Life Candy

cat parade: when a festival comes to your livingroom.

2009-07-10T09:10:00.008-05:00

I love how kids just do whatever the hell they feel like doing. Like the other day, Lam and Mini decided to have a festival in the livingroom.

What kind of festival? you may be wondering. Well, it was never really clear. It was just a bunch of random activities and exhibits strewn throughout the room. Anything was fair game for their festival.

There was a puppet show, a balloon display, a Chaotic and Pokemon card showing, and a delightful puppy exhibit featuring one of those very ~~annoying~~ entertaining mechanical puppies that moves around, flaps its ears, and plays a "catchy" song -- very much like those singing fish on a plaque. You know, the ones that your children adore and would press the button to replay the song over and over again until your ears bled? Yeah, that one. It's sitting on the shelf in the picture above.

But the highlight of the festival was the cat parade. Yes, folks, the cat parade.
The cat was unaware of such an event.

an ice-cream shirt, a lemon cake, and a new 5-year-old girl

2009-07-06T09:18:00.001-05:00

Over the weekend, we celebrated my dear Mini-girl's 5th Birthday*! Yes, it's true. My baby, who used to look like this...

... now looks like this...

I know, she's gorgeous. She's going to be a Supermodel/Rocket-Scientist. She already has the mad math skillz and stunning good looks. Yeah, totally proud are we.

But wait. You might be thinking "Didn't one of Nenette's kids just have a birthday, like, yesterday?!" And the answer is "Not yesterday, but close."

What can I say? October is a good month to have unprotected sex around these parts. It's Fall, getting cold. Too cold to do outdoorsy things. You stay inside, do some cuddling, then BAM! -- you're knocked up, waddling around, and popping out little humans before you know it.

Friday the 3rd was her actual birthday, so she got to choose her birthday cake (a white chocolate lemon cake) at La Grotta, eat her favourite meal (cheese pizza at the mall), and open presents from us. Check out the La Grotta cake of awesomosity.
Mmmm... white chocolate lemon cake...

Sunday the 5th was her party. Mini, her brother, and 5 of her fave buds gathered at Michaels to do a craft activity. Mini is crafty in more ways than one, you know.

Each child was to decorate his/her own t-shirt using a stencil -- the boys chose to do rocket ships and the girls chose to do ice cream cones.

I would've chosen the rocket ship myself, but that's me. I'm just built that way. (Insert weird, perverted line by Roomie about the way I'm built and his appreciation of said build.)

With t-shirts completed and left to dry, we brought out the requisite ice-cream cake, almost exploded the place with sparklers, sugared up both kids and adults (including Sarah, our super Michaels craft leader), tore into presents, and took a bazillion photos.

Before I knew it, we were done, bagging our leftovers, and sending the kids home with their folks, loot bags and t-shirts in hand.

Mini thought her birthday party was perfect. Oh, sorry, Princess Mini thought her birthday was perfect. She was surrounded by her most favoured loyal Lords and Ladies, and for two hours, she laughed, did crafts, and gleefully held court -- just like this...

Happy 5th Birthday, darling Mini! We love you!

Roomie and I shout our thanks to Trinity (my buddy and mom of one of the Ladies present) and Edna (my dear big sis) for all your help and company. You are beyond awesome!

* - I was going to post this yesterday but I was frankly exhausted after the annual "Birthday Extravaganza". Lying immobile on the bed staring straight up at the ceiling was all I wanted to do -- I ended up eating chips and sewing a soft cuddly bear together instead. Chips rock.

'Up', an ice-cream cake, and a new 7-year-old boy

2009-06-29T07:13:00.017-05:00

Lam turns 7 today!!! Yay! It seems like just yesterday that he looked like this...

I know, he's super adorable. He can't help it. He was born that way.

Unlike last year's boys-only, testosterony dude-fest at the aviation museum, Lam wanted to celebrate this year's event with friends of both genders. He even invited his sister!

So, I used the super-awesome magic all parents have and arranged a movie party at Silver City Polo Park over the weekend. We all watched ''Up", then had the customary cake post-movie.

Now, Mini has a peanut/nut allergy, as does one of Lam's buddies. So, I wanted EVERYTHING to be peanut-/nut-free and to have not come anywhere near anything else that touched peanuts/nuts. Seriously, I'm over-the-top anal about this type of thing.

Case in point: Roomie's allergic to some types of fish/seafood. (Okay, you may be wondering why the hell did he marry a sushi-lovin', patis-in-everything Filipina? Pfft... well, I think we all know the answer to that question.) When we dine out, I always tell serving staff that "my husband will die if he has anything with fish or seafood in it".
See? Anal. Hey, it's better to be safe than pushin' daisies I always sayz.

Okay, digressing. Where was I? Oh, yeah, no nuts/peanuts.

My safest bet to avoid any nutty accidents was to make the birthday cake myself. This idea also appealed to my control-freak side. Joy all around!

Then, my oven died. Totally because of Roomie's bad tech-equipment karma. I swear. He should stay away from all things with electronics -- VCRs, DVD-players, PVRs, dishwashers, washing machines, stove/ovens, etc. Our computers are constantly going tits-up! He's totally in the wrong industry and totally to blame. Gah! If he weren't so great in the sack...

Good god, digressing again! So, ice-cream cake it was to be. Lam gave the idea a thumbs-up, and off I went to ping the internets for a good recipe.

