Boo!

It was a cold night for trick-or-treating. The boys had a blast going door-to-door. Ash and her family (and dog) came with us. She and Gar bickered about the cold until she finally told him to go back to our house with Stephen.

Here are the boys in their oh-so-original costumes:


Cars had a blast but then he decided his candy bag was too heavy and he tried to send me to the doors to get more. Finally, I carried his bag and he just stayed on the sidewalk. By this point it was pretty frosty and he was wearing his coat with his hands tucked in his pockets.

One house was giving out treats to the parents...a Bud Light in aluminum bottles with a Halloween theme (the guy works for Anheuser-Busch). And I don't know if it were the bottle or the fact that it was 33 degrees outside but that beer was FROSTY. My lips stuck to the bottle!

Robin gave me a link to NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). The challenge is to post everyday in the month of November. Since I normally post inane things daily, I am sure it will not be too difficult for me to do it. Heh

Jax's class party went well today. Laurie made pumpkin seed brittle (think peanut brittle with out the child-killing peanuts in it), pumpkin cream cheese frosting and orange soda/ice cream punch served out of a carved out pumpkin. It was great! I made my best-ever sugar cookies in the shape of pumpkins that the kids spread the frosting on then they used sprinkles. The craft (similar to this but with a fall/leaves motif) was a hit with the moms but notsomuch with the kids. I will have to plan something different next time. This was the first year since we've been at the school that the kids were allowed to wear costumes at school. It was fun to see the kids get so excited to show off their costumes. Jax had his (minus the scythe and the black face paint) on and he had the hood down so low that it was not until the end of the party that Laurie even knew it was him!

Ok, so now I have written a book! Perhaps I should have signed up with NaNoWriMo?!

Brrr!

Ok, I am getting over my cold but I am still cold because the temperature has dropped! It is currently below freezing in our area. I am so not ready for this. It is a month too early too! And I only just ordered Jax's winter coat from LLBean on Friday so it will not be here for at least another week.

Anyway, as I mentioned, I am getting over my cold. Today was the first time in days that I did not feel dizzy and weak. I fell as though I might be getting a sinus infection though. :\

Stephen said that E's birthday party was fun. He introduced himself to one of T's friends who is one of the other 3rd grade teachers at Jax and Dex's school. She said "Oh, you are Jax's dad" but Stephen is not sure if she knew about Jax from T or from the peanut shit at the school. I will have to ask T.

Speaking of Jax, I have a couple of good ideas for him for Christmas. I am going to get him a wallet and put a wallet-size photo of him inside along with a $10 Target gift card and perhaps a couple of dollars. In fact, I will probably give this same gift to all three boys. I am also thinking of getting Jax a cartoon drawing kit. I saw some cool ones in a Dick Blick catalogue but I cannot find it online for some reason.

I have no idea what to get Dex and Cars (other than the wallets). I am sick-sick-sick of Star Wars toys in this house and the constant "I can't find Mace Windu's lightsaber!" or "Mooooooom! Help me find a green lightsaber!" or "Cars broke up my Lego walker! Waaaah!". And then Cars asks every.single.day to watch STARWARSEPISODETWO. It is actually more like "Thawarzzzepithodetoooo!" And it is not like he does watch it everyday. He just asks everyday. Several times.

Today I watched the Michael J. Fox interview from CBS news. It is heartbreaking how devastating that disease has been to him. To watch the interview, click here. It is long but well worth watching. It is interesting and thought-provoking.

Ok, off to bed to ensure this cold does not come back. But before I do, I am going to turn the heat up! Brrr!

Still sick. I spent all afternoon in bed. *sniff*

Today is our regular Friday Night - Pizza and Movie Night. We eat pizza for dinner then the kids watch a movie of their choice. Tonight's selection: Garfield: A Tail of Two Kittens. Ho-hum. I am still feeling rotten so I think I shall retire upstairs and miss this fine gem of a movie.

I took the kids swimming again today. It was surprising dead considering that school was out for the day in our school district. The sun did shine today though so perhaps people took advantage of being outside. Anyway, Cars pitched a fit in the shower after swimming so I had to rush and therefore did not get to rinse all of the conditioner from my hair. So, I have greasy-looking hair, a red, raw nose and puffy eyes. Ooooh, now I'm the gem.

