Going to get myself in trouble

This morning at breakfast Darcy wasn't terribly interested in eating her Rice Krispies. Can't exactly blame her. I'm not always too fussed with them myself. And really, who wants to be eating cereal when there are tea parties to be played?! So one minute Nick is telling her to eat the cereal and the next Darcy is blowing on them and there are suddenly rice krispies ALL over the table. There is also dead silence for a split second as Nick, Sue and I all stare at the table in amazement that she actually did that! Then of course, Nick put on his Dad face and gave her a time out. He should've given me one too because I basically sat in my chair for the three minutes of time-out, having to cover my face to hide the fact that I was laughing so hard I was crying (with the occasional snort, I admit), shaking not daring to look at Sue or Nick for fear of losing it all together.

Even thinking of this little incident now has given me a fit of the giggles. All I can remember is the whoosh of air as Darcy blew and looking down to a sea of krispies all over the table. Funny stuff.

Wesley continues to be pretty relaxed and mellow most of the time. He also seems to have taken a liking to farting and pooping while on my lap. (Wait just a second - did I just mention baby farts and poops on my blog?! Who am I???)

At Long Last

Imagine having to go on vacation to find the time to get my hair cut. But it's done now! It's soft, pretty and a heck of a lot cheaper than a Montreal haircut.

Soaked

After a few quick errands around town this morning with Nick and Darcy, we spent the afternoon doing some more painting and then paddling in the wading pool. It was a beautiful hot afternoon and Darcy seemed to really enjoy splashing about. The best for her (and for Nick & Sue) was when she threw a bucket of water at me and got me square in the chest. In an instant, I was soaked from the neck down. I had changed into shorts and a t-shirt and knew I was going to get wet but for some reason wasn't quite expecting to be caught off guard like that. Shows what I know about 3 year olds!

Tonight after Darcy went to bed, Sue gave Wesley a bath. This didn't seem to bother him much at all and he posed beautifully for a 1-week old photo session. Then while Nick did the garbage and Sue had a bath, I got to snuggle with Wesley for a bit and he fell asleep on my lap. He is very, very cute! And very, very mellow.

Happy Birthday to Me

Turned 38 today. Not altogether thrilled with that. But spending the day with my 3-year old niece certainly helps put life into perspective. Namely, when can we go outside and paint?

Other Darcy-isms to remember "I live in a home filled with joy", "can we paint our face?", singing Row, Row, Row your boat at increasingly louder volume depending on the size of the boat going by in the river (tankers get shouted at), and finally - piece de resistance, practicing singing Happy Birthday (to me) at full volume ... so much for the surprise element!

It was good to stay in my pjs until 11am, discuss the merits of pb&j over cheese & jam, how sometimes you just have to ask somebody to hug you, and also racing as fast as you can but not being afraid to stop and catch your breath in the most dramatic manner possible.

Turns out this birthday was a lot more fun than I expected.

Made it!

Here I am in Windsor after an all too brief stay with Lynn & Family in Burlington. I had a wonderful time catching up with Lynn & Gus, and also getting to know their three great kids, Michael, James & Kieran.

We thought Saturday would be ruined by the incredible rain that was coming down that morning but in the end decided to make the trip down to Niagara Falls in the wild hope that maybe, just maybe, the weather would clear up. And surprise, surprise - it did! We had a wonderful lunch at a groovy little 50s-era cafe, then a picturesque drive to Niagara-on-the-Lake for a stroll through the shops and an all-important ice cream, and finally to The Falls themselves for a trip on The Maid of the Mist, which was a blast! We all got soaked and loved it! Finally, we ended the day with a round of silly faces after dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was a longer day than we anticipated and didn't get home until about 11pm. The kids were all asleep in the car and us adults were about asleep on our feet. Think it did all of us good to have a lie-in this morning.

I managed to take about 200 pictures yesterday. Good thing it's digital, right?! You'll have to wait until I get home though to see those. Sorry!

Next up - my new nephew Wesley! Gosh is he EVER teeny-tiny! I did hold him for a bit, but honestly, he's so little that it makes me a bit nervous. Mostly he's been asleep but he did wake up long enough to do a squirty fart and poop while laying on my lap. Bit scary that - when Nick picked him up I was sure there'd be poop all down my legs, but there wasn't - phew! Never say never though ...

Darcy is a cute and wonderful as ever. Also quite a little chatterbox! And I'm even managing to understand most of it. Very impressive, no? Will have to see which activity the two of us can get started on tomorrow.

For now though, time for me to get to bed.

Wait a second ...

Imagine if you will, I decide to open my purse mid-morning to add some kleenex to my supply and discover to my HORROR that my train ticket in NOT IN MY BAG!!!

Panic stations.

