things that I see

I must have taken 20 pictures of these guys. I wasn't happy with my shots.. and just when I wasn't looking, I had them where I wanted them... and then along came a little boy and his father...you can see by their wake that they were traveling quickly back to the other side of the water to get away from the human forms!

This picture excites me. What this really means to the bear watching sorts is the fact that they have cuts the hugely overgrown plantweeds, and now we can see into the field... like below. In the past number of years these plantweeds have been out of control, and the only thing one would have seen are the overgrown "things" in the foreground.. and nothing in the field... this is truly exciting to those of us that NEED TO SEE IN THE FIELD!!!!!!

Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh.... the field!

Project Pink

I have completed the PIPS pink princess dress. Now I must embark on the 1950's ugly housedress that will somehow mimck a princess dress. This could really be hard work... the PINK dress was a test to see if I could get the pattern to fit properly, since the PIP isn't so little any longer.

In other things more important that PINK DRESSES... my friend has asked for help in a crane project, for her niece Kaylawhich myself & the rest of the family will begin folding ASAP. I handed out my Canadian Cancer Society canvassing kits, and since I have maps and details, I will see if I can a bunch of donations.

Issues in cameraland

I have none really.

I make it a habit to research on line the facts about the cameraland that I live in. It's very painful to read paragraph after paragraph, and it all makes sense, and I GET IT, just to close the sight... and move on.. and then wonder ... OH... how did that work again.. even after I studied the facts. I guess the facts only make sense to me while it is front of me.

This is completely similar to the same problem I have with piano music... put it in front of me, and I can play... take it away, and you might as well give me a tub of water to play in...because I am certainly not going to make music come out of it.

OH.. and on the musical notes front...

The BOY of mine watched GREASE the other night. He quite liked it... although he wouldn't admit to liking it... because that would just be so wrong... anyways... now he can recite the songs from that film as well. He is quite lucky that boy of mine.

AND.. the non musical....

Speaking of the news... she likes the news, and that is what she watches. She prefers the weather bit... but it might just be KRISTI GORDON. Her TOY stuffed german shepherd Cicely really likes KRISTI GORDON... and yells out in her high pitched voice when she comes on. Although the GIRL still likes the senior meteorologist Mark Madryga, it's KRIST GORDON that makes her and the dead stuffed TOY dog smile!

I should probably charge my batteries if I wish to talk more about cameraland adventures.

Thank you Mr. W. for giving me some ideas about my education in camerland. I own a FILM Canon Rebel SLR, and the husbandman gave me a NIKON D40X digital for Christmas. I really loved the photos that I took with the canon, but with the technology RUNNING AWAY with the times... I just couldn't stand not having that instant gratification that SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE had... so probably four years agoI went to the MINI DIGITAL (Nikon coolpix)... which did the trick for quite some time, but it didn't give me enough options to FIDDLE. Now I can fiddle to my hearts content, have instant gratification, and change lenses all in a heartbeat. I have no complaints... other than my constant experimentation, scrutiny, and picture reviews that I challenge myself with. I could go with the EASY GREEEN button... but those aren't the kind of pictures that I wish to take...hence the trauma in my brain!

The other day I settled to take pictures with maneuving the settings with my aperature, and ISO.. just to see what happens when.....

I have seen some portraits done with the background completely blurred, and I just love the look of the main subject right smack in your face, and the rest is not important.

It's all one adventure after another... and if I could get any amount of information to stick in my brain, then it wouldn't be such a revelation each time I use it.

It's not the information that I require.... it's just a brain with memory. Now I wish I could purchase that type of technology.

Do the words enjoy and children fit in the same...

Sentence?

They do.

It is a weird thing I would have to say.

But they do.

Onto other weird things....

I have to do some adjustments on the pink dress.It essentially fits the PRINCESS DOLL, but it requires some darts. She may look like a bullseye when I am done. Ha!

Good morning world

The weather looks a little boring and grey.
I wonder what we will do today.

Work has called, and asked me to come in,
Not today....I sheepishly grin.

If they were to call tomorrow, and ask me the same
I would jump at the chance to make three times the pay.

So for now I will sit and drink my Early Grey,
and continue to enjoy my kids another day.

OK so...

I have been playing with my camera.

I took a bundle of pictures yesterday, but of course half of those were practice shots, and the rest... well... I just got lucky.

I am trying to RAM it into my brain: ISO speed & aperture in order to manage random portraits.

I could use the GREEN button, and take photos the EASY way, but I am trying to figure things out.

I clearly have to have my CRAP together when the PRINCESS is on the MayDay float. I think I will opt for the easy button that day.... I just have to... otherwise it could be a complete bad adventure in camera land...

OH.. and speaking of Princesses... I made the Princess PIP a pink dress... just n time for EASTER, she is more than thrilled.

