But those words all describe some of what I am feeling these days. Betrayed is another. I have been dealing with the Ontario and Canadian government system and it hasn't been a fun experience. I have learned that they are in place to screw you every time you turn around.
I have been on the Ontario Disability pension for over 20 years and although they are rigid they are not really hard to deal with, mind your p's and q's, do as they ask and you are okay. However, in January my husband started recieving his old age pension and CPP which he has paid into for his entire working life and my Disability was immediately cut off. Dropped like a hot cake, leaving me with no drug coverage. He is making quite a bit less on his pension than I was on disability and now I have to cover my own drugs ( I take 32 pills per day, plus diabetic supplies), thank goodness his is covered under ODB but I am not 65 so it won't cover me.
Oh wait good news, since I turned 60 in May I am entitled to spousal support which will start in June.. wonderful that makes things a bit better. What's this????? The spousal support will be deducted from my husbands old age pension? Why does my support have to be deducted from his money? Why bother to give it to me if you are going to just take from one hand to give to the other? It just doesn't make any sense at all.
So okay, I apply for CPP - Disability. Yes, there is a good likelihood that I will be approved.. now I am being told that if I am approved, that too will be deducted from my husbands old age pension!! Why??? That pension is his, he has paid for it all his life, my income should have nothing to do with his. Why is my own government treating us this way? Why are we not allowed to have enough income to live on? Are they afraid there will be too many seniors for the health care to take care off so they want some of us to starve to death? I'm sure that is the only reason I can think of.
I have paid into the CPP eversince I was old enough to start working and I deserve my pension just has my husband deserves his. This is no way to treat the people who are giving them mega pensions for life just for working for a few years. I think it is time to protest to our local MPs and MPPs.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Monday, June 3, 2013
Project Life
Well Alicia thought she would throw something unexpected at us with June's kit and popped in a project life page protecter for us to work with.
Now I have been watching for some time on the blogs, people who are scrapping this way and can't believe that they would prefer this to doing regular scrapping. To me it isn't scrapping at all it is basically back to just putting your photos in a photo album.
However, to please the boss lady, I did my project life assignment don't like it, never will, this is it for me with that type of scrapping LOL
Now I have been watching for some time on the blogs, people who are scrapping this way and can't believe that they would prefer this to doing regular scrapping. To me it isn't scrapping at all it is basically back to just putting your photos in a photo album.
However, to please the boss lady, I did my project life assignment don't like it, never will, this is it for me with that type of scrapping LOL
Saturday, June 1, 2013
June
Another month as come and gone. There is freaky weather happening all over the place, tornados, floods, fires, to name a few. Some cities have been wiped out leaving people with nothing. I pray that the people affected will have the strength and courage to make it through and to rebuild. I can't think what I would do if it happened to me. I just think of all my scrapbooks and photos still not scrapped.. if they were ever wiped away it would kill me.
Down a Dirt Road's June Kit Reveal
This months kit contained the Basic Grey's Hopscotch line. It was a great line to scrap with. So far I have completed three layouts and a card but I have a lot left over to do more with. Last month was a blur for me and I ended up pushing myself to get my projects done on the very last day so I feel that I have let Alicia down by not using up more of the product for the reveal, but I will use more of it during the month.
First up is "You Are Getting My Goat", as you know by now, I love animals and if we are out driving and I see one, it is a MUST to pull over and get a few shots. I loved this one of the goat, not sure what he was eating but he was sure working hard to get it.
The next one is "The Kids". Jack and Lucky will sleep anywhere. Especially Lucky, I think she has sleep apnea, she will be running around playing and suddenly she will just lie down whereever she is and go to sleep. However, when I get home from work, they meet me at the door and follow me to my chair and just love on me, each trying to push the other out of the way.
When we were walking on one of the trails I spotted this tree and just about killed my self laughing. Once I regained my composure I just had to have a picture of it. I mean how many times in your life are you going to see a pregnant tree?
My grandson is graduating from Grade 8 this month and of course we are very proud of him, he is graduating with the highest honours. That of course means we need a card to tuck a little something inside off.
I really love the hopscotch line because it is so versatile.
Down a Dirt Road's June Kit Reveal
This months kit contained the Basic Grey's Hopscotch line. It was a great line to scrap with. So far I have completed three layouts and a card but I have a lot left over to do more with. Last month was a blur for me and I ended up pushing myself to get my projects done on the very last day so I feel that I have let Alicia down by not using up more of the product for the reveal, but I will use more of it during the month.
