The past few days have been quiet since we’ve been with Hubby’s dad and his wife, but prior to that we spent a day kayaking on the Bay of Fundy, whale watching in the Halifax harbor, and parked on a beach [...]]]> Well, we’re still on the road, but the trip has been better than expected so far!

The past few days have been quiet since we’ve been with Hubby’s dad and his wife, but prior to that we spent a day kayaking on the Bay of Fundy, whale watching in the Halifax harbor, and parked on a beach at the top of Nova Scotia, where we waded the warm water and looked out at PEI across the water.

The sea kayaking was something I’d never done before, and it was fantastic! The guide took a picture of us on a secluded beach where we stopped for lunch…

Now of course we’re thinking about buying kayaks when we get home! ;)

Whale watching was great, but I forgot my Nikon (ack!!) and the pictures I did get were mediocre…

The beach was fun, and yes, I did get my waterproof camera for my birthday anniversary!

Oh J-B… I took your cooler on vacation. Ours was too big! Hope you don’t mind, but that’s what you get for leaving it at my house :)

Tons of these critters to be found!

Wee One watching for more hermit crabs and starfish to inspect…

…and of course:

Tomorrow we head for Quebec City for some site seeing, the next day to Montreal to do some business, and then home on Wednesday! It’s been a long trip, but not a bad one! :)

It wouldn’t be so bad, but the kids will be along, and there is nothing worse than driving long [...]]]> We leave tomorrow on our “working vacation”. I’m nowhere near ready. Can you tell I’m not looking forward to it? Hubby said much the same thing last night as we sat in the living room, not packing.

It wouldn’t be so bad, but the kids will be along, and there is nothing worse than driving long hours AND working with 2 grumpy kids in the back voicing their opinions. Constantly. Wee One is so excited to be going on vacation – right now she’s dancing and singing, and gathering armfuls of toys and books to bring along for the ride. The Teen knows better – she’s still in bed as I write this, and I’ll probably have to tip her out of it in a couple hours to get some help with packing and preparation. Boy, that’ll be fun. Not.

In an effort to minimize the complaints on the longer days, we plan to ditch them drop them off at a mall in the larger cities that I have to be in, but the smaller townships and whatnot will mean carting them with us.

Then there’s the whole “seeing the inlaws” bit, and you already know how I feel about that. Even Hubby isn’t looking forward to it, and I don’t think it’s because I’m overly transparent about how I feel about his sarcastic, obnoxious sister, either. Oh, was that out loud? Sorry.

Anyway. This is obviously not getting it done, so…

Our waiter, Frank, took a decidedly unspectacular picture of us:

We had a lot of laughs, shared [...]]]> Just a quick update to our anniversary evening. We had a wonderful meal at a small Italian restaurant called Pasqualino’s – and when I say wonderful, I mean my eyes were rolling back in my head it was so good!

Our waiter, Frank, took a decidedly unspectacular picture of us:

We had a lot of laughs, shared some lovely gifts, and had a wonderful time. All is right with the world…

A year ago today, four people met in a kitchen, unsure of how to get things started. They knew what they wanted, but didn’t really know how they were going to do it. They had no backup, and only a few sheets of paper to go by. It was a rocky [...]]]> Not your history! Mine! ;)

A year ago today, four people met in a kitchen, unsure of how to get things started. They knew what they wanted, but didn’t really know how they were going to do it. They had no backup, and only a few sheets of paper to go by. It was a rocky start, and after waffling around a little bit, they all smiled at each other, but silently wondered if they were doing the right thing.

This evening, those same people will be dining together, celebrating their first “anniversary”.

What a difference a year makes! Soon after we came together as Main Street we welcomed Walt aboard, first only as a part time accompanist, and more recently as a fully-fledged part of the group. Walt also has a wonderful Baritone voice and now sings with us when we do a cappella (unaccompanied) songs, which is awesome. Guess what? That means we’re no longer a quartet! Now we just call ourselves a group and be done with it. We will always have our original “Core Four” who started things though, and of course that is what we’re celebrating tonight.

What else… Well, we have been to the recording studio not once, but twice! The first time was so exciting for us; a real dream come true! We have performed in concerts, benefits, been hired for street festivals and smaller events, and have more of the same already booked for the second half of this year! We have been honoured to entertain people young and old. We have worked hard to develop an amazingly large, diverse music library. Most importantly though, we have had a great time together, and formed a true family and a bond that none of us could have foreseen a year ago.

Happy Anniversary to the Core Four, and my best friends, ShaMoo, Knarf, and J-B. I love you guys more than I can express. Here’s to many more years, and many many adventures together!

Now:

Why [...]]]> First, Sorry to the 3 lovely folks who stopped by for an early peek at TOMORROW’S Haiku – I really should not work so late at night. I set it to publish today instead of properly tomorrow. I’ve yanked it, and it will REpublish after midnight tonight. Sheeeesh.

