Miss Catfish is always full of little gems that she occasionally imparts... sometimes to us, and, as we've learned from her parent-teacher meetings, sometimes to others. We try to write down the ones that make us particularly happy or that we can use as leverage in discussions when she's older. Not all of them are blog-appropriate, but I've decided to start sharing some of them. This is pure, unadulterated mommy-self indulgence. Bear with me.
My personal favorite conversation from the latest epic road trip:
Dada: "If you kick the back of my seat again, I'm tying yer legs down."
Fish: [silence] "Seriously?"
Dada: "What do you think?"
Fish: [silence] "Well, it's a pretty common thing to do..."
And another from last week:
Fish: [matter-of-factly] "Ezzy has sort of pointy ears; I think he's an elf."
Mama: "Well, since Dada is his dada, and I am his mama, I'm not sure how he could be an elf."
Fish: "Maybe one of your eggs was an elf-egg, and that's the one that hatched."
Mama: "Like, maybe someone in my family was an elf, and so I ended up with one random elf-egg?"
Fish: "Yeah. Maybe one of your ancestors was an elf. We should ask Grandma Donna."
Mama: "I can't believe you just used the word 'ancestor' correctly in a sentence."
Monday, June 9, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
shut up jeremy!
jesus. you'd think i was shirking some dire responsibility by not blogging every day. i'm not completely convinced that anyone reads this but me, so there. doesn't he know that i have very little time for this? i don't think he realizes exactly how much time i need to play video games per day.
anyhoo, for those who don't know, we just went on a 5,000 mile road trip. for the second time in a year, actually. and i managed to not blog A SINGLE TIME. however, there were a few things we did fit in:
1. seeing our texas family. man, we love you. and miss you. and i'm never drinking again.
2. blowing out a tire on the freeway, in our rental car, somewhere outside jackson, mississippi. i think. what's fabulous about this incident is that we were only about 2 miles from the rental place at the airport at the time, and managed to make it to a motel 6 on the donut. motel 6 isn't the good part (i know, right?), but jer got to the rental place and all they could give us was A MINI VAN!!! so, as the trip progressed, i became more and more of a soccer mom. big ass white mini van, yoga pants (it's hot in the states, and i've been wearing 8 layers and snow boots for the past 6 months), several trips to the Target, several trips to Starbucks, etc. Awesome. oh, and i need a mini-van. sorry joy, but this is the end of our wagon gang....
3. sunburns. oh, hell yes.
4. deciding that we're trying to move to Athens, GA after this. we can't get back to austin, but we'll get as close as possible. i may actually lose my mind if i encounter snow outside of montreal, and we actually have started saying things like "it's only a 1000 mile drive, we could get to texas in a day!" although, maybe we'll head back NW. who knows. but i think in all of our frozen little hearts, we realize that we're supposed to be south.
5. driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. or at least, that was the plan. instead, we spent one day driving through the Great Smoky Mountains in fog so thick you couldn't see the road... it was AWESOME. the cliffs looked as though they simply disappeared into space, which, unfortunately, made for an occasionally unnerving drive, but it was beautiful. then ez the bug started throwing up... the sickest of the car sick. so we camped that night at Mt. Pisgah (yes, mt. pisgah in virginia) and got off the twisty-windy road asap the next day, but not before some amazing sights in the clear sunny-ness that greeted us that morning.
6. the Smithsonian museum. what's great about leaving in the car with very few plans and several maps is the fact that you can do whatever you damn well please. so, after scrapping an extremely beautiful drive, we just jumped on over to D.C. and while the cherry blossoms were already gone, the museums were amazing all by themselves. we went to the natural history museum and saw dinosaurs, the hope diamond, and other fabulousness, and then headed over to the air and space museum. awesome. fish got to try out "flying" a Cessna, and i'm not sure whether her or her daddy had more fun. and then, as we were leaving, we found out that they were filming "night at the museum 2" there, and got to watch a bit of a scene with ben stiller being filmed. he's short. and jeremy thinks he's "pointier in real life".
there were many more adventures, and i promise to share them and be better about posting. and maybe, just maybe, someday i'll post a picture too. get multimedia on yer ass. don't hold yer breath.
anyhoo, for those who don't know, we just went on a 5,000 mile road trip. for the second time in a year, actually. and i managed to not blog A SINGLE TIME. however, there were a few things we did fit in:
1. seeing our texas family. man, we love you. and miss you. and i'm never drinking again.
