Mortimer's Mom

Our Snow Fairies

These little Fairies were delivered to our doorstep earlier this week. But we didn't unpack them until today, as we were in the deep snow up north....

I can't even begin to tell you how spot-on Tracie is! From Dumpling on her tippy toes to the striped tights... Dumpling sleevless and BB with long sleeves....

The picture doens't do it justice. I grabbed it off Tracie's blog because I am on my way to Vermont with the real life fairies tonight (we have a date with Dan Zanes tomorrow afteroon)

But when we get back, I promise you a better look. The snow flakes, the bunny, and of course, the Fairies!!!

Winding Down

The week is over, we only have to get through the weekend, which will actually involve lots of driving back and forth to the city.....

Yesterday, Dumpling's BFF from school, J. and her little brother M. met up with us at the ski hill of my youth and we had a ski-playdate. It was great. The big girls took a lesson together and their mom S. and I skied with the little ones. BB can stop on her own now! Yeah BB!!!!

Today, we are again meeting for a ski-playdate, but this time, all the kids have lessons and the daddys are going to be there to, so it should be  a really fun time for everyone.

I also have a couple of new  posts up at Ubercrafty.... let's just say I've been having a little fun coming up with some double-entendre titles....

Book Recommendation: Beijing Confidential

In general, I don't post about the books I read because I tend to like my books like my TV: entertaining and fluffy. But the book I just plowed through in 3 days most certainly deserves a recommendation.

here is the description from Amazon:

Jan Wong has returned to Beijing. Her quest: to find someone she encountered briefly in 1973, and whose life she was certain she had ruined forever.

In the early 70s, Jan Wong traveled from Canada to become one of only two Westerners permitted to study at Beijing University. One day a young stranger, Yin Luoyi, asked for help in getting to the United States. Wong, then a starry-eyed Maoist, immediately reported Yin to the authorities. Thirty-three years on, and more than a decade after the publication of her bestselling Red China Blues, Jan Wong revisits the Chinese capital to begin her search for the person who has haunted her conscience. She wants to apologize, to somehow make amends. At the very least, she wants to discover whether Yin survived.

As Jan Wong hunts through the city, she finds herself traveling back through the decades, back to her experiences in the Cultural Revolution, to places that were once of huge importance to her. She has changed, of course, but not as much as Beijing. One of the world’s most ancient cities is now one of its most modern. The neon signs no longer say “Long Live Chairman Mao” but instead tout Mary Kay cosmetics and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Places she once knew have vanished, bulldozed into oblivion and replaced by avant-garde architecture, trendy bars, and sleek condos. The people she once knew have changed, too, for better or for worse. Memories are everywhere. By searching out old friends and acquaintances, Jan Wong uncovers tantalizing clues about the woman she wronged. She realizes her deepest fears and regrets were justified. But Yin herself remains elusive–until the day she phones Jan Wong.

Now let me tell you why I think this is a MUST read.....  the story itself is fascinating. At first, I couldn't reconcile the fact that Jan Wong, a respected journalist here in Canada, had at one time been a Maoist... It was very interesting to learn how people got swept up in the initial promises of Mao and willingly participated. But the part that sucked me in and kept me up late at night, reading "just one more chapter" was her comparative descriptions of China in the different times she lived there.

On a very tiny scale, I know what she is talking about. I went twice, in 2004 and 2007, staying on the same block. And in that time, Beijing had changed so much that even I had a hard time finding my way around on the one street.

I was also particularly interested in the constant real estate discussions with the people she met: her old Maoist friends are all now buzy buying and selling properties, moving 5 times in 7 years, changing their cell phone numbers so often that it makes it impossible to stay in touch with acquaintances....

Many of my readers have adopted or are in the process of adopting from China. Do yourself a favor, read this book. It's got nothing to do with adoption, but in my opinion, it will go a long way in helping  understand modern-China and maybe explaining it to your/my children.

If there is no news happening, just make some up!

