Hot PINK!

All Dress-up and Ready For The PINK Party!

Host Pippi Greets Her Guests in a Unique Dancing Greeting

(Forgive the cheesy grin--what can I say, I was excited to be at the party!)

Peter Gets into Party Mood Schmoozing with the other Guests

More Schmoozing...

My turn to Schmooze... 

Party Host Pippi, Not One to Miss a Pose For the Paparazzi

Entertainment Included The Game of Life (Tabs and Pip setting it up)

Sunday night I was handed an invitation to a Pink party--it was to commence immediately after supper in Pip's room. I was to dress in pink. Later, the party location was changed to the rec room for more space. Pip was a lovely hostess and her family attended except big sis Mist because she had a lot of home work. Pip and I won The Game of Life, 3 millions dollars +. We were a team--lesbian veterinarians with one son and a dog. Veterinarian was our second career, at first we were super-star Zumba instructors based in Paris. Now that was a fun job ;) I like that my kids automatically assume when they land on the "get married" square that they can choose a gay wedding or not. Pip decided we were going to be a two woman couple. I thank Canada for being a country that this idea based on equality is the norm.

BTW, Mirror Mirror was entertaining. I liked Julia Roberts and the 7 dwarfs. It was most definitely for kids but I didn't mind it. I always applaud the retelling of fairy tales with the princess being strong and in control of her own destiny.

So, I have one month to finish editing my novel and get it e-published. Can I do it? I need an editor who is efficient and fast. Will research this. This is my priority--publishing my two novels within the spring deadline. Must not take on too much at this time as this will take up most of my days. Editing the novels to comply with e-Book standards will be a lot of boring, fiddly tech work. Formatting is nothing like a traditional novel. The writing was the easy part. So, I will know within a few weeks if I can do the journalism class at the end of the month--it depends on how advanced I am with the publishing.

Possibly teaching more Zumba classes with a gym closer to my house :) Subbing for sure and they may have a class for me in the summer. Looks like I have 4 classes for sure this spring. I want to taper down to one over the summer.

Must spend some time training my 5 month Old Boston Bulldog puppy Pablo. I can hardly keep upright when he pulls on walks. He is big(this is relative, I know--he's big compared to Fernando his pug brother), strong and agile. He finally took on Fernando the other morning when Fernando tried to steal his breakfast. He went after him so aggressively, I feared little Fernando might get hurt. Though, on inspection, his dear little black velvet ear was wet but not bitten. Usually its Fernando attacking the Pabs so don't feel too sorry for the little pug (he's not as innocent as he pretends to be).
- Pip has just announced she is starting a day care for dogs in the kitchen at this very moment--good. She was complaining she was bored and wanted me to attend a "Green Party." I'm still tuckered from last night's Pink Party! She's herding them into their kennel for "nap time." Pablo is resisting. Trying to be a human-alpha dog is exhausting! I always must intervene to make sure he doesn't get aggressive with the Pip. She's just announced after sleep time is dog snack time--they'll be happy now!

The Business of Life

Pippi before attending a birthday party for a friend last evening. She's wearing an Indian outfit I purchased for her in Little India, Penang, Malaysia.

Trying to exercise moderation. It's work for me. I used to be an excess/crash and burn type. But studying Buddhism has helped. This is why, as much as people might make fun of my "Spoil QueenMJ days" they are a necessity. Even the ridiculous title helps me focus on what I need to do. I get an idea, and get excited about it and a little mania sets in and I throw myself into accomplishing the goal. But thanks to my learned wisdom, I now feel and recognize the physical and mental effects of this pattern and tell myself to slow down and take a "Spoil QMJ" day, hour or even just a minute sometimes. And honestly, I'm much better at calming myself down on busy days than boosting myself up if my days are too dull.

Mist this week.

