Reccomended Ani Difranco songs For Those Who are Virgins to Her Music!

My friend Julie asked for some songs to listen to by Ani... Here is a list of songs that I think are great, and most people would enjoy... I've arranged it by album...

Self Titled "Ani Difranco"
Fire Door
Out of Habit
Both Hands
The Story

Not So Soft
Looking for the Holes
Gratitude
The Next Big Thing


Imperfectly
I'm No Heroine
Good, Bad, Ugly
In or Out

Out of Range
Overlap
You Had Time
The Diner
Letter to a John

Not A Pretty Girl
Shy
Sorry I Am
The Million You Never Made
32 Flavours

Dilate
Untouchable Face
Superhero
Napoleon
Shameless
Adam & Eve
Joyful Girl

Little Plastic Castle
Fuel
Gravel
Little Plastic Castle
Two Little Girls
Swandive
Pixie
Glass House

Up, Up, Up, Up, Up, Up
'Tis of Thee
Angry Anymore
Everest

To The Teeth
Providence
Birmingham
Wish I May

There's about 5 more albums after this... but I think that's a good start!!! She has a new album coming out in August called Reprieve... a nice song form there that I've heard is Hypnotized. Hear it here...

hypnotized

so that's how you found me                                                     
rain fallin around me                                                          
lookin down at a worm                                                          
with a long way to go                                                          
                                                                              
and the traffic was hissing by                                                 
and I was homesick and I was high                                              
and I was surrounded by a language                                             
in which I could say only hello                                                
and thank you very much                                                        
and you spoke so I could understand                                            
and I drew a treasure map on your hand                                         
                                                                              
and you were no picnic                                                         
and you were no prize                                                          
but you had just enough pathos                                                 
to keep me hypnotized                                                          
                                                                              
and the map led to an island                                                   
in a sea of store-bought dreams                                                
where soulless singers sang                                                    
over beats built by machines                                                   
and lovely girls were hovering                                                 
above my head like gulls                                                       
with their long slender necks                                                  
and their delicate skulls                                                      
                                                                              
and I was no picnic                                                            
no, I was no prize                                                             
but I had just enough sweetness                                                
to keep you hypnotized                                                         
                                                                              
so that's how you found me                                                     
rain fallin' around me                                                         
lookin' down at a worm                                                         
with a long way to go                                                          

For a complete discography with lyrics, check her website: http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/words.asp

Going to see Ani!

I'm getting excited!! We're going to see Ani Difranco on July 28! Thanks to Lisa and Ken, we're able to get out for an adult evening of cool musical entertainment! I went to see Ani back in 2001... in Portland, Maine. She was amazing... Hopefully, she'll play lots of her old stuff (since I love that raw acoustic guitar) and maybe some of her new stuff... I'm not terribly fond of her songs w/ all the brass sections!

Basic Updates

Alright, it's been forever since my last post... So, I thought I would just update my blog... No pictures, no super exciting news... Just a regular, old fashioned post! :) Who knows how many people even read this blog anyway! But for my few friends/family that do... Here you go....

Since us Canadians really like talking about the weather for conversation... here's a local update! We have had extremely hot weather in Edmonton the past few weeks. However, the heat has finally broken and we're now below seasonal temperatures. We're expecting rain and possible thundershowers... Which should make Fiona happy. She loves lightening... and puddles. I see on the weather reports, that my in-laws in Manitoba are in for crazy hot & humid weather today!! Over 40C w/ the humidex... YUCK! My sympathies are with you...

As for the family... We're going fine. Fiona is still bursting with energy! When the weather is hot or rainy, it's hard to burn it off. She does enjoy playing in her room with either of us, or helping with things around the house... She's been getting out Geocaching with Jason lots. She really enjoys that. Her and Jason went to an Edmonton Geocaching gathering last night, at Boston Pizza. After that, they went for a cache. She really likes finding the cache before Jason does!!! :) Sometimes, being smaller is an advantage! :)

Kieran's a very busy boy!! He is into EVERYTHING! He likes to climb bookshelves, chairs, playpen walls... anything. He will actually move toys over to where he wants to climb, in attempt to get more height/leverage! I don't know how this boy's head is in one piece! lol The Dr. says he's fine, but he's his own worst enemy! lol Kieran's still 20.5lbs, and is not quite 31". He's been holding at that height for about 6 months... So, I guess he's stretching upwards. He'll be tall just like his dad and sister. Am I going to be the shortest in the family!? LOL

As for me... Well, I'm feeling better these days. The nausea has slowed down. I'm not feeling as tired as I was, but would still love a 2pm nap! lol I'm 11 weeks along, and almost out of the first trimester! Time is flying by quickly. January will be here before I know it... I won't be getting an ultrasound until September or so... but I'm really hoping to find out the sex of the baby. I started looking at names, but have moved off of that for now...

