Confessions of a…

The Bahamas, a Boat, and a Birthday wish from a distance, the week 3 recap from the Carr family.

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A Boat
If there is one thing that I have learned this week more then anything, it is the fact that there are some people that you just can’t please. I mean we are on a boat that looks like a fancy hotel, floating in the Gulf of Mexico with more than 4500 people on it. In 6 days, we have not had to cook, clean or in most cases work, and yet there are still people that are not happy. On the second day of the cruise, we met a lady by the forward set of elevators and all she could say was how frustrating it was to have to wait for a free car. “It seems all we have been doing is waiting for these stupid things, I mean they should have more”. Really? 12 in the front of the ship, another 4 in the mid and 4 more in the “aft”, and we need more? Waiting 5 or 10 minutes for an elevator at a busy point in the day on YOUR vacation, is that bad?

Friday I watched a lady pressing the “Iced Tea” button on one of the 6 or 7 juice machines within a 60 foot radius, repeatedly with NO success, and all she could say was “Ah forget it! I just want this cruise to be over, nothing works on this ship. I had to change the remote control in my cabin 3 times, and the workout machines had problems and no one seems to care”. Come on lady, you are on vacation, why are you working out and if you DO want some exercise, why not take a stroll to the other juice machine right over there!

This is our first ever cruise, so I didn’t know what to expect and I guess our expectations are such that just about anything for us is cool, even if the one overweight lady in the lounge said “The food on this ship is horrible,” or that the dance teacher in the hot tub was criticizing the choreography in all of the shows. The way I look at it is, there are 4 ice-cream machines on each side of the Lido deck, that you can access 24 hours a day. When it comes down to it a self-poured cone anytime you want has a way of making things awesome and I am happy with that.

Bahamas Day 1
We had our first ever trip together to a Caribbean island and for just a quick couple of hours in two different ports, I did get a sense of what island life is like. Not sure how much of sense it was, but we can say that we like Freeport more than Nassau. Our first stop in the capital city of the Bahamian island chain, consisting of more than 700 islands is the country’s largest city. Nassau was pretty, but crowded and because we had the girls in tow, we seemed to have big tourist targets on our back and because of that we were the subject of many calls across the street for everything from hair braiding to 2 for 1 t-shirts. Stopped on the beach several times for “deals” on chairs or umbrellas and “unforgettable” rides on worn out and tired looking sea-dos or banana boats patched up with bathroom silicone. In a just 15-minute walk on the beach, we were all done – - just about. Not only because of the constant barrage of cat calls, but the heat was almost unbearable.

Even as I write that it was too hot, I feel a little like the complainers I talked about before, so I should say that it WAS too hot, but I loved it anyway! We made it to the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island and bit the bullet and paid our way in to use the facilities for the day. It included a tour of their aquariums, a freshwater pool with a waterfall, and of course the beach. Well, it didn’t really include the pool but Nathalie likes breaking the rules that way! The package did included lunch at 1 of 3 restaurants and we could walk to the Dolphin Cove and were able to see them in the distance but not touch. Of course, like anything on vacation if you have an endless supply of money you could do just about anything you want, including swimming with the dolphins.

Bahamas Day 2
Our second day stop in port was the much smaller, second largest city of Freeport. It gets it’s name, according to our taxi driver Uncle Bill, from the fact that when the island was a busy transport hub and before it was part of the full Bahamian chain, they made a deal that more then half of the island would have NO duty on anything, as long as it was used in the Freeport area. So cars with the special “bonded” number plates could be only used in the part of the town designated for its use.

We found the pace easier, with far lass pressure to buy things. It might have had something to do with the fact that the kids both did not want to come, opting to stay in “Camp Carnival” instead. But I am sure it also had to do with the fact the market was much less crowded then Nassau. Both Nathalie and I enjoyed a “Bahama Mama” at a beach side bar with our souvenirs and trinkets in tow. A great excursion, even if we had to “sit small” on the taxi ride back to the dock.

Back in the USA
A quaint little city with more bars per-capita then any other place in the world including Jimmy Buffett’s original Margaritaville, was our 3rd and final port on our second last day of our vacation. Key West is also the southern most point in the continental United States and one time home to Ernest Hemmingway! We enjoyed a “hop on and off” tour of the island and stopped long enough to visit a Butterfly Conservatory, and the zero-mile marker and sipped a cold one at the bar made famous in the Jimmy Buffett song. The girls will never forget the ice cream, and the half-pound cookie they enjoyed at Mattheessen’s Cookies, Fudge and Ice Cream. All in all a great stop and an enjoyable visit with some nice people and a lovely place in the USA.

All done but the…
Well tomorrow we arrive back at our home port of call, New Orleans and are planning one last tour of the city, before we hop back into our car and point it north to see if we can get me back home for my meetings this week. The trip has been a whirlwind, but a much needed and well worth it “time out” from our lives and although it is all waiting for us upon our return, I hope that the mood and happy feelings will tied us over, at least until our next trip.

Feelings
Our first cruise experience was more then what we had expected. From the amazing food, to the talented performers and to the incredible staff in the service areas, we felt like our needs were their top priority. Special thanks to our personal room steward, Artha and his team for not only making our room over twice a day but also smiling and greeting us each time he saw us in the halls.

