tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31102773735902923852012-02-09T10:17:42.972-05:00In a Beatles vs. Rolling Stones world, think of me as The Animals.Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.comBlogger4971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-25419536922478163252012-02-07T22:07:00.002-05:002012-02-08T14:59:14.203-05:00

I was introduced to a new term the other day - Hate-Reading.  You know, that thing when you continually read the same web site or subscribe to the same media outlet even though the thoughts and opinions expressed are generally full of fail and make your teeth itch? One of my recent hate-reads has been Slate.com's resident advice giver, Dear Prudie. The other is The Stir by CafeMom (with the

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So many things to write about, so little time. Today is Gord Downie's birthday. I've been sickish this weekend, but well taken care of. Feeling special and appreciative. I took the opportunity to watch 6.5 out of the 8 Harry Potter movies. My guitar tuner is missing. As such I'm coming to the conclusion that I have a shitty ear for these things. I hope it turns up soon. Yesterday was

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I am, quite possibly, the worst Tooth Fairy ever. Really, I am. I should really just give up the charade and tell the kids the God's-honest-truth and end the madness once and for all, for everyone's sake. But where is the fun in that when I can just keep coming up with more and more elaborate lies and stories to keep the fantasy alive. "Mom? Why didn't the tooth fairy come last night?" (

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-39240776786593295172012-01-31T18:11:00.001-05:002012-02-01T11:04:28.431-05:00

Okay, so first there was that story a while back about how all those same-sex marriages that people rushed to Canada to get weren't actually valid if they weren't recognized in the place where the couples actually lived.  That was some kind of fuck-up indeed.  I'm not sure what the point of travelling somewhere to get married is if it's not going to be recognized elsewhere. Free tourism, I guess

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You know the ones.. The ones that do quick one-off posts to apologize for not posting? I hate that, and yet here I am... Doing a quick post so I can not feel so bad for not posting anything of substance here beyond the cute shit my nephew says. I do have my introductory post up at Different Paths, Same Destination as well as another post coming up in a couple days. So it's not like I haven't

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My youngest nephew is three. I watched him tonight. Playing with a see-and-say type toy: Me: ..and what's that? E: mmm. Sheep! Me: and what sound does a sheep make? E: umm. Sheep sounds? Later I register that he is addressing me by name: E: Auntie, look! Me: awwwh, you called me auntie! E: (looking puzzled) yes. Yes I did. (pause) you name is auntie, right? Me: yeah buddy. E: (looking

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I haven't done an MFP Monday post in a while so I thought I'd let y'all know that since the beginning of the new year things have been going well.  I'm down about 8.5 lbs as of today and I've been sticking pretty well to my daily totals and getting a lot of walking and dancing and kick-boxing in.  I went to a friend's place this weekend and we had a great time.  I indulged a bit, but on the whole

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So as some of you who ventured over to my little bit of the universe may have noticed yesterday, I did eventually manage to get my site blacked out.  Once I got to work, it took me all of five minutes.  Additionally, I've managed to get back to my original template without tearing a hole in the time-space continuum, so that's cool. I'd say the blackout yesterday was fairly successful, and it was

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I don't pretend to know a whole lot about SOPA and its equivalent bills but I understand enough to know that it sounds like a whole lot of bullshit. It threatens bloggers, and without revealing too much professional information, could pose a very real threat to my current place of employment. Tomorrow a huge slice of the Internet, including reddit and Wikipedia, is Blacking out in protest of

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It's a bitter inevitability, these January days. Even December, this year so uncharacteristic in its mildness could not hold them off forever. Waking to the morning when the clear blue skies And sunshine cleverly disguise the mercury's sudden decent. Wind creeps through the cracks where the door has warped and no longer meets its jamb. Roaring from the bowels of this humble dwelling, the

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So, I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of Margaret Cho. No particular reason, her humor just never grabbed me. Shit happens. But Margaret Cho won about 867,482 cool points with me after I read her blog post Being Mad on Twitter, written after some negative backlash to some pictures she posted on Twitter of the new ink she had recieved. First of all, I admire anyone with the guts to

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So I guess today CBCRadio2 has been hosting a contest for tickets to see Kathleen Edwards. The idea is to tweet the song that has changed your life with the hashtag #changethetweets (which is apparently a take-off of Edwards' album 'Change The Sheets'). Myself, I had a hard time really coming up with a 'life-changer' but in light of my recent Mountain Goats obsession I decided to tweet 'This

