Visiting the sea lions

Yesterday after Taylor finished school we went over to the mall as it was customer appreciation day and all the attractions were free. Our plan was to go to Galaxyland, but we ran into Liam with his friend Josh and Josh's mum and apparently it was extremely busy, full of teenagers jumping the line and generally being teens. (In a little under a year and a half I will be the mother of one of THEM and I am sort of dreading it. Even though the majority of the ones I know are very nice.) They were going to go play miniature golf instead and I said that I would take the girls to the sea lions instead.

It's a half hour show, called Treasure of the Mall or something like that and is complete with cheesy acting, 2 sea lions and a penguin. It was cute, if not a tad boring and a little long for an antsy almost 2 year old. Taylor was picked to throw rings at one of the sea lions and she did a pretty good job. At the end you could have your picture taken and I was sure Saoirse, who loves the sea lions, would be great. I was so wrong. Taylor was holding her and when it jumped up it splashed and she immediately started crying and buried her head on Taylor. Ah well.



Note that I still can not get Taylor to brush her hais properly and I DID NOT buy her that hideous shirt. My friend did. Those Mary Kate and Ashley clothes are some ugly.

One reason why I adore Saoirse

We were coming home from the health clinic, Saoirse had decided to walk rather than ride in the pram with Sophie. She hopped in puddles, was stopped by some woman who said she was beautiful (she was looking pretty cute in her new jacket and hat) and then decided she would try and unzip my purse which was hanging off the stroller.

ME: "What are you doing Saoirse?"
S: "Opening purse."
Me: "What do you need from my purse?"
S: "Money."

Proof that this child belongs to me. She loves money and shoes, just like her mummy.

1. You can press a button that will make any one person explode. Who would you blow up? Wayne Rooney. While in the midst of a Manchester United/ Chelsea games in the hopes that a few more players might go along with him.

2. You can flip a switch that will wipe any band or musical artist out of existence. Which one will it be? Can I not get rid of a whole genre? I would totally get rid of rap.

3. Who would you really like to just punch in the face? Again, Wayne Rooney. Closer to home, it would be Alberta Conservative leader hopeful Mark Norris who goes to my church and is just so slimey.

4. What is your favorite cheese? Havarti, with jalapenos. Yum.

5. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your immediate disposal. What kind will you make? Roasted chicken on a roasted garlic sub with havarti, red onions, fresh mushrooms, red pepper, banana peppers, extra jalapenos, mustard and mayo.

6. You have the opportunity to sleep with the movie celebrity of your choice. We are talking no-strings-attached sex and it can only happen once. Who is the lucky celebrity of your choice? Hmmmm....I'm not a huge movie star person but I'll say Liam Neeson, just so if I can see if his penis is really as huge as they say it is. However, I would be slightly uncomfortable sleeping with someonewho had the same name as my son. Which is why I should be grateful that William is from the wrong side of Belfast and couldn't have his name shortened to Liam.

7. You have the opportunity to sleep with the music-celebrity of your choice. Who do you pick? I still have a bit of a thing for James Blunt, who's concert I am sadly not going to on November 2. He would have to keep his mouth shut though as I would not be at all aroused if I had to listen to that upper class British accent.

8. Now that you've slept with two different people in a row, you seem to be having an excellent day because you just came across a hundred-dollar bill on the sidewalk. Holy shit, a hundred bucks! How are you gonna spend it? A hundred? Who's the poor bastard who thought up this question? I guess I'd get a paper trimmer from Staples for $40 and then buy books with the rest. A hardcover perhaps instead of waiting for the paperback.

9. You just got a free plane ticket to anywhere. You have to depart right now. Where are you gonna go? Ireland, of course.

10. Upon arrival to the aforementioned location, you get off the plane and discover another hundred-dollar bill. Shit! Now that you are in the new location, what are you gonna do? A hundred dollars in Ireland isn't going to get me very far. I sure hope I brought some of my own money and a few credit cards. I guess I'd get William a Glentoran shirt, which means I better be up north.

11. An angel appears out of Heaven and offers you a lifetime supply of the alcoholic beverage of your choice. It is...? I don't drink enough to appreciate this question. Tequila, if I had to pick one but I sure hope she's coughing up for the mix too.

