The second level of hell

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Low

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

You have come to a place mute of all light, where the wind bellows as the sea does in a tempest. This is the realm where the lustful spend eternity. Here, sinners are blown around endlessly by the unforgiving winds of unquenchable desire as punishment for their transgressions. The infernal hurricane that never rests hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine, whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them. You have betrayed reason at the behest of your appetite for pleasure, and so here you are doomed to remain. Cleopatra and Helen of Troy are two that share in your fate.


Well, I guess going to hell for being lustful is better than going for being treacherous or violent. I can live with that.

The Winter Olympics

The Olympics are over and done with for another 4 years. Well, there's the summer ones of course, but all that swimming and running...it just ain't the same as a snow sport. Even if half of them take place indoors and on ice. I don't even know where the summer ones are being held. China or something. Could look it up, but as you all should know by know I just can't be arsed. There were good things about these Olympics for Canada. I know I said they wouldn't do well, but they came away with 24 medals- only one short of the Olympic Committee's goal. They got a top three finish in number medals, but tied for fifth with Austria based on the number of golds earned. Women accounted for some 75% of Canada's medals, they had 11 4th places finishes (this either bodes well for 2010 or is a let down for some) and they won medals in 10 disciplines, more than any other country.

Here were my Olympic highlights:
-the women's hockey team winning gold. I will admit to disappointment for the Americans only getting bronze, but it was great to see that it wasn't just a two team event.
-the curling. I do not understand curling at all, not one little bit. I do not see the point in sweeping rocks with brooms. However, the entire British team is from Scotland and let me just say that listening to those accents saying "sweep sweep" was an odd sort of turn on. Plus the Canadian men won gold. The entire province of Newfoundland had the day off school. Well, the school aged ones anyway. But the best part was definitely the Scots.
-the Canadian and American menshockey teams losing. I thought these two teams deserved to lose. There was no team play involved. I do believe it should be amateurs playing. At least they would be grateful.
-Cindy Klassen. Isn't she something? Speed skating fascinates me. It is probably my favourite winter olympic sport.

So on to Vancouver. I hope Canada proves itself able to do even better in front of a home audience. I also hope they dump HBC and go back to Roots for their outfits. The closing ceremonies had some odd ice fishing dance, which I pray is not a sign of things to come, but I did like the building of the totem pole thingamajinger.

The Lit Classic that I am..or am not.

Umberto Eco: The Name of the Rose. You are a

mystery novel dealing with theology,

especially with catholic vs liberal issues.

You search wisdom and knowledge endlessly,

feeling that learning is essential in life.


Which literature classic are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

I saw this and I said not a chance. I have never read this book, with a zero interest in reading it. I haven't even seen the movie, even though Christian Slater was in it and I briefly had a thing for him after he did that skateboarding movie, the name of which I cannae recall at this moment. I can picture the poster, feck what movie was it???
Anyway, I do have a bit of a debate in my head over my so called Catholicism vs. my liberal social values. So maybe its not all wrong.

100 Questions

Thanks to Boliath at In My Head I get to do one of these questionnaires that I absolutely love. I am just sad enough to enjoy things like this, and to think one might actually care about the ins and outs of what is mostly going to refer to my long ago past. And even if not one single person does, it sure does bring back memories.

This is supposed to be only yes or no answers, but I'm not sure I can follow that rule. I might try, I might not.


