I'm having a coffee!

And that's not a euphemism. I'm actually drinking a mug of coffee right now. I was checking the pantry for a tea bag earlier and I saw a package of cappuccino and I thought "what the heck?". And it's really not that vile. Of course the 2 tablespoons of sugar (that's not a typo) and so much milk I had to rewarm the cup in the microwave, helps a lot. How do people drink this stuff every day? Even as I drink it I'm wondering if my breath will ever be fresh again. I don't think this coffee drinking lark will stick. I just can't see the allure. Do you like it? Why? The caffeine? Because some say that tea has more. How do you take it? When was your first ever cup? Did you like it right away or was it an acquired taste? Did I ask enough questions?

kxx

This one is called "Meet Me On Monday"

I'm supposed to answer these questions, post a link to this blog on the blog where I found it then link back to their blog in my blog or some such nonsense. I've given up trying to hang out with other bloggers, jumping through their hoops and following their complicated rules. So what it I only have a few dozen readers? There are no ads here so I can do whatever the heck I want. Including steal their questions and answer them unilaterally. Take that blogosphere. Look at me, I'm a maverick.


1.  What is your favorite favourite way to eat chicken?
God help me, there are so many ways to cook it that are delicious and healthy like roasted and grilled but if I'm going to be honest, I have to say breaded chicken fingers and hot chicken wings are tied for first.


2.  Have you decorated for Christmas yet?
No but I'm starting to get itchy. I have two gifts wrapped and on the floor where the tree will be and I nightly gaze out longingly at my neighbour's fairy lit windows. 

3.  What is your favorite favourite article of clothing?
Does a Snuggie count as clothing? No? Well, in the winter, I love my fluffy socks, and in the summer, my pfd because it means that I'm about to paddle.

4.  Do you pay your bills online or write checks cheques the old way?
Scott pays the bills and I think he does it online.

5.  Do you make Christmas cookies?
Years ago I hosted cookie exchanges which forced me and all my friends to bake them. They ended up resenting me for having to bake 12 dozen cookies and I ended up gaining 5 pounds with red and green sprinkles around my mouth and crumbs down my bra until New Year's. Now I just bake for Santa.


kxx

So I was watching Star Wars today

for what seems like the 50th time. It was actually a marathon of all 6 movies. I love them like I love cake but I have a beef. I heard that Lucas has said that there were initially 9 movies in all with these 6 first and 3 more to come. I think he has abandoned his plan for the last 3 movies. I think this is a grave mistake. There can be so much more. There is a whole bunch of untapped potential in focussing the last 3 on Princess Leia. Think about this.

She is Luke's twin sister. If Luke is swimming with midi-chlorians, so must she be. I'd love to see a storyline where they focus on her childhood with the Organas on Alderaan. How maybe she noticed some mysterious things happening like the classroom bully suddenly choking in the lunchroom after menacing her for money.  Anyway, they could show her becoming a Jedi like her brother then dun dun DUN; get tempted by the dark side. We could see her being really cruel and power-hungry before her love for her brother and Han wins out. Or better yet, she could recant her evil ways on her deathbed only to become a cool ghost like Yoda, Vader and Obi Wan. This is gold, people. Why hasn't this stuff be explored in movies? Yes, I know there have been comics and cartoons about Leia but I want movies. That does it. I'm sending an email to Skywalker Ranch...

kxx

Hm... what do I blog about?

Here I am staring at a blank page. The good thing is that I'm writing a blog and not a novel where threads of a story have to be picked up and woven together, or a newspaper article where I'd be sweating because I'd have cashed my advance and bought some really sexy shoes but not have anything to give to my mean old publisher who is like J. Jonah Jameson and has a beef against me and threatens to uncover my secret identity thereby exposing my friends and family to danger from my arch-nemesis and... where was I?

Oh yes. A blog. I was saying that I could write anything and it can be a blog and why? Because I pressed the little orange "publish post" button below this box.. So let's go with a what am I doing now sort of thing. Currently I'm watching the AMAs on my PVR. Can I just say that it's pretty boring? And Katy Perry is pretty fun on the radio and cute on video but live she hurts my ears. I mean fingernails on a blackboard hurt. I feel like I need a cold compress on my head.

