Migraine's Stink

Ugh - I have a wicked migraine today. It is almost gone thanks to Relpax. I am reluctant to take prescription drugs for these so I suffered most of the day with only Anacin before I caved. I don't know why I just didn't take Relpax hours ago as I'd be done with the migraine by now.

I have had migraines as long as I remember. I often complained about headaches as a child and my mother, whom I do love and like but who had very little patience for complainers, used to call me "George" after her father, the hypochondriac. Anyway, when I was about 15 I decided that I had to do something about the headaches so I went to the doctor (changed doctors on my own since I didn't like our family doctor). Now, I don't believe my migraines are hormone-related because I do not get them around my period. Some of my triggers are dehydration, stress, smelly perfumes, not eating frequently enough (rarely get them from this ;), Chinese food (probably from MSG), lack of sleep, and changes in the weather as well as sometimes the reason I get them are a mystery. I think today's migraine was brought to me by the weather change although today was a high pressure day not a low pressure day so who knows if that were it or not.

When I was in my late teens I went to a neurologist. I had an EEG where they stuck what looked like little push-pins attached to wires into my head. This was the pre-HIV/AIDS era because I am certain they use sticky electrodes rather than push-pin kind. I know those push-pin kind were reused too and I remember my cousin (who accompanied my to the visit as my parents were at work) was so grossed out when I came out with dozens of little bloody dots on my head. Anyway, the EEG showed normal brain movement and no signs of a tumour (whew!).

My migraines often were accompanied by visual disturbances. I recall the first time I experienced a visual disturbance before a migraine. I was a student and was working part-time in a movie theatre ticket box and I lost my peripheral vision. I only had vision right in the very centre for about 15 minutes and I was so scared that I was having a stroke. I had to hold the money people gave me out to the side to see if it were a $5, $10 or $20! As my vision came back, a crushing migraine came with it. I almost vomit ted in the ticket office! I had to run out and I threw up in the bathroom. I know exactly what my trigger was that time. My co-worker's perfume! It was called Ciara and she would douse herself in it. On top of that, she had this horrible rotten cheese body odour and to this day, if I smell Ciara I will retch.

It was a few years later I was working in a bank and I lose my centre vision and could only see out of the periphery. It was very interesting for that 20 minutes trying to check people's signatures and filling in bank forms when I had to hold the form off to the side and try to write while looking straight ahead. Again, when my vision returned, the mind-blowing pain came with it.

In the years since, I have had only a few more visual disturbances that signaled a migraine onset. Once it was like wavy lines, and another, it was like I was looking through a kaleidoscope. I have had the lost peripheral vision again too but now I know when visual disturbances happen 1) I am not having a stroke and 2) these migraines will be the worst!

I have also used different migraine medications over the years. One doctor had me on a daily medication to hopefully stop them from coming but I often forgot to take the medication. So often I would just suffer through them with a cold wash cloth on my head while lying absolutely still in a darkened room.

Then in 1992, a miracle! Imitrex was approved for use in Canada. It was the best drug ever for my migraines. I could take one tablet and within 10 minutes the pain would start to dissipate and within an hour (max!) the pain would be gone as well as the crushing pressure of the migraine. I would often get a migraine "hangover" with some slurred or thick speech and feel a little dopey. But I could actually stay at work with a migraine and the quality of my life improved.

Then in late '93, Stephen and I were married and I moved to the States. I had no medical insurance and even worse - no Imitrex! I found out that they were still doing clinical trials for Imitrex and that the tablet had not been approved for sale here yet. They did have the auto-injector though and I signed up with the manufacturer and was able to get Imitrex auto-injectors FREE. The problem was, have you ever tried to inject yourself while suffering from a migraine. I wasn't sure which was worse. The pain of the migraine or the anticipation of the pain from the injector (while it was no overly painful, the injector was definitely not pain-free!).

Anyway, finally the pill form was introduced here in the States (right about the time that I got health insurance) so I took Imitrex by tablet again although my insurance company would only prescribe 6 at a time.

I stopped taking Imitrex around the time that we decided to start a family and I will tell you that while I was pregnant, I was virtually migraine-free! This made me think for a while that the migraines could have been partially hormone-related but I think it was mostly because I was eating regularly and drinking tons of water, all the while reducing the stress in my life because I had gone into pre-term labour at 28 weeks which fortunately was stopped and I was put on bed rest.

Also, since moving to the Pacific Northwest in '99, I have had far fewer migraines. I think this is mostly to do with the weather. The oppressive, muggy, humid and suffocating summer weather in Minneapolis and Toronto were big migraine triggers for me. And in '04 when we went to Florida for a vacation, I had a migraine most of the 10 days that we were there. Ugh, who could live there?! I had to suffer without Imitrex that whole trip because I was nursing Cars and although I was told it was "safe", I refused to take it while pregnant and nursing any of my children.

A few years ago, my doctor's PA suggested that I try Relpax rather than Imitrex. It is in the same "triptan" class as Imitrex and it seems to work well for me (although not nearly as quickly). It does not give me the same feelings of heaviness and thickness in my chest and throat when I take it which I do like though so I give up one for the other.

Anyway, it has been two and a half hours since I have taken Relpax and the pain in my head is gone but I still have pressure. And I have a migraine "hangover". Stephen just texted me that his plane has landed (he went to Toronto to see his parents - his mom is going through cancer treatments) so I had better run and at least load the dishwasher from today's breakfast dishes. I might even be able to throw some dinner together for the kids (no promises at this point).

In the meantime, I am watching Dex and seeing that he is a migraine sufferer and I hurt for him because I know what it will mean for him for the rest of his life. (they do tend to run in the family - two aunts, my dad and my oldest brother all had/have them). Hopefully Dex won't have them as often or as badly as I do.

My brother posted this article to me on Facebook today:

Headaches might ease as you age

I guess I have that to look forward to.

Snow in April. Yes that is what we have. Snow in Seattle in April. Aargh! Ok, the snow did not cause any problems with traffic and fortunately school was not canceled (the school year has already been extended 4 days due to snow days). But today is COLD. And it is April and it should not be this cold. The forecast for today was originally 55F and sunny by the afternoon I do not see that happening. They are still claiming it might hit 50F today but it is already 11am, still cloudy and only 40F. Promises, promises.

Today, Jax starts his track after school. They practice everyday after school except for Wednesdays. Track actually started on Monday but he had conveniently forgotten to sign up for it. I had him get the forms from school on Monday then on Tuesday I had to take him to the doctor to have her sign the release form and since he had not been to see her since October 2009, he had to have a physical. All went well until she examined his spine. She kept telling him to bend over properly then she realized that he was and she left to get some device to measure his spine. Afterwards, she told us that kids often go through growth spurts and their spines look uneven (he is now officially taller than me, standing a whopping 5'6.75"!). His spine looks crooked she is not concerned enough to send him to a specialist yet but we do have to go back to see her in 6 months.

Of course, with my worst-case-scenario personality, I already have him in a Milwaukee brace and being made fun of in school. I remember in Grade 7 when JaniceM got a Milwaukee brace. Her pencil rolled off her desk and she got down on her knees to try to pick it up but she got stuck! She could not reach it and she could not get back up. A boy name Bruce started laughing and he could not stop. Then Janice started to cry. The rest of us in the class looked on in shock, going back and forth between Bruce and Janice. It seemed to go on forever but I am sure it was just a few seconds before the teacher intervened.

And of course there was the scene from "Sixteen Candles" where Joan Cusack's character, who is wearing the brace, tries to lean over to take a drink from the water fountain and she cannot. Also, in my high school, there were two more kids wearing that brace. One was a boy who was so very tall (and he also had braces on his teeth and very bad acne - gah!).

So, these are the kind of things I have already imagined for Jax and really at this point all we have is a "come back in six months". I want to know NOW if it is going to be a problem so I can get these images and thoughts out of my head. Jax has started getting blackheads and pimples and he is in the 95th percentile for height. OMG - exactly like that boy from my high school!

Breathe - breathe - breathe

Ok, I am calm for the moment. So, for the meantime, Jax will do track (in the snowy April weather) and work on his posture (he thinks she wants to see him again because he slouches). I'll keep the worrying to myself and research alternatives to the Milwaukee brace. And maybe get him some ProActiv.

Happy Birthday to me! Well, it was a few days ago. It was spring break so I decided that it was the perfect opportunity for the kids and I to go to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). I had never been there before and kids 12 and under were free (and Jax turns 13 next month so let's go!).

We drove through the pouring rain (we had the worse spring break weather all week!) but it had stopped by the time we got downtown. I found the SAM then circled around blocks and blocks and blocks looking for parking. Street parking downtown is very limited and what is available has a 2 hour limit so I knew we needed to find a lot. I went to my old stand-by lot which is actually very close to the aquarium and a few blocks away but there was just one skinny little space available (the cars on either side were parked on the lines) and I knew that my SUV would not fit in there.

I went back and drove around looking for a parking ramp that could accommodate the height of my vehicle. Um, there are NONE. I did see that the height at the Westlake Center was listed as 11' some inches but once I drove down the ramp, that height is for delivery trucks only and the lower levels for passenger vehicles was only 6'4" (my car is slightly over 6'5"). Nooooo! The guy had to get out of the little booth and stop the cars coming down behind me to give me room to make a very awkward 85 point turn to get around and drive back up the ramp and out onto the street. I was sweating (and swearing) at this point. Aaargh! I should have switched cars with Stephen that day.

