In Theatres Everywhere...Tomorrow, I swear!

Phew!  I'm exhausted.  Aside from being fairly busy at work, I haven't found much reprieve even when I'm able to steal away home.  I'm beginning to see a pattern forming that commences approximately a week and a half prior to Gage's exams starting... The onslaught of late assignments that need to be completed and submitted before the exam in order for Gage to pass his course.  Sigh...I want to get so mad, but I'm pretty confident I did the exact same thing during my go around. 

So this past week (on top of work and still being sick) I've we've managed to complete the writing of a myth, the filming of a trailer for said myth, reading a book "The First Stone", completing comprehensive readers notes for said book on Characters, Plot, Setting, Archetypes, and Themes, writing a Critical Essay on the story, doing an essay on why Julius Caesar was a great leader, and studying for the actual exam!  I wrote that I've completed these things and then scratched it out because it merely feels like I completed all these things alone, but that's not true.  Gage and I spent a lot of quality time together this week and Gage and Eric actually worked on the video/movie trailer.  I can assure you all that if Eric didn't exist in our lives, Gage would be getting a zero on that component. 

We figured to do a tongue in cheek myth about why Gage struggles to hand his assignments in on time or at all.  Since he's probably such a frustration to his teacher he might as well make her laugh.  We pooled all of our ideas and came up with a mythological beast that closely resembles an Xbox but eats homework, takes over Gage's motivation and has an uncanny knack for stealing his writing instruments and replacing them with an Xbox controller.  The Procrastasaurus or something like that.   The clip below is the trailer about his myth that he handed in.  No clue what kind of grade he got on it but it sure made me laugh.  Especially the part at the end about it's arrival in theatres...Tomorrow, I swear.  Infamous last words his poor saint of a teacher has heard more often than not this past semester. 



There was a moment of hope this week though when Gage proposed the idea of doing his homework when it's assigned to him.  I've reassured him numerous times that we'd always be willing to help him but it would take way less time than 6 hours a night if we did it right away, or at least started it early.  He came up with the idea all on his own!  And he has figured out that Grades 11 and 12 are going to have strong impacts on his ability to get into a college.  It's so frustrating because based on the assignments and tests he did hand in and do his grade without trying would have been mid to high 70's.  With all his missing assignments he was sitting at a 39.  Completely uncalled for.  Sigh...here's hoping he's starting to mature and figure some of this stuff out.  Let's see if he follows through with this idea next semester.  I think I might have made it a little easier for him to stick to his plans by pulling in the reigns on his freedom and how much of it he has this coming term. 

I like spending time with my kid and all, but come on! 

Makes Cents!

Everyone is always looking for ways to easily save money right?  It's just usually hard for us to curb our habits and change our ways in order to achieve the right results.  For me anyway.  I enjoy the lifestyle I live but of course, I'd love to have extra money to do more things like travel and home renovations. 

This year I have one thing I'm going to try my hardest to stow money away for and that's a trip for four to Mexico in November.  It was a toss up between Disney again or an all inclusive at the resort Margaret and I stayed at last year.  Eric was easy peasy, Roan didn't offer much of an opinion and Gage voted for Mexico.  Both cost the same amount with air fares and meals.  So Mexico it will hopefully be.  Fingers crossed I can remain diligent in my quest and I don't get easily sidetracked.  But that's not really what this post is intended to be about.  That just happens to be one of the things I need to save money for.   The other is of course, Christmas. 

So at work on Friday, Deb showed me a brilliant idea she had stumbled across on Pinterest.  I'm not terribly sure where the idea originated from but I think the source she found it on was shemakescents.com.  I've decided I'm going to do it. 

The idea is to put the equivalent of each week in cash, for a full year, away (is that sentence even proper grammar?).  So on week one you would put $1.00.  Week 37 you would put away $37.00.  Week 52, $52.00.  You get the idea right?  If you follow this rule of thumb after 52 weeks and 52 deposits you will have saved $1378.00.  Wowza!  Doesn't seem like a lot of money to tuck aside but it really does add up quickly.  I've decided I'm not following the traditional rules and doing week 1,2,3,4,5 and so on.  I've decided I'm going to just to put away what money I have each week and scratch that corresponding week off the list.  I'll try to tackle a few of the larger deposits when I have extra money laying around rather than doing them all week after week towards the end of the year and my scheduled Mexico trip.  Ya know?  I have also decided to back pay myself so it corresponds with a cashing in date of the first week of December and I'll be able to use all that money for Christmas shopping.  It really is a great way to save for Christmas. 

So I've asked Eric to piece together some ugly, tough as nails box to store my deposits in that I can't easily get into but I won't be devastated to destroy it when it's withdrawal time.  Is this something you think you could do and be successful at?  What would you spend your $1378.00 on?  Do you have any other money saving tricks and tips that are easy and attainable? 

You can print this picture off and keep it as a log for each deposit you make!  Good luck to you all! 

Is There Anybody Out There?

