My Parents Are Sooo Sweet!

To my surprise today, I received flowers delivered to my office...lo and behold...they're from my parents! Actually, when I saw the flowers, I kinda already knew who they were from as this wasn't the first time my parents have sent flowers to me for my birthday. They had sent me flowers when I was in Hinton as at that point in time, Mom had indicated to me that she missed me and wished she and Dad could celebrate my birthday with me.

How sweet is that?

Traditional Ukrainian Perogy Supper

I felt so special when one of my member's called me up specifically to attend their first perogy supper of the year. They wanted me to go see the new edition to the church (which I assisted by approving financing) as well as to join them for supper. This was on Friday.

Seeing as how I have absolutely NO Ukrainian blood in me, I wasn't sure what the protocol was. I checked around my office and they said generally it's very informal...you show up, and then you leave. That's it. I figured it was low key enough I could handle it (and one of my coworkers said she'd go with me). This made it a little less intimidating for me.

I arrive at the church shortly after 4:30pm and there are already several people chowing down. Now you have to understand, this church has a pretty old c0ngregation...but that I mean if you're 52 (which one of my coworkers is and he so happens to attend this church), you're considered YOUNG! Haha...anyways...I show up there and look for familiar faces.

I finally find one of the guys that was in charge of the construction of the new addition to the church. He asks if I want to eat first or take the tour first...but without letting me even answer, he takes me on the tour first...okay then...

You should've seen the pride in the faces of the leaders of the church that were showing me around! It was sooo awesome as these guys that were showing me around, they actually helped start the church in the 1950's. It was great to see someone so proud of their premises, to the point where they even showed me their new furnace room!

Anyways, long story short, the visit went well and I had my first HOME MADE perogy supper as a church function! They were soooo good...seriously, thank goodness I wasn't born Ukrainian otherwise I'd be one fat Ukrainian lady! I felt honored that they'd even think about inviting me, the banker...yes they must like me! Haha, but being liked isn't always a good thing...they've already told me when they do their grand opening/unveiling in June I will be invited along with some other "dignitaries" such as the Mayor as well as people from the Alberta government. Great...at least I'll be able to drag my coworker with me to keep me company (they told her to come with me)!

This housekeeper I have...she's no good! :)

In case you didn't know...I have a housekeeper...her name is Vanilla. She doesn't really do a good job in tending to 'home related things' such as cooking, cleaning, ironing, laundry or anything that's chore related.

I just found out today that I know more than 1 person/family that has a maid or 'hired help' to come tidy around their homes on a semi-regular basis. I have thought about it a bit in the past...hiring someone to come once every 2 weeks or so would be soooo good, but then I really start thinking...

Let's assume $15/hour is the going rate and assuming each time the hired help needs 3.5 hours to tidy up (my place is not the neatest of places, but then again I don't live in sty either), this would equate to $52.50 for services rendered. And having this hired help come every other week, it would cost $105 on a monthly basis.

This seems to be a pretty good alternative to have your place cleaned on a regular basis, but with $105 I could be spending this money in other worthwhile ways...for example, I sponsor a Hope Child through World Canada. This means all children through this sponsorship program have in one way or another been effected by AIDS (whether it be their friends, family, etc.). At $40/month, this provides the child with a better quality of life (food, education, health vaccinations, etc.). With this $105/month, I could sponser an additional 2 children.

Or I could donate this sum to an inner city elementary school on a monthly basis so that some kids that don't have lunches could enjoy a warm lunch on a more frequent basis.

I guess there's a ton of different organizations that would benefit from this donation so...no matter how many times I want to try to justify hiring help, I can't bring myself to do it. So with that being said...I gotta go dry my laundry now :(

~DISCLAIMER~ I am in no way judging or critizing those that do have the privilege of hiring help. I'm more than anything--envious--of your decision! This post was not written to offend!