Day 3: Favorite musician

This blog challenge is going to be harder than I thought. I really had to think about who my favorite musician was, because I like a wide variety of music. I listen Dr. Hook to Ozzy Osbourne to Meatloaf to Sara Brightman, and everything in between. But right now my IPad is full of Pink Music. There isn't a song of hers I don't like, and really the performance she did (where this picture came from) solidified my love for her.

Day 2: Favorite movie

This was a hard one for me, as I have many favorite movies. This one reminds me of my Dad, which is why it's my favorite. There is one scene in this movie that makes me cry EVERY time (for a hint, see yesterday's post). I remember when I was still living in Nova Scotia this movie was on one of the movie channels. My dad called me (as he was watching it, he was a HUGE Jennifer Lopez fan) just as Richard Gere was coming up the escalator. It was a long standing joke between us because he knew everytime I saw it I would cry. Now I have to go watch it again.

Everybody's doing it

Everyone these days seem to be getting back on the blogging train by doing a 30 day challenge. So I'm going to jump on. You should too. The Thirty Day Challenge.

Day 1: One Favorite Actor.

This was a hard one for me. I have many favorite actors, but to just pick one would have to be Richard Gere. This is my favorite scene from one of my favorite movies of all time. I'm sure that will be a post for another day.

My amazing friends

With the passing of Rob's grandmother, we were scrambling to figure out, well honestly, how we were going to get him there. We had just bought 4 plane tickets for Nova Scotia for us for June, and for anyone who has travelled knows, buying a plane ticket to fly the next day is brutally expensive. Anyone who knows me in real life knows that I stress over money, even if there is more than enough to go around I will still worry about running out. I check our bank account more times than is really necessary, just to make sure I know exactly what is in there at all times. (This I believe comes from when we lived well beyond our means earlier in our lives, being naiive about credit and budgets). Yes, a little more information than I should probably share, but really, who hasn't maxed out a credit card (or two, or three...) at some point in their lives? Anyway..... since moving to the North and not having a mortgage, we have been super smart about our finances, and because of our living situation we have been able to clear off more debt in the 4 years we have been here than honestly I thought possible. We live quite frugally to do this and it is paying off. We now save to buy the things we want, and with some great finds have been able to buy some of the things we normally would never have been able to($300.00 for a skidoo, really who WOULDN'T pass that up??). Frugal is one thing, but we (ahem *I*) have also learned that you have to also enjoy life. With this being said, when Rob got his call that his grandmother had passed, we both knew that I would somehow find the available funds to buy that ticket. I vented to a close friend of mine about this, and joked with her "Don't suppose you have an extra $1100.00 laying around, do ya?". She called me an hour later at work, telling me that it wasn't much, but her and her husband were able to scrape together $600.00 if we wanted to borrow it. I bawled. Here is a family who are living day to day, but willing to give us all the savings and available cash they have right now (they are saving for an out of town medical trip, and yes they are Metis, having lived in this community their entire lives). I really have amazing friends in this community, and now more than ever I feel like we belong. We have never been made to feel like the "white people" in town, and when people ask me what it is like to live in an aboriginal community, I tell them it's like we've always lived here.

This summarizes our last week

SCHWARTZ, Mary Alice – 85, of Hubbards, passed away March 23, 2011 surrounded by her loving family. Mary was born in Burgeo, NL to the late Bertha and Benjamin Green. At 14, she left Burgeo for the big city of Montreal and later moved to Halifax, where she met her sweetheart, Bernie.

She was a member of the Loyal Hubbards Union Lodge and Queen’s Lodge of Past Grands, St. Luke’s ACW, and Hubbards Ladies Auxiliary. She spent many years preparing mouth-watering meals at the Hubbards Shore Club. A devout Blue Jays fan, she was an avid quilter and knitter and loved bingo and darts—and was a force to be reckoned with at cards.

Mary was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Bernie, in 2001. She is survived by her daughters Rosemary (Jim) Grant of Dartmouth, Debra (Trena) Cornish of Brampton, Ontario; sons David (Pat) Schwartz and Gary (Pam) Schwartz of Trenton, Ontario and Donald (Jean) Schwartz of Timberlea; 10 grandchildren, and 8 great-grandchildren. She is survived by her brothers Henry (Carol), Morris (Barb), and Don, and sisters, Harriet (Harold) and Joyce. She was predeceased by her sister, Eva, brothers, Edward and Lester, and a sister in infancy, Dora.

Visitation will be from 2-4 and 7-9 on Friday, March 25th and the funeral service will be 11am Saturday, March 26th— both at the Ronald A. Walker Funeral Home in Hubbards—with Reverend Mike Conrad officiating, assisted by Reverend Judie Lafford. Interment will follow in the Pine Hill cemetery, Hubbards. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mary’s memory to St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Hubbards, or the Canadian Lung Association.

Very special thanks to the compassionate nurses at the VG Palliative Care unit and the staff at Melville Lodge and Melville Gardens.

Rob's grandmother has been a big part of our lives. She always remembered to send cards, and was very active in everyone's lives. I first met here when Rob and I first started dating, shortly after I lost my grandmother. She has never referred to me as anything but her "granddaughter". Rob will be flying back there tonight to be with his family for the funeral. We miss you Nan.

Happy Birthday Scott

This adorable little man turned 1 today. In my heart I was there celebrating with him. Him and I will party it up when I get there in July!

Happy birthday Bone

My sister brought up a stuffed moose when she came to visit. It is a Webkinz, and Joey loves it. He is a master of the webkinz site, and he carries this moose that he has named Bone EVERYWHERE with him. He decided that today was Bone's birthday, and of course what is a birthday without a cake!

Super decorating skills!

He insisted the "W" for Webkinz had to be there, and he copied the colors from the Webkinz symbol on the Moose. Of course there was testing of the icing. Many, many times.

So proud. He had to feed Bone some of his birthday cake!