Then a friend called today and we compared thyroid problems. She has Hashimoto's disease but I had thyroid nodules that they thought were cancerous (they weren't) and I got to have a partial-thyroidectomy. She is on medication though and I do not yet need it. Not sure which of us is the gem there.

Now, I shall take my dazzling diamond self to bed with a box of kleenex.

I have been chewing Cold-Eeze gum all day trying to help get rid of this cold. Now I am sitting in bed, with three layers of clothing and slathered in Vaporub. I promised to take the kids swimming tomorrow (they have the day off school) so I have to feel better by then.

We were invited to E's 40th birthday party this weekend (it is the costume party) but I cannot find a babysitter! I thought I could ask Ash if I were desperate (was working on exhausting all leads first) but her SIL and BIL are coming to town this weekend so she is out. So, Stephen will just have to go to the party by himself. I feel badly about it and hate to have to tell Terry tomorrow. Maybe it is just as well since I have this cold.

Misc...

Ugh - I have my first cold of the season. Sore throat and a runny nose. Boo. :(

I took the kids swimming after school today (early release). They had not been there in ages. Cars of course refused to get in the pool with his swim belt on for at least 10 minutes. He said he would sit on the bench and watch. Finally, he decided to come in once he saw a ball that he could play with in the water.

I bought some pumpkins at Whole Foods today too. The kids each got one and I bought a 4th one for Stephen to carve at Cars' preschool party tomorrow morning. They were only $0.11/pound! What a bargain!

I just watched Monday Night's episode of Heroes on the dvr tonight. It is such an exciting and fun show. I cannot wait until next week's show.

Oh and I had a good one hour chat with my BFF today!

Stephen took a day off today because he hurt his back yesterday and he is "tired". (I will resist the urge to eyeroll right now - like I can take a day off and lay in bed because I am tired). So it was a lovely day with him moping around here and my mother driving me crazy. Fortunately, she leaves tomorrow morning and Stephen will go back to work.

Overall, Killjoy's visit was good. I started to tune out her "You should"'s and "Why don't you"'s a couple of days ago which made the visit nicer. The kids really enjoyed her here. Cars started crying tonight because he didn't want her to go (she needs to leave before they get up in the morning). It is nice that they love her and enjoy her company.

Cars had picture day today and he told me that he would NOT be smiling. Or he would smile "like this" and he put his hands over his eyes. It will be interesting to see how they turned out...

Ash's puppy is so cute! She is 7 weeks old and they named her Sophie. She has a little pink collar and leash which looks so out of place on a Rottweiler. All three of my kids pet her so that is a good start.

Tomorrow is Killjoy's last day here (she leaves very early in the morning on Wednesday). For the most part it has been a good visit but man, can she get on my nerves! Besides the whole grey hair thing and lecturing me about laundry, she has been ok. Oh and today she was interfering with my parenting which pissed me off. Anyway, I imagine that her next visits will be shorter because she will spend more time in Vancouver on her west coast trips since she will have a grandchild there too.

Ash cut Cars' hair today. I tried to cut it myself but he was uncooperative and he ended up looking like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber. Fortunately, he was cooperative for her and she fixed it although it is still a little choppy. And of course tomorrow is Picture Day. *sigh*

And speaking of pictures, here is our ragamuffin family photo for the church directory. And yes, I know that Jax needs a haircut.

Crafty

I have been very crafty these past couple of weeks. These are things I have been working on:


Pumpkin decorations which are just rolls of toilet paper, wrapped in a 22" square of fabric with some plastic grocery bags for stuffing. Add a pipe cleaner and a crumpled paper lunch bag and voila!


More pumpkins. Regular pumpkins covered in glitter! They look better IRL. I got this idea from Martha Stewart.


These are beaded plant stakes/picture holders. I was trying out a craft to maybe use at MOPS. It turned out ok. If I use it we'll use smaller beads.


I love these keychains. I think I might make them for everyone for Christmas. Instructions can be found here. I think this will be a MOPS craft too.


