Happy New Year

Well, we're roughly seven hours away from the end of 2006 and the beginning of 2007! We have no real plans for the evening. I don't think we've done the big New Year's Eve party thing since the kids were very little. The kids want to stay up to greet the new year, though whether or not they stay awake that long will remain to be seen. Casey had two friends over for a sleepover last night, while Sam and Abby slept over at their friends' house. I don't even know if I will be up that late as I have to work tomorrow at 8am. We'll see.

I picked up some appetizer type things for supper, and we have some chips and pop. Could you have a "party" without those staples? There is nothing of interest on TV and we haven't rented any videos. Maybe we'll all play some Wii sports...or some board games.

I am hoping to do some journaling yet tonight. It is my practice to reflect on the past year and express my goals for the new year. Once I get all that down on paper then I will share my thoughts here.

Christmas Photos

Sam holding his Mats Sundin rookie card-a most prized gift!

Casey with his build-a-Canuck-bear kit. He had seen one in a store before Christmas and desperately wanted it. He loves teddy bears and the Canucks.

Abby loved the robe she received from La Senza Girl. It is so soft and cuddly.

The turkey.

Maggie was curious to check out the gift-opening action but wasn't too excited about the treats in her Christmas stocking.

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Wiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

We got a Wii!

Uncle Rick always gives me a chunk of money in which to buy the kids' Christmas presents on his behalf. This year, I was considering using that money to purchase the kids a Nintendo Wii game system rather than individual gifts; however, Wiis were virtually impossible to find in the stores and I wasn't willing to wait in line-ups all night in the hopes of acquiring one in time for Christmas. So, I gave the kids the option of receiving smaller, individual gifts from Uncle Rick or waiting for one larger gift at some point in the future. They easily deduced the gift I was talking about and opted to wait for a Wii even if it meant 6 months!

Casey received a Nintendo Gameboy for his birthday and had purchased some sort of adapter for it on Christmas eve from Toys R Us. It didn't work, so this morning we went to return it. We were barely able to enter the main doors because of the line-up at the return desk! We stood in line and waited and waited to return this adapter, but once it was our turn we were quickly a few dollars richer. The boys were interested in looking at some Gameboy games, so we went further into the store to their video department.

Imagine my surprise when I saw two gentlemen at the video check-out each with a Wii box under their arms. I got in line behind them and another customer anxious to inquire if there were anymore to be had, not seeing any on the shelves. Eventually, I asked one of the gentlemen if there were indeed Wiis, so he grabbed one out of a packing box beside the check-out for me! Yes! While I was paying for the Wii, another clerk was on the phone with someone looking for a Wii. There was only one left after my purchase!

The kids and I were so excited as we walked out of Toys R Us. I hadn't expected to find a Wii for at least a month yet, if not longer, and I certainly hadn't walked into the store today looking for one. But there it was and we now own one. It is so cool. I have already played tennis, bowling and a couple rounds of boxing. Talk about a workout!

Christmas Catch Up

Work was busier today than it was yesterday. It also seemed like most of our customers took stupid pills this morning. I don't know how to explain it. Maybe it is because Christmas is over or perhaps it is the weather...I don't know. It never fails to amaze me just how clueless some customers can be. In saying that I do realize that I have probably also been an ignorant or clueless customer at times. I am so glad to be done my shift and looking at a day off tomorrow!

We had a good Christmas. It was as quiet as it can be with three children, but at least we didn't have extra relatives to deal with all day. My brother, my sister and her two children came over for supper. It was disappointing that neither of Kane's brothers in town bothered to come by or even phone on Christmas day but it wasn't a surprise either. I think everyone enjoyed their gifts.

My kids surprised me a bit this year with their gifts for me. Usually, I get some candles because they have no idea what to get me on Christmas eve when Kane typically has time to take them shopping. This year, Kane took them shopping on the 23rd! I still got some candles from Casey, but they came in a nice set this time. I like them very much. Abby gave me a copper aromatherapy diffuser from the Body Shop with gingerbread and peppermint oils. Sam gave me a new body pillow. My old body pillow has become rather flat, so this new fluffy and firm one is well received. Kane got me a parafin wax hand spa thing. It melts the wax in which you dip your hands a few times. I tried it the other day and it was actually kind of neat. My hands looked like something out of a wax museum but it felt nice.

Kane is back to work today after seven weeks! He did well with his schooling. He hasn't received his final marks yet, but he's heard a rumour that he made the dean's list. Regardless, he scored well in all subjects.

I think the kids are already bored and they still have a week and a half of holidays.

I hope to put up some Christmas photos at some point in time.

Yesterday, Kane and I purchased a new stove. We will put our old one downstairs in my parents' suite when the suite is finished. The new one will be a smooth top convection oven. I am so excited and eager for it to arrive next week! I have wanted a convection oven since forever. We have been looking at ovens for a few weeks now knowing that we would need to purchase one sooner or later. Convection ovens are so much more expensive, but Future Shop has a great sale on one for their Boxing week sale. I think we saved about $350, so our total cost with extended warranty was still less than a regular priced one. It will also be so sweet to have a ceran top! No more messy drip pans to clean up !!!!

Merry Christmas

Twas the day before Christmas and all through our house...

I wish I could say that not a single creature was stirring but that would be a lie. In fact, today has been a day filled with parental stress focusing on one child...Casey. It started as we prepared for this morning's church service. He didn't want to go and put up a big stink about it. Once we got to church and settled into our seats, he noticed the communion table set up at the front of the sanctuary and declared that he was now old enough to take part. I disagreed. He didn't much like that answer and proceeded to argue with me about it. When I told him that he didn't know what it was about he told me that he did. His response was that people were hungry and didn't have a lot of food and something about four loaves of bread. I think he was a little confused! Any explanations as to our reasoning for denying his participation in communion were met with stubborn resistance and argument. It felt like we had taken part in a major war in the fifteen minutes before the service started.

The afternoon was only mildly better. Casey took great pleasure in tormenting his brother and vandalising Sam's property. Sam, of course, was upset. Casey pleaded innocence, of course, and tried to apply blame on his brother. Does he truly think that we can't see him do all these things? Or does he just think we're that stupid?

Then, it was time to get ready to go to the special Christmas eve service tonight. Once again, Casey put up a big argument over his attendance. He was told his presence was mandatory; he disagreed.

We're home now. It is 8:30 but we're just getting around to nibbling on some supper. The kids will be pushed into bed very soon; Abby is barely hanging on to consciousness anyway. I wonder if she is coming down with something. She doesn't have a fever, but she has been less active the past couple of days. However, she is determined to be healthy as she has a birthday party to attend on Boxing Day.

It will be at least another couple of hours before I crawl into bed. There are still stockings to fill and a few final things to tidy once the kids are in bed. As long as they are awake, mess simply follows after them like a shadow. Kane will do the last of the dishes and clean my kitchen yet tonight, then I think we're as ready as we're going to be. After all, Christmas day will come no matter what my house looks like or how many people will be coming for dinner or whether I feel very loving after a day of mental wrestling with my child. Isn't that so like God?! He works and moves in situations, in our lives regardless of where we're at, how we feel, or what we think we want.

God is good. All the time.

Merry Christmas!

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How You Life Your Life

You have a good sense of self control and hate to show weakness. You're laid back and chill, but sometimes you care too much about what others think. You prefer a variety of friends and tend to change friends quickly. You tend to dream big, but you worry that your dreams aren't attainable.

How Do You Live Your Life?

Thirteen Things on My 'To-Do Before Christmas' List



1. Keep the house tidy which is no simple task. Since the in-laws aren't coming to stay with us, I don't need to clean as deep or as far-reaching, but I still need to keep nagging the kids.

