Today was Dex's 10th birthday. Wow - where has the decade gone? I realize that I am no longer a mom of little kids. Even Cars will be 7 in a couple of months - that is not a little kid!

Anyway, Dex had a fun day today. It was pissing rain (as it has been every day since we returned last week from Toronto) so we just hung out at home and had a lazy day all together. Later, we went to Red Robin for dinner then back home for some cake with homemade chocolate icing. We'll do Dex's b-day party after school lets out (and after baseball season ends).

Miss me? It has been a while...

We just go back last night from a 10 day trip to Toronto for my mom's 75th birthday. The party was on the 22nd and all of my siblings and all of my nieces and nephews were there (as well as all of my immediate family). My mom had such a wonderful time and she was oh so happy to have us all there.

Here is a photo of my mom and her grandchildren:



We had also hired a professional photographer to take tons of photos and I cannot wait to see those pictures.

While we were in Toronto, we took the kids to the Hockey Hall of Fame, a MLB game (Jays v Twins), Stephen took the older two to shoot paint ball, we stayed in a hotel that had a waterslide by the pool. The kids went on a two hour hike with one of our neighbours and they loved seeing their cousins, especially the boys. The kids were sick of us pointing out the sights to them (that's the school I went to, that's the church we were married in, that's where dad played hockey, that's where my dad grew up, etc). We took them to the wood lot that is named in honour of my dad as well as showing them a boardroom in the hotel we were staying at named for my dad.



It was a good trip for the most part. Some small issues and a day I swore I'd never return to Toronto. But I got over it and I will go back one day.

Teleflora = Hell-no-flora

I ordered flowers to be delivered to my mom and MIL for Mother's Day. When I placed my order, Saturday, May 8th was not a delivery option - probably because it was the busiest day of the year for florists, so I chose Friday, May 7th. I used teleflora.com because I found a coupon code for 15% off flower arrangements. Sweet!

Friday came and went and I did not receive a call from either my mom or MIL. I figured that perhaps the flowers were delivered late so they would call the next day. On Saturday, we had our usual busy running around with baseball games and then Stephen ran the kids out to get Mother's Day gifts for me. I went bathing suit shopping (OMG, I felt like Cathy, trying to stuff myself into bathing suit after bathing suit), so it was not until I got home at 5pm that I noticed an email from teleflora.com that was sent at 1:40pm (that is 4:40PM ET in Toronto) telling me that they are sorry but the flowers were not delivered "today". Um, today? They were to be delivered YESTERDAY!

I called them to complain and they offered me 20% off for not delivering the flowers on Saturday. I explained that they were to be delivered on FRIDAY so the upped the discount to 40% off and promised the flowers would be delivered on Monday.

Well, guess what happened on Monday? No flower deliver AND no email from teleflora.com telling me this.

I called them back to complain and they said "sorry" and now offered 50% off and delivery on Tuesday. I accepted the offer but was still mad and embarrassed because we had assured my mom and MIL that something would be delivered on Monday. I asked for assurances that I would be notified if the flowers could not be delivered on Tuesday and they promised me that I would get an email. In the meantime though, I used twitter to voice my frustration: Once again the flowers were not delivered - 3 days (not counting Sunday) & counting. I am telling everyone I know never to use #teleflora.

Lo and behold, within 10 minutes, Teleflora was following me on twitter.

@Teleflora tweeted to me to send the order numbers and they would help me. I sent a message telling them I was told that the flowers would be delivered on Tuesday according to their customer service. BTW, my tweets automatically update my facebook status so while I do not have a lot of twitter followers, I do have a lot of fb friends - who incidentally all had good things to say about proflowers.com so I will give them a try next time.

Tuesday came and went and guess what? No flowers delivered. No notification from teleflora.com. I called to cancel the order. The customer service agent could not have cared less which irritated me to no end. Immediately thereafter, I sent @Teleflora another twitter message asking why did they bother asking for my order numbers if they were not going to do anything about it? Petty, perhaps, but I felt good sending that note. This was at 2pm PT (5pm ET - the timezone where the flowers were to be delivered). I also called AMEX to dispute the charges on my credit card.

Four hours later, my phone rang and it was Cassandra from Teleflora calling me to apologize for the whole mess. I told her I was mad and embarrassed that they flowers were not delivered but most angry because I was not notified any day other than Saturday that the flowers were not delivered, even though I was promised that I would be told on Tuesday. "Blah blah blah some complaint was left open so no automatic email could be generated" and we are so sorry. She said they would still like to send the flowers and upgrade the product and send chocolates and a letter of apology to the recipients, etc. I told her that I did not actually believe they would send anything and if I did so, how much would they charge me. She said it would be free of charge. Hmmm... I explained that I did not want any upgrades. I did not want any boxes of chocolates. I just wanted the flower arrangements that I ordered to be delivered to my mom and my MIL. Cassandra assured me that they would be delivered on Tuesday along with an apology from Teleflora to my mom and MIL for the delay in delivery.

So, here is it, Wednesday. No flowers yet but it is still morning here (and in Toronto - late morning there). We'll see what happens. If they do get delivered, I will be happy to tweet that Teleflora made things right. If not, I will tweet about Teleflora's broken promises and poor customer service probably many, many more times.

edited to say my mom called at 2:30PM ET to let me know her flowers arrived and they were lovely. Not long after there was a message from teleflora apologizing for my MIL's flowers not arriving yet but promising that they would be delivered. My MIL called later that evening to let us know that her flowers arrived. I am now in Toronto on vacation and I have seen both bouquets. They are nice arrangements. Will post photos later.

May is the busiest month of the year and every May I tell myself "Next year I am not going to do blah or blah" in order to make the month less busy for myself. And every year I forget that I promised myself not to take on too much.

This year, we are going away again (however, unlike last year when we went to Maui, we are only going to Toronto). Also, we had to squeeze in that trip to Great Wolf Lodge. There is no school on Friday so we are having Jax's belated birthday party. And now I am starting to fret about Dex's birthday because it always get lost in this crazy month. Never mind that Mother's Day is this weekend and have I sent cards? Um, no.

And my mom's birthday (we are going to Toronto for her 75th birthday party). And baseball, baseball and more baseball. And friends' birthdays and parties and teacher appreciation and end-of-year wrapping up of things, etc.

Also added this year is the good-bye gift for the principal. She has been at the school 7 years and this year's 6th graders were her first kindergartners at the school. So, I had this bright idea that, at the 6th grade promotion meeting, instead of flowers, that the class presents her with a fingerprint bead necklace. So, I have had the lovely task of making 180 little balls of polymer clay, piercing them with very sharp wire, meeting with the 6th graders to have them press their fingerprints into the beads, baking the beads while keeping track of whose bead is whose, Modge-podging the beads and winding the little wires into loops. I have one more class to go tomorrow. And after all that, I have to somehow design a necklace with 90 beads (the rest will go to make necklaces for the 6th grade teachers).

I really love these necklaces because I think they are special for the teachers but they are indeed a lot of work. I have one mom helping me herd the 6th graders while we make the fingerprints but all of the work before and after I have not delegated (control freak).

And before we go away, I need to get Jax a new pair of shoes, he needs clothes and and and and ... it just won't stop raining and hailing and being cold and I wish we were going to Maui instead.

We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge on Sunday and came home yesterday. As if my kids are not going to be missing enough school this month! Anyway, we had a great time. It was nice to be the yesterday because it was not crowded at all. Guess that happens when most kids are in school!

I did get a scrape on my knee from the wave pool that is still weeping today. It smarts! And I was going to go for a pedicure before we went but my scraped toenails are glad that they just had my slap-dash polish application on them.

Cars was sleepwalking or something on Sunday night and at 12:30AM tried to get out of our hotel room! It was freaky because Stephen kept asking him what he was doing and why he was trying to open the door and Cars replied first that he was hungry. Then he said he had to go to the bathroom and thought that was the door. Then he said something about buying something. Stephen was freaked out because he could tell Cars was not really awake even though he was talking. I think this really is the first time that one of our kids had been sleep walking. Weird!

Stephen forgot his license (we realized when we got there and they asked to see his ID when we checked in) so I had to drive both ways. I was miffed because we had arranged in advance that I would drive there and Stephen played his gameboy. I had big plans to read the paper on the way home but instead I had to drive. It was just under 2 hours to get home. Man, I hate driving through Tacoma. What other city has a major interstate running through it and PERMANENT signs warning of slow traffic. It is maddening driving so sloooow through there. I can feel my blood pressure rising just thinking about it! Aargh!

