"So, you still, uh, reap around here, do you, Mr. Death?"

There are many questions that roll around in my brain when I wake up in the wee hours of the morning.

Did I close the garage door?

Do I have any clean underwear for tomorrow?

What was that noise? I'm sure I heard a noise. Did the cat make that noise?

Should I be worried that the people in Rachel's artwork look like acid-fueled Charlie and Lola stick figures with giant Monty Pythonesque stomping feet?

How am I going hook up the DVD player, the VCR, and the rabbit ears to a TV with only an antenna input? I could attach the rabbit ears to the VCR, and then run a cable from the RF output on the VCR to the antenna input in the TV, but what about the DVD player? And the switch box?

The last question is a direct result of my apparent debut as the Angel of Death, Appliance Division:

Last week, the dishwasher breathed its last. Two days ago, the hot-water heater ate the metaphorical salmon mousse. And yesterday morning, when I turned on the TV just after 5 a.m. to catch the previous night's The Hour while I sat and drank coffee made lunches for the girls and fixed my hair, all that lit up was a narrow band in the middle of the screen. The audio was fine, but the video was down to one line. It has joined the choir invisible. And the other, spare TV I had stashed in the basement doesn't have any AV inputs. Sigh.

I don't think these deaths are coincidental. I'm very afraid for my toaster oven.

I'm going to need a scythe.

A 'previously enjoyed' episode

Thanks everyone for your response to my wine-filled pity party of the other day. I'm surprised (in a good way) how many of you offered support and good advice. You guys rock. I ended up sending an email to my director pointing out that the way this had been handled was less than ideal, and we have a meeting tomorrow to discuss the situation.

That's assuming that I'm back at work tomorrow, seeing as I've come down this morning with the cholera/ebola/dysentery/stomach flu that seems to be going around Ottawa right now. My brain is mush and I'm logging more time in the bathroom than on the computer. So, since the girls had swimming lessons last night, and I got to sit around a warm, chlorine-y pool and look at the *ahem* scenery, I decided that this was a good post to pull from the archives. It'll have to do for now.

Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson

I took the girls to swim classes late this afternoon. Since they aren't the same age nor are they at the same skill level, they are in different classes. I couldn't schedule them at the same time, so Rae's class is 4:30 to 5:00, and Leah's is 5:00 to 5:30. Leah and I sit together on the pool deck and watch Rae's class, and then Rae comes out and wraps up in a towel and we watch Leah's class.

I had just finished reading Robert Munsch's Smelly Socks to Rachel, when a movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. A man had come out of the changing room into the pool area and was walking away from me. Clad only in black swim trunks and (and this should have been the tip off) a red tank that said 'Instructor' on the back -- he was stunning. My breath was literally taken away for a moment. Tall, blondish hair, wide shoulders, muscular arms, a nice back and legs. Yup, all in all, eye candy. Radiating lines of deliciousness (fans of Grey's Anatomy will get this allusion). I might have drooled. Just a little, you know, in a lady-like way.

Then he turned around. Turns out I know him slightly.

When I met him last summer at an impromptu backyard bonfire party, he was wandering around with a copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tucked under his arm and eating a Mr. Freezie. We talked about the book for a bit and he told me how he was available....TO BABYSIT so he could earn gas money for when he borrows his dad's car. CRAP. He's the son of someone in my neighbourhood, and she's younger than I am. He's maybe seventeen.

I just want to take my brain out and scrub it now.

Drama queen? Or hard done by?

OK, can't figure out how to write on my own Facebook wall, so I'm replying to those who questioned my status here. I'm fine. Blame the wine I opened for my status. In my defence, I needed 1/2 cup of wine for the chicken cacciatore I made for dinner, and somehow, the rest of the bottle was accidentally consumed. Accidentally, yeah.

Short story: I've been in my job, and my office for 12 years. I've acted for my supervisor many times, and for long periods of time. When the supervisor's job (Managing Editor) came open (due to her being promoted), I was told I would not be considered for the job permanently as I didn't have my French levels or the requisite supervisory experience. Despite the fact that I was apparently OK for the job on a temporary basis. OK, I can accept that. I like my present job, and enjoy it.

Then I was told that the person who got the Managing Editor's job was going to be given my office, and I would have to move to a smaller one. I wrote an email to my boss and her boss pointing out how unfair this was. Before I could send it, I was told by my supervisor that the new Managing Editor would take anther office, and I could keep mine. Oh, and by the way, did I want my office painted? I was so excited. My office hasn't been painted in 12 years, and the paint is peeling. I said "YES!" and packed up my office and moved temporarily to a cubicle in another area of the floor. I'm supposed to move back to my office on Tuesday of next week. Friday afternoon I was called to my old supervisor's office and told that a new manager (not the Managing Editor, but another new manager in the division) was going to be taking my office, because the Director wanted all her managers on one floor, and I would after all have to move to the other, smaller office. I can't help but wonder if this was in the cards all along, and the renovations were for this other management dude all along, rather than for me, and it was just a convenient ploy to get me to pack up all my stuff.

Now, 1) I still have a job (and in today's economy, that's a bonus), 2) I still will have an office of my own, not a cubicle, or a shared office, even though it's smaller, 3) it's just an office, not a bad biopsy or a job loss, or a major personal upheaval. So you tell me, am I being a drama queen for being pissed off? Or am I justified in feeling screwed-over? Please let me know what you think.

To whom it may concern, I am grumpy

Dear Rogers Mobility guy,

While I appreciate that it wasn't the dinner hour when you called to offer me an amazing deal on a phone that can take pictures, surf the web and play all my favourite music, I am still not interested. I already own a digital camera, a computer, and an MP3 player to do these things for me. I also own a cell phone that I'm very happy with. And though I can tell that you think that it's really important that I sign up for a plan that will allow me unlimited talk, text and surfing on this really neato phone for only a gajillion dollars a month, please believe me (or at least pretend to believe me) when I tell you that I don't even have my cell phone turned on most of the time and only use it to let my babysitter know when I'm running late, or to order pizza from my car on the way home from work on Thursdays, and don't keep trying to sell the damn thing to me anyway. That's how people get hung up on.

Sincerely,

Alison

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

Dear shuffle function on my MP3 player,

Lining up Billy Idol's "Hot in the City", Jane Siberry's "Mimi on the Beach" and Don Henley's "Boys of Summer" one after the other during the 10-minute walk from my office to the church where I park my car in a minus-freaking-twenty-degree wind chill is just adding insult to injury. Seriously, cut it out.