So I'm just going through the list of stuff I have packed on the machine. I just finished watching Glee's wedding episode (Okay, Sue needs to stay principal. Who's with me?), The Walking Dead (OMG, how fantastic is that show?), and some backed up Coronation Street episodes. Up next, Vampire Diaries or Drop Dead Diva... I'm not sure which.

What else? This computer is driving me absolutely nuts. It's a laptop and all the buttons are in stupid places. It takes me 15 seconds to find the delete button when  I need it and that's pretty often. Also, the down arrow button is missing. Christmas (or more accurately Boxing Day) can't come fast enough so we can get a new one on sale.

Oh hell, Pink just sang. Holy crap! She's pregnant and gave a better, more energetic performance than Miley Cyrus. And she's got some pipes. The old school dance moves and the guy from the Dan Band (YouTube them) cracked me up. Take that Katy Perry. If Pink comes to town I'm so going. It looks like she'd put on one hell of a show.

I'm so sorry guys. This blog was completely self involved and coming from me that's really saying something. My brain seems much more engaged on weekdays. Luckily there are only a few more weekend blogs before this daily thing is over. Then it's back to the insightful, thought provoking, heart wrenching stories you are used to from me. Har.

kxx

Flashback Friday

This being a big food holiday down south, I thought I'd share with you an old blog about things I like and dislike. Also add to the list

Like:
Black jelly beans
Fruit cake

Dislike:
Hawaiian pizza
Beef stew

kxx

My favourite song right now

I love my iPod so much. The mixes on it are so varied that sometimes I find it jarring to play the whole thing on a mix. I have to play certain playlists otherwise I'll get Mozart's Piano Concerto in D right next to Nookie by Limp Bizkit and it'll throw me right off. It's like the time I had a baby shower and Scott gave my phone book to my friend Paula. She invited every woman in that book and my party was horrifying. School friends mixed with work friends, church friends mingled with cottage friends (you know, the kind who indulged...) and then there were my family and in-laws. Holy shit. There is a photograph of me when I first walked into that room. Paula is pulling me in and the look on my face is equal parts shock, nausea, terror, fear, surprise and get-me-the-frick-outta-here. An actual photograph of the flight or flight reflex. I spent the next few hours trying to get everyone to enjoy themselves and at the same time not compare notes about me. It was awful.

What was I on about?

Oh yes... my favourite song right now. I say right now because I have two of all-time that aren't to be confused by this flash in the pan of today. In fact, I have it written in my will that they are to be played at my funeral. Want to know what they are? Of course you do.You Gotta Be by Des'ree and I'm Going Home from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Listen before you judge. It's beautiful.

Okay so my favourite song is a bouncy, happy, passive-aggressive hatefest. It gets stuck in my head all day and I don't care. I wake up hearing it and go to bed humming it. I've had it on repeat on my mp3 since August but I have to put on the clean, whitewashed version of it in my car when the kids are with me. How much do I love singing it to the old folks with their left tickers on in the fast lane? They even covered it on Glee (using the previously mentioned bland version). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Cee Lo Green.



kxx

It is time.

Yup, time to start saving money and making plans. Time to break out my annual Christmas Wish List. This year, finally Louboutins come off the list and taking its place, making a stunning debut: an iPad. Please enjoy my list and feel free to pick anything. As I tell Scott every year, buying something off a list is still a surprise if you don't know which particular thing you are getting, am I right?

1. The aforementioned iPad
2. Bayshore gift certificate
3. iTunes gift certificate
4. Geeky tee (size women's large)
5. Panini grill
6. A dozen matching coffee mugs
7. Buffy Season 7
8. White Converse sneakers size 6.5
9. Scribblish board game (for family night)
10. Voyage of the Damned (Doctor Who DVD)

See? Not too bad... nothing too outrageous. I still want the Smart Car, though but I'd rather give a list of things I'm actually to get. Although I did get those gorgeous shoes eventually...

11. Smart Car

You never know. You listening Santa and his various earthly representatives?

kxx

I'm a poet and I didn't even know it

This is the poetic equivalent of MadLibs. Makes me feel like a true wordsmith. Of course it comes from a template... do you think I'm this profound? You haven't been reading this blog for long, have you?

So my awesome poem first and the template so you can impress your friends at the bottom.

