Weather and School

So... once again, I was on a very long hiatus.  And instead of coming back thankful, rested with new perspectives on life, I have decided to open things back up with a "ranting ramble".  What's a ranting ramble you ask?  It's when someone rants to the point of making little sense... usually due to lack of sleep... like me.  So here we go....

I notice the same Facebook posts every year for the first few snow storms of the year

*Note* This picture is not from today.  I was just looking for a picture that had snow in it. :)

1- "Is there school today?"

2 - "The radio said no school in [Community #1], so is there school in [Community #2]?"

3 - (My personal favourite) "Why isn't school cancelled?  The roads are hazardous."

4 - (The opposite of the previous)  "Why IS school cancelled?  It's not even doing anything!  This is just teachers/administration/bus drivers trying to get a day off."

Here are my suggestions for some simple solutions:

1- You are on the internet - it's probably just as simple to look up the district website to see if school is cancelled.  

2 - Do you live in [Community #1]?  No?  You live in [Community #2]?   Then,  schools are open in your community.

3 - You feel your child has the risk of incurring injury due to road conditions?  You are your child's advocate.  Keep them home.

4 - This one is just ridiculous.  Do you think teachers or bus drivers actually have any say as to whether school is closed?  And even if they did, it's a matter of public safety.  Those who make these decisions make them based on the best information they have at that given moment.  When they had to make the call, the weather report may have said a foot of snow was expected.... we got rain instead?  Unfortunately, nobody has the power to see in the future.

So there you have it.  My "ranting ramble" today.  Please note that I have not had my coffee yet.  Probably another reason for this rant.

I Tell My Daughter Princess Stories

Ok, not exactly the confession of the century, but, I've been reading a number of posts lately that are very critical of sharing stories about fairy-tale princesses with their daughters.  Why?  Because many of these stories feature princesses that are rescued by a prince.  And many argue that this sends a message to young girls that they need a man to get through life.

I consider myself a strong an independent woman.  Yes, I am married, but not because I didn't think I could survive without a husband.  I love my husband, and we each bring our own strengths to our marriage.

I too was told fairy-tales as a child as well.  I loved hearing these classic stories.  I loved imagining their beautiful dresses, and I even liked the part where the Prince would come to save the Princess.  In my opinion, these are stories, not reality, and the important thing is that we encourage self-confidence and independence in our children.  If they choose to have a partner in life, great, but it's also important for them to know that being in a relationship doesn't define you as a person.

So I will continue to tell princess stories to my daughter.  We will watch our favourite Disney princesses on tv.   And I will continue to encourage her to be happy, healthy, and self-confident.

How do you feel about these kinds of stories?  Do you share them with your children?  Why or why not?  Feel free to share in the comments below.

My Thoughts on the ALS #IceBucketChallenge

I was prompted to write this post after reading so many negative comments and news articles about this challenge.

Before this challenge, I will admit that I knew very little about ALS.  I have learned so much about this devastating disease throughout this campaign.  Some I've learned because I chose to look in to it further, some I've learned because of people including educational pieces as part of their challenge.

This campaign is positive on two different levels - it's raised an enormous amount of funds, and it's raised awareness.  Yes, I realize there are people doing the challenge that will not donate any money, and yes, there are people that will learn nothing about ALS as a result of this challenge.  But the fact is that funds ARE being raised and people ARE learning things about ALS because of this challenge.

How unfortunate that some are saying that this disease is unworthy of our donations due to the "small" amount of people affected.  Do I realize that more people are killed by heart disease each year?  Yes.  And I still donate to the Heart & Stroke Foundation.   I will continue to support the causes that have been close to my heart.

My own family has been affected by cancer.  In April 2013, my dad passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.  Pancreatic cancer kills 4300 Canadians a year.  There are many other diseases that kill more people.  But I will continue to support fundraising efforts for pancreatic cancer.  It's important to me, it's important to my family and many other families.

I also donate to causes that haven't necessarily affected my family, but I think they're important (soup kitchens, food banks, etc).

I consider myself a pretty intelligent person, and I believe that I have carefully considered a lot of information before I've donated to various causes.  I, personally, don't need the media to tell me who I should and shouldn't be donating to.  I know there are hundreds, if not thousands of extremely worthy causes out there, and I donate what I can, where I can, when I can.  People shouldn't be criticized for the causes they choose to support.  As fundraisers it's important to communicate why it's important to donate to the cause(s) you're raising money for.  I think criticizing other causes to convince people to donate to another is not the right way to go about it.

As for the "wasting water" argument.  I sincerely hope that none of the people making that argument have ever done any of the following:

- left the water on while brushing their teeth
- left the shower on while lathering the shampoo in their hair
- had a leaky faucet
- watered their lawn

There are lots of ways we waste water as a society.   I'm not saying that we should ignore wasting water, however, I would hazard a guess that more water has been wasted doing the above activities than has been wasted in this challenge.  And, if you are concerned about wasted water, or societies that don't have access to clean drinking water, I encourage you to get involved in clean water campaigns (Free The Children, WaterCan, The Water Project and Charity: Water are just some examples of the clean water campaigns that exist).

