Mortimer's Mom

Pissed off

this is a no good very bad horrible day.... All things being relative of course. Nothing is SERIOUSLY wrong.

I dropped my beloved phone/life line/email transmission device somewhere between my car and my store while carrying merchandise. I noticed it maybe 5 minutes later. We called it immediately and someone picked it up but said nothing (we could hear the cars in the background). Then we called it again and again and they didn't pick up. So I had no choice but to call the provider and suspend the phone. But they have no way of going into my phone and zapping the info.... so somebody is walking around with my phonebook, my email list, pictures of my kids..... I didn't think to send a text message before canceling it, offering a reward. They would have seen it on the screen. But now it's too late.....

And we are now 1 month past the deadline in the quilt swap and some people still haven't received their quilts. Some are in transit, but one person just came out and said they weren't going to be sending anything. Sounds like they didn't even try. And that pisses me off. 'Cause I sent several reminders over the course of the swap, it wasn't a hard swap, and now there is a person who actually made and sent a quilt to someone that is not getting one in return, at least not from their intended partner. I have asked the drop-out to please take the quilt that she received and pass it on to her intended recipient. I hope she does the right thing. But in the mean time, I feel so bad as the organizer of this thing that I will retreat to my craft-cave and attempt to channel this anger into some sort of quilt that I can send out.

Then I will go to the wine store. Because I should not be this pissed off without a little something to sip on after the kids go to bed. And tomorrow is National Drinking Day, I mean Canada Day. Though beer is more appropriate, but I'm not so much a beer girl.

A Busy Weekend - Just like I like 'em

I like to be busy. I don't enjoy a weekend of laying about doing nothing. It doesn't have to be productive, it just has to be occupied. The weather has been so crappy, it's not even funny. We get one hour of pool time everyday, but mostly under cloudy skies, and it ends when the rain starts. Seriously, this summer SUCKS.

Friday Dumpling had her regular therapy appointment and I am happy to report that for the first time in a long time, I felt the therapist and I were on the same page. We aren't there yet, there is a LONG way to go, but at least, we are  now on the same road. That put me in a really good mood.

On Saturday, we had plans to have one of the knitting gals over with her family for a late afternoon dip in the pool and BBQ. But the weather wasn't cooperating. Except I texted her and asked her if they still wanted to do the dinner, since I had all the stuff and the kids were expecting them, and thankfully, she agreed.

In the afternoon, I took leave of the family for a couple of hours and I visited a place I know very little about.... the maternity ward! After the longest gestation in human history, my friend V. who had contractions in front of the-house-that-wasn't-meant-to-be over 2 weeks ago, FINALLY gave birth to a HUGE baby girl! So I went to visit and ended up staying for a while to help out. I did bring a little something, though a bigger gift is to be completed once Baby has a name... (the quilt is blogged at Ubercraftty)

I came home just in time to russle up my famous roasted potatoes and some chicken skewers. Our 2-family dinner turned out to be a smash. After a year-long "feud" between Dumpling and the apple of her eye, E, they managed to play very nicely together. Truth be told, once Dumpling layed eyes on the one-year-older, big brother of E, E was sort of history.... She was GA-GA over the big brother... even sent him home with a homemade melted-bead butterfly.... And then went on and on about having E over again, but making it VERY CLEAR that E should only come if his big brother was free! BB had a great time too. She found boys to be very loud. And touching lots of things. But all in all, she enjoyed them. There is a little sister too, but she was a bit freaked out by our two 4-legged beasts to she didn't join in the fun too much.  The adults had lovely conversation, the kids played well without adult supervision (we had wine, we couldn't watch the kids!) and there were no left overs!

I really didn't think we could top Saturday, but this morning, we took the girls to the "Petite Ecole de Jazz" or Little Jazz School, a children's program part of our world famous Jazz Festival. 2 Years ago, Dumpling went with her friend D (big brother of the new baby girl) but last year we skipped the show, opting for the outdoors music park during the Urban's visit. This year, at 5 1/4, she was very into the show. Here they are, mesmerized by the opening number:

And here she is desperatly trying to learn to snap her fingers. She was allowed to clap, but boy did she want to get the hang of snapping!

A gratutious Dumpling shot...

  And here they are stomping on the giant keyboard. Their buddy Lil Urban was sorely missed this year...

