Cake Pops Galore!

Just wanted to send a shout out to my cousin and cousin in law for their awesome cake pops!  First up is Sweet Tooth Cake Pops based out of Toronto, Ontario.

My favourite is the fishies but they are all adorable!

Thier facebook page can be found here Sweet Tooth Cake Pops

 Next we have Sweet Thingz Cake Pops and Chocolates based out of Ottawa, Ontario - my fave is the paint palate - so cool!

And they can be found at Sweet Thingz

Nice work ladies!

Still Here!

Ahh, I finally have a minute and thought I'd post an update.  First of all my 10K run did not, to my surprise kill me.  As of last night though I kind of wished it had.  Holy bananas I was sore - mainly going up and down stairs.  That said, it inspired me to get my butt in gear again so that's what I'm gonna do...just as soon as I am not walking bowlegged!

Little Miss is still sick - she's had three very restless nights with fussing and crying all. night. long.  I keep the baby monitor near me mainly because when she's stuffed up she has trouble breathing sometimes.  I worry that she might choke on all that extra phlegm, so I listen for her breathing...The worst night I was up at least four times checking on her.  All in all she was up every 30-45 minutes fussing...it makes for a very sleepy Little Miss and a very sleepy mommy.

She is learning to share which is so sweet.  She has graciously shared her cold with me, so yes, I too am stuffed up, have a sore throat and headache.  Sigh.   And the weather has just turned nice after 40 days of rain...oh well, hopefully it's a nice long summer.

My kiddo brought home papers last night for a school trip next year to Europe...specifically Germany and France.  He'd had the opportunity to go this year to Greece (which I would die to go to) but he knew that next year was Germany and he's very interested in world history and war history, so Germany won.  I am nervous about this trip - it's well organized and they've been doing them for many years, but the thought of my baby flying across an ocean with out me is very scary.  The fact that both he and I are nervous fliers doesn't help matters.  And of course we have to pay for this trip - that scares me too! LOL

As I sit here typing, I looked up (and I honestly cannot think of why I would look at the ceiling while typing but anyways) and saw a huge dust bunny/cobwebby thing on my wall...I guess that's what my day has in store for me...who the hell looks at your ceiling anyways?  I don't wash walls very often - except the time I dropped the ketchup bottle from a height of 4 feet and it exploded and shot ketchup through my kitchen like someone had just been shot...I found ketchup on the ceiling, walls, cabinets, stove and entirely up my body.  Usually when the walls need a good washing...I paint them.  Yep. 

Happy Tuesday peeps!

Snot

Yep - that's what my day has entailed.  Snot.  My poor Little Miss seems to be getting a bit of a cold and her nose is running like a leaky faucet.  Thinking back she was fussy last night - not wanting to go to sleep at all and then waking fussing all night.  Today, she has been in good spirits but that poor, cute little button nose has been leaking.  It's gotten a bit red due to all of the nose wiping that babies just love, and throw in some full-nose sneezes and that's been my day...poor mommy, uh, I mean poor little pumpkin!

Why Is Blogger Acting Up?

I'm a bit frustrated at Blogger - I have tried to make comments on other people's blogs and noticed that there seems to be a problem.  I will write my comment and then it asks me to sign in...I do and then I have to enter a verification word...I do and then I am back to being asked to sign in.  It is an endless loop.  I googled and saw that many people were having the same issue, but it appears it's not been fixed.  You also can't see anything under "followers" on said blogs - and now I can't see my own followers.  Grrr!

Fix it please Blogger!  Thank you!

What Doesn't Kill Me Will Make Me Very, Very Sore.

Today, I am running 10k.  After I ran 8k several weeks ago, I have not run since...at all.

I don't know why I lost my steam, but I did and now, I will be sorry.  The pic above is from my second ever 5k - I ran it with my kiddo - the one that looks like he tripped and the mop landed on his head.  I did alright that year.  My first ever 5k the year before was bad.  So very, very bad.  You see, it was on a hot day, so hot that just walking outside caused my skin to charcoal and my hair to frizz like, well, something frizzy.

I had no clue what I was doing but I had heard that it was good to eat pasta before a run.  I later learned that the pasta should be consumed several hours before, like if you're running in the morning, you eat pasta the night before for dinner.  I didn't know this at the time though so before our 4pm run, I ate a very large bowl of pasta with extremely spicy sauce at about 1pm.  Yep, very spicy.  I realized my mistake not long into the run...about 38 steps to be exact.  Spice and heavy food does not help you run.  Unless it's a bathroom you're headed for of course.  Luckily I avoided a bathroom emergency, however the stomach pains I endured for that 5k were horrendous.  They were not typical pains...it was like I had swallowed acid and it was slowly erroding the inside of my belly one excruciating layer at a time...good times I tell ya.  There were times I had to walk and even then I just wanted to lay on the side, behind the spectators, close my eyes and let the sun cook me to medium well.  My insides already felt well done so the outside may as well match.  Ugh.  Just thinking about it makes me cringe at my complete stupidity. 

