I'm back from a deep slumber of bloglessness. I have been doing a lot of computer work lately, seeing as I need to convert all the movies onto a DVD, and everything, but that isn't what I want to blog about.

The weather has been lousy, the rotary has been altered, out of the blue, I got a space maintainer in my mouth permanantly, so I can't chew gum anymore, or any of that sticky stuff.

Sam has a new toy. It's called a chicken-chucker, and it catapults fake plastic chickens out of a gun-like machine, and I have gotten numerous chickens in my eye. Sam has a red spot in his eye, and that is worrying us all, though he doesn't complain about it. We would be swimming a lot if the weather weren't so lousy, but that isn't for us to decide.

A space maintainer has been put in my mouth. It sometimes feels comfortable, yet it can be annoying. I got a mold of the bottom and the top of my mouth, so now my mouth smiles at me on my bedpost, every night when I go to bed. Kind of nice to have a mold of your own teeth.

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Un. Believe. Able.

Mom already mentioned that the rules have changed for the Armdale rotary. Technically, that's no longer it's name - it has been changed to the, "Armdale Traffic Circle". Even when I checked on Wikipedia 2 days ago, it redirected me to "Armdale Traffic Circle"
So, I have composed this ... thing ... in memory of the Armdale Rotary.

Armdale Rotary in Memorium

A cultural landmark,

if you could drive the Rotary then

you were one of us;

the simply complicated rules of

yield and proceed

(which really means, take turns)

seemed to be very confusing to Ontarians

etc.

Some people in Halifax

have never driven the 401

but really, that's nothing

because they've all

driven the rotary.

Built in 1955

to handle 20,000 cars

per day

It now handles over 50,000

So that's 50,000 people to teach new rules.

Anyway, so there's my crappy poem. Just so you know, today I'm getting driven to work, but I'm planning to walk home because I'm too scared to take the bus, which goes through the rotary. The walk home is 6 km. That is how nervous I would be.

And seriously, the fact that there are NO police officers, and NO signs,(In fact, the old signs are still there) - just the radio to tell drivers - and what if the drivers don't listen to the radio - I mean, if you were holed up at home for a while, and then you decided to do your shopping and you'd never listened to the newpaper or read the radio (as you can see, I'm slightly irate) at Halifax Shopping Centre, and you have to go through the rotary, what then huh? HUH?

I actually hope someone sues the province for causing their accident.

More Musings from Marsha

The other night Sammy wouldn't go to sleep despite all my efforts - he finally fell asleep at 12:30. I was woken early by complaints that one anonymous child was not sharing the last 3 waffles with another anonymous child. I woke from my unrefreshing sleep to rectify this - then flopped back to bed to try to sleep more. (Why bother? This never works for me but I tried). Sammy saunters into the room and says, "Can I have a pop sicle?" I grunted tersely "yes go ahead and have a pop sicle". He put his little face right next to mine & said, "say it nicely mommy".

I have been making the kids exercise at least 2 hours a day so that I don't have a repeat of Sammy at midnight. Yesterday we walked to the library twice. Today we walked to the Dingle Park - a good 45 minutes each way. We dropped by our friend Randy's house which is always a treat. I asked to see pictures of her brother's wedding. She said, "I missed the wedding". She left 2 hours early, but had to stop to get a prescription filled. While doing this she locked her keys in her car. She called her neighbour in a panic but he wasn't home. She asked Canadian Tire to break into her car but they refused. She called a cab & the cab got stopped for speeding on the way back to her place. She had to walk the rest of the way home. She finally got home, got back to her car & arrived at the Air Canada counter 30 minutes before take off. They said, "we have a 30 minute policy - if you aren't here by then we don't let you on". She had to buy another ticket with a different air carrier for $500. She got to Montreal just as they were leaving to go the restaurant for the reception. Her brother was totally cool with it and knew something terrible must have happened because she wouldn't miss the wedding for the world.

I've become hooked on FIFA World Cup Soccer. Ron, Katelyn & Dan have been hooked on it since the beginning. Now as things are getting further on in the tournament we are seeing some really great play. We are also seeing some really bad calls, some goals that should have been disallowed, etc. I have always found it really irritating when commentators are super-critical of players. I think "yeah like you could do any better". Now I am a closet critic. As Dan said, "the problem with Ghana is not their defenders. It is that their strikers are crap" There were points in the Ghana V. Brasil game where I would have hurt the referee for making lousy calls. Hmm ... perhaps I am too into it. I do so hope Ghana or another of the African nations does better next time.

Our other new obsession is Jamie Oliver - he is the young English chef who has a cooking show. I've never watched a cooking show in my life. But this is really cool stuff. Dan, Katelyn, Sarah & I are totally into it - staying up too late to watch just another episode. We are going to make some of the dishes he showed on his show - mashed potatoes with spring onions in it. That is authentic Irish-style and is called "Champ". He also did a lovely marinade for roasted chicken & roasted potatoes that looked divine and quite doable. Hurrah hurrah. I love cooking especially when it is simple and delicious. Jamie is a little heavy on the fat - we'll just cut down when we make it.

