MY BEAUTIFUL BIRTHDAY WEEKEND
Teh busy weekend is over. I both welcome and dread this time of year, every year. It is always special because I was born on Labour Day-that has always been a bit of a giggle for my mother. It is also considered to be the last weekend of summer-the one before school starts.
And this year my little boy-the youngest-is to start junior kindergarten. He is a bit young-his birthday is November 13th-so he is still three years old. There were new clothes to buy, his bedroom to reorganize, vaccinations and a haircut to be endured. And some last-minute teaching-he can count to eight, but I wanted it to be ten-he can throw a ball, but I wanted him to be able to catch it too-he can draw a circle but I wanted it to be rounder and less of an elliptical shape-all silly, panicky things that don’t really matter, but seem to only because my nerve endings are raw.
It is my daughter’s last year of college and we needed to go there to purchase a new parking permit for her, and she needed to apply for a new student loan. Since she won’t get the money for a few weeks, she asked me to buy the permit and she’ll pay me back when her OSAP (the loan) comes in. The cost for parking went up this year-to $450.00. That seems high, but it is good for 365 days, so works out to just over $1.00 per day, and I will be able to use it as well, for night school. I signed up for a Spanish language course to start on Sept. 18th. After five semesters I should be fully fluent-both speaking and writing.
My sister wanted to take me out for lunch and to a movie. I wanted to go on Sunday but she and her husband were supposed to be going that day to look at cottages up north in the Haliburton Highlands. So we had to go out on Saturday instead. It rained pretty heavily that day-we got a taste of Hurricane Ernesto-so it was a good day to spend indoors. I opened my presents. Here is a photo of most of them: from my sister: a garden gnome, a Will Turner figurine and the second season of House on DVD. (The gnome and Will Turner were her joke gifts-I think.)
From Olivia: a pair of orange painted-glass earrings.
From Jamie: a candle in a green pail with glass stones.
From my mother: some money, with which I bought the second season of Party of Five on DVD.
From Eddie: my digital camera (an early present), the Spanish language course, and season’s tickets to the Toronto Lynx soccer team (although the season here is from May-September, so I’ll have to buy them in the spring).
From DawnFelagund, IsilElensar and fanged_geranium, my birthday stories! Also, the adorable icon is from one of many that pikku_enkelii made for me!
She also made me some lovely banners and ann_arien sent me a beautiful painting of Fingon.
My sister and I went for Thai food and went to see “The Illusionist”. The movie was really good-I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a romantic story with real mystery. (Even though I guessed the ending yet again.) Of note, Ngila Dickson did the costumes. I was struck by how well she reads each character and imbues the costumes with their personalities. She has quite a talent for that.
And a spider story: I was sitting on the living-room sofa reading when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Something shadowy on the floor disappeared under a cabinet. I was just too late to see it when I turned my head. I sensed that it was largish. I thought, ‘it can’t be a mouse,’ and I resumed reading, but was wary. A few minutes later I saw a giant spider run out from under the cabinet and make a wide turn around the coffee table. I froze-except for lifting my feet onto the edge of the table-I was barefoot, you see-only wearing sandals-and I couldn’t move. While frozen, I watched it run past me and disappear under the opposite end of the sofa I was sitting on. I freaked out-it was HUGE-the size of a small toad-it was pale, too, not black like most of the big spiders are around here, thus making them easier to see. And it had bent knees that stuck up higher than its body-WTF is that all about??? I totally freaked. Now I can’t take naps on that sofa anymore, especially the kind where I let my hand dangle on the floor, and whenever I try to write in that room now I can’t concentrate. I keep looking to the spot where I saw it disappear. Normally the cats are not allowed to come into this room because they scratched the upholstery on the antique chair my mother-in-law gave us, but I’ve let them in hoping that they would find the spider-beast and kill it.
Lastly, I must comment on the Brazil-Argentina game that was broadcast here on Sunday. We didn’t go out for dinner because I wanted to catch the game again. (It was broadcast twice-once in the morning and again at night.) I made another picspam of Kaká. Brilliant, beautiful Kaká. It was a gorgeous game, highlighted by Kaká’s splendid, brilliant goal. That goal was a thing of beauty, one that he caused by himself to happen, on practically a break-away except that he had two defenders right on him and he still managed with perfect focus to finish up with a beautiful placement into the net just a tick away from Lionel Messi, a wonderful defender from Argentina. Here are some pics of him from the game and some others. What a great player he is, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous either.
