Is it worth the flashes?

Did you know that more and more doctors prescribed anti-depressant to women suffering from menopause (yes, suffering, ‘cause it isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a pain!)?

Supposedly researches are showing that the serotonin levels in the brain do get lower when women hit menopause, and by taking some serotonin noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors those levels are increased and thus less hot flashes and better moods all together! Read this – it’s interesting.

Since my surgery, menopause hit me full blast. The hot flashes were too much. It wasn’t like my mother, only at night, or some friends, only when drinking alcohol. It was bad. I went to see my family doctor and he suggested taking Effexor. Since I had been off anti-depressant for almost a year, I wasn’t too keen to start again, even if it was another kind. So many people were telling me to take hormones, but I couldn’t because of my severe endometriosis (the hormones are what feed that sucker!)… So, I started taking the prescribed pill. I saw a change within a few days – I was flashing a lot less! My mood was better as well. Then, about three weeks ago, I saw the surgeon for my post-op (4 months after surgery). He suggested that I start taking some hormones (oestrogen). He also mentioned that because of my severe condition, even if he did removed all that he could see, the endometriosis could come back after I start taking the hormones… I wasn’t too thrilled about that. I, nonetheless, started taking them (in gel form, not pills) with the Effexor. I barely had any flashes anymore. It worked great! But, in the back of my mind was this thought “it could come back”… and I wasn’t feeling too comfortable about that perspective.

Saturday we met with my family doctor (follow up for Effexor) – we wanted to know his opinion about this whole thing. Hubby was really not “pro hormones” for the time being. After chatting with the doctor for a while, I came out of there more confused. Taking the hormones may bring back the endometriosis (I REALLY don’t want that pain back!), but he thinks I should give Effexor a better chance and try that alone for a while and see how I feel. But he also said that I could continue taking the hormones, if I feel that I really need it: it’s all about how I feel and my level of comfort (or discomfort).

So… since I don’t really want the pain to come back and since I felt a little paranoid about it, I decided to stop taking the hormones. Already I’ve been flashing again… Darn! I’ll try to give the pills a bit more time, but dang! It’s thought when I know I could feel better… There’s no way to know if the endometriosis was completely removed, like there’s no way either to tell if it has come back, except if I have pain or through surgery… Neither of these options is appealing to me at the moment! I just want to be pain free and “power surge” free as well…aargh!

What would you do in this situation? Would you rather take anti-depressant or hormones?

Scattergories

Since I didn't really know what to post about, I figured I would use this little game that does resemble "Scattergories" a lot (which is one of my favorite games).

Rules: Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following...
They MUST be real places, names, things...NOTHING made up! If you can't think of anything, skip it. You must use different answers. You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

Name: Stinkypaw

1. Actor: Sissy Spacek
2. 4 letter word: sock
3. Street name: Sherbrooke (in Montreal)
4. Color: sherry
5. Gift/present: sculpture
6. Vehicle: Subaru
7. Tropical Location: Santiago de Cuba
8. College Major: Social Sciences
9. Dairy Product: sherbet
10. Thing in a Souvenir Shop: stickers
11. Boy Name: Sylvain
12. Girl Name: Sophie
13. Movie Title: Shall We Dance?
14. Beer: Sleeman
15. Occupation: Sailer
16. Flower: Sunflower
17. Celebrity: Sally Field
18. Magazine: Seventeen
19. U.S. City: Salt Lake City
20. Quality or Condition: sweet

Your Friday Smile!

***

FORGIVE THE PUN

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was 'a salted'. (... get it???)

4. A dyslexic man walks into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing 'The Green, Green Grass of Home.'" "That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome." "Is it common?" Well, "It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field. Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning." "I don't believe you," says Dolly. "It's true, no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. DejaMoo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day but I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident. He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!" The doctor replied, "I know you can't - I've cut off your arms!"

13. I went to a seafood disco last week...and pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"

16. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

17. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse. "But why," they asked, as they moved off. "Because", he said, "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

18. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain ; they name him "Juan." Year's later; Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

19. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him. (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good).... A supercalloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

20. And finally, there was the person who posted twenty different puns for her friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh...
No pun in ten did.

