Daylight

So it has rained pretty steady over the past number of days, with yesterday concluding the festival with pounding rain. As I was driving home yesterday evening I crossed a number of hoses that were being drained from people's basements. My friend down the street had computer equipment learning to swim in their basement. ICK! We had a swimming pool welling up in our back yard, but it seems that the trampoline stood it's ground and claimed it trampoline territory only.

Now the wind has picked up. I guess the next fear is wet roots leaving their groundling nesting spots, as we have witnessed here over the past number of months.

Stanley Park

I have noticed one little treasure to the eye, and that is the deciduous trees taking on pink and green hues as their leaves are just about to emerge for the season. This time of year always excites me.

Oh, and I noticed last week that the great blue heron nests had survived the winter storms, and what looked to be empty nests last week are actually full of baby blue herons. I saw perched on top of their nests on my way to work in the early morning WET!

Stanley Park

soft shoe gentle sway

Some lines from the scissor sisters.

It will have to get me reving this morning, and the girl.

Time now is 8:32 am.

I have been awake since much earlier... but I haven't accomplished early morning tasks to get me ready for the day. Although I did take out the recyling container, made some coffee, and wrote an email (the downfall!), drove the boy to school and hunted for some money to give him.

Must go wake sleeping beauty, and redo the events.

Neil, Micheal & the Scissor Sisters.

I have taken the chicklets to their respective places of opportunity and advancement for a Friday afternoon. Now it's just me and the computer and my music to keep me rocking for the 45 minutes that I will spend her quickly doing things before I go and start gathering them up again.

I live this life every Friday afternoon starting at 3:00 PM.

Interesting.

The New Blue

This is my mom's new dog, Bacardi.

She had to put her wonderful and lovely perfectly soft and blond lab "Blue" down back in November. She was distraught over it. It was hugely sad, but it was also hugely kind that she put had the power and the love and the courage to say good bye to a very short lived friendship ( He was 8 when she got him). Out of absolute kindness to her companion she said goodbye. She wanted to go out and get another dog right away, but I cautioned her, and suggested that she wait for a dog to come her way. I knew it would, I just didn't know when. She made phone calls and talked to people, but a dog just didn't appear. I kept saying to her... "when the time is right, one will walk right into your life"... and it did just that. Bacardi comes from a great home, he is two years old, and is supposed to be a Golden Retriever, even though he currently gets lost sitting in front of her kitchen cupboards. The previous owner had to give him away simply due to life circumstances. I think from the very second he entered her kitchen he was in love with her. If I could have gotten him to look at the camera for more than three seconds, you would be able to see his face. But of course my mom was standing over to my right. The tail doesn't stop wagging either, especially when she is around.

This is it for tonight

I heard the boy clicking away earlier. He was busily doing something on the computer, which didn't appear to be building his slide shows. It was getting late so I asked him what he was up to. He told me that he had searched for the words to its a "Mad World", and had retyped them into a larger font. Things became silent for a while after that, but I could still hear him moving about, with the printer just slighly humming above the quiet. I have to love that HP! Just when I thought he had taken the words on paper and snuck away to his bedroom I managed to pick up the slightest sounds. It was his voice, singing the words to "Mad World", with the piano tune in the background.

He demonstrated to me the other night that he could play the song with his right hand, and then sat there and plucked out the words from his head and sang the song. I was impressed with his ability to place words and music together.

He has practiced quite a number of times since last week, and now can play the song with both hands, including the pedal. It sounds quite good. But when he started singing, it really came alive. I was filled with a huge amount of happiness to sit and listen to him play.

It was just a couple of weeks back when I told him to tell his piano teacher that TODAY (whenever that date was) would be his last lesson. I wasn't wasting money any longer on something that gave me a rather large headache, as I manage to fall upon headaches without the aide of him. That said, I knew deep down in my heart that it would take just one song to get his attention, and he could fly with it.

I think he has taken flight. I hope he can keep his momentum.

See his eyes, while we still can.