12. Rufus appears out of nowhere with a time-traveling phone booth. You can go anytime in the PAST. What time are you traveling to and what are you going to do when you get there? I once posted that if I could pick any time period to live in it would be Ireland during the Easter Rising - Civil War period or England during WWII. I'll stick with those. What would I do? Avoid getting killed I suppose. I just want to observe.

13. You discover a beautiful island upon which you may build your own society. You make the rules. What is the first rule you put into place? No rules, I'm easygoing.

14. You have been given the opportunity to create the half-hour TV show of your own design. What is it called and what's the premise? I am going to alienate at least half of the world's population by having a scrapbooking show, specifically designed for morons like me who enjoy step by step instructions.

15. What is your favorite curse word? For me to use it would be fuck or any variant of that word...feck, focker, etc... Secretly, I love the word cunt. Not when used to describe a part of the female anatomy, but when used in anger and said with an Irish accent. Example: That fuckin' cunt Rooney, ya wee cunt Giggs. Insert Man U player of choice.

16. One night you wake up because you heard a noise. You turn on the light to find that you are surrounded by MUMMIES. The mummies aren't really doing anything, they're just standing around your bed. What do you do? Ummm... totally freak out. Much like I did when I was 6 and saw the ghost of Old Mother Hubbard at the end of my bed.

17. Your house is on fire, holy shit! You have just enough time to run in there and grab ONE inanimate object. Don't worry, your loved ones and pets have already made it out safely.So what's the item? Photos.

18. The Angel of Death has descended upon you. Fortunately, the Angel of Death is pretty cool and in a good mood, and it offers you a half-hour to do whatever you want before you bite it. Whatcha gonna do in that half-hour? Tell my kids I love them and that I'm sorry I was such a shite mum. I was going to say have sex, but I wouldn't like to think that the Angel of Death was watching and maybe snickering.

19. You accidentally eat some radioactive vegetables. They were good, and what's even cooler is that they endow you with the super-power of your choice! What's it gonna be? The chances of me eating vegetables is slim to none, but I'd say the ability to be invisible so that I could hear all sorts of conversations I shouldn't.

20. You can re-live any point of time in your life. The time-span can only be a half-hour, though. What half-hour of your past would you like to experience again? When I lost my virginity I suppose. I wouldn have stopped it before it went all the way.

21. You can erase any horrible experience from your past. What will it be? (the answer "nothing" doesn't count)

22. You got kicked out of the country for being a time-traveling heathen who sleeps with celebrities and has super-powers. But check out this cool shit... you can move to anywhere else in the world! Bitchin'! What country are you going to live in now? Haha at bitchin'. I wonder how old the writer of this meme is. I must have done some massive damage with my invisibility powers to actually get kicked out of Canada so I guess I'd go south and create havoc for the Bush administration. Take away his papers mid speech or something so we can see him in full eejit mode.

23. This question still counts, even for those of you who are under age. Check it out. You have been eternally banned from every single bar in the world except for ONE. Which one is it gonna be? You can ban me from the all, remember my unlimited supply of tequila. Emma = cheap drunk.

24. Hopefully you didn't mention this in the super-powers question.... If you did, then we'll just expand on that. Check it out... Suddenly, you have gained the ability to FLOAT!!! Whose house are you going to float to first, and be like "Dude, check it out... I can FLOAT!"? I can not think of a single person that I would call dude so I guess no one. Unless I could also go back in time to my highschool days and then I might have called someone dude. Perhaps my old penpal Justin. That would mean floating to London, and I'm not entirely convinced about my floating stamina. Would I fall into the Atlantic Ocean?

25. The constant absorption of magical moonbeams mixed with the radioactive vegetables you consumed earlier has given you the ability to resurrect the dead famous-person of your choice. So which celebrity will you bring back to life? Does it have to be a celebrity? River Phoenix if so and only if I can sleep with him rather than Liam Neeson. Michael Collins, if not.

26. The Celestial Gates of Beyond have opened, much to your surprise because you didn't think such a thing existed. Death appears. As it turns out, Death is actually a pretty cool entity, and happens to be in a fantastic mood. Death offers to return the friend/family-member/person, etc. of your choice to the living world. Who will you bring back? I wouldn't bring back a family member, I believe they are in a better place now since they were sick when they died.

