Yesterday I was walking outside with Hayley and Breanna, taking the dog for a walk. I had been singing little pieces of a song all day and I couldn’t remember who sang it or where I had even heard it, but it was catchy, even though I only knew the chorus, and I was enjoying it. I was singing it under my breath outside and making a mental note to Google the lyrics when I got home so I could see what the hell it was.

All of a sudden I sang one of the lines loud enough for Hayley to hear.

“Mommy! You’re singing Hannah Montana!”

Oh, crap. I’m 15 again. Or maybe I’m just embracing today’s music despite being more than twice Miley Cyrus’ age. Yes, that’s it. I’m old but I’m still hip! Wait, do the hip kids still say “hip”? Hmmm.

(The truth is I actually do like Miley Cyrus. I particularly love “See You Again” and “If We Were A Movie”. It’s the Jonas Brothers that I don’t get at all. They suck. I know, I’m not exactly in their demographic but it doesn’t change anything.)

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Since getting a dog, I’ve found myself irritated by things. Not things Pearl does herself (though I could write a book about all the things she does that annoy me too), other people.

For one thing, there’s such a huge social aspect to walking dogs. Other people want to talk to you. Other people with dogs chat with you while your dogs sniff each other’s butts and try to dominate each other. People who love animals want to stop and ask you how old your puppy is and is that really a purebred Beagle, wow! It’s nice. I don’t usually mind. But when it’s pouring rain or freezing cold, I don’t always want to stand around making small talk. Small talk is not easy for me anyway, doing it when I really want my damn dog to just pee and let me go back inside is not fun.

Then there was the couple who walked past and were amused by Pearl who was trying to drag me down the front walk so she could jump on them. I’m trying to work on her jumping because – and I swear not everyone gets this – not every person likes having a dog jump on them. I immediately pulled the leash back to correct her, then got in between her and the two people. I crouched down to tell her to sit, and then started telling her to stay. Every time she started trying to go jump on them, I said no, and repeated the process. The girl started laughing and said, “oh it’s okay! It’s okay, let her come up, I love dogs!” I had to tell her, no it isn’t okay because I don’t want my dog jumping unless she’s asked to. While I appreciated her friendly nature, it was really annoying to have someone interfere with my training.

The worst thing though is the dog owners who don’t pick up after their dogs. That’s annoying anyway, I hate seeing dog crap on the side of the grass anyway. It’s doubly annoying now that I have a dog too. I am constantly paranoid that someone will see a big pile on the grass just after I’ve gone by and automatically assume that it was my dog and I just couldn’t be bothered (I nearly said “couldn’t be arsed” but that sounds like I’m trying to be Faux British) to pick it up. See, I’m the person who will carry a bag every single time and will not leave any dog crap behind. Once she went a second time and I had no bag – we were right out front so I ran in and ripped the plastic bag off someone’s Sears catalog and used that. Another time I actually used a wad of tissues in my pocket. I just can’t in good conscience leave it behind. It drives me nuts to think someone might lump me in with the lazy dog owners. Sometimes I worry someone will yell at me for a pile that doesn’t even belong to my dog.

(That may sound paranoid but I did once have someone on their porch snottily ask me, “aren’t you going to pick up after him?!” after Pearl had squatted on their lawn. I looked at her and said, “my dog’s a female. She just peed. If you have something to pick that up, let me know.”)

The dog ownership extras I had forgotten since I last had a dog, ahh.

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Last week we called the superintendent of our building because our hot water tap in the tub had been leaking. It dripped a bit. Then all of a sudden it was more like constantly running, to the point that we had to shut the water off in the wall because it made the bathroom too humid. The guy came up, looked at it, and told us the pipes were shot and they’d have to redo most of the bathroom.

Uh?

So on Friday we had a new tub, tiles, insulation, and more sitting in the hall outside our front door. On Monday morning a contractor arrived at our apartment and began demolition. Do you know how loud it is when someone takes a crowbar to ceramic tiles? It was awesome. I can’t tell you how much I wish I could have asked for a turn, it must be so satisfying.

On Monday night it looked like this:

That was an adventure, especially when you only have one bathroom. Luckily, by Wednesday night it looked like this:

Then today we were finally able to have showers and baths again instead of sponge baths. Technically, the tub was ready yesterday but I know how much my kids splash, the tiles would have been soaked in the first five minutes.

It’s nice to have something new in this freakin’ old and outdated apartment. Maybe I can figure out some way to convince them to update our kitchen next!

I’m giving away an Epson Artisan 800 photo printer over on Geeky Traveller. It looks pretty awesome and the contest is running until this Friday at 5 p.m. Eastern. If you’d like to win, hop on over and leave a comment on this entry – all you have to do is tell me one place you’d love to see that you still haven’t had a chance to visit. That’s it!

