Critics, line up behind my mother

I thought it would be cathartic writing about the conversation I had with my mother this evening. Alas, no, as it's provoked an argument with The Huz.

The light version of it goes like this:

. I disappointment mother because I don't keep house well
. I disappointment mother because I am not tidy like her
. I disappointment mother because ( fill in the blank here ) and because I do not exert enough influence on The Huz to be everything else that I am not.

Because of the last one, we got into an argument about how he's feeling inept whenever I get off the telephone after one of these "pick me up" conversations with the Mothership. (I'd mentioned to him that in my self defense I told Mom that once she got done fixing her husband up, she could come over and start on mine. I was trying to be sarcastic. Alas, I don't think either one heard it.)

And, just for fun, I got criticized by The Huz for doing too much for other people (like walking a neighbors son to and from the same hockey program in which our children participate, or for baking cookies for our son's care giver.)

To end this post on a happy note, here is what I think has to be the world's easiest cookie recipe:

Pumpkin cookies
1 box of spice cake mix
15 oz of pumpkin

1. Open box and place in bowl.
2. Add 15 oz of your favorite source of pumpkin (canned or fresh, but cooked)
3. Mix.
4. Spray/oil cookie sheets.
5. Spoon lumps of cookie dough onto cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes.
7. Cool.
8. Eat.

This is also a sneaky way to get fruit and fibre into a kid's diet.

November

Whew. Made it.

Hallowe'en's over, about 52 days until Christmas, but who's counting.

Really, I'm not.

Everything is just sliding together for me. The reprieve weekend after this weeks first snow had me outside working for pretty much all of the day getting yard work done. Then, I came in just in time for supper to start doing the inside work. (Mostly of wrapping prezzies for birthdays that are coming up this week.)

I feel like the last month galloped by. This month puts me back in the classroom for the whole month again. I'm not sure how I feel about that. A lot of students don't want to go back to work after the month away. I'm just the opposite. It's not like I'm super busy at work, or that I super love my job. I like some of the things I've been doing and things are in a good space now. I think the greatest perk is that I have the ability to structure the day the way I want to, and not be told "oh it's break time now" or time for dictée.

It's just a month, and doing this activity has it's benefits (I hope).

Happy November.

Out of the mouths of babes Post No #485

During a rambling conversation during breakfast that included the words muffin and top and then muffin top, I hiked up my shirt enough to show my daughter my permanent "tatoos" that she and her siblings gave me.

She looked up at me and said "Oh Maman. Those are sleep wrinkles."

I have to remember that one when I go for my physical next month.

The morning after and the night before

It's now the day before the night of Hallows Eve. We've had snow. We've had pumpkins. We've had ... good weather? Go figure. I'm confused.

Just as I scrambled to clothes the four children, it starts to turn nice. Arg.

And, just for fun, The Huz and CUs decided to gut the pumpkins last night (thank small gods, 'cause I thought I was going to have to do them, and if I did, lets just say it wasn't going to be pretty).

But, all ended ... mostly well. (The ghost of children who should be sleeping!)

Diwali this

It was that kind of weekend. Mixed with so many things to do, I satisfyingly struck one thing off after another, with a few hick-ups in between.

I've criss-crossed my neighborhood a couple of times this weekend. Art classes, hair cuts, and photo ops. Even had time to getting sick at Loblaws, rush home for a pick-me-up nap, and recover sufficiently to go out to the movies with CUs 2 and 3 (High School Musical is in the theatres, ugh. What I'll do for love.) All of this through a pouring rain.

Came home, watched High School Musical one that was on TV (hadn't seen that one yet) and called it a day, a very late day.

Sunday morning. Apparently I missed a visit from the Latter Day Saints. Too bad I was in church. I guess they were looking for the Pagan. He was helping a friend refurbish his newly purchased crack house.

The day was much more pleasant that its predecessor, so I made hay while the sun shined. Farmed out a couple of kids, brayed at CU-1 for not bringing home his duo-tang that had his study materials (the kid only has a test Tuesday), helped a friend with her marketing materials, and sent the fourth child unit to bed (he napped for three hours, I guess he needed it).

I hit the panic button when, around 4 this afternoon, a neighborhood kid was sent scouting to see if I was going to the Diwali Festival. Here I was up to my knees in Cedar Tree (I took one out last week. It was less then a foot from the house, leaning and dying. I want to replace it with a Magnolia within two years.)

Crap-and-a-half. Yes. I wanted to. Oh ratz. I guess he's never seen me loose it, as I heard from his Mom that he reported "I was having a bad day". Um, that's putting it lightly.

I did go. I didn't take all my kids. The Huz kind of got dumped on for that one. I did collect another neighborhood kid and we did truck off for a lovely walk, great food (I heard Indian Express), and a fun time.







Oh, and I'm still not done the Foghorn costume.
I'm saving that panic attack for Monday night.

Can't say that

So this is my last week of freedom to work. As October turns to November, I'll be returning to the gulag that I fondly call my French class. Though it's something I wished on for years and years (to get enough intensive language classes to finally *get it*), I'm not looking forward to the change of schedule, the smallish classroom, and the inability to structure my day as I see fit.