Where I'm From

I am from pop culture, from Perez Hilton and TMZ.
I am from the comfortable, the casual, the spicy.
I am from the summertime, the warm sunshine.
I am from grace before meals and brown eyes, from Errol and Mabel and Anthony.
I am from chupsing and finger whips.
From “Better belly bust than good food waste” and “Ma ka foote un blass”.
I am from church every Sunday and mass every single day of Easter week.
I'm from Montreal and Dominica, poutine and soursop ice cream.
From the rich man who loved his maid, the happy, drunken woman dancing on the table, and the illegal alien.
I am from the third drawer in a dresser at the bottom of the stairs, the hard drive, my brain.
Unbelievably, incredibly special.
A magical time machine that will always be close to my heart.

******************************

"Where I'm From" Template


I am from _______ (specific ordinary item), from _______ (product name) and _______.
I am from the _______ (home description... adjective, adjective, sensory detail).
I am from the _______ (plant, flower, natural item), the _______ (plant, flower, natural detail)
I am from _______ (family tradition) and _______ (family trait), from _______ (name of family
member) and _______ (another family name) and _______ (family name).
I am from the _______ (description of family tendency) and _______ (another one).
From _______ (something you were told as a child) and _______ (another).
I am from (representation of religion, or lack of it). Further description.
I'm from _______ (place of birth and family ancestry), _______ (two food items representing
your family).
From the _______ (specific family story about a specific person and detail), the _______
(another detail, and the _______ (another detail about another family member).
I am from _______ (location of family pictures, mementos, archives and several more lines
indicating their worth).

kxx
(PS: If you try this, post your poem in the comments box. I'd love to see what you come up with!)

Love Me Do

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Beatles catalogue was released on iTunes last week. I don't really see what the big deal is. If you like the Beatles then you already found some way to get them on your iPod. Either for free or with one of those turntable to mp3 dealies that even I own.

I never was a huge Beatles fan. Don't get me wrong, I liked them but I was never a rabid fan. I was too young. In fact, when John Lennon died, my first thought was "Who?". I admit it. I was 13 and I'd heard of the Beatles but I couldn't name the members to save my life. Later I went through a phase when I thought they were cool and retro and even bought some albums (Sgt. Pepper, Abbey Road and Help) but I never understood the screeching or face-pulling until my Duran Duran lunacy of the mid-80s.

Anyway, last week I was looking for a Beatles song to put on my iPod. Hey, it's a well known fact that there is no bandwagon or trend that I can let pass me by. Anyway, I was looking for something new to run to. I like fast, bouncy, jaunty (oooh, I like that word) songs to run to... they give me energy. After pleading for help on Facebook and twitter, I finally settled on I Saw Her Standing There. I love the guitar in that one and it reminds me of my college ski trip in 1985. I was on the ski lift at Owl's Head with my friend Marianne laughing at the people falling below. Little did we now that we'd be joining them buried neck deep in snow all afternoon and freezing. The best thing about that trip was warming up in the chalet. As I recall, the apres-ski involved copious amounts of alcohol and ear-meltingly loud music. And funnily enough, I never went skiing again. Good times.

So do you have any Beatles stories or memories?

kxx (wow, even Ringo is handsome here...)

Questions answered here!

I found this on another blog and as you know I love them so I'll save you the Beatles blog I had planned for tomorrow...

LIVING

Where do you live: Ottawa

Favorite art: The French Impressionists. You'd know this if you saw me boo-hooing at everything in the Musee D'Orsay in Paris.

Pets: my cat Taz

Favourite neighborhood restaurant: I love to eat at the Nepean Sailing Club but I often forget it's there.

Favourite cocktail: it changes often. Right now it's vodka and cranberry

Who inspires you: Funny/clever bloggers and children who have vision.

Necessary extravagance: My purses and shoes.

Favourite place in the world: My livingroom or my kitchen. Planetary? London, England.

Designer: I don't care as long as it's wearable.

Jeans: Reitman's Comfort jeans. They are pull-ons. Holy crap, I wear pull-ons.

Underwear: The boy shorts from Mark's Work Warehouse. So comfy!

Sneakers: Converse

Watch: My cell phone

T-shirt: Anything with a geeky/nerdy saying on it. Current fave? The one I just made with "Have

you hugged your Time Lord today?" on it.

