another addiction to beware of?

It's official....today I officially move into the world of the crackberry. I'm a self proclaimed workoholic and proud of it! I get up in the morning and check my email. I get shivers of excitement when the little envelope shows up with news of a new email. Before I go to bed, I check it again! Now with this little toy

I will be able to check it in bed, in the shower...when I'm having a romantic evening with Hubby!

It's gonna be so much fun! I asked for this. I wanted this! Now I'm kind of scared, 'cause well....Have I told you I'm a schmuck with no technical ability...it took me weeks to get comfortable with the laptop and to this day I still attach a mouse and keyboard to make life simpler! Hopefully I can figure out how to use it competently...I hate looking like a dolt with high tech electronic equipment!!

It's gonna be so much fun!

Just feel the sarcasm as you read my words.......It's gonna be so much fun!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Well I'm a few days late and a dollar short with this posting.

The other day, my youngest raison d'etre turned 17. 17 is an important age to a 17 year old. It's the age when hormones tell you that you should be able to do whatever the heck you wanna, whenever the heck you want to. Her whatever was to have her first party with alcohol and everything. I have a couple of rules where this type of party is concerned (especially the first one, set the ground rules early)

So before we agreed to allow it this is the conversation we had, I spoke, she listened.

1) Any drivers.....no alcohol! I will not tolerate drinking and driving of any kind.
2) Underage drinkers...their mothers/fathers must be aware they are drinking.
3) under no circumstances will we tolerate illegal drugs of any kind on or about the premises.
4) I do not clean puke, nor do I hold back hair for those that feel the need to do so...recommendation, do not let your friends get to inebriated because you will be cleaning puke!
5) no one leaves here without having a safe ride home
6) there will be no drunken teenage storage at this home and that includes you!
7) All drinking must be done responsibly and as this is your first party, your father and I will be in attendance.
8) I will not buy you your alcohol.
9) If you are hungover you will still be getting up to assist in the preparation of the brunch being held here for your grandparents, no excuses!

Those were the rules set out and she chose to accept the challenge.

Fast forward to last night, the main event!
1) House cleaned and teenagers begin to arrive around 7:30pm. Fire started in the chiminea and music cued.
2) I refuse to admit I know where she got her alcohol, but she had it. A 4 pack of smirnoff ices to share with her friend Bronwyn and a 26er of vodka. Total drank all night 4 smirnoff and around six ounces of vodka that she shared with friends...done drinking by 10:15pm. On to water, she learned from her sisters that water is the key to no hangover the next morning.
3) no drugs that I saw or smelled...not a whiff
4) all drivers drinking pepsi or juice, no questions asked
5) mom's arrived to pick up the last of the tipsy teens by 1:30 am.
6) not one teen puked! Surprisingly she hangs out with a fairly responsible group of kids that all have older siblings that were not so responsible and they learned from their mistakes!
7) not one fight, not one angry parent and no drunken teenage storage, not even her!

All in all a very good night. I'm pretty proud of her and her current batch of friends, they all seem quite nice and seem to be fairly responsible. I even met the boy she's been dating for 3 weeks. Very nice young man, 19 years old...job and a planned out future. For now it works , he treats her well, seems responsible, is respectful of his elders and his peers.

This morning everyone was up early, re-tidied the backyard for our brunch and the family celebrated my Mom's b-day (Happy B-day Mom) that was Friday and Brianne's b-day that was Thursday. We had a very nice time.

I'm proud of my girls, they've all learned that there are rules in life that must be followed and although there is still a leash until they move out of the house....if all remain respectful of each other it's a very long leash with lots of room to grow!

Good Job Brianne! Happy Birthday Ladies, may you have many more!!!

I can't dance....I can't sing.....

the only thing about me is the way that download that video!




The concert really was spectacular...my videotaping ability...well not so much!

It takes along time for these things so I'm only doing my two favorites!

I tried but damn thing was taking hours

I'm not talking about hubby either!

I tried downloading the videos to my computer this morning. I started it, went to get my hair cut for an hour and then came back it was only 3% downloaded. After 5 hours the damn camera ran out of batteries and kacked....end of downloading.

I officially give up and if one of my darling daughters doesn't rescue me from downloading hell...oh here they are both to the rescue. Did you know the memory card can go right into my computer. How cool is that!! So apparently it will still take a long time to download but I will get video!

I'm ready to leave for Calgary tomorrow morning at before the sun comes up time and come back at the last possible minute of the last hour of the day...BLAH!