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People amaze me with their ignorance sometimes. As you may be able to tell from my display picture, my hair is currently a shade of pinkish red not usually found in nature. Originally part of a Halloween costume, I decided I liked this look and would keep it for a while. Needless to say, reviews have been mixed, and I totally accept that. The other day however, my friend Tess and I were

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-76590632270260058572012-01-06T22:36:00.000-05:002012-01-06T22:36:38.286-05:00

Or "My kid knows her genres about as well as I do, which isn't saying much" Riding in the car, listening to music. T: is this the drummer singing? Me: no, it's the guitarist R: the drummer is the most important part of the band Me: yup, I've heard that, because they keep the time R: unless it's like smooooth jazz. (yes, she did add extra oooo's to smooth) T: no, they have drums... R: no, jazz

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2011, amirite?? I really don't have whole lot to say about the past year, to be honest. I spent most of it just kind of laying low and enjoying life. There were a few high points, such as my trip to the Dominican with two girlfriends back in January and my trip to quebec with my girls in September. I got to go to a few concerts, including Finger Eleven, A Primitive Evolution and a few more

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So the comp is pretty much pooched at this point. My boxing day miracle was short-lived as a software update required me to restart and it just never came back. So after 6ish years I am faced with the prospect of computer shopping. Those who know me well know that big-ticket purchases generally make me itch and/or hyperventilate. I can put it off for a bit because my company was nice enough

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My computer is pretty hit-and-miss right now.  I was able to get it started up and it's not freezing on my every 15 seconds.  It's a Boxing Day miracle. A quick run-down on Christmas this year: Both my grandmother's are in decent health after a pretty rough year, one having recently had hip replacement surgery and a weird intestinal thing that caused her to drop 30 lbs but has gone away as

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*sigh* I love Christmas.  I really do.  I love spending time with my family.  I love spoiling my kids (within reason, anyway).  I like watching A Christmas Story and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation over and over again.  I love relearning O Holy Night and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen on the guitar.  I love playing Euchre with my dad and sister and grandma and uncle.  I even love washing

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Read a post on Feministe today about an advice column on Slate.com that questioned what to do when your seat-mate on a flight pulls out a lap-top and starts watching hard-core porn during the flight.  The letter-writer in this case was a grandmother travelling with her daughter and small grandchild. Not surprisingly, a lot of people's response was "Oh hell, no.  Call the flight attendant on that

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Some of you may remember a short-lived but hilarious (if you share my own sick sense of humour) sit-com a few years back by the name of Titus, based on the real life upbringing of comedian Christopher Titus. So I'm a fan of his page on Facebook and I came across this post.  When I first read it, I honestly thought it was satire but as I read on I realized that it was written in seriousness.  I

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It starts with a phone call or a paper invitation sent home in a school backpack.  The birthday party.  Some small child in your own progeny's class has decided that your kid needs to be at their birthday party. And it's good.  Who doesn't love knowing their kid isn't a social pariah? I sometimes wonder if maybe I'm a bad parent because I don't immediately wonder if the parents of these

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I'm pick a chocolate chip of my oldest daughter's cookie while she grabs a glass of milk.  There were just enough cookies left for each kid to have three (or each of us to have two, but I really don't need them). T: Hey!Me: What?T: Are you picking a chocolate chip off my cookie?Me: Yeah, of course.  Hey, Wait! Are there any in the bottom of the cookie jar?  Sweet, one.. *nom*  two *nom*T:  Aww..

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Cross-Posted at MyFitnessPal.com "Are you on Glue?" That is what my inner sloth said to me when I decided yesterday that I was going to sign up for this year's Warrior Dash. I'm laaaazy. And I'm not in awesome shape. Oh, I'm in better shape than I used to be (I can do pushups! and FULL SIT-UPS!) but on the whole I don't tend to think of myself as athletic, or even particularly fit. Hell,

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When I was growing up in Aurora there was a restaurant down the street from my uncle's place, in a plaza (some may know them as strip-malls) on the Southeast corner of Murray Avenue and Yonge Street, at one point the longest street in the world and the eventual route that would take my family on our short but life-altering pilgrimage from Aurora to our current home on the Georgian Bay. My

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So not much to report on the MFP front.  Progress, as previously mentioned, has been slow going. This week I decided to try something new.  In the years I was in Weight Watchers, I refused to weigh more often than once a week.  Even if I had to go to the doctors office, if they wanted my weight they got what I had recorded at that week's meetings.  I also didn't own a scale at the time so it was