27. What's your theme song? "Not Ready to Make Nice" by the Dixie Chicks because of this verse:
Forgive, sounds good
Forget, I’m not sure I could
They say time heals everything
But I’m still waiting


I borrowed this from Eric and I had such fun with it I won't give it back. I successfully wasted an entire morning.

Sophie at 2 months

Well, I was going to post pictures but blogger's a wee bit of a fucker. Sophie is finally, finally, not requiring to be constantly held. I actually get an hour or two where she will sit in her chair and let me do something exciting like clean the oven and stove burners. Even right now she is just lying on the couch, she should be well asleep, but at least she's content. She could start screaming at any minute of course.

The baby acne has cleared up and she is cute again. I don't care what anyone says, no baby looks cute with a face full of zits. There are hardly any pictures of her over the last month. And I will regret that if I ever get around to scrapbooking. Or perhaps developing some pictures.

Ha! I knew she'd start screaming. I may finish this post tomorrow and I may even get some pics uploaded.

Post # 300

Holy crap..who woulda thunk it? 300. Blogland reminds me an awful lot of high school. And much like in high school, there is an shitload of stuff going on in my head which is feeling mighty fucked up.

In those days I would skip. Now, I'm just wandering away for awhile. I'll still be lurking though I'm sure.

Some questions and I

I'm continuing my journey of theft throughout the blogosphere, and this comes courtesy of Susan. She left out some of the questions and, frankly, I cannae blame her. If you want the whole kit and caboodle should you choose to do this, take a wander over to Willowtree. Or go just because he's Australian. Like William.



1. What does your headline mean?
It refers to a title I occassionally deserve. When (read if) I ever go over to beta, I may even have a category dedicated to my sometimes less than stellar parenting skills. I will definitely have one in rehards to mt oft naught children. I feel everyone should enjoy the milk slip n slide story.

2. Elaborate on your default photo:
Putting in a photo would require effort.

3. What's your middle name[s]?:
Jayne

6. What is your current problem?
Christmas is matter of weeks away and I am not done shopping.

9. Are you musically talented?
Not a chance.

10. I you could go back in time and change one thing, what would you change?
I would have paid attention in high school.

13. Can you dance?
I can barely even do the Cadillac Ranch.

14. What's the name of the song that's stuck in your head right now?
With a Little Help From My Friends... I just watched the Wonder Years.

16. Name someone with the same b-day as you.
Beethoven, Margaret Mead. There must be one or two living people also.December 16 anyone?

17. Have you ever destroyed someone's property?
When I was 6 my friend Paul and I broke his neighbour's basement window with a baseball. I got in a ton of trouble and have been careful ever since.

18. Have you ever been in a fight?
Verbal? yes. Fist? no.

19. Have you ever sang in front of a big audience?
Not a freakin chance.

21. What do you usually order from Starbucks?
A large cup of awake, one teabag, leave plenty of room for cream. I never say grande or venti, we're in Canada ffs. And it's an American company.

24. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity?
You'll laugh if you've seen my pic but Drew Barrymore. Except I'd be the much larger version.

25. Do you still watch kiddy movies or TV shows?
Yes. I've watched Curious George twice in the last 24 hours.

27. Are you comfortable with your height?
No. I was I was taller. And thinner while we're at it.

28. Do you consider yourself adventurous?
I used to be.

29. Do you speak any other languages?
I can follow a simple conversation in French, and I can say a handful of phrases in Irish and German. I could not carry on a conversation in any.

30. Whats your favorite smell?
Saoirse and Sophie's hair after it has been washed with Gerber Oatmeal wash. Lovely.

Gifts from abroad

When I was a kid the best thing about people coming to visit wasseeing what they brought my brother and I for gifts. My nan was the best... she knew we would be dying to see what had been sent over so her suitcase would be opened up on the livingroom floor as soon as she arrived even though my mum would be saying to leave it until later. I still have the Zapf doll she brought when I was 7. He had an idetification bracelet on his wrist and my mum wrote the name I had chosen, Matthew, and my Nan's arrival date was his birthday- July 27, 1980. Along with half the lashes in one eye and his clothes that bracelet is long gone, but the doll himself has been well loved.