How is it that Stephen and I can submit our passport applications the same day (our appointments were 45 minutes apart) yet his is processed and arrives 5 days before mine?

Well, it has been about four months so I think I can officially say that I am now at my pre-pregnancy weight. Only took 12 years. And of course my pre-pregnancy weight is still 15 more than my wedding weight. Which, by the way, was which was 5 pounds over my "normal" weight at the time - who on earth GAINS weight before their wedding?! Aren't a brides' nerves supposed to make them lose a little bit of weight?? Anyway, there is no way I'll ever see that engagement weight again or even wedding weight. I am content where I am but still wish I were thinner. Wishing is not what it takes to get there, however.

I am working on taking a bit better care of myself too. Like taking a daily multi-vitamin. And allergy medication. It is inevitable every year around this time I start to feel like crap and my eyes water and my nose runs and I do not do anything about it (like take Claritin or that even that evil Zyrtec). And my ears get clogged and hurt and I sneeze like crazy and my head is stuffy and then I think "I should take some allergy medication" and I never do. Then I get a headache and go to bed after popping a couple of Excedrin. So, along with the multi-vitamin that I have been taking I have been taking Claritin (well, actually the Co$tco generic of it since it is sooooo much cheaper).

Also, I have started taking fish oil. This is a huge step for me because I tend to think that "supplements" are a bunch of hooey but I have read for years about how fish oil helps the brain and and heart and perhaps prevent cancer. Not sure I believe the cancer bit but I decided I should take it for the brain and heart benefits. I have tried to get Dex to take some too but the capsules are 1/2" long and he baulked at the thought of trying to swallow it. Now I am on the hunt for smaller capsules for him. At least I say I am on the hunt but always manage to forget while I am out. Hmmm....perhaps I need to up my intake?

I have a few other things floating around my head about what I will do to take better care of myself but I realize that with me, it is best to do small changes at a time because otherwise I get overwhelmed, imagine that I will fail and so I stop doing the all of the good things for me. So for now, these small changes are enough to make me feel like I can be successful at taking care of me. :)

MailOrder Pharmacy Bites

When I took the kids to the allergist a couple of weeks ago, the doctor faxed in the prescriptions for the epi pens to our mail-order prescription company. I hate that company (Med_co). They delayed Cars' epi pen because he moved from an epi pen jr to epi pen and they would not fill it until they confirmed his weight (he is nearly 60 pounds, the weight to switch). Anyway, I received this ominous voicemail from them that they were going to cancel the order until they could talk to the doctor. I called the allergist in a tizzy and they told me that the doctor has spoken to them three times and "has finally gotten the pharmacist to understand". The allergist's office hates them too.

Then I sent in the prescription for Dex's flovent and I received a call that they have delayed filling the prescription because it was not written for "the maximum supply allowed by your insurance company". So basically, because the doctor did not write it for a year's worth (so like 12 flovent disks), they won't fill it. The thing is, Dex does not need it every day and only when he has a cough that does not clear up. In the meantime, Med_co is calling the allergist to extend the prescription and will send us a year's worth at once and we will end up throwing it out when it expires.

This has happened often in the past with Albuterol for Jax when he was wheezy after a cold and only had to use an inhaler for a month. In the past when Zyrtec was Rx, they would send us literally LITRES of the stuff but my kids only needed to be on it during grass season.

And I am just waiting for my Rx for migraine meds to be denied because the prescription was written in February but I did not send it in until last week. They'll probably tell me that I don't need it.

I am not quite sure how Big Software Company thinks they are saving money by using this company to fill the prescriptions. Especially since Med_co appears to be making money hand over fist. Another thing, they stopped mailing the epi pens via FedEx in a cooler. Both Jax and Cars' arrived via regular mail. I guess that is helping them make more $$ too...

I cannot recall if I have written before about Dex and the lack of control he has over his emotions. I guess I should clarify because clearly he can control his emotions when he is very happy or very angry. But when he is sad or upset he is an emotional wreck! And he gets upset over some things that just.do.not.matter. Or, I guess they do matter to him but they should not.

A few months ago, at bed time, he started sobbing because the year before, I had a garage sale and sold the Hot Wheels T-Wrecks and he missed it. Never mind that for well over a year before I sold it - no, MORE than a year - it sat in a box in his closet. Visible but not set up. He told me he did not want it anymore and I had his permission to sell it at the garage sale. I gave him the $$ I got for it. But a year later, it became an issue.

When he does something wrong and he gets scolded, he gets weepy. When he thinks about having too much homework, he gets weepy. When he forgets to do something, then remembers or is reminded, he gets weepy. You get the idea.

Lately, it has been especially weepy at baseball. If he strikes out, he gets weepy. If he misses a play, he gets weepy. If he gets thrown out at first (even if his hit is an RBI!), he gets weepy. It is ridiculous!

I know I sound like a mean mom and I am very empathic to him because I know it is hard for him to keep his emotions in check but my empathy only goes so far. I am at my wit's end! I had gotten to a point that if I say anything to him that he takes as the least bit critical, he weeps. So we cannot talk about his baseball games afterwards because me might remember that he struck out one of his times at bat. Or that he overthrew the ball. Never mind the great hits or great plays that he made.

On top of this, his tics are back with a vengence and he has multiple tics (head shaking, throat clearing and a cough - although the cough may also be a result of allergies, according to the allergist, and we are working on clearing that up right now).

So, we've decided that we need to do something about his lack of control over his emotions. I am going to call his pediatrician to talk about it and see if she thinks can help. I think I see counselling in Dex's future. He just needs to learn to control his emotions when he is upset. I know that part of this is anxiety and it kills me that he too is having anxiety issues like Jax had. But, with Jax, his not eating was really a huge issue that had to be dealt with right away. With Dex, I kept thinking he would outgrow it but he hasn't. He gets embarrassed a bit too but not enough to rein it in and keep his emotions in check. I hope things change soon.

Today I took Cars to the eye doctor for a check-up. He went two years ago when he was complaining about not being able to read an EXIT sign at the end of the hall. Anyway, he was totally cracking me (and the eye doctor) up! He was a Chatty Cathy and spent a lot of time making faces in the mirror in the office. He was making jokes but kept fretting about when he would get the eye drops. Anyway, his appointment went fine but she said there is a chance that he would need glasses in the future (she said that about Jax too) and she wants to monitor the cup in his optical disk (same with Dex and my eye doctor does the same for me).

Dex's baseball game was cancelled due to rain (the field was too wet to play on) so we now have two games that need to be made up. I haven't told the coach yet that Dex will miss a few games when we go on vacation.

I cannot believe that it is the 21st of April already. Time is speeding up and I am losing track of it! We have so many things going on in the next few weeks. It will be summer before I know it!

We had a nice quick visit with my mom. She headed back this afternoon. Marilyn is still stranded in Europe. She has a flight scheduled for the weekend but planes are not yet flying so who knows what will happen. This is crazy!

Here are a few photos from this past week:

Jax's 12th Birthday

Brotherly Love

Granny and her boys

Me and My Mom (she is not that much shorter than me, our driveway is slanted). Oh and yes, my hair is darker because I added low lights again last month.

Jax turned 12 years old two days ago. I cannot believe that it has been 12 years yet at the same time I can barely remember life without him. He is 5'1" and weighs 98 pounds. I know this because on his birthday I had made an appointment for he and his brothers to see the allergist because she was booked the rest of the month! Anyway, it was just an allergy check-in and update prescription appointment. Next year we'll consider giving him a skin test for peanuts to see how things look. Anyway, even the allergist got a little verklempt when she realized that she had been seeing him for over 10 years. Jax was a little uncomfortable seeing both his mom and his allergist with tears glistening in their eyes.

My mom is arriving this afternoon for what was to be a 5 day visit but it has been shortened to two. She was in Vancouver helping my brother watch his daughter while my SIL was away in Europe for work and was due to come home today. However, the volcano eruption in Iceland has halted flights in Europe so she cannot get home until possibly Sunday. So my mom is coming today until Sunday then will go back to Vancouver to help my brother out (he leaves for work before the nanny gets there). Hopefully my SIL will not have to stay in Europe too much longer. She is fortunate that it seems a friend of hers has an apartment where she can stay and if it is for an extended time, she can take the train to Switzerland and stay with her sister.

In the meantime, the kids will enjoy their quick visit with their Granny.

I have been such a lame blogger lately. I haven't updated my PEZSHESEZ blog in 2 or 3 weeks. I feel so meh about it too. Hopefully I will snap out of it soon. I will blame the unseasonably cold weather we've had. Brrr!!!