Have a great weekend!

That is me today...

You Are: 20% Dog, 80% Cat

You are are almost exactly like a cat. You're intelligent, independent, and set on getting your way. And there's no way you're going to fetch a paper for anyone!

Are You More Cat or Dog?

Heellllllloooooooo!!! I'm Stinkypaw afterall!!!

And,

You Are 40% Weird

Normal enough to know that you're weird... But too damn weird to do anything about it!

How Weird Are You?

That reads so damn right... scary!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my Hubby's birthday!!!
He's forty freakin' four, as he said this morning!

10 Reasons I love him so (listed as I discovered them) :

1. his gentle eyes and strong hands (and how he uses them on me!)

2. his twisted sense of humor (if you think I'm warp, you have another thing coming with him!)

3. his butt (buns of steal, nice and round, - he could be a 'bro with an ass like that!)

4. his listening skills (how many guys do you know that will turn off the tv to actually have a chat with you? He does!)

5. his patience (it takes a LOT of patience to be with me, I kid you not!)

6. his smarts (even if I do refuse to admit it, he does earn his living using his head!)

7. his strenght (he's always there for me - I know I can count on him!)

8. his cleanliness (don't know many men who wash the way he does, from his hands to the dishes - his mom did a great job there, that's for sure!)

9. his analness (he's my own "Anal Man", and I love him in all his analness!)

10. his love (in all the years we've been together I never, ever doubted his love for me... or my love for him!)

He's my cute husband and I love him gros, gros!

Happy Birthday!

Image: Birthday Tux

Before we knew Him

Last night, while flicking channels I landed on “The Hour” with Geroge Stroumboloupoulos, ex vj from Much Music. He had a touching interview with Terri Irwing (Steve Irwing’s widow) and then he mentioned Adam Beach who would be on tonight. That brought me back a few years, like 16 or 17 years… (Wow, that is something that makes me sound old!). I still remember that summer evening when my friend and I met this native guy that was so cute…

In the early 90s I was single for a few years. I enjoyed the single life because I had a lot of friends and because I realised that it was better for me to be alone and happy than with someone and miserable. I wouldn’t go out that much. I’ve never really been the “bar scene” type. One of my good friends, F, was more the type who enjoyed going out. She would call me, pick me up and we would drive downtown, top off (on her Jeep!, NOT us!), and have fun. The things I did with her! Fun! Fun! Fun!

That one night we ended up on the terrace at “Le Thursday’s” on Crescent St. When we arrived there were quite a few people (it’s always quite busy in the summer, good location to "people watch"), but we managed to find a table. Next to us were those 2 guys. They looked native. One of them was really cute. My friend and I ordered our drinks and we were talking when the “not so cute” introduced himself. They were from out of town, Winnipeg, and he was all proud to say that his friend had just found out that he got his first TV role. We introduced ourselves and started chatting with them. They were fun and quite talkative. It was a nice evening. We wished them luck and went our separate ways. (yes we did!)

Yesterday when I heard George S. mention his future interview with Adam Beach, I thought “Hey I’ve met this guy when he was just starting.” He was so darn cute! With his long, jet black, hair and there was something sweet about him. I wonder if he’s still the same now that he’s getting known and that we see a lot more of him?

When is it that they turn "celebrities" and start acting like... you know... celebrities?

Images: Adam Beach

Does that make me old?

When I read this, which I have seen many times before, I thought I would post it anyway, because it does feel like times have truly changed...

For all of you who were born in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and even 70s.

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets.
As children,when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms...WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

You might, like me, have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. It is almost scary to think that some kids who would read this might think how brave their parents were.

Times do change... don't you think?

Image: Times change

Votre Friday Smile!

Un curé entre dans un club de danseuses.
Les gens rient, sifflent, crient, s'amusent. La musique écorche les oreilles. Mais quand on le reconnaît, les voix baissent les gens se calment. Le curé s'approche du bar et il demande au barman s'il peut utiliser les toilettes.

