Buglia

A Turn of the Page, Some Shoes and a Little Open Window

A turn of the page, some shoes and a little open window, stories from week 4 and the Carr Family

Open
It has been a couple of weeks (ok 4) since my last post, and I guess the start of 2011 has kind of gotten away from me a little bit. Last I remember, we had a nice New Years Eve, the kids’ went back to school, we started to work out, and BAM here we are on the 29th day of January already. So here it is, some stories and thoughts from the first 4 weeks of 2011 from the Carr family.


Calendar
So what is it that allows a simple flip of the calendar page to affect so much change in ones life? We always hear about new-years resolutions and of course I have had my share of them in the past. Most don’t work because, you for sure need to be committed but also mentally ready for the idea of a change, and quite often you are not ready as of January 1st. Over the last little bit of 2010, both Nathalie and I talked about the idea of adjusting our lifestyle a little and to start making a more concerted effort to eat better, work out and just try harder at achieving a healthier life, and so that is just what we did. We committed!

Four weeks in, and we are still going strong; in fact, we have even increased our jaunts to the gym and have been so very good with our eating, that we have both lost weight and inches. Now, this is not a reality TV show, so there will be no public weigh-ins’ or any kind of elimination, only the pride that comes from being healthier for our future. I am so proud of both Nathalie and myself for coming up with the plan and sticking to it and with our two biggest supporters living under our roof, there will be no failing with this one.

Love the smile!
Lily
In the last 5 months, we sure have had some ups and down, but if for one moment we only talk about the ups, right near the top of that list is the birth of a little flower named Lily. They say that when one door closes, a window opens and I have always been a big fan of the saying, but it is only after her birth that I can truly say that it cares major weight. Being able to share the announcement of her birth with my Mom, just before she passed, will always be a memory, and a thought that will forever link Lily with my Mom.

Last weekend, we took part in the most precious ceremony, with Lily being welcomed into God’s house at her baptism. She smiled and flirted with the priest, and did not cry once and was just the cutest little girl in her pretty little dress. She watching with her bright eyes and soaked up the surroundings and focused on the candles, and listened to the words echoing around her was a great thing to be part of. Thanks to her great parents, Jeff and Coco for not only the gift that is Lily, but also for allowing us to share in this special day.

Shoes
Do you have any old wives’ tales that play a role in your daily life? My mother-in-law has a whole bunch and as such, Nathalie has them too. Things like “Don’t leave your purse on the floor, because all your money falls out” and “Don’t ever give someone a sharp object, because it could sever your relationship, instead, you “sell” it to them for a penny. I do remember some, and try to keep them part of my routine, for the sake of piece around the house, but to be honest, I do forget. The other week, Nathalie and I were doing some mad cleaning and I got a little reminder of one of her “things” and a bit of a laugh too.

During the cleaning, I moved a shopping bag with a new pair of shoes in it, from the floor to the dinning room table. “How long have you lived with me? You DON”T put new shoes on the table Jim”, she yelled at me. I looked up, and thought, yes I remember now, “Sorry, I forgot about that”, then I moved them to the stairs, with full intention of later moving them upstairs. The first laugh came from moving to the other side of the table, only to discover the box of my new shoes on the table, all be it, on top of another box, but never the less ON the table, left by none other than Nathalie herself. Apparently, the wives tale is only for female shoes?

The second laugh came later, when Nathalie almost fell down the stairs. Now, before you say I am some kind of heartless jerk for laughing and my wife almost falling down the stairs; that was not the funny part. It was because of WHAT she tripped on in the first place, the box of shoes. So the quick thinker I am, to add insult to actual injury, I asked her, “Do you now think they are safer on the table or the stairs? I am just asking?”

In closing
I have a small handful of cute stories, from over the last 3 or 4 weeks to select from to close out the blog for today, but I think I will choose the one that is a slightly self-deprecating. For Christmas, the girls each got an iPod touch, and besides being a great thing to be able to take away from them if they are not listening, it is a fun pastime. They both have already got the hang of crawling the app store, and asking me to punch in my code so they can download games, and aside from one $2.99 app, that they “thought” was free, they have both filled of their devices with stuff.

Now, I am NOT a talented video game player. I know this. My wife knows it, and I think my kids now have an idea but, Nathalie on the other hand is very good at most games she plays, and has totally mastered the very popular Angry Birds. The girls each have it on their respective ipods, and it would seem are constantly asking her to complete this level or that. While making dinner one night, Nathalie was working on a particularly tricky level for Julia, and being the smart ass I am, I say to her, “If Mommy keeps having an issue, you better give it to a true expert, and let Daddy try”, NEVER expecting she would call me on it. While after a couple more Mommy attempts and fails, Julia pipes up, “OK Daddy, your turn”. I had to the break it to her that I was only joking and that I have no chance of passing it for her. Then Julia utters the words that will echo in my head for a long time, “Come on Dad, you can do it, BE A MAN!” in this voice right out of the movies. There you have it, a drill sergeant in the making!

