Some songs...

We're in the house today, thanks to the snow (welcome to an Alberta Spring!) and I'm downloading tons of music I have been meaning to for a while now. Including Our Lady Peace, whom I have loved forever. Since, in fact, I saw them when they opened for Alanis Morrisette. Who, by the way, sucks ass in concert and was the biggest waste of money EVER. EVER!! (Kandice and Jen are nodding in agreement at this very moment)It was like listening to her cd at home, no talking, no interaction blech.

However, we were fortunate enough to hear these guys and they saved the night for us. Too bad Alanis showed up and interrupted them. Boo-hiss.

I adore Raine...here's his blog if you want to read it for shits and giggles LOL! Man, you can find everyones inner thoughts on the web...

http://blog.myspace.com/rainemaida


So here's one, called Life, I remember being pregnant with Kade and watching this video and sobbing while watching it. This would be on my top 10 list of favorite songs and videos too. The lyrics are just amazing. Dare you to watch it without tearing up. I couldn't make it a minute in while previewing it on Youtube without starting to cry.



The lyrics:

How many times have you been pushed around?
Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
And how many times have your friends let you down?
Is anybody there?
Did anybody stare?

And how many times have your friends let you down?
Just open up your heart
Just open up your mind
And how many times has your faith slipped away?
Well, is anybody safe?
Does anybody pray?

Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we'll survive

Do do do do do do do do do do do
Do do do do do do do do do do do

And how many days have you just slept away?
Is everybody high?
Is everyone afraid?
And how many times have you wished you were strong?
Have they ever seen your heart?
Have they ever seen your pain?

Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we'll survive

She gets high
She gets lost
She gets drowned by the cost
Twice a day, every week, and all her life

She gets high
She gets lost
She gets drowned by the cost
Twice a day, every week, and all her life

Life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we'll survive

Oh, life is waiting for you
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
Oh, life is waiting for you, oh
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
It’s all messed up, but we’ll survive
It’s all messed up, but we're alive
It’s all messed up, but we’ll, oh we’ll, survive



And this one is awesome too...called 4 AM



Hmmmm I am very melancholy today...

I Heart My Job Somedays..

Somedays, mind you, not all!

We had done my Career Plan the week before, and I had mentioned that training would be the only place in our department that I could see myself going, once the kids are in school. I left unsaid that there was no way I would stay in my current role fulltime, nor could you pay me enough for some other roles LOL! So lo and behold, two days later,my manger pulled me off the board to parallel with someone else who was new, to help them with their weaknesses and see what areas they needed improvement.

So that's just a huge treat, not taking calls on a Friday night. There's actually not much more that can compare, other than the night off paid. And that is a huge compliment to me, that he would do this.

So then last night he comes in, and asks me about her, and what areas need improvement etc etc. Then he hands me a $25 gift card to Starbucks, saying how much he appreciated my help, and that he hoped I liked Starbucks. ( can we hear a hell YA)

I think my manager is psychic. I truly do. I really didn't want to go to work last night, was really tired out from a day with the kids, and was feeling blechy. I had even talked to Mike about leaving for good and just staying at home with the kids. But I went in anyways, cause how hard is a 4 hour shift really. Then he appears with Starbucks card in hand and many accolades.

Hmm, either that or he took a look at the bags under my eyes and thought, "holy shit, she needs some coffee!"

But everytime I think about leaving, something like this reminds me why I am there. We don't need me to work for the money anymore (not like I would work for free HA!) I don't think Mike gets why I stay somedays, I know he understands when I come home with giftcards in hand lol! But even that's true, there's ALWAYS tickets to win, or some gadget, or giftcards (I also won a Home Depot one). Holidays there is always food galore and treats and little prizes. And thats not even digressing into my stocks plan and my discount and and... But he doesn't get why even tho I get grumpy somedays, I still stay. I suppose its different when you HAVE to support your family, the man mentality. I can't even count the times he's said "well just quit then!" when I grouch about work.

