Apathy

How does a parent go about instilling passion in a child?

Sam was on the receiving end of a lecture today. Actually, four lectures all on the same subject: his apathy towards school. I'd like to know what goes on in his head. Why does he "forget" about assignments or tests? How can he "forget" that he was dropped off at school early in order to get extra help from his math teacher? It is highly frustrating and troubling, and yet he doesn't seem to care enough to make an effort.

What can we do as parents? We nag and push and push. Do you homework. Study. Do more! We encourage and lecture. Why do we lecture? The circumstances are different, but I well remember the lectures that I was subjected to as a youth. I hated them. I listened with a closed mind even though the tears poured out. I don't want to lecture my son, but I can't simply say nothing. Somewhere there is a balance of pushing and letting go, of frustration and understanding, of nagging and encouraging, of iron will and love. I expect that Sam won't easily see our more positive aspects (he's a teenager and we're the parents), but I hope that at some point he will realize that we aren't out to get him. We love him and want what is best for him.

Monday Mumblings

I guess it has been a little while since I last blogged. It has also been a while since I last wrote in my journal. There are many things to say but sometimes it is simply easier to say nothing.

Casey was a piece of work yesterday. He was cranky and argumentative for most of the day. He lied and tried to cast blame on everyone but himself when he was caught in his lies. So typical of him. Today was a better day.

I was given another raise at work. Took me by surprise it did. It wasn't very long ago that I was given a raise, but I noticed on my pay stub that my hourly rate had increased. There are days when I don't enjoy working and there are things that I don't always enjoy about my job; however, I have two great bosses. Being appreciated is a wonderful thing.

I am frustrated with Sam today. He finally received his last big Socials test back and the mark was less than impressive. He had "forgotten" to tell me that he had a test to study for even though I ask him about homework EVERY SINGLE DAY after school. I learned about it at his parent-teacher interview about a week before the test. On the multiple choice and fill-in-the-blank sections, he did reasonably well; however, he completely bombed on the questions requiring paragraph answers and on the two maps. He never even attempted the map questions and gave one sentence answers instead of paragraphs basically throwing away 30 marks. Instead, he found himself with spare time and doodled all over the back of the test! When I asked him why he didn't do the maps, he said that he didn't understand the questions. He never even bothered to ask the teacher to explain the questions to him!!! Hello??? So, no computer, no video games until such time as Kane and I see fit to let him have such privileges. Sam will also be heavily nagged about homework and studying. And he thought he was already nagged too much about it?! Ha!

I cleaned the boys' room last week. For some strange reason, it was easier and faster than cleaning Abby's room. You would think that a room housing two people would make more work than a room housing one, but I guess that Abby is just a complete slob. The boys are also slobs but I think they have less toys and clothes. Now they have even less toys.

Spring break is rapidly approaching and with its' arrival I am taking slightly more than a week off work. I want and need this time. The first weekend of spring break is Sam's final hockey tournament and then I still have a week free. What will I do besides sleep in and stay up late? I've been dwelling on the idea of painting the kitchen during that time, but I'm not convinced. I want to paint it, yet I don't know that I want to tackle something so tedious and labour-intensive during those precious days of freedom. There really isn't a lot of wall space in the kitchen but the ceiling would also need to be done. And the prep work and primer and taping and...

I don't know what else to say that makes sense, so I think I'll go and just write what comes to mind until 24 comes on TV. There are words and phrases and feelings that need to be put to paper before I lose the words and the courage.

Cast Away

Casey's cast came off yesterday, yet Casey left the doctor's office with tears in his eyes. The doctor gave orders for Casey to NOT play basketball (or anything like that) for at least a week. Casey was crushed. I had expected such an order.

Casey had come home from school yesterday with the news that he could still be on the basketball team. The team has an away game today after school and Casey can go. Only now he can't play. I don't know how much of the season is left; Casey didn't jump on board at the beginning of the season for a couple of reasons. Of course, the restrictions also meant that he couldn't play ball hockey last night and cannot play indoor baseball tonight.

We also need to go back to the hospital for a follow-up x-ray. After spending about ten minutes on hold, I finally was able to get an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. The doctor also recommended coming back to the office in a week to follow-up on the finger. Naturally, the finger is stiff and still a little sore, but the doctor gave Casey instructions on stretching it.

Recap

Alright, I feel more human now and it is only 11:19am! After two less than restful nights in a hotel room, I had been hoping for a good night's sleep in my own bed last night. I was to be disappointed. Kane had difficulty sleeping and moved himself to the futon in the living room where he soon fell into a wonderful sleep. I was left to a fitful sleep as I shivered beneath my blankets and tried to squeeze every last drop of warmth out of my hot water bottle.

