The Ideal Siesta

Maybe the Mexicans are on to something here...Found this little list of tips for a restful night of sleep at a restaurant we stopped at on our trip to Mexico.

A Little Boy is Excited for Christmas

Came home from work, exhausted, the other day to find Roan excitedly waiting for me so he could show me something in the living room. 

Lo and behold I found out the 50 pound kid dragged the artificial tree up from the basement all by his little old self.  And once he got it upstairs he managed to get it put together and standing in the corner of the living room. 

While stringing it with lights and decorating it was the last thing I wanted to do on Wednesday night, I felt after all that hard work and clear determination to get that tree upstairs I couldn't break his spirit by not following through on my end.  So I frustratingly strung the lights then let him at it.  He decorated the entire tree himself.  And then he put all the excess lights and decorations he didn't use (the back of the tree is completely bare) back in the basement.  I didn't do anything to that tree but hate life momentarily while I strung the lights.  This tree is his masterpiece entirely.  Pretty much makes me love our tree this year. 

Another Sign

The other day Eric came home after having randomly bought me three scratch tickets.  Not terribly normal of him.  Two BINGO ones and one Crossword one. 

It took me until I'd finished the whole card before I realized that the word KIT was even on it.  But more interesting is that it was the only word I actually had completed.   I asked Eric if he had picked the card intentionally and he said no, it was tucked in amongst the other cards.  So I showed him....

Come on, even as a skeptic I have to believe.  There have been just too many 'coincidences'.

I'm watching dad, keep letting me know you're here. 

Mind? Blown!

I love when someone randomly hands me a blog post. 

Today during a funeral Erin came to me and said, "I think some man just handed me a huge bag of dope."  To which I replied, "WHAT??"

Here's the story:

A man who was dressed in an extremely wrinkled suit (I swear it was balled up in the trunk of his vehicle before he put it on) approached EP with a black canvas zip up bag and asked her to hold on to it while he went into the chapel for the service (an uncommon, but not out of the realm of possibilities, request).  Immediately upon taking it into her care she smelled that old familiar scent and came into my office to have the above conversation.  Following my disbelief I went to the front desk to find the bag and was smacked in the face by the smell of A LOT of weed. 

I moved into the centre office and I (yup, I'm like that) opened said bag to find at least a thousand dollars (street value) of weed broken up into sellable baggies.  Intermingled amongst the weed was Axe body spray and packs of minty gum.  If those were in there to mask the smell they were failing miserably. 

After the funeral we could literally hear him bound down the hall looking for 'his bag'.  At this point I replied, "Your bag is making my back office smell like a grow op!"  To which he apologized.  I asked him how sorry he was a couple of times (trying more so to hint that perhaps he should leave one of those conveniently pre-packaged bags with us to divie up) and then blatantly (after he missed my cues) asking him what the holding fee would be.  He stupidly replied, "I'll never come here again."  To which I replied, "Bullshit, we'll end up burying you.". 

So, he leaves approximately $1000.00 worth of weed with random strangers after bringing it to a funeral for someone close enough that he was asked to be a pallbearer.  And our coach driver is a retired Vice cop with Hamilton P.D. (oh of course I showed him!)  I have to pose the question...is this the dealers first day on the job????

My mind?  Officially BLOWN!

A Chip of the Ol' Block (x 2)!

What goes around, comes around.
History repeats itself.
Turn about is fair play.
Life has a way of coming full circle.

All those sayings we've heard plenty of times in our lives.  And they have frequently been proven too true in many cases.  Yesterday seemed to be a day spent having those sayings tossed in my face.  My mother always said I'd end up with a child just like me.  And I would rue the day.... Seems I have ended up with two children just like me.  All I can hear in my head right now is the Count from Sesame Street counting my children and then cackling in his creepy little broken laugh.  

When I was a young lass (somewhere around the age of 10), my mom took me to the States with her to do some Christmas shopping.  While we were there she picked up quite a large amount of my brother's Christmas presents.  Later after I got home, I went snooping in the known hiding spot (parents closet) to see what they had gotten little old me for Christmas.  I can't remember now what they were but I'm sure I was smitten at the time.  And excited.  Not nearly as excited as I would be on Christmas morning I later found out (knowing ahead of time what you got is zero fun on the actual day!  Who'd have thunk?).  So excited in fact that I was positive my brother would be excited when I told him what he was getting for Christmas too!!  Wrong.  He was bummed and told my mom that I had told him everything she bought for him on our shopping trip.  Needless to say I had to endure the worst lecture of disappointment ever.  So much so, that it's one of the lectures from my mom that I actually remember. 

