Ten on Tuesday

I am Canadian so these questions are not really going to work for me but I will alter them to fit into the Canadian version or July 4th - July 1st, Canada Day.

1. What do you traditionally do for 4th of July? July 1 is Canada Day
When I was a kid we used to, for some reason I find quite odd now, go and have a big picnic in a park in Washington State...  weird, we left Canada on Canada Day.  Now, my family and I attend a community gathering at a local park, and then have a BBQ and watch the fire works.

2. Did you follow your tradition this year? How did you celebrate yesterday? Yesterday I hung around the house while CH painted the kitchen, but on Canada Day...
the Little Man was away for the weekend so CH and I took Penelope and my nephew went to Beaver Creek park for some birthday cake.  CH developed a migraine and was down for the count so I took the kids and we went to a birthday party for one of CH's cousins. Later Penelope, CH and I went and watched the fire works. A little different than usual, but I had a nice time.

3. What’s the best fireworks show you've ever seen?
Surely and I used to attend the Symphony of Fire in Vancouver when I lived there.  It was so amazing to be on the beach at night with thousands of people who were hardly speaking as they listened to the radio through their headphones and watched the amazing display. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. We always loved it thoroughly.

4. Have you ever been injured by a firecracker?
No. And I don’t plan on it! I am very cautious by nature.

5. Burger, Brat, or Hot Dog?
I don’t eat tubed meat. So my answer is obviously burger but having said that, I am fussy and it is complicated.  I have food fobias...

6. Do you sport red, white and blue on our Independence Day? We are red and white in Canada.
I don't but I usually, but I do dress my kids (at the very least Penelope) in something colour appropriate.  I slacked off this year as the Little Man was away and Penelope looks nice is pink...

7. If you had to be from any country other than the USA Canada, what country would it be? 
I have been anywhere besides the USA and Italy.  I would not, could not (sorry) move south of the border but might consider Italy if I could find a reasonably priced place to live.  It is an amazing place but I would have to investigate their health care and school systems.  I would not move to the USA as it does not offer much positive change from Canada other than more (and cheaper) shopping. (Again, not meant as an offence, but I am a Michael Moore fan and watch way too much TV).

8. Charcoal or gas?
Gas - it is just so easy. But I also like a steak cooked over a camp fire.  VERY tasty.

9. What’s your favorite thing about this fair country of ours?
I am a positive person so “favorite” things aren’t easy for me to answer - there are always too many of them! Canada is beautiful and vast in climate and culture.  Canada's people are known throughout the world as being passive, polite, friendly, kind and considerate. I love that I have freedom of speech, health care based on my income, a high standard of living even at my modest income level.  I love that I do not worry about crime and that it is not because I am in denial but because we have a low crime rate. I love that my children get a good education that is paid for and that mother's can collect unemployment benefits for a year after their child is born. I think that my absolute favorite thing is that this is my home and I am so very proud to be Canadian.

10. God Bless the USA, My Country Tis of Thee, or the Star Spangled Banner? Oh Canada or God Save the Queen
I do not prefer one over the other as they are both a tribute to things (a place or a person) whom I love very very much.

I hope I did okay with these answers....  kind of tricky....

:o)  Tina

Ten on Tuesday

Crap, I need to make this quick I almost *forgot* and I have to get some sewing done for my Mum for a wedding dress she is making and she wants it tomorrow! Yikes!!

1. What’s the recipe for your favorite drink? (Smoothie, alcoholic, coffee, whatever.)Boiling water.  Tetley tea bag. Teaspoon of sugar and a spot of milk.  Perfection. Seriously.

2. What kind of razor do you use?Whatever that cheap men's one is that my husband and his sensitive skin have discarded for his expensive brand.  My legs do not have sensitive skin.  They are like tree trunks, leading to the nasty roots which are my feet (a WHOLE other story!)

3. Who is your favorite Sesame Street character?I always liked the Doodle Bugs in Ernie's window box.  I love the idea even as a child of a secret place.

4. What makes the perfect salad? (Lettuce type, toppings, dressing, etc.)Cheese.  Evil, waste line expanding cheese.  I do not even care (really) what kind - I prefer feta or cheddar.

