Twister Moves

Ana hosted a dinner party and Miranda selected a game for us to play after dinner: Twister Moves. Oh my gosh, that game is hard! I should have taken some photos. There was Ana, Javier, Ramon, Alena, Miranda and myself playing. At one point, Javier had Miranda on his shoulders while he was trying to dance.

There are for mats to "dance" on and you put on a CD which has a boy and a girl calling out the "moves". If it's the boy's voice, you move your left hand or foot, and if it is the girl's voice, you move your right (because the girl is always right!)

It is so much harder than the original Twister - Right hand green! left foot red! because now you have to pay attention to who is calling out the commands and then figure out what side of your body to move. I can move well to visual cues but I can't do so well when having to interpret the sound of the voice commands. We had a blast playing it, though, lots of laughing!

The Cookie Says

I had dinner at the Mongolie Grill on Saturday and this is what my fortune cookie had to say: Remember three months from this date. Good things are in store for you.

Nooooooooooooo! Believe in Evolution

Miranda comes home from her first day at Church camp and declares, Jesus fed 5000 people with one fish and 5 loaves of bread, and that was one of his miracles.

Pick me up off the ground!! (Thank the stars above, it is over at the end of this week!)

Then at dinner, she is asking how he died when he was on the cross. I told her we would talk about it later. I tried to explain that they are stories, but she insists that God and Jesus are real.

I went to catholic school for my entire schooling and I never believed in God or Jesus; why is she so eager to believe they are real? HELP! Can anyone recommend a good evolution/Darwinism book (or two) for children, so I can get her back on track? She knows abotu dinosaurs, so I just have to explain to her that dinosaurs are older than the bible, and Jesus. Wish me luck!

A Fish Tale

Miranda and I were at Petsmart this weekend, buying cat food for Lucky, when we ventured into the fish section and stopped to check out the Betas. I saw this one that was blue and white. Miranda didn't like it, she wanted a rainbow one. Me, being the terrific mummy that I am, said, since we cannot agree on one fish, let's each pick out a fish and get two! Now we each have a fish in our room.

My fish - Lady of the Lake

Miranda's fish - Pond Princess
(I bought her this littel fish tank that has a flat front so it takes great pictures, whereas the other 2 fish are in round bowls)

And our other fish - Marlin

Miracle Bracelet?

A week ago, I borrowed some one's bracelet because I though it looked cool. One day, when I was walking downtown, a man on crutches noticed it and asked if it was one of those special magic bracelets, and he asked if it worked. I replied, If it does, I am not noticing it, because I wasn't hurting before I put it on!

For the past week I have been working like mad, not eating properly, not getting enough sleep, not drinking enough water, it's hot outside, and I should be having killer headaches. I haven't have a single one. All week, not one! I haven't had any tension in my back or shoulders, when usually this happens when I am super stressed out at work. Not a single ache or pain to be had.

I did some research. The website (http://www.qray.ca/ / http://www.qray.com/) is quite vague. I was unable to determine what they claim the bracelet will actually do: The Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet is designed to optimize your own bio-energy to promote better performance and an overall sense of health and well-being. I watched the online commercial, thinking it would explain more, but it left me just as puzzled. Nice tactic: they never state what they claim the bracelet will so, so you can never said it didn't work for you!!

It is specially engineered using select mineral component metals and exclusive ionization technology : I think that means stainless steel!

The only thing I believe about it is their claim that they are engineered for comfort, with their flat terminal heads. The one I am wearing is too big for me, but it still fits comfortably! I think they are total bunk, but I still think it looks cool, but not cool enough for me to drop $80.00 + $13.95 shipping. Anyone know where I can get one of those Qray knockoffs?

Summer Day-camp

Miranda is enrolled in a summer day-camp at the Luthern church near my dad's house. Why? The lady across the street is putting her grandson in it and my step-mum thought it would be nice for Miranda to go, too. Is she wanting a break from babysitting already?

Last night, I reminded Miranda that she was starting day-camp. She asked how long it was for. I told her, one week. She asked where she would be sleeping. I replied, at our house. She then inquired, why do they call it camp if I'm not sleeping over. Good question, young lady, very good question.

Feeling hot, hot, hot

It's so hot here. Miranda is sleeping on the couch because her room seems to be the warmest of them all (probably because the evening sun hits the house on the side her window is on). I'm spraying myself with water to keep cool (it doesn't help that I am running around up and down the stairs and rearranging the furniture in my bedroom). Lucky is preferring to be outside. When venturing inside, she hangs out in front of the fan, lapping water from a dish with ice in it.

Countdown

Like a child looking forward to Christmas, I am counting down to seeing Jakalope.
8 MORE SLEEPS!! The show will be on the Telus stage at the Captial Ex (the exhibition, but why don't they just call it the fair?) YAY! YAY! YAY!

