. I am so stressed I had to do some thing and some how running down the street screaming and pulling my hair out did not seem to be a productive thing to do. I need to distress so I don’t get so upset with my kids and hubby and I am hopping it helps. So far it has in one way, but at the same time it just makes me want to cry. So if any one can send us good vibes or well wishes please do so.
Why we are happy to be moving stress and all
We are moving to a three-bedroom townhouse on Sept. 17 and it has been very hard dealing with every thing. We are very excited about the move, but it is hard work getting every thing ready. Boxes are hard to find and now we are in the crunch time and we don’t have enough boxes. We will keep looking.
It has been a very strange thing this move. We fought for a year for the transfer; we had 8 weeks to get ready for the move and like every thing in our lives it has not gone smoothly. It has been very stressful. I think a large part of it is that the building we are in has been under construction for the last year. We finally get our balcony back and then they start on the windows, right in the middle of us packing. So we had to stop packing so they could get to the windows. Then we start again. Then they tell us that they have to do more work, so we stop again. It turns out that the balconies are not safe. Go figure. So they come back twice to do repairs. Oh and they finally put locks on the doors so little kids cannot open the doors and fall off the unsafe balconies. What a joke. They replaced all the doors with ones that had no locks so there was no way to keep your kids from opening the doors. Then they put out a notice telling people they could not put their own locks on and that they would be charged if they did. Then weeks latter they get around to putting locks on.
This whole construction thing has been a headache from day one. Of course we are getting out just as they are done. One year of unsafe volumes of sound as they ripped out the balconies, with a year wait for them to put them back and then they are not safe. Just think about having some one with a jackhammer working outside your window not two feet away. They have ear protection, we did not. Also with the way the building is the sound and vibration went threw out the building. It never ended for a year. Add the window and door replacements and you have a lot of unhappy people. Also, since the construction started most of the people in the building have been getting sick, it is thought that the assault of sound and dust and who knows what else has a lot to do with it. Now they are going to replace the kid’s park in the next few weeks, if they ever get started. The non-stop construction has been stressful all by itself, but add in the loss of our air conditioner because of the construction and us moving, well stress is a good word to use.
Then we have all the fun with the people we have here. Not all are bad neighbours, most people I have never met but expect they are just like us, hardworking and just trying to live out their lives the best they can for themselves and their kids. But like any low-income housing, or any large apartment building you get some bad apples. Just a few weeks ago we has some stooped people (men, drink, drugs and guns, babysitting not a good combo) who got video taped shooting guns in the building. They got charged and the baby they were babysitting was removed from the mom. Sad for her, but unsafe for every one else.
There is always some thing like that going on around here. People go around at night and see if doors are open so they can break in. We have had that happen to many times to count, people trying our door in the middle of the night. The last one was two weeks ago. Then we get the kids pulling the fire alarm at lest once every week or so, usually in the middle of the night. What fun. Only this last time it was not a kid pulling the alarm, it was some one building a fire in one of the stairwells. Nice, thanks for trying to hurt every one. They built up a pile of flammables and then lit it. That was about three weeks ago.
Then you add to the mix a super that has just been moved down to janitor because she was letting herself into people’s apartments with out 24-hour notices and no reason to be in the apartment. How do we know this, well we are one of the people who told city housing we did not want her having access to our apartment any more. She kept forgetting that we work from home and usually one of us is home. She tried to many times to come into the apartment, surprise we are home, why are you opening our door. They also just put in a camera in the laundry room, because there was to many thefts of peoples clothing. Guess who got caught going into the washer where other peoples clothing was in. Yep, the super that is now the janitor. She was complaining that they don’t have access to the hard drive the video camera is being saved on. Strange how the thefts went away, but she still has a job.
Our fridge has not worked for the last three years, and they will not replace it. Why, because there is nothing wrong with it we just have the settings wrong. They set the settings and it is still freezing the food in the fridge. Oh and you cannot even keep ice cream in the freezer, it is soft. We have had food poisoning several times now. Food freezes, unfreezes over and over again. You never know when it happens, or what food is ok. Thank goodness we have a little freezer of our own. That does not help with the food we have lost from the fridge part that froze. It is very hard when you are on a tight budget to have to throw out fresh food because it froze and then unfroze in your fridge and is bad. Our stove only has one good burner and they will not replace it or have it fixed. Last word was that they would not fix any thing for us since we asked for the transfer; they will just replace it all once we have moved. Thanks a lot. Lets just say we are happy we are moving now, and wishing we could have moved a year ago when we first tried to.
