Screw Valentine’s Day

It’s that time of year again….  Cards, flowers, candy and jewelry are flying off the shelves of every store at an alarming rate. And I, perpetually single, am told once again that I’m bitter. I’m not bitter. Seriously. My distaste for valentine’s day has nothing to do with my marital status.

In my opinion, valentine’s day is just another day. In the past, when in a committed relationship, I always felt pressured to do something bigger and better than the previous year or holiday, regardless of cost or lack of time. Valentine’s Day is stressful. It’s also a HUGE boost to the gift sector of the economy as people in relationships are guilted into buying anything and everything to woo one’s sweetheart. I’m all for boosting the economy and I’m also not against making your loved ones feel loved. But why can’t you celebrate the wonderful people in your life every day?

February 14th is just a day. There are 364 other days I like to use to honour and love the people in my life.

To my friends and family: I love you all. I don’t need a special day to tell you. I’ll probably tell at least one of you once a day that I love you until the end of time and that’s never going to stop.

Why don’t all schools do this?!

I read an article today on the Globe and Mail about helping parents prepare for back to school and survive the toils of back to school shopping. In the article, they listed a website to make things easier for parents, toolsforschool.ca. Being the eager mom sending her little one off to school for the first time, I logged onto the site right away and looked for my daughters school. But, to my dismay, it wasn’t there. Most of the schools in my area weren’t there. The one school that was listed didn’t even list my daughter’s grade (JK) so I still have no clue what to get.

Any suggestions?

Act of community

I saw something on my drive home today that I have to share. I have to drive through one of the worst neighbourhoods in London every day on my way home when I stop at the grocery store. Today, I was in need of milk so I stopped at the store after picking my daughter up from daycare. After the grocery store, we made our normal drive through this dilapidated community, where crime is common and it’s not unusual for entire families to be there one day and gone the next.

Today was different. Today, I had the pleasure of witnessing an act of kindness paid to the community. As I stopped at a corner in this neighbourhood, I glanced to my right to see a very common thing in this particular area: graffiti. (A covered bus stop had been defaced with black spray paint) Although the graffiti is common, what was happening at that moment was not. A mother with her young baby were at the bus stop with another young woman and they were cleaning off the graffiti with baby wipes.

It just goes to show that circumstance doesn’t make a person. Just because someone had a rough go at life and ended up in a less than desirable situation doesn’t mean they are a bad person or got where they are with bad deeds. People are who they are, regardless of where they live, what they do for a living, or where they grew up. Everyone wants a safe, clean place to live. It was refreshing to see it was true for every neighbourhood, not just those that have the money to improve it.

Well…. This is a first…

For the first time that I can remember, I actually feel lonely. It all started last night when I was talking to my friend Kaela and mentioned I was feeling a little off. Being the great friend she is, she asked me “How?”. We went though all the usual suspects: headache, sick, angry, stressed, tired (which this is true, but it didn’t feel like it), depressed and then she said something I hadn’t thought of yet. Lonely. As a rule, I’m not a lonely person. Sure, I’ve lived seperate and apart from the male population for almost 2 blissful years now and I have never felt that pang of longing for someone to be in my home with me for any length of time. But here it was. I miss having someone in my life.

Phew! Now that was a lot to realize in one short phone call. I am lonely for the first time in my 25 years. Wow. And now I’m trying to think of what I can do to alleviate this feeling. I’m already dating and meeting new people, so I’m putting myself out there. But then I got to thinking, why am I lonely? I have a great life with amazing friends, a supportive family, a beautiful daughter and a rewarding career. What am I missing?! Thankfully, when I did a mental pro/con list and I had no cons, the feeling subsided a little.

Conclusion? I have a fantastic life. What’s to feel down about? When I’m ready, I’ll meet someone worth it that will fill the once space in my life that’s still a little empty. But for right now, I’m happy. Very happy.

Sleep keeps escaping me…

I can’t seem to get some REST!

I am now on day 10 of less then 5 hrs of sleep a night, and I think I may be on the brink of losing my mind. Who thought that missing a few hours a night of sleep would make such a drastic difference in the enjoyment of my day to day life?! 

I suffer from insomnia and have tried everything I can think or or have researched (except narcotic sleep aids, I don’t trust those). I’m now grasping at straws for a solution to my sleep deprivation. 

That being said, and I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner, I am going to document my sleepless escapades on this blog. (I apologize in advance for any kind of crazy talk that should issue from my mouth and/or fingers before I get some rest. It’s been a LONG week and a half and my patience has almost completely disintegrated). 

So I’m going to start out my post today by explaining my sleepless history.  When I was pregnant with my daughter and in my 2nd trimester, I stopped sleeping a full night. I went from sleeping constantly (napping whenever I could, sleeping until noon or later on weekends, and going to bed somewhat early almost every night… I loved sleep) and requiring 7-9 hrs of sleep a night to 6-7 hrs of sleep a night. That was fine. I felt so amazing during the middle 3 months of my pregnancy that I honestly didn’t care. I had enough energy, so no harm no foul, right? WRONG! In my final trimester, the lack of sleep was starting to get to me. I was tired all the time (that could have just been the pregnancy talking) and never felt like I was getting enough rest. Finally, my lovely little girl was born and I was one of those blessed parents who’s child slept through the night. The only problem was that I DIDN’T SLEEP THROUGH THE NIGHT. I could not bring myself to go to bed before 1 am. It just didn’t happen. There was the occasional night where I would crash on the couch and wake up feeling like death because I had slept too much, but for the most part I started sleeping less and less at night. I am now, 3 1/2 hrs later, down to being able to comfortably function on 4-6 hrs of sleep a night without batting an eye. I generally have a really good sleep every 2 weeks where I will get anywhere from 6-10 hrs of sleep but I haven’t had one of these blissful sleeps since before Christmas (that’s right, about a month). Not only am I getting less sleep then usual, my sleep quality is also, for some strange reason, suffering. 

I have tried every herbal supplement there is to offer, every old wive’s tale (my favorite is a glass of wine or two before bed) and talked to my Doctor on numerous occasions (she’s now decided that it may be time to attempt a prescribed sleep aid, which I am totally against). Nothing has worked. Nothing has even fased 

Parenting is not a “thing in common”

Dating as a single parent continues to surprise me. Today, I received an email from a guy on this online dating site that I have a profile on. He said “we have so much in common! We’re both parents!” I check out his profile and that is literally the only thing we have in common. We want different things. We don’t listen to the same kind of music. We have completely different views on sports, television, movies, politics and employment. If these differences weren’t enough, he couldn’t spell nor communicate in full sentences.

I don’t think that parenting should be listed as a “common interest”. Parenting doesn’t fall into the same category as scrapbooking or snowboading. Parenting is a for life and doesn’t change day by day. Just because two people have children, doesn’t mean they’re compatible.