Always, always in my nan's suitcases, or my aunts', would be sweets and chocolate. I am sure I have said before that English chocolate is a thousand times better than ours. But the best thing of all are my beloved Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles. Yummy.

We went to see my mum yesterday. Although I have outgrown my absolute desire to have my gifts NOW my son has not. And knowing there were bars of chocolate awaiting him was pure torture. And it was torture for me to listen to him from Friday afternoon on asking when we were going to go see Nanny.

For Liam there were 6 Boost bars, and an electronic dragon to build from my aunt and uncle. My mum also got him a Liverpool shirt, but decided to save it for Christmas. Taylor received 2 large bags of maltesers, a much nicer version of our Whoppers and a couple of Jacqueline Wilson books. If you have a daughter of the 9-14 age group I highly recommend her. I've read a few myself, they are fantastic. William got 6 Yorkie bars and a huge Whole Nut Dairy Milk. I got 2 tubes of fruit pastilles and 2 of berry pastilles. Since strawberry and blackcurrant are my two favourite flavours I no longer even need the fruit pastilles anymore, I can just have berry forever more. For Saoirse there was a pack of chocolate buttons, which made her day.

My grandfather also sent two copies of Wet Wet Wet CDs that had been in the paper. He remembered that I had loved them the summer I was 13 and so saved them for me. This, the same man we are afraid to tell about Sophie. Still, I can't beleive he remembered.

My mum also brought back the scrapbook I had made for my nan the summer before she passed away. It has pictures of the 6 great grandchildren she had at that time, there have been two since. I wanted to add Sophie and Jacob, but since my grandad still does not know of Sophie's existence there is really no one to give it back to.

Back in December, I posted about my grandmother's death and something else sent over for me was a copy of the program for her service. Included in this was something my brother had written and I am going to post it here, because it speaks so well as to what sort of person my nan was (and my brother apparently, who is so much better with words than I am.)

This is what my uncle read:

Tribute From Distant Family
There are those who cannot be here today. Some prevented by ill-health, like Rene's brother Ken and his wife Audrey...
and others farther afield...

For them...
These are words from Irene's grandson, Thom, in Canada, but they express so well the sentiments felt by all those who are far away...

"My Nan was a woman who had a great joy for life.
A woman whose heart held a love unbounded.

At times I have felt that the distance between us has been like a chasm.

Regret for the moments that we could have shared seeps in, yet then, another part of me speaks and I recognize this regret as false, for my Nan will always rest within my heart.

And, although her last breath has passed her lips, her love still moves through me, as it moves through her whole family.

So clear this is to me when I think of the youngest of her family:

Children filled with joy and wonder.

Children born of love.

And how fortunate we are that the love with shared with her is a love we will share forever."

100 Things About William

I took a peek at Silly Hily's 100 Things post and in it she said she could probably do a 100 Things on her husband. And I figured I could do one on William too. After a few years together, I must know at least 100 things about him. Plus, there's the added bonus that I don't need to think up a post, which is always a great thing in my books.

