Month: March 2012

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Moving To Canada

A friend from home is migrating from Asia to Canada and she had been writing to me for the last 6 months in preparation as to what she should do or prepare for. When you migrate with the entire family, no doubt you would be worry about a lot of things.  Besides having to start all over again – there is the trip from Asia to Canada you have to take and that is a very long air-ride/flight.   And not forgetting all the kids travel luggage  that you have to remember to carry a long and all the other stuff you need to pack and courier or ship them over.

I’m sure many of you are worried for your kids – as to how they would cope with the changes and the climate – as well as the cultural differences.  Most area in Canada has a fair amount of Asian in their community and if you are planning to migrate – it also depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to have.  Living in places like Toronto and Vancouver are one of the most expensive places you can migrate to but if you feel that you cannot live without the Asian community – than that is the place to go.

But if you are like me – and wants a more laid back life – then you can choose to migrate in the rural areas like where I am.  But remember – you have to make sacrifices for paying less for a big house – because you won’t be able to find the convenience of an Asian grocery store or many asian eateries around the rural area.  Canada is also pretty cold during winter and it can really make one feel quite depress with such long winter – so be prepared to feel like you are freezing for the first few years.

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Cross Stitch With Chloe

I started Chloe on cross stitch because we had wanted to keep her busy and to do something that most girls don’t do anymore at this time and age.  Most children only wants to play computer games and electronic games – so we figured that it would be good to teach Chloe how to do cross stitch.   And guess what she loved it so much – she was willing to try just about anything.

Tonite, she helped me with mine because she told me she didn’t mind doing mine since I had a hard time seeing those tiny holes.  And she mumbled to herself – like an old lady – that “we don’t see young girls doing this anymore” muahahaha!!! oh my!  this kid of mine – makes me laugh so hard sometimes – she is just too adorable.

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The Hospital Foundation

This year the local hospital celebrates its 100th year in operation and even though a lot of people complained about the wait time to see a doctor in the emergency unit and the lack of family doctor in this area, I was told that we have the best regional hospital in the county.  But having said all the above – I also know how hard it is not to be able to get medical attention immediately when you need it – like when you are having a migraine.  I know people think that migraine is not a big deal but I’m suffering from one as I am typing, so it’s not as easy as popping a pill but I’ve read about this migraine plastic surgery  that not only help relief your migraine but make you look prettier.   A simple procedure – that I’m going to talk to my family doctor about as soon as I can get in to see her – and see what she thinks about it.  And yes, the hospital foundation is raising money again for the hospital and had asked us to participate in the celebration.  But first of all, let me take care of this migraine – and then we can talk more about raising funds.

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Quick Solution

My heel hurt for a few days now  – and being diabetic – I’m a bit worried about it but I decided to try what I tried last year by buying a more supportive foot liner.  But after a few days – these gel heels didn’t really worked for me, so I guess I have to push to see the family doctor again.

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Car Problem

Just our luck !  the kid is sick and we had car problems.  At first, we thought it was the engine but I guess not – and a trip to the local mechanic told us otherwise.  Car cannot be fixed immediately as he need to order a shaft coupling  – so we were quite handicap without our car for a few days – since the car acted up during the weekend – the same time the kid got sick.

Our car was bought just before the kid turned 1 years old and she is already 8 yrs old this year – so it’s getting old but we really have no huge complain about the car – it had served us well.  We finished paying for it 3 years ago – and it is only regular maintenance that we spend money on the car.  So this time – it’s the first really major problem we’ve had, so we ain’t going to complain that we need to wait for a shaft coupling for a few days.  Thank God – our car is finally fixed today – because really we can’t go without our car.  Time to think about getting a second car just in case.

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Moments Of Sadness After Lost Of Grammie

A month and a half ago Chloe lost her grammie to cancer – she passed away so quickly, Chloe didn’t really get to say goodbye properly.  Because of that she may seems happy to everyone but there are moments of sadness and doubt that would overcome her during the day.  So I monitor closely to make sure that she is emotionally taken care of – and to make sure I am there for her when she is sad or needs a question to be answered.