It has been a dangerous adventure since I had to enlarge the pattern, without really knowing how to enlarge... of course I gave myself a crash test via the internet yesterday morning, but I didn't seem to like the way I was supposed to take the pieces apart.. so I just WINGED it.

I have managed to put together the pink dress without much cursing swearing or hissy fitting. Mind you .. I haven't put the zipper in yet. PLUS.. the PIP has currently left the homestead... and I am thinking that the dress requires a dart or two.

I just can't wait until I can do it all over again with the table-cloth-mistaken-for-a-princess-dress material that I have yet to do.

Capturing moments of beauty

Colourfull kids gone B & W

Whiterock

Playing with my aperture

Ground Hog day... AGAIN!

I seem to remember that last year... spring break time... that it poured with rain... I am sure of it... I guess we will spend the better part of this week looking for blue skies elsewhere... in between my dressmaking that is.

Zone Captain.

That is my NEW title (for the moment).

All I do is pick up the kits, call people, hand out kits, call people, collect the kits, return the kits.

I am volunteering for the Canadian Cancer Society this month.

Think about someone you have known that has battled their way through cancer. Consider giving a donation when someone knocks on your door, it's true, every little bit helps.

So now they tell me..

Some of the OTHER MAYDAY moms and I had a pow-wow the other day. They had fabric issues as well. They were all horrified with the fabric of these (so called) beautiful princesses, and wished they could change it. I told them we should. One poor mother has to spend $35.00 to get the dress made. I guess HOME EC isn't looking like such a bad course now is it.....

Anyways... away I went yesterday and bought some beautiful SOFT PINK fabric, and I am going to make two dresses this week.

So much for heading out on spring break to do fabulous activities... the only thing fabulous here will be a dress making centre.

This should be very exciting!

Red wine and oreos.

Not a combination that I would think up on any given day, but you know... at 10:51 in the evening... it is a lovely twist on the life of a slightly not normalish kind of person.

We did end up watching the last 35 minutes of American Idol. I think America picked right tonight.. although I did very much like the guy that went home... what was his name... Hernandez.

I think that the voices that I have heard this season so far have been completely superb. Although I do not know if I could listen to Am. Overmeyer day in and day out.. although she's a cute little thing.

the PIP was looking extra exotic this evening. Her hair was a flowing mass of luxuriousness. Tres Nice!... really it was.

The principal has been teaching her class for the last two days. I am not sure why exactly... but it is report card season at the end of the week, and I am sure that the teacher needs to figure out something to write about the children she might teach during the week. Yes, might.... although that would be a big ASSumption on my part... I don't really think she teaches at all... which makes it hard to then write report cards. Yes, SLAM to all my teachery friends....but I am quite certain you are not ANYTHING like "the piece of work that is impersonating a teacher" that my little PIP has this year.

DRAT.. I am now down to my last sip....

so you know....

I read in the paper the other day about this guy that has made quite a bit money with his blog, and ads.... and he started off with very little to say. I believe I am exactly where he is at... except now he has lots of money... and oddly enough I don't!

I am thinking of dumping loads of ads on this blog... but then.. they might just want you to have something to say..., which in that case... I would be in the same spot that I am now!

Too much to do...

But do I do it?

No way...

Unless of course it has to do with planting things in my boring little garden.

I might just take a picture of it... Just might, but that is all.

In other completely boring news....

I chatted on the phone to my sister this morning, and played Bejeweled. I guess I could have been up running around doing useless tasks... but you know. .... sometimes it is just fun to sit and keep your eyes busy while talking... I think I could really master something if I could talk and do Soduko at the same time!

In the meantime... I have done 10 millions loads of laundry ... again!

I talked to my friend that lives down at "the bear zone".... he had a stroke two weeks ago, was in the hospital for 5 days, and now today when I saw him, he had worked his way back up to riding 18 kilometers. Luckily he realized that he was having a stroke, and at first he couldn't talk, and could not move his right side. Today he was belting about on his bike. Truly amazing.

I will rejoice in my riches for today, and relish that I can fold laundry easily with two hands.

A little less than 10,000

Here... I will pretend that the boy was with us... he wasn't!... but he is in all his glory STRIKING A POSE

10,000 of these

Still laughing...

I called my friend the other night... with my NEW cell phone that I really didn't need in the first place, with only 700 minutes a month to use, plus free evening (that start at 6PM) and weekends.

She told me stories that I am still laughing about.

Just the word "sweat" will have me laughing ten times over again and again.

shake, rattle and roll..

I have been scanning my vitamin bottles.

The sister had a very nasty cold this past week, her son had it the week before, and now my mom has it this week.

I have periodically been with all of these people over the past two weeks, and am starting to feel nervous.

