No candies for Mary yet, but she likes to chew on the packages. 

My Little Lion

 


Here is the halloween costume that we bought for Mary. It barely fit her, one more week and I think we would have been out of luck. Next year I want to make a costume for her, cheaper, and more fun for me, I think. 

Oh, how I love the bus...

I haven't had much to say about my bus rides lately, mostly because I discovered another bus that goes pretty much as close as the other, and isn't quite as icky (aside from the poo left on the bench at the bus stop, of course). Today, I thought that maybe I was on the icky bus. The first bit of fun was as we were travelling through Edmonton's China Town (which is not a very nice area of the city). A native gentleman who smelled like a brewery got on the bus, and started chatting amiably with the bus driver, and occasionally smiling over at Mary. Although he was drunk as a skunk, he was friendly and happy, so I had no problems. A large group of elderly asian ladies got on the bus, and started chatting noisily in their mother tongue. My native friend decided at this point that I would be up for some incredibly racist chit-chat. I thought it was funny, and a little sad that he started going on about how foriegners should be speaking English, especially when his own grasp of the language was tenuous at best. I did mention to him that if we were to move to China, we would probably still speak English to each other on the bus. He had a response for me...but it was so mumbled that I just nodded and smiled at him.

Later on, after my drunken, chinese-hating native friend got off the bus, a really classy fellah got on. He was doing his laundry, so he had a huge cart full of his clothing. When he got off the bus, he had to bend over to wheel his cart down the steps. At this point he exposed at least 5 inches of crack for all of us to stare at in horror. I shared a snicker with the lady sitting across the aisle with me.

Anyways, Haloween is going well enough. We got Mary dressed up for a little while, visited some neighbours, and have been handing out candy ever since. There seems to be a lot more kids out tonight, which is a good thing, I bought a tonne of candy. Speaking of candy, V & I are no friends of Ian and I, if any of you were wondering. I popped over with Mary to say hello, and they gave us 2 big tubes of gooey candy, because they know that Mary can't eat anything hard. Right. I think the liquid sugar will be going somewhere far far away.

What, No Pumpkins?

I had a busy weekend. Friday night was Raven's birthday celebration at the New Asian Villiage. I had a wonderful time, and the food was actually very good! I've never been a fan of Indian food, but this time around I decided to try some of everything, and it was fantastic, although a little too spicy for me. I'm so glad that I was invited, it was nice to get to know Raven and some other people who I know to see, but don't really know, you know?

Saturday saw the end of domestic bliss. Ian and I have been arguing off and on all weekend, but Saturday was the worst. He was cranky, and so was I...at one point I felt like saying "That's okay honey, you just sit there playing on the computer while I deal with the screaming baby, do the dishes, vacuum the floor and cook your supper all at the same time." Actually...come to think of it, I may have said that at one point. Later on I mentioned to him that the garbage was so full that the lid wouldn't shut, and the kitchen was starting to stink of dirty diapers. He actually asked me to pick out the dirty diapers and put them in another bag. Three days of kitchen garbage, and he wanted me to dig through and pick out the dirty diapers. I expressed my disbelief at this request, and he got angry. Anyways, we ended up outside as the weather was quite lovely. We got alot accomplished in the yard, and it no longer looks like hobo's live in our house. Yay!

Saturday night we skipped D&D, which was soooo nice. I enjoy our game, but I really hate playing a weekly saturday night thing. It was nice to be able to stay home, watch a movie, and get the baby into bed at a decent hour.

Sunday we went to the mall and wandered around for a few hours, before going grocery shopping. I had wanted to buy a pumpkin, but I guess that I left it too late, there were no pumpkins to be found. It's too bad, I'm not really into the whole jack o'lantern thing, but I do like roasted pumpkin seeds, and I was planning on making a pumpkin pie. Oh well, next year, I guess.

Today I babysit Jonah, and then when we get home we will take Mary to a couple of neighbours to show off her costume. Then, we hand out candy, and go to bed early, I think.

