Today, Monday, is my mom’s birthday. I’m a rubbish daughter and didn’t send her a card. So instead I decided to make a video, giving excuses as to why I didn’t send one. Hopefully it’ll amuse her enough to make her forget about the missing card…
I’m so going to regret posting this publicly!
For the French-impaired, read more for the summary… 
Nothing quite like a good ol’ get together with some old friends to revive you a bit.
Unfortunately, being home alone at the moment, I’m fairly limited in terms of who to talk to. There’s that spider in the corner of the room, but it ain’t looking too chatty.
So I thought I’d make this post, which I’m sure Annabel will love! [Note: Jaded people, please turn away now. This will probably make you want to gouge your eyes out or turn your nose up. But a girl’s allowed to have a bit of fun.]
I went upstairs to pay a visit to the quiet friends with beady eyes who sit in the corner of the spare room, in particular Mishu, my first teddy. I’ve had him since the day I was born (apparently - can’t say I remember much of that day), and he was a present from my godparents Kazimier and Monique. Mishu apparently means “teddy bear”, or something along those lines, in Polish, however I must admit I’ve never checked the veracity of that statement from my godfather.
As you can see, Mishu’s wearing one awesome pink tshirt, with his own NAME on it (don’t you wish you were that cool)! There are a few reasons for that. First, it’s because he’s a cool dude. Second, it’s to do with hiding his battle scars, which are partially due to too much hugging and playing with over the years, but also due to two much-needed open-heart surgeries when Mishu was about 6 years old. He had to carefully be restuffed and resewn in the right pectoral area, and while it was a stressful time for all, he came out of it a stronger man, thanks to Maman’s love and care.
Probably around the same age, I was offered a substitute for Mishu, in the hope of avoiding any further open-heart surgery. But that didn’t work, he didn’t even get a name! He’s still called Toutou, which is as generic as “Teddy”. He was the evil twin, the unwanted one, the one who arrived too late. And he was inevitably the baddie in any games I played with them.
In recent years, they’ve been getting too little attention, but they’ve always travelled with me to the UK and back to Canada - even if I had to travel with only two suitcases!
So finally… Mishu and his entire posse!
From left to right: Jeff the Monkey (a great old uni pal), Zippy the talking puppet, Piggy (a gift from high school friends), Puppy (from an old work colleague for my birthday), Mishu, Toutou, Tigger and last but not least, the funky pink Menorcan sheep!
Mr. P and I have been married for over two years now. Happily so, no looking back, shared bank accounts and wedding rings*, the usual, ya know.
The one thing that’s not in the picture and probably won’t be for many moons is babies. We’re DINKY’s (Dual Income, No Kids Yet), and I really have no problem with that.
Steph blogs about being 35, not married, and with no kids, and getting asked The Questions - “Why aren’t you married?”, “Why don’t you have babies yet?” - constantly. I can’t count how many times I’ve heard the second question, more or less jokingly from friends, family and.. complete strangers sometimes.
Let’s set the record straight. I’m 25, and because I found the man of my life and married him when I was 22, it doesn’t mean I necessarily want to skip forward on all the great stuff one gets to do during their 20’s. I enjoy the freedom we have at this point in time way too much, and I’m just not in a rush to procrate and watch mini-me’s running around, pooping and snotting everywhere.
I have a feeling of great respect, almost reverence, for every mother (and father) who manages to raise little munchkins. I really have no idea how they do it. I took care of a devastatingly charming one year old boy this weekend while others around me were doing some house renovations, and after a couple of hours, I was begging for someone to swap jobs with me so I could go back to sweeping floors and painting ceilings! So - much - energy!
It’s not that I necessarily don’t think I’ll ever be able to manage raising kids, it’s just not on the radar for the next few years. Especially with Mr. P who’s got the maturity of a 12 year old sometimes!
So in the meantime, I plan on spending the next few years working my arse off on starting our own business, making the most of dinner parties with friends (the ones who can get away from their kids for an evening at least…) and owning cream coloured dining table chairs** and stuff that would never be baby-proof.
