Hooray!!

What a terrific day. It was the day all things went right.

Could this mean that MasterP will sleep through the night? Just asking.

I'm glad it was such a good day, as yesterday? Not so much. (This next bit is especially for Vicky. Janey? Look away. MasterP and I have been having problems with the left boob in particular, and yesterday, after finishing a nurse, he looked up at me with a smear of blood across his cheek. Not from biting.) Enough said there. Shudder, and yes, ow.

But today????

Today went like this. MasterP wouldn't take his usual lengthy morning nap (I suspect the cat woke him up jumping in his crib.) so I got him ready and headed out for a weigh-in, which I have been missing due to Thursday morning music programming.

At the WW, confirmation was made of the 21 lb loss over the past four months or so. YAAAY!!

And then? As I drove over to the produce place, I heard about SEPHORA OPENING IN OTTAWA ON FRIDAY!!! Man. It's better than the Lulu warehouse sale.

And then? The produce place, noting my difficulty with bags of produce and child in carseat, had staff carry my bags to my car for me. Very old school, and sooooo appreciated!

So then, all happy from all of that, I went to buy me my favorite latte at the Bucks' with my mother's day gift card, when their new policy of discounts for card holders was explained to me, and I watched as the cost of my latte went from 5 something to 3.64. Haaaaaaa!

And then???? I got home, and Mrs. Maiden called to tell me that CRA reconsidered their taxes, and are allowing them to claim Canadian residency last year (as opposed to the money grubbing folk over at Service Canada who are requiring Mrs. Maiden to repay some of her and Mr. Maiden's OAS from last year - due to the fact Mr. Maiden was busy dying and couldn't come home.) so that the 5K or so of taxes we thought she would have to pay are going to be much, much reduced.

Sigh.

That? That was some good juju.

You can call out my name....

I've been thinking a lot about Facebook lately, and the return of old friends. I guess that's what it's for and all, but it's pretty entertaining to me anyhow.

I have had a number of old friends cross my paths lately. First, in the gym, I ran into someone who had been a very close friend until I realized she was kinda mean. To me, and to my other friends who had flown into town for my wedding. She made some of them cry, and others so stressed out that they screamed at homeless people. And she poked my fat - the stuff right above the back of my bra strap. I just couldn't really forgive all of that, so I generally stopped calling. It's been a while since I'd seen her - and it was amazing to think she didn't know about MlleL, let alone MasterP, but there you are. We polite talked, and now sometimes wave, but that's about it.

Second, one of the B1 Babes found me on Facebook. For those not in the know, B1 was the first dorm/Rez I stayed in at LSSU - a suite filled with 7 roomates. It's been a good 17 years since we lived together - back when my stories weren't about childrens and breast pumps, and usually started 'oh, my god, there was this time I was so drunk....' Sigh.

Finally, my bestest friend from Grad School found me again. She's teaching in Texas as a PHD, and Facebooked me. My friend Janey reminds me of her so much - the same sense of humour, same love of books (both English undergrads gone bad...) I stood in her Vegas wedding, and she stood in the restaurant wedding for me.

A few years ago, we drifted apart. I always wondered why - but was really happy to hear from her again.

Who knows who else lurks around the corner??

The Kilborn Guernsey

I am so over the past few months of fiscal propriety. Seriously.

So today? I spent MONEY at Babies R Us. I know, not exactly the splurge you were thinking it might be, but heck. A girl's gotta start somewhere.

Made purchases necessary to move MasterP to the crib - a new mattress and the magic go-to-sleep aquarium - he's been in the rocking wooden cradle that Mr. Maiden built for us when we were babies, Bigbrother, myself and Littlesister. Mr. Maiden was so proud to bring it down to us here in Ottawa from Points North when MlleL was born (on the back of the pickup, thank you very much) for its use with the second generation... It's honestly really sad to think of our time with the cradle being done. Or that he's been sleeping by my right side for almost seven months. Amazing.

However, after months and months of frustration with the Isis (squeaky, squeaky) and recent revelations about the safety of plastics and one's babe, I made the jump away from the 'harmful' Avent and towards the more baby-friendly BPA-free Medela and their 'Swing'.

And to my bovine sisters on the farm, I say, rock on, my dears, rock on. Power to the milkers! (And heck. You could have told me how much more comfortable the whole pump with an electric motor thing was. Help a sister out, you know?)

(As a sidebar - Husband finds milking time in the living room just as fascinating as Janey does at the farm!!)

Deep inside the jungle, where nature's running wild...

Back when the SARS hit Toronto, there was this fabulous theatre deal. You could go, get dinner, a show, an attraction, and a hotel for a really cheap price. Practically free. We made use of that deal a number of times. The last show that Husband and I saw live was Mama Mia.

Mama Mia is an awesome, awesome time. So great, in fact, that we saw it twice. The second time (and truthfully, most of the first) we knew every word.

MlleL had her special day today, complete with a family trip to Go, Diego, Go LIVE! It was pretty terrific, seeing MlleL boogie to all of the songs - and we still knew every word.

aaaaaa!

MlleL has been going through a phase recently; it seems like forever, really, but can only be the last couple of months.

It goes like this: Chastisement: Like, for example, what are you doing with your clothes all off when I just told you you couldn't dress up because you were leaving for Maira's in a few minutes? Answer: AAAAAAAAAAAAA! Daddy!!!! AAAAAAA!!

Can't find one parent, because they might be in the bathroom, bedroom, etc? Keep yelling for them, escalating into wailing in the few minutes they're trying to flush.

My response? Instant frustration. I know it's not good. Lord knows I don't have the patience of Miss Vicky.

