Everyone remembers this post, right?

Oh wait. I just looked and only TWO of you commented on that brilliant post. What gives? I’ll give you a minute to read the other post, comment and come back here.

All right, moving along.

Yesterday was CutieDaughter’s first full day of school. LovelyWife dropped her at school in the morning – that backpack was so heavy I almost couldn’t lift it! – and she was to take the bus to get back home at night.

The bus ride is very short. Provided you don’t forget to get off the bus at some point.

Click to embiggify

• Green is CutieDaughter school
• Red is our house.
• Pink is where she got off.

This one shows the bus route.

Click to embiggify

• Green is CutieDaughter school
• Red is our house.
• Pink is where she got off.

Now if there was ever a doubt that CutieDaughter is LovelyWife’s blood…

AUGUST is almost over. I haz a sad.

BIG BROTHER was not on because of the Emmys. I haz another sad.

CHELSEA. We went to the old Chelsea Market to get fresh veggies over the weekend. We got there a little late, but it was okay. We’ll go earlier next week.

DRUNKS kept me up awake sunday morning from 3am to 5am. If they do that again next week, I might get angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

EMMYS. I watched the Emmys while reading comments on Twitter. It was missing “Shiny’s made up facts about the Emmys” like we had during the Olympics. How cool was that?

FLYING in! Friends of ours we haven’t seen in a while are flying in at the end of September. I sense some time off coming…

GNOCCHI (home made) were made on Friday night. That sh*t takes a long time to make, let me tell you.

HBO. After watching previously mentionned Emmys, I realized that I need to get HBO.

I’LL BE BACK! I got sucked into a Schwarzenegger marathon on Sunday.

JEWEL. Is it just me or does Jewel looks like she’s not all there when she sings? I mean she looks like her hair caught on fire when she was little and they extinguished the fire by hitting it with a shovel. I loved her so much in Firefly.

KIDS are sad the summer is over.

LAWN needs to be mowed.

MOM is back home. I’m amazed at the miracles of modern medecine. Of course, it might just be all the gnocchi I made.

NAP. LovelyWife took a 3-hour nap on Sunday.

OUTDOOR activity: We hiked around Pink Lake. Pictures to follow.

PLATES were bought. We’ve been looking for rectangular plates for a while, and managed to find some. Sweet!

QUIET. I need to find a quieter computer, as my home computer’s HDD is making a noise that reminds me of a blender on pulse. This does not look good. I’m half kidding, all my data is on an external HDD, so if the computer dies, I just need to reinstall the OS.

ROULETTE Scotch glasses. I like them. A lot.

SOFT. I gained some weight while on vacation. Time to do something about it. I downloaded the C25K App. Gotta start running now. Or tomorrow. Tommorow-ish.

T-FAL frying machine. We finally got one and made awesome French Fries with mussels on Saturday night. This machine uses next to no oil, so I don’t have to feel too bad if I get some French Fries from time to time.

USED. My living room chair was delivered two weeks early (Yay!) but is broken (Boo!). The frame is crooked. I suspect this was a return of a used chair, as mine was supposed to be built today and delivered on the 16th.

VERDICCHIO. The wine we had with the mussel was delicious.

WTF? I went back to the furniture store to ask for a chair repair/replacement, and the manager started by offering me 10$ to “buy some washers at the Home Depot” to “Even out the legs”. I was not impressed, and told him so. If I’m paying 600$ for a chair, it will not look like ass the day I get it.

X-MAS. Less than four months before X-Mas. start shopping people! Don’t complain to me on December 23 that I didn’t warn you early enough.

YIKES! Zoé is starting High School today.

ZOÉ is starting High School today.

I see death as a sort of ever-changing blob of goo that moves slowly down my family tree.

This is my family tree. Well, just my side of the family.

All my grand-parents are dead. For years now, Death has been hovering just above my parent’s level. Like this.

As soon as Death claims someone at a lower level, each Zone shifts down, and the reaction of people learning about a person’s death change accordingly. For example, if one of my kids was to die today, it would be tragic. If I was to die today, it would be unexpected.

So my mom’s in the hospital. As you’re reading this she is under the knife for a second angioplasty following her second, third and fourth heart attack in the last six months. Death is slowly creeping it’s way down. I don’t want Death to shift down.

Not because I’m afraid to be Next in line. Because I don’t want my kids to get to the Unexpected zone just yet.

CutieDaughter will turn twelve this summer.

With twelve comes great power, and we all know that with great power comes great responsibilities.

Ah superheroes, is there anything they can’t teach us?