"The Producers"

My mom and I went to see this the other day. It was very good, and definitely a different kind of show. It made me laugh, but not the type of laughter that leaves you with your sides aching. I appreciated some of the humour that came about due to the casts presence on stage, rather than anything that was said.

I haven't been to a play or a production in quite a while, so it was a welcome gift.

Must take Vitamins.

I am surely positive they will help to keep me smart. Otherwise I will instantly become immobilized with stupidity, and start cooking and baking for the family. THIS CAN NOT HAPPEN!

I will and read my book now...

The heat is on on.

No it's not.

The barely used into it's second year furnace has had a breakdown. It's circuits have malfunctioned and has left us in the cold. I am going to have to rely on our little plug in heater and shut the door to the den. I just want to read the papers.... ! However I do not want to freeze to death while doing it.

In other things that do not require heat:

I organized my scrapbooking crap. Wow, I have a lot of it. Well, I have a lot of paper items and sticker items, and more paper items. Mind you I do not rank in the paper file as one of the Debbie's does, now she has a lot of paper. Now that she has new cupboards in her basement, I can not sit back and admire her stacks of paper from afar. Perhaps when I go over to the Debbie's I will just open up her cupboard so I can let it stare back at me. I do know one thing, it doesn't matter how much paper I have, it is never enough, and it is not the right colour, or shade, or design, or feel, or this or that! While I was cleaning out my SHELF of scrapbooking supplies I found a number of pages that I was working on from the summer, with an album already attached to them. Wow, most impressive on the colour spectrum.

On the rent-a-movie front:

We watched that movie... I want to call it the Detailer, or the Detector, damn I need to go get the rentamoviebox to find out the title: The Departer. For the longest time I had to sit and ponder who was Matt Damon, and who was Leonardo Dicaprio. Once I figured that out, I had to sort out what was going on with who. Who was good, and who wasn't. I didn't like the ending, it was a "cop out". HA!

Let's close the curtain on this one.

I am beginning to think that I have a shower curtain liner defect happening.

I mean, do you wash a shower curtain liner? Are you supposed to? Did I not learn this in happy marrying day school many years back? Where do you learn this kind of stuff? I don't remember going through this many shower curtain liners. How much are you supposed to scrub a tub! tub! to keep a shower curtain liner happy? My liners really hate me. They believe they beyond their lining capacities, and are only for hanging in show rooms. Perhaps if I introduced the liner to it's new intimate friend, the shower curtain, I would get more life out of it.

It doesn't matter how much the packaging tells me that it is an antibacterial non moldy growing things, it just reappears. It freaks me out really.

I will wait to draw my conclusion on our newest addition to the bathroom.

What the heck!

Clock issues:

Everyday this past week the internal clock has woke me up earlier and earlier.

Mind you, this morning was due to public drinking, and a drug bust. I just happened to be in the middle of I don't know where, and was walking with a cider in my hand to an undercover area. Another person came running up to me, gave me a small clear baggy full of weeds and other little packages, and then took off. Wouldn't you just know it, the cops just happened to be there. Fortunately I was able to slip away un-noticed, however; the little creep with the dark hoody over his face found me in the parking lot while I was just about getting into the indigo blue Mazda5 machine... he had a knife, and he was mad. At that very moment I remembered the lock feature on the car, if you press it, the horn will honk. Insteading of honking it made a dull "gnnaaaaaaa" sound, and then pause, gnaaaaaaa, and then pause. Wouldn't you just know it, I had a snore horn.

On that dismal realization, my mind let me wake up and it was 04:47.

Two hours later, 2 cups of tea, and 2 posts + way too many games of spider solitaire.

It's almost time for cake!

Inbetween a busy day:

the Pip and I

As I was cruising through the local newspaper articles the other day, I spotted something. It had great interest to me. There was a slideshow presentation at the library. Just try and guess what the pictures were of. You are all a bunch of cracker jacks!!

Bears, bears, and more bears. They were fascinating. The fellow had slides of grizzlies, black bears, KERMODE bears, and polar bears. There were even a few pictures of wolves thrown in for good measure. I am not certain that I would brave his style of bear watching, but I guess it's all what you get used to. He is just more advanced, and carries a bigger lense.

