A tribute to Mom’s everywhere

I lost my mother when I was in my 20's and Mothers day still is, in some respects, a sad time for me even after 40 years. However, I have my mother-in-law and my wife to celebrate with on this day. I read the following post a few days ago and thought it funny and so I thought I would share. I have included a link to the original because the author has many more inspiring, funny and interesting posts on her blog. For all the women in my life, (who are mothers) that I love ,  I hope the day is enjoyable for you. For all other mom's out there, know you are celebrated, loved and appreciated not only on this day but everyday.

A tribute to Mom’s everywhere Posted on May 9 2012 by Tammy

The other day, a man yelled from his car window “you mother *&%*” as he waved his finger at me. I just smiled. It’s good to be somebody’s mother.

Where would the world be without us?

I agree that we can sometimes be bossy, overbearing and worry-warts. But I need to interject that it’s in the job description.

We are also our children’s biggest fan, loudest cheerleader, and life’s leaning pole. We love our kids endlessly and protect them at all costs. Nobody does it better. It is a blessing and a curse.

Anyone who knows me knows I love my kid. She has come first in my life since she entered it. She is my light and my pride and my joy. I love her with the breath of me.

Still, motherhood has not been easy.

You know that excruciating labor pain and delivery? The yelling, screaming, crying and cursing? The blood, the sweat and the terror? That was the easy part.

Being a mom is tough business. Once you’re there, nothing is optional. You’re in. You can’t change your mind, you can’t call in sick, and you can’t take a day off. It’s a lifetime gig.

There were a lot of different hats to wear, big decisions to make and curfews to levy. I confess that I didn’t always make the right decisions, but I always made them for the right reasons.

There were late nights sitting up soothing an upset tummy or calming a nightmare. That matured into waiting up for her to come home. The younger years were easier.

The sleepovers, the parties, the boys, the tears, the dances, the heartbreaks, the carpools, the shopping excursions, the drama!  I wouldn’t trade a minute of it for a million bucks.

Teenage years were beyond challenging.  I personally think that all mothers of girls between the ages of 13 and 21 should be given a medal of valor and a lifetime supply of chocolate brownie ice-cream.  It’s only fair. They say boys are easier. I hope so, but I think it all evens out in the end.

I still don’t know why we don’t get paid for this job. I am venturing to guess that the pay level would be in the 6 figure range. Whatever it would be, it wouldn’t be enough.

Mothers are the only sure thing most of us can count on our entire lives.

I remember being with my boyfriend as we cleared out dozens of boxes that he had saved from his deceased parents. He had never gone through them and they had died a decade prior. We dove in.

I was not surprised to find that one entire box was filled with cards he had given his mother throughout the years. She saved every single one of them. That’s what mothers do. We preserve and we cherish. We save memories for when we are no longer here to hug and to hold.

Cherishing is a good thing and no one does it better than moms.

It would be a mistake to underestimate mothers. A mom will be the first to remind you that she brought you into this world and she can take you out. It would be foolish to challenge her.

I always said if my daughter didn’t fear me, then I was doing something wrong. She did. But what I later found out, was that she feared disappointing me most of all. What she didn’t know, is that she never could.

Mothers will always remind us of who we are, what we are worth, and how we should be proud of ourselves. Mothers see what others miss and what we forget about ourselves.

As mothers, we are proud to see our babies fly on their own, accomplish their goals, live loving lives. The fact is we were always proud of them no matter what they did … or didn’t do. What moms don’t tell their kids when they have left the nest … is that we miss them every single day.

At the end of the day, my biggest and best accomplishment isn’t the money I made, the businesses I ran or the big homes I lived in. It is that I am the mother of a beautiful little girl who grew to be a beautiful, responsible, funny and wicked smart young woman. That is my mother’s day celebration. That is my gift.

And so, I say thank you to all the mothers who have sacrificed so much, cried rivers, spent many a sleepless night worrying, cleaned up vomit, buried fish and hamsters, forfeited the vacation for fender repairs, went without so their kids could have. YOU are my heroes.

Happy Mother’s Day.

