The Pumpkin King, in Pictures

Today, with the playground feeling slightly soppy and an entire afternoon looming before us, the kids and I decided that it would be a good idea to carve a pumpkin. Never mind the fact that I have never carved a pumpkin before in my life (and the kids certainly haven't, as their parents probably wouldn't let them near something to potentially dangerous as a knife, a gourd and a candle) - we were on a mission. I bundled up the littles and headed to the local organic food store; when the parents came home and killed me for making a mess of their children, at least I could tell them that there were no pesticides involved.

We found the perfect pumpkin. A plump, round, 15 pound giant with a nice smooth face for cutting out a design. Getting it (and the stroller) into the store was enough of a challenge -- getting it the 5 blocks home was gonna be impossible. So we came to a solution: Rebecca and the pumpkin strapped into the double stroller, and Peter helping me to push and making sure the pumpkin didn't roll out when we went down sidewalk declines.



The rest of the pictures pretty much tell the story of my afternoon. Take a look and see for yourself:



Rebecca, smiling with a crude version of "cheese"



Peter giving me his Jack-O-Lantern face



The mess that we made (god help us if the parents walk in the front door at this moment)



Look, it's me! And I'm a bit of a slob. (Yes, I let a four-year-old use my digital camera, and yes, I recognize the inherent risk. But it kept him occupied for ALMOST AN HOUR)



And this is the final product - a semi reasonable Jack O Lantern for the family. Boy was I proud of myself :D



So that was my day. Here's a cool link for you all: Try to beat my insane and incredible carving ability by testing your skills carving this online jack-o-lantern: http://www.toilette-humor.com/flash/carve_pumpkin.swf

Murphy's Law

If, IF there was any chance, you have a long, draining week at work where the weather man on the 7am news calls for nothing but rain and you're stuck with two very energetic children who aren't allowed to watch television and have incredibly short attention spans, chances are that you'll also wake up so sick on tuesday morning that you're barely able to walk without rolling your head around and smashing it into the door frame (true story).

This is what my sinuses look like (I found a lot of really cool pictures, but they were a lot more gross...)


And this is what the children were like, in my poor, sick little mind today (even though I let them watch spider man, eat the bubbles in the bubble bath and put nesquik in their milk, all of which are STRICTLY forbidden)


And the worst part is that I have to do it all again tomorrow, and this time, I don't have the luxury of *all-new* chocolate milk and television to keep them occupied.

I shall step off of my soapbox now and stop complaining. And yes, I am fully aware that there are people in earth-quake ravaged parts of this world who don't have televisions ... please don't make me feel guilty.

Turkey Weekend in Pictures

Random pictures from my weekend .....


Peter, 4 years old, hams it up for the camera (one of my nanny charges)



Steve and Lindsey, after the Leafs lost (it's hard to figure out why they're still smiling!)


Rebecca, 2 and a half years old, has fun painting on friday (one of the kids I am a nanny for)


Steve and I, hanging out at the Loose Moose with Lindsey Reed, watching the hockey game on Saturday night



If you're handsome-and-you-know-it, strike a pose in the mirror so that your girlfriend can capture you in all of your egotistical glory


Steve and his cousin Cam in Casa Loma after brunch


Casa Loma, a really neat historical site in Toronto where we had brunch with the Johns family on sunday morning


Steve's cousin Ashley and her boyfriend Jeff (she's my age) outside of Casa Loma


Steve and I outside of CL .... I hate taking pictures with myself in them.

I'm Hopping on the Bandwagon's Bandwagon

With *my* own version of itunes top 8 songs of September (and the beginning of October, since it didn't occur to me until today to see what I've been listening to). Pearl Jam's holy influence is clearly evident. Hopefully, this gem of a list will be enough content to appease the reading public until I recover from being absolutely exhausted and am able to post again.

