BEST MUSIC VIDEO EVER MADE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juEDccTWoN4

Seriously, if you haven't yet, copy that link into your google bar there up top and watch this.  You might see something familiar in there.  And thrashing and hair flinging and musical instruments and y'know, a typical fun Sunday afternoon here at the ol Homestead... curious?  Go check it out!!!

Our old barn! Musicians! Lights! Cameras! MUSIC VIDEO!!!!

Yesterday was the most amazing day -- combining some of my favourite things in the world -- our old, crooked, magnificent barn, and ROCKING YOUR FACE OFF.

Also, cameras and lights, and a bunch of very cool people that I enjoyed having on the property for a whole day. What an experience!  I've been saying for years that our barn would make a fantastic location for a music video, with all those dark spooky corners and cobwebs.  It has a special kind of scary lurking in all the cracks and bumps in the walls.  

Courage My Love are hard working and talented band from Kitchener Ontario, and through modern magical connections of social networking they ended up thrashing in the dirt and dust at the Ol Homestead.

How perfect that this band needed a location, a week after my ol man swept up corner the right size for a drum kit and two amps, but before I got around to clearing out all the dramatic and photogenic cobwebs!

My parents got to meet the band and their producer and manager when we all got home from church, and I thought it was so sweet that my mom and dad were all happy about having a drum kit set up in their barn on a Sunday afternoon.  It was so loud you could hear the playback in the house.  The dust was shaking off the beams and the horses were running around outside the corral trying to see what the big noise was all about.  IT WAS AWESOME.   I must have been like a little kid, walking around grinning all afternoon.  And there was my mother, smiling away, "Oh they're all so nice!  Such nice polite friendly people!"  Well she's absolutely right about that.  Those nice kids are going to make her barn look like the most terrifying place on earth. Awwwww!

The bass player set up a nice little display of my various precious artefacts and antiques.  We just went around picking stuff up, the rustier the better, and now I feel pretty smug about my hoarding tendencies. Like all this time I was saving up junk that would some day look creepy and threatening under the right lighting.  Of course.  

On top of that, my daughter was home for the day with two of her fellow photography students.  What a rich experience to be there while a music video was being made. For me it was pure fun, but for my kids, growing up around the recording process, and now going into the media business, it was an extension of their lifelong education.  I was grateful that my kids got observe.

Days like this remind me that things are a little different here at the Ol Homestead.  Our place is crazy.  It's magnetic.  We've got everything.  The neighbours must be accustomed by now to teenagers with cameras running around in wedding dresses and skeleton tights, or gas masks or whatever got into their heads.  Well it got ratcheted up for real, with a villain slinking up the lane beside the barn in the dark, dragging something through the gravel.  (You'll see!!!)

I can hardly wait to see this video.  It'll probably scare the snot outta me.  In that special kind of scary!

On Mind-reading and Horses and All of Us Talking About Horses!

I recently read something very interesting over on The Mugwump Chronicles.  Janet has been thinking about the responsiveness, the lightness, that we ideally want our horses to have - almost to the point that we think it and the horse does it. She wrote about the discovery that her horses always stood still for her to mount up, because she expected them to.  If any of you horse people out there haven't read this yet, go read it now.  Just go read it.  Even if you aren't a horse person read it anyways.  I'll wait. 





Okay.  I hope you read all the comments too because it really is an interesting discussion!

This is the comment I made:

People meet my horses and always compliment me on how nice and quiet and well behaved they are. And I thank them for the compliment but the whole time I'm thinking, "yeah...because they should be able to be like that and I expect them to." 

And now I'm thinking, duh. What am I expecting during a ride? Confession: they're not all well trained. (one is but she thinks she wants to forget). Don't get me wrong- they're broke. Adequately. They are just right for brand new riders: quiet and polite and agreeable. But I'm still working on lateral movement and lope departures. Collection and lightness. Stuff they should know. 

But I Don't entirely trust my training abilities. 