Well Day 2 of the vacation was actually a work day for me, albeit very short. I drove back to the city this morning to open the store and see to a few things, and came back this afternoon to find to exhausted and sleeping girls, who had played outside for hours this morning.

This was my 3rd solo trip in a few days and to keep myself company, I had stolen Hubs' satellite radio to listen to CNN. I'm a news junky, so I would rather listen to that than my  iPod... sad, I know. Anyhow, I don't usually watch/listen to CNN during the day, so I had no idea how they fill the air for hours on end. The answer? They make-up news stories. Or rather, then attempt to make news out of non-events. Case in point. On Friday afternoon, they spent 45 minuets "watching" an American Airlines flight that was circling Miami airport to dump fuel before being light enough to land. After about 10 min, all the experts they had on pretty much agreed on the facts: the door to the landing gear was opened, but the landing gear was fine (as per a flyover the tower). Simply put, time had to pass so the plane would burn fuel and land safely. On several occasions, the experts used the words "non-event" "frequent occurrence" "lowest priority", yet the anchors were trying to keep the story alive for almost an hour, until the plane landed safe and sound. As I sat there in my car, I could picture their faces, hoping to turn this into a live-tragedy. You could tell they were hoping something would actually go wrong with this flight, so they would have a real story. I'm glad nothing happened. but let's say, for argument's sake, that it had. If you had a relative on that plane, would you have liked to be watching it happen live?

This afternoon, there was a major blackout in Miami and South Florida. It started about 15 min before I got in my car, so again, I got to listen to most of the story.... clearly, 4 million people out of power, and the traffic problems, etc, that is a news story. But again, they were trying to make it into something else: what was the cause of the blackout? Why were so many power plants out at the same time. And though they had plenty of experts telling them that is was a mechanical failure of some sort, they kept coming back again and again to the security people, asking if there was any chance this was some sort of attack..... It was a black-out people! Yes, it sucked, but seriously, why can't a black-out just be a black-out?

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For some non ranting, here is a before and after of a little project I completed tonight. Details/how to over at Ubercrafty.

I could have been an ice-dancer....

Sunday was a normal ski morning for us, but we upped the ante by driving BACK to the city to take the girls on a big surprise adventure... months and months ago, we had purchased Backyardigans tickets, so we dressed them up in cute dresses and drove back into town for the show. They were puzzled as to why they were getting out of their sweat pants, mandatory-wear for the country, but once we pulled up to the theater and they saw the poster, they were in heaven. I was afraid Dumpling might be a tad to old, but actually, she loved it even more than BB. She danced her little tush off and sang along the whole show. BB sat in complete and utter disbelief that THE Backyardigans were right there in front of her. And so BIG! (their Daddy being super on top of things, we were in the second row....)

Today was the first true vacation day, and Hubs wasn't there, having stayed behind in the city to work. But Super-Grandma is here with me, and after a hearty breakfast (no sleeping in, even though they went to bed late, they were up at 6:01 am), we took the girls skating. Dumpling has been skating once a week with my mother, but it's not a regular thing. I knew she was getting the hang of it, but I had no idea how good she was. Furthermore, I had no idea that *I* could skate.... I mean, I'm Canadian, it's the law, but I didn't remember that I could actually skate.... So it turned out to be a lot more fun than I anticipated, since I didn't fall once. As a matter of fact, I didn't even wobble. My ankles were solid. I was a skater. A real, bona-fide skater. I can even hockey-stop and make figure 8s.... how did I not remember I could do that? (maybe I should try other sports from my youth.... who knows, maybe I'm a pole-jumper or an ace volley ball player!) Dumpling thought it was so great that I could skate with her, and she kept asking me why I never told her I knew how to... Honey, I didn't remember I knew how!

