Attack of the Clones?

Some days I wish that I could be like mischievous little Calvin and climb into a cardboard box and emerge with a clone or two or three. Wouldn't it be nice? Just think...I would have a cleaner house and would never miss anything! I could have used a couple of clones tonight.

Sam had a baseball game on the other side of the lake. It really isn't that far away, but it often feels like a million kilometres. Casey had to ump a baseball game at our home park, while Abby had a game at her home park, close enough to Casey's game to make us all comfortable but just far enough away to make me not there. So, I missed Sam's game and the game that Casey umped. Kane had to work across the bridge today, so he took in Sam's game and will bring him home...should be soon.

I suppose it is inescapable, this being thrown in different directions at the same time. With three kids in three different divisions, it happens more often than not. I hate it and I love it.

Master Shredder

I was going to post this long rant against consumerism, waste and such but decided to delete it. I will say that I spent quite a bit of time shredding old bills a few days ago. The end result were two large bags of shredded paper to put out with the recycling tomorrow. Why do we hang onto things that we don't need for so long? Why is it that no matter how much I purge there is always more junk lurking in the corners?

Catching Up

The boys had their "tournament" today to wrap up their golf lessons. The lessons were held at a driving range, but the tournament was held at a putting course. I am not much of a golfer and really don't like the sport, but the putting course is something that I would do. I golfed there last fall for a staff party and very nearly had a hole in one! It should have been a hole in one, but it hit the flag. Today, I only watched the boys and took pictures. They had fun, and Casey won a prize for being closest to the pin during a little competition between the 15 kids.

This is my family calendar. It is stuck to my fridge and provides an at-a-glance snapshot of what is going on in our family. Every family member has a colour. My work schedule is in yellow. Sam is blue, Casey is green and Abby is pink. Kane is orange and I am purple. It's the only way to keep everyone and their activities straight!

This is very typical for April. May and June will most likely be even fuller than April, but thankfully most months are not quite so busy. This picture is already outdated. Casey has a practice on Thursday and an exhibition game on Saturday which were not on the calendar when I took the picture. Sam now has a practice on Monday that we didn't find out about until this afternoon. And, my work schedule for next week hasn't been added yet.

Is it any wonder that I am tired?


I am sitting here with aching wrists and fingers that feel swollen even though they aren't. I am sipping on a London Fog latte that I made myself. There is a Blenz coffee shop about a 15 minute walk from my house, and I love their London Fog lattes. I don't love the price though. A couple of weeks ago, I bought myself a battery-operated milk frother from Xcess Cargo for under $7 and a bottle of vanilla syrup from Blenz for $15. So, now I can enjoy a London Fog whenever I feel like putting the kettle on to boil, steeping some Earl Grey, microwaving some milk and frothing it. It doesn't take very long, it's cheap, and it tastes exactly the same!


My mood has gradually improved as the week progressed, although it was still difficult to feel enthusiastic about work. Thankfully, next week's schedule is back to my kind of normal. A co-worker has her last day with us on Wednesday, then she is moving back home to Nova Scotia. I like working with her and will be sad to see her go. Another good worker had his last day on Friday.

There has finally been some progress with our little renovation project. Most of the wiring was done today! Yeah! It looks like Friday night might see a doorway cut through a cement half-wall, and then Kane needs to do the plumbing and ducting work. Those are the "big" items, I think. Once those things are done, everything else should move more quickly. In theory.


We watched The Outsiders on TV last night. I have never read the book and never seen the movie before. Somehow, I seemed to have missed many of the popular required reading novels in junior/senior high. Although we read plenty, there were many that we didn't read that others did. Anyway, Sam's English class is currently reading The Outsiders. Sam mentioned the book the other day. He apparently is enjoying the book and has read further than anyone else in the class! Sam does not like reading, so this caught my attention instantly. I was flipping through the guide on the TV yesterday and noticed that the movie was going to be playing, so we watched it. It was a good movie, but I was much more interested in Sam's knowledge and understanding of the characters and the plot. He hasn't finished reading the book yet; he has two chapters to go. He took great delight in telling us what was about to happen or pointing out who a character was before he was formally introduced to the audience. It was obvious to me that Sam truly has been reading the book and enjoying it! In fact, after watching the movie, Sam said that he liked the book better than the movie! Yeah!



