TANGIBLE

39 and counting..

6 days left of my 30's. So unfair. I will forever see myself as 30 something, I just know it. Could give a flying fig about the actual birth- day. Still, the most important number to me really is 4. The four of us, four for the road..four for each other..you get the picture... So is it a sign that I am turning over to the "big" 4-0?? Me thinks there might be a message in there...somewhere..

Birthday week celebrations are a bit smaller this year. Even Vegas might be way laid due to money issues and Dwayne's inability to stick to a budget. Trust me, there will be a discussion about this later today when he arrives home for the weekend. You would be best advised to close your windows if you have noise concerns...I am PMS'ing, lucky boy...

BUT

As is the norm..you are all invited to however we decide to celebrate.

So without further a do....

THE BIRTHDAY ITINARY!

Saturday August 1. Gram arrives at Edmonton International Airport..Feel free to join us. We usually stop at Rocky Mountain Chocolate factory and pick up a celebratory Candy apple to share when ever some one comes to town via the airport!

Sunday August 2. Make overs, Die Dye jobs and Hair cuts. Heck the Tanning beds are even open for business! Salon on 6th.

Monday August 3.  Lunch with the girls + Dwayne. Then some shopping time.

Tuesday August 4. Happy birthday songs and Phone calls should be all directed to Miss Nadia.. It is her day this day! Fingers crossed we can hook up, gang up and give her the bumps..

Wednesday August 5. I work...yuck..

Thursday August 6. MY DAY A day at the beach. Wababmun + camp chairs and towels+ cooler full of crap + sun = great pictures and a chance to work on my tan.

Friday August 7. An evening at the races. Come one come all and experience where I actually had most of my birthday parties in my teens. Learn how to understand an Exacta, a Quinella and how to place a $2 bet! So much fun. We will make a night of this complete with dinner reservations in the Sky Paddock so let me know before Wednesday if I can add you to the reservation list! Post time is 6 PM!

And there you have it..Birthday week 2009.

You Gotta have Faith

Great picture of 3 of my favourite people. Though they are a good lookin group and seem to get along ...there is one problem.

This one has hair that is going to take over the world. Soon it will need its own zip code. No hat can contain it.. it flips, swoops and definitely has a mind all its own.

But I had faith..and today he looks like this...

 

little dude...you look amazing! and ahem..more mature...

Krysten, my most wonderful hair dresser, has restored my faith in her ability to flirt her way into giving him a great cut. Thank- you!

She is even coming into the salon, this weekend on her day off ( while it is closed OMG!!..) to give me a complete make over! Can you say HUGE TIP??

Krysten...BTW has won..gee I don't know how many gazillion awards and gives a great cut at Salon on 6th for like..$35!! Call her...let her charm her way into your life. You won't regret it...

Of course I can't forget princess wonderful... smile pretty girl smile!

 

Today was a good day.

And that's a Fact

Fact 1

This girl

leaves tomorrow. A sad fact cause she is not only able to bring Sarah out of her sad place on sad days...but she is also a link to her. We put her back on a plane tomorrow to make one final stop before she heads off to Holland where she will buy all the high heeled wooden shoes she can carry.

Fact 2

My mother arrives this weekend!

Fact 3

I've decided to devise my own birthday week list of things to do. Stay tuned...

Fact 4

Summer school sucks...mostly cause it is in the summer. But, it is also 1 day away from completion. We are celebrating by getting haircuts!

Fact 5

The next door neighbours have guests who smoke pot all night outside Sarah's bedroom window...she does seem mellower though...

Fact 6

I went down a water slide in an actual water park this weekend. No need for applause..though it was pretty spectacular..

Fact 7

I am wearing contacts again for the first time in nearly 20 years...hmmm..

Fact 8

This picture made me realize I need a haircut...

Fact 9

I need to download all the pics I took on my iphone.

Fact 10

It is 7 pm and I have no idea what to make for supper.

Whirlwind or Whirling Dervish?

Wow~ Things are moving at warp speed around here. Going places and doing stuff every single day. Thank god those uppity mucky mucks at work have finally seen things my way and are letting me book my own schedule. Yes..that means I work one maybe two days a week. Much better, Thank you!

