Posts (page 2)
I've missed writing these for a few weeks, so let's see if I can stay focused long enough to catch up.
For anyone else who is a fan of Little Mosque on the Prairie, I just saw Sheila MacCarthy (Sarah Hamoudi) shopping at Chapters in Etobicoke. Ok, onto other things.....
This week will definitely not be forgotten soon. The storm that came through South Mississauga last Saturday was short and violent, and we're just lucky no one was hurt. Our backyard, with our fallen maple and smashed play structure, became something of a tourist attraction, with at least 2 people actually bringing their cameras to take pictues of it (3, if you count the tree removal guys, but I assume for them it was work-related). It took 3 guys 3 days to remove the tree and playhouse and swings. Getalife has promised ReRe a bigger, better playhouse, which seems to have assuaged his fear and sadness. A couple times this week, he did tell me that it made him sad, but he also had lots of fun watching the guys with chainsaws and ladders and ropes and a wood chipper dealing with the tree removal. The maple had to be taken down entirely, and has left a gaping hole in our backyard, and we were very sad to see it go.
So while my husband has lived in Canada for 20 years now, every once in a while we'll come across something that is totally normal to me, and completely foreign to him. This week, it was the concept of "If it is left on the street/sidewalk/end of the driveway, anyone can take it". We don't burn wood in our fireplace, so we had A LOT of potential firewood to get rid of. Getalife told the tree removal people to just take it away; I told them to dump it in the ditch, so that if anyone wanted it, they could take it. Getalife wasn't happy about this, thinking it was going to sit there forever; I assured him it would be done within a few days. As soon as the wood started piling up, we had neighbours knocking on the door, asking if they could have some. Then came the strangers. Finally, yesterday, a pick-up truck with a trailer attached to it pulled up, four people piled out, with their work gloves and boots on, and they loaded up and left with the rest of it. Getalife stared out the window in disbelief, still not convinced that this was an indication of my prediction coming true. He still feels a little weird about it.
I am very happy to say that the swimming lessons, which ReRe didn't want to go to, quickly became something he looked forward to as soon as he was up in the morning. I think it was the fun of being with the other boys in the pool, but also a certain swim instructor, I think ReRe officially had his first crush. Whatever it was, he ended his first two weeks successfully, and actually got his first swimming badge. This took me completely by surprise, as I had registered him for the next two weeks in the same level. They said it was fine for him to stay in that class, they'll just let him do things at the next level.
He came home with the badge yesterday, and showed it to his Dad. Getalife was also totally surprised, and very pleased. ReRe said, "Daddy, can I have a treat?" and Getalife said, "Honey, you can have whatever you like. And someday you will bring home a report card with straight A's, and I'll buy you a Porsche." ReRe looked down at his badge, then looked up at Getalife and said, "so what about that treat?". A bird in the hand.
Not wanting to relive the drama, I'll just show you the photos of the havoc wrought in our backyard by a freak storm that swept thru yesterday morning:
me: "Stop kicking the baby."
ReRe: "I'm just checking to make sure the baby is ok. With my foot."
ReRe: "When the baby comes, we have to protect her from the fox!"
me: "OK honey."
ReRe: "So when you hear the fox coming, put the baby in your pocket so the fox can't get her. So always wear jeans with pockets."
Car camping means you can bring things like this:
This is the Woods Camping Kitchen Stand. I have been coveting this ever since I started surfing the Canadian Tire website for car camping equipment. This stand holds your stove, dish washing equipment, and cooking stuff, so that the picnic table is just for eating. It also has a telescoping lantern hook so you can hang your light source up over the stand for cooking and cleaning at night. And it means you can stand upright while cooking and cleaning, and not leaning over the picnic table bench. It retails for $80, and it really is a secondary, if not tertiary, level of camping equipment that I know I shouldn't buy until I know that my family will actually accompany me to the woods again, but it just makes so much sense. It has also received excellent reviews on the CT website. This photo is actually someone else's photo that they posted in the reviews, showing the stand at work. The reviews said that people sometimes snort or scoff at this stand, but that they were just jealous.
I had a copy of the latest Vanity Fair next to my bed. ReRe carried it into the bathroom and said, "Who is this, mummy?". I said, "That's Johnny Depp." "Do we know him mummy?". "No, honey, we don't know him." "Oh". ReRe flipped over the magazine and said, "Who is this lady, mummy?" and I said "that's the Revlon lady, honey", to which he replied, "Is she Johnny's wifey?". I said they were just friends.
ReRe is getting used to the idea of having a new baby, he has started hugging and kissing my belly, which I think is super cute. We asked him what he wanted us to name the baby, and he has come up with "ha-CHOO!". We'll work on that one.
