I had a few technical difficulties this week. With the cold snap I was starting to think that maybe I could get a jump on the Spring cleaning considering that I felt virtually trapped in my home. I decided to clean up some of the files on my computer and erradicated the cookie that remembered my password to Blogger. (Apparently the gnomes in my head decided to do some Spring cleaning of their own which is resulting in me forgetting most of my passwords.)
To add to the mayhem, my email address wasn't working either so I couldn't retrieve my password to the blog OR get any emails since Thursday last week. Now that all that's been sad, I'm back and hope to update you all with a few more family stories shortly.
Monday, February 27, 2006
Friday, February 17, 2006
A few of my favorite things
- My children
- Thursday night coffee date with Perpetual Chocoholic
- Sunday afternoon naps
- My homemade pizza
- Hearing CU1's Daffy Duck laugh
- Watching CU3 grow
- Hearing DH giggle
- Seeing CU2 feel pure joy
- My Lee Valley catalog
- Playing the "If I had a million dollars" game
- Summer sidewalk graffiti
- "mongo" shopping in the hood
- Connecting with the CUs
- Working together, on projects with DH
- Making popcycles for a receptive group
It's the start of a good week.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
D'oh
I'm behind, so very behind. I still have "write Christmas thank you notes" on my list of things to do. That entry is second only to "write family Christmas letter".
Lately I've encountered a lot of regretable changes: rapid weight gain, loosing days, psoriasis flares, really stupid administrative errors (like typos that I usually see, transposing words (FAX for FAQ), loosing a day or days [misinterpreting calendars]). I'm wondering if I'm in the early stages of burn out ... who knows, I don't really have the time to appreciate the decline.
To this end, I just realized that I had received a gift of artwork from a chocolate loving friend of mine.
My intention was to issue a Valentine's wish of my own on a personal level. That doesn't seem to be in the cards this year. So, to all of you reading - it's not for lack of trying, and in this case I'm hoping the thought does count as I think of each of you while I prepare this post.
Happy chocolates day!
Lately I've encountered a lot of regretable changes: rapid weight gain, loosing days, psoriasis flares, really stupid administrative errors (like typos that I usually see, transposing words (FAX for FAQ), loosing a day or days [misinterpreting calendars]). I'm wondering if I'm in the early stages of burn out ... who knows, I don't really have the time to appreciate the decline.
To this end, I just realized that I had received a gift of artwork from a chocolate loving friend of mine.
My intention was to issue a Valentine's wish of my own on a personal level. That doesn't seem to be in the cards this year. So, to all of you reading - it's not for lack of trying, and in this case I'm hoping the thought does count as I think of each of you while I prepare this post.Happy chocolates day!
Friday, February 10, 2006
Lost in translation
Last week I had to take a mandatory harassment prevent course. One of the examples we studied was about some one swearing in the work place. Does this constitute harassment?
Well, the discussion kind of slopped over into the break time. I brought up a discussion I had with CU2 a few months back. She asked me if what we commonly refer to as "the F word" was a bad word. I explained that in French, no, in English yes and that she couldn't think about using that word before she's 13. At 13 we'll discuss.
Which leads me to why she was confused. You see, at Christmas I gave CU1 a phoque en peluche.
Now there's a lesson in making something innocent sound, well, not very innocent!
Well, the discussion kind of slopped over into the break time. I brought up a discussion I had with CU2 a few months back. She asked me if what we commonly refer to as "the F word" was a bad word. I explained that in French, no, in English yes and that she couldn't think about using that word before she's 13. At 13 we'll discuss.
Which leads me to why she was confused. You see, at Christmas I gave CU1 a phoque en peluche.
Now there's a lesson in making something innocent sound, well, not very innocent!
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Adventurers by day, slugs by night
That kind of sums up what we were like on that Saturday and Sunday on our wild weekend away.
Saturday we'd awakened to warm, but overcast weather. Not a bad start to the day we thought. We hiked down the hill and found DH a farmer's breakfast (ham, eggs, toast and tatters). Nothing to write home about. Not even worth a comment except that it set the tone of the day in food.
We decided to try our hand at shopping at what was self-identified as the largest shopping centre East of the West Edmonton Mall. DH was up for it and my knowledge of the bus routes held true, even 13 years later.
We crawled the mall for most of the day, dropping our meagre bucks on a fantabulous sale at Old Navy.
That night DH thought about going out for a really nice dinner some where. So we dressed up in our cleaner clothes and walked the brightly light strip of terraces that were loaded down with ice bars (walls of ice from which liquor was served on an open terrace) waiting for students and winter festival patrons to come by and drink their wares as they trucked up and down the street.
DH was on the prowl for some fresh seafood and was inticed by one restaurant's five-course meal.