Have/did you ever...
1. Taken a picture naked? There are none in existence that I know of.
2. Painted your room? Yes
3. Kissed a member of the same sex? Yes, but I was very young.
4. Driven a car after drinking alcohol? No
5. Danced in front of your mirror? Yes. Also accepted Oscars and Junos in front of it.
6. Have a crush on a celebrity? Yes
7. Been dumped? Yes
8. Stolen money from a friend? No
9. Gotten in a car with people you just met? Yes
10. Been in a fist fight? No
11. Snuck out of the house as a teenager? Yes
12. Had feelings for someone who didn't have them back? Painfully so.
13. Been arrested? No.
14. Made out with a stranger? Yes
15. Had a one night stand? Yes
16. Talked on the phone for more than two hours? Yes
17. Had a crush on your neighbor? No
18. Ditched school to do something more fun when you were a teenager? Yes, if hanging out in the mall is more fun.
9. Slept in a bed with a member of the same sex? Yes
20. Seen someone die? Yes
21. Been on a plane? Yes
22. Kissed a picture? Yes
23. Slept in until 3? Even later.
24. Love someone or miss someone right now? Yes
25. Laid on your back and watched cloud shapes go by? Yes
26. Made a snow angel? Yes
27. Played dress up? Yes
28. Cheated while playing a game? Yes
29. Been lonely? Yes
30. Fallen asleep at work/school? No
31. Been to a night club? Yes
32. Felt an earthquake? No
33. Touched a snake? NOOOOO
34. Ran a red light? No
35. Been suspended from school? Yes
36. Had detention? Yes
37. Been in a car accident? No
38. Hated the way you look? Yes
39. Witnessed a crime? No
40. Pole danced? LOL, not a chance.
41. Been lost? Yes
42. Been to the opposite side of the country? Which one? Canada, no. England, yes.
43. Been so embarrassed that your cheeks tingled? Yes
44. Cried yourself to sleep? Yes
46. Sang karaoke? Yes. Zombie by the Cranberries while I was very, very drunk. But still sane enough to realize that I was terrible.
47. Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? Yes
48. Laughed until something you were drinking came out your nose? Yes
49. Caught a snowflake on your tongue? Yes
50. Kissed in the rain? Yes
51. Sang in the shower? Yes
52. Made love in a park? Yes
53. Had a dream that your partner cheated? No, not this partner anyway, and isn't he the only one that matters?
54. Glued your hand to something? No
55. Got your tongue stuck to a flag pole? Does a door count? I've done that.
56. Ever walked out the door partially naked? No.
57. Been a cheerleader? No
58. Sat on a roof top? Yes
59. Didn't take a shower for a week? No.
60. Ever too scared to watch scary movies alone? Yes
61. Played chicken? Yes, chipped my elbow while I was at it.
62. Been pushed into a pool with all your clothes on? No
63. Been told that you're hot by a complete stranger? Yes. Feckin' liar.
64. Broken a bone? Just the above mentioned chip.
65. Been easily amused? Yes
66. Laugh so hard you cry? Yes
67. Mooned/flashed someone? No
68. Cheated on a test? Yes
69. Forgotten someone's name? Yes
70. Been to a bar? Yes
71. Anyone offer to buy you a drink? Yes
73. Blacked out from drinking? Yes
74. Played a prank on someone? Yes
75. Been to a late night movie? Yes
76. Gone skinny dipping in the ocean? Just a lake
77. Failed a class? Yes
78. Choked on something? No
79. Played an instrument for more than 10 hours? No
80. Cheated on a boyfriend? Yes, sadly.
81. Did you celebrate the 4th of July? Sure, I'm Canadian, we celebrate on the 1st.
82. Bought something you couldn’t afford? Monthly, at least.
83. Been caught doing the deed? Yes. Hangs head in shame.
84. Felt like running away? Yes
85. Ran away? No
86. Did drugs? No
87. Called in sick when you weren’t? Yes
89. Made a parent cry? Yes
90. Cried over someone? Yes
91. Traded in a car that you had owned less than a year? No
92. Had the same boyfriend more than once? Yes
93. Had/Have a dog? Had.
95. Own(ed) an instrument? No
96. Been in a band? No
97. Drank 25 sodas in a day? No
98. Broken a CD? Yes
99. Shot a gun? In Grade 8 at hunter training camp. One day I must post about the 2 English men who introduced 6 13 year olds to blowjobs.
100. Had feelings for one of your friend’s boyfriend? No.

Ach, that was fun. Some things in my past...not so pretty. But still, makes you who you are I suppose. So I'd love for some of my favourite bloggers to do this. No pressure though. But make sure you tell me if you do.

Happy Birthday, Liam Og!

Today Liam turned 10. Ten!!! It's hard for me to believe I have two children in the double digits.

When I was pregnant with Liam, I had had an ultrasound done and one day I had the most frightening phone call. My doctor was on holidays and this woman says to me she is filling in for her. Straight to the point she says she has the results of the ultrasound and the baby's head is shaped like "a lemon." Now in my head I am picturing a football, and if Family Guy had been around then, my image would have been of Stewie. She says I need to come in for some tests, it could be Down Syndrome, or possibly Spina Bifida, although the spine looked fine in the ultrasound. Waiting for those results was the worst week of my life. I had to have another ultrasound, where I found out the sex, and do some blood tests. The ultrasound was fine, I was told that it must have just been an inexperienced tech and a bad camera angle. Still, even though you know, you spend the next 5 months wondering "what if...?"

But he was fine.

Liam was an angel of a baby, as long as he was near his mother he was perfectly content. He was also my easiest labour, so I will forever be grateful to him for that. Only 9 hours, he was. Induced, and they had to use a vaccum to pull him out, but still easy.

He weighed 9lbs 9 oz. and I am sure a good three pounds of it was in his cheeks, they were that big. He was a lovely baby, the softest skin I had ever felt in my life.