The Huz just hit that one home as he said to his daughter "Bienvenue" in return of her "Merci". In this province, "Bienvenue" means a couple of things, mostly "Welcome", though, over there, in Québec it is used as "thank you" too. (Thus where I must have picked it up.)

I've been trying to deprogram myself for the last six weeks. Habits are hard to break.

Maybe I should take up smoking ...

They were busy

Regrettably it doesn't get much clearer then this. It was bed time. It was late. They were busy.

The "Road Runner" is having a few problems in that she wants Wile E. to actually get her and have her for lunch. Knowing this Wile E.'s appetite, I'm sure she'd start as a snack.

I'll post Foghorn when he's done. I just didn't get to it tonight and tomorrow's not looking so good now either.

Thanksgiving day fall-out

So I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera (all 174 of them) and found a bit of evidence of last weekend's activities that pass muster for posting here:

and, before the sewing machine died ...



I've been doing hand sewing ever since. (Though I've been able to secure a back-up sewing machine tonight from my yoga instructor!)

(She's still missing a tail, and then there's the matter of velcro to close up the suit ... details, just minor details).

Out of the mouths of babes

CU-3 on the topic of birthdays and age:

"39 is, like, not a lot. Then you turn 40, and BAM, you're old."

Questions and answers

In the previous post Grandma C recommends that instead of baby cakes, which ARE too much work (I only made four), that I switch gears and go for pumpkin cakes. I think we fair-haired maidens think alike, 'cause after four of the infinks or by the time it was 10:30 p.m. , I'd gotten fed up enough trying to make suitable "sleeping eyes" that I gave up and called it quits on that side of the project.


That last one has a baby bottle in/near it's mouth. The others are screaming.
Right, I did make a bunch of baby pumpkins (having bought orange food coloring at Bulk Barn this past week for the impending pumpkin patch CU-2 and I are making for the after church coffee half-hour), so I thought I'd try it out. They worked out loverly. Though I still have a bunch more cakes to spread, it's just going to be easier, at least until we do the super deluxe version with the sparkly orange sugar this weekend.

Perpetual Chocoholic asks when I find time to make cakes, well, I'm just not making the Hallowe'en costumes right now, so I've got time.

Seriously though, I've been trying to avoid French homework, and the Ikea bag stuffed with socks that need to be paired (I might take the sock bag with me on the three day vacation ...). It's amazing the amount of time I can free not doing either of these activities!

4 babies, two terries and half a dozen pumpkins later

Sounds like the starts of a bad joke. On me that is ...

My neighbor (whom, I will admit, I don't know well) is now three days over due to have her home birth. (Ugh and ugh.)

Her son sometimes comes over to play with my brood, so I feel like I know her, at least in sympathy.

So, as a way to say "welcome to the neighborhood" to her and her soon-to-be-born, I've been working on a scheme to decorate her house with a couple of balloons, a banner and a pair of baby socks (hey we're in a recession here).

I've also planned to make "baby cakes" for her from the Hello cupcake recipe book I've previously mentioned (see owl picture below).

Holey F. are those things complicated to make. Well, not complicated, a bit picky and I don't have the patience to try and tweeze ON eyebrows on a dozen of these, er babies. Instead, I did four. (Picture to follow during daylight, pictures taking is just better then.)

When I gave up on the babies, I did two Yorkies. I think they look kind of messed up, The Huz thinks they do look like a Yorkie we know (not mine. I don't do dogs at the moment. Isn't three cats, a hamster and four kids enough ;-).

So, they'll go to the Yorkie owner tomorrow. We'll see if they get giggled to death or make it there kind of sort of looking like something.

Then there was the left over frosting that I tinted. Canadian Thanksgiving is coming up this weekend and I needed to do a test run to see what the pumpkins might look like. Desperate is a word I'd use to describe them. Though, once they got the stem in, they kind of looked cute.

If I have time to bake and frost a dozen baby cupcakes later this week, I just might send them with CU-3 for the after-school program ... That's a pretty bit IF.

We'll always have Paris

Walking home from Guides tonight, I had the following conversation with CU-2:

"Mom, I have something to tell you."

"Yes dear?"

"When I grow-up I'm not going to be a Lesbian."

Hmmm ... "Ah, ok. That's nice dear."

She also offered the following:

She doesn't want a cigarette.

She doesn't think she wants to do drugs.

Does she want to have a baby before she finishes high school? ... no

Does she want to get married? ... maybe

Does she want to have a baby before or after she's married ... maybe, but she doesn't have to be married to have a baby

Then the conversation moved on to more important things like when we're baking the next batch of cup cakes, and could she have a cookie when she gets home.

Oh, BTW Grandma C, CU-3 told CU-2 that she asked a boy in her class to be her boy friend. (She's four.) I told Papa to register for a gun license and pick-up some pork rinds and rock salt.

Legacies

From the desk of ...

When asked about involving BOTH households in the discussion regarding an activity impacting CU#1.

The reality is CU-1 had a major breakdown at the possibility of travelling with the class. We talked about scenarios but in the end we assured him no one would pressure him to change his mind. << That'd be me.

