...about growing up in a large family.

I am the oldest of 5 kids. I have 3 sisters (Natasha, whom we all call Ting, Rachel and Erika) and a brother (Darren), who is the youngest. We had a lot of fun as kids and we are all really close now that we are "grown up". No matter what is going on in our lives, we can count on our siblings to be there to support us. I know that whatever happens, that my sisters and brothers will be there by my side, helping out in any way they can. I try to tell my own two girls about this "blood- is-stronger-than water" thing, and I try to explain that a sibling is better than any friend in the world. I love, LOVE, lurve, looooooooove, lu-hove my siblings!

I was also thinking that I wanted to share some funny stories about growing up in a large family.

There is one that comes to mind immediately...

I will call this story, "That'll show her!"

This is my youngest sister, Erika.

She is a lovely girl.

Anyways...Erika is 9 year younger than me. When I was in grade 10 or so I had a few friends over. I was 15 and feeling all important and I wanted to impress my friends, I think there were a couple boys over, and I didn't want to have to deal with a nosy, bratty 6 year old sister. I convinced my Mom that Erika needed to take a nap. My Mom agreed!

Well, I guess Erika was kinda pissed at me. She really didn't want to take a nap and miss all the excitement. She spent her entire naptime planning a nefarious, dastardly, convoluted, payback scheme that was sure to prove to her oldest sister - me - that she was not a 6 year old to be messed with.

After her nap, Erika came out of her bedroom, and very calmly came and sat at the table to eat dinner with everyone else. She sat directly across from me and stared at me. I didn't notice at first, but eventually her fixed stare started to disconcert me. Her plan was starting to unfold. We continued to eat for about 20 mins and I kept glancing back at Erika and tried to avoid her unnatural gaze.

And then....


And then....


And then.....


She sprung her trap!

This is Erika springing her trap.

"ERIKA!" I screamed, "what the hell?!?"

"What have you done?!?"

"Where are your.....

"Eyebrows?"

Yup, she sure showed me. That was her devious "get-her-back" plan. Erika, my 6 year old sister, pissed at me for making her leave and take a nap while my friends were over...

CUT HER EYEBROWS OFF

with scissors

Think of the evil genius of that...the shear...(he he...did you get the pun?) audacity of pulling that off.

She's just as cheeky now as she was then.

I love that girl!

I have many more where this one came from. Stay tuned.

...the morning after

Hello Friends. I made it through the night. I got some much needed rest. I didn't actually end up falling asleep that early, but the sleeping in to 10am really made a difference. I LOVE the weekends!

We ended up heading out to Stanley Park this afternoon. The kids rode their bikes and Frank, Tuck and I ran. It was pretty cool and despite some muscle cramps this evening and having to take a recovery nap when we got back we are all doing pretty good.

Good looking family, huh?

So now, I'm recharged for another week. However, I think I'll be looking forward to the coming weekend yet again as Frank is heading out of town for work for 4 days.

That's all for now.

...seeking a little solitude

Hello Friends. We've all been there...those weeks in which we feel we've been stretched too thin. The tank is on empty and the nearest gas station is 150 km away. The well is dry. I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I've fired both barrels. I've burned the candle at both ends for too long...whatever the saying...all I know is that I want to crawl into bed and sleep for 20 hours.

It's 8:38pm on a Friday night and what I would really like is to find a good book and read until I fall asleep. Is that lame? Does that make me old? Do I care right now?

I'll let you know in the morning.

'til later....