A leap year (or intercalary or bissextile year) is a year containing one extra day (or, in the case of lunisolar calendars, a month) in order to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical or seasonal year.^[1] Because seasons and astronomical events do not repeat in a whole number of days, a calendar that had the same number of days in each year would, over time, drift with respect to the event it was supposed to track. By occasionally inserting (or intercalating) an additional day or month into the year, the drift can be corrected. A year that is not a leap year is called a common year.

For example, in the Gregorian calendar (a common solar calendar), February in a leap year has 29 days instead of the usual 28, so the year lasts 366 days instead of the usual 365. Similarly, in the Hebrew calendar (a lunisolar calendar), a 13th lunar month is added seven times every 19 years to the twelve lunar months in its common years to keep its calendar year from drifting through the seasons too rapidly. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year

It is also the year of the Dragon according to the Chinese calendar…  Which means?  Good fortune and sign of intense power!  Well lets hope so. 

James and I rang in our sixth New Year together by sitting around a fire with some friends.  It was nice, very low-key and I noticed that James hugged me extra hard when we embraced at the stroke of midnight.

Really nothing special about this year of 2012…  Everyone I know was waiting with bated breath for it to come because apparently 2011 was a horrible year.  Well for me it was same ol’ same ol’… 

2012 is the year I turn 40.  Woo Hoo!  So I really don’t know how to feel about that.  Since my age is really the only thing about me I cannot change I guess I have to graciously accept it.  I ain’t a youngster anymore.

I didn’t make any resolutions this year.  I didn’t see anything worth resolving.  Things are boring but good for me right now.

Maybe 2012 will hold in its clutches a house for us.  Who knows.  As long as we are together, have our dog and cats, our jobs, a bed to sleep in, food in our bellies, family and friends around us that is all that matters! 

2011 brought one change for us.  James moved from the Etobicoke to the Brampton Store and is really happy and raking in the sales. 

I have already signed up for four courses this year and of course you will be hearing about trials and tribulations of being a full-time working Health Care Manager, Girlfriend, Mother, Sister, Daughter, Granddaughter, Friend, Blogger, School goer, Animal Crusades, Puppy Rescue Mission twitterer, Business Owner, The Televixen writer…  But I love it all and I know I run myself ragged but…  I just want to experience everything I can…   ‘Cause…

After all is said and done…  I wish you all the best that 2012 can bring you.  Be Happy, live well, love lots! 

Airs on TLC, Sunday night at 10PM. 

I started watching this show with the premier episode and I happen to like it.  It does what it is supposed to, which is show the rest of the world that no all Muslims are terrorists.  That most live normal lives in small towns in America and that they adapt their lives around American tradition.

There are times where I am out right out raged by this show for instance when Shadia insisted that Jeff “get rid of” his dog Wrigley, she used the excuse that she was allergic but the constant trend was that it was a religious requirement.  Not only did Jeff, convert, but he moved, then she required him to give up his constant companion of 10 years.  Even her own mother told her it was too much.  Alas, she is in my good books again now that Wrigley is back!

I watch this every week, in awe of these people.  Who outwardly observe their faith in a hostile world. 

They have children, they love, they do family things, they respect, they suffer, they hurt just like everyone else.  Although as an intelligent person I didn’t need this show to help me realize this.

Watch Nawal go through postpartom depression on TV while trying to get the world to open up to her ingrained belief system has shown me that these women are stronger than we give them credit for.  Most assume that because Muslim women allow themselves to be “controlled” by their men that they are weak.  Have a look at this show… 

Nina wants to open a club…  Angela is a working Mom who wants it all…  Lila who choses to wear the hijab unlike the first two women I mentioned, is a lovely, mother who “knows best” and I really mean she knows best… 

Watching Samira’s struggles with infertility and her choice to put the hijab back on was refreshing to know that it is her choice to wear the religious head covering.  To portray your personal struggles with something so intimate on TV takes a lot of guts and I thank her for showing us just how human she is!

Now Suehalia — she’s the one you gotta watch out for.  Not only will she be the first woman President but she’ll bring the hijab to office too!  I admire her, need to please her family and I hurt for her need to spread her wings as well.  I wish her well.

This week they touched on the fighting that happens between Muslims and focused on the death of a young man of 23 in their small town of Deerbource Michigan. 