2. Buy a DQ cake on Saturday for Casey's birthday. I had thought that I would bake him a cake tomorrow, but I really don't want to do that now. I made cupcakes today for his class and a veggie platter for his class yesterday. Besides, he wants an ice cream cake.

3. Sew the pockets on my jacket. Both have been coming apart for a while, but one pocket snagged on the grocery cart this morning and ripped some more of the seam. Time to bring out the sewing box and do some stitching.

4. The turkey is already thawing in the refrigerator, but I still need to thaw the bulk sausage meat for the stuffing and the Cool Whip for the pumpkin pie. Yes, I am too lazy to make my own whipped cream.

5. I need to make pumpkin pies. Yummm!!!

6. Tomorrow, I guess I will need to wash the pots that are accumulating by my sink. Hand washing is something that I tend to avoid at the best of times but especially with my sore wrists; however, Kane has been too busy studying to help out as much as he usually does.

7. I am going to make cabbage rolls tomorrow for supper.

8. I'd like to think that I will bake some muffins for brunch Christmas morning which means actually baking them in advance, but I have a feeling that I'll cop out. If I did bake some, I would only make one kind and the kids wouldn't eat that kind. The alternative is to pick up a dozen at Tim Horton's on Sunday...and a variety, too!

9. Attend the Christmas Eve service at the church.

10. Get as much meal prep done on Sunday as I can. Things like chopping the onion and celery for the stuffing, slicing the pickles, trimming the Brussels sprouts, etc.

11. Fill the stockings well after the kids are asleep on Christmas eve.

12. Spend some time writing in my journal, if my wrists will cooperate.

13. Spend some time in the Word and in reflection of God's gift to mankind.



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All in the Family

A most unexpected person came to my door this afternoon. It was my aunt Kathy, my dad's sister. It is difficult to explain the family connections in a simple sentence because, while I can call her my aunt Kathy, I have not seen her for a very long time. Indeed, I believe that the last time I saw her was at my uncle Jerry's wedding in the fall of my grade 9 year. So what's the math on that...about twenty years ago! Oh my. (I am sooo old!)

I haven't seen my uncle Jerry since his wedding either. It's a convaluted and complicated story better saved for another time. Suffice it to say that it was a surprise to see her at my door, although she was here to drop off a Christmas card for my parents. She has changed a lot, but I recognized her before she had time to say who she was. We chatted for a few minutes. It was nice but strange. I felt disconnected and yet still bound by ties I wasn't sure still existed.

We also had a phone call tonight, unexpected and yet anticipated. It was Kane's brother calling to say that they would NOT be coming for Christmas after all. We weren't surprised in the least. I can't say that I am truly disappointed. As stressful and crazy as it would have been having them here, there was something to look forward to in having company for Christmas. However, I am relieved. My 'to do' list has just shrunk considerably! There is still lots to do in terms of cleaning and cooking, but I can ease up on the standards just a little and I don't need to make any big adjustments in order to accomodate three extra bodies and a dog. The kids won't need to give up their beds or share their space, so I don't need to be the wicked witch of the west when it comes to nagging them to clean their bedrooms. Instead of punishing my wrists by scrubbing the tub and walls, I can punish my wrists by baking cupcakes for Casey's class and bake and clean with more frequent and longer "rest" breaks. Having only two work shifts this week will be so much sweeter now that I don't have the spectre of in-laws coming to stay breathing down my neck.

Family. They make us who we are and. try as we might, we just can't completely separate ourselves from them. An acquaintance commented last night that family is best at a distance. There is some truth to that. We've seen and experienced enough family drama to keep the movie and book industries in business for a decade, but these people are still our family.

The Week Before Christmas

We've been busy. Sam had his band Christmas concert last Tuesday evening. Wednesday evening I took Casey shopping while Sam was at youth. Thursday and Friday, Abby had practice for the church Christmas musical. While she was at practice on Thursday, I took Sam shopping. I do believe that I have visited our mall more times in the past two weeks than I have in the past year! I worked on Saturday but was able to leave an hour early because we weren't too busy and my wrists were hurting. In the evening was Abby's first performance. The second was Sunday afternoon. Last night, Sam had his final hockey game of 2006.

A week until Christmas...I put the turkey into the fridge this afternoon to thaw. First though, I cleaned inside my fridge much to my wrists' dismay. Actually, my wrists won't be very happy with me for most of the week. There is just too much to do and not enough strong hands to do it. This is Kane's final week of school and he is spending every spare moment studying for the 9 tests he has yet to write. The in-laws are supposed to be coming on Friday now which gives me a couple extra days grace. My original work schedule was supposed to be Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but I passed off my Thurs./Fri. shifts to someone else. Not only will I appreciate more time to get stuff done at home, but it will allow me more time to rest my wrists. In theory anyway.

I went to the doctor last Friday rather than waiting until the new year. My thyroid levels are fine, so I guess that isn't the cause. I waited an hour to spend a grand total of 2 minutes with the doctor, but he is going to refer me to a specialist so I can get the nerve testing done. Now I just need to wait for the specialist to phone me to arrange an appointment. Somehow I doubt that this will happen very quickly considering that this is a holiday season, but at least the ball has begun rolling.

Slowly I am getting things done. I have a list nearly a full page long of things to do by Friday; only a few are scratched off but progress is progress. I just realized that I could scratch off two more items! Some of the tasks aren't my responsibility to complete, but they are on my list anyway. I am just the nag.

Abby did a great job in her role as Leah the midwife in the church program. I was a little worried. She's not the most vocal or outgoing person under normal circumstances, so I expected her to rush her lines or mumble, but she was loud and clear. We gave her a bouquet of flowers after yesterday's performance.