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I'm in a bit of a funk. There, I admitted it. I don't usually.

The past week of work has been alright, but I didn't want to be there. I have been scheduled to work Monday through Friday 10-2 next week; I could have cried when I saw the schedule. The hours are short and fine, but I am not happy about working five days in a row.

My ankle x-ray will be Thursday afternoon at 2:30pm, so I'll be rushing from work to the medical imaging clinic. Last night at Sam's baseball evaluation, my ankle was killing me!

I coloured my hair tonight, because I am more vain than I care to admit and I found a single grey hair earlier in the week.

I am feeling unmotivated, uninspired, and blase. Every seed of inspiration is quickly squashed by procrastination or futility. I am trying to create some meal plans to make my life simpler during baseball season and keep us from the fast food, but my efforts wane when I realize that my kids won't eat this or that or one will and the other two won't. I don't necessarily always cater to my kids' personal eating whims, but I do try to respect their preferences and dislikes. It just makes meal planning challenging.

I am just tired of cooking in general. I am tired of cleaning only to have the house look like a disaster the next day. I am also tired of bickering and whining and complaining.

I am tired of aches and pains and tingling hands.

I am tired of chewing over the same questions, worries and doubts.

Speedy Update

Speedy is doing okay and then again not as well as we'd like; we took another trip to the vet this morning. He has been eating, but he has not been nearly as active as is normal for him. The vet gave us a syringe filled with enough anti-inflammatory to last a week; he is to get one drop a day! The vet also noticed some swelling that could be a hernia or something else, but it is hard to say for sure without expensive tests. We've already spent about $80 on vet bills for an animal that cost less than $10 to buy! I love animals enough, but I really have a hard time parting with big bucks for special animal care. It is especially difficult to justify the expense for a hamster, but he isn't my pet. He is Casey's. Yes, I am paying the bills but there is a limit to my compassion for a rodent. The good news is that since we saw the vet this morning, Speedy has been more active than he has been all week!

This quote is in my day-timer:

It seems rather incongruous that in a society of super-sophisticated communication, we often suffer from a shortage of listeners.

Erma Bombeck

Speedy "Houdini" Hamster

This is Speedy, Casey's hamster.

He should have been called Houdini.

In the past two weeks, he has escaped from his cage 5 times!

Every escape has been at night while everyone else is sleeping, except for Maggie, the cat.

So far, we have found Speedy darting around beneath the computer desk, under my bed, and twice under the boys' bunk bed.

Speedy is either very smart or very lucky to have avoided the stairs to the basement. He is also quite lucky that Maggie has been thus far content to simply follow him around rather than attacking.

Sunday morning, I put a clip on the cage door in an effort to prevent Speedy from opening it enough to escape, although I don't know how his little arms can have the strength to open that gate in the first place. It seemed like a good plan but maybe it wasn't after all. Kane checked on him around 1am last night and he was fine. He checked on him again around 5am, and Speedy had the gate slightly open and was stuck, thanks to the clip. Now, one of his back legs seems to be injured. We're taking him to the vet later this afternoon.

I feel bad. My clip idea wasn't as great as I thought it would be, but we can't do nothing to prevent his escaping. It simply isn't safe. For one thing, his cage is put on the dining room table at night which means he has a long fall to the floor. Then, he is free to roam wherever he wants to in our big house! He could get into places that we can't search or access. We have a cat!

Hopefully the vet will have good news for us.

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Happy Easter

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This is Spring

I took all of these pictures in my yard today. The landscaping in my yard is sorely lacking, and I do not have a green thumb. However, there is a lot of potential! One of my daffodils is on the verge of blooming. The violas have been in bloom for a few weeks already. The maple buds are beginning to burst, and the lilacs already have small leaves and buds. Autumn is my most favourite season, but spring comes in a very close second. I love watching nature come alive.