Anne says it best

Since I read this morning about the proposed takeover of the Hudsons Bay Company by an American businessman, I have been trying to figure out how best to put my feelings about it into words. Now I don't need too. Go here and read what Anne R. Key has to say about the whole thing. It pretty much sums up my feelings about the whole thing.

Friday Baby Blogging

 


I almost forgot that today is Friday! 

Grammar Lesson

Now, I don't pretend that my grammar is perfect, but I do think that I have a better grasp on the workings of the English language than the average schmoo. In fact, one of my biggest pet peeves is bad grammar (I won't even get into how deeply annoyed I am by what the internet has done to the written word). Imagine my surprise when someone accused me of breaking a rule of grammar. I still maintain that I did no such thing, of course. Okay, generally one would say "Sally and I went to the park this afternoon," not "Sally and me went to the park this afternoon." This is because you would say "I went to the park," not "Me went to the park." It makes sense to me then, that if you would say "George showed me how to cook," you would also say "George showed Sally and me how to cook," right? I mean, you certainly wouldn't say "George showed I how to cook." Anyways, that's my problem, so I bring it to you. I know that many of you who read my blog are better writers than I (I've always been stronger with speaking than I am with writing), so tell me, does what I am saying make sense?

We Won!!

We won the Lottery! No, not the 54 million that someone in Alberta won, but we did win a cool five bucks. Yay. What shall I do with all that money anyways?

Today Mary and I got our flu shots. I've heard positive and negatives about getting it, but I decided that I would go ahead and do it. It was free, and it gave me a chance to get in to speak with a public health nurse. I spoke to her about the fact that Miss Mary refuses most solid foods, and throws up if we give her anything lumpy. The nurses advice was to wean Mary of the bottle right away, and continue to feed her. I explained that if Mary doesnt get a bottle, she will hold out, and if I do what she asked, eventually she will either waste away to nothing, or be put out in the snow cause I can't handle the screaming. So, she has now referred me to a Nutritional consultant, and a Pediatric Occupational Therapist. I am kind of interested in the nutrition thing, I've been having a hard time dealing with Mary's wheat sensitivity, and any advice would be nice. I'm not really certain what an occupational therapist does, but I guess we will find out soon enough. Any help getting Mary to eat would be much appreciated.

Oh! More bus adventures, well, one really, and it didnt even happen on the bus. Mary and I walked to the bus stop today, and when we got there there was a...smell...I looked around, and noticed a Safeway bag full of human feces neatly placed on the bench in the little shelter. Icky. SO icky. Why must people be like that?

If I Win the Lottery

Well, the Lotto 649 jackpot is 40 million dollars. Ian and I went out and bought several numbers the other day, I know the chances are slim that we would ever win, but you never know. I've been spending the last couple of days imagining how I would spend 40 mil, I'm very good at spending money, but that much is a challenge even for me. Here is what I figured I would spend it on....

1 million each to my mother, father, Ian's mum, my little brother, and Ians little sis.

100 thou each to my three step siblings

5 million to the Stollery Childrens Hospital & Royal Alexandra Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

3 million to the Canadian Cancer Society

3 million to Edmonton Catholic Social Services

3 million to the Anglican Primates World Relief Development Fund

2 million to the Edmonton SPCA

500 thou to St. Pauls Cathedral in Regina, SK

1 mil to the Anglican Diocese of Qu'Appelle

We would buy a house in St. Albert, probably spend about 500 thou on that, maybe less. I dont want something brand new, I like the older more established neighbourhoods, and I just can't imagine spending so much money on a home, it seems wasteful. I could see spending up to 500 thou for the house and new furnishings.

We would go visit our families, from coast to coast.

Put some away for Miss Mary's education.

Go to Ethiopia for a couple of months, but probably not for several years, I already am planning on taking Mary to Ethiopia when she is 13 years old, I don't see that changing.

Have babies, lots of 'em.

