570News Blog: Lisa Drew

As we grin ( HA!)  and bear it at the pumps, a Kitchener man is fighting back.
He’s converted his van to run on grease and has said goodbye to the crazy gas prices.

I’ve known Ian for years.. and this summer the musician and audio engineer is hitting the highway for Cape Breton.
He’s converted a 94 diesel van to run on WVO ( that’s waste vegetable oil).
He’s got three huge blue drums of grease loaded in and ready to go for the trip starting this Friday.  He also has the Rush tunes handy.

You can check out his road trip on grease at www.vegvan.ca

lisa

You never know what a trip to the cottage will bring.

We went down to the cottage this weekend, and took the kids to Cherryfest.
It takes place every summer in the town of Blenheim, a town surrounded by farms, about two hours west down the road from Waterloo Region.  It’s an event we remember as kids.
They shut down the main street, set up the carnival rides,
sell Sno Cones, put on a big sidewalk sale, and hold the cherry pit spitting contest.
This is a big deal for the town with a population of 4000.
They have guys in the record books for the farthest pit spit!
The Lessards (Joe Sr. and Joe Jr) are local pit spitting legends, but this year the pair fell to Windsor spitter Alex Mitchell.
His distance? 16.8 metres.
The trick I’m told, is to go with as dry a pit as possible.

Just when we were leaving the event, we took a final spin on the Ferris wheel.  When  I got off the wheel, two women came up to us, and I thought they said my name.
It was my longtime summer sister- another Lisa D..who I probably haven’t see in over 24? years!
They swear they spotted me way up on the wheel and swear I still look the same.
Funny.
Lisa was with her sister, and all of their kids.  Lisa and I spent two months together every summer as kids.. going from cottage to cottage, spending countless hours on the beach, and hanging out on the front porch listening to K-Tel records, and biking up to Erieau.
I’m not even sure how we lost track of each other.. it proabably happened sometime between our military family
moving again.. and her family cottage changing hands.

It was a great connection, and now we’re all back.
I’m hoping to sit on the beach again with her and her family
next month and really catch up. 

Where would we be without those cherry spitters and some Shaun Cassidy albums?
 
lisa

Following two weeks at the cottage..my sister sent me an email today about getting your older loved ones to get rid of stuff.
It’s been an ongoing thing everytime we’re at the cottage, or visiting our grandmother..we try and raid the cupboards.. even clear the shelves full of empty food containers that they just can’t part with.
We’re talking empty margarine containers, peanut butter jars.. and takeout plates.
I guess it’s a family thing. My basement still has boxes unopened from our last move.. oh…from ten years ago.
And I can’t part with some Martha-type magazines.

But what gives with the old food containers?
My entire workplace could leave the cottage with leftovers in those babies!
It has become a contest between sisters -who can toss the tubs without getting caught.

My Grandma is the original recycler, reuse.. and then reuse some more..
But in my crazy, busy household full of boys, a place already littered with Lego, lunchbags, backpacks.. and missing tupperware lids,  I truly don’t feel the need to  hang onto extra stuff - and toss it promptly into the blue box.  Gone! 
I also love it when charities call monthly to pick up stuff. Bye-bye clothes and books.

I’m hoping Julie Hall will save this mother-daughter relationship.
She is a professional estate liquidator.
She is out with a book called” “The Boomer Burden: Dealing with Your Parents’ Lifetime Accumulation of Stuff”..  Hall says the sheer amount of stuff (some of it
can be valuable) piled up by Depression-era etc. parents is often overwhelming.
She says its often due to a generation that doesn’t get rid of much and some of them are downright hoarders.

I smell one big garage sale… coming soon.  My boxes and some yogurt containers might go free of charge.

lisa

Okay.. so I’m getting back into the game.. after two weeks of sleeping in..wiping sand off my feet.. and counting the calories in s’mores.  (Okay, vacation calories do NOT count!)

But a recent study finds many of you are not taking advantage of your time off.
The people at Mercer Human Resource Consulting finds Canucks are truly overworked…and we’re not taking advantage of our full vacation time.
Of the 49 nations surveyed.. Canada ranks third last…behind Thailand and the Philippines.

Take those days my friends.. use them up!  Stay up late, sleep in,  go on the FreeFall ride at Ontario Place nine times in a row. ( Yeah,  that last one was not my choice!)

Just Breathe.

Rest your BlackBerry thumb.. neck.. and shoulders.

I only had to deal with 353 new emails this morning.

lisa

It’s here ..after what seemed like the longest week ever!

Some six loads of laundry later, the tearful goodbye at school, and last-minute things getting wrapped up here at work.. it is finally here.

The Holiday Begins!!!

Sleeping in, getting through a stack of books - more beachy than brainy…and then there are bike rides… and some runs in the kayak. They should all do the trick.

The whole family..even Great Grandma will hit the beach in the coming days.  Love it.

I’m returning to a place that really has been home over the years. We moved a lot as kids ,with a dad in the military, but every summer was a constant on the shore of Lake Erie in the so-called banana belt.

