Emily Howitt

It was a hot humid night. Air was howling through the windows. It was growing late. I should be sleeping, I thought to myself. But I couldn’t. It had been like this the past few nights. I just could not get my brain to hit the off button and fall asleep. So, I decided to resort to counting to sheep. I didn’t think it would work, but staring at the ceiling in the dark sure wasn’t doing much either. So the sheep counting began. I created a group of sheep in my mind, and placed them in my room. There were all fluffy and white, and adorable. I even named one Steve. They lined up eagerly to be counted. Then they began jumping happily over the bed and out the window to crash to their bloody death. And this made me laugh. And made me wonder if I’m a bit sadistic, or if I just have a really dark sense of humour. Or maybe it was just lack of sleep. But I still find it a little bit funny today, so probably not lack of sleep. Now, let me be clear so that you don’t think I’m total psycho....

Chihuahuas are little bundles of joy that will drive you completely insane. Seriously. They will. You will lose your sanity and question why on earth you wanted one. Then they will look at you with that cute puppy dog face and you’ll completely forget whatever they just did. Until they do it again, that is. So here are a few things you may want to know about Chihuahuas before you get one. Also, these traits are based on my dog, Pedro, so your dog may be a bit different. Pedro is also a puppy still so he might change as an adult, but you can use these tips as a general guideline. 1. They will whine incessantly. Incessantly. If they’re not sleeping, they’re whining. They always want something, and they expect you to get it. They are the royalty and you are the lowly peasant. You want to just sit down and relax after a long day? Good luck. Your Chihuahua expects you to cater to their every whim. Oh, and you want to try tough love? Well, prepare for more whining. 2. They are har...

I hate you blank page. I hate you blinking cursor staring at me, mocking me. Telling me that I am not a good writer. That I can’t do this. That I can’t blog. I hate you internet, for making everything so accessible. For making a million different social media websites that you must be a part of to market yourself. I hate when people come up with new social websites, as if we don’t have enough. I hate that if you want to create something you have to shove it in people’s faces to get them to buy it. I hate marketing. I hate SEO. I hate always having to come up with something new. I hate word counts. I hate trying not to pay attention to the words because a good post isn’t just the word count. But I also know that if you don’t have enough words you have less chance of being found. I hate all these things. I bet you hate them to sometimes. If only I could write a world and disappear inside it. Although it didn’t work out so well for the author (Once Upon A Time). I hat...

Mothers. They are the people who are closest to us. Or maybe they’re the people farthest from us. Or maybe they’re dead. Or maybe we never knew them. Or maybe we don’t know who our mother is. But I’m willing to bet you have someone in your life who is a mother figure, if you don’t have your biological mother. And Mother’s Day is a perfect day to celebrate that. Mothers are the ones who raise us from birth, who influence us, who protect us. They are always thinking of our welfare, and can’t bear to see us devastated. There are plenty of rules and expectations but they are all done out of love. They are the people who would give almost anything to see their child successful and happy. But how do we treat mothers? Well, sometimes we do treat them well. We thank them, tell them we love them (though sometimes not enough), we enjoy spending time with them as they do us, and we wouldn't have it any other way. But sometimes we don’t give them enough credit. We don’t realize how ha...

Why do dreams die? Do you ever wonder that? Why it seems that so many young, ambitious people have dreams and then all of a sudden their just gone? Just poof? What happened? How did they get to be a middle aged person who hates their job? Where did the time go? Or maybe they don’t hate their job, but it’s just that. Their job is just a job. A way to pay the bills. Not do something fulfilling in their lives. So why is it people settle? Well, here are a few reasons. 1. People give up too easily. Or they procrastinate to the point of no return. They’re all, Oh, I’ll just watch TV for five minutes . Then five hours later they're comatose on the couch watching some interior design show and seriously debating if they should lift their hand to scratch their nose or just leave it. Or they hit one little bump in the road, or one little rejection, and then they deemed that because one person on one day said they weren’t good enough, that it must be true. And now their soul will become d...