This Is It

The last weekend of summer. I know, not technically, but once school starts, even if the weather is summery, it's not really a summer mentality. So, to mark the beginning of the end, I leave you with two (very vague) pictures of Corwin and Clara, with bonus of Hubby in one shot.

Oooh, A New Meme

The Gospel Bob meme, as tagged by his lovely wife, Luckybuzz.


Four First Names of Crushes I’ve Had
1. John
2. Scott
3. John
4. Mark

Four Pieces of Clothing I wish I still owned (and that would magically fit like they did in my pre-twins body!)
1. the navy lycra mini skirt and leggings
2. the cherry red cropped, low cut jacket
3. the houndstooth straight skirt with the slit
4. the navy pants that were so cool that were stolen from the laundry (long story, but I was SO. PISSED. OFF. at hubby - we were dating - for leaving clothes in the laundry room unattended!)


Four names I’ve been called at one time or another
1. Can(ada)
2. Chester (I hate this one!)
3. Willie (I hate this one more!!!)
4. Linda (I have NO idea why, but 2 teachers in 2 different cities called me this and trust me, it's not related to my name at all)


Four Professions I Secretly Want to Try
1. groom (as in horses)
2. massage therapist
3. mixologist (as in the person who invents the drinks, not just the bartender, though that would be fun, too)
4. chef


Four Musicians I’d most want to go on a date with
1. Simon le Bon
2. Jim Cuddy (from Blue Rodeo)
3. The cellist from the orchestra I played in last winter
4. Jon Farriss (drummer from INXS)

Four Foods I’d rather Throw than Eat
1. almost any cafeteria food from undergrad
2. brussels sprouts
3. liver (well, calves' liver, I kinda like chicken livers and foie gras)
4. okra


Four Things I Like to Sniff
1. newly mown grass or hay
2. BPAL
3. Dunhill cologne on one man in particular (but really, it works for me on just about anyone)
4. fall smells, like woodsmoke and crisp cool night air

Four People to Tag:
1. Arbitrista (only once though, I'm nice!)
2. Maggie May (because now she's on sabbatical, she needs something to do!)
3. Lina (since her first chapter is already done!)
4. crse (because she's crse and she rocks)

Getting There

I have been abysmal at blogging - I know it, you know it, everyone knows it! But there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel - school starts next week! So far, I have:
1. gotten back-to-school supplies for both kids
2. gotten new shoes for both kids
3. ordered and received new fall/early winter jackets (actually polar fleece pullovers and down vests from Land's End and Clara's new snowsuit
4. cleaned both backpacks and lunch bags, retrieved pencil cases and emptied last year's detritus
5. registered Clara for gymnastics, Corwin for ball hockey, and both for JackRabbit x-country ski lessons (well, those aren't 'til January)
6. booked their birthday party (they are sharing -again, by choice- this year!!)
7. arranged playdates with school friends that they missed over the summer.

What I still need to do:
1. get one more pair of running shoes for both kids (to leave at school)
2. arrange my sessions (some I casn't until the schools open)
3. arrange my voice lesson time for this year
4. make hair appointment for Clara for tomorrow
5. buy bathing suits on sale for both, esp Corwin, who has grown.way.too.much!!!!!!
6. practice my psalm for Sunday (yup, I'm the cantor and I haven't even looked at it!)
7. make tiramisu for the pre-season choir barbeque tomorrow
8. clean my very messy and disorganized house

So, I'm halfway there. I'm sure I've forgotten something, but I think I'm doing okay. Regular blogging will resume in the near future (and really, aside from "we went to the beach/park/splash pad", I don't have that much to update!)

Be Careful What You Wish For . . .

I simply commented to Arbitrista that I had not been tagged for the meme (he thought he was the last). Before I knew it, I was tagged four times! So, Arbitrista, I will try to tag a couple of extra people, share the wealth and all. But I'm not doing it 4 times! :)

Four Things Meme

Four Jobs I Have Had In My Life:
1) Junior Staff at Circle R Ranch summer camp
2) sales associate at "The Brass Touch" (did I mention how much I hate brass?)
3) assistant manager at Good Guys Scuba Service
4) Music Therapist

Four Places I Have Lived:
1) Montreal, Quebec
2) Toronto, Ontario
3) Miami, FL
4) Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Four Favorite Foods:
1) Sushi
2) Thai/Vietnamese
3) Mexican
4) Indian

Four Places I'd Rather Be:
1) The South of France
2) St. Lucia (well, not during hurricane season)
3) Circle R Ranch, in the treefort
4) Home, without the 5 hour drive we have tomorrow

Four Movies I Can Watch Over and Over
1) Love Actually
2) Under the Tuscan Sun
3) Pretty Woman
4) Ferris Bueller's Day Off/Sixteen Candles/Breakfast Club/St Elmo's Fire

Four TV Shows I Like To Watch
1) Grey's Anatomy
2) Six Feet Under
3) What Not To Wear
4) Decorating Shows

Four Websites I View Daily
1) Various Blogs
2) Facebook
3) Facebook
4) Facebook (did I mention my little addiction?)

