The Music Lives On

I am a huge music fan and nothing gets to me more than when we lose a talented artist before they had a chance to express themselves completely. I know this is just a short list and that my personal tastes do not reflect everyone else’s but hell… this is my wife’s blog and this is the music that I have been most influenced by. 1. Jimi Hendrix, 27 - He was only discovered back here in North America after being lured to the UK to develop his sound. In four short years and three studio albums he changed the way the world would view the guitar through his experimentation and wild performances. It has been suspected that Jimi was going to explore Jazz or the Blues but it was all cut short by drug use. D- 1970 2. Janis Joplin, 27 - She is arguably the greatest female rock singer of the 1960's. It’s possible that she did as much for women in the ‘60s as she did for music. After a brief solo career she died from heroin use before her greatest work was ever released. D-1970 3. Marc Bolan, 30 - (T.Rex) The ‘70s glam rocker was killed in his girlfriend’s car when she hit a tree on a country road. She had to flee England for fear of her life as his fans stripped their flat for souvenirs. His songs have been covered countless times. D- 1977 4. Keith Moon, 31 - (The Who) Known for his crazy antics and frenzied drumming, he was the driving force behind The Who. Keith represented the youthful, zany side of rock & roll, as well as its self-destructive side, better than anyone else on the planet. I can’t think of anyone else who could have possibly run himself over with his own car. (and live!) Yet it was this excessiveness that would lead to his drug/alcohol induced death. D- 1978 5. John Bonham, 33 - (Led Zeppelin) It is possible that John is the most sampled and one of the most influential drummers in Rock history. It’s rumored that he downed three dozen vodka shots before dying in his sleep a couple of hours later. Jimmy, Robert and John Paul called it quits soon after knowing that they could never replace his talent. D-1980 6. John Lennon, 40 - (The Beatles) He was senselessly gunned down by MDC outside his New York apartment. Questions were raised if this was a political assassination. The three shots were a “tight group shot” as MDC dropped to one knee and fired. Lennon was one of the few who could rally together a significant number of people against Reagan. The CIA still has “Classified” files on him. His music will forever stand the test of time. D-1980 7. Hillel Slovak, 26 - (Red Hot Chili Peppers) The funk inspired musician was the original guitarist for the band before they broke wide open with Mother’s Milk. He was a high energy performer and painter. One of the original Socks on Cocks! The band was famous for being naked on stage. Hillel died of a heroin overdose. His death was part of the reason Jack Irons (drums) left the band. “My Lovely Man” on Blood Sugar Sex Magic was written as a tribute. D- 1988 8. Andrew Wood, 24 - (Mother Love Bone) A flamboyant and charismatic singer, he teamed up with former members of Green River. (Guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament) The band would go on to play an important part in the music scene that would spawn the Grunge sound. He was a known heroin addict. Towards the end he was in and out of rehab. He was found after taking a lethal dose and died days later. Mother Love Bone broke up soon after but key elements of the band would later resurface as Pearl Jam. D- 1990 9. Kurt Cobain, 27 - (Nirvana) Everyone is well aware of the apparent suicide that rocked the music world back in the 90’s. What everyone might not know was the demise of Nirvana or the impending divorce from Courtney Love. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" climbed the American Top Ten and Nevermind bumped Michael Jackson off the top of the album charts. The first Guitar oriented band to break Number One in years. His sound would inspire countless acts to follow. His legacy stands as one of the most influential in Rock & Roll history. D- 1994 10. Shannon Hoon, 28 - (Blind Melon) The band was often overseen by the little Dancing Bee Girl in their "No Rain" video. His death would be overshadowed by Kurt Cobain’s death the year before. After only two studio albums the band dissolved after Shannon was found dead on their tour bus from a heroin overdose. It truly appeared as though he had plenty of great music still to create and explore. D- 1995 11. Mark Sandman, 47 - (Morphine) He is a man who died doing what he loved. While performing on stage he collapsed due to a heart attack. Mark played a detuned, two string, home made bass. The band specialized in their own version of stripped-down jazz-lounge rock. D- 1999 12. Layne Staley, 35 - (Alice In Chains) The harmonies between Layne and Jerry Cantrell made the band the huge influence it was. They twisted their sound to fit the trend of the 90’s with great success. Its ironic that Layne would write the hit "Would?" as a way to honor Andrew Wood only to be found dead in his own apartment from a drug overdose years later. D- 2002 13. Elliott Smith, 34 - I champion Elliott’s talents simply on the one fact that he gave Celine Dion a run for her money at the Oscars in 1998. His song "Miss Misery" (Good Will Hunting) was nominated in the Best Original Song category. He didn’t win but I'm sure Celine was wearing her Depends on stage while all the nominees performed their songs. He was a gifted songwriter exploring his own twist of folk/punk. He died alone with a knife in his hand. D- 2003 Links to other Thursday Thirteens:

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Coppertone Girl

Strawberry giggles. She runs her hand up and down her arm.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Suntan lotion. I'm putting suntan lotion on."

She continues applying something to her other arm.