Our personal head waiter Ionel and Samuel our wait staff, made each dining experience special by not only going over and above with the food service but by engaging us in conversation and making us laugh each night at table 523 in the Paris dining room. Special touches like remembering that Julia likes fruit for dessert, and that I like my meat medium rare made the service they provided more than awesome. Nothing excited us more than hearing the words “It’s SHOWTIME” and watching our very shy head waiter come out of his shell as the dining room came to life with waiters dancing on tables. The last night, they even sang a version of “Leaving on a jet plane/Leaving on a Fun Ship” which left all of the guest just a bit teary.

We met a lot of people including the dad and his two daughters from Windsor, the two crazy Greek sisters and their kids, and their kid’s friends from New Orleans, 3 sisters and their families from Detroit, and the nice mom and daughters from Seattle and it was nice to be part of each of their memories of a great vacation experience. Other notables were “The Quest”, the ocean water pool, Karaoke, the launch of the Carnival “Burlesque Show: Good Night Kiss”, the hypnotist/comedian Tim Triplett and our Cruse Director, Kevin Noonan and his team of Fun Specialists made for great entertainment. Tomorrow, we start saving for our NEXT cruise, because this was so much fun!

Birthday
Friday on the cruise was my Mom’s birthday. It was a little hard to celebrate being that far away, but I finally did get a cell signal from the top deck of the ship and with the wind blowing and the distant lights from passing ships on the Mississippi River as a backdrop, I was able to personally wish her a happy one. Birthdays mark the passing of time by counting days, and I guess when we are young the days mean more on some level then when we are older. With that in mind, my birthday wish for my Mom is that she holds onto the moments like they are years and hold each one in a special place.

In closing
On the 21 hour trip home, locked in the car with all my girls, there is bound to be a couple of conversations, worthy of using in my closing. I will save the Big Jim’s Boobie Bungalow billboard for another post, but this conversation happened within the first couple of hours. Nathalie was talking about how all the girls have some how ended up with colds and laughed when she told them, “Don’t worry about it I will give it to daddy!” and almost together, the girls responded with a resounding “NO”. Nathalie asked, “Why?” and Julia said, “Who will take care of us then?” Well, thanks Julia, I always do my best to take care of my girls!

Have a great and safe week and thanks for reading!
Jim

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Driving, Comments and conversations from the highway with the Carr’s, and the first ever vacation blog post for Week 3

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Driving
I have a confession. I like to drive on long trips naked. Well, let me be more specific, I am naked from the ankle down. It started 3 or 4 years ago on the original family road trip to Florida, when after a couple of hours in the car, I noticed that my feet started to hurt just a little, and I found that being able to stretch out my toes while driving made all the difference in the world. I just can’t stop now! On long trips, I can’t wait to de-shoe and let it all hang out. Wednesday afternoon, we left Ontario and pointed the car south, and hit the road. The data on the GPS says 21 hours total travel time with 2 hours of that stopped, with an average speed of 106 km per hour. I am not sure who it was that hit the “Maximum speed reached: 166 km”, but I do know that when I was driving I was doing most of it with no shoes on.

Traveling
I have always loved traveling, especially with the whole family because not only are the girls good in the car, when it comes to amusing themselves but also for the most part they like learning new things about the places we visit. We missed a big family vacation last year because of getting our house, but the year before we went to Florida and had a blast stopping in Savanna, Georgia walking around downtown learning a little about the history of such a beautiful city. So when planning this trip to New Orleans to board a cruse ship, we purposely built a couple of extra days in to the itinerary so we could see the sights and hear the sounds of “The Big Easy”.

Not in Kansas
There are lots of signs around that make it VERY clear we are not at home. The people are great, so that is the same. It is hot here so I guess that is close to what we have been dealing with at home, and the humidity is only a little less then at home, so it is NOT the weather. No, the big difference between here and home has got to be the sounds. There is music playing, just about everywhere we go in New Orleans. The girls call it the “creepy music” in the hotel lobby, playing from an old player piano, and there is old school jazz playing in the elevator, and more music in the hallways, and this is JUST in the hotel.

Today, we walked up and down the narrow streets of the French Quarter and just about every store and street corner had music of some kind playing. Cajun, Zydeco and Creole with Ragtime, Jazz and Dixieland and some Gospel in there for good measure. We only have these couple of quick days to enjoy the sounds, because tomorrow, we board the ship for our first ever cruise, so for now we just have to enjoy the sounds.

In closing
The last word this week goes to Julia in true “Buglia” fashion. This trip, like any of our US jaunts, involves a good amount of US barging hunting. For the most part the girls have been good, and are actually turning into quiet the fashionistas, picking interesting clothing combinations and colour choices, all off the clearance racks. We almost made it out of the last store without one “PLEASE daddy” with the puppy dog eyes for something that that they for sure don’t need. In the linen section, on an end cap looking cute and calling their names was a collection of “pillow pets”. They walked around singing the jingle to each other, and acting out what must have been an infomercial they have seen a bunch of times, and it was cute. NOT cute enough for either of us to cave and actually buy one, but cute non the less. Sometimes they are good with us saying NO, and let it go, but Jordyn was not letting up. I guess she RELLY wanted one, because the arms crossed, the pouty face came out and when we finally got them to the front cash the chants of please got louder.

