Dance Stomp Dance

I am so proud of my little birdie. Yesterday was my baby girls Irish Dance Finale and at first I was a little skeptical, during rehersal I wasn't getting the story factor of it, the costumes and such. But in the end it all came together and it was thrilling to say the least, mind you our little ones did not play a huge part they were by far the absolute cutest little birds you ever did see.

The hard shoed girls are absolutely spectacular. I was in the 2nd row and the thudding makes your heart go a flutter to say the least.

How exciting, my kid loves the stage but most of all was pretty taken with the "green room", she "loved" waiting to go on stage, it was fun, fun, fun! What a kid.

Who you gonna call?

So this morning on the "eye opener" this question was raised:

Do you have someone you can call in the middle of the night to bail you out of jail? (Other than your spouse)

So do you?

Have you ever been called to come pick someone up or bail them out?

My answer is yes & yes.

I have a few people I could call to bail me out, my oldest brother, my dad, and Melinda.

I know Melinda would we made a deal many moons ago (while we were intoxicated walking down King Street).

My dad because hell he's bailed all the rest of em' out but me!

My brother because he's called me a few times of my adult life and I always went with dad from the time I was B's age to get him.

So who ya gonna call?

Groaner to make you Smile

While watching Oprah tonight we discovered the Jonas Brothers were going to be on, well in every little girls mind that is aged 6+ they are the "cats meow" and my daughter is NO exception.

As we are watching them and Oprah is interviewing she asks each one an individual question, when the 3rd Jonas Bro comes up on the screen she says "Kevin, he is my FAVOURITE - he is SOOOOO cute".


Yes my six year old daughter, he is "sooooo" cute....good grief.......I thought daddy was going to stroke out right there and die while making me bacon for supper.


Poor Bugger!

What was he thinking?

Search resumes for Brazilian priest carried aloft by party balloons

By Stan Lehman, The Associated Press

SAO PAULO, Brazil - Rescuers reached a cluster of brightly colored party balloons floating in the ocean off Brazil's coast Tuesday but did not find the Roman Catholic priest who had been using them in a bid to set a flight record.

Rev. Adelir Antonio di Carli remained missing after lifting off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday wearing a helmet, aluminum thermal flight suit, water proof coveralls and parachute in a bid to break a record for the longest time in-flight with party balloons.

He planned to use the money raised in his attempt to break the 19-hour record to fund a "spiritual" rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, home to Brazil's largest grain port.

Di Carli was reported missing about eight hours after taking off when he lost contact with port authority officials.

The cluster of yellow, orange, pink and white balloons was seen Tuesday night, floating intact in the sea off Brazil's southern Santa Catarina state near di Carli's last contact point, according to a photograph posted on Sao Paulo's UOL news website.

Authorities reached the cluster of balloons late Tuesday but the priest was not there, Globo TV said.

"Given his physical condition and the equipment he was carrying, I would say there is an 80 per cent chance that he is still alive," said Johnny Coelho, commander of the Penha Fire Department, which is searching for the priest.

Di Carli, who has taken jungle survival and mountain climbing courses, was carrying enough drinking water and cereal bars to stay alive for at least five days, Coelho said, suggesting the priest may be adrift in the ocean or resting on a beach or forest-covered mountain along the coast.

The priest, an experienced skydiver, also had a GPS device, satellite phone and buoyant chair with him, Coelho said.

"He last used the phone and GPS on Sunday at 8:45 p.m. to let the Navy know his location," Coelho said. "We haven't heard from him since."

The priest embarked on a similar adventure on Jan. 13, when he used 600 balloons to carry him on a four-hour, 5,300 metre-high voyage from the town of Ampere to neighboring Argentina, where he landed safely.

Parishioners at his Sao Cristovao parish maintained a vigil for di Carli Tuesday, confident he would be found.

"Without a doubt, they will find him alive," parish treasurer Denise Gallas said. "He's alive somewhere out there."

