I have stayed up way too late the last three nights watching Season 6, Part 2 of "The Sopranos". Fade to black indeed!

I spent the afternoon at the mall looking for a birthday present for a friend. I had no good ideas about what to get her. In the end, after I bought myself a pair of pants, a pair of socks and a Godiva chocolate (yum), I bought her a very nice smelling candle from Illuminations. I also went back to Godiva and bought her some chocolates. I hope that is enough. I am debating whether it is a lame gift or not... *sigh*

My new camera is a Nikon D40x. I am very intimidated by this camera. I have been trying all of the settings but all of the menus and screens scare me. Nikon offers classes on how to use their cameras so I may have to take one (there is one offered in Seattle in Jan).

We bought Cars a bow and arrow for Christmas. I found one at a little toy store for $7.99. He was delighted.

Today we have a hot tub guy coming out to show us how to take care of the hot tub. We also need his advice about getting the timer fixed so we do not get another OUTRAGEOUS ga$ bill. That was such a very big expen$e right before Christmas.

Ok, off to start the day...

We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa was good to the kids and I think we now have enough Lego that if we laid the pieces end to end, it would reach halfway around the world. Today, as always, is reserved as a Lego-building day. My friend with whom I usually shop on the day after Christmas is driving to California with her family so I just stayed home and napped, read and tried to find out all about my new digital SLR camera. Santa was good to me too. :)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Peace be with you.

I am still not done with my Christmas shopping. We realized that we were a gift short for Cars (the big one from us) so we have been frantically trying to figure out what to get him. His list consisted of Star Wars Lego, Star Wars Lego, Star Wars Lego and Star Wars Lego. I have been trying to get more out of him but he keeps telling me "it's a secret". I finally found out that he wants an archery set that we saw months ago at www.hearthsong.com but it is kind of late for that. I cannot believe we screwed up like this! Poor last child!

I totally pooped out this year and bought all of the kids who are coming over for dinner gift cards to Target. So, yes they can go buy what they want but the poor parents who will have to sit patiently (impatiently or is that just me?) while the kids pore over every single item in their price range over and over again until they decide what is the best use of their money. Or is that just something that Jax does. It is agonizing! I hope he doesn't get any gift cards. ;)

Dear Tabitha,

Thank you very much. It is one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. I hope in time it will come to look like this ->

I am looking forward to planting it and need to find the exact right spot. I hope to plant it in the backyard where I can see it from the living room and kitchen windows.

Thank you. You rock!

Kindest Regards,
Pez

Meme

A meme posted to me at myspace. Post in the comments the link to your blog if you play along:

1. is your handwriting big or small?
Big

2. are you left handed or right handed?
Right

3. can you drive?
Of course!

4. where were you before now?
Earlier today I ran some errands with the kids.

5. what color are the things your wearing?
black, purple, grey

6.what's one odd thing you do in the shower?
Shave my legs everyday (apparently my friends think this is weird)

7. what movie did you last watch?
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

8. what did you eat last?
Lay's Ketchup Chips

9. what was your favorite subject in school?
Art

10. what color is your bra(if your wearing one)?
Black

11.what brand is your computer mouse?
Microsoft

12. whats your favorite type of Popsicle?
Orange

13. what class year are you?
82

14. what color is your shower curtain?
No shower curtain - only glass shower doors

15. what color pen do you prefer to use?
Blue

16. do you own a green ipod?
I don't own an ipod

17. do you have a bank account?
Yes

18. do you like ribbons?
Yes, I collect spools and spools of them

19. wide ruled or college ruled?
College ruled

20. do you keep receipts?
Yes but I can never find the ones I need.

21. who's the worst teacher you've ever had?
My grade 12 math teacher

22. do you own work out videos?
Nope

23. do you play soccer?
No

24. are you a cheerleader?
No

25. are you smarter then a 5th grader?
I'd like to think so!

26. do you like soap operas?
Not anymore

27. do you have wood flooring in your house?
Yes, in the front entry and kitchen

28. name a good candy:
PEZ

29. whats your favorite number and why?
3 - it's a magic number

30. what are the brand of pants your wearing?
Banana Republic (love those clearance racks)

Today was Cars' Christmas party at school. They class sang some songs then we ate a potluck lunch. Cars usually just stands there with stage fright but he did actually sing this time. When it was time to eat, Jax decided nothing was safe for him until I reminded him that I brought the bananas and satsumas. He had 4 satsumas for lunch. :\

Later in the day, I took Cars to Pump It Up for a B-day party. The party was only 1.5 hours long - too short to drive back home so Jax, Dex and I sat in the car for that time. I read a book and they played with the Nintendo DS. I rock as a mom. ~eye roll~ BTW, Cars had a great time at the party even though all of the other little boys spoke Japanese to each other.

I had a bath for the first time in almost a year. I had to have it in the boys' bathroom since ours only has a shower stall and the plug is broken in the tub in the downstairs bathroom. It was great except I used a Lush bath bomb and forgot to put it in a nylon and all of the little bits of seaweed went everywhere. I had to skim it all out with a sieve before I drained the tub.

I often wish I could write blahg posts that had a theme throughout the post and were not mere ramblings of my day-to-day activities.

For the second time in two weeks, I have managed to lose a book that I am reading. This is so frustrating! I finally found the first book in one of the moving boxes (I remember putting it down on the box but how it got into the box and another box on top is still a mystery). Today, I took a book with me when I went to the school, thinking I would have a few moments to read it before the kids got out (Dex was going directly to a b-day party so I had the gift for him to take and I brought his backpack home). Anyway, I remember picking the book up from the car when we got home...hang on...ok just checked Dex's backpack and it is not in there. Anyway, it is not in my purse, it is not in the bin where I keep my gloves, it is not on my dining room table or my craft table (all places where I might normally put something down then forget about it). The book is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I guess most everyone else in book club read the book in school. I thought I had read it before but nothing seems familiar to me yet so perhaps not.

Anyway, this is very frustrating and it makes me feel very old and forgetful. Plus I do not have a book to read when I got to bed tonight. *pout*

I found 4 Christmas cards which are to go overseas that were hidden under the photo envelope from Snapfish so those cards will obviously be late arriving. Shoot!

Jax and Dex spent a good part of today making a Lego movie. I downloaded the pictures to laptop and noticed that they are all out of focus. I don't know why Jax did not notice as he was going along. So we have 400 pictures of blurry Lego Jedi knights and some bad guys. They are going to be so disappointed when they realize.

We are having 18 people here for Christmas dinner. I am trying to figure out the logistics of seating everyone. We only have 15 chairs (well, 13 chairs and a bench that will seat 2) so I will have to see if one of our guests can bring three folding chairs. I also do not have enough cloth napkins. I was out today but was too frugal to spend $15 on 4 napkins. So, looks like I will be buying some Christmas paper napkins for $4. A much better deal.

I have mentioned before that my kids have made Lego animation movies (Legomation) and they are always looking for inspiration. We found two really great ones on YouTube lately. This one entitled "Lego Music Video" and also "Lego Indiana Jones". Enjoy!

I finally finished my Christmas cards. Well, actually there will be a few stragglers here and there I am sure but I got the majority signed, sealed and hopefully the postal service will deliver them promptly. I had to buy a ton of 69 cent stamps (for cards to Canada) plus mail five packages. Cars was sick today (bad cough) so the post office was out. Later in the day he was feeling better so as soon as I picked the boys up from the bus we drove to the local Mail Post. I was able to mail the packages and buy $tamp$ for oh, about a 12% premium. Ok, the cheapskate in my was DYING to spend that extra money but we were in and out within 15 minutes and if I had decided to go to the post office, I would have still been driving there at that time. So, I have been able to convince myself that it was the right decision.

Tonight, Nanny babysat the kids and Stephen and I went shopping for Christmas gifts. He needed new shoes and the only way to get him to buy them was to say they were for Christmas. We also bought a few things for Dex and strategized (Pley is that a word? It is coming up as a typo) for the rest of the Christmas shopping.

BTW, no Cosmo Friday today. I just had too much to do (Mail post).

Tomorrow, I am sleeping in! w00t!

My book club rocks! We had our annual Christmas dinner out at Spazzo Italian Grill. What a great group of women! Made me forget all about my crappy week of sick kids (Jax was home sick today), friggin FedEx delivering packages to the wrong house and tardiness getting Christmas gifts in the mail (hopefully tomorrow).

Christmas card update - up to 42! But, they are not yet sealed or stamped. Just keep swimming...

Dex is better today and he went to school. I thought Cars was better (fever was gone, he seemed to be acting more like himself) but then right after breakfast he jumped over the back of the couch (grrrr!), hit his stomach and barfed up his Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds all over the couch. I am sure it is just because he hit his stomach but just in case, I did not send him to school.

Jax's appt last night went well. It was a get-to-know you meeting and the psychologist asked Jax a lot of questions then told Jax that his kids had food allergies so he completely knows all about food allergies. That made Jax feel a little better. Keeping my fingers crossed that this helps.

