No cheesy introduction today, I'm getting right to it. I barely got started before midnight...wheeewww...I'd hate to get my "crazy commenters" on my back again!

1) Speaking of crazy commenters (nice segue, eh?)....check out the comments on my "Whatever Wednesday" post! I won't name any names but look at the first two making fun of me because one of my songs is apparently from last year...well, excuuuuse me! I can't help it if I just recently heard it sung at the Concert for Diana and also on a Pantene commercial. I guess it really must be old though if the singer has already sold out..lol!!
Then check out "guest blogger" #2...as well as making fun of my song, wants details about my garbage...good grief, no wonder I'm having dreams about it! Yes, Sandy, I believe my garbage was distributed evenly amongst my husband, children and myself.
Then I have my "nice" commenter...can't wait to check out my songs, no mockery of my choices...again, not naming anyone unless you can put B together with ridget...hmmm...always enjoy your comments B - ridget!
Then...#4...a little demanding every now and again...takes time from her vacation to make sure I know how lucky I am that she reads my blog...lol!!
Last but not least there's Holly (oops, put it right out there..tee hee!) jockeying for position on the "nice" list. Well, of course, where else would you be...you haven't nagged me about posting in a long time!

Oh, that was fun to write...cracked myself up the whole time!! Hopefully I didn't lose anyone..as I've said before...where would I be without you gals! Thanks for commenting...I enjoy each and every one!

2) Sandy gave me this link to try and interpret my garbage truck dream. I put in some keywords and this is what it came up with...

GARBAGE - To dream that you are throwing away your garbage, suggests that you are kicking your old negative habits and throwing away your bad characteristics and unwanted traits. GREAT...I'M BASICALLY A LOSER!

TRUCK - To see a truck in your dream, implies that you are overworked. You may be taking on too many tasks and responsibilities and are weighing you down. STOP LAUGHING...SEE, I DO NEED A VACATION!

NIGHT - To have a dream that takes place at night, represents some major setbacks and obstacles in achieving your goals. There are some issues in your life that you are facing that are not too clear. You should put the issues aside so you can clear your head before coming back to it. Alternatively, night may be synonymous with death, rebirth and new beginnings.
GEESH...FORGET TO PUT OUT THE GARBAGE JUST ONCE AND I'VE GOT THE GRIM REAPER BREATHING DOWN MY NECK!!

NUMBER 4 (since I woke up at 4 a.m.) - denotes stability, physical limitations, hard labor and earthly things, as in the four corners of the earth. It also stands for materialistic matters. You get things done. SEE THAT...I GET THINGS DONE! EXCEPT FOR PUTTING OUT THE GARBAGE.

Well wasn't that all very profound..basically I'm the mother of 2 trying to work full time, stay organized, keep my head above water and deal with a sub-conscious that works overtime and insists on creating my "to do" list in the middle of the night!!!

3) I want to wish Cindy a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY...29 and holding...*wink*!!

4) Watch for big changes on my blog...soon...ok, well, not that soon. I AM a procrastinator you know!

Well, now, this was a little weak for a FRIDAY FREE-FOR-ALL but that's all I got...LOVE ME ANYWAY....PLEASE...LOL!!!

This is a very special edition of a new feature I'm calling "Whatever Wednesday" or if on a particular day it happens to be all about crazy people or strange happenings, it may be known as "WTF Wednesday"! This little feature today is all because 3 of my regular visitors are quite demanding...nagging even...lol!!! You know, some bloggers have nice readers that seem so calm, quiet, they leave nice comments (actually I have those too!)...so how come I also get the "crazy women"?? Just kidding ladies...you know I love you and my blog would be boring without you...so here you go...

1. First, I want to wish Sandy's son Kevin a speedy recovery! This past weekend he broke his femer (femur?) bone...her exact words were "snapped it right in half"....OUCH!!!!

2. Anyone out there that can interpret dreams? I NEVER remember my dreams fully..snippets sometimes and usually quite strange, the little bit I can remember. The other night though I had a dream that I vividly remember. In the dream I woke up in the middle of the night (4 a.m. to be exact) because I heard a large truck coming down the road towards our house. When I got up to look out the window it was the garbage truck. I then remember saying out loud to noone imparticular that the garbage truck was here and we don't have our garbage out.
In reality...it really was garbage day the next morning and we did NOT have our garbage out yet, I have been waking up at 4 a.m. lately for no reason, and it's still so clear I'd swear I really DID get up and look out the window. Hmmm.....