All this doesn't sound very exciting. But hey when every day is rainy and cool you have to make up your own fun. Oh! And one more exciting thing for Haligonians. We have a roundabout called the Rotary. It operates on a one in, one out principle and has for 39 years. They decided on Tuesday night that they were going to change the rules & make it a proper English roundabout where those in the traffic circle have right of way. Implementation was immediate, the next morning. But they haven't changed the signs, they don't have anyone posted to help and advertising doesn't start until Friday. I came through today & followed the new rules. But another woman followed the old rules. I talked to someone today who said, "but I always did it the way they are saying is the "new" way". There has already been once accident & some people are just refusing to use it (which means a lot of extra driving). I'm embarrassed to tell this story because it doesn't sound very exciting if you don't live here. But it is big news to Haligonians.

OK. Must go to bed. Sending my love to you all.

The Upside of Fruitcake

Mom, Dan and I had a discussion yesterday. And it all started because Dan told me that someone was a fruitcake. Mom was...quite shocked. "What's a fruitcake Katelyn?"
"Well, um, an airhead."
"Well," -- at this point she lowered her voice confidentially -- "Actually it means an effeminate man."
"I've never heard it used that way," I countered, "Remember in that book they called the woman a fruitcake and she was not a) a man or b) effeminate. Just feminine."
"Well," she said, "that is certainly not the way it's used today. It's kind of a politically incorrect word."
"Huh. We'll have to look up what it says in the Dictionary when we get home."

Well, we did. First came:

fruitcake:n. A cake studded with dried nuts and fruit, us served during Christmas time.

It said something similar to that anyway.

Then it said: fruitcake:n a mad or eccentric person

Note that there was no emphasis on "effeminate", "Usually referring to men", or "airheaded" although according to that definition an effeminate man and/or an airhead would both qualify.

So, just to be sure, I checked the msn dictionary -- which, by the way, I highly recommend for the price, which is free -- just to be sure:


2. somebody irrational: an offensive term for somebody considered to be irrational or out of touch with reality ( insult )

Well, I guess we were all wrong. What did YOU guys think fruitcake means?

Name That Horse

It's 1:11 and two hours and one minute earlier, I called CBC radio to submit a name for the new police horse. I named him.............................Patrol of Green Stables. Kate made up the last name. And I told them that they can call Patrol of Green Stables 'Patrol' for short. Oh, and will you please comment. Bye bye.

American Football Sucks

We've been watching a lot of soccer lately because the World Cup is on. So our house has been crying with indignation for the past few days - "I can't BELIEVE that the ref let that offside goal against Ghana count," and, "The Italians didn't deserve that penalty kick in the Australian box - I think the ref just didn't want to referee another half hour." Right now, my first choice to win the cup - England - has not been eliminated, but my 2nd choice - Australia, my 3rd choice - USA, and my 4th choice - Ghana have all been eliminated. Actually, I was hoping for an Iran v. USA final - and I wouldn't have really cared who won - but Iran & the USA were both eliminated on the first round.

I'm rooting for England, but if I was betting money I'd bet on Brazil. Especially because Ronaldo looks like he could bite your head off,

though I'll give him credit for being the best ever soccer player in the world.

A Dog Named Hansel

When we were walking along the street today we came across some dog poo. So there were many cries to the people behind us: "WATCH OUT FOR THE DOG POO!!", "Don't step in the dog doo!!" and so on. Nobody stepped in it.

A few metres later, we came across some more! From then on for about 10 feet, there were little bits of dog poo, say, every foot. For some, slightly obvious, reason this reminded me of Hansel and Gretel, except instead of marking their path with crumbs, some dog thought that letting another bit go every little while would take him back to wherever he came from.

Cute Quotes

I was with the little boys the other day & saw a car with its rear windshield gone. The boys asked what happened. The guy said, "I think probably some teenagers doing vandalism". Matt started laughing. "Ha ha that is funny. You mean cardalism. If it was our van it would be vandalism." The guy said, "I see your point but I'm not laughing because I don't have insurance. It will cost me $500 to get repaired." Matt, who is soft hearted said, "well good luck in finding the money to repair it." He is the type of kid who would hand over the $500 if he had it.

I was snuggling close to Sammy last night and told him he smelled really good. He smiled happily and said, "I smell good because I used a whole bottle of shampoo to wash myself." It didn't really phase me ... that's why I buy the no-name brand and usually don't leave shampoo around when the little boys take a bath.

Tidbits from the Head Honcho???

Once again the lack of bloggage from Abarba-land is shocking. What do these kids think - that is the summer? I will try to fill you in

1. The 4 mentos in the 2L diet coke bottles, closing the cap & throwing it on the ground was not very exciting. Anyone that can further enlighten us on this one, please comment. We did manage to get diet coke all over us but that was not quite the effect we were looking for.

2. Sammy lost his second baby tooth & Ron told him that the tooth fairy pays extra money for extra clean teeth. Sammy is a very good brusher so score a point for him! Sammy woke me up in the middle of the night because there was a twonie & 2 notes under his pillow. One, in Sarah's hand writing said, "your tooth is very clean. Good work." The second, in Matt's handwriting said, "Yes Sam, they will (referring to adult teeth growing in) And I'll might give you 2 dollers if you er good. Matt's note was signed "Jake" (the tooth fairy)

3. The kids bought a football at a yard sale on Saturday for 25 cents. They are loving it. They have decided to form a football team called the "Titanium Turtles". They have asked me to take them to Frenchies for white t-shirts that they can tie die into a team jersey.