Day bag: I love my leather waist pack from Danier. No, it's ot a fanny pack. You wear it in the

front.

Evening bag: Depends on the outfit. To say I have many is an understatement.

Favorite city to shop: Right here in Ottawa, baby

BEAUTY

Lipstick: Revlon Just Bitten Lip Stain in "Gothic"
Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous
Shampoo: Garnier
Moisturizer: Garnier Pure Shine Control
Perfume: Bath and Body Works Sea Island Cotton
Toothpaste: Colgate Sensitive
Soap: Oil Of Olay
Nail-polish colour: I hate my fingernails painted but I like freaky coloured toes in the summer: green, orange, blue, yellow...
Who cuts your hair: Me
Who colours your hair: There isn't enough there to colour but feel free to try.

kxx

Late Saturday blog

I just can't get used to blogging on the weekend. I got busy all day and completely forgot. I'm on the couch watching Avatar with the family. This is the beauty of an iPod, no? I love technology.

Today was the Santa Claus parade and it was flipping freezing. Whose idea was it to have Christmas in the bloody winter? By the end the only reason we were dancing to the tinny music blasting out of the crappy floats was to keep our toes. I wish the parade was better. There were just too many flatbed trucks with giant speakers blaring Burl Ives and people lamely following along wearing street clothes and Santa hats calling themselves "floats". Really. The funniest was this local falafel restaurant owner, the self proclaimed "Garlic King" dressed in royal robes and playing to the crowd. He even had a Popemobile-like van where he waved to his subjects from when he got cold. At least my hysterical laughing kept me warm for a few minutes.

Anyway, now I'm warming up under my Snuggie, feet toasty under a pile of kids, watching the movie and contemplating a glass of wine. Life is good.

kxx

PS: Sorry I can't post pictures or links. I'm doing this from my iPod and I'm not motivated to figure it out. I'll be more linky tomorrow. Promise.

Flashback Friday

Today's wayback blog was originally written on the 13th of January of this year. It was 15 pounds ago and way before I started my running regimen. I think I was funnier when I was fat.

kxx

PS: BTW, I've since gave away the size 14s I mentioned it that blog. I found them in the back of my closet in the fall, put them on and wondered when on Earth I could possible have ever fit into them. How soon we forget...

What did we do before we had the internet?

This morning Audrey asked me what a sycamore tree looked like. I told her I didn't know (we're strictly a maple, oak, birch, pine neighbourhood around here). I then whipped the iPod out of my bra (yes, I've been keeping it there lately) and found her a couple of photos. Nice tree.

There are so many times a day I do things like that. I'll watch a movie and check IMDb for the trivia. I'll hear the best song ever in a commercial and before my show is back on, it's on my iPod. What's that? Henry has to be a bishop for a class presentation? Let me look up some information on feudal England online then go to a craft website for the cheapest way to make the costume:

The neighbour offers me a grocery bag full of nasty string beans? I'll take it thanks, there's got to be a bizarre cake recipe using them somewhere out there. It goes on and on.

What did we do before the internet? Remember when we had to do projects for school? We'd have to go to the dusty old library and crack open an actual, honest to God, book. You'd have to use the photocopier to get black and white photos into your project, then painstakingly hand-write and double-space your work. Remember that? Kids today are so lucky. I still have a full set of vintage 1974 encyclopaedia in the spare room. Those 22 books take up 4 feet of shelf space and must weigh a hundred pounds. What I should have done was gotten Audrey to kick it old school and look up a sycamore tree the way I used to. But time rolls on and technology advances. Besides, think of the technology required to carry 100 pounds in a bra.

kxx

A twist on Wordless Wednesday... it'll be wordless by *me*. Here's what cracked me up this morning.

Enjoy! (Oops, that's a word)

kxx

Saying goodbye to another blog

First it was the cooking blog, now it's this 2:01 thing.

