Wind of Change

The future's in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change

- Scorpions

I remember how hot this song was the year I graduated from highschool (15 years ago). We swayed and sang out our lungs to the chorus on promnight, a bunch of 17 year olds on the cusp of life. And now I find myself standing on yet another precipice, singing this familiar tune...

Things my child has already taught me...

1) Taught me selflessness: i.e that my body is no longer mine but his to rule. From the beginning, the months and months of incessant nausea had me rethinking the totally inept phrase "morning sickness". When exactly was the morning gonna end? The next sign was a complete remission from my lifelong disease called Night-Owlitis. That's right, sleeping at 10pm became a ritual for the first time since I was 3. Then my appetite shrank to the size of a golf ball, replacing my large portions with measly little bites and making me lose 7 pounds in my first trimester. Who knew getting pregnant was the best diet I would ever follow. If I'd known, I would have gotten pregnant years ago! In fact, I've even been cured of my lifelong addiction to chocolate...no longer craving the stuff on an hourly basis, in fact not craving it at all (this is definately Pacino's kid!) My bladder also shrank to the size of a walnut, making trips to the washroom a full-time job. And now, between the heartburn and the Cirque du Soleil training camp inside me, it seems that my body is becoming less and less in my control. Of course all this is to prepare me for when I will be completely at the mercy of the little one...feeding him, changing him, bathing him, cradling him, carrying him, entertaining him...so THIS is what my body was meant to do all these years, what a magical revelation.

2) Taught me to be a sophisticate. After years, let me rephrase that, after decades of chugging down soda by the litre, I have grown an aversion to one of my favorite vices, and now I can only drink....Perrier, San Pellegrino and other bubbly waters that once grossed me out. Who new I could live without all that sugar?

3) Taught me that my body is beautiful. Since adulthood, I have struggled with my weight as well as my body image. I've always had confidence when it came to my abilities, intelligence, and personality, but I never accepted my body for what it was. I was always thinking how I'd love my body if only I was 10-20-30 pounds lighter. My intellectual self would tell my emotional self to go beyond the image thing and love and accept my body as it was, but for some reason by body wasn't listening. This lead me to totally disrespect my body for so many years, by eating a lot of crap, junk and portions that were way beyond normal. Of course I've only realized this since getting pregnant because it seems that the minute I was, my body automatically started craving good, healthy things and disliking all the junk I lived off for years. I honestly have to admit it was not even a conscious change. It was effortless, but it showed me the wrong of my ways. Now I respect my body. Although I'm pregnant and big, my body has proven it's strength and beauty, showing me it can create and sustain life, feeding it, cushioning it, protecting it. It is a vessel holding a great treasure, an oyster that carries the slowly forming pearl.

Blood Sugar Sex Magic

- Red Hot Chili Peppers

Are you ready for this people...in my last post, I was whining about baby-making timing, and now I sit before you with a certain glow, a bionic sense of smell, a thumpity-thump rhythm inside and a slightly nauseous feeling...

Life is definately ironic....

As I sat writing my complaints, a little embryo was making its way down to implant, because 2 weeks after I wrote my last post, on April 1st (yes April Fools on top of that), a little wet stick told me that baby is gonna make 3 (end of November according to doctor, December 2 according to my calculations).

The funny thing is that the day I wrote that plaintive post was after weeks of cumulative bad luck and crappy stuff happening culminating in my bad mood (throw in some budding hormones and presto!) We had just gone through a hellish 3 months. First Pacino's cat (who stayed at the family home with my in-laws) disappeared at Xmas never to return. Then my mother-in-law was feeling sick/crappy. Then my father-in-law was having serious excruciating pain in his leg, causing him to cry for hours a day. Next was weeks and weeks of doctors visits and med adjustments for my FIL (we were driving him to visits as he was in too much pain to drive). Then, my FIL gets into a car accident, car flips, he's physically fine and didn't hurt anyone else THANK GOD, but can't remember what happened just before (we think the mix meds made him zone out or maybe even fall asleep at the wheel!). Then he was in so much pain that we took him to emergency, and that same night, Pacino and I also got into a minor car accident....argh!!!!!!!!!!!! Never ending crap...and then this....a wonderful newsflash...we were so embroiled in our February month of misery that we weren't even thinking about getting pregnant, but the stork picked this moment to be our time. A week before my post, Pacino went down to Ottawa for work and I decided to tag along to see some customers as well, and well, we had a few nights of no doctors appointments and FIL stuff, good meals, good drinks, no housework (hotels are lovely!) = baby magic.