4. We've discovered a new favourite Discovery Channel show called "Dirty Jobs". One job was inspecting sewage pipes under San Francisco streets. It was gross - rats, cockroaches, incoming toilet pipes, etc. I was afraid I would dream of rats but Ron did dream of cockroaches. But it is a very good show, highly educational & funny.

5. Tonight Ron was out so I invited a student named Ashley over. She came straight from her summer admin job. The kids were wild with energy. We went to York Redoubt, showed her all around, inside tunnels, secret battlements, etc. Then it rained on us. Actually I digress to say we are having a lot of rain & it is getting difficult to feel chipper in the rain. Then we had supper together, heard about her trip to France, compared warts on our feet & discussed dental retainers, all while drinking tea. A very well-rounded evening.

Season 1 of CBS Kids has ended and will be on the market soon. We will not be making any more movies until August.

Innocence and Donuts

I did not sleep well last night so when I got up this morning I slipped out to get a coffee. On my way out the door I picked up a hitch-hiker - Sam. Through the drive through he finally decided on a sprinkle donut with strawberry filling. I pulled over so he could eat his donut in the van thus avoiding bringing him into contact with his vulture siblings. They would circle above their prey screeching , "Can I have a bite, can I have a bite, can I have a bite ..."

Sam climbed into the front seat and started into that donut like he had not seen food for a week. He had sprinkles all over his face. And when he hit that strawberry filling his eye lit up as if he had just been plugged into a nuclear reactor. There was something so beautiful about watching him enjoy it. I am sure he never thought for a moment, "Is this good for me? Maybe I shouldn't be eating this? What about poor people who don't have donuts?" He just enjoyed it in all his innocence.

These are unexpected and powerful moments for a dad.

OK OK I'm bloging.Now were are we in the story ah! right here.the 4 kids enterd the huge room were a verry plump and mean looking boy was.He said what are YOU doing here? and they said we came here I i i i i I mean we ran away from home. Are perents make US do all the work and feed us half a leef a day so we ran away.Oh foooy said the boy. Girls can not come in but you boys can. All 3 boys said we will not take that as a anser. Then get out. they said fine they said we will go tell the police. So they did the police said that they will come right away so they came and the kids showd the police were the boys were after they got him in to a foster home(after 3 weeks)and all th others to they said were are YOUR perents. So the told the the storry and one police man said me and me wife will odopt you. so the 4 kids lived and stil live happaly ever after THE END well thats it and I hope you liked it

sarah

If you read Platinum Blonde's blog you will know that her husband the cop split his pants while arresting a criminal. So today I was in a store & a cop came in. I specifically looked at his pants to check the seam. There was plenty of extra material there. Clearly his pants would allow for running after criminals, doing deep knee bends and even yoga if necessary. I laughed to myself because I thought if anyone noticed me they would think I was just looking at the cop's bum. But oh no. This was official "friend of a cop's wife" business. Officer Nathan you need to start a petition to have the police seamstress replaced.

This morning I went with Katelyn to the Periodontist. She actually needs gum grafts in two places. And that means two surgeries. She tried to talk the Periodontist in to doing it all at once. But they said no. It is tender afterwards like when you burn your palate with pizza. You have to chew on the other side of your mouth. All totalled it is 5 appointments, plus the consult today. Her first surgery in in Novemember.

Ron was out late last night with the Leaderquesters & a then had to drive one of them to the airport at 5:30 am. But this afternoon he volunteered to take two boys to the dentist. I am very grateful as the dentist office makes me sick. I assume it is the chemicals. I've been feeling sick lately at the hair salon too. I'll just add these to the already long list of environmental and food allergies I've got.

Random Ramblings

There has been a shameful lack of bloggage on our site lately. I will try to fill in some highlights of our life lately.

1. As per the suggestion of blog readers we tried the Mentos in Diet Coke trick in our backyard. It was a lot of fun. We put one Mentos into a 2L bottle of diet coke & there was a nice little fountain. Then the kids went downstairs and did some searching on the internet. Tomorrow we are going to try 4 mentos in a 2L bottle of diet coke, close the lid & smash the bottle on the ground. In the videos we saw on the internet these things took off like a rocket. The kids really wanted to do it in our backyard but I didn't think we should take the chance of our elderly grouchy neighbour showing up in his backyard and ending up being covered in diet coke - thrown from a 2L coke bottle-turned rocket. Sorry kids but I just don't think that is a good idea.

2. Ron has been doing the final retreat for this leadership program he has been taking 4 recently graduated university students through. For a last hurrah they went on a 6 hour kayak ride in the ocean. Katelyn got to go along to "even the numbers". Ron & Katelyn loved it though they came home quite burnt. When last scene Katelyn was rubbing calendula ointment all over her face.

3. Since the retreat is over we got the leftovers! This is always a happy day for the kids. There were all kinds of forbidden foods brought home. Raisin bran, orange juice, cow's milk, granola bars. Can life get any better than this?