After a snack at the ski hill, my brother invited us to come back at the end of the day and he would take the girls on a ride in the snow grooming truck.... They are girly-girls, but let me tell you, they were blown away by how cool the truck/ride was!

here is a quick peek. More can be found in today's album.

change of pace

School is out for a week, Winter Break they call it. Most of the kids at Dumpling's school already fled Wednesday or Thursday, off to warmer, sunnier pastures for 10 days of fun in the sun. But we are winter people, so instead, we made the poor kids go to school until the last day (only about half the class was there) and we packed up for a week of relaxation at the cottage. There will be no beach, no sand, no buying of knick-knacks and souvenirs. Instead, Hubs and I will try to come up with new and inventive ways to pass the time for the next 9 days. I have a few arts & crafts tricks up my sleeves, and the snow outside should provide plenty of entertainment, but I have a feeling these might be long days.....

Do I sound less than enthoused? yeah... I'm not feeling it too much. I know we'll end up having a great time, but I'm a worrier and I anticipate things going wrong. And 2 kids in a house where the tv doesn't "pause" or offer hours of Curious George saved on the drive, with no scheduled school activities 4 hours per day, it puts a lot of pressure on me to find fun things to do!

Another Disney pleasure my daughters will never know

During our Disney trip, we took the girls to the fancy Cinderella dinner. It was sort of ridiculous, since it's very expensive and the food is just OK and you don't actually have dinner with her, just meet her on the way in, but if you have a 4 year old who's life-long desire is to meet Cinderella, you book it and shut up.

Going over the Disney brochure beforehand, I did spy the BibbetyBobbetyBoutique, that offers Princess Makeovers for 100$ a pop, and for a moment, wondered if we wouldn't be better served with a princess makeover for one rather than an expensive dinner times 4. And then, I saw a little girl looking like a cross between an Olympic ice-skater and a pageant beauty-kid: TONs of glitter-gel in her hair, which was tied up in a bun, from which polyester springy-curls extensions were attached. Her face was aglow in all manners of shimmer and shine. And she looked to be 5 years old, going on 45. Then we spotted another girl, then another, and finally, 3 who were not only made-over but were wearing princess gowns. At which point I realised they had all been the victims of the princess makeover and thanked my lucky stars I hadn't booked the thing.

So imagine my horror when I came across this little ditty on my gossip sites today:

go ahead. Tell me this isn't totally freaking you out. 'Cause it sure as heck is freaking me out. Of course, to emphasise the blond-ness of the wig, they picked an Asian girl..... And why is she lying on her back on the floor?

Upside-down world

Things are amiss around here.... In the last 8 months, we have rarely taken Dumpling to the restaurant. She is a much better eater now, and she eats lunch at school everyday without a fuss, but restaurants were always the last frontier. She simply couldn't behave in a restaurant. I can handle a fussy but eating child, or a calm, non-eating child, but in public, a tantrumy 4 year old who doesn't eat just doesn't fly with me. So except for the Disney trip, during which restaurants were mandatory, we have avoided restaurants meals with Dumpling. We do regularly go with BB, on nights when Dumpling is being spoiled by her grandparents.

Last night, however, was the first night that BB was going to have her own turn at dinner with the Grands at their house, so after her gym class, Hubs and I took Dumpling to a local Italian bistro that does spectacular pasta and is totally casual and no-fuss.  It was great. She was a tad high-strung, but we had discussed for many days how we expected her to either be "nice" or eat nicely. The first thing that went well was the waiter, who hadn't been there on previous visits with BB, so he was smitten with her and brought her a special mango/peach Italian juice on the house. She batted her eyelashes at him and that set everything off on the right note! He even offered to make her a half-portion, something that has never been offered to BB (though truth be told, BB can handle the whole plate!) There was only minimal coaxing during the meal, and she was rewarded with a brownie as dessert. We made a huge deal about how much we enjoyed ourselves, how fantastic it was to go to the restaurant and not argue and we asked her if she enjoyed eating out when Mommy and Daddy were so happy and relaxed, which of course, she did.