When suggesting that the other house may want to collect the children for planned activities on their time, or, heaven forbid, coordinate activities

The children activities are all private lessons with professional coaches, they are scheduled on a regular basis. We would not want to creat a conflict with events that you might plan for them. thanks for the openness.

When asked for the return of three different fall coats

We haven't seen CU-1's coats.



And finally, the cherry. This comment was thrown in for good measure

This is the second time that the drugstore cannot fill the whole prescription, that bothers me and demonstrates poor customer service, next time we will fill it in at a drugstore that maintains enough inventory to satisfy client demand.

10 years of this boys and girls. 10 freaking years. I want a do over. I want those years back, and I want the anxiety this guy is causing if not to my kids, then selfishly to me, to freaking stop.

From my own experience with my own father, and seeing what he did for the last 27 years, some how I just don't think it's going to be possible, because even once the kids are grown-up, or he's dead and gone, the legacy continues.

What I did to avoid my French home work tonight!

Time well spent I say. (These are cup cake owls and bats. I supervised the construction of these beings, as seen in Hello Cupcake a book that is as interesting to read as it is to use.)

I did eventually load the disk and got a start on the review. Sigh.

Monday night and all is well

Well sort of.

CU-3 and 4 are in their beds, thankfully sleeping at this hour.

The Huz is out at some company meeting thingy. When I asked him what time he was coming home, he cheerly announced, "oh midnight". Huh? What? That resulted in an immediate call to his cell phone and a tiny tongue lashing as I told him that 1) he's expected to put in a full, long day again tomorrow coordinating this monstrous event for yet another day, 2) he's leaving early in the morning (which means he gets up before 5:45 in the morning, which means I don't get enough support in the morning to get the kids to their respective drop-off points AND get to my French class that starts at 8:15); 3) this stupid event lasts another day, only to be followed by his first volunteer shift at ball hockey at the community centre, followed by another late night while he gets his CPR Train-the-trainer certification.

If I was a single mother I could do this. Really I could. I used to do this. I used to be a competent, all together type of a person. I've grown lazy and soft (not just around the middle either) relying on some one else to help out. I wasn't ready for the amount of work that comes with another kid in school. I thought it would be easier.

I'd take up drinking seriously if it'd help me get the laundry folded, the permission forms filled in and my French homework done. (I've been trying to get to the liquor store for three weeks now. This is not good.)

I do expect things to shift next week when I'm back at work more or less full time. (I have only four hours of French per week for the month of October, and I'll get to pick-up the projects that I've let slack off for the last week and a half.)

With October I have to really start looking at the Hallowe'en costumes. So far #3 has backed off of a Dora-esque costume and is digging in for Roadrunner. Meep. Meep. Any suggestions on how to pull that one off?

Frack

I think I'm having a Josie day.

There's a whole list of things I haven't had to make a successful day. Unlike Nat I've not been working my passion (Photography) for oh about two weeks now. As barometers go means that there's something pretty shitty sliding around. And there's the rub. It's been a rough day.

7:30 a.m. meeting with CU-1's teacher: 30 minutes of him telling me of problems that my Grade 6er is having and asking for tricks and suggestions he can use in the classroom. (The kid already has a modified program (read: individualize learning plan).)

8:30 a.m. finally role into French class - late. So far the teacher hasn't been a stickler about MY attendance (I stared in the middle of week 3 of the program and am still trying to figure out the ropes).

After explaining to my classmates that though I wasn't there at the start of the day, that I did start the day in French, I was asked to conjugate a verb example in all the forms (present, past, conditional, imperfect, yada yada). Ashen faced, I turned to the teacher and said - "mais ca c'est le raison que je suis ici". <<>> I ducted that one _for today_.

12:19 p.m. Start the across business district (read eight block) hike to the restaurant where my colleague is having a good by lunch. Reach there just in time to give a handshake and a hug and turn around and head back. We only have an hour and the walk took 25 minutes. (They're long blocks and I had a colleague in tow.)

1:40 p.m. Excuse myself to return to my office for a meeting that'd been scheduled two weeks prior to the last minute announcement that I was to begin French training.

This was a highlight. The sun was shining. The birds were no where to be seen (last time I felt like this, I got pooped on), and construction was in full swing. (Must get new shoes. The soles are pretty thin on these!)

2:00 p.m. Where is the meeting chair? Where is any one? Did I get the date wrong?

2:05 p.m. Meeting begins. I'm in my element until I get confused and point us all South for a few minutes. Adjust direction. Meeting continues tickiety boo until colleague realizes no one is looking at the same document.

2:50 p.m. Meeting breaks for a bio-break and I slip back to my desk to print out the correct documents.

2:52 p.m. Meeting organizer offers his regrets that he has to excuse himself from the meeting because he has a personal matter to attend to. I suggest we rejoin in about 20 minutes, to his agreement.

2:55 p.m. Unsuccessfully I flip through my cell phone options trying to find my cell phone number (it's not regular that I call myself). I have to add time. I ask a colleague for help.

3:13 p.m. My colleague finds my number and I'm able to add time to the phone.

3:15 p.m. Other meeting attendee says he can't return to the meeting, he's got another meeting to go to in the pub downstairs (the good-bye luncheon, liquid after dessert party ...).

3:20 p.m. The chair returns and we agree to pack it in for the day.