Bad Dream

I can't close my eyes because bad dreams keep coming. I have been plagued with them since I went to sleep. It started with Miranda dancing at the studio and having a small party. Oh of the senior dancers greeted me and gave me a big hug and I fell over backwards and she fell too and I hear a bone crack. I thought she hit her nose but she said she was ok and just her leg bone gave a snap. As I walked outside, all my friends, and Eelke, were sitting on the lawn waiting for me. He had on these silly glasses and had blond, wooly, dreadful dreadlocks in his hair. He smiled at me and opened his mouth to speak, but he was talking in German. I couldn't understand what he was saying. *I woke up* Then I was driving and I couldn't drive right. My legs were hanging out the door (while the car was moving) and when I stopped the car to pick up Miranda, the motor was still running, my feet were on the group and the car was boucing up into the air and I was terrified it would bounce down on her and crush her. Jenn was in the back seat, along with a lady parent from the dance studio who I don't know. Then I was driving again and it was crazy driving, like I was only half conscious. I stopped in the middle of a street, opened my door, and stuck two stickers on the ground: a HUGE "F" and a tiny "R" but the "R" did not stick to the pavement and was still on my fingers as I got back in to the car. *I woke up* Next, Miranda was running away from me and I was pulling my bicycle behind me. We were beside the street and I was trying to get her before she ran too far away. It was night and it was raining. I was calling for her to come back, and asking what happened to the bike because the bags on the front were missing, and the right handbreak was broken. Then she bolted out into the street, cars screeching to not hit her. I ran after her, catching up to her on the other side, finding her in a dirty puddle of water and mud. *I woke up screaming and crying*

There are so many more details but those are the largest fragments I can recall. I was only asleep for a little more than an hour.

My $248.00 Blazer

I bought it the end of June because I had gift certificates from the girls from my birthday. It's from Buffalo, is 100% Linen with a 100% Silk lining and 100% to die for! Of course it was on sale; what do you think I am, insane? It matches the cropped pants (which are starting to get too big) I bought on my birthday. :) I love it! I love it! I love it! (thanks, girls!)

The Letter Club

We were at the mall on Saturday! We went to American Eagle and since the only thing I ever buy there is accessories, I made a bee-line to that area and found this darling sterling silver necklace with the letter "A". Guess what! There was one with an "L", so Lauralee got that one, and one with an "M" for Michelle!! If Jenny had been there, there was also a "J". Maybe we can convince her to get it so she can be a part of the Letter Club. (I am such a dork)

I also don't like shopping at that store anymore. The service was sooooo slow and this guy who works there sort of pushed me rather rudely and didn't even say pardon me or sorry!

Pink Paperclip Club

This weekend was a party with the Eastern Invasion. I was the only Albertan in the room! (Jennifer and Lorraine are from Saskatchewan, and the rest of them are from Cape Breton or somewhere else around there.)

I saw a tub or plastic-covered paper clips on the counter and thought it was insane that Michelle and Lauralee had so many (it had to be 500!)
I pulled out a few to play with and then decided to clip a pink one on every one's shirt! I did it as an experiment to see if the guys would be comfortable wearing pink. I suppose it wasn't a very daring experiment, since Benny was already wearing a minty-green shirt (might as well have been pink!) and Matty was wearing a purple shirt. I would put money down that one of them actually has a pink shirt! :p

Lauralee called me a witch because she thought I was going to drop an ice cube down her shirt; and Lorraine thought she would be cooler without one, and she tore it off and twisted it up. :( She eventually realized she did want to be part of the "in" crowd and reshaped her paperclip and clipped it on her pants, but only after the savage bit me on the thigh and gave me a bruise!

The paperclips stayed on, even as we made our way (on foot) to the local grubby pub for kareoke. It was more like we went there to watch Rockstar John perform, since he was the only one in our group to put their name in to sing songs. He was awesome and totally rocked the place! No wonder he's in a band.
ps - someone please tell Benny that my name is not Angelica. How the heck is it that he knows the names of the Rugrats anyway?

Welcoming me home

I got home from work yesterday and this is what I found greeting me home. He (or she - how do you tell the sex of a dragonfly?) was sitting on the wall right between the door and the mailbox. It stayed there even after I was all up in its face to take pictures, and even after I opened the door, and it was still there when I left 45 minutes later. From head to tail, it was 10cm long!

The high point of my day

... a pretty girl, who likes girls, kissed me on the cheek. :)

Unfortunately

Unfortunately, time does not stop when I walk through the office doors.

One Red Paperclip

Wow, he did it! Kyle MacDonald traded a paperclip for a house.
Read his blog.

I read that the town of Kiplin, SK is planning on building the world's largest red paperclip. Imagine that, a guy with a blog from Montreal has now given the town its claim to fame.

