Bookmarks

I have been thinking about the Bookmarks blog entry from Kross-Eyed Kitty. I love the idea that songs are the bookmarks in our lives because it is true. I have been thinking about it for a few days, trying to decide which bookmarks mean the most to me from the years. There really are too many to mention but I thought I might highlight a few:

1) Little Woman by Bobby Sherman. The seven year old boy down the street played this 45 over and over again while my mom and I were visiting for coffee. I asked my mom to buy it for me the next day (she did not).
2) Delta Dawn by Tanya Tucker. Belting it out in the backyard with Sandra R., standing on the stage (picnic table) and using lilac bunches as microphones.
3) Longfellow Serenade by Neil Diamond. Actually, many of the songs of this era by Neil Diamond. We used to spend Saturdays over at my aunt's house and she and my mom and Mrs. Argue The Drunk used to spend the afternoons drinking while we hung out (at the pool in the summer or in the basement in the winter). We would walk over to my aunt's house (about 5 kilometers) and my dad would come for dinner (always late) and drive us home.
4) Dedication by the Bay City Rollers. It was one of the first albums that I bought and I played it over and over and over again.
5) I have two of the same ones as Kross-Eyed Kitty for the same reasons too. Born to Be Alive by Patrick Hernandez and I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. Leah Ann loved BTBA and played it over and over again at her house (this was on the same recorder player that Neil Diamond records would spin). IWS reminds me of hours spent playing rummy in the stifling summer heat. And of course my sister making fun of Kross-Eyed Kitty mouthing the words to the song like she was Gloria Gaynor herself! ;)
6) The Tide Is High by Blondie. Two words - Cam F. Ok, I have to add more. This was always the song they played at roller skating when it was time for a backwards skate. I loved to watch Cam skate around backwards - he was the best roller skater in the whole arena and he knew it. Wow, I feel 14 again just thinking about it.
7) Should I Stay Or Should I Go? by The Clash. Sitting in the cafeteria at school during my brief "Mod" period. Wearing an army surplus jacket and carrying a canvass haversack.
8) Straight From The Heart by Bryan Adams. When I hear this song I will always think of Gord S. And I will always wonder why I ever let someone treat me so poorly. ( )
9) Alana Loves Me by Kim Mitchell. Of course with a few lyric changes. Instead of "Be Brave, Alana Loves Me", I always sing "Pea Brain, Stephen Loves Me!" (we briefly considered the name Alana when we were expecting Jax a decade later).
10) Nothing Compares 2 U by Sinead O'Connor. Break-up song. "Nuff said.
11) More Than Words by Extreme. Get back together song.
12) Into the Mystic by Van Morrison. Wedding dance song.
13) Mr. Jones by The Counting Crows. This song just reminds me so much of the time when I moved to the States and living in our tiny little newlywed apartment in Minneapolis.
14) All I Wanna Do by Sheryl Crow. I had finally received a work permit and got a job at IBM with a bunch of new college graduates. This song was our department's "theme" song although I felt way too old to be bopping around with them
15) Livin' La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin. This song was at the top of the charts when we moved to the Seattle-area. Jax would shake his little bootie to it (he was 14 months old) and shake his head all around and laugh the biggest belly laugh.

What are some of yours?

This evening I let the kids watch tv because Stephen is working late. We saw a commercial for the Make-A-Wish Foundation where a little girl gets a playhouse that she has always wanted. My kids watched with rapt attention. The show came back and at the next commercial break Jax said he wanted to enter the contest for the Make-A-Wish so he could get what he wanted too. It was sad and sweet at the same time. I don't think I have ever seen his eyes get so big as I explained to him how it worked.

My other two children have been little pips lately too. From refilling the syrup bottle with soya sauce (ok, the large bottles of soy and syrup are similarly shaped but the syrup bottle is about 3 times larger!), to crying for "Ash-ee!" and not me when he is upset (how embarrassing is that at the park?!).

I am now safely driving my family around in my van. Well, half safely. I still haven't purchased new tires but at least my car can now stop when I apply the brakes.

