WHAT’S WRONG WITH HAVING A SOB STORY?

In general, nothing!
To me a sob story becomes a bummer if you use it to play with people’s emotions!
A tear jerker is the lowest form of emotional blackmail! Especially if you use it to sell your book!
My solution?

Tell your sobbi sob tale as a matter of fact story!- If, 10 years later you still need to tell the same story, doesn’t that mean you are still not over it?
You clever sober you: you use the audience to feel sorry for you, the audience becomes your substitute for therapy, your shrink!
And, it sells your book!
Why is that?
Why do we feel compelled to weep with the sobber rather than celebrate with the doer?
Just asking?

A FUTURE ENTREPRENEUR?

I often wonder, which genes did our boys get from me, which ones did they get from their father?
Without any reservation, hesitation or false modesty I raise my hand to Good LOOKS AND CHARM. Let me keep my belief that throwing tantrums, being moody, smart and entrepreneurial comes from their father’s side.

This last characteristic makes me so proud that I needed post about it!
Today was the annual Entrepreneurial Show at our Elementary School.
The students had to design, research, develop, create and sell a product of their choice!

The Business plan

Our son, without leaving his minecraft screen, or taking a break from youtube, hit the nail right on its head.
This 10 year old encompasses the Zeitgeist of his generation. Guess what he made?
What is every 10 year old boy crazy about at this moment?
Right, MINECRAFT!

Here he is, THE GENIUS…

In the early hours of the evening he cut, painted and glued 30 of these characters (don’t ask me their names though-).

This young boy gave us seasoned sales folks a lesson.
He showed us what sales manuals, marketing strategy courses or business courses don’t teach.
His lesson to us: SELL WHAT PEOPLE WANT TO BUY!
It is that simple – really!
This morning, within one hour, he was sold out!

FRED & GINGER at STARBUCKS

I never had so many magic moments with complete strangers as I have here in Canada.

Moments initiated by random, funny, friendly comments. Most of the time these sound bites lead to more ‘serious’, still non – committal chit – chat with no hidden agenda. My encounters with strangers ranges from an encouraging “Want a ride?” (while I am running up the hill) to long drawn conversations; like the one I had the other day with a photographer in Fort Langley. The latest one in my collection of wonderful moments happened at Starbucks today!

The gentleman in front of me, a casually dressed, handsome, mid 50’s guy placed his order. I didn’t hear what he ordered exactly but I remember his answer when Starbucks girl asked him: “What is your name again?” Instead of the common Peter, Michael or Dylan response, he told her “Fred Astaire.” Ha,ha, I thought that was funny. What was even funnier, Starbucks girl (in her late teens) wrote the name on his cup!

Hearing the dancers name brought flashbacks of happy childhood memories: Saturday afternoons spent in front of the tv, watching dance classics like “Shall we Dance”; Fred Astaire tap dancing across the silver screen with partner Ginger Rogers.
Right there and then, in the queue of Starbucks, I did a little dance routine, spread my arms out wide and yelled “And I am Ginger!”

Fred in front of me turned around, laughing. Ghee, he was happy to see his old dance partner again. Nevertheless, he needed to get it off his chest:”I remember you much taller.” Which I retaliated with “Yes, with my dance heels on. Today I am with the bike, I am wearing Converse.”

Dominic was laughing and so were all the other mid 40’s present in the line up. The Starbucks employees still didn’t get it! Sadly, they never heard about the most famous dance duo in movie history(or is that team Travolta/ Newton-John?). It all depends on how old you are.

The cashier got so confused that he handed Fred’s change into my outstretched hand. He figured (rightly) Fred and Ginger belong together.

The moral of the story? If you are a middle – aged man (or woman) stay away from the young ones! They wouldn’t even know the songs you whistle to – or you movies you used to watch. And how much fun can that be?

See ya ‘tomorrow. We are off to the Rhodeo in Cloverdale.

YES to a SECOND TERM?

Yesterday, citizens of BC went to the polls. Today, we hear the province wants the same old, same old.

In a few weeks, our household has to vote if we want to grant our Korean exchange student Joey a second term in our home!