The weekend was fun, relaxing and good. The roads were dry and our travel was uneventful. We ran into a bit of a brick wall when we arrived at the hotel. Figuratively, not literally. There was some confusion as to what type of room we had reserved which is a bit complicated to explain. After we had made our original reservation back in November, we were asked to bring along one of Sam's teammates. His parents had also made a reservation already but were no longer able to come to the tournament. In exchange for bringing their son, they paid for the suite they had reserved and transferred the reservation to us. When we checked in, the hotel tried to tell us that we were getting a 'mini-suite' and not a 'full suite'. They tried to tell us that the mini-suite was just as capable of holding all six of us as a full suite. Ha! We took a look at the mini-suite and promptly walked back out of that room. It had two queen beds and a table and chairs divided by a half wall. No kitchen. No room for a cot or even a sleeping bag on the floor. Not even a mini fridge! We had come prepared for a kitchen as we were told explicitly that we were receiving a full suite. Of course, the hotel didn't want to back down, but they eventually did give us a full suite so long as we paid extra $ to cover the difference. They gave us a deal, but I'm still not happy about the hassle and mix-up. Last year, for a hockey tournament, we stayed in the same hotel and had a similar problem upon check-in. We had reserved a room with a kitchenette, but they didn't have one available for us.

Casey and Abby were quite thrilled to discover a jacuzzi tub in our suite, and they both enjoyed a short bath in the jacuzzi Saturday night. I wasn't so lucky; there just wasn't enough time. If I'm going to have a bath, I want time to soak and enjoy it.

The hockey tournament was well run for the most part. We all thought the play-offs were handled in a rather strange way though. It wound up that each semi-final game was between two teams from the same pool. There were four pools each with three teams. In our semi-final game, we played a team from our pool. The same thing happened with the other semi-final game. That should not happen in a tournament format!

In the final game, we ended up playing another team from Kelowna, a team that we have slaughtered every time we have played them before. The difference this time was that they really weren't the same team. They didn't have enough of their own players coming to field a team, so they brought two very strong players from a different Kelowna team as well as a few strong players from the host city. In the championship game that we lost against them, almost every one of their goals was scored by someone that was not a regular member of their team. So, while that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, it is a little frustrating and disappointing to lose that game with the knowledge that their team wasn't their team. It is a boost for them, but how exciting is such a victory when you know that it wouldn't be possible without bringing in outside players? If the shoe was on my foot, I know that I would feel happy about the win, but it would be a very hollow happiness and I wouldn't be bragging too strongly about it.

Our team worked hard as individuals and as a team. Sam scored 4 goals and our captain scored 4 or 5 goals over the weekend, but we saw goals scored by many different players on the team. We scored 25 goals and had one disallowed (which really should have counted). Off the top of my head, I think that we had at least 9 different players score our goals! We have a great team. We didn't have any kids swear at the referees, but our opponents did. Our parents cheered on our team but didn't trash talk the other teams or harass the referees. We listened to the parents of our opponents do that. Our coaches never lost their cool, but an opposing coach was ejected from the game for harassing the ref. Before the final game, the opposing team entered our change room, swore at our boys and threw their things around because our players were in the wrong room. Our boys just changed rooms. Before the final game, a parent from the other team was telling us about the "voodoo doll" her son had with pins in it representing each of our boys. We just have good kids and good parents. When some of Sam's teammates were joking about his short stature, another teammate simply said, "He'll grow." It was a simple and subtle statement, but it shows a lot of maturity and integrity in that boy. When Sam scored his second goal of the game on Friday, the volume of noise coming from his teammates was incredible. When Sam scored the go ahead/game winning goal on Friday night, he was nearly mauled by his teammates. When Sam's name was called for earning the MVP award, once again, his teammates cheered more loudly than is typical. They are a team in all the ways that a team is important.

More Weekend Photos

I guess I forgot to say that we finished the tournament in 2nd place! We won every game except for the final, the most important one. The final score was 8-5, but we just didn't play the way we had been playing all weekend. Whether it was a case of being tired, too full from brunch, nerves or over-confidence, I don't know. There were 12 teams in this tournament, so finishing in 2nd place is nothing to hang our heads over.

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Not Quite Champions but Close Enough

Sam is #13 in black taking the shot that would be his fourth goal of the tournament! I don't know what came over my son this weekend, but he was the man with the golden stick and the hot hands. Four goals, two assists, six points and an MVP award! My boy?!

Sam on the wing. One of our players didn't come to the tournament which meant Sam was pulled up from defense. He makes a better winger than defenseman, but he goes where the coaches need him most. While we missed our other player, his absence coupled with Sam's linemates abilities and sportsmanship, sparked Sam's success.

Sam taking the puck.

There are a few more photos up at the family blog http://threeboystwogirlsacatandahamster.blogspot.com/ and I might put up a few more tomorrow when I am more awake. It was a great weekend, but I did not sleep well. The beds were comfortable, but between Kane's snoring and the 'not my house' factor, I was awake more than asleep.

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Wiped

I am so tired. My eyelids feel heavy and my body desires nothing more than to ooze into a puddle in my bed. Soon...after CSI.

