This card brings me other ideas too - it's not The Empress in such a traditional way. She looks afraid of the power which she holds. I'm not sure from where it's coming but maybe it has something to do with the place - she's in the chamber. There's not much of the nature, only stone animals and dove which came from the crack in the window. The Empress is not in her natural enviroment but anyway, she must deal with it, start to rule from the very unpleasant place. I have this feeling that it can be about being feminine no matter what and no matter when. Even if we're put in the place where we can't show our feminine side, it doesn't mean we lose it. We must be in touch, nurture this, don't let ourselfs afraid.
I am intrigued by what appears to be a shattered window in the top right of the image and wonder why the Empress looks in the opposite direction.
I don't really get the 'traditional' nurturing (Earth) mother vibes from this particular version of the Empress - although the back of her chair appears to be carved with the fruits of a harvest.
She does not feel like an Empress to me either. She feels like a High Priestess holding the Ankh of the Emperor.
Is it significant, perhaps, that her throat is bound? (The throat chakra is associated with the colour blue and creativity, personal expression and self knowledge amongst other things - and I am pretty certain that the link to the yellow 'abdomen chakra' was intended in Card 1: The Magician).
The blue covering the throat, and signifying the throat chakra color feels very HP to me. And her matching dress is so watery, also like the HP... The dress is not typical "earthy" colors!
I am curious how this Empress card ends up reading for people?


No. We don't hold auditions to join the Choir but, occasionally, there may be the opportunity to audition for solo or semi-chorus parts in certain pieces that we perform.
Can I try out the choir before I join?
Yes. Please come along to a rehearsal or two and see how you get on.
How much does it cost? How/when do I pay?
The Choir has an annual subscription, currently £120 per person if paid at the start of our Autumn Term following our Annual General Meeting. However, it is possible to pay in three instalments - please see our Treasurer for details on payment per term.
This can vary from year to year but we normally do three concerts a year – one in the Autumn, one in the Spring and one in the Summer. We also get asked to perform at smaller functions such as hospices, nursing homes and fêtes. Normally these tend to be around the busiest times of year, which are leading up to Christmas and over the Summer.
Is there a choir uniform?
No. For concerts we ask women to wear all-black clothing and men to wear suits and ties (lounge suit or dinner jacket). You will also need a plain black folder for concerts, which we shall provide.
Do I have to buy music?
Our Librarian will give you a complete set of music each term in a folder, which costs £5 a term to hire. If you wish to purchase your own music you are very welcome to do so and there will be no cost of hire for the term.
Whom do I tell if I cannot attend a rehearsal?
Please let your Voice Part Representative know if you cannot attend a rehearsal.
What do my subscriptions pay for?
Your subscriptions pay for the Musical Director and Accompanist, as well as other rehearsal costs such as venue hire etc, insurance and publicity.
Do you raise money for charity?
Yes. We often support local charities. If you would like us to sing in aid of a particular charity then please contact the Chairman or a member of the Committee and we will get back to you. We often have collections at our concerts.
Do you hold any social activities?
There are often informal social events such as drinks and meals out and we hold some more formal social events a couple of times a year such as trips to places like Hampton Court.
The Choir is managed by an elected committee. The committee is elected annually at the AGM that is held in September. The Musical Director is automatically an ex-officio member of this committee. Members are encouraged to support the Choir's activities and get involved in the promotion and organisation of concerts and events. If you would like to join the Committee or help in the running of the Choir then please let the Chairman or Musical Director know.
Can we be booked for events?
It is likely that we might be able to help with your event but it would have to be discussed by the Committee and pitched to the Choir. Please do get in touch with us via our contact form.
"When I decided to join the choir I hadn't sung for many years. But it was really easy to join, no auditions, and lots of help to learn the music. "I feel privileged to be able to take part in singing the choral classics that are part of our repertoire. As well as making new friends, I am singing music I love, brushing up on long idle sight reading skills and finding out about my community from long-time local residents."
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Mr. Fox is itching for a henhouse raid in Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Wes Anderson loves to lay on the weird. In 2007'sThe Darjeeling Limited and every other film that came before it, the writer-director's dominant themes have been: oddballs; dysfunctional families; oddball, dysfunctional families; and drily amusing existential crises.
Whether his oeuvre strikes you as genius or pretentious deadpan hooey depends an awful lot on your tolerance for quirk. Mine is fairly high. But even those who loathed The Royal Tenenbaums should grin like idiots through Fantastic Mr. Fox, a sprightly animated tale about chicken-stealing predators that boasts Anderson's trademark eccentricity but ditches (most of) his affectation.
Adapted by Anderson and frequent collaborator Noah Baumbach from the Roald Dahl novel, the movie uses old-fangled stop-motion techniques to tell the story of its dapper title character, a smooth-talking canid in a double-breasted suit. (He's voiced by George Clooney, as well he should be.) In the opening sequence, he and his very classy wife (Meryl Streep!) get nabbed in a fox trap after pilfering squabs. Mrs. Fox, announcing she's pregnant, makes Mr. Fox vow to give up his thieving ways if they manage to get out of there alive.
Sticklers will note a few variations from the novel. For instance: 1) In the original, Mrs. Fox was complicit all along. 2) Mr. Fox never went on the wagon. 3) Mr. and Mrs. Fox had four cubs, not one little nutcase, and Dahl made no mention of a yoga-bending super-nephew. 4) I'm pretty sure the point of the story wasn't Mr. Fox's flagging self-esteem or his strained relationship with his son. But this is cinema in the time of Oprah, when Reductio ad navelgazing is the inevitable narrative arc.
And Anderson injects such charm and wit, such personality and nostalgia — evident in the old-school animation, storybook settings and pitch-perfect use of Burl Ives — that it's easy to forgive his self-conscious touches.


