My Pet Peeves

I was recently thinking about things that really annoy or frustrate me. It's usually things that people do and not so much about things that don't work as they are suppose to. Ignorance is a state of being unaware. That I can accept. Stupidity not so much. To me that reflects on the person knowing better but refusing to change what they are doing. We've all heard that people are creatures of habit. That plays a huge part of why people continue to do "stupid" things. Some people just refuse to change their ways. For some reason I guess they feel they're beyond that.

I've listed some of my top pet peeves.

-Parents who don't know where their kids are. I understand that people are busy but some just don't care. Any wonder why some turn out the way they do?
-People who think they know everything ( been there....done it all....)
-People who "always " talk on their cell phone while driving. We all know it's illegal. We've all done it but some do it all the time.
-People who throw their trash out the window of their car. Really? come on, dispose of it properly.
-Parents who give the kids exotic names. Celebrities are famous for this.
-Telemarketers. Calling back continously. Need I say more?
-People who let their kids scream/cry in stores or restaurants. The kid doesn't know any better but it's the part where the parent refuses to do anything about it that gets me.Pretty simple.....If you can't control your kid don't go.
-People who stop their shopping cart right in the middle of the aisle to talk with someone. Any chance you can move out of the way so others can continue with their day?
-Drivers that throw open their car doors without first checking for traffic. One of these days......POW!
-Toilet paper rolls that aren't changed when they're empty. My kids are bad for that.


We all have em. That's what makes this silly world fun.....

5 Things you must know before you buy a house

We've been recently discussing the possibility of purchasing a new home for our family.

We have been in this present home for 11 years now. It was a custom build for us and it's been enjoyable to decorate and renovate each room to everyones liking. The home has served it's purpose very well over the years but it has become "crowded". In all honesty, we weren't sure how long we would be in this house. Presently Nikki has her own room but the twins are sharing a room. They're okay with it now but it won't be long and that will change. They're going into grade 8 next year.

Our house is a modern 2 story with earth tone colors. The yard is well looked after with an above ground pool in the back yard. In the basement family room we have a home theater setup. That is my baby. I love it!!!! Hi definition projector with big screen.

I have been scouring the local real estate websites for homes for sale. We have a pretty good idea of what we want and where we want it. That got me thinking of things to look for when we do decide on a new home. I came up with my top 5 list when you are ready to buy. It's a huge decision and getting it right can enhance your families enjoyment.

-location of property
-structure of property. Is it sound?
-price and your budget
-Can selling and buying be done by yourself or do you perfer an agent to handle the sale?
-decoration of the home

We have a pretty good idea where we would like to purchase. We are in the process of determining our qualified mortgage amount. Decent homes do not last very long in our city. The area is seeing plenty of increased demands when it comes to real estate. We aren't in any rush to purchase but the "what if" discussions have started.

End of Days?

What is it with old creepy guys calling for the demize of mankind as we know it?

The well documented "Rapture" was suppose to happen this last Saturday May 21st. This is where Christ ascends onto Earth, gathering the faithful into the heavens and the rest are left behind to fall victim of a ending world. 89 year old Harold Camping has made these bold predictions before only this time he had a pile of followers world wide actually beleiving him. I mean come on......Isn't once enough? What really gets me is what kind of influence he's having on the smaller children that truely beleive this is coming? To me that's the really scary truth of it. The ones that are Christian followers are now doubting there really is a almighty Christ. There were even people selling Rapture "insurance" for family members and get this...........pets!

I guess they'll try any how to make a buck. Poor buggers that actually fell for this insurance payout.

My suggestion to him would be to stick with easier math. These kind of estimates are making you look real bad....

Stanley Cup Fever

It seems these people are Cup crazy too! Too funny.

Regrets relived

I got to thinking about some of the things I regret doing when I was younger. It's not so much that I'm unhappy with the way things turned out. I'm a lucky guy to have a great family, earn a decent living and I'm fairly healthy for the most part. Things could have been a lot worse.

Some of the things that crossed my mind when it came to regrets included;

-not staying in school to better educate myself. Things worked out okay but it was a struggle for a few years after high school. Jobs in Saskatchewan were not around like they are today. I wish I attended a Technical school to work on a trade. Although I did go back and get a certificate several years later.

-not travelling more. I was envious of the friends that went away and travelled when they were young. That wasn't my bag back then but I sure enjoy doing it now. I wish I would of seen more of the world. I choose to work and make some money instead. Europe would have been unreal. Perhaps down the road?