So. Hmmm. Maybe I don't truly believe it when I think I want them to do something. 

Because last week the one who pretends she forgot all that fancy stuff did a perfect 180 haunch turn. After months of one step at a time. Did she finally figure out what I'm asking or remember it, or did I at last make it clear, or did I expect her to get it right? All of the above?





I've been running this through my brain for a few days now.


I think about it when I open the barn doors and let the horses out for the day.  I don't lead them out one at a time.  I open the door, then let them out of their stalls, and one after the other they neatly walk down the aisle and outside.  In the evening we do the same: I open the door and holler at them, they come in like good little students and head into their own stalls where they wait for me to shut the stall gates.  The only times I halter them to lead them in and out is for practice, or if they know I'm putting them in their stalls to deworm them and they don't wanna.  (And yes, somehow they know.  They just do.)


Now let me tell you about The Loping Problem.  


For years, my half-Arab gelding and I struggled with a nice lope departure.  I'd ask, and he'd slam us into a bone jarring fast trot instead.  He did this to me a few times at shows, which was comical, as he could trot faster than most of those nice little Quarter Horses were loping. I worked on it, mostly out in the pasture field, because in the corral he seemed to run out of room.  It didn't make sense.  He was 14.3h of short bones and muscle.  He could take off from a standstill out in the field on his own.  What was going on?  I tried sidepassing him into it, trotting him in a tight circle in the direction of the lead I wanted, and I tried kicking him senseless.  

I concluded that it was me.  My friend DW had him doing dressage moves, for crying out loud.  The horse was not the problem.  Okay, he was typically stubborn but that wasn't it.  It was me.  I wasn't firm enough, I was a kinda wimpy, and for sure I had this crooked spine problem that I already felt was a problem.  My posture was pathetic and I had great difficulty staying in position without slumping forward.  


Eventually we got it together but it was always a weakness.  Out in the field or on the road, we could lope.  In the corral, we struggled.


Now, big sweet Phoenix who is a darling gentleman on the ground, is totally pluggy under saddle and we're getting some downright ugly lope departures going on.


So we have two situations here.

-they walk single file into the barn and into their stalls because I insist on it.  I had to correct them a few times but now they do it right.  I expect them to do this right.

-I had problems with lope departures with the horse I had for 17 years... and I'm having problems with the gelding I have now... and I'm realizing that I expect to have those difficulties.

(I've eliminated physical problems.  I've got a good fitting saddle and a bit he deals with better than mere toleration.  I lunge him before a ride.)

When I put a student on his back, he plods along like an old pro. He is rock solid and doesn't spook. He goes where his rider puts him.  When I lead him he walks beside me on a nice slack lead rope, he stands tied like a good boy, and lowers his head every time I say "down."

When I ride him, he's lazy and sullen and feels heavy in my hands.

So... I'm going to let him get away with that?  I'm going to let these guys train me into letting them be sluggish and reluctant?


It's so brutally simple, and geez, even slap-your-forehead obvious!  

But I get all hung up on mistakes I made in the past, and pressuring myself to be all perfeshnul, that I forget to...

 just ride and expect my broke horses to just do what I ask them to do!!!





(Isn't it great that we have this place to share our horse philosophies?)

Never thought I'd be the person whose life goes totally sideways without my cellphone....

...but holy heck I just had a tricky couple of weeks here.

Long story short, we are now a FOUR iGADGET FAMILY and I have a brand spankin' new, not hand-me-down, all mine iGadget.

Long story long, I am officially one of those people: useless without my damn phone.

I held off on having one until two years ago, when I no longer had a land line.  It's taken me this long to really get the hang of it.  I have finally figured out how the "contact" section works and how to copy things in email and how not to text a message meant for the husband to the farrier instead.  (Good thing it was just boring stuff like what came in the mail today...)

As of two weeks ago, the family situation was like this:

Jethro - newish iPhone 4 with a sticky home button that sometimes worked right.

Me - his previous iPhone 3GS (whatever the heck that stands for) which I really liked even though there was a little dark spot in all the pictures it took.

