Friday, November 30, 2007

Drama for today

I was excited this morning!  Miranda and I left home early, and for the first time since the snow came, I was going to make it to work EARLY!  Today was a PD day and she was excited about the daycare field trip.

We arrive at her school. 

Usually I let her out at the sidewalk and watch her walk into the school.  Today I got out of the car because there was a truck parked on the schoolyard blocking the entrance.  I glanced to the south field and saw more trucks.  This wasn't anything shocking, since the school had been undergoing various maintenance things all summer, and this past week they just finished replacing the boilers and stuff.

What did catch my eye was the POLICE suburban that was parked with the trucks.  On the school field, right beside the school.  That's when the red flag went off in my head.

I looked again towards the entrance and noticed the lights were off inside.... and then I noticed all of the windows were smashed!!

No one was being let inside and the daycare kids were being relocated to another centre.  I was told someone broke into the school and set it on fire.

The Journal has an article online, updating that the school will be closed until the start of February!!  It is estimated there was close to $1 million in damages. 

Who would do this to an elementary school??  There are 500 students who are being affected by this.  Where is the school board supposed to find room for them, and how is this going to affect the before and after school child care arrangements parents (meaning ME)  have??

fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.... just when I thought I was getting control  of my life.

Where does Time go?

I sat down to have a cup of Holiday Chai Tea (sans milk) and read the soap opera updates.  Next thing I know, It is nearly two hours later, my cup has been empty for ages, and I haven't even navigated to soapcentral.com.  What have I been doing?  ... not much, sending 2 short emails, blogging about music, reading about music, while listening to music, then a quick stop to Facebook.  Oh and I had to change the feed settings on my blog because I changed it to "short" a few days about but not it imports like shit to Facebook, so I changed it back to "full".  Life according to Facebook... you'd think the bloody things makes the world go round or something. 

I should be tidying the house, giving the kids a clear space to mess up this weekend.  Miranda is having her birthday party on Sunday.... it's a horse themed party.  The girl is horse crazy, it's insane.  She is convinced that Santa will be bringing her a Furreal Friends Horse this year. The thing is cool, but it's $250-$300.  How the heck is Jolly St Nick going to fit a horse on his sleigh?)  She wants the Parrot, too. "Sqwakers McCaw is a witty, energetic, and unpredictable talking parrot",   I bet the things doesn't come with a volume control.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

New Music Now

Here's the list of my favourite new albums.

A.F.I. - I Heard a Voice - Live from Long Beach Arena - the CD version of the DVD that was released in 2006.  I love almost every song on this album!

Favourite Songs: Prelude 12/21, Death of Seasons, Love Like Winter,
Endlessly, She Said

Neverending White Lights - Act II: the blood and the life eternal - Always is the song that is getting radio play, but I find it somewhat annoying.  The first song, Theme From the Blood and the eternal life, is a cool instrumental piece.  There is no Dallas Green on this one, but hey, Dallas can't do everything all the time.  It's neat how it features artists who did not appear on the first album, plus Daniel Victor actaully sings on this album.

Favourite Songs: The World is Darker (feat. Auf der Maur), The Warning (feat. Jonathan Bates of Mellowdrone), Where Are We feat. Rob Dickinson of Catherine Wheel)

Raine Maida - Hunter's Lullaby - Front man & song writer from Our Lady Peace...  His "collection of poems put to music" method reminds me of Billy Corgan, only Raine is a better singer.

Favourite Songs: Careful What You Wish For, The Less I Know, The Snake and The Crown, Yellow Brick Road

KoRn- Untitled - It's like creamed corn, runny and not as good as the corn on the cob, but it still makes for ok background music.  Parts of Innocent Bystander reminds me of Fallen Rock Zone by Ra.

Favourite Songs - Starting Over, Hold On, Innocent Bystander, Sing Sorrow

Nine Inch Nails - Y34RZ3R0R3M1X3D - The album name looks like 2 digits short of a vehicle serial number, but it's not that intimidating.  (Year Zero Remixed)  Like Korn, it's good background noise.

