Today is Victoria Day. Yes we all know to celebrate a past Queen, but how many of us actually know some history about her? For many May 2 4 has become a “party weekend” the first weekend to camp and drink beer, or perhaps to stay at home and get the yard and planting done.

 I’ve put some quick fact together about Queen Victoria.

Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901

She married her first cousin in 1840 (ummn ew)

She had 9 children. 26 of 42 grandkids married into the royal family

She held the longest reign of any British female Monarch, 63 years and 7 months

She set the world wide trend of the “white” wedding dress. Still honoured to this day

Her first language was German but she also spoke English, French and Hindi

She survived 7 assassination attempts ( I do believe thats a few more then fifty cent)

Want more info? Check out Wikipedia

Happy Holiday!

That season is upon us once again. No, not Spring or Summer, but Wedding & maybe Baby Season for some of you as well. And with all the upcoming nuptials and newborns of both friends and family comes a whole slew of obligation…especially for women.

(Sorry guys, but shaving + putting on that one suit + and maybe going to the carwash isn’t really on the same level as what we, as women, go through. YES, it helps that you look presentable as our dates, but again, it’s nowhere close to what we have to endure!)

About a month ago, I received the first evite of the season for the dreaded Bachelorette Party. As I anxiously skimmed through it, the details consisted of: spa treatments at a hotel downtown, a stripper, a limo, topped off by a wild night of club-hopping!  <– Who’s going to pay for all these things?  Can I opt out of some of the activities?  And how much was it all going to cost?

In addition, my friend, L‘s last night of being single was being organised by her much younger sister and it was going to be a joint-Bachelorette with their cousin who is also getting married at the same time.

At least it wasn’t going to be a Jack ‘n Jill, but I think the worst part of this roster of debauchery was the fact that it didn’t sound like ANYTHING that L would plan for herself! So I’m not sure how she’ll react to the whole thing.

Anyway, after a few days of humming, hawing, with a side of guilt thrown into the mix, I declined the invite without offering an excuse.

I figured that what was important was that I will be present, and honoured, to witness her nuptials as well as attend her reception. L doesn’t need me to hold her hand while a stuffed thong undulates in front of her…and a room full of strangers! 😉

Furthermore, I have a friend who just gave birth and another who is pregnant.  This is the second time ’round for both friends.  I haven’t looked up the etiquette, but can they have a second Baby Shower?  If yes, am I obliged to attend?

I don’t see a typical, White Wedding or baby in my near future, but what excuse can I use to throw a party where my family and friends are obliged to attend, plus they give me a whole bunch of gifts?

Am I the only person who feels as though I’m obliged to go to these things?  Being part of a Bridal Party, Bridal Shower, Wedding Ceremonies/Reception of close friends, Baby Showers of first-borns are fine, in most cases, but I draw the line at Bachelorettes, Jack ‘n Jills, and other moneygrabs.

(This post may sound eerily familiar to the one about there being too many “deal sites”, but instead of quantity, I’m wondering if there are truly any deals to be found on sites such as HauteLook, Beyond The Rack, Gilt Groupe, etc.)

Like clockwork, every morning at 11am, they appear in my inbox, emails from HL/BYR, hawking their wares at “discounted prices”.  Despite receiving and sadly, opening/perusing through each and every one of these emails for more than a year, I think today is going to be my last…I’m unsubscribing!

As I look through their merchandise, instead of thinking, “Gee, this is a great deal!”, it either makes me feel bad ’cause I can’t afford it anyway OR I’m soo disinterested in what they have to offer ’cause it’s stuff that I wouldn’t even take a second look at!

In any event, in terms of their target market, I think they’ve missed their mark with me, a true bargain hunter.

This may disgust some, but I *love* shopping.  I’ve come to terms with how vapid it sounds and I’m okay with it.  Similar to writing, I can even miss meals if&when I’m really in-the-zone with my bargain huntin’.

I’m also an avid eBay seller/buyer, more of a buyer lately ’cause it’s just not a good market to sell.  (Actually I joke that eBay should take away my PowerSeller title and replace it with “PowerBuyer”, due to my recent transactions. 😉 )

So purses with brand names that I’m not even remotely interested, being on “sale” on the above mentioned sites, for $1399.99 just doesn’t turn my crank.  Don’t get me wrong, I will pay that for something that I’ve researched, touched, assessed the workmanship, material, size, usability of, and finally, determined that it was an actual deal as opposed to an inflated “Was $2000, Now $1399.99” deal.

At a recent gathering with friends whom I haven’t seen in a while, one friend admitted that she has made use of these sites, buying a lot of merchandise.  I asked her if most of the items have “worked out” for her and she stated that even if they didn’t, the cost of return shipping wasn’t worth it, so she was basically stuck with an ill-fitting dress.  She also mentioned that the shipping rates were expensive.

Just how many unsatisfactory purchases off these sites were similar to my friend’s?  Have you found any good deals on these sites mentioned?

As for myself, I’m stickin’ to physical shopping and eBay!

Happy Mother’s Day to all the great mommies out there. Hope your special day is wonderful!

I think my favourite story that touches me  being a mother is “Love You Forever” By Robert Munsch. It’s a very wonderful childrens book.

Will you be getting up at the crack of dawn to watch the Royal Wedding? I won’t be. Nothing gets me out of bed that early. I haven’t been following the wedding, but I just HAD to post this topic after seeing Heather’s kitty Felix dressed to the nines for the event.

For those who aren’t watching, using my untapped psychic abilities I forsee this:

There will be an abundance of security, a wedding, a reception, eats, some dancing and apparently NO BOOZE!

