Caramel Macchiato Mama

A Loosey Toothy!!

2008-03-19T20:22:00.000-07:00

My son has his first loose tooth. When he showed me tonight he was crying and then my enthusiastic reaction got him laughing again. I was SOOOO excited!! I didn't think he would be getting any loose teeth until well into his 6th year because he got his baby teeth quite late (almost 1 yr!) But low and behold it is loose. Right where it should be...bottom front center...text book. I gave him a refresher on the tooth fairy and he was just as excited as I was! Also, his teacher has a poster on the wall for each month and who looses a tooth. He really wants to get on that list BAD!

In other news his birthday is coming up in May and he is already picking out his present of choice. Let me first tell you that last year he got a trampoline (a la Costco) from my parents for his birthday so he is thinking ALOT bigger this year. No Spiderman action figures or GI Joes..no no no...he wants the $1,500.00 Tree fort swing set from Costco! YIKES!! He better start saving his twoonies or start batting his eyeballs at my parents cause there is NO way he is getting it from this address. I do agree that it would be awesome for the kids to play on and playdates would have more options but it's just too expensive for our budget. It's a hard line between teaching him the value of money and silently REALLY wanting this for our backyard. I can't refuse it if it's a gift....right??

I'll take a side of yogurt with those antibiotics!!

2008-03-12T17:06:00.000-07:00

Well the lovely cold turned into a chest cough and then into a sinus infection which is what I am dealing with now. I knew it was upon me when my sinuses ached and that pressure..OH the PRESSURE in my head. So I trucked myself down to the doctor this morning while the kids were still in school and got some antibiotics. "Do you normally get yeast infections with antibiotics?" Well no, not normally but I'm gonna take whatever you give me cause I have to get this pressure out of my head!!

So I opened my first container of probiotic yogurt and gulped it up and said a silent prayer. A prayer to the Yeasty God that he is kind to me and doesn't have me searching around my basement for a chimney brush to shove into my neither regions. I don't know which is worse...a yeast infection or a bladder infection. Both have their definite CONS and zero pros. One has you scratching your crotch like a dog burying a bone and the other has you running to the toilet with the feeling that you could fill the bowl and then some only to have a few drops piddle out. Not fun, either one.

So wish me luck in my anti-yeast quest. I may really NEED it.

Calling in sick used to be fun...

2008-03-04T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am sick. I could feel it trying to grab hold over the weekend and all of yesterday and finally, as of this morning I am officially sick. My head is pounding, my back is KILLING just to touch (wtf?) and I am stuffed up and coughing till my ears ache. Not fun and as I am following my daughter from room to room telling her to clean up the messes she makes and to talk nicely, I am realizing that maybe work would have been the better option. This is not relaxing or helping me get better, in fact it is irritating me more to the point I want to scream. She is now drawing happy faces in the dust mounting up on my gas fireplace..nice reminder to clean once feeling better. Thanks dear daughter. ACHOOOO!! That dust is not helping.

The husband is here home sick as well but has chosen to choose the time to stress over our mounting bills and money owed around the globe. I can't go there or my head will pop off like a dandelion (remember that game?) I always feel guilty when I call in sick like I could have somehow crawled in and made an effort but as I sit here sneezing and sounding like a raccoon has taken up in my throat, maybe I made the right decision today. Nothing like wearing a mask and having the warm air from your breath get the mucous running down your face as you try and maintain your composure through eye contact knowing full well you have the snot river flowing down your chin. Ahh memories..

So if you are well, EMBRACE it and don't take it for granted. This totally sucks being housebound and being a mucous factory. One last word...thank god for Advil Cold and Sinus Plus...peace OUT.

New beginnings...

2008-02-29T13:47:00.000-08:00

So my husband and I went last Friday to meet with the psychologist about our daughter's "diagnosis". I was nervous and weirdly excited to find out after all this time what he had to say. I just really wanted to get on with things and move in a positive direction instead of the unpredictable path we were on.

So he sits us down and goes over her IQ tests. We were absolutely THRILLED to find out that she is smart! I mean we knew that she had brains but to find out that she tests higher than the average 4 year old was wonderful news!! He said she would have scored even higher but because she could not focus on the rest of the question, she got many wrong just from lack of attention. He spent about 30 mins going over her IQ tests and behavioural tests and then pulled out the ADHD test. The defining moment. I was on the edge of my chair.

He starts pointing at graphs and pie charts and I am still wondering wth he is saying. He is saying she is rating higher in symptoms than other kids. Other kids with what? It was kind of confusing. My husband then said "Is this meaning that she is scoring higher than the average child WITH ADHD?" Yes, that is what he was trying to say.

So she has elevated symptoms in the emotional and impulsivity sections of ADHD. She was officially diagnosed with ADHD and he will send the results to our doctor, preschool and to us. It has answered many questions for me and has put my mind to rest oddly. I was thinking that I was failing her somewhere in my discipline. Was I not being consistent? Do I let things slide? I mean yes, I probably do. I am not perfect. But I am quick with consequences and do not let her get away with attitudes or bad behaviour. The psychologist explained that she is all over the map with her emotions. Could be crying and laughing at the same time. She is unsure what emotion to use in situations and sometimes it will be an inappropriate one. He also told me that ADHD kids, because of this emotion confusion, will get angry when you get angry, mirroring your emotion back to you. Point taken.

So onward we go, googling and reading as much information as we can get our hands on to help us help our daughter. We want her to have a fulfilling life and we know there will be many challenges along the way. He figured that she would do fine until Grade One or Two where she would have to sit for entire days. We are going the no medication route for as long as possible but will not close the door on that option if it will ultimately help her focus and succeed. Only time will tell.

She had her first playdate today with a girl from her class and it went VERY well. Both had a ball and I think she will be back soon. Warms your heart to see your child developing friendships and learning how important it is in this world to have true friends. They are hard to find but worth the wait. :)

Where to start..

2008-02-20T20:29:00.000-08:00

So ok, it's more than a day but here I am!! lol

Where to begin. I guess the main thing to start with is that we have finally narrowed in on what is going on with our four year old daughter and there are STRONG indications that she has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). We go on Friday to find out what our child psychologist is suggesting but I would be shocked with any other diagnoses. When I did the written test for her, I circled "most of the time" too many times to count. She doesn't have some of the more major symptoms but exhibits many of them..too many to ignore. Can't wait in lines...just doesn't understand them AT all. Transitions are brutal..many meltdowns in a day over the slightest things. A tight jacket or seat belt will send her into a tantrum that would send anyone running for the nearest alcohol containing beverage. Nail polish remover..whatever. The trick is to figure out what will send her into a tailspin and counter it before you get there...thing is she changes her triggers whenever she feels like it. If you do lose your temper with her and yell she will yell RIGHT back and get VERY defiant and angry. Not like my son or "normal" child who would probably know that Mom meant business and maybe I should be quiet and listen now. No, this is very different and quite unsettling and confusing to deal with on a daily basis.

I am past the denial, shock and sadness and just want to get on with the dealing with it part. We have already started her on an Omega supplement and I am starting 2 naturopathic medicines tomorrow (Focus and BrightSpark) to see if they help her calm down, focus and control her impulses better. She has no impulse control. She thinks, she does. Give her ketchup with her chicken nuggets and she will spread it all over the table as soon as you turn away. Give her a bowl of popcorn and she may go spread it under her brother's bed. I tell her every bath to not put water on the floor and EVERY TIME she will spill water on the floor, even with me just standing there watching. She wants to see me lose it.

I have tried to go into this almost catatonic state of calm in dealing with her outbursts. She was trying to bait me to get angry and that only cycled into us both yelling and not resolving anything. I now remove her from the situation and place her in her room and tell her she cannot come out until she has calmed down and can be a nice girl again. This has been working and sometimes she will stay in for a few minutes until coming out. Usually she is calmed and ready to move on from the undesirable behaviour. Other times it just starts a series of room visits to the point where I almost want to bang my head on the wall.

So stay tuned to see what the psychologist comes down with on Friday. I am looking forward to see what he suggests and move on from there. If he tells me nothing is wrong I may point the car in the direction of the closest assylum and call it a day.

MIA

2008-02-02T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ya I let the old blog S L I D E for a few months. Bad me. Been 2 months of crazy Christmas stuff and then back to school stuff. No excuse still but I do need to update this or let it RIP..lol.

Give me a day to collect my thoughts and I will get back to this here bloggin..it is sooo DARNED much fun!!

MORE SHOPPING!!!!!

2007-11-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well paint me red and green and slap me merry!! I am going shopping for 3 DAYS with my Mom to Vancouver!! I am VERY excited for the R & R and being able to actually look around at my surroundings without having to answer to kids chanting "Can we have this?" and hiding in the clothing racks (ok who didn't do this as a kid?) will be VERY refreshing!!

So we are staying at a HILTON Hotel. Maybe I will run into Paris shopping at Toys R Us for Britney's crew!! At any rate there will be lots of lattes, appies and bevies happening as my Mom always is a "good time". We will do over Ikea and a bunch of the bigger malls in the area.

I can feel the shoppers high already.......

I just hope DH can hold down the fort with the kids for the 3 days. The last time I went on this trip with my Mom (Ikea) the kids were 1 and 3 and it WASN'T pretty. Let's hope the extra 4 years has seasoned him into a Daddy veteran. Oh please let it be better...my shopping Chi depends on it!!

It has begun...

2007-11-04T06:26:00.000-08:00

The official Christmas SHOPPING season that is! Yesterday afternoon I was just going to drive to a mall and walk around and pick up a couple of new tops to wear to Christmas functions. Well when I got there the parking was packed..my first clue. I get inside and people are everywhere and then some very strong force propelled me into.....ack...GAK....Toys R Us..omg the pandemonium in the store!! People at the front asking questions, shoppers grabbing toys left and right and just a general PANIC was palpable in the air. I got sucked in as well *sigh*

So I found myself listening to "Santa Baby" by the leapsters and decided to pick up a couple cartridges that were on sale (Nemo and Cars) and then looked around and I was in PRINCESS LAND...ACK! So I ended up getting a Princess easy bake oven, an enchanted Princess dance mat/DVD thing, and a Mac truck thing from Cars. Grand total of $167.89...nice.

Now I just have to find an enchanted Princess bike for my daughter's 4th birthday (Nov 25th)...apparently it's not as easy as one might think! Yes it's right there in the flyer...yes, it's out on the display floor, but no we do not have them. WTF seriously people! So I have to spend some of today phoning around trying to find one.

Eh who am I kidding...I love ANY excuse to shop...this just puts a bit a challenge into my quest!! muhahahahaha!

Dance Fever!

2007-10-30T14:24:00.000-07:00

So I am back on the weight loss trail. I have lost 5.5lbs so far with Weight Watchers online and want to lose another 10-12lbs by Christmas if that is doable. My main goal is to fit into my black dress pants comfortably. I am trying to avoid looking like I poured myself into them and if I gasped suddenly my top button wouldn't shoot off at the speed of light into someone's Christmas pudding. I don't need any scandals on my hands in the Empress Ballroom during the formal tea that we attend every year.

So I am one of those people that MUST exercise to get an ounce off. Sad but true. The breastfeeding myth passed me by and I had to get on my sneakers and pound that pavement with the kids in tow. No magical fat melting breastfeeding solution..I felt soo betrayed because I was REALLY counting on it too! I ate those Blizzards from Dairy Queen with the full belief that as soon as that baby latched on, the calories from that dessert PLUS a couple more million would be burned off my ginormous butt. It was all a big fat LIE it was..but I digress..where was I?? exercise..oh ya...

So I have a treadmill and a weight bench downstairs with some free weights as well. I use all of these plus my trusty Billy Blanks Tae Bo tapes/Dvd's to whip my bod back into shape. Today I just winged it and put on my new iPOD tunes and did some treadmill and leg work. So I did 5 mins walking on a 10 incline at a good clip and then would get off and do lunges/squats for 5 mins. Alternated this for 30 mins and then thought I would stop......until a song came on...a NEW song on my iPOD that I downloaded. It brought me back to my early 20's club days and I just HAD to dance!!! So dance I DID!! In my foyer in front of the closet mirror and Glade air freshener I shook my bootie until the sweat was pouring down my face. I felt like I had really gotten a GREAT workout!! You know the kind where you get that rush of adrenaline after?? (note to self: do not try and converse on msn after such a workout..you are incoherent and sound stoned) But MAN, I feel great!! Thank god there is some immediate gratification with exercise otherwise it would just be plain TORTURE!!

So I hope I inspired someone to turn on their stereo and get up and shake their bootie even for a little while. You will feel great and get a high too! if only for a short moment... they never are long enough. *sigh*

IT's that time of year....kinda

2007-10-26T17:07:00.001-07:00

I have to share..I just HAVE to....I had my FIRST Gingerbread latte of the "almost" season at my local Starbucks yesterday. I have to admit it felt weird because that is a taste I associate with Reindeer and big fat guys in red suits, not scary witches and ghosts but it gave me hope that the season is NEAR! I just LOVE Christmas!! It is my most favorite holiday of all and I love all the preparation and fun that goes along with it!!

Sipping that gingerbread latte yesterday brought back a glimmer of the season that goes into full swing come next Thursday. Hehe...bring it on!!!

Rediscovery of my alarm clock

2007-10-26T16:27:00.000-07:00

So if you have read my blog a bit then you know we have been having HUGE problems in our house with the kids staying in bed at night, particularly during the 1-5am hours. My son was the worst offender, getting up sometimes in excess of 10 times a night one after another. I was beginning to resemble the corpse bride with pale skin,black bags under my eyes and a tick that would make my top lip snarl up like character off a Warner Brothers cartoon. It was not pretty.

My inlaws decided that ds needed a new "big boy bed" and so down to Sleep Country we went and picked out a new GORGEOUS double bed. We brought it home and he was very excited to have a regular bed instead of his car bed. This presented a problem with our daughter because she then too wanted a new bed and it was LONG past due for her to have one. She was still in...brace yourselves...a crib at 3.75 yrs old. I never had an issue with the crib but LOTS of other people did. She stayed in there all night and it was plenty big for her and she hopped in and out no problem so there was no rush in my mind. But once she saw ds's new bed she suddenly had a change of heart and wanted a PRINCESS bed. So we got one and she loves it to bits.

So they have been sleeping in their beds all night for quite awhile now but getting up in the 5:30-6:30am range which is a TAD on the early side for me but much better than 2:30am. But 2 mornings ago something wonderful and down right SHOCKING happened....my alarm went off. I woke up and looked around...no kids...wth?? what is going ON here people?? did someone not get the memo? you are all to descend on Mom and Dad's bed way before they are physically and mentally prepared to awaken and deal with you! I had to seriously think this one through because I had forgotten what it was like to awake to music instead of feet pounding like 10,000 elephants coming down our hallway. At first I was excited..."YEAH THEY DID IT!!" I had to wake up DH and share my excitement with him..he grumbled something incoherent and something about turning the light off. Yeah, yeah come buddy this is time to CELEBRATE!! But then my excitement turned to paranoia...what if....they....are not even IN their beds!! You have to understand if you have been in this house the past 4 months that night time is like a perpetual running of the bulls up and down the hallway putting people back in their beds. I started to think crazy thoughts...I turned on dd's monitor and I could HEAR her breathing and I took a huge sigh of relief and smiled.

This is night 3 of sleeping through the night and past 6:30am..BOTH of them.

They did it....they really did it.

38 things meme

2007-10-23T20:41:00.001-07:00

So I never do Lee-Ann's memes even when she TAGS me to do them so I will do this one voluntarily. Wonders never cease!

1. Name one person who made you laugh last night? Lee-Ann

2. What were you doing at 0800? Picking up an instrument to clean an absolute ARSEhole's teeth...didn't know they had teeth did ya?

3. What were you doing 30 minutes ago? putting my kids to bed

4. What happened to you in 2006? I turned 35...it was a difficult birthday!

5. What was the last thing you said out loud? "Love you"

6. How many beverages did you have today? 1 latte, coffee and lots of water.

7. What color is your hairbrush? Black and Silver

8. What was the last thing you paid for? Groceries bought after work today

9. Where were you last night? Here at home talking to Lee-Ann on the computer.

10. What color is your front door? Beige

11. Where do you keep your change? In a picture box that I received as a gift when my daughter was born but it had flowers in it.

12. What’s the weather like today? GORGEOUS! Warmer than usual and SUNNY!

13. What’s the best ice-cream flavor? Winter White Chocolate by Baskin Robbins.

14. What excites you? Gingerbread latte season is 8 days away! (omg Lee-Ann!)

15. Do you want to cut your hair? Nope...just had it done a few weeks ago.

16. Are you over the age of 25? Just barely...

17. Do you talk a lot? Yes..sometimes TOO much

18. Do you watch the O.C.? No. I've never watched it.

19. Do you know anyone named Steven? I have a cousin named Steve, son's barber is Steve and hubby's best friend/our eye doctor is named Steve.