Favourite Songs: Guns By Computer, The Beginning of the End, Zero-Sum

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Sweet?? Dreams

dreams Over the past few weeks I have been remembering my dreams more and more, and they haven't been the nightmares the usually plague me.

Last night I dreamt that Baller was talking about his Crest electric toothbrush, and how it got cooler and cooler the more he used it. Then he proceeded to make me sit and watch as he brushed his teeth.

WTF?  I don't even know if he uses an electric toothbrush!!  And why then heck would I be dreaming about him??  I think it was because I talked to Scott before going to bed, and he mentioned work and Baller.

The previous night, I dreamt that I secretly moved into a house, without the owner knowing! 

The house was empty and on the market to be rented.  I was unpacking in an upstairs room when I heard the door open and the owner was met by some drunks who were obviously never going to be able to afford the rent.  Then he was walking through the house, talking on his cell phone when he saw me.  He continued on with his conversation, completely calm about the idea of a stranger unpacking her belongings without invitation.  After his call, I started to apologize about my intrusion, explaining that I had no idea what possessed me to do it, but that I would like to rent the place and would provide him with an application to see if I qualified.  He said to forget about it, I was there so I might as well stay.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Saving the world for $11/hr

A cute nerdy guy, a hot spy girl. The show makes me smile.  It makes me laugh.  It makes me sit on the edge of my seat. It makes me cheer!!  It makes me gasp and hold my breath until next week!  CHUCK is totally the best new show this Fall.

tv1

The show is created by Josh Schwartz , who created The O.C.  The episodes are cleverly named "Chuck vs. _____" and each episode is loaded with references to nerd culture: computer, technology, sci-fi, movie, video game and conspiracy items. (They talk about a crash plane, Oceanic flight 815 and LotR and the sandworm from DUNE and you even see a WoW video game in the Buy More in episode 3 !!)

* * * * */5

Monday, November 26, 2007

All dressed Up

I like this picture of us.  Usually someone is acting overly silly when the camera flashes, but in this one the silliness was kept to a minimum. (we still have Mr. Mean and Miranda showing off her book)
 

What irks me is that I dressed up fancy but I still look pretty much like I do on any given day.  You know how you see some women dressed up and you are like, Wow!  She looks so different, so good!

Miranda: looking super cute, despite her hands being chopped off in this photo

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Team Vanity

Team purple (Vanity) wins again... we were playing a board game called 7 Deadly Sins, answering trivia questions and taking on silly and outrageous dares in 7 categories:

- Vanity and Beauty
- Envy, Jealousy, and Theft
- Anger, Revenge, and War
- Sloth, and Vulgarity
- Greed, Wealth, and Gambling
- Gluttony and Food
- Lust, Love, And Sex

This weekend it was reinforced just how totally awesome my boyfriend is. For our Vanity dare, one of us had to apply a face mask made out of condiments. There's no way I was going to have food spread on my face, but Mr. Amazing, he wanted to win and told me to smear on the peanut butter!

Charity Bears

On Friday we had dinner at Boston Pizza.  They were raising money for the children's hospital and Miranda, Scott and I got to decorate the bears.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Memories

I have been looking at old photos and remember when Miranda was younger. I wish I had someone to reminisce with. She was (and still is) so happy and smart and shining... but preschoolers have that innocence that makes them 1,000,000x more perfect than anything else in the world. It breaks my heart that these memories live only in my mind and no one else's.

I worked downtown, her daycare was downtown, we took in a lot of the downtown festivals.

5pm April 24, 2003. We were in front of Canada Place, waiting for the bus to take us home. Miranda (age 3.5) was running around the bike rack. Me, the ever paranoid parent, was calling to her to slow down, be careful not to slip, then once she started squeezing between the bars, I was warning her to mind that she didn't get stuck.



Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Confession

I like to chew up sugary bubble gum and swallow it. 

Most of the time I just chew it up and throw it out seconds later, but sometimes I can't help but swallow little bits of it. I don't swallow sugar-free gum.  There's no enjoyment in that.