So as promised, here's my synopsis of my close encounter of a third kind.  While I didn't leave the meeting with any sort of wow factor, I also didn't leave it feeling like he was full of shit.  I didn't leave it with a feeling of fulfillment either, but rather a hollow (with a tiny hint of disappointment) feeling.  I guess I believed what he told me would be of a more personal nature.  I'm not sure though that that's the best way to explain what I was expecting. 

I need to state off the hop that at no point did I get the feeling from this particular Medium that he was a flake, crazy or nuts in any way.  I was most comfortable with him.  I didn't think he was pulling my leg and I got the sincere feeling that he is passionate about his gift.  He made me feel comfortable right from the start and explained to me how he, himself, deciphers and speaks with the spirit world and let me know I was always free to ask questions and to tell him if something didn't make sense to me.   And I need you to know that I have never done anything like this before (aside from mine and Eric's palm reading sesh with the quack), so I had zero knowledge of what to expect from it.   The Long Island Medium has probably killed it for me though.  She always pulls out so much personal stuff that she wouldn't, shouldn't and couldn't know, I guess I was hoping for expecting the same from this meeting.  I didn't get what I was looking for, which has lead to my hint of disappointment.

So here goes, from what I can remember (I taped it but the MP3 player ran out of memory part way through our session. Lets hope I didn't too!).

He started by taking my hands and instantly was taken aback and told me his heart was racing.  No clue if that's normal (didn't sound like it) but he did mention for me to relax and calm down (I wasn't feeling anxious or nervous so who knows what he was picking up from me).  He then stated that I had an abundance of spirits around me and asked me if I had experienced a lot of death in my life.  I stated, "Not personally."  It took him a moment to try to sort them out and decide who he would speak with first.  He then asked me what I did for a living and once explained he was able to understand and rationalize the large number of spirits around me.  He first did a run through of my personality (which was pretty bang on) and told me I was sometimes too trustworthy but at the same time he reiterated to always trust my gut, good or bad, because I was usually dead on (no pun intended). 

Next we moved on to the spirit world.  He threw a couple of names at me that made zero sense to me but then stated it seems they are spirits of people I looked after through work (easy cop out no?).  He told me spirits will use me as a go between during the first few days following their death as I'm in touch with them as well as their families during that time period.  He also told me that when I'm working on a deceased person (embalming, dressing, cosmetizing, etc) that the spirit of that person is with me watching me work.  It's funny because I've always felt like that was the case throughout my career - I didn't bother mentioning this to him.).  They aren't with me to make sure I'm doing a good job, but more so to come to terms with the fact that they have died.  He said sometimes the spirits come home with me (I've never felt this).  He said the spirits were telling him that I was extremely good at my job (I am) and they didn't see a career change in my future as this is what I'm meant to do.  They did mention that I would soon be in a position to take over the funeral home I currently work for (Yeah, don't see that happening uhm, ever).  And when this opportunity arises, I will find the financial backing and full support of my friends and family.  I have no desire whatssoever to own a funeral home.  I like leaving work at work and home at home.  They then mentioned a co-worker who suffers from extreme halitosis (that's true!) and told me that particular person is dying of intestinal problems and is basically rotting from within.  This particular person's health is failing.  (Again, true.)  He also said the funeral home is haunted and in particular, there is a priest/minister that roams between the two churches and still conducts services.  There happens to be a church on either side of the funeral home and the funeral home itself used to be a church manse, so that is completely feasible. 

Next we moved on to more personal things.  He asked me what was going on with my mother.  When I stated nothing, he pressed the issue and said there is something going on with my mother. I mentioned at this point that her husband had died(?).  He told me my mother wasn't handling his death well and if she didn't stay active and involved in other aspects of her life that her grief would turn into depression and it would consume her.  Then he told me my dad had joined us, yet I didn't feel like he was present.  He said when my mom cries, my dad is with her.  She can't feel him because she is too consumed in her pain of this loss instead of the good memories they shared together to feel him.  He said it's my role to help her through this, not as a funeral director but as a daughter (ya, thanks).  He said my dad asked about my brother and wanted to know where he was.  I stated he was either at home or at work.  He said my dad mentioned that my brother would do well in his job.  The Medium then asked what it was my brother did and I mentioned he had recently opened his own comic store.  He again stated the business would develop and Geoff should look at ways to expand it outside the four walls of the store itself and to also pay closer to attention when customers are in the store to help curb theft.  He then asked about a woman connected to my brother.  I stated perhaps his wife, he said no it was a woman who came into the store that was trying to or would try to seduce him and my brother should remain strong and firm.  My dad also told me to tell my brother to keep the lines of communication open with his wife at all times, to continue to talk opening with each other - be it good or bad.  He then mentioned a little girl who my dad spends a lot of time with.  He said she sees him and he wants my brother to know my dad is there with her. 