So (back to the present tense...), after the eye opener earlier in the evening with Gage (of which I'm feeling mildly better about after having two conversations with him last night and probably more each day),  Eric and I made the trek out around 9 to grab some groceries.  When we got home, I asked Roan if he'd gone snooping for his Christmas presents and he assured me he had not.  Little bugger even looked me in the eye (though not overly convincingly) and promised me that he hadn't.  BUT, we all know that parents have ways of finding out these things don't we??  When I went upstairs, it was clear that he in fact had been snooping around and now the kid has gone up and ruined Christmas for himself.  So called out on his lie, I proceeded to give him the exact same lecture my mother had given me when I had gone up and ruined Christmas for not only myself, but for my brother as well.  Verbatim.  By the time I was done, he had responded pretty much the same way I  had.  With tears and guilt. 

I'm about ready to be done with the lectures for a while.  Two in one day is enough thanks!  I want my little angels back.

In the Need of Some Good Old Fashioned Advice

So I was well aware this day would come.  And I know I am truly blessed that my child still talks to me about this sort of thing or rather just talks to me about it, no 'still' necessary.  Tonight, I was made privy (by Gage) to the fact that Gage has drank twice (with the end result, intoxication) and tried weed once (not sure he actually inhaled).  All three events occured with the same kid(s). 

I'm trying to remember that some experimentation is normal, but I'm stumped on how to make sure he knows where to draw the line.  I'm trying not to let irrational fears create unnecessary anxiety for me. Of course I experimented when I was a teenager too, but now this is my kid I'm talking about.  And well the rules of the game this time around are completely different.  Unlike me,  who was impervious to anything bad and totally smart when it came to this stuff, I'm not feeling that same confidence when it comes to him. 

I'm grateful that for the most part he doesn't soley hang out with this particular kid.  He hasn't ditched his original group of friends (yet!).   And I know 'banning' him from hanging out with "Bad Seed" isn't the right approach. He'll hang out with Bad Seed regardless of what I say.  So what's the right approach? 

I'm reaching out to my friends who are parents of teenagers, my friends/family who have long since raised teenagers and now have adult children, and my friends who don't have kids, but were the experimental teenager.  As a parent, how do I deal with this without being overbearing and in his face thus pushing my child away or being far too lenient that I just become an enabler and unknowingly walk him down that slippery slope?   Am I panicking right out of the gates?  I'm trying really, really hard to remember back to my teenage years and trying to figure out what the best approach would have been for me.  Had I been busted. 

HELP!!

Parental Jeopardy

The answer is:  Crying.  Also called sobbing, weeping, bawling, or blubbering.

The question (answer):  What is Holly doing after logging into Facebook and stumbling across the most recent picture her son was tagged in?

Redundancy

Before I went to Mexico my mom asked me to accompany her to one of her work functions because she didn't really feel up to going alone.  Her boss and offered to upgrade her hotel room to a suite so I could join her and bring Eric and the boys along.  While we went to dinner Eric and Roan went swimming in the hotel pool and did their own thing for dinner.  The suite was alright, and had a fantastic view of the horseshoe falls from our window.  

So I thought it pretty redundant that they felt the need to hand prints of Niagara Falls all over the hotel suite.  I mean you've got the real deal right outside your glass wall for crying out loud.  I mean, I could understand if we didn't have a fallsview room, but...  In my opinion, this is redundancy at its finest.

The picture, not so great, but you get the jist. 

Coba

We booked a day trip away from the resort that took us to an archeological site that only recently has started to be unearthed (I believe it's only been for the past 10 years of so).  It was/is a town/village called Coba in the Mayan jungle.  It took us about 2 hours to get into the heart of the Yucitan territory.  We drove through many small communities enroute to our final destination that gave us a more realistic glimpse into how a lot of the citizens of Mexico still live.  In small huts with no running water or electricity.  A very different world than I am exposed to.  Dogs everywhere, strays wandering all around, on the side of the highway even.  Sadly we noticed even small toddlers without obvious parental supervision also frequented the side of the highways. 

