Words That Count, Traffic and Happy, Happy, Happy

Words that count, traffic and happy, happy, happy, the week 14 recap of the week that went to the dogs, in the Carr house.


The little fur ball - Jersey!

Dogs
We have a great dog, all be it an old dog, but a great dog nonetheless and we certainly do love him. This weekend, we got a reminder of the young dog he once was in the form of an 8-month-old little ball of fur named Jersey. He belongs to my sister’s family and with them on the road for a couple of days, it is our turn to pay back some of the dog sitting credits me have amassed over the 14 years with Bentley and dog-sit their little mutt. It was fun to see them running around and Bentley even showed glimpses of his own adolescence by playing way more than he normally does. I am giving myself the award for line of the weekend, after shouting out for the 10th time, “Jersey, if you keep smelling his bum, he will get upset”. Now there is something you are not going to hear everyday!


Word Count

I love my blog. I love to go back in the archives and read bits and pieces of old posts, and each time I do, it takes me right back to where it was I was when writing it, and of course right back to the situation I was writing about in the post. I love that I have readers, but truth be told I do this for me mostly. I am very happy, that I can take a 1000 word snapshot into life and times of my family and sometimes pull it off with a laugh or two and am able to post it for the world to see, as if standing on top of a mountain and shouting, “Listen to me, and hear how great my family is!”

I love that some of the points are just silly observations, and some are about the family and some are about work, but somehow, seemingly with purpose, I can tie them all together. This week is my 79th entry and that brings my total written word count to an alarming, 77,244 or around 167 pages and the way I look at it, that is not too shabby, for a little less than two years of writing. So thanks for taking the time to read and please feel free to comment.

Traffic
I take the GO bus to work as often as I can. It is great, I always listen to music and do home work or write, or most likely get caught up in the world according to Facebook. I have to confess, I have a routine that includes checking a number of friends’ statuses and in doing so, I get a good picture of what is going on around my little world. I have made the joke before, that if I am in trouble I will likely find out about it first using some form of social media. Well, early this week. I laughed at the updates from Nathalie’s BFF, WW. It would seem that she had a very rough week due to an overwhelming amount of traffic, driving the same direction she was going at the very same time she was on trips to and from work, a couple of days in a row.

Now, I want to clarify, I was not laughing at WW in a mean way. You see I am sure she knows voodoo and could easily fashion a doll in my likeness, from stuff she has around her house (if she has not already done so), but I am simply bring up her dilemma because of my own commute on Friday. I wanted to just get there, and get home as fast as I could so I drove. After sitting in horrible traffic for more then 40 minutes, I thought about WW and her updates and me laughing at her from my comfortable seat on the bus and had to admit, that it was likely karma playing its cruel little game with me.

The one positive thing I was able to take from my car ride was the introduction to a song that I had never heard before. I saw these two girls in a minivan just going to town, with an air band performance from the anonymous safety of their own front seats. Until they finally came window to window with me, and I smiled and laughed at their performance, and then they buried their heads, laughing at themselves. They didn’t know what to do, when I rolled down my window to ask them what song had them dancing and singing so much? Turns out that it was Ricki Lee – Cant Touch It and I just have never heard it before. Wikipedia says it is from 2007, but most recently in the trailer for the movie, Sex In The City 2. I downloaded it when I got home, and in the end, I was able to pull somewhat of a smile from a lousy traffic situation.

Happy
I think I am at my happiest when we entertain guests at our home. Now there are lots of other times in my life I am happy, but this weekend I was reminded just how fun it is to have friends and family come to our house. It makes all the mad cleaning that we do, hours before hand all worth it. I love walking around the super clean house, topping up drinks and making sure that the people in our home are well fed, and lubricated (with drinks of course), while engaging them with interesting conversations and laughing. Lots of laughing!

Saturday night, while the kids where at a birthday sleep over, L & L came for dinner and drinks and we had a blast. If that wasn’t fun enough, we also have Nathalie’s parents, her sister and her family and Nathalie’s brother coming over tonight for dinner. This is just the kind of weekend we need every weekend.

In closing
Jordyn is one of the most sensitive and caring people I know and that she is only 11 makes me think that she is bound to become an even better person then she is all ready. This week, Nathalie and I had a bit of a disagreement about something, and when two passionate people such as us disagree, the conversation to solve the differences can be a little confusing. Nathalie wanted to clear her head, so she went to the store and when she left, Jordyn our little marriage counselor, who was supposed to be in bed, got to work on a three page, hand written letter, outlining her love for us and the reasons it is wrong to fight, and a simple solution for our differences. I will not scribe her entire letter here, but I loved this sentence the most, “Mom and Dad, Christmas is about giving and finding times to love and (not) times for hate. This time you are giving hate to each other by yelling.” I love you Jordyn and am so proud of you each day that you show us you care and love and are able to offer wisdom beyond your years.

Have a great and safe week, and thanks for reading!
Jim