To make an already crazy-long story less long, I found an awesome recipe, bought totally nut-free ingredients and a spring-form pan, made hot fudge sauce, threw everything together on an also-homemade chocolate wafer crust, froze it all overnight, and BAM! - ended up with this...

Oh, yeah, totally yummy. Even Miss Mini, aka "She who doesn't really like chocolate", decided it was so tasty! (Yah, about the chocolate thing, I'm still wondering if she's really my daughter. Because, hello? CHOCOLATE!)

But OMG, I was stressing about this cake the night before. Totally "it will melt everywhere", "everyone will hate it", "they'll throw rocks at me" kind of stress.

Apparently unfounded, of course. The screaming, sugared-up, bouncing-off-the-walls kids loved it.

The adults enjoyed the cake too. In fact, one parent -- who shall remain nameless -- suddenly appeared behind me, grabbed a fork, and gave me a look that said, "I want to be alone with this cake now." Truth. See?

That's my sister on the left, sugared-up Lam on the right, and in the middle, my dear trying-to-blend-into-background buddy with the pan in her hand. Thanks to her, I didn't have to bring anything melty/sticky home with me.

All in all, the kids had a great time, the parents had a couple of hours to themselves while we sugared up their children, and Lam celebrated his birthday exactly how he wanted: watching an awesome movie with his awesome buddies.

Happy 7th Birthday, dear Lam! We love you!

Roomie and I give special thanks to Kevin (one of the awesome dads) and Edna (my super big sis) for being such great help on such a chaotic event. You both rock!

when you can volunteer to party

2009-06-26T07:00:00.005-05:00

As y'all know, my kids have had the ~~mindnumbing horror~~ delight of having Momma show up at their school to wander around their class, get all chummy with their teacher, quiz their friends in Math, lead them and their friends around a maze of floating decks dodging lunatic geese, and ~~spy on them~~ see what they're like on their turf.

The ability to volunteer at my kids' school anytime I want to is certainly a perk of being a SAHM.

My very last volunteer event was less in-my-kids'-face and more in-other-kids'-faces. I volunteered to corral and queue-up the talent acts for the school's Annual June Barbeque.

This event is a big deal. See all the people? Yeah.

And because this year is the school's 60th Birthday, the party's an even BIGGER deal.

So, in addition to the customary hot dogs, smokie dogs, chips, drinks, and water melon, we had birthday cake too!

They even rented a huge inflatable slide. I swear, I didn't see my kids for a good long time. They lived on that slide!

Harmzie's Pepper spotted Mini and off they went to tackle that monstrous slide of fun and slidey goodness. I was pretty dang lucky to stop them long enough for this picture. Aren't they cute?!

The dude sliding down the left on this slide picture is Lam. He still hadn't built up all his strength from fighting the flu the week before, but that didn't stop him from tackling that slide several times, blowing up balloons, and running after of his friends... at least, for a little while.

This was his last slide of the night, and he was wiped... even anxious to go home and relax.

But long before that happened, I had a job to do. As mentioned, I was to line up all the talent so they would be ready to perform on cue.

Here's Harmzie's Norah dancing on stage with her friends. They were the first act, so I didn't have to round them up...

... which is totally unfortunate because they were the only kids I knew from the school. Seriously, my kids are in Nursery and Grade 1 -- I know none of the kids in Grades 4, 5 & 6. The rest of the acts had kids in those grades.

Yeah, I was pretty useless.

The organizers didn't mind though. They just appreciated the moral support and the fact that I was there just in case they needed me.

The last act was a performance by the Principal and his band. Yup, our school's principal knows how to rock!!! He's an all-around nice guy, very friendly, and he tries to do his best by his school and students -- like last year when he told the students that if they raised enough money to hit goal for one of the fundraisings, he'd camp on the school roof. So motivating. And yes, he totally did.

Anyway, the band played a "Happy Birthday" song, and we all noshed on angel-food-vanilla-icing-nut-free cake. Yum!

It was a beautiful evening, warmer than I'd anticipated -- I'd brought my black jacket, and we had a great time socializing with our neighbours and some great friends, like these folks...

fries are made from potatoes. it's true.

2009-06-19T18:43:00.008-05:00

Me: "Holy moly, son! You have to present your Class Expert thingy on Tuesday! That's 4 days!" Okay, I said "moly", but I was thinking "shit".

Lam: "Oh, no." He looked at me, eyes huge, and I knew he was thinking "holy shit" too.

Yeah, that's my 11th hour kid. Just like his mama. My 6 year old son will be pulling all-nighters in no time! I'm so proud. I didn't perfect that until I was at least 14.

For an end-of-school-year project, the kids of Room 17 -- aka the Alternative Class Grades 1, 2, & 3 -- were to each choose a topic they'd research, become an expert on, and present to the class and their parents.

In the end, Lam decided to talk about his favourite topic of all: french fries.

I helped him a little -- yes, helped -- because this was his very first ever project, and well, he's only in grade 1. However, he did all of the Googling himself.

Together, we displayed in pictures on a board the 8 steps of "How Potatoes Become Fries".

Here's Step 1 where he plants the eyes of one potato to grow a new potato plant. Yeah, that's staged. Roomie doesn't want potatoes growing in his veggie garden... for now.

And here's Step 5 where Lam cuts the potato into fries. No, he didn't really cut the potato himself.