The kids and I drove even further away and I finally found a small lot that had some available spaces. Hurray! Well, once I checked the prices I found out why there were some available. I paid $24.95 (the cost of 4+ hours up to 24 hours)! The guy told me that he'd be needing the receipt back when I left. Um, I don't think so. It was my credit card receipt and while the cc number was not printed on there, I know that he was going to re-use my ticket and give it to someone who was going to pay cash (and he'd pocket the money).

So the kids and I now had about 12 blocks to walk back to the SAM. Usually not a problem but all three chose not to dress for the weather. It was not raining but it was windy. The chose to keep their rain coats in the car and were only wearing hoodies which the wind whipped straight through. They didn't complain (since it was my birthday) but they shivered all the way there.

It really did not take as long as I figured it might to get through the exhibits. I really enjoyed looking at all of the works of art. The kids were mostly bored but they pretended not to be and did behave. The only grief I got was from Cars demanding to know why it was part noon and he had not had lunch. ~eye roll~ That kid definitely is ruled by his very picky stomach.

After we went through the museum (it is not nearly as big as I had anticipated), we headed to the restaurant which is a little fancier than I expected. Dex had a $10 gourmet hot dog (minus all of the fixings that made it gourmet, of course). Cars was the only one to order off the kids' menu(again, 12 and under so we were under a timeline for Jax but he wanted an adult-size meal). ;)

We headed back outside and hiked our way back to the car, stopping at Nordstrom so I could buy some eye make-up (happy birthday to me). I went out the back entrance of the lot so the guy could not flag me down to get the receipt (heh).

Stephen came home early from work and he grilled burgers for us and we had a vanilla cake with chocolate icing that I had made the night before. It was a very lovely evening and end to a great day spent with my kids.

School starts back from break tomorrow. I feel a little ripped off since the weather was absolutely horrible all week but it is Seattle and it is spring time. I heard a rumour that there really is a sun behind those clouds. I hope we see it soon.

It's All Been Done

The favourite song that I like to play in my guitar is "It's All Been Done". I love the song plus it is relatively easy to play with just a few bar(or barre) chords. It is upbeat and fun and one song that I can play. I can also play "Maggie May" for the same reason (although I haven't mastered the intro).

I can also play a lot of little ditty songs by picking out the notes such as "Amazing Grace", "Lavender Blue", "The Star-Spangled Banner", and "The Jamaican Farewell Song".

I have been taking guitar lessons for 2 and a half years and that is all I can play. Oh sure, I can muddle my way (barely) through songs like "Fire and Rain", "Let it Be" and "Please Don't Leave Me" (although I did have to switch to an electric guitar for Let it Be and Please Don't Leave Me because the barre chords were killer on my fingers and wrists on the acoustic because the strings are so much harder).

I am not sure what I expected with guitar. Did I think I would be able to play like Nancy Wilson from Heart by now? I think my expectations were very unrealistic, never mind the fact that I do not practice nearly enough.

So here I am, at the crossroads - do I continue or do I quit? I am worried that if I quit I will never pick up my guitar again. And if I continue, I must commit myself to really practicing and spending more time just playing in general.

Tonight I practiced for about and hour. My fingers are almost bleeding and they are sore but it is a good kind of sore. Enough to know that I did practice and I know did have a bit of a breakthrough on one song. Let's hope I still feel the itch to play again tomorrow.

I cannot stop watching video and photos of the devastation in Japan after the 8.9 earthquake and tsunami. The aftershocks are high enough to be "real" earthquakes in their own right and enough to cause tsunamis as well. And the potential meltdown at the nuclear power plant is frightening. So much to deal with all at once.

I cannot do anything other than send money at this point. What I can do for me is to update my earthquake stuff. I never did put everything all in one place so I plan to buy some totes to do that. And I need to check all of the flashlight batteries and make sure we have enough water stored away. As I mentioned in a recent post, the 10th anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake just passed. And the big earthquakes in the past few weeks in New Zealand, China and Japan are finally nudging me to get this done.

And really we should always be prepared for any kind of emergency, right? Are you prepared?

3 days 3 ways
Are you ready?

March came in like a Lion

On March 2nd, we had a big wind storm blow in. It was early in the day (much better than the ones that come up at night). I was downstairs catching up on some tv shows ("Glee" and "Survivor") when I heard a huge clatter and bang. I ran up to check on my patio furniture (the wind storms have blown my table across the deck in the past and knocked over the chairs). The table was moved a bit, the umbrella shifted as well as the grill. I couldn't figure out what had made that big clatter but all looked ok out there so back downstairs I went to finish my shows.

When I was done, I headed up to have a shower and I saw a long line of wet on the carpet:

Shoot! My skylight was leaking from all the rain! I looked up to see if I could figure out where it was leaking and saw...


What?! No SKYLIGHT! I was staring right out at a bright sky (we were between showers at the moment). OMG, my skylight was gone! I ran back downstairs and out through the garage to see if I could find the skylight. It was in the front garden.



I guess it must have slid right down the roof and feel into the garden. It fell so hard that it flipped over that round paver under it. But, it did not break! There are plenty of scratches on the glass but I could not believe it had not broken.

Then I wondered how the hell I was going to get it back up where it belonged!

I kept trying to call Stephen but he was incommunicado. I called my friend, who is a realtor, and cried WHO DO I CALL?! She calmed me down and told me to call the contractor who had been doing work around the house for us. I did call him but he wasn't going to be available for hours. It wasn't raining at the moment and the sun was even starting to peek out so maybe I'd be ok until 2pm??

Then a car pulled up and my friend's husband got out. He had a ladder strapped to the roof of his car and a blue tarp. He climbed up on the roof and strapped the blue tarp over the whole in my roof! Hurray! And just in time because the skies were getting dark again.


Then he drove away. I picked up the phone to call my friend to thank her for sending her husband over and as I was dialing, it started to hail and I was so thankful that the blue tarp was up there! Then a huge whoof and the tarp blew away as I heard my friend answered the phone. I stood there dumbfounded as it started to hail in my house. OMG - it was hailing in my house! The hail lasted close to 10 minutes. Then the sky turned blue and up drove my friend's husband again. He climbed back up on the roof and tied the blue tarp on more securely.


This time, the blue tarp stayed on until the contractor arrived, even though the wind and rain started yet again.

The contractor arrived, installed the skylight and secured our other 3 skylights. Turns out when the house was re-roofed (not long before we moved in), the roofers did not secure the skylights when they reinstalled them. I guess we were lucky that it hadn't happened before and that the skylight did not actually break.

We had another storm today. Not nearly as windy but just as rainy. I was glad to know that the skylights were not going anywhere!

Tomorrow makes the 10th anniversary of the Nisqually Earthquake here in Washington State. It was the first earthquake that I ever felt and it was pretty big - 6.8 and lasted nearly 45 seconds.

It was late in the morning and I was still in my jammies. Jax was playing quietly nearby (I was reading my forums) and Dex was asleep on the couch. I heard a rumbling and thought it was a loud truck going by. The house started to shake too and I thought that it must be a really LARGE truck. Then I looked across the family room into the kitchen and I could see the house rolling and it clicked - EARTHQUAKE! I picked Jax up and ran under a doorway. I clearly wasn't thinking correctly because I left Dex sleeping on the couch! OMG! What kind of mother does that?!

When the house stopped rolling (it seemed to last forever but it was just about 45 seconds), I rushed back to Dex who did not even stir. Nevertheless, I picked him up and I was shaking a bit. For some reason I could not make calls but could take calls coming in. Stephen called to see if we were ok. He was pretty shaken up because he was in a taller building at work and could really feel the building sway.

There was no damage to our house or belongings with the exception that the top row of my PEZ collection fell down! Several others "danced around" and were facing the wrong direction. I am sure it wasn't worse because the cabinet was strapped to the wall.

Anyway, I have felt just one small one since that first BIG one but I did not realize it was an earthquake - I just thought the washing machine was too full and was shaking the house. I hope we don't have any others anytime soon. I look at the destruction of Christchurch in New Zealand with 145 dead and still a couple of hundred people missing, and I think about how lucky we were that the Nisqually Earthquake was deep in the ground (about 32 miles!) as it did not cause nearly the kind of damage that one at a much shallower depth would cause. And just to say, there definitely was some damage (google Nisqually earthquake images) but no casualties and not many injuries. We were so lucky.

So Happy Anniversary Nisqually Quake. Hope we never have to celebrate the anniversary a new quake.
Here's a photo of road damage (approximately 2.25 miles from me as the crow flies)

I worked in the health room at the school again today. I always get a kick out of the kids who come in there. Today we had 4 "head injuries" (kids bumped heads at recess), two kids with muddy clothes from falling in the snow at recess as well as a couple of belly aches.

One of the boys with a "head injury" insisted in lying on the bed with an ice pack on his head. Whenever I would turn my back to him, he'd let out a loud moan and would look away quickly when I turned back to him. I was concerned at first that he was really hurt until I spoke to his mom (protocol to call all parents when kids have hit any part of their head). She said with a heavy sigh that he had at least one "head injury" a month last year and it looked like this year he was on target for repeating that feat. He wasn't too keen on returning to class until the school secretary came in and sent him back. She told me jokingly that I needed to toughen up and send the kids back to class. I can't do it!

