Texts from Me to Me

On the bus, on my way home from work, I started looking for some “important information” that I had stored on my phone.   How was it stored, you ask?  Well, as text messages, of course!   So who was texting me this "important information"?  Me!  Yes, that’s right.  I texted the information to myself!   Am I the only one who texts information to themselves?   Why do people (by people, I mean family and friends!) look at me like I’m crazy when I say “just wait, I texted it to myself” or "just wait, I need to text something to myself"?  What I discovered, the other day on the bus, was that the only thing crazy about texting to myself is the content of those texts!  Settle down, it's not that kind of text!  It was rather amusing and most some of it made little sense to me.  I know, I know…something doesn’t make sense to me…that’s shocking!  :)

I thought it might be fun to share my texts from Me to Me with You and You.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?  Keep reading, you’ll enjoy it!  If you don’t, well, you’ve only wasted a few minutes of your time (like you haven’t already wasted hours reading my blog so what’s a few more minutes?).

Here's a screen shot of my iPhone as proof of the conversations that occur between Me and Me:

These are some random texts I’ve sent from Me to Me for your reading pleasure along with my crude remarks commentary (FYI - the typos are in the text messages not in this blog!):

• Level 1 A-E  (I can never remember where I park so I send myself a text)
• Mill Street Lemon Tea Beer (I must have forgotten that I texted this to myself because I still haven’t tried it!)
• Journey from zanskar (???)
• TVO Sunday 8pm – Stephen Hawking (I probably didn't watch it because I forgot!)
• Natur Wednesday 8pm – Bear Island (I probably meant Nature Channel…I hate it when I find typos in my texts from Me to Me!)
• Door code 562 (If I didn’t text the code to myself, I’d never know how to get in my office!  P.S.  The code has since changed.)
• Level 1 J1 (I’d never find my parked car if it wasn’t for my texts from Me to Me!)
• I want to say hey, I don’t want this geeling to end, anything can happen on a night like this lyrics (I was probably in the car – sorry but I used to text and drive but not anymore – and was listening to a song on the radio that I wanted to download so I texted the lyrics to myself)
• Shawn Desmond night like this (Well what d'ya know....the DJ came on at the end of the song and gave me the name of the song and artist.  Go figure!)
• Eaarth by bill mcgibbon (I believe this is a book that Nan recommended…still haven’t read it!)
• Level 1 A-E  (Duh!)
• Peaches, bananas, berries, hot dog buns, yellow beans, cilantro (grocery list!)
• Book – The art of devotion (bought it but never read it…my life story!)
• Purple ribbon, proactiv and satellite (if I remember correctly, this is a list of things I needed to bring to BFF’s before the wedding – satelitte?)
• Her hatred of doing dishes (a definite reference to BFF!)
• Sweater or shawl in case you get gold (a reminder for BFF at the rehearsal dinner or for the wedding…not sure...in case she gets gold?)
• Appreciate gg and glee (a definite reference to BFF’s honey)
• Andy was practically in diapers (I’m starting to think that these were my thoughts for my Maid of Honor speech at BFF’s wedding)
• Grace before dinner? (question to ask BFF about her wedding)
• Stories of motherhood – our daughters have grown up together (yup, definitely notes for my speech…I think I’m going to start crying!)
• We cried and we laughed together (I’m starting to tear up….)
• May the force be with you (oh the memories!)
• Live long and prosper (I seriously needed to text these last two texts to myself because I'm not a Star Trekkie nor a Star Warsie so when these funny tidbits for my speech came to me - possibly in a dream! - I didn't want to forget them)

I think I’ll need to skip the next few texts because they are all notes from my speech, and I will seriously start to cry if I piece the speech together again.  Moving on...

