Something happened yesterday that involved cake and candles.
This year Richard took the kids to the mall and let them choose their own gifts for me. This proved to have hilarious consequences. You really get a glimpse of yourself through your children's eyes when they choose gifts for you.

Emmett chose a Bejing Olympics highlights DVD and My Fitness Trainer for the Wii. He sees me watching the Winter Olympics right now, and the fitness game is not a comment on my appearance, he just sees me play my other fitness game a lot so he assumed I would like this one too (I do! I have heard it is a good one.)

Charlotte chose a cheesy paperback romance novel for me. She sees me reading books a lot and I guess this one had a pretty cover. I almost fell off my chair laughing at this one!!

They both chose a Spongebob Easter card for my birthday card. They both love Spongebob.

Richard baked the cake. Click on the link if you dare--this cake is not for those of you watching your calories! It is for those of you who appreciate a fantastic chocolate cake. The icing is more like chocolate mousse than it is icing, with it's combo of butter, cream cheese, melted chocolate AND cocoa powder. Sigh. So. Good.

So far, this new year of life is looking pretty good!!!

I still knit sometimes!

So, I spent a lovely Valentine's Day evening at my friend Sandy's house. She is a chronic hat knitter. She made an adorable hat that I just had to have. So I made one too. In two days.

The yarn is thick and soft, the pattern fun and engaging.

It's a good thing I like it so much. My respite worker spied it last night on my needles and asked me to make her one. The kids love her and she tidies my house after she tucks them in for the night. How could I say no??

The pattern is Devra 2, and I made it with Paton's Shetland Chunky in Taupe using 40-cm bamboo circular needles in 5 and 6 mm sizes. I added plastic craft mesh to the brim to make it rigid.

My life in shoes.

Rina at Gotta Little Space was inspired by her bloggy friends to peek into her closet and look at her life in shoes. She asked if she had too many. I laughed. Her shoes all fit into ONE photograph!

She inspired me to look into my own closet(s). In the knitting world this is called flashing your stash, and can be a very enlightening exercise in looking at your own consumer habits.

Once upon a time, my own shoe collection could fit in a single photograph. That was back in the days before I had children. You see, when a woman gets pregnant her feet often change size, and they stay that way permanently. Before I had kids my feet were so narrow I could only fit specialty sizes. I was 9-1/2 AAA. Big, long, narrow. That meant I never spent less than $100 for a pair of shoes. Three kids later my feet have widened and shortened into a more normal 8 1/2 A. The world of shoes suddenly opened up to me!

This is going to be embarrassing, but here goes......
I am not explaining every single pair, I will just give the highlights or we will be here all day!

Photo 1: Flats. These are the shoes I reach for almost daily. Ballet flats look so cute with jeans or skirts and are easy to chase the kids in. The leopard ones are my most recent purchase, and still have the tags attached. I need to retire the mary jane style clodhoppers. They are so comfy, but also so very ugly!! The green Keds are also nearing the end of their lifespan.

Photo 2: Sandals. Most are flats, the two on the bottom right have heels, but are still surprisngly comfortable. The Mephisto sandals on the top row are actually my second pair. I wore the first pair into the ground. If I want to feel like a yummy mummy in the grocery store I'll wear the cork platforms on the bottom right with my jeans or a denim skirt.

Photo 3: Boots. The brown ones on the bottom left were bought at a shoe party(I know! They have shoe parties!! Somebody hide my credit card!!). They are SO sexy and look amazing with jeans. I can walk about a block in them before my sexy hip sway turns into a sexy limp. The tall ones on the other end of the step are emu boots and lined with sheep fleece. They are so amazing for walking E to school since they keep my legs and feet warm. Do I need to explain the argyle wellies???

Photograph 3: Dress shoes. All black, except for the wonderful pink ones on top. Yes, I do have nail polish that matches them.

Photograph 4: Golf cleats worn twice before we had kids--I don't have time to use them now!!!!


Photograph 5: Charlotte took this of her shoes while I was composing this post. She is a blogger-in-training!

These are the shoes that survived the big purge before we moved. I got rid of at least four other pairs while packing.

Ok, I flashed my stash....are you brave enough to flash yours???

Making Stuff

Thank you for all of your kind responses to my previous post. Carolyn, your post about friends being like clothes really resonated with me.

Today's topic is much lighter. It involves me making stuff. I made the finger paints the kids are using to create their art. A friend shared her easy recipe with me and the kids had fun one snowy afternoon making paintings with it.

What else am I making? Two days ago I gave ricotta cheese a try. It turns out all you need is a slow cooker, milk and an acid of some sort. I love ricotta. I hate how much it costs. I am so glad my experiment worked out!

Yesterday Richard made us churros. There is no photographic evidence of this. They were too tasty to stay on the plate long enough to snap a picture! Can anyone tell me the difference between a churro and a cruller? They seem very similar in taste and texture.

Have you made anything lately?? (Beds don't count!)

PS Here is my finger paint recipe:

From: http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf684159.tip.html

This is a washable finger paint. I have had luck cleaning it out of just about everything. That doesn't mean it won't stain some objects or clothing, though. If your kids are small enough you can make an "art shirt" for them out of a plastic grocery bag (or even a thick department store bag). Just cut holes for their head and arms, then have them wear it like a shirt. It doesn't cover their arms but it will keep them from wiping paint on the front of their shirt.

• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1/3 Cup of cornstarch
• 2 Cups water
• 1/4 Cup dish washing soap
• food coloring

Put the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and then slowly mix in cold water. Then cook the mixture over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until you have a smooth gel. Let cool and then add dish washing soap. Divide into as many containers as you would like colors and then mix in food coloring drops until you have you desired color. If you have colored dish washing soap that can influence all the colors you try to create, which isn't always a bad thing.

Tip: Use baby food jars to divide and store the paint! They are a perfect size for kids to dip their fingers or brushes into and they can be sealed easily if you have leftover paint.

Jen's tips: I used Wilton gel food colouring to get the bright colours you see in the pictures.

Be sure to cook the cornstarch mixture down to a thick pudding consistency. Adding the soap later thins out the paint a surprising amount. Make sure you like the smell of the soap you are using. Your art will smell like it even after the paint has dried.

Adrift.

A lot of things have changed in my life in recent history. Least of which have been several friendships.

You could say I really noticed the trend just over a year ago with someone I met on a homebirth message board. She moved to my city, I showed her around our town, hung out with her and her kids and then had to distance myself as she got more and more brainwashed by a "church" (cult) here. It really hurt to do it, but I realized things were getting really bad when I started keeping a mental list of safe conversation topics in my head--I was tired of her trying to convert me so I tried to stay away from controversial topics as much as possible.

As things seem to happen now, in the age of social networking, our friendship met it's end on Facebook. I am sure it started with a video I posted on my profile depicting her Lord and Saviour in what I thought was a very amusing song and dance about Proposition 8, but to her was very offensive. With me, the final nail in the coffin was realizing I was only finding out about her life via status line updates and not at all from her. I started to feel less like a friend and more like a stalker so I quietly deleted her from my friend list and retreated to my corner to try to heal my wounded heart.

A few people have entered and left my life since then. I don't make friends easily and have never had a wide social circle so I am unsure how to deal with this revolving-door of people entering and exiting my life. Every exit is painful and often confusing to me. Am I really that hard to get along with? I wonder. As friendships evolve I am left with many questions that never seem to get answered. In some ways I wonder if I am making the relationships in my life more complicated than they need to be. I am not alone in my feelings. The January issue of Chatelaine magazine had a very interesting and comforting article in it. Here is the link to it, if you want to read it. I can wait.

I am having a harder and harder time dealing with how Facebook has changed how I interact with people. It is pretty easy to see how useful it is when you are talking about far-flung friends and relations, but what about the ones that live across town? I mean the ones that you can call without incurring long-distance phone rates. Why are we using it to talk instead of actually TALKING to people now??? I spend all day at home alone with kids. I crave the sound of an adult voice on the other end of the phone line sometimes. Being a stay at home mom can be a very lonely, isolating occupation and in some ways Facebook makes it better and in other ways Facebook makes it worse. I think that Facebook can make sticky situations even stickier.

It is crazy how I can be so mature and sure of myself in so many aspects of my life, but stuff like this throws me right back to Jr High, when I was so insecure and had no idea what made relationships tick. It has been many, many years since then. What am I missing here?

Interview with Emmett and Charlotte

I did this interview almost a year ago. Lets see how things have changed!

I typed out their answers, word for word as they told me. You could tell they were losing interest towards the end.

Maybe next year we can add Matthew's answers to this list.

Emmett, age 6, Charlotte, age 4

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Emmett--Be nice to everyone and don't poop and pee your pants.
Charlotte--Don't pee your pants.

2. What makes mom happy?
Emmett--When we be nice to you, Mommy.
Charlotte--If I don't pee my pants.

3. What makes mom sad?
Emmett--If you do be mean.
Charlotte--If you hurt yourself, Mom.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Emmett--Tell some jokes.
Charlotte--When you do a puppet show.

5. What was your mom like as a child?
Emmett--I don't know. Get Charlotte to answer it.
Charlotte--You played with babies and you took them to bed and put on their pyjamas.

6. How old is your mom?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--16

7. How tall is your mom?
Emmett--You are about 16
Charlotte--You are larger

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Emmett--Printing stuff for your friends.
Charlotte--Go shopping.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Emmett--Wait for us to come back.
Charlotte--Wait for me to come back.

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Emmett--You will be a guitar player.
Charlotte-Maybe you can be a cutting girl and cut trees off.

11. What is your mom really good at?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte-You are really good at playing computers.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Emmett--You are not very good at doing stuff.
Charlotte--You are not very good at cutting my hair.

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--Knit.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Emmett--Chocolate
Charlotte--Soup

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Emmett--When you be nice.
Charlotte--What about painting pictures of us?

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Emmett--Supergirl
Charlotte--A Rock Star

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Emmett--play
Charlotte--we go shopping.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Emmett--We have the same hair.
Charlotte--We are big together.

19. How are you and your mom different?
Emmett--I am smaller than you and you are bigger.
Charlotte--We are different than the neighbours.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Emmett--I don't know.
Charlotte--When I hug you.

