Suburban Princess

Yesterday my husband accused me of thinking I'm a princess (like it was a bad thing.) I had to go pick up a few groceries. He was telling me to get groceries at Superstore, because it's cheaper, but Superstore is a horrible store that sells even worse groceries. They don't even carry Cracker Barrel cheese! I told him I am not shopping there, because I want to buy food that we will actually want to eat, not leave in the fridge to rot while we choose to eat dirt instead because the produce from Superstore sucks so bad.

Here is the grocery list he wrote - actually, typed - he is the only person I know who types a grocery list (italics mine):

Conditioner
No-name body wash
No-name Cheerios
Cheese (on special)
Pitas
Bread
Mozza cheese
Roasted chicken
Peanut butter

Anyway, he started telling me that I think I'm too good for Superstore (ahem, which I AM,) But you know what, like it or not, there IS a difference between no name brand and "real" (as I like to call it), and I'd rather pay a bit more than get crap for food.

He also said, "I think you really think you are a princess! Well, I have a news flash for you - you aren't!" Well, duh! I know that! And here's a news flash for him- I was a princess - in 1994, when we first met. (I have a picture to prove it, but I can't get pictures to post on this blog right now. Once I get it working, I'll get this place fixed up.)

Oh, and for those of you who want to know why I don't just make him do the grocery shopping, I'll tell you why - because if he does it, I end up with a cupboard full of snacks. If I wanted potato chips, popcorn, chicken nuggets, bags of nuts and seeds from the bulk department, and a huge-ass jug of organic (!) apple juice, then I'd tell him to go to town. We could have snacks for days, but there is nothing to freakin' cook! I have not known this guy to cook a meal in the 10 years I've known him, unless you count his ground beef and rice with soy sauce combination, (which I don't, and it makes me want to vomit even thinking about it,) but that's a whole other blog post. The kids and I are alive today because I do the cooking and the grocery shopping.

Who's the princess now?!

Bex ended the show at 11:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

This morning for some reason the parking lot at work was full, so I had to drive my sorry ass over to the overflow parking lot, and take the shuttle, yes, a shuttle , back to the office. (It's about two blocks from the building. A nice walk, but not at 8:30 in the a.m., thank you.) Well, my employee card wasn't scanning into the parking lot thingie to let me in. So there's a line up of cars building behind me, and the shuttle bus driver is yelling, "Try the exit side!" What the hell is the exit side? Oh, the scanner on the exit side of the parking lot exit! Well, where is that? I yell back, "I have no idea what that is!!" So the poor bugger has to get out of his shuttle bus and run over to scan my card on the exit side, which doesn't work.

So in the meantime I can feel all eyes boring into the back of my head, and all these people thinking, "God, get this idiot out of here, I just want to get to work," and somebody had the audacity to honk at me! The shuttle bus guy scans me in and tells me I have to get my card updated at the security office or I won't be able to get out after work.

So I park my car, and get out to wait with the other schmucks who didn't get parking spots in the regular parking lot. "Sorry about that everyone," I laugh, but no response. Hmph. Tough crowd this morning.

Shuttle bus guy laughed and said it happens all the time when I apologized again (but I think he's lying to make me feel better.) Got my card updated and was able to get out at the end of the day. I hope I never have to park in overflow ever again. I'm getting up extra early tomorrow.

Bex ended the show at 9:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes - engaged. Barf.

Bex ended the show at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

So now that the furor is dying down, and Belinda Stronach is settling in nicely with the Liberal party (and the cabinet position she won for moving in with them), I thought I would review the reasons why I think she is the biggest farce to politics.

First of all, the Conservatives...oh, the Conservatives. Or maybe more specifically, Stephen Harper. What in the hell are you thinking, Stephen? First Belindagate, then this Grewal thing? Good lord, Stephen, you need to get a handle on your people here! Hello! What in the hell was one of your MPs doing at YVR asking people to carry a package on a flight for him for? Am I on crazy pills, or do you just not do stuff like that, MP or not?? What did you say to him Stephen, when it was decided he would take stress leave? I hope you gave him a good pop in the chops for doing something so dumb and making the party look even worse while it was still barely dog-paddling in the political waters after Belinda's exit stage left and the big showdown with the minority government that ended up just a little poof of smoke out of the back tailpipe.

