Where does it hurt?

I was having a bit of a back and forth chat with one of my cousins, talking about the good old days and how much trouble we got in without really getting into trouble at all. She was saying how she would never let her kids do some of the things that we did. It's not that our mothers didn't worry but it was just a different time and children were allowed to be more free and able to figure things out on their own.

My cousin, I'll call her Bev, that's her name, remembers that I always was the one who got hurt. She said maybe it was because I was the youngest and they made me try things first, her and her brother and my brother were all older than me by 2-3 years. Maybe I was the clumsiest or maybe I was the most adventurous. I don't know but there were a lot of "accidents" in my pre-teen years and a lot of them required casts. I was recently reminded of something that happened to me when when I was 11 or 12ish and my Mom and I had gone over to visit Bev and Auntie Betty for coffee. I don't remember any males being around that day. My cousins had recently acquired a bicycle built for two and I could not wait to try it out. Bev took the pilot seat, in the front and I was going to pedal from the back. We walked the bike to the top of the hill of the driveway and down the street a bit so we could get off the narrow street and glide down one of the new subdivisions that was still being developed, away from traffic. at the top of the hill we both jumped on the bike and started pedaling. Woohoo, we started picking up speed and that's when I made my fatal mistake. I decided to lift my feet off the pedals and coast, make Bev do all the work. I had to lift my feet high and towards the back of the bike because my pedals were spinning furiously as we picked up speed. That's when it happened, in an instant the toe of my right food made contact with the spokes of the back wheel and hungrily began to consume my foot.

After that it's all a bit of a blur, Bev was still pedaling hard and we were on a hill so my foot being in the spokes had to work pretty hard to bring that heavy bike to a standstill. I don't think it was my foot that stopped the bike I am pretty sure it was my screams. Lucky for us this happened right in front of a house being built and the construction guys were the first at the scene. At some point Bev ran home screaming to get our Moms but I don't really remember. What I do remember is the look on these big strong guys faces when they saw my foot because the bottom of my foot was facing the same way I was. It took them a long time to figure out how to get me out of that bike.I remember being lifted and twisted and somebody had to pedal the bike backwards before it would give my foot back to me it was jammed so far into the spokes and if it weren't for the fact that I was wearing a very sturdy pair of canvas running shoes things would have been far, far worse. As it was the shoe was shredded and so was my foot.

I ended up with a chipped bone on my ankle and a broken bone in my foot but it was the deep scrapes that hurt the most. It was many weeks of crutches and a slow healing on the scrapes because they were so deep. One of my most painful accidents ever.

It wasn't until years later that I realized how traumatic it was for the people that helped me, my cousin Bev, my Mom and my Auntie but especially those construction workers.

I've always had a soft spot for construction workers since that day.

I've broken my foot, twice, wrist, collar bone, and elbow, that was the worst. That's a story for another day. How about you? Ever broke any bones? I bet you thought a cast would be fun until you actually got one.

I'm reminded of this story now because I am having some pain in that old injury and the memories came along for the ride.

Where's the beef?

Last night was "date night", around here that means more than just scheduling sex, it also means food and entertainment. I picked up some steaks and came home early to tidy up our little home. Superman got home with a bottle of wine some snacks and a movie.
I cooked those steaks up the way I always do, they were expensive rib steaks and I even left them out of the fridge for a while to let them come to room temperature, seasoned them well and cooked them in my cast iron frying pan, like always. When I thought they were done I let them rest and then served up the rest of the meal so we could dig in. The steaks were done to perfection, medium rare and they tasted like nothing. No flavour. I don't think I should have to put gravy on a 9 dollar steak but that's what I did. It wasn't even tender. It looked so good in the package too, so either I don't know how to cook a steak, or they somehow made those steaks look like expensive rib steaks and really they were a cheap, tough cut. I just don't know.
I have decided that I need to make friends with my butcher. That way if something like this were to happen again, the next day I would go in there and say "Hey Sam, what the hell was with that cut of meat you sold me yesterday?" I think most butchers are called Sam. Sam would be pretty concerned and then he would walk me over to the meat department, choose something really great and take out his black sharpie, cross off the price written and put some ridiculously low price on it to make up for all the money I wasted last night. I'll let you know what his real name is after I talk to him.
All in all it was a nice night and we watched the new Guy Richie movie Rock and Rolla', I liked it. It wasn't too, too violent and was quite funny actually, lots of hunky English men in it too.
The rest of the evening is non of your business. Nice!

Is it me?