Because of the stabby and burny potential, I did the actual peeling, cutting, boiling and frying. (Yep, I boil my fries before frying -- makes it lighter and crispier. )

For most of the steps, he prepared something to pass around to show the kids... a potato with the eyes circled, raw cut fries, boiled fries, homemade fries, and fries from Burger King, for, you know, comparison.

Lam didn't actually present his work on the 9th as scheduled. He came down with the flu, and ended up presenting the Monday after. Sadly, I didn't get to watch it because Lam's flu made its way to Mini, so I had to stay home with her while Roomie went to represent and document.

If I'd gone, I would've seen my super-awesome, cool son like this...

updated: guess what these people are doing...

2009-06-17T12:38:00.005-05:00

UPDATE: What we're REALLY doing...

This photo was taken in the morning about 3 weeks back. Lam was still sick from the flu, so he and I had slept in the family room on a high state of Barf Alert. I woke up earlier than usual because I has such crappy sleep. Lam had insisted I sleep on the couch with him, which was wicked uncomfortable.
Anyway, I started to do some surfing and blogging. Mini then woke up and came downstairs to join me on the couch for a cuddle and a quick snooze. Roomie, who was walking around in the kitchen getting ready for work, took the picture.

That's all! :)

mini's review from the land of lemonade...

2009-06-13T17:43:00.010-05:00

Mini and I made lemonade for the first time EVER.
Actually, the making of lemonade came after a whole bunch of Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?... Mommy, can we make lemonade?...

So, we did. Finally.
I consulted the "magic information box" and found a great recipe. Then I consulted the "magic Nenette brain" and changed it a bit. Here it is...

Ingredients:
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
5 cups more water
mint (optional)

Instructions:
1: Boil 1 cup of water. Turn off and add sugar. Stir until sugar has dissolved. This is your simple syrup that will perfectly sweeten the lemonade.
2: In a pitcher, mix the lemon juice with the simple syrup. Stir.
3: Add the rest of the water to the sweet lemon mix. Stir.
4: Pour some of the lemonade into an ice cube tray. Put tray into freezer, and chill the rest of the lemonade in the fridge.
5: Once lemonade in the ice tray has set, drop cubes into the lemonade and serve.
6: I think some mint added into the lemonade would also be nice.

Mini's Quick Minute Lemonade Review:
The awesomeness shows up at the 0:52 mark. It's the face that she uses to scare her father when he thinks she's sleeping -- makes him think she'll someday follow in her mommy's stabby ways...

Apparently, we made lemonade that turns little girls into all manners of crazy. She makes Mama proud.

poll results: your must-see movies of Summer 2009

2009-06-09T10:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to all who voted for their must see movies of the summer. I'll be making one for the Fall/Winter season (with New Moon, Where the Wild Things Are, etc.), so stay tuned for that!

The results are as follows:

Star Trek (13)
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (12)
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (11)
Night At The Museum 2: Battle Of The Smithsonian (8)
Up (7)
Other (6)
X-Men Origins: Wolverine (4)
Terminator Salvation (4)
Year One (4)
G.I. Joe (3)
Land of the Lost (1)

I'm a little miffed that I'd forgotten to add Angels & Demons to the list. It was an accident.

I've had to update my list with an unexpected new release (already viewed movies are marked):
1. ~~Star Trek~~
2. Angels & Demons
3. My Life in Ruins
4. Year One
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
6. Up
7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
8. Terminator Salvation

Thanks again for participating, and enjoy your nights at the movie!

the good, the bad, and the OMG.

2009-06-08T07:00:00.004-05:00

Good: I'm finding more time to relax and watch the DVDs I've wanted to watch for a while.
Bad: I have to watch them on the livingroom DVD player, because the one in the familyroom is old and unreliable.
OMG: Roomie broke the one in the livingroom.

Good: I've discovered the joys of chocolate/vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone.
Bad: I gained 3 pounds.
OMG: I've discovered the joys of Tim Hortons' Iced Capp with chocolate milk.

Good: I did a full body weights workout on Friday.
Bad: I was too sore on Saturday to do my interval/tabata workout.
OMG: I was too sore on Sunday to get up off the couch without wanting to scream.

Good: I spent a couple of hours at the crafts store and mall while Lam was at his buddy's party.
Bad: I spent over $50 on stuff at said craft store and mall.
OMG: Sephora just opened at the mall, and I will probably spend much more than $50 there in the future.

Good: Lam went to his buddy Christopher's birthday party at the Western Canada Aviation Museum.
Bad: He didn't feel well in the car on the way back home.
OMG: As soon as we got home, he threw up all over his father and the Twister mat that Roomie and Mini were playing on earlier. He has a stomach flu.

Good: The boys enjoyed the beautiful spring weather.

Bad: The Evil Cat who's been in cat-jail more times this week than we can count for pouncing on the kids.

OMG: Some things just can't be unseen, so I'll spare you. Aren't I nice? :)

unfinished projects including my un-hot ass

2009-06-04T13:43:00.007-05:00

I'm notorious for not finishing projects. The only 4 I managed to complete were:

1: the engineering degree - still don't know how I managed that.
2: the wedding - since I did all the badgering and the naked proposing, I figured I had to see the job to the end.
3: & 4: the births of Lam and Mini - I bloody well couldn't say "this is getting tiring; I'll just put this pregnancy off for another couple of months" at, I don't know, month 4. Gestation just doesn't work that way. And you know, with all the badgering and naked proposing, I had to see the job to the end.

See? This is me at 8 months pregnant with Mini. Beside me is my lovely sister. At this point, I was all "get me off this train, and give me my baby!" I was beyond done.

