Small Talk

I'm not a big fan. Of small talk, that is. I am happy to sit in silence, as long as I'm comfortable with the people I'm with. That is not to say that I don't yammer on about senseless things from time to time (e.g. my entire blog), but overall, I'd rather not discuss the weather or comment on how terrible or wonderful the latest news story is. I used to work with a couple of people, P and L, and one time I heard P ask L what she brought for lunch that day. Her strained reply was, "Does it really matter?" I totally get that. I find it tiring to answer an irrelevant question to which the reply is meaningless even to the person who asked it. I do my best to avoid such conversations, but sometimes weird ones sneak up on me. One time I was walking my dog and saw my dentist jogging towards me. This sounds a little odd but we used to live in the same area, and he does run everyday. Anyhow, I just gave a wave, not wanting to converse for the sake of an out of context run-in, and figuring that he would motor on by, but he decided to slow down enough such that he could tell me that he felt terrible. "Oh...thats...not...good....", was the reply that I stammered as he continued on out of earshot. What else could I say? I didn't even ask!!! Even if I had asked, his duty was to tell me that he felt fine, right? This was an outright small talk violation! I had another weird one today too.

Today I was at the vet's for a check up for one of my dogs. I always seem to be at the vet's for one reason or another, so I do feel a certain amount of familiarity with the people who work there, but typically we talk shop, or in my case, dogs. This falls in the category of acceptable small talk for me. During the check-up, Dr. B was making a fuss over my dog who was being calm, and cute, and all things doggie. Then she asked me if the dog was good with the kids, which gave her the segue that she needed to talk about her own kids, despite my not having asked. She has an 18 year old son who dropped out of school, and who isn't working. She said that he has mental issues, but added that he is seeing a psychiatrist and is trying to work through this. She then went on to give me examples of the things that he did as a child that foreshadowed his current behaviour and OMG ISN'T THIS A LOT OF INFORMATION TO BE GIVING AN ALMOST STRANGER??? "Uhhhh, good luck with that" was all I could come up with as a reply. Then I went to the front desk to pick up a prescription for some doggie meds and explained to the clerk that having it filled at a drug store works out to be more than 60% cheaper than buying the drugs directly from the vet (don't tell me that I never give you any useful information), and this spawned another insanely long conversation about her cat, and its problems, and how expensive its treatment was, and how she had just started working at suchandsuch a place which allowed her to finance the treatment for her cat so that she didn't have to put it down, and so yes, it is important to try to keep vet bills down. Did I bring that on myself? Stop talking already!

Isn't it ironic that the the longest post I've written in ages is about my distaste for small talk?

Yup, It Really is About Breakfast Cereal

Some time ago there was an article posted somewhere about mommy blogging being essentially about breakfast cereal. We all know that this is not true, except in the case of this post. I have a cereal issue. My thing has always been to buy a few boxes of Cookie Crisp cereal whenever I'm in the U.S. We can't get it here. I'm not sure that I even like it anymore, but this tradition has been ongoing for over 20 years, and I enjoy the odd looks I get from my fellow travellers when I load up on the stuff. Last week when I was killing time while Pumpkin was at her ballet class, I wandered into a neighbouring Kosher supermarket. As I meandered up and down the aisles, I found myself staring at a wall of "American" cereals that we don't usually have access to. Cocoa Puffs, Fruity Pebbles, Kix, and yes, Cookie Crisp. For some reason, the folks who keep Kosher in the area love their sugar fix in the morning. I always figured that our government had determined certain cereals to qualify as NOT FOOD, and therefore banned them from our shelves. Maybe religious restrictions trump government policy? Anyhow, now I'm kinda bummed out about it. I can't make trips to the U.S. for a cereal that I can get locally, so I need to get a fix of something new. It doesn't have to be kosher. It doesn't even have to be cereal. Just don't recommend cheese in a can - we don't seem to have it here and I stand behind whomever made that decision.

Girl's Week-End!

Since none of you took me up on my offer for a week-end of unpatriotic shopping and female bonding, I feel compelled to enlighten you on all that you missed. I think that the picture book version says it best:

We went to

Where we bought a lot of

and engaged in a room crawl, where we may have had a drink...

...or 10

The red nose is a dead giveaway. That and my sad attempt at keeping my eyes open wide after countless squinty-eyed versions of this pic.

Ok, there are no other pictures that I am permitted or willing to post. I may or may not have engaged in a little table dancing with another woman, which isn't as sexy as it sounds, but thankfully the camera operator was too messed up to create a permanent memory. Whew!

