Another plan bites the dust

A few blogs ago I was talking about a venture Luke and I were looking into. Since then several companies have come into play taking our plan right out from under us. On the bright side if we had started we would’ve been the ones taking all the risk. So we are stepping back to see how it pans out for them. We may start up next spring, but for now we will let these companies iron out all the potential problems with the city and the clientele.

So for now….

Today is my one day off this weekend. We actually slept in (by that I mean we slept past 6am, all the way to 7:40). We feel rested and ready to take on the day.

Plan 1:

Have coffee, tidy up the kitchen, and finish laundry.

Plan 2:

Take the dogs to the park. We want to tire them out so we can spend time without them.

Plan 3:

Pack a picnic and head to the beach to float on the lake.

Plan 4:

Finish our project of repurposing the vintage table and chairs we found on Facebook marketplace.

Sounds like a nice way to spend a day don’t ya think?

Art show

I also have to finish a few art pieces for the upcoming art walk happening downtown Kelowna on August 1st. This event happens every year and this will hopefully be the first of many for me.

I had prints done so that I can sell my art even if it’s not the original. This way I’ll get more work out there. I find during these types of events people don’t want to spend big bucks. So having prints at $20-$30 makes it more feasible that I’ll sell something.

Happy Sunday!

Just another day

Again I’ve slacked at writing. I am sorry! I could talk about my family and the interesting interactions we have as grownups. We are all so different, as you may have read in a previous blog, my family is large. Larger than most and that pertains to the fact that we are blended and then blended again you might say.

Since we all grew up together we call each other brother and sister. It’s rare to hear anyone of us say “step brother/sister” or “half brother/sister”. It never really mattered to us. We were family and had to learn to love each other.

As grown siblings and how different we all are, it gets more complicated. We all have different perspectives and interests. Our lives range from Mother’s with toddlers and jobs, blue collar workers, managers, accountants, artists, service workers etc. We really could almost run a city with our combined list of experience and knowledge.

Since half my family lives in the States and the other lives here in Canada, we communicate through group messages mostly. The sibling chat we call it. I’ve seen the conversations die down on this chat group over the last few months. I found out the younger ones living in the States have their own group and the boys have their own. It made me feel a bit left out. I just created a new group for the 3 of us older sisters in the hopes of reconnecting with them. Their lives are busy like mine, but I think it’s important to be involved as best you can.

This past week was a perfect example of how different we are as siblings. A message came out asking if anyone had heard from one brother in awhile. No one had. That spanned into different perceptions of what to do about it. My first thought was he’s off work this week he’ll turn up. But another message stated even his friends and roommate hadn’t heard from him in days! The younger ones thought “leave it be, he’ll turn up.” The older ones of us were more concerned and wanted to find him.

After a couple of days he showed up saying he’d gone fishing. Hahah. I should’ve known, he’s sort of a gypsy but still, I am annoyed that he didn’t even tell his roommate he’d gone. We had even gone as far as reporting him as a missing person. The police were the ones that tracked down that he’d left work with co-workers to the coast. So thankfully nothing went wrong there, but it made me think about how each sibling took it.

My mom reads this blog so she’ll call me or one of us I’m sure to get the scoop. But mom, we left you out because we all knew deep down he was ok, and also we love you but knew you’d freak out.

I’m noticing more and more as we get older we resemble our mom. We worry. I, myself has always been a worrier. I’m the eldest and have taken care of my siblings in ways they don’t know, because I was OK taking the brunt of discipline, or the fault if something went wrong. I think about that sometimes and wonder if they even know?!

Anyway, family is family and even though they may make you crazy you gotta love them and support them regardless.

Patriots

Since Canada day and American Independence Day I’ve been struggling with several things. I was once married to a Canadian army guy, I’ve had brothers in the U.S. army, and a brother in law in the army. I’ve always felt passionate about people who volunteer for causes that mean something to them. On July fourth Luke and I watched “The Patriot” and the passion that people had back then was cause to celebrate! I feel people forget why America celebrates their independence sometimes.

The people who have sacrificed and lost their lives for a cause of freedom and equality over the last hundred years I fear has been forgotten. We have days like remembrance day, Canada day, Independence Day and patriots day to celebrate those hero’s, and yet it’s turned into party’s with drunkards and fireworks.

The America’s was the place for people to come to, to escape tyranny and cruelty. It’s now turned into a place that creates discord and hatred. I find it interesting that Europe who was the tyrant is now more open to change than the Americas.

In Canada, we have a prime minister that says the veterans are asking to much. He also says we need to support the globe with aid for war torn countries. I’m at a loss with this premise, because he is not taking care of his own.

I grew up with helping people less privileged than us (and we literally were asking for donations to feed our family). My family always helped people. We never had much but if we had more than we needed, we gave. But the point is help your own, and if there’s more to share than by all means!

This last week has taken a toll on me in regards to all of this. My brother Chris had PTSD from his years of service in the US army and in his last hours called for help. He was not approached with understanding, but with violence. I morn him every day but this week with all the so called patriotism I’m at a loss. I’m angry at the system that makes young men and women feel they can do their part to maintain the freedoms most people in our countries take for granted. When they come back they are not celebrated but tossed aside.

Something has to change in both Canada and the States. Our forefathers built North America to allow for people to live free from tyranny and those who fight for that matter!!! Those who fight should be treated with way more respect than they are given. It’s a fucked up world out there and some people see the worst of it. We shouldn’t blame them or ignore them after they’ve gone to fight for everything we believe in.