Tuesday 25 October 2011

Let's Give Thanks

Well, we've now put our Canadian Thanksgiving of 2011 behind us. We bought the turkeys, made the apple and pumpkin pies, pre-cooked anything we could the day before and then sat down with family and consumed the whole kit and ka-boodle! 
The older I get though, it's become less about the turkeys, pies, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and candied carrots (which I would worry about until we actually all sat down and started eating it), and more about "who" is there to share this meal with us.
This year our son was able to join us but our daughter, son-in-law and our little grand-daughter were not able to. It was the first Thanksgiving without our entire family present and I couldn't help but think upon the fact that time really does change everything.
I guess when the children were small, I thought nothing of the fact that we were not always "home" for Thanksgiving (Christmas etc) with our parents. Now sometimes, we've been blessed to have our parents with us on Thanksgiving but this year it was so very different. It was just my Mum (my Dad passed away over 7 yrs. ago), our son and my husband and I. The smallest number since we've been married and well......it just felt different.  Don't get me wrong. We all had a wonderful meal and a great time visiting but the crowd dynamic and lots of talking just were not there.
Times and family change but let's be thankful for each day of the year we have breath and life to give on this Earth. Oh, and a very Happy Thanksgiving in November to our family and friends in the States.

Saturday 22 October 2011

No talent in Hollywood :-(...

Well the new season line-up is now in full swing so hubby and I hunkered down in front of the telly and had a boo. There was a lot of new sit-coms/dramas and of course the ever popular (depending who you talk to) real life shows or reality shows (personally I think they get a LITTLE coaching on the side as how to be "natural")
The first show we watched was about two young ladies from different stations in life and that now were both penniless. One girl is from a former rich-girl-world but finds herself with an empty wallet cause her daddy is now serving time for making all those millions in a not-so-nice- way. The other girl is also penniless but only because of her lowly station in life. Both are brought together due to the fact they both work in the same place. Sounds like it has some merit so we watched. That was the one and only episode that was going to get our time from this show as there was so much sexual inuendos and some comments that were just in poor taste.
I know what some of you are thinking (I'm a mother/grand-mother so I can read your minds). "Lighten up! It's only a show! It's comedy/drama etc so they have to talk and act like that and you're just being a prude." OK, how about the shows from the past?  Were there no comedies, dramas and movies?  Mmmmm.....let me think...Oh, yeah, the comedies/dramas I watched were REALLY funny AND entertaining and they did it without bad language, smutty "jokes", or really gory scenes. Soooo....is there no talent in the Hollywood Land anymore?  Seems to me that mostly the only "jokes" now are sexual in content. Here's another thing. Women in shows now have to wear seductive clothing.  How about  the actress's real talent?  Is it because men don't think we're good enough at acting? Or is it because men are still running the show?  Do we as women not have any say in how we dress or act in a show?  Let's keep in mind of the blood, sweat and tears that our mother's, grand-mothers, great-grand-mothers and beyond shed for us to win our rights to vote, work (outside our homes) and many other freedoms they worked tirelessly for us. We still have rights  but we do nothing about it!
OK, I digressed! But really, is there no real, true talent in La-la Land anymore? I DARE the Hollywoods to produce a comedy/drama etc without any profane language,sexually explicit anything, provocative clothing on either men, women or children or gory sceens. Can it be done?! Let's see how smart and talented the Hollywoods really are shall we?

Thursday 13 October 2011

"THAT" word!

If I hear the "f" word one more time I'm going to throttle the person!!!!  I have had this "word" used on my fb by friends who think it's "amusing", a desk clerk at a resort who was telling my hubby and me about something that didn't merit the "word", staff at the TO airport (not a surprise there), many a passer-by on the street, line ups at the grocery store AND the list could go on.
I have a friend who's neighbour uses it on a frequent basis, outside in his yard in front of his toddler. Yup, you read correctly. I want to be a fly on the wall when this kid goes to pre-school and says that in front of his teacher for the first time. I truly feel very sad for this little, impressionable soul.
At what point in our civilized society did we cross the decency line in language usage?  I remember being in grade four and hearing my first ever swear word by the school bad-boy.  Yup, that was the only kid in my entire school who was dubbed that. After that granted, I did hear in on the school grounds a few more time but NEVER did I hear it out loud inside my school for all to hear.  Now it's common place in and out of the school walls. We didn't even dare back-talk to our teacher or we'd have the strap applied to our hands or if we were lucky,we'd only have to stand in the corner.
We have lost respect for one another when our language degenerates. I know whenever I hear in public words that are not for all ears, I automatically deduct some IQ points of said profaner. Trying to look "cool" or "grown-up" by using any foul language is actually juvenile. When I am out and about and there are elderly ladies or children around and some dolt is mouthing off, I go right up to them (much to my husband's chagrin) and let them know that they are crossing the line. I actually did this to a big, construction worker and I let him have it!  He was very apologetic and I believe little me terrified him. But it shouldn't have to be that way.
I truly pity the person who is the first to spout verbal garbage in front of my little grand-daughter. He or she better be pretty quick or they'll have the wrath of Grammy G.