Again, I didn't think the day could get much better, but after a hot-dog lunch in front of the main stage, we headed home for a Sunday nap. And then Hub's sister came into town with her family and we had  an imprompty bday dinner for MIL, complete with a swim in the pool. The kids had OK weather for swimming, but I BBQed with a raincoat in a MAJOR downpour and dinner was eaten inside. But we had a lovely time and my girls do love playing with their cousins, even if only 2 ended up making it over.

finally, can I leave you with a shot from last week? She's given up on the floatees now, but I found this shot on the camera....

fresh berries and a dip in the pool

This morning I absolutely needed to go to work to deal with this website business, so I dropped the girls AND the babysitter off at my mom's, who whisked them off to the Strawberry Farm, where they picked some berries to bring home, but apparently ate their weight in berries as well. Glad to report that BB produced no puke, so whatever it was, it was gone in 12 hours.

I used the morning to contact everyone I know about this web problem. Thanks to my readers, I am pursuing different options right now, just waiting to hear back who can actually make sense of this mess and take it over for me. (It's not solved, but at least, we are getting somewhere and I now know what to ask, and I can also answer most of the questions)

Just after lunch, I swung by and picked up some pink-colored faces and stained hands and brought everyone home. BB crashed and M. dealt with Dumpling while I did some more work from home. They ended up in the pool, so when BB woke up an hour later, I put on my bathingsuit and we joined them.

I am very, very happy to report that my scardy-cat Dumpling has FINALLY agreed to take off the floaties. And wouldn't you know it she's a great swimmer! yesterday with her little friend J, she took them off long enough to show off her swimming skills, but she stayed on top of the water. Today, without any coaxing, she made her way to the bottom of the shallow end and picked up the diving sticksALL BY HERSELF. She's gaining confidance my leaps and bounds and I'm betting she'll be jumping off the diving board without the pool-noodles before the weekend is out.  Which is great news, because her 2 weeks of day camp includes swim lessons, and now she won't have to be with the "baby" class.

mini-plagues

it's all relative. the crap going on around here is nothign compared to what my old KLB bud B Mama is going through these days, so I feel like a schmuck even writing anything whiny....

On top of the big stuff going on that I can't talk about (though I have in fact shared with a few people, because hello... I'm going to explode with drama over here!), we have also been plagued with lots of mini dramas that add up to just horrible stress.

• no AC for 3 weeks at our prime tourist location....
• broken pool heater/filter that took forever to figure out
• STILL no one to hang wall paper... I am *this* close to giving it a try myself....
• had to leave my knitting/salvation in the middle because:
• PROJECTILE VOMIT! amazing babysitter M called to say BB was spewing liquids. Ran home, she seemed fine, thought she got overheated and let her rest for the day. She seemed much better. Then after dinner, while visiting Dumpling's Summer Day Camp for orientation, she started being very clingy and sticky... and next thing you know.... Dinner! out in the grass! Adn now fever.... probably just a stomach bug, but it totally screws up the schedule
• finally, the most unreliable web guy in history has hit a new low. And I must now migrate the entire store website somewhere else. But I don't know where. And I don't know how. And he's not cooperating, so we may very well lose a HUGE amount of vital data.... FREAKING OUT!

On the upside, amazing store manager extraordinaire finally returned from vacay tonight and will be at her post tomorrow. Yeah!

And I had wine in the house.... double yeah!

Finally, I have send out pool invitations to all the gals in knitting, so if you are reading this, COME OVER, I mean it. See, I told the world, come over! (and if you are not in knitting but live in my city, seriously, I could use visitors. I put on a nice spread, give a holler!)

Power Tool Therapy

When I feel stressed (and I am extremely stressed out right now) I need to fix things. Things that I can actually fix, as opposed to the stuff I can't fix, which is causing the stress.

So this weekend, I added 2' of privacy lattice on top of the 3' fence between our yard and pool, because this week, Dumpling figured out that even if the pool gate was locked, all she had to do was *climb over* the fence to get to the other side..... yeah, that pretty much stopped my blood cold, so the situation needed to be remedied immediately. Since I still haven't found someone to fix the freaking wallpaper, I wasn't about to start looking for a fence-mending dude. But some pre-framed lattice, a few 4x4s, a couple of nifty brackets and the fence is now un-climb-able and pretty to look at.

I also added a new tool to my arsenal, though this one is not so much a power tool, but we bought a Roomba vacuum. I do not clean. This is a well established fact. (I would rather build a fence than sweep the floors!) Our beloved cleaning lady is gone to Poland for a month and so the combination of 2 children, 2 dogs and a massive sandbox made even a non-cleaner like me pick up the broom AND the Swiffer and spend the morning cleaning. But I will not be doing this for a month, no way. So I am hoping the Roomba will at least keep the worst of it at bay and I can supplement with occasional actual cleaning.