Thirteen little known Things about ME 1. In 6th grade, I was the lead actor in our school's Christmas play. My memory is a little sketchy, but I think it was called The Best Christmas Card Ever, or something to that effect. It was told the story of a family in search of the best Christmas card to give for the holidays. I wanted to be an angel or Mary, Jesus' mother, but those parts were given to other girls. Instead, I was given the role of the mom in the family which meant a lot of lines to learn and being on stage for virtually the entire performance. It is funny how differently we look at things years down the road. When I didn't get the part I wanted, I thought it was because the other girls were prettier and thus more deserving of being an angel. Being older and wiser, I know that looks had nothing to do with role allotments, but it is kind of ironic that I had a lead role. I am not a take charge, star of the show kind of person. 2. I have been involved in several music festival. In my elementary years, I performed a couple of solos, as well as a member of a choral group. In junior high, I think I performed one solo on the clarinet. Somewhere, in a box, I have the adjudicator's sheet from one of my vocal solos which I cannot find right this moment. I still remember Mrs. McCleary working with me on my breathing. The tempo was rather fast, so it was difficult to sing the words clearly and breathe without big gasps for air. 3. There are two tiny scars on the inside of my upper lip from a tobogganing accident in my 11th year of school. Our youth group was tobogganing on a hill that all the locals called Suicide Hill. For the prairies, it was a pretty big hill, and we were tobogganing at night. My sister and I were taking a turn down the hill on an inner tube (the only way to toboggan!). On our stomachs, head first. We were barreling along happy as could be until we saw two people standing in our path. One was a youth leader easily 250 lbs. and an EMT (very convenient!). The other was a teenage guy. There really wasn't enough time to do anything but shout and then my face connected with the knee of the youth leader. He flipped in the air and landed hard on his shoulder; it would prove to be dislocated. I'm not really sure what happened to me, but I found myself in the middle of the tube looking up at the night sky tasting blood. My sister and the other guy were both okay. I'm not even sure if they collided...come to think of it, I think my sister managed to bail out at the last moment. We all piled into the youth leader's truck and drove thirty minutes into town to the hospital. All I had to show for it was a fat lip and two little scars that won't go away. 4. I "broke" my left wrist late in the summer before my 11th year of high school. I say that with quotation marks because I always mix up the proper terms, and I can't even remember if the "breaks" were just cracks or chips or actual breaks. Yes, there were multiples but since no surgery was required, whatever the official terminology is, the damage must not have been too bad. How did it happen? Stupidity. Our youth group was having an all-nighter at the church (funny how the youth group is frequently the point of origin), and a bunch of us were hanging out in the gym. Some of us were just a little more literal about it. I thought it would be fun, cool, amusing to hang from the basketball net, and it was fun for the first dozen times or so. However, my hands began to sweat and the effort required to first get my hands up to the net resulted in a little swaying action. Put the two together and you have a recipe for disaster. My body swayed, my hands slipped and I dropped with my hands reaching back behind me to break my fall. Silly, silly me. Only my left arm wound up in a cast, but my other wrist was in just as much pain from a bad sprain. 5. When I was in second grade, I won a colouring contest put on by our city to celebrate its' birthday or some such thing. The picture to be coloured was of the city's mascot, Lignite Louie, a coal miner with a vague resemblance to Fred Flintstone. I grew up in the prairies and coal mining was big industry in our area. My picture was in the newspaper along with the other winners in different age groups. My prize was a t-shirt with Lignite Louie on it and maybe a hat, too. 6. In 7th and 9th grade, I ran cross-country at school. Our practice runs were tough, but nothing was tougher than our indoor course when it rained. It began with four laps of the gym and then running up and down the main staircase in the school which had five flights of stairs...all the way up and all the way down and then back into the gym for more laps and another set of stairs and laps and stairs. The highlight of our short cross-country season was a trip to Saskatoon (five hours away) for the annual Sled Dog Cross-Country Race. I don't remember how I did, though I think I did fairly well the first year, but we sure had a lot of fun swimming in the motel pool, watching Twisted Sister music videos on TV, and riding in a school bus full of teenagers for five hours. 7. Curling is a popular sport on the prairies, so what kind of prairie-raised kid would I be if I had never curled. Of course, we learned some curling from junior high up, but we also had opportunity to take part in curling after school. I did so in grade 7 and 9. Grade 7 was a terrible experience when it came to curling. The guys on my team were arrogant and ignorant and I hated every minute of it. By the time I was in grade 9, those guys had moved on to high school and I was interested in curling once again. Our school hosted an annual bonspiel (tournament) but hadn't had much success at it for some time. My team didn't win, but we finished third and only missed out on the final by a slight margin. We won trophies and had our picture in the paper. 8. In elementary school, I was the best dodgeball player! 9. I still have the Christmas gift that my grandpa gave me when I was 5 years old. It was a stuffed dog the colour of caramel with a long body. On the dog's belly was a zipper with two holes for little dials. Inside the zipper was a pocket which held a radio! It was so cool. I remember taking that dog to Grand Prairie one year when we went to visit my grandparents. I used Fritz, as I called the dog, for my pillow. The radio has long since disappeared, but Fritz is still with me, although he has been relegated to storage in the hope chest. He is nearly 30 years old! 10. I love bulldogs and have for many years now. My love for bulldogs began with professional wrestling and the tag team called the British Bulldogs. Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid were around before I really became interested in wrestling. My dad would watch Stampede Wrestling, so I had heard their names on many occasions. When they joined up with the WWF, now the WWE, I began to take an interest in wrestling. I've loved bulldogs ever since...even if I don't really care for wrestling anymore. 11. In high school, I took two years of cosmetology, not because I wanted to be a hairdresser, but because it seemed like a fun and easy elective. It was fun. How many classes are there where you can get a manicure or a facial or highlight your hair for free? It wasn't all fun. We learned a lot. I still really don't understand the concept of pincurls or fingerwaves, but I guess that's why I've never been much of a 'made up' kind of girl. I snipped my brother's ear one day as I was giving him a haircut. Oops. 12. My grade 9 Social Studies teacher was Mr. Galen Wahlmeier, a former Canadian Football League player with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. It sounds cooler than it was at the time. Our class was full of some pretty interesting characters that year, and we made that class one of interest to the principal on many occasions. 13. My first real job was working the bingo at our city's fair and exhibition. West Coast Amusements brought the rides and games but hired on a few locals to help with a few things. I was one of those temporary workers. For three days I called bingo numbers, collected money and handed out prizes. I made $150 for my time and spent it on acid-washed jeans and Reebok shoes. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Band Concert

Sam is the trombone player in the back looking towards the camera.





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On Again?

Spoke too soon...it looks like the in-laws are now once again coming for Christmas.

O Christmas Tree!

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On Again, Off Again

They're not coming for Christmas now. We still don't really know much more than we were originally told, but at least my brother-in-law returned our phone calls last night. He denies having an affair but also said that he made a mistake and his wife has every right to be upset. In the same breath though, he said that his wife flies off the handle over every little thing.

(walks into padded room and lets loose a long, stress-relieving scream)

Soooo, the reason that they give for not coming is that their daughter has suddenly begun experiencing car-sickness.

While somewhat disappointing, we aren't surprised by their change of plans. I expected it even before my sister-in-law's little bombshell. At least we don't need to try and find a place for three more bodies to sleep!

Two Weeks Until Christmas

What would Christmas be without some family drama? Kane's brother is supposed to be coming to our place for Christmas along with his wife and daughter. Kane called a couple of nights ago for confirmation. Last night, we came home to a voice mail from my sister-in-law saying that she might not be coming along as she doesn't know whether she'll still be married to my brother-in-law! It seems that she has discovered that my brother-in-law has been having an affair. Two phone calls have gone unanswered which is pretty much standard operating procedure after they drop a bombshell on us. However, we need to know whether they are still coming next week or not. It doesn't matter whether it is their entire family or just two of them. We need to know. If they're not then I have to mail out Christmas gifts for our niece and I won't need to stress over sleeping arrangements in our crowded house.

Last night was my staff Christmas party. We went bowling. I know that I shouldn't have, but I did. I bowled. Since my wrists hurt regardless of what I do or don't do and I continue to work despite the pain, I figured that I may as well bowl through the pain, too. Silly, I know. For fun, I bowled a few frames with my left hand (and to share the extra pain with both arms). I expected to do quite poorly with my left hand, but I wasn't too shabby and even got a strike! How cool was that?!

We went out and purchased our Christmas tree yesterday after church from the same local farmer that we always buy from. It's the perfect tree for our space. Casey and Abby had their hearts set on the same type of tree but smaller, too small really for the space we have. Heartless mother that I am, I vetoed their choice and chose the same kind of tree only taller. I love it! Maybe I'll post some pictures later.

I think that I am pretty much finished shopping and almost everything has been wrapped. There's a few little things to be picked up, but the bulk has been done. Yeah!

My wrists still hurt. They hurt most of the time, but the pain is definitely worse when I am at work or doing a task that requires a lot of hand effort. I am still wearing my wrist supports at night. It sucks. I try not to use that expression very often, but it sums up my sentiments quite nicely. There is something very frustrating about invisible pain. I know the pain that I am in, but most people won't know that I am in pain unless I draw attention to myself. I tend to go through life trying to avoid having a spotlight on me, so I typically do my best to keep my whimpering to a minimum and to smile through the pain. Literally and figuratively. In a way, I think it would be better if I had a broken limb or a surgical scar that could be noticed by others. Instead, while at work, I might say that my arms hurts or that slicing bagels for 15 minutes is too hard on my wrists, but I always wonder whether I am being taken seriously. Do they really understand just how much pain and discomfort I am in, or do they think that I am exaggerating? Can I still function? Yes. Could I still slice a bagel? Yes. It just hurts to do so. Thankfully, most of my shifts are only 4-5 hours. Four hours is long enough to have my wrists screaming at me, but it is still short enough to give me a reprieve just when I think I can't take anymore. It is my Saturday shifts that are 8 hours of torture.