Art Gallery Night is tomorrow and I am excited about the work that both Dex and Cars' classes made. I will post some photos of the work. Another parent did the art in Jax's class so I don't know what it will be but I will post photos of that work too.

Happy Birthday to me. I turned 45 years old today. Last night, Spy and Ash took me to dinner at Purple Cafe and Wine Bar in Bellevue and the waitress carded me! Hee! Stephen said to me that it was nice that the restaurant hired handicapped people. And Jax told me that the waitress must not have been very smart. Nice. ;)

The kids are on spring break so we just hung out today, played a board game (Rumoli), we started working on a puzzle and we played Rock Band: The Beatles. Stephen baked me a cake and I received some very nice gifts from my family (including a pair of blue topaz earrings).

I cannot believe I am 45. It sounds so old and so close to 50! I feel 25 most days. Aging is so strange.

I met with Music Teacher yesterday morning. He showed me Jax's opera mask which was not nearly as bad as he made it seem. I told Music Teacher that Jax had asked him if he could colour it that way and Music Teacher replied "Be creative!" but then he told me that is not what he meant by "Be creative". He meant to draw little curlie-cues or triangles or circles within the mask. So why didn't he just say that?

And the schizophrenic comment? He explained that he really should have known better because he has a family member who is schizophrenic. I agreed again that the comment was really over the top.

Music Teacher said he will apologize to Jax in front of the whole class and initially, that is what I thought that I wanted. However, I started thinking that really I don't trust this guy and who knows exactly what he would say or how he would say it. I am sure he would qualify the apology so I told him that we'd prefer that he apologize privately to Jax.

I am just so thankful that next week is spring break then there are just 10 1/2 weeks of school (and one of those weeks we will be on vacation - more on that another time). After that time, Jax will not have to have anything else to do with this teacher. And this whole schizophrenic thing would not have been an issue if the peanut butter issue had not happened two years ago. At least, Music Teacher would not have made a huge deal about it.

Tomorrow is Friday and Jax comes home from camp. It has been a quiet week without him.

I met with the principal yesterday about the music teacher. She already knew what had happened because he had gone to see her and said "You will never believe what I just said...". She told him to call me immediately to tell me but he had seen me in the school so he found me and you know the rest.

Anyway, I told the principal that I just wanted him to stop saying stupid shit to Jax. Ok, I said inappropriate comments. And I want him to apologize to Jax in front of the whole class. She suggested that I speak to him so I am meeting with him on Thursday morning.

Jax is away this week at outdoor education camp so it is nice to give us this time to work things out because if he had to go to music before we had this all worked out I would be super mad.

And of course all of this emotion had made the rosacea on my face flare up. Ugh!

I taught Art today in Dex's class. The class is working on "Assemblage Art". I got the idea from DickBlick Art Materials. Today the kids assembled and glued their projects. Next week they will paint it with gesso.

While I was in Dex's class, Music Teacher came in and started looking at the kids' art work and he chatted for a minute with Dex's teacher then he came over to me and said that he needed to speak to me when I had a minute. I really did not want to talk to him after school so I said if it would just take a minute we could go into the pod outside of the classroom.

Now, before I go on, let me remind you that Music Teacher is the one who bullied Jax when Jax was in 4th grade. And the letter Jax wrote to him as well as my .

In the pod, Music Teacher starts by telling me about some masks they are making in music class (Opera masks) and how Jax made his 1/2 evil and 1/2 good and Music Teacher did not think that was the right way to make it and he told Jax that it made him look schizophrenic. Then Music Teacher said that Jax got really quiet and he thought he might be tearing up and he realized that calling Jax schizophrenic was probably not the best choice of words. He said he apologized and was going to look up Opera Masks to see if sometimes they are indeed painted that way... All of this was just gushing out of him. Then he said that because of their history, he thinks that Jax is a little sensitive about the things he says and he just wanted to be sure that we know he really did not think that Jax was schizophrenic and if he finds out about the masks he will be sure to tell the whole class blah blah blah.

I just kept looking at him wondering how he knew I was in Dex's class and once he said the thing about the history, I realized that he was just trying to cover his ass. I thanked him for telling me and said I would talk to Jax.

After school, when I asked Jax about it, he said that he was upset that he might have to redo all of the hard work he had done on his mask. I think the schizophrenic comment went right over his head but the fact that Music Teacher made a big deal about it in front of the class did not.

And I am still wondering how Music Teacher knew I was in Dex's class. He had not tried calling me at home or on my cell phone. I had signed into the school in the office before going to Dex's class but I don't imagine Music Teacher would have just looked through the log in the event that I might be there. I did see the principal when I was in the office so maybe he did go to her and she told him I was in the school somewhere. Curious...

And here's the 4th Grader's Art Work so far...remember, it will all be white-washed with gesso...



I'll post more after they are white-washed!

Tonight, we ordered two pizzas online from Dominos.com to pick up on the way home from church. I ordered online for them to be picked up at 6:15pm. When I arrived, they told me the pizzas were not ready and that "the system" said they were to be ready at 7:15". I showed them my confirmation that I ordered them for 6:15 and the girl behind the counter said "Well, that's not OUR fault that the online system gave us the wrong time". Blink. Blink. Blink. So I said "It is not MY fault either". Blink. Blink. Blink. She then told me it would take 20 minutes to make the pizzas for me. I said "Great, please deliver them to my house in 20 minutes!". She told me she could not do that unless I paid for delivery "because of insurance purposes". I looked at her and said "Are you the manager?" and she said with a heavy sigh (and an eye roll) "No".

The manager came over and apologized and said he'd make the pizzas right away (the girl told me she would put the in the queue which is why they would take 20 minutes instead of the approximate 8 minutes that it actually takes to make and bake them). He also refunded my money (reversed the charges to my credit card). Meanwhile, the girl is blinking away and rolling her eyes at me. I didn't dare leave the store less she spit on my pizza.

Next week we are going back to Papa John's.

I am now an American Citizen. Time to register to vote!

I went back to the eye doctor today and she tweaked my prescription and will remake my glasses (I am assuming on her dime). It is just the right eye. She lowered the astygmatism number back to what my current one is. She had me try on these horrible glasses with my prescription (and the changes) and walk around her office. I was so embarrassed. One lady laughed and said to the doctor "I am glad you like ME!" Anyway, I should finally get the non-barf-and non-headache inducing glasses within a week.

I also had a dentist appointment today. Once again they told me that I need replace my silver fillings with porcelain onlay$. $eriou$ly?! *After* insurance (which pays 50%), it would be $487.50 out of my pocket. I think I can live with my silver fillings. And I have 4 that they want to replace. I am sorry but I just do not have $2000 laying around to make my molars look prettier. Besides, I am saving up to buy me some Shania teeth.

TGIF! I am glad I made it through the week. Only two stress-induced migraines and one near anxiety attack. Life is good, no?

Last night we had to rush to drive to Redmond right after Cars' baseball practice to GET OUR NEW CAR! Yes, after 9 months of looking and nearly 4 months after we ordered it, we got our new car. It is BIG. And the colour is so pretty. It was well worth the wait!

Well, I did it. I went to my U.S. Citizenship interview and I passed.. I get to be an American! I will be sworn in next week. They would have done it today at 2pm but Stephen had a meeting at work (and it was about 8:45am when they told us) so we picked a day for next week.

The questions in the guide that they give you to study from are pretty simple but some are a bit tricky. I was given probably the six easiest questions of the 100 questions. I was asked the following questions:

What is the supreme law of the land?
What is an amendment?
What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
Who did the United States fight in World War II?
What is the capitol of our state?
Who signs bills into laws?

And the English portion of the test was super easy, of course. I had to write a sentence that the immigration officer spoke:

"The White House is in Washington D.C."

I imagine they make it very easy for non-native English speakers.

The immigration officer reviewed my application form to make sure that nothing had changed from the time I applied (November). My anxiety over the documentation for speeding tickets that I received 17 and 20 years ago was ridiculous because in the end, it was a non-issue.

Twice during my interview, Stephen's immigration officer interrupted to ask about when the best date for our swearing in would be. The first time I thought "well, this is premature" since I had not received the "pass" yet.

So next week I become an American. Then I need to figure out how to register to vote. Can't wait!

I took my new glasses back to the eye doctor today because I cannot wear them. I get sick (have almost thrown up) and they are migraine-inducing. I forced myself to wear them for longer than 5 minutes today (I wore them for 15) and now I have a wicked migraine.

The doctor's office checked them out and said they were made to spec to now I have to go for an eye re-check to see if my prescription is right. My astigmatism changed and I believe that is the part of the new glasses that is making me sick. So I am going back next week.