This trip was more fun than I've had in ages. Not that spending time with my family isn't fun, but this was a necessary, different kind of fun that I have been depriving myself of since the kiddies came along. Don't get me wrong - I missed them dearly. Especially the baby, given that I had forgotten a piece of my breast pump and was in a wee bit of pain by 10 am the first morning. I ended up buying a new one, (they're much cheaper in the U.S.) so if you are are someone, or know someone who might want a free, slightly used pump, let me know. I'm done with it. Just boil it - good as new. ish.

The first day of shopping rocked. I haven't bought myself anything since before I was preggo with Chichi, so my goal was to go nuts, which I kind of did. Not a whole wardrobe or anything, but enough to keep myself from being naked this summer. You can thank me now. The second day was a little rough for me due to the previous evening, so I couldn't feel the shopping love. Just as well. We came just short of a full cavity search at customs on the way home, so I was better off not having more to declare. Apparently, 42 women walking through the customs office, each carrying three Coach purses was a bit of a tip off. Live and learn.

Wanted:

Two unpatriotic women from the Toronto area who would like to join me and 42 other women on a bus trip to Buffalo. We leave this Friday at 5 pm and will not return until late Sunday evening. The cost is $140 for hotel and transportation, and we are bunking 4 to a room. There are two spots left, so if you are not a psychopathic killer who will rip our hearts out and eat them just for pleasure, let me know if you are interested.

Great Moments in Parenting...

It is not ideal when your three year old walks into the room with her nightie hiked up to her chest, explaining that you shouldn't worry about all the poo on the floor as she has been wiping it up and will continue to do so while you are nursing the baby.

Cleaning the Coop

The good news is that Pumpkin's school is cleaner than most of your homes. The bad news is that I know this from being part of the cleaning crew. Pumpkin's school is a co-op, and for many co-oppers, this means that you have to pull off a duty day every once in a while. I wish that was what I had to do. Yesterday was the third of three major clean-ups for the school, and everyone has to participate in one of them. I also had to endure a few individual cleaning days over the course of the year, as everyone has had to, but none quite as thorough as the major clean. They made us clean EVERYTHING. I'm not just talking about table tops and toys. We pulled everything out of the school onto the lawn, cleaned and disinfected all of it, while others cleaned and disinfected every interior surface imaginable. We even had to clean the mail-slot-style cubbies where we pick up our children's art work every day. I have many spots in my house where I stuff mail, flyers, etc., and I can honestly say that I've never thought to wash and disinfect any one of them. I'm just proud of myself if I ever get around to sorting all that crap. As for my job at the school, I was thrown into the basement to sort out the toys, tossing out the useless ones, and cleaning up the keepers. Because it is a co-op, there have been a lot of crappy toy donations over the years, which left me with a lot of junk to sort through. The two dads who worked along with me left me to decide what got tossed. My husband would have avoided that task too. Is it a guy thing? Hubby hates making small decisions and freezes when faced with annoying tasks like this. Even last night when I was feeling ill with cold and flu symptoms, I asked him to go out and bring home whatever for dinner, and he still couldn't do it without calling home to get me to be more specific. What I wanted was to be exempt from having to make a decision. He didn't get that. At least I didn't have to cook.

As for the drag of the co-op factor, whatamIgonnado? It's a great school, and I will probably be sending Pumpkin there again next year on the days when she isn't in JK. Maybe I should take a cue from some of the other mothers and send in a substitute me on the cleaning days. Anyone looking to make a buck?

