The American election that is. It seemed to have lasted for years. Oh right...it kinda did!
It only makes me love the fact that when we have an election announcement we get 6 weeks of campaigns....that's it.
I wonder what the next 4 years will be like for the USA and what effects a new president will have on Canada?
Makes me think of the Mamas and the Papas, lol.
Today after church we had a potluck Sundae. Chris and I brought all the ice cream and other members of the congregation brought the toppings! It was an idea we 'borrowed' from another church in the city, and it went over very well and was very yummy.
So pretty much since lunch yesterday my children have been ingesting sugar. It started with the Halloween parties at school, then trick or treating, a treat or two snuck in before church and ice cream sundaes after church. Beth's tummy hurts...as it probably should. The other two seem fine, so far.
Every Halloween I am at a crossroads. Do I dole out the candy a bit at a time and then have to listen to them every 10 minutes asking for just one more, or do I let them have a free for all and just get it all over with?
What do you do?
I can't believe it's already November. Time is flying lately.
We spent today at home and got a few things done. The Halloween decorations are down and ready to be put away in the garage until next year and the Christmas lights are up. Our inflatable snowman is also up, but he looks pretty sad on dead grass with no snow.
It's supposed to be above 10C for the next few days so I'm not expecting snow soon, but I know it won't be long. I still need to get a winter jacket for Anna though. If the consignment shop is open tomorrow I would like to look there first and hopefully get a deal. I think the winter boots from last year still fit everyone, but maybe we should recheck them just to make sure.
I have today off which is really nice because I get to go to the girls' school and help out at Anna's party this afternoon. I rarely get to attend school events so I am quite pleased.
Chris also has the day off so we're just sitting around drinking coffee and in a bit I think we'll head out shopping. We have a few ideas of things to get the girls for Christmas so today is as good a day as any to start the process.
I have to remember to take my camera with me. I always forget.
MSN groups is closing for anyone who happens to belong to one. They 'partnered' with Multiply and will migrate your group over there if you like. So I signed up and even though I cleaned my computer of all spyware etc., I still have problems with Multiply. The site thinks I am a 'bot' as soon as I try to do anything and takes me to a page that asks me to verify text. It never likes what I verify. I complained to the support people and they fixed it, and then it happened again as soon as I tried to do something.
So if you see me on Halloween, I may look just like myself, but know that deep down inside I am really a robot trying to hack some random website. Brilliant costume if you ask me.
Interpret that title as you want, lol.
In the spring, our church held a garage sale of donated items. Since we were there the night before the sale to help set up we got first dibs on the items. I always go straight for the books at garage sales and that evening was no exception. I found Chris a few books and then found my JACKPOT. Someone had donated a brand new copy of the The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. I had just finished reading a copy from the library and loved it, and since books were only 50 cents at this garage sale (even the hardcovers) it was a steal of a deal. The book was an over sized paperback and retails for $27.50! When I picked it up and looked a little further into the pile I found another treasure, World Without End also by Ken Follet, also brand new looking. I had not read this one yet! It's set in the same place as the first book and makes mention of a few characters from Pillars of the Earth, but it's not really considered the second in a series as they both can be read as stand alone novels in any order. This one was hardcover and retails for $42! I was giddy with garage sale excitement, lol. But as I picked up the second book the face of another member of our church standing across from me dropped. She had wanted the second book. So we made a deal. I'd buy one, and she'd buy one and we'd trade when we wanted. Since I was going away for the summer, I told her she could take the second one to read (she had also just finished the first) and bring it to me in the fall when I returned to church.
I'd actually forgotten about the second book until yesterday at church when she told me she had it in her car and would bring it in to me at coffee time. I was so excited. Not only did I get to read the book I had been so excited about, but I could stop reading the third book in the series I blogged about the other day. Yep, I started it. But I was only 15 pages into it, so it's safe to set aside until I am done my new one.
She saved me.....from reading the book I don't want to read!
I finally finished a novel I have been working on since before summer. No, I am not that slow of a reader, but the book was really dry, and I just have this annoying aspect of my personality that MAKES me finish a book no matter what. It was the second book in a series and the first one was really good. But now I am trying to decide if I should read the third one in the series. It's sitting on my shelf, calling out to me, trying to tell me it's not so boring, that it's more like the first book than the second book.
