Wild and Crazy 2008

So far, the new year has been busy. Corwin and Clara rang in 2008 with a sleepover at my parents' house, while Hubby and I went to Senate Woman and Traffic Dude's place for a lovely dinner. New Year's Day saw quite a bit of snow in the morning, the result of which was the in-laws "taking a rain check" on dinner at our house (hello, at 10 in the morning the blowing snow was bad, but it had stopped by mid afternoon and the roads were clear by dinnertime. Whatever!). Beck came with the kids and I to see The Water Horse on the Thursday, and my parents took them to see Alvin and the Chipmunks on the Friday, while I undecorated at Scotiabank Place. Basically, from the fourth through the seventh, I was undecorating all over town. Then I got to do it all over again at my house!

Clara started violin lessons last Tuesday - the whole lesson was with a faux violin to practice holding the instrument (held between chin and shoulder, no hands). This week, the real instrument comes out. I'm trying to decide if I'll need to buy earplugs by the gross to hand out to all the neighbours!

My mom turned 65 last Thursday, and the kids and I went over for a visit and dinner before I had to dash off to choir. (The inconvenience of being a one car family is that hubby got home too late from work to join us. If we had 2 vehicles, he could have come over, and then I could have left directly from there to choir. One day we'll have to cave and get a second, but at the moment, we're managing with one). We got my mom a Lampe Berger with Mandarin oil (they were out of orange cinnamon, my first choice. This will be perfect since she likes to cook a lot, but now they have this huge great room. The Lampe Berger can eliminate the cooking smells and look beautiful while doing so. On Saturday night, we all went out to dinner for my mom's birthday. She didn't know that my dad had arranged for a super stretch limo to pick them up, and then come and pick us up. The kids didn't know, either, and Corwin was beyond thrilled. He thoroughly enjoyed pouring and sipping water out of a champagne glass. Clara was all prim and proper, and kept fluffing her dress and futzing with her shoes. We had a lovely meal at L'Oree du Bois, and Corwin and Clara had a fabulous time at their first very fancy dinner. We left the restaurant around 8, forgoing the dessert menu because it was getting late and the kds were tired. We did, however, order 3 plates of the homemade dark chocolates to go - one each for the kids, and one for the rest of us to share. Corwin is saving his money to go back to the restaurant because he thought the mushrooms in puff pastry were "totally delicious". That I can handle. It took a bit of convincing to make him realize that we would NOT be booking a limo for his next birthday!

On Sunday evening at Compline, I got to sing the soprano part instead of the middle line (which is far more first alto than second soprano, and I HATE it). This was due to a little chat beforehand with Gordon, when I asked how many were coming, and if I was going to be singing the middle line. He said yes, and asked why. He was very surprised that I didn't like it, and said "But you're a second soprano!", at which point I told him how much I dislike that, too. Again, he was a bit surprised, and told me that it is a compliment to be a second soprano because we get to sing high but also sing harmony, and he tries to put strong singers and readers there. Damn, I knew I should have faked my ability to sight-read at the audition! Anyway, I started on the middle line, and then he mixed it up by moving Beck down to the middle, and me up (yay!!!! Beck wants to sing harmony. I really don't, unless it's a descant). It all went well, I was really happy, and when I got home, I messaged Gordon and just said "thank you :)". I found his reply particularly amusing "Anything to keep you happy -- as you know, it's my primary goal in life ;) Take care, sleep well ...", to which I replied "I'm glad to see you have your priorities straight ;)". Even if I don't always get to sing the part I want, I'm very happy that I have a choir director with a great sense of humour!

I guess I should get back to the grind. I have a lesson with AVT today, and I badly need to practice. Belated Happy New Year to all!