Time is

so slow.......this last week of waiting for the day to go to Disney has taken forever!!  

I am finally here in Cochrane and am just a mere 12 hours away from being on a plane to California.  The bad part is that I am a mere 9 hours away from having to sit in the Calgary International Airport for 3 hours.  Yippee!!!  Can't wait.  I wonder who will be at the airport at 4 a.m.

I packed everything this morning before leaving to come to Cochrane.  I hope and cross all appendages that I did not forget anything.  Which I am sure that I have because I never pack without forgetting something.  I packed for a week for all of us once and totally forgot to pack My Dear Nathan some underwear.  He....was not impressed.  Me....didn't mind so much.

I need to find something to do with my time.  I am sure that I am more excited about this trip than my girls are...at least for right now.  Will be back in a few.  Hope everyone has/had a great weekend/week!!!

Random

Thoughts......

Ryleigh really needs to go to bed.  She is trying to put on her new sandals and is having zero success with it.  She is pissed off!

I have been really sucking at Weight Watchers lately.  It is a combination of really craving burgers and beer and not having any motivation to do any sort of exercise.

I went to get new exterior doors today.  Fuck me, they are not cheap....can't wait til I have to shell out for new hardwood floors.

Watching The View is always painful, yet I generally turn it on everyday (would someone please hand EH a brain).  Perhaps I can just pay someone to come poke me in the eye with a hot needle as it would probably feel like a better use for my time.

I leave to go to Disney in 4 days.  Darian has no clean clothes and I am down to only 2 loads of laundry to do.  Yet I sit here on the computer, not doing any laundry.

Darian has done her own laundry for almost 3 years now.  I am a horrible mother.  I stopped doing her laundry when she figured that it was alright to use 3 towels every time she showered and change her clothes 20 times a day because, you know, I love doing laundry and really needed to do more.

On the subject of Darian....what do you do when you can't stand the way your daughter does her hair?  She is insisting right now to wear these "pig tails" at the nape of her neck that are about half an inch long.....I want nothing more than to cut them off in the middle of the night.

It would be easier to reach Darian's head in the middle of the night if there was not a mountain of dirty laundry about 5 ft. high surrounding her bed.

I am now going in circles talking about laundry and Ryleigh really, REALLY, needs a nap.

Easter Dinner

Nothing very exciting about this post, just to forewarn you.

This weekend I successfully cooked and served Easter dinner.  ALL BY MYSELF, which my Mother pointed out to me.

I came stumbling home from the bar on Saturday night, put my ham in the oven and went to bed.  Step 1 complete.

The next morning My Dear Nathan got up and cleaned the house while I slept off the jugs of Grasshopper (lots o' lemon) that I had consumed the night before.  Then I asked him to carry the mini-fridge downstairs, go to Safeway to pick up the rest of everything that I needed to make dinner and pick up some wine from the good ol' liquor store.

My grandparents came at around noon, shortly after my parents had called to say that they were finally leaving for their 3 hour drive to bring my kids home and well, since they were here, eat too.

Around 1-ish I remembered that I didn't have any dinner buns.  Instead of asking My Dear Nathan to go out and get some I figured that my parents would be getting close to home and should be able to swing by the grocery store and pick some up.  Wrong.  They were only half hour into the 3 hour ride.  Apparently when they called to say they were leaving they needed to first go through the 2 hour, make sure everything in the house is OK, checklist which is of course required when you leave the house for 12 hours.

My grandparents are sleeping on the couch, because that is what old people do and now I am wondering if I should attempt to bake some buns or send My Dear Nathan back to the store.  I chose the store and some internet surfing.

After all way said and done, I made my ham, some taters, gravy, corn, carrots and coleslaw for dinner.  I did it all by myself (the preparation and cooking that is, My Dear Nathan did the delivery).  Ok, I admit that my Mother mashed the potatoes for me.  Usually I have someone here (my Mother) to help me but not this time.  Nope, this time, I was like....all growed up and cooking family Easter dinner!

Hope everyone had a great one!!!

(Told you it wasn't very exciting...raise your hand if you made it this far)

Technology

I have been driving my van for just about a month now.  I totally love it.  I thought that I would miss my little car but really....I don't.  

The van is nice in that it has satellite radio.  Not the company that I would prefer but I like listening to the radio and the fact that I can listen in the middle of nowhere (like say....Red Deer) makes me happy.

What has not been making me happy is the lack of instructions on how to use the fancy touch screen radio/media centre in the van.  It has the ability to have 12 preset stations, which is good because I have found that all the stations that I like to listen to are all over the dial.  I have caught myself looking at the radio screen instead of paying attention to the road....bad, bad Nancy.

Today, after having tried to figure out the preset button on numerous occasions, I finally figured it out!!  I am so happy with myself.  This is a really good thing considering that next week I have to take the van in to get some fancy U-Connect system put in.  Apparently I will be able to talk on my cell through my van.  I am sure that sometime this summer I will finally figure out how to use it.  Isn't technology great?  I know that things are really complicated when even my tech-savvy kids can't figure it out.

Trying New Things

This morning was a big morning.  I actually went and did something that I never in a million years thought I would.  I signed up, paid for and attended a Salsa Tots class.  

In an effort to lose some (some = very large amounts) of weight I decided that I needed to do something a little more physical than moving my fingertips while typing.  I contemplated joining the gym and then remembered the last time that I did that.....skinny, had way too much coffee, cheery to a fault girls telling me that I will be skinny in no time....yeah, right.  Go fuck yourself skinny gym girl.  Jeez....you think that I am bitter much?

So, gym is out of the question.  I have bought some proper walking shoes and planned 2 trips to various Disney parks within the next few months.  I will be walking....lots.  I am telling myself that the Disney trips will be good for me (minus, of course, all of the food that is a must to eat...like Pineapple Whip and Churros).

(Aside - I am typing this while watching The View....Barbara Walters looks horrid today!!!  Mmmmmmm Carter Oosterhouse, or however you spell it)

Back to the post....so no gym, more walking.  I was watching the morning news one day and saw someone talking about a dance class for Mom (or Dad) and baby, called Salsa Babies.  Not having a baby anymore I thought I was screwed.  Nope.  They have a class called Salsa Tots.  Not giving it a second thought, I signed up.  

This morning was our first class.  Let me start by saying I was totally the fattest in the class....by a lot!  On the other hand though, Ryleigh was totally the cutest kid!  I got over all the "I am so fat" thoughts, remembering that I was there to try to help out that situation.  I avoided looking at myself in the very large mirrors and concentrated on having fun dancing with my baby.  

I was pleasantly surprised when I found myself enjoying it.  Ryleigh mostly participated, there were moments when she would have rather just been running around, but she did dance.  I danced, kind of, but I did not, and will not, jump.  That would just be ugly!  

I didn't pay attention to the perfect-body Moms who probably roll out of bed looking like they just came home from the salon.  I just need to constantly remind myself that I am there to get some exercise and spend some great time with my baby.

Why Men Are Idiots

• they get it from their Fathers
• they are disorganized
• they think that they have told you something that they haven't and then expect you to do something in relation to their phantom directions
• they figure that 2:00 a.m. when you are FINALLY getting into bed, because you are TIRED is a good time to look for some luvin'
• they think that decluttering, organizing and spring cleaning after not doing it for 10 years involves a couple of garbage bags and about an hour of your time
• they think that their Sunday afternoon hockey game is more important than spending time with the family they haven't seen all week
• they take clean clothes off the bed and put them on the floor instead of putting them away
• they figure that women should deal with emotions the same way that they do....by just forgetting about them
• they stink
• they don't tell you when a package that you have been waiting for is delivered while you are at work
• they don't pay attention to the details
• they leave dirty kleenex everywhere
• they argue with you about where to go for supper
• they cannot make a decision if their life depended on it
• they have no sense of urgency
• they hold onto decades old hockey trophies that haven't seen the outside of a cardboard box for 15 years
• they say they will do something and then don't
• they complain about something and then don't do anything to fix it

Now, of course, all of these do not apply to all men in general and they are not just about one man in particular.  It just seems that the last few days would have been much easier to deal with if it were a week where all the men left.

If you would like to add to the reasons, please do so in my comments....pass the link onto all your friends.....I am sure that I am missing some that I would love to add to the list!

Oatmeal.....Again

In an effort to make my large ass a little less large I have been eating oatmeal.  Lots....of oatmeal.  I usually begin my day with a bowl of it.  

I have discovered that I like it better made with milk as opposed to water.  It takes 1 minute, 30 seconds in my beautiful microwave.  When it comes out it is still all nice and smooth and full of oat-y deliciousness.

My most recent daily routine requires that I watch ER reruns while reading blogs and thinking of ways to spend My Dear Nathan's hard earned money before he hardly earned it.  Don't worry, I feed Ryleigh her morning staple of peanut butter toast before I start all my hard work.

I am thinking, as I eat my "oatmeal" that I need to revise my routine to include eating my oatmeal before I begin ER and/or blog reading.  By the time I begin to eat it the oat-y deliciousness has turned into a sticky, oat-y facial peel.  I still eat it but it is no longer smooth, it is more....lumpy.  The taste is still OK as far as diet oatmeal goes.