I've recently gotten into Stampin' Up! as my new hobby. I like that I can use it for scrapbooking as well as cards and gifts... It's really fun, and neat to see what you can make and do with ink and stamps! I've discovered that sometimes it's best to stick with the ideas in the catalogue, rather than to strike out on your own... lol They are a bit expensive, but you don't have to replace things like you do when you use stickers etc. for scrapbooking... Keep your eye out for Christmas cards this year!!! I will be stamping those, rather than buying them! :) A personal touch is always nice, too.

Speaking of home parties... Thanks to my friend Lisa... who sells Discovery Toys, I have been attending stamp parties and most recently, Pampered Chef. It's agrivating to see, with the Canadian dollar being so strong, that things are insanely more in Cdn dollars on their website, than the American prices! Some are a difference of $14!... Anyway... I've been to one of those parties before, but didn't buy anything... I went this time, knowing I wanted to get a baking stone! They are a bit pricy, but they are amazing to bake with. I know I sound like a consultant, but seriously, they don't burn your food! ;) I'm looking forward to baking cookies on it, and making potato wedges!! Yum. I'd love to get the pie plate, as I can only imagine how amazing my pumpkin pie would cook in there... but that will have to wait... I can't spend $40+ on a pie plate! Yowza. There are tons of things I'd love to get, but I'll just have to put together a shopping list for Christmas! lol I am planning to host a Pampered Chef party in Oct or Nov., as I'd love to get tons of free stuff and things for half price like Lisa did this week!!! Sadly, I'll have to borrow some of her friends, b/c I only have a few.... *sniff sniff*

Anyway, this post has gotten long enough. Since starting I've put Kieran down for a nap. He's finally dozed off after playing with his piano toy on the bed-frame! Fiona will need to be woken up... she went to bed after 10pm last night... after Geocaching with Dad! ;)

Zai Jian!

Family News

Most of you who check my blog, already know our newest news... We're expecting a third baby! This pregnancy came as a surprise to us, but we're warming up to the idea of a family of 5! I just had my first pre-natal Dr. appointment yesterday. It was pretty standard, with no real news other than what a woman already knows at this point. I'm due on January 28, 2007. Looks like this baby will be born in the year of the dog! Since the Chinese celebrate the lunar calendar, the baby will narrowly escape being a pig! lol I have to go get all the usual bloodwork done, and won't be having an ultrasound until my 18th week. We're hoping to find out the sex of the baby, so I know who will be rooming with whom eventually... not to mention name picking and clothes retrieval! We've given away much of our baby clothes. Hopefully, people haven't passed on the stuff I had for Kieran yet, as most of it was new! The picture posted isn't actually our baby, but it's a 3D ultrasound picture of a fetus at 9weeks, which is how far along I am now... Fiona's hoping for a girl, so she will have 1 brother and 1 sister to take care of :)

Edmonton at Sunrise

Jason was up super early this morning, with high motivations of getting a cache (geocache), that had just been planted. He wanted to be the first to find (FTF)! While on his adventure, which began around 5:30am, he took some stunning pictures of the downtown from the south side of the river. This was his 30th cache since starting the hobby just over a month ago.... This is what he does with his lunch hour.. oh, and checks out the nieghbourhoods in the NW end of the city!! The picture of Jason against the cliff wall, shows him holding his GPS where the layer of volcanic ash is in the high cliff wall... from who knows how many thousands/millions of years ago!

Belated Posting of Kieran's First Birthday

We celebrated Kieran's first birthday (on May 26), in Killarney, Manitoba. It was the day before Uncle Clint and Aunt Nicole's wedding, so we were there for the rehearsal and festivities. Jason's Aunt Louse and Uncle Jack hosted the party at their house, and those who were in attendance were Mum, Dad & Fiona, Grandma & Grandpa, Great Grandma Gladys (aka Triple G), Jack and Louise, Clint & Nicole, and cousin Twyla came near the end... Kieran had a great time ripping paper, but I think Fiona enjoyed it more than he did! lol Kieran had 2 cakes; Grandma made one for him, and Triple G brought an ice cream cake as well! No one starved.... Here are the pictures!

Clint & Nicole's Wedding

Jason's brother, Clint and his long-time girlfriend, Nicole were married last weekend in Killarney, Manitoba! On May 27,2006 they tied the knot... The day after Kieran's first birthday! Jason was Clint's best man & Fiona was the flower girl. She had a rough day- too little sleep perhaps. She cried all the way down the aisle, because she wasn't allowed to go up to the balcony before the cermony (which was already under way)!! Here are some pictures from the day... I didn't get pics of everything, as I was with Kieran most of the day.. and my camera was acting up (and eventually I ran our of memory on my flash card :(

A Walk in the Woods

Another geocaching adventure. This one was much more intense the the others we have done, and it took a long time. We had several specific directions to follow through the Mill Creek Rivine. We started near the river, and ended up about half a km from Whyte Ave. Jason hiked back the long way, and Fiona and I took a short cut to a parking lot near the pool... where Dad picked us up :) The mosquitoes were HORRIBLE!! Even through our long sleeves and pants, we acquired many bites! Here are some pictures of our adventure.

