One last time

We went in late(er) than normal. No rush today. It'll get done when it gets done.

Five stops in "I will NOT get stuck on my last day!" she said....and she was right. She rocks!

Just us girls doing our route till breakfast. Gettin' 'er done.

Beautiful weather! Perfect weather!

Breakfast. Our last one. G and Andy joined us. Andy's working midnight shift at his 'real' job so he left after breakfast. G stayed.

We laughed, threw snowballs, G threw us both in the snow, "I won't miss this stop", " I won't miss this stop more", "I won't miss naked-guy...dude...put a shirt on!"

G accomplished all he wanted to on our last day...except mooning the new guys....but not for lack of trying. Truck-skiing anyone? He's happy.

Left a half a box of dog cookies for Shaddow and gave Tundra extra too.

And then it was over....

Contract obligation complete.

We waved goodbye and went to the dump one last time.

Parked the truck in the yard.....she paused a little longer than normal before turning the engine off but neither of us said a word.

An email. The trucks are for sale. "I am on it" our salesman said. He'll get them sold.



We drank whiskey and wine.

We laughed, talked trash (and trash-talked...a bit) remembering good times and bad times. Remembered the old ford & buying the new truck. Truck fires and blown hoses. Crazy people and stupid stunts. Remembering.

No-longer co-workers, employees and employers but always family and friends.

We toasted a job well done.

Everyone's gone.

Hugs goodbye.

And now it's really over.

After 14 years.



Tomorrow's a new day

~K

The Grand Finale

It seems so fitting that since today is our very last day and our doors will be closed at the end of our run today..... to be immediately followed by the consumption of copious amounts of wine and whisky..... that this weekends Winnipeg Free Press colour comics included this comic strip of The Wizard of ID by Parker and Hart. We worked hard and did everything right and today we close the doors on 14 years of self-employment.


It's bittersweet. We are enjoying the whole experience of moving on to new things - aside from the whole 'how the heck do we pay the bills this month' thing. That's a wee bit scarey.

Some of the stress has been lifted by the news that Al's new minimum wage job, where initially he was told he would be guaranteed 'part-time' status which we figure would be about 20hours a week, is looking more and more promising with talk that he will be full-time with 40hours in the very near future. He trained in record time and they are all very happy with him. Life is good! Al's already looking and feeling so much better. He enjoys going to work. Life is good!

I figured out recently that with 40hours a week, even at minimum wage, the amount of money he will bring home at the end of 4 weeks is only slightly less than we he was bringing home in a month from our own business......and with a whole lot less stress. Life is good! It will be better once I find a job but we aren't in imminent danger of having to choose between satelite service or internet service.....or dinner service for that matter.

Hasn't this post been all cheery and positive. Life is good and all. Believe me, it's not all roses and champaign because there is still the pending doom of business debt and the desperate need to sell off equipment as quick as possible. Closing our doors is an emotional thing for us from a customer service perspective too. Sure our contract customers still have service through someone else but our private customers from all the free-lance work we did are left hanging. There is no one else providing this service to them and each time someone calls about a job and we have to turn them down it's a reminder of just what's been lost - for us and them. We'd been planning to expand the free-lance stuff more this year because the demand for it is there but without the contracts to support us, it just isn't possible. That's a hard thing to swallow, knowing a viable business has shut down at the hands of politicians for some unknown reason - be it political agenda or budget cuts. The only part of this that makes it a little easier to swallow is knowing that the local politicians are now taking the flack for putting us out of business....and yes....I do blame them and so do A LOT of other people. Political Suicide? I hope so!

Tomorrow's a new day.



~K

One of life's big mysteries - answered

I popped over to one of my fav blogs this morning while sucking back yet another cup of coffee and listening to my oldest butcher a song from the confines of the bathroom (the only accoustically good room in the house?) that she was listening to via her mp3. I can't decide what's worse, having the music blasting on the CD player while she does this or having relative quiet while she listens on her mp3? At least if the CD was playing I'd know what song she was attempting singing. With the mp3, I've no clue at all. For the record she HATES it when we've had enough and we say things like....hey kiddo....the neighbours called and asked if you could take a break for awhile. She doesn't find us funny. Teens!

So, where was I. Oh ya.

I popped over to visit Suburban Correspondent. She totally 'gets' living with teens and I love her techniques for cohabitating with these wonderful creatures. A sense of humor is a must.

She's also very insightful when it comes to some some of life's big mysteries such as WHY there are 3 half eaten jars of jam in my kitchen and ketchup....oh she knows about ketchup too. She's figured out why and I would have never imagined it in a million years that it was all for the sake of art. I thought for sure it had more to do with the kids just messing with me and my food budget.....or laziness. I guess I'm just not deep enough to see the bigger picture.

I wonder if she knows why there are dishtowels in the girls' bedroom. That one still remains a mystery.

***************

and.....the boy did awesome reffing yesterday but he's way sore today. He said the games were "a little faster paced than Squirts" (the 5-6 yr olds he usually refs) I'd say they were a lot faster. Feedback has been good. We heard comments around the arena from some of the parents and they were all positive ones. So proud of him!

~K

Is He White With Black Stripes or Black with White Stripes

It's almost midnight Friday night and I've given up on the scrapping thing. I just wasn't feeling it. I've started a 3page (give or take) spread but it'll have to keep for another time.


I'm tired.


Is it 2am yet?


I have to pick the Mr up from work at 2. What are the chances I could have a nap and actually wake up in time to go get him?

Slim huh.

Fine then. I'll just sit here and write.

But really I could use a nap. Tomorrow's shaping up to be a crazy-busy one..... aren't they all?

I bet I know who else is ready for a nap? Working 6pm to 2am has got to be tough on my not-so-night-owl Mr. Tomorrow's going to be really long for him too. He just found out he's scheduled to work tomorrow night from 4 to 10pm which wouldn't be so bad but he coaches the Youth Bowling and Special Olympics Bowling programs from 9am to about 3pm on Saturdays. That gives him about an hour break before he has to go to work. Poor guy.

You know who else is busy tomorrow.

This kid right here.
Doesn't he look cool in stripes?

That's my boy and I'm so proud of him.

He's been asked to attend a skills clinic tomorrow evening (after he finishes his 8-4 shift at work) and line a couple games. Not such a big deal except he's technically not old enough to officiate this level of hockey. His supervisor insists 'he can handle it' and he's going to be evaluating Ty on how he does. We didn't tell the boy that part....didn't want him to be nervous. Not that I think he would be. On the ice is probably one of the places Ty is most confident in himself. I personally think Ty's just super excited (Carrie don't spit your coffee on your monitor when you read this next part) that he's going to be lining a couple games with his idol. (I know...I don't understand it either but he seems to think G's the greatest thing since sliced bread.)

Unfortunately, poor Dad is going to miss seeing these games because he'll be at work. I'm going to be sure and take lots of pictures and maybe some video with my camera. It's times like these I wish I had a video camera.

and now that I've re-written most of this post (and it's no where near as good as the first one was) because my dial-up hates me and that effectively took an extra 30minutes of time, there's less than an hour before I have to go pick up the Mr at work. Definately no time for a nap now.....but I'd still sure like one.

Why is it I can stay up all night puttering around the house or watching tv or surfing the net when I should be sleeping but when I can't go to bed early, it's all I want to do.

~ K

So my loyal readers are requesting something to read this afternoon. Well, it's a little late in the afternoon but here ya go. A 2nd post for today. I'm squeezing this into my very busy afternoon of MAKING HAM. Oh you should smell it. It's devine. Yes SIS .....it's just like Mom makes. Hee hee. (was that too evil) Actually it's not just like mom makes and I'm a little upset. I thought there was a can of pineapple in the pantry and there wasn't so I improvised with a StarFruit juicebox out of bottom of the fridge. It's a little more on the citrus side and doesn't quite have the tang of pineapple juice but it still smells yumm-o! I'd say I'm make cheesie scalloped potatoes too (just to tease you there sitting at your desk) but I don't have any in the house so it'll just be plain ol' mashed potatoes.

And in the morning.....I'm making waffles!

I don't think Donkey from Shrek quite had Chocolate Chip Eggos on his mind when he said that....but it's the closest thing to waffles in this house.