2. blowing out a tire on the freeway, in our rental car, somewhere outside jackson, mississippi. i think. what's fabulous about this incident is that we were only about 2 miles from the rental place at the airport at the time, and managed to make it to a motel 6 on the donut. motel 6 isn't the good part (i know, right?), but jer got to the rental place and all they could give us was A MINI VAN!!! so, as the trip progressed, i became more and more of a soccer mom. big ass white mini van, yoga pants (it's hot in the states, and i've been wearing 8 layers and snow boots for the past 6 months), several trips to the Target, several trips to Starbucks, etc. Awesome. oh, and i need a mini-van. sorry joy, but this is the end of our wagon gang....
3. sunburns. oh, hell yes.
4. deciding that we're trying to move to Athens, GA after this. we can't get back to austin, but we'll get as close as possible. i may actually lose my mind if i encounter snow outside of montreal, and we actually have started saying things like "it's only a 1000 mile drive, we could get to texas in a day!" although, maybe we'll head back NW. who knows. but i think in all of our frozen little hearts, we realize that we're supposed to be south.
5. driving the Blue Ridge Parkway. or at least, that was the plan. instead, we spent one day driving through the Great Smoky Mountains in fog so thick you couldn't see the road... it was AWESOME. the cliffs looked as though they simply disappeared into space, which, unfortunately, made for an occasionally unnerving drive, but it was beautiful. then ez the bug started throwing up... the sickest of the car sick. so we camped that night at Mt. Pisgah (yes, mt. pisgah in virginia) and got off the twisty-windy road asap the next day, but not before some amazing sights in the clear sunny-ness that greeted us that morning.
6. the Smithsonian museum. what's great about leaving in the car with very few plans and several maps is the fact that you can do whatever you damn well please. so, after scrapping an extremely beautiful drive, we just jumped on over to D.C. and while the cherry blossoms were already gone, the museums were amazing all by themselves. we went to the natural history museum and saw dinosaurs, the hope diamond, and other fabulousness, and then headed over to the air and space museum. awesome. fish got to try out "flying" a Cessna, and i'm not sure whether her or her daddy had more fun. and then, as we were leaving, we found out that they were filming "night at the museum 2" there, and got to watch a bit of a scene with ben stiller being filmed. he's short. and jeremy thinks he's "pointier in real life".
there were many more adventures, and i promise to share them and be better about posting. and maybe, just maybe, someday i'll post a picture too. get multimedia on yer ass. don't hold yer breath.
Friday, April 18, 2008
hockey? really?
yes. as a step in adapting to our surroundings (a very slow process), we've begun watching the Habs play hockey - streamed live from the cbc website. it's oddly fun. i never spent much time actually watching hockey, but after a few games my eyes have adjusted and i'm resonably good at following the puck and flow of play. the road to the stanley cup (which is in June!) has begun and for round one, montreal is in a 7 game series against the boston bruins. during the regular season
montreal beat boston in all 8 games, but they haven't been as successful in this series and last night they got stomped, giving up 4 goals in the last period, all of them stupidly, to lose 5-1 IN MONTREAL!!!!. the series continues with game 6 in boston tomorrow.
montreal beat boston in all 8 games, but they haven't been as successful in this series and last night they got stomped, giving up 4 goals in the last period, all of them stupidly, to lose 5-1 IN MONTREAL!!!!. the series continues with game 6 in boston tomorrow.