We got a nice window seat next to two couples from the Carolina's (North and South were represented), and another couple who were from Montreal. (I know this because, instead of gazing into each others eyes romantically, as one would think a honeymooning couple would do, DH decided that he'd had enough conversation with me and that he'd strike one up with the neighbors!)
To summarize quickly, DH enjoyed his dinner. I found it discouraging. (It was like I had tapped an oil deralick :-(.
The regretably meal was topped off with a chat with the hostess stationed outside to encourage dinners to come in. She think she was surprised that I'd actually tell her of my disappointment instead of mumbling my thanks for a nice meal.
We wandered to the hotel, finding the famous imbedded canon ball along the way, and finished the night off with some jazz in the bar in our hotel and then some Overhaulin' and Myth Busters.
Sunday we felt a bit guilty for not seeing the sites so we moved around the historic part of the city looking at as much free stuff as we could, which meant a lot of restaurant menus. We also did a walk around the old city and ducked into the tourist traps looking and touching their wears (trying on some goofy hats, poking fun at what constitutes SWAG for this part of the world and compared it with our each other's other traveling experiences).
The wind was picking up, the weather was dropping so we quickly passed through the bits I thought we should see and returned to the hotel to change our socks and head out for our last supper. (Which WAS terrific. I recommend Le cote de frére!)
We returned to the hotel room. I to pack, deal with a plugged toilet, and then deal with an exploded luggage, DH to put his feet up and watch the sports channels.
Monday morning it was gross out. Gross isn't the word. Snowy, windy. Heavy heavy winds. So strong that it helped me stay upright on the steep hills. We ducked out for a last breakfast and a tour through a corner groccer (I have a fear of being stuck on the train without provisions) and for a hunt for duct tape with which to seal our exploded luggage (it was just a little mint, waffer thin).
With grocceries in hand, and, luckily some packing tape found completely by accident, we made our way back down the hill and onto the train to reverse our journey.
I think I've had enough of that type of vacation to last me a couple more years.
Saturday we'd awakened to warm, but overcast weather. Not a bad start to the day we thought. We hiked down the hill and found DH a farmer's breakfast (ham, eggs, toast and tatters). Nothing to write home about. Not even worth a comment except that it set the tone of the day in food.
We decided to try our hand at shopping at what was self-identified as the largest shopping centre East of the West Edmonton Mall. DH was up for it and my knowledge of the bus routes held true, even 13 years later.
We crawled the mall for most of the day, dropping our meagre bucks on a fantabulous sale at Old Navy.
That night DH thought about going out for a really nice dinner some where. So we dressed up in our cleaner clothes and walked the brightly light strip of terraces that were loaded down with ice bars (walls of ice from which liquor was served on an open terrace) waiting for students and winter festival patrons to come by and drink their wares as they trucked up and down the street.
DH was on the prowl for some fresh seafood and was inticed by one restaurant's five-course meal.
We got a nice window seat next to two couples from the Carolina's (North and South were represented), and another couple who were from Montreal. (I know this because, instead of gazing into each others eyes romantically, as one would think a honeymooning couple would do, DH decided that he'd had enough conversation with me and that he'd strike one up with the neighbors!)
To summarize quickly, DH enjoyed his dinner. I found it discouraging. (It was like I had tapped an oil deralick :-(.
The regretably meal was topped off with a chat with the hostess stationed outside to encourage dinners to come in. She think she was surprised that I'd actually tell her of my disappointment instead of mumbling my thanks for a nice meal.
We wandered to the hotel, finding the famous imbedded canon ball along the way, and finished the night off with some jazz in the bar in our hotel and then some Overhaulin' and Myth Busters.
Sunday we felt a bit guilty for not seeing the sites so we moved around the historic part of the city looking at as much free stuff as we could, which meant a lot of restaurant menus. We also did a walk around the old city and ducked into the tourist traps looking and touching their wears (trying on some goofy hats, poking fun at what constitutes SWAG for this part of the world and compared it with our each other's other traveling experiences).
The wind was picking up, the weather was dropping so we quickly passed through the bits I thought we should see and returned to the hotel to change our socks and head out for our last supper. (Which WAS terrific. I recommend Le cote de frére!)We returned to the hotel room. I to pack, deal with a plugged toilet, and then deal with an exploded luggage, DH to put his feet up and watch the sports channels.
Monday morning it was gross out. Gross isn't the word. Snowy, windy. Heavy heavy winds. So strong that it helped me stay upright on the steep hills. We ducked out for a last breakfast and a tour through a corner groccer (I have a fear of being stuck on the train without provisions) and for a hunt for duct tape with which to seal our exploded luggage (it was just a little mint, waffer thin).
With grocceries in hand, and, luckily some packing tape found completely by accident, we made our way back down the hill and onto the train to reverse our journey.
