Overtired Mama's Travel Tips and Tricks

Well, here we are boys and girls, Season 16 of Big Brother.  Nothing makes me sound more judgemental than when I watch this show.  I think this show brings out the "dramarific" (yes, I know that's not a real word) side of me.
Lets get in to it!
We start by meeting the first 8 houseguests.....Amber, Paola, Cody, Devin, Joey, Frankie, Donny and Nicole. 
Right away... I don't like Paola.  Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure she will provide us with many memorable moments which may or may not include moments not appropriate for live TV, but there's something about this girl that rubs me the wrong way.     
I'm sure the most memorable/talked about houseguest of the night was Cody. Yes, yes, he's a good looking guy. I'm not immune to his looks... but I was not particularly impressed beyond that. I need more than looks..most of the time.
Similarly, Devin.... nice looking, but not much to offer beyond that. Yes...lots of ladies swoon over single dad's,…

In case you can't tell by my caps and exclamation point in the title of this post... I am pretty excited for Big Brother to start tonight.  It's that special time of year when we start to forget the names of past houseguests, and meet a whole new set of people.  Don't get me wrong, I have my favourites (and least favourites) that I remember and some I wish I could forget... but as for the rest... I tend to forget there names within a season or two.  I see old clips of previous seasons and think "oh yeah, I forgot about that girl/guy".

I love my reality TV, and Big Brother is definitely my favourite.  So be prepared, if you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or read my blog regularly, you will be over run with posts about this season.  I live-Tweet every episode, and recap every episode here on the blog.  So strap in for a summer full of drama, showmances and Julie Chen's memorable "but first".

To get you prepped for tonight, have a sneak peak at the fir…

The countdown is definitely on in my house (well, for me at least), Big Brother 16 premiers Wednesday!  Which means I will soon be flooding all of my social media feeds with Big Brother related tweets every Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday!  Can you tell I'm excited by all of my exclamation points?!?!  Anyway, as part of my "countdown to the first show", I've done a little digging around and found out some of the scoop as to what we have to look forward to this summer.

***Warning**** Don't read any further if you prefer to wait until the first night.

1 - The newest Big Brother twist is that this season there will be 2 HOH's crowned every week.  Each HOH nominates two houseguests (so 4 nominees all together).  Then the 2 HOH's will participate in a "Battle of the Block".  The winner of this challenge gets to stay HOH and their nominees remain.  So what does this mean?  A lot more drama.  It means 4 people will be ticked off this week instead of 2. …

I will freely admit that the majority of my movie watching, since I became a mom 5 years ago, has seemed to primarily revolve around children's movies.... and I'm ok with that.  Lots of the children's animated movies nowadays include little nuances and jokes that adults will enjoy.  I have also noticed that I have become a bit emotional since I became a mom.  Half of the movies I've watching with my daughter.... Frozen, Up, and others... have made me cry.  This movie was no exception.

I didn't see the first "How to Train Your Dragon" (it was a daddy-daughter date movie), but I was still able to follow this one and gather what happened in the first.

The movie follows Hiccup, the hero of the first movie, and his village, which has now embraced dragons.  Many of the village residents have dragons of their own that they ride around on.  When we pickup with Hiccup, he's creating a map of many surrounding lands that he's now able to visit because of his…

As promised, the first installment in my stay-cation series.  Because we plan to spend most of our summer close to home, I decided to highlight some of the awesome things our area offers.  I think sometimes we don't explore our own hometown, and that's unfortunate.   

So today we decided to do a little drive to Hampton, NB.  Hampton is about 30 minutes away from where I live in Saint John, NB. 

Hampton is a small community of a little over 4200 people.  It's rich with history!  Originally settled by Loyalists in the 1780s.  Lots of charm in this place.

We decided to head out to a fundraiser for the Hampton Food Bank.  The fundraiser was a Pontoon Ride on the Kennebecasis River.  Cool, right?  It really was.  The fundraiser was put on by Zelda's River Adventures.  (Check out their website here:  http://zeldasriveradventures.ca/home/).  The ride was about an hour, but so much beauty and wildlife:



My little girl enjoyed herself.