1. William was born in Holywood, N. Ireland.
2. He pronounces it like Hollywood.
3. He is the youngest of five children, and the only boy.
4. For years, he thought his dad's name was Mick, but it was really William.
5. His dad was in the British Navy and was called Mick because he was Irish.
6. William does not say he is Irish, he says he is Northern Irish.
7. It drives me crazy because he is Irish.
8. As a child he attended Ian Paisley's Sunday school (yikes!!!)
9. He was also a member of the junior branch of the Loyal Orange Lodge.
10. He wouldn't have been allowed to join had they known his mother was Catholic.
11. Or if they had known that he wasn't baptized.
12. He entered a Catholic Church to attend Taylor's First Communion, so he broke his pledge.
13. He was a part of the March on Stormont in 1972.
14. When he was 8 he used to take the bus into Belfast with his mother to do the shopping and then he would take it home himself while she went off to work.
15. There were bomb scares constantly.
16. I would say he was very poor, but he says he never realized it because so were most other people.
17. He loved Tuesdays because it was payday and he would get a chocolate bar.
18. Most days, he came home to no food for lunch.
19. He was very sick as a child, and spent alot of time in the hospital.
20. Because of this he missed a ton of school.
21. On his very first day of primary school, he and his sister mitched (skipped in my corner of the world.)
22. They hid behind their coal shed and got caught.
23. He had a coin operated TV and sometimes it would go off in the middle of a show.
24. Because he was the only boy he was forced to watch shows like Little House on the Prairie.
25. This may explain why he is so anal about controling the remote.
26. His dad was an alcoholic.
27. They used to have to hang around outisde the pub on paydays to get some money.
28. When he was 13 his dad went missing.
29. They thought he may have been taken by the IRA.
30. It turned out he had left for another woman.
31. His mum ended up going back to Australia.
32. William's oldest sister was left in charge of the four of them.
33. She was only 18 and had a baby.
34. He got into a lot of trouble during this time.
35. He used to go drink in the woods with the winos.
36. He and his friends broke into people's houses.
37. He has scars on his arms from where a soldier burnt him with a cigarette.
38. He got his first tattoo at 12.
39. He has 4 proper tattoos... a grim reaper on his upper arm, some Ulster on his lower arm, a Liverpool FC crest on his chest, and one with two blue birds and hearts on his calf.
40. That one has the name of an ex girlfriend on it, so I don't like it at all.
41. He was given a choice at 14... move to Australia or go to jail.
42. He left for Australia 2 days after his 15th birthday.
43. He didn't eat on the plane because he had no money and he thought he would have to pay for his meal.
44.He was detained at customs because he had no luggage.
45. He never went to school in Australia.
46. He was sexually abused by his doctor there.
47. He is currently in the process of having him taken in front of the medical board.
48. He was also abused by a neighbour as a child.
49. He hitchhiked to Meekathara, Western Australia at 16.
50. Eventually he hitchhiked around most of the country.
51. The only 2 states he has not been to are Queensland and Tasmania.
52. His mum is originally from Tasmania.
53. At 17 he had a daughter, Micheala.
54. Not by choice, he has only seen her twice.
55. She would be 23 now.
56. I'm pretty sure he thinks about her everyday.
57. In 1992 he moved back to N. Ireland.
58. When he showed up at his sister's house she didn't know who he was.
59. He met the woman who he calls 'superbitch' there.
60. They lived together in Bangor.
61. She wanted to leave her 4 children behind and move with him to Australia.
62. He said the kids would have to come.
63. He moved back to Melbourne in 1997.
64. While he worked 16 hour days and built them a house she was sleeping around.
65. He still sponsered her to come to Australia, because of her kids.
66. Three of them moved over.
67. They ended up breaking up. (Obviously!)
68. He is very close to her eldest daughter, Sam.
69. He is a grandfather!
70. Sam has three daughters.
71. Nicole is 2, Natasza is 1 and Danielle was born on the 18th.
72. Danielle was originally called Tiffany.
73. I am sooooo glad they changed that one.
74. Today, 2 of his sisters live in Melbourne, one lives in Scotland and one lives in the same housing estate he grew up in.
75. He has 17 nieces and nephews.
76. He has 4 great nieces.
77. Sophie's middle name Victoria is after one of his nieces.
78. He came here in April 2003.
79. I fell for him straight away.
80. Part of the reason was because he was so great with my kids.
81. Especially Liam, Liam adores him.
82. He worried a lot during the first trimester of my pregnancy as one of his girlfriends had had numerous miscarriages.
83. In November of 2004 Saoirse was born.
84. Her middle name is Maeve but he says it like 'mauve'. As in the colour.
85. William is a fantastic father.
86. He had to go back to Australia when she was 7 weeks old.
87. He came back when she was 8 months old.
88. Saoirse was playing strange with people, but with him it was as though he had never left.
89. She fell asleep on his chest that night.
90. She quickly became a daddy's girl.
91. I was dumped as her favourite person.
92. When I was pregnant with Sophie, we got a letter denying him an extension to his visitor visa and telling him to leave immediately.
93. He left 10 days later after we got a rushed passport for Saoirse.
94. He and Saoirse were gone for 3 months, the worst 3 months of my life.
95. We have just sent in the application for permanant residency and a work visa.
96.If he doesn't get approved, we may have to move to the U.K. (since we are both British citizens.)
97. Because he had sponsored his ex gf previously, he doesn't think he could sponser all of us to go to Australia. (which is okay with me, due to my fear of spiders.)
98. He has psoriasis.
99. He thinks it bothers me but it doesn't.
100. I could not wish for a better father for any of my kids.