The Pip and I enjoyed it, even if we missed the first hour of American Idol. That's what video machines are for I guess.

She did it!

Last night I asked the Pip to take a shower. After many "no ways" she decided that this one task was not going to bring her life to a crashing halt, and agreed to the torture. For the first time in many sunsets and moon rises that girl of mine washed her hair. Of course it wasn't without her yelling out her only word that comes to mind on all occasions..... "Maaaa-maaaaaaaaa". She wasn't shrieking in defiance, she just wanted me to her hand her the shampoo. That's how she is.

Then, it came to blow drying her hair. Now that is another story. We missed the beginning of American Idol since we were feverishly trying to accomplish drying her almost blondless locks. The end result was a finely dried and perfectly coiffed 9 year old hair do. Then she rested her head on a pillow and screwed up all my handy work!

The stack shrinks

I have a couple hundred pieces of paper floating about. Some of them have hit the floor, in a messy but polite sort of pile. The rest of the paper has been monthly-ized & organized so I can give it to my mother so she can do our taxes. I have a big pink folder that I have squished everything into. Hopefully it wont explode before I get through the back door of her house. That would just be so ugly.

In other things less ugly:

It snowed out again last night. Not a huge amount of the white stuff, but just enough to make it look pretty, and very unspringlike. I want to know how I am supposed to start pulling out shrubs , laying down sand and planting grass seed if it insists on snowing like this!

Oh ... is that what it is.

The other day I took some frozen fruit out of the freezer. I left it on the counter to let it thaw, and I was going to do great things with it. Yes, I believe very great things. It is still sitting there. I guess great things didnt come it's way. Now I am thinking that I can smell something a bit off in the 1365 square foot rancher. I believe that the bowl of fruit will have to re-incarnate into something greater outside in the food converter.

In other great things that I got to:

I made a blueberry milkshake the other day with vanilla soymilk. It was quite tasty, and I left the rest of it in the fridge, for later. Later never came. The husbandman spotted a large river of purple just about to leap to the next shelf in the refridgerator. He cleaned it all up, and dumped the rest of the river of purple that remained in the blender down the sink. Just my luck.

Things for later:

I will try and create some form of chaos for the husbandman to rescue today. This certainly keeps my level of creativity peaked to ensure adequate response from the silent husbandman.

I was thinking...

I might change the colours of this blog. The New Blogger thingy made me change, I am not sure what I was holding out for, nothing seems different now. BUT.. one thing did catch my eye, and it was the changing of the blog thingy in the bottom right hand corner. Maybe I will change it up a bit... but only a bit...

Oh, and I was thinking about Pip... she is now Pipless.. as in braids. I am wondering what I should call her next. Even her blond hair is fading away to a darker blond. Now I have a mediocre blond pipless child. I think I will go with Shark girl. Yes... I will go and try it out now.... funny, she doesn't seem to be responding.

I missed useless task night with the stalker sister, she called just as I decided & quickly left to go to the Council Meeting. There was a presentation on the Heritage & Cultural Society that this very city does not have. It was a good presentation, but once it was done, I departed, so did the rest of the audience. It is all about saving the 97 year old home & The Wild Duck Inn, which is another part of Port Coquitlam's heritage. None of which the City has any excitement about keeping. It is actually very strange.

I think tomorrow I will come up with new ways to save the planet & make a million dollars in 7 easy steps. Yes, let the synapses beging.

So..... what's for dinner?

Chicken parmesan with penne pasta in a tomato sauce. Very easy to do actually.

I love you Costco.

In other things that have little incidence in life:

I wrote a letter to Oprah the other day. She hasn't got back to me yet. I will wait for her call. I complained about her Colin Cowie episode and the fact that it was RAW-RAW fest about the man. It was embarressing to watch!

I am currently trying to decide on what book I am going to start tonight. I am so glad the Vampire books are through. They were getting a bit tiring, considering that things were always dead and all.

The Pip said something very inspirational yesterday. I was quite impressed. I wish I could remember what she said, it might come to be, but probably not before the end of this post.

