I have a box ...

1. Pens,
2. Papers,
3. little bags,
4. odd rocks,
5. cards,
6. special bags
7. key chain holders
8. name tags
9. wooden boxes
10. scraps of material
11. toothbrush
12. old sunglasses
13. 12 books
14. cd case
15. camera manuals
16. iphone box "special"
17. ribbons
18. hand cream tubes
19. wooden unpainted characters
20. leftover christmas decorations

Yes ... that is what my box will be full of the second I leave here ..... It's little pieces of stuff that has accumulated in little inconspicuous corners of the world, that serve to clutter me up. I am about to be defragged.

In other news newsworthy ....

I had an aha moment .. just a moment ago ... I am going to transfer the pictures of the strides for stro.kes event from saturday onto a memory card, and then bring my frame, and let them play from that ... what an idea~! People will be most happy!

My gift bag cupboard is full .. well full of tissue paper that is ... AND then I bought more BEAUTIFUL gift bags last week. ONE can never have enough gift bags ... and to think that I only have ONE shelf dedicated to that sort of stuff .. no wonder I cant put the gift bags away. Probably should buy more gifts ... I guess.

HOLY thundering granola bars .. it's my nieces 16th birthday today ... my BIL took a gorgeous photo of the girl ... absolutely gor.gee.os.

That girl, and my boy .. along with a couple other thousand kids are writing their provincial math exam today. Nothing like having your birthday at the end of June, or the beginning of September, or even the beginning of January ... it's all a WELCOME to school event .. of which we all have done this to our children. Well .. my boy had his chance ... he could have arrived on Christmas .. like I wished for him to....

In other non-christmas events ... it's raining out ... but warm ... so in effect my flowers and APPLE trees are being watered! I can not find my box of carrot seeds that I had here last week ... can't hink of what I did with them .. and they didn't fill my box of SHIT... CRAP... STUFF... delicately placed items of existance ....

Need some pictures .. must go find some ...

Am Am Am Am

So GLAD this weekend is over!!

I can't tell you how glad ....

I am ALWAYS dead nervous running events ...

The WALK went over very well ... DESPITE the rain ...

Our music remained good souls, and played for the group ...

I had the perfect amount of help

AND managed to run 6 miles at the end of the day.

I used SUNDAY as a day of rest ... cause that is the way it was done ...

Once upon a time .... !

First day of summer ...

I certainly hope it stays that way.

WE HAVE SUNSHINE!

Have offered up my house for an event next week. Kinda nervous ... cause it just makes me nervous offering up my house ... not that we have party crashers .. it's more of ... I just get worried that the place will never get clean enough.

Hmmm.. who cares. It will be nice to just "do something different".

In other things different...

THE SUNSHINE!

In other things different....

THE SUNSHINE!

In things that are going on:

THE SUNSHINE!