Taste of Edmonton was a nice way to spend the day with 3 Teenagers. Over the years I have developed a system to keep us on budget where ever we may be. At the beginning of any of these excursions, every one gets handed the same amount of cash.

Rules are

• I don't care how you spend it. If you want to buy balloon animals and ice cream go crazy.
• If you decide to go extreme and bring your own snacks from home...you get to keep the money.

number one rule...You cannot ask for more...

This seems to be the year where everyone including hubby has fallen into line. There has been no fighting, no whining and even better...the money has lasted until the end of the day.

For Taste of Edmonton everyone got 10 tickets. We roamed around smelling and looking at some amazing food, then found a spot to sit. I gave Morgan my tickets just to make it more interesting..he got to buy whatever he thought looked good on my behalf. How lucky that I am in the company of 3 adventurous eaters.

  

We had veggie curry, cracked shrimp balls, grilled panini, green onion cakes, the best taco ever and some spring rolls. I won't even list the amazing desserts we had on top of it all!! We got stuffed! It had been a few years since the last time I made my way downtown for this festival and the kids enjoyed it so much that we will make sure we do it next year. Next time we will do an evening and sit and listen to some the entertainment.

 

It was blazing hot though and we ended up sitting pretty under an umbrella right in front of city hall. We had the most perfect view of the wading pool and the fountains. The mist kept us cool until we made our way back to the car.

Which brings us to this...our new Art Gallery..all I can say is hmmm..I will wait to pass judgement and see it when it is complete but man oh man..isn't this a lot of metal?? It may be a trick though..when finished it will probably look nothing like this..right?

   

This weekend is jam packed with shopping, a road trip and even a birthday party! Time to gas up, find the cooler and wrap a present!

This is the real you??

Hell no. No wonder we have issues with identifying terrorists and an explosion of forged documents being manufactured. I don't get it. Don't smile. Show your eyebrows and for goodness sake lets make sure your ears are well and truly Dumbo like. For identification purposes only of course.

 

Morgan had been given a pep talk before we left the car. Co-operation was non negotiable....A reminder that he will never see Disney, cheap Duty Free alcohol, or the Las Vegas Bunny ranch. Not necessarily in that order....

BTW..

See that tape on those 2 fingers on his left hand. Originally the story was he "sprained" his finger playing basketball. After the 3 or 4rth pretty girl stopped him in the mall to ask how he hurt his hand... we realized the genius of the tape...

Genius I say...

Summer Fun

 

Heading out on the Midway at Capital X. Feet aren't sore yet. But there was one immediate stop for a foot long for the ever ravenous boy. Sarah constantly surprises me though. For a girl with so many fears, she seems to be completely unafraid of adrenalin.

 

This is Taryn and Dwayne being interviewed by the Edmonton Journal about a ride they just came off of. This is what happens to those of us out there in the world who look completely approachable. We get interviewed, told life stories and even get asked to hold babies and take your picture of your group of 30. Of course I think it also helps that on this day, we were not looking like a character from Twilight or that we were doing some soliciting on the side...if you know what I mean...wink wink..nudge nudge..

Later on after taking in the Casino, the Trade show and the World Exhibit ..and because I was exhausted and so very very hot, I went and sat here...with a book (cause I am much smarter this year!).

 

Then everyone else came and we had the traditional buffet of fair food. Corn dogs, Dole Whip, fresh lemonade, pizza, BBQ beef on a bun, elephant ears and mini donuts....I had a bite of each and survived but that Dole Whip really is my favorite!

 

HANDS DOWN BEST MOMENT...

 

Garnier tent where the girls put a wig on Dwayne and he struck a pose. I thought Morgan was going to give himself a hernia he was laughing so hard..

Windy but NO FIRES~

So we were lucky. Just a few branches lost that will one day make it into the fire pit. No biggy. Our neighbours on one side however, lost their apple tree and another a few houses down lost not only a large elm but their garage as well... I just can't say lucky too many times....