Dance Dance

I have been doing the website for the dance studio. Have a look!

Pointless writting to pass the time outisde

I sat outside and watched four children.

One is a girl of about three, with short cropped dark hair, in pink sweatpants and a lemon yellow t-shirt. Her sandals are boyish, dark blue, and might be a hand-me-down of her brother. She plays with an orange basket ball, bouncing it and chasing after it, as it bounces and rolls out of reach. There is a boy, who is at most five, wears an orange and navy blue shirt and pants that are baggy but do not go down past his ankles. He plays with a large green plastic truck, pushing it along the sidewalk. Together, the young boy and girl venture down the way, each playing with their own toy. Behind them, on her silver scooter, follows a girl of nine or ten. She is tall, skinny, with long brown hair tied in a pony tail at the nape of her neck. I would call her pretty, graceful, serene.

The forth child is off in her own world, where the neighbourhood cats actually stop and stand still, and allow her to pet them. She is dressed in a pink shirt, with a glittery silver butterfly adorning the front, jean shorts with a colourful tie at the waist, and pink Barbie sneakers that light up with each step she takes. She rides up and down the sidewalk on a pink princess bike, streamers in the handlebars trailing in the wind. Her bike is complete with a matching princess bike horn and bike bag. Inside the bag are twin unicorns, riding in the pockets, along with a pair of pink and green sunglasses. There is a princess sack on her back, containing princess knee and elbow pads, and biking gloves. She stops periodically to put these items on, and then to take them off again. She rides on.

The littlest girl spies my cat, sitting behind me. I ask if she wants to pet it, and put the cat on my lap. She replies to me, in a language I cannot identify, and makes her face into a scowl at the cat before running off to retrieve her fallen ball. A closer look at her shoes, I can see they are not hand-me-downds from a boy. They have little dolls on them.

The truck and ball are soon forgotten, as the young girl runs around and the boy now fearlessly take up the abandoned scooter. The handles are higher than he is tall. The older girl comes towards me and pets the cat, running her hand down the cat's back, and then back up towards its head, ruffling the fur.

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A drawing

Miranda drew a picture for me this evening, when I was feeling a little down. She said the hearts with the arrows show how we love each other.

"We love each other"

1 week down; 7 to go

The first week of summer is over and a few changes that have been seen.

Miranda is not in daycare any more! She is staying with Grandma during the day, taking swimming lessons, losing teeth, running through the sprinkler and watching TV.

Since I am having to drive her to Grandma's house in the morning, I am no longer taking the LRT in to downtown. Instead, I am parking on the edge of the downtown core and walking about 10 blocks. I bought new (old ladyish) walking sandles, since the heels of my old Ecco (non-old ladyish) sandals were breaking off from the sole of the shoe. I got them from the downtown shoe store (Wener's Shoes) with the nice chocolate coloured dog. The lady assisting me was so nice and helpful. She offered suggestions and expressed her opinions of what she thought looked/fit best on my feet. She was not at all pushy, as a lot of people in retail can be.

I am working extra hours at the office. Shannon is on vacation and Stephanie has been out sick. It's the end of the month and lucky me to be stuck with the extra reports to do. Stephanie has also given her notice to quit. I don't know if they will let her stay 2 weeks or not. Her desk is a disaster and it is going to be a struggle to clear up her stuff, get the new person settled in and trained, and keep up with our current work. :(

I could do that again

Today there was a World Cup BBQ at Marie-Aude's house, so I watched my first soccer match , from beginning to end! Well, almost the whole thing; I was 10 minutes late. We were cheering for France. But it was really great! Ok, a little boring in the extra time because the players were tired and they just fancy passing and not really going anywhere, but as a whole I enjoyed it and I could see myself watching more matches in the future. It's a very different sport than I am used to watching. It seems to be more civilized that hockey or football. With that being said, I wonder what Materazzi said to Zidane... I think he probably deserved that head-butt!

It was nice having the Eurotrash around to explain so I understand the game better. :) At first the faking was tiring, but now I understand how it fits into the game. And you have to appreciate that magic spray they keep using on everyone! What is that stuff made of?! I could have done without the hot, sweaty Italian men crawling all over each other, hugging each other, pulling down shorts, and kissing the dirty cup.

Stop drinking and dialing

Korean cell phone manufacturer LG has come out with a sobriety phone! It features a built-in breath analyzer. It can't stop you from drinking, but it can stop you from dialling foolishly after you have been drinking.

read more

"It can be programmed to block selected numbers in the address book (bosses, moms, exes, pizzerias) if breath analyzer records a blood-alcohol concentration over 0.08. "

She can't keep them in her mouth

It was two day ago when she lost her last tooth, and another one fell out today! We had plans to play badminton in the back yard but she was worried that her tooth would fall out, land in the grass, and never be found. Then she realised on her own that if that happened, she could write the tooth fairy a letter, just like Uncle Roland did when he swallowed a tooth while eating. We went out and played and she was impressed that her tooth was still in her mouth when we went inside. Then she went upstairs and, a few minutes later, exclaimed that her tooth was out! I just pulled it out because it was too wiggly, she said.