3. Did you see the second week of Don't Forget The Lyrics? I only caught the end of it but they actually had a contestant that could sing! He was very good, really enjoyable to watch actually and he ended up winning $500,000!

4. Please don't all rush over at once to present me with my "Mother of the Year" award when you read this. When my family was away and I spent much of my free time cleaning and re-organizing like a crazy woman you'll be very pleased to hear that not only did I keep all the empty toilet paper rolls I found but I also lined them up nicely, very meticulously in fact, with his others...total 11. Thank you, oh, please stop, really, the cheering's not necessary.

5. On the other hand though, I also put out 5 garbage bags full of "stuff" that I'm hoping noone misses!

6. My latest iTunes downloads:
Days Go By - Dirty Vegas
Hey There Delilah - Pretty White T's
Ugly is Beautiful - David Usher
Unwritten - Natasha Bedingfield
Better Than Me - Hinder

7. One of our neighbours has this cat that they let wander around the neighbourhood and I'm not sure why they even let it out because it seems to just want to be inside...anywhere...my van, our house, anybody's house! A couple weeks ago they couldn't find it (big surprise there!). Then a couple days later one of our other neighbours happened to look up at the house next door and lo and behold what does he see in an upstairs window...yes, you guessed it, the cat! Only one problem, those neighbours were away for a week! When I came home from work that night, there was the Humane Society, the Police and a Locksmith's van all at the vacationing neighbour's house...breaking in to get the cat out!
From the "you really don't get it, do you" files...guess what I've seen wandering the neighbourhood again on a regular basis...


Well, I hope you found my first Whatever Wednesday somewhat interesting and hopefully this will appease everyone until Friday! Sweet dreams fellow bloggers and visitor friends!

Now that it's over I'll post about the mini-vacation I had last week. I had the whole house to myself...no husband and no kids for 6 full days!! I know I shouldn't seem quite so excited but you know I love my little family dearly and of course I missed them terribly but man, was I ever looking forward to that time alone!
I should backtrack and explain how this good fortune came about and has become an annual event. Tim's mom and dad rent a cottage every year and a few years ago Tim decided to take Emily. His sister, brother-in-law and kids also go. When Jesse was a baby and then a toddler I decided it would be easier for Tim just to take Emily and Jesse and I stayed home and did our own thing (usually went and stayed at my parents and got spoiled for the week!). The cottage is very high up in the trees with steep stairs down to the water, not very toddler friendly. Last year though, he decided to take Jesse as well but I couldn't go because of work and already scheduled vacations. This year and from now on I've decided that this will be his holiday with the kids and his family and I'm quite happy to stay home and get email updates, phone calls, lots of "we miss you" and 6 extra big hugs and kisses from Jesse before he leaves (Emily was ok with just one!).
Apparently the weather wasn't great this year but they made the best of it. They had a fabulous time! A nearby community centre had activities a couple days (making pirate hats, treasure bags and telescopes were a highlight) and a treasure hunt one night and a movie night another. They also still managed to go fishing, swimming and boating. Of course, checking for bears at the dump was a big attraction too!
On the way up to the cottage on the Sunday they stopped at the cottage of friends of ours, Jeff and Julie's. The two cottages are about 20 minutes apart and the one that my in-laws rent is actually owned by Jeff's mom and dad. Sometime I'll have to post more about Jeff & Julie...it will definitely be a good read!

