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Wise Counsel, Games, Another Confession and a Little Fishy Voice, the week 36 Carr blog is up, out and a fun little read!

Fish Story
I was told twice this week that I needed to write about the Fishy voice, so here it goes. After shopping and walking past the seafood counter at the Real Canadian Super Store this week, minus the musical number, Jordyn and I broke into a high-school musical style performance of “The Talking Fish”. Jordyn was the funniest though and because we all laughed, she immediately said “You better put this in your blog daddy”. I only wish I recorded it so you could hear her in the red snapper, bigger then her body, voice saying “Don’t eat me please, I will not taste that good. I miss my friends, please can I go swimming in the ocean again?” Look for the show to hit off-off-off Broadway in a couple of years!

Confessions
WOW, I don’t know what it is about writing this blog, but it always puts me into the mood to confess some deep dark, personal secret about my life, and today I am digging deep. Hello, my name is Jim C and I am an impulse shopper. Those little items neatly stacked and seemingly unconnected, beside the checkout at the grocery store and the hardware store or just about anyplace you shop. It has been several days since my last purchase, but while trying to convince Nathalie that we needed the 79 cent 10 pack of pencils at the Canadian Tire checkout, I started to think why is it that I have such poor impulse control? Does my car really need to smell mountain fresh and what I am I going to do with so many bathtub stoppers?

I love that the cost of the items in and around the register is directly proportional to the cost of the average price of the stuff the store sells. I mean who would decide while waiting in line, to drop 80 dollars on a mp3 player at Best Buy? OK, you are right! If I had the money, I guess I would because that’s a good price and I am a sucker for things with buttons, but I guess the thing I need to remember is, to just focus on the exit door, and don’t look down and perhaps I will not fall prey.

Waiting games
When the girls were young, to amuse them while waiting, we would always play games. I spy with my little eye, was the big one at the start, but after we got tired of that one (mostly Nathalie and myself), we would look for other games to bide the time and being the creative bunch we are, we invented our own games. “Animal Noises” was our first and I was very proud of it. It works like the name implies, a guessing game that involves one party making an animal sound, and the other guessing what animal you are. Yes, it sounds kind of simple, but the fun is in the combinations. You see, after we got to the point we knew every animal, we introduced a twist. “Ruf Ruf Ribit Ribit”, for example is one of my favourites, because it is just so fun to say Dog Frog. Try it!

Today in the car, I was listening and enjoying the girls, as they played a game that I have not heard in a while. The game of “Would you rather?” They where having fun, quizzing each other on some whacky situations, and although they were having fun, I had to break it to them that I don’t think anyone would ever pick “fake cry for 100 years” over “learn to drive a car”. Not sure if the choices are not supposed to be a little closer in scope, but whatever works to pass the time I guess!

Wise Counsel
I am so happy to have some great friends that I can call on when I need honest advice, or a sympathetic ear or even a kick in the pants (if I need it!). But this kind of street is ALWAYS a two way street and this week, I was reminded how important it is to be there for your friends when they need you. Nathalie has some crazy mad observational skills and is very good at telling you how it is and that sure comes in handy when someone needs to hear something that they don’t know they need to hear.

Some of our friends are going trough some issues and I know that one of the reasons they will each emerge, stronger and for sure better off, is that they are willing to talk about it, willing to seek advice, and eager to put into action, the suggestions of a caring friend. I am very happy for them that they have people to talk to, but I am most happy that they have someone as special as Nathalie to get wise counsel.

In closing
Julia use to do this thing that always made us laugh. When we were laughing at something, and normally it was just Nathalie and I, she would start laughing louder and louder, then suddenly stop, shake her head and say “Ya, I don’t get it!”… Of course that would make us laugh more, but this week I heard it again with a twist. The only difference is after the insane laughing loudly, instead of admitting she doesn’t understand what we are laughing about, she just says “Ya, that’s NOT funny!”

What is a little funny is that we are finished another week!
Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week!
Jim

A Soap Box, A Proud daddy and A Little Bamboozlement, a quick look into the week that was number 35 in the Carr household. The zero calories addition!