20. Do you make up your own words? omg constantly...Garp? is that a word??

21. Are you a jealous person? No....unless provoked.

.22. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter 'A' Alison

23. Name a friend whose name starts with the letter ‘K’. Kerry

24. Who’s the first person on your received call list? Mom

25. What does the last text message you received say? "What are you doing to my son?" (he was trying on women's hats in the dept store!! of course I sent a picture home!..hehe)

26. Do you chew on your straw? No.

27. Do you have curly hair? More wavy

28. Where’s the next place you’re going to? My BED!!! Ahhhhhh!

29. Who’s the rudest person in your life? An ex-bf's mother. She didn't want her son tied down..he had to hurry and grow up to be a drug dealer @@.

30. What was the last thing you ate? An egg beater wrap for dinner

31. Will you get married in the future? No...Did it right the first time!

32. What’s the best movie you’ve seen in the past 2 weeks? The Little Mermaid II

33. Is there anyone you like right now? I am liking my husband right now...we are in an up swing at the moment. Him and of course my friends!!

34. When was the last time you did the dishes? An hour ago

35. Are you currently depressed? No thank the lord!

36. Did you cry today? Nope

37. Why did you answer and post this? Because Lee has asked me to do other memes and I never do them...bad bad friendy.

38. Tag 5 people who would do this survey Anyone who wants to!!

The problem with being a Princess...

2007-10-21T08:37:00.000-07:00

Being a Princess is tough work granted.

Trying to keep all your subjects in line and catering to your every whim is not for the faint of heart. The constant whining and moaning you must do whist wearing an elasticized pink velour dress, pink plastic furry stilettos and a tiara is uncomfortable!! Why doesn't everyone understand this??

So when you awaken from your nap and have an attitude right off the bat, your mother should know that you are not quite right. She should be able to decipher between your regular attitude and "I have a temperature of 102.2" attitude. When you are whining like a wet dog left outside in the rain she should automatically know that you are not feeling well and administer the royal Advil STAT.

I am ashamed to say that it took me about half an hour to realize that my Princess had a temperature and was not on her game but when you can't separate her normal demeanor from her sick demeanor it becomes more of a challenge! After about the 10th "whining like a dog" episode she told me she was cold. The room was about 99 degrees with the fireplace on and the red flag went up.

So I am sorry Princess C that your royal assistant missed the obvious signs of a developing fever. I will add these behaviours to my LONG manual of "How to properly love and care for a PRINCESS".

I will resume to my royal chores now.

Put your dust masks on!!

2007-10-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

PFHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...did that help? omg where has the time gone? I check other people's blogs and then never keep mine going. I guess it has to do with the fact that I know I only have 3 readers and they will quickly find new a new blog to pa ruse after seeing my last post was 2 months ago. So Lee-Ann, Elle and Mrs. Smitty..I will try and win your interest back!!! lol

Lots of things going on here. Kids have finally settled in their beds at night and are staying in ALL night. Maybe getting up a tad EARLY for my liking...5:30am really isn't the time I want to go push the auto-programer off on my coffee pot to get it going THEN but whatever...at least it's not 2:30am. We got our Princess Carys a new PRINCESS bed..omg she is in heaven..loves the Princesses and gets to gaze at them every night before she drifts off to neverneverland. Her world is perfect. Wish that's all it took! I would plaster Ariel and Cindy all over my room if that were the magic solution! So both kids have new beds and seem to be more settled. Hopefully this is the start of something wonderful and permanent!

My MIL was diagnosed with colon cancer and was scheduled for surgery very quickly. The specialist turned to her and said "I am very worried about you". Would that not freak the bejesus out of you? Well she has had the surgery and got her biopsies back and she is free and clear of all cancer anywhere in her body!! WOW!! That is amazing that they found it and cleared her of it soo quickly! So she doesn't need to have Chemo and is just on the mend from the surgery.

DH got a new added position of treasurer in his job. This means he gets an extra $2000.00 a year and gets to go on two retreats for conferences WITH his family for free. FREE!!! One is at a very swanky resort up island here which is in the Spring. I am soo looking forward to that getaway!!

I am just plugging away at work here trying to sock away money for Christmas and buying presents as I go so it's not such a hit in the New Year. I am TRYING to do it differently this year. Trying to be more organized and not procrastinate until Dec 24th. I do have a secret love affair with shopping on the 24th cause I can suck up some of the Christmas spirit from all the people out there buying presents and all the feelings of joy and excitement. I do NOT like line-ups but I do love the feel and the rush of that time of year. Yes I am in need of a psych eval. So I am trying to plan out what people would like for a gift instead of haphazardly grabbing something in a gleeful PANICK. This is the PLAN anyways..

I also started Weight Watchers online again. It has only been 2 days so there hasn't been any new clothes shopping yet! Give me time and I NEED to make this stick!! The plan is to lose around 15lbs for Christmas..you know the time when parties and invites come in and you're trying to stuff your size 14 ass into size 10 black pants and find some kind of top that doesn't cling anywhere that reveals your 6 pack turned into a keg over the last year. So the loss since Friday's weigh in is......drum roll.......3.5 lbs. Wow...I know it's water weight but nothing like a little loss to spur you on after 2 days!! lol.

So I will try and keep this blog up....I do love this time of year and the months before Christmas so I should have plenty to write about and share. I hope you are all well and look forward to winning your time back again.

The magic sheep bed??

2007-09-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Well we picked up ds's new "sheep" bed from Sleep Country yesterday and set it up last night. I had to rearrange his room to make it fit because it is a double as opposed to his last bed which had a crib mattress in it (Step 2 Car bed) He now has a night table and I moved his little car nightlight from the floor up onto to table where he can see it sitting there lighting up his room. It is the shape of a car but is like a soft plastic material...not sure what to call it but it lets a soft light glow through.

So I totally did not expect a great night of sleep last night. I thought with the new bed that we would be having many visits during the night. He wasn't giving me the best feeling when I was saying how happy we would be if he slept through..kind of a shakey voice and asking what would happen if he got up...not the best indicator of a sound sleep. So we got him all set up and under the covers, said good night and whispered a prayer under our breaths.

He never got up at ALL after putting him to bed. This is HUGE. Sometimes he will come out up to 10 times after saying good night for varying reasons that only a 5 yr old could rationalize. I could not believe it!! I was waiting for the familiar "pitter-pat" of his feet across the kitchen floor but nothing....

So I never sleep well on these "experimental" nights...I hear every crack, bang or crackle through the night. Maybe I need a sheep bed. He did get up once around 12:30am to use the washroom but went right back to sleep and never heard a peep until 6:30am (he can come out if there is a "6" on his clock..lol) His sister was up at 4am with another accident **sigh** she didn't have a bath but maybe she snuck some water sometime last night..who knows. I caught her in the act of changing her sheets over and getting her clothes changed..have to love this from a 3 year old!! Girls are soo much different from boys! If ds wet his bed he would be in our room in zero five announcing the event but not dd. Some mornings I don't even hear her change things over but she turns up in different jammies..hmmmm..then she says "yeah, I had an accident".

So we will have to re-evaluate the magic of this new bed at the week's end. I am praying for the power of the sheep bed...I need it for my sanity and the energy I need to get these pesky 20 lbs off that seemed to have planted themselves BACK on my ass. **sigh** I better get ready for my hike up Mount Douglas mountain this morning. Eh, at least it's a break and it's a nice, sunny day!!! I had an alright sleep so darn it.....BRING IT ON!!!

Bathwater martini anyone?

2007-09-18T17:02:00.001-07:00

OMG Sept 3rd since I wrote last? *GASP* that is bad. I truly apologize to my 3 readers they must be sitting on the edge of their seats with their faces smooshed into the keyboard! Been crazy here the past few weeks with Kindergarten and Preschool starting..no excuse but there have been other issues involving our dear SON that have been making day to day living a bit foggy. Let me explain....

He still is getting up at night. There I said it out loud and it STILL sucks. I don't know if it's just the change with Kindy starting or what, but he will get out 3-1000 times after we put him to bed and then 4-25 times during the night. O. M. G. I am at my WITS end. I would have thought by 5 years old he would get up for the odd nightmare but not the constant in and out that occurs every night at our house. We have a very strict routine. Baths start at 6:30pm and by 7:30pm we are reading stories and have the doors closed by 8pm. But the second door opens at 8:02pm with varying excuses..

What time does Wow Wow Wubsy come on tomorrow?

What time does Daddy go to work?

I want my Sheep bed! (he's getting a new bed from Sleep Country..A sheep is their mascot)

My fan is too loud

My fan is too soft

Omg..you see where this is going. The reasons are seriously crazy but I must give him points for creativity I guess. Wow Wow Wubsy? Seriously? We have tried sticker charts..it worked for awhile and then lost it's flair...bribes of ALL kinds..video games, candy and the inlaws even tried to help out by offering MONEY. Yes you read right. He could buy us a new house by the time he's 10 if he stays in bed every night for the next 5 years because they give him $2 a night...ok maybe not a house but a dollhouse!

So he stayed in bed last night because a new Pac Man game is on the table if he stays in bed for 5 nights in a ROW. Can't be broken up..5 nights or no deal. I am torn on this bribe that DH produced because ds becomes addicted to video games and then asks all the freakin TIME for the thing to be turned on. I have little use for video games but I have to hit where it hurts I guess...this game can be taken away too if he misbehaves.

His sister has been getting up at night too but for an entirely different reason. She has been wetting the bed...every night for the past WEEK...I was totally confused at to why when I finally figured it out last night at 12am....she is DRINKING the BATHWATER. Omg EWWWW gross!!!...I just couldn't figure it out!! I was making sure she had no more juice after dinner and then she would have a bath. My Mom caught her the other night drinking it and it never hit me until last night like a shoe to the head "AHHHHH HA!!!!" Bathwater=liquid=urine=peeing the bed. EUREKA I have found the PROBLEM!!! So we will be on her like a hawk tonight...no more bathwater martini's for Princess C tonight. She will have to be on the wagon.

So this week is filled with things like getting kids to sleep through the night and no peeing the bed and open houses at school and school pictures. The reminds me I need to get ds's hair cut for the pics! I will have to give him spiky hair for the pics and he loves me doing that as much as I love getting my yearly pap. Oh Joy.

Dear Kindergarten Teacher..

2007-09-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Hi and nice to meet you this is my son Gareth. He is a very gentle and sweet little boy who loves to climb and do puzzles. He doesn't speak up all the time because he is a bit shy but once you get to know him he will talk non-stop. He does tend to migrate towards the more "rambunctious" kids in the class but just wants to be accepted and have fun. He loves trains and tractors and enjoys building towers and castles. We are working on his trailer park english so if you could correct him as well, together we can have him speaking the Queen's English by November!

I hope you and Gareth will really like each other because it makes such a difference when there is a teacher/student bond. We know he is very smart but his shyness sometimes holds him back from letting the people around him seeing it. So please be understanding and take the time to get to know my son because the time will be very much worth the effort.

Thank you

Gareth's Mom

It all becomes soo clear now...

2007-08-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

I am looking out my patio door at the HUGEST Full Moon. This explains everything. I should check my lunar charts more and medicate accordingly.

Tattling...the upside.

2007-08-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

So I wake up early this morning..around 5am because DH works days and sometimes I just can't get back to sleep. I turn on the TV and surf the channels. Jaws....always get stuck on that movie, don't know quite what that's about....always have to see the line "You need a bigger boat". Cracks me up. Surf some more and go by the "Slim in Six" advertisement and watch, in complete jealousy, at the transformations. I decided then and there I am going to RUN this morning before the kids get up. How ambitious of me!!

Uhoh...what was that noise? An opening door? *SLAM* well that certainly was one closing. Some footsteps and a door opens again.

Stay VERY quiet..maybe she will hop back into her crib and go back to sleep until 9am. Yeah and I'll just wave to the pig flying by my window. *SLAM* the door closes again.

I must be delirious because that clearly isn't going to happen. I get up and go find the slamming door offender.

It is, as I suspected, my 3 year old who informs me it's sunny and she stayed in bed all night. Yes that is wonderful seeing as we had to deal with your brother last night TWICE between the hours of 3:30am and 5am. So I usher her into our bedroom to watch some TV before her brother wakes up and try and make her WHISPER instead of yelling at me. (what is it with 3 year olds not knowing how to whisper? I am still delirious it would seem)

So I get her all tucked in bed and turn on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and she is mesmerized. I take this as a sign that I should get my workout gear on and go run on the treadmill before child #2 wakes up and all opportunities are gone. I've only half clocked into motherhood...this could SOO happen!! I can look like those chickies on the TV dammit!! I tell her the plan and that she should stay and watch TV and not get out of bed(seriously, I am now positive I am delirious). I say I will be downstairs running and would be up in 20 mins..the show wouldn't even be over by then!! This is looking like a stellar idea!! Yeah MOM!!

I kiss her and say I will be "right back"...damn foreshadowing. I go downstairs and get my workout gear out of the dryer. While I am down there I hear the water turn on and then turn off. Hmmmm....My Mommy antenna pops up out of my head like a weathervane. Water? why the hell is water turning on at 6:20am? I think maybe it is the sprinklers...YEAH that's it..the SPRINKLERS!! They turn on for 3 seconds and turn off right? suuuuuuuuuuuuure they do! 10 seconds later I hear little footsteps clomping across the floor. OK crap, now I have to go see what's up.

I go upstairs and she is going in her room. I say "C what are you DOING??? you are supposed to be watching TV!" (hopefully I will able to count on one hand how many times I say THAT sentence) She looks at me dumbfounded. I get closer to her and notice something. Something is different....her hair is the same length...check.....clothes do not seem stained in any way....check......no weird smells.........check.....I get closer. The girl is sporting some RED lips. These are not her cute little rosebud lips...these are some lips that have had some help. I look at her hand and she has cleverly hidden the tube in her hand at her side. FRIGGIN FRAK I have only been gone 3 minutes?? What is she Bionic girl?? I grab it and suddenly things start flashing at me as to the scene I am about to discover in my bathroom. I walk fast into our bedroom and open the bathroom door.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

The girl had taken anything in a tube and squished them out in my sink!!! There was red lipstick all over the counter and some things that were not up to her standards (I'm assuming) were tossed in the garbage. OMG Prozac..I need some NOW! Alcohol?? NO it's not even 6 freakin THIRTY!!! BREATHE.......chant......bang your head on the faucet!! Suddenly my quiet Sunday morning Mommy voice was gone and the fact that there was anyone else in the house sleeping was a mute point.

Yes, I woke up child #2 and after some choice words, dd was put in the corner at 6:24am.

I decide not to scold ds anymore for tattling on his sister. At least it gives us a fighting chance.

Where's my coffee....crap I only have decaf. Waaaaaaaaaaa. Donuts..I need LOTS of donuts.

Practicing sign language

2007-08-25T20:07:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened. My kids witnessed me cursing and waving random finger gestures in our van to some under medicated cyclist coming home today. I was not in a bad mood so I can't blame it on that because USUALLY I am a very calm and cool driver...not the swearing/middle finger waving type. So I don't know WHAT made me go to the dark side but happily I went, pitch fork in hand ready for battle.

We were coming home from the inlaws who had the kids all this morning (LOVING the inlaws!) and I was taking our usual route when I saw a group of bikers on my right. I kept on driving carefully to pass them when all of a sudden, "JOE under medicated biker" pulls away from the pack right in front of ME and in my lane more importantly!! I slam on the breaks and remember quickly where the horn is situated. I lay on the horn baby...crap I have a LANE here and have the right away as well! So mister cyclist turns around and I get a look at his face. That told me everything I needed to know before heading into battle. This guy thought he was Maximus in Gladiator but was not nearly as cute as Russell. His face was full of rage and scrunched up his lips and mouthed "f___ you!" while giving me the single digit salute. Maybe on another day I would have looked away and just drove by or maybe gave him a disapproving look but not today. I was PISSED that this guy thought he could tell ME off for driving in my freaking lane!! So I was ready. Right hand assumed the position and it flung up from my steering wheel in a blaze of glory. I had my speech down as well......short and sweet and repeating his statement with the same scrunched up face. I quickly drove by him triumphantly and down the hill to the awaiting yellow light. The same word I had just used came to mind. I quickly decide to turn right and take a detour home because I ain't dealing with psycho infront of my kids...hand gestures were the extent of the convo I wanted.

After my get away I keep looking in my rear view to make sure I got away clean. I hear from the backseat "Mommy, why did you wave your hand at that man?"

Just being friendly G.... (quick thinking Mom!!)

I had to phone my husband then and vent my encounter to him in the hopes that he would fly over in the squad car and arrest this creep on site and maybe rough him up a bit. No such luck. Darn.

Odds and Ends

2007-08-19T15:35:00.000-07:00

So hello all! Yes I returned from my Kelowna trip AWHILE ago and have not got back to blogging since *sigh* Funny how fast the days turn into weeks. So I will give a quick (LONG) run down on the trip and what's been going on.