“Like you think that saying it one more time like that is going to make us say, Oh we didn’t know you wanted it that bad Jordyn, go get one, and get one for each of your friends” Nathalie and I say, almost in unison. It goes back and forth for a bit, and then finally, with what SEEMED like the last word on the issue, Nathalie says, “If you think I am paying 20 bucks for a pillow, you may be out of your tree!” Never wanting to give up an opportunity to add her thoughts, Julia jumps in, “But, it’s also a pet” and just for clarity she breaks into the jingle with hand actions, “It’s a pillow, it’s a PET”. Thanks Julia for your thoughts on it… but the answer is still NO…

And thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.
Jim

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Splish splash, Mick MAC and a little bundle of buglia, stories from the Carr family for week 2

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Geek
Greetings from a new computer… Well, OK the computer can’t talk but because I am hitting the nifty little illuminated black keys on my new silver Mac Book Pro in the way I am, in some way it is the computer doing the communicating. I have been waiting for a replacement laptop since my first ever MAC bit the bullet 7 months ago. It was nice that the school was able to loan me a temporary replacement laptop, but the problem is that it was missing software, was very lacking in hard drive space and the battery lasted about 2 and half minutes, if I was lucky. Now I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I am sure happy that I got the call this week to come and pick up my new laptop, so I could write a blog.

Buglia
It was a busy 4 months, and a somewhat hot summer in our new house in Mississauga, so the trip all the way to North York General Hospital WAS going to end with a baby. Being our second time around, we had somewhat of an idea of what to expect and the understanding that with the second child, the tempo ramps up a little. After arriving at the hospital for a second time in a week, and a quick check we find out that things were not quiet ready. In fact the message from the nurse was “I think you can go home and come back later”. Living 30 minutes away, that was not an option and Nathalie made that point very clear to the nurse and it would seem that she relented a little. She suggested, we leave the hospital for some labour inducing mall walking up the street, so we headed off to a closed Fairview mall for some “old people” laps.

It worked, but only a little and when we arrived back at the hospital, we laid it out on the line. “Look, if we leave this hospital, we are NOT coming back” Nathalie confided to the nurse. She decided to admit us, show us to the birthing suite, hop Nathalie up on some drugs and start the ball rolling. The whole process seemed so different from the last time for us. Although we were only a couple of doors down from the room Jordyn was born in, the staff was different and the total number of bodies, in and out of the room was a lot lower, it seemed that we were at a different hospital. Dr. Brown was the same, so that was one thing I guess. Like we were told, the second time around went much faster.

The night progressed well and at one point, the Dr. came in and said something like, “ok, I will be back at around 8 to deliver” and then he left. But that was not meant to be. Around 7:30, hard labour started, and with no sign of the Dr. because he had gone home to freshen up for the start of his day, the two nurses started to freak out a little. “Someone call Dr. Brown, she is NOT waiting!” A short time later, with only seconds to spare, the Dr. came running in and said, “looks like we are going to have a baby!” It seemed like only a few minutes later, after a few hard pushes, the joyful cry of a newborn filled the room. A newborn in age but a baby the size of a three month old! “10.2” said one of the nurses, and in our arms was our BGB.

Someone once told Nathalie having children is like watching your own heart beat outside of your body. This little mind, body and soul, that worries you, watches you, and makes you laugh everyday, but is in control of their own actions, and no longer needs the safety of the mother’s womb. For 8 years now, we have watched this amazing little girl grow into a caring, sharing “old soul” person and we are so happy she is in our lives. Happy birthday Julia Boolia!

Pool
So we have a pool. It is not a huge pool, but big enough to get in a splash around and cool off in the hot summer sun. It is about 11 feet wide, and 25 feet long but that includes an attached hot tub/spa. You can’t swim laps, but it is a perfect lounging pool. It was something that we had talked about for next year, but by doing it this year, we saved the HST and we don’t have to pay for a year anyway, so it is like we are getting it next year! With only one more part to hook up now, we are 95% there, and loving it. If you are in the area, and want to swim, bring food and drinks and call first.

In Closing
I do some DJ’ing on the side and this summer has been very busy with weddings. Because of the heat, I have been wearing my shorts for the setup and at the last possible minute changing into my suit and the dreaded socks. So far, I have only forgotten my tie one time, but I think I still looked OK in my jacket. Jump to Saturday, and the bad traffic on the 401, I was already running about 15 minutes later then I wanted to be. That meant running a little extra fast with the gear to get setup in time. The wedding was on the 33 floor of the Sutton Place, so with only one service elevator, the two trips up and down, pushed me just a little further behind schedule.

With about 5 minutes to spare, I drop a CD of light dinner music in the player, and grab my suit for the quick run to the bathroom to change. Socks first (always my rule), then shirt and now the pants… Where are my pants? Jacket is there on the hanger, with NO pants underneath. Take the socks off, put the summer shoes back on and re-trace my steps, because I KNOW I had them when I left the house. Nothing around the equipment, in the kitchen, or the hallway leading to the room, so maybe the car? Down 33 floors in the world’s slowest elevator, run to my car and still nothing. The Bell Hop sees my concern, and says, “Did you loose your pants? I tried catching you when I found them on the sidewalk, but I missed you!” Thank GOD!

Wearing my pants I say, thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.

