20 weeks??

Holy cow, i'm already 20 weeks pregnant... that's halfway people!!

Incidentally, we are finding out the sex of the baby this Thursday!  Do you think it's a BOY or a GIRL??
Go here to cast your vote

also, i will try to post some kind of preggo belly photo in the future.

MacBook....Pro.

Well, i did it. I bought myself a new computer yesterday - a MacBook Pro... for those of you who don't know, i lost my FIRST macbook when our home was broken into, and my last macbook was accidentally left on the floor when our basement flooded last week.  so sad.

I took my little Fiona II into the Mac dealer in town to see if anything could be recovered.   They called and left a message on Tuesday - my hard drive could not be saved.  It was devastating.

The first time i lost a laptop - yeah, i had pictures and stuff on it... but this time - i had pictures from the day Chewie was born.... and videos of him in Neonatal Intensive Care.... and i had drafts of the novel i was sometimes writing... and i had a folder of Blog posts that i had started, or that i had saved.  Sigh.

The second loss was much more painful.  I felt like i was going through the stages of mourning...

denial - i didn't think about the loss of my hard drive, it didn't seem real to me... like i though, it can still be saved...

anger - when it finally hit home that everything was lost, i felt like i had been punched in the gut... and i got mad.  I was so frustrated with everything, my house - the flood, the party who left my laptop on the floor accidentally, b-rad for not being as angry as me... i left the house at 9:45 pm.  i had to get out.  I went and filled up the car and then drove around for 45 minutes - fuming, until i calmed down.

bargaining - i don't know how this one applies, but i'm sure i must have done some bargaining with the hard drive gods...

depression - knowing that the documentation of the first two years of Chewie's life was gone forever, i cried and found myself staring blankly ahead for who knows how long.

acceptance - i knew i had to start over.  I needed a new laptop.  Once i had one, i felt the healing could begin.

Goodbye Fiona II... you will be missed...

For those of you who are new here (hello!) i have a tendency to name the things i own... hence Fiona Apple, and Fiona Apple II...

it was suggested to me by my dear friend Saviabella that maybe this time around i shouldn't name my computer Fiona... seems like that name is cursed.   I think she may be right!!

So, i'm feeling out some new names right now - trying to find the one that fits just right.... when i named my first Macbook Fiona - it just felt...Right.  That's what i'm looking for.

These are the suggestions i've had on facebook:

1) Gwyneth via Savia
2) Granny via Wenchwire
3) Pink Lady via Kristina
4) Fuji via my Aunt Jennette
5) Northern Spy via Mika
6) REXNOR THE DESTROYER (via my bro Willy Billy)
7) Johnny (as in Appleseed - via Teeni's husband TGH because i stayed in the town he was born in when i visited New England in May)
8) "try something cool....like Steve" via my very sexy hubby B-rad.

I was playing with the name Paltrow... so good on Savia, but i also like "Rizzo" as in the chick from Grease, cuz she was a Pink Lady.... and Pink Ladies are also apples...

Do you have a suggestion?
or do you like one of the above names better than the rest?

I've always considered my laptops to be girls, but i'm not opposed to a boy's name - as long as it fits...

give me whatcha got!!

yet another quickie

if you want to see a few pics of my flooded house, check this link out. 

update: Tornado Watch 2010!

i feel like it's been ages since i've seen a computer... gah.

Just an update: The Skatch is continually being hit by Tornado Warnings, some tornadoes hitting ground (not by my house, thankfully) We are also being relentlessly pelted by thunderstorms...

As a result of Tuesday night's thunderstorms - we woke to find our 3rd floor and basement of our 4 level split had flooded.  The storm water came up the patio doors and into the 3rd level, then diverted down the stairs and filled our crawl space with about 2" of water.

Our backyard was completely under water.  The high water mark at the back of the yard was 4 feet up the fence.  it had drained out by the time we got up, but we have been working pulling out carpeting, tearing out drywall... cleaning out the basement... by "we" i of course mean B-rad.  I'm not much help, being preggo and all.  But we've had some help.  My parents, B-rad's dad, my brother...


it's a very slow work in progress, and as much as it sucks, we are very lucky.  Some people had waist deep water in their basements...

the worst part, for me... is the loss of Fiona II, my second macbook.  :(

I took it in today to see if the hard drive can be saved... we'll see.

Part Five: TEENI and Salem!

Preamble: Why I went to Boston (click here)  Part one of my Adventure (click here) Why Teeni is such a peach (click here) Learning the craft (click here)

The Friday of the Zentangle® seminar - i was nervously watching for anyone that might be Teeni and her husband TGH.  When i finally saw them pull up i ran out to meet them.  I recognized her immediately - because she's short.  ;)

She said she recognized me because of my glasses. HA!

