Archive | June 2012

Beginning a Week in Review

Spoiled rotten I am right now! Kathy and her brother Will not only have a lovely and comfortable home, two cats and internet but SHAW VOD! With ANIME… so you can imagine what I was up late doing last night… yup watching anime! And waiting for the girls to finally fall asleep. I lucked out, this month they have Ray the Animation on the system. I loved this anime when I first saw it way back when on Crunchyroll before they really policed their content for legalities and then once it was removed POOF couldn’t find it ANYWHERE. SCORE!

BUT lets see… Monday first! Echo and I saw Kathy off to meet her plane before 8am. Trinity was still sleeping. Echo had ME up at 6:45. The kitties made a last ditch attempt to follow their mommy out the door. In fact, Neko and I are almost on complete petting terms now… Ozo is too much of a momma’s boy to really accept that I am in charge quite yet. 

Our early bird

We spent our morning leisurely… lucky charms for breakfast then cartoons and nail polish for my girly girls. I lucked out and had the sparkly Hello Kitty polish I bought months ago on me and Kathy had a nice selection of colours for Trinity to choose from… end result? 2 pink nails and 8 purple and a VERY happy little girl! 

Nails

The weather was overcast to rain so we decided to make it an inside day. We watched movies, snacked when we felt like it and did general girly lazy day sort of things. It was such a nice change from having to chase 5 and school and all our other everyday stuff.

Ozo

Of course we Skyped with Daddy before bed and chatted online. I set up MORE visiting with friends and family. The close proximity to quite a few people is rather nice here and a great incentive to get closer permanently. My first day as kitty nanny was a success… though we did not go out or about or anything… just girly together time! With kitties interspersed. 

Tuesday was FAR from terrible! We had our now routine morning of cartoons and quiet play… Ozo decided to add some spice by knocking a figurine down. Thankfully while the figurine is in need of some TLC the cat was only mildly embarrassed. The girls were quite amazed at how the kitty could knock something down… apparently it is a silly kitty.

Fast forward through breakfast, baths for the girls and myself and it was GIRLY FAMILY VISIT TIME. That’s right… Cousin Veronika drove in from an hour away to visit! She brought wit her a new stack of books and a bag of clothes for yours truly! Supplementing that tiny wardrobe that I have readily available! Don’t forget the simple fact that it has been MONTHS since we have gotten together that this has been a long wished after visit. 

Her timing was great and we were able to save our OTHER guest a good hour or more on the bus by driving over to pick up Holly. Not only did I get to see a favourite cousin BUT I also got to spend the day with my sister in law! As well as talk to James who was actually up and mobile, pet their kitties and see the guinea pig (they recently lost their hamster to old age but have gained some fish). I was FINALLY able to give Holly some long awaited cross stitch projects I had meant to give them well over a year ago. Included was their wedding sampler! Holly was able to frame it that night! Check it out!

YAY

Well on the way back to Kathy’s we made a stop off at McDonald’s for lunch thanks to Holly! The girls each had chicken nugget happy meals. Wow have they gotten nicer! Not only did they get the nuggets but also apple slices, yogurt, juice and a toy. Talk about happy girls!!!

People watching

NUGGIES

Our afternoon was spent with chatting, hair styling, movie watching and even better – the watching of the beginnings of Kathy and Will’s deck. With some decent eye candy and all! Of course we had to message Kathy and let her know. We did have to figure out how to turn on the outside water so they could make the cement but besides that it all seemed to move along at a decent pace.

We had pancakes for dinner with berries and syrup and giggled and chatted and search for rentals together. The chance to spend time with family is so precious. And the girls to get to know the other females they are related to… it was a definite reminder of how important this time together really is. I would love to do it again and again and again! 

With Aunty

Watching the new deck be built with Cousin Veronika

We all drove Holly back home and got to see Jimmie since he was out of school by then…

Jimmie

James

And then it was back to the kitties and putting the carseats back in Kathy’s car (which has been parked out front in Kathy’s absence). Even with the weather not working in our favour for a park run all the fun and family wore the girls out just wonderfully. Really no problem putting them to bed, unlike the night before when the two were just horrible about playing around and NOT sleeping. 

And thanks to Veronika, more books to review

Which left me time to enjoy the anime I found on Anime Network… Ray the Animation! BONUS! The beginning of an amazing vacation week!

KITTY!

Charlaine Harris, An Aurora Teagarden Mystery

Let’s see… another of Charlaine Harris‘ series… 

The main character in this series is very different from most that I have read. She is a librarian in a small town library and a member of a very interesting club… one interested in studying real life murder mysteries. She is not a hugely outgoing woman and is not tall and gorgeous or popular with men. But she is who she is and comfortable (for the most part) with that. That is not to say that she has NO social life, but rather that it is not the forefront of the book. 