Once I am finished my bowl, I have learned the hard way, it must be rinsed out immediately.  If it is not, it moves from facial peel-ish to cement-ish.  I never knew that oatmeal was such a transitional food, I always just used to think that it sucked.

Not Ready to Share

A few weeks ago we had some friends over for some drinks.  During the course of the evening the subject of blogs came up.  My Dear Nathan mentioned that I have one.  He was very gracious and extolled our friends about how talented a writer I am (he must really love me and not read my blog very often).  He told them about how funny (again....being a dutiful husband and one who doesn't read very often) some of my posts are.  I didn't really think that much of it that night but the next few days I did.  

I know that there are 2 people who read my blog that know me personally.  I believe that most other people that read have never met me in real life.  The people that do know me in real life are, outside of My Dear Nathan, the people that know me best.  They have been there for, or heard about, the best and worst times of my life.  They know my sense of humor, eccentricities, inherent flaws, and well....pretty much everything else.

I asked My Dear Nathan not to tell people about my blog.  I think that having people that know me but not KNOW me reading my blog would adversely affect how and what I blog about.  Don't get me wrong, the friends that we were talking about are quickly becoming good friends but will never be on the same level as those who read here.  I am really a very open person.  Most times if you ask me a question I will answer it honestly and openly.  This has on more than one occasion and very recently bitten me in the ass but hey....it is just how I am.

Do you think that I am being crazy?  Would having someone read your blog make you feel uncomfortable or change how and what you write?  I know that there is no guarantee that someone I know won't stumble across this blog and I know that there may very well be more people that know me reading.  For right now I guess I am just not comfortable inviting new people (that I deal with in real life) into my little piece of bloggyland.

Kraft Dinner Juice

Camryn is at home today, enjoying yet another day off of school.  We have decided to partake in the kids lunch staple that is Kraft Dinner.

Usually when I make KD it is not according to the package directions.  I usually just splash in  some milk and add a spoonful of butter (well, it is actually margarine, so as to be more diet friendly) in addition to the cheese packet.  Today when I pulled the milk jug out of the fridge I found that there was more than I needed for KD but not enough to do anything else with.  I decided to just pour the entire contents of said milk jug into the pot.

I noticed that the KD was a little runny but still cheesy enough to eat, so I began to spoon it out.  As I am following Weight Watchers I had only a bit, which will still cost me 6 points.  The rest of the pot I spooned out to Ryleigh and Camryn, giving Camryn the bulk of the box. Camryn has been known to consume a whole pot of KD on her own.  She would like to eat nothing other than KD for breakfast, lunch and dinner if allowed.

I have just been informed that Camryn has too much KD juice at the bottom of her bowl and that she does not like her KD that juicy.  I guess next time I should be a little less liberal with the milk so as not to create Kraft Dinner Soup.

Weird Dreams

This morning I had this dream where I am inside the first house that we owned.  The windows are all covered with very long and heavy curtains, each one pulled tightly shut but the windows behind them are all open.  We (I can't quite put my finger on who exactly is with me) are all inside in the house because there are people outside who are trying to get us.  The odd part of this dream is that it seems to be the guys from Good Charlotte that are after us.

Every now and again I take a glimpse between the curtains.  The scene behind my house is how it really is.  The apartment buildings behind us are the same, right down to the wad of wet toilet paper that we sent up to the 3rd floor with our water balloon sling shot.  I can even see the same cars that used to park at the apartment building out there.  I see Flander's awesome Echo (Flanders will need to be explained in another, very long post) and it makes me shudder.

The sky looks like it does just before a thunder storm at dusk.  It smells like there is a fire somewhere and it is eerily quiet.  The street that we lived on was never quiet as it is only 1 block removed from a major route in the city.  There is a calm that feels so uncomfortable due to the fact that I am scared shitless, trapped inside my little house.

At one point in my dream I see the block surrounding my house.  I see it as I would imagine an out of body experience would be like.  I am seeing everything from above.  Although the view to the back of my house is exactly the same, the view in the front and of the block surrounding it, look nothing at all like what it really does.  My house is the tiny house in the middle of huge, scary, plantation-like houses.  There are many large, leafy trees on either side of the street.

I have no idea what this dream is about.  I know that I am scared and I feel like I am trying to protect someone (this morning I got the distinct feeling that it was my daughters).  I can't let anyone get in the house and I have to stop people from leaving as well.  I wonder why some of the things that I am seeing are exact in detail and appearance but then other things are completely different........it is just weird.  I only write about it here because I feel like I have had this, or a very similar, dream a few different times lately.  Maybe having it here will allow me to look back if it happens again.  Maybe someone out in bloggyland can offer some insight into what it means.

The Biggest Loser

Why do I watch this show?  It is full of people that work their asses off and make me feel stupid for not putting in my Biggest Loser DVD.  After I am all finished feeling like a heap of shit for not exercising I cry because it is so sad when someone has to go home.

As I type this Camryn is sighing and feeling sad for Bernie as he is getting hugged good-bye.  I wish that I had the oomph to do what these people do.  I am thrilled that I have lost every week for the past 6 but I need to work harder!

Happy, Happy

I am finally reporting some good news.  It seems as though lately all I have been doing is complaining.  I apologize.  Here is some good news:

1. I finally have a return flight from Orlando.  It leaves in the early evening so that means that we have an additional morning/afternoon to spend there.  The only down side is that we will not be arriving back in Calgary until almost midnight so my Dear Nathan will have to miss an extra day of work.

2. As I posted about already, I have a new computer.  I love that I can sit here in the living room, watch Roo do her new puzzles, blog, search for dinner recipes (we are having Jiffy Ground Pork Skillet tonight) and altogether ignore my housework all from the comfort of my new armchair.

3. I have new furniture.  Roo and I were playing on our cheap Ikea furniture the other day and well....we broke it.  That same night my Dear Nathan took me shopping for and bought me some new leather furniture.  Couch, loveseat and chair.  The chair is very comfy, I think that it is now officially mine.  No one else is permitted to sit here.

4. I have a new t.v.  Since we bought our furniture from The Brick we also got in on the "buy this set and get a free t.v. deal".  Even better is that it is not some shitty unknown brand.  It is a new, fancy Panasonic HD Plasma.  It is very purdy.

5.  I have a new van.  Circus music be damned!  My family is finally riding in comfort.  We have already packed it full of $800.00 worth of Costco groceries and filled every seat with children!  I even got to use the Stow 'n' Go feature!

6.  I am finished with birthday parties in my house until July.  Camryn had her birthday party yesterday so I am officially finished until Roo's birthday.  Thank god too, because if I eat anymore cake I am sure that I will gain back every ounce of the 1o pounds that I have lost.  Which leads me to my next point.....

7.  I have been on Weight Watchers for 8 weeks now.  As of last Thursday I have lost a total of 10.4 pounds.  I have faithfully gone to my meetings even knowing that I have had a (or a string of many) horrible weekend(s).  I have not been exercising like I should be but I am ready to get back in that routine.  I am going to go shopping for some new shoes later on this afternoon.

8.  I have somewhat organized my kitchen.  I finally have most of my cupboards organized.  I received new dishes for my birthday from my Mom (I love my new pattern!) so they were the catalyst to finally using the very top shelf of my cupboards, even if I can't reach them without a ladder.

9.  The Sears repairman came and ordered a new icemaker.  He did not try to fuck around and make it work.  He did not question my Dear Nathan's plumbing skills (in relation to hooking up the water line for the fridge) and he did not just take the damn thing out, flip it over a few times, re-install it and then leave my house with his fingers crossed that he turned it the right way to magically repair it.

10. I am getting linoleum down my back stairs.  There is nasty, nasty carpet on them currently.  It was gross when we moved in and I have to admit that we have not improved the situation any.  We will still have to live with the carpeted walls (this will be explained when I post pics after the lino is in) but at least the cats have a climbing wall.

All in all, things have been good around here.  We did not win the lottery and we will both have to work our balls off to pay for the above list but we are happy.  Now if I could just get laid.... :)

Excited

This is my first post from my beautiful, new black Macbook. I ♥ my new computer. I heart my Dear Nathan even more for buying it for me.

We decided at Christmas time to fore go the usual underwear and CDs for each other. We talked about just buying something "big" and saying Merry Christmas. We decided that we were going to buy a new computer, more specifically, a new laptop so that I can be ultralazy and surf the internet while watching tv. So here I sit doing just that!

I am super excited because this computer means that on days that I have no idea what I am going to make for dinner I can whip open my computer and all sorts of recipes will fall out of it. This means that my girls can play their computer games without having to put me out of a computer to pay important bills with or something a little more realistic, like read blogs.  This means that I can drag my computer to Florida and post pictures while we are there!!

WTF

Is going on?  Do I have poor written across my face?  Do I look poor?  Act poor? Smell poor? What the hell?  A previous post was written in response to a nasty comment that my "friend" had made about me.  The comment was in relation to our trip to Florida in May (and our previous trip in December).  This "friend" wondered "how the hell" we are affording to go to Florida as we are "piss poor". Not just poor, not po', but "piss poor".  Nice.  With "friends" like that who needs enemies.  

Since then I have simmered down and though the comment still stings I have moved on from hurt and anger to total lack of respect and a general "be civil for our husband's sakes".  I now have an acquaintance.  Works for me.  Now onto the newest reason for my anger.