The funny thing is we have been happy here. It is better then the place we left. We are only moving so our kids can each have a bedroom. Having them both in the bedroom has caused them to have sleeping issues, and well they just need their own space like any one else.
It has been a very strange thing this move. We fought for a year for the transfer; we had 8 weeks to get ready for the move and like every thing in our lives it has not gone smoothly. It has been very stressful. I think a large part of it is that the building we are in has been under construction for the last year. We finally get our balcony back and then they start on the windows, right in the middle of us packing. So we had to stop packing so they could get to the windows. Then we start again. Then they tell us that they have to do more work, so we stop again. It turns out that the balconies are not safe. Go figure. So they come back twice to do repairs. Oh and they finally put locks on the doors so little kids cannot open the doors and fall off the unsafe balconies. What a joke. They replaced all the doors with ones that had no locks so there was no way to keep your kids from opening the doors. Then they put out a notice telling people they could not put their own locks on and that they would be charged if they did. Then weeks latter they get around to putting locks on.
This whole construction thing has been a headache from day one. Of course we are getting out just as they are done. One year of unsafe volumes of sound as they ripped out the balconies, with a year wait for them to put them back and then they are not safe. Just think about having some one with a jackhammer working outside your window not two feet away. They have ear protection, we did not. Also with the way the building is the sound and vibration went threw out the building. It never ended for a year. Add the window and door replacements and you have a lot of unhappy people. Also, since the construction started most of the people in the building have been getting sick, it is thought that the assault of sound and dust and who knows what else has a lot to do with it. Now they are going to replace the kid’s park in the next few weeks, if they ever get started. The non-stop construction has been stressful all by itself, but add in the loss of our air conditioner because of the construction and us moving, well stress is a good word to use.
Then we have all the fun with the people we have here. Not all are bad neighbours, most people I have never met but expect they are just like us, hardworking and just trying to live out their lives the best they can for themselves and their kids. But like any low-income housing, or any large apartment building you get some bad apples. Just a few weeks ago we has some stooped people (men, drink, drugs and guns, babysitting not a good combo) who got video taped shooting guns in the building. They got charged and the baby they were babysitting was removed from the mom. Sad for her, but unsafe for every one else.
There is always some thing like that going on around here. People go around at night and see if doors are open so they can break in. We have had that happen to many times to count, people trying our door in the middle of the night. The last one was two weeks ago. Then we get the kids pulling the fire alarm at lest once every week or so, usually in the middle of the night. What fun. Only this last time it was not a kid pulling the alarm, it was some one building a fire in one of the stairwells. Nice, thanks for trying to hurt every one. They built up a pile of flammables and then lit it. That was about three weeks ago.
Then you add to the mix a super that has just been moved down to janitor because she was letting herself into people’s apartments with out 24-hour notices and no reason to be in the apartment. How do we know this, well we are one of the people who told city housing we did not want her having access to our apartment any more. She kept forgetting that we work from home and usually one of us is home. She tried to many times to come into the apartment, surprise we are home, why are you opening our door. They also just put in a camera in the laundry room, because there was to many thefts of peoples clothing. Guess who got caught going into the washer where other peoples clothing was in. Yep, the super that is now the janitor. She was complaining that they don’t have access to the hard drive the video camera is being saved on. Strange how the thefts went away, but she still has a job.
Our fridge has not worked for the last three years, and they will not replace it. Why, because there is nothing wrong with it we just have the settings wrong. They set the settings and it is still freezing the food in the fridge. Oh and you cannot even keep ice cream in the freezer, it is soft. We have had food poisoning several times now. Food freezes, unfreezes over and over again. You never know when it happens, or what food is ok. Thank goodness we have a little freezer of our own. That does not help with the food we have lost from the fridge part that froze. It is very hard when you are on a tight budget to have to throw out fresh food because it froze and then unfroze in your fridge and is bad. Our stove only has one good burner and they will not replace it or have it fixed. Last word was that they would not fix any thing for us since we asked for the transfer; they will just replace it all once we have moved. Thanks a lot. Lets just say we are happy we are moving now, and wishing we could have moved a year ago when we first tried to.
The funny thing is we have been happy here. It is better then the place we left. We are only moving so our kids can each have a bedroom. Having them both in the bedroom has caused them to have sleeping issues, and well they just need their own space like any one else.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
It never hurts to ask for advice, even from some one like Sir. Richard Branson
Last week James found an interview with Sir. Richard Branson where he said that if you had a business and wanted some advice to send an email. There was a link so you could send an email. It took James to www.virgin.com, and there was an email address for general and press questions in the “contact us”, “your questions” section, point #3. So James emailed them telling them that we were a small business and that we did not want any thing from them but would very much appreciate it if Sir. Richard Branson would give us some advice on how to improve our business.