He was a very pleasant child, and remained that way until he was 6 or so. I don't know what happened then. He went through a major personality change when he started Grade 1. He had always hated school, cried everytime he went to 3 year old playschool right up until Febraury, when he came in the morning of his birthday and said to his teacher "I'm four!" He was great for the rest of the year. I thought he's find 4 year old playschool great, but cried most days up until November. He thought Kindergarten was okay, but was really only there for playtime and to see his friends. Grade 1 was a whole different story. His dad and I had seperated, so there was alot of stress there for him and he was struggling in school. He also had to go through alot of testing to see if there was something wrong. He hated that. Did you know that when a psychologist does testing they comment in their report on the child's appearance? I had no clue, but thank God he looked good that day. I would hate to be that parent who's report said "Joe was wearing ripped sweatpants and had remainders of his lunch on his face." Which could quite often be Liam, I am sure, with the exception of the sweatpants. Jeans or trackies, and if they are ripped it's even better. In his world, anyway. So anyway, losing track of the story here, Grade 1 was hard. And he became a wee little shite. It didn't last very long, thankfully. In general, he's a pretty good kid. Except that he now refuses to clean his room. Or the basement. And he won't do his home reading. And he will only wear soccer jerseys (it was painful for me the day he discovered his Liverpool shirt no longer fit, and I am sure it was even more painful for the people who had to see him in a too small shirt.) And he has this weird obsession with money. And Yu-gi-oh cards (which he spent $60 of his birthday money on.) But you know, I still am rather fond of him.

Oh, and his middle name isn't really Og. That's what my dad calls him. It used to be Liam Mor, because he was such a big baby, but he's a short kid. Takes after the mother, not the father. His 2 year old projection was only 5'6", whereas Taylor's was 5'11". Poor thing. I wonder if that really is true. Hopefully not, for his sake. And the sake of my future grandchildren.

A wee bit of snow

If I haven't already told you all, we have had pretty much a snow free winter here. Not once have my kids been sledding, and any skiing that has taken place has involved man made snow. It has just been to warm. It was very cold last week (-41 with the windchill one day!) but it was too cold to snow. It was about -5 this weekend, which is quite liveable.

But it did mean that we were in for some snow. It started on Saturday, and has been off and on since then. There wasn't much, it covered the sidewalks and roads, but barely covered the terrible brown grass. Still, this is the type of snow I could live with in the winter. In my ideal winter there would be snow only in December, for Christmas and the odd trip to the hill, and the other months would be just a dusting. Just enough to make it look beautiful.

I was walking to work this morning when I realized that I had my camera so I decided to take a picture. I am not great with a camera, but I was pleased enough with the snowflakes. Someone else can worry about proper lighting and so on.

Liam's Birthday Party

There's a reason why every year I say "This is the last year you have a party." I hope that I will not forget this come next February, or at least remember not to invite the world's biggest pain in the ass.


There is a boy Liam went to school with from Kindergarten until last year, who he has remained friends with although they do not see each other often. Now I like this boy, he is generally very sweet and I absolutely adore his mother, perhaps the kindest woman ever put on the face of this earth. However, he is a troublemaker. He's loud and aggressive and generally just gets himself into situations I would best like to avoid. He's not a horrible child, he certainly wouldn't beat up another kid or anything, he just does not know when to stop. I must have told him to be quiet in the movie theatre about 40 times today. In fact, I am sure the people around me were thinking I was the problem, not the noisy kids, I was saying shush that much along with the odd "Adam, be quiet.", "Adam, sit down on the chair." etc, etc, etc.

I took 9 boys to see the Pink Panther, which was much better than I thought it would be even though there was not actually a Pink Panther in it. I am quite sure that when I was little and watching the cartoons there was. Sort of defeated the purpose really.

The majority of them were very good, all in all it was a good day and Liam was thrilled that for the most part he received money. Always high on the priority list for 10 year olds. Now I have to curb his spending enthusiasm.

Can you guess which kid in the picture is Adam? Sometimes people just know, especially mothers!

Four Years Ago Today

Today is the anniversary of my Granny's death at the age of 86 from third stage Alzheimer's.

I was not very close to my Granny, due to family differences. They thought my mother was a bitch, she couldn't stand them. However, about 3 weeks before she died she asked for me. I went to see her a few times in those next few weeks. The first time I saw her she didn't really place me. I had to say my name and she said "Oh, Tommy's daughter." She then proceeded to say "You have such a beautiful face, but you should really lose some weight." Ah, grandmothers. Honest to a fault so they are. Funny that a few years before she was telling me I was too skinny.

Most of us were there the night my Granny died, my aunt Marie, Uncle Fred, my cousins Jane and Suzanne, my Uncle Gerry and my dad. Jane and I went home to check on our kids and when we came back she had died. They all thought she had waited until we had gone. I often wonder if she did.

