570News Blog: Lisa Drew

My husband is not Clark Griswold…and I am not Martha Stewart.. as much as we both try.
Yesterday the annual light display went up.
We had our annual “disagreement” on certain things.. like what electrical cord goes where…and… our vision in general.

This is nothing..we have finally learned after years of frustration that we do not wallpaper a bathroom together.

This year wasn’t as bad…. we’ve both grown…
and this year we let the kids do more of the design… we even bought one of those blow up things -  a six foot tall penguin.
(it is so.. not… Martha..but makes one  ten year old laugh)

Also new this year:  a big star on the chimney, lights up the flagpole.. snowflakes..and swags.  I have the
one tastefully done windowbox  with the twig lights and evergreens and dried hydrangeas. 

We could have made things easier by just hiring someone..( there are a number of local companies offering this service around Kitchener and Guelph this year)  or just by going to one of the hundreds of How-To websites out there.
Among the official expert advice:..use a ladder…
do it on a dry day… and count on it taking about two hours for the basic display.  When connecting a couple of strings together.. wrap some electrical tape around the plug connections.
Other advice:… salt the driveway first.  My husband hit the ground three times yesterday.  (He wasn’t on the ladder for this!)

On a plus note: Our display was up before the neighbour’s across the street…

lisa

Not only did we wave and cheer the arrival of Santa over the weekend in two area parades..we had to head over to the Cambridge Centre yesterday for a quick one-on-one.. with the “Main Man”.

Our four year old was quite concerned when we pulled into the parking lot.  He was already looking around for Santa’s sleigh and couldn’t find it.
When we got inside..we lucked out.  No line up.  In fact, Santa was jingling his bells as kids went by.. almost heckling the parents!  Too funny.
Santa was sweet.. of course.. and was quick to tell my little guy that his sleigh was around.. it was parked in barn number 15.  Hmmmm.. where is that?
Not even a minute later… one big candy cane and colouring book later.. we said goodbye.

My son was grinning ear to ear…. and giggling about Santa’s ho ho ho..

What a difference a year makes.

Let the shopping begin!

( By the way..a big thank you to the many listeners who have dropped off gifts for Santa’s Anonymous!  Think of the smiles Christmas morning…thanks!)

lisa
 

We always are so quick to point out what’s wrong with our local hospitals..and health care.
We forget sometimes to point out the good and great.
I spent the morning at Grand River Hospital yesterday .

Our youngest son had minor surgery..  the cute four-year-old got tubes in his ears.
A big thanks to the staff.. for the friendly, caring and professional service.
I would put it right up there with the fabulous family of doctors and nurses we have at Sick Kids in Toronto.
Thank you.
Thanks to Dr “P”.. our son can hear!…
and the television has never been on such a low volume
setting our place.

The only downside to our hospital visit was the long line up of people having trouble getting out of the parking garage!  The machine wouldn’t take toonies..
and one of the exits lanes  in the garage was shut down due to troubles with the machine there.
Just bring your credit card.

lisa

This Remembrance Day Sunday my family will be in London with my grandmother.
She will be laying a wreath at the London cenotaph
in honour of the Hong Kong veterans.

I will be remembering not only the men and women who did so much for our country, but will also be there to pay tribute to…and remember my grandpa.

Winston Ross Cunningham.
To me he’s grandpa.
To our country he was Lt Col. Cunningham..
With my mom just two weeks old, he went off to war.
He arrived in Hong Kong as a Captain with the Canadian Dental Corps .. then soon after was in a prison camp for almost four years.

He came back.. scrawny…but he came back.
He came back to be a grandfather to me and my sister… a man who didn’t talk much about those long days as a POW..
Instead he would talk politics at the dining room table.
He loved to talk about former Prime Ministers… and American Presidents.
This was my grandfather - the man who would take us to Springbank Park to go on the merry-go-round.
He would go out to his garage..and sit in his car in London..just to get better reception on his radio to hear me on the radio here in Kitchener.  He was so proud of us.
My Grandpa with the sparkling blue eyes would just sit and hold my hand and talk for hours….and smile.
I miss him badly.

Some years ago.. when my grandfather was still with us, my grandparents sent some items from his POW days to the Canadian War Museum.
At the old site.. there was an entire area devoted to the Hong Kong Vets.
Now at the new location.. a beautiful building that must be visited in Ottawa,  there is just one section of one wall devoted to their long stay.
The story is still important today.

Last Christmas, my grandma handed me a bulging envelope of paperwork she had copied from her trunk in the basement.
It was the telegrams…  official government correspondence..and my grandpa’s love letters.
There were some years my grandma didn’t know if he was alive.
She says she waited so long to share these letters with us.. because she thought they might be ” too
racy”.   I can tell you they are lovely and tender.
I can’t tell you what a gift this was. 
From his sweet words to his wife.. to the letters that did make it out of the camp to a daughter who would not know him until she was almost four.

This Sunday I will remember Winston Ross Cunningham..
I will remember those that didn’t come back.

Thank you to our vets, and thank you to our soldiers in different parts of the world today…

Please wear your poppy.

lisa
 

Did you throw your lunch bag into the office fridge this morning?   Will it still be there come lunchtime..or will the Twinkies be missing?
Turns out lunch room theft is on the rise… and now a company is out with a three part alarm system to protect your leftover turkey sandwich..or homemade brownies on the job.

A  U-S company called ThinkGeek sells the motion detector for about 40 dollars.
If you’re caught with your hand out.. missiles will be launched..following the lights and alarms.
The maker says it works well in your office cubicle too.. protecting those cute post-it notes or leftover halloween candy from certain co workers. 
( You so know who you are!)

The weekend National Post did a story on this,  with ways to guard your bag in the communal fridge.
Ideas range from tagging your bag and Tupperware with your name.
Easy enough.  But what about “borrowing” a bit of milk from that carton.. or scooping out some jam from that jar that’s been in there forever?
Who is watching for that?
The etiquette police say we should ask before we touch…
and we should be thoughtful.. and remember to dump the old stuff before it changes colour.

Sometimes you can get really lucky.  In our 570 News fridge this past summer we had ice cream..even a box of Fudgsicles sitting in the freezer looking for love.

My glow-in-the-dark squash soup was still sitting there after our news run this morning..for some reason nobody touched it.

lisa