Bucky & Annyong - his first iPhone, 3G I believe, which I thought was totally adequate in the first place but apparently not bell- and-whistly enough.

He'd given Bucky the old Gadget to use as an iPod, since Annyong already had a nice iPod.

Then the two teenagers landed a babysitting gig which they traded days... and the family has no land line.  I had awful thoughts about a kid breaking an arm or something and one of my kids out there beside a corn field needing to cross a busy highway to use a neighbour's phone to call for help.  So after a long discussion about responsibility usage and blah blah blah we activated the old Gadget.  No data, no email, just text messaging and calls on weekends and after 9pm.  Bucky gives the Gadget to Annyong when she goes to work.  And they'd have to each come up with some cash for the phone bill, what with them being employed and all.

It was working halfway decently, this system.

About two weeks ago this thing started.  My phone didn't work.  I missed a call from a student and wasn't here when she showed up for a lesson.  OOPS.  She was cool about it but I was getting worried. I wasn't getting calls, I wasn't getting messages, I was afraid I'd lose all three of my riding students!!!

Turns out it had to do with Jethro getting really sick of that wonky home button.  So he went out and got a new iPhone 4GS SS R/T whatever the heck acronym that phone's hauling around.

Everybody moved down a phone.

He spent a whole afternoon talking to the phone company to get us all four set up, get a number for each kid's phone, set up the data plan, bitch about the astronomical amount they're charging us and getting a better plan and oh man it was hardcore boring.

I walked away from that with two teenagers packing cellphones, something I'd vowed wouldn't darn well happen for a long time yet, and a newish iPhone 4 with a wonky home button.  I spent a couple hours setting up all the apps - which I find amusing because in my world the Apps are out in the field grazing and swishing their tails over their spotted rumps - making sure everything had moved over to the newish phone and recording a new voicemail greeting.

I also had to do some damage control with my students.

At least I had some peace of mind knowing that if one of the kids missed the bus or something, I wouldn't be driving all over the county and the town looking for a lost teenager.

Well one night Bucky decided to upgrade my iGadget to OS 10 or 10.5 or man I am not good with numbers.

THINGS LOOKED DIFFERENT.  AGAIN.

Like, I'm easily confused.  If it looks different it's like I've never seen the damn thing before.  Every time Google changes the email page I almost cry.  I'm lost.

I'm like a horse who walks into the barn one day and there's a DIFFERENT COLOUR BUCKET IN THE STALL and I cannot go in there because clearly, that is not my stall.

But Bucky 'splained it all and I was getting hip to the whole thing.


About a week into my new relationship with Newish iGadget, that sticky wonky home button just gave up.  I was on email and I had to turn the damn thing off and turn it back on again to use the phone.

Know what I hate more than trying to figure out something new?  I hate when things don't work.  I just want things to work, dammit.

I found myself at the Apple store 40 minutes away from home, relieved that it wasn't further away than that, with a young fella in a blue T shirt telling me I'd be getting a new phone.

Which resulted in a frenzied discussion with the teenagers about whether or not Daddy backed up all the crap on my gadget with the computer.

A couple hours later, I was in my bed, calling Bucky over to my room because... EVERYTHING WAS BACK TO MY OLD KIND OF DIFFERENT AGAIN AND ALL THAT STUFF I PUT ON THE DEFECTIVE PHONE WAS GONE OR SOMETHING.

I don't remember what happened next.  I think it involved recording a new voicemail greeting that might end with me giggling because Bucky tickled my foot on his way out of my room.

I'm liking my new gadget, I must say.  It's NEW new.  I got a bright pink bumper to put on it.  The screen is perfectly clear, even to my 40 year old eyeballs.  It doesn't dim enough for those eyeballs but I just look at it sideways and it's ok.  I've got all my favourite head banging tunes on it.  At some point I will again organize the pictures into albums like I did on one of the other iterations of this thing.