Why are you still sitting here? Go enter!

Bobby Brown. Oh, Bobby. I had such a thing for him back in the day. That was long before I knew he was a hardcore drug-using and abusive asshole. All I knew at age 14 was that Bobby Brown was might fine to look at and that was all that mattered. I loved everything he sang – Roni, My Prerogative (and I like Britney, I really do, but I still haven’t fully forgiven her for butchering that song), Every Little Step, everything.

But I didn’t love them as much as I loved Don’t Be Cruel.

(There’s a 19-second intro where he’s talking to someone, then the song starts.)

What amazes me about this and every other song I’ve featured in the Friday Flashbacks is that after all this time I still remember every single word. I can’t decide if that’s sad or not.

(I know. Once again I’m doing a Friday Flashback on a Saturday morning. Sorry, it was George’s birthday yesterday, I was too busy having a beer with him and one of his friends to post anything.)

Back in the late 80s, one of my cousins got married in Vermont and had the reception in a big tent next to a Bed & Breakfast. It was really nice (I loved the B&B) and a lot of fun. I was one of the bridesmaids and I think I was 13 or 14 at the time.

One thing I loved to do was choreograph – and I use that term so loosely because back then I was too stiff to dance well – dance routines to different songs with one of my other cousins and some friends. Every favorite song we had also had a dance routine that we would perform in each other’s bedrooms. If there was a music video that incorporated dancing we usually just studied and imitated that instead of creating our own.

Which is how I ended up – and I think my sister joined me for most, if not all of it – at my cousin’s wedding, on the wooden dance floor at 11 pm, in a mint green silk bridesmaid dress and my big hair, dancing every single step of Debbie Gibson’s “Electric Youth”.

Every.single.step. I actually knew the entire damn thing. Looking now at how insanely bad those dance moves were, I am mildly embarrassed. People actually cleared off the dance floor to give me room and everyone who was still there watched and back then I was SO PROUD, especially when they all applauded me. God.

Youth is so embarrassing. Especially when it’s “Electric”.

Tonight I went to the pharmacy to get some back pain medication for George. On the way back I was cursing that I had left my camera at home because the moon was a faint yellow and it was huge. It was almost full and it was completely stunning.

As I walked up the street, it disappeared behind some buildings. As I approached our parking lot, I saw a couple standing together with a cell phone, each of them taking pictures of something just out of view. I assumed it had to be the moon. When I got beside them, I looked over and sure enough, I saw the moon hanging in the sky and also in the view finder of the cell.

The girl noticed I was looking at them and started laughing at herself and said, “you must think we’re such dorks!”

I laughed too as I stopped. I held up the iPod Touch I was carrying in my hand and said, “are you kidding? For the last half a block I’ve been watching this screen to see how close to home I have to be before my Wi-Fi network kicks in. I’m just as dorky as you are.”

We all giggled and parted ways. And then I ran upstairs to grab my camera so I could go back out to take a picture of the moon.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians. I am happily full of chicken, black eyed peas and rice, squash, stuffing, veggies, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. It was a really great day – hope yours was too!

I know there are so many expressions my kids have that are funny and mixed up, and I try to remember them all but I know that inevitably I forget too many of them. With that in mind, I don’t want to forget what Breanna asked me tonight.

She wouldn’t settle down to sleep at all. Part of me suspects she’s catching Hayley’s cold, because that’s just usually what happens, but she’s not showing physical signs of that being the case – yet. Another part of me is filled with horror because I worry it means it’s time to start weaning her off of her naps because it shouldn’t take over an hour to get your kid to sleep. I’ll miss the naps, dammit.

Anyway, I couldn’t keep trying to convince her to sleep because I had to take a whining dog out to pee and I had a couple of things I had to do as well. I brought her out to the couch and told her to wait for me. I ran out with the dog to the front lawn, let her do her thing, and came back up to find Breanna sitting on the floor. I told her she should at least hop on the couch and lie down, so she did and I covered her with a blanket and turned off the lamp, leaving only my desk lamp on.

She asked for some water so I brought it in and put the lamp back on so she could see what she was doing. Apparently she preferred the darkness because she looked up, squinted, then shook her head and asked, “Mommy? You turn the dark on again?”

Not turn off the light. Turn the dark on.

I want to remember that one.

It’s only Monday morning but I’m already looking forward to the long weekend. Hayley’s off on Friday, so we can sleep in a bit (even if it’s only an hour!). On Saturday my parents are coming for dinner. They weren’t able to make the birthday party because my dad was really sick and this past weekend we were out at another party, so I invited them for this coming weekend. I’m not sure yet what I’ll be making since our even still needs a new element. I might make perogies or a big batch of cheeseburger rice. I’m just looking forward to having them over.