And while I was in there, another woman was complaining of the same thing. I wonder if it is the doctor? Hmmm...

If I make it through this week with less than one stress-induced migraine it will be a miracle!

We were supposed to get our car tomorrow but Stephen decided he wanted to wait another day or two because Toyota does not have any current deals listed on our model and the ones that are listed expire today so he thinks there will be new ones listed tomorrow (and it would be nice if our model were listed). Anyway, so we are holding off getting submitting the paperwork for the loan until tomorrow and then it takes about a day.

We also have our interviews/citizenship test on Thursday which is stressing me out.

Oh and I am about to fall off the roof so my hormones are raging.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming...

I haven't posted about this yet because I haven't want to jinx things but I am getting pretty excited so here goes...

I am going for my US Citizenship interview very soon! Wow, it has been a long time coming. We've lived in the States since '93 but under various visas and a green card. And five years ago today my green card was issued so I am officially eligible to be interviewed for American Citizenship.

I get so nervous when I think about the interview and I don't know why. I guess because this is something that I really want and I am worried that I might get denied. For no other reason other than that it is something that I can worry about, if you know what I mean.

I have been studying for the Civics test that I need to take (I am certain I will pass the English part!). There are a couple of questions where I seem to have a complete mental block. There is a pool of 100 questions and the Immigration Officer will ask me 10 of them and I have to pass 6. And while some of the questions are tripping me up, others seem "duh" to me - like how do people NOT know that (What is the name of the current President of the United States? and How many stars are on the flag?). I am sure I will not get any of the easy ones!

Watching the Olympics this past week and half has made me realize too that this will be the last time I watch as a Canadian. That is a little emotional for me. I mean I will have dual citizenship but once I am an American, I will cheer for my "home" country which is the U.S. of A. Canada, of course, will always be in my heart though.

And if I become, or maybe I need to be more positive and say, when I become an American Citizen, I am looking forward to being able to vote in an election. As the daughter of a politician, it has just KILLED me that I have not voted in an election since I left Canada. Unlike the USA, a Canadian citizen cannot vote in a federal election if they are abroad (unless they maintain a primary residence in Canada or something like that). I like that American Citizens can vote no matter where they live. That, to me, is a great right.

America has been very good to us and I hope, should I pass the interview, to be a proud American. I love my American children, my American friends and my American home.

Our new vehicle was to be available today, however, we have asked to wait until after March 1st to see if Toyota has any new incentives. After watching and listening to the Congressional hearings about Toyota, I am not so thrilled with getting a new one. I still love the vehicle and am happy that it is in the colour that we want and with the options that we want but I have several concerns.

First, while I assume that the car will be safe, given that they accelerator pedal part will be fixed before we get it, I still wonder if the sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) is not caused by some electronic problem. It seems that it has not been totally ruled out. And really, the number of problems of SUA, based on the actual number of cars with those parts, is small (but a potentially deadly problem). Also, the top Toyota brass said that most recalled cars will have a brake override system installed in it by the end of 2010 and they are retro-fitting some current cars. Ours will not have the override when it is delivered but it was the second or third model listed (Tacoma was first) in those to be retro-fitted. So how soon we will get it?

Second, we do keep our cars for a long time (my minivan = 8.5 years, Stephen's lemon = 10 years, my Toyota Corolla = 8 years) but I wonder what the resale value will be on the new one when the time comes. Or what if we move to say, Canada, where gas is about twice the price that it is here (do I really want to take a SUV with me there?) will I be able to unload the SUV at a fair price?

And finally, it is this...who in their right mind would buy a Toyota right now?!? I keep thinking that we might be better off with a GM or even (I cannot believe I am saying this) a Ford. I am not the least bit excited about the idea of this new car. Getting the car has been a hassle from the beginning. One road block after another. We did not give up on it because, quite frankly, we both really like the car (ok, I say car but know I mean SUV). We were excited to find a broker who helped us get it in the colour that we wanted after the dealers all said they could not get us a blue one. And we were happy too that she was able to get it in the configuration that we wanted (no middle row captain chairs, please). The car has tons of cool features, it feels good to drive, it is comfortable and it will suit our family well. But...it is a Toyota.

To me, Toyota means (or meant) quality. I had my Corolla for 8 years and besides regular oil changes, a set of new tires and a new exhaust system (we did live in Toronto and Minneapolis so lots of snow and salt = RUST on the exhaust), I only ever had one problem with the car (oil pressure gauge). That is fantastic, IMO. My first car, a 1984 Hyundai Pony that I purchased in 1988 was a rust bucket piece of crap that literally fell apart. I got $150 for it when I traded it in for my brand new sparkly marine blue mica 1990 Toyota Corolla SR5 coupe. Anyway, after that horrible experience where I $pent so much money on repair$, I swore I would never, ever, ever buy a Hyundai because to me it equals JUNK. I guess in the years since, Hyundai's quality has vastly improved (much like Honda did after their initial introduction to the North American market - they have one of the highest re-sale values these days) but my first experience has clouded my image of them). Are people going to start thinking that about Toyotas?!

Anyway, we get the car in about a week. I guess I have a week to get keyed up about it. Toy-o-ta!

Cars' foot is much better. He is still limping a bit but not too much. He was able to play hockey on Thursday and again today.

I am a little concerned about Jax. He has been very quiet in the past few days and when I speak to him, his affect is very flat. I worry a bit that he might be suffering from depression. Geez, that is hard to say. I am going to see how his mood is over the next month and then decide what to do next. I know if I mention it to Stephen he will brush it off. :(

He also did not win the school "lottery" for the Choice junior high that he applied to. That school focuses on "Art and Reasoning". It is just as well that he did not get accepted because none of the kids he is closest too who applied won the lottery either. Jax is #30 on the wait list (for a 32 slots in the school) so he is not even close to get in. Too bad. I think the smaller school would suit him.

We are trying to get a date for our rescheduled trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We are definitely going to take the kids out of school for it. I just need to reschedule a few things and we should be able to go within the next month.

Cars sprained his foot and his hobbling around like Quasimodo. He hurt it after he jumped on Dex then fell off. He was trying to wrestle Dex's video camera away from him because Dex took video of Cars "without permission!". *sigh*

He was pretty cute telling the doctor what happened (properly chagrined!). An x-ray revealed no broken bones, just lots of swelling. So no PE for Cars this week. Maybe no hockey tomorrow either since his foot is still so swollen.

Of course this all ensued while I had a friend over with her dear, sweet little 2 year old son who was happy to be playing quietly with a Hot Wheels car. I think she might be glad she has just one child.

I went for a physical the other day and asked the doctor (ok, nurse practitioner - I don't think I've seen my actual doctor in like 4 years!) about my poor ravaged face. She diagnosed me with rosecea and gave me a prescription for some gel to use on my face twice each day. No improvement yet (in fact, things might be a little worse today).

So, at book club on Thursday, we were talking about teenage years and the subject of zits came up. I mentioned that I had been diagnosed with rosecea which is one of the reasons why my face looks like it does (red and sore!) and the hostess pipes up "Alcoholics get rosecea". I am not quite sure or not if she was saying I was an alcoholic.

Of course, she is the same woman who said that if you have a positive attitude then you will beat cancer and in the next breathe, "Hey, didn't your dad die of cancer?"". WTF?!

And, this woman rarely comes to book club yet she always seems to have something to say about how we run it (like commenting how she's noticed that not everyone reads the book and if affects our discussions - how would she know when she only comes to 2 or 3 each year?!).

I wonder if we can impeach a member? ;)

We were supposed to go to Great Wolf Lodge today but Dex was sick (barf-o-rama) so we postponed our trip and will reschedule for sometime before May 18th (at which time GWL told us that our reservation would expire). Anyway, Dex barfed all over my sheepskin boots. Wah! Good thing they are just the Co$tco Kirkland brand and not Uggs! My niece told me to take the boots to the dry cleaners to be cleaned but I wonder if that would just cost as much as new boots ($40).

Dex seems to be feeling better and was able to keep down two bowls of cereal at 8pm tonight. At first I thought he was just sick from eating too much junk food and candy at the Valentine's Day party in his class yesterday but then after he vomited (outside of Jack-in-the-Box and all over my boots), I found out from Spy that her son had been sick as well and then another mom told me that another boy in their class was out for a stomach bug I realized it was something that was going around. And I was a little less irritated with Dex for smearing frosting 1" thick on his cookie in class and then piling it up with sweethearts, sprinkles, white chocolate chips and some kind of red gummy candy. It is not always good to volunteer in your child's class.