Speaking of tomorrow. Do you have plans for Earth Hour tomorrow night? I hadn't really thought about it much until a day or two ago and I'm not sure we will actually be home to 'participate' at that particular time as some things have recently come up in our schedule but I think at the very least I will turn off the computer while we aren't home (this poor dinosaur is running constantly so I'm sure both my electric bill and the computer will apprecitate the time out) and make a more consious effort to cut our power use - and I'd be lying if I didn't say it was for more economical purposes than environmental.....not that I have anything against the environment. I kinda like it.

Here's a bit of information I pulled off the net this afternoon at http://wwf.ca/earthhour/

Earth Hour is a global WWF climate change initiative. Individuals, businesses, governments and communities are invited to turn out their lights for one hour on Saturday March 28, 2009 at 8:30 PM to show their support for action on climate change.

Here are some ideas for how to spend the hour:
Attend local Earth Hour events - or organize one. Add your event, or get details on events near you at Events.EarthHourCanada.org.
Go outside and look at the stars.
Find a great viewing spot to see your town or city go dark at 8:30 p.m.
Take pictures and post them to the Earth Hour Facebook page.
Go for a lantern walk through a park.
Patronize local restaurants and businesses taking part in Earth Hour.
Gather your family or friends for a candle-lit dinner.
Meet your neighbours at a street or block party.
Have an acoustic music jam.
Talk to your children about how much electricity your family uses. Brainstorm ways to reduce it.

Tell ghost stories.
Listen to the birds, bats or other wildlife.
Play flashlight tag.
Turn your thermostat down by 1 degree. And leave it there.
Play Pictionary with glow-in-the-dark markers.
Change all your light bulbs to energy-efficient versions.
Have a night game of shinny with a glow-in-the-dark puck or ball (wear reflective vests).
Take a walk in the moonlight.
Have a candlelit bath.
Put a glow stick on your dog's collar or leash and go for a walk.
Toast marshmallows over a tea light candle.
Get out your Ouija board.
Have a wine or scotch tasting in the dark.
Get out the sleeping bags and camp out on the living room floor.
Make a list of ways you could reduce your energy consumption every hour of every day.



A couple of those make me laugh. Stick a glow stick on the dog's collar and go for a walk....bwahhhh Ya Fat Dog would so go for THAT idea - NOT and I've been told I'm not allowed to sit in the dark and drink wine by myself anymore but if the writer of this list says I should...who am I to argue.


Well. Gotta go baste a ham.

~K

About Me

You see that About Me section.

The one over there.

<------------------

On the right I mean left....and yes I really had to think if it was right or left cuz I'm directionally challenged like that.

It's been bothering me lately. Well not really bothering me but it just keeps staring at me. Mocking me. Saying things like. "Liar" and "I'm inaccurate you know." and "You should update me." And I know I should but it's hard. That's been my About Me since I started this blog and I'm not sure what to change it to. Change is hard. Change is scarey. I'm not changing it today. Maybe tomorrow, or next week but not today.


***************

My public is being very demanding these days. Very demanding. I'm no longer getting text messages saying things like. What's new? You know what's not new....your blog. Update it so I have something to read. Oh no. No messages like that anymore.

I've been trying to write a new post each day and it's getting easier to do. If I know I'll be busy on a certain day I'll even go so far as to write one and schedule it to post the next day. Only I've learned that blog posts are like anything else....you give em what they want and they just want more.

and she says to me........" You need to write TWO posts per day. One in the morning and then another one so I have something new to read in the afternoon."

Ya. Getting right on that.

~K

The first week of spring has been just LOVELY!

Remember a couple days ago I was reveling in the peace and quiet of being home solo. The kids at school. The Mr. working day-shift.

If I'd only known then what I know now, I'd have enjoyed it way more than I did - if that was at all possible, because I had a great day.

Yesterday was shaping up to be crazy-busy. Get kids on the bus at 8:15. Drive Mr to work for 9. Check on Mom. Home for a bit. School assembly at 12:45. Grocery shopping and home again. Kids home at 4. Kids to dance class before 5. Pick Mr up at work at 5. Pick kids up at dancing at 6. Soccer/baseball registration. Home again, home again jiggity-jig. Exhausting just thinking about it.

And then the phone rang at 7:56 - No Buses. No Classes. "Snow Day!" and all after school activities were cancelled too. A reprieve from the Crazy-Busy.

I ended up driving the Mr to work in the morning, visiting Mom for a bit and then spending a leisurely half hour walking the quiet aisles of the grocery store picking up a few necessities. I was thinking to myself, I should shop at 9am more often because the store is so quiet but now that I think about it, the fact that the roads around town were horribly packed with snow and the highways were covered with icy patches and the visibility was really poor may have had more to do with the emptiness of the store rather than the time of day.

Today is Day 2 of our weather induced holiday. The novelty has worn off and the kids are driving each other me batty.

Actually, the boys are loving it (cartoons and playstation galore) and surprisingly Em isn't all ticked (she loves school and a closed school to her is a fate worse than chores) although if she doesn't stop talking endlessly, I'm going to scream. I don't know how her teacher keeps her quiet in school. Aarica though, is having a hard time with the change in routine and all. She's sentenced to spend time with the people who annoy her the most - us. She's bored so she's picking fights with everyone and being snarky. It's very hard to keep someone who's got a limited interest in anything busy while housebound. The Mr took a drive out to pick up our final pay cheque this afternoon and I'm so happy he agreed to take her with him (like he had a choice...she asked and asked and asked and finally just put her jacket on and got in the van and I think the pleading look on my face may have helped). She needed a break from everyone and everyone needed a break from her.

So while I miss the peace and quiet of a house with everyone at work/school, I'm enjoying the laid back feel of the past 2 days. I'm scared though. If school isn't open tomorrow I've realized that by the time I have an empty house again it will have been 12 straight days of this. Spring Break is next week.

HELP!!!!!


~K

*I Wonder Why?* Wednesday

Welcome to the first edition of a little game called *I Wonder Why?*

It's a new game. I made it up yesterday while doing a little house-maintenance....aka cleaning.

Actually, it's not really new because it's something I play quite often. It usually involves some bizzare activity my children have done or something I've found that doesn't quite belong. Optional names were What would possess you to do that Wednesday and WTF Wednesday - the first was too wordy, the second well.... I'm trying to control my temper these days so I went with *I Wonder Why?*

Now on with the game.

I wonder why........

there is an open jar of jam on the kitchen table?

Now you might not find this something to wonder about. After all it is accompanied by it's friend the PB and at first glance it appears quite normal.

And you wouldn't be wrong.

If it weren't for the fact that this particular open jar of jam also has other friends

That's right. Not ONE but TWO other jars of jam ---- the exact same jam even, both open and both half empty in the cupboard.

WHY? Why can't the children see them? They are right there. They aren't a figment of my imagination are they? You can see them right?

This is also a common theme of other items in the kitchen such as

I just threw out an empty bottle a couple days ago and there's another one that still has a tiny bit left in it and yet this bottle of ketchup is 2/3 gone so it's not like it was opened yesterday.....even if it is a major foodgroup they don't go through a bottle THAT fast.

Why open a new bottle or jar or box or container if there is one already open?

Other wonders of the day included.....Why are there 4 dishtowels in my daughters' room? Do they do dishes in their sleep? Highly unlikely. They don't particularly care for doing them when they are awake.

~K

Why you should google things before you commit

Some thought and planning while trying to come up with a name for my 'other blog', my scrapbooking one devoted to the occasional bursts of creativity and my scrapbooking/stamping biz, would have gone a long way.

Seems I overlooked the function of google (or other platforms) searches and didn't really test out different versions of the blog's name prior to it's creation.

I have a stat tracker on the blog so I can see who's stalking me reading my blog (hi sis...and you there sitting at your desk at work) and I can see what searches lead people to my blog.

Well it seems my scrap blog's name has a slight similarity to another site and half the people who end up there are looking for P*rn. Bet they are disapointed when they don't get what they are looking for huh. It will take a bit of work but I'm thinking I may relaunch the blog under another name and transfer the archives over. Really, I'd much rather not be attracting that kind of attention to myself .......plus it's a little disapointing to log into my stats and see I have 16 new visitors and then realize that only 3 of them were actually there to see me.