Oh well, I did it and was proud of myself even while I laughed at what a moron I'd been.  Since then I've run the 5k once more and done 10k runs several times.  I have no desire to run a half marathon - I have a lot of respect for those who do it, but it's just not my goal. 

We shall see how I do today.  I am nervous having not trained but I know I can do it.  Some good old 80's tunes and a mostly empty stomach should help, and if that fails, knowing I am coming home to beer and pizza will do the trick!

Wish me luck!

Jaws Attacks

My baby girl has teefers!  yep!  Pearly whites!  Chicklets!  Chompers!  Gnashers!  Ivories!

Hard to see I know but they are there!

Two nights ago I thought I could feel a tooth in the front bottom area, but my dear hubby could not.  Of course Little Miss was super fussy and did not seem to enjoy me prodding and feeling around the inside of her mouth...go figure!

Yesterday morning, I felt again and sure enough, she bit me.  That little tooth was through and it was sharp!  She seemed much happier but I could see the white of the next tooth sitting right there, ready to join the Lonely Soldier Up Above.

Sure enough, this morning I was reaching for something and my sweet Little Miss leaned forward, grabbed my finger and chomped down.  Apparently she is a cannibal who cannot get enough of human flesh.  It seemed as though she had developed super human tooth strength overnight, and upon close examination I saw that tooth number two had already arrived!  And she's been super happy ever since!


I guess you can't blame her - who wants to be toothless?

Nom Nom Nom

My sweet girl is eating us out of house and home...seriously, there are meal times that I make her stop and take a break for fear that her not-so-tiny belly will explode.  It's a bit worrisome sometimes when introducing new foods to baby, because I worry about choking and allergies, but so far so good.


So far some favourites include:

bananas 
weetabix
applesauce
plums
mashed potatoes
Kraft Dinner (So bad I know!)
baked beans
toast with jam
grilled cheese
sweet potato
fresh cooked green and yellow beans
prunes
yogurt
pudding
ice cream
Baby Mum Mums (a rice cracker-type thing that tastes like styrofoam packing popcorn but melts in baby's mouth)


Some that did not go over so well include:


green beans (pureed)
corn (pureed)
dill pickles
plain pasta
oatmeal

The face immediately after she tasted the dill pickle. 

The camera wasn't fast enough to capture the really funny face just a second before!

She is starting to prefer 'real food' as opposed to the baby foods.  I've noticed that the last few times we've tried her banana flavoured rice cereal she is not loving it, but I made her Weetabix this morning and she devoured it!  Yesterday I tried to feed her pureed bananas (store bought) but she was having none of that!  Last night I cut up a banana and she couldn't get enough.  She tried to feed herself but kept accidentally squashing it in her hands.  (Note to self - no small pets for awhile)

We try not to give her much sugar or processed crap but now and then we have tried some - like chocolate pudding and Kraft Dinner - both a big hit.

All in all it's a ton of fun trying new things and watching her expressions as she decides whether to eat it or shudder from head to toe.

Through the Eyes Of A Child (Thank God I Don't Look Like That!)

I was looking through some old things I found recently and realized that, when my son was little he may have seen me differently than I saw myself.  You see, I knew I'd like to lose a couple of pounds, and perhaps tame the curly mop on  my head, but I was pretty happy with myself until I saw how he saw me.

He did love me (although I'm now not sure how I didn't cause him nightmares).  With my little beady eyes, twisted nose and missing limbs.  Perhaps I had a sheet over my head when he drew the picture?  I guess my mouth is a bit twisted as well...  and maybe I was wearing a Snuggie - that's why I have no feet.  In any case, he did love me - I guess I can find comfort in that.

His Grade 1 Journal revealed some serious spelling issues - I suppose it was normal, and the teacher did not focus on spelling too much but gosh it's funny now.  Take homework piece number 1 below.

It was Teddy Bear Day at school, and they got to wear pyjamas and bring a teddy bear.  For some reason they had to go see the 'pransbl' but it doesn't indicate why.  Perhaps it was because of the 'war' over pj's.  Clearly he was 'heavi' fun though - that counts for something!


Homework assignment number 2 was to make a list of "Spring Words".  Besides the fact that it looks like Noah's Ark exploded on paper, something else caught my eye.  Can you see it?