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Emmett--Superstore.
Charlotte--Go home.

This picture just makes me smile. Emmett is explaining the poster to Charlotte.
This is amazing for several reasons.

I am still in awe that Emmett's communication skills have progressed to the point where he can explain an anatomy poster to his little sister (well, his grasp of anatomy is as good as any six year olds....but you get my drift, right?)

And, I love catching these moments. Moments when there is peace an co-operation in my house. Moments where the kids are helping each other out with no coaching from me.

I registered Char for Kindergarten this week. She will be going to a French Immersion school in our city. She is so excited. So is her dad. He and his sister went to the same school once upon a time. Charlotte needs the extra challenge and stimulation a language-immersion program will give her.

I can't get over how fast everyone is growing up!

I'll finish this post once the room stops spinning.

Hubs and I went to Avatar last night. The pictures were very, very pretty. The story was a retread of a story that has been told over and over. The story was so familiar to me that I actually had Colours of the Wind stuck in my head for the rest of the night and for most of today.

Three hours with 3D glasses on did a number to my equilibrium. I walked out of the theatre very dizzy and with a pounding headache. I am still dizzy and nauseous today. I don't remember feeling so bad after watching Up in 3D, but that movie was only long enough to give me a bad headache. (It was totally worth getting a headache for, unlike Avatar)


So, can I get back to you once the room stops spinning?

2010 in bullet points

Happy New Year!

My first post of the new year is going to be a random collection of bullet points that have been rattling around in my head since the last time I wrote.

• New Years is usually a pretty quiet affair around here. To me, the real New Year happens in September, when there is actual, tangible change in the air. The seasons change, summer holidays transition into the routine of school and lessons....stuff happens. When January 1 rolls around, it is still cold, it is still winter, and the only thing I really have to do is remember to write a new year on the cheques I write.
• I stopped making resolutions a long time ago. I figured that if I wanted to affect change in my life, why wait for one arbitrary day of the year? So, when we got a shiny new Wii for Christmas, I didn't wait for Jan 1 to start using it to exercise, I started on Dec 27, after heading out to buy a game that now whips my bum into shape five days of the week.
• This year we did something different to ring in the New Year. I had an actual dinner party in my house with over 10 guests. My inlaws stopped by on their way to a skiing holiday and filled my house with food and fun. I have not been in close vicinity to teenagers since summer camp (where cel phones are banned) so, I had no idea that they must send text messages all the time. Is this really true, or does this just happen with the particular teenagers that were in my house?
• I also found out that if you have hockey fans over on the night of a Big Game and you don't have cable or any sort of TV channels to speak of, they find other ways to get the score--like asking a nearby teenager to tap into the host's wireless network with his laptop to get streaming scores. (The teenager then shows the host's husband the Finnish version of the show Jackass and then the host is forced to watch it for the next week....sigh)
  
• I loved having Richard home for a week. This is the first time he has had actual time off over any holiday season--you just don't get time off when you run your own business. Having him home was great! I got to be decadent and self-indulgent and plowed through a 1000+ page novel in four days!! It was divine and a great way to recharge my batteries between family celebrations. Of course, after conquering such a weighty tome, I have no idea what to read next. Decisions, decisions......
• Emmett lost another tooth and grew half an inch over holidays. He now speaks with a lisp and has three new pairs of pants in his drawer since his other ones were looking like capris. (This kid also grew an entire shoe size between September and November....will I ever keep up to this???)
  
• Matthew's vocabulary is growing, if you listen carefully and pay attention to context.
• I found out I am a gonzo Star Wars Lego builder. I "helped" (ahem, toiled away while the boy watched) Emmett build two new projects, and we have two more left to do.
• The Lego designers are geniuses. That is all I have to say about that.
• Do you say Twenty-Ten, or Two Thousand and Ten??
• 

One more sleep.

The kids are bouncing off the walls, the NORAD Santa Tracker has been booted up and the stockings have been located. Christmas morning breakfast has been planned out, supplies laid in and invitations extended (there will be lots! come on by!)

To use the words of England's Jon Gledstone, creator of the world's first PC Holiday Card:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practised within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all."

Read more

Tonight, stockings will be hung and then we will gather for the annual viewing of The Muppet Christmas Carol with some cinnamon caramel corn to munch. I plan on having a nip of Peppermint Baileys. We may sneak out to Midnight Mass after the kids go to bed, if my parents are willing to babysit. (Even though I am not a Christian anymore, I can still appreciate the beauty and majesty of a candle-lit cathedral and some lovely choral music)

Happy Christmas, everyone!

Double, double, toil and trouble.....

cocoa butter
shea butter
coconut oil
macadamia nut oil
sweet almond oil
jojoba oil
primrose oil
*emulisifying wax
*steric acid
*water
*preservitive

Oil of:
ginger
lavender
rosemary
teatree

A little of this, a little of that. Melt, stir, cool, whip, pour.
Was I re-enacting a familiar scene from Macbeth this morning? It sure felt like it! When all was said and done I ended up with some beautiful tins of soothing lotion and pots of lucious lip balm.

Thanks, Cynthia!