Bottom line - I realize that our Facebook newsfeeds may be inundated with these videos at the moment, but, my newsfeed has been inundated with game requests, cat pictures, "share this picture/status" contests and many other things before.  I would much rather see positive things like this.  No one says you have to watch the videos.  Scroll on by, ignore if you must.    If you're passionate about a different cause (cancer, heart disease, mental health, or something else), then do what you can to promote it.  It takes innovation and passion to come up with awareness campaigns.  I've been fundraising for many years, and trust me when I say it's a hard job.  Anyone who's ever had to do any kind of fundraising, large or small scale, knows it's challenging.  That's why, instead of criticizing the efforts of people participating in this campaign, I choose to applaud their efforts.  There's already so much negativity in society today, why does an awareness/fundraising activity for a terrible disease have to be a part of that negativity.  Take it for what it is and if you don't agree with it, don't donate, don't watch the videos, but don't put down others for supporting the cause.  My wish for those "annoyed" by this challenge is that they can take their "annoyance" and turn it in to a positive by allowing it to motivate them to raise money/awareness for a cause they are passionate about.

I'm not telling you to donate or not to donate.  That's a decision everyone needs to make on their own.  I encourage everyone to read up on organizations and donate to those that they want to donate to.

I will close with a little screenshot of my own "ice bucket challenge" video.  Please consider visiting www.als.ca and read up on the disease and the wonderful work this organization does.

Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Ok, I'm still judgemental...

I'm trying, I really am, but when I have a bad day, I find myself being judgemental.

Judgement of the day?

I take my daughter to swimming lessons.  After the lessons, I take her in the shower area to clean her up.  Tonight, I saw something that has been happening frequently.  There's a lot of kids in the shower area... lessons just ended... the parents are around holding towels, etc.  I am one of those parents.  So, it's a lot of people in this small area.  I look over, and there's a young girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old, she has 3 adults hovering around her.  One is holding a towel, one is holding the shampoo and helping the little girl wash her hair and the other is standing there and chatting.

Meanwhile, they are taking up so much room I am pretty much shoved in to the shower with my little girl as I'm trying to give her a towel.  Why does this little girl need such an entourage?

Now, non-judgemental me should think that maybe something happened before that makes them overprotective.  But instead, I judge and become annoyed that they are all in there.

Don't judge me.

Oh who am I kidding... I would judge me, so go ahead.

A nice walk... until...

Went for a nice lunchtime walk with my daughter.  It was warm, sun was starting to come out, we were really enjoying ourselves, until, I stepped in a wonderful mess someone's dog left on the sidewalk.  I'll admit, I wasn't looking at the sidewalk for such things... mainly because I assumed that people would PICK UP AFTER THEIR DOG!!!  Gross!  Better me than my little girl though.

There's my random rambing for today... :)

When I became a parent...

... I swore I wouldn't be so judgemental anymore.  I was INCREDIBLY judgemental before I had my little one (Why can't the parents clean that kid's face? Why are they bringing that kid grocery shopping when they clearly don't want to be here? etc etc).  I've come to understand why parents do the things they do... and I've tried to tell myself that I have no idea what's going on in people's lives that makes them do the things they do... however... I've come to understand that I am still very judgemental.  It's a problem.  I've tried, but here are the judgements I continue to make:

1 - If you are a guy and you are wearing white sunglasses... I think you're a DB (I'm a mom, not supposed to swear or write inappropriate things... so you can take a guess what that stands for).  I'm sure there are many guys that wear white sunglasses that are awesome people... I have not met them.  Most times that I see guys with white sunglasses their pants are falling down and they're wearing wife beaters... enough said.  Prove me wrong people.

2 - If you are wearing pajama pants in public, you are either really lazy or really sick.  I remember when we had pajama day at school when I was younger.  How fun!  But here's the thing... I actually wore a pair of pj's to bed and changed in to new ones in the morning..... AND.. I was 10.  I don't do it anymore.  I have heard people say "I don't care about what people say about what I wear, that's why I wear this".  Ok, the look kind of says "I don't care", but if you really didn't care about what people thought about the way you look, you wouldn't have that "tanning bed" look.. and you wouldn't be wearing makeup.

3 - If you know I'm a mom, and you start a conversation with me by telling me what a waste of time/$ etc it is to have children and proceed to ramble off reasons why you will not be having children... I will tune out of the conversation (and that's if I don't walk away from you).  Don't get me wrong.  I understand that having kids is not a desired option for everyone, and I respect that.. so respect my choice for having a child.  You are not going to convince me that I made a mistake.

So there's some rambling for today.  I'm going to go put on my pajama pants and white sunglasses.

