A Weird Resonance

I heard an Everclear song on the way home tonight that totally twigged with me so I had to blog it.

I mean...obviously I'm not a dude, and being in Alberta I didn't grow up in a black neighbourhood (but Ogden was a dive in my time...and mom did live in the 'Welfare' housing...lean times!)

My Dad never smacked my mom around either. Not that she wasn't completely hostile, manipulative and vindictively asking for it. She really got in his face, always smacking him. She even turned her rings around first. She was not what you would call a great role model for a girl. However he didn't beat her. He just avoided engaging her in any kind of way and boinked all his secretaries instead. Yep. Super fine peeps in their young age.


FATHER OF MINE
Father of mine
Tell me where have you been
You know I just closed my eyes
My whole world disappeared
Father of mine
Take me back to the day
When I was still your golden boy
Back before you went away

I remember blue skies
Walking the block
I loved it when you held me high
I loved to hear you talk
You would take me to the movie
You would take me to the beach
You would take me to a place inside
That is so hard to reach

Father of mine
Tell me where did you go
You had the world inside your hand
But you did not seem to know
Father of mine
Tell me what do you see
When you look back at your wasted life
And you dont see me

I was ten years old
Doing all that I could
It wasnt easy for me
To be a scared white boy
In a black neighborhood
Sometimes you would send me a birthday card
With a five dollar bill
I never understood you then
And I guess I never will

Daddy gave me a name
My dad he gave me a name
Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away

My daddy gave me a name
Daddy gave me a name
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name

Father of mine
Tell me where have you been
I just closed my eyes
And the world disappeared
Father of mine
Tell me how do you sleep
With the children you abandoned
And the wife I saw you beat

I will never be safe
I will never be sane
I will always be weird inside
I will always be lame
Now Im a grown man
With a child of my own
And I swear Im not going to let her know
All the pain I have known


Then he walked away
Daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My dad gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
My daddy gave me a name
Then he walked away
Then he walked away
Then he walked away

>^..^<

WHAT A GIRL WANTS

My New Camaro......(I WISH!)
Should've married rich! =)

>^..^<

Facebook-a-Holic.....intervene me!

Okay, I have gone from blogging, to wow, to myspace and now to crackbook. Where was all this shit when I was a teenager??!!

It's just so sad to be addicted now that I am a married girl with a life. =(

Seriously though....If teenagers had been more prone to typing responses, I totally wonder what my life would look like today. It's kinda strange....and surreal to know that one discovery in technology may have changed it completely and brought me into an alternate universe.

Never been a phone girl...I was a letter or note girl. And although I am fairly outgoing, I was also shy whenever emotions came into play. Facebook would have rocked for me. But I also might have got compeltely hooked on it and never actually made friends...that would have been sad indeed.

It's kind of a thrill to hook up with all these people from your past. You can actually have friendships without the hormonal barriers or competetiveness. Relate to people without all the turmoil of being a teenager in the way. It's like a second chance to get to know people as they are with out all the postulating. I think you get a better sense of someone's character once they have lived some life too. Some people totally and pleasantly surprise me...and some are just the same assholes they were originally. Others are the same people ~ just like you hoped they were.

I'm going to conclude that I am grateful for the crackbook, but I should probably set up a local chapter of 'Crackbookers Anonymous'. I think a support group is going to be required!

>^..^<

Too Boobylicious...

OMFG....I will never complain about my rack again......

Someone get this girl a back brace STAT!

>^..^<

Gave my notice today!!!! Yipeeee!

I gave my notice today. Was kinda sad. But I was mostly happy. I really, truly, can't wait to be done with retail.


Had some great conversations today. Was nice. I think some people will want to come with me to WestJet. Who wouldn't?

Facetime on Facebook

Okay. I think I need an intervention. I am OBSESSED with Facebook.


Seriously - it's like that worst form of instant gratification I have ever seen. And it's all about re-connecting and it's so FUN...and addictive.

But I found a former BFF on there, who I have been searching for years to find. So it's all worth it! Sigh.

I also ran into scads of people that I just adored and forgot all about. It's pretty damn neat!


But yeah....I need to get weaned off for a bit. Or I'll NEVER get back to my watercolour!

WestJetter????

I interviewed with Westjet recently. Hoping I get the job!!!!! The company is amazing. If you've ever flow them ~ you know. If you haven't GET ALL OVER THAT!

