The Terry Fox Run…

September 30, 2007 at 10:36 PM (stuff)

Friday, at Emma’s school, they held the annual Terry Fox run. Meg and I went, as volunteers, to help watch the kids in her class. I think it’s great that the schools do this, apparently it is across the country, an annual day that all schools participate in. What I want to know is why do I always get a lump in my throat and all teary eyed, every time he is mentioned. It’s not like I knew him, or anything. I was a kid when he attempted his across Canada run, I didn’t hear about him until years after he had died. But there it is. It just does something to me. Before the run, they had this little pep rally, to get the kids going, and it was all I could do, to keep the tears in check. Why?? I find it very peculiar. I’m just a big sap or something??

Anyway, weekend pretending to do some cleaning. We are going to North Bay for Thanksgiving, nothing worse than coming home to a filthy house. We are leaving the vicious watchdog Sasha behind, Kasha (our house/pet sitter) is willing to walk her, so despite how sad she will be (the dog, not the housesitter), I think it’s better. It’s only for a couple days, she’s in good hands, and it’s easier on poor Monica (Todd’s Mom), who is putting all of us up for Thanksgiving. Mom and Dad are meeting us there, so she got all of us MacGregor’s invading!

I’m reading Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking. Half way through, has any one else read this?? Did it work??? I’m hoping, but not very hopeful. It makes sense, but you know, so does not smoking!!! Todd quit using Zyban more than four years ago, (never mind the side affects, don’t go there….I’m still pissed about that!! ) but it did work for him. If a book could do the same damn thing, I’d be pretty happy.

I think we are going to be going back to Dovercourt, over in Ottawa, for swimming lessons for the girls. Todd took Meg today to the Aylmer pool for her swimming lesson, and apparently she was left standing at the side of the pool for about ten minutes, wet and crying, all by herself. The way the viewing area is, you can’t see most of the pool (???????) – ridiculous design- and parents aren’t supposed to accompany their child into the pool area, so one would think there are responsible individuals looking after your child, and not complete morons which seems to be the case. So Todd couldn’t see her, and didn’t know she wasn’t swimming, till her class finally came into view, and no Meghan. He went back through the change rooms to the pool side, and found her. Who in their right mind would think that a little four year old, standing all by herself, crying by the side of a pool, is okay?????? The more I think about it the madder I get. I’m calling whoever I have to tomorrow, I’m going to go next Sunday and ask this “swim coach” what the fart???????and I’m going to right letters to the Bulletin. I’m so pissed. Fart, fart, fart!!!!!! (I promised the girls I would try not to use the F-word, so we say fart instead. Brings on giggles!!!)

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Ghosts in the machine…

September 26, 2007 at 1:42 PM (stuff)
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I realize I’m taking liberties with the Police’s album title, but it’s an appropriate one. Had the van at the mechanics (actually a dealer, not Nick and Albert – it was their suggestion), and they could not find anything wrong!! Todd had replaced a fuse that blew, and kept blowing Thursday night, and now for some reason, it doesn’t want to blow again. It is perfectly fine! I want to go back to the day of horse and buggy. I kept saying how much I love my new van, now I’m not sure how much I trust it. I’m worried that I’ll be on the highway, or somewhere and it’ll just go, like it did Thursday night. That would be a horrible accident, just waiting to happen! No warning, and it gives you about two seconds to get to the side of the road. Well, I’m knocking on wood, hoping it really just was a ghost in the machine.

I picked up another violin on ebay a while ago, and it’s a beauty. I sold one last spring, so I gave myself permission to buy another one. Problem is, now I have three really nice ones, that I’m reluctant to sell again! Actually, it’s not that pretty, and I had to do a little repair work on it, but it sounds fantastic, and that is all that really matters. It’s a nice Maggini copy, with the extra ring on the scroll and the double purfling, but no label. I should try to sell some of my student size violins, too. If I’m going to ever get around to teaching, I don’t need to be the instrument supplier, although it was a nice idea. There are always lots of student violins around that they can purchase. How many instruments should a person have, really.

