Because a Closet Won't Do

When I was little I slept in a closet, in the darkest corner of the basement.

It had pink walls with a snow white border running along the top of the wall, perfect for a little girl like me. Yet, I was never comfortable in this room and rarely ever stayed in there alone.

I remember how happy I was to move out of that room and get a real room of my own. Except the room was actually the den of my Grandmother's home. It was hardly anymore welcoming than the basement room, but it would do.

All I ever wanted was an awesome room. One that wasn't scary and that felt like it was mine.

I guess that's why I've always enjoyed decorating my kids rooms so much. My first room design was some what of a Sesame Street theme. I found Sesame Street ceramic statues that are about 18" tall which I put up on a wall shelf. Then I got alphabet foam letters and with Velcro attached them like a border to the wall around the room. It was so simple but I loved it so much because it was different.

When Dorian was born I wasn't ready to move DeAndre out of the sesame street room yet, so I did a new room for Dorian. For him I painted the words "Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are" and some various sized stars on the wall above his crib. He had a moon and star theme.

Since then, I had moved Dorian into the Sesame Street room and painted over the star room which turned into a Lightening McQueen room for DeAndre and now both those rooms are now gone. I will pack away my Sesame Street Statues because I love them and want to keep them, perhaps for grandchildren if I am to be so blessed.

Over the past few days Adrian and I have been busy creating new rooms for the boys while they had a sleepover with Nana and Poppa. They both wanted to have a Star Wars theme so we decided to try to create a 'light side' and 'dark side' room. DeAndre would be the light side and Dorian the dark side (it's a little inside joke).

It didn't quite work out having a light vs dark side though because it was hard to find the supplies for the dark side (at an affordable price anyway). So this is what we came up with:

This is the "Dark Side" room.

We put more of a focus on the Troopers in this room. One sticker I ordered has not arrived yet, It reads "Fear is the path to the dark side".














This is the "Light Side" room
We focused on Jedi's and Yoda in this room (hence the green wall). A sticker for this room has also not arrived yet. It reads "Do or do not, there is no try".















When the kids came home to see their rooms they were very excited. Adrian and I wanted to create an extra dramatic effect so we played star wars music just before the big reveal. Dorian's music was the Darth Vader theme-Imperial March and DeAndre's Theme was The Jedi theme-New Hope. Dorian was feeling sick today so his excitement wasn't completely there when he first saw his room for the video but he's been enjoying his room since. DeAndre never hides his excitement but he did contain himself quite well.

(I tried loading the videos here but I think the files are too large.)

I hope my boys enjoy their new rooms and know how much they are loved. I hope when they lay down to sleep at night they feel safe and secure and most of all that they feel at home.

My Favourite parts of the room:

Message board (seen close to the door of each room): A small touch that fits the theme and lets them express themselves.

Lamps: The light saber lamps come with a remote control, make sound effects with each push of the button and automatically shut off after 15 minutes of idle time. They have 8 colour choice options.

Build-a-bear: The boys each got a build-a-bear last year for their birthdays in a star wars theme. They make a nice addition to their beds

The quote sticker (not pictured/hasn't arrived in the mail): I love the motivational wall sticker Yoda quotes that are yet to come. I think word art it a wonderful touch to any room.

A Quarter Passed

If this is your first time on my blog then I do suggest you read the post prior to this one before reading this one as it's pretty much a follow up.

I have now officially completed my first college semester. One down and 3 to go. College was not as scary a place as I built it up to be. I was afraid I'd be too old, but there were a few others about my age; some even older!

The first day of college is interesting because as you walk into the classroom you pick a seat and sit down. That decision comes across as one of life's tiny decsions but it is actually a life altering decision. Whomever you chose to sit with on that very first day becomes somewhat like your security blacket over the next few weeks while you adjust to your new surroundings.

