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Apparently, pigeons like to take the TTC here in Toronto:

Typical Torontonians – everyone is trying to play cool and ignore it. But you know all those riders told everyone they knew when they got off the train.

This little guy dared to step on the yellow line while waiting. He does have an unfair advantage though, being able to fly away if someone pushes him.

I was just surprised that I could find three different videos of pigeons on the TTC. I had no idea it was such a common occurrence. Mice on the rails, yes. Birds flying into open subway stations, yes. Birds making it onto the train as if they were paying passengers going to work? Can’t say I knew about that.

This is Sean’s new tattoo. The bull is the old logo for the Belleville Bulls, the OHL team closest to our hometown.

Here’s the story of how he ended up getting it today, and how I found out about it.

Sean and our friend Jason had made plans to go to Toronto’s Fan Expo today. They got all the way down there and discovered hordes of people in long lines that weren’t moving anywhere. They walked through various open doors to find more lines of people (many dressed up as their favourite character from whatever fandom they enjoy best). There were lines to buy tickets. There were lines to get in after those tickets were purchased. They decided that waiting in all those lines wasn’t worth their time. So they left.

What’s with all this buildup? I’ll get to that.

So apparently they wandered around downtown for awhile, visiting the Silver Snail, having a couple of beers at The Bier Markt, and buying cigars at Frank Correnti Cigars. So, it was a good guy’s day out. After a quick visit with a friend of Jason’s who works in the area they were in, they ended up in a tattoo shop. Sean has been considering getting a tattoo in commemoration of Flora’s birth. He’s been struggling with the image as I don’t think he’s keen on getting a flower (the meaning of the name Flora) tattooed on him, and wanted to make sure any tattoo he did get was the right one. (I’ve tried to veto the use of a fireflower for Super Mario Brothers with her name and birthdate underneath, but I need to remember that it’s not my body – I just have to look at it.)

So they were looking at the different designs in the shop when Jason (ever the good friend), points out the sample of the original Belleville Bulls logo. Sean has always said that if he won the lottery, he would buy the Belleville Bulls – he’s that big a Bull Booster. So he was excited to see the Bulls logo in tattoo form, and once he saw that artwork, made an appointment right away to get it put on his calf.

Keep in mind that I don’t know any of this is happening right now. I’m home with Flora thinking that these two are spending too much money on GI Joe action figures and getting their pictures taken with Star Wars characters and Transformers.

At about 6PM, Jason and Sean come in. Jason is in first and gives me a very low-key “hi”. I ask what’s going on, and he kinda points at Sean, mumbling that something happened to him. As he hobbled through the door, I see that Sean is all bandaged up. “What the hell happened to you?” I ask (it was more sympathetic than it sounds). Sean then tells me that he was hit by a cyclist while walking downtown and it scraped up his leg really bad. They flagged down a paramedic driving by and he bandaged it up. Shocked and worried, I ask if he’s all right and if he needs stitches or followup care. He says it needs to be wrapped until tomorrow, but he’s essentially okay – the pebbles have been cleaned out and the wound looks dressed enough that it won’t leak all over the couch or sheets.

The evening progresses and I put Flora to bed. Once she is down, I go on my computer in the next room to kill time while making sure that Flora is really going down for the night. I open up Facebook and I see that Sean has updated his profile picture. To the picture you see above.

I know Sean is a big Bulls fan, but I think to myself “it’s tacky to use someone else’s tattoo as your profile photo”. When I looked closer, I thought to myself “holy shit, that’s *my* couch in the background of that photo”. I go downstairs and make the following statement:

“I had to find out you got a new tattoo via Facebook?”

Big laughs all around. They wondered how long it would take me to find out. Turns out I found out about two minutes after the photo was posted. There was no teenage cyclist who ran my husband down. The two of them concocted that story on the way home.

It’s a good thing I checked Facebook tonight. I had planned to write a Twitter status, complaining about assholes on bikes who run down people and don’t even stay to apologize or help the victim get up. And that would have been posted to Facebook too.

And that would have just looked silly, given what I know now. Our friends would think we never talk to each other.

We haven’t made a video in awhile, so I finally got smart enough to pick up the camera and film while Flora was in a good mood. It’s five minutes of cute baby babble and arm waving due to her mummy and daddy saying silly things and making silly faces.

Flora is a Smartie from Melissa Price-Mitchell on Vimeo.

Don’t mess with my kid. She will fuck your shit right up.

Okay, that is not a nice description for a baby, but she looks pretty thuggy here, so I think it’s justified.

The rest of the pictures I took of her in that session were quite pleasant. She was having fun in her Jolly Jumper, smiling and getting licked by the dog.

We smiled (a little bit) for the camera:

We hung out on the couch and gossiped:

We saw a really big Christmas tree:

We had a visit from Grandma Faye and Grandma Janet:

And we showed everyone how much we like to rock:

It was a fun week.

We play this game together all the time.

Flora and Eeyore from Melissa Price-Mitchell on Vimeo.

