It's that time of year again.

That's right - it's Pride Week. That means the Pride Parade was in Toronto this weekend and it must have be stifling out there. What I've noticed are the number of tv shows and movies that have been on the tv this weekend having to do with homosexuality.
So far I've watched two really sad things and one funny as hell. The first was "Boys don't cry" with Hillary Swank (she was amazing) playing Brandon Teena - a girl who was living as a guy and was shot to death with two friends because of it.

The second was the Matthew Shepherd story which is just heartbreaking. Not only was he killed in a horrific way, they showed the "protesters" at his funeral waving placards with anti-gay slogans. How Christian were these people to be waving "Fags go to hell" signs in the face of the parents of a boy who was murdered? They also covered the fact that the tv show 20/20 interviewed the guys who killed Matthew and they are NOW saying they didn't kill him because he was gay - it was a robbery that went wrong, all they wanted was money to get more meth. It was infuriating that they were even air time after what they did to an innocent boy.

The last was "My own private Oshawa" starring Jonathan Wilson. I started watching it because Oshawa is where I grew up and I wanted to see if I could recognize anything but the story is what kept me watching. Jonathan Wilson is a comedian and this is a movie of his one man show about growing up in blue collar Oshawa and finding his sexuality and learning to accept it. I was snickering all the way through it and connected with what he was saying. If you get a chance to see it, give it a whirl and just enjoy.

Pax wrote a wonderful post about the Stonewall Riots. Although I already knew about them, he added some things I never knew so if you get a chance go over and take a look.

Yet another meme

I'm such a sucker for these LOL
Lowly Scribe hit me with this one and really it's not so bad because it's all about the books baby!

Number of books that you own:
That's a really tough one. I own ALOT of books, I'm a very fast reader and I'm usually reading more than one at a time. At a rough guess, I'd say around a thousand but I've never really counted them.

What is the last book you bought:
On Friday I went out to get Katie's birthday present - she asked for a copy of a book in series she's been reading and it's only out in hardcover. I hardly ever buy hardcover, they're too bloody expensive if you ask me. Anyways.... I bought A book for myself - Sword and Sorceress XXI A Marion Zimmer Bradley anthology. I've bought every one of these as they came out in paperback so even though Marion is no longer with us, I keep buying them.

What is the last book you read:
I decided to re-read a book that I hadn't read in a while that I had given Katie to read. Phule's Company by Robert Asprin It's a very funny sci-fi/fantasy novel - first in the series and highly entertaining.

List 5 books that mean alot to you:

1. The Stand by Stephen King
This one is a great favorite of mine - I've read three copies of it to pieces so far and working on copy number four. I think it's King's greatest work to date. The characters are so real you feel you know them and I think that is the mark of a damn good story.

2. The Valdemar series of books by Mercedes Lackey
There are about 12 or so books in the series now and I'm working on getting them all - I think I'm about 2 books shy of the complete series now. It's a fantasy series that I love. There is a thread of practicing tolerance that runs through the series.

3. Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone by J.K. Rowling
I bought this book for Katie before it became a best seller. I read it to her the first time and then she re-read it herself over and over so many times she loved that book to bits. I love the story and the fact that it inspired such a love of books in my daughter (didn't do a damn thing for my son though lol)

4. Those who Hunt Monsters by John Douglas
This book was written by the man who created the BSU in the FBI. It's a fascinating look into how the science of profiling came about and it's also a look at the case studies of most of the serial killers of our time. I'm such a freak for true crime stuff lol.

5. Jane Austen - All of her books
I really enjoy Jane Austen's books. Pride and Prejudice is a favorite. I'm not much for "romance" novels per se but I enjoy a look at the mores of a bygone era. All of her books took a look at "society" in her time.

I'm kind of hesitant to pass this one on but if anyone is interested in it - it's all yours. Truely, I'd ask Piggy but I'm afraid of what he'll say LOL

My Little Girl

My little girl. 

So Katie has decided (on the advice of Cathy from Domestic Psychology) to start her own blog. If you have the time, please go over and say Happy Birthday!
Lost's Little Girl ( don't rag on me - she picked the name LOL)

My little darling

Katie's little feets. 