4:00 p.m. After a final visit I take my leave and try to determine which bus I can take home/to the caregivers. My regular route is SNAFU as a result of road work that's been going on since Spring.

4:35 p.m. Finally get to the farthest point for the first child. He's in a bad mood. Needs food. I forgot the piece of fruit I was saving for him on the table in class. Frack.

5:00 p.m. Competed debriefing with care giver and push on to collect the next bunch.

5:20 p.m. I'm really cutting the pick-up close these days. Frack. Ok I've got 3/4th le gang. Where's the other one?

5:21 p.m. Oh yah, she's started dance class today (hey - it's free at the community centre! Swing and Meringué who wouldn't want to go?)

5:30 p.m. Look in at the class. Wave to CU-2. She doesn't understand my pantomime. Must play Sheraids more often.

5:45 p.m. Am reminded that CU-2 needs a two litre pop bottle for school tomorrow. Rush the children through Giant Tiger to buy cheap pop and ice cream (might as well make this fun).

CU-4 decides he's hungry and becomes difficult to manage. Leave him in the care of Big Brother (CU-1) who wanders off to look at a pile of games in a discount pile.

5:52 p.m. Thank small gawds there are no lines. Make it through and push on.

CU-1 and CU-4 were told to "start walking" when I hit the check out. They're headed for the library as CU-1 had received a call regarding a pile of holds he ordered. (I swear, he's keeping the branch circulation rates high by his efforts alone!)

6:03 p.m. Make it to and through the library. New staff on duty. They're not amused by the children.

6:23 p.m. Home again, home again, jiggity jig. Searching the cupboards for something fast, and is a reasonable facsimile of nutrition. We eat buffet style as things get cooked.

7:30 p.m. Made it through homework wars relatively unscathed. I think the schedule CU-1 has been asked to follow might be working!

7:35 p.m. Asked CU-2 to bath herself and help bath CU-3 and 4. Moderate success after interductions between soap and child is made.

7:45 p.m. Screaming CU-4 finds me wearing a towel and his pride. Not bad. He made it through bath hour without pooping in the tub.

7:49 p.m. While scavenging for his pajamas, diaper already in hand, CU-4, a room away, starts schreiking. CU-2 reports "OOooooeewww. Gross!" which translates - get a buck, hot water, a pile of clothes and possibly bleach.

CU-4 has "expressed himself" (no no not that one, the other one) on the floor and the new chair.

7:51 p.m.Triage.

7:58 p.m. Things are much more under control. Now the cat herding begins.

8:30 p.m. CU-2 asks me about my homework that I still have to do (conjugate verbs). I tell her I'm too tired, then I back track. She's right. What kind of example am I setting?

It's now 9:27 p.m. and I still have the verbs to do, plus lunches for five, plus clean up the kitchen and at least haul the clean laundry out of the dryer and transfer the wet stuff. I really just want to go to bed. (The last three, maybe four nights, CU-3 has been piling into my bed between 4 and 5 in the morning, complaining of bad dreams. The Huz wakes at 5:45 a.m. and rattles around for an hour before I get up. I'm tired.)

Oh, and where is The Huz while all of this is happening? He's on a course. Looking at his schedule and how it's shifted, it looks like I won't see him for the next week (between work obligations and getting his CPR teacher's certificate training).

Frack.

Oh, and then there's the cat:

And I found myself envious

Do you feel it too?

To do

I need some one else's to do list. Mine is daunting.

It's the change of seasons. In with the summer clothes, out with the fall and winter stuff. Meanwhile, there has a to be a sort to determine which close will never fit the child again, which are ok to pass on down, and which need to be passed on.

That's the top of my list. Then there's the painting, unpacking from summer (which, six weeks later is still yet to be done), sorting through and catching up on all the school forms, preparing the yard for the cooler weather (putting away the toddler pool, and tidying up some of the toys), washing windows and tidying gutters. (Those last too are perpetually on my list and just don't seem to get done.) Then there's the regular stuff like sweeping floors, laundry, bringing in groceries, attending to emails, preparing proposals for photography shows, library run.

Those are some of the reasons I want some one else's list. It might be more interesting.

Laborious Labor Day

Happy first day of September.

As I finally reach the computer, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who's been having troubles getting posts out.

With a whole week of nice weather, I've been using what I've been given as wisely as I can.

I got 8 square metres of dirt delivered Friday night (a gift to myself that I've been thinking about since New Years) and have been playing in it most of the weekend, hauling it too and fro. It felt good to be working the muscles again. It's also a good child care device, as long as you don't really mind the extra laundry and kid scrubbing that accompanies it.

After hours I've been doing the interior work. The Huz has been working on doing some fix-ups of the place, and I'm responsible for the finishing work (priming and painting). It's been going fast, so it's not been so bothersome this time. (I still immensely dislike painting walls though.) The painting resulted in a funny episode this morning with CU-2 wondering if I'd dyed parts of my hair white after she'd gone to bed. I told her that it was because of CU-1 and his actions, that my hair turned! (It was just paint.)