Hard Work Pays Off

I am on an Apraxia message board. A mother on the board was asking for video of kids with apraxia speaking. I posted a link to a video I shot of Emmett about a year and a half ago, not long after his speech breakthrough. I couldn't believe the difference between then and now. Time really does blur the edges of a memory, doesn't it? I find when we are in therapy we are always looking forward. We are always looking for the next milestone that we need to reach so we sometimes forget how far we have already come.

Remember this video?



I shot this last night:


Can you believe the difference? Can I tell you that I still get a song in my heart when he tells me to stop filming?? I can't help but smile.

Twelve more sleeps.

If I can do this, you can too!

I love showing my friends how much I care for them by making gifts for them.

This year, I am feeling pretty overwhelmed with a busy schedule that having three young kids gives you, in addition to settling into our new house, which is an ongoing process.

A freind emailed me last week to ask for my peppermint mocha recipe. It reminded me that DO have time to whip up some love in a jar for my friends.

Here are two ideas for gifts that are quick, easy and will be happily received. They can be made up in advance and then live in your pantry for spur-of-the-moment giving.

Peppermint mocha mix (click to link) Put this in a mason jar, tie a spoon on to it and paste the instructions in a pretty card. I gave this to a friend last year and she said it was better than Starbucks.
I use icing sugar in the recipe as it mixes with the cocoa powder better than granulated sugar. Use candy canes to give it festive green and red flecks.

Chocolate popcorn mix
In a large bowl stir together:
1-1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

and, if you are feeling brave, a dash of cayenne pepper.

Print out the following directions to give with a jar:
Chocolate popcorn: Melt 1/4 cup butter in the microwave or a small saucepan. Stir in 1/4 cup mix. Pour over 6 - 12 cups of popped popcorn and toss to coat well.

Give this gift with a gift card for movie rental and I am sure it will be well recieved!
Oh, and I actually mix one batch of this into 12 cups of popped popcorn and it still has a lot of sweetness and more crunch.

Make sure you save some of the mixes for yourself too!

New Traditions

December is here! We had our first giant snowfall so now I feel like decorating our house and trying out my new cookie press with some shortbread.

I am also back to thinking about where my new feelings and beliefs fit in with this season. This is the first time in my life I have stopped identifying myself as Christian. Some days I am an Agnostic, and some days I am a Humanist, but I definitely don't feel Christian anymore.

Hubby takes the kids to church and they are learning about being Christian and being an Anglican from him. Baby Jesus is in our Christmas book basket, as is Santa.

I don't quite know how to teach my kids there is something in between celebrating the birth of Jesus and waiting for Santa. They of course are all about the loot.

I want to teach them there is more to Christmas than loot and baby Jesus.

I am starting by trying to get the kids excited about giving. Emmett and Charlotte have each been on special shopping trips so they could pick out gifts for each other. Charlotte and I spent the morning making salt dough ornaments to give as gifts.

Can someone point me to some good story books about giving that don't have Santa in them?

What do you do to celebrate the season?

There is snow in the forecast for this week (finally....we have been waiting for it like expectant moms wait for labour--you know it is going to happen, you know it is going to hurt, you just don't know when it is going to actually begin.)

Here is one last glimpse of fall. I took these pictures during a hike in the countryside near our city. A friend who is a wizard with Photoshop brightened up the pictures and made this collage for me to give to the Grandmas for Christmas. I am really happy with how it turned out. I am also happy to help promote my friend's home-based business so if you want to know her name and contact info, drop me a line and I can pass her information on to you.

When did I get old???

I am 33. I thought I was young. Yes, I have been dyeing my hair for12 years because of premature greying, but let's emphasize the word premature here!

So, who says I'm old?? The September Issue of More Magazine.
More is a magazine marketed to women 40 years old and over. Why am I reading it? My mom regularly shares her magazines with me and this is one she passes on. Some of the articles are interesting, but the article entitled How Not to Act Old (with an exerpt of the book by the same name) really rubbed me the wrong way.

According to the article I am Old. Why? I leave voicemail instead of text messages. I wear a watch (there is a clock on your celphone, fogey!), I don't wax , (umm, ouch!) I am interested retro things and I can cook a mean roast.

As someone under 40 this article insults me. I can't imagine it being funny to someone over 40 either. I thought that part of growing up was growing into confidance and maturity. Doesn't that mean I can stop caring about what other people think about me? Doesn't that mean I can stop bending over backwards to try to fit in with all the cool kids?

More, you really dropped the ball on this one. I thought that I was supposed to look to women older than me to learn from them. What am I learning here? That nothing ever changes? That I am supposed to do everything I can to be someone I am not? I don't even think Seventeen magazine is sending that message to their young readers anymore. You are beginning to sound a bit like American Cosmo, undermining my confidance in order to try to make me conform to a predetermined standard. I thought you were supposed to be teaching me to age gracefully and confidantly--not just to lie about my age and cling to a youth that is really not worth clinging to.

So, I am going to start now, Screw you, More Magazine. I am going to put on my 50's style apron, cook a roast and when I call you to invite you to dinner I might just leave a message on your voicemail. Don't RSVP by text message, though. I probably won't get it.

Time for a musical interlude.