So, there you go, I have it all figured out. I would probably give more away I think, to smaller organizations in the neighbourhood here. I'd like to help the homeless and low income families in this neighbourhood if I could. I'd like to do something to help all the prostitutes who walk the street only blocks away from my home, even if it is just bringing them something warm to drink when the winter comes. With 40 mil, it would be easy to give money to all the organizations that I would like to help, and still have plenty of money left over to make sure that we are alright. As much as I like to look at fancy cars, and shiny things, I don't think I could ever justify spending even 50 thousand on a car, when our car is just fine, or 100 thou on a diamond ring, or whatever, when there are people out there who need to eat.

Blogger Hates My Guts

I'be been trying to post all weekend, but Blogger has been eating my posts, and telling me that "There Were Errors." Damn it. So this little post is just to see if I can post yet. And that goddamn blue bar is still all gibbled. What the hell?

I was up way too late last night, and I hardly got any sleep. I think that this is the first time since Mary came into our lives that I can say that I was up till 3am, and it had nothing to do with the baby. Last night was the last Broken Wings game. I'm a little sad about it, I had alot of fun, and I don't really feel that I got alot of resolution for my character, but I think that's how it goes when a game ends, especially if you hadn't been playing your character from the very begining. I do think that the game ending was a good thing, if anything for Cori's mental well being. Running a game must be incredibly draining, and running one for 4 years straight can't be easy.


Note to self: In the future when going to by Mary gluten/wheat free foods from the local wheat free specialty store, remember not to wear the Saskatchewan Roughrider shirt that has "Real Women Eat Wheat" written across the front.

Is anyone surprised by this?

You Are 60% Weird

You're so weird, you think you're *totally* normal. Right? But you wig out even the biggest of circus freaks!

How Weird Are You?

Squak

Yesterday my mother phoned me about 32 times (yes, I'm exaggerating, but not much). It turns out that WestJet is having a seat sale, and Mum is tired of waiting for me to be able to afford to fly out to visit her. So...she bought Mary and I a plane ticket to go visit her! Whee! I'm very excited about it, I can't wait to see my Mum, the last time she saw Mary was at her baptism in march. My little brother hasn't met Mary yet, and I have several cousins, aunts and uncles who live in Vancouver. On top of it all, I love Vancouver. I love it I love it I love it. It's the best place in the world. I will go to Lonsdale Quay, and Granville Island. Mary and I will walk in Stanley Park, and feed the squirrels. Squee! I'm giddy.

In other news, Miss Mary has indeed lost her voice. This afternoon the only sounds she has made is a deep croak, or a high pitched squeak. It would be funny if it were not so pathetic, and I didn't feel so bad for the poor little critter.

Tonight is the Purgatory party at V&I's place. I'm looking forward to it, but I suspect that we won't be able to stay very long, which is too bad. Things sure have changed since Mary came, and you know, sometimes I miss the life we had before, the late nights and lack of responsibilities...but really, I just can't imagine going back to that. I certainly don't resent her, although I was afraid that I would when I was pregnant. She just brings so much joy into my life, I wouldn't give it up for anything.

Friday Baby blogging

 


Here she is, my happy baby. Is that what her smile looks like? I can't remember...teething and a bad cold at the same time make for not alot of fun. Although, after all the screaming and the stuffed up nose, she seems to be loosing her voice - it's very hoarse and squeaky. 

Defective Immune System

Miss Mary is getting another cold, damn it. So far the only outward symptom is a seriously runny nose and she's a touch more impatient than usual (which is very very impatient, let me tell you). I'm a little concerned that she has inherited my funky immune problem. I really wouldn't wish it on anyone, as slight as it is, and I certainly don't want her to have to deal with it. At least if she has it, I will believe her and it'll be diagnosed before she is 25.

Mary has a new toy! It's the best toy in the world! The other day she got her hands on the phone book, and managed to rip a chunk off the cover. It's a little chunk, really, smaller than a playing card, but she loves it. The first thing she does in the morning is hunt for it. When she finds it, she holds it high over her head and shouts in triumph. Eventually she will stop dragging it around with her, but every once in a while she comes across it, and it is a joyous reunion.