Here is the cool thing. About a week after my last post (one week before I found out I was pregnant), we had friends over for supper. Their younger daughter who's about 5 years old asked my how come I didn't have any kids. So I explained to her that I hadn't found a baby yet that was as sweet as her to pick as my child, she just nodded and said, oh-OK. Then as they were leaving a few hours later and we were saying our goodbyes at the door, the little girl hugged my stomach and kissed it, and when her mom asked her what she was doing, she said she was saying goodbye to the baby...................how freaky is that...like she knew. A few weeks ago, we were at their place and I tell her the news that I am pregnant and that she was the first to predict it. Then i asked her if she knew if it was a boy or girl and she's like...it's a boy, for sure...

It has definately been an emotional few weeks.

I know traditionally the news is not spread in the first 3 months due to miscarriage concerns, but I had no choice to spread it from the moment I found out. Since I work with chemicals all day (and can't continue doing so while pregnant), all the company employees, my clients, everybody knows. And I gotta tell you, the joy that lights people's eyes when I tell them is precious. It makes me feel great that everyone is so happy about the little one, a.k.a. Shrimp (long story, involving greek waitress at a mother's day supper)

We just had the first sonogram, and all I can say is WOW! It was life altering experience for both me and Pacino. In my head I kept thinking it's the size of a grain of rice...but there is was on the screen, the profile of a little baby, with a distinct forehead, nose, mouth, arms.....a strong beating heart....miracle. My grandma looked at the pics of the ultrasound and declared...Oh, it's gonna be a boy, I can tell from the nose, it looks like Pacino...we'll see I guess.

So far, 2 votes say boy, what's your guess?

Ch-Ch-Changes

Time may change me
But I can't trace time

- David Bowie

What is going on, I’m asking myself.

Seems like getting preggers is a lot more complicated than we thought it was gonna be. My plan was to stop taking the pill, wait a couple of months to flush any residual hormones out of my bloodstream, and then go at it like a couple of rabbits in heat... and presto...baby rabbit would come out of the magician’s hat....Wrong!

It’s been a year now that I am officially off my trusty pills. A lot of women hate the pill for all the terrible things it does to them, but not me. Although I was really against taking hormones when I first started considering it, once I started taking them I was hooked. Low and behold, I had regular periods, no searing abdominal cramps, no heavy bleeding like the Hoover Dam just blew up, no pesky mood swings and no side effects!

Since getting off the pill, I go into murderous rages if my husband doesn’t put away the dishes, and I feel more tired, and the icing on the cake is that I have developed a severe case of adult onset acne. As a teenager I had the occasional blackhead but nothing to write home about, then I hit my 20's and I had some light acne, but it was manageable-you know, the occasional zit on the chin, a little blemish on my forehead, nothing that a little powder couldn’t cover. BUT NOW holy shit, they are throbbing, pulsating, juicy, cystic, red volcanic craters that are erupting all over my face. I am now using an entire arsenal of cosmetics and other products to prevent, treat, and mask what would otherwise be described as my entire face, using up a precious ½ hour in the mornings to look presentable in public. Did I just turn 31 or 13, I have anywhere form 15-20 of them crowding my jawline, cheeks and chin. Pro-Activ is useless, as are all types of expensive products I’ve been experimenting with, and now to make matters worse, my skin is so dry that it is flaking off like scales. That’s right, you heard me right, dry flaky skin with acne erupting through the zits. What I don’t understand is that I get these flare-ups mostly around the time that I am ovulating, whereas my skin calms down and looks normal again during my period. You’d think that 5 zillion years of evolution would ensure that my skin would clear up during ovulation making me attractive enough to mate with, while it would break-out during periods to ward off the opposite sex during that non-fertile time. But nooooo, like everything else about my life, things have to work the opposite way for me, I should have guessed.

Apart from all this, and the fact that I’m back to irregular periods so I can never tell the exact dates of ovulation, it seems that every month, just about the same time that we should be preparing the batter for the buns to go in the oven, there is always something that delays the batter-making. One month he’s sick like a dog, the next month it’s me that’s sick. One month he is out of town on business. Another month we have my entire family sleeping over due to renovations at their place. One month we’re out of town sharing a hotel room with my in-laws. Then we’re back to getting the flu again, and another trip out of town, etc, etc. The timing is just not happening.

