Fun Father’s Day Giveaway

June 5, 2013 by ·

Q. Why did the blogger buy a hot pink iPhone charger?

A. Because her husband kept stealing her usual charger and she thought a pink one might deter him. 

That’s not a joke so much as a story loosely based on my own life. (Okay, totally based on my own life.) But here’s the real punchline: It didn’t deter him. I guess the joke’s on me.

Is it just mine or does your husband steal your phone charger too? Let’s see if we can fix that. I’m going to give you the step-by-step details on how I’ve solved this problem and give you a chance to do the same.

1. Accept the offer from London Drugs to get a fun gift for your husband for Father’s Day.

2. Get your husband to browse their selection and let you know what he might like.

2a. Laugh when one of the items on his list is the Ove Glove.iPhone docking station

3. Briefly consider his suggestion of a waffle maker but decide that’s probably not good for your desire to continue fitting into your clothes.

4. Decide to go with the portable iPhone docking station he liked in hopes of reclaiming both your usual iPhone charger and your spiffy hot pink one.

5. Celebrate Father’s Day knowing your Wife of the Year award is in the bag.

And there you have it! Easy peasy.

Want one of these for your own? (You don’t even have to give it to your husband/dad/other father figure – I won’t tell.) You can enter using the Rafflecopter form below.

And Happy Father’s Day to all you great dads out there. The world is better for having you in it.

Update: We have a winner! Congrats to Bailey D.!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by London Drugs but the plan to use it to win Father’s Day is all my own and was endorsed by my husband.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: Randomness ·

Do You Doodle?

March 12, 2013 by ·

I took an online course in January that was all about making 2013 what you want it to be, and one of the “assignments” was to doodle. Just doodle. Anything – shapes, colours, mind maps, whatever.

This sounds easy, and possibly fun, but I have a mental block against doodling.

I thought about this prompt for a few days before I actually did it. And then when I sat down with my journal open to a blank page, it seemed so very blank. I couldn’t even think where to start.

I’ve never been a big doodler, but I’ve always doodled the same way. I draw triangles.

triangle doodle

Each one is built off a line from a previous one, and I add lines quickly. Each new line has to actually make a triangle – none of these weird, four-sided polygons sneaking in.

But doing my usual seemed, somehow, like not the right way. So, to get over the stalling and stumbling with my doodling assignment, I started with words because I had to get some lines down on the paper. And then I said to hell with it and started drawing triangles.

At first all my brain did was analyze. Is this good enough? What else should I be doing? Why am I so ridiculous about this? 

Is there such a thing as a good doodler?

Actually, I think there is, and I think that’s where my reluctance comes in. I used to do this triangle doodling mindlessly – in class, when on the phone, in meetings, etc. I would do it when my brain wasn’t busy enough and I could fill a large section of a page quickly. But that’s all it was for me – something at which to fire the synapses in my brain.

triangles2

And then I met my husband.

He happens to be an artist extraordinaire. He can draw just about anything, and damn well too. My own skills shrank in the light of his far superior ability and I ceased doing anything “artistic.”

This led me to writing more, I think, but my inability to just pick up a marker or a brush or a crayon and just create stares me in the face all the time.

“I’m an artist just like my dad,” Connor said one day as he was painting. And he’s right. Not because he can draw or has particular skill – that’s not the point. To him it’s about the process, not about perfection. It’s about creating something and then moving on to the next and the next instead of stalling and finally starting and then stumbling over your own insecurity.

triangles3

The point of the exercise was to show that doodling is actually quite productive. According to studies, we were told, people who doodle tend to retain up to 29% more information than those who don’t. I’m not actually sure if this is true for me. When I doodle, I tune out. I do it because I’m bored, not because it’s an innate tendency. But I still don’t just doodle – I’m always doing something else in my head. Writing, generally.

Eventually, while doing this exercise, I realized I had stopped writing in my head and had ceased judging the triangles as being not a good enough way to doodle. I drew some more and then decided they needed colour, so I added some. But I got bored quickly and stopped.

I had explored doodling. I had given it a chance. I had thought about my own patterns with doodling and (over)analyzed its place in my life. I’ve had this post in draft for two months and still didn’t come up with any really profound revelations except this: I prefer to write.

