I think the world stopped spinning.....

Then again they threw in daylight savings just to try and break me! I have lost an hour everyday since, literally! And SO.....

Papa is home! yay! He looks SO good and the best news is that he is now a non-smoker! double yay! yup, every morning he slaps a patch on and calls it his pack of smokes for the day. good. Mom is trying as well and even though she says she quit and we all know that she is sneaking out for a smoke we love her for trying.

Zio Bepi is gone and that is sad. I had the most amazing visit with him this time around. While Papa was in the hospital Zio and I would let Ma and Pa have a visit and we would go grab a coffee and shoot the shit. Too much fun! So many great stories and views on life, death and family. I learned so many things from listening to him and have wonderful memories of our coffee dates. I was fortunate enough to be able to take him all the way to the gate before his departure. Another special moment. Just him and I saying see ya later and not good bye.

In the meantime and in between time I have started back with the running. Even threw in a long walk with a great friend and a free yoga class with another friend. Reconnecting with everyone and gearing up for new and exciting things relating to "Art Days". Seems that my little partner has been networking just a teensy bit while I was on hiatus. Stay tuned! Dan is graduating for real and I have the pictures to prove it! yikes! damn proofs!

today is your special day!

there is a man who is SO special. this man is my Zio Bepi who is visiting from Italy. he turns 75 today and I am planning on making it the best birthday he has ever had. why? cause this man made so many of my birthdays so special for me. whenever we were visiting in Italy which was every second year from the time I was eight I celebrated my birthday. he would strap an empty roaster to the back of his vespa and ride off to the restaurant to pick up a roast chicken for dinner. come to think of it I still love roast chicken to this day. maybe there is a connection? anyway! he would always have a spumone birthday cake for me which was my favorite and had little meringues on it. yum! he did this every single time. on the years that we were not there he would send me a birthday card. still have those! the year that I was in Italy for Christmas he came over with a turkey shaped panetone because he knew we were not having turkey for dinner and that I would probably miss it. just the kind of guy he is. he has never married. has no children. lived in Australia for ten years before going back to Italy to look after my grandparents. he looked after my grandma by himself until the day she died. don't ya think the man deserves a little "special" thrown into his birthday? yup, me too! so here is what we have done so far. took him for brunch on Sunday to the hotel macdonald. by far the best eggs benedict ever!

today on his special day we have arranged for a huge parrot and seventy five smiley faces and buzzards to be put on the front lawn. a message wishing him a happy birthday and I am picking up vietnamese food (his favorite) for supper and I have a carrot cake for dessert. I made a box which folds out with several messages and photos of all of us to give him in place of a birthday card. god I love this man! I was thinking about it when I woke up today and out of all the people I know he is the one person that I have no bad memories of. not one! I tend to remember bad over good so this thought made my day!

another thought that made my day was this bottle cap message from a bottle of Jones Soda that my son drank:

"your mind, being creative and original, will make you famous"

it's true Danny! go for it!

certain souvenir?

don't forget to check this out today. been busy with ma, pa and the uncle visiting from Italy. I was doing my usual daily blog read this evening and when I came across Elise's blog it hit me....

my dear uncle came across the "perfect" souvenirs for la familgia back in Italy....you know, the cousins, the second cousins, the boys! ear/nose hair trimmers! no freakin' kidding! it appears that back in the homeland they are quite expensive and here they were a steal! of course the 20% coupon was only valid for "one" item. my mother says she is heading back to the store to see why in the hell he didn't get 20% of each trimmer. please make them stop! LOL! I can just picture it now...hey bepi how was your holiday? oh fine, you know, (cause this is something all Canadians say!) cold, you know, nice. picked you up a little something. a small souvenir. ta da! one for you Luigi, and you Mario, Alessandro, Giovanni and don't think I forgot you Angelo! LOL! oh yeah, he bought FIVE! I'm sure they will be gathered together at the local coffee bar oohing and aaahing over their new trimmers. I'm sure that a crowd will form to see what the ruckus is all about. ooooohhh where did you get those? how much? and finally WE will be able to sleep at night knowing that all the hairy nose/ears of my italian relatives are trimmed up! aaaahhh...nighty night!

and good things just keep coming.....

I have a running buddy who has a rule that whenever we are running and she (it's always her) finds money she gives it to me. At first I thought it was because half the time she had no pockets and I always have a pocket or two (gum, kleenex, chap stick). A while back she lets me in on her little secret. If she gives away the money she finds then it brings her good luck. Kinda like "see a penny pick it up and through the day you'll bear good luck" and I add "give it to a friend and your luck will never end". I was talking about pennies though and usually she finds dimes, nickels, pennies and the occasional quarter. Recently she won $50.00 on two separate occasions on the lottery. So yesterday as I am off to meet her for our run I find a toonie (that's $2.00 for my US friends). I think about it....I mean it's $2.00! Do I have to give it to her? Yup! That's the rule. So I do and she is totally floored cause it's $2.00! Anyway she agreed it was the rule. Of course she would! I just gave her $2.00! LOL! So I find out yesterday that my zio (uncle) is coming from Italy for a three month visit. OMG! I am SO excited. He is my favorite uncle. He is the one who when I was visiting in Italy and lucky me I was able to do that on several occasions would always do a little something extra to make my birthday special. He would take off on his vespa with a roaster tied to the back. Head to the local eatery and pick up a roast chicken and then off to the bakery for the most scrumptious cake with spumonis on top. Yum! When I was living in Italy and was there for Christmas he went out and bought a traditional sweet bread in the shape of a turkey! He knew that I would miss turkey dinner and that was probably as close as I would get. Little things like that. He never married and lived in Australia for ten years before returning to Italy to look after my grandma after my grandfather passed away. I mean he literally gave up his life for her and after she passed away several years ago he came for a visit and has been coming about every three to four years. I have been very fortunate that I got to know him as well as I do. He speaks fluent english and loves to practice when he comes. Such a wonderful surprise! Tip of the day! If you find money...give it away! You never know what could happen!