Within 7 days we received an email back. One of the Virgin staff actually took the time to look at our website www.medievalmagic.ca and let us know that they liked it and felt that Mr. Branson might be interested as well. And seeing as all we wanted was some advice they will forward the email to him. Wow. Even if he is too busy to respond it is nice to know that some one in his office took the time to look. They actually followed through with his offer for advice; it was not a hollow gesture. Sir. Branson and Virgin are now my hero’s even if we never hear from them again.
I have to say that I would be incredibly grateful if he did find the time, even 10 minutes out of his busy schedule to take a look at our site and email us some advice. As it is it means a great deal to me that they took the time to read the email, respond to it and actually look at our site. They must get millions of emails. This is my way of saying thank you.
Within 7 days we received an email back. One of the Virgin staff actually took the time to look at our website www.medievalmagic.ca and let us know that they liked it and felt that Mr. Branson might be interested as well. And seeing as all we wanted was some advice they will forward the email to him. Wow. Even if he is too busy to respond it is nice to know that some one in his office took the time to look. They actually followed through with his offer for advice; it was not a hollow gesture. Sir. Branson and Virgin are now my hero’s even if we never hear from them again.
I have to say that I would be incredibly grateful if he did find the time, even 10 minutes out of his busy schedule to take a look at our site and email us some advice. As it is it means a great deal to me that they took the time to read the email, respond to it and actually look at our site. They must get millions of emails. This is my way of saying thank you.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Is it important to find a kid friendly hotel?
We don’t go to hotels very often, part of that is because we have two small children. However, last summer we spent a few days at a hotel so the kids could spend some time with their Grandfather. He was paying for the hotel, so he did the booking. Let me tell you this was not one of the family friendly hotels that are out there. This was a hotel by the airport used by business people or people spending the night before their flight. There was no restaurant in the hotel, game room, play area or playground, pool or babysitting services. As we did not book the rooms we did not get to ask the all-important questions: Do kids stay free? Do kids eat free? It was a real struggle the whole time we where there. There was nothing to do with the kids, nothing but watch TV or go out and try to find some place for the kids to do some thing. The hotel was fine, but not for a family.
What got me was on the last day as we were leaving, one of the staff asked me why we did not have cribs in the room, and they had them. Well no one told us about them, or that they were available, and we did not know to ask. We had never stayed in a hotel with the kids before, we did not know what they had for kids and there were no signs or any thing. So if the staff did not tell us, how were we to know? I know we should have asked about beds for the kids. We had two beds so we each took one kid and tried to make sure they did not fall out. My daughter, who was 1 did fall of the bed and had an owie. I was not happy. Now that I know what it is like first hand to stay at a non kid friendly hotel I know how important it is to make sure the next hotel I stay at with my kids is a kid friendly hotel. I am going to take the time and do my research and save myself a headache.
How do you know what questions to ask when booking a hotel when traveling with kids? How do you find kid friendly hotels? I know that there is sites out there that will tell you what hotels are pet friendly and what special things they offer for pet owners. I figured there had to be a site that did the same for families with kids. I found allstays.com. They have taken the time to do a page to help family’s find the kid friendly hotels in Canada and the US. To be considered a family friendly hotel the hotel had to meet at lest three of these criteria’s: Restaurant in hotel, game room, kids stay free, kids eat free, play area or playground, pool, babysitting services, arcade. It is easy to find hotels along any rout seeing as they let you find them by city and state.
They even had some information on things I never even thought about seeing as my kids are still very young. The best piece of advice was to book a hotel suit with two bed rooms instead of two hotel rooms, it can be cheaper but more importantly it is safer for you and your kids no matter what their age. I liked that they listed some hotels that can be adult content free sites. It never occurred to me I had to worry about that unless I ordered the movies myself. Well it turns out that some times the person who had the room before paid for some movies that can be seen for 24 hrs from the time it was ordered. Guess what, you are clicking to find some thing and boom some thing you don’t need your kids seeing. More importantly some hotels have pictures on the menu you don’t want your kids looking at advertising what can be seen. This is some thing that is important to check with the hotel before showing up with your kids. I liked allstays.com and will use them to do my research the next time I need to stay at a hotel, with or with out my kids. I understand how important it is to make sure the hotel meets my family’s needs, not just provide a bed for the night.