Schools in for my kids. Second week and all. CU-2 lamented to me that she wished she had homework. CU-1, when asked his teacher's name (I know what it is ...), didn't know. Sigh. And he's supposed to go into grade 7 next year. CU-3 would like to be wearing her school clothes to bed. She'll got three of the four days this week and will get to meet up with a chum she hasn't seen since the end of June.

I'm glad to get back to some routine. The Huz is packing five lunches tonight. Not his favorite thing to do, though he does it so well. (It's like getting a super surprise for lunch.)

I'm trying to catch up on who's up to what and maybe some paperwork that really needs to be attended to, now that it's September! Cripes! September! I've got only eight weeks to work on the Hallowe'en costumes now! ;-)

School daze

1, 2, 3. That's how many kids I have in the same school at one time. Gawd help the teachers!

I don't have much of a report on CUs 1 and 2 yet except to say I've seen them and have been able to complete two intrepid shoe exchanges (apparently they didn't like their father's or their father's partner's choices [I've seen the underwear they picked out for CU-2 - can we say "grannie pants" for a 10 year old?!]. Who can blame them.)

CU-3 does a staggered intake. Today was her first day. The feed back that I got back was that she'd done spectacularly. She herself reported that she listened and didn't end up in the time-out chair for not listening. So far so good.

There is one rather amazing development I can post about. That's about CU-1's choice hair. As one comedic friend commented "oooh a sunrise!". It's now three toned. Yellow, orange and a flaming, flaming red on top. (Great for first day of school. I think he'll fit right in don't you?) Though, I have to think that I've broken the code. My dear-EXH didn't want CU-1 to wear glasses because he thought he'd get laughed at and picked on. I figure the hair is to distract any one from seeing that CU-1 is actually wearing glasses! That's got to be it.

Right now I'm saying silent prayers that he doesn't do the same thing to this kid when he's in high school. He's going to get the snot beaten out of him for sure.

So much for joining the circus

"Where's Mom?" child unit three cries out two rooms away.

"She's gone" replies The Huz looking at me as I put my head on the table. (So much for a quiet post-dinner chat.)

"Where'd she go?" whines CU3.

"She's run away to join the circus" The Huz replies.

"Can I go too?" is the nasal-based question from CU3.

"Sure."

"But I don't know how to go there."

um, that's the point isn't it?

Crabasses unite

Summer is supposed to be a time of relaxation, and good spirits, or so *I* thought.

Not this year.

Yesterday night I had a bad parenting moment 101 where I blew-up at one of my children based on their father's behavior (not the one I live with - the other one). I wanted to just stop being a parent/adult and have my feelings considered. I wanted some one to stand up to this guy who just continues to be mean to me. I have to be an adult though.

* * *

Friday, as I was walking homeward to collect children, I stared at the railroad tracks at my transfer point and wondered what would happen if I just didn't go home for a few hours ... It has never happened, except in my head. (I've been doing this since I was little. It's a version of the fight or flight mechanism.)

Summer vacation, the good and the bad

Well, I survived the three weeks internment with the Mothership and four kids. I wouldn't call it a vacation (making all lunches, dinners and snacks for six for 21 days straight is not a vacation. Vacation, in my opinion, involves eating out a bad restaurants at least twice).

The kids were unhappy when the three weeks were up. I was thrilled to be returning to work. FINALLY, there was some down time. Except. Sigh, there's always an exception.

At the beginning of the summer we got the school rabbit. While I'd carefully interviewed my son regarding the rabbit's drinking habits (he assured me she was no party animal), cleanliness, and level of rabble rousing-ness, (he assured me she'd pass any and all tests I could think of) I'd forgot to tell him that she was not allowed to have friends over.

While I was away, and The Huz was left behind to fend because he only gets two weeks of vacation a year (and one is always used at Christmas time because his company has a mandatory shut down at Christmas where the employees don't get paid ...), apparently Bibi (the bunny) threw a party and invited, oh about 500 of her closest friends. Dear readers, we had a flea infestation.

It was bad, very very bad. I kept getting 911 calls from The Huz who would sneak to the phone while being held captive by Bibi and her roudies. Whispered telephone conversations would ensue so that they wouldn't know where he was.

He did eventually escape and came back with eco-chemical war fare to try to get his home back.

Fast forward to my return.

My house has never been so clean. Ever.

The enemy has been routed. The last of the stragglers are suffering.

Mata Hari goes back to school in 11 days.

On the road soon

Oh, the lecturing has already begun! CU-1 hasn't been home more then 35 minutes and it's been non stop chattering. (Anyone who knows this child and has been left alone with him for more then an hour has a good idea of what I'm talking about.)

I'm debating whether to send him out in the first car load or the second.

All in all, the kids are glad to be home, and I'm glad to have them. We'll collect the reinforcements shortly, stop by the library to get our fill of books, and run the last of the errands.

The blog will be quiet until August, unless I find my way home earlier!

Feeling like the Mad Hatter

In Alice in Wonderland's story, the only one I've seen a Disneyfied version of too, there's the dumb rabbit running around creating some kind of chaos (as you can see, I don't recall all of the story).

Bumpy segway.

I headed over to Josie's blog to check in with her while I procrastinated and was relieved to see she had a list. I'm soooo borrowing it, though I don't know what I'm going to do with a dress for a wedding.

