RBOC (and it's all crap, really)

Nothing too exciting, just general busy-ness. Oh, and one little thing that made me smile excessively.

**Obviously, I have recovered from strep. Not through any helpfulness from my husband. A fine example? Friday, I was delusional enough to think that I would be able to go lay down once he got home from work. I had already made the kids dinner, and just wanted to rest for about an hour. Well, Hubby decided that homework must get done then because there wouldn't be time later. So, I got to do homework with Corwin, who argued, whined, moaned, took off, and threw his pencil. Until bath and bedtime. Hubby worked with Clara, who enjoys homework and was done quickly. To say I was pissed off would be putting it mildly. I was also angry that he insisted on doing homework on a Friday, when the kids are tired from a full week at school, and just need to relax. Corwin had absolutely no downtime at all on Friday, which is wrong, just wrong. And Hubby wondered why Corwin wouldn't fall asleep and kept calling from bed that he wasn't tired, yet was clearly whiny and tired. Men!!

**Saturday was pretty good. Hubby and the kids went on the Beaver walk to Beaver Pond (they didn't see any beavers of the animal variety). Corwin's friend, Duncan, came for lunch and then spent the rest of the day and night here (his mom had to work, his dad died in June of 2006, and his grandma, who usually watches Duncan and his sister, had heart surgery the day before). The kids had a great time, and Hubby took them to several parks in the afternoon so I could get stuff done. Because his parents were coming for dinner. Yes, strep, a sleep-over, and entertaining the in-laws. My, what a wonderful weekend. At least it all went well, including the sleep-over portion (the first for my kids and Duncan).

**Sunday morning was a bit hectic, getting kids dressed and fed, and then taking Hubby to pick up the truck to go and help my parents move some stuff to their storage locker here. Once he was on his way, I dropped the kids at Duncan's house and headed to church. Singing was fine, managed to go out for brunch afterwards, and then headed back to get the kids. There was a message from Duncan's mom that since it was such a beautiful day, they had gone to Gatineau Park for a hike and picnic. Woo hoo - free time!! I had a nap and got some stuff done around here. Once Corwin and Clara were back home, around 3:30, they were exhausted. We did the errand we needed to do for Corwin's homework, then I gave them baths and they got into lounge pants. Corwin finished his homework and then we went and picked up pizza for dinner. They had some chill out time while watching the end of a movie, and then went to bed without argument (amazing!!!!).

**Monday was uneventful except that Hubby returned home with the truck, unloaded stuff here (like a snowblower - yay!! - and barbeque - yay!!!). Then he went to unload stuff at the storage locker. When Corwin and Clara came home from school, we all drove over to return the truck. Corwin and Clara got to ride in the truck which was a big thrill for them.

**On Tuesday, I practiced frantically for flute choir. I missed last week because I had a meeting to attend. And I knew that we would be doing a piece new to me but performed by the rest of the choir last year. Nothing like a little stress and worry about measuring up to promote intense use of the metronome!! Happily, I didn't mess up too much. It's just really weird being the new person in the group, and trying to blend. I actually asked the conductor (from now on known as Waverley - she was also the first flute last Feb in Elijah) if I was blending in all right. The good news is that her answer was an enthusiastic yes.

**Yesterday was a busy one. I worked with Boss Lady doing Hallowe'en decor on Parliament Hill. We were in the West Block. Of course, there was bureaucratic BS involved regarding getting in, particularly as the House of Commons was in session, and the room we were to decorate was booked for committee meetings and caucus. Oh the joy. At least it wasn't raining as we were standing outside. Weasley joined me for this event, his first time working with the Boss Lady. I had to leave early to pick up the kids from the bus, but he stayed, and then went out to dinner with the crew, and did take-down as well. It was an early one - the party, "Hillowe'en", is for the children of parliamentarians, so it went from 5:30-7:30. I didn't go back for take-down because I had other plans - I was recording with Gordon and the Women's Compline Choir last night.

**So, recording. I must say, Gordon needs to write some new stuff (and he agrees). The pieces we sang were written when the Compline Choir was made up of mostly altos with a few sopranos. Because of this, there is one soprano part, and two alto lines and the alto lines are low. (Now we have seven sopranos and three altos so it's basically reversed). I got to sing the middle line. Which is low, and yep, harmony, my least favourite thing to sing. Seriously, for one of the pieces, it is basically the same note - E flat - with the occasional D or C. Anyway, I had some serious stress about one piece that I looked at briefly beforehand, saw that I knew it, and moved on. Of course, when it came time to record, I realized that I knew it because we sang it with the full choir (women only) during communion last year. And I knew the soprano part, not the stupid upper alto line. This was the last piece we recorded, and it sucked to sight-read at 10:00 pm, and sing non-melody stuff that makes no sense whatsoever to me. Basically, I can't do most alto parts because it's just random notes that make no sense and I end up trying to just read intervals - nothing flows. And it's difficult to sing low all the time - my voice just doesn't do that very well. Whatever, we managed to get it all done. On the drive home (Gordon was my ride), Gordon asked me how I felt that it went. I said overall that it went well, told him about my panic and sight-reading for the last piece, and told him about the issues that kept coming up with one other piece. I think it will be interesting to hear the recording.

**The best thing about last night? We picked up Gaston and went for coffee afterwards. That's when Gordon was telling me about his chat with Waverley about our Christmas concert. The Strings will be augmented to full orchestra, which includes 2 flutes. He was asking Waverley who she would like as second flute for the performances and she said, "Well, Canada, of course". (of course!!! Insert big goofy grin here!!). To which Gordon replied "No, Canada will be singing". I may not be playing, boys and girls, but I was the first choice!!!


(I guess this would be random paragraphs of crap, huh?)