Planning a Party-Teasers

It is the eve before Lily's birthday party.  We have been planning and prepping for a few weeks now.  I know it may sound silly to go to such effort for a girl that will be too young to really understand, however our son's first birthday was a bit depressing (go figure) so I really wanted to do something special this year.  I'm getting a bit nervous-read:neurotic-about the whole thing.  I decided to post some teasers of tomorrows event.  Then tomorrow (or whenever I recover) I'll post some real pictures about the party and then I swear I'll give it a rest.  Trust me, I got some blogging to do about our cat-yes steady your breathe.  Anyways here we go.....

The Cookies:  I was in charge of decorating all the cookies my mom baked.  I thought icing cookies would be simple, I was dead wrong.  Food network I owe you an apology.  After getting banished out of the kitchen and permanently off cookie duty, my mom covered our shame with sprinkles.

It's a kid's first birthday.  Like Lily knows what a castle looks like.

The Party Favors:  Keeping in my theme of choosing vaguely age-inappropriate toys,  I selected swords and wands.  As I have pointed out in a previous blog I have now realized it is not the smartest thing to jack kids full of sugar and then give them things to hit themselves with.

A grainy picture of the girl's goodie bag.

Arts and Crafts:  Somewhere, somehow down the line someone thought I was crafty.  I am crafty but not in the "create works of art" kind of way.  I'm more crafty in the "talk your way out of this one now Kali" kind of way.  However I did construct a welcome sign, the secret? glitter glue.  It's the sprinkles of the arts and crafts world (see above about sprinkles and decorating cookies).  I was actually semi-proud of my job until my sister asked tonight "what the hell is that? wrapping paper?".

I have also posted pictures of the invitation in a previous blog.  It was really just me applying stickers.  Apparently they were starting to peel by the time they reached their destination.  I blame Canada Post.

The Decor: We never got around to actually doing the decor because we ended up spending most of our time trying to make the cake pops.  Whatever my mom and sister come up with I'm sure will be amazing *wink wink*.  Which brings us to the.....

The Cake Pops: We attempted to try to do cake pops.  Way harder to do then one would think.  They are basically cake mixed with icing, rolled into a ball and then dipped with chocolate.  If you're really talented they can be quite elaborate.  We decided not to push our luck.  They ended up taking hours to do and hours for my mom to fix.  On a side note, Timbits dipped with chocolate can make the same effect...that's the Maple Ridge way of doing things....

Melted chocolate tends to run.  Problem solving test#1:Figure out how to keep the chocolate on the pop and not on the table or hands

The tops went all flat.  I say it's to celebrate the fact that Lily's head is also flat.  Not everything has to be perfectly round.

Once again my mom saves the day-add a little icing and the flat tops are now flowers.

The dress:  After I used Lily's princess dress for her one year old photo shoot, I decided we couldn't have her parade around in the dress a second time, like a hobo.  So my mom bought her an actual Cinderella dress.  It says Cinderella on the tag.

Can't wait to see what it looks like on her.

The Thank you cards: Thank you cards use to be such a strenuous task.  It wasn't that I'm not thankful, they just seemed exhausting to do and took forever to complete.  It wasn't until Lily's baby shower that I realized the secret: Leave the husband out of it.  For my wedding, I made my husband help choose the template and photo (which involved us going back and forth on templates and phrases until it was perfect), making him help with what to write (I swear Lily has a longer attention span, plus I had to tell him what seems funny in your head may be lost in translation without the tone and just come off as insulting on paper) and trying to get him to chase down addresses (so the finished cards would sit on my nightstand for months).  After Lily's baby shower I picked the card and phrasing myself, ordered the prints and sent them off. I was done in a day or two.  Anyways since Dave went straight to bed I decided to work on them tonight.  I have just finished designing my cards and just need to order them. 

Wish me luck tomorrow!