I am pretty familiar with all the particulars of recruiting, right down to having candies and water available. But this wasn't staged. It was honest. I was WOWED.

Keep everything crossed for me!

>^..^<

So Stoked!

One of my favourite authors, Charles Cumming sent me a friends request on my space today. How cool is that??? A very nice gesture to a fan!


If you haven't read him - you gotta get him. He's brilliant.



>^..^<

The NEWest Blogssssssssssssss

OH MY WORD!

Seriously.

I think I am addicted to blogging.

I just have this compelling need to have one for everything. last week I started a myspace for connecting with past peeps, and I just got a weight loss one. I may be out of control.

But I am happy and 'vented' ;)

However, I will concede that I may be on my arse in front of the computer too much. I need to do this a bit less, and excercise and paint a lot more.

It's all about balance compadres!



http://www.extrapounds.com/blog/fattypants/

http://www.myspace.com/arocat_


>^..^<

A New Nephew..

Welcome Aurin Leduc-Towner!

I haven't met him yet - but I love him to death all ready.

>^..^<

A Very Cool Illusion...

I found this while browsing the net to find Cubbie a 'myspace' layout. It's pretty neat. At first you look at it and think... i don't get it. Someone drew on a picture and it's an illusion? Then you see the other pics and realize that the yellow lines are painted all over this structure to look like, from this spot, they are just drawn. It would be very cool to see in person!

Check it out here there are more pics on the site showing how it was done. Amazing! I would never have the attention span. I'd need a team on minions to 'Make it Happen'. ;)

Amazing Sliding Rocks.....and The Teacher that Failed my A$$

I had FOUR revelations today!!!
New Nephew and two others that were tied to each other.

I'm on holidays for two weeks, but worked Easter Sunday in the middle of it cuz I am the only one who refuses to celebrate. Not that I'm religious or rather anti-religion. It's because my Grampa died at Easter time. To honour him properly - I prefer not to celebrate at this time. It's a time for a more...solemn.

Anyway - I don't want to go there. I want to get to the exciting stuff.


Revelation #2:
My staff are talking about me....and it's because they noticed I lost weight!!!!
You can't know how warm and fuzzy I felt hearing "You've lost weight haven't you!?".
--^-v-^--@ To a girl on a diet - those would be the kindest, most supportive words in the english language! @--^-v-^--

Revelation # 3:
The one teacher that failed me from his class - is no longer a teacher. And...now he's more human. Bonus.

When I was at Crescent Heights, I had an intense mutual hate-on for my Social 20 teacher. I just hated Mr. Ron Jeffery with a passion. He was arrogant, a braggart and was pretty mean to anyone who didn't hang on his every word. Every class was brutal for me. I was home with a house that was constantly in a state of high disfunction, crying myself to sleep at night, drinking my face off and just generally trying not to consider the plethora of suicidal thoughts going through my head. Because of the stress and depression that comes from living in a alcoholic household - I often could not sleep at night. I would be late for school. Was sick a fair amount. And lacked the ability to stay attentive while he bragged about whatever amazing foreign place he had jetted off to.

I think, looking back I was also highly jealous. I thought I would never be able to see all the things he would see (The first person I ever knew who went to Egypt, and passionately spoke of their travels there. Showed us slides of the pyramids too.) and he took rich kids with caring parent to these places. Bragged about his kids (who were also lucky sods) and took up the class time rambling on and on about things that weren't part of the monumental stressful reality I was in. So I had a real chip on my shoulder. And he hated me. He very snottily told me that I would never make it anywhere in life.

Now...this is reminding me of an email I got yesterday. About a teacher with a student that she loved to hate. Until she found out why he was acting out and negative. Not that I was that way...but I was definately doing my best to look bored or uninterested as he went through the tales of his exceptionally fascinating life. (He really is interesting - but I couldn't appreciate it then). It was so frustrating because you all ready have a great deal of homework in highschool. His talking meant hours of extra work piled into my non-school time to get us back on the lesson plan. I felt resentment.

Never did he try to make a connection. And I am thinking now about times I have done that as a manager. Just got tired of someone giving the attitude instead of investigation. It happens. It's sad when it happens to kids though.