Meg and I had playgroup this morning.  It’s nice to get out and talk to other people, even if we usually talk about our kids or our husbands.  I’m glad that I found it, a few years ago.  It gave all of us a chance to make a few friends and a reason other than shopping to get out of the house.  As for the pool, the new schedule is ridiculous.  I’ve written complaints, and others have as well.  Hopefully enough people will complain so that we can get at least a few of the daytime swims back.  I haven’t been in weeks, because it just isn’t very convenient anymore.   There is an open swim tomorrow, so I’m going to try to get the girls to go with me after school before we all forget how to swim.

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My new favorite sweater…and Kurt Vonnegut…again

September 23, 2007 at 2:29 AM (authors, books and writers, notes and thoughts)

I’m not sure where to start this post. I wanted to write on Thursday, but it was a crazy day. Started out great, ended up actually still great, just some trying moments in between.

Thursday is my me day. Meg goes to Jacob’s, so I went shopping. When I go shopping, it ain’t Neiman Marcus, or even Reitman’s. It’s the ONS, the Sally Ann, or the V.V. boutique. I love thrift shopping. And when I come home with a few t-shirts (that I really, really like as opposed to some that are almost okay, but just not quite right) and a couple pair of pants, and a new fabulous sweater, then I am one happy camper! And this sweater is absolutely THE sweater I have been looking for. It is long, greenish/brown earthy color, cardigan type with no buttons, what can I say? It is probably so out of style, but I love it. So that’s my sweater. And I paid a whopping $17.00 for all my ‘new’ clothes. So I was ripping home in my ‘van, singing with the radio, feeling good about just about everything.

Picked up Emma from school, and she rode her bike over to Jacob’s (his older sister, Zoe, goes to school with Emma, they are also good friends), so I had another hour to myself! Yes!!

Todd called from work, his car is acting up again. Don’t we have an old battery, maybe you could bring it? Kids come home, fart around, drive to meet Todd, battery doesn’t fit, he’ll try to drive the Sable home. Turning a corner, half way home, the ‘van dies. Just katplut. Oh oh. Just get worse from there. Tow truck will take hours, Todd says : Try to make it home in the Sable. Half way again, the Sable dies on me. It’s 8:30pm by this point. I’m on the long stretch towards home, right after the Champlain bridge, busy but dark road with no houses anywhere near and my two little girls in the car. I am also one of those rarities who have neither a cell phone nor a credit card. Long story short, a good Samaritan stopped to help. Called a tow truck for me, actually paid for the tow truck (I had a whopping $15.00 left in my pocket, and tow trucks do not take checks.) I am so thankful to this very kind man, who helped. He wouldn’t even let me write him a check for the money. We eventually made it home, girls ate and were asleep by 10pm. It was a very trying, tiring night, but things ended okay. You don’t realize how stressful something so simple can be until you are responsible for trying to get two little girls home safely. I was near tears sitting at Lucerne Blvd, wondering how the hell am I going to do this, not knowing where Todd was and knowing he wouldn’t be able to help, seeing as he was waiting for his own tow truck. The pure relief at coming home, making it safely, was stupefying. I never would have been so worried had it just been me.

And I think I am going to get a cell phone. Or at least a credit card. So anyway, that was my Thursday.

Friday, I finished ‘Garp’, and started on Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Fates Worse Than Death’. It’s kind of a meandering conversation with an old friend. Fits autumn and my new sweater. And I couldn’t find ‘A Prayer For Owen Meany’, which was next on my list till I found K.V. Todd has toooooo many books, many more than I do, and I used to think I had a lot. So the bookshelves are overflowing, making it almost impossible to find the one you’re looking for. The good thing is that while you are looking, you usually come across something that sounds almost as interesting as the book you were looking for. Hence, K.V. And I’ll admit, I do read a lot of candy, so I don’t keep those ones. Once I’m done, out it goes. Todd doesn’t consider any of his books ‘candy’. So he keeps them all.

Well, that’s the update for now.frttttttttttttttttttttttt[p;p(this is Cherry’s little note. Not sure what it means, but she wanted to pass on the message!!)

