Flashback Friday

Obviously since this was dragonboat week, today's search word will be (d'uh) dragonboat. Have a fantastic weekend and I'll see you with a pile of fresh and hopefully dragonboat-free posts next week.

This post is from April 2006. It was the first time I ever mentioned dragonboating in this blog. Kinda boring to tell you the truth.

kxx

CN Tower

I have been to Toronto to see a show, to go to Caribana and to visit family. I'd never been there to sightsee. Our team had Friday off and everyone else had been there before but I really wanted to see the world from the top of the CN Tower.

The fee was extortionate lines were ridiculous (especially when you're by yourself) but the view was fantastic.

I'm glad I went but I wouldn't go again. After all, it was just a view (and a cool glass floor).

kxx

Wordless Wednesday

The Dunrobin Dames. Dragonboat World Crew Medallists!

Toronto (Part the second of 4)

Luckily for us, we only paddled Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Which meant Wednesday night and all day Friday we were free to do whatever we wanted. And as a team of 26 women what else does free time in a new city mean but shopping? And for the 2 men that came with us it meant lots of trailing around and holding stuff. They were stars. This was our favourite store and I think all of us bought something from here.

Toronto is a big city but a bit of a copycat. There is a "walk of fame" on a sidewalk that is just like the one in California except that the plaques look a bit like maple leaves instead of stars.


US:

Canada:

See?

Oh and the noisy bustling intersection with the busy billboards and big screens?

Hm. Where have I seen that before?

Still, it was a new city to me and it was tons of fun. I'd like to go back with the kids next time. I find it so much fun to see places through the children's eyes.

kxx

I'm so tired. (Part the first of 4)

Best. Weekend. Ever.

I'm exhausted but happy, happy, happy. Our team went to Toronto with the hopes of getting a pretty sweet t-shirt, loads of wonderful memories and an experience of a lifetime. While we came away with all that stuff, we also won 2 silver medals and a bronze. What?! I know, right? The Dunrobin Dames are ICF Dragonboat World Club Crew Medallists!

I'm still recovering from being out in 40C humidity temps and paddling 13 races over 3 days so I'm not up to going into too much more detail than to say that I'm happy, satisfied and proud of all of us. We did so well!

Silver: 200m Standard (20 seat) Boat, our best time: 53:63
Silver: 500m Standard Boat, our best time: 2:17.79
Bronze: 2000m Standard Boat, our best time (our only time... you can't paddle this brutal race in heats): 10:40.46

Now back to lying on the couch and catching up on shows on my PVR queue.

kxx

Flashback Friday

Since I'm still in Toronto paddling my arms off, what would be a better word of the day than "dragonboat"?

Here's a blog from October 2010. It has a photo of a woman I was once compared to at my former gym. I think the guy was on steroids or something. But who am I to complain?

Enjoy your weekend and I'll see you Monday with all the stats and fun from my adventure in Toronto.

kxx

This is what I got when I Googled "paddle comic"

I'm at the dragonboat world crew championships!

I scheduled this to come out Thursday so I don't have any info about how we are doing but I'm sure we are kicking asses and taking names.

Rest assured I'll be telling you all about it next week. Absolute overkill complete with photos. I'm not going to apologize for it, either. I mean, how many people can say that they competed in the World Championships of anything. There are opening and closing ceremonies, an athlete's village, the works. There is even a parade of the teams before the festivities. Hey, the Olympics called. They want their intellectual property back. All joking aside, this is a huge deal so expect at least 3 blogs devoted to it next week. At least. I know you can't wait.

kxx

Nearly Wordless Wednesday

Still no word from this kid. I'm thisclose to calling the camp myself and humiliating him in front of his friends. Sigh.

kxx

Where the holy hell is my idiot son?

I've been waiting to hear anything... even a peep from that ungrateful child. We dropped him off at 7am on 9 July and that was the last time I heard anything from him. I know he's fine otherwise we would have gotten a call from the camp but you'd think we'd have crossed his mind for a fraction of a second during the down time I know he has.

I can hear you now: "But Karen, Elliott's a 15 year old boy, hours away from his parents for 3 weeks of freedom! He'll call when he's ready." Well, I reserve the right not to accept that. For the first week, fine. He's having fun, he doesn't even remember he's got a family let alone feel any inclination or desire to call them. Fine. I can accept that. But we're heading into week two and my patience has completely run out. I run for the phone whenever it rings. I freak when anyone's on the phone for longer than 5 minutes, I grump and grouch all day and I even called my wonderful cat a "stupid asshole" this morning.

It's even worse because I'm off to Toronto tomorrow morning and I won't get to yell at talk to him even if (and that's a big if) he calls home in the next few days.

Just an unfair comparison: Henry had a sleepover last night. The boy called home when he arrived here, again at 11pm to "say goodnight" and first thing this morning before he left for home. He called his parents 3 times in less than 12 hours. And he lives 10 minutes away. On foot. Yes, the boy is 11 but still it stung everytime that kid asked if he could use the phone.