I cried when he failed me. I was depressed. Thought briefly about dropping out of school...Because what is the point is someone can be biased against you and attack you personally (which I felt and still feel was the case...not that I was helping my case). My Mom, although she is all talk and not the action part took me to task and told me passionately that there is no way someone like that was going to hold her daughter down. I was going to take it again next semester and show him. So I did. And I got 80%. Passed with flying colours. The teacher I had spoke little, stayed on task and stared endlessly at my boobs. Having learned my lesson...I sat at the front of the class and indulged him. ;) Survivor Lesson!

I was proud of my accomplishement...but never sure if it was me or my C cups. In Social 30 I got Mr. Fretz (FAVOURITE TEACHER EVER!). He was tough. Everyone hated how tough he was. But I loved him. He was firm. But he was FAIR. Stayed on track, and pushed you to stay on track. And if you got a bad mark - he made you stay and explained why. If you had really put an effort in he would help. If you didn't - he would give you shit. I got 70% in that class but it was tough. And I was trying harder to please him than any other teacher.

When I graduated, he was the one helping students down the stairs as they came off stage from accepting their diploma (girls in high heals at the jube, on an adreline rush = possible serious injury). As he took my hand and guided me down the stairs - he made me cry. He said he was really proud of me and I was going to go places. (I'm tearing up now just writing that!). Seriously. I felt like a bride that just was given away by her father. My Dad never came to my grad...so it was nice to have someone there that represented that.

So what do I do when Mr. Jeffery comes to do a return....I have thought...no fantacized about being in a position to cause him grief before. Heeheehee...here was my chance. But you know....he seemed changed. Pleasant. Positive. Just not that person that he was. And I am DEFINATELY not the person I was at 17.

I joked around with him, talked about the teachers and some that passed away too early. Teased him about failing me. And he couldn't remember me. Didn't beleive he had. Even as he left he said "I didn't really fail you, did I?!". You sure did. But I overcame it. And more importantly learned some very valuable lessons on how to get by in life. And to have some ambition to MAKE IT HAPPEN!

He retired now and is working for a travel company. I Googled him when I got home and found *this* . It's so amazing! I mean the pictures are so interesting. and whimsical. Now that I am and adult it's funny to look back at this larger-than-life character from my youth and just see him as a man. I am so happy I ran into him. I feel so much more at peace about the whole thing now. And...it was a nice little measure of my growth as a humane. Grace under preassure and all that.


Revelation # 4:

So as I am going through his site, I see some other people he is linked to..members of his page. One has the same last name. I click on it and find some amazing pictures. Here's the link - honestly check it out. Beautiful work. I see this picture about sliding rocks...and I gotta Google it. In Death Valley, California there are these rocks that myseteriously slide around on the clay playa and nobody is 100% on how it happens. this site has a couple possible theories but it's pretty damn neat anyway you look at it. I just love science. Don't you wanna just know the answer?! Too neat.

Anyway...If you google sliding rock you will also find a natural waterslide which also seems pretty damn cool.

Doesn't have nothin on my WILD WADI though!!!!
Sigh....I bet Mr. Jeffery has been there too! :)


>^..^<

Who's an Auntie Again? MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I AM SO EXCITED. T had the baby today - over a month early. I am so excited for their family. Nice new start. I just love that little baby all ready - cuz it got them back to being a family again.

I'll get to see my new little nephew soon - and here I was today just fretting about how I long I was going to have to wait. Coming to here wasn't the plan but required because of the early birth. All came through it safe and sound. It was pretty rough in it's brevity so I'm glad T didn't have to suffer through a long haul.

I'm gleeful.

>^©©^<

It takes a Global Minded Community to Raise the World's Children

Not that I would say I am 'cultured', cuz that would be a stretch....but I have been listening to BBC World Service latley on the radio. I thought I should get more news in and I can't stand what we allow to pass for news in American media. BBC is pretty balanced and not sensationalistic in it's delivery. Works well for me.

I am surprised every day to get a glimpse in to the lives of people and their views on a global basis. If there is one reason I would implore people to get a satellite radio -it's so you can get this balance in your life. We drive to work, in our cushy cars, sipping our latte's and think bitterly how nice it would be to be back in bed. What about the people that don't have beds, or had to share them with their parents and siblings. A bed? A mat on the floor is more likely.

