Recent Goings-On

A post in points today. My brain is a bit scattered.

• Last week was a week from hell. Sunday, Petite started the week off with a cough/cold that turned into croup on Monday. Tuesday, our minivan died on the highway as Hubby was driving to an exam. He got it towed and I met him at the garage, sick Petite in tow, Hubby drove us home and took the little car to the exam. He just made it in time. Wednesday, I came down with a miserable cold; Petite passed it along. Thursday, I was still home sick, Petite was getting better, the van was still dead (and it needs a new camshaft... a $1000 repair on a vehicle that is barely worth $2000) and then Hubby came down with the cold. Dear Lord. Enough!
  
  So that leaves us car shopping. It'll be a used car this time around, something to get us through to when Hubby is finished his education and (hopefully) working full-time. At which point we'll actually look at buying exactly what we want and need.
  
  
• This Friday, our choir is singing at the Ottawa 67s hockey game, which will be nationally televised. We got tickets for us, Hubby's kids, my friend and her daughter, and two other friends and their kids will come too. The choir and our friends/family occupy one entire section of the arena. Should be fun.
  
  
• I'm absolutely devastated by the images coming out of Japan. I used to live in southern Japan between 1993 and 1996 and I have a lot of friends there. Some of those friends have since moved to the island of Honshu and I have yet to hear from them. I have heard from my 'Japanese family' (a family with whom I became very close when I lived there) and they are all fine. I also heard from one of the teachers I used to teach with: she lives on the coast and she said while they had a tsunami, it was quite small compared to what she is seeing on TV. However, one of her friends was caught in the quake and eventually had to walk home from her workplace: it took her almost 9 hours to make the trek on foot. But she made it. I also heard from my Japanese ex-boyfriend and he and his entire family are safe. So I'm still waiting for news from a couple of teachers/friends. I am just crossing my fingers that they haven't had time to check their e-mail yet.
  
  Regardless, the images of the devastation are heartbreaking. I heard about the quake on Friday as I was getting ready for work. Hubby came and told me that Japan had an earthquake that was 8.9 and it was just north of Tokyo. I started to shake and cry. I still can't believe it.
  
  
• This week is March Break for most schools in the province. I still have to work though, and Petite is still at daycare. However, her daycare provider has organized a week full of fun for all of them. Get this: they have a day to "dress like a rock star" (Monday), wear summer clothes and a have a picnic (Tuesday), wear your favourite hockey jersey (Wednesday -- she'll lend one to Petite as we haven't bought her one yet. How terrible of us Canadian parents! LOL), wear green for St. Patrick's Day (Thursday), come in your Pajamas and watch a movie day (Friday). It promises to be lots of fun!
  
  
• Petite adores the cats. Dear Lord, she adores the cats. She pounces on them at every opportunity, trying to pick them up, laying on them, hugging them, crawling under the table after them, etc. I'm thinking she adores them a little too much: she's started eating their food! Poor little underpriviliged child! LOL No joke. I mean, I knew that I'd find her trying to eat their dry food out of their dish and all, but last week's trick just took the cake.
  
  She had been playing with one of her books and a tuft of fur from the "Touch and Feel Lion" was pulled out. She came to me, tuft between her fingers, saying, "garbage." "Yes," I replied, "garbage. Go put it in the garbage. Mets-le dans la poubelle!" (I repeat things in French for her so she hears both languages.) She trots back to the kitchen, out of my sight and I heard her lift the garbage lid. I continued with what I was doing in the living room and next thing I know, I hear, slurp, slurp, slurp. My eyes widen as I realize she's licking something and I cringed as I jumped up to check it out.
  
  Stuck on her face, her two little hands holding it up, is an empty cat food can that had been in the garbage can! ICK!!!! OMG I just grimaced and made a terrible face, telling her, "No no, that's the cat food. C'est pour les chats. Mets-le dans la poubelle!" I just about screeched in disgust! Can you imagine!? Now, I realize that consuming cat food won't hurt her per se, but it really isn't the kind of diet I wanted to raise her on!! Sheesh! And I was more worried about her possibly cutting her tongue on the edge of the container than the fact that she was licking the can. Either way, it was just GROSS. I shuddered, visibly, as I got her a little bowl of Goldfish crackers to munch on instead. YUCK. I told the story to Hubby and of course, he just laughed his ass off. So did my sis. Nice. How nice. ICK. *shudders again*

Anyway folks, Happy March Break. I hope you all enjoyed your pancakes last week on Shrove Tuesday; we did. I still love the tradition. And if perchance you can cut me a deal on a used car that we'll have for 1-2 years before trading it in, lemme know. We need a car before Friday or I'll have to find a way to get to the hockey game on my own steam I think!