Next week will focus on the 10th Anniversary, of 911 and how they feel that not only was the world stopped by the tragedy but their religion was hijacked with those planes.

I know there has been some controversy over this show for the exact reason that it is on the TV.  Uneducated haters. 

I also find it a little bit of a cop-out that Lowe’s pulled its advertising from this show, as it buckled under the pressure of these uneducated haters… 

Alas I will keep watching!  And enjoying…  I ask that you give it a try!   http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/tv/all-american-muslim

So I have spent today doing nothing but watching Christmas Movies…

Christmas With the Kranks, Surviving Christmas, Serendipity, The Family Stone, Love Actually, Santa Buddies, Christmas Vacation and A Christmas Story.

Tomorrow will be A Muppet’s Christmas, The Holiday and well who knows.

So, some of the TV spots that are on this year are actually cracking me up.  The Wal-Mart one with the little girls screaming because they all have the same pjs actually made me laugh out loud…  It appears to annoy a number of people.  Which I found out by surfing forums that actually spend time talking about how much this commercial irritates them when they see it in the gym in the morning…  WTF!  Shut up!

I happen to think the car commercial I cannot right now remember which one it is for…  Where the people in the back seat are telling the driver to turn on the radio and then open the window and then close the window (because her head almost got blown off) is quite amusing. 

But best of all I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Telus commercial…  A little Hall and Oates! Some really cutesy computerized piggies and duckies… 

Here see for yourself! 

So what is everyone doing this year…?  We are still not sure.  We have been invited to about five places and to tell you the truth I just really want to stay home and just have us celebrate Christmas… But with my Gramps getting on and not being well, I really want to be with him…  So we are going to have our second annual Chinesefest on Christmas Eve and then, probably spend time in the afternoon with James’ family in Mississauga and then with mine in Pickering for dinner… Who knows plans change every minute!  A couple of friends to fit in between Christmas and New Year and my best Friend (well almost my sister) to see too! 

I am glad I have a week off! 

Here’s another commercial for you! 

I can’t tell you how much I love this entire campaign!  I HATE Telus but these spots are so well done! 

So here are some of the funny video’s I have seen so far this season (if you can call it that…  It’s hard to get in the mood when we have no snow…  And it’s been so warm…  It’s positively like California up here!)

Here’s another funny video… Some Animals singing Jingle Bells.  The ferret actually made me chock from laughing!

Here are some of the things I have put on my list…  This year!

The book A Dog’s Purpose.  And it’s companion… 

The rest was all gift certificates from…  Along with a few other places…

What will you be asking Santa for?  What ever it is and no mater whether you are on the naughty or nice list I wish you the best Holiday with your family… 

Let’s check back next week to see how everyone is doing! 

Have a good week!  Party on and be safe! 

Episode 2 — Proof

Episode 3 — Dorado Falls

Episode 4 — Childhood\’s Hour

Episode 5 Epilogue

Episode 6 – There\’s no Place Like Home!

Then I turned on Facebook and a friend of mine has posted this.

So I sobbed uncontrollably for a couple minutes. 

Then someone sent me a picture of this little baby who was thrown from a truck and is looking for a home. 

So then there was more tears.

I found out that one of my staff member’s Mother’s is very sick and the person who told me was crying and so I started again! 

I was speaking to my boss about somethings that are really frustrating me and with all that crying I have already done there is a flood of tears just waiting to come out….  So guess what…  More crying out of frustration.

Then it dawns on me.  Out I pull the calendar!  Ahhh!  It’s time for my Aunt Dot!

Gotta love it!

 PMS Picture courtesy of http://www.shapelife.co.za/blog/pms-pms-help-pms-symptoms.html

Puppy Picture courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hernando-County-Animal-Controls-Friends/237304432992962

We sat on the 401 Markham Rd. through Courtice Rd for an hour and 15 minutes.  Then we decided to go north to Taunton, get on the 115 and then take seven to hwy 62.  Four hours later we arrived. 

Upon arrival we baked an apple pie and watched Catch and Release.  James was not amused but I love it.

 Bed came quickly.  Four hours of driving is tiresome.