- Hum !! Ce n'est pas tellement une bonne idée, elles ne sont pas très recommandables pour un homme d'église.
- Et pourquoi ça ?
- Hé bien... dans les toilettes, il y a une statue d'une très, mais très belle femme, les seins nus, revêtue d'une seule feuille d'érable pour cacher son sexe. On ne voudrait pas vous offenser.
- Mais non, mais non. J'ai fait le voeu de chasteté et je ne regarde plus les femmes... C'est loin tout ça.
- Bon. Ok. Allez-y! C'est au fond, à gauche.

Lorsque le curé revient dans la salle. Ça hurle plus fort qu'à sont arrivé et ça chante "il est des nôtre..." plus fort que jamais. Les gars sont debout lorsqu'ils l'aperçoivent et on l'applaudit même. Jacky avec un grand sourire l'accueille au bar et lui offre un verre et Louise-Anne lui propose une danse à 10$ pour 5$.

Étonné et même choqué, le curé demande au barman ce qui se passe.
- Ben vous êtes l'un des nôtres maintenant. Voyez vous, losqu'on touche aux seins de la statue, les lumières au dessus du bar clignotent et chaque fois qu'on soulève la feuille d'érable, ce sont les lumières de la scène qui "flashent". Croyez-moi, on a eu un OSTIE spectacle de lumières.... Bienvenue Monsieur curé! Une bière?

***
Things to ponder in the year 2007:

Number 10 - Life is sexually transmitted.

Number 9 - Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

Number 8 - Men have two emotions: Hungry and Horny. If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

Number 7 - Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Number 6 - Some people are like a Slinky ... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

Number 5 - Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Number 4 - All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Number 3 - Why does a slight tax increase cost you $200 and a substantial tax cut saves you 30 cents?

Number 2 - In the 60s, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

AND THE NUMBER 1 THOUGHT FOR 2007: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America but we haven't got a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of immigration

Give me a sense of humor and Give me the grace to see a joke. So get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folks!

No trees were killed in the posting of this message. However, a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.

Have a great weekend!
Keep warm!

Do you believe?

Do you believe in “signs”? You know, the type where you think of something and it happens? Or you ask for a “confirmation” and you get it? Are you the type to dismiss those or do you follow through? I know people who ask for something and then when it happens, justify it. People don’t want to believe.

Hubby doesn’t believe. Oh, he does believe that morons are out to get us, that Linux rules, that Winblows sucks, that there are 3 forms of legalized extortion i.e. government, banks and insurance companies. He believes in himself. He believes that any organisation of three people or more will have conflict. He doesn’t believe in God. Doesn’t believe in spirits and such nor does he believe in signs.

I, on the other hand, believe in some higher energy, believe in the spirit world and had too many signs not to believe in them. I’ve been on a spiritual path for quite some time, and realised that I don’t really believe in “organized” religion. (That will be for another post.) Throughout our years together we’ve shared some experiences that shook our beliefs system.

In 2004 we were in Greece, we visited Athens and the islands of Rhodos and Santorini. It was an amazing trip. While in Rhodos, I lost, on a beach, a ring that had a big sentimental value. My dad wore a diamond ring that had 8 small diamonds and 1 big one. After his death, I had 2 rings made, exactly the same for my mother and I with those diamonds (my mom’s has the big diamond on hers).

We made our way to Tsambika beach. It was the first beach I was seeing with sand – all the beaches we had seen so far in Greece were pebbles. We paid for our chairs and I played in the sand. At some point I removed my ring to clean the sand out of it, this is when cousin came by to inform me that we were going to the taverna right there on the beach. I packed my things and went to drop off everything in the car, which was parked on the beach right next to the shower. We had lunch after kept on touring the island. At around 8pm we were back at the condo are decided to go shower before dinner. Whenever I shower I take all my jewellery off. That is when I realised I didn’t have my ring. I frantically search my beach bag, my pockets I was so upset. Hubby went to the car, looked everywhere. NO ring to be found. I visualised my steps and saw myself cleaning it with a corner of my towel but I couldn’t see myself putting it back on. At that point I was crushed. I had lost my father’s ring…

Hubby decided that we would go back to the beach and look for it. So armed with his determination and my despair we made it back. The beach was empty. We went back to the chairs where we sat and started looking for a gold ring in sand. I walked around, so sad. Hubby dug a crater with his bare hands. The things he found doing that, yuck! Between used condoms and cigarette butts, and beer caps, but no ring. It got really dark when we decided to go back to the condo. I cried all the way. That night I prayed.