But that's this month...its getting harder and harder to go to work when the evenings are soo nice, the weather will just keep getting better and better and my deck will be calling my name..come sit and drink wine...who needs to work....

Beautiful Lunch

Ah my lunch just was so happy today. Everything was so brightly colored, fantastic tasting, the sun was shining.....we had a picnic lunch on the deck, just Kade and I. We spent hours outside today, mostly just him and I. I worked 5 shifts this last week and I don't think I will do that again, Kade was feeling a little lonely and needed lots of Mom time after that..and vice versa. I can't imagine leaving him daily for years on end, I would be lost without my picnic lunches, strawberry kisses and conversations filled with little boy logic that make my heart hurt I love him so much.

Now, tell me these pics don't entice you to get your 6-10 servings a day!

The whole week has been work pretty much. The only night I had out was to Beckie's last night to watch movies, we ended up watching Zoolander. How I made it all these years without watching that movie, I will never know. Absolutely hilarious. We need another night to watch Anchorman and Dodgeball.

We bought Kade his first two wheeler this afternoon, complete with training wheels and all. Man, he's so big, I can't believe he has a two wheeler. And he's so tall, we don't even have to adjust it to the lowest level. When did he become so big? And I am looking at preschools for next fall, sniffle.

We looked at outdoor stuff today, I found my gas firepit! At Walmart of course! We really wanted one instead of woodburning to have on the deck instead of way out in the grass, and of course, less smell. But they usually entail getting a gasline run out to the back and blah blah blah. money money money. So today we found one that runs off a propane tank, just like I wanted! Weehoo! I have my furniture picked out, my screened tent, my patio lights, and now the firepit that can go on the deck! We'll have to go pick it up within a few weeks here before it sells out, which they tend to do quickly.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Reading...

Phew FINALLY finished Alias Grace. That was a story that took twice as long as it should have to be told, it was an excellent story, but it was sooo long that she lost me and I read other books inbetween. I finally buckled down and read the damn thing, and the ending wasn't what I deserved after all that hard work! Still, if anyone wants to borrow it, you can waste a few weeks of your life inbetween your better readings.

The Memory Keepers daughter was a good sad read. I wasn't depressed after reading it,it was such a mind boggling premise and story that I am SO very glad I read it.

The Girls Will be Girls is a wonderful,depressing and enlightening read. Depressing because of all the statistics concerning girls and body image, how young they are when things start to affect them, the pressures they are under, and I am barely into the book.The most fascinating part so far, is about how at about age 9 or 10, girls develop a "pudgy" look, which is what nature intends,with the onset of puberty just around the corner.Since girls are expected to look like glamour girls at any age these days, they start to diet, which is interfering with the body's natural weight management system and it puts it off balance, possibly for good. Who knew? If you have a girl, I highly suggest this book, even tho I am only a few chapters in. So informative.

Vinegar Hill was good, but I don't really see why it made Oprah's bookclub, compared to some from her list I have read.

Under the Tuscan Sun makes me want to travel and eat and drink wine under a non-north american sky LOL. It re-affirmed the feeling after I read Eat,Pray Love (or whatever its called), they both make you want to run away to Italy and not come back. Since I can't do that anytime soon, I have been daydreaming of my backyard in the summer, a luscious wine beside me, flowers scenting up the air and my gas firepit going to take the chill of the air....ahhh. That will do till I get somewhere Mediterranean. If I can't live there, I can at least adopt the lifestyle as much as possible. Siesta = good. (and yes,Italians siesta as well)

Stolen From BLISS

I popped to the BLISS blog just now (linked on the right side over there) and found this cartoon. And laughed my ass off ,and had to post it because, well, self explanatory, no one will be shocked that I posted this LOL!

(click to enlarge)

Thanks Karen for finding this! I emailed the cartoonist letting them know how much I liked this particular strip.

