Zombified

A special shout out to Jenny for the brainwave!

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A Series of Unfortunate Events

The strings are frayed and I am grasping for loose ends trying to hold it together. Last week I must have still been in vacation mode. I did not adjust from the three hour time change. Seven A.M. felt like four o'clock and of course it was wrong to be waking up at that hour of the day. Yet I needed every second of the morning to get the girls out the door. Buttercup was clinging to me with every atom of her being.

I managed to only have to get one late pass for Strawberry's school. Colin shakes his head at every little school thing and mutters it's only JK. I know he will likely be saying the same thing throughout all the elementary grades. He is always more relaxed about matters but it leaves me wondering when does it start to become relevant? The child experts state that the early years are the most important. The conflicting attitudes battle it out on my shoulders, yelling in my ears and they are giving me a headache.

I can also hear an announcer, "Now performing in the circus ring is another mother juggling coffee cups while walking on a tight rope." Only I know I will be outdone by the better dressed show stopper who also swallows swords.

One might say with all these voices, it's time to introduce a friendly medical prescription but I think it's likely more normal to feel completely overwhelmed and conflicted on some days. Really if I could just squeeze in an extra hour of the day to exercise then all my problems would vanish. However the day is long enough and my energy is all spent. Instead I'll sneak a bite or two of chocolate. We are coming up to another big candy day of the year. Thank goodness there are so many of them evenly spaced out all year long.

The other thing that has me beating myself up is I clearly am failing in outer layer clothing requirements. My daughters stand shivering outside in their light jackets while I'm coatless. I couldn't spare a moment to search for a fall jacket or sweater so I ran out the door knowing that I would be the only person in the school yard not dressed for the cool morning.

This doesn't bear well with my overachiever personality.

The Pillow Fights Continue

The weekend away made me very thankful for many different things; good friends, fun times, laughter, health and safety. It's a luxury to be able to travel and see other parts of the world. It rejuvenates my soul to be able to dig my toes into the sand and feel the ocean waves rush up and pull away.

We didn't get off to a smooth start. Amber was flying into Toronto from Halifax. We were going to fly together to Los Angeles but Air Canada, being ever so helpful, would not let her on the plane because they felt her luggage wouldn't make it. Honestly it could not be considered a security threat to fly without luggage nor is it like the airline has a perfect record for delivering every piece of luggage that is on board with their passengers. I sat on the plane, watching it fill up not knowing that Amber had run to the gate and was standing there being refused on. She asked for an Air Canada employee to let me know the situation. They walked up to the general area I was sitting, called out the wrong name and then let me know that my friend wouldn't be able to make her connection. I assumed the fog had delayed her flight and I had no idea that she was standing inside the terminal looking at the plane. They did not even let me know which flight she would be traveling on. Then we pulled away from the gate and sat on the tarmac for another 45 minutes because the fog was so heavy. Air Canada should get a gold star for customer service. At least they could have faked some effort in trying to be helpful. Needless to say I spent most of the day at LAX. Jade arrived about an hour later and we eventually found Amber and made our way to Solana Beach.

On Friday the amazingly, bright blue sky and warm wind had me permanently smiling. We spent time at the beach and having a relaxing pedicure waiting for Ruby, Violet and Cherry to join us. The group of us went for drinks in Del Mar. At this point I was smiling so hard that my cheeks hurt. Margarita influenced shoe shopping followed and I couldn't resist making a purchase. After exploring a few more shops having huge sales (twelve dollar dresses!) we made our way back to the condo for a few more drinks and more conversation. Jade told us the story of how her six year old son came to use the phrase sweater meat. She also taught us how to use the term snack bracket in a sentence. "My neighbour's husband got a raise which put them in a different snack bracket."

Saturday we had breakfast at the Brockton Villa Restaurant in La Jolla. We strolled around, watching seals swim around the shore. We then headed to the historic Hotel del Coronado, grabbed a latte and lounged on the beach. Some of the girls needed a rest while the rest of us were going to go the private club to enjoy the hot tub. We didn't make it there in time so instead we had a bottle of champagne and tried to find hockey night in Canada on the satellite dish. We ended the evening with a late night dinner at Jake's Del Mar.

On Sunday after a quick run to Trader Joe's and Target, we spent most of the day at Fletcher Cove. I tried not to get sun burnt while we admired the cute surfer boys. My friends were having fun body-boarding until they attracted the attention of the lifeguard who came to warn them about the rip current. A wave washed up and soaked all our towels exposing us as the tourists on the beach.

Late afternoon Cherry had to get home so we decided to get some last minute shopping done. That's when we first noticed the overwhelming scent of fires burning. After washing the sand out of the towels, we were off to the University Town Center. At this outdoor mall we noticed that we became lightly coated in a layer of ash. We got everything we came for except for the specific requests made by my daughters. Strawberry had asked for a crocodile while Buttercup was hoping for a bumblebee. Instead they had to settle for a kangaroo and a pink kitty.