Cheers,

Alison

*********************
Dear 1985,

I'd like my boobs back. You know, the perky ones that I had before I birthed and breastfed two babies? Yeah, those ones. I really miss them. I'm tired of the ones I have now -- they sometimes get caught in the waistband of my jeans if I forget to tuck my tee shirt in when I go bra-less around the house. Oh, and if you see my waistline around there anywhere, I'd like that back too.

Thanks,

Alison

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

Dear National Arts Centre subscription sales lady,

Just because I took Leah once to see the Nutcracker in 2005, doesn't mean that I am a ballet fanatic who will shell out big bucks to see ballet on a regular basis. Quit. Calling. Me.

Disgruntledly,

Alison

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

Dear winter,

You suck.

Fondly,

Alison

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

Dear Zellers,

I realize that it isn't your fault that the strap on Rachel's snow boot broke today. They are hand-me-downs from her big sister and have seen hard use. But it's January. In Ottawa. I expect to be able to buy a pair of snow boots for my kid in January in Ottawa. But what did I find when I went to your store this evening? Rain boots and splash pants. Rain boots and freaking splash pants. Perhaps you remember last Easter, when we still had 3 feet of snow on the ground? This shit might fly down in South Carolina, but we won't be needing the rain boots and splash pants around here until at least freaking April, and it was only through sheer dumb luck that we found one pair of size 2 snow boots in a clearance bin. Seriously. Give your head a shake. It's winter, people.

Yours in Christ,

Alison

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

Dear snowplow driver,

I don't know how, or when, but someday I am going to find out where you live and then dump 6582 cubic metres of snow in your driveway.

Cordially,

Alison

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

Dear Carp Ridge deer,

Leave my cedar hedge alone, or I'll sic the evil ninja assassin cat on you. I mean it.

Sincerely,

The mean lady who throws tennis balls at you while you are eating



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

Six-year-old logic

Monday evening, in the car on the way to swimming lessons, windshield wipers clearing the snow off the glass, the radio off, talking. Rachel told us about going skating at the arena with her class for their field trip. Leah was talking about Barack Obama and how tomorrow he'd become the President of the United States, which her class had discussed that afternoon in current events.

Leah: Does he have kids, Mum?

Me: Yes, he has two daughters. Kind of like you two, but a bit older, I think.

Rae: What are their names?

Me (thinking): Ummm, one is called Malia...

Leah (repeating it): Ma-Leah?

Me: ....and I can't remember the name of the other one.

Rae: It's probably Ma-Rachel

Date night

I have a date tonight. With Murray. He doesn't say much, but I don't think that's going to get in the way of a relationship. I think we're good. At least until spring.

Po3 Delurking Day

Apparently I didn't get the memo that Monday was Delurking Day. So I'm going to take this opportunity to declare my own "Party of 3 Delurking Day", today, January 15, 2009.

I heart my readers. And I would love to know who you all are. Come on, leave me a comment, say hi, tell me what's on your mind, shower me with praise, whine about my overuse of sentence fragments, whatever. I know you're out there, really, I do, I check out the site stats obsessively once in a blue moon.

Of course, I do realize that most visits to Party of 3 result from people googling the search string "how to get a squirrel out of your fireplace" or looking for the lyrics to I'm Too Sexy for My Shoes, or instructions on how to make a kleenex box guitar, but I know I do have repeat readers...

I've checked my blog settings, and anyone who wants to should be able to comment. So leave me a comment and make my day, please?

Image courtesy of Google images

Yeah, early French immersion is really paying off

Both girls are in the early French immersion (EFI) program at our local public school. Ottawa is a bilingual city in a bilingual part of the province, and I want my daughters to learn French now, while they're young and their brains are absorbent, rather than trying to learn it like I am right now, when I'm old and my brain is solid and cobwebby.

Both girls are doing well in the program, which starts in Senior Kindergarten. Rachel (now in Grade 1) struggled at first, but made a breakthrough back in October, going from having some trouble understanding instructions given in French, and being hesitant to speak French in class, to embracing the language at school and even speaking it at home sometimes. Like this morning.

Rachel was sitting at the table, watching me make breakfast. I had my back to her, taking raisin toast out of the toaster oven, when she said:

"Tu as une grande fesse, Maman!"

The grammar is a little off, but what she said, in essence, was:

You have a big butt, Mum!

Yep, there's nothing like learning a second language for expanding one's cultural horizons. Or insulting one's mother in a very cosmopolitan fashion.

Rocker girl

We don't have Hannah Montana at our house. Sure, we do listen to a couple of Miley Cyrus songs we've downloaded, but for the most part, the girls aren't into the teen phenomena. No Jonas Brothers, no High School Musical, no Hilary Duff. That music, says Leah, is for kids.

Nope, what the small ones in the household are into is David Bowie (thanks to Leah's obsession with the movie Labyrinth), K.T. Tunstall, Nickelback, Elton John, and ABBA. On Christmas day, they ended up watching Mama Mia! with the grown-up daughters of my friend Shell. (Fortunately, the whole who's-my-dad? portion of the movie seems to have gone over their heads.) Since then, it's been all Dancing Queen all the time at my place. Well, that and a mixed CD of Canadian rock that I made for Alissa, and liked so much that I made me a copy too: 54-40, State of Shock, Tom Cochrane, Barenaked Ladies, Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Colin James, Cowboy Junkies, Big Sugar, etc., etc. You should hear them singing along.

Thursday evening we were heading into Stittsville to go grocery shopping. The radio played AC/DC and then Def Leppard. I was in a contemplative mood, and it brought back memories of concerts gone by. Memories of the good times spent with friends at concerts in Detroit when I was in high school. I remember taking the tunnel bus over from Windsor to Detroit, running the gauntlet of guys trying to sell you weed and scalped tickets, and then up through the parking garage to Joe Louis Arena or Cobo Hall to see AC/DC, or Rush, or Styx, or Alice Cooper, or Bob Seger, or Iggy Pop, or Blue Oyster Cult, or the J. Geils Band. Sneaking mickies of rye past security at the door. Chartering a schoolbus to take the entire senior class out to the Pontiac Silverdome to see the Stones once, and the Who another time. Buying concert teeshirts, and holding Bic lighters up during power ballads (nowadays they just hold their cellphones open. It's the end of an era, I tell ya.) Yeah, those were good times.

The final chords of Pour Some Sugar On Me were playing. I glanced in the rear-view mirror to see what the girls were doing. Rae was gazing aimlessly out the window. But Leah, my Leah, was playing air guitar. The tradition lives on.