It has been a busy day and yesterday was busy, too. Yesterday I worked from 10-2. From 4pm to 4:30, I was at parent-teacher interviews for Sam, after which we went to Wal-Mart to buy new shoes for Casey. He destroyed yet another pair of shoes! We were home by 5:30 to eat a quick supper of leftovers before Kane took the boys to church for their activities. Today, I worked from 10:30 to 2:30, came home and changed and picked up Casey, Abby and her friend, picked Sam up from school at 3:10, and dropped Abby and her friend off at church for 3:30. Then, the boys and I went to get Sam's hockey skates sharpened and picked up some groceries for the weekend. By the time we were finished with those errands, it was time to pick Abby and her friend up and drop the friend off at home. It was nearly 5pm by the time we were back at home and unloading the van. We ate a simple supper while watching Smallville. Kane had finished work a bit early today, so he had cleaned up the kitchen for me while I was out doing errands. (That made my day!) After Smallville, it was time to drag out the suitcase and cooler and start packing and organizing. The kids did some last minute tidying while I gathered clothes to pack. The kids have all had baths or showers now, and the only things left to pack are Kane's clothes and the perishable food.

We're leaving first thing in the morning which translates into roughly 7:30am. I don't care how much I need to "finish" in the morning, I'm not getting up before 7am! It has been difficult to get out of bed these past few mornings; tomorrow will likely be no exception. Still, I'll be ready on time.

Casey was talking in his sleep last night. Very amusing. We could hear him berating Sam about something; he was talking quite loudly. Kane and I both went to investigate and found Casey on his knees in bed frantically searching under his pillows and blankets for something and crying. We asked what he was looking for. His shoes. Which shoes? His old ones. Remember we had just bought him a new pair yesterday afternoon. We asked why he needed his shoes. Because he liked them. It took a bit of coaxing to get him settled back in bed. I prayed with him and hugged him as best I could as he sleeps in the top bunk, then he said once again that he needed his shoes. I told him that the shoes were either by the front door or in the closet in the hall. How did I know, he asked. Well, that is probably where he took them off! I found out this afternoon that Sam had heard the entire dialogue but pretended that he was asleep. Turkey. I think I would have had trouble staying so quiet...it was kind of funny.

So, we're off in the morning. No updates until at least Sunday night depending on when we actually get home and how exhausted I am. I booked Monday off to recover though. Always take an extra day...you'll need it!

Candid

I went shopping for some lingerie yesterday, a process both frustrating and humiliating. Shopping for clothing of any kind is typically bothersome to me, but I spent nearly two hours yesterday browsing through three stores. What I was in search of was some new lingerie. What I got was some lingerie and a kick in the butt. I am overweight by about 30 pounds which isn't breaking news to me, but there is nothing like seeing your half-clothed body in a full length dressing room mirror to shock your system into action.

It is embarrassing just to know that I am putting this information in a place accessible to people that actually know me in real life, but as long as I keep those types of thoughts hidden within me, I will never break out of this rut. Without accountability and transparency, there is always the safety net of knowing that I can fail without the need to answer to anyone. So, as much as I want to hold the delete key until every word that I've typed has been erased, I won't. Now you know.

With the warmer weather that we've been experiencing, I want to start walking more. Of course, today is not so nice a day and snow is falling. The trouble will be finding the time to walk consistently. The bigger challenge will be to control food rather than being controlled by food. I am terrible for eating at night or when I am bored...big NO NOs.

Monday Mumblings

Our weekend was relatively quiet. It was a rare weekend without a hockey game. Kane took it upon himself to do some "cleaning" and "re-arranging" on Sunday afternoon, a process I found both amusing and frustrating. A few times a year, Kane will get these urges and will begin following through, usually without consulting me first. Our bedroom tends to be a catch-all for anything that has no place to go or for things waiting to be dealt with. For example, the bags of clothing and toys that I removed from Abby's room had been placed in my room until such time as I could drop them off or have them picked up. A lazy-boy chair has been in our room for over a year now, not because we have a spacious room but because there was no place else to put it at this time. So, Kane decided to tackle our bedroom.

Ha ha! Now, my bedroom looks great. It is mostly UN-cluttered and neat. He even swept the floor! My living room is another story. Remember those bags of clothes and toys? They are in my living room. A large stack of puzzles that had been in my room waiting to be dropped off at a thrift store is now in my living room. How long will they remain there? The lazy boy is sitting on our sundeck wrapped in plastic and tarps.

He means well. Really. I'm glad that he has reached the point where he wants to see things neater and cleaner, because I'm rather quite tired of having my hard work erased the moment I leave a room. However, I can be somewhat particular in my own way. I am not a neat freak and will never pass a white glove test. I don't believe that I have any obsessive-compulsive tendencies. Honestly, I am typically laid back and able to go with the flow, but in my own home I can be a little bit fussy. I prefer the toilet paper to roll against the wall, although I won't change it when someone puts it on the wrong way. It drives me crazy when my husband puts the clean dishes away in the wrong places and I will put them back in their proper places. I do not like transferring junk from one place to another in an attempt to clean one area. Deal with it or leave it until it can be dealt with properly! Yes, my bedroom is clean but my living room is now unsightly and will likely remain so for much longer than I would like it to be. If it were up to me, I'd take the messy bedroom over a messy living room any day, but that's just me.