I couldn't have been happier with my choice. I chose to sit beside Erica that very first day and Stefanie soon joined the table designed for four. I'm not sure exactly when Rachel joined in but it wasn't long before our classroom group formed. This was happening all around the room as well. You'd see friendships blosoming all around the classroom; all because of one tiny decsion on the first day. And as time went on mini groups started expaanding with other mini groups and by the end of the semester I think everyone was pretty much comfortable with everyone.

It didnt take too long to become comfortable finding my way around the school either. After walking around from class to class a few times the school didn't seem as big anymore. Not too mention a lot of guidance from my friends along the way, haha.

As far as being out of school for so long and afraid that I might have lost my touch, that was certainly not the case. I was extremely overwhelmed the first week but put everything in perspective by getting organized and staying on top of things. It worked to by benefit as I did end the semester reaching my goal of a nintey something percent average.

Looking ahead to next semester I feel much more confident about myself. I am excited to have 2 days a week off and thankful my ECE girls will be with me for one more semester.

But right now I will be enjoying my three week break with my family. Merry Christmas

And We're in College

I stepped off the bus and the phrase "you aren't in Kansas anymore" came to mind. I looked up at the multiple buildings that make up Sheridan college and had to take a deep breath before my legs could remember what they were supposed to do. I began walking in the general direction of the school but clearly I had no idea which one of these buildings I should be entering. Turns out the bus drops you off at the back of the school so the main entrance was no where in sight. I picked a building and of course it was the wrong one. Thankfully a kind man who I assume was a professor could easily tell I was lost and walked me around through what felt like a maze to even more buildings and eventually to the exact desk I was looking for.

After I paid my tuition it was time to find the room where my language assessment test was to be written. I had to go back outside and pray I would find my way without a tour guide. I walked out of one building and into another and I was passing dance studios and what seemed to be a summer camp for kids. I felt like I was in the wrong place but kept walking straight down the long hallway trying to look like I knew where I was going. At the end of the hall was a door leading out of the building-oh great! Then I saw a sign and realized I did find the right place. Alleluia!

I was early so no one was there yet. Slowly people started to trickle in. Everyone was so young. I felt like I might be sick because I was feeling so anxious. "Why am I here"? I thought. I had to find somewhere to sit down for a minute. Everyone just stood there playing with their cell phones or ipods. A few brought their parents or friends and were talking quietly. I just sat there.

Finally it was time to enter the testing room. Maybe it was a lecture hall or an auditorium, I'm not sure. All I know is it was not anything like I remember school. We line up to sign in and choose a seat. When everyone is seated we are told we could come up and get a dictionary and scrap paper to use. I take advantage of this in case I forget how to spell my name or something. Then she came around and placed a test in front of each of us face down. The papers are pink, blue or green. I assume they were all different. Then she tells us that we have 75 minutes to complete it. I panic. The website clearly stated that we would have 2 hours to complete the test. I take another deep breath and try to focus on the here and now.

I had to choose between writing an essay about the earth's diminishing natural resources and why they need to be saved or about how a person should prepare for a job interview. I settled for the latter. To say it was easy would be a lie. I struggled to gather my thoughts and remember how an essay is supposed to be written but I did it. I just don't know if it was good enough. I am so bothered by this because in school my one major strength was always English class. Writing essays and stories and poetry was the one thing that I always found easy. I left there feeling scared. What if I lost my mojo? How will I survive the next 2 years? Maybe I did wait too long to go to college.

I feel so silly for being so afraid to go to school but the truth is I am a nervous wreck. I just hope that I did well enough to get into the course I need to get into and that my confidence in my abilities will come back because God knows I need all the confidence I can get to get through this chapter of my life.

Hazel for Prime Minister

I love Mayor Hazel. In fact she is the only politician I have ever liked. Her ways are practical, well thought out and fair. My only wish is that instead of running Mississauga she would run the country.

Granted, she probably couldn't keep Canada as debt free as she keeps Mississauga, but chances are we'd be far better off than we are now. Hazel doesn't spend money she doesn't have, plain and simple. The government of Canada however spends money like they have an unlimited supply of funds. Then, when they realize how broke they are, they simply invent a new tax to stick on us to help support their careless spending habits.