All's well, right?  We can put the techno-drama to rest for a time now?

Nope.

Last night the computer got upgraded from Liger to Lion.

LOOKS DIFFERENT DIOFWEHFSOIDJ.  Really slick and awesome, but different.  And of course in the morning my gadget and computer are all like, "Dude, who?  Man I don't even know you."

I try to scroll down the computer screen and it doesn't move.  Ohhhhh.... turns out it scrolls the same way the gadget does.  Backwards.  Ok.  Sigh.  I'll get used to it.

I've got all my little pictures (icons?) on the iGadget screen in the right order again.  Some time I'll reorganize the photo albums for the third time.  And delete duplicate contacts out of the phone list again.

I am pretty sure all my students can reach me if they need to.  But then, how would I know if they couldn't????????


When I go out to the pasture to visit Phoenix 1.0 and Oakie 1.0 and Copper 1.0  I'll be quietly pleased that all I need to do to upgrade them is go at them with a brush and a bottle of ShowSheen.

INCOMMUNICADO: So far the drug withdrawal isn't as bad as I expected...

Might not be hearing much from me this week!

That's because last Tuesday I decided (with the help of Dr Santastic) to get off the Effexor, or as I like to call it, Side-e-ffexor.  It never seemed like the right thing for me. Although it did do what I needed it to do, which was to stop those awful thoughts I was having.  Those kind of kill-kill-die-die thoughts.  The too-hard-to-live thoughts.  The just-fall-down-and-die thoughts.

If you've been reading Hick Chic since the beginning, you might remember the Celexa withdrawal.  Then the drug-free years.  Then the admission that all my carefully learned techniques for mental health weren't cutting it anymore.  That's when I knew I had to GO GET SOME HELP and if that's a trip to the family doctor and a new prescription then that's what it takes!

Let me repeat: IF YOU NEED HELP GO GET IT.  Never be afraid to ask.

So that was three years ago. Last summer I totally lucked out and landed in the office of DR SANTASTIC!  He is awesome.  I feel so fortunate to finally find a pshrink who Gets me.  He figured early on that this ain't the right stuff for me.  The constant low-grade nausea and intermittent mild zapping shocks through my skull were solid indications.

I hope this isn't boring to read... i just feel it's important to share this stuff.  If blogging has taught me anything it's that I'm not alone with this stuff.

In January Dr Santastic started me on Wellbutrin.  So far so good.

We have talked about the whole tangled mess of ADHD and depression and a life without a diagnosis of  either/ both and all kinds of other heavy stuff...which I won't be sharing here cuz it's mine and it wouldn't help you anyways.  For various reasons we agreed to stop the Effexor and later try something for ADHD.  Last month we tried just lowering the dose and slowly wean me off of this but that just dragged it out and was fixing to be a long drawn out stretch of HELL.

I have a severe sensitivity to drugs.  All of 'em.  It took, like, 5 months of small agony to clear out the Celexa.  I can't do that.  Don't want to either.  A whole summer of misery and lost income...here's where I confess that I haven't been teaching... or even riding.  That's when you know there is something wrong with me.

Short story long:  I'M DOING THIS THE HARD FAST WAY.

Not exactly Cold Turkey.  Kinda room temperature turkey.  Yuck.

(Just so you know,  I'm not saying this is the way to go.  It's just the way I decided, with my doctor's advice.)

Last week I took out the morning dose.

Okay... not as bad as I thought...

Seriously I expected worse.

I was all set up for full on rock star level, Keef Richards style, sweating and puking and shivering on the floor of a hotel bathroom, chewing my own skin off horrible withdrawal.


Hmm.  Okay.  Don't want to eat but I've been like that for over a month now.  Shooting pains?  Yeah.  I've survived that before.  I reported it to Dr Santastic and he told me it's up to me to decide how I can take this...as I sat there with trembly hands and numb lips, trying to finish sentences... no I did not drive myself there.