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I'm irritated as all hell right now. Quite literally. Over the last week I've developed some kind of allergic reaction that at first had all the look and appearance of run of the mill poison ivy.  And if ANYONE is going to get poison ivy at the tail end of November you can bet it's me. You know that wive's tail about how if you get poison ivy seven years in a row you become immune? Possibly

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(705):  God help me.  So drunk guy tells me his friend likes me* and wants to dance... I say sure if he wants to come ask me I will dance.  No, dude is 'too shy' and won't come ask**. End up dancing w/ drunk dude who is currently sporting a pretty wicked asscrack.  I'm in hell. (705): Oh and now drunk dude has requested I sing "18 and Life" by Skid Row.  I can't even make this shit up. My

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-1453131710235576752011-11-25T20:03:00.000-05:002011-11-25T20:03:36.659-05:00

I woke in a terrible mood this morning. Actually, that's not entirely true.  I woke up in a half-decent mood, having had a fun-filled night of music with an awesome group of people, and a new prospect of some fun people to jam with.  The girls had stayed the night at their dad's so I woke to a quiet house and no one I had to worry about getting out the door but myself. Since it had been about a

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Oh Movember.  So many dirty pornstaches.  Secretly, or not so secretly, I love it.  Last Thursday, a group of mustachioed men at karaoke lipsynched at my friend Tess and I and it was the greatest, funniest thing ever. I'm reminded of a story of a few years back.  A co-worker of mine had grown out a rather nice goatee.  It was working for him, until he shaved off the ... um.. the 'tee and left

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Cross-posted at MyFitnessPal.com In response to a blog post I recently read from Balancing Jane, I wanted to hash out how to reconcile the idea of the "Healthy At Every Size" (HEAS) philosophy by reframing how we look at weight loss in relation to health. Many have pointed out that the correlation between weight and health is not as direct as the media would have us believe. Being overweight

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-72679126114064870632011-11-19T00:13:00.000-05:002011-11-19T00:13:05.171-05:00

It's probably thoroughly un-progressive of me to say this, but I have a confession. I kind of want to be the Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Go ahead.  Laugh. I would. It's true, though. I want to be a muse.  I want to inspire someone to live life to their fullest. I'd like to be that crazy, quirky, fascinating girl who breathes life into someone who has otherwise lost all interest.  Destroyer of

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So, having too much time on my hands and possibly some bizarre form of narcissism, one of the things I like to do is make cartoon avatars of myself.  If I stumble across a cartoon generator, I have to make a version of myself.  I just have to. And since I am somewhat of a chameleon, changing looks fairly often, I sometimes have to update them.  But some examples: South Park Andie circa 2005

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First off, let me say that I agree with the idea that by constantly shielding our children from all and any type of conflict we are not providing them with the coping skills that become necessary when one gets out into the 'real world' and learns that ... *gasp* you are NOT a special and unique snowflake and not everyone will like you. However, it's important that we not forget.. children are

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So, I haven't done an MFP monday (formerly WWWednesday) post in a while.  Mainly because I figured that after a few weeks of "Gained xxx number of lbs." or "Stayed the same.  I don't want to talk about it." would get old after a while. The progress has been slow going, to say the least.  Although my ticker says I'm down 2lbs, as of two or three days ago, I was pretty much where I started.  I've

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I don't go around saying it very often, but I'm pretty smart.  With the standardized tests to prove it.  So it's frustrating when there's something I really want to master but I JUST.  CAN'T.  FACKING. DO IT. For a long time now, I've wanted to learn to sew.  I can do simple things like hemming pants or repair a split seam, but I really want to learn to design and create things.  Thing is,

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*Originally Posted November 11, 2009 November 11th is not a celebration of war. It is a solemn reminder of the devastation that can occur when apathy and ignorance allows oppression to spread like a disease. It is a reminder that all these things we take for granted, our freedoms, our comfort, can be snatched away in a moment. Now with two generations of whom most of us have never known the

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SEVERE EFFIN' TRIGGER WARNING LIKE WHOA FOR SEXUAL ABUSE. I've never cared much for football.  The only things I care less about than college football are NFL Football and to an even lesser extent, CFL football. I care a shit-load about kids though.  Which is evidently more than I can say about the jackholes at Penn State that were rioting in protest over the sacking of long-time coach Joe

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So, while I was cleaning my kids room this weekend, I came across a writing assignment belonging to mine youngest child. Authors Note:  I was going to scan the pages and transcribe them, but then I realized that when my computer crashed a few months ago, forcing me to install a new OS, I lost a lot of my programs, including all the drivers for my scanner.  That being said, when I get off my lazy

