When my backyard is filled with people, I am at my happiest.  It’s what summer is all about.  It’s what I pictured when we first viewed our home four years ago with it’s spacious back yard.  David, on the other hand, pictured a ride-on-mower.

As the boys get bigger, and so do their friends, my grocery bill gets larger.  It’s a small price to pay to have my duckies home.

I find as long as there are freezies, juice and frozen pizza, everyone’s happy.  But I have found the best way to appeal to all tastes, young and old.

First, I hold out for sales on the singles Kool-aide packages and stock up.  You can score them for 99 cents a box. I stock up.  I also throw them on the boat, in the car and in the beach bag.

The other supplies you’ll need are as follows:

Bottled water, strips of white paper, glue markers, straws.

Have your young guests write their name on the paper and glue it around the bottle.  This way, no one drinks anyone else’s beverage.  You’re encouraged to use your creativity here:

Pick your poison and add it to the bottle.  They’ll oue and awe at the colour change.

Then, shake and sing, shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your bootie. Believe it or not, that’s an important step.

Add a straw and drink.

Now- for you, you can do the same, only with Liptons Iced Tea.

And Lemon vokda.

See how important the label is?

So I have some exciting news.  I have been sitting on it awhile because I just didn’t want to jinx anything.

It all started when Sweet Rides opened in Mahone Bay.  It’s a store that sells candy and bikes.  Sort of a genius.  And it’s Evan’s favourite store.  He came home one day and says, “Mamma, I decided I’m gonna pimp my ride,” which I thought was hilarious and didn’t even care one little bit that my 10 year old used the word pimp in the right context. He ordered a bike seat and handle bars, even a chain.  He says it’s an investment.  I don’t have the heart to tell him that aside from having fun riding it, he won’t likely see one.

Anyway, he was all about making money so he could pimp his bike out, doing chores and using savings from his birthday party.  Then one day he came home with a business card from the director of the TV series Haven, looking for a skater boy.  ”Mamma, I think I’m gonna do this.  I’ll make way more money than just doing chores.”  I said, “Really? I think they’ll be a lot of kids looking to do that, so if you want it, you’ve gotta make it happen”  Then he got on the computer and e-mailed the guy, even sent a picture and his resume, which consisted of I’m 10, I’m cool, I like to play hockey,  skateboard, I can rock a yoyo, and you would not be disappointed in me!!!!!!! Yes, he followed it with that many exclamation marks. Oh, to bottle and sell that confidence.

Then, he waited.  He checked his e-mail account everyday.  Even listened to the answering machine.

Then, one morning at 7am, we get a call, “We need Evan down here for 7:45.”  Evan was asleep, but it didn’t take him long to get up.  ”You wanna be in Haven kid?  It’s not all glamorous”.

We got down to the set where he had a trailer.  Many people came up to him and said, Evan, we loved your resume, glad we got you in the show. His tenacity paid off.  I won’t be a spoiler, but he said just 2 words and got paid enough to, not only pimp his ride, but to buy a new one, thou it doesn’t matter because he hasn’t cashed it yet.  He just likes to hold it.

Anyway, I’ll let you know when that airs.

And while that’s pretty spectacular, that’s not the really cool news.  Since then, Evan was invited to audition for another role.  So, off we go, not knowing what to expect, or having any expectations.  They loved him, but he was too young for the role.  They thought they had one perfect for him.  So, off we go to yet another audition, and low and behold he got the role!  I thought, cool, maybe he’ll get to pay me back for all the gas I’m using driving him in for these auditions!

We showed up on set, and this was a little more than what we expected.  Correction, a lot more! There were contracts to sign,craft services, a shuttle from base-camp to set, he even had a fake family.  It was CRAZY, and I was a bit nervous, but Evan was unfazed.  He just rolled with it.

I was in the back room with the directors looking at the screen.  I was DYING to take pictures to post, but I was scared that I’d be thrown out.   Evan, thou I am a little biased, was hilarious, and so were the others!  I can’t wait until it airs, and you KNOW I’ll be giving you all a-heads up.  You have to see it!! Teaser alert-three words- LAST COMIC STANDING.

After 6 long hours and doing the scene at least 60 times, he was done, and he was hooked.  It could have been the steady stream of food that he ate, including roasted rack of lamb and black-eyed pea salad for lunch, snacks of jelly beans and chocolate bars, it could have been that Evan’s character was a bit of a brat, maybe that he was playing in an adults world, but if I were a betting woman, I’d say he loved it because at the end, the director called out, That’s a wrap, and everyone cheered, and clapped, and gave high fives and pats on the back, and gave him lots of praise.

Thou, I suspect when he gets paid, and he’s made more money in a day that I make in a paycheck, that won’t suck either.

We got home and I hugged my Colin, feeling like he’s been neglected in all of Evan’s excitement.  I said, “Colin, are feeling left out of all this?” He quickly said, “NO, I don’t kia!” (which is Colin speak for I don’t care). And then Evan, as only Evan would, pats him on the shoulder and says, “It’s okay, Colin, you’re going to get your own cooking show anyway.”

Some of you may recall, last year this time, I announced that my father was diagnosed with cancer and was given between 3-and 6 months to live. Now, after over a year, he is still with us, but his time is slipping away.

I am generally a really positive person, or I try to be.  I try to find the good in (most) people and the solution in (most) bad situations.  And now I see that I come by it honestly.  This isn’t going to be a depressing post about seeing my dad die before our eyes.  Quite the opposite.  Even something as ravaging and horrific as cancer cannot dampen the spirits of my dad.

When I walk in my old bedroom, that was very quickly turned into a den once I moved out, my dad is laying in a recliner chair, the only position he had lay, and everyday that I visit him, I’m met with a smile.  Every time I ask him how he’s feeling and every day he say “fantastic.”  No exaggeration.  He doesn’t even say it with a sarcastic tone like, “How the hell do you think I am, I’m dying!  Fan-fricken-tastic!”  It’s genuine.  He get’s another day.

Even as he struggles to breath and we ask him if he’s in pain he’ll say, “no, not too bad,” even thou you can tell that he is.  So while this is very sad time, it’s very easy to feel grateful that he was given a year that many are denied.  It’s easy to feel peaceful about this.  It’s very easy to not worry about the little things.  It’s easy to tell my kids and my husband that they make me feel so lucky.  It’s easy for me to smile at those who have nothing but negative things to say about me.  Because in the grand scheme of things, I care about none of that.

Getting angry when my kids don’t bring their plate to the kitchen; getting mad that my husband went golfing again; freaking out because of some petty thing; my father is dying, but he is still smiling.