My Baby is One Today

Today is Lily's First birthday.  She is no longer an infant but a toddler.
     Despite all our best efforts-dropping her, accidentally dislocating her arm, feeding her honey and peanuts- she has made it to one.  I remember when we first brought her home.  We had no clue what we were doing.  The best the government of Canada could do education-wise was give us a book entitled "Baby's Best Chance" (how encouraging) before sending us on our way.  Seriously, they'll fail me three times for my learner's permit for driving but they don't even quiz me on a few basic parenting issues?  BTW that book makes an excellent paperweight, I so didn't read it, maybe next kid....The problem with kids is as soon as you master one thing they enter a new phase making your old skill set completely useless.  Like you finally learn which way the diaper goes (sticky tabs at the back) and next thing you know you have to potty train them.  You finally get them to take a bottle and BAM if you're not cup feeding them you're rotting their teeth out of their head.  The way I see it, the first two years are a freebie-your kid won't remember it so they won't rat you out to their therapist.  After 2 you pretty much have to clean up your act, otherwise she's dating bikers-or worse-a hipster vegan (I still don't know what you did to Kirstin mom...).
  We had a pretty quiet day today, spent it with my family.  We're having a party on Saturday so there was no real need to get all crazy today.  Since we just had Christmas, Lily got the best toys the clearance bins offered.  But seriously, she still doesn't really understand what a present is and half the time the magic is just the box it comes in.  I fear the day once she starts knowing what she actually wants and has expectations.  I wrapped her present with extra care, since I know presentation is everything:

How I wrapped her present:  She doesn't know the difference.  Plus the Santa sort of looks like mommy at the moment.

We bought her fridge magnets, not just any fridge magnets but educational ones.  They cost me $20 and already I want to throw them in the trash.  It's the one where you are suppose to mix and match pictures of vehicles and it plays music.  Besides being incredibly annoying, the thing has an attitude.  Seriously, it's the most obnoxious and condescending toy I've encountered yet.  If you incorrectly match a car with a plane, it will go "a car-plane??" like you just told it you saw a two butted unicorn or told it you don't believe in the internet.  It'll then tell you you're silly and play a tune mocking you about how a car train would never run correctly if one existed.  Like try again dumb ass.  I'm sorry I didn't raise a Mensa baby leapfrog. Maybe by the time she's 16 a car-plane will exist!  Also right on the box it says be careful not to drop the unit.  What's the first thing Lily does? Monster Lily smash on floor!!  Chances are this thing will be broken in a few days anyways.

A car-train?  You can shine it up, but so you know, a car train-it won't go.  Leap frog fridge magnets is very disappointed in you Lily.

 I also bought her a rocking horse, just a $14 simple one.  It plays no music which makes me happy.  I'm pretty sure however she will find a way to propel herself off it and into the piano so she'll have a nice shiner on Saturday.  We also had a bit of a dress up day-well that's my "fun" name for getting rid of stuff.  Since she's a year old it was time to go through her clothes and toys.  I have a "bring something in the house, take something out" policy so we don't end up on TLC hoarders.  So I spent the day strutting Lily on the catwalk seeing what fit and what didn't, hello TLC toddlers and tiaras!  She has already mastered looking in the mirror and kissing her reflection.  I ended up picking out a fun little tutu outfit for tonight and as I was leaving the apartment a lady asked me if Lily was starting to pick out her own clothes.  I said no and she then quickly added she looked nice. Ouch. Fail.

My mommy dresses me like an 80's informercial...and I get blamed for this mess!

My parents bought Lily an ice cream cake, it was her first time trying chocolate.  I enjoyed watching her shovel in a big piece of cake and then shudder and screech when she got brain freeze, again and again.  I should have brought her fridge magnet toy-it would probably have a song to mock her about that.
        Anyways as usual, Lily got spoiled and we had a great day.  Tomorrow we will be doing the final prep work for Lily's big party on Saturday.  

Love thy Neighbours

     We have a new neighbor in our apartment building.  I met him the other day-I was leaving the apartment with my stroller full of recycling and garbage-strollers do double as garbage ferries (Lily was in the apartment with Dave) and he passed me by.  I was wearing my old faded mat pants, rubber boots and a PJ top-basically Maple Ridge formal wear.  He peered inside the stroller briefly when he walked by and gave me a quizzical look-like who let the bag lady in?  I met him a few days later when Dave and I were in the elevator and we introduced ourselves, a little less awkward (because there is nothing awkward with Elevator chit-chat).
     I already know that we may have some neighborly difficulties in our future.  This is because us and the new neighbor are from two different worlds.  We are family folks and he is a older single bachelor never married and never had kids.  It's like a version of the odd couple.  We have all the making of a corny late night sitcom, fake laugh track and all.  What's even better is his living room shares a wall with Lily's bedroom.  He must be enjoying the midnight shrieking-with our baby monitor in our small apartment it actually plays in stereo (he must wonder how many kids we're hording here).  We're sure enjoying him playing his TV at the ungodly hour of 9PM when we're trying to put our cranky kid to bed.  He also probably appreciates it when he catches an elevator with us and I'm carrying a bag of steaming dirty diapers to the garbage.  I can tell he feigns interest in the family life as he silently thanks god for not being married as I have to kick my husband who is all googly eyed that the man is going to his nice, quiet apartment to drink a beer instead of spending the evening telling Lily not to chew on our furniture or lick the glass patio door. 

