Author: mamabok

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New X’mas Tree 2011

This year we are really late in putting up our Christmas decoration at home even though the ones for the store – was up straight after Halloween.  I think that has to do with having Gary around – so I got lazy at home – plus we were busy trying to get Chloe’s birthday going.  Our new X’mas tree this year was bought last year after Christmas  – so we got this pre-lit tree cheap – less than 100 and it’s 7 ft tall.   Chloe always have a good time – putting up the Christmas decoration – and we finally put up the trees and lights today.  I can’t wait for Christmas to be over – and things can go back to normal.  Thus far, it had been cold – but not terrible yet.

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Stop Yelling At Your Kids

 

PB has an aunt whom I admire greatly – because 2 of her girls turned out to be awesome girls and are now married and living happily  – both girls finished their college and have jobs and no kids because they are living the Canadian dream.  I admire aunt Sandra because she never raised her voice at anyone – not even her kids when they were teenagers.  For the last 12 years – I’ve not seen her frazzled or upset at all.  She is as cool as a cucumber and always showed so much love to all of us.

PB and I sometimes do raise our voice at Chloe when she is bad – and that of course has it consequences too – when she is upset – she raises hers.  You see what good examples we are ?  I am consciously telling myself to stay real calm with Chloe and am constantly reminding PB not to raise his voice even when he is upset with Chloe – because you reap what you sow.  So folks out there – if you are wondering why your kids are behaving the way they do – first examine yourself – be very  honest with yourself – and then you can punish your kids for being rude – but first – I think you’ve gotta punish yourself – for kids learned from their parents and people around them.

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He’s 39

Yes!  PB is only 39 and he turned 39 a few days ago – but I had completely forgotten the date –  and only later in the day did i remember – muahahah!!!  I’m guessing it’s because we are too familiar with each other that birthdays and Christmases or Valentine day is just another day to us.   I don’t know about you – but after so many years together – the romantic and the heart beating part is not so much there no more.   Don’t get me wrong – of course i love the man – but he is very the unromantic – if you get the drift! I don’t expect flowers and champagne everyday but mannnn!!!  he doesn’t plan for stuff like that – quite boring right?

My mom used to say that a boring man is an honest man – but I have to tell my mom that she is not completely right – hahha!! the honest part is right – but mannn ..!! the boring can kill!  but yes! he was this way when i met him and I don’t expect to change him – but really – if his form of romantic is bringing me and the kid out for lunch once a week and he is buried in his kindle – now I could smack him for that.   So a little balance is good – some interest to be shown to the kid and I would be nice, hmmmmm … I’ve gotta think of a clever way to explain all the above to him without sounding mad or whiny.

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Fibbing

So we wanted to go grocery shopping because it had been busy during the weekend and we didn’t get to go.  We arrived at M & M meat shop and the kid tells me she don’t feel well and that her tummy hurt, and like all moms – we rushed to go home without the groceries.  But the ride home in the car – she said she felt ok but we were already half way home.  So I had told Chloe that if she was fibbing – I would be very mad with her.

Got home – she rushed to the toilet – but of course, she didn’t poop – what a surprise – she insisted she was fibbing – but I think otherwise – so what would you do?  Time out?  ground her?  or give her the benefit of doubt.  Well, we gave her the benefit of doubt but also explained to her that fibbing is not right – and that we don’t tell lies either.  That night I also wrote Chloe a note to remind her the Santa loves lil’ girls who are honest and tells the truth and in the morning – she did have a unusual huge poop before leaving for school.  So yes, lesson to be learned here – gotta give the kid a benefit of doubt – but on the other hand – I should have brought her to the mall’s washroom.  The next time I would know what to do.

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Christmas At The Lodge

PB’s cousin may be coming to town for Christmas and will be staying at the lodge – so we’ve decided to loan him our cell phone boosters for the lodge as well as his car – since he doesn’t have one. I know how important it is for him that he gets his calls when he is here for the Christmas vacation – so we are just trying to be nice. I think he must have the cell phone booster at home, else he wouldn’t asked if we had one at our cottage to loan him. Earlier this year – we had bought a cottage for our summer vacation and for the same reasons – to make sure we get a better cell phone reception – we had gone out to look for cell phone boosters and found one at our local store in the mall. No regrets buying it because we never missed a call when we were at the cottage – and we could enjoy our time in the country without worrying about the store.

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We Won!

Yes!  we won a watch from Roots and it just arrived a few minutes ago.  Are we excited !! for sure!  it’s not just about the watch – I think it’s all about the winning.  We are so lucky right?  yup ! sure are!  I had entered using PB’s account on FB – and little did I know we won!

I only took the picture of the box of the watch – how silly is that?  I will take another picture of the watch itself and put it on when i get home. 

PS :  did I tell you I love my new domain – unlike blogsome – this allows me to host my own photos on the blog – I don’t have to host it elsewhere – making it so easy for me. 

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New Beginnings

So after being with Blogsome for 7 years – they finally decided to close down – darn!  boy ! did I panic!  why?  because blogsome didn’t have the plugin to export all my contents from the beginning – therefore – I had kept the blogsome blog running thus long – for it was one of my very first blogs.   I do like blogsome don’t get me wrong – the advertisers loved it too – but it was hard using the blogsome blog because I can’t tweet the blog a lot like an ordinary wordpress blog even though its platform is wordpress.

