Lest we Forget

My sister posted a beautiful story of our grandparents & their personal story of the life during WW2.

 

 

A lighthearted "war" story on this Remembrance Day:

My grandpa and grandma met before he went away to the war. Marty was photographed with Mable, and as you can see by what he wrote on the back of the photo, it was something of love at first sight... for him.

Marty went overseas to the war and the two pledged to write one-another. Except, Mabel was quite the social butterfly and didn't have time for writing. So, she assigned my great Auntie Mitzie to write to Marty... back and forth, through the war, while Marty was in the trenches, Mitzie posed as Mabel and wrote on her behalf.

When Marty returned, they picked right back up where they left off and Marty's note on the photo came true, he did marry her... and Marty apparently never knew about the covert letter writing plot!

 

A perfect lighthearted story on this Remembrance Day & what would have been my grandfather's birthday!

On this Remembrance day, I remember and am thankful for people like my grandfather who served our country.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

 

Happy birthday to me! :D

 

 

What has this year entailed for celebrations?  Well, the older I get, the less I WANT to throw an elaborate shaker.  This year, I went out last evening for Ethiopian food with my best friend where we had some DELICOUS food, good wine & excellent company!  Tonight, I spend with my parents, sister & her hubby doing the same :) 

Perfection!

What Goes Around Comes Around

I came into some news today that showed the old truth that what one reaps, one sows.. 

Not that I should take pleasure in the misfortune of another human being, BUT, I learned that a truly horrible person who has caused SO much pain in the lives of others, including myself, has had her lies catch up with her in a pretty explosive way.  

Due to the fact that this person treated myself and more importantly, some of my loved ones who were undeserving in such a degrading way - I couldn't help but exclaim: "Karma is a bitch."

I spend so many of my days seeing bad things happen to good people, and bad people triumphing, that it is a small victory to hear of the good guy winning.

The moral of the story?  Live your life with dignity & grace.  Even when people hurt you, and they will, as that is life - take the high road and react kindly, even if you are stewing inside. Your actions shape more than the present - they evolve your future!  

The one where I mortified a Target employee...

So, as many of you know, my lovely sister was married last weekend!  Yaaaah!  As the 4 bridesmaids (myself being the MOH) are 4 different heights and shapes as well as the wedding being planned in THREE months, she decided that rather than TRY to find a single dress that both looked good on all of us and that we all felt comfortable in - she was content for all of us to buy our own dress as long as it was the same color (navy)..

Here is a pic of me in my dress choice:

Strapless.  So, two days before the wedding on a Thursday night, I decided:  Hey, I should try on the one strapless bra I own and see if it works with the dress I will be wearing in less than 48 hrs... AND?  No, it did not work - the strap was too large causing it to slip and peek out from under the dress when pulled up.. OFF TO THE MALL I ran!!

I am going to say this:  La Senza, when I try on a bra in my size that is so padded that I cannot fit my BOOB into the bra,  AND it sits 3" above my boob due to said padding this is probably a design flaw.  I ended up finding a normal old strapless there, but these padded deals - hoooo boy.

So, as I was leaving the mall I crossed through Target and out of curiosity decided to pass through the undergarment area to see if they had any strapless... it was there I found the clearance section.

Bras on 70% clearance - hello $5 cute bras!  It's not like bras EXPIRE, so I decided to stock up.. 4 clearance bras for $20?! Yes, please!  I also passed by the athletic department and scooped up a Champion  t-shirt which I thought was on sale for $9.09.    Off to pay I went!

Seeing as it was 9 pm at night, there was ONE cash open - being manned by a young male.  Oh Lord. 

The poor boy took one look at me and the contents of my basket and I could see the panic in his eyes.  The shaking boy grabbed the first bra and rang it in 4 times in a panic..  FOUR TIMES.  To which he swore out loud..  Target seems to be VERY poor about having proper prices ring up in the register (especially for sales - watch your bills, ladies!) so I had to remind him EACH BRA he nervously handled that the price was ringing up incorrectly... When it came to my t-shirt, the price rang up at $12 - I mentioned the sale price I saw posted (I think) and he panicked again: "I am not sure it's on sale.. What did you think it was?  Well.. whatever!  IT's all good! I'll give it to you anyhow."  and knocked off the price (The shirts are now on sale this week for $10 so I think I read some really wrong sign - and side note, I decided to buy another two of the shirts as they are also great as work t-shirts and they rang up incorrectly AGAIN and the cashier (a different store as well) simply said: "What was the price?" and took my word for it...) 