The avaliability is astounding

I don't want to come off as a prude in this post although chances are will. So first off, let me say that I don't care what people do in the privacy of their own home. I don't care who you have sex with, what you smoke or what you inject. I do however care that there is someone trafficking drugs in my neighbourhood. This pisses me off immensely.

I have been hearing the rumours about the boyfriend of a girl who lives here for ages. You'd often see a car pull into their driveway and someone shady go into the house for five minutes, come back out and leave. Once I watched two guys get out of a cab and go into the house. The cab turned around and waited. They came back out a few minutes later and left. What else could that be?

They broke up a week before they were due to be married and it was a very quiet summer. Not just because he was gone, but also the pimp car belonging to another boyfriend of another girl also moved on. (What the fuck is going on with my neighbours? There were 3 girls with boyfriends rumoured to be selling drugs, plus two psychotic middle aged woman who are stoned all the time.) Anyway, he came back at the end of August and all this started again.

Last Tuesday (yes! that's how long it takes me to get around to writing a post) Liam and I were going to the store. I had to stop at my friends for a minute and he waited outside. We were standing in her doorway when we saw this guy hop into the backseat of an SUV. She said "He's doing a deal." As I was leaving Jen's house he got out of the car and headed towards his backyard. Liam says to me "I think I just saw a drug deal." I shouted back to Jen that even my 10 year old knew what he was doing, loud enough so that I hope he heard.

I ended up calling the police, he said they would report it to the drug squad. I was asked his name and address and a general description. Last night at our general meeting, Jen, who is the president of our neighbourhood, said that she and I had witnessed a drug deal take place and that the police had been called. At the word police the girlfriend looked right at me, so I wonder if he had said something to her.

While I consider this to be a big deal my friend Shelley had an even bigger deal- a drug bust on her block. Some 800 plants valued at over a million dollars. Two Americans had moved in a few months back and at the end of August there were three or four related busts, involving those 2 and 20 Vietnamese who had just moved from B.C. (did you know they say B.C. has the best pot going? I wouldn't know myself, since I don't do it, but my brother who lives there sent a big jar to William last Christmas. I'm guessing it was alright although there was so much he ended up giving most of it away.) So Shelley was saying tonight that this couple is back in the house and she is none too pleased. It's not even so much the drugs I think as it is the fact that they have got to be gang related. Which means guns. Which sort of frightens us city folk, even those of us who live in gun happy Alberta. Who wants to hear of a gang related shooting in their neighbourhood? It was one thing when it was way on the south side or the north east, but not our pretty little west end.

'Pee' sounds an awful lot like 'three' and other happenings

Saoirse is in the midst of being potty trained; very, very, very slowly. Essentially my method is that she may wear panties if we are at home and if she chooses to use the potty or toilet she can do so, and if she wants a nappy on I will put one on. We have not been great about it, we are on the go quite often and when we are at home she often chooses just to wear her nappy. A sign probably that she is not quite ready.

So a few days ago she was playing one of her favourite games, affectionately called 'One, two, free, jump!' The rules to this game include climbing onto the end table, climbing up on to the arm of the chair (all while doing the countdown) and then jumping onto the sofa cushions. Repeat, repeat and repeat again until you fall of said sofa and bang your head. Cry for a minute and then repeat again. She was standing on the table on, I don't know, maybe her ninth go and she started to count. I hear 'One, two, free, free, free.'
Me: Yes, Saoirse, three...now jump.
Saoirse: Pee, pee, pee.
I look up from staring at Sophie who is eating. Saoirse is standing on the table with one hand between her legs, trying to catch the pee that is now pooling on the table. Down goes Sophie and off Saoirse and I go to the bathroom on the off chance that she managed to hold some in. Nope. She refused to put panties on for the next two days.

Something Saoirse does that the older two never did when they were her age is wipe herself. She refuses to go through a change without using a wipe. It is hilarious to watch her wiping at her bum. She will then get a new wipe and clean her front. Ah, she makes me laugh that one.