On the flip side of this little moment of bliss, BB hasn't been sleeping at the country house. At first, I thought it was a fluke, a one time thing. But it's been 3 weeks, and it's exhausting. This past weekend, she was up so late on the 2nd night (in the past, it's been a one night thing, making her so tired that the 2nd night was a non-issue) that we had to keep her from going skiing on Sunday because she was hell-on-wheels the minute she woke up from her way-too-short night. And this week, she's been acting weird. She was UBER excited for her first all-by-myself date at her grandparents' house, but today, she didn't want to go to school, then when Hubs coxed her to go, she didn't want to take off her gym clothes to reveal her beach outfit (it was Beach Party day), apparently threw fits whenever the teacher tried to leave the room and finally made a big fuss about doing her "talking class" when the speech therapist showed up this afternoon, an activity she usually loves.

So I am thrilled that Dumpling is making fabulous progress, because being able to go to a restaurant would go a LONG way in making me feel less house-bound, but I am not too thrilled about the reversal of fortune that has hit BB..... let's hope is a short phase.

Well, that was weird and skeevy!

The DVD drive on my laptop was fried, and my HP-approved options were either too expensive or too time consuming. I cannot be without my baby for 10 days!!! After doing a little bit of googling, I found a local site that looked promising.... You'd think after all these years online, I'd know that a snazzy website does not mean a snazzy store!

The place was super tiny, split in half, with a small man on one side, surrounded by piles and piles of computer parts, towering over him. On the other side, 2 Easter-European "Dudes" in nylon work-out pants were sitting in front of 2 huge computer screens, watching p0rn. They apparently sold used/refurbished laptops. I immediately came to 2 conclusions: 1) I was not leaving my computer here overnight, under any cirucumstances 2) I was going to pay cash, otherwise, my debit/credit card was going to be cloned before I got home!

Luckily for me, the man on the right was the "fixer" guy, and happened to be from China, so while he worked, we chatted about my trips, my girls, modern China, etc. A few customers came and went, asking for a network card (10$!), missing keyboard keys (50 cents a piece!) etc. All the while, the 2 Dudes never looked away from the p0rn. "Fixer" man flipped my laptop over, took out one screw and thus released the DVD drive (who knew it was so easy?) and then stared at the towering Jenga-style pile of drives on his desk. The one he chose was in the middle, and he managed to get it out without disturbing anthing else. He popped the new-old drive in and did a couple of install/shutdown procedures. All the while, we're chatting, and the 2 Dudes aren't taking their eyes off the p0rn. People are walking in and out, but they are just sitting there, "working"....

For 90$, my problem was fixed and I got to spend a most entertaining hour. I wonder, do you think they pause the p0rn if a customer is interested in their "refurbished" laptops?

Forget SAD, I have SOD

I might have suffered from a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder in early January, but right now, I've got a raging case of SOD: Seasonal Out-of-Season Disorder. Let me explain....

In the city, we have a snow removal guy, and because of the layout of the door/driveway, we never have to touch a shovel, no matter how much snow falls. In the country, we also have a snow removal guy, who comes in a public-works type of snow blower and takes care of the extra-long, hilly double driveway. But he doesn't leave the comfort of his little cabin, so the 60+ feet of walkway to the door remains untouched until we get there on Fridays. In the past, I have managed to shovel us in, and when it got to be too much, my brother would come by during the week and make the path more walkable. But this year, we have just been walloped by storm after storm, and the snow outside the house is taller than I am. So today, I cried Uncle and hubs and I went in search of a nice small snow-blower (they call them snow-throwers now). I spied a really practical electric one online, but really, as long as it wasn't industrial-sized, I was going to be happy.

Except when we went to the first store, they were all out. And the guy gave me a look, like somehow, I was on a quest for the holy grail. At the second store, I noticed some patio sets in the Seasonal section. They still had shovels, but no snow blowers. Finally, we went to the third and last store, the biggest hardware store around here, where you can purchase all manners of odd tools. Seasonal section: filled with patio sets and lawn mowers.