So, that is how I mortified a young teen aged boy at Target but scored some cheap bras!  

Happy weekend all!

Wordless Tuesday

The weekend was truly blessed.  ♥

Beginnings.

Hello!  I am alive!

 

I apologize for my lack of ANY posts in the past while - my sisters wedding is TOMORROW (!!!!), so assisting with the planning and events like showers related to that have kept me INCREDIBLY busy!

 

I am actually SHOCKED the BIG DAY has arrived so quickly - the rehearsal is this evening, and tomorrow should be a whirlwind starting with hair first thing in the morning.. WOW! 

Side note:  I decided two nights ago (I KNOW) I should probably TRY the strapless bra I own ON with my dress - and low and behold - it wasn`t a good fit.  

Off to the mall I went last night.. Here I will go on a little tangent... If someone can tell me HOW this works, please do:  La Senza has some strapless bras that are SO padded (with padding that cannot be removed), I couldn't actually FIT my boob into the bra.  It was like taping 5 inches of padding over top of the gals.  What the?? How is this a look??  I DID ended up finding a normal (over priced) plain old strapless bra there.. but c`mon.. WHO is wearing these cast iron bras?

 

Secondary side note:  I had gone through Target looking at strapless bras and ended up buying several clearance bras at $5 a pop!  HELLO BARGAIN!  Unfortunately, the ONE cashier (this was 9 pm at night) was a young male who panicked when he saw a pile of bras and rang one in at full price 4 times.. Poor guy :)  But I digress...

Combine  all of this wedding bliss with what ended up being a VERY action packed summer- blogging has fallen to the side!

 

I shall return soon!

When the blues are more than just the blues...

This is a difficult post to publish..

During the course of the week I THOUGHT about posting something to reflect the traumatic incident that occured, but wasn't sure a) where to start b) how I really felt..

For anyone who follows Canadian news - I am sure you have heard/read about the young mother who (possibly) drowned her 3 month old baby son and 2 year old daughter before going missing..  (and for anyone curious - her body was possibly pulled from the river today)..

Well, I worked with this mother. 

I didn't work DIRECTLY with her, per say, as our departments don't work side by side in the hospital.. BUT, I knew who she was and have most likely said hello in passing.

For anyone who doesn't know the story, the possible reasoning for this horror having occurred?  Severe post-partum depression.

While it is not possible for me to comment on PPD as I have never experienced it, I have suffered a mild depression so I can relate to how draining it can be.. Combine that with a toddler and a newborn? I can imagine it to be hard.

The reactions to the news has been mixed:  More than half of the commenter's were HOPING that this "monster" went off to "kill herself" (or disgusting comments like that) while the other half were more sympathetic towards her recognizing PPD can lead to a psychosis and wishing for her safe return/not believing she murdered her children.

I am not sure if I didn't 'know' her if I would feel like the first half of people who think her to be a 'monster' or if I would still feel sympathy for a woman who obviously did not get the help she needed for a mental health issue.

One of the most heartfelt responses I have read to the news articles was from a mother who had suffered PPD.  In a nutshell she said that it is HARD to talk about it - you are surrounded by people congratulating you on the arrival of your child, and you are made to feel like you HAVE the entire world in your grasp.. To be put on that pedestal but to feel like you can't handle it/don't love your child must be horrific.. *I* couldn't imagine speaking those words to anyone.  She also went on to say (and it echoed a co-worker who was talking about her history of PPD) that she was AFRAID to tell anyone how she was feeling as she was afraid that she would either be labelled as a bad mother or have her child taken away from her... fortunately, her story had a happy ending and her husband recognized she needed more help than he could provide.

PPD has such a negative stigma attached to it - it's horrible that so many people also dismiss it as not being 'real'.. I am sure that deters some moms from speaking about it as well....

I am not sure where I am going with this post... I am grieving, along with my city, for the two innocent children who lost their lives, their father & grandparents, and especially for their mother who maybe could have been helped...