Much cursing and muttering under my breath.

And then after some online chatting with Why, I decided to buy some bus tickets, take the bus home, get my ticket and catch the next bus back downtown. With any luck, I figured I could do this in just under an hour.

Didn't quite turn out like that.

The bus was 3 minutes late (so already I now only had 1 minute to catch the return bus if I did get home on schedule - you see where this is going, right?), there was lots of noon hour traffic, a 6 block detour and a slow driver. The bus back downtown that I was supposed to be on, passed my bus while I was still heading home. Got my ticket. Called a taxi. Got back downtown in just over an hour.

I spent $11-something on bus tickets and $12 for a taxi.

That'll teach me to things out of my purse at 5:30am on the day I travel.

Check!

Suitcase - check
Clothes - check
Shoes - check
Make-up - check
Toiletries - check
Camera - check
Bathing suit - check
Book - check
Surprise for Lynn - check
Activities for Darcy - check
Cookie recipe - check
Little something for Wesley - check

That's it. All ready to go now. I will be sure to provide updates once I've had a good look at my brand new nephew (kinda sounds like they got a car or something).

Two More "Do-Do" Until Vacation!

Two more sleeps and then I'm off!

What do I have left to do at home?

Empty the garbage.
Leave Eric a note about the plants.
Pack ... heh. Seems I spent too much time cleaning last night and NO time packing. Tonight could be a short night. Oh well, I can sleep on the train.

I have a nephew!

Wesley Albert was born on August 21, 2007, at 8:21pm and weighs 5lb 14oz. Both he and mom are well. For more details check out Nick's blog.

Murder on the bike path

This kind of story freaks me out completely.

Girl 14 murdered.

I've spent a lot of days and time this summer on many Montreal bike baths, as well as streets. From early morning until early evening and all hours in between. Then I hear or read about this kind of thing happening and start questioning if I'm being safe enough. Not always, I'll admit. But what's the alternative? Live afraid of doing anything? Become paranoid and never leave the house? Probably there is no good and proper answer.

Bon Voyage, Mrs. B!

Had a lovely visit yesterday afternoon with my bestestclosestfriend's Mum yesterday. She returns to White Rock, BC tomorrow. Safe journey Mrs. B, it was wonderful to see you again.

Thanks to my own mom for taking a picture of us.

Vacation Countdown

One week today until I leave!

I can eat peaches and nectarines again!

Forgot to mention that last weekend I ate my first unpeeled peach since ... I don't know when. My mouth didn't go all fuzzy and itchy and weird. Later that day when I did my groceries I bought a bunch of nectarines and I can eat those without peeling them too!

3 Strikes

Oooh, look at me using a sports reference!

Here's why: last summer I rented a car twice with National Car, this summer I have rented once with Alamo (both operate out of the same space downtown) - all three times I have had to wait at least an hour to pick up the car even though I did reserve it for a specific time. So that's it. Three strikes against them. They're out. I will not use them again. I will pay more to have a car at my disposal for the precise time I need it, not an hour later, not when I am hosting a party 35km away and not when I am providing half the food.

Talk about adding to my stress level. I had reserved the car for 10am Sunday morning. I showed up at 10:15am (after stopping to buy a little flower for the party at the train station). Only as I walked in the door did the sight of 6 people sitting around start ringing bells in my head. A moment later as I approached the desk and handed over my license, I suddenly remembered last year. I got the same line, "I'm sorry, we won't have a car available for you for at least an hour."

Oh. My. God.

The wheels started clicking furiously in my head as I calculated that I would have a total of 15 minutes to do my hair, put on make-up, empty the dishwasher, hang up a load of freshly washed clothes, and pack the food, present, etc. for the party. Can you see the beads of perspiration appear on my forehead and my eyes bug out of my head? Yeah, it wasn't pretty.

So, I told the not so sympathetic clerk that this posed, kind of, a REALLY BIG PROBLEM!!! Ok, maybe I expanded on the truth a little ... (I am feeding 25 people lunch in less than 2 hours and I have all the food) much help it did. Their solution was to offer me a "pick-up truck SUV". No kidding. The name alone pretty much told me that there was no way I could drive it. And after seeing the garage driver drive it up to me to see for sure, I was more than sure I'd never step foot in it - even if I could climb up without the assistance of a ladder!

Work with me here, people!

Just to give you some frame of reference: I am 5'7" and I was wearing sandals with about a 2" heel. The top of the front of the truck's hood came up above my shoulder. I would have definitely needed a ladder, or at the very least a step-stool to climb up into the driver's seat. Oh, and although there was no trunk, they suggested I just place all the food in the flat bed part of the pick-up. And what? Let the stuff just fly around without any kind of cover? Do they eat? Do they have any concept of food preparation and hygiene? Any? At all??? I'm guessing not. At my refusal of this vehicle, they offered to call me on my cell as soon as something came in. Fine. But if it really was going to be an hour, I would cancel my reservation, 100% refund, no penalty charges, thank you.