Although PB said it is normal for her to be grieving and I know it is – I find that he is more relax than i am with Chloe emotionally, maybe it is a man thing – but I have to double up and do PB’s part as well.  Just a few weeks ago, she asked if grampie is going to get married again?  Today she asked if I was going to die and leave her – she said she was worried.  I promised her that I loved her too much to die and then caught myself from saying more – because I’m sure her grammie didn’t want to leave her too – so as parents we have to watch what we say – and how we explain things to a child – who is only 8 yrs old and dealing with death for the first time.  Please pray for Chloe – pray that she can find comfort and that she will only think of the good times she had with grammie.

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Town Meetings

I’ve always said that it would be nice to have video conferencing services  for our town meetings because the town meetings are held at times when we have to open our store or people who have to be at work.   But if we have video conferencing services, anyone can log in and join the town meetings wherever they are even if those who are not in town and on vacation and don’t want to miss out on important issues of the town.  I’ve highlighted this issue to the town councilors and the election for town councilors will be coming up soon – nor this is the time to re-talk about this issue with the council.  Live telecast is not really what we want to see – the people of this town wants to be able to interact directly and live conferencing should be the way to go – if they wanted the people to be involved.  The many times that I’ve attended town meetings – I never see anyone except the councilors and the mayor and the Chief Administrator – so what s the point if the town cannot participate actively in these town meetings that concerns the town.  Town meetings should be interactive and to do it – the most feasible way is a video conferencing service.

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Teaching My Kids About Wants & Needs

We always try not to buy expensive and unreasonable gifts for Chloe and we also trained her not to see something and wants it immediately from young.  The toys you see here – are not toys that Chloe had asked for – nor are they new – we bought them from a local yardsale – for less than $65 altogether.  And we also want to state that we didn’t buy everything for her at once – they all came in pieces and at the time when they are at the right prices.

Chloe had been taught that money is hard to earn and even though she doesn’t know the value of money – she never really ask for a lot of toys.  We usually buy her toys from the dollar store and even then – we make it look like it’s a lot to ask.  She n ever ask more than 2 toys from the dollar store.

Because she is so good – we buy stuff for her without her asking for it when we see them on sale at the local yard sale – she would be surprised and very grateful with whatever we buy for her.  So yes! we taught our kid – her wants and needs and to differentiate it

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Saving Money At Home & Work

We try to save money in any way we can – from buying things that is on sale – and stock up when there is a good sale on but of course, we also make sure that we don’t buy or spend just because something is cheap.  Owning your own business as well as raising a kid means only one thing – spending your money wisely – so if there is a rebate to get we get it.  Now the only thing that is  killing us is our power bills.  There is no low cost energy  here in our town – and when it comes to winter – it does suxs big time.  I wished we can lower our electric bills – our entire house is electric heat – so we are quite dependent on it.

So this is what we did at home to save money, to save power bills – we had a french door put in our tv room – so that we won’t have to heat the entire kitchen and tv room when we wanted one or the other heated. We also only heat up the rooms that we are using – and at work we brought 2 infra-red heated to save on our power bills.  We thought about putting in a wood stove at home but that would means we need to fork out money to put in a new chimney and of course buy the wood stove and rewire the home a little.  At work, we will heat up the store for a few hours and then turn it down for the rest of the day – using only the infrared machine.  If we are still cold, we have small little heaters turned up for a bit to warm us up.  So there – you have it – on how we save money at home and work with our power bills.  If only we had this low cost energy saving program they have in certain part of the USA – I would definitely bee the first to jump on it.

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Back To After School Program

We’ve decided to let Chloe go back to the after school program today because the weather was so nice – and also because of what happened last Sunday.  We went out to visit Grampie because her Godma came from Toronto but they were so tired – no one wanted to play with her.  Poor Chloe had so much energy but there was just no one who wanted to go out and play – PB did go out for a bit after a lot of sulking from Chloe but I felt so bad for her so I decided that the after school program would do her some good.  She came home all sun burnt but happy with all the things she did at the after school program and this time – they seems to take better care of her – so lets hope it will continue.  Poor Chloe without Grammie things are going to be a lot different – and all grammie’s sisters who promised to baked with Chloe and look out for her – well, we haven’t seen them since the funeral.  *sigh* – this summer is going to be a hard summer for poor Chloe.