Jim

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Expressions, the house, a driveway and the long lost blog post, I do confess it is time, and the count starts at week 1

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Blog
My first blog post in a couple of months comes thanks to Julia. You see while taking a break from all the mad work that has been going on here at home, I was checking email on my computer. Julia, the ever-concerned “old soul” leans over my shoulder and says “I know you have been busy Daddy, but I really think you should write your blog today.” After a hiccup pause I ask: “What is it that you think I should write about Julia?” “Well you can tell people, we are going on a cruise, and that my birthday is in a couple of weeks and don’t forget we now have a pool”. OK, Julia here it goes…

Expressions
I laughed the other week, when I read a couple of students’ Facebook exchanges regarding their summer vacations, and talking about the impending return to school. They used the expression “I miss your face.” and it made me think about things that people say these days. I had never heard of this one before and it made me wonder, can you miss someone’s face? I mean you can miss a smile, or someone’s eyes, but the whole face? Well, to each there own I guess, be it a feature on the body, part or the face or the whole head area, miss away.

Driveway
(Note: I wrote this in July)
On a summer day, two kids play alone outside, while a third watches from a distance. The boy and girl, visiting family for the weekend have seen the other little girl before, but never talked to her. She lives in the house beside the one occupied by their grandmother. The two houses connected by a long driveway, and on this summer day, the little girl dares her older brother to go ask the other little girl if she would like to play. This simple gesture would be the beginning of a friendship that would last a lifetime. Jump forward 5 years, to the same driveway, connecting the same two houses, one with a new owner, while two kids play in the driveway, another little girl approaches, and asks if they want to play with her. These kids are older then the first set, but another lifelong relationship again begins on the narrow driveway on Yardley Avenue.

I forgot all about this, until the surprise 25th Wedding Anniversary party for my sister Debbie and her husband Guy. I was talking with my sister’s best friend Robyn, who was the one, some 35 years ago, who convinced her brother to go ask the little girl (Debbie) if she wanted to play. It was after that story, that I realized the driveway connection. You see, after Robyn’s grandmother had passed, Bob bought the house and one summer day, a couple of years after the purchase, my twin sister and I met his daughter Pat, who was visiting one afternoon. Pat is to this day, still a cherished friend. One driveway on a street in East York, and two lifelong friends created out of a simple “do you want to play” gesture.

House
I mentioned earlier that we have been a little busy around here over the last couple of months and that was the main reason I have not posted a blog. We decided to start now on the backyard work that we HAD planed to do sometime next year. Top that off with the addition of a pool that we had also planned to add to our backyard in the next couple of years and it has been a bit of a whirlwind. The joy will be in sitting by the pool with a cold drink in my hand over the next few weeks, and watching the kids splash around and listening to their wet, water giggles.

In closing
When I had to do some running around to do today, I offered to take anyone with me that wanted to go. Surprisingly, the one we call number one said, “Let me get my purse,” and I smiled a happy smile. Aside from the normal punch buggy spotting game we play in the car, we sang to the radio loud, and played air instruments (safely never to the detriment of driving) and we had a nice conversation about life. I was on the edge of my seat, when after a long pause; Jordyn said “I have a good question for you”. I turned the radio down, in an attempt to give my full attention to my oldest daughter and she said, “OK, if the whole world was broken up into two parts, and one was the good side, and one was the bad side, what side would you want to be on?” Not knowing if it was a trick question, I waited to answer and then she jumped in with her answer “I know I would want to be on the good side for sure, Daddy!” Well you are Jordyn, for sure you are!

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week!
Jim

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Mom, dark dressing and a simple smile, the light and fluffy, get caught up Carr blog for week 52

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Education week
Each year the girl’s school celebrates Education Week with a series of special events. This week, along with a special church service, a movie day and the French Café, we had a family activity night to take part in. This was a new event this year, and although some of the faculty had seen it be successfully at other schools, they had no idea of how much of a success it would be here. With only 20 family’s signing up before hand, we were not that optimistic, but in the end, it was a great success and lots of fun seeing and talking with so many families in our community.

In the dark
This week I had a laugh on the phone with a colleague from Vancouver. We were talking about getting dressed in the dark and I told her that I often make the mistake of picking my clothes in little or no light, and laugh when I see myself later in the day in a mirror and ask, “What was I thinking?” Connie had done the same thing before and told me of when she was a reporter for CBC, and left the house in two different shoes, and how she scrambled around work, looking for someone to loan her two new shoes so she would match for an interview. I guess the better thing would be to either turn on a light, or pick your clothes the night before, but what then would you have to laugh at yourself.

Smile
I used to quite often smile at the people I would see in cars, while stopped at stoplights. I said I used to because I can’t remember the last time I did this, that is until one trip this week. I am not sure why I stopped doing it other then the fear of someone thinking I was trying to pick them up and them reacting by pulling a gun or something. I guess a sign of the times, or something to be blamed on the media, but this week I through caution to the wind and made an effort a smiling at someone in the next car. I have been a little out of my normal Zen mode the last little bit, and if I understood chakra or the need to be in balance in ones life, I might easily identify that something has been a little off kilter. Perhaps the need to make someone laugh or smile at random is what I needed, because I feel good and now I feel closer to my normal self.

Nathalie
This being Mothers day week, I feel the need to acknowledge how thankful I am to have such a great wife, that is such a fantastic mother to our girls. Not only a great Mother to our girls, but when needed, a mother to me. I hope she had a great day, and always remembers that she is a great Mother!

In Closing
There is someone in everyone’s life that provides unconditional, unwavering love. For most, that person waited to hear your voice, and wished to touch your hand and loved you LONG before you even breathed you first breath. Those who have known true love in their life will certainly understand the feeling this kind of love brings, and even long for it’s emotional energy if it is missing, but the love of a Mother is something that will always be the strongest, deepest and most special love of your life.