After our boat tour, we did a little driv…

So, my husband works in an industry that is very busy in the Spring/Summer/Fall, so we tend to take our vacations in the winter.  That being said, we love having the odd "weekend getaway" in the summer.  As a result, I've decided to do a few posts on some of our staycations/mini-getaways.  This will be a way to highlight some of the awesome things we have going on in our area, both for people that live in and around Saint John, NB, and for people considering travelling to the area.

I'm also incredibly cheap, so bargains are a must.

I believe we have some real gems in this area, so I want to share them!  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, a pic of the beautiful place I live:

Saint John, NB

You now how every once in a while, some TV or movie producer gets a "great idea" to re-make an old movie or TV show?  Well, I've come up with a little list of shows I hope never come back.  Don't get me wrong... some of these shows... I watched every minute.  Looking back, they were truly horrible, but I'm a sucker for trashy TV, so, truth be told, I would likely watch if they came back on.

Here's the list (in no particular order):

Temptation Island:

Ahhh... so much trash in one little hour.  This show consisted of several couples coming to an island full of singles to "test" their relationship.  Why?  When in real life are you going to be surrounded by good looking people who are trying to break up your relationship?  Is this a regular thing that happens?  Because I guess I'm not part of that side of the world. 

I found it so ridiculous that people were constantly crying/mad about their partner kissing, talking, laughing, hugging (etc) any of t…

I've written this post in my head about a million times, just never physically done it.  But here I am, I'm saying it... I'm pro-vaccine.

I've always held back my own views on vaccination for fear of offending someone, but, at the same time, I've had acquaintances say to me (in the most passive aggressive way... so as not to hurt my feelings) that I am harming my child by having her vaccinated.  They've shared their own "research", books they've read and articles as to why I should believe what they do.  I appreciate their passion, but just as I can probably say nothing that would change their mind on this topic, they will not change mine.

I'm not going to pretend I'm the perfect parent.  I know there are things I can do better.  But one thing I'm sure I'm doing right for my daughter, is having her vaccinated.  I'm very comfortable with the amount of research that has been done in to vaccines.  I have not seen enough research t…

It's almost that time of year again... that time of year that my Facebook friends and Twitter followers who don't like Big Brother consider "unfriending/unfollowing" me because of my excessive live-tweeting!  Yay!

I thought I would take this opportunity to make a few predictions about this season's house guests:

1 - I predict that there will be a former (maybe more than one) house guest involved in some way.  I'm really hoping it's not as a "coach".  I hated that twist.

2 - There will be a "southern belle" or "good 'ol southern boy".... oozing with classic southern charm.

3 - There will be a gay house guest.  The question is, will they hide it... like Kenny in Big Brother Canada... or be open about it... or someone over the top like the potential house guest Scott/Contessa?  Or.... maybe for a change it will be a girl!  Although... for some reason... I'm thinking that isn't likely.

4 - I also predict that they wil…

Well, what a weekend.  We enjoyed a nice Father's Day yesterday, and the day before, we participated in the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life.  This was somewhat fitting for me that these two occasions would fall on the same weekend.  As many of you know, I lost my father last year to pancreatic cancer.  So this year, I participated in his memory, the day before Father's Day, at Relay for Life. 

For those of you that follow me on Twitter, you would have seen some of my pictures from the event, but I thought I would share them here for anyone who didn't see my pictures, or haven't experienced this event before.

Unfortunately, we got quite a bit of rain on Saturday, so the Relay was moved inside a hockey rink.  Don't worry, no skates required.  There were some plusses to being in side:
1 - We weren't wet
2 - It was actually pretty warm
3 - All the teams were set up pretty close together, so it created a real sense of community
4 - No porta-potties... …

I'm getting this "Throwback Thursday" post in before the end of Thursday... then it would have had to be a "Flashback Friday" post, and that just wouldn't have been the same.

Anyway.... as promised in my last "#TBT" post.... I will flashback to some memorable reality tv moments.  I won't say "my favourite" moments, because some of these moments... I hated, but... let's admit it, I love having moments to hate... so they are included.

Here we go!