Oh man. I know that there is worse coming. But goodness, I'll be glad to see the end of this one.

Don't you wish your wifey....

So Husband's 40th birthday was yesterday. MlleL, MasterP and I woke him with breakfast in bed, and then I spent the day getting ready for the great surprise BBQ.

The one with 20 lbs of steak, three bottles of sangria, and a tiramisu for 25.

So much work, everyone was here with hidden cars, and up the driveway walks Husband and Auntie. Who he had met on the bus. Heh.

But an awesome, awesome time was had by all. And we all had to lie down after dinner. We're all still exhausted!

The couple that kinks together...

Last night, I lay MasterP down to sleep and ran away to a party at a local, lady-friendly toy shop. It wouldn't have been my first choice for an evening out, but as I discovered, sitting down with a bunch of relative strangers (and a few good friends), most of whom had been drinking, to hear a VERY INFORMATIVE and very frank nuts to bolts discussion of sex (Hee) turned out to be great fun.

Letsee. We talked lube, and umm, 'ginas, and the things 'ginas like, then some stuff about the penis, and the types of things the penis likes, and then some about bums, and then about the accessories one could use for many different types of amusement, in the singular or plural.

The best, most informative part of the evening came as cars started to enter the parking lot and noise could be heard overhead.

"Oh," the moderator explained, "there's a private kink club upstairs that's having an event. We've been invited up when nothing was going on - it's a pretty interesting place - they have workshops on stuff like how to properly flog someone to avoid repetitive strain injury (my note: How much need you be flogging to have that happen, by the way?) and sometimes they have events where the music is pumping and there's frames to tie your submissive up to and stuff."

And then we had a brief discussion about the type of person who chose to be a submissive, and the types of stuff that went on there.... you know, from all of our broad personal experience of watching CSI.

And then? We had a guest at the door. It was a KINK EMERGENCY!!!

Someone had forgotten to bring their collar.

And then, into our midst walked what we could only assume to be the host of a couple new to the scene, and then that new couple. Master and slave. The slave was probably about 50, a slightly larger lady, wearing a black caftan and some lovely red and black cuffs. (the collar they bought was to match the cuffs) The host was a gentleman of about the same age, silver hair, tanned, and wearing a black leather vest over a black shirt and leather trousers, and the master?

Umm. He looked to be younger - like maybe in his 40s - and looked like he might have just finished a very nasty slightly mortifying P2 meeting, red face, khakis dress slacks, button down shirt and all.

Turns out I know NOTHING about kink. Turns out that when I claimed financial planning wasn't hot, I was WRONG, WRONG, WRONG.

Quick. Someone get me a whip!!

Things I wish I could have said....

1. To my knit-suit-wearing, undergarmently challenged colleague:

My dear, I certainly do believe that the reason you wore your maternity pants throughout your entire maternity leave was due to your healing c-section scar. Really, I do. I mean, what other reason could there have been?

2. To the flamenco dress wearing lady on Bank street:

Madame, why so angry? Please look down at the riotous ruffles peeping from below your trench coat. Surely they will cheer you?

3. To the gentleman in the BMW:

Yes, you. First of all, yes, we can all see you chewing with your mouth open like that. Your mother must be so very proud of you. Secondly, the reason I did not proceed as quickly as you would have liked through the left hand turn was that I was simultaneously trying to steer and stop my three year old from throwing her brother's toys out the window. I can only assume that what you yelled at me through our mutually closed car windows as you sped by and cut me off after honking at me was a lovely pleasantry regarding the nature of Ottawa weather. RIGHT???

Just so you know? I'm not so sure that your car makes up for you in the laws of attraction.

21st century grandparenting...

So we've done it. I've managed to finally talk Mrs. Maiden into the wonders of broadband and the web-cam. We've come a long way, Mrs. Maiden and I, and now, we manage to get ourselves connected in less than 5 minutes, being able to see each other and everything.

Hurrah!

As Mrs. Maiden is shortly leaving the glow of Arizona for Points Closer North, these virtual visits will come to an end, as Points Closer North is a remote community with dial-up.

I'm kinda sad about that, but then, I also don't have to be part of the hide-and-seek and body part inspection that MlleL and Mrs. Maiden's conversations are. ("What big EARS you have, Grandmother..." "See my bum, Nanny?")

Now? On to chatting with Bigbrother in Arizona and Littlesister in Ireland.

Lessons I never seem to learn

1. Husband doesn't really like surprises. Sad for all of us. He likes to know what he's getting for his birthday. In fact, he likes to buy it himself, with my blessing. He's pretty exact that way. It takes a little of the romance out of the event, but in the end, I know he's happier with the turn-out.

2. The mystical power of passing a damn ES-06 competition. Boo. Enough said.

3. That when you get your hair cut, it's always, always shorter than you planned. Always. Glory? Well, limited. Ponytail? Not everything! Everyday blowout? Yeah, pretty much!

And in other news? The stylist totally asked me if my hair was all in my natural colour. Heeeeeee. Take THAT 10 Minute hair dye!!!

Hair bands....

When I was pregnant with MlleL, I spent a good deal of time commuting to and from my doctor's appointments listening to Eminem. Miss Emm held that this would make the baby a 'hoodlum'. Well, if her choice in clothes is any indication, it may have made her a peeler, but that's another story.

While I was in the lobby of the Civic at 3:00 AM in labour with MasterP and waiting for Husband to park the car, I was listening to the 'pod to keep me company. An all-time-favorite was playing. That's right, Bon Jovi was accusing me of being "an all-night generator wrapped in stockings and a dress". sigh..... Strangely appropriate, non?

Is it any wonder my boy's hair is so long?