• Parking P1 section 3E (I think when BFF makes her speech at my wedding, she’s definitely going to have to read through my texts from Me to Me for some good “make fun of me” material.  Speaking of making fun of me, she's probably laughing at me right now thinking "Tracey talking about getting married" now that's something to laugh about!)
• D4 miss tight winkles across from escalators (okay, sadly this is another reference to help me find my parked car but I obviously had a few typos…how the heck did I manage to find my car near miss tight winkles?)
• Jeggings size 2 regular tinted medium wash and dark indigo wash $59.50 (Size 2…obviously not for me!)
• Sri chinmoy (bless you!)
• Questions regarding iMac: hard drive – same specs as old one? Install new OS? Still compatible with Microsoft Office software (my list of items to discuss at the Apple Store when our iMac needed some TLC)
• D2 peoples (another parking reference…this cracks me up!  Yes, I realize I’m probably the only one laughing.  I can’t believe you’re still reading!)
• Beres tokji Hungarian wine (interesting selection but why bother when nothing beats my favourite…Yellow Label Shiraz!)
• Savare or foreigh affair winery (what the hell?)
• Ripesso (???)
• Shiraz fielding (was I reading a wine magazine?)
• Michael Helm (was he my blind date?)
• Door code 314 (can I remember anything?)
• Digital mammogram, ultrasound, breast tomosynthesis (am I now a med student?)
• Do media lead or reflect what exists? (interesting thought…stolen or original?  Who knows???)
• The Thin Place, Refresh, The Happiness Project, Panini cookbook (book wish list? I’ve read 1 out of 4 but own 2 out of 4)
• When things fall apart by pema chodron (???)
• P215/60R16 (I think this has something to do with tires but I’m not sure if it’s tires on my bike or my car)
• Fat32 (what?)
• Mayah vet 3:40 Wednesday (I’m now sending myself reminder texts for appointments? Why not just add it to the calendar on my phone?  That’s too smart for an idiot-savant genius!)
• Harpervartitac (???)
• Buttersop (???)
• Book – Song of Solomon (on my to be read list!)
• Wifi work – 0101010101010101010101010101010101010 (there were different numbers but again, it seems my texts have turned into data storage)
• 134/80 blood pressure (am I dying?)
• Echo design iPhone gloves (very cool but I never bought them…I’d love to use my iPhone in the winter without freezing my fingers!)
• “Nailed it” (not only is this a bizarre statement but it’s also in quotation marks…I’m weird!)
• Fiscally conservative and socially progressive (that’s my ideal political party…besides communism!)
• Puffy and pife (???)
• Patrick White (riders) book (never read it!)
• What up? (I’m getting scared…am I sending myself a text asking me “what up?”)
• Awesomeness (wow…now I’m sending myself texts that describe me!)
• It’s going to be – wait for it – legen…dary (my favourite quote from “How I Met Your Mother”)
• Relationship ectomy (another med school term?)
• CBC geek logic and bad decision (possibly a radio program that I was listening to and wanted to remember?)
• Coallest (making up words?)

At this point, I start texting myself ideas for my blog so I’ll skip over these texts because you’ve probably already read it in my blog since you’ve read EVERY blog post (right?). 

• Me wearing skinny jeans – oxymoron? (this is the funniest text message from Me to Me.  An insulting text to myself…I love it!)
• Those clothes are pre-worn…ewwwwwwwwww (no clue why I texted this to myself but it obviously meant something to me at some point)
• Possimpeble (either I’m trying to make up new words or it’s from “How I Met Your Mother”)
• Banana bread vs banana loaf (I believe this was an ingenious idea for a blog post but it never happened or they are names of wrestlers…definitely an intriguing topic for a future blog post!)
• Or banana bread loaf (now I’m on to something…I can’t believe I never blogged about this!!!)
• You have to find a way to connect to the story.  Advice to Sarah re: King Lear (I can’t even remember the advice I want to give to my own daughter so I have to text it to myself?  Motherly advice regarding Shakespeare…I think I’ll start a parenting blog!)
• When you consider the possibiilituwa ie hypothesis quantum physics.  Einstein. Then should is okay.  (What the hell was I thinking?  A physicist must have taken over my body and sent "herself", aka ME, a text.)
• Is math real or discovered?  (wow…the thoughts that run through this crazy head of mine!)
• Pa Pa tree fruit are good for you.  To encourage fruit you need cross pollination you need another tree (strange…sex ed for trees?)
• My pathology – if you don’t want me then I don’t want to be wanting you (must have been right after my therapy session!)
• Petrie dish (hmmmm…I wonder what this means? Was I preparing for a new science experiment? Maybe I was going to try to cross pollinate seeds from the Pa Pa tree?)
• Vicksburg vapo rub (I think I meant to type Vicks but the phone auto-corrected…this was the product I was looking for at the pharmacy for my shoulder.  I believe I blogged about it.)
• Book to re-read: The Chrysalids (never re-read it…actually, I don’t even remember reading it!)
• 1714  (probably my lover’s my hotel room number…yes, I’d probably forget that too!)
• Chai Chiller = organic chai, coconut milk, banana, soy milk, nutmeg, cinnamon (yummy drink I tried at Refresh…need to make it!)
• Mango salad roll, spring roll, dumplings, won ton soup, fried vermicelli with bean sprouts and soya sauce (man, now I’m hungry!)
• Annabel Lyon – The Golden Mean (bought it…didn’t read it YET! I said “yet”, okay?)
• Virseum (Geez…I hope it’s not something dirty because I have no idea.  Another word that I made up?)

I’m embarrassed to tell you this but there have been many more parking references which I have chosen to ignore but I thought I’d let you know that there are many more…my memory hasn’t improved over time (just in case you were wondering!). 

• Room 1213  (no comment! just kidding!!!)

There are many references to our trip to Vancouver but since I still intend on writing a blog post about our trip to the West Coast, I’ll skip those texts. 

