A different type of Monday

I just finished making lunches for my boys, a perfectly normal, Sunday night task. But tomorrow is not just any Monday, its the first Monday of the rest of our lives.

My husband is now unemployed, by choice. After nearly 7 years as a public servant, I'm moving to the private sector and will be financially responsible for my family, at a job that I will start in a week. I've always been a working mom to my boys, but THIS, it changes things.

It's going to change our entire family dynamic. My boys will learn to NEED their dad, to get their comfort from their dad, their dad is about to become their new constant. Without question, it's going to be horrible for everyone, for a while.

But then my boys will get into a groove and a rhythm and they'll learn to get along just fine, without me around. And although I want that for them, so bad, it still makes me just a tiny bit sad. My babies won't ever need me, the same way they do now.

But, knowing my husband is caring for my children, in combination with an opportunity to feed my pursuit of knowledge, learn a new job and a new industry while providing for my family is a trade-off I'll take in a heartbeat.

I'm excited. Excited for the adventure my family is about to embark on and I'm excited to learn.

Tomorrow is the start of everything new and I can't wait to see how this story unfolds.

Life Brand Bonanza at Shoppers Drug Mart

A few years ago, back when Simba was a newborn and Bolt was an out-of-sorts toddler, Shoppers Drug Mart was my refuge. A place I could go, clad in sweats and dishevelled hair, at 10:30 at night when both my precious boys were finally asleep. I would wander the aisles leisurely, looking for deals and buying any essentials we needed. Now that the boys are older, these little outings continue to give me some much needed alone time, satisfy my need to shop and ensure our medicine cabinet is always fully stocked, but they don't feel quite as essential as they once were.

I'm a little embarrassed to say that although we have medicine cabinets, most of the medicine we use on a regular basis is in a basket in my kitchen.  Although it seems like a sound idea, in reality, it tends to be an extremely frustrating mess. So when I was offered the opportunity to 'clean out my medicine cabinet' and fill it with Life Brand Products, I realized it was the perfect opportunity to actually start using the medicine cabinet is it was intended.

Since I loathe all things cleaning, I made a trip to Shoppers Drug Mart before I actually cleaned out my medicine basket. There are a number of locations close to my home, but I decided to go over to the No. 5 Road and Cambie Shoppers Drug Mart location in Richmond, BC. This store is new, big and spacious and I never feel crowded when I'm shopping. 

Shoppers Drug Mart wholeheartedly embraces the local community; this simple sign in the front window displaying the most prevalent languages in the community really speaks to me and shows me that Shoppers Drug Mart pays attention to the people they serve.

On this particular trip, I was on a Life Brand Bonanza, comparing prices and looking for products my family can always use. My first stop, was of course, the baby aisle where I grabbed some Baby Life bottle liners (saving about $1.50 over the name brand) before heading over to the medicines. 

I also made sure to grab 'essentials' including antihistamines, pain killers (I saved $6 on Life Brand Children's IBuprofun), cold and flu medicine and band aids, which we go through at the speed of light around here.  I regularly purchase Life Brand products since they are consistently cheaper than brand name products and when I compared the ingredient lists there were very few variations, most of which are usually in the non-medicinal ingredients.

In an area where the closest grocery store is a 15 minute drive away, Shoppers Drug Mart has stepped up and has a quite comprehensive grocery section complete with milk, eggs, bread, coffee, hummus, cheese just to name a few of the products. I feel like this simple fact speaks volumes about the investment Shoppers Drug Mart makes in the community.

Armed with a slough of new Life Brand products, I undertook the task of cleaning out my medicine cabinet and filling it up. It looks fantastic, now I can only hope I can maintain the neat, orderly shelves.

Are you a Life Brand Shopper?
Do you have a system for keeping your medicine cabinet tidy? (because I need one)

You can see ALL the photos from my shop on Google+.

“I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #cbias #SocialFabric”

I Wish for Every Child to Have a Bully-Free Journey | Pink Shirt Day 2012

In celebration of Pink Shirt Day a number of local schools, students and the school district organized a flash mob at a local shopping centre.  Watching this video honestly made me start to cry; we have come so far since I was their age.  Although it still happens, with initiatives like these, bullying is far less acceptable than it once was.

Bullying is very real; its awful, its hurtful and it can and does have lifelong implications.  You may remember Reena Virk the teenage girl who was bullied and ultimately murdered back in 1997.  The thought of it still makes me teary eyed, the same month my younger brother's experience with bullying peaked.  It's not my story to tell, but the short story is that he was approached by almost 35 kids and when they left him he was alone, laying on the road, falling in and out of consciousness.

His kneecap was nearly split in half and he suffers physical pain nearly every day.  He had to give up skateboarding at a time when it was his solace and although he can still snowboard he needs a hearty does of Advil to make it through the day.

My brother is amazing, and wouldn't be the same person today if he hadn't been bullied; I have the utmost respect for both his strength and resilience.  That said, I wish, from the bottom of my heart, that his path through adolescence had been bully-free.

As a parent, I wish for every child to have a bully-free journey.

Tomorrow is Pink Shirt Day, an amazing anti-bullying initiative and I believe that together we can successfully make bullying a thing of the past.  Below is a PSA put together by the folks at Pink Shirt Day.

I'll be wearing a pink shirt tomorrow, will you?

Lunch on the run at @McD_Canada while on the hunt for #EqualCanada #Cbias

I've never really been one for fast food, even before I was gluten-free, though I've always had a weakness for McDonalds cheeseburgers.  The hubs however, has a bit of a love affair with fast food and eats out a little more than he probably wants to admit.

In the past, we have taken the boy to the Ironwood McDonalds (in Richmond, BC), as its the only location that still has a Playplace, but we've always just had a beverage and shared some fries among us all.   Now that we are re-introducing wheat, dairy and soy into the boys diet I'm excited about heading out for more than fries.

So when my Mom and I were out with the boys doing a few errands and lunchtime was upon us, I knew exactly where I wanted to go.  We drove across town to Ironwood to pick up some coffees and chicken nuggets.

I haven't tried the coffee since McDonalds unveiled their new McCafe branding, though I'd heard good things about both the taste and flavour.  I was happy they had decaf, though I did find that it tasted a little bit old (which frequently happens with decaf).

My Mom uses sweetener in her coffee, so when I was ordering ours, I inquired about Equal sweetener and found they didn't carry it.  I was surprised to find that they only have one sweetener option available.  I explained to the cashier that it would be great to see more sweetener options as many people are very specific about their sweeteners and also mentioned that Equal is available in Canada in two varieties, including the popular sucralose option.  In general I think that having more options for something as simple as sweeteners can really make a difference to the customer and as such is good for business.

To ensure that my opinion was heard I inquired about a comment card, however that cashier didn't seem to know what I was talking about and the assistant manager simply informed me there was no comment box available and that decisions 'like that' were made at a national level and would require discussion at the highest management level.  After explaining that was exactly why I wanted to leave a comment, the assistant manager was able to confirm that I could leave my comments on the website listed on the back of the receipt and that she would pass my comments on to her superiors.  Of course, I followed up with the online form when I returned home.

While I was ordering food and discussing Equal sweetener with the staff, my Mom and the boys had a quick play in the playplace before we ran home to enjoy our delicious McDonalds take-out.

You can connect with Equal and McDonalds on Twitter @EqualCanada and @McD_Canada and on Facebook at Equal Canada and McDonalds Canada.

“This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias #CBias, however all opinions are my own.