But yes!  I’m loving my new blog – My Life In Canada – because it is truly a lot about my life in Canada and all about bringing up Chloe.  I hope you continue to support my blog – visit often – and since I can do a lot more with my own hosted blog – you will see me writing nonsense again – and a lot more wilder and insights on migrating to Canada – and how to survive in Canada – work, food and lots of other things.  Leave a comment – I love comments – but do not spam me please.

PS :  don’t forget to add me on your blog roll and give me some link love.

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Clever Ways To Cut Down Your Laundry Bills And Help The Environment

Image Source: Frugal Living

When it comes to being frugal and eco-friendly, many people may not realize the amount of laundry that they do can have a significant impact on their expenses and their energy-consumption. The average size household will do at least 7 loads of laundry per week, which totals around 400 loads of laundry per year. A load of laundry can use 20-40 gallons of water meaning a year’s worth of laundry will use 16,000 gallons of water.

That is not to mention the amount of electricity that will be used to wash and dry 400 loads of clothes, towels, and blankets.

When you are looking for ways to save money and reduce your family’s carbon footprint, the laundry room and your washer dryer is the perfect place to start.

Pro Tip 1: Wash in Cold Water

By washing your clothes in cold water, you can cut the amount of electricity you use by more than half! The average load of laundry washed in hot or warm water, uses 4.5kWh of electricity (about $0.68 per load-$265/year) whereas a load washed in cold water uses a mere 0.3kWh ($.04 per load- $16/year). [Source]

Pro Tip 2: Use Other Drying Methods

The clothes dryer is a major culprit in raising electric bills. Any item that generates heat uses more electricity to operate. Use a clothesline to dry your clothes or hang them from hangers on the shower rod in the bathroom. Clothes will take longer to dry; however, you will save a great deal of money on your energy bill.

Pro Tip 3: Avoid Expensive Detergents

Yes, expensive detergents smell great and will leave you with the impression that your laundry is clean because of the way it smells. However, cheaper, economy-sized laundry detergents contain the same basic ingredients and will work just as well.
For half the price, you can purchase larger containers of laundry detergent and your clothes will be just as clean. Furthermore, there will be less packaging to recycle or toss out. You can also choose eco-friendly detergents. Environmentally-friendly ingredients to look for include grain alcohol, coconut plant oils, rosemary and sage.

Pro Tip 4: Top Load Versus the Front Loading Washer

If you are still using the outdated washing machine that you bought ten years ago, chances are you are wasting a lot of water. The average top load washer uses almost 40 gallons for one single load of clothes. A front-load washer only uses about 20 gallons per load.
Upgrading to a new washer can dramatically reduce the amount of water that you use in your home and is an eco-friendly choice.

Pro Tip 5: If It’s Not Dirty, Don’t Wash It!

Okay, this does not mean that you and your family should wear dirty clothes just because you are trying to reduce the amount of money you spend on laundry. Just make sure that you are not washing clothes that are not dirty. If you wear your nice dress slacks for an hour and then change, they most likely will be fine to fold up and put back in the drawer.
Some other tips to try:
– Cut your dryer sheets in half (or omit them altogether). This way you can cut these dryer sheet costs by half!
– Dilute your laundry detergent. By keeping an extra detergent bottle aside, you can fill it half way with detergent and the other half with water.
– Use vinegar instead of fabric softener. ¼ cup of fabric softener (for big loads) saves money and does just the trick.

By paying a bit more attention to how, and when, you do your laundry, it will be completely possible for you to save hundreds of dollars each year. This will help reduce the impact that your family has on the environment by cutting water and energy usage as well. Everyone likes to have clean clothes to wear, but this should not come at such an expensive cost and it really does not have to.

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Canadian Got Talent

Canadian really got talent – and as I watch this group played at the Farmer’s Market 2 weeks ago – I can’t help but think that this people sure got guts and perseverance. I’m not too arty farty like – but I do love music a lot – I remembered going to the Symphony – everytime a friend was in town from US or Australia. Those were the good ole days! unfortunately, for me PB is only into the heavy metal kinda of music – but I can’t stand them because they are so loud and had lots of foul languages in them. I do love this group – sometimes the groups playing isn’t so fantastic and I don’t stay and listen – but acknowledge them nevertheless.

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Flu Shots

We never did get our flu shots till last year – but this year – we were all quite gung-ho about taking our flu-shots and of course Chloe had her flu-mist – that goes thru’ the nose. She was a wee bit frightened of it initially because she had almost forgotten about it – but after taking the flu mist – she decided it’s not that bad after all. Plus, she met her favorite doctor this visit – Dr Randall – who gave her a hand drawn sticker on a sticky note – like last year – boy! was she tickled. Then we had to get our flu shots – and she didn’t want to look at it – so she went out to play in the hallway where all the medicine carts were lined up in front of the doctor’s consultation room. The girls at the clinic was very nice and let her hope around it – and explained to her what were the medicine carts for and what were in them. We left the clinic after half an hour for we needed to make sure that we didn’t have a bad reaction to the flu shots. Thus far, we feel that the flu shot had been good for us – for we’ve noticed that we don’t get sick as often as we did the previous years. So for now – we will continue taking the flu shots every year. Flu shots are free in Canada.