Tomorrow is Kane's birthday. It is also Mats Sundin's birthday, in case you are a Maple Leafs fan. Sam is a ML fan. Guess whose birthday he is going to celebrate?

I baked a chocolate cake tonight which I will top tomorrow with ganache. The cake is in the shape of a heart since Valentine's day is the day after tomorrow...two birds with one stone or something like that. Actually, this is an incredibly busy week and Wednesday will be insane, so this is the only way that anything special will be done for the birthday or Valentine's day.

Tomorrow is my only day off until Friday, but we're leaving early Friday morning for a hockey tournament. We won't be back until sometime Sunday, but I am taking Monday off as well. I will need that extra day to catch up on laundry and to take some time for myself. So, I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow: laundry, a bit of shopping, the ganache, getting supper in the crockpot, cleaning out the van, and organizing/planning for the weekend. Sam has hockey practice from 5:30-6:30 which is why supper needs to be in the crockpot, and I've got girls' night at 7:30.

Wednesday. I work from 10-2. Sam gets out of school at 1:15 because of parent-teacher interviews. I have two pt interviews set for 4:10 and 4:20. Sam and Casey both have youth activities at the church at 7pm. From 5:30-7, there are further pt interviews at the school, and Kane and I have a care group at church at 7pm.

Thursday. I work from 10:30 to 2:30. Abby has an activity at church from 3;30 to 4:45. The rest of the evening will be spent packing and preparing for our departure in the morning.

Friday. We will leave around 8am after picking up a teammate that we're bringing along. Our first game is around noon and our second game is later in the evening around 7 or 8pm. We won't know what time our game(s) is on Saturday until after our second game on Friday. Hopefully, we will do well and go as far as we can in the play-offs. We could be all finished on Saturday or we could play one or two games on Sunday. It all depends!

Next Monday, Casey gets his cast off! I've already made an appointment. He is excited but disappointed that it won't be on the Sunday. He takes things so literally. The doctor said three weeks and Sunday will be exactly three weeks. :o)

I grabbed six books from the church library on Sunday. I've already finished four of them. Guess they won't last me until our trip...

Sam received his second term report card last week. Overall, we are pleased with what we saw. There were a couple of disappointing marks but also a couple of surprises, pleasant ones. His math mark went from a C- in the first term to a C+. That was the most shocking mark to me as Sam struggles with math. In the grand scheme of things, there isn't a whole lot of improvement between his first and second term marks, but yet there is so much improvement, if that makes sense to anyone but me. It's a hard-earned improvement and I am proud of him.

I finally found a Wii points card at a retailer yesterday. While we managed to snag ourselves a Wii much sooner and easier than I had anticipated, finding extra remote controls and point cards has been much more difficult. Nobody has any! The points cards can be used to download class Nintendo games from the old game systems like NES, Sega, and Nintendo 64. After slogging through some hassles with the Nintendo Wi-Fi connections, we were finally able to download three games with our points: Mario Bros., Donkey Kong, and Super Mario 64. The boys are excited about the Super Mario game as they still remember playing it back when we had a Nintendo 64 several years ago. Personally, while I am eager to play Super Mario as well, I am more excited about Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong which are exactly like the original arcade games! The boys don't get it; it means little to them. The graphics are lame and the concept quite simple, but playing those games sends me back in time to Estevan Bowl and the small arcade in the lobby. We lived only a block from the bowling alley and, in small town Saskatchewan, entertainment is scarce. One bowling alley. One movie theatre with one screen playing one movie at a time for a week or more. One swimming pool only open in the summer as it was outdoors. I wouldn't say that I hung out at the bowling alley, but I certainly spent some time there. The video games were much simpler then. Pac Man, Dig Dug, Donkey Kong, Mario Bros., Space Invaders...a far cry from anything in today's arcades. Man! Am I ever getting old.

A Dash of This and That

I went to the dentist after work today for a cleaning. Everything went well and I survived the fluoride treatment. When I was in elementary school, a dentist would set up shop in each school for several days, checking, cleaning and treating every student's teeth. The fluoride treatment was always something to be feared. Back then (that sounds so old!), there were not numerous flavour options and the little trays had to stay in the mouth for what seemed like a very loooong time. Today when the hygienist asked what flavour I would like, I made a comment about how all the flavours are disgusting, so she recommended the orange flavour. Wow! The entire time the trays were in my mouth, I couldn't taste anything! The flavour finally hit as she was removing the trays, but it was mild and bearable. I could almost say that I enjoyed the fluoride treatment this time, and I will definitely be requesting the orange flavour in the future.

I am almost ready to chop my hands off. From mid-September until Christmas, I had almost unending pain and discomfort in my wrists/hands. The doctor diagnosed carpal tunnel and recommended I wear splints at night which I have done and continue to do. Shortly before Christmas, the doctor finally said that he would refer me to a specialist. Then the pain stopped. More or less. The chronic pain stopped, but I still had some numbness and tingling in my hands for a while. In mid-January, I saw the specialist who agreed that I had the symptoms but the tests came back looking pretty good. Yesterday, I noticed a bit more discomfort in my wrists than I have experienced in the past month. Today, the discomfort is a little more blatant, edging towards pain. In fact, my left wrist feels very much the way it did when all this was just starting back in September. Great!