I said, you know what, screw it.  I've washed the bedding, I pulled weeds, I wrote up lists of things the kids have to take over for me and warned the family.  I'm pretty much never alone in this house; if I got any withdrawal-induced psychotic ideas I'll be stopped.  I'm taken care of and if I'm gonna do it now's the time... Let's just DO THIS.  I wanna get it over with.


Saturday I cut out the last dose and here I am.

I feel pretty much medium-grade miserable.  Every time I move I feel sharp pains shooting through the back of my skull and often right through to my hands.  If I hold still I'm okay, sort of.  I sweat my way through the night.  I don't really want to eat at all.  I'm dizzy.  My hands are shaky and I'm a little off balance.

BUT 

it ain't as bad as I expected it to be!!!!!

I don't know how long this will take.  Weeks?  Months?  A couple more days?  Hey man, we'll get through this!

But dudes, people, readers, cyber pals.  Typing is kinda not happening right now so I don't think I'll be blogging much.  Just wanna drink water and read (when my prickly eyeballs can tolerate it) and not have that zapping pain every time I hit a key.  I'm in a surprisingly decent mood.  Can you all just kind of keep the party going in the comments section for me?  I'd appreciate that.  I'll check in sometimes.

SEE YOU ALL ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS! 

HEIDI THE HICK'S 2011 JUNO REPORT!!! NOW FEATURING THE YOUNGUNS!!

Yeah I know it's about three weeks late.  Blame the intermittent net.  Anyways I'm baaack!  And I brought our kids!

We did something special this year, what with the Juno Awards being held in Toronto, less than 2 hours away from home...we brought our kids, because they have been patient with this crazy biz and deserve to have some fun!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, I officially present... OUR YOUNGUNS!

The Girl, fka Tribble, aka Annyong, me and the Boy, aka Bucky.

And here they thought we were getting to the show in a big ol tacky SUV limo just for fits and giggles... Oh hey look, guys, what's this?  A crowd of screaming people?  Cameras?  BEN MULRONEY???

But I'm jumping ahead here.  Let me take you to the Saturday evening Gala Awards Dinner Event Where We Sit With Other Engineers And Behind The Scenes People!

The actual award itself is different this year.  

Now the little glass guy is in his/her/its own little pod!

I think there are 30 awards given out on the Saturday night.  It's not televised.  That's probably a good thing since there are bottles of wine on the tables, which miraculously get replaced when empty.  It could turn into the Golden Globe Awards at any time!  Lookout!  

Generally everybody behaves themselves.  It's quite amazing considering how the music biz is full of people who are of the slightly crazy, possibly flaky, most likely unable to follow directions, probably ADHD creative artist types!  (and those types of people usually are my favourites!)

This is Kellylee Evans.  She was so thrilled with her Vocal Jazz award...

...that she started singing right there at the podium.  

What a beautiful moment!

This young lady's first name is Nicole, and since I didn't keep my program and have a bad memory, I can't tell you what her last name is.  I can tell you that she sang kd lang's "Constant Craving," and that it felt like approximately 2000 people held their breath.

And she got a standing ovation.  

The young fella with the guitar at centre stage is Justin Nozuka.  I'd heard of him, but hadn't heard him.

He's great!  I plan to hear more of him in the future. 

The evening was hosted by two of my favourite Canadian broadcast personalities.  (Is that what they're called?  What's the actual job title??)

Jian Ghomeshi and Seamus O'Regan.  Or as Seamus said, the "Persian-Irish Wayne & Shuster."  Maybe you have to be Canadian and over 40 to get that joke.  It made me chuckle.

I watch Seamus most mornings on Canada AM.  He's from Newfoundland.  Automatically likeable!

I don't catch Jian's show nearly often enough, which is a shame because I think he's awesome. I'm a fan.

Before announcing the Recording Engineer of the Year award, he called out, "So how about those Engineers?" and our entire table erupted - yes, ERUPTED - into vigorous cheers!  (Later that night my husband got a chance to personally thank him for the recognition!)

And who did the award go to?

