The Final Countdown

It is one month until Casey's 14th birthday and very nearly one month until Christmas! I feel so incredibly unprepared.

Ideally, I like to plan ahead, make my lists and work on tucking away gifts in advance, but I have found my response time slowing down over the past few years. Whether or not this is the furthest behind I've ever been, I do not know, but it feels as if I am so far behind that I am almost back at last Christmas!

Of course, perception is typically a lot more frightening than reality, just like objects appear closer in the side mirrors! Sure, I have a lot to do before the big day, but I am further out of the starting gate than I give myself credit for. I do have a couple of gifts tucked away, and I have just about completed my gifts for my friends. Still...

A couple of gifts tucked away is a far cry from what I actually need to get! Christmas cards need to be made and written in and mailed. Decorations need to be dragged out of storage and space found for the tree. Oh, and baking!

I guess I had better get started on my lists!

Dutch Blitz

Since September, Sunday nights have been Family Fun Nights at the Thompson house. I came up the plan as a way to keep our family connected in a fun, easy-going manner. With the kids getting older, and busier, quality family time sometimes feels elusive or, at best, a struggle to fit into the crowded schedule. Sunday nights are the one night of the week that is mostly free, and so we began a new tradition.

I expected some resistance. Abby was keen on the idea as I knew that she would be. The boys grumbled and whined just a little that first Sunday night, but they were soon caught up in the fun of playing a card game together. And the kids have never looked back! In fact, I would go so far as to say that the kids look forward to Family Night, and the prospect of cleaning the kitchen together after supper before playing our games doesn't even phase them overly much. Okay, so they might not be loving the clean up part of the night, but I figure that the family that plays together can also clean together, at least for 10 minutes one night a week!

We have done a variety of things on our Sunday nights. We have played board games and card games. We played games together on the Wii. We went to the EnergyPlex.

Since we began our Family Nights, I have been eager to find a Dutch Blitz card game. I looked at Toys 'R Us and Wal-Mart and a couple other game type stores with no success. Until today! Yeah!

I grew up playing Dutch Blitz and was eager to teach it to my kids, so tonight we played it. It was so much fun. Casey wound up being the ultimate winner at the end of the night, but we all had moments of success and humiliating failure.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Charlie Brown's Christmas

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Frantic Friday

I have been dreading this day all week, simply because it is jam-packed with little room for breathing, and I don't really like days like that too much.

Here is what the day looks like:

6:30am-alarm rings (waaaay too early, but it had to be done)
-wake up Abby and Sam, let Casey sleep for another half hour
7:00am-apply heavy make-up to Abby's face and make sure she has everything she needs for the day
7:05 ish-Kane leaves with Sam and Abby
-first stop Tim Horton's for a coffee, then to drop Sam off at his school for an early band rehearsal, and then to drop Abby off at the community theatre for her school dress rehearsal
7:30is-the phone rings. It is my boss asking if I can come in to work at 8:30 instead of at 10am. I agree. Reluctantly.
7:55am-Casey leaves for school.
8:00am-I leave for work.
2:00pm-I finished work and stopped at IGA for more milk (the third gallon in three days!) Before leaving work, I called Kane to ask him to pick up Sam from school, as Sam had a spare last block.
2:30ish-I arrive at home, change, chug a Diet Coke (need the caffeine), and catch up on email/Facebook/blog. Okay, so I did have a bit of breathing room in the day; it's just not enough!
4:00pm-Sam has his tennis lesson.
5:00pm-Sam is finished tennis and needs to be picked up.
6:00pm-Abby needs to be at the community theatre, in costume and make-up. Doors open for the show.
6:30pm-the first performance of Charlie Brown's Christmas presented by Abby's school with Abby playing the role of Pigpen
7:30pm-second performance with Abby in the choir this time around. Maybe I can be dropped off at home, but someone will need to pick Abby up once the show is over around 8pm.
9:00pm-hopefully I am about to tuck myself into bed, so that I can hopefully get a good night's sleep for my full work day tomorrow

Thankfully, I made a pot of lentil barley soup yesterday, and since Kane didn't get home from work until 11pm last night, there is lots of soup left to reheat for supper tonight. The kids won't eat it, but there are fixings for sandwiches.

Beginning to Look Like Christmas

I am not ready for Christmas. November is winding down, and I have barely even given Christmas shopping a moment of consideration. I am not ready. I am not yet in the mood.

Abby, on the other hand, has been thinking about Christmas since spring. She has been rehearsing for Charlie Brown's Christmas since early September, and she has even completed some of her Christmas gift shopping/making.