Cherry, Ruby, Amber, Jade and Violet - Yah that's not their real names.

We had a low key evening as we packed and watched the reports about the California fires. The closest one threatening the area was the Witch Fire. The strong Santa Ana winds kept some of my girlfriends up most of the night. We had planned to be on the road shortly after eight A.M. but we got an extra early start on Monday morning. After stopping at two Starbucks locations and finding both of them closed, we had to go to a grocery store to get caffeinated. Locals were stocking up on ice and water. There was an eerie and surreal atmosphere. The skies were black with smoke. The news reports were chilling. It looked like Armageddon. I feared for the locals and the helpless animals. Luckily we had no trouble making it to the airport in time for our flights. We safely made our way home to our various destinations. Our third annual girl trip was beyond memorable.

Moving Away from the Witch Fire

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Gallivanting

Me, and my newly acquired head cold, are hopping on an airplane. It never fails that before I fly I always get some sort of cold that will make the flying experience memorable. It’s likely that I am the reason that people get sick when they fly. Go ahead fellow passengers. Direct evil glares at me every time I sneeze. I will be hiding behind a novel pretending not to notice.

I am meeting my girlfriends in LA and we are going to San Diego! I’m so excited!

For the past two weeks I’ve been nervous about this trip because I heard Psychic Nikki on the radio predict an earthquake for California. A quick search on recent news pulled up a magnitude 4.2 quake that hit California early on Tuesday. I’m not sure how often these occur as I’m usually not Googling earthquake news but I’m hoping that is what the Psychic to the Stars had envisioned.

Now it’s time for me to go spend some of my super Canadian dollars. This is the first time that I have gone south of the border with our magically, powerful monopoly money. Yippee!

Because Celebrities Are Doing It

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Fringe

Anyone who has ever tried to grow out their bangs knows how difficult the process can be. There are many awkward stages. Do you pin the hair out of your face or let them hang in your eyes? The crazy amount of time waiting for the front to catch up with the rest can feel like eternity.

I highly do not recommend growing out bangs in the infant or toddler years. All those silly same moments are multiplied. Have you ever watched a child who has not mastered walking skills maneuver through a mop of hair? Quick add a layer of padding to everything!

Toddlers are fairly snotty creatures. Who am I kidding? They are snot machines. Boogers stuck in hair are not fun to brush out or peel off of cheeks.

Plus don't you want to see that adorable two year old hiding under there somewhere?

All this is to convince myself that I've done the right thing. This weekend I reached my breaking point. Buttercup was placed in a pink car salon chair and bangs were created. To make me doubt myself even more, she sat perfect still with her bottom lip perched way out. The girl is a pro pouter. Now I can see it clearer.

Of course I think she looks perfectly cute but a little more typical. It might be bang remorse but I don't know if we are back to the long process of growing them out all over again. I only have a small window of time for deciding how I want her hair to look before she exerts her individuality with her own decisions on style.

Taking Action

Words are powerful.

Today a whole lot of them are being posted to bring awareness to the environment.

We continue to use compact fluorescent bulbs. We are avoiding plastic bags. We turn off and unplug whenever possible. We are trying to become less disposable and more accountable. We reduce, reuse and recycle in that order.

At BlogHers Act Canada there is a push to ban Bisphenol A.

On the Hunt, I'm After You

What Motherbumper wants, Motherbumper gets! She's asked me to share who I was crushing on during all those super fun years of puberty.

My mother was head over heals infatuated with Elvis Presley. When I was four I would listen to her Elvis collection of vinyl records over and over. I'd be belting out:

"One night with you
Is what I'm now praying for…"

We were in the car driving home from my Aunt's when we heard on the radio that Elvis had died. I was six years old at the time and I didn't really know what it meant but I felt the sadness hanging overhead.

Elvis in his glory days set the tone for all my future crushes. I had an appetite for sexy, pretty boys preferably with dark hair.

My ten year old self hung a picture of this heartthrob on my bedroom door.

Once again my object of affection dominated my turn table.

A year later I was obsessing over five fabulous Brits. Ok, I was a Duranie. It's sad but true. I had a passion for Simon Le Bon that burned brighter than seven suns.


I was a small town girl that pined over my crush because the selection of boys in the neighbourhood could not hold my interest. Of course Simon did not search the world for me and I was left devastated before I even turned fifteen when he married supermodel Yasmin Parvaneh. Simon, how could you?

Shortly after that, my best friend and I decided that we were too mature for crushes on celebrities. One weekend we painstakingly removed the Duran Duran wallpaper that covered every inch of our bedroom walls and put it into photo albums like the true groupies fans that we were. My parents probably let out a huge sigh of relief.

Still there's something about pretty boys that can shake it and sing those suggestive words that gets me all worked up.