I'm starting two business. One a side business (party) and the other an e-Publishing business. I'll explain more about this once I get the paper work complete. Getting the side business off the ground after coming down from my 12 dance classes week, I started to feel my mind go into overdrive. So, I immediately found a spot on the sofa to breath for a moment. My daughter Mist sat with me and my dogs (the Nanders and the Pablee-poo--just had to type out their nicknames as I love calling them that!). It felt good just to have all four of us sprawled together and I said so. Well, little ears heard this and soon I had Tabs and Pip all squished with us on the small sofa (love seat size)  :)

 I am learning it is the little breaks one can immediately take that can rest the mind. I still had one more class to teach-- let me say that it was very hard to get myself there last night. I was so burnt out. But once I arrived and then the Mom's and their little Zumba dancers arrived (it was Mom & Me Zumba) I had to suck it up and put on a show. After class, I felt refreshed. Somehow, no matter how exhausted I am, after an hour of dancing I feel revived again for a t least a few hours after word.

Tabs this week.

The down side of teaching in the evening is supper. We have grabbed take out here and there all month and I feel horrible about this! I am putting a moratorium on eating out for February. No matter how rushed we are, we must make meals at home. Our nutrition is at stake. This is really hard since we don't eat modern wheat. I need to stock up on spelt bread and freeze it for occasions when we might only have the time for sandwiches. I could, I guess, make some spelt bagets and freeze them. Also, I'm hitting the slow cooker pretty hard next month. Making supper in the morning is easier when I am fresh. There is nothing worse than coming home after an exhausting day and having to make supper. I make 4 suppers a week and Peter three. Peter is not a chef. But last week he made chili from scratch so I am hopeful.

My girls too are very busy this week. Tabs is going winter camping with her class, Mist just finished provincial exams and Pip has been a party girl (attending friends' parties and preparing for her own coming up in Feb). 

Okanagan Spring Flora

Saskatoon Berry Blossom

Balsam Root 

Oregon Grape

Balsam Root and Ponderosa Pine in Distance

Purple Aven

After starting 2011 with self imposed strict deadlines for finishing my thesis and finding a job, I have finally, seriously let go. Letting go is the very best feeling. I'm taking my darling daughter Mistaya's advice to "just do what you want to do mom."
I am back enjoying the very activities that have brought me my greatest life joys: hanging with my girls. I am most happy when we are together having fun.
This morning I walked Tabs and her friend to school. I loaded up Pip in the stroller and harnessed Fernando and down the mountain we strode. It is the most beautiful spring day ever in the Okanagan. It took us only about 40 minutes to walk down the mountain. I most enjoyed it. It made me wish I could walk my girls to school daily.  I then turned around and headed back up the mountain--stopping to rescue a snail trapped trying to cross a busy trail and then at the park for Pip to play once we reached the mountain top. The walk, and 20 minutes at the park took me a total time of 1 h 45 min.
Spent last evening at the theatre with all of my girls as Tabs and Mist are in the play "Camp Rock" that will debut in August. The theatre director made everyone in the theatre stand up and tell their name--little Pip was so cute.
Taking Mist to the mall after school to shop for a few odds and ends before she leaves on her band trip to Vancouver in the early morning. May treat her to a frapuccino after all--they're still on sale and we love to Stop for a break at Starbucks when shopping.
Final thesis revisions are what I am working on. This process has truly turned me off academia. But the good news is I am doing what I want and I am so enjoying it and looking forward to all I have lined up for myself. No panic anymore--just enjoying each step.
The cool thing about Vipassana meditation is you think--how can this be helping my life? Sure I am calm and focused while I do it but does it have any real lasting effects? The answer is yes. I feel my dedication is paying off in simply me finally being able to let go and just do what I want without the feeling of self-imposed panic.

My Three Daughters

The Happy Mother's Day tea at Pip's preschool yesterday. Pip had a few solo's she said the line from Down By The Bay: "have you ever seen a bear combing him hair." And the "S" in Mother's Day was for :"I like to snuggle with my mom."