The multi-talented, world rocking Kevin Churko.

Not only a seriously great recording engineer/ producer, but also a genuinely good person. In a bearded, boots-wearing haavy kind of way.

Four words here, people: two Ozzy Osbourne records.  

Serious admiration for this guy!

Generally, the big televised awards are what people pay attention to.  This is where the Big Stars are dragged out.  This year's host was Drake, who apparently is a really really really big deal.

I know nothing about rap, so I can't comment on that, but the guy handled the telecast hosting job extremely well!  He was charming and kept things moving, and even did a bit of singing.  Also, he went to an old folk's home to learn how to roll.  I guess.  He even brought them to show.  That was nice.

What a nice young fella.

So we snuck the red carpet thing onto our kids, which was AWESOME!  That was, for Jethro and I, the best part of the entire weekend!

Of course, the organizers of the event are very careful to NOT get us non-famous people anywhere in the line of a camera.  It's actually kind of funny how they avoid us.  

A girl on the other side of the barrier leaned over and asked, "How did you get there?"  I told her my husband's a Juno-winning recording engineer.  I didn't tell her it wasn't this year, but anyways.  And then she said, "Oh you're so lucky, you get to meet Drake!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  

"We're not getting anywhere near him," I told her.  

So my kids didn't get to meet the guys in Hedley.  Annyong especially was disappointed.

Aw well.  Can't have everything.  

However we did walk past the Barenaked Ladies!  

Did I mention it was freakin' cold that day? Good thing they weren't bare nekkid for real.  Of course, there had to be a few women wearing ridiculous outfits with way too much skin showing for a late March Canadian afternoon.  And all of these skimpy outfits were white. I didn't get to actually see any of this, what with us being shooed through the line, but I saw the pix the next day.  It made me giggle.  It's so hard to look sexy when you're freezing.  Not that I'd know.

So at one point I was looking at this man, tall guy, maybe in his 50s, with wavy dark hair, slightly grey, and wearing glasses.  Who is that man?  Do I know him?  Where do I know him from?  Entertainment lawyer?  Label owner?  Stellar musician I've met over and over and keep mistaking him for someone else?  Who is this guy?"

It was Robbie Robertson.  

Geez.  

At least I recognized Randy Bachman. 

We did have a close encounter with the Worldwide Famous...

...but I'll save that for last.

So my kids finally got a look at what happens while people at home are watching commercials.  As it turned out, not much, this year.  Forty years worth of Juno footage in 2-minute clips.  No comedians, nobody on the stage warning us about seat sitters taking our spot if we get up to go to the can.  

Down With Webster opened the show, and I quickly decided that they're one of those bands who are fun on a screen but electrifying in person. 

I think there are about eight or 17 guys in this band, not counting the dudes in the back in marching band outfits while pretending to be playing tubas.

This is the THING in Canadian music these days.  Bands with like, 23 of your best friends.  I counted eight people in Arcade Fire the first time they picked up an award, but later when they performed I think there were 11 people. Or maybe 17.  Heck it might have been 25, it was hard to tell.  

Later when Broken Social Scene played, I almost went dizzy trying to count everybody.  Ten or eleven?  Twenty-seven?  Hey that's fun and all, but maybe, when there's a guy on stage who's just clapping behind a microphone... do you think maybe somebody has a hard time saying no to their friends who wanna be in a band???

Now I confess, I'm not an Arcade Fire fan.  But I will say that they rocked the place.  I mean, I wouldn't say they rock, necessarily, but they totally threw themselves into the performance with energy and passion!

I still hate the frontman's hair.

Deadmau5 has the solution for pesky hair problems. 

Yeah we caught a glimpse of him outside before the show and I said, "Kids, look!  He's wearing his Formal Dress Head!"  Check out the look on Buck 65's face.    

And then Bryan Adams showed up to give Shania Twain a Hall of Fame award.  

There was so much Worldwide Famous on that stage that the universe almost collapsed under the weight.  

