Nice Relaxing Day Off....to blog and flower shop and oh wait...

The day started out beautifully. Even the accidently sleeping in part and the kids missing the bus....because I didn't have to be at work early this morning so it was all good...and that extra hour of sleep rocked!

I had plans to do a little errand running late this morning with my mom, visit with her, be home when the kids got home from school for a change. Al could take the van to work and I could just spend a nice quiet evening at home. No rushing. No fussing. Nothing fancy. Just a pretty basic day.

BLAM!!!!

Did you catch that.

That's the sound of my brain getting sideswiped.

Darn information, thoughts, knowledge. It's all in there. Inside my noggin just begging to be used.....but sadly it gets lost more times than it's useful. Heck even the stuff on the calendar (which still needs to be replaced by something MUCH larger) isn't free from neglect.

It's no wonder I can't remember all those darn product code numbers at work. I can't remember the stuff I already have inside my head nevermind new stuff. *seriously.....that darn special has been on all week and I've probably package at least 75 of them but do you think I can remember it's code for the scale is 40741 (well okay I remember it NOW but not while I'm AT work...I'm serously stupid there. I completely draw a blank)

anyway.....

this morning.....before I'd even finished my 2nd cup of wonderfully hot & delicious coffee or had even taken a bite of the Apple Fritter that Al brought me home from town when he took the kids to school - it hit me.

I was merrily going about my business putting together my budget for the month - you know....cuz now that we have 2 paycheques coming in I can actually do silly things like pay some bills and oh I don't know.....by groceries.

So, I was dividing up the incoming money that appears as if by magic in our bank account each Friday morning for things like Hydro (who so graciously informed me earlier this week that if we continue on with our payment schedule as is....our outstanding balance should be paid off in OCTOBER and could we possibly swing out a little more cash for them each month) and the van payment and the Visa bill and the phone and internet and Autopac (that's the insurance on my van for those not in the know) and that's when it hit me.

AUTOPAC! Dammit! Sideswiped.......by my own van!

I quickly check my online banking and sure enough, there's no money in there which isn't a good thing when there was an automatic payment for my insurance due 2 days ago. So there I am scrambling with this tidbit of info when that darn information truck comes back around to hit me again.

BLAM!

That payment never was scheduled to come out of my account anyway because I needed to go in and renew my insurance 2 days ago. D'oh!

BLAM!

Did you hear that one. That was the truck backing up and running me over again.

It's JUNE! 4 months after my birthday. Which around here means my drivers license expired right along side my insurance...... 2 days ago.

That's right. Not only has my van been uninsured since Midnight on Tuesday but I'm not legal to drive. Dang I hate it when that happens (and yes...it's happened before - at least this time it didn't cost me the price of that speeding ticket AND the ticket for not having a license AND for driving an uninsured vehicle). You'd think I would have learned this lesson. Sadly NO.

So instead of errands and flower shopping with mom this morning I scrambled to borrow $160 since payday isn't until tomorrow so I could register the van and pay for my license (which btw I think it's just disgusting that they make you pay $40 to take such a horrible photo of you) and it kinda threw the rest of my day off.

But once that was all done I was able to salvage some time to take mom to go pick up a couple hanging baskets for her yard - which I have to remember to go take into the garage tonight since there's supposed to be frost tonight. Geesh! And since I will be back in town tonight anyway this isn't a problem.

That's right. No nice relaxing evening at home. No Al taking the van to work.

I had mentioned to Al that I was going to enjoy spending the evening at home tonight and not have to pick him up at midnight because he could take the van since I don't need to be anywhere tonight .

I think he was a little scared to say anything. Actually, I think he was more than a little scared that I'd cry - again with yet another surprise because he very cautiously mentioned that I did in fact need the van tonight.

???? Really ????

BLAM

High School Band Concert tonight. It's even written on the calendar and yet....still a surprise.

Today has just been FULL of surprises.

There were more of them....but they will have to wait till later. I'm going to go make my son prove to me that he can actually play that clarinette I spent the last 3 years paying for. OH and somebody remind me the annual payment for that darn thing will be charged to my credit card in early July. I believe I owe something like $3.00 on it plus the years insurance..... but then again I've been surprised by bigger things lately so I could be wrong.


~K

*** more stuff to blog about.....back later.

Because there's room on my calendar for a meeting

Well....no....there isn't really, but I'll make time.

It's important.

Very important to my oldest son.

He brought a letter home from school this afternoon announcing a parent meeting to discuss details of a trip he really really wants to take next year.

Permission for this trip to take place has been granted by the powers that be at the school board and now there is officially an information night this Wednesday to go over the finer details of the itinerary, costs and what's all involved......oh and a $99 deposit is required that night to ensure there is serious interest in this whole project. Ouch. Considering we spent the boys last $175 on bills this morning, coming up with that money's going to be tricky but I'll jump through hoops to borrow it. Actually there will be alot of hoop jumping through inorder to scrape together the $3000 (give or take a few bucks here and there) so he can go on this trip. If it kills me I will make sure he doesn't miss out on this chance-of-a-lifetime opportunity.

What is this trip you ask? Are you asking? I can't remember if I've mentioned it or not.

In a nutshell one of the teachers has put together a 10-day trip through Europe visiting a number of battle fields and historic sites commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Victory in Europe campaign and the 66th anniversary of the D-Day landings. In the past few years Tyler has become very interested in anything to do with this subject (even so far as to read the occasional book on it....and books are not his friends at the best of times) and loves watching the History channel so this trip really sparked his interest from the very first mention of it. So it looks like I'm heading to a school meeting re: The Normandy Trip on Wednesday and hopefully there aren't too many surprise costs other than that quoted on the original information sheet and somehow, someway we will get the money together so he can go. Ultimately his father would love to go along too since this is also an area of interest for him...... but for now our goal is to get the boy there.


~K

profile blurb

ack! wrote this one last night and thought I posted it.....guess I dozed off.

I'm finally ready to update my profile to a more current reflections of life as I know it.


I'm a woman on the verge of falling asleep while attempting to juggle 4 kids, the shattered pieces of 14 years of self-employement, new jobs for hubby and I and an insane schedule. We're adjusting to our new normal but there's no time for scrapbooking.....or napping and the temper tantrums are in greater supply than coffee lately. If I manage to get one whole cup in the morning it's considered a good day.

replaces.........

I'm a woman on the edge of sanity - juggling four kids, three trucks, two businesses and a room full of neglected scrapbook supplies while drinking cup after cup of coffee and not spilling a drop.


*********


This has to get easier - right. Please tell me it will (even if you have to lie).

I'm dead serious about the coffee thing. I am no where near my daily quota - even on a day off like today. What is up with that? The people in charge of Timmies coffee supplies are going to notice at this rate. Stock prices might fall. Sure, at work access to coffee is limited but even at home I find I'm not drinking it as much as I used to. I just don't have the energy to make a darn pot of the stuff. Maybe that's why I'm so darn tired - not enough coffee intake.

I'm way cranky too. I think it has to do with the fact that I haven't had a moment to myself - completely alone (other than in the car) in ages. The kids are increasingly difficult to get to bed at night so there isn't even quiet time in the evenings.

I've been stupidly staying up way too late myself. Once I pick up Al at work, the smart thing to do would be to crawl into bed but most nights I've been sitting up with him while he eats a very late supper (or has cereal....because I confess, I fed the kids hotdogs at least twice last week and they may or may not have had cereal once but I don't remember). While he's unwinding from his 'day' we talk and try to catch up on what's been going on. I give him the rundown on what's going on with the kids (activities/schedules etc for the next day) and any other things I might need for him to take care of while I'm at work the next day. Tonight is his 5th straight day so we haven't seen much of eachother at all and this late night catching up is helping us not just be two people that pass eachother on our way to and from work....but it makes for a very tired me in the morning. Today he even stopped by work and brought me a coffee and we sat outside for my precious 15min break. It was great....although I could have done without him mentioning that he was heading home for a nap. Brat!

The bestest part of my day. The rain. Bwaahhhhaaaaa. Rain on a Monday. Love it. Love being at work and not getting soaking wet and being freezing cold because that's what the weather was like today. Brrrrrrrrr! So ya, my knees are sore and my feet hate me and I'm tired from this crazy schedule but I was working inside, warm and dry and cozy all day.

