untanglingknots.com: August 2009

M.I.A

by Karla ° Saturday, August 29, 2009

I owe you a huge apology, Friends. I’ve been MIA here with my writing and not a day goes by that I don’t feel guilty for not sitting down and unloading my thoughts because that’s what I love. I love writing. I love YOU! I love the fact that you take time to actually visit me here on this small corner of the internet and here I am all barely online and well, yeah, I get it, I suck.

I have a post in the works about my thoughts on returning to a full time job, something I have not done since Ava died in 2005, but for now, Mark and I are cooking homemade pasta sauce and whole wheat pasta from scratch, as in like, totally rolling out the pasta old school style and Nate is calling me to colour with him and life could not be more perfect and holy hell I’ve missed my family this week.

Labels: All in the Family, Nate

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Pretty = FAIL!

by Karla ° Friday, August 14, 2009

So tonight Mark, Nate and I were sitting on our porch enjoying a compelling game of “I Spy With my Little Eye,” which was really cute, actually because Mark and I would spy something green (tree) or furry (Samson) and when it was Nate’s turn to spy something for us he was all, “I spy a black car!” Or, “I spy a flower!” Talk about an efficient kid. Screw the whole suspense of guessing and just get to the point already!

Anyway, when it was Mark’s turn again, he said, “I spy something pretty. Do you see anything pretty Nate?” And he meant to be all nice and get Nate to call his Mom pretty, but do you know what Nate responded? People, my kid said he did not see anything pretty and that he needed a pair of glasses to find it.

I think that totally classifies as a FAIL!

Labels: Kids Say the Cutest Things, Nate

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90 lb lunatic

by Karla ° Monday, August 10, 2009

Samson is as equally smart as he is crazy. It’s a strange phenomena really to have to explain to people who ring my doorbell that the batshit crazy dog whose collar I am struggling to hold onto because he is lunging like a 90 lb lunatic at the prospect of seeing another human is actually a good dog.

The thing is, there are two types of Labs out there. There are the good family oriented English Labs, and then there are the of epic dynamos of endless energy called American Labs. Which basically means we picked the wrong kind. If you have ever read Marley and Me, or saw the movie let me just say that Samson is totally Marley’s long lost American Lab brother. There is just no other explanation for their uncanny and humiliating similarities.

So, Samson is am American Lab and he is three and a half going on three months. He has the potent youthful vitality of a puppy and the majority of his brain is made of rocks with one small part reserved for intelligence. But let’s not confuse dog smarts with wisdom because I’m pretty sure if I asked Samson for advice, every answer would be to eat cheese.

Samson can do the basic dog things like sit, lay down, stand and stay. Except you can't actually speak a command to him because he only obeys sign language. True story. He’s a great running partner who heels right beside you. He can even ring a potty bell to let you know he wants back inside. All this sounds fine and good but then he went and figured out something that makes him too smart for his own good.

People, my dog has gone and figured out how to open a door. Yes that is right, Samson opens doors. Unless it has a door knob because that requires an opposable thumb and I'm still waiting for him to ask for that plastic surgery operation. But yes, he can open doors. All the main floor doors in our house have push levers, so even though he knows how to ring his potty bell to be let in from outside, he does one of two things; he either lets himself in and leaves the door open behind him, or, if the door is locked he gets up on his hind legs and pounds and scratches on the door with his front paws. And when he does that, it sends me fleeing into a fit of rage yelling “NO! Samson NO!” And you see where I’m going with this right? Who has who trained because I’m pretty sure Samson wins on that front for me locking him out in the first place.

One time we tried to teach Samson a trick called “go get me a beer Samson” which was the dumbest thing we could do really because we made it as far as getting him to tug on a towel to open the fridge but then he would head straight for the cheese and that was a very short lived attempt at teaching an old dog new tricks if we wanted to actually use our refrigerator as a place to store food.

Anyway, a few days after we moved in, Mark and I were across the street visiting the neighbours. Mark was outside talking to some people and I was inside sitting at their kitchen table while their preteen made me a pair of earrings and all of a sudden a flash of yellow fur came barreling through their front door. It took me a good five seconds to register the fact that it was Samson! My dog had just decided to let himself out of OUR house, accost and crotch poke the neighbour who lives beside us (we’ve since learned) AND THEN come bolting at the speed of light straight into the house of people whom we’d only known for like half an hour.

I was so mortified and do you think he would let me grab his collar to drag him home? Nope. I had to chase him outside, which made him think we were all having a good old game of chase the dog, so there Mark and I were, the new people in the neighbourhood trying to make a good first impression and all we managed to do was ultimately become a neighbourhood spectable while we chased our dog down the street.

At least Samson has managed to keep one consistent friend in his life.

Labels: From House to Home, Samson

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A week of awesome

by Karla ° Friday, August 7, 2009

I’m feeling so entirely horrible for not writing much these days. I have no excuse really, except that it’s summer, and I just moved into a new house and that it’s summer and there is a sun-drenched patio in my backyard with my name on it.

And this week? Oh this past week has been wicked. I met some very amazing neighbours down the street who fed me delicious food, I connected with friends who I’ve been missing terribly since we moved away, I got hired by a professional photographer to take family photo’s at a wickedly amazing location in Toronto. And? AND! I was offered a full time job as a professional photographer. And the sweetest part? I wasn’t even looking for work. THEY contacted ME! And two interviews later I was offered a four month contract. This sort of stuff only happens in fairytales or something right?

Speaking of photo’s, here are some of my favourite shots from the wedding Angie asked me to assist with in NY a few weeks ago (see my Flickr Photostream for more.) I'm pretty sure they served the most amazing vegetarian gnocchi I've ever had. Also, who knew NY does not serve gravy?

Labels: Photography

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Alphabet Art

by Karla ° Saturday, August 1, 2009

Mark and I are continuing to settle in, but not by unpacking boxes. No we were out of the mountainous pile of boxes what feels like eons ago. Now we’re at the fun part where we get to paint and decorate and ask each other for a divorce everyday over our inability to paint together in perfect domestic harmony. Over the years I have developed a very simple solution to our constant bickering and that is to let Mark do all the work while I take on the very fatiguing task of lifting my exhausted fingers to wipe the sweat off his brow.

For the most part, I like the colours the previous home owners have painted, but some of it is a bit too yellow-y for my taste, and a bit too purple-y for a boys room and a bit too holy hooker red with matching yellow and orange stripped circus curtains for me to feel all Zen eating a fancy pants slice of frozen pizza in the dining room, you know?

That said, it’s been so nice to finally, FINALLY, do things to make this place feel like home because we never did that in the old house. We pretty much moved in expecting to move in a few years anyway and then Ava died and that just hastened our need to start over even more and now, here we are. Starting over. I thought these four pieces of art by Jennifer Blakeley of AlphabetPhotography.com were a good fit for us. We hung them in the hallway leading into the kitchen and the family room, a gentle daily reminder of what this family is all about.

“A Family is like fudge, mostly sweet with a few nuts” – unknown

“We don’t laugh because we are happy. We are happy because we laugh” – William James

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept trying when there seemed to be no hope at all” – Dale Carnegie