Once we got to Coba, we were assigned a guide for 45 minutes before we were permitted to explore on our own for an hour.  Our tour guide Juan is a Mayan.  His first language is Mayan, not spanish.  He learned spanish in school.  He learned Italian and English and French from movies and tv.  For reals.  He spoke VERY fluent English. 

That's a side view of Juan.  That mound of rocks and earth and growth is actually a Mayan building that has yet to be unearthed in the restoration process.  The Mayan jungle is flat, so anything that resembles a hill or 'mountain' is an old ruin.  If they start taking the rocks and trees and dirt away, a building will be uncovered.  Pretty amazing.  The part of Coba we saw consisted of a small church/temple, a palace, an inverted temple/ball court, an observatory and the main temple of Coba where the sacrifices where made.  The life sacrifices in Coba were mainly animals and not too many humans.  These unearthed buildings comprise only 1% of the village of Coba.  The village construction first began 2-3 hundred years after the death of Christ.

That above picture gives a little more detail about the archeological site.  Pretty fascinating and hard to grasp that people lived in these ruins and just how old they actually are.  It's surreal to have stood in that spot and wonder who else has also been there. 

The above is one half of an inverted temple.  On the outside of the temple are rings.  The object of the game was to put a very heavy ball through the rings.  The game was played in teams.  The catch was that the players were not permitted to use their hands, feet or head to get the ball through the rings.  They were only permitted to use their shoulders, elbows and thighs.  The winners of the game were then sacrificed.  It was deemed an honour to sacrifice yourself to the 9 Gods they worshiped.  11 when they added Catholicism.  (Jesus and God if I remember correctly).  The sacrifice consisted not of dying, but of piercing a blunt object through their penises and pouring their fertility blood to the Gods.   When the women were sacrificed, they pierced their tongues and the blood from the tongues and penises was spilled for the Gods. 

This is a smaller temple in the Coba Village.  Their services were often held here.  The 'priests' were at the top and the level you were at on the side of the temple reflected your financial worth in society.  As you climb the temple you were in a bowing formation thus showing respect to the leaders.  The poor were at the bottom and the rich towards the top.  The Mayans didn't believe in Heaven and Hell.  They believed in the sky (temples going up), the earth (land they lived on) and the cenotes (underground waters, inverted temples). 

This was the ruins of a palace.

This is me and Margie with our Mayan Limo driver, Abraham.  He rode the bike, we plopped our lazy asses down in the basket on the front of the bike.  He rode us all the way to the big temple so we'd have more time to climb the structure and not miss our bus.  He was a total sweetheart. 

This big boy was the main reason we wanted to do this trip.  It's the last of the Mayan ruins where you are still permitted to climb the structure.  The rumour is that each year they (whoever "they" are) keep toying with the idea that they will shut it down to the public.  So far though it remains open.  There are 120 steps (but some are as big as two feet high) to the top/alter.  We vowed to climb it.  Easier for me than Margie as she's afraid of heights.  But she persevered and we made it.  I stopped half way to take a photo and we had a little siesta when we got to the top before turning and looking down at what we'd climbed.  Going down was far scarier than going up, that's for sure!  In the ancient times the Mayans leaned more towards sacrificing animals rather than humans.  Aside from the genital sacrifices of course. 

Halfway up, I braved turning around and looking down.

Margie grateful to be at the top.  Shaking like a leaf.  She was killing me.  Which you'll see evidence of in the next photo.  I'm such a sweet and supportive friend. 

Holy fucken shitballs!!  This is awesome!

As I mentioned the climb down was more daunting than going up.  You had to position your body accordingly so gravity didn't take over.  There was a large rope in the centre for you to hang on to for dear life.  Margie took the descent on her ass most of the way but after a few ass bumps down, I thought I'd try it on my feet and I got a pretty good groove going.  We later asked Abraham (our limo driver that I introduced at the beginning of this post) how many people fell to their death each year and to please be honest, because I wouldn't believe it didn't happen.  He said on average FIVE!!  Now is that five lone deaths or one idiot who stumbled and took out four innocent bystanders on the way down?  I'll never know.  A whole different theory on Mayan sacrifice or Mayan ball games (bowling anyone?). 

