Playing hooky

Yesterday, I took an unofficial day off. I usually would have been working, but I started errands and as always things ended up taking longer than expected. So I wrote off the whole day & didn't work. Once I was able to accept, that I wasn't going to be working for the day. It actually got kind of fun. Who knew!?? I swear people who get days off are so lucky. I could get use to it, but don't see it happenning anytime soon, sadly.

We started the day getting all our bikes fixed up so we go on a little bike cruise after dinner. It was so hot out, that I think a bike cruise in the day would have given us all heat stroke! My poor little folding bike, kind of seized up durng the winter so it needed some TLC & a new front tire, minor things for the girls bikes were needed & lastly a new back tire for Koreys bike.

Little Miss. Ideya wasn't feeling to confident with riding on the gravel paths, so I/we made a little seat on my rat-trap for her. She loved it. Her dad was against it. But the girls won & she was able to get a ride with me. It was so cute her litle arms holding around my waist. I know doubling is sooooo bad! But, we were going at snails pace! Bad mommy I am.... but she wore a helmet! ;)

We did some container gardening (finally) & had a little bbq for dinner, fed all the local ducks too & then headed out for our end of the night bike cruise. When we were leaving the marina, a lady told us we might be lucky enough to see the white owl that comes out at dusk. I soooooo hoped we would. But, we didn't see it. But, now we know to watch for it. I loooooove owlies! It's been so long since I have seen one in real life!

I wish for more days off this summer for bike rides & bbq's with my little family!

The house that was & the desk that never will be again.

Everyday since we moved out of this house, the girls have made me drive by before school to see if they had killed our old house yet. Monday was "D" day for this poor house. I'm glad we caught it. We lived in this little duplex for a little over 3 years. I'm glad to be out of there. But, sad at the same time that it's not getting to live on. You expect houses to live forever - but so often now they are being killed to make room for cookie cutter new homes.

I had this turqouise 1930's steel bull nose desk that I had been moving around with us forever. But since we were moving onto a floating home, there was no way we would be taking this desk with us. I couldn't even consider putting it in storage. I really wanted it to sell, but sadly because of it's enormousness & it's weight it was such a hard sell. I ended up having to leave it. About a month ago, I had dream that they were killing the house & I saw the desk in a mangled mess amongst the shreds of the house. Well Monday it came true. The poor desk went down with the house. You can see it in the pictures. When I was cleaning it out, I found some old Grey Hound luggage tags probably from the 50's in it.... The demise of the poor desk. That thing could have lived on into many more milleniums! WHY?!!! WHY didn't anyone buy you??!!! I feel terrible about it!

Poor thing. I'm sorry Mister. Desk!!!

May you rest in piece.

Her big day

Last weekend we celebrated her big 11th birthday at Playland with some of her closest friends. The day was cloudy, but warm. Her special day was perfect. I've never seen her having so much fun with out a worry in the world. She was adventurous & tried so many rides that she never ever would have considered last year. Yes, I'm sure it helps when you have a crew of friends wanting you to go on the rides with them. She even did the rollercoaster! (The newer one, not the old one.) We actually ran out of time & didn't do all the rides. The party started at 12pm & the park closed at 6pm. We actually stayed right up until closing. The rides were not all that long of wait either. We had never been to Playland, when the PNE wasn't in effect. I thought that it was packed all the time at the fair grounds, but it was fine. I even went on the Hellevator & one other crazy ride. Sadly my youngest was not at all into doing the rides, so I spent time with her. Hoping she would give in at some point & have some fun with the others. She even had a good friend her age come along so she would have company on the rides. The other little girl went on the rides with the big girls & had such a blast. She is so brave! 7 & not a fear.

Her cake was a cotton candy blizzard cake this yeear. Who knew!?? Who knew that they made those! So delish.

Good times were had by all & she had a sleepover that night with one of her friends. It was her first sleep over on the float home. All went pretty well.

11th birthday celebration went off with out a hitch! If they could all be this easy!

She's 11 now!

Where did my baby go? She turned 11 on the 15th!