Currently in Canada everything is about the G8 and G20 summit. I'd like to know why a meeting about the state of the economy world wide is costing billions of dollars including 2 million dollars on a fake lake.

This G8/G20 summit is doing nothing good for this country. It is a complete waste of tax payers dollars and not too mention a huge inconvenience to Canadian citizens. First the security measures being taken are insane. I do understand that these are world leaders and security needs to be of high importance. What I don't understand is why they don't hold it at a secret location, away from the downtown core. This way they wouldn't have to keep workers out of the area, or tell those going to work to dress down for their safety, or tell parents to keep their kids home from school/daycare or pay to have roads barricaded etc. Instead, they could quietly have their meeting somewhere with a real lake and role model smart spending habits.

Imagine if our government stopped trying to impress these world leaders with flashy pointless accessories in an effort to 'keep up with the Joneses' so to speak. Imagine they showed they respect how hard Canadians work to pay their taxes and instead held a modest meeting that didn't eat up all the resources that we do not even have available.

Here is what this summit is really doing:

-Putting the downtown core in danger of terrorist/protester attacks
-Inconveniencing residents, business owners and employees of the downtown core
-Using up all our RCMP resources
-Costing Billions of dollars in tax payer money that could be used towards more important issues or simply refunded back to Canadians. (If you feel you have that much money to burn, you obviously are taxing us too much)

At the end of the day the G8 and G20 summit is simply a meeting, nothing more. I am very disappointed in our government and the lack of respect being shown for Canadians in regards to the frivolous spending of our tax dollars. Shame on you Harper and company!

Let's Talk About Sex

A friend sent me a link to a video today with the message "This girl has mental problems." She does in fact have mental problems but her message is strong, real and evidence that sex is not a joke.

The truth is we all know about HIV and AIDS and every other STD under the sun. As Canadians (and Americans) we are not only fully educated but we also have easy access to condoms. You can even go to a health clinic and get them for free so there really is NO excuse not to use them. Yet people, and I mean A LOT of people, still do not wrap in up EVEN when they are with a new partner or having a one night stand.

I have always been a different breed. I have been scared of STD's and HIV since I was in elementary school...long before I was even having sex. It's so simple, put one on and reduce your chances of catching anything that someone might have. Especially when we are educated enough to know that;

-The person we are sleeping with might not even know they have anything.

-People who don't care about protecting themselves are more than likely the same people who don't see the need to test themselves regularly (or at all.)

-A person who was willing to sleep with you right away unprotected, probably will sleep with anyone right away also unprotected. Don't think that you are the exception no matter what cheesy line they throw at you.

-There is no magic pill to cure AIDS. None. Like the girl in this video states, it is your life long death sentence with no chance of parole.

One time in school we played a game in sex ed. One person was assigned HIV. We all walked around the class shaking hands. Keeping track of who 'slept' with who. Then we found out who had HIV and who they slept with, and who slept with those people and so on. I think the result was about 10 people in the class caught the HIV virus. Seeing this girl in this video claim to have slept with all those men (and woman) is extremely scary to me and should be to you. All those people she slept with unprotected then sleep with a bunch of other people unprotected who in turn do the same. If you're going to just state that this video is fake, which is very well may be, this type of thing does happen so it doesn't even matter if her story is real or fake.

I think far too many people judge people based off looks. "she looks clean" or "he's so cute he has to be fine" but the reality is that is not even close to the truth. The truth is, you cannot 'see' HIV so you have to assume it could be there ALWAYS. If you keep in mind that your partner has a chance of having HIV or any STD, you will be more likely to use a condom and protect yourself.

Then there are those people who whine and complain that they don't like condoms or even worse that their partner doesn't like condoms so they don't use them. Even when the person is basically a stranger and you have no idea what their past is like. nor do you know what the past of their past partners is like etc. You do not know who gets tested and who doesn't, no matter what they tell you they did or didn't do, you really don't know. The girl in the video states this repeatedly, the guys didn't care about even knowing that information. She really is speaking the truth. People do not ask these questions before having sex. They just want it, and it's available and so they just do it.