Christmas Treats

My brother-in-law dropped by yesterday to give me money to do his Christmas shopping for my kids. He also gave me this:

Isn't it cool! He found it somewhere and knew that I collected Coke stuff, so he gave it to me...just because. I love it. Sam hates it.

These are the candy cane cookies (and a few wreaths) that I made on Tuesday. I hadn't planned on making wreaths, but I hadn't planned on making a food colouring mistake either. I divided my dough into two bowls: one to leave as it was, the other to colour red. However, without thinking about it, I grabbed the green food colouring and added it to the dough. I realized my mistake as the green liquid was splashing all over the dough. So, I made wreaths, but the uncoloured dough was not cooperating with my attempts to roll it. It kept crumbling and flaking. I tried giving it some extra kneading without success. Since I was having no problems with the green dough, I decided to colour the other bowl of dough to see if that solved my problem. I went with red, made candy canes and had no more problems!

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Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things about Christmas Tree Ornaments 1…. I no longer use all the ones that I have; I want new ones. My tastes have changed over the years, and many of my ornaments are broken. 2. We always put an angel on the top of our tree. My mom made it out of lace and ribbon. 3. I believe that my mom still has some of the Christmas ornaments that I made as a child. I remember one year in school, we used dough to shape ornaments, baked them and painted them. I made a baby Jesus and a Care Bear. 4. Some of my favourite ornaments are the simplest. Small lace doilies hanging as snowflakes. Homemade "gingerbread" stars. Mittens made with felt, hot glue and buttons. 5. We have two McDonald's Christmas ornaments from the two years that Kane managed the Westbank McDonald's. They are cute but too heavy to hang on most of the trees we choose. 6. I always put white mini lights on our tree. Kane would like coloured ones, but I think the white ones look so much prettier. 7. I was sorely tempted to buy myself a Coca-Cola ornament last night. It looked like a Coke bottle about 4-5" tall. There was also an ornament that looked like a can of diet Coke. I resisted temptation though. 8. I do already have a Coca-Cola ornament, but it is one of the broken ones. It has two little elves holding onto an old-fashioned soda fountain-style Coke glass. The elves have broken off, or at least parts of the elves. 9. I did buy three ornaments last night, one for each of the kids. 10. For Sam, I bought a little pair of hockey skates! They are really heavy though, so they will need a strong branch to support them. 11. For Casey, I bought a baseball catcher figure. Obviously, Sam loves hockey and Casey loves baseball. Sam also loves baseball, but hockey is his thing. 12. For Abby...this was a tougher one. I ended up buying a snowman made out of baseballs. It is cute and I think she'll love it. She also plays baseball and yet this ornament is still fun enough for a girl. 13. No tinsel. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Literate Good Citizen
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

Rearranging

Yesterday's photos were from a Christmas cookie baking day with my girlfriends on Sunday. The cookies shown were the latte cookies that I made. Today, I made some candy cane cookies to add to the cookie collection I have acquired for the holidays. There is a big part of me that really wants to make my rolled ginger cookies (similar to gingerbread but milder). I make those cookies every year and let the kids help decorate them after; however, I am struggling to find enough motivation to actually do it. As of last night, I was prepared to make the dough this morning, even took the butter out to soften. This morning, I put the ginger cookies off in order to do the candy cane cookies first, and now my wrists are too sore and I am no longer motivated. There's still time to do it another day. Abby will be disappointed until she sees the candy cane cookies.

We have decided to get a Christmas tree this coming weekend, which means that I took some time this morning to move some furniture around in the living room. Now my back is a little sore, too, and I feel old. But, I think there is enough room for a tree once the hope chest is moved...that can wait until closer to the weekend.

Sam's team tied their hockey game this past Sunday night. So, in regular league play, we are still undefeated! However, there was some bad news after the game. We have a new player on the team (not the bad news); a player from one of the weakest teams in the division. In return, our hockey association has declared that a certain player from our team must play for that other team. Needless to say, there isn't anyone on our team happy with that decision. There is so much going in that situation that I can't do it justice on a blog, but it is insane. The league had informed parents that trades could be made up until the end of October in order to balance teams. Fine. It is now December! The weak team's coach left halfway through the meeting where the teams were picked and let a different coach pick the rest of his players. Stupid move. Of course, the coach who picked weaker players for this absentee coach has a team that has only lost one game (to us), so why are they determined to trade one of our players instead of from this other strong team?! Our team's parents brainstormed several weeks ago when talk first started about a trade, and we came up with quite a few proactive and logical alternatives to what is now expected to happen. The boy from our team who is to be traded does not want to go play on this team and would rather quit than be forced to play on a team with a boy who makes his life miserable. Our great and powerful hockey executive have decreed that if our player does not "report" to this other team then he will not be allowed to play hockey at all. And just how does that attitude benefit minor hockey or the kids who want to have fun and play hockey? This is house league, not rep and certainly not the pros. The root of this problem is in the way evaluations and the team drafts are done, and that is where the fixes need to be. You can't break up a team at this point in the season, especially in the way it is being done. There are very few coaches or parents from any of the other teams who are on board with the executive on this decision. Unfortunately, our hockey executive seems to be on a power trip.

I also must say that we are very blessed with an incredible set of parents on Sam's team this year. We have had good and bad coaches and parents over the years, but this set is most likely the best yet. We even have good kids on the team! It is refreshing and wonderful.

Cookie Day

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Winter is Here

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Thirteen Things about My Favourite Foods 1. Scalloped potatoes-I love them home-made or from a box. I don't care; they are just that good. Comfort food at its' best. 2. Cabbage rolls the way my mom always makes them. Ground beef and rice wrapped in cabbage and topped with lots of tomato soup and diced tomatoes. More yummy comfort food. 3. Pumpkin pie the way that I make it. Every Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas I ask myself why don't I make it more often. I don't know, but I don't. I should. It is the best pumpkin pie that I've ever had. 4. Mandarin oranges. Mmmm. I can't eat enough of them. Every Christmas as children, we would find a mandarin orange in the toe of our stocking. Back in those days (can't believe I'm saying that!), mandarin oranges were only available for a very short time around Christmas, unlike now when you can find them virtually year-round. I tried keeping the stocking tradition going with my kids, but they would never eat the oranges. Of course, since we begin buying mandarin oranges in October, there is nothing special about them. 5. Perogies, Mennonite farmer's sausage and sour cream gravy! For me, the perogies have to be cottage cheese, but my kids would insist on boring old potato and cheddar and they'd skip the gravy. My estranged grandmother made perogies. I think I can still taste them even though it has been many, many years since I last had one of her perogies. If there ever was a recipe that I wish I could perfect, it would be for cottage cheese perogies. The filling is a piece of cake, but the dough is not so easy. I'm no good at making pie pastry either...guess I'm just not a dough girl. 6. Turkey dinner with all the fixings. I love everything about turkey dinners from the preparation to the eating. The very first turkey dinner I cooked was for Easter in 1994 for my parents and in-laws. We lived in a spacious basement suite with a gas stove; the first and only time I've used a gas stove outside of a restaurant-style oven. I remember being nervous and uncertain, but in the end everything went well. 7. Cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting. I'm drooling just thinking about it. 8. Homemade bread not from a breakmaker. Yes, I have a breadmaker that sits on my counter collecting dust. I used to use it regularly but stopped when my family began consuming more bread than I could make in a day. I hang onto my breadmaker because I use it for making dough for my cinnamon buns. It saves time and energy...what can I say? I'd love to be able to make homemade bread from scratch complete with kneading, but I just don't have the time. 9. Saskatoon berry pie. Okay, I grew up in Saskatchewan where Saskatoons grow in abundance. My dad played a lot of sports when I was younger, so we spent a lot of time in different towns for games or tournaments for hockey, fastball or football. In the summer, my mom, my sisters and I would often bring along an empty ice cream pail and collect Saskatoons from the bushes close to the ballparks. I know that there are Saskatoons to be found locally here in BC, but I don't know where. 10. Chocolate chip cookies. My recipe fixed up the way I feel like. Sometimes I add different kinds of chips to make things interesting: butterscotch, white, or just extra chocolate chips. My cookies are soft and addicting. 11. Peppernuts. This is another childhood Christmas memory. When we lived in Saskatchewan, my now estranged grandparents lived here in BC. They would send parcels out with Christmas presents and peppernuts. I have tried making my own over the years, but I've not yet found a recipe that I am completely happy with. Either my tastebuds have forgotten or the right recipe hasn't been found yet. 12. Cream of tomato soup. 13. Banana bread. This is one recipe that I love. One look at my cookbook will show you that this page is well used. I think it is the only recipe that I use in that particular cookbook! The only problem is that the banana bread just doesn't last long enough. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