Finally, the children have gone to their grandparents for a sleep over. Which left me free alone with my second-favorite power-tool, (after the Shark Steam-Vac) the Power Washer. I did the pooldeck, the lawn furniture, the patio and then, I went all out and did the fence around the pool, which I hope to stain a pretty color this week. Seriously, what is that green/grey stuff that covers the fence over time? Gross! But it's gone now and I spent 2 hours alone with 1,900 PSI and my thoughts. I didn't fix anything, I still feel stressed and overwhelmed, but at least the fence is no longer gray, the pooldeck is nice and clean and I can plan hours of staining induced meditation for the coming week (provided it stops raining. Because we are having the most horrible early summer)

Seeds are making me think

This is going to seem like a total departure from you are used to on this blog, and you would be right. Let's just say that these days, I'm having a hard time writing about my life, because I have always tried to be honest and frank. But I have of course always held back some things, out of respect for my children, other family members, etc. These days, I have to hold back more than what I can share, and so I find myself writing long posts that I must delete, or writing drivel. So instead, I will just tell you about an article I read and a movie I saw that has me thinking and doing research.

In Vanity Fair's Green Issue last May, I read the article "Monsanto's Harvest of Fear" and it not only shocked me, it made me think a lot about mega corporations, food supply, and the way very few people/corporations actually control a lot of the world. (Haliburton is another company that strikes ire and fear in me).  I happen to be a tad granola-crunchy, with my Hybrid car and my compost pile, so the thought that one company controls the seed market and that their seeds happen to be GMOs really made me angry and think about the food that my family eats.

Yesterday, we went to see a documentary about the same company, The World According to Monsanto, a France/Canada production that not only looks at the farmers being sued over the seeds, but the dirty practices Monsanto has used to take over land in South America and India with their GMO seeds. It's scary stuff.

I happen to live in Canada, where Bovine Growth Hormones (shocker: produced by the same company!)are illegal so I don't have to worry about my milk supply, but the seeds are another story. It's for sure making me take the time to go to the farmer's market and buy from independent, organic farms. But the reality is that any pre-packaged product I buy has probably come into contact with some product derived from their GMO seeds.

I'm going to be doing more research on this. I realise they are a huge company and we can't stop them, but maybe we can force labeling of food stuff so we can make informed decisions when we shop.

In the mean time, I urge you to read the article, and if the movie plays in your neck of the woods, it's really worth seeing.

The Post-Paris Post

I've been a very bad blogger, I apologize. The re-entry into home life sort of kicked my ass. Dumpling was non-too-pleased about my vacation, and while she was a doll for her father while I was away, she expressed her displeasure upon my return by turning into Carrie. BB, on the other hand, missed me terribly and has been stuck to me like glue. Add a minor flood at one store, a major AC failure at the other, a sick relative, a broken pool heater and a huge communications malfunction with the store servers and I've been a bit overwhelmed with everything....

Today, things started looking up. The Amazing D and her fabulous husband A were in town today (she must now be referred to as the Amazing Dr. D, PhD) to celebrate her graduation, so we hooked up for a late breakfast. It was very good to catch up.

I managed to upload my pictures, and I will now regale you with my shopping.

Here is the much discussed Gerard Darel Jacket (I had mispelled it last week) and the cute flats.

I also got a cute top from him, but I took a picture and I look like death warmed over, so I'll spare you. I msut say, when I hit his website and saw that Charlotte Gainsbourg was his model/muse/spokesperson, it all made sense suddenly. As a teenager, I wanted to be Charlotte. I saw her movies, I read all the teenage mags about her. For a French speaking girl in the 80s, Charlotte was the IT girl.

I also bought an adorable top from Comptoir des Cottoniers, but it's in the wash.... I would describe their store as Benneton meets organic.

And finally, i did my best shopping at Promod:

see a theme forming here? I told you, under the guidance of the great Mrs. Figby, Grey is the new Neutral.

And no, i am clearly NOT the model in these pictures!

Day 4: and then there was one

Mrs. Figby must be home by now. I already miss her. I missed her about one hour after she left, when I got off the metro near Au Bon Marche and realised that in fact, I really don't like department stores, they overwhelm me. We had dicussed that the day before, but there I was, alone in Paris and I just didn't know where to start. I walked out and sat down for yet another cafe creme, because it seemed like the only thing I could manage to do now that I foudn myself alone.