I thought that photo blog would be easy and it was at first but at the end it became a complete and utter chore. In the beginning when my alarm went off to take a photograph, I'd happily hop up and grab my camera, delighted at the prospect of another interesting snapshot of my life. By the end of this, the alarm would go and I'd groan and heave a sigh, thinking that maybe I'd take it later, effectively defeating the purpose of this blog in the first place. I knew 2:01 was seriously ill when I'd have a week's worth of photos stored in the camera and half-assedly post them all at once. I knew it was on life support when I'd spend 20 minutes searching around the house for a better representation of what I was doing at 2:01 than being on the internet or watching tv. I knew it was time to pull the plug when I realized that every Saturday at 2:01 I was at Costco and my daily life at 2:01 is just not that interesting. But I seem to manage to get up to all sorts at other times of the day.

So that's it. Say goodbye to 2:01. I can't say that I'm too sorry. Did I need another daily blog in my life? I mean family enjoys eating on a regular basis and wearing clean clothes for goodness sake. I'm free! Kinda. I mean I still have to keep this thing going, don't I?

kxx

Just a quick note today

I had the best meeting with Henry's teacher last week. She said lovely things about him like she wished "there were 10 of him" and "he's really creative". Whatever. Tell me something I don't know about that awesome kid. But the delight of the meeting was when I found out she was a blogger. Another Ottawa blogger! We seriously spent half the time talking about Henry and the other half talking about blogging and writing in general. I can say without hyperbole that it was the best meeting of any kind I've ever had in my whole life. We laughed and laughed. She even told me about the blogger's conference in New York she went to in October. How cool was that? I wanted to get her number so I could call her again... maybe catch a movie or have a pub dinner or something. Would that be weird?

kxx

Seven Word Sunday

I found this on a blog I follow (Thanks Peggy Sue!) and I thought I'd "borrow" it. It was originally "Six Word Saturday" but I added one day and one word. Cause that's the way I roll. So here goes:

Two gifts bought & wrapped. Take that Christmas.

The ampersand doesn't count. Cause that's the way I roll.

kxx

Here's a weird one: let's talk about keys.

Scott has borrowed my keys in the past. When he does he invariably rolls his eyes when I produce them. I have 2 keys on my chain. One for the car and one for the front door. But unfortunately the keys and everything all told are about 9 inches long and weigh 95 grams (I just weighed them). Besides the keys and fob, there's a pen, a whistle and a thingie that can pay for gas by waving it in front of the pump. Plus I have that doohickey that splits the lot up but who ever uses that?

**note that I had to turn the camera vertically to fit it all in**

Incidentally, these are Scott's keys (there's actually a house key in behind the car key):

I like lots of stuff on my keychain. I can always find them at the bottom of a humongous purse. I need the pen for writing emergencies (they could happen), the whistle for grievous bodily harm emergencies (it's Ottawa but, yes, it could happen), and how else am I to pay for gas? With a debit card? Cash? People, please. So what if I think there's something crawling on my leg while I'm driving as its comic length brushes my knee? I rarely swerve. Heh.

I was watching Dial M For Murder the other night. A pivotal plot point involves a key. Among other things, the husband hides a key under a stair carpet and banks on the wife not being able to recognise her own housekey. Seriously? That would never happen in this house. The giant lump under the step would kill me way before I noticed my own keys were switched. From a galloping horse. At night. While wearing a pirate's eyepatch.

So what do you have on your keychain?

kxx

Flashback Friday

Today is a PD Day for 2/3 of the kids. I've already been to the most awesome Parent/Teacher interview (blog on that coming next week) and I have a ton of things to do today. I have groceries, I promised Audrey we'd make iron-on custom t-shirts together, and tonight we have tickets to a Christmas Pantomime (Red Riding Hood). So please enjoy a terrific blog from the recent past...

Monday 28 June 2010

Lest we forget

Today is Remembrance Day. Its a day where we honour our war dead and wounded and NOT a day where we glorify war. People who claim that it is have never been to see one of these ceremonies in person. It's sombre, respectful and loving. The last time I was at the cenotaph in Ottawa I never saw so many people gathered in silence. There were thousands and thousands quietly gathered with heads bowed and tears in their eyes. It was very moving. You see that and you know it's not at all about wanting to shoot badguys but about pride and loyalty and sacrifice.