I have enjoyed volunteering in the health room this year. Some of the kids are so funny and some are a little sad. We see "frequent fliers" and some kids trying to be so tough when they are clearly hurt. I give clean clothes to kids who have fallen in the mud or peed their pants. They get a little pat on the shoulder with their bandaids and it is amazing how much better these kids can feel with an ice pack wrapped in a paper towel.

And when some of the 5th and 6th grade girls come in with stomach aches, I feel for them because I think some of them are probably experiencing their first menstrual cramps. I love the brave little boys who come in with blood streaming from their knees saying that "it doesn't even hurt!" while they wait patiently for me to put on my blue nitrile gloves (they finally replaced the latex gloves when I told them I had a sensitivity and wouldn't be able to continue to volunteer unless the blue gloves returned).

Anyway, I am only in their 2 days a month and it is a pretty easy volunteer gig. And much more interesting that photocopying (but not as fun as teaching Art Start). I am looking forward to my next shift.

Cars' teacher told me today that all of the girls are all ga-ga over him in class. She said that the hasn't done anything to encourage it but all of the girls fawn over him. Cars frequently gets chosen to help out the star of the day if it is a girl. He has been bringing home drawings that one girl at his table group has been making for him. Another girl just cannot wait to say HI to me when I come in the room then tell me all about what Cars has been up to.

He, I think, is oblivious to it. Well, oblivious to the fact that they are girls. Besides, he only has eyes for one girl - T. She was in his class last year and he is always telling me about what she did at recess. The other day he was eating an apple and was trying to get the little stem off. I told him he needed to hang on to it and twist it around and for every turn, you say A-B-C and whatever letter you are at when it pops off will be the first initial of the girl you will marry. When it popped off at D he told me that it should have been a T (!).

I'd better watch out for my son, the lady's man!

My family and I were approved today as "trusted travelers" so we will get NEXUS passes that will allow us in the super-fast no waiting lines at the border when we drive to Vancouver. Hurray! We still need to go to the Vancouver Airport (or Toronto next time we are there) to get the iris scanning done in order to use the NEXUS pass at Canadian airports. It will save us so much time when we travel to/from Toronto too! And it was only $50 for 5 years. Both Stephen and I had to pay the fee but it is free for kids aged 18 and under.

I almost want to drive up to Canada this weekend just to use it! And maybe we could consider day trips (well, still 3 hours driving each way but no wait at border will make it doable).

DH and I decided to upgrade a few things around the house. We had a builder-installed brass chandelier in the dining room (and matching pendant in the front hall) so we splurged and bought a new chandelier and pendant light. I was so delighted with them! The chandelier is much BIGGER and looks great! Plus the lights are halogen so really nice clean light (sorry, but I hate fluorescent lights!).

After we installed the chandelier I noticed that the dimmer switch would get HOT. In the past with the old light, I noticed it would get warm but this was HOT. I even brought over our instant read digital thermometer and the dimmer switch (which is metal), and it read 97 degrees!! Ouch!

So I looked online and after reassuring myself that my house was not going to burn down immediately, I realized that our light switch is probably a standard 600W while our chandelier is a 900W. Oops! Who knew? Anyway, we have ordered, through a contractor, a new light switch that he will install next week when it comes in.

The contractor has also installed 3 new bathroom sinks (the 4th will be installed next week), 3 new faucets, repaired our leaking shower, installed an electrical outlet outside the bathroom door (so we can use a night light and NOT keep the bathroom light on all.night.long). He is going to install a new kitchen sink and faucet as soon as the sink gets here (just ordered it - a Kohler Langlade "Smart Divide" in Caviar). He also installed a new security light at the side of the house which will make taking the garbage out much easier (it was PITCH black out there as neither the backdoor light nor the garage light reached the side of the house). He also ran the wire so we can install an overhead light in our bedroom. I am having a hard time finding exactly what I want though so he just had to cap off the box he installed and Stephen can install the light once we get it.

Now that we've started here there are so many more things that I would like to do. Long term (i.e. expen$ive) list and short term. Long term I'd love to install a gas fireplace insert in the living room, get a gas stove top (currently have a ceramic/glass one), hardwood floors in dining room, and the list goes on. Short term, I'd like to stain the deck and porch(in the summer), fix the lattice work around the deck (got broken digging for septic tank), and sew some new curtains for my kitchen.

If we keep at it all, we'll have a brand new house!

Mid-winter blues

I have found myself being pulled down into the darkness that comes with winters here - grey, overcast days. We have had the occasional day of sunshine which has been nice but overall, the weather is wet and it makes it hard to want to go out. As much as I am loathe to say it, at this point I would prefer to have some colder days with snow on the ground because at least the sun might shine a little more often. And really, I don't hate the snow as much as I proclaim. I just hate that our region is so ill-equipped to deal with it and everything comes to a screeching halt. When we were in Minnesota in November, there was a significant snowfall the night we arrived and through the next day. However, the day after that the main roads were bare and the side streets were very nicely plowed. I know it is unreasonable to expect that here due to the infrequency of major snowfalls, but it would make life easier.

I haven't been exercising as often as I should be and I have been carb-loading for no other reason than that carbs taste good! I had pasta last night with a butter/ sauteed onions/garlic sauce on it and it was so good. I was sad when it was all gone. And I have eaten at least one (Thomas Thin) bagel with cream cheese almost everyday for the past 2 weeks. With some cucumber slices - heaven! Carbs totally make me bloat, make me fat and make me lethargic (and are probably why I haven't felt like exercising). I need to eat some food that will energize me!

Well, time to take my Vitamin D and get on with my day. I might even make it to the gym today.

Besides voting in November, I did my first ACTIVE political move today. I have sent rote emails to political candidates before but today I called Rep. Dave Reichert's office. I called to let him know that I did not want him to vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Of course, as a Republican, he will vote for it but I felt that I had to let him know (well, his office) that I didn't want him to do that.

We'll see what happens. I honestly believe that universal healthcare creates a strong, healthy society which makes for a great society.

What's this all aboot?

My kids were making fun of my Canadian accent today. I barely have one left but there are certain words that my kids say I say "wrong". One is "Sorry" and the other is "Mom". Now, I pronounce Sorry the right way - Sore-eee instead of Saw-ree. Or Sow-ree. Either way it is WRONG.

And while I do write "Mom", I pronounce it "Mum" (as do virtually ALL Canadians) but my kids say MOM. It does irk me a bit and I have often, over the years, told them they are saying it wrong.

Of course there is also the ZED vs ZEE. I will admit that I have virtually Americanized myself into saying ZEE but it was only after Jax corrected me for the umpteenth time a couple of years ago that I finally conceded and decided to say ZEE. I do usually have to think about it though so when spelling things, I pause when I get to ZED...ZEE!

Anyway, the kids had a good laugh at me tonight. I told them that they would be made fun of if they moved to Canada for their accents (which really are not "bad" since they have grown up out here which is virtually accent-free). My nieces have a blend of southern (4 years in Florida) and midwestern (6 years in Illinois and 5 years in Minnesota/Wisconsin/Iowa) and sometimes it hurts my ears (sorry girls). Fortunately, their accents are just slight. Whew!

Cars redeemed himself and was able to earn back 2 of his evenings (he still went to bed right after dinner tonight).

Bad dentist appointment for him today too - 4 cavities! Yikes! They are all between his teeth and thankfully all are baby teeth. He has a bad gag reflex so I cannot floss for him (my fingers make him gag). I bought him flossers and he told me that he was using them but apparently not. And bad mom that I am, I do not supervise his tooth brushing. (he pushes so hard to be treated like his older brothers that sometimes it is just easier to do that and then things like this happen) :\ Anyway, it was an ordeal to get the x-rays today (took over 20 minutes) because he kept gagging on the bite-wing (are they still called that even though they don't look like that anymore and they are digital x-rays?).

So to get his teeth filled, they are going to have him take some nitrous oxide. I have never had it (I think because of the expense - it not covered by insurance). I also asked that he has his work done by the more experienced dentist. The other one who works there is nice enough but I think she is a little impatient with children. It was a little awkward to ask for Dr. N only and the receptionist said (a little too loud IMO), "DO YOU WANT ME TO FLAG IT SO YOU SEE DR. N ONLY?" I thought for sure that Dr. S was going to be walking around the corner to find out who the receptionist was talking to! Ack! Anyway, I said it was just for any restorative work for the kids that I want Dr. N. So we have to wait a month to get in to see her but that's ok.

In the meantime, Cars now gets a flossing supervisor every evening.

Where are the earplugs?

Cars is upstairs wailing away "Waaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Waaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" because I sent him to bed 30 minutes ago. He had had a fit when I told him it was shower time. He said "But *I* want to go last" (Jax was just getting out). I told him that he did not have that option tonight and he immediately threw himself down on the floor and said NO! Geez, is he like 2?! (he is in fact 7). He refused to get up so now for the next three nights he will go to bed right after dinner. And, he will go to school stinky tomorrow because he did not have a shower.

Cars the stubborn streak in him is admirable because he does not easily cave to pressure from his older brothers. However, the stubbornness is sometimes too much and the word compromise is not in his vocabulary. It is so frustrating when he digs his heels in, especially when it is over something like this - refusing to go for a shower so he ends up in bed with the lights off at 7:15pm.