5. What was your favorite subject in school?
I loved school.  In elementary school it was probably Socials Studies.  In high school it was lunch!

6. What’s your favorite summer tradition?
We never really had any summer traditions other than just being together.  I loved and still love the family part of summer.

7. Do you suffer from season allergies? How do you combat them? Nope.  Not even a little bit.  Thank Goodness.

8. How often do you have to charge your cell phone? Every night - it is an iphone and doesn't hold its charge very well with the millions of things I do with it in a day.

9. Do you have a bucket list? No I don’t but it is something I have thought about working on. Maybe not a bucket list because I am immortal after all, but a list of things I would like to do before I get too old to be able to really enjoy doing them.

10. Do you have any desire to go back to school?Like, back to high school.  YA!  I loved high school!  Back to college/university, yes, but not right now.  There are lots of things I would like to learn and like to be able to do.

Okay.  Bye for now.  I gotta go sew or my Mum is going to kill me!!!

:o)  Tina

Ten on Tuesday

I am so tired. I have been buring the midnight oil lately and cannot seem to drag myself to bed before 1 am and I have to get up at 7:30 so sometimes that is a bit of a challenge. I have been working on samples and getting projects done for the shop. I cannot sew fast enough to keep up with the ideas I have!

The sun is shining here today - it kind of seems like forever since we had a nice day. It is usually really hot in this part of the world by now, but not this year. I remember when I was a kid, before there was AC everywhere, back in the days when we drank from the hose, being so hot during the last couple of weeks of school that I could barely hold my pencil cause my hands were so sweaty. Childhood summers where the best...

Okay so on with the list.  I am writing this last - as an after thought- I am a perfectionist.  It was extremely difficult for me to answer these questions as in my mind, perfect is VERY very hard to achieve.  Enjoy. :o)

1. What’s the perfect meal?
As previously mentioned, I love to eat so food is not the issue it is more the company I eat with that makes a meal perfect. I love big get togethers or family dinners when everyone is there.

2. What are the perfect pair of shoes?
I once had a pair of Nine West Cloud Nine wedge sangles that where magnicifant. Like walking with matteresses on your feel. I loved those shoes so much and wore them until they were really, really beat up. The best shoes ever.

This is kind of a loaded question today as I was just at the doctor about my feet and she said that I had to get better shoes so my feet will not hurt so much so often.  In the morning, I have to hold onto the wall to get down the stairs before they "warm up" and are okay to walk on... onto eBay I go... poor me, having to buy new shoes!

3. What is the perfect afternoon?
A beautiful day at the beach with my family. Or a day when my house is nice and clean with my family all doing their own thing (me sewing and watching HGTV with Tetley), I especially love this when it is snowy or rainy.

4. What’s the perfect house?
Big open kitchen with a table to eat and an Aga, lots of spacious bedrooms with attached baths so that everyone can have their I started to write all of these material things about a house and then it occurred to me.  The perfect house is a home.  My home.  Where everything is always okay, tears are rarely shed, and love is given freely; where I always feel safe and comfortable and most of the time, at the very least, content.

Our home.  Dominic's first day of Kindergarten September 2007.

5. What is the perfect outfit?

I do not really know the answer to this question (see below and above).  I love comfy clothes for home and would love to look fabulous in cute vintage styled dresses - alas I do not, therefore my perfect outfit eludes me.

I love these little waisted big skirt dresses that SO DO NOT suit my body type. Sigh...

6. What’s the perfect wedding song?
I am so black and white.  Answering questions about perfection is very difficult for me.  I am a perfectionist and if I do not have an immediate answer then I think it is because I do not know the perfect answer...  the first thing that comes to mind is "I Knew I Loved You" by Savage Garden.  I have a cousin who got married a short while after I did (the first time) and that was their wedding song and I can still remember that so it must have been a be good choice. :o)  I love you Tegan! xo

7. What is the perfect job?
My job would be perfect if I made more money doing it!  I do not expect to be rich but not having to worry would be nice.  It is the perfect mix of business/family/creative and allows for growth in any way I choose to grow and the freedom to be there for my kids at the drop of a pin.

