Sewing lessons

 I started to teach my step daughter Zoey how to sew. Her very first project was to make PJ pants, for her grandma for Christmas! She just turned 11 and I remember at that age finding frustration with the fact I didn't have money to buy gifts for my favourite people, like my grandma.  

We started by buying the fabric sometime in mid November. I wanted to give myself enough time because I'm not always patient. I also kept this activity for week-ends when her dad worked overnight, since he tends to sleep half of the day. So it was an activity we could do together while he was sleeping. 

I also wanted her not to feel rushed or feel it's too difficult or feel it was too much. She did all the sewing. I ended up doing the measuring and pinning of the hem and the casing, mostly because it's time consuming, and I can tell by eye 2" but it's a real pain to have to measure it every cm around a waist and I did not want her to get discouraged. 

I only fixed seams that were outrageously bad, unstitched those, but left most of her own seams. So it's not her who did it and me who fixed it. Mostly it was her effort. If grandma looks inside she will see a lot of the mistakes, however on the outside the garment is wearable, especially since one usually wears PJ pants at home. 

I had her put them on herself so she could show her dad her finished project, and then I wrapped them up so she can surprise her grandma at Christmas. 

I cried. I often have the greatest intentions and think ahead of cool things I can do with friends or in the past with my daughters and then often either because of situation or my mood, I can't bring a project to completion and it makes me feel like a failure and a loser.  I was so grateful that I managed to bring a full project to completion and she seemed so happy that I think I've created a new seamstress.   Yesterday she was eying a lot of my patterns. I will have to find a second project, this one making a garment for herself that she can succeed and want to keep sewing.

Cutting the fabric to make PJ pants

Starting to assemble  the PJ pants

Toby helping out with the PJ pants

I  want to sew too!

I like the pink PJ's, I do! I do!

Birthday gifts

These are the awesome gifts I got this year!!

A windchime hummingbird, so pretty

The cake as it arrived

Mmmm cake!

New PJ's for me to sleep in

Accidental penetration? Really? Seriously? Anatomy lessons anyone???

I dunno but I've never been "Accidentally" penetrated.  Mostly unless the position is absolutely perfect, most men need to guide their penis to get it to go in anywhere. That's the experience of most women.I've never had a friend say to me "OMG I was accidentally penetrated when Fred fell on me".  Statistically speaking it's about as likely as catching an STD or STI from a toilet seat

I don't know what kind of anatomy this poor girl in England had that she was "accidentally penetrated" and the guy who did it was acquitted of rape. Like WTF????

I'd like to accidentally fall with a 10foot pole up his ass....see how he likes it. I bet no one would believe me. For one I'm female, I'm not Saudi and I'm not a millionaire!

I think schools should offer basic anatomy. It seems many of the judges around the world today are woefully uninformed about female anatomy. What with the idiot who said if she didn't want to be raped all she had to do was keep her knees closed... Huh?  

I hate my birthday

I really hate this time of the year.  As people race to get ready for Christmas they turn into giant assholes and douchebags. Instead of being kind and thoughtful to others they are more likely to run them over for not going fast enough.

I wonder if our wonderful Costco in Pointe-Claire is going to be as much of a Jungle this year now that the new Costco in Vaudreuil opened. It means people from Ontario aren't coming to the one in POinte-CLaire anymore. However I'm sure the folks from Ontario aren't the ones with a sense of entitlement, like the gentleman who insisted on pointing out that HE had a MERCEDES and to make sure I didn't go too close to his MERCEDES with my cart, that was parked next to my crappy Suzuki.  

I hate my birthday.  I can thank my biological dad for making me want to crawl under a rock and hope I'd never been born on this day.   The asshole tried to kill me when I was 2 1/2. WTF I could have done to him at that age when I didn't even live with him, who knows.   But then he called me at 16, 17, 18 for my birthday and ACTED LIKE I should want to know him, want to be with him etc.  And had the audacity to blame my MOM for not wanting to have anything to do with him. 

EVER OCCUR TO YOU ASSHOLE that if you try to kill someone, even at a young age that maybe they will remember and  never want to see you again?  But no I'm just a giant douche who wouldn't give her fucking dad the time of day. EVERY fucking year on my birthday this is what fills my head. Dunno what triggers it but it happens

ANyways... it haunts me every fucking year. And this year BONUS I had a huge fight with my significant other on my birthday because he can't imagine I can be upset over something like this all these years later so I must be upset over something else.

And then people wonder why I awnt to crawl under a fucking rock. I'm not even allowed to be upset and not want to underline the day I was born.  

Of course those who try to be nice for my birthday probably feel crappy too because I don't want anything, just want to crawl under a rock and then I hurt other people's feelings who try to do nice things for me, and then I feel even worse. Sometimes I wish I could disappear most Decembers and reappear mid January when all that Christmas/birthday crap is over with. 

I got over 100 birthday wishes, and it just hurts more, makes me feel like I'm the giant douchebag. I'm not happy. I'm sad. I just want to crawl under a rock, and I'm sure people look at me and think "WTF does she have to be upset over, I'd love her life".