Actually I have no idea if it's any better than the second one, but it has to be, right? Authors don't write a third book in a series when their readers didn't like the second one, unless it's waaayyyy better than the second one, right? Please tell me it will be better. Another part of that annoying aspect of my personality is that a series sort of counts as one book, lol. So I may not have a choice of reading the third book or not.
And then of course I have another book by the same author sitting on the shelf next to the third in the series. It's not a part of the series, but I may be destined to read it as well. I won't be able to stop myself and I may curse myself the entire time, but I'll have to do it.
Generally the only thing that prevents me from finishing a book I have completely lost interest in is that the online library renewal system. It tells me I have renewed the book too many times and prevents me from renewing it again. Then I have to take it back to avoid late fees.
Unfortunately these books are borrowed and the owner seems to have no desire for me to ever return them. If she would just call and harass me and complain I have had the books too long, which I really have, and then maybe shed a few tears because she longs to read the books again, them maybe I could bring myself to not start the third book in the series. But I doubt that will ever happen, because I have read the second book in the series, and I don't think anyone would want to read it again.
Three days in a row. A blogging accomplishment.
Chris is still out of town. He will be home tonight. He made it back in time yesterday to drop Anna off at her activity.
We have Girl Guide cookies to sell. Please buy some so I can stop eating them. I swear I have zero willpower.
I was going to swim laps tonight but the pool I wanted to go to cancelled lane swimming tonight. I'll have to look at my lists of other facilities and see if there is anything open. Of course it will depend if Chris is home by then. I suck at swimming, but I enjoy it. Maybe one day I will learn how to do more than the breaststroke. A walk might be nice instead.
I wonder if Chris will get a chance to work on installing the central vac this weekend? How odd that I am excited to vacuum....but then I am sure that excitement will be gone after the first time I use it. The girls can start vacuuming now though, without having to worry about plugging in or dragging a heavy canister around. Yay for slaves, I mean kids.
The girls want allowance. They have been very good about keeping their rooms clean. Of course I still pick up some of Katie's clothes that have not found their way into the hamper, but her room used to be a disaster so it's a big improvement. Beth had been doing better, but she has books all over her floor and her drawers are all hanging open. If I make her a space for the books she reads while in bed that should help. Anna's room is often messy but all the day home kids play in there, so it's not entirely her fault. She's been good at cleaning it when asked though. I think we'll take some of the little kid toys out of her closet this weekend and move them downstairs to the play area.
Chris and I will have to have the allowance discussion again soon. Do your kids get allowance? Are they expected to do chores for it? Do you ever take it away?
Trying to get back into the blogging thing, but I only have random sentences in my head, no paragraphs to form a nicely thought out blog. Guess you have to put up with that for a while.
Chris is out of town. Left yesterday evening, comes home tonight for a few minutes, then he's off again 'til tomorrow. I don't always remember where he is, so I have to write it on my calendar. I don't mind the travelling, but it interferes with plans sometimes.
Tonight Beth and Anna have to be at 2 different places at the same time. Chris might be home in time to help and can drop one off on his way to the next place. If not, my parents might be able to help. If not them, I'll figure something out.
Katie's old enough to babysit for a couple hours, but I don't think she's quite old enough to drive unfortunately. We're enjoying her age, she can watch her sisters while we go out and shop or run errands, or go to a movie. It's a freedom we're enjoying. But now I am looking forward to when she can drive. I must be crazy!
No, I can wait. I don't want my little girl to grow up too fast, plus the teenage years scare me.
I got a bathroom clean this morning. Maybe I can get to the other one if I can get all kids sleeping at once this afternoon. Not likely though.
Still need to plan supper. At least I went grocery shopping on the weekend so the pantry is full.
So thanks to Bonnie I changed my background. But that was all I did.
A blogging mood has not struck me lately, not sure why.
Maybe my life is too boring right now?
How can it be so boring when it seems we are so busy?
Weekends get used up fast and don't last long enough.
Weekdays are filled with work, school and the girls' activities.
Except for Mondays and Fridays, those nights are still free but somehow they still seem busy.
