Picnic

This goose was determined to eat the picnic. Approached the blanket hissing at us to abandon the  food.

Picnic with Miranda and all of our little beauties.

The weekend proved to be very busy. I actually had very little time to work on my thesis.
 Today I attempted some work and then after lunch felt overcome with exhaustion and guess what? Pip and I had a nap together. Something about this weekend has left me very tired. Miranda felt the same way. I think perhaps there is a little bug circulating.
 I am basically finished the thesis. All I have left is to try and attach a sample of Facebook story to the appendices. Unfortunately the quality of each pic is not there as they are screen shots from FB and the typing is too tiny and I have to blur out all of the names so it looks messy. Really wondering if I need to include this copy at all. And guess what? I am dead sick of the thesis--have finally hit the "don't give a flying F****" wall.
I made delicious Thai peanut chicken tonight. The secret is fresh lemon juice, fresh ginger, garlic and cilantro.
 May just go out to a movie tonight as the theatre will be empty--everyone watching the Cunucks game.
This post is rather boring, I know. But that's the kind of day it has been :P

Thesis is Finished

Mistaya in one of her many Harry Potterish alter egos.

Finished my THESIS!!!

I sent the first completed copy away to 2 of my validators and my supervisor: 135 pages of pure genius 

LOL

The formatting was hell: making sure all five levels of headings were consistant, pages numbers matching all the headings, all figures matching page numbers... 

Busy applying for jobs.

My girl's march break starts next week. They will visit their Granny and Granddad for a few days and go to Seattle with me (we may pick up Peter on our way to Seattle in Vancouver as he will be there for meetings as we drive through). We'll stay at the Seattle Hotel Fairmont for 4 nights: tour Seattle for a few days and then I do the Zumba workshop and head home.

Excited to see Judy Chicago speak next week about women artists. No matter what job I do to pay the bills, my heart belongs to my painting and writing. Excited at the thought that my M.A. is nearly done and I can PAINT again and work on publishing 'Queen of the Godforsaken." 

Communication Revolution: Forward Ever, Backward Never!

Fernando's

I took the girls out for supper last night to a new Mexican Restaurant called Fernando's. Of course we had to try it out since I love Mexican food and our darling dog is named Fernando. Peter was in Vancouver at meetings.

It was very busy down town last night. Fernando's was busy too and very chilly outside! We had to park about 6 blocks from the restaurant. Walking back to the van proved to be very chilly. We stopped half way at a Starbucks for hot coco.

I love being down town at night. Peter is not big on the down town but I like it. I am always on the look out for interesting people and adventure. My girls are the three most interesting persons on earth but I am always open to meeting others. Unfortunately no new interesting people out and about last night. 

Where were you other interesting people last night? Next time try and be out and about when I need you.

Just returned from my Hep A shot. Now I am immune for life. It is snowing in Kelowna. The biggest snow fall ever last night and today. The snow plows can't keep up!
Tabs is home with a sore throat--too much choir! The girl has belonged to 3 separate choirs this past two months! She sings for an hour + daily. However, I believe it is actually a cold type virus. Pip has had it this past week too.
Tonight, Peter is finally home from Van. Date night! I am wanting to see a movie down town. Hope it stops snowing so we can. Sometimes, the snow plows stop working after 4PM so if it snows a lot after that, one cannot make it up the mountain until they plow the next morning.

Excited as I dropped my quest to find Buddhist sanga in Kelowna (community). The pressure to meditate with a group shut me down. I prefer to meditate alone, just before bed and get my sanga from a yearly visit to a ashram. I honestly don;t have 2 hours each week to meditate at the yoga house in the evening. I am too busy. And honestly, my personality is one that likes action. I am doing hot yoga and Zumba in the evenings instead. Zumba instead of latin dance because #1 I can't find a willing male dance partner: if you are out there please give me a call! #2 Zumba is at Tabs school gym at night--a five minute drive--convieniencce means a lot to me in the evening! Bikram's is too expensive. They don't give student discounts and they don't do punch cards. However hot yoga is offering $12 a time student classes this year--so I am taking them up on it Monday evenings. Yes, the floor is heated along with the room to over 100 degress F. I feel like a piece of bacon sizzling around during corpse pose--but beggars can't be choosers!

My paper was accepted for an international conference--YAY! It means though, writing like a crazed woman for 2 weeks to make the final copy deadline. I love my thesis though. Good stuff. I am so happy with my research. It is very exciting. I may not be able to leave academia behind after my MA is done--I love feeling connected to something much bigger than me and my research--this whole communication revolution is a fun ride!

Zen Christmas

I do hope Fernando's Christmas is Zen. He will be at the Dog Spa with 4 of his cousins.
Never travel anywhere overnight for Christmas unless you plan to go somewhere tropical and not celebrate Christmas in any traditional way--just a thought.

Again, the Buddhist in me must explain my Christmas celebration. I celebrate Christmas for many reasons even though I follow Buddhist philosophy in life. One reason is that I was raised Christian and it is tradition in my family for generations and generations to celebrate Christmas. In fact, after my ancestors left Druidism, they were converted into Christians with such passion that a few of my Irish Catholic great aunts were nuns. The second reason is that my husband was raised Christian and may just be a Christian still (I am unsure on this point). The third is for my children, as a few of them consider themselves Christian to some extent and they adore Christmas celebrations. And the fourth and most important reason I celebrate Christ's birthday is because I believe him to be an amazing holy man. From all my research he was truly kind, compassionate, wise and a feminist. He had it all! I believe the Christian church perverted his teachings to suit their own means and that perhaps is the biggest Christian tragedy of all to me. So as you can see I genuinely celebrate the birth of Christ. I honour a great holy man whose teaching I also follow.

