Meet me on Monday!

Questions:

1.  Tomorrow I am _________
Going to my first dragonboat practice of the year. I can't wait!

2.  When is your birthday?
10 August, 196something

3.  What are you currently excited about?
Well, besides the aforesaid dragonboat practice, I'm beyond excited about Ottawa's first Comic-Con in May. The BEST Star Trek captain (Picard, d'uh) Patrick Stewart will be there and I'll be rocking my brand new Doctor Who tee shirt.

4.  Do you have any secrets?
Hardly. I keep a blog and expose pretty much everything. There are a couple of things you may not know but they're probably best kept on the DL.

5.  What do you normally eat for lunch?
Usually a carb and a veggie with hummus dip, a fruit and way too much dairy. I try to bring healthy lunches since I lunch with preschoolers and I should set a good example. But that doesn't stop me from craving a drippy Big Mac or greasy poutine!

kxx

Still dumping photos...

This was my biggest cupcake order ever (the photo only shows a few of them). One hundred and fifty cupcakes plus a cake for a 40th birthday party. Half were chocolate, half were vanilla, half had blue frosting and half white. It was a huge job for a mum in a regular kitchen but I have to admit it was a lot of fun. I had thought of everything... I had the right ingredients, the display I wanted use and even brought extra frosting for mishaps. What never occurred to me until the day was how to transport them to the golf club where the party was to be held. What a shit-show that was! I was able to bake them all because, of course, I could use the same 6 tins over and over. But then I had 150 frosted cupcakes to deliver. Uh oh. I started with the 2 travel containers I had but that only took care of 72. Back to the baking tins. I could carry the rest in them, right? So that takes care of another 72. I put the last 6 on a dinner plate and got them all in the back of my car.

It wasn't a long ride and they all made it safely. I did manage to forget my pastry bag so had to rush home to get it but aside from that hiccough, everything went well. My family and I were invited to the festivities so I got to see the cupcakes vanish as soon as the table was rolled out. It was one of my proudest days.

I have to admit that when a friend asks for a cake (I've never done one for a stranger), I twist myself up in knots worrying, planning, researching, shopping and finally procrastinating that when it's finally out of my hands, I feel such a weight off my shoulders that I wonder why I do it in the first place. This is why I say no when people say I should do it for a living. How can it be so much fun and not any fun in the least?

Yeah, I don't get it either.

kxx

'Scuse me, my geek is showing.

Here's a screenshot of what I tried to get away with in a friendly game of Scrabble With Friends. Look, the show has been on nearly 50 years... you'd think some of the words would have seeped into our everyday speech.

I love Doctor Who. I first started watching since the mid-80s (you never forget your first Doctor... mine was Peter Davison, he of the white suit and celery buttonhole) and was hooked. It was written like a fever dream but I loved every second of it. It was off the air for a long time and later when it came back it was like they were writing just for me. They even had a Black girl companion for a while (go Martha!) who made it so much easier to imagine myself travelling with the Doctor in the TARDIS.

Anyway, I don't want to bore you with too much blather about the show, I just wanted to show you how deeply I tend to delve into the ones I love. Whether it's sci-fi like Doctor Who or Star Trek or a soap opera like Coronation Street (do NOT get me started on that one), once I geek out over it, no one is safe.

kxx

Starting this again!

I really need to start blogging more often so I thought to kick-start myself I'd try these again on Mondays. Of course it helps that I (as you all are well aware), am my own favourite subject...


Questions:
1.  I keep putting off _________
Culling my wardrobe. I really need to go through my clothes, shoes and purses for the things that I don't wear anymore. It takes me all day when I start the job, what with having to go through the 5 stages of grief over each handbag and strappy sandal. It's exhausting.

2.  What is your current weather?
Flipping freezing. We woke up to 5 centimetres of fresh snow on the ground. It was heavy, wet, cold and just plain awful. It was actually "slushing". It's all melted now but the feeling of resentment still lingers.

3.  What is the nicest room in your house? 
In terms of decorating? None. I love my bedroom because I sleep there, my kitchen because I bake there and my livingroom because I watch my favourite tv there and do some sweet internet surfing there too (most days... like now... I do both). None of these rooms are well decorated but they have what I need in them. One day I'd love to grow up and have an amazingly decorated house. I just don't ever see it happening. Please enjoy this photo of the TARDIS... I'm to embarrassed to show my house.

4.  What jewellry do you never take off?
My wedding band, my diamond ring and my mother's wedding band which I wear on my left thumb.

5.  Do you eat a snack before bed?

Only on Saturdays. Then I have Doritos but never after I've brushed my teeth. If I brush my teeth after dinner I'll not eat again for the night. More out of laziness because I don't want to have to do it again before bed. I do my best eating between lunch and dinner, anyways. 

kxx

One of my favourite shots

I flipping love this photo. I'm no photographer. Every camera I've ever had was one of those PhD cameras (press here, dummy) because the one time in my life that I did have a proper SLR, all I did was 1) complain that it was to heavy to haul around so you had to plan to take a picture and 2) you can't plan a really good photo. Of course you can but this is me we're talking about here and I tend to take the path of least resistance. Plus I like to complain.

Anyway, this photo is an example of why I only carry my cheapie (or my iPod) around. Audrey had just come from the hairdresser who had transformed my frizzy, curly baby into a glossy, straight-haired beauty. Henry had just come along for the ride. Audrey couldn't stop touching and smoothing her hair. This was a totally new experience for her and she was enjoying every second of it.

As we left the mall, a gust of wind swept that newly straight hair all around her head. Another new experience. As she shook it out of her eyes, I grabbed my camera, intending only to get Audrey but Henry was standing right there. I love the expression on his face. I messed around with the filters a bit on Instagram and got what you see before you, what looks to me like the album cover (remember those?) for a funky little indie band. I could have cropped the sign off the top and a bit off the left side but like I said... I'm no photographer.

kxx

Photo Dump!