Today, I have two sick children at home. Cars awoke about 5am with a croup cough so we sat in the bathroom with the shower going for a bit. I noticed he had a bit of a fever too. He went back to bed about 6am. When I got up at 6:45 to take a shower, he threw up on the carpet in my bedroom. He was coming to tell me that he was going to throw up.

Dex awoke with a headache, slight fever and achy legs. He had a flu shot yesterday so it might just be a mild reaction to that (or he might have what Cars has - fortunately no vomitting on the carpet from him!). Luckily, the tooth fairy came last night (she forgot to come last month during a previous tooth-loss night).

Jax decided that his stomach was a little sore too but I think he was just nervous to take the bus to school himself. So I walked him down there (yes, I left 2 kids at home alone for 5 minutes!). I did not wait until the bus came but my neighbour was there to keep an eye on him.

So, because I am forced to stay home today, I am taking the time to write some Christmas cards. I have completed 20 so far! Go me!

I have been busy doing stuff around the house that I have sort of failed to notice that Christmas is in two weeks. As a result, I now have a day and a half to get my shopping done, parceled up and shipped off to Canada. Eeek! What have I done? Or rather, what haven't I done?!

Anyway, looks like everyone will just have to settle for late Christmas gifts. Sorry! I haven't even started on my Christmas cards. I almost feel like saying forget it this year but I will be overcome with guilt so I cannot do that. Chop-chop, time to get going!

We bought our Christmas tree today at our regular place (Home Depot). You cannot beat their prices. Anyway, the tree is huge. It is sitting in the stand while the branches fall a bit before I string the lights. Tomorrow we will put on the ornaments. I hope I have enough ornaments for this massive tree! I did buy a new topper (a lighted star!) so I hope that looks nice all lit up.

Stephen hung the outside lights today too. We had a record number of burnt-out bulbs (20!). We went to Ace Hardware to get more plus another strand then Stephen shorted one out so the rest of the lights will have to wait until tomorrow when we goes to the store to buy another fuse for the lights.

Ash had invited our family to join theirs for dinner last night at a local restaurant but I declined because Jax's anxiety. He asked me 15 times at Laurie's yesterday about the food and in the end only ate two oreos and a gogurt. Even today at Home Depot, they were handing out small bags of popcorn. Stephen asked the man about the oil and he showed Stephen the container (soybean of course) but Jax still was not comfortable. In fact, he told me he was nervous and worried because Stephen and Dex and Cars ate some. I am looking forward to Tuesday when Jax has his first meeting with the psychologist. I am not expecting a miracle cure after the first meeting but I will be honest and admit that I am hoping for one!

I want to get started on my Christmas cards but our printer is out of ink and I cannot print the labels. I know I ~could~ write on the inside but I really do not want to do that until I have the labels printed.

This weekend is Get-Ready-For-Christmas weekend. We are going to get our tree and get the lights up. I have already started receiving Christmas cards so I need to get my Christmas card display up (which really just consists of wire, red ribbon and split rings). I had the perfect spot in the old house but need to find out where to display them in this one.

I went to a jewelry party yesterday and bought a pair of earrings. I am also inspired to start making jewelry again. Hopefully in the New Year!

Today, I met Heidi for coffee/tea at Starbucks in Bothell. It was great to see her.

The last time we met was shortly before she moved to Alaska. Geez, I forget how long ago that was now. You know some people are just so comfortable to be around? That is Heidi. Anyway, we had a very nice chat and we've promised to see more of each other. My camera has been acting up a bit so it seems that this photo is slightly out of focus. And as you can see, I finally found the cord to my camera!

After we met, I went to see Jax's psych for the initial consultation. After reviewing everything he said that he has some ideas to help Jax and I do feel really positive about it. One thing that I do like is that he also has children with food allergies so as a parent, he definitely gets where I am coming from and hopefully he has had experience with his own children and has been able to help them. I did not think to ask him that.

Anyway, I feel more positive that we can help Jax.

Today was a "woe is me" day. I was still beating myself up for missing the appointment for flu shots yesterday. Then I was very impatient with Jax over his obsessive behaviour about his allergy. Next, I spent a very frustrating 24 minutes on telephone with the mail-order Rx drug company only to have the doctor's office call me a few minutes later asking me why the drug company faxed them. They apparently sent a fax requesting renewal of Rx's but did not say which ones or for which children. I despise dealing with them.

I was able to get Cars in for his flu shot today. They said nothing about the missed appointment so I guess I will get the bill in the mail.

Shoot! I was supposed to take Dex and Cars to the doctor today for flu shots and I totally forgot! Now I guess we will get charged for a missed appointment (appointments?!). They did not call on Friday to remind us. But, it was written on my calendar and I just plain forgot. I think I need to move my calendar to a different location where I can look at it more. Remember the day I almost forgot the dentist appointments! Shoot!

We had torrential rains today. There is flooding all over Western WA, roads washed away, etc. I was in Joann Fabrics and Linens'N'Things today and both stores had streams of water leaking from their ceilings. When I picked Cars up school, there was water leaking through the walls of the church. What a mess!

On a positive note, I had to keep shopping to stay out of the rain ;) so I went to the newly opened Kohl's and bought myself a new sweater. It will be a Christmas present from my mom. And unlike the tablecloth she bought me, I won't use it before Christmas. :)

Shoot! I cannot stop thinking about the missed flu shot appointments.

edited to add that I am supposed to meet with Jax's psych on Wednesday but much of the city where the office is located is under water and the mayor has declared an emergency. And one of the highways is closed there too. I am also supposed to meet Heidi that day too. More rain forecasted for tomorrow so who knows if the roads will be open again by then. Crazy weather!!

Lola with her Mommy in her First Snowfall

First Snowfall of Season

We have snow! Well, we had snow and then it melted then we got a lot more snow and now it is raining so we have a lot of slush outside. It made for great fun for the boys and not so much for for Jean-Paul, Marilyn and Lola as they drove back to Vancouver today.

It was a nice visit although we were mostly house-bound because of the snow. Lola is so cute! She is verbalizing and I loved listening to her babble. I did go to Safeway to get steaks for dinner and it was packed! It took me 20 minutes to check out. I guess everyone was stocking up for the storm.

We lit our wood stove and I just burned one log to see what kind of heat it would give off should the power go out. We definitely need to stock up on kindling because it was tough lighthing it with just newspaper.

I found my camera cord so I will try to get some photos back up on my boring ol' blog very soon.

Oops!

Forgot to post again yesterday. So I have missed 3 days total of NaBloPoMo. Rats! Last year I believe I hit everyday.

My brother, SIL and niece (Lola!) are coming for a visit today. They are staying the weekend. I am excited to see them all.

Christmas is coming and I am getting FAT. Need to make some time to get back to the gym. It has been AGES. I took the kids swimming a couple of weeks ago but that hardly counts.

Off to take the kids to the bus. It is FROSTY so I need to dig out hats for everyone.

I forgot to post yesterday. I was going to do so after I watched a couple of tv shows that I had dvr'd but then I fell asleep on the couch. When I awoke it was after midnight. Drats!

I was able to make an appointment for Jax to see someone. The guy has two kids with food allergies so that will be helpful. Unfortunately, the only time he has open is at 7pm which is late because Jax's bedtime is 8pm and the place is not close but hey, we do what we have to do.

It is going to be quite frosty here on the weekend. JP and Marilyn and Lola are coming to visit. I cannot wait to see Lola again!

Nothing much going on here. Today, I did my spelling gig in Dex's class and tomorrow I am teaching Art Start. There is no one in charge of Art Start this year so of course there were no supplies ordered so I had to go to Michael's this afternoon to buy tempera paint. I guess I can be reimbursed but what a PITA.

I finally bit the bullet and called a psychiatrist for Jax. The one the ped highly recommended only has available times during the mornings which does not work because of school. She asked me for more details and then gave me two names whom she would recommend based on what I told her of Jax's problem. And she asked me to call her back if those two doctors did not work out. I really appreciate her time. Anyway, I have a call in to one of the doctors and will call the other if that one does not work out. I am feeling much more confident that Jax will be ok once he has some idea how to deal with his anxiety and stress.

Ok, off to bed to finish my book (Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer). I wish I could put the photo of it on my blahg but...I can't.

Perhaps after NaBloPoMo and probably after Christmas, I will update this blog with a new template. Yes, that sounds like a good idea. And I will find another site to host my files.

Today, I heard from a friend whom I had not spoken to in many, many years. Since before Dex was born! She and her husband (and kids) may be moving to Seattle and she wanted my take on some neighbourhoods. While we are not actually in Seattle and I do not know that much about it, I was able to get some info from some friends who grew up there. It would be great if this old friend moved here because it would be like having family around. Her family lived 4 doors up the street from mine. They had 5 kids and we had 5 kids. I have known her since she was born. I still see her mom every time I am in Toronto and while my friend and I haven't spoken in years, we of course know what is going on with each other because our mothers are best friends.

I hope her dh takes the job here!

