BLAME IT ON THE MELATONIN!

Today is a "weird mood" day for me: I'm neither happy nor sad, cheery nor grumpy, slow or fast ... but I kind of feel, well, lost, spaced out, weird! It must be the melatonin!

Actually, that's where it all started: the melatonin. I haven't been sleeping well, so last night I popped a 10mg tablet. I slept very well for a change, and maybe that's all this weird mood is about ie. am I still doped up at noon?

But here's the thing that's got me going and has prompted me to write this post in this sadly, of late, neglected blog. I woke up the grand-daughter at 7:30 am to get her ready for school and she couldn't come awake. I asked why? Did she stay up too late on a school night? No, but mommy had given her a tiny melatonin to get her to settle down last night. Oh, so that's it. She was as dopey as I was this morning (though she brightened up on the walk to school thank heaven!)

But the bad part of a dopey grandmother trying to talk to a sleepy grandchild in the morning is we began arguing about ... the melatonin! She told me in no uncertain terms that I shouldn't be taking 10mgs ... it was too much! I saw red. Here's my 9-year-old grand-daughter telling me what I should and shouldn't do. Suddenly, I could hear both my daughters in her. Of late, in fact, for the past few years, they both keep telling me what to do, and quite frankly, I'm getting ticked off about it. Is anyone else my age (66 now) experiencing the same phenomena?

You know, I've always laughed at the irony of life that as we get older, we become infants again. Think about it: old people and young babies have so much in common: they're bald or balding; they need constant care and attention; they wet themselves and need diapers; their mobility is impaired (for opposite reasons of course); they can't feed themselves and need to be fed; they need to be bathed, toileted etc etc. Their speech is often incoherent; their eyes can't focus ... you get my drift, right?

Well I think, sadly, hubby and I are entering that stage now, and it's showing in how our children and even the grandchild are telling us what to do! I want to scream: "This is MY life, not yours! Don't tell me what to do!"

But then, something else comes to mind: maybe this is more than we're losing our abilities. Maybe they are simply getting back at us for years of telling them what to do! I've noticed lately, more than ever, that everything I suggest gets either pooh-poohed or shot down, so much so in fact I'm realizing I'd better shut up and accept that these are THEIR lives. After all, there's wisdom in the adage that "unsolicited advice is rarely appreciated".

But see, that's where I find myself bristling: okay, they no longer want any advice from me. They think they know it all. Well and good. At least I can't be blamed if things go awry. But I expect the same courtesy: don't tell me what to do! You don't like my shorts? Well I do! You don't like my haircut? Well it's on my head, not yours! You don't like my taste in music? Well I'm not fond of yours either. But don't shoot me down for suggesting maybe you should try this or that.  Simple courtesy would be to say "Thanks, I'll think about it."

You know sometimes I wonder what families would be like if each of us treated each member the way we treat our friends. It's amazing ... and annoying ... to see one of your children shoot down an idea you suggest, in a tone that says they're fed up with you and asks "what do you know", then see their friends suggest the exact same thing and the friends get smiles and "Thanks I'll think about it". Weird! It actually hurts, to be honest, to not get a hug for a week and then see your children gushing  over and hugging a friend they saw a few days back as if they hadn't seen them for a year. It's almost a slap in the face when a parent cops the scowls and eye-rolling and a second later, their friends get smiles and hugs. If only they realized that we too need the hugs and smiles far more than the criticism, just like they did when they were little.

Ah, see, that must be it: their day of retribution is here. Now it's their turn to give back what we gave them over the years. Yeah, yeah, I know they love us. We loved them too and still do, no matter how they treat us. Guess it's just one of those days that seem to hit me too often lately. It has must be the pending old age that makes me feel almost intimidated by my own children, even useless or stupid ... as I said, "weird"!

Let me leave you with this beautiful graphic I came across this morning on Facebook:

Isn't that beautiful? And isn't it so true? Maybe I was remiss in doing that, or I didn't do it enough when both my girls were growing up. It's the kind of thing that should have been hung on my kitchen wall as a daily reminder. But now, has anyone seen one like this for parents? How about this:

"Adult children need to keep topping up a parents' bucket of self-esteem from time to time because old age tips it over and empties it"

I'll leave it there.  Darn melatonin!