Okay, that title sounds pretty gross but all it is is an attempt on my part to share some of the pictures I've taken from my iPod. I always have it in my pocket or purse and never my camera so I get some very interesting off-the-cuff misguided unfocussed stupid shots. In the next couple of blogs, I'll post one and explain the motivations behind it.

Just an aside, 95% of these photos are all about me. It's just like my blog so this should be no surprise to anyone.

Today's photo:

I found a great iPod app where you can insert any words (and tiny icon... see the oven mitt?) into the traditional "Keep Calm and Carry On" sign. As you can see, I was feeling both particularly creative and depressed the day I made that. Geez, my ego knows no bounds, does it?

kxx

I love hearing about baby names

I think I freaked out one of my co-workers when I pretty much got in her face and demanded to know why she named her daughter Elliott (sorry about that Jill LOL!)

But I love to hear about things like that. I'm interested to hear about people's motivations for choosing the handle they decide to lumber their child with for the rest of their lives.

I think I've mentioned my reasons for my own children but I'll quickly recap:

Elliott William:
Named for a car dealership licence plate and my mother's maiden name. If he had been a girl, he would have been Madeleine Elizabeth after the children's storybook and Scott's mother's middle name.

Audrey Margaret:
Named for Scott's 2 aunts. If she had been a boy, she'd be named Peter (middle name forgotten). Interesting note: two-year old Elliott, when asked to name his baby sibling, chose the name of his favourite movie hero at the time... Mulan.

Henderson Michael:
Named for Scott's father's middle name and my brother's name. Had he been a girl, he'd have been Clara Elizabeth.

As for me, my parents were recyclers. If I had been a boy, I'd have been given my brother's name. Also, Tara was another choice for me. I never fail to tell that less than fascinating fact to every Tara I meet.

So anyway, if you have an interesting story about your name or your children's names or anything about names at all, post it in the comments. As I said above, I love this stuff.

kxx

Get your fresh updates here!

I realized yesterday that I haven't given you all an proper update on how we Kayes are doing. I've gone on rants about baby teeth and me, me, me but nothing about my precious family. So here's what we're up to:

Me: Well you know already.

Scott: He doesn't like me to talk about him on here. Suffice it to say he's fine and dandy.

Elliott: He's currently in Europe on a tour with his cadet corps. According to his itinerary he's in Belgium but we haven't heard a word from him. I'm sure he's fine and I'm not as worried about him as I would have been thanks to Alison (THANKYOU!). Ignoring us is not personal, he's just being 15. (*breathe in*) acknowledged and... (*breathe out*) released. Have fun kiddo.

Audrey: She doesn't have too many extracurricular activities but she keeps herself busy by talking on the phone, playing on the computer and watching tv. I can sometimes roust her off the couch by suggesting shopping trips with yours truly. In other words, she's a completely normal, ordinary 13 year old girl.

Henry: A hockey playing, video gaming, ball of energy. He burns it off by doing backflips on our backyard trampoline and biking for hours. In a couple of weeks he's scheduled to get braces so that should curb his monstrous appetite for a couple of days.

Taz (the cat): He's got a wonky thyroid which is making him lose weight and he hates his new prescribed food. He'll only eat it if I put some tuna juice on it. The doctor expressly forbade me to give him any other food but it was a question of watching him starve to death or cheat just a bit. I mean he was really ignoring it and "crying" for food. I couldn't stand it anymore. Anyway, he's eating a bit more and isn't quite as annoying as he was so it's a win/win.

Nameless gerbils: Do we still have those things?

So that's the family update for this gorgeous Easter/Passover weekend. I'm going to start on my list of things to do by boiling some eggs for dyeing and getting some things prepared in advance for tomorrow's big dinner. I thought a mix of Christian and Jewish on the table would be nice by replacing the traditional Easter ham (which we're not crazy about anyway) with turkey and adding charoset and matzah to the table. I think it'll taste amazing.

Please have fun and be safe whatever you do this holiday and see you soon!

kxx

It's the anniversary of my personality

Last week my friend from high school posted a "playbill" from the first play I was ever in. It was Oliver Twist and I played Miss Eliza Sellers, a completely made up bookseller in Merry Olde England. I wore a day-glo yellow dress and my hair up in a bun (I wasn't always bald). I even remember my first line: "Wait, stop! Please don't take that boy away! Stop one moment!" I had to burst onto the stage as they were dragging Oliver away and it was simultaneously the most petrifying and exhilarating moment of my 14 year old life. And looking back, if I'm completely honest, I've never felt quite like that since. Like I wanted to both vomit and upstage the entire show by breaking into an off-the-cuff soft shoe. Incredible.

I need to mention here that I was painfully shy at the time. This, incredibly, is the hand-to-God truth. I had one friend (Jackie) who I was completely dependent on. So much so that when she was off due to pneumonia for 2 weeks, I spent every lunch hour until she came back pathetically eating lunch in a bathroom stall, crouching on the seat so that my feet wouldn't show underneath. Like I said, pathetic. When I think of that time I want to shout to my stupid younger self: "GET OUT THERE YOU IDIOT! THEY'RE JUST KIDS!! THEY DON'T BITE FOR EFF SAKE!"

Thankfully my English teacher Mrs. Beiner saw something in me trying to get out. She forced me to do this play and at the time I resented her for it. But it was exactly what I needed to get my head out of my own ass and today I hold her completely responsible (good or bad) for making me the sassy, mouthy, outgoing ray of sunshine you see before you today. I wish I could contact her so I could tell her this. Because if it wasn't for those 12 lines on that terrifying day in March 1982, I wouldn't be me.

kxx