Hoping he falls asleep very soon so the wailing will stop. And I hope that he learns a lesson from this.

Happy New Year!

Twenty-eleven (or two thousand and eleven) is here! We rang in the New Year with fireworks and Rock Band and perhaps one too many Cosmos (Ash pours with a heavy hand).

I have some new goals for this year:

1) De-clutter house and pare down belongings (I won't say we have "too much stuff" as that is Stephen's mantra, but I will say that I do have a lot of things that I am hanging onto for sentimental reasons and I think I can let them go. I did that quite a few months ago with a huge rubbermaid tub of sweaters - many of which were over 20 years old. It was fun reminiscing about all of these jewel-toned angora sweaters, where I wore them, when I bought them, etc but I really did not see myself ever wearing them again so off they went.
2) Exercise! I haven't exercised at the gym regularly in a long time. Much of it had to do with the shoulder pain I had. PT has helped immensely but I wonder if the chronic ache is just something that I will have to live with as I really do not want to be on anti-inflammatory indefinitely. Anyway, as part of this goal is to train for the Rock'n'Roll 1/2 Marathon in June. I am doing the walk/run portion so no plans to have to run the whole 13 miles. Wish me luck!
3) Read. It seems that I barely read any books this year outside of book club books. I do read a lot (I am a news junkie and am constantly reading/viewing MSNBC, CNN, The Star, King5, as well as sites like Huffington Post and Gawker.com. However, these do not seem to be measurable reads. I guess I really should take them into consideration when I think about how much I have read throughout the year.
4) Dinner! With hockey practices 4 nights a week, we have severely slacked in the meal planning/preparation in this house. I think because a lot of the things I make are not make-ahead-type meals that can easily be reheated, it has made it difficult to feed the family short of going to Subway two nights/week. I have a few recipes ready to go so we'll see how this works out. Mostly I am worried about Cars ending up eating cheese sandwiches since he is so picky. And Stephen gets soooo irritated that Cars will not try new things. This will be a challenging goal.

I think those are about all of my goals. I still am thinking about working but less so since I am keeping very busy volunteering at the school. Maybe next fall?

It is just before 11pm on Christmas eve. I am taking a break from wrapping. Merry Christmas to all of my blogsphere friends. I appreciate the few readers and even fewer commenters (commentors?) I have.

Peace on Earth.

Pez

Today is the first day of Christmas vacation, well, "Winter Break" for the kids. I spent the morning baking (and burning) sugar cookies. We'll ice them later. I was planning to make the dough for shortbread cookies next but I am procrastinating.

I am not really in the holiday mood at all. I have left things for what seems like the last minute and am feeling a little overwhelmed. I have a couple of people to buy for still and I have NO idea what to get for them. Aargh. I think I just need to put some Christmas music on and wrap the gifts and that will help.

I have also been eating like there is no tomorrow and have gained a few pounds but what is worse is that I am blubbery! I look (and feel) horrible. Need to fix that stat!

Ok, off to find the shortbread recipe. It is something like a pound of butter and five cups of sugar and five cups of flour. Very healthy.

Pez's Book List

I read a pathetic number of books this year. Ugh!

Pez's 2010 Book List


1. The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
2. The Associate, John Grisham
3. Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro
4. The Murderer’s Daughters, Randy Susan Meyer
5. The Gatecrasher, Madeline Wickham
6. Blonde Roots, Bernadine Evaristo
7. Prior Bad Act, Tami Hoag
8. The White Queen, Phillipa Gregory
9. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
10. Breakfast with Budda, Roland Merullo
11. Chasing Harry Winston, Lauren Weisberger
12. The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein
13. Jane Austen Ruined My Life, Beth Pattillo
14. Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Stout
15. See Jane Run, Joy Fielding
16. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
17. The Home for Broken Hearts, Rowan Coleman
18. Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton

I am sitting in a cold arena while Jax is at a power skating class before his regular practice. Yippee for me - I get to spend 2+ hours here tonight. And I have both Dex and Cars with me while Stephen gets to go out for a fancy dinner tonight with his manager (his manager is taking all of his direct reports out). The kids and I had Subway.

I am slowly getting ready for Christmas. I have mailed most of my gifts out that need to be sent. Fortunately we will be going to B.C. after Christmas so I can take up my brother and my niece's gifts then (what's a few days late, right?). I have written about 2/3 of the Christmas cards that I had planned to send out but I am thinking of stopping the rest. I wrote them all for the family, extended family, close friends and I think I might just stop there. Sorry, Dear Reader, if you are one of the ones whom I do not send one out to.

Part of the Bah-humbug is that I bought some really pretty cards at Co$tco that say "Peace on Earth" (which is what virtually ever single card that I have sent out for the past 17 years say). They are the kind where you add a photo so I chose a good photo of the boys and printed off some copies to put in them. They are substantial and I thought they looked great. However, in my mom's and my in-laws, (and one of my aunts and one of Stephen's aunt's, etc), I put in a couple of extra photos that I thought they would like and the envelope seemed a little heavy so I had to have it weighed at the post office. They were over 2 ounces! First class postage (up to one ounce) to Canada is $0.75. These suckers cost me $2 and UP! The ones with one additional photo cost $1.00. The weight without an extra photos was exactly 1 ounce (not counting labels and stamps!). I am now concerned that the 40+ of those ones will come back to me stamped INSUFFICIENT POSTAGE. I did also have some pretty cards that were not quite as heavy so I ended up using those too and I am good with the postage on them.

We bought our Christmas tree at Co$tco too. We had such great luck with one last year so we thought we'd do it again. For $39.99 we got a 8'8" tree that is over 9' tall with the spire topper. The lights were tricky to get on because we had to use a 6' ladder and the ladder step stool. Then the kids and I put up all of the decorations and tinsel and it looks fantastic! However, we completely forgot to saw off a bit on the end and it is not sucking up any water! Dex was in charge of watering it the first couple of days and failed to tell us that it needed virtually no additional water. I am now afraid to turn the lights on and I hope it lasts until Christmas!

I haven't done any Christmas baking either. Jax has asked for sugar cookies and of course Stephen will make Nanaimo bars and caramel corn. Stephen and Jax also gobbled up the Christmas cake from my mom so I had her send me the recipe and I might make more. I also want to make shortbread cookies (although my sugar cookies have nearly as much butter and sugar that they are almost like shortbread).

Anyway, tomorrow I am teaching Art in Dex's class (we'll make 3D Snowflakes. I made them in Jax's class last year and it was...interesting. Some of the kids were really into it and some HATED it. We'll see how this class does. These kids are also a year younger so not yet smug tweens.

Dex told me yesterday that he was "all better" and didn't need to go to counseling anymore. I told him to talk to his therapist about it so he did bring it up at his appointment last night. It was decided that for the next few weeks he will go every other week and then in mid-January we'll decide if he needs to keep going. He is doing really, really well. He hasn't fallen apart in many, many weeks. Stephen is a bit concerned about how baseball season will be. We've even thought about not registering him this year and finding another sport that might suit him better. The problem is that he really likes baseball even though he, quite frankly, sucks at it.

Actually, he doesn't suck. He did last year because he was so anxious and worried about striking out that he would strike out (would strike out staring at the ball, not even swinging). And again iin the field. You could see the terror in his eyes when the ball came to him - he was so scared that he would drop the ball that he would. It was so heartbreaking and so painful to watch. Anyway, registration ends this weekend so we'll have to make a decision by Sunday night.

I must stay away from Starbucks Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate - OMG they are so good but a billion calories. I have had three of them in less than two weeks. Well, four if you count the one that I tried to make at home (was not good).

I heard that Weight Watchers was kicking off a new program right after Thanksgiving. I should probably look into it. Actually, I just need to get back to the gym. I haven't been since the end of September. My shoulders are so bad that it was nearly impossible for me to do the circuit training class. I am now taking anti-inflammatory medication and going to PT to try to fix my shoulder problems (there are two - thoracic outlet syndrome and tendinitis / bursitis). I am so old! Wah!

I am watching "The Oprah Show". It is the final "Favorite Things" episode. I thought I would be envious of all of the things that she is giving out but really I am just so excited for all of these people! How cool would that be to be there.

I spent much of today thinking that it was tomorrow which has thrown me completely off.

I did have a big to-do list today which included running many errands. The first was to the car dealership to have a recall installed in my vehicle. The recall was actually just software but very important software called Smart Stop technology so my car will stop in the event of SUA when I frantically depress the brake. Ok, my car will NOT experience SUA as Toyota claims it is always driver error but just in case, I get this updated software to my car. Anyway, before I went I was told it would take 30 minutes to install. One hour and forty minutes later I was still waiting because they had problems with three different computers when trying to install it in my vehicle. This did not make me overly confident. Anyway, the forth time was the charm apparently and nearly two hours after I arrived, I drove away in my now safer car. I wanted to depress the gas and brake at the same time to ensure that the software worked but I was afraid so I didn't.

Anyway, so I had budgeted 45 minutes for the 30 minute install which took nearly 2 hours. So I had to scratch a few things off my list but I still wanted to go to Co$tco. I went to the one that I do not normally go to and it is all screwed up! The aisles are not the same as the aisles as *my* Co$tco. Although, it might be my Co$tco that is screwed up because this one I went to is virtually identically set up to the one we visit in Richmond, BC when we go to Vancouver... Anyway, I could not find the items I needed and I was in a time crunch so I left without frozen waffles and a massive jar of kalamata olives.

