fridge magnets

Yesterday was Lyanne's birthday...happy belated birthday, Lyanne!


I'm in the midst of the most complete home office purge I've done since we moved into this building. Claustrophobia has set in, and I need to find some more space somehow. And I've actually cleared a space in front of my window so I can actually look outside. Wow. There's a world out there.


At this moment, the contents of my office have exploded into the living room, and I'm gradually trying to fit stuff back in. Purging as much as I can, but throwing things out is difficult for me; I'm a packrat by nature. I need to at least clear the living room by the time Andrea arrives this Friday, however, else she won't have a place to sleep!


While I'm going through this spring cleaning frenzy, I'm coming across stuff I haven't seen in ages ("Oh...THAT's where that went!"). It's tough not to reminisce over every item like this, and even tougher to force myself to throw it out.


The Blatherpic at the top of the page is of Paul and Beckett's fridge. I took the photo when Allison, Jodi and I briefly visited just before Consonance a few months ago. On our fridge: one set of magnetic fridge poetry, "dress up Venus", postcard magnet from Beckett, Totoro clip magnet from our friend Ryo in Japan, Dandelion Wine biz card magnet, Moira Allen biz card magnet, doubledecker bus magnet from the UK, Greg Klyma fridge magnet, air plant, some very old pictures by Sara and Annie (one is a fingerpainting by Sara when she was two, I think), small photo magnet of me with Sara in my lap, Star Trek Enterprise magnet (I gave this to my brother in '93 after Toronto Trek, kept it after he died later that year), bits of poetry which visitors have put together (-very- interesting, hm... :-)).


So what's on your fridge right now? :-) Answer here.







Today's Blatherpics:


- Paul and Beckett's fridge.


- Our fridge.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll: (Courtesy Sherman Dorn)

Do you have anything interesting on your fridge right now?

savour

Today's poll question is: Have you ever bought groceries online? I used to, and revelled in the fact that I could do it. The novelty has worn off somewhat, however, and I have to confess that I usually prefer shopping in person.


This realization crystallized during my last shopping expedition, at the mega-Loblaws complex at Lower Jarvis and Front. Jeff offered to help, but I turned him down right away. Not because I wanted to save him the trouble, but because I had been looking forward to the solo experience. Sounds bizarre, I know, and some of you are probably wondering if I've taken this sabbatical thing too much to heart. :-)


There's something about browsing through the aisles of a supermarket, however, that is incredibly satisfying. If you're in a hurry (as most of us are most of the time), you'll view it only as an inconvenience...grabbing the items on your shopping list and getting out of there as fast as possible. If the opportunity ever arises, try going at a more leisurely pace. The best situation is if you have no real deadline, and only a few items that you have to buy. And go alone.


Last time, I mostly hung out in the produce department, surrounded by crisp lettuces, carrots, sweet-fragranced fruit, hovering over small bundles of fresh herbs like basil and spicy coriander (wishing I had an excuse to buy some). I did buy some watercress, simply because I've always wanted to try making watercress sandwiches. They always sounded so yummy in the British children's books.


The tropical fruit section is also intriguing, changing throughout the year. Every once in a while I'll indulge in a piece of fruit I've never tried before. This time I picked up a loquat. Urban Tapestry covers a song by the Indigo Girls called "Wild Wild Party In The Loquat Tree", and I've always been curious. I meant to share it with Allison when she visited last week, but forgot. Haven't eaten it yet; might do that later today.









Something else I'm trying to do is learning to taste things again. I've been too used to viewing meals mostly as a necessary inconvenience, stuffing food into my mouth without really tasting anything, anxious to get back to work. I pretty much lived on frozen Michelina dinners when I was in Philly.


Now I'm trying to make an attempt to actually focus on the appearance, taste and texture of what I'm eating. One good side effect is that this forces me to slow down my chowing down, and I only eat if I'm hungry (as opposed to automatically cleaning my plate, no matter what).


I don't think this "stop and smell the roses" trend is merely because I'm forcing myself to slow down in general. My need to get back to my own creative fiction writing has been gradually increasing. I suspect that writer part of me has been in hibernation for a while, having given up on waiting for me to disentangle myself from the whole corporate thing, and is only now just waking up. Probably muttering to itself, "It's about bloody time..." :-) In order to get back into fiction writing, I need to start noticing (REALLY noticing) the world around me again, and spending more time offline.