Okay, so that’s it. I spent Monday getting Sean ready for school and finishing one of the stories I’m writing for someone else’s birthday. *sigh* I fee like I’ve accomplished something, even though I haven’t done all that much.
And this year my little boy-the youngest-is to start junior kindergarten. He is a bit young-his birthday is November 13th-so he is still three years old. There were new clothes to buy, his bedroom to reorganize, vaccinations and a haircut to be endured. And some last-minute teaching-he can count to eight, but I wanted it to be ten-he can throw a ball, but I wanted him to be able to catch it too-he can draw a circle but I wanted it to be rounder and less of an elliptical shape-all silly, panicky things that don’t really matter, but seem to only because my nerve endings are raw.
It is my daughter’s last year of college and we needed to go there to purchase a new parking permit for her, and she needed to apply for a new student loan. Since she won’t get the money for a few weeks, she asked me to buy the permit and she’ll pay me back when her OSAP (the loan) comes in. The cost for parking went up this year-to $450.00. That seems high, but it is good for 365 days, so works out to just over $1.00 per day, and I will be able to use it as well, for night school. I signed up for a Spanish language course to start on Sept. 18th. After five semesters I should be fully fluent-both speaking and writing.
My sister wanted to take me out for lunch and to a movie. I wanted to go on Sunday but she and her husband were supposed to be going that day to look at cottages up north in the Haliburton Highlands. So we had to go out on Saturday instead. It rained pretty heavily that day-we got a taste of Hurricane Ernesto-so it was a good day to spend indoors. I opened my presents. Here is a photo of most of them: from my sister: a garden gnome, a Will Turner figurine and the second season of House on DVD. (The gnome and Will Turner were her joke gifts-I think.)
From Olivia: a pair of orange painted-glass earrings.
From Jamie: a candle in a green pail with glass stones.
From my mother: some money, with which I bought the second season of Party of Five on DVD.
From Eddie: my digital camera (an early present), the Spanish language course, and season’s tickets to the Toronto Lynx soccer team (although the season here is from May-September, so I’ll have to buy them in the spring).
From DawnFelagund, IsilElensar and fanged_geranium, my birthday stories! Also, the adorable icon is from one of many that pikku_enkelii made for me!
She also made me some lovely banners and ann_arien sent me a beautiful painting of Fingon.
My sister and I went for Thai food and went to see “The Illusionist”. The movie was really good-I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a romantic story with real mystery. (Even though I guessed the ending yet again.) Of note, Ngila Dickson did the costumes. I was struck by how well she reads each character and imbues the costumes with their personalities. She has quite a talent for that.
And a spider story: I was sitting on the living-room sofa reading when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Something shadowy on the floor disappeared under a cabinet. I was just too late to see it when I turned my head. I sensed that it was largish. I thought, ‘it can’t be a mouse,’ and I resumed reading, but was wary. A few minutes later I saw a giant spider run out from under the cabinet and make a wide turn around the coffee table. I froze-except for lifting my feet onto the edge of the table-I was barefoot, you see-only wearing sandals-and I couldn’t move. While frozen, I watched it run past me and disappear under the opposite end of the sofa I was sitting on. I freaked out-it was HUGE-the size of a small toad-it was pale, too, not black like most of the big spiders are around here, thus making them easier to see. And it had bent knees that stuck up higher than its body-WTF is that all about??? I totally freaked. Now I can’t take naps on that sofa anymore, especially the kind where I let my hand dangle on the floor, and whenever I try to write in that room now I can’t concentrate. I keep looking to the spot where I saw it disappear. Normally the cats are not allowed to come into this room because they scratched the upholstery on the antique chair my mother-in-law gave us, but I’ve let them in hoping that they would find the spider-beast and kill it.
Lastly, I must comment on the Brazil-Argentina game that was broadcast here on Sunday. We didn’t go out for dinner because I wanted to catch the game again. (It was broadcast twice-once in the morning and again at night.) I made another picspam of Kaká. Brilliant, beautiful Kaká. It was a gorgeous game, highlighted by Kaká’s splendid, brilliant goal. That goal was a thing of beauty, one that he caused by himself to happen, on practically a break-away except that he had two defenders right on him and he still managed with perfect focus to finish up with a beautiful placement into the net just a tick away from Lionel Messi, a wonderful defender from Argentina. Here are some pics of him from the game and some others. What a great player he is, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous either.
Okay, so that’s it. I spent Monday getting Sean ready for school and finishing one of the stories I’m writing for someone else’s birthday. *sigh* I fee like I’ve accomplished something, even though I haven’t done all that much.