This wasn't what I meant when I said we should be greener

Me (downstairs on the computer calling up to Rae in the dining room): Rae, are you finished colouring? It's almost time for dinner.

Rae: I wasn't colouring, I was painting.

Me: Okay, then. Are you finished painting?

Rae: Yes.

Me: Did you put the painting stuff away?

Rae: Yes.

Me: In the art bin? Where it's supposed to go?

Rae: (Pause) (Shuffling sounds and footsteps) Yes.

Me: Did you wash your hands?

Rae: (Pause) Yes. (sounds of footsteps and water running in bathroom)

Me: Hey, make sure that you wash all the paint off your hands before you dry them. I don't want you wiping wet painty hands on the towels. And use soap, OK?

Rae (exasperatedly): Mum. I know how to wash my hands, OK? I'm not two you know.

Me: OK, OK. Sorry. Did you turn the bathroom light off? (I know, I'm such a nag.)

Rae (self-righteously): It was already on. Leah was in there first and she turned the light on.

Me: Yeah, but you were the last one in there, please go turn it off.

Rae: (snottily): It's not fair. I have to do everything around here. (Sound of stomping footsteps.)

*****

Later, in the bathroom, I found this:

I would have taken a picture of the towel too, but as luck would have it, my towels are dark green. Apparently, remedial handwashing lessons are in order. Especially for those over the age of two.

Why Mensa won't be calling me anytime soon

You know, in the hierarchy of busiest times of the day, mornings trying to get the three of us out the door on time for schoolbus pickup at daycare/work comes second only to the first half hour that we're home at the end of the day.

It's stressful because everyone's hungry, everyone's tired, and everyone is bursting with news of the day's doings that simply must be shared with the mother at the soonest possible moment and all at the same time. So last night I was rushing around the kitchen, sadly still messy from Monday night's dinner (swimming lessons started again in Stittsville at 7 p.m. Monday night, and combined with a 5:45 dentist appointment for Leah, seriously cut into my cleaning-up time. And, to be frank, the plaque I have hanging on my kitchen wall saying "Martha doesn't live here. Adjust." isn't there just for show, if you know what I mean. Show me a single mother with 2 kids 24/7 who works full time and commutes nearly an hour [one way] to work and still has an immaculate house, and I'll show you an alien masquerading as a single mom. Or an a single mom with a cleaning lady, or OCD manifesting as a cleaning compulsion. Or a cleaning lady with OCD. But I digress....) trying to make 2 different dinners.

I'm wincing now, prepared for the onslaught of moms who refuse to make two different dinners and their kids eat what they're given. I know I should have been doing that from day one, but due to some trying circumstances, I didn't and now I'm paying the price. One of the New Year's plans is to start making one dinner for all of us incorporating some things the girls like and some new things I want them to start eating. Yeah, I know: Good luck with that. I'll let you know how it goes. Digressing again.

So, I was making chicken fingers and frozen fries in the toaster oven for the girls, with sides of baby spinach (Leah), carrot sticks (Rachel), sliced cukes (both girls), and simultaneously trying out a new recipe from the Kraft magazine, Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake*, for me. The kids wouldn't join me in eating it because it contains such obviously toxic substances as tomatoes, basil, Parmesan, whole wheat pasta, and chicken that is unbreaded. Oh, the horror.

I checked the recipe, and turned the oven on to 375. Started the water heating to cook the pasta, and then put the chicken fingers and fries into the toaster oven. I cut up the chicken breast and started sautéing it with the dried basil, which is still in the little plastic bag it came in from the bulk store (see Martha plaque, mentioned above) and tossed the bag onto the counter as I pirouetted to the pantry to take the pasta out. I smelled plastic melting/burning. Sure enough, the basil bag was up against the hot toaster oven and was melting. I grabbed it quickly, but the smell was pretty strong. I put the pasta in the now boiling water and added the other ingredients to the sauté pan, which gave me a 10-minute window to empty and then fill the dishwasher and finish clearing the counters and the sink. The plastic smell lingered, and then got stronger. I checked all the elements on the stove for something unusual. Nope. OK, forget it.

I prepped the girls' veggies, drained the pasta and mixed the sauce and chicken with it. I served the girls, then put the chicken/pasta mix in a baking dish and opened the oven door to put it in . . . . only to be greeted by a cloud of noxious smoke and an even stronger melting plastic smell. Sitting on the top oven rack was my pizza pan. On the pizza pan were the melted remains of the plastic-handled pizza cutter and the wedge-shaped plastic spatula. Still in perfect shape outlines, just flat and oozy and very, very hot and smelly. Now I never store things in the oven, because I'm afraid of just such a thing happening, but slowly the memory surfaced, a quick cleanup of the kitchen before playdate guests were arriving. A full and running dishwasher. Where could I stash the pizza pan? I know, the oven. Just til the mom dropping off the kids leaves. I won't forget. Insert eye roll here.

I cleaned up the mess (implements were toast [literally] but I should be able to save the pan), aired out the oven, and then finally put the dish in to bake. I sat down and took stock of my day:

8:30 a.m. - attempted to open office door with house key. Took 15 seconds to figure it out.

9:30 a.m. - sent email requesting job references to applicant not being considered further for the job. Had to figure out how to recall email.

12:10 p.m. - went to eat lunch only to discover I had forgotten to bring lunch from car to office

5:45 p.m. - incinerated kitchen implements while making dinner.

Well, it couldn't get any worse, could it? I didn't think so. Until bedtime, when, half-asleep, I grabbed for my emergency mini-tube of toothpaste (note to self: buy toothpaste) and squeezed Polysporin on my toothbrush.

Not. Mensa. Material.


*This was actually really tasty.

Building up to 2009

Here's a good sane totally not crazy interesting way to spend New Year's Day morning. Earlyish. Put together an IKEA Benno CD tower. Beech veneer finish. Seriously.

We have more CDs, DVDs, videos, and now Nintendo DS games than will fit in our existing media bookshelf in our dining room. And since Santa brought the girls more, I knew it was time to expand the storage. There isn't room for another bookshelf, but I thought I could transfer the CDs from the top few shelves of the bookshelf to a CD tower and then move all the DVDs and videos from the TV stand onto the bookshelf and tidy up the look of the living room. So New Year's Eve day, we went off to IKEA to buy the tower.

The girls and I went next door to Connie's for New Year's Eve and had a great time. The girls actually stayed awake until midnight, no doubt due to playing video games and air hockey with Connie's daughters. We wended our sleepy way home about 2:15. I was wide awake at 8 a.m. January 1st, 2009. The girls were sleeping. What should I do with this child-free time?

