Edmonton in the summer

I do not usually have a lot of great things to say about Edmonton, but I will say that Edmonton in the summer is a pretty good place to be. We normally have pretty good weather, not overly hot, but definitely t-shirts and shorts weather. There does seem to be a tendency for thunderstorms, which are lovely in the evening, not so great when you are walking home from the mall and have left the stroller rain cover in the garage. Liam likes to think there is going to be a tornado, and is constantly looking for funnel clouds during any storm. Today is actually the 18th anniversary of Black Friday, a tornado in which 27 people in Edmonton died. I was in England and missed the whole thing.
Edmonton is called Festival City, and the name does fit at this time of the year. We have had the international street performers festival, Taste of Edmonton, Klondike Days, this long weekend is Heritage Days and in August there will be the Folk Fest, the Fringe, a Carribean festival, a blues festival, and a few others that frankly I have no interest in, but some people obviously do. What of these have I attended or will attend? Umm...just heritage days this year. And possibly the fringe because of the Scots. So while I may talk Edmonton up (and not very well) I very rarely do Edmonton things. So anti-social. Or poor. One of the two. Possibly both.

A few facts about Edmonton: -it is the largest city (in area) in North America.
-the river valley parks system is 22 times the size of New York's central park
-it is home to the world's largest mall, which includes the world's largest indoor amusement park and indoor water park (as well as the world's largest parking lot)
-it was the first city in North America to hold the Worlds.
-that is all I can think of off the top of my head.
-it's just my opinion but aside from the Liffey in Dublin the North Saskatchewan is the dirtiest river I've ever seen.

Heritage Days

This is the first time I remember the Irish Society changing their background. We'll be back to the same one next year, I imagine. Had a lovely day at Heritage Days...no English or Scottish pavillions though, so no Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles or Gums.

Damn these blogs

It seems that the world of blogging is much too big for me. I am fine and dandy with typing a post or two, I can even put up a picture but the rest of it is beyond me. I have noticed that a few people have linked me to their sites (and by a few, I literally mean a few) but I have no clue as to how I would do the same. I have seen talk about tracking the people visiting your blog on more than one site and I thought about installing it myself but besides the fact that is beyond my capabilities I'm not sure I want to know how many (well, let's face it, how few) people are viewing my blog, never mind how they are getting there. Does that mean my favourite blog to visit knows just how many times in a day I might pop on to his/her site? Might I get a reputation as a blog stalker? I tell you, this blogging is an awful lot like high school. Frightening.

If I could have lived in another time....

........I would have chosen Ireland (but of course) during the 1916-22 period. Foolish, I know. William says why would you want to have lived in a time of murder and war? I am sure if I had actually lived in that period I would have hated it (along with my tenament slum), but knowing what we know now, wouldn't it have been exciting? Of course, this could all stem from my adoration of Michael Collins. It is strange to have a crush on a dead person, but I do. There is something so lovely about him. Even if he was a bit of a player. The good looking ones always are. I thought about this because I was thinking if he was alive he probably would have been very pleased about the IRA's statement. Course, if he hadn't have been fucked over by them in the first place, a united Ireland would have happened long ago. That's just my opinion. May very well be wrong.

This murder and war thing isn't just an Ireland obsession thing, when I was little I wanted to live in England during World War II. Hmmm, I really am a tad strange I think!

Assimilation

I was thinking today how quickly children adjust to new cultures and places. When I talk to Taylor, who has been in England for all of a month, I am always laughing at the English accent she seems to have quickly developed. My neighbour had visitors from Ireland last month and they also were practicing their Canadian accents. I wonder if when William's niece arrives from Scotland in a few weeks if she will also pick up our non-accent.
The last time I was in England, my Nan was telling me that when she visited the summer after we had moved to Canada I corrected almost everything she said. 'No Nanny, it's not the sweet shop, it's the candy store'. The few Britishisms I have held on to are the titles of my grandparents (Nan and Grandad - with the Irish ones being Granny and Granda- instead of the more North American Grandma and Grandpa), my mum is not my mom, and for some reason I still say grip instead of bobby pin, along with a few others.
There is really no reason to this post but I am posting it anyways.

Today's the Day!