The next morning we got up really early and made our way back to the beach, armed with an old tennis racket to comb the beach. On the way there I asked my dad, if he wanted me to have his ring, to make it happen fast. I could see Hubby’s determination and honestly it was scarring me. I didn’t want to spend the day looking for something I wouldn’t find. We parked the car. The beach was deserted, save one stray dog. We got out, Hubby took the old racket and was heading back towards the hole he had dug the night before. I went around the car, re-counting my steps from the day before, made my way to the taverna. I remembered that I had shaken my beach towel before throwing it in the car, so I look around the shower. The pooch came my way and was sniffing me, as I went to scratch its ears I saw my ring in the sand. The sun was reflecting the diamonds. I walked to it, picked it up and as tears rolled down my face I told Hubby “I found it”. He couldn’t believe it, and I think he was a little disappointed because he was on a mission.

To this day I believe that my father wanted me to have my ring back and that he wanted to spend a night on the beach in Greece!

My ring is now engraved with "Tsambika, June 10, 2004", the day I got my ring back...

Image: Believe

Valentine's Day

Every Valentine's Day it is strongly suggested or implied to:



And not without this:



BUT, if, like me, you are truly lucky and found the greatest Valentine ever, you'll get this:

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Reasonable or not?

I’ve always thought of Montreal as a good melting pot. We have a very varied population, and we seemed to get along. Yes, there are language issues, but that’s always been there and I think it will always be. Growing up we used to fight; the blokes vs. the frogs. That was normal, for me at least, growing up in Little Burgundy.

Lately there’s a lot of talk about “accomodement raisonnable” (I don’t know the exact term used in English to talk about this, “reasonable arrangement” ) . About a month ago, a local survey showed that 59% of Quebecois thought they were racists. I’m not really surprised by the results (especially not after this year’s experience for the Christmas Basket); they just reflect the issues we might be having towards some minorities. I’m wondering if we are really racists or simply fed up of trying to accommodate different ethnic groups. These issues have been getting to a lot of us. Are we scared of giving up too much, of losing ourselves in this process of accommodating the new comers to Canada? I realise that the events of September 11th affected a lot the way people see Muslims or at least, people from Muslim countries. We have these misconceptions about them all being terrorists. We watched a show about the survey results and the different issues Quebec’s population have with different ethnic groups. It was interesting (for lack of a better term) to see what people thought and what disturbed them.

A Muslim woman, wearing a veil, had a valid point: whom does it bother that she wears a veil? Some were saying we are a culture where women has reached a certain point in society and for a woman to cover her head is like taking a step back vis-à-vis men in general. If that woman had green hair one week and blue the following nobody would be offended or threatened by it, so why is the veil so upsetting? On the other hand, when asked why she was wearing the veil she couldn’t really explain it besides saying it was her choice and belief (not very convincing).

We recently had a case in Montreal where a Muslim woman swimming at a public pool, asked the father of a child who was taking a swim class at the same time, to leave the pool. She didn’t want to swim in front of him, for religious beliefs. The man refused to leave. And I think he did the right thing. Cases like that are more and more heard of.

There is this feeling, this anger brewing around that is making a lot of people uncomfortable. Some push it to the limit, like the town of Herouxville who came out with their set of rules forbidding the weirdest things, in case some immigrants chose their town to immigrate to. Hearing the City Counsellor talk about it made my skin crawled – so much ignorance is scary, and yet some of his points were valid. (Read more about it, here)

Until recently I didn’t really care about the separation of state and church. Now I do. I’m realising that too many things we do are related to religion and often we don’t even question it. I believe in respecting others and their beliefs. Most importantly I respect the fact that we all are different. I actually love that diversity. I’m curious about other cultures, religions and would love to know more about them.