LAWN MOWERS! There are 6 feet of snow in front of my door! It's mid-February, we live in Canada, where clearly, it is still winter, and it is still going to be winter for another 6-8 weeks. But forget about buying a snow-blower, what you can buy right now is patio furniture and lawn mowers. Apparently, they haven't had snow-blowers since January 15th.

So we bought an extra shovel, went home, and I shoveled long enough for my muscles to ache and my back to be sore. I managed to make a path about 24 inches wide, all 60+ feet. So good luck to the patio-set delivery guy, I hope the boxes aren't too wide!

A Present to Myself

I'm not a big Valentine's Day person... First off, following double holidays (Hanukkah and Christmas), plus the fact that Hubs Bday was last week, I just can't seem to come up with yet another gift idea so close together..... Second, it's sort of too cliche for me. And third, have you tried getting a babysitter on Feb 14th?????

So instead, last night, we went to a swanky pre valentine dinner at Toqué!.... Very swanky indeed. Just scrumptious!

But today, today I gave myself quite the Valentine's present.... I made a plan to leave my husband and kids.... RELAX! for 4 days only!!!!!! Yes, I am taking a trip without them.... A few months back, my long-time online buddy Shelba (we are talking pre-china, IVF days) invited me out her way to partake in one of her favorite activities, Flea Market Shopping. I considered it very briefly, but I just couldn't see how it would work out, leaving the kids and the Hubs....

But I've been blue lately, just not finding time for myself, the regular stuff working moms are faced with.... So when she sent me an email  yesterday inviting me to come to the April event, I checked the calendar, checked with mother (there has to be a back-up plan for MD!) and then brought up the idea to Mortimer's Dad. He didn't seem to mind at all, so we did a little flight research last night, and after an IM session with Shelba this morning, I called and booked my flight!

So come early April, I'll be checking out the flea market in Texas and trying not to call my house more than twice a day to make sure everyone is still alive!

First Assignment

My photo class has started. The first time I read it over last week, I was all "whaaaaaa?????" I just couldn't make any sense out of it. Aperture, White Balance, Shutter Speed, it was all Greek to me. But I read it over and over, and finally just skipped over all the technical stuff and read the assignment. I'm very much a hands-on, teach myself kind of girl. So I read the actual assignment instructions and just started taking pictures. Eventually, I figured it out. Originally, I was going to submit 2 versions of this photo:

I thought it was pretty good, but the teacher had made a point of mentioning good lighting, so I decided to leave my basement (NEWS BULLETIN: MM leaves her basement and goes OUTSIDE!!!) and grab my camera and go shoot some pictures. Can I tell you something? I had a great time! I went to a park across from the movie theater and took over 100 pictures (well, divide that by 3, becasue I took each picture on 3 different settings) before seing my movie (Un traceable, pretty good)

I ended up going back out again today, after seing what some of the other students had submitted. I just really wanted to give it my best effort. Here is my final assignment:

I'll spare you the different versions with diffent F-stop! But I'm pretty happy. I got a really good critique, apparantly my white is perfectly balanced... yeah me! And the teacher actually made a comment about the nice red. So I'm pretty happy. And I had a good time doing it. For your enjoyement (and virtual achiving of my life!) here are some of the other pictures I took....

Mortimer's Dad needs a subscription to Star

After dinner tonight, I watched a bit of the entertainment shows, since I was too dizzy last night to watch the Grammys (thanks BTW for your suggestions. Definitely not ear related. more like a blood sugar thing....)

Now, I admit to following celebrity gossip. Mortimer's Dad on the other hand, not so much. Even my e-husband Herb is more up to date on his celebrity happenings.... Here are some excerpts of tonight's conversations...