The trip went fine overall. There were a few blips on the radar such as my Mother not liking to listen to music, radio or ANYTHING while driving. This I find very hard to do on a 6 hour car journey!! I like some Madonna or U2 on the way to fill the conversation voids and I find the trip goes faster while daydreaming about some earlier time in my teens (hehe). NOPE not on Judy's watch..we are at 10 and 2 and eyes on the road making sure the needle never skips above the speed limit or I am reminded that any tickets will be on me...nice! Long conversations about where things went wrong in my teen years and she always blames a certain boyfriend for my undoing..ugh....it's the longest 6 hours of my life every year.

I thought that this year I would bring the laptop with me so I could look things up on the Internet (restaurants, things to do, etc) while we were up there as the Internet was free!! Bonus!! So Dh suggests that we use Skype while we are up there so we can talk with him and dd from the hotel room. COOL! It sounded to good to be true (and you KNOW what they say about things that are too good to be true!!) So the first time it hooks up I am all excited to see Dh's cute face come up on my laptop MILES away from my home and see my daughter playing in the background. Ds talked to him and they said good night to each other..awwww..very cute. Next morning around 7:15am there is an odd ringing in the room. I go to look at the laptop and there is DH calling me on Skype. Aww too cute he misses me!! So we talk, say good morning and he sees ds in bed watching cartoons. Well my shine started to fade off Skype by the 10th Skype call when the scene went from me being right there in the camera to wave "HI" to an empty chair being the forefront for DH's convo's and hearing "hello? is anyone there?" ..uhhh yes dear someone IS here but I have already talked to you 15 times today. My heart was not growing any fonder even when I was away because it was like he was RIGHT there with me. We started to bicker on Skype and shoot looks back at each other.....that's when I made my final decision on Skype. Delete program from all existence for next year. I love my husband dearly but sometimes a little break is nice to bring some fondness back. I could have turned it off yes, but he was then phoning my cell phone to tell me to turn it on so he could talk to ds....He does mean well but I don't need to bicker 350 miles away in a hotel room with my Mom listening. We can do that in the same 5 foot radius in our own home thanks.

So I came home after another long day of music-less driving . The drive back really sucks because after the long drive we have to get in line to catch a Ferry over to the Island. Well there was an airshow that day and the Ferries were PACKED! We ended up on the 7pm Ferry and got home by 9pm. I threw my suitcase down, got the kids in bed and jumped into my own bed for a well deserved long sleep.

Well I started back to work that next day but only did 2 short days by myself of Hygiene as my Dentist is still on holidays until the 20th(tomorrow). Dh is on holidays until the 25th so we did a little thinking and decided to take a trip up island to stay 2 nights in a hotel and the kids could play on the beach. FUN! So I took ds to his soccer class Wednesday morning and headed home to surprise the kids with our little trip news. They were excited but I don't think really took it in that we were staying overnight and just thought we were going to the beach. So DH and I are packing up the truck and something happened that should have foreshadowed the entire trip for me in my mind. Dh dropped my wine carrier that had a bottle of wine and a bottle of Gin. The Gin bottle shattered to pieces in the holder and there was Gin everywhere on the ground and glass covered the cement. I could have clocked him right where he stood. I had visions of DH and I sitting on the deck having a Gin and Tonic and RELAXING while the kids watched some Tree House on TV (Canadian children's network) He had just literally shattered that dream all over our driveway. I had to suck it up and pull myself together for the trip's sake or it was going to have a very sour flavour. So off we went on our 2 hour journey to the hotel!

The drive up went great cause the kids both slept for 75% of it! YEAH I love those kind of road trips! We got into our room which over looked the ocean and it was breath taking!! We all got changed into our beach wear and headed down to the sand. The water was "bath water" warm and there were TONNES of little crabs everywhere for the kids to chase. The tide started to come in so after about 2 hours we headed back to change and get some dinner which turned out to be McDonald's (oh yeah). After dinner we went over to the local Arcade which was in the back of our hotel. They had bumper boats and we all got just SOAKED spraying each other. We played some games...that "roll the ball up into the hole" things and you win tickets to buy a plastic spider ring. Dh and ds played a quick game of air hockey that I think may have been fixed because Dh (a ruthless air hockey player) lost with NO points scored. Hmmm..lol

So we get ready for bed and the kids are all tucked in for the night. DH pops a sleeping pill because he thinks he could have some problems sleeping in a hotel with a restless ds sleeping with him...fine. So I initially fall asleep in the bed with dd. I awake about 2 hours later to Dh just SNORING like a drunk bear. I get up and grab his hand and say "you're snoring!" and he mumbles sorry and turns over. Two minutes later he starts up again....omg! I get up and go over and grab his arm and shake it....no response. Those sleeping pills are worth the money! So he senses something and goes back to sleep. Dd then starts to get restless because of all my excursions and starts to roll around. I try and go to sleep so she can get back to sleep. All of a sudden **THUD THUMP THUD** OMG dd has fallen OUT of the bed on the floor and banged her head on the bed table!! I say "OMG Carys!!!" and run around and pick her up and place her back in bed and kiss her head. She says nothing. DH says nothing. Ds says nothing. No one is awake but me it appears. WTF?? So I crawl back into bed and pull her closer to me and put a tonne of pillows on the floor. In between the continued snoring, hotel doors slamming, people talking LOUD in the hallways and paranoia of dd falling out of bed again, I managed to get about 3 hours sleep all told.

So we wake up at 6am with the sun blazing in the room. Looks like a nice day but it was to be VERY short lived. Within half an hour there was thunder and lightening that was putting on quite a show for the kids! We decided to bag the second night and head back home. I think I am done for family trips this Summer. Between breaking bottles and falling kids I will closet my suitcase for now.

Holiday or Helliday?

2007-08-06T20:31:00.000-07:00

So I leave on Wednesday with my Mom and son for a town in the interior of BC called Kelowna. My Mom was born and raised here and it was very much a part of my upbringing, having all my Christmases and birthdays in either the packed snow or HOT sun. This has been a tradition since ds was born that we go every Summer for a few days to kick back a bit and breathe in the old memories from my childhood and hopefully pass a few onto my son.

We debated on bringing my daughter this year but I think we will give her one more year to "marinate" before taking the gruesome twosome on the road. It would like be taking crazy from here and bringing it to location B....I'm willing to wait another year thanks. He is enough to handle at this particular junction. While I'm on THAT point, maybe someone can answer a question for me. Why is it once you get one child sorted out and semi behaving again, the other one goes into another phase of hellish behaviour?? I really see this trend repeating over and over!! We finally got dd sorted and is like a new kid really. No meltdowns, happy and communicating instead of going from happy to tears in zero five. Now ds has turned into a whiny, tired and semi-cheeky guy.

Funny how if you put a child into a group of kids, they will pick out the WORST kid and suck in their behaviour like a hoover going after dust bunnies. Gareth has a friend "Tristan" that he has not seen since school got out, but he has his "show" down PAT. It always rears it's ugly head when he is at his tiredest....usually 3pm onwards. I get things like "hey garbage Mommy" (his attempt at being funny....soo NOT funny) and just inappropriate behaviour. Example: I told him today that there were no more pumpkin scones left in Starbucks and he yells "WHAT?" in this affected, loser tone (know it?) Like take it down a notch buddy.....talk properly and lose the rudeness. Where is the sweet boy I know is in there? Seems the demon Tristan has a hold over him at this particular junction. *sigh*

So I am wondering how much fun will actually be had on this trip. Right now I am almost tempted to switch kids and bring the cute little girl that is in my house at the moment. Who knows when she will turn into Jekyll again but right now she is adorable!! My Mom helps me to a point but then has to back off and I don't blame her....this is definite Mommy territory.

I may need to pack my naughty chair and bring alot of wine. OH wait....ds has enough of that for ALL of Kelowna. Drink up!

Worked as a temp today..

2007-08-03T20:06:00.000-07:00

Well I completed my temping day that I haphazardly signed up for months ago while feeling optimistic, one peach cidered Saturday night. I did it. It is DONE. I thought it would be neat because the office is literally one minute from my house and hey if I loved it wouldn't that be perfect?? Cost of gas would dramatically DROP from lots to none cause I could walk. That's a huge plus right there! I went in on Tuesday to see how the office runs and get a feel of the staff before I made my debut today.

I have been nervous about this ALL week. Not about meeting new people....that doesn't scare me in the least. The big thing I have a problem with is not knowing where things are and how things run (my comfort zone) and thus looking like an idiot in front of clients. I managed to indulge my fears and look like an idiot and talk like a trip hammer during all my appointments this morning. Yeah me!!

First, the regular hygienist is shorter than me and left handed. Imagine the obstacles right there. Chairs are lower and all my equipment is on the wrong side. Had to spend the quick 5 mins I had before the "morning meeting" moving everything around. Fun fun! So then the dentist, who seemed like a nice guy, ushers me in for the morning meeting. I don't do these at my regular office so I was intrigued as to what goes on..... perhaps a pow-wow or a "ra ra RA!!" before they start the day. I was a little disappointed. He reviewed all my patients and then pushed a piece of paper in front of me about hygiene billing. This is something that is going on in BC right now where the College of Dental Surgeons decided that dentists should be getting the hygienists working for them to bill for every single second that a patient is in the room as scaling or root planning (measurements for cleaning teeth) to pull in some extra bucks. It is a huge debate going on between the dentists and hygienists and I had already tackled it at my office by printing out the College of Dental Hygienists stand on the whole issue which is "it's your license". By that they mean if you are going to bill for procedures you did NOT perform, know that it is YOUR license that could be revoked, not the dentist's.

So I was a little taken back by this piece of paper that I hadn't seen since March and was debating on whether I say something or not. I decided not, because I was probably only going to be there half a day and as it turned out, I needed every single second with every patient because I was discombobulated and their instruments SUCKED to put it mildly. OMG...these things looked like mangled picks from the caveman era. EW! My poor patients had to put up with me banging them in the head with my knee (hitting the chair not their actual head), dropping the feeble suction on the floor that kept coming apart ( tick tock) getting my chair wheels wrapped up in the ultrasonic cord...OMG it was a comedy of errors!! My comfort zone was nuclear bombed and blown to smithereens. I did manage to complete the day and pick up what was left of my dignity and went to get my lunch (how optimistic of me!) to go home. I was then stopped by the dentist who brought me in his office and asked how the morning went (ACK!) and then proceeded to offer me a job. This was not a huge surprise to me as hygienists are VERY scarce in this city and many dentists are looking for anyone to help them out. I told him if anything should change with my current job I would let him know.

The office was pleasant enough and the girls were very nice but I think in this case, the grass was a little yellow and drier than I had hoped.

Dealing with 3 year olds

2007-08-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well you may have noticed that I have not been blogging too much lately. Wonder why my 3 readers? Well it is due to my lovely 3 year old daughter. She is driving everyone in the family insane and pushing every limit or boundary. We are trying to find any method or discipline that works with her because so far obviously nothing has worked. We are at our wits end!

Funny how two kids from the same parents can be soo different! My son has the usual "stay in bed" issues or "keep your hands to yourself" thing but never has he pulled an all out tantrum when you say no or remove him from a situation, say like the park. You know the Mom you see pulling their screaming child across the park to their car?? Yup that would be me. I have no idea how we got here really...we used the same discipline with both kids and I fear that may the root of our problems.

We use the ever so popular "naughty corner" with both children and it clearly has a greater effect on my son than my daughter. He is a very sensitive guy and gets when you are angry and changes his behaviour accordingly. My daughter tho? You don't even need to tell her now...she knows when she is going to the naughty corner and quite happily will stroll to the corner after what she KNOWS was she has done was bad. She will stand there and talk to herself and when you come over she will flash a BIG smile and say "I'm sorry Mommy...I'm sorry" and we have the "sorry is not enough" speech and make her go apologize, mainly to my son. I have resorted to spanking her because I have no other avenues left to try (I had thought) but even that doesn't seem to be working. Yeah she cries and knows we are mad but she just gets MADDER and throws mini-fits in the corner. Where did this child COME from? Surely not from ME!!!

So my Mom watches them both 1-2 times a week and is having the same issues. My daughter will throw fits when leaving the park, McDonald's, anywhere she is having a good time with other kids. We DO give her the "10 mins.....5 mins" countdown to when we will be going so she is getting the cues as to when we are leaving. My Mom has always maintained that neither my sister or I EVER gave her this kind of trouble and she is NOT a woman who likes public attention especially from bad behaviour. People would rave to her how well behaved my sis and I were so this is a polar opposite and she does NOT like it. She told me a few days ago that she does not know if she can watch the kids anymore because it has not turned out the way she thought it would be...she does not want to be the disciplinarian, she wants to be a Nana. I totally get that it is a VERY hard job esp for a 60+ adult. Hell I can't handle it at 36!! I don't know what we would do without her...she comes to our house and takes care of the kids for FREE. Where are we going to find someone who would do that? Wonderland?

So the last time she had my kids, my daughter right on cue, threw a fit when leaving a water park after MUCH warning. So she took matters in her own hands and told her that she was not going to be playing at the playarea in McDonalds now....she was going to have to sit and watch her brother play instead. She told me this on the phone as they were driving to McDonalds and I was thinking "OMG Mom....she is going to pitch a fit like no other and that will be the END of you watching the kids..kaput!"

So all day at work I was wondering what happened at McDonalds. I was sure that my daughter threw the biggest hissy fit and they all were admitted to the nearest loonie bin where I would be picking them up after work. But no....that is not what happened. My Mom had told her that she would not be playing today and she would have to watch. They ate their lunch and you know what that clever girl said "I am really HAPPY Nannie!"... hehe, I remember doing stuff like that, hoping that they had forgotten what you had done and let you go play. But no, she made her sit and watch and she was.......FINE. I mean she was sad and was going "boo hoo hoo" and then slowly turning around and looking at the kids and then going back to her boo hoo's at the table. She KNEW she had been bad and was being punished!! OMG...a BREAKTHROUGH!!

We are still plugging through day to day with her but she does seem to "get" things a bit more. She IS a different personality from my son and will have to be dealt with differently as well. She can switch from Jekyll to Hyde in the blink of an eye and you have to change YOUR frame of mind from "happy Mommy" to "She-Ra Queen of all discipline" just as fast. DH and I are just exhausted at the end of a day with both kids. Parenting truly is the hardest job I have ever taken on. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into but clearly I had not the faintest idea. Thank the lord above the good moments seem to outweigh the bad moments...for now.

I've been TAGGED!

2007-07-27T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well I have been tagged by good, old Lee-Ann to do a meme so without further a do...

FOUR JOBS I HAVE HAD IN MY LIFE:
1. Lifeguard/Swim instructor
2. Gas Jockey attendant (my Dad had a gas station)
3. Dental Assistant
4. Dental Hygienist

FOUR MOVIES I WOULD WATCH OVER AND OVER:
1. Jaws..I don't know what it is about this damned movie but it gets me EVERY time.
2. LA Confidential...loved this movie.
3. The House of Spirits...lots a good actors in this one and it's really good to boot!
4. Jurrasic Park...there's something about men and dinosaurs..they were never meant to meet!

FOUR PLACES I HAVE LIVED:
1. Colwood, BC. Canada
2. Oak Bay, BC
3. Sweet Waters...a bar in downtown Victoria
4. Central Saanich, BC

FAVORITE FOODS:
1. Chocolate Croissants
2. Blueberries
3. Lobster
4. Lasagna

PLACES I WOULD RATHER BE NOW:
1. At the Lottery Dept. picking up my cash after winning the lottery
2. At a Marriott getting ready to go on the town with my fav girls (you know who you are)
3. On a sandy beach with just my husband..we really need to get reaquainted!!
4. Walking down a leafy path with a warm sweater and a hot chocolate.

What Season is it again??

2007-07-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

OK my short and depressing post for this weekend. Rain. We have had enough please. I think we could fill our reservoir 50 times over. I have to constantly remind myself that it IS indeed Summer and not some Spring or Fall day....this IS Summer..right?? We had 2 weeks of good weather. Even the hottest day on record for this city, but this?? This SUCKS. I had plans to go on picnics and put the kids in Soccer camps. Oh they have been but spent most of the classes in the dug out avoiding being soaked to the bone. I have been trying to ignore it and just go outside and kick the ball around and encourage the kids to ride their trikes in the rain but there is only so much a person can TAKE!!

I am drinking Earl Grey Tea on a SUMMER night. This is a routine I save for FALL nights...

Mother Nature if you are out there in blogland PLEASE take your cloudy, wet friends somewhere else...we are all stocked up in H2O here thanks!!

The Girl's Weekend is over (sniff, sniff)

2007-07-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Well I returned from my Mommy's weekend on Sunday afternoon and quickly descended back into the reality of Motherhood. Maybe a bit TOO quickly (couldn't they have eased me back in?? like maybe I could have stayed at a halfway house or something for a bit!)

