I'm hooked on Jack!

Who'd of thunk! 43 and hooked on Jack! No, no not the alcohol! Jack Johnson! I was listening to Jack in my car on the way to work this morning and I could not get his songs out of my head all morning! I actually had to go out to the car and get the CD. I'm listening to it this afternoon! Friday afternoons at work are sooooo good! Catch up on paperwork, listen to good tunes. Who could ask for anything better?

Thanks Girls for the intro to Jack Johnson and frankly if you haven't heard of Jack...you gotta give it a try. He's pretty cute as well!
BTW, I need a new Brushfire Fairytales and his new one as well!

Have a great weekend all!
TTYL

Knight Rider.....a singer?

I think not!
Found the link to this little diddy on somebody else's blog (can't remember who, but "thank you" whoever you are!). Yes I borrowed it!

I remember as a teenage girl growing up racing for the TV to watch David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight on Knight Rider. I thought he was the BOMB! So hot and sexy. I know, my daughter's are probably reading this and saying "Yup and you wore pink and blue eyeshadow with blue mascara Mom"

Makes me proud to have adult children!

He's still kind of cute in a dorky kind of way! Oh SHUT UP! Don't want to hear it.
If nothing else GREAT for a laugh!

It's All Good?

It's all good has been a favorite saying for me in this last decade of my life. Not sure where I picked it up. I have a tendency to do that...pick up a phrase or word that I like and make it my own! Kind of like Fabulous! That I picked up from a friend and coworker and I have learned to use it even when things are not so fricking fabulous!

This past week has been an adventure in "FUBAR" Things in the workplace have not been great, managing client expectations is not always easy when you don't have the support from your operations people behind you! Things on the homefront have been for lack of a better word...."CRAZY".
We have been down to one vehicle since Christmas. The old van was making very loud cries to go to the local auto spa! We spent all of Christmas and till now determining if it was worth fixing and after much deliberation with Mike the Mechanic, the van got her wish...into the spa to get a much massage complete with oil and filter so to speak.
Lovely daughter #3 Brianne has been spending her time bugging Dad about getting her bellybutton pierced. So far we've managed to evade the actual piercing. The only shop we would even consider using has had their piercing gal has been away. When she actually gets back we'll have to see what happens. I'm reminded everyday that I let Aimee do it at 15! It's hard to explain to the baby that her sister was much more mature than her! Brianne is in her last week of semester one (grade 10) and trying my very patience! She has not cracked a book all semester to my knowledge. I am constantly on her ass about getting good grades. Her mid term report was less than impressive but she managed to keep mostly everything in the 65-70% area. Scholarly she is not. She is,however, a really good kid! She's respectful, she's funny and she's generally easy to be around (except when we are fighting about school or piercings). Anyway, this week is exams and she only has one. She tells me she's been studying for two weeks in class. I highly doubt that, but hey, if her marks haven't improved we've already set the tone for next semester. We've set down the guidelines and she will have to live by them!
Husband has been getting to know his biological Mom. That has made things kind of interesting and emotional around the house. His Mom seems very nice. She is a healthcare worker in a retirement home. She's a widow and has two other sons. So, Hubby has two half brothers. One of the boys has two little girls (4&6), so that makes him an uncle. All very new things to him! I guess the next step will be an in person meeting and the very thought of that makes Rob squirm just a little. This will wait until spring. To give everyone involved some time to get used to this.
Aimee is alive and doing famously...read her blog for more details, since she tells it better than I ever could.
Jennifer, the kid that doesn't blog is still in love, broke and doing very well in her studies. She actually got herself a part time job to give her some income besides the paltry amount I'm able to dish out to her. She attended a job fair and met up with two of my baby brother's work associates (actually a past boss and his present one) and they offered to speak to her in April about job opportunities with their school board! That is a huge bonus! Very exciting for her! She's looking for some extra $'s to take two more courses. I guess for the good of her employment future, I'm gonna see what I can do to get some of it together for her.

The new puppy has added a tremendous amount of enjoyment to our household. She is getting along famously with Kilo! Kilo is working hard to train little Hunny. But along with this comes the need to remember that you almost need to babyproof the house. I came home one day this week to garbage all under my dining room table! That was fun!

All in all.....it's all good!
TTYL

Puppies, Parties and Pushovers

So, if you follow the life of my lovely daughter #2 Aimee, you will no doubt by now be aware that she has adopted her first child. This,of course, kind of makes me a Grandma...not sure how I feel about that tagline! Anyway, her first child comes to her in the form of a 6 1/2 month old Yorkshire Terrier, lovingly named Hunny.