One of her gifts from her bestest grandma on the east coast was an ipod nano. This has quickly become her best friend. She downloaded a couple of movies on it & a load of tunes. Her music choices are vast! From they typical Miley Cyrus (oh groan - I know!) Wouldn't be a pre-teen if she didn't have the Jonas Brothers on there. But, she oddly enough has Lady Sovereign & Feist amongst others, but I must mention that....get ready for this..... DANZIG!???

I know! (As I push you in the chest!) For real! My girl likes Danzig!!! I laughed when she asked me to put it on there. I remember back in December when I got my ipod touch & I was "re-visiting" some old music. I downloaded some Danzig on there & every time she would borrow my ipod - I'd catch her listening to him. In private she likes him - but as soon as mom blasts it in the van - the girls SCREAM at me to turn it down  & off - 'cause they SWEAR I'm going to make them deaf! Mom's can have no fun!

As tradition follows, she gets her choice of evening dining for the birthday girl. She wanted to do Pizza Hut. Nothing exciting there - oh except the LARGEST ANT ever crawling across our booth. Then we went for ice cream treats at Dairy Queen.  We tried the cotton candy Blizzard for  the first time. It was so light & sweet AND I'm so putting this on the list of things worth living for.

I got my birthday girl some sweet Nike Air Rifts. Can you believe the girl is a size 8 in ladies shoes! She is going to be a tall one there. She's 89% legs!

 She is so sweet & totally coming around with her shyness. She actually answered the waitress,  when poised with a choice of dipping sauces the other day. That is HUGE progress. Anyone who knows my girls, is that they appear to be so so sweet, quiet and oh so shy. Behind closed doors in the comfort of their own home - they are so loud! Non stop talking action from the moment they lay eyes on me. They love to fill me with their stories of every single second of their action packed day at school. I'm pleased that she is coming around with the shyness. I really wish so many others knew how talkative and what a great story teller she is. 

I have now officially joined the ranks of other parents, who are followed around by their adolescent children who are wrapped up in their own little soundtrack to their lives. I'm just wondering how many 11 year old girls are listening to Danzig sing about the Twist of Cain?

This time of year

I notice this feeling every year. It happens in May. This nagging feeling, that I must hop on a Vespa & ride away into the sunset. Maybe it's because the scooter rallies start in May. But, my love for Vespa has never died. Even though it has been 12 years since I rode on one. The last time I got on one - I was 8 months pregnant and went to the Victoria Rally. I borrowed a bike from my friend for the evening. I took the bike to the Shell gas station to fill'er up, just minutes before they closed. When I went to try and start the darn thing it stalled on me! The gas station was now closed & like a ghost town. It wouldn't start for me no matter what I did. Typical for a scooter that is almost 30 years old, yes. But, at 8 months pregnant & trying to jump start the bike it was quite the task - I wish I could have stepped outta my body to watch myself. I was running up and down the parking lot, trying to get her to start. I was almost in tears. I called one of the scooter club guys & told me just to leave the bike & take a taxi. Jerk. Finally a nice man gave me a good push & it started. That was the last time I rode a bike. I love the feeling of being on a scooter. The smell of 2 stroke, the buzz of the scooter that can be heard a block away before you actually see the bike coming. Love it all. I will love scooterz forever!!!