So I just had the BEST time. I have only one other weekend with girlfriends that even comes CLOSE and I know from that weekend that times like this weekend are few and far between. It was wild that we all just "clicked" even though we had never met before...just typed back and forth on a keyboard. Yet when we all met up it was like old school friends that could not be separated and had our own joke going the entire visit. All of our sense of humour's are exactly the same. We find all the same stuff funny and are all quirky-weird in the same loser way.

I usually find on trips like this that there is inevitably, one person who keeps talking after the lights are off and you are trying to get to sleep. Not with THESE girls. Lights out, shut UP and PASS OUT! I loved them already!! I cant stand half awake convos..my Mom is notorious for this and I am like "ok Mom can I go to sleep now?" Nope, these girls play hard and rest hard. Perfect!

So girls, thank you. Thank you for a weekend filled with laughter and camaraderie. Thank you for always sitting in the front of Taxis Lee-Ann and leaving the fan on in the bathroom in the morning. Thank you Elle for saving your "softer side" for Sears and allowing me to defile you in the Marriott with a throw pillow. It truly was the best weekend ever.

Summertime!

2007-07-10T21:39:00.000-07:00

I am SOOO happy that the weather has finally (and I mean FINALLY) turned around from the awful Winter and sopping Spring we endured over here on the West Coast. I mean it got PRETTY bad here. Ice storms and WIND..omg the wind....I have never in my LIFE seen anything like that! It certainly separated the weak from the strong for the trees around here! Spring is usually wet and gross and then we get a "so-so" Summer. Well not THIS Summer ...this Summer is turning into a BANNER year!

At work we have A/C going all day so you never really get to venture into the climate and see what the temp is outside. Well let me tell you today?? today was INSANELY hot for here. I got home and it was 40 (104) on our deck outside. That probably doesn't seem too hot for people reading. They are used to that and much hotter. But for here the norms are about mid 80's..not much higher so hardly anyone has A/C in their homes, only in businesses and dept stores. So to see 40 on our deck, one starts to get a little sweaty around the thong.

I am currently sitting here in a BALMY house at about 90 degrees typing this with no cool air in sight listening to Olivia Newton-John's "Let's Get Physical" ..I remember seeing that video and thinking it was about exercise...oh to be that naive again. The kids have fans on and cotton sheets over them. Hopefully I will not hear from them until the morning.

In related news to getting up, my son has been giving us a run for our money in the getting up at night dept. He has been getting up for about 45 mins AFTER we put him to bed and then coming into our room at 2-3am. The other night he came in about 10-15 times from 1:50am-4:30am and got up at 6am. Omg. We were to say the least, frustrated and ANGRY. So I came up with my chart idea. He is a very "Type A" child and like things in place, order and rewards (what kid doesn't?) So I thought if I made up a bedtime chart that we put stickers on for each night he stayed in bed ALL night, that he would get onto it and STAY IN BED. The ultimate goal. Last night we tried but he got up once so no sticker. Tonight he hasn't been out at ALL so I may need to break those stickers out finally!! YEEEHAW!! We also gave him a digital clock and said he is NOT allowed to come out until there is a "6" for the first number" I can handle 6 o'clock visits...2 am?? not so much. Let's hope this idea works and I can sell my new found invention to Fisher Price for a small fortune, quit work, pay off the mortgage, get the implants and travel the world with my well behaved, sleeping thru the night children.

Sound too good to be true? ehh I'll be the half full girl today.

P.S. 2 days until my Vancouver Blogger Girl's Weekend!!! Bring your string bikini's ladies...there will be ALOT of time spent by the pool with our martinis. WHEW!!

Issues with my girls.

2007-07-08T06:13:00.001-07:00

I have had issues with my breasts since about the age of 12. That's when I noticed other girls developing and my lack thereof. It didn't matter if I gained or lost weight, those ever dependable perky girls never moved an inch! I was teased and tormented, the usual happenings in any school. I also had a daily reminder of my shortcomings....my younger sister developed into a DD right before my SEETHING jealous eyes. Cruel Mother Nature did give me a glimpse of what I was missing while breastfeeding, only to take them away (and THEN some) after my babes were weaned. This truly was NOT fair!

As a teen I did the usual stuffing of my bras with Kleenex to try and fill them out more, only later to see a picture taken that night and see my magic solution hanging out for all to see....*sigh* I had thought about the implant route, but money was an issue and I was a little afraid of the entire procedure. So about 10 years ago I saw these wondrous little silicon jobbies that you can put in your bra to give that fuller look that I was LONGING for! I immediately ordered them off the TV and awaited by my mailbox.

When they arrived I was like a kid at Christmas. I couldn't WAIT to get into that package to see the answer to all my problems!! As I took them out of the box I felt the soft squishy forms. They looked like chicken cutlets that had somehow been preserved into this breast-like material. I was SOLD!! I wore these every time I went out. It made me stand a little straighter and feel better about myself. Scary that it took a piece of blobby silicon to do that!

Fast forward to the Winter of 1998 when DH and I met. I was still bestest buddies with my cutlets and was using them to secure my place in DH's heart. Looking back I think they were trying to sabotage the union more than cement it in stone. On one of our first dates, we decided to go swimming at a local pool. Fun times!! So I brought along my trusty enhancers and waded out into the water. Now CLEARLY I had not thought this whole "objects in the bathing suit" thing through and never considered movement of the cutlets around in my suit. There were many adjustments being made as we sat in the hot tub and I was trying to read Dh's face to see if he was onto my covert operation in the 102 degree waters. Dh then says "Let's go jump off the high tower! that will be FUN!" and I, like a love struck IDIOT, jumped out and made my way to the ladder of the tower. Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know what happened next. I jumped off, gravity sucked me down into the water at warp speed and 2 seconds after I hit the water both my friends exited their confines left and right. There I was MORTIFIED underwater trying to grab at these blobs before they made their way down to the 12 foot bottom. DH was, of course, waiting for me on the side of the pool which only upped my anxiety to find these suckers and keep the phasad up. Through the grace of god I did find them both and managed to slap them back in and resurface with him none the wiser I had thought. He now tells me that he saw me scrambling around underwater and wondered why I was doing a syncho swim expedition in the dive tank. He now knows the truth.

I have to say that I still have my girls close to my heart most days if the occasion calls. Our relationship has grown strong over the years and I know how far I can push them and their limitations. Dh has always maintained that he is NOT a breastman but when the girls are positioned perfectly I can't ignore the glimmer in his eye as he comes over to greet me from work. I know that breasts would not make our relationship any stronger but I think they would make my self esteem sky rocket. One of my friends got a breast enhancement recently and she looks AMAZING. They are the perfect size for her frame and do not look fake in any sense. Can you sense my jealousy? Maybe one day I will be able to shelf my cutlets and go for a more permanent solution but until then they will be one of my most valuable fashion accessories.

One Week today....

2007-07-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

One week today I will be just finishing packing up my suitcase and looking around my bedroom to see if I have forgotten anything.

One week today I will be putting on my cute black skirt, the one with the flowers and sequins at the bottom, and making sure that I packed enough under ware, lounge wear and party wear to last me through the weekend.

One week today I will water my plants and try and get the house to a "higher than normal" state of clean before it topples over into mid level pigsty by Sunday.

One week today I will be getting into our van with the kids and hubby trying to maintain my sanity and excitement on the short ride to the ferry. I may need to keep pinching my right thigh from squealing.

One week today I will wave as I walk onto the ferry and then make a mad dash for the breakfast buffet where I will sit by the window. I will not care as other kids scream and run around the buffet area because they will not be my kids and I will go back for MORE waffles.

One week today I will make my way to the bus ticket dude on the ferry and purchase my ticket to the Downtown Station. I will try not to trip from skipping down the stairs of the ferry to the bus, swinging my purse and lugging my seemingly weightless suitcase.

One week today I will get onto the bus like a country girl on her first bus ride and have a permasmile as I make my way to my seat. I could be sitting next to the smelliest person alive but I will just turn up my iPod a bit and focus on the END of the bus ride.

One week today I will get off the bus and flag down the FIRST Taxi I see and instruct him to RIDE LIKE THE WIND to the Hotel.

One Week today I will grab my purse and suitcase and literally SPRINT for the front doors (after paying the cabbie) in the hopes that my BEST friends Lee-Ann and Elle are there warming up a seat at the bar for my smelly bus self.

One week today I will be enjoying a cocktail, laughing and LOOKING at my friend's faces for the first time since meeting them 6 years ago online. I have never done anything like this before and I know I will remember this weekend for YEARS to come.

I can't WAIT for ONE WEEK TODAY!!!!

My new Starbucks Coffee Addiction

2007-07-03T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yes....I am addicted and more so than to my usual Caramel Macchiato. The reason why? I upped it a notch and have been adding an extra shot of espresso. OMG people...this is a DIFFERENT drink. I go from Janis, tired working Mom to JANIS....QUEEN OF THE GUM GARDENERS (FYI: I'm a hygienist) and I feel like I can take on ANYTHING!!!

I have been enjoying this drink every morning I go to work lately because, as fate would have it, I have a most wonderful Starbucks in my work complex. It would be a SIN surely to try and ignore that fact so I must go and wish my friendly barristas a good morning and maybe pick up a beverage while I'm there....might as well!

I really notice a HUGE surge of energy and happiness in me after about 5 minutes of sipping on this wonder juice. Does it scare me a bit? umm ya a bit, but how can something soooo good be soooo bad? I could be addicted to something worse SURELY!!

So word to the wise, Lee-Ann and Elle. I may come with a map to the nearest Starbucks from our hotel so I can recover from the wild nights we are going to be having in 9 DAYS!!! (it's in the SINGLE digits now ladies!!!) I am getting SOOO excited....this is going to be the highlight of my Summer I'm SURE of it!! Make sure to bring your Pole Elle....you can teach us some moves to bring home to the hubsters. Hubba, hubba!!

Sun and Stitches

2007-07-02T14:29:00.000-07:00

So today we had to take dd to have her stitches taken out of her chin. Our regular doctor had today off and we knew that so it was the luck of the draw of who would be on call today. Of course, it is the guy I can't stand and is a waste of skin with a doctorate. So his bedside manner is as warm as my coffee is at lunchtime and even more so with kids. I knew she needed to get them out and also knew that it was not going to be pretty as they were embedded into the scar on her chin. So in he comes with his suture removal kit and lacklustre style.

Dd really was awesome. As awesome as she was getting the stitches. The guy had to cut into the scab to get at the knots (all 5 of them) and there were a few tears but she remained still for the "doc" to remove them. He had to put another bandage on her chin because it was bleeding but it will be off soon if I know my daughter. Too bad because the girl IS dirt. I will have to keep on her washing her face, etc to make sure it doesn't get infected.

Today the weather has finally decided that it is time for Summer to begin. We have warm temps fore casted all week and I am SOO hoping they last into the "girl's weekend" because shopping and relaxing are SOOO much more fun with a little sun on your face! I am trying to decide if I should go for a sunless tan before the weekend...I am looking a little pastie lately and a little fake colour could do me some good! hehe.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Tuesday!! Bring on the SUN!!!!

I have 3 readers now??

2007-07-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Well Elle seems to think that I deserve a Rockin Blogger nom and by GOSH I will take that thank you VERY much!! Never has a Sunday morning been as glorious as this one! I will take my little pink thingy and post it for all to see.....all three of you!!

I would like to thank all the little....umm.....ok someone get the hook..

So I am going to bestow this wonderful honour onto my fav blogger women: Elle, Lee, Mrs. Schmitty, and my newest read My Tiny Kingdom which had me on the floor laughing with this post.

All these lovely ladies inspire me and make me smile with their stories of motherhood and it's trials and tribulations. Thank you for sharing your funny and touching moments with me (and everyone else!!)

Well today is Canada DAY!! Woot! and we are off to the local parade all in our finest Canadian wear thanks to Nana. It looks like the weather will behave and the plan is to get a seat in Smitty's (breakfast restaurant) which is right along the parade path and then do a dine and dash! haha..ok maybe not...then going to make our way to Starbucks and then enjoy the festivities for the day.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!!

15 days....

2007-06-28T14:55:00.000-07:00

Until I meet my best friends that I have never met before!! Now how weird does THAT sound?

Weird I know, agreed. Funny how things have gone in this new era of computers. I mean I would never have known these ladies ( Lee and Elle ) existed before the internet but we met up on a common baby site (BabyCenter.com) and all bonded as we were having babies at the same time. Our kids are all within months of each other and we talk almost every day now sharing stories, good and bad, and I think help each other through those hard moments in life where you think no one has ever felt what you are feeling. (ok as I typed that one of those freaky quick spiders zooped across my screen and I had to do a small shriek and kill it...crisis averted) I feel so close to these ladies like I've known them forever. We talk on the phone, have web cam conversations and talk to each other's kids and send each other presents and cards throughout the year. This has been a long time coming!! I still can't believe we all managed to get the same weekend FREE from kids and hubbies!! The stars and planet are in alignment!!

So the plan is to meet up at a hotel in Vancouver and drink, sing, eat, laugh, jump, dance, crawl, hug, laugh some more, swim? drink (some more) and whatelse?? oh yea...SHOP!!! We are going to relax and suck in every child free moment and bond like the girlfriends we are and come home with wonderful stories and memories of each other and we will all have the same thought in our minds....

How and when can we meet up again???

Girls I am counting down the days on my calendar until we meet up in that fateful hotel in Vancouver. It is truly going to be a weekend to remember for many years to come!!!

Dry Eyes!!

2007-06-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

OMG my eyes are SOOO DRY!! How dry you ask? well I guess pretty darned dry according to the eye specialist I saw today! They put these little strips of paper IN my eyes (the lower lid) and had me sit for about 2 mins then removed them (thank god). So normal is a "15" ..my right eye is a 3 and my left a 5...umm apparently this is BAAAD. I knew they were dry but I didn't think THAT dry. Thing is I have no idea what is causing this!! You start googling dry eyes and you range from dehydration to Lupus..YIKES!! As I read more about Lupus I was almost convinced I had it..until I saw the 11 criteria needed to diagnose which I only have about 2. WHEW.

So right now they are burning even after putting 2 sets of drops in them and I have huge floaters (sorry TMI) and things are blurry. They are always the worst late at night and first thing in the morning. I go back next week for a dilation and results from my swab he took of my eyes (yeeouch)

In other news, Puppy is back home with the breeder. He took her back on Tuesday and even though it's a huge weight off my mind, I can't help but feel sorry and sad for Kona. We did love the girl tonnes but I just wish we could have provided her a more stable first home. Grrr..sometimes I annoy myself for not sticking to my initial reaction. At any rate, she is back to what she knew and gets to play with her brothers and sisters until she finds a new home.

When I came home today from my specialist appointment, I phoned DH to see how everyone was doing. Well I say "where are you?" and he says "you don't want to know"....ummmm ya dude I do actually. So he tells me that they are in the ER and my dd has split her chin open from falling off her trike. OMG. So I go home and think maybe we will meet home at the same time but no one is home. The phone rings and he wants me to come down because she is getting stitches. O M G...STITCHES???? Noooooo! So I prepare myself for the worst. Bring fav blanket and horsey toy and head to ER. Walk in and walk in front of the room they are in and she is getting her chin stitched with no problem whatsoever!! I mean like a HUGE trouper here!! She was just lying down VERY still and this guy was sewing her up like something off Grey's Anatomy. I was amazed. The nurses kept coming up and saying "What an ANGEL!! she hasn't made a SOUND!" and I had to recheck that it was actually MY child on the table. I hung back because I knew if she saw me that would be the end of the quiet, still girl. i was soo proud of my little Carys!!

So I have a little girls weekend coming up with 2 other bloggers...they shall remain nameless as they are HUGE in blogger land and we may get swarmed by paparazzi which would bring our good time down. But the countdown is on.....15 days left until our Margaritas by the pool...hang in there ladies!!!! Save me a lounge chair!!

The Dog Days of Summer

2007-06-23T15:19:00.000-07:00

We got a dog. Ok let me clarify that comment...we got a PUPPY. A very very cute puppy but alas a puppy. Dh and I have been kind of searching around since last Summer when we had to have our guy, Jasper put down. We were locked into 2 separate breeders at different times only to have me come to my SENSES and talk DH down from his dog induced euphoria and get out of the contract before any puppies were born. We have 2 small children who take up ALOT of our time and I was able to remember that the other times but something happened this last time that made me think we could do it. Hell other people do it all the time with gaggles of kids so why not us?? Could it be SOO hard?

Dh is a huge "doggie person" I am a semi-doggie person. I love dogs but I have to have my kids as my number one priority so the dog comes third (behind my husband ;) ) My heart aches when I see my husband out doing yard work and see him looking down beside him where his faithful Jasper used to lay. So I thought with it being Summer and with our holidays coming up it would be a perfect time to get a puppy!!

