We watched another Hitchcock movie, Notorious, with Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman. I enjoyed it, more than the last movie we saw. One thing I’ve noticed about his female lead characters, they all seem to be high maintenance.

How did we spend the Fourth? We went down to Cherry Creek, which wasn’t busy at all, had some Peet’s and picked up an umbrella stroller for Elijah. Something that is smaller and easier for small trips (like Boulder, or Vegas). It was on sale.

I also talked to Cate briefly, who was killing time during her layover in Denver. Had it been longer than an hour, we might have driven out to the airport to say hi. I secretly hoped that those crazy rains we’ve been having would have hit while they were there. Then we could have had them over. We’ll be seeing Cate & Kaisara in 64 days or so. I can wait.

Last night I talked with Heather on the phone for 93 minutes. We haven’t talked on the phone since February I think. So we had a lot of catching up to do. It was really nice talking with her, though Geoff was sad I had ignored him half the evening. Oops. 🙂

Not much else going on this week. We’re trying to tighten the money belt to save up for our trip next month.

Lastly, I wasn’t sure how the Oilers would make out with the loss of Pronger. So when I read in the Edmonton Journal they secured Lupul for Pronger, I was stoked! Now that’s a good deal. And it’s even better when you hear Lupul say he is happy to play in Edmonton (he’s from Ft Saskatchewan). He said, “It’s going to be refreshing to be in a place where hockey really matters”.

I’ll close with a quote from Notorious.

Alicia: My car is outside.
Devlin: Naturally.

But we’re going to Vegas in August! It’s a cheap flight there, and a cheap stay at the hotel we like (the Orleans). Nana & Grampy are meeting us there, and it’ll be Diane’s first visit to Sin City. Geoff has Vegas fever bad, he’s gonna drive me crazy!

Elijah celebrating Canada Day this year.

Elijah celebrating Canada Day last year.

He’s grown a little hasn’t he?

We were able to enjoy the sun and art at the Arts festival. No, we didn’t buy any. We’re not in a financial place where it’s important. I’m thankful that they were handing out sunscreen and even had sunscreen stations, because I’m an idiot and I didn’t put any on before leaving the house. Now I have some in a small size to throw in the diaper bag! We got some money out of the bank and decided we’d buy supplies for dinner at Whole Foods and the Farmer’s Market. What did we make?

Homemade pizza with basil and fresh asagio cheese. (Lisa, I know how much you like me posting pictures of food on my blog!) Naturally, we cooked it on the charcoal bbq, my new favorite way to have pizza. My friend Amy thanked me for introducing this to her menu, she and he husband love it too.

Well, that’s pretty much been our day. Hope my Canadian friends, family, and American friends visiting Canada today had a lovely Dominion Day. I’ll close with one of my favorite Jim Carrey quotes.

“Yes, Canada. It was a frozen, hostile wasteland. And there was much work to be done if we were to survive the elements. After boring a hole through the ice to find food, my good friend Nantook and I would build an igloo to protect ourselves from polar bears. . . and flying hockey pucks. Then we would drink a lot of beer. Then when Nantook was ready, he would tell me the story of the Great Moose. . . who would say to the little squirrel, ‘Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.”

I took this quiz, and it said…

Your quiz results make you a Zen Mom

How do you do it? Even when explosions are all around, you are able to take a deep cleansing breath and chant your mantra “this too shall pass.” You are a calming influence on your kids in a hectic world.

Yep, I think that’s me. 🙂

It’s hot here. To beat the heat I filled up Elijah’s old tubby with some water. He sure had fun.

This weekend is the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. We checked it out last year, and it was kind of neat, so we’ll try to make it again. We may also aim to go to the Farmer’s Market, they have one now at Southlands. Did I mention that they finished the sidewalk, so now I can walk there? I love that!

Nothing else is going on, just same old. I’m a little bummed that I wasn’t able to secure a good deal to go to D.C. for the Alberta exhibit (Kelly you have to go without me). But we’re looking into taking a trip to Vegas in August (Athena, I know it’ll be hot, but it’ll be fun). We’ll see where things go, nothing is set in stone. But you guys know me, I like to have things planned, and things to look forward to (70 days until Cate & Kaisara come!).

Well I’ll close with a quote from Rounders.

Mike McDermott: Why do you think the same five guys make it to the final table of the World Series of Poker EVERY YEAR? What, are they the luckiest guys in Las Vegas?

I need to stay away from the iTunes store for a while. I really can’t afford to be buying a song here, and a song there. You can see the last 5 songs I bought by looking at my top 5 on the lower left side.

But I had to check it out because BNL released their latest single (as an EP) Easy. The snippet doesn’t give me enough to decide whether I want to buy it though. I do love that it is Ed singing though. Even if it grows on me (which is likely), I’ll probably wait for the new album.

I just found out that one of my favorite bands, Easily Amused, has a band member competing on Canadian Idol. Obviously I can’t watch the show (nor would I if I could), but I encourage my Canadian friends to root for Keith Macpherson. Because he has a great voice, and he writes wonderful music. Now get out and add Easily Amused to your library!

I’ll close with a quote from High Fidelity.

Rob: What came first, the music or the misery? People worry about kids playing with guns, or watching violent videos, that some sort of culture of violence will take them over. Nobody worries about kids listening to thousands, literally thousands of songs about heartbreak, rejection, pain, misery and loss. Did I listen to pop music because I was miserable? Or was I miserable because I listened to pop music?

For Athena, who does exist.

So… what did you do this weekend? Nothing. Just a lot of hanging out around the house, hanging out on the patio. Yesterday was a pretty good church service, and then we hung out in the backyard with some friends.

This morning Geoff had to be at work early, and I had a play date with my friend Kirsten. We had some tea and let all the kids run around her house. I brought donuts (breakfast of champions) so we were all high on sugar.

This week, not much going on. No plans for Saturday (Canada Day), and it feels silly to plan something for the Fourth, given that we aren’t “official” Americans.

Wish I could say there was stuff going on. I had a great talk with Dawn yesterday (almost an hour and half), so I felt rejuvenate after that. Wish I could see Ryan in person, but it’ll have to wait until there is money. Can’t spend what you don’t have right? And I just don’t have the energy to travel alone with a wiggle worm. Dawn was kind of sad that I wouldn’t be coming, but she understood (Dawn’s the best).

I guess I’ll close with a quote from To Die For.

Suzanne Stone Maretto: It’s nice to live in a country where life, liberty… and all the rest of it still stand for something.