It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown!

Ahem... let's just say "I told ya so".

Friday morning I wondered why James was taking a 20 minute shower... turns out he thought he could bleach his hair at 7am on a Friday morning without me noticing. He was none too pleased when the topmost portion of his hair turned Hallowe'en orange.

So, yeah :) That'll learn ya!

Sing us a song you're the piano man

Between my office tower and the parking garage where I leave my car is a piano store. I walk by that store, and gaze into the windows, every single working day. Last night walking by I spotted a little girl, perhaps 8 years old, with her hair in Princess Leia buns, waling away on one of the keyboards, head rocking back and forth ala Stevie Wonder, completely lost in the sounds she was making.

It made me so sad I nearly wept.

As far back as I can remember I've wanted to play the piano. I tinkered on every piano I saw, at friends' houses, at obscure relatives' homes, at piano displays at the mall. I begged my parents for a piano and lessons but there was never enough money, and never enough room in our tiny house. Finally I tucked that dream away and vowed when I was a grown-up I'd buy myself a piano and learn to play.

In highschool I signed up for lessons but with nowhere to practice it quickly became evident that I'd never get anywhere. After a couple of months I stopped, and promised myself when I was on my own I'd buy myself a piano and take lessons.

I moved out, got a job, had a baby, went to college. I read second hand piano ads and flyers for digital pianos, and promised myself as soon as I had a house I'd buy myself a piano and take lessons.

I got married, got a good job, bought a house and continued to dream, continued watching the want ads for second hand pianos. Saw my friends buying pianos. Promised myself that for my thirtieth birthday I'd buy myself a piano and take lessons.

My thirtieth birthday is long since gone. There's not enough money, there's not enough room with all 5 of us packed into our 950 sq ft home. I've come full circle.

At what point do you bury your dreams? At what point do you admit to yourself that no matter how much you long for something it simply isn't going to happen?

I hope Princess Leia's parents were buying her a piano last night.

Dribs and drabs

If you see my motivation, will you send it on home?

One of the strangest parts of working in a bilingual atmosphere is eavesdropping on people's phone calls and conversations, the way they switch from English to French not only mid-sentence but mid-thought and even mid-word!

It seems like a solution to our daycare issues has presented itself - our old SAHM sitter has had a change of heart and is willing to take Katie and Jonah. We're SO happy about this, it's literally the best case senario. It's going to save us $120 per week, plus her views on TV, early education, discipline, etc are very close to ours. Our current sitter has insisted on 4 weeks notice so we'll be changing November 22nd. Finally a light at the end of the financial tunnel.

Even better - Jonah is finally talking, at least a bit. He started saying a few words months ago, then stalled, then - frighteningly - lost the words he did have. That, coupled with him not sleeping and being excessively clingy, moody, tearful and prone to repetitive behaviour had me quietly researching autism. In the past week though he's picked up several words, and while they're not exactly warm and fuzzy words (cheese, spoon, juice, poo-poo) they certainly bring me joy. Now, probably because he's communicating more, he's also crying less, and sleeping better. C even mentioned just last night that in the past week Jonah has become much less baby and much more child. Certainly I still intend on having a full workup at his well-baby visit in November but for the moment I can breathe.

Leave it to Kelso

When I left the cheese position the installed another coworker in the position (temporarily) - a woman I call Kelso because of her uncanny resemblance to the "That 70's Show" character of the same name. By resemblance I mean in action, not looks. That's why I am close to stunned to be saying that she's doing an excellent job. Sometimes people really do surprise you.

Now allow me a moment of navel gazing: Why do the hundreds of little teenaged things that James does drive me so nuts? He wants to dye his hair "platinum white", a prospect that is practically turning my hair white. C says there are so many worse things he could want and that true but this drives me nutbar! He's only 13. Is it because I have two babies that I expect him to still act young, or are kids really aging faster? And is it acceptable for 13 year olds to bleach their hair anyway? While we're on the subject of 13 year olds is mine the only one who is completely convinced he's an adult? He inserts himself into every conversation, and not to be annoying but simply because he believes he belongs there. Now I'm not one of those "children should be seen and not heard" kind of people but man, there are times I just want to chat with someone without 13 year old opinions! Add to that his whole apathy about work of any sort (home work, chores, anything requiring effort) and it seems like we're at odds with each other almost constantly. I never wanted to be one of those harpy mothers who spend all of their time nagging/bitching/criticizing but boy do I feel that way recently.