For now I'll just explain that this is where the title of this post comes in and how I managed to torment Jeff without even trying! He and I don't get many opportunities to razz each other anymore since we moved to the big city so after all was said and done I really enjoyed this one!
I believe it was the Wednesday night last week and I hadn't heard from the kids since Sunday, other than a quick email, so I decided to phone them. I started about 8:00 that night and there was no answer. I kept trying about every 1/2 hour and still no answer. About 10 o'clock I started to get a little concerned. Without going into all the details of how I was PMSing and freaking out, I'll just carry on.
I tried to call Julie at her cottage just to make sure I had the right phone number and her line was constantly busy! Then I remembered Jeff had left Julie and the girls at the cottage and he had gone home for a few days so I tried him there, just wanting to check the number. First I get a busy signal and then later it starts ringing but NO ONE ANSWERS! I was going crazy! I gave up on Jeff and kept trying the cottage and then Julie...nothing..finally I went to bed around midnight. The next morning STILL no answer at the cottage and Julie's line is still busy. I knew Jeff would be at work early so I called him before I left. He asks me if I called him last night and I explained why I was trying to get a hold of him and everyone else. He says "well let me tell you about your little phone call"....
When his number was ringing and I didn't get an answer it was because he was outside in the hot tub and of course by the time he got to the phone I had hung up. He did *69 to see who called and knew he should know the number but couldn't place it. Then he did whatever you do to have Bell let you know when the other person's line becomes free and it will dial it for you. His phone rings a couple minutes later and it's a Bell message saying "the number you requested was free but has now become busy"..something like that. While I was repeatedly dialing everyone, he was trying to go to bed but his phone kept ringing every few minutes and giving him the same message! He didn't know how to cancel it so he finally had to DISCONNECT ALL THE PHONES IN THE HOUSE!!! OMG..I was laughing so hard by this time I thought I was going to have an accident! He was laughing about it too but I'm pretty sure he wasn't very impressed...I got him good..with absolutely no effort on my part!! He had finally figured out it was my number (put it in his Crackberry) but thankfully he didn't call me at 7 a.m. like he was going to to see what I wanted!

Bottom line of the whole thing:
- I WAS calling the right number, the phone just wasn't working!
- Julie's line was busy because she only has dial-up at the cottage and forgot to turn the internet off!

.....oops, sorry Jeff...tee hee!!!

Time for the ever popular Friday Free-For-All...woohoo!!!

1. The absolutely adorable woman (as Sandy says...the one with Per-son-a-li-ty with a capital P!) on Don't Forget The Lyrics ended up winning $350,000! I have no idea how she knew all the words to the last couple of songs she had...unbelievable! You might want to check it out next week...don't waste your time with the Singing Bee. The Lyrics one is quite entertaining and Wayne Brady is a fabulous host!

2. I'm making an early prediction for a Fall TV hit...it's a new show called "Big Shots".

3. Emily went to a tennis camp last week for the first time. She really enjoyed it except for the first day when she got hit with a racquet just below the eye and the last day when she got hit again with a racquet right across the bridge of her nose! Ouch! She's one tough little cookie!

4. They published a list this week of the 10 most stolen vehicles and the 10 least stolen vehicles. I'm happy to say noone wants my van...tied for #1 on the least stolen list!

5. What's up with Jason Priestley not telling anyone what the name of his new baby girl is?? I've got a source working on trying to find out what it is. I'll let you know if they have any luck!

6. This will be my last Webkinz post...HONEST! I told Bridget I broke down and bought a pack of Webkinz trading cards after I said I wasn't going to but that I had a really good reason. Emily wanted to give a few packs to a couple friends for birthday presents this weekend so in the interests of research I bought a pack to see what they actually consisted of. Well, they are VERY COOL...cards you can trade, a gift for your pet, special online cards that you can put in your "album"....sooooo cool!
I have to confess I may have bought a couple extra packs for myself and the kids when I bought the ones for birthday gifts.

Well, this was a short one for once! Have a great weekend everyone! We've got a busy one, well, the kids do anyway. Jesse has his last 2 soccer games tomorrow and Emily has 2 birthday parties...one tomorrow here in town and the other Sunday in Mississauga for Marlene's daughter Brittany. That should keep us hopping!

Ok, now I have something to say. I watched "Don't Forget The Lyrics" last night. Remember how I said these shows would either be really lame or totally hilarious? Well, I think anybody that watched "The Singing Bee" the other night knows that really lame is an understatement! I must say though that Joey Fatone was quite good as the host.
Don't Forget seemed a little more intriguing as Wayne Brady (love him!)was explaining how it would work...a really good concept actually. Different categories of music and then 2 choices of songs in each category..all the contestant had to do was fill in 4 words when the music stopped. They would work their way up to one million dollars with 10 correct answers. It even had "lifelines" so to speak, 3 ways they could get help if they needed it. Sounds interesting doesn't it? Then, it happened, the cute little contestant picks her first category, the music starts and she starts to sing...OMG...it was like Minnie Mouse on helium!!! She was awful and every song assaulted my eardrums just a little more and they sing quite a few lines of each song before the music stops. A half an hour of this woman singing and she's still on tonight! I want to see how well she does but I don't know if I can. It's on tonight at 8:30 I believe. C'mon, be brave, watch it with me and let me know what you think of it.