Less than 4 hours until William arrives. I managed to get the house clean, last night I was working on pure anger adrenlin. Liam brought 3 friends into the house while I was out yesterday and they used bottles of bubbles, soap, face cleanser, listerine, carpet cleaner and other assorted products to spray my entire house and themselves. They soaked the stairs going to the upper floor so badly that it went through to the basement and short circuited the light. I was none too pleased! Liam spent the night at his dad's as I honestly don't know what I would have done to him if I had had to talk to him anymore. No, I wouldn't have hit him, but I sure wanted to. So we are all ready to go, although Saoirse spilled tea all down her 'I love my daddy' tshirt. Hopefully, this is not a sign of the way the rest of my day is going to go. If there's a delay at the airport I will not handle it well. He should have just landed in Vancouver, I am going to call Air Canada and see.

Breaking News...Canadian Story Covered by American Media!

First, let me express my shock at the amazing turn of events...so often (well, every day) I am bombarded by American news stories. So when I turned on the American news program 60 Minutes I was suprised to see they were covering the story of a Canadian citizen being deported to Syria. But wait, who is it that is deporting this man? Oh, the Americans. Well that explains why it's being mentioned then. Though I have to say even last year the American media would have not done a story at all critical of the United States government. My, how things have changed.
This man, a Syrian born Canadian citizen, was on his way home from holidays. He had a stopover in the States, where he was detained and questioned. He ended up being deported to Syria. Why Syria and not Canada? Because Syria tortures prisoners. Which they did. Although when Canadian officials were granted permission to see him, he was told not to say a word. Eventually, he ended up back in Canada and today is suing former attorney general John Ashcroft, along with other American officials. And so he should.
By the way, even the Syrian government now says there ia absolutely no proof he was involved in any way with terrorism, the American government still has him on a terrorist watchlist. That's America for ya.

Liam and Taylor

This not a particularly good picture of either Taylor or Liam but I used it because a) Liam hardly ever lets me take his picture- and never with Taylor, b) Taylor's wearing a Celtic jersey, which she does exactly once a year on Jersey Day at school and c)it's the only picture I have of them on the computer.

100 Things About Me (since you're all dying to know)

1. I was born in Sutton Coldfield, England.
2. I have one brother, Thom. He's 13 months younger than me.
3. I couldn't stand him growing up.
4. But I love him like mad now. This could be becasue he is in B.C.
5. I have lived in Edmonton, Alberta since I was 3.
6.My first memory is of packing to move to Canada.
7.My father is a Catholic from Belfast.
8. My mother is a Protestant from Birmingham.
9. That is a terrible combination.
10. My partner is a Protestant from Belfast.
11. I am a Catholic from Birmingham.
12. That makes a good combination.
13. My parents split up when I was 21.
14. I was already married and 8 months pregnant.
15. I moved out at 19 to get away from the fighting.
16. My life would have been totally different if my mum had left my dad when we were young.
17. I would have had an English accent.
18.My father is an alcoholic.
19.I do not drink often.
20. When I do, I drink to get drunk.
21.My cousin says this makes me an alcoholic.
22. I said he is a mad alcoholic.
23.I have never taken a single drug in my life.
24. Except for what turned out to be fake E's in Amsterdam.
25.I have never smoked a cigarette.
26. I have 3 children.
27. Taylor, 10
28. I have a hard time with her.
29. Liam, 9
30. He has ADD, dyslexia and dysgraphia.
31. Saoirse, 8 months.
32. Her eyes are 2 shades of blue.
33. I have one tattoo.
34. It is a four leaf clover in a maple leaf.
35. I totally ignore my English Heritage.
36. My favourite place in the world is Belfast.
37. I felt more at home in the north of Ireland than I did in the south.
38. I was totally surprised by that.
39. My cousin, not the mad alcoholic, moved to Canada at 11 and back to Ireland at 30 something. He says the Irish love tourists, but hate immigrants, even ones born there.
40. I said maybe he shouldn't have gone to Cork.
41. My first serious boyfriend was German.
42. He was a bastard.
43. When I miscarried at 17 he told all his friends I had an abortion.
44. Two days before we broke up he slept with 3 girls. One in the morning, one in the evening and me, late at night.
45. I did not know that until months later.
46. The girl that he slept with in the morning told me. That was the day she lost her virginity.
47. I said it is a shame he ruined that day for you by sleeping with two other people.
48. She did abort his baby. A year after my miscarriage.
49. I am not yet divorced.
50. But am in love with another man.
51. And have his child.
52. I do not have my drivers license.
53. I failed 3 times between 16-18.
54. My all time favourite T.V show is Homefront (cancelled after 2 seasons.)
55. And then it would be Homicide.
56. I love the Amazing Race.
57. My favourite sport is football. (aka soocer as we Canadians call it)
58 My favourite teams are Celtic and Aston Villa.
59. I used to love hockey.
60. When I was young, I collected soap and pins.
61. I earned my Brownie collector badge by putting all my pins on a tea towel.
62. Brownies was my first experience in skipping things. I ended up quitting.
63. My daughter earned her Guide collector badge by collecting postcards from around the world.
64. I was a Brownie leader for 2 years.
65. My name was Snowy Owl.
66. Next year, I am moving up to Guides.
67.I took ballet when I was 4 and quit the day before the recital. ( I do like to quit things, apparently.)
68. My father wanted me to take Irish dancing and I refused.
69. I regret this immensely.
70. Scotland is the only country in the Bristish Isles I have never been to.
71. And yet we talk about possibly moving there.
72. I do not think I could move, as I would have to get rid of most of my stuff.
73. I am a pack rat.
74. Although I did manage to get rid of 10 boxes of books last year.
75. I wish I hadn't
76. Because some day I may actually get my dream house with a library.
77. But it is doubtful.
78. I have to go back to work in less than 2 months and I do not want to.
79. I hate working.
80. I have 2 jobs.
81. One as a hospital porter.
82. The other as a nursing attendant.
83. I much prefer portering, you get paid more and I don't have to wipe asses.
84. This is what happens to you when you think more about your boyfriend than your school work.
85. I never worried about it in high school, I knew I would rather be married with kids.
86. When William is able to work in Canada, I will not need to worry about working.
87. I will work only for spending money.
88. I love to spend money.
89. And manage to spend alot while still paying all my bills.
90. Except for the credit cards that are in collection.
91. I refuse to pay them because it is cheaper for me if they sue me.
92. Which they won't do, because it is not worth it for them.
93. I realize this is a very immature attitude to take.
94. I make more on EI, than I would working 4 days a week.
95. I hope no one from the Gov't of Canada reads that.
96. Or from a credit card agency.
97. I told someone from collections to never call me again.
98. And she hasn't, because if you say that they can not call.
99. Someone who worked in a collection agency told me that.
100. I spent way to much time talking about collection agencies.