Challenged - "Good" Friend Trait

Ok so another challenge has gone out and I'm up for it, I think, the challenge is to say of our friends what one would you like because of their traits......

I think Sue had it nailed down flat:

KimMartha because of her focus, her classic way, her quiet demeanor, the love she has for her hubby and kids, the devotion and the way she can Scrapbook - man I love her style.

and last but not least...Jeanette for her cooking ability, man I wish I had a tiny bit of her talent in my pinky and one more Nick for her smarts, man that girl is a smarty pants and brave as hell for going back to school and doing what she wants to do.

Thanks for the Challenge, it was great.

That kid of mine....

Kid: Do you know the states are going to have a new president?

Us: yeah

Kid: yeah either a man from Africa or a woman

Us: you mean an 'Africian American'?

Kid: Um I guess so? I saw it on CNN

Challenge - Best Trait

When I read the blog challenge from JennyPooh I was completed lost, I had no idea what in heck I had for "good" physical traits.....so here are my thoughts.....oh boy...

- Ears
- Finger Nails
- Lips
- Feet

Now Nick added another type of trait to hers and I liked it, then had to think it over....best personality trait......the only one(s) I could definitely point to was:

Loyal & Protective

What does your future hold?

Since we are in challenge mode I would like to challenge you to answer the following question...

What are you looking forward to? What do you have coming up, planned, receiving, giving, etc.......vacation even?

What are some items / things/ people that you are looking forward to seeing, going or coming to.

For me:

Vacation

Girl Power

Time Away

June

May

upcoming news....

Smile

Since FuDee has put a new challenge out there...lets see....what makes ME smile?

To be with people I care about and who care about me

When 'B' has learned something new

When 'B' proves how independent she really is and shows that girl power does rock da house

A Warm tub, nice music, candles and solitude

Books

Lazy Sunday afternoons in my bedroom curled up and relaxin'

Snuggling my baby girl

Listening to my baby girl read

Havin' great laughs with the ladies in my life

How lucky I am to be me. Thank you!

Yeah for me! Rah! Rah!

I'm writing this on the 15th, I won't have time tomorrow but tomorrow is my birthday.......I know you are aware, I whined about it last week in my Birthday Blues post, and tomorrow is the big day.

You would think I was turning 50 but no, I'm in my 30's but dammit if I could turn back time......

What would I do if I could go back to my 20's?

What was my BEST 20?

Hmmmm, let me think?

My BEST 20 was - 21, I had just started working for the govy and life had turned around for me, things were going well, I had a couple of very close best buds, we were inseprable, drinking every single weekend, playing horse shoes, cards and all winter we had plans every Friday night with this couple or that couple. We had the world by the ass!

So what is different?

I miss the hanging out, we used to have person after person stopping by for a coffee or a beer, shootin' the shit, everyone was welcome, family would drive over just to say hi or watch me work (make coffee).

I miss that stoppin' by kind of atmosphere. Inviting a group in on Saturday night and having a big crib tourney or playing board games.

I want more of that, doesn't have to be booze involved or none of that but just hang out time. Whether its with my girlies or me & hubby hookin' up and hangin out.

Yep, put me back at 21....Footloose & Fancy Free!

If we had it

Think back to your jr high, high school days, what were you doin' on Friday & Saturday nights? Who were you with, what corner of the room where you hookin' up with some guy/gal? Smokin' what? Drinkin' what? Foolin' around with who?

What if we had FaceBook back then? I have a few youngins' on my facebook and over the weekend there were some pics posted of one - at a party with her "friends", where there were 'plenty' of pictures taken, looks as though the camera went round n' round the room quite a lot.

These kids are doin' tequila shots, drinkin' booze, some have cigs and are grabbing and handling parts of their own or others anatomy. All in the name of fun right?

