Conversations with a 6 year old

This is the conversation that I had with Cara-Li yesterday.

CL: Mom?

ME: Yes?

CL: I want to go to Paris.

ME: Really? Why's that?

CL: I want to go see the Eiffel Tower... and the Mona Lisa.

ME: That's nice. Maybe Mommy will take you one day.

PAUSE

CL: Is Italy close to Paris?

ME: It's not too far, why?

CL: Can we go to the tower of Pisa also?

ME: Sure, why not.

PAUSE

CL: Mommy? In the meantime do you think we could go to New York City to see the Statue of Liberty? Daddy says NYC is nearby.


So from the sounds of this conversation, it looks like my daughter is extremely interested in tall structures of every kind! Perhaps we have a budding architect on our hands.

In Shock!

This morning, upon arrival at the store, I noticed that someone was already there. Unusual as I always open and therefore am always first to arrive. Inside I see lights on but no one answers my call. And then I notice my breath. Goodness, the heating system broke down. Great! What I didn't know and I found out once my Dad peered his head out of the basement was that minutes before closing last night, there was some sort of explosion in our basement and the electrical box controlling the heating system had exploded and caught fire. That's right. Explosion, smoke, fire = not good! Since it had happened just before closing, all was controlled by my brothers. But imagine it had happened after closing... I wouldn't be sitting here at my desk today. Sure makes you think...

And now for my weekly photos.

WEEK 3: Up, Up and Away - Perspective



WEEK 3: The Orange Gerber - Shooting detail

Huge Problem

That's right... I have a HUGE problem! As you know I started watching what I eat back in January in hopes of losing some weight. So I have reduced my portions, say no to seconds, cut down on most condiments and toppings and started working out. I have lost app. 5 lbs. But here's the problem... in the evenings after having spent some time on the computer doing some work, catching up on blogs and, of course, shopping, I like to watch a little television before I go to sleep. And every night, I get hungry. I want to eat everything in sight! But I don't (I might have a rice cake as opposed to my favorite Nutella and peanut butter sandwich) and I fall asleep frustrated. This morning I came to a realization that my problem is that I spend my last waking hour watching the Food Network while reading food magazines! Well, that'll do it! That'll send anyone on a diet over the edge!

Gotta go... my Dad is having a Big Mac. He's 80 years old. He certainly can't eat the whole thing. I'll be like a dog and eat his table scraps....

UPDATE: Bugger... he ate it all!

This and That

Last Thursday, Gordie and I went out for our monthly dinner which was also our belated Valentine's date. For Christmas, we received from L. gift certificates for the Montreal High Lights Festival which is basically an entire festival revolving on fine dining. This year's represented city is Paris. Perfect. So I booked a dinner, 'The Best of Paris', at Verses Restaurant in Old Montreal. It was a 6-course meal accompanied by 6 glasses of wine (and a Kir Royale to start which I absolutely have to have everytime!). It was a very long-winded affair (close to 4 hours!) and quite tasty. But I don't know if I am just getting too picky... there was definitely room for improvement as far as service and menu planning went. It wasn't a cheap night out even with our gift certificates. When you spend that much money on a meal, I always want to be knocked off my feet... and I wasn't. Well, a little after 7 glasses of wine!

This past weekend we skied and skied and skied some more. It was glorious! Alexia spent the entire day at the daycare at the ski hill and fell asleep at 5PM in the car ride home. We tried to wake her for dinner but couldn't so she ended up sleeping 13 hours until 6AM the next morning! Poor thing! We skied for so long as we were unable to get Cara-Li to stop. She just got new skis and she was not phased a bit considering they were much longer. She can really ski and she just loves it! I, on the otherhand, tried some demo skis they had at the hill and I fell in love with a pair of Head skis. Now the question is, to buy or not to buy. What should I do?!?

Last week, 3 out of 4 of us were down and out. This week, Cara-Li is down. She's got the cold and cough thingy but hopefully it will not last too long. We all sort of bounced back pretty quickly. Cara-Li was somewhat sick on Saturday morning but she said that she was fine as she wanted to go skiing. Same for Sunday. This morning she asked me if she had to go to school as she was feeling sick. My response... If you felt fine to go skiing, you're fine to go to school!

I started a new photography class online a couple of weeks ago. I must say I am having trouble with my assignments. I only have the weekend to take my pictures but with so much skiing going on, there is really not much time left for photo taking. Last year when I took my last course, I was home with Alexia and therefore had free time during her naps for such things. So, anyway, I am enclosing some pix I took for my first 2 lessons although I am not highly impressed with myself.