 We slept in quite a bit on Saturday morning and had a lovely bacon and egg breakfast then James headed out to Bancroft to get a few things I had forgotten to pack.  I seized this time to get some work done that I had been trying to do for weeks but just could not get to at the office.

 So two job descriptions and one business proposal down and I moved on to more work on the time lines in my business plan for the First Impressions department.  By this time James was home. 

 I rounded out my work for Saturday with two chapters in my writing class and writing two class discussions to post when I am back in the land of the living and completed the second assignment.  Then I moved onto two chapters of Pharmacology and discovered that not only are the ACE Inhibitors that cause of my bladder issues that my SSRIs have something to do with the queasiness I have recently been experiencing.  Ahh!  The things you learn. 

 We cooked the M&M French Onion Soup that James picked up while he was out in Bancroft and we tried that for the first time.  I must say it was sumptuous and there is now a broccoli and loaded baked potato flavours in the freezer can’t wait to try them.  I may actually pick some up for lunch.  $2.50 a pop and seven minutes in the micro, can’t go too wrong. 

 We had a lovely mashed potato, fried mushroom and onion, rib steak dinner and then we ate the lovely apple pie with whipped cream.

 While we did all of this we watched a Harry’s Law marathon on Global (the only channel we get) and I have decided I might actually like that show.

 We stayed up as long as we could and made through half an hour of Saturday Night Live.  James went to bed I was half asleep on the couch.  James lasted in the bed for about 15 minutes then came running out saying there is something scurrying around in there.  I laughed at him and helped him into the middle bedroom.

 We slept until about 6AM on Sunday morning when James announced his back was killing him and that is my queue to know that if he is not sleeping neither is I.  But the other thing that happens when we are not sleeping is Brody does not sleep.  So a walk in the dark at 6AM was in the cards. 

 Back home I curled up on the couch and fell deeply back to sleep.

 At about 10AM James woke me up with a Bacon sarnie and tea.  I nice start…

 James headed out again for somethings he forgot yesterday.  And I tucked into writing an article for submission to The Bark Magazine. 

 After that I spent sometime nursing a headache and reading more of my Pharmacology text-book.

 I watched various episodes of The Simpsons which I truly think melted my brain and then Maid of Honour with Mc Dreamy and Mc Steamy came on and so I stopped to watch that.  James arrived home with McDonald’s chicken nuggets and BBQ sauce.  Oh how I love this boy! 

 More walks with Brody it is so lovely here we don’t want to stay inside. 

 James is napping as I write this and I am waiting for him to get up so I can put the ham and turkey in the oven…  Yes I am attempting to cook a turkey and at the cottage none the less.

 I have to admit that I have never been much of a cook and never really wanted to cook.  But there is something in me right now that is wanting to nest.  Have home, cook for my family, be a mother, be a wife, be a home body.  I don’t know what it is but I was discussing this with my secretary about a week ago and she told me she is going through this too.  She is recently married and we simply deduced that we have each finally found that right person after all this time and our maternal clock and natural feminine instincts are kicking in.

 Don’t worry peeps I won’t be turning in my office wardrobe and giving up my career for cooking backing day and night.  It’s just nice to know I might want it all… 

 I am sitting here watching 16:9 right now.  I am so loathed by the people on this show.  The first story was about the wild horses in Calgary and the fact that people find them to be a pain rather than a beautiful creature of nature that should be taken care of.  The government doesn’t class them as wild which would mean they could be protected they are classed as feral which means they are seen as vermin like the coyote.  People are shooting them and leaving them to die and the only fine that can be laid is a $10,000 monetary punishment and an 18 month jail sentence.  Even killing a deer out of season comes with a $50,000 fine.  The next story is about amazing children growing up with AIDS.  One boy was diagnosed with the disease at age five.  His mother shocked that her five-year old had AIDS questioned his father, who actually admitted to injecting his own son with AIDS tainted blood in order to kill him to avoid paying child support.  WHAT THE HELL HAS THIS WORLD COME TO?

 Had a lovely visit with our neighbour Teresa.  It was her mother’s passing that I spoke about back in August that was affecting my sense of mortality.  As my former Art Teacher pointed out, it is hard to be in the generation watching the older generation pass away.  We talked about Terry’s feelings and we laughed and watched some TV.  It’s good to know that after all this time (we have known each other since before we were born.) we can still be that close.  I promised we would get together for dinner soon.  After all she only lives in Oshawa.