Soap Box
I am SO mad and I can’t take it anymore. Frustrated beyond belief at the timing of an unforgivable event and I just have to hop up on my soap box and yell at the top of my lungs. To fully understand my frustration, I need to come clean and confess something about me. As part of my morning routine, while stopping at Tim Hortons for my tea and bagel, if I have been good, I will reward myself with an apple fritter. Now the reward criteria is loosely based on the academy awards voting criteria (loosely!), and I have a special excel spreadsheet created by my wife, fully sanctioned by KPMG to chart my total “goodness” factor and use it to decide if I get a treat. The frustrating thing for me is that I am always good so I do get a rewarded often, and so now you can see my problem.

The fact is that too many people can see my problem, and one morning, between Christmas and new years, after catching a full length mirror reflection of my problem, I decided then and there I would no longer be rewarding myself for anything with food of any kind especially the morning Apple Fritter. Ok you are caught up, but now to the unforgivable event. My absolute favorite sauce of any kind is caramel and the donut of the month for January, featured in beautifully shot posters, staring back at me in line at Tim’s, is an Caramel Apple Fritter, and only 49 cents with the purchase of any beverage. COME ON! I switched to a 12 grain bagel with half butter, and this is what you do to me? Damn you Tim Hortons, you will NOT break me. I will not fall for your clever, “hit em’” when they are down marketing ploy and I will not eat your tempting little caramel filled, glazed incrusted, sometimes hot, baked good. I just refuse!

(Editors note: in order to fully criticize the new caramel Apple Fritter from Tim Hortans, I felt it was important I was able to fully describe the item first hand, so I did purchase and consume only ONE.) Sorry, for I am weak!

Bamboozled
The art of bamboozlement, defined as the act or process of bamboozling or being bamboozled. To con, defraud, trick, to make a fool of, to humbug or impose on someone. It is a little of this, and I guess not that big of a deal, but this week, we were bamboozled by a couple of 10 year olds and it went something like this. Jordyn gets a call from a friend that apparently, followed through on a promises early that day to call her at home. After the general pleasantries are exchanged, the hush of a convert conversation begins. “Umm Hhh, Yes OK, yes I will ask… Daddy, what time do we get home on Friday?” “Not sure Jordyn, maybe around 5 or 6.” Jordyn, again in a hush “Ya, ok, Daddy, can my friend come over?” Unsure of the correct answer, I say the only thing a good husband should ever say, “Ask you Mom!”. Mom shouts from the front room “I guess”. The next couple of minutes are a little unclear and frankly just a blur, thus the bamboozle. There was request for a sleep over and then a reminder of our first ice skating lesson early Saturday morning, and then the phone is hung up, and all of the sudden, we have Jordyn’s friend for the night, and the skating and she is being picked up around 1:00. WOW.

I am sure the phone conversation on the other end of the call was similar, with words like “she is asking me to sleep over” and “she wants me to go with her to her skating lesson” because we all did it when we were kids and after all, turn around is fair play, so its all good. We have used the situation to gone over the “making arrangements” over the phone, while the person is on the line rules, and hopefully we will not be victims of a 10 year old’s bamboozlement again, but I think we will be!

In closing
So a couple of weeks in the books with the news Christmas gifts, and all but one toy has been opened and well played with. We will get to Martian Matter soon enough, but it was a conversation I had with Julia that made me stand a little taller. She said “You know, I love all my toys and new clothes, but I would give them all back if I had to, because all that is important is having my family with me.” **Smiling proudly** , thank you Julia for somehow learning the most important thing about Christmas, this time of year and life for that matter! The importance of family.

Thanks for reading, and have a great and safe week and remember, please feel free to comment!
Jim

Personal Growth, an Email, the Count Down and some Great Music, the year ending, recap and somewhat deep look into the lives of the Carrs for Week 34 and the LAST week of 2009.

Growth
I made my bed today. In fact, I make it everyday. Well, most days it is just figuratively me, tucking the corners and fluffing the pillows, as in the time honoured saying “you made your bed, now lie in it” but today while actually straightening the comforter on the worlds highest bed, I had an “Ah-Ha” moment. It is true that we are the author of our own destiny and we should always take credit for our success and failures. Sure, we have people in our lives that contribute and somewhat steer us in one direction or another, but ultimately it is us that makes it happen. So it is up to us to take credit for our lives and all that happens in it. That part was not the “Ah-Ha” moment, I suppose on some level I have always known that, but what came to me between the top sheet and the other top sheet was the fact that every day, at every moment, we all start fresh and make our bed, and have from that moment on, a chance to lie in it, sorta speak.

