Do What I WANT TO!

March 2/12.

Wanted a "Me Day!"  on Thursday. Whaddya do? Escape? Run for the hills? Jump out a window? Hide in a closet? So many options!

Hey Cayr! How about going back to good old Cloverdale Mall? (CUE the wind machine!) Remember Mum used to take us here all the time when we were young kids, living out in Port Credit? - Now that I have GPS, thought, I'll take a spin out there for old times' sake. Made it, but unpredictably B-O-R-I-N-G!

You probably have NO memory of this place, Carrie. But, neither do I! It looked NOTHING like I THOUGHT I remembered it. Located around Dundas Street and highway 427, it used to be crazy-busy and fun. THE place to go and hang out in Etobicoke -

(Above, open air Cloverdale Mall in the '60s). One blogger I found online described it this way:
The floors you see today, were OUTSIDE streets (back then), between two rows of store front canopies supported on Modernist street poles.

It was an innovative outdoor mall, known for the kiddie play area in the centre walkway featuring the famous,

big cement elephant we used to climb up on and and slide down, over and over again!
(This pic also taken at Cloverdale in the '60s).

All gone.

Now, it's empty, spacey, bizarre and cavernous. Stepford Wives Mall. (who knew??)

They have a Metro store,

that sells stuffed animals,

a Laura Secord outlet,

with tons of delectable goodies. But I'm trying to stay AWAY from chocolate these days. Wreaks havoc with the skin. (what am I, 14 again??)

a Tims,

plus a Winners. But overall, Cloverdale? Hmmmmmmm, just wasn't doin' it for me. Big mistake to come here. Couldn't wait to get out. (to quote Margie MacDougall in one of my favourite movies, The Apartment, "'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... nothin'... no action... dullsville"!)  Right on. Oh well. Saw it again, so that's out of my system! No further return trips to Cloverdale will be required in future. Can forget about it now. - Cut, print, moving on!

Asked Bossy GPS Broad to direct me back downtown pronto. Miraculously, she did.

Next thing I knew, I was at Bay & Queen, staring at Old City Hall,

Then at "new" City Hall, watching a guy named Sticky, play the drums. He was awesome.

This young mother told me her little girl LOVES music, especially drums! (Hey, I KNOW the feeling kid!)
If she's anything like my son, Max, - LOOK OUT! - She'll be asking for a drumset in the basement soon!

City Hall has always been one of my favourite places. It just represents Toronto to me.

The rink wasn't too busy this day, which made for easy skating. (I didn't lace up any rented skates though. Too afraid of a fall after so many years off the ice). I need somebody to skate with me, hold my hand and be prepared to pick me up when disaster strikes!

The good old hot dog vendors and chip wagons were open, but not exactly doing a booming biz!

Next it was on to the Eaton Centre. - NOT MORE CHOCOLATE!! This time, Godiva.

I can't escape it!

Not to mention Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory,

featuring the gooiest candy apples.

OK, now we're talkin'. A stop at The Body Shop,

yep, for more vanilla body lotion, (my fave). Gotta have it!

And to MAC cosmetics,

 to get some of their fabulous jet black gel eyeliner.

Then time to wander Yonge Street for a while.

Next, off to The Beaches for a quick stop at Hair Dynamix. (where else?)

- to pick up the invaluable hair product, I.C.O.N. CURE. Can't live without it,

(unless, of course, I want to look like Nick Nolte's mug shot!)

Thought about going to a movie at The Beach theatre, but - nothing playing there I wanted to see!

So, went to the actual beach, instead!

Saw a family enjoying a walk by the water.

Walked on the rocks,

and sat around, thinking about any number of weird things.

It was very cold, but nice enough to take my coat off - just  for a minute. (wishful thinking for Spring!)

At one point, I had the boardwalk all to myself!

But eventually shared it with a couple of passersby and some dogs.

Then watched the sun start to set. So pretty.

Ended up at the Comedy Bar for the late show at Bloor & Ossington,

to see Riot Vs. Riot

(the NEW Ryerson University improv team battling it out against the alumni "OLD" team). From beginning to end, a really fun night for me! GREAT audience support for one and all.  (we weren't really supposed to take pics, but I snuck one anyway, at the very end). For the record, the NEW team won! Congrats gang! If Kate gets into Ryerson in the fall, she may try out for RIOT. I hope so! (From what I saw, she'll be in great company if she makes the team!) Thanks for the laughs everyone! Keep it up. The world always needs more laughter!

Trials and Tribulations

July 11/11.

