This Week

Friday rolls in again and here we are. Today we also wrap up November. Where did this month go? Not that I’m complaining. Every step closer to spring is good, although I do like the month of December with all its holiday cheer and magic, so I don’t want it to SWOOSH by too quickly.

This morning I had a hard time getting up even though I went to bed early. It’s been a busy week and it has caught up with me. But sleeping in isn’t really an option when you have a couple of cats who are used to being fed before the sun comes up. They take their early morning meal very seriously and will make sure you give it to them. So I dragged my sorry behind out of bed by 6:45 after being nagged to death. Believe it or not 6:45 is late for me; I’m an early riser

I’ve been receiving package after package in the mail this week. Online shopping has made this year’s gift giving a lot easier. And I’ve been able to score some amazing sales at the same time. I also have very few people on my list, which makes the whole process even easier. Online stores are essential for me because this is a small city and there are only so many stores available within reasonable driving distance.

I had so much fun during my volunteer shift at the food bank this past Monday. Despite hardships and challenges they face, most of the clients are in good spirits and many of them are also very entertaining and interesting. They share stories and humour, and are always grateful for what they receive and for your help. Every week is a new adventure and an opportunity to meet more individuals in my community. I’m thankful that this organization exists and is able to help those in need.

Climate change has been in the news a lot lately. This is good because it is one of the most - if not the most - important issues right now and we need to be made aware of it. Scientists are providing us with vital information about our planet but many are choosing to ignore it. I stand by science and hope that we do what's right for our planet.

I really don’t have much else to share this week, so I’m going to stop here and wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Question Of The Day

Definitely a dryer. I use ours a handful of times a year, and if I never had to use it again, I'd be okay with that. I'd also be able to live without a dishwasher. I've gone for several years at a time without it in my life and could go without it for many more. What I couldn't do without, especially because of our cats, is a vacuum!

What about you?

Chuckles and Chortles

Happy new week, everyone! How are you all doing? What kind of weekend did you have? Ours was a mix of different things. Friday night we went to a Christmas party. It was a small gathering with good food and even better company, and we had a lovely time. Saturday was a day of rest. Yesterday we met up with friends again in the afternoon and chilled out for the rest of the evening. This afternoon I volunteer at the food bank. Oof… This is a lot of activity for an introvert. It'll take me the rest of the week to recuperate.

Now let's get to the funny stuff.

Have a good one!

This Week

Happy Friday, my friends! How is everyone doing? What’s your week been like? Did those who celebrated Thanksgiving have a good time? Did the rest of you (us) have fun in other ways? Share anything you’d like below!

My week has consisted of a lot of shopping. I have very few people on my holiday list but I’d like to get them all settled as soon as possible. Last year I waited till the last week to do my Christmas shopping (something I’d never done before) and it totally stressed me out! I was running around like a lunatic and had trouble finding what I wanted. Never again! This time around I’m more organized and most of my shopping has been done online. The only problem with that is trying to keep up with all the notifications. My email box is overloaded with repeat messages of: “Thank you for your order” followed by “Here are your order details” followed by “Your order has been shipped” followed by “Your order is ready for pick-up” (for the orders that I had sent to stores because of our postal strike/slow down).

There are orders waiting to be shipped, orders shipped, orders partially shipped, orders delayed, orders that have arrived and orders that need to be picked up. A little overwhelming, but that’s okay. At least I’m getting the shopping done early and I can spend the time in December baking delicious holiday treats.

So I found out today that a new Lion King movie is coming out in 2019. I took my older daughter to the first one back in 1994. She was only two at the time, and looking back now, it wasn’t one of my better ideas. Asking a child that age to sit still throughout an entire movie is a little much. Still, she did remarkably well. I only had to take her out into the lobby a couple of times for a few minutes. Here’s a trailer for the new one. It looks really good. And I love that James Earl Jones is once again the voice of Mufasa!

I noticed that there’s also a new Dumbo movie to be released next year. I’m not sure what the new one will be like but the original film tells the story of the heartbreaking abuse that elephants in circuses endure. Elephants don’t want to perform; they do it because they’re afraid of being beaten by a bullhook, a sharp metal weapon used to control them; the same tool used by elephant trainers in film and television. These beautiful animals, these gentle giants...they deserve so much better. I cannot even think about all this without my eyes filling up with tears.

Okay, well that got depressing really fast, so let’s move onto happier things. Like this game:

And it comes with the toilet. At first I thought this was a joke. But nope. It's a real game. Just when you think you’ve seen it all...

It makes me:

Now that I've (hopefully) made you smile (perhaps with a banana in hand), I will stop writing and wish you all an amazing weekend!