Do you doodle?

Filed Under: Randomness · Tagged With:

Name that Kindergartner [Updated]

March 10, 2013 by ·

UPDATE: We have winners! Amy P. was our grand prize winner of a $300 Amazon gift card and Renee and Julie each got runner-up prizes.
Congrats to the winners and thanks to everyone who entered! 

Wondering who was who? I’ve updated the collage below to include the answers.
I’m actually surprised at how many people couldn’t guess me. Here’s a side-by-side to help you out: 

Kindy-compare

And here are the rest of the answers. (If you’d like to see then vs. now comparisons for the other participants, you can click on the links below to visit their updated posts.)

Name That Kindergartner Answers

We went on a school tour on Friday for a school Connor might go to for Kindergarten. How are you supposed to choose a school for your kid at this level? (That sounds like a rhetorical question but I’d happily take any advice you have to offer.)

There’s a school in our community but we’re just outside the walk zone so we don’t automatically get a spot, and we happened not to get one through the lottery (which only had 11 spots, so that tells you a bit about the demographic in this area). That’s actually fine, as I’m not sold on that school and we’ve registered him at another school close by that we’ve heard really good things about. We’re outside the area for that one, though, so we have to wait and see if we get a spot. If not, he would go to the one we toured on Friday. And it seems fine. From a long-term perspective (it goes up to Grade 6) there are some things I’m not keen on, but does it matter at Kindergarten level? They have all the things I think are important, and there are some things about it that I think would be great for a kid like Connor.

So as we sit and think about this decision, I’m reminiscing a bit about my time in Kindergarten. Except I don’t remember much – just two particular friends and playing with blocks made of cardboard. The blocks were red and white – done up like bricks, essentially. And that’s it. That’s all I remember.

I do like my hair from that era, though.

KinderHeader

It’s very simple – just look at the collage and match the Kindergarten photo (with the assigned letter of the alphabet) to the correct blogger. (All participating bloggers are listed further down.)

What’s in it for you? Some fun, naturally, and the possibility of a fantastic prize – a $300 Amazon gift card (or a runner-up prize). You can also get to know some of the bloggers listed here, if you don’t know them already. You can have a laugh at our expenses. (Don’t worry, we laughed at each other.)

To join in, enter your answers on the form.

Participating bloggers, in alphabetical order:

Angela of Angela Amman

Angie of Angie Kinghorn

Deborah of Ask Doctor G

Robin of Farewell Stranger

Poppy of Funny or Snot

Leigh Ann of Genie in a Blog

Greta of Gfunkified

Jennifer of Jennifer P. Williams

Tonya of Letters for Lucas

Kiran of Masala Chica

Laura of Mommy Miracles

Natalie of Mommy of a Monster (and Twins)

Brittany of Mommy Words

Jessica of My Time as Mom

Kimberly of Reflections of Now

Tracy of Sellabit Mum

Elaine of The Miss Elaine-ous Life

Sarah of The Sunday Spill

Galit of These Little Waves

Kristin of Two Cannoli

Arnebya of What Now and Why

Kristin of What She Said

Alison of Writing, Wishing

Terms and conditions apply:

  • You must be 18 years or older to enter.
  • This contest is only open to residents of USA and Canada.
  • This contest is open from March 11 – 15, 2013 (closes at 9pm Eastern).
  • Visit the link above where you will be able to enter your guess for each blogger pictured. (All information will be kept private.)
  • The person to correctly match all the faces with their blog will win a $300 Amazon gift card. The two other closest guesses will each win one $80 Amazon gift card.
  • If more than one person correctly matches all the faces with their blogs, we will randomly pick a winner via random.org.
  • If no one guesses all the faces correctly, the winner will be the person who made the most correct guesses.
  • This is not a sponsored post. Prizes are paid for out of the participating bloggers’ own pockets.
  • You CAN enter more than once!
  • Winners will be announced week of March 18.

(Name That Kindergartner was inspired by the Name That DIY Blogger contest at My Blessed Life.)

Sound good? Okay, then. Ready, set…name that kindergartner!