I completely feel like this post is rambling way more usual so I think it's time for me to post it and get the heck outta here. It's almost time to pick Al up and then I'm going to get some much needed zzzzzzzzzz's.

~K

Recreating Normal

It's a work in progress and the adjustment period is proving hard on us all but we are surviving.

Last week was a little tricky and we made it through our first schedule conflict with only minor issues.

I worked Thursday, Friday & Saturday all day. Al worked Thursday and Friday evenings and was supposed to have Saturday off. This would have been great --- had it worked out that way especially since Emily had handed out birthday party invitations early in the week for her Saturday afternoon/evening party. Unfortunately, one of the kids that Al works with decided he wasn't working his shift that Saturday so Al was going to have to work it and wouldn't be around for Emily's party. Luckily they were able to switch some things around and Al didn't have to work that day BUT he did have to attend a training course all morning so we had to scramble for a sitter, borrow a car and make a few last minute changes to Emily's party. In the end it all worked out fine - but it was a very long day for both of us.

We have quickly realized that asap we will need a 2nd vehicle because we've both become extremely exhausted purely due to the lack of another car. I'm having to stay up late to pick him up from work and he's having to get up early to drive me to work. Sleep is a rare commodity around here lately.

Since the earliest I'm off work is 5pm and by the time I pick up a few groceries if we need them, walk to get the van, go check on my mom and get home, the kids are on their own for about 2 hours after school. Except for Tuesday when Emily got hurt and Tyler ended up calling his friends mom to come help him stop the bleeding, things have been going fairly well. Unfortunately, by the time I get home and get supper made I'm beyond exhausted. Too exhausted to read any of my fav blogs nevermind write one (or two). Both my blogs, like my house have been extremely neglected lately. Sunday I had the day off, but there was so much else to do and I was so tired that computer time was just not happening either - especially with the kids home and having to share (darn Webkins...Emily got 3 for her birthday and spent her birthday money from Gramma on a 4th)

Monday and Tuesday I barely survived work. I haven't been feeling well and by the time I got home Tuesday and dealt with the aftermath of Emily's injury and got everyone fed (they almost got cereal for supper that night) I ended up falling asleep on the couch before the kids even went to bed. It's a good thing Al thought to send me a text message around 11:30 or I wouldn't have been awake to pick him up at midnight. By Wednesday I was so sick it was a good thing I had the day off because I spent most of the day on the couch watching a Dog the Bounty Hunter marathon. What a waste of a day off - especially one that Al had off too. I'm feeling almost human today, which is good because now Al's asleep on the couch. He's tired and hurting. Last night was the first ball game of the season and those old knees of his are not happy. I'm sure he's not the only one in a little pain today (how's the arm Carrie?)

Today is my 2nd day off in a row, which I'm sure will be rare - having more than one day off at a time. That is another thing that's taking some getting used to. Being self-employed for 14 years we've been spoiled by being able to most of the time schedule work around life. That party's over. I was going to request the Sunday that Tami, James and little Rowan will be out to visit from Hamilton off but when I looked at the request sheet earlier this week, that particular day is full of names. I didn't even bother adding mine. There's just no way I'll win that one. I'm hoping they will be out here for quite awhile that day so I can see them after work. Al's work schedule is even more restrictive than mine in many ways. With him working evenings, he'll be missing out on many things he wants to do - like Kareoke this Saturday or having to leave his cousins birthday bbq early. I just hope he gets to play ball most weeks --- although I'm sure his knees are hoping otherwise.

My Saturday Scrapping Girls are also having to come to terms with the fact that my Saturdays belong to someone else now (no hope of getting any Saturdays off until maybe later in the fall). So, the girls have already booked the hall without me for the end of June. Maybe if I'm still alive at 5 that day I might stop by but can't see being able to stay and play. This working thing also puts an end to the idea of my heading out to Dryden this weekend to scrapbook with Kat. So sad because before I got this job Al had said 'to heck with not being able to afford it - just GO!' *sigh* Another time I guess.

Right now my goal is to get things running a little smoother and hopefully after a few more weeks of this new routine things will get easier. My body will adjust to mornings (ugh...I'm so not a morning person) and being on my feet 8.5 hours a day and the kids will realize that chores are not suggestions but requirements because their housekeeping staff (that's me) is way too freakin exhausted to do it all.....and having that paycheque will make paying bills a whole lot easier too. My very first one should be in my bank account at midnight tonight. Whoohoo! It will be small - only 3 days, but oh so very much needed. Hopefully in a couple weeks we won't need to use Tyler's paycheques to help cover the basics. Nothing feels worse than having to use your 15 yr old sons' money to pay bills and buy groceries. It's worse than having to get hampers from the food bank....which reminds me....need to go get dressed and get to town. I have an appointment to pick one up in an hour. I was going to have a nap first but lost this entire post and had to start over. Sometimes blogging takes priority over sleep - at least it did today. Tomorrow it might not though so if I don't 'see' you for a day or two it's because I fell asleep.


Gotta run. Knock at the door - yet another person asking about those trucks. Somebody might just buy one of them one of these days. Keep your fingers crossed....because that would make like even easier on all of us!

~K

I can see clearly now

Look how sharp and visible you all are to me now that there aren't dozens of wavey lines running across the screen......or a huge grey shadow through the middle. Who'd have thunk it.

Of course I guess I could have walked my little old self into the living room days ago and got the brand new monitor that's been attached to a very rarely used, really, really old, noisey computer that is of little use to me since it has no internet capabilities. Seriously. What good is a computer that doesn't do the net? Dust collector is what it is.

Bet you thought you'd all been replaced by GameCube again.

Nope. Just been lazy and trying to keep from losing my mind.

We had a pretty quiet long weekend. About the only exciting thing that happened was the 2-3 people that stopped by to look at the trucks....which still aren't sold and even with the interest I don't see it happening any time soon. The one guy that is very interested is digging in his heels because of the age of the equipment. *Sigh* He wants to lease it and I'm leary of even trying to make something like that an option. I can understand his position but honestly I'd take 30yr old equipment over something new anyday.....it's built to last not like disposable stuff they make these days. Oh well. We'll see what the rest of the week brings.

In the mean time, I'm way crazy-busy. We've kind of adjusted to this whole 'Al working evenings' thing and thankfully dancing and bowling are both done for the year which is a good thing because we now have a new 'activity' to work into the schedule. ME WORKING.

That's right. Finally. That job is in the bag and I start tomorrow.

So far I think my hours will work pretty well for us.....if you consider my not ever seeing my husband again a bonus. For the next 3 days I work 8:30 to 5 and he works 4-midnight most days. Basically we will have the 10minute ride in the morning when he drives me to work and the 10minute ride home when I pick him up at midnight to 'visit'. Doesn't that sound like a marriage made in heaven. We worked alternating shifts like this for about 6 months many many years ago. I'm a little worried. After those 6 months I was switched to day-shift just like he worked........and we ended up with our oldest child. We won't be making that mistake again. 3 more kids later we figured out what caused them and put a stop to it.

I'm super excited in a 'maybe we won't starve' kind of way. Hopefully in a month or so I'll even be thinking 'maybe we can pay some bills' frame of mind too. That would rock.

I'm kinda nervous but I know a lot of the people I'll be working around and with so that helps.....kinda.....there's this one guy that works there.....I've worked with him before....or rather he worked for me. It was torture. I sure hope I don't run into him very often. Although I've heard he's rather well behaved at his 'real' job and just came to work with me for entertainment. I really think he thought it was sport to try and scare me or freak me out. LOL I will never look at squirels the same ever again. I don't know how his wife puts up with him and his sense of humor.


That's it for now. If I'm alive at the end of my shift tomorrow I might have the energy to post.

Teen Drama Queen Strikes Again - footage at 11

Okay so there's no actual footage but believe me it would have been hysterical watching her get all hysterical. Is it wrong that I find the trauma in my daughters life so darn giggle-worthy some days. Believe me, a sense of humor is the only way I keep from loosing my mind.

Why was she hysterically pitching a fit you might ask. Well, generally she needs not have a particular reason because she will freak out at the drop of a hat anytime she feels there has been some sort of injustice, real or not, that has been inflicted upon her.

The little darling has been grounded since Monday. All electronic possessions confiscated, all computer, tv and gaming rights revoked (I did leave her with use of her clock/radio...I'm not totally without mercy) plus the first two nights she was confined to her bedroom unless otherwise instructed for matters involving chores or family committments - it's not like I could leave her home alone with free access to fun while I attended a school concert with the other children so she was given a 2-hour pass to socialize and be free while we were there.