Let me give you a hint.  It looks like a UFO on the right of the page.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, my kiddo listed a lamb, calf, piglet, blossom, buds, snake, bird, ants, snails, insects, caterpillar, garden, flowers, todas (toads), flies, grass, bumble bees, rabbits and wasps - all great spring things.  The final word...hockey.  Cause when you think of spring the first thing that pops into your mind is hockey right?  And the UFO thing is a strangely shaped hockey rink that clearly looks like it's hovering above the piglet on the ground. 

Our final exhibit today is my favourite.  Mainly because it was somewhat cryptic and took some careful studying to decipher.  It is about his 'Grapap' getting a 'lonchrackter'.  That's right, sound it out.  Need some help?  Actually to be honest, if you sound it out it makes sense why he spelled it that way...I just wonder how many glasses of wine I'd had to not force him to fix it at the time...but alas, what would we giggle at now?

This one is a bit difficult to see so I am going to rewrite it in all it's glory so you can enjoy it as much as I have.

        I Got A Lonchrackter


My Grapap bot a trakter.  The blad can go up and down.  I got to sit on all of tham.  I piritant to girve all of tham.  I went to lots of plases.  I had fun. I wish (and this is how it ended.)

Now  clearly he is referring to a lawn tractor, and I *think* it is when he went shopping with Grandpa and Grandma when he refers to sitting on all of them.  I do love how he pretends (piritant) but I am not sure what he was giving (girve).


My favourite part of this whole thing however is how, if you look closely you will see that my kiddo has written an "X" on every second line of the text perhaps to remind himself to skip a line.  The teacher has circled an "x" and asks "Why do you have all these "x's"?  Are they necessary?  And at some point, my little kiddo wrote 'No'.  I died laughing at what the teacher must have thought about his seemingly snarky but probably very innocent response.

Ahhh sometimes you gotta laugh and if you can't laugh at your own kids, who can you laugh at?
Cheers!

Damn Rain

Just a short post to tell the damn rain to go away!  My Corona tastes good but it would be soooo much better sitting in the sun on our new patio!  Maybe if I close my eyes I'll be on a beach in Mexico!

I'll Show You Mine if You Show Me Yours

I stole this idea from a very cool blogger friend over at The Real Housewife of Oxford County.  She posted a photo and list of the contents of her purse, so now I will too.

- a movie theatre gift certificate

- 3 lip glosses

- 2 lip balms

- 1 lipstick

- a lip liner

- a hair pin

- 27 cents

- 2 Home Depot receipts

- a purple sour candy

- a pen with a lid

- a bandaid (unused thank goodness)

- a soother

- an LCBO gift card - woo hoo!

- 2 gov't cheques

- a cheque for my kiddo from his grandparents...he thinks I've deposited it...I haven't yet.

- my wallet

- a set of keys

- a Reitmans fold up bag

- a grocery list

- my sunglasses

- 2 usb memory sticks - no clue what's on either

- a Tylenol container with Advil in it

- a strange little twig-like thing

Wow - you'd think with all of that lip product I'd be wearing some daily, but nope.  I just forget I have some in there and throw one in on a regular basis.  Now that I've found it all I won't need to buy any forever!

Hope you enjoyed your voyeuristic peek in my purse!  Now show me yours!

Sheepish Follow Up to My Post About Cleaning

Gulp.  I forgot about this until I uploaded my pics off of my camera.  If you get grossed out easily, look away now.  Today, while cleaning I was trying to sweep between the oven and the wall.  I generally get in there with the vacuum on a regular basis so it doesn't get too bad.  I was in such a good cleaning rhythym that I decided to pull the stove out from the wall.  I haven't done that since we got our appliances last year, mainly because a pregnancy with an injury and then a newborn doesn't usually make for good 'moving appliances' kind of energy.

Soooo I was astounded to find behind my stove something that closely resembled Donald Trump's hair

Now remember I have two big dogs...

Yes, that is a large clump of dog fur and dust, that was wrapped around the power cord behind my stove.  It looks like it fell off of some biker's face.  Seriously! 

Thank god I found this myself and not when I needed repairs to the stove.  Of course now you all know! hehe

The Cleaning Games

Alright, I will admit it - I am not super mom/wife.  I do my best, but my house sometimes looks as though Hurricane Life hit it (which is precisely when people drop in for a visit...funny how that goes!)  Overall our house is generally clean - untidy but clean.  We don't leave dirty dishes lying around, or nasty kleenexes from the last super bug we had...it's just messy.  We suffer from clutter blindness sometimes.  You know when you walk past something soooo many times that you fail to see it (until of course those surprise guests show up and suddenly the blinders come off and you see it through their eyes and shudder?)