Measha Bruggergosman presented an award with two of the Great Big Sea guys, and was smart enough to tell us to protect our ears before naming the J Biebs. 

Holy screaming girls.  

I mean just wow.

The kid wasn't even there - the girls screamed deliriously at a video of him saying thanks.  Wow.

At some point we had a big medley or two.  

There are now 40 years worth of tributes and recognition and sing-along classics, man.  If we'd forgotten some of those songs and artists we were reminded.  Dude.  Neil Young was there.  In person.  

He showed up with his buddy-producer, Daniel Lanois.  Look at these two!  It's like they called each other first!  What a pair!

They even appeared to be wearing the same clothes the next day, when Neil Young received his Humanitarian Award.  What practical dudes.  They must travel light.  Smart.

That's a whole lotta grizzled coolness on one stage eh?

Hedley performed, and that always makes me happy because they are so exciting live!  

I enjoy this band maybe even more than I should.  If you get a chance to see them live, go!!!!  They will rock you and your world, at the same time!

Jacob's piano was all lit up from the inside.  Cooool.  

Tokyo Police Club were pretty good!  

They still look like they're in high school!

Two-thirds of Rush presented an award.  

What distinguished gentlemen of rock.  Geddy Lee, do not ever cut that hair.  

So to finish off the show, an interesting act called Chromeo wheeled their lady-legs keyboards out for something called, very accurately, "Hot Mess." 

What does it say about the Girl and I that we found Sarah McLaughlin's song to be nice but we thought Chromeo was hilarious and brilliant?

I mean, if this is about entertainment, this is it.  This is nothing if not entertaining.

Guitar face and everything.  They even had a line of Robert Palmer style backup lip sync/ dancers.

Remember I mentioned a big huge moment on the red carpet?  

We were standing there gawking around when a group of men in black - I'm not kidding, actual men in black with those little earpieces - cruised past us.  I heard one saying in a low voice, "...and the name is Tanya Kim" which made me perk up my ears, because I watch Tanya Kim and Ben Mulroney after lunch!  And see this picture? This is that day!!!  

And the six guys in black?  They swept past, and disappeared, and Tanya Kim was standing on a platform right in front of us with Shania Twain.

For real people, like a few feet away from us. 

This was taken with an iPhone, so does this show how close we were?  

Annyong said she smelled really nice.

Of course I suggested she have her picture taken "with her."  The kid was a big little fan when she was ten!  

Now she can say she is in a picture with Shania Twain.

And let me say, this woman is petite and seriously as beautiful as expected.  She's truly lovely.  

Bucky got in on the photo-bombing.  

I looked at this picture all blown up and I'm sure she's looking over sideways at us.  

Yikes.

After the show, the kids retired to our hotel room for cable TV and a few rowdy games of Dutch Blitz.  We'd come back from whatever label party we showed up at, creeping in at 2 or 3 am, and there were our teenagers, sleeping away.  In the morning we'd compare our evenings.  

And that, my friends, was our family adventure to the Juno Awards.  

I'd have to say, overall, the whole thing was a bit of a non-event, sadly.  I think it's a combination of shrinking budgets at the record labels, and Toronto.  There's just too much going on in the city to compete with the Junos.  And I think Toronto is too cool to be seen getting excited about much of anything.  Also?  Unseasonably cold this year!

I do hope it gets moved around to other cities again. It brings an excitement, and it's different every year. But being in Toronto meant no plane tickets, so we could afford to bring our kids.  It made all the hassle and expense of spending the weekend there totally worth it!  

(for a look at a lot of great press photos from the weekend, go to Upvenue!)

FIRE BREATHING FISTS!!!!

You know what is the only thing that actually goes away if you ignore it?


A celebrity.



But when said Famous Person goes off on a rant of epic and delusional proportions... I'm sorry.  I really am, but I must watch.  It's the old Trainwreck thing.  You gotta watch.  You can hate yourself for it, you can feel the full impact of the shame while you fuel the attention grabbing, but you can't tear your eyes away.  It is literally spectacular.