I have a two year old that can scale the entertainment unit. Keeping him and our possessions safe has become the main focus of my day. What time left is spent wondering why Char has regressed in her potty training and having the accompanying nervous breakdown over the sheer volume of peepee laundry in my house; the likes of which I haven't seen since I was washing cloth diapers.

This doesn't leave a lot of spare time for thinking deep thoughts and then posting them.
Instead, I give you an original musical number composed and performed by our own artist-in-residence.Please forgive the shaky video. I was fending off Matthew while trying to capture this moment.

I was raised by Muppets

Admit it, most of you reading were too. I don't think it was a bad thing! I loved Sesame Street growing up. Heck, our wedding song was a Muppet Song!


I remember watching Sesame Street with my dad at lunchtime, right after Mister Dressup. I know all of the words to Rubber Duckie a can Do the Pigeon (we had that song on 45!!). I learned how to say my alphabet in French thanks to Sesame Street and can count to 12 in a disco beat. I remember Susan and Luis's wedding and when Mister Hooper passed away.

Now you know how old I am!

Can you believe our street turns 40 this year? It has changed a lot over the years, and admittedly, my kids don't watch it because we don't have cable. I DO plan on getting the commemorative DVDs so my kids can see what it was like before it became the Elmo Show. Why is Elmo such a rockstar now?? Bert and Ernie are much more interesting to me. What about the more secondary characters like Sully and Don Music? I loved Don Music and his tantrums.

So, were you raised by Muppets?

Trick or Treat!

What a diifference a day makes.

Our yard this past weekend

Jackrabbit tracks down our back lane

I love the stark contrast of snow on green grass

Our street almost looked like a black and white photograph this morning

Snow on the lilac bush

We had our first big snowfall of the year yesterday. That meant a frantic trip to Walmart when I realized that only one child had boots that fit (and a Caesar for me when we got home.)

But, after that harrowing experience the kids had fun with a twilight snowball fight before bed. And Matthew and I chased a jackrabbit down our back lane after school drop off this morning. The snow is quickly melting, so there might not even be time for snowmen after school, but the kids have their fingers crossed!

e
I am sick. I am out of steam. Here are some cute pics I snapped last week because no one wants to hear me whine about furnace installers who back out at the last minute and the traveling fever that is making it's way through all of the occupants of our house.

For Ami.

I swear this carrot came out of either my carrot patch or my friend Carolyn's. This is not a picture I found trolling for such pictures online. Carolyn saw this carrot with her own eyes this morning. She can vouch for me!

I dedicate this carrot to my funny invisible internet friend Ami




If you want a little background, you should check out this post Ami wrote about a certain dictionary she had in a book collection at the after-school program she runs. More of her hilarious story can be found here.

Since I can't have such perverted vegetables just laying around my house where young children could find them, I quickly chopped it up and put it in my crockpot. It will taste delicious in my beef stew.

Mom or Logistical Superhero?

It all started out so innocently. Emmett had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I took Charlotte to school, then went home to kill an hour before the appointment.
It suddenly occurred to me that I should find something to do with Matthew so I could actually talk to the doc about my concerns. I quick IM conversation with a helpful friend and Matthew had a morning playdate. I thought I was sitting pretty. I only waited ten minutes in the waiting room. I thought life was pretty good.

I got too cocky.

Something suspicious turned up on Emmett's urinalysis. The doctor said it was probably a contaminated specimen, but we had to re-do it AND add some bloodwork just to be on the safe side. He said to "just go up to the lab and have the blood drawn." Yeah. Right. The lab waiting room looked like Grand Central Station. My watch told me I had to be at Char's school in 20 minutes to pick her up. My blood pressure rose. A lot.

I smiled at the receptionist (always smile--your problem is rarely their fault.) I explained my predicament. She said "Come back in an hour. I'll hold your spot in line." That was the second best thing she could say--the first being "Oh well, let's just take you back right now." I took the gift. I picked up Matthew, I drove to Char's school. I made a few calls in the parking lot and thanked my lucky stars my MIL was home and could stop over and sit while the kids ate and then napped. Ronald McDonald took care of lunch.

I got Matthew and Charlotte settled down at home, sped back to the lab, had the blood drawn. (My boy was a trooper and earned THREE Spiderman stickers for his trouble.) I managed to get him back to school for the afternoon with one minute to spare.

Did I earn my respite sushi last night, or what????

Our Summer in Three Slideshows.

Matthew goes to camp.

Our New House.
I didn't want to post these pictures, but I realized if I waited to shoot for a day when the house was tidy, you would never see it. This is our house on a normal day. I am not a neat freak.

Our visit to our CSA farm.

Please be patient...

Guess what?? The cord to the camera disappeared in the move. Hubby is at the electronics store buying a new one right now.

Slideshows of our summer and new house will be forthcoming.

By the way, we love the new house, and have found out how completely wonderful a backyard hot tub is. Our neighbours are friendly and Emmett is adjusting to his new school. We have only had one bump at school so far. I raised holy hell and the staff were properly apologetic.

So far, so good!

I'm Back!

Hello! We are moved in, 95% unpacked and getting nicely settled in. I LOVE our new yard. I am figuring out where everything goes. I am still mortified by by the dust bunnies revealed by the movers at the old place.