Envious Mother

I am 100%, purely envious of my son's hair. It is absolutely gorgeous, maybe that's why I don't like cutting it.....Ooooh...if I had only his hair and some styling products, I would never have a bad hair day again.

Lucky kid inheirited the curls from Mike, but the soft fine hair from me. His hair is just going to make the girls swoon, my little ladies man.

Funniest Movie In a Long Time

Amanda,Beckie and I went to Khazana's tonight for the East Indian buffet, which was SO fantastic, and then to see Blades of Glory. Omg, if you like Will Farrell, drop everything and go see this movie. It is up there with Old School, and the only reason Old School is still my fave is that I love Vince Vaughn as well. There are parts in this movie I am still laughing about, parts that aren't shown in the preview. I watched the preview again and realized that for once, they didn't put all the funny parts in the preview, lots of them, but there's SO many more! And the ones I am laughing about aren't in the preview cause they are just filthy LOL!



I want to take Mike to see it, I loved it! 5 out of 5 for Will humor!

The Saga of the Stupid Bank

Mike popped upstairs this morning, with a puzzled expression on his face.

"Hon, who did you write a $240 cheque to?"

Me, mumbling from lack of caffeine:

"What the bloody F*** are you talking about, sugar snappy wappy" (ha as if)

Mike proceeds to tell me that a cheque for $240 went thru the night before, a really large, odd amount for us to write a cheque for. So I get up, take a look, and sure enough, 240 bucks.

So I click on the view cheque option, and see that its the cheque I wrote Beckie for the Lunar Bob tickets. Damn expensive show I tell you.

Now what's really funny is I gave her a blank signed check cause she wasn't sure of the total and she joked about how she was going to skip town after writing a huge amount. I told her "good luck, you might get to Red Deer!"

So some twit input my 24 dollars as 240.06. Not even adding a couple zeros, but a couple zeroes and a 6?? Good job!

So I won't get into the frustrations of calling my bank and talking to them with their awful customer service *********YOU SUCK ASS ROYAL BANK********** .

But THEN I just get home and checked to see if a rush actually mean a "rush" and it sure did! I got my money deposited back into my account.

All $480 of it.

I no I done gradumated Hi skool, an that don add up.

Fack.

I could go werk fer the bank after all.

For Erin

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls - Mary Pipher

At adolescence, says Mary Pipher, "girls become 'female impersonators' who fit their whole selves into small, crowded spaces." Many lose spark, interest, and even IQ points as a "girl-poisoning" society forces a choice between being shunned for staying true to oneself and struggling to stay within a narrow definition of female. Pipher's alarming tales of a generation swamped by pain may be partly informed by her role as a therapist who sees troubled children and teens, but her sketch of a tougher, more menacing world for girls often hits the mark. She offers some prescriptions for changing society and helping girls resist.

Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters- by JoAnn Deak & Teresa Barker

A psychologist and speaker on gender equity, Deak aims to give answers to the problems raised in Mary Pipher's classic Reviving Ophelia. Quite a claim but she does it. To handle struggles with body image, self-esteem, intellectual growth, peer pressure, and media messages, Deak offers a strong framework that includes concepts like Crucible Events (defining life episodes) and the Strudel Theory (building a life with layers).

Real Boys : Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood -by William Pollack (Author), Mary Pipher (Foreword)

In a lucidly written primer for parents, Harvard Medical School psychiatry professor Pollack dismantles what he terms "the Boy Code" society's image of boys as tough, cool, rambunctious and obsessed with sports, cars and sex. These stereotypes, he argues, thwart creativity and originality in boys. Linking clinical insights to practical suggestions, Pollack advises caregivers how to help boys repair their fragile self-esteem, develop empathy and explore their sensitive sides. Drawing on his clinical experience as well as an ongoing Harvard research project, he offers advice on "attention deficit disorder" which, he maintains, is often a misdiagnosis for normal high-energy behavior, recognizing signs of depression, discouraging violence and helping boys cope with their parents' divorce.