Whiney Wednesday

So, I never really wanted to write a post about "poor sport officiating".  I've seen games at various sporting events where I've said "that ref/umpire/official was pretty bad", but I've never been prompted to rant about it..... until now.

After seeing the Canada vs. US women's Olympic soccer game the other day... I think alot of people can agree that the officiating left much to be desired.  But what really pushed me over the edge was reading this article this morning:

goo.gl/XSzuh

So, I know that no sport governing body is excited when players/coaches, etc are complaining about officiating... but if this results in any kind of punishment against the Canadian team, I think alot of Canadians, including myself, will be upset.

To rub salt in the wounds, rather than just graciously accept the win... some US players decide to make some negative comments about the Canadian team.  (See this link for details:  http://goo.gl/CTKMw)

Am I suggesting that I think making statements to the media about the horrible officiating was a good idea?  No, but I challenge anyone who can look objectively at that game to say that they wouldn't be upset after that game if they were Canadian. 

Anyway, that's enough of my whining for today.....

Snow Days

As I start to write this blog, I realized that this blog is turning in to somewhat of a "rant fest"... oh well, you're still reading it, so... on to the latest rant!

Ok, so I live in a climate with snow in the winter.  I have been dealing with snow my entire life.  Do I love it? No, I mostly just tolerate it.

So we had a little bit of snow yesterday... 10 cm to be exact (no, I didn't measure it myself, I am relying on "weather people" to give me this information).  When I drove to work, the streets were pretty well clear.  The sidewalks, however, were not.  Was I enraged at the lack of snow clearning on streets?  No. It's a part of life here.  But it appears there were many that were.

I read on many a Facebook page this disapproving rants of parents who raged about how awful it was for children to be expected to go to school after a 10 cm snowfall.  Many cited "school was cancelled previously for much less than this" and was it, yes.  Those few days that school was cancelled for less than 10 cm of snow was primarily because more was forcasted.  And on the days that happened, these same people, who were now complaining about the lack of cancellation, were complaining that school WAS cancelled.

OK people, what do you want? 

Several people cited "I can't believe they expect children to walk through these unplowed sidewalks"... Really?  Not to sound like an old coot, but "in my day" 10 cm was not a big deal... in fact, it still isn't in my books.  I still walk through 10 cm of unplowed snow... and miraculously, I am still alive.

I do not evny the decision makers at the school districts, no matter what you decide, you can't satisfy everyone.

Rant of the day... done.  :)

In defense of non-mothers...

Ok, I get it, being a mom is busy.  I'm the first one to complain about not having time to myself, but, I still find it irritating to listen to some moms tell "non-moms" how they don't understand what being busy is.  An example of the most recent overheard conversation:

Mom: I envy you.
Non-mom: Why?
Mom: Because of all of your free time.
Non-mom: What do you mean?  Work is crazy busy!  You know that.
Mom: No, no... I don't mean at work, I mean after work.  You can go home, have a glass of wine, read books, go out with your friends.... I can't do anything like that.
Non-mom: Why not?
Mom: Because I have kids!  You have NO idea what it's like to be as busy as I am.

Pause for a minute - I'm thinking to myself .. who talks to their friends like this?  But anyway, back at it:

Non-mom: Yeah, kids are busy
Mom: No, you have no idea.  They want me to play... all the time!  I'm making supper, laundry, cleaning... it's exhausting!
Non-mom: Wow. So what time do they go to bed?
Mom: Like 7:00... then I'm so tired I need to go to bed.
Non-mom: Yeah, some nights I can't even make it to 9... I'm in bed.
Mom: Wow, and you don't even have kids... you can't even imagine how much busier and tired you will be.
*awkward silence*

Why do some people feel the need to broadcast how busy they are?  I will agree that sometimes I am run off my feet, but why must you make other feel inferior about their lack of a busy life.  Was she hoping this lady would throw a party in her honour to awknowledge how busy she is?  Even if she did, wouldn't that mom be too busy to attend.

Well, sorry for the rant today, I must be in a bad mood... aren't I always?  That's what lack of sleep does to you.... and being SOOO  busy.  Well, I should run, I'm too busy to even write this blog.

An Open Letter...

Dear Person Using the Aerosol Spray in our Public Bathroom,

Hi.  How are you?  Good?  Well I'm not.  I don't know who you are, but know this: you may think that the spray you are using is disguising the smell of what you just did in our bathroom, but it's not, it's making it worse.... much worse.  The smell of citrus and your bowel movement is making me wretch in disgust.  Don't get me wrong... I know it's a necessary bodily function and we all do it, but please stop using that disgusting spray.  This is a "scent free" building.  Maybe your boss/office manager/receptionist never gave you the notice, but surely you've noticed the signs in the building?  If not, consider this your notice.

Maybe I'm cranky because my car broke down this morning, or maybe I'm cranky because that's who I am... regardless... you stink... I mean your spray stinks... stop using it... immediately.

Love
An Over Tired Mama