And We'll Flashback In ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ...

This time next weekend, it'll be all over.

My 20th High School Reunion.

Am I going?

Damn right I am!

Yesterday, I was invited to, what sounds to be, quite the Par-tay next Sat night.

When I said 'Thanks but no thanks', that I'd be home, attending my reunion, he said 'You're going to miss this awesome, tents and music in the backyard, jamming all night party, to go see a bunch of people you haven't seen in 20 yrs?'

Yup.

I am.

I'm going home.



He's right in one respect. There WILL be people there I still have nothing in common with after 20yrs.

But there are others, and I can only honestly say, thanks to Facebook, that I've re-connected with, or have actually gotten to know for the first time.

And guess what?

Those people you didn't always 'hang' with at school?

They turn out to be pretty good people. Who, as adults, seem to find a more common ground to stand on.

I'm looking forward to getting away and having coffee and giggles with my old friends (you know who you are!).

I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with others I didn't know that well before.

And there are others, I'm sure, whose paths I simply won't cross at all. For whatever reason.

But it's all good.


Hey! We're going back to the 80's, People! I have Loverboy and the Headpins playing in my hometown! It can't HELP but be a rockin' weekend!

I won't only be going home to my neighbourhood next weekend. I'll also be going home to memories.

Flashbacks.

I'll be going home to (partially scooped from a comment I made a couple of yrs ago on in one of my FB groups) ...

Big Hair, and I mean BIG hair!

Miami Vice (to all the guys who dressed like Crocket and Tubbs .... What the hell were you thinking?!?!??! ... never mind ... us girls dressed like Madonna so .... 'nuff said!)

The Brat Pack

Rocky

Footloose

Friday the 13

Nightmare on Elm Street

Karate Kid

ET (I still have my original VHS tape of this)

Where's the Beef?

Gag me with a spoon

Let's not and say we did!

Psyche!

SMURFS!!!!!

Ninja Turtles

Transformers (Original)

Pong - Atari - Intellivision - Commodore 64

Rubiks Cube

Care Bares

Cabbage Patch Kids

Sticker Albums

Friendship bracelets

Friendship pins (with beads) we put on our sneakers

Roller Skates with big white/black boots and had to wear the shiny polyester jacket to go with it ;-p

Skin-tight Levis red-tab jeans

High top sneakers

Shoulder pads - would you believe I still have a housecoat that has them in it! What's even sadder ... I was wearing it yesterday!

Swatch watches

Cassette tapes

Regan

WWF Wresting was introduced to the world!

and of course ... Who Shot JR?



Old friends ... old memories.

Yeah. Should be a good weekend.

K.

Betcha Don't See THIS At YOUR Farmer's Market!

I think YouTube is a wonderful thing.

Once you wade through all the crap.

I'm not on there daily, spending hours glassy-eyed, staring at random videos. But every now and then, I stumble across a little gem that I feel is worth sharing with all of you.

As I did HERE, and HERE.


Today, is another one of those days :-)

I saw this through a 'Friend's Link' on Facebook. I LOVED it! (Thanks Susanne!)

Best part is, it was filmed about a month ago, at a little Farmer's Market just an hour away from here, in the town of Truro, Nova Scotia.

It was the brain child of Margot Begin-Gillis, who runs a dance school in Truro and was videographed by Cara Jones, of Intuitive Eye Productions.

From what I understand, this 'spontaneous performance' was planned, choreographed, and rehearsed.

However, those are REAL market go'ers you see jumping in, and joining the fun!

Betcha don't see this THIS at YOUR Farmer's Market!






My favourite 'character' has to be the older guy, in the yellow shirt, who jumps in with the group of girls LOL.

I have no idea if he was part of the crew, or part of the crowd, but he was fantastic! Way to go Yellow Shirt Dude!


Oh, and is there any question, as to whether or not I'D have joined in?

{crickets} {crickets} {crickets}


Didn't think so!

K.

Chocolate? SURE! I'll Try Your Chocolate!

Recently, an email landed in my Korner.

A Representative from Harbinger (a marketing, consulting and communications company focused on women), wanted to know if I'd be interested in trying a new Kinder® chocolate treat they were marketing.

Child size, milk filled chocolate treats.

To quote the Harbinger rep, "It is all about responsible treating and how to give treats to children effectively. The bars are designed to be a perfect treat for children (smaller portion sizes)."



Excuse me?

Did someone say chocolate?

Chocolate? SURE! I'll try your chocolate!

Kid sized? Yeah, yeah, I'll save a piece for the kids!



And so, it arrived.

In a personalized box no less!

Even had the BLOG's name on there lol.

I opened it right away (no, it didn't matter that it was only 9am!), and found these inside.

A four pack of Kinder® Mini-Treat Bars, especially for KIDS. Only 12.5g.

And a 21g Kinder Chocolate Single®. Also, especially for KIDS.

According to Kinder® -

"Mini-Treats are perfect for young children – at 70 calories per bar.

Kinder Chocolate Singles are designed for kids – at 120 calories per bar.

Kinder Chocolate is a source of calcium."

I looked at the four pack, and looked at the single.

OK, obviously I'd split the four pack of Mini-Bars between the boys.

That left the single.

And since I couldn't - in good conscience - review a product I hadn't actually TRIED, that meant only one thing ...

MMMUUUHHHAAAAAHHHHH that little piece of heaven was all MINE!

Sort of.

I hopped over to the next set of cubes, and gave a piece to a couple of my co-workers.

Although these treats are designed for kids, I figured I may as well get a couple other MOM's opinions on them as well, since we all know everything's gotta get through HER first.