I went to the doctor this morning and left with request form for an x-ray of my ankle. The doctor believes that I am experiencing the symptoms that I have, but there is no obvious explanation. He doesn't expect the x-ray will show anything since I have never broken my ankle and had no injury to it, but it is the first step to take. After that, I will go back and maybe get some exercises. I have already been doing a lot of stretching and such with that ankle because of the feeling of stiffness. He also mentioned a similar situation that a friend of his went through with his ankle. In that case though, his friend had previously broken his ankle. His friend has the joint scoped/flushed and had no further pain after that. So, I'm still in some pain and discomfort and no explanation for it.

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Parenting isn't for Cowards

Why is it that children push all the wrong buttons when you are already feeling exhausted and brain dead? Two nights in a row now Casey has transformed from the sweet boy that he can be into the Mr. Hyde monster that struggles for control. Obviously last night's lesson was not learned; tonight's issues are exactly the same as yesterday's. Only the situations are different.

Attitude. Arguing. Lying. Refusal to accept personal responsibility.

He was sent to bed earlier than he had expected tonight as punishment for his behaviour. He refused to accept that I might know something that he did not know, so I challenged him to find the answer for himself. He took me up on that offer and discovered that I was right after all; however, he lied to me, telling me that he had not discovered anything. He continued his belligerent attitude toward me, because he was right in his own eyes. I explained that he was going to bed early because he was rude to me, he lied to me, and he refused to apologize and admit that he had been wrong. Of course, Casey believes that we are punishing him for not seeing the "truth" which couldn't be further from the truth!

So, for the moment, Casey has declared that he will never speak to me again. When I responded with "I still love you", he promptly spoke to me. His vow of silence won't last past the morning, I'm sure.

Parenting Casey involves a lot of head banging against brick walls. My head. Figuratively. I hope. In many ways, we are incredibly blessed. Our kids are healthy. We aren't parenting a child or children with disabilities or serious developmental issues. There are many parents who have a much tougher job than we do. I thank the Lord everyday for my kids. I also pray that my kids will become people who love the Lord with all their hearts, soul, mind and strength, that they would be used by Him and be a blessing to others. Sometimes, it seems as if that day, when they are who God intends them to be, is so far off in the future that I can't even see it. But then I notice a kindness displayed by my children or a word aptly spoken by their lips, and I remember that God does indeed have a purpose for them and is not anywhere near finished with them. I know that He isn't finished with me yet!

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I am feeling rather blech today. Not ill but melancholy. Frustrated with a dash of sadness. Heavy.

My wrists have been bothering me again for about a week now. Today, at work, my hands felt useless and wooden. I had to fill out a permission slip for Casey this morning and could barely hold the pen let alone write. For about an hour Saturday morning, I could barely lift a pot of coffee, and I felt similar twinges of pain today. Both hands and wrists feel somewhat numb and tingly and swollen.

My left ankle has been bothering me on a daily basis since September and I don't know why. No, I have not yet seen the doctor about it. Call me chicken; I don't care. It has been my experience that my doctor, as much as I like him, tends to rush through things. I will go to the doctor soon, maybe next week on a day off. My ankle doesn't hurt all the time, but it is always tender and bothersome. I can walk normally most of the time despite the discomfort; however, there are times when I feel that my walk is affected because of the pain. Walking down stairs or stepping down from a ladder or bleacher can also be problematic, especially if I am leading with my left foot. Sometimes, it feels as if my ankle won't support me. Yes, I should see a doctor. Did you know that I don't like going to the doctor?

I can feel a headache coming on.

Kane and I have a funeral to attend tomorrow. It will be exactly four weeks since the last funeral we were at and at the same location. Would it be cold-hearted of me to say that I am not looking forward to the service because it is in an Anglican church? The church itself is beautiful and mysterious. I don't know very much about Anglican rituals or traditions or why there is a fenced off area behind the pulpit, but the history of the building is intriguing. The "very reverend" was very down to earth and laid back which was cool, but the service itself was dull and dry and alien to me. The only thing that had any familiarity was one single hymn and they butchered it. Oh well, it isn't about me anyway.

Speaking of old churches...

I've been doing more reading in my English history book. I'm currently in the life of King James.