The last couple of times I've had planned visits with my mom they have actually been quite nice. (I hope I haven't jinxed myself now.)

I never wrote about a HUGE fight we had back in March where my mom called me a F@*&ing A$$hole and stormed out of the house after Greg called her on it. The whole fight was about me standing up for myself and my mom's opinion that you never talk back to your elders, you give them respect no matter what. When I disagreed with her she called me names to gain my respect.
The timing was particularly bad because she was going on a 5 week cruise as a birthday gift to herself for her 70th. I was pissed off, and did not acknowledge her birthday. No card, no gift, no party. And, I know that I hurt her but at the time, but I was hurt too. We have never again talked about this fight that we had, but it's been a slow recovery. There is also no point in trying to talk about it, because we'd end up just rehashing it all over again.
So, in the past few months I don't call as much as I used to which was every day, but I do call about every third day and we have our 2 minute phone call. She never calls me, I'm not even sure she knows my number by heart. I'd go by maybe once every two weeks for an hour visit, that's all I could trust we could handle before one of us would get upset.
I have a feeling that my relationship with my mom is one of the reasons my emotional status took a nose-dive. I've always had a sense that my mom can't be happy for me. She's extremely critical of my life and I think that there is also a good amount of jealousy thrown in. In all honesty, I don't think that she was truly happy for me when Greg came into my life, and when we decided to get married. She looks positively grim in our wedding photos. He has always been warm towards her, makes her feel special, makes her laugh. He is my brother's best friend. Never mind, that I think he is a really great husband. On more than one occasion when we've been talking on the phone, (when she even bothers to ask,) she'll say 'and how is your husband?' I'll say 'do you mean Greg?' She'll say 'all these names are so confusing for me' Uh, ya. There are 4 people in our family, including Greg. That's it, no extended family on our side.
Anyway, I got off on a tangent that I didn't really mean to. But that's some of the background story about what my mom is like.

After our big fight, I managed to keep my distance for the longest time. She was away for 5 weeks, then Greg and I went to Europe. Like I said, I managed a few short visits, without Greg at, her house.
Since Buddy's arrival, he has taken on the role of icebreaker. One of the nicest qualities about my mom is her love for animals, a good trait that her children inherited. I'm not sure if it's pet therapy, but now when I go to visit my mom there is a distraction and the conversation is not as stilted. The visits have gotten longer and she seems genuinely happier, which of course, I find more tolerable.
I know that I will never have a fabulous mother-daughter relationship with her, but at the same time it is important that I have some sort of relationship with her, and that is not stressful. Peaceful would be good. Greg (my very own Dr. Phil) says that she can't change who she is, so I should just accept her as she is, and it'll bother me less. Is this the same thing as "You can't teach an old dog new tricks?" You love the dog, hate the behaviour, but they have that behaviour so ingrained you just give up, but keep loving the dog. (Ooops...did I just compare my mom to a dog?! I didn't mean for it to sound like that.)
Anyway, things are slowly improving, we are both making an effort at getting along.
And Buddy is a young dog learning new tricks. Apparently, he as already won his Oma over, so he's ahead of me.

Just couldn't resist!

Showers and Babies

In keeping with my theme of being the world's worst blogger, I will try to catch up on what seems to be my once weekly entry. A rather uneventful week, but all in all, not a bad one. My BIL seems to like coming to stay with us during the week which I'm not seeming to mind all that much as it does help out with Buddy. There are distinct advantages to having an unemployed brother and BIL and Buddy absolutely loves both of them.
We have had the driest summer on record in 9 years but we did have a crazy lightening storm last week which the flowers and vegetable garden desperately needed. Greg was quite proud of his artistic photo he took trying to capture the crazy sky.

One of my friends is expecting her first baby in September and I put this basket together for the baby shower. I got the idea from Pez who is always coming up with creative and crafty ideas. This is the third time I've made one of these baskets and I like this one the best. The idea is to make it look like like a baby sleeping in a laundry basket (it's filled with diapers, shampoo, wipes etc.) Unfortunately, my friend didn't 'get' it until after I told her what it was meant to be, but I had fun putting it together all the same.

A highlight of the weekend was spending some time with my god son Liam, who is cute as a button. He is just sprouting some new teeth.

He seemed to really like Buddikins, although it might not be so obvious in this picture!