I'm sure he'll get use to us. I mean he joined the ranks of all the other characters in our apartment like:

• The Mystery Vaccuumer: Someone, somewhere insists on vacuuming at 5am in the morning, every morning.  I can't figure out which direction it's coming from, but I shudder at what exactly makes a person need to vacuum so often, maybe there's a petting zoo I don't know about?
• The door/cupboard slammer: May be the same person as above.  When they are getting ready for work they insist on slamming every door and cupboard in their whole house-like they're angry at the world for having to get up at 6am.
• Herd of wild elephants: They reside in the hallway and and charge around 7am and 5pm, sometimes shaking the floorboards.
• Mr. Multiple Parking spots: Seems to be renting/owning every spot in our garage.  Wouldn't be as offending if he didn't violate the visitor parking area with more cars.  We live in Maple Ridge, why can't he just put them on blocks and park on the street like everyone else.
• Mr. Green: Works at a local community college, met him when I was looking into courses in 2010.  Tried to sell me on how the college was going green and how important the environment is (I don't know what I was wearing that day that made him think I was a hippy).  When he noticed we lived in the same place we had a chat and he slipped that he drives to work every day-the college is a 10min walk from our place.  Also violates the visitor parking.
• Drunken Patio Fighters: Gets drunk on work nights then fights...on the patio..so everyone can hear.  On a slow TV night sometimes its a benefit.
• Mrs "Fight the man": convinced strata is evil and trying to rip us all off.  Sends angry, insulting letters to the strata members and passes around a newsletter about how crooked members of the strata are.  She's so bad that she's earned a rep with the realtors.
• Others: Such as the neighbor we found drunk and pant-less in the hallway.  We noticed socks by our doorstop and followed the trail of clothes to find him passed out in all his glory in a corner(think he moved) . The mystery pooper who on rainy days lets their dog out to do its business in the hallway. When they got caught their solution was to  prop the security door open a crack so when they let the dog out in the hallway it can get outside.  Techno Techno Dance Party: would blast techno music-at 11am in the morning.  It is never okay to blast techno music, in the morning its a hate crime against my ears (I also think they moved out). 

And of course, there is us-the breeders.  I moved into the apartment pregnant 2 1/2 years ago and am still pregnant.  Now that we are proud owners of a big ass truck, we still park it downstairs even thought  it barley makes clearance-seriously the radio antenna hits the pipes as we drive.  I pity the lady who shares a parking spot next to us, she gets to navigate her nice 2seater sports car between the truck and a nice pillar. 

There are a lot of nice people in our apartment-like the person who gave me a gift certificate for mat clothes, the neighbors across the hall that gave us toys and muffins when Lily was born, the building manager that gives Lily toys.... Maybe I'm just a jerk for judging the few that annoy me.  I think when you all share a small place, everyone's crazy is out on display and when you live in a veal pen its all the more obvious.