To make matters even more unbareable for her I, in my evil, I've-got-all-the-power ways allowed her brother the use of her beloved Ipod. Bwwwaaahhhhhhaaaaahhhhhaaaaa.

Slowly she's been receiving priviledges back. One thing at a time. She was scheduled to receive her Ipod back today (Saturday) only she felt the need to argue that point due to some project she's working on for school and the particular song she needs to practice for this presentation is on her Ipod. She presented her case and wasn't thrilled with my decision that the day was almost over anyway and since she was the one who did stupid things and got herself grounded that she'd just have to wait till the next day and since it's a long weekend she'd have 3 days to practice so I wasn't budging and she wasn't happy.

Of course then I pointed out that it really didn't matter because her brother went to a friends house after school and since he was in possession of the repossessed prized possession she couldn't have it back anyway. This pushed the injustice just a little too far and she was miffed to say the least.

Oh it was fun.

Almost as much fun as why she was grounded in the first place.

Caught the little darling on the front step Monday afternoon smoking a cigarette - apparently not her first either. My mind exploded at that point and I lost the ability to speak for awhile.

It's been a glorious week.

One I hope to not have to repeat anytime soon.

Being grounded was hard on her......harder on the rest of us.

By Monday, if she doesn't push her luck she may just have all rights restored.

~K

Okay - so I threw out his winter boots but

THIS IS NOT MY FAULT!





Just because, as I was tossing them in the trash yesterday, I said aloud...."watch, we'll get 3ft of snow now" does not make me responsible for what happened overnight.

Honestly, if I thought I had that much control over what goes on around me I'd be buying a lottery ticket and saying something like....."watch, we'll win 3million dollars now".

I'll let you know if that happens and if it does then yes, I will take the blame for the snow but until then, this one ain't on me.

I personally blame the school.

And field trips.

The field trip scheduled for Wednesday was cancelled due to weather - in the form of massive, ark worthy amounts of rain.

It was rescheduled for today and I doubt the grade 1 classes will be heading out to the snake dens to see the red-sided garter snakes today either. I'm pretty sure snakes don't dig the snow anymore than I dig them.

This is my 4th child to make the annual 1st grade trek out to the snake dens and each year they ask "mom, will you be a parent volunteer on the field trip" and each year I pass on the opportunity. Actually it's more like an 'over my dead body' sort of reply. Sorry. Not my thing kids. Go watch Anaconda with your father and leave me alone.

I get the heebie-geebies just thinking about wigglie little snakes. When Emily went on her trip to the dens one of the father's took amazing photos and I was fortunate (?) enough to receive a bunch which I scrapbooked. That was hard enough seeing my little girl holding a snake in a photo. Don't think I could have handled it in person.

Enough about snakes. Ewwww. Ick.

Back to the weather. Ewwww. Ick.

So there's this creek in my backyard. Flooded like crazy this spring. It's been a couple weeks since I'd taken a walk down there so I went wandering Tuesday night and took some updated water level pictures. I'm so glad I did because the sky opened up in the wee hours of that night and it poured buckets for a good portion of the day on Wednesday.

The "before" on the left, taken on Tuesday afternoon and the "after" on the right taken on Wednesday afternoon following about 12hours of heavy rainfall.

Aside from the weather sucking so did pretty much everything else.

I spent a lot of time - just me, myself and my gamecube on the couch this week avoiding everything, everyone and the endless phone calls from 1-800, credit card companies, the dentist, the truck leasing company etc. Adding to my crappy week was Al repeatedly saying things like "Are you going to get dressed today? Are you going to go to town today? Ae you going to call about that job today? Are you going to call back about that job today? ARGH!!!!

I did call. I did talk to someone and things looked good but when she didn't call back the next day or the day after he started again "Are you going to call again about that job today? Maybe you should call so and so about a different job"

Add to that the phone calls from people telling me about all the new people being trained at the store where I've been hoping to get hired or worse yet going into the store and seeing for myself all the trainees. It was depressing and I didn't want to leave my couch......so I didn't unless absolutely necessary. That's right. I admit it. I spent alot of time on the couch looking for spaceship parts and trying not to get all my little alien friends killed in the process. Nintendo Pikmin is WAY addictive. 4:30 in the morning addictive. Opppps. Kinda slept in and the kids missed the bus once ---- okay twice (the 2nd time it wasn't because of the gamecube though) this week.

Anyway. The week was kind of a bust. Laundry. Pikmin. Ignoring phonecalls. Moping around and feeling like crap. Even last night I was in no way thrilled at being forced off my couch to attend a bowling banquet but since Al was working I had no option.

BUT

While picking up a few things at the store for the banquet the week suddenly got a whole lot better. The girl from the store who I'd talked to early in the week and was supposed to hear back from and didn't spotted me and came over to talk. And just like I thought - she'd been really busy and just hadn't had a chance to get back to me (and all Al's fussing and stressing and making me feel 2 inches tall and like I wasn't going to get this job at all was for nothing) and right then and there we made arrangements for me to start probably wednesday of next week.

Whoooo Hoooo!

I'm so excited.

I still don't know what exactly I'll be doing or what sort of hours I'll have but I'm ((((this close)))) to having a job and the relief is just unbelievably wonderful.

And today...... I still spent some time on the couch playing gamecube and I've realized it's not because I've been in a funk and didn't want to get off the couch.....it's because the game is just so damn fun. I can't wait till the kids go to bed so I can have my turn again....and Al works till 2 so I won't even have to share the tv with him. Heeeheeeheee.

Gonna go see if the kids want to go outside and make a snowman now. Anyone know where I packed the mittens?

Have a wonderful long-weekend.

~K

Spring Concert tonight ........... 70+ dancers entertained over 200 people who came out to see them.

On stage is definately where my kiddos love to be!

Her face says it all

and he had a blast.

I'm proud of them and the whole club. They ALL deserved standing ovations!

A Little More Nature

Owen and Emily are peering out the kitchen window this morning.

Owen: "Look Emily. Winter is back already!"
Emily: Ewwwwwww!
Mom: Don't worry. I'm sure it will be gone by this afternoon.
Owen: Awwwwwww!

What is wrong with that kid?

Should I have had his head examined when he ran into the car door Sunday morning?

In the grand scheme of head injuries that boy has experienced....a slight shiner is mild but maybe it rattled the insides more than we thought because really? He's disapointed the snow should be gone in a day or so - if that isn't cause for concern I don't know what it. Maybe the dent* on the other side of his head can talk some sense into him because the thought that this snow (which is still stubbornly falling in flakes instead of drops of rain) might hang around for any extended period of time is just not cool with me.


*between the ages of 20months and 24months he fell (or was dropped - long story) 3 times on his head. The first resulted in his eyes rolling into the back of his head and us making a mad dash to the ER (SCAREY!) 4 weeks later he fell off a bed and smacked the side of his face on a table resulting in a still visible dent (which he has named "Dent" and he says it talks to him occasionally...weird kid) and I probably should have taken him in to the ER but geeesh....we'd just been there. They were going to start talking if we kept showing up there with a damaged kid. The third time was Christmas Eve, about 10 minutes before 20 people were set to arrive for dinner. He fell backwards off a toy and smacked his head and cut it open. Thankfully the amount of blood outweighed the severity of the gash and I was able to clean him up and determine no ER trip was necessary. I almost went out and bought him a helmet. I still consider it some days because three 3 head injuries in 4 months when he was 2 was a pretty good indication of what the next 4 years would be like. He's forever got a shiner or a bruise on his face or forehead. The kids head must have some sort of magnetic force that attracts it to hard surfaces.

~K

A little nature

Reading the blog written by my Sis and hearing about all the birds and flowers she's been taking pictures of all week, I thought I would share a few pictures from a couple weeks ago.

Sadly - no flowers here just yet. We've barely managed to get rid of the snow but hopefully soon......not that I plant any. Gardening isn't my thing, although I learned this weekend why we've had miserable luck in the past with growing pumpkins - who knew you had to get in there and pollinate them - so we may give that another try.

Anyway, Other Sis (Liz) brought mom a bird feeder that attaches to the window and she hung it in mom's kitchen window last time she was out. It sat untouched for a few days but as the weather warmed up so did the action at the feeder. These are pictures of the first wave of visitors - who don't seem to be around much anymore so they must have moved on.












