Chillaxin'

We're off to the...

To jump off the...

And chill on the...

Ciao Bella!
(a photo I took on a run along the trail)

My New Hero

Paul Potts is my new hero! I love this guy and you will too!

Bureaucracy Sucks!

Bureaucracy is a big stupid waste of time, paper, energy and money. It gets in the way of good intentions in favor of the fear that something bad could happen.
It probably won't but just in case.
Oh, and let's not forget the fear that we might offend someone with slightly more status or power than us in the association or company we work for.
Fear is such a useless waste of energy.

It annoys me. Very much. Fear is like a big, ugly mosquito. Harassing, threatening but really can do little more than a tiny pinch.
But in the hands of bureaucratic policy makers that mosquito should be taken very seriously.

What if that mosquito should bite and you get West Nile Virus? Or malaria? We need to make a policy around such horrible risks. What if a child should be bitten on the eyeball and blinded for life? What if? What if? What if?

What horror! Let's write a policy that all children should be bathed in bug spray, draped in moquito netting and wrapped in bubble wrap to keep them all safe from the malaria-ridden, west-nile carrying, blood-thirsty, blinding mosquito pandemic that will overtake us all!!!
Quickly! Write a policy that will save us all!

Fear is stupid. Bureaucracy is stupid.
That's all I have to say about that.

More Cute Quotes...

Rebecca saw a urinal in one of the outhouses in the Whiteshell...
"Mom, that's for boys to go pee. I know how boys go pee. They stand up. Mom, do you know how boys go pee?"
"How?"
"The can stand up because they got a little tongue down there."

Isabella groggily walked into my room first thing in the morning. Her first words were...
"Mommy, I had a rough night. I forgot to turn off my mind before I went to sleep and it was on ALL night!"

Rebecca explaining her plans for the future while walking home from the bus stop...
"Mommy, when I grow up I'm going to be just like you. I'm going to help teenagers be better people and work for the community. And guess what else? I'm going to have boobies too! Just like you."

Overheard while the girls were drawing at the table while I was making supper...
I: "Okay, now its my turn."
R: "Ready? Okay. Little girl, come see me, I have some candy for you."
I: "NO! You're a stranger. Leave me alone!"
R: "But I'm not a stranger, I know your dad."
I: "NO! You're a stanger! Leave me alone!"
R: "I'm not a stranger, I need some help to find my lost puppy. Can you help me?"
I: "NO! You're a stranger! Leave me alone!"
R: (in a lilting voice) "I have chocolate for you."
I: "NO! You're a stranger! Leave me alone!"
R: "Okay, that was good, you passed. Now its my turn. Try me again"

In addition to playing "Stranger" to test each other, they've also taken to playing "Kindergarten Registration" and "Restaurant" which has two versions, "Good Service Restaurant" and "Bad Service Restaurant." This little adaptation came from my mother-in-law. When they played restaurant at her house one day, she told them they have bad service. Apparently, that was quite a high compliment she handed out. Now they do it on purpose!

Happy Thoughts to You!

HAPPY SATURDAY!

This picture makes me smile, I hope it has the same effect on you!

Windows

The other night I was getting ready for bed. Before I put on my pajamas, I closed the blinds in my bedroom windows so as not to put on a show for any people who might be walking through the park. As I did this, I had a thought about windows...

Aside from exhibitionists who get a thrill out of exposing their nakedness to the world, most of us close the drapes while we are undressing/dressing. Especially at night, when a little light inside can create a big show outside. Most of do not want our naked selves on display. It is particularly unnerving to feel exposed to an anonymous audience. With open windows, anyone could be watching. It is the cliche nightmare of public humiliation being in front of your peers in your underpants.

This is a little bit like the blogging world. Each blog is a window into a person's life. However, it is not the open window at night peeping in on a unsuspecting soul. While it is on the internet and could be visited by anyone who cared to lurk, each blogger has a lot of control on their site.

If we stop and think for a moment about how much concern we give to how we dress ourselves. Each time go out into public, it is a bit of a show. We make a statement to the world through the image we portray ourselves through our clothes, our hair, our posture, our facial expression, our tone etc.
For example, there is one show for the job interview -put-together, organized, confident, calm, responsible- clothes, hair, shoes, jewellery all neatly arranged to make a statement. This is very different from the show on the way to the gym, the sweats, running shoes, hair tied back etc. Different purposes require different personas.