Saoirse

Thanks to catpee for the instructions on how to upload!! I'm sure I must have better pics of her. The baby, I mean.

Disco Disco Duck

As I lay in bed last night, totally unable to sleep, I was thinking about music and about how my tastes have changed over the years. The first album I remember my mum buying me was a Michael Jackson one, it had the song Ben on it. Might have even been called Ben, actually. Couldn't be arsed to look online and find out. I loved Michael Jackson, and of course owned Thriller as well. By the time Bad came out, I thought the man was a total nut. And he was and still is. I did of course own albums before that, I remember listening to Sesame Street albums and Disney albums on my little Mickey Mouse record player. My favourite was Disco Duck. I found a cassette of it when my daughter was about 3 and bought it for her. I still loved that album. You can't beat 'It's a Small World.'

I always remember music in my house, though I imagine not to the extent that alot of other people did. My mother was a big Elvis fan and my dad loved the Beatles. If I got to pick the next record to go on, I always chose from 3... a Barbra Streisand one (the word Superman comes to mind...but again, couldn't be arsed to find out what it was really called), the Beatles love songs (I loved the Long and Winding Road) and a 70s album that had the song Last Kiss on it, rerecorded by Pearl Jam a few years ago.

The first album I bought myself was David Bowie, the one with Modern Love and Let's Dance. The cassette is still floating around, the cover long gone. It was a choice between that and Corey Hart's First Offense. My mum eventually bought me that one and to this day I still love Corey Hart (not that I'd admit that to anyone, mind you.)
He was, I think, my first actual crush. For Christmas when I was 11, I received a stero...v fancy for the day, a record player and 2 tape decks, I was the only one of my friends with the ability to record both tape and record and seemed to do alot of it for them.) That Christmas and every Christmas after, my brother and I each received about 4 albums. For some reason I remember the ones he received more than my own...U2's Joshua Tree, Matt Bianco, Scritti Politti, Love and Rockets. I remember getting the Police, the Stand by Me soundtrack and when I was 13 Madonna's True Blue. When I was 13 I also bought the Sex Pistols 'Never Mind the Bollocks'. God, I loved that album. At 13, I also went to England on my own and spent most of my holiday money on albums. Right now all I can only remember buying Curiosity Killed the Cat and Crowded House. Curiosity Killed the Cat never did make it over here. Wonder why. Oh, and I bought Jesus and Mary Chain 'Darklands'. To date, still the best album ever.

