Jim Carr

Mornings, Apples and a little white Shell, all part of week 24 in the Carr house with at least one laugh guaranteed. (*the guarantee has no monetary value)

Mornings
I kicked morning’s ASS. Ok, well I scared it a little. No you are right, I ran away from morning this week, crying like a scared little boy and it was calling me names and laughing at me. You see according to Nathalie, I am the hub in the Carr household, in the morning anyway. If I don’t get up and start the ball rolling for the Carr girls, we quite possibly could sleep-in all day. I hate the mornings, but I get up and try to do so on time because I am the hub after all.

For whatever reason, both Nathalie and I had some sleep issues this week and the snooze alarm got a true workout and I got reminded how much I hate mornings. Truth be told, I have always had a problem with getting up early. When I was a teen, I could go to bed as late (or early) as I wanted to as long as I could sleep-in to at least 9:00 I was, for the most part, happy. 9:00 doesn’t work when you need to get girls to school, Nathalie to work, and catch a bus to go to work yourself. No this week, morning got the better of me, but NEXT week I am going to kick its’ ASS.

Apple Day
I love that Julia loves her fruits and vegetables! Nathalie does too but, Jordyn is a little more like me perhaps then I would like when it comes to that particular food group. I try to eat what I can myself and also try to encourage her to eat more. So I laugh every time I make the kids lunches and keep cutting up apple slices for both girls, knowing what happens to the ones I pack for Jordyn. A couple of weeks ago, I thought I would try a different tactic and send some caramel sauce for dipping. I was thrilled to find an excited little girl at the sitter’s house with greetings and smiles and a big thank you hug for her “lunch surprise” only to find out that the only thing she dipped in the caramel was her finger.

I was cutting Tuesdays apples for the un-official “Carr girl Apple Day” and Julia confessed that she loves apples, but hates the seeds. I told her that without the seed, there would be no apple trees and therefore no apples to eat. She said, “I know, I just hate stopping for the seeds and wish I could just eat the whole thing”. Good point Julia!

Shell Game
I have a shell in my car. You might not notice on my it on my dash, but it is beautiful pearly white, with wind and water worn edges and a smoothness that is softer then you would think just looking at it. Made that way, I am sure from years of rolling around in the sand and surf off the gulf coast of the United States. You see, I picked it up on our family vacation 2 years ago on a Florida beach and I love how it makes me feel when I see it. Memories of a great road trip, sunny skies and a time when the only stress in my life was the enormous burden of being the only one to hold down the pool-side deck chair. I loved that trip and all the family trips and sure missed not doing our annual summer trip this year, something we had to give up to buy our house. So on a cold rainy, “wanted to go back home to bed” kind of day, the only thing I have is a little shell on the dash of my car. Today, I think I am going to put it in my pocket just because.

In Closing
This week, I used Nathalie’s car for a quick trip to the store and loved the fact that the stereo was SO loud when I started the car; it scared the crap out of me! She went to the PINK concert a couple of weeks ago and is still in love with her latest CD. In fact, her status updates this week have, for the most part, been lines from PINK songs and her new personal anthem is the track that I first heard when starting the car – “Glitter in the Air”.

“Have you ever thrown a fist full of glitter in the air? Have you ever looked fear in the face, and said I just don’t care?”

I love it! The power of language, a collection of words that by themselves are relatively simple, but weaved together in a magical way are able to mean, motivate, make cry or make smile, anyone and this week, thanks to Nathalie and her cranked tune, these little words made me laugh. So go ahead, say “I just don’t care!” you will love it!

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

Giving thanks two, some cold water and date night, the week that was week 23 in and around the Carr house.

Little Piggy
When I wrote my last confessions post, I warned we would have a re-cap of the comings and goings of the little road trip the Carr’s took as part of Thanksgiving long weekend. So here is what we are allowed to talk about (cleared by the lawyers of course!). The Sunday drive to the McCloskey compound for turkey, laughs some music and good cheer and a little piggy roast for good measure was a blast. When selling the trip to the girls, we left that last part out, not knowing how they would react to little Wilbur rolling around and around over some glowing coals, being beer basted every 15 minutes. Nathalie thought at the last minute it might be a good idea to let them in on it, just before we got there, incase we roll up and the first thing we see is the spit.

The conversation went something like this. Nathalie starts, “So girls, you know we are having turkey today, but we are also going to have ham”. So far so good, they like ham, and seem excited. “For the ham, they are having a pig roast,” continues a now smiling Nathalie. They seem curious, but are not asking any questions so she continues “A pig roast is when they have a real pig, complete with his head, turning around over and over on a fire. The look on their faces is a little more curious, but not disgusted so then she asks the all-important question, “Are you both ok with that? If you see a pig cooking, you are going to be ok with that?” They think about it for a minute, and say, “I guess if we don’t have to touch it”.

The Water
It turns out Sunday at the cottage of the Thanksgiving weekend is the symbolic last day at the cottage, so there are some “closing” type things that need to happen and with me being the nice guy I am, I watched intently while they did them. Ok I did pitch in and help with what I could do and would have done more if they had a wetsuit large enough for me! You see the two big jobs on the list where 1) pull out the one last boat still in the water, and 2) remove the two boatlifts from the water. Each job would surely not be that bad, if the water was “swimming pool” temperature, but I am afraid on this 11th day of October it was a little chilly. Lets just say that there was some “shrinkage”. All who got into the water, got out safely and the boat and lifts where removed to cheers from the crowds gathered to root us on.