4. I've just finished two fantastic autobiographies by Canadian Children's book author Jean Little. She was so deeply honest - about being grouchy, feeling misunderstood, feeling lonely in a crowd where she did not know anyone, feeling insecure, wanting to make friends but being afraid that people were too busy, etc. I appreciated her admitting what I suspect all of us feel at least some of the time.

5. Tomorrow I have to spend most of the day in dental offices. Katelyn has a consultation for gum surgery she needs (minor surgery - related to having braces). Dan needs an extraction (the Abarba family have too many teeth and not big enough mouths). And Matt needs a filling.

6. When a pen doesn't work, Sam says it is out of gink. I don't know why but this always makes me laugh.

7. Sam asked me to hug his blanket Alex the other day, but not to touch him in one spot because Alex was hurting in that spot. Tonight we found out that Alex is a vegetarian.

8. I spent 30 minutes on the phone tonight with a children's librarian trying to figure out how to find more books for Matt to read. He has read every book in our library branch at his reading level. He is a boy & so he wants to read non-fiction. After I hung up I ordered 60 books. Matt is reading about 15 "step into reading" books a day. This is a good problem to have. The other night when our friend Ashley was over he said, "So you went to visit Rome? That was pretty close to Pompeii."

What is that suspicious looking brown mark on your shorts?

Katelyn said to me yesterday, "Mom - what is that brown mark on your shorts?". I took them off and looked at them. Just imagine someone pooing their pants. Yes, you get the picture - that's exactly what my shorts looked like. I had taken the 3 younger kids to the Dingle Park. The kids had wanted to watch a speed boat launch on the wharf. So I sat down on the wharf. When I got up I noticed a brown mark on the wharf but didn't pay too much attention. However, when Katelyn pointed out my "soiled" pants it all came back to me. I was afraid it was an oil stain. But then I smelled it. Yup. Up close and personal. I am happy to report that it was a chocolate ice cream stain.

Now the only question is how many people at the park noticed the big brown spot on my shorts before Katelyn???

Conspiracy Theorists Puzzled by Harper's Recent Behavior

Edmonton Alberta:

Even before Stephen Harper was elected as our next Prime Minister, theories were rampant about him really being George Bush in disguise. However yesterdays Edmonton Oilers game, I am sure, puzzled the conspiracy theorists. For Stephen Harper showed up to cheer the Oilers on - something I cannot imagine George Bush doing, ever. Was George Bush at any of the games in Carolina? I rest my case.

Anyway, I was proud of him for sticking to hockey when they interviewed him. I wish he'd worn an Oilers jersey and carried a pom-pom, but hey!, at least he was wearing a blue suit.

Sam is fussing

Sam is fussing with this explanation, "I have a sunburn on my scapulas".

COMMENTS!!!!

no one been checking my blogs. Here's
the blog......................................................................I NEED COMMENTS, OR I'LL GO R.I.G(gloomynes)

Beach Bums

We have had rain 12 out 17 days in June. Halifax rain is different than Ontario rain. In Ontario it can rain at 10 am for 30 minutes and that is it. The sun will come out and the birds will start singing. In Halifax if you wake up and it is raining, you KNOW it will rain all day. On Thursday we had the tail end of Hurricane Alberto - rain, wind and broken tree limbs.

So our kids suggested on Wednesday when it was sunny that we should go to the beach. I suggested that the water would be too cold. They said it wouldn't be so we went. The bigger kids go into the water, though they admit that it is cold. The little boys spend less time in the water. They play in the sand, building castles. Then when the big kids can't stand it anymore they build castles too or read books. There were quite a few other people at the beach yesterday, including quite a few high school kids who were skipping school. The "in" style seems to be a rapper look - big white t-shirt, saggy bottom pants, blingage and a big hat. Matt decided it would be fun to get wet & then roll himself in sand. Then he ran around the beach going "Aaaaah" Sam thought this was funny so he joined in. The only problem is the rappers didn't understand that they were just playing ... they jumped out of the way when they saw all that sand coming towards their nice white t-shirts. They didn't look so cool then & their language was rated 18.

Last week we had a fun visit from Scott, an old friend. He asked them what they were learning in school. They felt a bit awkward because they had just finished school. Then Danny pipes up and says, "we don't do school ... ever". We explained what they meant but it sounded like we were very counter-cultural for a minute. Then Matt showed Scott a rapper/gangsta move with his arm & then said, "peace to your mother, man". Scott asked what the difference was between a rapper and a gangsta. Matt said, "they are the same except a gangsta can't rap". All the adults thought this very funny.

For his birthday Ron got digital cable for a month so he could watch World Cup soccer. There are usually 4 games per day but he and the older kids watch one game every other day. It is beautiful stuff - they see the perfected moves that their soccer coach has been trying to teach them for years. Things like "heading" the ball into the goal. It is like ballet. Since we don't have television, whenever we have access to one it is a bit weird. We watch the commercials and look at each other quizzically because it is so stupid or so unrelated to the product they are selling. And the same commercials come on over and over again. During intermission we flipped through the channels and there was NOTHING on - how could there be so many channels and nothing on?

Hey hey, I'm a biker...