I've got a weeks worth of laundry that I need to take with me for the three week "vacation". (I'm still debating whether packing/showing up at the cottage with dirty laundry is gauche.)

My pants need to be let out. So, there's another conflict. (I'll just pack the one's with a bit of stretch to them. So what that they've been on the bottom of the laundry pile for a week +_.)

Make-up? What's that. I guess I'll replace that with find the first aid kit.

Don't need my passport to go to Québec. Wait a minute. I better check the current political climate.

Laundry ... maybe I can get Rhino to finish it before I leave ... hmmmm

Colour hair. Frig. I'll just toss the box in with everything else and maybe get around to doing it at the laundromat.

Money. Fewf. I don't have any, so that'll be no problem!

Insomnia, or what cats do when I'm sleeping

I'm going through a bout of insomnia again, or maybe it's just a bout of anxiety. Having just given birth to a large personal project, having to prepare for two presentations (one two-hour presentation in front of ALL my peers at work, the other is before a client Friday morning, a mere few hours before I start my "vacation"), and having to pull my shit together for a three-week indoor camping extravaganza for five (aka vacation with the Mothership at her cottage), I can't sleep.

I've tried. Lord knows how I have tried. While The Huz rumbles and snorks next to me, I lie there in a lucid state, visions of toothbrushes and small person's underwear going through my head.

So, instead of trying to calm my concerns, and write lists, l-o-n-g, detailed lists, I start new projects (yes, it's a good time to start cleaning cupboards at 3 in the morning!) until I get distracted ... Oooh shiny things! Other's blogs! Time to catch up! Webkinz. Gawd knows I haven't watered the garden for weeks.

It's going to be a very long day.

Failure is scary; success is scarier

Ok. Ok. It's been a rough week. I'm not a person used to getting a lot of attention (despite what I look like!)

I just finished a project for which the idea has apparently has been kicking around my 'hood for quite a while - an arts map identifying all the interesting places that support the arts in our immediate corner of the city.

A friend of mine was pushing me hard to get it up and out. I guess he knows I'm a great three-quarter person. That is, get three-quarter of the work done, then just forget to pass it in. (Not that I ever did that kind of thing in school. I just didn't have to. I wasn't scholastically hot shit until I hit graduate school.)

So, it's out now. Made free. Go out and multiply!

***

On a "where the hell is this all coming from" kind of note, as I think I've ceased to have a hold on much of my reasoning abilities, I just finished The Adventures of Johnny Bunko a book that's fast, easy to read, and makes reasonable career sense, coming from a comic book. (It's worth the wait from the library, or, if you go to the website - he posts a couple of pages a day.)

To summarize the lessons learned:

1. There is no plan.
2. Think strengths, not weaknesses
3. It's not about you
4. Persistence trumps talent.
5. Make excellent mistakes.
6. Leave an imprint.

I feel that the release of the map, and quite a few things I've done recently, hits quite a few of those lessons.

Well fill my boots with pride

A supper hour post to spread the news! A photo I submitted to my library system to celebrate the 90th birthday of our local branch has been deemed banner-worthy. It will be used as signage that will appear on the side of my local branch library later this fall!

I'm mildly pleased.

When Mom's rock

There's something in the water.

In the last four days I've had at least five people ask me if I was going to have more children. I don't know where that's coming from. It could be that the extra weight is a signal for people to ask if I'm in the family way (I'm not). It could be that the idea that once you have four, what's another couple? Or, just maybe people think I like kids. Ha. No way it could be that one.

Here's a snippet of a discussion I had today at work with some of my male colleagues after one asked (he said he was joking) :

Him: "I had a great weekend with my kids."
Me: "I'd have probably had a great weekend with your kids too."
Him: "Aw come on. You like your kids."
Me: "Just what would give you that idea?"
Him, staring at me trying to figure out if I'm joking.
Me: "I like other peoples kids. Mine? That's another thing."

Tonight, while in transit to pick up CU-4, I met up with the Ball Hockey Canteen Den Mother who started going at me, telling me that the world needs more parents like me. Like what? Like huh? Me? Nah.

And this weekend, one of my bestest friends from grad school called me, out of the blue, and went on about me. Good grief. You'd think I was Josie or something! ;-)

Happy

Happy birthday Margaret!

Happy birthday American! Happy Independence Day American cousins!

Blogging has been light. Life is meh. Laundry, and a lot of rain (so so much for the reinstatement of clothes lines in my part of the world).

It's amazing the basic pleasures that I'm enjoying with the less soap operaish life. The Huz finished the stairs leading to the back door and now we have a most enjoyable place to just sit and be and watch the children act like squirrels on speed.

I'm taking a lot of pictures and am jamming up files at home and work. They're just not getting farther then being put into the junk drawer on my desk top. It's that kind of time I'm going through. There are other things to distract me, and paperwork, even creative paperwork is for Fall and Winter pursuits.

We're having a light month for pizza nights as the older kids aren't on high rotation. The next one is tomorrow (hint hint Josie ... just in case you do a road trip to Ottawa with WG to visit Rhino). Or Alison, if she'd like a night out with her girls and no cooking!