How wrong could I be?....very. Who knew that a puppy whines and cries all night like a newborn? I certainly didn't. I figured that you just put them in a crate and say good night and we'll see you in the morning. So we tried the first night with the pup downstairs in it's crate which is BIG but we thought it would be fine. The first time I heard her was around 1:15am so DH went down and let her out (after I pounced on him and yelled "THE PUPPY!!! IT'S WHINING!!! GO GO GO!!!") After he came back upstairs she continued to whine and howl. So I took some of my good friend Lee-Ann's (Mama Lee) advice and went downstairs and slept beside the puppy's crate. Well who KNEW the amount of noise that occurring in my laundry room!! Freezers kickin in and turning off and sprinklers coming on at 3am not even to mention the puppy whining all morning long ...omg I got about 2 hours sleep that night.

The next night, after conferring with Lee-Ann and the Internet many times, we decided to bring puppy into our room to sleep in it's crate. Now for those of you who do not KNOW my husband ,the slightest sound of a moth's wings beating outside our window will wake him up. Once he is up, there is no getting him back to sleep for at least another hour or two and he is just a DREAMBOAT to deal with the next day. So you can imagine how last night went....ugh..was awful. We were up every 2 hours with this pup outside doing it's business after several whining/howling episodes. The Internet says to not let the puppy out of it's crate if it is whining/howling so just how do you get your wolverine to stop calling for it's friends once it's gone into "the zone"? I don't know if these so called experts raised actual animals or stuffed toys! I was saying "Shush!" and "QUIET KONA" a bazillion times only to have her start up the second the last letter came out of my mouth.

So this morning my husband and I both looked at each other and we KNEW what the other was thinking. WHAT THE HELL HAVE WE DONE? omg we are soo tired that we are snapping at the kids for the tiniest things and they are fighting more to get our attention that has now turned to this four legged shark with fur. I feel like I should have "NO BITE" tattooed across my forehead and have some T-Shirts made up as well cause it's pretty much the only phrase I am saying these days. So we put our tails between ours legs and called the breeder to ask how he deals with people who cannot handle the pup after they buy them. For you dog lovers I am truly sorry..I really am...but we are not cut out for this. I realize how important it is for the pup to bond to it's new family so I want to have her go to her permanent home ASAP. The breeder phoned us and is currently working on another lady who was interested after us so this may have a happy ending after all.

This was one of those situations that you actually had to LIVE through to gain the experience from, after all we are only human and do make mistakes. Lesson learned...Dh and I will NEVER get a puppy ever again. We are very certain about that. If something should happen down the road when an adult dog is available, which is what happened with Jasper, we will seriously considered it but for right now, no dogs. It's not fair to everyone involved especially the pup. :(

So we will still have her and love her until a suitable home is found for her but I know in my heart this is the right decision. I wish I could be that woman that pulled everyone together to bond and raise this puppy but I don't have the strength in me to give that kind of leadership at this time in my life. I am tired, pms'ing and have a double eye infection which is making my head all blurry and sore.

I wish I could have known this is how it would have gone, but hind sight is 20-20.

Parades and rain DON'T mix..

2007-06-09T13:45:00.000-07:00

Well today is BRENTWOOD days here in our little neck of the woods complete with drinks, snacks, stands selling junk and a PARADE!! yippeee!! A parade you say?? well that must be FUN!! let's GO! Well it would be fun if the sun was shining, you had a comfie chair to watch it from and you had NO CHILDREN to cart around. We weren't WATCHING the parade we were IN it, dragging our 3-4yr olds in the pouring rain down for about 2KM to show our support for our kid's preschool. Umm let me just say I was wrestling ALOT this morning with the whole thought of not going because of the rain....turns out I should have been thinking about OTHER factors as well.

So we find the kids all lined up at the school where we were to meet, holding balloons and looking all excited even with the rain teaming down. Ok, we can do this it's only rain right? and we chose to live on the West Coast and if a little rain scares you, well you better go find another place to live! So we start out on our walk journey. Now I should have found out how far the parade was because I would have known RIGHT off that my kids would not be walking that far without a TONNE of whining. Some of the things I heard along the way: "This parade is really boring"...."Both my legs are broken from walking sooo far"......."Can we go to the parade now?" Umm honey? we are IN the parade right now......ugh it was a trying morning to say the LEAST. Note to self: The Brentwood parade is WORTH missing.

So we (my Mom came with us..thank GOD) got back into the van and went to get a latte at the local coffee joint to warm up or cold, wet to the bone bodies. Came home and had a sit down for about 20 mins and then had to get ready for SPORTBALL!! I really hate these Saturday mornings. I love that the kids interact with other kids and get some exercise, yadda yadda yadaa but DANG I feel like I should paint my van yellow and have a meter running. So while ds was at sportball, my Mom, dd and I went into Sidney and went birthday shopping for a boy that's in ds's preschool and the party is RIGHT after sportball. Can this day be over soon PLEASE??

So $35 later..holy DYNA do these birthday kill a pay cheque!! We have had 3 birthdays in a row and it's killing the old account! No one shows up with just dollar store toys anymore..oh noooooo..they have to be at least $30 which is ludicrous for a 5 yr old!! So I slapped down the debit card and we went to Starbucks for our second latte of the day. While we were there, dd decides to try and pull away from me and grabs onto on of those yellow "Wet Floor" signs and slips and falls on her ass but not before pulling down the sign which collapses and makes the loudest "BANG!" you have ever heard. I think some elderly people in there are now in the ER hooked up to heart monitors. She looked up at my face which must have had the "OMFG kid I am going to....." look and she says "Soorrry Mom....SORRRYYY" I just lifted her up by her hand and we vacated quickly with my poor Mom in tow. She knows the drill when the kids are being bad.....I don't like a scene and we MOVE baby to a second locale where I can "talk" to them about what just transpired. I told my Mom that we need to invest in a vineyard somewhere far, FAR away that has a B & B on it and some hot pool boys to serve the wine.

So now I am home. Carys is in bed having a much needed nap, Gareth is at the birthday party at the bowling alley in Sidney and needs to be picked up in a hour and a half and my husband is asleep downstairs after working night shift last night. It is getting really windy and is raining outside and this is my only time for a recharge of the old batteries for the rest of the day until bedtime. ACK no time for that! LOOK AT THIS HOUSE!!! toys everywhere, laundry, dishes.....back to motherhood **sigh**

stepping OUT of the box

2007-06-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

Well I did it people. I phoned a local dentist office that needed a hygienist for a date that I had off for summer. This is SOOO not like me...I like to stay familiar..not venturing out and staying in my warm and cozy box. Maybe it was that apple lime cider I had earlier but I already phoned and said that I could work for them on one of the days needed. They are like 1 MINUTE away from me and I looked at their office online and may I just say..WOW....looks awesome!! Both dentists are young and hot and have done GREAT work. So I guess I am already committed unless someone has already said they could do it before me....

The office is STATE of the art...chartless it appears (all done on computers) Probably digital X-rays as well...which is what I want to learn and get into before I turn ancient and decrepid.

Check out the website if you get a chance www.peninsuladental.com I would have NEVER thought there was anything like it out here but apparently I was wrong. I just pictured "hick" dentistry because I live in the country and not much is new around here but much to my amazement I am WRONG. It may be an "IN" to a future job which would be WONDERFUL for being close to home and a step UP in the dental spectrum. They will most definitely call me today to make sure I am booked because hygienists are scarce as hens teeth over here right now! (lord I sound like my mother)

Wish me LUCK!!

Shopping for #%$#%^# MEN

2007-06-07T07:33:00.001-07:00

It's DH's birthday on Friday and I have NO gift for him...what to do, what to do??!! I have arranged for a little surprise massage from a licensed massage therapist (who is a man so it won't be THAT much fun for him lol) but he rocks and DH keeps complaining about his back and that he has no time to tend to it. Well he will on FRIDAY!!! I am not even going to tell him until we drive up and then I will say "get going, you have a 45 min appt with Iain for your back" and then slink off to my favorite hideaway (SB) for my coffee..hehe.

DH works nights tomorrow so it limits the party parameters as well! I may take ds to get some balloons while he's sleeping and pick up one of those mini cakes for before he goes off to work. I have to do SOMETHING on his birthday....he wants to celebrate it another day but I can't just leave the actual day bland and balloonless (is that a word?) So back to the gift.....

What to get a man that just gets what he wants (within reason)?? I thought an iPod docking speaker thingy...passed it by him and he already HAS one! Good thing I checked cause that would have SUCKED. "oh hun, I have one already downstairs"...ya well YOU SUCK! lmao...ok so what do you get a guy who is into computers but not much else for hobbies than running. I don't think I would score with a pair of running shoes because, quite frankly, he's not a running dynamo lately...would probably just depress him and we can't have THAT!! Having to work on your birthday night sucks enough!

So the plan is to go to Costco and stroll the isles with my youngest while getting some cheese sticks and yogurt. Crap I need to get a card too!! Eeek! Better get the kids dressed and slap some lip gloss on and get at this little task!! Why can't they make this any easier??? I am sooo simple every year because I am broadcasting what I would like in NEON so DH gets it right! and even if I didn't, a gift certificate to Lululemon is ALWAYS a hit! (a huge athletic/yoga wear store here) Him? "Eh I don't know what I want...I don't know what I would get me either". Ya well that's a HUGE help dear..thanks a lot.

Wish me luck....off I go into Costco HELL...that is a very, very, scary store....

The Friday Five:

2007-06-01T09:38:00.000-07:00

1. So we have found that taking dd to the park to run off some of her energy before preschool helps to settle her faster so she can focus sooner in the class. The teachers have said it is "night and day" since we started doing this...well at least we have found something that works! So I looked at my watch this morning and saw we only had 10 mins! no time for park, so we go out the front of the house to burn them out. After running around the driveway for about a minute (lol) I saw the child sized but HARD basketball and hoop and thought "hey YEAH..let's play basketball!" So I say to Gareth "here buddy put your hands together to catch the ball" and he says "no it's too hard". Ummm hello? catching a ball too hard for my little NBA'er? but my daring daughter jumps in and says "I'll catch it Mom!!" so I toss the ball up gently (we are only 3 feet apart) and what do YOU think happens????......YUP it bounces off her arm into her FACE and she got quite a good thump from the ball in the nose! ohhhh bad mom....maybe back to running around the yard @@.

2. I was soo proud of my little guy this morning!! He has to write his name every morning he comes into preschool to sign in and until this morning I don't think that it was ever legible. We worked Wednesday afternoon and yesterday to practice using a pencil and writing it ON THE LINE and not making one letter small and the next HUMONGOUS. He did, quite frankly, AWESOME!! All letters within a reasonable size and totally legible!! WOOT for LITTLE MAN!!!

3. I am going OUT tonight. When I say "OUT" it is out with the girls for a going away party. It is with another dental office that I MAY be interested in working at but not sure yet. Maybe after meeting more of the staff I will feel more at home...we'll see! At any rate, it's NO KIDS, NO DH, FREE food and drinks and FUN LADIES!! COUNT ME IN!! (and P.S. thanks Mom for babysitting..I owe you HUGE!) (P.P.S. Oh and DH...you know I love ya but we both know how important our "away" times are and it only makes us appreciate each other more ;) )

4. After a LONG wait I received my FULL on visit from AF last night at around 4:23am. I awoke to a strange sensation and kinda looked around and thought "wtf?" and then it DAWNED on me......RUN FOREST RUN...and I did, just in time. Happy June 1st to me. Enough said.

5. It is another gorgeous day here and I CHERISH these few hours on preschool mornings. I can just putter around the house cleaning with NO interruptions of "Carys stuck her tongue out at me LOTS of times!!" or "Moooom, Gara pushed me!" It is mainly alot of Gareth telling on Carys and I get to the point of after hearing "Moooom, Carys..." I want to go and jump off the nearest ledge. So I have 2 hours of peace, quiet and BLISS!! I have picked up the upper floor, started the dishwasher, put in a load of laundry and mopped the hardwood floors. A feeling of accomplishment has come over me and I am now going to sit on my deck in the morning sunshine and drink my freshly brewed coffee and breathe in the fresh air for the remaining 1 hr and 4 minutes....

A conversation of sorts....

2007-05-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

Me: Gareth do you know that you have 3 friends that have Daddy's that are Policemen?

Gareth: No, I didn't...who are they?

Me: Well Tyson's Dad, Kynan's Dad, and Ben's Dad.

Gareth: Ben's Dad is a policeman?

Me: Yes, Ben's Dad is a undercover policeman who doesn't wear a uniform so the bad guys don't know he is a policeman until he comes up and arrests them when they are doing something bad (yea, I was scrambling a bit)

Gareth: oh WOW..so the bad guys don't see him until he comes up and puts them in jail?

Me: Well yes (kinda)

So a bit of time goes on, we eat our lunch and discuss world politics when our 5 year old says...

Gareth: So is Ben's Dad going to wear a sheet to my party?

Me and Hubby: ??????????? looking dumbfounded at each other ???????

Gareth: Yes, you know how Ben's Dad wears a sheet on his head to sneek up and catch the bad guys?

Me: I am still looking at hubby with a "wtf" look on my face when Dh solves the mystery and says "UNDERCOVER"

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH mystery solved by MY Little undercover policeman..hehe. That one is for the book!! too cute what they come up with!!

Trampolines, Kindy and HPT's?

2007-05-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

So yes, I have been absent for a week. Lots of stuff going on here and I figure I have all of two readers who I talk to religiously and they already know what goes on in my life..lol. Why write about it twice? So I will update on a few things in case they missed it!

Gareth turned 5 and we had a pirate party with kids from his preschool on the Saturday and then had his REAL birthday on the Tuesday. I think he had a great time at both parties. The most momentous present was a HUGE 14 foot trampoline from my parents (costco) and the kids just LOVE the thing. They are out there morning noon and night and WHOA can that thing really give you a workout!! I am sweating beads jumping around in there after the kids. LOVE it! Now is it just me or do trampolines and women who had natural childbirth just not go together??....if you have jumped on a trampoline and have had some kids you know what I mean. There is a need for a pantyliner, diaper or SOMETHING absorbent because something happens to the old Kegels up there in tramp space that lets loose the bladder and...well....OOPS and OMG AM I REALLY WET??? is all I will say....

We took Gareth to a Kindergarten orientation yesterday at his school and he loved it!! He keeps saying that he wants to go back! YEAH!! Ya he says that until he finds out it's FIVE days a week and then it will be "Do I have to go to school...AGAIN??" Yes dear, you do. I hear this the 3 days a week he goes to preschool so we are prepared. He sort of knows the name of his Kindy teacher....calls her "Mrs. Cabbage"..close....Mrs. Savage is her name. I am guessing that maybe she gave that helpful rhyming hint to the kids and that's all he got out of it...his teacher is now named after a vegetable that gives you bad gas.

I wasn't really in a "meet and greet" kinda mood and some of the other mothers were soo excited and just BRIMMING with glee that their children were embarking on this huge step of Kindergarten but I just wanted to go home. Especially after I saw "Randy" from G's preschool who he does not care for (and neither do I if you can tell) and his mother. I find her a tad weird and I wasn't in a small talky frame of mind. Her kid is VERY aggressive and is very in your face if you know the type. I saw him once knock down a tower that some girls had built and he gave this malicious laugh at them and walked away....nice kid @@. So HE is there and this other little guy named "Tristin" (psst..a different one Lee-Ann) who is a cute little guy but clings onto Gareth like a placostomous to a fish tank. All and all it looks like a nice start for him and I think he will enjoy meeting the other kids.

OK now the OTHER drama in my life right now. Where oh where has my AF gone?? I know she around lurking in the shadows but seriously, quit scaring me like this wench!! It has been like 38 days now and no sign of you but some light cramping. Sooo not like you!! DH and I have not been very amorous this month and it would be a freakin FREAK of nature if something DID happen but the possibilities of that are like slim to NONE. DH was fixed 3 years ago but was never tested.....that's the part that makes me go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The thought makes me want to crawl into a ball and rock back and forth with a bottle of whiskey...ok ok...maybe a non-fat steamed skim milk?? ugh....come on woman....SHOW YOURSELF!!!!

What's in my purse?? JUNK!

2007-05-20T07:58:00.000-07:00

So Elle tagged me to show the contents of my purse like 3 years ago so I will FINALLY do this assignment!!

Here's the purse:

It's a Mat & Nat Purse out of Montreal and I love it. I could do better but for right now it does carry a TONNE of crap and doubles as a carry on when I travel lol. It is usually packed FULL and poking out all over the place. Damn I love this purse!! lol

So here is a first glance at the opened purse:

Fairly jammed packed full of junk!! Now to the broken down pictures:

So yes, there is alot of gum, pantyliner, a harpoon, daytimer, wallet, receipts, a tooth desensitizing unidose kit (Duraflor), a Ninja turtle and Shrek cat from McDonald's, tonnes of lipstick and gloss, sunglasses case, cell phone, and lots of OTHER junk.

