Not really posting, just reliving...

Okay, so I've been travelling around the blog world trying to get caught up on what's goin' on with all my bloggy peeps. Unfortunately there just aren't enough hours in the day. I miss you all and find I'm going in circles, in various directions - so many places to go, people to "see". And I feel disconnected.

The one thing that I have made a conscious decision about, is BlogHer '10 which is taking place in NYC this August. I had such a great time in Chicago last year, meeting many of my blog friends, making new ones... I so wish I could do it again. But I'm finding that I just can't multi-task that into the cards. The big appeal for me before, other than meeting people and learning a bit more about blogging, was the "me" time. I suppose that nowadays I'm spending more time in hotel rooms without my kids than I can handle. (I say that as I tell my kids to give me just a half an hour of my own "sit down" time, but I think you know what I mean.) And let's be honest - I am nowhere near the level of blogging that I was at a year ago. Given the choice between an extra day and weekend with my family it was rather an easy decision.

I hear that there will be a Blissdom around these parts in the fall. That I might just have to have a look at.

This is the difficulty now that I'm a WOHM. I've decided not to blog about work and I have less time to blog to begin with. So although I have tons of blog fodder, it's got to stay in my head. Hmmmph.

So how to stay connected? Well, I've joined a book club with some of the mom friends I've made over the years of being at home. Yay for that. Now I just have to make the time to actually read the books!

The first one up - The Help by Kathryn Stockett (which I knew after a few pages, would probably be made into a movie. It's got Oprah written all over it). It arrived from Amazon yesterday and I'm already on page 85.

And since I can't stop reliving where I was a mere 10 days ago, here's my review of the resort on Tripadvisor.

Friday Fragments - Back to Life, Back to Reality

Welcome to another edition of Friday Fragments - please visit my friend, the lovely lady Mrs.4444.

And a newer blog friend had a similar brilliant idea: Friday Freewrite at Ordinary and Awesome. Go!

First week of school, and it went off without a hitch...well, almost. Bear with me while I de-frag...

Last week, we went up north for Labour Day weekend, and the man had decided to spare me the burden of loading up his bike and that of the boy, into my minivan. He was going up first and we would join him a couple of days later. So he left me his car to drive around for a couple of days, and I didn't bother touching the van until it was time to drive up.

Mistake.

It seems that the bike had hit the interior light of the minivan. Yes, the bike hit it, not the man who was loading the bike. Amazing the power of inanimate objects when the stars align.

But I didn't get overly pissed off right away, as I was in a good frame of mind, and after all, he had loaded the van so that I wouldn't have to. Or more correctly, so that he wouldn't have to hear about it when I dropped it on my toe, which I would have done. Or do something ridiculous like hit the interior light and drain the battery. We still had the man's car, so I loaded that up and hit the road with the kids in tow. And we had an amazing holiday weekend.

We didn't get back until Labour Day, and it wasn't until the evening that we got the battery charged by CAA (I love CAA). Of course the tank was on empty (I was going to fill up before I headed north), so we couldn't drive it around much. So what happened the next morning was only natural.

You guessed it. Tuesday morning, the first day of school, and the minivan wouldn't start.

But hey, we still had the man's car. So off we went, got the kids into their classes (yay, kids are happy with their placements, all is good.) CAA to the rescue again, and charged the van. I had to take the car for about a one hour drive. But there was still a chance that the battery was shot. All day Tuesday, the van sputtered, but ran. And then again on Wednesday, it sputtered better, but ran better.

Thursday morning I got cocky. I offered to drive the kids to school, and didn't try the van until after the bus came and went.

Mistake.

Damn battery was dead!

It was 8:45 AM. The bell rings at 8:50 AM.

Oh my God! I grabbed the kids' backpacks, yelled at the boy for taking so long to get ready, and we ran all the way to school. RAN.

Me in my flip flop sandals, almost planting my face on the sidewalk twice... the girl yelling, "This is great exercise Mommy, maybe I'll be skinny like my brother."... the boy saying, "Hope you're enjoying your workout Mom!"

We got there in 10 minutes. Don't ask me how, I think we had wings on our heels. But they weren't late.

I called CAA again. And bought a new battery.

Of course, the man is away on business all week. How'd you guess?

*****

Well, summer is pretty much over, but guess what? I actually did get some summertime reading in! I read a book called Mortal Friends, a sizzler that takes place in Washington DC, and it was pretty good. You can read my review here. And yes, I did manage to read a couple more, so I'll post about them there soon as well.

*****

Speaking about books, have you heard about , The Superior Wife Syndrome? I read a review in the Globe and Mail and it looks like an interesting read. Mainly because I think I have a superiority complex and can be a nag hag from time to time. Although apparently I'm not oh so bad. Not all of the time, anyway.

*****

So while the man is away, I try to take advantage and watch chickflicks. I've got Two Lovers (apparently Joaquin Phoenix' best work before he became the newest member of ZZ Top) , Nights in Rodanthe and Last Chance Harvey. I'll be lucky if I get through two, but I'll let you know what I think.

****
And a quickie: don't tell the husband this, but I got all sexy while he was away. I actually cleaned the oven! Hah!

*****
Do you remember Soul II Soul? Great song, perfect for the weekend..

Keeping current without even knowing it...

I just recently finished reading a great novel that has been sitting with me for almost three years now, a book that my sister loaned me as part of a stack I was to get through while nursing G. Well, G is almost 3 now, and she weaned back when she was 18 months old. No matter, I just picked up the book a few weeks ago and it was well worth the wait to have the time to really get into a good read:


It's the story of Nazneen, a young girl who leaves a village in Bangladesh to marry a man Chanu, who's 20 years older and lives in London, England, in an area known as Brick Lane. It follows her life over the next number of years, as she adjust to Western life, has children, and even starts an affair with a younger Muslim radical. We also follow the life of her sister who married for love, through a series of correspondence which weaves through the narrative.