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A quiet but relatively busy weekend this weekend.  Friday night was spent moving furniture and cleaning the disaster area that is my children's room to prepare for new bunk beds.   Back when we had the house fire we were fortunate to receive a great number of donations to replace the furniture we lost, including a beautiful set of metal bunk beds, the kind that sleeps double on the bottom and

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Before I get into the topic at hand, I want to mention that this morning I opened my email to the following: Vindication at last. Some of you may remember last December I waged a brief campaign to have Joel Plaskett follow me on Twitter after being unceremoniously Twitted and dumped.  It was a spectacular failure of epic proportions, although I do thank all two of you who helped me try to get

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Crazy busy Halloween weekend, between parties and getting the kids ready.  I'll share a few pics: For my costume I stole an idea from an article on The Hairpin and went as an Un-Ladybug Yeah, this pretty much sums up what I was going for. Oh, that's right.  Last Thursday night I coloured my hair this insane shade of pink.  I was going for fire-engine red (and it kind of looks as such in this

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Sometimes, as a blogger, we have no way of knowing what post is going to explode on us.  To my surprise, my most popular post to date in terms of views is a post where my friend Dan and I speculate on Yosemite Sam's junk.  Now, I know that 588 views do not quite equate to an internet explosion, but it just goes to show, you never know what's going to be wildly popular, or unpopular. Two days ago

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Oh Toronto Zombie Walk, how I adore thee. Yesterday marked my second time at the Toronto Zombie Walk and I'm still washing blood out of my hair today.  Last year I went with a good friend of mine, and found the whole experience thrilling.  This year I got to take my two girls as they are old enough not to be too freaked out by the.. well.. freakshow. Reegs, the little one got right into it.  My

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I think this weekend, while my kids are out at an early halloween party, that I'm going to take some pictures of the local foliage. Central ontario is a great place to be in the fall (although Western Ontario is pretty breathtaking when you get into the heavy deciduous forests). I say this in spite of the nearly constant rain we've been having over the last week or two. The constant damp, the

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listening to a really awesome song.. then pausing to listen to the lyrics and finding that they're.. um.. well, a bit rapey. I know, I know.  Everyone and their grandma goes through bit of cognitive dissonance this at Christmas time when they listen to 'Baby it's cold outside' and find themselves singing along with Dean Martin (or possibly Will Ferrell) as he alludes to spiking his date's drink

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Weighed in on my new digital scale this morning. 190.4 lbs. Feck.  (basically, I'm back where I started two weeks ago) I'm gonna put the blame on the old scale for this one, and call this a fresh start. I mean, yesterday was bad, but not THAT bad. Ugh.

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I have a lisp. Or I used to. I've been told that it's gone away.  Some claim they still hear it. I don't know, I've never really been aware of it, personally. I figure it's a result of an underdeveloped jaw and teeth that are just too bloody big for my head.  I have vague memories of being sent to a speech-language pathologist as a small child who spent hours with me insisting that I try

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Cross posted at MyFitnessPal.com I was going to start out talking about The Biggest Loser, but I realized that, having never really watched more than one or two episodes I'd kind of be talking out of my ass. However, I do want to expand on a point that one commenter on another person's blog (I REALLY should take note of these things) said in relation to the sustainability of lifestyle changes.

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So, I got a letter home from the school the other day letting us know that the Gideons have asked to come and speak to our fifth-graders (of which mine eldest spawn is one) and provide them each with a free Bible.  At the bottom of the letter is a disclaimer stating that this is not an initiative of the local school board. I'm not real thrilled about this, so I sent the form back with a note

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So, I guess I have to create a new label for weight-loss updates, since neither Weight Watchers or Wednesday is accurate now?  MFP Mondays? I suppose that works. Did my first weigh-in this morning and I'm down 3 (possibly 4) pounds.  It's hard to tell with the analog scale I have, so I'm going to err on the side of caution and say it was only 3.  I'm going to try and get my hands on a digital

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First weigh in is tomorrow, first thing. I've always heard that the best time to weigh is first thing in the morning, naked, after your first pee of the day. Needless to say I was never able to do this when I was with WW. I did try once. I'm not allowed to shop at the RCSS anymore. JUST KIDDING. I'm thinking I'm going to try to stick to my regular daily totals and disregard any earned

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So, first of all, if you're not reading The Bloggess, you are missing out on some top-notch funny.  Seriously, you three, you need to get on it. But not only is she funny, she's apparently crazy-powerful as well. This week, a gentleman *koff* by the name of Jose of Brandlink Communications found this out the hard way. Here's the full backstory, but I'll sum it up real quick-like for ya:  -