When we are young, we take this love for granted, and some times even take advantage of it. When we are teens, we devalue the love by not appreciating it and by sometimes saying hurtful things, but when we are older and perhaps have children of our own, we understand what this love is. It is only then that we can truly learn to love in this way ourselves. Mothers teach us by showing and doing, and some of what they teach us, they don’t even know.

Thank you to my Mom for teaching me strength, commitment, and for giving me my get back up when you fall down ability and doing it all without even knowing you did it. I love you Mom!

Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe week.
Jim

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Food, Date night and spare keys, the week that was week 51 in the life of the Carr’s presented in 700 words or less!

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Comfort Food
I love it when my old students keep in touch, and this week I got word from one of them that I inspired her to start writing a blog about one of her passions, food (http://food-sanity.blogspot.com/). It got me thinking about food, and I laughed when I remembered a conversation I was having with Nathalie about a dinner we once shared with some friends we had more then 20 years ago. That’s a long time ago, so we could not come up the friends’ names or were they lived, but what we did both remember was what we ate. Our host had never cooked for a group of people before, and was guessing at most of it. In fact not only had she never cooked for a group before, she had never made a chicken and not knowing how to prepare it, she felt that the best way to cook a chicken was to boil it! I can’t remember how bad it was, but even now thinking about the cooking method I imagine it was horrible. At least I was able to get something out of it, content for a blog, more then 20 years later. I can only say thank GOD we now have the Internet, so people can get a recipe and instructions online.

Date Night
Well it seems that with Nathalie’s birthday party last week, and Julia’s communion a couple of weeks before that, we have been almost a little too busy for a date so that had to change this weekend. Saturday we had the sitters lined up, and plans to hang out with some good friends, and we had a blast. Sometimes it is easy to forget how much fun it is to enjoy the company of special friends, but need only a couple of hours to make you say, “We need to do that more often!”

Keys
How many keys do you have on your ring? For years, I carried around a ring with a couple of keys I had long since forgotten their use. I just feared that if I removed them, I would come across the door or lock I needed to open, and I would be screwed. I finally did get tired of the extra weight, and a bunch of years ago I purged and got rid of the keys I had not used and so far so good. I had forgotten about that until this week, when Nathalie and I started talking keys with Wonder Woman, and she brought up the fact that she has a couple on her ring, that no longer serve a purpose. Then we looked at Nathalie’s ring and sure enough, she too had an unidentified key. Purge I say! I did, and have not had a problem yet, but the KEY is to keep them on a ring somewhere. The thing is you just need to remember where THAT ring is (I have misplaced mine!).

In closing
Back in the 90′s I worked with a talented creative writer in Belleville named Kathy. One of the things she did that was very creative was send little unique props with her resumes to stand out. My favourite was a pair of small toy wooden blocks with “writers” written on them. The cover letter would say something like “If you are suffering from writer’s block, call me and I would love to help”. Well over the last couple of weeks, I have been looking at the two blocks that she gave me for my desk and thinking allot about my own writer’s block. It is certainly not a lack of content because I have a bunch to say, just trying to get back into a routine since the end of the last semester and the start of the next.

Lets’ hope I will be back in the swing of things for next week!

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.
Jim

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Sorry about that, birthdays and surprise, surprise, surprise, the week 50 Carr blog is in the books (Finally!).

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Sorry
I had taken a bit of a break in writing my weekly blog over the last 2 weeks, but with still lots of stuff to say about the comings and goings of the Carrs, I finally felt the need to share this week. The result, three new blogs all posted the same day, a little longer then most, but I hope it paints a not bad catch-up picture, so thanks in advance for reading.

Birthdays
When we are kids, the anticipation of the annual arrival of the anniversary of our birth, is something that can take you trough months. For some, it may start a couple of days after your last birthday, but what has become clearer to me as I age, is that the anticipation is directly proportional to how old you are. Now don’t get me wrong, I like having my birthday, and like to celebrate, but unless it involves making reservations, I don’t pay too much attention to it before it happens. The wrinkle is always the children. They LOVE Mommy and Daddy’s birthdays and so for a long time leading up to the day, there are constant reminders. Look out, because the perpetual cycle is in motion and nearing its starting point, because this is the Nathalie’s birthday week.

Tree
I am no horticulturist and suppose you don’t need to be to simply enjoy the beauty in the living tree, but it is this week, every year that reminds me that. When we lived in our last house, we moved in around this time of year, and fell in love with the street when the boulevard was a wash with shades of pink in the form of blooming crab apple trees. I thought when we moved, if I wanted to enjoy the seasonal scenery, I would have to make a trip to our old street. Little did I know that our street shares the same landscaping? This week the street was beautiful and as a result, I am that much happier that we live were we do.

Surprise Party
Well I did it! I did it with the help of a bunch of people and a well-placed “fib” and some creative acting by my mother in law, I surprised Nathalie with a birthday party and so glad I did.

With no classes on Thursday and Friday, getting the supplies was simple enough, but I did forget to get decorations and some other little things. Thankfully, I had only to send three texts to three people (I had to spread the work around!) and it was all taken care of. Although the planning has been on going for 3 weeks or more, the main bulk of stuff in true Jim fashion was left to only two days before the party. Better that way in retrospect, as not to cause any suspicion with the birthday girl. I even had our get out of the house excuse planned but let Nathalie work out the details with my accomplice herself, so as not to make her think, “What’s he up to?”