Why should men do all the regulating.

In America men seem to want more and more control over women's bodies and reproductive rights. SOme of the laws in place to get an abortion in some states is sheer folly.

So in that spirit one lawmaker wants to regulate men's erections. Why not. They can decide if I can have a child or not, perhaps we can decide if they are allowed meds to get boners.

I love all the stupid rules this woman wants to make. Should wake up some men to make them realize that if they don't want their bodies regulated, perhaps they should stop regulating women's bodies?  I especially like the lawmaker who suggests all men who want boner pills have a mandatory rectal exam prior to any prescriptions.  I also like the idea that they have to wait for a few months, you know, just in case they might change their minds.....

While free access to safe abortions should be available to all women all over the world, I don't really think that easy access to Viagra is that important. After all I wonder how many men use it to rape or have non consensual sex?

Our Prime Minister is right out of Vogue?

Today's editorial cartoon by David Parkins taken from the Globe and Mail.

From World Vision.

#CanadiansWelcome

We help everyone in Canada.

Whenever there is a post about bringing refugees, I often see comments like "what about our homeless?" or "what about our veterans?" or "what about the poor natives living in squalor?" rhetoric..

Our government spends $4 billion per annum to fight homelessness.

Our government spends $3.64 Billion per annum on veteran affairs.

Our government spends $8.4 Billion per annum on indigenous affairs.

Our government is spending $1.2 billion over 6 years ($200 million per annum) on Syrian refugees..

There are 35 million Canadians and 28.7 million of them can work (16-65)

That means each individual taxpayer pays about $115 per annum on our homeless, $104 per annum on our veterans, $240 per annum on indigenous affairs and will spend about $6 per annum on refugees..

Souces:

 You can see the budget for Canadian Homeless here:

You can see the budget for Veteran Affairs here: $3.64 Billion

You can see the budget for our Indigenous people here: $8.4 Billion

You can see the cost to bring in Syrian Refugees here: $1.2 billion over 6 years ($200 million/ year)

Toby visits the vet

Resting last night after eating

He had  41 of fever which the vet said was high for cat and that it is more likely to be a viral infection than bacterial because it was that high. Other options were failed organs, and I was offered to get him a blood test, but declined that since he's only 18 months. Usually failed organs happen to older animals.

 He was xrayed as we thought he might have eaten ribbon and his stomach was found to be full while his bowels empty suggesting there might be blockage. Occasionally a high fever will cause body to shut down. So two.might be related

Was given injection to bring down fever and hydration pack. Was also fed beads which will show where any blockage might be if his stomach stays full.

He ate the minute he got home, suggesting his fever broke. He at 3-4 times over the course of evening and night, and slept well on the bed at my feet.

This morning he was far more lively then yesterday and even played a little. Then he's sit around and howl a little. I bet his tummy is still hurting some. Hopefully he will pass stool and we will know he is just fine.
 

Little putz isn't well today

Taking Toby to the vet after work today because he isn't well. He's been listless since this morning, maybe even last night. His belly seems to hurt.

I suspect he ate something he should not have.  Here's a photo with his bandana when he was still feeling well...

Is it the 1940's ?

No wait, today is 2015.

Someone should inform Donald Trump. "The Donald" seems to espouse racism we thought we had eliminated after the 2nd world war.

It amazes me how many people support this twit. His stance on Muslims, wanting to ban them from America is about as clever as Germany's ban on Jewish people. It won't finish well for anyone.

Personally I have no problems with Islam.  I have problems with Fundamentalist Muslims but I have problems with Fundamentalist anything.  And I definitely have problems with anyone trying to shove anything down my throat, especially religion. Don't tell me who I can pray to.


Also imagine that, I'm not a follower of the great 3 religions. I haven't been a Christian since the age of 6, my mom isn't Jewish and I've never converted to Islam, but if I had to choose out of the 3 I would probably choose Islam.    However often I'm more caring about people then those who found or have religion. Imagine what that says about me. I'm not nice to others because Jesus tells me to, I'm nice to others because I believe in being nice!

Gluten free pizza

Tried out gluten free pizza from Pizza Pizza last night for dinner.  The price sucks. But that's for everything gluten free. Companies are sucking up the profits.... I can't imagine rice flour is that much more expensive then wheat flour. It's not like rice is very rare.

So far I didn't seem to have digestion issues but I made way too many trips to the bathroom. Not sure why, could be unrelated but will have to try it again another time to make sure it wasn't hte pizza. 

Youtube Algorithms.

I've noticed something about youtube, when you let it keep playing. If you are playing grunge, sooner or later "Black hole son" will play always followed by "Creep" by Radiohead, and then it goes into Radiohead, which I really can't stand.    It's at least a dozen times where I start with Alice in Chains or Soundgarden, or even Nirvana, and it always leads to Radiohead, which I have never listened to and cannot stand.

If we listen to metal or metal rock, for some reason it always leads to GnR. While I don't mind GnR, lately I've been sick of GnR. And it's funny. Put any song and within about 6 songs you get GnR. Never fails, and frankly I'm sick of GnR. And I always turn it off once it gets to GnR.

