Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all!

I am currently drinking pink champagne because today is the fourth anniversary of my mastectomy and when I read the posts describing the initial diagnosis of breast cancer through to waking up from the mastectomy I can only think "HOW THE HELL DID I SURVIVE WITHOUT HAVING A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN?!"

Breast cancer is bad enough but couple it with living in a rental house with small children while doing a major renovation on the house plus dealing with what became the contractor from hell and a husband who contracts pneumonia just when we have to move back into our house, which has NO kitchen and running water working one toilet, one shower and a sink in the basement, while starting a brand new job?

Well...like they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

But here is to four years and counting of good health!

Nothing spoils a lovely glass of wine more than having a stumbling, bumbling, slurring, can't string 5 words together, eyes rolling so far back they become stuck, drunk over.

I guess that was a bit harsh but please, it was a really nice bottle opened to enjoy with a good friend (not the person described above).

Yes the issues with the old roommate continue and this times he's making life more interesting by including prescription medication with his beer guzzling.

Such sadness when you watch someone you care about throw their life away and you can't think of what else to do when they don't want to change.

The unveiling.

I think it's done!

The painting for the United Way auction and also the image for the Christmas cards sent out by our Canadian offices is finished!

And this time it was relatively painless.

I will photograph and post the unveiling this weekend.

I think I will miss you most of all. I love you. Until next year my darlings.
xoxox

There is a fantastic retrospective at the ROM until January 2, 2011: El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote to You About Africa.

Definitely worth seeing, in fact one of the most inspiring and thoughtful shows I have seen in quite a long time. I have been back twice and plan on seeing it many times more (being down the street from my office and having a membership) before it leaves Toronto.

In fact I took Satchel yesterday after a painful "bring your surly 14 year old who knows more than everyone else in the world and deems most not worth talking to, to work!" experience. His initial reaction of "really Mom, do we really need to go to the museum?" quickly changed to awe as he walked around the installations and hanging works.

Here is a bit of a description pulled from the ROM site:

El Anatsui finds his inspiration in Ghanaian and Nigerian culture, plus global, local, and personal histories. His work ranges from large metallic tapestries and paintings to sculptures in wood, metal, and ceramic. When I Last Wrote to You... demonstrates the wide variety of materials favoured by Anatsui, such as mortars, discarded metal objects, vegetable graters, driftwood, ceramics and old printing plates. The exhibition allows visitors to chart the development of the artist's work over a 40-year period.

http://www.rom.on.ca/icc/events.php

And a couple of images to whet the appetite!



Akua's Surviving Children

Halloween is my most favourite time of year!

The boys on their way to school, leaving trails of frightened, gasping people behind them (well Jakob anyway - Satchel's will be on the ground rolling with laughter)!




On a non-Hallween note, went to Beverley Hawksley's opening of her latest work last night at the Propeller Gallery, 984 Queen St. W.

Check it out if you have a chance!

I picked up one of her smaller pieces at her last show, love love love her work!
http://www.beverleyhawksley.com/

Living with just boys is having to scrub the toilet with disinfectant wipes before my a** can go anywhere near it.

I apologize for the visual...I just really needed to say it, I'm losing my mind.

Also needing to be said: Really Toronto? Rob Ford?. But you know, I might embrace him if he actually got rid of all our stupid garbage bins that we are trying to either hide or turn into front yard sculptures.

But on the upside, it's insanely beautiful outside with sunshine, blue skies and a temperature of 19*! And where am I? Working away in a near window-less room on my computer. And I have Jakob in the next room to keep me company, providing the musical sounds of gunfire from whatever XBOX game he's playing.

I did it again. I offered to do a painting to be used as the Christmas card for the Canadian practice and then donate said yet-to-even-be-started painting to the United Way auction.

What is WRONG with me, it's not like the pain of last year has subsided.

I have three weeks.

Groan.

And the progress on the garage continues!

This my father-in-law Camille. My 70 year old father-in-law looking mighty comfortable 16 feet in the air swinging a hammer. Paul comes from some mighty good genes!

We have a little project on the go that I have been keeping from you.

And I feel through omission I have in a sense been unfaithful to you.

And I'm really sorry.

We are, and by we I mean Paul, building a garage in the back. Designed by Paul, plans drawn up by Paul, a really big trench dug out by Paul and now being framed by Paul (and his Dad!).


I'm missing a lot of pictures - no doubt on one of the many cameras floating around the house - but here are a few of the raising of the Ilford wall - with many, many friends helping. Where was I you wonder? Out, driving far away with my mother-in-law. After 19 years of marriage I KNOW when I need to disappear.