Question Of The Day

There are two, actually.

The first one is "Simple Things" by Jim Brickman. It is - and has always been - the little things in life that make me happy.



The second one is "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain. Because at the end of the day, I don't care what you own or how smart you are or how successful you've been or how many friends you have. I'm only interested in who you are and how you treat others. And if you're a pompous, selfish ass, all the money and success in the world can't cover up that stench! *snort*



And there you have it...

Now it's your turn!

Chuckles and Chortles

Happy Monday, blogging friends. How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one. Ours was a mix of socializing with friends (yesterday) and quiet (Saturday). My mind is a blank this morning and I can't think of a single thing to share, so...I will get right to the funny stuff. Enjoy and have a great day ahead!

This Week

Happy Friday, everyone! How are you all doing? What have you been up to? Anything new and interesting happen? Or new but not that interesting? Have you been out and about? Seen any cool movies? Read any captivating books? Participated in a fun activity? What has been the highlight of your week? Share away in the comments. I enjoy hearing from you.


Yesterday we drove up to Ottawa to see the younger daughter! Oh, what an amazing feeling it was to be able to hug her. It’s hard to believe that four months of being away in New Zealand have come and gone. I’m just glad she’s home safe and sound. We took her for lunch and caught up on news. Her boyfriend was home but not able to join us. He is studying for his master’s degree and he was working on an assignment that was due later that day. We did send home some lunch for him so he could enjoy the great food we had at the restaurant. It was a wonderful day and we really enjoyed seeing these two amazing young people who are happy and thriving. They are both very hardworking; going to university while holding down two jobs. I’m beaming with pride!

My daughter has also gotten into yoga. Here she is practicing it:

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A post shared by Alex 🧗🏼‍♀️🌏🌱🧘🏼‍♀️ (@travel.bunny_) on Nov 8, 2018 at 11:16am PST

This week has been a very busy and exhausting one for me. I’ve been cleaning up the house and ridding it of all the hairballs. I vacuumed up enough fur to make a new cat. What we should do is get into the habit of brushing our cats regularly, which would certainly help. Well, no, that’s not right. We should get into the habit of brushing our younger cat, Kazee, because she not only lets us but also enjoys it. The older cat, Mocha, who is slightly feral, would probably freak out and send us to the hospital with shredded faces.

Wednesday night I finally got to a chore that I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time: sort through my entire wardrobe and donate whatever I didn’t want anymore and whatever didn’t fit. I’ve been avoiding this but with the holidays coming up I felt more motivated because I really want to get a whole bunch of stuff over to the Salvation Army or to the food bank’s thrift shop before Christmas. I hated every minute of this chore but it’s over and done with. Hold on while I turn around so you can pat me on the back. *snort*

The decluttering madness continues. Next project: tackling the bookcases!

I woke up to heavy snowfall. Not the worst I’ve ever seen but that’s easy for me to say since I’m not the one that went out to shovel it. It looked beautiful when I woke up as freshly fallen show always does. Now, after all the shoveling and city snow cleaning, it looks messy and grey and wintry outside. It will be snowing for the rest of the day and I plan to just cozy up inside with a good book.

And that’s it, my friends. Thank you for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Question Of The Day

I've always liked the name Samantha, (Sam for short), so that would definitely be a number one choice.

And you?

Chuckles and Chortles

Happy Monday, everyone! How are you doing? What are you up to? How was your weekend? Ours was relatively peaceful and relaxing. We like it that way. I did get together with some friends on Saturday and it was a lot of fun. We chatted up a storm and shared a lot of laughs. It was great.

This morning I woke up to snow. Just a sprinkling, mind you, but a reminder that winter is definitely on its way. Not my favoutire season of the year, but I will admit that freshly fallen snow is magical!

Okay, now let's get to the funny stuff because that's what you're all here for.

Have a great day ahead!

Today

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.”

In memory of many and in honour of all, thank you 🙏

This Week

Another Friday rolls in and here we are again! How has the week treated you? Good, I hope. Mine has been a mix of this, that and the other. Supposedly we’re supposed to get some snow showers today. I’m not ready for any type of snow but Mother Nature doesn’t seem to care what I think. Or what anybody thinks for that matter. She does what she wants to do when she wants to do it.

Thank you to everyone for all your good thoughts earlier this week about my daughter’s return home from her 4-month student exchange program in New Zealand. She’s now in Ottawa safe and sound, and happy to be reunited with her boyfriend and her cat. On her way back, she had a very long layover in San Francisco, so she enjoyed some time exploring and taking photos in that area between flights. She messaged me that the city is very beautiful and shared the image below. She is a travel junkie and will squeeze in as many destinations as she can wherever she may be!