I wonder who that youngin' will feel about those pictures when they become parents? Oh wait, some mom's were in those pictures too, a few I partied with and by god they are still whooping it up and boy do they look terrible, years & years of partying is hard on the bod I guess?

Did I mention these kids are in grade 9 which puts them at ages 15 & 16?

Now I'm not upset with the photos of this youngin' well not in a parent sense, hey! Its bound to happen, I did it, you did it, don't give me that self righteous stuff.....shit happens.

BUT - I am embarrassed for her, pictures speak a 1000 words right? Yeah there are a few words I'm thinking, the one saving grace is that some of the really bad pics are NOT of my little friend. But hey! Her photo opp may have just been missed?

So I'm thinking back to some of my young days and thinking OMG! There were many photo opps for this chick that were less than compromising my reputation :o)

House parties are all great and good until someone gets caught with their pants down on the parents bed.........LOL

All By Yourself....

My question for you today is?

What is your car music? The car music when your all by yourself, travelling a distance (for me its home) and you've had a good or bad day and just need to let loose? Do you have happy or sad tunes? Did you ever stop to think that you go for the same tune when your in that mood?

When I've had a hard day or am a little pissy my music is : Martina McBride - The Best Of....I love belting out a little "I Love You" or "Independence Day", or my other option is The Dixie Chicks "Not Ready to Make Nice".

Happy I'm all by myself Music: Dr. Hook - Bankrupt (Millionaire, Cooky & Lila, Only 16), and Fergie.

Long Drive ready to hammer down, peddle to the Metal type: AC/DC - Who Made Who CD (entire CD) or GNR - Appetite for Destruction and sometimes Motley Crue - Dr Feelgood......love this one.

Yes of course I have it broken down, those are the CD's I reach for every single time. Those are my 'feel good' tunes.

Snow-B-Gone

Do you remember the scene in Frosty The Snowman where the magician has this spray can that magically melts the snow, he was spraying it everywhere and the snow would disappear and the green grass came through instantly?

Yes that is my new wish for lately. Can someone please point me in the right direction for some "SnowBGone" because I look out my window today and its FREAKIN snowin'!!!!

Kill me now!!!!!!

I can't take it......Frig Off and warm up, you teased me last weekend with such wonderful weather, we even tapped trees and now your back to your old tricks, I hate deception and that is exactly what you've done to me, I guess you found out I had plans to for the day that included some early birthday fun.

Guess what? Its gonna happen regardless, with or without you!

{insert me sticking me tongue out}

R&R

Its Friday, the best part of the week, afternoon even, the best part of the day.

As I sit here my co-workers are in the hall laughing and being silly, they have me cracking up. No matter how silly they are I can't get enough.

Tonight I'm headed to Avalon Spa for some 'work'. Its a pre-treat to my birthday.....

*sigh* I need the rest & relaxation. Ahhhhhhhh

Birthday Blues

Its not my birthday today! Heaven's no! But next week is.....and for whatever reason I'm feeling just down in the dumps about it, I'm dreading next week. Its not like I'm turning a big, dark age or anything but since my 30th birthday a 'few' years ago I hate birthdays, I use to scoff at people who thought it was silly.

My neighbour turned 30 a few years before me and she had a terrible time with it and I laughed at her and said she was being silly for letting it bug her so much, then those 2 years sped by and voila there I was turning 30. My 30th birthday like any other was uneventful and came on without fanfare, a small family party, BBQ'd food and cake.

I blew out my candles and life resumed, for some. To me it was a defining moment, a look back on those 30 years. What happened? What didn't happen? Where did I go? What did I do? Did I contribute? Am I where I want to be? What do I want for myself? Where am I headed?

....so for the past couple of years I've felt the same way and here I am still sitting in my own purgatory of life, of sorts.

So here I stand, another year has passed and I've chosen to just sit on the lifetrain and go round and round.

I'm not looking forward to next week. Happy Pitty Party to me!

Do you care?

