Friday, March 20, 2009

BSG Finale Thoughts

Okay, after a day of indecision, I've decided to watch the BSG finale, despite being in the midst of five year-old sleep-over chaos.

B.

11:12PM Wow... that is not how I thought the war would end on BSG...

11:57PM Okay its over, allllllll ooooooooover. Bizarre but tasty!

B.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Lost: Season 5 Ep. 9 "Namaste"

Okay is it just me or is Sawyer twice the leader Jack ever was? Maybe he needed those three years to come into his own (or fully develop a conscience). I like the whole Juliette and Sawyer in domestic bliss vibe, but fear that his misguided feelings for Kate will screw it up.

B.

UN Battlestar Galactica Conference

With BSG's last episode airing this Friday, I'm not the only one that thinks its been one of the best written, most thought-provoking shows in television history.

B.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=30217&Cr=television&Cr1=


http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2009/03/galactica-un.html

Best Part of March Break?

Well, the best thing is time with family... The SECOND best thing is: TWONNIE MATINEES!!!


We're going to see the Tale of Desperaux this pm. A dollar an hour? Seriously, people... :-)

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Chronology of an Eight Year-Old Sleep Over

3:15 PM

First friend arrives with Super Girl.  They have both been at birthday party.

4:30 PM

Second friend arrives.  Trio appears to be getting along well, despite the fact that nature abhors trios.  Playing and singing of most songs from Mamma Mia ensues

5:00 PM

The girls have a "spray fight" with a bottle of Febreeze air freshener.  They use the whole bottle.  I start to have an asthmatic reaction which peaks at about 4:30 the next morning despite over-dosing on my Ventolin inhaler.

5:30PM

Supper- hamburger wraps.  More singing.

6:30PM

Movie starts- Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (the girls' choice).  Snacks and the ritualized wearing of extra underwear on their heads ensue.  Fumes are bad but don't seem to bother anyone else.

7:45PM

Orange pop and vanilla ice cream floats are a hit.

9:00PM

A bed time of sorts.  Air mattress and flip out kids' chesterfield are used in a dizzying array of all possible combinations of girls pillows and blankets.  The girls settle on The Beatles' Abbey Road.  Deep down I am bursting with pride at this classy choice even as my lungs feel like they may burst.

9:15PM

The first of many, many, many "Now its time to quiet down and go to sleep" speeches.  The girls are VERY well-behaved, but very wound-up...

10:30PM

Girls are finally asleep.  I am more choked up than ever.  Not bad...

1:25AM

My breathing has calmed enough that sleep is a good and possible idea.

1:26AM

Super Girl (age 5) is awake and says she thinks that she is going to be sick.  Happily she is not but she does have a fever (and has had one on and off most of the evening).

3:45AM

The girls are awake and noisy.  Happy, but noisy.  I go downstairs and lay down the law about how they are not to be up before 6:00AM.  They don't settle for a while and I end up on the downstairs love seat for the better part of an hour.

7:30AM

Sound of cartoons come from downstairs.  We don't know this for a while, but one girl called her parents at 7AM to announce that she had made it through the night.  Over breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, the girls claim to never gone back sleep since 3:30AM.  After breakfast, the girls pick Star Wars III as their movie of choice, followed by craft time and pick up by their respective moms.

 

Phew,

B.

E-Bay Item of the Week

Wanna be a real Snowbird?

Updatey Post

As you may have noticed, I haven't been a very faithful writer lately.  This is due to several reasons.

 

  1. I've just been very busy at home and at work.
  2. I've been in a very funny headspace lately.  Basically, I'm having trouble letting things go at work.  This is far from being a terminal condition, but things seem to be getting to me more than they have in a long while.  Its that and and the fact that I'm really, really tired of my work.  All of that is tied to some lingering feelings I have over the job I lost a year ago- yeah I know I need to let that go.
  3. Also, I guess I'm not sure what I should write about.

All of that self-obsessed musing aside, life is good.   Its great, actually.  The four of us are happy and healthy and I'm still fascinated by how the girls are growing every day.  Grade two and kindergarten are going well and the girls have solid wonderful friends.   And, soon it will be spring!  I've tried, but I'm still not a winter person.

All for now,

B.

Thursday, March 05, 2009


E-Bay Item of the Week: Big-Ass Zombie-Smashing Truck

Okay, here is what I want to be driving when the Zombies rise. (I see them as a distinct species/national identity, so therefore I will insist, for now, on capitalizing "the Zombies" when I feel like it).  Its big and a little rusty, but worthy of my last stand to gather up the world's remaining supplies of canned food.
 
Here it is:
 
 
 
On a "more" serious note, I read recently that the world basically has an 80-day supply of food.  In the event of a world-wide event that causes food production to cease, past that point there isn't enough food to go around.  How fragile it all is...
 
B.

Monday, February 16, 2009

Birthday Cake Jan. 2009


Birthday Cake Jan. 2009
Originally uploaded by Binky's Photos

Only Sponge Bob would do for Action Girl's 8th Birthday Party!

We had it at the pool and it was a wet and wonderful success. She has a wonderful group of not-so-little-anymore friends.

B.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Big Enough For...

This weekend was a great reminder of just how quickly our daughters are growing. Indoor amusement park rides are now something they go on entirely without parents.
We had a little overnight get away with Action Girl's (now age 8!) best friend and her parents and little brother (who is only an little younger than our Super Girl).

The whole "going on rides alone" thing may sound like a small point, but its not. It’s a very big deal, What's more its an even bigger sign of things to come.
B.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Zombies? Told ya so!!! Get Ready, People!

Unexpected Daddy Day of Galactic Proportions

Pretty well everyone I know close to my age has kids or is close to friends or just as commonly doesn't but is close to relatives or friends who do.

If you're in the later group (or neither), let me introduce to the exciting world of "family leave" days. Or, "my kid is sick and I can't go to work days."

Rules/The Finer Points of Family Leave:

1) An eight year old child cannot, no matter how smart and charming she is, stay home alone when sick. Don't laugh- it does come to mind every time.

2) Kids throwing up is bad. It is much better than fever. Throwing up while they have a fever is worse still. Worst of all is trying to figure out IF your child has a fever. If she does, somehow this makes you a bad parent. No, that's not rational- it just does.

3) The secret to manging a successful sick day appears to lie in balancing TV and sleep.

4) Call work. If nothing else, this will make you look very conscientious.

5) Somehow sick days can be wonderful day of daddy-daughter bonding. Caring for someone you love can never be anything but great even when its unexpected.

6) Having your eight year old pick Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace as her sick day movie choice rocks. It really is a great kids movie.

B.

Wednesday, February 04, 2009

My Random Wikipedia Quote of the Night:

"Bolik and ZIB Bolik (Болик) ran away just days before her flight in September 1951. A replacement named ZIB (a Russian acronym for "Substitute for Missing Bolik", "Замена исчезнувшему Болику" Zamena ischeznuvshemu Boliku), who was an untrained street dog found running around the barracks, was quickly located and made a successful flight. [edit]Otvazhnaya and Snezhinka Otvazhnaya (Отважная, "Brave One") made a flight on July 2, 1959 along with a rabbit named Marfusha (Марфуша, "Little Martha") and another dog named Snezhinka (Снежинка, "Snowflake"). She went on to make 5 other flights between 1959 and 1960."


I offer this to you because couldn't we all stand to know a whole lot more about "Soviet Space Dogs?"

B.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Remeber this? Its back.



I bought this blast from the past at Zellers last Staurday night. It wasn't in a case full of different flavours like I remember when I was a kid, but a few different flavours were availible.

Anyone else remember the cases of Pop Shop Pop?

B.