Now:

Happy 64+1 birthday to my Mom!

Why did I state it like that? Well, Mom is having some “issues” with her big birthday. The biggest issue is that our lovely Government refers to her monthly pension/stipend as “Old Age Pension”, and, well, that royally ticks her off. ROYALLY. So much so that she refuses to acknowledge that she has reached this milestone, and threatened the very lives of her loved ones if we so much as considered throwing her a birthday bash. We know she means it, so in the interest of preserving our own hides, there will be no party for Mom. I love a good party, so this annoys me, but it’s her day, so who am I to celebrate… wait. *sigh* No, I won’t do it as much as I want to.

Instead, my brother and his kids and my husband and I and our kids will be joining my folks for a very low-key dinner this evening before I run off to a board meeting and rehearsal. BLAH, sez I.

Of course, she couldn’t (and wouldn’t) say no to a slightly better than normal gift, could she? She’s no dummy.

Yesterday, I finally got all my ducks in a row, and bullied no, coerced managed to get the Hubby [...]]]> Knarf is always going on about how great the hiking is along the trails he and Zack frequent. I’ve tried to make time to go with him, but it has just never panned out for whatever reason.

Yesterday, I finally got all my ducks in a row, and bullied no, coerced managed to get the Hubby to agree to go with me. So we packed the dog and Wee One up and off we went. Umm… I might have forgotten that Hubby broke his toe the other day. What a trooper!

Ok, Knarf was right – it was a gorgeous forest. Only… we managed to get lost within the first 20 minutes in the bush. We were trying to find the water falls that were in the middle of this forest, but we took the wrong trail. And then we took another wrong trail. And BOY was it muddy in some areas! We climbed over fallen trees and huge boulders to get around the biggest mud pits, but Sadie plowed right through, adding about 15lbs of mud to her coat in the process. Fortunately there were creeks to cross, and most of it was washed away…

All around us, the most delicate wildflowers were growing in abundance – how amazing that something that small and delicate could thrive in a dense forest, and push its way through inches of decaying leaves!

No matter though, we had a great time and managed to find our way back to where we were parked without too much trouble. Never did get to the falls, but I think we were on the right trail towards the end of our trek when Wee One started to complain that her legs were sooooo tiiiiired!

So we turned back. Next time we’ll have a better idea of where we’re going!

Sadie sure is getting old – she did really well, but I knew she’d pay for it later, and this morning I had to help her get her back end off the floor so she could use the potty (ok, the grass in the back yard).

I think the four of us from Main Street are going to hit the trails this coming week, with a kid or two in tow. What a hoot that will be!

As most of you know, I underwent PRK Advanced Custom Wavefront laser eye surgery last Monday. Following that has been, in all honesty, the week from hell.

A quick [simplified] lesson in the differences between Lasik and PRK surgeries:

With Lasik, there is a flap of tissue lifted on your eye, which [...]]]> So that was fun. Not.

As most of you know, I underwent PRK Advanced Custom Wavefront laser eye surgery last Monday. Following that has been, in all honesty, the week from hell.

A quick [simplified] lesson in the differences between Lasik and PRK surgeries:

With Lasik, there is a flap of tissue lifted on your eye, which is then treated with the precision laser, and then the flap is replaced. It is painless, quick, and recovery time is negligible.

With PRK, there isn’t sufficient corneal tissue to create a flap (there may also be other factors), so the top epithelial layer is removed entirely, the precision laser is used, and then a protective contact lens is placed over the area while the epithelial layer regrows, which usually takes 3-5 days. The procedure is also painless and quick, but the difference in recovery is where we part company with the happy Lasik treatment.

As much as I was excited and so looking forward to this surgery, had I known the agony I would be in for 3 solid days, I am not so sure I would have opted to undergo this procedure.

Understand that I have a very high pain tolerance, and I’ve also been through 2 painful pregnancies, one of which culminated in an extremely unpleasant birth. This, my friends, was worse. The literature and clinic staff did very little to prepare me for what was to come. They said there would be “mild to moderate discomfort, while a “small minority” may experience a lot of pain”.

They lied.

I would be considered one of the “small minority”, but now that I’ve been speaking to more and more people who have had this done, including a couple of the clinic techs, I’ve come to realize that the norm is extreme pain, and the “small minority” experience moderate pain. I don’t think the “mild pain” recipients even exist. They appear to be trained to minimize the discomfort in their literature and preop consultations, and use words like “uncomfortable” rather than “painful”. Granted, every person walking into their clinic represents $2,000 – $5,000, and money is obviously their goal here. Telling them the bald-faced truth would have the PRK candidates running for the hills.