Last night I was watching Corner Gas. I love that show, and being from Saskatchewan and having lived in small town Saskatchewan, I really identify with a lot of the characters. Anyways, last night they did a spoof on "The Littlest Hobo," and it was very funny. I was thinking about my baby brother, who is now going to school to be a sommelier (is that how it's spelled?) in Vancouver. Anyways, until he was 12, every time he watched The Littlest Hobo he would cry, especially at the end when they played the theme song. I wonder if he still does?

Sir Elton Dog

I've been thinking a lot lately about our dog, Sir Elton. It's been over a year now since we gave him away, and most of the misery of owning him has faded in my mind, only the nice parts are left. I miss him sometimes (I will never own another dog, especially not another 75lb dog). He was really a good dog, all in all. We got him from a greyhound rescue organization, and he had come all the way from Mobile Alabama. He was a very handsome boy, his colouring was dark brindle, and he was huge...well, not huge so much as very tall and pointy.

Elton was one of the dumbest dogs I had ever met, and working in Vet clinics for 10 years, I have met a lot of dumb dogs. In spite of that, he was one of the gentlest, kindest animals I've ever dealt with. All he ever wanted was to make us happy, and to love us. He would climb up on the couch when we were watching TV, and try to cuddle with us on our laps, and every night it was a fight to convince him that he had to sleep on the floor and not in bed with us. He loved to go out into our yard and run as fast as he could in circles around our house.

He was a huge pain in the ass. He had severe separation anxiety, and every day we would come home from work to new surprises. He tore the fabric off the front of my couch, he ate my dresser, he tore up every bedsheet we owned, and he ate garbage. Oh, did he ever eat garbage. No matter how inventive we were at hiding it from him, he could get too it. I remember the day we actually decided to put all the garbage outside...we were walking up the front steps and I was saying how nice it would be to come home and not find garbage shredded and strewn all over the house. We walked in, and looked around...and there was rice from one end of the house to the other. We had gone grocery shopping the night before, and bought a 5lb bag of rice, and left it on the counter. I turned around, and left the house, I knew that I would end up killing the dog if I stayed in the house. Ian was smart enough to have the dog outside and the rice cleaned up when I got back from my walk.

Elton was an escape artist, and from time to time he would get out of the yard, usually after he slipped his collar (easy to do when your head is half the size of your neck). He would dance down the street, shooting from tree to tree, keeping just ahead of me, and driving me to distraction. One time, after I finally caught him, I was trying to lead him home without a leash or collar. A gentleman in his car kindly stopped for us, and Elton decided that he would not move from in front of the car. He howled and cried, and finally I had to pick him up and carry him home...he howled the whole way.

One time Ian and I were out for a walk with him, and a Rottweiler got away from it's owner, and came straight for our sweet gentle boy. I was 4 months pregnant, and all I could think about was protecting Elton from this nasty dog. I remember pounding on the dog, and kicking it, as Elton cried and tried to hide behind me. It was absolutely awful, and the other dog tore a chunk out of Elton. I was absolutely devastated, and Elton was traumatized. We ended up spending 3 hours in the emergency clinic while he was being stitched up.

Shortly after the incident with the Rottweiler, we decided that we needed to give Elton away. He needed a tonne of attention and special care, and with a baby on the way, we knew that it wouldn't be fair to him. We just couldn't give him the care he needed. So, one day we packed him up into the car and drove down to Calgary to give him to a family who loved Greyhounds, had a beautiful big house, and 3 other dogs. It was so hard to drive away from him, I cried almost the whole way back to Edmonton.

I hope that he is happy and well, he deserves to have a family who lavish attention and love on him.

What is going on?

Blogger is being really weird...why is the blue bar like that?

The Wildlife

 


Here you go, Goody, you aren't the only one with wildlife problems, this is what I found in the cats water dish this afternoon. Of course, I don't think it's quite the same as having real mice and bugs coming into the house... 

