Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Canada Day!

I am very proud and happy to be Canadian and would like to wish all my fellow country men and women a Happy Canada Day if your are in Canada or not. I have to work tomorrow but I'm okay with that. I had my shift changed from 10 hours to 8 so I could be home for dinner and not after dinner. I don't mind and look forward to a little extra money. I work for a service provider who is always running on air because if no one was here and the place fell down then no one could watch tv!

Traffic should be very light and make for an easy drive with no stress in the morning and coming home. I leave tonight at 6pm but the traffic will be horrible because almost everyone is taking the next 2 days off. I would too! I might be lucky if I can get home by 7pm but fully expect to be home later with everyone going to the cottage or starting family vacations since school is out for the summer. Tonight will not be a fun drive. I just hope there are no accidents which would make the drive 10 times worse!

I will celebrate when I get home with a few Keystone light beer tall boys! We bought some fireworks for the kids but I really love lighting them and making a big deal of it. You can't deny that fireworks aren't fun and great to watch! We might go watch some down at the lake front in Oshawa but we have our own so we can light them ourselves. I want to stop tonight and get a few more just to make sure I have all that I wanted. I do have a 3 day weekend after tomorrow so I know we will be busy Saturday night with UFC and watch the Lesner and Carwin fight. Should be a great fight with someone getting knocked out.

Anyway,

Happy Canada Day Everyone!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Kijiji

Now most people know about this website or at least have seen it at least once. We have used this website often to find things or do some research to find out how much things are selling for before we post an ad. The people that do read this and don't know what Kijiji is it is simply a site to sell and request things from furniture to cars to clothes and anything else you can think of. It is free to join if you would like to sell items but you can browse and look at ads without signing up. I really like it because not only can you see pictures of items being sold but you can compare to other ads similar to get the best deal.

I have posted and sold many items on Kijiji which is great because some things move really fast and are gone within hours. Some items don't move as fast and may take a week or two but don't be discouraged because someone is always looking for what you are selling. Just be prepared to lower your price to move it quicker. It depends on how badly you want it out of your home also. I have things that didn't sell but that is because no one would pay the price I was asking and the offers were really low.

Last night we picked up a beautiful table with 2 leafs and 6 chairs. 2 of the chairs are captains chairs and they are very comfortable to sit in. They could have sold this for at least $400 or more but they wanted it gone so we picked it up for $150! The couple we bought it off were in their 70's or 80's and didn't need it anymore for just the two of them so we got it at a steal.

I encourage strongly that everyone with or without kids search and browse the site because it is the best place at find great deals if you know what the original price is and how much you are saving by buying it used. Most things are in excellent condition but take your time and find the things that you really need. I also really like yard sales and alot of people post their yard sales on here too! I find about 95% of the yard sales I map out are posted on Kijiji and not from the paper. Why pay for an ad when you can do it on Kijiji for free!!

Monday, June 28, 2010

HST

Well it is the beginning of and end in Ontario. Everything for the most part will cost more. The HST will arrive Thursday morning at 12:00am and we will be seeing the biggest impact at the gas pumps. If gas is around $1.00 per litre it will jump to $1.08 because of the HST. The full list is available at the following link: http://www.rev.gov.on.ca/en/taxchange/taxable.html .

I'm not in favour of the Liberal government and in fact have voted against them at every election for good reason. People in Ontario have a horrible track record of bending over and taking it in the ass! They don't learn. After being lied to and still voting McGuinty back in for another term we are still listening to his lies and losing more than we are gaining. Not that any government should be giving and not taking but this government has taken and not given anything other than the current bribe! They have wasted so much money on wasted things and we are no further ahead then before they came to power. This was way before the recession! I hate to live under a provincial government that lies and no one seems to care.

Maybe next election the Liberals will get the boot and have someone else take power and turn this dismal province around. I don't care who it is but I am pro conservative. Anyone but McGuinty!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Dealing with tantrums

Well this is something we all have seen and always wonder why parents can't control their kids. I have been in the middle of a few in public and wanted to just lay a good swat on the bum to make my point but we all know that people frown on that. I have found that with my girls they do better with a talking to then a hit to the behind. I have tried that old "I'll give you something to cry about" but it never seems to pan out. Threats about losing privileges like movies and going to the park work sometimes but you have to let them know ahead of time of reward for good behaviour.

The last time one or both started to melt down we took them aside and got down to their level so we were looking eye to eye. Something funny about that is our girls are like dogs in the fact that they won't look you in the eye initially. It has something to do with dominance in dogs not looking you in the eye when you get down to their level and I have found that my kids are the same! Who knew? But getting them to look you in the eye and being at their level does work very well and the next part is up to you in how you approach the situation.