I'm thinking I could rename this one to Chaos & Confusion and I'll make the other one An Occasional Burst of Creativity.......and I have NO IDEA why I didn't think of THAT little bit of brilliance to begin with. Probably because my bursts of creativity are only occasional in nature.


Well, I'm off to enjoy the entire day of having the house to myself. Kids at school. The Mr. working dayshift. I'm on my own till 4pm and LOVE IT!!!! Mucho neglected house lately so I'm actually looking forward to cleaning it.



I'd say I'm in a Spring Cleaning mood but take a look out my front door this morning........does THIS look like spring to you?





The rain has turned to snow and we are supposed to get lots of it.


Do you think I should bundle up and go get that shovel? We might need it.

and then there was one

Only one day left. Today is officially done (well the work part of it) and there is only one more day left of our contract.

I'm COLD. Not a damn it's freaking cold out cold but a soaked to the skin, stepped in a ditch full of water up past my ankle, spent the day wearing dripping wet gloves/mitts x3 kind of cold.
Temperature wise it wasn't too bad. There were times it got a little nippy and I could see my breath but then it would warm up a bit and be okay. Somebody remembered to turn the rain making machine way down to it's lowest settting and I spent most of the day in a fine mist to slight drizzle which was just fine....would have preferred NONE at all but I am really really glad it didn't actually rain big fat drops like it was in the wee hours of the morning. Of course everything is covered in water so I got soaked anyway but at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And I know from experience it could have been way way worse and I'm glad it's over.

A funny thing happened today. I didn't see it personally, but I've been told that the crew that won the contract were following each of our trucks around for an hour or so today. Now I'm just gonna get up on my soapbox here for a quick minute and say...... hey dumb ass, you've undercut me and taken one of my contracts forcing me to give up my 2nd contract and go out of business and now you have the nerve to follow us around and see how we do it. Figure things out your own damn self and stop watching us. No wait. On second thought, I hope you did learn something by watching us. It's called customer service and your record isn't that great in that department so I hope you were paying close attention. My customers are used to top notch service and you'd better not give them anything less.

I really am glad there's only one day left - cuz I'm tired of it but I am going to miss it and all the people we've met over the years.

Aren't ya all gonna be so happy when I stop talking about garbage? LOL One more week.


~K

2 days left and it keeps just getting better and better

.
.
.
.
.
warning!

I'm about to rant.

Here's your chance to hit the back button


or hit that little red X in the top right corner

or click a link and get the heck outta here. I'm sure one of the blogs listed on the left there has something new and uplifting written on it. Cuz you won't find that here. Not today.




Okay. Don't say I didn't warn you.



Here goes.



WTH is that crap falling out of the sky?!?!


Seriously. There's only 2 Mondays left in my life of hauling away other people's garbage (recycling people....try it....you might like it!) and this is what I have to deal with today. RAIN!


Oh sure,

I moan and complain about -40.... like you don't.

I grumble and whine about being cold and having no feeling in bits and pieces of me that shouldn't ever be that cold.

I shudder at the phrase....'with the windchill'


but I can deal with it.

I can put on layers and stuff hot-hands packs in my boots and bundle up to the point where I'm sweating and freezing at the same time - it's an odd experience. Not one I recommend.


but....but....but.....but come on! RAIN?

It is impossible to stay dry.

It is impossible 'get' dry once you are soaked right through to the skin.

It's impossible.

Take my word for it. Because I've been there. Done that. Didn't like it then. Not keen on doing it now.


I still remember that time a couple years ago, it was late fall. Started out a nice day....and then it drizzled a little around noon.....and then it rained a bit and a little bit more and then the temps dropped and by 3 the rain turned to snow and my clothes turned to ice....and I didn't like it. It's very hard to move when the legs of your jeans are frozen stiff. I'm just saying - in case you were wondering....it's very difficult to do.


I tried calling in stupid but my boss just doesn't care that I'm his wife and I'm going to make his life a living misery if he makes me go to work in this. He'll be sorry. I might even make him make supper every night this week. Oh.....wait. Maybe that's not such a good idea. But I'll come up with something.

I guess I should take it easy on him though. He will be working in the rain too, but he's in and out of the truck all day long while I'm hanging on the back and for some reason he just doesn't get as soaked as I do.


It's 1am and the weather network says it's +2 right and overcast. Well I don't know where they are looking but out my backdoor it raining buckets and windy.

Forecast for morning is 'light rain'.....which in my books is still rain and if they think it's only overcast right now, what's their definition of light rain.

Scattered showers throughout the day. Oh goodie.

Guess I should go get some sleep and dream of warm, dry, happy places while I can and hope this is all a nightmare that I'll wake up from in the morning. Doubt it.

2 more Mondays.

That cat Garfield has the right idea. I Hate Mondays.




*edit: It's now 8am and the new forecast according to the radio is for *drizzle* off and on all day today. I'll believe it when the day is over but for now nothings falling from the sky. Still don't wanna go though. Well - better get the kids ready for the bus and get my day started.


~K

He's doing his part but REALLY?

Let's just take a quick look at how Al's helping out with our financial woes shall we.

He's working his second shift pumping gas (I noticed today the price of gas went up AGAIN btw) tonight and it's a full 8hour shift. He's working 4-12 which means I get to go back to town AGAIN (fuel prices people) after just having picked up the teen-boy who worked 4-9 at the competors gas station. Heehee. That just seems so funny to me for some reason, that father and son are working at competing stations. What's not so funny is they both get paid the same wage.

Sidetracked. Where was I?

Oh ya. Al's food-budget boosting techniques.

Well tonight, after picking Em up at a birthday party (for which Al will have to work an extra 3 hours this week to pay for the present and the fuel to take her to and from), the remaining children in my possession and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few necessities. Inbetween my whining that I shouldn't always be the one to think of something for supper and my vetoing their odd (icecream for supper?) and/or unaffordable (ordering pizza...while a nice idea - not budget friendly)ideas , the children and I were discussing what food was currently in the house.

We'd decided on Tacos. Not our usual fare but they'd been asking for them and I thought why not. It's been one heck of a busy weekend and that sounds quick and easy and something the late-working men-folk could heat up and eat when they got home from work. So we began picking up the few things we needed for the weeks lunches and some of the missing items for supper like taco shells and the fillings.

Is there cheese left?
No.
NO? Why not! I bought two large packages at the beginning of the month. If I buy more and get home and find a full block in the fridge you guys are gonna get it....and be eatting it for lunch for a week.

Is there any salsa sauce left?
No.
I'm sure there is...since I also just bought some and it's not something everyone likes so I'm sure there is. We'll take our chances on that one. Not buying it.

Is there hamburger?
I dunno?
Well, um....I know there was at least one package in the freezer left. What did dad make for supper last night while I was at "work" aka scrapbook day (making NO money I might add - I didn't even break even. Grrrr!) but I digress. Back to the issue at hand.

What did dad make for supper?
Nothing.
What do you mean nothing. I know damn well he fed you. There's no way my kitchen looks like that and he didn't feed you.
We went to bed when we got home and we ate at the bowling fundraiser.
Ya - I know that but you went home BEFORE the fundraiser and he fed you.....RIGHT?
Oh ya. We had spaghetti.

Okay cool. Now we are getting somewhere.
Did he put meat in the sauce or was it just plain sauce?
One kid says Yes.
One kid says No.
One kid has no opinion and is quietly sitting in the cart playing his DS - smart kid!

Ugh! So which is it? I turn to the 'reliable source' and ask...Was there meat in the sauce or not?
No there wasn't.
Okay so then by my mental picture there should still be hamburger in the freezer.
No, I mean there was no sauce.



Silence
.
.
.
.
.
.
Dead Silence
.
.
.
.
.

What do you mean there was no sauce?
There was no sauce. Just spaghetti.

What do you mean just spaghetti??????
Just plain spaghetti with nothing on it. No sauce.....unless you wanted ketchup on it.

YUCK!!!!

I'm speechless.....


But at least there was still a package of hamburger in the freezer for tacos.




~K

Well Damn!

That wasn't supposed to happen.


I finally heard from 'the job' last night.....via email.


The subject of the email said.....


Thank You


I didn't even need to open it to know what it said.


No job for me.


$12 bucks an hour plus benifits and 3 weeks holiday after a year would have been nice.

A cool job with a sport related non-profit would have been sweet.