Well, that was...interesting! I think I'll leave it at that for now but I may have more to add tomorrow night.
Did anyone else know there's a show starting on Fox, very similar, called "Don't Forget The Lyrics" with Wayne Brady hosting?? It's on tomorrow and Thursday night. On this show contestants have to finish lines to 10 songs to win one million dollars.
I have to thank my field correspondent, Marianne, for that little nugget of information!

I do have to say though that I would NOT have done very well tonight! I realized I've been faking it for years...singing, people, singing...you dirty...

Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get laid...
THEN you'll see that all that glitters is gold...lol!!!

OK, this is getting cheesy, I'm tired, have to stop now.

I know this is a couple days late but better late than never!!

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a presentation called "An Inconvenient Truth - The Canadian Perspective". It was put on by a woman who was chosen to receive training from Al Gore and his organization "The Climate Project". She was the only participant from Ontario and only one of two (or three?) from Canada.
Her presentation was fascinating. These are a few things she talked about -

If there was no more carbon dioxide emitted into the air as of today...the planet would continue warming for the next 30 to 40 years because of the amount already there.

If we don't make major changes in the next 8 years...the global temperature will increase 2 degrees.
20 - 30 percent of species could become extinct.

Oceans are reaching their saturation point...which means they can't absorb any more carbon dioxide from the air.

Off of Nova Scotia...the ocean has increased 1/2 metre in the last 140 years.

To take a boat across the top of Canada 20 years ago took 3 years because of ice...it was recently done in 24 DAYS.

In the Rocky Mountains...the temperature is increasing at nearly 3 times the global average. They're losing trees at an alarming rate due to forest fires and pine beetles. The pine beetles are actually killing more trees than wildfires or logging.


Sorry to be all "doom and gloom" but we have to raise people's awareness...this is NOT going to go away. We have to make changes and do what we can to SAVE OUR PLANET!

Welcome to the second installment...
If I don't become "lazy blogger", which is regularly been known to happen, this may turn into a regular feature. I'm sure you're finding it extremely difficult to contain your excitement, but please, for the safety of other readers...do try.

1. I forgot to update way back when about the results of my Morocco survey. It was almost even with people thinking either Spain or North Africa. The correct location is North Africa...surprise to me! In defence of all the people who thought Spain, it really is quite close to Africa...it's not like we were totally out in left field! Marianne, my "field correspondent" who also thought Spain, recently travelled to both...yes, confirming that we were indeed incorrect. Where should we get her to go next time?? It could be a new series just for my blog called "Where Is Mare?" In all seriousness, she said Morocco was amazing...beautiful!

2. I downloaded Bon Jovi's new album...I LOVE it!!! Must be that "Nashville influence and country sound" they keep referring to when they talk about it...I don't know, I just think it's great.

3. I want to send a big shout out to the iTunes Support Team..they're fabulous! Last week when I downloaded that album, one of the songs wouldn't play. I emailed the Support people and within 24 hours they responded with a solution, allowing me to redo that one song and it worked perfectly! I also had a problem with another single song that wouldn't play but I decided I didn't need the song (I was downloading the whole album it was on instead), I just wanted my money back. Again within 24 hours they responded and put the credit on my account. Thanks iTunes!

4. The other night I watched a movie with Heather Locklear in it. What is it with that woman...she NEVER ages! She's like the Dick Clark of television. She's stunning, looks the same as when she was in Dynasty and Melrose Place...I'm sooo jealous!!