I hunted down my vitamins, have taken stock of my inventory... and need to go vitamin shopping today... STAT like.

So far this morning I have a headache, which I had last night.... but then I always get headaches, so far it's hard to tell what the real culprit is.... if there is one at all.

I am currently gulping back some green tea, which will be followed with more Vitamin C.

You can't even ask the question

Some people are given some pretty low and vicious blows in life. They just are. It's that simple. There is no explaining it, no understanding it and no questioning it, some people are given the odds of living far less than the average person. There are just no answers. It is plain and simply sad.

When the Canadian Cancer Society called my house earlier this evening and asked if I would like to be a canvasser this year, I instantly said yes. I have never been asked to do this volunteer task before, but it is all I can do to help others.

This phone call came at a time when I was feeling completely helpless. My good friend Susan left word on her blog that her niece had some rather devastating news, and that she requires a miracle to survive her next battle with cancer. Yes, next battle, as she has already been through this just a short while ago.

Since I can not help this fine young lady with her next battle, I can at least do my part, and hopefully find some donations to aid in research that might bring about an end to this horrific disease.

wildish wednesday

I am at home right now... doing things!



I have joined my works activity challenge....



I have/am colouring my hair....



I am currently washing my sheets to put out on the line.....



I am just about to embark on the apple crisp thingy....



I have talked to a Speech Language Pathologist about the Stroke Group.



I have fixed my Stroke Group poster....



I have talked to the sister on the phone....



I have called my doctors office about the girl, and her chronic back pain...



I have had no success in getting her an appointment...



I have to call back tomorrow.



I have watered my plants, including the one that has lived outdoors all winter.. and only just now is taking a turn for the worst...



I have been reading all about my NEW LENSE THAT IS NOT AUTO FOCUS.....



I have continued to learn about aperture/shutter speed and exposure...



I have decided I am not any further ahead in the smarts department about the previous statement.



I have yet to vacuum... which will be happening in the next second...



which starts now!

What kind of day will it be...

The got an email from AIRMILES the other day... it was only 4 weeks after ordering ANOTHER lense for my camera... they said it would be arriving in 7 - 10 days.

In the meantime.. I might just take my PERFECTLY WONDERFUL lense for a walk... just to see what I can find.

Why now...

It's 7:45 am, I've been up since 05:30.... and I am not sure why I need to start the typing now... but you know... the words have come to mind.

So....

If I do a rough calculation... I have approximately spent about 10 hours trying to hook up the wireless adapter for the boys XBOX thingy. I finally did it.

I am not sure what compelled me... but you know there had to be a way to understand this technology... and in the end... it was just too darm simple.

L... this is for you.... (not that you want your kids any closer to gaming than I do!)

BUT... I know that this would eat away at you as well...

Anyways... when I called to the "land of XBOX"... (because the guy on the phone wasn't allowed to reveal his location!)... he told me to connect to a unsecured wireless network... guess what

WHALA!

We were able to connect to XBOX live, and sign up.. unfortunately (tsk tsk tsk tsk) I put the boys REAL AGE into the system, and my FAKE AGE, so now he is unable to download all kinds of games that he would like to play... talk about the truth HURTING! As pissed as he is about his lowly status of only beign 13... he is also pleased that I was able to connect him to the big world. He is also greatful that I have TOLD him that I would not be doing a good job as a parent if he was allowed to do as he pleased with all his gaming ways.. and ultimately it is a way of protecting him... as much as he doesn't want to hear it. The bonus today was the fact that he was up and showered by 07:10.

It's time to make a lunch or two...

7:14 PM

Sunday evening...

The husbandman is finishing up the dishes that HE created while making dinner. It was a very very very very good dinner... some currie chicken on rice. VERY VERY VERY GOOD.

Now I sit here... in this tiny little corner of the kitchen.. and wonder if I have the smarts to get the boys XBOX sorted out... also... I wonder more if that BIG BIG BIG spider that I saw underneath our computer table with wheels is still actually there. I have tried the XBOX thing again this evening.. and while I can get the wireless thingy to work... the IP address fails.

So.. in other things.

Well that is a wrap.

Moving on....

The kitchen is tidy, and clean, and freshly wiped down.... not that this was any of my doing.

I do have an empty wine glass mind you. RED.

It makes the veins stick out in my hands, just on top. that must mean something... like my blood is traveling a slight bit faster

I really wanted to make some apple crsip stuff... but now that this kitchen is clean for another day... I really hate to disturb it. Your thoughts on that?

I just consulted with the husband... since I could not gaurantee that the kitchen could come out looking as good as when I went in... the applecrisp thing will have to wait until.. tomorrow. In the meantime... the apples continue to sit in their ceramic container.

Cheers to that!

it's time....