A while back I made a post about the new TLC show called “Extreme Couponing.” Apparently the show is here to stay and is now a tv series.  A lot of people have noted the negatives and positives of this show, on our blog and forum.

A few weeks ago one of the couponers featured allegedly was misusing her coupons to receive a product free or nearly free, by purposely purchasing the wrong product specified with a barcode close enough to pass the scanner. When this happened a lot of people blamed TLC for promoting misuse of coupons and giving couponers a bad name.

Do you think Extreme Couponers is effecting Canadians and how we use coupons? Or do you think its shedding a good light on couponing? 

I think that it’s great more people are being informed of coupons, and are interested in using them. But on the other hand TLC is making it seem too “extreme.” Although I’m not worried that it’s going to be the end of coupons as we know it,  I am worried I’m going to see a lot more people randomly going through garbage.

The dating site Ashley Madison has been around for quite a while.  They offer dating matchups for married, engaged, in relationships etc.  They claim to have over 7 million members but reports show they only have 700,000 hits per month. Claims have also been made that a large majority of members are “fake” profiles.  They even offer an “affair guarantee.” They have flooded the market for a long time with commercials, banners and even talk shows. It’s hard to avoid knowing the name of the site.

I’m not a fan of this site. I firmly believe if your going to cheat why not be single, but maybe im old fashioned. I honestly shudder everytime I see the commercial.

What are your thoughts on this site?

I just found out today – thanks to a CTV artice – that Kinder Surprise eggs have been banned in the US since 1997! The ban is a result of the toys within the eggs failing to meet their small parts requirements for children less than three years of age. I searched online for any incidents of death by Kinder Surprise but couldn’t find any. Given the other more life threatening things we come across daily, I personally think that Kinder Surprise eggs should be the least of our worries. Even worse, the US Customs and Border Protection agency actually strongly enforces the ban and would confiscate any Kinder Surprise eggs smuggled into the country.

I hope this ban never makes it to Canada. To me, Kinder Surprise is not simply a fun toy inside a chocolate egg, but it’s part of my fond memories from childhood.

Happy Easter Everyone. (If you celebrate or not) I hope your long weekend is fantastic and (hopefully) warmer!

When grocery  shopping, do you just grab the first box on the front of the shelf or do you dig deep in for a newer “untouched by mankind” box?

[picture source]

As I reached for my third bottle of $2.97 olive oil, a crowd began to gather, grabbing at the bottles, noticing the deal as well. The next thing on my list was $1.97 bottle of oj, not from concentrate. As with the olive oil, another crowd gathered: “See, that’s why you have to shop on Friday afternoon ’cause by Saturday…everything’s gone!” said one lady to her friend.

When I left the grocery store, I wondered why these sales resounded with the shoppers. Sure, these were basic items that were on sale, but there was more to it.  Then it hit me…

Why are such essential items, groceries, gas and some other not-so-essential, books/magazines, electronics, shoes, restaurants, etc. so damn expensive here in Canada? As per a recent news story, Canadians are still paying significantly more than Americans for goods.

In addition to the US/CAD price discrepancy, I also find that there is a serious lack of selection here – even in comparison to one of Southern-Ontarians’ favourite shopping haunts and also ironically America’s poorest cities, Buffalo, NY.  So what gives?

Why are Canadians still paying more even though we’ve been on parity, if not exceeding, the greenback for quite some time now?  I realise that the retailers claim to do their purchasing 6-months ahead of them and that’s why we haven’t seen lower prices yet, blah, blah, blah, but why am I still seeing a huge US/CAD price gap when I look at the cover prices of books/magazines now?

(Not sure if I should drag gas prices into this and I haven’t filled up in the States, but somehow, I get the feeling that we’re getting ripped off at the pumps as well! Apparently, Albertans see the lowest price at the pumps out of the rest of the provinces. However, American gas prices are even lower than that of Alberta’s!  With Canada having the second largest gas reserves in the world, why are we paying a premium, as opposed to getting price break?)

With all this goofy pricing, and rising Canadian dollar, is the government still surprised at the number of Canadians who go cross the border to do their shopping?

As Canadians, is there anything we can do to protest these high prices? Or should we just complacently accept the short end of the stick in life and pay up? Unfortunately, I do not have the answer as to why we’re being hosed.

Click here to read a CTV News article on this subject. Warning: If you have high blood-pressure, don’t read the various comments of examples of the price differences! 😉

Canada Post has unveiled the highly anticipated Royal Wedding Stamp collection. I have to embarassingly admit I haven’t really been following the Royal Wedding much. (Due to a lack of interest) But I know many are following the couple.

Will you be preordering these special stamps?

I came across this hilarious video on reddit.com! On top of learning how to make coffee in the desert I found out that there is such a thing as a “boot band” 😛

Warning for coarse language and excessive use of the F word. If that offends you don’t watch.

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I like! I am so glad the nice weather is finally here!  Happy Friday everyone.

I came across an interesting article on BBC through reddit that talks about how, based on mathematical modeling, religion is expected to die out in nine countries. These countries are

• Australia
• Austria
• Canada
• the Czech Republic
• Finland
• Ireland
• the Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Switzerland

The result was reported at the American Physical Society meeting and you can read the full paper here. Being in the academic research field myself I know how a lot of research could be bogus and meaningless (while a lot is very useful and valuable) and since I don’t have much knowledge of the techniques these scientists used I can’t come up to conclusions of my own.

That being said, I think the idea they propose is very interesting. Looking at how the prominence of religion has slowly faded away over the past few decades, do you think we will one day live in a fully religion-free society?

Please keep the responses constructive and respectful to other people’s beliefs.