First up is "You Are Getting My Goat", as you know by now, I love animals and if we are out driving and I see one, it is a MUST to pull over and get a few shots. I loved this one of the goat, not sure what he was eating but he was sure working hard to get it.
The next one is "The Kids". Jack and Lucky will sleep anywhere. Especially Lucky, I think she has sleep apnea, she will be running around playing and suddenly she will just lie down whereever she is and go to sleep. However, when I get home from work, they meet me at the door and follow me to my chair and just love on me, each trying to push the other out of the way.
When we were walking on one of the trails I spotted this tree and just about killed my self laughing. Once I regained my composure I just had to have a picture of it. I mean how many times in your life are you going to see a pregnant tree?
My grandson is graduating from Grade 8 this month and of course we are very proud of him, he is graduating with the highest honours. That of course means we need a card to tuck a little something inside off.
I really love the hopscotch line because it is so versatile.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
May Day
Wow I can't believe that April has come and gone already. Of course I am quite happy to get to the nicer weather.
This month our kit from Down a Dirt Road was Theresa Collins and I loved it.
Here are some of the things I created with my kit and I still have lots left over to create more with.
I started with this card.
The inside:
Next I did this layout.. it didn't come out the way I wanted it.. the pink mist was too bright, I was going for a much lighter shade.
I think taking a ride in one of these horse drawn carriages is an absolute must do when you visit Niagara Falls.
An older picture of us starting out on one of the many trails.
This month our kit from Down a Dirt Road was Theresa Collins and I loved it.
Here are some of the things I created with my kit and I still have lots left over to create more with.
I started with this card.
The inside:
Next I did this layout.. it didn't come out the way I wanted it.. the pink mist was too bright, I was going for a much lighter shade.
I think taking a ride in one of these horse drawn carriages is an absolute must do when you visit Niagara Falls.
An older picture of us starting out on one of the many trails.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
A little here and a little there.
Nothing earth shaking happening in my neck of the woods. Of course from where I sit, I can't even see any woods LOL.
I miss that about Newfoundland, where I lived in Newfoundland, right across the road from me was woods that went on for miles and miles and miles. As a child I played in those woods, picked berries in those woods and loved those woods... Never thought I would miss them but I do. On the other side of our house was the bay, we just went down over the bank and we were in the beach and we played down there a lot too. It's funny to think how our parents never worried about us getting lost or drowning.. we were just kids 6 or 7 and we played outside all day without them knowing where we were.Did parents just not care back then or were kids more responsible? Interesting to think about. I can't imagine a parent today allowing their children to be gone all day especially playing in the woods or down by a lake without having someone older with them.
Anyway I digress. Sometimes I do get lonely for home but it isn't home anymore, Ontario is my home now and has been for many years. I really have no desire to go back to Newfoundland, nothing calling me back there.I would rather go out west and see the parts of the country that I haven't seen yet.
This being retired is okay for some but after the first couple of months it is not for me. I am going crazy sitting at home with nothing to do. I really enjoyed having day after day to scrap and be online for the first little while but scrapping so much like that took the enjoyment out of it and I got bored with it. I dislike watching tv but the past few nights I have found myself watching "Bones", "NCIS", "Law & Order Criminal Intent", "Law & Order SVU", "Murder she Wrote", "The Mentalist", and even some "Texas Ranger"... yeah we can call that bored.Texas Ranger I don't like at all, and The Mentalist comes in a close second to that. The other ones are okay it is just I have a problem sitting still and making my brain follow the plot. But then I have a problem making my brain understand a lot of things.
I did a couple of pages for my art journal that I would like to share with you.
I did this one for Easter. I have a ton of Victoria graphics and I love this cross.
I also love this boot.. can't imagine having to do up all those buttons though. I used texture gel and coloured it white then shook some diamond dust on it to give it the appearance of snow. I did this one to sybolize my kicking my bad thoughts away.
I did this one to represent my desire for spring which appears to be never going to show up around here.
I saw the slogan "Live life in Full Colour" and thought I would do a page in my journal for it.
At the Flying Unicorn they have a challenge called paper tearing, so I created this layout for that challenge.I was thrilled with the way it turned out.
Lucky wanted to help me with my photo printing so she was trying to get the photo out of the printer, she had a problem though, everytime she put her paw in, the printer head would go across and hit it making her pull it back out. She was fine with my printer because whatever you are printing slowly makes its way out of the printer as it prints. However, when she decided to help Alan it was a different story, the paper stays in the printer until the printing is finished and then the printer spits it out. Lucky must have jumped 6 feet. It was so funny. I wish I hadn't put down the camera when I did or otherwise I would have had the shot of her jumping.
