Half Way There!

10 Hours of driving down and only 8 more to go. Pennsylvania was nice and West Virginia was quite beautiful in the beginnning...........but after endless mountains, rundown shacks, people driving little red trucks and country music monopolizing the radio airwaves, I have had enough. I keep hearing "duelling banjos" from Deliverance playing in my head. I will be happy to see the state line for North Carolina tomorrow. The girls were troopers in the car and only asked if we were almost there 146 times.

Shes The Man

Garth and I spent yesterday afternoon watching, "Shes The Man" with our daughters and some of the neighbourhood girls. Yes, I'm actually admitting it. I watched this movie.
But for some wacky reason, I like Amanda Bynes. I'm not a 10-year-old girl, but there's something I find very likeable about her. She's the Man, finds a high school girl attempting to gain the respect that her male classmates seem to be awarded so easily. When her twin brother Sebastian skips the country — without telling his parents — in order to perform in a British music festival (yeah, right), Viola (Amanda Bynes) decides to fill in for her brother at school.
Of course you will see every plot development coming a mile away. It has a running time of 105 minutes and included are four or five montages, viewed to generic pop-rock songs. Amanda Bynes blows other teen queens out of the water with her acting skills and even tho' it is a bit of fluff it delivers some laughs and some great girl power moments.

Preparing For Our First Roadtrip With The Kids

I have spent all morning reviewing our maps and using mapquest to figure out our expected time of arrival to Myrtle Beach. The Van has been washed. I am finishing up the packing and I have been on a cleaning frenzy. (I always clean when I feel like I am getting anxious or not in control.)
By the time Tuesday rolls around I will be needing some R&R at a beach.

It Didn't Rain!!!!

Lets Hope It Doesn't Rain

Tonight, We are headed into Toronto to celebrate a friends birthday and this is where we will be. Why can I not stop humming the theme song from Gilligans Island?


Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip.
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day,
for a three hour tour, a three hour tour………
The weather started getting rough,
the tiny ship was tossed.
If not for the courage of the fearless crew,
the Minnow would be lost; the Minnow would be lost.
The ship took ground on the shore of this uncharted desert isle,
with Gilligan, the Skipper too,
the Millionaire, and his Wife,
the Movie Star, the Professor and Mary Ann,
here on Gilligan's Isle.

Wanna Know Who May Be Cast To Play The Joker In The Next Batman Begins Seque

I like Christopher Nolan's direction of the series. Batman Begins is one of my favorite superhero/comic book movie, right up there with the spiderman series. I hope this rumour is false. Health Ledger would be a HORRIBLE Joker! A major casting error like that could really ruin the momentum of the new franchise. Watching him in Brokeback Mountain was painful enough.

Rules Of The Game

Garth and I are taking the girls on our first big family vacation in a couple of weeks. It is going to be quite a roadtrip and I am trying to find ideas that will keep the girls entertained and keep hubby and I sane. Playing "Punchbuggy" has always been a game the girls have participated in. I tend to get a bit competitive when I play this game and have even been known to drive through a VW dealership when I want to payback someone who has recently been able to direct a few punches my way.
It turns out, there's a wikipedia entry on some quirky rules. I think I will print them off and give the family a refresher course.

Train Derailment

A freight train derailed near Mimico Station in Etobicoke yeasterday. All Go Transit commuter train service from Union Station was stopped. My In-laws were on their way to visit us via the 3:00 train. This put quite a glitch in the plan, but a train derailment can't stop Mama from visiting her son. They arrived to Whitby at 11 pm.

Happy Birthday To Me

Happy Birthday!
You entered: 7/13/1966

Your date of conception was on or about 20 October 1965 which was a Wednesday.
You were born on a Wednesday
under the astrological sign Cancer.
Your Life path number is 6.

Life Path Compatibility:
You are most compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 3, 6 & 9.
You should get along well with those with the Life Path numbers 2, 4, 8, 11 & 22.
You are least compatible with those with the Life Path numbers 1, 5 & 7.