This past weekend we started the process of buying a new vehicle.  I have 3 children and I drive a 2 door Cobalt.  Not exactly the best thing to be hauling around a family of 5 in.  We put a deposit on a new vehicle and have all the financial shit in place.  Good right?  I thought so until Tuesday morning.  I needed to call the finance company for our Cobalt to get a payout statement.

I called GMAC the finance company to get things going.  It was kind of a pain in the ass but I did manage to get the statement.  Later on in the day we received a call from the salesman who sold us our car, I will call him DumbAss. DumbAss was doing his "why are you getting rid of the car" phone call.  I plain out told him that 3 growing children do not fit well in the back seat of a teeny-tiny car (I might as well put wheels on Ryleigh's carseat).  He asked what we were buying to replace our car.  Well it is not a GM vehicle.  I explained that we have looked at our options with GM and they are just not good enough and do not have exactly what we want.

Long story short, DumbAss commented about how it looked like it would be too expensive for us to buy out of our lease.  Exsqueeze me?  Begga pardon?  When the fuck did you become my personal banker?  How the fuck do you know what it is or isn't too expensive for me?  What is it about me/my family lately that have all thinking that we are on the verge of ruling our own cardboard boxdom under a bridge, or living in a van....down by the river?

I know that the "friend" has heard me say, on more than one occasion, that I cannot afford to do or buy something.  I should have been more clear with her and said that I am choosing not to do or buy something because....well, I am going to Florida, buying a new van, renovating my house, clothing my children, you get the picture.  Now, after I am finished doing all of these things I may be poor.  When that is the case I guess I can always call DumbAss the car salesman for financial advice.

Airlines = Suck

The long weekend is now over and the parental invasion has come to an end. I thought that today I could get back to my normal life, you know.....having a zillion things to do and about 5 minutes to do them. First on the list was to check email that has not been checked all weekend. Not that I get important emails or anything but dammit, I need to know where I can get cheap Viagra!

I opened up my email to find that I had 15 new messages. I scrolled through the free crochet magazine offers, Dummies e-tips and exclusive Safeway email direct offers only half-assed paying attention when I noticed SOMETHING IN BOLD CAPS (it does catch the eye doesn't it?). It said noreply@expedia.ca. I always pay attention when Expedia comes a-emailin' as it usually relates to my trip to Florida. The one which I have been counting down the days for since I booked it. The one that is in May that is the only thing keeping me sane. The trip that I risked my Dear Nathan's job for. You know the one I am talking about.

This email was not the email that I wanted to see from Expedia. It was in relation to our flight home. It related to an airline, which at this very moment in time is not in my good graces. It turns out that our flight from Orlando to Denver, Denver to Calgary has been cancelled. Nice. Great. Wonderful. Way to fuck up my dream trip Frontier Airlines. What the hell? Who cancels a flight this far in advance?

I have 2 options as according to Ali of Expedia. I can receive a full refund for our flight or I can wait to see what Frontier is going to do about all us po' people they just screwed over. If I take the refund it is not just for the flight but for my whole vacation package. They cannot just try to find me another flight...noooooo....that would make sense. I am finding that making sense was not in any airline's business plan.

I have decided to place the last shred of faith in air travel that I have in Frontier Airlines. I am hoping that they will put us on another, comparable flight from Orlando, preferably with only 1 lay over within the same 24 hour period that I will be leaving sunny Florida. I am having nightmares (and I am not sleeping so it is really bad) that we will have to fly from Orlando to Japan with layovers in Australia and say....the North Pole before landing in Calgary sometime in July.

Please, please, please....all those in blogland, keep your fingers crossed that Frontier or someone, anyone, comes through for me and our trip. We need to have a flight home so that I don't have to cancel my trip all together. If you know of someone with a pterodactyl that I can strap a seat and some luggage to, I would be happy to receive the pterodactyl's asking price. If it is good enough for Fred and Wilma, it will do for me too. At this point I figure this is more likely to happen than the airline straightening shit out.

Pissed Off!

Ok...the pictures might come sometime before Christmas....I promise that. You are going to be so disappointed when they do finally show up....just so you know.

Today is February 13. I returned from Orlando on January 3. That was quite some time ago. When we flew back from Orlando we arrived at the Calgary International Airport, we were tired, cranky and we smelled like airplane. Once we proceeded through customs (boy those guys need a sense of humor!) we had the treat of going to the baggage claim area. Yippee!!!

As we were traveling as a herd we had to wait for an extra long time to claim the thousand bags that we had brought with us along with the extra ones that we needed to buy in Florida to bring home all our Florida crap. We waited....and waited....and waited.

After about half hour we had all of our bags. Bags, yes. Car seat, no. It was announced that United was still in the process of unloading the plane and that there would still be some baggage coming. So we waited some more. We watched the luggage go around and around on the belt. Nothing even remotely shaped like a car seat came down. At this point we have been waiting for some ungodly amount of time. My Mother is freaking out because the driver is waiting for us (we needed to rent a semi to take all of us and our crap home) and is now going to be charging overtime.

It was finally announced that there was no more luggage on the airplane and then they laughed and said "sorry suckers but yer bags are somewhere between Calgary and Chicago! Screw you!!" Well that is not exactly what they said but I am sure that is what they were thinking. I then proceeded to a counter where there were many angry people and 2 agents who were doing their best to make it to the end of their shift alive. I filled out my delayed baggage report and then inquired how I might be getting my baby home without a car seat.

One lady suggested that we might just let her ride home on our lap. Yeah, like that might have happened. Perhaps if I lived in the next terminal over but I don't....I live 3 hours north of the terminal I was spending way too much time in. Another agent advised us that they would provide us with a loaner car seat but they didn't have one. They had to go and look for one, perhaps borrow it from another airline. They had to borrow one. They found the biggest tank of a car seat known to man. I could ride in this thing and I am not a little woman.

We were advised that our car seat had not been transferred to our plane in Chicago and that it would be on the next flight to Calgary, which should be sometime the next day. From there it would be flown to Edmonton and delivered by courier to our house. Fine, I can live with that. As long as I don't have to drive to Chicago and pick the damn thing up myself. At this point, I am thinking that I should have made the trip to Chicago.

The last time that I spoke with United my car seat had made a trip from Calgary to Edmonton on an Air Canada flight. I am told that the flight arrived but that they have not yet located my car seat, read....we don't actually give a shit, we haven't even looked for it.

I have provided numerous people with a description of my car seat in an effort to make their searching easier. It is shaped like a car seat, big enough that a baby might fit in it. It is yellow. With flowers. A baby will fit in it. No, it does not have a zipper. No, it does not have wheels, then it might be called a car. No, it is not as big as a car, although a baby will fit in it.

They still have not found it. I did get a phone call from the airport here saying that they have my bag. That was on January 23. I have left more messages at the number they provided than I can count, each one getting a little bit more aggravated. No one has called back. I finally did speak with someone when I called some ladies private line. He asked me if my car seat was green. No. Was it a carry on? No. So your car seat is not green and you did not carry it on? No. Oh well, I am going to have to take a description of your car seat and go look for it.....fuck! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

I have purchased a new car seat. I can no longer stand to think of mine out there in airline limbo land. I will throw my old one away in the event that I ever see it again as I have no idea what has been done to it. I have been told that I need to mail a claim to Chicago (don't send shit to Chicago, it gets lost there) and then wait 45-60 days before my claim is processed. Then the actual claim decision process takes up to 2 week sbefore they decide if they fucked up enough to pay you back for the shit lost or if it was your own stupid fault for bringing a car seat with you.

By the time this all gets figured out Ryleigh will be driving her own car and will no longer be in need of a car seat, unless it is for her own child. I am thinking that the airline is keeping stuff and selling it on ebay. It has to be that. Or they plan to kidnap all the world's car seats in an effort to boost the amount of people who are required to fly because babies....they don't need car seats on airplanes.

Out of the woodwork

This is not the post with pics that I promised but I am sure that you will get over it. :)

Often times when I am on Facebook I wonder to myself why some people request to be friends with me. There are girls that I went to high school with that are on my friends list but we never really were friends in school, we just knew of each other. I just accept them because....well....I can pad my friends list just like the next person. It doesn't do me or them any harm as I figure that they were padding with the initial request anyway. Over the last few day I have "collected" a few more friends. Again, not anyone that I have been laying awake at night wondering about.

I logged on the other night while my Dear Nathan was watching hockey (groan...when does football start again?) and imagine my surprise to find yet another friendship request. Only this time I damn near peed my pants when I saw who it was. Now let me just start by saying that this person was never my friend. In fact, she hated me. It might have had something to do with the fact that she once asked me if I ever had the chance would I sleep with her boyfriend and I said "uhhh....yeah". She didn't much like that but I figure if you don't want to know the answer don't ask the question.

So who is this person? Well it is none other than my Dear Nathan's crazy ex-girlfriend. Why the hell would she want to be friends with me? This is not the first time that she has tried to contact me either. When we living in Airdrie she somehow found out that we were there and called my house and left a message. I don't even think that she left her phone number she just called as if to say "I know where you live". It really was creepy. I think that the last time that they even talked to each other was 13 or so years ago.