Then on Sunday we’ll be going to George’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner and I already can’t wait to eat some turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. Yummy! Hayley has already asked if she can sleep over since she also has Monday off and she often does have a sleepover when George’s sister is in town. I told her we would see, depending on how tired everyone – including Hayley! – is, but if everyone says it’s okay, it’s fine by me.

It’s a bit early in the week to be waiting for the weekend, but there you have it.

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I was looking for a picture I took last year over on my Flickr account and ended up finding this old one:

It still makes me laugh!

For the sake of curiosity, I was looking for this picture:

I wanted to find it in order to compare it to what I can do with my current camera, when I took a picture in the same spot on Friday:

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After Hayley’s birthday, I mentioned that she has a habit – as do most kids, I think – of singing along with her mp3 player, not realizing that the rest of us can’t hear the music. Carrie issued a challenge to me, asking me to capture it on video and that she would try the same with her son. Well, here you go, “The Best of Both Worlds” from Hannah Montana, Hayley mp3 player style!

She thought I was just taking pictures of her, which was fun because she was really surprised when I showed her the video later!

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We finally got the new room finished. We put up a new blind (which Hayley then broke while trying to open it – we bought another new one and she is only allowed to open the slats, not the entire blind, gah) and put things up on the walls which looks much better now.

We have some Hannah Montana for Hayley, some Winnie the Pooh for Breanna, and a little bit of Disney Princess for both of them. I love it!

And now, back to work! But first, one last photo for my dad. He jokingly asked if Pearl knows how to walk since every picture he ever saw of her shows her lying down. So here’s Pearl, enjoying the leaves on Fall day.

Okay, so this flashback isn’t technically a music video. I had every intention of using a video which would allow me to share an embarrassing story about myself at a relative’s wedding, but instead I will save that for next week’s flashback. This one ended up needing to be used RIGHT NOW, as soon as I saw it over at Joy Unexpected.

I loved The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and I loved Will Smith. However, as funny as Will – the actor and the character – happened to be, the one who frequently got the biggest laugh from me was the endlessly goofy and dorky Carlton. And nothing made me laugh quite as much as when Carlton would “dance”.

So you can maybe imagine how I would end up laughing until I cried while watching this compilation of Carlton dance moments, and the fact that it’s set to Tom Jones is even better.

Go Carlton, go!

Last Saturday we had Hayley’s birthday party since too many people were busy the weekend of her actual birthday. It was the first time ever that I wasn’t a complete ball of stress in the 24 hours leading up to the start of the party. Yes, I had a few tense moments, but I wasn’t completely freaking out, which was a nice change.

Part of it was because back when we switched the two rooms, I threw my back out. Actually I did it on the day of Hayley’s birthday. I was taking two rather heavy speaker stands down to the dumpsters and I should have just left them on the ground, I decided to heave them in. Big mistake, of the spasm variety. I learned that I love Robaxacet. Regardless, it still hurt quite a bit so I ended up having to take it easy during the week. That meant less running around cleaning like a crazy person, as though I were holding the Queen’s coronation instead of a six-year-old’s party.

Another part of it was because the element in our oven died (the stove top still works) and we ran out of time to get it fixed. That meant I couldn’t make my almost-world-famous lasagnas and I couldn’t bake a cake. Which meant we did vegetable platters, and pate, and cheese with crackers, and then we ordered pizzas and had a store-bought cake. So much easier. I didn’t have to squeeze in all that extra work, which I used to do on the Friday night, exhausting myself.

I may never make lasagna or homemade cakes for a birthday party EVER AGAIN. I’ll pass on the back pain though.

Anyway, Hayley had a lot of fun.

She may have been a little excited. But just a bit.

She got a lot of Hannah Montana stuff which made her very happy. She’s only seen the show a few times and doesn’t really get a lot of the storyline since it goes over her head, but she loves the music and really enjoys the concert DVD from my sister. She got Hannah Montana sheets from two friends and from two others she got a Hannah Montana doll, make-up kit, and purse. She was in heaven.

Overall, it all went really well. The kids had fun in the new room, no one excluded Breanna (who was thrilled to play with the “big girls”, and the adults had good conversation time. I’d call it a success.

And miraculously, when I woke up on Sunday morning, the apartment actually wasn’t a complete disaster. I was very thrilled about the minimal clean-up!

Next year we’re hoping to invite some of Hayley’s school friends as well. In the meantime, now I have two months to plan Breanna’s party!

(A few other pictures were added to this set.)