AND NOW FOR A CHANGE.... I think it's time for me to get out more.. and take some photos... because this wandering around the homestead looking for photo ops is little bit tedious...but you know.. it is adding to my useless picture collection that I am going to submit to those picturey type people!

She scores!

The husband called me earlier today... he wanted to know what "The Fuss" was up to last night. I said that there wsn't much on her agenda... other than watching "american idol"...

The husband filed through the door at 5:30, as the FUSS ws finishing up her dinner... he told her that they had to hurry, as they had a CANUCKS game to go and watch. The Fussilina was exstatic!

I fixed her hair into a perfect coiff, and she was already dressed in a million layers of pink for first CANUCKS game ever. Speaking of millions... she got to watch some lucky Canadian shoot 15 pucks into the net for ONE million dollars, and a further (?) 9 pucks for four of his friends to win Malibu Hybrids. Everybody won last night... except for the CANUCKS!

AND yes... just to keep on top of the news of the night... I actually turned it to a SPORTS CHANNEL where I found out this information. That is scary... for me.

I'm alarmed

I like that boy of mine, he's a funny character.

This morning I have stolen his jeans from his bedroom... as I have asked him for days now to stop wearing theses jeans that need to be washed. I think they would be able to walk to school on their own.

In the mean time... his alarm continues to NOT alarm him... but only me.

I have a new phone...

It's a great little invention... I am very excited by it!

I can watch TV, text people, listen to music, take pictures and videos...

But I can really do is:

talk for 700 minutes a month.

GET. OUT.

Welcome to Deannaland

A place where mistakes are made quite often and laughed about, where the truth hurts, and it does; sarcasm and humour can sometimes be a lethal mix, where the details of the moment are cast away as quick as the next moment occurs, and the best yet... mundane tasks are easily lost in day full of enjoying blue skies. That is my world.

I need to take a moment... and figure out how to use my phone. I want it to vibrate! I love the vibrating phone... it brings new excitement in receiving calls! Better yet, I need caller ID... in a world that we know that someone is calling even before they have finished dialing your number... I really want to know how to say a proper hello. GOD.. I don't ask for much.... somedays.

My friend witnessed me being highly "deannaish" earlier today.... she peed her pants laughing. Is this really my fault...?

Does your laundry talk to you... mine does. There is a small load of white stuff that has accumulated on top of the machine... (I have a basket, but that has clean folded stuff in them... because really why have drawers in bedrooms when you can have items in plastic baskets)... I am not sure if it's the laundry itself, or the actual machine... but it keeps calling my name... and in my OCD self kind of way I keep turning to look at it...as if it's calling me, and I have to answer it... so the easiest thing to do now is put it away...in the laundry machine... I must do that now! I can only deal with three voices in my head at one time.

Happy Friday~!

You know you live on the West Coast when you can garden in February!

I am [-] this close to hauling out my pressure washer and cleaning off the back deck!

In the meantime I have filled our green waste container to the brim, and then some... because you know greeenwaste doesn't start until march 4th... and then I don't know if it could pour with rain between now and then.... so it must be filled to overcapacity now!!!!!!!!!

In other boring news:

I got myself and the girlie girl a new cellphone the other day. I wasn't intending on it... but it just happened. I love the name of it... LG Chocolate! Now we have matching phones...and really awful phone numbers... but that doesn't matter... the girlie girl will be tickled chocolate when her birthday rolls around, and she gets a cell phone! (OK... not that she needed a cell phone AT ALL... but you know next year. she might.. and this plan seemed to make me happy ... so I went for it.. PLUS.. we want the boy to have a cell phone, so this frees up my current cell phone.. and he can happily march around the world with that.

The Pip decided that she wasn't going to do a speech in school this year. She refused.... as she does many things in life. I had a different thought... I wanted her to do a speech.. because you have to in this little life....in 4 minutes flat we had written on five recipe cards her entire speech. She was thrilled, and even more thrilled when the teacher called upon her to do her speech, and she marched up to the front of the class and drizzled on about her topic "the monster that lives in my room". Her friends were puzzled that she was able to talk at great length about her subject with such minimal amount of information on the cards... she said she just winged it. I laughed at that. My feeling to this speech thing is the point of feeling comfortable talking to a room of individuals.... which she is capable of...she's the kind of person that can think on their feet and talk... lucky her. It would have been completely tortuous to make her write a speech.... T.O.R.T.U.R.E. and we do not need that. Besides, she's slightly crazy.

Oh.. and things that might be important, but luckily they turned out not to be:

The Pips school had a lock down the other day. The school bell rang three short rings, which I guess is the code for a lock down... interestingly enough the Pip's teacher sent them outside anyways, as she wasn't certain what that meant.