And speaking of MOPS crafts, these decoupaged mirrors was this past week's craft. Use Mod Podge to stick napkins to a mirror (from IKEA). This craft was a real hit!


Pumpkin and "Harvest" holiday pencil party favours. This is for Jax's "Harvest Party". Each pumpkin is filled with Hershey Kissables which are peanut-free. I have made 17 of 24. I ran out of crepe paper because it was so thin, I had to double it to make them strong enough. I also ran out of Kissables but I think it was because I ate them. Need to buy more of each tomorrow.


Working on another booga bag. This one is a little larger than the others I have made and I have doubled the thickness of the bottom to give it more support.


I made five of these undershirts for my mom to give to my SIL's who are expecting babies! I guess I can tell everyone now that Jean-Paul and Marilyn are expecting a baby in May. I think I mentioned already that my brother, Wally (Fiona's dad) and his wife are expecting a baby in January. Whoo-hoo! Anyway, this was another Martha Stewart craft.

It has been fun making these items. I am looking forward to being even craftier in the upcoming weeks!

Fun Stuff

Idea lifted from Snapper's Blog. (Thanks, Chris!)

1) Click on IMDB

2) In the SEARCH field (top left part of the page), type in the name of a favourite movie

3) When you get to the movie's page, click the link in the left navigation bar that says "MEMORABLE QUOTES" (in the Plot & Quotes area)

4) Find your favourite line from the movie and post it in the comments section of this post

Stand By Me:
Vern: If I could only have one food for the rest of my life? That's easy, Pez, cherry-flavored Pez. No question about it.

Cars' first dentist appointment was, um, interesting. He first refused to lie back in the chair for the dental assistant. Then he laid back but then would not open his mouth! He had the biggest pout on his face. I am sure I have never ever seen anyone stick their bottom lip out so far! Finally, I had to pry his lips apart so they could count his teeth. Then they made the mistake by letting him sit up before the dentist came in. No more lying back. No mouth opening. No eye contact. Another huge pout. Thankfully they only billed us for a "Happy Visit".

I took my mom to MOPS today. She was happy to do the craft (mod podge napkins onto a mirror frame). Tomorrow night we are going to go to Joann's Midnight Madness sale.

I have only worked out once in two weeks and I feel like a slug. Ugh. I am going to go Saturday morning. I promise!

Today was a much better day with Killjoy. I took her shopping at Michael's and she loves crafts so that kept her busy (and from making me feel like I am 15) for a couple of hours.

Dex and Cars went to the dentist today. The dentist is a little concerned that Jax does not seem to have an adult lateral incisor on the upper right. Unfortunately, they did not take panoramic Xrays (insurance would not cover it this visit) so they said to come back in two months so they can re-check. Dex did great and was proud to show off the hole where he lost a tooth two days ago.

My dentist appointment is at 7:30am tomorrow and Cars' is at 10am (the office is just one mile from our home). I have been very good about wearing my night guard for the past three nights. Now I gotta floss!

*sigh*

My mom had a good trip down on the train but she said she would not do it again. Anyway, she just went to bed but not before telling me that "if you are going to have grey hair you need to cut it short". Aargh! Why do I put so much weight into what she says? I am already wondering if I should cut my hair or colour it!

Anyway, 9 more days...

Guilt

Killjoy is on her way here from Vancouver. Already I am stressed. She called this morning to check if a parcel that she mailed two weeks ago had arrived (it has not). And now I feel as though it is my fault because it is things that I asked her to bring (Smarties for the kids for Halloween and some Tetley tea). She also put toys in the box and is upset because she is arriving in a couple of hours with no presents for the boys. Ok, it is not my fault that she did that so *I* need to get over it. ~breathe~

Also, Stephen was talking to him mom yesterday and she was saying how she really regrets not taking the train trip with my mom and how she would love to travel across Canada by train. She said that if my mom had just asked her, she would have gone. I felt badly at first, thinking somehow I should have arranged for this to happen. But shit! She knew my mom wanted someone to travel with so why didn't she just ask to go along? And OMG, can you imagine how crazy I would be after a week and half of BOTH Killjoy and MIL?! Just as well...