Anyway, maybe getting that out will save me from screaming at him when if he calls. But it won't stop me from fantasising about stringing him up by his bony, ungrateful thumbs.

kxx

It's over.

Audrey and I spent all last week watching the Harry Potter movies to catch up for the "really big show" of the last installment. I had read all the books twice and and seen up to movie number 3. Audrey is halfway through the first book.

These movies are fantastic. They are full of action, fantasy and fun. Excellent to see movies that are equally enjoyable for 48 year olds and 11 year olds. It's so much fun to see the actors grow up on screen into men and women and pretty good little actors. I was most amazed and delighted by Neville Longbottom's flight into puberty. He was so chubby and sweet during the first movie and turned into a tall lanky hero. Loved it! I'm happy that the production team made such good leaps of faith years ago and were able to follow their choices through until the end.

And the movies (and books) are so well done. You get immersed in a world where photographs and portraits wave at you and you have to catch your chocolate before you eat it and it never seemed too far out of the ordinary. JK Rowling is a flipping genius. All the characters are flawed including Harry and that makes them human whether they actually are or not.

So anyway, enough's been said about the series by smarter people than me. I'll just add that I loved them and they'll live forever on fantasy channel holiday marathons for years to come. If you haven't seen them, do yourself a favour. The books can be a hard slog but really, remember they are geared toward children and don't embarrass yourself. If you don't have time, just download the lot, sit back, and spend a few hours/days at Hogwarts. You won't regret it.

kxx

Flashback Friday!

Ooh! It's a late one today. It's about 9pm and I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance Canada. In keeping with the fact that this is my favourite show (of many I have to admit... maybe I should specify favourite dance show), today's search word is "judge".

This post is from 24 February 2006. I titled it "I'm an ill, ill, woman"

Have a great weekend, folks! I'm going to spend mine wondering if Elliott actually remembers he's in a family and didn't just apparate (like the Harry Potter reference?) at cadet camp from nowhere. I mean how hard is it to just pick up a phone? It's been 7 days, people and we haven't heard a thing from that dummy.

kxx

PS- Audrey and I are going to see the Harry Potter movie this weekend. Like 80% of the known world. Did you hear the stat that the midnight show last night alone made $25 million? Lordy. Anyway, I want to share the embarrassing fact that I read all 7 books twice and I never got that Diagon Alley (a place they go to or mention in every book) was a play on "diagonally" until I watched the 3rd movie. This past Tuesday. And this is a series geared to children. I thought I'd share.

Time Suck of the Day

So the Emmy nominations came out and I'm not as interested as I should be as an avid tv fan. I love lots of shows and am very very loyal. Once I start watching something, you'll have to cancel it to get me to stop. Which is quite disturbing when you think about how long some shows go for. For instance I've been watching Coronation Street for 21 years (to give me credit, that's out of a possible 50). No sign of ending for that one. I've actually been watching All My Children for longer (over 35 years) but the powers that be decided earlier this year to put me out of my misery and cancel it in the fall. Mixed feelings on that one. Yay to my hour back in the middle of the day, Boo to no more Erica Kane.

Anyway, back to the Emmys. They started a new category a few years ago having to do with choreography. One of my favourite shows ever is So You Think You Can Dance. When the noms came out I went straingt to YouTube with the list to watch all the nominated routines. Oh my hell, these kids really can dance. I spent the better part of the afternoon, not only watching the nominated videos but favourites from seasons past. That "suggestions" strip should be disabled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi1GYQv2Lb0 I wanted to embed this one but it wouldn't let me. But go see it. It's breath-taking.

So now that I've emerged from my fog of dancing and cat videos (I got distracted and clicked on a video of a cat using an iPad and lost another 45 minutes watching kittens playing piano)

Anyway, my day is pretty much done. Oh, the life of leisure. I have to make dinner and go to dragonboat, then it's time for bed. So thanks YouTube for helping me waste another lovely summer day.

kxx

Never Wordless Wednesday

I'm in training right now to go to the Dragonboat World Crew Championships in Toronto. As part of our training, our coach has given us a brutal core exercise routine that we need to do every day. After my daily run, I roll out my yoga mat to start my painful self-torture. Until someone sees the mat. In his eyes, it means another interesting place to sprawl. And what can I do? He's the head of the household and he demands satisfaction. And getting a bit of a break from those hellacious crunches makes it a win-win.

In case you are curious, here's my core workout:

Warm up: 
2x10 pushups
Plank hold 2 x 1min 
Side plank hold 30sec x 2 both sides

Abdominal circuit:
No rest in between exercises
1) Centre crunch x 10
2) Table top crunch (knees off floor ) x 10
3) Straight cycle x 10 (shoulders lifted)
4) Leg raises - x10 (shoulders lifted)
5) Cycle with rotation x10 (opposite knee to elbow)
6) V sit rotation with medicine ball

Repeat x 3 with 2 min. max. rest between circuits.


Ouch, am I right? The first time I did it I sneezed hours later and almost peed my pants. 