Now the printer isn't the only thing that caught her attention. When I did some cutting with my Expression, she became extremely intriqued and couldn't take her eyes off it. Being aware of this, I quickly closed it up which I normally don't do but Lucky will walk on anything or JUMP on anything and I didn't want the tray broken off. I also grabbed my camera and followed her movements cause I knew she was up to no good. Suddenly she spotted the cartridges on the shelf... hmmmm they should be on the floor was her way of thinking. She tried pulling them off but they wouldn't budge which meant she had to jump up there and push them off... not a large space so she had to be careful. Well she got up there but when she tried to turn around to start pushing the cartridges, they all started to fall, her with them. It was just too funny.
I also did this layout of my darling Samantha.. Just couldn't help myself LOL
I miss that about Newfoundland, where I lived in Newfoundland, right across the road from me was woods that went on for miles and miles and miles. As a child I played in those woods, picked berries in those woods and loved those woods... Never thought I would miss them but I do. On the other side of our house was the bay, we just went down over the bank and we were in the beach and we played down there a lot too. It's funny to think how our parents never worried about us getting lost or drowning.. we were just kids 6 or 7 and we played outside all day without them knowing where we were.Did parents just not care back then or were kids more responsible? Interesting to think about. I can't imagine a parent today allowing their children to be gone all day especially playing in the woods or down by a lake without having someone older with them.
Anyway I digress. Sometimes I do get lonely for home but it isn't home anymore, Ontario is my home now and has been for many years. I really have no desire to go back to Newfoundland, nothing calling me back there.I would rather go out west and see the parts of the country that I haven't seen yet.
This being retired is okay for some but after the first couple of months it is not for me. I am going crazy sitting at home with nothing to do. I really enjoyed having day after day to scrap and be online for the first little while but scrapping so much like that took the enjoyment out of it and I got bored with it. I dislike watching tv but the past few nights I have found myself watching "Bones", "NCIS", "Law & Order Criminal Intent", "Law & Order SVU", "Murder she Wrote", "The Mentalist", and even some "Texas Ranger"... yeah we can call that bored.Texas Ranger I don't like at all, and The Mentalist comes in a close second to that. The other ones are okay it is just I have a problem sitting still and making my brain follow the plot. But then I have a problem making my brain understand a lot of things.
I did a couple of pages for my art journal that I would like to share with you.
I did this one for Easter. I have a ton of Victoria graphics and I love this cross.
I also love this boot.. can't imagine having to do up all those buttons though. I used texture gel and coloured it white then shook some diamond dust on it to give it the appearance of snow. I did this one to sybolize my kicking my bad thoughts away.
I did this one to represent my desire for spring which appears to be never going to show up around here.
I saw the slogan "Live life in Full Colour" and thought I would do a page in my journal for it.
At the Flying Unicorn they have a challenge called paper tearing, so I created this layout for that challenge.I was thrilled with the way it turned out.
Lucky wanted to help me with my photo printing so she was trying to get the photo out of the printer, she had a problem though, everytime she put her paw in, the printer head would go across and hit it making her pull it back out. She was fine with my printer because whatever you are printing slowly makes its way out of the printer as it prints. However, when she decided to help Alan it was a different story, the paper stays in the printer until the printing is finished and then the printer spits it out. Lucky must have jumped 6 feet. It was so funny. I wish I hadn't put down the camera when I did or otherwise I would have had the shot of her jumping.
Now the printer isn't the only thing that caught her attention. When I did some cutting with my Expression, she became extremely intriqued and couldn't take her eyes off it. Being aware of this, I quickly closed it up which I normally don't do but Lucky will walk on anything or JUMP on anything and I didn't want the tray broken off. I also grabbed my camera and followed her movements cause I knew she was up to no good. Suddenly she spotted the cartridges on the shelf... hmmmm they should be on the floor was her way of thinking. She tried pulling them off but they wouldn't budge which meant she had to jump up there and push them off... not a large space so she had to be careful. Well she got up there but when she tried to turn around to start pushing the cartridges, they all started to fall, her with them. It was just too funny.
I also did this layout of my darling Samantha.. Just couldn't help myself LOL
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Family
My family means everything to me. So with that said, here are a couple of layouts with my family. The first layout is of my beautiful neice, the photo was taken a few years ago. I created this layout for a challenge at Down a Dirt Road to complete a layout using more than one one manufacturer's paper.