So, yeah, I need to finish things. Without a gun to my head.

Anyway, one of my more important projects has been to sexify myself for the summer, or at the very latest, my 40th birthday, which is in... holy crap, 5 months!!! I had announced my intentions here and on the Canada Moms Blog and planned my workouts.

Then, I stopped.

I'm awesome at the planning -- rotten at the execution. What I really need is for someone to kick me in the ass, grab me by the shoulders, shake me violently, and scream in my face, so that I'll want to workout, muscle up, and get revenge on the asshole who did all that shaking and screaming at me!

But since revenge really isn't my thing, I decided to join a support group instead.

A bunch of lovely ladies on Twitter have made a Hot Ass Pact for 2009 to give up our vices and get all hot-assy. If you're on Twitter, you can follow our conversations with #hotasspact2009.

Does this mean the end of the Bikini Project? Nope. Still doing it. I just now have some awesome ladies with whom to share the journey to goal.

I have One Lovely Blog -- oh, yeah :)

2009-06-02T17:51:00.004-05:00

And I know this to be true because Lisa told me! The maven of Retro Housewife Goes Green picked LifeCandy as one of her lovely, newly-discovered blogs.

I'm so honoured! Lisa's a lady after my own bloggy heart with all her awesome earth-loving green-ness. Be sure to check out her blog. Really. Go! Go now!

I've been fortunate to have discovered some lovely new blogs as of late myself, so now it's my turn to pass on the "One Lovely Blog Award" love.

Here are the rules to receiving this award:

1: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2: Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
3: Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Here are the 15 blogs I've chosen to nominate -- listed alphabetically: (These are blogs that are new to my brain. If you're not listed, I've most likely already loved you long time.)

1: Becoming Something
2: Cheaty Monkey
3: Daily*Quel
4: daysgoby
5: Dirty Tricks
6: Dutch Blitz
7: If That Ain't Country
8: In Three Words
9: Kyooty Centre
10: markbanaag.art
11: Planning with Kids
12: temporarily me dot com
13: The Adventures of Cody
14: The Gratton Grapevine
15: Winnipeg, MB

Thanks again, Lisa!

the list of things that I think are totally the tits

2009-06-01T14:51:00.011-05:00

It was a very productive weekend of getting drunk (while Roomie, who -- in his totally not-drunk state -- watched me be all cute and drunky, then kept me from falling flat on my face on the walk home) and writing my latest article for the Canada Moms Blog, which I totally did NOT do at the same time.

I was hungover when I wrote my article for CMB. NOT drunk. There's a difference, people.

I also sorted through my kids' old clothes, gave the girls' stuff to one friend, and some of the boys' stuff to another unsuspecting friend (still have more stuff to bring over, my dear!), and folded laundry.

Anyway, productive... drunk... hangover... unsuspecting... oh, yeah, so I've finally caught up on most of the things on my TO-DO list. Instead of there being 50 things on the list, I now have 40. Yay, me!

And because I'm just feeling so happy about this, I decided to share with you the list of things I think are totally the tits. Yes, the tits -- as in "awesome", "incredible", "wish I had this everyday single freakin' day". And it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with boobs. But, if you happen to find "boobs" on my list, it's a complete and total coincidence.

Once again, I totally stole this from my lovely internet friend Ali, because I told her I was going to steal it, and she was all "yeah, steal my tits!" (No, she didn't really say that, but I can't find the email of what she actually said.) So, anyway, can't disappoint my friend!

Okay, hang on to your boobs, 'cause here's all the tits:

lists
chocolate pavlova
your comments (wish more lurkers would delurk and say hi... hint, hint...)
Good Eats with Alton Brown
Scottish and British accents
when famous people tweet me
the episode of Firefly where we get to see Nathan Fillion's naked ass (mainly because we get to see his ass -- the rest of the episode is just okay)
Fruits & Passion's Jasmin (my signature scent)
logic puzzles
Sarah McLachlan's Possession
hula & tahitian dance
Grease 2
my hair after a shower when it's still damp and wavy
metal roofing
Aveda Lip Tint SPF15 in CocoPlum (the perfect burgundy-brown, moisturizing)
shopping alone
Fringe, Supernatural, Smallville, Stargate: Atlantis... I love me my sci-fi
cute, scruffy, Gerard-Butler-type guys, like my Roomie
weight-training
standard transmission
when my little girl wears her hair in ponytails
garlic
green tea lemonade from Starbucks
Jack Black
the first two seasons of Friends
flower roll from Sushi-Ya:

Now, you. What do you think is totally the tits?!

a barbeque with loved ones through the haze of pina colada

2009-05-31T11:38:00.016-05:00

Harmzie, Max, Roomie and I go way back to our university days, when we were just 4 crazy engineering students. And now, after a wedding, numerous martini nights, a young hottie bartender, a walkathon, another wedding, 5 kids, and 2 blogs later, we're still making memories.
Thankfully, we have digital cameras to help us remember these memories when we're too drunk to do it on our own.

I hope you enjoy the pictures of our evening at Harmzie and Max's. I'm rather hungover and maybe a little drunky still -- yes, with my last drink at 10pm last night -- so my captions may not be entirely spot on. I wish me luck. Thank you.

Here we are enjoying Max's pulled pork barbeque.

In clockwise order around the table, starting at 1 o'clock: Max, Roomie, Stewie, Lam, Mini, Pepper, Norah, Harmzie, and the empty chair beside her is mine.

