Maddie Meets James Randi.

Our friends Dan and Ashley are involved with CFI the Center For Inquiry. This group, among other things, brings speakers such as the world famous James Randi to town. On Saturday night we went to see him. Have you ever seen that show Mythbusters? Well, James Randi has been mythbusting for almost 25 years since retiring from being a magician at age 60. He is now 83 and wow the man can still wow a crowd. He spoke for over two hours on subjects such as psychics, psychics healings and the dangers of homeopathic medicine.

He also performed this trick right before our very eyes:

And he also met Maddie.

We were in line to get in to the theatre and a man looking a lot like James Randi started to walk out. He seemed to be looking for someone. He was walking past us and then went straight to Maddie and said I need your assistance - can you come with me please?

And she disappeared. During the show, Maddie was called on to help Mr. Randi - here is the video:

We interrupt this Blog for An Apology.

I blame Adam Sandler for this. In his movie, "50 First Dates" there was a character named Ten Second Tom. As his name implies, every ten seconds Tom's world would repeat as he would forget everything and start over every ten seconds. Well, Lucky seemed to exhibit this behavior bouncing from activity to activity and never seeming to concentrate on anything. So we started calling him that and the fact that Lucky was none too smart started to stick.

Fast forward a few years. Garage out. Scraproom in. The cats lobby the house government and legislation is passed allowing the cats certain roaming rights in the scraproom.

Then we start to notice something. Since we moved in, Lucky has ignored the gate separating the Cat Zone from the rest of the house. He's got a vertical of 9 feet and simply climbs over the gate. Now with newly acquired roaming rights, he simply comes up and down at will. He never goes into the rest of the house. Up and down. Up and down. The other cats do not have this talent. Anyway, we noticed that when we weren't in the room and the door to the scraproom was open, Lucky would meow at the gate like the other cats. He wouldn't use his special powers and climb over the gate and walk into the room when we weren't in there. When we went to bed and turned out the lights, he would leave the room and go back downstairs. We suddenly realized Ten Second Tom was actually Thomas Edison! He was smart!

So, Lucky, we are very sorry for doubting your intellect. We can has forgiveness?

Nicely Done

I heard a joke the other day, and I laughed, and thot it was really clever, so I have been telling all my friends, How Much Cocaine can Charlie Sheen do ----- enuff to kill 2 and a half men.... rofl!!! Clever! Anyhow, last night was the premier of 2 1/2 men. It was much anticipated in this house, we tried to PVR it but it had a conflict, so we had to watch it live...... anyhow, we had the countdown from 6pm on... and then it was 10, and we all sat glued to the TV, and the show started.... it started out funny, and typical "men" humour, half way thru the introduced Ashton.... and it was really funny! So I say nicely done!! The show carried on, and I hope it survives, of course we will miss Charlie, but.... it was a great transition.

UPDATE (Dean): Here are some ratings numbers from zap2it.com:

"CBS easily won the first night of the season as Two and Half Men scored nearly 28 million viewers to go along with its 10.3 adults 18-49 rating (leading not only the night, but any scripted show in the 2010-11 season by a wide margin) and was up more than 100% from last year's season premiere.'Men's' premiere was the highest-rated, most-watched scripted season premiere since the September 25, 2005 season two premiere of Desperate Housewives (28.36 million)."

Treats

Dean went on a late night snack car run and brought back an impulse buy! And treats, he was in line buying ice-cream and the manager said to the clerk, give that guy half price on that, that being a beautiful skull!!!

Maddie made an adorable rave hat today, so I just had to take a picture!

Martha Stewart

My friend Dianne has been taunting me the last few days, giving me clues to a gift she bought me, I was very confused, and making terrible guesses? But today she gave the gift to me... The Martha Stewart Halloween magazine AKA: the Halloween bible! I was so excited, and felt very silly for
Not guessing it! Lol Thank you Di, I love it!!!

iPhone snob

A couple of weeks ago I joined the world, connecting with my IPhone. Up until then I had a pretty simple phone it sent texts and I could phone people... Who knew phones were supposed to do much much more!! Now, I am googling, taking and emailing photos in the same breath, playing with very Kewl apps, all from my wondrous phone, including this blog post!! It's fun to be so connected!! And in a very short time,,, I have become.... an IPhone snob!

ps, this lovely (not) photo was taken by the dashboard lights.... ok, now you can break out into the Meatloaf song....

Hard Day's Knight

We went to Jubilations tonight with the Napa's to see Hard Day's Knight, Camelot set to Beatles music..... one word.... Funnnnnny!!

the stage

me, Dean and Papa, the food was great! And it was served by people from the play, they stay in character and mingle with you.

Maddie and Nana :-)

Sir Lancelot came to the table, and whispered to Nana.... don't fall in love with me :-)

Papa snuck a pic of the play, he got in trouble, but after the fact! Way to go Papa :-) he got me and Maddie as we walked to the stage. We got to be part of the crowd, we had to act in slow motion during the "joust" Fun Fun Fun "knight"!! The singing was awesome, the play the food.... perfect!

Fundraiser

My friend Lizette is doing the walk for breast cancer next summer, so her and 6 of her team mates had a fund raiser today. They had allot of funs things planned for the day, we went early because we were going to a dinner thater tonight, but we got our Henna's done, and played some games..

connect 4

tricky giant Jenga

the very talented Lisa drawing a masterpiece

my arm and Maddi'e's hand.... so kewl! Great idea for a fundraiser!!

me and Lizette, good luck on the walk next year!

Grade 12!!!

