25 Random Things About Me...

This is going around on facebook. I did it there, so I'm killing 2 birds with 1 stone and pasting it here as well...

1. I cannot stand the colour red! I would go so far as to say I HATE IT!

2. I do/say, then think. I have small frontal lobes!

3. For the first 12 years of my life I thought that there were only 3 religions. Catholic, Protestant and 'study'. Those were the only 3 classes that were offered at school so I totally thought that was it. Can you tell that I didn't pay that much attention in class?!? 

4. I would love to go to a psychiatrist/psychologist. Someone listening while you talk about yourself...how great is that?!?!?

5. I would like to live in Europe for a 'spell'!

6. My feet increased a whole size after pregnancy. 

7. I am NOT a finisher. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if Geordie did not have to be delivered by c-section!

8. I thrive in chaos! Love it!

9. I do much better in a male dominated 'situation'. 

10. I love floorplans. Sometimes I think I should have gone into architecture.

11. Sometimes half way through a story I think, "why am I telling this"...and totally forget the point, as well as where I am in the story.

12. My nostrils flare when I drum. My mother thinks this is one of the funniest things. 
Thing is I cannot flare them on command...only when I drum!

13. If I do not like you, you know it. I'm not good at hiding that.

14. I secretly categorize people into 3 categories; knowledgeable, intelligent or both. A lot of people who you think are intelligent are actually just knowledgeable...they couldn't work themselves out of a cardboard box!

15. I am bossy. My brothers call it something else though...

16. I will NEVER own a mini van. Callum knows this and he respects it! Grew up with one when they first came out. Needless to say, I only ONCE EVER drove the 'downtown route' in Hali. Christmas Day of grade 10  JP talked me into it. I think we were the only vehicle on the road, or people for that matter.

17. Speaking of JP, I "taught" him how to drive in the van...my father still doesn't know this. ;)

18. Callum has described my personality as, "it would wear bright pink to a funeral".

19. It freaks me out when people speak in Christianesse. I cringe when I am told to, 'have a blessed day!'. It just weirds me out...so not used to it! 

20. When I first met Callum I used to get him and his best friend mixed up. They were both cute with 'not-so-perfect' teeth. ;)

21. Along with a couple of friends (I will leave out your name Leslie); we used to put googly-eyes on leaves and try and sell them for a quarter. Nobody ever bought them, one older man gave us money but refused to take one.

22. I would prefer to think, "I wish I HAD NOT done that" then, "I wish I HAD done that". 
I have some of both.

23. I cannot get over how thick the eas'coast Canadian accent is. 

24. Sometimes I forget that I have to give a little and not just take!

25. The smell of pot reminds me of St. Pat's dances.

Advice needed...and a few other things!

Geordie's fifth birthday is coming up and we are having it once again at the gymanstics centre. We had it there last year and he asked for it again. 

So, now I need some advice! One of his friends had it there a couple of weeks a go and some of the parents brought siblings...most without checking first. The way the centre works is you pay so much and you can have a certain amount of children, after that amount you pay per head. It's not exactly the actual payment that I have a problem with it's the fact that #1 Geordie does not know these other children and #2 having people just show up and expecting it to be okay. 

I was thinking of putting something on the invitation asking for them to inquire about other children. But then, what do I say when they tell me that they have to bring so-and-so? Do I say no? Do I charge them? Does this mean I need to have extra snacks?!?! Extra take home gifts?!? 

Where do I draw the line?!?

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Geordie is on a priBacy kick!! Everything he needs to do he needs priBacy to do it in. 

He goes to the bathroom, he now wants to close the door, "I need my pribacy." Thing is the second he has his clothes off he streaks around the house. Does that make sense?!? He also has no problem walking in on someone else when they are trying to have some priBacy!!

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On to other news.... I'm a friendly blog!!!! How great is that!!! Hope my mother sees that one!!! See I'm not just evil! I was told I am friendly over here! Hop on over!

Washington Or Bust - prt II

sorry folks this is just going to be a lot of pictures;

Geordie and NJ decided that they were going to clean the little ones...

For some reason Geordie took Vivi and NJ took Noble:


On Monday we all went downtown;

Geordie had been on the TTC when he was 2 but has no memory of it so taking the Metro he was incredibly excited (as seen here):


Noble, being sweet and quiet as always!!



Viviana, who is one of my most favourite people in the whole entire world! I gave her a little bit of lip gloss...this is what happened:


Team Awesomely Awesome!