But back to Belinda. There was a time when I thought that Belinda Stronach was one of the bright spots for the Conservative party and I thought that she could be the one that could lead the party into the 21st century, social policy-wise. Well that was all blown to pieces the day she announced that she was leaving the party altogether and going to the loving arms of the Liberal party, not only to hop into the happy bandwagon over there, but into a nice cushy job, thanks to Paul-I've-got-you-covered-Martin. One newspaper article that day stated that Paul Martin could "barely contain his glee" at the news conference that day, and boy, that could not be summed up more accurately. Belinda seems positively glowing, and why not? Things look pretty bright for her, and who gives a crap about the Conservative party in their crucial hour while they are trying to shake things up in Ottawa, not to mention Peter McKay, who I previously thought was a dog who sold out on the Progressive Conservatives to the rabid Reform party, (which still makes me sick,) but Belinda's kick in the teeth to him actually made me feel a little sorry for him. Apparently he had no idea that she was cheating on him, politically anyway, until the announcement.

There are not many political events I can think of where I have seen more blatant disloyalty and disrespect. When the Conservatives are really in a position, especially due to the Gomery Inquiry and the scandal shrouding the Liberals, to make a difference and pick up the support the Libs have lost. But freakin' Belinda has to screw it all up and decide some crap about not agreeing with where the leader is taking the party. Belinda, hun, join the freakin' club! I'm waiting for the Conservatives to wake up from Harperdom and get on with the 21st century on these issues too, but I'm not walking out because someone dangles a carrot in front of my face! Part of being a conservative means that when you don't like something, you get off your duff and do something about it, you don't whine that you don't like what the boss is doing and slink out the back door. Good grief, whatever happened to a little old-fashioned leadership?

Bex ended the show at 6:56 PM | Permalink | Comments

You know how when you're a kid and the things you love are...well, sort of just dumb? For example, I saw that horrible Madonna movie, "Who's That Girl" in 1986 or whenever it came out, and I thought it was fantastic. I just loved it. Then about ten years later I saw it on TV and was so embarrassed that I could have thought a movie that horrendous could be so good.

When I first discovered Napster (back in the days of free downloads without the threat of the feds banging your door down) one of the first songs I was so excited to download was called "Bad Boys" by WhamUK. Not Wham-Exclamation-Mark, just WhamUK. (They were called WhamUK before they changed their name to Wham!) And this song is so brutally dumb, it's embarrassing to even listen to. But I just can't help but love it, because it reminds me of watching Friday Night Videos, circa 1982. (I love Terry David Mulligan, and it's so great to still see him on TV every now and then. It makes me feel so Canadian for some reason.) I can even remember the video for "Bad Boys", some little English brat getting in trouble and running down the street, then he morphs into the grown up George Michael (about 19 years old back then) and he's singing about what a "bad boy" he is. (Okay, I have always been a sucker for the "bad boy," so I'm powerless against it; I just love it.)

I wasn't even a fan of Wham! (I'm definately not a fan of their stupid-ass exclamation mark at the end of their name,) but there was something about "Bad Boys" that I can't shake. I think it was because that song came out around the time I was getting interested in popular culture and music, and was starting to watch music videos on TV. It was one of the first videos that caught my attention, although it disappeared rather quickly, as anyone who's heard the song or seen the video could attest to. I always wondered what happened to it, and even if it really existed or was just my imagination, because I couldn't find any references to it anywhere and no one knew what the hell I was talking about when I brought it up. I can only describe to you the utter bliss I felt when I discovered it and copied it from Napster many years later. I'm listening to it right now. And loving it.

(Some lyrics for those of you who've never had the pleasure-brace yourselves:)

Dear Mummy dear Daddy
you have plans for me
Oh yeah I was your only son
And long before this baby boy could count to three
You knew just what he would become
Run on off to school
your child your man grows up a fool
Run on off to school

When you tried to tell me what to do
I just shut my mouth and smiled at you
one thing that I know for sure
Bad boys stick together never sad boys
Goods guys they make rules for fools so get wise

Dear Mummy dear Daddy
now I'm nineteen as you see
I'm handsome tall and strong
So what the hell gives you the right to look at me
as if to say:Hell what went wrong?
Where were you last night?
You look as if you had a fight
Where were you last night?
WellI think that you may just be right
But don't try keep me in tonight
'cause I'm big enough to break down the door

Bad boys stick together never sad boys...

