Mortimer's Mom

Caution: Whining Ahead

So Julie noticed that I hadn't posted about my new decor..... yeah.... I don't know what to say.

We came home on Sunday to find the house in shambles. I guess I wasn't surprised. It's the kind of thing that happens if you are not there when they do the work. But there were issues. Like the mantel wasn't painted white, even though we spelled out both in writing and verbally to everyone involved that all wood other than floor was to be painted. And there were paint spots on the floor, from the lack of drop cloths. The floor was protected in some areas... With strips of the brand new wallpaper! Of which only one strip was up.

It was Sunday, so we made some calls, but no one was picking up. Then we noticed that they used our cute Miele vacuum to clean up after themselves. Clearly my tiny Miele wasn't intended for construction clean up.

For the last 2 days, all we have done is be on the phone. With the owner of the company, the business manager who signed the contract, the supposed-project-manager who was supposed to supervise (but clearly hasn't even stepped in the house) and also signing and speaking in simple sentences with the 3 scary looking Russian Dudes who are doing the work.

Here's the thing: The paint looks great. And the fire place glass tile looks FANTASTIC! But the wallpaper....oh the wallpaper! First, we are short. Although I had bought PLENTY. As in what the wallpaper company told me (including the extra to account for pattern aligning) and an EXTRA roll to keep in the closet because I'm anal about stuff like that. But now, there is 2 full strips missing. And what is up looks like ass. It's crooked vertically AND the pattern isn't aligned horizontally. By over 2 inches. It really looks like ass. At first, I was only pissed at the shoddy seams and the spots where plaster was stuck behind the paper. They stuck the seams down and made a small cut to release the plaster bumps, but when I started to take it all in, the crookedness started to dawn on me. And now it's driving me nuts.

I only see one solution. They have to reorder the paper and redo the whole thing. From scratch. I already ordered 2 rolls to finish the job and have my extra roll. But we'll need to start over. And I'm not sure I want them to do it. I for sure don't want these 3 particular dudes doing it, but I'm not sure I want the contractor anywhere near it either.

We've been waiting for a supervisor to come see for themselves, but they aren't rushing over here.... At this point, we are "ahead" because we only paid a deposit, and while I am happy to pay the painter and tiler, there is no way we are paying a dime for the wallpapering. We'll have to see which option they choose: buy the paper and redo it for us or forget that part of the payment (and a hefty deduction for the price of the wallpaper) and let us find someone else to start over with.

And if this wasn't enough stress for one day, the girls had checkups today. Dumpling needs to have a full blood work up done for possible blood disease that would cause the severe bruising (maybe clotting issues) and BB needs to be watched because her weight/height ratio isn't very good.... the chubbiness, it's starting to be worrisome. We did run into Susan and her girls, which started the visit on a good note. But it ended with Dumpling screaming like a banshee and fighting 3 adults NOT to get a shot.... They heard her screaming outside the building.

In the mean time, no pictures, because it depresses me too much. The only thing that can lift me from this funk is the upcoming evening: chocolate torte, wine, Grey's Anatomy and the gals from the store!

dresses and pants, and a bag too

So I did some shopping while on vacation. A LOT of shopping....

I'm a jeans girl. I wear jeans pretty much everyday.The reason, I think, is because jeans hide a multitude of sins. I do not have nice legs. I have the legs of someone who lost a lot of weight.... So jeans daily it is.  But I'm thinking it's time to move on from that look. I have decided to embrace dresses (that hide my knees) and try to find pants that fit and that aren't jeans. The only time I've ever succeeded is the Martin-fit pants from J Crew. And I think I found my new favorite pants there too: City-Fit Stretch Cafe Capri. I bought them both in the Burnished Moss (brown) and in the Lemon Twist... yes. I bought BRIGHT YELLOW pants.... I have lost my mind!

I promise not to wear them with the other yellow thing I bought:
That, actually looks cute with the brown pants, but it looked even better with the cute white ones I got at Anthropologie (shown here in navy, but I got white).

I really, really want to give pants a try. So I decided to attempt wide legs too....  I really like the way these fit. I also found a cute green  top there, but it was in the sale section, so no pics left on the website.

In the dresses category, the sales rack at BCBG yielded this adorable find:

(it's longer on me, just hits in the right spot to camouflage my things and yucky knees but without looking dowdy). And it's lighter in color in real life. more coral than pomegranate.

