Online Dating with Matchmaking Momma

I will start from the beginning. My daughter thought it would be so easy for her out town friends and family to shop online. Walmart in Canada does not have a registry but you can use their .com site. So my daughter and her husband spent several hours scanning items and adding items online to their baby registry. We have a friend in Kentucky who wanted to buy her a gift and went online. She found the items to purchase and when she tried to put down the shipping address it would not accept it. Apparently you can make a baby registry but not have it delivered to Canada?? So she decided to buy a gift certificate and sent a note to my daughter asking her to buy certain items that she had chosen. The gift certificate arrived, we went to Walmart and went to the baby section. The baby quilt set she wanted is not available in Canada!! So we decided to buy other items and are looking into a way of purchasing it in the U.S.A. and getting a friend to bring it over the border for us. We got to the cash register and the girl said she could not accept the gift certificate, we told her that we had phoned the head office and she said there would not be a problem we just had to ask for the Manager. The cashier came back and said the Manager asked if we would be going to the U.S.A. soon as she could use it there. My daughter is 8 1/2 months pregnant!! and we live nowhere near a border. I told her to get the Manager to phone into head office, the cashier told us we would have to wait awhile as it could take a long time. My daughter found a chair and I put our other things in the car. When I got back to the door of Walmart my daughter was waiting and said they told her that the card was not valid. How could that be? Our friend had a receipt in the envelope! So we left, empty handed and ready to take our business to Babies R Us.

So, Walmart you suck. I have sent you an email and will be calling again today. One thing a pregnant lady does not want to do is run all over the place in order to get all her baby needs. That is what a registry is for!! Make your website clearer, and educate your Managers a little. Asking my daughter if she is going to the U.S.A. soon is not a solution!!

Anyone else experience the same problems?

Update august 13, 2008

After several phone calls to the U.S. WalMart and Canada this is what happened. Canada said, why don’t you spend the gift card on the .com(american site) sounded easy enough. So off to their website, I made a big order including the one thing my daughter wanted most, got to the part where you add the gift certificate and it worked, then it said for remainder of order payment put in your credit card. Guess what? They will not accept Canadian credit cards!! So I phoned the American customer service number for the website, I was finally passed to a supervisor who said well, maybe we could take off the shipping if that would help. Yes, it would help I replied. But the catch is, in order for her to take of the shipping I needed to give an American credit card with an American address. Back to square one. My solution? I put the one item in that my daughter wanted badly (not available in Canada), if you ask for the item to be sent to a store you SAVE on the shipping cost. I did that and it was just under the amount on the gift card. Now all I have to do is get a good friend to pick it up. They live in Windsor, Ontario and go to Michigan on a weekly basis. My husband will then pick it up from them (4 hours drive one way) Man I feel I have gone through labour on this one!

Filed under: Baby Story - pregnancy - through birth on August 11th, 2008 | 5 Comments »

Well it has been some time, I thought I would post every week but after awhile I did not want to weigh myself. I wanted to judge my weight loss by the clothes I was wearing. I started wearing belts on my capri’s, two pairs of jeans just will not hold up anymore and I had to buy some new bras.

I have tried everything, exercise, Weight Watchers..and a few others and I have finally found something that works for me. I am nearly 30 lbs down…when I look at 5 lb bags of potatoes I look at them in a totally different way..to imagine that I lost that much

I would love to post a before photo of me, but I think I will when my journey is over. I am not calling this a diet, as Isagenix’s is not a diet. It is weight loss, but also cleansing and gives you so much more energy. I just dusted off my bicycle and if it is not raining tomorrow I am going out for a bike ride. I would never have done this back in April. I never had the energy. Have any of you tried Isagenix’s. Click on this link for more information

Filed under: Weight Loss on August 10th, 2008 | 1 Comment »

This is a whole new experience for me. I am so excited, we have got the bassinet ready, washed the old pram (I saved mine from England it is a Silver Cross) my daughter has her bags packed and the babies bag so now the waiting game. All her husband needs to do now, is to remember to grab the bags. We know it is a boy and his name will be Jack. We even know what he looks like to a certain degree, my daughter when for one of those 3D Baby places. It is amazing, what an experience. If anyone is interested I will post one of the best shots here. We are going to have a baby shower after the baby is born, it will be more of a birth celebration than a shower. We just want to have all our closest friends and family with us to celebrate the birth. I hope the weather holds up. It has been a very wet summer that is for sure.

There seems to be quite the baby boom this year, and mostly boys. Look out guys 20 years from now there is going to be a shortage of women haha.

I did not realize all the things you now have to take to the hospital. Hospitals do not provide anything anymore, no personal items for the baby or Mom. I remember when they did that with the schools. Remember when you got your pencils and paper from school. O.K. maybe I am dating myself here, but the times sure have changed. So we went online and did a search and found a complete list and printed it off. Looks like we have everything

Well Katie only has 4 weeks left, I will keep you posted.