I don't have as many memories of my Granny as I do of my Nan, who lived thousands of miles away. I remember my Granny and Granda moving to Canada, but I can't remember my Granny around the time of my Granda's death, not even two years later. I remember her making Jane and I kneel at the side of the bed with her for what seemed like hours as she prayed and then asked God to watch over the entire population of Belfast who had died since 1915. Or so I thought as there were so many names mentioned, on and on it went. I remember her giving me a rock hard Cadbury's Creme Egg, I didn't eat them for years after. She would make me eat cherry tomatoes with salt on them, uck. I remember her singing "You Made Me Love You" at my wedding reception, to the enjoyment of everyone (except for perhaps my mother, who held a grudge to the end, and still does) and I will always remember when Taylor was born and she found out that one of her middle names was Jude and she said "Oh, Emma, how nice to name her after St. Jude, he's the patron saint of lost causes you know." I replied that of course I had named her after St. Jude, when in reality it was after River Phoenix, a lost cause himself.

Something I never realized until I was older was how much my Granny had been through. Her mother had died when she was two, in a house fire thatI still don't know the cause of. Sometimes in my family it is hard to get a straight story. For years I had been told it was because of a cigarette burning in a sofa, sometime agoo someone said it was because a petrol bomb had been thrown through the window. Who knows, really. Needless to say, her mother was dead and she and her brother were soon after abandoned by their father. I don't know who raised them. A question I should ask. When she married my grandfather she was already pregnant with their first child, a bit of a scandal in 1935 Belfast. She took on not only my Granda but his entire family, the youngest child only 3 years older than her son. She herself was only 19 and already had 6 children to help raise. She always worked, while raising those kids and her own. When her dad came back when she was an adult she slammed the door in his face. I never understood this, but today I can see why. She lost 4 of her own children, 3 at birth or shortly thereafter and one as an adult. She stayed with an alcoholic, something I do not understand to this day. Her three remaining children moved away, one to Canada, two to England. Once two of her children were in Canada, she and my Granda decided to move here. In her later years, she lived with two of her children and had money stolen by one of them. She ended up in a somewhat dingy nursing home where she lived her last years with the Alzheimer's that eventually killed her.

A Canadian wins gold in mens moguls...

...but wins for Australia.

This really does annoy me. Dale Begg-Smith moved to Australia because he was not happy with the Canadian sport system. Meaning he did not like the fact that he had to try out for a place on the team, rather than just being given one.

Born in Vancouver and still living in Vancouver he has spent less than 2 years in Australia. I'm not sure how citizenship works Down Under, but in Canada you have to be a permanent resident for 3 years before applying for citizenship.

But as I have learned, money talks. A 21 year old self made millionaire (he started his own company at 13!) I am sure Australia was eager to have him. And sure, wasn't it grand for them? He is the first "Australian" man to win gold in this event.

Meanwhile, his first place finish sent the Canadian to fourth.

I am not annoyed by people who moved to another country for legitimate reasons choosing to play for their new homeland. But this annoys me in the way it annoys me that Owen Hargreaves plays football for England, a country he was not born in and never lived in, just because his father was born there. That would be like me playing for Ireland (you know, if I had any talent) just because my dad's from there. It's a joke! But that's a whole other rant...one I will be sure to bring up if he is around during the World Cup.

Just had to get that off my chest. Whoo.

Pondering some parents

It makes you wonder what could actually drive a parent to kill a child. I do realize that I have recently written two posts with the word kill in them, that refer to one or both of my two oldest.

However, I would never actually harm them. And I know that there is not a thing in the world those two children could do that would cause me to actually want their deaths. Nor can I imagine that there is something that could happen to me to make me wish my children dead, and worse to follow up on it.

What makes a parent do that? What reasons can you have to shoot a 9 month old girl through the stomach? And to then kill your wife?

What makes a man come home and repeatedly stab his wife, 3 year old daughter and 5 month old son?

What went through their heads as they killed their families?

I will never forget the case of Susan Smith, who accused a man of stealing her car with her two boys inside it. I was pregnant with Taylor at the time, and I remember thinking that something about her just was not right. It turned out that she had rolled her car into a lake and let her sons drown because the man she was dating didn't want to be tied down by children. Killing your babies for a man??? I don't think so. If I was with someone who didn't want to be a part of my children's lives I would run in the other direction.

And how about Andrea Yates? What was she thinking as she held each of her 5 children down in the bathtub until they no longer were struggling? Post partum stress or no, there is no way she could not have realized after that length of time what she was doing.

I have said many times that I am far from a perfect mother, there are days when I can't imagine there is a worse parent than myself and yet when I think of cases such as this I know that my children are quite alright with me.

This one is for Bliss Disclosed

First, my apologies for how long this has taken me to get around to doing. I had hoped to find the actual recipe but it seems to have disappeared into the netherworld that is my cookbook cupboard. I only ever used the recipe once and then just adjusted it to my own tastes.

I have a feeling that this is not going to be very well written, so bear with me.