So Youtube if your algorithms worked, you would no longer offer me those choices since I always go change the music when it hits those selections.

In Memory of December 6th, 1989

December 6th in Montreal always brings mixed feelings. Most of us still remember the Polytechnique massacre. I wrote on December 6 1990 this poem in memory of those who died.... Everyone remembers where they were. I was home with my 2 babies, watching television, while sewing, and my first reaction seeing the late breaking news on TV was "Oh another crazy in the US" until I realized the 'crazy' was in Montreal. Since my hubby then worked for a firm comprised mostly of engineers, we realized we knew people who knew the victims. Including Barbara Daignault, the cousin of our good friend Thierry.


In Memoriam of December 6th, 1989

You are gone forever but not forgotten
The memory of your tragedy lives on
It is a pity that you were attacked and killed
For just fulfilling your potential

There is a malaise in society
That was created long before you came to be
It will not go away so easily
Perhaps your death will make the problem clearer

There were those who looked on in disbelief
Those who were confused and deeply hurt
How can someone decide the fate of others
Is there no justice for the living?

The work of a madman for sure
But there is a madperson in all of us
Some say that he was just a marginal exception
But how can we learn to trust others again

Perhaps this incident will make people think
Of all the injustices committed towards women
Perhaps the next time she cries injustice
Society will believe she her complaint.

The answer does lie within each one of us
To forgive him who focused his personal anger on women
To help others learn to love and help themselves
And make this world equal for both men and women.


In your memory: Genevieve Bergeron, Helene Colgan, Nathalie Croteau,  Barbara Daigneault, Anne-Marie Edward, Maud Havierncik, Barbara Klucznik-Widajewicz, Maryse Laganiere, Maryse Leclair, Anne-Marie Lemay,Sonia Pelletier, Michele Richard, Annie St..Arneault, Annie Turcotte

Nannygate? Please!

The fact they've been talking about Justin Trudeaus 2 nanny's for days is something incredibly stupid.  People say that since he is among the 1% he should be paying for his own nanny's.

Yes but look at it from another perspective, our Prime Minister is given a regal home to live in [Which is in such bad shape it requires serious work before the Trudeaus can move in]  and with that comes various employees which serve various roles, like house keeper, chauffeurs as an example.  

Bitching them out for their 2 nannies at the price people pay their nannies is a real joke. He could have hired instead of 2 nannies 1 nanny and 1 security guard. This would cost the tax payers a lot more and no one would even bitch. 

It's way too easy to make him look bad, when he's just been running our country for 2 months. 

Syrians would rather stay near their homes!

It's amusing me how much the Americans are so Anti-Syrian refugees, but what they are failing to realize is that most Syrians don't want to come to America. They would rather stay in the region, in the mIddle east, or even north Africa, then Europe.  North America comes last in destinations they wish to live in.

Personally if I was in their situation I'm not sure I'd want to start my life over in a  new country or hope for things to get better in mine and be able to go back home.

So all this hate propaganda over people who certainly aren't coming to America in boatloads!

Happy Birthday!

Wishing a Happy Birthday to my favourite Ex-husband :)

May this year be the best yet. May things finally start working with you instead of against you.

You deserve it!

Toby isn't fond of brooms, mops and cleaning!

WTF

You going to let him do that?

I'm hiding in the bed away from the mean broom!

Toby scrambling because he really doesn't like brooms and mops.

Carrefour Laval

It was Black Friday admittedly when I took him to Carrefour Laval to get him a birthday present.  There was hordes of people. It amused him to no end how I zigzag through the masses to get to the stores I wanted to go to.

I got him these sexy shoes for his birthday!

Sweet Vans in Suede

 We also went in by Rona and checked out plants. I came home with a poinsettia and a kalanchoe, both pink.

I got him to ham up with some Christmas decorations. Besides I thought his daughter might find it really cute and she did!

Finally System updated to Windows 10.

Took close to 4 months. But both systems started the upgrade yesterday.

My windows 8.1 Pro setup on a HP Z220 finished the update yesterday.My Windows 7 Ultimate on the Lenovo S20 is finishing the update now!

Windows 8.1 asking me if I'm ready to update

Windows 8.1 updating to Windows 10

Windows 7 Ultimate ready to update to 10

Windows 7 Ultimate upgrading to 10

Windows 7 64 bits on the last part of the upgrade

Oh Boy! My Windows 10 upgrade is finally coming!!!

I setup these machines back in June in preparation for Windows 10 free upgrade, starting July 29th. It is now almost November 29th, 4 months later. I have been checking for these updates almost every day since July 29th, for the first 2 weeks, and now at least twice a week, rebooting system often and making sure all updates were always installed.

Windows 7 Ultimate telling me it was ready

Windows 7 ultimate downloading Windows 10

Windows 8.1 Pro downloading Windows 10.

Lets see how long the download takes.....

Superfit. .. but for how long?

I bought these boots just about a year ago. I remember wearing them to Toronto.