Keeping or Losing A Prospective Customer Is All In The Way You Handle It | Notes From the Lane

Keeping or Losing A Prospective Customer Is All In The Way You Handle It | Notes From the Lane

Lifestyle Changes, Broken Bones, Blogging & Dieting

Well it's sure been a while since I last posted in this blog, but I have some good excuses this time around. Summer 2011 was insane, helping the older daughter renovate one house to sell it, then having her rush in to buy another just after Christmas. The whole family got caught up in renovations, packing up, packing down, moving ... You know how it goes. Then doesn't my hubby fall off the roof of house #1 and break 2 ribs. Not to be outdone, I managed to trip over a box in house #2 and shatter the radial bone in my left wrist. That was the break that broke this camel's back and told me it was time to slow down ... And slow down I did.

One-finger typing just isn't for me: my thoughts flow too fast and are forgotten too quickly while I search for keys. So next came the voice recognition program from Dragon Dictation. Now this is an excellent program once you teach it to understand what you're saying so it can understand your inflections and not type "affections" or "reflections" or "reactions" before both you and the program are fully frustrated with each other! Things go from bad to worse if you sneeze or cough forgetting the program is running ... You wouldn't believe what it hears and types for you. The breaking point comes when someone else whose voice it doesn't recognize at all walks in and starts talking to you (especially if he has an Australian accent!) By the time you look at the screen again, the program has typed gibberish, some of it even rude or risqué for several paragraphs! Well needless to say, I gave up all blogging and even emailing till I could use both hands again.

So that brings me to now: I'm back but don't count on me being frequent, if at all. Wrist aches like heck after 5 minutes of typing. Am actually becoming quite proficient using a stylus on my iPad. That's how I'm writing this while sipping coffee at Tim Hortons and having, heaven help me, a timbit! Today, I broke down. My diet went askew. It started with treating myself to bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of the bowl of fresh fruit which has started my day for past 2 months. The diet was another consequence ... albeit a good one ... of the broken wrist. I couldn't swim for over 8 weeks. That was a death sentence to my waistline. There's only so much walking I can do when it's below zero! So I took all this as a message that it's time to get serious about losing that weight that I talk about so often in this blog.

I visited Weight Watchers, sat in on a free meeting, and realized that I know most of what they were talking about. I just don't follow it as I should. But since I wanted to know about their "points" program, I then joined the online division of Weight Watchers. It was a lot cheaper and gave me access to that points program and lots of great recipes. Well long story short, I followed the program pretty religiously, filled up on fruits and veges, starved most of the time and lost nine pounds in a couple of months. My doctor will be pleased.

But today, I broke down. I've been craving all day and I've always believed when you're dieting, occasionally you need to give into the craving because all starving and no yummies makes me cranky. I've done without chocolate (which I love); I've cut out bread & butter (just thinking about that makes me hungry), crackers, cookies and timbits .. till today. And you know what? It feels great!

Well I'll leave it at that. I'll be back on track tomorrow but getting back to this blog, I think this might well be my last post here. You see, I'm changing lots of things in my life right now, especially the use of my time. At 66 and counting, it's time to do what I want to do for a change. And what is that? I want to write! Yeah I know, I'm doing that right now but I've decided to work on my memoirs, just in case I'm here today, gone tomorrow before my girls really get to know who's inside this wrinkling, slightly overweight body. They've sweetly told me they really do want to know about mommy as a little girl, a teen, a young woman ... all the stuff before their time. Makes me feel like a relic already, or at least some kind of living dinosaur. But I have to say, when I get around to adding a few more paragraphs, it's kind of fun. I'm remembering things I'd forgotten about. I'm facing truths I might prefer to lie to myself about. And if nothing else, I'm purging myself of some heartaches and memories that need to be flushed out. Wish me luck. I hope I finish it before life finishes me.

And now, one more thing: this blog will be reborn under a new name and on a different channel .. er URL. It might even contain bits and pieces of that memoir, (the parts I dare to air publicly). And because it's impossible for me to shut up about what's going on around me and in the world, expect some rants and reactions there too. If you subscribe to this blog, please subscribe to the new one: it'll be located HERE.

AMERICAN IDOL 2012 & CANADA'S GOT TALENT 2012

Just checked my TV guide and guess what? "American Idol 2012" begins tomorrow night ... 2 hours of what the guide describes as "the good and the bad auditions for a shot at stardom".  You know, every year for the past 5 or so when this show rolls around, I've told myself I'm not watching but I'm like a moth drawn to a flame. Those first few shows are a riot. I never cease to be amazed at how many "singers" think they have what it takes, not to mention the singers moms, dads, relatives and friends. And of course, the producers know this is probably the best part of the series, though "best" is the wrong word. Hilarious is more like it. So am I going to tune in? You bet!