What got me was on the last day as we were leaving, one of the staff asked me why we did not have cribs in the room, and they had them. Well no one told us about them, or that they were available, and we did not know to ask. We had never stayed in a hotel with the kids before, we did not know what they had for kids and there were no signs or any thing. So if the staff did not tell us, how were we to know? I know we should have asked about beds for the kids. We had two beds so we each took one kid and tried to make sure they did not fall out. My daughter, who was 1 did fall of the bed and had an owie. I was not happy. Now that I know what it is like first hand to stay at a non kid friendly hotel I know how important it is to make sure the next hotel I stay at with my kids is a kid friendly hotel. I am going to take the time and do my research and save myself a headache.
How do you know what questions to ask when booking a hotel when traveling with kids? How do you find kid friendly hotels? I know that there is sites out there that will tell you what hotels are pet friendly and what special things they offer for pet owners. I figured there had to be a site that did the same for families with kids. I found allstays.com. They have taken the time to do a page to help family’s find the kid friendly hotels in Canada and the US. To be considered a family friendly hotel the hotel had to meet at lest three of these criteria’s: Restaurant in hotel, game room, kids stay free, kids eat free, play area or playground, pool, babysitting services, arcade. It is easy to find hotels along any rout seeing as they let you find them by city and state.
They even had some information on things I never even thought about seeing as my kids are still very young. The best piece of advice was to book a hotel suit with two bed rooms instead of two hotel rooms, it can be cheaper but more importantly it is safer for you and your kids no matter what their age. I liked that they listed some hotels that can be adult content free sites. It never occurred to me I had to worry about that unless I ordered the movies myself. Well it turns out that some times the person who had the room before paid for some movies that can be seen for 24 hrs from the time it was ordered. Guess what, you are clicking to find some thing and boom some thing you don’t need your kids seeing. More importantly some hotels have pictures on the menu you don’t want your kids looking at advertising what can be seen. This is some thing that is important to check with the hotel before showing up with your kids. I liked allstays.com and will use them to do my research the next time I need to stay at a hotel, with or with out my kids. I understand how important it is to make sure the hotel meets my family’s needs, not just provide a bed for the night.
The Magic Cauldron Sept 2007
The Magic Cauldron
Newsletter of www.medievalmagic.ca
September Newsletter
What is new with Medieval Magic.
Okay people as we told everyone last month we are moving this month. So here is the scoop.
We are moving on Sept.17. It will be an all day thing so no orders or commissions will be processed till after. We will be taking a couple of days to do inventory to make sure of the quantity and quality of all items. This is to ensure no loss or damage caused by the move. So all orders received will be processed on the 22nd. for shipment on the 24th.
We appoligze at this time for the delay. But you as our customers have come to expect the best we can give and we wish to continue to give it to you all.
We will be adding and producing some great new products for Halloween and Christmas. Look for our new ceramics line as well as some new and unusual supprises. If there is anything you would like or need us to find or make we will be checking e-mail every day.
We do have a few custome orders for the holidays, but still have room for a few more.
If any one wishes to pay with cheque or money order please contact us when you place the order so that we can confirm our new address. This will start the 1st of September. The system will be updated with the new information on the 18th.
Special Promotions
None This Month.
Monthly Coupon
No coupon this month.
Contest Winner
Our courent contest for a $10.00 gift certificate will continue till September 30, 2007 as planned. You must find this picture to enter. Just tell us the day and what the sku # is.
Festivals
Festival Season is over and we wish to thank all our customers for there support this year. We did better in sale this year and received great feedback from you all about the new site and company look.
As our goal is to bring our Customers the highest quality and variety we would be happy to hear from our readers about any items they would like to have available. Please click Here to let us know.
If you would like to submit an article, question or Business Ad for the newsletter, we welcome your submission. Please see the Newsletter section on our site for submission deadlines and conditions.
Owners
Medieval Magic
You have received this Newsletter by subscribing at www.medievalmagic.ca
If you have received this in error please contact us at info@medievalmagic.ca
Newsletter of www.medievalmagic.ca
September Newsletter
What is new with Medieval Magic.
Okay people as we told everyone last month we are moving this month. So here is the scoop.
We are moving on Sept.17. It will be an all day thing so no orders or commissions will be processed till after. We will be taking a couple of days to do inventory to make sure of the quantity and quality of all items. This is to ensure no loss or damage caused by the move. So all orders received will be processed on the 22nd. for shipment on the 24th.
We appoligze at this time for the delay. But you as our customers have come to expect the best we can give and we wish to continue to give it to you all.