• Cheese, hummus, Havarti, tortillas (Costco list!)
• Books – indigo, women of the way, rebel buddha (I didn’t buy any of them!  Proud of me?)
• Maltesers 165g ($3.99) Whoppers 113g ($1.49) (I was collecting data for an upcoming blog post!)
• Endless dock syndrome (if you read my blog posts, you’ll understand this text…I didn’t want to forget what Sarah named it! Yes, she has the brains in our family.)
• Figure out what you want and learn to ask for it (sounds like advice someone gave me but who?)
• Nnnnblohg laughter (I was listening to CBC Radio and decided I wanted to write a blog post about laughter so I asked my brother to send me a text…from my phone to me but his fingers kept hitting the “n” instead of the “b”.)
• Lollygag perNitious (to be incorporated into an upcoming blog post, right bro?)

So what have I discovered about myself?  Or better yet…what have you discovered about me?  What do my texts from Me to Me reveal about Me?  I'm a dork.  I’m weird.  I’m strange.  I have zero memory capacity left in my brain.  I love books (to buy, not read!).  I’d forget what I need at the grocery store if I couldn’t text myself a list.  I wouldn’t remember what books I wanted to buy (and not read!) if I couldn’t text the name of the books to myself.  I probably wouldn’t have written a speech for BFF’s wedding if it wasn’t for piecing together all of my text messages from Me to Me.  My car would be in parking garage purgatory if it wasn’t for the texts I sent myself!

What did I ever do before I had my iPhone?  Did I manage to pick up everything I needed at the store?  Was I ever able to find my car?  The scary thing is that I don’t remember sending these texts to myself so I can’t help but wonder “what kind of texts do I send to other people?”  Settle down, I'm not talking about the texts I send when I'm drunk-texting :P

I’m curious…do you ever send texts from You to You?  If yes, what was the strangest text you ever sent yourself?  Go ahead, look at your phone and then share your text(s) with us.  Come on, I can’t be the only dork who sends texts to herself!  Also, if you can make sense of the texts that I put question marks next to, feel free to educate me :)

Happy texting (to yourself, of course!)

P.S.  Is it wrong that I get excited when my phone rings to alert me that I have a new text message?   Even if that new text is from Me :)

Chasing Loons

You’re probably really excited right now thinking “wow…she actually posted on Saturday as promised” and “yay…a blog post about her dating life!”.  Sorry to disappoint but this isn't a blog post about my dating history.  Do you really want to read about the "loons" I've "chased" in my lifetime?  If so, I’ve got some stories to tell but this isn’t the time because I haven't dated anyone since X (would you want to date after that horrible experience?), I don't really have anything to share about my love life (only that it's lacking!) so instead, you're going to have to read about…wait for it…my most recent vacation.  What does that have to do with chasing loons?  Well, our summer vacation was filled with mucho memories including some exciting moments of chasing loons (yes, real loons!) and also our recovery from EDS (Endless Dock Syndrome!). 

A few weeks ago, BFF mentioned that we should go away with my daughter Sarah and her daughter Reb.  I don’t know why I typed them individually because I should really have typed "our" daughters Sarah and Reb since BFF is NVM to Sarah and I'm NVM to Reb (NVM = non-vag moms…a cutesy name created by Sarah in reference to her “favourite” mom, BFF).  Since Sarah is going away to university in September (have you heard?), who knows if going away on summer vacation with her Mom will be a priority for Sarah after this summer? 

Okay, I'm back.  I had to weep a little after typing that last sentence and unfortunately, I can’t type and weep at the same time.  I'm much better now!  Where was I?  Oh yeah, so we thought it might be nice to get away for a bit, just the four of us.  When we asked the girls what they'd like to do for vacay (short for  vacation - I don't know why I have to shorten everything - getting  lazy in my old age, I guess or I'm getting hip in my old age - you decide!), the girls responded in unison "camping".  Ugh!  Don't get me wrong I love to camp but as I get older (and lazier?), the thought of organizing all of our camping gear, lugging all of that camping gear, setting up the campsite, taking down the campsite, lugging the camping gear back home then making sure it's ready to go for the next camping  trip makes me cringe but if that's what the girls want to do, great  let's go (ugh!).  Before that happens, I wonder if my friend Mr. Lakehouse has rented out his lakehouse for the summer yet.  Remember that this conversation is happening towards the end of June.  As if his lakehouse wouldn't be fully booked by now?  Regardless, I send him an email asking about his house. Surprisingly, it's not rented the first week of July which is when we want to go on vacay..yay!    We didn't want to interfere with Sarah's summer job (which is still non-existent!) so leaving shortly after grad day was important.  So the “Lakehouse” was officially booked from July 2th to 9th.  Woohoo!!!