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Winter is coming….

September 17, 2007 at 11:47 PM (books and writers)

The nights are getting colder, the leaves are starting to turn, you can tell the season has changed, almost overnight.  God, that makes me so sad!  It means winter is coming!  I recently finished a series by George R.R. Martin, where the motto of this one family is “Winter is coming”.  So now every time I say it, or think it, I think of the Starks (the family).  But it is coming.

Things on the homefront are fine.  I realize maybe I shouldn’t be so personal on the world wide web, but hell, this is my blog, it kind of replaces any journals that I used to keep, and I’m not being overly personal.  And once in a while, I need to go boohoo, woe is me.  That’s just me.  So we had a fight, kissed and made up, and things are okay, as far as I know.  The seasonal change always seems to affect me, depress me, and just make things difficult.  Plus I’m getting a bloody cold!!  Yay, school!   Ah, well, I’m embarking on a new novel.  Rereading, actually. ‘The World According To Garp’ by John Irving.  I’ve meaning to reread many of his books, and so now I am starting.  I’ve always loved ‘A Prayer For Owen Meany’,  but for some strange reason, I have not been able to reread it in years.  I’ll work my way up to it.  Fall seems to be my reading time.  I’d love to find some new authors, new books, worthy of keeping on my shelves for years to come.

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Men are men…even when they are cats!!!

September 14, 2007 at 12:00 AM (Uncategorized)

Please, someone, tell me why, when you want the attention, you want to hang out and/or snuggle, they ignore you, they’ve got other stuff to do. But when you are busy, want your time to do stuff, all of a sudden, they can’t live without you! Simon has been bugging me all night long, trying to get on my lap (where my computer is) and just wanting my attention. For the past three nights, he could live without me, because I was sitting in my chair, reading, and willing to have a cat on my lap. Now all of a sudden he loves me.

I think men are the same. Lately, Eve has been a real bone of contention between us. Eve is a computer game. I wish Eve was a woman. At least then I could punch her in the nose. I thought things were getting better, we have rules, I stick to my end, and he was supposed to stick to his. And he cheats, I know, but as long as it’s not flagrant violations, I don’t get too pissed. But lately it’s been way too much, and I’ve been way too angry. I don’t like being angry. I’m generally a nice person, and I love my husband, but when it gets to the point where I feel like he loves a computer game more than me, then, well, I start to get a little pissed.

And very, very sad.

For a few seconds, I got my shoulders rubbed. I guess that was his way of saying something. But you know what? It’s gonna take more than a couple seconds, and Simon just tried to jump in my lap again. At least I have one man in my life who wants to cuddle with me. Did I mention that I am keeping Simon? He is mine as much as cat can belong to anyone. Cherry is Emma’s, Mina is Meg’s. We weren’t going to keep Simon, but I guess someone feels guilty enough! I guess it’s not the worse deal. I get to keep my baby out of it!!

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Re-reading your childhood…

September 12, 2007 at 10:59 PM (authors)

For those that know me, you will know that I was your stereotypical geeky child. I had glasses from the age of 6 or 7. I had a huge gap between my two front teeth (which a retainer failed to correct and only added to my geekieness). I was really quite intelligient (i.e. went to the gifted program once a week). I played the violin. And I read voraciously. Pretty much added up to being a total geek, particularly in grade school. I’ll tell you about my about-face during high school some other time. Let’s just say grade school sucked. I was the only girl with glasses. The only girl who got called four eyes. And the only person who ever got into trouble for reading during class. I had to kick the biggest bully in the nuts in grade six, just so I would be something other than ‘four eyes’. (Sorry Moose.) I played floor hockey like it was tackle hockey. I had to pretend to be a real toughy, slapped a girl who insulted my mom (sorry Anna), because somehow, I just didn’t fit in. So I could be a geek, or I could try to be tough (and a geek). Either way, I don’t think I really enjoyed grade school very much. But at least I had a place where I could escape. My books.