I thought it was a a lovely novel, great storytelling, and a glimpse into a life that I know nothing about. It explores love on all levels, the pursuit of dreams, disillusionment, and most importantly the evolution of a young girl coming into her own as a woman. It was the winner of several book awards in 2003. And unbeknownst to me, was made into a movie that just had its premiere LAST WEEK in London. And not without "contr-aw-versy". Apparently there was a gala event to which the Royal family was invited. But there were a lot of protests about the way that Bangladeshi and the area of Brick Lane were portrayed in the film, so apparently Prince Charles, who was initially supposed to attend the premiere, ducked out at the last minute. Now I've just got to see the movie!

I've got a thing about reading books before movies. Sometimes if the book's too good, I don't want to spoil it by seeing the film. Like "Mystic River". Even though I love Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins, I still can't bring myself to rent the DVD.

So next up:

Cover photograph: Chris Fraser Smith

I know, it's another older book, but the movie's coming out and I've got to read this REAL FAST!

Whatcha reading mummy?

Now that I'm starting to get more into the blogging swing of things, and have made some very cool blog buddies, I'm constantly amazed at how many super-intelligent people, especially women, are out there in the blogosphere. And even more impressed by how well-read and cerebral these people are. What I can't get over is how many books they have read and are reading. Whereas yours truly can barely get through the flyers that come once a week with our neighbourhood paper, scouring for the best deals on Pampers and Cashmere toilet paper. For me there aren't enough hours in the day!

One of my cerebral friends is my sister, who kindly let me borrow about a dozen books from her after I had just given birth to the little G. The theory was that I would read while I nursed, and heck, if she was nursing every couple of hours, for at least 1/2 hour every time, I should easily be able to get through a handful of books. So, how many did I manage to get through? Weeellll... maybe about 3 of them! And remember, the little girl is now just about 2 1/2 years old.

In addition to what sis gave me, I did have some other titles at home that I had just never gotten around to. So in all I did manage to read the following: other women, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, The Human Stain, The DaVinci Code, the Five People you meet in Heaven, The Girls and partway through Interpreter of Maladies.

I should confess that in between I also subscribe to a few magazines, and my guilty read every time we go on holiday is the latest issue of "In Style" magazine. It really is important to know who's wearing what dress to what venue in which international glam city - just in case I ever happen to go to those spots, heaven forbid if I show up in the same outfit as Mischa Burton (as if!).

In order to instill a love of reading in my kids (and also to save money on buying books that I might never finish) I've started taking them to the library on a more regular basis. I used to really enjoy chick lit, ie. Bridget Jones' Diary, I Don't Know How She Does It, and the Shopaholic series. So I borrowed "Shopaholic and Sister", but rather than enjoying it, I'm finding the character increasingly annoying. Now it's just a chore to get through the darn thing. I took it with me yesterday to Liam's swimming lesson in the hopes that I might actually finish my speed-read during the one hour wait, but I ended up flipping through the summer camp schedule instead. For the whole hour. Talk about avoidance.

Maybe my tastes are really changing. Or perhaps my mommy brain is just seeking something a little deeper these days. I used to use chick lit to escape from the very dry, scientific work world (who wants to argue the virtues of bioequivalence, biosimilarity and therapeutic equivalence on a hot summer day?). Now this genre just seems too fluffy (at least this book).

But I'd better finish it. I've got Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures just screaming at me to pick it up. And like a really bad movie rental, I find it extremely difficult to return a book without completing the read, no matter how excruciating the experience may be.

Dangerous

There's a new book being talked about particularly around parenting circles and it looks like it will be a best seller. "Dangerous Book for Boys" is its title, and that in itself certainly makes it intriguing. From the description (and I haven't yet read it) it's a salute to the "young boy" sense of adventure, the natural curiosity and quest for that taste of danger that lives within each one of us (yes, girls too). Who doesn't want to know how to cartwheel, or make the perfect waterbomb?

I like the concept of it, probably because of its pure simplicity. Things that may now seem somewhat "dangerous" were really just fun and games and activities of the innocent back when I was a kid. Not that I partook in that type of behaviour - no, my childhood pursuits were more academic and artistic in nature. More befitting of a girl, dance and piano lessons were what kept me busy. Any athletic pursuits were in very controlled settings ie. the swimming pool and skating rink for figure eights. I was forbidden to do any skiing (snow or water) or anything else that would have the potential for injury. I consider myself quite a cautious, reserved person, and it's hard to know if it was nature or nurture that made me this way.

My husband, well he lived almost the polar opposite type of childhood. His days were spent running and tripping around, riding his bike, hanging from trees in his Speedo swim trunks. He made a game of counting all his bruises every time he had a bath, proudest when he had a new crop surface. When he describes his childhood, it sounds picture perfect. Even now as an adult, he isn't afraid to try new things -- he loves to travel, doesn't really like to stay at the same place more than once as there's just so much more to experience in life, and he doesn't fret much about things that aren't in his control.

Now that we have a little boy (and a littler girl), we're trying to encourage them to explore the world, be open to new experiences and to try not to be held back by unfounded fears or fear of the unknown (especially when they are fears that we as parents harbour for them). It seems to be a more dangerous world now, though, and it is our natural inclination to want to protect them. It is a fine balance.

I can't wait to get my hands on this book, perhaps even more for myself. While I feel that I did have a nice childhood, there should always be more time for play in life. It's never too late for that.