Chick, chick, chick

We have little chicks! We got them on Thursday and they'll be in the office until we finish their home in the backyard.
Why chickens?
Mark was against the goat idea hehe!
Just kidding. We have a big problem with slugs and snails. They took half of our summer vegetables in just a few days. I even resorted to poison pellets with much reluctance but it didn't seem to do much.
Someone mentionned that chickens would eat the invaders. And they give yummy eggs too. Well, they didn't have to mention it twice :). I like chickens ( my grandmothers in between them had chickens, ducks, geese and rabbits. It was a little sad to eat the rabbit you had been lovingly feeding for a few weeks. But we won't eat our chickens).
So, we got four. We love them already and they are already quite friendly with us. Unfortunatly I think one is a rooster. We might have to give him up since we don't think the neighbors would like us much if we kept him. But he is so pretty :(
Anyway, here is a pic of them. It's not too good but was taken on the second day. They have a few feathers now already. I'll take better pics in the coming days.
Cause I know you are positively dying to see them again. And again.

How embarrassing

Almost a month gone. Ouch. I did not realize I was gone so long. I kept saying to myself I'd write tomorrow or the next day and here we are a month later.
I guess it's time to tell why I was gone so long: I have started my studies again. That's right: I'm an apprentice to a well known Herbalist and midwife. I definitely want to be an herbalist but I'm not sure for the midwife part...we'll see!
Needless to say this is a big change in my life and my family's life. I don't want to give up the jewelry business and we are still working on redoing the website.

(On this note by the way, I'm fairly certain that there is a special circle of Hell reserved for the Microsoft people.)

(And also, beware of forward slashes. That's right, forward slashes. I won't say anymore or I'm going to start swearing)

So, in between studying and practicing, the business, the 2 children, the house, the garden and all the projects that need to be done (or that I want to do), it has just been busy. But I'm getting more organized now, and I feel confident that it is going to work.
Well, let's hope so anyway because I'd really love to get my diploma ;)

Tomorrow I'll post pics and it'll include a surprise, hehehe...

The good, the bad and the ugly. And a booger.

Spring break was great, we went down to Mexico and sipped margaritas at the beach all day long, ate in great restaurants and...

Ah, no, sorry that wasn't us, my mistake.

My son and I were still sick at the beginning of vacation but we still managed to dig up the entire vegetable garden and plant everything we could for the summer:
4 different kinds of zucchini, 2 kinds of eggplant, 6 kinds of peppers, 2 kinds of strawberries, 2 kinds of cucumbers, 2 kinds of beans, tomatillos, peas and 11 kinds of tomatoes. Well, we like tomatoes :). It was very enjoyable to spend the beautiful days outdoors.
That was the good.

The bad.
I told my daughter that the Easter Bunny doesn't exist and I feel bad. But we never ever did the easter bunny before. The parents would hide the eggs and they knew it was us. Then they would take a turn and hide the eggs for us and on and on all day long. Then we would eat easter chocolate and that was it.
And they loved it.
But.
One of my daughter's friends called later that day to tell her that the easter bunny had brought her a ton of presents. Like a ton. And she went on and on about it.
And my daughter who had been delighted with her day suddenly was unhappy. And she came to me and Mark and her brother and the dog and the cat ( I'm pretty sure she talked about it to the hamster too) and went on and on and on about her state of misery since the easter bunny had brought nothing for her.
Of course I tried to reason with her, telling her she definitely didn't need any more toys, that she had had a great day and had eaten too much chocolate already. But no no no, that wasn't enough. So, after 40 mns of this I just told her.
So, she knows and she isn't traumatized in the least. I just hope she is going to believe in the tooth fairy and Santa a little bit longer.

The ugly.
A leak. A big one that nobody knew about because it was inside a wall, behind the desk of my son (which is also uncharted territory). Now we have to replace the walls, moldings, and part of the floor. It's going to take at least 2 weeks and my son can't even sleep in the room because there is mold to dry first and we have to spray with nasty stuff. So, he is camping in my office and I can't even access my desk, let alone sit there. We'll have to reorganize a bit. Thank god a friend of ours is a good contractor.