Anyways, one of the games I came up with (I think my mom taught me this) is the "Ten Things" game.  I started it when my kiddo was little and his room suddenly exploded one day.  It was waaaay too overwhelming for him to be told to clean his room, so we played a game where he would pick up ten things and return them to their rightful place.  Then he got to take a break.  It took awhile, but usually he'd keep right on going after his 10 things were put away and would suddenly realize his room was clean.  We do that around the house sometimes when we realize that clutter has gotten away from us.  We each grab ten things and go off to put them away.  It's awesome, it doesn't feel like cleaning and you suddenly see the things that have sat on an end table for weeks and you just forgot it was there.

The other cleaning game, I started today and I must say it worked so well.  I noticed that when I got up today the house was a bit insane.  Working outdoors for the last week really threw us for a loop indoors (which is perfectly okay - a mess never killed anyone except on Hoarders maybe).

Today, as I was trying to figure out which room to tackle first, I started a list for each room.  I began to clean but soon my natural chaotic cleaning pattern emerged.  You see, I start off picking up the breakfast dishes, they hit the counter and I see baby toys on the floor.  As I bend to retrieve them I notice the dog bowls are empty, so I set the toys on the table and fill the dog bowls.  As I do so, I notice the birds chirping outside and see how beautiful it is.  I step outside and remember the new grass seed needs watering.  I turn on the hose and set down the sprinkler near my flowers and suddenly realize I must plant those hostas a friend gave me.  I go to the garage to get the gardening stuff and see the recycle bins need to be brought in.  You see what happens?  I work and work and realize hours have gone by and not one room has been totally cleaned.  Then the baby wakes up and it's all a lost cause.  thus, the Cleaning Lady Game.

I thought about how much I'd love to have a cleaning lady, even just to help out with baseboards and bathtubs.  I then realized that cleaning ladies can get so much done in a short time.  I decided to pretend I was a cleaning lady (and no, Dear Hubby, I did not find a french maid uniform!)

I then spent the next 90 minutes cleaning, one room at a time, top to bottom, no distractions.  The TV was not on.  I did not stop to look outside.  I did not get on the computer 'just to check email'.  I did not pass go.  I did not collect two hundred dollars (although I think I earned it!)

I rocked it out and man did it ever work!  It was nice too knowing I had a time limit, so I just kept going.  I completed 2 bathrooms, the kitchen, dining room and living room.  I know it sounds kind of silly to have a cleaning game, but hey, if it works...my house just might be clean now and then!

Now off to go play with my Little Princess!

Raising 2 Generations of Kids

I often feel as though I am raising 2 generations of kids.  I joke that I feel like I am raising my own grandchildren due to the age gap.  My son is almost 17, has his learner's permit to drive, is entering his last year of high school and is very independent most of the time.  My daughter will be 8 months in a few days, she is just about to pop a tooth, has mastered sitting up and her world ends when I leave the room without her.

I love being a mom to my two kidlets and cannot believe how lucky I have been to get to do this all again.

With that said, I now want to tell you that some days I think about shaving my head bald in public and being admitted to a secure facility where my biggest worry is when my next pretty pink pill will be coming.    Although he is usually an amazing kid, once in awhile my kiddo will make comments that just make me wish for a chalkboard to run my fingernails down.  I might be in the middle of getting dinner on, and trying to keep Little Miss entertained in her highchair, but sometimes she just fusses.  It happens.  My kiddo will happen to walk in right then and say "Are you just going to leave her?"  Argh!  He walked in one day when Little Miss had just finished enjoying some watermelon...well, her body, arms, chair and the floor also enjoyed the watermelon.  My kiddo walks in and says, "She's really sticky, you should wash her."  Sigh.

 We feed our dogs twice per day, and they generally both eat out of one bowl, empty it, then later finish the second bowl.  Neither dog is super food motivated so there is often food left in one bowl when the next feeding time comes.  The other day, my kiddo walked past the dog food bowls and noticed that one was empty.   He asked me "Have the dogs been fed yet tonight?"  I replied "Not yet," and he responds with "You might want to make sure they get fed."  OMG

Don't get me wrong, the same kiddo also offers to help if we need help with household repairs, he is generally polite and appreciative, doesn't get into too much trouble and is a pleasure to spend time with most of the time.

Yep, while I get the extreme pleasure and privilege of raising two amazing kids, some days I just want to scream.

I remember way back when my 16 yr old son was a little guy, and he loved to help me in the kitchen.  He loved to wash dishes (plastic only) and bake.  He especially loved to lick the beaters from the mixer. 

Tonight, I was making some cupcakes for a friend's birthday, and chatting with my hubby about how I couldn't wait for Little Miss to be a bit older and be able to bake with me.  As I turned on the mixer, she stared at me with a look of horror in her eyes, perhaps wondering what the very loud machine was and what I was doing with it.  When I was finished mixing, I was surprised to see my 16 yr old kiddo standing right beside me. 