Took them out of the cupboard today in anticipation  of snow. They looked fine when I stored them but now they are garbage. 

One of the seams seems to have self- destructed over the summer and I will need a new pair of boots for this winter.

My boots

Broken seam

Welcome to Canada....

It's sad. Most people forget that as Canadians most of us are immigrants or the children of immigrants. Unless your family is native American or aboriginal, you or your family came here as a new comer at some point. I think it's particularly hypocritical to say that you don't want any more new comers to Canada. Especially not some that are fleeing conflict. I bet you more then half of this country are descendent of immigrants, or even refugees.  Did YOUR family come to Canada to cause terrorism? No. Well then why assume others do as well?

I have an employee at work that migrated to Canada some 20 years ago. He fears the Syrian refugees. He said that when he chose to come here, he chose Canada because he shared the values of this country.  I'm not sure why  he thinks Syrian refugees don't share the values of this country. Most of the ones in refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq, are middle class folks, who left Syria when it became unsafe to live with their family. Most of those with enough money resettled elsewhere then in Syria but those who just had enough money to leave, end up in refugee camps across the region and they no longer have a home to go to.

These are people that were not poor or uneducated. They know there is a better world out there for them and their children and pray every day in hopes that one country will take them in. Those who had more money are the ones who made the perilous journey to Europe, to help their case along. Waiting for years in a refugee camp in hopes you might find a home is not good. THIS is what encourages fundamentalism and terror. The thought that you are unwelcome EVERYWHERE.

Trudeau's promise to take in 25000 Syrian refugees before the year is over, is under way. They are focusing right now on bringing families, orphans and single mothers with children.  That is, they will not be bringing in single men for the time being.  This is obviously a compromise to appease those that say that we are going to be letting in ISIS in the midst of the refugees. I believe the single men will be screened more vigorously so it may take more time for Canada to be bringing them in.

From all I've read all the terror I've witnessed or lived through in Montreal [Mainly the FLQ in my childhood], was perpetrated by locals. By French Quebecois.  If I'm afraid of anyone it's of those of my own background. The French Quebecois. 

Personally I am welcoming Syrians to Montreal. May they find peace and humanity in Montreal.

Creature comforts

Been wanting new towels for my house for some time. Either I didn't like the texture the colour or the price. Found some at Deco Decouverte with lovely colours and I got 30% off with a scratch card. Got one orange, one burgandy, one green and one turquoise.

I also found some sheets that were 60% Bamboo Rayon and 40% cotton.  I bought them. Also got them 40% off with the scratch card.  They are so nice texture wise. They will be great summer sheets. They don't hold the warmth enough  for winter, but man are they nice to roll around in bed in.

Bamboo Rayon and Cotton sheets.

4 towels with 4 facecloths

Woke up wet

Seems my hot water bottle sprung a leak. Cuddled with it for hours totally dry, woke up to a wet bed. Seems a tiny crack in it.

Need to get me a new hot water bottle. It's good on my back and well, when my SO works night shift at the hospital I have something warm to cuddle up to.

Canada does not give "REFUGEE PENSIONS"

I've seen this stupid graphic, and as someone who has sponsored a husband to come to Canada, I know new arrivals get NOTHING.  Heck for the first 3 years he was in Canada I was solely responsible for his needs. The Quebec government had made sure I'd signed a paper to say this as well.

Refugees that are sponsored don't get much help either. And the ones that aren't do get some handouts however they also end up with huge debts at first to cover travel costs to Canada. 

Seething.....

Windows 10 - build 10586 also known as 1511 because it was released November 15th, is causing me endless grief. I have yet to figure out how to disable windows 10 pushing display drivers continuously.  If each time I boot into an OS I get forced a WHQL driver, it makes my job of testing drivers before they get certified really difficult.

I used to be able to turn off forced driver updates using this dialog below. That is a screen capture from Windows 10 - build 10240 - The release of a few months ago.

This is the dialog of Windows 10 - 10586, known as 1511.   So far since installing it a hour ago, I have removed the display drivers from the device manager 5 times. I'm not sure how to configure it to stop getting device drivers installed automatically.

I've googled this morning. All I can find to turn off device driver updates is the dialog from the release of Windows 10. No one says what to do with this new build.

If you know PLEASE LEAVE ME A COMMENT how to do it. Thanks.

Embarrased by some Canadians

It's happened before the elections. One unlucky mother in Montreal got attacked walking to pick up her children from school. While police were reluctant to call it a hate crime, I'm not sure what else it was.

A few days ago a similar incident occurred in Toronto. A mother was walking to pick up her child from school when she was brutally attacked.

What pisses me off is that WHITE CANADIAN ABLE YOUNG MEN think it is ok to attack lone women JUST because they are wearing a piece of cloth on their head.  And really if you think Islam is a fucking threat, do you really think beating up a lone single woman with a fucking headscarf is going to prevent terrorist attacks. Only cowards attack unarmed women. Only big time cowards and the ignorant join together to beat up some innocent unarmed person based purely on what she is wearing or even her skin colour or her perceived differences.