So, I will spend a few more moments here, sipping my tea before I have to psyche myself up to head to the train station in downtown Seattle (across that friggin bridge in the pissing rain!). Perhaps I need to spike my tea...

A little of this and that

Not much exciting this weekend, besides our date night. Saturday, Jax and Dex went to a birthday party at a kickboxing school. They had a blast and I have never seen them so sweaty!

Today we spent much of the day getting ready for my mom's visit tomorrow. She arrived in Vancouver this morning. She leaves there tomorrow morning and arrives in Seattle at 12:30pm tomorrow.

I have so many craft projects on the go or planned at the moment. I hope to get to a few of them this week while Killjoy is here so I will take some pictures and post them.

Friday

Stephen and I had a date tonight. We first went shopping for a new light (no luck) then out to dinner and then to a bar for a drink. The bar had Labatt's Blue on tap! It was nice to have a Canadian beer in an American bar.

Nanny babysat for us tonight. She was not able to find a job in Canada so she took a new Nanny job here. It is nice to know she will be around to babysit for a while yet. My kids had a great time with her here tonight.

Tomorrow, Jax and Dex have a birthday party at a Kickboxing place. We'll need to go shopping in the morning for a gift (oh and I need to make cupcakes since they will not be able to eat the birthday cake).

On Sunday, the kids start RE classes. Cars will go to Sunday school during Mass and then immediately following Mass, Jax and Dex will go to their classes for one hour.

And we need to prepare for Killjoy's visit. The house needs to be cleaned, the room she will stay in needs to be set up and I need a sedative. Just kidding, I will just use the back pain pills that I have.

We have had such gorgeous weather the last few days. It is quite chilly in the mornings but it warms up to the low-70's during the day. The sky has never been bluer and not a cloud in the sky. We have spent long afternoons at the park afterschool, enjoying the sunshine before the 6 months of rain and gloom arrive.

Today I also had a roofing company come and give me a quote on gutters. Actually, I already had the quote from them but the guy came out to try to please a very unhappy customer. The guy is Cute Roof Guy who sold us our roof back in 2004. I received a letter from him last month stating that they had a deal on gutters (10% off!) and to call their new office. So I called made an appointment for someone to come out. They said New Roof Guy would be out and I said "Fine" but I did wonder why Cute Roof Guy wasn't coming.

Anyway, on Monday, New Roof Guy calls and tells me he is stuck in traffic and will be about 15 minutes late. Hmmm...traffic? Coming here? There is most definitely traffic leaving our plateau, heading to Redmond and Seattle but not really any traffic coming this way. He showed up *1 hour* late. Fortunately, I did not have anywhere to go but I was irked.

New Roof Guy: What are you looking for?

Me: We had our house painted and Painter said we needed new gutters so I called for a quote. Cute Roof Guy had sent me a letter about the sale price.

New Roof Guy: Cute Roof Guy sent you a letter!? So why am *I* here?!

Me: Uh, I don't know. I called the office and they sent you.

New Roof Guy: (exasperated sigh) Cute Roof Guy has all of the measurements for your house then so I am NOT climbing up on the roof to re-measure.

Me: Okaaaaay...

New Roof Guy: I don't know why they sent me *all* this way.

Me: Sorry that it was a waste of your time (not sure why I apologized because it was not my fault and by this time I was getting mad at him for being so rude)

New Roof Guy: I will have Cute Roof Guy call you with a quote.

Me: When can I expect to hear from Cute Roof Guy?

New Roof Guy: (walking away) Later today.

Ok, I was miffed. But I thought I will hear from Cute Roof Guy later today. Besides, we had re-pounded in the spikes in the gutters and they probably would last another year so it wasn't urgent...

So, fast forward to Thursday night, just after 11 o'clock. I was thinking about the gutters and was really irritated that I did not hear ANYTHING from the Roofing company, New Roof Guy or Cute Roof Guy. So I thought I would email the owner of the company only I could not find his name online so I just sent an email to their general email account. I didn't care if I did not hear back from them but I was going to let them know I was peeved. I mentioned that it was not my fault that they sent the wrong person and here it was 4 days later and still not quote. And that I felt I could no longer recommend them to friends looking to replace their roofs.