The next one will be in August. Probably the 18th, which will be the kick-off for the rest of the year (minus the screwy rotation adjustment that occurs in the new year).

Happy Canada Day

And now just because ...

There is something wrong about this:

Summer vacation

Schools out for summer. The two older kids go off on the first leg of their summer adventure. Little red "turtle eyes" abound.

I'm kind of looking forward to the downer-time. It just means that I have a 25% greater chance of going to the bathroom ALONE or without having to ref a fight from the throne. (The Huz picks up the slack, thus not a greater percentage.)

I'll also have some time to go hunting for library books that have found themselves wedged into the most interesting places (I think I've previously outed my children as being part squirrel).

And maybe I'll get around to the neglected victory garden, though I think I should try and cut my losses and open a free for all to the skunk who uses the yard as a free way every night.

While they're gone, life will go on. I've got a show at a local coffee shop, and it's getting positive feedback. I'm volunteering for our community fun run through the neighborhood. I'm also taking up some activist causes that have a short shelf-life (to match my current attention span).

And for spice in my life? On going parking war issue (parents of the daycare in the neighborhood park North on the East side of the street - that's parking backwards on the correct side of the road) that just got escalated when the representative from the counselor's office that we were working with outed me and The Huz (not that we really were hiding) by sharing our names and e-mail addresses.

I've been more or less careful about when and were I post my email address since experiencing stalking behaviors from The Ex. It showed lack of judgment on the senders part to include the email addresses and even more so, our names. Stay tuned for stories of by-law being used to retaliate. Weee.

Alas, that's a mere distraction for what's happening over in Josie's world.

When I stop and try to mope about my sheet, I get distracted by her story. What a freaking year since I lucked out and followed her id back to her site. (BTW she writes well, and is very witty, and it worth going back a bit to read earlier posts.)

What a difference a year makes.

Grape vines

It's a weird four days away. I've come back to a warped version of the world.

I'm in a cross-roads of interpretation with one friend. Interpretation of events are considerably different. Makes me wonder who's universe I'm living in. I had to ask my dear Huz about a comment made, that I believe pertains to me: that I hold grudges. Now he's agreeing with my friend about this, so I had to look up the word in Websters, that states: "to be unwilling to give or admit : give or allow reluctantly or resentfully". Huh. I wouldn't have used those words to describe me at all. (Except for three instances we agree on, and another instance I voluntarily admit to, and in each of those instances, the person came after me through my children.) So, to the friend who is flirting with dumping the friendship. Do what you must do. Let me know if you ever want to come back and play in the same pool.

In another weird turn of grapes on the vine, The Huz was talking to him Mom who gets a day pass from the hospital to test the waters at home, and see how she can manage. It's a good thing to because Grandpa is having his later-life crisis now that he's living life like a cat and is counting on extra lives. Apparently he's gone out and got his ear pierced. WTF is all I can say about that one. I guess there's another store we can shop at now for his Christmas present.

While we're in the WTF mode, a fellow blogger, whom I count as one of my friends, is going through a significant, earth shifting period in her life. It's a "holy crap" moment and I'm very very sorry for it. Though I haven't been through the exact same thing she and her BFF are going through, I can relate. I had a very close friend who went through the same scenario. I'm sorry you're going through this. I can still recommend coming to Ottawa. We've got lots of amenities and support, if things go that far.

June 20

Their point of view:


Mine:


Need I say more?

Insane

If you follow Miss Vicky's blog, you'll know where I've been running around to for the last couple of weeks. There's a lot going on in my community and, for the most part, I love it. The downside is that laundry and the cat-hair dust rhinos just don't get attended to.

Last week I was on course for the entire week. Lucky me. In many ways. I have a great employer who sees value in education and is open to trying some new things after some one has consumed the kool-aid of the day. Last weeks was all about facilitation. It took five days of discussing what markers to use, how to rip paper, and how to lead people through a chat about how to do things!

I'm being flippant about the subject. It really was an exceptional course. For people who don't feel comfortable leading a group in discussion, TAKE THIS COURSE. For people who need to try to direct a group of people to come to consensus



(sometimes its like herding cats), TAKE THIS COURSE.

It was good. Actually, great, as courses go. With applicable processes! (I spent the better part of today trying to figure out how to integrate parts of the techniques into how I do my job currently. The first test comes Thursday when I get to take a group of people through a review of work that's already been done on their project and conduct a gap analysis.) Thrilling stuff by the sounds of it eh? Well, for me it is.

Downside? I'm taking Friday off.

Schools out for summer!

Boo versus Yah

Alison over at Party of three is having a cheerfest of the good and the bad. She's asked for an update on her reader's status. Seeing that that pile of laundry hasn't shifted from my kitchen table in about four days (it's a bit like the magic pile that never goes down, but the colors have changed), and I've been burning candles towards the middle, and like every year, I keep forgetting about the end of the school year, I'm posting my response.

There's WestFest AND Le Frano both going on. Yay.

I don't know if I'll attend either. Boo.

***

I got my lawn mowed and the garden tended a bit (yes, bylaw doesn't have to come by and site me!) Yay.

***

My eldest daughter told me about a sleep over she's having a school tomorrow and has asked that I make cookies, from scratch. Yay for her.

