Humidex and Broken A/C

Well, Thursday evening was the big flute choir performance. A whole evening of flute choirs performing, in fact. Originally, our trio was scheduled to go on second but due to some very sad recent events, one of our members had to attend a funeral at 4pm, so we had to switch to the end (well, second last group before the grand finale). Unfortunately, the air conditioning was broken in the church. The hall outside was much cooler, but the church seemed okay at first. However, at intermission, I went out into the hall and realized just how damn hot it was getting. Going back into the church after intermission was like walking into a steam room. When it was our turn to play, I actually felt pretty good about it. I was nervious but I had fun while we played - really, truly had fun. I did mess up a bit towards the end of our third pieece, but that was because my flute started sliding around since I was sweating and it was slipping off my face. I had to push it really firmly against my chin and that made my fingers a little less nimble. But I didn't get all stressed out because it really wasn't anything I could control. Who knows, maybe the heat addled my brain or cooked my nerves but it turned out okay.

Today, I am playing at the wedding of my friend Senate Woman. We had the rehearsal last night, and it was lots if fun. And there was lots of wine. I came home just before midnight, fully intending on heading to bed, but ended up puttering around and looking at old letters, and trying to find an old picture of my grade 8 crush with whom I've reconnected (again, we dated in the summer of 1990 before I went back for my fourth year at university) on Facebook. It was very funny. Then I had a bath and watched Love Actually while I was in the tub. Did I mention that Hubby and the kids have gone camping with Beavers for the weekend? I am really enjoying the solitude. Now it's time to get ready for wedding stuff.

You All Know What The Ugly Duckling Becomes . . .

Your Power Bird is a Swan

You are a truly graceful and gorgeous creature. You easily see beauty in yourself and others. Intuitive and in touch, you can often guess what the future will bring. And you're flexible enough to accept the changes that life has in store for you.

What's Your Power Bird?

As seen at the very bird-knowledgeable Dr Brazen Hussy's

Sweet & Sour

As in lemon and honey. I need to combine lots of it, and a whole bunch of Advil because I have a wicked sore throat. It started yesterday, but I thought it was just all the singing. I had soup and tea for lunch between my nursery school sessions in hopes that it would help. I got through the afternoon, and then took an Advil before choir. By the end of choir I could tell that this was not just a vocal fatigue sorta thing.

So . . . Hubby and I have our thirteenth anniversary on Monday. Corwin and Clara are going to aunt Kat's to sleep over tomorrow night so that Hubby and I can have the evening to ourselves. We're planning on dinner out. Between my sore throat and the nasty cramps I have, it doesn't seem like a lotta romance is in the cards! Do you think he'll be up for soup and tea for my sore throat?

On a totally different note, I forgot to post about my impromptu cantoring last Sunday. It was the last Sunday for compline (well, the women's compline - the men will sing on the 27th) until September. There were 4 of us to sing, the same 4 that were there the only other time I attended. It's a really nice service, short, and all in the dark except for candles. We sing from the back of the church. Anyway, we rehearse at 8, and sing at 9. Gordon assigned one woman to lead, asked another to be the cantor for the first psalm (both women are regulars and have done this many times before), then he asked me to cantor the second psalm. For a moment I felt paralysed and he told me "you can say no." To which I replied "we're at the back and it's dark so, I'll try it here. If I suck, then I'll say no". I did it. And I did just fine in the church, too. Another piece of the performance anxiety unravelled - it seems I don't like people looking at me, not in a spotlight situation. Hmmmm, I wonder if Awesome Vocal Teacher will let me sing in the dark from the back at my recital? Somehow I doubt it - I've been told I'll have no music so I can better "connect" with the audience. That means eye contact. Damn.

Reconnecting

This whole Facebook thing is really awesome. I have been connecting with people from elementary school and university, from camp and choir (okay, not that I really need to "find" people from choir, but I've made plans with Diva - in a good way, that nickname - a lot more through Facebook than e-mail). A couple of interesting developments to report:

I started a group that has really started to take off. Most of the people that I want to reconnect with are from high school, more specifically from band/music in high school. So I started a music alumni group and we now have about 17 members, with leads on a few others. A couple of friends started talking last year about a reunion, and I am unbelieveably obsessed with making this happen. I mean, I even have the date in mind, and I'm going to contact the venue where I think it should be held to inquire about pricing and availability. More details to come as this materializes. Needless to say, I'm really excited.