I also discovered Maxstudio.com, and wanted to buy everyhing there. But I only got one dress (I was TRYING to be reasonable!), this one:

• Again, on my, not so short! Clearly, I am not a 6 foot + model! I LOVE this dress. The straps are brown and you can play with the neckline to open or close it up.

I also bought two ADORABLe dresses at Target for next to nothing, but I can't manage to find the pictures online.... I will try to model them this week.

Finally, my splurge. I know by other people's purse standards this is not a real splurge, but my standards, it is!

all good things must come to an end

And so after 6 full days of fun in the sun, we are heading home tomorrow morning. Early. VERY early. our flight departs at 7 am.  And they consider Canada international, so 2 hours prior. And the rental car must be returned. Oh, do you remember that I have two small kids? Hubs SWEARS he mentioned the early departure when booking, but I'm convinced he didn't. Or I was drinking.....

Somehow, all the purchases, an obscene amount of them, including a super last minute green Kate Spade, fit into the suitcases we came down with and unless I am bad at gaging 50lbs, we won't need to pop out the trusty duffel that's rolled in there.

We went to the Hollywood beach today, which was nice, but the surf was way way too strong for the kids. They couldn't swim. Then I made them go on the totally cheesy Duck-Boat tour so I could ogle the millionaire mansions. But the guide was very funny and they had a good time. We ended the whole thing by stuffing our faces with bread and pasta in the company of Hub's half-brother, who lives nearby. The poor waitress had to bring us 4 baskets of bread!

And now we must go to bed. Because 4 am is just around the corner. The upside is that I'll be home early to check out my wallpaper and paint.....

Mo-blogging, under the influence

Dinner was had in proper grown up restaurant, swith no children, who were left behind with the over - worked amazing 9 M. Had wine all by meself because hubs doesn't drink... Worse than MM drunk-blogging is MM drunk mobile blogging on tiny cell phone! Staying away from grey's anatomy as I have been sworn NOT to watch intil staff is assembled in my basement next week

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Girls get together and talk!

I just spent a lovely evening with yet another blogger. The internet is a funny place, where you end up bcomeing really friendly with people that live far away. And then you mention to those people that you will be in their neck of the woods and have to decide if you want to meet them or not.

A while back, I made a plan to get together with A Girl's Gotta Blog. It was a loose plan. I was coming to Miami, she lives here, we were going to hook up at some point. Today, she came to the house (invited!!!) with not 1 but TWO bottles of wine and we talked in the sun room for a good hour. The girls (mine) were in their typical 2/5 y.old behaviour, putting on a big show, being sweet and totally wired. Hubs was kind enough to give them a bath to give us some space. After I put them to bed, we took our chat on the road and went for a bite and more talking.

It's hard to believe we didn't actually *know* each other before tonight, and I hope she'll head north someday and we can hook up again in my neck of the woods.

wordless wednesday

 

Life is good

Take a morning at Monkey Jungle, a mid day visit at Target, an afternoon nap in the car while the grown ups drive around South Beach and make a list of where they want to go this week. Top it off with a 4 pm dip in the ocean. The only thing missing is bread!

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This must be what heaven is like

• The flight to Florida was on time
• We all had seats in the bulkhead row
• BB slept almost the entire way (as did super-amazing babysitter M!!!!)
• Dumpling watched an ipod movie, played with a learn-to-draw-book and made chit-chat with the flight crew. She was on her BEST behaviour
• The plane landed on time, the luggage was all retrieved promptly, the carseat made it, the car rental company offered us a better option for the same price
• the house that Mortimer's Dad rented online is just as good as it looked. Sure, it's a vacatino rental: there are no 2 spoons alike and only 3 knives, but everyone has a bed, there are plenty of bathrooms, a fantastic patio over looking the intra-coastal
• the fridge was full of beer (American beer, but hey, it's free!)
• I manaed to find *THE* hockey game on the complicated satellite, so MD and M are watching happily, while  I type and drink beer.
• Please let them win, this will be the PERFECT vacation!

Miami Ribs and more Passover goodies

A couple of you asked what were Miami Ribs or how to make them.... Basically, they are beef ribs (I guess you could make them with pork, but you are asking the wrong person!) that are cut into thin strips of short ribs(I'd say they are about 1/2 inch thick). My butcher usually cuts them from "short ribs" or "flanken".

