The other day I was talking about my husband turning 40 this past weekend. For his birthday I took him to see the play "Calendar Girls" performed at the Arts Club's theatre Company's Stanley Industrial Theatre on Granville in Vancouver.

Many of you may remember Helen Mirren's phenomenal performance in the film that came out back in 2004. It is the true story of a small group of women from the Women's Institute who were raising funds for their local church by posing tastefully and subjectively nude for a calendar. 

This whimsical British comedy was just as good as the film and had the audience howling with laughter. Their performance was very impressive as these brave actresses of all ages bared it all.

There is still time if you haven't yet seen the production as they are here until February 26th, for more information on this play and others visit the following site:

http://www.artsclub.com/20112012/plays/calendar-girls.htm 

We have always enjoyed going to see theatre productions and only just discovered the Art's Club theatre, I guarantee we will be back again.

For those of you that weren't aware of it the BC government came out with their provincial budget today and it held some interesting things for 1st time home buyers and seniors.

There will be a temporary one time refundable tax credit of up to $10,000 for 1st time home buyers purchasing in a newly constructed home. The credit will be calculated as five per cent of the purchase price of the home up to a maximum credit of $10,000. This should help to boost new home sales and encourage Buyers that were thinking of waiting until the HST is fazed out in 2013 to purchase sooner rather than later. This credit will only be available to those who have entered into a Contract of Purchase and Sale after February 20, 2012.

The budget also includes a BC Seniors Home renovation Tax Credit to help seniors over the age of 65 years old allowing them the flexibility to remain in their home. This credit is for Seniors whether they own their home or rent as well as for people living with seniors in their home.

This past weekend my husband turned 40 and he wasn't too happy about it. Somehow 30 came and went without much fuss, but 40 seems to have so much more meaning....why?

I teased him saying he's joining a new club that I am not allowed to be a part of...and that's ok with me! :) 

I always say you are only as old as you feel, I certainly don't feel old at 37 and cannot imagine that 3 years is going to make that much difference. He seems to think that I will be upset when the time comes for me. I truly don't think so.  The definition for "over the hill" is past one's prime, I am thinking that I haven't even reached my prime let alone heading past it.

It's funny how time does fly, feels like only yesterday that we were married and started having children. I still look at people in their 20's and think I'm not that much older than they are....comes back to, you are only as old as you feel. :)

I do remember as a teen and even into my early twenties thinking that 40 was old. It really isn't though as I am approaching my 40's I am thinking how very soon my husband and I will be starting a new chapter in our lives. My eldest will be heading off to University before I even turn 40 and my youngest will only be 2 years behind her. When I look around at many of our friends who decided to start their careers and travelling 1st that now have small children, I am guessing many of them are feeling old. Chasing after little ones now, I would imagine is a heck of a lot more exhausting. We wouldn't have traded having a family young for anything. We have our whole lives ahead of us to travel and see the world.

Now ask our teenage girls if we are old...of course they'd answer is yes! :)

Live life to it's fullest and I am sure youthfulness will always be a part of you.

Which brings me to my question - is 40 truly over the hill? What do you think?

An aside....as I was writing this I had to save and set it aside before I posted this blog. In the mean time I was on facebook and came across one of my favourite Vancouver colleagues Ian Watt and his blog post for today was along the same lines and thought I would share his blog with you. 

How Old Would You Be If You Didn’t Know How Old You Were?

http://www.ianwatt.com/

I come back to my earlier comments which are very a-propos...I would be 28, although I am much more confident and comfortable with myself today than I was back then. :)

Every morning as I get ready for work my husband has the Ellen show on TV in the background and Thursday's show caught our attention for 2 reaons. 1st of all Ellen shared the story of a fellow Canadian in need of a double lung transplant. The second reason it caught our attention was because a member of our family actually became an organ donor almost 2 years ago now. Organ donation is something we feel very strongly about!

Ellen discovered Helene Campbell after seeing the video Helene sent to Ellen looking for her support in promoting awareness for organ donation. To see the video she sent and to learn more about Helene and her fight for others as well as herself visit http://www.alungstory.ca/

Ellen was captivated by this young woman's request for help because she wasn't asking for herself she was doing it to help others.

It doesn't take much to register to become an organ donor. 

As I mentioned we also have a story about a member of our own family, who donated his kidney to his best friend back in the summer of 2010. It is rare to find a match within your family and friends....but incredible to find a match within your own best friend. My brother in-law saved his best friends life and will always have that honour. There really is no greater gift, than the gift of life. 

Not everyone can become a living organ donor, but EVERYONE can become one once they have passed away and the only way to guarantee your wishes are honoured is to register. So please register today to help save someone's life...you never know when that life could be your own or the life of someone you love.

Will you register today to become an organ donor?

Today the BC government came out with their transitional rules for the HST when purchasing a newly constructed home.

As of April 1st the new threshold will go from $525,000 to $850,000 which is a substantial increase and with that the maximum rebate will go from $26,250 to $42,500. Considering the majority of house sales are under $850,000 this will be a big help to Buyers going forward. 

The Liberal government has set up a website regarding the return to PST and the charts on the following link are easy to understand as they explain the difference

I am sure everyone by now has heard about the controversial new Bill C-30 named the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act that the Stephen Harper Conservative Government has proposed.

In this day and age where just the slightest mistake can get the average person's private business public by the click of a mouse, protecting one’s Privacy is of the utmost importance. The police cannot enter a person's home unless they have a search warrant, how then can they be allowed to enter our private conversations and internet portals without the same. That is what this bill suggests, that it will now have the rights to monitor whomever and whenever they so choose. Effectively being able to enter one’s home without the need for a warrant and invading our privacy.