I clicked onto her profile only to find that she had limited it. I looked at her friends list and found that she has no one else that we went to high school with on her friends list which made me wonder even more why the hell she was bugging me. My Dear Nathan did not get a friendship request from her. Why me? I left the request open for a day or so and then just ignored her because I just don't have the time or energy to deal with some crazy ex-girlfriend's weird curiosity. It was the first time that I ever ignored a friendship request. I am no longer a friendship rejecting virgin and it feels great!

I promise....

there is more to come. It may not be all that exciting but it is coming. It will even have pictures! Patience my pretties!

Pity Party

I had myself a little pity party yesterday. I don't know what it was? The weather, PMS, or just that I am crazy but between the nasty comment the "friend" made and another innocent, yet related to nasty comment, jab from my Dad I spent my afternoon yesterday crying.

It could also have been the weight gain, which I have been pissed off at myself about. Or maybe it was the dinner that I burnt to a crisp. Could have been the tater tots and hot dogs that I wound up feeding us for dinner. All in all I was very glad to see the clock strike midnight last night.

My Dear Nathan has been working like crazy with all this cold weather. Even right now as I type this, at midnight, he is getting ready to go and thaw frozen pipes for someone. In the last 3 days he has seen our girls for about 20 minutes. It sucks. I just have to keep reminding myself that when he gets his pay cheque I will be able to do the fist pump and say "cha-ching!".

I kept Darian and Camryn home from school on Monday and Tuesday. It wasn't so much the weather as it was the road conditions. I drive them to and from school and if I had been stuck anywhere I think that I would have had to give Ryleigh a crash course in the fine art of steering and tried to push us out. It wouldn't have been pretty. Especially if Ryleigh was a better driver than I. I don't need another thing to have a complex about.

Today has been a much better day. The weather was nice (only -25 instead of -40! Woo Hoo!), I got back on plan for eating, I didn't burn dinner and I even went out for a walk tonight. My parents both were great today and made me feel good. My Mom told me the same thing as everyone else has about the "friend" but it always seems to be better when your Mom tells you. I have high hopes for another good day tomorrow. Maybe I will just stay up all night so as not to give anything bad the opportunity to spoil my good mood.

This Weather Sucks!

It is insanely freaking cold today. Like the world is my deep freeze kind of cold. In anticipation of this lovely winter weather we are having I went grocery shopping on the weekend when it was not so.....cold. Did I mention it is cold here?

I picked up the usual things and casually glanced down the cat food aisle. I thought to myself that Camryn had not mentioned that we needed cat food so I would not bother to buy any. I never know how much cat food we have because it is kept in the basement which I try to avoid because if I am down there it means I am doing laundry and well....that is just not very much fun.

This morning, my dear Nathan came upstairs after telling the kids to stay in bed because they were not going to school today. He informed me that the cats (I have 3...I know....I am dumb) had no food and that even though it is too cold for me to drive the kids to school, I would have to, at some point in the day, put on my big girl panties and go outside. To the grocery store. For nothing but cat food. Uggg.

Knowing that I had to go out anyway I decided that I would attend the morning Weight Watchers meeting. I have been going in the evening but hell, at this temperature I am only going out once. I bundled up in my warmest, and coincidentally ugliest, clothing and headed off to the Weight Watchers meeting. Uggg again. I should have stayed home.

Last week I was down 5.4 lbs. I was so happy with myself, I kicked ass, took names and even drank some beer on the weekend before weigh-in. Thinking that since I had gotten away with it last week, I could continue to drink beer on the weekend, and eat lasagna (but damn was it good!!!), and potstickers, and drink Strongbow and then drink more beer. I was wrong! I put on 2.something pounds.

I don't think that I was wearing 2.something pounds worth of warm, ugly clothes and I am fairly certain that I did not eat 2.something pounds worth of breakfast. I am blaming the beer, not the lasagna because it was too yummy to be mad at. The worst part is that I know this weekend will be another bad one as it is Superbowl weekend and I can't watch the Superbowl without drinking some sort of beer. I will just have to plan for it I guess. I will use all my points on beer and not eat that day. Sounds like a great plan!

I suppose that I could say that the extra poundage was my insulating layer due to the cold weather. Yeah, I think that I will go with that...makes me feel better.

High School Sucks!

This weekend was a semi-kid-free weekend. On Saturday my parents took our munchkins with them while they went to visit my grandparents. It was perfect! We made plans to go and have dinner and drinks with our friends. Dinner was great! Drinks were great!

The shitty part of the evening came near the end when our friend could not take any longer hiding a secret. He told us that some of our other "friends" had said some very nasty things about us. At the time I didn't let it bother me as I didn't want it to ruin a great night. Yesterday I had nothing to do but think about what this person had said about us.....it made my blood boil.

It is always a slap in the face when you find out what sorts of things people are saying behind your backs, especially when they are totally untrue and uncalled for. This is not the first time that these "friends" have pissed me off (see my Been There, Done That! rant...same person). I have decided that this comment is the straw that broke the camel's back though. I have had enough. I don't need "friends" that say rude things about me to other people, that think they are better than me and that, honestly, I have next to nothing in common with.

I would love nothing more than to call this person up or confront her face to face. To call her out and tell her that she cannot continue to treat her "friends" this way and expect to still have their friendship at the end of the day. I would love to tear a strip off of her and knock her ass back down to earth were us lowly people live.....but I can't. I can't because it would cause much grief for the person who told us what she said in the first place. I don't want that to happen.

From now on I will be perpetually busy when invited to do anything with them. I will no longer take shit from someone who has put themselves up on a mile high pedestal. Fuck them! I just want to know when my life reverted back to high school cuz I hated it the first time around and it appears as though it hasn't changed!

Random Stuff

First of all, things are good in the world of work. We are officially on the go list for our trip to Florida!! Yay!! Happy, happy!! Meeting this morning went well. They have now implemented a seniority policy in regards to vacation but we are grandfathered in....good stuff. Let the count down begin!!!

This past Tuesday I went to my first Weight Watchers weigh in meeting (well it was my second but first after being on the program). I lost 5.4 lbs this week....even with all the bad beer drinking that I did over the weekend. I have managed to eat breakfast every morning, which for me, is a huge deal! I am motivated and I want to stay that way. I don't want to have to hope and pray that the seatbelt on the airplane will fit around my huge ass.

Last friday, Darian had her first ever basketball game. She is part of the Junior team at her school. The girls that they played against had obviously played as a team on previous occasions and you could tell that our girls were a tad bit intimidated but by the end of the game they had found some confidence and even managed to make a basket. Congrats to Darian and her team. I was a proud Mamma that day. I watched my daughter become part of a team, try her hardest and most important, have fun! I can't wait for their next home game!

Camryn is spending the day today skiing. She was very excited this morning as I dropped her off for school. I am sure that it is all about spending a day on the slopes but it certainly doesn't hurt that she will not have any homework tonight. At lunchtime she will be able to enjoy a nice warm hot chocolate because today Mommy didn't forget to give her some spending money. Another reason for her to rejoice!

This week both my older daughters surprised me as they are excited for Nathan and I to go on our trip. They know that they are not coming with us but that does not get in the way of them seeing that we need some time to be Nathan and Nancy and not just Mommy and Daddy. It is not all total selflessness though, they are already compiling a list of things that we are to bring back for them.

Ryleigh. She is 18 months old and refuses to talk. She knows that we can all figure out what she needs through different grunts and noises. She is also a very good pointer. I figure that I should enjoy that she has yet to talk back and just go with the flow. She will talk when she needs money as there is never any of that just laying around for her to point and grunt at.

Today things are good. Things are calm, although somewhat disorganized. I think that I will go and work on that while I have a little quiet time. Besides my parents are coming this weekend, I have to make it look like I do something other than surf the net all day.

Fallout

Further to the post I made yesterday....

I called Nathan today all excited as I have received our airline tickets in the mail today. He advised me that Big Boss Man has called a meeting for tomorrow morning before work starts. Think "going on vacation because work was kind enough to give Nathan the time off" thoughts for us tomorrow..... :(

Spoiled Brat

This May we will celebrate our 10th anniversary. We have never really done anything for our anniversary. On our first we did rent a room at the Fantasyland hotel, but it was only for one night and we were only 5 minutes away from home. Not really a momentous trip.

This year, being that it is our 10th, I want to go away. I want a real anniversary trip. Did I mention that I also did not get a honeymoon? It sucked. I have decided that we are going to go back to Florida. I want to go to Disney without the kids (I know, I know....I am a horrible Mother), I want to have my husband all to myself for more than the 5 minutes we get on any given day (sleeping together does not count) and I want to because I want to dammit!!!

I have already booked our trip. We will be gone for 5 glorious days. Nathan wanted me to wait to make sure that he could get the time off of work but I said that with there being 4 months notice that it should be OK. Well, turns out I may have been wrong. There are only 6 guys in total at the company that Nathan works at. One of them will be in school in May, which means that he cannot work. The other one, I found out, takes an annual bike ride on the weekend that we are going. Big Boss Man is going on a vacation at that same time as well. All in all, it means that there will only be 2 guys to cover work for 3 days if Nathan is not there.