Thirteen of My Favourite TV Shows 1. Smallville-I didn't grow up reading very many comic books, but I did grow up watching the Christopher Reeves' Superman movies. I really enjoy the Smallville interpretation of Clark Kent/Superman, and there is something about back stories that appeals to me. This is the one show that keeps me paying the extra bucks for cable, only because I'd never be able to watch it without it. 2. CSI-The original one. Las Vegas. I love mysteries and whodunits and forensics, so this show is right up my alley. The CSI spin-offs have never really appealed to me though. 3. 24-We've only been watching this show for a couple of years now. It is highly addictive! 4. NCIS-Back to the mysteries and forensics again. I've never really been a Mark Harmon fan, but he is bearable in this show. 5. House-Medical mysteries this time with a caustic doctor to solve them. 6. Cross Jordan-Yup, another forensics type show. This one centers on a morgue which drew my interest as one of my favourite book series revolves around a coroner. 7. Criminal Minds-I love Mandy Patinkin in anything, so how could I resist a show which has him and mysteries? 8. Lost-Can't help it; I just like it. 9. Malcolm in the Middle-okay, this show is no longer being made, but we only recently "discovered" it and fell in love with it. Of course, our family is not as insane as their family, but there are so many similarities and common situations and comments that we can't help but love it. This was the first time that I have ever bought a DVD set of a TV show's season. Now if only they would put the other seasons on DVD... 10. Restaurant Makeover-it is interesting to watch the before and afters and all the drama in-between. 11. Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares-there is a LOT of language in this show, but the show is both hilarious and downright frightening. Thankfully, it is a British show, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover restaurant kitchens here in Canada that are in just as poor shape as overseas. Don't watch this show if you have serious food/sanitary issues! 12. Fixing Dinner-at least that is what I think it is called. I don't watch it very often, but I enjoy it when I do. A mother of seven has turned her organizational skills and love of cooking into a career of helping others save meal times. She works with families to create meal plans which involve everyone in the cooking and prepping to save time and yet have nutritious meals. 13. this isn't a show but a disclaimer. While I have listed 12 shows here, I do not watch all of them on a regular basis. Our vcr died ages ago and we've never replaced it, so we don't have the option of recording our programs. Even still, if something is happening during one of my shows, I will miss my show. Easily half of the shows listed are ones that I only watch occasionally when there is nothing else on or there is nothing else I'd rather do. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Abby's Room, Part Deux

It took longer than I thought it would to finish cleaning her room this morning, but it is done. I cleared out 2 garbage bags of clothing to pass on to a niece, 1 garbage bag of recycling, 2 garbage bags of garbage, and 2 garbage bags of toys, books, and miscellaneous stuff to pass on to a thrift store. The amazing thing is that I do a major clean like this at least 2 or 3 times a year and the kids always have tons of unnecessary clutter and junk!

Maybe I'll work on the boys' room next week, assuming that I have the energy and motivation to do it.





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Weekend Photos

Abby's birthday cake with the chocolate ganache. It was so yummy and so easy to make!

I'm not sure that I could go back to regular icing.

Casey after a day at the emergency room. He is usually the one that will absolutely freak out over the smallest scrape, but he handled a dislocated finger extremely well!

Abby having breakfast in bed for her birthday.

Abby opening gifts at her party. Imagine 12 girls surrounding the birthday girl, all trying to see the action and begging to have their gift opened next. I'm lucky to have gotten as close as I did for this shot!

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Abby's Room

It is that time again when I can no longer tolerate the mess in my children's bedrooms and must take action. I would love for my kids to take more responsibility for their rooms and possessions, and we are constantly offering instruction, or nagging, to that effect. It doesn't work; at least not very well. Here are some photos of Abby's room taken just a few minutes ago. Now I must admit that I am responsible for a bit of the mess in these pictures as I had already been at work prior to taking the shots. Hmmm, upon a second look, you really can't see too much of my mess! The blue garbage bags are my handiwork though: one for clothes too small and one for garbage. Both
bags are equally full!

So far, I have gone through all her drawers of clothing. There are a few items that can't be put away or tossed until Abby is home to try them on. I have also gone through the bins of toys in her closet. The amount of junk this girl amasses is astounding! Why couldn't I have given birth to a child that loves order and neatness? Instead, I got the slobs.

I don't think I will get much more done in there today, and I don't know how much, if anything, I will get done tomorrow because of work. Thursday is my only other day off this week, so I suppose that I should finish the room then. There is no way that I want
the process to take more than a couple
of days or it will never get done!




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Long Weekend

What a looong weekend that was!

Abby's birthday party went well considering that there were a grand total of 13 girls in our house. The tea party idea didn't go exactly as planned. I had planned on serving the punch in my fancy tea cups but opted not to do that. I'm quite glad. Those girls were animals! It wasn't as drastic as it sounds, but they were loud and hyper and all over the place. I was picking up pieces of wrapping paper in the living room, dining room, the kitchen and the hallway long after the presents had been opened. When the girls left, Kane had to bring out the vacuum for all the small pieces of shredded paper used to stuff one gift bag; several of the girls thought it would be fun to throw it all over the place and carry it in their pockets. I didn't think it was so much fun.