I asked, "What's up?"  since he'd been in his man cave in the basement.  He replied, "I heard the mixer."  Yes ladies and gentlemen, my 16 yr old was lured to the kitchen by the sound of the mixer hoping to be rewarded with a cake batter bounty...and he was.  He stood there licking the beaters, the bowl and the spoon for quite some time and then proclaimed that he wanted to bake cookies. 

I guess he's still my little boy now and then!

Patio Hell

Yes.  I am in patio hell.  I posted that on Facebook and a friend wrote back asking "How can a patio be hell?"  It occured to me that she meant this kind of patio...

Ah yes.

This is definitely NOT the kind of patio hell I am in.  I mean, how bad could that be?  What do you mean you only have the extra large Rickard's but will charge me for the small one?!?  NOOOOO

That's the kind of hell I'd pay for right now!

Nope.  My kind of patio hell looks like this

Beautiful isn't it?  I tried putting my chair in the hole last night and ordering a beer, but nobody came.  Crappy service I say!

You see, we bought a house last year, that has a huge yard for the suburbs.  I'd been watching this street for years while taking my kiddo for walks when he was a baby, and then when we'd drive past in later years.  It is a small circle, and as such the yards are irregular, but ginormous.  When this house was for sale, the asking price was well below what you'd expect due to the fact that it was a military sale. 

Unfortunately, there's a lot to be done.  The entire inside of the house is original, so while it's not in bad shape and is livable for now, it does need some updating eventually.  As for the yard, we have a beautiful pool, a small deck off the house, but nowhere to put a patio table and chairs.  Thus the patio hole.

My hubby and I are handy people, and we'd decided that for this year, we would not be taking on any new projects.  Last year we prepped our home to rent, which entailed hours upon hours and days upon days of cleaning, fixing, painting and , well, more painting.  All while 7 months pregnant.  Then we got the pleasure of packing, moving, painting a bit more (just the kids' rooms for now), unpacking, organizing etc etc.   Then we had a baby and life got interesting!

So this year our plan was to seed the lawn a bit, build a few shelves and otherwise enjoy our summer, our pool and our friends and family.  We tried last night to figure out whose idea the patio was.  The best we could come up with was that it was my mother's idea. 

Seeing as neither of us have a flipping cluye what we're doing, we;ve spent much of our time standing in the hole, surveying the carnage, and saying "hmm".  That doesn't work to get anything done, but it does make you feel as though you're doing *something*.

Oh, and to that the fact that we have Little Miss and it's been raining torentially off and on all week, we ended up with this pic.

Yep, mid May, and my princess is bundled up in a knit touque, knitted slippers and a two piece knit outfit over her clothes.  She's doign a good job overseeing our "hmmm ing" though!

I'm sure that someday we'll finish the patio and it'll be all pretty and I'll post a pic.  Right now, I am thinking I might put up a net and play some beach volleyball.

Little Miss is almost 8 months old and is really developing such a personality!  She does not yet 'make strange' or get fussy with strangers, which is awesome...instead she stares at them and then breaks out into a giant, heart melting grin.  Store cashiers love it and she gets so much attention!  Tonight, while playing on the floor with her I laid back and put her on my tummy to sit, crossing my legs in the air to hold her upright.  She started to bounce so I started 'flying' her over my head and back...not an easy feat with spaghetti arms and a 20lb baby!

A few minutes later, to give my arms a rest I set her on my chest with her legs over my shoulders onto the floor.  She began to bounce and jump on my chest - ouch - but it made me laugh hysterically.  It was just so funny to see her try to use my chest as a jumperoo that I couldn't stop laughing.  I had to get my dear hubby to get her because apparently when I laugh, I lose all remaining muscle tone and ability to lift babies and other medium sized objects.

He decided to play with her for a bit, and she got fussy so he tried to do the same thing with her.  She liked it and began to bounce on his chest for about 3 minutes, and then I heard it...the 'urp' sound with an immediate "ewwwww!!!" from my dear hubby.  Yep, he narrowly avoided having his face spit up on, while it dripped down his hand onto the carpet.  I had a hard time controlling my laughter while wiping it up and moving the baby for him.....hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee

Bubble Bubble Toil and Trouble

Yesterday, I decided to get moving on making more baby food.  I debated whether I ought to, since Little Miss is now eating a lot of 'real' food, but she still has no teeth, and she is still learning how to gum something to death.  the result is the odd gag reflex when she hasn't gummed it enough.  I realize she has to learn, but she's not quite 8 months and I'm not going to rush her, so we (I) continue to make baby food.