This is not the Canada I want to live in. Where mothers get attacked on the street for the perceived notion she is dangerous. I am deeply ashamed that it had to happen.

I'm also deeply ashamed by those who say to keep the Syrians at home. That allowing Syrian refugees will somehow bring terrorism to Canada. Get a grip, we have all sorts of homegrown fucking terrorists. The assholes who killed the 2 Canadian armed forces officer, the one in Ottawa, and the one in St Jean sur le Richelieu were not refugees.

Most of the Syrian refugees that Canada want to resettle are currently living in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. They were generally educated middle class people who saw the signs on the wall about the revolution back in 2012 and left to survive. If they wanted to create terror they would have stayed in Syria and joined either Bashar's army or any of the dozen factions including ISIS to fight.

If they have been in refugee camps, it's because they want security and to be out of a war zone, if they'd been rich, they would have relocated elsewhere in the world then in a refugee camp.  Most of these people will integrate into Canadian society like the Syrian and Lebanese that came before them. The first wave of Syrians came before the first world war. The 2nd wave came after the 2nd world war. Of course then there is the wave of Lebanese that came during the civil war in Lebanon.  All these people have become part of Quebec fabric and Canadian society. The sheer number of Falafel shops in Montreal is a testament to this!

First it was south Beirut, then it was Baghdad... and then it was Paris

Most of the people I know in the Western world didn't even notice that Beirut came first. That ISIS claimed responsibility for killing SHIA's in both South Beirut and in Baghdad. ISIS think they are Sunni ... they are desecrating ISLAM and all it stands for! I bet Mohamed {PBUH] is rolling in his grave seeing what these imbeciles are doing in the name of Islam!

It was only when around 100 people died in Paris that ISIS came up on people's radar and infuriated them.

Just because Beirut is bombed on a regular basis by factions, doesn't mean that people should care less. Oh wait. There was no Americans, no white Europeans I guess that were killed in the bombing. I guess that means it doesn't matter. People forget that while Lebanon is in the middle east about half of the country is not Muslim. There are 18 official religions in Lebanon, and that includes many forms of Christianity.

It also pisses me off that now people are comparing ISIS to the billions of peaceful Muslims who would not hurt a fly. How about we say all Christians are like WestBoro baptists.   I'm being nice. Other people are saying... Oh you want to compare all Muslims to ISIS, let's compare all Christians to the Klu Klux Klan!

It's sad, and scary that in 2015, we still have to bomb the fuck out of one another.   Personally I think we should make illegal all arms dealers. Weapons should be made illegal. Companies that make weapons should be criminalized. I'm sure it would be amazing how quickly people learned to get along if they realized they could no longer blast the fuck out of one another.

I remember

Maintenance of my house.

Since the beginning of 2015, the following has been changed or repaired in the house.  First there was the kitchen faucet that stayed in my hands when opened it one morning in April. My daughter and friend changed it for me.  At that point it was noticed the piece of pipe connecting the kitchen sink drain was old and rusted, and it was leaking, we'd put a bucket underneath. We finally changed it. Now there are no more metal rusty parts left. Now all in plastic under the kitchen sink

 Other then that in the bathroom en-suite my bedroom we changed the toilet flusher, the shower-head and the fluorescent light fixture.We've fixed the leak in the roof that was causing water to fall in through my bedroom closet light.  At the same time we sealed all the seams on the roofs of the house.

Now we are in the process of fixing the garage door. One of the springs had broken on the left side and one of the door hinges was broken.  The hinge has been replaced, the spring is giving us a hard time being installed, especially since the vice grips have gone missing.

NB: edited November 16tth,  I forgot the doorbell also died. Or rather decided to ring non stop. It was like my eldest was at the front door and really excited. Ding dong ding dong ding dong ... we had to disconnect it and then change it. Wound ring non stop! 

Historical words... " A cabinet that looks like Canada"

And when he was asked why, Justin Trudeau said "Because it's 2015".

That's the best answer, really.

I wondered why my mom was so enamoured with Trudeau Sr. If Jr. is any indication, I'm now understanding as an adult what I missed as a child.

If the mixed gender cabinet is telling, so is the fact there are 10 aboriginals  and 10 Muslims that have been elected. Also notable, one cabinet minister arrived in Canada as a refugee!!!!  Putting a female aboriginal in charge of the Justice department was just what this country needed. Here's the rest of the cabinet

Halloween costume

I decided to dress as an Emirati woman for Halloween. 

Cleaning lady is slowly loosing her marbles

Though where they are going who knows. I have asked her repeatedly to not over feed the cats. She used to leave food for the entire week like I never feed them. Then I've asked her repeatedly not to feed the cats at all  but she still does. 8 hid the cat food in one of the closets, she told my SO she knew where I hid the food. WTF.

She told him.my two smaller cats look starved.  Sure. Both of them weigh 10lb.  Toby, Desert lynx and 18 months is perfect at 10lb.  The vet never suggested he needed to eat more, the vet never even asked what I fed him. Vet thought he looked perfectly healthy.  Ziva weighs 10lb and for her size as female it's perfect.  Then my Maine Coon Jethro weigh in at 20lbs. That's perfect for him. The overweight one is Pixie at 17lbs. If I took.him to vet I'd get a lecture and yelled at. 