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Turn Your Enterprise Social Network Into an Innovation Pipeline
By Andrew Pope | Apr 20, 2018
CHANNEL: Digital Workplace
PHOTO: Wil Stewart
There are multiple approaches companies can take with innovation. Some invest huge sums into research and product development, some spend less but have highly focused innovation teams. Others look to surface innovation from across their workforce through open innovation.
Whatever your approach, enterprise social network (ESN) tools such as Yammer and Workplace by Facebook and collaboration platforms such as Igloo are gaining a foothold as highly useful innovation tools. A number of specialist open innovation tools are also available that combine social with innovation management.
Once you have created your innovation groups, here are some ways to align them with core innovation phases.
The Discovery Phase
This is the blank canvas that you start with, where opportunities form. Discovery can be focused around specific needs, trends and issues or it can be completely spontaneous — starting from a sudden spark of inspiration. ESNs shine here as a way to facilitate both spontaneous and coveted innovation.
Trend Scouting
When a new trend emerges it's sometimes difficult to say if it's a threat or an opportunity. Why not ask the workforce what they think about it? According to analysis of questions in ESN conversations by SWOOP, when you ask a question, a thread is 2.5 longer than when you don't. And at the discovery phase, it's all about starting a conversation. Asking questions around trends, about the future, about a specific business need, can really help spark innovation. You may not get ideas (yet), but you will start to explore opportunities and distill broad areas into something a little more tangible.
Posting Snapshots
A snapshot is a moment captured and shared. It can be a picture of something that inspired you, or something you have worked on. It can be an experience told as a story: how did it make you feel?
These snapshots can help fuel creativity. People interpret them in different ways and connect them with completely unrelated things. This opens up the potential for innovation far more than if you kept it to yourself. You can facilitate accidental discoveries if you increase the potential for people to connect over something. I've heard too many stories of when people run in to each other or connect over an object that sparks an idea or new thinking. Let's make this happen digitally as well as in physical environments.
Use Bots to Start Conversations
We're a ways off from bots actually coming up with ideas, but they are proving excellent at harvesting content and sharing it. If you're particularly interested in trends, bots can share with us not just what people are talking about internally, but what trends may be relevant to your business. Sometimes just having a prompt can inspire thought. Then the power of the human mind comes into its own as people start to connect the initial thought with all of the other random things they have lurking in their heads.
Related Article: What Innovation Software Is Right for You?
Whether ideation follows discovery, or you start here, social collaboration tools are becoming an instrumental part of co-creation and open innovation. Opening up ideation, from a few teams to the entire organization, is not just a way of getting more ideas, it's a way of getting better ideas. Targeting the sheer volume of ideas is one method, but if you focus ideation more specifically, the input from the workforce will help shape ideas too. And getting one brilliant idea is far more valuable than 10 so-so ideas, or 50 impractical ideas.
Here's how ESNs can help:
Crowd-sourced idea platforms are simple yet, if deployed with a decent effort on engagement, can be very effective in surfacing suggestions from the workforce. These tend to benefit larger organizations, where the focus is on capturing ideas from areas outside of a specific innovation program. Crowd-sourcing in this way will largely generate suggestions for improvement, based on experiences and frustrations of the workforce, rather than invention. Focusing on improvements rather than invention also has proven benefits, such as Swiss Post who adopted QMarkets to promote, capture and evaluate improvement suggestions. This led to significant cost savings derived from the visibility of ideas.
Innovation Campaigns
Designing an innovation campaign to be run on your ESN is a proven technique to engage with the workforce. This can be done on an ESN platform alone, although adding specialist crowd innovation tools can really make a difference.
When asking for ideas, a lack of clarity on what you're looking for and why you're doing it often results in poor engagement and largely impractical suggestions. By creating a campaign with a clear strategy that really connects employees to the problem or the issue at the heart of it, you'll be in good shape for generating decent ideas. You also need to consider how you'll engage with the workforce on this: what will pull them in to start with? Posting thought-provoking questions is one technique — shaping ideation by asking a specific question such as "We need to influence government policy. What success have we had in line with this policy, and how can we apply it to 'example' problem?" This invites people to respond rather than waiting for them to submit ideas.
A campaign also benefits from fixed timeslot events, such as jams or hackathons. Get people to book in the time and start a conversation.
Related Article: Are You Missing Out on Good Ideas in Your Business?
Creative Thinking Sessions
Innovation can often come as a result of a call for help, but the way you ask for help can really inspire creative thinking. Introduce ideation techniques like touchpoints by asking people for their experience with a company they enjoyed, unpacking these experiences into individual interactions. What stood out? What else drew them in other than the product? It could have been the packaging, the music played in a cafe, the mobile app experience. You can re-build these into any relevant process that you offer, identifying opportunities for improvement and even piggybacking off the experiences people shared.
Other tactics can include running scenario planning and forecasting sessions. Raise some trends and start a conversation about where these can go, and what your responses can be — this is a great way to step out of the cubicle and think about the future. Introduce concepts and ask how your organization can use them, such as peer-to-peer business, low carbon economy, blockchain, the sky's the limit. Focusing discussions on seemingly distant topics often makes it easier to discuss and explore, as we are not clouded by our current work focus and traditional incremental thinking.
These can all be run on ESNs as a focused event that not only engages people through purpose and interest, but also can produce inspiring outcomes.
Related Article: Why So Many Large Companies Stink at Innovation
Evaluation Phase
As an alternative to assigning assessment criteria to ideas, you can use ESNs as an organic evaluation tool. The good ideas will create more noise. The not-so-good ideas will either be further developed to a point where they are more worthwhile, or they will drop off the radar.
Another growing area is the adoption of plug-ins for ESNs that help source and channel innovation. Severn Trent Water in the UK sources ideas using Yammer and Sideways 6 to help it structure and evaluate ideas. The company has turned 190 submitted ideas into three genuine innovations.
You can easily create polls to vote on ideas submitted within your innovation groups. While this approach is fine, it doesn't truly evaluate ideas. Rather, consider running mini-campaigns around submitted ideas, or at least those considered viable. Ask for specific input on them: what do people love about them? What could be improved? Ask the idea creator to promote them, or get someone to promote it on their behalf, perhaps via a pitching session. Generating exposure and conversations around the ideas rather than just numbers of votes will shape them, moving them further along the innovation process ladder.
This step also helps us make massive progress in piloting ideas. You've already proven them for robustness within the workforce, and also potentially identified areas where you can test them. When people start asking if they can help, you've got a good sign you're on to something.
Enterprise Social Networks: Your Gateway to Innovation
Enterprise social networks are a valuable tool for innovation, as companies such as British Gas, Severn Trent Water and Walmart have proven. But it's not just the behemoths who benefit. Smaller organizations and discreet innovation groups reap just as much value from an ESN. They provide two key elements: first, a home for conversations and a place for innovation. And second, a means of speeding up our interactions — a responsive and proactive innovation lab.
Social collaboration tools increase our chances of spontaneous innovation and help improve the ideation process. They allow this to happen instantly. But make no mistake: this won't occur spontaneously. You need to manage open innovation just as you do all communities. Set a clear purpose, provide an environment for content creation and sharing, focused activities, leaders that listen, and establish an engaged audience. Get these right and innovation will surely flow.
From environmental science beginnings to project management, knowledge management and innovation management, I've always appreciated how mature collaboration is critical to success of any project. Advising global investment banking and professional services sectors, I've worked on some wonderful knowledge and collaboration projects. My biggest challenge was being asked to help a global engineering firm be 'more innovative.' The experiences of all of this motivated me to co-establish Innosis, helping organizations focus collaboration towards innovation and continuous reinvention.
Collaboration vs. 'Design by Committee' or 'Democratization'
Don't Blame SharePoint, Blame IT
These Digital Trends Are Here to Stay
Digital Transformation by the Numbers
What's Next for SharePoint Intranets?
Tags andrew pope, collaboration tools, community management, digital workplace, enterprise collabroation, enterprise social networks, esns, innovation, social collaboration tools

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Talk about nearly impenetrable armor. Roughly 50 minifig shield accessories were put together in this vignette by Vitreolum to create this effective protection method used by Spartans. I had to show off this build because not only is it very creative, but I also am a big fan of this time in history. With those 50 shields positioned, I think it is quite a bit cramped inside of there! And probably rather smelly, too. . .


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Download Map PDF
Cheyenne Botanic Gardens: Where Everyone Goes & Everyone Grows
Grand Conservatory
Paul Smith Children's Village
Community – Beauty – Sustainability
ATTENTION PHOTOGRAPHERS
Click here to view Photo Policy in new Grand Conservatory
710 S. Lions Park Drive
Tuesday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Closed Monday & Some Holidays
Always open from dawn to dusk
Paul Smith Children's Village at the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens
Support the Gardens
Cheyenne Botanic Gardens members receive exclusive access to local gardening events, discounted admission to more than 300 partnering Public Gardens locations, and all sorts of other perks. Help the gardens grow.
City of Cheyenne Proud Members of American Public Gardens Association and Community, Recreation and Events.
The Botanic Garden is a division of the City of Cheyenne Recreation and Events Department. This is the official web site of the Friends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to further the goals of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. © 2O18 All Rights Reserved.