The reason to get back to the house, however, was a big variable. I had several possible scenarios worked out in my head, and just did not know what plan to execute until almost an hour before we left for dinner. I went with an upset child after Julia seemed to be having a bad day anyway so it was plausible that she would need us to come back home. Minutes before we left I told Julia that there was a party and that she was going to be the reason we needed to come back home and that she may need to cry on command. She answered me by crying on the spot, and then smiling and asking, “Like that daddy?” What a pro!

Dinner was lovely, despite the less then stellar service, but kind of glad that we did not finish to fast because we did have a timeline to adhere to. Order dessert, excuse myself from the table and make the call from stall number two. “Ok, we are just having desert, call and tell her she has to come back home. By the time I get back to the table, the play is in motion with a very concerned Nathalie on the phone with her Mom. “I know she has been in a bad mood all day, and the crying is so unusual. Don’t worry, we are coming home” she say’s to her phone. Not a second thought! She took the bait hook, line and sinker.

A quick drive home (very quick, because the pilot seems to think he is at 10,000 feet?), and an almost run to the door, and a simple “SURPRISE!” and it was done! Thanks to all for coming, and thanks to all who helped, and especially thanks to Nathalie for being born!

In closing
It takes a strong, confident man to admit that I played a number of girl type games growing up. I could hopscotch, skip rope – both singles and doubles, and if there was such a thing as a world class “see see my playmate” player, I was it. Skills I had almost forgot about until this week, when Jordyn asked me to show her how to do it. They have all kinds of new fangled hand/clap games it would seem and I can’t do any of them, but when it comes to see see my playmate, I still kick butt! Time to look for a skipping rope and see if I still have all my pre-adolescent skills in tact!

Skipping into next week, thanks for reading and have a great and safe week.
Jim

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Singing a song, driving landmarks and Pop-Pop Culture, the week that was week 49 with the Carr’s dipped in a big vat of chocolate.

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Ice-cream man
With the lovely weather and the kids playing outside after school, timing could not be better for the annual arrival of the tinny music playing from the little speaker on big white truck, driven by the “ice-cream man”. The girls can’t hear you from the next room when you ask them to pick up their garbage, but they have some kind of fine tuned radar when it comes to the music trumpeting the arrival of the ice-cream man. Picking the girls up at the sitter this week, I first heard the sound, when I opened my car door. Just as I expected they came running with their: “Please, we’ve been good!” voices on faster then you could shake a stick. So I did what I always do, I asked, “How much money do you have in your pocket?” It’s amazing, because the answer is always the same, NOTHING.

I guess they fixed my wagon though, because although they had no money with them then at the sitters, by the time we got home, the truck had circled the court, and they did find more then enough tooth fairy money in their piggy banks. They had run in the house, grabbed the money, and ran back downstairs and out the door, before I could say “Hey! You can’t have ice-cream before dinner!”, it was too late. It was a done deal. I guess perhaps, I might have been able to catch them in the act and put a stop to it, if I where not in the washroom, and otherwise occupied. Next week, we start working on the listening to daddy, even if he is shouting from behind a closed door!

Landmarks
When I was young and just started driving, I could get just about anywhere using landmarks to navigate. I think we all do it to some extent, but this week I laughed thinking how my land-marking skills have changed. When I was in my teens, I could tell you how to get to anywhere based on McDonalds locations. I could also do it in reverse, by knowing where the closest McDonalds was from your current location. I was not even that big of a fan of McDonalds growing up, because I was (maybe still am?) a picky eater and anything I ordered had to be a specially grilled, and back then it added some major time to the whole fast food thing, but I could sure nail down each location.

Jump to present day, and although I am still very good about finding the closed McD’s, my new go to landmark is Canadian Tire or The Home Depot. I guess a product of necessity, but funny how time changes things. I have never talked about this with anyone, until this week when I was driving with Nathalie and it occurred to me that she does it to. “Remember I bought those maternity pants at that store?” she says while trying to remind me of the street she wants to go to. My only problem is we need to come up with a better way to merge our databases; right now they don’t always mesh and it gets a little confusing. See, Nathalie’s radar is naturally, places where she’s shopped. Between the two of us, we could be a very good GPS if we can come up with a way.

Sing a Song
Remember last week I told you I had some stuff to write in my blog, but could not remember it? While driving my Mom and her sister to a doctor’s appointment this week, I was reminded of one of the stories. The funny thing was, I was reminded because the same thing happed this week; only the cast of characters’ was a little different. I wrote on Facebook, as a status update:

“Just thinking aside from the steering and stuff, an hour in the car with two people over 72 is very different from an hour with two people under 11.”

You see last week when I was in the car with the girls, and one of their favourite songs came on the radio, they just broke into song and it was fun to just start singing with them. But when I caught myself jumping into the ongoing singsong this week with my Mom and my Aunt, I had to laugh. “Roses are Red (my Love)”, from Bobby Vinton is just NOT the same as Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” I don’t care what you say!

House
Looking so forward to the next few “do nothing” weekends, I am finding it a little hard to contain myself. I still have a list, and I guess I will need to get to it at some point, but after the very busy last few weeks, it is nice to wake up and not have a plan. I may try to get to a few small things, but likely not going to turn on my power drill for a bit! What do you know about “self fulfilling prophecies’”, because now that I have committed it to paper, sorta’ speak, I certainly hope that whatever doesn’t fall down, and need my immediate attention.

