First Folder Tenth Photo

Thanks to Seriously Shawn for tagging me in this game of photo tag. I had to look up my very first file of photos on this computer and find the 10th photo. Now, I started taking digital pics a bit before this but we lost a lot of them in a terrible computer crash and as I still took lots of film way back then it wasn't as big a crisis as it would be today. (Note to self: BACK UP NOW!!!) So here it is, nothing too profound or inspiring, some of my favourite pictures are ones of just every day life. There isn't much of a story behind it but as some of you may have noticed I can tell a story about just about anything and here it is.




I can't believe how little the boys are in this photo, you can even see a is even a bit of a yellow sippy cup down in the right corner. This was taken just before Christmas in 2003 at our old house in the city. It seems like a lifetime ago when the boys were cute and cuddly instead of huge and a bit stinky. I think I am going through a little boy with drawl stage as mine become an 11 year old who doesn't want to admit that puberty is on the horizon and says health class is "just gross." An iPod-wearing 9 year old full of attitude and "Mum, that's stupid" and a 7 year old, small town white kid who wants to be a gangsta in the hood.

But there is hope, my sister and her husband finally opened the envelope containing the sex of their soon to be born child. Drum roll please ... First thing she told me was that it contained an ultrasound photo of the baby with something (whatever could that mean?) circled.

Yup, it's a boy. My niece will not be forced to abdicate her throne as Princess of the Cousins. And no shopping in the vast aisles of never-ending pink and funky girls clothes section of stores for me. It's still all dump trucks and Pokemon for the foreseeable future. Oh well, at least I can off-load all our "Mighty Machine" videos (if they still have a VCR).


Back to the Game of Tag. I'd love to see these fabulous bloggers' First Folder Tenth Photo.

Jill at Caffeine Court

Cyndy at Quintessential Procrastinator

Beth at BookEtc.

Karen at A Day in the Life ...

Pseudonymous High School Teacher (whose name I don't know, of course since she uses a pseudonym)

TGIWordless Wednesday

Sunset over Georgian Bay

Making new friends

There was a song we sang around the fire at camp,"Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold." Never made much sense to a girl who prefers silver jewelry any day but I get that it is about making new friends.



You, my bloggy ones are like the friends I used to have. The ones I could call in the middle of the night to pour out my woes to. The ones who would hold my hair while I threw up and who even took out my contacts and my hoola hoop-sized hoop earrings when I passed out on the couch. I miss those friends, the pre-marriage (or in my case post marriage but pre-kids since I got married when I was 23 and didn't get knocked up for 9 years) friends who were always up for a night out, didn't matter what time we had to be up the next day. We haunted bars and clubs, partied with random guys from Australia or where ever they pretended to be from. We hitch-hiked home from downtown to midtown for god's sake and no one ever got hurt except for the occasional broken heel or unidentified party wound. We were gorgeous and funny and smart and had the world by the balls - we had fun.



Now fun is something that is scheduled, pre-arranged to take place without the kids. But even when we do go out and have fun we pay for it the next day with killer hangovers, faces that lost in the eighth round to gravity and kids who demand pancakes at 6am. I miss my Girls. I live a life of testosterone-filled wrestling matches and conversations which revolve around farts and penises and who is better, faster, smellier. My house isn't decorated as much as boy-proofed. The Benjamin Moore White Cloud paint that was painstakingly applied to every bit of the previous owner's knotty f**king pine has been chipped by either a light saber, the puppy or the impact some one's head.



But tonight I sat in a pristine white bath tub surrounded by scented candles, sipped a glass of chilled wine and read a Jane Green novel. But, of course, not at home. I had to escape and I was lucky enough that my Other Half realized I had had enough and told my father's girlfriend and she arranged for my "spa get-away" at their house. I almost cried when she lead me into the bathroom where she had a plate of cookies, a bottle of wine and vases filled with lilacs. Who am I kidding? I did cry.



And I have cried a lot lately. I don't know if it is a cliched mid-life crisis, pre-menstural or pre-menopause but any way - it sucks and my only refuge is here with you guys. Checking up on who has commented on my silly posts about Random Thoughts or the crappy weather or whatever I spew forth. Clicking on my favourite parent bloggers, fashionists or politics junkies is a respite from the tragic comedy that has too many acts and no intermission in sight these days.


And then today I had to drag myself outside to go to the post office and the lady behind the counter presented me with a package with my name on it. My name? Not the business. Not the family. Just me and I knew what it was before I even looked at the green customs form on the box. It was a box of "Cheetos Big Balls" from Sane Without Drugs. I had commented on her post about how much her boys loved "Big Balls" and lamented the fact that they aren't available north of the border. Lickety split she packaged them up with a few DVD's that my boys were over the moon upon receiving and it made my crappy, self-pitying day (I watched "He's Just Not That Into You" under the covers this afternoon on pay-per-view for god's sake).



That's why you aren't just like my old friends - you are the new friends I am so happy to have gotten to know over the past few months. The shiny, cool, sparkly silver ones who inspire me, make me laugh and shake my head in amazement. And despite the fact that I did finish half that bottle of wine in the tub, I am not drinking and blogging. Not too much anyways.

