Weekend Activities and Thoughts

'cause I can't think in anything but point form:

1. Andrew took the whole weekend off. I picked him up at work on Friday night at 8pm. We missed an art opening because he was delayed, but that's ok. THIS IS THE FIRST WEEKEND HE HAS TAKEN OFF SINCE HE TOOK OVER THE BUSINESS AT THE FIRST OF MARCH!!!!!!

2. We had breakfast at Cora's on Saturday morning with Andrew's parents. Andrew's dad and I are of the same mind when it comes to sweet things: The more, the merrier. I've never known another guy to order and eat an entire waffle at Coras, except him.

3. This is for JAK: I bought a cold frame at LEE VALLEY!!!!! It's totally cool. You're going to be soooooo jealous. (Damn you for making me want to plant a garden!!!) Oh, and I bought two reference books: "Tomatoes love Carrots" and "Roses love Garlic" - it's about using companion gardening to deter pests! My inner environmentalist does not like pesticides.

4. Andrew and I cleaned our basement on Saturday afternoon. We've got two big piles of crap: The Big Pile of Yard Sale Crap, and The Big Pile of Crap To Go To The Studio. Once the crap is gone, we'll have a crap free basement!!!

Question for the knitters: Is it fair to charge $$ for a big nasty bag of Boa yarn? Should I put it in the yard sale to some unsuspecting sucker or should I dump it? I would burn it, but it would probably create its own hole in the ozone layer.

5. Andrew and I rented some intellectual entertainment last night. We got home and pulled our love seats together and made this little "cave" for ourselves. We piled on the blankets, I had my knitting, and we ate hummus and artichoke dip on pitas. Wanna know what we rented? The Kids In The Hall. I did Chicken Lady impressions all evening. She wasn't on the season we rented, but Cathy and Kathy were! Hee hee... It was the episode where they talked about "Tanya" sleeping her way to the middle.

6. We busted up our house:

a. One of the love seats was too close to the French door. I leaned over to put my glass on the table behind me and heard a crunch. The bottom corner pane broke. Whoops.

b. The kitchen sink stopped draining this afternoon. Andrew attacked it with: a plunger, the plumber's snake, a coat hanger and a stream of muttered expletives. It is now draining again. I got to clean up the nasty black sludge that came up the drain when the plunger was in use. Happy times.

7. We went over for dessert at Andrew's sister's house tonight. (Pumpkin spice cheesecake - mmmmmm....) Pippin was there with lots of smooches. I taught my youngest nephew, Ben, how to sing a different version of the Spiderm*n song. "Is he strong? No he's not, he's got radioactive snot...." I apologized to my SIL later in the evening when we could hear him practically yodelling it from upstairs. She vowed to teach similar songs to our offspring when the time comes.

8. Reasons I love having Andrew around:
a. He fixed the sink.
b. He put the rack on my bicycle.
c. He helped me organize the big nasty basement.
d. He drifted off while watching a movie this morning and did that little twitchy thing.
e. He toots and then exclaimes that we must have "barking spiders".
f. Lots of hugs.
g. He's watching Desperate Housewives while I'm typing in here and he's saying that the women aren't that pretty.
h. Lots of smooches.
i. His laugh.
j. He keeps me sane.



April 30th

Yesterday it was 8 years since my mom died. I can't believe it has been that long. When you lose someone close to you people try to tell you that it'll get easier. It's not always easy to be without them, but it does get easier to remember the good things about that last year with my mom. Like how her friends surrounded her and were with her whenever my dad or my brother or I needed a break. Like how people in our community that we never suspected would drop in did just that and left behind the nicest feelings. Like how she showed me how to make bread from scratch and her famous cream of broccoli soup that year. Like how we had serious talks about life and not so serious talks about life.

I have this photo of the two of us from that year. It's when she was in the midst of chemotherapy. It was taken on her 53rd birthday. She's as bald as an 8 ball and we're sitting on the couch. I've got my arm around her and she's smiling this "Isn't this ridiculous?" smile. One of her friends saw the photo in my room and protested it once. She thought my mom wouldn't have liked it. I lit into her and said that I did not see my mother as sick in that photo. My mother looks like a fighter in that photo. She was fighting to stay with her family. I think she looks more beautiful in that photo than any other I have of the two of us.

Happy 8 years in Heaven, Mom. Thanks for the sunsets.