They did call me about 15 minutes after this to let me know that they just got a car and it would be ready for me in 15 minutes. Hurray! I hung around the bookstore for another 10 minutes and walked back down to the shop. Only this time, it seems they gave the "the car just came in" message to everyone who'd booked for the day because now there were 6 people in front of me and it seemed that every single case was a problem one that only the manager could solve. After much toe tapping, glancing at my watch and some heavy sighing (very passive-aggressive but I just didn't care at that point) the manager came out with a set of keys for me. I grabbed them and ran!

With the clock seriously ticking now, I jumped into the car, screeched out of the parking lot, down the street (please, no red lights), home, in the front door, hang the laundry, screw the hair just throw it back in a clip, 2 minute make-up, screw the dishes, pull out the last items from the freezer and quickly into the thermos bag, trip #1 at full run to the car with box of dishes and platters, back into the house, trip #2 with bag of food and freezer stuff, back into the house - OHMYGODTHEPRESENT!!! The gift was still hidden in my closet from the last time Cecilia came over. Oh holy crap - I haven't even signed the card!!! Sit down, scribble some inane remark, hope it'll do. Grab the present, my camera, purse, out the door, up the stairs - OHMYGODIHAVETOCHANGEMYSHOES!!! Back down the stairs, much fighting with the key in the door, drop everything on the floor, change the shoes, grab the bags again and out the door, into the car. Sorted.

Made it there about 20 minutes late, the party went off without a hitch and I got a lovely refreshing swim in the pool when it was all over.

All said and done. That is the last time I use Alamo/National.

Post Party

Phew!!!

First things first: pictures from the party are here.

Second: the party was a huge success. Lots of people showed up. There was more than enough food. And most importangly, Cecilia was thrilled with everything so that made it easy to be happy with the result - a fabulous party!

Could not have done any of it without the huge help of Sina (friend), Carolina (C's sister), Ines (C's mom) and even Rob (C's brother). We were complimented for the food, the decorations, the guessing game and the fun party. Thanks ladies (and gentleman) for all your hard work, patience and good humour.

Everything's Ready!

All is in order for Cecilia's pre-baby party on Sunday afternoon. We are confirmed at 20 guests. All I have left to do is make the stuffed mushrooms and pick up a rental car on Sunday morning. I do so love to be organised.

Check this space for the party low-down next week.

Until then, have a great weekend and keep your fingers crossed for good weather on Sunday.

Rejection Hotline

Next time somebody asks you for your number and you don't want to give it to them, fear not! Now there is a real number you can give.

Check this out: 514-667-0361

This is the Rejection Hotline number. There's a nice little message telling the listener that they have been rejected and to just get over it already.

I may just put it on business cards!

Team Photo

Check out this link for our team picture from the competition.

The Spider Dance

As most of you know, I have some issues with spiders (and snakes). I suppose these issues could be termed as a phobia but whatever. Spiders (and snakes) scare me. A. Lot.

A few days ago, one morning I was discussing some things with a colleague at her desk. Suddenly we both saw a big, stinking black spider drop out of her inbox onto some papers and then skittered away to places unseen. Well, I couldn't help myself. When I saw that thing I did a little dance and gagged a bit. The two women sitting in the next work station stared at me like I was on crack or something. They had obviously never seen the Spider Dance before (or the Snake Dance for that matter.) So we all laughed nervously and I tried to play it down but I knew I had just made a complete fool of myself. I ran back to my desk because I couldn't possibly stay there with an unknown spider on loose, right?! Right.

To top it all off, later that same afternoon, one of the facilities guy's stopped by my desk to ask about the little stranger who came to visit. He had a funny grin on his face and it clicked right away that he was coming by to kid me about the spider. More nervous joking from me.

Boy, when I first did the Snake Dance for Yvette 2 years ago, little did I realise that one day I'd be doing it in the office. What a way to win friends and influence people.

On a completely unrelated note, it's another long weekend for me. Off again tomorrow!

Flamenco Pic-Nic

Working downtown can at times be a hassle with the noise, the traffic, the people, etc., but most of the time I love it. Yesterday was one of those I-Love-It days.

Seeing as I find the office temperature similar to that of a walk-in freezer, I grabbed my lunch bag and headed across the street to the courtyard for a little pic-nic and to warm up. Instead of just grooving to my iPod though, I was fortunate to watch a small Flamenco troup give a free concert. Just like that, in the middle of downtown, at lunch, free.

Does it get any better?