Friday morning, at 7:45am the telephone rang. It was the roofing company calling to talk about my email. The caller apologized and asked that I give them another chance and is there any way that Cute Roof Guy can come out to my house to give me a quote. I explained again how disappointed I was in their service and agreed to let Cute Roof Guy provide me with a quote. Also, within the hour, I had an email from Cute Roof Guy with the quote.

The next day, I received a hand-written card apologizing again. They said that my experience was not up to the "gold standard" that they normally provide. Enclosed was a $10 Starbucks card.

Today, Cute Roof Guy came out and was trying hard to butter me up. Said he loved the new colour of our house. Apologized again for the mix up. Said it was all his fault. Basically said I could get the 10% off anytime, not just if I booked it this month.

And after all that, we probably will not replace our gutters this year. Stephen thinks we can wait until next year. So, I will let Cute Roof Guy know that we will wait and in the meantime, I will take the kids to Starbucks for hot chocolate.

Ick

It is that time of the year. Spider mating season. I have been fortunate not to have seen any of the HUGE spiders running across the floor yet this year, but enough of the smaller one are around to scare me. But, I have been brave. Very brave. No screaming at all. In fact, I have very matter-of-factly asked Stephen to kill a few spiders. I didn't get all sweaty and shaky just looking at them. I did not insist on showing me the squished spider as he flushed it down the toilet (the only acceptable squished spider disposal system in this house). Look at me! I am a brave, brave woman.

Yesterday, I saw an icky black spider running around one of the closets just off the family room. I did not panic. I did not scream. I just very calmy went for my "humane bug catcher" and went on a spider hunt. Ok, I must admit here that I did have the fly swatter as back up but it was not needed. The spider ran out of the closet and right into the path of the "humane bug catcher". Right into it! So, I very calmly (people, you don't know how proud of myself I am here) and slowly pushed the little door shut on the little bugger. I went slowly because I did not want to deal with any squished spider legs on the thing. I then very carefully picked up the "humane bug catcher", taking extra care to ensure that the door did not slide open and let the spider get away.

I walked slowly across the floor, unlocked the back door, walked across the deck and then FLUNG the door of the "humane bug catcher" open and dropped the spider into the grass. I hope he got eaten by a bird.

Ok, so after umpteen very frustrating hours, it seems that the new light is broken or something. The lines are "hot" and appear to be wired correctly but the light just does not work. We need to box it back up and take it back to the lighting store this week. So we'll live with a big hole in the ceiling for a while yet.

Jax and Dex wore their "Be a P.A.L., protect a life" with the NO PEANUTS symbol shirts to school today. M's son wore his to and I guess a couple of kids in Jax's class noticed that the two of them had the same shirt. Laurie is going to make one for her kids too (her dd is in Jax's class too) and we have all decided that the kids will wear these shirts every Monday to school. I think I will contact another mom with a PA child in 2nd grade and offer one to her for him.

Ok, off to work off the Oreos I had after dinner.

Ugh - while Stephen had the circuit breaker off most of the day, we lost all of the shows we had saved on the DVR. Comcast says that should not have happened and we should take the cable box into their nearest store. I did not lose any "important" shows. But, I had recorded an episode of Rachael Ray's show dealing with food allergies. And a few episodes of AFV for the kids. And lastly, I had DVR'd "Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan which is such a great movie. Seriously. I used to know that movie inside out! When I worked at a movie theatre, many of us would stand at the back of the theatre watching and re-watching parts of that movie. One person I know had most of it memorized and would recite the lines along with the movie. And it has Kirstie Alley long before she gained all that weight (I was fatter than her way back then too!). ;)

I will have to try to catch Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan next time it is on tv. I thought about renting it from Netflix but decided that it is just one of those movies you have to watch from TV. Like one of my guilty pleasure movies (which was on LAST weekend) - The Cutting Edge. TOE PICK!

No Light

Hmmm...did blogger eat my post? Anyway, the light is not working and we cannot figure out the problem. More trouble-shooting tomorrow, I guess.