The booger.
My daughter decided to decorate one of the walls with easter decorations that she made. Great I said, I'll make some too. I wasn't looking to closely at what she was drawing on some because she was really quick to put them on the wall. A bit later my son arrives and looks at the decorations. He laughs and said: "why do all the eggs have faces with boogers hanging from their noses??"
I guess we won't make it in here this year.

What did she want already? Oh yeah, more toys. Over my dead body.

6

Candy Froggie tagged me and 5 other unfortunate bloggers. We have to divulge 6 habits. So, here I go:

1- I'm a pain in the ass for 3 whole weeks after every time change. I'll drag everybody I cross paths with in this silly "discussion" over whether we need to do a time change or not. Including at the grocery store. Nobody is safe.

2- I need to open the windows everyday for at least 20mns. The weather has no importance at all, including when sheets of water are coming in on the hardwood floors.

3- When my children complain over the fact that I'm not fair or mean or whatever I tell them the story of their birth in detail. I'm not sure they'll ever have children.

4- My original hair color is a very dark auburn. Since the age of 15 nobody has seen my real hair color because I didn't like it. Recently I decided that I'd like to let it grow back to its natural state. Except that now I have white hair and it's just not possible to leave it like that.

5- When I was little I wanted to live like Heidi and I still do. Making wildflower bouquets, sleeping in the hay and spending my day with goats in the mountains would suit me perfectly.

6- I only buy candy a few times a year but when I do I'll finish an entire big bag in one sitting, feel sick and swear I'll never do it again.

Voila! I'm sure that was fascinating. Every body's blog that I go to and they actually know it has already been tagged so whoever wants it, take it!

No Fair. Second Round.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!
Have I ever said here what kind of a patient I am when I'm sick? No? Ah. Well I'm not. A patient that is. Because see I'm never sick. My nose can be running, my throat hurt and so on and on. But I'm not sick. Nope. Deny, deny, deny is my motto. This is why I never go to the doctor except if I'm pregnant that is. Which is really silly because then, I'm actually just pregnant and not sick at all. But I guess that I feel that it's not just me anymore but another human being so I go. And I'm sure I'm quite difficult when I do go but it's their fault after all. Why do they have to make you feel like like you have some kind of disease instead of just carrying a baby. It's not really conducive to peace and happiness to pee in a hobbit size cup every month in a doctor's office bathroom when you can't even remember what your legs look like. And then it goes on your fingers and...hum? Sorry I disgress.
So, I knew I was sick of course, you can't really fail to notice a fever when it goes past 103F ( 39.4C.). But, actually I was a little sleepy and that's about it. I took fever reducing medicine and sipped my tea and continued life as usual. After 3 days of this it morphed into an mind splitting headache and neck ache. At that point I was miserable and in bed because I couldn't move anything anymore. Painkillers only took the very edge off but that's it. And then...I couldn't breathe through my nose and pain increased and that was 2 more days. At the end of that second day I'm told I looked so bad off that Mark came very close to get me to the emergency room.
And then it went away as quickly as it came on. I'm very very relieved, I wouldn't wish that thing on my worse enemy.
Or maybe like a really bad one maybe.
Did I just say that?
The only thing left is that horrible cough that hurts like you have a broken rib. But, definite improvement.
And today is the beginning of spring break. That's great. I can enjoy my 2 children all-day-long. They were at each other's throat 45 mns after coming back from school already.
I want to go to a spa.