Sex is not a game, and HIV is not a joke. This is very real and there are no second chances. Stop playing Russian roulette with your life and with the lives of people you love. Suck it up and strap it up EVERY time, get tested and act like you are educated. Don't think it can't happen to you because it most certainly can.

Please watch the video of an angry girl with HIV. She is angry with men when she really should be angry with herself, but that's besides the point. Whether this video is real or fake it doesn't matter, the picture painted is definitely real.

It's The 1st or The 11th (All I Know is it Has a '1' in it)

Last year I spent Valentine's Day with my friends playing games in a hotel room. It was the first night I spent away from Adrian in at least 7 years. He wasn't far away or anything, just in another room on another floor with our 2 boys and his parents because it was the night before our wedding day.

As Valentine's Day approaches, so does our new anniversary, February 15th. Please don't ask me what milestone we are supposed to be celebrating because even though 2010 is our 1st wedding anniversary it is also our 11th year together.

Over the years Adrian has never really wanted to celebrate anniversaries. He always stated that until we were married it wasn't a 'real' anniversary. So this year I have rather high expectations. So high in fact that I plan to look to the sky waiting for an airplane to write "Happy Anniversary Angela, I love you" in the sky. I have been waiting 11 years to celebrate this anniversary and so it should be good right?

We briefly spoke about this topic just after the new year. I was sure to remind him ever so gently that this was the anniversary he said all these years he wanted to celebrate. Then he told me, ever so gently, that if I don't want to be disappointed I better plan it...Go figure.

Support the Cause...Not the Tata's

Are you wondering what's with the colour status updates on facebook? I was wondering too, and so I went to the only logical source to find out this kinda of information...twitter.

My tweeple were in fact discussing the odd facebook trend and just as I suspected, there was a reason for the red, whites and blacks taking over my news feed. As it turns out, the ladies of facebook were sharing what colour their girls were wearing today in support of breast cancer awareness.

I couldn't wait to play. Who can resist a facebook status game? But imagine my disappointment when I remembered that my girls were only wearing their birthday suits. Now what do I do? Lie? Run and put a bra on?

So I started thinking, why wasn't I wearing a bra anyway? Well, because I am home for one thing and no one else is here, and because wearing bras too much is not good for our boobies.

"Oh Angela, come on, what on earth are you talking about now?"

Well, I watched a doctor on TV explain once how unnatural bras really are, and how they are starting to link this to breast cancer. Now believe me, I get sick of all the cancer causing talks as much as the next person, but for once this actually made sense to me.

Our boobies are naturally made to hang free off the body, unconfined. At some point someone, probably a man, decided that they would look better harnessed and pushed up. Over time the degree of the push up has increased dramatically causing our girls to be pulled, pushed and tucked to new unnatural angles and positions that cause unnecessary aggravation deep inside our feminine tissues.

Now please, do not get me wrong, I do wear bras and do believe that have their place. But did you know some ladies will not even take theirs off for sleeping? Could you imagine wearing bras for 23 hours a day? (assuming they take it off to shower) That is a lot of confinement for such a sensitive area of our bodies, and if this is something that you subject your tata's to night after night I plead with you to TAKE IT OFF. It all goes back to the 'too much of anything is bad for you' and 'Moderation is key' and 'balance' theories. These life tactics go for EVERYTHING, including bra wearage.

When I come home my bra comes off. I will literally take off my shoes, coat and bra as I enter the door. I might put it back on if you come to visit me, it just depends who you are. A lot of people think I am crazy to walk around braless in my own house, I'm not sure why though. I wish more women would try taking their bras off when they really don't need them on.

So what did I decide to do about my facebook status?

I decided that since these colours were meant for breast cancer awareness, the best supportive choice was to simply write "none" as my status colour and I am not afraid to tell the world why.