Everybody sing now....

World's collide again! I was riding with one of the new guys at work today and got to chatting. Where are you from? Have you always lived here? and that sort of thing. I gave him the quick version of Goderich, Kitchener, Goderich, Kitchener, Toronto, Kitchener.

He said, "Toronto, eh? I used to live around Jane and St. Clair."

To which I replied, "We used to live on Foxwell."

He: "Foxwell? No way! I had relatives on Foxwell from waaaay back."

Me: "We used to live in my husband's grandparents' house."

He: "What were their names?"

Me: "Helen Bevelled (*name changed)"

He: "Hm. I used to get a card every year with two dollars in it from Auntie Helen - who wasn't actually related to me, but was close with the family and just a really nice lady."

So we delved into this a bit further. His mom ended up calling his cell phone out of the blue, which she never does. He asked her more about it. Yup. Same lady. She also knows Jean-Paul's mom and knows where they live and such. I called Jean-Paul's mom and said, "Do you know Betty Ribbit (*name changed)." She recalled the name and gave me some more family history. Turns out the families lived right next to each other at one point!!"

Way too weird! Some guy I barely know used to get $2 in a card a couple times a year from the woman whose engagement ring I now wear.

Everyone. One more time, "It's a small world after all. It's a small world after all......."

What's with the Pavlovian response to the credits rolling?!

I went to two movies last week while I was in Windsor. I saw Coraline in 3D. I enjoyed the flick. It is not for little kids, though. Quite scary (even for me sometimes) :) Then I saw He's Just Not That Into You. I know... I wasn't in the mood for Friday the 13th and the timing didn't work for anything else. I ended up enjoying that one as well. It's cute, predictable, but cute.

Now, the reason for the blog is not to critique the movies. I want to talk about why people feel they must IMMEDIATELY leave the theatre when the credits begin to roll, whether or not the movie is "done". I mentioned Coraline was in 3D. Pretty cool. They of course had things flittering around during the credits and at the end it seemed to come right out at you. I was the only one left in the theatre to experience that part. It wasn't actually worth waiting to see the whole length of the credits, but that's not my point here.

It was even worse for He's Just Not That Into You. There was still "movie" going on, and just because the credits had started, people felt as if the MUST leave the theatre. They didn't care that there was a bit more to each of the story lines. They were programed to stand up and exit as quickly as possible because they had seen words start. There were no excuses for this one. The extra snippets had started almost immediately, but still, because the credits were still rolling, they needed to leave. I just don't get it. The theatre wasn't packed, there weren't any huge crowds to beat, no line that would form in the parking lot. Not enough people to jam the washrooms. There was no legitimate excuse for not staying that extra one minute to see how things turned out. (Except not really giving a shit - which would be the most plausible. But really, you just invested over 2 hours. Could you not wait another minute or two?)

I USED to really respect what Dove was doing with its ads....

Here are a few examples from Dove's previous campaign...



I really liked these ads. They seemed very real and I really, really liked the message they sent - especially to young women and girls. (And us older girls can use some reminding that we're ok just as we are, too).


Dove's latest ad, however, is not impressing me as much...



The ad is about how Dove doesn't leave soap scum like other soaps do. The ad is apparently showing us a comparison between regular soap and Dove, which both look clean in regular ol' light, but under black light, well, we see the "truth"....

The full disclaimer in hard-to-read fine print that flashes across the bottom of the screen reads "artistic dramatization of soap scum residue". So much for truth in advertsing....

Click here for the link to the actual ad.

Another reason not to listen to "experts" and believe "studies"

From this month's Parents magazine (March 2009) "Allergy News"

Food allergies are on the rise in kids - and there's now more evidence that avoiding culprits like peanuts at a young age may actually backfire. In a new study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, children who didn't eat food containing peanuts during early childhood were ten times more likely to develop a peanut allergy than kids who ate peanuts before 12 months. Researchers suspect that exposure to peanuts early on may help kids build up a tolerance to them an prevent an allergy from developing. Talk you your pediatrician about when to introduce your child to foods that contain peanuts."

Well that's just super fantastic....

My doctor recommended we wait until 3 years old, so we followed her advice with Alexandria. Zach is now 22 months, so he's screwed, too. I guess we might as well give him peanuts now. I always wondering how that made sense - to wait until later to avoid an allergy. I was told their underdeveloped systems may not be able to handle peanuts and could trigger an allergy and that waiting until they were older might give that time to strengthen. I kinda just went, "ok", even though it didn't really make sense still.

Ah well. What the hay. I guess I'll give Zach a shrimp-filled peanut buster parfait drizzled with Bailey's tonight for dessert. Might as well see if we can avoid shellfish and alcohol allergies while we're at it.

All I can say is, "Wow, um.... huh...."

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2233878.ece

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At the Avairy

At the Waterpark

Hoping there's a positive in there somewhere

As horrible as the incident with Rihanna and Chris Brown is (or alleged to be, for libel's sake), I believe some positive will come out of the it. For those who are not in-the-know, the pair are young, well-known pop artists. Because of her beauty, fame and how much girls look up to Rihanna, I hope this incident will empower girls that may be going through the same thing. I hope they think, "If it can happen to someone as beautiful, talented, rich and famous as her, then I don't have to feel ashamed." I hope more girls will speak out or, at the very least, have the strength and courage to leave their current situations with confidence. This is also not the first time this has happened with the couple (allegedly) so, again, girls going through this do not have to feel shamed that they've lived with abuse. They don't have to feel as if people will look down on them for sticking with their abusers. They can hold their heads up high, get out of their current situation, move on and be better for it.

Here's hoping, anyway.

Too tired to blog

I'm just going to go to bed. (In a sec, after I give a quick update)

We've been so busy. Grandma came yesterday and we went to the mall with the skating rink. Zachary ate and talked the whole time. "Hockey players!" "Hockey balls!" "Crash!!" "Mighty Machine!" (Zamboni) "It's coming! It's coming!" (the zamboni). These phrases were repeated over and over. Or he just went with "Hockey!" if there was nothing specific he could think of.


Today was Dirty Dancing. Grandma and I had a great time. Great seats (free seats, too - can't beat that!). Oooo, and we saw the Princess Margaret grand prize show homes. Nice!

This week will be Kevin Smith and a screening of Mallrats. Some laughs at the Rivoli. A mini vacation and indoor waterpark with the kiddies.

Later this month is the Annual Yovanoff Pot Luck. Fun and good food. Yum!

And at some point we have to find time to get the new carpet put in.....