No Fair

They had a wonderful time in Yosemite. There was quite a bit of snow where they were staying and snowball fights were a favorite...and a treat for children living in Sacramento ;). They hiked for miles and saw quite a few coyotes and deer. They visited a cavern in the dark. The only person with a light was the guide who relayed info about the terrain to the person behind them who told the person behind them etc...They arrived in a chamber and listened to Native Americans stories and songs. They went on a solo hike in the snow. The nearest people were at least 15 mns behind and in front.
I wonder if they could hear you scream.
My son loved the solo hike. He said it was very peaceful.
I wouldn't know, I can barely pee in solitude and I don't remember peaceful.
I'm still a little aghast at the solo hike. You know, considering that the first thing they advise you to do when you go into these parks is to not hike by yourself. At least I don't think there are mountain lions in Yosemite but there are a lot of bears. They actually saw one at night wandering into the village, in search of food, no doubt. Considering that a certain number of people lose their lives to these animals every year I'm amazed that they do these things...without actually consulting the parents first. I understood that the form I signed was for the inevitable things that can happen when you are hiking. I did not quite understood they would actually make it dangerous on purpose. You know.
I wonder if I would have said yes if they had asked me first. Probably I would have. The risk is still small. I think. Well, maybe not. Pfffff...I thought that the older they got the easier it got...I guess not!
The only bad thing that happened is that one of the kids in my son's group was very sick all week. It turns out he had the flu and my son got it. He came down with it the day after he came back.
Of course I got it too.
The day after he got back was also the day that my daughter and my husband chose for their 2 day trip to go skiing ( it was my daughter's christmas' present).
They had a great time on the slopes, at the restaurants and at the motel.
She was starting to get a cold the day they left. She got really sick the day after they came back.
Of course I got that cold too.

So, let's sum this up, shall we?

My son goes to Yosemite for a week and has a great time.
My daughter and husband go skiing and have a great time.

I get the flu and a bad cold.

Oh, and did I mention that my husband is back skiing today while I'm still coughing my lungs up? Did I?

Ooooooooooommmmmmm

This week we are only a family of 3. Well, I guess 6 with the dogs and cat. My son and his entire classroom, teacher and 10 parents are having a blast in Yosemite National Park for the whole week.

They have done several miles hike at high altitude in the snow, visited a cavern in the dark, listen to native american songs, did ice skating on frozen ponds, etc...

So everything seems wonderful and all. Except for the parents left behind who can't help but worry a little. Just a smidgeon. After all they had to sign a consent form. And what a consent form it was. Here is an excerpt:

"Environmental risks and hazards include rapidly moving, deep, or cold water, insects, snakes, and predators, including large animals; falling and rolling rock; lightning and unpredictable forces of nature, including weather which may change to extreme conditions without notice.

Travel may be by vehicle, skis, canoe, on foot, and by other means, over rugged, unpredictable, off trail terrain, which may include boulder fields, downed timber, rivers, river crossings, high mountain passes, slippery rocks, ocean tides and currants, and waves. Participant risks include falling, capsizing and drowning.

Possible injuries and illnesses include hypothermia, frostbite, high altitude illnesses, sunburn, heatstroke, dehydration, and other mild or serious conditions.

Communication and transportation are difficult. Consequently, emergency evacuations and medical care may be delayed.

Personnel may be required to make decisions under difficult circumstances, based on perceptions and analyses that may be imprecise and subject to error."

Yup. Did I mention that every year there are quite a few problems in between humans and bears? I sure hope they are still fast asleep.
Ah, and for the cherry on top, we received an e-mail from the teacher over the vacation that explained to us that a 12 year old boy had died from a fall in Yosemite the day before. He was not with the same people that our classroom was going but you know.
So, a bit worried.
A bit.

But Yosemite is incredibly beautiful, go see these pictures. It is worth it, isn't it?

Or not.

Dude

We are watching the National Geographic Channel with miss A. She sees that the people talked about can see the Hollywood sign from their house.
" Man, they are so luuuuucky, they live in Hollywood."
A bit surprised Mark asks: " Why does that make them lucky?"
Miss A. " Dude, seriously, Shaggy lives there!"

Love, Love

And a happy Valentine to everybody :). I like Valentine's day here better than in France where it is mostly a lover's love that is celebrated. So restrictive!
So here it is from me to you: love, love!