It was a crappy day here today. Not weather-wise...just everyone seemed to be in a bad mood. And, it did not help that Dex was looking for his bike helmet and opened the back of the van and lo and behold all of the Christmas presents that Stephen purchased yesterday were sitting there still (normally he hides them right away so I have NO IDEA wtf he was thinking not putting them away yesterday). So, at least Dex fessed up and we did not ruin the Santa Claus thing come Christmas morning.

Stephen totally over does Christmas but that is ok because it is his "thing". He loves to do it. He wants the kids to have the happiest memories ever of each Christmas morning. So this was devastating to him (and he did have a bit of a temper tantrum because of it).

Anyway, to blow off steam he spent the day installing the garage door opener (it took like 5 hours - not sure if that is because it was him or if it just takes that long for everyone (take down the old and install the new). It was fine for us to let him be. Hope he is in a better mood tomorrow.

Black Friday

Stephen was up at 4am and at Kohl's today at 4:30am but he did not stay because the lines to check out were huge. He also went to Toys'R'Us, the Lego Store at the mall, Best Buy, Lowes and some secret store that he won't tell me (but I can guess but I'll wait until Christmas in case I am wrong (initials are GC)).

The kids and I walked to the store to get the stuff for Dex's pumpkin pie. It was nice to walk and think that it is not such a burden because of the huge hill is no longer a factor. It was great. We also stopped at Starbucks for hot chocolate (love their peppermint hot chocolate available at this time of the year). Jax suddenly decided that he was "not comfortable" having hot chocolate at Starbucks even though at this point we had harassed the barista who had pulled out a package of chocolate from the back to read ingredients (peanut-free!). Anyway, I ended up buying him a bottle of IZZE sparkling juice and he read and re-read the ingredients to ensure it was "safe". He was visibly nervous and it really broke my heart. His anxiety is way out of control and I need to call the specialist the pediatrician has referred us to. Stephen is so not supportive which is why I have put this off.

Anyway, off track there...

Stephen did buy us a new phone "system" which consists of 4 cordless telephones and you can use an intercomm to contact each phone which is nice because there is a lot of yelling up and down the stairs. I am looking forward to using it!

Edited to add a link to this classic "How I Met Your Mother" clip: Robin Sparkles "Let's Go to the Mall" (full version) (someone posted today on IOW and I laughed so hard - had forgotten about it!).

We went to E & T's for Thanksgiving dinner today. It was a fun time. Until it was time to go and Dex realized that he had not had a piece of pumpkin pie. He cried the whole way home. So, tomorrow we will go to Safeway and get all of the necessary ingredients to make a pumpkin pie for our family. You can't have a good Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie!

I am still in love with this house (despite the slow flushing toilets which we have yet to fix - perhaps this weekend). Anyway, one thing I love about it the number of electrical outlets in the kitchen. We have 8 (and a 9th is not in the kitchen but on the wall just inside the dining room in which my laptop is currently plugged). In our old house, we had just 4 outlets. Three along the counter top (which we used to plug in the toaster, kettle, coffee maker, microwave and telephone. The under counter lights and the kitchenaid mixer shared the last empty plug. There was no outlet on the kitchen island (well, under the sink but the garberator and the dishwasher were were plugged into that one). The island in this kitchen has a plug! Stephen used it last weekend just because he could. The lack of an outlet on the island was always one of his pet peeves too.

We also have a lot of outlets in all of the bedrooms, in the living, dining and family rooms. I have noticed now that we have like 6 extension cords stored in the utility room (and these do not include the outside extension cords). I supposed in the summer we will make use of some of them again when we haul out the fans but for now, we don't need 'em because we have a plethora of outlets!

Love this house!

Nothing going on. Kids had another 1/2 day of school. I did some online Christmas shopping. I need a crown on a tooth. I need to find my night guard before I need crown on any other teeth. I need to bake three pies for Thanksgiving day and also buy a b-day present tomorrow morning. I need to thank Snapper for some advice and make a rosary bracelet. And check out http://blackfriday.gottadeal.com to come up with a game plan for Friday.

I wanted to share something about my new neighbour but I don't think I can because someone in my city is reading my blog regularly and I have no idea who it is - might even be my new neighbour for all I know.

Today the kids had a 1/2 day of school. This totally conflicted with Cars' Thanksgiving Day feast at preschool so Stephen went to that while I met the older boys at the bus at 11:30. My friend watched my kids last week while we went to conferences so I watched her dd after school for about 1/2 hour (she took the bus home with Jax and Dex). Anyway, when my friend showed up about 12:15 to get her dd, she had her oldest son with her who is the same age as Dex and Dex asked if C could stay for a playdate. I really had no plans other than doing some cooking and baking today so I said sure. My friend and her dd left and I started lunch for the boys.

They sat down to eat about 12:45 and at 12:52 I heard C say "Hey, on your calendar it says you have dentist appointments at 1 o'clock". WHAT?! OMG! My boys had dentist appointments in 8 minutes and I had completely forgotten! I told Jax and Dex to drop their lunches and run up and brush their teeth (Cars had his appt last week). I packed up C and Cars' lunches in tupperware and we ran out the door to the car. As I was pulling out of the garage I realized I had cookies baking in the oven so I ran back into the house and pulled them out. I raced to the dentist and made it at 12:59 (the office is just 1/4 mile from our house). We were in and out in less than an hour but this poor kid, who saved me from paying $50 per child in missed appointment fees, had to spend his playdate time sitting in our dentist's office. He was happy though because as a reward, I let him play video games when we got back to our house (he has no video games at his house).

I have a dentist appointment tomorrow at 7am. I hope I don't forget about that one too!

Suburban VS Rural

A few years ago, I had ordered a Christmas present that was being shipped to me via FedEx Ground (I then had to repackage and ship it to a friend in time for Christmas). I waited and waited and waited for the shipment but it was taking forever. I called FedEx to find out WTF was taking so long. They told me that they only deliver to my area three times each week because we were a "rural" area. Rural? Us?! No, we are a suburb of Seattle. We are not a rural area. Sure, Carnation or Duvall or North Bend are rural. Our city is not!

We have a lot of farms and acreages in our city but certainly that does not make us rural. In fact, our city was recently voted a top suburb to do business. They certainly would not have voted us that if we were a "rural" area!

So, since we are a suburb, can someone please tell the wildlife that? This morning I was awakened (or is it awokened - help me here Pley - which one is it?) at 5:30AM by the howling of a pack of coyotes. They howled on and on for about 5 minutes! It is funny, I never, ever heard coyotes when we lived up the hill (but I saw one not far from my house) but now that we live just 0.5 miles from the shopping area and one of the main intersections in the city, I live nearer to a pack of coyotes! What's next? Bears in my yard or a cougar on my porch? I hope not!

We took a family outing today the the WA State Driver Licensing Office. According to the website, I figured that changing ones address would fall under the "Renewal Licensing" wait time listed on the website which I checked just before we left (at that time it said 6 minutes). Apparently changing ones address must fall under the "First Time Licensing" which listed a 1.5 hour wait on the website. But we lucked out because it only took us 1 hour. Exactly, 1 hour. In that hour, I had to explain to Jax and Dex what METH was (a big PSA poster with "Faces of Meth" on it. Then we discussed why one automatically loses their license for DUI when they are under 21 but not over 21 (another poster prompted that discussion). As I stood for an hour due to lack of free seats, I was complaining to myself about all of the people who brought their whole families along when they went to get their license before it dawned on me that I was completely guilty of the same thing (though most of my family were under 10 and not other adults).

Anyway, after that lovely outing, we next went to Fred Meyer to purchase a lot of groceries so we could qualify for our free turkey. I was worried that we might be close to being under that $100 mark so I was very purposeful with my coupons. The turkey one would be first, then the frequent shopper reward coupons ($7.50!), then the loss leaders. If I planned it correctly, it would work out. Just before we got into line though, I was still worried so I grabbed a three boxes of Christmas cards (B2G1 Free!). I figured I should be over the $100 limit now. Um, how did I miss that $30 worth of flat iron steaks that Stephen threw in the cart. I also forgot to add the basketball that we picked up for the Giving Tree. And Stephen said the pack of light bulbs - well flood lights - that he put in the cart was about $5 (try $15!). So, I really did not need those Christmas cards (well, I do need them, but I just did not need them today). YIKES! The groceries were well over $100, even after all of my coupons ($44.95!).

So, a family day spent in the Licensing office then grocery shopping at Fred Meyer. What a fun day for my kids! Well, I guess they did get to look at some toys in FM so the day was not a total loss. Oh, and they did get to learn all about Meth. So the day was educational too. I am such a great mom!

The boys' report cards came home yesterday and today was parent/teacher conferences. Jax apparently is not listening in class and often asks the teacher to repeat her question when she calls on him. :\ Other than that he is doing well. Dex is being too silly in class after he completes his work and he needs to do more quiet activities when he is done. He told me that he likes to be funny and sometimes he just cannot help it but he needs to share funny things with the class. Oh dear. Besides his "silliness", he was is doing well too.