And this all comes on the heels of the closing of the YouTube auditions for the first ever,  Canadian TV history making show, "Canada's Got Talent".  Auditions for that show started back in August (or was it earlier?) 2011 across Canada. After the 12,000 or so live auditions, some 200 - 300 (I believe) were called back to perform live for the actual judges who either sent them on to the next round or buzzed them off the show. Everything's being kept confidential so the general public is still in the dark as to exactly who will compete in the actual live TV show which begins March 4, 2012, but in the meantime, so not to lose momentum and sustain interest, Canada's Got Talent followed the lead of its American counterpart and over the period of about a week, held "last chance" YouTube auditions. Well that last chance to compete is now closed, but the fun has already started for those who have the time to go to YouTube and type, as I did, "Canada's Got Talent last chance auditions" into YT's search box. (See how addicted I am to these shows LOL!)

While looking at the videos on YouTube isn't quite the same as what we'll see on TV, it proves that Canadians of all ages also believe they have what it takes to be stars. It also shows something else: the greatest interest in competing comes from those who sing. There must be 100 times the number of singers to the number of magicians, dancers, ventriloquists, whatever,  that have submitted a last chance video in the hopes of being selected as one of the top 20 on which the public will now vote, come January 23rd. And here's the hard part for all the hopefuls: only ONE of those chosen 20 will be selected by the judges to compete in the actual TV show. What are the odds!

What has struck me most in watching this whole process is 2 things:

1) Either competitors hate reading all the important stuff or they're too lazy to go through it all (which, quite frankly, if you want to become the next big thing, reading contracts and offers is crucial to your career and laziness is suicide)

2) There's a lot of stage moms out there who really believe their child is the next Jackie Evancho or Christina Aguilera (when few of the darlings even come close).

In reference to my first point, my heart goes out to the behind-the-scenes people at Canada's Got Talent who patiently replied to the same questions regarding rules and protocol over and over again. Wish I had a buck for every time someone asked how long their video had to be, could it be less than 2 minutes, did they have to sing a song on the list, could it be acapella, how many would be selected, how many would be chosen for show ... on and on. The folks at CGT deserve a medal for patiently repeating the answers each time. They wouldn't have had to do that if contestants just read the rules! The same was true in the earlier live auditions. CGT correspondent, Grahame, must have wanted to scream with the same questions being thrown at him day in and day out.

But it's the second point that really interests me, simply because I can so remember when my daughter, who is a singer, was 8, 9 10 and had her eye set on stardom. She too had a massive voice, remarkable for her age, and was all about power. It wasn't till many years later that she actually learned how to control that power so the sound was beautiful as well as powerful. Looking back now, and after watching some of those YouTube video submissions of youngsters belting out "Hallelujah" or "And I'm telling You" I'm almost glad they didn't have shows like this when my gal was young because, quite frankly, there were times when she was simply shouting, trying her darndest to sing songs that were just too big for her. It was hard to take when I thought she sounded great and someone remarked "yes, she has a great voice but does she have to shout?"

Sadly, I know some of you moms whose child has entered this competition, or the many others that keep coming along aren't going to like me for saying this, but we moms and dads need to be realistic about our childrens' talent, or in some cases, lack of it. Maybe it's just too early to share that talent with the world. Honestly, if you can step back and be objective about it, some of these little ones, cute as they are, sound dreadful. There's too much focus on power and too little on good pitch, good sound and simply good singing of a song that is suited to their age instead of one meant for an adult. Is it fair to raise a youngster's  hopes so high at this early stage of their lives?

If there's a Canadian Jackie Evancho in these "last chance" video auditions, it'll be awesome.  I haven't seen her in the YouTube submissions online now, but I'm sure looking forward to see who the judges pick for that top 20 for us to vote for.   I just hope they're not all singers (which I doubt).  After all, American Idol is going to give us months of that! Wonder if the show schedules will overlap ie. will American Idol be on at the same time and night as Canada's Got Talent? If so, I know which one I'll be watching. Variety is the spice of life!

WHEN A BLAST FROM THE PAST is an EYE-OPENER

This past weekend was a blast ... in the present from the past!

It's been over 40 years since we last got together with this particular couple and it was wonderful to relive old times and old memories. It was also one hell of an eye-opener!