We'll probably drive up next week to take her for lunch and catch up. And hug and kiss her. And hug and kiss her some more.

Speaking of which, do you like traveling? I love it. If I was able to explore the world I’d live out of a suitcase for weeks on end without a problem. But with a mortgage and a car loan and all the other crushing fun stuff that come with being a grownup, it comes to this:

Hey, that’s alright. I really like going to parks.

Yesterday evening I went clothes shopping and survived the ordeal! My longtime blogging pals know how much I cannot stand this type of shopping and do it only out of necessity. It actually went very well last night. I made one trip to the dressing room and everything I tried on fit perfectly, which never happens. The universe is smiling down on me. And I'm almost done picking up everything I need, which means I won't have to shop for clothes for another...oh... five to ten years or so. *snort*

I have been visiting some of my favourite shops online lately searching for great deals. I’m thinking of doing my Christmas shopping early this year to avoid that December rush. When the kids were little I shopped year round but since they’ve grown up and flown the coop, I’ve gotten really slack about it. Now I’m feeling a little enthusiastic about it and I just might take the early-shopping plunge. Do you do any holiday shopping? Do you shop early or are you a last minute type?

Okay, I should quit here because the morning is getting away from me and I’ve got things that need to get done.

So... farewell and happy weekend to all!

Question Of The Day

There are a few I really like, so it would be a tough choice. But if I had to choose only one, I'd probably select Ellen DeGeneres. Or maybe Jon Stewart. Or Jimmy Kimmel. And of course, there's Trevor Noah and Anderson Cooper and Oprah Winfrey...

Your turn!

Chuckles and Chortles

Happy Monday, blogging friends! How is everyone doing? What's up with you? Share whatever you'd like in the comments below. I enjoy hearing from you.

This morning I am very excited. Remember when I wrote about my daughter being an exchange student in New Zealand? Well, she's on her way home as I write this. She'll be back in Ottawa tomorrow. I can't wait to see her and hear all about this amazing adventure she was on. Where in the world did four months go? They just whooshed right by!

Today is volunteer day at the food bank, something that I am enjoying immensely. It took me a long time to decide where I wanted to dedicate some time and I really hit the jackpot with this choice.

And that's all I have to say for now. Let's get to the funny stuff.

Have a good one!

This Week

Happy Friday, everyone. And happy November! What have you been up to this week? Did you celebrate Halloween? Did you do anything interesting or special or fun or unusual? Comment below!

This weekend we turn the clocks back an hour and it will get dark much earlier in the evening, something I’ve never liked. I wish we’d quit doing this daylight saving nonsense. What do you think?

Speaking of Halloween, the ‘blackface’ topic was once again in the news. Thankfully, many people get what’s wrong with it, but others don’t. I try to be understanding, but honestly, my patience is wearing thinner and thinner as I get older with people who just can’t – or maybe don’t want to – understand what’s wrong with this.

I’ve provided a link below for an explanation of this racist, degrading and dehumanizing practice. Knowing the history of blackface and the atrocities that accompanied it sheds some light on why it’s so offensive.

Don't get what's wrong with blackface? Here's why it's so offensive.

Okay, enough of that. I try to keep my blog upbeat, so let’s move on...

So…Netflix. We got on this bandwagon pretty late. We joined in January of this year and we’re very pleased with the service. Right now we’re getting close to wrapping up How I Met Your Mother and will be starting season 4 of Schitt’s Creek, both hilarious! In the past year we’ve also enjoyed That ‘70s show, Orange is the New Black, Grey’s Anatomy, Dirty Money, Stranger Things and a few other series, some of which we tried but abandoned. Of course, there have also been movies along the way that we’ve enjoyed, our most recent being Operation Finale. I’ve saved about a gazillion things waiting to be watched on my list, some of which we may never get to because we don’t spend that much time in front of the television.

Are you a member of Netflix? If you are, what do you recommend watching?

I’m wrapping up the novel Vittorio The Vampire by Anne Rice who - in my opinion - is the greatest storyteller when it comes to this theme. She is the queen of vampire stories! This wasn’t my favourite novel of hers but it was enjoyable enough. My favourite novels from her are The Vampire Lestat (1985), The Queen of the Damned (1988), The Tale of the Body Thief (1992) and Memnoch the Devil (1995). You don’t have to read them in that order but I would definitely recommend it.

Are you a reader? If so, what are you reading these days?

Shall we wrap it up here? Seems like a good place. Have a wonderful weekend!