Then I started walking in the general direction of some attraction or other and suddenly found myself on a tiny back street, filled with adorable little parisian shops. First I found the most adroabel headband and chinese-type fans for the girls at a store called Papa Pique et Maman Coud (I'll deal with links when I get home and am not surfing the net on a hotel TV). And without even trying, I ended up right in Du Pareil Au Meme, a kids store we had hoped to visit together but hadn't been in the areas we visited. There is was. I must apologize to Mr. Figby for not finding one with her, she would have bought Apples an entire new wardrobe in there! I got the girls each a top and a skirt, with a pajama or two, but it was very heard to keep it at that, I wanted to buy everything.

On my way out it really hit me: Not only am I not a *label* girl, but I really do like boutiques and shops way more than department stores and malls. So I readjusted my thinking and resolved to spend the day like a Parisian Gal might. I started walking along the long avenue leading to Tour Montparnasse and finallly hit my stride shopping-wise! I bought cute dresses for less than 40E a piece (and Mrs. Figby would have been proud, they were both in shades of grey! Grey is my new neutral). I asked the shop keepers where else I would find such little shops and they recommended I head to the streets behind the Louvres and Les Halles, so after a quick visit of Tour Montparnasse and the attached "mall", I hopped on the metro and headed over there. Boy! It was so hard to hold myself back. Instead of bringing home 2 or 3 fancy pieces (well, there is that one Gerard Durel jacket..... google him, I'll provide you a link later) I am coming home with tons of cute little pieces and a killer pair of burnt orange satin and suede ballet flats that match the jacket to a tee!

Once I decided that I had in fact shopped enough and had positively spoiled my girls rotten, I checked my guide book for the first time since breakfast and grabbed a french onion soup at Au Pied du Cochon. Their speciality is pig's feet, which I watched everyone around me eat... kinda gross.... I did have to make a final stop at Le Printemps. Mortimer's Dad deserved a much bigger present than what I had already purchased, so I went back but didn't even bother going through it. I entered from the basement of the men's building, headed for the right counter and headed back out. I was done.

I came back to the hotel (Line 8/Lilac towards Balard) one last time.... and marveled at how adept I had become at traveling the complicated lines of the metro. After a quick email home, I decided it would be wise to go through all the bills (for customs) and pack while I still had time to go back to the store if things didn't fit in the suitcase. While it is absolutely full now, I did not need to worry and all the best goodies fit in the carry-on, so that if the suitcase gets delayed, at least the girls will get spoiled right away.

To end my trip, I kept going with my Parisian Gal for a day theme and explored the rest of the surrounding neighbourhood, with a litttle help from Google and the owner of the hotel.... I found a movie theater that only plays 3 movies. It's ancient, from the turn of the century, with red velvet chairs and only one screening of each movie, no previews. I grabbed a quick dinner a local Brasserie (not to be confused with brasierre), but it was hard to read my book with all the yelling and screaming at the soccer match. I had 30 min to kill before my movie, so I found Square St-Lambert and read my book on  a bench, watching a Chinese father with his 5 children play some confusing hybrid game of frisbee and baseball. (it was so amazing to watch a Chinese father of so many children.)
Finally, I joined 6 people in the theater for The Other Boylen Girl (I'm totally obsessed with The Tudors right now) and got a free, tiny, old fashioned paper bag of popcorn from the 80+ year old man running the projector. When it was over, I walked back by myself, amazed at how absolutely quiet the little streets of the 15e arondissement were. Sure, when I got to major intersections there were people at cafes and people getting in and out of the metro, but turn on a side street and you couldn't even hear a single car.

I'm all tucked in now, ready to go to sleep and head home in the morning. The only thing I'll have time for is one more breakfast at a nearbuy cafe. I asked for an early wakeup call, so I might walk a bit further and try something with a view of the Eiffel Tower, just one last time.

Tomorrow night, I'll be home. I missed my girls and Mortimer's Dad so much. He's had to deal with power failures at home and at work, unruly staff, a broken pool filter, family health issues and 2 crazy kids who miss me and are taking it out on him...... I owe him BIG time. Thanks for letting me do this honey!

Day 3, with a little less pep in our step

So it turns out that 2 days of power-shopping, non-stop walking, culture-soaking travel can tire a girl out! We had the best intentions to spring out of bed at 8 and be on an early train to Versailles, but just getting out of the room was hard this morning. First, you need an engineering degree to operate the shower, which I do not have, so I ruined my blow dry by soaking myself under the raindrop shower head instead of using the hand-held one I meant to use.... Which delayed us a little since I had to do *something* with my hair.But we grabbed a quick cafe/croissant and hopped on the metro to the RER and headed to Versailles almost an hour later than we had intended.