I’m so grateful to Mr. Lakehouse for letting us stay at his house for the week because it was an amazingly relaxing week and so many wonderful memories were created.  When we arrived, the first thing I wanted to do was jump in the lake.  We arrived around 5pm and the sun was glistening on the lake making it sparkle.  I wondered if I would sparkle too if I jumped in the lake. So I stripped down to my underwear and jumped in the lake.  Glorious!  Our first day ended with all four of us sitting in bed together.  Two of us were reading, two of us were on our laptops and one of us was staring at her reflection in the wall-mounted fireplace.   Yes, I can count (remember, I’m a math geek?).  One of us was actually on the laptop and reading.  That dork was me!  Speaking of dork, I need to ask you a question.  What would you do when staying at a cottage or hotel:  a) hang up your clothes and put your belongings in drawers, b) live out of your suitcase/backpack, or c) leave your clothes in a heap on the floor?  Well, I’m sure you will all agree with me that a) is the only preferable option!  But enough about the slobs that I lived with for a week (just kidding!)…let’s move onto the memories.

While at the lakehouse, we kept our friends and family abreast of our activities on Facebook (speaking of breasts, I also changed my blog pic to a "racy" photo of me chilaxing by the lake - what do you think...too much cleavage skin?). One of my FB statuses was simply "Chasing loons".  Brilliant, I know.  I was, of course, inspired by Adele's "Chasing Pavements". Her song came to my mind when I was chasing after the loons to see how close I could get to them (and I also wanted a great photo!).  My reading was interrupted often by the loons teasing me with their cries so I’d jump out of my comfy chair, prepared to see them “up close and personal” only to see that they were much further than their sound (I’m now interested in reading a book on the science of sound…any suggestions?).  Anyways, we also tried getting close to them in the canoe but they are just too fast (do you know how long they can stay underwater?) or we’re too slow stupid!  Speaking of stupid, at one point, I ran into the woods, thinking that I would get a great view of the loons on the other side of the woods but as I ran closer to them, they swam further away from me.  As the loons were being entertained by me, I was being entertained by the sound of Adele singing in my head:

Of course, BFF in her brilliance (my brilliance was once again overshadowed by her more brilliance!) commented on my status: "A loon chasing a loon".  Yup, that sums it up nicely!  I showed her though because I snapped the best shot of the loon.  Yes, I did!  Unfortunately, that "best shot" was captured with...wait for it...her camera!  I didn't have my camera outside with me (I had taken a 5 minute break from chasing loons okay!) so I grabbed the camera next to me thinking it was Sarah's camera but BFF informed me that night (with a devilish smile!) that I had captured the best photo of our vacation with her camera (Sarah and BFF have the same camera).  I tried to convince myself that it was okay and that "the photos are all in the family"  but the truth is that I had to beg and plead to get that photo from her so I could post it on my blog.  Okay, it might not have been that difficult to get the photo (she sent it to me as soon as I asked her along with other photos!) but nonetheless, it will be nearly impossible to get a copyright protection on the photo since it's not on my camera.  Okay, I digress.  Here’s the shot of the century :)   

Yes, that's right.  All of my work "chasing loons" paid off with this "money shot".

Of course, our vacation wasn’t just about chasing loons.  You’re probably still wondering about my earlier reference to EDS (Endless Dock Syndrome).  Well, that diagnosis comes from my brilliant daughter.  We spent a lot of our time (when we weren’t afraid to melt from the intense heat of the sun!) on the dock.  For those of you who have spent lots of time on a dock, you’re probably familiar with the swaying movements created by the water even when calm.  It’s a very soothing feeling…when you’re on the dock!  When you are no longer on the dock and still feel yourself swaying as if you’re on the dock, it’s somewhat disturbing.  I especially felt it when I was standing still or when I was lying in bed.  At first, you’re not sure what’s happening but are extremely grateful when you hear someone else talking about how they fell like they are swaying (I’m not crazy afterall!).  Once we discovered that we all felt that endless feeling of swaying.  Sarah named the “condition” Endless Dock Syndrome or as it’s now known in our circle “EDS’.  The symptoms of EDS only went away two or three days after we returned from the lakehouse.  Oh how I miss that feeling!  I’m outside, in my backyard, under a tree, typing this blog post and I’m trying to imagine what it would feel like to be on the dock with my laptop.  Maybe I’d be afraid of having my laptop fall into the lake which reminds me of my near-death experience at the lake…