Last year in September we said yes without hesitation. We had the wonderful opportunity to offer a young boy a home away from home. All it took was a firm handshake plus the promise to offer board and three square meals a day. Back then it was the beginning of a new adventure.  Soon we need to decide if we want the same old without him, or the same old with him.

Cooking or doing the laundry for a sixth family member doesn’t bother me – what bothers me is his mess! His room is a minefield of scattered dirty, clean, wet, dry clothes. Wrappings of candy bars, Korean noodle packs, books, writing utensils, cologne etc I am sure you get the picture!

Our boys have already said Yes to a second term. Joey has successfully slurped and gamed himself into the hearts of this adopted brothers. Dominic and I are more fussy.  We will only offer him a second term if he promisses to

– put his dirty towels (plus clothes) into his laundry basket – and doesn’t leave them on the bathroom floor  (maid service please!)  One day we actually run out of fresh ones, they were scattered around his wc- he uses a fresh one every day!

– he agrees to hand in all his hand-held electronic devises after 10 pm. That will be a tough one, he is on them all night!

– he throws away his earphones. He loves the buzz in his ears all day long; you can’t talk to that kid – you need to yell!  He can’t hear you! (or doesn’t want to hear you) .

– obeys  my ‘get outside rule. This is another tough one! Joey loves our men den, his computer and the spacious indoors!  Guess for how long he can sit in front of the computer for? Guess again! NINE (!!!) hours! Even for a hard-wired  Korean computer geek I think this is a bit much

– he stops taking 30 minute long midnight showers!

What I don’t care about is how he spends his parents money: He only buys the best of the best. For him that is everything with the name NIKE on it!  I send my boys to the SALE aisle, Joey hits straight to New Releases!

See ya tomorrow for day 9 of my 22 day challenge!

Am I happy about a second term?

 

SELF IMPOSED WRITERS CHALLENGE

Just for the heck of it! For the next 22 days I will force myself to blast out daily tidbits, updates, comments, opinionated jibber jabber or whatever you want to call it from the top of our hill here in the Greater Vancouver area on the West Coast of Canada.

My coaching buddy Gail reminded me of the 21 day rule to establish a new routine: In order to create a new habit in our life we have to do this one thing for at least 21 days in a row. If you miss one day, you have to start all over again! For good measure I added one extra day – to make sure I really got it!

I love writing! Unfortunately, I am not regular enough – if you know what I mean. This personal challenge will force me to get the creative juices flowing day in and day out.  Nothing like a good challenge.to prove a scientific(?) point!

This challenge doesn’t serve anybody but myself and may turn into torture for my highly apprecited, much loved followers to find yet another extraordinary post in their inbox! Oh well, just ignore me if you want. I will be back the next day anyway, and the next and next…

What standard of entertainment can you expect during the next 22 days?

It can be anything,; anything from the sophisticated wit coming out of a kids’ mouth:

Pull your mouth apart and say “puck” C. Waschko

to a classy game of chess! Let me surprise you!

The boys are on it! C.Waschko

My only rules are: Anything goes, no repetition and I HAVE to post EVERY day!

For the good of my family I should have signed up for the “A different meal per day challenge. How to create nutritious, delicious meals for feed and fill up three growing teenagers, a half teen, a husband and his wife!”

This is way too scary! Chances are, I might skip a day cooking due to writing and have to start all over again- with all new recipes. Ghee, what a great provider I am – I never said I am a great cook!  By all means, if you feel sorry or are worried about the well being of my family, please share your quick and easy recipes with me!

So, that’s it for now! It is still a gorgeous day out here – I am about to start the BBQ to feed the hungry ones! See ya’ tomorrow!

 

 

DATING ADVICE to our 10 YEAR OLD SON

Did you ever ask your mom for advice in the dating department?  I never did! When I was 12 I thought my mother was ancient and knew nothing! I wonder how our boys perceive us.