I love the one peeking in through the window.





~K

The Good, The Bad & The Damp

today is the first day all week that I haven't felt the need to take a nap by 10am. I think that has to do with the fact that I went to bed before 10pm last night and although I woke up at 1am (call of nature) and 6am (call of technology - darn kid's cell phone alarm is set for 6am! wth?!?!) and finally got up at 7:15. I think I've finally recovered from the weekend. Now if I could just get my house to recover from the weekend all would be golden. My scrapbook stuff is still scattered about.

We've had a good week/bad week around here and it seems, with the rain that began falling overnight....the rest of the week shall be a damp one, not to mention loud and muddy. Proof of this was when I opened the back door this morning. Since I'd gone to bed early, nobody thought to let the fat cat or the fatter dog in for the night. One was quite cranky about this fact and told me so. The other just left a trail of paw prints behind him as he brought his overweight self into my kitchen and shook. Point taken oh non-vocal mutt. This is the kind of weather where you just want to stay indoors.....and I haven't decided yet if I'm more inclined to make the kids stay inside and brave the sounds of cooped up kids or kick em outside and deal with the inevitable mud and laundry. Since Owen left his jacket outside last night, I'm already ahead of the game as far as wet clothes go.

I think this rain also puts a brief stop to the walks we've been taking lately. Okay. I admit. Mostly it's been Al and the kids walking but I did take them one night while he was at work. This may sound silly but this is a new activity for us. Not the walking part, but the walking around here part. Living on a busy highway, it's not exactly high on my list of things to encourage the children to do and up until now we've limited our walks to being an 'in town' activity. Now that the kids are older, we're more comfortable (ish....i found it way stressful personally) with taking the 1/4 mile walk along the side of the highway to the gravel road and then letting the kids run wild as we walk a half mile or so before turning around and heading back. Somehow I'm not keen on taking that trek in the rain or even shortly after any rain as the cars go flying past us is sure to make for loads of laundry.

I must say, I'm a little nervous about the start of this rain. A couple of the blogs I read on a daily basis have mentioned lately an abundance of rainfall of biblical proportions and there has been mention of Ark living....or indoor living a time or two as well. We are only on day one of the rain here and I sure hope it doesn't last too long. I don't like boats. Of course, I don't like snow shovels either and I heard rumor of dropping temperatures and the possibilities of this rain going all flakey on me.

Hearing the rain on the roof when I first woke up this morning did bring a slight smile to my face though.....because I am not outside working in it. Hahaha It's funny how perspective changes things. Closing our business was hard (and still is hard at times) but we realize more each day how much of a blessing it has been. Regular readers may remember Al's doctors visit when he was getting that physical for his class 1 license and the concern his doctor had with his blood pressure and weight. Well, he went for a follow-up earlier this week and his blood pressure is almost perfect. That new low-stress, minumum wage job of his seems to be working wonders. The lack of money....and lack of ice cream seems to be helping too. He's dropped 5lbs.

Of course my blood pressure is probably making up for his as I struggle to make ends meet and deal with the mountain of paperwork still left to do for the business. Selling those trucks parked infront of my house - constant reminders of money owed to people that we won't have until they sell - would help too. Seems the guy we thought would for sure buy them is just yanking us around and now he says he doesn't need them.....right now. Ugh! General consensus is he figures since the trucks are so specialized there won't be a huge demand for them so he's got time and by waiting as long as possible till we will be so desperate we have no choice but to let them go for cheap. He doesn't realize that the longer he waits the more money we will need and we've had other people ask about them....although nothing has come of their interest either so far.

On top of this money stuff....... I'm sure I've found those 5lbs Al lost. Maybe I need to go for that walk tonight - rain or not. Naw....think I'll just go make a batch of brownies and stay inside where it's warm and dry and listen to the cat complain. He's asked to go out twice already but then just sits in the doorway looking at me like it's my fault it's still raining.

~K

Suggestion Duely Noted and Taken Into Consideration

It's another one of those "I'm speechless" moments in my life.

I hate when the school calls and puts me on the spot and I can't think of how to respond without sounding all snarky (although I probably did anyway) and I'm sick of being called about the stupidest things and being made to feel like I've just been scolded like a child and told what to do.

As I've stated before, I'm not the worlds best advocate for my kid. Mostly I think because I just don't have the answers and I'm at a loss for what to do most of the time to begin with so when challenged on things I freeze up.

I've been getting increasingly frusterated by the situation at school with my oldest (who turned 17 yesterday and I'm still dealing with the reality of that....and the grey hair I found even though I just coloured my hair last week. UGH!) and it's come to the point where a couple weeks ago I had a dream that I pulled her out of school completely and decided that I would homeschool her. In my dream it totally worked and we had the most amazing success with the plan. In reality I can't see it working well at all for numerous reasons such as....we don't get along --- at all and we'd probably kill each other. Not to mention the fact I'm totally disorganized and wouldn't know what to do or where to start.

Today is another one of those days were I have the disillusioned idea that I could and should do it.

Today's call from the resource coordinator was about our daughter not bringing a lunch and I guess she was trying to be constructive about the situation but her tone and words were so condescending that it just got me all defensive and I'm completely put off by her attitude. We've actually discussed this issue a few times over the year and really, I don't know what to do about it. I can't force my daughter to take a lunch and I'm not at the school to monitor her and make her eat her lunch if she does take one. She's left on her own during lunch (which I've expressed concern with) so what do they expect me to do. Well I guess they are getting complaints regarding Aarica asking for money or food from students (again....we went through this in the fall too....and then she was even asking teachers/staff for money). So the coordinator offered suggestions such as us sending in money for her to have in her account at the caffeteria - wasn't an option in the fall and it's definately not an option for us now. She seemed a bit annoyed that I couldn't accomodate this and then she suggested we bring in food such as a loaf of bread and lunch meat or cup of soup etc that can be stored there and our daughter can make herself a sandwich or whatever to have for lunch.

Now forgive me if I'm way wrong in my thinking here but my child has special needs but that doesn't make her so special that the rules don't apply to her (even though she likes to think that way) and there is absolutely no reason she cannot take a lunch made at home each morning just like her brothers and sister do. NO reason at all....except that she's a stubborn thing and refuses to take a lunch. Period. If she can't have money for the cafeteria she doesn't want anything at all.

So I told the coordinator I would see what I could do and ended the call as quickly after that as possible. I couldn't figure out a way of telling her I didn't see that suggestion working for me either and I was really tired of having to justify my reasons to her. I'm struggling hard enough to squeeze the basics out of our food budget without having to purchase a seperate loaf and package of meat that will be kept at school on the off chance our daughter might get around to eatting it....which I'm almost positive she wouldn't.

When Aarica got home I pulled her aside and told her I'd gotten a call from the school and asked her what was going on.....who she'd been mooching money and food off of etc....and she lied and said she wasn't and then said her friends 'offered' and I'm not buying it one bit. I told her she doesn't have a choice and would be taking a lunch from now on and her responses were "I'll just forget it here" and I told her I'd duct tape it to her damn forehead if I had to but she was taking a lunch. She says she won't eat it and well...I guess that's the chance I will take - and the food I will waste - but I sure as heck am not treating her any different than the rest of my kids who survive quite fine on the packed lunch made at home that they take to school with them every day.....and sometimes they even eat it.


~K

The best part of my day

yesterday (besides the long nap I took mid-morning) was hearing about Owen's best part of his day. He came home from school so excited to tell me about his day. From the moment he got off the bus he was in a cheerful mood and I think that was partly due to his declaration that........ "I didn't fall asleep on the bus today mom". I can tell when he's been woken up just seconds before having to get off the bus. He's half asleep and cranky, especially when the older kids bolt down the driveway and leave him behind. Today he was bright-eyed (getting him to sleep at half decent times the last couple nights might be helping too) and ready to tell me the best part of his day.



The conversation twisted and turned and started in the middle so I had to get him to back-track a bit so I could get all the details but the gist of it was that his class got to participate in "Artist in the Classroom" yesterday and this months artist is a young actor that has been sharing the technique of Improv with the classes.



Owen: Hey Mom - Me and Jayden and Aiden and Dane got to be a dryer today.

Mom: A dryer? Like a clothes dryer?