IMG_4601

I don't let Miranda chew gum, but when she's sleeping, I chew up her Halloween bubble gum, maybe swallow a bit, and spit the rest out.  At least that's what I did tonight.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Tis the season... for something PINK?

How about a PINK tree?

This one is from Treetopia.com.  I enjoy a good pink thing, but I think some things are best left unchanged.  I will stick to my green tree (for now).  If ever I find myself with more money than I know what to do with, then I might invest in a pink tree... perhaps for a pink room!

WAIT!  How narrow minded can I be??  This pink tree does not have to be for the Christmas season... this could be just a regular room decor tree!  Brilliant!!  I mean, I have handing white Christmas lights in  my living room year round - they are like twinkling stars.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Broken Button

At the engagement party last night (and for the record, it was NOT in my honour) my camera got broken. Miranda was taking pictures when "a napkin scared her" and caused her to drop the camera. The resulting damage is a gapping hole where the shutter button used to be, so now I can't take pictures with it. Me with no camera, it's a huge tragedy!! wah!

Tic Tac Gift Pack

Nothing says I love you like a tic tac gift pack... maybe some things say it better, but for now, I'll take the tic tacs.

Too bad I didn't get a Terry's orange too. ;)

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

U-Turn

I'm going out for lunch today and looked up the driving directions on GoogleMaps.  Here are the directions it spit out.

    

But on the map that was attached to the directions, it shows from 89St get onto 51Ave and take it straight to Calgary Trail.  I have no idea where I am supposed to take this U-Turn.  Are they even legal?  I can guarantee that there is not a U-Turn sign along the route.  If I get stopped, can I whip out my GoogleMaps driving directions as my defense?

From Wikipedia:

In Alberta, U-Turns are prohibited in certain circumstances, for example (ref. Alberta Regulation 304/2002, Division 7):

  • At the crest of a hill or on a curve unless the driver can see at least 150 m ahead,
  • Anywhere a sign prohibits a U-Turn,
  • In urban areas between intersections,
  • At alleys and driveways,
  • At an intersection controlled by a traffic signal (unless signage or signals specifically allow this maneuver),
  • By a school bus on an undivided highway or on a divided highway where the length of the bus is longer than the width of the median between the two carriageways.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Pink Poker Nights

I don't play poker, but if I had these pink chips in my hands, I'd learn the game in a hurry!! While the boys have their poker night, the girls could have a little fun too. I found this one at Sears.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Stop and smell the roses

On Wednesday I was the recipient of more flowers at work.  This time they did not arrive on a flower truck, but they were personally delivered by a client, on whose site I have pulled out many hairs over. Frustrating as it was at time, it was worth it.  In the end, they are happy and I am rewarded for my hard work and patience.  :)


The bouquet contains Bird-of-paradise, pink Ginger, pink Carnations and (HUGE) pink Roses.  The neat thing is, they have no idea that I like PINK !!

Monday, November 05, 2007

Morbid Fascination

Isn't it slightly morbid how we can be obsessed about mummies.  They are dead people!  If we dug up a 2 year old body it would be considered disgusting and an act of degradation, yet if we uncover a 3000 year old body then it is fascinating. A petrified body somehow takes away the fear factor of death and decay and allows us to examine the specimen as if it is no longer an actual human.

King Tut's body was unwrapped and put on public display for the first time ever.  The Mummy was unearthed 85 years ago by Howard Carter.  The king was 19 when he died, and scientists have spent the past  2 years restoring the damaged mummy.  From the restoration and a CT scan, they have been able to determine that he was not did not die violently, was not murdered, and more than likely died from an infection due to a hip fracture.

He is now resting in a climate controlled box, with only his head and feet showing.

Pink Hair

My new hair... and my drunk accessory.

IMG_4489 

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Morbid Beauty

I started to blog about this almost 2 months ago but never got around to publishing the post.

I was killing time, looking though the Mr Safety videos (my new favourite person on the internet!) and he made this video about his friend's abstract art - I really like some of her stuff!! I like the girl with her fingers entwinded with the tree... and the broken leg one... Melissa Rocha is the artist's name.