This super simple meal is one of my main go to recipes. Great for batch cooking, the sauce can be frozen or used in other recipes like lasagne or tweaked and made into a creamy tomato sauce like this. It is naturally vegan and bursting with fresh flavours .
Saute the onion and garlic in a little water (or oil) if you prefer. If using water, add 1tbsp of extra water at a time as needed. Cook until soft. Add the peppers, cook for 2-3 minutes.
The rest of the ingredients, except the basil and simmer on a medium/ low heat for 15 minutes.
Whilst the sauce cooks, boil the penne in salted water as per packet instructions.
Roughly tear most of the basil leaves (keep a few as garnish) and add in final two minutes of cooking.
Serve over the penne pasta. I chose to serve with some salad and balsamic dressing and finished with a few capers.


You've saved diligently, built an impressive nest egg and now you're ready to call it a career. Great, just one question: Do you know how much you'll have to shell out each year to cover your expenses after you retire? It's an important question because unless you have a good idea of what it will actually cost to live the lifestyle you envision, you run the risk of running through your nest egg too soon.
Unfortunately, research shows that many people don't have a very good handle on what their post-career expenditures will be. More than a quarter of retirees recently polled by the LIMRA Secure Retirement Institute said that their basic living expenses in retirement were higher than they expected, while half of the retirees surveyed for a just-released Wells Fargo study said they were paying more than they anticipated for health care.
Part of the problem is that many, if not most, people assume their spending will drop after they leave the workforce. But that's not always the case. When Employee Benefit Research Institute researchers studied retirees' spending habits in 2015, they found that in the first two years of retirement nearly half (46%) of retirees were spending more than they did before retiring and that by the sixth year of retirement more than a third were still doing so. And we're not talking negligible increases here. The majority of these bigger spenders had boosted their outlays more than 20%.
How, then, can you get a more accurate handle on the retirement expenses you'll face so you can better gauge whether you actually have the resources to retire and reduce the odds of depleting your savings too soon? Here are three things you can do.
1. Develop a retirement budget. When retirement is still decades away, it may be okay to rely on the rule of thumb that says 70% to 80% of your pre-retirement income should cover your retirement expenses. But once you're into the home stretch to retirement—say, within five to 10 years of leaving your job—you really need to get a better fix on what your actual retirement expenses will be.
The best way to do that: create a retirement budget that details your expenses, line by line, item by item. You won't be able to predict costs down to the penny (or even to the dollar, for that matter). But the idea is to make the best estimate that you can and then refine your figures as you approach and enter retirement.
You can write out a budget with pencil and paper if you like, but you'll probably find in much easier to do it with an online budgeting tool. For example, BlackRock's Retirement Expense Worksheet lets you enter upwards of 50 different expense items in eight broad categories. The tool also distinguishes between essential living expenses, such as housing, food and transportation, and discretionary outlays, such as entertainment and travel. By seeing how much of your income is required to fund essential expenses vs. discretionary items, you can better see how much wiggle room you have should you need to pare your spending in the future avoid depleting your assets too soon.
2. Home in on health care. A recent Northwestern Mutual survey found that a majority of Americans cite health care costs as the biggest obstacle to achieving financial security in retirement. That's not surprising. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' 2016 Consumer Expenditure Survey, health care ranks as the third largest expense behind housing and transportation for households 65 and older, accounting for 13% of annual spending on average. Throw in the fact that health care costs are often a wildcard that can be devilishly difficult to predict, and it's all the more crucial that you get as accurate an idea as you can of your potential health care costs.
You can get a general sense of how much you might need to budget for health care in retirement by going to AARP's Health Care Costs Calculator, which you can access, along with other tools and calculators, in the Health Care section of RealDealRetirement's Retirement Toolbox. You enter such information as your age, gender, and any health issues you may have (high blood pressure, heart problems, whatever). The calculator then estimates the total costs you'll pay over the course of retirement, breaking that figure down into the portion covered by Medicare and the amount you'll have to foot on your own. It also shows the annual tab and displays a graph depicting how costs rise each year throughout retirement.
Although it will take some digging, you can get come away with a more customized estimate of how much you might have to pay based on the version of Medicare you choose (traditional or a Medicare Advantage Plan) and whether you opt for a Medicare Supplemental coverage plan and/or a Plan D Medicare drug plan by going to Medicare.gov. For a price comparison of Medicare Advantage Plans in various cities as well as other Medicare resources that can be helpful in gauging costs, you can check out out MedicareNewsWatch.com.
Of course, no estimate will be able to tell you your exact costs, as they can vary significantly from the averages based on your current and future health status. But by starting with a reasonable estimate and updating it periodically based on your health, insurance coverage and the costs you actually incur, you should be able to arrive at a decent senses of how much income you'll need to devote to this large and important expense.
Do you expect to continue living in your current home or do you plan to downsize to smaller, less expensive digs in hopes of lowering housing costs and perhaps even coming away with a chunk of money you can add to your nest egg? Will you stay in your current town or city or try relocating to an area with lower living costs? Do you envision spending most of your time close to home or do you foresee a more peripatetic lifestyle, traveling around the globe or perhaps splitting your time between homes in different parts of the country?
These and other questions (Do you hope to work part-time? Volunteer? Go back to school?) are the kinds you ideally want to mull before you retire not only because they'll help you get a better handle on the expenses you'll face and thus the income you'll need, but because grappling with them makes it more likely that your time in retirement will be enjoyable and fulfilling.


Details are sketchy, but the investigation began Thursday around 11 a.m. when the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office received a call about an unresponsive toddler who was not breathing. Dziura was en route to Blountstown from Altha with her young daughter, Anya. When she realized the child was unresponsive, she stopped at a gas station at the corner of Hwy. 71 and 275. Calhoun EMS paramedics, first responders and a nurse who happened to be passing by attempted CPR. The child was taken to Calhoun-Liberty Hospital then airlifted to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. She was removed from life support Friday night.
According to the Calhoun County Sheriff's Office, the Medical Examiner completed the autopsy on Anya Monday, however, they are not releasing the cause of death until the investigation has been completed. Additional charges are pending. The couple is due back in court in June. A bond hearing was held Monday and they will remain in jail at least until their next court date.
Odd that Glenn Hess would assign a Junior Assistant Attorney to try this case. Where are the experienced ADA's that work all other murder cases in the 14th Judicial Circuit???