So, we just all hung out at home today but Stephen will go to work tomorrow and save the scheduled vacation day for another time. I think I might take the kids to see a movie.

And thankfully no hockey this weekend because I would freeze since I cannot wear my vomit-stained boots around. Ugg...I mean Ugh!

I am so happy that this week is over. Ok, yes I know it is only Wednesday but there is no more school for the week (mid-winter break). Because Valentine's Day is on Sunday and there is no school between now and Tuesday, all of the Valentine's Day parties were today. So there were Valentines and candies and donuts to buy as well as heart-shaped cookies to bake. Oh and a Valentine's Day box to create and and and...

Now I can breathe a bit.

Except that haloscan, the site that hosts my blog comments is going away on Saturday so now I need to find a way to save my blog comments and then set up a new commenting system. They have arranged for an easy transfer to echo but it is paid site. Is having a comment section worth $12/year?? Hmmm...

Edited to add that I have echo free for 30 days. At least my haloscan comments will be saved for at least that long.

I awoke this morning with a migraine. Ugh. It is 15 hours late and most of the pain is gone but I still have some pressure. Sucks to be me.

I spent most of today in bed but got up at 2pm to shower in time to go to Spy's SuperBowl Party. She and JBJ really know how to throw a great shindig. Tons'o'great food - yum!

Stephen and the boys are downstairs playing "Kraken" which is when all of the boys jump on Stephen and he throws them off. It was a really cute game when they were all ages 6 and under. Not so cute now when someone always gets hurt. Usually Stephen these days. Jax keeps running up to ask me if his head will be ok. I had to take him to the doctor today because he was so sure that he had a concussion after hitting his head on the bus. No concussion - just a headache and an look of understanding from the doctor when she realized the visit was more for anxiety than owie.

Initially, I was concerned because Jax told me that he was a little dizzy and had trouble concentrating on what people were saying to him. I realize now that he was probably just obsessing over the possibility of a concussion and I wonder if maybe he had a little anxiety attack. Poor boy. No doubt he will be on anti-anxiety meds in a few years.

His current concussion obsession started with the beginning of hockey. A new law went into effect in our state in July:

•Annually require all players and the parent(s)/guardian(s) of those players to sign and return an informed consent form relating to the nature and risk of concussion or head injury. This information sheet shall include the signs and symptoms of concussion/brain injury and can be found below.

•Ensuring that all coaches are educated in the nature and risk of concussion or head injury prior to the first practice/competition. This education shall include signs and symptoms of concussion/brain injury

This law was passed after a Jr. High boy in our state suffered a life-threatening concussion when he returned to play football after a concussion. Since we went over the information with him, Jax has been asking things like "How will I know if I have a concussion?" and "Do you think I could have had a concussion after that big hit?" and "Do I have a concussion?".

We were laughing it off at first but it definitely is becoming a bit of a problem. It might be time for him to return to his therapist who deals with OCD and anxiety. I'll think about this a little bit then perhaps have a chat with the pediatrician.

And now Cars is crying because his hurt his arm. Thank goodness it wasn't his head or Jax would be worried about him too.

The Write Stuff?

Cars' teachers emailed me today to tell me that they are concerned with the way he grips his pencil because, to them, it looks so painful. They suggested that I work with him at home to correct his grip and I should send in soft pencil grips for him to use at school.

Now, just to say, Cars has very nice handwriting. He does hold the pencil with his thumb, three fingers and resting on his baby finger (as opposed to holding it with thumb, forefinger and resting on middle finger). Both Dex and Jax hold it with two fingers and rest on their ring finger. I have tried to correct them but they say it is not comfortable. Now both Jax and Cars have nice handwriting while Dex's is horrible. Dex is also a lefty (which contributes slightly to his bad writing but mostly it is probably just genetic as Stephen has atrocious handwriting).

So, I will buy Cars some pencil grips for school and for home and will encourage him to fix his grip. I almost don't want to even bother because, as I said, his penmanship is good for his age (IMO) and he doesn't want to change. I am not going to battle him over it. We'll see what happens.

The crawlspace guys came back to finish up the job. They stripped the insulation from the duct work in the crawlspace, re-sealed the ducts and then re-insulated it.

Whey they showed up, I swear I smelt pot on them. I was shocked at first and then I thought that perhaps if I spent my days in crawlspaces, I might do it too! Ok, just kidding but really, it has got to be a horrible job. Last week, my kids and I were watching Dirty Jobs and Mike was crawling around in a crawlspace that has waaaay less room than ours. And it had dead skunks in it. P.U. Yes, a horrible job.

And tomorrow Puget Sound Energy is coming to check out the crawlspace company's work because they subsidized some of the work and offered rebates on the insulation used to insulate the crawlspace so they want to make sure it was installed correctly. I guess they check out 1/10 installations so it will be nice to be assured that the work is done because there is no way I am going down there to check it out.

Just a Hard Day

Tonight was a hard homework day. Jax seems to have a mental block about calculating percentage (personally, I think it has just gotten easier for him to ask me for help then to figure it out on his own).

Cars came home with a big project due at the end of the month that he wanted to start on immediately ("Mom, I need a big box and I need to make some penguins out of clay"!). When I suggested that he work on researching some of the questions on his project (where do they live? what do they eat? what eats them?) he suddenly decided that he could not read.

Dex did his usual chicken scratch on his homework and gave an exasperated sigh when I asked him to re-write a few things with a sharp pencil.

And I have PMS and my face has broken out. Gah!

At least everyone ate dinner for once (baked ziti - yum).

Bullet Dodged?

On Monday, we received an email from the Toyota dealership telling us that they had received dealer delivery date (well, date range) from Toyota. Our new vehicle was going to be delivered between February 9th and February 16th. FINALLY! I was a little bit excited but then I thought "I'll believe it when it is sitting in my driveway". And sure enough...the vehicle is recalled and all sales of the vehicle are stopped AND they have stopped production of the vehicle until further notice.

*sigh*

The car broker called us and said she would contact the dealer and find out what that means about our car but no response yet. Stephen told her that it seem we are getting lots of negative mojo around this whole deal.

Or, maybe all of these road blocks were to ensure that by the time we did get the car, it would be SAFE (and not have the faulty accelerator)?

In any event, we'll wait to find out if/when the problem will be fixed. In the meantime, I've spent a lot of today on consumerreports.org, MSN Autos and edmunds.com looking at other cars.

Friggin' Toyota.

Well Eye'll Be Darned

I had an eye doctor appointment today because it has been almost two years since I last went plus I have several new "floaters" and I read once that you were to see a doctor if that happened. Turns out the floaters that I do have is nothing to be alarmed about but are just a sign of "aging". *sigh*

An interesting thing too is that vision in my left eye has improved. Of course the disposal contacts that I wear (I wear them just 1-2x/week and my glasses the rest of the time) do not come in such a slight prescription so now I will only have to wear a contact lens in my right eye. That will save me about $10/month. My right eye has gotten slightly worse. I was bummed because I have two boxes of those lenses left (had to use up all of my vision benefits) but the eye doctor's office will take back the unopened boxes and exchange them for the new prescription - whoo-hoo!

I am also thinking of getting new glasses. They are going to order in a pair for me:

They ordered this colour and also a red/dark grey colour. I might just get new lenses in my current glasses because I still really like them too.

I do have to go back next week for a visual field testing to check for glaucoma. I am sure I do not have it but the doctor has always been concerned about the size of my cup-to-disc ratio in my eyes and she said with my age a baseline visual field test would be good. I am not alarmed because my kids also have big disc cups so I know it is probably just something that is hereditary and does not necessarily mean glaucoma.

The best news though is that despite my age, I have excellent near vision so no need for bifocals. Not even close! I could read the very teeniest of print on the card.

I was looking through some files on the computer and I came across this one:



I thought it was pretty cute and wanted to share. Pre-Cars so it probably was December '02.

Go Leafs!

He Shoots! He Scores!

Today, Cars' team (and the other Mite-Minor team in the league) were filmed for "Evening Magazine" which is a pseudo-news program on King5 here in Seattle. They do little "feel good" stories. They wanted to tape some young kids playing hockey and they will feature the story during the Olympics (King5 is our local NBC station).

Anyway, as part of the story, it was arranged for one of the dads on the blue team, who used to be an NHL goalie, to suit up and let the kids have a shoot out. It was so cute seeing the kids skate down the ice and shoot the puck. Of course the goalie was such a good sport and made a big show of trying to stop the pucks but most did end up in the net. Each kid got to do it twice and Cars was so excited that he scored both times.