I biked early yesterday morning 1/2 way down the mountain with Misty as she wanted to meet a friend and bike to school. So after school, I was down at Tab's school requesting teachers for my girls' next year (Tabs wants Mr. Baker, I want Pip to have the most gentle of kindergarden teachers and have been advised by friends as to which one is kind and which one yells at the kids). Then I decided to pick up Mist from school, put her bike in the back and take them all to Starbucks as there was a 1/2 price sale on frappuccinos for a very short time. But no, she wanted none of it. She wanted to stay with her friends and bike around and have someone pick her up later that night from her friend's house. So she did. I treated the little girls to the frappuccinos.

Tabs came to me the night before last and requested we do yoga together and then that we meditate together. We did. She was amazing. I taught her the basic Anapana (observing the breath). She has been  practicing the 800m run each evening. She wants to run it again at the track meet. She has a bad cough that I hope clears up for her soon. Last year she was very sick with a chest infection, ran the 800, came in 2nd but collapsed afterward and frightened me to no end. I told her she cannot run it this year if she has any kind of illness.

Today they will attend their cousin's birthday party up the street. I will work on a little of the final thesis revisions.
 Let me just say that Zumba at Oranj studio has turned into Bikram's Zumba. The room is small, windowless and packed with 30 dancers. It gets so hot that by the end of class I am a boiling hot tomato face and feel I might collapse. I cannot take heat like others. I don't know why but my system doesn't cool me down effectively. I don't sweat much, maybe that is why??? I blaim it on genetics. Northern Europeans fought dampness and cold, not sun and heat.
Watched A Summer in Genoa last night. Good movie. Going to Spain this summer...

Three Tiger Cubs

Tabs

Pip

Mist

My girls love to photograph themselves on photo booth. I discover dozens of new photos they've taken of themselves each week. The newest photographer is Pip. She'll get on my computer and before you know it, have taken a series of about 30 photos of herself in various poses.

I am working all weekend. Borrowing Peter's UBC office to write on my thesis. I hope to accomplish much. So far I have found one study validator from amongst the covert stuffy culture on facebook--a fellow writer. I found out this writer has an Mfa and a Bfa from Emily Carr--so cool. I love that some of the covert writers are artists and Canadians like me! I need to find an ethnographer at UBC to also validate my study. I will work on that this week.

The cold arctic weather is finally leaving BC tomorrow. So I am saving my mountain hike for tomorrow morning--it should be a little warmer by then.

Tabs and I had a date night last night. She chose shopping at the mall and out for supper. I love my date nights with the wee gals. Tabs was inspired to purchase beads with letters on them and then proceeded to make three bracelets last night--one for her and her 2 best friends. One bracelet said "Best" the next "friends" and the third "forever."
I am extremely disappointed in how the soccer has been managed this year. 3 major tryouts to discover Tabs did not make the 1st level team. So unfair. Because she is a good soccer player and really top notch defense girl. I am an angry mother Tiger about it. No one messes with my babies. This whole level thing is new this season. ALL kids soccer is in levels now--there is no more just "soccer for kids." All teams require levels and tryouts and divide old, life-long team mates and friends (she's been playing since age 5 with all the same girls). She may decide to play this year but is also considering trying out baseball as she has always wanted to play but had no time because of soccer.

Mist and Pip still recovering from respiratory bugs. The girls will hang with their dad all weekend while I work.

I am feeling a little excited about my career plans.

 1. Get a job! My goal is to teach college but I will take anything that gets me there along the way:communications, fine arts, English, creative writing....anything they will let me.

2. Paint Renaissance style wild life on the side for $ (will need to study in France to learn this technique. Gregory said he will hold my deposit until I can come. I do hope it is within this year).

3. Keep writing and publishing my fiction.

4. Teach Zumba for fun (will train for this and continue to study forms of latin dance for fun).

5. Once my painting and writing starts to bring in $$$, I can cut back on my teaching load eventually.

My Lovely Daughters

Mist, Tabs and Pip pose before their piano recital

A dramatic pose

A relaxed pose

Mom couldn't stay away

Me and my girls

Tabitha and Mistaya played piano at The Dorchester retirement home last evening. The students perform and the residents enjoy Christmas piano music. On entering the facility we were ambushed by a very angry old woman who was obviously suffering from dementia. She shouted at us to STOP! I TOLD YOU TO STOP! What is wrong with you? Don't you listen? It was rather horrible to be shouted at as angrily. I tried to calm her by saying, "Pardon me?" in a calm voice but that only made her nastier.