I will try harder to be at least a man, who writes a re-cap of the happenings of my family every week, and I may even give the game a shot.

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

A Conversation in The Car, Deep Jim and The Year That Was…

A Conversation in the car, Deep Jim and the year that was, the week 19 – year ending Carr blog is in the history book.

The Blog...

Sorry
Well, I am doing it. Doing what I hate to see myself, what episodic television does every season, when they want to cheap out on making a new show. You know, the lead characters sit around the set, and through a series of flash backs, recap all that happened in the last season in what some would call the “best of” show. Well, this is the best of Carr blog for the 2010 season.

Over the last year, I posted my weekly recap of the life and times of the Carr family 39 times. If you are doing the math in your head, that would mean that I did miss 13 weeks in there, 8 or 9 of those fell in the summer. The one difference with my little flash back blog, is I will only include a short snippet of the original post, and provide a link to the complete one so that if you wish, you can go back and read the post in its entirety. My reasoning is, that I still want to write a little bit about the old post, and not hang my whole “episode” on flashbacks or rehashing of old words.


Deep
A couple of times this last year (OK way more than a couple), I ventured into what I would call deep Jim, with some introspective bla bla about any number of topics. Starting with the first week of 2010, when I reflected on how much I had grown the last year. And by grow, I mean figuratively!

“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, but today while actually straightening the comforter on the worlds highest bed, I had an “Ah-Ha” moment.”


“Dreams – When I was younger, other then the normal wanting a family and good health, I had three things I wanted to do in my life. I wanted to write a hit song, I wanted to write a book and I wanted to be in a movie.”

In the Car
So many of the closings come from conversations in the car. I guess we do spend a fair amount of time in the vehicle, on our way from one place to another, so here are a few references from this past year with the Carrs in the car.

“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!”


“Sometimes I can’t believe how great of a memory Jordyn has. Julia remembers odd things too, but Jordyn pulls the smallest things out of thin air and does it all the time. The craziest stuff! “Remember when you were wearing that white shirt and you spilled stuff on it when I was in grade 1, and you said that you would buy me something if I didn’t tell mommy” kind of stuff.”

Observational
Our girls have an amazing way of looking at things each in their own way of course, and this past year I have powered up the big spot light and highlighted situations through the eyes of my girls. I will start with Julia, because this and so many other lines she came up with this year made Nathalie and I laugh. The post was our first from the road, on our summer vacation and it came during a shopping trip in Target –

“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.”

As for Jordyn, her observations are more drenched in sarcasm, and always delivered with impeccable timing and this post from this last November, was my favourite.

“One of the things we have to work on with Jordyn, as per her teachers request, is her taking ownership of her own work at school, so our decision to let her sort out what it is that she does and does not have due any given day, is the first step. We sometimes check up on her, and this morning when I found the two pages of incomplete math homework in her agenda, I was a little upset.”

Students
Well, yes because I am a teacher, I run into my share of students and as such, I get some of the blog content from them. In some cases, it is welcome:

“The other idea, came from a conversation I was having with a couple of students. In the talk, one of my fourth semester students admitted that she is not very good about asking for help”

And in other cases, it is a little more unwelcome:

Caring – “I had to do it. I had to give the Dad speech about giving a shit a couple of extra times this week. Now, I give the lecture to the girls enough around the house that I am sure if they had a “Dad says way too much list”, it would be at or near the top. Maybe just below, “Why does no one listen to me?” but certainly in the top 5. This week, I had to give it to my 3rd semester students, and I am sure they appreciated my tone and perspective on this issue.”

My Mom
I talked a fair amount about my Mom this past year of blogs and I loved each post, but the one that not only got the most comments, but also garnered the most readers was the post I wrote after she passed away.

“This is the blog I have written so many times in my head over the last year. I had planned the direct approach, thinking it would be better for me to say the hardest part first – My Mom has died. But even after writing it now, I still find it hard to believe and certainly not any easier to say. This day has come the long way around, with my Mom fighting far longer than anyone had thought she could or had expected her to, mainly because of the faith she had, and her sheer will.”

In closing
This week (yes a couple of days late), this post represents a true closing, the closing of the year 2010. For me, it was a year filled with high highs, and some very low lows. I emerge with a positive outlook and a strong frame of mind, to motor on and continue to try and make a difference in peoples lives. That sounds grandiose, but it is simple I think. Wake up, try hard to be a good person, help others and make an impact on those around you and when the chips are down, in the end YOU will be the better for it. Thank you for letting me take part in the year that was 2010, but I look forward to a better 2011.

In the last week of school last semester, in talking with a colleague about the past semester, I talked about that it was not my best, and that in true web fashion, I will start the next semester and year with a simple approach. I am releasing a new software version. Not that the old version was not working well, and not like the new one will not have it’s share of issues, but the new Jim 3.0 promises to be the best one yet.