Yeah, Right.

So, I got a phone call today, someone else offering Ian a job. As he works all day, I thought I would gather the particulars for him, and see if he is interested. Yeah, right. At first it sounded right up his alley, basically, the job is going around from construction site to construction site, maintaining, greasing and changing the oil of the work trucks there. It pays $17/hour. He would start at 5 am(!!) every morning, and end around 7 every night. I asked if it was a monday to friday thing...nope, it is 7 days a week, 14 hours a day. The woman I spoke too said that they sometimes get every second sunday off. Um. Right. How the hell do they get people to actually work that?? I mean, if he did work that he may as well be out of town, right? Anyways, I took the information, and I think that Ian and I will have a good laugh about it when he gets home.

It seems that my happy housewifedom has come to an end, defeated by the bathroom. It's amazing that such a tiny (and really, my bathroom is SMALL) room can be so daunting. I go in there with the best intentions, look around and all my intentions fly out the window, and I think that I'd rather invite the girls over for bridge. But I don't play bridge, and I don't know alot of girls. So I just go sit on the couch and do some needlepoint. Maybe if I wore high heels, did my hair, and got a pretty little apron it would be easier?

I would like to thank Goody for her show of screen door solidarity. It is always nice to know that I am not alone in the world.

Friday Baby Blogging

Some more fun outside, it doesn't look like we will have much more of that sort of fun anymore though...snow's coming. 

Why I Need a New House

This morning, I decided to go outside and check the mail. It sounds like a simple enough task to accomplish, right? So I put on my runners, and stepped outside onto the step, and the screen door shut behind me, as is normal. I checked the mailbox (which had the embroidery thread that I ordered from the States in it, YAY!), and turned to get back into the house. Nope. The poltergeist that lives in the screen door decided that it would be best for me to stay outside in the rain, while my baby sat inside. I did not panic, even a little. I struggled with the God Damned Door for a moment, and went over to my neighbor's place to beg for help. When I got back to the front door, Mary, and all four cats were standing at the screen door, peering out. All five of them thought it was great fun as the neighbour and I struggled to get into the house, and Mary shouted encouragement (thank heavens she had just eaten and was in a good mood). We finally decided that the best bet was to just wreck the screen in the screen door, so I could reach through and unlock the God Damned Door. I hate that door.

Last night I had a very strange dream, about being a CIA/KGB double agent in the 1950's. My friend G who is currently doing his Masters of Divinity at a Catholic college was the CIA agent who caught me. It was odd that no one else had figured me out, I dressed like Natasha in the "Rocky and Bullwinkle" cartoons, and kept saying "Ve make beeg trable for moose and skvirrel." I suspect I had that dream because I just finished reading a Ken Follet novel about much the same thing.

So, the Alberta government is throwing around the idea of free post-secondary education for Albertans. I cannot describe how exciting that is. They say that it will be the first two years, but any help at all will make education so much more accessible. I would love to go to school, but we just haven't the finances for it. I suspect that if they do decide to go with the plan there will be all sorts of people that don't qualify, but even if I can't take advantage of it, it would be wonderful to know that Mary could go to university.

Ian's work seems to be going well enough. He described yesterday as "mind numbing," but okay. He has all sorts of worries about the work that he is doing, but I am sure that he is doing well. I seem to have turned into the happy homemaker since Ian started this new job, I'm not certain why. Maybe I'm trying to convince him that it would be a good idea for me to stay home instead of going to work, that I do actually serve a purpose here. Anyways, I did about 4 loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, and when Ian got home, his supper was on the table. It may not sound like a lot, but I am developmentally handicapped when it comes to housework, so I was quite proud of myself, and Ian was pleased and surprised to come home to a cleanish house and supper on the table

Anyways, I'm off to clean the bathroom!

Ouch.

