They are currently renovating the Timmy Hos nearest to me and my child has been mourning and whining for tiiiiiiiiiiim bitttttttts (donut holes) for weeks.

again, fab’ post, my fellow canuck!

jenB

Great to get to know you, eh….

But I have to tell you, because I have finally solved this mystery after living in the states for 4 years or so, you do say aboot. We all say aboot. (I grew up in Red Deer.) Thats how it sounds to the american ear and this is why. We Canadians don’t really open our mouths that wide when we form our vowels. Maybe that’s some of the famed politeness going on, I don’t know. Americans say ah bah out and stretch it into almost 3 syllables with the mouth wide open. If you’re not doing that it does sound like aboot.

I’ve spent 4 years researching this cultural phenomenon and I feel quite confident about this bit of information I’m sharing with you. I can now pretend I’m not Canadian if I want to.:)

Some Canadians do say “eh”. They absolutely do. I’m not sure which part of the country you are from, but in the Ottawa Valley, people use “eh” all the time. I was embarrassed by this figure of speech when I was in high school but I have grown to love it as a sweet and authentic part of the speech patterns of people in the Ottawa Valley.

I think it’s important to be proud of who you are and where you come from. The thing abut Canada is that we are such a big country – so spread out geographically – that relatively few things can be true about all of us.

Have a good day, eh.

My partner and I pay 22,000$ more in taxes then what an american couple making the same amount pay. That difference more then covers a good HMO for a family of four (my dad was American so I am all to familiar to the pitfalls of HMO’s as well). Add to that we could actually write of part of the interest on our mortgage if we lived in the USA – and that write off could cover a substantial part of medical costs. If someone makes below 35,000$ a year – Canada is the place to be for sure.

Yikes. Our taxes aren’t that bad. Not enough to make up $6000+ a year.

I do have to say that T.O. has had Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma and Apple Stores for awhile now (hope that helps Abbey), but I think that has more to do with T.O. being a test market then anything else! I must admit to looking forward to Bath & Body Works and wouldn’t mind if Victoria’s Secret finally crossed the border!

Also, it’s August and it’s actually a shockingly cool 70 degrees here today and even though I own huskies, I don’t attach them to my sled to get around. ;)