Here’s a statistic I just read: At any given month, when a couple has sex during ovulation, there is a 20% chance to get pregnant. That’s it? How come everytime I put on the TV, there is some stupid Maury Povich type show where these women do paternity tests and find out they got pregnant with some guy they had sex with once...hello! On one hand, all my friends who recently had babies are telling me how much time it took them to get pregnant, due to stress and stuff, and they had to go away on vacation to get the deed done...something I cannot afford right now due to ongoing renovations in our home.... On the other hand, I have a few other friends that got pregnant the first month or that had accidents like getting drunk one night or having a condom break.

Life is funny, that some women walk by a man and get pregnant while it has to become a full-time job for others. I’m not in full panic mode yet (haven't bought any weird naturopathic herbs or pharmacy ovulation kits yet), since our timing has been so lousy I can’t start blaming it on our bodies, but part of me can’t help but think...am I too old? I’m 31 for crying out loud, but each month that passes is one less egg in the sack, and the quality is gonna start running towards Kmart rather than Holts if you know what I mean. Being young at heart it seems has no importance to your eggs. I know I’m exaggerating, but I can’t help it. Every month, I find myself counting the days since my last period and hoping that I get morning sickness. Twice I was sure I was pregnant cause my period was way off, but 6 pee-tests and one blood test later I found out that my Aunt Flo likes to fuck with my mind. All those years of working in a fertility center have got me paranoid that I’ll be going down that road myself....that dreadful road where my husband would be ushered into the masturbatorium (yes, that’s what it’s called) while I await in a sterile room with stark neons lighting up my hooch for all to probe and implant....Ok, so I’m getting way ahead of myself.

You know, it’s not that I’m obsessed with having a baby right now, I've never been the cooing and fawning baby stalker type. It’s just that the timing is perfect in our lives. We’re finally settled with the house, and jobs, and lives. It’s time. Planning and timing in my life have always been important especially with a family business in which my father will wait for my baby-making years to end to retire..poor man. Now I’m starting to get scared that I’m running out of time. I always lived my life in a nonchalant way, always thinking I’m still young, there’s plenty of time. I’m used to being in control of my life, making my own decisions. And now, it seems that I am at the mercy of my body...Completely clueless as to its agenda or intentions, I just have to wait and be patient and take my prenatal pills....

Bandwagon

- REM

They call this the bandwagon since everyone is doing it...who am I to be the black sheep. Here it is:

Four jobs I’ve had

1. Running a business - er , meaning a family business, alongside my parents and sister. Doing everything from formulating (In true mad scientist fashion) to filing, answering phones, accounting, collections, garbage removal, production, shipping and receiving, and on and on.
2. Hospital clerical work. Working as a clerk in the ER, and admissions. You think Stories from the ER are interesting, wait till you hear Stories from the WR (waiting room), they're even funnier sometimes as we got to stare (through bulletproof glass) at the suffering masses while they waited patiently and not so patiently to be seen by our wonderful healthcare system. That's why them call them patients, get it, you gotta be patient...groan, I know.
3. Office assistant in a fertility clinic organizing everything from surgery to artificial insemination, sometimes being a shoulder to cry on and certainly with a lot of interesting anecdotes that would fill up an entire blog.
4. Manager of the tea house in my childhood bedroom, where every stuffed animal within a square km thought it was THE place to be for tea.

Four movies I could watch over and over

1. Lord of the Rings

2. My Cousin Vinnie

3. Sound of Music & Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews rules!)

4. Spaceballs...long live Dark Helmut.

Four places I’ve lived (Not always officially, but spent enough time there that it felt like it):

1. My parents home where I grew up: Where I learned that there is an adventure to be had in every little corner of the world, all one needs to do is look for it. Where we were encouraged to imagine, to create, to be anyone, anywhere as we explored. It’s also where each step creaked if you stepped in the right spot, where the best place to hide was in the linen closet or the cedar closet beneath the staircase, and where we played endlessly in the backyard, climbing one of the many trees, or building obstacle courses or burying Barbie dolls in pretend funerals...(we never did find that one doll that we buried,,,,maybe a hundred years from now, they’ll find it in excavation and be puzzled at her proportions.)

