Our Camping Adventure
Derek comes from a family that camped.  They loved to camp and they did it together, all 112 of them.  Well it must have seemed like that many to their parents. …
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Personal Life
Taking Today Off
I’m afraid I’m too mentally exhausted today to form an opinion about anything except perhaps that iTunes is the work of the devil.  But that’s a story for another day.  So today I present to you someone I miss.  Stan the cat. …
The Ultimate Cosmo Girl
Helen Gurley Brown died yesterday after a brief illness.  She was 90.  As editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine for 32 years, Brown helped guide and shape young women’s views on sex and relationships.  I know. I was one of them. …
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Encounter Near the Old Cheddar
On my mammoth grocery shopping trip Saturday morning a woman waved me over in the cheese aisle and asked me to look at her recipe card. …
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Verbal Crutches
Lots of people have them. Â In radio they’re particularly irritating. Â There’s a news anchor (and there have been others) who starts every story with a “well”. Â But it comes out: wool. It gets so you brace yourself for it. Â And it never fails to arrive. …
Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Our Free-FM colleague Pasqualina brought in some peanut butter balls the other day. Â I thought I’d died and gone to protein heaven. Â So I asked for the recipe. It’s from the Oxygen Network. I use about 1/2 the honey it calls for (as does she) and I don’t add the chocolate chips at all and they’re delicious. Â The trouble is with trying to eat just one. Â …
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Not a Fan
Yesterday I tweeted a question: does anyone know of a completely silent fan? Â Not a radio fan, an actual fan. Â My newsbooth is controlled by colleagues in another room who like it warm. Â I like it cool. I would prefer the thermostat set to “meat locker” but I realize that’s not fair to everyone else. Â The only suggestion I received was to spend $300 on a Dyson. Never again. Dyson once sucked me in. Â He’s the inventor of the Dyson vacuum, you know, the one he says “doesn’t lose suction”. Â Bullspit! Â Â …
Our Used Car Lot
I had to laugh at the Toronto Star’s online headline: Found a Mystery Porsche in Your Driveway? Â …
A Tipping Point
My massage therapist is a terrific guy.  He’s young, with a young family and I know he doesn’t have a ton of cash.  He rents a room in my chiropractor’s office and he’s a Registered Massage Therapist, not one of your spa ladies who lays stones on your spine and relaxes you but can’t give you a receipt for your workplace health coverage reimbursement. …
What Do These Things Have in Common?
Nothing yet. But they will soon. Â …
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Do You Have These Products in Your Home?
Imagine my displeasure when Ralph Nader and the Cancer Prevention Coalition released its new list of the Top 12 Cancer-Causing Products in the Average Home and my hair dye was on it. Â …
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Wedding Favours
Last weekend I attended a wedding reception for a couple whose ceremony was held in February in the Dominican Republic. Â I wasn’t even invited to the party! Â The groom, Zack, is my cousin’s son. Â I went as the plus one of another cousin in the family. It was like sneaking into a secret society where I knew everyone. Â …
The Time Lottery
It’s been a banner week for vintage finds. A woman in London this week was shocked to get half a million dollars for her 1730s cello.  She had purchased it 40 years ago for $12,000. …
Giving Motorcyclists a Bad Name
A colleague recently said to me, “Every biker that rides past me acts like an a**hole!” Â …
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Please, Fence Me In
Yes it’s hot. Yes it’s very humid.  But on holiday Monday we started a project that has turned into what every simple project around the home turns into: a much BIGGER project. …
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Retail Therapy
Our riding lawn mower recently went kaput. Â It was an older model, given to us by a family friend, and had seen many better days. Â It owed us nothing and that’s exactly what it ultimately decided to give in return!
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Saying Goodbye
It’s one of those things; you have to have lost someone very dear to you to understand the depth of the sorrow. Â There’s no one in your life like your Mom. Â No one who loves to hear your little life stories, to know your triumphs and frustrations and to cheer you on relentlessly, even when you haven’t got a chance. Â …
They’re No Partridge Family or Osmonds…
but the band known as The Dust Monkeys will take any and all family members on if they can play or sing!
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