I am glad that the weekend is here. Tomorrow I plan to sleep in. Well, if Stephen doesn't, I will. :)

Two of the toilets in our new house flush very slowly. Very slowly. And (TMI) they easily get clogged. I first thought that it was just being on septic meant slow toilets but the third toilet is fine. So, there must be something icky in the works that is causing the slow flushing (and clogs). The question is, how can I convince Stephen to take the toilets off to take a look?! He can easily do it. In fact, just before we moved the toilet in the boys' bathroom started leaking and he had to take the toilet off and replace the wax ring. But leaking clean water and trying to find out the source of a clog/sluggish toilet are two totally different things. My friend had this problem a few months ago and it turned out to be a comb that had been flushed down her toilet and was stuck. I can only hope that ours is caused by a comb!

Testing (i will delete this)

ABC's of Me

Swiped this from a friend (you know who you are).

1. A is for age:
42

2. B is for beer of choice:
Molson Canadian, of course. I Friggin Rock!

3. C is for career right now:
SAHP

4. D is for your dog's name:
Cars' stuffed Boxer is named "My Sophie" and we treat her as though she were real

5. E is for essential item you use everyday:
Eye Glasses

6. F is for favorite TV show at the moment:
Boston Legal

7. G is for favorite game:
Scrabble

8. H is for Home town:
Scarborough (now called Toronto).

9. I is for instruments you play?
Nothing really

10. J is for favorite juice:
Cranberry juice in a Cosmo

11. K is for whose ass you'd like to kick:
Anyone who messes with my kids and their food allergies

12. L is for last place you ate:
Kitchen (or Chili's if you want a restaurant)

13. M is for marriage:
Huh? Sure.

14. N is for your full name:
Denine Pez

15. O is for overnight hospital stays:
5 - tonsils, 3 c-sections and partial thyroidectomy

16. P is for people you were with today?
lots! My family in the morning, people at the bus stop, I had two friends over for tea, kids played at the park after school and I chatted with several people. Do they all count?

17. Q is for quote:
"True kindness presupposes the faculty of imagining as one's own the suffering and joy of others" Andre Gide (1869-1951)
or
"I Friggin' Rock" Molson Canadian Beer Bottle

18. R is for Biggest Regret:
Not buying that Rooster Pez at the antique store in Red Wing, MN in 1997 ;)

19. S is for status:
Resident Alien

20. T is for time you woke up today:
6:20am

21. U is for underwear you have on now:
My mammogram bra and VS undies

22. V is for vegetable you love:
turnip or rutabaga

23. W is for worst habit:
eating Halloween candy out of my kids' buckets

24. X is for x-rays you've had:
Too many to count - mostly on my teeth and my head

25. Y is for yummy food you ate today:
Jalapeno Artichoke Dip with Black Pepper Crackers!
(and also banana-flavoured Laffy Taffy - see W above)

26. Z is for the zodiac sign:
Aries

Friggin Comcast

If Stephen were not so in love with his HDTV and I were not so in love with the Internet, we would divorce Comcast.

They keep sending me notices saying I owe them eleventy billion dollars for "unrecovered equipment" from our service (which they canceled 2 days early, btw!). They then arrived at our new home and hooked up that "unrecovered equipment" and we are paying them lot$ of money for their que$tionable "$ervice" (see, still no pictures on my blahg - it is a "personal web pages" problem).

It is maddening that I have spent time and time again calling them to get this cleared up. And each time they tell me to ignore the notices. Ignoring the notices has only resulted in more notices, prepaid fedex stickers and a bill for eleventy billion dollars. Ok, not eleventy billion dollars but seemingly close - $561.00. Conveniently, the one month credit for service for cutting us off early was applied to that bill - initially we "owed" $615.36. So, I called again today and was told ignore that bill - "just throw it in the fireplace!". Um, no. I still want that fifty-one dollar credit on my NEW account. So, after a lot of futzing about, they agreed to apply $50 (see how the amount got smaller?!) to the new account. Oh, and Stephen's bill for high-speed Internet - "just ignore that one too!". I have documented the calls and will be so pissed if these bills are sent out for collection.

Now, when do you think they will get back to me about my personal web pages problem?

Posting early today because we are due to have a wind storm and who knows if the power will go out or not. I've mentioned this before but we are prepared with our wood burning stove! Now I just need to find the box with the candles in it.

The wind picked up last night and this morning I noticed that 4 ornamental post caps are missing from the deck. I can see one of them and I hope the rest just fell down on the ground. When the rain lets up a little I will go outside to see if I can find the others. EDITED TO ADD: By the time the storm ended, we had lost 9 of them! I can only find 5. I am sure the rest will turn up somewhere in the yard. :(

I will probably take the kids swimming today - me and the other billion parents whose children are off today for Veteran's Day Observance.

And, in honour of Remembrance Day (which was yesterday) and in honour of everyone who has served his or her country:

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

I found the one worst place to go besides Costco the day before Thanksgiving. IKEA on the weekend. Oh.My.God. I had to park in the third outer parking lot - I swear it was a 10 minute walk to the store. Once inside it was a zoo! I was able to get through the store in 1.5 hours though (I was blissfully alone). I bought a night table for Jax, a plastic bag holder, three toilet brushes, a new wall clock, two night lights, two rolls of wrapping paper, a waste paper basket, a medicine cabinet and a floor lamp. I was also looking for an entryway table (I am excited to have room for one now!) and a dresser for Cars (I wanted one that matched Dex's but they no longer carry that one).

Anyway, I got all that stuff for less than $150! Gotta love IKEA.

I keep starting to blahg about something then change my mind because I am worried that it would be too boring. For instance, first I was going to write about how many boxes I unpacked today (15) but decided that I had blahgged too much about the move already (although I did reassemble my PEZ cabinet as part of that unpacking today and it took over 2 hours but I cannot take a picture because I cannot find my damn cable!).

Then I started to write about the lack of trees on our property but the huge number of leaves. This would have segued into a discussion of my new neighbours but I am not ready to go there yet.

Next, I was going to blahg about how I cry when I watch tv shows (I watched 2 episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" but decided that would make me look like a complete weirdo.

I have another complaint about Comcast but again, like the move, btdt. (Notice the lack of ALL pictures on my blahg, sans the one from NaBloPoMo?!).

So, in the end I have blahgged about not blahgging. Hrmpf!

OMG! I just saw a commercial for The Mist. It was always one of my favourite Stephen King stories and I used to shudder from fear imagining spiders the size of puppies coming out of the mist. I cannot wait to see this movie (and I don't like scary movies!).

See the trailer here.

Not much to blog about. Still unpacking (trying to figure out where the rest of the stuff will go now so things have slowed down). I went to The Container Store today and bought some items to help organize the soace in my kitchen. Then this afternoon we had Cosmo Friday at my house. Life is good.

At book club, the subject of membership came up and Laurie proposed that we have an anonymous poll to say Yes or No to increase back up to 12. I had full intentions of voting NO but in the end I voted Yes because I did not want to hurt M's feelings if there were too many NO votes (she was the one asking if we could go back to 12 and so she could bring her sister). So, of the 10 voting members (one was away), it was 6-4 for the Yeses. So, if I had voted NO, it would have been a tie vote.

Our next book club meeting will be a Christmas dinner then in January, our new member will join us. I hope she's a good fit!

Book club is tomorrow night but I have not yet finished the book. We are reading "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. The book is divided into three sections and I thoroughly enjoyed reading the "Eat" part but am having a tough time continuing on. I don't imagine I will finish by tomorrow night. That will make two months in a row that I've gone to book club without finishing the book first (I did finish last month's book a few days after the book club meeting).

One of our members moved away in August so now we are back down to 11. Now someone has asked if her sister could join but there has been a lot of grumbling that 12 is too many. I don't think we even had one meeting where everyone was there yet people still think it is too many people. Laurie suggests a secret vote - YES or NO - as to whether or not to expand. We'll see what others think tomorrow.

The next hot topic for book club is where to hold our December meeting. There is one restaurant that several people want to try but to hold a reservation (and we are a big group) we must all ensure that we order entrees and one person in particular does not want to do that. Trying to please 11 women is hard! Perhaps we do need to reconsider downsizing our group!

More of the same today although I did manage to spend 30 minutes chatting online with "Richard" from Comcast.

The climber/swingset is up and level and the kids can swing on it. I will never, ever, ever, ever move one of those things again!

I am exhausted and tired. I need to finish this post before Blogger's scheduled outage.

Does this even count as a post?!

Well, it is done. The old house has been sold and it is no longer ours. ~sniff~ I did not even get to say a proper goodbye because I stopped by to ensure the Maid Brigade had been and cleaned (they did an an awesome job!) then my realtor came by to get the keys and we started chatting then I realized it was 3 minutes until my appointment with Jax's doctor. So I dashed out the door while the realtor locked up and that was that. Bye-bye house.

Anyway, I met with Jax's doctor and she thinks that he should see someone who specializes in anxiety and OCD. She gave me a few names but the two whom she would recommend first are not close at all. And not only are they not close but they are not close as in it is awkward to get to them. Anyway, I have the names and now I need to approach Jax about going to see one of them. Stephen still is playing ostrich and thinks the anxiety will all disappear and if we lecture Jax enough he will stop fretting about his peanut allergy (and the lead paint of all things!). So, I will talk to Jax and see where we go from here.