I had purchased avocado a week ago, and decided to start with that, because quite frankly, I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet to buy anything else.  I pulled ou the bag and saw that they were black...and soft.  I wondered if I'd waited too long but upon cutting them open, they seemed fine.  Mushy for sure but I was *pretty* sure they would not kill Little Miss.  At least I hoped.  She got fussy just then so I fed her an entire half of an avocado right out of the peel - pretty cool, and she loved it. 

After the store I proceeded to do apples with cinnamon and pears, both of which went well.  Today, I decided to make some corn, which looks absolutely disgusting, but she seems to find it palatable.  Thank god I don't have to eat it because it looks like it is yellow, chunky mush with bits of yellow paper all through it.  Mind over matter perhaps but my mind wins in this case!

Later on I realized I'd bought a huge bag of plums yesterday and had nowhere in the fridge for them, so I set to work peeling and steaming them.  As the steamer was coming to an end, I happened to glance over and see this

What is it you might wonder.  Well that's exactly what I was wondering as well...what the h-e-double hockey sticks was happening in my steamer?!?  Here's a closer look for you, since I myself had to lean in closer...



I had a moment of panic when I wondered if I'd rinsed the dish soap off of it, but realized that I had.  I can only guess that the foam is from the juice of the plums, but gosh it is so not appetizing!  Luckily this is another item that my princess gets to eat, and hopefully she will love, because she will never know that they were all foamy and soapy looking...nor will she care!

Fun!

An online friend posted a collage of her baby using Photobucket software.  I decided to try it as well, but having never used this function before, I may have had more fun with a fork and an electrical socket.  That said, after many minutes hours I finally got it.  Sort of.


It's not perfect and there's text on some but not all pics, but here's the result.

It's pretty cool to see how much she's grown!

Whew!

I have not been feeling like blogging.  At all.  So I haven't! LOL  I guess with the weather getting nicer, I've spent more time enjoying the great outdoors.  Yesterday, today and for the next few days it is raining, so I'm hoping to catch up, upload some pics and get on with it!

Now, what possesses people to park badly? (Nice segue, don't you think?)  I'm not talking just a tiny bit crooked, but those whose cars are practically sideways in between the white lines, or whose passenger side is thisclose to the one next to them.  So that the only way for that person to get into their car is to climb in through the passenger side of their own car, with their skirt flying upwards and flashing their white underwear with pink hearts for all to see?  Just sayin.

Last time I had some jerk park thisclose to me, I wished I'd had my camera with me for photographic proof.  Instead I came home and googled and found this site.  I had fun looking through pics of bad parkers and realizing that it is nothing personal against me!

Off to make some baby food and put away the groceries that have spent the afternoon strewn across my front hall.

Mother's Day

I had the best Mother's Day ever this year!  I was able to spend my very first Mother's Day with my new little princess, and my 16th Mother's Day with my kiddo!  I got to sleep in a bit while my dear hubby got up with Little Miss.  He poured me a coffee when I came downstairs and I snuggled a bit with Little Miss.  Kiddo was already up - yep...16 yrs old and he got up nice and early on Mother's Day!  They each gave me a card starting with my kiddo.  He'd made a card - this is the first time in many, many years that he'd made a card and while it was silly, it was awesome.  When I saw that he'd actually put some work into it and done a nice job I was touched.

He seemed surprised that I liked it so much, but it means a lot to me since he's not really a crafty kidlet to begin with!

They gave me some wonderful gifts - far too much in my opinion, but I really love and appreciate them!  First off, I got Season 2 of The Big Bang Theory.  Yay!  I have watched all of season one on my treadmill, and found many episodes or parts of episodes that I'd missed.  It's a pretty funny sitcom so I will enjoy Season 2!  Then I got some beautiful silver earrings from an awesome silver store here.  I put them on right away and wore them all day!  Finally, they gave me two tickets for myself and my kiddo to see The Lion King when it comes to town.  This was something I was probably going to purchase myself since I've never taken my kidlet to see a musical or even a live show and I really wanted him to see one before he's flown the coop.  Nonetheless, it was a nice surprise and like I said, far too much but I love it all!

Off to my sister's we went to have a Mother's Day brunch.  This is the first time my sister has hosted a meal for us in her new house.  Despite some challenges like their new table and chair set not having arrived yet (we sat on folding chairs at a card table), the cat suddenly vomiting on the floor nearby and the cornigware dish exploding, it was lots of fun and the food was great!  At least we had mimosas...mmmmmm

Upon returning home I was able to relax on the couch to finish my latest book and then I went out to do a bit of gardening.  Back inside for a lasagna dinner with caesar salad, a bit of play time with Little Miss and then a nice relaxing evening.  All in all it was my favourite Mother's Day so far! 

Thank you to my family, and of course Happy Mother's Day to all of you wonderful mothers out there!