Tonight Beth and Anna have Brownies and Sparks. We should get the cases of cookies to sell. Anyone want cookies? They are the chocolate covered mint ones. Yum!
Katie and Beth were back at school today. If I was one of those good 'get everything on camera' mothers I would have taken a picture, but I am not. Tomorrow is Anna's first day of Kindergarten. I am hoping I will remember to get a picture of her before I take her to school, and then I can snap one of the other girls as well and 20 yrs down the road no one will even know or remember it wasn't the actual first day of school. Especially if I ever get around to scrap booking and I journal it as the first day of school. I wonder how many other people scrapbook lies?
Almost.
I went school supply shopping on Saturday and picked up almost everything the girls need to start school. Last night we labelled it all and got it packed into their backpacks. All I have left to pick up are indoor runners for the girls, and Kleenex. I am getting excited! The girls have been fighting a lot lately. More than a lot. It's all they seem to do. Hopefully separating them with a few classrooms in between each should help curb that.
Katie and Beth start school on Thursday. Chris will take them in the morning and help them find their classrooms and meet their new teachers. The lists will be posted at the school somewhere and we don't know the teacher until the first day. Anna doesn't go until Friday, and we were given her Kindergarten information in June, so her teacher has already been announced. I am taking Friday off and am crossing my fingers that she is going to let me leave after I take her to her classroom. She's not normally the clingy type, but she also likes to surprise you.
I have to remember to take first day of school pictures. That's something I almost always forget.
My sister had a home party last week and I splurged and bought a picture frame. It's not a normal picture frame, I mentioned it in a blog a few days ago. It's a magnetic frame that you can add your pictures to, or you could add a scrapbook page, or a combination of the two.
This is a picture of the frame on the company's website so you can see an example of what you can do with it if you have some time and some creativity.
When I opened it up last night I went through my box of pictures to find some to display so I could show Chris how neat the frame is. He thought it looked nice, but wasn't nearly as thrilled as I was. These are just a few pictures from the girls' dance recital last year. They are just put on as is, with no background paper or embellishments or anything, so imagine how pretty it could be with some creativity! The round wooden things on the pictures are the magnets, and on the ribbon at the bottom the pictures are held on with mini clothespegs.
My sister and I are going to try and figure out a way to make some more of these frames for ourselves. It has got to be cheaper than buying them from the company. And we could make them in different sizes as well. Any ideas?
What was I doing 5 years ago at this time? If I remember correctly I was slightly uncomfortable and trying to sleep because I had been up most of the night before feeling slightly uncomfortable. It was actually the onset of labour, but I didn't want to believe it, lol.
I had been induced for both of my previous pregnancies, so I had never gone into labour all on my own. I wasn't actually having contractions yet, just cramps. Chris convinced me we should go in so I could be checked. We lived over half an hour from the hospital and my previous history of labours showed I like to get those babies outta there FAST. Not quite as fast as my mother who had her last baby, my little brother, in 45 mins from first contraction to babe in arms. But 4 hours fast, which is quicker than 'average'. I was worried I'd be like my mom and end up having a baby on the side of the road in a car, lol. Anyways, I grabbed my hospital bag and off we went. Katie had swimming lessons so we took her to the pool and left her with an overnight bag with friends of ours. I can't remember if Beth went with them also or if she went to stay the night at my sister's place.
I'm outside on my deck.
Kids are playing in the sprinkler because it's super hot today.
Sitting at my new (to me) patio table, compiling an address list for my camp job on my laptop. I love that there are no cords all over the place and with a wireless router I can even email and blog.
This is the life.
Gotta love a nice cup of coffee mid way through the morning. I was too busy after getting home from the gym to start a pot. My kitchen was left in a mess last night. Chris promised to get up and help me with it in the morning since it was almost all his doing.
He made it into the kitchen in time to watch me wash the last dish.
So I made him make the coffee, which he normally does anyways, so he didn't care.
We're having a BBQ this evening. Last count we had about 35 people say they would be attending. It started out as a BBQ for us and 2 couples, but just grew and grew. It should be a lot of fun. But I think tomorrow I am going to need some more of that coffee to get through the day.