The Carousel on The National Mall:


The Smithsonian; Geordie with the giant squid:


The Butterfly Pavilion:


We passed by the skating rink in The National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden on the way to the Smithsonian. Now Geordie has been bugging us for awhile to go skating. Recently when we were home at Christmas we took him to see his cousins play hockey. Guess what sport he wants to do now?!?

So we are sitting in the Smithsonian having our snack and suddenly both Geordie and NJ decide that today, right now, they are going to go skating for the first time. It was a year a go this week that they first learned how to drive a two wheeler (NJ just being four and Geordie not quite four). We couldn't say no! Even though my Canadian ways expressed the need for a helmet.

This is the end result...
Here Geordie is watching the Zamboni. Poor little southern girl NJ, when it first came out, didn't have a clue as to what it was! ;)


First out on the ice, neither Geordie or NJ had any fear... Callum had a little as he had never used figure skates! He was a little worried about 'the pic' situation!


Please click on this photo and look closer at their faces:


About to go:
...got right back up!:
By the end they were both skating on their own. I know Geordie skated halfway around the whole rink by himself and did not fall once. NJ was the same way!!

As exciting as it was to be there for history in the making, I was touched more by the history we made with The Gray's. You forget how great it is to have another family around that are somewhat similar to your own. NJ is always up for anything that Geordie is and vice versa... and both parental units allow them. They could both swim on their own by the age of 3, even in the deep end. They were both driving a two wheeler early on. When The Gray's heard that Geordie was hanging out at the skate park (at age 2) they thought that was awesome and checked it out themselves...and that's only to name a few!!

It is a little hard to realize that we will never live in the same place again. We shared so much in the first almost 5 years. Instead I look forward to the great trips we are going to have together. We'll definitely be back to see them and I know they can't wait to some to Canada.
All I can say is Thank God for social networking!!


As for the trip back to Georgia. We did it in approximately 10 hours and 20 minutes with 3 stops. The night before we came back Callum ran out to get a couple of new movies for Geordie. We allow a DVD player with any trip over 3 hours. Recently we had a couple of movies that Geordie was into (Kunk Fu Panda, The Clone Wars & another I can't remember right now) but they would not work on his portable player.

Previously when I would go through the list (Shrek, Wallace & Grommit, Clifford, A Bugs Life, Toy Story, The Incredibles, Fox & Hound, Happy Feet, A Sharks Tale, Surfs Up) he would always ask for one of the other 3 that did not work. Depending on the time during the trip sometimes this would be the worst thing EVER!!!

We're in the car, about an hour into the drive (we always wait as long as we can before taking it out) and he asks for a movie.

We show him the new ones. He's excited.

Callum; "so which one do you want to see?"

Geordie; "hhhmmm, Clifford!"



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Washington Or Bust - prt I

Well, we made it to DC. We left Friday around 6:00 pm and drove 4 hours stayed in a hotel in N.C. and then drove the rest of the way on Saturday.

Geordie had no idea where we were going. On Friday after I told him that we will be staying in a hotel that night we were out running errands;

Geordie: "Mummy, I hope the hotel is in Washington!"

Me: "Why?"

Geordie: "Then we can see NJ!"

My mother is convinced he's psychic!

We get to The Gray's and Geordie does not recognize their car.

Geordie: "Is there a boy here?"

Me: "Yes, he's 2."

Geordie: "Are there other children?"

Me: "Yes, 2 girls, one is 2 and the other is 5"

We get up to the door, he's hiding a little behind me. The door is opened and it's NJ;

Geordie: "NORA JANE?!?!?!"

He was completely stunned. I'm not sure what we expected, we did think that he would dance around or something but he hardly did. He seemed to be more in shock. 30 seconds later they were playing!

Sunday Geordie went to church with The Gray's and Callum and I went down to The National Mall (which I will admit I thought was an actual Mall!). The Inaugural Concert was going on at The Lincoln Memorial, which was beside The Mall.

It was spectacular, spectacular!!!

The atmosphere was amazing. It was peaceful, friendly, and magical. Sounds lame, doesn't it?!?! But there is no other way to describe it.

Here are a few pics...

The arrival of the Obama's

Jon Bon Jovi

Herbie Hancock

Sheryl Crow

Will.I.Am

James Taylor

People were finding seats EVERYWHERE!

I actually enjoyed the Inaugural Concert more than the actual Inauguration. Don't get me wrong...both were spectacular but where the concert was less formal there just seemed to be a more laid back feel.

With Garth Brooks performance it was awesome to watch the crowd;

But this was my favourite performance! I love James Taylor and I'm beginning to really enjoy John Legend and Jennifer Nettles;

While the Inaugural Concert was very multicultural the Inauguration seemed to be mainly African American. One thing I noticed was how much people dressed up. Especially the older generation. Everyone was out in their Sunday bests, and they all looked GREAT! It really was a special time.