Looks like it may be time to PURGE the PURSE!!! Thanks Lee-Ann..this was VERY enlightening.

Happy Mother's Day...someone should have pm'ed my kids!

2007-05-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

So HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY all you Mom's out there in cyberland!! I hope you all feel appreciated and loved on this ONE day of the recognition of MOMS around the globe. So why have my kids been extra BAD today?? Did they not get the MEMO?? It's is mainly dearest daughter who is giving me a run for my money today but DANG the girl is determined to make me have my angry voice for at least 23 of the 24 hours today.

First we go to brunch at a relatively low end restaurant which is uncharacteristic of my parents but they thought it would be best for the kids and less pressure on me (for them to behave@@). So we drive there at 8:45am and I am giving them the lecture the WHOLE way there on how they should be good and listen and NO FIGHTING and I think all three were practiced while we were there...ugh. They were kicking each other under the table.. would have thought keeping them on opposite sides would have helped...obviously not..they need to be diagonal from each other....mental note. Carys spills her apple juice all over the table within 5 mins of getting there..nice. Then ds picks all these things from the brunch table that he doesn't want once he gets back to his seat. Dd pretty much does the same thing.. "yucky" she says @@. She starts to slink down in the booth seats under the table..I start saying "sit up". This goes on for awhile and then the "mother's day euphoria" starts wearing off and the "old mom" resurfaces and the grip to get back up from under the table tightens up ever so slightly (enter fingernails). My parents always are trying to diffuse the situation and telling me "oh they're not being THAT bad" @@ yeah mom....if I did this back in the day my butt would be soo red you could use it as a night beacon at the airport.

So I decide that I have had all I can handle and we go visit DH at work. That went fine aside from dd running down the hall and falling and skinning both her knees and whining/crying the whole way home. I DID manage to stop off at a Starbucks for my coveted Caramel Macchiato (OMG HEAVEN). In the hour before she had a nap she managed to get into my perfume and spill it all down the front of her and all over the floor and covered the front of our bookcase in chapstick. omg....that GIRL!!!@@@ We had a "fireside chat" and she went for a nap!! YIKES..I needed a break.

So last night Dh got home a little late and came up through our deck entrance. Kinda wondered why but brushed it off as nothing and we ate our dinner. So after dinner Dh says "hey can you come here for a second?" and I said "oh sure but I have to get on these kids rooms" and he says it will only take a minute...... I come out onto the deck and...........................

He got me a LOUNGER for our SUNDECK!!!! OMG I have been whining about wanting one for YEARS now and have been pulling two chairs together and trying to rig something up, but now I have my OWN cool chair that extends all the way back!!! YEAH DH!!!! I usually get a card and flowers but this was an INCREDIBLE gift that will be used WELL!! I can lie back and have some R & R while the kids play...albeit interrupted by bleeding lips and bloody knees but hey, you gotta take what you can get!!

My Mom LOVED her gift. I got her a ceramic plaque that says "First My Mother, Forever my Friend" in script and she was bawling in the restaurant. I was trying to take it as a positive but was hard when she was grabbing Kleenexes to dab the running mascara!! She said she was kinda glad the day was over because she can't take anymore of this CRYING!! haha! Glad she felt appreciated and loved......mission accomplished!! (and I didn't even throw a fit in the restaurant!!)

I got a Raise!! YIPPEE!!!!...uh wait a friggin second!!

2007-05-10T20:16:00.000-07:00

Hi all!! Well this week has been a very busy week with it's many ups and downs hence the no posting.

So I have been wanting a raise for AWHILE now (been at this office 9 years now). Since I know no one here, I will give specifics. I am making $35/hr right now and most hygienists in this area are making 40-$45 an hour (with my years experience). So I sucked up my ovaries and went in on Wednesday afternoon and asked my boss for a $5/hr raise. YIKES!! But I had my many points of if he did try to hire someone else he would have to pay exactly that amount or more so this was a bargain!! So he tells me that he will get back to me on Thursday (today) about the raise.

So fast forward to today. Almost 1pm and no talk of anything so I ask the office manager who I knew would know because he had to talk it over with her. So I said "So did Bruce say anything to you?" and she says "oh Bruce hasn't talked to you yet? oh well yes you are getting the raise to $40 come June 1st" and I say "OMG!! oh that's AWESOME!!"" **throw out the balloons and confetti and pour some............HOLD IT NOT SOOO FAST BUSTER!! Listen to what happened next!!!

So then SHE (office manager) says "Yes well it's not very fair to the rest of the office when we are only getting a dollar raise an hour..I mean we are working hard too and we get nothing to show for it".

O M G.....are you SERIOUS WOMAN???

So a little history here....I've been making about $5/hr less than I should have been making for years now. It was fine when I was single with no kids but now it's more of an issue and the motivation for a raise is MUCH greater. Now I DO care that I am getting paid what I am worth. The other hygienist who has 5 years LESS experience than me is getting paid the EXACT same amount an hour as me!! YES...I have 5 years on her there at that office and we are making the SAME AMOUNT!! WTF??!! I just found this out recently and this has fired my drive to get this raise or leave. Also, I went to college for 3 freakin HARD ASS years of my life and took the board exams and had the blood, sweat and tears it took to make it through that damned program!! What does office manager have?? Grade 12.....

So yes, I did have a little something to say to her after her lovely congratulatory speech to me. I told her that it really bothered me that she could not be happy for me getting a raise when everyone else in the office knew that I deserved it!! (I felt the emotions coming up to my throat and I guess my face turned red) and she said "Oh JANIS, don't get upset!!" which made me almost get more upset but a patient walked in and I pulled myself together quick like. Got it all back together and said that I should of had this raise YEARS ago and ya, now a $5/hr raise seems like a hell of alot but it is what I DESERVE and girls in my class are making $43-45 an hour so I am still below the going rate but I will be happy with $40.

The whole thing pissed me right off. I mean ya I think the wages are getting a little crazy when you are getting close to $50/hr but we do not have any kind of benefits or a pension...the tooth fairy doesn't give out pensions. So when you add all those things up, we are getting what we deserve!! and I am a PRODUCER at that office!! Things I do bring money INTO the practice...If I miss a day they LOSE money. If she doesn't show up, things can be entered on a different day but no money is lost.

OK I am going to go and sit in bed and bask in my raise but I HAD to get this crap out....I really needed this vent. Thank you.

Dora gets in deep doo doo (not for kids!)

2007-05-09T19:28:00.000-07:00

Alec Baldwin Calls Dora the Explorer

For Elle

2007-05-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

It's late and I will post something more tomorrow but I have this song in my head and I know Elle has a special place for it in HER heart. ENJOY ELLE!!

Birthday invites...

2007-05-05T15:04:00.000-07:00

Ahhh May...sound of birds, warmer weather and BIRTHDAY SEASON!! The end of April starts a whole series of family birthdays that goes right till the end of August. It's like one after another and you need to budget for it like Christmas!!

So May 22nd is Gareth's 5th birthday and we are having our first real "kid birthday" for the little guy. He'll be soo excited to have his friends there and have fun opening presents...will be soo neat to watch. We have hired "Parties with Pizzazz" to run the party in a Pirate theme. They bring costumes, music, decorations and do games and crafts with the kids so I can sit back and watch my little guy have fun and not stress about where the hell my donkey is to pin a tail onto.

We sat down this afternoon on the couch and went through who he would like to invite to his party and to my utter AMAZEMENT he is inviting a GIRL! omg a FEMALE?? he doesn't even know one girl's name in his class if you ask him but all of a sudden "Sophie" is really nice to him and he wants to invite her!! I was sooo happy on the inside!! I know I will wish for him to NOT invite girls later in life (like say around 13) but for a guy who never mentions ANY girls in his class upon ENDLESS questioning, I was pleasantly surprised! The only other female at the party will be my daughter who is 3.5 yrs and I was glad that she would have a girl counterpart there to play with...yippee!!

So today us all about ordering pirate napkins, plates and balloons and getting some invites done up. I have printed some off on the computer all "pirate-like" and I am going to burn the edges and then roll them up and wrap some twine around them (how creative eh?) I am hoping that alot of the kids can come because it is a holiday weekend here which may become a problem but I HOPE not....ugh.....HOPE with me people..HOPE!!!

Out comes the sun and the wallet...

2007-05-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Well I have wanted to update our patio set for AGES. I bought DH a patio set for HIS home (me not even living there at the time) for his birthday waaay back in the late 90's I think and it has weathered the storm baby. Made it thru 8-10 winters and summers and it's showing the WEAR. The top of the cushioned chairs are all apart or coming apart and it's a circle table and has only 4 chairs. So when the Home Depot flyer came out and I saw the new patio sets I was DROOLING on the paper!!

So we go out there today to look for....uhhh....PAINT yeah that's it!! We need to look at paint!!..hehe...dh is still naive to my wicked ways. Well we get there and I see the set and they have a special on right now that you will have no interest for ONE YEAR!! ONE YEAR people!!! what a BARGAIN!!! lol. Plus you get a $20 gift certificate (big whoop). Well we sit in it and dream....and DH gets his CELL phone out to calculate monthly costs which is ALWAYS a good sign...means we are moving onto step 2 which is getting a trolley!! YIPPEE!!! So he says "$40 a month" and I was "$40?? omg that's NOTHING..we can sooo swing that!!" So with some convincing we went and found a trolley!! (I still have it ladies!!!)

We get up to the cashier and DH doesn't have his Home Depot card with him but has his drivers license and apparently that's all they need. WRONG!! Lady phones there and asks Dh the home phone number on the card.....DH always puts his cell phone numbers on EVERYTHING, never gives out our home number. So he has changed his cell phone since he got the card and cannot remember it for the love of god. Guy on phone is saying "no number, no patio set" and Dh is getting a bit pissed saying that's it's ridiculous that he has his DRIVER'S LICENSE here and they are squabbling over a phone number?? So we were waiting in line going back and forth for oh about...30 minutes NO LIE. We had tonnes of time to spare when we got there, now all of a sudden we are getting close to the "get to preschool and get the kids" time. So FINALLY they figure something out..DH faxes them his new number from Home Depot...omg.... seriously?

So now we have our new set at home (WAHOOOOEEEE) and it's supposed to be a lovely weekend!! It's a nice square patio set with a dolly in the middle and the chairs bounce a bit if you kwim..they have give to them. LOVE them. SIX chairs, instead of 4 and lots of room to read the paper or have people over. All and all a very exciting, aggravating and expensive morning but I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!

I love a man in UNIFORM!!

2007-05-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

So what is it about a man in uniform that gets women so worked up and bothered?? Could it be the strong confidence they exude or the underlying excitement and potential danger of their jobs.....or could it just be that it is the ONLY time you get to see the man in something other than a grey Costco T-shirt and jeans? I'm going to go for ALL of the above with special emphasis on the LAST one.

I don't know where it comes from but a very primal feeling arises when I see my husband in uniform. I want to jump his bones and do things to him that make ME the submissive one which is very UN-me. This goes a WAYS back for me. I always got kinda turned on by cops in particular. I remember going thru a road block one night when I was around 21 and the policeman doing the checks was around 30 and HOT. He kinda flirted with me and as I drove away I was like "DANG!! I need me a COP!! WHEW!!!"

Just a side note: I did not know what DH did when I first met him...the magic happened without my prior knowledge of his job. (it certainly didn't HURT tho!)

So he shows up today at lunchtime not in uniform, but in a protective lead vest because he is doing shooting qualifications at work. I tell you he could have been a big old chocolate, caramel sundae with whip cream all over him the way I looked at him!! If the kids weren't running around our kitchen ordering up grilled cheeses, I may have grilled HIS cheese..if ya know what I mean ;)

What makes me smile about this whole post is that I still find DH sexy even tho we've been together for almost 10 years now. I would have thought when I was 20 that the romance would have been long gone in our relationship by now but the fire is still there (thank GOD!) Hopefully he will get a job closer to home and can make house calls past bedtime......ok I need to wipe the screen off for the STEAM here. Hmmm....maybe I should go talk to him about that like...RIGHT NOW!!

I've been TAGGED!!

2007-05-01T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hi All!! So Lee-Ann, my GOOD friend and blogging buddy, has tagged me with a meme (what did I do to her?) So I will give you 10 interesting facts/habits that I have at this moment in my life.

1. I am addicted to collecting coffee mugs. I like having different themed mugs for the changing seasons. I have Christmas, Valentines, St Pats, Easter, Spring, Summer and Fall mugs. I love changing them up and am constantly collecting and searching out new ones. This drives my husband NUTS.

2. During Spring and Summer months I use self-tan almost every day. Yes, it's true. I love to have a golden glow and sometimes over do it and end up orange and streaky. EXFOLIATE BABE!

3. I have tried to colour my hair VERY unsuccessfully 3 times in a row now and had to have it professionally fixed at the cost of around $200 each time. I keep thinking it will save money if I do it at home but I keep screwing up the colour and making it WAAAY brassy or just plain WRONG. Not doing that anymore.

4. My favorite show is Grey's Anatomy. It's almost an unhealthy obsession and I have the ABC website in my favorites. @@

5. I am a semi OCD person. When I am in "clean mode" people must not touch things or walk on my perfectly "vacuum lined" carpets. It is a fleeting disorder that comes and goes (thank god) but lord help the people that try to mess with me when I am in FULL OCD mode.

6. I really REALLY miss having a Rottie in my life but right now with the kids soo young, I must wait until the stars are in alignment (so that means I'm NEVER getting another dog..lmao)

7. I can't stand the sound of water being poured into a cup or people (guys) horking/snorting . Truly makes me want to hurl. (more the latter)

8. I am starting a love affair with birds. Yes, get out the rocker and Geritol. I love watching hummingbirds feed from feeders and little birds eat seeds from my kitchen window. Somehow it relaxes me and I love having the kids watch them too...like a little National Geographic (for beginners)

9. I wear thong undies EVERY day....and I do own a pair of Spanx.

10. This is a no brainer. I LOVE COFFEE!!! in specific Caramel Macchiato's (triple grande, non fat!) I drink a 6c pot in the morning and quite frequently, another 6 cup pot in the afternoon/evening. Umm ok 12C of coffee a day?? that's just INSANE!!

So that's me done and now I tag anyone who wants to do the meme!!! YOU'RE IT!! ;)

The race is finally OVER!!

2007-04-29T15:08:00.000-07:00

Well the race is over and I am semi happy with my results. I did want to do better than last year but I do have to take into account a few things. The first time I had done a 10K in an hour THIS year was last Sunday, I am not as "fit" as I was last year and it was very windy off the water today and it was right in your FACE wind. I managed a respectable 57:57 (freaky numbers). Last year was 57 flat...would have preferred something in the 56 region but I will take what I got I guess.

The actual race was pleasant enough. Had that "I want to walk" feeling like 20 times but managed to ignore it and get through to the finish. Some food for thought for NEXT year's race....KNOW THE COURSE!! yeesh! I thought I knew where it ended so I was pacing myself for the long road in front of the parliament and then the rest of the run up Government St. NOPE....I was going slower when I should have been GUNNING it. I look up and low and behold there is a big "FINISH" sign with balloons waving in the breeze and I am like "WTF?? is that for REAL??" so I only "gave it" for about 30 seconds. My own stupid fault...do your research loser.

The finish was not complete without the typical huge bottleneck of people waiting to get their time chip clipped off @@ Just what you want to do after running elbow to elbow for the last hour....stand in an even CLOSER pile of sweaty people for another fifteen minutes. There were people vomiting in garbage buckets and the loud booming voice of the announcer. Not a very pleasant "after race" feeling. I know all to well the "want to vomit" feeling after finishing. Had that my first 10K when I really pushed myself and I was scanning the crowd for a baggie, pail, shoe..ANYTHING to empty the contents of my stomach into..was NOT a nice feeling. But it passed and I headed off to Starbucks, like I did this morning as well, to pick up my triple Grande, Non-Fat Caramel Macchiato..MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...what a yummy finish prize for myself!!

OH and the picture at the end!! I did have a HUGE grin for the finish even though I was still in shock that I was indeed AT the finish. I will post the pic as soon as they are available online. You can judge the "stylishness" I managed. hehe.

Have a great Sunday everyone!!

Well tomorrow is RACE day!!

2007-04-28T13:16:00.000-07:00

So it has finally come. The day of the Times Colonist 10Km. I THINK I am ready but that will be determined tomorrow on the warm, hard pavement. We could not have any better weather than this I tell ya!! It is gorgeous here today (like almost 20's) and tomorrow is supposed to be even better!! YIPPEE!!! Hope it isn't THAT hot by the water...kinda sucks your energy dry when you're all hot and sweaty and no breeze.