Brace yourselves because it’s a good one!   BFF, Sarah and Reb left for a couple of hours so I decided to sit on the dock all by myself and read under BFF’s new beach umbrella. If you’re fair-skinned like us (Sarah is the exception!), you can’t sit out on the dock during the peak sunburning hours so we were banished to the shade, away from the dock but still close to the lake, for most of the day.  BFF decided that she would buy an umbrella so we could sit on the dock during the day.  The only problem with the beach umbrella is that there is no place to “stick it” so we tucked it between two wooden Adirondack chairs to stabilize it.  That works fine if there are two people sitting in those chairs but when you’re alone on the deck, bad things happen to beach umbrellas!  I’d like to say that tornado swept in and took the umbrella with it but I’m not that dramatic (ahem!) so the truth is that it only took a slight breeze mild wind to pick up the umbrella and blow it into the lake, top down of course.  So what do I do?  Well, I jump in the lake to rescue the umbrella of course.  Remember when I told you about my frozen shoulder in a previous blog post?  Well, I still have that damn frozen shoulder so when I jumped into the lake to save the umbrella, I hurt my shoulder BADLY (and I’m not being dramatic!).   As I was dealing with the pain of my shoulder, I was watching the umbrella sink quickly to the bottom of the lake.  In that moment, I became a hero.  Actually, I became a superhero with a gimp arm (doesn’t having a gimp arm automatically make me a superhero?!). I dove down to the bottom of the lake and retrieved the umbrella (can you picture it?).  The problem was that the umbrella was drowning top down so as I pulled up the umbrella (with only one good arm!), I was also bringing up half the lake in the umbrella so it was extremely heavy.  Never one to give up, I eventually rescued the umbrella.  I slowly swam the umbrella to the dock, and placed it gently on the dock (poor thing was traumatized!) while I headed for the ladder to climb out of the lake.  Sure the lake is only 7 feet deep next to the dock where the umbrella was drowning but it was still a death-defying feat on my part!  You’re welcome umbrella! 

Speaking of saving lives, you might also be interested in hearing about the other lives that I saved at the lakehouse (I’m a superhero, remember?).  One night, while we were playing Monopoly (I think that’s the night it happened), I saved a spider from certain death after hearing Sarah shriek.  I put the “scary” spider in a container and was opening the door to release him with the other creepy crawlies when I was attacked by a swarm of shad flies that were clinging to the door because they were attracted to the lights in the house.  Yikes!  I think I probably swallowed a hundred shad flies (so much for the vegetarian diet!) and another thousand shad flies made their way into the sun room (thankfully I had closed the doors in the sun room so the house was saved!).  Needless to say, the spider escaped (and probably found its way to Sarah’s room!) and the next morning, we found ourselves having to clean up hundreds of dead bodies; bodies of dead shad flies in the sunroom (it turns out that their life span is a mere 24 hours so at least they got to spend time in the sunroom!).  Always one to look on the positive side, having to clean up all of those corpses meant that I was able to use the Dyson vacuum that I had been thinking about since I set my eyes on that bad boy a couple of days earlier.  Oh the suction power of a Dyson!  I’m now itching to purchase my very own Dyson.  BFF’s mom posted the most hilarious comment on my Facebook status in which I shared my love for the Dyson.   Her comment:  “Will a Dyson vacuum all by itself?  If not you will definitely have to look for a husband.”  So I went from chasing loons to chasing Dyson to now needing to chase a husband who will use the Dyson.  Wow…what a week! 

Is it possible that we could have more memories to share from a one-week vacation?  Well of course :)

This is my favourite photo taken by BFF
(those are my beloved Crocs!)

I forgot to mention that there were actually 5 houseguests staying at the lakehouse.  You’re probably thinking “wow…did Tracey sneak a man into the lakehouse?”.  Geez, who do you think I am???  According to two people in the lakehouse (I’m not going to reveal who the crazy people are in my posse!), the lakehouse was haunted by a ghost!  I’m thankful for not being cursed blessed with a sixth sense (wasn’t that a great movie?) because I didn’t hear a thing but I must say that I was pretty creeped out thinking about the house being haunted. Not surprisingly, the ghost was given a name…”Fred”.  I’m hoping that Fred decided not to follow us home and that he enjoys staying at the lakehouse.  If I were him, I’d stay by the lake! 

In addition to the remarkable company that I kept (all 4 of them!), I will always remember the yummy vegetarian food!  The in-house cooks, BFF and Reb, prepared lasagna, quiche, chilli, veggie burgers, potato salad, mixed greens, poutine, fried tofu and veggies, pancakes and quinoa burgers.  For those of you thinking that I was catered to all week, you should know that yes, I was spoiled but I was also a slave to these girls!  I washed dishes (the dishes that didn’t fit in the dishwasher!), made French Toast and scrambled eggs, and I was responsible for boiling the water for tea, and for cutting the watermelon and mangoes (it was no vacation!). 

Other memorable events include (please note that the following photos are all mine and easily copyrighted by me because they are on my camera except the photo of the deer which was on BFF's camera):

My modeling stint on the “catwalk” (I’m a superhero and supermodel! Too bad there's no photo of this!)

Bird watching (loons, great blue herons (my fave!) and woodpeckers, just to name a few but in this photo, you're seeing microscopic loons)

Meeting our friends SQ, the squirrel and “Scoot”, the hybrid squirrel/chipmunk

Swimming in the lake (I’m a water baby!)

Seaweed (thanks Sarah for throwing a piece of seaweed at me that stuck to my back and I couldn't reach it because of my stoopid gimp arm...argh! + ew = arghew!)

Canoeing

Fruit to Go (no comment!)

Fishermen

Schools of fish (there were even fish that enjoyed nibbling on toes!)

Snails

Rocks (BFF built an Inukshuk with the rocks)

Total relaxation (!!!)