 Anyway, it’s time to put my turkey in the oven and watch that for the next couple of hours.  Potatoes, stuffing, garlic bread and salad and turkey!  Mmmm my fave! 

 We are leaving the cottage tomorrow for the season.  We will not be back until next spring.  I am sad.  I love this place.  I hate to leave it.  But I know it will always be there when the snow melts, the ice goes out and the seasons change. 

 As a child Thanksgiving was always my favorite time to be at the cottage.  We would run around and collect leaves and sneak over to our neighbours place to dunk them in the wax that was set out for plucking the ducks that were caught…  It was hot in the cottage from the cooking…  The neighbours would come over we would all eat together.  20 of us.  It was the best of times.  We would have whipped cream wars and there was this once when I uncle and father tried to get a wasp’s nest out of the eaves…  Oh but that my friends (in the immortal words of Hammy Hamster) is another story.

 I hope that no matter what you did you enjoyed your day and were thankful for something.  I know I am and I know that I have so much to be thankful for!

 Sorry I have not written in a while.  I am now trying to get my business up and going, writing for another blog and studying Pharmacology and Writing for the Web as well as working full-time and being all things to everyone in my life that need me.  I promise I will make this blog a priority and am thankful that you are still reading my thoughts!

 Be safe and see you all soon! 

WHAT THE HELL is wrong with parents.  Dogs and children can live very happy intertwined lives if each is taught to respect the other…..  However many adult human beings don’t bother to train their dog or their children….

OK so here are some very simply and should be OBVIOUS rules…

1 — Children cannot take care of themselves let alone a dog.  If you get one and bring it to your house hold YOU as the ADULT are responsible for its, feeding, walking, thirst quenching, health, poop picking up.  Even if you say “we are getting a dog for the kids…”  Even if you have this conversation “It will be Johnny’s responsibility to walk Rover and Sally’s to feed him…”  Even if you have THE BEST kids on earth….  YOU ARE THE ADULT, YOU HAVE THE LOGICALLY THINKING BRAIN!  Or we would like to think.

2 — If the dog is bigger/weighs more than your child…  Then the child should not even hold the dog’s leash when you are with them…  They can walk beside you and learn the proper way to walk the dog and deal with approaching people, but if that dog can pull your child behind it like a kite when it runs….  IS THAT REALLY SAFE FOR ANYONE INVOLVED?  Think about it…..

3 — Dog’s should never be left alone with babies and children.  I don’t care how well-behaved your dog is, you have no idea what your child is doing when you are not watching.  The dog gives a growl to warn, that it wants no more of the baby screaming and kicking…  Baby has no idea what a growl is…  Dog holds on as long as he can…  Baby screams a little too loud, dog is startled, bites…  what next….  We all know….  You lovely good-natured dog who would not hurt a fly, becomes a vicious dog that you don’t want around or no longer trust….  When you set this all in motion in the first place….

4 — It is not funny for a baby to use the dogs fur to pull up when learning to walk… and other such scenarios…  Not only should you teach your kids to respect your dog…  YOU have to learn this too….  No matter how cute it is to watch baby darling crawl up to the dog and eat the dog food…  The dog does not feel the same as you….  No matter how cute it is to see baby darling crawl up and use Rovers fur to stand up with, IT HURTS…  Give your hair a tug, see how you like it.

5 — Teach your child that not all dogs are like yours.  I am a dog lover.  I have to fight myself every time I see a dog to not run up and throw myself at it.  However I have learned to say “can I say hi to your dog” if they say no then I happily say “Ok” and move on.  Someone else’s dog is someone else’s dog.  Just because your dog is tolerant of your child….  Doesn’t mean Max from two streets over is going to be too….  Teach your kids that they HAVE to ask before running up on a dog…. 

6 — If you have a fear of dogs…. DON’T TRANSFER IT TO YOUR CHILD!  Fears can be learned…  But they don’t have to be.  Your fear of dogs, does not have to become your child’s fear too! 

I know that everyone thinks their dog is perfect…  God knows I think mine is and he ate my (fake) Ugg boot last night while I was sleeping!  To me he is still perfect.  However I know his limitations.  Only you know your dogs limitations.  You are his life line…  You are his voice…  Be smart!