Work ethic, church, bingo and a lady named Mary!

My first personal confessions blog following my run as Acting Associate Chair and this week I recapped the happenings in and around my little world.

Under the O, 68
This was a busy week at the girls’ school with it being Catholic Education Week. Julia and her grade 1 class put on a Mary celebration on Tuesday, Jordyn sang in the choir for the mass at church on Wednesday and Thursday was family literacy night at their school, with an open house featuring children’s performer “Markus” (http://www.markusmusic.com/) and free BINGO. I mention the free BINGO because it is my favourite part. Yes, I am the BINGO caller. Fulfilling a lifelong dream of one day becoming a professional BINGO caller. The whole room hanging on every word, the shear power of those little letters and numbers and the huge prize table is something to behold. This was the first year that one of my children won, and I only had to hear “Why didn’t you call B8” from one of my girls.

Work Ethic
Living under another’s roof is said to be a big challenge for most but our situations is amplified by the fact that it is 4 bodies, 5 if you count the dog, living under a roof that already contains 5 bodies of its own. Moving our family into my sister’s house was a difficult decision for us, but with 2 full weeks under our belt, I can say things are settling in. The extra drive, a couple of dog incidences and little girls that still struggle with the concept of picking up after themselves aside, things are going smooth and I want to thank Debbie and Guy for letting us invade their house.

One thing is clear to me so far. Guy is still one of the hardest working guys I know, being the first out of the house at around 5:30 – 6:00, and returning most nights after 7:30. His work ethic is something he has passed onto his son Branden, who after returning from his CO-OP placement most nights goes back out to cut neighborhood lawns for a couple more hours. If that was not enough, between him and his brother Rylan, they are both highly competitive soccer players, practicing or playing 2 or 3 times each week.

School / Work
I did come in this week after my vacation started last Friday, mostly to get my office cleaned up and help out my Acting coordinator, Jim with a little student advisement. But I had fun for a little bit on Thursday thanks to Tim Abbott’s invite to the hill for a little lunch break. Joined by JoAnn and Anthony, we had a fun discussion on some new program concepts for SCA. Look for an official proposal coming soon!

A good day
What is it that tells you early on in your day that today is going to be a good day? Today, Nathalie got a good sign on her commute to work when she came across a guy stopped on one of the back roads, unable to proceed. He was just laughing, with his hands up in the air, shaking his head because of what was crossing the road and what was likely causing him, and now Nathalie to be late for work; a rafter (I looked it up!) of Wild Turkeys. Now there is something you don’t see everyday on a commute from Mississauga. Hey Nathalie, what’s for dinner tonight?

In closing
The value of money is something we are always trying to teach our children, and there are times that they illustrate they understand the lessons by showing restraint while in a store filled with stuff they just have to have and sometimes they don’t. Our little shoppers are great at looking, especially with their hands, and love to touch, feel and sometimes try on things but they both know that we are saving for our house, and have been pretty good about things over the last couple of months. That is why, Julia offering to pay half of the cost of her Friday morning breakfast treat this morning, took me by surprise. In the past Julia has been the one to find money lying around the house and is happy to shove it in her little purse, so when I asked how much she had, I was expecting her to present that hundred dollar bill I thought I lost last year, but instead she gave me the 2 pennies she had.

Thanks Julia, and now you have my 2 cents as well…
Jim


3 thoughts on “Work ethic, church, bingo and a lady named Mary!”

  1. Just makes me miss you guys more. Especially your sense of humour – I can hear you say what you’re writing.

  2. Jim, it is a pleasure to read your new blog (congrats!) Because I am still at CHUM a couple of days a week, it does me good to see so many grads employed there and enjoying what they do. I also hear a lot of our grads on 680 news or working behind the scenes. There is no doubt that, under your leadership, we are graduating quite a few talented and determined folks who are getting jobs!!!!!!

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