If only we could all agree to disagree and try to adapt. Like Ceasar said so well: “When in Rome, do as the Roman do...”

What do you think?

Image: Hate

Votre Friday Smile!

A mother took her five-year-old son with her to the bank on a busy lunchtime. They got behind a very fat woman wearing a business suit complete with pager. As they waited patiently, the little boy said loudly, "Gee, she's fat!"

The mother bent down and whispered in the little boy's ear to be quiet.
A couple of minutes passed by and the little boy spread his hands as far as they would go and announced; "I'll bet her butt is this wide!" The fat woman turns around and glares at the little boy. The mother gave him a good telling off, and told him to be quiet.

After a brief lull, the large woman reached the front of the line. Just then her pager begin to emit a beep, beep, beep. The little boy yells out, "Run for your life, she's backing up!!"

***

Un homme se présente au cinéma avec un poulet sur l'épaule et il demande à la caissière 2 billets. "C'est pour qui le deuxième billet?", lui demande la caissière.
L'homme de répondre "Pour mon poulet bien sûr". La caissière lui fait remarquer qu'il est interdit d'amener des animaux au cinéma.

L'homme se dirige alors vers l'arrière du bâtiment et met le poulet dans son pantalon. Il retourne au cinéma prend un seul billet et entre s'asseoir. Le poulet étant a l'étroit et commence à avoir chaud. L'homme ouvrit sa braguette afin que le poulet puisse écouter le film en passant sa tête par l'ouverture.

Assise tout près une femme remarqua le geste de l'homme et dit a son amie: "L'homme à coté vient d'ouvrir sa braguette".
Son amie lui répond: "Quand on en a vue une on les a toutes vues".
La femme de répondre: "Je sais mais celle-là elle mange mon Pop-Corn"

***

Watch out for them & have a great weekend!

Take time

A friend send me a message which I had seen many times before, and each time it touched me. Today, for some reason, I feel like I want to be “that” teacher, so instead of forwarding this I’m posting it with an idea. I want to do, with my friends, what that teacher did with her students. A while back Attila did something similar and I must say that when I read what she wrote about me, I was really touched.

“Stinkypaw is the most supportive and encouraging person on the planet. Run over there and give her a well-deserved belly rub!”

In case you’re wondering she had read in Readers’ Digest that according to the American Kennel Club, 88% of women dog owners wish their significant other had at least one quality that their dog has, so she made a list of some of her readers keeping that in mind.

Anyway, I want to do this exercise (not as a dog owner, but as a friend) with the people in my life. Would you be interested to take part of it? I know that some of my readers don’t have blogs, that’s fine; we’ll work it out. If you would, let me know.

Here’s the text that gave me this idea to Take Time.

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.

That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments.
No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another. That group of students moved on.

Several years later, one of the students was killed in Viet Nam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature. The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes." Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."

After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.
"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out
of his pocket "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."
Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook
paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.
"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."
All of Mark's former classmates started to gather around. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home."
Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."
"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary"
Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out
her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry
this with me at all times," Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists"
That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be.

So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late. And one way to accomplish this is: Take Part of This. If you do not, you will have, once again passed up the wonderful opportunity to do something nice and beautiful.

You could copy it in an e-mail and forward it or you could comment or send me an e-mail. If you're "too busy" to take those few minutes right now to answer this post, would this be the VERY first time you didn't do that little thing that would make a difference in your relationships?
The more people that you send this to, the better you'll be at reaching out to those you care about.
Remember, you reap what you sow. What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.

I did not stay warm.

We started snowshoeing a few years ago. The first time we ever did it was with some friends. We stayed with them in a little wood cabin, no electricity nor running water, only a small wood stove to keep us warm. The first outing we did was amazing. The snow conditions were great - lots of fluffy snow and not a soul around. We were lost in the woods. I remember thinking how everything was quiet. The only noises we heard were our steps in the crisp snow and our breathing. That time the temperature was quite cold.