I rushed home, (oh but not before I dropped off our boogie boards to my friend who heads to Hawaii tomorrow - I would say I am jealous but that would be an understatement) threw a few things away then rushed off to a guitar lesson which ended just as the elementary school let out. My kids do not take the bus home on Wednesdays so I rushed to pick them up at the park then back home to put the rest of the groceries away, help with homework then off to Dex's guitar lesson (a double lesson at a non-regular time) then off to Subway for dinner (I rock as a mom) and then to Jax's hockey practice.

Big breath.

Now it is 10 pm, Jax is still up doing homework. Stephen is still at work and I do still have a few things from Co$tco which need to be put away. And today is still Wednesday, not Thursday.

I spent the day at the school today, volunteering for the Vision and Hearing screening. It was so cute to see the little kindergartners come in and try to make an E with their fingers to point it the right way. Wow - is it really just two years since Cars was that little?? I guess there is a huge difference between 5 and 7 years of age.

One of the other volunteer moms mentioned that some 5th grade boy was staring at her face and she asked him why and he said "I am trying to figure out if you have had plastic surgery". When she told this story everyone was surprised but I was silently horrified. I had told Spy recently that I thought this mom had had Botox in her forehead and around her eyes and I was scared that perhaps Dex had overheard me and it was him who had said that to her. However, I realized that it had not been him and then I figured that I am not the only one who has noticed the changes in her and perhaps the mom of that other 5th grader had said something in front of him about it. The change in her look is pretty dramatic. Doesn't take perfect vision to notice.

On Friday, I went to Nordstrom's to check out their Women's and Children's sale. I found a couple of sweaters that I liked so I bought them. They were both less than $50 so I thought they were a great deal! I was so happy with them until I tried them on for Stephen.

I put the first one on - it was blue and was a little flowy. He told me that I looked "frumpy" in it. So I took it off and put it back in the bag to return. I tried on the second one which I thought looked so nice on me in the store. Stephen looked at me and said "Are you *trying* to look 65"? So, that went back in the bag too and I took them back to Nordstrom's tonight. At least returning them was easy enough. They ask "Is there anything wrong with them or did they just not work for you"? Glad I did not have to tell them I was returning them because my husband thinks I look frumpy.

Stephen has taken Cars to his hockey game this morning. I stayed home with Dex and Jax so that they could sleep in. Dex had a sleepover with Cam the other night and he has been moody and whiny since. Jax loves sleeping in whenever he can because he gets up every morning during the week at 6:15am.

It is strange to have Jax sleep in though because he was my one kid who fought sleep every night and woke up about 5:45 every.single.morning until he was about 7 years old (then he started getting up about 6:30 every.single.morning). One thing though, he will be up by 9 at the latest. I wonder if he will ever be the kind of teen who'd sleep until noon if we let him.

My Wizard Friends

* * * Possible Spoiler Alert re: HP7 * * *

I just finished re-reading "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". I am very excited about the movie coming out on the 19th. I will take Jax with me. Dex will be going to see it in early December at a birthday party he has been invited to. Cars would prefer to see it on DVD so he can fast-forward past any scary parts. Stephen has no desire to see it at all.

I am not ashamed to admit that I cried while reading the book (both times). But(spoiler alert!) I did not cry at first when I read that Fred had died. I cried for Neville's bravery the most. I was so proud of him. Remember what a poor, fumbling boy he was at the beginning of this whole journey?

JK Rowling is a brilliant writer. I love that things introduced many books before re-enter in subsequent books and it is not as though it was contrived or added as an afterthought. Just brilliant story-telling. I love that the hero is flawed. I love that he acts completely like a teenager when he is one. Harry is not really wise beyond his years although he has been through a lot. I like him and I am happy to know him. In fact, I almost consider him a friend. Most of the characters actually. I like Hermione's brains and her determination. I like Ron's goofiness and that he is almost an accidental hero because he is Harry's bff. I love Mrs. Weasley ("Not my daughter, you BITCH!") and Bellatrix LeStrange's cruel streak. And I love how Dudley told Harry that he didn't think he was a waste of space (another tearful moment for me). And I love Snape. Oh, how I did hate him after he killed Dumbledore (anyone but Snape!) but it was all resolved in the end, my heart ached so much for him. However, despite it all, I do think it was a stretch that Harry named his son after Severus. Really?

Anyway, these characters...no, friends, will always stay with me. I have gotten to know them so very well over the past decade and will miss them. I am glad that I will be able to visit them whenever I like, though. Just by reaching out to my bookshelf.

As I put the dusk jacket back on my book and placed my book back on the bookshelf, I chuckled as I saw that my hardback copy of HP7 was nearly as thick as my collection of the first three in paperback. I am glad that they have split the 7th book into two movies. I just wish that I did not have to wait so long for the final installment.

I have done a good job of not volunteering in the past couple of weeks. While I have agreed to work all day next week at the Hearing/Vision clinic, I waited two days when the call came out for production (photocopying) work and by then the calendar was already filled. :) I am teaching Art Start next week in both Dex and Cars' classes but it is easy work and something that I really enjoy doing.

I was cleaning out my email inbox and deleted several notes in regards to the school's walk-a-thon that took place last month. It was a great success but I know that I do not want to be a part of it next year. Please help me remember that in May when they start recruiting.

Jax and Cars had their hockey pictures done yesterday. The package we chose included "trading cards" which list the player's stats (age, height, etc). I wasn't sure how tall the kids were so I measured them. Cars is 4'5". Wow! And Jax? He is 5'5"! I am 5'6". I realized on Halloween it seemed that I was looking UP to him when I was chewing him out for running ahead and leaving Dex behind but I thought it was just the hat he had on that made him appear taller. He has grown slightly over 2 inches since July! I just measured Dex and he is 4'11".

I found a website that shows the growth percentiles for children (http://www.nutropin.com/tools-resources/evaluation/growth-percentile.jsp). (FYI, it is a website for a growth hormone for kids). Anyway, it shows Dex and Jax to be in the 90-95th percentiles for their age and Cars is off the charts!

I was walking been some teenagers in Safeway the other day and these boys where HUGE! All three of them well over 6 feet tall. Made me wonder if that will be my kids too. Stephen is 6 feet but youngest brother is 6'4". I guess if the chart is any indication, they will be all be at least 6' tall.

Stephen bought Kinect for the boys today. It is way more fun than I thought it would be. The boys got sweating "running" around playing so I am happy to let them play more video games. :)

One year ago today, my friend Shelly passed away. She died suddenly and it was quite a shock to read about her death on her facebook page (her son had written it).

Anyway, to honour her and her love for The Beatles and Disneyland, a number of us got together and purchased a pave way stone at Disneyland and had it inscribed. Memorial stones are not allowed - you are only to commemorate your visit to Disneyland really so it took a while to convince Disney folks that Shelly's last name really was Love.

Our very crappy Bummer Summer seems to have suddenly decided to arrive today, only 4 and a half months late. It was 75 degrees and sunny today! We broken records for hottest November 3rd on record as well as hottest November day ever.

The afternoon was quite breezy but the incredible thing was that the breeze was warm, like a Chinook. The dry leaves on the ground were rolling like waves across the park today. Some of the trees were dropping leaves like rain in the wind too. It was a glorious day!

My mom is settled nicely into her apartment and so relived to no longer be a homeowner. She said everyone in her building is so nice. There is a walkway between her building and the next that leads to a beautiful park with many architectural features/sculptures. Now that the trees have lost their leaves, she has a beautiful view of Lake Ontario, too.

I am sorry that I did not get to see her apartment while I was there but we'll probably go for a visit next summer so I can see it then. She keeps saying that there is room for us to stay with her (um, no, you live in a 1 bedroom apartment!!) but it is nice of her to offer.

And in a weird twist, Stephen's cousin (whom he has not spoken to in about 20 years) lives directly across the hall from my mom.

November again

Three years ago this weekend, we moved into our new home. We are just 3/10 of a mile from our old house (straight down the street and turn left).

One thing that was a change for us at this house is that we are on a septic system. As a result, I stopped using a garborator (garbage disposal) because I read that it fills up the septic tank quickly.

So now it is time to get our septic tank pumped and wow, what an ordeal. So far I have dug a 3'x2'x2'deep hole in my garden. I managed to locate one lid (I vaguely remembered where the garden was dug up when we came for the inspection) but apparently there are two that need to be uncovered. I have no idea where any of the paperwork that we received when we bought the house is (I have searched in the past and haven't found it). Anyway, the septic guy is coming on Friday so if I manage to find it before then I hope to have it dug up and if not, I will be paying him $90/hour to do it. Aargh!

BTW, Stephen will have nothing to do with the digging and he is happy to pay the guy the money rather than dig out there. I am thinking if that's the case, I will take the $$ that I save by digging myself and treat myself to a new purse... Or, spend that money and install risers on the septic tank so we never have to dig again.

Volunteers Anonymous

Last school year, Ash gave me this magnet and we laughed and joked about it. This year, I should have looked at it again. I have over committed myself and I am mad at myself! Aargh!