I think I've had enough of that type of vacation to last me a couple more years.
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
Adventures - day 1
We arrived in the historic old city on time. The weather was ... WARM?! Unusual for the best of times.
As we walked the train station platform, memories flooded back. I'd walked that platform so many times ... with some one else waiting for me at the end of the platform. That was history, this was now.
We exited the station and I quickly got my bearings. We headed for them thar hills and made our way up steep inclines that mountain goats would be proud to roam.
I played Julie, the cruise director, as I pointed out various sites of no real particular interest, recounting various bits of juicy sorted stories pulled out of my memory.
In no time we found the hotel we'd call home base for the weekend. We checked in, dumped our stuff and were out the door as fast as we could each exit the bathroom. We tramped up to the boardwalk near the more famous lodging and looked at some of the touristy sites such as the funicular and the ice slide choosing to by pass these items for a leisurely walk up the 312 stairs to the park and plains above. We emptied out to the park and tramped our way across snow-drifted paths. I chatted about my experiences of living there for 10 months filling the air with my history, leaving something of myself behind like the former inhabitants and defenders of this city had done too.
We passed through the makings of the winter carnival festival grounds (good thing to because we'd have had to pay $16 each to enter 24 hours later!)
We tramped to the main street and window shopped dinner menus as we walked back to the hotel to change damp socks and headed out again to walk the streets. We found a tiny tiny, well-known hole in the wall café and had supper before we did our rounds of the sites again before returning to our hotel to watch TLC.
As we walked the train station platform, memories flooded back. I'd walked that platform so many times ... with some one else waiting for me at the end of the platform. That was history, this was now.
We exited the station and I quickly got my bearings. We headed for them thar hills and made our way up steep inclines that mountain goats would be proud to roam.
I played Julie, the cruise director, as I pointed out various sites of no real particular interest, recounting various bits of juicy sorted stories pulled out of my memory.
In no time we found the hotel we'd call home base for the weekend. We checked in, dumped our stuff and were out the door as fast as we could each exit the bathroom. We tramped up to the boardwalk near the more famous lodging and looked at some of the touristy sites such as the funicular and the ice slide choosing to by pass these items for a leisurely walk up the 312 stairs to the park and plains above. We emptied out to the park and tramped our way across snow-drifted paths. I chatted about my experiences of living there for 10 months filling the air with my history, leaving something of myself behind like the former inhabitants and defenders of this city had done too.
We passed through the makings of the winter carnival festival grounds (good thing to because we'd have had to pay $16 each to enter 24 hours later!)
We tramped to the main street and window shopped dinner menus as we walked back to the hotel to change damp socks and headed out again to walk the streets. We found a tiny tiny, well-known hole in the wall café and had supper before we did our rounds of the sites again before returning to our hotel to watch TLC.
Sunday, February 05, 2006
Side bar note
Looks like Blogger's been doing some editing and I've lost my dotted backdrop that I'd liked so much. I'm going to try a couple different templates today and possibly unttil I see the return of the dots template as I knew and loved it. In the mean time, I hope I don't burn out too many retinas with my various attempts to capture a feeling for the page.
Saturday, February 04, 2006
On the road again
We took the train to our honeymoon destination.
We'd got to the station in good time. It'd been over five years since I'd taken this mode of transportation and about the same since I'd been in the station. We spent our time milling about, I remarking how things have more stayed the same then changed. (That seemed to be a predominant theme that weekend.)
I thought I was being a smarty pants waiting on what I remembered to be the departure side of the station when DH, getting anxious that we were getting close to the departure time, asked one of the station personnel what time they were putting out the sign for our stop-over desination. The guy pointed to the very very long line that I'd mistaken for passengers departing for another desination. D'oh!
So we hustled to the back of this very very long line, all the while, me playing Julie the cruise director explaining what could be expected from this trip (for example, it'd be next to impossible to find two seats together).
We climbed aboard and low and behold we DID find two seats together. While etting settled in and regailing our good fortune, a well coiffed woman came up to our seats and said we were mistaken and were sitting in HER seats! What? My mind had moved into vacation mode by that point and really didn't get what she was saying. Apparently during my five year absence, delivery of train service had changed and they were now assigning seats! Woo hoo! That meant DH and I DID have a seat together.
We found those, settled in with our magazines and books (I think I took a nap) and had a comfortable and uneventful ride to the mid-way point at which time we got out, went above ground for an hour and prowled the streets of the city as much as our already over-stuffed luggage would allow us. Boy did we look like tourists ... slightly dishevelled and unstylish in bland winter gear in comparison to the above ground earth walkers!