4 chicken breasts (or 2, I make enough for dinner and lunch the next day)
a couple of cloves of garlic, or the minced sort
1 onion, chopped
Cook until lightly browned. Meanwhile, mix the following in a large bowl:

most of a 500mL container of sour cream
healthy doses of pepper, cumin, allspice and Mexican seasoning if you so desire
1 can of mushrooms, drained
1 can of green chiles (the actual recipe says to drain, but it's better left)
a handful of jalpeno peppers.

Mix the chicken mixture into the bowl.

Place a few spoonfuls of the mixture into soft shells (large or small, large is better) and add grated cheese.

Cook at 350 (is that 175 for you?) for 15 minutes. Take out and top with remainder of sour cream and some more cheese. Put in oven for another 5 mins.

I hope you enjoy this version. It's very popular at my scrapbooking potluck.

Valentine's Day

I have never been a big fan of Valentine's Day- let's put it down to a crappy high school relationship, but today is a sad day as I don't even have anyone to give a kiss to. Ach, I lie. My lovely Liam gave me a kiss this morning. A rare event from an almost 10 year old.

But still...not a kiss from my fella. Who I have to say told me that he would not give me a present as I forgot that he sent me roses last year. And though I have searched the house, he really didn't leave me a pressie! The wee bugger.

Yesterday, he gave Saoirse the Valentine's gifts I had packed for her. Let me rephrase that. He gave her one present and thought the others were for St. Patrick's Day. I said there's a book called "Elmo Loves You" and that's hardly going to be for St. Patrick's Day is it? So he had to dig out her other gifts. I will have to remind him before March 17 as to where her t-shirt for that occassion was packed.

Anyway, had a nice morning with Taylor and Liam. She received a Spongebob robe and he got some Lego, which was what the kiss was for. I have a doctor's appointment today, which I will post about on the other blog.

I have noticed that my posts are becoming quite whingy. Must stop this!

Comparing Olympic Networks

Having had the opportunity over the last 3 days to watch both Canada's CBC and the US's NBC I think that CBC is providing better coverage. They had the opening ceremonies live as well as in primetime, whereas NBC was only in primetime. NBC does have live footage in the middle of the night, while CBC starts at 5.30am MST. I suppose of course that if I lived in the States, I would find NBC's very American based coverage to be great, but I like to see how other countries are doing in events that don't necessarily include Canadians. The CBC is good for that.

Course at the rate we're going there won't be many Canadians to cover at all.

Canada was hoping for 4 medals yesterday, but only came away with one for a grand total of..wait for it...TWO. I do admire these athletes, God knows I can't do feck all as far as winter sports go (or summer come to think of it) but I wish the Canadian Olympic committee would stop saying we expect to win this many, we expect a top 4 finish...blah blah blah. It only leads to disappointment.

And really, since Canada is a winter nation with one of the highest number of athletes shouldn't they in reality be coming in first or second?

Grey's Anatomy

I can not believe they killed Kyle Chandler. I realize he was only in the show for 2 episodes, but did they really have to blow the poor fella up?

I think he's much sexier than Dr. McDreamy, Patrick Dempsey himself.

Damn Grey's Anatomy writers.

Missing my baby

It hit me yesterday, this overpowering longing for both Saoirse and William. I miss them terribly. I am used to William coming and going, this is what our relationship has been like from the start. But Saoirse...being without her is breaking my heart.

I actually enjoyed the first 6 days. I like a quiet house, I don't mind being myself at all. When people asked how I was doing, I'd say fine and feel guilty that I was not as down as everyone (including myself) expected me to be. All my friends called the first 3 days, just to make sure I was okay. Yesterday I was thinking about how before William came back in July, it was always me that Saoirse wanted and I was constantly holding her. I had said one day that I didn't want to hold her all the time. And I broke down, because right now I would give anything to have her following me around, with her arms in the air, wanting me to pick her up. I think all I needed was a good cry, as I feel much better today, but still desperately missing the pair of them.

The above picture was taken the day they left, Saoirse absolutely loves yogurt.

The important thing about the Olympics

The clothing. That's what matters. Not the medals. Because you know Canada's going to pull a 2002 and walk away with a record low number of medals in these Winter games.

HBC (otherwise known as the Bay, or worse, Zellers) paid $100 million for the right to outfit the Canadian Olympic team.

And what did they design? Perhaps the most unattractive outfit since the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, when they wore the horrid cowboy hats.

The Olympic committee should have stuck with Roots, who, since 1998 have designed great outfits, so much so that both the British and American teams have used them.

Anyway, if one is going to spend $60 on a shirt, it would be much more sensible to have it with a Roots label than an HBC one.

As far as the hats go, I quite like the one with the maple leaves, but what's the deal with the big fur one? These games are in Italy, not Antartica.