At 18 I went back to England, this was right when the Manchester scene was big. I came home with albums by the Stone Roses, James, Wonderstuff and the Levellers, among others. It was the Levellers that got me thinking about music, as for some reason I was quite in the mood to listen to 'A Weapon Called Word', went to put it on and the CD wasn't there. Don't know where it might have got to. I listened to Sons of Maxwell instead. I was listening to 'Live at Tim's House', which is very Irish sounding, which I guess it would as they are from Nova Scotia.

Today, I will listen to most anyting, including a genre I vowed never to like- country. In fact the last CD I bought for myself was a country album. I bought Johnny Reid and I think I like him purely because he is Scottish. And he does have a good voice. Very sexy. Most of my CD buying these days is for Taylor and Liam. Taylor owns way more than Liam (Liam's I can count on one hand...Guns'n'Roses, Eminem, Queen, Elvis.) Taylor loves Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne and such teen like bands. For party gifts at her last 3 birthdays, her dad has made mixed CDs of songs her friends like, they have been a big hit. Well, not the 9th bday one, as I picked the music. A sign of the times apparently. He did one for Liam this year as well. They both went over very well, with kids and parents alike saying how much they liked the CDs.

I suppose I should end this by saying what I was listening to while writing this. That would have been Wolfe Tones 25th Anniversary, disc# 1. Love that album.

No posting on a certain day

I purposely didn't post yesterday, as just in case William ever does see this, I didn't want him reminding me about the glorious twelth. Was bad enough he emailed me pics of the day. He was especially fond of the one of Gerry Adams with a policeman's shield up against him. So was I frankly, as I have never, ever liked Gerry Adams. There is something frighteningly scummy about him. Uck.

It's Almost Time

It is now 5 days until William gets here. Perhaps I should give a bit of a background for those of you who don't know me (and let's face it, that's pretty much everyone.) William and I have been together since January of 2003 but have only spent 11 months of that time together due to the unfortunate fact that he is in Australia and I am in Canada. We have a daughter together, the oft-mentioned Saoirse, who was almost 7 weeks old when William last left Edmonton. By the time he arrives back it will have been 6 months and 20 days since we last saw each other. Needless to say, when you haven't seen your partner in over half a year you tend to start to miss him. Just a tad. Or alot, as the case may be. And this is certainly the case.

I miss absolutely everything about him, the good and the bad...from the fact that he actually cooks (yet another domestic thing I hate) to the crumbs he leaves on my freshly scrubbed counter. I never thought I would miss the crumbs, but I do. I think I will never complain about a single thing he does ever again (although if the only complaint I can think of is toast crumbs, I'd say I have it pretty good.)

The best thing about William is how well my children took to him. Liam took no convincing, he loved William right away. It must have been something about the sick sense of humour...farts and stupid jokes. Taylor was slightly more wary, but feels the same way about him today as Liam. I worry about how William will feel if Saoirse cries around him alot at first, and no matter how much we both say we are expecting it, I don't think you can ever actually be emotionally prepared for it.

I am sure William will not be at all pleased when he discovers I have wrote about him but I think he thinks blogs are quite silly so chances are he might never see this. But he could be happy that I have said reasonably nice things about him, something I do not do enough in real life and have vowed to change, because in reality he has been fantastic to me since the day we met. Sometimes, you just don't appreciate what you've got.

A Countdown

It is one week until William arrives from Australia.

It is one week and one day until Taylor goes to London.

In 2 weeks she will go to Eurodisney and Paris.

In 4 weeks Taylor will arrive home (and so will my mum for that matter.)

In 4 weeks and 2 days, William's sister, brother in law, niece and nephew will arrive from Scotland. The question is where in my 3 bedroom house will I put 9 people?

In 4 weeks and 6 days, Saoirse will be baptised.

It is 7 weeks and 3 days until the first day of school. (There is not a day I love more than the first day of school.)

It is 8 weeks until I have to go back to work (which I really, really, really do not want to do.)

It is 15 weeks and 4 days until I go for a weekend away.

It is 16 weeks until Halloween.

It is 17 weeks and 4 days until Saoirse's first birthday.