I was told that Max's pulled porked was Carolina style -- so we were thinking of you Country Girl by way of that reverse stalking thing Harmzie and I like to do. :)

See how Harmzie lovingly presents her drink? I like to call this photo "My precious."

The evening started off with a pina colada. This is NOT a pina colada.
This lovely Orangina-esque delight was a during-dinner drink. It did not make me as drunk as the pre-dinner pina colada did. And it was oh-so-tasty.

I can see why Harmzie loves it. She told me what was in it, but I was too drunk to remember.

Now, I present the Max's Meat portion of this photo collection. Harmzie suggested the name. Really. It was ALL HER. :)

Photo 1: "Max cutting his meat".
Photo 2: "Roomie eating Max's meat".
Photo 3: "Max eating his own meat".

After dinner, the kids did this...

And later, Mini and Pepper yoinked Lam's drink and did this...

... while the big people drank this (mmm... blender drinks...)...

But not the little cars -- those were Stewie's. To play with -- not to drink.

And for the grand finale, Harmzie and me resplendent in our awesomeness in the photo entitled "She's Touching My Butt"...

Yeah, we're lucky. We have kinky friends we love. You should get some too. They totally rock!

PSAs: because you won't like me when I'm stabby.

2009-05-29T07:20:00.010-05:00

PSA #1: Don't make fun of blogging.
Just because the word "blog" sounds funny doesn't make it a joke. And if it is joke to you, it's not to me, so show a little respect.
I blog about my life, so making fun of blogging is pretty darn close to making fun of my life.
Okay, so you don't know how blogs "work" -- it's not hard. Just bite the bullet and try, you neo-luddite! Gah!

PSA #2: I teach my kids manners -- you should teach yours manners too...
... so that I will gladly invite them over again without fear of them...
(1) swearing at and threatening to kill my son - even as a joke
(2) destroying my house because they're not allowed to destroy their own
(3) going into areas of my house where they are NOT allowed
(4) hurting themselves because they're running around and screaming too bloody loudly for them to hear any danger warnings.

PSA #3: I am what I tweet -- I tweet what I am.
I don't lie on Twitter. I don't make stuff up just to entertain my followers.
I will not have untruths attached to the name on my profile, because it's my real name and the one I use on the blogs I write for (please forgive the danglies). It's called integrity.
If I happen to tweet something that "doesn't sound like me", then you probably don't know me as well as you think you do... or my husband has once again hijacked my laptop.

PSA #4: Don't ask me how my parents are doing.
Unlike many filipino families, I don't have a relationship with my parents. I don't expect you to understand -- I just expect you to respect it, and DO NOT TRY TO FIX IT. You know nothing of my past with my parents. And they won't tell you the truth, because it will make them look bad.
They're retired, and have plenty of time to spare, yet they've never made an effort to see me or their own grandchildren. Every attempt on my part for a get-together has been shot down by them. My mother would rather go to the casino, and my father doesn't care that he hasn't even met Mini. Yeah, I'm done with them.

PSA #5: Yes, I drink booze.
I always have -- I always will. See that picture? This is me drunk. Yes, I'm a cute and loving drunk. I just drink very rarely. Usually at social gatherings only. And a VERY small amount.
Depending on numerous variables, a drink can either make me feel fine or make me feel like I've just ingested poison. And there's no way to predict how I'll feel ahead of time.
So, oftentimes, I just don't drink.
However, if the mood strikes, I will have a plum wine, a nice red, a gin and tonic, or even a cosmo. And when I do, I am not "caving", being weak, or breaking any rules.
And I accept the painful consequences with a great deal of self-loathing.

Yet another concept I stole from the super-fly Ali, because I so want to be her, but because I'm a small dark-haired filipina, and not a small blond non-filipina, I'll just copy her brilliant post ideas instead.

maybe I should buy cereal more often...

2009-05-28T21:00:00.002-05:00

... because look at the prize I got at the bottom of my newest box of Cheerios...

As you can see, it's similar to the kind of trap Mini came up with last December. She was so proud the cat took the bait she'd set up.

Mittens didn't seem to care. It's just another cave for her to sleep in.

it's been 9 years? already?! wow!

2009-05-27T09:16:00.017-05:00

It feels like just yesterday that I dragged Roomie kicking and screaming in his bare feet (really!) to the altar at Leo Mol Sculpture Garden to vow to love and honour me forever and ever. As if he really had a choice -- I'm just too lovable to resist.
But no, it's been 9 years. In fact, it's been 17 years since we started dating. And look at us, we're still like a couple of teenagers. Actually, my friend Sue said that, and I have to agree.

Now, as a tribute to my Roomie and our 9th Wedding Anniversary, I present the 9 Point Roomie & Nen Retrospective (I know, lame, but I couldn't think of a better name)...

Anyway, here we go:

1: The Meeting - Fall 1987
It was during my 1st year Frosh Week in the University of Manitoba's Engineering Program. See this picture? In the Engineering building on the far left. You only see the corner. Yeah, there.
I don't remember meeting Roomie. He was in 2nd year. He says he doesn't remember meeting me either. I think he was drunk.
Well, actually, I thought he was crazy, and I avoided him throughout 1st term. Freak. We became friends 4 years later.

