how I spent my summer vacation - part 1

This isn't going to be a multi-part post but I have just completed part 1 of my summer vacation. I went back to work this morning after a week's holiday. Technically, because of Canada Day, I only needed to book off 4 days. I'm taking two weeks at the beginning of August (hence the part one of two).

Last week, we got a tonne of stuff done around the house. I have had a list of stuff that I've wanted to do for ages which I'm now slowly getting through. Mark has a similar list and he's just plowing through his. Amongst other stuff, we were able to:

. get my tooth filled (well the dentist did it but...)
. replace the front steps to our house (Mark and Andy did a kick-ass job on them)
. totally re-organize our front closet (you can actually see the floor in there)
. packed away our winter coats for the season (yeah, I'm late on this)
. finally wash all of the hats, scarves and mitts we wore last winter and put them away
. de-clutter our two spare bedrooms (I sent a van load of stuff to the charity/thrift store and another load of broken junk to the dump)
. move all of the boxes (which have been on the floor for 3 years) out of my office and into the basement (my long term project will be, next winter, to go through 2 boxes every weekend until everything is sorted or chucked or donated)

I was also able to get lots of much needed cleaning done around the house. It was super nice around here on the weekend and I was actually able to open the house up (and turn off the A/C) and air it out. The dogs have been having a great time playing in the newly de-cluttered bedrooms. Every time I see one of them running out of one of these rooms, they are doing that double-time tail wag which means that they think they are getting away with something.

Last week, I did not spend much time in front of my computer so I wasn't always keeping as up to date on news stories as I would normally be. I did, however, celebrate the victory (finally) of Al Franken in his senate race in Minnesota. He's such an amazing guy, I'm really happy for him, his family, and the people of Minnesota!

Come Together

Just helping in my small way, to spread the word!

From: Canadians for a Progressive Coalition

Hello everyone,

All of the chips are on the table. This grassroots movement does not have the budget of the Conservative party. Instead, we we have each other. We can cut through the Conservative counter-offensive to make sure that the voices of over 60% of Canadians rallying for a progressive coalition are heard! There are 10,000 of you on this listserv. So many, that this message may not reach some of you until after Harper's message. So - this message assumes he does not resign and let the coalition govern.

We need everything you have to reach our goals for this week: winning the struggle in the media for the hearts and minds of Canadians uncertain about a coalition and showing the progressive parties that Canadians support them. In addition to usual - letters to the editor, call in radio, forwarding this message - we need you to:

Sign up 5 Friends

We are going to submit the petition on Friday and it needs to be absolutely massive. In order to increase our already impressive numbers on our petition, we are challenging everyone on the mailing list to get 5 of their friends to sign the petition. The petition is at: http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/

You can email them the direct link by clicking on the "share" button at progressivecoalition.ca/form.php, then clicking on "email". Alternatively, you could forward them this message!

Join a rally, Bring a Petition!

There are a variety of rallies happening on that day. They are listed on our facebook event page, www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55449301160, and on our website, progressivecoalition.ca (Under the "Show your Support" link), and others at makeparliamentwork.ca. These rallies are great time to collect additional signatures for our petition, which we are aiming to present to the Leaders of the Opposition on Friday.

If you are attending any of the rallies posted, or any other events, please bring along a copy of the paper petition, which can be found at the following address: progressivecoalition.ca/petition.pdf Please get signatures only from those who have not already signed our online petition at progressivecoalition.ca. After you have collected the signatures, please add them to this spreadsheet: progressivecoalition.ca/petitioninput.xls , and send the completed excel files to events@progressivecoalition.ca.

Light a Candle for the Coalition!

We want to spark a new spirit of cooperation in Parliament.

On Wednesday night at 8PM, light a candle in front of a street-facing window and turn off the light in the room for 20 minutes. (Make sure to keep the candle away from anything that can catch fire!)

On Thursday, at 5PM we are organizing Candles for a Coalition events across the country. We are going to take pictures and show Canadians from coast to coast support a coalition. If you can't attend a major event invite some of your friends over to light candles or do it yourself. Send us pictures!

Bring your own candle! And spread the word!

Rally locations:

VICTORIA Candles for a Coalition – Thursday Dec 4 5:00 PM
Location: Hillside and Douglas Street

VANCOUVER Candles for a Coalition - Thursday Dec 4 5:15 PM
Location: in Front of the Trades and Convention Centre
Will join the Make Parliament Work Rally afterwards

GUELPH Candles for a Coalition – Thursday Dec 4 7:00pm
Location: St. George's Square

GUELPH RALLY - Saturday, December 6th 12:00pm
Location: St. George's Square

STRATFORD MARCH TO CITY HALL - Stratford, Ontario Candles for Canada - Thur Dec 4 5-7pm
Location: Meet Ontario St between Downie and Waterloo Streets
Walk to city hall at 7pm

GREAT VILLAGE, Nova Scotia - Candles for Coalition in the Village!
When: 6 pm, Thursday, December 4th
Where: 33 Lornevale Road

Cheers,
Canadians for a Progressive Coalition

an attempt at sanity

Finally, someone did the math! This makes a lot of sense to me, if it makes sense to you too, please sign the petition at http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/

the darkness

home beautiful
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I'm having a tough time coping with the early morning darkness this week. I feel like I'm really dragging my ass this morning even though I slept well last night. Weird.

Over the past couple of weeks, we've been DVRing the American political conventions and then bopping through them quickly the next day. It's interesting and so sad to me that the two parties are so polarized. I know that later today (so the reports say), we'll have an official announcement of a federal election in our own neck of the woods. It'll be more of the same, Canadian-Style, I'm sure, except the left is divided up amongst three parties. I never understand how folks who are supposed to be effecting positive change for the country and it's people, can be so negative toward each other. It's mean spirited and totally undermines positivity.

/ mini-rant, I think I need a coffee.

happy Friday folks.

stop this car!

fun world - car ride
Originally uploaded by Julep67.

Oh man, I've been groggy all day today. I can't shake it, my head is truly in the fog.

Poor Mark was really sick last night, he woke up feeling hung over from the meds he took for his head. Between his hung over feeling and my foggy head, we made a good pair.

Earlier this evening, we zipped through last night's AI show. I know that my stomach could not have tolerated watching that much Bon Jovi without being able to press the fast-forward button. They are seriously scraping the bottom of the barrel for "mentors" on that show. One thing that was particularly irritating was the appearance of Mr & Mrs Smirking Chimp at the end of it. Mark yelled, loudly, at the television when his face appeared on the screen. I couldn't help but think about how messed up his priorities are...he has time to do Idol but can't take the time to listen to reasonable people who would like to see an end to the war.

moron.