It is 17 weeks and 4 days until Remembrance Day.

It is 22 weeks and 4 days until my 29th birthday (for the third time.)

It is 23 weeks and 6 days until Christmas.

It is 26 weeks and 1 day until William officially breaks the law by staying in Canada.

Oh, the state of my house

Well, William arrives in 8 days and my house is a total and complete disaster area. I thought with Taylor away it would suddenly become clean, but other than her room she doesn't make a mess in the rest of the house, just leaves the odd book or 2 or 5 lying around and doesn't put her shoes on the shelf provided. Why did I never realize this before? The fault must lie with Liam then, who has a mass of lego sitting in a basket on the stairs that he was supposed to take up last week. Perhaps I could blame Saoirse, who has done the three P's on both my sofas-puked, pooped and peed. And for a baby, she does seem to have an awful lot of stuff.

But I suppose the fault really does lie with me for two reasons: 1) I never properly taught my kids to do chores. Instead of helping Taylor clean her room, I'd get frustrated and tell her to go and just do it myself. And when Liam loved brooms at the age of 2 why did I not make that his chore there and then. I thought I would give them a few years of just being kids, and apparently left it to late, because now they are in a permanent state of revolt.
2) I bloody well hate cleaning. With a passion. More than I hate anything else in the world, including George Bush. In fact, I would rather sleep with Georgie than clean my house. Hmmm, let me take that back. No, I'd clean my house instead, I think.

I will use any reason known to man to not clean my house. In fact, I could be cleaning right now as Saoirse is finally asleep. But I'm on here! Complaining about the state of my house instead of actually doing anything about it. And I do use poor Saoirse as an excuse an awful lot. "But she doesn't let me put her down" I will cry. This is very true actually, if she is awake she is usually in my arms and you can't do much like that. Yes, I do realize women in China or wherever give birth while toiling in the fields, but hey I'm not in China.
What other excuses do I have? Something to do with reading, sometimes scrapping (which reminds me I must make a card tomorrow to put into the post for Monday...there goes an hour worth of cleaning time.) Mostly Saoirse though, she is a haven of excuses. God, I love that girl.

My house will be clean when he arrives, and will hopefully stay that way once he does. I might send Saoirse over to the neighbour's so I can get an afternoon of cleaning done (and I promise I won't go near the computer once) or I may have to let her cry it out for a change. But it will be done. I hope.

Bono kicks ass

So Bono says that Canada could have taken a lead in stopping poverty in Africa and he is going to kick Paul Martin's butt. And Paul Martin says it is his job to reach the goal of 0.7 or whatever it was (7 maybe?) and he also says it is Bono's job to make sure he does. Well no Paul it is actually Bono's job to sing, to put out mostly good albums but some shite ones too (Pop anyone?) I believe that it is the job of the Liberal Party, as well as the rest of the House of Commons to make sure you do your job. Because if you don't, it won't be Bono but the people of Canada who will vote you out of a job. But not me, I will vote Liberal always because I will always hate the Conseratives more than I could ever be pissed off at the Liberals. And let's face it, the NDP will never get anywhere.

Ah, to be a good catholic.....

....which I am not, and have no chance of ever being. Which made it very difficult when I called my church to book my daughter's baptism. First off I asked if they were doing baptisms in August, as the godparents are coming from Scotland that month. No, they said. Why don't you try Annunciation? So I call Annunciation, which is where my oldest chose to have her First Communion (because you only have to take 3 classes, not 5 like at Good Shepherd.) When I was asked if this was Annunciation was my parish, I said no it is actually Good Shepherd but they suggested I try you. What????, she says, they told you to try us? She seemed a bit perterbed about it, but managed to ask me the following important questions:
Q: What is the baby's name?
A: Saoirse Maeve Sullivan
Q: WHAT????? How do you say that? How do you spell it?
I tell her the proper spelling and the pronunciation and she asks my name and the father's, there is a discussion about my other two children)
Q: Are you baptized Catholic?
A: Yes
Q: And the father, he is Catholic?
A: Umm, no, he wasn't baptized but he was raised as a protestant.
Q: (Exclamation really) NO NO he is not a protestant if he wasn't baptized!!!!
A: Ummm OK.
Q: Were you married in the Catholic Church?
A: (as I am quivering on the sofa) we aren't married (yes I do have a wee bit of catholic guilt about this)
Q:(in a very disapproving tone) Is he the father of your other children?
A: No, he isn't.
Q:What is that father's name?
I wonder why she needs to know that information, but being rather frightened at that moment I choose not to question why and tell her his name
Q: Now about the godparents, what are their names?
A: Well, she will have 2 sets. The first godfather is named .....
Q: What???? (She seems slightly dismayed that his the only difference between his first and last names is the word son)
A: I know
Q: Is he Catholic?
A: Yes (this is the last question that will please this lady)
Q: What about the godmother?
A: No, I'm not sure if she was baptized and if she was it is a protestant faith.
Q: sigh. What about the other godparents?
A: I don't actually know what religion they are, but it is definitely not Catholic.
Q: Well we need to know what religion they are, because there some we don't recognize, like the Salvation Army, and if we don't recognize it or they aren't baptized they can't be godparents, only witnesses.
A: Well, I'll ask.
She then proceeded to tell the baptism class was May 25 and I should probably take it as it has been 9 years since I last did so.
Which was pretty decent of her I thought for when I had my son baptized only 8 months after my daughter, at Good Shepherd I had to take the FOUR hour class all over again.