"Let me see what you've got."

I am thinking she has a small container of body lotion or maybe the shampoo from the bathroom. She turns around and shows me her empty hands. This has me concerned because I can see that her arms are glistening.

"Smell mom!"

Cautiously I lean over and attempt to catch a whiff. Thankfully it is unscented.

She giggles some more and lets me in on her secret. "Boogers!" I march her upstairs for a bath. Who knew boogers were so shiny? The girls have been mass producing them. If there is ever a market for bottled mucus, we'll be rich.

I'm A Survivor

Whew. I made it through the week. It was tiring. Boring. With bonus features of a fever, eye infections and endless runny noses.

As the new terminal expansion is complete, Colin spent this week at home. He took the opportunity to nurse the baby back to health and upload a good portion of our music collection to our external hard drive.

We created this piece of performance art this evening.



Toddler Performance Art on Vimeo

Yes, I know that I should have already put away my Christmas cards. It's just that it is such a depressing job. Lord knows that it might push me over the edge.

Next week promises to be more fun than a barrel of monkeys. One can always dream.

A Side of Mayhem or Roasted Potatoes?

We usually enjoy taking the girls out to restaurants with us but after last week, I think we'll be getting take away for a while. 1. Buttercup insisted that she be held the entire time with the extra condition that it had to be me. 2. Strawberry insisted on making two trips to the restroom. She seems to be fascinated by public washrooms. 3. Buttercup needed a diaper change but there was no change table. I find this bizarre for a restaurant that has a children's menu. 4. I spent half the time picking up toys off the floor. 5. The girls didn't really eat anything but bread. They did drink orange juice. 6. I found it too trying to eat so I got half my meal to go. At least I had a glass of wine. 7. There was a look of sheer terror on Strawberry's face when the waiter yelled Opa. She saw the flames rise causing her to jump right out of her seat and run to me. (Yes it was a Greek restaurant.) 8. After the initial fright wore off, she couldn't wait to see this happen again. 9. Other children were given crayons and a colouring page but the waitress did not think to offer that to Strawberry. 10. A little boy decided to run around the table and poke every person as he made his rounds. This made it a challenge for us to keep Strawberry in her chair. 11. Colin's stomach was causing him severe pain. 12. Buttercup was completely miserable, voicing her unhappiness and she didn't care that the other patrons were glaring at her mom. 13. Our patience had long disappeared so we paid our portion of the bill, offered apologies and were out the door before our friends even had their jackets on. Links to other Thursday Thirteens:

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Guilt x 3 To The Power of Tailgating

Poor husband. I confess I have been in a bit of a mood as of late. I can't seem to shake it. I have increased the volume on my stereo in hopes that the songs will block the negative thoughts from invading every crevice. I am angry at myself that I don't have profound ideas to write down. I don't have funny stories to record. Life is boring.

...I wake up and have to force myself to get on with it. I rush and rush and rush some more. I work. I try to avoid chocolate unsuccessfully. ~guilt~ I tell myself that I need the phenethylamines. I get home late. ~guilt~ I cook some food while the baby cries for me. We begin pleading with Strawberry to eat. Five more bites. Where did my brilliant little eater go? I might get a whole minute and half to zone out before I have to administer bath time. The bedtime rituals begin. On a good night I make it through all three stories before I crash. I wake up around 1:00 AM sometimes because the baby is crying. Husband is still awake watching TV and surfing on the laptop. I stumble to bed and leave him to clean the kitchen. ~guilt~…

Boring life equals boring posts equals anger at myself for not being able to propel my bitty blog, my square of web space into the immaculate promise land. Why, why is this so damn important to me? Why can't I be all too cool to desire readership? Because damn it I know what it takes to get people to return. Talent. It is the ability to churn out something interesting consistently. What I really want is not popularity. I wish for sparkly talent.

Maybe if my life wasn't so damn boring I would have better things to focus my attention on. Instead it all manifests into a funk that turns into this post that I don't want to post. I am the cranky woman driving around the mega city with her eyebrows wrinkled up, scowling and cussing at innocent bystanders.

Like the people who put "Baby on Board!" signs in their back window. My feeble mind wants to know if they are just so proud that they have a child that they feel the need to announce it to every onlooker. Or do they think that the power of their sign will alert the lackluster drivers and employ them to proceed with caution around their extra special cargo? On days like this, it makes me want to tailgate them.

Fruit Salad

If you watch this fifty thousand times over while being surrounded by toy hell then you can understand why my brain is throbbing.

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

With more links than you can shake a stick at

Both Bub and Pie and Ali requested that I answer the following questions.

1. Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?
97% of the time I'd say yes. My lovely banner was made by Izzy. I'd like to have her on a payroll so that I could constantly change the look of my site. Instead I guess I will colour my hair.

2. Does your family know about your blog?
They are aware that I'm self important enough to continue to share tidbits of our lives. Originally I started writing to keep my distant relatives in the loop about our girls. I even made MiniCards to remind them to visit. (Happy Birthday Mom!!!)