I'll post those video's as soon as I figure out how all this works!

Talk to you Friday!

I wanted to show video!

I got some amazing video from the concert....I'm computer and camera illiterate! Did I mention that? So until one of my daughters provides some assistance there will be no video... :(

Friday evening we joined our friends at the BMO Field and experienced the return of the old guys. Yes, I say that quite easily. Phil and the boys are old. Aside from an amazing tambourine routine and going between singing and drumming....not much activity on the stage. Phil has not lost that amazing voice..I <3 Phil!

Saturday was spent cleaning, doing laundry and getting the dog groomed for Aimee's return from the land down under. Despite missing a connecting flight in LA she arrived safely in Toronto. Happy to be home and we are happy to have her back!

Today is the start of a busy week, meetings all week and a trip to Calgary on Thursday.

Have a great week folks!

Turn it on again!

WOO FRICKING HOO!



I'M GOING TO SEE GENESIS TOMORROW NIGHT!!!!!!

Are you jealous?

I'm a huge fan of Phil Collins and Genesis! I didn't plan this but sometimes Lady Luck has a way of stepping in and making things happen!

A friend of ours bought tickets for the show at the BMO Stadium this Friday night. He was gonna take his wife for her birthday which is also Friday and they were going to take his parents with them. Apparently the 'rents had a change of heart and decided that they couldn't really go....so he thought of us!

AAAAhhhhhh! I can hardly sit still I'm so excited!

ARGHHH!

I hate this time of year! It's that time of year when you have to start negotiating with your children about what is a reasonable home time! School starts tomorrow after all!

My argument-"Home for 9pm. You need your beauty rest! All right, yes you are already pretty cute but come on it's been a long summer of very late nights and although you have not pushed the limits of my patience once this summer (compared to last summer that's pretty good!), yes I know you are going to be 17 soon! What does that matter? I'm going to be 45 soon and I know that everyone needs beauty rest!"

Her argument-"Mom! I'm going into grade 12, I should be able to come home a little later! I've got my books ready, my laundry is all done and Manik doesn't have to be home till 10! Don't even say it! I know you aren't Manik's mom! Thank God for that, cause that would be gross! Please, can I be home for 10pm? Alright around 10, since he'll need 5 minutes to get home. 'K, Bye see you at 10" as she walks out the door

Hey, I didn't say 10....too late, she's gone!

The youngest daughter has started dating. 'Nuf said right! That's right, I've given in again!

I'm such a loser!!!

btw....I'm taking your man!

Just thought I'd let Aimee know that Gemini is over visiting your ole Mama Dukes!! Uh-huh! See it really is me that he has been coming over to visit.

I hear you've been trying to call....I'm bringing the phone to bed with me tonight.

Love you loads!
MD

Monday 10:29 AM in Cairns

It's 8:30 pm here and we are kicking back eating homemade pizza and watching Jericho. Not sure why we never watched that series when it was on TV, it's awesome! I hear they are possibly bringing it back! I'll watch it!

It's Monday morning in Cairns and baby girl is hanging out with her sleep cronies at the World Sleep Conference. She's probably getting all excited about the people she's meeting and the research she's sharing....she's academic that way!

Haven't heard from her since yesterday morning, our time, when she was just getting ready for bed to be all fresh for her first day! That's good news that we haven't heard from her, it means she's not missing us too much!

We went to Aberfoyle Antique market today. We took Hunny along for the ride. She wasn't letting me leave the house without her. As soon as she saw me dressed in street clothes she was attached to me, jumping on my leg. I really think if she had thumbs she would have wrapped her little paws around my leg and begged to come! She was good in the car and she loved walking around the park.

Anyway, things here are good so don't worry about us Aimee! We're doing fine, we do miss you though!!!

The end of summer

Well it's the labour day weekend, for many that means the end of summer. The kids return to school on Tuesday, alot of people are at their cottages for the last long weekend of the summer.

For me it's the end of a busy summer, two conferences, one in Quebec City and one in Ottawa, both places I've never been. Only one trip to the cottage but it was a nice one and last but not least stressing through the ordeal of getting one kid ready for the trip of a lifetime!!

The days will get shorter, the weather not quite so hot and the mere thought of snow and Christmas make me shiver!

This weekend we'll be relaxing and going to our annual rib-fest gathering with many friends that have babies we haven't seen in a long time. I'm looking froward to seeing them and sharing their summer highlights.

Ahhhh summer why are you so short???