It wasn’t until she mentioned an advertisement she saw about Canada tour packages did I actually have the strange, but ultimately sort of cool, flashback to childhood.

Some of my very earliest memories have to do with time that my parents and I spent with my Aunt and Uncle, on my Mother’s side. They were Canadian, and growing up, we lived in Chicago. At least once a year we would pack up and make the day long drive from our home to theirs, just outside of Toronto.

The drive was always a fun time, even after Mom and Dad produced my little Sister. Well, that first trip with her as a baby wasn’t quite so much fun, but she got used to car travel.

My girlfriend showed me some information regarding a holiday in Lake Louise, Canada and the memories of the loveliness of getting to Canada and back, along with the fun we’d have at my Aunt and Uncle’s place made me want to jump in the car and head directly to a Canada vacation right away.

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This is different than previous years because my in-laws now live in the same state as we do.  They used to live two states over, so we’d drive out to visit them over the long weekend.  It was on our first of such trips that I experienced one of the biggest life-changing events in my life.

We had just gotten over to my brother-in-law’s house, and were getting ready to barbeque when we saw that their neighbor had an unfamiliar injured horse in his pasture.  It turned out he was buying the horse and her yearling colt from a backyard breeder, and he had loaded them up in a trailer with a hole in the floor.  Unsurprisingly, both mare and colt were injured.

We were unable to do anything for the mother, but a week or two later, we were able to rescue the colt by paying his vet bill in exchange for ownership.  So Memorial Day is important to me for more than one reason — as the anniversary of when we first found my horse, as well as an important U.S. holiday.

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With all the newest regulations and government oversights, loan officer training has now become mandatory. Not that there is anything wrong with being up to speed on all of the changes, but, well, change is hard!

And while change is coming, subjects like mortgage training are just not very spicy and interesting. Perhaps now is a good time to consider shifting to some other career interest.

Of course, while I’ve always wanted to write novels and be a world class chef, how can I simply walk away from the income my family needs and that I’m earning with my current job?

Maybe the best thing to do is get this new and ongoing training for my “day job” and seek out some expressive, self serving hobbies in my off time. I am pretty sure the local community college has a large selection of classes for folks, like me, who are simply interested in learning more about areas of life that share more appeal than just the 9 to 5 daily grind of a job.

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My wife and I certainly have nothing against personal expression or the means people use to make themselves more recognizable. Perhaps this is why my niece came to me to understand tattoos versus my sister, her mother. Many years ago, she had seriously considered getting angel tattoos put on the small of her back, but decided against.

While I was never quite sure why she opted not to tattoo, when this little 10 year old started asking me if I preferred butterfly tattoos over unicorns, I immediately thought back to Sis, and her time of consternation as it related to the decision making process.

Of course, I soon snapped out of that merry little jaunt down memory lane prior to dispensing any irreversible advice. When I asked her why she was so interested, she let me know that her “bestest” friend in the world had an older sister who’d just been tattooed. Since the two girls still shared a bedroom, the younger had become infatuated with the concept and shared the excitement with my niece.

Talk about peer pressure!

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First of all, he’s always talking about how he needs money.  He’s retired but he owns several rental properties, as well as his own home.  He’s got rent checks coming in from multiple places, not to mention $1200 in horse board coming in every month (before deducting the cost of hay).  He also has other luxuries, such as the portable hot tub in his backyard.  Now I know you can get some cheap hot tubs, but someone who owns one is still not someone you expect to be always talking about how they need money — and this guy is constantly trying to sell you the clothes off his back.

He also seems to be kind of a fruit loop about horses.  He’s supposedly had horses on his property for 4 years, yet sometimes I don’t think he knows the first thing about them.  He’s had horses longer than I have, and he’s still clueless!  It’s troubling sometimes, but it’s a great location and the closest boarding facility to my house.  Even if the guy is a bit clueless, my horse is well fed, always has clean water, and I’m close enough to check on him daily for any other reason.  All in all, I guess a slightly (but harmlessly) crazy guy is a fairly small price to pay for the location and the convenience!

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Okay, those aren’t really my goals or resolutions, but boy would I looove to do “D”!  Julie is just so arrogant and stuck up, she acts like she bought everything in that phenomenal house of hers with her own hard earned cash (not likely!).  I would probably be happy too if I got completely new French patio doors and Anderson replacement windows, had everything decorated with the help of an interior decorator and bought a goldendoodle puppy not because I love dogs but because the pup looks so adorable in the bay window. 

Is this woman serious?  Is she psychotic?  At least I go to sleep at night confident that all the replacement windows in the world can make me warmer, but can’t buy the kind of happiness I have with my family.  If my husband happens to read this: that doesn’t mean I don’t want them!

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The first hoop would be the homeowners association management company. I think we have all heard horror stories about HOA management people and how they are some kind of company that is out there specifically to be a pain in the rear and to administer fines for leaving garbage cans out overnight. So with trepidation I pulled up the HOA website and began my journey.

Well since the solar panels would be on the front of my house’s roof, I would have to get approval from an architectural committee. They had a form right there on line which I filled out and submitted. Somebody from the company called me the next day, told me a meeting was coming up at which they would review my request. I went to the meeting and found the board and management representative to be very down to earth. They approved my request without any delay. So all of my preconceived notions about the HOA had been wrong!

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Posting bail to get out of jail is very often set at a prohibitively high rate for the friends and family members to be able to afford to assist the person who has been arrested. But by getting these bail bonds it enables the friends and family members to have a way by which they can assist the person who has been put behind bars and help bail them out. Because it can be a scary experience for all of the different people involved, whether it is the person behind bars or the different people who are on the outside, it is important that people know where to turn.

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If you are facing a divorce in Scottsdale or other Arizona city, and both parties are willing to work together to find a solution that has the least negative impact on the children involved, mediation may be the answer for you. Instead of two lawyers fighting for a win, mediation involves both parties working together with an outside party (the mediator) to find the best solution for the entire family. Mediation is less stressful on everyone involved and less expensive. If you think mediation may be right for you, find out more at divorce without lawyers Scottsdale.

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