8. What’s the perfect hairstyle?
I am not much into hair.  Right this minute I am wearing a ponytail with my sunglasses as a headband to keep the fly aways in.  I have had the same long straight (although as I age it is becoming less than straight) hair since I was about 16 (22 years people!!).  The only change has been the length of my bangs (and the colour - it was once blonde as gets darker every year).  They have been long for a long time but when I was young and adventurousness I had them long then short then long then short (you get the idea).  In high school they were short, curled, back-combed and hair sprayed like crazy on the weekends. So the perfect hair style - illusive. :o)

9. What’s the perfect music festival?
I have not been to a music festival in years.  I went to the original Lilth Fair a two of the three times it happened ( I was in Italy for the first one and it was fabulous!!) and really loved that - but it was more about having fun with my friends than anything else.

10. What’s the perfect day to yourself?
I honestly don't know.  I can't imagine it and when I am home alone for a couple of hours I feel lonely and I want my kids to come home...  wow heh?  I am such a sap!

Happy Tuesday.  I hope the sun is shining for you, wherever you are.

:o)  Tina

Ten on Tuesday

Happy Tuesday!  Hopefully the weather is nicer where you are than it was here today...rain, rain, rain.  Hopefully someone, somewhere around this town is building an arc cause I am way too busy.  I might drowned but at least I know the human race will be saved.

1. How do you pronounce the word aunt? Does your pronunciation rhyme with ‘haunt’ or ‘can’t'?
I suppose, can'tie.  :o)

2. Do most of the people in your life know you blog? Or are you partially or totally anonymous?
A few people know but only those who I feel comfortable enough with that they already know that I am a little nuts.  I want people to read it but I feel shy about letting them know it is there to read.  Silly, I know.

3. When you grocery shop, do you prefer to bag your own groceries or do you like it when the store bags them for you? Paper, plastic, or reusable bags?
I want the store to bag them for me.  I find it rude when they don't and I try not to shop at the store that doesn't. I like to use my own bags whenever I can as we have hundreds of the suckers already and really only use them for dog poop and other icky things.

4. Do you have a green thumb?

I think so, but it is very out of practice.  I use to be all about the garden, I have had indoor and outdoor plants since I was 20 and have tried all kinds of crazy thing.  I tried grafting a fruit tree once and successfully propagated roses with rooting hormone. Now it is all I can do to keep the house plants looking good - it is the shop and the kids not a lack of interest that keeps me out of the garden.

5. If you watch the Food Network, which chef/show host is your favorite?

Never watched it - and wouldn't cause I am pretty sure it would just make me hungry...

6. Do you like to take baths? Do you take them very often?

Yes I do, almost every Sunday.  Every other day of the week I am busy and rushing (i.e. showering, no time for a bath) but Sunday I can relax.  If I had a hot tub I would do that instead, but I don't, so it will have to do for now.

7. What color are the walls in your kitchen?

Beige, tan, suede.  A mellow colour... well they will be soon.  Right now they are (bleck) white.

8. Do you prefer to dine outdoors or indoors?

Indoors for sure.  I am not a big fan of eating outside unless it is civilized (i.e. my parents' patio or a nice outdoor restaurant) but even then, one bug and I am turned off and want to go in.

9. Describe your ideal weather.

Warm but not hot - around 25.  I love the Spring and the Autumn here in the Kootenays because that is the weather I get.  I am not sure which I like better, probably the Spring because everything is coming alive rather than dying or going to sleep like in the Autumn.  Summer is too stinking hot and Winter is too icy - I don't mind the snow but I could live without the slip!

10. If you could learn any foreign language, which would you choose to learn?

Italian.  Hands down. I know a few words and I know a few people who speak it more fluently than English.  I went to Italy in 1997 and would love to go back and be fluent.

Today is still Monday to me, I am just heading to bed.  I took some belly pictures of PITA today and the Little Man snuck in. Pretty stinkin' cute.  They have the same green eyes and are pretty close to the same height and almost 20 years apart (I think he has bigger feet).  My baby and my niece - aren't they so stinkin' cute?