GEOCACHING

The New Fleming Hobby!!!

Jason recently bought a GPS unit. His goal: to finally geocache! I'm sure most of you haven't a hot clue what this technological trend is... Here's what Wikepedia has to say about it: Geocaching
Jason finds all the caches thru www.geocaching.com

Quickly explained, it is a treasure hunt. There are hundreds of thousands of them all over Canada and the world. Yes, even in small towns like NINGA, MANITOBA! Jason's researching what caches we can find on our trip to Manitoba next week! Using a GPS, you find the coordinates of a hidden cache (treasure). Jason uses googleEarth to find or map our the trek. He loves this, b/c it blends technology with being ourdoors. Our most recent cache (no pictures, unfortunately), was called "smiling beaver". It was just outside of Edmonton, on the verge of suburbia. We had to navigate our way through tons of Wild Rose bushes... my legs and arms were not happy. Next time, I will not wear capris and a tank top! Nonetheless, we had a great time... and we each got a nice Geocaching bracelet! Yes, you get something usually... and it's proper etiquitte to leave something in it's stead.


These were taken at Nellie McClung Park in Edmonton.

Uncle Shaun's Visit

Shaun was here for the Oilers game on Friday night, so he swung by on Saturday and spent the day with us. The kids had a great time, and so did Uncle Shaun. I think he was a bit surprised at just how "busy" these two kids are!

Yes, those are pure enamel you're looking at on Kieran... He's got 7.5 teeth now!!

Fiona's always hard to get a natural smile when posing for pictures... so we thought a "reading" shot would suffice.

Where Was I?

We've been VERY busy the past month or so... We've wrapped up Jason's last semester at the Univ. of Alberta. He has officially graduated, and has a Masters of Education! Yipeee!!! We travelled to Fredericton, NB for a visit and yard sale... We liquidated almost all our stuff which was stored in my parents' attic. It was hard parting with all our stuff, but we made out alright. Our visit there was great. We spent lots of time with my parents. We got to visit Gareth, Amanda, Rowan and Rhian in Perth-Andover- which was excellent. We also got a last minute visit from Matt & Anna and Co. Here are some recent pictures from the past month or two!!! I'll post in more detail later. Kieran's napping, and Dora is half over!

Pop Culture: Music

Thought I'd post something diffrerent... what I'm listening to.. what I'm into... what's my pop culture?

MUSIC

Some of you must be wondering what's been in my player lately? Inquiring minds want to know, I'm sure!!! haha Well, I have to be honest. I haven't let the 90's or the 80's (for that matter), go... Not yet. However, I have gotten into some recent & new music!! Here's some of what my ears have been enjoying lately.

• James Blunt

He sounds like a mix of Cat Stevens and Tracy Chapman. Not sure if he would find that flattering, but the resemblance is hard to deny. I especially love the song "Goodbye My Lover"... track 4 on "Back to Bedlam".

• Belle & Sebastian

Even though they have a new album out, I haven't listened to it much. I really do have a hard time letting go of my old albums! I'm still in love with listening to "The Boy With The Arab Strap"!! They've released an album with just cover songs that they have sung over the years.

• Modest Mouse They sound a LOT like the Pixies. I read an interview with the lead singer, and he didn't seem to like being compared to them (not sure why)... But, if you listen to their music, you will think he's in denial!! The man obviously owns a few Pixies albums! I really recommend their album, "Good News For People Who Love Bad News".

• Arcade Fire

This band is amazing. They're from Montreal, and their newest release is "Funeral". It's really great to see SO much awesome music coming from Canada. Even if they weren't Canadian, I'd still love them!! lol

• Death Cab For Cutie

I haven't listened to a lot of their stuff... but perhaps I should! I really, really, really love the song "Soul Meets Body"... It's a bit of a trip back to the new wave era of the 80's, with a fresh twist.

• Jack Johnson

I love his music. It's acoustic. It's poetic. It's intelligent. His new album is a kids album for the movie Curious George. It's parent-friendly. Fiona loves the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle song! Before that one, he released "Inbetween Dreams"
Oh... and Jack Johnson's really hot....

• Coldplay

I suppose they aren't really new. I started getting into them when their first album, Parachutes, came out in 2001. I listened to it a LOT while we were in China. Their new album, "X & Y" is awesome, as well. I just love them. I would LOVE to see them live, but unfortunately, they were only coming to 3 Canadian cities... BOOOO! I don't know why Edmonton wasn't chosen!? Anyway, Chris Martin is ultra hot... and if I wasn't already married to the man of my dreams, I would consider being his woman!!! hahaha...