Owen: Ya! It was cool!

Mom: That is cool. You learned to do laundry....so now I don't have to.

Owen: NO!!!! We got to BE the dryer....and I was the door and then we said vroooooooommmmmm (making a sound that in his mind was a dryer running....but would be cause for concern if my real dryer sounded like that ---- it was more on the scale of an airplane preparing for takeoff. Although, that much power would probably dry clothes really fast).



So, while my hopes that laundry duties could be taken over by my 6yr old (a skill they could gladly teach in school thankyouverymuch) have been dashed, it was great that he enjoyed this Improv class so much. His group (which he repeatedly told me included "me, Jayden, Aiden and Dane" which was too cute) also did something with sharks and a third thing which at the moment I can't remember. Apparently though, being a household appliance was the big hit of the day.



Emily threw in her two cents about this particular Artist in the Classroom experience as well and I learned that her group was a lava lamp (she was the lava which btw is entirely more interesting to be than the cord that plugs the lamp into the wall LOL ) and an airplane.



My memories of elementary school (now called Early Years K-4) involved spelling workbooks, creative writing assignments and math homework. There were no Improv classes. No complaints though. This Artist in the School program (which is paid for by fundraising done by parents) is an awesome thing. Over the years they have experienced such a wide variety of activities from writing stories or poems with writers, writing songs with a musician, playing musical instruments from Africa, leaning dances from various countries, done pottery and painted murals and acting and puppetry. So many things I'm thankful they've had the opportunity to experience.



And speaking of the things they learn at school today (as compared to back in my day)



Last week I was helping my High School kids choose their courses for next year I was quite baffled by a number of the course options and I admit a wee bit jealous! One grade 10 option is a full credit little number made up of two half courses in digital filmmaking and digital pictures. Sigh! And the grade 11 component to this course involves website design/interactive websites and broadcast media/interactive media. Geesh. When I was in school that was A/V or photography club and it was an afterschool or lunch time 'extra-curricular'. I tried to convince the boy to take that course just so I could help him with his homework. The one that threw me though is a grade 9 elective called Recreation Studies which according to the handbook, is a course revolving around wilderness survival skills, outdoorsmanship, nature studies and mountainbiking and includes an overnight bike trip which is planned and executed by the students in the class. HUH? Again.....this would have been an 'extra curicular' club. Oh and Drama.....also an extra curicular in my day.....now a full credit course available in grade 10 and grade 11.


and the kids just got home from school and according to Owen the best thing about today is......"Nothing" Seems his teacher was a little "yellie" today....and I've seen the pack of 6yr old boys she has in her class. Some days she looks a wee bit frazzled at the end of the day. Poor girl.

I have to agree with Owen though. So far, there's nothing good about school today. Just before the kids got home I got a call from the high school resource coordinator. I'm somehow 'in trouble' again with this woman but I'll have to fill ya'll in on the details a little later after I've collected my thoughts and no longer feel the need to talk in CAPITAL LETTERS. I'm feeling a little YELLIE myself at the moment. Grrrrrr

~K

A Wonderful....But Long Weekend

I'm glad it's over but sorry at the same time. One one hand it was so very long and on the other it didn't last nearly long enough.

I celebrated National Scrapbooking Weekend by hosting a weekend long crop and while I'd hoped to have higher attendance, I'm glad now that it was a small, personal event rather than anything else. Just my mother-in-law and two of her sisters, one sister-in-law and one of her friends (a 2nd friend ended up being unable to join us) and another sister-in-law who joined in for a few hours Saturday and Sunday. It was almost perfect. I missed the company of my scrapping buddy (yes....that means you sitting there at your desk at work.... I think we are now owed at least one un-interupted day in my dining room to make up for this weekend....bring the new blender!) and another sister-in-law who had planned to be here but instead is out in Kelowna attempting to sell/rent out her house in an effort to be home (as in HERE) permanently by June 1st! It would have been beyond perfect if a few of my other scrapping family & friends who live too far away (but are always near in my heart) could have been here too. Other than the few missing and missed people, this weekend was wonderful!!! and wonderfully tiring.

By late Friday night there was whispering among the others of plans for doing this again. By Saturday morning they had picked a date. For awhile afterwards, everytime they mentioned "October" I shuddered at the thought of pulling all this together again in a few short months but I do believe it has been decided. We are going to have a small, private scrapbook weekend again the first weekend in October. Everyone who wants to participate will be divided into teams and each team will be responsible to provide, serve and clean up from one meal and everyone will share in the organization of the weekend ---- just a family and friends scrapping weekend deal and we split the costs of hall rental and just have fun. Sounds like a perfect plan to me. I'm not up for organizing the whole event again anytime soon.

I can't say I got a whole lot done this weekend. All together I came home with 6 new pages (and one of them I have to "fix" because I realize that I have the wrong info on it) and 4 partially completed pages and I admit that much of what I did do was either finishing (or working on) pages I'd started previously or pages done as part of demos for the weekend. Nope - not a lot done.....but I still had a great time. For me, personally, the purpose of crop is more about the socializing and fellowship than the number of pages I bring home.......and in that respect I got a lot done this weekend.

and today......I need a nap.

~K

Stop-Payment

Those are hard words to deal with.

We've had to put a stop-payment on the automatic payment for the lease of the truck this morning. There's no money in the bank account to cover it. It's come to that and I hate it. Al's cousin, who is in the truck sales business, figures we have about three months before things get to the point where the lease company will repossess the truck for non-payment. I hope he's right because there's a whole lot of fine print in that lease agreement and the word immediately pops up quite often regarding this matter. What I really hope is that one of the people who've said they may be interested in buying the damn thing will show up with money in hand already because I hate this feeling of being so totally helpless.

I've been working on a scrapbook page (ya....last minute stuff for crop this weekend.....darn procrastination gene) and it's pictures of my kids taken last summer and I was trying to come up with a title or something to go on it. I had to pop into the city yesterday to get adhesive refills......and birthday presents and I heard a song on the radio that not only made me cry (lots!) but also screamed to be used on this layout. I can't wait to get a chance to finish the page tonight.



"My Wish" by Rascal Flatts

I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take.

But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big


*****


Beautiful Song! It's my wish for my kids....and for everyone!
Have a beautiful weekend. For my scrapping friends -- Happy National Scrapbooking Day tomorrow and know that I miss you all and wish you were here....or I was there with you. I'll be thinking of you!

~K

I can't say I'm crazy

about this "New Normal" we've got going on here.

I'm not digging it at all. Everything is so backwards and upside down that's it's got me a little off track lately. It's not so much that New Normal is horrible....it's just well.....NEW.....and taking some getting used to.

In Old Normal, Al was the morning person in this house & I was the night person. My happy zone was 2am when everyone was asleep and the house was quiet and I could putter or be creative or just sit and watch tv without interuption. I would sleep through any alarm and wake only when the noise from the chaos of kids scrambling to get ready for the bus would jolt me from my sleep. Coffee would be ready and my entire responsibility was to intervene and difuse sibling tension and supervise last minute efforts to get out the door by 8:10 for the bus.

In New Normal, with Al working 4-midnight (or 2am on weekends) things have changed. After sleeping in at least 4 times in the last couple weeks and missing the school bus, my brain has clued into the fact that it's now up to "us" to hear that alarm and get up.

At 7am. Ack!

Suddenly I'm in charge of making lunches, making sure (almost) everyone eats breakfast, brushes their teeth and keeping the siblings from lashing out at each other and.......I have to make my own coffee. For the most part, mornings have been fairly calm and they haven't been late for school in two whole days but that doesn't mean I'm digging this new morning routine....especially since I'm still not going to bed till almost 1am at which point I'm so darn exhausted I'm asleep before I hit the pillow.

It's also taking some getting used to the New Normal where most evenings I'm on my own with the kids. Not that it's a terrible thing but there is no 3rd party to provide assistance when the siblings are being siblings or someone needs to be taken to/picked up from afterschool activities or to provide backup when my demands to help with dishes/take a shower/go to bed are being ignored......and I have to make my own coffee! This also goes the other way too because while I'm solo with the kids alot, their dad doesn't see them as much as he would like. For a couple days at a time he's at work when the kids get home from school, they are asleep when he gets home from work and still sleeping when they leave for school the next morning.