Surprise, surprise – I was flattered when our nearly 11-year old sunshine asked me in a roundabout way on how to date a girl!  At least that’s what I believe was the question…

Here is what I told him:”Most of us girls don’t want a guy who is constantly away, working to earn a lot of money. We don’t want to get expensive presents, we rather have random hugs, kisses, a flower here and there, a few sweeties and attention. Instead of a big, fat diamond ring we want to go dancing instead.”

He gave me this wonderful, confused look, head tilted to the side, eyebrows raised. Yes I know, I just gave our 10 year old son full blown marital advice!  It’s official, I am my mothers daughter, I didnt get it, missed the point completely.

Cruz is still at the beginning phase of the game. He hasn’t even talked to his girl yet and time is running out for him:two more months and the big summer break is upon us! All he wants to know is how to talk to the most popular girl in his class – alone!  (He surely knows how to make his young life more challenging!)

If I wanted to save my credibility as advisor, I had to come up with something better, fast. My next practical advice was: “Why don’t you invite her to our house, you guys can hang out here and play some mindcraft.”

I was still missing the point and Cruz rendered me useless. He did the next best thing, he asked his dad for tips and tricks.

Here is what Dominic came up with: “Make a plan, be on it, be patient and remember, whatever happens, happens.”

What kind of advice is that? Our son needs a blueprint for success, not some kind of philosophical, universal, fits-all approach.

The sad truth is, we failed our son on his quest to touch base with Mrs. Popular. We should stay out of it and let the boy come up with his own plan of action. And he did: Cruz and his friend Conner googled How to get a girl-friend. Based on the youtube advice they decided the buddy – , or better, wing-man -system.would work best. The finer details of when or how still needs to be decided on,- but at least they have a plan. Good luck boys!

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LEFT IN THE DARK – during power failure

Living on top of a hill has its advantages; we can’t get flooded, in case of an earthquake nothing can crumble on top of us and – if so inclined – you can use the terrain to get,-and stay in shape. (It took me five months of solid commitment to run or cycle up our incline. Now I can do it with a smile on my face).

The downside of living high? Our Municipality decided we don’t need streetlights or road markings. If you translate this into day to day living it means you will find yourself in a ditch if you get side tracked by deer, coyote or be(e)ar.

Furthermore, our power supplier wanted to save a few bucks and put our power lines above, instead of into the ground. Up here, this causes a problem during stormy weather.

Can you see the lines? Photo by C. Waschko

We had one of these days yesterday: At 5.15pm some of the tree branches hit  a power line and just like this, time stood still!

Our boys were in shock when all of a sudden their juice was cut off during their mind craft game. When they realized it wasn’t their mother and one of her tricks to get them outside, they came up with their own, fun alternatives:

Hockey fun during black-out!
C.Waschko

Mindcraft guys C.Waschko

We had no idea when the power would be back on. Faced with either a one or 10 hour black-out, I wrecked my brain what to do with our half cooked dinner in the oven.

C.Waschko

The boys refused to eat raw chicken and planned our meal instead:”Let’s have take-away.”

The plan itself was a good one until I wanted to hop into the car: my four wheeler was parked inside our garage. Obviously, our switch didn’t work. Could I have opened it manually? I don’t know. We have something dangling from the garage ceiling, but I ain’t pulling this one!

We had to wait for Dominic and his car. When I told my ever so clever husband about my cooking dilema, he only looked at me with raised eyebrows: “Why can’t you cook dinner? We have a gas stove!” I told you, he is a clever one. Instead of Dominos Pizza it was pan fried chicken with macaroni for us.

Good Gracious me! By force of habit I filled up our garborator with our left overs, like I always do. Again, Dominic watched me: “What did you do this for?. How will you turn it on?” Yukkies, don’t you just hate a smart ass? But again, he was right!

Luckily, I stopped myself in time before I loaded up our dishwasher with dirty, greasy plates- Who needs a machine if you can do it yourself?

The German housewife
C.Waschko

“Quickly boys, finish your homework before it gets too dark. Grab your candles on the way up.”  Last night, we could have been Mormones for all I know.

Candles for us! C.Waschko

Instead of our usual evening noises (freezer, TV, music, fridge) we heard laughter and animated chatter. Honestly, I forgot how much our Korean son can talk. I wonder what he will tell me when he discovers I used his chopsticks to light the candles….