It's insulting that after having this woman clean my house for over 10.years that she seems to think that my cats would die of starvation if SHE didn't feed them.It didn't matter if I left 5 heaping bowls of food out just before she cones, she'd add 5 more..... 

Because my SO is sweet and listens to her babble now she's telling him which kitty litter I should use and how much more food they should get.  It really pisses me off since she wasn't HIRED to take care of my cats but to fucking clean my house. 

It also annoys me that at 50+ years old I have an old bitty who has decided that she needed to tell me how to run my life. One day she will piss me off and I will just show her the door. I mean WTF. 

Toby finds cat ears disturbing

This my SO'S daughter dressed up.in her kitty Halloween costume. When Toby saw her he freaked. Don't know why Toby really doesn't like humans to wear ears. 

Relationship

It was 6 months today that I went on a date with a guy I met on OKCupid. We met in Lachine in front of the Dairy Queen and we talked for about 3 hours  We met again a few days later, this time in Lasalle, near his place and the rest, they say, is history.

From date 2 my buddy in Ireland says I was hooked. He might be right, but I was in such mental state that I didn't give it too much thought. I was at home dealing with anxiety and the only thing I'd promised my doctor is to get out of the house and go outside my comfort zone. Driving to Lasalle and hanging out with him was a good way to accomplish what I had promised so went with that and didn't ask myself too many questions.

I could tell he was more into me then the last 4-5 guys I'd met off POF. He was more attentive, said the right things, and really made me feel comfortable. For as much as I am socially inept he's actually quite sociable and friendly and he can talk to anyone. He made me feel comfortable most of the time. Im highly insecure and usually I constantly question myself, I wasn't insecure.

He works as a nurses aid and used to have a carreer as a musician. He played drummer in several bands, including Dave Moran and the Panic band. Parenthood steered him towards a carreer in health but music is in his heart. Rarely does he spend any time not drumming on things.

I've never met anyone I clicked so well with. We are so much alike in so many ways, in the little things. I'm even enjoying cuddling all night with him and anyone who knows me knows I used to prefer sleeping alone.

So it's been six months today that I've been seeing my significant other. I've not said much because I didn't want to jinx anything. I've never felt so close to anyone and it scares me shitless but at the same time it's an awesome feeling. I'm not alone in the world anymore.

Little putz

He fell asleep between us....

All upset because I gave him a pedicure!

Jethro

It's been a while since I post photos of Jethro. He was not impressed taking a selfie either.

Native women are the most invisible of all the Canadian women

For all the NIQAB and BURKA debates around election time, if people think that these are Canada's most oppressed women, you would be WRONG.

For starters the majority of those women who come to Canada who continue to wear face covering, generally chose to do this and are comfortable living this way. They are still a minority in comparison to Canada's women.

However if you talk about Native women, they are the most invisible, unimportant people in the face of Canada. In some provinces until recently they could be sterilized when they visited a hospital for health concerns WITHOUT EVEN BEING TOLD.Yep white hospital workers decide for them to remove their ability to have children.

When someone calls to report a native woman missing, usually the LEO's will generally hmmm and haw and say things like "But she probably just went to visit her mom in another rez" "But She went on a binge drinking and will come home" " But she probably just run away, you'll see she'll be back".

We all know that the first 48 hours after someone goes missing are the most crucial. Most of the time in case of missing aboriginals, the police never bother to check until it's been weeks, months.  They really don't care.
There are so many missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada and no one cares  but other indigenous people.

Nobody takes them seriously if they report issues with the police. Who you going to believe, an invisible woman or a police officer.   Hopefully they will have an inquiry about the native women in Quebec that are being sexually harassed by the QPP in the Val d'Or area.

Frank'Ncat

Omg. That's adorable

More First Nations vote, and get voted in

Historically many aboriginals in Canada do not vote in Federal elections, they consider them to be a farce, and to make no difference. I'm not sure if they wanted to #heavesteve that badly, or even if the presence of Ashley Callingbull, as Mrs Universe made a difference, but the first nations came out to vote in numbers. Several polling stations in the far north ran out of ballots. Tons of people not on the roster came to register to vote. Apparently 20% more first nations people came to vote than before.  Also 10 Natives got voted it, the most ever. Congrats to everyone who got in!

This is absolutely awesome. I'm glad they helped get rid of Harper. shudder.

Canada gets painted red

So Canada elected the son of it's favourite son. It also happens that he's being touted as the Worlds sexiest leader.

He's really not my type but I could see how women can consider him attractive. I hated his dad, and did not see the appeal. My mom, while not a big fan of all his politics was a big fan of the man himself. As I age I am starting to see what she saw in him and for sure Justin has some of that charm his dad had.I hope he holds up to his promises. I want to see legal pot in my life time!!!