I brewed some coffee and looked at the six and a half foot long box leaning up against the wall. Yes. I felt up to it. I slid the box to the middle of the living room and opened it. Lots of pressboard, a little plastic baggie of hardware, and an instruction sheet with no words on it, just pictures. I realize that IKEA has its instructions this way for a couple of reasons: clarity, and so that customers from Ottawa to Sao Paulo to Minsk can all be equally confused guided by the drawings of the smug little guy putting the furniture in question together. To be fair, they are usually clear, but I can't shake the feeling that I'm putting something together by playing Simon Says with printed characters. But I digress.

I fetched my toolbox from the basement and, after looking at the tool pictures in the instruction booklet, pulled out a slot screwdriver, a Robertson screwdriver, a Phillips screwdriver (because without my glasses I couldn't tell from the picture whether one of the screwdrivers had a cross-shaped or a square head), and a hammer. It didn't tell me I'd need a hacksaw, but that part of the story comes later.

The first part of the build went pretty well. I poured a mug of coffee and put Who's Next on the CD player. There's something wrong with my CD player at the moment -- the instrumental tracks play loudly and clearly, but the vocals sound weak and echoey and distant. So I pushed little wooden dowels into the appropriate holes and listened to Roger Daltrey sounding far and wee, which was kind of appropriate, since I felt a little far and wee myself after an unusually large number of beers consumed the night before.

I got to the last hole that needed a little dowel peg and reached for the last peg on the coffee table, and there wasn't one. I checked the floor. I checked under the box, under the couch and all around. No peg. OK. Let's think about this. I figured I had three choices: 1) Stop what I was doing and wait til Jan 2nd and go back to IKEA for the missing part. 2) Build it without that particular dowel -- it was holding the top together, would not be weight bearing, and the sides are held together by screws as well as the dowel pegs. 3) Try to find something else to use for a dowel peg. I dismissed 1) out of hand. I didn't want to spend 24 hours stepping over a partially assembled CD tower in the middle of my living room. Number 2) didn't appeal either, because I figured the dowel peg was supposed to be there for a reason. Which left 3).

I pulled one of the other pegs back out of the hole and looked at it. Hmm, about the same diameter as a pencil. I took the peg, and the only pencil I could find in the kitchen, and got the teeny, tiny hacksaw out of my toolbox. I sawed a piece of pencil the same length as the peg, and Bob's your uncle, I had a workable substitute. About this point I turned off the CD. When Daltrey's opening howl on Won't Get Fooled Again sounds like a constipated hamster, it's time to shut it down.

Once I had the sides, top and bottom together with these strange corkscrew-shaped thingies that catch onto the heads of screws already put in at 90 degree angles (don't you love it when I talk all technical? Mag Ruffman ain't got nothing on me), it was time to slide the thin, flexible back piece down the grooves at the backs of the side pieces. A glance at the handy dandy instructions showed a disembodied hand marking the position of the cross brace on the backs of the side pieces with a pencil, so that once the back piece has been slid into place, you know the position of the cross brace so that you can nail the back piece into the cross brace. Makes sense, I mused, walking into the kitchen for a pencil, only to realize that I had hacksawed the point off the last pencil in the house in order to construct a dowel peg. Damn. Well, there was enough of the pointy part left to scratch a couple of lines in the correct places, and Leah got up in time to help me fit the shelves in the now-standing unit, and rearrange our stuff.

I neglected to take a before picture, but here's what it looks like now, all organized and alphabetized and new and shiny and New Year's Day-ish.


And it's not a bad metaphor for what I want to accomplish for 2009. I would like to get the parts of my life as clear and organized as my CDs. Without having to saw up any metaphorical pencils.

Stargazing

It was a clear, crisp evening. The sun had just set, and the wind had dropped, and the night air was calling for us to go out.

It was a few days before Christmas so we toured the neighbourhood, boots crunching in the snow, and checked out the Christmas lights on people's houses. We held hands, we skipped, we sang "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer" at the tops of our lungs and laughed at how loud it sounded. We stopped and chatted with a neighbour shovelling his driveway, and another, heading out on a night-time cross-country ski session. We made odd-shaped dents in snowbanks by sitting on them.

When we turned the last corner before our street, we were looking into the deep indigo of the western sky. Venus and Jupiter were blazing diamonds surrounded by a dusting of stars. We stopped and looked for a moment. It was magical. We talked about stars and planets, and the differences between them.

Leah: Which one is Jupiter and which one is Venus?

Me: The higher, brighter one is Venus. The one lower and to the right is Jupiter. We can't see Jupiter very often from Earth without a telescope.

Leah: How do you know those are planets and not stars?

Me: The planets are bigger and brighter, because they're closer. And they don't twinkle like stars do.

Leah: Venus is so beautiful.

Me: Isn't it.

Rachel: Venus creeps me out.

Me: Why???

Rachel: Because it rhymes with penis.

Me: . . .

I wonder if Emily Dickinson's mum ever had days like that.

Holiday Homes Tour 2008 (I'm in it for the kettle corn)

When Jen first suggested that we throw a virtual open house to show off our Christmas decorating, I was a bit dubious, but threats gentle persuasion worked, so, please, come on in and help yourself to some virtual eggnog and virtual Christmas cookies. They're very good.

First, here is the external decor:


I'd like to say I'm responsible for the lovely snowy look, but I have to give credit to my exterior decorators. Perhaps you've heard of them: Mother Nature and Old Man Winter?

Wait, I did do the elf on the door:

Come on in. Now we're in the front hall and looking at the bookcase, which is usually in the living room, but makes its annual pilgrimage to the hall to make way for the tree. These stuffed animal ornaments are usually hung on the tree, but it's a smaller tree this year, so they are sitting up here to greet guests.

(Sorry for the darkness of the photos, I was taking them without the flash, as the flash was making everything look all washed out. Photography is not one of my many talents. Unlike, say, Microsoft Paint.)

Here is where the stockings hang:

Yeah, my colour palette in the living room is more suited to Halloween than Christmas, but what are you gonna do? Here are some close ups of things on the mantle.

The Nativity Scene. As is traditional around here, one of the shepherds needed his feet glued on again.

Here is my Mexican Nativity Scene, a Christmas gift from my friend Evelyn when we were in San Diego together. I love that it has a llama in it.


Here is the Christmas village my mum gave me this summer:



And finally, the tree:



So, thank you all for coming, it was lovely to have you over. Don't forget your gloves, it's cold out there. Bye!

.

.

.