There's talk around here about making today a statutory holiday which would keep kids home from school. As you all know I'm all about not working but I think today is the wrong day to do that. I don't think a kid at home playing Wii in his pyjamas all day reflects the level of respect today should hold. For instance, MCpl. Elliott is going to the cenotaph with his Cadet Corps, Audrey is playing the flute at her Remembrance Day assembly and Henry had a veteran come in to do a talk about being in the trenches. Kids nowadays would never experience this stuff if they were watching cartoons at 11:00am. Although it is pretty cool to have everything stop for 2 minutes (tv, radio, even people walking in the street), it pales in comparison to being in school learning first hand about how awful and scary war is. And they're the ones who need to know this... they'll be making those decisions in the future.

Scott's dad Jack was in the RCAF. He rarely talked about his experiences in Lancaster bombers in WWII but he won a Distinguished Flying Cross and we're all so very proud of him. The kids never met him but they know what he's done for our country. They see his photograph and know he was a pretty cool guy. And so do we. So thank you, Grandpa Jack. We appreciate what you did for us.

kxx

Wordless Wednesday - Day of the Dead bread I made last week.

Scott's now on the roof.

He's replacing the shingles. He's done this before so like the last time I have the phone in my pocket and have 9-1 dialled into it so all I have to press is the final one when I see his body zoom past the livingroom window.

Every so often he comes inside for coffee and to drive me crazy. I'll be washing dishes and he'll pull my shirt out of my pants or I'll be feeding the baby and he'll poke me in my ticklish spot while I'm holding a loaded cereal spoon. The author of this article must have had a closed circuit camera running in my house when she wrote it.

Is it Friday yet?

kxx

Scott's home

He has taken this week off and just a few minutes ago I absently wondered aloud what I'd blog about today and he grinned like a little boy...

Scott: You can blog about how wonderful and fun it is to have me home for a whole week!
(**crickets loudly chirping**)
Me (smiling and eye-rolling): Great idea!

So here I am blogging about Scott being home for a week. Good times.

kxx (I do love him. I really, really do. It's just that writing like this makes me laugh. And we actually did have the above exchange this morning)

The weekend is nearly over...

Today I went shopping caught up with a friend (awesome to see you, Nancy!) and besides the occasional scare due to clocks not being changed (how do you change the car clock again?!), my Sunday was fantastic. Now bring on Monday so I can get back to a nice normal routine of running, cooking, childcare and maybe even an afternoon nap. I love Mondays!

kxx

Oops!

I forgot I committed to doing NaBloPoMo this November which means I have to blog every day instead of just weekdays. So this month, you are all treated to 8 extra blogs for me. You lucky, lucky, lucky peeps.

I'm actually writing this slightly under the influence of alcohol. I've had about 3 glasses of wine and a shot of tequila. I'm functioning just fine but I'm reeeeally sleepy. Scott and I went to a friend's 50th birthday wine and cheese. Interesting note about the party... it was at 2:30 this afternoon. I giggled over the fact that it was so early; actually the snarky words I used included "children's birthday party"; until I realized that it was completely brilliant. We could leave the kids for a few hours without worry, go grocery shopping after (you haven't lived until you've shopped at Costco while tipsy), and still get home in time to fall asleep in front of Saturday Night Live. Brilliant. Of course Scott had to drive Elliott to hockey so he had to stay off the sauce. Oh the sacrifices you make as a parent...

So that was my Saturday blog. One down, seven to go...

kxx

In case you are wondering about the photo, it was the funniest one that came up when I googled "NaBloPoMo"...

Movie post today

I was listening to the radio this morning and the station's movie critic was reviewing Megamind. While he enjoyed it, he said it may be too clever for really little ones so he suggested you don't bring anyone under 6. Supposedly they just wouldn't get some references. One of the things he brings up is Megamind's sidekick:

The critic wondered how many people would get the reference that he was modelled after Robot Monster, the titular character from one of those terrible 1950s sci-fi movies along the lines of Plan 9 From Outer Space (which I love incidentally). According to the critic, they couldn't afford a robot costume so the director found a friend with a gorilla suit and plonked a diving helmet on his head. Seriously. I so had to see this.

One of the things that I love about computers is that when someone mentions something or asks a question that I don't know, I'm instantly online to find the answer. I had to find out what this Robot Monster movie was all about. So as I always say... "To the internet!"