-not ungrading my Rider season tickets to better seats sooner. This one is kinda comical really. We've had season tickets for 22 years now. I have tried ungrading to better seats for several years now but no luck. Every body and his dog has Rider tickets now. It wasn't like that 15 years ago. We could have sat anywhere back then. This is one regret I don't sweat about too much. It's nice to see. Hopefully I won't be able to upgrade for years to come. I'll take that in exchange for trips to the Grey Cup.

Another local sports icon gone

Yet again more tragic news about a sports figure dying from our fair city.

Not sure what's up with that but it's getting way too strange for me now. Yesterday, NHL hockey player Derek Boogaard passed away at the age of 28. Cause of death has not been determined. Doug Wickenheiser(hockey), Sandra Schrimler(curling), and Marge Mitchell (curling) all died way before their time. It's a strange story but maybe it's just bad luck?

Boogaard was a bruiser on the ice but a pure gentleman off. He dedicated a lot of time to help local charities in Regina and in the cities that he played for. He will be missed.

How all visits to the Dentist should be

Lets just say today I had to go back to the dentist. I wasn't sure what to expect because my crown for a previous root canal was loose. It's been this way for some time but today was the day they they would attempt to fix it.

Arrived at the Dentists office thinking that the remaining tooth was cracked. That would mean removing the remaining roots and installing a bridge. Great more needles and freezing...... When they pulled the crown they found that underneath looked fine! All I can say is NICE...... they re-cemented the crown and I was out of there in no time. Man I felt Like I won the lottery. I really was expecting the worse. Things seem to go that way for me sometimes. Expect the worse, hope for the best.

I gotta give a plug for Dr. Kevin Soltys and the gals at Victoria Square Dental. They're very professional, courteous, and fun. They joke around with me all the time. If you're looking for somewhere new, check them out. You won't be disappointed.They even have tv screens on the ceiling when you're sitting back in the the chair.

Give your mum a hug

For those that are fortunate enough to still have our mothers around on this day, feel free to tell her how much you apprechiate and love her for the rest of your days together.

I do not have the privelege of seeing her very often on Mothers Day because she lives several hours away. I do call her every year to wish her well on "her" day. That's the way it should be. Reflecting back brings lots of great memories over the years. Being the oldest of her siblings, there was more expectations and responibilities growing up on a farm.

It wasn't always easy for my mom. Living with 5 males in the house was terrifying at times. I seen it in her eyes. She was always concerned for her families well being. That's what mothers do. She always provided the love and support for all of us. I remember the times when things didn't go right or mistakes were made. She was always there to support us. She always wanted us to enjoy the things in life that she never experienced.

I recently read an article about how mothers become part of a giving tree. It's actually a book that talks about the similarities between mothers and her kids. The children take what they want and the mothers give it out. The kids usually don't give thanks or hand out hugs. I know I didn't. I wasn't much into hugs. I was too macho for that growing up. Now reflecting back, I wish I did more of that.

You can reference the article here

I see the exact mothers love in my own kids life now. For me it's all about remembering how important mothers are in our world. They never give up on their kids. We need to do the same back.

Life's tough

Where do I start. It's been trying times for us lately.

Without any reasonable doubt, this has been mentally the hardest Jody and myself have endured during our entire marriage. I am speaking about a child that refuses to see the benefits of becoming a much better person than she chooses to be. She has very low self esteem, refuses to grasp reality and makes extremely poor decisions. I am confused, angry and very disappointed. As parents, we have high standards. We don't settle for just "getting by". We weren't raised that way by our parents, and I refuse to accept it now.

We try to give all of our children everything we can. Maybe that's been part of the problem all along? I know I never had anywhere near the things my kids have when I was growing up. That's what's become in todays social society.

The tension at times is very stressful.It's caused us many nights of poor sleep. That's not good when sleep already is somewhat non existant certain days having the life of a shift worker.

We will not abandon our desire for things to improve. We will not give up.
I just needed to share my feelings on the situation. Call it part of my therapy. I know things will improve but man it's been tough. I guess that's what life is all about.

Amazing Qback

I ran across this video. Check out the trick shots this guy has. Pretty amazing.
Maybe the Riders can bring him in for a look see?

Can you help me teacher?

We received notice yesterday that Saskatchewan teachers will be staging a one day walkout due to the lack of contract talk movement. They have been without one since last August.