Show me your teeth

       I haven't blogged in a few days.  That's because there are two little things that are ruining my life-TEETH.  Yes, my life has been turned upside down because of teeth.  I don't remember this from when I was a baby but apparently getting teeth is a big deal and everyone MUST suffer.  I've been so tired that by the end of the day I'm passed out before I can even think of something snarky to comment about (a very rare occurrence).
        I only thought teeth were a problem once you got to be my age.  I mean I can't walk into the dentist office without some sort of issue.  The DENTIST loves me, I've put at least 2 of his kids through expensive med school.  My husband is the exact same, I swear that man chews on gravel the way his teeth break.  I just remember when I was younger the dentist was fun, you sat down, he counted your teeth and you got a toy, it was wonderful.  Now I hate the dentist because you sit down, he drills your teeth and then he counts the stack of money you hand him for the pleasure.  So in theory I don't see why Lily is so temperamental.  I mean come talk to me after you get your first root canal done kid. 
          Anyways getting a new tooth must feel like a root canal the way Lily acts.  It's been like the all-shrieking-telethon the last 3 days.  She wakes up shrieking only to finally go to bed shrieking.  I don't mean screaming, I mean shrieking-a high pitched war cry, a "the lady in 405 is beating me" cry, a "I stuck my hand in the garbage disposal" cry.  At about 9 I'm ready to throw the kid out the window. At 10 I'm about ready to throw myself out the window, and I'm talking about AM by the way.  She's so temperamental, everything upsets her-can't reach her toy, served beef instead of chicken, wrong stuffy, all reasons to go on her hit list.  I think what's even worse than the shrieking is when she's dead quiet...and stares.  Like she knows its your fault her gums hurt and she's debating what she's going to do to you to get even.  Toddlers scare me at the best of time (something about their big heads, small bodies) but a teething toddler...stuff nightmares are made of.  She's also destroying our furniture.  Our IKEA best all have teeth marks on it-I guess particle board is no match for a toddler.  I just wish she's work her way around the coffee table evenly, so the bite marks just look like ridging and part of the design.  She's chewing through all her cardboard books as well, and paper, the kid loves eating paper.  We were at the bank signing papers for our loan renewal-see the blog about the big ass truck my husband conned me into getting-and Lily crawled into the bankers recycling bin and started shredding paper with her teeth.  Hey that gives me an idea, my shredder has been busted for a few months now....Before you ask we have "Sophie the Giraffe" (expensive French doggy chew toy) and the teething rings that go in the fridge (used more as a projectile weapon).  The only thing that has helped so far is Tylenol, it helps me sleep through the shrieking just fine....
      I think what bugs me most is we go through all this annoyance for something that is just going to fall out in a few years anyways.  Screw the tooth fairy, I'm not giving any tooth up, I had to whether sleepless nights and screech filled days for those teeth to pop up, I'm keeping them.  Heck, Lily should pay me money for every tooth she loses.  I got a quarter when I was younger, with inflation the going rate must be at least a twoonie by now.

We bought a convertible bed because we thought we'd be saving money by only buying her one bed that would last her until she moved out.  We didn't take into account that she would gnaw through it....

From Jetta to Truck

It finally happened. The moment we have been talking about for months had occurred. While it is the most financially mature option, I have been silently dreading it-we downsized from two vehicles to one. With my maternity leave running out this week and me at home with baby 3 coming soon, it made sense. Still I have been spoiled-for the last 10years I have always had access to a vehicle. The change makes sense, but it doesn't mean I have to like it.
It would be easier to handle if my husband wasn't so darn giddy about it. He got what he wanted-a truck. Correction a big ass truck. Dave needed a truck for both his current job and side business and he had to get one where the cab could fit two carseats. We traded our nice Jetta Sedan for a truck-a XL, supersize my Ford please truck. On the plus side we will save a lot of money in monster truck tickets-if we ever feel the need to see a truck driving over smaller vehicles, we can choose not to brake during rush hour traffic. We are now truck people and we live in Maple Ridge. We just ran over and killed whatever was left of City Kali. I am now officially a redneck. Jeff Foxworthy's "You know you're a redneck" comedy bit is no longer a joke, it's my morning checklist when I get ready. We now just need those fake balls that hang from the hitch and a bumper sticker that reads "keep honking I'm reloading" and my transformation is complete....ooooh and maybe a gun rack-I wonder if Disney Princesses make one.

This is our truck pulled from Google. Ours isn't red or have a grill but it is parked in the underground garage like above

I hate this truck.

The reason why I hate the truck so much is that I cannot drive it. I could barley drive and the Jetta. This thing is massive, in fact, even I could manage to park the Jetta into its crew cab and that is saying a lot since I usually have to close one eye to get the proper depth perception to park. I would have to borrow Lily's booster seat just to see over the steering wheel. The salesman at the dealership told me it is easier to drive a truck than a car...of course it is, with a truck you can just drive over top of everything. You don't have to worry about damaging your paint job on pillars when you can just plow them over. Trouble staying in your lane? No worries, this truck easily takes up both of them and defies anyone who begs to differ.

There is no way I would get behind the wheel of this thing. We only have 1 million liability with our car insurance, I can easily use that up just taking a trip to the corner store. So basically I am now without a car to drive, which means I have to bus or have my husband ferry me around. Now many people know that I do not drive often, maybe once or twice a week if that. However it is nice to have the option especially since I am almost 8months pregnant and after that will have two kids. It is also nice to not step out of your truck and have the world assume you're a jerk because you accidentally parked over its poodle. Just saying.