In a way, our two worlds will collide tomorrow with the Charlie Brown's Christmas performances. I loved watching this television classic as a child, and I love it still as an adult. It ranks right up there with the classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Abby will be Pigpen in the first performance and part of the choir in the second show. I will sit in the audience, taking photos and enjoying every minute of the show. I'll be reminded once more of the true meaning of Christmas, and the Charlie Brown inside of me will find a bit of joy as we head into the holiday season.

Life as an Amputee

I think about C a lot. It isn't that my thoughts are consumed by C, because they aren't. There is enough water under that bridge now, so that I can sometimes go an entire day without my thoughts drifting in her direction. It is just that I find it impossible to expunge her completely from my heart.

How does one go about that anyway? Is it even possible to erase a former best friend's existence from the very centre of what makes you YOU? When does a decade of memories cease to be remembered?

Throughout my house are little tangible reminders of the one who was once such an important part of my life.

-my very first Willow Tree figure given to me on my 30th birthday
-a little clay bowl handmade given to me one Christmas
-a diffuser with vanilla and gingerbread oils from another Christmas
-a throw blanket from a birthday
-Coca-Cola canisters given just because
-various mugs
-a group photo sitting on the bookshelf
-a memory box full of cards and notes, handwritten words of friendship and love

Even if I could box up all those objects and throw them away, I still would not be free of my memories of C. I am thankful, at least, that time softens the rough, sharp edges of pain. Sadness remains, and always questions and wondering.

Does she ever find her thoughts drifting my way, the way my thoughts drift towards her? Does she still cling to her own tangible mementos of our history, or has she tossed them away like she discarded me? Does she ever question her decisions, her actions?

Of course, I do not know the answers to those questions. I may never know, and I think I am okay with that. The past cannot be changed, and, although I may sometimes doubt myself, I don't think I would make too many changes if I could go back in time. There is a broader purpose here, even if I am at a loss to understand it. Someday I might have an "Aha!" moment, but that is not today. I do not understand how someone could completely turn her back on those who were her closest friends. Hitting a few potholes I can understand. Going through a rough patch I can understand. But this, this is something different. It is an amputation.

Amputees are said to experience phantom pains in their missing limbs. I guess I could say that phantom pains are what I am experiencing. This pain is not real. It hurts but not deeply, not anymore. There is sorrow over what has been lost and cannot be replaced, but there is also adaptation, moving on with life. I have learned to function, to live without C in my life. It doesn't feel quite right, but a casual observer would be hard-pressed to spot the difference. Maybe there is a psychological limp in my step...

Maybe, just maybe, there is a limp in C's step, too.

Sweatshop

What does it mean when I am sweating buckets after a mere half hour of rather light cleaning in Sam's room? I mean really! All I did was put a clean sheet on his bed, picked up a few clothes, threw a few things into the recycling bin or the garbage bin, and did a little shuffling around. I don't think I even broke a sweat cleaning Casey's room, and I put a lot more effort into that room! I've been sitting for ten minutes already, and I still feel overly hot and sweaty, like I just ran a marathon.

I didn't sleep well last night, so I am uber tired. There is the ever-present cough/phlegm/stuffy nose, but I don't "feel" sick. Except that my sweat glands are working overtime with so little to show for it but a sheen on my skin. Weirdness!

Sleepyhead

It figures! I have three consecutive days off and lots to do around the house, and I am so incredibly tired and unmotivated this morning. The phone rang at 5:20 AM, ripping me from a very good sleep.

It was a manager from work wondering where I left the key for the cupboard where the extra cash drawers are kept. Unfortunately for me, I think she forgot that I was not the last person to use the key, because the tills get changed again late at night. Then she asked if I wanted to work today. Uh, let me think about it in my half-asleep state of mind...no!

A return to slumber land did not come easily, and the ring of the alarm came way too soon. I feel like I have been dragging my hacking carcass around all morning, while all I want to do is veg out on the sofa with a comfy throw blanket and season 2 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I could do that, but I have things to do.

Laundry is a work in progress. I've already made a trek to Wal-Mart for milk, a few groceries, and the new Star Trek DVD. The kitchen, dining room and living room have been tidied a bit, but there is still more to be done.

Sam's room needs purging and cleaning, although I probably won't get to it today. Tomorrow. I have the brilliant (or stupid) idea to make scalloped potatoes and ham for supper, which would be super yummy and fine, except for the actual process of 'making' the scalloped potatoes. Oh, am I feeling lazy today!

I could put off some of these things for tomorrow or Thursday. Really, I could and without stressing about it overly much, but the trouble with postponement is that the result is always accumulation. Little bites are easier to swallow than big ones, or so they say, whoever 'they' are. Also, the feelings of laziness and being tired seldom evaporate so quickly. I am much more likely to wake up tomorrow just as tired as I did today, especially since I am still under the weather, so to speak.