We run right along Dallas Rd. which is the LONG road that goes right along the ocean. Guess if it gets TOO hot I could take a hard left into the drink but that would add to my time. I am TRYING to beat 57 mins....that was last year's time and it will be hard to do. I was a little lighter last year but was also battling a harsh cold. I am excited tho!!! It's amazing the energy you get from the people around you!! The first half of the run you are all on a high from everyone around you running, then the second half it starts to sink in that you are maybe getting tired and the legs are getting weaker. You just have to pull through it and persevere..it DOES get better. The best is when you round the corner by the Parliament buildings and you see the finish line and hear the announcer yelling your name and you try to suck it up and muster whatever strength you have left to cross that finish line looking stylin....have yet to do that so maybe I'll try again tomorrow..lmao. They take a pic of you just crossing the finish line and I always look like DEATH. Catch me on the down stride and look all discombobulated.....well WISH ME LUCK!!!

off I go to drink more water @@......

P.S. This is one of the songs on my iPod for tomorrow....hope it HELPS!!!

The playdate from hell

2007-04-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well I had a play date over this afternoon and let's just say it was EXHAUSTING. This kid has a TONNE of energy and has a very high pitched (irritating) voice. He is EVERYWHERE and is constantly yapping in this affected, silly manner which URKS me cause then ds starts up and I have to give him the LOOK 20 millions times to talk properly. Maybe not the Queens English but at LEAST something semi NORMAL and in the ENGLISH range.

So it becomes evident to me VERY early in the play date that our guest is NOT here to play with my son but to scour the house and play with all our toys. @@ nice. So ds is being ditched in every room so *T* can go check out what's in the NEXT room. Poor guy. He kept saying "*T* watch me do this" and trying to get his attention but he just wanted to check out the stuff. I mean typical kid stuff but ugh....then he started getting just plain RUDE with me and not listening (jumping on the couch, yelling, slamming things down) So I did have to talk sternly to him a couple of times. Hell, what the worst thing? he may not want to come back again?? HALLELUJAH GEORGE!!! and I will not have him doing things I would not allow my own kids to do so ya, you may not like me anymore kid.

FINALLY, his Mom came and picked him and AND took ds back to her place until later tonight. I wish her luck cause the way *T* is today, she is in for a rough night. I read Gareth the riot act and that he MUST use his manners and listen to *T*'s Mom. I hope he listened and they are being little angels for her......uhhhh ya right....she has a better chance winning the lottery tonight!!

I have discovered this.....I really do not like other people's kids. Yes, that is a mean and selfish thing to say but it's true!! I can't stand alot of the crap that people are "teaching" their kids such as the choice language that comes out of *T*'s mouth quite frequently because his parents do not censor themselves in the LEAST. So here you are trying to teach your child to use their manners and be polite and they meet kids like *T* who, through no fault of their own, teach YOUR kids how to drive you INSANE and make you have to deprogram them constantly. I let ds go for these play dates (which are few and far between) because I want him to have friends and he really does like *T* and he's not aggressive with ds, just a tad WILD.

**SIGH** aren't there anymore parents out there teaching their kids to be polite, nice and respectful while still being fun and adventurous?? Please tell me where you are!!

and Lee and Elle....I know where you live ;)

Swollen Birthday Girl

2007-04-26T13:35:00.000-07:00

Well today is my Mom's 62nd birthday and we are having a little party for her tonight at their house. It should be a night filled with food, cake and fine wine but a little KIBOSH in the plan is that she got all 4 of her wisdom teeth out on Monday so she isn't up to real food just yet. Limits the old birthday menu let me tell ya. So I think the rest of us are having Chinese food while she has some kind of protein powder mixed in vanilla ice cream (YUM?). I couldn't leave the girl out of her birthday "cake". Her favorite dessert in the whole wide world is creme caramel so I made her one for tonight. She should be able to gulp that back without too much problem. I did buy a cake for the "other" kids at the party (mainly my Dh and my Dad @@) and the little kids like to watch the blowing out of the candles.

Her presents are a little scarce to say the least. We got her a wrought iron chair planter that has a cute little basket in the seat part of the chair. My Dad..who knows.....he is a last minute shopper kinda guy and shows up with a $3000 leather jacket at minute zero. I kinda like those kinda of shoppers! ;) I did pick him up a LuluLemon hoodie jacket for my Mom (from him) cause she is really liking mine and is the perfect weight for the cooler summer nights and Spring...and Fall...hell she could wear it year round! lmao. Maybe I should start looking under my bathroom cabinet for some unopened hand cream or something!! eek!

I think I'll stop off at a dollar store on the way in and pick up some balloons for the party cause of course she'll have nothing up and we can't have THAT!! Need to bring some streamers too....hmmmmm what else.....anyone think of anything?? THANKS!! hehe

SHE'S BACK!!!!

2007-04-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

I just have to say that I am sooo happy my bestest friend Lee-Ann is back from her trip to Florida. Elle and I missed her soo much and we are glad to have her back to commiserate with about our wacko kids. WELCOME BACK LEE-ANN!!! YOU ROCK!!!

Now don't go away again ok? not without your laptop strapped to your DD chest!!! lol

Firsts...

2007-04-22T20:32:00.000-07:00

There are many firsts in your lives and your children's lives. Today was my son's first birthday party by himself. We have gone to the "with parent" ones but now that he is almost 5, we can drop him off and know that he will behave himself and use the manners we have hard wired into his brain. He did have many refreshers on the way to Clayton's house this afternoon. He knew to ask where the washroom was and to say please and thank you at all times. He was ready, turns out I wasn't "in tune" with all the passengers in my van.

We arrived at Clayton's house to what looked like 5 year old pandemonium. Kids were EVERYWHERE!! Some blowing bubbles, some playing hockey, others swinging at a pinata and that was just the FRONT yard. Looked like FUN!!! So Gareth is a bit of a shy guy at first and then usually gets right into things. He looked very out of place at first..didn't know what activity to go to first (and neither would I!) So I saw him pick up a hockey stick and settle in and I was OFF for my last 10K run around the lake until next weekend's race (Gulp...a whole other post entirely) As I got back into the van I looked at my 3 year old daughter in the back seat who was in absolute TEARS!! The poor girl thought she was going to the party too!! My heart broke for her! She kept saying all morning "Gara going to a birthday party today!" and I assumed she knew it was just him going...stupid me. So I had to calm her down which didn't take too long and then try to keep her awake until we got home for her nap..she was BEAT!

So I picked him up at 3pm and Clayton's Mom told me he was just awesome and was out back on the trampoline. OMG they have a TRAMPOLINE???? this kid is NEVER going to want to go home!! My brain started to think up different excuses to tell him to get him off the trampoline without a HUGE scene of tears and wailing. Turns out he could really care less if he sees his Dad before he goes to work the night shift @@ lmao. I managed to get him off and luckily everyone came out at the same time and the party dispersed pretty quickly after he got out. So he got his goodie bag (BIG smiles) and Clayton thanked him and he thanked Clayton for inviting him to his party and off we went for home sweet home.

I was soo proud of my little guy. He really is a low maintenance kinda guy...easily entertained and not aggressive in the least (towards anyone other than his sister @@). Now all he wants to do is go to another birthday party. Makes my heart happy to know that's he's liked by his peers and is making friends. *sigh* They just grow up soo fast.

Body For Life...a summary

2007-04-21T20:29:00.000-07:00

So as my one reader may already know, I am doing the Body For Life (BFL) Program which is a 12 week challenge of exercise and eating balanced portions of proteins and carbs. I first did this program in April 2005 and it worked like a HOT damn!!(see end picture at left) I hadn't been in that good a shape since high school and felt just INCREDIBLE, STUPENDOUS even. I had energy to burn and felt just damn HOT in my clothes (if I may say so..lol)

Well I manged to keep my new figure thru till that next Spring. I started to slide a bit and put on 10 pounds...no biggie. But by the end of 2006 I was 20lbs up from what I was in the Summer of 2005. YIKES!! What happened there??!! So none of my new cool clothes fit anymore and I was rifling thru my "fat clothes" to find ANYTHING that fit my new ample ass ( I would say "assets" but those never grew an INCH @@)

So I started a new challenge the beginning of January but thought I would put a "Janis spin" on it and change a few things. Eating? eh...the odd chip or cookie here and there no problem. I did keep up my exercise but with the program they recommend doing it BEFORE breakfast which is wonderful for many reasons. First, you get it over with and DONE before you really have enough time to stress about when you are going to fit it in during the day. Second, it burns fat more than the food in your stomach because after sleeping all night things have "moved on". Third, you hate the before and during part of the exercise but OH the sweet AFTER!! You are on a high, especially after the cardio, for hours and it gives you that glow that you hear about in magazines and pay $$ for at the drugstore. Well I did it in the afternoon usually..didn't want to get up early.

So my grand total weight loss after exercising 98% and eating 40%? ZIPPO..NADA..NOTHING BABY!! So I had to really pull up the reins and take control and not go about this half assed any more! (because my ass certainly wasn't HALF!..more like 2 1/2)

So I am now in week 4 of my new CLEAN eating and exercise challenge. I have lost around 7lbs so far and a few inches as well. I know I am losing because my clothes fit looser and chairs aren't creaking as much when I sit down. A nice plus!!

So the way the eating works is I eat 6 meals a day that are equally balanced in Proteins AND Carbs. To give you a visual idea a typical day would go like this:

Meal 1: 1/3c of oatmeal with a scoop of protein powder (a bit of skim milk)

Meal 2: Protein shake with 1/2 a banana and some fresh strawberries in it

Meal 3: Cottage Cheese and non fat yogurt with a cup of veggies

Meal 4: Protein bar

Meal 5: Chicken wrap with red peppers and a green salad

Meal 6: Non fat pudding with a scoop of protein powder and dollop of Nonfat Cool Whip

I do drink coffee with some skim milk in it during the day as well as a diet cola and a tonne of water. Usually the day ends out around 1400-1600 cals. You eat clean like this for 6 days and on the last day (Sunday usually) you have a FREE DAY!! OH GLORIOUS FREE DAY!!! You eat whatever you freakin want. Cake? go for it? Big Mac and FRIES?? Scarf it down!! You will feel as sick as a dog but you truly can eat whatever you want. It gives your metabolism a "kick" and your mental stability gets a boost as well! I live for my free days. I write down during the week things I CRAVED and then eat them on Sunday. lol....you oddly do feel guilty this entire day though...

Exercise is 6 days a week alternating weights and cardio. The cardio is interval training meaning that you start off at an ok pace for a minute and then increase the speed for 4 mins and then drop back down to your starting pace. You go through this cycle 4 times and finish out the last cycle at the FASTEST speed you can possible do without falling ass over tits on the treadmill (or whatever cardio machine you are using). It really pushes your body to it's limits but it is only 20 mins long....YES I said 20 MINUTES!! Weight training maybe takes 30-40 mins and it's over before you know it. I never knew I could have such definition in my abs after being the size of a elephant!! I thought that dream was LONG past but they are starting to come back and it's SOOOO exciting!! My husband has to put up with me checking out my new abs every night before bed in our bedroom mirror....yes that sounds conceited but if you have been where my body has been, it is more of a personal victory than any kind of selfishness.

So I am going to go to bed now and dream of all the ice cream and left over mini eggs I am going to consume tomorrow. OH and I cannot forget...my Grande, Non Fat Caramel Macchiato!! YUMMY!!! Bring on the TUMS!!!

Why does this bother me soo much?

2007-04-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

So I have to give a bit of background before I get into this post.

(FYI: Both my kids attend the same preschool, one in the "3's" and one in the "4's" which are separate, upstairs and downstairs)

In about mid-December my daughter's preschool teacher's approached us and told us that they were concerned about her developmental skills..specifically, transitioning from one activity to another. She was crying and very upset every day at some point and they were concerned that she was not understanding what they were saying to her and referred us to our local health nurse to go through the "Ages and Stages" tests. So I had to go through Christmas not knowing what was wrong with my daughter and my mind went to ever dark corner it could to worry me further. I always knew she was a somewhat "high maintenance" child but just put it down to being spirited and JUST turning 3. So we go through all the tests and she just squeaks by with a pass but they still refer her to Queen Alexandra Children's Foundation for assessment and support. Fast forward to today, she has a support worker in her class with her 2 days a week at preschool and is doing tonnes better. She is interacting with other kids and has mellowed considerably on transitioning...they just give her cues and everything is fine. We have really notice leaps and bounds from where she was...I mean we still have our days with her but on the whole, MUCH better.

So I got over the whole "oh my gosh something is wrong with my child" trauma and moved on. They don't think anything is seriously wrong with her, just needed some extra cuing and really only needs the extra help in social settings...

So about a month ago my son's preschool teacher leaves a message saying she would like to talk to me about Gareth. Oh lord what could this mean? Maybe he's soo brilliant they think he should go straight to Grade 3!! Oh how proud am I? But it was as I feared. They too are worried about my son's comprehension skills and want him assessed by Queen Alexandra as well. O M G!! SERIOUSLY??? I mean I can handle one child with "extra needs" and I stress that I do realize it's not serious at all but was still a set back that she was struggling. But now BOTH of my kids are being followed by the Children's Foundation here? You really start to wonder where you have gone wrong in your life. Did I eat too much sushi while I was pregnant? maybe those hot tubs were a bad idea..omg the things you think!!

So for the first 3 weeks I tried to ignore the problem completely, like it never existed. Forms were sent to me to complete which I threw in the drawer and tried to bury but my husband was in less denial and wanted the things filled out and "let's get on this!" I was less enthusiastic. People were calling the house to make appointments and I would screen the call and let it go to the machine and not return the call. It was getting pretty bad.

I finally came to my senses one day in a talk with my husband. He got through to me that there was nothing we could do about the past but we SHOULD get on with this and get our son the help he needs, especially with him starting Kindergarten in the Fall. I felt stupid and almost neglectful of my little guy. So I went into overdrive and got those things filled out and sent off in the next mail delivery and now we wait to hear from them as to our next move.

OK so here's what bothers me (finally eh in the 15th paragraph) I don't like when the support people come out into the dressing/coat hanging section to discuss my children with me in front of other parents. What is WITH that?? I have finally come to terms with it myself...I don't need the entire preschool knowing about my child's struggles and perhaps a indiscreet parent mention something to their child who says something to my child and wound his little ego. I have such a parent at my preschool and the support people have approached me twice now in front of this woman who would love nothing more that to know my child is having problems and hers isn't....believe me this is the type of woman she is...brutal.

When we do get this thing rolling, I am going to mention to them that it would be MUCH better if they either phoned me or we met and talked about things. I am certainly not focused on the discussion as I very well SHOULD be and am more concerned about who's pretending not to hear anything and taking notes (YES this happened too @@).

Urg, just pisses me off that they would not even think about this to start with!!

vent over.

Going on a field trip with my gift card

2007-04-20T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well I have decided that this morning, while the kids are at preschool, I am going to venture downtown to par ooze through our LuLuLemon store. I have had this $150 gift card in my wallet since Christmas and it has been DYING to make it's debut out in the world of LuLu. I have to think and rethink my angle of attack on this store because it has been WELL known to sneak up behind you and AMBUSH you with $90 ass slimming pants and $60 "make you look like you have cleavage" tops. I have fallen prey a few times as you may have guessed...

So today I have my plan. I only need ONE item. I need a wrist band that can hold a key in it for my 10K runs. Nothing like having a set of keys jangling around for a seeming eternity. I have only one pair of pants that has a little zipper in it so I ALWAYS have to wear those pants when I run. I need a little diversity in my run wear. I NEED a LuLuLemon wrist band.

I realize this is like a $10 item which is FINE. I want to wait until Summer to use the rest on some cute tops and ..well....maybe just a cute top..lmao.

So wish me and my resolve well as I venture off into Candyland......just follow the yellowbrick road....

*DEFEATED UPDATE*

Well darn it if I wasn't ambushed at the dang DOOR

First off I get there and it's 9:05am and as I look in the store I see people who appear to be shopping!! 9:05am?? this is rock'in!! I enter the store and everyone just stops and looks at me as though a farted in their new arrivals section. Then a guy says "uh HI but we don't open until 9:45am!" So I apologize and say I got excited when I saw movement inside and the door DID open afterall!! So I leave and now I have to think of something to do until 9 freakin 45!!

So I wander the streets in my new sandals which are starting to show their true colours of not being a full "walking sandal". I walk and walk and start looking at the people out and about at 9:10am downtown. Lots of variety here I tell ya! I got asked for change 3 times and walked past plenty of people in suits heading to work. I decide to break down and go into Starbucks for a latte and perhaps a new travel mug?? was that on the list this morning?? ah hell ya...it's lavender and at $7 it's calling my name. By this time it's 9:40am and I head back to LuLu for my wristband.

I go in and everyone is "Hey! HI! How's it GOING??!! Oh ya COME ON IN!!!" ..ya they hook you at the door with their sickly NICENESS lmao. So I go and ask a nice girlie about their wristbands and she informs me that they have been sold out of them for MONTHS and probably won't get any in for awhile. Ummm..ok....my mind, as if on CRACK....switches to PLAN B.