I Love Secondhand Shopping

We had a really fun day today, we picked around home this morning while it snowed, then headed out for shopping at the secondhand stores around town. I am having the most fantastic luck finding books lately, books that I have been waiting and wanting to read, or books that I love and haven't bought yet.

I have to brag, here's my list of finds today:

Girls Will be Girls - Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters -JoAnn Deak PHD
(this was on my list to read along with Reviving Ophelia)

A Complicated Kindness - Miriam Toews
On the Occasion of My Last Afternoon - Kaye Gibbons
Under the Tuscan Sun - Frances Mayes

Some chicklit and Red Dress Ink books:

Six Weeks to Toxic- Louisa McCormack
Looking For Mr. Goodfrog - Laurie Graff
Everyone Worth Knowing- Lauren Weisberger
Sex,Murder and a Double Latte -Kyra Davis
Tales of a Drama Queen - Lee Nichols (B lent me this one and I LOVED it)

Oprahs Book Club

The Poisonwood Bible - Barbara Kingsolver (thought I would give it a re-read)
The Book of Ruth - Jane Hamilton
What Looks Like Crazy - Pearl Cleage

And a copy of the BFG by Roald Dahl ( my all time FAV!) and the first Harry Potter for Kade.

I am just addicted now. I spent less than $35 on what would have cost me, oh, hundreds. I swear that someone dropped off their entire bookclub collection because most of the books I bought the last few weeks are from the same Goodwill and are brand spankin' new, not a crease on the spine or a dog ear anywhere. I actually had the time today to go though all their shelves there and find them all. As much as I love the library, I adore books. I am a re-reader and that is hard when you don't own the book. I have always been a collector of books, but now figured out a better way to afford to buy them all the time. A well stocked bookshelf makes me happy!

I need to start a list of what I have bought and need to read...there must be a widget somewhere to keep track. I also think I am going to have to finish the basement and put a library down there, the rate I am going LOL! Mmm....library/den.....my room....hmmm. Now there's an idea.

Other than that, cleaned out my car this evening with Kade, he was such an amazing help, he took the vaccum and really cleaned it! He spent the whole hour cleaning with me. Tomorrow night I work, so we'll just bum around and clean the house a bit.

Hope everyone's weekend is awesome!

Spring Things

The Hydrangea That Wouldn't Die.

I couldn't kill this thing if I wanted to. Not that I want to, mind you, but I have tested its resiliancy thoroughly.It has been as dead as a doornail in a pot, (ok, dormant only but it sure looked dead) then revived with water. It gave me three measly leaves last summer, so I told it, Screw You, you are taking up too much space in my house with your crummy three leaf display, I have better plants to care for. And callously threw it into the front flowerbed to fend for itself.

I cleaned out the front flowerbed and went to pull it out, assuming it was toast and Damned if its not budding this spring! These plants are only supposed to winter to Zone 5, and even then its chancey, we are Zone 3a. That means we are 2 zones temperature-wise away from this surviving, yet its flaunting itself this spring. I have no clue what I did to ensure its successful overwintering, but now I am scared to even look at it the wrong way. So much for ever moving it as well, its now there for good. I am curious whether I will get more than 3 leaves this year LOL! (and yes, that is the one you gave me for my 29th bday, Kandice. Its the magic Hydrangea )


And my irises, which ARE supposed to come up in the spring.
Awwww...so pretty!

And I forgot to post a picture of my Spike doll that was my present from Mike and Kade for my bday. Makes me laugh! Kade doesn't understand that we can't open it and play with it, he asks about once a day. I told him its an adult doll (LMAO at that) and that it stays in the box. Aaah only Mike would buy me that!

My Obituary

HAHAHA I stole this idea from Cori, I laughed my arse off. I'm gonna have a gooood retirement! LOL!

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Super Mom

I was telling Amanda this afternoon how I think The Princess was getting the flu because she "smelled" like the flu. She totally knew what I was talking about. I think this is a Mom superpower thing, I honestly do. There's this certain smell to your child when they have the flu coming on, their body chemisty must change, and as an animal, most days LOL, us moms actually smell this chemical change and just KNOW the flu is coming.