I have quit obsessing about my lost pictures. I have to go with the very fact that they are indeed LOST!

I have decided that I need to wake up earlier on Sundays. There is a great vitamin show that takes place about 0530 in the am... and if I could just lie there and listen to what the newsy people are busy telling me, it may be of some worth! Instead I wake up at 0600, and am too stupid to hear what they are telling me between the alarm and my lapses in wake time.

I wish I could find my yearly planner. I have currently lost it. So currently, I am lost. I hope I find it before my next dentist appointment.... I am not sure which will happen first, finding the date book, or realizing the day previous by the reminder phone call.

It's almost time to put dinner in the oven. It sure can be a lot of work pressing the "start" button on the oven. The pressure terrifies me.

In other distracting thoughts:

I have listened to my favourite "Holly holy" about a dozen times now. I am still very much liking it... how about you??? it's a raise your hands in the air and sway kind of song.... it's an over the top american idol show in your own home, quite run really. AND... if you plunk it on your Media Player, you can just keep repeating it over and over again with one click of your favourtie mouse!

I didn't get any pictures of the snow today. I wasn't in an exciting enough location to get the correct shot. The footwear didn't quite work well with the snowfall either.

I have the gas people dropping by in the next week or two to double check where our gas lines are located. I am very much wanting to rip out all of our shrubs and bushes, and other things green that line the front of our house. I am tired of this landscape. It is old and it is boring. Things that I can absolutely identify with. These shrubs are about to go through a mid life crisis, and become evicted from their comfortable resting spots. Hopefully all going well I wont rupture gas lines and have my very own mid life crisis while flying over the homes on the cresent. That wont be pretty.

Speaking of pretty. I did a doubly good job on the haircolouring. I am most impressed with my very natural fake haircolour haircolouring event. HOLLY HOLY on that note~! YAH! ( OK, inside joke on that one... if you have dowloaded the "holly holy" that I keep going on and on and on about.. you would so get the "YAH" part. I trust that you know this).

It feels good to yammer away like this... I haven't yammered in a while. I usually yammer with numbers, as in I have my list of details that I must perform all in the timeline from yesterday. Oh man, I am a yesterday yammerer.

I warned my group members today that I have sent away for some "art therapy" books. Not that I am an art therapist... but I am looking for some art like things to do with the group. It is doubly risky due to the fact that some of the people have lost their dominant hands and must use their adopted dominant hands to participate. I am really thinking of doing some hand painting. I think it would be good. I don't think they would like my "holly holy" song to be blaring, and then having me yell "YAH" when I see great things coming from them. On second thought....

I have now decided that I need an early morning intervention to get my personality cracklin". ( I am now listening to cracklin rosie.... by Mr. Neil Diamond himself.... try it, you'll like it!) Or, maybe some oxygen may help. I just dont synapse, at all. Vitamins and a hot & intoxicating cup of lemon water... that might do something.... Ah, Suddenly I See... that will do it. (Thank you KT Tunstall for helping me out with that one!)

In other things that I see:

I see that it is light out, and it's 6 PM. I like the light, it's refreshing. This is old news, I have written about this before.... but then as KT is busy singing.... "why the hell it means so much to me.... suddenly I see......"

On that note I should go, and float throught the kitchen and clean it up... because now Micheal is singing to me... "save the last dance for me...." besides... dinner is almost ready!

More heat please

The furnace worked splendidly for a week. However, this morning it has slipped back into it's old ways, and is no longer workable. It's clicking and clicking and clicking without kicking in and bringing me heat. Since we live in this huge 1365 square foot rancher, it is rather difficult to get away from the constant clicking, which rates on the EXTREME level on the annoyance scale.

IN current issues of the moment:

It is busily snowing outside at the moment. This frightens me. We have our Stroke Recovery Group today, which will undoubtably be canceled due to the white out conditions. These conditions will stop at the exact moment that the group is about to begin. So for the moment I will make many phone calls to many people who would like to attend the group, but almost maybe kind of wont be able to. RATS!