They are an essential service to our kids safety and everyday development. The endless hours of dedication goes beyond just a quick thank you. I think back to some of the struggles others and myself have had with our kids as they grow up. It's these teachers that put in the time and effort towards" righting the ship", which sticks out in my mind the most. Social media in the class room started years ago. Everyone has cell phones, ipods, tablets.....you name it, they have it. It's become standard equipment in todays society within the class room. Today's teacher has to deal with these added distractions. How do you police this? From what I experienced, most choose to "allow"  the social media in the class room. Can't say I really disagree.What else do you do?

 They're overworked big time.  You really could not pay me enough to put up with some of the garbage they do. I guess why some decide enough is enough. They feel it's really not worth they're time.

Our kids will be affected. They are older, so having to stay home isn't a big deal for them even if Mom and Dad are at work. It's not like that for everyone. Child care is going to be an issue. Hopefully they can accommodate something. Megan and Alexa are in grade 7. Nikki is currently in grade 12. She's the one it could affect the most if this extends beyond Thursday. Hopefully things can be rectified so it does not jeopardize her graduation. Grade 12 is fun and all, but no one wants to have it last longer than it should. They're s talk that it could. It all depends on the length this contract thing goes.

Now I have to figure out what they will be cleaning around the house tomorrow.

I see you

By far the biggest news of the day was about the capturing of terror extremist Bin Laden. I have to ask though, how many of you had the same first response as me when you seen or heard the news? "Oh my God, they killed the President". After seeing a news headline on a forum, I quickly opened CNN to find out it was Osama....not Obama. My bad. Apparently a high ranking US government official made the same mistake except he Twittered it.  Now he's really bad......

I guess it was a matter of time before they found him. I will not get into the political rights or wrongs about having killed him but I hope they didn't open a bigger can of worms.

Get off my lawn

As I sit here at work on the night shift, I just finished looking at the weather forecast for the week. Looks like they're calling for rain. We don't need any more moisture around here right now but that's out of my hands. It does get me thinking about fertilizing the lawn to get it nice and green though. It's that time of year.

I don't know what it is but I'm pretty obsessed about how my lawn looks. I guess it's a guy thing? I'm actually borderline pyschotic when it comes to making sure it's up to par. I get depressed when it takes forever to green up in the spring. Working at a fertilizer plant probably doesn't help my way of thinking. I raked it last week as soon as it was dry from the winter snow fall. I've spent a lot of time reading on do's and don'ts when it comes to lawn care. Like when and how much to water, how high to cut it, ensuring your lawn mower blade is sharp so you "cut" instead of "break" the blades. Ya  I know....I'm a little obsessed. I don't know what it is but it brings me great satisfaction when I see the end results. Hopefully Charlie understands the rules when it comes to the lawn.

Extreme couponing...NOT

I recently watched a television program that was called Extreme Couponing.

Thinking this might actually be interesting, the idea of saving people money by using store coupons when they buy groceries and such is fantastic. I mean with all the money troubles in some areas of the country, sure that works for me until.......the family they based the show on got really silly with some of their  so called essentials. This is just my opinion but here's how the story goes.

A married mother of 3 was shopping at her local Safeway. After ringing in a total of around $1300.00 (yes.....$1300.00), She then presented the coupons to the clerk.Coupons were scanned and credit applied. The new total was a little over $100.00. I thought hey that's pretty good. After they went over what she had bought, that's where  I became skeptical. Let me run down some of the items.

•  20 some packages of corned beef sandwich meat( good buy)
• around  10 containers of margarine (good buy)
• around 40 bottles of toilet bowel cleaner ( not so much)
• around 90 bottles of mustard ( not so much ) and some other things I missed.

Now I'm thinking to myself who would need 40 bottles of toilet bowel cleaner or 90 bottles of mustard? Really? To me unless your running a business and reselling the items for profit, why would you bother? In this story this wasn't the case at all. The family had made several shelves to stock all of their purchases. Apparently they've been doing this for a while. There were shelves in the basement, garage and all the bedrooms. There were dry goods everywhere you looked. They even had stuff under all the beds. I couldn`t for the life of me totally understand it.

To me it looked like they were planning for the Apocalypse. It was a case of extreme hoarding. That`s gotta be it. I mixed up my shows. This was the show about hoarders. No wait........never mind........

All of a sudden I feel like a mustard sandwich.