Ian started his new job yesterday. I'm not really sure how it went, I think that he is happy. There were a few disappointments, it looks like the company he works for does a lot of out of town work, which we didn't know. He is also working with insulation, which he doesn't like too much. I worried a little, so I asked him if he was disapointed about leaving the old place, and he said definately not. We are a little concerned about the out of town stuff, but we will cross that bridge when we get to it, I suppose.

I have a lot more to say, but I woke up this morning with a splitting headache, bordering on migrane strength, and the letters on my screen are starting to swim, so it'll have to wait till later.

Serenity and Pumpkin Pie

Well, after a long weekend in Regina, we are finally back home. The weekend went relatively well all in all, and the Turkey was absolutely fantastic.

We left Edmonton on Thursday afternoon, and except for a couple of pit stops in Lloyd and Saskatoon, she slept the entire way. It made for a nice quiet and calm drive, but a crummy night. Mary has started to shun sleeping anywhere but her own bed, so the entire weekend lacked sleep for both Ian and I, by time we got home, I was exhausted and very very cranky.

On Friday my dad took us out to the Ethiopian restaurant for lunch, and let me tell you, it was some of the best Ethiopian food that I have ever tasted, much much better than the Blue Nile here in Edmonton. After that, Ian insisted on going to the RCMP museum. Some of you may not know that the RCMP training accademy is in Regina. I did not want to go to the museum, I've been there about 500 times. Every time anyone from out of town came to visit us when I was growing up, we dragged them to that museum, every single time. But Ian wanted to go, so we went. It was as boring as I remember, in fact, I dont think it has changed in about 25 years.


Saturday we left the baby with my dad and his wife, and went off to enjoy Regina. We went out for lunch to a pub, and then we went and saw Serenity. What can I say, that movie was absolutely fantastic. I loved it, and I want to see it again. After that, we went off to the mall, and Ian got his hair cut. Saturday night my father and I went to the symphony, which was great fun.

Saturday night Mary was up. All. Night. Long. So, we did not end up going to church Sunday morning, which was too bad. We had a fabulous supper, my Dad's turkey was great, as usual. So nice, and not dry at all. Emmett has said that he isn't fond of turkey because he finds it dry, but he has not had my fathers Turkey, it is anything but dry. Mmm. Mary loved my pumpkin pie, and ended up eating alot of it off of my plate.

The drive back on Monday went well, Mary was awake for the last half of it, so she slept pretty well last night. She did have an alarming poo, which I attribute to the pumpkin pie. Wow. It was spectacular really, we were lucky that it didnt escape the diaper.

I was surprised to turn on the news last night and see what is happening in Asia. I felt a little bad that while I was stuffing myself with turkey, brussles sprouts and pumpkin pie I had no idea what was going on anywhere else in the world. It's pretty horifying, and it got me thinking about how thanful I am to live in the middle of the prairies. It got me wondering if Canada is due for some sort of horrible disaster, and if we are, what will it be? Anyways, that kept me awake for a long time last night. I decided that it will likely happen on the west coast, which did not comfort me alot, most of my family lives in Vancouver and Vancouver Island. So I started worrying about them, I'm a real worrier.

Ta-Ta For Now.

Well, tomorrow we pack ourselves and the baby into the car, and drive 8ish hours to Regina for the Thanksgiving long weekend. Yay! 8ish hours in the car with a 9 month old. I cannot express how thrilled I am at the prospect. The good news is that she had a diaper-blowing poo this evening and that is unlikely to repeat itself tomorrow in the car. I do look forward to eating my Father's turkey...I think it may be worth the drive down, although the 8ish hours back to Edmonton is dificult to look forward too.

Anyways, Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Wish us luck (both for the drive, and with the Step-Mum...her best intentions will drive me insane).