Free Write

If I had followed the path of my "old" life, Pumpkin would be hunting for chocolate eggs right now instead of watching Disney movies. I'm not talking about a change in religions - I've always been Jewish, although it wasn't exactly prevalent in my earlier years. I grew up in a more or less Godless fashion, and I kinda liked it. My mom converted when she married my dad, but she kept the commercial Christian holidays alive, so we feasted on crappy, hollow, chocolate Easter treats. I've got the Jewish facade thing going on now seeing as I married someone whose family sorta does Judaism properly, thus no Easter Bunny. I did promise Pumpkin that I'd buy her Hungry Hungry Hippos for Passover, although I'm running out of time on that one. Maybe I'll build up some hype for that treat for the last of the eight day holiday. We're not actually keeping Passover, so it'll seem outta the blue for her, but whatever. I guess I'm feeling Easter egg hunt envy for everyone who updated facebook today with details of hidden eggs and excited children. We did have our two Seder meals, but the buck stops there for us. I'm not bunging myself up with matzoh for eight days, not at least until a time when my daughters start Hebrew school and need me to walk the walk with them. Hypocrite much? I am what I am. Actually, there was a time when I talked about converting to Christianity. I was 13 and going out with a guy from my friend's church's youth group. I mentioned to my mom, quite flippantly, that I might convert for him. I don't remember my mom's reaction, but she called my dad to let him know, and I recall him being upset about this and having a word with me. Dudes, when a 13 year old makes a statement like this, clearly without knowing what's involved, let it go! It will pass! Will I be able to recognize the circumstances that do not require intervention? Like the time when I was 17 and my boyfriend at the time explained to my mom that when he gets married, he planned to continue to live with his parents, along with the wife and kids. My mom questioned me about my willingness to do this, suggesting that I bail. As a 17 year old who had yet to even have sex, I really didn't care what this guy's plans were. Even I recognized at the time that this would not be my problem. It turned out not to be any one's problem. He has since come out of the closet and probably does not live with his parents. Incidentally, I was still a 17 year old virgin by the end of that relationship. Go figure. Oh, and then there was this trailer trashy guy who worked in a cemetery doing, uhhmmm, "landscaping". It was just one of those things, yannow? My mom freaked out on me a lot during those days. Anyhow, although I probably wouldn't like to see either of my daughters going out with a grave digger of questionable origin, I would like to hope I will be able to keep my anxiety under wraps, knowing that she'll snap out of it at the end of cottage season, or at least until the guy reveals his grand master plan of getting rich selling Amway. Nothing wrong with selling Amway. It just might be a good idea to have a plan B. My mom is probably smirking now, saying, "Just you wait....".

My Passover Culinary Expertise

Hellooooo!  Sorry I've been neglecting this space, but I've really enjoyed my break.  I think I might still be on a break, but I'm having a down-moment and I don't want to clean anymore today, and since dinner is already defrosting nicely, I figured I'd pop in.  So where were we?  Oh yeah, veterinarians and cooking.  Just for an update on Lucky, she is ok.  The growth on her foot was benign, and we pitched the lamp-shade thingy around her neck after one day when we realized that she wasn't going to rip off her bandages.  Our walls thank us for that one.  Recovery has been slow, but now with the right drugs, she should be back to her usual, looney self in no time.  Sometimes I think I deserve a degree of sorts in pharmacology with all the drugs I administer on a daily basis.  Every morning it's anti-seizure and liver-related meds to Taz; antibiotics, anti inflammatory, eye-drops, and the occasional estrogen pill for Lucky.  Every evening it's pretty much the same.  Don't I at least deserve a white coat and platform that makes me taller than everyone by a couple of inches?

I haven't put together any meals worth posting about since the Firecracker Chicken, but I have made progress in one culinary area.  If you recall my Passover post from last year, I set out to host a seder with my sister-in-law, but she ended up ordering up all the food, arranging for hired help, and taking care of getting the dining room at my FIL's house set up.  Ultimately, I did nothing.  Well this year, things are different.  This year, I took care of ordering the food!  Impressed?  Oh wait, it doesn't end there...  I'm actually going to prepare one of the dishes with my bare hands!  One whole dish!  I feel as though I've been catapulted into a whole different realm of Seder hosting, despite having 90% of the food catered.  Who knows?  Maybe next year I'll even make a second dish!  I'm outta control now!  Anyhow, if I don't make it back here to post in the next day or two, Happy Passover and/or Easter.  Lookin' forward to that Charlton Heston movie !

Firecracker Chicken

I avoid complicated meals at almost all costs, but there is one recipe that I can't seem to stay away from.  I prepared the sauce for it last night which involved the chopping and seeding of some really hot peppers.  The recipe calls for jalapeno, but I went with scotch bonnet.  Did you know that it is near impossible to remove the essence of scotch bonnet peppers from your hands in one or two good washes?  I realized this while I was flossing my teeth before bed, and felt my mouth set afire while I was doing it.  I prefer a minty floss generally.  I felt like I had just eaten hot chicken wings.  Then I worried about what I might do to Chichi during a diaper change so I scrubbed my hands raw, which left them stinging badly as I probably opened up a sore or two in my attempt to be pepper free.  It was like I had injected the hot pepper under my skin.  It took at least a half hour to subside.  In the morning, I found that my hands still had some kick to them.  I managed to keep my fiery hands away from all eyes and further orifices, but damn, those peppers should come with a pair of latex gloves!  Anyhow, it is pretty much my favourite meal right now, even though it is way too much work, not child friendly, and not all that healthy either.  You still want it, don't you?  Well, as I state above, this is not a food blog, however, this blog is.  I managed to find it while trying to avoid walking upstairs to use the scanner on the existing page that I have it copied on.  Go for it, but don't play with yourself for days after making it.  Don't say I didn't warn ya!  