In retrospect, the pain wasn’t my only issue with this experience. The surgeon who did my procedure also added to my nightmare. Yes, he was the best, and yes, he did a bang-up job. But the man was a machine, and treated me like a piece of meat. Zero reassurance, zero bed-side smarts. He didn’t warn me at any point or explain what he was doing, which was beyond disconcerting, and extremely traumatizing. So I was probably in shock too, wrapped tight in multiple warm blankets in my dark bedroom, shaking like a leaf for the better part of 3 days.

I debated whether or not to go into great detail about the procedure, and I think I’ve decided to spare you the details. If you really want to know, you can email me [jenn@... my domain name: you can figure it out] and we’ll chat.

Confession: I love Codeine, and would have married Codeine last week had it been possible. Even if I am a teensy bit allergic to it, and got the most amazing rash after using it, and even though, for a time, it only took a tiny bit of the edge off. We parted ways on Friday once the worst was over, but Codeine will always have a special place in my heart. I love you, Codeine.

My hubby got major bonus points and pretty much made up for a dismal Valentines by taking very good care of me while I was laid low and blind. He gently woke me every couple of hours for multiple eye drops or mega doses of pain pills until I was able to take over and do them myself. He made me eat when I didn’t want to, just to keep my strength up. I don’t know what I would have done without him.

And then there were my sweet friends: ShaMoo, J-B, and Knarf. Always there for me; true blue. ShaMoo showed up on day three to deliver this gorgeous fruit bouquet from the three of them:

I was just able to get a shot of it with my cell phone before Wee One got going on it. There were, after all, chocolate covered strawberries involved. She managed to get a couple before I got the phone out, you’ll notice. Yes, I did manage to get my fair share of it, if you’re wondering.

So you’re probably wondering what the results of the procedure was, unless I miss my guess? Well, I haven’t reached the final results yet. The recovery takes time, and I’m only at the 1 week mark. It could take at least a week more before my vision clears to where it’s going to settle. Yes, I see better. Some things are clear. Some things are not. It’s a little frustrating to be honest, considering what I went through last week. By mid-evening I’m still experiencing pain and fatigue, and I still need migraine strength pain medication to fall asleep. My eyes are unbelievably dry, to the point where I need to pry open my bottom lid and insert eye drops just to get them fully open every morning. Not fun. I will need reading glasses, and did in fact purchase my first pair just this morning. I’m ok with that though – there are some damn cute reading specs out there!

I’m not driving yet, although I suspect I’ll be ok to do that this week, at least during the day. Night time driving will take a while longer. I’m thankful to J-B for offering to be my ride home on nights when we’re out together at rehearsal! Like I said: True Blue. Hope he doesn’t get sick of me…

With PRK there is the potential for regression, so down the road I might find that my vision needs to be “enhanced” again. As long as I have corneal tissue, this is possible. Enhancements are also included in the initial cost, so if I do opt to do it again, I don’t have any further out of pocket expenses past medication. But wow. Would I do it again? Honestly? I don’t know. I’d certainly have to think long and hard about it. If I could fix it so I would be completely unconscious for 2 days, I just might! Time, as they say, will tell.

I am definitely going to enjoy not wearing glasses anymore. Of that I am 100% certain!

And remember when I told you the same thing a couple days later, and I was still pretty nice, but getting that expression [...]]]> Remember when, a few days ago, I told you to clean up your toys? I was pretty nice about it, right? Even though the piles/unholy amount of brightly coloured plastic was beyond ridiculous?

And remember when I told you the same thing a couple days later, and I was still pretty nice, but getting that expression on my face that sometimes makes you and your dad apologize without quite knowing why?

So last night, you should have known I meant business when I said that I would throw away every single toy that was left on the floor if it wasn’t cleaned up by today… right?

Can you explain to me then, why you went into hysterics when I quietly started placing said toys into the garbage bag this evening? Did you really think it was a good idea to ignore Mommy all that time, and keep dumping out those itty bitty Polly Pocket outfits, shoes, and other assorted plastic junk all over the floor?

I know that’s a lot of questions, Sweet Pea, but I’m really just trying to understand what your thought process is. You know Mommy always does what she says she’s going to do, so it couldn’t have been a real surprise for you.

I know that room is generally considered your toy box, but before you came along… it used to be our family room. I’d kinda like it back, if you don’t mind. Even, in fact, if you do. You’re welcome to stay, naturally, but your toys have to find another place to live. Your bedroom is pretty big, so let’s start there, shall we?

You know what I found particularly interesting, during your sob-fest, Baby Girl? I found it extremely enlightening that you were only upset that I put your stuffed dog in the bag, and didn’t seem to care about all the dolls, doll clothes, Polly Pocket stuff, Littlest Pet Shop animals, Barbies, or anything else for that matter.

I think maybe I have a kid with too many toys. I think maybe… just maybe, mind you, you might be a teensy bit spoiled. For that I fear I must take full responsibility.

I see a big toy clean out in our future.