Now...for some exciting thesis news: Although the ethics review board at UBC has been difficult for me to deal with, I have recieved a little diddy of info that has pumped my ego and made me more excited than ever about my research. I have to make changes, yes, before I get my study passed. However, my thesis has caused the most discussion amongst the most experts and more time than any research proposal to date at UBCO. A feather in my cap, I dare say. I am pleased-- it is such new and ground breaking research they had no past guidelines to compare it with. :) I did manage to apply for 2 conferences this spring even though I said I wouldn't--we'll see if I get selected to present.

I hope to blog over Christmas--to at least post our Karaoke competion videos! ;) I hope I can find the time. Tabs and I are ready with our dance/song duet. Although it is sung in such a high key, I blow out my voice box everytime we practice!

Gluttony for Girls

Me in my office/studio, looking anti-glam in my pj's and ' 4 generations of love' sweater. Peter snuck in and took this pic unbeknownst to me. 

Went to a talk at the "Bohemian Cafe" downtown last evening with Miranda. It was all about Gluttony. It was all right. I didn't learn anything new though. Then we went for supper at "The Bread Co." and then shopping. I was supposed to be M's stylist. I turned out to be my own stylist--purchasing two gorgeous dresses! M at least got one. We would have shopped longer but the mall closed on us (and no, we didn't spend the night trapped inside this time!).

I am reworking my thesis to show to my supervisor. It is quite exciting. M persuaded me to do a broader study as it is a field no one has ever studied before and thus I must give a more broad context to explain it to people before focusing on an autoethnographical study. The topic is the new underground fiction being practiced on the internet by unusual authors in unusual places.
Fernando is wild--bolted to the street twice yesterday and refused to be caught. But man is he bright. Case in point: I stopped by M's the other day to chat and M said to let him off his lead in the house--M and I were the only ones in the house except Fernando. He ran all over upstairs and downstairs exploring. And guess what he found? Out of all the tons of stuffies and toys he could have discovered, he brought me Pip's stuffed monkey "Rogio"that she'd left there days earlier. He carried it to me and dropped it at my feet!
I've been working out killer this week. I do love it. I am a girl who cannot sweat--it is my N. European genetics. However, this week, thanks to hot yoga, I am sweating!
Girls are off school today--Pro D day.
I have a doctors appointment later (my skin infection on my chin-- incase it doesn't heal on its own). It is my own fault. I could not stop picking at a dry skin patch--peeling it off each time it healed--sure enough it got infected. I am definitely cousin to the apes.
Thinking about the beach this aft with my gals--although Pip requested, "We go for coffee Mom? I LOVE coffee mom!"--a little Starbucks junkie like her mom. ALthough, she gets a hot choco.

JUMP!

My jet-setting sis in New York raised concerns over my lack of blogging. Yes, I confess to letting it slide a wee bit. But partly because sometimes my past blogging was down right obsessive! I felt the need to blog everyday no matter what--I often blogged in a busy frenzy. So perhaps the daily blogs were not the panacea. Perhaps the almost-daily blogs are the very best for me at this time.

This AM we are off to attempt our first ever complete family bike trip. We'll attempt the Mission Creek trail--Pip in the new bike trailer. Peter bought a bike last night--my early anniversary present to him! Then we shall get to the most out of the condo experience with a good long swim this afternoon. The Mist has made plans to go to her friend's house to bake a cherry pie. She hasn't seen Sara in 3 weeks, so I thought it a fine idea.

I did a last-second class section switch--I got the very last spot. After me, the section was officially filled! I am so lucky, as last minute information made me decide that I needed to switch classes. 

I haven't felt completely myself since San Francisco--alittle disorganised. However, I think things are starting to all fall into place. I am looking forward to nailing down my thesis in August--I just need to write about 3-4 experts in the field and speak with them to give me a better idea of direction. These are all the things that interest me, so the thesis study will involve some or all these areas:

-global literacy of girls.

-creative writing.

-children's literature.

-digital creative writing: for or by children.

So as you can see, I need a much tighter focus. 

I am dividing up our family trips into activities. This weekend it is our bike weekend.

Kamloops weekend it will be canoeing (Paul Lake), camping, gold panning and ghost hunting weekend. Nelson will be our posh, boating weekend.

I still have dreadful chores on my plate: fence building quotes, cat new-home finding.

But at least I have switched sections for my summer class starting Monday! Fewf! I feel so good about that--it makes me realize I have had serious trepidations about the section I was in all along. Three cheers for figuring that out!

BTW, Nem and Tabs have both become the most AMAZINGLY skilled swimmers overnight! Their teacher must be good. We are all so proud of them both!

Artemi and Pip both have a nasty cold bug--John too. Miranda and I shared a nasty headache-tummy upset, burning cheeks bug this past week--not too serious though, I am fully recovered.

Oh, Miranda and family will move into their new home on Sunday--so long Condo swimming pool and beach.