[Really bad sultry female voice:]
Boys like you are bad through and through
Still girls like me always seem to be with you

We can't help but worry
you're in such a hurry
Mixing with the wrong boys
playing with the wrong toys
Easy girls and late nights
cigarettes and love bites
Why do you have to be so cruel? You're such a fool
Bad boys stick together never sad boys. . .

Bex ended the show at 9:25 PM | Permalink | Comments

It was Pitt Meadows Day on Saturday. There was a parade in the morning, and during the day there were all kinds of activities and events going on, and fireworks that night. For such a small municipality, there was quite the turnout.

We went to the parade in the morning, and the streets were lined with happy parade-watchers, and it was nice that many of them were our neighbours whom we knew.

I missed most of the activities during the afternoon since my 2-year-old unfortunately has a habit she has picked up from her parents, (long naps) and she was asleep all afternoon. But I had to run a few small errands and when I drove out onto the main road, I noticed tons of people walking along the streets, the side roads, and taking in activities and events going on at local businesses, and I felt like it was almost like a little resort town, where people are on vacation, happy, and enjoying life and the outdoors.

But my favorite part of the day was the fireworks. We took the kids and a blanket and found a spot on the field at Bonson Park, surrounded by other families and kids running around, people laughing and having a good time, chatting with neighbours and friends, as the sun went down. During the fireworks show, everyone was cheering and oohing and ahhing (okay, yes, me included.) After a particularly cool part where some fireworks were lit along the top of a baseball fence with white sparks falling to the ground resembling a waterfall, there was a wave of applause and whistles in the darkness. At that moment I had a feeling that we were all together in this world, humanity as a family almost, and we were all so small on this big planet, helpless against the forces of nature, enjoying the good times as neighbours. A little corny I guess, but when I heard everyone clapping and whistling at the end of the fireworks, showing appreciation for a show that their neighbours and friends have put on for us to celebrate our town, the place we live, I have to admit I had a little sense of pride and a little lump in my throat.

There's nothing quite like community to bring people together and make us realize that we are all just human beings living our lives together on this big planet.

Bex ended the show at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments

Here's my review of Tom Cruise: I've decided, after having been a fan of Tom Cruise through the 80's and most of the 90's, that I don't like him anymore. Anyway, not like any of this really affects my life, but he just doesn't do it for me like he used to. He just seems a little too full of himself, he's lost that fun boyishness he once had that was so cute.

And here's a little dirty secret about me - I think he's a terrible actor! I know he's always talked about as being one of the best actors of our time and gets Oscar nominations and all that garbage, but I just don't feel anything from him when I see his movies. He used to be fun and more authentic, but that was also in the 80's when he was still "fun-Tom-Cruise" not "lame-full-of-himself-Tom-Cruise." Now I think he just sucks.

I heard he was on Oprah last week (I didn't see it) but the word was that he was acting like a giddy little schoolboy, and when Katie Holmes came out, he was jumping on Oprah's couch, for god's sake. Weird. Then, apparently he slammed Brooke Shields for taking anti-depressant drugs for post-partum depression, because apparently as a Scientologist he doesn't believe in taking drugs for any reason. According to what I've read, he claims it could have been helped with vitamins. Where he gets off judging her for that is a little lost on me, but whatever.

At what point do you become a "name" and no matter what you do, no one questions it, because you are "the name?" You can be a complete ass, but everyone still loves you, still raves about you. Hollywood is a bizarre place.

Update: I have seen video of the bizarre interview on Oprah and I think he is even more of an ass than before. Why Oprah didn't tell him to get the hell off her couch and off her show is way beyond me. You can see clips of it at http://gorillamask.net/cruiseoprah.shtml

Bex ended the show at 10:35 PM | Permalink | Comments