Our first night in the cabin was… let’s just say: interesting? I had noticed that our friend was bringing in buckets of snow that he would let melt by the stove. He would then sieved and pour it in a pouch. He did that a few times, and I wondered what he was doing. When asked, he simply replied: “It’s for our shower.” Shower? What shower? Where? Turned out that he hung that pouch outside, by the door of the cabin, and we showered there. It was, with wind, -35°C (which is about -31°F), so it was damn cold! We all took a quick turn and showered, standing on a log. It felt good to get back inside. It gave a whole new meaning to “feeling refreshed”, that’s for sure. Despite that experience, we went back. We loved the outdoors and we’re Canadian after all!

This past weekend we went to play in the snow – 3 days worth of being outside! Our friends who introduced us to snow shoeing came as well. We were a bus full of winter freaks that enjoyed being outside, in cold weather. Well, actually, I’m not really sure I do enjoy being in the cold, it must be an age thing or something. I’m realising that I do enjoy our comfort, so we stayed in a little inn.

We went to the Charlevoix region, in Baie St-Paul area. It is a gorgeous part of our lovely province. They tend to get a lot more snow then we do here in Montreal. It was worth the trip (about 4-5 hours drive). The temperature was just cold enough on Friday.

We had a 4 hours outing in Sentier des Caps. The snow conditions on the trails weren’t that good, but we got off the trails and found some untouched, fluffy white snow! Paradise!

And the view on top of that mountain! Breathtaking! ...and I'm not talking about the climb to get there!

This picture was taken as we arrived on top of the trail, at "Le Ligouri" refuge. The view of the St-Laurence River, partially covered in ice, the different shades of blues, between the sky, the water, and the snow covered trees, made that spot a really nice location.

The second day, we went to Mont Grand-Fonds. Again the trail was hard, but we found some soft, wild stuff. We made our way through the thick forest. At some point, our friend mentioned that he could hear water gurgling under the snow, we were crossing a little creek. His girlfriend went across, and then I put one foot and heard this loud crack! I fell through the ice.

Let me tell you that when I hit the water I must of looked like a cat who just hit water – I wanted out! Thankfully enough it was a narrow creek and not too deep. I did manage to get out of it, unarmed but most importantly dry!

My boots are REALLY water-resistant as well as my pants. I wasn’t wet. I was a little sore, the ice was just thick enough to hurt, and I have a few bruises and a little scratch on my nose, but nothing serious – more scare than harm! That day our outing was a bit shorter, my body was talking to me so I listened. After all, it’s only been a little more than 3 months since my operation!

Sunday on our way back to town, we also had a little outing, near Quebec City - very little for us – about 1 hour, my body wasn’t up to it and it was friggin’ cold! When we arrived on the site, we went to see the Ice Hotel What a sight! If you’re even in the area, it’s worth it. It’s pretty neat what they did and how well it’s made. Their web site is worth a click or two, check it out.

Here's a picture taken inside the hotel at the "N'Ice Bar". We ordered some shooters, "-52" (their version of B52’s shooters) in ice cubes. It was so cold in there that I didn't feel the effect of the alcohol at all... The whole time we were in there visiting I did not get one hot flash! Go figure! Everything is made of ice and snow - some people are really creative.

So, that was basically our weekend - outside, in the snow, in good companie almost felt like a little vacation except for the "cold" part!

In case you were wondering...

Princess Slea asked me a question about the meaning of the candy and money in the envelope we received at our friends' father funeral. Like her, I did Google it and couldn't really find anything about it, so I asked our friend.