Emmett went off to his new school today. I think things are going well--he got really mad when I told him I would be back at lunchtime to pick him up. My heart went out to his classmate who was crying and clinging to his mommy as my guy was hanging up his coat and remembering where he put his shoes the day before.

A week without the internet has been good for me. I need to learn some new routines and break some unhealthy habits.

I will post pictures of the new place very soon!

Cautiously Optimistic

Yay!

• Richard killed a mouse.
  
• We have not seen signs of any more.
• My friend Kathy very helpfully told me about how she makes sachets out of grated Irish Spring soap to keep mice out of her camper.
• My house now reeks of Irish Spring.
• We are having fantastic late-summer weather. Sunny, warm, no bugs....my favourite time of year.

Ugh!

• The road out front is still not finished.
  
• This means we have to move out of our cramped back lane.

Holy Crap!

• Possession day is Tuesday!!!!!
• I suppose I should finish packing!
  

The mouse came back....

......the very next day.

Yep. I went down to the kitchen this morning to make coffee and the mouse (or a relative??) ran across the kitchen and dove under the stove.

I also found a neat line of dog kibble lined up along the baseboard of my pantry behind Lucy's dish. (And I thought of Tara, who told me to look out for that)

Do you think I could ask our neighbour to lend us a cat for a week????



I bought traps yesterday....but hub wanted different ones. I am on that today!

There is always a silver lining.

I live in a very old house. I am used to sharing my space with a certain amount of creepy crawlies that get in through our unfinished basement. Chances are, if you pick up a laundry basket in my basement a millipede or little beetle will skitter away. Spiders love my floor joists. We tend to live in harmony. They don't bother me, I won't bother them.

I do have a line, though.

This morning I was chatting on the phone with a friend. I heard a strange noise coming from my garbage can. I opened the lid and a mouse looked up at me from his (her?) rotten orange breakfast.

I did the stereotypical thing. I screamed like I was in a horror movie.

I then picked up my entire garbage can and took it outside and left it in the back lane. After that, I looked around for telltale signs and found little mouse poops in my pantry (darn it!).

I promised the kids we would go to playgroup so I put off the clean up until after lunch. When we got home from playgroup I found the lid knocked off my garbage can and hoped against hope it was the neighbour's cats that did it. I also noticed my garbage bag was shredded and there was a perfectly round hole clear through the side of my garbage can!

Since I am a stereotype, that can is not ever going to enter my house again.

What is the bright side?

• The mouse didn't chew on anything that contained actual food (I think the open bowl of dog kibble was the reason.)
• The dreaded job of cleaning my pantry before we move is done.
  
• I filled a garbage bag with random bits.
  
• All of my bulk items are now in Tupperware or jars.

I also found out that for a sporadic tea drinker I have a LOT of tea. Like two four-litre ice cream pails full.

It is really hot outside. Maybe some iced green tea is in order.

I hate meeses to pieces.

Final Countdown

We are down to our last week in this house.

You can tell the stress of packing and preparing is starting to take it's toll.

Emmett wet his pants in public for the first time in many months today. His stimming behaviour is back to happening several times a day. He can't control the volume of his voice and has taken to hoarding small bits of paper and spare change. He cries very easily.

Charlotte is being more willful and obstinate than usual.

I am coming very quickly to my wits end. I am not sleeping well and have no patience for anyone.

Seven more sleeps until we get the keys.

I am packing, sorting, ripping my hair out, hoping the road out front gets built in time.....you get a meme. I don't tag, but if you feel moved to do it, let me know I and I will come check out your answers.

Thank you, Ami for the blog food.

Question 1 : Who do you think is the hottest movie star?

I think Ewan McGregor is the complete package. Handsome, can sing and dance, has a lovely Scottish accent, and adores his wife and daughters. He isn't afraid to stretch his acting wings and has been in every genre you can think of.

Question 2 : Apart from your house and your car, what is the most expensive thing you've ever bought?
Our honeymoon cruise, the new washer and dryer for our new house.

Question 3 : What is your most treasured memory?
Hmmmm....This one is a toughie. I could mention the time I used to spend with my dear Great Grandma--we were very close and her name is Charlotte's middle name.

The thing that stands out most in my mind right now as one of the single most amazing things in my life was giving birth to Matthew, at home, in my own bed. I can still picture the autumn light as it came in my bedroom window and smell the changing leaves outside. I remember how wonderful it was to have Richard and me snuggling our new little boy in our own bed. I remember the Earl Grey Tea and home made apple pie I ate. I remember the ratty t-shirt I threw out after I had him. I remember how calm and peaceful everything was. No drama, no flashing lights and buzzing alarms, just the sounds of new life entering the world.


Question 4: What is the best gift you ever received as a child?

My Barbie RV. My Barbies went on many, many camping trips in the back yard over the years I had it. Santa needed a lot of coffee to put it together on Christmas Eve, I think!

Question 5: What is the biggest mistake you've ever made?
I can't even begin to list the huge mistakes I've made. I do find comfort in knowing that everyone makes them, and some make larger ones than mine.
I try to be forgiving, since we all screw up.---I am totally stealing Ami's answer since I couldn't have said it better myself.