Right now I am feeling kind of bad about it. I know that we should have asked first but I also know my husband....he wouldn't fight for the time off even though he says that he wants to go as bad as I do. He would just roll over and accept defeat. This is why I deal with any kind of confrontation. I don't want to have to put off my vacation, my one and only 10th anniversary that I am going to get.

I feel like a big spoiled brat....I want what I want, when I want it. And dammit, I am going to get it. The trip is booked and I am not going to cancel. They can hire my kids to work for them while we are gone since they are not coming. Sheesh, not only am I a spoiled brat but a horrible parent too. This day sucks.

Odd Americans

Yesterday afternoon, Darian, Ryleigh and I made a trip to Costco. It was an uneventful trip but one that got me thinking. While we were there I had to use to the restroom due to the copious amounts of water that weight loss requires. When I walked into the nice, clean bathroom stall I noticed that there was a toilet seat cover dispenser and it actually had covers in it. Toilet seat covers are not something that I usually give much thought to. I have come across very few public restrooms that have the dispensers bolted to the back wall and even fewer that provide the actual cover.

On our recent trip to Florida I noticed that the United States abounds with toilet seat covers. I first observed this in the Denver International Airport. There they were, staring me in the face, toilet seat covers aplenty. I didn't think much of it as we were in a busy airport, where millions of asses from all over the world converge. I kind of just chocked it up to an airport thing. When we arrived in Orlando there were more toilet seat covers. Again, thoughts went to it being an airport thing.

Throughout our 2 week vacation I noticed that not one public restroom that I visited was without toilet seat covers, all being of the paper variety. Americans are very concerned with the state of cleanliness of their asses, they don't want someone else's ass germs and god forbid, their precious asses touch the plastic that may have been exposed to the general public's asses.

On our way home, I thought about all the numerous times that I chuckled to myself about ass hygiene. Canadians are not as worried about it as evidenced by a distinct lack of toilet seat covers. Then I entered the restroom in Chicago O'Hare International. The newly dubbed mecca of toilet seat covers. In the O'Hare restrooms they have mechanical toilet seat covers, not made of paper but of plastic. You don't even have to work for a new cover, all you have to do is wave your hand in front of the magic box and a fresh, clean, sanitary cover appears for you out of the computerized toilet seat cover dispenser attached to the toilet. It was a little odd sitting on a plastic covered toilet seat. I felt like I was in some sort of grandparent-induced nightmare, where all the furniture is covered in plastic, including the toilet.

Another thing that I noticed is that Americans do not feel the need to remove their footwear at the entrance of a home. Our vacation home had the nastiest carpets that I have ever seen! I have been in many a carpeted restaurant here whose carpets looked clean enough to eat off of, even in the midst of the slushiest winters day. This fact astounds me. Why is it more important to have a clean ass than it is to have clean feet. Maybe Americans should take off their pants and skooch around on their clean asses so as not to have to put their dirty feet on the carpet. The other option could be disposable booties. Or there is always the ever popular Canadian idea....take your damn shoes off at the door!

All in all, my trip was a glorious one. I came home with sore, dirty feet but my ass was sparkling clean. I am sure had someone looked, they might even have been able to see their reflection in it.

It's Time

So my Mom called me today to let me know that my brother finally activated our Disney Photopass. She gave me the information needed to go online and look at the pictures we had taken by a Disney photographer. FUCK ME!!!!! I can't believe how awful I look. :( I am standing amongst 8 other people and I am the only one that you see all thanks to the extra 100 or so pounds that I am carrying around, and I can't even blame it on a baby....

So now it is time. I really need to do something about this as I am utterly disgusted with the sight of myself. I know that this is going to be really hard as I am positive that the main culprit of my weight gain is beer. Yes, that is right, the Nectar of the Gods, my favorite beverage in the whole entire world....beer. Nathan and I have been saying that we need to cut down on drinking, especially now as I want to go back to Disney. I have another reason to cut back and that is so that my ass can fit into a plane seat because if I keep going the way I am, it won't!

Another thing that I need to remedy are my eating habits. I am not a breakfast person, or a lunch person. I like to eat at night, which has to change. I already know the importance of eating in the morning so today I actually had breakfast and it was healthy. This morning I also joined Weight Watchers on-line. I am not going to commit myself to meetings just yet. If I find that I am not being as accountable to the internet as I should be then I will start attending traditional meetings.

I have also contemplated joining Spa Lady for some time now but I am hesitant as I am very much the kind of person who needs someone to drag me to a gym. If I could find someone else that was attending on a regular basis and could be my buddy then I might just join. I have been wanting to go swimming with the kids but right now the closest pool to us is closed for another week. I will look at when public swimming is and would like to enroll myself and Ryleigh in a Parent-Tot class if one is available.

These are my grand plans for the time being. I always start out all gung-ho with weight loss and quickly settle back into my old and fattening ways. As a way to try not to let that happen this time I am going to start blogging about my journey with the hopes that it will help keep me on the right path. This sucks. I can't believe that I have done this to myself. I want to be able to look at myself and know that I worked hard to get the body I have not that I have hardly worked and wound up with more body than I want.

To my 2 readers....please ride my large ass if you do not see that I am holding up to at the very least the blogging part of this mission. I need all the help that I can get. :(

Just a Quickie....

It is January. It is cold. It is still winter and there are still at least 3 more months of it. It sucks. It especially sucks when only a week ago I was enjoying +30 weather in Sunny Florida. I want to go back....here are some reasons why.....

- it was +30 in December
- the Molson Canadian was only $6.00 a six-pack
- the Wal-Mart sold Molson Canadian
- the Wal-Mart was open 24 hours a day
- you can buy beer 24 hours a day
- there is beer at the 7-11
- the 7-11 is open 24 hours a day
- groceries are cheap
- Disney World is there
- it was warm
- there are pools in the back yards
- there were no mosquitoes (if there are mosquitoes during the summer I bet they aren't so big that they could carry your children off like they are here)
- it was sunny
- the humidity felt good
- there is football there....real football, not the CFL
- you can drink beer in the parking lot at the football game
- there is no labour shortage
- there is no snow
- Floridians say "y'all"
- they think our money is "cute"
- you can buy a cell phone for $20.00

Fairies

Tis the season to be all believin' in things. A giant fat man in a red suit with an army of little green elves, flying reindeer, goodwill towards men and peace on earth. I would like you to stretch your imagination and perhaps believe, just for a second, in a very special fairy.

The story goes like this (I am sure that I will miss some details but you will get the picture)......one fine sunny day, many years ago, a hardworking Man dragged his tired ass home from another long day at the beer warehouse. It had been a particularly hard day being that he was hungover and worked in a gigantic building full of empty beer bottles and cans, you can imagine the smell.

At the end of the long day and with thoughts of dinner and bed, the tired Man pulled into his driveway and noticed something in his way. Being that he was a curious man, he stepped out of his car and walked over to the object standing between him and his dinner. What he found was a video cassette. There was no box, the title sticker had been ripped off but it looked to be in otherwise good condition. Not thinking of anything more than what awaited him inside the Man parked his car and crawled into the house. Without a thought, he dropped the video on the stairs and carried on with his business.

The next day, while cleaning, the Man's wife came across this mysterious video tape which was decidedly out of place. The wife wondered what was on the tape and why it was on her stair. She made a mental note to ask her weary husband what he knew of this tape and continued with her day.

Later that evening, after the Man was fed and watered, the Wife inquired about the strange video. The Man explained to her that he had found it laying in the driveway, picked it up and brought it in the house with nary a second thought. At this point both the Man and his Wife were intrigued as to what was on the tape. They both agreed that they needed to know and without wasting another second they popped the tape into their VCR.

What happened next was enough to knock them off their couch. They stared at the television in disbelief! How could it be? How could they be so fortunate? They knew that they had been visited and rewarded by a very special fairy. This fairy is not very well known and many people dismiss this fairy as purely myth but to this day the Man and his Wife will vigorously attest to her existence.

What they discovered that day is that the Porn Fairy had visited and delivered the most special kind of porn.....driveway porn! That's right!!! Driveway porn!!! The Man and his Wife must have been on their very best behaviour that year to have been blessed with a visit from the Porn Fairy.

It is at this time of year, while we all await a visit from the Big Red Man, who comes bearing gifts that I ask you to extend your belief in a little known fairy. Who knows? Maybe if you believe hard enough and are always nice you too will be rewarded with a special treat in your driveway......you might even be good enough for a dvd!

8 Days and Counting

So we are down to single digits. Counting down the days until we fly away to sunny Florida for 2 weeks. I can't wait. It will be so exciting to see my girls when they find out where we are going to be for Christmas holidays. I have known about this trip since the summer so it is killing me that I have not been able to tell them. Especially on days when they are driving me crazy because I figure that "If you do not behave yourself you are not going to Disney" would probably be way more effective than the "If you do not behave yourself you are not going to get your dessert" that I have been using since they were born!

There are only 8 more days until we board our flight. I haven't even started to pack yet. Do you think that is a bad thing? The way I look at it is that I have 7 more days to procrastinate about packing and cleaning and then 1 day-totally under pressure-to do everything that I should have been doing since this summer.

Hustle and Bustle

Alas, good ole' December has arrived. Month of over-spending, over-eating and, my personal favorite, over-drinking.