This puppy came early, when we first discussed the adoption process it was to happen in the month of March, closer to Aimee being finished her final year of University. Well, puppies are cute and older partially trained puppies are even cuter! So there it is...Welcome Hunny!
Hunny is approximately 4 pounds, she stands approximately 8 inches from the floor. She has the attitude of a pitbull! Her favorite toys are bigger than her and she has attempted to descend the stairs more than once with her babies in her mouth...unsuccessfully might I add. Let's just say puppy ass over teakettle every time, which now leads to the "Grandma I can't make it down the stairs...I'm afraid, come get me " whine! And we must have all of our toys on the same floor of the house in which we are playing! Hunny gets up the stairs, no problem! Getting down is a slight problem.

Well, Hunny is settling in well. She sleeps through the night, she's found the paper and is learning to follow Kilo outside to do business as well, she's learned that a pitbull's food is not to be stolen or a paw in the head is what you get! She's learned to beg just as well as Kilo. She is quickly satisfied with a piece of raw carrot.(carrots are good for her teeth!)
She is settling in just fine! Her Mom calls twice a day at least to check up on her and once a day to check up on me! Thank goodness for long distance plans!

So on the matter of parties....A friend of ours that attended our New Years Eve get together, has asked if they can borrow our house to host a birthday party. That attests to the beauty of my lovely basement I think! It also gives me a reason to do the complete "Clean Sweep" of the house...you never know where folks may wander you know! So you may be asking yourself, why? Why has this happened, that your house is being used as the local gathering house? BECAUSE I AM A PUSHOVER! That is why! Now these folks can have the nice clean venue to start and not have to worry about the after affects of the party. They will offer to help out after and I will say "Don't worry about it" in my best Italian accent! This is how it happens! It is true, I don't mind! In fact, I truly enjoy having guests and I totally understand their dilemma. They don't really have a place to call their own. She lives in a small basement apartment and he lives at home with Mom and Dad. And anyway...some would say I am the Hostess with the Mostess! LOL.

So, I think next years resolution should include something that covers puppies, parties and being a complete pushover.

I'm not sure if I can keep this resolution!

In the year 2006 I resolve to: To not care what people think about me. Get your resolution here

So this resolution came from a mere click of a button. The real resolution is that there is no resolution!

I really hate resolutions! Everyone always throws them in your face if/when you are unsuccessful. So I just don't do them! I do set goals and I've set some personal goals for this year. I have two weddings in September. I am "Matron of Honour" (damn that makes me sound old!) in both of them. It's an honour, it truly is, but my picture will not be taken at my current weight if I can help it. I've done the before picture, so when I'm all skinny, you'll be seeing my skinny ass on some commercial that says "Hi, that was me 300 pounds ago!" and you'll be thinking.."THAT IS NOT THE SAME PERSON!" I know that's what I always say when I see those commercials! Anyway that is my personal goal and frankly I'll have no one to blame but my own self if I don't succeed!

Another goal I've set is to try and be kinder to the stupid people in my life. That one is gonna be a little tougher, I have a lot of stupid people in my life. People that push the line between playmate and primate if you know what I mean! I'm also gonna try and be nicer to my neighbours this year...oh wait they count as stupid people so same difference I guess.

So to all of you that are out there making/breaking resolutions for the upcoming year, Good Luck with your resolve! I promise I won't tease you if you share your resolution with me! I promise to be kind and supportive and not tease you mercilessly if you don't succeed! Hell I'm gonna need all the resolve I can muster to meet my goals for the year!!

Happy New Year!

We had our first gathering of friends in the new basement. Our friends that had been here before were amazed at the change. They even liked the colour that Hubby and Brianne were led to believe they picked.

So the last evening of 2005 was supposed to be a small gathering of around 10-12 people and suddenly there were at least 30!

A great time was had by all, so much that we forgot to take pictures until the end of the night when things were wrapping up and most had left or were leaving, sometime around 2.



Christine and Brian



Nadine, Chris and Mark just chilling




But best of all,while my youngest was at her friends this week, she called and asked if she could put a few pink streaks in her hair. Sure I said! What could it hurt? Well she came home unexpectedly New Year's Eve ( a great choice, leaving a bad situation) and this was what she looked like.



Yes Mom, it's pink. It's the new black you know! It's one of those dyes that washes out in 12-14 washes, but something tells me it might be more like 30-40 washes. We'll see. I been pushing for her to wear something other than black. I guess I still haven't learned to be specific enough!

Up on the Roof Tops

Looking out our front window this morning and what to my wondering eyes did appear?, but two great big ass raccoons on the roofs of the townhouses across the street from us.
Check this out!



A little closer




Nice huh...like Santa, I thought they only came out at night.
Apparently I was wrong!