Speaking of writing, my editor approved the article I sent for her book, yay! My last work-related deadline is this Friday, when I have to have a cover blurb written for a new book coming out from Allworth Press: "The Writer's Guide To Queries, Pitches & Proposals" by Moira Allen. Love the book so far, and am going to be referring to it when I get back into my nonfiction writing this fall.


And I'm *really* looking forward to Andrea's visit this weekend. :-)





Today's Link: (Courtesy Jodi)


The VC:

I especially love this particular strip :-D


Today's Blatherpics:


- St. Lawrence Market on Saturday.


- Sign outside the Oak Leaf Steam Baths in Toronto.


- I took this picture at the cottage, very early in the morning, leaning over the back of the motorboat. The water was very smooth and reflected the colour of the sky just as it was starting to show signs of sunrise...amazing colour textures; the photo does not do it justice. The white splotch in the photograph is the reflection of the moon, which was half full. I miss the cottage.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Have you ever bought groceries online?

facepainting

LOTR and Waiting For Frodo updated.




After we had brunch with friends yesterday, Jeff went to see the Chinese Acrobatic show at Harbourfront with Kaarel, Sara, and Annie. Ruth was supposed to go, but she was sick, so Jeff used her ticket. I spent the afternoon wandering about the St. Lawrence farmers' market, reading in the park, listening to a street musician group, browsing vintage shops. For a total of $12 Cdn, I bought a first edition copy of "Cheaper By The Dozen", a first edition Nancy Drew book ("The Hidden Staircase", second book in the series), and a 1913 first edition of "The Outdoor Girls in a Motor Car".


I love old books. Drop me in a used bookstore, and I could be happy for hours. My favourite used bookstore (more because of the atmosphere than because of the prices) is the David Mason bookshop on Queen Street. Wonderfully creaky floors, very quiet, browsers welcome (i.e. you don't have a salesperson at your elbow offering help every few minutes).


Jeff and I had dinner with Bryan, Rob, and Chloe at a Chinese restaurant down the street, then we went to "Shrek" at the Paramount. I loved it even more than the first time; Jeff thought the movie was okay. (he doesn't think Annie and Sara would like it). I'd be curious to hear from any of you parents who took their kids, whether they enjoyed the movie even without understanding the insider adult jokes. No spoilers, tho, please. :-)


Finished "Stardust" by Neil Gaiman, "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman, enjoyed both very much. I'm starting to ration my Lord of the Rings readings...I'm realizing that once I get to the end, that's it. Do any of you tend to do that? Starting to slow down near the end of a very good story because you don't want it to end?


I *loved* the new trailer for LOTR. There's quite a few movies coming out later this year which I'm looking forward to: A.I., LOTR, Harry Potter, Evolution (stop choking, Andy, I'm curious about David Duchovny :)), Final Fantasy, Planet of the Apes.


Still waking up at about 5 a.m. every morning, no matter what time I go to bed at night. It's driving me nuts! I want to be able to SLEEP IN for once. Not sure what to do; suggestions welcome. :-)


Hope everyone's having a great weekend...




Today's Blatherpics:


- Annie at Harbourfront, after a face-painting session. (Jeff took this picture).

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll:

Do you enjoy going on rollercoaster rides?

nieces

I went to my sister's place yesterday and helped out with the kids since she was sick. Picked Annie up from her morning kindergarten class. Waiting mothers were clustered on the grass in front of the school, chatting as they waited for the kids to be let out. When the school doors finally opened, the teachers called out the names of children whose caretakers had arrived, one at a time.


Felt a burst of auntly pride when it was Annie's turn to come out. She looked pretty darned cute, clutching a drawing in one hand and her school bag in the other, beaming when she saw me. There was an envelope and a piece of paper pinned to the back of her coat (when Ruth opened them back at home, it turned out they were a birthday party invitation, and a letter about an upcoming open house).


While I was putting Annie's bag into my knapsack, a little boy named Andrew came up and introduced himself. I asked Annie about him on the way home. She told me that Andrew had asked her to marry him when they grew up, and that she had said yes. A huge smile crossed her face then, and she said, "I -really- want to marry Andrew! I LOVE him!" Hm...I should have grilled Andrew more intensively to check out his credentials. Ah well, next time.