Versailles was spectacular. I had been there once as a teenager and I remember the grandeur, but really, as an adult who now understands about real estate, holy crap that was a house! We have decided that today's equivalent would be P Diddy's lifestyle, with the houses and boats and pool partys.

We began our stroll through the gardens, heading to the Grand Trianon (the petit is closed for Restoration) and it started to drizzle. By the time we hit the Grand Canal, it was piss-pouring rain, so we had no choice but to duck into the little canal-side cafe and enjoy yet another cafe-creme and tartine au beurre until the sky cleared. Which it didn't. So we bought a very overpriced souvenir umbrella and made our way to the Trianon, with wet feet and wet hair, but it was TOTALLY worth it. And we took lots of pictures to inspire decors at home!
By the time we were done, we couldn't walk another step, so we hopped the little electric train and headed back to the castle and returned to Paris for a late lunch at a little place outside Le Printemps. This time our goal was men-gifts for the boys back home. It was hard, but we managed to do it. Then we spotted, for the second time, a lovely burnt-orange leather cropped jacket that just screamed my name, but I simply couldn't justify a purchase of that size. However, Mrs. Figby kept at it, and tonight, on the way to dinner, we made yet another trip to the department store.... I'm sure you can figure out what happened from there.

We had our last big Paris meal at a total out of the way, never would have found it, tiny local restaurant that was absolutely divine. But I ate so much, I quickly developed a food-baby, which the chef mistook for an actual pregnant belly, and he felt so embarrassed, they didn't charge us for the scrumptious desserts.

There was also a walk in Place Pigalle, a picture of the Moulin Rouge, a grand-mother with cottage-cheese thighs playing Marylin Monroe on a large airvent, and now, the most entertaining show of all, watching Mrs. Figby tally up her purchases and attempt to fit everything in her suitcase.!

We get to have breakfast together in the morning and then she has to head out to the airport for a midday flight. I plan on hitting some more home-oriented shops as research for the store, and maybe a quirky museum or something like that.

day 2, in bullet form

It's 1:30 in the morning and we just got back about 15 min ago, so you'll have to forgive the bullets, but I'm pretty sure I can't form a cohesive sentence. Also, the  sheet lack of comments on our posts is making us think that you are not living vicariously through us but rather hating our bitchy guts right now, so I'm trying not to piss you all off even more!

• I slept like a log. Including through mrs. Figby showering AND Blowdrying.
• Bfast at cafe was cruchy and oh so buttery
• started the day with culture at the Picasso Museum. It was fabulous.
• saw the strangest human being EVER: I say it was a woman, Figby is convinced it was a man, 100% covered in tattoos, with plexi tubes sticking out of his/her nose, ears and hands.....
• a jolt of coffee was consumed in the museum coourtyard, which was fab, before we discovered the lovely streets of Le Marais, which are chock-full of tiny boutiques, where Mr.s Figby shopped a lot and I shopped a little. (that's a recurring theme BTW)
• lunch one block from La Bastille in one of the most reknown and oldest Brasseries in Paris. We were after the lunch crowd (socialites like us enjoy lunch after 2:30 you see) and we had the place to ourselves. We had the most sinful scalloped potatoes and cheese appetizer, and a duck breast that was so DIVINE, we both almost died on the first bite. And it was just lunch, and it wasn't even expensive.
• A quick hop back on the metro and we squeezed every possible minute out of the remainder of the opening hours at Galleries Lafayette, where I did a small amount of damage (mostely for the girls, but a tiny bit for me).
• Mrs. Figby's love of all things grey is rubbing off on me.... you'll have to wait to see pics, since I don't have a computer to upload to.
• after relieveing ourselves of our packages at the hotel, we hopped back into the now familiar metro and headed straight for the champs elises
• Dinner and a show: watching very sexy riot policemen get ready to deal with a rowdy crowd of Portuguese soccer fans...
• Sex and The City, in english, in Paris,
• midnight shopping at Sephora, which is the only thing opened that late (other than bars).
• Sephora also included a show, as when we walked in, the staff was all standing on the counter and dancing gogo-style to the music blaring into the store... it ended 2 minutes later, but it was quite surreal

We were out so late, the metro was closed and we had to find a way to hail a cab, which it turns out is impossible on the Champs Elysees after midnight - all occupied.  Thankfully, a nice concierge from a near by hotel resuced us, and now we are tucked safely in bed, about to get rest to attack tomorrow: VERSAILLES! And Le Printemps. And many more tiny boutiques....