2: The Dating - Spring 1992
It was 3am when we declared our like for each other. In his car. On my parents' driveway. I kissed him. He kicked me out of his car.
Two weeks later, we went on our first date. Yeah, we are very non-linear. We went to Basil's in the Village. It closed down years later, so I don't have a picture of the place. But here's a picture of the place we went on our 2nd date: Alycia's on McGregor. Mmmm... perogies...

3: The Moving In Together - Summer 1995
I moved into an apartment in Roomie's building (see picture - he was on the 15th floor). Not his. Another apartment. Or as Harmzie put it, I rented an apartment for my cat and spent most of my time at Roomie's. When his lease ended, he was too lazy to find a new apartment for himself, so he moved in with me. It was an easy move -- an elevator ride to the 8th floor. He officially became Roomie. I couldn't get rid of him after that.

4: The Traveling - 1996 to 1998
After moving to different apartments throughout the city, we decided we were ready for something bigger: moving to a different land mass. So, we decided to live in Hawai'i (our building shouldbe in the lower lefthand corner). Yeah, brilliant decision. Then we moved to Vancouver. Another brilliant decision. Home to Winnipeg? The best decision. :)

5: The Infamous Naked Proposal - Spring 1999
I wasn't sure if Roomie was ever going to ask, so I took matters into my own hands. With this ring. And naked. He seemed really confused. Me? Shy and almost embarrassed, but if I was going to do it, I wanted to do it memorably. And I wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer.

6: The Wedding - Spring 2000
Non-church + non-priest + non-500-guests + non-20-bridesmaids = non-filipino wedding. Roomie's BIL was our JP, and the boys wore barongs. It was a wedding in the park with lots of trees and dimes. Yeah, we threw dimes at our guests. There was lots of booze and boob talk. And 80s music. It was perfect.

7: The New-to-Us House - Spring 2002
With a baby on the way, we decided to buy a house. We walked into this one, and we felt at home. Actually, I looked at the kitchen/familyroom addition, said "I'm home", and Roomie wisely said, "Yes, dear." You do not disagree with a 6-month pregnant woman.

8: The Birth of Lam - Summer 2002
Me: "Honey, I'm ready for the epidural now." Roomie: "Do you want to think about it first?" "I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOR 2 HOURS!" And then I ripped his head off. Ten hours after that -- 21 hours in total -- and after Roomie fell asleep while counting my pushes, we had our little Lam. We were in love.

9: The Birth of Mini - Summer 2004
Roomie on the cell phone: "Hello." Me at home: "Every 20 minutes." "OMG! Okay, I'll be right home!" Eleven and a half hours later, a meconium scare, and a healthy, happy first feeding, we were cuddling our new baby girl. Yup, in love, again.

This retrospective covers the adventures of our first 22 years together. Here's to another 22 years!

Happy 9th Wedding Anniversary, Sweetheart! I love you!

poll: what are your must-see movies of summer 2009?

2009-05-26T07:10:00.000-05:00

On Sunday, I watched a movie. A movie staring these people...

OMG... isn't he hot?! I KNOW!!! The dark. The brooding. The intensity. The pointy ears.
You know I'm talking Spock, right? Oh, don't tell me you're surprised -- you know that I love me my scientist-guys.

Roomie had already seen Star Trek twice -- once with his old buddies and again with Lam -- so I decided to watch the flick by myself. Yep, *alone*. I didn't bother calling anyone to come with me.
Watching a movie alone is a rare treat. Really. I used to do this once in a while when I was single. I'd do it more often if I could, but I often find myself with a tall, cute, scruffy man wanting to tag along. No complaints -- as I said, he's cute.

Now that I've seen Monsters vs. Aliens and Star Trek, my dream of seeing as many of 2009's Summer Blockbusters is well underway. Other movies I'd like to see are:

Angels & Demons - I watched its predecessor, The Da Vinci Code, alone. As a non-practicing Catholic daughter of pseudo religious fanatics, I found myself squirming in my seat a lot. Meh, you can never have too much "burning in hell" kinda fun, I say!

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - With Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Taylor Kitsch, and Liev Schreiber on screen, I'd be happy watching this movie with the sound off. That's what I told Ali, and I've never been more serious in my life.

Terminator Salvation - I've seen the other 3. I'd like to see how it ends. I still think they should've gotten Arnie to reprise his role, and have him say something like "See? I told you I'd be back."

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - Despite my deep loathing of Shai LaBeouf, I've loved the Transformers forever. I even watched Beasties, solely for its nerdy computer animation awesomeness, of course.

Year One - I saw the preview for this movie when I watched Star Trek. Jack Black makes me laugh out loud. And maybe snort once in a while. I cannot drink a beverage while watching his movies. I will just choke otherwise.

How about you? Which of this summer's offerings will you be watching? Head over to the new poll on the sidebar, and chose all the flicks that will have you lining up at the box office.

my plants kicked me in the bum while my daughter danced...

2009-05-24T18:10:00.004-05:00

Behold! My front yard garden. Ain't it splendiferous in all its awesomosity?! (Thanks, Country Girl! ;D)

Go on. Click on the picture for a better look. Really, it's worth it, if I do say so myself.

Thanks to the *ALL DAY EXTRAVAGANZA* of dividing and transplanting of plants, and redesigning of the flowerbeds, I...

didn't have to spend more than $19.50 on new plants (bought at my kids' school fundraising).
only had to buy $4.00 of top soil.
have a fuller, better-looking garden rather than just a lawn.
now have sore arms, sore legs, and an aching back.