Continuing to Pay for the Veterinarian's House

We got through the March break relatively unscathed. A couple of playdates, Disney On Ice, and a McDonald's playground got us through the rest of the week. No big whoop, as Pumpkin wasn't in torture-mommy mode. Still, she and I were both happy to have school back in session.

The big drama of today would be my dog who had minor surgery. There was a growth on her foot that was removed, which has left her temporarily limping. The seemingly bigger issue is the damn cone/lamp shade doohicky she has to wear around her neck to prevent her from licking her wounds. She is a 75lb dog, which means her particular lamp shade is quite large, tripling the diameter of her required headroom. Combine that with her already hyper personality, and you've got a lot of paint chips, wall gouges, and scratched knees. It's going to be a long ten days of this. I can't imagine that she is too impressed either. She looks so miserable lying there with her droopy, doped up eyes, bandaged foot, and normally upright ears being bent downwards by the stupid cone. Poor baby. She requests that all flowers, gifts, and edibles be sent care of me, you know, just in case she's too sleepy to answer the door.

March Break Survival - 1st Edition

So far, so good, sort of. I was a bit of a slacker on Saturday and didn't do anything with Pumpkin to start off her spring break, but she was pretty good that day, busying herself with arts n' crafts, and Disney movies.

On Sunday I took her to a Judy and David performance, which she seemed to enjoy, although more so in retrospect than during. It was a modern day rendition of The Three Little Pigs, and although she seemed a little restless while we were watching it, a half hour after the show I heard her say, "We can't go yet - I need to hug the pigs!" A little late, but at least there was some sort of impact. One day I'll figure her out. I can't say that I'm a big fan of Judy and David, although this was the first time I've ever been subjected to their schtick. I've heard them referred to as The Canadian Wiggles, which is definitely a stretch, but overall it was pretty good. Coincidentally, we met up with some good friends at the show, which was an added bonus.

Yesterday, we hit the maple sugar bush for the second year in a row. Oddly enough, it was the same place where we went last year, when I reported disappointment with the experience. They're still not offering taffy on snow, which blows, but Pumpkin got more into the experience, fed the animals, had a pony ride, and generally enjoyed being out of doors. That was my actual reason for returning to this particular place. I really wanted to get out and enjoy this sunny weather we've been having, and there's something kitchy about being at a sugar bush. Besides, I learned to make my own taffy last year, improving on the technique by substituting ice cream in place of my dog-abused snow supply. Think I'll do another round of that before the week is out.

Today we made it downtown for Spring Fling, although I wish we hadn't. It was essentially the same type of carnival that turns up in local shopping mall parking lots, but because of where it was, the line-ups were insane, and we ended up waiting about 45 minutes for each crappy ride. Not so good if you happen to be with a tiny bladdered person. If you do decide to venture out to do this, bring enough snacks to keep the kids from whining and tantrumming in line. I ran out too early in the day. Also, build up a lot of hype for the ice cream or popcorn that you promise your kids for when you want to make an exit. To be honest, I would have offered Pumpkin a small, Korean car just for an opportunity to get outta there! Thankfully popcorn did the trick.

I guess I still have a few more days of trying to be the funnest mom ever. Wish me luck!

I Suppose it's One Way to Travel...

Pardon the annoying toy - I needed bait.

Recipe for a Happy Marriage?

There was an article in the paper yesterday that discussed the formula for a happy marriage as per a survey conducted on 3000 Brits.  To sum things up, on average, the people who had the happiest marriages:  say, "I love you", daily; share 2 hobbies; have sex three times a week; communicate three times during the work day; enjoy two romantic meals a month; and exchange four kisses and three cuddles daily.  What I can deduce from this is that the happy couples that helped to formulate this recipe have neither small children, nor PVRs.  As someone who has both, I think we need to tweek this a wee bit.  