8 strips of ribs
3 cloves garlic
1 can peaches (14 oz), drained
1/2 cup chili sauce (or ketchup if you don't have)
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 C lemon juice or vinegar
1/2 tsp. dry mustard

• lay the ribs down in a baking dish.
• chop the garlic in food processor, then add all the other ingredients and process until smooth.
• Poor sauce over meat, cover and marinate. (Minimum would be 2 hours, up to a day advance. I make mine the night before or in the morning.)
• bake COVERED at 325F for 2 1/2 hours and then 30 min. uncovered, or until very tender. (they will fall off the bone)

Other goodies I'm working on for this year's Seder: Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes (no cream cheese frosting!!!) and Little Lemon Cakes.

In other non-cooking news, the girls have been shipped off to their grandparents for the night, since we need to not only cook all this stuff for Sunday's dinner, but we have to pack for our Monday morning flight to Florida.... AND..... the painters are arriving Monday and 6 months after I originally thought of comitting the ultimate old-house sin, the trim is FINALLY going to be painted and the wallpaper is going up in the living room. Turns out, painters aren't too keen on painting trim. They told me it was because it would bring down the value of my house.... like they care! It's because it's a really painstaking job and nobody wanted to take it on. But we finally have contractors and I am putting my ultimate faith in them by having them do it while we are away.... If I have white floors and brown trim when I get back, I only have myself to blame!

IKEA, the hot spot for breakfast

For the second time in 10 days, I find myself at IKEA early in the morning, and I am observing a very interesting phenomenon. The store opens at 10. Because of the odd location and traffic, most people get here earlier. "o their restaurant opes at 9:30 and serves breakfast. For 1$. When I was here last week with BB, I got her a juice and we killed time in the cafeteria. I noticed a mom with 4 kids and thought that was a pretty smart way to taqke the kids for a cheap breakfast: 5 people, 5 bucks! This morning , I am surrounded by elderly couples. Most have 2 plates and 2 coffees, again, 5 bucks. But I'm also seeing plate sharing. And people who know each other. Well. Listening in, I'm beginning to understand: these people aren't shoppers. They are strictly here for the dollar breakfast. Its loaded with protein and actually looks tasty. I guess if you are in a tight spot, this is the place to go: the restaurant is bright and cheery, the food is cheap as heck and it probably feels good to go out and feel like you can still afford to do so.

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How to make sure you drive your kids mad

There is a reason for this virtual life archive... So that I can look back and avoid doing stupid things. Case in point: Next year, on the last Sunday before Passover, someone remind me to read this entry, OK? Because for the second year in a row, I made the mistake of going to the grocery store on the last Sunday morning before Passover. And this time, I had the girls with me. And not the husband.....

The store was packed with crazed matzo-seeking lunatics. Most people had 2 carts. And the 60-something men pushing the second cart had clearly not been to the grocery store in a year. Sheer madness!

Try to get two kids and a cart through the ceiling high mountain of matzo, surrounded by women clutching lists, men parked wherever they pleased and little old ladies with "helpers" trying to plan a menu for 25 when they have no teeth left to chew... (let me help: Matzo ball soup. It's the friendly food.)

Then, because clearly I was trying to ensure my daughters would be crazed and tantrum-prone for the rest of the day, I dragged them to the Kosher butcher. I am not in need of Passover meat, as we will be in Florida and Hub's step-mother is already on top of the meat order down there, but I am in fact hosting the second Seder (only one third of the family, no biggy) so I needed to buy one red meat and one poultry selection. I am no making Brisket, so I opted for Miami Ribs. Except there were none. And I asked the butcher if he had any in the back, and he replied that yes, he did.

Well, he was lying. He had meat that could be cut into Miami Ribs. It took 35 min. With two kids, standing in front of the chicken fridge, constantly in the way of the other shoppers who were piling meat up in their carts. I wanted to leave, but the butcher made it clear that he was already running low on "good" cuts and if I didn't wait, I would end up with chicken breasts for my Seder....

So we waited and took many, many 2$ rides on the stupid Schmall carousel. And I got into a fight with a mother who was too cheap to pay for her own rides, but kept insisting that my kids switch seats "to keep it fair". Lady, fair would have been you chipping in at least once! I have no problem with kids filling up the empty seat (it rides 3) but don't make my kids sit in the stupid boat instead of the car and horse! I paid, we pick.