This and That and This

Today, Cars asked Dex if he knew the song "Fuzzy Wuzzy". I told him *I* knew the words but not the tune (who turned it into a song?). Cars, as always, was AMAZED that I knew something that he learned in school. Usually it is songs that he has learned in Music. As though these are kids' song so why on earth would an adult (other than a teacher) know them?

I dropped Dex off at his guitar lesson today and I noticed another store has closed in the retail complex there. There is a video game store, the music store, a hair salon, Cold Stone Creamery, a Mongolian Grill and a bike shop left. The Mexican restaurant, a gift store, something else I forget now and today they are clearing out a framing shop. I am most devastated about the Mexican restaurant because it was good and a step between fast food and a real sit-down restaurant. The owners of the music store told me they closed due to mis-management rather than the economy. The framing shop I am sure closed due to lack of business. Funny, just last week I was thinking "Wow, I cannot believe they are still here" and look what happened!

I took Jax to an open house at one of the Choice Schools offered by our school district. It is a junior high school where the focus is on "Arts and Reasoning". Admittance is based on a lottery so we have to finish filling out the application and mail it in. The school only has 90 students (30 per grade). There were probably well over 200 6th graders at the open house last night so I am not holding my breath that Jax will go but I am very hopeful that he gets accepted in the lottery. Keep your fingers crossed for him!

We spent the weekend de-cluttering and some other small home improvement projects. Stephen repaired the drywall in the laundry room ceiling where they had to cut to run new pipes for the furnace. Of course he pulled out the 5 gallon can of paint that said "Laundry Room" and slapped it up over the patch jobs and of course it is so totally the wrong colour so now we'll have to paint the whole ceiling.

I also kept "Hoarders" in mind and was able to toss out tons of stuff that I had been holding on to and filled up five huge shopping bags full of stuff. My goal is to have that laundry/mud/crap room completely cleared out and organized by the end of February. I hope I do it.

On Facebook, there is a meme going around asking people to post old photos of themselves. I chose this one. I was in 5th grade and I was 9 years old. Look at those snaggly teeth! My left front tooth was crooked because it grew in over my baby tooth. Both of my front teeth grew in at different times so I had one big one and one little one and my older brothers used to call me "Fang". The gap between my front teeth was so large that I used to be stick a wooden ruler between them. My mom was worried that I would need braces (money was very tight in our family when I was growing up) but the dentist told her to wait and see what would happen when my eye teeth came in. Guess what? The eye teeth grew in and pushed my teeth all together and they are straight. I have a 40% overbite (I guess "ideal" is less than 30%) but otherwise, straight teeth.

I have mentioned before that my children need orthodontics. Stephen took the boys to the dentist before Christmas and again it was brought up that they *really* need work done. Stephen had totally spaced and had forgotten that they had gone so he came home with a referral for Jax to go ASAP (not sure why the dentist did not have the info about the previous referral).

Here is a recent photo:


See, he has a gap between his front teeth but it is way smaller than mine was at that age. And so far, his teeth are really, really straight.

So why is the dentist so hot to get Jax in braces? I mean, she is not the orthodontist. Does she get a kick-back for every referral that results in braces? I have no delusions that Dex and Cars won't need them but wonder if Jax really will. It seems young to me if it is just for teeth straightening. And the gap will surely disappear when his eye teeth come in, right?

Anyway, it has just been something I have been thinking about since they went to see the dentist a few weeks ago and with the start of the New Year and how we will spend the money in our Flexible Spending Account this year.

Come Out, Come Out, Where Ever You Are!

Hey Faithful Readers,

National Delurking Day is this week (either yesterday or tomorrow, I cannot ascertain). Anyway, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for people who read my blahg to leave a comment to delurk and say "HEY". I do know many of you out there reading (I can tell by your locations listed on the sitemeter) so thank you for visiting and reading. I appreciate it and will do so more if I ever get enough visits to my blahg to generate any sort of income from my sidebar Blogher ads. ;)

Please leave delurk and leave a comment. Thanks!! (yes, that includes you, Amy, in FL).

Kindest Regards,
Pez

I am glad the weekend is over. I could use a do-over but instead I'll just look forward to a new day tomorrow.

Today was one of the worst parenting days ever. We left one of our children behind at the hockey arena and did not realize for about an hour.

We had driven in separate cars and left the arena at separate times. We met back up at Co$tco and it took a few minutes for me to realize that Dex wasn't with Stephen and Stephen to realize that Dex wasn't with me. Stephen is the one who realized first what had happened and he RAN to his car as I finally I caught on. Jax, Cars and I sat dumbfounded watching Stephen run off.

I finally came to my senses and called the hockey arena in a panic then I called Spy for her dh's cell number because I knew he was headed back to the arena around that time for Cam's practice. When Spy's dh answered the phone, I heard Cam say Dex's name in the background so I knew that everything was ok. Spy's dh told me that he had just spoken with Stephen (he had Stephen's cell number) as Stephen was racing back to the arena (it is about a 15 minute drive from Co$tco).

Once I knew that Dex was ok I started to cry. Poor Jax and Cars were so silent and worried. Then Cars kept saying over and over again "This is just like 'Home Alone'!".

Dex, of course, was very upset once he realized about 20 minutes after Stephen left that he had missed him and he was left behind. He started to cry and one of Cam's teammates recognized Dex as Cam's friend and came over to ask him what was wrong. Then he told a coach who asked Dex to sit with them. One of the parents let Dex use his cell phone to call us but Dex only knows our home phone number* and of course we were not home. Then a while later Spy's dh and Cam (and Col) came back to the arena for Cam's practice and you know the rest.

So, talk about feeling like a horrible parent. I guess I can very thankful that it happened at a hockey arena and not a gas station or somewhere else. And I am so thankful for Spy's dh and for Cam's teammates.

And, hopefully Dex is not scarred for life. I think Stephen and I are.

*I have been stressing for ages to all three of my kids that they must memorize my cell phone number but they keep saying they don't really ~need~ to so even though I drill it over and over to them, they had not memorized it. Jax always smugly says "It is programmed in the phone" referring to the phone that he and Dex use when they go to the store or the library but neither of them had that phone with them today. Anyway, after today's drilling, I think that Jax finally has it memorized and Cars and Dex are ~almost~ there. Then we'll start working on Stephen's number.

I spent 3 HOURS cutting out circles for a 5th grade teacher today (I don't even have a child in 5th grade!). I am beginning to regret signing up to be a production volunteer at the school every other Thursday. While I hate photocopying because it is mindless and b-o-r-i-n-g, it at least does not cause me physical pain like cutting out 120 circles did (they had to be on tag board, not construction paper which is much easier to cut). My thumb has a little numb spot - do you think it is nerve damage?!?!).

There was not even any interesting conversations going on in the production room that I could dip in on. Spy was in there the other day and she learned that the music teacher is in his late 40's (he looks 10-15 yrs younger), and in November, I got to listen to one parent's opinion of several teachers (it was very interesting although I wish she had lowered her voice a bit).

Let's hope that next time I am there I don't have to do any more cutting. I won't complain when I have to copy reams and reams of paper. Really, I won't.

Cars finally learned to tie his shoes. Finally! He had absolutely no interest in learning because there was no motivation thanks to shoes with Velcro and elastic laces. I had tried for ages to cajole him into learning but he was not interested. What did it was the music teacher at school taught the kids a little ditty and she had little shoes for them all to practice on and voilà! Cars can tie shoes!

Funny what kids will do for people other than their parents.

I had huge plans for the kids' first day back to school. I was going to rush to the club and work out and then soak in the whirlpool there before having a nice hot shower and taking my time getting ready. But, it was a complete downpour this morning so after I drove the kids to the bus stop (4 houses away - actually just 3!!), I drove back home, did a few exercises and read my book most of the day between loads of laundry.

I am thoroughly enjoying my book (for book club - "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell). I was worried about getting through it before next week's meeting but I won't have any trouble finishing it. I need to set my reading goals for the year. Each year the goal has gone down. :( I think I need to say 25 books which is one more than two per month. I can do it!

Thank Yous

The kids wrote all of their Christmas Thank Yous today. My favourite was Dex's to the Reads. He wrote:

Thank you so much for the new wallet. My old one was getting pretty full.

Love it! He became very upset with me for laughing out loud. I told him I was laughing because it was sweet and funny. I tried to explain that it sounded as though his old wallet was stuffed full of money (rather than old gift cards and receipts which he could just throw away but hasn't).