This morning Chris made potato salad and I made guacamole. We still have chip dip and fruit dip to make and we have to cut up all the fruit. That will have to wait until after lunch because I am too busy enjoying my coffee at the moment.
Oh, and I drove the car this morning. The windshield wipers have two settings. Off and Super Fast. And when you turn them off from Super Fast, they just stop wherever they feel like it. We're going to need to figure that out before we're driving in the rain.
So while I continue to think about decorating the inside of my house, Chris has been busy 'researching' how to decorate the outside. He started with the driveway. This is our newest decoration.
It's been a couple of months, but I swear I have a good excuse. Well to be honest my good excuse is only good for the month of July, I cannot explain what happened to June.
In July the girls and I went to the lake, for the whole month. I took a job there at a children's' camp as the Camp Administrator. I caught up with some old friends and made a few new ones. A good time was generally had by all. Unfortunately though, the Internet was dial up only at the lake. It was painful, but I must say, less painful than I originally thought. So my Internet time was limited to downloading email and once in a while I would check on a forum or try to catch a friend of two on MSN...oh and Facebook, I'd try to check that once a week or so as well.
So now we are home and back to the same old same old. Which I am already a little bit tired of, lol. I'm hitting the gym every morning, even though some mornings I can barely drag my butt out of bed. And I bought a new bike with part of my summer pay cheque so I am riding that to and from the gym at the moment. Once the snow falls (Mother Nature I beg you...please let me have until at least Halloween) I will start driving my van again. I am also back to babysitting every weekday. Luckily I have great kids, so it's a pretty easy, yet very busy, job.
Now that I am back to blogging, I need something to blog about. A theme for the year, or a while, I suppose. Not that I will stick to a theme, but if I have one there will always be something in the back of my head nudging me to write. I've been thinking about what's missing in my house lately. We have all the basics and more, but if you came into my house, I think you'd notice one main thing that is missing. DECOR.
It's glaringly obvious that I am not a decorator. Our walls upstairs were white when we moved in and they are still white a year later. Our pictures, those that are up, are just hung on old nail holes. It's really quite sad. I suppose I should give myself a little credit though, we have a small nook in our hallway that is decorated. Chris spent some time in Nunavut a couple of years ago and brought home some soap stone carvings which are beautiful. I have those in the nook with a painting I found at a garage sale for $5. It looks nice to me, but remember, I am not a decorator. I'll have to take a picture and post it sometime.
It's not that I am scared of paint exactly, that's not why my walls are still white, it's more that I am scared of starting painting and not knowing where to stop. All of our corners upstairs are rounded corners so one wall leads to the next, and the next and the next. I'm told you can still paint and just make sure you tape the corner well so there is a definite line, but I don't trust myself or my husband to tape it that well. So we just don't paint, and we look at our white walls day after day after day.
Which brings me to my goal for the year and my blog theme for a while, again, not that I will stick to it, lol. I want to decorate my home this year. I want to place my pictures in planned places, not left over nail holes. I want to buy some home decor items. I might even want to buy some, dare I say it, curtains. I don't really like curtains, but they often look nice in other peoples' homes, so maybe they would in mine too?
I went to a home party they other night and bought a magnetic frame thing which I am excited about getting and planning what's going to go in it. It's one that you can put scrapbook pages or pictures in and change it up every so often. It was my first step in my home.
My first step on my blog was to change the background...much easier, and no paint lines to stress about.
Katie's room is getting close to being ready for her to move in as well. It's painted, but it needs a closet door, and all the trim (baseboards, door and window moldings) and of course a ceiling. Once we get a few more things done in there, and the furniture from my brother in law, she can move in!
That's becoming a pretty standard title around this blog unfortunately. I really do have good intentions of keeping you all up to date on what's going on around here, but it's really been the same old same old lately. Basement Renovations!
These are for you Michelle...
Once you go through something you think will kill you and it doesn’t, every day is like a present. ~ Elissa B. Terris
To find in ourselves what makes life worth living is risky business, for it means that once we know, we must seek it. ~ Marsha Sinetar
Don't think about how weak you are — think of how strong you're going to be. ~ Michelle (Berry) Dougherty
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, "I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." . . . You must do the thing you think you cannot do. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Yes, it's been a week since I blogged. I haven't done much since last week though, so it's okay. I did paint a little bit in the basement, but I have not gone back down, since more painting involves moving furniture and vacuuming drywall dust. So on that note....