The leader in workplace wellbeing, Wellness Council of America (WELCOA), offers a host of relevant, research-driven, and engaging programs with educational books available at low cost to individuals and groups.
We've supplemented the WELCOA content with on-demand weekly videos and agendas you can use however and whenever you choose.
Peer-to-peer support produces clinically significant lifestyle behavior change and reading remains a favorite pastime as noted on workplace engagement surveys. Combined with the need for social connection in our technology-driven society, the book club concept is a perfect way to engage people around a common goal.
A small group with 3-7 participants requires no formal facilitation or additional resources. We've provided weekly agendas and introductory videos, so the only item of business is ordering the books. You can use the customizable Weekly Programs Poster to promote your group.
The programs provided below are FREE, and in-turn, we ask that you measure results. These metrics allow us to continuously improve, refine our offering, and recognize local workplace health and wellbeing innovators. Whether you're facilitating a small group, lunch 'n' learn, or Reasonable Alternative Standard program, please distribute this survey via hard copy or online link at your first and last program session. Thank you in advance.
Sleep deprivation is a national epidemic. Yet, we know that sleep is so crucial to every aspect of our lives from coping with stress, to relationships to performance. In this group, we will explore the causes of sleep deprivation and choose different strategies to improve our sleep and also our overall wellbeing.
You will learn powerful ways to eat foods that keep you healthy and vibrant. Each week you can explore a different nutrition topic and make choices (even small ones) that take you towards better health and higher energy.
Financial Wellness at work gives actionable ideas on how to start and sustain a financial wellness program to reduce debt, manage cash flow, build savings, grow investments and expand net worth. So, no matter which stage in life's journey you're in, this book is an important (translated essential) tool you won't want to miss out on!
Are you tired of setting New Year's Resolutions to exercise more, eat less and lose weight? We are! So many goals today are focused solely on the physical wellbeing. Did you know there are actually 8 areas of wellbeing? In this amazing guide, The Road to Wellness, there are 7 chapters which address a different component of wellbeing. This is a great foundation for anyone looking to not only improve their health but improve their daily experience and overall satisfaction with life.
You will experience the amazing benefits that walking can bring for your body and mind and even your career! You will notice your life change-for the better!


Ultra Short Runs. Ultra Short run books produced by Crane.
What are Ultra Short Run Books?
Produced typically in quanities of 11, 20, 30, 50, 100, 200, 250, 500, or 750. Usually the quanity produced is less than 1,000.
To get quotes for ultra short runs just use our bound galley quote system found on this website.
These are the same as ultra short run books. See above.


Create your own Sunshine Smiles with Anything Goes!
Hello everybody! Another month has passed and still very little sunshine for the UK so we thought we would have an "Anything Goes Challenge", to bring some sunshine smiles our way.
Our sponsor is the fabulous Art by Miran and the prize is 3 digis of your choice.
We are very sorry to have said goodbye to both Jennifer and Adele and would like to thank them both for all their hard work and beautiful creations, we wish you both good luck for the future!
We have closed the DT Call we were holding due to a massive response!


A selection of these videos will also be included in the institute's newsletter and a news media component is being developed alongside this campaign.
And because the primary medium in Africa remains audio, we will be stripping the audio tracks from the videos and posting these separately on the website and on different social media for distribution and sharing.
By the end of the campaign, the expectation is that long-tail search will be significantly positively impacted, along with the positioning of the institute as a force for long-term and sustained change in Africa through the development of its network of young leaders. While the institute has been around for more than a decade and is well-regarded, the improvement in visibility will enhance its status and ability to attract additional funding for the important work it undertakes.


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Blind Date – The Gentleman Clown Version – Review
Posted on August 29, 2012 by Jessica Goldman
August 29 to September 1, 2012
Loose Moose Theatre
http://www.loosemoose.com
It was just a year ago that I saw Renee Amber take the stage in Calgary for her first go as Mimi in Rebecca Northan's award-winning, interactive hit comedy, Blind Date. (See my review at https://applause-meter.com/2011/08/31/blind-date-review/) Several years before that in Toronto, I had the pleasure of seeing Northan herself perform the role in one the first productions of the show. So when the press release announcing yet another staging of Blind Date hit my Inbox, I could really see no reason to review it again. I knew the show well, thought it was good cute fun and I had nothing new to say about it.
That is until I saw the line about the Gentleman Clown twist. In a departure from the show's usual female leading lady format, the first four performances of this three-week limited engagement features Northan's brother Jamie as Stuart, the lovelorn clown, inviting a woman to the stage to be his date. And unlike Mimi who tries to mold her audience gentleman into her perfect date, the Gentleman Clown is meant to be putty in the hands of his female audience date as she takes the reins to make him the man she's always wanted.
Yeah, I was curious. So yup, I'm reviewing once again.
The show begins with Rebecca Northan and Renee Amber taking the stage as Stuart's sisters (donning the show's trademark red clown noses) explaining to the audience that they are here visiting Canada on a mission to find their sweet brother a lady friend. The two have chatted up the audience before the show and, as in all Blind Date performances; have found an audience member they would like to participate in the show. This is always an interesting moment in Blind Date, who have they chosen and will they say yes when identified? Kathryn was the name of the woman chosen for Jamie's inaugural performance. She said yes and so on with the show.
Despite the gender swap, this version of Blind Date pretty much follows the tried and tested format. Clown and date drink in a bar as they get to know each other, they dance, drive in a car, end up at the clown's apartment, get into some smooching and then via audience choice either continue the date or fast forward to 5 years from now to see where the couple ended up. There's a reason this show just won Best Revue at the recent Canadian Comedy Awards, it works every time no matter who the audience member is due to both the wonderful improvisation possibilities of the set up and the talent of the actor.
In this case, Jamie Northan is no exception. He is adorably delightful as Stuart, with just the right touch of wit and sensitivity needed to make the show funny without overly exploiting his female volunteer. Whereas the female clown can be aggressive, bawdy and over the top for her laughs, the male role needs to be a bit more subtle in his humour and Jamie manages to walk a perfect line between sarcasm and deprecation putting Kathryn at ease and allowing her to finally relax and play along with the situation. The audience laughs with and at him and while it certainly isn't as outrageous a comedy as when Mimi takes the stage, with Jamie in the lead, this Blind Date is surprisingly funny in unexpected ways.
In addition to Jamie's talent in the role, there are a few new additions to the show assisting the male lead scenario. Without giving too much away, I will send applause out to the traffic cop scene as a hysterically clever way of making the female volunteer more comfortable and the use of puppets in the more intimate moments for great comedic and pragmatic effect. Not only are these smart additions to the performance, but they by far got the biggest laughs of the night.
Blind Date – the Gentleman Clown version isn't exactly a new or necessarily better show than the original rendition. But between Jamie's excellent performance and the injection of some different ideas, I can happily say I was glad to have made this my third and last time seeing the show.
For the guys and gals – It's a blind date where you get to laugh at and with both genders equally. Good, somewhat racy fun all around. SEE IT
For the occasional theatre goer – Jamie's version is wonderful and well worth attending. But if you haven't seen this show yet, Rebecca Northan herself is performing Sept 12 – 15 and you may want to wait to see the woman who started it all. SEE ONE VERSION OF IT
For the theater junkie – You've probably seen this show already and no, you don't need to rush out to see it again. But watching Jamie take a crack at the role is rewarding and the new elements are impressive. MAYBE SEE IT
Evil Dead The Musical – Review
Sexy Laundry – Review