God, this is getting long. But I haven't even gotten to the class yet. Shelley, the other godmother, came to the class with me. Right off the bat she said I don't think I can listen to this woman for 2 hours. And it was fairly traumatic. On the table there were 5 items, oil, water, a bible, a white garment and something else. Can't remember what. So she says "All five of these items are used in a baptism, but you only really need one of them. What is it?" She starts at at one end of the table (not mine thank God) Everyone says water. She gives each one a withering stare. "Are you sure she says?" Gets to Shelley who says "Water" I say "I'm pretty sure it's holy water." Lady next to me says "The Bible???" Her husband (who did at one point argue with our teacher lady about confirmation) says, full of confidence "It's water." And she says "It's water!!!" As if the whole table except for one person hadn't already said that. Needless to say, I learned that if I had been smarter I could have just called the church and said 'hey one day my baby was choking so I took a moment out of trying to save her life and baptized her with water from the kitchen sink' And no questions asked the priest would have annoited her with oil, signed a piece of paper and the baby would have been catholic without me going to the class, 2 hours of my life that I will never get back.

After attending the class I found out that my own church is now doing baptisms on the exact day the other is. Bugger, I thought, do I have to do this class over again? Alas, called the church yesterday and no, the other just has to fax over a letter saying I took the class. I now have to build up the nerve to call that one and tell them I am doing it elsewhere. Frankly, she'll probably be glad not to have me and my not-conceived-in-marriage-with-a-nice-catholic-man child.

That gets me about the Catholic church, they complain about numbers going down and yet they torture you when you want to do something that really should please them. I hate going to church because without fail, the priest will say something about gay people "Sign our petition to stop politicians from voting for the gay marriage bill! " Haha...it passed. "Never ever get divorced. Stay married even if you are miserable" Sorry, but I do not think a celibate man has the right to tell me if I should stay in a miserable marriage or not. I don't think a celibate man has a right to talk about much of anything to do with relationships actually.

A closing note on the godparents : 1 Catholic, 1 Church of Ireland, 1 baptised but not sure as what (I am going to tell the Church he is Presbyterian- his mother was Scottish so I think that is close enough) 1 not baptized at all but desperately does not want to be called a witness (I am going to commit a huge sign and lie and say that she was baptised United.) oh, the tangled webs we weave.

Baby will be baptised August 14, as long as her father doesn't swear at the priest or anything. I am not sure he will agree when we have to answer the question about promising to raise her in the Catholic faith. After all, he did attend Ian Paisley's Sunday School and let's face it, that would mess anyone up for life, even more so than being a bad catholic.

Thoughts on the London Attacks

Woke up this morning to news of bombings in London. My first thought of course was of my daughter, Taylor, who is in England, but no where near London. Sounds terrible that I would rather it happened this week than next when she will be in London. Called Weston to make sure my aunt, who is in London, was alright. She is fine, of course. Trip to London may be cancelled, but doubtful. They will call me later in the week to see what I think. I say go of course, probably the safest time to be in London, or anywhere for that matter, is immediately after an attack.

This was the first time in my life that "bombing in London" and "IRA" have not been said in the same breath. In fact, have only heard the IRA mentioned once this morning, and that by some American who said it could have been a group such as the IRA but he doubts it.