MD: Amy Winehouse looks skinny
Me: actually, MD, she looks like she`s put on a few pounds, she looked much worse before she went to rehab.
MD: She went to rehab?
.......
Me: she needs to come back like Whitney Houston
MD: What? What's going on with Whitney Houston
Me: (fill him in, crack, divorce, etc)
MD: She LEFT Bobby Brown? When did this happen????
........
Reese Witherspoon comes on the TV, I kid you not, MD says
"Now, if you tell me SHE got divorced, I'll be crushed!"
Me: Actually, yes MD, last year.

I think MD needs to get a subscription to Star Magazine, or at least an RSS feed to Perez or something. Maybe he doesn't know Tom Cruise is gay.....

Dizzy

Sometimes, for no apparent reason, I feel a combination of nauseous and dizzy and the only cure is a few hours on the couch, with some crap on TV in the background and a steady diet of dried tea-biscuits and some lukewarm tea. It happens irregularly, I can't predict when it's going to happen, or why.

It hit early this afternoon, just as we got home from the country. But we had a baby-naming to attend, so I put my big-girl boots on and banished the nausea away. Then I did my best to keep to over-active, super-hyper girls from destroying the lovingly-appointed house, filled with fancy sculptures and delicate upholstery. There were lots of kids there, but they were either old enough to know better, or young enough to not walk around, threatening to destroy everything. Except for my two.

My friend IH, who's baby the party was for, was in a back room breastfeeding, which lead to a very interesting discussion with Dumpling. I haven't avoided the topic with her, she knows where babies come from and the difference between child-birth and adoption, but somehow, breastfeeding never came up until today. IH was very kind in answering the questions.

About an hour into it though, the room started spinning again, and I was feeling major claustrophobia from the people all around, the kids sitting on my lap, the noise.... so we hightailed it out of there and I have been couch-surfing since then. I was feeling a tad better an hour ago and managed to get a couple of work things done, but now, it's sort of starting again..... Although I am watching The Wire, so maybe my head is just spinning from McNaulty's crazy antics!

Gong xi fa cai!

or Gong Hay Fat Choy!

However you say it, we had a lovely Lunar New Year, thanks in great part to the ever-organised Susan from Our Journey to Mei Mei. She organised a lovely family and friends celebration at a delicious Chinese restaurant on behalf of her daughters, who were our hostesses. It was a lovely, loud family affair, with their family and friends, along with, Red,  S and the ever-so-cute Yummy (who will be giving BB a run for her money in the eating category!)

Thanks Susan and Gord! It was a lovely way to celebrate the New Year, and we will definately be making this our new tradition!

Because you asked....

So, since you asked (well, Grumpy Mama asked!), here are the pictures of some of the purchases....

The elusive Coach flats:  60$!!! Can you believe it?

The Navy Wedges I found, also very very inexpensive.

These are the shoes that broke my heart on Bleeker Street.... I found them online, I just have to wait a bit to justify them.... (except mine were teal, not black)

The bag.......

Most definitely my signature color.... I always fall back on the burnt orange.....

I also got some adorable things at Anthropologie, but I can't grab their pictures, so if you really care, there is a super cute top, that could have looked very maternity-like, but actually is more artsy-french. Something Audrey Tautou would wear.... And the killer spring coat that I fell in love with the second I saw it.

I will spare you pictures of my underwear..... some things are just better left unsaid!

Mrs. Figby saves the day!

That Mrs. Figby... she sure knows how to beat the bad karma and appease the shopping gods! Not only did she help me score a totally adorable pair of navy wedges for 50$ at Nordstrom, but we got the pink flats on sale at Coach! The ones I couldn't get yesterday!!! There was also a very restrained shopping stop at Antropologie, where I would have bought 12 things, but narrowed it down to 3. And Mrs. Figby  and I may have actually bought the same panties at Victoria's Secret.....

Finally, she did take me to ogle the pretty purses at Neiman Marcus. There were Pradas and Miu Mius and many many more.... I did spot a lovely orange bag with lots of pockets.... I don't even remember which designer it was, because my self-preservation button clicked on when I looked at the price: it started with a 2, and there were 3 more digits after that.... {apparently, it was Dolce & Gabbana.... as per Mrs. Fibgy in the comments} I did end up with a very reasonably priced orange back from Michael Kors, that I wasn't going to buy because I had already done so well at the other stores. But you know, Mrs. Figby AND Mortimer's Dad both said I should, so I did...... Take that Bleeker Street!