Reading (we had to do a book run to a local bookstore mid-vacation because some peeps had already read all of their books…we’re a dork crew!  I think the total # of books read that week was 10...not bad for 4 people - not counting Fred!)

Movies (I watched No Strings Attached and Bridesmaids)

Bathtub (loved it!)

Geothermal heating/cooling system (very cool! no pun intented!)

SkeeterVac which eliminated (so cruel!) most of the insects within an acre of the apparatus except for the deer flies that were intent on escaping death in order to munch on chunks of my flesh (ugh!)

Oodles of laughter (hehehehahahahehehehahahahehehehahaha!!!)

Family Game Night/Family Big Brother Night (the season premiere of Big Brother 13 was on so that trumped board games...just sayin')

Trees (my favourite was this one...anyone know the species?  Poplar? Birch?  The leaves made a lovely rustling sound in the wind which reminded us of windchimes, if that helps!)

Deer (here’s one we encountered while driving to the lakehouse but thankfully it wasn't a close encounter!)

Campfire (I'm so lucky to have a BFF who knows how to start a campfire in less than 60 seconds…who needs a boyfriend when I have my BFF?)

Sunrises and sunsets

I know you're supposed to end with the sunset but I had to save the best for last which actually happened on our way home from the lakehouse so if I was listing the events in chronological order (which I'm not!) then this memorable event would have come last:

As we approached Packenham (a small town), there was a "Welcome to Packenham" sign that resulted in the following question (and subsequently lots of laughter!): 

“Are you "packin' ham" or are you just happy to see me?” :)

Who needs to pay for entertainment when you can hang out with us? 

Not only was the week blissfully peaceful, we were able to share quality time together and make great memories.  I can’t thank Mr. Lakehouse enough for his generosity (spanks!).  Being able to spend the week with “my girls” was truly wonderful.  I’m so lucky!!!  I think the week would be best described using some of Mr. Lakehouse’s lingo:  Sweet.  Nice.  Good times. 

Spanks for the memories :P

(Devil's) Fork in the Road

I’ve been receiving hate mail feedback lately from my blog readers (mostly from my brother!) stating that some of you (mostly my brother!) are annoyed about never knowing when I've posted on my blog.  Well, I’ve done extensive research I checked and there doesn’t seem to be an alert thingy (yes, that’s the technical term!), that notifies you of new posts.  If you can prove me wrong, please do (p.s. this isn't a competition!)!  Who knew that some of you (mostly my brother!) eagerly await my blog posts?  Many of you know that I annoyingly consistently post a link to my blog on Facebook and Twitter when I have a creative brain fart.   For those of you following me on Twitter, I only post my blog links so don’t be looking for me to post a 140 characters or less soliloquy on Twitter which probably explains why I only have 17 followers (I admire each of  my 17 followers for not being embarrassed about following me on Twitter!).  I reckon I must do more to ensure my faithful readers (mostly my brother!) don't have to check my blog several times a day,  every day to see if I've posted anything brilliant (never!) new on my blog. 

Originally, I had unrealistic good intentions to post every day on my blog (oh I'm so naive!) but that only lasted a measly 50 days (give or take a few!) then reality hit (ugh!).  It’s impossible to consistently blog, on a daily basis, educational (my #1 priority!) , funny, entertaining, inspirational and scintillating material (has that ever happened?) while working full-time and being a single mom (I know, I know, my daughter is 18 years old and she doesn't need me anymore...are you trying to make me cry?).  Sadly, daily blog posts quickly became a thing of the past.  What happened then was disastrous and emotionally devastating!  I started blogging on an "occasional" or "only when brilliance struck" (which in my case is rarely!) basis which averages out to approximately 3.1459265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781 posts per month.  Okay, that’s not exactly accurate.  I’m simply looking for a reason to include Pi in my blog post (yes, I'm a dork!).   Seriously though, let’s figure out the math (isn’t this fun?!).   I’ve been blogging since December 28^th and have published 71 posts so that means I’ve been blogging 6 ½ months which means I’ve published approximately 10.923 blog posts per month.  Pathetic!  I'm embarrassed to call myself a blooger blogger.   Since we are on the topic of math (my favourite subject!) and my blog (also a favourite topic!), I think it’s time to revisit “The Aftermath” and “The Aftermath – Revisited” (can you revisit something that’s already been revisited, hence re-revisited?).  Don’t you remember those coruscating blog posts?   If you do, then you’ll probably be interested to know that there have been almost 3,000 blog views (mostly my brother!) since I started blogging on December 28th (shocking!).   Almost 54% of my blog readers are from Canada, 25% from US, 10% from UK, 2% from Singapore, 2% from Denmark and the remaining 7% are blog readers from France, South Korea, Germany, Australia, Egypt, Ukraine, India, Netherlands, Pakistan, Romania, South Africa, Vietnam, Nigeria, Russia, Japan, Brazil, Hungary, China, Iran, Ireland, Oman, Spain, Bulgaria, Phillipines, Lebanon, Belarus, Latvia and Norway.  Unbelievable!!!  Sure, many of them probably accidentally stumbled upon my blog (and were sorry they did!) but it’s still pretty cool to see people from so many different countries who “visited” my blog (don’t you think?). 