The BBC had a series on slavery and it focused on how the majority of the victims are children. I really thought about this aspect. We can't have children. There are millions of people who can't feed their children. What would it take to enable them to not sell a child into slavery? You would be surprised - it seemed that the children were sold for $50 or less in some cases. Can you believe that? That's a trip to Walmart for some stupid needless item or another.

Often the parents are selling one child, the one they think has the best odds of surviving to feed the rest of the family. What a gut wrenching decision that must be to make. Tear your family apart - or starve. If you click on the link above, you will see some of the stories. If it inspires you - you can go to savethechildren.org and become a sponsor. No, you would be more than a sponsor. You would finally be the international hero you dreamed about as a youngster. You can choose the child to sponsor, and the amount you give monthly.

I am sponsoring a boy from Bangladesh. I wanted to choose a boy because of the stories of Ali and Mawulehawe. Both boys sold to slavery. Their stories, voices and ability to face the lot they were forced into broke my heart. I wish there was a way I could have given to them directly.


>^..^<

Found this on a blog. Someone should tag on that over-confidence also makes a girl very ugly.

ORANGE TERROR ALERT!






Pretty Damn Cute.


>^..^<

Less of Me

I'm on a diet



It's pretty good actually. I know it looks like potatoes above...But it's Turnips and Assorted Veggies. All pretty yummy.



I joined LA weightloss - I want results and quick! I told Jer I am going to get my boobs done if they get all saggy. What the hell would it be like to have stripper boobs? Yikes. I think that could be scarey. I mean I loved my Barbie Dolls...But I would not want to have her schmeebs.



I'd take her legs and waist in a second though. Hey, why not take Ken too while I'm at it! ;-)

Onto a Deeper Note....

My Gramma's 80th Birthday was last weekend. 80 is a big deal. She's beat alot of odds to get there.

My Gramma is an extremely unselfish person. She is extremely socially conscious without having the means to get involved in the issues at hand. She is also always thinking about different ways to help members of our family.

I've been thinking about what life is going to be like when she is gone. The emptiness that will result. Whether my family will come together to bridge the void.

I've also been pondering how she got to 80 so immensley healthy and how other people get sick too early. Face invasive medicine too early. Face the chance of death too early.

Chance? Spirit? Diet? Genetics? Environment?

I dunno. But it is a blessing. A blessing that I don't many of us will also share. It's not that I am pessimistic without reason. Just considering our diet and environment alone you gotta know we aren't in eden anymore. People eat over processed, over preserved crap. There's a Mc D's, Timmy's or Starbucks on a corner near you.

How can we even begin to dismiss temptation with the Guerrilla Marketing Machine in our face all the time? Buy Coke, buy chips, buy Sidekicks, buy SunnyD! Does anyone even make their dinner from scratch anymore? I think barely any of us can say we do 100%. We need shortcuts because we don't have time. We work to pay for more than the basics and then we work so hard our quality of life and health suffer. It's a crazy maze.

So I decided to make healthier choices in my life and stop feeling the inevitable guilt of existing on coffee, lean cuisines, canned tuna, hotdogs and microwave popcorn. Ofcourse I did have other things in my diet, but these were my staples. And I definately liked to fit Pizza and guacamole in whereever possible. I'm really trying to focus on whole, preservative and filler free foods. Back to eating like it's out of Gramma's garden.

Sigh....Not that it is cheap. I am resolving myself to the reality that better ain't cheaper. I'll need to start taking mortgages out on my house to go veggie shopping. But whole foods are better. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it as I go along. I really like it so far and no sugar or carb cravings. Yipeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! It's was a week as of last Wednesday so that's pretty darn good I figure. 8 lbs down so far!

Diet tip:
Weigh yourself in the buff - your clothing makes a big difference and unless you're a big slob it won't be the same day to day.

Happy realization....I can eat peanut butter EVERY DAY......Bliss!

>^..^<

It's One in the Morning.... (are you awake too?)

Ohhhhh. So many thoughts scrambling around in my brain. Too many to make sense of.

LIFE IS WEIRD

Wow! I just Googled that. Interesting returns!

AND if you Google it in 'images' you get this guy...


Absolutely Fascinating.