I usually start with a question such as "what is wrong? Why are you crying?" This gets them to stop crying and acting up and they try to put into words what is wrong. Let them speak and try to listen without cutting them of or getting upset. STAY CALM!! This is the biggest thing with our styles. Nicole (my wife) has a tendency to sometimes get angry or frustrated with the girls and they tend to feed off that. I had Zoey throwing a huge tantrum at a grocery store and I ignored her and put the food through and paid for it and remained calm even though I wanted to lose it on her. The cashier said I had the "patience of a saint" and I told her I was just trying to get the groceries and go home to deal with it later.

Once you can find out what the tantrum is about then you can address it however you like but don't give them what they want. This will lead to more and worse tantrums in the future. I have made that mistake once and never again. Once you can establish a bit of calm with them you can tell them that they can get what they wanted but at a later time because they were not behaving properly and that is no way to get things. I also offer another chance at a store before heading home even if I don't need to go in for anything. We will go to Canadian Tire and walk around looking at things and I will tell them as we are leaving they can have a little treat for being good and behaving properly. I will also try and get through that they are good they can ask for things and get rewards for being good but not all the time. I always use the magic point system and if they are good I tell them for the next week of being good they can go to see a movie or have a girls night and stay up late. Anything they like you can use as incentive and it will eventually sink in and they will be good without reward.

You are really training your child to be good in public and listen to your requests....commands....whatever you like. Once they listen and you can talk to them in simple sentences you can get on the same page and you can sense the frustration they are felling on you saying no but you can explain why and tell them to shoot for that bigger goal of a night out at the movies to see a new kids film instead of the tantrum over the chocolate bar. It won't happen overnight but you will see a change over time. It will get better but you have to stick with it and not give in. I am able to talk to the kids and tell them they are not going to get something because they were misbehaving. I tell them when and where and get them to acknowledge the incident so they can recall it and remember how they were acting. I'm hoping this will make them think about they way they behaved and they will learn from each time they act up and things are taken away.

Try it and hopefully you can fit this advice in your day to day trips to better help you train yourself to be a better parent for your child.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Earthquake

Today around 1:40pm we had an earthquake at 5.0 magnitude which was a little shocking considering I live in Ontario. It was centered just outside Montreal and Ottawa but could be felt in a large area. It was something that I have never experienced and was really neat. My sister who is about a 45 minute drive away felt it and we sent texts back and forth. I was sitting and kind of frozen when the tremor started. It lasted about 10 to 15 seconds but was enough to make you wonder what the hell was going on.

Just made me think since the largest we had was around 3.0 that it was an isolated quake or could we get more of these. I guess it made me think of some movies like 2012, the core and the day after tomorrow. How far off are these movies or is it just your what if brain making you think about the end of days coming sooner than later!

I'm going to buy some more beer and have lots of sex if we are alive when the world is coming to an end....well at least I can drink beer!

Naan Bread Pizza's

This is something we came across with no pizza dough or english muffins. We had extra pizza sauce and pepperoni because the girls like eating it. The first time we made it was a little floppy so I decided to bake it first to stiffen it up and then top it and melt the cheese and not burn the naan bread.

We like any kind of naan but it is all the same. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and place the naan on a cookie sheet for support. Let them cook until they seem crispy or are not flopping around. Ovens vary so keep an eye on them but it should be about 6-10 minutes. Take the cookie sheet out and place sauce, pepperoni and cheese on the bread and place back into the oven to warm up toppings and melt the cheese. Careful not to burn the naan or the kids won't eat it. Remove from oven when cheese is melted and let cool so they don't burn their mouth.

It is an easy and quick snack or meal from them and is great with the different flavours of naan bread. Play with it to find your own favourite but it is a great personal pizza for yourself as well.

Chucky Cheese

Now this is my first parenting tip for anyone looking for a party idea for their kids. We have used Chucky Cheese in the past and they have two separate areas. One area is for parties and the other is for people just coming to play games and eat food. We would use the empty tables in the party area and have a party for the kids. We also could use more than one coupon since they never said we couldn't use more than one and the staff didn't care. Now that has all changed.

BEWARE! We arrived at Chucky Cheese yesterday at around 5:15pm and we greeted as always. We walked towards the party area and saw that all the tables had reserved signs on them. I look at Nicole (my wife) and said that they can't all be reserved. I went back to the front and asked the young man if the tables were all reserved. He told me that they were to which I replied " There are that many parties here tonight?" because they have about 20 long tables and 15 booths. I was then told I couldn't use the party area unless I had booked a party with Chucky Cheese. What the fuck? They charge around $16.95 per child and that is only food for the kids....no food for the adults! So we had 8 kids at $16.95 plus tax of some sort....probably 13%.....so that is $153.23 and then I would have to buy food for the parents which is 31.95 for the cheapest pizza deal they have. So another $72.21 for 2 of those which would be a total of $225.44 for a party at Chucky Cheese!