I've also reconnected with a guy I dated when I was 16. We met at a party when I was 15 and Ben was 21, spent the whole evening talking while most of the other guests were getting drunk. I just had a glass of wine, and I think he had a beer (he was driving). When he asked the host about me later, Ben was mortified that he was so interested in a 15 year old. End of story, or so I thought. My friend Beaker (who had taken me to the party) was still a lifeguard, as was Ben. He would periodically ask about me. Finally, in October (I was 16 by this point), I got up the nerve and called him. We spent a lot of hours on the phone over the next few weeks. I had a part time job at a shop that sold brass stuff (plant pots, vases, statues, gigantic giraffes, etc - I fucking hate brass now!). One evening, I was just completing a sale, writing out the invoice, when I could sense that another person was standing there. I said "I'll be with you in a moment" and that's when I looked up and it was Ben. I can picture him so clearly, it's like it was just last week. The other customer left and he and I chatted as I closed up and counted out the cash. Then he drove me home. This happened fairly frequently, and sometimes we'd go grab something to eat. Once, we were supposed to go to a friend's party after I finished work, but I kept ringing and she didn't hear the doorbell, so we went to a movie instead. The frustrating thing was that he was a total gentleman. I mean, I didn't want him to an aggressive jerk, but a little hand-holding would have been nice. I was so upset one night when I thought for sure he was going to kiss me and . . . nothin'! I think I got a bit annoyed with the whole thing, and we didn't see each other much. I was laid off from work (so was the other part-time girl - slow brass sales), and I dated someone else briefly. At the end of the school year, we were moving to another city, and Ben and I got together for lunch one time, and also went to the fireworks with my best friend and her boyfriend. Still nothing, until the night before I moved. I had been staying at my best friend's for about a week, and my parents and all of our stuff had moved to the new city - I was flying there the next day. Ben came over and we went for a walk. When we got back, my BF went inside, and Ben and I were saying goodbye. And we made out for about 20 minutes. It was really, really good, and all I could think of was "why now?!?!?!?!". Ben and I stayed in touch for a bit, and then he wrote to me that he was engaged (this was about a year later - it was May 1987). That hurt way more than I thought it would. I met her the following summer - I went to my best friend's for a weekend. We lost touch after that. Until this week on Facebook. His name is not uncommon but his parents had moved, so I'd been unable to get back in touch previously. The Facebook picture looked like him enough to message him and ask if he was the Ben who used to live on x street in oldtown. And he was. He did marry the fiancee in 1989, they split in '91, and he's been single ever since. Who knows, if we keep messaging on Facebook, I may ask him why he never made a move way back then. 'Cause I'm just that kind of curious!

There are a few more people I'm looking for, and several more that I'm really happy to be back in touch with. I promise to write if there are any more exciting reconnections. And now . . . off to the bus stop!

Mother's Day Recap

I did not get breakfast in bed, which is a blessing in so many ways. I did, however, get greeted by two excited kids while I was still in bed. On Saturday, Corwin and Clara insisted that I needed flowers. They each got me a bunch of tulips - red from Corwin, pink from Clara "because those are the colours for love". Awwww! Then on the actual day, both of them came bearing an armful of gifts. They each got me something for the garden - a lantern from Corwin and a cute bee stake with bouncy wings from Clara. But the best gifts were the creations they made at school.

First of all, they each made flowers with pipe cleaner stems, and petals that folded out. Something was written on each petal.
On Corwin's: I love you, You are the best, You are a good mom, I love your hugs, You are a good cook, and You are a Sens fan (okay, that last one was a big dose of wishful thinking on his part!!)
On Clara's: I love you, You're the best, You are so pretty, You are as sweet as sugar, You are cool, You're the best in the world.

Then there were a couple of cards that were made at school, and a scroll which contained a beautiful (tear-inducing) poem called "A Child's Angel". Also in the scroll was a fill in the blanks paper entitled My Mother. This was very, very funny. Here are their answers (and one real answer, too!)

1. My Mom is ______ years old. She has ____ hair and _____ eyes.
- Corwin's: 17, black, brown.
- Clara's : 87, brown, brown.
- actual : 38 (recently turned), dark brown, brown.

2. My mom's favourite thing to do is _____.
- Corwin's: bring us out for dinner.
- Clara's : work in the garden.

3. My favourite thing that my mom makes is _____.
- Corwin's: honey garlic chicken.
- Clara's : pasta.

4. My mom is good at _____.
- Corwin's: singing in the choir.
- Clara's : colouring.

5. I'm happy when my mom _______.
- Corwin's: and I cook together.
- Clara's : drives me to school.

6. My mom likes to watch ______ on T.V. and listen to _____.
- Corwin's: the weather, Nickelback (too funny, they never see me watch
tv but I check the weather every morning before school!)
- Clara's : her stuff, soft music.

7. My mom's best friend is _____.
- Corwin's: Nancycle.
- Clara's : Beck.

8. My mom looks really pretty when _____.
- Corwin's: she goes to choir.
- Clara's : she wears earrings.

9. I am proud of my mom because _____.
- Corwin's: she is good at everything.
- Clara's : she makes good food.

I will be saving these little gems forever (and I'm so glad that my son thinks I'm so youthful! LOL, I would have had them at the ripe old age of 10!!!)