3. Can you tell your friends about your blog?
Of course! They already know I'm crazy.

4. Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog?
My current reading list contains approximately 125 blogs. This number is constantly growing, causing my coffee intake to triple. When I receive a comment, I try to match it as soon as possible. This is life permitting. I find that I'm much better with commenting than with returning e-mails. I don't know why this is.

5. Does your blog positively affect your mind?
I do believe that it has turned up the dialogue that is constantly streaming in my mind. However there are nights that I lie awake with words running through. I do not need another excuse for sleep deprivation. I suppose blogging thoughts are more intellectual than suffering with video game brain. Blogging has squashed my video game addiction.

6. What does the number of visitors to your blog mean?
It means that the places that I lurk have been checking their site meters. Yikes! I prefer when it is the result of those wacky search engine hits.

7. Do you imagine what other bloggers look like?
To me everyone is the epitome of friendly, wise souls. In Colin's world, all women bloggers look like Courtney Hansen.

8. Do you think blogging has any real benefit?
One only needs to look at The Magi to see the brilliance.

The bonus is that Strawberry will stay fashionably warm. I won this beautiful hat made by Julie!

9. Do you think that the blogosphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?
I love the circle that I have found in the blogoshere. It is even more fun when it collides with the real world. Hello BlogHer 2007!

10. Do some political blogs scare you? Do you avoid them?
I haven't found the time to cruise the political blogs but that may change as Justin Trudeau seems to be gearing up to enter politics.

11. Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?
It is about as useful as giving my cat Little People to wear on his head.

12. Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog in case you died?
My eternal doom wandering mind has a tendency to visualize the worst case scenarios. This predicament comes after pondering who would pick up the children from daycare if both parents were in an accident.

13. Which blogger had the greatest impression on you?
Every blogger on my Visiting list inspires me to get that next post up and make it shinier than the previous tale.

14. Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?
I think some bloggers have the ability to crawl into my brain. I find myself staring at their words, nodding and shouting out numerous Hell Ya's! Once again that is how the Visiting list came to be. In a perfect world we would all be living in the same city and running in the same social circle instead clicking on the linky loos.

15. Name a song you want to listen to?
"Phantom Limb" by the Shins is streaming on my iTunes radio channel.

Ewe Are Here and Mother Bumper are cordially invited to play along.

Please Mum

I do like those chocolate bars.


This Santa tastes yummy!

You can find out why I'm letting my girls eat treats over at Mommy Blogs Toronto...

To Be Lucky

Pattie wrote about friendship in her post Just Walk Away and I think she deserves A Perfect Post Award.

"...it never ruined my faith that friendships are worth a great deal to me, even at the potential expense of being vulnerable to someone else, who has the ability to crush you. Someone that you think will be in your life forever."

I can still hear my Grandfather's voice telling me that I will be lucky if I can count five true friends in my lifetime. Over the years, I have been eager to add to that list. Too many times I have ended up being extremely disappointed with my bad judgment. I do have some dear friends that I truly love. I know that I should be better about showing how much they mean to me.

It's amazing that during this festive time of year that so many brilliant writers were sharing their words. Find the complete list at Petroville and Suburban Turmoil.

I Want My Sexy Back

It's a fresh year and so begins the time to make resolutions. I know that a promise to maintain a regular gym routine is a realistic as personally ending world hunger. Both are excellent goals but I have as much chance of achieving them as Britney Spears has for keeping her undies on.

After having two children by way of cesarean and way too many sleepless nights in the span of three years, any sign of youth has left without a trace. Standing in the office washroom, the florescent lighting can make anyone look like a distant relative of Medusa. I stared at my two month roots and au naturel skin crying out for makeup to create a more "natural look." My once flat stomach appears to be more in proportion to my hips. I can't help but laugh at myself for longing to resemble a pear once again. I half taught Strawberry the "don't wanna be flabby anymore" jingle on the way to daycare. We laughed ourselves silly.

While I was getting ready the other day, I cranked some music to dance around our bedroom a la Cameron Diaz when Colin walked in. I felt more self conscious than usual as he giggled at me. Yes my husband most definitely giggles. He also talks on the phone like a school girl. (There you go sweetie. That teaches you for laughing at me!)

The girls in my office have been threatening to take me clubbing but if I can't even dance in my own bedroom in front of my husband, how will I ever get on the dance floor surrounded by tipsy, trendy twenty-somethings? The shock and horror in their eyes at the sight of my jiggling curves will have me buying the entire bar multiple rounds of shooters.

I have spent my entire fashion budget on my toddlers as I refuse to set foot in front of those horrid mirrors you find in change rooms. As my post-baby body has reshaped itself, my entire wardrobe is out of style and doesn't quite fit right.

I don't want to be the woman who got married, became a baby making machine and let herself go. It is likely a common desire to have the self confidence that causes men to sneak a double glance and makes other women want to be your friend. More importantly I need that extra energy that comes with feeling fit.

While I'm not making any official New Year's Resolutions, I have deemed 2007 the Year of Action! And just maybe I'll finally get my first tattoo.