I am teaching Art in Dex and Cars' classes. I am also doing production work (photocopying/laminating) twice a month for the school (any teacher), I am co-room mom in Cars' class (think party planning), I have volunteered for the health room (applying bandaids and ice packs when kids get hurt during recess or at lunch), I did work on the walkathon which is over for the year, I have volunteered to help with the vision/hearing screening as well as provide food for luncheons for teachers at both the elementary school and junior high. On top of that, I have volunteered to sub in Dex's religion class because the teacher is in the hospital. WTF am I thinking? What about time for me to work out, clean my house, grocery shop?? Aargh!

Please, someone stop me before I volunteer again!

I went to Toronto for four days this past week. My mom sold her house and she is moving to an apartment. I went to help her pack, to go through three boxes of things that I still had there and also to say good-bye to the house and the street and the neighbourhood.

My mom had done much of the packing already. Her biggest chore was going through keepsakes that my dad had received during his 30+ year career as a politician. Tons of plaques and certificates and photos honouring him or commemorating some event. My mom found it hard to throw away photos of my dad, even if it were a photo of him standing beside a delegation of Greek officials in Scarborough's sister city in Greece. Or with some community leaders at an Art Night or at the opening of a new factory or warehouse or whatever. Apparently she has a whole Rubbermaid tote box filled with these types of photos in storage now that "you kids can deal with when I'm gone". She did take them all out of the frames and dropped the frames off at the Value Village near her home.

My mom told me that there were three boxes of things that I had to go through before she moved. When I got "home" though, there were actually 4 (five if you count a small box that had gift in it). The first box held my collection of music boxes. I had collected them as a teen and young adult. I am not even certain how many there were altogether - probably 20. I carefully unwrapped each one, wound it up and listened to them before I wrapped them back up and returned them to the box to be dropped off at Value Village. Some I had almost no memory of receiving or buying but others brought back the memories of the giver or the occasion in which they were received. Some of the music boxes were so pretty sounding (while others were not) and some looked lovely and some were down-right creepy (a stuffed clown with a music box in him - ~shudder~). I chose four small ones to keep. Well, two for me (they were the prettiest sounding) and two for my two nieces who live in the Toronto-area. I told my mom we'd drop the rest off at Value Village and she was horrified! "But they are your music boxes!" I know but I was not going to lug them home and Stephen did not want them in our house and besides, there is no place in my home to display them. "Fine", she said "I'll keep them!". What?? We actually argued over those music boxes. Boxes that were not hers, that she insisted I deal with yet when I did, she decided that she had better plans for them (to be kept in her storage unit until she dies and I have to deal with them yet again).

*sigh*

Another of the boxes held some gifts, a few of which were wedding gifts (oops!). Some crystal candle holders, a crystal vase, a crystal candy dish, a serving dish what was silver-plated, a thermos coffee server and a few other items including a gorgeous crystal basket that weighed a ton! I did not keep any of those things - again, I decided to take them to Value Village and my mother would not hear of it! In the end, she kept the coffee server and crystal basket, we gave the candy dish to one of her neighbours and Ramona took the rest to sell at a garage sale in the spring. For some reason, that was less offensive to my mom (selling them at the garage sale) than taking them to Value Village. In fact, my mom was so delighted that Ramona was going to take them that my mom quickly donated many other boxes of items to Ramona's garage sale that her car was packed to the gills when she left my mom's house!

The third box was labeled "Stephen's Life" and it was photos albums and high school yearbooks, awards, keepsakes, books and framed "art". My mom and I spent a couple of hours each peeling the old photos and news clippings out of the albums. I took pictures of Stephen from his yearbook (I wish my mom had a scanner) and we dropped off the empty albums and the rest of them items to Value Village.

There was a fourth box that held *my* grade 9 yearbook; that I brought home; two diaries and my high school diploma as well as some other books. I had a blast this week reading through the diaries. I am a tad bit embarrassed at how dramatic I was (always "so depressed" when boys did not call or like me or whatever). I am horrified at the lack of caring about school (I never did my homework or studied for tests - showed in my grades) because I was busting my hump working at BiWay (a discount store) umpteen hours each week. I would never let my kid work so many hours during the school year! I was making $2.40/hour (it paid more than McDonald's where Ramona and Leah Ann worked for $2.15/hour) and I worked from 5-11 2-3 evenings each week and all day on Saturdays (back then, there was no Sunday shopping). I did not have time for homework or studying! No wonder I did no do it.

Anyway, one of the funniest things in the diary was back in '81, my mom and my aunt went out bought themselves some jeans. My cousin was horrified that women "their age" would wear jeans. My mom was the age I am now! And I wear nothing BUT jeans. Funny how times (and ones perspective) change.

I am happy for my mom that she is moving but sad to say goodbye to that house. It was our home and only our home (my parents were the original owners and they moved there in November 1958). I hope that my mom will be happy in the apartment that she is moving into. It is only 5km from my her old house, a little closer to my aunt's house, close to a little plaza with a grocery store, banks, cafe, and some other little shops. Close to a bus line if she decides she does not want to drive. Right on Lake Ontario so she can stroll along the bluffs and (if she lived on a higher floor), could look out over the lake.

Not going "home" to see Mom will be strange. I mean Toronto, no, Scarborough, will always be "home" but the house was "home" too. All that familiarity and memories inside of things and people that made me who I am. I will miss that.

Eeek!

I hate this time of year with all of the gargantuan spiders around. The bigger ones that get fat and meaty disgust and scare me. If they are outside and I can avoid them, I am ok with them (like this one) but when they are inside the house I hate it! We've had several very large spiders in the house so far this fall. Usually Stephen is around to get them for me but the other day, Dex and I came home from his appointment and there was one, in the hallway, blocking my way into the family room from the laundry room. I didn't know what to do! If I left it for Stephen (who wouldn't be home for another 30 minutes, the spider might disappear...or worse!). And I didn't think I was brave enough to try to kill it myself (what if it turned on me or got away?!).

Dex is as afraid of spiders as I am so he just stood in the laundry room, staring at the beast and paralyzed with fear. I knew then I had to be brave. I leapt over the monstrosity and ran up the stairs to find the fly swatter. My hands were shaking and the adrenaline racing through my body. I crept back down the stairs and with a shriek, swatted the thing so hard that some of its legs fell off. But it was still moving. I shuddered and swatted again and again and again. Finally, it was dead. I used a half dozen Kleenexes to push it onto the end of the swatter and carried it to the toilet and flushed. Then I had to go back and pick up the legs with the Kleenex. ICK!

Gah, I hate those spiders. Really hate them. And if you doubt me about how big these things are, please check out this video. Be warned...it is scary!

The kids had been asking to get their Halloween costumes so we ventured out to a couple of costume and party stores and found what they wanted:

Dex as Demon of War:

Cars as General Grievous:

Jax as a Roman Soldier


Fortunately, no one wanted to be this one:

(nice to see that the woody is included)

I got Cars in to see a dermatologist about his nose. Well, it was actually a nurse practitioner in a dermatologist's office. Anyway, the mole turned out not to be a mole but some other kind of growth that was ok to leave but ok to take out too. Cars of course wanted to leave it and I wanted it gone so out it came. She cut a bit off with a sharp instrument then used a digger thing to get the rest out. He was yelling "OW OW OW!" then when it was over "Oh, that's wasn't so bad". He is so dramatic at times.

Now I have to call the other dermatologists back and cancel the appointments that I made for the end of November and for mid-December! Or maybe I will keep the one and take it for myself and ask about Botox. Just kidding! I am more interested in Restylane. ;)

Grrr! Cars needs to see a dermatologist and I cannot get him in before December 16th! And that was the third dermatologist that I called. The first said mid-Dec to early Jan so I said no thanks, the second was not taking new patients. The third was the one that the pediatrician was going to first recommend but said that the wait time would be outrageous so she gave me the other two names.

I called the ped's office back and have two more names to call. The office agreed that 3 months was an awfully long time to wait (to look at a suspicious mole). I wonder if she called the doctors themselves if that would expediate things.

Last week was my 17th wedding anniversary. A far cry from last year's crazy anniversary, we went to dinner at a restaurant in downtown Vancouver with our kids. We were in Vancouver for the long weekend to get away, see my brother and buy some hockey equipment and peanut-free snacks for school. Our anniversary fell on a Saturday night which was kind of nice - just like our wedding day.

We went to The Keg reminiscent to our first date back in October 1986 when we also went to a Keg (in Toronto). The dinner was so yummy. Jax ordered off the regular menu (not a kid any longer, I guess) and he got a rack of ribs and ate them all! His dinner was pricier than mine!! Stephen and I imbibed in Keg-sized Caesars which was nice since it is nearly impossible to find a Caesar in any bar or restaurant in the States (at least near us here and definitely not in Minnesota when we lived there...except for at the Holiday Inn Metrodome because the bartender was from Canada).

So, happy anniversary to us.
September 4, 1993

September 4, 2010

Remember Me?

So it has been a while since I last posted. It got a little crazy with the end of summer then the start of school then Labour Day and here we are.

The boys started school on September 1st. Jax started at Jr. High and so far so good. He was very disappointed that he did not get his first choice for electives (Media Production) either this term or next so I have a feeling this is sullying his view of school. However, he is happy that he has a friend in many of his classes. He has met some friends after school (he took the bus home but got off at the stop closest to the store). He won't let me walk him to the bus stop and he does his homework immediately after he gets home. I hope the year continues to go well (and that he gets Media Production next year!!).

