The Sparks Lady

Ever tried to brush your cats teeth? Sounds dangerous. How about bathing instead? I went over to Justin's one day. He showed me the new nail clipper and brush he got for Forest. Then he showed me the cat shampoo and deviously stated, "we're going to bathe the cat. " Maybe that explained the nail clippers. Did they not have something to dull his teeth too? Immediately I had images of us being trapped in the bathroom with a scared cat, tearing around trying to escape with teeth and back claws. (His front paws having been declawed). We decided to do it tonight, and I was crying from laughing before we even started. Poor little guy had no idea what he was in for. Justin ran the bath while I grabbed Forest. We attempted to get all 4 paws in the water.  He was doing everything be could to not get wet.  Surprisingly not clawing or biting as I had thought, instead just desperately clinging to us with despair.  Having not planned ahead to bring a cup, I grabbed the soap di

Green Party? Who votes for them anyways? But I didn't like any of my other options. I first considered choosing the Green Party, not necessarily to vote for them, but to vote against everyone else. Politics is a slippery slope, and the "Big 3" are losing their footing. NDP : I don't know that I would ever vote for this party, but I did sort of like Andrea Horwath. She grew up in an environment where everyone in the family worked, she put herself through school working part time, and wanted to give back. I have respect for that, and perhaps had she been either with the Conservatives or Liberals, I may have voted for her.  However, while the NDP platform has great specifics on trying to boost the economy, improve transit, health care wait times, education opportunities, their explanations on how they are going to get the money leaves much to be desired. The NDP plan sounds great, until you start looking at the fine print.* Having trouble diagnosing the problems o

I've been through these stages before. Days blur together, and even weekends have no meaning anymore. I'm on day 10 of hopefully only 13 days in a row of either school or work. I keep forgetting what day of the week it is. The painful part is, if work became available on day 14, I would have to take it.  The last time I was a semi poor college student, I had a lot less to worry about. I was maybe just as busy as I am now, but I had less things to stress about. This time around I have more bills, working 2 jobs and sometimes it's still not enough. Going back to school, after working for 4 years, I know what it's like being able to support myself, and find myself frustrated trying to deal with the change.  Even though I know school is only temporary, and I'm halfway through, I still trip myself up over the day to day, while trying to remember this is all for the best in the end. I always like to keep my life balanced: work time, social time, down time. Rig

The male-dominated electrical power industry realizes it has to cast a much wider net in search of new recruits to its workforce, meaning tapping into under-represented groups such as women. Share on Facebook TANNIS TOOHEY / TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO Thousands of workers are going to be needed to replace those leaving the electricity sector over the next few years, industry experts say. By:   Tyler Hamilton   Energy and Technology Columnist,   Published on Fri Jul 06 2012 There’s much talk these days about the sorry state of Canada’s aging electricity infrastructure, as well as the need to invest in the smart grid and add more renewable-energy sources to the power mix. What’s less talked about is where the industry is going to find the skilled workers needed to carry out what the Conference Board of Canada calculates as $347 billion in required public and private investment between now and 2030. Investment is expected to peak o

As I have now completed my first term at Mohawk College, I have learned some pro's and con's to being one of the few female in the school, and in class. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which. 1. There is never a line up for the bathroom. And even better, it's pretty much always clean as they hardly ever get used. 2. The best guy friends to have are ones that are in relationships. No threat that they mistake your friendliness for something more. 3. You experience a sense of solidarity with the other women in your class. You have to stick together. 4. I still haven't decided how this works with women outside of my class. I try to give a little smile or nod of the head when I pass them in the hallway. For the most part I get a similar response in return. The odd time the look I get makes me think we are fighting each other for turf of female presence in the male environment. 5.  For the most part I still experience chivalry. Doors get help open

Keeping on with my theme of change and progression, I think I've gotten some points across about how personal development is important. But have you ever considered how important it is when you're in a relationship? As I mentioned in my Change 2.0  post, one of the recent developments as a result of moving into the next chapter of my life is beginning a new relationship. We're currently still in the "it's-so-cute-it-makes-you-puke" stage (at least if you're on the outside looking in). In sending some quotes and pictures back and forth, I received this one: "The greatest gift you can give to somebody is your own personal development. I used to say, 'if you will take care of me, I will take care of you.' Now I say, 'I will take care of me for you, if you will take care of you for me." -Jim Rohn Or: "A man once asked his father, 'Father, how will I ever find the right woman?' His father replied, 'Forget fin

In my Embrace Change post, I discussed why it is important to take those big steps in life. Making even one change can have an impact on other aspects of your life. For example: Last summer was when I started taking actions to apply to a January start program for school. In between the making of that decision and school actually started a few interesting things happened. 1. Before school started, I was so busy, and mentally exhausted from pushing myself through work, I couldn't find the physically energy to exercise consistently. Since school started, I've exercised at least 3 times a week. (And that's not counting shoveling snow sometimes twice a day). 2. I have a new job, part time, to help pay my bills while I am in school. This one carries much less responsibility, and when I come home from my shift, my brain doesn't think about work until my next shift. This is perfect for while I am in school. 3. Before school: dating? Ha! What a joke. Yes I went out on d

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Don't complain. " - Maya Angelou Such a simple concept. So difficult to embrace. Speaking to people about the times I've made big changes in my life, I can't count the number of times I've heard someone say, "wow, this is a big move! I could never do that," or "I can't imagine being brave enough to make that kind of change."  Based on my experience, I've found people over think these big changes. Don't get me wrong, I didn't make my big life changes on a whim, there may have been complications, or a lot in the way of logistics. Regardless of all that, I knew that whatever 'it' may be, it needed to happen. Change is progress. Postponing that change leaves you stagnant. Some take longer than others to figure this out, some never do. Like Maya Angelou's quote above: if you don't like something change it. I c

So, I turn 25 this year... Early quarter-life-crisis? On and off since high school, I have asked myself: what do I want to do with my life? Answer: give things a try. When I couldn't decide in my last year of high school what direction I wanted my life to go in, I decided to take a year off. Spending thousands of dollars going to post-secondary not having a clue just seemed like a waste of money to me. Many people told me to 'be careful.' According to these people, I was warned that if I didn't go to University or College right out of high school, chances were unlikely that I would go back. Psssh.  During my year off I worked, explored some options of what I liked. That can be tough. Ask someone what they want to do with themselves, and they might have no idea. Ask them what they don't want to do, and you can get a list a mile long. So I started there, and looked at what was leftover. I liked the lifeguarding job, the lifeguarding competitions, so there was on