My mom leaves in the morning and Stephen goes back to work. So, I will be alone unpacking. Well, Cars will be here with me too. The boys are still loving our new place. Stephen was able to get the lights working (he had to replace the light switches and voila!). Tomorrow, I hope to reassemble the PEZ cabinet, put away all of the pots and pans and vacuum. For now it is off to bed for me.

We emptied the storage unit today. We rented a U-Haul from the storage place across the street from where we had rented a unit. We put 1 mile on the truck and the total rental was $22.58 ($19.95 and $0.79 for 1 mile plus tax).

I am physically exhausted. Stephen has tomorrow off too and we will just continue to unpack and organize. I need to finish cleaning the old house and tomorrow is the closing date.

I promise I will eventually write about more than just moving. Soon.

Drat!

Missed a day of blogging...but I will carry on.

The move went fairly smoothly. Stephen ran a lot of the little things down early in the day before the movers came (good thing we are moved not far). The movers arrived about 9 and were done right around 4pm. They filled their van twice (why did they not send a bigger truck?).

Anyway, tomorrow we are going to get the rest of our stuff out of storage and spend the next days or week unpacking and trying to find a home for all of our stuff. The house seems so roomy but I am definitely missing some of the storage in the old house (especially all of the drawers in the vanities in the bathrooms). The kids love their rooms and all of the extra space. Dex still had a big of a hard time last night because "I have only ever lived in the other house and I am not sure I will like living in a new one!".

*big sigh*

Comcast arrived this morning and our cable, internet, and the cable phone are working. One problem that I did not anticipate is that my email address has to change because the account was originally in Stephen's name and now it is in mine so I cannot keep any of the email addresses connected to that account. What a PITA. Oh well, could be worse, right? I might not have any time to transition it over. As it is, I have 30 days.

Oh, and we apparently have a mole in our backyard. I guess when old owner's dog kept it away because we never saw any evidence of any mole hills the several times we were here. Now we have 6 holes (one more shows up each morning).

And Stephen managed to blow up the kitchen lights. He is off to Lowes or Home Depot to buy a new light to see if he replaces it if it will get the rest of the kitchen lights back working. Otherwise, looks like we are calling an electrician. :\

Ok, back to unpacking...

Ooh, blogging twice in one day. Will that cover me in case I cannot blog tomorrow because COMCAST CUT OFF OUR CABLE SERVICE TWO DAYS EARLY?!???!! We have an appointment for someone to come out to the new house on the 3rd to install everything and "yes it is our mistake and we will give you a credit" does not make up for the lack of internet service and I am going to miss "Grey's Anatomy" tonight! Wah!

Currently, I am at the library using their WiFi. I had to check that comcast did not delete my userid (they did not!).

Anyway, tomorrow I will hope back down here and make a very quick blog entry. In the meanwhile, I will be up most of the night to finish packing. See you on the other side!

Yeah! The house is ours. My mom and I went last night and we took over my two remaining houseplants. And I turned the heat up because it was set to 56 degrees!

Today, Stephen and I will take some things over throughout the day and I will clean the inside of all of the cabinets and the fridge.

Tomorrow's the big day! Hurray!

My moods are swinging between panic and calm. One moment I think I have a handle on everything (the move, my son's anxiety, friggin Halloween) and the next I feel as though everything is about the come crumbling down on top of me.

I sent out an email to about 50 people to let them know we were moving and what our new address will be. I wrote "effecting November 1" instead of "effective November 1" which is a very stupid mistake. But then to top it off, I typed the wrong telephone number. DOH!

And I forgot to call back the handyman who we arranged to move the climber this weekend to let him know that we hired someone else to do it yesterday and today. And he showed up at the new house today because he is repairing some nail pops in the ceiling that the roofer did not fix.

I feel like I am missing some HUGE part of this move. I have arranged for all of the utilities to be transferred yet I still have this nagging feeling that I have forgotten something. I guess I will find out soon enough.

Coming down to the wire. Tomorrow evening we get possession of the new house. Finally!

My mom arrived late last night. She did not sleep last night because she says she felt tremendously guilty about not being able to drive to get Cars from school tomorrow. I did finally find a friend who will pick him up so my mom should sleep well tonight.

And I will sleep well because our climber is down and will be reassembled tomorrow at the new house. All for a reasonable about of money. Actually, the guy doing it is only 19 and he works for my realtor's neighbour who is a contractor. I think he did not ask for enough money to move the thing but if it gets put back up right and on time I will give him a huge bonus because now I have one less thing to worry about!

Jax decided tonight (TONIGHT!) that he did not want to wear his costume to school because he is not allowed to wear a "scary" mask so his costume would then be lame. So I spent an hour my evening making a clone trooper mask out of cardboard for him. He LOVES it. Dex cannot wear his scary mask either (Dementor) so he has kind of a smilie-face mask to wear with it. He is too funny.

Still more packing to be done but I am feeling less stressed. I figured that I am paying the movers by the hour so we will concentrate on having them take the heavy, awkward or bulky items and we'll move as many of the boxes ourselves on Thursday. And also if things do not get moved until Saturday it is ok (well, I am thinking of bikes and nets and Christmas decorations). We can easily pack those in the van or our neighbour's pickup truck. One less thing to worry about.

Ok, off to watch "Boston Legal" then to bed. Long days ahead...

My maple trees (and bush) are in full fall colour and look beautiful. I took some pictures of them but I seem to have misplaced (perhaps packed?) my cable so I cannot download them to show off these pictures. I will miss these trees (and the japanese maple bush). Last spring, Costco had the bushes for $59.99. If they have them again this spring I am going to buy one to plant at the new house. No maples of any sort there.

Each of my children have all had a little crying time about leaving this house. Cars' was short-lived. Dex seems to be having the hardest time. Jax has had his moments too but he seems the most eager to move. He is really looking forward to skateboarding in the cul-de-sac. I am happy that we will be moving to one for them to play in. Especially since our road is so busy at certain times of the day (when school lets out and between 5-6pm and cars are ~speeding~ by).

Our house is mostly packed up now. What's left is the kitchen (about 1/2 packed), the bathrooms and I need to remove the clothes from Jax and Dex's dressers since they are just pressboard IKEA dressers and the mover said they would not withstand the move if they were filled with clothes. The other dressers are fine because they are real wood. :)

We had the walk-through for the house today and it went well. It needs to be cleaned but apparently a cleaning service was going through later in the afternoon. There have been a lot of people through the house since the owners moved out (Home Depot to install a garage door opener, someone to repair the hot water tank, the roofer to fix nail pops, and a painter to cover the nail pop repairs so there are a lot of leaves and debris in the house. I guess the cleaners would take care of it all this afternoon.

We went to Costco today to get another moving pack of boxes but they were out! Stephen is going to drive to the Seattle Costco tomorrow to get another pack (it includes 30 boxes, bubble wrap, tape, markers and the little foam stuff that you put between glass dishes for $47.99! That is a great deal considering the boxes are $2 each at Home Depot.

Ok, I am worried about my committment to NaBloPoMo. I hope I can post everyday!!

Moving our climber/swing set is becoming a problem. I am trying to stay positive about this move but it is getting hard to do so. I think my optimism has disappear with the recurrence of my neck pain. *pout*

One of my friends came to help me pack today and we did a good job working on stuff in the garage. We have a lot of junk to go to the dump but I will most likely call 1-800-GOT-JUNK again because it is easier and at this point all we want is easier.

I have scheduled an appointment to talk to Jax's ped. about Jax's anxiety over his peanut allergy. Of course, today my anxiety was heightened after I read this article Dead in 20 minutes from hidden peanuts. The video was sad too. :'(

Mindless ramblings...

My neck is still hurting but not as much as it was on Monday. I think I need to go to a massage therapist and get that knot worked out.

It was supposed to be rainy with sunny breaks today. So far we have had torrential downpour with rainy breaks.

I need to step away from the halloween candy.

I made sure that Cars' class halloween party did not include parents before I committed to the time for Jax's (11:30-noon). I found out today that because of the party in Cars' class on halloween, they are canceling "lunch bunch" so I need to pick him up at 11:45am. Aargh! Of course my mother is going to be here that day and if she weren't such a wuss, she could drive over and get him. But she is afraid to drive "down your mountain" and so I am scrambling trying to figure out what to do. Cars' one good friend from preschool is away that day so I cannot ask his mom to bring him home. The rest of my friends will be attending their children's halloween parties themselves at the same time so no help there. F*ckity-f*ck-f*ck!

I am never going through the moving process again.