Now Plan B is to start scavenging the store like a fashion starved housewife which I did quite nicely. I went and tried on my first pair of brown Capri's only to find that **GASP** a 10 was too BIG! too BIG?? whaa?? this cannot be true!! So as you MUST understand by now, I HAD to purchase these pants because they were in a SURPRISE smaller size and a single digit at that!! So that was a done deal...move onto the jackets. I find a lovely tangerine coloured shorter jacket that was just a perfect fit from zip one. I convince myself that I NEED this jacket...I have never owned a LuLuLemon jacket and the entire city has at least one in their closet so I must too.

I go to the checkout and find a nice thick, black hairband that would complement everything PERFECTLY. Grande totale? $200.58 ...yes people 3 items...$200 My gift card is for $150 so I easily rationalize the extra $50 and the Visa ignites once again....

I feel great tho. These are clothes that will last a LONG time and wash/wear very well (rationalizing again) So gift card is *POOF* gone and now I have to pray for my birthday to come SOOOOON.

You get what you pay for

2007-04-19T09:04:00.000-07:00

Well about a month ago this LOVELY, very cute, stylish chickie comes into my workplace and tells us that she is offering a Promotional Package at their new Salon that has just opened in our Plaza. She says that they are offering, ONLY TODAY, this wonderful package that includes a hair cut, colour, manicure AND pedicure for only...$58.95!! OMG how could I say no to that?? A new hairstyle? I sure could use one!! and colour?? AND pretty nails?? sign me UP!!! and I RAN for my scorching Visa.

So my first appointment for the haircut was yesterday. I arrive at 2pm and I am VERY underwhelmed at the first appearance of this "salon". Dry wall has thrown up and painted this canary yellow colour and there is a bundle of pink plastic flowers thrown in a vase on an old, wooden table. There was no one initially in the front when I came in but then I hear this voice "JUST A SECOND!!" bellow from the back. Well a VERY buxom brunette appears and says "yeah?" and I say "umm Janis for 2pm?" and she looks at the book like my name never existed. She then looks up and says "oh yeah...*Trish* will be here in a sec". Now I say *Trish* because I never actually heard a name. I was still in absolute shock of how this whole appointment was going down. So then *Trish* appears from the back. A tiny, early 20 something chick who says "Janis? ya come with me." So I follow like a lamb to slaughter...

Now every salon I have EVER gone to first takes you to the chair with DRY hair and you discuss what style you are going for and then move onto the wash basin for the shampoo. Evidently *Trish* missed that course in hairstyling school and just takes me RIGHT to the sink and in LITERALLY 1 minute since I've entered the place, I am lying back with some lukewarm water being sprayed on my hair. Why did I sit there? Why didn't I speak up and say "Hey! are we going to discuss my hairstyle first?"...who knows....I will put it all down to traumatic stress syndrome (notice I omitted the "POST" ).

So we move onto the haircutting chair where the girl from the front is hanging out, looking at hairstyling products in a magazine and reviewing them with *Trish*. I am sitting there still in a dazed stupor. *Trish* then says "So what are we going for today?" and I manage to get out that I want an inverted bob and she messes up my sopping hair and says "hmmm...ok" and starts cutting.

The entire cut lasted maybe 20 mins during which we had the most painful dialogue. The chickie from the front was still hanging around and telling me these unbelievable stories of how many times her children have been to the ER in the last week. I acted like I understood and knew my ER docs by their first names as well. I just wanted OUT of this hell hole. OH and I have almost forgotten the bestest part! As I am sitting there enduring this "experience" *Trish* jumps back and says "EWWW!" and I look to see what she is gasping at. Well it was a friendly little RAT scurrying by the window as I sat there, mouth agape. Maybe he had an earlier appointment in another chair.

So the morale of the story is you DO get what you pay for. When I saw this cute, pretty little thing come into the office I thought "well if SHE works there it must be hip and happening!". During my entire time there I never saw the girl and now wonder if they hired her to go around and suck in clients for this "promo" package. At any rate I was taken. I may still have my nails done just on the principal that I DID pay for it. Hell, if they are bad I can wear socks and gloves.

Think I will be calling my regular hairstylist to try and correct my new "hairstyle".

I made a SHEEP!!

2007-04-18T16:03:00.000-07:00

ok...karma's a female dog. I had just finished reading my friend, Elle's blog (http://adayinthelifeofelle.blogspot.com/ ) about her daughter having an unfortunate accident on her carpet this morning. I felt for Elle and hoped she was having a better day by now and went to go get my daughter from her afternoon nap.

Open the door and she is awake alright. She is naked (she does this ALL the time) all her sheets are at the end of the bed and she has left her "mark" all over the protective sheet on her mattress. She is quite proud of herself and telling me that she has made a "sheep" on the protective sheet (wtf?!) I said "Carys you took your clothes off and went potty on your bed! this is not good!" and she says "all my sheets dry!! pillows are dry" lifting them up one by one and showing me the degree of dryness. I said that that was good (I guess @@) but she should have come out and used the potty and not made a sheep in her bed. Seriously...a SHEEP?? where does she get this stuff from??

So thanks Elle.....you karma-ed my afternoon up with SHEEP! lmao

Doing things I said I would NEVER do...

2007-04-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

Well we all remember how we were BEFORE we had children don't we? OUR children would never do alot of the things we saw other kids do because we would teach them better!! They would be stand up citizens who ate broccoli and helped fold the laundry whenever it needed folding and sleep through the night from day one.. They would open doors for the elderly and NEVER talk back to us because they would respect us OOOH soo much......uhh yeah right...that little picture book story was burned as soon as the umbilical cord was CUT!

So here I am tonight after getting home from work, running around the house cleaning it up. Why is it messy? Hubby was here all day with the kids surely he could have thrown that extra load of wash on or picked up the clothes and toys on the floor. Seems maybe a crisis bigger then our housework may have happened that I don't know about yet.... So anyways, picked up the house and put away dishes, now onto DINNER!! What the hell should I make tonight?? ugh..what's in the freezer.....FROZEN FISH!! ah HA that and some cut up home fries will be PERFECT....for hubby and I....kids won't eat FISH or a potato cut up that does not come in a red box with a big "M" on the front. UGH..what to do for THEM??

Now I was one of "those" parents that always said that I would NEVER make 3 separate meals for the family. They would eat what I made and if not, go hungry...their choice. Uh well I kinda softened after having these bundles of joy. How could I let them go hungry?? and he doesn't LIKE peas touching his grilled cheese..poor little fella. AHH when did this MUSHING of my personality happen?? it was a sneak attack I think!

So I am making fish and chips for hubby and myself, chicken nuggets, carrots and smilies (potatoes) for ds and alphaghetti, red peppers and whole wheat toast for dd. When did this happen that it has become NORMAL?? I don't even MIND this anymore and perhaps that is a large part of the problem. Hmmmm....

Potpourri

2007-04-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

Did you already know? The week of April 15th-21st is National Dental Hygienist's Week!! To read more about go to this link http://www.ccnmatthews.com/news/releases/show.jsp?action=showRelease&searchText=false&showText=all&actionFor=645663

My day started out sour....literally. I went to grab a cup of coffee to sip on while drying my hair before work this morning and take my first swig only to gag and yell "YUCK!" 20 times. Yes, I had added expired milk into my LOVELY, virginal coffee...I had ruined it. Thank god I tried a cup before putting it into my travel mug and heading off to work. There's nothing worse than driving down the highway, looking at the sun over the fields, reaching for your mug and BLEEEECH your drive (and taste buds) are ruined. It was dated for today but I guess it was at 6am this morning..I missed the cut off.

I was pleasantly surprised at work with a lovely bouquet of flowers from my employer/staff in honour of Hygienists week. HOW NICE! I moved my big ole Sonicare toothbrush display down on the floor to display my beaUtiful flowers better. I LOVE flowers!!

Now I am home and listening to "Flushed Away" behind me for the umpteenth time. The kids really got onto this movie this weekend and since we have satellite, it comes on all day long (oh joy) It has it's good and bad points...kids driving me insane? throw it on, instant silence. Listening to a slug sing "Don't worry, be happy" was funny the first 10 times I heard it...now kinda drivin me.

Hope everyone is well out in Blogville and stay tuned for my next post! I swear I will hook some of you YET!! hehe

I've got the baking bug....

2007-04-14T13:31:00.000-07:00

Well you know it's a good day when you get up and see the sunshine streaming through your windows and actually FEEL like running on your treadmill at 6:30am. I find the sun makes a HUGE difference to my mind set..HUGE. If it's dark and raining, I tend to be more quiet, tired and have even been known to be cranky (GASP). When the sun comes out and you feel the warmth of it on your body, it does something to your brain waves and clicks them onto the right tracks again. I also find it's days like these when I get an URGE to just start baking up a storm in my kitchen. Muffins, cookies and cakes are being measured out and baked at warp speed and I am passing them out to anyone who happens by. I just had Gareth run out with a cookie for a neighbour who rode up on his bike. There, I AM giving back to my community!!

I, in a moment of a left over mini egg high, invited the inlaws over for dinner tomorrow night and now I am trying to get things prepared so I don't leave everything last minute. That would be my usual MO. I figure we hardly ever have the inlaws over so I better put an honest effort into the dinner to make them feel special enough to last another year (hehe). So the menu is Prime Rib Roast, Yorkshire Puddings, Potatoes Romanoff, asparagus and some peas and carrots. We will finish with a Chocolate Chiffon cake that is baking in the oven as I type. Please lords of the kitchen....let my meal be wonderful. My MIL is an incredible cook and I always feel it's like inviting her over to McDonalds when they come over here.

I hope my one reader appreiciated this post...lmao

One of those days.....

2007-04-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days with your mate? Before I even get INTO this let me premise by saying that I absolutely LOVE my husband to DEATH...we truly are soul mates and enjoy each other's company completely. OK formalities over with, I will continue...

We had some time together this morning while the kids were in preschool for two hours. I could tell we were on different planets even before I got up this morning. If I were to pinpoint it, it would have been at 2:20am when our son came into our room and stood there babbling some incoherent language about it being time to get up and play the Xbox. Umm ya man, ain't happening. So I wait to see if Dh is going to get up and take him back to his room and he says nothing and pretends he's asleep! uhhh HELLO MISTER??!!! He is closest to the door and should have gotten up (at least I think so..hehe) So with no movements coming from the right side of the bed, I had to get up and deal with it myself. OK not a biggy, but it set the tone for the rest of the day.

So we drop the kids off and head off to my "happy place", Costco. We had to stop off at Walmart on the way to exchange some rain boots which took longer than expected at the customer service counter **jeopardy theme plays** Then we go to the Starbucks drive thru (OH JOY!!) and as I push open the door of the van to go get my wonderful, addictive, hot orgasm in a cup, my DH says "hey could you get me a hot chocolate?" Ok, let me first say the man does not drink coffee. This is a bit of a sore spot with me because it's not because he doesn't LIKE coffee, it's because he has never tried it till now and why start at the tender age of 42? It's not like the Big Mac with heaving mayo and deep fried fries are going to be better for him @@ Anyways, over the last few months he has been telling me how awful the hot chocolates are at Starbucks and over priced, yadda yadda but now he wants me to get him one on my special Starbucks card that my boss gave me for Easter?? uhhhh....really had to dig deep for that one....REALLY.

So we then go over quickly to this store I wanted to check out that just opened here called The Shoe Warehouse that sells clothes as well as really nice shoes. Dh says he will stay in the car...that's just FINE! So he says "be good" as I get out and I just GLARED at him and headed for the door with my Visa card bookmarked in between my index finger and thumb. Well I am in the store not more than 1 minute and low and behold who enters the store but my beloved. No doubt he is here to make sure I do not blow our life savings on shoes in the five minutes I have before Costco. So I look around for a bit and head for the door. We then moved onto Home Depot where the PDA's (Public Displays of Affection) continued to be non existent and finally Costco!!

As we are pulling into Costco, I look at my watch and we have a 15 min MAX time limit in order to get back and pick the kids up from preschool. So I tell DH this and BOLT out of the van and start power walking my way to the front door hoping he's close behind with his Costco card in hand. We had our strategy down once we entered as to what items each of us would get and meet back at the checkout. As I am mid power stride I hear him mutter "you don't have to take off on me" ..uhhh ya I do dude. I need to get away from you, albeit for a few minutes in this store because I am about to freak out and pull a crazed fishwife scene in this Costco if I don't.

So I storm the Costco and get my red peppers, rolled oats and cheese sticks while I drool over the patio furniture and marble bathroom vanities, never missing a beat. I get up to the check out and get in a line and look back for my dear husband who should have BEEN there by now with his one item...a Prime Rib roast for Sunday. Well no husband and I am standing in line now and people are coming up behind me making the line extend into the dried fruit and granola bars. Where the hell IS he? We need to get to preschool to get these kids!! So after what seemed like an eternity, he strolls up with the Prime Rib and some car wash liquid cause "we are out". Umm ya, we are really washing our cars lots these days with all the monsoons and high winds. So we finally get back to the car and head off to preschool and pick up the kids. We decided to go to Smitty's for lunch (we are starting off low end to train the kids how to behave at nicer restaurants like McDonalds) I choked back my egg beater omelet and home we came. THANK THE LORD.

So thank you my fellow bloggers for allowing me this vent. It would have been prudent to mention that I am PMS'ing right now and this seems to affect me ALOT more now after kids than ever before. Don't know quite why that is. Maybe I should start these kind of days with a shot of whiskey and a handful of Midols. Never know until you try right??

Do any of you ever have days like this with your soul mate?

The Maiden Post

2007-04-12T11:37:00.000-07:00

Hi there everyone out there in bloggerland! My name is Janis and I live on the West Coast of Canada with my husband and 2 children. I have two close friends ( Lee http://fullplate321.blogspot.com/ and Elle http://adayinthelifeofelle.blogspot.com/ ) who blog and have convinced me to start blogging as a "vent" for my daily trials and tribulations.

My kids names are Gareth(4) and Carys (3) and they are the absolute JOYS of my life but can also take me to some "darker" parts of my personality I never knew existed. Being soo close in age, there have been some trying times but we get thru one day at a time and try to laugh as much as we can without being brought to tears. My husband works in law enforcement and is the love of my life. We had a bit of a rocky start dating but after setting the man straight that I was the woman of his dreams, we got on with our lives. Since then we haven't looked back and spend our days trying to balance the kids, work and our sanity.

Gareth is 4 turning 5 next month and is a very inquistive, funny, loving, happy, little guy. He was a dream baby and slept all the time and anywhere. He loves any kind of sport, particularily one that involves a ball and can run for ages. We have him in a sportsball class right now and he is loving it and I think it's great for him to meet other kids his own age. He goes to preschool right now and is enrolled for Kindergarten in the Fall. Carys is a whole OTHER personality. She is a "go go GO" girl who rarely stops to smell the roses. She loves, loves LOVES horses (did I say LOVES enough?) and really enjoys other kids and playing in a park setting. She is also a dance lover and is enrolled in Kinderdance at our local rec center and is the girl going around tapping the exercise balls with her ribbon wand rather than listening to the teacher. She just turned 3 in November and is in preschool as well. It's a challenge for us to try and get her to stop and focus but she is slowing with age so we can hope that this trend will continue. They keep me going from sun up to sun down running around the backyard chasing moths ("butterflies") and digging up worms in the garden. They truly are a labour of love!!

I am a dental hygienist in town here and have been doing that for almost 9 years now. Hard to believe where 9 years have gone but my diploma proves that I have indeed almost met the 10yr mark. I love my job as weird as that may sound to some people. I always equate it to how I love to clean up a messy room. I really don't want to do it at first, but once I get in there and clean it all up and see what a difference I made, I just LOVE it!! It can get rather monontonous but I love working with MOST people and love the adult interaction.

I am also currently training for our local 10K race here that takes place on April 29th. I was never a runner before kids. I hated running...LOATHED it actually. But after gaining 60lbs with my first child and then another 50lbs with the second something DRASTIC needed to happen. I did lose a bit in between pregnancies but was still not at my ideal weight. So now I am running about 19Km's a week and lifting weights on my off days. I am doing BFL (Body For Life) which alternates cardio and weight lifting and focuses on balancing your proteins and carbs at each meal. I had EXCELLENT results with this 2 years ago and I am determined to get back there again!! Really makes me mad that I let it go again! I need to realize that this is my life now...Iwill ALWAYS have a weight issue and need to keep it in check at ALL times. No rest for me now if I want to stay happy. This ass will always be running, walking, swimming, biking, doing pilates or weight lifting to try and keep the fat monster at bay. A little fact that I HATE but have come to accept. Damn fat monster!!

So that is us and I look forward to getting on here and sharing my daily musings and occurences with you all. So nice to meet you and look forward to getting to know you better!!