I'm so Mean

I'm making Andrew eat a small carrot right now and you would think I was making him eat a spider or something.......... He STILL will NOT eat veggies.... GRRRRRRRRRRRR

I'm posting this for memory... If I put it anywhere else I will likely forget where I put it.

Ten Precepts of Karate

Karate did not develop from Buddhism or Confucianism. In the past the Shorin-ryu school and the Shorei-ryu school were brought to Okinawa from China. Both of these schools have strong points, which I will now mention before there are too many changes:

1. Karate is not merely practiced for your own benefit; it can be used to protect one's family or master. It is not intended to be used against a single assailant but instead as a way of avoiding a fight should one be confronted by a villain or ruffian.
2. The purpose of karate is to make the muscles and bones hard as rock and to use the hands and legs as spears. If children were to begin training in Tang Te while in elementary school, then they will be well suited for military service. Remember the words attributed to the Duke of Wellington after he defeated Napoleon: "The Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton."
3. Karate cannot be quickly learned. Like a slow moving bull, it eventually travels a thousand miles. If one trains diligently every day, then in three or four years one will come to understand karate. Those who train in this fashion will discover karate.
4. In karate, training of the hands and feet are important, so one must be thoroughly trained on the makiwara. In order to do this, drop your shoulders, open your lungs, take hold of your strength, grip the floor with your feet, and sink your energy into your lower abdomen. Practice using each arm one to two hundred times each day.
5. When one practices the stances of Tang Te, be sure to keep your back straight, lower your shoulders, put strength in your legs, stand firmly, and drop your energy into your lower abdomen.
6. Practice each of the techniques of karate repeatedly, the use of which is passed by word of mouth. Learn the explanations well, and decide when and in what manner to apply them when needed. Enter, counter, release is the rule of releasing hand (torite).
7. You must decide if karate is for your health or to aid your duty.
8. When you train, do so as if on the battlefield. Your eyes should glare, shoulders drop, and body harden. You should always train with intensity and spirit, and in this way you will naturally be ready.
9. One must not overtrain; this will cause you to lose the energy in your lower abdomen and will be harmful to your body. Your face and eyes will turn red. Train wisely.
10. In the past, masters of karate have enjoyed long lives. Karate aids in developing the bones and muscles. It helps the digestion as well as the circulation. If karate should be introduced beginning in the elementary schools, then we will produce many men each capable of defeating ten assailants. I further believe this can be done by having all students at the Okinawa Teachers' College practice karate. In this way, after graduation, they can teach at the elementary schools at which they have been taught. I believe this will be a great benefit to our nation and our military. It is my hope you will seriously consider my suggestion.

Anko Itosu, October 1908

2012 Recap

Here is goes in a nutshell.

R.I.P Yenci..
Yenci was my nephew of 27 yrs who very unfortunately lost his life while celebrating Canada Day at Grand Bend beach. He was not a strong swimmer and got caught in a undertow. He was a single dad to almost 3 yr old Akadia. Akadia was his life, he was an amazing father. All around fantastic person. There truly is nothing bad I could say about him. He will be greatly missed by EVERYONE who had the fortune to know him. I love him so much.

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R.I.P Isis
Isis my only 3yr old cat passed away in early January. She was very healthy up until the day she died. I woke up one morning and she was breathing funny so I took her to see the vet right away. We were there only for about half an hr and she passed. She died of congenital heart failure. The vet said there is no way of knowing before hand to have prevented it. She was a rescued kitty that came into our lives when she was only 1 yrs old. She was a very shy girl but I'm so happy that she was able to spend the end of her life surrounded by people who really loved her.

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Karate.
Andrew earned his yellow belt sometime in Dec 2011 but did not receive it until the new year. He was doing fairly well but as of Sept I decided to take him out of it because I was not please with the way his Sensei was treating him. So I have been doing some research and think I have found a dojo that will work better for him. I will have to update about that because he won't be starting until early Jan.

Homeschooling is going fairly well. He's still somewhat weak on his reading so we've been putting extra time with that. Right now he's reading the Nancy Drew series.