I quickly ran back inside to say a farewell to all my new found Zentangle buddies and fellow CZT™s and we were on our way!  I was a little bit worried about our meeting, even though i reassured Teeni several times by email that it was going to be awesome... i thought - what if she thinks i'm not cool!  GASP!  What if it's really awkward and we have nothing to talk about! GASP!

Well, i certainly didn't have to worry about that last thing.  We hit the highway and we were babbling like school girls on their way to summer camp!  It was so relieving to have the connection in real life that we have in the virtual world. I was 100% comfortable from the moment we hugged in the parking lot.

I'm not sure what TGH thought of me, at first. ha ha... he was probably thinking: MAN, this Canadian girl can talk!! tee hee.  just kidding, he was also really great - and FUNNNNY!!! 

I'm was so lucky to have these two to show me around their beautiful state.  We drove up to Salem, Mass to check out the witches - and on the way there i marvelled at the difference between New England and the Skatch.  So...Many....Trees!!  I tried to convey to Teeni and TGH how the highways are different here.  I still have a thought to go out in the middle of nowhere and take pictures...flat.  Flat.... flat...FLAT!!  Lots of sky, though.

In the Skatch, i pride myself on having a pretty good sense of direction.  I generally know where i am all the time, y'know - some people get disoriented when they walk out of malls or movie theatres, not me.  i usually know which direction to go.  In Massachusetts i was TOTALLY disoriented.  I had no idea where i was MOST of the time.

The roads all turn and twist, but that's not it.  I figured it out - there's not as much sky! it's hard to see the sun.  I never realized how i took my bearing from the sun, but it turns out that i do!  LOL - if i didn't have TGH and his GPS, i would STILL be wandering around Salem trying to get back to the car.  (or CAH, in Boston-Speak)

I found Salem to be adorable.  Well, i found most of New England to be adorable!! How can it not be? it's the New World! There's so much history there, and as we were driving along the country it's not uncommon for houses to have plaques on them declaring the year they were built!  1700s!! some as early as the late 1600s!  amazing.

Salem is also very touristy.  It reminded me of being in Cancun - where there's all those shops and they all sell the same stuff - only instead of seashell magnets and tequila shooters, Salem is full of shops selling Witchcraft stuff.  Most of it was pretty hokey, a lot of the stores carried Harry Potter stuff and Twilight stuff... weird.

We decided to stay away from the tourist trap museums, the ones that really played up the hysteria of the witch trials - claiming: "This is what we THINK MAY HAVE HAPPENED!!! OOooOOOOOOOOOOOOooOOO...."

As we were only there for the afternoon, we decided to check out the Witch House.  The only building in Salem that had anything to do, historically, with the trails.  Not that any of the witches lived there.  It was the home of a judge who served on the trial.

here i am, all Vanna White and junk.... VOILA!  the Witch House!

I was surprised to learn that the Hysteria really only lasted about 9 months.  I don't know, i assumed it was years of women being killed.  For all the hype it's gotten, a person WOULD think it was a longer deal.  Although, if i was living at the time of the trials, it would probably have FELT like years. Scary.

They think that all the weird 'demonic' type behaviour shown by those poor girls may have been caused by Ergot poisoning - a fungus that grows on rye.  So, can you imagine eating a piece of bread one day, and then writing on the ground and foaming at the mouth - and then being sentenced to die??  Gahd.

 here we see the ever elusive, and seldom photographed, yet infamous, Teeni. 

TGH can also be seen here.

The house was really interesting, and there was a lot of information to take in.  For example - the wife of the judge had, like, a 16 kids or something - yet only a few of them made it to adulthood.  Small Pox, Fever, and death from infection were the leading causes... and judging on the form of modern medicine at the time - i'm be surprised if the "Cures" didn't do more harm than good.  Seriously.  According to them, Pee fixes everything.  And urine from varying sources! Humans, horses, small animals... witches...  PEE!!!

Here is a replica of a dress that Mrs. Judge may have worn at the time. 

I can't imagine wearing all those layers, plus petticoats, plus stockings, plus HEADGEAR everyday. HOT HOT Summers, Cold and Miserable winters... with no streets or pavement... i imagine mud and water weighing those skirts down....

After the Witch House, we wandered over to the Cemetery where i had planned on doing some Gravestone rubbings.... HOWEVER - posted on the gate was a big sign that said: NO RUBBINGS! Dammit.  I didn't want to be a rebel, so i took pictures instead. 

Here's a photo of me and an amazing tree in the graveyard.