So, I will attempt a compromise of sorts. I've got the laundry and I've done some tidying done. I'll even make the big dinner. I might even do more purging somewhere, maybe even start in Sam's room. Then, in the morning, I will finish Sam's room, and the afternoon can be for curling up in front of the TV.

Sounds like a plan!

Cough & Hack

I am tired of this cough, tired of only getting a good night's sleep with the aid of night-time cough & cold medication. The medication knocks me out, makes me loopy, and the morning "hangover" is no fun either. But on the other hand, I hate the feeling of a pound of phlegm stuck in my throat. I hate coughing so hard that my chest hurts, and I am gasping for breath. I don't like taking my own Kleenex box to work with me, but the cheap toilet paper is a little rough for frequent nose-blowing. I am keeping Neo-Citran, Kleenex, Tylenol, Strepsil and Halls in business, too. Most of all I hate being plagued by this cough, when I am otherwise hale and hearty.

Abby and I went to the big, annual craft sale today, and I must say that I came away rather disappointed. We went to the same event last year, and this year's seemed to be lacking in comparison. While I have no idea how many vendors were actually in attendance, I do know that there were a great deal less than the previous year. Even the crowd of people was significantly thinner than last year. After wandering past every table twice, I managed to spend only $7.50. Sure, there were several things that caught my eye, but in the end I would have been buying them for myself, which kind of defeats the purpose of going to a craft sale to do some Christmas shopping.

Party On

It was a pretty good day at work. I've been home for almost an hour. I've showered and prettified myself. I've even taken a few moments to relax, catch up on email and Facebook, and downed a Diet Coke. In a few minutes I am back out the door. To a birthday party for a co-worker. She is 25 today, going on 10. Seriously! But I like her, and so I am going to this party, even though it really isn't what I want to do on a Saturday night. It will be fine though.

Progress

So after posting to my blog yesterday, I decided to clean Casey's bedroom. At a glance his room was not too bad, but I knew that there was a lot of clutter lurking in nooks and crannies. I began in the closet by removing everything from the shelves and wiping out the dust. With my handy-dandy three bag system of garbage, recycling, and thrift store donations, it wasn't long before the closet was a lean, mean, organized machine! I am kind of envious, because there is still quite a bit of usable space in the closet.

I tackled the bed next. There are two drawers under the bed, so I emptied, purged and re-filled those. Plus, I also did some scoping under the bed, while I had one of the drawers pulled out from the bed. I was amazed by what I pulled out from that abyss, especially when I realized that those items could only be under the bed if they were intentionally put there. There is just no way that anything thicker than a marble can innocently lose itself under that bed! I pulled out from under the bed: a 10 lb dumbbell, a lunch bag (complete with empty juice box and two ziploc bags full of mouldy, unidentifiable food), two empty shoe boxes, several unopened juice boxes, a football, a soccer ball, and a ton of last year's school work.

I made good progress in that room yesterday, although I ran out of time and there are still a few minor details to finish. The bedding, blankets included, are being washed today. I still have to take out of a bunch of sports paraphernalia (golf balls, tennis balls, baseballs, soccer balls, footballs, tennis racket, bike helmets, bike tire pump) and put them in the shed outside. Why those things were in Casey's bedroom in the first place is beyond me!

His room looks a lot better already, and I hope that he can maintain such a state of cleanliness. Really, it shouldn't be that difficult of a task! Right?

Beautiful Day

It's a beautiful day. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and, although it is just a little on the chilly side, it is still nice enough to be outside and enjoy.

Okay, so I am not outside enjoying the day, but that is because I am too tired and have too much to do. Today and tomorrow are days off for me, and I really want them to be mostly productive days, even if they turn out to be not as productive as I want them to be.

I was up way too late last night, because of my nasty cough. It seems that a night without Neo-Citran is not a good thing. I do cough a fair bit during the day still, but the coughing goes to an extreme level once the sun goes down. I gave up on sleep somewhere around 1am, and made myself a cup of Neo-Citran in the hopes of being able to grab at least a few hours of restful sleep. About an hour later I was back in bed and managed to sleep until my alarm buzzed at 7am. It sure would have been nice if today was Sunday after all! Instead, I had to get up and get the kids up and moving towards school.

