Mah Birfday

I'm turning 36 on Saturday. Boo.

But there is the possibility of presents!

Yay!

So here's mah list:

I know I'm only a year or so behind, but I love this grey nail polish from American Apparel.

Dying to read this book. Those two were a hot mess.

I read Kathy Reichs every summer - the perfect beach book. Even if you're nowhere near the ocean.

My brother and SIL told me about this cookbook. Pretty sure that I must have it.

Speaking of books - did you know that there is a Netflix but for books? In Canada? And they have gift certificates. Just sayin'.

This is my favourite massage destination. Not the floaty hippy baths, just the massage. In case you were wondering.

I saw a woman walking around in these on the weekend and my shoe envy went through the roof. I didn't even know I wanted obnoxious yellow flip flops, but it turns out that I DO. Size 9.

I've been wanting to try this new nail bar but I think Stéphane has got this covered. I'll let you know how it goes.

I don't think these would even look good on me, but I drool over nice sunglasses that do not come from somewhere that also sells cotton balls and shampoo.

I am in love with these kooky earrings from Etsy:

Fresh flowers are in my top five all-time favourite gifts. Can't go wrong with that.

*EDITED TO ADD*

I covet these amazing cupcake transport thingys. I have a dream to be able to bring cupcakes somewhere without involving my roasting pans.

Aw, shucks. Who needs presents when I have these two?

Just kidding. Bring on the booty.

Friday Quickie

The plan today: run a few errands (including buying shoes that I need for my outdoor cardio class starting NEXT WEEK - Gah.) then go pick up L so we can spend some time at the wading pool before dinner. No plans to update my blog, but the siren call of our shiny new iMac sucked me in again.

Is there an app for that? (Will that joke ever get old? Apparently not.)

We did a little St. Jean celebrating yesterday morning before the rain hit and participated in a do-it-yourself face painting workshop at our neighbourhood fête.

See? That's a butterfly!

I would like to say that I painted that extra chin on myself, but sadly, no. This photo has been brought to you by my friends at Haagen-Daas. And all these recent quips about my weight have been brought to you by my other friends, HORMONES! Please ignore them.

Artistically placed purple heart on her forehead. Avant-garde, my friends.

That's French for "mad skilz."

Grateful that she's at the age where almost everything I do is cool. I hear that doesn't last forever (what??).

So, yeah. Getting up now to clean up and head out to get some shoes. And probably some non-yoga-pants workout gear. If you follow me on Twitter/FB, you already know that I was equal parts thrilled and traumatized by my official sign up for my Cardio Plein Air course that starts next week. Thrilled to be actually DOING IT and traumatized to have witnessed part of an actual class which involved a lot of people sweating and the instructor screaming at them to RUN SLACKERS RUN! Luckily that class was a Boot Camp. I won't be going to the Boot Camp class. Not yet.

Otherwise, hoping to get to Toy Story 3 this weekend and to church, for a change. Liliane's current favourite bedtime story is Jonah and the Beeeeg Fith or Grosse Baleine. She's completely fascinated by the idea of someone being swallowed by a whale. Toddlers are so much fun.

Speaking of fun, one of my new favourite bloggers (Under the Highchair in my blog list) posted a link to a recipe for pita bread that you can make with your kids! Not sure if it will work with MY kid, but I want to give it a try. Here's hoping I can get the dough on the tray and into the oven before she tries to eat it all.

UPDATE: My Grandmother's health is improving steadily. Thank you all for your support! Looks like she and my Grandfather will be moving to an assisted care facility pretty soon, so the next big step is to ensure that they can be as close to each other as possible. I'm coming to terms with the whole idea since it's nice knowing that they will be around lots of other people and that they will be even closer to their kids and grandkids. It's all good. Or it will be.

Wordless Wednesday: First Paw-sickel. Ever.

I Haz a Cuzin, Nom Nom Nom and Change = Theresa FAIL

My SIL posted about their visit last weekend and it's all articulate and poetic and her photos rock and everything so please read that.

Then scroll down and look at my photos which tell the same story: Liliane and my nephew Asher (who is cute enough to eat, sorry about those toes, buddy) were completely mesmerized by one another.

As Bari said, we did a lot of hanging around in pajamas and working around nap schedules. And eating. Now THOSE would have been some good pictures. We ate well.

And there was a bath.

And Uncle Matthew was in charge.

The only person Asher liked more than Liliane was Uncle Stéphane.

Toys! Awesome!

There was a lot of smiling.

Until we tried to set up a picture and then it was all "wha-?"

'kay dude, we are OUTTA here.

They headed back on Monday afternoon (Liliane would packed herself in one of their suitcases if she could have) and we've been talking about Asher ever since. A lot of "where is Asher?" and "is Asher sleeping?" etc. Good thing we're going down to NYC next month for another dose of the baby love.

In other news... My grandmother is actually doing really well. She's still in the hospital but the bleeding seems to have stopped and she's stabilizing. Looks like the best idea is for her to move into an assisted living facility although it's not clear yet what level of care she will need. My grandfather will of course move with her so that means that they won't be living in their house anymore.

So funny how news like that sorta hangs out in my subconscious and quietly wreaks havoc. It's actually really positive when you think about it logically. They are going to be together, my grandmother is physically strong and moving towards being healthy plus she's in good spirits.

Where I get stuck is the idea that they won't be in their house anymore. The house where I learned to walk, where I spent the night before my wedding, where I played countless games of Skil-Roll and crokinole. Where I admired my grandmother's garden and ate my weight in raisin bread at the kitchen table and passed the turkey a hundred times in the dining room.