Big Brother All Stars - Diary room "phone calls" between Mike "Boogie" & Dr. Will :

In Season 2, I hated these guys... I prayed every week they would be evicted.  In the end... WIll won that Season.  When I heard Mike and Will were back for Big Brother All Stars, I cringed, but I enjoyed watching them more than I'll admit.  Here is some of why I enjoyed them:



Big Brother 8 – Jen Crying over her picture: Ok... I will admit... despite the fact that I am a major Big Brot…

Don't worry, I'm not going to get all self-righteous in this post.  I am completely aware that I could probably do more to give back.  The reason I decided to write this post, is that I often get asked why I participate in the volunteer and/or fundraising activities that I do.  I intend on making this a bit of a "series" as I am involved in a few causes that I am absolutely passionate about, so I'll focus on one for each post. 

In 2005, I started working for the Canadian Cancer Society.  That statement, in itself, is why many people assume that I chose and continue to choose to support this organization.  But it's so much more than that.



During my time working for the Cancer Society, I got a truly "behind the scenes" look at the hard work that goes in to delivering the programs and services that the Canadian Cancer Society offers.  "But what do they do for OUR community?"  That's a question I hear all the time when I'm fundraisi…

Yes, I'll admit, I was not very good at keeping up with my blog this past week.

After the horrible events in Moncton last week.... I had an eventful weekend... and not in a good way.  But rather than ramble on about my weekend, I'm writing instead to say, new content is coming.  Have no fear. 

For now, I leave you with this terribly unflattering picture of myself to demonstrate that I'm wearing read today in recognition of the RCMP and the horrible tragedy in Moncton.  I will keep the people of Moncton in my thoughts today as they prepare for the memorial service for the 3 slain officers.

Although the manhunt has ended in Moncton with the arrest of the alleged shooter, I continue to keep the people of Moncton, New Brunswick, in my thoughts.  I will not mention the name of the person arrested as I think he's received enough of our attention, and I have no wish to give him any more publicity.

Now that the manhunt is over, the "media circus" will begin to wind down, which will allow this community to grieve and begin to heal.  I hope that we all remember what this community has been through the last few days.  The healing will be a long process.

I was encouraged today to see pictures such as this one (credit: Twitter: @KeithjohnsCTV) at the RCMP headquarters in Moncton.  An outpouring of support and grief for the loss of the 3 RCMP. 


I will continue to show my support for the people of Moncton and hope they feel the support of their province, their country and communities around the world as they begin to heal.

This will be my only post today.  No other post was appropriate today than to talk about this tragedy that has been unfolding in Moncton. 

The senseless killing of 3 RCMP and injuring of two others is absolutely devastating.  I am truly thinking of everyone in Moncton today.  I hope that all of you stay safe and that this shooter is caught soon.

Please keep the people of Moncton in your thoughts today.

So, I realize this is bordering on a "throwback Thursday" post, which I promised to do tomorrow, but I came across a couple of celebrity gossip headlines that prompted me to write this.

Remember Courtney Stodden?  Ok, maybe not.  I will admit that I probably wouldn't have known her name either, but you may recognize her face.  She's the girl that married Doug Hutchison (aka - Percy from "The Green Mile") when she was 16, with full support of her parents.  Keep in mind that he was in his 50's when they got married.  She, Doug and her parents also claim she never had any plastic surgery.... let's all bare that in mind when we watch the clip below.  Anyway, apparently Courtney has her own "webisodes" entitled "Courtney Naturally"... I started to write out a little comment about the title of her show, but it came out a little too "Mean Girls"-ish, so I think I'll just leave it at that.  The topics in these webisodes are…

Ok, ok.... I know... you read the title of this post and think "I thought she said she was going to post about Reality TV most of the time".  Yes... I did say that.  However, I tried... I really tried... to watch the Bachelorette last night.  It was my fourth episode... and... I just couldn't make it through.  I usually love that show... and the Bachelor (and Bachelor Pad.... etc, etc), but this season just makes me want to... sleep.  So I did.   But, I wanted to blog anyway, so I decided to blog about some "real life stuff"... and I see by my survey feedback that some people enjoy those kinds of posts anyway... so win-win!  And for those who don't like these kinds of posts... I hope you entered my contest, by way of survey, because you get to give feedback on the blog, and be entered to win a coffee gift card and donation to charity of your choice!  Another win-win!  I'm full of them today!  Well.. full of something anyway....

On to today's topic. …