Abby had fun though which is good as this is not going to occur again. No more massive birthday parties! I don't care how many friends she has or how popular she is.

The cake turned out better than I had hoped it would. The ganache was so easy to make that I will definitely be using it again.

So, Saturday was a long day. The party was only three hours long but it could have been twenty for how tired we were after. Sam had a hockey game that evening, which was a nice change of pace and volume.

Sunday was going to be a different day than it turned out to be. We were going to go to church. Kane and Casey were going to check out a basketball program at the rec. centre in the afternoon, and Sam had a hockey game at 4:15pm. I didn't have anything specific to do, but I was expecting to something quiet and enjoyable at home. The only thing that really happened was Sam's hockey game! We did make it to church. Casey and Abby were in their Sunday school classes, while Kane, Sam and I were in the service. Worship had just recently ended, the offering was about to be taken, and then one of Casey's teachers was at our pew whispering to Kane. It seemed that Casey had badly sprained his finger, so Kane left to check it out. The offering was finished and the pastor was preparing to deliver his sermon when I noticed Casey's teacher working his way back up the balcony stairs. Uh oh. Sure enough, he came back to our pew.

He told me that Casey needed to be taken to the hospital. I grabbed Sam, pulled Abby out of her class, and we met up with Kane and Casey in the lobby. Casey was crying and in obvious pain. The pinky finger on his right hand was pointing out at an awkward angle which sent shudders up and down my spine. Apparently, the kids in Casey's class had been playing a game and Casey tripped and fell, hitting his hand against the heavy wooden base of an easy chair. He later said that it hadn't hurt immediately, but he noticed it was pointing outwards so he showed his leader. Then it started to hurt.

There is a doctor that attends our church, and he had been pulled out of the service before I was in order to take a look at the finger. He felt around and tried to put it back in place without success. He was the one that said we should go to the hospital as it was most likely dislocated or broken. Kane dropped Casey and I off at the hospital emergency room shortly after 10am where we began the waiting game. I don't have enough time to tell about all the interesting things that happened during our wait, so I'll just stick to the facts.

After x-rays were taken, the doctor told us that it was indeed dislocated and the finger had also twisted. They were going to sedate Casey in order to put the finger back where it belonged and then put a cast on. We waited some more until a bed was available; it was very busy and crowded. Eventually, they brought us to one of the trauma rooms where Casey was hooked up to a heart monitor, blood pressure, oxygen, and an IV before I was shooed out of the room. Within 15-20 minutes, I was called back in and Casey was already awake and sporting a blue cast on his right arm. He was groggy and actually rather spacey. Three times he looked at his arm and remarked, "Oh, I have a cast!" as if he had forgotten since the last time he had looked a minute before. After some of the dizziness had worn off, we were free to go.

Kane picked us up around 3pm, we stopped for a bite to eat for Casey and I, not having eaten anything since breakfast! Then, we were off to Sam's hockey game. Finally, shortly after 6pm, Casey and I were back at home for the first time since we left for church around 9:10am. It was a very long day. I was worried that Casey would be difficult to get to sleep, but he fell asleep almost instantly. I fear that tonight will not be so quick though. He tends to focus on all the things that might prevent him from sleeping to the point that he can't fall asleep. Last night was an anomaly, probably because of the "excitement" of the day.

So, he didn't get to do the basketball. His class at school is in the midst of weekly swim lessons. He'll miss half of the classes. The cast only needs to stay on for three weeks, but it is a long time when he thinks about all the things that he won't be able to do or may not be able to do as well.

I'll post some pictures from the weekend later. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I didn't have the camera with me to take any 'before' photos of Casey's finger.

Frustrating Friday

Can I start this day over fresh?

I didn't sleep too well last night. Yesterday I noticed that my eyes were tearing frequently and there was a scratchiness making its' presence known in my throat. A cold was on its' way. As I slept, or more appropriately, tossed and turned, my throat became more sore and my nose stuffed up. Fun.

So, yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from Westjet saying that a parcel was there for Abby. I was at momentarily stunned. I easily deduced that the parcel was a birthday present from my brother-in-law and family, but we've never had parcels sent or picked up at the airport before. I inquired as to where exactly I needed to go to pick it up and was told at the airport. Okay, I don't exactly have a lot of experience with airlines and airports, so last night I popped into the Westjet departure area to ask where I should go to pick up this parcel. The five or six idle employees hanging about were very friendly and eager to help, but they told me that I needed to go to Westjet cargo which was in a completely different building down the way; however, that building closed at 5:30pm and it was now 5:45pm. One of the employees was in radio contact with someone in that building, so he told me that he'd let them know I was on my way. Maybe a minute later, I find the cargo building but the door is locked and nobody answered my repeated knocks on the door.