This was the view from our balcony at 7:30 this morning. Beautiful, clear and c-c-cold. They are calling for snow for the next couple of days and even though I usually like snow, this year, I am done. Everybody around here has had their fill of damn snow I think. It's also bad for business. Maybe that's why evrybody was so freaky this weekend, thinking it might be the last time they would be getting out for a while. Sometimes I think that it's just me, that my tolerance for people is low or something. This weekend it felt, to me , like most of the people I talked to were crazy, or maybe just drunk. (If I talked to you this weekend I probably mean someone else. hehe) I simply could not relate. Socially, I did not do too well and often wanted to tell people to shove it up their asses. But I didn't. It probably was just me. (but it wasn't).
I have to run now, I am spending the day with T. I have to run her to an appointment at the Cancer clinic and I'm planning on making the family my famous chicken stew for dinner. Then I am home and off to a band practice. Busy day, must get started.
TTFN. Have a good day.

How sweet?

I have been fighting really strong sugar cravings lately and indulging just sends me into a shame spiral (hehe) and then a physical crash and headaches. I think this is a tough one for me. I am trying to stay away from sugar a bit so wish me luck. Oh sugar why do you make things taste so good?

I am trying to get more words down here but things just keep getting in the way. I have been spending a lot of time researching images for a photo shoot that Lorna and I are doing for a local magazine. They want us on the cover and they want it to be saucy. This has brought up a few issues for us, we are not models we are business women and saucy is one thing but it still has to be classy, right. I think it's worth finding an idea we can live with so we can just go in and enjoy the shoot, they will have a stylist and hair and makeup people and everything so hopefully we come out with something we love. It's a bit nerve-wracking.

Bottom line, my head is full, housing, money, work, illness, wedding and geez, my apartment is a mess.
Off to work I go.
Hey, it's Friday!!!
Have a great day!

When???

We finally did it!

We nailed down a date to tie the knot. Bear with me here...

We decided to do it in September because it's my favourite month of the year, the flowers are in bloom and the weather is usually pretty great, also, my Mom and Dad were married on September 9, 1961. The only problem is we would have to pick from the first two weekends in September because it can really cool down a lot in late September (do I sound like I'm planning an outdoor wedding?? I know. WTF??) Anyway, the first weekend in September is a long weekend and people like to go away on long weekends so the second weekend felt like a better idea. Guess what? It's also my birthday! Is that crazy?? I have never heard of anybody getting married on their birthday. Have you? Why the heck not?

We will be married on September 12, 2009. There. I said it.

Now comes the planning,

Lord help me.

weekend update

This weekend just went by so fast. Friday night was quiet, we just stayed home and relaxed. Saturday I had plans for the Indie I Do wedding show (it was excellent by the way) with my sister-in-law and just before I popped out the door I got a call saying one of my cousins and her daughter had popped in for a quick visit. It was great to see them! My cousin has two drop dead gorgeous teenage daughters and they all seem to have such a great relationship with each other. I always enjoy visiting with them. My cousin and I were really close when we were kids, she lived on a pretty little farm close to were we lived and we had so much fun there when we were young. There were horses and cows and sometimes pigs. There was lots of room to run around and a big old tree with a swing that I spent hours and hours on. I loved riding horses and we got to do that quite a lot. I got to ride Dusty, she was old and reluctant and had terrible gas and she used to try to scrape me off her back under the pear trees. I'm not remembering for sure if Dusty was a girl or a boy, one thing Dusty and I knew for sure was that I was not the one in charge and she only wanted to be left alone and in the barn. If we were out in the back field and she turned around and saw the barn she would just take off running towards it and there wasn't much I could do but hold on. I landed on my ass more than once but never really got badly hurt and I loved every minute.
Saturday we went to The Railway Club for the Rockabilly jam and then to a friends place out in Burnaby to visit and discuss band projects. The jam was really fun and it turned out to be Bob Smith's birthday and that was very cool! Bob Smith was turning 89 and everyone was there to cheer him on. When he turned 85 the mayor of Vancouver came down and pronounced it Bob Smith Day. Bob is just a lovely man who comes to the jam every week and dances the ladies all around the joint. He loves to dance and he knows his stuff, his grandson is one of the best players I know, Scott Smith and he came down to play a few tunes and blew us all away.
Sunday, our friend Robin came by quite early as she had been running around all morning while we were fast asleep. We decided to go out into the sunny day and get a bite to eat. After a bit of scrambling around trying to find a restaurant that wasn't full we ended up at The Reef for cocktails and brunch. The picture above shows a Mojito a Greyhound and a Passion fruit Mimosa, yes, it was yummy.
I then went to the mall and bought some stuff for myself and boring house stuff then back home and to the grocery, home again, made dinner sat on my ass after that and didn't really do much else.
Oh yes, I think we may have settled on a date for the wedding. I'll talk about that in another post.
I am off to spend the day with T, the sun is shining and I am really looking forward to seeing her.
Happy Monday Y'all!

What the heck?