Weekend Update

The Saturday afternoon/evening with Daisy turned into a slumber party. She came to pick me up, we did all of our errands, and then had a couple of glasses of wine. At which point we realized that getting to the restaurant would be tricky, since I can't drive standard, and she was too tipsy to drive. All hail our knight in shining armour, CF, who was supposed to meet us at the restaurant, but came and picked us up in his shiny chariot. We met Beck at Mangia for some more wine and lovely pasta, then headed over to the club. At which point we discovered that the band's timeslot had been pushed back because of the hockey game (and if you know my feelings about hockey, you can imagine how impressed I was!).

Anyway, Weasley and Harry arrived and we all had a while to chat and have a beer (well, Daisy had switched to water at that point, and Beck was enjoying an amaretto sour). The band was pretty good, a bit harder rock than I usually go out for, but I was glad we went. We ended up leaving before they were finished their set because Harry had to work early, and Beck, Daisy, and I all had church in the morning. CF drove Daisy and I home, Weasley chauffeured Harry and Beck.

Daisy and I stayed up chatting for a bit, then I had a fabulous, uninterrupted sleep in her guest room. Woke up and looked at the clock at 6:30, and happily went back to sleep 'til 8! Daisy made homemade waffles in her waffle-iron, and then we headed to church in a leisurely manner - so different from my usual rush around, get the kids ready, leave by 8:50, hurry, hurry, hurry Sunday mornings.

After church (where Hubby and the kids met me), we went to the in-laws for lunch. Corwin and Clara love to weigh themselves on the in-laws scale because it is the talking kind. Clara is currently 45 pounds, and Corwin is now 68 pounds. Crazy!! We were talking about the whole booster seat requirement - kids have to be in a booster until they are 8, reach 80 lbs, or are 4'9" tall. Corwin is very tall, so we decided to measure him. My mother-in-law said we should do that downstairs where Hubby's height and his sisters' heights are recorded on a beam from when they were kids. Corwin went first and was the EXACT height that Hubby was - when he was EIGHT (Corwin's only six and a half). Only 5 inches to grow before he is out of the booster seat. Clara is not impressed. She's tall, but about 4 inches shorter than Corwin. She may make it on the height, but I suspect she'll be eight (we all know she won't hit the weight!).

That's the weekend in a nutshell - beautiful and sunny, and a lot of fun. Here's to many more this spring and summer. Now I need to go get my hands dirty in the garden.

HA!!! I Wish!

You Are a Flawless Beauty!

When it comes to beauty, you spare no expense - and it showsYou're the kind of woman a man would launch a thousand ships forIt's hard for anyone to beat you in the beauty departmentBut remember, it's okay to show a flaw or too - you've got plenty to spare

What Type of Beauty Are You?

Stolen from the lovely Lina.

The Lazy Blogger

Yes, I am still alive. It has been very busy around here with choir and flute and the kids starting soccer. My parents were here for a few days doing house stuff again (my Dad is still driving my Mom crazy, but not quite as much as before), and Corwin was invited to the Writer's Cafe to read his short story, "The Snakes". He had a small panic about it on Monday night, thinking that the auditorium would be packed (they had a play at school on Monday morning, and the gym was crammed with people). We calmed him down, and on Wednesday evening there were not that many people there - only the invited guests of the 50 kids chosen to read. He had been practicing, and did very well (you could see him relax when he saw that it wasn't a "full house"). Here is Corwin's story:

The Snakes

One day, the snake family woke up.

"We will go hunting."

So they went hunting.

Mommy snake and the babies had fun.

A beginning, a middle, and an end. Gotta love grade one. Clara was pretty snotty about the whole thing when Corwin was asked ("It's just the stupid Writer's Cafe".) I pointed out to her that she had done a reading at a shool event on October, and that Corwin hadn't, and that it was a big deal for her then, just as it was for him now. Once I phrased it that way, she became his biggest fan, being his audience when he practiced over and over at home. He did very, very well on Wednesday night - he spoke clearly, and not too fast. Yay Corwin!!!!

The other thing consuming a lot of my attention has been the BPAL addiction. I should be more able to focus on other things now that my actual order has arrived (I improved somewhat last week with my birthday gift of 3 imps from Luckybuzz - Beltane just on time for Beltane, Nemesis, and Smut). I am busily sniffing and deciding which of the 14 new scents I really like, but will keep the ooohing and aaahing to a minimum (well, I'll try)

And this weekend, I need to get out in the garden and do some tidy-up. But I am also going out with Daisy on Saturday evening. First, we were just going to meet to go see a friend's band play in the evening. Then we decided that I would go a bit early with my paint fan to help her pick colours. The we added dinner to the agenda. Now, I'm going over in the mid-afternoon so we can go shopping at the adult toystore, have dinner, chat, drink wine, and go see the band. Weasley may join us for the band portion, and maybe a few others. Sounds like a good time!