[C] Halloween Buzz

Boo! - or, more appropriately, buzzz! - from our Queen Bee. Hope your Halloweens were appropriately ghastly. Ours kind of was, actually, with E's cold keeping us home-bound, and we ended up haunting the T-dot instead of T-burg. Despite our disappointment, we managed to make of the weekend the best we could: we did lots of decorating, carved a pumpkin - in not particularly spectacular or creative fashion, but it got the job done - and went trick-or-treating from room to room in our apartment instead of from door to door in the neighborhood. All around, a pretty successful save, and the important thing is that a much-improved E ended up enjoying the festivities. Halloween is definitely topping her favorite-holiday list now, much as it did for her dad back when he was a trick-or-treating kid. Happy recovery from all those sugar highs!

[R] Party in Eburg!

Momma Horse's Birthday (and, apparently, it is horse Mother's Day, too).

[R + W] Let's Do It! Let the Freaking Out Begin!

We here in A+land would like to take a moment to shout our joy to the top of every mountain in the world, for our sweet Ellie has tackled her final surgery and emerged kicking and screaming and mad as hell and we are so proud of and overjoyed for A+ Canada. WaHoo, A+, WAHOO!!!!!!!!!!

[C] Naked Pleasure

Can you remember when the simplest things in life made you the happiest? Today E and I walked down the street to our favorite neighborhood cafe, which was celebrating its fifth anniversary with free ice cream and balloons. When you're two going on three, there is nothing better than ice cream (and when you're an adult, free is always good). Throw in balloons, and you're talkin' heaven. All the way home E was walking on air, then decided it would be fun to tear through our apartment buck naked while yelling at the top of her lungs, "Let's do it! Freak it out!" I am unsure of the meaning or derivation of "freak it out," but evidently it is reserved for especially exciting occasions. Now, it's entirely possible that this ecstasy was the result of a pralines-n-cream-induced sugar high, but there was something so fantastic, so pure, so joyful - and so infectious - about seeing such unadulterated pleasure (although I managed to keep my clothes on). Would that we all felt like that a lot more often...!

Luckily, attired for modesty here

[C] Yearbook Yuks

OK, I have now officially spent way too much time playing around with Yearbook Yourself when I could have been sleeping or editing or doing any number of more productive things. Why does this stuff amuse me so much? Here are a few of my favorite faux photos... ah, memories.

[W] A Day at the Fair

We hit the fair with Grandma this week and had a rootin' tootin' good time. The highlight for me personally was seeing the Doggies of the Wild West Show which features a whole pack of trained chihuahuas who alternate between sitting in and on a chihuahua-sized wagon and doing exciting tricks. We happened upon it and I tell you, those fifteen minutes were worth the price of admission.

Other fun and exciting fair happenings included feeding goats and a calf, petting chicks and puppies, exploring an antique school bus, wandering a corn maze, and checking out a monster truck up close. I do love a good fair, and San Diego's got a great one. I've really got to get it together to enter a contest and go for a blue ribbon someday.

-W.

[C] Beach Baby

E took to the beach - well, I guess the expression "like a fish to water" is appropriate. Her first time at the shore was a big splash. Sandwiched between a string of stormy days, we lucked out with just a slightly overcast sky, which made for a very comfortable afternoon. E enjoyed picking up (and dramatically discarding) shells, making footprints in wet sand, building sand castles (which is perhaps overstating the architecture somewhat), and barely escaping the grasp of many foamy waves. In reality, the closer call was avoiding aggressive seagulls dive-bombing for our lunches, but all in all it was a perfectly pleasant trip to the seaside. Here's hoping for many happy returns...

[C] Under the Sea

Things I do to amuse myself... I mean, to entertain my daughter. My latest masterpiece is a montage of Little Mermaid characters, as rendered in Wikki Stix. Clearly the artist (that would be me) intended to comment on the neodialectic tension between traditional children's "fairy tales" and their manifestation in patriarchal narrative, and to critique the commodity fetishism of contemporary pop-cultural production. Oh, and there's something deep about the human condition in there too. Yes, this is indeed the apogee of art as we know it.

Ariellie: Amusement. 2009. Wikki Stix on melamine, 10" x 7" (25.4 x 17.8 cm).

[C] Toronto Reunion

During H and N and C's recent visit to Toronto (see sidebar slideshow) we celebrated C's fifth birthday, made cookies and dyed Easter eggs, took a ferry ride to the Toronto Islands, ate at our favorite restaurants... it was a wonderful weekend full of fun and lots of laughs. It was particularly memorable seeing C and E play together, but it flew by way too quickly. Which is the only problem with such a reunion - it only highlights how far away we are from our dream of an A+ cul-de-sac. Whatever happened to being neighbors with your friends and family? These days we all end up living where we work rather than the other way around, and when work takes you so far away from loved ones, you gotta wonder whether it's worth the trade-off. Sometimes people who are farthest away somehow still remain the closest people in your life, but it sure would be a whole lot easier and a whole lot nicer if they were right around the corner. Until then, I'll take what I can get and be grateful for it.