When historians look back at the year that was 2009, certainly, the inauguration of Barack Obama, the death of the King of Pop or end of the “Economic Crisis” would be in there, but if someone were to author our family history book, what events would be on the pages in the chapter called 2009? Positives would include our eldest reaching double-digits in age, our good friends tying the knot, and moving in with my sister and her family. Along with the most significant positive of buying our first house, came the negative of the loss of my Aunt Mae. We lost two other people in our lives this year and although our own health over the last 12 months has been stable, the health of others in our family has been a challenge and that would all be in the book for sure. I think, if one word was singled out in this chapter, that word would be “growth”.

When I personally look back at 2009 in my life, I will always remember that it was this year that saw me grow tremendously as a person and I am giving credit for this to 3 events. First, a new role at work for 4 months that allowed me to learn new things and look at work and life from a different perspective; second, I started recording the comings and goings in my life in a weekly re-cap blog and of course third, we bought our first home. 3 things in my bed that I made and have laid in and with the help of many people have turned into my growth in the year that was 2009 and I could not be more happy.

Electronic mail
Both the girls have e-mail addresses, and do use them to send messages of love and request to both me and Nathalie. “What are we having for dinner?” and “I love you” are popular content in this little message and it is sure cute to see them trying to communicate this way. Jordyn got a netbook for Christmas, so with an email program literally in her lap, the messages have started to come more often just like this one. “hi daddy did you know that and i love you and mommy and julia and bentley and today we watched garfield it was on tv and it is funny.” My only hope is that the girls will never stop sending us these kind of messages and perhaps we are able to teach the importance of punctuation.

Week Off
The week between Christmas and New Years Eve, traditionally for us is a good time to get caught up on sleep, set-up new presents and spend some time with family and friends. Nathalie will normally take the time off, to match the time I have off and this year, she did take vacation days, although she had some work to do from home. Me, on the other hand, had some stuff to do work-wise also, so it was a busy week for sure. The girls enjoyed sleeping in and staying up late, but hiding around the corner in a couple of days is that back to school thing so, it all comes to end soon. Right back at it, and aside from the waking up early again, I think we are all looking forward to the promise of what is to come in 2010.

Count down
We almost missed the big count down this year. Oh we were awake alright, just busy playing games with friends. Getting caught up in the moment, laughing and having fun, we stopped and realized what time it was, and with 2 minutes to spare the TV is turned on in time to see the big ball drop. Thank you to our hosts for a great evening and what would have to be the best way in the world to usher in the new year. Good food, awesome music and a laugh or two with some great friends. Lets hope there is way more of that in 2010.

Music in Me
Well not me per say, but the music is in the house, loud and clear and all in the name of fun in the Carr household and I have to say I like it! The guitars and the new keyboard are being used and songs are flowing. Not necessarily in tune, but flowing just the same. My favourite moment to this point was just before we headed out on New Years Eve, the two sitters where at the keyboard playing a song, and Jordyn was right in there watching the fingering and Julia and the sitters’ little sister were just dancing and singing away, not a care in the world. Lets hope 2010 brings more singing and dancing to the Carrs just like that!

In Closing
A good friend and colleague, Michael Monty would always tell me that we do some of our best thinking before and after sleep and would remind me to keep a pad of paper beside my bed to jot down my thoughts. I have never done it until recently when, I have started to send myself an email with a couple of words that hopefully remind me what it was that I came up with in bed. I find it helpful, when writing a recap of the week, if I can refer back to my emails for content and inspiration and this week, while at the movie theater, I sent myself one that said “opening sequence”.

Actually it said “Open aequince” but it was dark, and I have big fingers and I figured it out anyway. What I was thinking about is what would the opening sequence or title part of a movie about your life look like? My movie, staring Kevin James in what critics call “the role of his lifetime” would contain great music and lots of snap shots of people laughing over a background of sunny skies and some body of water. I don’t know if it is just because I heard the song the other day in a commercial, but I keep hearing “Love Generation” by Bob Sinclair in the background, and it occurred to me that this is a good healthy new years resource for replaying what has happened in your life over the last year and we should all take a moment to become an award winning director and create our own opening sequence!

Feel the love generation,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Feel the love generation,
Ooohhh yeah-yeah,

Don’t worry about a thing,
it’s gonna be alright.

Thanks for a great year and for reading my blog!
Have a safe week, and a GREAT 2010.
Jim