After languishing in negative terrain for most part of the session, key benchmark indices witnessed a sharp recovery in the mid-afternoon trade. Recovery was backed by gains in HDFC, TCS, Infosys and HDFC Bank. The Nifty 50 gained 77.85 points and settled the day at 11008.30. PSU banks were major gainers and Realty sector were the major losers of the day. On the macro front, India's manufacturing economy recorded an improvement in growth during September amid firmer gains in new orders, output and employment.
European shares rose on Monday morning as optimism on the trade war front was lifted by a new U.S. Mexico-Canada agreement, which is helping world markets enter the fourth quarter on a positive footing.The euro zone benchmark was up 0.4%. Danske Bank appointed an interim chief executive on Monday as it sought to reassure investors rattled by a $235 billion money laundering scandal.
Share prices of Tata Power surged up 2.7% after the company said its subsidiary completed the refinancing of its outstanding ECB loans amounting to Rs 5,500 crore.
Kalpataru Power Transmission (KPTL), a leading global EPC player in the power and infrastructure contracting sector informed that the company has received new orders of Rs 1,145 crore.
Larsen & Toubro has won orders worth Rs 7,489 crore. The company has received a major order from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) for the construction of the Mumbai Coastal Road Project (MCRP), Packages 01 & 04.
Cadilah Healthcare, Ahmedabad-based global pharmaceutical company, has received the final approval from USFDA to market Desoximetasone Cream USP (US RLD — Topicort Cream), 0.25%.
V2 Retail has opened one operational store at Kazichack, Near Bank of India, Barh, Bihar. With this, the company now operates a total of 70 stores.
Bajaj Auto share prices was up 1.97% as the company revealed its total motorcycle sales rose 17% to 430,939 units in September 2018 over September 2017.
Philippines stocks were lower after the close on Monday, as losses in the Industrials, Holding Firms and Mining & Oil sectors led shares lower.The PSEi Composite fell 0.75%.
Japan stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Paper & Pulp, Shipbuilding and Communication sectors led shares higher.The Nikkei 225 added 0.55% to hit a new 5-year high.


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But soft, what silliness on yon stage doth break?
"Complete Works" takes the writings of The Bard and lovingly lampoons them combining vaudevillian shtick and slapstick humor while throwing in some pop culture jokes and references. And, as the title suggests, it all gets covered, from the Star-Crossed Lovers to Mac…, oops, make that the Scottish Play.
Sam Rush, Phil Kilbourne, and Brian Smith, under the direction of Tom McCabe, take on a plethora of characters whilst juggling costume (and gender) changes and props at a maniacal pace without missing a beat or a mark. The opening night house was very responsive and energetic, obviously delighted to be a part of the action during various scenes involving audience participation.
Without giving away too much, some of the more hysterical highlights of the evening include Sam Rush as a Romeo reminiscent of Sylvester the cat from Loony Tunes, Phil Kilbourne's Titus Andronicus doing a laudable Julia Child impression and Brian Smith as a completely over the top Ophelia.
This final offering in NCT's 20 anniversary season is the perfect finishing touch to a wonderful summer of theatre consisting of audience favorites from the past 20 summers. There may be something rotten in Denmark, but there is nothing rotten about this show. Forsooth, get thee to NCT ere the "Complete Works" endeth.


Two things the catastrophes in the Gulf and at Fukushima have in common is that both were at the hands of corporations, and both involved extensive disinformation, misinformation, and severe suppression of information. Just like governments, which are virtually all corporate "assets", corporations themselves shun the light of day.
Dangerous creatures, corporations, obviously one of the deadliest things ever sprouted from hell. Of course they are not creatures in any biological sense, but thanks to corporate chicanery beginning in 1886 especially, they have more rights than you do.ough, it is conceivable that the ultimate verdict will orbit the concept that by eating, breathing, drinking…by all the things you must do to stay alive, you are endangering corporate profit. Sound far-fetched? Well, check out exactly how corporations became "artificial people". Also, please consider last year's Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling that handed absolute control of elections to corporations. SCOTUS ruled that any restriction on the amount of money corporations may spend to influence elections is a violation of their right to free speech under the First Amendment. Should the Book of Revelation be amended to read: In the beginning of the end, God created corporations?
Some say money is the root of all evil; it could also be said that corporations are the root of the most malignant money; vicious and biocidal entities more powerful with every tick of the (doomsday) clock, and all that matters to them is profit. Corporations represent the perfect means for the wealthy to grow ever wealthier by destroying the biosphere and not being held accountable; isn't that a decent definition of "malignant money"?
Einstein warned us by saying that unleashing the power of the atom changed everything except our modes of thinking…which carry us toward unparalleled catastrophe. And now, unparalleled catastrophe is ours, made in Japan; notice how it has mostly disappeared from the news? Forget Three Mile Island, forget Chernobyl—which has killed a million people, so far, and has touched the entire northern hemisphere…Fukushima is worse by far, and still out of control. The multiple meltdowns in Japan have the potential to render much of the northern hemisphere uninhabitable, and mangle the gene pool of countless species, including humans. We're talking effectively forever. But apparently an even more important reason for severe suppression of information, suppression of truth: vast corporate profits are at stake.
Nuclear energy corporations are wealthy enough to afford extensive political influence. In fact, when Fukushima became a volcano of radioactivity, president Obama was (he still is!) pushing heavily for $36 billion in taxpayer "loans" for the construction of more reactors. Insurance companies and financiers treat nuclear reactors like the red-hot radioactive potatoes they are, so the nuke good ol' boys need help from the poor to increasingly threaten life on Earth. The last thing they want is people to be aware of, well, reality. Also, imagine the hit to profits of Tokyo Electric Power Company if they didn't have the Pacific ocean to pour their radionuclide lava into. "Hey," they might say, "it's a big ocean." Well, it's a small planet in terms of the amount radioactivity gushing from Fukushima.
We can thank energy corporations for irradiating half the planet already (there is no "safe" dose of internal radiation—and radiation is not "good for you" as certain hardright "pundits" trumpet). We can thank energy corporations for poisoning the Gulf with oil and toxic dispersants; but above all, for so diligently suppressing alternative energies all these years. Eight energy giants are among the world's top eleven corporations on the power of filthy biocidal energies…monster fossil-energy corporations with a virtual monopoly on enormous fossil profits. And they like to kill the competition. In terms of life on Earth, their ultimate protection of profits—potentially their all-time greatest crime against humanity—came in 1943, the year they murdered Tesla.
Tesla's inventions include radio (recognized by the SCOTUS eight months after Tesla died), X-rays (three years before Roentgen), the Tesla coil, fluorescent light, lasers, bladeless turbines, vertical take-off aircraft, wireless transmission of electricity, the particle beam ("death", or "peace" ray), the whole system of AC that powers the world…. At the time of his death he held over 700 patents. And the fields Tesla greatly contributed to, such as computer science, robotics, remote control, radar, ballistics, nuclear physics…a comprehensive list would be astonishing.
One invention Tesla was elusive about, sometimes offering teasers but no specifics, had the potential to eclipse all of his and anyone else's breakthroughs—perhaps even cost him his life, and is behind the perpetual drive to minimize public awareness of Tesla. He had long prophesied that mankind would someday hook their machinery up to the energy of vacuum space—to "the very wheelworks of nature". The theoretical basis for energy from the vacuum has now been part of "mainstream" physics literature for over fifty years. But as Tesla long intimated, any kind of "free energy" device would never be allowed to reach the market.
In 1943, Tesla had an appointment to discuss with FDR that it was possible for us to get all the energy we need simply by tapping the space we're in. But he never made it to the meeting with FDR; Tesla was found in his apartment, dead of "natural causes". Officially, it was a heart attack. But information leaked by investigators indicates that for reasons of "national security" the coroner's report was to be kept secret because it revealed that Tesla died of arsenic poisoning.
Take that, competition! Take that, life on Earth. Free energy available to everyone would devastate corporate profits—almost to the extent that our global fossil fuel economy has devastated the biosphere. Tesla gave humanity so much, promised so much more, and corporations not only murdered him, they have even all but lifted him clear out of mainstream history…tried their best to make him an unperson. They have proven, and always will, that nothing is more dangerous than threatening corporate profits.
How does that bode for life on Earth? The most dangerous of advanced human endeavors are development of alternatives to entrenched modes of energy that are powering the biosphere straight to hell…sure sounds like a nightmare. Accelerating destruction of Earth's ability to sustain life, brought to you by corporations. A living planet dominated by "artificial people" that care only about profit, nothing but, profit.
Imagine waking up to find there never was a fossil fuel economy, that all the war, pollution, climate disruption, murder, cancer, slavery, impoverishment, obscene concentration of wealth—all the lethal threats to life on Earth stayed in the nightmare because half a century ago, thanks to Tesla, we plugged in to "the very wheelworks of nature", and became an advancing civilization.
Chernobyl and Fukushima never happened….
Imagine life on Earth being more important than corporate profit.
If only we could wake up.