Thanks to YouTube, this is the trailer for the classic that is Robot Monster. I realized after I watched it for the 4th time (and stopped crying with laughter... check out the futuristic bubbles at :43 and the rocket at :49) that I had to share this with my peeps. What a great way to start the weekend. This dvd is so going on my Christmas list.

My Do Not Call List

I love tv. If you've been reading this blog for more than a week, you know this. Our house has 4 tvs not counting the computers. I even have a tv in the kitchen. Oddly, I don't have one in my bedroom... the idea of watching tv in bed reminds me of being sick and getting the old black and white dragged in by my grumbling dad. Not enjoyable.

When the stories come on the news saying that television rots kids' brains and turns them into gooey blobs of quivering fat, my finger gets spasms and suddenly the channel gets changed. Huh. I'm of the mind that you let children have access to as much tv as they want so it won't be such an issue. Seriously, more often than not, my kids choose other activities. They don't get that from me, that's for sure.

We don't have an xbox, playstation or wii. Why? It takes up a valuable tv. We have a nice fireplace in the family room but I'd much rather have a giant screen hdtv in its place. I never know what time it is, only what's on at the time. Elliott leaves for school after Spongebob is over. Audrey comes home just before Star Trek is over. I like to have dinner eaten before Coronation Street starts and if I see the beginning of The Daily Show, I've stayed up too late.

My IRL friends know all this. There are certain times they know not to call. Or should I say certain shows:

• Coronation Street
• So You Think You Can Dance
• Doctor Who
• Thursday night
• Project Runway
• Glee
• Hell's Kitchen
• Modern Family
• Walking Dead
• Being Human

This is just the way I am. Do you want to strike fear in my heart? Suggest that I do that tv switch-off thing for seven days. I couldn't even do it for 7 hours. When we went to our wonderful family trip to Belgium, on many occasions I prayed that my pvr was still running. But I still managed to find and watch the season finale of Glee so there was that.

So please don't judge me too harshly. I still manage to run every day, keep a clean house, take care of an infant and cook for the family (thanks to my kitchen tv). I haven't become a 300 pound shut-in. Yet.

kxx

Wordless Wednesday - Henry as Mr. Monopoly (aka Rich Uncle Pennybags)

So I was watching hockey the other day

And it got me thinking about our national anthem. Not O Canada, exactly (which is truly awesome and stirring in both official languages) but the vocalising.

Traditionally anthems are hard to sing. They call for incredible vocal ability and a great set of pipes. You know what it doesn't call for? Creativity.

You rarely hear the anthem anymore. Once you're out of school, you'll only hear it as a sports fan. So when you do hear it at a game, you are already ebullient, full of good spirits (both kinds, hopefully) and high hopes for your team to completely eviscerate their opponents. When the first strains of the song start to play, there's nothing you want to do more than channel all your excitement, anticipation and joy onto that one unifying song. You try to sing from the bottom of your heart and you fall victim to the Big C. Creativity. By the end of the tune, you are grouchily mumbling along and willing for that puck to drop. Your song, the people's song, has become a Ke$hia Top 40 hit or Idol audition. It's like when Bleeding Gums Murphy sang that 26 minute Star Spangled Banner on The Simpsons. Painful.

Can we please come up with an injunction or something stating that anyone performing the national anthem has to sing it the way it was intentioned? No runs or vocal gymnastics, just the great old song the way it was written? As a audience we want to sing along. It may be the only patriotism we show. We want to love our song but sometimes it's impossible because of the selfish way the singer chooses to perform it, excluding the whole crowd.

Occasionally at a hockey game, the anthem singer sings part of it then lets the crowd take it. Holy mackerel, it's a beautiful thing. Is there anything more stirring than 20,000 people united in song? Makes you want to go out wrestle a polar bear with your bare hands or wear nothing but your Canada flag as a cape and jump off your backyard shed into a vat of maple syrup. Or is that just me?

kxx

Way to go Mexico!

Tomorrow is the Day of the Dead in Mexico. Despite it's name, it's a joyful day to celebrate the lives of loved ones who have passed away.

We aren't Mexican but we love to celebrate. Instead of going to the graves to clean and decorate, after dinner I'll make pan de muerto and Scott and I will tell funny stories about his parents and my mum. We'll show old photos and reminisce about the things about them that made us smile. I can't wait.