CLASSMATES

So I got an email from Classmates the other day. For a limited time I could view all pictures without their 'Golden Extortion Pass'. It was interesting. But you know....there are so many people you are dying to see that aren't even listed. And even those that are listed don't have pictures. (Iwaskiu and Nighswander - I'm talking about you guys specifically.) And then there is this guy that I have been in crush with since grade 3 (which is the best grade in elementary hands down). Not Iwaskiu - another guy. Shane Barron. He was so cute! And slick. and the first bad boy I wanted to chase down during kissing tag and go to town on. He was there in grade 3, then gone from Ogden School completely and is no where on classmates to be found. I am so dying to know what happened to this guy.

From Jr High and High School there is Leanne Kreiger. I just loved this chick. Similar level of Crazy / Independance / Single Minded Determination. We kinda lost contact, and I have no clue where she ended up. Leanne was one crazy girl - God only knows. It's either going to be someplace insane or something so mundane it's going to completely blow your mind. Maybe she's a female wrestler now. You never know....

VIVI~LICIOUS LEARNS A NEW SONG

I had another Vivi sleep over last Friday. I taught her a new song that we are going to sing for my gramma's 80th birthday next weekend. Gramma used to sing it to all her kids, and the grand kids too. It sounds so damn cute coming from Vivi - and she learned it in a day. TOTALLY MENSA.



There is a little pussy
Her coat is silver grey
She lives down in the valley
Not very far away

She'll always be a pussy
She'll never be a cat
'cuz she is a pussy willow
Now what do you think of that?

Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow
SCAT!

She really liked it! I made her sing it for Grampa on the following Sunday, and she still remembered most of it, but the order was a bit mixed up. I think this may finally be the song the knock Six white Boomers out of it's #1 slot. ;)

>^..^<

Ashley Alberta - it's your Birthday!!!

Ashley it's your birthday! Happy Birthday Ashley! Ashley it's your birthday! Happy Birthday Ashley! ....


You are a sweet sweet Cousin - Smooch!!!!





>^..^<

The Vapid Void that is Paris the Heirhead

Paris Exposed.

Wow. I didn't think the half-naked porn star could get any more exposed!!!

Then we get confirmation: Paris is a pot smokin' coke head with herpes. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. That's Exposed all right.

Ya know....I really can't stand this girl. There's something about her. Her looks match her demeanour - FAKE. Sure, some people find her intriguing. Nice to look at. Even worse - young girls think of her as, GASP!...a role model.

'Whoa! Back that truck up!', you say? It's true! I have heard the utterings out of sweet young things mouths myself. Don't think it ain't happening in Canada. The Heirhead phenom is like the flu virus - PREVELENT in our community.

We should all be deeply bothered by the impact that these stupid, vapid, commercialized, self-propagandizing IDIOTS are having on the youth of today. I would rather have a child be expressive and into punk music that hear they are going to be buying Brittney Spears tapes and obsessing on Paris. What are we teaching our girls?! This isn't a depiction of self esteem. It's a portrayal of excess, gluttony and false perception. Paris ain't the heiress to nothin. She wouldn't be trying so hard to get noticed like that if she didn't need to. I have ranted before but honestly! The Media has gone right mad over this whoring sexpot. What is she other than a third rate Marilyn Monroe. At least Marilyn was famous for something other than saying 'Thats hot', partying and being naked. Marilyn could and act too. ;)

Anyway...I haven't seen the Paris exposed site. But I hope to God, that all the little girls out there hear of it. (Not view it - egads it's probably all smut and coke heads!). We need to let these girls know she is not cool. Being slutty and vile and vapid is not an objective in life. It's something you fall back on when you have no other qualities to your morale or character.

Here is something I found to be HILARIOUS:

....Hilton's rep, Elliot Mintz, told the Associated Press Tuesday they are certainly "going to explore all of [their] legal options about this matter."

As if there is any void out there Paris wouldn't explore!


>^..^<

Oooh La La

MY NEW GLASSES

I think people are either gonna love them, or hate them. So far I am one for and one against.

(Actually two for if I can count the optician!). I totally dig them!

>^oo^<

A Vivi-fied Moment

A Vivi-fied Moment

Auntie: (sneezes)

Vivi: God Bless You! (Said in a cute little almost 3 yr old voice)

Auntie: Thank you! You're such a sweetie

Vivi: I kn-o-ow (said humbly)

Ain't she just the cutest? Jer and I loved it!

