The Smokinators - a.k.a death by walking downtown

I never realized working right downtown would be so damned treacherous.  When the 'smokinators' are out (and they are out at all working hours), you walk the sidewalks at your own peril.  Walking to a destination?  The smokinators are walking ahead of you, billowing puffballs of carcinogenic smoke into your face behind them.  Meandering through a small courtyard with lovely trees and planters?  The smokinators are perched like so many pesky pigeons on the planters, sucking on their death sticks and blowing into your face as you pass.  Entering your workplace's building?  Hold your breath and don't breathe in until you are inside.

It's crazy!  Have people still not gotten the message about smoking?  I never realized just how many people still played that roulette game...

And for mommies to be?  It's downright angering to have to suffer through it.  I've taken to jogging ahead of these people and holding my breath.  Later in my pregnancy, I'm not sure jogging will be an option!

Okay...that's my rant for today.  Other than that, it was a good day.

Stay healthy, everyone!

When personalities clash

but you can't get away...what do you do?

Just have a drink and relax, I guess.

Stinky poo poo

Bad days at work can really drain you, can't they? Why, in a professional setting, do some people forget their manners, forget to be considerate, and stop seeing people as what they are - people - and not just a box on an org. chart or a way to get a (big picture) meaningless task done?

But here's the thing. When you stop to breathe, refocus and get your perspective back, it sure does make you appreciate the loveliness that exists outside the confines of your work space.

I don't know. With a baby on the way, what's important just seems to be more prominent and rise to the surface these days anytime I am faced with frustrations or days that bring me down. I mean, as we speak, I have a wonderful husband BBQing some lovely T-bones. He has made the salad (and made extra so that I can have a healthy meal at lunch tomorrow), and prior to that he left to grocery shop for said food. AND he bought me a lovely gift and a very special "Mother to be" card Sunday for mother's day ... so what was my problem again?

Right. I didn't really have one.

Who does that?

Okay...I just got a call from my hubby and sometime between leaving my driveway this morning and now someone put a big dent in our new car's front bumper. I can't even figure out how it is even possible to have done that where I was parked, so it had to have been deliberate, but regardless, it is a new friggin' car, and I am pissed. Seriously maddened. I had my older Camry for 7 years and other than your usual light car door dings, NOTHING. But now that we have a new beautiful 2009 Camry Hybrid, some schmuck decides to damage it.

OH! I'm MAD!

Okay....five minutes have passed, and I just found out it is roll up the rim to win time at Tim Horton's. Doesn't make up for this, but at least I could win another car...right?

ten minutes

Ten minutes before I have to drag my sorry butt out for another late volleyball match after another intensely stressful day at work. As I have said, I am loving the challenge, but not so much the 9-10 hour days with no lunch or break and intense mental workouts all day long. But I am making slow and steady progress, even WITH the monumentally fabulously insanely ridiculous approval processes we have to go through.

So here's my question...does anyone out there get really selfish about the time they have with their loved ones? Do you resent if OTHER family or visitors take away your time with the family members you haven't seen in a long time? Maybe it is the emotional rollercoaster I have been through over the last 4 months or so (have a baby, lose a baby, try for a baby, think you have a baby again but find out you don't....repeat....without another actual baby of course), but the week that I get to spend with my Mom and Dad is supposed to be mine alone, and not shared with a bunch of other people. Plus...I selfishly just want to be alone, relaxed, sunbathing under the sun with nothing more to do than chill with a very small group of very close family members. That is what we paid for. Right?

God, I feel selfish.

Is 8 more than enough?

Okay. I heard about this story the other day, and while I didn't know all the details, I did think even when I first heard the story, that it was at the very least foolhardy. I mean...how rational and/or financially feasible (and environmentally responsible, frankly) is it to give birth to 8 children when you already have 6? Fourteen children...I mean, REALLY....

So here is the article that I just read, and now I find out that the woman is living single with her mother with these 14 children and get a bit of the 'lead up' to how it is that she became pregnant with 8 children at once (2 sets of twins)...I have visions of sows and bitches (pigs and doggies) at this point. Harsh, I know, but it is simply not natural and having read the background now, I take issue with the system, with her, with the risks she has taken and will take to raise these children. I mean, the article is rife with her deep-seated issues. Issues that now become these 14 hapless souls' issues.

Irresponsible. Totally.

Do you agree?