Materials used:Paper: Prima-Nature Garden, Basic Grey- Serenade, Fiddersholm- Huntington Garden, Graphic45- Bird Song, Tattered Angels - Glimmer mistables, Basic Grey- Serenade flags and banners, TCW - Diamonds stencil, EK Success - border punch, Lindy's Mists- Afternoon Delight Denim and Wild Honeysuckle Coral.
This next layout was created for a sketch challenge at DCVW blog.
It is a photo of my darling daughter and myself.
Everything used on the layout was from the DCVW French Country Stack, other than a Kaiser Craft die cut, some distress inks, Dollar store pearls, and Jolee's boutique button.
Materials used:Paper: Prima-Nature Garden, Basic Grey- Serenade, Fiddersholm- Huntington Garden, Graphic45- Bird Song, Tattered Angels - Glimmer mistables, Basic Grey- Serenade flags and banners, TCW - Diamonds stencil, EK Success - border punch, Lindy's Mists- Afternoon Delight Denim and Wild Honeysuckle Coral.
This next layout was created for a sketch challenge at DCVW blog.
It is a photo of my darling daughter and myself.
Everything used on the layout was from the DCVW French Country Stack, other than a Kaiser Craft die cut, some distress inks, Dollar store pearls, and Jolee's boutique button.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Kit Reveal
Today is reveal day at Down a Dirt Road.
Wow, I was sent the most wonderful kit to work with... MME- On the Sunny Side and Crate Paper - Samantha. I had a wonderful time creating with those lovely papers.
The first layout I created was about having my grandkids with me for the March break.
Some up close pics.
Created using:Coredinations Cardstock, My Mind's Eye- On the Sunny Side collection, Sizzix - Tattered Flowers Die, Buttons- Doodlebug/ladybug assortment and Jolee's boutique/French General, American Craft Ribbon, Rangers Stickles, Golden-Glass bead Gel, The Crafter's Workshop- Celtic Circle stencil, Distress ink pad- festive berries, Ranger liquid pearls, Smooch Spritz and heart-Handmade with Love.
The next layout I did was about a day at the beach. For this one I went back in time a bit and made a Shaker box to hold some sand and little bits of shell.
Some close ups.
Materials used: MME- On The Sunny Side collection/papers/rub-ons/die-cuts, Bazzil cardstock, Smooch spritz, American Craft ribbon, Fiskars edge punch, TH Distress marker- Black Soot, BG - Nook and Pantry alphas. Sand, shells and stones from Rhondeau beach :)
The next layout was about my Dad's youngest sister, also the youngest in his family and the only one still alive. I don't have many pics of my aunt's and uncle's so when my cousin sent me this one a couple of weeks ago I knew it HAD to be scrapped right away.
Materials used: MME- Bungalow, Crate Paper- Samantha, Prima- Vintage Trinkets, Creative Imaginations- Epoxy sticker, The Crafters Workshop stencils, Lindy's Mists, Heart and journal stamp-unknown.
Please take the time to check out the other CT's blogs and see what they did with their kits.
Down A Dirt Road Tasha Tracy
Wow, I was sent the most wonderful kit to work with... MME- On the Sunny Side and Crate Paper - Samantha. I had a wonderful time creating with those lovely papers.
The first layout I created was about having my grandkids with me for the March break.
Some up close pics.
Created using:Coredinations Cardstock, My Mind's Eye- On the Sunny Side collection, Sizzix - Tattered Flowers Die, Buttons- Doodlebug/ladybug assortment and Jolee's boutique/French General, American Craft Ribbon, Rangers Stickles, Golden-Glass bead Gel, The Crafter's Workshop- Celtic Circle stencil, Distress ink pad- festive berries, Ranger liquid pearls, Smooch Spritz and heart-Handmade with Love.
The next layout I did was about a day at the beach. For this one I went back in time a bit and made a Shaker box to hold some sand and little bits of shell.
Some close ups.
Materials used: MME- On The Sunny Side collection/papers/rub-ons/die-cuts, Bazzil cardstock, Smooch spritz, American Craft ribbon, Fiskars edge punch, TH Distress marker- Black Soot, BG - Nook and Pantry alphas. Sand, shells and stones from Rhondeau beach :)
The next layout was about my Dad's youngest sister, also the youngest in his family and the only one still alive. I don't have many pics of my aunt's and uncle's so when my cousin sent me this one a couple of weeks ago I knew it HAD to be scrapped right away.