I have volunteered to do Art classes in both Jax's and Dex's classes this year. We follow an art curriculum called "Art Start" and meet just once a month. There is another mom who wants to do it too in Jax's class so we will alternate months. Wish me luck!

My friend DeniSe had a baby yesterday! A girl named Chloe Riis (pronounced Reese - it is a family name). I am so happy for her, especially since she was able to have a v-bac! Yeah!

The garage sale was a success. I got rid of tons'o'crap and I made a little money to boot. Stephen is taking the leftovers to Goodwill right now and I only kept a few things that did not sell like a breast pump, fabric scraps (maybe I *will* make a quilt one day) and a throw pillow of Terry's that did not sell.

I spent the day cleaning out all of the vents to get ready to turn the heat on since it is getting cold at night. I also rearranged the living room and dining room furniture. That also includes the two tables that the kids use for Lego and two Iris rolling drawers (three if you count my craft one). So with that, and getting rid of all that junk, the house seems a little larger now.

4 Sale

Garage sale weekend. Today was really busy and I sold *all* of my babystuff. ~sniff~

Someone stole some decorations of Terry's from the garage sale. Imagine!

Jax wants to sell lemonade tomorrow to help the hurricane victims. I was going to let him until he decided that he would just donate 25 cents of what he makes then keep the rest. Cheapo! So he is not allowed to sell lemonade and I will make him donate $1 from his piggy bank for being greedy.

Nothing better than getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the dentist before the kids head to school. The hygenist scolded me for not flossing often enough and then she trying to sell me replacement fillings (the porcelain ones that cost as much as a crown!). I have some cold sensitivity in one tooth from recession (because I clench my teeth in my sleep which lead to another lecture about not wearing my night guard).

Aargh!

What else am I doing wrong?

I do not clean my house often enough. My windows are filthy. The boys' bathroom needs a good scrubbing.

I cannot cook and have burnt more meals than you can shake a stick at. I even managed to transform a pot of chili to a pile of black ash (yes, I said ASH!) a few weeks ago.

I do not water our lawn so the dead grass does not need mowing but the very green patches of clover and dandilions are out of control.

My house needs a couple of coats of paint (outside) and a few windows need replacing.

I am overweight by 25 pounds and I do not exercise enough to keep my heart healthy. I am in desperate need of a dye job because the two inches of grey hair at my roots screams "COLOUR ME!" everytime I look in the mirror.

I do not read to my children *every* day and I do not have them in after-school activities.

What else? I am sure I have forgotten something.

My first home is for sale

The very first home that we owned (or at least had a mortgage for) is for sale. Not sure what made me look it up tonight but I did and lo and behold. The guy (I am assuming one owner since we bought it) renovated the kitchen and replaced the closet doors at the front door but other than that it looks the same.

I finally ordered a Darth Maul costume for Jax from Costume City. Stephen doesn't care how much we spend on costumes because the kids always play with them (and they do). I have been outbid this evening on ebay, bidding on two Darth Maul Lightsabers. I will not spend a small fortune on them so looks like we will be making one out of paper towel rolls painted silver and red. :)

I Never Learn

I am gathering things for the garage sale next weekend. Will I ever learn? This is not fun. It is stressful. I worry I have too much junk. I worry I don't have enough stuff. This is my last garage sale!

Stephen is off to a golf tournament tomorrow morning and he will be gone all day. And into the evening no doubt. The golf tournament is the Evil Empire's golf club's annual fundraiser. They are raising money for the Washington Chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation. He told Jax he had to go to show his support for food allergies. :)

Of course I haven't anything planned for the day tomorrow and I bet it will be a loooooong day. I think I will go surf the net to come up with an idea for a good, time-consuming craft.

A Really Fine Parenting Moment

Oh I had a huge post ready to go about my less-than-stellar parenting moment this week (labeling the behaviour and not the child is still interpretted the wrong way by 7 year olds).

I am just glad this week is over and hopefully next week will not be a repeat of this week.

And to top it all off the last lovely few days, I took the van in to have the brakes checked. The front brakes need to be replaces (ka-ching!) and on top of that we need four new tires (ka-ching-ching-ching-ching!).