Mist and Tabs both home today. Mist sore throat and Tabs nausea. I had a tummy bug on the weekend so perhaps this is what is wrong with Tabs. Pip and I are fine though. Pip is always busy playing with Fernando, drawing or playing with her cousin Artemis. 

No Christmas tree yet as we have been running around all week and haven't even had a chance to get the week's groceries. 

Mistaya's sleep over party was a great success on the weekend. However she seems to have ended up with this sore throat and has yet to go to school this week. She missed her band concert last night because playing the bass clarinet is impossible with a sore throat.

Me? Busy working out, doing my thesis study, shopping for Christmas presents, attending concerts, children's lessons. Feeling a little Christmas season fatigue already. I am a low key Christmas girl. I'd rather have the simplest holiday in the world. I don't like mass commercialism and feasting. But the only way to achieve the simple Christmas is to travel far away each year. My goal would be to volunteer as an ecotourist each Christmas and spend the holiday working with wild life around the globe. Such plans are very pricey for a family of five and this is why I don't. 

Just the Way She Is

Darling Pippi entertaining me with a lovely dance she's choreographed.
Picked the little darling and her cousin Artemis up at Preschool today to find Pip tightless. Her teacher Tracy informed me that Pip and a few girl friends locked themselves in the bathroom and attempted to give Pip's Fur-real Panda (electronic stuffy) a bath in the sink. They soaked the bathroom. Artemis stood guard, not allowing Tracy inside until Pip had attempted to mop up the place! lol. Panda is soaked and once he is dry I will see if he still works.
I have been so busy maintaining my study. I spent all morning on my computer at Starbucks updating all my photos, comments etc. It's a great office as I always meet some pleasant women there to chat a little with.
Now that the study is in full swing it requires constant upkeep. My sister Theresa is the official research assistant. Though I have no money to give her :(
Tonight I believe Peter and I will dine at CHOP restaurant.
The cousins will be over after school and may stay for a pizza party with my girls.

Wild Dogs

Pip and I on the way to preschool.
What a day. Mistaya stayed home with a little virus--tummy, headache. I felt off today too. I wrote all morning and then went to pick up Fernando from Miranda's backyard. The dogs often have a morning playdate on their own in the backyard. I arrived to an empty yard. I called M's cell and she said no one had picked them up so officially they were missing. I picked Pip up from preschool and then hopped on  my bike. The task was huge as the mountain park behind our houses is vast. I called and called and biked and biked. John came home from work to help look for the boys: one giant,black curly haired dog and one little black straight haired dog.
A stroke of luck--I ran into neighbors who reported that yes the dogs were loose all morning, barking at people and running wild in the neighborhood and heading off into the forest.
I biked past my house and my girls came onto the balcony to tell me the dogs had been found. A neighbor was walking and they followed her home. Thank G! The good news is that they stayed together. Those naughty little boys explored the mountain all morning together--barking at anyone that tried to approach them.
Tonight I want to spoil myself with a pumpkin pie Blizzard. Once a month I just need the DQ to perk me up!
I had an exhausting but fun day yesterday. Miranda and I biked to the mountain top (I had my worst asthma attack ever on the way up and had to stop because my lungs stuck together and I couldn't get any air in). From the top we hid the bikes and hiked. It was beautiful in the forest--blue sky and sunshine. We sat underneath a giant old ponderosa tree in the sun and chatted for a long while. Then we hiked down to the areas dynamited out and looked through he rock veins for crystals. We biked back with our backpacks full of rocks. Miranda carried the mother of all rocks for me--My back couldn't handle its weight but she seemed to think she could manage it.
I was so tired after the morning that I had to nap--I am fighting a virus that leaves the stomach upset and the joints achey and weak. But last night was skating lessons, so I had to rise tot he occasion and head out into the night. Mist and I went to Prospera Place skate. It was fun! Once I'm out on the ice, the world is my oyster. I can't explain it, but I love sports! I have a smile on my face the entire skate--even though I really am a crappy skater. Mistaya was a great skating buddy. I love having daughters--they are so much fun--each one of them!