We will be adding and producing some great new products for Halloween and Christmas. Look for our new ceramics line as well as some new and unusual supprises. If there is anything you would like or need us to find or make we will be checking e-mail every day.
We do have a few custome orders for the holidays, but still have room for a few more.
If any one wishes to pay with cheque or money order please contact us when you place the order so that we can confirm our new address. This will start the 1st of September. The system will be updated with the new information on the 18th.
Special Promotions
None This Month.
Monthly Coupon
No coupon this month.
Contest Winner
Our courent contest for a $10.00 gift certificate will continue till September 30, 2007 as planned. You must find this picture to enter. Just tell us the day and what the sku # is.
Festivals
Festival Season is over and we wish to thank all our customers for there support this year. We did better in sale this year and received great feedback from you all about the new site and company look.
As our goal is to bring our Customers the highest quality and variety we would be happy to hear from our readers about any items they would like to have available. Please click Here to let us know.
If you would like to submit an article, question or Business Ad for the newsletter, we welcome your submission. Please see the Newsletter section on our site for submission deadlines and conditions.
Owners
Medieval Magic
You have received this Newsletter by subscribing at www.medievalmagic.ca
If you have received this in error please contact us at info@medievalmagic.ca
Hidden treasure
If you were hunting a hidden treasure what would you expect to find. Probably gold coins, gems, jewellery and such as that is what we think of as treasures. Yes in some cases you would find some thing like that, but a lot of times the treasure would not be what you were expecting. What was valued in the past is not what we value today for the most part. Sure some things would have been a vast fortune, valued and treasured, and hidden. Today they may only be valued for there age. A necklace with amber would have been worth a lot in some places as it was vary rare, now amber is not a high valued gem. Ships full of vast treasures would more likely hold spices, silks, oils, ceramics from china, and wines then gold jewellery or gems. People would hide trunks full of spice, and cloth because they were of great value, they may be found today but as dust. It was a treasure to them. Also people forget that $10.00 went a long way 100’s of years ago, and $100.00 of treasure was a lot. Today we think in $100,000 or $1,000.000 when we think treasure.
What we value today and see as vast treasures may not be seen as of any value in the future other then its age. Many people spend / invest fortunes on collectables, not because they are of great value but because they are of value to them. What value could my husbands and sons Pokemon and YuGiOh card collection be in the future, if they survived the time, or some ones Barbie or transformers or salt and pepper collections. Think about what we spend our money on today, things we value, computer games, DVD’s, CD’s, special dishes, pictures, paintings would they be considered treasures a few 100 years from now? Same with money, cash, and such, they would more then likely be dust, but if they did survive what value would $50.00 be. Think about how our money devalues all the time. $50.00 a 100 years ago was a lot, now it buys me milk for the month. Think about that CSI show/story where a couple of people killed to find the cargo of a plane that went down 4 years before. Its cargo was insured for a $1,000.000 so it had to be some thing of great value. They found the plane full of obsolete computer chips, no value today as computer technology had changed so much. What do you value today? What do you think a treasure is?
What we value today and see as vast treasures may not be seen as of any value in the future other then its age. Many people spend / invest fortunes on collectables, not because they are of great value but because they are of value to them. What value could my husbands and sons Pokemon and YuGiOh card collection be in the future, if they survived the time, or some ones Barbie or transformers or salt and pepper collections. Think about what we spend our money on today, things we value, computer games, DVD’s, CD’s, special dishes, pictures, paintings would they be considered treasures a few 100 years from now? Same with money, cash, and such, they would more then likely be dust, but if they did survive what value would $50.00 be. Think about how our money devalues all the time. $50.00 a 100 years ago was a lot, now it buys me milk for the month. Think about that CSI show/story where a couple of people killed to find the cargo of a plane that went down 4 years before. Its cargo was insured for a $1,000.000 so it had to be some thing of great value. They found the plane full of obsolete computer chips, no value today as computer technology had changed so much. What do you value today? What do you think a treasure is?
Saturday, September 1, 2007
The last Mimzy is a great movie
We just watched a great movie. Rental of course, but I would say this one is a buyer. The Last Mimzy is great. I don’t want to destroy the story for any one who has not watched it so I am not going to say much about the story. At first I thought it was going to be a kids movie, but it is not though kids can watch it and enjoy it. I would say it is a family movie. It has a lot of depth to it and makes a lot of sense when you see the whole plot. This is great for any person who likes science fiction (not the dry type), suspense and the unknown. Very good plot line, well played but not over the top. I would have to say if you have thought about renting this then do so and enjoy.
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