If you care about the environment check this out

From Scott's DiaTribes If you care about the environment and what Harper and the Conservative is doing to it, wanting to do to Canadian environmental laws, and how they are trying to silence environmental advocates dissent, check this site out:  

http://blackoutspeakout.ca/about.php 

From the Blackout Speak Out Site:

Learn more

Right now, Parliament is pushing through a bill to weaken many of the country's most important environmental protection measures and silence Canadians who want to defend them. Instead of using the usual process for sweeping changes, which allows for thorough debate, these changes are being shoehorned into a massive budget law.

Here are the top five reasons to Speak Out:

1. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Act is being replaced with a totally new law. Under it, Ottawa will play a much smaller role in protecting people from harmful projects, while retaining the right to rubber-stamp big projects that powerful oil interests want. In addition, the new weaker rules are being applied to review processes that are already underway–so projects like the Enbridge Northern Gateway tankers and pipeline project could get an easier ride.

2. The government is adding $8 million in new funding for the Canada Revenue Agency to audit charities – including environmental groups – because they use their legal right to advocate for things like laws to fight global warming. This will have a chilling effect on democratic debate, with the big winner being powerful oil interests. Under the new laws, citizen groups will likely be shut out of environmental reviews of big projects like oil pipelines. Key government agencies with expertise will also have less input. Well-funded backroom lobbyists and political operatives will have greater influence.

3. The National Energy Board will no longer be able to say “no” to oil pipeline projects that are not in the public interest. Politicians in Cabinet will be able to overrule the expert energy regulator if powerful oil interests don’t like its decision. Permits that allow the destruction of habitat for fish and threatened or endangered species will now be issued behind closed doors without public scrutiny, if they are required at all.

4. Many lakes, rivers and streams that provide habitat to fish will be at greater risk of destruction because of changes to the Fisheries Act contained within the budget implementation bill. Healthy fish habitat is important for fish and for the people and businesses that depend on them.

5. The 2012 budget eliminates the funding for the last remaining government advisory body – the National Roundtable on the Environment and Economy (NRTEE)- focused on providing analysis and advice on how to meet our international commitments to reducing greenhouse gas pollution

Speak out on June 4, 2012 in defence of two core Canadian values: nature and democracy.

June 4th is the day of action for the new alliance of environmental groups that has formed. The Conservative government is taking it seriously enough to have Natural Resources Minister (and head Big Oil cheerleader of this government) Joe Oliver come out and issue a statement about it.

Join a committed group of organizations representing millions of Canadians as we darken our websites in protest against efforts to silence your voice.

Household spending

According to Statistics Canada Survey of Household Spending in 2009 average household spending in Canada declined by 0.3% to $71,120, following the economic slowdown that began in the fall of 2008, personal taxes accounted for 20% of the average household’s budget in 2009, while food, shelter and clothing represented 34%, and transportation 14%.

The chart below represents how the average Canadian spends their money. I see savings for pension combined with personal insurance payments, but the percentage of each is not clear. Savings are difficult when all of your money is committed to spending to live.

No wonder OAS is important to the well being of older Canadians and will continue to be an important part of the planning people use when thinking about how they will live when they retire.

The brain is a Buddhist

Judith Horstman is writer  author of “The Scientific American Book of Love, Sex and the Brain,”   talks about change  and talks about love and sex  and she has hope for the Boomers.


Some of the things Horstman has learned have surprised her.  “The brain takes up 2 percent of the body, but uses 20 percent of the body’s energy,” she said. “Everything happens in the brain. Your body is a conduit, and the body and mind connect.”


Yes, it is true that the brain is the most important sexual organ.


“It all happens in the brain,” Horstman said. “Our bodies feel the sensations.”


And it’s changing all the time. “That’s why you can form habits and break them. That’s the good news and the bad news.


“I think the brain is Buddhist,” she said. “Buddhism says everything is change, and boy, your brain sure changes.”Horstman’s latest book, “The Scientific American Healthy Aging Brain,” will come out at the end of May.


“It has a lot of good news about how a normal brain ages, but also talks about some things that can go wrong and gives a great deal of the latest research about what we can do to preserve the brain as we age,” she said.


People in their 90s still have a keen interest in sex and have a desire for sex,” Horstman said. “How much of that they’re doing, we don’t know because it’s self-reported, but people are still interested.


“The capacity for love remains throughout your life. It may be people who have been disappointed in love give up in that arena, but they tend to have great love with their animal companions or a strong love of God. We’re born to love — oh, yes, absolutely.”