Stealing a great idea from a friend of mine who also blogs. I'll try to post a quote that sums up my weekend, or the week to come every Monday. Not sure how long it will last, but it should keep my amused for a couple of weeks at least, lol.
I babysit a little girl who is Anna's age. A few minutes after J arrived this morning Anna asked her if she wanted to play Pokemon. Anna said she would be the Pokemon and J would be the trainer.
Before I go on, I have to say that I love listening to 4 yr old conversations, they generally make for great blog material. If only I could remember to write even a third of them down, lol.
Anyways, J was unsure about how this game was going to work and didn't know what a trainer did. I wasn't sure either since none of the kids have every played Pokemon before so I was also listening carefully to the rules. Anna simply said "I'll be the Pokemon and you stand there and tell me what to do."
Awww....it's the same game Chris and I play everyday, but we call our game Marriage.
I'll let you guess who gets to be the trainer most often....
After the ear piercing we had a Girl Guide event to attend and we were cutting it close on time so we had to wait for another day for the outfit. In fact she's still waiting and be unusually patient about it all. After our event we headed to a local restaurant to pick out her ice cream birthday cake. There were tons of cute cakes with all sorts of pictures iced on them, and what does my 7 year old pick? An old lady cake. No offense to any older ladies who read my blog, but honestly, does this cake look like one a 7 year old would choose?
I suppose they all taste the same, and she was happy, so that's all that matters, right?
Happy Birthday Bethie!!
by Beth
We used to be monkeys. That's why we are hairy people. Then one day a monkey drank a potion and turned into a scientist.
A friend of mine asked on her blog: "What's in your cupboard above the fridge?"
So in response to that, the camera came out, and you all get to see what I keep in that pretty useless space. And I'll tell you this, when you are 5'4", that space is not simply useless, it's impossible to reach AND useless. I do think we are using the space quite well though. The only things I can actually reach without a chair are at the very front. Very accessible after a long day at home with the kids.....
Just kidding, I don't actually need to use any of those bottles after spending time with my kids, lol. Let's take a closer look at what we've all got in there (you can click on the pictures for a larger image).
I didn't label the bottles. I thought they were pretty self explanatory.
This just in. According to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, the smell of marijuana coming out of an open car window is no longer grounds for a police officer to make an arrest and search the vehicle.
According to 53% of people who phoned into NewsTalk Radio this morning they felt the Court of Appeal made the right ruling. According to my husband, those 53% are pot smoking hippies.
Especially on those few and far between days that everyone is asleep (or at least laying down) at the same time! I should get at least 1 hour of uninterrupted quiet if everyone naps as they usually do. It's just that usually they don't all nap at the same time. Anna is not actually napping, she's just having a lay down in my bedroom and watching a Care Bears movie, but that's as good as it gets for her and it does keep her quiet and resting for a while at least.
Whatever will I do for this hour? Most of my housework is up to date and the laundry is already going, so I don't have to feel guilty about that. I do have a few books on the go that I could be reading, so, after I play online for a bit I guess I'll read.
One of the books I am reading right now is called Family Wisdom from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma. Someone on talk radio recommended it the other day on a call in show and I reserved it at the library. I am highly disappointed. It's a self help type of book focusing on nurturing the leader within your child. It's really a non-fiction book but it's pretending to be a fiction book. By telling the story about the characters in the book the author is trying to teach the readers his lessons. I find it rather hokey. Don't get me wrong, I think the collection of lessons the author is trying to teach and share is very valuable but because of the the style of the book it completely disinterests me. I'd much rather read what the author has to say in a non-fiction style. And that's all I have to say about that.
I hear a baby. I guess I didn't get my hour.
I don't get the American political system. Maybe it's all the talk of the primaries lately that we hear about on the nightly news or talk radio, and the fact that I am not sure exactly how that all works, but I think it's more the celebrity endorsements I don't quite get.