We got some street food (roasted chestnuts!) and returned to below ground to catch the train for the final leg of our destination. We were running a wee bit slow and DH was getting antsy about missing the train. Having left his watch at home for this trip, I continued in the roll of Julie, advising him from time-to-time how much prowling time we had, hoping to calm his nerves as I ducked into a shop to search for provisions (after all we were travelling in a sardine can in the middle of winter with a specific supply of food stuffs - I didn't want to get caught in between switches for a few hours while getting the stomach grumblies).
We rolled onto the train with about 10 minutes to spare and settled in for another few hours of trip. Again, it was fairly uneventful. The universe and everything seemed to be cooperating with us, open its arms saying that it was ok to come after all.
We'd got to the station in good time. It'd been over five years since I'd taken this mode of transportation and about the same since I'd been in the station. We spent our time milling about, I remarking how things have more stayed the same then changed. (That seemed to be a predominant theme that weekend.)
I thought I was being a smarty pants waiting on what I remembered to be the departure side of the station when DH, getting anxious that we were getting close to the departure time, asked one of the station personnel what time they were putting out the sign for our stop-over desination. The guy pointed to the very very long line that I'd mistaken for passengers departing for another desination. D'oh!
So we hustled to the back of this very very long line, all the while, me playing Julie the cruise director explaining what could be expected from this trip (for example, it'd be next to impossible to find two seats together).
We climbed aboard and low and behold we DID find two seats together. While etting settled in and regailing our good fortune, a well coiffed woman came up to our seats and said we were mistaken and were sitting in HER seats! What? My mind had moved into vacation mode by that point and really didn't get what she was saying. Apparently during my five year absence, delivery of train service had changed and they were now assigning seats! Woo hoo! That meant DH and I DID have a seat together.
We found those, settled in with our magazines and books (I think I took a nap) and had a comfortable and uneventful ride to the mid-way point at which time we got out, went above ground for an hour and prowled the streets of the city as much as our already over-stuffed luggage would allow us. Boy did we look like tourists ... slightly dishevelled and unstylish in bland winter gear in comparison to the above ground earth walkers!
We got some street food (roasted chestnuts!) and returned to below ground to catch the train for the final leg of our destination. We were running a wee bit slow and DH was getting antsy about missing the train. Having left his watch at home for this trip, I continued in the roll of Julie, advising him from time-to-time how much prowling time we had, hoping to calm his nerves as I ducked into a shop to search for provisions (after all we were travelling in a sardine can in the middle of winter with a specific supply of food stuffs - I didn't want to get caught in between switches for a few hours while getting the stomach grumblies).
We rolled onto the train with about 10 minutes to spare and settled in for another few hours of trip. Again, it was fairly uneventful. The universe and everything seemed to be cooperating with us, open its arms saying that it was ok to come after all.
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Dirty week
I just got back from my honeymoon. Some people called it my dirty weekend. Little did they know how self-filling that prophecy was! As the previous weekend the washer when kablooie followed by two out of five family units going kablooie too. Going away with luggage filled with dirty laundry wasn’t quiet what I expected!
The Thursday night before, it was very much touch and go here as we tried to decide if the universe was actually trying to tell me/us something. DH and CU3 both were very sick during the week though started perking up Thursday evening. As I watched the clock tick closer and closer to our cut-off cancellation time, the pessimist in me kicked in big time thinking that I’d never get to go.
CU1 and 2 were off to their father’s. CU3 was the big question mark. Would our kind neighbors want to take in a possible source of contamination? Good Neighbor (GN) 1 stopped in to take a look at CU3 and though thing’s ‘d be ok. GN 2 came by for a look-see shortly there after and cleared the way. Exchange of goods occurred. Frantic packing occurred. The regular coffee date with PC occurred. (Ah, finally an event of civility in the course of a rough week!)
So off we went on our long weekend together. Our honeymoon. I only had to marry the guy twice and wait three years to get away. As the mothership has pointed out, I seem to have it all in the wrong order.
The Thursday night before, it was very much touch and go here as we tried to decide if the universe was actually trying to tell me/us something. DH and CU3 both were very sick during the week though started perking up Thursday evening. As I watched the clock tick closer and closer to our cut-off cancellation time, the pessimist in me kicked in big time thinking that I’d never get to go.
CU1 and 2 were off to their father’s. CU3 was the big question mark. Would our kind neighbors want to take in a possible source of contamination? Good Neighbor (GN) 1 stopped in to take a look at CU3 and though thing’s ‘d be ok. GN 2 came by for a look-see shortly there after and cleared the way. Exchange of goods occurred. Frantic packing occurred. The regular coffee date with PC occurred. (Ah, finally an event of civility in the course of a rough week!)
So off we went on our long weekend together. Our honeymoon. I only had to marry the guy twice and wait three years to get away. As the mothership has pointed out, I seem to have it all in the wrong order.
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