These early dismissal Wednesdays are going to kill me. We get home 1.5 hours earlier than usual so that is an extra 1.5 hours to argue with Jax about homework and with Dex about why he cannot play gameboy. Oh, and an extra 1.5 hours of Cars trying to do what the big boys do. I really need to get my ass in gear and plan some activities for these days. So many parents signed their kids up for the Wednesday afternoon Mad Science class. I think they were onto something.

The one good thing about the early dismissal today was that it was a lovely warm early afternoon so I walked to pick up the kids. I just about died walking up the hill though because the stroller was so hard to push. Usually I take the double jogger but it is folded up in the garage ready to be sold so I just used the regular stroller. It is lightweight but because the wheels are smaller it is much harder to push up that nasty hill. The backs of my thighs and calves are killing me now.

No walking tonight with my neighbours because Stephen worked late. Instead I stayed home pushing buttons on the forums.

Lost In Translation

My neighbours and I go walking most nights from 9-10pm. I have really enjoyed the walking and the company. One of the women, who lives two doors down, is Japanese but has lived in the States about 10 years. Her English is very good but often does not understand idiom, puns and some slang. For instance, she asked me a couple of weeks ago what uptight meant because her husband had called her uptight and she could tell from his tone of voice that it was not a compliment.

Last night, I told her about the dressing-up-for-Halloween-as-a-bum thing. My neighbour did not know that bum was another name for tramp/hobo nor did she know that bum was another name for butt! I spent about 5 minutes explaining it so by then it was not at all funny, but she still laughed politely.

Tonight, I told her this joke (sent to me by Shelly:

Q: What is George W. Bush's position on Roe vs. Wade?
A: He really doesn't care how people get out of New Orleans.

My neighbour did not laugh. She did not groan. She just looked at me perplexed. I had to explain to her (she did know that Roe v Wade was), Roe/Row and what wade meant. By this time, I was not expecting any kind of mirth so I was surprised when she roared with laughter. She told me that she would not be able to tell her husband that joke because he is a huge Republican and apparently they do not have a sense of humour (just joking, my Republican friends!) but she definitely thought it was funny (she must be a Democrat at heart).

I am glad that one was not lost in translation...er, explanation.

Laugh long and hard

Jax is DYING because we bought Dex's Halloween costume two weeks ago at Costco and Jax does not yet have one. It is apparently so not fair. Never mind that Stephen has taken the kids to every party supply store within a 15 mile radius trying to find a costume for Jax (he wants to be Qui-Gon Jinn) but to no avail. Qui-Gon was killed during Episode 1: The Phantom Menace so of course he isn't a popular character six years after the movie came out. And nevermind that Halloween is still seven weeks away. It is SUPER-URGENT that we get a costume this week. Now, however, Jax has changed his mind and he wants to be Darth Maul. And he spent the afternoon colouring a wrapping paper tube to resemble a double-bladed lightsaber (ok, sorry for the non-Star Wars fans). I just know that he will be crushed if we cannot find him a Darth Maul costume (again, he too was killed during Episode 1: The Phantom Menace - after slaying Qui-Gon Jinn).

So, Halloween talk abounds here and during dinner this evening, Jax and Dex wanted to know what Stephen and I dressed up as when we were kids. My standard was a gypsy. Stephen said he went as a hockey player often (usually after practice!), a baseball player and a couple of times as a bum (as in tramp or hobo). Well, imagine what a five year old and a seven year old thought of when they heard bum. They thought their dad would dress up as a huge derriere. The peals of laughter were so loud and long and were so contagious that for a good five minutes the five of us were laughing up a storm.

Cars of course did not understand but joined in the laughter and figured as long as we were laughing he should tell a joke. KNOCK-KNOCK MOM! he shouts (because apparently that is all he is capable of doing these days). KNOCK-KNOCK MOM! KNOCK-KNOCK MOM! until I say "Who's there?". BAN-NA! BAN-NA! "Banana who?" BAN-NA HAHAHAHAHA! And then we repeat it a couple of more times until:

KNOCK-KNOCK MOM!
"Who's there?"
ORGE UH-UH-UH BAN-NA! HAHHAHAHAHAHA!