No pop, no coffee

It's now been two weeks since I gave up pop (soda) and coffee, and it's been a lot easier than I expected (except for that single french vanilla cappucino fall from the wagon) and I'm feeling much better - no headaches! Of course, I'm also a LOT more sluggish in the mornings and mid-afternoons. Any ideas for combatting that without caffeine?

Fallen for Fall

I've always loved the fall, the colours mostly but also the crispness of the air, the sweaters and jeans, pumpkins and apples and endless lines of birds making their southward trek.


Amazing...


This year Ottawa is having the best year for Fall Colours in recent memory. Even though the past few days have been dark, cold and drizzly it's been impossible to stay inside.


Fall colours at Hog's Back

The cheese assignment is finally over and I've moved back into my shared corner office. They've found another temporary cheese and the general strike is on hold (for now) so hopefully things will be calmer and more settled and less stressful for me. At the very least I should be able to cut my overtime back to 2 days per week.

And - frighteningly - I cut Jonah's hair tonight. I always swore I'd never cut my kids hair (I have many pictures of me as a child with thick crooked bangs) but I did it anyway. His hair was ridiculously long, in his eyes and long enough in back for a ponytail but I just couldn't find time to take him to the hairdresser.


Before (man does his hair look sparse in this picture)

I was doing a fairly good job too until he unexpectedly jerked just as I was trimming - and left himself with a small baldish patch on the back of his head. Sigh. Next time we go to the hairdressers. He does look adorably boyish though.


The after shot (well, almost, there's still a longish piece at the front in this picture that I snipped after I took this) Before you ask yes, I did keep a little *sniff* curl for his scrapbook.

Nice day for a Sikh wedding...

I've been trying desperately to find time to write about the weird and wonderful wedding we went to on Saturday. I can't possibly remember everything anymore but here's a few tidbits:

We got to the temple (in Mississauga!) at 8:45am on Saturday (the invite said 9am and we wanted to be a bit early) only to find not a single person from the wedding party there. We took off our shoes and stowed them in the shoe room (floor to ceiling shelves just the right size for shoes) and put our head coverings on (all heads must be covered always inside the temple) and were guided to a basement room to have "breakfast" before the ceremony.

Waiting for the ceremony to begin (doesn't C look like a biker?) You can see that I did indeed wear the borrowed Indian costume and I fit right in with nary a second glance from anyone.

The room was set up like a cafeteria but without tables, instead there were rows of industrial type carpet runners to sit on. We got a plate of food (not a single bit of which was anything either of us had ever seen before) and steaming cups of chai and pulled up a bit of carpet. EVERYTHING was packed with sugar! The chai was almost too sweet even for me (hey, I said almost), there were balls that looked like timbits but were saturated in syrup and rolled in sweetened coconut, bits of deep fried pastry rolled in powdered sugar, little orange balls of sugary goodness with deep fried noodles and super spicy deep fried vegetables. While we were enjoying our sugar buzz we browsed the artwork lining the walls - every piece of which graphically depicted a murder or execution (we later realized they were Sikh martyrs but what a pleasant addition to a meal a painting of a person being sawed in half - alive - is). We were also visited by a very nice turbaned man who felt it his duty to tell us the rules of the temple: no meat, no smoking and free food 24/7.

We killed as much time as was humanly possible (until a man with a bucket of what appeared to be gruel started making the rounds) then returned to the west hall (where the wedding was to be) and found, still, no one from the wedding party. We did however bump into 2 other Ottawa couples, one of whom C knew, the other we'd heard many stories about, and spent some time chatting with them... until we were - ahem - encouraged to go back downstairs to have yet more tea and breakfast. This time we were guided to another basement room (that resembled a small hanger) where, in addition to the tons of sugar and chai we'd been served before, there was super spicy samosas. To cut this shorter we hung around there for awhile longer, then went back up to the wedding room and grabbed ourselves a patch of carpet at the back of the room. People slowly began filling in, the devout kneeling before the altar then finding a seat on the carpet, women on one side, men on the other, the heathens huddled in the back in a conmingled mass.

Rainbow of saris

The groom entered about 11am (looking scared half to death) and things finally began. The bride followed shortly thereafter looking absolutely exquisite in burgundy and gold, bejewelled and henna-ed.