I think I found out why people who love Mika really really love him ( no, this blog is not turning into a Mika fan club in spite of all appearances).
Right.
Last Thursday miss A. came back from school a bit upset because some of her classmates had made fun of her. She had dared to cut her hair short. Apparently 8 years old little girls are not supposed to have short hair.
How does this relate to Mika you will ask?
I think Mika doesn't care what people look like, dress like, who they love and how. You really have 2 choices in life. You either try to fit in or you don't. But in each case the price to pay is heavy.
I think that in the case of Mika he is actually able to project his right to be different to people around him so that they feel accepted...and loved.
Ok, I'm done! Now everybody goes and give some love.
And don't eat too much candy.
She says as she is opening the chocolate box.

Ah, one more thing: videos from the concert in SF are starting to appear on youtube. Here is a very good one.

Love Today

I didn't have my camera. Actually, I didn't even have my purse. The day got really messed up and we got there barely on time to hear the first part. Good thing I wasn't in charge of the tickets huh? Man, I really wish I had my camera it was an awesome show. I think Mika is crossed with a god hehehe...
I'm waiting for people to post videos about the concert. I could only get videos from the night before in LA, but the show looked very similar. Here we go for the details...

There was a girl-angel bursting out of a blue ballon, Mika appearing all in white with sparkly silver suspenders and a gold jacket, electricity going through the crowd as he is pointing at the sky, an inflatable 30 feet tall BIG GIRL, a piano that Mika played half sitting up because he couldn't stop dancing, a teasing war with his drummer as they played rythms back and forth on garbage cans, big ballons floating over the crowd, a giant squeleton hugging Mika, double D's as he called them :)( the big girls), A giant M, Mika's voice getting raw, a light and shadow show with a bad rabbit and a wolf, a giant squeleton hugging Mika, Mika lifting the crowd off their seat, the heat that nobody cared about, 100 billions confettis at least, an incredible finale with Lollipop where everybody in the show got on the stage and had a big huge party, a big burly guy in the crowd wearing pink bunny ears and a pink boa, my daughter standing on her seat singing her favorite song ( lollipop) as she is waving her glow stick, 2 men sporting matching red t-shirts saying " 2 hearts beating as one", Mika taking his shirt off and playing drums as the crowd roared, a gazillion teenage girls screaming, a 3 year old and a 60 year old dancing, my son clapping with the beat, the flowers on the stage, and oh Mika :)

I think he should be refered to as a public health service. It was difficult to go to sleep after that. I call it the Mika high...I'm still on it!
And that's good because today is Mark's birthday. I need coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. And Mika.

The grand finale:



I know this one is pretty bad but it'll give a pretty good impression of a Mika concert...here he is " Billy Brown" especially for Candy



Thank you Mark, awesome present :)

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod!!

Guess, guess where I'm going to be tomorrow night at this hour.
San Francisco.
Huge theater.
Listening to whom??
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh (insert: 16 year old fan shriek here)

MIKA!!

Gift from my husband to me and the kids for Christmas. Awesome.
My children look wary after seeing me sing and dance in the living room.
I don't know why, hehehehe.

They don't know I can be worse. Yet.

Candy, I'll try to get a lot of pics and I wish you were there :)

It's Sunday

Finally, it's Sunday. I've been waiting for Sunday all week long. See, I've been suffering from withdrawal because Mark has been working over time. On my computer. Well, our computer I guess. I'm the one who whined the most for it though. I actually have one in my office but even considering the level of withdrawal I was going through I can't bring myself to use it because IT IS THE LOUDEST COMPUTER IN THE WORLD. I swear it's like sitting on an aerial landing strip.
Anyway, what did I want to say already? Mmmm, working over time. That's going to go on for a while. For me too. Shoot. But a lot of good stuff is happening and getting done so we'll just have to go through that first before finding a balance.
Oh, I know what I wanted to say: have you seen Juno? If you haven't you must, it's really good. Both hilarious and sad like real life. The writing is outstanding. Here is the word I'm looking for: smart.



Well, we finally got our daughter back. She had been at a friend's house since friday. Apparently she had no intentions of coming back. Mph.
And my son had his usual group of friends over for hours.
So, basically Mark and I have been completely ignored today by our children.
Hours giving birth. Years breastfeeding and playing with babies and toddlers. Hundreds of diapers. And then, first chance they get they ditch you.
Mph again.