Loretto College School was located on Brunswick Ave. Toronto.  It has since been totally renovated into a condo building but the Jeffrey Team architects have preserved the "art deco" exterior. The building is now known as the "SchoolHouse Lofts"

Now this girlfriend and I go way back ... to high school in fact. We both attended LORETTO COLLEGE SCHOOL (then colloquially known as "Loretto Brunswick") between the years of 1961 - 1964. We were two of the "Ladies of Loretto" but from what I learned over dinner on Saturday night was that I didn't always live up to that moniker!

Now in all fairness, I do remember some of the slightly outlandish or "naughty" things I did behind the nuns' backs, but I rarely got into trouble (probably because I knew how to cover my tail better than most). But what I didn't know about myself was how this friend and probably others now, perceived me. Apparently, I was outspoken, confident and "in your face"! Who me?! Even my husband was shocked to hear that. He said "Are you talking about the same lady I married?" (Notice, he called me a "lady"). He said I was meek, insecure and scared of just about everything ... not to mention quite naive .. when he met me in my 20's. So where did that cheeky, in your face teenager go when I became an adult? I never saw myself as she described me either!

I said to her maybe she saw me that way because she was the opposite: quiet, lady-like, not the kind to make waves. Oddly enough, it was she who went on to fight tsunamis while the only ripples I make are in my pool!  Oh my, how we change as we grow!

But I did have fun pointing out to her something she didn't know about herself ... or didn't see at the time. We were out of high school by then and at university where she met the love of her life. My fondest memory of the two of them is seeing them "entwined" on one of the couches in the College hangout known as "The Coop". They'd cuddle up "entwined" for hours between classes. Funny how neither of them has strong recollections of being "entwined" but the beautiful part is, she says, they are still very much "entwined" today. So lovely to meet up again with another pair of dinosaurs (by today's standards) who like us, are still "entwined" after 40 years. Wonder if when they entwine today if they can easily un-entwine? Don't think hubby and I can. We're too stiff with old age!

Bottom line, this weekend was really good for me. It unleashed a flood of memories and now I'm keen to dig deeper into long forgotten parts of my mind to see what else I can find there. With my friend's encouragement and reminder that it's now time for ME, I'm joining a creative writing class that I hope will open the floodgates I closed so long ago on my past. It's time for GRANSPEAK to speak out like she apparently did when she was a teen ... if indeed that's what I used to do.

By the way, if you come across this blog post and are one of those LADIES OF LORETTO (Brunswick) who attended that Toronto school during the years of 1961 - 1965, I hope you'll "LIKE" our new FACEBOOK PAGE and join us there. It'd be awesome to meet up again with some more "ladies of Loretto" and get totally blasted by our pasts!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY CANADA!

October is a strange month for me. It's the month that so many sad things have happened in our family's past:

My father died today 11 years ago ... or was it 10? Feeble memory at my age!
My mom died October 16, five years ago
My husband's mom died October 12 over 40 years ago
We gave away our beloved and very old dog Aussie in October 2006

Before you start to think October is a "dead" month for us and that this is going to be a miserable blog (and who needs that?) it's not. Today, Thanksgiving Day in Canada,  I celebrate the good things October has brought my family:

In October 2006, my daughter returned from overseas and brought a new member, her partner, into our family. Since then, my basement has sprouted the "Cotton Candy" Recording Studio ... you have to see it to understand ... and music has filled our home with her beautiful voice and his brilliant guitar skills.

In October 2011, we finished renovations on my other daughter's home and got it listed on the market ... but not before THAT daughter managed to put her backside through the kitchen window glass and became the butt (pun  intended) of our jokes ... and my poor old hubby fell off the roof and broke 2 ribs! Yeah, we know those weren't funny but I give thanks that the glass was safely removed from daughter's butt, that the window pane wasn't too hard to replace, and that hubby ONLY broke 2 ribs instead of 4 or more!

Early this October, I took the grand-daughter to McDonalds just after I picked her up from school. While we enjoyed our chips and I put on a few more hated pounds (despite learning from the doc that I have a "fatty liver" and that's bad) the grand-daughter made an interesting observation.

She said "Grandma, McDonalds is for old people!" Somewhat taken back I asked what she meant. She said, "Well for one, you're here!" (Thanks hon!) "And two, look around: this place is filled with old people. There's no kids!" As instructed, I looked around. She was right. She was the only kid in sight. The place was filled with gray and white hairs, walking sticks hanging over table ends, and each (the seniors, not the walking sticks) happily helping themselves, as I was, to second free servings of senior coffees. I said to her "Maybe they should have "Happy Meals" for seniors instead of kids. What kind of toy could they include in them?" She suggested a hearing aid so I wouldn't say "Pardon?" when she asked if she could have the last few chips.