Saying, "I love you", everyday isn't too much of a hardship but all those kisses and cuddles are going to be difficult to squeeze in.  The mornings might not be a good time for this as we are in constant battle with our 3 year old, starting from being jolted out of slumber by her squealing, and ending with her complete refusal to get into the car to go to school.  Any romantic gestures during this time will be taken as sarcasm.  Evenings aren't great for this either because the whole business of getting two kids fed, bathed, and off to bed is exhausting to say the least, and by the time we've got them in their beds and get dinner cleared away, we need to take to our separate corners to unwind.  There may be time for a genuine "I love you" in the hour between getting relaxed and heading off to bed, provided it doesn't interfere with our favourite shows.  I am, however, willing to multitask and cuddle while I'm watching TV.  Based on this, I'm willing to offer up four "I love yous"per week, and maybe one long cuddle per night, with the possibility of a kiss during a commercial break.  No promises though.  

Speaking of our shows, this is where the PVR becomes an issue.  How can one be expected to have sex three times a week EVERY week when we have the ability to record hours and hours of quality programming every week, and need to use our spare time to keep from falling behind on it.  Lost, Grey's Anatomy, House, Hell's Kitchen, etc.  That's a heck of a lot of commitment!  We may have romantic plans for after the TV turns off, but c'mon people, let's talk about sleep here!  Small children, remember?  Would my marriage really be happier if I were that much more tired?  I'm going to leave it to you to decide how often is enough 'cause my parents are reading and they don't need more information than they've already got.  I knew I should never have given them my web address.  

How about those two hobbies that we're supposed to share?  Is it enough that we both like to mountain bike and ski, but only get to fantasize about getting out to do those things together.  I suppose fantasizing could count as a hobby, right?  I'll go with one hobby that can be done anytime, anywhere.

Communicating at least 3 times during the work day? Does calling to ask him to bring home diapers count?  How about if I follow it up with a text message that instructs him on which specific diapers to buy?  That'll put me at two!  Truthfully, our days are both rather busy, and interrupting each other is kind of annoying.  I'm gonna offer up one per day, provided there is actual information that needs to be transmitted.

Two romantic meals per month seems acceptable, although the interpretation of "romantic" must be a subjective thing.  Are the kids bound and gagged such that hubby and I may converse?  Yes?  Consider this to be romantic.

Theoretically, we're not putting forth enough effort to actually be happy, which is too bad, because I mistakenly believed that we were happy.  That's so much extra work that I don't even want a happy marriage now!  I'm gonna settle for mediocre.  Who's with me?

Freshening Up, Take One.

To distract you from noticing that I've got absolutely nothing to say, I've started redecorating. If that new banner doesn't entice you to keep coming back, I don't know what will.

Big Sis

Recently I have posted about how my feelings towards Pumpkin were at an all-time low, and also about how her behaviour has improved since that particular post. Pumpkin's behaviour certainly isn't perfect, and I do believe that she is still doing research for her debut non-fiction book titled, How to Irritate People (chapter 1 : Methods of waving objects in the face of whomever is trying to strap you into your car seat), she does seem to have turned a corner. Her dialogue is now often relevant, and she can be reasoned with some of the time. The area where I am most impressed with her, and have always been impressed with actually, is her behaviour towards her new sister. I knew that there would be jealousy, and I believe that there is, but these feelings have never been taken out on Chichi. Hubby, the dogs, and I have suffered a great deal, but Chichi remains unscathed. When Chichi needs to be nursed, Pumpkin doesn't complain but instead hangs out in Chichi's room and plays. When Chichi eats her meals, Pumpkin often does things to make her laugh, enabling me to feed her more easily. When Chichi seems unhappy, Pumpkin worries and brings her toys. Pumpkin even chooses to have her bath with Chichi, even though she only gets about three inches of water to play in. I don't worry about leaving them alone in a room together. Just yesterday I walked into the playroom to find the two of them playing "nosies", which is just what we call it when we rub noses. Chichi seems to light up whenever Pumpkin enters the room. I love this, but I am also baffled.

I don't have a sister. I do, however, have a brother, and despite the fact that he will probably leave a comment denying any wrongdoing, he was pretty evil when we were little. I remember being punched in tune to the song that played whenever he completed a level of Donkey Kong Jr. I remember being denied the chips he was eating unless I was willing to walk in bare feet in the snow for ten seconds. I remember being flipped over backwards in rocking chairs, etc. I obviously can't remember how he treated me when I was a baby, but there is no record of him being nurturing whatsoever. I can't say that I believe that my two girls will always get along, or even get along for much of the time, but I am really enjoying how they are right now and wonder if they will have less sibling rivalry than my brother and I had to deal with. Regardless, right now I am just so very proud of Pumpkin for being the big sister that she is.