This time of December is always a tad bit more stressful than anything after December 9. This is because Darian has her birthday on December 9, so not only do I have to worry about remortgaging my home for Christmas gifts, I also have to worry about what kind of cool thing a soon-to-be 12 year old would like to have.

There is the ever cool ipod....wait....she has one of those. Ok, well there is a computer....wait....she has one of those.....hmmmmm.....clothes.....clothes are good but that just means more laundry! What do you buy for a girl that wants for absolutely nothing and treats it all as though it is disposable anyway? I have only 3 more days to decide.

After the 9th usually I would be running around like a mad woman, fighting crowds to do Christmas shopping that I swear every year I am going to start earlier. It never happens. This year I will have a different hustle and bustle to deal with though.

Out of the kindness of their hearts (and wallets) my parents are taking our whole family for a glorious 2 week vacation to Disney World!!! I cannot wait. No presents to buy (at least not before I leave because suitcases can only weigh so much....), no tree to decorate, no cookies to bake, no Awesome-Father-In-Law for Christmas!!! Oh joyous day!!!!

Instead of all those nasty things I have to do every stitch of laundry in the house in an effort to make sure that we don't have to spend days 5- 14 naked, I have to arrange a cat-sitter, something I never though I would have to do or would require so much effort. I also have to pay someone to shovel snow while we are gone which could be either the best money spent or the easiest money a person could make given Alberta's ever unpredicatable weather.

I did have to fight a crowded Wal-Mart the other night to buy cat food. I bought enough to feed an army. The lady at the till though I had about 20 cats. I explained that I did not wish to have to return for cat food before our trip as it is just too much of a pain in the ass. I have to return anyway....I forgot the litter!

Hmmmmm.....kitty litter.....Darian doesn't have any of that! Do you think would make a good birthday present?

Feeling Bad

With my dear Nathan out of town for work the last 2 nights I have been sitting and catching up on some blog reading. What I should have been doing is catching up on some blogging but I just can't seem to find my blog mojo. I did post the other day (more of a rant than a real post...but it's there) and then after proof reading it (after publishing it...only a little backwards) I decided to review what I have written. I was surprised. Sometimes I don't think that it was me who actually wrote some of the things on here.

After getting over myself, which didn't take too long, I am shocked and amazed that I am still linked to any other blogs....all of which are very good and entertaining, basically the complete opposite of what mine has become. I guess right now I just want to say thanks to those of you who have been so kind to take a peek into my life. I promise that it will get more interesting. Soon.

Been There, Done That!

There is something that has been bugging the shit out of me all week. I am not sure why is it bothering me so much so I am hoping that by unloading it onto the internet that I will feel better.

I have 3 daughters, the oldest of which is going to be 12 in a month. If you do the math, that means that I have been a mother for almost 12 years. In those 12 years I have had to get out of bed for early morning and midnight feedings, midnight puke clean up and midnight "Mommy sleeping...she won't know I ate all the popsicles" refridgerator raids. I have spent sleepless nights with a chicken-pocked baby, driven countless late night kilometres with a cranky teether and paced a hole in my floor with a cold-stricken bundle of phlegm in my arms. I have done all the things that I can't remember about right now that were not a vision of perfection in Motherhood.

And then after all that, I added another to the mix. At this point Darian was ready to start school. I did almost all of the above mentioned over again, this time having to do it on more of a schedule. Just when life settled into a nice rut, with nearly self-sufficient children.....I did it again! Enter Ryleigh.

I have also contiued to live life while having children. I stayed up way too late drinking but still got up in the morning to tend to my kids. I am a human being who also gets sick with colds, flus and other various illnesses. I still got up and took care of my kids. Bad things happen in life but I always managed to make sure that if I wasn't caring for my kids, then someone was, but usually I was close by.

You are probably wondering by now where the hell I am going with this. Lately there has been someone in my life, that I spend a fair bit of time with, that likes to lament about how she never gets a break from the kids, she never gets to sleep in and so on and so on. She continues with how it must be nice that I get to sleep in on Sundays or that I have Darian and Camryn to help me with and to watch our baby, Ryleigh, when I want some time or a nap.

I have listened to these comments for sometime now and lately it has reached a point where I am ready to fire back at her. All the things that she complains about, the having to get up in the morning after a late night or working hard the day before, the trying to watch 2 kids while trying to keep house, or work, or study, all of it.....I have done it! I have done it for nearly 9 years longer than she has.

It is nice that I have 2 older daughters that help out with Ryleigh. It is nice that my husband knows how important Sundays are for me and that he and my kids treat me to a morning to sleep in and a day of minimal "Mom" work. It hasn't always been this way. I did not have a "Darian" when Darian was a baby. I did the work. I did not have a "Darian and Camryn" to help me when Camryn was a baby. I did the work. Nathan has not always had a Monday-Friday job. We have done the working weekends at all hours. We had a baby and lived 7 hours apart from each other!! I did the work!!

Now don't get me wrong. I love my kids and feel like the work that I have done is totally worth the effort as they are really great kids! I am just not impressed by hearing how much easier it is for me to be a Mother as opposed to my friend. I've had a get into everything 1 year old, a terrible 2 year old and an even worse than two 3 year old......twice before already!! You are not breaking new ground.....millions of us have done it before you and millions of us will do it after we are long done. My life as a Mother has not always been what it is today and for all I know it could change in the next hour. I refuse to feel bad for how things happen here. I don't feel sorry for you when you have had to get up early with kids and truthfully I probably never will.

I know that I have it good. I am thankful that I have it good. I will continue to be thankful that I have it good and the next time that this person reminds me of such perhaps I will thank her for reminding me!

Lacking

I haven't been doing very well with this whole blog thing. It seems that the only time that I think of anything worthwhile to write about is when I am lying in bed at some godawful time of the night when normal people are sleeping. I guess I could get up and actually come to the computer, all of maybe 20 ft. away from my bed, but that would take too much effort. That and it is about 10 degrees colder in this room than it is in say....the Arctic. That makes it very hard to want to get out of bed....even for something as entertaining as posts like this.

I think that right now my life is just not as exciting as it previously has been. I have 3 cats with all 4 legs, a functioning kitchen, Awesome Father-In-Law hasn't been around much and over all things have been running smoothly here.

Although I guess I could blog about my neighbor who yelled at me for smoking on my own front step or the halfway house for all of Edmonton's teenage population across the street or maybe even about Nathan's hair, or lack thereof. The possibilities really are endless.

Now if I could only get some heat to this room we could be cooking.

Thanksgiving

It must just be the time of year I guess. I cannot believe that as I sit here typing this I can admire my baby and truly say that I don't think that I have ever been this happy. I don't have to work. My baby is acting silly and making me laugh, my pies both turned out and my basement is almost clean.

This (and for the next 3) weekend I will be giving thanks for the opportunity that I have. I get to stay at home and take care of my family. I am sure that there are a million women out there that would gladly turn in their 9 to 5 job to have mine.

This is getting way too touchy feely for me but just know that I am happy....and thankful.

When does it end?

So I was feeling kind of gung-ho this week and as a result I now have hardwood in my living room and dining room. Now don't go and get the wrong idea, the hard wood has been there longer than I have been alive but it was covered with cheap, ugly laminate. The laminate is apparently very near and dear to the hearts of the people who used to live here. My neighbor is friends with them and told them that we were going to rip it up and the lady nearly had a coronary and extolled my neighbor with the story of how difficult and how much work it was to lay it down (over disgusting pools of dog urine I might add.....gross!!!!!).

Today my two oldest daughters decided that they were going to be helpful and try to force me to stay in bed all day long while they cleaned, cooked and looked after their baby sister. I think that my children were kidnapped by aliens and replaced with clones but they assure me that they are the originals. They were cleaning the floor when I finally said that we were going to finish ripping up the laminate. It only took us about half hour to do that and now the floor is nice and clean and my front yard is littered with cheap, ugly laminate. Maybe if I leave it there someone will come and take it away during the night. It could happen.....

So now all we have left to do is paint the entire upstairs, ceiling included, lay new tile from front door down the hall, refinish the hardwood, buy and install new baseboards, decide what kind of flooring to replace the cheap, ugly laminate with in the bedrooms, redo the bathroom.......the list goes on and on. When we are finally finished with the upstairs then my basement needs to be gutted and redone. Sigh.....I hope these clone children get to stay for awhile because they have lots of work to do!!!!

Camping Trip

This past weekend we went on a kid-free camping trip. IT RULED!!!!!!

I cannot believe how much fun it can be to just sit around a fire, drink beer, talk, laugh, smoke, eat and relax. The weather was alright but considering that it is still August, it could have been much better. It was in the low 20s, high teens, which is great weather if it was October.

We played a few games of bocce ball, which I am not that great at. I am sure that if I could kick the ball I would do much better but I am pretty sure that I would break my ankle.

Although I am finding it difficult to put into words just how great it was just know that I cannot wait for it to happen again next year and hopefully for many years to come.

Getting Back On The Wagon

I guess I took a summer hiatus. I was not intended but it happened.

There are only 2 more (actually 1.5) weeks left of summer holidays. The girls will be heading back to school and I will be.....at home....with Ryleigh.....wishing that the girls were home. I will only be like that for the first little while I am sure. After that I will be too busy with junior high, this activity or that activity, homework, first words, baking and all the other things that, as a teenager, I swore I would never do or be as an adult.

