another lisa

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion: You have medium extroversion.You're not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party.Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences.But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your "down time." Conscientiousness: You have medium conscientiousness.You're generally good at balancing work and play.When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.But you've been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it. Agreeableness: You have high agreeableness.You are easy to get along with, and you value harmony highly.Helpful and generous, you are willing to compromise with almost anyone.You give people the benefit of the doubt and don't mind giving someone a second chance. Neuroticism: You have low neuroticism.You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed - making others feel secure. Openness to experience: Your openness to new experiences is high.In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.You'll try almost anything interesting, and you're constantly pushing your own limits.A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

Dorothy and I are going yarn shopping tomorrow... I have the urge to knit something. I don't know what yet. I am hoping to get inspired. This will give me something to do when we are at Owen's swimming lessons.

We are also going to get the BBQ going - with Dad's assistance on Sunday afternoon. It should be pretty sunny... reasonably good weather (18 degrees Celsius which is probably around 66 farenheit).

I hope to take the dogs to Bruce Pit again... we will see if we can fit it in.

So I had this crazy urge to cut my hair tonight... so now it's really short - and I'm not sure if it's ok in the back... what was I thinking??? AAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

This weekend, Zoe and Owen are performing in "Oliver!" the Dickens tale of an orphan who runs away to London to seek his fortune.

Zoe plays one of the lead roles, Fagin, while Owen is playing a Fagin's boy named Tommy.

We are goint to see their big final show tomorrow!

It is hard to remember this past week. I have been working a lot, trying to catch up. I had a big court appearance on Friday that I was preparing for. After a huge amount of work and negotiaton, we reached a settlement (at least a partial one) right before the hearing. I felt good, as this case has been really nasty, and dragging on far too long.

Friday night we went to Ruth's for the first bbq of the season. She did potatos and pork chops - they were soooo yummy. Then we watched "Desk Set" an old movie with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. It was a hoot.

Tonight we went to a fundraising dinner for St. Mary's Home, the place that I volunteer for. It was fun and a good meal was offered at the Lone Star Cafe.

We had a very busy Easter weekend. In Canada, schools are closed for Good Friday and Easter Monday, so we get a 4 day long weekend. Banks are closed too, but some stores are opened. On Good Friday, I went to the office for a while (even though we were closed) to try to catch up on some files. In the evening we went to my sister Melanie's for a visit.

On Saturday, I spent several hours cleaning up the front yard. We have beautiful purple crocuses and violets blooming! I had to clear away tons of leaves from the fall. I am one of those people who covers the perrenials with leaves to protect them from our harsh winters. I raked for hours, then Dorothy came and helped drag bins of leaves away to a compost pile. I also trimmed several bushes. The front is looking pretty good now - and the tulips are about to bloom. If only I could get that enthusiastic about the back yard. Last year it was a disaster. In the evening, we went to visit our friends Margaret and David. We played cards and had a great time.

On Sunday, we had a bunch of younger folk over: Dorothy, Sarah, her boyfriend Evan, Amelia, her boyfriend Rob, and Phil, my younger brother who is 22. Rob made crepes and we had tons of fresh fruit with vanilla ice cream. Delicious! (No we didn't make it to church)

In the evening, Dorothy, Sarah, Zoe and I went to my mom's for dinner and a movie. We finally got her to watch Rent. I have seen it many times now, and I still love it. She had to admit it was a great production, and not as sad as she thought it might be.

Monday morning, my dad called and told us that Jennifer's dad had passed away while visiting from out of town over the weekend. How terribly sad. Apparently he was only in his fifties. (Jennifer is my sister-in-law, Dan's wife). We haven't heard any other news since Monday about this, but assumed the funeral was this weekend in Brantford.

It was pretty good weather all weekend, and we took the dogs out to Bruce Pit, a local nature area that is "dog friendly" (you can let your dogs run) with dozens of trails through the woods. We went twice and really enjoyed it. Later on Monday, most of the kids were home for dinner, and we had a big roast beef dinner, just because there were enough of us to bother.