For obvious reasons there has been great opposition to this. After comments from the Public Safety Minister Vic Toews  suggesting those who do not support the bill are standing behind child pornography, #TellVicEverything has been trending on Twitter. Where people across Canada are sharing everything and anything to prove a point.

After all of the controversy over the last couple days the Conservative government has come out saying they will look at re-evaluating.

Let's hope the Opposition government and Privacy Commission can put a stop to this!

What do you think about Bill C-30?

I read a disappointing article this morning regarding the possible fate of Katimavik.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/02/15/katimavik-cuts-trudeau-program-budget-tories_n_1278399.html?ref=tw

Katimavik is a program that Pierre Trudeau pioneered back in 1977 for young Canadians between (17-21 yrs old) to volunteer in communities and experience what Canada has to offer. Brian Mulroney's government cut funding for this program back in 1986. It was later brought back by Jean Chretien's Liberal government in 1994. Now Stephen Harper's government is considering cutting funding for this phenomenal program once again.

I first learned about the program when our daughter's babysitter back in Brampton, Ontario graduated from high school and was accepted into the program. My husband shared that he had always wanted to participate but by the time he reached 17 as I mentioned the program had been cut. So, we were pretty excited for her and her sister as they both (a couple years apart) not only participated in the program but truly enjoyed the experience. Our daughter's babysitter we will call her Rachel, was a quiet girl and had never really been away from her family and home before, let alone travel from one end of the country to the next. Katimavik set her up with a great group of teens aged 17-21 and they not only volunteered in the 3 different communities they visited over the 6 month period of time. But they also had to learn to work together and manage a household. Rachel gained some valuable skills that taught her how to be independent. So much so that this shy young girl had the courage to follow her dreams and move across the ocean to make a life in England all alone and away from her family. Katimavik helped to give her the skills she needed to be successful. Her family is very proud of her and so are we!

Her experience prompted us to participate in the program as billets to 6 young women over 2 years. It was a great experience for our daughter, not only were the participants grouped with people from across the country in each session but so were we. We had girls from Quebec, Ontario and the Manitoba and Saskatchewan, exposing our family to different cultures and experiences. Each one would live with us for a couple weeks and became a part of our family.

For more information on the program visit their website and let's hope that the Conservative government doesn't cut this program. Any program that helps our youth become productive members of society, is a program worth saving.

http://www.katimavik.org/

Today's blog will be short and sweet!

We hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day, give your special someone a Kiss and a Hug and cherish every moment as though it is your last. That's what memories are made of.

We say Good bye to a music icon - Whitney Houston! Our heartfelt wishes go out to her family during these difficult times. May she rest in peace.

Probably my favourite song - "I will always love you" the song she sung in "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. The movie and song came out in my last year in highschool. She had such a powerful voice like none other.

What is your favourite memory or song that Whitney Houston sang?

I was headed to a meeting 1st thing this morning and had to take Hwy 1 going west off of 176 St. Once again traffic patterns have changed although only for those heading towards 104 Ave on the other side of the Hwy. I unfortunately figured it out the hard way...by the time I realized it I had to find a place to turn around. I felt like an idiot thinking I somehow missed the directions. But I soon felt much better as I noticed a number of people having to do the same thing and turn around to actually get onto the Hwy.

As you approach the overpass, traffic is now crossing over the new overpass and there are pylons so that you can only go one way on the old overpass. But if there is no traffic going across to the on ramp and all the traffic is going towards 104 Ave then it easy to make the same mistake I did.

The construction in this province is crazy. We moved here almost 7 years ago and cursed the non- stop construction in Brampton, Ontario a community that has grown extensively. Thinking we left that insanity behind, we soon discovered the infrastructure and how it's managed here is even crazier. Roads seemed to take forever to get finished here and even when they look like they are paved and ready to go it can still take forever before they are opened up for use.

I am sure that everyone who has to endure driving Hwy 1 anywhere from Vancouver to Langley will be quite happy when they have finally finished expanding the Hwy.

Another incident I had a couple months ago as I was trying to get on the Hwy going east from 104 Ave and 160 Ave, had me terrified as I tried to get onto the Hwy. It was during rush hour traffic, I had a steady stream of cars behind me also wanting to get onto the Hwy and cars were not letting us in until the last second. I thought for sure I was going to get into an accident. For anyone who has driven that route you know the merge lane is very short and if drivers don't make room for you to get over you are going into the concrete barrier. I am shocked there haven't been more major accidents as many of the on ramps have been shortened like that one.

Then there is the new 152 St exit, you gotta love that one. I was coming back from Burnaby the day they opened the exit and couldn't get over the mayhem it created as people were scrambling to cross 3-4 lanes once they realized the change...again I am shocked there weren't more accidents. 

Tell us what you think about the roads you travel each day.

Why wait until spring to start cleaning out your home. What is it with the idea of Spring cleaning. Why do we wait until the weather is nice to start going through our closets and cupboards. This past week we've had some beautiful weather, it felt like Spring but we were too busy to enjoy it let alone clean. If we did have time it would have been to get out and enjoy some of that sunshine, not being cooped up in my kitchen cleaning out my cupboards. Which is why starting your Spring cleaning early before Spring actually arrives seems to be the way to go.

Why not pick a couple of those gloomy days to get things done!

Bell's Lets Talk event starts tomorrow Feb.8th. What a great cause, helping to bring awareness to mental health. For every text sent and every call made by Bell customers, Bell will donate 5 cents to mental health research.

Clara Hughes deserves credit for helping to put a face on mental health. An illness that's not readily shared with family or friends because people are uncomfortable talking about it.

Which is why "Let's Talk" is a great slogan for tomorrow's event.

Bell customers text away and help to raise money for mental health.

For more information visit http://letstalk.bell.ca/