FUCK. Nice. How many different ways does a school bell ring?... and you can't even remember that three rings means something?

Luckily... as our idiotic school is... there was a miscommunication (or how about none!) between the police that were running a routine exercise with their dogs, and just happened to look like they were pointing a gun & the principal... or any other adult that works in the building. I don't know why the police thought it was a good idea to do a practice exercise next to a school... but I guess the world just runs on idiots... so who am I to say.

OK.. back to the great outdoors...

the potato sac princess

completely ugly people.


COMPLETELY

UGLY.

The dress that I saw tonight at the first meeting for the parents was a complete disgrace. It was nothing that a PRINCESS would ever wear.

It resembles nothing but a potato sac.

drivingdrivingdriving

It was just the weirdest thing.

I was driving to work yesterday morning, and I looked about and spotted a hawk sitting on a lampost. Sitting to it's left was a crow. What an interesting sight. It lead me to wonder which one arrived first....

Later in the day when I was driving in the opposite direction.. I saw the crow perched where the hawk had been, and the hawk now perched where the crow had been. This was 10 hours later. Once again, I wondered who had arrived first... there were many lamposts along the freeway... what was so special about this one.

Today I saw the hawk sitting alone. Who knows where the crow had itself perched... or maybe not.

what the...

My brother in law put me up to this... I will let you know how it pans out... or not!

Valentine festivities!

Raw Raw... the day is here!
Where love & bliss, is everywhere!

GAG.

I guess you know the husband likes you when... there is a card on the counter in the morning. My way of showing the love is the fact that I came clean on buying him a card, and opted to get some scratch and wins instead.

I did stop at the bakery and buy some sweet treat... now that is true love.

But bigger and better lovely happenings are stories like this:

We have started to have some issues with the shower, well the bath tub actually. It drains very slowly. It has been behaving alright, and usually the previous persons shower water was gone before the next persons turn. I noticed yesterday.. it was starting to have issues. This morning, it was worse. There was left over shower water in the bath tub, and then evern more left over shower water. Things had turned bad.

The King asked me why I was wasting my time plunging the bathtub. "That's not the way that system works" he said, and walked away. Since I had nothing better to do at 0723 in the morning, I continued to plunge away, as well as behave like a bad cuckoo clock, and continually call to the boy and tell him to get up. Once again, the King walks past and reminds me that "my method wasn't going to work, and why wouldn't I listen to him?"

"Because" I said... "it makes me feel happy to plunge away for a useless cause".

The water was now going no where, I thought it was best to leave it alone now, especially if I wanted a shower.

The boy came and went, and the bathtub water remained.

It was very scary, extreme scarediness!!

I started plunging again. I did not care what the king had to say...

After a while, and feeling completely defeated... I left the plunger, and turned on the shower.

Well... wouldn't you know it... that water just sky rocketed out of the bathtub... and now...

The bathtub is draining.

Talk about a wonderful valentines gift... and here the husbandman thought that he was going to have to go in the crawl space, and undo the pipe, and use some snakey tool, and clean it out.

Now he doesn't have to... well at least not today.

Schoolicious

You know somedays my eyebrows grow much thicker and quicker than other days.

Take today for instance.

The Pip's class went for a field trip. (lucky them).

The teacher made no attempt to offer up any time for the crazy chicklets to part take in eating any food along the way, or part of the way, or some of the way, or in any way. It was about 12:30 by the time we finished up with our field trip... and we immediately headed back to the great school once again, the chicklets could continue their great schooling. I asked the teacher if I had missed something... where are the kids eating their lunches? She told me in my car. Well... kids don't eat in my car, so I guess we are staying put until the lunches have been eaten. Nice. I don't know what the difference of taking 20 extra minutes out the field trip would have been to eat their lunches... in an open space, or down at the water.. yes, it was a bit cold.. but these little creatures do not feel cold when they are free from the ugly brick building that is called "their school". Whatever.

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I bought the PIP two bags of bugles and told her to hand those out to her friends... "step right up... get your valentine feast..." I am not sure if this is going to coincide with her teacher's non-valentine approach to this made up love fest. maybe I should offer up the teacher a bottle of water... it might loosen up her DRY disposition. It is painful.

I met the boy's new teacher today. Remember Donna Chang from Seinfeld? She teaches right here in Port Coquitlam... she is the 2008 version! I kid you not! That is just so cool.

Proud of the PIP

I had my sister in complete hysterics the other day.

I told her that I thought that PIP's current PRINCESS win for the ROYAL PARTY was a fix.

I told her about how I added the PIP's entry form to the others in the school office the other day. My sister thought I was going to tell her that I had removed other GRADE 5 girls names, so that the PIP could win. I was in hysterics laughing. Oh yes... that wouldn't be obvious... little shredded pieces of pink paper sitting crumpled in a waste basket, and then PIP's single entry form... sitting there in blazing glory!