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Geneapedia
Source Search
Henry Stuart (7 December 1545-10 February 1566-7), King of Scots
Additional names
Father:1 Matthew Stewart (21 September 1516-4 September 1571), 4. Earl of Lennox
Mother:2 Margaret Douglas (8 October 1515-9 March 1577-8)
Spouses and relationship events
Married:3 29 July 1565 Mary (7 or 8 December 1542-8 February 1586-7), Queen of Scots Holyrood House [building], Holyrood [district], Edinburgh [city/town], Edinburghshire (Midlothian) [county], Scotland [country], United Kingdom [country]
Children with Mary:
James I (19 June 1566-27 March 1625), King of England4
Occupation:5 Lord Darnley
Occupation:6 from 15 May 1565 Earl of Ross
Occupation:7 from 15 May 1565 Lord of Ardmanach
Occupation:8 20 July 1565 Duke of Albany
Occupation:9 from 28 July 1565 King of Scots
Born:10 7 December 1545 Temple Newsam [building], Leeds [city/town], Yorkshire [county], England [country], United Kingdom [country]
Died:11 10 February 1566-7 Edinburgh [city/town], Edinburghshire (Midlothian) [county], Scotland [country], United Kingdom [country]
He was murdered.
1 Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms, The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume I: (: David Douglas, 1904), Scotland, p. 21-23, James IV.
2 Ibid
3 Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms, The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, volume V: (Edinburgh: David Douglas, 1908), Lennox, p. 353-54, IV Matthew Stewart.
4 Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms, The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume I: (: David Douglas, 1904), Scotland, p. 25-26, Mary.
11 Sir James Balfour Paul, Lord Lyon King of Arms, The Scots Peerage Founded on Wood's Edition of Sir Robert Douglas's Peerage of Scotland Containing an Historical and Genealogical Account of the Nobility of that Kingdom, Volume I: (: David Douglas, 1904), Scotland, p. 25-26, Mary.
certainly The information is supported by primary sources.
probably The information is supported by secondary sources which is most likely based on primary sources.
possibly It is unclear if the secondary source cited is based on primary sources, or the information is an assumption well supported by other evidence.
likely The information is only found in secondary sources with questioned quality, or there is a reason to suspect the information is wrong. Or the information is a likely assumption based on other evidence.
apparently The information is doubtful and poorly documented, but still most likely correct.
perhaps The information might be correct or it might be wrong. It is not supported by any trustworthy sources. It might me an assumption.
disproved The information is proven to be wrong.