This year I will try my hardest to blog more. I have been thinking about it and have come to the conclusion that blogs only get done when you sit at the computer and type and not so much when you only think about what you are going to type. Here I am........getting back on the wagon.

Slacking

Ok so I have not been the best blogger as of late but in my defence....well there is none. I have just been slacking.

Currently I am not at home. I have been playing cowgirl (ok not really) at the Calgary Stampede. Actually I have been playing "I have money" which I don't. We took the girls the other day and spent $300.00!!! It really didn't take that long, especially when you consider that we spent $25.00 to park. Parking at the Stampede requires financing. We paid $30.00 to park for the parade...yep $30.00 for 3 hours of parking. Welcome to downtown Calgary!!! YAHOO....

Darian, Camryn and I went to the Stampede by ourselves last night. I took them to see Good Charlotte and then go on some more rides. We did not get back to my parents until 1 am. I am so done Stampedin' for the year. It is always fun but very tiring. We didn't even go do all the things that we normally do. I only went to one Stampede breakfast, we didn't have any free lunches and I only ate bannock once!!

You will notice that my Stampede experience is generally related to food. That is because I am a huge wimp and do not go on rides. I watched with awe and fear last night as my children went on ride after ride that flip them, twirl them, soak them and generally make them giddy. The smiles that they had on their face make me smile just thinking about them. Camryn is so happy that this is the year that she grew big enough to go on most of the rides that she wanted to. I think that Darian really enjoyed being the big sister taking her little sister on all the "big" rides.

The thought of my kids going on some of these rides just about had me in tears last night. I was doing my best to keep a happy face on though. I don't want my kids to have any fear of amusement park rides because let me tell you how boring it is stand around with all the bags while you watch everyone else scream with fear and joy.

Anyway...there is more to this story but I have to tend to the kids for the moment. We are spending our last few hours together before I head home on the bus and they stay with Grandma and Poppa for the weekend. I can't wait.....sleep will be so sweet without having to worry about getting up with the baby. Maybe I will recover from being so exhausted in time for Capital Ex.

A Little Less Excited

So I posted last week about my new appliances.....yeah....they didn't show up. I am steaming mad...and not at dirt.

Apparently when you buy appliances in full 3 months prior to actually needing them in the hopes there is no guarantee that they will actually, in fact, be here when or because you need them. Not only were my appliances not delivered on Thursday, they were not even in the same area code as me on Thursday, they were somewhere.....else. There was no explanation as to why they were not here and being delivered to the house that has not had a stove for over a month. There was also no phone call from Sears saying that they were not going to be delivered because they were not here (although their computer indicates differently. Bastard computer telling nothing but lies.).

They apparently have finally arrived in Edmonton (thank god for the little details) and SHOULD be here sometime between 12-5 (when is Mayor Cammy going to outlaw appointment windows?) and so help them god if they are not here I will be.....well that remains to be seen.

Will update tomorrow sometime between 12-5......I hope.

So Excited~

My new appliances are coming!!! My new appliances are coming!!!

They should be here sometime tomorrow. You will notice that I have only specified "sometime". That is because any place that will deliver anything will only talk to you in generalities when it comes to time. "Yes, we will be there to deliver your (insert something you have paid for here) sometime between when hell freezes over and pigs fly....".

Actually, come to think of it, television and telephone companies also use this method of booking, and I use the term loosely, appointments.

But back to more important things. Sometime tomorrow I will proudly display shiny, new kitchen appliances in my shiny, new kitchen. I am just giddy.

Pics to follow....I promise Cammy.

Happy Father's Day

I don't think that anywhere in the world that I could have found a better Father for my daughters. He is everything and thensome to me and our girls. I wish that there was something that could express exactly how grateful I am to have him. I know it is not much but at least I can tell the whole internet (or at least a handful of people that come to my little corner of it) that I wish my wonderful husband, on behalf of our beautiful daughters, the happiest Father's Day he can have!!!

Use Your Indoor Voice

I hate the bank. I especially hate the Royal Bank. Today was an occasion that made me loathe that I have money and that it is not underneath my mattress. It was not the bank's fault today though.

I walk through the doors, groaning as usual. I hate this bank for the fact that there are always a million people in line and only 2 tellers. One who goes to smoke between each client like they had just had the best sex ever and the trainee who can't shit without the manager being in on it. Anyway, surprise of all surprises, today they had 5 tellers, the line was actually moving faster than a snail.

I was just standing there, waiting patiently when this annoying, shrill, high-pitched, Minnie Mouse, WAY TOO LOUD FOR A BANK VOICE draws my attention to the business wicket. Minnie Mouse looks like all the other people that go to the business wicket. Perky, blond, skinny, in heels high enough to look down her nose at everyone of us poor suckers in the normal, million person long, line.

She told the poor teller all about how the parking spaces around her building are being developed and how they went from "like 20 spaces to like 3 spaces which totally sucks because I don't want to have to walk like 4 blocks to my building in heels. And there are, like, creepy people who ask you for like money and like cigarettes and stuff". She further went on to explain about how "like Whyte Ave. was like awesome this weekend. Do you like hang out there? I went to...." drone, drone, like drone.

Thank god that the trainee and the smoker were not working today because I am sure that if I had to stand in that line-up any longer I would have like put my like foot up her like ass!!!! Either that or I am sure that she would have moved on to a much more interested topic...say like yeast infections or stuff.

If the poor teller didn't hang out on Whyte Ave before she might just start because clients like Minnie Mouse would surely drive me to drink.

Falling Behind

I have not been able to eat at home for weeks now. At least not anything that hasn't been charred, microwaved or come in colorful packaging that has way too long of a shelf life.

Since the last update (which I can't even remember as it has been so long) I have new drywall, which we got a sweet-ass deal on, new elecrical (think I mentioned that), new sub-floor and a fresh coat of paint.

We needed 2 days and a lot of beer and painkillers to rip up the multiple layers of ancient sub-floor but we finally did it. I am sure that the garbage men are going to be cursing me for months to come as I will put out approximately 2 garbage cans full of said sub-floor until it is all a bad memory.


Our sweet-ass of a deal drywall was completed more than a week ago and I am still sneezing out drywall dust and wiping it off surfaces that I did not even know existed in my house. There are still some spots that look like they have been patched but I guess the fact that my house is older than my parents....well maybe I can let some things slide. Other than the odd spot, I am so impressed with how the new drywall has turned out and even more impressed that he made a ceiling that looked like swiss cheese look nice and smoooooooooth.

On Monday my new kitchen cabinets were delivered. They take up my whole dining room and some of my living room. This would not normally bother me but now I actually have to share my couch with people so that we can all watch the Sens lose the Stanley Cup tonight.



Our cabinet installation was to begin today but as per usual when I am looking forward to something, it has been delayed. The installer is sick and won't make it here until tomorrow. I guess it could be worse but I have had this day in my mind since we ordered our cabinets in March and especially since I have not had a kitchen since May 19. That and the fact that I don't want to have to share my couch. That is why we have 2, one for me and one for Nathan.

We have company from B.C. here right now as well so it makes it very hard to be a gracious hostess when your company is dodging 5 ft. piles of laundry that have been neglected since kitchen reno hell started, a house that has the same amount of order (maybe even less) as say.....your friendly neighborhood crack den and enough boxes in it that you could surely pack every knick-knack that every Grandma in the world owns and still have enough boxes for the Grandmas to be packed up too!!!

So with all that rambling I will sign off for the day. I hope that tomorrow I will have a start to a new kitchen. Once the cabinets are in then I get to take a crash course in tile setting. Can't wait!!!

Day 4? 5? I lost count already.

We have been hard at work. The kitchen is down to studs, ugly paint and 2 layers of ugly floor. The electricians are here as I type giving me more outlets...YAY!! Now I won't have to make my kitchen a fire hazard with extension cords and 6 outlet plug-ins!! Joy of all joys!!!

Next on the list is to pull up not one, but two layers of sub-floor with linoleum older than my kids and cats combined. After that we need to re-drywall (note to self: hire a taper), have Nathan install sink so as to have running water, set up make-shift, survivor-like kitchen, paint, clean, (entertain Awesome Father In Law), clean some more and count down the days to cabinet installation. I am sure that in between all of that I should also do something with my children...you know...like clothe them, feed them, talk to them, stuff like that.

Isn't kitchen renovation exciting?

The Beginning of the End

It is Day 2 already. Day 2 of kitchen renovation hell. I have been excited, nervous and stressed out all at the same time for the last 3 months. From the day that we ordered our new kitchen cabinets I have been all these things.

Yesterday was the beginning of the end. I finished (well 99% finished) packing all of our kitchen into open boxes. Everything haphazardly thrown into a box and moved into what was once my dining room. The stove was cleaned and gleaming for it's new owners to come and pick it up (and they got a hell of a deal on it).

We have pulled down ugly plastic light covers and ugly chair rail only to find out that the ugly yellow paint is over what at one point in time was ugly wallpaper to match the ugly cabinetry. UGLY, UGLY, UGLY. I keep reminding myself how lovely and modern my new kitchen will be with its lovely charcoal maple cabinetry and it's lovely new stainless steel appliances.