What we did was I printed off coupons and did multiple copies so I could use the coupons more than once. They said I could only use one coupon per visit so I went to the bank and took out money. I gave two parents money so they could use the coupons and buy the pizza for me since I couldn't use them all at once like we have done in the past. The girl didn't catch on or didn't care so we got away with using the coupons and it cost us only $27.38 per coupon for a pepperoni pizza or deluxe with 4 drinks and 30 tokens. We used 4 coupons so it only cost us $109.52 which saved us $115.92! That is a huge fucking difference and a huge rip off by Chucky Cheese.

So in closing, fuck Chucky Cheese and their parties which are a huge rip off and their new shitty policy. I would still go for a family outing with coupons but no more parties!! Stay away if you are planning a party so you aren't making a huge mistake like what could have happened to us. I'm just glad things worked out and we didn't get fuck with a huge bill. The staff obviously didn't care or they would have noticed the same email address on the coupons and could have told us no. Just stay away unless you can afford the $225.44 which I'm sure you could plan for much less with better pizza!!!

Busy June 22nd

Well yesterday was a busy day at our home. We had a graduation ceremony at 1pm for Zoey at her school. She walked in with her class and was wearing a little cap and sat down. The two SK classes each did their own acts and songs on stage. Then the teachers presented each student with their certificate for graduating kindergarten. After they had cake and snacks for the parents and students. We are very proud of Zoey and can't believe she is going into grade 1!

Later in the evening they had eye appointments and both had excellent vision which they get from me! No issues but the doctor did say Zoey was a little far sighted so we will watch that each time she goes to check her eyes. After we sped off to Chucky Cheese for Hailey's birthday party. We had coupons which was great and saved us alot of money and the kids that came had a great time playing games and eating pizza. Hailey got some nice gifts and really enjoyed her new dresses.

All in all a busy day but well worth it.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Zoey

Well it is about time I talked about Zoey! The oldest and boldest. I really mean that. Today I caught her looking at some XXX DVD's which I got from work and was going to give them to my neighbour. They were in a Walmart bag and she thought it was movies for her. Not what I wanted her to see but I don't think it really sunk in. I asked her what they were and she told me movies and I asked her what kind and she said " I'm not sure dad...lady movies?" I told her they were for older people and that she shouldn't be looking at them. She handed them back to me and went on playing with her Furr Real pet.

Hopefully I dodged a bullet! She is very smart and we are proud of her because on Tuesday she will be graduating Senior Kindergarten and moving into grade 1!! She will get her grad gift which is a skateboard. We also bought knee and wrist guards for her becasue I know she will be falling. We can't wait to see her with her little cap they made for the ceremony. Next year will be a big year for her going everyday and also Hailey will be starting Junior Kindergarten. I can't believe they are growing up quicker than I thought. It will be weird to have the house to myself or ourselves if Nicole is working afternoons. It is time to enjoy the summer and having them around for the next 2 months. I'm sure we will have alot of fun.

Hailey

Well on Tuesday Hailey will be 4 and we had a family party for her on Saturday. We went to my moms to go swimming because it was so humid and they girls had loads of fun. The water wasn't all that warm however! I BBQ'd some burgers and sausages. The best sausages I have come across are from the Great Canadian Meat Company. They are $20 for a pack of 30 and are quite large. They also sell buns because any other bun you buy will be too small and the sausage will stick out either end.

Anyway, she is going through a phase where she likes Polly Pocket, Furr Real Pets and Zhu Zhu Pets. I am all for that because she likes things that aren't too pricey. They really enjoy playing with them and we have found that Toys R Us have the best selection and currently the best price. She got some clothes and we gave her a new fishing pole. She wants to go fishing and I am all for that. I miss fishing and don't get to go out too much. She also got some new lures to go in her tackle box. I'm hoping to maybe get out on Monday when we head to Peterborough to see dad and give him his fathers day gift. Maybe we will stop on the river for a fish or see if we can scam Adam for a ride in the boat!!

All in all she had alot of fun and we get to have another party at Chucky Cheese for her friends and neighbours on Tuesday! Worth doing is signing up on the Chucky Cheese website to the fan club and you get coupons every month or two which are better than the ones that come in the mail. They will come in handy on Tuesady!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Begin

Well I don't know where to begin but there is alot to cover. I'll begin with the basics. Having kids! It is all an experience having a baby and going through everything with your wife. The sex can be really hot and amazing or in some cases non existing. It just depends on the woman. I was lucky. You always hear about no sleep and changing diapers and all the puking. Let me tell you. You will lose sleep and smell things that turn your stomach and might make you puke!

The one thing to remember is that it is all worth it and you will love every moment althought you might not realize it right away. You might feel that it is alot and it is having a child but in the end you are the only one who will protect, love, feed, clothe and really love that child the way it should be loved.

Having daughters is my life and I love it.