We had a great Easter weekend and with no real plans it was nice and relaxed. I will post some pictures when I can find my camera cord. :}
The Easter bunny made an appearance at our place and the kids got a few things but we asked him to cut back this year. In end that was a good thing as our lovely neighbors dropped off a huge bag of chocolate for the kids. We had our specially colored pancakes, sausages and scones for breakfast. Then everyone just chilled out and relaxed for the rest of the day with each other.
Faruq and I have hired a personal trainer to come 3 times a week to help us get back on the "healthy lifestyle" bandwagon. We have also gone back to whole food eating and have cut out all "white" foods so bye bye beloved pasta (sorry I just don't like the whole wheat options). As well, I have cut out sugar and have to say for the last 3 days I have had a really bad headache but on the positive note I don't feel like I need a nap at 3 in the afternoon.
As I write this tonight I'm praying that all my dear friends in Alabama are safe and have escaped the horrible tornadoes that hit their state today.
The trailer is here...What do you think ? I enjoyed the book and I'm still looking forward to the movie.
We had a great week at home considering both girls were fighting head colds. At one point I thought about starting a drinking game and every time I told someone to wipe or blow their nose I could have a shot. It's tough because neither little monsters can actually blow their noses so we have to wait for the sneezing to occur or they just start to run.
At least for now. I know music on blogs annoy some but I always like to listen to it. Sadly, Playlist is now blocking access to the music for us in Canada. They say they are working on restoring it to the United States first and will try to resolve the other countries but I'm not holding out hope.
Now I'm looking for a new player...Anyone use one here in Canada ?
When my cell phone contract came up for renewal last year my provider sent me a letter with an offer for an iPhone if I was interested. Up until then I had been pretty proud of myself for resisting the temptation to venture into these fancy phones. I mean really did I need that kind of technology.......Well after having one for almost a year now I can definitely say "YESIDONTHANKYOUVERYMUCH". Even my hubby who is has been a Blackberry user since they first came out is now leaning more and more towards his next phone being an iPhone.
The iPhone is so much more then a phone. I probably use the actual phone about 2% of the time and the rest of the time is spend playing with all the different applications that you can download from iTunes. I have have downloaded a ton so far and they vary in price with some being free while others can cost anywhere from 99 cents to 5 dollars. I love looking through the freed apps first to see if there is anything that is worth downloading and there usually is a few but most cost me around a buck.
It has been a lifesaver when the kids and I get stuck waiting for longer periods of time say at the doctors or stores. With the last 3 kids movies we purchased they included a digital copy that can be transfered to a phone so I have the current favorites at my finger tips. As well, I have downloaded a few copies of the two shows the girls watch.
A few of the girls favorites are ..
Do you think companies reward long time customers for their loyalty or are they more interest in gaining new ones ?
I remember growing up my parents always shopped at the same grocery store, got our meat from the same butcher, gassed up their car at the same station, banked at the same bank, had the same doctor and dentist and on and on and on. They always said it was good to show loyalty to a business and in return they would provide good service to you. Relationship were important to them. So through the years I have always tried to do the same thing.
While living in Fort McMurray for close to 20 years we established and maintained good relations with different business that we frequent. Unfortunately, those seem to be the smaller family run businesses not the big corporations. We have one particular company that when we look at it hasn't really done anything to maintain us but we have stayed with them because we like the service they offered. We have been Bell Canada Satellite subscribers for close to 15 years and as of next week that relationship will come to an end.
We have never really had any issues with Bell and have found their general customer service/help desk to be average. I do remember having one run- in while in Fort McMurray and Faruq was so angry he cancelled the service. But when we moved to Calgary I convinced him to go back to them. I have always loved the "time shifting" feature they offer. We made the decision a few months ago to put the cable "on-hold" to see if we really needed it. I originally felt we didn't but we have since decided to get at least basic cable back.
Because we have been with Bell for so long all of our receivers really needed to be update with maybe the exception of one. Faruq called Bell to see what if any kind of deal they would make him on 3 new receivers and he was told "NO DEAL OF ANY KIND" period end of story. To be clear he was not asking for anything free but possibility some kind of discount to show that they did appreciate their long time customers. So Faruq told them to cancel our service and we would being shopping the other cable providers. They really don't have a clue though because before the conversation ended the guy actually asked Faruq why we were leaving Bell....Seriously !