We’re sitting at the table this morning – having breakfast – and CutieDaughter says:

CD: “I know what I want for my birthday…”

Me: “What do you want for your birthday?”

CD: “…”

Me: “That’s a really good strategy you know. By not telling me, you’re pretty much guaranteed not to get it. I’m guessing you want some carrots for your birthday. Done!”

CD: “I don’t want carrots for my birthday!”

(This goes on for a little while)

CD: “I want a cell phone for my birthday.”

Me: “What would you do with a cell phone?”

CD: “Well, I’ll be twelve, and I’ll have a lot of babysitting jobs, so I will definitely need a cell phone…”

I’m guessing she’ll say “In case of an emergency”, and I’m kinda proud of CutieDaugher for being so responsible. So at this point in my head, I’ve already got her a cell phone.

CD: “…so I can call you to come pick me up when I’m done babysitting.”

LW: “Hahahahahaha!”

AudaciousSon pipes up.

AS: “Me too! I want a cell phone!”

CD: “There’s no way you’re getting a cell phone at NINE mister! You already have a better iPod than mine!”

AS: “All right, if I can’t get a cell phone, I want a grappling hook.”

Ah superheroes, is there anything they can’t teach us?

It had to happen at some point.

CutieDaughter asked me if she could have a Facebook account. Actually, she asked me if I knew why she was getting this message saying that she couldn’t create an account. I quickly realized that it was due to an age restriction.

Facebook TOS states that you have to be 13 or older to use Facebook.

From Facebook Help Center: (http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=16109)

What happens if my child creates an account and they are under 13 years old?

Facebook requires its users to be at least 13 years old before they can create an account. Providing false information to create an account is a violation of our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Applicable laws may give parents the right to access personal information their child has provided before Facebook follows its policy of promptly deleting such accounts. If you are aware of your underage child having an account on Facebook, you can show them how to delete their account by having them log into their profile and following this link.

If you would like to report an underage user (under 13 years of age), please do so here. We will promptly delete the account of any underage user that is reported to us through this form.

Alternatively, you can submit a request to Facebook here. Please be aware that you will be required to submit a notarized statement declaring your rights as a parent or guardian immediately upon using this form.

So naturally I’m torn between letting her have an account I would monitor, telling her that the TOS says she can’t and run the risk she opens one without my knowledge, letting her do it but then reporting her and all her underage friends…

So, what would the Internet do (WWTID)? Time for some assvice people… Go!

Bullets about the week-end, since that no blogging thing on the week-end is working so well.

• Pizza! Is there seriously anything better in the world than having an impromptu dinner with friends on Friday night? We ordered some pizza, opened a great bottle of wine and the week-end was off to an awesome start!
• Cupcakes! If that wasn’t enough, LovelyWife made amazing cupcakes – after I wanted some last week. She made “Blue Velvet cupcakes”, a variation on red velvet ones. Yum-O. No pictures, because they were gone faster then Keyser Söze.
• Slide! We went tobogganing on Saturday afternoon with the kids and friends. We had an awesome time and nobody got killed! Unfortunately the rain is messing up all kinds of outdoor plans. Do I sound disappointed enough? Yo can see all the pictures on Flickr.
• Dust and crap! Sunday morning was spent cleaning up the playroom. It’s amazing the amount of dust and crap that can collect under and behind furniture! Silver lining: We can all breathe much easier now. Plus, the kids have a truckload of space to play in!
• More Cupcakes! What is better than having blue velvet cupcakes on Saturday? If you answered having red velvet cupcakes on Sunday you are absolutely right!

In pure Call of Cthulhu tradition, I’ll keep the last bullet for myself for when the madness returns on Wednesday night.

Before Banderas got there…

He had to start somewhere.

We’re celebrating AudaciousSon’s Birthday a few days earlier. He turns nine on Monday.

You can see the full set on Flickr.

My kids. The Zadorables.

They seem to be sharing everything. Well, half of everything. For example:

Isaac likes spaghetti with sauce,
Zoé likes spaghetti with butter.

Isaac hates peanut butter,
Zoé loves peanut butter.

Isaac loves video games,
Zoé hates video games.

And so on.

So today it’s no great surprise that this morning:

Zoé has a 38.4C fever
Isaac has a temperature of 35.5C.

Now I need to go find a cowbell…

Last weekend, we went for a walk at the MacKenzie-King Estate. For those who don’t know, William Lyon Mackenzie King was the Prime Minister of Canada off and on between 1921 and 1948.

It was fun. You can see the whole set on Flickr.

The rest of the set is on Flickr. Have fun!