Saw a news conference with Tony Blair surrounded by G8 leaders. Bush was right next to him of course, or was it Bush's wax figure? Didn't move a muscle, just stood there looking like the eejit he is. Couldn't see Paul Martin, must have had him off at the end somewhere, signifying the imporatance of Canada. Case in point...last night Bush had dinner with the Queen and Paul Martin had dinner with his old friend Paul Hewson. Now while I would rather dine with Bono myself, where was Paul's invite to share a meal (and perhaps a discussion about what fuck wits Bush and Ralph Klein are) with the Queen of Canada?

Typical Americans. There is a terror warning of orange for all bus lines and train lines. It's just like them to turn another country's problems into their own. Fearmongers.

Here's something though, Edmonton is apparently the number 3 Canadian terrorist attack destination of some group or other. First would be Toronto, 2 would be who? Vancouver or Montreal? Not sure why Edmonton is number 3, apparently because of West Edmonton Mall (want to take out 10, 000 people? Come to the mall in the summer or December) and oil. Well, hate to point this out to any wannabe terrorists, but while there may be oil near Edmonton, most of the oil companies have their head offices in Calgary. Pointing out a city in Canada's chances of a terrorist attack in the midst of another country's devastation was very American of me.

Random Meanderings

So Steven Gerrard is staying with Liverpool for the princely sum of 100, 000 pounds per week (why, oh why, do I not have the pound sign on my keyboard. The Euro I have for some unknown reason.) He claims that he felt that Liverpool didn't want him, not the other way round. Since when have 25 year old pro athletes started acting like 12 year girls wondering whether a certain boy likes her or not? No, I figure what really happened was he was up early this morning and was surfing the net and because he has nothing better to do he decided to read some blogs from Canada and just happened upon mine and said that Emma is right, I am being an eejit. I am currently awaiting his thank you in the comment area. Anytime, Steven.

Since this is called a day in the life of a terrible mother I wonder should I not tell you all (that would be all of no one and Steven Gerrard, of course) about my day? First, let me say that is not so much that I am a terrible mother (well on some days I most certainly am) it is more that I am not the GREAT mother I vowed I would be when I was a teenager and was hating my mother for some crime she had committed. Anyhow, I brought Saoirse into bed with me at some point in the very early morning, didn't bother to look at the clock. She woke up at about 8.30 and played with her toes, happily gurgling away. Playing with your toes will only keep you happy for so long so by 9 we were downstairs. Managed to take a shower at 11 as Saoirse was in a v. good mood, playing with Liam. Had to dress in a hurry though, and forget about drying my hair, as she will only be in a good mood with someone else for 10 minutes or so. Needless to say, as I pulled my shirt over my head there were the two of them at the bedroom door. Ah, what else... did some cleaning, certainly not as much as I should have, and then some laundry. Played with baby, took a walk over to Candy's to pick up my new Roots water bottles that we split a pack of (4 for $14...god, that Costco is amazing), clouded over while we were there; finally, it's the rain I've prayed for. It started soon after we got home with wind and hail and a pounding rain. Was over as quickly as it came...didn't even get a chance to see it as I was typing up a memo for a meeting I have to have with a bunch of Newfie wankers. Liam went out in it and was soaked, plus had a welt on his leg from a particularly large hailstone. Talked to Taylor on the phone, she is loving England. Read a bit of a book (a novel about the canals in and around Birmingham, am having a bit of a hard time getting into it.) Made Liam his desired supper of marinated drumsticks...must find out what is wrong with my oven as it is taking forever to heat up. Watched Coronation Street, we are 10 months behind England, caught up to what is going on over there on corrie.net. Briefly went onto yahoo and had a wee chat with Charlie (quite honestly, if it weren't for Charlie I wouldn't even bother with yahoo), talked to William on phone, Liam's having a sleepover, will soon be calling down to them to tell them to turn off the playstation and get to bed. And that so far has been my day. I know, I know you are dying to trade places with me. No worries, Steven, I will be on the pitch for you come August.

