Coucoumellisms

I finally finished putting up some drapes in my livingroom,... and I must say, drapes certainly do make a difference. I chose a deep red with the same kind of scalloped/flower design as in the rug and the piano bench, plus I have lace curtains in the middle. So depending on how I place the drapes, they are either just an accent for the lace curtains, which let in the light, or I can pull them almost all the way closed in the evening, with the lace curtains all bunched up so noone can see inside. Ahhh, finally, a livingroom that feels like a sanctuary.

Nous sommes allés avec des amis qui restent en arrière, à une cabane à sucre. J et F restent avec leur fils Jo à environ 3-4 maisons du parc qui est en arrière de chez nous. Ils font parti de l'Église Baptiste ici à Saint-Jean. Le pasteur de leur Église faisait une cabane à sucre chez lui et ils nous ont invité à y aller. Hier soir j'étais debout jusqu'à minuit en train de faire des gaufres à apporter aujourd'hui. On en a mangé hier soir aussi, fait frais, avec du sirop d'érable. Miam, miam, je ne mangerais plus jamais de gaufres congelés... ça ne se compare pas. Je m'en vais à la messe tantôt car n'avons pas pu y aller ce matin. Je voulais y aller à 10h15, mais quand on est arrivé, il n'y avait personne et les portes étaient barrées. J'ai su plus tard que c'est parce qu'il y avait une messe ailleurs pour les motards, avec bénédictions des motos. Mais puisque je n'y vais pas souvent à cette parroisse, et que j'avais été à l...

Same baby right? Actually, no. Marc is on the left and Nicolas is on the right. Marc can't blame the milkman for this one.

I received this flyer a week or two ago, and I thought "Wow!" upon seeing the sandals. Then the flyer got lost in the recycling. But since my thongs that I have had since I was in Paraguay 13 years ago have finally given up the ghost, (or rather the prong that keeps them on my feet...) and they are no longer really reparable, (I've already repared them a number of times last summer) I have been casually looking for new ones recently. Except I still had that image of these ones in my head. Then last Tuesday, when I was frantically searching in the recycling for a piece of paper with an address on it that I had lost and needed, I came across the flyer again. It must have been destiny. I put the flyer aside and continued frantically searching for the address, which I never found, but luckily got a hold of someone who gave it to me again, all the while intending to pay a visit sometime soon to Le Grenier. Finally, four days later, I have made it to Le Grenier and I have ...

Jean-Alexandre has been playing for quite some time in the recreative league and just recently one of his former coaches wanted him to play for a competitive team. The thing is, it is a club from the next county over. The Club in our county is the Celtix. The other one is the Attak. It works by region apparently. You are supposed to try out for the club in your own region. Except that the Attak is level A and the Celtix is level AA (a level higher). We were trying to get Jean-Alexandre to try out for the Celtix anyway, so his coach said let him try out, if he makes it, let him stay there, it's a higher level, it'll be even better for him, if not then they won't have any reason not to sign the lease letting him go play in a different club. (Apparently the whole thing is all very political, and it wasn't all that politically correct for the coach of the U12 Attak team to even approach Jean-Alexandre, but I'm glad he did anyway.) So today was the end of the eva...

Happy Easter! Joyeuses Paques! Feliz Pascua!

I am exhausted. My legs hurt. I left home this morning at about 11:30 with all five kids. We stopped to buy a present for a boy, who was having a birthday party this afternoon. (What is the big idea having a party today? Don't these people know it's Good Friday? hmmm) Then it was off running to get to the Good Friday procession. We left just after 12:30, walked for almost an hour to the cemetary. (I had to breastfeed the baby in the sling while walking.) There was some praying and singing there, then it was off to another parish, more praying, singing and some stuff with the Youth group, and then off to the Cathedral for the 3:00 service (still walking). We left a bit early because the party (which was at McDonald's) was at 4:00. (Don't these people know that service on Good Friday is ALWAYS at 3:00? Why would they have a party at 4:00?) We still arrived late because we had to walk back to the car, which took about 40 minutes. Maryssa stayed with Dominic because a littl...