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful thriving community that had a sparkling clean river flowing beside it. This community was full of good people who always wanted to be kind, caring and help each other through hard times.

One day, a girl was walking her dog by the river, and she saw a strange object floating at the edge of the river. She used a stick to pull it over to her, and realized that it was a basket. She pulled the basket out of the river, opened the lid, and saw a tiny baby in the basket. Very surprised, she took it home to her parents, and they decided to take it to the town hall, to find out what they should do with the baby.

An emergency meeting was held, and the city elders discussed what to do with this baby. They remembered one young couple who had lost their baby to illness last year, and decided to offer the baby to this couple. The couple were thrilled to take this baby into their home and everyone knew it would have a good home there.

A few days later, a fisherman was out on the river, and he came across another basket. He got a hold of the basket, and sure enough, it had another baby in it. He brought the baby to shore and took it to the town hall. Another emergency meeting was held, and this time, an elderly couple whose children had grown up offered to take in the baby, and all was well.

The very next day, a woman was out in her kayak on the river and she found yet another baby in a basket floating down the river. She took the baby down to the town hall and again, the town elders had a discussion and decided to take applications for the adoption of this baby.

By this time, the elders were getting worried that this problem was becoming a regular occurence, so they decided they had better form a committee to study the problem of babies in baskets on the river. Over the next few weeks, an average of one baby per day came down the river and the townspeople learned how to effectively and efficiently deal with them.

This committee deliberated, and made recommendations that several regular committees be established, including an emergency response team, a fundraising committee, a baby clothing committee, a family screening committee, a naming ceremony committee, a nursery school committee, an oversight committee, and of course, an executive committee to oversee all of the committees. There was also an elaborate alarm system, which everyone knew how to use, so that when a baby was found in the river, an alarm would sound, which would summon everyone to their positions.

One day, someone found a basket, and this time there was a set of twins in the basket. They sounded the alarm, and everyone in town rushed to their assigned committee in order to deal with the new arrivals.

One young woman decided she had had enough. She packed a bag, and headed out of town. Several townspeople stopped her and said "what are you doing?" We need you to help deal with the new babies! You can't just leave."

The young woman looked at her friends and said "I am going up river to find out who keeps putting babies in the river and I am going to get them to stop."

So, seven of us went to NYC to participate in a conference at the United Nations. We learned about international and local poverty issues, and ways to address them at both the intervention and prevention levels.

It was a long day getting down there (and back)... with a two hour drive to Montreal, then a ten hour train ride. The train was nice though - and we could walk around, lie down, eat, or play cards in the dining car.

We met lots of nice people - there were about 200 participants in the conference - of all ages, including a large group from Vancouver. I got to go to one Broadway show on my night off, and I saw "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" - it was hilarious. And I got to take a group of youth to the Museum of Natural History - just amazing place, really - with the biggest dinosaurs I have ever seen. I have got to take Owen there one day.

The conference itself was very informative and emotionally draining. One of the most interesting workshops was about the homeless youth in Manhattan. About half of the homeless youth are from the GLBT community (they are over-represented proportionally) and the estimates are that there are about 30,000 of these youth in Manhattan. What a shock. These youth have a very hard time staying in regular homeless shelters, as they are targeted and attacked. So this group has started a chain of shelters for GLBT youth - and they put ten beds into church basements throughout the city.

I also really enjoyed the Worshop service that was held on the last day. The guest minister told a great story which I have re-created above for you to share with your kids and friends.

I hope that our youth group will take on a service project next year which will address poverty at some level. Such as raising awareness about ethical investments, or buying products that are from countries that use sweatshop labour.

I am heading off to New York City tomorrow morning at 5 am! Two adults from our church are escorting five youth to a conference at the UN called "Poverty. People. Power." We hope we will learn alot about international and local poverty issues so that we can raise awareness in our own community.

Unfortunately, I got very sick over the weekend, so I feel like crap. Here's hoping I get to sleep on the train so I have some energy when I get there. I will be back on Sunday night!

Eric is going to have to be the parent while I am away. This should be interesting.