So yeah, next year, on the last Sunday before Passover, when I think it would be a good time to run to the Schmall to pick up a few things, somebody please send me the link to this page!

TMZ needs to hire me!

Man, I was on fire last night! And without the benefit of alcohol!

Not only did Dlisted pretty much copy my post, including Hot Tranny Mess, but now, TMZ has this little gem up on their site.... I told you it was no accident!

There has got to be something better to do with my Friday night

I've assembled my first doll-quilt prototype and I'm currently watching the Miss USA trainwreck.... I know. Shut up.

Here is why:

• Numb3ers starts only at 10
• the judges include crazy Heather Mills, Joey Fatone, Ken Paves, Rob Schneider and Christian Siriano from Project Runway... as he would say, what a Hot Tranny Mess!
• I saw earlier on ET (shut up, again) that one of the contestant has cerebral palsy. There is no way she is going to make it to the top, OR, it's fixed (shocker!) and she'll win. Either way, curiosity got the best of me.

I have made a few notes on the proceedings:

• One of them is named LauRen.... with a capital R. Seriously.
• They all have the SAME hair..... pageant girls are seriously scary.
• Donny and Marie need to retire. now. Also, Marie looks like one of her scary freakish dolls (hello Marie doll lovers who are now going to troll my site, 10 months from now when your google search leads you astray)
• Tennessee just elbowed Mississippi in the boobs. That was totally NOT an accident.
• Apparently, giant hoop earrings are all the rage amongs beauty queens.
• Come to think of it, several of these women make me think of drag queens.
• Missouri's evening gown was totally mother-of-the bride, with a turtle neck. except for one thing.... totally, completely see-through in the spot lights.
• ha! there is LauRen again.... wearing a doily for a dress. at least it's a beaded doily
• Oklahoma is wearing a cross between a black sports bra and a white crushed velvet nightgown
• How can Christian Siriano sit there and not want to rush the stage and rip these horrific "gowns" right off their bodies?
• Rihanna's Umbrella? Isn't that played out by now?

oh lord... this is addictive. I should have opened some wine. But I didn't. So I'm coming to my senses and I'm going to go read a book. It's a fluffy book, but compared to watching this, it will feel like reading  War and Peace.

Edited to add: Well well. I posted and updated several times on Friday night. And look what someone else wrote on Saturday..... I should be writing for gossip blogs!

Fever

No worries, I'm not sick... per say. I seem to have caught a case of mild Hockey Playoff Fever. It's a very common communicable disease around these parts but I have somehow managed to live my entire life without catching it once. As a young party girl, I used to be pretty good at faking the symptoms and tagging along for treatment when my buddies came down with it. After all, the recommended medicine is plenty of booze administered in a seedy loud bar in front of a giant TV, preferably by some cute members of the opposite sex.

Today is the first game of the playoffs and my city is besieged by the Fever. Everywhere you look, it's Habs flags galore. Respectable businessmen were walking around in hockey jerseys OVER their shirts and ties today. I must be getting old and my immunity must be low, because I actually got a little excited when they scored twice in the first few minutes of the game. And we were listening in the car.... Ususally, I need to have a visual or a lot of beer.

Fortunately, it seems to be a very mild case, as I was able to watch Survivor and made my husband watch the game on the TV in the attic instead. I worked on a prototype for my quilt and only checked the score once I new the game was over. But I checked, which is a clear symptom of being infected.

important doll quilt swap information

to every one who has something to do with the Lemonade Stand Quilt Swap:

AT THIS POINT, THE ASSIGNMENTS HAVE BE MADE. I REALISED TODAY THAT ABOUT 6 PEOPLE WERE CAUGHT IN THE SPAM FILTER AND I EMAILED THEM. If you haven't received either a swap assignment OR an email from me today about being caught in the spam filter, then I DIDN'T GET YOUR EMAIL and you aren't on the list..... please contact me ASAP if you feel you emailed me and I didn't get it. I will close this swap tonight at 9 pm Eastern, for good. I am really trying to make sure I didn't miss anyone and went through all the spam folders to make 100% sure.... but at some point, I have to close it and just hope I didn't miss anyone.

If you did get your assignment, you are good to go. Except for one person who was contacted directly with a new partner, everyone else stays the way they are. We are simply creating a Group C for everyone that got missed.

wax on, wax off

During our stay in Texas, the 4 of us renegades got together with 3 absolutely lovely bloggers who were also hitting the Canton flea market. They shall remain anonymous because I don't know them that well and they are not really in the updating mode right now. (also, I'm pretty sure my in-depth knowledge of celebrity gossip and outing of certain gay movie stars just scared them to death!)