Yesterday I had to babysit a kid at 3:15 who lives too far away to walk, so I have to bike or take the bus. Well, since taking the bus costs money (and not just a lump sum), I decided to bike. What I did not anticipate -- which is very unlike me, because I am usually on top of this and try not to go out running or biking or walking when this happens -- is that 3:00 is exactly when kids get out of school, and there were hordes of them walking along the sidewalk. What I also didn't anticipate, was the large amount of vehicles on the road. Now normally this wouldn't bother me much -- you know, I stay on the white line and cars won't crash into me, -- but this is a curvy road, and school buses are hardly the same as cars. I mean, they take up the whole lane. Even school buses wouldn't normally be a problem -- Williams Lake Road may be narrow, but it has a wide graveled shoulder, which isn't ideal for biking, but is safe enough to swerve onto if you find yourself pedaling madly trying to beat a school bus to the corner.

As you can probably guess, this is exactly what happened to me. I was just biking along, and I looked back and there was a school bus behind me. I also saw that there was one of those huge mail trucks parked on the -- very large -- shoulder. The mail truck was actually larger than this humungous sholdier, and was over the white line by about 8 inches. So I swerved onto the shoulder. Then, I looked in front of me, saw the mail truck advancing much too fast, swerved again, had an oh sh*t moment, and went down spectacularly, chain side down, in a shower of gravel. I reskinned my knee, (which I had already skinned earlier that week), but what I was most annoyed about was that there were approximately 2345098 people watching me. All of which were boys in grade 8-9; they are the kind that will just stand there laughing at you and not ask you if you're ok. Which, of course, is exactly what they did. So, I moved my bike so that I was in front of the mail box and didn't have to pay attention to them, and tried to get back on and pedal. Oops - that was a bad idea, because the spat in the gravel had taken the chain COMPLETELY off and it was now horribly stuck underneath the chain guard. Fast forward about 3 minutes and you will find me elbow deep in grease exerting all my strength trying to get the chain untangled. Keep in mind that all the time I have been doing this, people have been walking past me, staring at me quizzically, and not offering to help! I mean, I didn't ask anyone, but I had only been at it for 3 minutes. After ten minutes of pulling and tugging and not getting anywhere, finally, a Mom came by with her two kids and another girl that I know.

The Woman (who's name was Susan) asked if there was anybody she could call. The answer was no - I mean I could have called the family I was babysitting for to tell them I wouldn't be coming, and I could call my Dad to let him know I'd had an accident, but Mom was out with the van, and the family I babysit for doesn't have a car, so what I was going to have to do - if I didn't somehow make it to my job - was wheel my bike all the way home - 25 minutes, uphill. So she said she'd go check if there was room in her station wagon for my bike (I could take the front wheel off) because it was only a 3 minute drive. While she was gone Jamie (the other girl) and I tugged the chain free. It took us 10 whole minutes, which should give you an idea of how tangled the chain was, because we are both very strong, athletic girls. One of us would strain to hold the chain guard out of the way, and the other one would strain to pull the chain out. Link by link. We talked with lipreading and pidgin sign-language because she's deaf. Finally Susan came back with her station wagon, and drove me and my bike to work. What a lifesaver! And I was only 5-10 minutes late - much better than what I was envisioning.

I wish I could know Susan's last name so I could send her a thankyou not - I'm sure my Mom was a little disappointed in me about this - but oh well. Anyway, Susan, if you're reading this, Thank-you very much. And Thank-you Jamie for helping me pull the chain out of the chain guard, which was a HARD job.

When I got there I had bike grease ALL over me. I must have been a sight - it was up to my elbows, opaquely coating my hands, all over both my legs, and there was even some on my forehead and neck. Fortunately it came off easily -- at one point I felt like I was getting ready for surgery a la ER - scrubbing my arms all the way up to the elbow.

After I was done babysitting I called Dad to tell him that I'd had an accident and I was going outside to try and put my chain back on the gears. Our conversation went something like this:

K: "Hey Dad,"
D: "Hi,"
K: "I had a bike accident, and my chain got all tangled so I'm going to try fixing it now--"
D: "Did it SNAP?!"
K: "Oh, nonono, it's fully intact."
D: "Did you damage it?"
K: "No."
D: "So what's wrong?"
K: "Well, it fell off the gears and got all tangled up in the chain guard. Finally I got it untangled, but I didn't manage to put it back on the gears -- no time -- I'm going outside to do it now."
D: "So how did you get to work.:
K: "I hitchhiked." (Actually I said I got a ride, but his reaction would have been the same.)
D: "YOU WHAT?!"
K: "Dad, Dad, it was a woman - she had two kids."
D: "So is your bike working?"
K: "Er--"
D: "You mean you're planning to bike home from work and your bike isn't even working?!"
K: "Well, the chain just slipped. I already told you -- I'm going outside to put it back on.
D: "Oh, ok. Make sure you test it out and you're careful, and if it doesn't work you can take a cab."
K: "Okay, see ya, bye."
D: "Bye."

Well, to make a long story short, my bike is fine and I biked home safely. It was raining, so I was wet. And I had leaves and stuff all over me and there was more bike grease on my legs.

Oh well. My bike works.