The nervous groom

We didn't understand much (it was entirely in Punjabi except for the words "parking lot" and "landscaping" at the end) but there was singing and prayer, the bride and groom walked around the altar a lot and the parents presented them with some sort of tinsel leis to wear. At then end there was something sort of akin to taking communion, tasted like really mushy, slightly warm shredded wheat. The ceremony took about an hour.

Happy (and gorgeous) couple.

After the ceremony I changed out of my cool borrowed costume and we headed to the reception. Snack was served while we waited for the bride and groom to arrive, and there was an open bar. Much very nice French red wine. Once the happy couple arrived (with the groom changed into a dapper suit) and was introduced there was pictures, cake cutting and finally FOOD! Butter chicken, naan, so many other yummies I can't remember the names of all enjoyed with Indian pop music blaring (it was quite excellent music by the way). Anyway there was much laughing, much eating, and way too much excellent wine, and it was a truly wonderful time!

Fall Splendor

Happy Thanksgiving all! Tomorrow I'll have lots to say about our weird weekend away but for now just a picture cross-posted from my PhotoBlog

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Two little darlings walking amid the splendor of fall.

Fire in the Sky

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Wild sunset (over tacky Leon's sign).

Crafty

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A tag I made for a swap in a scrapbooking group I'm part of. They're all massively talented and I struggle to keep up with them but I'm fairly happy with how this turned out. The little tags are all blank and slide out for journalling or tiny pictures.

Changes...

Fall has flung itself at Ottawa full force, the temperature went down to 0C last night and the high today is only supposed to be 10C. Brrr. Better than that though I can see the end of this cheese assignment! This Friday is the last day I've agreed to, and though they've asked me twice to extend I've refused. I'm so happy that I'm leaving the cheese behind, it's been a very eye-opening experience but not one I'm keen to repeat :) Look out peons, I'm rejoining you soon!

Burning down Ikea

Katie has completely outgrown her toddler bed, and for now she and Jonah have to share a bedroom so we've been on a mission to find bunk beds. We've gone through a dozen catalogues, looked in several stores and even checked a few sets of used bunks (none were all that sturdy), but we finally found exactly what we wanted at Ikea. Let me backtrack, Ikea has been advertising a $1 breakfast so we headed out to Ikea early Saturday morning (after dropping James at cadets) thinking we'd look at bunk beds, mattresses and have a bite to eat. It was already packed at 9:45am but we quickly found exactly what we were hoping for - good, sturdy wooden bunks that are fairly low. Katie was super excited when we told her we'd bring them home with us, so we headed over to the restaurant, stood in line forever, got our food and finally settled into a table to enjoy scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and a croissant. I had my back to the cafeteria-style kitchen when C notices flames shooting from the deep fryer. At first we weren't alarmed, after all you see flames coming from grills at fast food restaurant all of the time, but then the employees start spraying the fire extinguisher... once... twice... three times... Then the announcement of a code 1 (or some such thing) in the restaurant "this is not a drill". C looks at me and says "we're going to get evacuated". Sure enough not a minute passes before the PA system is broadcasting an evacuation message. I grab Jonah and a croissant, Charles grabs Katie and out to the parking lot we go. C asks an employee if he thinks we'll be out long and he says not likely. So we sit in the van and watch the four firetrucks pull up.

...


We decide to go to Costco, pick up some groceries and come back to Ikea. Much wailing ensues as we leave without the bunk beds.

An hour and a half spent in Costco and we figure it's safe to head back to Ikea. Once we get there we're met at the entrance to the parking lot by an employee who tells us it'll be another hour before the store reopenes. Well Ikea is al the way across town from us so we wait. And wait. And wait. After an hour C asks another employee if it's going to be much longer and is told 2 MORE hours. *sigh* So we leave Ikea, again, without bunk beds. Many more tears.

Long story slightly shorter Ikea had reopened by the time C left to pick up James (4:30pm) and the bunk beds made it home. Took 3 and a half hours to assemble the buggers, and we only have 1 mattress right now but Princess is a very happy girl.

Jonah

His name is Jonah... JO'nah... like the guy who got eaten by the whale. It's not Josh or Joanna or Noah or Jojo or Joanie it's JONAH. Got it? Good.