Pop Culture
Pop culture is a curious beast at times isn’t it? I am never quite sure where the girls pickup half of the stuff they come up with, but I guess it must be from television. Today, I caught Julia telling Jordyn in a voice right out of the 1980’s movie “The Elephant Man”, “I am NOOOOT an Animal” and I had to laugh, thinking that first, what current television show would have quoted this line, and in what context? And secondly, I thought if she had ever seen that movie, she would do what most of what her generation does when they hear something like that. They think, “Why is that old movie, using lines from Hanna Montana?”

I remember talking with my nephew a couple of years ago, and he asked “Uncle Jimmy, have you ever heard of this band called Van Halen before?” What can you do? I mean, you can laugh and shake your head, but the fact is that we probably where the same when we were kids. All we likely knew was what was going on in our own little worlds, on our same time plane. The stuff that happened long ago was somehow foreign and difficult to fathom and when someone used a line or said something in a certain way, it was new to use, and therefore fare game. Yes Pop culture, is an interesting subject.

In Closing
So when did “Punch Buggy” get added back to the riding in the car lexicon? I don’t remember hearing it for years, but this last few weeks, I have heard chatter of the kind, coming form the back seat and then today, we broke out into a full assault, no holds bar game and Daddy got hurt! While mending my very sore shoulder, I had to remind the whole car about the rules as I remember them and that lead to a little bit of a debate with Nathalie. Here is what happened. I said “Black punch buggy” and punched no one, just proud that I was able to jump in the game while responsibly driving a motor vehicle. Nathalie then proceeded to land a punch on my upper arm. I protested, “What was that for?” and while she starts laughing, she says, “You didn’t say no punch backs”. I am like “What, first of all you didn’t even say black Punch Buggy, and second, you don’t have to say no punch backs, that’s not a rule!” So she then said “black Punch Buggy NO punch backs” and proceeded to punch me again.

After I arrived at home, I did what any good husband would do, I Googled it and found the following from beetlemania.org.uk site:

“It is not necessary to add “no punch back” when calling a Punch Buggy. Punch-backs are verboten (not allowed) and will cost you one point for each punch thrown – not to mention show you up as a spoilsport and may get you grounded.”

I hate being right, but I am still refusing to ground Nathalie!

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week!
Jim

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A lovely visit, a finished house and some laughing, the week 48 stories from the Carr family are now committed to the forever of the Internet.

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Visit
Because of the party weekend, we got to be on the receiving end of a cross border visit from our good friend Patricia and her two boys for the last 3 days. It was a short visit, but SO nice to see them, and it only reminds me that great friends are ones you don’t have to see or even talk to every day to be great, but when you do see them, you are right back where you once were. Often, the people in your life that contributed to making you who you are, are sometimes people who might not know how much they have made a difference in your life. And sometimes, you forget to say thank you to those people, so it seems like a good time to say thank you to Pat!

Laughing
There is an expression, or short form that is so popularly adapted by society today, that it makes me laugh when I think about it. When I first heard it, I hated it, and although I don’t often actually “laugh out loud”, I still use it everyday, and this week I did finally LOL! The back-story is that Nathalie’s car has been in and out of service for the last couple of weeks. Not necessarily a laughing matter, but each time it goes in, Nathalie gets a rental. We are getting closer to what is funny, so stick with me. ALL the repairs are under warranty, so that is funny, but not what made me laugh out loud.

You see, while driving with Nathalie in her little sleek black Pontiac G6, we witnessed one of those scary driving moments. A little old lady, who looked like she should have stopped driving a couple of years ago, reeking havoc right out there in the public. We counted 2 or 3 moving violations in just a couple of minutes, certainly scary enough from a distance but when she got directly behind us, Nathalie started screaming. I was trying to figure out what the problem was, and said, “what are you worried about, it’s a rental!” when Nathalie starts laughing and almost crying and says, “I waved the insurance!” Well that was enough, I started laughing, and we started watching in the mirrors, trying to get away from driving miss Daisy.

House
We had some crazy last minute spit and polish on the house, in preparation for the big party yesterday for Julia’s first communion, and by all accounts we did a good job. The truth is, that this last 2 or 3 days were a little more then spit and polish, with the backsplash in the kitchen now done, and we also finished so many other projects that had been at different stages of completion.

It would seem that there is a truth to the statement “where there is a will, there is a way”, because we certainly had the will to finish before the party, and now that the driveway is clear, and most of the dishes are done, as we look around at what we have been able to accomplish in just 8 months, I am so proud of US. Thanks to so many that have chipped in along the way, and thanks to Nathalie for sticking with me, sleeves up and on her knees all the way.

Communion
A little white dress, a hairpiece with beaded lace and shinny white dress shoes with the fancy high heels, helped our little girl reach another milestone in her journey as a good Catholic girl. Julia has now had her First Communion and she looked so grown up in her little white dress that both Nathalie and I had a hard time holding the tears back. We have been looking forward to this day for a while now, so the fact that it is now over, seems in a way a little odd, but I am sure happy that the day went off without a hitch and the little lady of the hour seemed to have a good day. She was not a big fan of all the attention, and often refused to smile for long periods of time, but when the dust was settled she said thank you to us for a wonderful day.