Anyhow, during dinner the first night, I mentioned how I had my legs waxed before coming down, to de-winterize my legs, and Blogger A mentioned that she had never heard of such a thing and didn't know a single person who waxed their legs. Bobbi Jo and I were somewhat shocked, as waxing our legs is such a normal, regular thing to do. But we figured out that proper southern ladies wouldn't stand to wait the regrowth period before the next waxing, so shaving was better for them.

Now, I have found the complete and total opposite end of the spectrum..... let me ask you: how old were YOU the first time you got waxed? And your hoo-ha? 'cause I'm sure these girls got you beat....

Over too soon, yet not soon enough

Sitting at the gate, boarding in 1 hour, home in 5. This was the best weekend. We had so much fun, Shelba is just as sweet and funny as I knew she would be. Bobbi Jo and I could go back to college and be roommates, we had such a good time sharing the room, the wine and even the bathroom! And Melissa! Poor Melissa really had no idea what she was getting herself into: It was one think to explain who/what Danielle is, but when she found out Danielle had a blog and sent out holiday cards, I'm sure she thought we were insane. I wish we'd had more time. A day to see Dallas or time to get a mani-pedi..... But I miss my family and they miss me. BB said Come Home! Dumpling is being unusually non-chatty on the phone. It's time to go home. But we are doing this again next year....

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We always get what we want.....

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Wineless in texas

Apparently this is a dry county. Make your own assumptions about the mood.

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Funnel cake

My first eever. With a snow cone. This is a healthy weekend.

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A mor reasonable wakeup time

Once again, we are up ang getting ready to go. As Shelba mentioned we didn't go back yesterday. Instead we came up with the formula for a perfect afternoon:
4 moms, 0 kids, 3 hastely purchased ugly bathing suits (Bobbi was prepared!), 5 gossip magazines, 1 hot tub= PERFECT AFTERNOON. We hooked up last night with 3 other visiting bloggers and had a big bloggy dinner, where we discussed everything from The Wait, to what it's like to have the kids home, to scientology and how scary that video of Tom Cruise's bday was! Weather looks good, we are meeting soon for breakfast and then Watch Out! We have a rainy day to make up for!

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Sometimes you need to plug it and unplug it

That my friends, are words to live by. It was the advice of the hotel desk clerk when Melissa and I pointed out that the WIRELESS connection wasn't working...... Think about that one for a second. Yeah.

It's early afternoon and we are resting in our hotel rooms because

a) we got up at 4 am
b) it's cold and rainy and most of the cool vendors didn't open

So we are recharging our batteries and hoping to make a second pass at it later this afternoon. We did get a bunch of good stuff this morning: some oilcloth bags and aprons, some really good pieces of vintage fabric and chenille bed spreads and even some actual oil cloth fabric by the yard. And we ate delicious BBQ. While watching scalp surgery.... you had to be there.

Best moment of the day thus far was shared by Bobbi Jo and I, who happen to be sharing a room. We were just leaving Michele and Melissa's room to head into ours and stepped into the elevator. The door closed. And the most horrendous smell of fart assaulted us! It was still there when we went downstairs to the business center 20 minutes later.

We are now relegated to using the business center computers, because I can't figure out how to unplug the wireless internet. Oh, and Bobbi Jo keeps crashing her browser by attempting to open a second tab.... we are apparenlty trying to break the Texas Internet.

Its cold

And rainig. And we look like hefty bags.....

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Breakfast of champions

Coffee and beef jerky, on the road, on the way. We can't stop chatting ang laughing.

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it's 4:40 am, what are YOU doing?

I'm sitting in Shelba's kitchen, drinking coffee made by her husband, using her cousin Melissa's couputer, chatting with Bobbi Jo.

Poor Melissa! I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into! At dinner last night, she relised just HOW MUCH we actually know about each other from the computer..... she's still wrapping her head around it. Though she fits right in. Really, she does. She and Bobbi Jo are wearing the same pants this morning. And apparently, i missed the memo, because all 3 of them are wearing white tops. I went for green. I'm feeling self conscious....

So we are filling up with coffee and hitting the road. Expect snippets as the day goes on. And to Mystery Blogger, thanks for the airport pickup, delicious lunch and drive the check out houses. THAT was fun!