I can't wait to go see your blogs and see what has happened. I hope your Sunday is good.

Sweeney Todd

We went to see Sweeney Todd yesterday. I loved it..they all did a great job and thankfully I didn't have any trouble understanding everything. It is a bit harder for me when people sing. Helena Bonham-Carter and Johnny Depp gave outstanding performances but so did the supportive cast. Tim Burton did a very good job here and the movie is very artfully filmed. It is not for the faint of heart however. Lots and lots of blood of course but the murders are also done in a very gory, plain view kind of way.

In short we had a bloody good time!

Hehehe, sorry, couldn't resist :)

Game night

One of the best games we have ever played:


Camelot is besieged. Of course the knights of the round table have to save it. They are up against a dragon, a black night, the Picts and the Saxons. And if that wasn't enough Vivien and Morgan have sworn to make it as difficult as it could possibly be with catapults and despair. Lucky for you, Merlin is on your side. There is a price to pay for his help though. A stiff one too.
You have to cooperate to win. Apparently this is a very difficult concept for a 12 year old boy :):). But the forces of evil were defeated that night. My 8 yo has no problem playing. She likes the quest of Excalibur ;)

Blackberries for Supper

I got miss A.'s nasty cold. Except that mine is really mild compared to hers. I'm thinking it must be the tea that I drank regularly since I started to have a scratchy feeling in my throat.
But, also, I have a wonderful husband who does things for me when I'm sick that he doesn't do when I'm well.
For example: we eat with the seasons. I mean: we eat fruits, vegetables, and to some extent meats and fish that are in season. There are several reasons for this but I guess the main one is that I really dislike buying fruits and vegetables at the grocery store. They either look like they are made of plastic, dead, or even worse: slimy. So, we grow our own and when we don't grow it we buy it at the farmer's market.
Anyway, the point of all this is that Mark went to the store and bought blackberries. Blackberries!! It was like eating summer. It makes you feel so comforted and relaxed to eat blackberries one by one, licking your fingers.
Thank you my love :)


And if you want to share a really nice moment with your children, give this book a try:



It's a very "sweet" story of how the strawberries came into the world according to the Cherokee people.
The story starts with a husband and wife quarreling. Both are angry and the wife leaves. The husband is sorry but he can't catch up to her to tell her. The Sun takes pity on them and sends berries to Earth to slow the wife's flight. Only one berry has enough power to do it.
And here is the last sentence of the book which is also my favorite:
" To this day, when the Cherokee people eat strawberries, they are reminded to always be kind to each other; to remember that friendship and respect are as sweet as the taste of ripe, red berries."

And the illustrations are very good too: everything is softened and simplified and it works so well with the story.

Alert!

Two days ago, miss A. came back from school sounding stuffy. 3 hours later she had a fever and what looks like a full blown bronchitis. She is not one to take medications of any kind. Oh no. She'll fight to the death about it. Her brother entered kindergarten the year she was born. And they were both sick with something almost every month. But no matter how bad she feels, she won't take anything. And so she nursed. And nursed. And nursed. For 3 whole years, me breastfeeding her on the rocking chair was the only medication she took ( apart from the one time that she had an ear infection and she had to take antibiotics. I don't even want to remember the 2 times a day we had to get the medicine down her throat. It's the stuff of nightmares.).
It worked very well, and very quickly too. They should sell breast milk as a remedy for cure all in the stores.
But boy, I won't lie to you: I was very tired of it. So were my breasts.
Well, now she is 8 years old and even though it is a bit easier to coerce her in taking something it is still a lengthy, tortuous project involving stealth and usually a downright lie: " It doesn't taste bad I swear! ( while you try to suppress a gag reflex when looking down the cup holding a viscous purple liquid) ".
So I said enough. I've got reactions myself to cold medications and I'd rather suffer than take them most of the time.
( We'll carefully ignore the correlation between me not taking medications and her not taking it either. Thank you.)
I've always been very interested in plants and herbs in general and I started to get more interested in the subject when miss A. was born. I've tweaked an herbal tea recipe that we take when we are sick. It really works very well and quickly. My son had a sore throat and 2 hours after drinking this tea it was gone. It's also good for general antisepsis, coughs and fevers. Oh, and it tastes good too. Really good actually.