The problem with any sort of medication that makes me drowsy is the after-effect. The next morning has me feeling fuzzy and weak in the limbs, almost a little shaky, and this is usually the case even after a full night's sleep. So I was not feeling so hot this morning with slightly less than five hours of sleep. Shortly after the kids had all gone to school, I opted for a nap in my bed for a little more than an hour. That extra hour of sleep was so nice and so needed, but it wasn't nearly enough! Unfortunately, I couldn't sleep the day away and had to get up and moving.

I had a lunch meeting with my bosses today. They wanted to go over a bunch of things with me, just as they have been doing one-on-one with all the managers and supervisors over the past month. I am always a little nervous about such meetings, even when I know that there is nothing bad coming down the pipe, but it went well and all is good. It looks like I could be seeing a little bit more responsibility, which is both exciting and intimidating, but I can do it.

Now I am home and contemplating the next hour and a half or so until I need to pick Abby up from school and take her to her church program. It's really not enough time to get too immersed in any one project, because I find such interruptions are detrimental to my ultimate progress. However, I guess I can work on some purging and organizing.

I have also been thinking about the NaNoWriMo thing and how I just do not seem to be a novel writer. I like the concept behind NaNoWriMo, where you write like mad for one month, not to produce perfection but to simply be motivated to write. I dig that! It is the kind of motivation that I need and often thrive on, but I am not sure that a novel lies within me. I enjoy writing, though I may not be very good at it. I did manage to write over 5000 words, but it isn't a novel, per se, and I just can't see myself writing on that same vein for another 45, 000 words. But, I seem to be doing well with the NaBloPoMo!

Time Warp

It feels like Saturday today, but it is only Wednesday. I think the reason for my confusion is the fact that I worked a 7am to 3pm shift, which is not a shift I normally work on a week day. Unless it is summer, I only work a full shift on Saturdays. As well, since today is a statutory holiday, most of my co-workers were students and other part-timers, instead of the week day full-timers. A couple of times someone would make a comment about seeing me on Saturday, and I had to pause each time to think about what day of the week it was. Silly me!

As long as I don't forget to set my alarm tonight, so that the kids are up for school on time!

Motivation

I am always amazed by how quickly junk accumulates and reproduces within our home. Despite regular purging and organizing, we amass more stuff and my efforts to produce margins are trounced on by the growing clutter.

It is time to purge once again. Last week was supposed to be my area's thrift store donation pick-up, and I said that I would have my contribution ready. I over-estimated my motivation in the midst of my crazy work schedule and being sick. The truck pulled up outside my house last Thursday, but I had nothing set outside waiting for pick-up! In fact, I had nothing ready at all. I felt guilty for failing to be ready when I said that I would, but the timing just didn't work out the way that I thought that it would. How was I to know that I would be asked to start work early and come in on days off as often as I was the past two weeks?

Yesterday, after working all day, I came home and was surprised by a burst of energy and motivation to begin another round of purging/organizing. Kane put a bunch of things in storage for the winter, like fans and tennis rackets, while I packed up a bunch of puzzles destined for the thrift store.

There is a lot to do, and I would really like to get most, if not all, of it done before the end of November, so that the house is "ready" for the upheaval of Christmas decorating. Besides the routine removal of excess junk, we also have a few projects that have been on stand-by for some time. Sam's bedroom is still in need of drywall, a ceiling, and finishing. The rec room is in need of a ceiling and finishing. Casey has been promised a new paint job in his bedroom for some time as well. So much to do...

Energy!

Our church held a family event at EnergyPlex last night, and so we participated. The kids had fun, while the parents mostly sat around or chased after their children. Sam and Abby both gave the rock wall a try, although they did not make it all the way to the top. I think Casey could have made it if he had tried, but he didn't. The kids also had fun jumping into the foam pit. There was just a little too much speed and motion for my camera to focus properly for some of the pics, but that's okay. Someday I will get everything figured out!

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike2.5 Canada License.

Sleepy-head

I slept well last night, really well and for nearly ten hours!

Most of my sleep for the past week has been helped along with a dose of Neo-Citran before bed. While I generally do not like to take medication unless necessary, I do want to be able to sleep at night rather than keeping myself and everyone else awake with a persistent, hacking cough. The trouble with these 'sleep-inducing' medications is that they leave me feeling rather odd the next morning, sluggish and weak-limbed. Also, after a couple of consecutive uses, the sleep-inducing effects seem to stop working, leaving me with the dilemma of being wide-awake in bed.

I have survived the past week without too much coughing at night and still being able to get enough rest. If only there was something effective to use during the day that wouldn't make me feel ill, because there are a number of 'day-time' remedies that just do not agree with me!