Too funny.

All the same, I am so happy for the PIP. Living in our little city for many zillions of years, and as a child I had wished to be a part of the "float" for the parade, and that never came to be. I was always a well wisher on the sidelines ( they do need fans afterall to make a parade!), but it would have been nice to be a part of something special. With my limited memory.. I don't think I was every a part of something special. In fact... we never really went to the parades much as our family was always down at the trailor, visiting the ocean and the whales, and much beauty that I miss to this day... so I am glad for that... OK then...

Anyways... since Rod and I do not own a trailor, and I work the weekends... I am generally around for the parades that hit our cities in the springtime. It will be a special time for the PIP to be involved in a community event. My sister in law gave me some good advice..."if you do not want your PIP entered to be THE MAY QUEEN, request to have her name taken out of the draw, because then.. she will surely have a win!" (that was my sister in laws fate for her daughter!, as they headed off on a plane to australia for the year). Well, I can only hope that PIP would be crowned MayQueen, as it would be sweet to see two cousins crowned as MayQueens... it would be newspaper picture worthy!

All the same.. I think it is sweet that PIP gets to be a PRINCESS. She really did miss out that LOT in life!

Sexy stories~

That boy of mine told me that: "it's legal to have sex at 14".

Seven lethal words.

I was glad he told me that.

My response came in at close to seven thousand lethal words.

I believe we are square on the subject for now.

Prep School.

The Pip and I had a good time last night.

I was invited (as well as ONE guest) to a celebration of service for employees within the health region. I have worked at my place of employment for 20 years. Yae me! (cough). It's a shame that my pension statement tells me that I actually only have 12 years of servicable hours on it.

Anyways... so the PIP and I go to this 'event'. We had to be fast in, and fast out. Yes, it was a highly hurried event... since we had a television show to watch, and a 25 minute drive back to our home.

We arrived at 7:01, found a table, plopped our coats, walked to the dessert buffet table, and politely took some plates and found our desserts of choice. The PIP relished the choosings.... and I was just happy to have dinner. What's a dessert buffet without cheeses and sliced Focacchia bread! So we ate our little plates of happiness, made some small talk with the only two other woman at the table, who just happened to be doing the exact same thing (eating and running), and we were all happy with our 28 minutes visit. The Pip went back for seconds on the watermelon, and I went back for another slice of cheese and bread. Of course we had eaten two slivers of cake, which was good as well.

The speeches/service award didn't start until 7:45, and we departed at 7:33, in the knick of time. we are good guests!

It was interesting though... I saw a whack of people that used to work at our hospital when it was a bit smaller, or maybe they do work their, and I just don't know it.

Anyways... that was our little bit of crazy fun, and it all ended well, because we were home by 8:00 to see the start of Survivor. (which has already had a strange start to it)

GREEN TEA!

I have known about this fine drink for quite some drink, and even drank it on occasion!

Now I have entered the green tea world. A little less caffeine than an actual cup of coffee with the benefits of way more than a cup of coffee.

How many years has this taken me?

Flakeville.

It started to snow this afternoon. It came out of no where, apart from the fact that it fell from the sky. I was standing in this forest when I heard a huge crack, and a limb from a tree snapped, and just about fell on the Mazda 5! Did I leave.... NO! I love the sound of the tssssssssssssssk that happens when it snows. Cool sound people.

phonecalls & crossword puzzles

Her dog got bored while she was making her calls.

This just in!

The PIP.. part TWO.

I was going about my usual boring homelike self business... and the SCHOOLBOARD called. I wondered why they would call me...

The little PRINICPAL LIKE CHARACTER told me that PIP'S name was drawn to be a part of the "MayDay" celebrations! This means that she rides on a float, is honored as a PRINCESS, and does some kind of dance or something... (thank goodness tha she has been in HIPHOP for the last couple of months... !)... not that they will do a challenging dance.. but at least she has a hope at maneuvering those legs of hers!

She is pretty excited. What a nice thing to happen to her.

Lucky for me that last week I had to go and pick up my friends kids at the school... as I inquired about the MayDay celebrations... and the forms needed to be in by Monday. I would never have remembered! AND... it would have been too late for the PIP to have entered.

Now she will have real reason to wear sparkles!

Girls turn.

That girl of mine had a bit of a rough week last week.

Her personality is back, and bolder than ever.

She invited a friend over yesterday... and this friend of hers claims she is a clean freak. Well, a clean freak she is.... they packed away tidbits of items, and rearranged under her bed, and even swept up the leftovers on the floor. It was all very exciting for me!

I like this chick!... she's sparky and fiesty and funny... and clean!