Question 6: Give four words to describe yourself.
Mama Bear Loves Fiercely

Question 7: What was your highlight or low light in 2008?
Hmmm....I can't think of anything right now. I just think that my life gets better and better with each passing year. I feel more and more comfortable as myself and am not afraid to be me. Growing up is hard, but I am starting to reap the rewards.

Question 8: What is your favorite film?
Today, Moulin Rouge pops into my head. The music! The costumes! The crazy story! The cast! (Hello, Ewan!)
Ask me again tomorrow, and I will probably have a different answer.

Question 9: Tell something not generally known about yourself.
I used to sleepwalk when under stress. It mostly happened before tests or music recitals. Once, I woke up standing in the shower with the water running. I think I must have thought it was time to get up and go to school. I'm sorry for scaring you all those times, Mom! I finally get it now! I must have been a handful.

Question 10: If you were a comic strip/cartoon character, who would you be?
Elly Patterson from For Better or For Worse, or the mom from Baby Blues

That's it. That's all I've got!

Stay tuned--in a couple of weeks I will have an article published in a local parenting magazine. I will post the column here once it goes public.

It's officially official.

Last week Richard's mom bought our house. She is still deciding if she is going to rent it or put it back on the market after we leave.

We bought new washing machines for our new house. I changed my magazine subscriptions. I spent an evening taping boxes together I liberated from the cardboard recycle bin behind a strip mall.

In three weeks I will have a new address.

Holy Moly!

Busy Doing Nothing.

It's August. Every August we drop our kids off with Richard's Dad and then get a week off. Sometimes we do home renovations, we went to New Brunswick one summer, two summers ago I spent the week off having Braxton-Hicks contractions. The summer after that I chased one kid instead of three.

This year we were supposed to be packing and moving during the kid's holiday. This has not come to pass, so I get to do nothing.

Do you have any idea how wonderful the chance to do nothing is?? I have not been away from my kids for two years. Right now, as I am typing this, I am sipping coffee, there is Irish Soda bread in the oven baking and Weeds, a show I can't watch while kids are awake, is on the TV. Richard is sleeping without anyone fighting outside his door.

Yesterday I lingered over my coffee and newspaper in an empty house and then my Grandma and I shopped for a washer and dryer. I went to three stores. I lingered over things besides washers and dryers. I poked and prodded and pushed buttons. No one nagged me to hurry up. No one tried to break things. No one ran away to reprogram the TVs in the TV room while I tried to find what I needed. The person I was with was happy to be there and was patient as I looked and pondered.

Delicious.

Yes, I will miss my babies by the end of their trip, don't get me wrong. Right now I am enjoying the fact that we ran out of milk yesterday and it was not a big enough emergency to warrant running to the store when I knew it would be mobbed. I am out of coffee now. THAT is an emergency so I guess I will have to go to the store today. I will probably pick up ingredients to make sushi while I am there. Mmmmmmmm California rolls..... (Emmett was super sweet and left his DS behind so I could use the cookbook game he has--that is where my sushi recipe is.)

Now, if you will excuse me, I need to refresh my coffee and get the newspaper.
Richard and I might go to the midway later and go on the big person rides. Or, we might not. Who knows? This weekend, we don't have to plan too far ahead for anything.

Delicious.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

I have worked as a camp nurse off and on for the past 10 years. The camp I work at is one I used to go to *ahem* twenty years ago. It is so comforting to hear the same graces sung at mealtimes, hear the same songs ringing out from the campfire circle and hear about the activities the kids are doing--I did them too!

Of course, things change too. The photography class no longer needs a darkroom. There is a shiny new shower house. Kids bring mp3 players to listen to during quiet time instead of walkmans and portable CD players.

Nursing changes too. When I first started camp nursing my med box was usually brimming with various antibiotics that the campers came with. Years went by and for a while I saw a lot boys using a nasal spray for bedwetting. This spray has since been banned from use. For a while there were a lot of kids coming to me on ritalin. Ritalin use seems to have peaked and is now on the decline. I only had one boy on it this summer, but I had a very large number of kids using anithistamines on a daily basis. I also had one little girl on daily doses of Prozac. This really made me sad. I spent a lot of time wondering about this girl and what made her parents think that it was ok to put someone not even fully grown on a drug that will alter her brain's chemistry and set her up for potentially fatal side effects as she grows into an adult. The director of the camp, also a nurse, was disturbed by the sheer number of supplements and herbs her teen campers came with the week before.

You get to see a real picture of how kids are raised as a camp nurse. Most of the campers were very concerned about Matthew when they saw him gleefully splashing in puddles or tasting the sand under the volleyball net. I often heard them tell me very seriously "He's getting dirty!! His feet are getting wet!" I know their hearts were in the right place and they all relaxed when I reassured them he would be ok if he got a little (ok, a lot) dirty. That is what camp is for!!!

I love that camps like this still exist so that urban kids CAN get dirty. One of my campers took great pride in getting Swimmer's Itch--he even counted his spots (over 100) Another girl took a teatherball to the face and wore her bloody nose like a badge of honour. Of course, I also had kids coming to my cabin to show me hangnails--you can't toughen them all up!