Let there be Light

As always, whenever I plan a small project for around the house that should be very straightforward, it turns into a huge ordeal. Like when we got our new stove and hood. Sears wanted an arm and a leg to install the new hood so Stephen said he would do it himself. When we took off the old one, the duct work fell down out of the exhaust chimney and the hood did not even line up with the exhaust so two trips to the hardware store and half a day later, it was finally installed. Or when our faucet exploded last year a couple of days before Christmas, it should have been a piece of cake to install a new one but the air pipe (I forget the technical name for it) was in the way and Stephen had to buy a 24" long screwdriver to reach the screws. That installation took 4 hours and two trips to the hardware store too.

The same thing has happened again. The lighting in our family room is terrible. There is one pot light and it shines down at such an angle that it burns in my eyes and gives me migraines so we NEVER turn that light on. I have a lamp in the room but it does not give off enough light for the whole room. I am always looking for just the right light. So I saw this track system and I thought it would be perfect because it is halogen lights which give off perfect white light, and the shades are blue so they will go with all of the blue glass accessories in the house. It looked easy enough to install and for $100 - what a bargain.

So today Stephen started poking around the old pot light and besides the fact that the opening is HUGE, there is no nearby junction box to attach the new lighting system too. And there is a heating duct running alongside the opening (in the ceiling) so no way to properly secure a new junction box right there. So, he will have to cut ANOTHER hole in the ceiling to install this new light. Then we will have to repair the old hole, tape, putty and texturize THEN paint the ceiling. OMG, what an ordeal to install a relatively cheap light.

But, once it is in it will look great and I am looking forward to having some real light in that room. Plus it will match nicely with the lamp I bought last year (for half price!).

Anyway, Stephen is at Home Depot now (after going to Ace earlier today) to get the drywall stuff he'll need to patch the ceiling. Already two trips to the hardware store and he hasn't even started yet the installation yet. This one might set a record for number of trips to the store.

It was 20 years ago today

...when Stephen and I had our first date. Ok, I have a confession to make. I cannot remember if it were October 4th or October 6th. I need to find a 1986 calendar to confirm it.

Our first date has a funny story to it. Of course there is the his and her version of it but since Stephen doesn't have a blahg you'll have to settle for mine.

Stephen had asked me out two weeks before. He was busy that upcoming weekend (hockey tournament) so we made plans for the following Saturday. We were in university and were in four of the same classes that term. We both lived at home with our parents whose houses were only about 2.5km apart.

Anyway, Stephen came to pick me up at my parents' house. My brother and my cousin were in the driveway installing a stereo in my mom's car and they did not even acknowledge Stephen as he walked past them (man, that still irks me! lol).

Stephen and I headed out to dinner at The Keg. Now, this is where the versions differ. I recall him telling me that he told his friends that we were going to The Keg and they might join us. He recalls no such thing and still claims that he only told them where we were going for dinner and never said anything about them joining us.

So, we arrive at The Keg (awesome Bloody Caesars BTW!) and were seated at a table for two. I was facing the door. We ordered our drinks and food. As we were waiting for appetizers, I noticed a group of people come into the restaurant and look around. A blonde woman looked over our way and started waving furiously at me. I had no idea who she was. I looked away but glanced back and she started waving again. Who was she?! I leaned over to Stephen and told him that some strange woman was waving at me. He looked over, jumped up and rushed over there. I saw them talking and then the waiter was called over. Then the waiter walked over to our table, picked up my drink and carried it over to a larger table. Then the blonde woman walked by and said "Hi" as she walked over to that larger table. Next was a guy with dark hair who said "Hi Duh-neen" and another guy "Hi", followed by Stephen who said "My friends are going to join us. I hope that's ok".

Well, I was nervous enough about the date but now I was terrified. The blonde was Stephen's next-door neighbour, Sheesh. Her boyfriend and a high school friend of Stephen's, Chech. The third person was Kev, whom Stephen had known since he was 7. Yikes! This was almost as nerve-wrecking as meeting his family!

So, throughout dinner I barely said a word. I could not eat (months later, Sheesh asked me why I ate like a bird that night). Finally dinner ended and we said good bye to Stephen's friends. They said they were headed to a bar in Markham (this was probably a code) because after Stephen and I went to a movie (Club Paradise), we went to a nearby bar and lo and behold, guess who else was there? Sheesh, Chech and Kev. And they were joined by Dan H, another friend Stephen had known since grade 2.