It makes me feel like a dirty old woman. Duran Duran is still greasing their wheels and have recently worked with Justin Timberlake. Even though my musical tastes have matured, that is marketing aimed directly at me because I'm still a fourteen year old girl at heart.

Counting

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Choices

Tomorrow in Ontario, there will be a Provincial Election and a Referendum. I have taken the time to educate myself on the issues. It is really up to the individual to seek out information about this which is very unfortunate. It means that the general public probably does not know their options and likely do not care.

Only five referendums have ever been held in Ontario with the last one being in 1924. We now have an opportunity for change and people need to decide if this is something that we want. People need to be given the facts. I hope it is not swept under the rug because voting means that we have options. There is never a perfect solution offered but there are pros and cons to everything.

Right now I find that people who do vote often do so with the intention of using their vote to go against what they do not want to happen. Personally I am tired of strategic voting and I would rather vote for a candidate who can achieve positive results in matters that are important to me.

If I can convince one person in Ontario to watch this TVO special (or like I did - listen to it while I worked) in order to make an intelligent decision, all the better.

Thankful

A gift of genius
She brought home Thanksgiving art
That moved me to tears.

Go Team!

Did I ever tell you that I love you, sweet internets? I do! To clarify I'm talking about the most awesome people that take the time to comment. The support given is mind blowing. Of course if you encouraged me to jump off a bridge, I would listen to you because your power is invincible.

I have officially signed up for the November blogging challenge. I'm #679. Yes, I'm now reduced to a NaBloPoMo number. This is where I go all cheerleader on your ass and with boundless enthusiasm add "You can do it too!" Or would you rather I woo you with my seductive voice? "The water's warm. Come on... You know you want to..." I'll save the begging for later but by golly there are prizes to be won! Of course there is the blog bling.

In other news, a very happy Irish potato head is being held by Australian customs officers. Upon its arrival down under, nearly 300 grams of ecstasy was discovered inside the toy. That Mr. P. Head is probably facing life imprisonment. Who knew he was such a bad boy?

Wee Willie Winkie Day

You might have noticed that I am in training for next month. I don't want to sign up before I know that I can handle the commitment because I cannot subject myself to failure. I don't need anything that will make me think badly about myself. Then again, how proud can I be if I'm just throwing out odds and ends, like ummm... today? I'm pressed for time so I admit that I'm whipping this up.

Delurking makes me think of a creepy Scot running through the town in his night gown.

So go on... tell me if I should sign up for nablopomo. Are you?

Or let me know about a fabulous online store. In all things pink related: The mighty Canadian dollar could buy a lot of Chick Chocolates. One hundred percent of the profits from the Survivor Chick sales go to Athena Partners to continue the fight against women's cancers. That sounds like guilt free chocolate!

"Hey Willie. If I give you this flower, can I stay up past eight o'clock?"

What A Girl Wants

To all the lovely Canadian online stores:

Please note that the Canadian dollar is now worth more than the US dollar. So please charge me the US price or adjust your pricing. Until then I'll be ordering from US online stores. (US stores need not adjust your pricing.) Thank you.

Don't these pink sugar bath treats look divine?

When it comes to small ticket items, a thirty cent overcharge is not a big deal. However our strangely strong dollar is finding Canadians facing a huge discrepancy on items that sell for hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars less in the USA like electronics and vehicles.

I want to know how long it will be before retailers start adjusting their prices or if Canadians are willing to go to the US to do more of their shopping. I don't truly understand the varying rates of duty when you factor in the free trade agreement.

At the risk of sounding like a girl, I just want my pretty stuff at a good price.

Altered

This past month I started sharing on Google Reader. It has enabled me to be in complete awe at the sheer volume of perfect posts that are out there. Lisa b's post "Different" brought me back to December 20, 2002.

It was the Friday before Christmas. I was home early that day when the phone rang. It is crazy how your life can change simply by answering the phone. It was my doctor saying that there were some indicators in my test results warning that my pregnancy was abnormal. Being that I was 19 weeks along we would be rushed into genetic counseling.

On Christmas Eve we sat in the same building as Lisa where we were told frightening numbers. The odds that our first child would have Trisomy 18 were not good. Due to the fact that only a small percentage of babies survive the full term and then typically only live a few days, the counselor explained how we could terminate the pregnancy. I left scared, confused, discouraged and feeling all alone.

I remember walking though my neighbourhood. The houses were all lit up with twinkling lights while I felt pregnantly empty. I was completely disconnected with everyone and everything. We immediately scheduled an amnio to confirm if the ultrasound and the blood work were correct. That January was the longest month of my life. The next altering phone call came on January 30th when we were given the all clear.

Lisa's description of her own Different experience is chilling. She is a strong woman and I admire her deeply.

Please visit Petroville and Suburban Turmoil for all of September's Perfect Posts.

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You may have noticed that I'm going pink!

This month I'm turning this blog pink. I'll be educating myself regarding issues related to breast cancer. Stay tuned as I increase awareness and uncover some interesting information.