She says it's her birthday

Saturday was my sister, Brenda's birthday. She threw a barn-burner party not just to celebrate the successful passage of another year, but to give herself the deadline of completing a renovation of her main bathroom.

Meeting the deadline kept her up until 2 or 3 a.m. for the three days before her party, and required the help of a few cheerful volunteers, but met it was, even if the paint was barely dry. When B gets around to sending her pics, I'll let you see the room's fabulousness.

I'm sure most parties don't start with a bathroom tour, but B isn't most people. Her party was attended by folks ranging from age 15 to 60, and included family and co-workers, a local politician, a few musicians, an ex-husband and his girlfriend, an ex-boyfriend, Commercial Drive business owners, a film editor, a home stager, a lawyer, an actor, and an office administrator, just to give y'all an idea.

B and I sang "Landslide," accompanied by Ed on guitar and Abby on drums. We rocked.

I really do have a great bunch of siblings, but since it's B's birthday, let's make it all about her. She's fab. She's funny. She's flirty. She makes a wonderful cup of tea. She's fun. She's a great cook. She's addicted to cel phone games. She's a good mother. She's uber-stylish. She's so smart. She's an exceptional dancer. She's a successful business owner. She's irreverent. She's honest. And (not that looks are important) she's beautiful.
Go B!

Re-org

Sorry about the news gap from November to January. I had no idea that being sad would take so much energy. But since I have enough work trying to keep current news posted, I doubt I'll go back and fill in the gap.

For the past two weeks, I've been working like a rented mule at the Burnaby Hospice Society Thrift Store. Up from my normal Tuesday shift, I was at the store every day last week except Saturday. What started out as packing up toys and Christmas accoutrements escalated into a full-scale clear-out, cleaning and re-merchandising of the housewares and kitchen sections. And at the same time, other volunteers were beautifying the clothing section.

It may not sound like it, but it was a ton of fun. It was a lot of work, but the joy I get from creating order out of chaos made up for it.

In the hopes that good information will help maintain the new orderliness, I’ve offered to produce a volunteer training manual and an as-needed volunteer newsletter. The Thrift Store’s been operating for almost a year, and lines of communication are jagged at best. It’s been a learn-as-you-go training program, and I think it’s time to record some of the learned lessons.

(As much as I’d like to believe that a couple of good communication tools will ‘fix’ everything, I understand it’s not necessarily the case. In work situations, when faced with a client who thinks an ad or brochure is a magic bullet, I note that if an education campaign was all that was needed to cure society’s ills, the entire western world would be non smoking.)

I’ll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, stop by and check out the new order.

This could explain a few things

I was secretly hoping to be Zoe, but this could explain why I find Ernie so incredibly irritating.

You Are Bert

Extremely serious and a little eccentric, people find you loveable - even if you don't love them! You are usually feeling: Logical - you rarely let your emotions rule you You are famous for: Being smart, a total neat freak, and maybe just a little evil How you live your life: With passion, even if your odd passions (like bottle caps and pigeons) are baffling to others

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz

Happy Birthday

Noah turned 5 today. He really is a lovely, happy, funny, thoughtful, cooperative lad. As evidence of his new maturity, for the first time, Noah did not cry after we sang him Happy Birthday.

And if I could find my digital camera (this gives you some idea of the state of my office) you'd see what a big, happy boy he is.

But just in case you'd forgotten, he was once a small, happy boy.


Daddy, Mama, and Noah
October 2002

And here he is last year on his 4th birthday, post-tears.