Their house is one of my first stops when I go back to Vancouver. At the beginning it was a meal or two and over the years as their energy waned, I used to just drop in for coffee and a chat. This last Christmas we let Liliane run all over their place one afternoon and I am so very glad to have all those pictures, all those memories.

I know it's only a place. But it's a touchstone, a rock in my increasingly far-reaching personal landscape. And it's not easy to accept that I won't have that anymore. That they won't be there for me anymore.

Ouch. How selfish. But that's where I'm at, it's all about me. I'm such a jerk. But it's my blog, so. Yeah.

ANYWAY, waiting to hear what the next step is. Unable to respond to the inevitable "what do you want to keep from the house?" Which is funny because my Grandmother particularly has been insisting over the last few years that everyone identify what they want to keep. "Put your tape on it" has become a bit of an inside family joke. They have spent enough time looking after older and infirm relatives and disposing of other people's stuff once they pass that they wanted to be organized when the time came. Well, thankfully they are both still here, but it seems like that time has come.

So that's that. Here in Quebec we have our provincial holiday next Thursday so that's a day off plus I am supersizing my weekend and taking Friday off also. Hoping that construction next door is finally done so I can clean off the back patio once and for ALL. Not holding my breath.

I have an idea for a Wordless Wednesday post so check back in a couple of days!

If This Was Jeopardy, This Post Would Be Potpourri

First things first. I am happy to announce that I am officially famous. Oh yes, it's my time to shine, I finally MADE IT, I am ready for my close-up Mr. deMille, I- huh?

Sorry, I may have gotten a little carried away by the size of my EGO. It's famous now after all so it needs more space.

If you missed my soul-baring interview on the ISpy website, you can read it here. Now please go peel me a grape.

OK, back to reality. Which at this moment, thanks to our new iMac, looks a lot like this:

Not shown: my pajamas, empty cup of coffee and crazy long list of things I should be doing. Although I think the caffeine crazy in my face kind of speaks for itself, no? And the soundtrack? Season ender of Glee songs. Even that overused version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow gets me every time. Finn+Rachel 4 evah.

Continuing along the theme of stream of consciousness.... My friend Paola (who is a brilliant Twitter-er-er-er, follow her and her squirrel/TV show producer issues here) sent me this:

Ha ha ha ha ha! Spelling issues aside, I love it.

Oh, and these are photos I meant to post in my home improvement segment last week. Liliane got some fancy blinds thanks to our dear friend André. A big time improvement over the blanket that used to hang here:

Fab. Love it. So happy.

Remember I said waaaay back in my last post that we went to the Eco-Musée? Here are those photos. They look a lot like the first time we went in 2008 except Liliane has quadrupled in size.

Remember this?

Yeah, a little different now:

(Thank you for ignoring the ROLLS on my NECK. Cardio class here I come!)

The animals were kinda the same, although Stéphane had a good time shooting with our fancy long lens:

We did not get a picture of our picnic lunch afterwards which was actually the nicest part of the day! It was hot and ONE of us was cranky:

But she was getting over being sick AND she peed in the public bathroom with relatively little fuss so we forgive her.

Moving on to yet another subject... Our friends Julie and Joyce, parents to Liliane's best friend Rose had another baby! They were actually going to come with us to the Éco-Musée but ended up staying home at the last minute because, well, Joyce was IN LABOUR.

Turns out it was worth missing the zoo because this little boy came into the world:

Samuel Joe arrived on May 25th and has been feeding ever since!

Officially the only thing cuter in that household, Sam's big sister:

We're so happy that our girls play together so well...

Which means good times for us Mamas! (Which we spent mainly taking photos...)

Holy cow, could I have run out of random photos to post and subjects to address?

This blog post has been brought to you by my longtime friend PROCRASTINATION. My brother and SIL and yummy nephew are arriving sometime tonight for the weekend and I have the whole day off to get stuff organized and to clean. It is now noon and as you may have noticed from the photo up, up, waaaaay up (name that Canadian kids' TV show!) at the top of this epic entry, I'm not actually dressed. But hey! I blogged! And answered emails! And drank coffee!

To close, I will share with you that my beloved Grandmother is currently in the hospital after having a fall earlier this week. Thankfully she doesn't have any broken bones, but there is bleeding on her brain and although she's as sweet and cute as ever, she's not herself. And at 90 years old, chances are she won't ever be quite the same. My sister Jennifer has been at her side for the last few days and keeps me updated on her progress. She makes me smile when she asks Grandma to tell her about her favourite granddaughter who is also named Jennifer!

I don't know if God's plan to bring her home anytime soon but I know I'm (selfishly) not ready for that.

My Uncle Darrel brings Grandpa down to sit with her which always makes her a little more cheerful. He and my aunt Jeannette are pretty much running a shuttle service back and forth.

Someone has to pretty much sit with her all the time as she cheerfully insists on pulling her IV out and would dearly love to remove her catheter if she could.

Please pray for me and for our whole family as we come to terms with what seems like a bleak situation. I can see why God would want her in Heaven, but we need to keep her for a little longer, okay?

Now I officially have to get going. Hope to be back, dressed and in my right mind sometime before the end of summer ;)

Wait! One last thing: am currently hunting down running shoes for my Cardio Class starting at the end of the month. They should also be good for my daily walk to and from work and not cost a mint. Any suggestions? Please let me know in the comments!