Here in my parish, they do this individual meeting with the parents in their own home and then two group preparation courses. So the lady came to my house last week to meet with me. She pretty much took me for the regular run of the mill, in name only, catholic. She started out with a list of reasons why I might want to baptise my child, and taking a look at the first: "It's always been done in our family." I told her I could tell her right away it wasn't the first. So she wanted to know, without looking at the list, what would be my reasons. I said "because it takes original sin away and because it will give him graces." off the top of my head, although there is more to it than that... then she asked me to go through the list and pick those that "meant something for me". Neither original sin nor graces were even mentioned in any of those reasons, and some of them although obviously true for many Quebecers nowadays, just didn't "do ...

El Bosque (17 de junio de 2005) Estamos en ruta para ir en casa de mi hermana. Mirando los arboles al borde de la ruta, Gabriel se exclama: ¡Bosque! En seguida, oyamos Maryssa en el fondo, un poco perpleja: Como hacemos por entrar ahí (en el bosque), que no hay puerta! La Muerte (13 de setiembre de 2005) Maryssa: Cuando muere Dominic, ¿a donde le vamos a poner? Yo (cogida por sorpresa): Ehh, bueno,... no está muerto todavía... Maryssa: ¿Quizás en el abono? Lactancia (Octubre de 2002) Acabo de llegar en casa con el nuevo bebe, Gabriel. Le estoy dando el pecho. Maryssa (con ojos muy grandes): ¿Por que te está comiendo el bebe?! Quitar sus Padres (18 de febrero de 2006) Maryssa: Mami, ¿estabas en el vientre de Abuela? Yo: Sí. Maryssa: ¿Y por que estás aqui ahora? Yo: Ehh, no se que quieres decir... Maryssa: ¿Te regalaron a otros? El baño (agosto de 2002) Nos vamos de viaje. Dominic no quiere ir al baño antes. Nosotros insistemos. En fin Dominic nos dice: Mi pene no fu...

Jean-Alexandre drew this, but I coloured it in and added a few sprinkles. He also drew this one. Jean-Alexandre will be 12 on April 25th. He has been drawing since he was four. Pages and pages of drawings, although now they are fewer and more detailed than before.

I have finally gotten the paper mess up in the kitchen under control. I also finished with those Christmas cards still lying around in my room, which makes for less mess on the bureau in there. Yes you read right, Christmas cards. I kind of stopped in the middle of doing them and never got started again. So to those who had picture coming their way, I took ut the Christmas letter, wrote a new one, attached the Christmas one to that, got rid of the Christmas card, included the pics and sent them off. Those I never got around to will just have to wait until this Christmas. I am now going to try working on some sewing. Diaper liners for Nicolas, the curtains, and eventually Nicolas's baptism outfit. Speaking of Baptism,... I'll have to post something else later about that whole deal... My house is relatively clean and I will have to try to keep it that way. But first things first, I must now go and get the dinner ready as my hungry munchkins arrive home from school... I s...

I just noticed (thanks to statcounter.com ) that someone from Vatican City has been visiting my blog. (!) I just have to wonder now: Did I pass? (:D) Hee hee. I sure hope so.

Just in case anyone wanted to know what a coucoumelle looks like: Got the image here Coucoumelles are toxic by the way,... so watch out... ;)

Got this from Rose Anne today: I'm telling you, one of the things I love about translation is all the new things you learn, such as the following (just freshly translated 1 minute ago): We are born with innate programs but the experiences we acquire influence our reactions. Our emotional relationships can change our genetic code. An article appearing in the April 2005 issue of Science et Vie reported scientific proof of this, "geneticists and development specialists have discovered that significant chemical changes appear on the DNA of newborns as soon as they come into contact with their mothers. In other words, cuddling has an impact that is not so much psychological as genetic! Thus, a mother's caresses can "activate" genes located inside the neurons of the hippocampus. It has been proven that the environment has as much influence on us as our heredity." So give that little Nicolas there all the TLC he can handle (although I am...