There are quite a few references to real life past murders… Lizzie Borden, Jack the Ripper… but you do not have to be familiar with them to make your way through the story. The mystery had (for me) an unexpected ending, the small town is full of interesting people and the internal dialogue of one (unfortunately named) Aurora Teagarden is giggle worthy at times! Definitely worth checking out!!!

Real Murders

REAL MURDERS

This entry was posted on 19/06/2012, in Uncategorized. 2 Comments

A Special Weekend… Apart

I love a good weekend and this weekend was a GOOD weekend. Although not the conventional way to celebrate a VERY special day… as of Satutrday June 16th Ken and I have been married for 11 years! Good and bad, thick and thin we have been together and I am so glad that we have decades more to look forward to! With my pet sitting vacation set up to start on the 16th we decided to celebrate more properly AFTER I get back. Instead, we simplified each of our lives by dividing up the child care. Trinity and Echo headed into the big city with Kathy and myself around lunch time and Ken and the boys remained at Grandma’s with plans of their own. 

We had a car full of stuff to bring with us including a playpen, stroller and the necessary carseats. I am always amazed at how much I need to take when visiting people who are not accustomed to babies and small children. Thank goodness for the 1.50 booster I picked up during JayWalkers at mom’s store. 

Boosted baby

Of course we had a few stops along the way… Mac’s on the way out of town (of course… company loyalty and all that for Kathy), and then a bathroom stop at the next city. THEN lunch! A late lunch but a YUMMY one! With all the Gasoline Alley had to offer we chose a family favourite – KFC! We had popcorn chicken and fries and gravy… and another potty break.

Lunch

After that it was on to Kathy’s and the kitties… settling in took little or no time, once we got everything out of the car and in the door. Mom’s playpen is smaller than ours so takes up less room in the spare room which is awesome. Thankfully Echo is tiny so really does not need much space to begin with. Once everything was safely stowed and kids refreshed it was grocery store time. Not the best trip as both girls were cranky but necessary. We picked up all sorts of fun foods all given the Trinity stamp of approval. This week is going to be a Trinity friendly meal week. She has not been eating much lately and I am thinking that is partially due to the creative meals mom has been making us. She is just in need of old familiars. So we are definitely obliging. 

Thus she was eating Kraft Dinner at like 9pm that night but she was EATING! 

Sunday morning Echo once again reminded me of how much she LOVES early mornings… 4:30, 5:30 AND finally 6:30 when we got up. Thank goodness we had no concrete plans… Ken and the boys on the other hand had FOUR viewings to go to back where we used to live and all this on… FATHER’S DAY! I did my part by having Trinity send her Daddy flowers online (yay app), messaging my dad through my stepmom on Facebook (I do not have US long distance available right now sadly), and making sure that the Father’s Day books the kids made at the library were given to Mike and Ken. 

After breakfast, kitty time, washing laundry, changing Echo MULTIPLE times and sorting through what we wanted to do for the day (not much thank you)… it was time to head to IKEA! Ohhh it has been an age since we have been! But first Trinity and Kathy decided to take advantage of the lovely morning weather (good plan as it did NOT last the whole day) and go out front and plant some flowers. 

Out in the sunshine

This coincided nicely with a bath for me and a nap for the early bird… then after we got motivated and into the car it was time to head to IKEA. Kathy needed plastic dishes and stools for Trinity. I love love love IKEA stools. They are the perfect bathroom height. And of course to check out the food section. 

Then it was time for Sobeys and picking up the groceries we missed on our tired walk through Superstore the night before. Trinity got her own tiny cart of which she was VERY proud! 

A Trinity sized cart

After cookie club and check out it was a mad dash out to the car as the weather decidedly turned against us. So of course, a drive through Starbucks was required and Trinity got her first fancy drink from there! Strawberries and cream milkshake thing… was she ever proud! And for supper we HAD TO introduce Kathy to the world of pita pizzas… she is another convert! We even had PINEAPPLE! What is there to do after supper but a bath for Trinity and some medication (she has a nasty bug bite under her chin I noticed on Saturday and it is taking FOREVER even with the Benedryl to go down) and then bed for her with Echo following around an hour later. 

The first I noticed it... it is smaller now and not as red

That left two adults up with free time… what better to do with it than play a Wii boardgame style game?? Seriously! Add in more cherry pie (we had that the night before), white chocolate Magnum bars and Pepsi and we had a blast. The kitties supervised of course. 

Neko

Ghostly Ozo

This is actually pie from Saturday with white chocolate ice cream but you get the idea

I have to admit, not having all the boys to chase and the house to tidy and the extra people in general to deal with was marvelous. I spent some time searching the elusive rental, enjoying time with a good friend, playing with my girls and generally being more… ME! A much needed respite even though I am missing Ken a lot… I am sure he is finding life a little more relaxing without his womenfolks! 

Girls together

Ozo looking gorgeous