Hockey Night In Canada, Football Day In England

I just updated Our Theatre

The Oilers WIN 4:3! They are coming back from the hole that the best teams pushed them into. They still have a chance for the cup. It was a quick game, with tons of body checks, high-sticking. Quite violent, and two players got into a minor fight after the second period ended. Sad. I stayed up till 11:00 last night watching the hockey game. I left when the second period ended, and the game was tied 3:3.

Soccer/Football

Germany beats Poland 1:0, and Spain beats Ukraine 4:0, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia Tie 2:2. This is a good day. England is doing the kickoff with Trinidad and Tobago. It really is terrible. Togo is a small country and they got a team in. We are the second biggest country and did nil.

Ok, I'm getting sports fever, so I had better stop blogging

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Bits and Bites

This weekend was Ron's birthday. We managed to spread the big celebration over 3 days. On Day 1 (also known as Saturday) we had a special lemon-oregano chicken/rice/asparagus/carrots dinner. For dessert I made the Oh-so-fancy chocolate cake mix with a can of cherry pie filling added. Strangely this is always a big hit wherever I go. On Sunday Ron managed to avoid being sung Happy Birthday at church (all foot massages for this grand feat can be directed to me). Then he played indoor soccer and was very happy to get exercise while actually having fun. On the evening of Day 2 I took him out for his annual steak dinner. Much to my shock and embarrassment he sent it back because it wasn't medium rare. But the waitress said she was glad he said something. The second steak was very good. And on Day 3 (that's today) we brought him home a Tim Horton's strawberry tart which he liked very much.

Now it is back to reality ... for supper tonight I served vegetable stir fry. Some people just hate this meal. One male child asked repeatedly, "does it have kale in it? No? Does it have swiss chard in it?" I assured him repeatedly that it contained neither swiss chard or kale. When the food was put before him he called me a liar. I pointed out that the green leafy stuff was not swiss chard - it was beet greens.

Last week I made this amazing red lentil soup with brown rice, onions & dates. It was fantastic - or so Katelyn & I thought. A friend put me on to this recipe site called "recipezaar.com" It is very good if you like to use new recipes, or, as was my case, want to know how to get rid of 4 cups of red lentils.

A few weeks ago we had some great weather. We have a rule in our house that once the great weather comes, school ends. So we made the announcement with accompanying hurrays, screams of delight and an impromptu conga line. Of course the next day it started to rain. I didn't really pay attention to how many days it rained but my aunt pointed out yesterday that it had been 12 straight. Today the sun shone & we spent most of the day outside. Tomorrow, and for the rest of the week it is supposed to rain again. Note to self: check long-range forecast before ending the school year.

Thanks to all who called with birthday greetings.

Oh one more thing. Last week our dinner party/Bible Study group had our year-end party. We played Scattegories. If you don't know you roll a dice which gives you a letter of the alphabet to start your words with. Then you have a list of things you have to figure out that start with that letter. So we rolled an "A" and the question was "items you find in a souvenir shop". One of the teams came up with "action movies". The other teams get to give a thumbs up or thumbs down - we gave this a big thumbs down. One of the team members said, "you guys I have been in at least 3 souvenir shops in the last month that sell action movies". Well this just made it funnier. This might be one of those "had to be there" things - but if you haven't laughed all day & it is raining where you live, I hope this makes you giggle.

Our Theatre was updated Wednesday last week, so if you haven't seen it, you had better see it now

VIVA FIFA 2006

So the World Cup of Soccer has begun which, to most Canadians anyway, is ho-hum news. Here, however, there is electricity in the air. Since we do not have a TV, WE HAVE A PROBLEM. The kids dragged me out to their coaches house at 10:00 am this morning to watch the England game (Colin their coach will watch every single game). It was fun - and what made it better was that England won 1-0.

Here is a little Matt featurette: When I came home I overheard him ask Marsha, "Mom, can we go to the dollar store to get supplies so I can make a replica of Yorkshire Battery?" Matt is into rockets, replicas, buildings and has an inexhaustible imagination. He is also collecting beanie babies for some reason. I think he has 10 or so and my favorite is his multi-colored parrot who he affectionately calls Brutus after the famous Brutus who betrayed Julius Caesar. I believe this parrot also plays a minor role in the short the kids made called, "The True Story of Julius Caesar" in which Matt plays Julius.

I couldn't sleep last night, because I ate two brownies and had a cup of green tea before bed

First of all, I'd like to criticize all of you, (except for Aimee, who is still in the hospital with her new twins), who read this blog. You readers, don't seem to miss my posts; I haven't blogged in a week, and I haven't recieved a single, "Gee Katelyn, we've really been missing your posts. When are you going to blog again?" comment. A week! I was tempted to just stop blogging until somebody noticed my absence, but I have a feeling that wouldn't happen until everybody in my family stopped blogging, and then the, "When are you going to blog again?", comment would be more like, "Oh, um, Abarbanels, we haven't heard from you for a long time...what's up?" and then a post from Dan, or Sarah, or Matt would perfectly satisfy your yearning for news from our perspective.