No really ... I speak the truth.

~~~~~~~

Am doing things differently already .....

I have booked some dates for the stroke group to meet in the summer. NOW that is different!

Have decided that I am going to try and run 5 miles in an hour. I did it in an hour and TWO minutes yesterday. Had a little freak out at my failure!... of course the freakout was because the PIP was with me ... and I had my music turned up ... Omaaaagggaaaawwdddd ... EVERYBODY needs this song "Back in the New York Groove" by KISS. ... and I was trudging along ... with the music in my ears... and the PIP rolling along side of me... and me singing ... to the song ... which I barely know the lyrics ... and the FUSSILINA doll is rolling her eyes and laughing at my craziness.

My real goal was to run for 60 minutes ... but when I saw that I was going to get close to running to the 5 mile mark my pace quickened ... cause sometimes I am just that determined. The Fussy had been busily telling me about how she doesn't do anything competitive, and we had been talking about that while I ran, and she road .. and so it was that exact TEACHABLE moment that it sprung upon me that life is a competitive adventure .. if only it is US that we compete against.

My next goal is to continue to quicken my pace, if only a very small amount .. and purchase some new runners ... however currently I am still very much loving these nike air runners that I have owned for a small while, and are still very cushiony, and still have a large amount of tread that hasn't been flattened. I might even buy another pair of running pants. AND .. then I am going to attempt to run every second day, instead of every third. Lots of plans swirling about ... just need to jump on them .. between the weather storms.

More news on the Fussilina doll ... she auditioned & FINALLY got a solo for the leaving ceremony on Thursday. My Fussilina doll ... amazing young lady with a glowing spirit, she exudes such gentle confidence mixed with a certain amount of craziness. Oh how I wish I could have been this way when I was her age. Crazy ... well I believe I had perfected that in Grade 8 ... but that confidence .. and auditioning & singing IN FRONT of others ... neva, neva, neva, NEVERRRRR! She is over the top excited to begin Grade 9 ... just so that she can get into the play ... that is her sole focus.

And the Jimmy. The Jimmy is good. Looking like James Dean again, with that black leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans. That Jimmy is now "his" departments "go-to" guy. The manager lady asked for "the Jimmy" when he showed up for work yesterday and told him that he was now "the go to guy" for the other employees in his department. She said that she watched him in action the last couple of weeks, and saw that he had a good work ethic, and encouraged others to complete tasks that were asked of them. HOLY FLYING FRUITBATS ... I knew this day would come ... that the Jimmy would take ownership of doing a good job, when there was a lot at stake. Mr. 16 year old newbie is the go-to guy. Rock on Jimmy ... oh .. right .. that he will.

Happy first day of summer .. and a warm welcome back .. to the SUNSHINE!

Can I have ..

1. Someone come and do my hair for me.
2. Please plug the curling iron in and style away.
3. Your payback will just be a simple thank you.
4. Thank you.

In other things that I wish I can have:

1. That would be time.
2. And money .. not necessarily for my own family, but a larger cause.
3. A chauffer ... for me.
4. Wait ... I want a housekeeper, that isn't me.
5. Does she do laundry .. cause I want one of those people too.
6. What about a shopper person ... there is such a service!
7. An appointment scheduler ... for things like oil changes and stuff!
8. I think a stylist is in order ... cause I have the simplest style going.... this could be challenging.
9. A closet organzier. NO ... someone that re-organizes my specially contained stuff, to be re-contained ultra special like.
10. A present shopper. I am the WORST ever present shopper. I even consented to a gift for a good gift giver for the giftee's, and the good gift giver has come up giftless, which makes me even more giftless, and now I can't retract the gift-in-tow obligation to regift my non-gift that I would have simply presented in a giftcard.

That's all.

speeding away at the speed ...

Of sound ...

Yesterday I was at work.

After all, it was Sunday, and that is generally where I find myself on most Sundays.... but when it came to 2:00 ..

I shot up and left...

and ran (well OK I didn't run at this very moment  but rather quickly made my way)

down the street

to get to ..

"the faceplant fellas"

playing at Sapperton Days.

And there they were in big bold daylight ... on stage

Singing and playing their big sounds.

Very cool to watch ...

~~~~
I watch these characters and wonder where does one get their drive to perform?

The King and I are very NON performers. So it doesn't come from that. I have always been intrigued about intrinsic motivation, and how truly UN-intrinsicly moved the Jimmy has been over the course of his years ... EXCEPT when it comes to his music & what HE wishes to perform.

The Miss Pipalot is the same ... a natural performer. She has excelled in the exact ways that the King and I never enjoyed during the school years ... presentations and getting involved in the school plays.

~~~~~~~~

It will be interesting times next year when the chicklets of mine re-enter the SAME school ...  and they are BOTH going to try out for the play. The difference will be exactly this ... the PIPPY will be able to adapt to whatever is thrown her way, and she will just go with it ... and I know the JIMMY will find a swirling current and get caught going a different direction .. as always.

~~~~~~

In the meantime ..... I will continue to trudge around the lower mainland watching the faceplant fellas play on a variety of stages ... and I will try and get pictures of them ... of course the trick here is to get a good picture of each them, in a light where they look good in an exact moment. Challenging no?

Whats up in the neigbourhood...

The group played at "The Yale" the other night. This place has been spoken about in one of the boys classes by quite a musician himself ( the teacher) . All of these young characters have been subject to the classroom chatter ... and therefore made a point of trying to get their muscial abilities in ... before the place shuts down. Or so I have been told.

My challenge of the day of course was trying to get a picture without using the flash .. always easier said than done, but nonetheless I worked at it ...

Don't be mistaken by the fellow on stage left .. although he looks like the Jimmy himself .. he is a taller version of the Jimmy, who is behind the bass guitar guy on the right, next to the drummer, which you can't see either~!

So yesterday ...

Was a long long time ago .. so I'm gonna talk about today.... as it's so fresh in my mind and all. But wait .. first a moment of brilliance ...