We have our phone/Internet service through Shaw and we continually get calls from their sales people trying to get our cable as well. But in this case I'm the "new customer "at least in regards to the cable portion so they are making very enticing offers to get our business. In our relationship I have always been the "Fluff" person so if it is new and shiny I like it but Faruq is the "Nuts and Bolts" guy so he has to analyze everything to death to see if it's a good deal. All I was seeing was lovely new HD PVR's and I was game. :}
In the end Faruq concluded we are getting a great deal from Shaw so they arrive next Monday to switch us over to their service. Maybe I shouldn't be so hung on this but I feel like I'm breaking up with a trusted and loyal friend. Faruq just laughs when I say that and says when the new PVR's are installed I will become fast BBF's with them.
But in all seriousness ....Do you think business are more committed to gaining new or retaining old customers ? I feel a good company should have a balance between the two but clearly that doesn't appear to be happening with some big corporations (at least IMO) !
Bye Bell Canada it's been fun for the last 15 years !!
ETA : I asked Faruq if he was interested in trying Telus and I quote "Even if they offered it for free I would not take it" so I guess that's a no. We had really terrible customer service (at a pretty high level) with them when we were moving from Fort McMurray so that's how we ended up with the Shaw Digital phone. It really does make sense for it all to be in one spot and we are saving quite a bit a month while getting all new receivers.
I'm a true believer in "birth Order" and that every kids has a defined role within our family. Faruq and I talk often about each child and the characteristics that they are displaying. Then I read this article today and it just reconfirmed what I was thinking.
Hayden (our "first born") fits the description exactly. He is a total "Type A" personality and has always had a hard time accepting anything less then perfection with whatever he does. This has been noted on his progress reports from school and we are really trying to help him understand that he must try things even if he is unsure of the outcome. When he was the baby I would spend hours with him and he progressed very quickly with all levels of development. But now he seems to be crippled with fear when it comes to trying new adventures or learning new things. He is making progress on accepting failures and when he recently didn't pass his current swimming level I was secretly pleased as it taught him that even though he did his very best he wasn't quite ready to progress.
Laila (our "middle child") again fits her description perfectly. She is definitely the most easy going kid that I know but is very strong willed and will negotiate with you on things that are important to her. She makes friends very easy and loves the interactions with other children. While she is still to young for sleep-overs and making friends independently of me I predict that as the kids get older she will likely have the most friends out of our the three kids. While Hayden is painfully shy and we have never had issues with behavioral things at school I'm expecting reports to say Laila is sometimes hard to settle and is maybe too social. Both Faruq and I have made a conscious effort to try to take her out on her own a little more then the other two kids right now. I'm also looking at starting her in a dance class in the fall so it will be an outing for just her.
Sophie (our "Youngest") This is the only profile in the article that I disagreed with slightly. They stated that generally they aren't the strongest or smartest in the room. But Sophie is demonstrating both of those characteristics and I believed it is in fact because she is the youngest. She wants to so badly keep up with her older siblings that she tries much harder to do what they do. She watches their every move and emulates them. She is very adventuress which can be tough to parent. What worked for discipline with Hayden or Laila just doesn't work with her. While I recognize the fact that she is the youngest I try not to coddle her too much. I have noticed lately when she and Laila are playing she will pull out the "crying" card to seek attention from me so I'm trying to navigate through those waters of being the "fair" parent. Honestly, with her being so young she may change but for now she is fitting most of the profile.
A few closing thoughts.... each of my children are most definitely individuals and should be treated as such. What works for one doesn't always work for all of them and we as parents have to recognize this fact. I find myself at almost 8 years into this journey of parenting a much more relaxed and confident parent who doesn't second guess my decisions. I do definitely believe there is something to "birth order"and will always try to do what's best for each of my children.
I would love to hear others parents thoughts on this and if it applies to your family !!
But wait it's actually spring ! Unfortunately Calgary can't seem to get out of the previous season just yet. So Laila and I (Okay mainly me but I invited her to help) made this lovely little Easter craft this afternoon.