Well, there is no news. It's been raining almost non-stop since I last posted. Yesterday I went out for a 40 minute run in it. Two days ago Dad went out for a 70 minute run, which was his first truly long run ever. I biked alongside him so that I could give him water, and it was nice because it's a nice bike route along lakes, forests, rocks, and ocean. I also explored parts of Halifax that I'd never seen before, including Herring Cove Junior High, which looks like a prison. (Although has the best reputation of any school above the Armdale Rotary.) Anyway, so Dad ran 12 km, and I biked it (which was not hard), but Dad couldn't walk for two days. Oh! A quotable quote, "Now that I've done 12 km, I feel sure I could do a marathon!"

Yeh, maybe he's right - but I can do 12 km, and I sure don't think I can do a marathon.

Story 2
After supper (supper was half a leaf) it was time to clean up. Mom and Dad went to bed. After that Dan said I think we need to run away. Everyone agreed so they got all the food they needed and their coats and some blakets and ran all the way to an old abandoned place. A tall building loomed above them. "This will do for a home," said Dan. "It is haunted" they heard someone say. Then a boy said, "no one lives in it and no one ever will". When they went away the kids came out of the shadows. "This is all ours", they said. They went in and there were 100 beds. It was all they had ever wanted. I can't tell you how nice it was. "This is a palisp" said Sam(who had a lisp) It was beautiful. Dan said, "Yeah, this will do for a home." So they went up the stairs and there were five sleeping figures. The four kids crowded around them. One was a very very fat boy. The others were really really skinny. The four kids got into some of the beds downstairs and they slept. The next day they got up and remembered everything immediately. They went upstairs and there were 4 boys dressing in clothes too big for them. They all screamed when they saw the four kids. They said, "what are you doing here?" Dan said, "we ran away from home". The other kids said, "we have to take you to our leader". Their leader was the fat boy. They went in to a large room

~to be continued.

Do you like this story??? (intro)

I am using you guys as my focus group for a new book I am writing. Please comment on what you think of my book. Also please let me know what a good title would be.

Chapter 1 - "The Tunnel"

Five workers were fired from their construction company. So they wanted to make a tunnel to prove they were good workers. Then they hoped their boss would give them their job back. Half-way into the tunnel they were checking for bad stuff - bats, a family of foxes, bears, etc. While they were looking they didn't know it but they were near a magic hole. They all fell into the hole and the hole turned them into eagles. But they could still talk like humans too. They fell into a room with an exit and there were 6 other eagles there. They were from the same construction company and had also been fired and were also trying to prove they could make a tunnel to get their jobs back. But the tunnel collapsed while they were working on it. One of the eagles left and went to Newfoundland. That was exactly 8,675.98 nautical miles away (I looked it up on Google earth). Then all the other eagles started the journey to Newfoundland. But their flight plan involved flying across America, Mexico, Iraq and Africa. Iraq was the hardest area to fly over because there was a war there. They managed to crash about 70 Iraqi airplanes down. America was also very hard to fly over because an Eagle is America's national animal. So people tried to shoot them down, and stuff them to put in their houses.

This ends the first chapter. Tune in for chapter 2 next week.
(comment)
~Love Matt~

This is how the wet suits went. I got on one to big for me. Matt got on one to big for him. Sam got on one too big for him. I think I can get away with it so I go dawn stares and say Dan want to try it on.(I am thinking its to big for Dan) he try's it and it fits oh man I say in my mined. Kate says to Dan let me have a try so he did and it fits Kate and now she is guarding It .Back to me I don't have a wet suit and matts is to big for him so I say let me try it I try it fits. Sams is to big for him matt try's it it fits so now Dan and Sam don't have wet suits.

sarah

If you haven't seen How To Survive Wildlife in Our Theatre you had better see it now, because it is updated tomorrow.

It's been hectic around here, let me tell you. Our friend Mary gave us a bunch of wet suits. Sarah walked down with a wet suit that clearly over-fitted her, and she offered it to me to try on. Seeing as I hate practicing mouth to mouth wearing nothing but a pair of shorts (you don't really have to, but it creeps you out) I gladly jumped to trying on the suit. The shoulders were airy, and the crotch didn't ride up enough, but I thought it was acceptable. I had completely forgot that katelyn is the same size as me (taking away the height) with more shoulder. She asked if she could try on the wet suit, and seeing as I couldn't say no, I let her. Crap. Fits her even more than me and now the suit guaranteed to be hers. She might let me use it on a cold rainy day, but you win some, you lose some. So now the three wetsuits given to us belong to Katelyn, Sarah and Matt. Sam almost got one, and figuring out that they were too big, started crying. As usual. Hmmmm. Well, I've made a decision. I am supposed to do one course in junior high, and I've chosen Electric Guitar. I haven't said it to mom and dad yet, because they think I am going to do shop or family studies. I think now that a decision is made. The only fear I ever had of an instrument was starting and embarrasment. I guess everybody else humiliates themselves with an instrument. I've played a baritone, and believe me, it sounded like a constipated gorilla. I don't think I should play a wind instrument. I will play strings.

<><

STOP!!!!!!