Filed Under: Randomness · Tagged With: , ,

Me and Memory Lane

March 6, 2013 by ·

So remember how I said I was going to read as a focus for March? One of the things I didn’t anticipate was that I’d get so sucked into reading really good stuff that it would make me critical of my own writing. I’ve never been one to write and edit and revise and edit some more; I just hit publish. (Perhaps you’ve noticed.) So now I have posts in draft and I don’t want to publish them until they’re perfect. But what is perfect when it comes to writing? There is no such thing.

Hey, maybe I can publish them and revise them later and the publish them again as an exercise in improving my writing… Yes? No?

I digress.

Luckily Elaine and Heather have saved me for the time being with something fun they’re calling Old School Blogging.

Nice! This I can do. So without any further self-doubting rambling, here’s my response to the meme.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was working in human resources at an astrophysical observatory and thinking that perhaps I should have paid more attention in science classes.

What five things are on your to-do list?

I love how this presumes I only have five things on my to-do list. Here are the oldest items:

1. Send my passport renewal in. You know, the one I’ve had sitting around since July of last year (after Passport Canada sent my first application back because they didn’t like the photo. Heck, I didn’t like the photo either but I was willing to have it in my passport for five years).

2. Get the windshield on my car replaced.

3. Get the muffler on my car replaced.

(Anyone want to come and do these things for me? I hate doing car stuff.)

4. Submit the last few address change requests. What? We’ve only lived here for a year. And a bit.

5. Order a birth certificate for Ethan. (Apparently Alberta makes that more difficult to do than BC did. As in we have to actually find the application form online, fill it out and then take it to a registry office in person instead of being handed a form in the hospital and have a snazzy certificate sent to us not long after. I now understand why my birth certificate shows that my birth was registered several months after the fact. I used to think my parents were deciding whether or not to keep me.)

What are five snacks you enjoy?

Green smoothies. (Why was I scared of these for so long?)

Chocolate coconut bite things made by Dole. They’re way too easy a snack, especially when I need something I can eat with one hand.

Toast.

A late-night bowl of cereal.

Cool Ranch Doritos. (But not Coke, because I finally gave it up. Yay me!)

Name some things you would do if you were a millionaire.

Is it sad that a million bucks doesn’t sound like enough to do what I want to do? I would:

Buy a fabulous house.

Buy a summer place somewhere.

Travel a lot.

Donate more to charities.

Put money aside for my kids’ futures.

Name some places you have lived. 

I’ve lived:

In a waterfront house with a hot tub by the ocean.

In a building that looks like a castle.

In a house on a street named after a fruit.

In a one-bedroom basement suite with a very cute boy and two cats.

In an old-school university dorm room.

(I know those aren’t technically places, but I haven’t moved all that much so this is more interesting.)

Name some bad habits you have. 

Not following directions (see above).

Procrastinating (see above).

Being lax about editing my own work (see above).

Not exercising as much as I ought to.

Spending too much time on Facebook.

Name some jobs you’ve had. 

You had to ask, didn’t you?

Ice cream truck driver. (Seriously.)

Telemarketer. (I wish I were kidding.)

Baskin Robbins ice cream scooper. (I’ve lived a glamorous life.)

T-shirt salesperson.

Hotel front desk clerk.

Communications director. (Does that make up for the other stuff?)

That was fun! What are some of your answers to these questions?

Filed Under: Randomness · Tagged With:

On Bangs and Bad Comedy

January 22, 2013 by ·

Conversation at dinner:

Rich: “…And Joe Flaherty is in it.”

Me: [blank stare]

Rich: “He’s from SCTV…?”

Me: “Oh.” [Half head-nod, half shrug]

Rich: “Are you sure you’re Canadian?! Canadians like SCTV from the time they’re in the womb. We used to watch it all the time in high school.”

Me: “Yeah, I have a feeling if I’d known you in high school I wouldn’t be married to you now.”

Rich: “What?! We totally would have hung out in high school.”

Me: “I dunno. I don’t think we had much in common then.”

Rich: “Yeah, we would have. Besides, I know what you looked like in Grade 12.”

Me: o_O

Shortly after that one of us got smart and changed the topic.

And incidentally, I think he married me because he knows what I looked like in high school. My awesome bangs from 1992 totally sealed the deal.

 

Filed Under: Randomness ·
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