Die, tiny ceramic humans! Feel the sting of my paw! I will bat you all over the edge of the abyss! I will crush the one you call Claus beneath the raw power of my glutes. Bring me tuna or face the annihilation of all you hold precious.

(Merry Christmas from the Evil Ninja Assassin Cat.)

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Head on over to Jen's for links to other blogs holding open houses today.

This is how I know I don't wear make-up very often

Last night. Me swooping down to give the girls a kiss goodnight before leaving them with a babysitter and going to a Christmas party:

Leah: You look pretty, Mum.

Rachel: Don't kiss me, you're freaking me out! What did you put on your eyes? You look like a vampire.

(But vampires are sexy, right?)

Once more, with feeling

OK, I know we're supposed to nurture our children's talents, and encourage them to explore music and the arts, and provide practice time at home for things learned at school; but swear to God, if I hear Leah play "Jingle Bells" on the recorder just one more time, I will go stark raving mad.

Is it too early for wine?

Five

Well, the results of the 2008 Canadian Blog Awards for Best Family Blog are in.

And out of five finalists, I placed........fifth. Yay me!

The first, second, and third place finishers got cute little buttons to decorate up their blogs showing a beaver waving a Canadian flag, and either 1st, 2nd, or 3rd emblazoned on them. Not to be deterred by a lack of official fifth-place artwork, I created my own award button:

(My Microsoft Paint skills are legendary, I tell ya, legendary.)

Thanks to everyone who voted for me, and congratulations to the winners and other finalist: The Mabelhood (1st), Don Mills Diva (2nd), Fawnahareo's Place (3rd), and Under the Mad Hat (4th). It was a really great experience, and making the finals along with those other wonderful blogs was a very nice surprise.

Thanks also to Dani, who nominated me, and Saskboy and all the other hardworking people at the Canadian Blog Awards who ran the whole deal. It was much appreciated.

I'd like to hang around a bit, and chat some more about the CBAs and all, but Rae just yelled down the stairs that she spilled her apple cider and I can hear the unmistakeable sounds of Max preparing to projectile launch a fur ball and whatever other stomach contents he happens to have on hand, so I'd better say goodbye for now. Ah, the glamorous life of a made-the-final-round blog goddess.

It's funny because it's true

OK, last hockey post for a while, I promise. Soon I'll be back to regaling you with the antics of my spawn. But first this. (It's funny even if you're not a hockey fan, and it's only 30 seconds long, so watch it, dammit.)



You do realize, Josie and Guider, that you drove me to it.

(I love Rick Mercer.)

*update: I've been told that this clip can't be viewed by American and British IP addresses. The clip also resides here, but I don't have an American IP address to see if it works.

Guilty secret

Every closet has its skeleton.

Every past has its dark parts.

Mine is no different.

Imagine if you will, a young impressionable woman moving to Toronto for her first post-university job. Leaving the sheltering arms of her family and moving to the struggling morass of humanity known as Hogtown. New friends, new environs, new ideas -- not all of them good. And, as sometimes happens, she fell in with bad company. She was led astray. Led down a dark and dangerous path into a subculture so dark and twisted, so egregiously wrong, that even now she doesn't like to think about those years she spent in its dark thrall.

But she struggled hard, renounced the darkness and moved away, into the light. It's been 12 years she's been free now, but still she keeps this as a warning, to remind herself of what she used to be:


That's right. A Leafs fan.

Oh, the humanity.

In defense of fruitcake

Things are getting a little bit panicky around here as Christmas approaches. For example, here was my To Do list for Saturday:

1. Put out canned goods in special bag on front porch for St. Nicholas Day food drive in the morning


2. Travel back in time and remember to buy extra canned goods at the grocery store for St. Nicholas day food drive on Saturday morning


3. Rummage through pantry to find canned goods to put out for St. Nicholas Day food drive in the morning


4. Add canned goods to shopping list because we are now out of canned goods


5. Go to grocery store, pick up canned goods


6. Drop girls with their father for a couple of hours


7. Go Christmas shopping for girls in blessed, blessed solitude (well, except for the eleventy squillion other shoppers)


8. Hit LCBO for sherry


9. And cheap French merlot


10. Pick up some fruitcake

I like fruitcake.

There. I said it. My name is Alison, and I like fruitcake.

I know I've just put myself into the tiny minority of the population that sees this dessert as something other than a bad joke. Maybe it's my British heritage, but one of the best things to look forward to at Christmas is a slice of rich moist fruitcake with sweet marzipan icing and a glass of sherry.

I've been blessed to know some fantastic fruitcake bakers in my time. When I lived in Toronto, there was Mike, at work, who baked a light and a dark fruitcake and would invite you to his office at Christmastime for a slice of cake and a small glass of sherry and a chat. Also during the Toronto years was David, whose cakes were soaked in enough rum and brandy that you could not legally drive after having a slice. It was the best dessert at the pot luck Christmas lunch every year if you were smart enough to like fruitcake. And a couple of years ago, Paula, the mum of one of Leah's friends, gave me a delicious fruitcake she'd baked in a mini loaf tin, just enough to last me a couple of days. It rocked.

In fact, since I've been on my own, my Christmas Eve ritual has been to put the girls to bed, and after they have fallen asleep and I've put the presents under the tree and stuffed the stockings and hung them from the mantle, I cut myself a slice or two of fruitcake, pour myself a glass of sherry, put another log on the fire, turn off all the lights except the twinkling multicoloured lights of the tree, and savour the delicious combination of flavours while I watch my favourite Christmas movie, Die Hard. (What? Not a Christmas movie, you say? It takes place on Christmas Eve, remember?)

Oh, who am I kidding. In theory that's my ritual. That's what I plan to do every year. But the cold hard truth of the matter is that once the girls are asleep, I can usually be found dragging all the presents up from the basement and I end up wrapping until 3 a.m. when I toss down a rum and eggnog and stagger off to bed for a couple of hours of sleep before the girls get up.

But on Christmas day, once the presents are open, and the girls are playing with their new toys, I'm eating fruitcake. And loving it.

Of Christmas presents and politics

My kids love Lego.

I love Lego too. Except when walking through the living room in the dark and 'finding' a piece with the bottom of my foot. That, I don't love so much. So a couple of years ago, I decided to get a Lego table for the girls for Christmas. That way they could play to their hearts' content and not have to put everything away at the end of the day, and yet the tender soles of my feet would remain unscathed.

Then I started pricing Lego tables. They were ridiculously expensive. Like $120 or more. I figured I could do better for less. And I did.