And Cars wanted to write To LastName's no matter whom the thank you was for. "Don't use Granny's last name.", I would tell him, "Write 'Dear Granny'". "I don't want to" he'd reply and then "What's Auntie Ev's last name?". And "Geez, there are an awful lot of people with the same last name as us!". *sigh*

Happy New Year!

Well, I am well on my way with my resolutions! IKEA delivered the "lockers" and our Christmas tree fell down in the night so I had to clean up the broken decorations and clean up the rest. While I was putting the decorations and ornaments in boxes, I sorted out some that I really no longer wanted or used. Yes, I am working on that hoarding! ;)

I have also started a blog where I will post a PEZ a day. I hope I can remember to blog every.single.day all year long! PEZ She Sez

Resolute Resolutions

I think it is time that I made some New Year's resolutions. In no particular order they are...

1) Meal Planning: I suck at this and too often dinner is thrown together or I will decide at 3pm that I want Grilled Chicken Caesar salad and then I have to run to the store for most of the ingredients. Also, with our schedule busier than before, a little planning would mean less fast food for us.

2) Lose Weight: To go along with the meal planning, I am hoping that I will lose weight. I have made this resolution every year since I was 15 years old. Gah! How I wish I could go back and smack the 15-28 year old me. While I will say that I have indeed lost weight this year, I am certainly not at my goal weight. Also, I do need to reconcile the fact that the goal weight will not bring back the body I had pre-children and pre-marriage (put on that freshman 15 when I got married and I am right about my pre-pregnancy weight but clearly not my pre-pregnancy looks).

3) Career Goal: Yes, I am putting this out there. I think I am ready to start a new career. I have really enjoyed and been blessed to have been a stay-at-home mom for the past 10+ years but now it is time to get back to work. I am not even sure if it is a "career" that I am looking for. Perhaps just my only goal will be to write/update a resume. Yes, that sounds good.

4) Organization: Remember my hoarding and more hoarding tendencies and the shame that is my laundry/mud/utility/crap room? Well, we made a step towards organizing it today by purchasing some IKEA hall units that we will install to wrangle the coats and back-packs and hopefully shoe issues we have. A good first step!

5) Spend less money: Well, funny to put this here right after I wrote that I bought some stuff at IKEA. But really my goals to lose weight, meal plan and organize my life should all result in me spending less money. We are not in debt or anything but it is just that I know that I sometimes shop for recreation. It used to be at Michael's and Joann's but I honestly have nipped that habit. Now it is just making sure that what I buy matters. We have more expenses coming up (we'll have to start paying for Dex at the club starting in Jan, Dex started bass guitar lessons, we are getting a new vehicle, etc) so spending less in other places will help our overall bottom line.

6) Friendships: I have had a few friendship crises this year. Some people taking me for granted and I have done the same to others. I have lost touch with some people who have been very important in my life and I would like to reconnect.

7) Church: Going to Mass has not been a priority in my life this past year. I think having issues and questions of my faith were behind it and now I am wondering if I don't just GO that these issues will resolve themselves. Either way, I won't know unless I go. I thought it would be a good idea to have the kids take religion classes on Sunday afternoon but that has just made a convenient excuse for us not to get up Sunday morning to go to Mass. So, we are going to try to go on Saturday evening Mass and then have pizza/movie night since that too has slipped since Jax has hockey practice on Friday evenings.

I guess that is it. My next step is to take each of these goals and figure out exactly what I need to do to accomplish the goals. Seems simple and very logical but this is where I always get stuck. It seems overwhelming but I think baby steps are the way to do it. And, these are my goals so really I can work at them at my pace, right?

I let my hair dry naturally today. It has a lot of bend in it (not even nice enough to call wave). Cars asked me why my hair was so messy today. I told him it was because I did not blow dry it straight like I normally do. He looked me in the eye and said "You really need to blow dry your hair straight. All the time, Mom."

Today was our annual lazy day after Christmas. The kids did not get out of their jammies and they built Lego sets, played video games and watched movies. Stephen spent the day mostly playing his new "Legend of Zelda" game and I watched HP6 (although I did fall asleep not long after it started and I missed most of the first 45 minutes of it). Oh, I also ate my way through the day. It is dangerous to have leftover yorkshire pudding and gravy, and Nanaimo Bars and chocolate and sugar cookies hanging around. Good thing I took care of them today.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Blast from the Past

For Christmas, I received a package from Ramona with a little photo album. Inside was a card that said "To be opened in a Private Place Dec 23'09 Merry Christmas!". Of course, I peeked inside the card and found an envelope which read "Denine's Dec. 1999 Diary Entry to Ramona's Diary *Not to be opened until Dec., 1999" and on the back it was dated 12/23/89 with my signature written across the seal of the envelope (a trick I learned while working in the bank).

I completely remembered writing this letter! We were exchanging Christmas gifts at Ramona's new condo and we each wrote a letter. Ramona was the holder of the letter (since we had written them to her diary) but over the years she had thought she had lost them, along with her diaries, but they were in storage at her parents' cottage.

So today, Leah Ann, Ramona and I had a conference call and we read our letters to each other. What fun it was! Leah Ann really enjoyed it which is good because I can remember not long after we wrote them, she wanted hers back to tear it up. She had written that she'd marry Dave but three weeks after we wrote the letters, she met Roman and a few weeks after that, she and Dave were kaput. Three months later, they moved in together (she had been dating Dave for well over 8 years when they broke up).

This is what I wrote on December 23, 1989 at 12:20AM ET:


Dear Ramona's Diary,

These are my predictions for what I think I will be doing in 1999.

I will be married with at least 2 children
I will be living (FAR) outside of Toronto (therefore I will be visiting while this is being read)
Career wise I am not sure as I am currently working at IBM Lab. It would be nice to think that I will NOT (underlined) be still working there as I am (at this time) not too contented with it.
I willl mention Stephen PEZ as I love him now and think that perhaps we will get married...if not, I hope no one becomes offended by this...
I hope that perhaps I would have gone back to school in some capacity. I would like another degree or diploma, perhaps in FRENCH.
- still c. 140lbs (chubbs!) OMG, to be 140 again

These are my predictions for Ramona (underlined):
- still a nurse but maybe -> probably not a ward nurse -> actually maybe a social worker or councellor (sic)
- have travelled LOTS
- married (whirlwind romance!)(1 kid) - maybe but LOTS of pets
- still living in Toronto area (but NOT (underlined 3 times) Scarborough Ramona not now only lives in Scarborough but she is only 5 miles away from her mom's house and 0.65 miles from Leah Ann's! LOL
- exclusive/exquisite house and home

Predictions for Leah Ann = Mrs. Leah Ann Dave'sLastName
- 1 kid, daughter
- NOT (underlined) at Big Phone Company She has been there for over 20 years and is highly respected and successful manager
- living close to her mom (she is 4.5 miles from her mom)
- diabetes still in control but with some complications (20 years by now!) (30 by the time we actually read the note)

(turn page over)
On the whole my predictions are pretty boring. They are what I really expect but not what I really want. I would love to say that I would be a successful mgr at IBM but I don't know I was so sure in 1979 that I would be well married by 1989 Gawd, I'm an OLD BAG... Anyway, here's to 1999 and the end of the decade, era, century, millenium.

Love Denine M. MaidenPezName

P.S. To be totally HONEST, I think that I will be dead by 1999 (underlined 3 times). I don't think that I was meant to live a long time... we'll see. Until then, Best of luck to all of us!!



What fun we had reading these letters over the phone and laughing together over this! We have each sworn to write another letter and Ramona will keep them all again until December 23, 2019 (no one trusts that Leah Ann won't read them beforehand and of course I will probably lose them).

Now, I must think about my predictions for the next decade of my life.

Stephen and I went to a Christmas party today at J's house. J is in book club but she is also Spy's SIL (JBJ's sister). We had a great time. Her house is lovely, the food she served was soooo good and the company was spectacular too.

I hired the babysitter to come again tonight and she will be here again tomorrow morning so I can go work out. I had forgotten that Stephen had the week off so he can take the morning to go finish up his shopping.

Tomorrow will be the shortest day of the year. At 3:30pm it is now dusk. Looking forward to Tuesday and the beginning of longer days.

Tis the season to be very busy! We have had a crazy busy week so after hockey today, we all just came home and crashed. I crawled into bed about 2:30pm with a clipboard and started working on my Christmas cards and I finally stopped writing just a few moments ago. I wrote, addressed, sealed and stamped what seemed like a thousand cards today!

I still have one or two gifts to buy and one of them needs to be mailed. Or I can shop online and have it shipped. I am just really stuck about what to get them. Ugh.