A Best Friend is someone who brings out the best in you.............do you bring out the best in someone?

How much do you care about anything or anyone? Do have genuine care or is it surface only? If someone was in need would you do something to help them? How much would you do? Are you a true friend or superficial?

Have you ever asked yourself these questions?

Do you say Hello when you enter a room full of people?

Do you ask someone how they are when you meet up with them?

Do you care what their answer is? ...and then happy it wasn't long and drawn out?

Do you only contact people when you need something from them or just looking for information?

I have recently mourned the loss of someone in my life and it caused me to take a step back, they weren't someone I talked to on a regular basis but I realized the only time that person came around was when it was convenient for them and/or they wanted something from me. They never bothered to even ask me how I was doing.

Now when I see them I have trouble seeing past that point, and I know they know its there too, but do they care? No probably not, if its not about him then it doesn't really matter. I thought this person was 'worth it' and they let me down.

I guess its more their loss than mine? To be honest, its both our losses no matter how you look at it.

So remember to care.

Facebook Craze

I don't know about you but Facebook is nice and for many months it totally consumed me, adding friends, making those old time connections, catching up and enjoying the reminicing it brought me. There are many high school friends I still chat with and enjoy their little messages.

There were times it left me scratching my head as well....there were people from High School who never spoke to me then who where now requesting to be my friend, whats up with that? Those were people I never added as friends. I'm no friend 'HOE' by any means....I only wanted people I really wanted to talk to. I hit the "ignore" button on those requests, then I found myself with so many people who I no longer even spoke to still on my list.

I decided it was time for a clean sweep of those 'undesriable' people who just wanted to snoop. I also had a rule, if YOU were adding me then YOU were obligated to make the first contact with me...I deleted them as well.

Needless to say I've lost my interest in FaceBook and what people are doing...I check it (don't get me wrong), I'm saying it no longer takes over my life, I still check my messages and events that have scheduled.

I have a friend who has decided FaceBook is EVIL and he deleted his account, he decided he wanted to remove his on-line name stamp, he also has removed himself from many other sites as well, he prefers to not have his name on the net. For good reason. The internet is a great tool when its used for what it is intended for. Past that its just another evil-doer.

Sleep, Must have Sleep

The past few weeks have left me sleepless. Why? I have no idea. I have stayed up later, gone to bed earlier, even indulged in alcohol and each and every morning has me lying awake come 4 am. The world is quiet at 4 am, unfortunately my brain is not, the moment I look up at that alarm clock I am enraged that I had the nerve to be awake when I have 2 more good hours that I could be sleeping - of all the nerve, how dare I do this to myself.

At that point I decided it is time to my list for the day of things to do, yeah I make a mental list for each day, you can call me OCD.

Since Sunday night left me lying awake the entire night I decided that was enough for this gal.

This morning was different, I took every precaution. While in the USA this past weekend I picked up Tylenol PM, well may I recommend if you can't sleep, give yourself a treat of 2 of these little puppies......WOW!

The alarm brought me clear, I rolled over turned it off and proceeded to hunker down further, I wanted to go back to sleep. Now that is so rare.......I wanted to call in sick but the thought of that 6 year old across from me toddling in to my bed in under 1 hour made me realize it just isn't worth it.

So I am at work today and bright eyed and even bushy tailed....well maybe not bushy, no girl wants to be known as "bushy". :o)

Oh What Fun!

Finally, Spring has begun in the Maritimes. What a relief. I was pretty upset on Friday when 5-10cm of snow was predicted, I'm so happy they were wrong. That would have cut into my trip away to see my "cross of the border" friend named Wal-Mart. *sigh*

The deals, oh the deals were amazing, I cleaned up. I've shed some poundage of lately and my "bottoms" are sliding off my bottom......I can finally toss some clothing away.....

I'm headed back there in a few weeks for some more items.....its just to good to resist.