As we started to walk home, Annie suddenly asked, "Why are you walking so fast?" And of course she was right; I was virtually pulling her along the sidewalk. Augh, more evidence that I still need to learn to SLOW DOWN in general. I apologized to Annie, told her she was right, and forced myself to walk at her pace. We weren't in a hurry, after all; the whole day was ours.


So I looked at the flowers Annie pointed out, crouched with her to watch some ants scurrying across the sidewalk, waited while she jumped up to touch a branch hanging down from a tree. And gradually felt myself start to relax; I had no choice. :-)





Went out with our friends Alison and Jeff last night. We talked about our upcoming hiking trip, did some equipment planning. Alison's pleased that I'm experimenting with chocolate brownies. :-D We're all pretty hyped about the trip. Looks like five of us will be going: Parki, Jeff and me, Jeff and Alison. Should be fun!


Alison is going to Japan for four months (!) on a work assignment (she works for the NBA). Jeff and I might be going to visit her in the fall, which would be veryvery cool. I've never been to Japan. I'd love to be able to see where my mom grew up.




Today's Blatherpics:


- I took this photo of Annie on the walk home from her school.


- Reading "Ten Minutes To Bedtime" to Sara and Annie.


- Jeff, Jeff, and Alison last night.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll: (Courtesy Sherman Dorn)

Have you ever killed a plant through neglect?

shrek

For those who know the Kesners: Gail's father passed away a few days ago. :-( Our heartfelt sympathies go out to Jeff and Gail.





Allison and I went to see Shrek last night. Unfortunately Jodi was home sick. :-( We had dinner at Milestones, where I grilled her about LOTR. Allison refused to divulge any spoilers. I've started a new comic strip, by the way...Waiting For Frodo. It will be around until December, when the first LOTR movie comes out. The next Lord of the Rings trailer should be available online sometime today, for those interested.


LOVED Shrek. The only other thing that I will say (for fear of giving away spoilers) is that I definitely plan to go back to see this several times.


One of my favourite bits of the movie theatre experience has always been the trailers. However, I'm getting pretty tired of the television-type commercials cropping up in greater quantities before the trailers, especially ones that are played over and over and over and over again. Ones that currently drive me around the bend (because I've seen them so often are):

- the ad for movietickets.com (where the family is running for the movie ticket theatre but get there too late).


- the ad for a product called Diane (?, still not sure what it is), where teenage girls spend the whole time giggling and preening.


- the ad for the National Post. I thought this was a cool ad in the beginning, and loved the music, but now it's just getting on my nerves.

These might only be shown in Canada, I'm not sure.


Has anyone else noticed that pre-movie trailers and ads are starting to take up more and more time? At some theatres, it's gotten to the point where you could show up nearly half an hour after the official movie showtime, and still be in time for the main feature.


Babysitting Annie and Sara most of the day, then going out with Alison, Jeff and Jeff tonight.

Firewoodstacking.com follow-up

From Paul B.:



Hey Debbie! Two weeks a go I was sent, at great expense and by special permission, on a business trip to go and learn how to stack wood, because the head wood stacker was aboout to take "extended" leave. Day 1: They showed me the wood piles. They handed me a document describing the wood stacking process. I read it. It made sense. I admired the nifty automatic wood-stacking gzmo the head wood stacker had built to make his life easier. Day 2: I read the manual again. It still made sense. Day 3: I read it again. Still made sense, but I geel asleep halfway through. Woke up and checked the auto-stacker: STill working fine. Day 4: Asked if there was anything else should be learning (Didn't dare say "this seems too easy".) Got given manual on how the auto-stacker works. Read it. It made sense. Flew home happy. All last week: Sat and watch the auto-stacker. Read the auto-stacker manual again. Web surfed a lot. All this week: Sat and watched the auto stacker. Read the manual about half way and got bored... Web surfed a lot. Now, I have to write a report saying what I've achieved over the last 3 weeks. Ummm... Help!!! I know I asked for a less hectic job, but... (Techies: For "wood stack" read "load-build".)




Today's Blatherpics:


- Sushi chefs at Fune.

Feel free to suggest a daily poll question.


Today's Poll: (Courtesy Rand)

Have you ever been in a physical confrontation/fight?