*sigh*


So the search continues.

I put in an application at a local grocery store. Keeping my fingers crossed that it works out. We are getting down to the wire on the whole cash-flow thing.

~K

school sucks.....the money right out of me!

Spring Casual Pictures? HUH? What the heck! As if school picture day in the fall isn't hell enough, now we get spring pictures too. Of course they TOOK the pictures unless you sent back the notice saying you didn't want your child photographed. I must have overlooked that part (it was on the BACK of the paper) and since only one child actually brought the paper home I would have ended up with one set of pics anyway - the high school did not partake in this little venture so I guess I should be lucky I don't have four sets right. Now the pictures are beautiful and I'm completely impressed that both Emily and Owen were a) clean, b) well groomed and c) almost appropriately dressed.....Emily's wearing one of her fav t'shirts that says "I wanna drive the zamboni" which made me laugh in a 'really....THAT's what you were wearing' kind of way. Owen is wearing a shirt that I have him photographed in a zillion times (I think he was wearing it for Kindergarden picture day actually) but WOW has he ever grown up.



So now I'm holding 12 sheets of pictures in my hands valued at $80 and I'm thinking I should just revolt and return them all.....but they are sooooo good. Genius marketing plan Lifetouch. Take cute pics and THEN ask for money. Ugh! So I've picked out 3 sheets of each kid and I will bite my tongue and pay $48 for them(out of my photo budget for the month)......because I'm a scrapbooker and there's nothing more tempting to me than dang cute pictures.

It's not just these pictures either. Every week it's something. School is sucking the money right out of me. Yesterday Emily wanted $10 to buy daffodils at school. Request denied. Granted this is a fundraiser (I believe for CancerCare) but jimmineycrickets. Today it was money for pizza lunch - the kids get one hot ? meal served a month at school - also a fundraiser for the parent council. Again- request denied. I'm tapped out people. Tapped out!

Too bad I'm not going to be able to deny a couple other recent requests....for things like shoes or jeans. Who needs the government to stimulate the economy.....my growning kids are doing a darn fine job of it all on their own. Next thing you know they are going to want to eat too.

Somehow I managed to trim the food budget enough to actually make the first payment on our van this week. The extra $290 I didn't spend in groceries on the first Tuesday of the month has been missed though. We are scraping the bottom of the pantry for anything edible. It's a good thing I can go shopping tomorrow for groceries because if there isn't a box of granola bars in the house soon there might be a coup.






~K

Dude Got A Job!!!

It's minimum wage but minimum wage is better than no wage (and really.....contrary to what everyone thinks about us as self-employed people....we've been living on minimum wage for a long time.)



He starts training on Friday and has 4 shifts in the next week - whew! Those 29hours he's already scheduled for are money in the bank and will cover April's van payment and then some.



Feeling slightly less stressed this afternoon.



Next....... it's my turn. Please oh please oh please!!! Let it be my turn soon!

Tough Love - Living With Teens

In my world - parenting two teens (one mostly typical...he has his moments, and one who lives on her own curve) and two young-uns (both typical...although one out-thinks us all on a daily basis) there is never a dull moment under this leaky old roof. *By typical I mean a person who is not learning challenged or developmentally delayed.

I'm more than familiar with the day to day snarky-ness of the teen drama queen. Being non-typical doesn't change the fact that she's a teen.....it just changes how we go about dealing with it.

I'm not so familiar with the mostly-typical boy's teen-ness. He's a farily "new" teen being 14, almost 15 so it's relatively unfamiliar ground for us. He's also easing his way into the whole teen thing. Most days I accuse him of being 12. Then again, I believe I've also accused his father of being 12 a few times lately too. He's doing pretty well in school (for a change) and not giving me much grief over missed assignments and such which is a complete shock. For the most part he's a good spirited child but occasionally can be sullen and moody.

Teens are so sweet aren't they? I'm beginning to ' get' the joke about mothers of teens understanding why in the animal world, mother's sometimes eat their young. Last week would be one of those times I considered it a good idea.


Ty's a pretty busy kid. School and after-school activities etc plus working 2 jobs on the weekends refing hockey and working at a gas station. It's a lot of responsibility for a young kid but he wants to work - the almighty dollar is a powerful thing.

A week ago I got a call for Ty to do a couple games on Saturday. I wasn't sure what his work schedule was like but I told Doug that if there was a problem I'd let him know. On Monday when Tyler got his new work schedule I told him there was a conflict and he'd need to either switch his shift at work or call Doug and let him know he couldn't do the games. I've been putting my foot down on this whole mom as secretary thing. I'll take your phone messages and I'll book your games but if there's a problem you have to work it out. Well he didn't. I, as a good mom/secretary reminded him a few times Monday and again Tuesday about the schedule conflict and that he needed to work it out. Only problem is....he didn't.

On Friday I ditched the secretary hat and went into full-on mom mode and when he didn't immediately jump to find the phone and try to reschedule things he got one heck of a lecture. Tough Love takes no prisoners and I kept on him about it and in return I was glared at and there was an occasional snarky tone in his voice - cuz remember, teens are "sweet" - not! I was as helpful as possible, offering suggestions of who to call, even going so far as to find phone numbers for him but I refused to fix this. He'd been aware of the problem and reminded of it numerous times during the week and I'm pretty strong in my position on this one. The mom of one of the other kids that works at the gas station often calls me to switch shift for her son with my son. My opinion is....it's your job. You get the pay cheque. You deal with the schedule conflicts yourself.

Unfortunately, his communication skills are still developing so in all his phone calls to co-workers (also teen boys who's communication skills are still developing) key information may not have been presented in the best way - but I digress. In the end he couldn't find someone to switch shifts with him at the gas station and he ended up having to call his Ref Coordinator and apologize and tell him he wouldn't be able to ref the games Saturday afternoon, which left Doug scrambling at the last minute to find refs - not fair to him at all and Ty knows it. It was a good lesson for him to learn and had I 'fixed' it (because I found out later I could have fixed it had I called one kids parents.....d'oh! darn me and my stand on the situation!) it wouldn't have inconvenienced anyone....but he wouldn't have learned anything.

Just Keep Swimming

Less than 24 hours from now the deadline closes for bids on our contract tender.

It's been an emotional few days.

People are conspiring against me and trying to convince my husband to bid. They are all going the right way for a smack bottom ( Shrek reference - disney/pixar makes them for all occasions) if they keep that up. Different people keep coming up with different reasons why we should bid and they are all valid but it would be financial & emotional suicide if we did....not that it isn't even if we don't. I so want off this roller coaster!

I told Al that if he does bid on it he'd better make the amount high - really, really high - because he's going to need a damn good divorce lawyer - and those ain't cheap!

I think we've both come to terms with the loss of a business we've worked damn hard to build and keep alive and that has supported our family for 14 years. It's a part of us. It's who we are and we take a lot of pride in it. I think we've both been feeling just slightly like we've failed. That we are giving up too easily - but we know deep down, it's time for a change. We've accepted that but it's still hard and emotional at times - like the past few days, as the tender deadline gets closer and closer. Tomorrow it's over .....and then we only have 2 more Mondays to finish up our obligation on our contract and then it's really over....at least the 'work' part is over. The financial mess will last for years to come I'm sure.

What we've yet to figure out is how we will dig ourselves out of this massive pile of debt the business has acquired over the years and we just aren't in a place to think about what to do about that at this point. We are focusing on the here and now - the day to day operating expenses and providing for our family but the looming loss of income is starting to take it's toll. Once one - or preferably both of us, finds jobs then I hope some of the pressure and stress will subside.

Our last pay cheque on the contract will be coming in at the end of the month. If we don't have personal income coming in before then, we will be facing some serious decisions. Our family's survival vs business expenses. I'd prefer to not have to take a personal pay cheque from the last contract cheque if at all possible so that we will have a bit of money in the bank to cover monthly truck payments & its' insurance until it's sold.....actually I'm terrified just thinking about how to cover those payments should the truck not sell quickly.

Find-a-happy-place! Find-a-happy-place! Find-a-happy-place!



