Friday Fragments

• My lovely friend Alexa Reigh of the fantastic blog Your Inner Gosling  introduced me to the Vancouver indie band Said the Whale and their video which is so cute although a wee bit creepy at times. But creepy in a good way. 
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• My eldest son left for Colorado this morning, lucky guy and made his first solo flight due to my OH screwing up the dates he was flying. Luckily I was printing out all his paperwork on Monday and noticed that the flight down was booked for Thursday not Friday with the rest of his ski team. I panicked, called my OH who said that someone else messed up. To which I replied, "Doesn't matter whose fault it is, he's going to get to Denver 24 hours before everyone else." I emailed an old friend to have her on standby to pick Ben up at the airport on Thursday and bring him back on Friday to meet the rest of the group but was actually able to switch his flight and unbelievably, it didn't cost me anything, they even owe me $30! The only down side was that he was on his own but would meet the rest at the other end. And he wasn't alone going through security and customs in Toronto as my OH had to head back down to Florida for another boat show and he timed his flight to leave just after Ben's so they could go through together.

• I went to my younger sons' school Remembrance Day assembly which brings me to tears every year. We have a military base nearby and there is always an active soldier who speaks to the kids. This year there were only three WWII veterans attending this year and I guess soon enough there will be none. Unfortunately there are still far too many younger veterans who can represent our country's military.

• I love the Lest We Forget movement which asks people not to put up their Christmas decorations until after the 11th. I've never been much of a early glitter and tinsel girl so our decorations don't go up until the first week of December and I was thrilled when I heard that customer complaints forced Shoppers Drug Mart to turn off the Christmas music they began playing as soon as the Halloween candy was off the shelves. They are waiting until Monday to start Jingle Bell Rocking although they have already Decked the Halls, of course.

• Better get my act together to face the weekend on my own with Sons Number Two & Three. 

Friday Fragments

Since most of my posts seems to either consist of photos (the lazy blogger's way of posting) or random round ups of bits and pieces or flotsam and jetsam, so to speak, I will endeavour to continue in this vein. Mostly the latter with a few of the former thrown in for those who don't like to read with a bit of music and trashy TV to keep everyone entertained.

• The round up metaphor is apt as I seem to have a real country and western theme happening, or is it called just country now? Which ever, it is a bit of a fetish. Not sure the exact date that it started but it may have coincided with CBC Radio Two playing a lot of Mumford and Sons whom, I know, are English but their banjo-playing music is my fav right now. So if you haven't heard them, here is their latest single.

• After listening to that song over and over (it replaced Of Monsters & Men's Little Talks in my rotation) my newly-countrified outlook on life seemed to expand like cornbread in a skillet (sorry, I really shouldn't try to talk the talk) Other examples of this rather strange direction for a Northern girl includes receiving regular emails from Country Outfitters after I signed up to win a pair of cowboy boots. Now I already own two pairs but they don't look like these gorgeous ones. Of course I'd want all of them so I could have my own rainbow of boots in the closet.

• I already mentioned my wee blog crush on Edie at Life in Grace and now I am addicted to watching Nashville which is a wonderfully countrified show about a fading country singer, played by Connie Britton who is trying to keep her home, family and career together against a young, Taylor Swift-like singer played by Hayden Pannetierre. I love how they wear boots with everything and that even when they are saying something nasty, it comes out all sweet in that southern drawl.

• On a personal level, we've got a lot going on right now, but so what else is new?  Number Three has settled in at school and things seem to be working well with his teacher although he still isn't doing enough reading. Number Two has started working with someone on his anxiety issues and he seems to be calmer at home which makes the whole house happier. Number One isn't happy at his school, he is bored and not having any extra-curriculars due to a Teacher Work-to-Rule isn't helping anyone. But he leaves in two weeks for Colorado to train and they are calling for snow here on Tuesday which will make everyone in our house happy. It will be thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Sandy which is making things difficult for my OH who is in Fort Lauderdale at a boat show. Last night he got back to his hotel only to be turned away as the power was out, he was able to get back in later but the question is whether the hurricane which is forecast to head north up the coast and wallop the U.S. Eastern Seaboard and Maritime provinces will keep people away from the show this weekend. It's a long drive and a lot of money invested for us to have no one come.

Have a happy weekend, y'all!

Friday Fragments

I can't remember who hosts Friday Fragments but it seemed appropriate for me today, as I'm not quite up to Happy Hour Friday or even Friday Following. This damn cold just won't go away or even turn into something that would justify staying in bed all day. But on the upside tomorrow is the first day since December 26th that we don't have to get up, get dressed, get packed and get to the ski hill.

Tomorrow I will make sure our bedroom door is shut tight so that neither the dog nor the boys can enter when they wake up at 6am (Sunday will be even better since the time change is Saturday night and it will be darker at 7am and they all might sleep longer) I will remain in bed until someone brings me coffee and the newspapers. We here in Canada get our big weekend editions on Saturday which gives me two days to catch up on all the news I have missed since ski season started. I'd also love some new book suggestions since I seem to have made my way through the stack on my bedside table and I might have some time to read again. And even though after a week solid of sun-shiney spring days we are supposed to get some rain this weekend I don't care. All the better for staying at home or going to a movie, maybe Alice in Wonderland or Avatar for those in the family who haven't seen it yet.

How nice will it be to have a choice other than which race course to stand at the bottom of in sub-zero temperatures to watch one of my sons hurl themselves down at breakneck speed. And although next week is our Spring Break and the boys are off school and back on the hills I might be able to sneak in some time to go riding, take in a St. Paddy's Day party as well as a whole lot of apres ski on the patio. I'll be sure to post some photos. Stay tuned, spring fever has hit the Great White North and you never know what might happen once the snow starts to melt!