After yesterday's "hair disaster" went back to Hair Dynamix in the Beaches to return the crappy shampoo and conditioner. It's called PUREOLOGY. Don't buy it. Worse than anything I've ever used, (even dollar store stuff!)

Exchanged it for two more bottles of CURE, (which should now last me well into 2012)! Took quite a while to attempt to get my hair back into shape today following the "Brillo pad experience". It's NEVER a good hair day, but best I could do! (don't anybody touch me or it will explode).

To quote the Wicked Witch of the West, "I'm MELLLLLLLLLLLLLTING!!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! You cursed brat! Look what you've done!! I'm melting, melting! Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world! Who would have thought that some little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness!"

It was such a hot, humid, but gorgeous afternoon in the Beaches. Passed by a clothing store and saw this cute sun dress - (on sale!) Perfect for a poolside day at Fern Resort, (where we're going in August).

It's actually a skirt over shorts! Tried it on, fell in love and bought it. Max took this pic in the backyard. Wish I was at Fern right now! (but apparently, I'm booked for radiation tomorrow afternoon at 5:25 p.m.) Maybe I should wear THIS! Might make me feel more empowered while getting zapped! (that's what Auntie Ray tell me, anyway!)

Whaddya say Auntie Ray? - "Damn right"!!

My husband, Sam, has asked me once or twice over the years, when will I EVER stop colouring my hair blonde and wearing lots of makeup? Um...let me think a millisecond...NEVER???????!!!!!!!

Meanwhile, Kate & Damian are celebrating their four-month anniversary tonight! Kate had a new dress too! (Pretty in Pink!)

(Hey, is it weird we were both curtseying and showing off our skirts? This was NOT planned! In fact, I burst out laughing when I was downloading pics and saw this!

OK gang. Feeling better after talking to you here! Will blink you again when the first treatment is over! xoxo

Never a dull moment!

July 11/11.

My lifelong joke about "Never a dull moment" sure came into play over the weekend. We had major "contraption problems"! After many years, our old dishwasher, which has been repaired over and over, finally cacked. The front actually fell right off! Time for a new one. Sam chose a stainless steel model, ordered it and arranged to have it installed. The new one arrived Friday. Early on Saturday morning, a man from Sears came to remove the old dinosaur and install the gleaming new Kenmore. He glanced at the massive cardboard box and quipped it looked a bit too big for the space! (Great). But Sam had taken measurements. At any rate, after turning off the power and a lot of fancy maneuvering, the new one DID fit, was put in place and hooked up! - And it looks great!

I was upstairs during the installation process when suddenly an excruciatingly loud alarm went off outside the bedroom! SO loud, it was actually painful. Ran down to get Sam, who was assisting the Sears guy. He came upstairs and attempted to yank out the smoke alarm (which we thought was the problem).

After a lot of effort to shut it down, the overpowering alarm still blaring away, the device fell to the floor and broke, but the killer screeching continued! (when something is THAT loud, it's practically impossible to determine where it's coming from!) We finally discovered it was the carbon monoxide detector! Quickly opened all the windows and I pulled the detector out of the wall and IT broke!! What the heck is going on around here?

To make a long story short, there was no carbon monoxide problem, but just a faulty alarm. Despite having my hands over my ears most of the time, when the squealing alarm finally stopped, all I could hear was ringing! Not sure how Sam managed to get through it at ALL, as he was up close & personal with the shrill siren for ages! At any rate, he ended up going to Home Depot to get a new smoke alarm and CO detector and then home to install them both. I thought the whole event might have been related to the dishwasher procedure, since it all happened at once, but turns out, it was only a coincidence! We just wanted to sleep in on Saturday, but believe me, we were wide awake and shaking after all that! I CRAVE a dull moment!

Meanwhile, in my continuing quest to find the perfect shampoo/conditioner (which apparently, doesn't exist for hair like mine!), I bought two salon products while at Hair Dynamix yesterday, recommended by the receptionist. Not cheap, but with my hair in its current state, decided to try them. Don't know what's IN those products, but my hair went completely INSANE! Couldn't even get a brush through it, since it transformed into massive brillo-pad tangles! (sorry, NO pictures! fuhgeddaboudit! - but let's just say, I gave Phil Spector a run for his money!) Gak!

It took all my nerve to call the salon to complain - (you may know, I'm not good with confrontation!), but the woman who recommended the products said I could exchange them for anything else I like, so I'm going back today to get more CURE (the product I talked about yesterday). I'd better stock up anyway, since everything I EVER like, gets discontinued!

Tomorrow, (if I get my hair untangled), I'll be heading to the hospital for my first radiation treatment. Intensity Entity is threatening to jump overboard. - Think I'll go lie down for a while now!