Dex likes his teacher. He didn't get the same teacher that Jax has in 5th grade but maybe that is a good thing. He is doing fairly well with his anxiety and depression although his headaches have increased. Poor boy.

Cars loves 2nd grade so far. He has the same teacher that Dex had in 2nd grade. He likes the kids who sit near him and fortunately the kid who knocked his teeth out in May is not in his class. (Oh, just did a quick search and I don't think I posted about it - the afternoon before we were to go to Toronto for my mom's b-day, a kid in Cars' class threw the hanging gym rope (think big knot at the bottom) at Cars' face and knocked out one tooth and knocked two more loose so he had to have emergency extractions at the dentist! So he has been wandering around with his four top front teeth missing. We are lucky that none of his permanent teeth were knocked out/loose).

So, I am looking forward to a good school year for all of the kids. We have a new principal at the school and already there are some positive changes. Hurray!

Summer o'Fun 2010 T-minus 5 days

School starts in 5 business days (one week). Wow, summer went by fast!

Today was the last warm summer day in the forecast before school so we went to the beach. We tried to go to that private beach that we all love but they were closed for an event (probably some dumb Big Software Company department event - the nerve!) so we headed up to another city beach that is nice but the parking sucks! And of course it was packed today but the kids still had a great time. Cars was supposed to pass a swim test before he was allowed to jump off the dock but he was so worried about the swim test that he gave up before he started (plus, he explained, he forgot his goggles). Anyway, about 30 minutes later he just started jumping off the dock and none of the lifeguards were concerned about his swimming because they let him keep jumping.

I ended up with an extra kid for part of the time we were there which was fine because he is a great kid and my kids get along really well with him. I drove him home and then we went home to shower. Afterwards, I took my kids to the skate park while I perused the Farmers' Market. I bought a dozen organic eggs because it seems that none of the Safeway ones are safe at the moment (included in the billion eggs recall). It was hot so after the kids skated for a while we all bought shaved ice and found some shade to sit in to eat it. It was close to 8pm and closing time so we left and went to Safeway to pick up something for dinner.

It was such a fun day. I hope the kids thought so too.

Summer o'Fun 2010 End of days

I have lost track of where we are. That happens when one does not blahg everyday.

Anyway, we went away on vacation last week and had a blast! We stayed in the beach house which was very much a beach house (read nothing fancy about it). It was very clean though and we could not beat the location.

We spent much of our time in the water. Southern California has experienced the coldest summer in like 100 years so the water was pretty chilly so we rented wetsuits so we could stay in the water for more than a few minutes at a time. The kids boogie boarded much of the time and played in the sand. We also hired two surfers and had two surfing lessons. What a load of fun that was! Hard for the adults but super easy for the kids. They put us to shame! I was able to get up twice - and once for more than a fraction of a second.

We also hit Legoland for 1 1/2 days. I am so glad we went this year and did not wait another year because Jax would have just been a little too old to go. It is definitely geared towards younger children but that's ok because they all cleared out around dinner time and so the lines were super short from then until closing.

We went with another family which, for the most part, worked out. The only things I think was a bit of a problem were meal times. We tend to eat more on a schedule and sit down as a family and they don't, or at least did not seem to do so while on vacation. We often would be eating dinner at 7:30 or 8pm (or later) which was a little bothersome to me. But overall it was a great experience and I would not hesitate to go away with them again (and hopefully they feel the same about us).

Now we are gearing up for school. Jax has his school "business day" tomorrow which includes many things (like school photos already!!). Then on Thursday there is a meet'n'greet for Dex and Cars' teachers. School starts on Wednesday of next week and I hate that it is before Labour Day. Also, even though it is a Wednesday, it is not an early dismissal day which I think will just screw everyone up! Oh well...

I took the kids shopping for shoes today and they are all 1-2 sizes larger than what they are currently wearing! Famous Footwear had a great sale on and I was able to get six pairs of name-brand shoes for them for under $200. Wow!

Now I need to run and fill in a billion forms for Jax for tomorrow. And write cheque after cheque. And so it starts...

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 42

Today we have spent the day getting ready for our trip to California. I am very excited about it for a number of reasons.

First of all, I have never been to California before, so this will be exciting! We have rented a beach house with another family.


My kids are really excited to go. We are going to do some touristy things but hopefully we'll just hang out around the ocean, maybe do some boogie boarding and perhaps some surfing lessons.

I am also excited because we are flying and it is not a 5+ hour flight! Mostly we only ever fly to Toronto to visit family (so a long INTERNATIONAL flight). And then last year we took that wonderful vacation to Hawaii but it was a very long flight too. This one is about 2.5 hours so no packing extra meals in case the airplane food is not safe. This may seem like not a big deal but it is when I have to worry about 4 people (Stephen is on his own). And, we can pack FRUIT - which is a huge no-no when you travel internationally.

And two days ago was Summer o'Fun Day 40

We celebrated Cars' 7th birthday with a party at a trampoline place (Dex had his birthday there in June). Cars had so much fun running and bouncing and jumping and playing dodgeball. It was great! What wasn't so great was that it was warm (imagine, warm in August) so the icing melted (just like last year. The difference was this year I made a layer cake so when the icing melted in the car on the drive to the trampoline place, the top layer of the cake slid off the bottom and we had a cake disaster!



But the kids said it still tasted good and they had so much fun so I guess the Martha Stewart in me can let it go. Next year, no layer cakes! And definitely I will make room in the freezer to keep the cakes frozen until a couple of hours before we are ready to serve it.



And I will add that earlier in the day on Wednesday, I had the babysitter come and I went canoeing with a friend on the lake so I could gawk at all of the big homes. Ok, she owns a big home on the lake and had just moved there in May. It was a lot of fun (and a good workout!).

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 36

Happy 7th Birthday to my baby! Yes, Cars is 7 today and I cannot believe it. The past 7 years really have flown by. And his birth, or rather, my postpartum depression that resulted from his his birth that gave birth to this blahg.

We went to the beach today with some friends and then out to dinner at the local Mexican restaurant (thankfully I was able to talk him out of pizza for dinner). Then we came back home for cake (lazy daisy cake) and presents. He had a fabulous day and went to be a very happy boy.

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 34

Not much going on. We've just been hanging out and the kids have had some friends over. Dex really, really, really wants to have his friend A over but he never returns Dex's call. I don't know if it the kid is avoiding him or if he is just not getting the message from his parents or what! Spy once told me that his mom is the worst communicator. In fact, for Dex's b-day, A's mom asked Spy to drive A there. Then I offered to drive Spy's son and said I would take A as well. A's older brother dropped him off at my house and I drove them all to the party place. After the party, no one came to pick up A. A had no idea if his mom or brother was coming and he called his mom's cell phone and home and no one answered so I just drove him home. I don't even know if anyone was home when I dropped him off.

Anyway, so Dex had another friend over. Yesterday, Jax had a friend over too. Cars' turn I guess but his b-day is on Thursday and we are going to the beach so he will see Spy's youngest and that will have to be his playdate for the week. I have so much to do tomorrow. I moved Dex's psych appt to tomorrow so we can go to the beach Thursday. Then that interfered with his guitar lesson so that had to move. I need to get some food in the house! And Stephen crammed my car full of stuff for Goodwill that I will have to go there first thing in the morning.

We went through a few things in the garage (to go to Goodwill). One was a rubbermaid tote of my old sweaters. And I mean OLD. One was knit for my by my boyfriend's mother in 1984. It was an icelandic knit so really a "classic" style and I could probably wear it now (if I lost some weight! heh). Another was the sweater that Stephen bought me for our first Christmas together...in 1986!! It was a "shaker knit" in a marled black and turquoise. I loved that sweater! The others were 2 green angora sweaters, a fushia angora sweater, a black angora sweater with satin bows and beads appliqued on it. And one white and black wool knit wiht a houndstooth pattern. Every single one of those sweaters were at least 20 years old (most older!). They all also had shoulder pads in them!

Anyway, I had fun reminising about them as I pulled them out and put them in the Goodwill pile. I heard Dex sniffling and then I asked him what was wrong and he said he would tell me later. We went inside and he started to cry. He told me that he would never, ever, ever be able to do what I just did - get rid of the sweaters! My poor little hoarder! I asked him if he wanted the one with the bows (jokingly) and he did stop crying enough to give a little laugh and tell me is was ugly. But he was so upset thinking that he could never give something away. I am glad that his appointment is tomorrow so we can talk about it while it is still fresh.

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 32

Ok, this really happened yesterday...

Stephen took the day off work and we rented a jet ski and spent half a day at the beach on Shooting Lake. Ok, it is not really called shooting lake but two weekends ago there was a huge shooting at the state park on the south end of the lake and two people were murdered and six others injured. No arrests. Nice...

Anyway, we went to a private beach to launch and spend the day because the boat launch is much less busy and since it was the first time ever we had towed a trailer and launced anything, we wanted to be able to take our time. Lots of people were very helpful too and that was nice.

The kids had a blast going out on the jet ski with Stephen. Of course he let them drive (doh!). I went out with Jax and then freaked out when I let him drive so after three minutes we were back at the beach so Stephen could take over.