My days are also all backwards and upside down because I'm NEVER alone! Ever. Al's home during the day when I'm used to having at least a couple days of having the house to myself during the week. I work best when I'm alone with my own thoughts and I can do what I need to do without interuption. In Old Normal, even when he wasn't 'at work' there were still small jobs or errands he'd be out doing during the day. Not in New Normal. I need to find him a hobby. Do you think I could convince him he likes playing golf ? and by golf I mean real golf.....not Tiger Woods on PS2 golf.

On the upside of him being home during the day he was able to attend our son's choral speaking performance at the Festival of the Arts this week and he has plans to go to watch our daughter's orff performance tomorrow......and I'm sending him to the school assembly this afternoon where our son will receive a certificate for being kind and generous at school. These are things he's always missed out on in Old Normal so New Normal does have it's good points. Plus.......when he's home during the day I don't have to make my own coffee.


~K

Silver! Gold! Gold! Gold!

The kids brought home the hardware this weekend!


I'm so proud of them for dancing with all their heart and determination....medals are just icing.



They ROCKED!





It's great that they are rewarded for a job well done with high marks, praise and medals of any colour from the adjudicators --- but as their instructor says if you're happy with your performance and you had fun that is all that matters.


My reward is seeing them on stage where I know they love to be. I will also admit I love listening to the people around me when they comment about the kids on stage when they just happen to be mine....or ones that I know.


Big proud moments this weekend watching all our kids ROCK IT!




Other highlights of the weekend included me loosing my mind Friday morning before leaving the house....not a proud moment but it happens occasionally. Feeding the kids donuts for supper on Saturday night....again not a mom-o-the-year moment but they didn't seem to mind. Some of the better moments were getting to play with the kids in the pool and taking pics of the kids playing in the pool on Friday night and then managing to squeeze in one more hour of awesome pool time for them Saturday afternoon......and since Owen was miraculously comfortable in this particular pool, we were able to sit on the deck and watch them play....together....without fighting....all 4 of them. Awesome! A rare occasion where teens and young'uns all got along. It lasted all of an hour but I'll take it where I get it.


The weekend wasn't insanely rush-rush which was nice and the hotel being right across the street from the competition site was perfect. We ended up staying the 2nd night afterall and popping over to Al's cousins' hotel so the kids could swim and play together (and I could accidently drink a bottle of wine) and relax. Unfortunately I found out when we checked out that the quoted price for our hotel room wasn't the actual price and we ended up paying more than expected but without having the actual email with the quoted price on it with me what could I do. It was an expensive weekend so that extra $50 doesn't make that much difference...and the huge (and I do mean huge) room and the location made it worth it.

Competition weekend is over for another year. Where will we go next year? Brandon again? Yorkton? Next up - Spring Concert in a couple weeks.....and then we are done till September.

Off to finish up the last of the weekend laundry. Have a good afternoon.


~K

I'm out

of my mind. Completely.

Not quite yet out of my house.

There's still some last minute packing to do.....but not before I have my morning coffee and blog fix. All work and no play makes me.......cranky and nobody wants a cranky me on a 3 hour road-trip.

We're a little off schedule this morning. A snarky teen....who spent the last 24 hours insisting she was NOT coming with us helped achieve this. Her attitude has been adjusted.

But, since we don't really have to be there till 8am tomorrow morning I guess our schedule is flexible.

That is of course unless the wavepool/waterslide that has been the object of much anticipation has really crappy hours and we'd thought it might be possible to arrive there intime to make use of the 11:30am - 1pm Family swim time this morning. Since that would have required leaving the house over an hour ago that is most definately NOT going to happen so now my children, who have been looking forward to pool time (and our hotel does not have one of it's own....but is directly across the street from said public pool for all the good that does us) will have a wonderful 2 hours all weekend to swim - from 7-9pm tonight. Oh boy!

Saturday's 'pool hours' do not coordinate with out schedule at all as the only public times available are from 1:30-7 and we will be dancing between those times.....so 2 hours is all they get. At least we are lucky enough to not have dances between 7 and 9 tonight....unlike some families. Talk about disapointment.

Anyway, the reason we are going is for the dancing and there will be plenty of that to watch.

Have a great weekend. I'll be back late Saturday night or sometime Sunday - we haven't decided yet if that 2nd night in the hotel at $111 a night is do-able. Either way....I will be back with plenty of pictures to share.

Oh darn. Forgot to empty the card in my camera. Better go do that and pack the extra batteries too.


~K

This is a Public Service Announcement of the Murphey's Law Weather System

Don't say I didn't warn you.

I'm packing up all the kids winter coats, snowpants & boots.....well except Owen's because he's still wearing his. It's the only thing he has that fits him and I can't find a pair of shoes in his size anywhere in this town.

It's been quite a few weeks since they've needed snowpants and a week or so that they have been in their spring jackets and sweaters and the ground seems to be drying up fairly well so I'm going to take the chance and pack the winter stuff away. Just don't blame me when 3 ft of snow falls. It's not my fault!

A year ago this weekend the temps soared to almost 30 degrees....you remember....those first few days of the three weeks of Summer we had last year. I don't think we are quite to that point yet but the weather has been fairly decent recently so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

On second thought, I just looked at the Weather Network and they are calling for rain/snow showers and light flurries on Monday/Tuesday next week. Maybe I should wait a little longer before I pack this stuff away. I dunno. What do you think?

~K

At the top of my list today....

is laundry.


Well it's at the top of most of my lists anyday but today is laundry of a different sort.


Dance costume laundry.


Oh the stress. Do you know how scarey it is to put dance costumes in the washing machine?


VERY SCAREY!


Because what happens if the washing machine eats them (don't laugh...it's happened)


But before I could even get the dance laundry into the washer I had to switch the load that was in the washer into the dryer and before I could do that I had to turn the dryer back on to fluff up and unwrinkle what was sitting in there from yesterday.....because that's just how I roll with laundry. It's one of my quirks. I hate wrinkles...... in my clothes. Not particularly fond of the ones around my eyes either but I don't think tossing myself in the dryer will even those out.


I push the button.



Huh.



Nothing happened.



Huh.



I push the button again.



Again nothing.



Huh.



Well doesn't that just plain suck.

Breaker's fine. Dryer's not.

Huh.



Just so happens, when friends of ours moved last fall they dropped their old dryer off at our place (because my backyard is a graveyard of old appliances....hope the price of metal goes up soon because now that all the snow is gone it's just plain ugly out there).


Next thing I know Al's hauling said old dryer into the house and I'm thinking....Really? You expect a dryer that's been sitting outside for nine months to actually work?


But you know what.


It does......and I'm so damn happy.


I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am.

Earth Day or not I am just not the kind of person who can live with drying clothes on a laundry line because even if I dry them on the line, they still have to go into the dryer for a few minutes after they come off the line. Another quirk.


So after having visions of line drying pre-road trip laundry.....or more than likely hauling a couple loads to town and either tossing a couple bucks into one of the jumbo dryers at the laundry-mat or using my mom's dryer - crisis averted. Whooo hoo!


And now, the shirts, blouses and slips for dancing are in the washing machine and I'm a nervous wreck.

I did find all the pieces for the new blouse I'd started to make Emily last year and never got a chance to finish. The trim is all attached and the body is together and the sleeves are ready to attach. All it needs is the neck piece pinned on and if I had three functioning brain cells I could probably whip up a finished blouse in about an hour (give or take four) but something tells me, if I haven't finished the damn thing in over a year, I'm not going to get it done in the next day.....so she will wear her old one, that's a touch on the small side, and has a slight tear in one shoulder (where the washing machine tried to eat it).

I also found the shirt I have for Owen that just needs trim....but I don't have any 'boy' trim in the house and I don't think I could get away with 'girl' trim so I guess he will wear Garrett's shirt again this weekend. Eventually though we are going to have to return it because one day this little guy is going be big enough to fit his daddy's old dance shirt.



Time to go check on the items in the washing machine. Oh please let them all be in one piece. I can't take anymore laundry chaos today.


Or any chaos.

When the kids get home they have to try everything on before I pack it up. I sure hope everything fits......but I have a feeling Owen's sash is going to be ifffy.


Note to self.....self.....don't forget to pick up a pack of safety pins.....I think we are going to need them.




~K

*I Wonder Why?* Wednesday

Here's an *I Wonder Why?* from last Wednesday. I think I was so stunned that I just couldn't put it into words at the time.