Monday, April 14, 2008
the thaw has begun!
...and despite the snow flurries Saturday evening, the snow is melting and this week looks gorgeous. to see how far we've fallen from the wonders of Texas, today's high is 8*C (=49*F) and we're bouncing around in the sun like it's the middle of summer. by thursday, it should be 22 - i don't even know what will happen then...
it's so spectacular that the garderie that Ella and Ez attend is having a Beach Party tomorrow. It is entirely indoors, but it's a beach party - there's supposed to be a pool, bathing suits, and an 'open bar' - which in this context is both hilarious and completely inappropriate.
quickly, before lorna drags me off to set the table - the food in this town continues to amaze. Sunday we drove to the somewhat sketchy area of Côte-des-Neiges (which, in this case, means only that, while the houses looked fine and the streets only as dirty as EVERYWHERE ELSE after the snow has melted and left garbage in its wake, there are more black people than white. this is the least scary metropolis i have ever heard of). There you can find "Mr. Spicee." The perpetually raved about west indian/trinidadi take-out joint that sells 'doubles' (curried goat/beef/veggies and chickpeas stuffed in doughy goodness) and 'pholourie' (deep fried round balls of dough accompanied by a sauce of spicy, tamarind-tangy amazing wonderful goodness). After chasing down some cash (there are no atms and i cannot remember to keep cash on me) and ordering a bagful of whatever, we ate in the car in the rain in the overcast gloom and giggled with enjoyment. it was amazing and it is now Ella's favorite. she is demanding we go again next weekend and i see no reason to say no, other than the loss of the possibility of trying another Mr. Spicy-like outpost of amazing.
but i have dinner to eat and though it's not Mr. Spicy, its some miraculous lasagna we made last night (hooray for the kitchen-aide pasta rolling attachment). phhllbbbbt.
-j
it's so spectacular that the garderie that Ella and Ez attend is having a Beach Party tomorrow. It is entirely indoors, but it's a beach party - there's supposed to be a pool, bathing suits, and an 'open bar' - which in this context is both hilarious and completely inappropriate.
quickly, before lorna drags me off to set the table - the food in this town continues to amaze. Sunday we drove to the somewhat sketchy area of Côte-des-Neiges (which, in this case, means only that, while the houses looked fine and the streets only as dirty as EVERYWHERE ELSE after the snow has melted and left garbage in its wake, there are more black people than white. this is the least scary metropolis i have ever heard of). There you can find "Mr. Spicee." The perpetually raved about west indian/trinidadi take-out joint that sells 'doubles' (curried goat/beef/veggies and chickpeas stuffed in doughy goodness) and 'pholourie' (deep fried round balls of dough accompanied by a sauce of spicy, tamarind-tangy amazing wonderful goodness). After chasing down some cash (there are no atms and i cannot remember to keep cash on me) and ordering a bagful of whatever, we ate in the car in the rain in the overcast gloom and giggled with enjoyment. it was amazing and it is now Ella's favorite. she is demanding we go again next weekend and i see no reason to say no, other than the loss of the possibility of trying another Mr. Spicy-like outpost of amazing.
but i have dinner to eat and though it's not Mr. Spicy, its some miraculous lasagna we made last night (hooray for the kitchen-aide pasta rolling attachment). phhllbbbbt.
-j
Monday, March 31, 2008
ah, so many many many things about canada....
yesterday we drove to chateauguay (pronounced 'chateau-gay', which is what i originally wrote, before lorna pointed that out) to buy books and i warned lorna about the pitfalls of the blog - there will always be too much to write about. so if we have time, you will eventually get to hear about yesterday and:
- patati patata and their amazing and tiny hamburgers
- the coffee shop called π (pi), with the bathroom graffiti "thank you π, there's safety in numbers."