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The memory of Scott Weiland's green pants in this video. YouTube! Y U No Let Me Embed?? Oh yeah.  And my health and kids and shelter and all that other good junk too. Happy Thanksgiving, all (north of the 49th, anyway)

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Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canuckians! Had a bit of a fall apart last night. First, the large caesar salad I had for dinner last night from a local deli, once I added all the ingredients up, ended up being like 17 billion calories and roughly 563 grams of fat. Give or take, of course. I take solace in the fact that at least the crapload of lettuce means I got some veggies in today, but

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Alternate Title: Who the Hell asked you? Interesting post on the forums today regarding Honesty versus Bullying. In my time, I have seen far too many people justify degrading others in the name of honesty. The philosophy that honesty is the best policy seems to be interepreted by some to mean 'you are welcome to say any thing that comes into your head to another human being regardless of if

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My mom recently lent me the book All of Me: A Voluptuous Tale by Venise Berry. The cover puts me in mind of something that would be on Oprah's book club. Upon recommending it to me, she told me that the main character reminded her a lot of me. I had a bit of a"Gee, thanks mom" moment when I began reading as it starts with the main character, Serpentine Williamson, in a psychiatric hospital

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The highway that I take to work and back (the one with little to no sideroads or alternate routes) has been under construction for what seems like months now.  I've had just about enough. Today my drive home took 35 minutes.  A normally 10 minute commute took over half a freaking HOUR. Yes, I know.  White Girl Problems. Two days ago I got a notification that there was a package waiting for me

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What is this horse I speak of?  It's metaphorical, don't think on it too much. So I broke down. Kind of. As some of you already know, about four and a half years ago I made the decision to join Weight Watchers and managed to lose myself somewhere in the area of 60-65 lbs. Without getting all long and drawn out about it, I left the program this past winter after they rolled out a new program

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Your beauty kindled envious green flames You were the wanted, and I was stunned and shamed  but the laughter, in writing was infectious and something like a friendship born Troubled and hopeful, youth cased in wisdom Too much spirit to be held by a mere human form. One day, one pill, one phone call That spirit exploded and touched across the miles Drawing strangers in flesh but friend in words

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There was a knock on the door last night at about 9:45.  A guy was looking for a motorcycle he had seen on Kijiji.  The Google map was unclear.  I said I knew nothing about it.  The man at the door described the ad further, asking if there were 'any guys' around who might know about it.  Again, I said I knew nothing about it. Sometimes I get into this state of mind where I almost forget that my

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The new Facebook newsfeed has some downsides (gee, really?), one of which is that from time to time I'll get something on my newsfeed that a friend has commented on.  I want to weigh in, but since the original poster is not a friend of mine, I can't.  Once again, in the wake of the new changes, we're getting the ridiculously asinine reposts about how Facebook is going to start charging and blah

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Okay, so it's one word.

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It's pouring down rain today so I'm taking advantage of wanting to go nowhere on my break to do a quick blog-post about censorship, as I think I may have inadvertently been the victim of it in a small, small way. Earlier today I was checking Amazon and adding various things to my Wishlist (yes, I've linked it so if anyone wants to buy me something pretty..) and found myself caught rather

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WANTED: Guitarist/Vocalist with vague inferiority complex seeks collaborators interested in being launched into rock superstardom, or possibly mediocre local notoriety. Men, Women or highly advanced primates welcome. Influences: Pixies, Violent Femmes, The Tragically Hip, The Headstones, Peggy Lee, Robert Johnson, Metric, Lunachicks, burlesque, cartoons, Canadian cinema, Goldfish crackers,

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... well screw it.  Make something up. I'm hungover (well, a little) and doing laundry today.  It's one of those beautiful, crisp fall days where the sun is warm but the air is brisk.  The kind where a coat is a suggestion, but not necessarily a requirement. Being a responsible drunk, my plans for the day include a very long walk to go and pick up my car from last night's resting place.  If I

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Source plink plunk. I think I'd like to be the world's greatest lady blues guitarist and it occurs to me that maybe I am.  If there are others before me, their names have been lost to history.  Maybe I just need to read more. There's a pattern here, there's a pattern and a structure only decipherable when the pattern breaks and the sour note stabs, making me curse these befuddled digits.  

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I had sat on a large cushion in my living room, feeding my almost four-month-old daughter a bottle. It was 9am, Regis and Kelly time, but the show had been interrupted. With my free hand I reached for the portable phone and dialed my best friend who was a thousand kilometers away with a baby of her own to care for. "Turn it to Regis. Some jackhole flew a plane into a building. Who does that?