1 Hour Shopping

This morning I met a friend at the mall Starbuck's for coffee. Our short little visit turned into an hour and a half, but it was good. After, I toured the mall with no real purpose other than a desire to check out a special sale at LaSenza Girl. Abby also needed snowpants, but I didn't think that I would find any at a reasonable price in the mall. Within an hour, I was headed for home with my arms full of shopping bags.

I bought myself a new purse and wallet. My current wallet is 14 years old and showing its' age. My purse was cheap but perfect, but the zipper has begun to split far too often. I do have a cute purse that I use on occasion, but it isn't suitable for use day in and out. I've been looking at purses and wallets for a very long time, but I've never found any that fit my needs, my budget, and my style. I am happy with what I found today.

I did find Abby some snowpants at the mall in Please Mum. They were regular price $39.99, on sale for $19.99, but when I got to the check out it scanned at $9.99. The scan was wrong but they gave it to me at that price. Awesome!

I also bought two Christmas gifts at LaSenza Girl. One for Abby and one for a niece. I bought Abby a nice, soft robe. For my niece, I bought this stuffed dog with a carrying purse, collar and outfit.

And, I picked up some scrapbooking stuff at the dollar store. I don't know when I'll get to use any of it, but I love to collect the stuff.

Back at Home

We made it home safely from Nakusp despite less than ideal driving conditions and weather. The tournament went well; we finished third. The family website has more details... http://threeboystwogirlsacatandahamster.blogspot.com/


Casey brought home a note today because a student in his class has lice. Thankfully, Casey doesn't have lice. We do not want to go through that again!

Who ordered this cold weather and the snow? I know it wasn't me. There is just something inherently wrong with waking up to see the temperature at -25 Celsius. It reminds me of the prairies. Brrr! Days like this are when I miss homeschooling the most. These are the kind of days where I just want to sleep in and stay in the house snug as a bug in a rug. But I can't anymore. The kids need to go to school, and what kind of mother would make her child walk 40 minutes in -25C weather? So, I have to go out to drive Sam to school and I have to go to work. Tomorrow I don't work, but I still need to take Sam to school and be out and about in the morning. Maybe I will make some beef stew for supper tomorrow...something warm and hearty.



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Trip Prep Update

-clean out van did yesterday and discovered enough clothes to fill a full load in the washing machine, including 4 hoodies, one baseball sock, one of Abby's socks and a pair of pants. I think the only thing missing was a pair of underwear.

-pack suitcase I packed most of it yesterday; finished it this morning.

-pack hockey bag which includes ensuring adequate supply of tape I have the tape but still need to do a look through the bag.

-sharpen hockey skates done today

-get groceries did yesterday

-bring cooler in from the shed, clean and load with groceries brought the cooler in this morning and washed it out. Still need to load it.

-fill gas with van and check fluids Put gas in this morning. Found washer fluid in the shed but haven't put it in the van yet.

-load up van not yet

-deliver Friday's newspapers (our last time doing them!!) still need to do them and not looking forward to it

-see my doctor tomorrow sometime about my wrist just got home from this errand and the ensuing blood work needed

-buy a small rubber ball for exercising my wrists according to my chiropractor's instruction I didn't get to this one yet and won't have time for it.

-ensure the house is reasonably tidy and clean I did dishes this morning and some tidying, but it is as good as it will get.

-finish the laundry did yesterday

-pick up Sam's teammate who is coming to the tournament with us He's been sick for over a week and won't be coming now. In a way, I am glad to have one less thing to do and one less person to take care of.

-take Abby to her church music club this afternoon and pick her up after done yesterday...they wouldn't have been happy with me if I had left her there overnight.

-pick up a new fuse or whatever it is for my turn signal lights which seem to be on death's door and replace it I wanted to do this today, but time is running away from me and it has to be put aside until next week.

-be at home around 9:30 as someone is coming for a pair of skates I'm getting rid of (why did I say that Friday would be a good day?!) Okay, this is one reason that I'm feeling crunched for time today. She didn't call or show up at 9:30 as she had said. Grrr! I stayed until 10am until I decided that if I didn't leave I wouldn't get anything done.

-pay bills did yesterday

It has felt like an unproductive day although things have been accomplished. While I waited for the lady to show up at my door, I finished packing the suitcase (still need to pack a bag of things for the kids, snacks, camera, etc.) and tidied the house. But, I knew that the doctor would take a lot of time...an hours worth plus then I needed to go get blood drawn at a lab. Thankfully, I was in and out of the lab within minutes. I also had to pick up a wrist support for my left hand. Won't I look attractive at night now with two braces on my arms! I also had to wait 25 minutes for Sam's skates to be sharpened. Now, I need to start delivering the newspapers which is the other big time eater.

Photogenic

Here's a photo of Casey taken with our new digital camera. He's such a ham!


















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Going on a Trip

I am home today, trying to rest my hands and wrists and trying to get stuff done around the house in preparation for our trip this weekend. Unfortunately, I can't be equally successful at both tasks. Either I completely rest my poor wrists by doing nothing, or I get as much done as I can and accept the pain.

We are leaving after school tomorrow which is a bit later than we had hoped to leave, but Kane is unable to get out of school early without a penalty. I heard a weather forecast for the weekend and it doesn't sound anything like what I had hoped it would be, but we had new winter tires put on my van yesterday.

To do between now and the time we leave tomorrow:

-clean out van
-pack suitcase
-pack hockey bag which includes ensuring adequate supply of tape
-sharpen hockey skates
-get groceries
-bring cooler in from the shed, clean and load with groceries
-fill gas with van and check fluids
-load up van
-deliver Friday's newspapers (our last time doing them!!)
-see my doctor tomorrow sometime about my wrist
-buy a small rubber ball for exercising my wrists according to my chiropractor's instruction
-ensure the house is reasonably tidy and clean
-finish the laundry
-pick up Sam's teammate who is coming to the tournament with us
-take Abby to her church music club this afternoon and pick her up after
-pick up a new fuse or whatever it is for my turn signal lights which seem to be on death's door and replace it
-be at home around 9:30 as someone is coming for a pair of skates I'm getting rid of (why did I say that Friday would be a good day?!)
-pay bills

Say Cheese

We bought our very first digital camera last night. Yes, until now we have not had a digital camera; we are slow to embrace the technological world at times. So far, I am pleased with this new camera even though it really isn't the type of camera that I wanted. I will survive and my wallet will thank me.