Friday night was the odd night of the week. Kane and I were out for a fundraiser, so I was up later than I normally am on a Friday night. I am used to being in bed by 9:00pm in order to be reasonably conscious for my early morning Saturday work shift, but I sacrificed an early bed time to go have some fun and support a good cause. Because of the lateness of my arrival back home, I did not have any Neo-Citran that night, and I did not sleep well at all. I think I still actually had a decent number of hours of sleep, but my rest was fitful and not so restful.

Last night, I made myself a steaming cup of Neo-Citran by 7:30pm, and it wasn't long before the medication assaulted my already tired body. I crawled into bed sometime around 9:30pm and fell asleep very quickly.

Kane came into the bedroom around 11:30pm. I woke up feeling like I had already been asleep for half the night instead of only two hours! I went back to sleep and didn't wake up until my alarm buzzed at 7:45am! While I did get up at that point in time, I could have quite easily hit the snooze button and fallen back asleep.

It isn't very often that I get such a good night's sleep, so I am thankful and rested. I obviously needed it, especially after how busy I have been the past couple of weeks and my current not-so-healthy state.

If You Give a Mouse Some Peanut Butter...

A week ago Friday I was sitting on the sofa, doing a Sudoku puzzle, while I had a few moments of down time before I had to pick up Sam from tennis and drop him and Casey off at the church. As I was sitting there, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye in the area in the gap between the two sofa cushions not far from where I was sitting. I thought nothing of it, because I really was not focused on anything but my puzzle. Then there was another movement that made me think of a Whack-a-Mole game, and something finally clicked in my brain. In a heartbeat, I replayed the movements in my head and realized that whatever had been moving between the cushions was a blackish, greyish, brownish colour and had been literally popping up between the cushions. Having added the facts together, I let loose with a bit of a scream, while leaping from the sofa and landing on the coffee table!

Casey and Abby questioned my sanity, as I tentatively pulled the cushions from the sofa. Seeing nothing, I returned the cushions and moved from my perch on the table to the entry way across the room. The kids were still mocking me, until I screamed again when a little dark creature popped out from beneath the sofa! My scream must have frightened the mouse, because he darted back under the sofa. And so began a tedious game of "cat and mouse"! Pun intended.

Abby grabbed the cat, while Casey and I attempted to keep the mouse relatively contained. The mouse tried to escape from under the sofa to behind the bookshelf and back to the sofa and back to the bookcase and so on and so on. Maggie, the cat, took eager note of the mouse, but she was not quick enough to put me out of my misery.

It wasn't long until I had to leave. I called Kane to let him know of our little unwanted guest, so that he could deal with it when he got home...and hopefully before I got back home. Alas, the mouse was still at large by the time I returned, so we set a trap up behind the bookshelf and went out for dinner. When we returned, the mouse was caught!

I hate mice. I hate having mice in my house. I hate it even more when I can see the mice in my house!

I knew that there were mice before one attempted to kill me by cardiac arrest, because my parents had seen a mouse or two downstairs in their rooms. They set up a trap and had two successive kills before my mouse made its' appearance. So, I knew there were mice in the house. I didn't like it, but I was dealing with it...until I saw one inches from where I was sitting. I am still creeped out about that! Call me a wimp, but I won't sit on that sofa again for a long time!

In the meantime, there have been no more dead mice in any traps, nor any mouse sightings. I so hope that means that all the mice are gone from my house, but I can't be confident of that being fact. I can live with that, even if it makes me a little nervous about walking around without shoes on or opening drawers.

Falling Behind

I hate feeling sick. I hate being busy and feeling sick at the same time!

The things that I had hoped to do earlier in the week never got done. It is frustrating, because I would really like to be able to get everything done at once and I can't. I was supposed to have a bunch of stuff ready to be picked up yesterday for donations to a thrift store, but I never even got started. I feel bad about it. The pick-up driver came to the door yesterday, because nothing had been set outside, but I had nothing to give. Nothing ready to give anyway.

My house is a mess. Christmas is just around the corner, so I want to get cleaning and organizing and purging done before the decorations and tree come out. Will it happen? Possibly...

So Far, So Good

I have written over 4500 words so far for NaNoWriMo, which is probably more words than I ever reached in the two previous years of attempting the contest. Four thousand words is still a far cry from the 50, 000 needed to be successful, but I am pleased with my progress. I do not think what I am writing would technically qualify as a novel, but I'll just go where I am led and see what happens in the end.

And today's blog entry is the fifth for the month of November, which means that I am doing well so far for NaBloPoMo. My biggest challenge is to remember to blog on any given day, because sometimes time gets away from me and I might not think about my commitment to daily blogging until I am already snugly tucked into my bed. So far, so good! Today's blog post is the latest of the month, being written at 6:45pm, but at least I wasn't in bed yet.