The Inauguration was crazy! So many people! Thing is, again, everyone was in such good spirits it was fine that you couldn't move, or that you were stuck behind a tree and could only see part of the screen. You were all there experiencing this great event together...you almost didn't feel the cold!

Callum & Geordie

Obama!

The Swearing In!

Callum & Geordie making friends!

The Speech!

Getting back to The Gray's was a little difficult...

It was a little busy! What is usually a 30 minute travel time took 2 hours.


Usually I'm not into the paraphernalia but on this day it just worked!


...and Geordie got a new t-shirt!

This was the best last minute decision we have ever made...and if you know me well you know that I'm always making last minute decisions!!!!

Did you watch the events?

Can you be spontaneous?!?!

It all started on the drive to the airport when we were going home for Christmas, on December 20th. Geordie started talking about how he couldn't wait to see Nora Jane. After more talk we found out that even though he knows where Washington AND Halifax are on the map he thought that everyone who wasn't in GA was living together in Halifax. Make sense?!?

Well, Geordie was incredibly upset that he was not going to be able to see NJ. To the point of crying so hard he was having trouble getting a breath in. 

Skip to the last 2 weeks;

Talking about Geordie's upcoming birthday;

Geordie: "Mummy, there are no girls allowed at my party! I don't want any girls! ...I wish Nora Jane could come but she can't because she lives far away... we can still send her an invitation though, right?!?"

On another day;

Geordie: "I want to move to Washington! I want to live by Nora Jane! Can we move to Washington?"

Callum: "No, we can't move to Washington. I can't get a job there. We were thinking Canada might be better." this was said in a nice voice

Geordie: "Well, how 'bout Mummy move to Canada and we'll move to Washington?!?"

Callum: "How would we eat?!?!"

As you can see the last little bit has been all about Geordie and how much he misses NJ. This coincides with me coming back from being home for Christmas and really missing Alaina. I truly thought that by now we would have been up to visit but due to various things beyond our control we have yet too!

Skip to Thursday, yesterday.  I was listening to the radio and they were talking about the inauguration coming up...this Tuesday! Totally didn't think...even though I have my trusty, 'The George W. Bush out of office countdown' calendar it never crossed my mind.

Well, here is something that we would like Geordie to be a part of. After all, he was born in this country. Even if I don't always like it! We too would like to experience it but I really put Geordie first. In years to come it will be great that he can say, "I was there!". Especially as it will probably be in a Canadian school that he does!  ;)

So, put 2 and 2 together and you get...

WE'RE GOING TO WASHINGTON, DC!!!!

I will be truthful...I'm equally excited to see our great friends as I am to be there for the inauguration! 

Meanwhile we think that we are going to try and keep it from Geordie. Luckily he's so low key that I told him we were going on a trip and will be staying in a hotel tonight and then more driving tomorrow and he was fine with that. 

I so hope that I can keep it from him. I keep wanting to do a dance and tell him. But I'm trying to keep my excitment down so that I can see the look on his face when we get to  the house and he sees NJ. 

So, getting back to my original question; Can you be spontaneous?!?

Thursday Thirteen #12

Here are thirteen things that have kept me away from blogging...

1) Going home for Christmas. 

          -what was supposed to be an eleven hour trip with 3 flights turned into a  thirty-six hour trip with 2 flights, a hotel and a drive from Boston to Hali.

2) Just feeling blah...not in the mood

3) Starting my finance class.

4) Pouring over www.mls.ca and www.workopolis.ca

5) Researching real estate agents and property management companies.

6) Trying to find vegetarian recipes that will fill us up!!

         - switching to 3 veggie meals for supper has become hard when what you eat doesn't fill you AND you're tired of chili like stuff or eggs! Any suggestions...please feel free!

7) Getting rid of 'the pot'!!

         - okay, truth, I actually didn't! I was cleaning the fridge, I asked Callum to come here and as soon as he walked into the kitchen I shoved it into his hands and told him to take it outside. 10 minutes later it was just like new!! LOVE PADERNO!!! I have actually had my paderno pots for almost 9 years and they have just, in the last year, started looking used!

8) Knit 1 purl 2. Actually it's more of a knit 4 purl 4.

9) Making gifts...different from #8

10) Reading. Been reading A LOT lately! It's nice to get lost in that...

11) Playing games with Geordie....and I'll admit it! I don't let him win!! 

12) Re-organizing; it's a never-ending-process

13) Just wanted to see if anyone would miss me!!!   ;)

Much more to tell...we'll be catching up in the next little while!