:o) Tina

Ten on Tuesday

I think I have mentioned this before.  I love doing these things.  When I was a kid (grade 7ish) I wrote reports - for fun.  I love to write, I just need to be given a topic so answering these questions is pefect.  Sometimes I find that I would write and write and write...  Well anyway, here is this week's Ten on Tuesday, enjoy.  :o)

1. What type of phone do you have? Do you like it?

I have an iPhone 4 and I don't like it.  I freakin' LOVE it!  It is, next to my sewing machine and my Barbie motor home my favorite toy ever!  I can talk on it, text with it, BLOG with it, serf the internet, email, take pretty good pictures, there are lots of fun and useful apps...  I really love it.

2. How old were you when you got your first cell phone?
I think I was 25, I might have been 26.  (I am 38 (OMG as if I am 38) now.  Wow that just hit me.  When did I turn 38!!!!! Yikes!) I was on my way to my Grandmother's house from downtown Vancouver in a snow storm.  It took me three hours when in good traffic I could get there in 25 minutes.  When I got there everyone was worried, I called home and Dave (the x-husband) finally agreed that I should have a cell phone.  Back then not every single person over the age of 13 had one.  Most of my friends did not.

3. How many cell phones have you owned since your first?

This is the my first phone.  :o)

My first one was a little Motorola flip phone, and I was so proud of it.  I had it until I moved home from North Van (September 2001) and there was sketchy service where I was moving to so we no longer had cell phones.  I did not have one again until about 2006 and I got a pink one that was free with my plan.  I had two more pink ones and now my beloved iPhone. I  have had 5 - CH has had like 10 starting with a brick. 

4. How much is your average monthly phone bill?

$75 plus taxes and usage fees, etc. So worth it. 

5. When you were a kid/teenager, were you allowed to have a phone in your room?

Umm no!  Remember how old I am?  We did not do that around here then.  Nobody had a phone or a t.v. in their room. Believe it or not I do not feel damaged from it.  My Mum used to set the timer on the microwave to limit the amount of time I could stay on the phone. We did not have call waiting as it was not available then and she claimed that people from work called my Dad for stuff - I do not remember anyone calling.... I really loved talking on the phone - I think it is a right of passage for every teenaged girl.

6. Do you like talking on the phone or do you despise it? Or somewhere in-between?

Depends who I am talking to. My Mum, PITA, Grandpa, or my other friends - yes, mostly.  CH, not so much.  He is usually phoning for something (i.e. he needs me to answer a question, solve a problem, or do something for him) and he does not have much to say beyond that - he a crappy phone talker, which is not a problem now but was a little bit when he worked on the road.

7. Do you text a lot? Is texting/talking while driving illegal where you live? Are you guilty of it anyway?
I do a lot of texting.  I don't do it when I am driving.  It is illegal where I live but that is not why I don't do it.  I just do not have the coordination it would take to do both and 99/100 I have my kids with me and it is SO not worth the risk.

8. What sort of texting keyboard does your phone have? Touch screen, slide out, or something different? Do you care?

I have touch screen and I am pretty sure I could not go back to keys. The texting was a big part of why I wanted the phone in the first place.  Did I mention I love it!

9. Look at the last call in your call log – who is it? What were they calling about? Who calls you the most?

It was CH.  No surprise there we have free calling to each other so make good use of it.  I do not remember why he was calling, I think maybe to find out if I like purple freezies cause they were out of white ones.

10. What is the longest phone call you can recall having?

I think it was just under 8 hours.  Multiple phones were required.  I was walking to my high school and 20-something best friend about 2 years ago...It was crazy, I cannot imagine what her bill was like since I live in Canada and she lives in London England!  Haven't talked to Surely since as a matter of fact....

Ten on Tuesday

Wow, just squeaked this one in my the skin on my teeth!

1. From your childhood, what do you miss most about summer vacation?
This one is easy.  My Grandma.  We used to go out to her place at the Lake and stay for the whole summer from when school got out to when it started up again.  We ate cereal out of plastic cups out in the yard in the morning and spent the entire day at the beach .  It was magical.

2. Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer?
I am going to Vancouver to see my family - Sports Day 2011!!!

3. What foods do you like to barbecue?
Yummy.  Steak and Salmon.  Ooo and I make wicked potatoes in foil.

4. How do you celebrate the fourth of July?
I am Canadian.  We celebrate on the 1st!  Usually we go out to a park near by and enjoy music and cake and a small craft fair and the have a BBQ and watch the fire works.  This year though, we are going to a 40th birthday party for one of CH's cousins.