I mean, the guy is eloquent, I'll give him that.  I recommend you read this link.  It rivals Kanye.

Also, great timing there Carlos.  It's awards show season and I have work to do, and readers to provide for and I don't have time for this!!!  sigh.

Along with farm&family related things, I'm preparing my incredibly comprehensive, humourous, eye popping OSCAR REPORT!  I don't know when it'll be ready.  Tomorrow I have a doctor visit, a hay run, and then taking my boy Bucky to a physics lecture.  All in one day!  I might attempt as well to chop firewood and dictate my memoirs while announcing that I am actually a rock star from Mars.  Heck why not.

I turn 40 in five days! WE PARTY NOW!!!!

Yep, I am about to hit the big 4-0

It matters not how I feel about this milestone... 

...I'm turning 40!  

And I'm throwing a big imaginary birthday party for meeeeeee!

So git in here!  I painted my front door bright blue and hung up a nice festive wreath what with my birthday coinciding with Christmas and all!

Oh yeah, I did some intense decorating.  I even got rid of all the cobwebs in the ceiling corners.  

Now that you're in the door, let me put a glass of Blog Nog in your hand!

I've got Regular and Extra!

Even those who don't like egg nog in real life are crazy about my Blog Nog.  It has no calories!  It has no nothing, just fun!

Just in case you're fake-hungry, I am prepared.

Little chippy dippy things... yeah I don't know what they are.  We'll just pretend they're tasty.

We've got twisty bread kind of things.

Some kind of cheese thing.  

I've always busted out the Tiny Cheeseburgers, and while I still believe they are very cute and likely tasty as well, it has come to my attention that they are now being called "Sliders."  I find this very unappetizing.  It makes me think of gulping them down whole.  What are we, pugs?  (And wasn't there a TV show from the past starring Jerry McConnell called Sliders?  Help me out here.  Biddie?  Anybody? Discuss!)

So none of those. Instead, Tiny Sammiches!

Tell me if they're good, okay?  

And also, because even in Blog World I like to be healthy, some veggies and dip!

What?  You don't like veggies?

Oh come on!  Work with me here.  (We're imagining, geddit?)

Okay, fine, have some pigs-in-a-blanket.

Wash it down with this!

Or this, if you insist on being all phosisticated.

Or the other kind.

Some people just can't go along cheerfully?

No problem.  I got the good stuff too!

Best of all, being purtend, everybody can make it home safely!

HEY HANG ON, WHOA THERE.

I'M TURNING 40?

40?

SERIOUSLY?  

DOES THIS MEAN I HAVE TO BE A GROWN UP NOW?

I think I sorted this out at 30, actually.  

I'm okay.  

(I cheated anyways... that picture above was taken when I was 37ish.)

I feel more like this now.

hahaha!

Question - does life really begin at 40?  Discuss.

 LIGHT ME UP THOSE CANDLES!

Somebody here must know how to play piano, am I right?  Bust out some songs, people.  

Yeah, now we're talkin'!  Boom box baby!  

Of course, the party always ends up in the kitchen.

You might find me in my new attic library though.  

Maybe later we can go play in the snow!

I asked for a pygmy goat for my birthday last year.  One of Jethro's clients thought that was the craziest thing he'd ever heard.  But why wouldn't I want a little goat?  

Look how cute she is!!!

She can't sleep on my bed though.  The Pug and the cat are already there, and Jethro takes up a bit of room too.  sigh.  I guess I can ask for a cute little goat for my 41st birthday, right?

Hey.  Check it out.  I made it to 40.  

Any more Christmas babies out there?

How about The Gorgeous And Talented Amazing Annie Lennox?

And of course, even though he probably wasn't born on Christmas day at all... and most likely did not look European and saintly...

I just like him so I'll include him.

Name some more?  

Pretend to eat drink and be merry?  Sing me happy birthday?  Give me an imaginary critter to add to my collection?  Party like a rock star?

Meet in the comments section!