I have somehow managed to hurt my back/neck and so I am off to bed with a muscle relaxant and my book. I hope to be feeling better in the morning. ~pout~

My online chat with Comcast support stemming from the lovely Red X's you have been seeing on my blog for the past week or so:

Pez: I cannot access my files on my personal webpages and my hosted files are not showing
Comcast: I apologize for any inconvenience this issue has caused you
Comcast: The personal web pages is currently not available because of some upgrades to it as well as the migration that is happening to the new Comcast site.
Pez: how long will they be unavailable?
Comcast: Once it is available, Comcast will notify you through email.
Comcast: We do not know when will it becomes available but you will be notified by Comcast once is it up and running (I am thinking here Nice grammar/language!)
Pez: so a week? a day? a month? no one knows?
Pez: that seems unreasonable to me that "we do not know..."
Pez: it is most inconvenient that i cannot access my files nor upload new files and some photos are fine (with one id) whereas the photos on the others are not showing
Comcast: A week. We have many customers reporting said issue too
Pez: ok, a week gives me an expectation
Comcast: I have already escalated and reported this issue
Comcast: Your reference number is a eleventy billion
Comcast: Thank you for choosing Comcast. It has been a pleasure assisting you today!

:\ I wonder if I am making a mistake continuing with Comcast when we move AND giving them my home phone service too.

Against my better judgement, I have signed up to do NaBloPoMo. If I can manage to post the first couple of days, I will be just fine. I might have to take my laptop to Starbucks to get internet access during the move but I will try.

And you can too!

Comcast is bugging the crap out of me again today. Where are my pictures?! I just signed up for their cable phone service (when we move). I hope I haven't made a mistake.

Our power went out this morning for about 20 minutes. The kids were delighted because they were thinking they would not have to go to school. Fortunately for my sanity, the power was back shortly after 7am so school was ON!

Today was the last Cosmo Friday at my house. ~sniff~ I am going to miss it here (but of course I am looking forward to my new house). Ash was not here today because she had surgery to fix a torn cartiledge in her knee - the same knee where she had the ACL surgery a few months ago. The doctor was able to take out the HUGE screw that was in her shin this time. It is HUGE. Anyway, she is doing well but will be on crutches for 12 weeks. She has had rock star parking (or wheelchair or handicapped - insert you own term here) parking since February and will have it another 3-5 months depending on her recovery.

This weekend we will be figuring out how to move the swingset/climber and also taking down mirrors and paintings from the walls and patching holes. Oh, and packing. Always packing.

The wind storm has hit. A tree branch hit a transformer near the school just as the kids were getting out. Fire ensued and we had to take a long, long way home (about a 3 mile detour). The lights are flickering and the kids are excited that we might be without power.

Later...the power did go out for only for a very short while here but some of my friends have been without power for hours. I hope the next wind storm does not happen until after we move.

My email has been down for over 2 hours and it is bugging me! Aargh! Comcast has been doing some upgrades lately and my hosted pictures keep disappearing too. Mostly I want to send this particular email and it won't go. Well, at least I still have a connection to the internet.

My mother is coming to stay with us during the move. She is going to help out with the kids, getting them to school and getting breakfast for them each morning and whatever else. It will be a big help.

There is a big wind storm in the forecast for tomorrow evening. They say that even though it will not be as big as the big blow out in December, it has the potential to be destructive because of the trees that are already weakened from that storm.

Hmmm...that reminds me that when I went to see a psychic in August while I was in Toronto, she said something about a tree. I wonder if she meant a tree here or at the new house will fall? There is one tree close to the front door at the new house and another near the garage. Here, we have a lot of smaller trees but none that can cause damage to the house. Guess I will have to wait to find out. In the meantime, I am off to Safeway shortly to buy some groceries and stock up just a little bit in case we are out of power for any length of time.

Cars has his 4 yr appointment (only 2 months late!) tomorrow so I will ask the pediatrician about scheduling some time with her to discuss Jax's anxiety issues. Another friend of mine who was a psychologist told me that 9 year olds often are anxious because they are coming to realize more about bad things that could happen so part of his problem is probably developmental but she also said it would not hurt to talk to his ped. I feel a little better today once I made this decision because we do need to handle it. I will let Stephen know after I talk to the ped about it.

A long-lost friend and former co-worker contacted me via facebook (I am up to 37 friends!) a couple of weeks ago. She is now living in Bermuda with her dh and two kids. She called me today and we had a chat - it was so fun. She is funny and interesting and it was so good to catch up.

So, if you are thinking about looking up an old friend, do it! I am sure they would love to hear from you!

Jax had some issues today at a birthday party regarding peanuts - well,there were not actually any peanuts there but he refused to eat the pizza then was freaking out when people were eating the birthday cake around him. I think I need to get him some help but Stephen is against it for the moment. He thinks we can handle it but I am not so sure. I feel like such a failure as a parent that I cannot ease Jax's worry, anxiety and pain. It was so sad to see him at the party when I went to pick him up. He was sitting there with a blank face and cringing slightly when anyone came near him in case they touched him because they ate a cake that was "manufactured on the same line as peanuts". It really breaks my heart. Frig, I hate this!

This week we had three agents tell ours that they were interested in our house (one was ready to put in a back-up offer today) but of course it went "subject to inspection" on Tuesday evening. Our agent called the buyer's agent to let her know and to make sure they considered this and the difference between the asking and selling price when they came back with their inspection information.

So, the inspection was today and the buyer came back with accepting the house as it is. So, it is SOLD!!!! I can finally get excited about this whole thing. Yeah!

We are now "subject to inspection". The inspection is on Saturday morning. I am excited and scared and a little overwhelmed. So much to do!

Cars has his speech evaluation with the school district today. Actually, they called it an "assessment" rather than evaluation. Anyway, they told me that he did not meet their criteria to qualify with them for speech. However, they said that I "might have heard that the school district bar is pretty high for qualifying" so I might want to contact Cars' ped and get a referral for private speech. So what are they saying? He has a problem but not bad enough that they want to pay for it and I should get him speech therapy in a private setting?! What? Does he need it or doesn't he? So frustrating!

Jax had a good day today. He did not exhibit any peanut-related anxiety and he told me that he felt better about it today too. We'll see how things go.

I am irritated with comcast because all of my pictures are showing red x's. I received a message saying they were updating things but it should be done by now. Hrmph!

And I will whisper the next part:

We have an offer on the house. We have sent back our counter-offer. Keep your fingers crossed for us that it all works out. Thanks!

My son is having a hard time managing his anxiety around his peanut allergies. I am just sick for him because he is now making up stuff to worry about. Today, he was wondering if he should not eat his lunch because he touched the hand of someone who had eaten peanut butter for breakfast. Both Jax and the other kid had washed their hands (the boy before he even touched Jax) but Jax still could not shake the idea that he might have peanut protein on his hands. The teacher finally convinced him to eat his lunch by holding his bagel with a napkin and eating his grapes and carrots with a fork. He even brought home his Smarties because he could not figure out a way to eat them without touching them. *sigh*

I have some ideas about how to work with him to try to overcome this and also to alleviate his fears. I pray it does not get worse. It breaks my heart to know he is so worried about it.

Still no offers! *pout*

Today there was an open house and 9 couples came through (three with agents). Our realtor said that was a lot and two seemed ~very~ interested. We'll see. We also have two more people scheduled to come tomorrow morning then there is another open house in the afternoon. Please let someone love my house enough to buy it!

Today we bought Halloween costumes for the boys. Cars is going to be Jango Fett, Dex will be a Dementor and Jax will re-use this costume from a couple of years ago but we bought him a double-sided axe to carry around.

Tomorrow is the first day of R.E. classes for the boys for this year. Funny enough, the other Dex is in Dex's class. They moved a few miles away so that Dex no longer goes to the same elementary school as my Dex so they never did get to be in the same class.

I am hoping that Cars stays in his Sunday School class. I guess it will depend on who is teaching. Fortunately, it will no be in the same class as his preschool class because I think that is what really caused the problem last year (that and the mean Sunday school teacher!).

Ok, off to bed. It is late and I must be up early to get the house ready for someone to fall in love with it!

No offers yet!

On Wednesday, I was to take snack in for Cars' class. I totally and completely forgot. I did not even realize until I picked him up and there was a little note "You were supposed to bring in snack today". Aargh! Fortunately, they have a little stash of snacks so the kids had something to eat. Today, I took in some apple juice and cheez-its to replenish their stash.

I also nearly forgot to pick up Jax and Dex on time on Wednesday. School is dismissed 1.5 hours early every Wednesday. After I picked Cars up (and was feeling abashed for forgetting snack), I decided to head off to run some errands. I was sitting at the red light and saw a parade of school buses coming from the area of the middle school and I thought "Wow, must have been some big field trip". The light turned green and I drove off and then realized that it was Wednesday and early dismissal. I still had a few moments before they got out so I had plenty of time to get there, but I realized that if I had not noticed the school buses, I would be off shopping at Target when I was supposed to be picking them up. And, no one could get a hold of me because my stupid cell phone service sucks. Anyway, I did realize on time and the crisis was averted.

A lot of my problem stems from the fact that I had to take down my calendar for the "staging" to make the house less personal (and to keep nosy people out of my business). I live by my calendar. I have used the same kind for about about 5 years now. The squares are big so lots of room to write on it. And I colour-code the kids activities. And I am lost without it! :(

Ok, I am just waiting to see our listing on the MLS before I go to bed tonight. Tomorrow, Cars and I are going to do something fun for a couple of hours (well, after we return items to Fred Meyer and Home Depot) since he is clearly acting up from lack of attention. The other kids will have to wait to have some attention. This weekend...