Materials used: MME- Bungalow, Crate Paper- Samantha, Prima- Vintage Trinkets, Creative Imaginations- Epoxy sticker, The Crafters Workshop stencils, Lindy's Mists, Heart and journal stamp-unknown.
Please take the time to check out the other CT's blogs and see what they did with their kits.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Spring Blog Hop
I had to use mine to create this layout about my mischievious grand daughter. She loves to pose for photo ops, but you never know what she is going to do between the time you say "hold it there" and the time you push the button. You can end up with a perfect picture or she might be on her head.. it's is always a toss up.
Materials used:
Bazzil Cardstock,
Doodlebug- Hello Spring papers,
The Crafters Workshop stencil,
TH Distress Marker,
Stampendous- Aged Ochre embossing powder,
Kaiser Kraft- Believe Stamp,
Color Bok- black ink,
Luminarte- gingerflower ink,
Journal spot- MME- Just a girl,
Journal spot- MME- Just a girl,
Buttons- Studio G,
MS-edge punch,
Doodlebug Designs- Baker's Twine,
Flowers - hand made,
Bingo Card-Jenni Bowlin,
Butterflies- American Crafts,
heart- Custom Creations,
and Kaiser Craft bling.
Your next stop on the hop is Tasha
Then Tracy
If you didn't arrive here from Down a Dirt Road, you will need to go back there.
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Art Journal
I have been playing in my art journal again. I purchased some new Pitt artist pens and am thrilled with them. Of course I had to play with them immediately when I got home. So I decided the best way to do that was to do an art journal page. I had also purchased a new stamp, expensive one... a buck fifty LOL, and a new stencil that I was dying to use. So I came up with this page. Of course I also used my Gelatos on it too.
Wanting to play somemore with my Pitt pens and new stencil, I kept going with another page. This time I decided to use Glass bead Gel medium coloured with Gelatos and some Martha Steward Stucco which I coloured with the Pitt pens once it was dry. I also used a bit of Reeves Gauche paint.
Today I wanted to play with the Lindy's Mists. So I covered my page heavily with gesso, then daubed at it with paper towel to get texture. While it was still wet I misted using 5 different Lindy's purple tones. For the bottom right hand corner I daubed with goosebumps then I used a stamp on it while still wet. Now I have been collecting graphics online since I first got a computer way back when. I have a separate hard drive that holds all my graphics including complete collections of different artists so when I want an image to use, it isn't hard to find one. This lady looking out to sea with flowers in one hand and a sea shell in the other was just the right image for this page about my sometimes longing for back home.
Stay tuned, tomorrow is the big kit reveal day for Down a Dirt Road.
Wanting to play somemore with my Pitt pens and new stencil, I kept going with another page. This time I decided to use Glass bead Gel medium coloured with Gelatos and some Martha Steward Stucco which I coloured with the Pitt pens once it was dry. I also used a bit of Reeves Gauche paint.
Today I wanted to play with the Lindy's Mists. So I covered my page heavily with gesso, then daubed at it with paper towel to get texture. While it was still wet I misted using 5 different Lindy's purple tones. For the bottom right hand corner I daubed with goosebumps then I used a stamp on it while still wet. Now I have been collecting graphics online since I first got a computer way back when. I have a separate hard drive that holds all my graphics including complete collections of different artists so when I want an image to use, it isn't hard to find one. This lady looking out to sea with flowers in one hand and a sea shell in the other was just the right image for this page about my sometimes longing for back home.
Stay tuned, tomorrow is the big kit reveal day for Down a Dirt Road.
Friday, March 29, 2013
The Paper Pickle
I just wanted to take a few minutes and give a shout out to The Paper Pickle Chatham Kents local scrapbooking store. Now you can choose to go to Micheal's for your scrapbooking needs and pay about 20% more but I much prefer the comradery and friendship at the Paper Pickle, plus their prices are better too. Not only that but if they don't have what you are looking for, they will order it in for you.
They are located at 44 fourth street in Chatham. Personally I don't like their hours but well we just have to accept some things we don't like LOL. I used to shop online a lot but have found that Kim's prices are either cheaper than or the same as the prices online without the shipping charges. So the next time you decide you need some scrappy supplies, check Kim out.. well the store anyway :)
They are located at 44 fourth street in Chatham. Personally I don't like their hours but well we just have to accept some things we don't like LOL. I used to shop online a lot but have found that Kim's prices are either cheaper than or the same as the prices online without the shipping charges. So the next time you decide you need some scrappy supplies, check Kim out.. well the store anyway :)
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