Every summer as kids we would jump from the car after a long trip down the 401… and race to the beach, trying to be the first one in.
Even back then we had a Waterloo Region connection-  during the road trip..we always stopped at the Knotty Pine for lunch - a toasted club and those huge milkshakes.

I even have scars to prove my summer existence.
A nice one over my right eye - a result of my underwater ballet moves..I just happened to surface at the same time my sister started skipping rocks.  She swears to this day it was an accident!

Food at the cottage is always fresh. ..and just picked.
Mrs. Crawford has since passed away.  Boy, do we miss her raspberries.. we would spend hours picking them behind the farmhouse.  Jam would follow.
We would pack up peanut butter and jam sandwiches, throw the  Archie and Mad magazines into the canoe, and head off shore just far enough.  Then eat and read until my grandparents waved us back in.
  
Now it’s great to bring my kids into my summer life..
My perfectly well-behaved boys.. sitting side-by-side for a two-hour road trip.

Think good thoughts!

Enjoy your time this summer.

lisa

I have to tell you about a great neighbourhood event  that took place last night… one that helps out women in our region.  Mary Jane, Jane and I helped served up fresh, juicy, local strawberries for a great cause.
( We get to stick around for the leftovers!)

The Cambridge Soroptimists have been putting on this great get-together for some years now.
The annual Strawberry Social raises cash
to fund a YWCA program called Small Steps to Success.
It helps women finish their education, or get back into the workplace.

Those huge bowls of strawberries, REAL whipped cream and just baked shortcake bring out the crowds … and help women with a program that provides mentoring placements, even services like haircuts and a business outfit for the big job interview.

Well done to “Auntie” Ann and all involved.

Hope to see you next year.  I plan to add a few more
plastic berries to the hat by then!

lisa

The kindness of others continues to surprise me…and it really shouldn’t.

On friday night, we headed out for dinner with the kids.  We were tired, happy to have someone else cook, and looked forward to just sitting down and planning the very busy weekend ahead.  (Isn’t the month before school ends, as busy as the month before Christmas in terms of social events?)

We went to a nearby restaurant that caters to sports-types and kids - the kind of place where kids can be kids .
When we sat down, our five-year-old waved over and said hi to a school mate about his size who was sitting nearby.
We all exchanged smiles and went on with our meals.

At the end of the meal, we asked our server for the check and she said it had been taken care of…. pointing to the table with our little guy’s school friend, his family and grandparents.
His grandpa had picked up our meals.
Wow.  A little embarrassed, surprised and touched, we said thanks, shook hands and wished them a Happy Summer.

Thanks.  Thanks for the smiles, the meal, and a reminder
of how a sweet gesture goes such a long way..

We plan to pay it forward the next time we dine out.

lisa 

I spotted this in the Globe and Mail today-  very fitting for the kick off to summer.

So, why should we be okay with men gawking on this beach this summer?   They say it’s good for their health!
Turns out the ten minutes a guy spends checking out women is equivalent to a full 30-minute aerobics workout.
These researchers ( male researchers?)  think ogling
lowers a man’s blood pressure and fights heart disease.

The average man will spend almost a year of his life just watching women.
Women? We’re way too busy.  Our ogling time is about two and half months worth in our ENTIRE lifetime!

For health reasons alone, check out Beckham’s new underwear ad..it was just unveiled in Time Square.  

Sexist or not, we have to catch up sometime.

Happy Weekend!

lisa

Summer officially arrives tomorrow at 7:59pm.

And for many workers, it signals the start of summer hours.
Here at the station, our boss is a good Friday kinda guy.
( Yes, he reads this blog.)
For years we’ve had Summer Friday afternoons off with the provision the work gets done and someone is always available .

More and more companies are going this route. It’s a nice perk.
Add in higher gas prices and there’s more to it this season.
A U-S survey finds almost half of workers asked  had already made some changes to their work arrangements because of the price at the pump.
Some 26 percent are already working fewer days a week.

Summer Fridays are still being touted as a feel-good, stress reliever.
It’s a chance to pack the kids and dog into the car, and get to the beach ahead of the crowd.
But maybe more of us will be staying home Friday afternoons this July and August as price of gas wears us down.

I bet the BlackBerry will still be humming along though.

lisa

Back to work Monday.   Somehow I missed
the call from Lance..you know..Lance Armstrong.
He was in town to help raise some big cash for our local cancer centre.  Over 1.3 million dollars.  Congrats to all involved.
Armstrong even managed to fit some romance in.. bringing along actress Kate Hudson.  People Magazine covered off the visit and romance calling the World’s Most Intelligent Community of 2007.. ” small town Waterloo”.
My spies tell me Hudson was grabbing some food
at Webers on the 400… on the hike up to what People refers to Goldie Hawn’s “rustic cabin”.  We call it major property in Muskoka!

Our family did our best cycle salute..and started Father’s Day off with an hour and a half bike ride.  I struggled up the first hill and wondered how Lance Armstrong pulled of seven Tours!
 
Last night before heading to bed, a flash of light caught my eye.  It wasn’t the flash bulbs from paparazzi as Lance pulled up my driveway (ha!) .. but a firefly hanging onto our screen door.
A neon greenish light… flashing every second or so.
Amazing.

lisa