So while y'all (I'm currently reading a novel that's set in Southern US so some of the characters say "y'all" and it's now become a part of my vocabulary...I'm a vocabulary chameleon!) are waiting for me to post on my blog, I am sitting here, at a crossroads in my life!  You know that metaphoric fork in the road or better yet, the devil’s fork in the road?  Okay, that probably doesn’t make much sense to you (devil’s fork in the road?) but Sarah, BFF and Reb will understand the reference. The devil’s fork is a three-pronged fork that looks like something satan might use to eat spaghetti (the prongs were unusually long and scary looking!) but the girls seemed to like them (I thought the forks were hazardous-to-your-life eating apparatuses!) and they actually wanted to steal one (just one!) from the lakehouse where we vacationed last week (more information on the lakehouse and attempted theft in an upcoming blog post!).   Okay, I digress...back to the crossroads in my life!  Basically, what I’m saying is that the metaphoric devil's fork in the road is three-pronged.  Do I quit retire from the blogosphere?  Do I force myself to write every day?   Or do I find a happy blogging balance?   First of all, I ain’t no quitter!  Second of all, I love blogging!  Third of all, you love reading my blog (right?)!  Fourth of all, who will be able to make fun of me publicly if I don’t do it in this blog?  Fifth of all, how will I be able to make fun of brag about my cooking if I don’t have this blog?  Sixth of all, how will I share my love of all things John Cusack with you if I don’t have this blog?  Seventh of all, how will I be able to communicate with Sarah when she goes to university in September if I don’t have this blog?  Eighth of all, how will I know how many “#th of all” I can include in this blog post if I don’t have this blog?  Okay, that’s enough (“eighth” is enough…hehehe!).  What I’m trying to say is that I want to find a way to be more consistent in my blogging so that my loyal readers (mostly my brother!) won’t have to visit my blog on a daily basis to see if I’ve posted something new.  Unless, of course, you want to re-read some of my blog posts which I suspect you must do all of the time (mostly my brother!).   Who wouldn’t?  There's some good stuff in this blog (if I don't mind saying so myself!).  I don't even think I can pick a favourite...."When I Grow Up" or maybe "A World Without Bees" or maybe "Without You" or maybe "This is Me" or maybe "She Shoots, She Scores" (I love watching that video of me "playing" hockey!).   Okay, so it's obvious that I love my blog (is it wrong that I get a kick out of reading my own stuff?).  So how do I find more time to share my crazy thoughts with you?

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ALERT!!!!

Beginning this Saturday, July 16^th, I will be posting weekly on my blog!!!  That means that every Saturday (that's right, EVERY Saturday!), there will be a blog post waiting for you to enjoy (just for you!).   Please note that I can't make any promises about the quality now that I will be rushing to publish weekly blog posts.  Just kidding!  Of course, every post will be as obtuse brilliant and dull funny as the one before it.   Wait a minute….let’s do the math.  If I post every Saturday, that means I’ll only be publishing 4 blog posts per month (sometimes 5 depending on the month!) which will inevitably bring down my average of 10.92 blog posts per month to a mere...I don't even want to calculate it (shocking...I don't want to do math!).  Geesh!  I thought this was an improvement.  I thought that 10.92 blog posts per month was pathetic but it was actually kick ass!  Okay, okay, obviously that average is extremely high because I was blogging EVERY DAY for approximately 50 days.  What was I thinking?  Crazy blooger!  Anyways, let’s try every Saturday and see what happens (it’s better than the pathetic 3 posts in April and 2 posts in May!).  Yes, it will take discipline but “discipline” will soon be my middle name because…wait for it…. I’m taking my first piano lesson tonight!  Heck, weekly blogging should be a piece of cake (mmmm…cake!) compared to piano lessons!  Say what?  That’s right…tonight I start piano lessons!  I wrote about doing things that scare me in my blog post “Eleanor’s words of wisdom”, and taking piano lessons is one of those things.  Yes, taking piano lessons from a boy genius is terrifying!  I even “practiced” playing last night so piano boy genius doesn't think I'm a complete loser (just a partial!) which is equivalent to someone cleaning their house before the maid comes over or doing your hair before an appointment with your hair stylist.  I’ve always wanted to play the piano (correctly!) so here’s my chance.  For those of you who are itching to know (so you can make fun of me!), I was "playing" Beethoven's For Elise to "loosen up my fingers" (again, yes I'm a dork!).  So if I can squeeze in two piano lessons a week plus mucho time spent practicing (practice makes perfect!), I can certainly squeeze in a blog post every week.  Can’t I? 

P.S.  I know some of you (mostly my brother!) are having issues posting comments on my blog.  I’ve also been having issues responding to your comments (mostly my brother's!) so my suggestion is that you select “URL/Name” when you want to leave a comment and just enter your name in the pop-up box.   Your comments are much appreciated!!!