I think I forgot to mention that the new house has a hot tub! It needs a new cover and the timer is broken (we have asked for the repairs or $$ in lieu). I hope it does not end up being a PITA.

House is almost market-ready. Carpet cleaning guy is coming tomorrow morning then we have the final "staging" and the sign will go up tomorrow afternoon. The house will be listed on the MLS on Tuesday. Our agent will have a broker open house Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday when the local paper arrives, our house will be one of the ones featured in the real estate broker's full-page colour ad on the back of the paper.

All of the work we have been doing has been hard on the kids because Stephen and I have been virtually ignoring them. I hope to take them to the club to go swimming on Wednesday afternoon.

I also have been ignoring paperwork from the school so I went through it tonight. Let's see, a guilt trip because I chose not to get a paper-less version of the PTSA newsletter ("over 579 students chose to read us online!). That means they are printing about 50 newsletters. I had to write 4 cheques (lunch acct, picture day for Jax and Dex and a field trip for Dex). The total came to almost $100! So that completely put me off for signing up for the fundraiser. We are doing a thing called "Pace" (Parents for Community Education) where you register your credit card and everytime you use it at a participating restaurant or retailer, you get a discount (mailed back to you via check). Anyway, it costs $25 to sign up and the school gets $10 of that $25. But, they will have to wait another couple of days after I disremember writing tonight's cheques.

For the first time in several days, I am actually excited about our move. We had some seemingly huge problem with this house that needs to be addressed but we had a good long talk with our real estate agent and the broker for whom she works and it seems like a workable solution. So, I was actually able to sleep last night and I no longer feel like the world is collapsing on us. Also, we had a much more reasonable estimate for the work (we have been quoted anything from $500-$15000!). Friggin riggin briggin!

Anyway, I have been thinking of the new house for much of today and I am excited to get in there and make it my own. I am most excited with the little room off the garage. Technically it is a utility room because the furnace and hot water tank are in there, but there is room for a desk and I picture it my craft area. Also, it is the pass-through to the garage so I am envisioning a little mud-room right by the door to the garage. No more shoes and coats and back packs at my front door! Hurray! I want to buy or build little lockers for the boys to hang their coats and back packs in with a little bin at the bottom for their shoes. Ah, dreaming.

I am also excited at the prospect of having a dining room again. I mean, technically we do have a dining room but the table is pushed to the side, there is another dining table with the legs cut down for the kids to play Lego and also a toy box in there. No more! The kids will be able to keep their toys in their rooms and in a small area in the family room. That's it! We have too many toys anyway...we never get rid of any when they get new ones for birthdays and Christmas. No more! Out with the old and in with the new!

Our new house also has a wood burning stove in the family room. For some reason I this is going to be so exciting! We'll be prepared if we ever had another huge wind storm and power outage then we'd keep toasty warm by the stove.

And we are on a cul-de-sac so the kids can play outside without worry of getting run down by the teens and other idiots who speed up and down our street. And the backyard is big so lots of room to play. No huge trees to fall on our house during a windstorm either, so that is good too.

Ok, my time for dreaming and calm is over. Back to the grind of getting the house ready for market.

We have had the worse luck with our house lately (this house, not the one we are buying). Yesterday, we realized that the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater was bad and water was leaking from the valve into the garage. Fortunately, we were able to turn the hot water off but that meant no hot water this morning for a shower (Stephen showered at work and I went to the club after I took Cars to school). We replaced the valve tonight and so far it looks like everything is working fine. ~whew~

Also, the ice dispenser on the fridge broke last night. Geez! I am *not* paying for a repair for it and I will not give anyone any $$ back on closing on this house for it so I told our realtor that we were taking it with us. She talked me down and said that we will just disclose that it is broken and will not be repaired.

Still packing and cleaning. I need to call a carpet cleaning company and a windows guy. Must do it tomorrow. Oh, and movers. And the insurance company. And...and...and...

I had my hair cut today and it is pretty short. I was a little distracted while she was cutting and she did say she was going to take it a little shorter in the back but I did not really pay attention. Anyway, it does look good, I think. I had to rush to swimming lessons after the cut so there was no time to style it nicely. We
will see how it looks tomorrow.

I am planning to hit the gym for the first time in months tomorrow. I need a stress releaser so off I go after Cars is dropped off at school. He is staying for lunch bunch which means I get an extra 45 minutes (for only $3.50!).

My kids keep waking up in the middle of the night for various reasons. Last night, Dex had a runny nose so I had to round up a box of kleenex for him to keep next to his bed. The night before, Cars said he had a night mare. Two nights before that, both Cars AND Dex had nightmares. First Dex who slept with Stephen and I for an hour then Cars awoke so I sent Dex to go sleep with Jax. Musical beds! Anyway, I am not sleeping well and it is definitely affecting my decision-maiing skills and my mood. And here it is 12:04am and I am still awake. WTF am I thinking?

I received a call today from the school saying that Jax was in the health room and that his tongue felt "funny" after he ate some Oreos. My mind started racing - Oreos?! I did not send him to school with Oreos. So I asked where he got them and I heard him say "I don't know". Cars and I jumped in the car with a box of Perfect Measure Benadryl. I arrived just as the secretary was about to open Jax's box of Benadryl. I squirted three tsp into his mouth and watched him. He looked fine but scared.

After a moment or two I was able to surmise from him that the teacher gave all of the kids Oreos because they had been good last week and had earned enough points for a party. She had asked me at curriculum night if Oreos were ok and I had said yes but I did not realize that the party was today. Anyway, he also is coming down with a cold, I think, so the "funny" tongue was actually a "funny" mouth and throat (sore!). I decided to take him home anyway because with that much Benadryl in him, there was no way he was going to be able to stay awake! I've sent a note to the teacher telling her that Jax will just eat from his safe snack box for the time being for any class celebrations.

We had the inspection on the house today and it was great. Of course it was though because the relocation company had already done one and we were given a copy of it. The only (major) problems are that the skylights are not screwed down (the roof was replaced this week and the roofers missed doing this), nail pops on the ceiling from the new roof (standard with roof replacements and roofers usually fix them) and there is a new garage door that is not attached to the garage door opener. The others are not major and are all things that we can deal with, including replacinig bathroom fans, dealing with an old furnace and a broken shower divertor.

I have rented a storage unit at the local storage place and so far I have put in a table, bench, desk, foot stool and 20 boxes (three trips there today). Next is another table, more boxes and I need to put two arm chairs in. The PEZ cabinet has been emptied and we are just going to move it into the garage and cover it with a sheet because I worry about breaking the glass in it if we have to move it to the storage place.

I am still decluttering and the next phase is deep cleaning. We hope to get the house on the market within a week! Ambitious!

Ok, so we have the house but we don't officially have the house or the purchase agreement. It is very confusing and more than a little stressful. So, the plan is to move forward now but each day that it is not signed, pushes the move date out for us which is good (gives us time to sell).

I had two friends come by and they helped me pack 9 boxes in a little over an hour! The problem is that I am running out of room in the garage.

Tonight was curriculum night at the school. We went a few minutes early to Jax's class and told the teacher that we'd like to put a hand out on each desk. She said sure. We handed it out and after the parents all came in the room she pointed it out and asked the parents to read it and gave us a couple of minutes to speak at the end of her presentation. Then she told the parents after Stephen asked that people consider the peanut allergy (even though we know it is inconvenient for them) that she discovered sunflower seed butter that is sold at Trader Joes (and other places) and she even had a jar to show the parents and let them taste/smell it if they wanted. I am so impressed with her! Yeah!

I quit.

I did it. I resigned from my crafts leader position at my mom's club. Well, I just sent off an email to the leader a few moments ago. The night before our first meeting. I definitely will go tomorrow to make sure everything is fine but I just cannot live through this move with this crafts thing hanging over me.

We had verbal agreement that we have the house today...but then they realized that the relocation company did not sign some form themselves so they will receive it tomorrow and sign and so the days start counting on Friday. We have 7 days to get an inspection and return to them with our requirements, 3 days to have a lawyer review it. In the meanwhile, I am still getting all the stuff out of my house. A stager came by today and told me all the furniture that I need to put away - 2 chairs in the living room, an antique desk in the living room, the kids' lego table and toy box, the kids' homework table in the family room, remove the leaf from my kitchen table, etc. Friday morning I will go and rent a storage unit and then haul things over there on the weekend. Well, after the inspection on Saturday.

Still no word about the house. Maddening.

Box count - 15 boxes packed to date.

Our neighbour's house sold today - less than a week on the market and with that crappy description. There's hope for our house yet! It also means we can increase the price on our house a tiny bit.

Jax's teacher said that they were trying to figure out the logistics of the lunch swap thing but for today Jax would eat at his desk and his table mates would sit there too while the rest of the class got to swap around. Um...how not fun for that table and are they going to blame Jax?! I told the teacher I was not comfortable with that. After today, the teachers scrapped the idea of the kids moving around the classrooms at lunch.