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So last Friday I booked the day off,  booked and hotel for the girls and I, and embarked on the roughly 1000km road from our little dollhouse to Quebec City.  The girls had gotten the bug after I had told them of the trip I took out there a few years ago.  At the time I had taken five days with plans to hit Ottawa, Montreal and if time allowed, Quebec City.  My itinerary was pretty loose, in fact

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Whilst looking for lined paper for the eldest child, I stumbled across some of my old university assignments, including a chap book of poetry for a creative writing class titled "Does Not Play Well With Others" because I am oh-so-bad-assed, you know.  There were a couple passages I enjoyed.  I'm also considering posting a couple of the essays as blog entries because I really enjoyed writing them,

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1,985 kilometres (that's 1,233 miles to those on the Imperial system) covered over four days and here I am, home once again, just in time to send the kiddies back to school with lunches containing food I bought tonight at roughly 9pm after realizing "Holy shit! School starts tomorrow! These kids are going to want to eat!" Back to school doesn't much alter my routine, other than causing my

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Just having a slice of day-old pizza while I take a break from packing the car in preparation for the four-day  road trip to Quebec City the kiddies and I are embarking on in oh.. say.. half an hour. Hopefully there will be many tales and pictures to share upon our return.  Most will probably be taken by my oldest since driving and photographing is harrowing at best.  I may share some pics along

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I'm kind of getting a kick out of HelloGiggles.com as a fun site for randomness and pop culture. (my massive girly-crush on Zooey Deschanel notwithstanding) However, I'm finding it unforgiveable that twice now they have posted articles on the best fake bands from movies and made glaring omissions.  Maybe it's a deep-seated prejudice against Canadian Content, or maybe they are just sadly ignorant

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This is one of the more brain-explodey, face-palmy, loss-of-faith in humanity things I have read today. Judge Blasts Kids For Suing Mom Over Birthday Card From the sound of it, two spoiled, privileged-as-hell upper class twits and their father, who apparently has too much money and time on his hands, have been killing time the last two years in a lawsuit against the kids' mom for what

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T: Mommy, do you think I'm a good singer? Me: Of cou... T: AND YOU CAN'T SAY YES JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE MY MOM. Me: I wouldn't tell you were a good singer if I didn't think you were. T: Oh, come on! Me: No, If I didn't think you were a good singer I'd probably go "Uhm.... er... *averts eyes* How was school?"  And then you'd say "I didn't GO to school today!" and I'd say "Why weren't you in school?

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My computer is officially fixed. Be prepared to get esophaegal-lining-rupturing SICK of hearing from me. *resists urge to sign opening lines from Eminem's 'Without Me'*

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Quick post. Last week, I posted about what I considered the best feminist children's book ever. This week I'm taking you in the opposite direction, as I have caught wind of what could possibly be the worst book to get your little girl (or boy).  It's called Maggie Goes On A Diet.  It's about a little fat girl who goes on a diet to fit into a pretty pink dress and becomes popular and plays some

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Today is my youngest daughter's eighth birthday. A few months ago, when my older daughter celebrated her 10th birthday, I wrote about how I found out I was pregnant, and about the day I was born. I'm not going to do that today. For two reasons, mainly: Back in May, I had regular access to a working computer.  So that's something.. I've still not got the home comp fixed so I'm forced to blog

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The Paper Bag Princess If you grew up in the 80's, in Canada especially then it's likely you are no stranger to the wonderful stories of Robert Munch.  I had a collection of teeny-tiny pocket versions of his books, which tended towards simple but humorous plots (a dad who sleepwalks, a kid who won't wear his ugly snowsuit, a kid who won't go to the bathroom until the last minute) and cute

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So let's talk about censorship.  Well, an part of censorship that is often not talked about:  Radio edits of popular songs. Ever listen to a song on the radio, find it really catchy, then get the album and go "Whoa, wasn't expecting THAT!"  Maybe it was hearing Thom Yorke sing "You're so fucking special" for the first time in Radiohead's  Creep.  When I first bought Hawksley Workman's Lover/

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I live in a small town with a lot of waterfront property, yet a proportionately small amount of public water access.  We have one small beach, two public docks and a small number of 'public' boat launches - somewhere in the area of 2-3. It really frickin' grates my cheese that in a town that is surrounded by water, it is so bloody difficult to find a decent place to swim, especially with small