This morning was the first time I had to get up extra early to register my son in an activity, this time swimming lessons. Thank goodness this pool recently changed its policies and it was an on-line registration, and I didn't have to line up at 6am like parents used to do. But I had a feeling like reverse deja-vu, like I could see myself in the future many, many mornings in years to come where I will need to go through this sort of process. I don't resent it, it just felt a little weird. This will be the first time ReRe will be in a swimming class without me, and he's told me numerous times that he doesn't want to go in the pool without me. But he is ready for the next level up, and I was finding it very exhausting to be climbing in and out of the pool, and that is only going to get worse, the more pregnant I get. We'll see how it goes. For some reason, in the summer, the lessons are every day, Monday to Friday, so I've signed up for four weeks, but not for the whole summer, that seems like overkill. Even four weeks of five lessons a week already seems daunting.
Today is also the last day that he will be with his present teacher at school. It was sort of sprung on us last week that, starting next week, he would be moving up a class (for their "summer camp") and while he's moving up with many little friends, he really loves this teacher, and I'm afraid of how upset he'll be next week. This will be the class he'll be in when the fall comes, so at least we know we won't have to go through this again for at least another year and a half, at which point he'll be likely leaving the school for senior kingergarten somewhere else. He's always handled transitions well, I just hate to see him sad.
Sup neighbourhood. Check out my new theme, and tell me what kind of punkin I'm getting for Hallowe'en.
Today is Repeat Day, so we want to know: what song do you have currently have on repeat? Bonus points if you share it with us!
I have K'naan's whole album on repeat at the moment, but two songs in particular, Waving Flag and Fatima. This album really is fantastic. While K'naan has mainly been labeled as hip hop before, he sings many more of the songs on this album, and he has a wonderful voice. This album has also been labeled as folk, due to the political and social messages in it, and I think this is one of its strongest points, K'naan has written some really poignant songs that are powerful without being cliched or sentimental. These two songs are getting some radio play on CBC, and I've heard other tracks from this album on hip hop stations, but I'm not sure how much other play he is getting. At any rate, these tracks are fantastic, and I'd strongly suggest taking the time to listen to them. Waving Flag is a repetitive freedom ballad; Fatima is a sweet, catchy song that actually tells quite a sad story. I was in tears by the end of it when I listened to it the first time, and then nearly fell over when K'naan said at the end of the song, "Hey, don't cry! This song is a celebration!" I try not to cry, but it gets me every time.
I don't know how to embed tracks (Rockr/Junkii, help me out here!) so I'll put in links to clips from QTV's session with K'naan and another from Youtube.
Sometimes it takes me a second to decode ReRe's interpretations of what he sees around him:
Under water sunglasses = goggles
Water wire = hose
Chocolate meatballs = Chocolate Timbits
One of the things I really dislike about technology is how disposable it is. I put off getting new cell phones and computers until it becomes absolutely necessary. Like right now, a Blackberry would be extremely useful in my life, as would a new MacBook, but I'm purchasing neither until the technology I have is irreparably (sp?) damaged. I pay for a remote back-up of my laptop, awaiting that day.
Now, something just happened that makes me completely crazy. My printer (a Lexmark printer/copier/fax) is about 1.5 years old, and after having been moved from one office space to another, it decided it no longer wanted to properly feed paper. So I call Lexmark Canada, and I get an automated voice that was distinctly French Canadian, but with impeccable English, falsely raising my hopes that I might get to to talk to someone in Canada. After I punch through the menu, I get that familiar clicking sound of my call being passed to a call centre somewhere overseas. I take a deep breath, and go through the usual formalities of complaining about a product. The woman asked me to unload all the paper from the printer, then unload the ink cartridges. I opened the top of the printer, but the cartridges were slid all the way to the left, so I couldn't unload them. The woman told me to gently pull on the white cable attached to the cartridge holder, and slide it to the middle. I did this, and unloaded the cartridges. The printer did not like this at all, and the cartridge holder started sliding violently back and forth, snapping off the clips that hold the cartridges down. I told this to the woman, who re-started her instructions at "Now please open your printer" at which point I said "I DID THAT AND UNLOADED THE CARTRIDGES AND THE PRINTER JUST SNAPPED OFF THE CLIPS THAT HOLD DOWN THE CARTRIDGES!" IT'S EVEN MORE BROKEN NOW!" Without missing a beat, the woman asked me for my mailing address, as they would be sending me a new printer in 3-4 business days. WHAT?! I mean, I'm glad I'm going to have a working printer, but that's it? It's broken so replace it? She said I was going to have to send them back my broken printer so I wouldn't be charged for the new one, so I can only hope that they fix or refurbish the one I have. But there was no option given to physically repair the one I have. This makes me crazy.
The new one better be wireless.