We all liked the idea of a 'kid sized' treat.

We all liked the chocolate.

We even liked the white chocolate centre, and made such comments as, 'it doesn't taste like the usual white chocolate, it's REALLY good!'

Then I found out it wasn't white chocolate at all.

It's MILK.

Truly, mmmmmmmilk chocolate :-)

Not only did my treat box contain chocolate, it also contained a slew of information on 'responsible treating'.

Since these treats were originally designed for kids, I figured it was time to let the REAL Taste Testers loose.

First, Adam tried his.

See what Adam had to say about the new Kinder® Mini -Treat Bars ...

Alec didn't actually get to try his bar until the next day.

By the time he was able to get his hands on it, we had built up the anticipation so much I thought he was going to explode!

Because I made him wait for it (somewhat patiently lol) while I finished eating dinner, when he finally did get his treat, I was teasing him a bit in his video, and talking to him like a young child, or one of those tiny Paris Hilton Accessory Dogs ...

He's still able to get his point across ;-)

As you can see, the Kinder® Mini -Treat Bars got a THUMBS UP! from both boys.

Be sure to check out these, and other products from Kinder® HERE!

Thank you Harbinger, and thank you Kinder®.

Loved the chocolate. And, the treat box?, Yeah, nice touch!

My recommendation? People, if you get the opportunity, try one of these bars!

But, I wouldn't leave it anywhere near Adam.

As you saw in his video, he will simply make it ...

"... Disappear!"

K.

Open Mouth ... Insert Foot. CRAP!

We were at the ball field a lot this weekend. Adam was in a tournament.

Our Community Centre (ball fields, lake, playground) is located about two minutes from our house, and we spend many hours there during the summer months.

Saturday evening, as I was driving into the parking lot, I passed a woman in another car who waved at me.

On quick glance, I thought it was one of the moms I recognized from the boy's school.

I got out of the car, and started talking to another Ball Mom, when the 'waver' got out of her car and I got a better look.

It WAS one of the moms from down at the school, but not the one I thought it was.

I did a double take.

It was the mom of a boy who was in Adam's class his first 2yrs of shcool.

I didn't recognize her because she had changed her hair.

The whole time I've known this woman, she's had naturally curly, curly, CURLY, wild hair.

Tonight, it was pin straight. It threw me off!

We started walking down to the ball field together. Making small chitchat.

Me: "I LOVE your hair!"

Her: "Oh thanks :-)"

We commented on the weather, the weekend, then I said ...

"So, is the straight hair a permanent change or something you were just trying out?"

She replied with, 'Actually, it's straight because I'm going through chemo. I wanted to wear a ball cap tonight and the hair came with the hat.'

I stopped walking. Stunned. That WASN'T the answer I was expecting.

Way to go Kim! Open mouth ... insert foot!

CRAP!



I know, I know, before you start saying, 'But you didn't know!', you're right, I didn't know. But it still made me feel like crap, knowing something I said had brought about her admission.

I've known this woman since Adam started school.

Our children have been at each other's houses to play.

Her news just floored me.

We've just been through this with Alec's friend's mom.

Now, here is one of Adam's friends, who has a mom going through it too.



I asked questions.

There isn't a guidebook on what questions you can and can't ask someone, who has just admitted to you that they're going through chemo to fight cancer.

Maybe I'm too forward, but I ask anyway.

When did she find out? How did she find out? Does the outcome look good? Are the boys OK?



I also offered my help.

I told her anytime she wanted a bit of R&R, to drop her boys off at our house.

Anytime.

People always seem to want to make food when someone is sick.

I didn't make that offer. I want to keep the woman healthy, not make her worse!

So, I told her, 'I'm not going to offer to make or bake you anything cause I can't cook for shit! BUT ... what I will do is tell you to bring those boys over anytime, and I mean ANYTIME, you want a bit of down time."

She appreciated that.

We chatted a bit more, then she went off down to the lake, and I went back to Adam's baseball game.



Life can be so unfair.

Sigh. And even though I know I didn't do anything wrong, I still feel like crap for opening my big mouth, yet again.

K.

United Breaks Guitars

If you live in the Maritimes, you most likely heard this today, as it was all over the news.

Many more of you who DON'T live around here, may be aware of it as well, seeing that it hit YouTube, went viral, and had over 524,000 views - last I checked.

Local musician, Dave Carroll of Sons Of Maxwell released a video a couple of nights ago.

It detailed his experience with United Airlines, and their (baggage handlers) mis-handling of his Taylor guitar.

This event took place last year.

After many calls & email exchanges between Dave and United, the final result was that United refused to compensate him for his loss.

At all.

Finally, Dave fought back.

With music.


Way to go Dave!





Be sure to check out the Sons Of Maxwell official site HERE!

See Dave's interview and read his story HERE (click the last video link over on right for the interview).

Oh, and since his little music video became such a sensation HERE, he's fielded calls from all the major networks, and United ... yeah, they want to play nice now ;-)

Apparently, this 'struck a chord' with them. (Their words, not mine lol)

K.

And It Only Went Downhill From There

With news of Michael Jackson dominating ... everything, lately, it was no surprise when the boys started asking questions about him.

There's a full fledged post coming on that later.

I mean, how can you answer ALL THOSE questions related to EVERYTHING MJ in just a few sentences?!?!?

Some of those answers aren't easy, People!

Until then, I'll leave you with this.



The other day, Adam pipes up from the back seat and asks ...

"How did he go from being a black man to a white man?"

and then in the next breath, says "... and what was WRONG with his nose?"


Sigh. And it only went downhill from there.


Damn you, Michael. Leaving me with all these unanswered questions!

K.