The PIP was more than pleased to return to school. They got their GRADE 5 sweatshirts. The pip was more than thrilled with her too huge pink hoodie. Luckily I bought it big enough, so this girl can wear it to death, and it might even fit her eventually.

Her motto is generally "all pink, all the time".

I finally MANAGED to IRON on some patches on the PIPS clothing. That pip of mine is pretty hard on everything she owns. I had bought some butterflies a while back to iron on some of her ripped items, and then promptly lost the patches. Just the other day I bought some more patches, and they were different this time. Two black cats and one pink Gecko. The black cats were for her black stretchy yoga type pants, and the pink gecko was for her jeans, that clearly indicate that there was some scissors involved in the jeans hole, anyways... all has finally been repaired... and just yesterday... guess what floated out of the cupboard... the patches that I had originally bought! Now I have extras for her next mishaps.

The little girl next door is glad the PIP is better. Almost everyday last week there was this pounding on the front door, and I knew it was the tiny one from next door.. (the big knock cracks me up)... and everyday I had to turn the little girl away... even yesterday when the PIP had her friend over. BUT today miracles of miracles... the PIP was able to visit the little girl next door... and now she is gone... visiting away!

The Pip proclaimed that her teacher was quite evil today. I don't think that is the case. I think her teacher was highly strange today, compared to her normal strangeness, that is all.

All systems go!

I took the boy to the walk in clinic today.

After a number of months I thought just maybe that his cold had finally settled into something a little bit nasty. It hasn't, but it is continuing to wear him down.

He has had a cold (or something to that effect) since November. It shifts from his chest, to his sinus's to his ears... and today it was making him dizzy. I took him to the walk in clinic, because it was just way faster than last weeks four hour adventure in taking your child to the doctor. He didn't have a fever when we got there, but he had complained of being cold all day.

The Doc's eyes bugged out of his head when I told him that he had had it since November, which he has. Then he said bring him back next week if this cold/virus doesn't start to clear up.

No problem.

I just wonder what the difference is going to be between this week, and next week, since he has had it since November.

The boy was happy... I tucked him in on the couch, gave him a full bottle (as in water bottle!) of orange juice, tucked him in with his blankets.. as he was cold again, and let him watch channel 47 movies on the couch. It's all good.

That is until I will rouse him from his resting to go and practice his piano for 45 minutes, where he will play every freaking song that he knows, excpet the two that he should be practicing.

I like my boy, he's comical.

While I was out...

So... I grapped my camera... and away I went, later in the day. I like my style of photography... somedays if I can't capture the image from the car... then it just isn't worth capturing! I did find some good sights...via the long way home. In reality.. I was having a hissy fit over not making a left hand turn light since the sun was setting quickly, and I was trying to get back to my location of interest.

Being wierd has it's challenges.

What the...

Total blue sky out there people... big blue sky... everywhere...it's a beautiful day... completely beautiful. Me and my headache will take my camera out and hunt down photographs. That is what I will do.

HOW nice....!

It is snowing!

The sad part is... it will not last, and probably turn to rain by the time people wake up, and realize that it has snowed.

I decided yesterday that I wasn't going to work today. I got a headache on Thursday, and it has not departed... and then yesterday I fussed about worrying about the fact that I had a headache, and what was I going to do today...if I had a headache. These are strange headaches... I have had them for years, they come and go, and wax and wain, and plague me just enough to irritate the living crap out of me.. and then... as sudden as they arrive, then after two or three days it is gone, and I wake up feeling like a new person. I had to gamble yesterday that I wasn't going to wake up a new person today, although I am feeling fortunate that I at least woke up... ! The headache isn't gone... it is just sitting on the sidelines, waiting for me to do things, and then it will wake up a bit later... I can tell. In the meantime... I can't stand going to work with a headache. I think now at my advancing years I am even less tolerant of working with a headache... it sounds sort of wimplike.. (sort of.. it is!).. Trust me... I believe in drugs, and take drugs for it, but that only buys me a window of being pleasant and nice, but then I am minus my actual brain for thinking. My reasoning for this is that I have people at me all day... all day....it's people, people, people.. oh, and then I do other things that I require a brain for as well... and that is where the problem lies... I can't do people, and thinking, and BEING NICE... with a headache. The world is safer with me at home.

I have been awake for many hours now.... the girl yelled her "MAMA" to me a couple of hours ago... and now there have been three of sleeping in our bed... she refused to go back to her own bed, which I do not care, she's happily sleeping in the middle of the bed now, well maybe more to the right, now that I am gone. The silly catdog has taken up residence on top of her bed... which is very odd, since the "Tilly" never does things like that...catdogs... what do you do with them!

Sure to form...