Yeah, that last one was a testament to how OUT OF SHAPE I am. Remember the 2lbs/week I lost? Yeah, well, I got sick and gained most of it back. I'm one of those crazy people whose appetite goes up when I'm sick. Unreal, eh?!
I lay around, blow my nose, cough, and moan... and eat. And I crave mostly bready things. Yup, sick and carby. That's me.

Anyway, I've been wanting to dig my fingers in the soil and get dirt under my nails for months, since this...

In my excitement, I pushed myself with some wild and crazy digging, dividing, and hauling of big bags of dirt. I would've also used some of our compost, but Roomie snags all of it for his veggie garden out back. Maybe if I make with a striptease, a forbidden dance, or maybe a sandwich, he'd spare me some. So, yeah, sore and achy.

Anyway, here are a few close-ups. I divvied up the bergenia, primula, and my son's purple plant that I don't remember the name of. You'll notice some allium, snow-in-summer, tulips, lamb's ears, creeping thyme, sedum, and maybe the creeping jenny. Sadly, the coleus already looks crappy and wilted. We'll see if it bounces back along with Mini's liatris -- fingers crossed.

And speaking of darling Mini, here she is dancing around Mommy. She spent most of that afternoon outside, visiting the neighbourhood kids, riding her bike, and making rock soup. Mmm... rock soup...

Okay, tell me, is Mini's pose in this shot reminicent of the Sasquatch pose? Roomie was the one who made the connection... sigh... I really don't want to say he's right, but...

why I'm sticking to 2...

2009-05-22T20:25:00.011-05:00

I was going to write a post yesterday about how annoyed I am at The Space Channel for airing Stargate: Atlantis from Sunday to Wednesday each week. Seriously, WEDNESDAY?! Who's the brainiac who thought of that one? Now, what do I watch from 1pm to 2pm on Thursday and Friday?! I wouldn't mind if the show they aired in its place was Supernatural or Smallville reruns, but nope, they air a show I've never heard of. And if I've never heard of it, it's crap. It's a proven fact.
Anyway, yeah, I was going to write that. I didn't say it was going to be a long post. Or a particularly juicy one. So, it's a good thing I didn't write it.

Instead, I volunteered for Mini's Nursery/Kindergarten class trip to Fort Whyte, a nature centre in the south end of the city. Yes, folks, I was... offline. I hear your collective gasp. Oh, dear, whatever for, Nenette? Because I knew this would be another memory Mini and I could share in the future. Because it meant so much to her that Mommy volunteer -- she may have even wanted to show me off a bit. And well, I needed to be reminded once again why I decided to stop at 2 children.

Holy hannah, it felt like a low-grade sustained freak-out. My nerves were on edge... trying to keep my group of 4 kids together instead of running in 4 different directions... trying to answer all their questions at once... and OMG, trying to keep them from toppling off of the maze of rickety floating docks and swimming with the turtles!

But on the totally up-side, it was a sunny warm day, the bugs weren't biting, and no kids barfed on the bus going to or coming from the nature centre. Success -- and that's based on the whole no-barf thing alone!

Meanwhile, Lam had a "Snow Day" and spent the day at work with Roomie. There, he listened to his father's 2-hour AC Circuits lecture, which he said he enjoyed. Truth be told, I think Roomie paid him to say that with the french fry lunch, a video game (albeit, used), and the kites they bought afterward.
You see, I've taken AC Circuits. Fun and enjoyment aren't words I'd use. The words "brainmelting", "mindnumbing" and "sticking a fork in my eye would've been more fun" are far more applicable.

wordless - #3

2009-05-20T15:49:00.005-05:00

in sickness and season finales

2009-05-19T21:00:00.001-05:00

I was sick all weekend with a nasty cold. And to make matters worse, I was also menstrual and crampy as all hell! -- because we all know that cramps come from hell. As I said in twitter, Karma has finally caught up, and I'm finally having to pay for all this hottiness and gorgeocity.

And while the rest of my family did some gardening, bike riding, and looking all cute and funky like this...

... I was laid out on the loveseat under a blanket with remote in hand, laptop on lap, and Firefly in DVD player.

If I hadn't felt like crap, it would've been a fabulous, relaxing, uneventful weekend. You know, the kind where you have no kids' parties, no weddings, or no emergency home repairs. Where you order in and don't touch the stove. The kind of weekend where your beloved partner keeps the crazy younglings -- like our cute little Disruptor above -- from talking incessantly AT YOU so you can have 2 minutes to finish a thought.

Because, you know, thinking can be really awesome sometimes... like this weekend, but I won't talk about those thoughts right now. We're going to need a whole new post for that.

Instead I will talk about my homework, which I did during rare spurts of energy. Since I can't volunteer for Lam's class anymore because of this ~~bloody~~ totally-awesome blogging thing, they've got me cutting things up. If you read Harmzie's post about our kids' student led conferences, you'll recognize the name in this picture. Their teacher had the pages of their New Pork City citizen book laminated, and my job was to trim off the extra plastic to those and to the pie shapes you see in the upper right corner.
Apparently, they're doing fractions soon.

Now, the Supernatural, Smallville, and Fringe season finales -- OMG! So did ya watch them? Holy crap!

I don't think I should ever meet Jared Padeleki in person. Seriously, look at this picture. I will pin him down and lick his face. Just saying.
Okay, anyway, our hottie hot boys were doing their dark and brooding, which we all adore. But OMG, I loved the whole "so that's what Ruby was up to!" I kinda feel like I should've known that but, nope, I totally didn't.
Now that Lilith's been offed, and the Big Bad Boy's been released, next season sounds mighty promising.