Customer "Service" My A$$

Gah!  I have this aversion to dealing with phone call-customer service.  I cannot stand it.  I avoid it like the plague.  I shudder at the thought.  The problem is, once in awhile, you have to call in to get something changed.  Today, I decided to finally call my cable/phone/internet provider and have them merge my billing with my cell phone.  It's all with the same company, but because we ordered the cell afterwards, they never put it on the same bill.  I've been wanting to call for about 6 months, but have put it off, over and over again.  I seriously would rather pull my eyeballs out with a pair of tweezers than call them, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

I made myself sit down with my bills and pick up the phone and call.  I listened to Sally the automated voice ask me question after question, knowing the end result would just be talking to a customer service person, but knowing that if I just hit "0" she would tell me that that was not an option and start over.  I finally got through to a rep and to my surprise he was nice.  Not only was he nice, he actually sounded like he knew what he was talking about, and was able to help right away!  You could have knocked me over with a feather!

It soon became apparent that I was right the first time.  Although this guy was nice, and seemed to want to help, he was having computer problems, resulting in me being put on hold five times while he sorted things out.  At one point I glanced at my phone and saw that I'd been on the phone over 20 minutes!  Good Lord!  I could do a full sink of dishes, switch the laundry, change a diaper and feed my dogs with time to spare in 20 minutes!  No flippin wonder I hate making these calls!  They take forever!  When we moved last year, by the time I'd gotten done with switching all of our services I wanted to take my life, or at least eat a giant tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream to soothe the frustration!

The guy today tried to put me on hold a final time and I told him that I didn't have much more time.  He then offered to call me back when the system was working again.  I said okay, but had no intention of actually answering the phone.  When it rang less than a minute later I did answer and was pleased to be told the changes were made. Of course I couldn't just say thank you and hang up...I was thanked for calling and asked if there was anything else they could do for me.  I know they need to do this, but seriously, by this point I just want to hang up and not feel held hostage any longer, but my polite Canadian upbringing prevents that!  So I sat through it, answered his questions and waited to be dismissed.  Gah!  I guess it could have been much worse!

Boil & Toil

Do you ever get irritated with something and have no idea why you are irritated - you just are.  And by god someone better stop doing whatever it is that is irritating you or you just might reach your boiling point and fly off the handle, blow you top, lose your cool, explode!!

I brought my kiddo to the dentist today to get a cavity filled...found out he has another that needs doing...sigh!  This means he is home early from school, has plopped himself in front of the computer and is watching youtube videos incessantly.  We kept the computer in the living room so that we can sort of keep an eye on the usage, but it sometimes bites us firmly in the ass...like right now.  I am feeling completely irritated right now and I have no idea why - maybe because he is usually just getting home from school so the last hour of these god awful videos have imposed on 'my' time.

In any case, I had to call down and ask him to turn down the volume once, which he did but I can still hear them and sort of want to go throw the speakers across the room.  Violent I know, but for some reason it's like fingernails on a chalkboard!  It's like running the tips of your fingers accidentally down the cheese grater.  It's like hearing your little 8 year old neighbour learn to play the recorder every single afternoon.

Top this with the fact that I am trying to get Little Miss to nap, and I just feel like if I don't go and expel some energy in a constructive way, I just may need new computer speakers.

Weigh In Wednesday

Well, although I weighed in last week I don't think I posted about it.  It was really just a bad week and I felt it important to still weigh in but didn't have the heart to put it in writing.  I did really well over Easter although my exercise was non existent, but by Easter Monday I was hit with a sinus type cold and felt like a bag of dirt.  Like not the nice gardening soil you buy in the bags, but the nasty dirt you find under neath large rocks with slimy bugs crawling around with more legs than you thought possible.

This is when it went off the rails; when I am sick I eat what I want to eat, what will go down, stay down and make me feel better.  Generally this means soup with lots of crackers, pasta (which I mostly avoid) and white bread (which I also avoid unless hungover - then it's no holds barred!).  I really don't care when I am sick because I figure if some toast and peanut butter feels good, then so be it! LOL

That said - it made a direct impact on the scale and i went up 3 lbs!  How many freakin carbs did I eat?  I was irritated but knew it wasn't permanent "real" weight - nevertheless I knew this week had to be different.  I began to feel like crawling out of my little hole by Friday and while I had no energy to exercise, I started trying to eat better.  By Monday of this week I realized that the only way to fully get back on track was to start calorie counting again.  I'd rather jam screwdrivers through my eyeballs than calorie count, but I found a fabulous site that tracks it all for you so I guess I'll put the toolbox away for awhile.  The site is Spark people and you can track food intake, exercise and find all kinds of videos, hints and tips to get you motivated.