Filed under: Baby Story - pregnancy - through birth on August 10th, 2008 | No Comments »

“Build it and they will come.” I love those famous sayings from movies. But that is exactly what I did. Back in 1998 I had people asking me to make a website just for Canadians seeking other Canadians to date. Ten years later the singles network has expanded even more to fit the needs of all single Canadians. My first customer back in 1998 was a single mother. She telephoned me and asked what her chances were in posting her profile on a dating site and actually finding someone who would be interested in a single Mom. She had two kids, worked in the medical field and was a very good looking girl. I told her that she would never know unless she tried and what did she have to lose. I could not believe it, this girl got more responses then a lot of the other women on my website. Every Monday she would phone me and tell me about the men that she met. She never turned down a date, she dated older men, a man who had a bad stutter and her dates were always interesting. It took her about six months and she finally met a guy who lived in Alberta with his daughter, but he was from Toronto and eventually moved back. She had several rules, she never brought anyone to her home, and they always met her kids last. She told me that her priorities had changed a lot since her husband left her and she did not want to make the same mistakes, but she also had to consider a partner that would be good for her and her children. Some of the men she met wanted to know how often her children would be visiting with her husband, that was a warning sign for her right away. At least they were honest and she could deal with it right away and find out if the men actually liked children or if hers were going to be a problem. The obvious difficulties for a single parent is getting a baby sitter, but later it is a good idea to include children in the date. The first few dates are about getting to know each other, then when you are comfortable include the children. Go to a mini putt, bowling, the movies etc. if your date also has children it would be a good opportunity for them to meet each other. But remember, depending on their ages there may be some rivalry which happens in families. Girls not wanting their Daddies to be with other women, or boys not wanting their Mommies to be with anyone else too.

Take it slow, take time to get to know each other and time for your children to get to know each other. Remember everything that happens to you has happened to a lot of other single moms and single dads.

find your match at: singleparentdating

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Filed under: Dating on July 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

I was so happy the other day to find someone on Twitter who is a Gay coach. No, not for sports but for single Gay men. There are so many social networks out there I am overwhelmed, but I have to say it is another great way to meet people. And this guy has some great advice for gay men who are having problems with their social life and meeting a partner. As many of you know, I am the President of Singles Canada which is an online dating service. I cater to seniors, black, asian, single parents as well as the gay community. So many of my business contacts said to me that Canada was lacking a good dating service for the Gay community so I said if I build it will you join? The result? I actually opened two gay dating sites, one for Canada and one for the U.K. As I soon realized that Canada just loves the Brits and vice versa. I opened Gay Singlescanada as well as Gay UK Personals. Now back to my story about Twitter, I found a great guy who is actually a Gay Dating Coach. He runs a website and is very successful at what he does, so I thought I would interview him and see if he would be right for my customers. I am doing an email interview first and then will be calling him next week. I am so excited as he possesses the same energy and drive that I have and I know it will be beneficial for my customers who need help in their personal life. His Motto is “Remember, being single is not a burden, it’s an opportunity!” And I feel that it is a great opportunity for many of my gay male friends who have faced so many hurdles and difficulties in their quest to find a LTR (Long term relationship). So stay tuned, I will be posting the interview next week. In the meantime, please visit Gay Singles Canada or my UK gay website.

Cheers

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Filed under: Dating, Gay dating in Canada on July 31st, 2008 | No Comments »

I just watched this movie with my daughter who is 8 months pregnant. Talk about an eye opener. I did not know that the U.S.A. had the highest mortality rate! And that midwives are not popular only because of a lack of information. If you are going to have a baby, or are expecting this movie is a must. Rikki Lake had a home birth for her second child and she has started educating American woman about the choices you have for birthing. It seems when people imagine a mid wife they think home birth but that is not the case. My daughter is having her baby at a local hospital with the assistance of a midwife. She gets to choose her birth plan, the position that she wants to give birth, and if she wants any intervention as far as having an epidural, and the choice of pain relief

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/

Check out the movie and educate yourselves, you owe it to yourself and your baby

Filed under: Baby Story - pregnancy - through birth on July 28th, 2008 | No Comments »

On February 27th, 2008 my Mother passed away. She was in her 79th year which I do not think as old in this day and age. She had been overweight, she smoked, and her heart got weaker with every heart attack. I then looked at my lifestyle and thought, I need to eat healthier and I have a ton of weight to lose. After three children it creeped up on me. Now I am going to be a Grandmother for the first time so I have a bigger reason to get in shape, because I am sure being a Grandmother is going to be quite the challenge

I went to a business network meeting one day and there was a man with a book of photos with before and after photos of people. I asked him if I could have a look. All of these people had testimonials about how great this product was. I am very, very skeptical. Seriously, I do not fall for every weight loss gimmick. I have done Weight Watchers and the weight always came back over the years. The problem is that it is not dieting, it is conditioning yourself to a new way of eating, it becomes your new lifestyle. We are what we eat unfortunately, sometimes we will project and blame others about how we got fat, but at the end of the day we know it is us that puts food in our mouth