Freshening Up

In the past, I have managed to come up with posts pertaining to things of little consequence, but posted nonetheless.  Lately I feel as though I've got nothing.  I've been blaming my boring life, but I don't think things are more boring these days than they were a year ago.  Technically they are more exciting given the new addition to our family.  I've also  been blaming the winter blahs, which I think everyone is experiencing these days, but there must be more to it than that.  I've been tagged several times in facebook for the 25 things about me meme, and haven't even have the energy or desire to come up with the 25 things.  Aside from watching my children grow and develop, the only thing that's gotten any sort of a rise out of me lately is the anticipation of new episodes of LOST.  I think I need more than this, although LOST is the best show EVER and is worth channeling my energy into.  That being said, I need a plan.  I'm thinking that I could force myself to post everyday (this will probably result in posts about poo); maybe visit my eliptical trainer in the basement a few times a week even though I hate this idea with a passion; make a better point of seeing my friends in person; stop waiting for everyone else to update their blogs and use my spare time to read one of those hand-held thingies with words and pages; and ???  What are you guys doing to stay fresh?

A Little Bit Redneck

I've been racking my brain trying to come up with an example of my redneckedness that would grant me admission to the Redneck shower, seeing as how s'phisticated I am, when I suddenly remembered this pic:

I too have been known to sleep with dog butt in my face! His butt may have been relocated for the purpose of this picture, but rest assured that I am no stranger to being woken up by the oh so pleasant scent of my dog's ass molecules. Sorry, I know that Tanis sleeps in the buff, but I'm not as much of a fan of dog hair in my creveses. So there it is. My bond with the real Redneck, whose new son is the latest Redneck-in-training. Congratulations to Tanis and the entire Redneck crew!

What?

I need new hearing aids.  I've had the same pair for about 6 years, and they are losing strength.  They've been kind of crappy for some time, what with them being stuffed in warm, moist, sometimes waxy ears 'n such.  Not the best environment for mini computers.  I've held off getting new ones because a) partial coverage only comes every 5 years from hubby's insurance, and b) I've been waiting to lose weight.  Believe it or not, when one loses weight, one does so in one's ears as well, leaving once fitted hearing aids somewhat loose, and sounding "tinny".  With the pregnancy weight finally gone, (THAT'S RIGHT!  ALL GONE!), and the TV loud enough to hear next door, I checked in with the specialist to see what's new in hearing.  Since I'm insistent on having the type that are completely hidden within my ear canals, the past six years of technology advancement have mainly brought me much of the same, with the option to upgrade for an extra $1100 to what amounts to better clarity.  The specialist suggested that I consider this as I am young, working, and probably need to be at the top of my game.  Although what I do on a daily basis certainly qualifies as working, I'm not sure it's the kind of work that requires the best hearing possible.  High quality nagging, whining, and shrieking don't sound like they'd be worth the money.  With the dying hearing aids that I am presently wearing, I hear all those things better than I want to.  Overall, my kids are actually loud enough for me to hear them unaided.  I'm now considering a downgrade.  

Room by the Hour?

We had date-night yesterday.  Both of us were very tired.  A cold swept through my house last week, and I was/am still in the thick of it.  A stomach bug also swept through, but for some reason I was the only one to get sick.  I think I may have felt normal for one day out of seven.  Despite feeling so bad, we were also bored.  Having kids the age of ours makes for a boring week-end most of the time.  The baby more or less grounds us as there is too much necessary gear to tote around if we were to attempt to go somewhere with her, not that we really have anywhere to go.  Pumpkin is good to go places, but winter is tough for ideas that the whole family can enjoy.  We had a playdate with my friend and her son, which was the excitement of our week-end.  So yes, we were zonked, but bored enough to go out.  As we were driving to the theatre, we passed by the street that leads us to hubby's dad's place.  Hubby suggested that we go there instead and just have a three hour nap.  I'm not sure why I didn't jump at that.  Yes, dinner and movie was nice, but I think I could start a new trend with the nap idea.  I think if it had been earlier on in the day, I would have opted for it.  

So how about Grace in Small Things?  I feel like I could use a dose:

1.  Chichi's first tooth

2.  Deer that keep running past my back fence

3.  The Scottie dogs in the movie, Coraline.

4.  Refrigerators with French doors

5.  Hair styling products

For the above, I am grateful.

Rap Star, Eh?

I just read that Joaquin Phoenix is leaving acting for a career as a hip hop musician.  Does that ever work?  I've seen musicians make it in acting, but never the other way around.  Remember these:

I'm just sayin.