Anyone who knows me, knows that I had a really bad scooter accident. I crashed my bike (not my fault) back in Portland 13 years ago. I was out shopping for a dress for the Vancouver Scooter Rally. I was to be leaving the next morning with my friend Drat to ride up to Canada to partake in the fun. I had done the drive a few times. I moved to Portland that summer. It was the last day of August & I was coming back from unsuccessfully finding no party frock for the rally. I had my room-mate on the back of my bike (He was a bad luck charm, I swear!!!). It was dusk & a car in the opposite direction pulled out in front of me to make a left turn. He "apparently" never saw us coming at 25m/hr. I don't remember what happened really, I blacked out. When I came to, I had a group of people around me & they were trying to get me to the ambulance. The medics had my passenger already in a stretcher and were tending to him. I tried to walk away from the scene. It was now pitch dark. The last thing I had remembered was it was sunset. I was mumbling about how I was just in the nicest dream. Then I remember being pulled out of that dream, because it was like "I shouldn't be sleeping right now" kind of feeling. Then after I saw the blood all over me, I then was babbling about how I didn't want to look like Victor. Victor, had been in a couple of scooter accidents. One accident losing a lot of teeth after smashing into the back of a truck. They were able to stick his teeth back in his head - but they did it all wrong! So I feel my face. It's really messed up. Bottom line was, I broke my jaw, a few teeth, my cheek & the whole left side of my body was tweaked. Collar bone - knees & knuckles. I was a mess. The moment I saw my passenger, I ran up to him -asking if he knew what happened. He was saying how his back was broken! THAT made me loose it!!! I was balling & really freaking out. I get to the back of the ambulance and we head to the hospital. They tried to give me oxygen, but it was just was so painful. I was a wreck to say the least. I spent many hours there. Being a Canadian in a hospital in the States with no medical is a bad thing. I guess really, being an American in America with no medical is a bad thing too. They weren't going to admit me. They did. I got a half ass assesment of my condition. I had to tell THE doctors that my cheek was definitely broken as they pushed & pulled on it, it was terrible. Friends started pouring into the hospital, but they wouldn't let them in to see me. Just one friend. Alicia, another one of my room-mates. She cleaned me up & everyone in the waiting room was sending me love notes. I felt so loved. My passenger left the hospital before me, he never even waited or came to talk to me. He just bailed. He ended up being fine. Thankfully. I was the one that ended up a mess.

I was discharged, and was sent home. Only to woken up every 1/2 hour because I had a concussion. The next day I called back home to make plans to get fixed in Canada. It was 2 days of walking around with a broken jaw waiting for my dad to fly down to get me. My face was the size of a pumpkin & as we were waiting in the waiting area to get on the plane. My dad made what he thought was a joke about "How people are going to think he's a woman beater". So terrible. He made me feel so gross. It was an unbearable plane ride home to Canada. When I got back home, it was straight to the hospital to get my jaw wired & get mending up. Even after all this drama, I borrowed some one's scooter to drive around to Dr. appointments. Had to get back on the horse, you know what I mean!? Better than fearing it for life. I feel safe riding on a scooter. Just have to be ultra aware of the drivers around you. Accidents happen. One thing I think I would do differently is, get a full face helmet.

This year I am actually really considering buying a scooter. With the cost of gas & parking. It's seems only logical. I have been on the hunt for the last week. Since I am pretty much outta the scooter scene now, I've reached out to a couple of scooter mates to put it "out there", that I am looking. I've discovered this new mountain of knowledge of scooters on the internet. It's made me a little cautious of private scooter sellers. With all the Vietnam bodged up bikes. So scary. People import these bikes from Vietnam, with super nice paint jobs but the engines are a mess really and the bikes are all bondo'd up. Sometimes 2-5 different bikes to make one bike. Really not safe & a total hazard for the road. I can not believe that people who sell these bikes are knowingly selling these hazards. They are unsafe & are willing to sell them to make some quick cash.

Horrid.

I've run outta time - I got to go home now. I really didn't meant this to be such a lame tragic story. You probably think I'm crazy for wanting a scooter again!

I just have to though!!

Little girl

This little girl appeared next to the shop 2 days ago. I like her sitting around the corner from us, eating her marbles.

It's been nothing but rain & cloud for the past two days.

Sucks.

Love this

This is so brilliant in so many ways!

It's Inner city snail - a slow-moving street art project

You can check out more here!

I'm sure you've heard of Photojojo...

But in case you haven't! I just have to share...

Photojojo is a website that has tons of cool, fun ideas for your photos. You have to have flickr account to do the fun things. If you don't have flickr... I think it's time you got an account!! not only can you upload your photos, but now you can add video. Which is all sorts fun!

I registered at Photojojo for the twice a month time capsule. So they now send pictures they have taken from my flickr account from a year ago. It's so neat to see what I was up to last year at the same time. Actually the time capsule they sent me for April reminded me it was Luke the cat's, 1 year anniversary at the shop.

So not only is it neat to see what was going on in your life a year ago, you can type in a message to yourself for next year!

Added bonus - it just may help you remember birthday's & anniversaries that are coming up!

Word up to that! I need all the reminding I can get.

Get your Photojojo on here!

Saturday