Adventures on Edmonton Transit

So, a drawback to Ian's new job is that he requires the car, every day. That means that Mary and I are on our own to get around, both to Jonah's place, or anywhere else we may want to go. Now, it's not too bad, we are fairly close to a couple of major bus routes, so we can easily get downtown, and from there, anywhere in the city. The problem with the bus is that we don't live in a very nice neighbourhood, they call us "inner city." The neighbourhood that the bus goes through after leaving here is even worse. Many of the people who get on the bus smell of alcohol and stale urine, and often they try to get away without paying, which leads to yelling matches with the bus driver. Yesterday was absolutely fascinating (in an extremely unpleasant way). The first bit of fun was trying to get on the bus with Mary in her stroller. The bus driver sat there as I struggled to lift her and the stroller up the stairs. A fellow passenger finally took pity on me and helped us up the stairs. We found our seat, and at the next stop, a very smelly gentleman (honestly, he reeked like a polecat) stumbled onto the bus, and mumbled incoherently at the bus driver. The bus driver immediately started bellowing at the gentleman about no free rides, and told him to get off. This lasted for about 5 minutes. The stinky fellow finally got off when a couple of passengers also got up and told him to get off the bus, apparently he does this several times a day. Things were quiet for the next couple of stops, but that didnt last. The next character to get on the bus was a young...er...harlot. It always amazes me that those girls start working so early in the day, it was only about 2 in the afternoon. She was obviously as high as a kite, and dressed in a most provocative (and unattractive) manner. She was loud and foul mouthed, but thankfully she got off at the next stop, less than two blocks down the street. I guess it's hard to walk while wearing six inch heels. We proceded on through Chinatown, where a gaggle of old asian folk got on the bus, jabbered at Mary, and got off a couple of stops later. We finally got downtown, and another young woman got on the bus, struggling with a stroller. This time a passenger quickly went to help her, and admire her baby. Except it wasn't a baby. It was a stuffed lamb, all wrapped up and cozy in the stroller. The girl even adjusted the top of the stroller so that the sun didn't get in her lambs eyes. How strange. We finally made it through downtown, and by this point the bus was running quite late. So, the driver decided to drive like a maniac. He sped through the streets, and cut people off. We finally got to my stop, and once again the bus driver sat there as I struggled to get Mary off the bus without tossing her on the cement. I can't say that I blame him for being a crochety jerk though, he has to deal with oddballs and polecats all day long.

So, the music store HMV has had a human rights violation filed against them. Some woman in Ontario filed a grievance against them because they sell Gangsta' Rap. People can be so stupid sometimes.

Anyways, Mary just started being a shrieking monster all of a sudden, so I should probably shove a bottle in her or something.

No More Secrets

Yay! I can finally spill the beans. So, the other day I mentioned something happy that was going on in our world, and now I can say what it is. Ian quit his job! Huzzah! I cannot express how happy I am that he will no longer be working in that hell hole. He has a job working in construction that pays much much better too. In fact, at his new job, he will be paid for every hour he works. No more last day of the month inventory till midnight...which means that he will be able to be with me and Mary on Halloween, and even better, on her birthday! No more working every single Saturday. No more phone calls on his days off, or when he gets home from work. No more babysitting a pack of surly, immature, lazy assholes. When he comes home from work, that's it, he doesn't need to worry about it till he goes back the next day, and on Fridays, he doesn't need to worry about it till Monday. We can do things together, we can spend weekends together. Oh! And no more Stu! The best part is that he is happy. Even before this new job was in the bag, just the idea of leaving that awful place made him happier. This new job of Ian's also takes a lot of stress off me. It is no longer very important that I find a well paying job. We won't have to put Mary into day care now, if I get a job, it will be very easy for me to work around his hours (7am-5pm, Monday to Friday). So there you have it, happy happy news in our little house. Even the cats are happier (although I suspect it has more to do with the interlopers in the basement finally being gone).

Music lessons went well today. Mary is awfully funny when we go, she has no interest in me at all, she just crawls around to say hello to everyone, and then she and her posse hang out for the rest of the time. She has two little homegirls that she likes to play with, they are both around the same age as her, and they are so cute. One of them likes to give Mary kisses all the time. Now that Ian doesn't work Saturdays, he can come and check it out, and possibly take a picture or two.