I wish I was joking.


kxx

Reason #135 why I love this neighbourhood

The beach.

Audrey and I were at loose ends this afternoon after watching the 3rd Harry Potter movie. We're on a push to watch them all then go to the theatre to see the final installment. Anyway, after the movie was over we decided to hit the beach.

No long drives for us to get there. No way. We put our stuff in the car, drove all of 5 minutes and there we were. Tons of sand, beach volleyball, slushy drinks from the commissary and even a little surf. Yes, I'm aware it's a river, but there are cute little waves.

We sat in the sun, we splashed a bit in the water and relaxed for a couple of hours within 2 kms of my kitchen. I love this neighbourhood.

Audrey and I are alone!

And we sure aren't complaining. She's been snuggling in bed with me, yesterday we went shopping and tonight we're going out for Chinese. We went jogging out near the stables this morning and searched for cupcake supplies this afternoon. The house has been devoid of boy smells, any and all shooting noises, mysterious cumbs on the floor and Nutella gooped knives on the kitchen counter. Why do they need a different knife for both pieces of toast? And how do they get Nutella all the way up the handle? Anyway, my point is why do I miss them so darned much? Don't tell Audrey I said that. She's loving being an only child this week a darn sight more than I'm enjoying being a single mother. Not that Audrey isn't the coolest daughter ever, only that my boys are part of me too.

It's funny. You spend so much time fantasizing about spending time on your own, having cake before dinner, watching romantic comedies without having to endure the sarcastic sniggering and when the time comes you actually get bored really quick and end up talking about them all day long to anyone who'll listen.

So... are you still listening? Hello? Guys?

kxx

Flashback Friday

This is meta. The flashback I'm referring to in today's post, refers to me flashing back to my pubescence. Mind-blowing, eh? Anyway, it made me giggle and I thought it'd do the same for you.

February 23, 2010 - A Blast From The Past

Have a terrific weekend and make sure to get lots of rest. I know I will as all 3 of my boys will be away. Girl's weekend, anyone?

kxx

Such a geek!

Being a geek is totally in fashion right now. Remember when kids with asthma or braces or glasses used to get teased? Now try to find someone without a breathing problem, crooked teeth or wonky eyes. In fact, the other day Audrey said she couldn't wait to get braces so she could get purple elastics. For those of you without a teenaged girl in your life, purple is Justin Bieber's favourite colour. Geeks run the world right now so it wouldn't pay to get on their bad side.

But I have a geek theory. Geeks aren't geeks about everything in their lives and everyone is geeky about something. Take me for instance (and just by reading my blog for any length of time means that you do):

I'm a complete geek about Star Trek. But not all the Star Treks, just The Next Generation. You know, the one with Captain Picard. There was a time while it was still running that I could name the episode before the title even came up and I'd make it a game to know the names of the shuttles they used in each episode. The El-Baz was a particular favourite, showing up in a number of my favourite episodes, namely Time Squared.

So while I can tell you which season a particular episode is from just by the cut of their Starfleet uniforms, I can't figure out how to use Microsoft Excel to save my life. See? Extreme geekery in only one facet of the geek spectrum.

So what about you? What are you geeky about?

kxx

Wordless Wednesday

I'm posting anyway even though this virus thing is still hanging on. I don't know which link is yucky and I can't get to my blog to find it. What a pain. When I get through this I'm going to be super careful where I link to.

So. Wordless Wednesday.

Audrey and I went for a run this morning. It was drizzling when we left and it turned into a full-on downpour only a third of the way through. There were even a few cracks of thunder that scared the lycra off us made us run just a little bit faster through the tree-lined bike trail. Once we were on the way home we were already soaked completely through so we detoured through every puddle, splashing and laughing all the way. We had a ball. It was honestly one of the best runs I've ever had.

kxx

I DID IT! I found the icky link! Feel free to read my blog safely again. Enjoy!

k

Still having an issue and I don't know how to fix it!

If there are any techies out there who can walk me through this virus thing step by step, I'd be much obliged. I've been to the Blogger website and I can only decipher the title of what I want. After that it becomes a babbling cacophony of acronyms and geek-speak. Help! My email is mamashake@gmail.com if anyone out there can help a sister out. Thanks guys!

kxx

Uh Oh!

My blog has caught a virus of some sort and I'm working on cleaning it up. Sorry, no blog today as I'm completely confused about all this stuff. Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow...

kxx

Oh Canada!

I just spent 2 hours at my local park. There's a festival there with rides, a petting zoo, music, and tons of people partying in red and white.

While I'm always a really proud first generation Canadian, you know what warms my heart like nothing else? New Canadians. I love seeing the effort that they make on such a special day. I saw a man in a red turban and maple leaf face tattoos. I grinned and waved at the little girl in the hijab with the straw "Canada Rocks" cowboy hat. This is what Canada is all about.

I love Canada and I'm proud to have been born here but it seems to me that nothing compares to someone who adopts this awesome country as their own.

So Happy Birthday to all of us. Why? Because we are Canada.

kxx