What I wanted was a Nikon SLR, a camera with removable lenses and which can be used just like the "old fashioned" cameras of 20-30 years ago. However, at a price of $600 for just the camera body and several more hundreds of dollars for the lenses, memory cards, carrying bag, and such, my husband was more than a little uncomfortable. It didn't help when the saleslady mentioned that digital cameras have a limited capacity for taking pictures. They may be able to take 30 000 shots, but that is still a limitation that we weren't aware of. Suddenly spending a $1000 for a camera that might not last 20 years becomes unpalatable. Then, the saleslady mentioned that a single drop will ruin the camera and render it unrepairable. Obviously, she wasn't being paid on commission or she wouldn't have mentioned these details and lost the big sale to us. Instead, we settled on an Olympus Stylus 720 SW. I know...a name and model number don't really say much.

It is smaller than the SLR digital cameras, but it is waterproof to 10 feet and shockproof from 5 feet. In other words, it can be dropped and survive! The salespeople took great pleasure in dropping the camera for every customer interested in it. Me, I'm glad that it is tough enough to handle it, but I can't imagine intentionally dropping the camera. It has a lot of features, most are probably fairly standard to digital cameras. Kane wanted to be able to take video clips. Now he can; the SLR couldn't do that. I wanted a good zoom. I'm not getting it. The camera does have a zoom, but it isn't anywhere close to what I wanted. However, it was considerable cheaper. For less than the price of the SLR body that I wanted, we were able to buy this camera, a 1G memory card, and a carrying case. We also received a gift card for 12 free prints.

And now I have a digital camera for taking as many pictures as I want to take without the hassles of a standard camera. Buying film has never been an issue, but I am not always prompt in getting the film developed, although I did get caught up on that over the summer. I think I only have 2 current rolls to take in now. The biggest plus for me...being able to delete a bad photo and see what the photo will look like before hand. Sam has hockey practice tonight, so I will take the camera along to see how it performs at an arena.

A Little Bit of Everything

I quite like Stash's Earl Grey tea, but I decided to try a box of their decaf Earl Grey earlier this week. It wasn't until I brought it home that I realized a box of decaf has only 18 tea bags while a regular box has 20, and for the same price! What a rip-off.

Abby bought herself a Webkins last week. A Webkin is a stuffed animal that comes with a secret code which allows you to take care of your new pet online in a virtual world. The trouble is that Abby decided to try and register her secret code without waiting for me to help her, so she ran into trouble and now we are stuck. The website doesn't recognize her username or password, but when we try new names with the secret code we're told that code has already been used. To say that I was frustrated with my daughter would be very close to the truth. I told her to wait for me but no. What is even more frustrating is trying to get some help from Webkins customer service. I tried to call that same day and waited on hold for a very long time. I waited and waited and waited and then there was a ring...and then a mechanical voice asking me to leave a message! In a not so happy voice, I simply said that I was disgusted to be asked to leave a message after being on hold as long as I was. I just tried calling again this morning. Same deal. After listening to the automated menu options and pushing all the right buttons, I am asked to wait for an actual human to talk to. I waited five full minutes and then, once again, I am prompted to leave a message. I'm afraid my message today was only slightly better than my previous one. This time I did leave my name, number and a brief description of the problem, but I also mentioned my displeasure at waiting so long just to leave a message. I'm not impressed.

Maggie caught a mouse today. I am happy that she has finally shown us that she is in fact capable of catching one, but I am once again frustrated and disappointed to know that there are mice in the house. I really have to wonder why God didn't program some basic courtesy into some of His creatures. If the food chain needs mice then why not give the mice a natural instinct to avoid manmade buildings? It would make me happy.

Both my wrists have been quite sore the past few days. Of course, my chiropractor sees that as a reason to have me come in twice a week once again rather than continuing with once a week. I am such a skeptic sometimes. Has the chiropractic treatments helped? Maybe, but there really isn't a way for me to say with complete confidence that it has. It could be the wrist support that I wear every night and when I am at work. It could be the chiropractic. It could be both. It could be neither.

Sam's team won their hockey game yesterday. Apparently this game was not as strenuous for us as our previous encounter with them. So, our team's record is 7 wins, 0 losses and 1 tie against our divisional teams. We are 1 win and 1 loss against the Bantam AAA girls team. This coming weekend, we are heading out of town for our first tournament. The only other local team will be the one that we played yesterday. While I frequently remind Sam not to get caught up with pride and ego over his team's record so far, I have to admit that there is a pleasant feeling in the knowledge that our team has a fair shot at doing well at the tournament. In all our previous years of hockey, we've never had that level of confidence or hope for our team in any tournament. It doesn't matter to me if we come home having won the tournament or not, but I think that we will do well regardless of the final outcome and that's exciting.

Mental Lapses

Mornings have become a little crazy this week, or so it seems. Yesterday, Kane had his comedy of errors and this morning I had mine.

We have been waiting for a month for the paving guys to come and do our driveway. It is difficult to describe the way our driveway has been other than to say that it sloped downward into our carport. As part of our renovation, Kane wanted to get our driveway raised so that it is level. The company has continuously pushed us back for jobs that are more of a priority to them, but they came this morning. The job isn't finished yet; hopefully they'll do that tomorrow, but their early morning arrival meant that I needed to move my van while still in my pjs. Of course, the kids were more interested in watching the action than getting ready for school. As I was getting dressed for work, I noticed through a gap in my bedroom curtains that the shed door was wide open. Hurriedly, I finished dressing so that I could go close the door before I forgot. Instead, I forgot to put my belt on which is a required part of my uniform. Oops.

I closed the shed door and grabbed my purse to head to work early in order to watch some training videos needed for my advancement. As I walked out the door I knew that I was missing something but I couldn't put a finger on it. It turned out that I forgot two things: my belt and my wrist support. Thankfully, I only had a four hour shift, but I can feel the discomfort in my wrist. It isn't too terribly bad, but I need to remember to not forget it tomorrow! Actually, I could do without forgetting anything. I guess that is what happens when your mind is cluttered with all sorts of heavy things.

Just Today

It has been an interesting day with some a mild high point, a low point, and some comedic relief.

Kane started school today. He took the wrong backpack and forgot his lunch. Abby noticed his backpack sitting at the top of the stairs and told me. I called him to ask if he was not in need of his books for class. He hadn't left too long before, so he came back to exchange Casey's backpack for his own. No wonder Casey couldn't find his backpack as he was getting ready for school, and here I thought that he was just not looking hard enough. Maybe ten minutes later Kane called. His van had stopped working not quite half way to the college from our house. His class was to start in ten minutes! Ha ha.

I wasn't dressed yet and was in the process of washing my face when he called; I hadn't expected to be leaving the house for at least an hour. Instead, I had to quickly dress and head out to pick Kane up and drop him off at his class. He was only late by about fifteen minutes. There was someone an hour late!

The picture frame that I wanted at Rona came in, so I was able to pick it up. I love it and need to decide on 24 photos to fill it. Decisions, decisions.

Belly Laughs and Books

Today has been a relatively good day; there haven't been too many of those of late. We had fun at work today which is why the day was good. There might have been something in the air, because we haven't laughed that hard and that much while working for a while. It was good. I needed a few hours of belly laughs and silliness. It made me feel alive again.