We wandered through the Witch Trail Memorial... it was very sad to see the names of all those girls who were murdered.  A few men, too!  The majority of them were hanged for their "Crimes"... one guy was "pressed to death" whatever that means... torture?

Carved in the stones on the ground entering the memorial were the last words of each of the victims... and it's heart breaking.  Each of them declared their innocence to the end.  I wish i would have taken a picture.

By now it was getting close to supper time, so we headed back to Teeni's hometown.  We went to an amazing Mexican Restaurant for supper... i'm still dreaming about that delicious guacamole, guys, i'm serious!  And also, this delicious pink drink of FANTASTIC...it was like a mouth-gasm.

I would also like to bring this photo to your attention:

 my lovely hosts!

Please note: The size of Teeni vs the size of her Margarita!!!  Oooh yeah, it was GOOD times!! lol

We ate, laughed, talked, had a wonderful time - and then it was off to beddy bye for me... us preggo's get tired - don'tchaknow.  

Next stop: Hahvahd Yahd, and Boston!!

Well, my first ever foray into the world of Zentangle® teaching starts tonight... it's been such a whirlwind month!! and i still haven't told you all about Teeni!!  GAH!!

hang in there... it's coming.

Learning the Zen of Tangling...Zentangle!

The first official day of my Zentangle® get-away, we all piled into the classroom one by one - Maria Thomas - one of the founders of Zentangle and a renowned Lettering Artist - was waiting at the door to give us our little mini-kits to work with and writing each of our names in Beautiful Calligraphy as we filed past. 

Day 1 - Maria adding our names to our mini-kit boxes

I found a seat at the front of the class, and i was reminded of my University days - i did the same there too, especially if i was in a class by myself.  Maria and Rick Roberts (The other founder) filled our heads to the brim with information, we learned how to do some tricky tangles (patterns) we talked about the legal stuff of being a Certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT) and we were very well fed. 

This was my first Zentangle of the course!

It was funny, even when there were things going on in the evening - games being played, hand/arm massages from the massage therapist that Rick and Maria hired to pamper us - each night a majority of us ended up back in the classroom working in our various workbooks.  We couldn't get enough of the Zentangle goodness.

One night, we were very fortunate to be treated to a Zentangle session with Lois and Earl Stokes who came all the way from Hawaii to take the class.  They brought with them leaves from the Autograph Tree for us to tangle on.  The leaves were big and as we drew on them with bamboo sticks they turned a beautiful golden colour where our lines were.  They also gave off a delicate fresh scent.   This is one of my leaves.

As the leaves dry, the image stays on them and the leaf turns brown around them.  I had to leave mine behind because i didn't want to have to deal with customs on my way back into Canada.

There were people from all over at the class.  Lois and Earl from Hawaii, there were people from various parts of the U.S., including one woman who came from Alaska.  Then there was myself and Margaret - the other woman from the Skatch - and Deb from Toronto, the three Canucks... and one woman who made the trip from the far away lands of Denmark!  

I was just amazed at how nice everyone was.  We were all so happy to be there together, learning from Rick and Maria, anxious to get started teaching when we got home.  It was a very awesome feeling to be connected to so many people by the same cause.  

When the sun finally came out (cuz it rained the first night and the first full day), i went for a walk around the yard and was all touristy on the trees there.  I took so many pictures of Trees!  New England has beautiful trees...

This tree, in particular, was so big.  It doesn't really translate in the photo, but that bottom branch sticking out on the left side was probably a foot and a half or more in diameter.  perfect for sitting on.

annnnd, here i am, sitting on it.

We did have some homework over the course of the course... :)  One was to tangle the back of our nametags, here's a few:

and another was to find a pattern and figure out how to draw it from our surroundings... i was bad and never actually did my homework the second night - but i did take some pictures of awesome patterns in the conference center!

like the windows in the dining hall, for example. 

It was tough being away from my two boys for so long... B-rad and i would text each other each night, i'd ask how things were going, he'd tell me about how Chewie was standing at the top of the stairs shouting: "MAMA!! WHERE AHHH YOOO!??", and how Chewie asked about me every day.... it was tough.  This was my first time away from him...and B-rad for that matter, for longer than a night or two.   As much fun as i was having, and as nice as it was to have some Me Time, i missed them.  a lot.

On Friday we met in the classroom and spent the morning learning some more difficult and focus driven tangles - and our party got smaller and smaller as people left to catch flights or drive to their homes.  I was waiting anxiously, because Friday was the day i had been looking forward to - as much as i loved the conference, i would be meeting Teeni that day!!  EXCITED!!!

stay tuned for the Teeni Tale!