All in all, the evening progressed smoothly. The only downside of not being powered up? I missed special agent Jack Bauer. Yes, believe it or not, after months of watching “24” we are still on it.

Instead of dwelling on our missed evening entertainment I checked on the state of our ice cream in the freezer!  Why let a good thing melt away if I can eat it instead?  Sadly, vanilla ice cream is no real substitute for a man (aka, Jack Bauer) but for today it had to do the trick.

With my wonderful banana split in my bowl I starred into our pitch black, quiet neighbourhood – Oh Jack, I miss you so – and scooped myself a second helping!

10.05pm: When was the last time I went to bed this early? I have no idea when the power came back on; It was on when we woke up. But there is one thing I know for sure: magic happened during the black out:

Dominic decided to visit the Fountain of Youth during the night. In the morning he metamorphosed into a cute, soft skinned, blond haired, 10 year old school boy!

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SCENES FROM OUR HOME – on a lazy afternoon

It’s a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. The sun is out and the kids are off school.

photo by C.Waschko

.Today is a lazy day; life offers you time, health and way too many possibilities to keep yourself busy with. And right here is the problem: if and when I face too many choices, I find it hard to get started with one thing only. This isn’t the first time I’m  facing this dilema – but fortunately, over the years, I found the perfect remedy: If in doubt, clean the bathroom! Currently we have five of them. That will keep me busy for a while and will give me enough time to decide on my plan of action for the rest of the day!

On my way up, cleaning supplies in hand, I ran into our youngest son Cruz. Cheerfully he greeted me with : “What can I ding-dong- diddledee-dooh for you?”

This one always cracks me up. He is such a witty one (our son that is) -unfortunately, in this instance he ‘stole’ the quote from The Simpsons.

When I asked him where his Korean brother is (our exchange student) he answered:

“You mean the new species in our house, whose natural habitat is the computer?”

Joey loves the computer, by C. Waschko

Does that even make sense? Where did he get that one from? Still, I am his mother, I think it’s cute!.

He may quote characters from tv or borrow sentences from “Animal Kingdom”, but if you put him in front of a blank piece of paper, pencil in hand, he can be original. Check these new Pokemon cards out, I am pretty sure they will become the next big thing in our neighbourhood:.

Don’t you just love random chitter-chatter by your children?  Their creativity? Their innocence? Their ability to be glued in front of a computer? Just kidding, this drives me bonkers. But to be fair, our junior can still get lost in real play time for hours on end!

C.Waschko

I look at my son (on the right) and my heart fills with joy and pride. Not so long ago he was a baby, and in a few more years he will be off, just like his two older brothers are at this moment.

He reminds me of the fact that our time together is only short and borrowed. At the end, all we are left with are wonderful memories of our lazy days together.

Or at the times when he reprimanded me ‘Not to buy those pants anymore, because they are so 2 seconds ago.”

NIGHT SKIING, GROUSE MT.

Vancouver,  the city where you can enjoy snow skiing, ocean sailing and a round of golf in one day!

If you live the affluent way of life here on the west coast it looks like this:  you start your day with a round of golf, hop into your yacht or sailing boat and end the day with night skiing on one of the local mountains, followed by dinner in a five star restaurant.

If you live an active life on a shoestring budget, it looks like this:

A trail run in the morning (free), 50 laps at the local pool ($4.78), a husband who takes you on a date night skiing on Grouse Mt.(free again) and a dinner at Mc Donalds ($9,98 for two, with discount card).

During this winter season our children spent more time on their boards than we have. We figured it’s about time we are going on a date night, skiing. Our boys are as happy being home alone, enjoying their freedom as we are enjoying ours. All they need is a pre-cooked dinner and a curfew (yes, I wish), all we need is a car and our gear.

The folks at Mt. Seymour and Cypress have all discounted their lift passes,- but no, Grouse holds on to his normal, pricey self. Bugger, but hey, they are the only ones still open during the week and for night skiing. Plus, they have a gondola which carries you to the top of the mountain.