So I went to an information session to find out more information about Isagenix’s When I realized what I was doing to my body and how easy it was going to be to turn things around I signed up

I started last Thursday, since then I have released (lost) 5 lbs and I have not added up the inches yet. To say that I am over the moon is an understatement. I have a big goal to reach but I am breaking it down into 5 lbs increments so this is a major step forward for me. I will finish writing this tomorrow as I just realized how late it is. I will post my daily diary. If you are considering losing weight, please contact me. We only have one life to live, we are what we eat, and I want to live to 90

Filed under: Weight Loss on April 16th, 2008 | No Comments »

I just started a new group on Facebook. My daughter is going to have a baby, her first baby, our first grandchild. It is so exciting. Since she got pregnant I have found out that there is a Baby boom going on right now. The hospitals are saying that there are more babies being born this year then in 50 years, so is this the baby boomers, children having children? The name of the group if you would like to join is Baby Boom of 2008 Baby Faces

My daughter has had the worst morning sickness. I remember having to eat crackers, but now they prescribe drugs for it. I guess it is safe, I do not know what she would have done without it. She has gone for two ultrasounds, the latest one was for her 20 week checkup. It is when they can sex the baby, but baby bump got all shy on them and just curled up in a ball. So now they are thinking of doing that 3D scan called UC Baby. Have you seen the photos that they can get, it is amazing!!. She is fortunate that she was able to get a midwife. My husband is from England and he was delivered by a midwife, and I had a midwife in England when we had our first baby. Not having a family doctor is a pain but a midwife is better as that is all they do is specialize in looking after expectant mothers and help them in the birthing process.

I would love to post the photos but we will have to see. Hey I am a first time Grandmother for crying out loud…first photos for the family album
Good thing I am into scrapbooking, especially digital scrapbooking I use to like traditional scrapbooking but this is so much faster. I love taking photos so all I have to to, is plug my camera in, transfer the photos in an album on my computer and basically drop it into a predesigned page.

I will keep you posted, she is due September 11th but I am sure she will have it in August, call it Mothers intuition

Filed under: Baby Story - pregnancy - through birth on April 16th, 2008 | No Comments »

Matchmaking Momma in the News

Business helps boomers find dates

Toronto Sun
November 7, 2007

By ROGER PIERCE, BIZLAUNCH.CA

Online communities are hot properties right now. Just ask the latest billionaire founder of Facebook.com.

Entrepreneur Patsy Copus agrees. “People love to connect on the Internet,” she says.

Her company, called Singles Canada Ltd. (www.singles canada.com), offers a dating service specifically for the “over 30″ crowd.

“Many of our clients find themselves single after 10 or 20 years of marriage and simply don’t know how or where to start dating again,” Copus says.

Her team does its best to make people feel comfortable by offering a more personal service, Copus says, by assisting customers in writing their online profiles and selecting good photographs, and by dispensing general dating advice.

“We make sure people know they’re not alone re-entering the dating world later in life,” Copus says. “There are millions of successful, exciting and sexy people out there looking to meet someone special.”

Indeed, there is a huge market of mature people in Canada looking to find their match — including thousands of baby boomers.

Copus started her business to follow her passion and to serve a market niche. “I know how difficult it can be for people in their 40s or 50s who have been out of the dating scene for so long to find compatible mates,” she explains. “I wanted to help them and the idea of an online business also appealed to me.”

Launched in 1998, Copus says the long hours are the only downside to running an Internet-based business. “People use our site 24 hours a day, so I find myself working way too much,” she says.

Her future plans include expanding her business to serve more singles communities and adding more features to facilitate communication between her customers. “We’re going to start posting events on our site to help people to attend interesting social functions in their area.”

Filed under: Matchmaking Momma in the News on November 7th, 2007 | No Comments »

Last weekend we had an interesting conversation about happiness. I asked my daughter what she would be doing at that moment if she had won the lottery. A local couple had just won a record 32 million on Lotto649, and we said what would you do if you were them. She said she would not change a thing, she would still live in the same house but would not have to work. My husband said there is no way after you win a lottery that you could stay in the same house, in the same neighbourhood and expect that everything would stay the same. I would have loved to have seen the happy dance that the Dempster’s did when they won their money. I also wonder if they will continue to work, it is hard to say what you would do.

I love the Lotto 649 happy dance site, the site is very entertaining, you should try it for a laugh. The tune is pretty catchy too, lots of people on Yahoo answers trying to find out who sings it. Actually I just checked Yahoo answers and funny enough, the question was deleted due to a violation in their community guidelines. Hmmm, wonder what that means. I like using Yahoo answers, I am a regular on the site and answer a lot of the questions.

Well the lottery is up to 34 million this week, are you practicing YOUR happy dance?

Filed under: Happy Dance on November 1st, 2007 | Comments Off