5. Finally...a reality show is coming on that I can totally relate to...The Singing Bee! It's being advertised as the show where it's not how well you sing, it's how well you know the lyrics. Joey Fatone is the host and I have a feeling it's going to either be totally lame or unbelievably hilarious...the commercials are very funny! I think what they have to do is come up with the next line of a song but without music...that's not easy! Try it, sing R-E-S-P-E-C-T....what's the next line? I still can't come up with it...maybe it's just me...you know, that whole "olly oxen free" thing I have going! LOL!!

6. Exciting news in the world of movies...a Sex and the City movie is FINALLY going to become a reality! They're all on board and filming starts in September. I LOVED that show! That is the one show I can still now watch episodes of over and over. I can't even really say that about Friends or Seinfeld...well, the odd one I guess, especially the older Friends episodes from the first few seasons. They were hilarious! Anyway, I hope the movie does the TV show justice. I'd hate to see a "straight to DVD" fiasco!

7. Nicole Ritchie...pregnant...are you freakin' kidding me!!! Well, they shouldn't need to do an ultrasound to see THAT baby...just keep turning her around...you should be able to see all the appendages clearly through her stomach!! Ugh...I can't even imagine...how's she going to look after a baby when she can't look after herself?

8. A BIG blog WELCOME to my newest reader....my dear cousin Sandy...the displaced Canadian who's been lovin' life in Florida for the last few years with her husband and 3 boys! She got all caught up on my recent entries and emailed me with a few comments.
First, she thinks it's sad that I'm a Bruins fan but she does agree that Montreal is THE WORST!! She's a Tampa fan now that she lives there, formerly a Leafs fan...and she calls ME sad...HA!
Second, this is exactly what she wrote regarding my horror on finding out Wentworth might possibly not be available to me anymore....YOUR BOYFRIEND IS GAY. MY BOYFRIEND, DONNY OSMOND, IS NOT GAY.
To that I say.....REALLY??
Third, she thinks Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the #1 movie over the Sound of Music. To that I say...whatever!!
And last but not least, and I may be paraphrasing here a little, she thinks I'm an excellent driver!!!
Love ya, San....and as you can see sarcasm reigns supreme here! :-)

9. Quick question...do you think I should choose my friends more carefully? When I wrote on my blog about my plight with multitudes of toilet paper rolls taking over my house, I would have expected my friends to show some empathy but, no, what do I get...one friend who read my blog telling her sister (who didn't even read my blog) to save all her empty t.p. rolls and give them to me! What the hell is up with that?? The kids and I go to visit Marlene and she says "I don't know what you want these for but Marianne told me to save them for you" and then proceeds to hand Jesse 4 rolls!!! Aaaaaww...you gotta love true friendship don't ya?

10. Did anyone see the magazine a couple weeks ago that had a picture of Celine Dion and a small child on the cover and wonder who the beautiful little girl was that she was with...only to be horrified to find out that was HER SON??? He has longer hair than my daughter! I don't know why but I found it kind of creepy.

On that icky note, I will end this Friday's edition of my Free-For-All. Have a great weekend one and all!

Look what that cotton-candy topped Perez Hilton put on his so-called "entertainment" site the other day....BLASPHEMY, I SAY!!!

Very very good sources reveal exclusively to PerezHilton.com that Prison Break hottie Wentworth Miller is dating fellow yummy actor Luke McFarlane.
Many of you may remember McFarlane from his brief stint as T.R. Knight’s boyfriend or from his role on the ABC show Brothers & Sisters.
And you know Wenty, of course, from your wet dreams.
“Wentworth and Luke have been secretly dating for almost six months now,” says an impeccable source close to the pair. “They’ve been very quiet about their relationship, obviously, as Wentworth is not out of the closet.”
Things between the pair are so serious that the couple are talking about moving in together, we hear.
“They spend a lot of time at each other’s houses,” says our mole. “Wentworth has been pretty reclusive since he’s become famous and he’s been even more of a shut-in since he started dating Luke.”
The pair are so close that McFarlane has even accompanied Miller to Asia to film some recent commercials and adverts, our source tells us.
“Wentworth’s become very difficult to work with,” a Fox insider adds. “He’s been cutting back immensely on the amount of press he’s doing for Prison Break. He’s very nervous about reporters asking him if he’s gay.”
Don’t be afraid of the truth, Wenty. It shall set you free!