I learnt to read when I was about 4 or so. Thank you Dr. Seuss. After that, the world was my oyster. I could disappear anytime I wanted to and into any world. Judy Blume, Beverly Clearly, Paula Danzigger, those were some of the popular authors for young girls, during my adolescence. I also loved some of the classic children’s authors, Enid Blyton and E. Nesbith, in particular. The Black Stallion series, by Walter Farley, was another favorite. So many books, so many authors, they gave me so much. A retreat from the real world, somewhere fun to go when things were tough, as they so often are as a child. I think people forget that childhood isn’t as fun as you remember. There are many painful memories, things that don’t go away, that live within your adult you forever. That feeling of being a bucked toothed, four eyed geek still stays with me even though I’ve gone through many other stages of life by now, including what I call my swan stage, during high school and univesity. But I have digressed…

I meant to write about Gordon Korman. Thanks to a reminder from Sarah, I’ve been re-reading all of his books that I still have in my collection. He still makes me laugh out loud and I’m 36. The books I have are written for a much younger audience. Tells you something about this writer. He is/was Canadian, he is so goddamn funny, and his books are a simple joy to read. I can’t name another author I would like to be stuck with more on an island, provided he would continue writing for my enjoyment (except for perhaps Margaret Atwood, but I fear she would find me exceedingly dull. I think Gordon and I would have a rip-roaring good time. Maggie is too smart for me.) So go find a book by this author, especially one of his earlier children/young adult books, and prepare to laugh. You might even pee your pants!!!

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I love a rainy day

September 11, 2007 at 2:22 PM (random stuff)

Some days just feel like it is supposed to feel when it rains. You don’t really have to do too much, but you kind of feel like puttering. So you make some muffins, have a cup of tea in front of the computer, maybe make a batch of strawberry jam, fold a few items of clothing, but not too much. You don’t want it to feel like a chore. Catch up on some email, surf a bit, just puttering! It’s lovely.

For once, Meghan and her friend Jacob are playing ponies very nicely together in the living room (You have to be four years old to understand the rules of that one, and yes, I am exagerating when I say for once.) So they are chattering away in the background, and it’s pretty funny to listen in on their conversation. Something to do with Vampire ponies, and disappearing babies, and flying Daddies and Mommies, oh, and throw in a few turtles too. Very strange! Quite the imaginations these two creatures have.

The pool has been closed for the past week and a half, I am not happy to say. I was on a roll, swimming almost everyday, and feeling pretty good. I’m not overally concerned about my weight, but like most people, I could lose a few pounds. So swimming was great for me! I could see the results, as well as how much better I was feeling physically! It opens again on Friday, thank goodness, so I can back into the swing of things. Can’t wait!

Well, at the moment, we still have three kittens. Mina, Cherry, and Simon. They are the cutest little monkeys.

renoir-005.jpgThis is Cherry.

renoir-010.jpgThis is Simon.

tourist-for-a-day-018.jpgAnd this is Mina.

They are almost five months old now. Aren’t they cuties?

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It’s harder to find a good mechanic than….

September 6, 2007 at 11:31 AM (good mechanics in ottawa)

A good doctor. Or a good man. Or a fun way to do laundry. We are so lucky to have not only good mechanics, but honest and decent ones!

The car was acting really funny, so we brought it in to Nick and Albert’s, who diagnosed a leak in a hose somewhere, and Voila! Less than a hundred dollars later, the car is as good as new. Thank you, thank you, thank you guys! Todd was worried it would be the transmission, or something major, that would wind up costing hundreds. So if there is anyone in Ottawa or Aylmer looking for decent mechanics, these guys are the best! I mean, they even gave us a bottle of (really good) homemade wine when Meg was born! I have recommended them to friends in the past, and everyone’s always been happy. So that’s my plug for Nick and Albert. You can find them at:

Dirienzo & Saikaley Auto, at 1 Spadina in Ottawa.

(613) 722-5819

Well, Meg is at Jacob’s today, so I am going to go for a nice long bike ride, and enjoy it. The sun is shining and it is really warm, so I want to get out and enjoy it while it lasts. Weekend is supposed to be rainy, so I can put stuff off until then!

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