WEEK 1: The Snowshoer - Rule of Thirds

WEEK 1: Frozen Lake Hughes - Leading Lines

WEEK 2: Lonely Pinecones - Minimal Depth of Field

WEEK 2: This way - Extended Depth of Field

Gettin' Fit & Drinkin'

So I went home early yesterday but instead of going home to lie down, I went to the gym. That's right... I have been considering joining Curves for a while and I was given a free trial week which happens to be this week. So I decided to go even though I was not quite up to it. It wasn't too bad. Basically, the entire workout is 30 minutes which is right up my alley as I despise exercise! You should go 3 times a week for it to be effective. I figure even if I go twice, it's a hell of a lot more exercise than what I am doing now, which is none! My next visit... tomorrow morning.

A few people have asked what kind of martinis I favoured. My summer favourite was Lychee Martinis and my winter favourite was Cranberry Martinis. My new favourite drink is Champagne Cosmos. Now these are yummmmy!

One Man Standing

This post is written as I sit at my desk literally dying. I have THE cold. It all started with Alexia early in the week which then proceeded to attack Gord and then I was hit in the middle of the night. Cara-Li seems to be the only one that is still healthy!

So this past weekend, we were graced with a visit from Mortimer's Mom and Family. We first met up at our ski hill where we skied together. The girls had soooo much fun together! They just kept buzzing up and down the hill with their moms in tow. We had a special mission to accomplish. MM made some heart-shaped stuffies that needed to be dropped off somewhere for someone to find. It is for The Toy Society and once found, they hope to get an e-mail from the finder. So off we went and the girls decided that they should be hung off of Tinkerbell's wings (little wooden characters that decorate the ski hill) but they really had to make sure no one saw them doing it. So one girl skied the bag down, the other hung it and one was the lookout. Now we are waiting to find out who is the lucky recepient of some very cute stuffies! After skiing, we all headed back to our cottage for some play, drinks and a Valentine's dinner. And MM made my girls a couple of heart stuffies as well! Very cute and the girls just love them!

Bento lunches that I made the girls for the ski hill

On Sunday, we headed home early as Cara-Li had a party to go to. In fact, she had a club meeting to go to. A CLUB MEETING! Apparently, in the bus, they created a club called the CFS (Cool Fast Spies). And true to all clubs, we are not allowed to know what goes on (well, we do because the party was held at 2 houses and adults were present!). Apparently, the created a special handshake and a bunch of rules that are not to be divulged to anyone! But, since we returned early, we were able to completed finish our master bathroom. Curtains are finally up!
And since we were home, I made this fabulous dinner of isreali couscous with roasted veggies and shrimp. To die for!

So I will now go curl up in a corner in my office and hide! Better still, I will sneak out of here early and go to bed! See ya...

Martinis... Yum-Yum!!

D over at 3D mentionned that she was having a Martini Monday. Well, I have had a Martini Week!

It all started off with a speeding ticket on my way to work on Monday. Now, I was only going 50 km/hr but it happened to be at the the beginning of a school zone which is a 30 km zone. So $110.00 and 2 points later, I was back on my way to work. I must now find a new way to and fro work because I cannot tolerate driving 30 km/hr!

On Tuesday, I had several doctor and dentist appointments so I took the day off. I ended up spending the rest of my day working on my Italian association newsletter which had to be sent out ASAP. I worked on it until midnight at which point my eyes were popping out of their sockets! Not to mention that I had really worked my brain to the max as it had to be written in Italian. I think in English but cannot translate into Italian easily as it is not a Latin language. So I had to translate into French and then into Italian. Did I mention that I never studied Italian so I had all my Italian reference books out so as not to make too many mistakes. I did have it all proof read by a real Italian and I am proud to say that I did really well!

On Wednesday, I ended spending a good part of my day looking for a dead guy. Yup! Apparently, my duties for the Italian association does not end at being secretary. I got an e-mail from a family in Italy explaining that their brother had passed away 3 months ago here in our province and that they wanted to have his body returned. After many phone calls, I found the person who has his remains, some French guy living at the same address as Italian guy. Do I smell a scandal? How do I send an e-mail back home explaining all this? Anyway, I told them what I had found and figured they could come to their own conclusions!

Gord has not been around all that much in the last couple of weeks so I have pretty much been a single mom. Not bad. My girls are great so things ran pretty smoothly.

So, I do not need to mention that I have been sipping Martinis pretty regularily all week!