Sadly, our stay here in Mayberry has come to an end... We are just hanging out at Figlet's for the aternoon, then hopping on a plane and heading home. We miss the girls terribly, so it will be good to go home and hug and kiss them, but I do wish we could have stayed a little longer.... Hopefully, there will be a return visit, with the girls, in the future.

Shopping Denied!

What a horrible shopping experience today! We left the gift show at 4, after 5 hours of non-stop walking and store-buying, grabbed a cab and got dropped off in front of Kid O, our favorite NYC kid store, to window shop for the girls. But we didn't buy anything, because we already bought a bunch of presents yesterday in Chinatown. Instead, we walked back to Bleeker Street, where it was my turn to shop.

First stop, Coach, where I didn't actually look at the expensive bags, but was tempted by several cute pairs of shoes. Some lovely colored flats in particular, which happened to be on sale for 60$... Perfect! Except, no 9s. In any colors. DENIED!

We walked a few doors down to Olive and Bettys, where I spied a killer pair of teal wedges with little leather roses on the toes... Again, nothing between a 7 and 10...  There was also a lovely Theory grey cardigan, in XXS and XS... again, DENIED!

We walked further on, where I had earlier spotted the James Perse store, but on the way, lo and behold, the infamous Magnolia Bakery! and the lineup wasn't too long. So even though it was only one hour before we were meeting the Figlets for dinner, we popped in.... and by the time out turn came to the counter, the lady in front of us got the last 3! 15 min wait for the next batch..... DENIED!

I was getting quite depressed, so we walked the last block to the James Perse store, where I was going to console myself with a couple of tanks that I love to wear under everything... I kid you not, we got there, and the dude closed the door in my face, told me they were painting tonight, locked up and put up a sign inviting me to come back tomorrow at noon.... DENIED!

I simply couldn't buy anything for myself on Bleeker street..... Mrs. Figby has her work cut out for her tomorrow at the mall, because I will go home with a treat, I guarantee it!

(And yes, troll people, I realise there are many worst things than not being able to shop, so you don't need to tell me....)

I found them!

The Pee and Poo stuffies! And keychains! They,ll be in store and online in a couple of weeks....

Email on the go, sent by TELUS

The internet comes to life

Hubs and I woke up early this morning, after a very restful night in Figlet's guest room. We quietly made our way to Figlet's kitchen, had our breakfast and got ready to go to the gift show. Figlet's kitchen! The one she blogs about disliking and wanting to re-do... we were there all by ourselves! (There is Gorilla coffee on the counter, just like she mentioned in the house meme.) I didn't peak in the cabinets. Except the ones I had to use to make breakfast.

On our way out the door, pretty early for a Sunday, we ran into Mr. Figlet and LSP, who were just getting up. Then we walked out the door and down to the train station, past Mrs. Figby's house!!!  It was too early, otherwise I totally would have knocked on the door to say hi. But we got on the train and headed into the city for work.

We only did  a half day today, leaving the bulk for tomorrow. But in the afternoon, the Figlet family came to meet us and took us to Chinatown for the New Year Flower Market and some rat-shopping... I bought the girls some pretty cute stuffed rats while LSP admired all things Hello Kitty in the store.

When we got back, Mortimer's Dad wasn't feeling too chipper, so he opted to stay home and rest (he really just wanted to watch the game), so I grabbed the phone, called Mrs. Figby, invited myself over and then made her take me to Target... Because if you can't make your internet friends drive you around like that, really, what's the point? After our shopping trip, Mrs. Figby, her lovely husband D (known to me as Harry Eyeball of course) and Miss Apples herself went down to the pub for dinner.... the pub! that she writes about on her blog! And I visited the house, all of it! it's just as nice in person as you imagine from looking at the pictures..... That porch is to die for!

