Category Archives: Steph-afied!

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TATTOO MANIA!

Oh before I get on with the whole tattoo thing…

In case anyone wants to purchase my book, I advise you to wait 🙂  I\’m trying to get in touch with a publishing company based out of North Bay, ON and they\’re FAR more reasonable then blurb is.  I like blurb, it gave me total creative control, but when I got my book I was a little dissapointed in the total overall execution of it all.  So I\’ll keep you all posted when I get that all worked out my dear friends and foundation supporters!

Anyway, here\’s a quick pictorial of my slightly scabby tattoos.  I\’ve been waiting for decent weather to get outdoor shots because my camera is a piece of crap from being dropped too many times and just not so new anymore.  I\’m curious to see what everyone\’s thoughts on them are before I go and explain them all 🙂

I would now, but the family is leaving tomorrow (Thank you God!) I love them, but I really, really want MY space back all to myself you know?  I live in a small-ish one bedroom apt so space is at a premium and I would give my left leg & arm to have a guest room when company is here!

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So I wrote a book…

It\’s FINALLY DONE!

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You can get FREE shipping until August 31st!

here\’s the low down on this book deal:
It\’s printed on demand, I don\’t physically have any copies in my possession at the moment. So in order to buy/have one you do need to order it online through blurb who offers self publishing.
Until August 31st they have free flat rate shipping.

\”Choose Ground or Economy shipping, type in the appropriate promo code below at checkout, click apply, and you’re set:

USD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE
GPB £ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE1
EUR € coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE2
AUD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE3
CAD $ coupon code: SHIPPINGFREE4

*Free flat-rate shipping offer valid through August 31, 2010 (11:59 pm PDT). Offer covers Ground/Economy shipping costs up to US $6.99, GBP £3.99, EUR €5.99, CAD $7.99, or AUD $9.99 for books in one order, shipped to one address. This offer is good for one-time use and cannot be combined with other promotional codes or used for adjustments on previous orders. This offer can be combined with volume order discounts.

How to Redeem These Special Offers
To take advantage of this special offer, enter the promotion code on the payment options screen at checkout.\”

I got screwed out of this one last night when I ordered my copy, because I didn\’t notice it until after I paid (of course >.<) because God Forbid they just add it automatically…

If you non Montreal-er\’s want it signed, feel free to ship it to me (my work actually) and I\’ll sign it and mail it back to you 🙂

Of course you can purchase it here

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<3

I love my job, LOVE it!  You know when you start working somewhere and it\’s all pretty awesome from the start and then it slowly declines?  As you can plainly see from some of my previous blog posts, my career has had some serious WTF are you kidding me, someone please hand me a knife so I can stab myself in the eye moments!

Except life at the daycare, a place that I had never ever set foot in, let alone ventured in career wise until March of this year.  I got really, really lucky with this place for a number of reasons.  OK no I\’m not rolling in the money and I am well aware that I could make plenty more somewhere else.  However getting up in the morning and not wanting to gouge your eye out with a plastic spoon is beyond priceless.

When I was younger I wanted children, then I got older and changed my mind.  It wasn\’t so much that I despised the little\’s per say, although some of them are so epically bratty that I wish I carried around duct tape with me so that I could just stick them a wall or a moving bus.  Best. Birth. Control. Ever.  I just found that I had no patience for them.  Even my niece and nephew whom I love more then life itself had on occasion tested my limits and killed all those baby wanting urges I had.  Those little\’s are a lot of freaking work.  This became even more obvious to me when I started taking care of 80 of them.

Yes eighty.  80 little\’s under the age of 5.

I love every single one of them!  I kind of feel like Michelle on 10, 15, what is she on 30 kids and counting now?  Mind you, I didn\’t give birth to any single one of them.

Thank God…

Everyday I go into work I feel like a rock star.  I swear it\’s because I feed them 3 times a day that I\’m so popular.  That\’s OK though because there\’s nothing better then coming into work every single day and hearing 65 of them chanting your name (the littlest little\’s in the nursery can\’t fully talk yet) and getting tons and tons of sticky hugs and kisses, not to mention an insurmountable amount of love from each child that I encounter each and every single day.  Work lifts my spirits when i\’m having a really shitty day.

Especially when I\’m really missing him, like I am now.

There really is nothing better then getting a hug 600x\’s a day from the one\’s you just can\’t help but love.  OK I\’ll admit some I love more then others, like my little Elliot.  OMGWTFBBQ I am IN LOVE with this child!

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Depression, a boy & his puppy, oh and art.

\”Hope is the feeling that the feeling you have isn\’t permanent.\” – Jean Kerr

Couldn\’t have said it better myself.  Which is precisely the feeling I\’ve had pretty much all of last week.  As in, I hope this goes away, you know like yesterday?  So its been

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Since Jason died, but hey, who\’s keeping track?  Most days I\’m pretty much OK.  Wed April 21st? Not such an OK day, nor were the days leading up to it either.  As a matter of fact, those (the days leading to) were the worst.  A few years ago Jason asked me what it was like to be 30.  I simply & honestly replied \”Dude the first 6 months of being 30 were the best 6 months of my life\” and they were.  On. So. Many. Levels.  He replied with something to the effect of:\”I hope mine is just as good, gives me something to aim for/look forward to.  Except Jason didn\’t make it to be thirty years old.  Wed April 21st 2010 was Jason\’s 30th birthday.  That was a hard day.  A dark day if you will.  That whole week?  Hello depression!
I shut pretty much everyone out, I really didn\’t bother to correspond with anyone if I could help it and it sucked balls.  I\’m not going to lie.  You see, I had a conversation with someone not so long ago that sounded a little something like this:
Them:\”I don\’t ever say I\’m depressed, just \”sad\”.
Me: \”See, that pisses me off.\”
Them:\”Why?\”
Me: \”Because I am SO sick of the stigma around depression!  Sometimes you get depressed briefly, usually after a period of grief, its very common.  Also depression is a disease that affects so many people and those people sometimes don\’t get help because of statements like that!  Either they\’re afraid of the \”social stigma\” or too embarrassed or something along those lines. \”
Them: \”Well since you put it that way, you have a point\”
I at least like to think that I do…
Jason was a diagnosed manic depressive.  It made him suicidal.  Hence my burning desire to start Jason\’s memorial foundation.  These people who are suffering either briefly, or for the long term need to know that we are NOT afraid of how they feel!  Its human instinct to try and \”make someone feel better\” however I now know that its impossible.  Support them? Yes!  Make them feel as if they\’re less alone? Absolutely!  However \”feeling better\” in its truest form takes time, love, support and a whole lot of patience.  I hit an all time low last week that scared the shit out of me.  Not suicidal low, just OMG I haven\’t ever felt this \”dark\” inside in my entire life and it freaked me out.  I sought immediate help.  After doing a quick Google search I found  GROWW: Grief recovery online while this site is a bit of a pain in the ass to navigate, it was well worth the effort.