I'm all hopped up on caffeine this morning. I woke up to the smell of fresh coffee and remembered that our building staff was hosting breakfast on our floor this morning. We had a little meet and greet, discussions about building security following a mass window smashing and car breaking in incident in our secured underground parking lot last weekend. We didn't get hit personally but 8 others were hit by the jerks so it was a pretty bad scene. I have to say that I think people who steal suck. They may have gotten away with it but hopefully the karma police will have their way with the thieves in due time.
I'm going to go forth this morning and try to be focused and productive. TGIF!
I am fully fueled up and ready to go, I must start my day before the post caffeine crash so off I go.
I also need to set my wedding date before tomorrow. Wish me luck.

My way?

Why can't we sleep? I woke up at about 4am this morning and tossed and turned and then finally got up at about 7, checked my Facebook and guess what, a bunch of comments about people having lousy sleeps. I sometimes wonder if there is something in the air, or maybe it's the moon?? Now I'm drinking coffee and eating corn muffins that I baked last night.

I know, I don't have too much to say these days. My friend T is getting sicker and to be honest we (those who love her) are all dealing with this fact the best way we can. I think my friend Robin described it best when she said "we are all feeling undone". I feel undone. I can't really talk about it here, it's too much.

This Saturday I am going to a wedding show with my newly engaged Sister-in-law. I always scoffed at wedding trade shows but I think this one may be right up my aisle. Indie I Do. Check it out!

Speaking of weddings, my goal this week is to set a date. I know I have already left some things too late to plan our wedding for this summer. I am hoping it won't matter as I am not having a traditional wedding but honestly a lot of stuff is already fully booked for this year in the wedding world. All the more reason to make it an "alternative" wedding.

It will be a wedding though, as opposed to an alternative to a wedding like we've had for the last 20 years.
I am mostly interested in getting married without spending bucket loads of money. That would be pretty alternative.

Are we home yet?

Here I am on the ferry heading for The Sunshine Coast to help Lorna and George settle in to their new home. The clouds were low and snow was a bit of a threat but mostly it just rained on Friday. I had a nice trip over and when I arrived at their house the movers had already left and it was all about unpacking and setting up. My favourite part. I didn't really do much to help but after dinner we had the bedrooms set up and I could see why they were looking so longingly at this delicious bed after a couple of hard days of packing and moving. While I was cooking dinner Lorna snuck away and made the guest bed up with fresh sheets and a cool jug of water for me. Nice!

We watched a movie and then I sent them to bed. I don't think I have ever seen anybody so happy to hit the sack in my whole life.

Here they are enjoying what was to be a great sleep in their new home. Congratulations you two, I am sure you will have many special times in you sweet new home!



After coffee and a nice breakfast the next day, I said goodbye and headed over to Dave and Chari's for what was supposed to be a quick visit before I got on the ferry. Before I arrived at their place what had been rain turned to slush and then a thick, heavy snow. I was headed up a hill and by the time I arrived at their place it was snowing heavily. One drink turned into two and I decided to just stay over and leave in the morning. We had a nice visit some amazing food a movie and a good sleep. I was up and out in the morning and back at home by noon Sunday. I spent the rest of my day hanging out with Superman and when he went out to get something for us to eat I was feeling pretty lazy and not much like cooking. When SM walked in the door with a big bag of fresh, hot Chinese food from our favourite neighbourhood restaurant I was feeling like a pretty lucky girl.
It's good to be home.

Whose move is it?

I am off to The Sunshine Coast to help Lorna and George move into their new house. I love helping people settle into their new digs, I find it exciting. I love that part about moving myself too. The best part is unpacking and setting up, the worst part is having to go back to the old place and clean.
I wish them happiness in their new home and I will come back with pictures and stories too.
It's like a whole new world out there. The snow is mostly melted and the pigeons are doing their crazy mating dance on my patio this morning. I think it's too early to think about spring but I have to say I am looking forward to it.
Right now I am charging up all my electronics for the trip over, phone-check, camera-check, iPod-check, Nintendo DS-check.
I might jusr stay in the car for this ferry trip, I have plenty of things to keep me amused.
Have a happy Friday ya'll!!

Can you help?

I'm not sure what to do here but the RSS feed on my blog shows that I haven't updated in 7 months. That means whenever someone subscribes to my blog it shows up on their page that I haven't updated forever. Does anybody know how I can fix this??

Was I dreaming?

Sweet sleep, I got a lot last night but whoa, some crazy ass dreams. Tomorrow I am helping my BFF and business partner move to another town. I don't think that one has really sunk in yet, for now I am just excited for them and looking forward to helping them set up house. I love that part. This week started with feelings of dread but is turning out to be okay after all. Except those crazy dreams I had last night.

I know it's boring to hear about other peoples dreams but this is my blog so...here goes.