The Julian calendar date of your birth is 2439319.5.
The golden number for 1966 is 10.
The epact number for 1966 is 8.
The year 1966 was not a leap year.

Your birthday falls into the Chinese year beginning 1/21/1966 and ending 2/8/1967.
You were born in the Chinese year of the Horse.

Your Native American Zodiac sign is Woodpecker; your plant is Wild Rose.

You were born in the Egyptian month of Paopy, the second month of the season of Poret (Emergence - Fertile soil).

The date of Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 10 April 1966.
The date of Orthodox Easter on your birth year was Sunday, 10 April 1966.
The date of Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) on your birth year was Wednesday 23 February 1966.
The date of Whitsun (Pentecost Sunday) in the year of your birth was Sunday 29 May 1966.
The date of Whisuntide in the year of your birth was Sunday 5 June 1966.
The date of Rosh Hashanah in the year of your birth was Thursday, 15 September 1966.
The date of Passover in the year of your birth was Tuesday, 5 April 1966.
The date of Mardi Gras on your birth year was Tuesday 22 February 1966.

As of 7/13/2006 9:28:22 AM EDT
You are 40 years old.
You are 480 months old.
You are 2,087 weeks old.
You are 14,610 days old.
You are 350,649 hours old.
You are 21,038,968 minutes old.
You are 1,262,338,102 seconds old.

Celebrities who share your birthday:
Cheech Marin (1946) Erno Rubik (1944) Harrison Ford (1942)
Patrick Stewart (1940) Jack Kemp (1935) Bob Crane (1928)
Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821)

Your age is the equivalent of a dog that is 5.71819960861057 years old. (You're still chasing cats!)



There are 365 days till your next birthday
on which your cake will have 41 candles.

Those 41 candles produce 41 BTUs,
or 10,332 calories of heat (that's only 10.3320 food Calories!) .
You can boil 4.69 US ounces of water with that many candles.


In 1966 there were approximately 3.7 million births in the US.
In 1966 the US population was approximately 179,323,175 people, 50.6 persons per square mile.
In 1966 in the US there were approximately 1,800,000 marriages (9.3%) and 479,000 divorces (2.5%)
In 1966 in the US there were approximately 1,712,000 deaths (9.5 per 1000)
In the US a new person is born approximately every 8 seconds.
In the US one person dies approximately every 12 seconds.

In 1966 the population of Australia was approximately 11,704,843.
In 1966 there were approximately 223,731 births in Australia.
In 1966 in Australia there were approximately 96,061 marriages and 9,859 divorces.
In 1966 in Australia there were approximately 103,929 deaths.


Your birthstone is Ruby
The Mystical properties of Ruby

Ruby is said to open one's heart to love.
Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Carnelian

Your birth tree is

Fir Tree, the Mysterious
Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it,rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious uncontent lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.



There are 165 days till Christmas 2006!
There are 178 days till Orthodox Christmas!

The moon's phase on the day you were
born was waning crescent.

Happenings In History ON My Birthday

Birthdays Other Than Mine

Canada Day Weekend

We had a fun filled Holiday Weekend! We pet sat for my parents while they went away overnight. Our home became a mini zoo with two lap dogs and a parrot. My parents spent Friday with us and stayed overnight. I wish they didn't live so far away and then we could see each other more often. The girls enjoy their grandparents so much. Saturday morning my parents headed home and we spent the afternoon and evening with our neighbour and friends for our traditional Canada Day Celebration. The kids had a blast swimming and they put a fashion/talent show on for us in the evening. We headed into town to see the amazing fireworks display put on by the Rotery Club at Dusk. Today we went to see Superman returns.....Brandon Routh had big shoes to fill, and did so gracefully, and most of the effects were good.

Quote Of The Day

"There were a number of years where I would sit down to play Barbie dolls with my daughter. I'd start playing with these dolls. It's good fun, it's a great way to explore characters. I'd start to do these voices, start playing characters as these dolls and she'd just look up and go, 'Dad, could you just do your own voice, OK? You don't have to play it like that ...' So she was like directing me! I'm like, 'Sorry, sorry, honey, I'll just be me.'"

-Johnny Depp