What we portray to the world is a combination of our purpose and our audience. Our purpose is the goal of each daily charade, what are we trying to achieve by putting ourselves out there? Our audience is a combination of how we want to be perceived, and who it is we wish to see the show! How is that we want others to see us?

I was thinking when I blog, I write for certain audiences and I edit my content according to how I wish to be perceived. I don't place very private, personal information on my blog because not everyone gets to know everything about me. This is good common sense. Boundaries are good and healthy. But how often do I limit vulnerability because it is the "ugly" stuff. Its easy to write about the positive things when all is going well. Its harder to write about life when its hard, and I'm at a loss for answers.

I write all this to ask a question of the other bloggers out there. How far apart is the real person from the blog persona that we all get to read. Tell me about your window!

Wonderful Weekend

We just returned from a highly enjoyable weekend at the cottage. I am quite pink, and freckled and I have a bit of heat rash on my shoulders. It was hot and sunny, just the way I like it!
(I wore a 30 SPF sunblock for anyone who is about to call the skin cancer police on me!)

On Saturday my husband and girls and I spent most of the day on the water. We canoed to a deserted beach. Bella ran around in just her panties which she thought was thrilling as it seemed quite rebellious to her! She jumped off rocks, and swam in the waves.

Rebecca would not dream of such indecency. She did jump off the rocks into the water, but she kept her shirt, skirt and sun hat on properly the entire time. She also did not swim in her attire as it was not her swimsuit, and she was not about to get her pretty flower skirt dirty! Isabella took the opportunity to chase her down the beach with sand all over her, threatening to get her dirty. It was fun to watch them tease each other.

We picnicked on the beach. The girls hunted for treasure and had quite a haul. They brought back a sand pail containing baby clam shells, cray fish claws, snail shells and various shiny rocks. My husband and I had to look at each item, and I think we showed the appropriate level of excitement as the girls seemed to think they had found priceless heirlooms.

They hunted for bear paw prints on the beach. They found bear tracks multiple times which turned out to be their own footprints but for the sake of the thrill, we did not correct them.
It was a lovely adventure.

In addition to time on our own beach, they played with all their cabin friends up the road, and in our back yard. We took them on a 3km trail walk this afternoon, we went to the playstructure, ate ice-cream, and spent the rest of the day at the beach swimming and playing sailor in the rubber dingy.
Needless to say, they are exhausted. They are nicely tanned, bug-bitten, woodtick-free (we checked), freshly bathed and sleeping soundly. As we got them into their pj's tonight, Rebecca sighed and said, "Mommy, I have the perfect life."

I don't know about perfect but after a spring of endless rainy days, a couple of days of sunshine sure does bring a new sense of joy. The sun brings that exciting, tense, dangerous heat that we've missed all winter. I am ready to soak it in.
Mr. Sun. Sun. Mr. Golden Sun. Please Shine Down on Me!!

Spider-Girl

We took Rebecca wall-climbing for the first time a little while ago.
At first she was quite tense and didn't like going too far up the wall...

After a few tries, she relaxed and starting smiling...

My brave little mountain climber!

Creepy Crawlies...

We are in the thick of the nasty canker worm season in Winnipeg. For those who don't know what a canker worm is, they are nasty little critters. They multiply quickly, eat the leaves off the trees and then hang down and land on you.

It feels so gross to walk down the side walk and have little creepies landing all over you. Especially in my hair and on my back. YUCK!

The only bright side I can see is some of the odd comments my girls have made about this icky bit of nature trying to "catch a free ride on us".

Isabella: I wish those canker worms would stop getting married, then there wouldn't be so many baby canker worms around!

Rebecca: There are so many canker worms growing up fast. If they ever become kings and queens of the world, I will NEVER say, "Long Live the Canker Worms!". Never! I would just only say, "Short Live The Canker Worms!" That's what I would do!

Isabella: Do you think the ants in the front yard will eat the canker worms once they fall onto the grass? (I said I don't know, maybe they might) *she thinks for a moment* Hmmmm! I never would have thought that ants would be the ones who save the world from being taken over by canker worms. Hmmmm. You just never know.

Isabella: (to a neigbor lady) Guess what? My mom and my auntie tried to make me eat canker worms for lunch but I just wanted Subway!

(This comment is semi-true as Auntie C and I were teasing her, saying we're going to feed her canker worms for lunch, the joke was not meant to be passed on the neighbors!)