Two weeks before the end of the season (April 28), they have three lifts running and promise 26 runs. They were right about the lifts, but I am not sure about the 26 runs. Somewhere between run 13 and 14 we lost count.

What I always suspected was confirmed yesterday: I am a ‘perfect – conditions’-  kinda-skier. A fine layer of freshly snowed powder will do it for me nicely. Everything else is just torture. Or I am getting too old for that stuff –

Holy Moly, we had 16 degrees during the day. When we started our first run at 6pm the snow had melted and hardened- yeeks! Very icy, hard to ski on and painfull if gravity wins.

Like Mt. Baker, hardly anybody else was on the slopes; from the top to the bottom, free runs, burn, baby burn!

In my opinion, skiing up here is not a priority, you come her to enjoy the views- which are spectacular, breathtaking and magnifique! On a clear day you can see all the way across to Vancouver Island. When you ski down to the bottom, it feels like you are heading straight into the city, literally.

This is what we moved here for, to live the fabulous outdoors – shoestring budget or not! It can be done!

 

Christina Waschko VS Sheryl Sandberg

These days it is pretty hard for me to stay focused on the task at hand – to keep you updated on our new life here in B.C! There is so much going on in media land which diverts my attention. It started off with 70 year old granddads  (Rolling Stones)  who are out to fill stadiums,- now there is a lady who gets serious press coverage for her book “Lean In”.

Who is she? Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook.

Her message: For “women to lean in to the opportunities and challenges of becoming a boss”  (Times, March 18, 2013, page 36). In other words,: Ueber ambitious ladies, don’t get side tracked by family commitments or other nonsense, focus on reaching the top of a corporation!

Her connections: She is most likely the best connected woman in the whole world and probably the most powerful woman in America (Times, March 18).

Her education: Two (!) Harvard degrees

Married: To a very wealthy man.

Her target audience: The selected few, women who are on a serious power trip already or who are planning of doing so.

Her industry: Something we didn’t have 20 years ago!

On dreams: I have no idea if she ever had any!

Why it sucks: She is preaching to the converted. A woman who really wants, does!

Who am I?

Christina Waschko: CEO of household operastions in the Waschko family.

My message: To ignite the spark in every woman’s heart! “Stop making excuses and pursue your dream- let it be personal or business related!”

My connections: 138 Facebook friends, 124 LinkedIn connections plus my parents; They can’t be found on any IT hook-up , but I hope they still count- or not?

My education: University of Life and a degree in Common Sense.  The only way I will ever see an Ivy League School, or Harvard for this matter, is while sitting on top of the double-decker tour bus.

Married: To a very – nice – man.

My industry: Something we had forever, a good ol’fashioned, personal contact business: Running a coffee lounge!

On dreams: I have plenty!  So far, many of them came true!

On why the book bothers me: It is written for a few – but will be read by the masses.

Whereas my book is written for the masses and have been read by few – so far!

My thoughts on female High Flyers: I will bet, most women don’t really care about the whole corporate, power game. Given a choice, most of us would rather live the happy, fun life with a loving husband, kids  and working a job of our choice (which makes us enough money) than running a billion Dollar company. Please correct me if you feel I am stuck in Yesterdayworld.

The few who prefer careers over happy family life don’t need a whole book devoted to their course. They will suppress the urges of their biological clock to do what it takes to get them to the top of anything (oops, don’t read anything into that one).

If they can’t suppress their desire to become a mother, they will manage to squeeze in a baby or two in between negotiating and signing contracts. All that in turn relates to a few more neglected, spoilt, emotionally unstable children who see more of their nanny than their mother. Each to their own!

Appeal: The world needs to read about “VERRY BERRY EXTRA-ORDINARY“, written by an ordinary woman who made one of her dreams come true.

And less about jobs in higher places, written by an extra-ordinary woman who doesn’t need to dream!

Life as a -still – unknown author can be challenging at times, especially in the beginning phase. I know I can’t beat her, therefore I will join her! With this, I will lean in and get connected to people who I really should connect with: Sheryl, I will call you later…