- first nations cigarettes. (no, we're not smoking them, but there were more discount cigarette stores along the 138 into chateauguay than strip clubs in springfield...a lot more...for the three miles into chateauguay, the highway was lined with (many) dozens of prefab shacks advertising discount cigarettes...)
then there's all that we did (or planned to do) while mom and mikeala were here, and the stupid beginning of their dreadful journey home. eventually there will be pictures and video and all sorts of wonder, but for now you must be satisfied with this small bit of amazing radio that piped in during out dinner last night. i'll give you only one warning: ella now thinks "penis" is the funniest word in the english language, especially if its translated from chinese. link here. (this uses real player. if you don't like real player, get Real Alternative. seems to work fine, and there's no spyware.)
-j.
- patati patata and their amazing and tiny hamburgers
- the coffee shop called π (pi), with the bathroom graffiti "thank you π, there's safety in numbers."
- first nations cigarettes. (no, we're not smoking them, but there were more discount cigarette stores along the 138 into chateauguay than strip clubs in springfield...a lot more...for the three miles into chateauguay, the highway was lined with (many) dozens of prefab shacks advertising discount cigarettes...)
then there's all that we did (or planned to do) while mom and mikeala were here, and the stupid beginning of their dreadful journey home. eventually there will be pictures and video and all sorts of wonder, but for now you must be satisfied with this small bit of amazing radio that piped in during out dinner last night. i'll give you only one warning: ella now thinks "penis" is the funniest word in the english language, especially if its translated from chinese. link here. (this uses real player. if you don't like real player, get Real Alternative. seems to work fine, and there's no spyware.)
-j.
Friday, March 14, 2008
The Philosophy of Randy Bachman
Yes. That Randy Bachman. He's got a radio show on the CBC. Have I mentioned that we don't have a TV up here in the Great White North? That would be Jeremy's fault.
Anyhoo, the theme tonight was "Vices". You can guess the playlist. But the words that will change my life, the words I will strive to live by:
"All I can say is, try to replace your vices with less vice-y vices."
Man, Randy's just takin' care of business.
Anyhoo, the theme tonight was "Vices". You can guess the playlist. But the words that will change my life, the words I will strive to live by:
"All I can say is, try to replace your vices with less vice-y vices."
Man, Randy's just takin' care of business.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Oldy McOlderson
just a short post: i (lorna) have not seen my natural hair color in like 15 years. but i just found a white eyebrow hair. WHITE EYEBROW HAIR. because children age you in dog years. and i am posting this for joy, because when she found her first grey hair, i had no sympathy. because i am a jerk. ARE YOU HAPPY PETTY?!
Friday, March 7, 2008
The Evolution of Friday Night
Look at us! It's a blog entry!
at one point, i know that my friday nights were indistinguishable from any other night of the week. and then there was Catfish. so, in austin, we developed a friday night routine: mama would go out with usual suspects, drink too much and wander about downtown. dada would stay home and drink too much, drunk dial his brothers in oregon, and watch his favorite AMN show, Loser's Lounge, which was a couple of 14 year old girls playing really rather fabulous videos and closing out their show by eating gummy worms. these nights made for fantastic text messaging. one night, while out and about, those of us at lovejoy's started getting what seemed at first to be senseless rambling. it started with a threat: "woman, where's my tequila?!" (mama didn't know what the hell dada was talking about), then showed a pattern: one person got "snake! i thought you were dead!" no, more than one person got that one. then we realized he was watching Escape from New York. then he apologized about the tequila: "I found it under the coffee table..." While mama admits to not being terribly trustworthy while out on the town, she did start to wonder if dada should be left alone with the child.