On a positive spin - today rocked. The weather was PERFECT for working in. Not so cold I had to bundle up( t-shirt and a light sweater all day!) but for almost all of the day it was cool enough that the snow wasn't melty and slushy so I didn't get soaked PLUS I remembered to take Al's ipod so I got to listen to music all day which is a lot more fun than being alone on the back of the truck with nothing but the music in my head and my own thoughts to keep me company. I actually had fun....but not so much fun that I'd want to do keep doing it. 2 more Mondays!

What to do. What to do. It's quite a pickle I'm in.

It's funny how things I read on other people's blogs jog my memory....my poor poor sad excuse of a memory and I remember either things I forgot to do or things I forgot I had wanted to write a post about - or both.

This is one of those posts. It's a post where I rant about our social worker.

Occasionally I have this fear that because I haven't changed the names of my children or that because I've posted too much information about us and some whack-a-doodle will track us down but I'm not really worried about that. I'm more worried someone I know will find this blog and tell our social worker I think she's a shmuck.....not that it's not a popular opinion around here with anyone who has the thrilling fortune to be on her case load but still, it's an opinion I'm occasionally not sure I'd want her to know. But on the other hand. I don't give a damn. The woman is a shmuck.

General consensus from a few people I've talked to about her is that we only hear from her in April. You know. Budget month. Well, it's almost April darlings and that means she should be making her annual telephone call to me any time now to let me know how little of my respite budget money I spent last year (lack of suitable respite workers will do that to a budget.....see how she's saving the govt' money) and I'll bet anyone a buck she asks if Aarica wants to go to camp this summer (easy way to spend my entire respite budget in one lump sum making much less work for her) and she might even get around to asking what grade Aarica's in and how she's is doing in school....only she will pronounce Aarica's name wrong - no wait, it's MY name she pronounces wrong or is it both. I dont' know. It's been almost a year.

As you can tell, she's not my favorite person and since Aarica is getting very very close to being turfed out of the Childrens Special Services department and handed over like the name on a file folder that she is to the Adult Services department, I'd kind of planned on just riding out the next year of our sentence...I mean time with CSS and this social worker until we were assigned someone from Adult Services.

I actually received a letter in early February from someone higher up in the social worker food chain (who just happens to have been our social worker for about a year, many many years ago) regarding Adult Services. I really should find that letter. I know it's around here in this mess somewhere. The letter states that Aarica has been "approved" (because what...they were expecting her to miraculously not need services overnight) and her case has been assigned to Adult Services for intake and our new social worker would be contacting us within 10 days of the date of the letter which was January 30th.

It's almost the middle of March and I've suddenly realized, I still haven't heard from anyone regarding this letter and I should really call about it. After-all, I am supposed to be an advocate for my daughter and keep on top of these things. Our "new" social worker is getting off to a wonderful start. She's right on top of her paperwork/follow-up telephone calls in much the same manner as our "old" social worker. Amazing. It's like they are the same person.

And do you want to know why?



Here comes the kicker.




It's Un-freaking-believable.




Because it's the same damn woman!!!! ARGH!!!!!! Somebody just kill me now!

What to do. What to do. Do I call the social worker or go over her head and contact her supervisor who'd sent the letter in the first place? It's quite the pickle.


~K

can you feel the love

What would I do without those closest to me?


Well for starters I probably wouldn't have this twitch in my left eye.


Let's examine their "love" for me shall we.


So I applied for a job. I touched up my resume and I look pretty good on paper. What I lack in experience I make up for in experiences. What I lack in employment I make up for in self-employment.

I get a call for an interview with a request to bring in references. D'oh!

The "references" thing is something I was lacking. Face it. I'm an office of one. I don't have alot of contact with people through work - all people know is they put their garbage out and it's magically disappears. Not something "reference worthy". Who could I use as references? Think Think Think.

I finally came up with 3 people who I thought - okay - theses people know me (some more than others) and after asking permission from the three I got reactions ranging from "absolutely" to "okay but it will cost you" (cuz my friends love me like that).

After the interview I'm feeling okay. A little shell-shocked with the whole ordeal but pretty good about how it went.

This past week I've been torn between waiting for the phone to ring and afraid to pick up the mail fearing a letter saying I've been cut from the pack.

Then I get a text message (which wasn't supposed to come to my phone - it was meant for Al's phone) saying "if she gets the job she's going to owe me" and I become a nervous wreck. A little while later I get another text message from another of my 3 references saying she'd just got off the phone with the woman from The Job. Okay. Now I'm a complete nervous wreck. It appears my references are being contacted. People are talking about me. That's not stressful AT ALL. I saw my 3rd reference today and she's been playing telephone tag with the woman from The Job. Oye. I'm beyond nervous, but it's a good sign so I'm happy happy happy.

Still no word from The Job but I did get a glimps into one of the conversations regarding my reference. I didn't ask what was asked or what was said. I just don't want to know at this point but my ever funny, sarcastic friend did fill me in on a few tid-bits from her conversation with the woman from The Job. It just so happens she went to school with her so after they'd finished talking this woman asked if there was anything else my reference wanted to say and what did she come up with as a reply.....

.
.
.
.
.
she makes a funny and says..... (remember she knows the woman who interviewed me)
.
.
.
.
. "so I guess this isn't the part where I tell you about her pound a day crack habit huh?"




Great! Make jokes about me. Cuz that's what I'm here for. Your entertainment pleasure.

and for the record she was JOKING. Pack a day cigarette habit - yes. Epicure Belgum Chocolate Canadian Maple chips addiction - yes. Crack - NOT! She was just being her witty self. Hope witty works. Personally I'm thinking she just doesn't want me to get this job so I'll sit at home and blog all day so that she has something to read at work.
.
.
.
.
. *hey you...yes you......i know you are there reading this.....get back to work!*


I wonder what other things (witty or not) the other 2 said about me.


I'm feeling the love I tell ya.


Then tonight, as I'm watching the latest episode of ER (only 3 more left.....*sigh*) and for anyone that hasn't seen it yet and doesn't want to know what happens I won't go into too much detail but during the episode a grandmother is faced with the decission to give permission to donate her grandson's organs. The producers/writers etc did an awesome job with this story line in my opinion.

Anyway. I turned to Al at one point and said.....

"YES! Given that situation......your answer to the doctors is YES! "


and I'm thinking - profound, deep moment here. Making my wishes known to my next of kin (not that I'm not sure he knew them without this conversation anyway but it's always good to clarify things once inawhile)


and he looks at me - with absolute seriousness in his voice (should have known some smartass comment would come out of his mouth....but I didn't)


in a pretend conversation with a doctor my husband says......
.
.

.
.
.

"But Sir, are you absolutely certain this is what you want. She only has a cold"

to which he replys

"YES!"


UGH! Jackass!


Now you will excuse me. I need to go take some Advil for my migraine and get a warm cloth for this twitch in my eye. It's good to be loved.

~K

a bit of rambling

Thursday.





Already.





So much on the go today.





Aarica's at home this morning. Obsessing. Asking the same questions over and over.



Her routine has been compromised so she's got a little anxiety going on.



She's stressing (rightfully so) about the blood test she has to take this morning. She hasn't had blood drawn in many many years - and she sure doesn't remember the last time - even though I do. It's vivid in my memory (which isn't that good so it really is a strong memory). The one and only time she's had blood drawn was for a series of genetic tests done way back when she was about 3. I remember holding this screaming, non-verbal child who was terrified and had no clue what all these people were doing to her.



She's even more stressed though by the fact that she can't eat. This blood work is a 12 hour fasting blood sugar test and even though she's normally in bed before 10:30pm (the time her 12 hour fast started) she was repeatedly asking about it last night before bed and then again this morning she's going through the same questions....."no milk?" no. "no toast?" no. "no coffee?" no....and you can't have that anyway so why ask about that one.


The crazy thing is our usual morning conversations are more in the opposite direction with us telling her she needs to eat something, anything. Most times she won't and other than drinking milk she rarely has anything at all except the occasional granola bar (and absolutely refuses to take a lunch....cuz she's in highschool you know and that's just not cool. If she can't buy it at the cafeteria she doesn't want it).


One more hour and then we can get this blood work done and then for sure she will want to eat - just for the sake of eatting - because this is the kid that won't eat breakfast and refuses to take a lunch unless it's in the form of money.