Tell two friends
The best marketing is the word of mouth kind, and in that light, I need to tell you about some great help we have had with the house over the last couple of weeks, and since my voice is my blog, I am writing about it now! The first is our carpet guy. It started with the old house, when we needed someone to fix some worn areas were Bentley had showed he was upset that he was not allowed in the bedrooms while we weren’t home. We did a search on Google for “Carpet repair Mississauga” and found Louie at A1 Carpet Repair. He did such a thorough job, inexpensively and well above our expectations, we said then and there if we ever needed to get carpet we have our guy.

Well, we needed to either repair or replace the carpet on the stairs in the new house, so we called our guy, and again he exceeded our expectations. Not only our expectations, but also expectations we did not even know we had. When we did not know how we where going to do with the seam left, where the edge of the laminated floor and the stair banisters meet, it was Louie that said, “why not just cover it with carpet”. So that’s what we did. The carpet looks so great and we are so happy to recommend A1 Carpet to anyone.

The second recommendation we need to make is the company we used to install the stacked stone as our backsplash. They did such a wonderful job, that I have to take a minute and recommend Wilkinson fireplace who sold us the stone, and did the installation and we are so happy with the outcome. If you need stacked stone, or beautiful fireplace, or millwork, this is the company you should use!

In closing
In true “confession” fashion, I need to confess that this week, I am lacking the brilliant conclusion to this weeks Carr family blog. There where a couple of excellent conversations with the girls, and because I was driving, I was unable to email or txt the info to myself so as a result, I can’t remember what it was that was said. I guess a true sign of age? I am sure it will pop back into my mind, and when id does, I will be witting it down, so that I may be able to commit it to the World Wide Web in future weeks, but for now I will just say…

As I continue to look for the missing stories, I thank you for reading and wish you a happy and safe week.
Jim

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An Award, a little play, and a cool, cool ride, the week that was week 47 in the Carr’s world and that’s the truth.

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Virtue Award
We have often touted the accomplishments of our children and this being the end of the second term at their school, it’s time to brag a little again. The girls’ report cards would seem to indicate that they both have worked very hard this term on school and have improved on just about every level. We could not be more proud of our girls, and are so happy that above all, they try to work hard. As I have mentioned in the past, the school bestows certificates to those who are caught in the act of displaying a virtue, and this time it was Julia! Congratulations to our little Buglia on her award for RESPECT.

Cool
So riddle me this… at what point are you just NOT cool with your windows down on a sunny day, driving in your car, with the music blaring? This week, with the unusually warm couple of days I was able to truly enjoy the hot streaming rays in the way that I love, with the windows down and the radio loud. It started with “Brick House” by The Commodores, and the driving bass line, fully taxing my mini-van’s factory stereo seemed to work and make me feel, in a word “cool”. Following up with the next track, however catapulted me back to reality and the flight down hurt a little. There is nothing cool about a middle-aged guy, in a silver van with ARROW singing, “Hot! Hot! Hot!” blasting from the speakers! I refused to roll up the windows, but I did flip stations to see if I could find something to take me away again to no avail.

Play
We had the chance to see our little future star in action this week, at school during a moving “Stations of the Cross” service on Thursday. She has been practicing her lines for over a month, and although most times she did, she would put too long of a pause in the middle of the lines, changing the whole meaning of the statement. We were both so happy that she of course looked cute in her little costume, and that she hit her mark precisely, but the best part was that she delivered her lines perfectly, with NO long pause.

Easter
Easter is always a great time for family and friends to get together and quite often a great time for a renewed believe that there is an end in sight of the cold weather. This weekend we are planning our first Easter egg hunt in our backyard, and as a result we did a big spring clean today. Nathalie and her parents worked their fingers to the bone, and although I was busy in the garage, I did pull a couple of shrub stumps and helped with some other stuff in the backyard too. I think the kids will have a blast running around looking for all the chocolate eggs they can carry.

Truth is
With no school on Friday, this week we were able to make the kids happy by stopping on our way home from dance at the Shea house. Always some interesting conversations to be had when we all get together and one that is fit to print this week was one about truth. We brought up the fact that when two people are telling you almost the same thing, the truth is somewhere in the middle. I am not sure why it made me laugh, but I did say that I would write about it this week, so I am. WW then mentioned the song “stuck in the middle with you” and I guess I imagined truth as a person, stuck somewhere in the middle of one lying person and another disillusioned one. Somehow truth, when you paint it with a different brush, seems to take on a life of its own and its good if it can make you laugh at times. And that’s the truth!

In closing
There are a couple of sayings that crack me up, and over the last couple of weeks, I have, for some reason, heard them all. Last week, I mentioned one that Julia remained me of, “don’t want to tell you so, but…” and this week they did it again. Someone long ago must have told the girls, as long as you add “no offence” to your negative statement about someone or something, you are all good. They do it all the time, “No offence Jordyn, but your shoes look funny” or “No offence, but Julia you can’t say that”. What I find the funniest thing about it is, that sometimes the statements are so random, and they feel as long as they say it, it is ok to say just about anything.

This week it was just after hearing “fire burning” by Sean Kingston and specifically the lines “Shawty fire burning on the dance floor” and “She get it pop it lock it drop it that birthday cake”. Julia adds out of the blue, “Jordyn too bad it is not your friend “Kylie’s” birthday. This could be her song, because, no offence” she is short”. WHAT? “Not sure what that even means, Julia?” “Shorty, on the dance floor, and she is short. No offence Jordyn, but she is!” Ahh, now that is funny!

Getting set to hit my own dance floor so, have a great and safe week, and thanks again for reading!
Jim

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