Putting Flora on the nursing pillow makes tummy time more fun for all of us.

Hopefully soon, she will understand the concept of smiling for the camera. Until then, we’ll get inadvertently hilarious pictures like this.

In honour of Flora getting her SIN number this week (the government-issued number that allows her to get a job), I decided to put her to work. It went less than swimmingly.

Unfortunately, she was promoted to supervisor – she sat in her bouncy chair and watched me fold the laundry to make sure I was doing it right and put it away when I was done. After I successfully completed my task, she didn’t even tell me “good job” or “that’ll help you get a raise at your next review”. She just started screaming about the next task .(which was a diaper change if I remember right.)

So, no appreciation, and my boss is so incompetent* that I actually do have to wipe her ass for her.

* Yes I know “incompetent” is not the right word to describe a baby, but it goes with the baby=boss theme.

Sean hates it when I post pictures of him sleeping on the web. (I only did it once before, so it’s not like it’s a regular occurrence.) However, he and Flora looked so cute in these pictures, I had to share them.

When my sister saw them on my Flickr page (she checks it every day to see if I’ve posted new pictures of Flora), she told me that there was a similar picture of my dad and I. I can’t remember if I’ve seen it (I’m sure I have), but she told me that she wanted to group the two pictures together in a frame. Obviously, she is the scrapbooker of the family. I then remembered that I saw a similar picture with Sean and his dad (his dad isn’t sleeping, but the premise is right), so maybe she should group all three if we can find all the pictures.

I must have stumbled on some classic baby picture pose, if we all have a picture like this. I wonder if there is a book of classic baby picture ideas that you can apply to your baby.

I am such a sucker for these quizzes. And it’s good to post something on here that isn’t baby-related.

Here goes:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? I don’t think so, but now I want to ask my mom about it.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? I think Thursday. Flora would not go to sleep and I was getting frustrated. Once she finally fell asleep she smiled a little in her crib (which was due to gas), I cried a little more. And I thought my hormones were sorted out by now!

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? When it’s legible, yes.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I don’t eat a lot of lunch meat, but turkey is okay. The sub shop in my hometown makes a really good turkey and bacon sub (actually, all their subs are good), and that’s where I eat most of my lunch meat.

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? I have one daughter. That is still weird to type. She is seven weeks old

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I hope so, or I’m not a very nice person.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Uh, yeah!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I used to want to when I was younger, but now I’m not so sure. That last sentence made me feel old

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Honey Nut Cheerios.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? It depends on the shoe and how it fits.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Sometimes. I’d like to be stronger though.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? I haven’t met too many flavours I don’t like, but we seem to buy vanilla the most.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? It’s different for every person.

15. RED OR PINK? I wear a lot more pink, but red has its place too.

16. WHAT DO YOU LIKE LEAST ABOUT YOURSELF ? My weight bums me out sometimes, but I try not to get too bent out of shape about it.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad. He died back in 1991, just before I turned 13 years old. I wish I could have known him as an adult – I think his two pre-teen daughters were starting to bewilder him. I have a hard time picturing him as a grandfather since he died so young (38), and that makes me sad. I think he would have been a good one though. I just wish he could have had the opportunity to do so. (If I write any more, I’ll have to change the answer to #2.)

18. FAVOURITE INDULGENCE? Spicy Nacho Doritos, wine (not together)

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans, black socks with beige flowers on them

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? crackers

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? the clicking keyboard and the occasional squeak from Flora who is sleeping in the next room

22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE? Probably a deep purple-y pink

23. FAVORITE SMELLS? my husband, tomato leaves, lavender, Flora after a bath

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? my husband

25. BROTHERS AND SISTERS? one sister, four stepbrothers

26. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH? hockey on TV, basketball live (but I’m not a big sport watcher generally)

27. HAIR COLOR? dark red dyejob

28. EYE COLOR? blue/green

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? no – can’t fathom sticking something in my eye on purpose

30. FAVORITE FOOD? tomatoes, cheese and garlic – you can always make a meal based on those three items

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? happy endings – I hate scary movies

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? In full? I’m not sure

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? black

34. SUMMER OR WINTER? summer,summer, summer

35. HUGS OR KISSES? all the above

36. FAVORITE DESSERT? pie (apple or raspberry)

37. TOP OR BOTTOM? none of your beeswax

38. FAVOURITE SHOES: I heart my Birkenstocks. I’ve worn the soles down, so I’ll probably need a new pair next summer

39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Mostly baby care books, but I picked up “Life on Planet Rock” by Lonn Friend and I’m rereading that again.

40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSEPAD? No mousepad – laser mouse

41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? I’m thinking back, and I don’t remember. I PVR everything I watch regularly so I can watch the shows when Flora is asleep or feeding

42. FAVORITE SOUND? The rain

43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Queen

44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? I went to the Dominican Republic on vacation in January – was very fun

45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Aren’t all talents special?

46. WHERE AND WHEN WERE YOU BORN? I was born in Picton, Ontario in 1978

Don’t forget to fill out your version of this questionnaire!

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