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?

:):)

Gnnnnnnn

I thought I was done.
No more presents, no more shopping.
I could go on to plan Christmas dinner. And clean the house. And do the laundry. And get a new couch. Donate the old one. Decorate the house. Plant the dying pansies waiting in the driveway. Call my grand-parents. And my dad. And my mom. And my sister.
Wrap the damn presents.
And write cards.
But no. Nonono.
I forgot one.
One.
And I have to go back to the source of all evil.
I'm pretty sure they spawn orcs in that place.
Either that or they have a black hole in the middle.

I have to go back to the MALL.


moar funny pictures

Enough is Enough is Enough

I absolutely refuse to to go to more Emergency Rooms until next year. Note that I'm not asking for too much here. After all, next year is in what? A little more than 2 weeks?
After Mr T.'s fracture on the arm it was Miss A's turn this week. She fell from the bars at Gymnastic and fell on her finger. It probably wouldn't have done anything to it if it had not been in an awkward position. But the end result is the same. Or about. One doctor thinks it's broken and the other thinks it's a big sprain. Again the same anyway: her finger is black and blue and puffy from top to bottom. She's got to wear a metal thing to keep it straight while it heals. We have to unwrap the finger and wrap it again every day. Ouch.
This can leads to some thoughts on how differently people behave when they are hurt.
My son flats out refuses to be cuddled. Well, a little bit maybe but you know, not to the extent that you could tell him that maybe sword play might not be recommended right now. You know.
My daughter on the other hand. Dear god. I really think she should enroll in drama.
We have gone back to the days of toddler hood people.
Now, understandably, it hurts and obviously it is difficult to use the right hand for just about anything right. And so I've been playing the role of Mary Poppins ( who really, I mean, it's just not fair, she just sings and everything goes right; I sing and the cat wants to get out).
And that's fine. I was happy to do it.
Except.
Except.
That I think I've been duped.
Because when she is wrestling with her brother on the floor she has no problem whatsoever to use her right hand. None.
And her brother with the broken arm is flailing about like nothing ever happened. Like a broken arm.

My revenge will be terrible.

The Strategically Placed Parent

Most people don't think very hard before choosing which side of the bed they sleep on. Seems like a pretty straightforward decision after all.

If you have children, this is a big mistake.

Because when it is Saturday morning ( the first Saturday morning in months that you can sleep in because soccer season is finally over and so there is no game) and it is 7am and one of your children comes in because they went to the bathroom. And they say to the parent closest to the door:

"There is a huge trail of ants going from the front door to the shower in the bathroom."

And you are so so glad that you are not that parent.

:)

I know I said I'd do a post about the rewarding things but that's too funny and I'm afraid I'm going to forget so here it is ( actually it is one of rewarding things of the week anyway ):

This past week was the teacher/parents conference week. That's when every family meets the teacher who is at that time going to give you a report card and talk about the past trimester.

Mister T. and his parents are waiting for their turn at the door. They were actually on time. Nothing short of a miracle.
The teacher is late.
Huhuhuhu.
Laurienna thinks that well, being a supportive parent and all we need to have a discussion about the important event that's about to unfold.
Notice that at this time, we should already be in.
Mister T. shuffles.
He grunts.
Then in a very low voice says: " I don't think I'm any good at Algebra."
Parents looks at each other.
"Well, the grades we have seen seem to indicate that you are actually doing pretty well. Of course the last paper you showed us was, hum, 1 1/2 months ago....?"
Mister T. "No, I'm telling you, I make tons of mistakes it's terrible."
The parents are still utterly unconcerned. It might seem bizarre maybe but the thing you don't know is that this child has never, never, ever had less than a 3 ( maximum is 4) on a report card. And so far as we have seen ( and we pay attention more than it seems) this year seems to be the same.
Laurienna has the final word, something really intelligent, like : " we'll talk to the teacher about it."
And in we go.
We all settle down after warm greetings. This is the same teacher that mister T. had back in 3rd grade. And we love her.
After looking at mister T. with a fondness in her eyes she deploys the report cards.
4,4,4, 3+, 4,4,4. And in other disciplines things like, oh, "outstanding".
Parents and teacher are grinning.
Mister T. relaxes a notch but I can see that in spite of all 4s in all mathematical areas he is still concerned.
I tell the teacher about it.
She turns to mister T. astonished and says: " Thomas, you are the top student in the class. You cannot get a 4 in algebra at your age without being actually really good at it!"
Then a lengthy discussion follows on the whys and hows he thinks he is not good at it.
It turns out it's only really when he is doing his homework that he has difficulties and it frustrates him a lot.
How strange.
A few days pass.
One afternoon, Laurienna is doing laundry and enters the room of mister T.
He is doing his homework.
Algebra it turns out.
He is also watching a music video on You Tube. The sound level would rival the best clubs.
He is also talking ( screaming to be heard above the music) to his best buddy on the phone.

I gave him a few hints as to why he might be making mistakes on his algebra.
He vigorously denied that any of the above could possibly impair his mathematical thinking and that I was just trying to ruin all the fun in his life.

I said: " Darling, you ain't seen nothing yet".

Discovery

Hey, so I've been in a foul mood for days and now I know why. I got the stomach flu. Yes, that's why. I heard you muttering in the back row.
On the plus side, I've discovered how to shed all these extra pounds from Thanksgiving. I'll keep that in mind for the next few years. Eating half a banana and a spoonful of rice every day for a few days might seem a little severe but there is no question that it worked wonderfully. See, lucky. This is going to be a wonderful holiday season ( see, politically correct blog here. Ahem..), I can just feel it.
Lot's of good stuff happened too though. Well, rewarding stuff mostly I should say but I don't have time to tell you anything about it now. Because it's the HOLIDAY SEASON.
But no worry, I need an excuse to hide out this evening since my father in law decided to show up. I'm not even going to go into that. But anyway, I'll need an excuse to disappear, right?

School Newsletter

"New Nutrition Standards for the District

The new policy states that all food and beverages that exceed standards for sugar and fat content may not be sold to students during the school day, but can be sold either 30 mns before or after school."

What about idiocy? Still sold in american schools?

Yes I know I shouldn't say that.