This morning, I went to the airport to try again knowing that they would be open. This time, the woman in cargo told me that she didn't have any parcel for me and no idea what I was talking about. She sent me home to call my brother-in-law for a tracking number before she could properly help me. I was far from impressed but I went back into town. A trip to Wal-Mart was almost a complete waste of my time. They didn't have anything that I was looking for and what they did have wasn't the right size. I opted to skip another errand until after I was able to track down this parcel, so I went home and called the in-laws. Of course, they couldn't find the receipt or tracking number and promised to call me back shortly. Meanwhile, there was a knock at the door. Canada Post was dropping off a parcel for Abby from the in-laws. Go figure! I called them back to ask if this was the only parcel. No, they had sent two and still hadn't found the paperwork. After several attempts, I finally got through to the Westjet number that called me yesterday and asked about this parcel. She had it right in front of her, but she was at Westjet baggage, not cargo! At least she apologized to me for the other employees directing me to the wrong building; that wasn't her fault. The third time was a charm. I once again went to the airport, paid a dollar for less than 5 minutes of parking, and got the parcel.

What I want to know is, if two parcels are sent at the same time and in the same manner, from the same person, to the same address, why was one delivered to my door but I had to pick up the other from the airport? It doesn't make sense to me.

Half my day was gobbled up by this parcel; a day that I wanted to spend at home doing things that needed doing at home.

My kitchen is currently smelling a little burned. On my to-do list for today was baking Abby's birthday cake for her party tomorrow. On a whim, I decided that I would make an angel food cake for her birthday to have tonight with the family. I also decided to make the angel food cake first. The problem? I don't have a tube pan, only a bundt pan. I did read the directions first and noted with dismay the instruction NOT to use a bundt pan, but I'm sure that I have used it before. Of course, the cake rose high above the edge of the pan and dripped onto my brand new oven. The oven has now officially been welcomed into my kitchen! Actually, it wasn't as bad as it could have been and I've already cleaned up most of it. At least the self-cleaning feature will work on this oven...

The party cake is now in the oven which smells like burnt angel food cake. I wonder if these cakes will come out level? The party cake will be a round, two layer cake with chocolate ganache; at least that is the plan. I've never actually made ganache before, but it doesn't look too difficult. There are only two ingredients: heavy cream and chocolate. How hard can it be?!

It is now 1:30pm and my house looks like a disaster; hardly what I envisioned it would look like at this point in the day. I am so glad that I didn't have to work yesterday or today! I'm also very glad that I decided to make a detour to the library yesterday rather than waiting until today. There were two books being held for me which needed to be picked up by Sunday or I would revert to the end of the line again. I enjoy our library, but it is kind of out of the way so I need to be intentional about going there.

Abby will be home in an hour. Casey is staying after school to play some floor hockey. Both boys have ball hockey tonight at 5pm, while Sam will also be playing ball hockey at 9pm with the senior boys. It's going to be a late night! I'm already envisioning a nice steaming mug of Neo-Citran to soothe my throat and help me sleep. Tomorrow will be insane.

Another day over, another week set to begin. Life is busy and just doesn't seem to slow down. I was so exhausted after work on Saturday that I had a short nap before we went to Sam's hockey game that night. The game was exciting with the return of one of our players after a prolonged absence due to political issues. I'm sure that his finally being allowed to play with us again had a huge impact on our team. We won 6-0!

Today's game didn't have as happy a result. We lost 6-4, but we were really pouring on the heat in the third period. We started the game rather flat-footed while the other team came out firing on all cylinders, scoring two quick goals. Their goalie is very good, so by the time we found our footing again, we really had a big hole to dig ourselves out of. We worked hard though. Sam had an awesome break-away not only in this game but in yesterday's game also! Speaking of Sam, something has happened to this kid. He has truly picked up his game over the past two or three games. He is handling the puck a lot more than usual, having break-aways and great scoring opportunities! If he plays like this for the rest of the season, he'll be scoring a few more goals soon.

I am quite glad to have only two shifts this week. Two shifts of four hours each. Piece of cake! So, I am working tomorrow and Wednesday, and I get Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday off!!!! Of course, Saturday will be chaos with Abby's birthday party, but four days off in a row will be wonderful, even if I don't have the luxury of idling in the lap of leisure.

Abby can't find her backpack and lunchbag. I haven't seen it since she left for school Friday morning. Abby said that she brought it home and set it down by the coat closet. Casey claims to have seen it on Abby's back after school on Friday. It is nowhere to be found and honestly, there aren't that many places for a backpack to hide. I suspect that it is comfortably hanging on her hook at school. Guess we'll find out tomorrow...

Sam is sporting a mysterious black eye. He had no visible mark early Friday evening when he left for a sleepover; however, when I got home from work on Saturday, I noticed a little spot of purple on his upper eyelid. Since that first notice, the bruising has darkened a bit and spread slightly so that it looks as if Sam is wearing some eye shadow. He isn't amused by that comment, but he has no recollection of ever hurting his eye.

To continue the mysterious happenings, while at work yesterday, I noticed a rash spanning half of my forearm. It hadn't been there when I started work at 7:30 but there it was at 10:30 while washing my hands after my break. I had not been scratching it up to that point nor I had come in contact with anything out of the ordinary. Today, it is barely visible. In fact, you might not notice it but I can still see traces of it. Weird.