15 years ago today I got the little girl that I wanted so desperately. She didn't want to oblige me by appearing on her due date June 12 but had to be...coaxed outta the pool.

I went to the hospital at 6 am that day and by 9 am I was all hooked up to an IV with that labour enducing drug coursing through my veins. The nurse and I were having a small disagreement on how long it would take Madame to put in an appearance. I said lunchtime and the nurse said supper time at the earlest. By 10, I was REALLY uncomfortable and wanted DRUGS ANY KIND OF DRUGS - at that point a large rubber mallet was looking like an option but in a strange twist of fate, the hospital I was in only had one anestitist working on Sundays and there had been a major car accident so he was in surgery. I ummm voiced my unhappiness at this turn events and gave my husband the most evil look and confirmed my opinion that THIS WAS ALL HIS FAULT!! LOL Never mess with a labouring woman's drugs. That poor man took some abuse that day lol. One time when a contraction finished he was putting a cold cloth on my head and said "that was great" and I looked him and said "Are you out of your fucking mind??" Poor guy lol.

By noon I was telling the nurse that it was happening and that I really really needed to push, as she is telling me I'm imagining it she took a look. Minutes later I'm being wheeled down the hall to delivery room with a nurse pushing the bed and one looking under the sheet declaring " OMG the baby is crowning!" Into a delivery room we go that has only minutes before been cleared of another mother and baby, and I can hear my doctor in the delivery room across the hall with a screaming infant. The room I'm in has no sheets on the table, no diapers, no baby blankets, no baby fish tank (I don't know what they call those little rolling cribs lol), they transfer me from bed to table and the nurses are gowning up, my husband doesn't even have time to put on the whole "delivering a baby outfit complete with booties". Just as I'm about to deliver, in walks my doctor snapping on a pair of gloves and he caught Katie as she entered the world. Then they wrapped her in a towel and handed her to me. It was a beautiful moment that I'll never forget - 12:31 pm on Sunday June 24th 1990.

I look at my so grown up daughter now and can't believe those little feets you see above that I spent so much time blowing raspberries on (so she would laugh) are so large now that she wears the same size shoe as me!

So happy birthday little girl! I love you.

By popular demand

 

I have been informed that I haven't posted a picture of myself in a while. Can't imagine why, considering that I'm not exactly giving the supermodels a run for their money LOL This picture is a year or so old and the hair isn't sorta blond anymore, now it's kinda auburn covering the mouse brown and grey LOL

A meme

I told KIm that I would do this so here it is -

1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. When and how did we meet?
4. Do you have a crush on me?
5. Would you kiss me?
6. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it.
7. Describe me in one word.
8. What was your first impression?
9. Do you still think that way about me now?
10. What reminds you of me?
11. If you could give me anything what would it be?
12. How well do you know me?
13. When's the last time you saw me?
14. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn't?
15. Are you going to put this on your blog and see what I say about you?

He never learns

I got a call this morning at 1:30. It was the police. Three guesses whose son got arrested last night some time around midnight? Awww, you figured it out LOL I get the call from the police every time because he's still under 18. Three more weeks and that will change. July 11th he turns 18, is out the Youth Justice system and will be finding out that getting arrested is something to be avoided and not bragged about to all his little buddies. *sigh* Ah well.

Maxine 

Trip down memory lane

Jamie and Katie 

This is the first picture of Jamie and Katie together taken the day after Katie was born. It'll be Katie's birthday in 9 days and I'm starting to trip down memory lane. She'll be 15 on June 24th and she seems so grown up. Weren't they beautiful?

Struggling up from the depths

Well it's been a busy weekend. We had a really really bad storm on Friday night and that's when the flooding started. Both bedrooms upstairs started to leak water, the ceiling over the front door started to leak and then water started to pour down the basement wall like a waterfall. Within a half hour there were about three inches of water in the basement - also known as my bedroom. So the cleanup begins, as we start moving furniture and find black mold behind the bookcases from the LAST time the basement flooded. So as of Saturday, my bedroom is now the livingroom. Great. It took most of the weekend to clean up the basement, what with all the mopping up, boxing things up that I won't need for a while and moving furniture. My super came and took a look and I had the idiot roofing guys here AGAIN to try and figure out where all the leaks are coming from. Then BT tells me that on Friday when he went out to go to work, he found that his car had been egged. In this heat, it was damn ugly so the driving rain that day was a good thing as it cleaned off the car. No other car in the parking lot was touched, not one. Three guesses who egged the car? My mailbox also got squished to hell - only MY mailbox and not any of the other 25 or so other mailboxes in this townhouse complex. Ah, don't life with Jamie suck?