In case some of you are wondering what has become of Mr. Mao, he has gone into hiding. I bought this cat cave for him way back in March when I was in Seattle and when I brought it home, he was terrified of it! At the time I was quite disappointed that he didn't love it so it ended up in a corner. Mao rediscovered this little hideaway a few days ago and now seems quite content hiding from Buddy. I should mention though, that it was Buddy who found Mao first in the cave...Greg and I had been wondering all day where he had disappeared to!

Last, but not least, I want to share a Google 3D tour of Berlin which I think is totally cool. It is the next best thing to actually going there. Check it out!

Had a really nice weekend at the trailer and I was pleasantly surprised at how well Lou and her family behaved, even though they kind of invited themselves to stay with us. Last year, remember how upset I was?
Well, this year it was a completely different story. Perhaps because I haven't really felt like doing much in terms of cleaning, cooking, entertaining (so I didn't!) everyone pitched in. Lou cleaned up the trailer thoroughly at the start of the weekend which was desperately needed. She moved furniture, swept and washed the floors, tidied up the counters, put stuff away. I couldn't believe it! At dinner time, Greg was in charge of the barbecue, Two-Four made a potato salad, and Nan showed up with a salad and coleslaw. After dinner, Lou did the dishes, while I worked on the puzzle! LOL! I guess if one plunks one's ass down and decides not to be a control freak, everything gets done (eventually.)
Lou's 7 yr old daughter was a doll and Buddy fell in love with her. She walked around the park so many times with Buddy, and various adults who all wanted to walk him, that her little feet hurt at the end of the day. Needless to say, both she and Buddy were exhausted and slept very well that night.
Sunday morning we awoke to serious thunderstorms which were desperately needed. I love the sound of the rain on the trailer roof, and we ended up staying longer than we usually do because it was so cozy.
All in all, a very nice weekend.

May 28th, 1948

The three people who read this blog know how much I like to check out thrift shops, garage and church rummage sales, and the occasional garbage-picking. Due to an elderly population in our neighbourhood, it seems that every month there is another house up for sale. Many of these homeowners have lived in their houses for over 50 years, so you can imagine the goodies I find at garage sales. (One person's junk is another's treasure!) A few weekends ago I happened upon one of these sales and I bought a few things, among them some hand-painted glass globes that were wrapped in newspaper dated May 28th, 1948. I couldn't resist reading through these few pages and some of the ads made me giggle, so I thought I would share. Click on the pics to read the fine print.

Imagine being a young lady in 1948, getting ready for your first date. Etiquet Deodorant Cream requires that one merely dabs one's armpits with the first two fingers. It is "fluffy-light and soothing, goes on easily and disappears in a jiffy! It actually ends under-arm perspiration odour-safely-surely! "
And to get more fun out of your work and play, a lady must always keep herself "clean inside, because real inner cleanliness can put a new spring in your step, a brighter twinkle in your eye." Andrews Liver Salt cleans your mouth and tongue (no halitosis!), it sweetens sour stomach and corrects excess acidity (no burping on that date!), works on the liver to check biliousness (no farting!!!) and gently cleans the bowels (no need to go #2 while you are on that date!)

Your extraordinary personal hygiene has Chuck enraptured and before you know it, You are a June Bride! And the best wedding gift a gal could want, would of course be A NEW RANGE! After all, from the day you are married, it is You who gets to do all the cooking. And don't forget to send your best guy off to work with a thermos full of piping hot Tender Leaf Tea. It'll come in handy during his tea break with all the other working boys. Do remind new hubby to roll up the cuffs of his overalls so he can show off his ankles.

To keep Chuck interested and bragging about you to the other fellers, you must "Youthify" yourself with the "Amazing new Secret of Eternal Youth." It guarantees to normalize your figure problems and you will have a satisfactory silhouette in revealing play clothes and bathing suits. No need to disrobe, and leaves you with no bruising. Hmmm...I wonder what the Big Secret is? It had better not be exercise!!!


After all of Chuck's long hard tea-drinking days at work, he has managed to save a little money for that promised Honeymoon. First, he must trade in all of his United States money he earned under the table at the nearest bank. It is illegal to retain more than $10 United States money, as it must be spent in Canada in order to make the funds available for the payment of goods and services.
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Never mind, because for your Honeymoon, you are headed to London, England for the 1948 Olympics! Flights are very flexible (leaving every Monday, Wednesday and Friday) and very affordable at $604 Canadian money (probably the equivalent of about $6000 pp in 2007!)


Hope you enjoyed this little blast from the past.
Oh...my other 'Find' from the garage sale was this little beauty which cost me $2 Canadian money!