Now for to days story. Twas a gloomy day.STOP!!!!!! what? oh!!!! It seems we have a telagram frooooom miss katelyn(the real kate) she say oooooohhhhhhh noooooooooo it seems she hates my storys for saying SHE LIKES GREEN DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! she says if her name is in ENY MORE STORYS SHE WILL sue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! nooooooooooo
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh
I am sorry but sarah abarbanel is going CRAZY
we can not get her to tell us eny thing so we must say goooood bye






just joking:)

Monopoly and Mach 5 Musings

Sam asked me to play Monopoly with him today and I said yes. On his first go-around, before you are allowed to buy, he was having trouble making it around. I could see that he was getting tense so when I started landing on properties I decided not to buy them. Then he started buying and I made sure he got a lot of monopolies (like all of them except St. Charles place and Baltic). Then Sarah and Dann stepped in and helped him build. I kept stealing money from the bank to pay Sam with. At the end of the game, the bank had no money, I had no money and Sam possessed everything. He was SO PROUD of himself. When Marsha came downstairs he was ginning ear to ear, "Mom! I bankrupted the bank and I bankrupted Dad." I asked him where he learned to play so well and he said, "I just use my super powers." If you see him or talk to him, ask him about it.

Last week I made the "mistake" of telling Matt and Sam a bed time story about "Mach 5 Matt and Supersonic Sam". It was a made up story about two rocket builders and really made no sense at all - it wasn't even up to par in terms of humor. Anyhow, the next morning I noticed a card on the bathroom counter so I opened it. Inside was the obvious schematic of a rocket. As the week progressed, more of these schematics have started appearing - each one more elaborate than the previous. Matt has also rigged up two pop cans and put them together with Duct Tape. He has bored a hole in the bottom in order to be able to add fuel. In the last couple of days he has been asking me if WD-40 would be a good fuel for his rocket. I have had to warn him sternly to stay away from it and not to light anything unless I am around.

It is interesting how a simple story can take a life of its own in a little boys head. It reminded me of when I was a kid and the contraptions my brother and I came up with and built. I am fortunate to be alive. I remember once we found a pack of bullets. We placed them, one at a time, on a flat rock and them dropped a big rock on the shell. It made a nice loud exploding sound. God only knows what happened to the bullet tips. Fortunately none of them made it into our ankles.

Brown boy

When we were at the dentist the other day the hygenist asked Sarah if Sammy had a different father than the rest of the kids. We found this very very funny. He does have darker skin tone - Ron is the whitest of his sibs & we were hoping the recessive "tan" gene would show up at some point. We had to wait until #5 to get it.

Near Death Experience

The other day Sarah & Sam came into the house saying, "Sam almost got hit by Al's car". Sam had been out biking (without permission) and drove right out on to the street without looking. Our neighbour Al was driving slowly down the street and managed to slam on his brakes and stop. He said, "if I had been going any faster I would have squashed him." Al felt so badly that he called the police and turned himself in. The police weren't too concerned because Sammy was unharmed. Sam says he didn't hear Al. I asked Ron whether we should get his hearing checked. Ron said, "there is nothing wrong with his hearing". As we were having this coversation in our bedroom Sam was in the bathroom with the water running. I said, "Sam" in a normal voice. He turned around and said, "what?" Ah yes, definately nothing wrong with his hearing. We took his bike riding priviledges away for a week. The next morning he said, "I'm sorry for going out on the road in front of Al". We said, "we forgive you, Sam" Sam said, "so now I can ride my bike again?" We said, "No". Sam said through tears, "but you said you forgave me!!!" The most discouraging thing is that he wasn't shaken up at all - we are sure he will not be exercising more caution.

Yesterday we had a dentist appointment - 4 kids and me. Matt had a cavity in a baby tooth & they want us to get an orthodontist consult. He has lost a tooth that he shouldn't have lost until age 11 & this is somehow affecting other teeth coming down. The dentist said, "he said he hit his tooth on a table and 3 days later it fell out". I have never heard this story before. I felt really exhausted when I came home. I thought about it a lot and realized I felt shame. Shame that my kid had a cavity (it is actually his second, both in baby teeth). Clearly I am a failure when it comes to my kids' dental hygiene, despite my making sure they brush their teeth each night before bed. Shame that I didn't know he had hit his tooth on a table & that it was not the right time for that tooth to fall out. Shame that my kids need so much orthodontic work. The funny thing is I never feel shame when we take them to the orthodontist - the attitude of his staff is completely different. I asked my dentist how often she sees premature loss of baby teeth. She shrugged and said, "rarely but your kids seem to have a lot of rare teeth problems" Sigh. I don't know what to do with these feelings.

A lesson in temperance

We just returned from a walk to the post office. On the way there we passed three guys. They were all drunk. REALLY drunk. They gave a new meaning to the word 'plastered', and they looked very out of place on a residential street in the middle of a quiet village. One of them yelled at us, "HEY!" but we just ignored him. (I tightened my hold on my extremely large and lethal umbrella and pointed it towards them also.)

Well, on the way back, these three guys were in the EXACT same place where we left them. One of them was peeing on the sidewalk. Ew. Sam, of course, thought this was very funny. He kept pointing to where the guy peed and saying, "Kate, Mom, the guy peed there."

The moral?
Drink if you must, but don't get SO drunk that you feel the need to relieve yourself right where I'll be walking. Thankyou very much.