Ok, I know he doesn't get the joke and I don't know who taught it to him (it was either Dex or the babysitter) but it is pretty funny that he knows the joke.

Geez, my kids are great!

I just watched a few minutes of Shelter from the Storm: A concert for the Gulf Coast and was really struck by this song by Neil Young:

WHEN GOD MADE ME

Was he thinking about my country,
or the colour of my skin?
Was he thinking about my religion,
and the way I worshipped him?
Did he create just me in his image,
or every living thing?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Was he planning only for believers,
or for those who just had faith?
Did he envision all wars
that were fought in his name?
Did he say there was only one way
to be close to him?

When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of love
to say who I could choose?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

Did he give me the gift of voice
so some could silence me?
Did he give me the gift of vision
not knowing what I might see?
Did he give me the gift of compassion
to help my fellow man?

When God made me.
When God made me.
When God made me.

Benign!

Good news - benign! The calcifications are fibrous tissue from cystic change. I need to go back in 6 months for a follow-up mammogram to create a new baseline then yearly after that again.

A huge sigh of relief. Thanks to all for their thoughts and prayers and good vibes!

Peanuts be gone

The buck stops at the teachers and they have both expressed their desire for a peanut-free room so it is so. Now why did we have so many days of mixed messages going back and forth?

Now I am just trying to decide at when I call the breast center tomorrow if I haven't hear from them by a certain time ...

Bonus Time

Stephen bought a surround sound system for his huge tv. I must admit that it is pretty nice except we have these huge speakers and wires everywhere. The kids are watching Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and it sounds like we are in the theatre.

I took the steri-strip off my incision last night and it re-opened in the night. I put another one on but I am afraid I have done damage and will have a huge gaping scar now. :\

Ok, I know I posted this last year but here it is again...


September 4, 1993

I cannot turn off the tv. At least the scenes are much better than they were yesterday and the days before. At least it is keeping my mind off my worries.

Stephen took the kids out for most of the day to give me time to rest but I was bored so I went through all of the kids clothes and 6 bins of clothes and now I have three large garbage bags full of clothes to donate to Goodwill. I wished we lived closer to the Gulf coast and I could donate directly to people there. Maybe if I check the newspaper tomorrow I can find out places that might be taking clothing donations. Lots of baby clothes and if I can find a place to take them for the hurricane victims I will add the baby blankets too.

Killjoy has been nagging me to call my sister. I finally told her that I just did not think I could handle rejection at the moment so she got all pissy with me. Look, I know my sister has cancer. I know she is having a hysterectomy. I know she is probably scared and worried and does not know when her surgery will be (asswipe doc told her that she would get a call two weeks before the surgery but could not tell her when that will be!). I know she has had a hard life but after years of rejection, I just don't think I have it in my at this particular moment to try to make her feel better. Although I will admit I have called her twice in the last 4 days (left a message then spoke to my nephew today).

Tuesday we are meeting with the appropriate school people to discuss the peanut issue. I think what I am most pissed off about is the lack of communication. The nurse told me that they can only ask that people not send in peanut products but cannot make it "peanut-free". Yet, a note went home on Friday stating that the classroom is peanut-free. But the nurse said that if kids bring in peanut products they cannot tell them they cannot eat them. Well that is not a peanut-free environment then, is it? I feel like pulling out my hair in frustration! I hope this gets resolved at the meeting.

My boobie hurts

I had the biopsy today so now the waiting game starts. I should hear by Wednesday. I have some pain now but there was none during the procedure because they used Novacain.

Did anyone see Kanye West speaking on the concert for Hurricane Relief? You can see it here. Mike Myers looks like he does not know what to do.

Disaster Relief

I know lots of people want to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina but lots of people have a bad taste in their mouth about the American Red Cross after what happened with the 9/11 donations. So, if you want to give please consider other great organizations who can help such as The Salvation Army. Or give American Red Cross another chance. They said the 9/11 fiasco will not happen again.