The view from the top!

After Coba we hopped back in our van and headed to a Mayan community where we were going to be ziplining next.  I was very excited needless to say about this portion of the trip.  I've never done it and I've always wanted to try it.   I was pretty sure I'd need to be pushed off the platform and I was right.  But it was uber fun and I'd love to do it again but from even higher and for a longer distance.  This one we did was like ziplining from the top of the gorge to the bottom (for those familiar with the Gorge). 

Following ziplining we then repelled down into the ravine we'd just zipped over.  It was a beautiful little jungle down there.  I have to admit the rapelling terrified me more than the ziplining did.  Frankly getting pushed off a rock wall backwards is not how I envision spending my day.  And going down the line created an intense burning in my hands even with the disgusting gloves they gave us to wear.  But I'd still do it again if the opporutnity arises.  It was pretty awesome climbing down the side of the ravine wall to the beauty that awaited below.  

After hiking back up the ravine to the top, we reboarded our chariot and headed to a secluded area where we then kayaked through a marsh to hike our way through an actual jungle.  As we trekked through we stumbled upon a trapdoor spider nest/home.  I wasn't sticking around to do a meet and greet.  Frankly I had just rapelled and ziplined, that was enough adventure for me thanks. 

Part way through our hike we came across a beautiful wooden alter in the middle of the jungle.  And shortly after arriving we were joined by a real Mayan Shaman who was going to give us a traditional Mayan blessing on the jungle floor.  I didn't give too much of a shit about this either way, but man once he started I was overcome with emotion.  Not sure if it was just this whole year catching up with me or what, but I felt like I wanted to stand there and cry.  I didn't of course, there were people there I didn't know for crying out loud.  That would be embarrassing.  Yeesh.   And it was really truly interesting to learn a little about the Shaman.  He has lived in the jungle since he was about 4.  He was raised there.  He is currently 76 years old.  He lives in a hut just outside of the entrance to the cenote we were heading to.  He has no doors, no windows, a thatch roof, no running water, no electricity.  He loves it there.  He spends his days walking among the animals.  And of course coming out and doing these blessing for us fools of the modern world. 

And then we reached was we really came for.  The CENOTE.  And underground cave system with fresh water.  The hole we had to descend into was just slightly larger than a rabbit hole.  I'm still trying to figure out the day someone decided it was a great idea to go into the little hole.  Like who though that was a good idea.  Turns out they were right, but still!!  Anywho, we had to climb down some make shift 'stairs' backwards holding ropes to get into the actual cave but man, once we did it was breath taking.  The photos don't do it any justice at all.  I was hesistant to swim in it because well, I'm always cold, and being that this is underground, I assumed the worse.  However, I was wrong. The temperature was lovely.  And the water so crystal clear that even in poor lighting, you could see the bottom.  They believe it's a sprititual pool and I tried to be openminded to everything. It was quite an enlightening experience. 

Upon leaving the cenote we headed back to the original Mayan Village and the ladies of the village had prepared us a lunch of traditional Mayan fare.  I cannot get over how delicious everything was.  I trust it wasn't merely because we were starving at this point.  I'm missing the food there so much.

After our lunch, we hopped back into the van with our amazing tour guide Paco and made the two hour trek back to our resort.  Of course I got car sick, in typical Holly fashion and required a serious nap when we got back.  What a wonderful day!! 

Take a Jerk to Work Day

Just before I went to Mexico it was "Take Your Kid to Work Day" for Gage's school.  I have to admit I have been secretly looking forward to this day for about two years now.  Never really sure what grade they did it in, but knowing it was coming up.  It never crossed my mind that he might want to go to work with his dad instead of me, so the poor kid had no option. 

I guess I love my job and I love my kid and I secretly hoped once he spent a day with me, he'd understand how important my role can be in someone's life.  And maybe that would make him respect me.  Like as a human being and not "the person who gave birth to him so it goes without saying that he is supposed to respect me".   I'm pretty sure my goal was not achieved.  Though I'm not entirely sure because he barely talks of anything of importance like that.  I do, however,  know the really important stuff like what the next pair of shoes are he wants and that I am supposed to be saving 10 thousand dollars to give to him on his 16th birthday so he can put it towards his car.  You know the real important stuff that lets me know he loves me almost half as much as I love him.