I am so upset about the craft for my mom's club on Thursday. I ordered 35 special paint pens to work on porcelain and they sent 11. Hardly enough to share amongst 55 moms. So I am totally freaking out and need to hurry and figure out what to do about the craft on Thursday. And yes, I should have ordered the materials earlier. That is the most maddening part about this. It is all.my.fault.

BTW, the company I ordered from has just about the most indifferent people working there. I called the person answering the phone says "Hang on, *heavy sigh*" rather than "Just a moment please". How rude! They are going to call me back tomorrow to arrange to cancel the rest of my order. :\

Jax told me tonight just before bed that his teacher was not going to be around at lunch tomorrow and his class was to eat in another classroom. The teacher told him that she had not quite yet figured out what to do with him though. Um, his health plan/504 plan only specifies that he eats at his desk in his classroom during lunch. I sent her an email (it was 9:30pm at this point though) so I am not sure when I will hear back from her. Am I going to have to go to school and take Jax out tomorrow? Aargh!!!

My oldest brother is so mean and sent me this article entitled "The War Over Going Gray". :\

No house talk except that we needed to sign more forms today. I will not be excited about this until they hand me the house keys.

Ok, so now you will have to hear boring moving stories for the next two months! Bear with me (or move along). :)

I packed 10 boxes today. I hope I won't need any of the stuff between now and then. Several of the boxes were board games and puzzles but I did also pack all of my craft supplies (with the exception of my beading supplies). No doubt the boys will come home with a "family project" to be completed and that will entail creating something with pipe cleaners, felt, construction paper, wood pieces, foam bits and glue - all of which I have packed up. Perhaps I was a bit too hasty?

Stephen has decided that we do need to repaint (rather than touch up) walls in the house. So I guess next weekend he will be painting. Fortunately, we still have gobs of wall paint left over (Benjamin Moore Bronzed beige) from when we had the house painted 5 years ago (or was it six?). It is really due for repainting anyway but it was just not something we were anticipating doing in the immediate future.

My neighbour's house is up for sale. The description for her house is so lame!

"Nicely maintained two story in award winning School district. Bright home with sunken living room, vaulted ceiling & skylight. 40 yr. roof, carpets & vinyls are 2yrs. new. Oak kitchen with center island & hardwoods, cozy family room with brick fireplace & a large private fully fenced back yard. Designer colors throughout. See it & you will love it. "

I don't think I would be interested in it if I read that! Anyway, I made our realtor promise that she will write something much more interesting. Anyway, they have had at least one family go through it so hopefully our house will generate interest when it goes on the market.

And if you are interested, photos of the house we are buying can be found here (there are about 13 pictures).

Of course this could not be an easy process.

There is a relocation company involved with this house sale and they have a rider attached to the offer. We asked to have an attorney review it. She called today and spoke to Stephen at length. We need clarification on a few items now. *sigh*

Tomorrow I start decluttering/packing things to go into storage. I hope to have our house on the market in 10 days.

We have a new house! Well, one more thing to await (approval from the seller's relocation company). And if that goes well it is ours!

Now, time to get this house in shape for moving. Yikes!!

The offer has been faxed. We should know within 22 hours if they have accepted our offer. ~fingers crossed~

Now, where is the bulldozer to clear out my house?

Ok, for the second time this year are looking at a new home. This one (like all homes we have ever looked at) is in our neighbourhood. We've gone further than the others so far in that we've talked to a mortgage broker and are considering putting in an offer very soon. Wish us luck!

My stomach is in knots. Very stressful! How will I ever get my home ready to sell?!

Facebook?

Do you Facebook? Ramona invited me to join a couple of months ago. I signed up but then worried about how I was going to add friends to my Facebook! I had an automatic friend (Ramona). That's 1! Then I added my friend Alicia (she was already on as Ramona's friend) so that was 2. Next, I sent a friend request to Alicia's sister (now I was up to 3 friends!). Whoo-hoo! I started searching around and found my oldest brother's two dd's (I now had *5* friends!). The next week, I found out that one of my high school teachers had an account on Facebook so I added him and quickly found three more former classmates through his profile. Look at me! I had friends on Facebook!

I kept checking though and all of my friends had way more friends than I did. Especially my nieces although it appeared that they had just about everyone person they had ever met listed as friends. Everyone in their high school it seemed, plus friends from the high school they used to attend. I still only had 9 friends. I was looking up everyone I could think of but was a little shy about asking them to be my friend. What if they said NO? Fortunately, I had two more friends to add - two of my brothers. I was up to 11.

About that time, I noticed that my nieces now had an application on their Facebook that listed their "top friends". I also noticed that I was not a "top friend". Hrmph!

My BIL's dd was on Facebook so I added her (12!). Then she posted some photos of she and her friends "pretending" to drink so I had Stephen check it out. He decided to ask her about them so he joined Facebook (13!). His niece denied the drinking and after he told his brother about it, she deleted Stephen and I as friends (back to 12).

I had another friend from high school and my best friend in college add me (14!). It was great to hear from them both. A friend of that high school friend added me because he recognized my name although he did not remember me (he probably just knew my dad's name) but hey, I'll take it (15!!). Then a guy I kind of remembered from high school (he was cute but apparently gay) added me after I joined my high school group on Facebook (16!).

Sixteen friends on Facebook! Ok, it was nowhere near the 248 that my niece, D, had, but I was getting there.

I have since added a few more friends (I'm up to 27!). I also have Robin as a friend. And another online friend, Kris. And just the other day a friend whom I had met when I had gone to community college (I once had ambitions to work in the hotel industry and entered a community college program before quitting and going back to grade 13 so I could go to university) added me as a friend. She and I had been inseparable for those 3 months I attended. We lost touch and I often wondered what had become of her. She has written me several long notes to update me on her life. Things are good with her for the most part and that is wonderful. Funny enough, she did recognize one of my other friends (neither of us knew that the other knew her - I've known this friend from high school and she used to work with her about 10 years ago).

Anyway, I am enjoying the little game of adding friends on Facebook. Facebook also have a lot of silly little apps (like being able to send a hatching egg or a growing plant or buying drinks for your Facebook friends). I play a Facebook version of scrabble with my brother and I poke some friends incessantly (not all because I don't want them to delete me!). My current favourite app is "More Cow Bell!" Check it out!

I hate when the weekend comes because Stephen decides that weekends are for taking care of business. This weekend it was mowing the lawn, reorganizing the garage, washing the kitchen floor, etc. The problem is that it makes me feel incredibly guilty (well, the kitchen floor thing). I do not know how to use the lawn mower. When I was growing up, our mower was electric so you plugged it in and turned it on. This one is gas and you have to add oil and then there is the whole starting it thing. I have asked Stephen several times to show me how to use it but he seems to think it is his job to mow so he won't show me. I guess if I *really* wanted to learn how to use it, I could. So, I let him mow on weekends.

The kitchen floor is all his thing. He does not go to church with us on Sunday so to appease his Catholic guilt, he cleans on Sunday mornings. Which is great the days when the kids and I are at church but we have been a little lax in going lately (well, all summer) so we are definitely in Stephen's way when he is cleaning and it irritates him.

The garage thing bugged me because it really did not need to be done and Jax wanted to go to the skate park and by the time all was said and done yesterday, it was too late to go. And today Stephen announced that we were going swimming so before I had gathered my gear - bathing suit, brush, comb, ponytail holder, hair clip, moisturizer, mascara (geez, am I high maintenance?) the kids were already waiting in the car and Stephen was tapping his foot at the front door. Literally, he was tapping his foot. Never mind that the tv was still on, the back door was wide open and every friggin light in the house needed to be turned off because apparently on bright summer days you need lights on everywhere!

Ok, I hate being rushed. Hate it! I am a huge planner and I always allow myself plenty of time to get ready and to get somewhere so that I am not rushed. Rushing and being late stress me out and I do not handle stress very well. Which is why I plan, give myself plenty of time... *deep breath* So the foot tapping pushed me over the edge and I told him to take them without me so off they went.

Why could he not have said "Let's leave for swimming in 20 minutes" or even 10 minutes would have given me time to get my shit together and then turn off the tv (which is just on one of the digital music channels but still on!), the lights, lock the back door, close the ground-floor windows, etc. Hell, why don't these things ever even occur to him? Oh, he nearly left without Cars' float belt too because I had not had time to fish it out before he was gone.

Can you tell I am not wearing my complaint-free world bracelet at the moment?

And since I am not wearing it I will also complain about my brother telling me today to tell me that he saw photos from our Toronto trip and that I really, really need to colour my hair because I am too young to have grey hair. Apparently I am not since I *have* grey hair. He said he will send me a gift certificate to have it done at Christmas. Grrrr! Hey! I wonder if he is going to dye his hair and that's why he thinks that hsi younger sister should should not yet be grey. I'll have to ask him.

Ok, off to do something productive with my time. And no more complaining. For today anyway.