The Date
We are lucky to always find time to still go on dates, something that both Nathalie and I have regarded to be a very important thing to do for us as a couple. Not only does it give us some alone time, but also it gives the girls time away from us! They love their regular sitter “G”, and always have way more fun with her then they would just hanging out with us. She brings crafts, and paints their nails and plays the Wii with them and she even lets them stay up a little later. Saturday we did a double date with some great friends and had a yummy meal and went to see “Couples Retreat”. One of the funniest movies I have seen in a while, so we recommend it to anyone.

The House
We have been making some progress with the long list of little things, still to complete on the house, and the weekends are the best time to get a handle on stuff. So this time around I finished two electrical projects I have needed to get to. The first, a new outlet in the front hall and the all important outside lighting! You see, up until Saturday, we have had no lights at the side of the house or on the front porch. All fixed now. People I tell that we still have a long list of little things to finish, remind me that the list will never get complete and that is “just a fact of home ownership”. If you know of any tricks, like magic dust to spread around, you would let me know right?

In Closing
What a boring week! No stories about squirrels or nails. No quotable quotes from any of the Carr girls and not too much to say that is funny so, I will close with one of my favourite lines from the movie “Couples Retreat”. During one of the couple-building exercises all the couples need to strip down to their skivvies on the beach, one of the men reveals he is not wearing any underwear, Vince Vaughn asks (without looking) “Is his junk out? Great now we have a Party”. So I guess if you are having a party any time soon, let’s hope your junk is hanging out!

Have a great week and thanks for reading.
Jim

A bus, a road trip and some turkey, the yummy, very tasty and completely tryptophan free Carr family blog for week 22 is online.

The Bus

The other day I chanced to meet
An angry man upon the street —
A man of wrath, a man of war,
A man who truculently bore
Over his shoulder, like a lance,
A banner labeled “Tolerance.”

I don’t remember much from grade 8 (maybe even grade 9?), but I do remember those lines from a poem and I thought of it the other day. Now, I did not “chance to meet” an angry man, but I did sit behind a girl on the bus that was crying. Not sure what it was that was that was making her so upset but it involved a text exchange. I felt so sorry for her and wanted to ask her if she was ok or if there was anything I could do to help but thought I would just sound like a creepy old guy, so I did nothing but think. Think about what I would have said if I was going to say something and this is what I came up with. “If you are crying because of a guy, I can tell you that he is an idiot. Boys at that age are not the brightest and I am sure whatever he said or did was because he is not able to think clearly. I know, because I did not start thinking clearly until I was almost 30.”

I guess if it was something else that was going on in her life to make her so upset, besides a boy, the advice would not apply, but I bet it was a boy.

Thanksgiving
Besides the great food, the day off, and time spent with family, there is another thing that I like to do every year around this time. Thanksgiving for me is a chance to stop and take stock in my life and remind myself how lucky I am and this year, I think I am the luckiest I have been in years. No, I have not cashed in on a secret loto jackpot without telling everyone, or been able to finally jog all the way around the block without stopping, but this year, I can finally say that we are homeowners. We have always had a roof over our heads and good jobs, and great love to share with great friends and family, but for us, finally being homeowners is a big thing and we are so very happy. We are not finished all that we want to do with the house, and it sure is getting hard to find the time we need to “get’er done” with the normal settling in to our schedules but we will when we do and for that I am very thankful.

I would also be a little remiss if I did not give thanks to my wonderful girls and my beautiful wife for making me so thankful this year because I have got to be one of the luckiest guys in the world.

A Road Trip
The Carr’s are on the move for Thanksgiving. We are off to Deb and Guy’s cottage for Sunday afternoon for the annual turkey dinner potluck (our first!). I will have a full review next week on the blog, but I can imagine the following will happen. The girls will be good in the car on the way there. We will have fun seeing family and friends. We will likely eat a little too much, and at some point have a laugh or two. Ohh and the girls (all of them) will sleep the whole way home. I will let you know how close I am, next week!

Neighbours
Do you have good neighbours? We lived at our last home for about 7 years, and only got close with one family and after 3 years, they moved and where never replaced. A couple of friendly waves on a walk with the dog, but we never learned their names or had more then a passing “hello” with anyone on our old street. In our new house and on our new street, in a little more then 2 months we already know the names of so many of our new neighbours, their kids names, and in some cases what they do for a living.

We are a little worried however. There seems to be a little bit of a shortage of available houses in the real-estate market in our neighbourhood and it looks like some on our street are trying to help out. In the last month, three houses have gone up for sale on our street and one has already sold. We are very happy that the sale actually means that our property value has already gone up by more then 40 thousand dollars, but very said that in November we will have to say goodbye to two of the nicest people we have ever met. The ones we call the street gatekeepers are moving and it will be great to have someplace to stay in Gaspe, PQ if we want to take a trip, but the street will just not be the same without them.

In closing
I am often quite amazed at my parenting ability and the incredible command I have over the girls. I need only simply call their names and with military precision they come running, prepared to action my request. Well OK I guess if you have seen me in action, you know the truth, that it sometimes will take a couple of calls, of varying loudness to get action in the Carr household, but I am so happy that it is only that way at home. When the girls go to their friend’s house or are when we are visiting with friends and family, people often comment on how good the girls are. I guess I can handle the trade off as long as they do what is asked, on the first ask with someone, I am happy. It would be amazing if I, like in my dreams had the incredible command at home that I have in my classroom with my students. Who am I kidding, it is way worse at school!

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment and have a great week
Jim