She also has an EKG scheduled. She's not too concerned about that one. I've explained about all the sticky tape they will place on her chest and arms and legs (i've been through enough of them with my mom in the last 8 months to know exactly how this test goes) and the tricky part will be her lying completely still for the entire minute and a half it takes for the machine to do its' thing. Being quiet and still is not what Aarica does best.

Thinking of this takes me back to the time Aarica had her hearing tests done (funny how the traumatic things stick in your mind) and oh was it traumatic. She was about 7 years old and still pretty much non-verbal and incapable of sitting still for 30 seconds and they wanted her to lay perfectly still and quiet for approximately 20minutes (as if!) while the computer recorded how her brain reacted to noises fed into her ears. Add to this the tech doing the test totally stuck his foot in his mouth and she panicked. Really panicked (is that spelled correctly?).

He said " I'm just going to glue these leads to your head."

That's it.

Simple sentence....well aside from the fact that he'd also been trying to explain what he would be doing to her in technical lingo that went over MY head but that's besides the point.

That one sentence, to a child with limited (very limited) verbal skills, and took everything so literally back then (still does to an extent....sarcasm is totally lost on her) thought he was going to permanently stick those wires to her head. OH the tears and trauma that resulted.

So we have this terrified, crying child that now has to lay still for 20 minutes. It didn't happen and 2 hours later we rescheduled for a couple weeks later. 2 - 60minute trips into the city and 3.5hours of testing later we had the results of this test. Moderate/severe hearing loss in one ear - congenital in nature - the nerves between her ear & brain didn't quite connect from the get-go.



Oddly enough, the same guy tested Emily's hearing a couple weeks after she was born and Owen when he was two and the tests were easy peasy and took 20 minutes tops and he didnt' freak any of my other children out. Of course Emily was only 2 weeks old and alseep in her carseat the whole time and didn't even flinch. Technology rocks. If only this hearing screening was routine for all newborns - imagine how few would slip through the cracks like Aarica did almost 17 yrs ago (yes...THAT's how old she's going to be in May!)

oppps......got way off track there didn't I.



Back to today.

Thursday. (and btw - this was supposed to have posted while I was at Aarica's appointment but dial-up was being snarky and it didn't go through.....so now I'm back and finishing up this post.)


How did it go?


Easy Peasy-ish.


The hardest parts of the whole thing was the waiting.

"I don't want to do this" but you have to.

"why do I have to have tests" to make sure the meds you are taking aren't doing funky things to your body.

"but i don't want to" sorry but you have to.

"it's going to hurt & i'm not doing it" it's going to be fine and yes you are.

"when can i eat?" when we are done here

"i don't want to do this" (even as she's sitting in the chair in the lab)

"you aren't going to jab my arm are you?" no but you can't move your arm at all

"i don't want to do this"

And in 20 seconds it was over and the most painful part was answering all the questions before, during and after.

And then we waited for the EKG.....and waited.....and guess what....answered more questions.

"How many tests again?" two - the blood which you've already done and the heart which is next

"And then I can eat?" yes

"but I don't want to do anymore tests." you are almost done and the next one is easy

" how many more?" only one more and it's easy. You just have to lay there and be quiet (if that's remotely possible) and not ask questions.

"but this is stupid. i don't need these tests" yes you do

"what will they do again" put little stickers on you and clip wires to them and the computer does all the work. you just have to lay STILL and NOT TALK.

"when can I eat" ugh...when we are done. where the heck is that tech?

and then.....to mortify her even more she had to put on a gown.

"why do i have to wear this" so they can put the stickers on you.

"do i really have to take my bra off too?" oh for pete's sake yes!

"how long is this going to take" 5 mintues if you cooperate. longer if you don't.

"i don't really want to do this" so i've heard.

and then it was over.

easy peasy....except for the questions.
oh and i did sneak a peek at the printout - *normal sinus rythmn; borderline left axis deviation* and i don't have a clue what that means, but it sure would have been nice to have a baseline EKG done before starting these meds to compare to this one huh.....but what do i know.

I need a drink now and they should probably hook me up to one of those EKG machines cuz I'm sure the print out would be freakin amazing!

"can we go to Subway now?" yes

dont' even get me started on the questions THAT involved.

"what kind of bread would you like that on?" ...............ARGH!!!!


Aarica could SO work at Subway. She LOVES to ask questions!

~K

Something Else I'd Spend My Lottery Winnings On

My spending spree continues.

I was thinking a whole new wardrobe complete with new shoes that don't hurt my feet was next on my shopping list but alas.....

That will have to wait.

There are other more pressing things that need my lottery winnings attention.



Wait for it.



Wait for it.



You ready?



Bowling. That's what I'd spend money on. Now ultimately Al would like to buy the bowling centre but really....how much does he think we are winning here. I've already spent a fortune on a new house and furnishings...... and a book..... and a trip to Chicago.

Seriously though, it would be sweet to win this Friday's Super7 because oh how we would love to pay for an upcoming trip to Toronto (although it's scrapbook weekend so how could I possibly go) but there are 4 boys and their families that I would so love to foot the bill for.

Last weekend one of the teams that Al's been coaching at bowling were in the Provincial 4 player scratch team tournament.......and the little brats WON!!!

Being low coach on the totem pole, Al wasn't with them at the Provincials (he stayed home to run regular house-league while the other coaches took the 4 player team and 3 of our other bowlers who were in Provincial Singles tournaments that day as well) but he's so proud of 'his boys'.

They are off to Nationals in Toronto May 2, 3 & 4!


Them winning is awesome and we are so proud of them but.....


it's sure stirred up some issues. Money issues.


This trip is going to cost huge huge bucks baby and the families of these boys are scrambling. Some more than others but all of them are scrambling in some way because this isn't going to be a cheap weekend.


The flight costs for the 4 boys are covered by YouthBowlingCanada but that's it. Hotel rooms for 4-5 days, plus food and transportation is all the responsibility of the parents. Have I mentioned this isn't going to be cheap?


So, winning the lottery this weekend is a long shot and in the mean time it looks like we as a bowling league will be scrambling in the next few weeks to pull together some fundraising event(s) to help these families with the costs associated with this trip. Anyone have any ideas?


~K

Another Thing I'd Do If I Won the Lottery

Awhile back someone sent me an email with a link to an ebay auction.

It was the funniest thing I'd read in ages....given that at the time the extent of my reading involved Blues Clues board books and Junie B Jones chapter books.

I've since graduated to listening to Grade 1 home reading books (tonight it was True or False - Finding Out About Newfoundland Dogs) or the latest FlyGuy or Frog and Toad book, listening to play-by-play chapter updates of Clarice Bean or any number of books with a newspaper reporter mouse that I can't for the life of me remember the name of at the moment plus I've been reading grown-up books too.....Jodi Picoult being my author of choice at the moment.

Mostly though I read blogs - because the "chapters" are ever evolving and I get glimps into the lives and thoughts of other mom-blogger's (and dad-blogger's too) and my world doesn't seem so bizzare....or at least I don't feel so alone in my bizzare-ness.

One of the first blogs I became addicted to is Because I Said So by mom-blogger Dawn and she was also the owner of the extremely funny ebay auction that I read awhile back. The reaction to that auction was incredible - so much so that it resulted in her blog becoming a huge hit and she began writing a book.

I've been waiting for the release of that book for ages - and then some because the release date was pushed back a few months....to this spring! Finally the book is getting ready to launch and as Dawn writes in this post on her blog , she is auctioning off the first copy of her first book on ebay with half of the proceeds of the auction going to charity.

I'm not an ebay buyer (unlike some people I know) but if I won the lottery I would so bid on that ebay auction.....and since this is my little dream world and I can pretty much do what I wish with my imaginary lottery winnings, I'd also hop on a plane and attend the launch of her book in Chicago -well....probably not since I'm pretty sure I lack the necessary paperwork to actually cross the border into the US, but it's not like I'm winning the lottery and making this at all possible anyway.

This is fun. Wonder what other things I can come up with to spend my pretend winnings on.

When I Win the Lottery

One of the 'free-lance' jobs Al & I have been doing for almost a year now started out as construction clean up of debris around the building site of a new condo development. From there it moved to hauling away the construction garbage from inside the houses and also cleaning up after the trades and doing things like preping the subfloor so the flooring installers could come in and lay the carpet,vinyl and hardwood (take my advice - do not EVER install dark walnut hardwood flooring or cabinetry no matter how pretty it looks. It is evil to clean!) Lately we have been cleaning up the finished or almost finished units before open house events.