I finally got ahold of my case worker and with the mold and the Jamie problems I have the ok for the relocation funds (I had to qualify arg) now I can seriously apply for new apartments and not worry too much about how I'm going to pay for a moving truck. Thank gawd for small mercies. Let the packing begin!

The best part of the weekend was that BT bought me a little prezzie. AN AIR CONDITIONER!!!! Have I mentioned lately how much I love that man o' mine? I love him even more now that I'm not sweating to death LOL

Brat update

I got a phone call from Jamie's probation officer on Monday. His NEW probation officer I might add. Seems that even though he was supposed to report within 48 hrs of his last release he still hasn't. This new woman tells me that she is going to recommend that Jamie be placed somewhere for a while as he doesn't seem to be doing well on probation. We'll have to see how THAT works out.

Then not an hour later who should call me but Jamie himself. Seems he is living with his new girlfriend (who is 15) and her mother. Turns out he wants me to give him "his" baby bonus money. Actually, Child Tax Credit money - for anyone who isn't Canadian, this is money you get every month from the government (depending on yr income) to help with raising your children. This money only comes until the child hits 18 then it stops. Jamie will be 18 on July 11 so there is all of one month of this left. Jamie then puts the g/f's mom on the phone and by jeebus I let her have an earful. I told her chapter and verse the saga of Jamie - arrests, probation, stealing, vandalism and the peephole story. I'm doubting that Jamie will be there for very long but I wanted that woman to be going into having Jamie living in her home with eyes wide open. No doubt Jamie is unimpressed that I told her everything but HE called ME and then put me on the spot with this woman. Not that I'm giving him the baby bonus money - not after the money I've put out on repairing and replacing things he's stolen or broken. He can just dream on. This woman even wanted ME to replace all of Jamie's ID - the ID that he took with him when he left my home and then lost. Yeah right - like I'm going to do the birth certificate waiting game AGAIN.

HOLY CRAP it's been hot here lately. I've just been staying in and sitting in front of the fan wishing I lived in the far far north.

I've got a lead on a new apartment, I just need to get down to Oshawa and fill in an application and view the place. Keep your fingers crossed.

Tagged

I was tagged by Tony and I've been very slow in posting it but here it is.

1. First name: Lost
2. Were you named after anyone? A famous actress/dancer and my Great-Gran
3. Do you wish on stars? No.
4. When did you last cry? Reading Kim's blog.
5. Do you like your handwriting? No, it sucks.
6. What is your favorite lunch meat? Polish sausage yummmmmm
7. What is your birth date? 12-30-I ain't tellin
8. What is your most embarrassing moment? I asked a lady when she was due - and she wasn't!
9. If you were another person, would YOU be friendswith yourself? Probably
11. Have you ever told a secret you swore not to tell? Nope
12. Do looks matter? I don't think so, I've always been a big believer in beauty only being skin deep!
13. How do you release anger? I cry and yell (sometimes).
14. Where is your second home? Oshawa
15. Do you trust others too easily? Yeah, I'm a sucker like that.
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? My Chrissy doll.
17. What class in high school do you think was totally useless? Gym
18. Do you have a journal? You're reading it now.
19. Do you use sarcasm a lot? Who, me?
20. What is your favorite movie? My Fair Lady
21. What are your nicknames? I've gone through many. Buckets was one, Fuzzy was another.
22. Would you bungee jump? Are you crazed???
23. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? No, but don't tell my kids.
24. Do you think that you are strong? not really
25. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? Vanilla
26. Shoe size? 8
27. What are your favorite colors? Black, Green
28. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? My body.
29. What do you miss most? my old friends
30. Do you want everyone you sent this to, to send it back? I'm not sending it.
31. What color pants are you wearing? pants??
32. What are you listening to right now? BT and Katie tormenting the dog.
33. Last thing you ate? a ham and cheese sandwich
34. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Emerald green
35. What is the weather like right now? Fucking HOT!!!
36. Last person you talked to on the phone? Jamie's probation officer
38. Do you like the person who sent this to you? He's a sweetie.
39. How are you today? Sweaty
40. Favorite Drink? Diet Coke with Lime (BT calls it Crack)
41. Favorite Sport: Playing - golf Watching - football
42. Hair Color? mouse brown and grey lately dyed auburn kinda
43. Eye Color? hazel
44. Do you wear contacts? no
45. Favorite Food? Tortellini
46. Last Movie You Watched? Shattered City, the destruction of Halifax
47. Favorite Day of the Year? Canada Day
48. Scary Movies or Happy Endings? Happy Endings
49. Summer or winter? Neither. Spring or fall for this girl
50. Hugs or kisses? Kisses
51. What is Your Favorite Dessert? Creme brule
52. Who is Most Likely to Respond? no idea
53. Who is Least Likely to Respond? no idea
54. Where Would You Want to Go on your Next Vacation? Scotland