So what else to tell you...some fucking eejits in the states want Oprah nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Now let me say that I do love Oprah, I wish I had been one of the people to get a free car/wardrobe/makeover/house/dreamcometrue/whateverelsesheisgivingaway but really people, has she ended a war? Started a peacekeeping force (a la Lester B. Pearson)? Has she brought peace to the world? I don't think so people and for that matter neither has Bob Geldof, it was just announced on the news that some group wants him nominated. For Gods sakes when will it end? If I see one more Brad Pitt/George Clooney/Bono star gooddoer I am liable to scream. I say to these people donate your own fucking money, my bloody country hasn't been able to put an end to child poverty in its own backyard. I certainly agree with the theory, and yes the Western world needs to be involved, but frankly if I were Blair or Martin or Chirac (not Bush, just the thought of him makes me want to cry) I would refuse on the merits that these stars have more money together than the GNP of all of Africa I am sure. Does Brad Pitt really need a 20, 000 sq. ft house? No, he can live in 1200 like I do. Move down, Brad, and donate the proceeds to whoever you want to in Africa. Look there's $11 million just from the sale of 1 mansion. That'll feed how many people? Note I leave Angelina Jolie out of this, due to the fact that she has adopted 2 children from 2 different Third World countries. I do sort of admire her. But even so, does she need 3 houses?

Only 11 more days until William arrives. Magic.
Must go, it is time for Jon Stewart. Another 20 minutes of wishing I owned Depends.

Gerrard...where's the fucking loyalty?

I don't want to look like a complete eejit with no life by having 2 posts in one day (or is that one hour?) but this Steven Gerrard thing is annoying me to all fuck. They are offering him what is essentially $250, 000 a week. $250, 000 A WEEK!!!! I have not earned that much money in my 12 years of part time working and nor do I expect to any time soon. Let me just say that athletes are spoiled rotten little whingers and if the English Premier League doesn't get it together soon and stop paying these fookers millions of dollars a year the league may just go the way of the NHL. A year of no hockey that was, and if there was no soccer why would I need to get up at 5.30 on a Saturday morning to see if Aston Villa's playing (which they hardly ever do...Rogers only likes Aresnal (yuck), Chelsea (double yuck), Man U (triple yuck and some puking on Roy Keane's pic). Sometimes they like Liverpool (not my favourite but loved by William and therefore Liam) but hardly ever do they show Villa.
Anyway, I wandered. Gerrard ought to show a wee bit of loyalty to the team he has always played with. And did he ever think that sometimes he could be faulted for crappy plays?
Title by William who I believe actually said "Where's the fucking loyalty, ya cunt?". Speaking of William and Liverpool I absolutely dread talking to him on the phone after they have lost...it puts him in a terrible mood.

Emma, builder of all things easy

Tonight I put together a funky wee drawer unit thingaminjinger for my scrapbooking and stamping stuff. That would be the scrapbooking and stamping stuff I spend hundreds of dollars on to look pretty in the new thingaminjinger, oh, and I occassionally make a page or 2 or a card or something. But hardly ever. But at least it looks pretty in this funky thing with the colourful drawers. And it meant I could even clean off my desk and move the computer around because it was all squished together because of all the S&S stuff. But don't look at the chesterfield because it is covered in binders and folders and crap that doesn't belong to the aforementioned S&S. I will eventually find a place for it. Perhaps I will put together a bookshelf (I have managed this brave feat before) but just a 3 shelf one, 5 is still too lofty an ideal for me. I don't know why we think we need men when we can build bookcases and stuff on our own. I suppose there is some stuff they come in very handy for, you know, the good stuff. Must go watch Jon Stewart, it's a repeat but it'll still be a depends moment.

This heat is killing me

Before I complain about the heat let me vent my anger at this site itself: AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I only started this yesterday, made up my site, did my profile, posted a wee thing, all was lovely and good. Logged in today only to discover I couldn't do bugger all. All I had was create a blog. After almost tearing my hair our trying to figure out what I did wrong I smartened up and decided to create another account to see where it was that i had erred. Made some stupid name and discovered that it wasn't me it was the bloody site that's at fault! So here I am with yet a third name...just as stupid. I liked the first one... emmaincanada....dull but it says my name and where I am and who needs more than that?

So anyway, back to my original rant...the heat that is bloody well killing me and has me in an extremely bad mood. I honestly don't know how William lives it up in Australia, the 40 summers would literally have me dropping dead in the street, leaving giant spiders to crawl all over me. It is 26 today. You can laugh if you want, but a nice 21 or 22 would do me all summer long. Thank God it is going to rain tomorrow. Honestly, I was born to be Irish. Well in reality I was born to be English wasn't I, having actually been born there and I suppose it rains plenty enough in England but Irish sounds much better. You'd think my father could have convinced my mother to give birth to their first born in his own home country but no luck there. Am off to dip my daughter in the pool, though I think she has finally fallen asleep. Typical.