[R] We LOVE Trucks

Connie and Ellie's collage inspired me to post this collection of photos by Adele. We love trucks (vehicles of any kind, really).

[C] Orange Scavenger

I have just discovered a new artistic outlet. And a fun way to spend a day or two. And an excuse to use my camera's macro function. In any event, it's a current favorite activity for me and E. We've been on a scavenger hunt for colors lately, searching for images to add to a photo collage. I got this idea from my friend J, whose Greenday provided the original inspiration. In honor of H's upcoming visit we chose orange, her signature color, for our first foray. This is a great exercise in observation and awareness, whether you're two or thirty-something... amazing what you see when you really start looking. Most of these pictures were taken right inside our apartment. What color should we try next?

[C] Winter of Discontent

Our poor blog, so neglected, so forgotten, so overgrown with weeds. I blame winter. Not because there's any particular correlation, but because I am in the habit of blaming winter for all manner of ills lately. This has felt like the longest cold season ever, and I am altogether sick of it - literally. I learned recently that every ten miles further north is supposed to mean a day more of winter. It certainly makes sense... and makes me ask again WHY we live in Canada?! Oh yeah, employment, and thank god for it (see Massive Earth-wide Economic Meltdown). Of course, I wonder how much global warming has messed up the meteorological formula. At least we're finally approaching astronomical spring, if nothing else. Hang in there, E, we shouldn't be under house arrest for too much longer...!

[W] Frick

We are almost a month into the offical big kid bed transition, and it SUCKS. An ex-boyfriend of mine, who I (reluctantly) befriended on Facebook, said he loved big kid beds and that his children now sleep more than they ever did. I am beginning to wonder if the fact that we ended badly all those years ago led him to tell me this colossal lie knowing what hell big kid beds would bring to my life. I cannot begin to express to you how desperately I wish we had left the wee hooligans in their cribs until they reached... ohhhhh... I dunno... TWELVE??? Cripes.

[C] For Future Reference

I wish I had the artistic talent to animate the series of moments that comprise toddlerhood, flashing by in fits and bursts like the choppy frames of an old motion picture. Luckily someone has done it for me. I came across these two films by Jeff Scher, which capture perfectly the fleeting impressions a parent experiences as days turn into months and years. But almost more apt is how he describes "the omnivorous now in parenting, and the constantly shifting challenges and demands of the moment, that creates a kind of rolling amnesia for everything yesterday." It is a relief to know that I'm not the only one who can't remember exactly what happened when, even milestones that seemed so unforgettable at the time. In some cases, this is a good thing. Who wants to relive a trip to the emergency room, for example? But in most instances, I feel it simply justifies the ridiculous number of photos that I take - almost ten THOUSAND pictures (and counting) will sure as heck make for a pretty good archive someday...

- C

[W] Amen, Amen, AMEN!I

Oh, Dear God. The main reporter on ABC is wearing the WORST dress. It's like the fashion department head went to her and said, "No, I'm serious! Shoulder pads and velvet are TOTALLY IN!" and the poor reporter fell for it and here we are. Yikes.

It has been an auspicious day for our country and not just because I went to the gym. Oh no. Auspicious because the handsome and INTELLIGENT Barack Obama took the oath of office. I feel the need to point out that a major difference between W and Obama is that Obama uses big words AND knows how to pronounce them. Man, oh man, I ADORE Barack.

Now who will John Stewart make fun of??? Go #44!!!!!!!!

P.S. I would like to take a moment to recognize Laura (and G.W.'s) capable parenting. Goodness knows twins ain't easy, and the Bush family appears to have managed it with aplomb. My personal suspicion is that it was pretty much all Laura -- but who knows. Either way -- good job on that front (if not on ANY other) Bush family. Huzzah!

[C] Inauguration Fever

How fabulous is our new First Couple?!

- C

[C] Year in Review

Between E's birthday, my birthday, and the holidays all in December (not to mention our early-Christmas family-reunion Thanksgiving last month), it has been a real happy-merry-b-day-x-mas-celebration-x-travaganza around here. Oh - well, except for a hair-raising mid-blizzard two-tow-truck trip to the in-laws' for the holidays. Oh - and of course there was also E's emergency hospitalization due to pneumonia. Both unwelcome surprises at the end of an otherwise pretty pleasant 2008. Even in spite of the aforementioned, E's second year still proved to be much cooler than her first (two nights in the hospital sure beats 86). And as for me, now squarely and numerically in my mid-thirties, we shall see...!

- C