Then there was oregon. there was no "loser's lounge", no sixth street, and most of the people dada had grown used to drunk dialing were all sitting around the same table. crazy. and though we mourn the loss of AMN, there was a really fabulous show (on KLCC of all places) called Straight Street, old R&B and soul. awesome. we took to playing rummy and drinking brandy. it's amazing how hard it is to buy alcohol in oregon, even if yer pushing thirty. these nights turned into sitting around the famous van horn dining table with Kim and Will and martinis and discussing whatever came up: from why missing a testicle would keep someone from gaining entrance to heaven to how much vermouth one should use in the perfect martini (mama thinks one should only threaten said martini with vermouth, and that testicle count is really nobody's damn business).
now we're in quebec and know no one and have to buy our friday night liquor from the state. but what's so funny about our new friday nights is that it is still routine:
"You should totally go to the SAQ before it closes and get a bottle of wine and we will totally work on the blog tonight!"
"Really. Tonight's the night, huh?"
"I'm serious! It's all in my head, I'm totally typing it tonight and uploading the pics. You just have to go to the SAQ and get some wine. and to the metro for some chips."
"Fine."
And then we listen to the ipod while the kids dance and we play computer games all night.
anyway, short story incredibly long, we're posting! our friends and family will know what we're up to! which is obviously not much! and eventually, you will even see pictures of us in this godforsaken place, and of our trip up here! feel free to laugh and the impossibly high snow drifts around our car! the ten or twenty pics of the Fish's missing teeth! huzzah!
The point is, we miss and love you all, and wish we were better at keeping in touch, and hopefully this will help. maybe we will let dada write it in the future so it's not so... shall we say "wordy"? that would be the nice way of putting it.
at one point, i know that my friday nights were indistinguishable from any other night of the week. and then there was Catfish. so, in austin, we developed a friday night routine: mama would go out with usual suspects, drink too much and wander about downtown. dada would stay home and drink too much, drunk dial his brothers in oregon, and watch his favorite AMN show, Loser's Lounge, which was a couple of 14 year old girls playing really rather fabulous videos and closing out their show by eating gummy worms. these nights made for fantastic text messaging. one night, while out and about, those of us at lovejoy's started getting what seemed at first to be senseless rambling. it started with a threat: "woman, where's my tequila?!" (mama didn't know what the hell dada was talking about), then showed a pattern: one person got "snake! i thought you were dead!" no, more than one person got that one. then we realized he was watching Escape from New York. then he apologized about the tequila: "I found it under the coffee table..." While mama admits to not being terribly trustworthy while out on the town, she did start to wonder if dada should be left alone with the child.
Then there was oregon. there was no "loser's lounge", no sixth street, and most of the people dada had grown used to drunk dialing were all sitting around the same table. crazy. and though we mourn the loss of AMN, there was a really fabulous show (on KLCC of all places) called Straight Street, old R&B and soul. awesome. we took to playing rummy and drinking brandy. it's amazing how hard it is to buy alcohol in oregon, even if yer pushing thirty. these nights turned into sitting around the famous van horn dining table with Kim and Will and martinis and discussing whatever came up: from why missing a testicle would keep someone from gaining entrance to heaven to how much vermouth one should use in the perfect martini (mama thinks one should only threaten said martini with vermouth, and that testicle count is really nobody's damn business).
now we're in quebec and know no one and have to buy our friday night liquor from the state. but what's so funny about our new friday nights is that it is still routine:
"You should totally go to the SAQ before it closes and get a bottle of wine and we will totally work on the blog tonight!"
"Really. Tonight's the night, huh?"
"I'm serious! It's all in my head, I'm totally typing it tonight and uploading the pics. You just have to go to the SAQ and get some wine. and to the metro for some chips."
"Fine."
And then we listen to the ipod while the kids dance and we play computer games all night.
anyway, short story incredibly long, we're posting! our friends and family will know what we're up to! which is obviously not much! and eventually, you will even see pictures of us in this godforsaken place, and of our trip up here! feel free to laugh and the impossibly high snow drifts around our car! the ten or twenty pics of the Fish's missing teeth! huzzah!
The point is, we miss and love you all, and wish we were better at keeping in touch, and hopefully this will help. maybe we will let dada write it in the future so it's not so... shall we say "wordy"? that would be the nice way of putting it.
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