All I Have to Do Is Take a Look at You

Fairwell Hawaii. Peter took this on his iphone as we borded the plane in Kona.
I am still jet lagged. I've never felt so tired. If I get up befor 8 am it is all I can do to remain awake all day. I am so dead tired by afternoon, I so want to nap. I have heard flying West to East is the hardest. I can't get over the 3 hour morning difference. Getting up at 6am is 3am in Hawaii.
I didn't expect it to take me a week and still feel tired. But truly, I think 12 hour days outside, in full sun were so good for my body that it is in sunshine withdrawl.
Pip is napping (her ears are stil not fully healed). Tabs is at dance and I just picked Mist up from volleyball. Mist has to be at a band concert in 1/2 h. When Peter gets home at 6ish (any time now) I may ask him to attend as I have to wait for Tabs to come home, make her supper and try and wake up Pip and feed her supper too. Because of the busy evening I got burrito take-out from Taco Del Mar. You know me and Mexican food--my favorite.
Starting yet another new workout routine. Having to rework everything as time permits. No longer do I have time for hour long classes in the mornings. MWF I will lift weights and do 20 min on the bike hard-core. T,TH I will run. Sat-am Bikram yoga. Wed night Zumba dance. And Sunday is family sport day.
I need more weight lifting as I find it is the easiest, least time-consuming way to have a cut, trim body.
And I am starting (or trying) Monday evening Buddhust meditation and readings at the Yoga House. I am looking forward to it as I need my Sanga! It has been so difficult to find a buddhist sanga (community) in Kelowna. There is no doubt that evening meditations give my mind peace and optimism.
I again must share how much joy my three daughters bring me. No matter what difficulties I am dealing with, when I see each one of them, I am filled with inner peace, relief and joy. They are all rays of sunshine and joy in my life. I am so blessed to have this wonderous human connection with my girls.

Looking for a "Fun Guy"

This is Mist in all her glory. My little doll. She is adorable in her fashions.
She loves fungi like her auntie and uncle the mycologists--she just had to purchase this t-shirt and we also bought one for Miranda as a little present: "looking for a fun guy" (with a mushroom in shades).
My girls are all well and continue to be the most darling rays of sunshine in my life. It is true. They are so much fun and make my life so happy and joy-filled. I am blessed beyond all.
Tabs and Pip just left with their dad for his office to hang while he works and Mist is up the street babysitting Nem and Artemi for a few hours. Went on  a hike early this AM with Peter and Fernando. Crisp and beautiful.
Last might rented movies and ate popcorn in bed. Tabs and Pip watched "Bewitched" and Mist, Peter and I watched "Year One" until we turned it off due to boredom.
 Mist and I attempted one of my retro games from the 1950's called Careers. No wonder it never made it out of the 50's--it expects and demands intelligence from its players. One needs a degree in gameology to play. Talk about a complicated set up. Once we got into it, it made sense but one must devote the time to reading the instruction booklet to figure it out.
 I collect retro board games--a fun hobby when we get the time to play a few of them. The latest one I picked up is called "PIT"--a stock market trading game from 1919. So cool.
Working this AM on a paper. This afternoon tennis at Doe-Doe park and I want to zen my hall and kitchen cupboards. A quiet Sunday.
Really want the swine flu vaccines to start as everyone I know who has had it complains of unbelievable aches and pains.
Possible trips in my future this year:
Texas or Boston, Massachuttes in Feb.
Victoria, BC with family in June.
Malaysia in July with Peter -this one I am really excited about.