Sophie is doing well, although the other week I had to call the Happy Beginnings health line as she had not had a poop in a week. Apparently, it is perfectly normal for breastfed babies of that age to go without for up to 2 weeks. I am not sure if the man farts and the smell that goes along with them are normal though. I swear, you have never smelled anything like it. Frightening.

Everyone else is well, I have a post about parent teacher nights waiting to be finished and I may eventually do so. I don't know why I'm not posting these days. Not much going on I guess. Things are blaaaahhhh. Oh, but I have stamping club on Tuesday. Yay.

See the things that excite me? Loser with a capital L on my forehead.

Some bloggers know me too well

Emmakirst did this one and had "a feeling" I would too. I am very predictable, there's absolutely no denying either that or my love of showering youse all with information about me that you don't need or want to know. So here goes:

1. How often do you blog? Every few days, sometimes more often and sometimes not. I quite often have something I want to blog about but the baby and the state of my house hinders me. William has Sophie at the moment, and I did the kitchen earlier. Except I still need to sweep it.

2. Online Alias: Is it Emma in Canada or Emma from Canada? I can never remember. Needless to say it's hardly an alias. I really am called Emma and I really do live in Canada. But not in an ingloo.

3. Have you ever stood up for someone you hardly knew? Yes. Some Chinese man was being harrassed by two native men. I got called some very nasty things in return.

4. What do you do most often when you are bored? I don't usually get bored.

5. When bathing, what do you wash first? My hair.

6. Have you ever been awake for 48 hours straight? No I don't think I've gone 48, 36+ though.

7. What color looks best on you? Earth colours. Browns, greens, blahs.

8. What’s your favorite drink? Tea. I don't think I could go a day without a few cups.

9. Do you believe in heaven and hell as a real place that each of us will go to after death? I believe in Heaven, but not Hell. William is of the opinion that you can't believe in only one.

10. Do you find that you have more online friends than offline friends? No. I'm not sure at what point you call someone who's blog you comment on a friend. There are definitely people I think I would get on with in real life though.

11. What was your favorite subject in school? English, Social Studies, Law.

12. Are you a perfectionist? I wish I were a perfectionist. I wish my house was always clean and my scrapbook pages were always fantastic. It's not so.

13. Do you spend more than you can afford? I spend what I have but I do not save. So yes.

14. Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have love before? Most definitely, no matter how much it hurts.

15. Do you consider yourself creative? No, I'm a copier. I love Splitcoast stampers for my cards and I buy Scrapbooks, etc. every month to steal page ideas.

16. Do you give yourself the credit you deserve? Do I deserve any? I hate that sort of question.

17. Do you donate to charities? Yes, especially when it is done through the school such as the Terry Fox run for cancer and Jump Rope for Heart for the Heart and Stroke Foundation.

18. Have you recently done something that you’ve criticized others for doing? I don't think I usually criticize people for things I do as well. I can hardly judge someone for yelling at their kids when I do it myself.

19. What’s on your mind? I can't wait for Amazing Race to start!

20. Say one nice thing about the people you are going to tag! You are lovely, lovely people and you had better do this. I am not tagging anyone in particular, if I read your blog I'd probably like to see what you have to say.

Word Cloud

Stolen once again from Lost Somewhere in Antrim. I love this thing.



Wouldn't this be perfect for a scrapbook page?

There must be something in Canadian water

Lukas won Rockstar Supernova last night, the second Canadian to win in the show's two seasons. What's with that? I was going for him, purely because he was Canadian but I didn't like him enough to actually get off my lazy arse and vote for him. I voted for J.D. Fortune many times. I also would not go see Supernova in concert, like I did for INXS.

And here is why. Lukas is no hottie. And I am purely of the belief that one should only attend a concert if there are good looking people involved. I am certainly from the video age. And Lukas is not even remotely cute with all that crap on his face. What was with the glitter lip gloss last night? It made me cringe.

I thought it was between Toby (hot and a good singer) and Lucas (not hot, great singer) so was disappointed to see that bitchy Dilana in the final two. And I knew who won before I watched it thanks to my friend Michelle with whom I had this conversation at Meet the Teacher last night.

M: I know who who Rockstar!
E: Were you watching Newfoundland T.V.? Tell me who won!"
E: No, don't!! Just tell me if it was a girl or boy.
M: Did you want her to win?
E: No I can't stand her.
M: She doesn't win.
E: Was she the first to go?
M: No it was Magni and then Toby.
E: Ummmm, Michelle, you just told me who won.