And the flu came. Damn my Super Powers.

So I came home from a wonderful night out with Melissa, dinner and mindless shopping at West Ed, and proceeded to nurse The PRincess. Who proceeded to throw up all over me as soon as she was done eating. Gonna be a long night, let me tell you.

We finished Buffy and I am in mourning. I can't believe that the series is done. I can't believe how it ended, I can't believe that I would start again from show 1 if my sister didn't have the seasons.... but there is some light at the end of the tunnel of despair that is the lack of the Buffyverse.....Season 8 of Buffy is being done in comic! And I, in my sheer desperation to not let go of the wonder that is Buffy, bought my first ever comic book tonight. Which starts out where we left off in the series, one year later. And I realized that its not just the show, it really is the storyline that I love as well. I desperately want to know what happens and if I have to read it, so be it. Now you can call me a geek and throw things at me.

OH, and my sis and bro bought me season 1 and 2 of Angel that I can start soon as well. Talk about great siblings!

Other than that, Mike hurt his knee a bit at work, better than the pipe that was going to hit him and his partner. His partner didn't fare as well when they both jumped off their ladder, he has a sprained ankle and is totally off work for a while. Mike is fine to work. This is the hardest part to get used to, before the worst that would happen at Mike's work is a nasty papercut, now Mike has to be careful everyday and is NOT! Just kidding honey. Sorta. Freaks me out if I think too much about it.

So he bought me flowers to ease my stress....aren't they loverly!




Everyone have a good weekend! Mine is actually off to a great start, nothing like a girls night out...tomorrow Mike and Brett are off to dinner and to see that movie 300 (ugh totally a guys movie if there ever was one) and then we are going to be outside in this beautiful weather!

Birthday Baby Brain Flowers

You know, its hard coming up with witty damn titles all the time.

Anyhooo, I digress. Kandice sent me some absolutely gorgeous flowers for my birthday, along with a giftcard to Hole's Gardening Center! weehoo! That's my girl , feeding my addiction. The flowers are gorgeous and since you never get to see what you send, I decided to post a pic of them. I can't take a pic of how nice the arrangement looks in real life, its just isn't as fab as they look in my living room. Very fancy schmancy shop type flowers LOL with all sorts of leaves and things I have no clue about. Beckie, what is that orange thing?

So thanks to Kandice for my beyond lovely present and for remembering. Remember, we are all exceptionally giddy about your baby brain!

Tonight my parents are in town, Wyatt and Christina decided last minute to come over for dinner instead of pub crawling. Now, that sounds sweet, but there were no tickets left for the St Patty's crawl, so I guess we are second fiddle.

As I type there are about 4 different East Indian dishes cooking, plus rice, Naan bread, a fruit tray, and a cheesecake simmering, cooling and waiting respectively. Oh, and lots of wine and beer of course! I will post my reviews after dinner, we are trying two new dishes that I loved at the buffet we tried last Sunday. We were supposed to go to a movie tonight with Beckie and Amanda, but I am already dead on my feet, having been shopping all late morning at 3 different stores to get the sauces and ingredients, then cooking since 3 this afternoon. Add a beer or two and zzzzzzz.....

Spring Fever

Spring fever is in full force around here, the weather has finally been above 0, the 10 feet of snow in our backyard is finally melting, which in turn, led to our first snowman of the year. Once we got down to, oh, about only 5 feet of snow, we were finally able to get out there and build one.

I realized the other day that its almost time to start my plants, or at least the early starters. I have all these aspirations every year, as to what I want to get for plants. This year is no different, except I am such a geek that I am planning the yard out on paper. Yup. Number coded plants and all. I have this little yellow construction sheet of paper with little lines and numbers that in my head, = my yard.

So first question, anyone have luck with strawberries in long containers? I have four long white containers that I want to try veggies or strawberries in. Suggestions? How do you get really large, yummy berries?