Mommy and Me

When I agreed to work at camp this summer by big fear was Matthew. Will he run away and get lost in the woods? Will I find enough to do with him? Will he have fun? What would I do with him if there was an emergency?

Well, my fears were completely unfounded. Yes, my boy ran a lot. He seemed to know to stay away from the dense forest that bordered the camp property, though. A few times he got quite far away from me but there was always a camper or counsellor willing to round him up and herd him back to me. Everyone loved him. He could run right into to the middle of a soccer game in progress and steal the ball and people would just giggle and then invite him into the game. The boys played basketball with him. The girls invited him to the end of camp dance. He had a friend in the kitchen who would sneak him cake. Thankfully, I never had to find out what would happen if an emergency came up.

He figured out my supply drawer and would hand a camper a bandaid when they came to my cabin for attention (even if all they needed was a Tums or meds for a headache)

He slept three hours every afternoon--running all day will do that to a guy!

It rained quite a bit at camp. This did not stop us from having fun. Matthew had his favourite puddles that he would visit and gleefully splash in. Since I am not new to the camp nurse gig, I knew to pack three pairs of shoes so he would always have a dry pair. The lake blew his mind. Swimmer's Itch was alive and well in the lake while we were there, so I kept him out of the water but he spent a lot of time standing on the camp's pier tossing rocks in the water. We made sand castles under the volleyball net.

I loved being able to have one on one time with him--he loved having an entire camp wrapped around his finger. He cried when I packed up his bed on the last day and loaded him into our car.

We were invited back. I really hope we can go again next year.

Home again, home again, Rig-a-jig-jig

I'm home!

Matthew and I had a blast a camp (more on that to come). Emmett and Charlotte loved their time with Grandma and Grandpa. Grandma and Grandpa did too.....Grandma called me this morning to check on her Sweeties because she misses them already. As soon as she emails me her pics (yes, I am talking to you, Mom!) I can show you some of the adventures they got up to.

Getting back to real life is tough. I got home to find my water disconnected because of the construction. Not cool when you have seven days of camp laundry to do! My car barely made it home alive (when it sounds like a lawn mower and smells like burning, it can only mean bad news, right?) so it is in the shop and we are on foot for the next while. I am thankful we live where we can walk everywhere we need to go and it is summer, so no one suffers.

On the bright side, we were greeted by a clean house and fresh cheesecake brownies yesterday. Yum yum. Oh, and an hour after my no-water freakout a friendly sunburned man in a hard hat rang my bell to hook up my temporary water supply. (What a relief!)

I am now trying to learn to cook and do laundry again. After a week of camp food I am looking forward to grilling a steak tonight. I am also looking forward to the goodies that will be in my CSA box.

Talk to you soon!

Good Bye!

Nothing new to report on the house front. It is still for sale. Our offer expires in two weeks.

I am taking the kids on a little road trip. Richard and Lucy will be keeping the home fires burning. I left him an itemized list of everything he needs to do to get the house ready for a showing.

Of course, there has to be a little drama before we leave--yesterday I tried to pack my suitcase. Richard was at his office doing CPR on a server so I was alone with the kids.

While I was upstairs packing, Matthew was flooding the kitchen. He put the stopper in the powder room sink and just sat back an enjoyed the show. By the time Charlotte came to tattle there was so much water in the kitchen it seeped through the floor and left puddles in the basement. I had just finished doing ALL the laundry (a major feat when you wash clothes for five people) It took all of my towels to mop up. Sigh.

See you when I get home!!

Summertime.

People are growing up so fast around here! I have been a neglectful blogger lately, but here is some stuff that has happened recently:

• Someone finished preschool for the year.
• Someone else graduated from Kindergarten
• The Kindergarten Grad also turned six and has shot up to collarbone level on his mother.
• The shortest one here is rapidly zooming towards his second birthday and is practicing his tantrum throwing skills for the event.

I meant to have pictures of the little grads here, but my desktop computer is at Grandma's being stored and I have not yet figured out how to make my camera talk to the Linux-speaking laptop. I will nag hubby later to teach me how to do it.

Since summer is officially here I am always trying to come up with things to keep the kids occupied. I have playgroup once a week, and friends to harass for playdates, and this:
The Usborne Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do

The book is full of fun crafts that call for easy to obtain supplies and they all have a little science lesson to go along with them. (I guess hanging out with homeschoolers has worn off on me)

So far we have made monster shadow puppets and did rudimentary paper chromatography. Maybe today will be the day we make wind-powered sailboats??

Of course, having the house on the market has stalled some of our crafty plans--on days when there is a showing I turn into mean yelling mommy and all the toys and fun stuff are stashed away. On those days go to one of the various parks around the city, usually with sandwiches. I am happy to be house-sitting for a nearby friend who has a lovely fenced yard. She gave me permission to use her place if I needed somewhere to go for showings . I wonder what her neighbours thought yesterday when they saw us let ourselves in and have a picnic on her patio?

Speaking of which, there is nothing new to report on the home-selling front. We have had close to 10 showings with largely positive feedback, but no offers have been forthcoming. I am starting to get anxious about that. I feel like time is running out.

How is your summer going so far?