Well it wasn't the first day of school "technically" we were in Ontario for that, but it was Maddie's first day...... grade 12? seriously?



an early start... hard after a funfilled sleeping in summer....

off she goes.....

for 12 years now Maddie has been saying "bye Mommy" on the first day of school, today was no exception..... and it could be the last, first day of school!

a rare event... all 4 cats at the door? Maddie said they came to say bye.....

Good luck today my little Mouse, have a fun first day :-)

Pride Parade 2011

Me and Maddie wanted to go to the Pride Parade, but we thot we were going to miss it. As it turns out, we landed in Calgary at noon, and Dean rushed us downtown.... and dropped us off at a point we had hoped would have some parade left. Turns out, he dropped off at the beginning, so we saw the whole thing!! It was a great parade this year... again.....

Mayor Nenshi leads the parade this year... Straight Not Narrow. My favorite Pride saying!

even the doggies are proud!

CFI, there's Mack!

and Nate, Next year we'll walk with them... :-)

kewl Flag!

party float!

cute

haha, rainbow trout!

King and Queen

yay, last time I tried to get a good angle shot, this year he/she stopped right of me and posed! thankyou!

one of the parade people was sprinkling glitter, me and Maddie got lots on us! She's so happy to be sparkly!

glittery

raging Grannies... gotta love em!

I papparazzi'd Nate

Maddie found some friends... Mack, who was in the parade, Kyle, and Addy

and I found somw friends.. Aldon, ? Matt, me and Sheldon. It's amazing with so many people you can still run into people you know!

Mack painted Maddie and Addy's face, and then some guys walking by asked if he paint their face too.... line up here....

rainbow girls

everyone dancing in the park, so fun! Glad we made it!

Toronto 2011

Actually it's Bobcaygeon, but whenever we go East I say Toronto, that is where the plane lands! lol. So we arrived at 12:30pm Toronto time, we left home at an ungodly hour, but as soon as you land it all seems worth it! We rented our car, and headed up to Aunty and Uncles house, in Bobcaygeon. It was about a 2 hour drive, arriving at 3pm. Uncle greeted us with open arms, and made us all Caesars! Even Maddie, she has waited years for one of those!

Aunty wasn't home yet, but she called, and we all did a "Cheers" over the phone!

My Uncle, so happy to see us :-)

We took our drinks onto the patio. Maddie loved the grass it was so "squishy" so she rolled and lay in it.

Aunty got home about 4:30 and joined us on the patio. Now the party can start!!

the next morning we packed up and headed to 6 Mile Lake to the cabin. The weather forecast was Hot and sunny.... we had to wait for Uncle to bring the boat around and pick us up, only way to the cabin is by water...

we headed into Midland the second day, the weather was iffy, still hot, but overcast. We figured it was a good adventure day. Dean lived in Midland for a couple of years, so he was excited to go around his old neighborhood. Aunty and Uncle were going to go to Bingo. Dabbers ready, let the winning begin...

we went past Deans house, school and golf course that they spent a lot of time at. Then down to the Waterfront.

this is the Flour Mill where Papa worked. Nice view they have!

cute little boat on the waterfront, and cute Maddie in it.

Uncle was craving Cannoli's the night before, and we just happened to find some in the bake shop in Midland. We ate our dessert on the deck. Cannoli's by candlelight. Also if you notice my phone on the table, I downloaded a mosquito repellent, that sends out a sonic sound to deter them from coming around.... it seemed to be working?? really?? lol technology!

Maddie was so happy feeding the Chippy's that came around. She named them, this is Walter. The first day, she had them eating out of her hand, by the second they would walk right onto her lap!

game day. Aunty taught us new game called LCR. You have 3 dice and roll, (you need 3 dollars to play lol ) if you roll an L, you pass a looney to the left, if you roll an R you pass to the right, and if you roll a dreaded C, the money goes in the pot. If you roll a Dot, nothing happens ( and you cheer) the kewl thing about this game, over Pass the Ace is, once all your looneys are gone, you're not out of the game, because the person next to you could pass money to you. One game we played, Uncle lost all 3 coins the first roll, and ended up winning the game!! So it can turn real quick. It was fun, we enjoyed it so much, Aunty and Uncle gave us their game in case we couldn't find it at home.

Happy Dean, he won that round, phew, so we can play again. Lol the pot was worth 21.00!

Sad Dean, his keg is empty!

Maddie was in the water as often as possible! Me only half the time, I had to take pictures after all. We did swim one night when it was pitch black, the stars were amazing, and then we jumped in while it was raining, that was fun too, big drops splashing all around us!

every year I get up super early to capture the glass of the lake... this year was no exception!

we kept doing things to the peanuts to watch the Chippy's once we put them in a glass, and he had to balance to get them out, then we tipped a jar on the side, and he ran in and got them, we wrote initials and had them go in rows. It was fun, they didn't seem to mind... then Uncle had them so he could pick them up with the peanut!!

then the sad moment of leaving the cabin, it gets me all the time, but more so this year because the cabin is for sale :-( Maddie tried to hide the sign as best she could!

back in Bobcaygeon Peanut waits for us. My cousin Gordie's kitty. She's so pretty.

the clan, in front of the house.

Donnie came over for a visit. We played crib, I was his partner and Aunty and Maddie skunked us! Sorry Don :-(

then we switched to LCR, Aunty was on a roll, she rolled 6 times all dots!!

but in the end, I won. Lol now we have Starbucks money for the airport!

we drove back to Toronto, boarded our flight, arrived in Winnipeg at 8:30 am, sat for 2 hours and then flew home. Don't be upset Winnipeggers, we didn't tell anyone we were there, because it was early, and if our flight was delayed you would have waited for nothing.

It was a fantastic trip, we always love going to visit Aunty and Uncle in "Bobcaygeon"