I wonder why......






my almost 17year old daughter is standing behind me




in the grocery store




when she should be on the school bus




on her way home.




Actually, I wonder why wasn't really my first thought.



It was more of a What the hell are you doing here?!?! kind of moment


followed by a What the hell was the bus driver thinking?!?! kind of moment.



I was literally speechless, probably because my jaw was on the floor, and it took a few moments before I'd regained my ability to speak and then ohhhh baby did she get an ear full.....and then her father took her to the van and she continued to get an ear full while I finished picking up a few groceries.

From what I was able to piece together, one of the girls on her bus works at the grocery store and the bus driver was dropping her off at the store. My daughter, convinced that she saw our van in the parking lot and that we were in the store shopping, decided she was going to get off the bus too. Now technically, since she found us in the store, she wasn't wrong in her assumption that we were there BUT considering there are at least 3 steel blue/grey Uplander vans in town (I know because I've almost climbed into at least one of them by mistake) it could have easily not been our van she'd seen in the parking lot.

Her quick thinking brother, armed with his new cell phone sent me a text message asking where I was and I assured him that I was indeed at the store and in the company of his sister and that I was NOT happy with his sister OR the bus driver and thanked him for checking in with me about the situation. At least he realized there was a problem with the whole deal. The bus driver sure as heck didn't.

I was and actually still am quite floored.

Whatever possessed the bus driver to allow our daughter, our 17yr old with the critical thinking skills of a 6 yr old to get off the bus. I'm not one for labels and such but come on! The term "Special Needs Child" has to count for something and in my world it means at all times someone responsible must be watching out for my daughter because she is in many ways incapable of being responsible for herself. And the bus driver KNOWS this! She's 'pulled the wool over his eyes' once before when he first became our driver like two years ago. He knows not to believe her.....and yet he let her get off that bus.

When she was asked what she would have done if we hadn't been at the store she didn't have a clue. What-If questions are way too abstract. She eventually came up with a couple not completely wrong answers but definately not the correct response in that situation. Her ideas involved walking about a mile either in one direction or another to either of her grandparents' houses on the off chance that someone would be home and in all likelihood she would have either become lost along the way or more believable she would have been sidetracked and become totally lost. Never did she consider asking to use the telephone at the store or asking any of the dozen or more people that she knows who work there for help.

AND......she is completely oblivious to the fact that she did anything wrong.


And a week later......I'm still floored!



~K

Income less expenses equals

one huge headache.

Is there room in my budget for a super-size bottle of Advil?

Help me. I'm so confused.

I'm determined I will fit luxuries like cell phones and satelite for the tv into my budget if it kills me. You'll notice internet isn't considered a 'luxury'. That's right up there with food darlings. You can't get rid of my rambling that easily. haha

Anyway. Last night I went on a quest to lower the cost of keeping the kids busy so I can blog ummm watching Amazing Race having satelite service.

I'm so CONFUSED! What the heck is the difference between digital and HD and don't I need an HD tv for HD service and what exactly am I paying for and do I really need all 900 freaking channels when all we watch are about 12 of them?

Our service providers website is enough to make you wanna pull your hair out. I think their site runs sooooo slow on dial-up in an attempt to make me click the link to see what their internet service would cost. I think it would have been faster to call and sit on hold waiting for a customer service rep.

Two frusterating hours later - it turns out that my 'grandfathered-in' old package provides me with more service than what I would get for the exact same amount of money if I switched to their absolute lowest priced package and got 10 of the 12 channels we watch and to get those other 2 channels would cost me about $5 bucks more each month......so I guess what I'm saying here is I either suck it up and keep what I have or have absolutely nothing.

Darn!

You know what else I've learned with this little 'lets trim expenses' field trip into just what everything is costing me. The sneaky buggers are well.....sneaky. Sure they don't raise the rates of things - they just add on system access fees. For example - my home phone, which is solely for the purpose of providing my dial-up internet a way to well.....dial up. It seems that even though I have not made any long distance phone calls on my home phone in the last month I still have long distance charges. Apparently I don't read my bills closely enough - actually, I find not reading them at all helps me sleep at night but I digress, apparently even though I don't make long distance phone calls I get to pay for the priviledge of having the ability of making them by paying a long distance network charge of $2.95. Hadn't noticed that little gem earlier. Oh but they were kind enough to not charge me for putting a long distance restriction on my phone because it was past due.

I also noticed the phone company has petitioned the government to allow a .98 increase to basic service. I wonder if they would be open to the suggestion of taking that extra $11.98 they will get from me over the course of the next year and come out and put $2 worth of rodent bait in seal up the junction box so the mice don't fill the darn thing with 2lbs of soya beans this fall and disrupt my service....again.

I'm off to see where else I can possibly trim some fat.

The kids like mac n cheese and hotdogs.

For Sale

A few days ago Al bought a couple For Sale signs to put in the trucks. These signs resulted in a few interesting conversations.



Emily: What are the signs for?

Mom: You kids. We are selling you all.

Emily: Not me! I'm the good one. The smart one. The cute one. The funny one.

Mom: The modest one too......and the biggest sign is for you. You're the one we figure we can get the most money for.

She gave me one of her 'whatever' looks and walked away unconcerned.

Darn. I was hoping to get a couple hours of room cleaning and chores out of them if they believed me even just a little bit.




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





Owen: Dad, what's this big sign for?

Dad: The trucks.

Owen: The little truck right? .....right?

Dad: No. The big sign is for the big truck kiddo.

Owen: MY big truck?

You should have seen his face. I thought he was going to cry.

He took the sign and ran, calling back .....I'm going to hide it and then you can't sell my big truck!

Ouch!



That's going to be a tough day that I'm not looking forward too. Unfortunately it's not up for debate. The trucks have to sell.....and soon. The lease company isn't going to be very happy when I put a stop-payment on their money at the end of the month. Anyone want to buy a truck? Just a truck. The kids aren't really for sale. I've been told I can get into a whole mess of trouble if I put them on ebay.


People have said we shouldn't discuss money or how bad things are infront of the kids but they aren't stupid. They see what's going on. I cry at the drop of a hat these days so it's easier for them to know why then to hide the reality of what's happening. Besides, it's kind of obvious when the businesses that has been run out of their home for their entire lives suddenly stops and their dad goes and gets a new job that something's going on. I'm certainly not about to lie to them about why we picked up a food hamper from the local foodbank last week or why there is no money to get new shoes even though they need them or why there is a good chance they won't have tv next month.....because believe me....there would be no hiding that tidbit of news.


Reality sucks but I'm not about to hide it from my kids and no matter what, they know we are somehow going to come out of this okay.


Somedays I even believe that myself.


~K

It's a good thing he's cute

Owen: Dad why did you marry Mom?

Dad: Because I thought she was cute.

Owen: I think I'm going to puke.

End of conversation.

I'm speechless.

It's a good thing he's cute.

Is it over yet?

Friday already. I don't think I've ever been more ready for a week to be over. TGIF!

I can't really say what it was about this week in particular that made it so rough but it just seems to have dragged me down and every time I thought I was feeling a little better, something kicked me again.

I spent quite a bit of time this week down by the creek, camera in hand, watching the amazing forces of nature in the forms of ice jams and massive volumes of violently rushing water.


April 14th - late morning before the heat of the sun broke the ice up completely.




April 16th early afternoon - the water is higher than yesterday and rushing much faster. The sky was cloudy and it was drizzling a bit but no actual rain thankfully. The water is usually on this side of all those trees and the trees are on the far bank. Now the water just flows straight across and barely follows the natural curve of the creek.
Beautiful. Ugly. Terrifying. Amazing.

How can something be all those things at once.

While our creek is technically flooded and looks nothing like the tiny trickle we can normally step across in mid summer but more like a rushing river and in places a small lake, we are in no danger of flooding to our home or actual property unlike some local areas or like the massive destruction and loss in other areas of the province.

In a way I feel bad that I am marveling at the natural disaster that has torn through our backyard but for some reason this week, down by the creek is one of the few places I feel at peace. I can relax there and get away from all the little things that have kicked at me all week.


Maybe it's because being down by the creek, seeing all that water, I know that in a few months it will look completely different. That the water will eventually slow down and things will return to normal and even if it looks a little different than it did last year, it will be okay. Maybe being down by the creek gives me hope that in a few months, even though our lives may be a little different, eventually the chaos will pass and everything will be okay.




