Oh, Life

First of all, did you know there are still such things as unwashable crayons? Now come on - THAT is the kind of product that needs a recall, pronto. Parents, check your homes immediately! These seemingly harmless crayons mingle easily with the washable ones and they will remain completely undetected until someone scribbles all over the coffee table with the WRONG KIND OF CRAYON. It's times like these that I am glad to be married to a man who sells janitorial supplies and has access to all kinds of wicked cleaning products. Also glad that we decided several years ago not to buy any genuinely nice furniture until our (at the time, hypothetical future) offspring was old enough not to ruin it. Did I mention that two weeks ago, she got ahold of markers and coloured on the suede dining room chair?

Ah well. I'm still in a great mood and nothing will bring me down. Here is one reason I'm in a great mood:
Four days ago, I got close to finishing the book I was reading (and heartily enjoying).
Three days ago, I realized that I was about to leave town for ten days with nothing to read, and I got a cold sinking feeling in my stomach.
Two days ago, I spent some time on Goodreads and picked out a whole bunch more books I want to read.
One day ago, I opened the Goodreads site and my local library's website in adjacent windows and made a bunch of online requests for books on my Goodreads "want to read" shelf.
And today, I went and picked up FOUR books from the library that were sitting in a neat little pile with my name on them.

Folks, the only way this could possibly be more convenient is if someone read my mind to determine what books I would most enjoy, and then delivered them to my door. The current system is still pretty awesome though.

Chris is out this evening at an Our Lady Peace concert. I'm thinking of it as Our Lady of Peace and Quiet because hey! An evening to myself. I've just about finished all the prep for the above-mentioned trip, at least all the prep I can do at the moment. There are always last-minute things: you can't really pack Gwen's lovey until the last possible moment before you leave, for example. There is also a jammie shortage going on: she recently had an aggressive growth spurt and outgrew the last of her footie jammies - which were only a couple of weeks old - so she only has five pairs of pajamas. This means I need to do her laundry the night before we leave so I can make sure to pack every last pair. At least the two-piece jammies we're buying now will last longer. It's alright if her tummy hangs out below the shirt: it's not nearly as sad as her not being able to stand upright because the footie jammies are four inches too short to accomodate her gigantic body.

Complicating the trip-prep slightly is the fact that on Thursday night (the night before we leave), Gwen is staying the night at her grandparents so Chris and I can go see Eddie Izzard live. Holy crap, we are going to see Eddie Izzard live. It all started about four years ago when I was reading some blog that raved about how funny Eddie Izzard was and that everyone should go rent "Dress to Kill". Being a complete and utter sucker for anything recommended on a blog, I rented it. And Chris and I laughed ourselves very nearly to death. We spent the next few months renting it over and over and showing it to everyone we know. That Christmas, he bought me the DVD. And I bought him the DVD. And we had two copies of the DVD, but that was okay, because by then we had lots of friends who would enjoy it just as much as we did.

We swore that if Eddie (who is British) ever came to North America, we would do whatever it took to see him live. And in 2008, he did come to North America! But "whatever it took" would have involved getting a passport and a babysitter for our two-month-old daughter, as well as paying over $250 PER TICKET, and driving all the way down to Seattle (in itself an expensive trip, what with ferry and gas and hotel). And we were sleeping like three hours a night and we were totally broke and half-delirious with exhaustion all the time and it just didn't seem like we had the ability to make it happen. So it didn't.

BUT! Eddie is coming back! And this time he is being kind enough NOT ONLY to visit the wonderful country of Canada, but even to come all the way across the Georgia Strait to the lovely city of Victoria. And THIS TIME he only wanted $75 each for tickets. The minute I found out about this show, I bought tickets. Which is good, because it sold out in a matter of days.

So finally, after four years of adoration and rampant quoting, Chris and I are going to be in the same room with Eddie Izzard. Really, it's no wonder I'm in a fine mood.

Yes, life is good. Thursday after work Chris and I will drive down to Victoria, laugh until our faces hurt, and then drive back home and collapse into bed. Friday I will work, then pick up Gwen, load the car and whisk her away for ten days of adventures. And when we get back? It will be June. And we will be building a deck!*

*Note: my job in building the deck is to write Chris a cheque for half the cost of the deck. And then possibly take Gwen to a series of playgrounds until the deck is built. Oh, and nag to make sure that actually happens.

Then for real it will be summer. Yay!