quote

Just what I needed to be reminded of today:

"The road to success is always under construction." - Lily Tomlin

and another one!

Britain's Got Talent's latest discovery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4mB94ejivU

WOW!

90

My maternal grandmother turned 90 on Friday. We had family home from BC, Alberta, Ontario and all over southern Manitoba to celebrate. It was chaotic with 48 people in one house, but it was also great fun! And my grandma continues to amaze me. After raising 6 kids during a time when maternity leave from her job as a nurse was NOT a year per baby, she has continued to stay active and spry enough to thoroughly enjoy her 20ish grandkids (and their significant others) and 10 great-grandkids.

I stood back a few minutes after the cake cutting and just watched the busy-ness of the place as my cousins and aunts started dishing up cake and ice cream. I thought about how lucky we are, to have so many people to support us.

How lucky we are, to have no one in the family who's gotten into any significant trouble, like drugs or teen pregnancy (that we know of!)....

How lucky we are, that every grandchild has at LEAST a high school education (except for the youngest who's still working on hers!)

How lucky we are that the vast majority of us have been able to go on to post-secondary and finish at least one degree.

How lucky we are to have so many people to call family who really get what family is about, and who love to just spend time together. One memory that someone mentioned on Friday at our gathering was of the day that most of our extended family went rafting down the Assiniboine river one summer about 20 years ago. We had lawn chairs and snacks on the make-shift rafts (plywood over empty oil drums if I recall), and a couple of canoes and inner tubes for those that were tired of the rafts. I think it's my all-time favorite memory of our family because it's such a significant image of us just being together, laughing and having a great time in the process!

And then I thought that all of that stuff is learned. Passed down through generations. And we are so blessed to have a grandmother who's still with it enough to continue to teach us about patience, love, wisdom and laughter.

Happy birthday, Grandma - we all love you!!

PS - welcome to the world, Gabriel Arthur!

*giggle*

Just had a good, engaging day of professional development. This was part of it. I laughed really hard, so I wanted to share it.

3 more reasons

Here are 3 more reasons I wish my TV stations aired "Britain's Got Talent"....Enjoy

Andrew Johnston


Paul Potts


Connie Talbot

Early morning inspiration

So I got up extra early this morning (6:30 is REALLY early for me) to get ready for a class I have to teach in a couple of hours... But to ease into the pain of having to think that early, I couldn't resist a quick visit to Facebook to see what was up. There, I found, a friend had posted this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

I've watched it three times and it still gives me goosebumps (the good kind!)... I especially like the little smirk she gives as she's waiting for the intro to finish - it's like she knows something the judges don't! :-) The more clips I see from this show, the more I wish it was a show I got on my "peasant vision" TV.....