How Liverpool can ruin a person's day

Poor William. He is not very pleased with the efforts of Liverpool, who have not won in their last 3 games. I was talking to him during the Chelsea game, which he watched at 3 in the morning Melbourne time. He was not very pleased that they were losing and I said "But surely you didn't expect them to beat Chelsea." Not so smart, Emma. Apparently, they should have won and this loss just proves they are not ready to be at the top.

And to lose to Charlton. Well, I couldn't even try and console him on that one. That was just wrong, really. Sometimes you wonder what these men who make so much money are playing at.

I think what really has him annoyed is that they are now 6 points behind the very despised Man U, whereas he feels they should be well ahead of them.

Although I feel for William and other Liverpool supporters, at least your team is in third place. Look at Aston Villa. 13th, for feck sakes. Now there's a reason to be upset.

Raising the age of consent

The Conservative government is looking to raise the age of consent from 14 to 16, with a "close in age" exemption.

I can't believe I agree with something that the Conservative party has put forth. In fact, I would take it one step further and raise the age to 18.

It is one thing for teenagers to have sex, most people I know had had at least one sexual partner before the age of 18. And the great majority of those teenagers were having sex with other teenagers. It is another matter totally when teenagers are having sex with adults.

At 14 or even 17 are kids wise enough to know that if they are having sex with someone in their 30s they are completely being taken advantage of, even if they consented to the act? I don't think so myself. I look back to me at that age and know that I would have had absolutely no clue. And I thought I was pretty smart, that I knew all there was to know about sex and relationships. How naive was I?

This motion was defeated just last September under the Liberal minority government. I would hope that this time it goes ahead.

A lack of Scrapping

Today was my first official childess day since Saoirse went on her holiday as I have had either one or both children at home. My friend Candy came over with her son Ethan (so I wasn't totally child free...though he's a pleasure) and while she made about 8 cards all I managed was this one page.

I'm putting this one that I did ages ago in, as it is one of my favourites. There's nothing at all fancy about my pages, but I love that I managed to get a picture of the water in the air. Very rare that I actually get a good shot. And anyway, isn't she a gorgeous child? You better all say yes.

Prosperity Cheques

There is finally a plus to being an Albertan. Last week, after months of talking about them our prosperity cheques arrived. Alberta had a huge surplus thanks to oil and gas revenues and Albertans benefited to the tune of $1.3 billion dollars. Every man, woman and child who was a resident of Alberta as of September 1 received $400. It was great to receive, especially after Christmas. Mine almost completely went to bills. Sad, but true.

One reason why I could kill my two oldest children

I think people that have only one child are geniuses, I really do. What do they know that those of us who plan a second child do not know? How do they realize that they are avoiding subjecting themselves to the unforeseen tortures of multiple children? Geniuses, I swear. So are the parents who put 7 or more years between children. So bloody smart.

My two do nothing but fight. Constantly. They can not be in a room together for more than 5 minutes. In fact, I can not even send them both up to their rooms as a fight will start moments after they have walked up the stairs.

"Liam's standing at my door staring at me!" Taylor will shout.

And yes, it usually comes down to Taylor. I wouldn't know about 90% of their arguments if it wasn't for Taylor. She tattles about everything. Plus she yells at him constantly. Hmmm...wonder where that comes from?

Liam is a smart kid, much like my brother was. He stays quiet. So while he very well may be torturing his sister, I can't hear him. And frankly, that's the way I like it. Do what you want, but keep it down. I do however hear Taylor as she comes running up or down the stairs, screaming about Liam bugging her. Which annoys me. So it is that poor child who ends up in trouble, not her brother who very well may be at fault.

Yesterday was Faith Day for the Catholic schools in the city. So while all the teachers who should be teaching our children were off at some faith festival (or more likely sitting at home enjoying a day off) I was tortured by my children. Liam had a friend over, Taylor came home from a sleepover. We had plans to go to Galaxyland. Taylor went downstairs to see what the boys were up to and almost immediately I heard Taylor yelling and then she came up the stairs with this line "Mummy, Liam's trying to be the boos of me." See, the thing is I didn't hear Liam do anything at all, only Taylor yelling. I said to her that I didn't want to hear about it. "But Mummy! He's being mean to me!" On and on this conversation went until I screamed. "If you say another word you won't go to Galaxyland." Of course she said another word, that child doesn't know when to be quiet.

I came to a realization yesterday and it is this. Taylor is not going to change. So I will have to. Instead of saying I don't want to hear another word, I will tell her that I will deal with it. I don't usually do that unless I know one of them has actually done some serious, like hitting. I figure they should be old enough to deal with small problems themselves.

Old enough, but obviously not mature enough.

Why there are days when I could kill my daughter

I know I have gone on and on about my Taylor and how she drives me absolutely mad. Alot of this may be repeat of past posts about her. It's just that it is the same thing over and over. Bear with me please.

She's a whinger. A conversation can not be had with her without whingeing and whining. Not on my part, but on hers. I am not a whinger, I am a yeller but even when I am at my most calm she whinges which eventually causes me to lose all patience and start screaming.