2. My grandparents home: Where I learned that love equals food. Where the tea is always perfect. Where music is the standard and can be heard, played or sung round the clock. Where a deck of cards can be the beginning of an awesome evening. And where I learned that decorating your home is not about making things match and look harmonious with eachother like they do in boring (no personality) magazine covers, but instead it’s about surrounding yourself with things that you love, and things that bring a smile on your face regardless of the fact that it doesn’t fit in with your overall décor...true eclectic

3. My in-laws home: Where kisses and hugs are the currency. Where I learned organization and promptness (something I never learned at home), where I learned that parents depend on their kids as much as kids depend on parents, and where I learned how my husband’s mind ticks and why.

4. My home, where I learned that a new coat of paint can refresh your point of view. Where I learned that I am a strong, capable woman and that I can do anything (paint, sand, patch, build sub-floors and then floors, drill holes and put up furniture, patch pool tarps, put up lights...). Where I learned that it’s OK to have a party 2 weeks after you’ve moved it and your house is still upside down in boxes and you haven’t painted yet or anything, and that your friends will still have a grand old time. Where I learned that the sunlight streaming through your windows and making your plants grow can put a smile on your face. Where I learned that regardless of the renovation mess and the unfamiliarity of a place when we first moved in, it was home because it was our mess - bought and paid for by us, and also because Pacino was with me.

Four TV shows I love

1. British sitcoms on the BBC (My Family and Keeping Up Appearances)

2. Amazing Race

3. American Idol

4. Old sitcoms (Happy Days, Three’s Company, Gilligan’s Island, Golden Girls, Fresh Prince, Cosby Show, etc.)

Four places I've been on vacation

1. Backpacking through Europe (10 weeks, 13 countries, 31 cities)

2. Bali, Indonesia (on honeymoon)

3.USA: Boston, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon (Arizona), Washington DC, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Nashville, L.A., Hawaii, Alaksa (1-hour layover -not really a vacation but...)
4. Australia (can’t remember much though, I was a mere 2 ½ years old!)

Four Favorite Foods

1. Anything with cheese (ah heck, anything with dairy)

2. Anything with chocolate

3. Salad (with the works including olives) with a baguette

4. Haut surlonge (which is french for the yummiest sirloin cut!)

Four places I'd rather be:

1. In bed

2. On a beach taking a nap, reading a book, swimming, snorkeling or sailing.

3. On top of a mountain on a crisp, bright winter morning with full ski gear on.

4. In front of a roaring fire, with a cup of hot chocolate (or glass of wine), some pistachios, and my honey.

Four CDs / MP3's I listened to most recently

1. System of a Down - Mesmerize

2. DobaCaracol- Soley

3. Four Women: The Nina Simone Philips Recordings

4. Queen Greatest Hits

Last four vehicles I’ve owned

1. VW Jetta 2000 - Dark Green, leather, mags, the works...in dire need of a cleaning.

2. Toyota Corolla 1990 Special Edition - (actually it was Mamina’s and I slammed it into a telephone poll (which consequently broke in half and fell onto my car), on a slippery one-way farm road when I lost control of my car in April 2000.
3. BMW - Bus/Metro/Walk - a favorite of students - ah, the lovely public transportation system.
4. A cool blue low-rider bike that was a hand-me-down from my cousin, with a black leather banana seat with a metal handle in the back that made me feel like I was driving a Harley when I was 9. Oh yeah, and it had a bell/ringer-thingy with a Canadian flag on it...

Untitled

Oops,

I wrote the following 3 weeks ago, but it never got posted...a little irrelevant now (although I predicted Martin's loss) but what the heck, read below.

PROMISE OF A NEW DAY

- Paula Abdul

Pacino is out of town this week. He took off on Saturday for a business trip to the capital (what most of you taxpayers would probably consider a big waste of our hard-earned money) but which Ottawa considers money well spent...ah well, at least it seems he’s working hard, starting at 8:00 am and ending around 11:00 at night. So, for the first time since like 1998, we’ll be apart for more than a week. I know this is gonna hurt his ego, but although I miss him at night - our usual supper-time conversations, mooshing together on the sofa and for other obvious reasons - I’m not really pining over him. Although I’m generally not one to pine (especially considering he’s only an hour and a half away, and not in Kuala Lumpur), things are so busy at work and at home trying to bring the house into some semblance of order after the whole holiday extravaganza (where you shove everything in one room in a heap of wrapping paper/credit car bills/exercise equipment/clothes/skates) clutter that you swear you’ll put away later... that I haven’t really had a chance to actually miss him all that much...he’s gonna kill me when he reads this. Already he was kind of smarting after I told him I was finally gonna get some peace and quiet when he told me he was going away. I couldn’t help it though, I was just trying to rile him up and bug him a little for fun. I told him I’d have a week off from cooking, cleaning (I can be such a slob!), that I’d be able to read in peace, play my video games which I’ve neglected for months and watch the programs that I liked to watch rather than watching only news and sports.