To top it all off a night out with friends is the best way to enjoy a night off some great food, great friends and lots of laughs. What more could a girl ask for?

Today was even better! Who would of thought?

This gorgeous weather pushed us outside all afternoon. We tapped a couple of trees to see how the sap was going to go and by george we have "some" accumulation - woo hoo! We puddle jumped, blew bubbles, climbed on the top of the swings (yes the snow is that high) and a little jump rope.

The best times are spent with family and friends.....yes that they are.

Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang

So I've decided I'm getting another tattoo, yes another......I can't help it.

I've got a few ideas and one just keeps leaping out at me.....

I want something to do with my daughter, something surrounding her and no I'm not getting Hannah Montana tattoo'd on my back either.......because you know if I asked her that is exactly what she'd say.

I want something symbolic, something that is her. I've had a few suggestions but nothing has really been "the one".

I'll still keep looking.......it beats the 'FUCK OFF' I was going to get ..... wouldn't that be sweet?

Mornin' Fun

Picture a mother and daughter standing at the living room window waving good bye to daddy in his Hertz rental truck.

"Mama?"

Yes

"Remember I used to think that was a Subway Truck?"

Yes

"I don't think that anymore".

Ok Good......

Bible Club

My daughter recently joined Bible Study at her school.

Since September we've had her attending weekly cathecism. Each week she came home with tons of crafts. I would then ask her what she learned that day and she would say "nothing". I would ask "did they read you a story?". Her response would be "no".

So I questioned my MIL since she used to be (a long time ago) a cathecism instructor (I guess it sounds more formal then a Sunday School Teacher - those Catholics!). She told me they would have a curriculum to follow and a lesson each week and the crafts would go along with it.

So I thought ok they just haven't gotten into anything too heavy?

At Christmas time she came back with a craft made of wood they she had painted of the 3 Wisemen. I asked her about it and what she knew about the men and what they were doing. She said "I don't know?".

I then said "do you even talk about God at cathecisim?"

She says "God Who?"

I almost fell off my chair, I was completely flabergasted and then finally said "are they not talking about the baby Jesus or Mary & Joseph?"

She said "no we color and do crafts".

WHAT THE HELL? THAT CAN BE DONE AT HOME!!!!! NOW THAT WAS A MOMENT TO MAKE ME TAKE THE LORDS NAME IN VAIN RIGHT THEN AND THERE!

Monday was her first lunch hour of Bible Study at school, we were really hoping she was going to get something out of that. Hey she asked to do it and we told her what she would be learning and she was the one who said "I want to, I want to"......so I we said "yes".

Monday night we are driving home and I say "so how was SONshine Club today?".

She starts in by saying "Great! We learned about this guy who built a really BIG boat but I can't remember his name and took all the animals in the world on this boat, it has another name mama but I just can't remember it, then it rained and rained and rained and everyone died 'cept them and everyone lived happily ever after".

Well ................ what can I say? Its a start.

Life Gets in My Way

Ever have this problem?

Life just gets in the way of you doing stuff, the small stuff....

For 2 weeks I have wanted a hair cut, it never fails, whenever I want a hair cut it takes me about 2-3 weeks to kick myself in the butt and call and usually its because I'm having a terrible, terrible BAD hair day and completly lose it and end up with a hair band on - ugh!

For years I've had short hair and the damn style required me to go almost every 3 weeks well at $35 + tip it becomes rather pricey and annoying. Don't get me wrong I love to get my hair cut once I'm there, think of the child and bath, they fight not to get in but once they are in you can't get them out! Thats me at the salon. Augh!

I have to say I am very lucky when it comes to getting my hair cut on the very day I MUST have it cut. I call at 9:01 am (just as the salon opens) and cry, cry, cry and plead and beg and lo and behold they end up with a cancellation or are able to fit me in.......yipeee!

Today was one of those days, I needed a cut and I HAD to have it TODAY and voila......my wish is their command.