Yesterday/Today

This was yesterday. The photo doesn't do justice to the heaviness of the snow falling from the sky. Trust me-it was heavy! I shovelled the driveway; I know. There was about 7 inches of snow on our driveway. Now if only the city would hurry up and plow our street...maybe then I wouldn't come close to getting stuck the moment I back out of my driveway.

This is currently cooling on my counter top. Yes, there is a slice missing from this loaf of asiago bread that I made from scratch without the use of a machine! It took me ALL morning to make it, but it smells and tastes divine. Who could resist a slice of still warm, freshly made bread?

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

In 1972 (the year you were born)

Richard Nixon is president of the US President Nixon approves NASA's space shuttle, a reusable spacecraft, at a cost of $5.5 billion Nixon arrives in China for an 8 day visit, which he calls a "journey for peace" While campaigning for the presidency Alabama Governor George C. Wallace is shot and seriously wounded Five men are arrested in the Watergate office complex in DC for breaking into the offices of the Democratic National Committee Hurricane Agnes strikes the East Coast causing 117 deaths First scientific hand-held calculator (HP-35) os introduced for $395 Shaquille O'Neal, Jennifer Garner, The Rock, The Notorious B.I.G., Cameron Diaz, Eminem, and Alyssa Milano are born Oakland Athletics win the World Series Dallas Cowboys win Superbowl VI Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup The Godfather is the top grossing film Pink Floyd debuts "The Dark Side of the Moon" during a performance at London's Rainbow Theater "You've Got a Friend" by Carole King wins a Grammy for song of the year The Price is Right premieres on CBS

What Happened the Year You Were Born?

How lovely to be as old as the Price is Right.

More Snow

What an icky day! If I didn't have to venture out this morning, I would have been quite content to stay snug inside the house. Unfortunately, I did have to go to the hospital for my appointment with the specialist for carpal tunnel testing. I left the house close to 8:30am and was home again just past 10:30am. After my appointment, I stopped at the grocery store for a few things before heading back home. Every time I came out to my van, I needed to brush the snow off, and I should have worn my boots instead of my shoes as the snow was deeper every time I came outside. I will be picking Sam up from school later today...more venturing out of doors.

So, the appointment went well. The doctor was very nice and friendly. I was able to lie on a nice, soft hospital bed while he performed the tests. I'm not really knowledgeable about medical lingo so excuse my layman's terms. A grounding wire was taped to the back of each hand while other electrode wires were attached to various parts of my hands and wrists. More things were looped around my fingers. Then, he would shock me in different areas of my palms, wrists, forearms, elbows, and upper arms. It wasn't painful enough to bring a tear to my eyes, but it was uncomfortable at times, at least enough to pop my eyes wide open. On my right wrist, he also put a needle into the fleshy area between my thumb and fingers and in the fleshy area beneath the thumb. He had a bit of difficulty with the second needle, so that one was very uncomfortable. I did survive though.

The results? He said I have the symptoms of carpal tunnel, but the nerve test results looked pretty good. Obviously, the splints are helping and he gave me some stretching exercises to do. I don't need surgery at this point. Of course, he said the results might have looked different if he had seen me in December before my wrists started to feel "better". I guess that means I just continue on and hope for the best.

Yesterday, my boss gave me two tickets for tonight's Rockets hockey game...in a suite! Guess who has suddenly become very popular at home? ;o) Hmmm, two tickets. Two adults and three kids. Yikes! As much as it would be nice to go, I am more than willing to let Kane take one of the kids, assuming that he is home from work in time to go. The biggest problem was which child to take. Unfair though it may be, I eliminated Abby immediately. She isn't overly keen on hockey and would be just as happy to do something fun at home. Sam, of course, desperately wanted to be the chosen one, because 'he likes hockey the most'. Casey, naturally, also wanted to be chosen and would view any alternative as a conspiracy against him. Ah, but I knew that Casey could be easily bribed...that's the problem with children that are never satisfied and want more! So, Casey is staying home tonight. I discussed it with him and, though he is disappointed, he is excited about having some pizza and ice cream and a special little treat just for him. Pizza and ice cream. Simple. The treat? A new game for his Nintendo Gameboy. It wasn't very expensive; probably less than it would cost to take him to a Rockets' game anyway. Now my only concern is whether Kane will be home in time to go. The weather is terrible, the roads are bad, and he had to go to Salmon Arm to do a job today. I think Salmon Arm is about an hour and a half or so away...under normal driving conditions, of course.

Last night for supper, we had rice, broccoli, and salmon. After school yesterday, Sam asked me what we were having for supper. Usually, upon hearing my response, he groans or gags or whines. When I told him we were having salmon though, he said, "Yeah!" What sweet music to my ears! I told my picky kid what we were having for dinner and he was excited. All the kids were! There isn't very much that all three will get excited about eating, but I am glad that they all will eat salmon. Mind you, they like it rather plain, but that's okay! It still tastes great. (and it is good for them, too!)