1. "Hail Hail" by Pearl Jam
2. "Two Steps Behind" by Def Leppard
3. "Can't Keep" by Pearl Jam
4. "Let Me Down Slow" by the Rolling Stones
5. "Nothing Better" by the Postal Service
6. "Crush" by the Smashing Pumpkins
7. "Romeo and Juliet" by Everclear (with the greatest line ever ... "you look so fucking stupid)
8. "She is Love" by Oasis
9. "Oceans" by Pearl Jam
10. "Straight No Chaser" by John Coltrane

I've been doing a lot of nothing in September, save for sitting at my computer job hunting and listening to music; if nothing else, this is a really accurate look at my current musical personality. And since the hockey games *aren't* being shown on CBC tonight, and my cable service ("service"?) only gives me channels 1-10, I have a whole lot of nothing more to do :D

True Confessions of a Popcorn Addict

Tomorrow, I return to reality. After a month of doing what amounted to basically nothing (because really, in the 21st century, 'job hunting' and 'hitting the pavement' amounts to sending your resume via email to loads of companies and hoping it doesn't end up in the junk mail box) I start work tomorrow morning at 8:00am sharp. I hate the feeling of a new job -- one that I liken to the feeling of the first day of school, where you're nervous and excited and worried and have more questions than answers. Yes, I know that I'm looking after toddlers -it's not rocket science- but I'm also going to be in the delicate position of assuming the child rearing responsibilities of someone else's children. And I can bet you that they will want their children reared THEIR way. This means that everything from discipline to baby mozart to frying eggs must be done in particular a fashion. I'll also be taking responsibility for the family groceries, the family dogs, the pre-school activities (music, art, etc) and preparing dinner each night.

I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But thinking about money perks me up, just a bit.

So wish me luck - this is my life for the next 12 months! Let's all hope that in 12 months I don't reduce myself to talking in baby speak and walking around with a bit of spit up on my shirt without realizing it.

This Time All The Stars Were Real

(this will become a real review of Billy Crystal's show "700 Sundays", sometime tomorrow when it's not 2:30 in the morning!)

-b

The Nanny Diaries

Well, I did it. I got myself a job. More importantly, I got myself a job that I swore I wasn't going to get myself. I took a nannying position today, caring for a 2 year old and a 4 year old, the parents of two very busy and rather wealthy lawyers. I'll be making a little more than 1600.00 a month after taxes, which (although less than a corporate position) is fine by me, since I figure that I won't be spending more than 1100 dollars in any given month. Perks? All of my meals are paid for, I get to wear sweatpants to work, and I don't have to deal with office politics, high heels, or any sort of job stress. Drawbacks? I start at 7:45 in the morning, and don't finish until 6 at night. Yeah - long days. But it's not as though I have anything else to do with my time this year, and anything that I would be doing while I was at home (reading, watching TV, going on the internet) I will have ample time to do there -- the kids are in school in the mornings, and take naps in the afternoons.

So this is it - I'm a working girl! I start next tuesday, and although i'm a little bit unsure, in that "what the hell am I getting myself into" sort of way, I'm also excited that I'll be making money. For the first time in years, I am never going to be worried about money -- about having enough to buy groceries or pay the bills. And that, my friends, is a fantastic feeling. Just call me Nanny Bri

Go-Go-Gadget Google(ism)

I've stumbled across a fantastic site (and I'm sure -please don't rub it in- that I'm absolutely the last to know, but I digress) Googlism (www.googlism.com) is a website that searches all of the websites on google for reference to a person, place or thing. Basically, it looks for judgement sentences or phrases involving a word of your choice.

So I went there, and typed in "Brianna". And here, in no particular order, are some of the things that people think and have wrote about Brianna, world wide:

brianna is a modern feminine form of brian

brianna is 100% dependant on me

brianna is the proprietress of blackthorne cottage

brianna is the kind of heroine i doubt existed in the twelfth century

brianna is too proud to ask labelle for help and instead sells most of her possessions at a yard sale

brianna is 3 years 10 months old

brianna is in therapy so she can learn to use her right eye again

brianna is the one with the attitude?

brianna is from arizona state and has just the right personality to work at the fries concession

And my personal favorite: "brianna is the result of an experiment involving science and technology"

But nothing could be so good as the following (after typing in "Stephen Johns") stephen johns is scheduled to be executed by the state of missouri on october 24th

There you have it, folks. Go and googlism yourself, and let me know if people think so positively about YOU!