Also, thanks to the girls for supporting me, making me laugh and above all for loving me for being who I am and especially thanks to my wife, best friend and blog editor, Nathalie for being the half that makes me whole.

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

A Letter From Santa, Music and Party, Party Party

A letter from Santa, Music and Party, Party Party, the week 17 Carr family blog is in the books.

Phantom of the Opera
Music of the night
I am not what you would call a huge fan of classical music. I should clarify, I can certainly appreciate the harmonic game that is played by each individual instrument, and the magic that occurs when notes and sounds are woven together to form melodies and counter melodies in this orchestrational style, but it is one of the musical genres that I have to confess I know very little about. I am sure true classical musical fans, would say that the music in modern musicals, although played on the same instruments, is just not quite the same thing. The reason I bring it up is that I am a fan of the music from the Phantom of the Opera.

When Nathalie and I first started dating, at some point in the first couple of years, we went to see the live performance of the Phantom, and our love for the words and music of the show were cemented in our hearts, and still to this day, we both have selections from the play on our respective iPods. Since then, we have seen the play another 3 times and plan on another couple of time for sure. When I am alone in my car, I will often put in the CD and listen to as loud as I can, and I am catapulted back to that first performance, and the shared experience of falling in love with not only the music but the person I was with.

Mushy stuff aside, this week, it was fun listening to the CD in the car again with the girls, who have seen and enjoyed the movie and know the music quite well, but do have some questions about the plot. Jordyn, talking about the movie, says, “I like the whole movie, except that part when he is yelling!” Never turning down an opportunity to wrap a life lesson into a response, I say, “Well Jordyn, the Phantom is so in love with Christina, that when he realizes it is a love that he can not have, he shows us how mad he is by getting that upset and yelling. But the amazing thing is that he shows us how sad he is to loose her, but in the end, he lets her go, because it is the right thing to do. Sometimes, in life you have to let something go that you love and it hurts.” Confident in my response, I sit back with pride to have her reply, “Well whatever, I just don’t like him yelling!” I tried!


Santa letter
Well I guess I have to be proud of the honesty flowing from my little Buglia over the last little while. I only know of this newfound trait, because of the return letter she received from Santa this week. At first, she was a little unsure of sharing it with us, but after she finally did, we discovered that at one point in the letter she sent to the big man himself, she must have just laid it all out on the line and made some kind of confession. “I heard that you have been a little naughty at school and at your babysitters, but don’t worry there is a lot of time to get back on the nice list”, he tells her, and we are sure glad he did. That must not have been easy for an 8 year old, thinking that this year her chance of a nice gift was a lost cause. Thanks also for the confirmation of a somewhat mystery with respect to what it is she wanted for Christmas. Santa acknowledged in his letter, that she had asked him for a “surprise gift”, so that makes us a little more confident that we should be able to meet all the needs of all on our lists, naughty OR nice.

Party
I love this time of year for so many reasons, but certainly one of the biggies is the number of times you are invited to visit and make the rounds of cheer and joy at gatherings of like-minded individuals. One little such gathering, I look forward to each year, is a party to celebrate Christmas, the end of a semester, or as the invitation says, the “Winter Solstice Gathering” at our friends house. This is the 10th annual event of its kind, and although we have not been to all of them, we have been to more then half and the one thing that is always clear is that these friends, have the most dynamic group of friends we have ever seen, and by sheer luck, we must be included in that list, because we were there too. The stories, and laughing and dancing make for a very interesting evening, and thanks to great hosts, the food is wonderful too.

In Closing
Often to pass time during car rides, the girls play word games, and sing and in most cases just laugh. This week, we had a serious case of the giggles, and at the time I looked at Nathalie and said I have to remember to write about it. The art of the knock knock joke is just that, an art and not everyone can either get it, or more importantly give it. I totally get that! Jordyn is a big fan, and when the girls start to giggle and tell each other riddles or stories, inevitably, it is Jordyn that throws in a knock knock joke or two. They, quite often are the same ones, but we still laugh.

This particular time, Jordyn was doing the famous, “Orange you glad I didn’t say Banana” joke, but the only thing was, that she was NOT saying it right. Now it starts by answering the knock knock part with, “Banana” 3 or 4 times, and the funny lies in the fact that FINAL time you are asked, “who’s there?” you don’t say banana, you say orange instead. Now, you can use any fruit you want in the joke, but of course you MUST use “orange” as the last one. This is either lost on Jordyn, OR she knows more then me, and figured arguing the point with me was way more funny then even the line it self. We laughed and laughed, and it sounded like an Abbott and Costello routine with all the back and forth in the car and at one point, the girls both had tears in their eyes, from laughing so much and I think, “It doesn’t get much better then that.”

Orange you glad I didn’t drive off the road?

Thanks for reading and have a great and safe week
Jim