And, sadly, knowing does make the show slightly less exciting.

Remembering September 11th.

In July I signed up to participate in a blogging tribute to the victims of 9/11. Of course, being me, I left it to the very last moment before I typed a thing, although I had read about Marie Pappalardo, of whose name I randomly received.

Marie was 53 (but going on 33 according to her daughter) and had lived in Paramount, California for 12 years where she was a Controller and Production Manager for ALA Foods.

Marie was returning to California on Flight 175, the plane that hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. She had been on her annual trip to her home state of Massachusetts to visit her daughter, Maria, for Maria’s birthday as well as to attend the Feast of the Three Saints, celebrated on Labour Day at her home church, The Holy Rosary in Lawrence.

After Marie’s death her co-worker Steve Santoyo revealed that he and Marie had been married for 2 years, and that she was step mother to his three daughters. Their marriage was kept private because of their jobs.

Marie’s interests included travel, racehorses (she loved the horse Affirmed, a Triple Crown winner), all sorts of music, operas and animals, especially cats. She would take stray cats to the vets for shots and spaying. She even cut a hole into her garage door to allow cats to come in to eat. She had two cats of her own, Mickey and Mouse.

Marie Pappalardo is survived by her daughter and son in law, Maria and Lance Koutny, her husband Steve Santayo, her three stepdaughters; Rebecca, Erica and Amber as well as two brothers.

5 Years Ago Today

I was in bed (well, I was on the couch...my ex and I had split up, but due to finances stayed in the same house, I got the couch) and the phone rang. I had no clue whowould be calling me at 6.30 in the morning and when I looked at call display I wondered who would be calling long distance at this very ungodly hour.

It was my cousin Thomas calling from Belfast (well, just outside Belfast, too small a place to say where) and he said to me "Can you come over next week?"

He had a free ticket for me. He was working for British Airways at the time, oddly enough he was let go due to downsizing while I was there. The ticket was from Vancouver to Belfast via London. So all I had to do was make my way to Vancouver and back from there again. Not too bad at all.

I was due to fly out to Vancouver on Friday the 14th and spend the night with my friend Lisa and would leave for Belfast on the Saturday evening.

And then September 11th happened. And I wondered if I would get to go at all. I was hugely judged by some of the parents at achool for my decision to go. One mum said that they had friends that were due to leave for Spain and had cancelled it because of 9/11. I said that there was no way I was passing up a free trip to Ireland and anyway, wasn't it reasonable to believe that the safest time to travel would be after something terrible like that? Extra security and all.

So off I went. I was only supposed to go for a week, but ended up spending a month. I will never regret going, even though I missed Taylor and Liam like crazy. My cousin spent most of his time drinking so I was left to my own devices most of the time. I went to London for a weekend and down to Dublin for a 20th anniversary rally of the Hunger Strikes. I was only supposed to go for the day but missed the last bus back to Belfast as I was too busy reading. Eejit, I am. I was flying to Birmingham the next day to spend a week with my Nan and Grandad and I literally was down to my last 10 pounds. I was totally fucked. I could get a hold of no one I knew in Belfast, I couldn't find the phone number of the one person I knew of in Dublin and every hotel was booked as Ireland played Holland that day. Not that I would have got far with what little money I had and an over the limit credit card. No, I was going to call either my mother or grandad to bail me out. In the end I ended up finding a room in a hostel that was also a hotel. I think it was called Brown's. I don't even know where it was, just that I walked for 3 hours looking for somewhere.

I also got to meet my great aunt Emma, a woman I have always been fascinated by. Not only because we share a name and she was the only member of my father's family that my mother actually liked but because she was blinded by a British soldier who shot her and oddly enough, really showed no bitterness. She also met Mother Teresa which I was very impressed with when I went through my v. brief religious phase when I was little.

Most importantly of course, was seeing my Nan and Grandad. It was the last time I saw my Nan as she had her stroke a few months later. And the chances of seeing my Grandad again are slim to none.

Anyways, I had a fantastic time and I spend most of September and early October saying "...years ago on this day I was here or here." Quite pathetic!