P.P.S.  Shout-out to my friend Shana (we've known each other since the seventh grade!) who recently told me that she enjoys reading my blog and knowing what's going on in that crazy head of mine.  Shana - I hope this blog post made you smile (if it didn't, I'll try harder next time!).  You're in my thoughts and prayers today (and every day!).  I hope those hospital vampires are taking good care of you!!!  Love you xo 

New Edition

Sorry but this isn’t a blog post about the “new edition” of my blog or the “new edition” of the Oxford Dictionary, or the “new edition” of the iPad.  This blog post is about my childhood!   I know what you’re thinking, “oh maaaaaannnnnn…..” but don’t worry, it will be a fun blog post (aren’t all my blog posts fun?). 

As I’ve mentioned in previous blog posts, memories of my childhood are somewhat vague with some key moments firmly locked into my brain and there are times when photos of my childhood trigger certain memories.  Of course, I had a wonderful childhood because I was raised with wonderful parents and a pain-in-the-ass younger brother (aren’t all younger brothers pains-in-the-ass?).  Opening presents on Christmas morning, blowing out the candles on my birthday cake, playing in the sandbox, swinging on the swing, playing soccer, chasing after boys, buying candy for a penny at the corner store, family vacations, catching frogs (this isn’t another reference to boys, it’s a real reference to amphibians…and no, I wasn’t trying to catch them so I could kiss them!), running in the fields, and tobogganing are some of the memories that come to my mind when I think about my childhood but some of the most vivid memories involve falling in love with John Cusack, listening to songs by Boy George (aka Culture Club) and drooling dancing to songs by New Edition.  Yes, that’s right…Ronnie, Ralph, Bobby, Michael, Ricky and Johnny!   

In 1983, their first single, “Candy Girl”, was released.  What can I say?  It was love at first sight!  I dreamed that Ronnie would sing “she’s bad, she’s bad, I know she’s bad” about me and that I would be his “candy girl” :)

I must admit that 1983 was a difficult year for me because…wait for it…I was in love with more than one boy!  Yes, that’s right.  What can I say?  At the ripe old age of 11, I was a tramp!  I was torn between my love for John Cusack (I fell in love with John in Sixteen Candles around the same time that New Edition released their first single!) and my love for Ronnie.  However, if you’ve been reading my blog since I first started writing, you’ll know that my love for John Cusack is everlasting!  It seems like just yesterday that I fell in love with him but it was 28 years ago (wow I’m old!).  But this blog post isn’t about my Future Husband; it’s about New Edition so let’s move on…

Their next hit was “Cool it Now”.  Oh man…watching that video brings back so many memories!  Mostly of me crying and wishing that I could be Ronnie’s girlfriend.  How bizarre that the tears flow whether I’m 12 or 39 years old  :P

Then came “Mr. Telephone Man”.  Check out their “Solid Gold” performance in 1985.  Remember Rick Dees on Solid Gold or maybe you remember the Solid Gold dancers?  Hey Ronnie, you can now send me a text message :)

Then “Earth Angel” which was featured in “Karate Kid II”

In 1988, New Edition released my favourite album “Heart Break” (I love every song on the album!) with my two favourite NE songs of all time “If it isn’t love” and “Can you stand the rain”:

A little music trivia for you:  one of the songs on the album was the inspiration for the name of another “boy band”.  Can you guess the name of the song/boy band?  Give up yet?  The song was “Boys to Men”, hence the boy band was “Boyz II Men”. 

Then in 1996, New Edition (with the return of Bobby Brown!) blessed us with another album (we had to wait 8 years for this album!).  My favourite song from this album was “I’m still in love with you”:

Then finally (and somewhat disappointingly!), their last album was released in 2004 with “Hot 2nite” as their first release.  They seem to be trying too hard and that’s not very appealing to their fans…at least not this fan :(

 Of course, New Edition has a rich history of members coming and going due to failed attempts at solo careers (Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant and Johnny Gill) and breakout boy bands (Bell Biv Devoe…now you know!).  Here are some of my favourites:

Ralph’s “Sensitivity”

Bobby’s “Rock Wit’cha”

Bell Biv Devoe’s “Poison”

So why have I decided to revisit my love for New Edition?  Who wouldn't want to revisit their love for this boy band?  Wouldn't you, if you had an opportunity?  Okay, okay, the truth is that  two days ago, I read that “New Edition plans to reunite at Essence Music Festival” so of course, I started singing their songs and dreaming of Ronnie (sorry John!) so I thought it was only fair that I share my joy with you :)

If you happen to be in New Orleans today at the Essence Music Festival (lucky you!) and you are blessed with an opportuntiy to drool over see New Edition live, please let me know how it was so I can live vicariously through you :)

P.S.  You're welcome for sharing all of these New Edition videos with you.  I know, I know...A-MAZE-ING blog post :P