Hmmm, dinner with his friends and later drinks with them on our first date. I am certain he arranged for them to be there but he swears otherwise. In any event, it all turned out well because here we are, twenty years later. :)

Oh, and I just now reminded Stephen that it had been twenty years since our first date. He said "I know. That's why I bought you roses the other day". It was Wednesday. He brought me flowers on Wednesday. So now I just checked and sure enough October 4th was a Saturday in 1986. It was not the 6th - today.

So, it was 20 years and two days ago...when Stephen and I had our first date.

MOPS was today. The craft (painting a daisy design on a hat to wear on the Breast Cancer and MS Walks) went well although it was crazy running around dishing the supplies out and then collecting them again. I missed the cool part of the speakers (The Body Shop - they do direct sales via catalogues and home parties - I had no idea!) so I guess this will be par for the course for the year. :(

Tomorrow I am teaching Art Start in Dex's class. The kids will be studying the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci then working on drawing portraits of each other. I think it will be a blast!

I have also been busy everyday this week after school punching "Walk to/From School" cards for the kids. It is so cute to see all of the kids at school so determined to get their cards punched. We will collect them tomorrow afternoon and the kids with 10 punches will be entered in a draw to win prizes (reflective bracelets, water bottles, etc).

The kids start Sunday School/RE classes next weekend. I signed them up for the 9AM (Cars) and 10:15 classes (Jax and Dex). The church is starting a "Life Teen" Mass at 5:30 on Sundays and the singing group who will lead the songs performed at the 9AM Mass this past Sunday and they were soooo good. Now I wish I had signed the kids up for 4:30pm classes on Sundays so we could go to the 5:30 Mass. Maybe next year...

Killjoy will be here in a week and a half for about 10 days. We are going to make Christmas cake together. God help me. I already know that she will complain because I will not buy the ingredients from the bulk bin (too much chance of peanut cross-contamination). Then she will break something like the Kitchen Aid mixer and say that she has been making Christmas cake for years without a mixer like that so why would I bother to use it (because I have carpal tunnel syndrome and have no strength in my wrists!). Oh, how pathetic am I? I have already imagined a fight with her, complete with my retorts! Serenity now...

O'Really?

FOX News Makes Foley A Democrat during the "O'Reilly Factor" (yeah, like that was a typo)...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A9mNmZ9JpG8

Blech

I fell off the roof and I don't like it! Not fair that it came days early. Ugh - it is a sign of aging no doubt. *pout*

Nosey Neighbour came for lunch today. She braved the 1.5 hour drive. Ash stopped by too. It was a very pleasant time and reminiscent of our weekly tea sessions that we used to have.

While Ash was here, I told her that I was a little concerned about the new dog she is getting - a Rottweiler. While I know if they are trained well, they can be good dogs, I am still worried and concerned that the dog might at some point attack my kids (or me). I have decided that we will have to make sure that the dog is accustomed to my kids but if there is any threat at all, no matter how small, we will have to tell Ash that we will not be around while their dog is there. She is upset that I told her that. But my kids are very nervous around dogs anyway and here she gets one that is big, strong and sometimes vicious.

And DMouse, if you are reading this, please give me some pointers here as to what we can do to make sure that we are comfortable around this dog. The dog is a girl and will be 7 weeks old when Ash gets her on the 21st of this month.

I want my TV

TV is huge in our house. Not only do we have a large television set (I think it is 54") but it is on every evening from 8pm until well after 11 (and most nights after midnight). I know I watch too much tv. But, there are soooo many great shows on tv. I have my favourites lined up to DVR in case I might be out and I sometimes will go back and re-watch parts of episodes that were especially interesting. I am running out of time to watch all of these shows though!

It starts on Sunday night with Desperate Housewives. Part of last season was disappointing but it got really good at the end. This season has been ok so far but I can this show falling out of favour if it doesn't pick up soon.

Monday night I watch Heroes which is such a cool show. I missed the first episode but was able to watch it on www.nbc.com. I think they have last night's episode up there now. I think this show is going to be the "new" Lost which I lost interest in after the first season. Not sure why, it was good too!