We've watched these 4 condo units grow from the ground up and we love them all. The floor plans are all awesome and Al loves the 8 ft ceilings in the basements (he hasn't hit his head on a light fixture yet....and I counted - in each house there are a minimum of 4 teleposts per basement ---- FOUR!)

I am particularly in love with the floor plan of the 3 bedroom show-home unit including the wall colours, cabinetry, flooring and all the staging fixtures. I'm seriously head over heels in love!

I love the kitchen!

The living/dining room!

The master bedroom and bath!

I seriously love everything about it....except cleaning it! Actually, cleaning the one unit isn't so bad. It's having to clean all 4 and having to clean up after the trades (who are messier than my kids in some ways). It took me 10+ hours not including the time it took to haul hot water and Al spent 6 hours cleaning the garages and basements and hauling away all the garbage.

Even with all that work though, I still love them and I want one so bad!

Some day. Some way. We will have one built on our property.

I hope.

The more we think about it the more and more it's what our goal is. The house we currently live in won't live forever - no question about that. How much longer is anybody's guess. These particular 'condo' houses seem to be the best option. They are duplex houses and the one we like has a 3bedroom unit on one side and a 2 bedroom unit on the other. We are fairly certain that Aarica will never live truely independantly but we are hopefull that one day she would be able to live with some supervision in one side of the house while we live in the other - then we would be close by but we would each have our own space. I don't know if this is a realistic goal but for now it's an idea - a hope - a dream. I think it's going to have to involve a lottery ticket or two too so I'd better start buying them.

~K

Saved by the Midnight-Blogger

Don't ever let anyone tell you being a night owl (or having one in the family.... Owen would stay up ALL night if we let him) or sitting up past midnight doing something as silly as blogging or reading blogs can't be a good thing. O was being all night-owl-ish on Friday night and I was sitting up playing online so we were both awake and in or near the living room and we were able to save the life of the newest member of this household....which would be Nibblet or Nibble-It.

Once upon a time, Al and I had a hamster. We were living in an apartment in the city with two cats and something possessed us to get one. As hamsters go - Houdini ROCKED. He really was cool. We could let him out of his cage (supervised) and he would wander on the floor between us....no need for one of those hamster ball things plus and he terrified our pathetic excuses for cats. One couldn't care less that there was a rodent loose in the apartment and the other was...well....quite frankly he was afraid of the little thing - especially if it dared touch his paws. Too Funny! Anyway he got his name Houdini because a) Al picked it and b) he always looked like he was doing death defying hanging tricks off the top rungs of his cage and looked like he was attempting to escape. Well let me tell you Houdini had nothing on Nibble-It. That little bugger has figured out how to escape!

I'm serious. Around 12:30 Saturday morning, Owen calls to me from his perch on the couch and says....."He's opening the door of the cage mom! " I'm thinking "Ya Right" but went in to see what Nibble-It was doing and just as I got close to his cage "pop" there went the latch and sure enough he'd gotten it open and was in the process of pushing his fat little body (he's gained some serious weight in the last two weeks I'm sure) past the hatch. I quickly pushed him back into the cage and O stood guard, holding the door closed while I frantically tried to think think think of something, anything to keep the door shut - something he couldn't nibble through. I ended up putting a binder ring through the door and around the wire bars of his cage and now he is effectively padlocked inside the cage....for now.

I don't even want to think what Saturday morning would have been like if we'd both been in bed and hadn't caught on to his little trick when we did. Princess Em would have been very upset to find an empty cage and if the cats hadn't found Nibble-It, I'm not sure we ever would have. This house has way too many hiding spots a little critter like that could get into.

I'm still jumpy that he will find yet another escape route though and I'm thinking we may need to get a different cage. Maybe we should be re-naming him too because Houdini seems a more fitting name for this little escape artist.

Automated Messages - a commentary

Caller ID is a wonderful thing. It allows me to know, to a certain degree, who's calling me.

I answer those I know and those with local numbers. I'll even answer a long distance call should the caller be so kind as to not block their ID. Actually, I'll even answer a blocked ID occasionally since there are a few people who call from their places of work and their ID is automatically blocked but we have a system for answering these. It's a secret. If you don't know it, then you aren't one of the ones that calls from a blocked ID that we really want to talk too. Oh - wait. Maybe you are and you just don't know 'the system'.

Calls I prefer not to answer come from the 800/866 long distance calls. You know, the ones.

The telemarketer who insists I absolutely want to save money on my long-distance bill and then heckles me when I say no. Really, I'm fine with my phone company thankyouverymuch!

The charity I've never heard of and quite frankly couldn't afford to donate to if I truely trusted the stranger on the other end of the phone and wanted to anyway and then heckles me for not wanting to help some poor school kids get the breakfast they need in order to have a productive day of learning - yes, really, she heckled me for saying no.

The marketing survey dude pretending he really wants my opinion for his stupid survey.....really - my opinion doesn't matter enough for you to call me at 8am or 10pm....or any other time of day.

Then there are the customer service (loose use of the term here folks) representative who is either calling to ask when they can expect a payment on my account *snort* or just making a courtesy call which is most likely on an account 'not in my name' so they sure as heck don't want to talk to l'il-ol'-me.

The calls that really, really, REALLY bug me though are any of the above that don't actually have a LIVE person on the other end IF by some miracle I'm in the mood to speak to them or IF by their misfortune I'm in a mood and want to tell them where to stick their phone and my phone number. If you can't be bothered to dial that number and be ON THE LINE when I answer then why the heck should I waste my time listening to your automated message asking me to either hold for the next available representative or worse yet run me through a whole damn marketing message that last a minute and a half before I'm given the option of having my number removed from your list so that "my captain" will stop calling me to tell me I've won some stupid trip - as IF!

Yesterday's phone call takes the cake on all of these automated messages though. It was a local number even. One recognizable. It's even on my calling list on my cell phone. If was from....

.

.

.

.

.

.

my kids' highschool

at 6pm

Seriously!

The highschool computer system called me with an automated voice message ( I also received an email message too).

Hello *pause* a child in your household *pause* in grade
10*pause* was absent on March 5th during *pause*period 3. Please
contact the school or send a written note explaining this absense. To hear
this message again press 1

which I had to do about 5 times to really 'get' the full extent of what the heck the message was about and then figure out which of the kids was 'in grade 10'...cuz we're smrt like that.

Boy what grade are you in again? 9

okay, so that leaves.....The Girl.

Boy, when exactly is "period 3?" Uh, well, if you count EP then well um, but it's not really a full time slot so I guess um, it's the first class after lunch - maybe - uh, well. Ya. I guess the first class after lunch. cuz he's smrt like that.

GIRL! What class did you have right after lunch today? Uh, Uh, rattles off some letters of which I have NO CLUE what they stand for - I think it's a travel and tourism course but can't swear to it.

Ya Sure. Okay. So who's the teacher in that class? Audrey.

Ya okay, I know you are with Audrey (her EA) but who's the TEACHER of the class. Uh - Mr. F

And did you go to Mr. F's class today? Well, no. I was with Audrey in the resource room doing 'hygiene stuff' (don't ask....i'm just going to move right along and not even go there. it's 'programming i'm trying to be supportive of but think is well....nevermind. my bloodpressure can't handle that topic today)

So The Girl was "absent" from a class that in all honesty is probably above her head on so many levels anyway working with her EA on resourse/life skills things that the school has initiated and the school is calling ME to ask ME why she wasn't in class? PLUS.... this is a special needs student who's whereabouts should be monitored at all times. If she's not in a class that she should be in I would hope that the teacher would attempt to find out why - at that time - not 2.5 hours after school with an automated message.

I don't know how this automated system really works but I'm assuming that someone (a live person) has to enter the information of who "skipped" what classes into the system and then the system does it's thing. It's feeling rather impersonal to me, especially since my children are directly involved with these teachers on a daily basis. Couldn't these teachers, then in turn, have some direct involvement with parents when an issue such as this one comes about - not that this particular instance should be an issue at all since it's clearly a lack of communication between the resource dept and the classroom teacher on this one. Wonder if I could set up an automated call system.

Resource Dept phone rings 2.5 hours after school.