Crazy Eights

Haven't done one of these in a while and I'm feeling lazy, so here goes -



8 things I am looking forward to



- school being out

- not having to make lunches

- the boys all being away at camp for 10 whole days

- sitting on the dock at the cottage with a cold beer

- my sister moving back from Boston

- my sister's baby being born

- riding Jazz

- taking the boys to Victoria to visit their cousins in the fall





8 things I did yesterday



- finished the spreadsheets for our audit (yuck, yikes!)

- straightened my hair

- downloaded a bunch of new songs (I am on a bit of a Brit chick bender)

- had lunch with my Dad

- finally transplanted all the poor plants that were being crowded out in the garden and put down the mulch that has been sitting on the driveway for the past week

- tried to figure out our summer schedule to maximize my time on the aforementioned dock

- mailed another ridiculously shaped package (the ladies at the post office are starting to wonder what we really build)

- read far too many blogs. But in my defense, they were all really informative:)



8 things I wish I could do



- play a musical instrument

- work in a bookstore with no customers to interrupt my reading

- live in a village in the south of France

- take my kids to live and go to school in above village for a year

- write like Alice Munro

- figure out why Number Three Son is so grouchy these days

- spend more time at the cottage, life is changing, the days of nine weeks up north with the kids are over

- predict the weather, then we'd never freeze at soccer games





8 shows I watch



- The Mentalist

- Breakfast Television

- Lost in Austen

- The Daily Show

- The Mercer Report

- Being Erica

- Hannah Montana (with the boys)

- The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (ditto)





8 favourite fruits



- wild blueberries picked at the cottage

- local peaches

- local strawberries

- tomatoes picked from my garden mid afternoon (they are a fruit, you know)

- bananas (boring but they never disappoint)

- mangoes (love a mango daiquiri)

- lichee fruit bought from a sidewalk vendor in London (I thought they were the most exotic thing ever when I discovered them)

- plums





8 places I would like to travel



- New Zealand (on a bike)

- The South Pacific (by boat)

- Pacific Coast from California to Alaska (in a convertible)

- Queen Charlotte Islands (on a boat)

- Argentina (we're drinking alot of wine from there these days)

- the Nahani River (in a canoe)

- Ireland (on a horse)

- the Mediterranean (on a fully-staffed sailboat)



8 places I've lived



- Toronto (born)

- Montreal (studied)

- Vancouver (briefly, twice)

- London (in Holland Park and Wandsworth)

- Kennebunkport, Maine

- on a farm

- on the shores of Georgian Bay (currently)

- Algonquin Park (every summer for the past 43 years, give or take a few)

Wordless Wednesday

His future's so bright, he's gotta wear shades.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

I wish I knew why we are paying a parenting coach to tell us to "parent less." I guess when Children's Aid shows up because the kids aren't going school, there's no food in the fridge except Jello pudding and Cheez Whiz and I'm lying in the backyard with a sun reflector, a Bud Lime and a pack of Pall Malls I'll be able to show them the receipts.

I listened to the CEO of GM talk about the company's new beginning, a fresh start, a great opportunity for change (thank you Mr. Obama for this year's one size fits all phrase) blah, blah, blah. Who does he think he is kidding? First you run the company into the ground, building cars that pollute our air, that no one wants to buy, then you take billions of dollars in bailout money from the Canadian, American and Ontario governments (which means us Ontarians have been hit twice). You lay off thousands of workers, put thousands of pensions at risk and all you can do is talk about how great an opportunity it is to have a fresh start?! I'm sorry what about the rest of us who don't make $1,000,000 bonuses, who can't get reasonable financing to expand small businesses which have been run responsibly and employ skilled labour? All because the banks are cutting their losses and tightening everyone's credit? Except the car companies who are still able to offer 0% financing on 2010 cars that are exactly the same as the 2009's. (photo from Autoblog)

Is it ever going to warm up and be summer? Last night we sat in the freezing drizzle watching soccer listening to someone tell us that her parents had to shovel snow on the weekend only a few hours north of here. I want to sit outside and drink a cold beer and watch the kids swim and debate whether it is the heat or the humidity.

Number Two Son is on day two of three writing the provincial standardized tests. Doesn't seem to bother him a bit, in fact he asked me if we had a big pack of bubble gum. Seems his teacher told the kids they could chew as much as they like during the exams.

Does anyone else not want to take up golf? I seem to be the only one around who isn't interested in following a little ball around for hours and hours getting frustrated. A bit too much like chasing a toddler to me.

I love all the new music I am discovering on other people's blog. I will post a new playlist soon. Thank you for dragging me out of the 80's so I can listen to something other than Depeche Mode or Miley Cyrus.

Getting Outside, Again

It seems too easy to just download the photos off my camera from the weekend and then upload them ... et voila (anyone know how to get the accents to work on blogger?) a new post. But we had such a great bike ride yesterday despite the windchill of about 5C. Didn't dare put in my tomato plants after the weatherman's frost warning, so no gardening was done, instead we biked over hill and over dale, through the forest and down one of the steepest ski hills on the Escarpment. Number Three Son got to wear his favourite birthday present - a dirt bike helmet which made him look like an Evel Knievel Mini Me and our puppy was throughly pooped when we got home after chasing us for 3 hours.

Oops, did anyone see what that sign said?

Going down again

Too bad it's still too cold to swim.