I will keep taking pictures and updating the blog with the progress and if the garage turns out to be half as beautiful as Paul's contemporary design, I will have to say that I have one pretty talented and darn cute husband!

I suppose it's time to bring the tropical plants inside if the Christmas issue of House and Home has arrived.

Today my little family participated in the CIBC Run for the Cure and I can't thank all my friends, family and colleagues enough for supporting me and helping me raise $2500!

It was a bit cold this morning and I must say, who designs the shirts? They are hideous. Even the survivor t-shirt was nicer and it's usually even more ghastly than the others! This makes me think I should spend the next couple of months coming up with t-shirt design ideas and just keep inundating them until they get the point and provide me with a free mortgage as a heart-felt thank you.

I also think that instead of having volunteers offering water on the sidelines, that perhaps cups of coffee would be a nice touch because my GOD it's cold and frankly a little early for a Sunday morning.

Here are a few pictures from our day - the kids were fantastic, Jakob barely complained and was impressed how easy it is to walk 5km. Not as impressed that he still had to go to a swim class afterward!

So...yeah...I'm sorry.

I took a bit of a break and then an extended break and then a virtual maternity leave while I obsessed about the new addition to our home - Molly, my little girl. I love her. And yes, she's a kitten. Paul is adamant he will NOT go through a reversal to his vasectomy - I call this being selfish.

A quick update over the past two months:

1. I don't have cancer - at least they don't think the mass living in my left breast is anything to worry about but just in case will continue to monitor me very closely.

2. The boys are annoying.

2a. REALLY ANNOYING. And I don't think it's because I'm a girl, peri-menopausal and pms-ing complete with acne breakouts, I think it's because they are boys. I've taken to drinking wine and muttering obscenities under my breath and holding my kitten.

3. I've cut my hair really short and after throwing a vote out on facebook have dyed it red - and I must say, I quite love it! Not quite as rocking as the 70 year old I saw today while visiting hell, I mean No Frills (St. Clair & Alberta), who had bright red hair, studded motorcycle boots and was dressed entirely in black. She was awesome!

4. My kitten Molly, sorry boys, is my favourite and brings me great happiness but has pushed Hamish over the edge and he now spends all his time looking furtive and hissing.

5. I started running. It's killing me, I'm in disgusting shape ... more to follow on that happy note!

I just wanted to let you know I'm alive and well and will continue to update my blog more frequently then once every 3 months I PROMISE and until the next post - tomorrow - I will leave you with this little nugget: this morning while standing in the bathroom comparing the height of my children to my own (Satchel is just shy of my height - dammit, now must master wearing high heeled shoes constantly) I exclaimed how old I looked. Jakob quickly said "no you don't Mom, well maybe just under the eyes, you know those puffy parts? Maybe if you just put on more make-up."

Introducing Molly, also known as TROUBLE.

This makes me feel like everything will be okay.

My son has a girlfriend, as confessed to me multiple times while watching the season premier of Mad Men.

A bit of a digression regarding Mad Men: What happened to the baby? Did Sally hide baby Gene and with all the drinks flowing they haven't noticed yet? Or perhaps the baby is off playing with the drycleaning bags?

Because I was so focused on Mad Men, I'm a little sketchy on the details but I believe our one-sided conversation went something like this:

Mom, I was on the phone with my GIRLFRIEND. You know I have a GIRLFRIEND right? Anyway, what are the plans on Friday because I want to meet my GIRLFRIEND in the park. Because she's going away on the weekend and her birthday is on Saturday so I need to meet my GIRLFRIEND in the park after camp...

After the show ended, I was able to sit quietly and digest what was thrown my way. I came to the conclusion that I am not ready to have a dating teen and my only recourse is to keep him very busy for the rest of the summer.

But thank goodness for Mad Men because at least the show has given me excellent coping strategies: dress well, always have a cocktail in hand and one will survive.

Jakob is a tortured soul...and through virtue of that, I am a tortured mother.

Quick side note: yesterday I was positive the gods were out to get me...but I survived. And as the saying goes: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

So why is Jakob so tortured?

One: Day camp. He hates it.
Two: Karate. He hates it - it's boring.
Three: Vegetables.
Four: Grapes.

I really don't get it. How can you hate grapes? They are little balls of sweetness - I described them as nature's candy to Jakob while he was making retching noises and spitting the chewed remains into the green bin.

Speaking of grapes - there is nothing nicer than a reasonably dry rose wine spritzer with the glass filled with sweet strawberries!

A little survival tip if you too are a tortured mother.