I am still working on the motivation to get back to working out.  Yesterday I forced myself to do 30 minutes on the treadmill, and did so (yay) but holy crap it was hard.  I never got that "woohoo" feeling so the whole 30 minutes was a killer, but I did it and that's what counts!

All this to say that I have lost that extra 3lbs and am again at the same weight as two weeks ago - I am thrilled with that and feel like I am back on track.  It's not a race but a marathon, and I'm still going!

Bring Your Friends Over...Really

My son thinks I am insane.  I guess it's not too much of a stretch for any teenager to think their parents are insane, I mean mine were but I hoped I'd be different.  Nope.

I guess I give him good reason to think so.  Sometimes when he comes home from school, I'm bee bopping around the living room singing at the top of my lungs to Billy Joel or Elton John or some other fabulous 80's icon. 

Sometimes I am jumping up and down doing my workout and clearly proving that mirrors or an audience are not good ideas while doing aerobics.  Until I am a size 4 (hahahaha) I ought not watch the way the protruding parts of my body fly about as if they are of their own mind as I do jumping jacks or knee kicks.

Occasionally I am wearing a scarf wrapped around my head and holey pants while I clean or organize my way through the basement.

The other day I was on the treadmill which my kiddo has to walk past to get to his basement 'man-cave" complete with couch, chair, giant TV and gaming system.  The fact that I was running on the treadmill wearing skin tight running pants and a tank top would be embarrassing enough for my cool kid.  What was worse was, after I started I realized I'd forgotten to tie my hair up with an elastic.  I had a good burn going, and didn't want to stop to run upstairs to find and elastic, so I started looking around to see what I could use.  Although my craft supplies are right there, there were no elastics.  I did however find a solution that got my hair off my neck and perhaps achieved a new level of style for me.

When I mentioned a new level of style I didn't say it was a higher level.  Yep, my cool teenage boy had a friend over and walked past me sweating on the treadmill with four pens jammed through my head (one fell out for the pic).  I have to say though, that as stupid as it looked, it totally did the trick and I got to finish my workout in peace! 

No wonder he thinks I'm weird though!!!

Held Against My Will

Tonight I was held against my will.  Sort of.

Let's go back a bit, to last night.  When we went to put Little Miss to bed like we always do, she started to cry.  Occasionally she will cry for a couple of minutes, but it's gotten pretty rare since she discovered how much she loves her Fisher Price projector/music box.

After a couple of minutes I looked at my dear hubby and we tried to figure out if Little Miss would settle on her own.  Just then she began to shriek, an angry, upset cry/scream somewhat exorcist-like.  We figured that she was NOT going to sleep just yet, so the hubs heated a bottle and went to get her.  She drank up her bottle and then was super alert and giggly.  To be honest we had a lot of fun with her as she giggled and played for another hour.

She eventually went to sleep but dear hubby had to rock her to get her to settle.  We've not had to do this as a regular thing before, so we just figured her teeth (or lack thereof) were bothering her.

Well, tonight told us that it might be starting a habit.  She only got a short nap in the car this afternoon and was rubbing her eyes by 6pm.  In order for mommy to not have to rise and shine at 4am (good times people), we try to keep her up until 7pm at the very least, if not a bit later.  She had her bottle and was sleepy, but again woke right up when she heard my voice.  Daddy spent some time with her and was able to get her to stay up until 7:40pm which is awesome.  He put her down like always and left the room...and the crying began.  It started as the tired, moan like crying that we generally ignore and it usually turns to whimpers and then sleep.  Not tonight.  It went on and on and on and on...it outlived the energizer bunny for sure.

We haven't really developed a 'plan of action' (which we need to do for consistency) so when dear hubby went upstairs he took her out of her crib and put her on the floor with him to play.  She began to scream again.  I decided to keep her in her room in the dark and rock her for a bit.  It's not a habit we want to get into, but gosh it's nice to get a little snuggle and baby falling asleep on you!  Until I realized that I could not put her down.  As I settled in to rock my sweetie, I didn't notice that she somehow wound her fingers around my necklace and held on for dear life.  Once she fell asleep, I went to stand and noticed her fist around my necklace, and went to gently move it.  Nope.  She had me in a death grip.  I tried to gently pry her fingers off of it to no avail.  I started to giggle as I realized that I probably could have let go of Little Miss and she'd have hung by her one little fist on my necklace.  The visual was just too much!

It took me almost 10 minutes to forcefully gently pry her teeny fingers one by one off of my chain.  As each finger was peeled away, it would immediately curl up in a fist like motion again, which made getting the next one off a bit more difficult!  Eventually I pried her off of me and gently placed her in her crib.

Now off to strategize with my hubby as to how to avoid making this a nightly routine!