Yae me: I managed to plant alot of my little plants and such yesterday ...
Yae me: I remembered to call my friend ... it was her birthday!
Yae me: I partook in a random wine sampling festival at my friends house.
Yae me: I think I will never get invited back ... not that I was invited anyways.
Yae me: I broke a tree stump down into smitherines & turn to bark mulch.
Yae me: I managed to eat cake and enjoy it guilt free!
Yae me: I remembered to change something from the day before ...! Whoa!
Yae me: I trudged around making plans to turn little things into BIG things!
Yae me: I managed to eat a bun before going to bed in an effort to feel well!
Yae me: I relaxed and enjoyed the moment of being "in the moment"
Yae me: I enjoyed the beautiful evening & didn't worry about those chicklets
Yae me: I managed to get myself back to work this morning minus an alarm.
Yae me: I forgot that I was going to talk about today!

Meanwhile ...

I did some sort of crazy inhumane challenge for myself after work ... I decided to run the route that we normally walk. Except that I don't run .. I kinda trudge, and then work at trudging ... I don't know when it will ever happen that I do run ... if ever .. but for now I trudge. So on Friday I did the 60 minute trudge challenge ... so I ran around the countryfied streets for an hour ... that was all good. Yesterday was a day off ... hence the gardening that got to happen .. and then today I decided that I needed to run around the streets and hills ... you know ... to mix it up a bit ... because I am sorta stupid that way ... I had my Neil Diamon "Crunchie Granola Sweet" & "Brother Loves Traveling Band" playing away on the tune maker, and punched in my random route that I dreamt up .. and off I went .. not sure what was to become of me ... of course there was someone that came up from behind me and flew past me down the hill ... I can't even go down the hill fast ... (which might be a smart thing ... ) ... and continued on ... I ran (trudged ... but DIDN"T walk) for 50 minutes along roadways and inclines ... and eventually when I got myself back to the big hill .. I just walked up it ... for the time being I am not out winning awards at being the complete crackpot that nobody knows I am anyways ... so I figured walking up the hill was still a win in my books... but kind of ... and it was actually just HOT. Of course we are now into the start ofthe summer months, and have only had two maybe three nice days of blue sky weather ... so heatwise it was a bit dicey ... but I was still happy with the results ... I think eventually I might even be able to melt away some extra portions of me ... but will not hold my breathe .. for the moment ...

Alrighty .... so you in the streets and grocery aisles!

Way out there ...

I really have drifted ... a long long way.

Not for any reason in particular .. I am just "out there" ...

Way to start ... clearly I am hungry ... ! I am trying to type, and eat my max flax bread with peanutbutter at the same time, and wondering why I am not able to write anything.

OK .. back to square one .... moving onto the cup of coffee .. so things should get easier!