5. What’s your favorite beverage to drink in the summertime?
Hands down, Pepsi Slurpee from 7 Eleven. I have also been known to sip a Grower's Nectarine Cider or two...

6. What movie are you looking forward to seeing this summer?
Water for Elephants - I am a little behind the times. :o)

7. In the car: windows down or AC?
Totally mood dependant. If I am alone or with one of my girlfriends (especially on a road trip) and have the music cranked - windows down.  If I am with my family - AC.

8. Have you ever had a summer fling?
Married him. :o)  I think all the important relationships I have ever had with the opposite sex began in the summer but he is the one worth remembering.

9. Do you wear sunscreen?
I really do not have a choice.  I burn BAD.

10. Do you have any favorite summertime activities?
Swimming.  LOVE LOVE LOVE the water.  I am pieces.

Wow - fast answers.  Pewf, made it in before midnight!

:o)  Tina

Be Yourself, Ten on Tuesday

So I am walking to work this morning and thinking about an online course I am taking and the password - Be Yourself.  Two rather insignificant words alone but together they have so much meaning.  To "be yourself" is much more difficult than you would think. I think back on the last 15 years of my life and how much has changed - how much I have changed - and wonder if 10 years ago I was even close to being myself.  I suppose I was one form of myself, I believe that I was the self that I thought everyone would love, and think was funny, and want to hang out with. I believe that now I am feel more free and confident, now that I can be myself.  Is this the wisdom that comes with age?

Today is Tuesday.  The questions for this week are supposed to be in photos so you will have to bare with me.  I was not going to do it as it seems too personal and like way too much work for my no photographing self... not to mention that my house always looks like a hurricane has gone through it and left the contents of a Toys R' Us store in my living room... BUT in keeping with the spirit of being myself, what choice do I have?  So here, for your viewing pleasure is my disastrous home!

1. Your favorite piece of furniture in your home.

I have a smallish house and two pianos - and don't know how to play, but really want my kids to learn! PITA says that CH plays like an angel but I have only heard him once and it was from memory. I would love to come home to him playing the piano almost as much as I always hope that he is learning to play the guitar in secret as a surprise for me.  This particular piano is about 150 years old, I bought it from my parents' neighbor for less than it cost me to have it delivered! This picture is from Christmas 2009 - when (sigh) we only had one piano (there is a quilt on the bench).

2. Your favorite thing on your wall.

John William Waterhouse, Miranda the Tempest. I have an oil reproduction of this that was bought for me as a gift several years ago on Denman Street in Vancouver. I love John Waterhouse (and of course Botticelli!).

3. Your bed as it looks right now.

So when I got home from the Sugar Shack Quilting, this is how I found my bed. With a nine year old in it! The Little Man had been home sick (I suspect it may have been a ruse) all day and made himself more than comfy in our bed to watch T.V. Sweet little person than he is.

Take note of that fact that our bed is only a double bed.  It usually contains not so little me, not so little CH, Pierre (the small dog), at least one cat, and in spurts Penelope. It is rare to find Dominic in there for any reason other than the above.  :o)

4. Your pantry.


Last night when I was taking pictures of my bed and the disastrous playroom, I forgot entirely about this one.  I will try to remember tonight but we are going to a family BBQ at Grandpa's, so no promises.

Up Date:  I had a great time at the BBQ, I did not remember the picture last night but did this morning.  In the spirit of honesty and, again, being myself - here it is!

5. Your favorite piece of jewelry.

My Mum was always kind of weird about her wedding ring and I guess I am too. For me it is more than just a ring, it is a symbol representative of so much that is important to me.  It represents the unending circle of the love that I feel for CH and not only that but the unbroken commitment and devotion that we have to each other and the life that we have created together.  It is a reminder, that I wear on my finger all day everyday, to be grateful for the blessings that I have been given.

6. Your favorite book.

I read a lot and do not really have a favorite. It seems that every book I read feels like the best book I ever read, unless it isn't.  I have read some really crappy ones in the last couple of years and some that I thought were mediocre and turned out to really stick with me.  If I had to pick one, I would probably go with The Shack.  If you have not read it, even if you are not a reader, you should.  The Shack and The Secret were both life altering books for me, changing they way I thought and the way I looked at things in a positive way.