OK, all you Jack Bauer groupies...stop snickering...this is NOT funny!!! (well, maybe just a little, especially if you'd seen the look of horror on my face when I originally read it!)

I'm sure this is going to be far too long...from now on I'm really going to try to post a little every day instead of these condensed novels every other week. No, really, I will, seriously, for sure....yea, I know...whatever. Anyway, here we go...

1. Happy Birthday Kathy!! Not being a regular blog reader I hope you weren't thinking bad thoughts about me today since you probably thought I forgot...HA...see...you should visit my blog more often! Maybe I'll be extra thoughtful and send you a lovely ecard when I'm done here.

2. Whoops...temporary time out...Emily just fell out of bed, covers and all!! She's never done that before..scared the heck out of me! That happened to me as an adult one time (stop laughing...I could have cracked my head open!) years ago. I remember it was a horrible feeling. I had the dream I was falling and I did!

3. Jesse rolled out of his toddler bed one time (only about 6 inches off the ground) and when I went in his room the next morning there he was, sleeping on the floor! It obviously wasn't a loud enough thud for me to hear...or for him to wake up!

4. Emily has a tendency to sleep walk. She hadn't done it in a long time until one night a couple weeks ago. I was coming up the stairs and she was walking out of her room into my office. I followed her in and asked her what she was doing. She acted like she was holding something and made a motion with her hand to set something on the desk. Then she said she was just putting the book back. She then walked back to her room and went to bed. Aaaaggghh...that totally freaks me out when she does stuff like that!! Thankfully it doesn't happen very often but I still keep our gate from when Jesse was a baby locked at the top of the stairs at night. I'm always so afraid she'll just sleepwalk right on out to the street...you never know, she might want to help put out the recycling for garbage day!

5. Happy belated Canada Day to all my fellow canucks! Sunday night we went to Columbia Lake for the fireworks...they were amazing! Not sure why they couldn't start before 10:15 though. Also not sure why my son for the first time ever since being potty trained decided to pee his pants...while sitting on my lap...and then deny it!! Lovely!!

6. Saturday Kathy (again, Happy Birthday!) and I took the kids to see Ratatouille. It was really good...long though, 2 hours.

7. Friday night one of our neighbours and my husband put on a lovely display of fireworks for the kids on our street...at the same time apparently breaking many bylaws! Who would have thought there were bylaws specifying what dates you can use fireworks (not June 29) and where you can use them (no public property). Now I ask you, what's the point of living on a court and having a big open circle if you can't use it when you need to? They also probably would have frowned upon the fact that when one of the sparks went awry it landed under a vehicle...oops...a little scary for a moment or two!!

8. Last week was the big Tim McGraw/Faith Hill concert. As much as I'm not a HUGE fan of theirs, I was more of a chauffeur that night, I really did enjoy it. They sang for 3 hours, first the two of them, then Faith, then the two of them, then Tim and then they finished with the two of them again. I didn't think they were ever going to go home! I know, usually people are complaining about not getting their money's worth, but this was one time I would have liked it to be short and sweet...remember, I took Emily along. She loved it, knew most of Faith's songs and of course her new favourite of Tim's, which at the moment I have no idea what it's called...1,2,3, like a bird I sing.
Their stage setup was very cool, they had one big circle in the middle with four walkways going out to both sides and both ends of the stadium and they were all video screens! Anybody sitting in floor seats would have missed all that. See, it does pay to sit in the rafters sometimes!
Check out my friend Susan's post about it...she remembered binoculars and apparently enjoyed checking out Mr. McGraw with them...oooh yaaa!

9.Last weekend was also the kid's concert...Hi-5. I was very surprised, didn't love it as much as I thought I would. Their show and DVD's are very high energy and that's exactly what you would expect to entertain a theatre full of kids but some of the songs were quite slow. They just couldn't hold the attention of the younger ones...and I was surprised at how young a lot of them were...like one and two year olds. It was mayhem in there! People were letting their kids out into the aisles and they were running up and down! Overall, it was still good though, our kids were great through the whole thing and they really enjoyed it.

10. My title was originally TWENTY Tuesday tidbits but I just changed it...I've run out of steam! The other ten will have to wait...just like the part 2 to my catch-up post I was going to do last week. My goodness, I do get behind with this thing!

Sleep well everyone!!