Anyway, it was tons'o'fun. Cars kept saying over and over again that we MUST buy a jet ski. They are so pricy though. I think if we rented one once or twice a year we'd have loads of fun without breaking the bank.

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 31

We tried our hand at Geocaching again today but the GPS on my iPhone is not great. It would tell us we were 30 feet from the cache and I would take a couple of steps then we'd be 75 feet away. Anyway, of the four that we tried to locate, we were only successful once. The kids are super excited about Geocaching so I may invest in a handheld GPS that is much more accurate.

Summer o'Fun Day 30

Stephen took the day off and we went for a walk along the lake trail. It used to be a railroad track and they turned it into a trail many years ago but I had never walked along it. Anyway, we walked and gawked at all of the multi-million dollar homes along the lake. Right where we decided to turn around for the return walk, we suddenly heard a loud noise then realized it was a helicopter. We turned and watched a helicopter land at a house about 100 feet from us. It landed on a special pad that was on wheels. The owner got out and then used a 4-wheel ATV to tow the helicopter into his garage. We had no idea what goes on just a couple of miles from our house.

Summer o'Fun Day 29

I got a call from one of my friends from back home. We had not been in touch for many years but her mom and my mom have been best friends for 52 years. Anyway, she was in town as her husband has been working here for 2.5 years (she chose to stay behind) but she's here for a month. We decided to meet at the locks. It was great seeing her and meeting her three children. I hope to see her again before she goes back to Canada. And hopefully she will be moving here in the next few months so we'd be able to see more of each other.

Summer o'Fun Day 28

Sad but I have no idea what we did this day... but I do know that at 5pm I met with Dex's psychologist who has diagnosed him with anxiety and depression. I feel so sad and guilty and so many more emotions. We had a good discussion and it seems that part of his sadness and depression might be grief from the change in his relationship with Jax. Jax is growing up and is less inclined to want to play with Dex. As well, this past year the kids have spent so much more time apart with Jax's hockey, Cars' hockey and Dex's baseball and guitar lessons. Anyway, keeping my fingers crossed that with counseling, Dex will get through this.

I spent this weekend cutting branches off trees and weeding. OMG, weeding! I filled up the yard waste container and a leaf bag that is about 3 1/2 feet high. Things around the front yard looks nicer but I definitely need to pull a few plants/shrubs and add some new ones.

We have a landscape service that comes to mow the lawn every week. It is owned by a neighbour from our previous house. They do pull some weeds in the garden but not always (it is just a mowing service we have so the weed pulling is bonus). I asked the owner to pull out a failed compost area in the back by the raspberries that the previous owners started and abandoned. And to put down more bark in the play area. So, he hired a couple of guys to come out to dig out the compost area. Then I saw a big black lab running around the yard. I was so mad because the black lab from across the street is always running around and crapping on my lawn (as well as everyone elses!). So there is that damn dog in my back yard and all I could think about was it pooping in the yard and the kids stepping in it. And I did not want the dog bugging the workers.

Anyway, I was on the telephone to a friend and I asked her to hang on for a min and I ran out the back and started shouting "(dog's name) GO HOME! GET OUT OF HERE! GO HOME DOG's NAME! GO!" and the guy digging out the compost area kept saying "It's ok! It's ok!" and I said "No, it is not!" then went back in the house to continue my conversation, ranting to my friend about that damn dog.

Much later in the day, after the workers left, I saw the black lab from across the street sniffing around my front yard. I was thinking "Gee, he looks bigger than he did earlier" and "I thought his collar was red" then "uh-oh!" The black lab in my yard earlier in the day was the dog of the owner of the landscaper. Then I realized that one of the guys who was doing the work must have been his oldest son. Gah! I was so embarrassed! I feel I need to apologize for my shouting performance.

And on top of all that, the damn black lab from across the street shat on my front lawn.

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 23

Jax is going to hockey camp this week. It is just 3 hours each day but the worst possible hours - 12-3pm! Right in the middle of the day and it is ~40 mins each way so it makes it very hard to do any "fun" summer-like thing. Oh well. The three hours he is there has been a nice break from the bickering amongst the boys. Not that Jax is the instigator but he definitely does his fair share of it.

We are thinking about going away later in August so I have been researching vacation rental homes. It is totally the way to go because it is often cheaper than hotels plus with a family of 5, it is much easier to find a place to accommodate us Let's hope my research pans out and we find a place to vacation.

So, I copied my blog entry from June 19th into this program and apparently I write like Stephen King:

I write like
Stephen King

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 19

Not an exciting day today. I took the kids to the mall because I had to buy some new drinking glasses. I think we broke or cracked 5 glasses in the past week. One was spectacularly shattered when Dex dropped it (it was as spectacular as the shattering of the Corelle plate that Cars managed to drop a drinking glass on a couple of days ago). Anyway, after Crate and Barrel (cannot beat 95 cent juice glasses and $1.50 low ball glasses!), we hung out at the Lego store for a bit before we started a quest to find Ash's son a birthday present.

At the fifth store we stopped in (3rd since leaving the mall), we ran into a kid from Dex's class whom he had plans to have a play date with later in the day. The mom just offered to take Dex right then so I was light a kid for 5 hours today!

We still did not find the item that Jax was searching for but he had seen it online at K-Mart so he demanded that I drive to K-Mart to get it. The thing is, the nearest K-Mart is over 25 miles away so I told him no unless he'd like to pay me for my time and gas money. He was so irritated with me. All over a $16 toy.

After that exchange we drove home. I went out to do some yard work and saw a bunny sitting on my lawn eating away at the blades of grass. It did not even move when I started towards it. I finally threw a rock into the bushes behind it and it scampered off under the deck! Aargh! Our whole street is infested with rabbits. I have seen lots on our front lawn and down the street ducking into the bushes when I walk or drive by but I do not like them in my back yard. Where are the coyotes or owls when you need them?!

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 18

Today was the lowest tide of the season in the Puget Sound so we went to Carkeek Park beach and explored the tidal pools. My kids really love doing this every year. It was cool this year too because there were Beach Naturalists there and I learned a few things about the sea creatures that we see. Funny though because one told us to to touch the creatures very lightly and another told us NEVER to touch them.

Summer seems like now that it is finally here it is just whizzing by!

Last week, Dex had his first appointment with his counselor. He seems to like her which is good. He did readily open up to her so hopefully he will be able to work though his issues/concerns quickly (my hopes!). He is still a wreck sometimes. He broke two glasses in the past three days and he has completely broken down and sobbed "I break EVERYTHING!". *sigh*

On Friday, it was our first day at the beach and we had a really good time. The bigger boys jumped off the diving board on the dock the whole time. Cars just played on the beach and in his floaty. I swam with him in the floaties out to the buoys and back. I am not a strong swimmer and I have absolutely no idea how deep that water is. I tried not to think about it too much. Next time we go I will bring his life vest so he can jump off the diving board too.

Ash is back from Florida so hopefully Spy, Ash and I will be able to get a Cosmo Friday in this summer. I cannot recall when we had one last. Before Ash moved, I think (before November). Or maybe it was last summer. The kids want to have their annual lemonade stand at the corner during a Cosmo Friday. We still have their money from the past two years and we'll have to ensure they go spend it on something fun.

Summer o'Fun 2010 Day 15

Yeah - we have sun and warmth! In fact, it was hot-hot-hot today - 92F at the local junior high school.

This morning I took the boys to the orthodontist. Jax is probably 18 months to 2 years away from braces as it Dex. Cars however will probably end up with a palate expander and partial braces next summer if all of his upper teeth have grown in. Poor little boy.

Later in the day we went to the local farmer's market. It was so hot that it was hard to even look around and sadly, a lot of the produce was all wilted (all of the lettuces). Anyway, I did buy some organic eggs and some orange-honey hazelnuts (a "safe" nut for us). Oh my those hazelnuts were good!

After dinner, the kids and I spent time outside. They filmed bits of a movie they are making and I watered the garden and cut branches off a couple of the trees that are close to the house. Earlier in the day, I had a crawlspace and attic specialist come out to seal up some holes because we heard some critters in the attic two mornings in a row. I would like to think they were squirrels but the guy said they were probably rats. Eek! He said that trimming the trees will help ensure that they are not jumping from the trees onto the roof. Anyway, we also put some rat bait traps out so hopefully no more scratchy-scratchy sounds in the attic.

Tomorrow will be another hot day. I am having my hair cut (and Dex will get one too) in the morning then we'll have to find something to do before Dex has his first appointment with his therapist. Wish us luck!

Summer o'Fun Day 13

Well, the sun still hasn't decided to show its pretty face in the past several days but there is hope that this week it will be sunny AND warm. We'll see...

Today we just recovered from the 4th of July. At the last minute we invited a few people over for dinner before we walked, in the rain, up to the city center to watch the fireworks(did I mention that it was raining?). It was a good show but there were so few people there because of the rain. At least, few people in the area we were sitting in which is normally PACKED (grassy area in the "lower commons"). Anyway, by the time we walked home it was after 11 and our friends stayed until nearly 12:30am so it was a very late night for everyone in the family.

As I mentioned, warm weather is in the forecast for the week so we might head to the beach for some sun. However, the lake will be freezing because it has barely been above 65 so far this summer. Brrrr!