There is something so surreal to the fact that internet friendships that were formed so long ago have now lead us to this.... There is a house for sale on the same street, mid-way between their 2 houses.... if it wasn't for the impossibility of getting health care here, we could just move in and live the Mayberry dream too!

Dispatch from Mayberry

There was an hour delay leaving this morning following the storm, but we have made it to Mayberry and are currently  borrowing WiFi signal and a bed from Figlet and Mr. Figlet.

First of all, LSP is delicious! It had been a while since we had seen her in person and OMG she is a big girl now, so very chatty and full of energy! We are having the best time with her, she warmed right up to us and is already best buds with Hubs.

Figlet was nice enough to drive us around today to show us Mayberry and surrounding area. The highlights were:

- Drove by Mrs. Figby's house! It looks just like it looks on the blog! We're hoping to get together with them tomorrow.

- Lunch at the Diner with LSP, then our first ever visit to Trader Joe's which was nice but didn't live up to the mythical proportions I had given it in my head... though I did by a ton of excellent chocolate

We had a fantastic dinner at home, since Mr. Figlet had just returned from a business trip and they were in need of some nice quiet family time. We are going to get out of their air for part of the day tomorrow and head to the city to do some work, but we'll all be catching up later and doing something fun, before the men abandon us to watch football. I'm told there is some sort of big game on tomorrow....

This one is for K in vancouver

Sinking like a sunset, Life is a highway..... It's 1992 again and I wish you were here!

Email on the go, sent by TELUS

Wild and Crazy Nights (yes, plural!)

first off, just so you know I wasn't making it up, pictures!

Now, I could write a long entry about how freaking awesome the show was, but I'm sure most of you don't care. if you do, just go read the excellent review in today's paper. I will say one thing though: the street light and snow in the encore..... FABULOUS! So BRILLIANT! OK, I am done with my Blue Rodeo love.... BTW, we were 2 of 8 people backstage last night, the others being contest winners.... who didn't know who the band members were! They knew the big songs, but when we walked back stage and Basil (last pic) was holding the door, everyone walked right by him, thinking he was a stagehand! So we ended up talking with "the boys" quite a bit, Hubs even discussed hockey with Jim, who is a huge Leafs fan (but we forgive him for that).

Now, the hair..... I cut my hair almost a year ago. And I really like having short-ish hair, especially since I can wear it curly or straight. But it was getting out of control since the last trim, and frankly, it's not very compatible with the Canadian winter.... the curls looked horrible after carpool with a tuque on, and the static builds up something fierce if I flat-iron it in the morning.... So I needed something a little bit different.

When I got to the salon, I mentioned the pros and cons of the cut I had, and then I mentioned that (hanging my head in shame), I sort of like Katie Holmes hair (congrats to Shelly, 1st to guess right). I mean, everyone keeps making fun of her for looking like a 38 year old mom (instead of her 28 year old self), but I'm actually going to be 38 this year, and I'm a mom! I didn't think my hair was long enough on the sides to do a bob, and I was a little frightened of the straight bangs, I've only ever had side-swept bangs, but I went for it.

My hair will never be as straight as it is in the pictures, that's salon hair! But I think it will do well with wash-and-wear and I can still do the curls if I want to.

Today, we packed the kids off to my parents, as we are heading off to NYC for a few days, to do our shopping at the gift show. We are staying at the Figlet Inn and hope to get together with the Figbys as well. Of course, there is a wicked snow storm underway now, so who knows if we'll actually make it out tomorrow, but we will get there, somehow! And with the kids being out of the house one day early because of the snow (no one wanted to volunteer to drive them at 6 am tomorrow morning, go figure!), we find ourselves with a free night tonight, so we are off to the John Mellencamp concert, with Tom Cochran as an opening act... I can't remember the last time I went out two nights in one week, let alone 2 rock concerts back to back!