He still loves Scooby Doo but is more into gaming these days... Anything Mario he's in. He has also been play Super Sonic and as of late LOVES playing Mind Craft.

We have a new member in the family in the beginning of the year shortly after we lost our Isis. (I refuse to have a catless home). He is a rescued kitty, found almost have frozen by the lake. An online friend tipped me on him and ever since I saw him I knew he was ours forever!
Introducing George O'Ryan Hendricks ..

The craziest cat alive!


 Well obviously it's been a more packed year then all of this but those were the main parts... Hopefully I will be better in the new year with keeping more up to date posts....

So long 2012.

Merry Christmas 2012... I think this says it all about his Christmas.

Spring Has Srung

And many other joys!

I love spring. I love all the different shades of green. I love the smell. I love the colors. I love the sounds. I can't get enough of it.

Andrew is now 8 yrs old. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? This is going way too fast. Right now as I type this he is playing so happily in the back ground. I'm going to miss hearing this in just a few short yrs. Why does childhood go so fast? It's not fair.

He went to the Dr's last week for his yearly checkup. He's now 3"11 and weighs 49Ibs. Still on the small side. But Christina was like that so I'm not too worried. The Dr did mention that his distant vision has decreased since he was checked last year, but not so much that he would recommend getting glasses for him, he just wants to keep an eye on it. He is going to recommend him for a referral to the Toronto's Sick Kids for an assessment for ADD/HD. Again, that won't be surprising to find out that he does have it because both Don and I have ADD, and Christina had ADD/HD. But the good thing is the program at that hospital is highly recommended for that.

His karate is going ok, he got his belt taken away for one week because he refused to listen to the Sensei . He has made friends with a little guy, Tosha, he's a sweetheart. He's 5 yrs old, and is also at the dojo quite a bit.

I will be starting to watch his friend Anika (I now consider her like a niece to me) every other weekend while her mom Christine works. This shall be fun :) They fight like brother and sister. Pray for me :P

That's about it for now. I will try and post pics in a bit.

Guess Who Can Ride a Bike?

Without trainers on?

Some Recent Pics

Ok, what's with the weather this week? Just 2 days ago it was minus 15 Celsius and today it was plus 15 Celsius, what a yoyo winter this has been.
And since it was so nice out today I decided to take Andrew to the park for the first time this year. :)

Cold

Now it's cold. And it's been forever since I've last posted. Sorry about that.

Andrew received his yellow belt in Karate in Dec. He's in grade 2, still homeschooled. He has problems with his reading skills, not so much that he cannot do it but he doesn't LIKE doing it. His math skill are on par, he seems to have a great grasp of it thus far.
Since I last posted, he have lost 2 very loved fur babies, Reggie died on Nov 11.11, he was 15.5 yrs old. He had a tumor and was loosing a lot of weight. So I had him laid to rest.
Isis died on Jan 9.12, . She was only 3yrs old. The vet said it was likely congenital heart failure. It happened so fast, one day she was healthy, the next day she was gone :(
I miss both of them very much. There will always be an empty feeling in my heart where they once occupied. Same goes with Tabatha and Stinky Binky do.
On Jan 15th, a young cat was found almost dead and half frozen at the bluffs. I lot of ppl that no longer want their cats just dump them off there. (nature area of the city). Thank god 2 boaters were out early in the morning and noticed him lying on the side of the road at the curb. When they lifted him up they thought for sure he was gone, but then he moved ever so slightly. The rest is history. Long story short, he is now ours and living comfortably in his forever home. We are all totally smitten with him. He is also a cat with numerous names at the moment. So far it is Scooby Sir George-Newton-Sherlock-Jeffery-Gumba the first. Don't ask!
Andrew's still into Mario Brothers BIG time. He likes to make walk-throughs. And well any Mario he's happy.
He's also quite the little inventor. He's always inventing monsters and new Mario games that he wants to sell to nintendo. lol. Gotta love him.
Well I'm not one for many words. I will try and keep up more with this blog. Sorry.