Random musings, good and bad

They are paving our street - it's the final stages of months of ripping up and rebuilding our street, which have meant us parking here there and everywhere, and dealing with a driveway that has been half ripped away, and sidewalks rebuilt. Friday, they started paving some of the driveways on our street, but by the end of day Friday, ours was still not done. Fine, we could deal with another weekend of half a driveway.

Saturday morning at 6:45am, yes, you read that time correctly, the whole house was shaking with the trucks rumbling down the street. Really? on a Saturday? Nice. The boy had a basketball game at 9am, so what the heck, I got up, showered and dressed so I could get the paper - Didn't really want to duck out in my jammies with all those guys up and down the street. I see a supervisor there, and mention that I will be leaving around 8:30, so please don't block me in - "no problem" he says. At 8:15 the boy and I go out to the car, and see fresh asphalt being dropped on my driveway, and a large piece of machinery at the base of it! WTF? I tell them that we have to leave, and they have to move, and I get "No, ma'am, you can't go anywhere for a couple of hours". Wanna bet? I see the supervisor down the way, and go get him - he's all apologetic, but still tries to tell me I can't go anywhere. As time ticks away, I finally convince them to lay down some plywood, and move the machinery, and I drive away, steamed. To be honest, I'm more worried that they're going to do a crappy job on my driveway after that little exchange, knowing that I'm not there to watch them. I'll give them credit, they did a good job, but I'm withholding final approval until they fix my lawn as well...

Thursday night, we had the school welcoming BBQ - the boy has the same teacher as last year, and he's finally in a straight grade 6 class after two years of split classes. We're happy about the teacher - she's great and knows exactly what he needs to stay involved. While talking to her, I was so pleased when she mentioned not only his physical growth, but his emotional growth - how mature he's become. She told me he's one of her "go-to kids" when she needs help from the class. I was happy, because I had seen his maturity over the summer, but wasn't sure it was obvious to anyone else. The kid continues to make me proud.

Time off is good. I've been able to spend some time on the house, which has been sorely ignored during the summer, since we were at the cottage all the time. Floors have been de-stickyfied, windows have become see-through again, and the spiders and their webs have been banished along with the dust hippos. (we're talking dust balls under the bed so big they could not be called bunnies by any stretch of the imagination.) Plus, I've been purging stuff bit by bit. The Goodwill drop off depot is my new favourite destination.

Last night I made an apple cake, using Robyn's recipe. Yummy! The only changes I made were to use a combination of Macintosh and Royal Gala apples (I find Macs alone a little too mushy sometimes - my favourite baking apple is Northern Spy or Mutsu - must go picking sometime), and I sprinkled large crystal Turbinado sugar on top with the cinnamon. It added a nice sparkle and crunch. Thanks for the recipe Robyn - it's a keeper.

Can I say how much I love So You Think You Can Dance? Love the host Cat Deeley, love the judges, love the dancers. Can I say how much I DISLIKE So You Think You Can Dance Canada? Don't get me wrong, I'm an extremely proud Canadian, and I think the dancers are beyond compare, and so ridiculously talented, but the host Leah Miller and the judges, especially Jean-Marc Genereaux and Tre Armstrong, have turned me right off this show. Leah Miller is all of 29, and has had so much plastic surgery and Botox, she can't move her face above her bottom lip. Seriously, only her jaw moves. But I realize that's superficial, however, her voice and everything else about her just grates on me. And Jean-Marc! Now, I'm used to Francophone speech and over exuberance - that's my Mom's entire family. But he's over the top annoying. It's too bad, but once Survivor moved to Wednesday in direct competition, SYTYCDC had no chance with me.

My absolute favourite show has got to be the Big Bang Theory. Love it, Love it, Love it! When Jim Parsons (Sheldon) won the Emmy, I was so pleased - he really deserved it - he plays such a great character.