Here's what he answered; for those of you (like Princess Slea and myself) who are curious to know:

The writing on the envelope means "lucky money". Usually when somebody passes away, it's bad luck, but this is his way of returning some luck to the people.
Eat the candy, spend the dollar on anything, but don't keep the change.
For example, if you buy something that's worth .75$, and the change is a quarter, leave the change. Hope that helps.
Also as for our religion, immediate family can't celebrate anything this whole year, no birthdays, no father/mother's day, no anniversaries, no celebrating whatsoever.
And we're supposed to fast for 7 weeks, only vegetarian.
And we have to go to temple for praying every Sunday for the next 7 weeks.
Buddhism is really complicated, with many rules. I personally don't really follow it, but do it for my dad.

To say the least, that is an interesting costom. I find Buddhism very interesting from what I've read about it. I think I should seriously look into it a little more...

Thanks Larry!

Votre Friday Smile!

The awful truth:
***

There is a new study about women and how they feel about their asses. The results were pretty interesting:

25% of women think their ass is too fat...
10% of women think their ass is too skinny...
The other 65% say that they don't care - they love him, he's a good man, and they would have married him anyway.

***

Cela fait bientôt quatre ans que Germaine a perdu son mari, et encore maintenant, elle déprime; elle porte le deuil et elle pleure son homme comme s'il était mort hier. Sa fille l'appelle souvent et lui conseille de se changer les idées, de revoir du monde, etc. Un beau jour quand même, Germaine se décide à sortir, mais problème, elle connaît très peu de monde.

Sa fille saute sur l'occasion et lui dit tout de suite:

- Maman, je connais quelqu'un que tu dois à tout prix rencontrer. Il est parfait.

Alors un rendez-vous est pris entre Germaine et le monsieur. Et, coup de chance, les deux se plaisent et décident de se revoir. Au bout de six semaines de sorties ensemble, ils décident de partir en week-end à deux à la mer...

Lorsqu'ils se retrouvent tous les deux dans la chambre de l'hôtel, Germaine se déshabille et se retrouve toute nue, sauf qu'elle garde une petite culotte de dentelle noire. Elle dit alors à son amoureux:

- Tu peux me caresser les seins et tout mon corps, mais sache qu'ici bas (pointant son pubis) je suis toujours en deuil.
Et naturellement, pour le prétendant, cette phrase fait l'effet d'une douche froide.

La nuit suivante, c'est le même scénario. Germaine se retrouve en petite culotte de deuil devant son amoureux qui lui est en tenue d'Adam...avec une érection du tonnerre de Zeus, laquelle est couverte par un préservatif noir!

Germaine le regarde alors, étonnée, et demande:
- Dis-moi, qu'est-ce que c'est que çà? Un préservatif noir?
Le gars:
- Ben oui, je viens présenter mes condoléances...

Have a great weekend!

A Lost Battle...

A few weeks ago I wrote this, and last Friday our friends’ father lost his long and brutal fight against cancer. He was 66. Last night we went to pay our respect to the family.

It was the first time I ever was exposed to a Buddhist funeral, or anything else for that matter. When we arrived we were given a little envelope with Chinese writing on it and something inside (I opened it later on to find a hard candy and a dollar coin). When we walked in the room where the body was exposed, we were given a stick of incense and were told to go in front of a Buddha, bow 3 times and stick our incense stick in a big pot. Then we were given another stick and were directed towards a little shrine where a picture of the decease was displayed, surrounded by fruits and flowers. We had to bow 3 times and stick our incense in a pot as well. Then we were told to go see the body.

You could see on Mr. C’s face that he had suffered. He was barely recognizable. It was sad to see, but at the same time comforting to know that at least now he was no longer suffering. The pain isn’t over yet for the family. It was nice to see them again, even under these circumstances.

After my father’s death, I had seen this poem that really touched me and had mentioned it to Hubby. That Christmas he offered it to me. Almost every time I read it, tears well up. It means so much to me for so many reasons. I now want to share it with you and the Chan Family.

“Ascension” by Colleen Hitchcock

And if I go, while you’re still here…

Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
- behind a thin veil you cannot see through.

You will not see me,
so you must have faith.

I wait the time when we can soar together again,
- both aware of each other.

Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
just whisper my name in your heart,
…I will be there.

May you rest in peace Mr. Chan.

Image: Peaceful