7. Your most comfortable shirt.

I don't think I have a most comfortable shirt - all of my clothes are pretty comfy. Since becoming a mother I tend to go for comfort over style... my bad, I know but I am a busy woman and I need to be comfortable and be able to move around to get things done. I am not quite a candidate for What Not to Wear but close...

8. Your messiest room.

I am embarrassed to say that, yes, this is a room in my house. Well maybe I am not embarrassed - I am very busy working mother of two kids whose husband has a disability that prevents him from doing a lot in a day...anyway....

This is supposed to be the playroom but it is in fact the toy storage room. And by toy storage, I mean toy piling.  I bought shelves and bins and went online and made labels with the logos for the toys and had them so nice and organized before Thing 1 and Thing 2 came along and did their version of clean up on this sad little room.  Thing 1 (Penelope) and Thing 2 (surprise! it is CH, not the Little Man!) cannot list organization in their list of attributes - although they are two of my four most favorite people in the universe and I love them dearly.

One of the Little Man's friends said it looks like an episode of Hoarders... sadly he is right. I have one day off a week and I am not about to spend it organizing my kids clutter!

9. Your house shoes.

I am not much of a shoe person.  When I was in my 20s and I did not have the financial responsibilities that I have now (children!), I had a lot of shoes and none of them were from the Devil Store a.k.a. Wal-Mart!  I do not have the luxury of lots of shoes now, but the ones I do have are still not from the Devil Store.  Having said that, the closest thing I come to shoes in my house is slippers (made by my Mum) in the winter or plastic wrap and moisturizer in the summer (works great too by the way!).

10. Yourself.

I took this on my walk to work. I look like a cone head. I dislike pictures of me.  It is difficult to maintain the mental image of myself that I have when I am faced with the reality.  Not that I think I am ugly or anything drastic, but I used to be blonde, thin, and worst of all - young!

:o) Tina

Ten on Tuesday

1. If you could watch only one movie for the rest of your life, what would it be?

The Notebook. The Time Traveller's Wife. The Story of Us. Cold Mountain. Any sappy movie about true love that leaves me sobbing and feeling exhausted and breathless at the end.

Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana in The Time Traveler's Wife
~ one of the few movies I have watched that was as good as the book!

Um, I wish!

2. Let’s say someone wrote a screenplay about you; what actor/actress would you choose to play you and why?
I did not know so I asked CH and he said the little girl from Poltergeist, but when I told him she was dead he said Drew Barrymore is not dead.  I guess he meant ET.

3. What’s the first movie you remember seeing in theaters?
101 Dalmatians with my Mum, Dad, and my brother at the drive in in Surrey, and Bambi with my Grandad and my brother at the theater at Park Royal in West Vancouver.

4. Did you ever make out at the back of a movie theater in middle school/high school?
Yes Sir. I have always been a little boy crazy and not afraid of a little PG PDA.

5. Are you a Netflix-er, Blockbuster-er or a Redbox-er? (Or none of the above?)

None of the above. If our kids were not so addicted to cartoons and CH hockey, we might switch to Netflix. We are thinking about giving it a go just for the movies.

Michael Moore

6. Name one actor/actress who you would give anything to have a dinner date with.
Michael Moore. Hands down. he might not be the prettiest face in Hollywood but he would be infinitely interesting. I love the controversial documentaries that he has created and would love love love to talk to him. He narrates his films, so I am going to consider him an actor for my purposes. :o)

7. What’s the worst movie you’ve ever seen?
It is a toss up between Hannibal Rising and the Exorcist. Well, maybe they were not the worst but both of them scared the living crap out of me.

8. Do you sneak snacks into the theater when you go?
I almost never go to the movie theater but I would never even consider sneaking snacks in. Our theater is locally owned, I would feel like I was taking money out of their pockets.

9. Movie theater popcorn: love or hate it?
Love it! How could you not.

10. What is the all-time best Disney movie in your opinion?
Sleeping Beauty is up there for me as it is something I have watched a lot with Penelope. We sing the song and dance and kiss all the time. It is one of those memories that I cherish and will use to help me through the teenage years.