I was asked to come by Oprah's? or someones, studio for a show they were putting on featuring some older American musician that dressed in civil war costumes. I got to the backstage area and realized that they probably wanted me to sing back up since I knew all the songs anyway, I was running into musicians I knew and they were all happy to see me too. It turns out that there were two young, cute girls that were hired to do the show instead of me and that's when things got ugly. I went outside and I was in a suburban yard when I started seeing things in the sky, huge bad things that were trying to hurl death down on anyone they could see. It was either death or cinnamon loaf because as I was hiding in the compost pile one of the back up singers came by and she had a big loaf of something sticky caught in her long hair. I helped her get rid of it and all the musicians came running out, afraid and looking for answers as the horror from above grew and grew threatening to kill us all.

I know it's a crazy dream but, man, I wonder what the hell it means. I figure the younger, cuter singers represent me being afraid of being replaced by a newer model. The frustration of not being asked to do the show is pretty obvious. The menace from above? I guess that's death and how it feels like it has randomly swept down and chosen whoever got in the way. And the sweet loaf? Maybe death brings out sweetness and goodness with it sometimes. I know I see it every day with my friends trying to support each other and T with her illness. There is so much caring and love and sweetness going around among the sadness and terror.

Or maybe I shouldn't drink wine before bed?

Are you ready?

It's time to put away the brandy beans and start moving my ass. All that boot camp at the end of last year is becoming a faded memory and believe me, my ass has a good memory. Apparently there is something called muscle memory too, it's supposed to make your muscles remember what they were doing the last time you gave a shit and make it easier to get back to where you were. We shall see.
I am tired of having nothing to do, I don't function well like this. I need to be busy to feel happy. I need to feel pushed. I need to push myself. I know it's that time of year and I hate resolutions but I know what needs to be done here.
In my "better" life I work harder at my job, I work out at least 3 times a week and I spend one day a week helping others.
I'm thinking of starting a new music project too. You'll be the first to know.
I started writing this yesterday but it was turning into a bit of a whine and I decided to wait until today to revisit the post. I don't think anybody needs to hear me whine about my life, we all have our problems.
I am feeling so much better about things today anyway, the snow is melting and I'm four floors up so when the great flood cometh we shall remain dry.
Bring it on!

How was your year?

I've got some catching up to do here. Happy New Year to all! I think I am almost recovered. It's been a busy time in these parts punctuated by the worst weather in recent history. Here is a quote from a local news source-"The last two weeks have been a winter weather nightmare for Vancouver, with huge dumps of snow followed by rain, heavy slush and flooding. All over the city, people are griping about the toll storm after storm has taken on their holiday season."That just about sums it up.

Add to the mix that we celebrated Superman's birthday on the 30th and both of our bands played the new year in at The Princeton Pub on the 31st.
I felt the occasion called for new hair. My dark brown crop is not really working for me so I went wig shopping. I decided to go for something subtle, bleach blond and past my waist. I decided to braid it and the braids came past my hip. Yes, it was a bit ridiculous but damn it, those people came to be entertained and who am I to deny people the thrill of a silly wig?
I do enjoy wearing wigs for gigs but man my head gets warm and those braids were threatening to get stuck in my mandolin. I just muscled through and didn't tear it off my head until we were safely at our friends place for a wind down and did I mention there was also another snow storm to deal with by the time we finished our show?
All in all we put on a fine show, apparently over 70 people bought tickets and didn't show up to the party. We can only guess that this was weather related. The show was less well attended than last year even though it was sold out.
I know it's kind of a scowly picture of me but I just can't smile when I'm taking my own picture, it feels too fake.

Lots of decorations and a balloon drop too. Here's something I don't get, when the balloons drop, even though we are performing, grown men feel the need to pop every single one. One guy was even grabbing as many as he could and then standing right in front of the band to pop them. What the hell?
I will admit to being slightly globophobic (fear of balloons), I hate watching people pop them and squeeze them. It makes me crazy and I remember crying about that when I was little.

Last night we decided to go over to Robin's place and eat some lobster. Here's a picture of the live bunch of lobsters.

Here's one coming out of the pot. Soon he will be mine.
The lobster was delicious but I realize each time I sit down to a lobster dinner that I can't really eat a whole one. They are just too rich for me. I ate a tail and one claw and I was dunzo. We also had a yummy salad and some Chinese sticky rice to go along with our crusty friends.(the lobsters)

All in all it was about good friends and good eats and good spirits, not necessarily in that order but friends definitely come first.
We are truly blessed with our friends and family and for that I am thankful.
To be honest 2008 was a tough year for us, I'm kind of glad it's done and I'm looking forward to something better in 2009.
That is my wish for you too. Even if 2008 was a good year for you I hope that 2009 is even better.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hey! It's snowing again.