Example: On Saturday morning she was getting ready to go to the library with her friend Zack. She came into my room wearing her Girl Guides shirt and yoga pants. I said her shirt was for Guides only and not going out. "But I nevre get to wear it!" Whinge, whinge. "That's because it is for Guides, you are meant to wear it once a week." Very calm. She next comes into my room with a bright orange Halloween shirt on. "It's not Halloween." says I. "But Liam wore one and never got in trouble. Why can he do it and not me." On and on she goes. I explain that I did not see Liam dressed like that and had I, he would have been asked to chnage. Halloween shirts are for Halloween, St. Patrick's Day shirts are for March 17 and so on. Right over her head. She nexts come into my room in a jumper that can only be described as burnt orange. With navy blue yoga pants. There was a fit over me asking her to change pants. This was nothing over the argument that took place moments later when I saw her bedroom which not did have a single inch of visible flooring. This argument continued while I ripped a brush through her hair. I shan't get into it, but suffice it to say that if Social Services had been a fly on the wall I might currently be daughterless.

She's a stubborn wee thing. She has been stubborn since birth. Prior to it actually. After 36 hours of off and on labour she finally decided to make an appearance, forcep scars and all. She must have known was she was in for, poor girl.

She's lazy. This child hates to clean, hates to do homework, hates to do anything that is not for herself. And even things that are a benefit to herself come to think of it. That would include a reasonable clean room and completed homework.

She's a liar. I hate to say that, but it is very true. She lies about absolutely everything, from her brother picking on her to schoolwork. Liam could be in the next room and she would tell me he has hit her. She once accused him of bothering her while he was in the basement and she was in her room. Two full floors away. She lies almost everyday about her homework using the tried and true excuses of "I left it at school", "I finished it in class", "I forgot my agenda." And oh, that agenda. I was going through it the other night and saw a note saying that Taylor had two incomplete math assignments and the next step would be a conduct report. Now, Taylor does realize that she is on the verge of being kicked out of the gifted programming she does. Apparently, this does not bother her at all. She has had since November to improve and has not done so at all, not one iota. I could let everything else go, the poor sense of fashion, the messy room, everything, if only she would take school more seriously. I often say to her only chance of a higher education is via scholarships and with her smarts she would be able to get them if only she applied herself. Not in Grade 10 or 12, but now. She just doesn't care.

Our new rule is that the moment she gets home she does her homework and leaves her agenda and the completed work on the table for me to sign. This was to start yesterday. I was due home by quarter after 5, my mum was to meet them all at the house just after 3.30. A few other rules were given, as this was the first time neither William or I would be there. These included no going into my room to watch T.V. with her friends and to clean their mess in the entryway. When I got home the entryway was a mess, coats on the floor and all, including a bag with the agenda still in it. Taylor and her friend Ashley were in my room. "I forgot" she whinged to me. "Isn't that convenient," I said "that you can forget everything you are asked to do and yet you can remember that you want to have a sleepover?"

Typical, I suppose.

Theo Fleury and the Belfast Giants

There was just a bit on the news about Theo Fleury and what he is doing during his indefinite suspension from the NHL. What he's doing is making me slightly jealous playing for the Belfast Giants. Not that I want to (nor could I) play for the Giants, mind you, but I wouldn't half mind spending a year in Belfast.

I always liked Fleury, though as a Oilers fan, you could never admit to liking a Flames player. That was back in the day, of course. Today, you constantly see Flames jerseys around. He did a royal fuck up though, with all the drugs and quite possibly did knock himself out of the Hall of Fame.

Still, ending up in Belfast isn't bad at all. They're on top of the league and he gets to live in Belfast which is a thousand times better than living in Newcastle or Coventry. Or anywhere else in England, really. And he looks as though he is enjoying it.

Just a note that when I last checked the Giants player list, quite sometime ago, every player except one was from Canada. Today, the majority are still Canadian but a number are from the U.K. (I'm even including N.Ireland in there just to please William) and there's 2 Americans. I still can't imagine English kids on skates. Just seems odd.

And what was the deal with cheerleaders at the game? It's hockey, people, not football.

Finding CDs

On my quest to become a neater person I have decided that I need to reorganize my CD unit. Saoirse is quite fond of pulling CDs off the shelves and with her away, I have a chance to keep them in order for awhile. I can't blame Saoirse for the missing CDs though, I am famous for taking a CD to another room in the house and leaving it there for months and months.