Four Computers I Have Owned
1) Apple MacIntosh
2) some modified Apple
3) An HP with a celeron (get the pentium!!!)
4) MiniMac (oh, how I love my MiniMac!!!!)

Four People To Tag
1) Luckybuzz
2) crse
3) Nancycle
4) Maggie May

Notes on an iPod

Two interesting things I have discovered about myself since I got my iPod (well, since I actually loaded it with my music, which is fairly recently). First of all, I really like depressing music. I mean sad, melancholy, slit-your-wrists to it kind of music. Last three to come up - Silent Lucidity from Queensryche, If God Will Sends His Angels from U2/City of Angels Soundtrack, and No Ordinary Love from Sade. That mix combined with the rain has created one melancholy, crawl back into bed mood!

The other thing is that I am a bit of a ditz. I was prepping and painting the powder room at church (it's the one off the women's choir robing room, and it had UGLY wallpaper). Anyway, Beck was stripping wallpaper with me, and then she came and kept me company while I washed with TSP, etc. I had the iPod hooked up to speakers, and had it set to shuffle through all songs (not in any specific playlist). Periodically, when a new song would start, I would exclaim "I love this song!!" Finally, Beck gave me a really odd look after one of these outbursts and said "You know, it is your iPod". Oh yeah. I have the songs in there because I love them. Duh!!! To my credit, some songs I just love more than others!

Which Greek God Did You Think I'd Be?

Morpheus
Take this quiz!


Inspired by everyone's favourite Nemesis, Lina

Don't Hate Me . . .

But today was the first day I noticed the change in the afternoon sunlight. And how dark it gets by 9. It's that time in August, the time that I suddenly think "summer's over, bring on September!". Tonight, there's even a beautiful, cool breeze that is very reminiscent of autumn.

I think this stems from the years that I went to summer camp. July was always the best time to go - hot days, warm evenings, lots of sunshine . . . perfect halcyon days. August was chillier in the evenings, dewier in the mornings, and the fields always looked less lush. I think a lot of it has to do with the light, when the sun starts slanting a bit differently. It used to give me a homesick feeling deep in my belly, which was heightened by the hum of cicadas in the dry and dusty heat. More accurately, it was a sense of foreboding, of how much I was going to miss camp and my friends and especially the horses.

While I will certainly enjoy the last few weeks of the summer, and our family holiday next week, I look forward with eagerness to the warm afternoons of September, to Indian summer, to the sudden crimson splash of the sedum in my garden. I will revel in the small town fairs, the apple picking and the pumpkin carving, the glory of the fall foliage, and the smell of frost and bonfire smoke in the air.

Yep, it's that time again. Summer's almost over. Bring on September!!!

Well, That's Good . . . I Guess

Disorder	Rating
Paranoid:	Low
Schizoid:	Low
Schizotypal:	Low
Antisocial:	Low
Borderline:	Low
Histrionic:	Moderate
Narcissistic:	Low
Avoidant:	Low
Dependent:	Low
Obsessive-Compulsive:	Moderate
-- Personality Disorder Test -- -- Personality Disorder Information --

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go vacuum again.

Utterly Amazing

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today I did something that was a little out of my comfort zone. I took a few steps past and surprised myself. Today, I picked up the CD of my recital performance from AVT. And I actually listened to it!!

Okay, there are two pieces. I listened to the first, the Pie Jesu. And though I knew where I made my little glitch, and realized that I was a tiny bit flat on one note (but corrected it, so I guess I knew at the time, huh?), I think I sounded okay. No, I sounded good. Wow. I know you're all shocked that the ultra-self-critical, performance-anxiety-ridden "I don't sing in front of people" singer really said that. But it's true. I sounded good.

Then there was the Italian piece. I started listening to Il Mio Bel Foco. And then I popped out the disc. Ugh.

But later . . . now here's the utterly amazing part. I was driving Beck home this afternoon, and I played the Pie Jesu for her. She said I sounded good, but the unprecedented thing is that I sat there listening to myself and let someone else listen, too. After I dropped her off, I listened to the other piece. Yeah, there was a lot of stuff I didn't like. But my high notes were completely on pitch, good tone, nice vibrato, and a few other redeeming features.

I may be a little carried away by this. I went and bought the Puccini aria (a whole book of them, actually!) that I want to sing. From Madama Butterfly. I'll let you know how it goes.

What Can I Say?

It's a talent!

Your Mind is NC-17 Rated

You're mind is so filthy... you should should be washing every part of you out with soap. If your thoughts can go dirty, they do. Almost everything is NC-17 to you!

Do You Have a Dirty Mind?

My Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™     Get your own VisualDNA™

Peace, Man!!!

I have been away decorating since Sunday. We did a minor set-up/teardown on Sunday, and then Monday we spent all day doing this event - a 60s theme, complete with VW beetle.



As it was driving in, not yet decorated . . . .



. . . and afterwards, ready to be the "piece de resistance".