Then he said we could finally talk about me which is what I was waiting the whole time for.  He said my dad was worried about me and my health and told me that I don't take care of myself properly.  If I keep venturing down this road I'm going to get very sick.  I need to stop focusing on taking care of others and start tending to myself.  The Medium mentioned something was wrong with my dad's heart.  I said I wasn't aware, but thought he might have had high cholesterol.  He said he did have heart issues, but that is not what caused his death.  He said my dad never expected to be taken so quickly and it was still a shock to him.  He also told me my dad was trying to get me a message so I would know it was him.  He mentioned a butterfly and then a tattoo.  I stated that I used to have a butterfly tattoo but it has since been covered over.  He then told me I have a lot of tattoos, but only ever that one butterfly (all of my tattoos were completely covered).  He then said my dad kept bringing up a girl I knew who had passed away by the name of Sarah when I was 16.  I have no clue what he was talking about. He told me that my dad comes to my work and asked if I had ever seen him there.  I said, no.  He mentioned that he is still wearing a bomber style brown suede jacket (just like he used to).  He told me if I wanted my dad around all I had to do was call his name.  He then asked me if I had any questions for my dad which totally caught me off guard, so sadly, no. 

He then mentioned that there was an older woman who I had met at the funeral home when she came in for a visitation but has since passed away herself that wanted to speak to me.  She wanted to thank me for looking after her and her family so well at her passing and wanted to inform me that the person I am currently with is a good fit and we will be happy for a long time.  And then that was the end of my session. 

So here's my take on it:

How come my dad didn't bring up either of my boys?  The kids he was so extremely close to.  How come my dad didn't mention my sister at all?  And she's the one who lives with my mother.  How come there was no mention of Sebastian the grandchild he worried most about?  How come when my dad brought up my tattoo he didn't mention the fact that I took him to get his one and only tattoo or that I'd gotten a tattoo in his memory of a Coke bottle?  ...Something more obscure than a typical butterfly tattoo on a girl?  One of the many tattoos he would have rarely seen because of its placement on my body.  How come my dad didn't want to talk to me about personal stuff or touchy feely stuff like my dad would have done had he been alive?  How come he talked about some girl neither he or I knew?  How come he didn't call me Doll or Darling or tell me he loves me?  I guess I just expected something more personal from a man who has known me my whole life.  

And I guess I was bummed too that there was no appearance from a very dear friend, Andrew.  Not even a mention of him.  I was kind of hoping my dad would have run across him at some point.  Instead I'm bombarded with a bunch of spirits who came into my life very briefly.  Maybe I was looking for some sort of closure from both parties and walked away feeling jipt.  I guess I really like the idea that the potential to converse with either of them again exists in some way.  After last night, I wasn't really feeling like that was possible.  So disappointed this girl remains.  *Sad face*

Seeking Something Beyond

So the opportunity has finally fallen into my lap where I'll get the chance to sit in front of a psychic medium and see what all this hooplah is about.  The idea of psychics and mediums intrigues me but of course being a 'science girl by nature' I'm skeptical.  I want, I want, I want so badly to believe in the after life so I'm a little nervous that this meeting isn't going to give me the results I'm so desperately longing for. 

Of course it should go without saying that I'm hoping my father will make an appearance but it would also be pretty cool if one of my best friend's Andrew did as well.  I guess I'm just hoping this medium blows me away with a whole lot of gasps and oohs and ahs and "how'd he know that?'s".  I worry that I'm putting too much stock into this and I'm just going to walk away $60.00 poorer and more disappointed.  I'm worried that my hopes will be dashed. 

The negative Nellie in me is suggesting that I go in with zero expectations that way I'll either walk out smug and arrogant saying, "Ya, I knew nothing would come of it." or I'll be mindfucked (which would be crazy awesome).  I'll keep you posted! 

Have you gone to a psychic or medium and gotten good results? 

Gazing Garden Globes

I've been sitting on a couple bowling balls for just under a year now with the intent that I was going to paint them to look like bugs for my garden.  Haven't come close to getting there though.  I also stumbled across a huge bag of flat glass beads at a garage sale for like two bucks or something so I grabbed them (knowing I'd find a use down the road).   In due time all things became clear to me and the idea of a homemade "gazing ball" was formed in my head. 

So a couple weeks ago, after Roan was done being "SO angry" with me for dumping his Lego into his toybox, he and I got down to brass tacks (well glass beads rather) and went to work making a gazing ball for Grandma for Christmas (He'd already made her a 'touchy' card and this was to go with it.)  Whether it will weather the weather remains to be seen (since it's currently 1 degree with a foot of snow on the ground, we shall not be able to test out its durability until May or so.)  

Here's what we used (though the glue may have been the wrong choice, only time will tell.  It was fun making it though.)

Bowling ball
Hot glue gun and lots of glue sticks
Flat bottom glass beads (multi-coloured would be fun but use what you have)

Then I think it's pretty obvious what you do next right?  But if it isn't, you basically put some hot glue (not too much!) on the flat part of the bead and then you secure it to the surface of the ball.  Simple is as simple does.  Don't make it harder than it is.   Continue to do this until all the surface is covered and PRESTO!  You have a homemade 'gazing ball' or at best, a heavy lawn ornament that will blind you when the sun reflects off of a bead right into your eyeball. 

Sorry I couldn't do a staged shot, but use your imagination will ya?  We got snow last night remember!??!  And lots of it!  Let's gaze into the ball and long for spring.  Maybe with lots of eyes looking into it we'll be able to will the snow away.  Good luck.  Ready?  Aim....stare.