Sure enough, the first thing I did after dropping him off at the train station was to do something I’ve never done on my own...go to McDonald’s for supper. With coupons. WHO DOES THAT? I felt like a trailer mom. First of all, I only visit the Golden Arches like max twice a year since I’m not a fastfood junkie. But anyhow, I didn’t feel like cooking for myself, and strangely enough there were coupons hanging out at home in the "junk-mail" zone. During my little binge, I couldn’t help but think that my scrawny and dilapidated Big Mac looked nothing like the juicy , perfectly centered and layered ones you see on TV, what a scam...Ah, what do you expect for 2$, at least the fries were hot.

Hopefully, while he’s away, I’ll actually be productive and get stuff done rather than being sucked into TV addiction. Since I normally am NOT in control of what we watch, I just avoid watching TV altogether. I have to say though that I’m curious to see how the French language leaders’ debate will turn out. Every election season I can’t help but notice just how yawn-yawn boring the English debates are compared to the French ones. Call me biased, but most Quebecers are completely politics-obsessed, and every Jean, Guy, and Stéphane has an opinion and a burning question. Usually they are very vocal and I’ve seen some discussions practically come to blows on any subject ranging from aboriginals to daycare to hospitals to separation. We are a hot-headed lot, and we follow politics with a passion that I just can’t seem to pick up on in the rest of Canada. Every average Joe seems to be informed about the hot topics and have an opinion to voice. In any case, I know Quebec has a bad rap in the rest of Canada because of the Bloc Quebecois, but over the years I’ve gone from being completely Anti-Bloc to actually understanding their point of view. Not that I vote for them or anything, but they do a great job in protecting Quebec’s interests and the only reason I don’t support them is because of their separation mandate. HOWEVER, and this is a big however...I don’t understand why the rest of Canada panics at the word separation. Can you all not see through the theatrics? Living in Quebec, I see that most of us don’t support separation. Most Quebecers support the Bloc for other reasons than separation. The separation issue has haunted our economy for years, and just when things are going well, the last thing anyone is thinking of is separation. The only reason why the Bloc continues to blab about separation at every soundbite is just keep the die-hard, union-obsessed separatists happy (the ones that keep the funding of the party going). But the rest of you Canucks can’t seem to see through his bluff and tremble at the thought of another referendum, and as usual you are held hostage by the french. Enough about this now....
I still have no idea whom to vote for. This time around the selection is so bland that it’s hard to commit to one or the other. On one hand, you have Harper who seems like the devil incarnate, with the ice-blue stare that creeps you out, and that fake smile that you know hides some scary secrets. On the other hand, you have Martin who has proven himself to be untrustworthy and foolish for trying to make us think he knew nothing of what was going on during his stint as Finance Minister. Then you have Layton, who although has great ideals, would bankrupt our country with social programs - where it the balance between business and social programs??? And lastly we have Duceppes, whose equally ice stare creeps me out and who will sweep Quebec regardless on if I vote for him or not (especially in my neck of the woods). Although I did have a nutty idea...if ALL of Canada voted for Duceppes and the he became PM, he would have no choice than to lead his country, the country of CANADA as representative of its people...maybe that would stop all this separation crap. N-e-how...

I have figured out a better way to elect a prime minister....I think we should hold a political version of American Idol but instead have the political leaders come up on stage and perform every week while the country eliminates them one by one by voting with 1-900# phonecalls (donate the charges to social programs)....Think about it, wouldn’t it be cool to have Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul on the panel judging our future PM (maybe was can add Rex Murphy as a guest judge). One week, we’d have "country" week, where each one would have to sing country songs, and of course Randy would tell Harper "You’re the man Dog, you’re the man!", while telling Martin to loosen up. Another week we could have Quebecois fiddle folk songs which would have Duceppes shining brightly but have Simon telling Harper his performance was "excruciating". Another week would bring us sea chanties/beer songs for our hard-working type Layton to steal the show.