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Dear Nick Flora, I feel I need to clarify myself, and frankly, Twitter is not the platform. I’m sure that by carrying on this conversation I’m only digging myself deeper but I can’t leave this issue hanging. The backstory: What I mean to say is that there are certain things, like cars and computers, that I will not attempt to fix myself, because in my attempts to repair these

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-45193177735897084662011-07-17T13:40:00.001-04:002011-07-19T09:19:46.872-04:00

Stealing some time on my parents computer to do a quick check-in.  God, I miss my computer.  I thought I'd get a lot more done around the house without it, but all I'm really accomplishing is more movie watching.  I've rediscovered the DVD player PS2 (that we use because DVD players have a very short life span in our house.  Game consoles, I find, are much more hardy than DVD players). Grundy

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-47049547769890812682011-07-14T17:10:00.001-04:002011-07-14T17:10:01.197-04:00

Must post quickly before I head home. Great News. Recall a while back when my car got totalled, and the friend who was driving (in one of those 'can you move your car I have to go to the store' 'Oh, just take mine' moments) got a bogus careless charge despite the fact that the woman she t-boned was trying to make a U-turn out of a parallel spot and was not looking where she was going? Well,

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-56646024611945356782011-07-08T13:30:00.000-04:002011-07-08T13:30:03.306-04:00

Will be taking a *hopefully* small blogging hiatus.  My computer at home has gone kablooey and the work computer, which I am at during work hours, is generally meant to be used for work.  In the meantime my cell phone has begun doing this weird thing where it blinks on a intermittent basis, and although the phone is in full working order otherwise, it's driving me frickin' batty.  Time for an

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-17952381174984775552011-07-02T10:47:00.000-04:002011-07-02T10:47:32.896-04:00

Recieved a text from the sister last night: N: Hey what you doin? Me: Just packing up after the fireworks N: {my brother in law} n {my nephew} n i aret mom's Me: Are you drunk? N: No lol E was on my lap and it was hard to type. lol.  jackass. Me: you shouldn't call your toddler a jackass.  that's not nice. N: lol no love YOU'RE the jackass I mean, I already knew that, but I couldn't resist such

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-60294442541417841772011-06-30T18:45:00.000-04:002011-06-30T18:45:00.472-04:00

Well, another school year has come and gone and with it, year end report cards.  Generally, my youngest gets glowing reports in the A and B area.  The oldest, although very smart, has a little more trouble with school, but on the whole, she gets by with B's C's and the occasional D. A friend on the Facebook brought up an interesting question. What do you think about giving your kids gifts for

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-28381093024457048822011-06-27T22:17:00.001-04:002011-06-27T22:43:57.220-04:00

Conversation I had with my sister shortly after the birth of my eldest daughter. N:  So, are you going to have her circumcised? Me (with utter shock): Uhm.  No.  Pretty sure that's heavily frowned upon in this part of the world.  I think the UN may be trying to have it banned, even. N: Ah, frig.  Girl.  Right. In fairness, my sister had had her second son a scant year-or-so earlier and it was a

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-38113796706637268672011-06-24T19:15:00.000-04:002011-06-24T19:15:13.424-04:00

Standing at the busy intersection a young woman in her mid-twenties watched the light turn red out of the corner of her eye.  When the cars started into the intersection, she did a quick survey to make sure there were no cars in the right-hand-turn lane.  Although the light facing her direction was still red and the pixellated amber hand beckoned her to hold her place, she started out into the

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-77857842796955703222011-06-23T19:23:00.001-04:002011-07-13T12:43:42.907-04:00

Just doing some light house keeping.  Updated the blogroll and took off some folks who are no longer blogging or actively blogging. D'Artagnan, if you're reading this... WTF man?  Not even a good bye? I've also added some folks to the roster who I think are worth a read, so take a gander and see if anyone catches your fancy.  Moved the Popular Posts over to the sidebar so I could include more

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-9719177944487731872011-06-21T23:29:00.000-04:002011-06-21T23:29:29.274-04:00

Been a little quiet the past few days, I know.  Going through some stuff.  Had to cut off contact with someone who was very important to me in order to save myself a whole lotta time going through the emotional wringer and would you know it pretty much blows?  Big time.  Running the gamut of emotion, angry, sad, self-righteous and well.. you know how it is.  Boys n' such.  So I've been

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-36065280302049918042011-06-16T23:29:00.000-04:002011-06-16T23:29:04.362-04:00