I know this post will make absolutely no difference to the frequency at which I hear The Question, since those to whom this is directed don’t read blogs, but at least I’ve had my rant, and I’ll just smile and think of this entry next time someone rattles on about how we’ve been married for over two years and should definitely have little pooping critters around by now.
Right, I feel better now.
[* Question for other married women: Do you always wear your wedding ring? Does your other half? Does it bother you if they don’t always wear it? Reason being, I occasionally take mine off (doing dishes, painting, etc) and forget to put it back on for days on end, same for Andrew, and most girls I’ve said this to were horrified at the thought, and most guys said their wives would probably kill them for doing that. Is it really that big a deal?]
[** Definitely not baby-proof and probably not Claire-proof either ;)]
Feeling jetlagged and a bit too tired to put together full sentences, I’ll just summarise it and post pictures tomorrow.
*Scratches head* Talking about sleep, time for some right about now. Cheerios!
PS - Apologies to everyone I didn’t get the chance to see. A week’s so short for a trip back home!
I’m not sure I mentioned before that one of my three lovely sisters was coming to England for 3 1/2 months this summer, hoping to get a job in Cambridge and enjoy a different lifestyle for a summer.
I can proudly announce that within less than a week of arriving to the UK, she’s officially working for Scudamore’s Punting Company. She hasn’t yet fallen into the river, and only crashes minimally into other punts, so it can only get better from here!
So if you’re in Cambridge sometime soon and fancy getting the full guided tour, pick her as your guide and be sure to tip her over.
Today is Mother’s Day in the UK, so we went down to see Andrew’s parents and went out to a gorgeous restaurant in Sevenoaks called Loch Fyne. Had a fantastic meal (best mussels I’ve ever had!) and a good day, if a bit rainy!
I usually hate forwards, and I’m not asking anyone to actually forward this on. Just take a bit of time to remember how childhood and freedom felt, and add a bit of it in your day. I just found myself playing shadow puppets with two hairclips as a result of spending the day thinking of how wonderful childhood is.
Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read this
Close your eyes and go back in time…
Before the Internet or the Apple Mac.
Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack….
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo…
Way back……..
I’m talking about Hide and Seek in the park.
The corner shop.
Hopscotch.
Butterscotch.
Skipping.
Handstands.
Football with an old can.
Fingerbob.
Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the Menace.
Panini Sticker Books.
Pretending to be Gazza and John Barnes in the Playground.
Getting your haircut like Chris Waddle.
Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops,
Paper that you could eat.
Penny sweets that actually cost 1p.
The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune - Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a screwball
Watching Saturday morning cartoons….short commercials,
The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man, Zebedee, Rainbow,
Tiswas or Swapshop?, and ‘Why Don’t You’? - or staying up for Doctor Who.
When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed like going somewhere.
Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Doctors and Nurses and Zorro.
Climbing trees.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath and getting a stitch,
Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt.
Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles.
Being tired from playing….remember that?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team.
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon
Playing cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle.
Choppers and Grifters
I’m not finished just yet…..
Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.
Remember when…
There were two types of trainers - girls and boys, and Dunlop Green Flash - and the only time you wore them at school was for P.E.
You knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents.
It wasn’t odd to have two or three “best” friends.
You didn’t sleep a wink on Christmas Eve.
How exciting was it to use a Vending Machine at big school.
When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money
When you’d reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When nearly everyone’s mum was at home when the kids got there.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry shopping and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the head’s office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home…
Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn’t because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs etc.
Parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! -
and some of us are still afraid of them!!
Remember when….
Decisions were made by going ” Ip Dip Dog Sh*t ”
“Race issue” meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in “Monopoly”.
The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs.
And the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one.
It was unbelievable that ‘Runouts’ wasn’t an Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.
Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors.
Sunday night bath time.
Cerbsy and rebounds.
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their “grown up” life…
I DOUBLE-DARE YOU
Sure, some of these have a British twist to them but childhood is the same everywhere…
Some of my fondest memories…
Getting our allowance after being good in Church on Sunday and spending half an hour choosing a dollar’s worth of 5 cents candy with our little brown baggie. Sour gum balls.