Take 1 Lack side table from IKEA ($14.99):

Add 4 Lego base plates ($7.99 each):


Align base plates carefully* and stick down on table surface with plastic-friendly adhesive ($2.99). Allow to dry.

Add 2 buckets of Lego pieces ($10.00 each on sale):

And you have a great Lego table and almost 1000 pieces of Lego, for around $70.

Not puncturing the bottom of your foot and saying words the kids don't need to hear: priceless.

(*There is a trick that you need to know. First, the plates don't butt up against each other, or the spacing will be off. You need to attach the base plates to each other with Lego (a 4-bump brick at the centre, and a couple of bricks down each line gap in order to get the spacing right) before sticking the base plates down, so that blocks will be able to be attached over the joins.)

It's a great gift, and one my kids are still playing with three Christmasses later:



When I asked what was going on in the above scenario, I was told, "The penguin is being too bossy and the reindeer don't want to do what he says anymore. They want to do stuff their own way for Christmas and they don't want the penguin being the boss of everyone, so they are talking to each other."

Does that sound familiar to anyone? Anyone? Stephen Harper?

(And yes, I do discuss politics with my kids. I guess they take in more than they let on.)

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Just a reminder, this is the last week to vote for Party of Three in the best family blog category of the Canadian Blog Awards. Voting can be done here.

Also making the finals are my good friend XUP who's up for best new blog (go and check her out, her posts are funny, incisive and interesting), and fellow Ottawa bloggers Zoom (best local blog, best activities blog, best personal blog), Watawa Life (best photo/art blog), and Salted Lithium (best health blog).

It was kind of like Macbeth, only we were all still alive at the end. Barely.

The Night of No Sleeping

A Tragedy in Three Acts

Dramatis Personae:

• The mother - a tired, overworked, forty-something blonde with a penchant for red wine and strange fondness for actually sleeping at night

• Child One - about eight years old, a girl, prone to nightmares, unable to lie still for more than 1.6 nanoseconds at a time

• Child Two - just turned six, a girl, could hear "scary noises" in the silent vacuum of deep space, very sharp elbows

• ENAC - Evil Ninja Assassin Cat

Act One, Scene One

Setting: The mother's bedroom, night. A queen-size bed is against the back wall with night tables each side. The bedside clock shows time is 11:oo.

The mother, dressed in PJs enters from stage left and climbs into bed. She turns off the bedside lamp (stage is lit in soft blue glow imitating night light) sighs and lies down. Silence reigns for 30 seconds.

Child Two (from offstage): Mum, I’m thirsty.

The mother: I gave you a glass of water when you went to bed at 8:00. Drink that.

Child Two: The cat knocked it over and my bed’s all wet. And I’m thirsty.

The mother turns on light, gets out of bed, exits stage left.

The mother returns, gets into bed, turns of bedside lamp, lies down.

Act One, Scene Two

Same setting. The numbers on the clock change and read 12:07.

Child Two (from offstage): Mum? I heard a scary noise.

The mother: It’s just the furnace turning on.

Child Two: It sounds like monsters.

The mother: It’s not monsters, go to sleep.

Child Two enters stage left and stands beside the bed.

Child Two: I’m really scared. Can I sleep with you?

The mother (yawning): OK. Where are you going?

Child Two exits stage left and returns, carrying a blankie, a stuffed Bambi, a stuffed dog, a stuffed horse, a stuffed bunny wearing a dress, and a stuffed Gisele doll from the movie Enchanted. She throws all the toys onto the bed, and climbs in, climbing over The mother, who makes some ‘ooof’ noises.

The mother: Settled? Good. Cause Mum is *really* tired and I need to get some sleep.

All is silent.

Act Two

Same setting. The numbers on the clock change and read 2:19.

Child One (from offstage) can be heard sobbing.

The mother gets out of bed muttering expletives under her breath and exits stage left.

The mother (from offstage): What’s wrong? Are you OK?

Child One (crying): I had a bad dream. I dreamed that me and Alice and Flynn were at school and there were scary people there and they had gorillas that were trained to attack us and I was running and I fell down and cut my knee and no one would help me and there was a spider that had….

The mother (cutting her off): That sounds terrible. But it’s just a dream, why don’t you go back to sleep.

Child One: I’m still scared

The mother: I’ll lie down with you for a bit, OK?

Child One: OK.

Several minutes pass. The sound of The mother stealthily sneaking out of Child One’s bed can be heard. The sound of The mother stubbing her toe is heard.

The mother (still offstage): Shit!

Child One (sleepily): Mum? Where are you going?

The mother: Why don’t you come into my bed, sweetie, there are no bad dreams in Mummy’s bed, and maybe Mummy can get some sleep. I have an early meeting at work tomorrow and I *really* need to get to sleep.

The mother and Child One enter stage left and climb into bed. The mother throws 3 stuffed animals out onto the floor.

The mother: Goodnight, sweetie.

Child One: Mum? She’s hogging all the room in the bed. And her toenails are scratchy.

Child Two (waking up): I am not hogging all the room.

Child One: Yes you are.

The mother (through gritted teeth): You both need to go to sleep now. Seriously.

Act Three

Same setting. The numbers on the clock change and read 4:51.

There is a scuffling noise and ENAC enters stage left. He jumps on the foot of the bed and pounces on the toes of The mother, apparently with claws extended. The mother sits up in bed.

The mother: Auuugh! What the….! Christ, cat, would you leave me the hell alone?

ENAC: Meow.

The mother lies down again. The ENAC repeats the toe pouncing. The mother sits up, muttering expletives under her breath and turns on light. The ENAC looks angelically innocent.

ENAC: Meow?

The mother gets out of bed and the cat leaps from the bed and hides underneath. Unable to coax the cat out from under the bed, the mother exits stage left and turns on the bathroom tap, the sound of which causes the cat to scoot out from under the bed and exit stage left in order to check out the intriguing noise, and perhaps have a drink from the faucet. Sound of rapid footsteps and bedroom door slamming as The mother enters at a run and slams bedroom door behind her, locking cat out of bedroom. The mother gets into bed, ejects another stuffed animal, turns off light, lies down, and sighs.

The numbers on the clock change to read 5:00. The clock's alarm goes off.

The mother (resignedly): Shit.

CURTAIN

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Just a reminder, this is the last week to vote for Party of Three in the Best Family Blog category of the Canadian Blog Awards. Voting can be done here. It would make me very happy, and would almost be as good as a nap.

Things I learned today

We deviate from the previously scheduled post to bring you this list of Things I Learned Today.