They said on the radio today that Oprah endorses Obama, Martha Stewart endorses Hillary Clinton and Arnold Schwarzenegger endorses McCain. It went on and on about who each celebrity is going to vote for. I don't know why, but for some reason that seems wrong to me. In an ideal world, every citizen would pay close attention to politics and vote for the party or person they truly feel will make the best decisions for their country. But we all know this is not an ideal world, and I wonder if having a certain celebrity's endorsement is considered a leg up in this election race? Or maybe a leg down in the case of Hillary Clinton who also has Jerry Springer's vote?
I can't believe how fast January went! With how cold it was, it really should have been a month that felt like it was dragging, but before I knew it, it was over. We had some pretty cold weather too, I'm talking -52C if I don't cover my skin it will freeze in seconds cold, not wimpy I have to wear more than a sweater cold.
And so, as luck would have it, my van suffered the most from the cold. I avoided driving it as much as possible because I know the power steering hose likes to pop off when it's too cold, but sometimes I just need to go out. The week before last Beth was home from school as she was pretty sick, so last week when she was feeling better and had gymnastics, I braved the cold and took her, just to get her out of the house and out of my hair for an hour. Bad choice. It was one of the -50C something days so I kept my van going the whole time we were in the gym. I didn't want to leave the keys in it, so I just kept hitting the remote car start every 10 minutes. My car starter is not one of those fancy ones where you press the button from wherever you happen to be and it beeps to let you know your vehicle started, it's the kind where you pretty much have to be at the driver side door for the car starter to work, so I actually saw it start up every 10 minutes from the door of the gym. I wanted to keep it warm so my power steering would be safe.
No luck.
After gymnastics I buckled the girls in and went to drive away, and had no power steering. Of course I was wedged into a parking spot with one truck in front and a car right behind, and it would have been tough getting out of the spot with power steeering and it was darn near impossible without I tell you. I am pretty darn proud I didn't hit either vehicle actually. It took, no word of a lie, 5 minutes to get out the parking space. Luckily most of the drive home required few hard turns, so although it's really a pain to drive with no power steering, it can be done. Or maybe I am just getting used to it, because it already went on me once this winter and in the past has gone a couple of times every winter since we've owned the van.
Since I was babysitting every day, and Chris was out of town most of the week, the van never made it into the shop until Friday. They put the hose back on, said it was the other end that popped off this time, and ordered us a new hose, which they hope will solve the problem. Luckily they did not charge us for this repair, probably because it had only been in for the same problem a couple weeks earlier. I have no idea what the new hose will cost either. I dread vehicle maintenance bills!
But for now it's working and I can turn a corner with ease. There is no more -50C forcast for the near future so my fingers are crossed that it stays fixed for the rest of this winter, which by the way, is not going as fast as January did.
I dreamed the other night of melting snow. I wish.
This video was posted on an online playgroup I belong to. It found it very frightening and disturbing. Please watch and if you have kids, seriously consider looking into purchasing a new type of smoke alarm. If you don't have kids, maybe a new smoke alarm would be something you could buy for your grandchildren or nieces and nephews. Also you can check out this link http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/118/4/1623 for some statistical data of a study done comparing the beeping smoke alarm and the voice smoke alarm. I'm sure there are a lot more studies out there, but I didn't look for any more. This was enough to convince me.
Polly Pockets. Delightful miniature dolls with stretchy vinyl clothes. Years ago they used to be teeny tiny, micro-small dolls that you couldn't dress and undress, but things have changed. Just like barbies, most of the clothes are impossible for little kids to put on and off, so mom and dad have to play too. Well, just like Barbie had Ken, Polly has her man. Rick. I'm not sure Rick and Polly stand a chance though. They may succumb to the same fate as Barbie and Ken.
Poor Rick. It was bad enough that the poor guy belonged to a Polly set called Glitz and Glam that came with a sparkly car, sparkly clothes and sparkly cats. I guess he didn't stand a chance. Especially considering daddy was the one playing Polly's with Anna that fateful day. The day when Rick finally gave in to his inner demons...
Basement renos are on hold until we get our building permit and first inspection. There is not much more we can do before that happens or we'll have to rip walls down. Hopefully we'll get the permit this week (we applied a week ago) and then can arrange an inspection soon.
In the meantime I've started some scrap booking. I finished my first page last night. It's of Katie when she was 2 yrs old playing in the leaves.