All this and hail and those gale force winds about 20 minutes after we got home from the Make IT show. Read here to see how we all basically felt about it. Too bad, as the screening of Handmade Nation totally rocked and made me want to think about learning how to embroider some tea towels. Spending a girls day on Whyte Ave turned it all around though. I scored  a couple bday presents for later and even found a more comfortable purse to take to Vegas with me.

Hold the phone...did I just say that out loud?

Vegas ...in August. I am hell bent on spending my somewhat skinnier self celebrating the big 4 OH in sin city. Without the kids. With my husband. Alone. With my husband in a hotel room and when we are not in that hotel room we will be shopping for this new-ish body, seeing a show or two and playing black jack. There. Done. It is out there in the universe. It has to happen now right? I mean...I already bought that 2 piece suit as a surprise for the old man. It will either give him a heart attack or make him take me back to our budget hotel room. Not exactly win win..but what ever.

Any who....cross the provincial border and go east...

Drive until you see smoke.

This is the street where my parents live in West Bank.  Dad sent me the photo's earlier today. Read here from mom's blog to see how freakin calm she is..

well done mom....well done...

 

Wound up and ready to be an

So weird that the first weeks assignment is all about basically looking down.

I've spent so much time the last few months trying to look up and forward that maybe I forgot to just sit for a moment and and just be. Such a simple concept really, but one that if you are feeling like you are moving a warp speed and out of control...an insanely difficult to achieve- moment.  I will  do this though. Be still. Look down and all around. See what there is to see.

Tonight one of my dear long lost adopted "little's" comes for a 2 week visit. She just called me from the Toronto airport to let me know she was on her way. Good GOOD girl! We are her last stop before her big move to meet up with the rest of her family in the Netherlands. Crazy to write that. Crazy to have this little family of people be so far away from us. Crazy enough to keep on track and get those passports...

On another note

Yesterday was a monumental waste of time for a day. Just one huge scheduling mess after another. From trying to get Morgan to his camp at Grant Mac Ewan downtown at 8:30 am to having booked Sarah into the clinic's day  at the same time I was working. NEVER AGAIN!! As a result of the horrible mess the Naturopath caused  by being 2 hours late for Sarah's appt.and not talking to us during my lunch hour like we planned....(instead he did it after!) I threw away 2 hours of pay, had to have the other receptionist work by herself and most of all...felt like a complete idiot for not putting an end to it earlier. Stupid ass day was not over until I had picked up testerone X2 back downtown, dropped off one kid, picked up Capital X passes, went to Save on...dinner...ugh. Got home after 7 PM...sucky...

Did I mention in the middle of all of this I had to have an adjustment myself because I have a freakin massive case of bursitis setting up camp in my ELBOWS and I could barely move my arms????!!!!

Lisa however still wins the shitty crap filled day award...sorry girl... the keyboard definitely made you the big winner!

Avert your eyes...

I bought a 2 piece bathing suit for a (fingers crossed..) upcoming vacation. I will warn you all before I put it on and go out in public...

Bullet points

This past week I...

• Worked 3 out of 5 days!
• Cleaned my closet for what feels like the thousandth time.
• Put money aside.
• Ate 3 papayas..yumm..
• Wore white and survived.
• Froze at work cause Dr. Rick kept the Air on even though the days were grey..
• Finalized Sarah's solo trip to Kelowna.
• Neglected to tell Morgan about Sarah's trip..
• Made it to the pool for all 3 workouts even though it was the last place on earth I wanted to be.
• Cried with a friend.
• Managed to like myself a little bit more when I looked in the mirror.
• Wrote in my journal.
• Made copious amounts of Dr. appointments.
• Found out I was Anaemic.
• Missed Dwayne.

This weekend I plan to...

• Sit in a hot tub with a friend and drink wine.
• Make home made ice cream I can eat (fingers crossed)
• Iron all my freakin work clothes.
• Help Sarah study.
• Read outside in the SUN!
• Make meatloaf and marinate some chicken for next weeks meals.
• Clean the Studio so I can perhaps have a friend over.
• Cut the grass...maybe...
• Think about a new Banner for July.