June 7, 2008 - after a week of heavy rainfall. This is summer flooding of the creek.



October 23, 2008 This is normal creek levels. Even after a summer of rain there isn't much flow to the creek by late October. No beaver dam this summer to keep water in the far south end of the creek like in the past couple years. Maybe this year though. I caught a couple quick pictures of a beaver (So Cool!) while taking pictures of the flooding on Tuesday evening on the bank of the creek (the bank wasn't visible by Thursday) just to the left of the fallen tree in the top left of the picture.



This is the same tree (photo taken October 23, 2008) as seen in the middle of the 'river' in the 2nd picture. From the looks of things it won't be quite the same once the water receeds.


~K

Well lookie that - I lost a week

A whole week without a post. It's like I dropped off the planet. Oh how I wish!

I didn't though. I'm still here.

Still here in body -although I did loose myself amongst the clutter of this house for a brief period of time....thanks for sending a search party!

Still here in mind too ........ but not by much.

I noticed I started a couple posts on the weekend but apparently I didn't finish any of them. I just reread one of them and maybe that's a good thing. One should not blog while under the influence of Benadryl All-In-One Cold and Flu....nighttime edition (I skipped the daytime version and went straight for the hard stuff). That post was a bit over the top rambling-wise even for me.

When asked why I hadn't written a new post lately I thought, I don't have much to say.

But really.

I'm not lacking for material to blog about.

How can I be.

So much is going on right now....what with things SUCKING so bad lately. I could surely ramble on about that. Or how badly I'm doing with this whole quitting smoking thing. Then there is the sudden arrival of spring complete with flooding like I've never seen. My camera has been in overdrive the past 3 days as I take picture after picture of the normally tiny creek in my back yard turning into an angry rushing river. The frusterating antics of the teen drama queen who has done some way stupid things the past couple days that made my head spin round would make for good blogging as would the wonderful spring ritual of parent/teacher conferences at school last night.

Oh ya. I do not lack for material. Just the brain power. Evil head cold!

~K

whew...what a day

I got slightly sidetracked earlier ( surprised? didn't think so)

then got to work. Ugh! Too much math. I couldn't think straight and my books weren't adding up. Took all afternoon but found the errors.

and I had one way huge panic attack (slightly due to lack of having a smoke to smoke but not completely)

and a couple minor meltdowns (complete with tears)

but I made it through my day and finished the government paperwork I had to finish and I made it all the way through all that math without a smoke. My frazzled nerves couldn't take it anymore though and I begged Al to bring me a pack of which he is now in charge of so I won't be able to smoke em cuz I got em.

I'm happy I found where the 'missing' money was.....unfortunately it wasn't in the place I'd hoped it would be (like the other column!) and I underpaid the government a few times over the year and geesh, where am I gonna find that $168.36.

There were a few moments when I thought of putting all the financial stuff through the paper shredder and mailing it all to the Governor General in lieu of a cheque and telling the government where they could stick it all.

It's very hard emotionally and mentally, doing all this stuff for a business that doesn't exist anymore.

Next week........ we do the GST !

I can't freakin wait!

Would u believe me if I said...I was confused?

Really.

I am.

I could have swore I wrote a new post (or at least started one) for today only I can't find it. Maybe I just imagined I wrote it....but I'm sure I really did. I wonder what it said.....because I can't for the life of me remember now. That's actually why I blog - because I can't remember what I did or thought on any given day and I love writing things down but paper just doesn't work for me.

I have a love hate relationship with paper.

My whole house is cluttered with the stuff. Everything from pretty (neglected) scrapbook papers and notebooks and post-it-notes, kids art projects and stories and song lyrics (oh boy are there pages and pages of half written song lyrics EVERYWHERE!) and bills and accounting files and more bills and junk mail and more bills. The purpose of blogging was to have a place to write, sans paper clutter, where I wouldn't loose things.....and now I've gone and lost a half written blog post.

How ironic.

I'm pretty sure the missing blog post had something to do with money. I have a love hate relationship with that stuff too. I'd love to have some and hate that I don't. Simple as that.

Where was I?

Oh yeah. Missing blog post.

It might have had something to do with Al's first paycheque from his new job which was direct deposited overnight and is now sitting in my bank account - briefly....this months van payment will take care of a good chunk of it. Maybe it was about that. I don't really remember....I should write these things down.

Maybe it was about my not smoking.....but probably not because that's not going so well. But I'm working on it.

Doubt it's about my getting a job because as I said before....nobody's beating down my door to hire me ---- although 2 hours after I said that the first time, I did get a call about a possible job that might be available in the next few weeks. I'm not sure I really want the job but if the store I put an application into doesn't pan out in the next 3 weeks (I called yesterday to check on the situation and was told it would be at least 3 weeks before they are hiring) or so and I do get offered this other job I might just have to suck it up and take it.

Whatever it was about. It's gone now - so this one will have to take it's place. I might even come back later and write an afternoon post. But for now, my time is up and I must go. I've got the whole house to myself today and I'm going to make the best of it and tackle my To Do list I-Think-I-Might list.

~K

*I Wonder Why?* Wednesday

I wonder why........



it's Wednesday already.


Where does the time go?

And believe me I know all about Mickey's big hand and Mickey's little hand and how time works.....so there is no need to leave me a comment on the concept of the passage of hours, minutes & seconds....although you could if you wanted to. It'll give me something to read later.

My sis posted on her blog yesterday about all the things she thought about doing. She's either wanting to do nothing or wanting to do a million things all at once and feels like she's on an ever spinning wheel.

Oh boy... I can relate to that!

I can think of a million things I want to do and I want to do them all right now but first I have to do a half a million other things before I can get to the ones I want to do. Most days I barely get through the things I have to do (like grocery shopping yesterday ---- it took FOREVER!) and never get to the want part of the list. An extra twist to my spinning wheel is that I get sidetracked....easily....while doing something (like looking for a picture of a Mickey Mouse Watch to add to this post) and end up doing something else (like reading a couple pages of a quirky little blog I came across while looking for said picture).

Focus Woman or you'll never get half of your million and a half things on your I thought of doing list done.

Reading over what I've written so far, I thought of adding a little pic of a calendar to this post too but I'll never get anything done if I try looking for a cool image for that thought. So.....this post shall remain picture-less unless you want to see more cute baby pictures...because I could seriously look at those all day. They make me happy......and sidetracked.

Best to just go get to work on my list.


Have a *Wonder*ful Wednesday everyone!

~K

It was a different kind of Monday

It was so weird not to have to go to work Monday morning and I realize now I didn't get that tense, anxious 'grrrr...I have so much other stuff to do and don't want to work tomorrow' feeling on Sunday night like I usually do. There was a brief moment when I pulled back into the yard after taking the kids to school (because it was the first day back after a week off and nobody was quite capable of pulling themselves together enough first thing in the morning to be ready for the bus) that I looked at the two trucks parked in my driveway and felt a slight pang. They looked so lonely and forgotten - those two trucks - sitting there - with no place to go and nothing to do. We left them sitting there in their parking spots while we went for breakfast without them.


Breakfast was weird too. Weird to not be sitting there in layers of work clothes (the waitress even commented that we looked so different this morning). Weird not to have a table full of chatter while we ate. Weird not to have to eat and run. After we'd been there over our usual hour and I got fidgety - we don't should be gone already. Weird driving around after breakfast watching someone else do our work but it was slightly enjoyable knowing how much they had left to do yet and how far 'behind' they were.

Al did much better with his first monday off than I thought he would. He didn't pace at all and didn't really stress about it like I thought he would. I'm liking this 'New Al'. He's much more easy-going lately and I like it. I like that he's enjoying going into work at his new job and I'm loving all the hours he's been getting - although a few more would be nice and it would make my budget a little less tight.

All in all the day was good - except for the not smoking part....which isn't going terribly well but not horrible either. I finished off my last pack early in the day and put on a patch and only had a couple anxious moments. I did pick up another pack and admit I had one or two throughout the evening but I didn't have an urge to scratch anyone's eyes out ---- much.

Today hasn't been quite as good. I am a stress smoker and there's definately a little bit of stress round these parts but I'm doing better than I thought I would. Blog posts will probably be fewer this week just because sitting at the computer is when I find I want a smoke the most so I'm avoiding sitting here very much. I have some other projects to occupy my time, including installing the flooring we picked up last night.

~K