In my little bits of spare time, I have been reading again. I picked up four books from the library last week:

The Begotten by Lisa T. Bergren
-an interesting book but not quite what I had expected. I haven't finished it yet and whether I will or not will remain to be seen. It's a good enough book but when you expect one thing and get another it can be difficult to really get into, you know?

The Guy Not Taken by Jennifer Weiner
-I love her books. This one is a collection of short stories and while I'm only just finished the first story, I am loving the book. Totally chick lit but totally good!

Mere by Esta Spalding and Linda Spalding
-an interesting book; Canadian authors

When Alice Lay Down with Peter by Margaret Sweatma
-okay, so the title is a little ...., but it was a good book and not as provocative as the title may allude to. Actually, I really liked this book; another Canadian author.

Over the past year or so, I have made an effort to read more Canadian authors. It's kind of funny or not, the way Canadian libraries have little red maple leaves stuck on the spines of books written by Canadians. Somehow I doubt that American libraries find it necessary to specially denote American authors but that might just be because there are so many of them. I suppose that in the grand scheme of books and authors, Canadians could get lost on the bookshelves were it not for those little red leaves.

Anyway, red leaves or no red leaves, I love to read and I read whatever interests me. Sometimes it is the title that grabs me, but I always look inside the jacket for the synopsis. If it doesn't grab me then the book goes back on the shelf. Titles can be deceptive. (how deep!)

Tomorrow is the start of our library's annual book sale, and I have the day off work! Guess where I will be going?

New Blog

We have a new blog, one for our family. This has always been "my" blog although I can't keep the family out of it entirely. The family blog can be found at http://threeboystwogirlsacatandahamster.blogspot.com/

Mother of the Year

After walking out of my son's bedroom and closing the door behind me, I went into my own bedroom, closed the door, laid on my bed and bawled.

He's still only 10 for another month and a bit, but I'm already feeling shell-shocked and battle-worn. What do you say to your child when he says that you hate him and he hates you? How do you respond when he says that you are the reason that he's mean, that you've taught him this way? What is the best way to respond when he says that killing himself would be better than living without getting his own way?

If somebody knows the answer please let me know. I don't have a clue. My reactions are mixed and seesaw between extremes. I want to yell. I want to cry. My heart is shattered into a million pieces on the floor. I think I'm seeing red for all the anger raging inside me. I want to draw him close and push him away. Can I threaten him with filicide every time he mentions suicide? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment?

Lesson Learned

I'm sorry I said anything. Next time I will just keep my mouth shut, smile and pretend that everything is okay even if I am crying on the inside.

Footprints of a Day

Just a moment to talk about my day off...

I've been busy and will be busier still.

Here's what I've done so far:

-kids off to school
-bath
-first load of laundry in the wash
-went to Canadian Tire to pick up new wiper blades for my van, a quart of motor oil (which I put in my van), and a shopping cart for the kids to use for their paper route
-next to Canadian Superstore for some groceries and a birthday present that Abby will need tomorrow
-then I dropped off two packages at the UPS Store (two mp3 players that haven't ever really worked properly, so I'm returning them for credit)
-Rona was the next stop. Their weekly flyer shows a cool, large frame that holds, I think, 24 photos. I want it, but they haven't received them yet.
-so on to the library to pick out some new books and a couple of holds. I also found several sport related books in the 'for sale' rack for the boys, and I paid my fine.
-last stop, Tim Horton's to pick up my pay check.

Now I am back home. From the time I left the house to the time I pulled back into the driveway, I was only gone for 2.5 hours. Not too bad!

I just finished lunch. Another load of laundry has been started. Today I am working on Casey's bedding and blankets. He's almost the last one to get *all* his bedding washed. The only blankets left are the two quilts on my bed...too large for my machine.

There's no rest for the weary though. Here's what I hope to accomplish in what is left of the day:

-change the windshield wipers
-finish laundry and make Casey's bed
-make lasagna for supper with Caesar salad and homemade garlic bread
-tidy the kitchen
-put away the groceries
-assemble the shopping cart for the kids
-pick Sam up from school
-clean out the fridge; I think something is growing in there.
-get Casey to sweep the floors
-watch the Music Man with the family; Friday nights are 'family nights'
-journal
-maybe start reading one of the books I picked up today
-and breathe
-I need to sew Sam's namebar onto his hockey jersey but it might not get done until tomorrow or Sunday. I do need to get it done before Sunday's game though.

A for Effort

I need to heap a little praise on my son, Sam. Kane and I attended parent-teacher conferences last week at his school. We weren't able to book any specific times with the teachers, so we went to the open house format in the evening. It was our first time at one of those and it was a little overwhelming. The teachers were situated around the gym and the cafeteria with a little table or desk and a couple of chairs. Some teachers had long lines of parents waiting to spend 5 minutes discussing their child while other teachers had virtually no lines at all. We spoke to most of Sam's teachers but not all. His band teacher wasn't attending this session and his math teacher had the longest line of all, so we never did see her.

Kane and I came with different concerns. I wanted to hear how Sam was doing academically. Was he keeping up? Doing homework? Asking for help? and so on. Kane was more concerned with how Sam was doing socially in each class, although he also had academic concerns. Sam is much the way I see him. He is quiet and prefers not to draw attention to himself. Gee, sounds much like his mother! But, he gets along with everyone in his classes. No real problems there. Academically, we were both pleasantly surprised by what we heard. He's not an A student and even B's are hard to come by for Sam, but he is doing well. He is supposed to be on an adapted IEP, but none of his teachers are currently adapting anything for him. They will if he needs it, but he hasn't required it as of yet. He's just doing well.

Then, in the mail yesterday, I received a copy of the list of adaptations he has available to him as well as his scores on two standardized tests done in September. Of course, now that I am looking for it I can't find it, but his scores all increased from last September. In math computations, there was a huge increase. It makes my heart burst to see Sam working hard and reaping the rewards of that effort.

Give Me Just a Moment Please

Life just never slows down, or so it seems. Today is a typical day of work, youth group, Casey's church group, and newspapers but with one addition. Abby's class is having a stargazing event tonight at the school. Tomorrow is when I think I will be operating on auto-pilot.

I work from 8:30am to 2pm. At 2:10, I have a chiropractic appointment; thankfully, it is very close to where I work. After that, I will come home, change and pick up Casey and Abby before heading out to pick up Sam from school. All three kids have eye doctor appointments beginning at 3:30pm downtown. Sam has a hockey game at 4:45pm all the way across town. He might be a little bit late depending on how quickly how the eye exams go. By the time we get back home, it will probably be at least 6:30 and I will be heading out again by 7:15 or so. Thankfully, I have Friday off and can recover then. Supposedly.

Typically, my days off are spent running around doing errands or catching up on the most necessary of tasks like laundry and dishes. It sure would be nice to have a day off where I could do what I'd like to do not what I have to do. My plans wouldn't be extravagant; I'd probably just spend the day scrapbooking or reading or doing very little of anything. Just sitting still would be lovely. It just doesn't happen.

Next week's work schedule is a bear. I get Thursday and Sunday off. So, Thursday will see me doing laundry, going to the library book sale, probably grocery shopping, doing dishes, and any other errands that will pop up between now and then.

Earl Grey. Hot.

Something is happening and I kind of like it.

I have never liked coffee. Coffee Crisp chocolate bars were the closest I ever came to enjoying the flavour of coffee, but I discovered this summer that I enjoyed an occasion Iced Cappucino from Tim Horton's. Still, I don't like coffee.

I have also never truly enjoyed tea though I have tolerated it on many occasions over the years, usually while holding back a grimace and adding lots of sugar. Since I started working at Tim Horton's last year, I have been subjected to plenty of tea smells as I pour hot water over tea bags on a daily basis. The smells have been enticing and delicious to my nose even though the thought of drinking tea was not appealing.