Hello *pause* this is an automated system calling to inform you
that *pause* a child in your program in *pause* Grade 10, was
absent on March 5th from *pause* Period 3. Please contact the
teacher tomorrow and explain why this child was absent from class.

***anyway, now that i'm done ranting....I called the school - as did apparently a whole lot of parents today. It's a new system and they are working out 'The Bugs'. The teacher inputs their info into the system (when they do this i'm not exactly sure - during class when they take attendance? after school?) and they are only given the option of absent, late or present. There is no "excused" option that the teacher can choose which would eliminate this type of call. So yes, The Girl wasn't IN class so even though she was in school and pulled out of class (or in her case, just didn't go to the class in the first place because of other programming done during that time slot?) she was marked as absent and the system doesn't take anything else into account and makes the automated call. Like I said. Kind of impersonal.

I foresee many of these calls in my future unless they work out these bugs quickly. The Boy takes a "pull out option course" so each time he has Band so he's effectively absent from a couple of his regular classes each week.

~K

More Bordom Buster Rambling

What else has been going on around here?

Job Hunting. Fun Stuff Baby!

As I've mentioned Al's working on getting his Class 1 license. He wrote the first part of the written tests last week and passed with flying colours. People he's talked to have said that the first test is the harder of the two written tests so he's feeling pretty good. He writes the 2nd part next Thursday.

So far the total cost of him getting his class one is $10 each for the two written tests and $95 for the medical (someone else recently had this same form filled out with a different doctor who charged $125 so I'm not as ticked about the $95). The medical form still needs the eyesight portion filled in and since he'd have had to have an eye test for this medical I'll add the $65 charge from last months surprise at the optomitrist to the total. I'm sure there will be an added charge for filling in the medical form too. Once he's got his written tests done there is the road test to do which I believe is another $50.

That brings us to a grand total of $230 (minimum) that this license is going to cost and that's providing there are no more surprise 'fees' for forms and that he doesn't need an additional re-tests...which I'm sure he won't. He definately lacks some confidence that he knows what he's doing.... but he really does know what he's doing. I have faith that he will be the proud bearer of a Class 1 (with airbrakes) license very soon....and after spending all that money on this - it better result in a damn good paying job!

As for my road to employment. It feels more like a little dirt path at the moment but I'm hoping the path is leading to a sunny spot. I sent in a resume a couple weeks ago for a job that was advertised in the local paper and went on an interview for the job on Wednesday. I must have answered a zillion questions and probably took too much time to complete the computer tasks assigned to me but I think I did fairly well. I'm feeling over qualified for the job and yet seriously lacking experience for the job all at the same time. It's an odd feeling. I hope to hear soon if I get the job or not. I really really need it because this whole unemployment thing is way hard on the budget and I really really want it because the job itself sounds like it would be so awesome and honestly I think I'd love it and be pretty darn good at it. As jobs go, I don't think I could find one that would suit me more.

I recently found a card that one of our former customers sent us. We quite often get cards at Christmas time (along with treats of the baked or liquid kind) and this one had an added note written into it wishing us well in the New Year and hoping that as that door of our lives closes a new and better window will open up for us. We could both really use a boost to climb through that open window right about now and my getting this job could be just that boost.

(At Work) Boredom Buster Blog Post - Part Dos

Another recent text message

" 140/90 isn't that bad is it?"

"Ummmmm. Well it's not perfect but I don't think your heart is going
to explode.....today. What did the doctor say about it?"

"Well he asked if there as a history of high bloodpressure in the family
which i guess would be a yes."

"He also asked if there was any stress in my life."

*SNORT*

I'm guessing since he asked, our doctor doesn't read my blog. If he did, he would have known the answer.

So Al's got a follow-up in a couple months and he's supposed to go to the pharmacy occasionally and check his bp on their machine in the mean time.

I believe there was also some mention of loosing a wee bit o' weight which I'm pretty involves cutting down on the PAILS of icecream consumed on a regular basis and while the work we do is pretty darn physical, I'm thinking a little cardio could be helpful.

Now the reason Al was at the Dr's office to begin with wasn't that he wasn't feeling well. Honestly, that man never gets sick. It acually makes me sick cuz I just have to hear the word strep and it infects me (Al's nephew just tested positive so it should be any day now for me - ohjoy) and yet I can share a drink with Al and he would be just fine. Grrrrr (doh..sidetracked rant)

Anyway, the reason for the Dr's visit was that as part of getting his Class 1 license, he had to have a "medical check-up". Now they (the licensing people) say this is a "physical" but in retrospect ---- it so isn't! The entire "check-up" involved being weighed and having his bp taken and answering a handful of questions.

Do you have a drinking problem? No.
Do you have an icecream problem? Yes....oh wait...that wasn't one of the questions - but it should have been.
Do you abuse drugs? No.
Have you ever abused drugs? No.
Have you have a history of kidney or heart problems? No and No.

And.....

That's it.

The entire "check-up" in a nut-shell.

The Dr marked off the appropriate boxes, noted his weight and bloodpressure and they were done.

No blood work or nothing.

And for that we got to write a glorious cheque in the amount of $95.

He can't be very concerned about Al's blood pressure if that's what he's charging to fill out paperwork. I know it shot mine up a couple points.

Come on!

For that kind of cash dammit I expected the man to put on a pair of gloves and make Al cough!



A few hours later I was at the same Dr's office too. Aarica had an appointment for her prescription refill. Seriously, there were more questions asked and more tests ordered at Aarica's appointment. He asked how things are going on the meds (GOOD!) and how things were in general (it is what it is). He asked if we had any counciling help - which is a big negative since our phychologist guy took another job. *sigh* and he talked to Aarica about her boyfriend situation and gasp even asked her about sex. It was quite the chitchat.

After he handed us another 3 months prescription PLUS a lab requisition for some tests, I shoo'd her out of the room (and she actually went to the lab on her own and made the appointments for her tests...all on her own...how cool) and I talked to the Dr briefly about Aarica and boys and the possibility that birthcontrol might be an option in the near future - just for safety sake more than anything. She's so unaware of life and could so easily be taken advantage of so it's something that is on our minds these days.

In the mean time, he's ordered fasting blood sugar and a EKG to check her sugars and her heart function - things that need to be kept an eye on with long term use of the meds she's taking and we will talk some more about the results and everything else next time.

And for all that Manitoba Health picks up the tab, but not to fill out a simple form for a class 1 drivers license application.

Go Figure - Not that I'm complaining.

My blood pressure probably wouldn't have been too stellar if I'd been given a bill for Aarica's appointment. Wonder what that would have cost me in the US?

(At Work) Boredom Buster Blog Post - Part Uno

via text message ---- "You should update your blog. I need something to read."

Getting right on that.

Cuz I aim to please.

Actually I've been trying to get to it for days now but that whole mountain of paperwork/laundry/errand running/financial crisis thing just keeps getting in the way.

I know. I know.

Some peoples' priorities are just not in the right place. I'll try to do better.

So tonight, I'm cozy in my jammies after a long and stressful couple days and I'm going to update both of my blogs. (i hope)

What's new? Hmmmm

Couple new additions to the family.

Al's niece.....Baby Sarah - who slept in a laundry basket for 2 days. LOVE IT! Made me remember the weeks after Aarica was born. We spent alot of time at gramma's ceramic shop and didn't have a stroller yet so Aarica would nap in a banana box. I should dig up those pics.

Of significantly less importance is the addition of a new pet to our household. We aquired a hamster cage many months ago and finally went to the city to get a critter to put in it.

He's cute and has only been briefly lost once behind the couch but I wasn't even sure he was going to make it home from the city.

Honestly. What kind of idiot thinks a small thin box is going to contain something with teeth like that? We'd picked out the critter and made a quick stop at two stores so Ty could get a playstation game and Al could get a pair of jeans with his birthday gift card - 20mins tops. Well in those 20 minutes the chewing was of epic proportion and I knew there was no way that box would last another hour ride home so I did what any good mom would do and made a sacrifice.I dumped the contents of my beloved purse into a bag and put the box with the ever growing sunroof into it and zipped it up. 5minutes later the little $10 critter was merrily munching on the INSIDE of my $50 purse. *sigh* Nothing a needle and thread can't fix and Emily is thrilled to bits with Nibblet.