Tuesday my show is Boston Legal. I love this show! William Shatner is perfect as Denny Crane.

Wednesday nights the MUST SEE show is Project Runway. This season is almost over so I definitely will miss it until the next season starts in a few months. It always ends around Olympus Fashion Week in New York. I read an article in the newspaper last week that Project Runway is a surprise hit with men (no matter what their sexual preference).

Thursdays used to be Survivor night for me but I have lost interest in that show too. Not even Jeff Probst, who was on my "list" can help it reclaim a spot in my heart. Now my show on Thursday nights is Grey's Anatomy which moved from its last season's Sunday night slot. I love love love this show and all of its characters. Even that jerk, Alex! I cry or shout at the TV nearly every episode!

Friday and Sarturday nights I got nothing! Friday night is "movie night" for the kids and then when they go to bed Stephen usually watches some poker tournament that he has DVR'd during the week. Saturday night is much of the same. Or else we catch up on something we have missed during the week (like watching something I miss from working out or book club.

I promised myself I would not volunteer to do too many things this year because things got so crazy last year, especially in May. Plus I had already signed up to do crafts for MOPS (Mom's club) and that is a big job. So what happens? September rolls around and wouldn't you know I have a full plate again.

* MOPS Crafts (crafts for 44 moms every 2 weeks through the end of May).
* Sunday School Support/Supply person for 3 yr olds class (Ugh, why did I do this?!)
* Art Start teacher for Dex's class
* Room Mom for Jax's class

Ok, the Art Start should be fairly straightforward as long as I follow the curriculum and stop trying to come up with neat ideas for the kids to do especially when a good chunk of the parents are unwilling to pay the extra $$ for the special art projects. (And Kimmer, if you are reading this...I am still trying to locate my Art Start curriculum from last year - sorry!).

Room Mom for Jax's class should be ok too. Laurie is co-Room mom with me so together we need to plan three class parties and collect funds from the parents for these parties. By being Room Mom, I can control the food that comes into the classroom thereby alleviating stress from worries about peanut ingredients in the food.

The support/supply person for Cars' Sunday School class should not be a big job but it is just the planning to get into the church on certain days to ensure that the craft supplies are prepped and ready for the teachers each Sunday. I used to do it on Friday mornings when Nanny was here watching Cars and Dex. Now I will have to do it while Cars is with me.

And I am trying to get all of the supplies together for MOPS now so that all I will need to do throughout the year is a bit of prep work (cutting or sorting). If I plan it right, it should be not very stressful at all. The key word being IF. The part of being the Crafts person though that bugs me is that I am on the Steering Committee so I have to attend a meeting once each month. Not a big deal but it is to be held between the Masses on Sunday. The stress comes in by trying to rush from Mass to drop off Dex and Jax at their RE classes then running to pick up Cars from Sunday School and dragging him to the meetings. I know everyone just thinks "Have Stephen do it" but he does not go to church with us. I pray each week for him to return to church and that just pisses him off. :)

Anyway, we'll see how this works out (or doesn't).

Blogger is bugging me. It is not saving my drafts and I had umpteen problems posting last week. Aargh!

I spent a good chuck of yesterday weeding through old emails so that when I install Outlook on my laptop, I will start fresh with no old mail. While going through it all, I found a batch of email from my friend Jackie. Those notes chronicled the last two years of her life. Good news about her MRI results, some wedding planning details, chatty notes about an upcoming vacation. Then an email about an MRI that showed her brain tumour growing again. Jackie's next surgery, her recovery, her first wedding anniversary, her 35th birthday, her setback, and the last email from her email address was actually from her mother stating that Jackie was too ill to reply herself. Those last two notes were hard to read. One, because it was so full of typos and I knew it was so physically hard for Jackie to type it out. And the last one from her mom because the hope was obviously gone.

Jackie always used to assert that she was going to throw the biggest bash on her 80th birthday. In the note after her wedding she wrote "I am so glad you had a great time. But if you think that was fun, wait until my 80th birthday party!".

My friend, what we all would have given to attend that bash.