Stephen has the upcoming week off and I have booked the babysitter for a couple of hours here and there so we can get out to finish up (and hopefully I will have time to hit the gym too).

Last night we went to Spy's house for her husband's, Jon Bon Jovi, birthday celebration. We had a great time. Spy told me that she was just going to wearing a dress made out of t-shirt material and some boots. Ok, she was wearing a one shouldered, ruched (sp) dress and thigh-high boots that made her look like a million bucks!!! T-shirt dress my ass! Tomorrow evening is her SIL's Christmas party and she claims she is wearing a t-shirt and a skirt with boots. We'll see what she is really wearing!

Anyway, at the party was a teacher from the kids' school who claimed to Spy that Dex and Cam's teacher says that she really loves her class this year and she would personally have hand-picked the kids herself. Hmmm.... I don't doubt that she said it because that teacher had no reason to make it up but I am wondering how much Dex's teacher really means it. Last week, we saw Dex's teacher at Costco but she turned her back hoping we would not notice her. It was very apparent so I marched right over there with Dex to say HI. Had she not made such an effort to not catch our eyes I would have just let it go. Dex is always telling me she does not like him but I always poo-poo it to him but I am not so sure now.

I've been super busy and I am looking forward to tomorrow afternoon when school lets out for the rest of the year.

Today, I spent two hours photocopying and stapling in the supply room at school. I really do not mind photocopying for teachers but I hated all of the little "booklets" that I also had to staple and cut with the big paper cutter. For one of the kindergarten teachers, they wanted 46 copies of mittens on red construction paper, cut out, holes punched along the seams and then some green yarn tied to each "pair" of mitts. Riiiight. I made the copies. Someone else can do the cutting and stuff. Ok, if there hadn't been all that copying to do of course I would have cut out those mittens (last month I spent two hours cutting out 45 construction paper ears of corn.

I also have to make cookies for the 1st Grade holiday party tomorrow. The kids are watching "The Polar Express" and eating cookies and drinking cocoa. Cars' teacher asked me to make cookies for what I thought were the kids IN HIS CLASS who were allergic to nuts/peanuts (there are just 2 of them, including Cars). Turns out that she meant all of 1st grade and for some reason she asked for 24 cookies (there are 100 kids and I don't think that 25% of them are allergic to nuts/peanuts). Anyway, because the kids with allergies always get ripped off (IMO), I baked some of my very best sugar cookies EVER in the shape of polar bears. Then I had to ice them. I think they turned out nicely.

I also am teaching Art in both Cars and Jax's class tomorrow (and I taught Tuesday in Dex's class). For Cars' project, we are making snowflake mobiles(the one in the line). We just have an hour so I spent 2.5 hours this week cutting out the circles and attaching them together so we'll just have the kids fold and cut the snowflakes (oh and glue them on).

For Jax's class, his teacher asked on Tuesday for an Art Class to be scheduled so since it was "last minute", I thought that they too could make snowflakes. So we are going to make a 3D snowflake. Again, I have just an hour so I pre-cut all of the paper for the snowflakes for the class. Oh, I pre-cut the paper for Cars' class too because the snowflakes cannot be larger than 7" in diameter to fit on the circles.

Anyway, it has just been a super busy week for me doing "busy work". I haven't worked out and I feel like a big tub of goo.

Now, I must run to wrap the gifts for the bus driver and school office staff.

Ho-ho-ho!

Edited to add that this is close to the the craft we made for Dex's class (Spy, don't click or you will ruin Cam's Christmas present surprise!).

Friggin Toyota

We are in the process of buying a new vehicle. Stephen hates, hates, hates the van so we have decided that an SUV is what will work for our family for the next several years. We were looking in June then put off the process after we asked for their best price and the have us a price that was not much lower than sticker price. Both Stephen and I hate the game that you have to play when buying a car - they tell you the sticker price, you offer a lower price. They come back and you give them another offer then back and forth ad nauseam. And with three kids in tow, it is definitely not a fun process.

So, we renewed the vehicle shopping process but this time we decided to go through a car broker. The broker charges a set fee and she will negotiate the price of the new car for you, negotiate the best price for you for your trade in, do all of the paperwork and deliver the car to you. Her price seems very fair for doing all that, especially since in the testimonials on her website, she beats the best prices at the dealerships.

We contacted her, told her that we wanted a Toyota Sequoia with certain options. And we wanted a Blue one with beige interior. She checked and found none in nine states so decided that we would just order it custom made from Toyota and it would take a few weeks. We contacted a dealership to get their best price (they give deals to Big Software Company employees and the price was a couple thousand cheaper than than the first dealership). This broker then beat that price, even with her fee.

So, we ordered the car two weeks ago. Or so we thought.

She called today to let us know that Toyota is not allowing dealerships to have any "allotments" for Sequoias because basically they cannot sell the ones they have out there already. Aargh! She is working with a dealership in Portland that will hopefully get an allotment soon. We should know by Thursday. If not, it is back to the drawing board. Well, we could take a Sequoia that is on a lot somewhere but most of them have the captain seats in the second row (we want bench seats) and are either white, black or silver.

Maybe this process will show Stephen that the van is not that bad afterall.

I had to get some passport photos done this week for some immigration stuff that we have on the go. Thankfully, they could just be US Passport sized photos so even though I had to buy two sets, it was still way cheaper than the Canadian Passport photos we get from that little photo lab in Bellevue.

I was shocked when I saw the photo for two reasons: 1) I had my hair coloured last week (low lights) and even though it was a subtle change, the passport photo made my hair look really dark. I might have even said that I looked younger except that 2) I could totally see a deep wrinkle running down beside my nose! OMG! I look positively aged! Wah!

I don't mind aging, I just don't want to do it until I am old(er)!

Busy day because Stephen realized that we needed some paperwork done for our immigration status and it was a mad scramble.

Dex started his bass guitar lessons tonight. He was so keyed up about it afterwards. I am glad that he is doing it. Something just for him.

I tried to take some photos of the boys today at the park. This was the best one I took:



So we tried again when we got home. It was not that successful until I told them to get closer, closer, CLOSER and they were almost wrestling each other to the ground. I love this photo even though it is a bit fuzzy.

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

It was quite cold today so rather than allowing the kids to stand around outside waiting for the bus then around outside of school (from 8:10-8:25 when the bell rings), I drove them to school then headed out shopping. I went to Target to get a few things but they were out of one particular toy that Dex wanted to I drove to another Target. Then I went to Michael's, Joann's and Cost Plus World Market (I love that store!). Oh and Old Navy. I was able to get a lot of things checked off my list and I am feeling less stressed. I still need to mail quite a few boxes to Canada but I think as long as I get them out by Friday things should be good.

Now to start on Christmas cards.

The new furnace is in. It is quiet and the house feels comfortable! No more walking upstairs to the boys room and feeling like you are walking into a furnace while the kitchen and living room are COLD. The furnace circulates air 30% of the time when the furnace is not actually producing heat so we get no more hot/cold spots. And when the furnace is on it is soooo quiet and it does not sound like a jet engine when it starts up.

We have a couple of holes in the ceiling of the laundry/utility/mud/junk room that will need to be patched after we have the city come by to inspect the installation.

Ah...relaxing in my warm house. Especially in this really cold weather. :)

I blogged everyday for a month then disappeared for a few days. I know you all missed me. ;)

It has turned quite cold here but thankfully is it clear and sunny everyday so no snow. Tomorrow is supposed to be the coldest day yet (with a high of 32F/0C) and wouldn't you know that is the day I have scheduled for our new furnace to be installed. Yes, 8-10 hours with no heat. Brrr! I am thinking of bringing some wood inside and firing up the wood stove for a bit of heat.

Stephen checked out bank account today and it seems that the mortgage company to which we just paid off our mortgage (we re-fi'd with another company) took out our December payment. He is PISSED. I wonder how hard it will be to get that money back and how long it will take. The mortgage broker is going to get an earful when he returns Stephen's call. So much for our "free re-fi".

Well, I did it. Went ahead an booked a date to have a new furnace to be installed. I guess it will take about 8 hours to do so hopefully it will not be too cold that day.

Shoot! I just checked and the high that day is supposed to be 36F! Oh no! I am going to have the woodstove going throughout the day. Hopefully that will keep the woodpecker out of our chimney.

Looking at the forecast it seems it will snow next week too! Oh I am so not ready for that. I pray that we do not have a winter like last year. All that cold and snow is just too much.

And I just realized that I need to get the winter boots out to see who needs what this year and I'll go this weekend to get new boots for whomever needs them.