So here's what I've found in assorted places throughout the house:

The Master Bedroom
-Songs of the Mississippi. I assume that Saoirse must have brought this upstairs as I have never actually listened to this album. I think I got it when a store I was working at closed down.
-Cool Christmas. Features the likes of Barenaked Ladies, the Pogues and two of my favourite songs, 25th of December by Everything But the Girl and Joni Mitchell's River. I think I brought this upstairs sometime around Christmas 2004.
-Martina McBride- Greatest Hits. I only have it for 'Blessed' and 'In My Daughter's Eyes.' I swear.
-Pink Floyd- The Wall. This is William's.
Johnny Reid- Born to Roll. He's Scottish. What more do I need to say? Oh, and he's country. Which I secretly like.
-World on Edge- Briefly popular in the early 90s. I saw them with Roxette. And the West End Girls. Ach, the West End Girls. They were terrible. World on Edge was not. And I don't care what anyone says.

Liam's room
-Sterophonics- Just Enough Education to Perform. Again, Scottish.
-Daniel Bedingfield- Gotta Get Through This. William bought this for me because I loved the song 'If You're Not the One.'

The Main Bathroom
-Spotlight on...Nat King Cole. It's very dusty in my bathroom apparently.

Taylor's room
-Carter USM- 1992- The Love Album. Quite frankly, one of my favourite CDs. I liked every song, which I rarely say about an album.
* I know my Moulin Rouge soundtrack is in Taylor's room, but I can't find it anywhere.

The Landing
-Travis- The Singles. Another Scottish band. The Jesus and Mary Chain started my obsession with Scottish bands and apparently it continues. This CD was in Liam's Cd player, but I guess he just put it whereever. Not his sort of music really.

The Livingroom (on top of the DVD)
-Wolfe Tones- Live Alive-Oh.
-Lump of Coal- Features perhaps the most frightening Christmas reading ever, Henry Rollins butchering 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.
-A mix CD titled 'Emma #1'. Has a few Gordon Lightfoot songs (I was going through a phase) and whatever was on the radio in 2001. Including 'I'm Like a Bird' twice.
-The Lightning Seeds- cloudcukooland. Another album where I loved every song. So much so that I own this on both cassette and CD. It was so good the next album had to be a huge letdown and it was. When I opened up this CD case I found...
-Jann Arden- Time for Mercy- my birthday present from Liam this past December. No idea where the cover is. Great album though.

The telephone table
-A Child's Christmas. Obviously, this doesn't belong to me.
-The Stone Roses
-The Stone Roses- Turns Into Stone. Do you get the distinct idea that I am still back in the 90s?
Hunters and Collectors- Collected Works- Bought only for 'Throw Your Arms Around Me.' In 15 or so years of owning this album, it is still the only song I have listened to.
-Kenny Loggins- Return to Pooh Corner. Bought when Liam was a baby for To-Ra-Loo-Ra.

The Computer Desk
Jann Arden- Happy? Quite a depressing album really.
Bob Kemmis- Arena Ready. A very funny album. He opened for Jann Arden back in October. Formerly of the Odds. And if you have never heard the Odds, well, that's just sad. I'd recommend downloading 'Freak Luck' and the entire Neopolitan album by the Odds.
-2 Wilco albums that my friend's husband copied for me. I actually wanted the Corb Lund Band, bur Wilco's not half bad.

This was just me scratching the surface. When I actually start seriously cleaning all the rooms I'm sure I'll find more.

The Sound of Silence

They're gone. Friday was, quite possibly, the worst day of my life thus far. I hated watching them walk away, with Saoirse looking at me as though she was thinking "Why are you not coming with us?" She looked so sweet at the airport, in her jeans and jean jacket and her brand new pink runners. She had her Goofy stuffy and was throwing him on the ground and picking him up over and over. Some wee girl was smiling at her so Saoirse kept doing it. When the girl and her family left she ran after them and cried when I picked her up and walked away.

William called me when they got to Vancouver and said that she was a bit grumpy as she had to sit on his lap the whole time. I wondered what she would do for 15 hours on the way to Sydney. She had to sit on his lap on the way to Hawaii, but on the way to Australia she had 2 seats to herself so was able to sleep. Somewhere between Sydney and Melbourne Quantas lost her stroller. A brand new one at that. We complain about Air Canada to no end, but at least they managed to keep track of her stroller, which was brought right to the plane doors by William. How do you lose something that is supposed to be right there?

They arrived safely and Saoirse seems to be doing great. She loves all the kids there and was even following William's step dad around. This is unheard of, as here she keeps her distance from most adults.

So now I'm doing a countdown, which is very hard as I don't have a return date. I hope it ends up being much shorter than 3 months. Once he gets back we are filing the papers for permanent residency. Hopefully, all will go well after that.

I'm looking at the positives to try and keep myself from losing it...I will actually be able to have a clean livingroom. I can sleep in. There is no baby kicking me during the night. (I actually sort of miss that, I liked knowing she was right there.) I will have time to sit and make some cards or do some scrapping. (Will I? Probably not, but the time will certainly be there.) There's probably a few other positives, I just haven't come across them yet!