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Home The Trent Voices Elite Blogs Femi Aribisala: Celebrating A Democracy Day With Election Rigmarole
Femi Aribisala: Celebrating A Democracy Day With Election Rigmarole [MUST READ]
By Femi Aribisala | Op-Ed Contributor on June 18, 2019
File: Boss Mustapha, the secretary to the federal government, President Muhammadu Buhari (middle and bent over) and Mrs Fawehinmi during the National Awards in Abuja on June 12, 2018 | Bayo Omoboriowo/State House Photo
The Nigeria of today is stranger than fiction. The government has just legally declared June 12 "Democracy Day" and proclaimed that, henceforth, it will be a public holiday when we will celebrate Nigeria's hard-won democracy. Except that this celebration of democracy is at the instance of an undemocratic government that has done a lot in the past few months to destroy democracy in Nigeria.
June 12 is in remembrance of that day in 1993, when one of Nigeria's freest elections was maliciously annulled because the powers-that-be did not like the result. President Buhari is now trying to make political capital out of the matter by proclaiming government remorse over that act of brazen illegality. But the problem is that he himself is the architect of the annulment of an earlier election in 1983.
In effect, President Buhari is making a song and dance out of apologizing for an election he did not annul; but he refuses to apologize for the election he annulled. And we are all supposed to pretend that there is nothing strange and suspicious about this.
Moreover, the president, who is now celebrating the "birthday" of democracy in Nigeria, is at the same time orchestrating the "death day" of democracy in Nigeria by being at the center of the worst election in the history of Nigeria; the recently concluded presidential election of February 2019.
We are all witnesses of this government's contradictory style of democracy. The chaos, acrimony and shenanigans of the last few months happened in broad daylight. So, it is only appropriate to ask what precisely we are supposed to be celebrating in this new-fangled Democracy Day?
What we have in Nigeria is government of the government by the government and for the government.
Celebrating rigmarole
Are we celebrating the fact that campaigning for nomination at APC primaries resulted in fisticuffs and killings? Are we celebrating the suppression of candidates by fixing the price of APC nomination papers at extortionate levels affordable primarily to those with questionable wealth?
Are we celebrating the declaring of winners as losers and losers as winners at APC primaries, and the brouhaha and court-cases that have resulted? Are we celebrating the booing and stoning of even the president and his entourage by his party-members at APC rallies populated with rented crowds, some of them imported from neighbouring countries?
Are we celebrating Mr. President's conversion of polling-stations into battlefields with his directive that the military should shoot and kill ballot-snatchers without recourse to the rule of law? Are we celebrating the disorienting of voters, especially those who travelled back home to vote, by the tactical cancelling of the presidential election at the last minute and its mischievous re-scheduling?
Are we celebrating the disingenuous buying of votes with "trader-monies," or the enticement of voters with rice, garri and hard cash ferried around in trailer trucks and bullion vans? Are we celebrating the suppression of votes by threats and mayhem on election day, including the looting and sacking of polling-stations in opposition strongholds?
Should we celebrate the president's refusal to sign the electoral act, even after several entreaties; INEC's declaration of fictitious results; and the fact that the election is now a major bone of contention in the courts?
It is right to celebrate what Mike Ozekhome characterises as "acts of gangsterism, hooliganism and shameless 'agberoism' quite unbecoming of a ruling party."
The answer to all this is a capital "NO!" We cannot, we should not and we will not. No June 12 declaration as Democracy Day can obfuscate the rape of democracy we have just witnessed. What we have in Nigeria is not government of the people by the people and for the people; but government of the government by the government and for the government.
Insult to intelligence
The government's June 12 proclamation as now Democracy Day is an insult to the intelligence of Nigerians. The enemies of our democracy cannot pretend at the same time to be the defenders of democracy.
To celebrate this "new and improved" Democracy Day, the government gathered together a large retinue of African heads-of-state who came because they felt somewhat beholden to Nigeria. However, it could not get a single one of the former heads-of-state of Nigeria to attend. They refused, in one accord, to participate in this sham of an event and would not validate a clearly stolen mandate.
In a most dramatic fashion that could not have been lost on the assembled foreign dignitaries, Nigeria's former heads-of-state rained on the president's elaborate parade.
Verdict of failure
We now have the verdict on the European Union Election Observation Mission (EOM) for the February 2019 election and it is certainly nothing to celebrate. As a matter of fact, it is quite damning. EU observers were of the view that INEC conducted an election that was definitely far below international best standards.
Among other things, the EU noted that the results forms and smart card readers were not packed in tamper-proof envelopes as required. We may well ask: "why not?" If mago mago is not intended, does anybody have to teach us about this requirement?
The same goes for other INEC anomalies that are basic and not rocket-science. The EU noted that there were numerical discrepancies and anomalies on polling unit results forms. There was no clear system of record-keeping. There were inconsistent numbers during the collation exercise.
There was lack of clear checks and explanations, and insufficient public information and this undermined the integrity of the elections. This means, in effect, the declared results were questionable.
"Citizens did not have sufficient means to scrutinise results." This is deliberate lack of transparency. "INEC did not provide centralised information on the declared results for the different locations and has not posted complete results data on its website." We may well ask again: "Why not?"
In addition: "there was lack of disaggregated results by local government, ward or polling unit, which would allow for thorough checking of results." "The discrepancies and insufficient public information were not in line with international standards for access to information and public accountability." "In cases, INEC even recorded more valid votes than the number of accredited voters."
The EU also decried widespread government pressure on the independence of the judiciary. It observed that Chief Justice Onoghen's suspension on the eve of the elections did not follow due process, and maintained that his suspension shaped the poll's outcome. It decried the violence that attended the elections, alleging that over 150 people were killed in the melee. It also noted that the polls were marred by acts of voter intimidation, including cases of security officials harassing voters.
Only the blind, deaf and dumb will refuse to recognize that this is a major indictment of INEC and the APC government. The outcome of all this is that the 2019 elections turned out, as the government had planned it, as one big sham.
Therefore, I ask again, what democracy exactly can the government now be celebrating with so much fanfare in Abuja? We must not allow ourselves to be deceived. The June 12 celebration, the Democracy Day proclamation, the assemblage of African dignitaries in Abuja, are all part and parcel of a big cover-up by the government of its stolen mandate. It is an attempt to validate an invalid election with subterfuge.
Operation cover-up
Make no mistake about it, the cover-up is on. A major bone of contention about the election has to do with whether INEC used or did not use a central electronic server to post results. The PDP claims it secured access to the INEC server, only to discover that the election result posted there is completely different from the one INEC announced to the public.
INEC declared Buhari as the winner of the presidential election with a plurality of nearly 4 million votes, but according to the PDP, the result posted on the INEC central server indicates that Atiku actually won the election with nearly 2 million votes.
However, INEC insists it did not use a central server where results were uploaded during the election. But this position is not credible because INEC told Nigerians in no uncertain terms beforehand that the 2019 election results would be stored in a central server. In the presence of the INEC Chairman, Professor Mahmud Yakubu; Chidi Nwafor, INEC's Director of Information and Communication Technology, said:
"Observations have shown that most election malpractices that take place do not take place at polling units. The challenge has been after the poll- between the polling units and the collation centres and at the collation centre. INEC has therefore decided to transmit results from all polling units to central database such that viewing access is allowed at wards and local government levels- which ultimately eliminates manual collation processes."
According to Chidi Nwafor, the new e-collation system has four procedures: "(1) Results from polling units will be entered into the e-collation application on the smart card reader; (2) Results are transmitted to a central server; (3) Results are auto-collated and can be viewed at the RAs (wards) and ECA8s can be scanned at that level; and (4) Result audit and confirmation takes place at collation centres at LGAs, state and national level."
Mr. Nwafor said the new system would be used for all elections, from local council polls which INEC conducts in the Federal Capital Territory to the presidential election. INEC chairman, Mahmud Yakubu himself is on video, telling Nigerians that INEC would be "deploying in the 2019 general elections a new platform for electronic collation and transmission of results."
He said manual results, copied into FORM EC8 A and E, will be used by e-collection officers at the wards to determine if there are any discrepancies.
Out of the billions approved for the elections, no less than 237 million naira was allocated specifically for server-related expenses. Therefore, it is deceitful for INEC to now maintain they did not use a central electronic server in the election.
Atiku is praying the court to grant access for him to inspect the INEC servers. Should the court approve, forensic audit would still reveal what was in them, even if they have since been deleted. If INEC does not have anything to hide, it would readily consent to this request. However, it is insisting Atiku's request must be denied.
The judiciary remains the only redeeming grace of this sordid drama. From the way cases pertaining to state government and legislative elections have been adjudicated, it is clear that the courts have no favourites and have shown a high degree of integrity and impartiality. Therefore, whatever they decide on this delicate matter should be accepted by all and sundry. In all this election palaver, the judiciary remains the only institution in Nigeria that has deserved high commendation.
Femi Aribisala is an iconoclastic church pastor in Lagos. He is also a syndicated essayist for a handful publications in Nigeria. Connect with him on Twitter at @FemiAribisala and at his website, www.femiaribisala.com.
democracy day
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Femi Aribisala | Op-Ed Contributor
The Senate has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to declare a full-scale war against gunmen making life unbearable for Nigerians following their official designation as...


Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner, bedtime snack... I can't stop with the crazy Sour Cream & Onion potato chips! Seriously, I eat them to the point of almost making myself sick. That's just not right.
I cannot believe this handsome little boy of mine is THREE! We've had a fun birthday weekend and it's been such a joy to celebrate the amazingness of this sweet little miracle of mine!
A yummy blueberry birthday pancake for my 3-year-old!
Sorry for the bad lighting, but here's my big boy, ready to blow out the candles on his pancake!
We enjoyed a fun (albeit busy) Friday and enjoyed a little family pizza party for dinner. Chase was able to open a few gifts from Mommy & Daddy before bedtime.
This morning (Saturday), was PARTY TIME!!! We had a yummy spread of food and some cute decorations, which I forgot to take pictures of (doh!). Chase opened his presents, and unfortunately our camera was on a crappy setting so all of them turned out ridiculously blurry and totally unusable. FAIL!
I was able to get a pic of his birthday banner I made, though. I love that I can swap out the Thomas images to reuse the banner for future birthdays.
Yay! Singing is over... time to make a wish!
So here's a little pic of the cupcakes. Chase requested chocolate cupcakes and I paired them with a delicious vanilla bean buttercream. Apparently they were a hit! Unfortunately my lack of sweet tooth these days means I didn't try one myself, but I think they sure were pretty cute!
I also made some fun water bottles but again, forgot to take pictures of them until after the party. But here are some empties!
After the party it was, of course, nap time! Yay! All four of us took a nice nap before heading over to our neighborhood's fall festival in the pool parking lot that is literally across the street from our house. The kids got to dress up in their halloween costumes that mommy made for them!
LO the unicorn and Chase as Mickey Mouse!
I thought it was hilarious to see LO try to bob for apples... although I think that unicorn horn might've held her back a bit.
Not to be outdone by big sis, Chase took his turn at the bobbing, although he was much more interested in using his hands since the biting part turned out to be so tough.
All in all, it's been a wonderful weekend of celebrating this special miracle that God brought into our lives 3 years ago. I can't help but think of all he's been through and how he's had to fight over and over again to be here with us and I can't thank God enough! We are so truly blessed by this child!
I never want to forget all he's been through and I've reminded myself again today by watching the dedication video I put together for him that shows the journey we've been on. He is a fighter, a miracle and my very own hero.
Happy 3rd Birthday, Chase! I love you bunches, sweet boy!
First of all, THANK YOU to everyone for the well wishes regarding our little announcement earlier this week. It goes without saying that we are extremely excited! I'll post more details soon -- I promise!
But for now I wanted to share a little glimpse into our lives from 3 years ago. We were preparing for a trip to Charleston as we awaited the arrival of our son, Chase, who was prenatally diagnosed with a complex congenital heart defect (CHD) called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS). He would require surgery within his first week of life, a second surgery around 4 to 6 months and a third surgery around age 3 to 4. It was an incredibly difficult time for us as we looked into an unknown future, not knowing whether our son would survive.
I only wish I knew then what I know now -- our miracle son would be celebrating his 3rd birthday!!! It's so hard to believe after all we've been through that we'd be where we are today! We have been so blessed by this sweet boy of ours and I cannot praise God enough for bringing him into our lives!
It's amazing how much can change in less than 24 hours. It seems like I was in a good place yesterday. I knew what was ahead of me for the weekend -- packing, preparing, finishing up the "to do" list before heading to Charleston. I was starting to get that anxious/nervous feeling as it seems our journey is just a few steps away!
When I should be overjoyed at the pending arrival of my baby, I'm instead filled with uncertainty.
When I should be packing a simple hospital bag for a day or two, I'm instead packing my entire closet, LO's clothes -- even her bed! -- and several months' worth of things!
When I should be looking forward to holding my precious newborn baby in my arms, I'm instead resentful of the fact that I won't get to do so for who knows how long!
When I should be thinking of a brief hospital stay before bringing my baby home to our family, I'm instead concentrating on how to handle sending my baby with a medical team to open his heart up and perform an 8 hour surgery.
When I should be installing an infant car seat a week or so before my due date, I'm instead wondering if I'll even have the joy of bringing a baby home in that car seat at all.
When I should be worried about bringing home a newborn, getting him onto a schedule and trying to find the time to sleep AND do laundry, I'm instead worried about the countless weeks/months I'll be leaving my baby in the hospital at night, traveling to and from the hospital and splitting my time with my 2-year-old at a temporary home while my heart is aching for my precious son who will be fighting for his life.
When I should be excited about LO meeting her baby brother for the first time, I'm instead overwhelmed at the thought that he might not survive through all of this, and I have no idea how to make a 2-year-old understand that her baby brother is in Heaven and won't be coming home with us.
I don't want to leave the comfort of my home.
I don't want to pack almost every belonging into a box and drive 4 hours away from my family and friends.
I don't want to be forced to make a new home for my family in another city during an already tumultuous time.
I don't want to fear the outcome.
I don't want to fear the unknown.
I don't want to lose my son.
Yes, I fully realize God is in control of our circumstances and He has a perfect plan for my family's life.
But I will continue to look to Him to lift me up when I'm down.
To give me the strength I need with each new day.
To provide healing to my precious son.
To see my family through the most difficult time in our lives.
He is good. And He loves us. And I know He will help me do what has to be done over the next several weeks. I'm so grateful for his faithfulness. I'm so blessed to rest in Him, even when I'm feeling not-so-inspired.
Thursday we had the joy of taking a family road trip to Charleston for Chase to have a follow-up appointment with his ENT doctor concerning his ear tubes we had put in last year. The trip was uneventful and the appointment itself was probably one of the quickest of its kind! While our appointment time wasn't until 1:45 PM, we made excellent time traveling to Charleston and, even after hitting Panera in N. Charleston for lunch, we arrived at MUSC Children's Hospital by 1:00 PM. We decided to head in early in hopes that we'd be seen early and get done early, and it worked out very well, even with his big sister in tow this time around.
We did the initial screening with the nurse and were pleased with the results. Chase is up to 32 lbs. and 39" tall! His o2 sats were around 88, which is really great! Luckily they didn't need his BPs so we were able to get through the screening without much crying.
Dr. H had her resident check him out before she came in to see him, and the resident was not able to get a good look at the right tube, but was able to verify the left tube was still in place. Dr. H came in shortly after with the same findings. She said there was a bit of wax in the right ear that blocked her view of the ear canal, so she used one of her fancy "skewers" (that's my word for them, not hers btw) to remove an embarrassing amount of ear wax from the boy's right ear. Once that was out, she could clearly see that the right tube had already fallen out. So we're half way there! We'll go back in 6 months for our next follow-up to check and see if the left tube is still in place or not. Good times!
Next month, Chase has his 6-month follow-up with his local cardiologist on 11/13. For some reason, both hubs and I have the "parental intuition/feeling" that he'll give us the ol' "see ya in another 6 months" scenario since, other than his weight and age, there are no other factors that indicate Chase is ready for his final scheduled heart surgery, the Fontan. Typically we should start to see a decrease in his oxygen saturation, a significant decrease in his energy level, and an increased blueish tint to his lips and nail beds. Like basically to the point where he just doesn't have the energy to even climb up the stairs at bedtime. We're definitely not there yet. Although it's impossible to plan/control/schedule anything relating to our son's heart and his upcoming surgery, hubs and I are both assuming it will be scheduled for late Summer 2013. NOT something we're looking forward to, obviously, but something we've always known would be in our future and definitely something we're looking forward to being on the other side of with our strong and amazing little fighter of a son.
I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post.
It's not for a lack of content to share with you guys... things have been nothing short of INSANE lately! There's so much to talk about, from school volunteering (can you say new PTA website, Facebook page management/advertising, fall festival planning, computer lab volunteer, reading to the class... the list goes on!) to work to family activities to play dates to church to house improvement tasks... Whew! And of course we can't forget hubs' birthday this weekend and Chase's 3rd birthday (whaaaa?!) in 2 weeks. Lots to do around here!
I promise I'll try to post more frequently from here on out. There are some fun and exciting things happening in our little piece of the world and I look forward to sharing some of it with you all soon (still top secret as the kids don't know yet, but can you think of any fun places with the initials "DW"??). YIPPEE!!!!!
But for today, I want to share some thoughts that have been pretty heavy on my heart lately. It's something we're all guilty of, whether we want to admit it or not. Not sure how much of the Bible you guys have read, but there's a resounding theme regarding judging others, and it can be summed up in a single word: don't. It's that simple. Take a look at a few of the scriptures I've provided below that I've spent time praying and meditating over during the past couple of weeks.
Matthew 7:1-5: "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Luke 6:37: "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;"
James 4:11-12: "Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"
James 4:12: "There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?"
Romans 2:1-3: "Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?"
Ephesians 4:29: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."