1. Snow tires and rims cost a really huge amount of money. OK, technically I learned that yesterday, but still, a really huge amount of money. Which explains why I'm typing this on an elderly desktop Dell down in the chilly semi-finished basement redolent with olfactory reminders that the cat litter needs cleaning instead of typing this on a shiny new laptop as I sit cross-legged on the living room couch sipping a chai tea latte.

2. If you are going to bake Christmas cookies with the kids, and you choose Citrus Sugar Cookies as your first recipe, and you bring out your Lee Valley Tools rasp and zester holder to zest the lemons and limes, DO THE ZESTING YOURSELF. I cannot stress this enough. Sure, it *seems* obvious, doesn't it. But Mother of the Year I'm not. I let Rachel do it. Very soon we were on hiatus as Rae and I trooped into the bathroom to wash and band-aid her grated thumb. While we were gone, Leah decided to take up the slack. She promptly grated her knuckle. In retrospect, I'm really glad I bought extra lemons, because we had to discard the zest on account of Citrus Sugar Skin Cookies don't sound so appetizing.

3. And the BEST thing I learned today is that your votes put me in the finals for a Canadian Blog Award in the Best Family Blog category! You guys rock! Voting for this second and final round (1 vote per IP address) runs for one week, and I'd be ever so grateful if you'd take the time on my account to vote again.

I'm totally convinced that this picture helped, so imagine me looking like this, and please go vote:

News flashes

The first snowman/snowfort combo of winter 2008/2009 was built in the front yard the night before last:

(Yes, Mum, that is the hat and scarf you gave me for Christmas a couple of years ago. Don't worry, I'm going to chip it off the frozen snowman head unwrap it gently and bring it in soon.)

Also, this just in -- proof that Max is still all male even though he's had certain organs removed. (Right after I took the photo, he said,"Get me a beer, wouldja?" and changed the TV channel to hockey. It's in the chromosomes, people.)


And despite the fact that I've never been a Meat Loaf fan, I saw this yesterday, and I laughed so hard, I think I broke my diaphragm. (Ummm, I mean the internal organ thingie, not the birth control device.)


Stay tuned for more riveting drama, as in my next post I recount the reasons I got no sleep the other night.

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Oh, and if you have just fallen off the turnip truck and are unaware that this blog, Party of 3, has been nominated for a Canadian Blog Award in the Best Family Blog category, and can be bribed persuaded to go and vote for me, please go here. First-round voting ends tomorrow, and only the 5 blogs with the most votes will move on.

If it would motivate you to vote, feel free to imagine me doing this:

The Talk

Leah is almost nine now, and sad though I am at the thought of my baby growing up, it's time to conquer the fear (mine, not hers) and talk to her about sex. Why now, you ask? Well, driving home from my friend Shell's place one recent weekend, where Leah had met and been somewhat smitten by the boyfriend of Shell's university-aged daughter who was visiting for the weekend, Leah leaned as far forward as her seatbelt would allow and asked me in a loud stage whisper, "Do boyfriends and girlfriends have S-E-X?"

It's time.

Now both girls know that boys have penises and girls have vaginas, and where babies grow and how they come out, but they've never asked about the mechanics of how the babies got in there in the first place. I've been waiting for them to ask, but so far, no questions. Well, not til the question in the car. I responded carefully, because Rachel was in the car too, with, "Well sometimes, if they are old enough, and if they've been going out together for a long time and love each other, then yes they do." That seemed to satisfy her for the moment. And she hasn't brought it up since, or asked for any further details.

Leah is pretty innocent, but she has a good friend called Alice who has an older sister, and I know that Alice is wise in the ways of the world, well for an eight-year-old, that is. Probably due to her having that older sister.

Case in point: the movie Labyrinth. Leah loves this movie. Leah loves this movie with all her innocent eight-year-old heart: "Jareth the Goblin King is soooo cute! Sarah is soooo beautiful! I wish I had a furry giant like Ludo! Baby Toby is the cutest baby ever! I wish Jareth would give me a magic glass ball."

She couldn't wait to share the movie with her friend Alice. Alice came over to visit, and Leah put the movie on. It came to the part where Jareth is dancing around with his goblins (see clip below) to the song "Dance Magic" in, well, an admittedly tight pair of trousers. Leah was oblivious to that, all caught up in the excitement of the scene. Alice? Not so much. "Oh My God, you can totally see his penis", she pointed out helpfully, as they crammed popcorn into their mouths.


div>

So Leah's going to hear about this stuff from her friends, and I know she needs to hear about it from me as well. But what's the best way to do it? I know not to lie. And I know that I should explain in age-appropriate fashion -- but that's just it. What exactly is age-appropriate for an eight-year-old?

Help me please... Any and all advice on explaining sex to my daughter is welcome. Because it's either you guys help out, or I slip Alice a twenty and get her to do it for me.

Bloggers, awards, and not enough sex

It was a pretty stellar weekend, all in all.

Friday night I did something I don't do often enough. I got a babysitter and went out to the movies with my friend Shell. Quantum of Solace was pretty good, except Daniel Craig wasn't naked nearly enough for my liking. Hell, he didn't even have sex with the main Bond girl, and all the movie stills I can find show him disappointingly well clothed.





Still, my pretend fiancé looked pretty good, and there were chases and fights galore. Shell and I ended up at my place drinking wine and eating pizza afterwards. A very fun evening.
I had been looking forward to Saturday for quite a while. XUP and Zoom had organized an Ottawa-area bloggers brunch, and once again I found myself walking into a place where I knew no-one except for through their blogs. It was great! XUP was exactly how I had imagined her, though a little shorter (hee), and it was so cool to put a face to the words that I've been reading and admiring for some time now. Meeting Nat and Meanie was a real treat after reading them both for so long, too. It's weird in a way, but a good weird, to not have met people face-to-face before, yet still be able to ask how they enjoyed the trip to Chicago and commiserate with them on the puking Doritos incident, and say how cute their son's Halloween costume was. I also got to meet the dynamic duo of Jobthingy and Maven, who were funny and interesting, and made it all the more sad that I had to leave to pick up my kids long before I wanted to. I have been very lucky meeting fellow bloggers before, and this was no exception. Thanks to XUP and Zoom, and I hope we do it again soon, when I can stay longer and talk to more people.
Then, today, I found out I've been nominated for a Canadian Blog Award!! How cool is that? Party of 3 has been nominated for Best Family Blog. Wow. (I'd like to thank the Academy.....) I'm not expecting to make it past the first round, seeing as I'm up against biggies like the Redneck Mommy, Postcards from the Mothership, and Cheaper than Therapy, but I'm still all excited about this. (And if you'd like to vote for me, you can go here and do it. Please vote for me, please, for the love of God But no pressure.)