My Name...via Urban Dictionary

Holly:

1.  A word used to describe a beautiful and bright being.
Usually linked to a girl of average height with blonde hair and brown eyes.

Symptoms of being a Holly:
- excessive loudness (no volume control)
- sometimes lives in a fantasy world- believes herself to be a princess 
- Tendency to dress in a lot of pastel colours and pink  
- Likes to be liked & loves the people closest to her dearly  

Other attributes of Holly's:
- Hardworking, motivated and ambitious  
- Creative, artistic and emotive
- romantic, confident and passionate

Some may refer to a Holly as Slag/Whore/Loose/'cock on the brain', this infact can be rather incorrect as it is down to a 'Holly' being nothing more than a kinky being!

Most importantly; Holly is another way to explain a 'blonde moment'
scenario- someone loses their cell, cannot remember where they left it, moments later, find it in their fridge.
" Oh my god! That was so Holly of me!"
Blonde, loud, pink, sex, princess

OR....

2. Holly

1. A very cool person
2. A phrase used by someone who just did something incredible. ex. I pulled a Holly!! Wow!!
3. A girl who is extremely cool and should be treated better by her closest friends than she is!
4. A girl who truly knows how to party!

OR....

3. Holly
Like a prickly pear, feisty on the outside, yummy on the inside

4.HollyThat dream girl that you always want, but that will never want you back.

5.HollyTo have forbidden sex. Normally with an intern or minor.

6.HollyVerb - to holly - to appear as though you're doing work, but actually doodling 'knowledge trees' and running a secret network of criminal organizations.

Wow, that's me in a nutshell, but with BLUE eyes....

Soundtracks of Our Lives

I was browsing through my past notes on Facebook and thought it might be a good idea to copy some of those (or even just parts of them) onto my blog so I have them in the future to re-read.  I can't guarantee they'll be on Facebook or even if I will be for the long haul (who am I kidding, I'm so nosy I can't see myself leaving any time soon).  So some of you, dear readers, may get a feeling of deja-vu. 

The reason I posted the following was because of a conversation I had with a couple about 'their song' (I can't even remember what couple it was!).  It got me thinking...

Obviously, as we go through life, situations come up and other people are involved. It's funny how often a song brings memories of a person to the forefront. Like as soon as I hear a particular song the image of a person pops in my head. I’m not sure why it is, or in many circumstances why I think of that person during that song, but it happens EVERY time I hear it. There are some people that pop up with numerous songs by different artists and that’s probably because I’ve known them a lot longer or spend more time with them. More memories are created with them. So I guess that makes sense. And in some cases people pop into my mind at the mere mention of one particular artist or band. I’m not sure if they think of me when they hear the song themselves (probably not) but, if they did that would make it even cooler.  I figure, though, there are songs out there that make people think of me when they hear them too. That's a nice thought.  I like thinking it. 

I'm pretty sure if you shouted out a friend's name I could immediately respond with a song or artist that I associate with said person.  One day I'll make a playlist of my life using just my friends.  I bet it would be pretty eclectic.  Just like the people in my life.

Eating my way through Mexico!

I'm not gonna lie.  I am pretty effin awesome at picking unknown food off of a menu.  Everything I've picked this week has been fantastic.  Probably some of the best food I've ever eaten.  Hands down.  Though it's never been a secret my love of Mexican food, when one can't really understand the menu it would be expected that I might flub up on a choice at least once right?  So far I've exceeded my own expectations!  Here's a running picture of the food we've had this week.  Yup, we were those girls (the ones who take pictures of their food).  I wish there was an app for allowing one to taste and smell photographs.  Kind of like scratch and sniff stickers.

This is a thick tortilla with chicken and veggies.

Tortilla wraps and snopes.

Tomato chicken

Crab salad

Cheesecake, duh.

Room service!

Shrimp Risotto

Fillet (with a bite out of it before I realized I forgot to take a picture) with Green Pepper sauce

Beef Tornado with Julienned veggies



Another steak, can't remember what's it's called.

Mayan Snopes

Hoervos Mexican style!

Yucitan Steak

Mexican skillet.  Yum!

And these are some of the yummy drinks I consumed over and over and over again! 

Fresh squeezed OJ! 

Dirty Monkey

Miami Vice



Mexican Flag