Those Were The Smurfin' Days

It just wasn't right watching 'The Smurfs' movie without my sister. That cartoon was a Saturday morning childhood ritual for us. She would come into my room, pull up my eyelids and say in her small Lindsay voice "Jenn, Smurfies are on!" My six year old self remembers every time she did that thinking 'I hate that she wakes me by pulling my eyes but I'm so happy to be up for this!' It all balanced out.

We would make our way downstairs quietly so we didn't wake anyone else up, first stopping at the living room where it was guaranteed there would be left over snacks sitting out. My parents would often entertain on weekends but wouldn't tidy up until the next morning, so Lindsay and I had a pre-breakfast smorgasbord feast of stale Chips, Bits & Bites, Crackers and whatever else was left out. It was glorious. The glasses would have dribbles left in them, mostly of melted ice cubes and backwash and I remember drinking them; taste buds shocked every time that it was booze....duh. We'd take our stash of snacks down to the basement always in time to hear the theme song play "La La La La La La, La La La La La" and happiness surrounded us for the half hour following. We'd have our miniature Smurf figurines lined up on the table next to us so they could watch themselves on TV. That was our time. Our magical time where we were absorbed into a world of little blue creatures who lived in mushroom houses and spent their lives avoiding and escaping the cruel hands of the evil sorcerer Gargamel. There was excitement, there was cheering and there was love. When it was over, my mom would call us up for a 'real' breakfast to start the 'real' day.

It was a short period of time in our week but we both looked forward to it . We knew when Dallas was on Friday night, that the next day was Saturday and we had to be up in time for The Smurfs. There are many things in my life that connect back to my childhood but The Smurfs relate back entirely to a world that only my sister and I lived in. Although I knew it then, I realize it more now that I Smurfin' treasured those mornings and am fortunate to have those memories that evoke the emotions they do when I Smurf back.

Our lives begin to end....

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" ~Rev Martin Luther King Jr

Killer Coke Stories

What I learned today from an email from watercheck.biz about The Coca Cola Company is sickening and sad. Read a copy of the email here for yourself. I could blog about my opinion on it all but instead I'll list the links and let you read the information written by those involved first hand:


Start with Killer Coke and you'll get the picture.


What was written on The Council Of Canadians astounds me. Damaged water supplies and more. 

The documentary The Coca Cola Case tells a man's story of losing his brother  in Columbia because he was a Union Negotiator.

The website http://films.nfb.ca/the-coca-cola-case/ has a quick video on what the story is about.


There is definitely more out there to be read, so check it out.

So Nice Top 20 Blogs To Follow In 2011

So I'm just discovering this now, eight months later but whatever, it's never to late to brag when So Nice mentions you! Click on the title and see.

Our Destiny Changes....

“Our destiny changes with our thoughts; we shall become what we wish to become, do what we wish to do, when our habitual thoughts correspond with our desires.”
— Orison Swett Marden


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Bertrand Russell Says....

“Those who have never known the deep intimacy and the intense companionship of happy mutual love have missed the best thing that life has to give.”
—  Bertrand Russell

Watermelon Smiles

I remember being a kid playing outside on hot summer days and almost dying of thirst but having too much fun to go inside for a drink. Sometimes my mom would call out to us to come sit at our picnic table out back where she'd have a huge tray of watermelon ready for us, all cut up into 'Watermelon Smiles'. The cold juice even felt good on my cheeks as I'd bite in the middle of the smile and the rind would curve up my face. I remember freaking out because I swallowed a seed one time and thought I would grow a watermelon inside of me if I drank a glass of water. My sister reassured me I'd be okay because I "didn't eat any dirt and to grow a watermelon you'd need soil with the seed and water". That was enough to calm my nerves and ease my
mind. (thanks again Linz) These are wonderful childhood memories for me. Something as simple as watermelon to my seven year old self is remembered as being brilliant. That I say, is brilliant in itself!
My kids have grown up with watermelon smiles but I buy the seedless kind so they don't have to fear a garden of watermelon growing inside of them. On busy weeks where I have to pack lunches for the kids a Watermelon Smile is just too big for the lunch pail. Instead I cut it up into cubes however, I know they associate this pretty pink juicy fruit with happiness and my Mommy instincts tell me they smile when they open the lunch pail and see it in there.

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Animal Free Circuses Puhleeeeeze

The circus in my opinion is the cruelest form of family entertainment and people are still so oblivious to the torture that surrounds such horrific events. Read below to learn some basic facts surrounding the circus and join us Tuesday July 19th in Hamilton. The following is a Facebook event, ....search it for more info or email me.

COME OUT ON JULY 19TH TO COPPS COLISEUM AND TELL THE SHRINE CIRCUS THAT ANIMALS DIE IN CAPTIVITY and THEY ARE NOT WELCOME IN HAMILTON ANY LONGER.

The time has come to make Hamilton a ' Compassionate Circus Free' Town. Hamilton is ready !!

Facts about Animals in the Circus:

Trained by pain

• Circuses force animals to perform tricks
• Animals are injured while performing
• Training animals to achieve acts that are painful and unnatural requires whips, tight collars, muzzles, electric prods
• Elephants are trained by an ankus - a wooden stick with a sharp, pointed hook at the end. It is embedded into the elephants' most sensitive areas: feet, ears, chin, mouth, face. It is used to smash them across the face as well
• Circuses assert they use "positive reinforcement" to get animals to do tricks. If this were true, the trainers would be carrying bags of food treats, not metal weapons

Travel can be torture

• In circuses animals are kept in cages with barely enough room to turn around during travel and between shows
• Elephants are shackled in chains by their front and back legs so that they can't take a step forward or backward. They are required to eat, sleep, and defecate in the same trailers they are kept in
• The animals are forced to wait inside of the railroad cars for hours, even in extreme temperatures, sometimes up to 72 hours

Life in captivity

• In the wild, animals have relationships with their own kind and live in social groups or families
• Baby elephants stay with their mothers for years. Yet in circuses, they are ripped from their mothers because they are cute and reap profit
• Constant confinement forces animals into a state of psychosis. Elephants in circuses constantly sway back and forth in their chains, tigers pace in their cages, symptoms of deep psychological distress due to being deprived of fulfilling natural instincts
• Animals self-mutilate from lack of psychological stimulation.

Anti-Educational

• Opposite to what circuses say and the rationalization of educators who take students to circuses, seeing animals in circuses does not provide a pragmatic, educational tool because the animals are forced to perform tricks and live in conditions that are not natural for them
• The animals are in an environment that is radically different from the wild and their spirits are broken from cruel training. They are unable to fulfill their most basic needs and instincts.

It's unnatural. Think about, then help make a change. My kids will be there, bring yours too and maybe we'll influence other families in the community to support a more compassionate lifestyle, beginning with boycotting animal circus events.

Bike Riding Beach Side

There are certain things that really make summer feel like summer and bike riding by the beach is one of them. The trees are mature, the lake is calm and the air is warm. There's a long path that takes us past families doing the picnic thing, friends drinking on a patio and couples strolling by the water. People rollerblade by listening to their iPods, dogs are being walked by their owners and families like us are riding our bikes. If we stop, we skip some stones and take a second to absorb the moment. This is living. It's a little thing, but it's a together thing and it's one of my favourite things do do with my little fam!
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GMO's Described Star Wars Style

Grocery Store Wars