Opps I didn't damage your paint job did I? Maybe we should swap info, this is my first time driving a truck, didn't see you there..

I hate our new truck.

We were driving from the dealership today and I looked over to the gas gauge. It was on borderline empty. I laughed and told Dave sarcastically "it was nice of them to fill it up for us". Dave informed me that they had just put $30 in it for us. Our carbon footprint now rivals Bigfoot's or Khole Kardashin's foot in size. Driving home from the dealership on commercial drive I could hear the hippies shaking their heads in judgement-so I guess the whole day wasn't a bust if I annoyed some hippies. While I am not a tree hugger, I do worry about my paper consumption.... in my wallet and how much of it I'll need to spend to just keeping this thing on the road.

I'm sorry did my carbon foot print step on your smartcar?

So apparently this is my husband's idea of downgrading. Next time he tells me we have to downgrade our apartment I'll be planning on moving into a 5bedroom mansion. Not to mention we currently have 2 vehicles still since we have yet to sell his Ford Ranger so for at least a month we will be paying MORE money than before. Yes you read that correctly. We are not just one truck people we are two truck people. Vroom Vroom, eat carbon Greenpeace.

Honey I'm home! Hope you don't mind I parked our truck on the street

*Images taken from google- Please note that I read the website writting that accompanied the pictures to make sure no one died from them*

Kill BOB (the stroller that is)

    I did it, it's finally happening-we are selling our BOB stroller.  With Baby #3 on its way, it is time to start thinking about buying a double stroller.  For the past year,  I have been completely dependent on my BOB stroller to get me places.  One blog entry would not be enough to outline my disdain for this stroller.
        We bought the BOB during the first few months of marriage.  It was back in our googly eyed days where we actually respected each others opinions.  We got the BOB because my husband thought it was cool.  Ladies, please let me give you a piece of advice-never let a man pick out a stroller.  They will pick one that is sleek, sexy and boasts to be the top of the line.  However chances are slim that they will actually use the stroller on a regular basis and will leave you cursing their name.  As with most things in life, sometimes the coolest, sexiest things in life are also the things with the most issues. 
That is the problem with BOB, it sucks you in with its coolness, in theory it has everything a trendy mom would want.  It has the image of a healthy fit Vancouverite with a well behaved happy baby in tow.  In the first week of actually using it, I quickly discovered its flaws.  I found this facebook entry:

"Dear BOB Stroller:  You are the bane of my existence.  I cannot wait to sell you for beer money or even better-throw gas and a lit match at you and laugh insanely as I watch you burn to your ill designed frame.  Seriously you may have convinced the whole world you are a wonderful stroller but I am onto you."

Obviously I wrote this on a good day of using it.  First of all I called it "dear".  Second of all I would never light it on fire, it was forged in stroller hell, fire wouldn't scratch it.  Lastly, anyone with any knowledge of strollers wouldn't give you enough money for it to be able to buy beer.
Why would I hate this stroller so much? Let me just compile a brief list:

1. The suspension is too bouncy: It creates a real mosh pit feel, the exact thing you want your child with no neck control to experience.
2. It's a beast:  It's like using a semi trailer to transport an egg.  It will not fit down any grocery aisle without knocking things off the shelf.  Multiple times at Winners it has pulled an entire rack of clothing down.
3. Has a tenancy to randomly tip or flip over if any sort of weight is applied the wrong way.  It would be better suited as a catapult.  My mom rested Lily on the handle bar for a moment and the whole thing flipped.  Luckily my mom caught Lily upside down by the diaper.
4. Will roll if left for a moment.  Prefers to roll backwards into the middle of the nearest and busiest street.
5. Its hammock style seat is perfect for molding young spines into a desirable Quasimodo hunchback.
6. It has no storage space, I can't fit even a jug of milk or a couple of 26ers.
7. The beverage holder is fabric.  Combine this with the bouncy suspension and coffee drips out of your Tim Hortons drink and onto your child's head.
8. The rain cover requires an advance engineering degree in order to figure out how to apply correctly.  If you're just an arts major like me there is always a gap that will funnel water directly on your child's head.