Going skating at the local indoor ice rink just because we wanted a blue Slush Puppy or a small poutine at the end. Using chairs to push friends around on the ice. Trying to skate backwards like the boys who played hockey did.
Visiting my best friend to play Nintendo, always the 100 games cartridge, getting told to go play outside, whining that we don’t want to go outside, getting pushed out the door, spending the entire afternoon having a GREAT time scheming a water guns war with the boys, using garbage can lids to protect ourselves, getting called indoors at sunset for dinner and refusing to go back in because we’re having too much fun outside.
Playing double-dutch in the school yard with an orange and a pink skipping rope.
Writing “Do you want to go out with me, tick the box, yes or no” to boys and getting your friends to deliver it to the boy in question.
Les Mystérieuses Cités d’Or, Les Trois Mousquetaires, Rahan… and those weird shows in English… “rasha-sha-ra-ra”, I speak English too!
Making bunnies out of two cotton gloves while waiting for the school bus in winter.
Making the first snowman of the winter… and making the last snowman of the winter with the leftover brown snow.
Exchanging dinosaur and gasoline marbles. Pogs collections.
Building forts with the cushions from the sofa and blankets.
What are your fondest memories?
Dig, dig…
Today, Andrew and I did more weights lifting than we have in a while. It’ll be great preparation for moving houses…
Andrew’s parents were having a “pond-digging party” so we went to help make a big hole in the back of their garden to create a koi carps pond. Koi carps are possibly the coolest fish around, they love to come up to the surface and watch or follow people around the edge. They even come up to suck your finger, and I’ve been known to befriend them enough for them to let me pet them and pick them up! (Anyways, they’re friendly enough but the picking up would still be a bad idea…)
I can’t claim to have spent as much time digging as the boys did, but I did a good little bit of work. We came across a bunch of HUGE concrete blocks that were dumped as rubble when the house was originally built and they were a hell of a challenge to dig out! Some were a good 4 feet long and went way beyond the edges of the pond we wanted to dig! Thankfully, no one took their eye out while digging them out with the dodgy loose pick axe…
Chomp, chomp…
Now, for the most interesting part of the day… Kathy knew everyone would be working hard so she prepared a truly tasty meal as incentive to keep working. We had an early snack of veggie crudités and crisps, olives, sunblush tomatoes and dips. Later on, when the boys started running out of steam towards 3-4pm so we had a lovely meal. Butterfly prawns in garlic, lemon and parsley butter, some lovely sundried tomatoes and herbs ciabbata bread followed by salmon in white wine and herbs with a dill sauce, some lovely rosemary potatoes and a tomato salad. I’ll have to get the recipes from Kathy and post them up on my food blog, the prawns in particular were gorgeous!
So all in all, a very fun day considering how much hard work was involved. Great company makes all the difference! 
Vas-y mon ti hamster!
C’est l’histoire de Rosaire, le hamster de Montréal.
Ok, bon, je m’attend pas à ce que grand monde comprenne les références que fait Fred ici, mais je dédie cette histoire à Caramel, le premier teddy bear hamster, un vrai survivor, Guimauve, la grosse affaire paresseuse blanche, l’autre dont je me rappelle pas le nom mais je suis sure qu’on a eu 5 hamsters au total, puis Lucky et Speedy, les mini hamsters qui mordaient dont un s’est suicidé (par pendaison) un beau matin d’hiver. Maudites affaires inutiles qui faisaient du bruit en plein milieu de la nuit à côté de ma chambre… mais bon on les aimait bien.
Jo, Julie, Catou, c’était quoi le nom de l’autre hamster?