Chai tea has been the one tea that I have come to tolerate when I want something hot and don't feel like hot chocolate. At work, we just recently added chai tea to our selection so I ordered one on our way to Sam's hockey game a few days ago. I loved it. While celebrating a friend's birthday the other night, I had a cup of chamomile tea and really enjoyed it. Yesterday, I had, not one, but two cups of Earl Grey tea, because it tasted so good. This morning, I just finished a cup of Earl Grey and my tastebuds want more.

What is happening to me? And why?

I do not have a clue, but it is a better alternative than the diet coke I am addicted to. This might be the time when I actually can break that habit. I did enter and exit a grocery store yesterday without even considering buy some diet coke. Impressive.

Three Days

Isn't it lovely? I had yesterday as well as today and tomorrow off work. While I didn't request three continuous days off, I am more than glad to have them. With all the people quitting work recently, I'm thinking that my schedule will only become fuller as the weeks go by. Still, the timing for this stretch is perfect; just when I needed more of a break than one day can provide. I did ask for tomorrow off as my dad is going in for his knee surgery and needs someone to drive him to and from. Abby was chosen as one of four students in her class to bring snacks for their class party tomorrow, so I actually have time to bake!

I do have a few errands to do around town, but they will wait until tomorrow after I drop dad off for surgery. Today, I need to bake, go to the chiropractor, catch up on laundry, clean the bathroom, carve a pumpkin, and get as much "work" done as possible. I'd really like to be able to relax and enjoy as much of my day off tomorrow as I can. It is frustrating to have a day off work eaten up with housework, appointments, and running around town. I want time to just sit and scrapbook or read or do a puzzle or something, but I doubt that this is what will happen tomorrow. I already know that I will need to go to the library and to Wal-mart and quite likely the chiropractor again. Then, there's hockey practice and picking up my dad and picking up my mom from work and being ready for trick-or-treaters.

Okay, I've had enough typing. My wrist had been doing so well...a week or so without pain until I went to work on Saturday. I thought I'd try working without wearing the support. Yeah, I lasted maybe 2 hours before the pain started up again and it hasn't exactly gone away again yet. Guess I'll keep wearing that brace at work for a while yet...

Sound of Silence

Last night, for 15-20 minutes, I sat in my van outside my friend's house. It was dark and still and the cold stole the warmth from inside my van and I sat and I talked to myself. Out loud.

Call me crazy. I don't care.

Loose Ends

I had a long post typed up the other day, went to publish, and it disappeared. How frustrating!

Sam is back home from his weekend at junior high youth conference in Chilliwack. He had a great time.

Casey had an extreme meltdown Friday afternoon after I picked him up from his sleepover. That was the Reader's Digest Condensed version. How do you deal with a 10 year old who says that killing himself would be a better alternative than living and not being able to do what he wants to do? All over a costume for Halloween...

And the kicker...last night, he was going on and on about what he's going to dress up as and it is much more benign than what he was fighting for! Aaargh!

I lost the big diamond in my engagement ring sometime on Saturday. I worked until 3pm. Kane picked me up, we came home, I changed, and we were out the door by 3:40. It wasn't until then that I noticed the gaping hole in my ring. I'd like to think that I would have noticed it missing had it been gone much earlier in the day, but I don't really know. This is the second time that I have lost a diamond from that ring. Obviously not the exact same diamond but it was the same diamond. Does that make sense? :o) So, I'm not wearing my rings as they are soldered together and I don't need four tiny prongs to scratch and catch on everything. Even today, my finger still bears the indent from my rings, and it feels as if I am wearing them.

I coloured my hair Friday night. It is now darker than it has ever been with a few highlights thrown in. The colour is called Truffle. I think I like it. Kane thinks it looks lighter, but there's no way.

We watched Napoleon Dynamite last night because Casey has been begging and begging to see it. He claims to have loved it, but the rest of us sat through it like prisoners subjected to torture. I did not find it funny. Sure, there was a plot, but it was rather thin and weak, in my opinion. I'm no movie critic; I enjoy a lot of bad movies, but this was boring. Honestly, I can't understand the hype.

My wrist has been feeling much better the past week. There has been the odd painful episodes, but they've been few and far between. Whether this is due to my chiropractic visit last week, the wrist support I've been wearing at night, or simply the natural cycle of things I do not know. The day before I went to the chiropractor my wrist felt good, and he didn't do any actual adjustments. Whatever the reason, I'm glad. Still, it's back to the chiropractor today and continue in wearing the support.

My house is a mess. I've not done very much in the way of housework during the past few weeks of pain. The kids have done some general tidying and vacuuming, but that requires my nagging. The mess is driving me crazy though, and I have this strong need to purge clutter and junk. I started on the boys' room yesterday. So much junk. Why do they keep it? We aren't big consumers so where does it all keep coming from?

Time to get ready for work.

Life's Little Adventures

I had yesterday off work, but I was a prisoner in my own home until 2:10pm. I had things that I could have done out and about except that I was waiting for a phone call from one of Sam's teachers. She had called me at work on Monday to talk, not realizing that I don't have a job that allows me time to chat on the phone, so she said she would call me yesterday. I waited and waited, did laundry, waited, watched Star Trek re-runs while doing a puzzle, and waited. Finally, I had to leave for my chiropractic appointment and I didn't stop running around until shortly after 8pm. She never called. That is so frustrating!! I could have gone out and bought a filter for the furnace and turned it on...finally. I was COLD!

The chiropractic appointment went well. It was an initial session, so no adjustments just a couple of scans and such. Some things look reasonably good, but there are some indicators that my carpal tunnel might not be carpal tunnel. It could be related to the spine. Hopefully. So, I guess I get to make regular appointments now to get everything properly aligned. Oh joy. Funny how now my neck is sore...

Yesterday morning was kind of weird. Because I didn't have to work, I was in no hurry to change from my warm jammies into real clothes, so I sent the kids off to school at 8am with the intention of taking the morning slowly. I then realized that it was Tuesday, garbage day, and I didn't think that Kane had taken the garbage out before he went to work. Rats. Quickly throwing on some clothes, I took out the garbage, although I did entertain the thought of doing so in my pjs. Perhaps if we didn't live on a major road...

After taking out the trash, I decided to start on the laundry. Gathered it all up, took it downstairs, sorted and started the first load. Then, I came upstairs and started tidying the living room. What did I see lying on the carpet? Abby's math textbook and notebook!! I checked her class calender. Yup, she had math that day. I looked at the clock. It was 8:20. The bell would ring at 8:25. I had a dilemna: take the books to her or let her live with the consequences. I hemmed and hawed before decided to take the books to her. After all, there are plenty of times when I am not available to help in class or drop off forgotten items. I didn't have socks on and didn't have the time to find some and put on running shoes, so I slipped on my sandals and took off. We live close enough to the school that I had time to run in the few minutes left until the bell rang, but I did have to actually run which is difficult to do in sandals. I must have looked a sight to all the rush hour drivers. Once I got to the school, I opted to run across the field rather than take the long way around on the sidewalk. Of course, the grass was wet and cold. My poor toes got wet and cold. Very cold. I huffed and puffed up to Abby as she waited in line outside her classroom then walked home on numb toes. It showed me how out of shape I am; my legs are stiff today.

I could write more about today's adventures, but Sam is looking over my shoulder, reading every word I type out loud, and nagging me to get off the computer so he can play some silly games. Plus, my neck is sore. Yes Sam, I did already say that. I put it in for effect and maybe a touch of humour. You know? Oh and Sam, I love you and am very proud of you for how well you did in your cross-country races this year. You improved on all your times! Way to go!!