Parenting with a straight face is hard. It started with me telling the eldest child that we were going to make a point of going bra-shopping in the near future.  Although I may be less than observant sometimes, my kids a little bit on the exhibitionist side, a by-product of being an all-female household.  They're more modest at their dad's place, but here I sometimes find myself having to go "

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-7577332244229674022011-06-15T17:46:00.000-04:002011-06-15T15:02:36.997-04:00

Thank you, Sarah Lindahl (and Kira) for providing the inspiration for this post. Think back. Way back.  Your first crush.  No, maybe crush is the wrong word.  Crush can mean "Aww gee, I like you.  You're fun.  Let's ride bikes."  which is an awesome and cool way to feel about someone, but not quite what I'm getting at. Think back to the awakening.  Yeah, that one.  The first time you had that

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-40473500837022536652011-06-10T08:06:00.002-04:002011-06-10T09:56:36.904-04:00

Know what bugs me?  Movie theatres. They are cramped, overpriced and everyone knows that today's films are full of the sex and the violence and are destroying our children and our minds. What really gets my panties in a bunch, though, is the knowledge that right now, there are people receiving welfare - that's right.. social assistance, money from the government, our hard-earned tax dollars -

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-48537926286315024762011-06-09T18:33:00.017-04:002011-06-09T18:33:00.968-04:00

Hilarious trending topic on Twitter today - #badprovincialmottos  Let's all come up with the worst provincial mottos we can think of. My contributions: Ontario: It's where the capital is! No, not Toronto.. Ottawa.. No.. OTTAWA.. Otta.. Oh fr' chrissakes... Quebec: Britain's Angry Step-Child* Prince Edward Island: Our Dirt is RED. And yeah, Potatoes. Manitoba: J-Lo came here once.

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-34135175486549048872011-06-07T22:30:00.000-04:002011-06-07T22:30:46.087-04:00

I've really been wanting to write about this, but my thoughts on the situation have been a bit muddled.  It occurred to me that many people were not clear on what the point of it all really was. I mean, many people by now have heard the story of the cop in Toronto who was reprimanded for telling a group of women that they can avoid being victimized by 'Not dressing like sluts.'  Naturally this

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-63182323140310020322011-06-07T09:07:00.000-04:002011-06-07T09:07:15.577-04:00

I do, I look like a total sixties housewife today.  Sleeveless blouse, khaki pants, big headband.  Such a MOM. I'm ten minutes early to work today so I'm making a quick post.  I've been kicking ass this week at the whole 'getting-the-kids-out-the-door-and-to-school-on-time' thing.  Most days, if we make it for the bell, it's a good morning.  Today and yesterday we were ten minutes early, even

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-46658121281114706702011-06-03T12:36:00.000-04:002011-06-03T12:36:32.761-04:00

Hrm.  Yes.  Well, that's a little embarassing. Sorry for the false alarm, folks. Turns out it was a pulled muscle, after all.  Well, "Soft Muscle Damage" is what the doctor said, I think.  I didn't really hear much past "Your ultrasound was fine. There's no blood clot." Advil, Aleve, whatever.  Let us know if it gets worse. I'm good with that. I have come to the conclusion that I may have

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-17525816760000891642011-06-02T22:54:00.000-04:002011-06-02T22:54:44.348-04:00

This day can go right to hell. As I write this, I'm semi-perched in my computer chair with my leg resting on a leopard print pillow on top of my sadly-neglected Nevada amplifier.  I'm bent like a contortionist trying to keep my leg elevated.  My belly itches and aches at the needles entry point and will probably become a black and purple angry mess any moment now. Why the Cirque Du Soleil act?

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-48006122893414151822011-05-30T18:45:00.002-04:002011-05-30T18:45:00.303-04:00

Mild Trigger Warning for Body Issues and Dieting.  If you're triggered by these things, you might want to skip this post. ****************************************** I recently read an article link on Feministe's Shameless Self-Promotion Sunday that nearly knocked me out of my seat with its clarity. Nahida's post on learning to receive compliments struck a chord with me.  She discusses the

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3110277373590292385.post-56357543969741869982011-05-28T22:13:00.000-04:002011-05-28T22:13:18.634-04:00

..because it seems that's what the parents in Toronto who decided to keep their baby's gender a secret in an attempt to keep zir unfettered by gender policing and expectations, have effectively created.  For the good or the bad, is what I've got to wonder.  In my honest opinion, if anything damages this kid, ambiguously named Storm, it'll be the media hype surrounding zir lack of gender

Yandie, Goddess of Pickles.http://www.blogger.com/profile/05613093003394429518noreply@blogger.com11