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.