That's our new thing now:
"Love You Babe"
Reply: "I kn-o-ow".

Why can't I just have a 3 year old land on my doorstep?

>^..^<

WOW Widow? WOW Enabler? WOW Player.

Oh god. What have I done. It's like I am validating everything I hate about these stupid game addicts. It's stupid. They suck the life out of their families and I hate the whole idea of the game world phenom.

So why did I play WOW? Cuz I had to see what it is about. And man. It's monotonous. And boring. And I would rather see my husband addicted to porn on the net.

Hey...you might think no. But I think they would be less out in the open about it that way. Couldn't really come home, drop everything and just porn all night could ya? Noooo.

I don't think I would ever play again. Maybe. If I was looking for something completely mindless. Possibly.

Anyway if you see a blonde haired Mage named Neriah out there...DON'T BE KICKING MY ASS!

Something funny...I was off killing some thugs on a quest and some guy kept giving me talismans and healing me and stuff. Never talked to me. Creeped me right the hell out. I mean, I am playing this game all of 30 minutes and I get a cyper stalker?! I kept asking Jer what the guy wanted from me. He said I was going to owe him a blow job. I ran away. Was just very, very weird. I didn't like it. Jer said the guy was just trying to be helpful. But me...I know how these cyber geeks work. It's all about giving you talismans and trying to check out your mages hooters. Terrible.

Night.

>^..^<

Ramblings

Christmas

Wow. I am so glad Christmas is over. Are we like, mental, or what? We totally over extended ourselves and went crazy with the visiting and crap. Plus I run a retail Mecca...If I just worked, came home, got nude and went to bed everyday - I would be STILL be over extended because work is INSANE at this time of year!!! I really don't need to look for outside sources to suck the energy out of my existance.

*Beware - HUGE run on sentence coming up below!

It was so busy. I am so tired. And the flu and strep and croup whatever else could float around us in that building to be brought back to our homes to attack us - did. I was supposed to have 4 days off starting today. Someone had strep so I had to go in and close this evening. But dammit - I am taking three days off. Even if they burn the place down - I ain't going in.

Speaking of burning the place down - the one thing I as the kids at the store not to do. They tried to do today. They had to call an electrician in to fix some lights that were going wacky and making the electrical smell.

T brought up a valid point though...if we make fire - hot firemen will come. Something to condider for the future.... ;)






















Speaking of the dreaded work place - I am going to Toronto, centre of the universe for four days in February. Yippee. I'm pretty bummed about it, for a maryiad of reasons. I will miss my big J, I'll miss my Vivi and the rest of my girls. And I'll miss my art class. That just really pisses me off. Not much I can do about it though. Just breathe, build the bridge, and get over it.

So...I saw Mom at Christmas. We had two get togethers with wine and guess who showed her affection for aged grape juice? Yeah. She's just so precious. And I especially loved her when my in-laws were here and she got sloshed and started acting like a grade A jack ass. Parents are funny. My mother is not.

I didn't see Dave, my Dad. He didn't come to the dinner we had planned at Spiffs place. No call nothing. I figure he must have had an anxiety attack. We are a bunch of rowdy freaks, who can blame him. What made me sad though is that he didn't call us at Christmas. Now tell me - who the fuck doesn't get a call from their Mom or Dad at Christmas? What is that??? Totally unacceptable. If we don't call him, he needs to be the Man, the Dad and call us. He's totally afraid of us. Doesn't he realise HE'S the Alpha Dog of our pack? Poor Dad. I told him he is a silly old fart. He agreed that he often is.

I also saw the other Dad, Craig, and Leslie for Christmas. Their visit was just lovely. Leslie was feeling really comfortable with us now and it was super nice. Leslie does this really funky thing with her hair where it is all kind of piled on the top of her head using some little clips. She and Vivi were trying Tiaras on and they looked so damn cute together! I think Vivi had a really nice time with her other Grandma. They were really good with the kids.

Boxing day was fun...I shopped my butt off. I didn't really find much to buy though. My main mission is always to hit Cotton Ginny and buy their sweaters at 50% off. That is such a smoking deal for a nice sweater. I got four. I love them. Microfleece. Kiiiittttyyyyy.

No worries - Big J knew in advance. There is no pending divorce.