I'm glad Smallville's been renewed for another season because that finale was weak. I'm talking "hot smoldering date with dinner, dancing, drinks, then getting to his place and finding he forgot to get condoms" kind of weak. If burying Doomsday was all it took to off him, they could've done that a long time ago and moved on to getting Clark and Lois making crazy monkey-lovin'. And where was the earth-shattering battle? Not even 5 minutes. Clark's shirt was barely torn, which was a HUGE disappointment.
As for Clark turning his back on Chloe at the end, when she is totally alone with Lois somewhere in the future and Jimmy dead? WRONG! He'd never do that. And ZOD?! Don't drop the ball on this one next season, people.

Doesn't Olivia look sah-weet in this picture? And Walter looks so young. But Peter looks like he's got a broom handle shoved up his butt. Speaking of Peter, OMG, our Peter isn't really our Peter! Holy cow! Throughout the season, there was a ton of hints that things weren't right. Memories didn't jive. And Peter didn't remember any of the experiments Walter did on him. Now my question is: when did Walter fetch this Peter to replace the other deceased Peter?
Leonard Nimoy as Belly. Nice. I like that because I'm a Trek fan. But the big "Holy Crap!" was seeing the WTC towers as the way to demonstrate that Olivia was indeed in an alternate reality. Ballsy and brilliant move. No words needed. It was there, in your face, daring you to admit the truth or admit that you were either high or drunk.

Now, I've got a summer of waiting for new season. Whatever will I do to keep me occupied?

an invitation: eye candy in seattle

2009-05-17T09:00:00.001-05:00

You have such fabulous taste -- you read this blog.

I dig that.

So, I invite you to a sweet and slick art party in Seattle.

The artist is none other than Mark Banaag of markbanaagart.com. He is also my cousin.

Wanna come along? Go here to RSVP. Go. GO NOW!!!

mama loves friends, firefly & her super-groovy family

2009-05-15T19:00:00.001-05:00

Hold on to your hats, folks, for this is my Mother's Day post. Before you get all judgy judgerson on me for being so late, I'll have you know I was busy writing my latest article for the Canada Moms Blog on my non-love of camping.

Okay, anyway, Mother's Day...
The first words I heard that morning came from my little Mini saying "Happy Mother's Day, Mama" in her sleepy little voice without Daddy reminding her. OMG, what an awesome start to my day!

The awesomeness continued when my wee-ones harassed Daddy -- instead of their lounging-on-the-couch-with-cup-o'-green-tea-watching-Fringe-and-Supernatural-and-Smallville Mommy -- for stuff like juice, food, and treats.

Oh yes! And while they showered their dad with "bring us stuff" duties, they showered me with hugs, kisses, and these...

DVDs, a beauiful plant holder made by a creative little artist, and a special story written by a special author. And I was just expecting chocolate! Woohoo!

The DVDs were the BIG surprise, because when I told Roomie, "I'd love to have Friends Season 1", I wrongly assumed he was thinking of math or sandwiches and NOT listening to me.

And as for Firefly, he's my Roomie. He read the post. He knows that Nathan Fillion would be the perfect appetizer. Lip smackin', covered-in-honey-and-berries kind of appetizer, all drippy and gooey. Yum.

Dang these hot dudes for making me digress again! Anyway...

For lunch, Roomie and the kids dropped me off at Sushi-Ya for some mommy-time-alone sushi lunch on their way to see Gramma.

Where I ate the awesome Flower Roll you see here.
And a huge sashimi boat you don't see here because I'd forgotten the camera at home.

Afterward, I walked over to Starbucks for a Mocha Frap and some twilaxin'.

Back at home, after some gardening in the frontyard, I was treated to an all-girls' picnic for dinner by my sweet little girl. Yeah, all-in-all, awesome.

Okay, NOW, I'm ready to put this year's Mother's Day to bed.

Night-night, Mom's Day... see ya next year! :)

welcome to nerdville. population: me...

2009-05-15T00:10:00.004-05:00

When one laptop isn't enough...

At least both my hands are on one laptop. If I had a hand on each, my nerd quotient would've been through the roof.

Hey, where's my cup of green tea?...

too busy to get in trouble. obviously.

2009-05-08T06:00:00.009-05:00

I've been...

scrambling to meet deadlines
singing out loud to songs I love
loving poached eggs with salsa for breakfast
knitting a blanket of rainbow hue for my beautiful little girl
shrinking by 2 pounds every week
playing 'Gramma' to Mini's baby
anticipating bright green foliage and delicate red blooms
dreaming of pretty sandals
struggling with extremes of hormone-induced emotions
clearing superfluous crap off my flash drive
photographing my handsome little footballer
losing my pants
crushing on muscled mutant men
loving the new plants I bought for my kids' school fundraising
drowning in Mini's homemade crafts and artwork
enjoying monthlies with sushi and girlfriends
jonesing for dim sum
waiting to paint walls white
watching and reading (yes, again)
twittering too much for far too long
smelling freshly baked cookies
looking forward to something awesome
fantasizing about loft spaces and rooftop gardens
planning to move more furniture
laughing hysterically at stickdudes
sloshing around in sparkly rain boots
enjoying the fact that the fluffy white stuff outside this window has finally made way for spring...

(List Inspired by Life Begins at 30 and Hula Seventy)