In 4 cups of water ( 1 L.) boil together for 10 mns:
2-3 thick slices of ginger
7 sprigs of thyme
a small handful of sage
a whole lemon cut in thick slices
if feverish add a 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon or cayenne pepper

And eat a lot of garlic. I usually make a big pot of soup with a lot of different vegetables cooked in chicken bouillon. And lots of garlic. And alphabet pasta. Verry important the alphabet pasta :)

And you? What kind pf a patient are you? And what do you take when you are sick?



By the way, if you are pregnant, never take anything, certainly not herbs, without talking to your doctor first. Or in this case your herbalist.

Feeling small

I'm short. I mean really: about 5'2-3". It never bothered me. But yesterday my 12 year old son had invited several friends and I was standing next to all of them. That's when I realized they were ALL taller than me. When did that happen?? Where is my baby? He has the same shoe size than me too. It's going to be cool when miss A. is the same shoe size as me: double the amount of shoes ;)
Oh, and Piper standing on her hind legs is taller than me too.
In short, I'm shorter than my dog.
Pray that she never sits on your toes.

The Movies

We just came back from watching The Golden Compass. It received a lot of bad press from both the people who loath the books and the people who love them.
I loved the books ( no surprise there ) but I read them a long time ago. Very long time ago. Actually I'm going to read them again, they are truly very good.
The movie is disappointing but again no surprise there. Like Mr T. said when we got out: " the movie is never as good as the books". With maybe the exception of LOTR.
In the Golden Compass, the biggest flaw, I think, is the total lack of character development. I do mean total, not just badly done. And considering the number of outstanding characters in these books you really had to do it on purpose. The consequence? The movie doesn't grab you as it should and well, you don't really care what happens to the people in it.
It was OK in the whole: the scenery and the costumes are great. I'd kill to have half the costumes to wear ;). Well, maybe not kill, but you understand...



God I want that coat.

Waiting And Waiting

For the rain to STOP falling. Maybe tomorrow. It would be nice to be able to build 30 feet of fence without feeling like someone really mean is standing over your head throwing buckets full of water at you. Yeah, cause I'm tired of water. Very tired. I'm tired of doing extra laundry everyday, tired of pulling my feet out of a foot of muck when I walk, tired of vaccuming and moping inches of dirt from the house everyday. Tired of black and gray. Tired of the trickling of water going down my back while I'm holding the fence posts in place.
Did everybody get that I'm tired?
Are you sure, because I could say it a few more times I'm sure?
Ok then.
What else is new?
New year, new projects. Lots of new projets actually but time and money have been in short supply lately. Who knew that it would take so long and cost several hundreds of dollars to build back a fence? Right after Christmas too, grrrr...
Well, I'll just have to move my booty. Which is rather large these days I might add. I'm tired of that too :)
Now I've got to escort 2 8 years old who want to go play tennis right now. Sure. I wonder how many soaking wet tennis balls spraying dirty water when they whiz past their faces it's going to take before they want to come home?

Well, Hello There

Phew, so much stuff happened, incredible. But I can't say any of it because we are in the middle of several arctic storms and I don't want to wreck the computer. Impressive storms this time. So far, 2 streets are closed next to mine because of the fall of very large trees, a section of the fence flew away taking the shed door with it for company. No power for a while. Outside looks like I'm living in the middle of a swamp. I haven't seen any crocodiles yet but surely they'll come. And now we just wait for the next one...I don't know when I'll be back on line but I'm showing signs of withdrawal, it has been a while since the guests were sleeping in the computer room.

In the meantime I hope that you all have an excellent year ahead of you. I can't wait to go on your blogs to see what's going on.
Jack, Hiro and Candy thank you for coming by, I wish you all love, happiness and luck in your projects.

Now I have to get the dogs out for a walk. At least it's raining vertical instead of horizontal.
So many things to be thankful for, heh?

:):)