Alternatively this stroller would be better to be used as towel rack to dry clothes.        However I guess it is not all that bad.  The stroller is pretty good at hitting teenagers that are in your way or giving old ladies who are walking too slowly a gentle push.  It is also very easy to push with one hand while eating a giant subway sandwich, and trust me as a pregnant women I'm always walking and eating a giant sandwich.
Anyways I will be glad once the BOB is gone.  Oh, BTW, if you saw my ad on Craig's List and are interested in buying it, it is a great stroller and you will be very happy with it.  $300 OBO.

What's in a name?

With only two months left in my pregnancy, Dave and I decided we should start talking about baby names.
The name game can be a daunting task and some people tend to over think it.  I mean I guess it is pretty important, whatever name you pick will decide whether your kid is popular or is a social pariah, a doctor or a bum, a serial killer or a well adjusted member of society, you get my drift?.  Dave and I have never put much thought into our kid's name, we usually pick the least offensive name that we both can agree on .  However I do have a few simple rules which I will outline for you:

Don't do this to your child.

• It is a common name:  There was a trend a few years back to try to make your child's name as unique as possible.  It stemmed from some hippy movement (because hippies are the source of all movements I do not understand) that a child will not have its own identity if it had a name like everyone else.  In response people would combine names or smash their heads on their keyboard and pick whatever came up on the screen.  Millions of teachers screamed in anguish at trying to figure out how to pronounce little Xzuiuvk during role call.  I am married to a David, and it has got to be one of the most common names in the world, there's millions of them and I have never once heard Dave complain about his name or say it has held him back in anyway.  I on the other hand have a less common name, yes I met a few Kalis in my day but they were all dogs-literally-of the white poodle variety (maybe that's why I love the 80's perms).  Sometimes it gets annoying trying to correct people on what to call you.  BTW so what if there are 10 Jason's in your child's class?, Apple sold 37million IPhones last year, are you going to walk around with a Nokia to be edgy?
• Don't mess up the spelling:  Related to the top rule.  A trend probably resulting from parents realizing that with billions of people on the planet there is a chance that someone may still have the same name regardless of how many times you smashed your head on the keyboard (probably stemming from Hipsters, once the hippies grew a little older they grew a little common sense).  However, they didn't want their kid to be one out of 4 Ashleys so they thought they would take a common name and spell it different.  For example, take the name Jackson and maybe throw in a few Xs for good measure, its pronounced Jessica but the two Ks highlight her individuality!  Take it from someone who has an uniquely spelled name. The novelty wears off when you're constantly trying to explain to people how it is actually pronounced.  Like you probably have been calling this "Cal-Lee's" Blog not "Kay-Lee's" Blog haven't you?  HAVEN'T YOU?  Anyways you will not be earning yourself brownie points for originality from your kid, just a guarantee of spending your senior years in a crooked old age home.
• Long Name: This is not a hold fast rule but more of a preference.  I love long names.  That way you can let your child know exactly how much trouble they are in by how much of the name you use.  This includes a few middle names to boot.  Both Dave and I have two middle names each and for our wedding announcement you couldn't tell if two people were getting married or four.
• Able to Shorten Name:  I think we have established in previous blogs that I am lazy.  Which brings us to the next point, I must be able to shorten their given name.  For example Lily is Lil, why waste breath on unnecessary syllables? (unless they are really in trouble).  Also by the time you use a toddler's full name, they have already hit the cat, eaten cat food and is ready to reek havoc on the Iphone.
• Doesn't start with a "R":  I have a lisp, I say my R's as W's.  Why torture myself?  For example I love the name Rose but I don't want to explain to people I am not messed up and called my child Woes.
• Think about the future: Never call your daughter Ivana or Ima.  You never know who they are going to marry and what last name they will take.  We've all seen Austin Powers and the female spies have names like "Ivana Humpalot" and really? Do you want to do that to your child?
• Meaning, Meaning: Just because a name sounds good shouldn't mean you should ignore the meaning behind it.  Take my name, my mom picked it because it meant love and was Scot-Gaelic word for party.  Pretty harmless right? Well the spelling she chose just happened to be a cool but fearsome Hindu goddess of destruction.  It's fine if you're a house wife in suburbia Maple Ridge.  However if you work in an IT department that deals with people in Bangalore (which I did) it can be a bit embarrassing.  I bet you every time I called them with a technical issue, someone would laugh and say "ooohhh the goddess of death and destruction has locked herself outta Windows again".
• Resist the temptation to be a jackass:  What give you a chuckle today may turn your child into an axe-murder tomorrow.  I love the names Megatron McRoberts or Roberts McRoberts but a little self-control goes a long way.