What else....I gave Tamara the other half of her Brangelina sandwhich for xmas. We kinda did a secret Santa thing. I got T, Jer got Kerry. We didn't know what to get Kerry. Cubbie said Jeans. Jer nixed that. He was NOT going to get Kerry something boring. So off we went to best buy for a gift card. We walked in the door, got into the massive line for the check outs, and did a shwack of shopping right from the line-up! We found a W.o.W. gift card to add to Kerry's gift, and then I had a zen moment. Seriously - there were angels and trumpets and everything! From the line I found a keychain version of Cranium for T. Tell me that wasn't just up her Alley. Plus - it's torture for my brother if she can rope him into playing any given time & place. So it's awesome! heheheh. >:)

Tomorrow I am going to try to re-photograph the painting I did for Vivi. Once I get a proper pic, I need to find a monster frame for it. Who knows how long that will take.

We have had some shitty internet happening lately. I had to put some really shit, small pics on the Arocat Art page. Jer freaked at the net people and it got up to pace again. Now I have redone it that way I had originally intended. I wanted nice big pics so you can see the detail when you click on them. Looks a lot better.

This weekend I am going to try to plow through a bunch of Jack Reid painting excercises. I have been wanting to get through his book for a long time. He really is gifted. I love how he explains Watercolour technique in his book.

Also, my fave bookstore - Southcentre Indigo (Love it there!!!) had a Robert Bateman book on for 19.99. I so bought it. I want to take some time to drool over that this weekend too.

Speaking of books - I bought another book there on Boxing day. It's a big coffee table book also, on Mythology. It has all the myths from Egyptian, Roman, Greek and Myan cultures. There are some from other cultures too. It's very beautiful and it was on sale. Natch. Love it.

GOD I LOVE BOOKS.

I'm such a geek. Hard to believe I dated the whole football team and used to skinny dip with bouncers to get into the bar at 15.

Just kidding about dating the entire football team. That was just a nasty rumer.
Spread by my 12 year old sister.
Actually - the rumor was a tad dirtier than that. But she only told Big J. When she first met him. He married me anyway. ;)

What else is new...

OOOOOOHHHHHH! I have a new love in my life. It's name is...well. Actually there is no name becuase naming your Starbucks mug, no matter how much you love it would be mental. BUT I do love it. Tamara got me for the secret santa and she bought me like, the absolute best gift I have ever recieved!!! It's a special steel 'to go' mug for putting loose tea in. I really adore this mug. See why we had to adopt her? She is just so awesome. I'm glad she and Spiffy got their heads screwed on straight. Together they just rock. Besides - no one can replace Tamara. Seriously. She was meant to be part of this clan. Sometimes you inherit in-laws and they just fit so good. Like you can't even remember what your life was like before they were part of it.

It's true! For all you Mother's that hate your daughter in-laws. I'm telling you - it's cuz your son never found a Tamara. I'm pretty sure my sister makes a pretty fine daughter in-law too. Me, not so much. If I had Corie's Mother in-law I would rock at this gig. Jer's family really intimidated me, so it was a very rocky start. I was just super quiet, shy and insecure. His mom seems to hit it off with Tamara though - see. Proves my point. She's like every Mom's dream daughter in law. I'll have to tell her that theory.

Tamara got me two awesome teas with my mug - Earl Grey and Earl Grey Cream. They are so yummilicious. Then I was drinking so much that I was getting over caffinated. So I picked up some decaf teas for the off hours. At Tea Desire in Southcentre Mall, I found a Green Tea that is Earl Grey, also a Roiboos that is Earl Grey (both decaf) plus I bought something that is called Sencha something and a white tea that is fantastic.

The mug has really changed me life. Seriously!

Ways my lovely mug has enriched my life:

• No more drated Timmys line up



• No more being tempted to eat nasty Timmy's food



• More water intake



• Green tea = anti oxident and other beneficial qualities



• Lovely warm beverage all hours of the day



• You can reuse the tea leaves



• No more sugar in my tea



• Less waste! Tea bags are so overpackaged.



• I can 'cheers' Vivi and not spill



• I can say to Jer 'fill my mug with water beotch'



• Binoo can't drink out of it. She's always stealing my beverages!

I'm sure there are more ways the cup has blessed me, but I'm too tired to be creative.

Speaking of tired...It's time to sign off. Adieous. Happy 2007.

>^..^<