—————
Mon bô poisson
Merci Alex pour la chanson qui m’est restée pognée dans tête toute la journée mais que je pouvais pas chanter à mes collègues anglos parce qu’y comprennent pas un mot de canadien français, et peut-être 3 mots et demi de français Parisien…
Allez, tout le monde chante avec moi, sur l’air de ‘Mon beau sapin’! :
‘Mon bô poisson, roi des baleines, que j’aime ton oodeuuuur. Tu goute si bon, mais ta senteur, fait lever l’coeur, pasé six heure, Mon bô poisson, roi des odeures, que j’aime ta candeurrrre!’
Merci! Merci!
Tout le monde, on applaudit!!
Je sais bien que je suis une couple de jours en retard (c’est tu nouveau ça? Non, pantoute. Shut up!) mais j’ai écouté le podcast du premier avril de MC aujourd’hui et j’en avais les larmes aux yeux! La version d’Éric est pure class!
Pour ceux qui sont pas encore embarqués et qui ont jamais écouté de podcasts, prenez le temps d’écouter un de ceux de MC. Toujours intéressant et toujours des bonnes tounes pour aider la journée de travail à passer!!
Took me a few days to get them online, but here are the photos from Christmas Eve until the 27th spent with Andrew’s family. We were joined by my cousin Marjo and her boyfriend Wayne on the 26th. It was great to see them!
Enjoy
PS - Photos from my family’s Christmas in Canada to come soon!
PPS - I’m also about to create a new category on the right hand side called “Family” so that’ll link to all my entries relating to family events… Will make it easier when relatives want to see those posts and aren’t interested by my techno-rants!
C’est moi à presque deux ans, en août ‘83. J’arrive pas à me rappeler où on est dans la photo mais je devais être contente de nourrir les “Bambis”. Peut-être que Maman se rappelle d’où je suis dans la photo!
Ajout: Maman dit que c’était au Parc Safari, à Hemmingford, Québec
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is me at the age of almost two, in August ‘83. Can’t remember where I am in this photo but I must have been happy to feed the Bambis. Maybe mom can help me remember where we were for that photo?
Update: Mom says it was at Parc Safari, in Hemmingford, Québec
The beginning of a long Christmas season of family get-togethers!
This was our pre-Christmas family get together with Andrew’s family, started with food, ended with food, oh and there was some food in the middle too… There was a bit of yelling at Sharon Osbourne, a bit of wine and port and cheese, a bit too much wine for the youngest guest (it’s okay, we’ve all gone through it too at some point!) and probably too much food for Roy! (Notice how we can see his belly when he’s sitting on the sofa! That’s how we all felt by the end of a fantastic meal!)
Incriminating photos even make Nan Phyl look like a dessert hog! See how she keeps the raspberry bomb to herself? Heehee!
Overall, a really nice day with the family!
Juste pour ma p’tite Julie chérie — Voici tes photos de Showbizz Avril 2004!
What can I say… i’ve been slacking off! Planning on spending an evening working on the new blog (alright fine you can see the preview here!!) and it’s still not been finished to go live. (Alright, I’ve changed my mind again about what I want my blog to be. Wait for the new and pretty (and easy to manage!) one! - 22nd September)
So, after a week and a half at work, I can say that it’s good to be back! Nothing much has changed, still mountains of manuscript and books sitting on everyone’s desk, still the same old cafeteria ladies mucking up your change at lunchtime, and still the same old office gossip… But a whole new point of view of how things are run in the business and a stack more responsibilities for me!
Friday was Lisa’s wedding — It was beautiful and the ambitious choice of location for both the wedding itself, and then the reception (nearly an hour away, requiring some driving on the M25 in Friday afternoon traffic! How risky!!) really paid off in the end! It was nice to see many of the Pepperrell relatives who I’d only met once or twice. The service at Lythe Hill Hotel was great during the wedding meal, the staff was very nice and they were doing a great job at keeping our wine glasses topped up! Lisa and Stuart both looked great!
Another big bit of news is that my sisters are back from Peru, still have the tourista (want details?) and certainly have a new outlook on life. Jo will be updating Mission Perou website soon, so I’ll link to her photos (not all — she took over 600!). I don’t even know where to start telling their story so I’ll let them do it when they post their travel diaries onto the site.