And now for those of you who skimmed down this far trying to find out about the 'not enough sex' part of the title -- I was talking about the movie. Sheesh. Minds in the gutter, all of you. But stay tuned. On that subject, the next post will be about having The Talk with Leah.

Rachel has apparently pissed off the West Carleton mafia

She sleeps with the fishes.

Revenge of the evil ninja assassin cat

I see you, Large One, bent over that machine on the desk, tapping away with fingers that move like a wounded mouse. But you do not see me. I am the evil ninja assassin cat. I move like the wind, like the darkness, and you are as helpless as a My Little Pony before me.

Your skin kittens are sleeping in their nests and will be unable to save you. You will pay for your crimes. Never again will you remove me from my rightful place on the kitchen counter or deny me the milk left in the skin kittens' mugs on the dining room table. Never again will you spray me with the unspeakable water bottle when I deign to favour your couch with the razor touch of my claws.

I will no longer eat a bowl of dry crunchies on the kitchen floor while you open that fishy deliciousness that comes in cans and mix it with foul mayonnaise on slices of bread for yourself. Your time has come. I will chew your entrails.

See how carefully I have followed you to the basement and chosen my vantage point to pounce?

Make peace with your God.

Lest we forget

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

— John McCrae 1915

Please take some time this Remembrance Day to reflect on the sacrifices made by our Canadian Armed Forces and Peacekeepers, and to pay tribute to all those who died in war.

At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the time the Armistice of World War I was signed in 1918, we observe two minutes of silence to remember. We remember those lost in both World Wars, Korea, and the brave men and women serving today in Afghanistan.

They deserve no less.

Raindrops on roses

Danigirl, over at Postcards from the Mothership, tagged me with a meme. I haven't done a meme in ages, so here goes. (Meme courtesy of Dani, "u"s added to the word "favorite" courtesy of me.

THE FAVOURITE MEME. Fill in your favourite for each of the following:

1. Political show Rick Mercer Report and This Hour has 22 Minutes. It's a tie.

2. Picnic food Cold fried chicken.

3. Mixed drink Rum and Coke, or vodka tonic, or rye and seven. NO, wait, it's a Pole Dancer. Yeah, final answer: Pole Dancer. (does this make me look just a little bit too fond of the booze?)

4. U.S. President I'd be hard-pressed to even name a favourite Prime Minister (OK, I wouldn't. It's totally Pierre Trudeau), but I really haven't thought much about American presidents, at least not enough to have a favourite one.

5. Kind of student to teach I'm going to have to train a new editor soon. So my favourite kind of student to teach is one who listens and doesn't think they know it all already.

6. Hobby you do or wish you still did Read, baby, read. I always get that little thrill when I'm heading home from the library with a book I've been dying to read. I put the girls to bed and then curl up in my green chair with a cup of tea or glass of wine and indulge.

I also snarl large quantities of yarn in an amateur fashion knit.

7. Sports commentator I have a crush on Ron MacLean. Totally.

8. Sport to watch on TV Hockey. Preferably Ottawa Senators hockey, but pretty well any NHL or OHL game will do. It's the only sport worth watching.

9. Animal to have as a pet Cats.

10. Halloween costume you have worn One year my mum made my sister and I robot costumes out of cardboard boxes that had been covered with coloured paper. They were great.

11. Kind of dessert Home-made apple crisp.

12. Comic strip The Far Side.

13. Style or make of footwear Comfy running shoes.

14. Ice cream flavor Rolo.

15. College or university president Seriously, who has a favourite college or university president?

16. Internet news source CBC.ca or globeandmail.com

17. Vacation spot Harris Lake, Ontario

18. Wine Yvon Mau merlot

19. Way to waste time instead of working The Internet!!! Blogs/Facebook/Wikipedia.

20. Student excuse for late work I usually handed stuff in on time, even if I had to stay up til 4 in the morning finishing it up. This happened more than was good for me.

21. Reality show I don't like reality shows. Give me something with a plot and some actors.

22. Jewelry on a man A wedding ring, I guess.

23. Pizza topping You *have* to try this: bacon, green olives, onions and pineapple. It's really freaking delicious, a great blend of salty and sweet. Yum.

24. Children’s movie Beauty and the Beast

25. Celebrity you wish would retire Tom Cruise.

And now, the tagging. Hmmm, I tag Jen, Jen, Stacy and Holly, 'cause I'd like to know a few of your favourite things. Anyone else can play along too, if you want, just leave me a comment so I can hop on over and check it out.

Dear Universe

Are you there Universe, it's me, Margaret. Just kidding... kidding. Seriously though, there are a couple of things I'd like to get off my chest.

First of all, thanks for the great weather the last few days, it was a lovely birthday present. I cannot remember another birthday that had me wearing a sweater to work rather than a jacket. Kudos. I figured it was karma from all the nice, good things I do occasionally on a regular basis. So I might be pushing my luck here, but perhaps there are a few other things you could take care of for me? My to-do list is pretty full, do you think you might be able to help me out?

• Could you perhaps slow time, or maybe slip an extra month into the year this year? November is here and I haven't done any Christmas shopping or giftmaking. And wouldn't you know it, every single book I had on request at the library came in at once, which is seriously putting a dent in my knitting time seeing as I'm reading instead.
• Leaves. I'm so freaking tired of raking leaves. Could you perhaps arrange the prevailing wind to reverse itself til, say, December, so the leaves in my yard blow into my neighbour's yard instead of me bagging endless piles of maple leaves when I don't even have a maple tree in my yard? Thanks.
• Dish fairies would be a nice idea. Ditto laundry fairies and picking-up-crap-around-the-house fairies. Barring that, maybe you could curb the slob tendencies in my children. Because that's something I'm apparently unable to do.
• Oh, and if you could make them eat some new things, I'd appreciate it. True story, Universe: Rachel tried home fries the other night. I wheedled and cajoled and threatened, and she gingerly took a bite and chewed and said, "It tastes good. But I don't like them."
• Maybe you could intermittently change the physical properties of wood, so when I bang my head on the table in despair at things like that, I don't get those annoying forehead bruises.

I'll check in later and see if you've managed to get any of that done. I have a couple of work projects to finish, some interviews to schedule, the vacuuming, and of course some raking to do before starting to make the pizza dough for dinner. Maybe we can sit down later and have a beer together and check some things off our lists, K?