And where would that leave Martin you ask....well have you ever heard the man sing...well consider yourself lucky if you haven’t. Last year, during an episode of the hit Quebecois show "Star Academie" (our version of an Idol-type show), Martin appeared on the show (a publicity stunt to boost youth appeal during his lagging popularity post-Gomery disguised as a guest appearance). During that show, he joined the contestants in a sing-along in what was the most off-tune, "pitchy" ear-splitting performance I’ve heard. So "appalling" in fact (as Simon would so aptly describe it) that even if he were to change his party’s tune to "Promise of a New Day" in hopes of winning over the easy judge, even Paula would have to say "Paul honey, I’m sorry, but you’re just not right for this competition".

All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth

- Don Gardner

Another yuletide has come and gone. Good times were had by all. I can’t complain. Well, maybe a little.

All in all I had a grand time. My parents, my in-laws, Curly and Sylvester (Curly’s fiancé), Pacino and I, all drove down to T.O. to spend time with our extended families (uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, friends). Things went well in general except that Pacino can get a little high strung when the pressure is on, which leads to retarded arguments on the basis of nothing. Whereas I tend to be the more laid-back, fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda gal. The spontaneous with the well-planned & organized can sometimes erupt in a messy argument. N-e-how, nothing serious, but I guess I was PMS-ing around the same time so the tears were quick to flow, which made me feel stupid and made him feel like a cretin.

We partied, ate way TOO MUCH, spent time with family, though nearly not as much as I’d wished. Some of the cool things I got to do was to have a board game night with family and friends including Scarbie, which makes me think - the more I get to know her the more I think that if I’d grown up in T.O. that her and I would have been tight as 2 tits in a push up bra (I so love how her mind works and her sense of humor - I also got to meet Nate - cute as a button that kid, and what beautiful eyes). My husband surprised us all with his knowledge of all things Tibetan (Yeti that is) while playing Cranium, we’re still laughing over that one - I guess he still has the ability to surprise me from time to time (and I thought his trivia stopped at sports).

I also got to skate for the first time in 15 years (I know, I know, what kind of Canuck you say?). Well, I hadn’t skated since my early teens, not since the boobs and hips and a few extra pounds had kicked in. Needless to say, my centre of gravity ain’t the same as it used to be, but I did have a fab time and decided to start skating again.

As for New Year’s, I had a small intimate party with some F&F. Drank too much as Trekkie and I tried to make Cosmopolitans that ended up tasting like Benadryl. I was under the effects of a starter buzz before half my guests even showed up - I am such a cheap lush! N-e-way, now that we bought this cool glass and metal retro bar for our basement, I can start practicing to make martinis, but I gotta run out and buy some Triple Sec first. Grand Marnier just didn’t cut it, hence the Benadryl taste.

I got some cool presents. Curly and Sylvester game me this awesome book. Mamina actually surprised me this year and bought me a really cute pink coat that I love. OK, now most of you who know me know that I would never ever combine the words cute, pink, and love all in one sentence. After all I was a Metalhead in my youth and thought that my Black Years had totally obliterated any girlhood affection to all things cute, pink or girly. First off, I’ve always hated pink (aside from Magenta or Fushia that I love). For years, I’ve either opted for neutrals or strong deep colors, never pastell-y cutesy colors....but lo and behold, I love the coat and I feel so girlish and flirty in it (words not often associated to myself, who tend to be no-nonsense, ballsy, and generally disdainful of all things girlish and flirty, preferring Bette Davis over cream-puffesque Sandra Dee.). I guess that even after 31 years, you can still surprise yourself and you shouldn’t take yourself for granted and try new things. I skated and wore a pink coat in the same week!

As for resolutions, after a hectic year of renos and hard work, this year I resolve to have more fun. How about that! No mention of weight loss, or budgeting or other boring things. Yes folks, I want to have more fun. As we get older, our everyday life tends to creep in and steal every minute of our day, making each day seem like the other till we’re so numb that we haven’t realized that our life has gone by. So this year I plan to break the monotony and go out of my way to have fun. I will ski, I will skate, I will shop, I will laugh too loud, I will eat, I will drink, I will love, I will soak in the tub, I will dance, and sing out louder than I usually do, I will travel, and sleep too much or not enough, I will rock my husband’s world (and he sure better rock mine) and I will try to make it contagious so that everyone I know gets bitten by the fun bug too.

So here’s wishing all of you an awesome year 2006 and may you all be healthy and have loads of fun. Oops, I forgot, I dedicate this post to my little godson whose 2 first teeth (bottom front) popped out on Christmas Day! Armed with 2 sharp mini-Chiclets, his drooly smiles are priceless! Smile pibsqueak, your fairy godmother luvs ya!