The rain has come. It always does after a large dump of snow. Very rarely is there the case that the snow falls, and the skies clear, and then everyone rejoices in the beauty that white can bring. That would just be too beautiful. Now we have slush form everywhere. The initial melt is the worst, and then it simmers down to a dull roar, and slowly melts away. But then again.. we are in for several days of rain, so it could all be gone by tomorrow morning. Who knows.



I watched a movie in themiddle of the night last night. The Pip woke me up with her surefire "MAMA!!" squeal, which always wakes me from the grave, and keeps me awake. I am not sure why that is, but it is. Anyways... I watched a movie called "The.Queen". It was based on the week of turmoil that followed in the wake of Princess Diana's death. It was interesting, & nothing spellbinding... but of course, I managed to stay awake through the entire movie, even in the middle of the night. I do not mind though, as I turned up the heat.. and settled into the livingroom, where I watched it snow, and got to watch a movie. Portable DVD players are just the handiest of items!



You know when your Dr's office is just not convenient when you leave an hour early for the appointment, then the Docs running late, and then you have to try and collect a pee sample from a 10 year old girl that just can't make herself pee, and then the mother stands in the bathroom, and sings a peeing song, runs the water, and the two of you laugh crazily until the 10 year old decides she needs to pee after that commotion, and then pees into a container, including the mothers hand, and then we wash and wait for the Doc to return, and then finally we get a prescription for antibiotics, and then we leave, and four wheel our way through the parking lot again, stop for a bite to eat because the 10 year old PIPSTER PRINCESS is finally hungry, since it is 1:40 and all... then we drive home, and we get the girl geared up back into some comfy clothes, feed her some Tylenol, let the dog out, and in, and out, then in.. then go fetch the prescription at Cost.co and then wait another 30 minutes for the prescription, arrive home to find two of the boys friends standing at the front door, soaked, like the boy from the rain, where I then drive them home, and return to give the girl her antibiotic that we set out to get at 11:00. The time now is 4 PM. Somehow the walkin clinic does seem a lot easier than this charade.


In other things sure to form... I managed to burn a ham & cheese stuffed chicken thing for the boy... and where was I... standing right next to the microwave... I am planning on making some hot chocolate for the girl... wish me luck.

All in a snow days fun!

Todays desktop...

Don't you wonder what they think about... is there that much to ponder in a dogs life to be caught in this amount of deep thought... or, she could be sleeping with her eyes open...

How exciting..

An actual real live snow day. It happened here folks, in this very city.... they actually shut down the public education system, and declared it a snow day.

It was a good idea... from my perspective at least. I have had two cups of tea, some toast, dolled up the princess doll in her fine winter wear, and am listening to the fine rock and roll sounds of Mr. Guitarman himself, Superson.

That Superson of mine. He's a bit of a trouble wizard I'd say. Last night at 10:00 he announces that he has a science test to study for. This is after him and his friend coming over and playing on his X.B.O.X. that he bought with his own money. Then, having his neighbour friend come over where they jacked around on U.TUB.E for a while, until they eventually made it outside at 10:00, and he was running around with no coat on, and it's HAPPILY snowing a million flakes a second... and to add to it... that Superson of mine has had a cold since probably Nov/Dec, but it's more like a wicked cough.. which I have been holding off doing anything about since I keep hoping it is going away... as it seems to come and go, or more like move around from his head to his chest. So now... after that... he has lost his X.BO.X privileges. For a long time. He just got it last week. I feel ike I should pack it up and return it... for no other reason than the fact that it is going to collect dust from now until June.

But now.. Mr Boredom Superson has left his electric guitar for the livingroom, where the piano is.. and will now spend the next 30 minutes or so fiddling around with all his music that he knows. This is all good... I just wish he would practice the music that he supposed to practice.

It has stopped snowing now. It should start raining any minute.. as that is what it does around here. I have to get myself organized so I can take some snowy shots before it all turns to slush.

So... is it so wrong to be shopping for an even better lense for the camera.. since I have had it for a month now? Is that just so wrong? Bear season will upon us before we know it.. and I would like to be ready for them when they wake up... Isn't that a pleasant thought... fresh out of a long winter nap, and there is someone waiting for you in your kitchen, with bright lights and big smiles... would one be so happy about that... I am not to sure. Oh well... I will keep hunting for a good deal.. and then take close ups of tree branches... how about that?

SNOW DAY!!!!

You would think she was the one that didn't have to go to school today!

I regret to inform you...

but you are completely stupid.

That was going to be my next email to this HELPDESK person. OK, she was pretty freaking stupid.


STUPID! Stupid! STUPID!

It only took ELEVEN emails to finally get the HELPDESK girl to get it right. At one point I even questioned if the responses I was getting were from an actual human being, or a computer generated response system based on the words that were forwarded in the email.

As always, kind regards.