As our puppy, Duffy, and I neared our home after our early morning walk today, a family of 4 was unloading fishing gear from their car near our local pond.  Just as I passed them, one called out "Happy Thanksgiving!" That was so nice ... and so unexpected from folks I didn't know. It gave me just another thing to be thankful for: the many really nice Canadians out there that I most likely will never meet. But how lucky I am to have met those I have (met).

It's moments like all these that make me happy  I'm still around to enjoy yet another Thanksgiving.  The weather has been spectacular all week, more like summer than fall. The skies are blue, the trees a mix of red and gold. The grass is  still green and needs mowing. And I even got a mosquito bite last night as we enjoyed what was probably the last barby of the year. In short, it's good to be 65, still alive and able to wish all Canadians a HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Have a wonderful day.

Samantha in the Sumac ... gorgeous Canadian child in gorgeous Canadian color!

HOPELESSLY ADDICTED TO TV TALENT SHOWS!

Holy smoke, TV show producers sure know how to feed an addiction and satisfy a craving don't they! These TV Talent Shows are tripping over themselves keeping us saturated on talent, or in some cases, humorous non-talent.

You know, AMERICAN IDOL seems so long ago already that I've forgotten who won it. Oh, that's right: country boy Scotty! We barely had time to grab a new bag of chips before AMERICA'S GOT TALENT took over our lives and before it ended on Wednesday night, karaoke queens and kings were battling it out on KARAOKE BATTLE USA, which ends tonight. Thankfully, I guess, our addiction for this talent show stuff won't go unsatisfied even long enough to start craving it as COVER ME CANADA kicks off on Sunday, and in the meantime, auditions for CANADA'S GOT TALENT and the 2012 seasons of American Idol and America's Got Talent are already underway. The only one we don't get in Canada is X-Factor but I'm sure it's in our future somewhere along the line.

So are you addicted to these shows too? I must confess that the best part for me is often the bloopers ... the ones who think they have talent and leave us in stitches. And I can't not mention the judges on these shows: they are often as amusing as the wannabes. Just as well 'cause sometimes the shows just drag on too long. I really found that this year with American Idol. But that might be because once viewers voted off my personal favourites, I really didn't care who won. And this year for the first time ever, America's Got Talent dragged on a bit too. It IS my favourite of these shows. It's just so much more interesting to see a variety of talent than listening to singer after singer.

Now I think KARAOKE BATTLE USA has the right format: short and sweet. Only 4 weeks to narrow down 2 winners from 4 different regions. Then one night to whittle 8 contenders down to 4 finalists and now tonight, we find out who wins. Way to go. Might even have a chance to watch CSI or NCIS or CRIMINAL MINDS for a change!

You know one thing really struck me watching Karaoke Battle USA: some of those contestants were absolutely outstanding! They were way more than just karaoke singers. Some of them could rival major artists. Like all the talent shows, and maybe that's what I love about them, they show us just how incredibly talented many of the undiscovered are. It's sad too in a way. So much hoopla is made about today's "divas" and "artists". They're the ones who were lucky enough to be discovered by someone with money and connections and many of them don't compare to the contestants we're seeing on those shows. No wonder we become addicted to these talent shows: it's so nice to see others equally deserving getting a chance to be seen on national TV. Take one of my personal favourites from Karaoke Battle USA: Meredith McHenry. What a sweetie. Fabulous voice and stage presence. She's not in the finals but at least she's gotten exposure she never had singing in some karaoke bar. And that kind of thing leaves you feeling good, doesn't it.

Yep, just like a true addiction, keep feeding us these talent shows so we can feel good for the underdog, the great undiscovered. We relate to these people, both the winners and losers because that's what our own lives are like: win some, lose some. We all have undiscovered talents. Maybe we're a car-detailer like Landau who'd never performed for an audience before this year's America's Got Talent (so happy for him!) or one of those ladies whose parrots talked back at them like nothing we've ever heard before, they bring us great entertainment week after week. And I love 'em!

So now, I'm getting ready to catch the debut of COVER ME CANADA. I'm curious as hell to see which 8 contestants out of the thousands who entered were selected for this show. Most of us poured over the videos contestants posted on YouTube and many were shocked that those we thought would be selected weren't. So just who did make the show?