1. Here.. this is easier .. numbers in front of sentences increase the opportunity for complete randomness, something at which I have come to be good at.
2. I experimented with lighting (film speed & aperature) the other night at the boys first "little" rockshow with the FP's.  I managed to capture a couple of photos .. minus the flash .. which I didn't want to use anyways, but attached it just in case.
3. I went to work last Friday and didn't really work at my hired position, but the fake position that nobody recognizes as valuable, and much needed .. the nice thing was ... what a cool moment to be in ... sitting around a table playing card bingo with a bunch of ladies who had dementia, alzheimers & failure to thrive.
4. That boy of mine has spread his wings, and has begun take off ... of course currently he is residing on another planet, but has his limbs firmly attached to this address, which makes owning him rather tricky, and often difficult, but none the less completely enjoyable.
5. That boy of mine went to his very first job experience on Sunday. It was a very proud moment for me as a parent to embrace the notion that he is making attempts at moving forward in life. Or more importantly earn enough money so that he can have unlimited texting, picture & messaging on his phone ... cause the $550.00 dollar bill needs to be be paid somehow ... and it isn't from me ...
6. That girl of mine also grew leaps and bounds this past weekend also. She and "Aunty J" went off to the spa together ... the two of them ... lavished in mani/pedi's, then off to the mall .. and shopped together.
7. That girl of mine gave up biting her nails a number of weeks ago ... and the result was that of a spa experience .. well and a gift for a most awesome 14 year old girl.
8. Nails polished and looking lovely .. she headed out the door this morning to get to choir, and then will be forging ahead with her woodworking JEEP project ... because that is the kind of girl she is ... if we could put her in a ballgown, with safety boots and her hair coiffed, she would happily march around the woodworking room and build her projects. The Tech Ed teacher does laugh at her strong girlish wood loving ways.
9. The husbandman is currently owning a jungle of a backyard ... last night he made the good efforts of collecting the gas it was going to take to make it throught the jungle of a lawn we are currently owners of.
10. The husbandman also has his little 12 foot aluminum boot on our ugly back deck tipped for repairs. It makes my job of spring (now close to summer) clean up a bit dicey ... of course the weather, being that of icecubes up until ... I don't know ... last night at 12:30 am ... one of icecubes as well hasn't left much room for yard clean up availability. Global warming .. hmm ... more like global swimming .... thoughts of mad max and the thunderdome movie .. with mel gibson .. ??
11. Have paced myself into the adventures of running ... I dragged my iphone with me the other day ... and clicked on the app where the lady talks to you at intervals, and lets you know your progress ... of course I didn't click off the app, and proceeded to keep running for close to 24 hours. No wonder I could hear cheers coming from somewhere .. but I wasn't sure where ... and eventually figured out it was my phone cheering at me ... in the end I deleted that first timed run ... clearly I am not marathon material. But it was a 5k that I aimed for, and accomplished.
12. Somedays it's just a marathon of ones mind, it's that simple.
13. Today is also hair colouring day. It has to be ... otherwise that little person talking to me from my iphone that I could barely hear ... will be screaming at me. I just no it.
14. I watched the boy at rock. the fox last week. Very cool. I got to watch him sing and play an Emine.m set with Elton.John singing in parts ... guess which part the handsomeson did? It was cool. I am glad that I was there to see it in person ... because otherwise the videoing of it comes across as darkness from the left hand side of the stage... which is where he was. In fact .. the funniest of things ... him and the rock.school teacher had a rowl about what keyboard he was going to play ... the grand piano (facing the crowd), or the keyboard .. facing the curtains & the side of the stage ... too funny.... the boy ended up playing the grand piano ... it was an exciting moment ... even if he didn't have any real lights on him!
15. In more things that are out there .... oh wait ... time is catching up again ... I'll be back ...

that boy of mine ...

Had a small concert the other night ... they rocked it ... at the Senior's Centre
.. minus the seniors, well not including me that is.

What is going on ...

Around here ?

Not much.

Just busy.

Ish.

Waiting for a bear.

To come back.

Again.

Or a bobcat.

Meanwhile

The dryer is drying.

Things are washing.

I just mastered TWO financial statements.

Not sure how.

That's what's

Going on around here.

Fun fact of the day

The girl said I was crazy.... she said to not use it as an excuse ... she boldly said I was crazy.

I have a very bad 14 year old daughter. VERY BAD.

WHAT am I doing with a 14 year old daugher anyways ... I'm not even sure .. I really must be crazy!

FYI ... she is VERY BAD, in the same way I am VERY CRAZY.

I think I'm serious ...

About some things ...

And not so much about others ....

I'm thinking about buying back some time ..

BUT from where ... ??

~~~

It's barely 0830 and I have already had two breakfasts ... hows that for buying time!?

So I'm thinkin ....

I might just take up running .....

FOR MY LIFE ....

I kid you not ....

~~~~~~~~~~

In other news ....


crickets sound insert.

Annnnd ... we're out.

Even this farmland is exciting to me ... ! I never knew how much I loved pavement!

Making our way out ...

Holy crumbscakes ... I'm not so sure about this adventuring business. Of course on a selfish point ... I am trying to take pictures ... in which the jeep doesn't stop moving ... which really might be a good thing ..

And I

Just take pictures of little waterfalls ... without something stable beneath the camera, so they are blurry waterfalls ... but thats ok ... it has the same reference to life all the same ... eventually everything becomes blurry.

But then ...

The two of them find things like these fossil rock thingys ... which are clearly really kinda old cause they are fossils and all ... and this is a lake, which I think was once all glacier ... and these are shell like looking items. I would have to consult people of extensive knowledge .. which I do not know of ... but kind of cool these fossils are!

Uhmm ...

The husbandman and the pipster like this sort of traveling ... down creek beds and forests that really don't see the light of day ... all to get to these sorts of places.

These two are:

Crazy in love with this jeeping.... so much so ... they find rock fragments to proove it.

Looking good ...

At all angles ...