And anyone ever try Dahlia's? They aren't for this zone, they are only a few degrees up tho temperature-wise. I thought perhaps I could put them in the front facing west with the incredibly hot sun in the afternoons and they might stay warm enough. Anyone?

My lovely lupines will be in there again as well, they should be fantastic this second year...my grandma's Iris's should bloom this spring as well for the first time, which really, really excites me. Those were transplanted from Manitoba a year ago, but failed to bloom.

Aaand some shade flower suggestions please and thanks...and fairly tall ones....I would do Lily of the Valley but they just get like a weed and I think they might be poisonous. Oh yah, anything for the backyard has to be non-poisonous, which limits things a bit too. Nothing edible looking that can be popped into someone's mouth.

That's about it...I just needed to get my green thumb typing away with impatience...speaking of which, impatiens don't get that tall do they? They might be good for the shade tho....

Off to watch Buffy!

For Auntie K

I think I have come across the worst, least compassionate thing I have ever heard LOL! It was comment in response to one woman, who went thru invitro and was having a shitty time of it with her son after he was born , he had colic and reflux etc. Some one actually told this poor woman

"Well, isn't this what you waited 3 years for and paid XXX $$ for?"

You have my personal guarantee, that if anyone ever says this to you, that their ass is kicked up to their ears!

Can you imagine? Oh you can, can't you......and we are totally thinking of the same person here! I can travel to Edson for an ass whupping.

Love Me

If I Could Afford Dolce & Gabbana, I Would Boycott Them

Not much can entice me to a full rant lately, too much out there really and I don't have THAT much time on my hands, contrary to popular belief lol. However in my surfings tonight I came across this newly banned ad by Dolce and Gabbana. The fact that its banned is nothing new for D&G, they truly delight in uproars due to their ads. (go google their silly knife ad)

I don't find myself inclined to rant about feminism matters, there's too many good blogs out there that already do that. But take a look at this f-ing ad! Tell me what you think. Even Mike took a look at it and was horrified that he's holding her hands down.

What really chaps my ass, is that the newspaper articles are talking about feminists in Spain complaining about this, raising an uproar. Oh, now that women are upset, it must be the goddamn feminists, right?

How about one stay-at-home mom with a slight left-wing bent, who doesn't want her son growing up looking at shit like this, and thinking this is the norm? That this is how to treat women? That if your friend treated a woman like this, you what? Stand there all oiled up like a greased pig and watch? The fact that this could be in the ads in City Center downtown and he could be looking at this while we shop, disgusts me beyond belief.

Sigh. Rant over.

House Perv

I am a self-confessed house pervert. (wonder who will find this blog now that I put the word "perv" in here LOL!)

I love looking at houses, I especially love when my house plan is for sale and I get to see what other people did inside. What's really funny is the address is SO close to ours and even looks like our house on the outside.. no its not ours LOL.

This one tho, made me feel much, much better about my decorating and lack of clutter. However, boy, can you fit furniture into the two kids bedrooms.....holy smokes!

http://edmonton.comfree.ca/display.html?code=12862

And I am always glad I picked black appliances when I see the white in others and those are my cupboards too...that's what my house would look like with white appliances...I love mine. I am having an I Love My House Day today. Hmmm, and that's what carpet in my house would look like too... wonder how carpet with our fireplace would look?

I need out of the house LOL!

Note to Self:

If you are cooking with wine, you DON'T have to finish the bottle.

However, the chicken breast simmered in a red wine sauce served over delicate egg noodles was freakin' fantastic!


~K~

Little Miss Sunshine...

What a good movie, I know most of you have watched it, but if you haven't, WATCH IT! Mike and I really enjoyed it, one of the best movies we have seen in a while.

Other than that, we're having a quiet weekend at home, we'll venture outside tomorrow since its going to be bea-u-tiful out (+8 so goes the rumor).

Hope everyone has a great weekend!