Sunflower Update 2

The plants are growing! Yes, that does mean I am remembering to water them. The largest plant (in the pot still) has 12 leaves and is 33cm tall (last week it was 20cm). The plants transplanted along the house have 6 leaves and are 20cm tall (last week 12cm).

She lost it

Her front tooth, that is! She pulled it out this morning when she was in the waiting room while Grandma was getting ready for a massage. She went to the room, showed Grandma and the massage therapist gave Miranda a little container to put it in. Miranda went back to the waiting room and proceeded to remove the the tooth from its safe case to admire it. She had it in her open hands when it flipped off and fell onto the floor, lost. Miranda cried. Eventually the tooth was found.

Unfortunately, there will be no visit from the tooth pairy tonight because we forgot the tooth at Grandma's house.

I miss him when

... I ride the LRT to work in the morning.
... I drink pink lemonade.
... I water the sunflower plants.
... I listen to new songs I think he would like.
... I hear Miranda say, Well, Eelke told me/showed me/let me...
... I brush my teeth (I sometimes use his toothbrush).
... I look in the kitchen and see I left the dish cupboard open!
... I look at pictures of us.
... I go to bed at night.

And I miss him when he does something like this,


And I miss him all the time in between.

Top Tunes

The top 10 songs in new rotation on my ipod:
(in no particular order)

1. Faster Kill Pussycat - by Paul Oakenfold
2. Swallow - by Whysome
3. Creeper (coming for you) - by Jakalope
4. Tell Me Why - Jakalope
5. Powerless - The Salads
6. Supermassive Black Hole - by Muse
7. Welcome Home - by Coheed And Cambria
8. Make a Move - by Lostprophets
9. I Will Follow You into the Dark - by Death Cab For Cutie
10. Diary of Jane - Breaking Benjamin

6% GST!

I bought something for $4.00, gave the gal 2 Toonies, a quarter and a dime ($4.35), thinking my total would be $4.28, but I got $0.11 change back! Thanks, Steve.

Fireworks

We watched the fireworks and walked 15 blocks back to the car. We were in sight of the parkade and Miranda said to me, You are the best mummy ever for taking me to see the fireworks and buying me a new Canada Day t-shirt... She drifted off in her memories of the day and looked so beautiful because she was absolutely happy (and exhausted).

Miranda's favourite are the huge gold ones that fall down all glittery. For those of you who missed the fireworks display, I have a clip you can view. The show lasted for 15 minutes and was quite nice.

We parked the car in the parkade (parking garage) by Eelke's building and were going to watch the show from the Telus building, but I got a little paranoid with her walking at the top of the huge hill, so we walked down to the Legislature grounds. I carried Miranda 1/2 the way back in both directions and on the way back she was asking why all the cars were honking. Some people just do that, I replied. And I had to shield her eyes as we walked past the Starbucks on the corner of Jasper Ave & 100 Street, as there was a police car and 2 bicycle officers breaking up a fight and there were bloody people in sight. But the weather had been great (not a cloud in sight!), and we made it through the day without getting sunburns or mosquito bites! yay!

Canada Day

Today Canada is 139 years old! Miranda and I ususally go to City Hall for cake and celebration, but this year I decided we would try something different, and we went to the Legislature Building instead.

We wandered inside the Legislature Building (online tour here) and watched the Ukrainian dance group (Volya) perform in the ampitheatre. The pools were a bit too crowded for Miranda's liking, so we went to City Hall, where the celebration was wrapping up and the crowd was smaller. At City Hall, we visited the petting zoo and then Miranda went in the pool.

We also saw the High Level Streetcar, decked out for Canada Day. Miranda and I might take a ride on it tomorrow! We are definatley going back to the Legislature grounds to soak in the sun.

I took a lot of photos, please have a look because they are nice. :)

Inside the Legistlature Building

City Hall petting zoo and pool

At story about being at City Hall... there was a family (mum, dad, boy, girl) who were standing by us in the pool. The kids called each other "brother" and "sister" (Sister, come in the water.), and when the parents were talking to one kid about the other kid, they referred to them as "brother" and "sister" also (Go walk with Brother to the other side.).

Poetic Justice?

Someone was complaining because Portugal eliminated England today... As I was heading South on 97 Street, in the Northbound lane there was a Portuguese car flag on the ground (someone obviously forgot about it and opened their window on this 27C day). Car after car after car drove over it. I saw this and thought of you.
(you know who you are!)