So there we go. Rowan it's your turn next.

Dreams

So I've been having this weird series of dreams. I've been meeting my blog friends in my dream world LOL

One dream had me sitting on Tim's front porch, boozing it up having a discussion about the religion of cats. For some reason I was convinced they are Catholic and Tim was convinced they are Zen Buddhists. LOL

Another dream had me, Snicks, Tony, Pax and Whatshisname sitting in a VERY sparkly gay bar commenting on the various merits of the gentlemen walking and dancing in the bar. LOL

I had a dream about sitting in JustRoses house drinking Jack Daniels. We were celebrating because I had somehow come up with a cure for all of her daughters allergies and as we were drinking she was sitting beside us eating a peanut butter sandwich. An odd dream to say the least.

The last in this series of dreams was last night. I was at a BBQ at Cathy's house and somehow her neighbour was Kristy (interesting as Cathy is in Tenn and Kristy is in NM!) and we were surrounded by hordes of kids - laughing happy playing kids. We were drinking red wine and they were telling me about how great large families are.

So as far as I can tell, I'm a complete alcoholic in my dreams LOL Hell I hardly ever have a drink so it's pretty unusual to be having all these alcohol dreams. I can hardly wait to see who shows up on the dream landscape next LOL

Life just bites sometimes.

I'm starting to think that somewhere along the line I've really pissed someone off. I went back to the doctors today to get the results from the blood work I had done and it turns out that I'm not premenopausal, it seems that I'm diabetic. Grand. I guess it's not terribly serious yet because I don't have to have medication but I need to see a dietictian. It seems that if I can lose weight it will lower my cholesterol AND control the diabetes. My doctor seems to have conviently forgotten that the medication that he prescribed for me over 2 years ago is what caused the weight gain and one of the side effects is that it increases blood sugar and can induce diabetes. I'm just so damn thrilled.

Jamie was arrested again this weekend - due to the warrant sworn out by his probation officer. I actually went to the court this time to try and get them to keep him but they won't. Part of his conditions now isthat he can't come on the property here. Originally at court, the Crown Attorney was asking that he stay 500 metres (around 1800 feet) away from here and Jamie freaked out in court so his lawyer objected to that distance and I let them bully me into accepting just staying off the property here. So Jamie is out again and hanging around the neighbourhood. Katie ran into him tonight while she was walking to Sea Cadets - she told him to keep away from here and Jamie called her a "fag" (which is kinda funny when you think about it LOL). *sigh* I guess he'll just be hanging around here until I move.

In other news, I've started to get tickets on my car. I've been parking it in the same spot for 3 years and now suddenly I'm getting tickets and threats that my car will be towed. Grand. I'm still trying to sell the damn thing and I have nowhere else to park it - I think that the lovely Rowan and her man are going to let me park the Hamstermobile in their drive for a week or two. I think I need a vacation.