This is the first time in my life that I voted strategically instead of for what I totally believe in. Like most Quebecois I'm probably closest to the NDP in terms of ideology. But lets face it, if Quebec is very NDP it means the rest of the country isn't. Voting Liberal as a strategy made sure Harper didn't' get back in. Not 100% happy with a Liberal majority, but would have been far less happy with any conservative win.

So for the first time in my life, I've actually voted for the ones in power, and well Mr Trudeau make us proud again to be Canadians!!!!

I LOVE MIKE MYERS

This video had me pissing myself. Probably one of the best things I've watched all week!!!!

The day to heave Steve!

All I can say today to everyone is GO VOTE!!!

If you don't like Harper, then it's up to you to get rid of his Sorry ass.  

Toby wants to play

Pretty fabric, I must lay on it

I want to bunch it all up

If I can't play with fabric must sit on the patterns.

Two faced hypocrits

So the conservatives go around writing that Trudeau supports legalizing drugs, including hard drugs in other languages like Chinese and Punjabi to scare some of the immigrant voters, but then goes to parties with the Ford brothers.

EVERYONE in the world knows about Rob Ford and his crack cocaine habit.  That sounds pretty much like Harper ENDORSES Ford's lifestyle choices.  Go figure.

So Harper is against Legalizing marijuana  but is fine with politicians who use Crack Cocaine....

Toby call home!

One day Toby might be able to call me at home, if I get this gizmo for him.

Batiks that make me tic....

These are all the batiks I've purchased so far.  The most expensive being the dragonfly batik I picked up at the Club Tissu in St Hubert. 

The two smaller fabrics on the photo are those I already made dresses with.   Three of the other 5 I have an idea of what I'm making. I just love batiks. Don't know why but they speak to my soul. I need more!

New fabrics to sew...oh my

One of my friends went to New York City for the Thanksgiving week-end and brought me back some fabric. All the fabrics shown except for the red bottom left and teal bottom right come from NYC. 

The two Navajo prints are cotton knits, the other fabrics are stretch sateens. Best of both worlds, a cotton fabric with a bit of stretch. Woot.  The two teal pieces are both Rayon knits. Ièm not crazy about the shiny sheen on the darker knit, but it seems it might make a spectacular evening dress. 

Tonight I wash all this fabric. Last night I could just look at it in awe Note the two fabrics that didn't come from NYC were picked up at Fabricville at lunch yesterday. The teal I'd been thinking about since Saturday. The red sateen, I knew would match the red printed sateen, so I had to have it, especially at buy 1 metre get 2 free. Usually can make a dress in 2 metres. The extra meter can be used for accents for another dress.

Conservatives spread lies in other languages

Isn't Canada great? Harper's conservatives are so afraid to lose that they tell blatant lies in campaign ads. They are saying that a vote for Trudeau is supporting prostitution, illegal drugs etc...

I'm guessing the person who made the ads are the same morons who say that Sex Education in Ontario will teach children how to become prostitutes.

Here's an article from CBC attacking conservative ads aimed at Chinese and Punjabi communities. Funny how Harper's conservatives think they count even though they aren't "old stock" Canadians.

You would think he would want the Muslim vote too.. they are far more conservative people .... Things that make you go HMMMM.

A woman after my own heart!

My first encounter with any kind of computer was at Trafalgar in 1979 and it was a PDP-7 located in Quebec city, that we connected to using a teletype.  Basically a typewriter with paper.

It was a love-hate relationship from the get go. I'd type a command, and it would either understand or tell me some generic line like "Bad command or file name", and I'd reply "FUCK YOU" to which it would reply again "Bad command or file name".

What's sad is that girls like me were given access to computers fairly early on, but it's still a field completely dominated by men. ANd then you read Margaret Hamilton's story.

She would have inspired me if I'd read her at a young age. I still think she could inspire my grand daughters if I have any!!!

Ottawa is just boring....

I don't know who writes the ads for Ontario Travelnet, but it looks like they never leave home.

I got an email with this title "Spend a weekend rediscovering edgy Ottawa‏"

On what planet is Ottawa EDGY? It's one of the most boring cities in all of Canada. You can watch the sidewalks roll up by midnight. Anyone knows if you want to party you cross over to Quebec.

Other then being boring, it's one of the most policed cities in Canada, because it's the capital and we have all these ambassadors and dignitaries that live there. Hell good luck trying to drive to the US embassy in Ottawa. It's like a fortress that can't be accessed except by foot and they see you coming a mile away.

The only reason I go to Ottawa is to visit friends or take tourists. My favourite spot in Ottawa is the science and technology museum. There's also the Goth store that used to be in the Rideau Centre but moved a few blocks away, Trivium.  Other then that I'd be happy never going to Ottawa again. 

My ass is far more EDGY then Ottawa can ever dream to be. I wonder if the person who wrote this ad ever left Ontario in their life....

Toby deserves to get his day in video :)

Solidarity with all our Canadian sisters -

     

 

Hey Harper, do I matter now?