Oh! and I met Julia!  From Uncommon Misconceptions! That my friends, is going WAAAYYYYY Back. To my first IVF. She was absolutely the sweetest.

it's a packing miracle!

All my clothes fit in a backpack, with wheels.

H&M yielded a lovely green tote purse for 30$.

It also yielded a super cute tunic-dress, which will enable me to travel in comfort (with leggings.... sorry!) AND style. I was totally planning on flying in my "yummy-mummy uniform" of Lululemon yoga pants and zip jacket, but now, I can arrive in Texas looking a bit more fashionable and still be comfy on the way.

The un-sellable bin in the backstore yielded a couple of zippered pouches that I used to organise my ipod and assorted wires (charger, camera battery etc) so I can pretend I'm actually an organized person who doesn't usually travel with a big ziplock bag.

A piece of sewing elastic and a double sided sticky dot was fashioned into a believable lense-cap attachment to I won't lose it all the time.

Except for actually putting my toiletries in the FAA approved ziplock bag, I am ready to go. With only 2 pairs of shoes (one on my feet, one in the unbelievably well-packed backpack.)

It's only 4:30 pm. I'm not leaving my house til 4:30 am. what the heck am I supposed to do now?????

PS: thanks to modern mobile technology, expect brief updates from the trip. Grand retelling of stories will wait til Sunday night. Also, sometime tonight, expect a Swap Button to appear on Ubercrafty.

now for some REAL drama: PACKING!

Maybe you'll notice that I added a new category: Real Life Encounters. Tonight, I had dinner with Alisa from Mimosa. This is our 2nr real life meeting. The first time, I was a new mom and she was still doing paper-chasing. Now we are both moms and we've been through a lot over the last 3 years, but we had the BEST time. We shopped, she picked out some clothes and I critiqued them, we had wine, we had dinner, we had dessert and unfortunately it was already time to go.....

It is T-... crap I suck at math! But it's Tuesday night and I leave before the sun is up on Thursday morning to go meet up with Shelba and Bobbi Jo and Melissa and Secret Blogger and who-knows-who-else-we'll-run-into and it suddenly dawned on me: I NEED TO PACK!

Now, normally, this would be a non-issue. But here is the problem: I have a very tight connection to make on the way down, so I think I should go carry-on only to ensure swift passage at the hell-hole that is O'Hare. But you see, the new carry-on rules allow only ONE carry on and a personal item, which I have established can be a briefcase/purse/laptop-bag. But because I am not Mrs. Figby, I don't own either a big-ass purse or a trendy hobo tote. And I actually in fact do not own a carry-on-size suitcase on wheels, just an actual carry on.....

Also, along with the essentials for 4 days in hot weather, I must find a way to pack an EMPTY duffel bag, because (honey, turn away if you are reading this) I plan on shopping while I'm there. And bringing things back....  OK, I could just buy  cheap suitcase there, but you know, cheap suitcase in Texas isn't cheap suitcase in Beijing.....

Furthermore, the dilemma is WHAT to actually bring... because I have been wearing a parka and boots for 7 1/2 months now (only slightly exaggerating there) so even a balmy 72 could cause me to sweat profusely and find myself needing to change. Shelba gave me great tips (I'm pretty sure she was just kidding about the crocs....) but it's still a bit of a puzzle how to make that fit in there. Thankfully, I do not need to bring anything nice, since you know, I'll probably buying a thing or two or five....

The final pre-packing problem was solved yesterday. It occurred to me when contemplating packing a pair of cropped jeans (yes, I own capris. shoot me) that i was suffering from sever Kanuck Winter Legs Syndrome. So I hauled myself to the Schmall, where poor little Myriam had the pleasure of waxing my legs and giving me a pedicure. The interesting thing is that I'm not very hairy, but she did manage to wax off about 3 layers of dead, dry skin. So now instead of pasty white, I'm slightly pink from the newly exposed skin! It sets off nicely with the coral on my toes and the green/blue bruises from the ski boots!

I leave you with the ultimate cell phone photo: flip-flops in the snow. Which is why Kanuck Girls don't get pedicures in winter... How do you get home? And I'm not kidding, it actually snowed again yesterday. Fresh snow. It will NEVER end.

PS: Lemonade Stand Quilt Swap is now at 18 and I set up a Flickr account. Keep it up!