Yes, we are at the beginning of the end of ugly in our house. Now if only the end wasn't so far away and so much work.

*I would love to add a picture of the ugly but something is not right in blogger land right now.....

Why?

are the months in my sidebar en espanol?

Impending Crazy

I think that I am starting to go crazy. I am unsure if I am being totally irrational or not but I know that the anxiety attack that I can feel building inside me is there.

I really need to get away or maybe that is not what I need....see....I can't even decide that. Going somewhere would require leaving my house and even that is getting to the point where I really need to convince myself to do it. I need to meet some new people but I have forgotten how to make friends. Where are all the people that I have something in common with? Am I just that odd that I am totally alone?

I HATE FEELING LIKE THIS!!! I just want to pull away from everyone and everything but Nathan won't let me (which I am sure is a good thing).

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!

Damn Facebook

Does anyone know where my desire to do anything other than surf Facebook went? I lost it. I have laundry to do, supper to cook and oh yeah, those 3 little people that live with me....they would like their mother back.

I find it fascinating that I have become so consumed with this Facebook thing. I have heard from a few people that I honestly never thought that I would see or hear from again. People that I actually liked and am happy to hear that they are doing well. Then there are people that I would like to converse with but I am sure that they could care less that I still populate the earth.

And then there are the people that I went to elementary school with. I have looked through their profiles and viewed their friends and they are still friends with the same damn people that they were friends with 20 years ago. Which, in and of itself, is not a bad thing but I know that they were (and may still be) a clique due to the exclusion of others. I am finding that the way they portray themselves on Facebook is exactly the way that I remember most of them to be in school. I am not sure why I give a shit about this. I think that I find it amusing more than anything else.

Oh well. The novelty will wear off eventually and I will again go back to not caring where various people that I haven't thought about in 20-something years are or what they are doing. I will be happy that people that I did give a damn about are doing well. I will be happy when my new addiction reverts back to the old one.
(Do I really sound as retarded as I think I do?)

Oh So Many Choices

I have 5 days to decide what to do with 2. My parents have requested my children for the weekend. They are even going to meet me half way to pick them up. That means that they really want to see them. Who am I to refuse?

Now I have to decide what I am going to do all weekend with no kids. Well, Nathan will still be here so I guess I should try to incorporate him into my plans. Everytime I know that I am not going to have my kids for any amount of time I get all excited thinking about the temporary freedom Nathan and I will have and all of the things that we could potentially do. We could go out to the bar, we could go to a movie, we could drive out to Jasper for a night, the list could go on and on. The major problem with all of the previously listed activities is that they require money. Something that is extremely rare and difficult to come by in this house. It is kind of like commercial-free programming. You know it exists, just not in your world.

Now without any money the list of things to do while temporarily free gets substantially shorter. We could.....clean the house, do yard work, start kitchen demolition, teach the 3-legged cat some new tricks or maybe even talk to each other. You will notice that this list does not seem nearly as fun as the one requiring money.

I figure that the solution to my problem is somewhere in Red Deer. I will bring the kids to my Dad. We will meet in a parking lot. I will hand over the kids and he will hand over a plain envelope filled with money. With said money in hand I will gleefully drive home, making plans all the way. After the first hour or so of freedom and not being able to decide what to do Nathan and I will come to the same conclusion that we do every other time our kids are gone for a few days. Money is not nearly as fun without having kids to spend it on.

Small Things Amusing A Small Mind

So as I sit here on a lazy Sunday evening, waiting with baited breath for The Sopranos to begin, I decided to do some blog cruising and there it was.....on the very bottom of the list.....My Friend Told Me I Should....listed on someone other than Cammy's blog. I am so very excited!! I told my family and well, they don't particularly care. I care though, very much. The list of people that I am boring to death has expanded. Today I bored one more person. Tomorrow, world domination!!!

Cheesecake = Appreciation

As I sit here in front of my computer amongst mess and disaster in the background I hear the lovely noises that Ryleigh makes as she gets excited listening to the saccharine tunes of Barney and his friends. The sun is shining outside and it is currently +13 here.

My laundry is washing, my cheesecake is chilling (very first one I have ever baked. Cross your fingers it tastes good), the 3-legged cat is sleeping and there are no signs of awesome father-in-law thus far. My baby and I napped together this morning, her with her head using mine as a pillow, in my comfy bed on clean, fresh-smelling sheets.

I am loving every moment of this day. I love it even more so because of Nathan. For months I have been stressing out about my EI running out and what are we going to do about money and this, that and the other thing. He can see how much I enjoy being at home with our girls right now and so he is off at work so that I don't have to be. Not that he wouldn't be there otherwise but I would have had to go to work on Monday. The guilt that I feel about not being at work was and still is very overwhelming. I have never not worked or gone to school with some sort of income. I have always contributed in some way financially but for now I am on strict orders to be where I want to be, at home, with my baby. My husband and other family make this possible for me. I hope the cheesecake is good enough to show my appreciation. If not.....I guess I will bake an apple pie.

Disarray

So, here I am two weeks after signing off so that I could paint my computer room. Well, here is the update.

Computer room - still not painted. I had to put the painting on hold to prepare for our rockin' party (which rocked by the way...a little too hard for me but that is another story). I had full intentions of resuming painting on the Monday after said rockin' party but awesome father-in-law was still here. I was kind of hoping that the disarray of my spare room would have scared him off....but it didn't. I was going to resume painting this past weekend as the weather sucked and it would have been a perfect time to paint. Apparently it was a perfect time to have a cat with a broken leg too. My poor Squeaky-boy has a cast on and has now been confined to the unfinished mess that is my computer room. Can't paint now. I can handle a cat with a broken leg but I do not think that I can handle a cat with a broken leg that is high on paint fumes.

Squeak will be lame for the next 4-6 weeks. I cannot hold off painting for that long as I need to have some of my house put back together before the total chaos that is kitchen renovation begins. At this point I place the completion of the computer room sometime around May long weekend. I am hoping that awesome father-in-law will find an alternate place to stay while he is here next week (only because without the spare room my kids lose their beds....yes, both of them!! Maybe that is not the only reason, but that too, is another story). Maybe a chaotic computer room is not such a bad thing. Maybe I could put it in a bag and sell it as awesome father-in-law repellent.

So at the moment, my cat is essentially 3-legged, my baby is teething, my computer room is a mere shell of its former self, Nathan is back at work (both good and bad), my awesome father-in-law should be here in days, I have no money due to a 3-legged cat, my mop is missing, my eye is itchy and, all in all, my life is completely upside down. I hope that I can get it somewhat together before I have no kitchen.

Procrastination At Its Best

List of things to do before Thursday....

1. Wash, dry and fold mountain of laundry that is covering up one of my children.
2. Paint computer room so that Ryleigh can have her room back (a.k.a. getting the futon the hell out of there). This job is done in joyous anticipation of awesome father-in-law's impending visit.
3. Pack clothes for ALL of the kids to spend the weekend at Gramma & Poppa's house. YAY!!!
4. Take kids for haircuts between various activities on Tuesday and Wednesday night.
5. Clean entire house in anticipation of rockin' party to be held on Saturday. YAY!!!
6. Order keg for rockin' party on Saturday. YAY!!!

So they are not all bad things but just too many to try to have done before Thursday. I have more stuff that needs to be done on Friday and Saturday morning, but those things can wait until then.

Did I mention that I will not be home all day on Wednesday and that I am leaving to go out of town for the night Thursday afternoon.

Well now comes the time to shut down the computer and make its home all pretty and new. Will post before and after pics within the next week (I HOPE!!!!!).

Ok. Here It Is.

Last night (or very early this morning) I was lying in bed thinking about the Real Moms thing. I kept thinking about all of the things that I could say make a Real Mom. I thought about how I would type out my thoughts and then realized that some of the things that I say might offend some other people and then it came to me.

REAL MOMS ARE CHANGED PEOPLE.

Once upon a time, long, long ago I am fairly certain that I would not have worried about offending people. I had an "I don't give a shit" attitude. That attitude served me well and got me in trouble all at the same time but at that point in my life it was what made me who I was, good and/or bad. I have come to realize that no matter how much I try to convince myself that I am or will be the same person after having had children, I am not and cannot be the same person I once was.

I can no longer have an "I don't give a shit" attitude (well, I guess I could but then I could not fault my children if they were the same way). I can no longer always make myself #1. Granted, it is very important for Moms to do that and I (we) should do it more consistently but the days of "takin' care of #1" are long gone. To me, #1 now means Darian, followed by #2 Camryn and #3 Ryleigh (of course this does not mean that I take care of any one of my children more than the other....except Ryleigh but that just goes without saying right now).

I look back at my attitude and actions and think about how they contributed to the person that I am today. While my past is a significant portion of who I am it is when I became a Mother that made me Me. My life and who I am is like a puzzle. My past is the completed border but my children are the pieces that fill the inside.

Still here

I have been neglecting the blog lately. It is solely because my life is boring and I do the same thing everyday. Today I am rearranging Ryleigh's bedroom in an attempt to temporarily put our sofa bed in there so that I can paint our computer room which should have been done a month ago. I really should be doing laundry though. See aren't you glad you tuned in for that compelling update!!!