Indigenous women are fighting for the right to be safe and in control of our own bodies, and instead of launching an inquiry to uncover the systemic racism that caused an epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women, Harper attacks our Muslim sisters for what they choose to wear.

PM Harper, it's my body, my clothing, and MY decision. You will not distract me from issues that actually matter to me as a Canadian.

In solidarity with our Muslim sisters.

Thank you Lena Aittauq and Karen Kabloona for launching this social media campaign.

#doimatternow #MMIW #deadcat #cdnpoli #elxn2015 #elxn42 #polcan
My friends feel free to take your own pics and post with the #doimatternow hashtag!

Post updated:

p.s. I hope our current MP Leona Aglukkaq takes note of this campaign and pushes for an inquiry.

p.p.s. My friends, please VOTE. Even if you don't like any of the candidates, even if you don't know who to vote for. The only way politicians at the national level will actually care about indigenous issues is if there are votes at stake. They won't bother to do anything for us if it doesn't win them any votes no matter what they do. Voting by eenie meenie miney moe is better than not voting at all.

Refusing to vote is not protest, it's giving up!

author/Facebook page:

Alethea Arnaquq-Baril 

 

Itch from hell

Smells great.. but...

Offending ingredient is most likely to be peach

We concluded yesterday that the rash on my scalp is most likely due to this shampoo. I am allergic to peaches, perhaps it's because there is peach in the ingredients. Right now my entire scalp is covered in tiny little red spots, and it itches so badly. After work today will be spraying benadryl in my hair in hopes the itch dies down. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Of course my hardware is bad. There is nothing wrong with your code, oh Mighty Engineer!!!!

I was put on a new project at work so I'm working with people that I've not worked with before. The engineer in charge of the team worked with my daughter's dad, back in the 90's and he's never worked with me.

I found a really nasty bug that kept crashing the setup and was preventing me from doing much productive testing. I documented it.  One of the programmers came to see me but didn't see anything obvious at first. Then his boss came around, and had the balls to say "Since you are the only one who seems to have this issue, are you sure your hard disk is good?"

I bit my tongue to not respond "Oh? Is the big boss giving everyone on a new project new hard drives?" 

I went home pissed. The next morning I made a point of reproducing the crash on 2 other setups. I even asked my boss if I should take a brand new drive to install an OS to prove the point. He said not to go crazy!

Yesterday the programmer in charge of debugging came to my machine to debug the problem. After all was said and done, he tells me not to use the features I used to crash the application and that I found a really big issue, one that has been missed the past 6-9 months this application has been tested.

Just because no one else had found the issue does not make my hardware defective. I hope he's learned that his statement about my hardware made him look like a pompous ass!

GO VOTE FOR CHANGE!!!

And then, there were three

Since December 2013, my friend has been living in my basement. I had offered her to stay in my basement to give her opportunity to find a job in Montreal. Sadly the unemployment rate for people with limited French in Montreal is really high and she could just find a cleaning job which barely paid for food and gas to get around. But it was better then Oromocto.

Since May 2015, my youngest daughter has been staying with me since coming back from the UK. She was hoping to find a teaching job, but finding teaching jobs in Montreal in English school boards is almost impossible. With all the austerity messages and the cuts at the English school boards, she has not found much. It's really sucky because my daughter is highly qualified and has an awesome resume. She was hoping to move out before the end of the summer, but asked if she could stay till October to save up more money. Don't get me wrong she's working hard at the pool, but this is not a good paying job in comparison to what she could make teaching.

In mid August I asked my significant other if he wanted to move in along with his daughter. He did and has been living with me since sometime in August.  That means that about 3 weeks ago at some point there was 8 people in my house. THere was my friend, along with her 3 visiting children, my daughter, my SO and his daughter. Wanted to take a photo and should have...

So my daughter moved out on Sunday. Her dad came down from Ottawa with a bed and a moving truck and helped her get things out of my house. Though I'm really sad she has not found a job, I am happy for her.  She's going to be 27 tomorrow and she is in her own place. I remember being in my 20's and wanting a place of my own.  I never had a place of my own till I was nearly 40. Always lived with someone.

My friend was planning on moving to Norway sooner then later, but now she has to go back to New Brunswick because her asshole ex, got training for 4 months and possibly work for months, where he won't be home.  Sadly her youngest, now 13, was so traumatized last year by Beechwood school he never wants to come back to school in Montreal. He wouldn't have to go to Beechwood, he could go to PCHS but he's not budging. He likes it in New Brunswick. So my friend is sadly moving back to New Brunswick. At least while she's there her asshole ex won't be.

So as of tomorrow night, there will be just the 3 of us in my house.

Leaky roof turned out to be less expensive then anticipated.

Thankfully after examining the roof, we realized that it wasn't losing tiles or falling apart. In fact there was a tiny piece of the aluminum siding that had gotten loose just on the side of my bedroom. It would have made total sense that the water would leak into my walk-in closet.

We nailed back the siding into place and just to be safe we put sealant on all the seams of the roof. Around the fireplace, the satellite dishes, the pipes.  It's supposed to be sunny till the end of teh week so it should have a chance to dry.