***

I didn't know about the sleep over because she transfers to her other home tomorrow - aka the cone of silence. Boo.

***

This last week has been a rough one. My FIL and MIL both have been hospitalized. MIL the great has been out for a couple of weeks in traction with a broken femur. FIL gave us a good scare when his health went down very very quickly. The Huz and I were worried that we were on a death watch. The details were frightening (and involved some pretty serious tests). All boo.

The Huz talked to MIL the great tonight. She's going to still be in the hospital for another six weeks. Double-boo for boredom.

FIL? He's being sent home tomorrow. Hoo-ray for fast recovery, with no foreseeable damage to his internal organs. Yay.

***

I have Monday off. Yay.

I have to spend the day running back and forth between the kid's school collecting bedding and food and eventually our summer boarder - aka Bingo/Bibi the rabbit. (Last year we had birds. I won't do birds again thank you).

I'll also be doing an installation of some of my photography at a local coffee shop. Yah.

So, for the most part - it's a pretty good dose of yays, if I can just stay awake long enough to enjoy it all!

A familiar site

Table for nine please

As I type this, my kitchen is running amok with 9 pre-pubescent girls who are going to be here for another 20 hours. Yes. It's a 24-hour birthday marathon for CU-2. CUs 1, 3 and 4, and The Huz have been banished to the Northern regions until such time as the coast is clear.

Four hours down. So far so good.

7:30 and it's party games, gossip and hot

It's freaking hot. About 27 outside. A bit warmer in the house as it retains it's heat. I have no idea how these girls are going to sleep tonight, or maybe that's the point ... they just don't.

I'm working on having a headache - probably stress related - as I'm worried about the party and the next hours to go well. Parties were never my forté. I only had the one friends party as a kid and the memory of that one still makes me cringe (I invited several boys and only one showed up. The girls teased him so much he went home early. He'd been my best friend and of every one there I wanted his company the most.)

To this day my parties don't often turn out well. Well, at least not like the rocking parties I hear about or occasionally attend.

This one is going well so far and CU-2 is happy. She's received a pride of Webkinz. If I can hold her off from entering them all, she can have a long, happy playing life well into 2015.

It's June! Woo hoo

Well, not really. CU-4 aka Chew-ba-boy has shared the love once again. I've got an itchy throat and body aches at every point where things connect.

To make matters more interesting, between chasing him around to do the perpetual nose wipe, and trying to complete this entry, I'm running behind him as he slowly takes apart the house.

The funny thing is I can appreciate the fine dusting of flour across the floor. The foot prints left behind are the results of a wordless, beautiful story.

Or, maybe that's the drugs talking!

Vacation? What vacation

With only a couple of weeks left of school, I've being going over the details of vacation dates and working the line to coordinate coverage to reduce child care costs (when 1/2 of my salary goes to child care, I look for places where I might be able to save a bit!)

I thought I had it all figured out, then WHAM! I'd forgotten about CU-4's care giver who, of course, gets a summer and winter break! With luck, our weeks overlap a bit. It still means that there's got to be a bit of dancing because The Huz is taking off one of his two weeks jointly with the family, though he'll be working on a construction project while I'm at the Mothership's cottage (keeping the kids away from The Zone).

The next week of vacation he's going to take off to be with the kids while I go back to work. So much for R&R eh?

Then we tag off yet again. I go into camp mode again, and possibly back out to the cottage. All is well and good until I actually figured out that "Ta" as CU-4 calls her, is actually on vacation one week longer then our vacation. Oh ratz!

That means I've got to find care for him or take the week off while CUs 1 and 2 are with their father. It's a lighter load, but not particularly how I'd want to spend a week.

Where's CU-3 in all of this you might ask? Well, Monday next we'll confirm her entrance schedule into school. Yes SCHOOL! (queue the music)




Evil Maman alert here! I've ALREADY bought new school shirts to add into the mix, and have dug out the uniforms for NEXT FALL! Though, really, it was because it was in the way of the impending construction zone. Oh yes. That's it!

Run Forrest run!

It's race weekend where I am and we're billeting a runner who's taking on the half-marathon this weekend.

In talking with him, I was mentioning about how I wished I could do what he's about to do. That got us into a very interesting, those twisted discussion about performance training, laziness and
other sundry excuses (kids being the biggest of them all!)

I am in awe of those to pursue things of which they are passionate about. I struggle with it. In fact, I joke about being a reformed smoker. Well yes, I was one once. It was all tied to working late nights and going out for coffee and a donut at Tim Hortons (when they allowed smoking in the store). I think I lasted all of six weeks of Monday nights then got bored. This side of my personality is kind of sad really (though it also serves as a great joke about Crack addition and how I think I'm immune!).

Doing the rounds

Cripes! A whole week since I last blogged.

I just got back from two days at the mothership's cottage. It was a little bit restful. We had a lot of rain and a lot of cooler weather. That didn't stop me and CU-4 from making a break to the pocket beach to build a few castles. Alas, that's when my camera's battery decided it was tired and needed a recharge. Oh well.

For those of you traveling through the Pontiac area, stop on by to take a peak at Zephr-Rose's studio. She's offered a corner of the space to put up a live pick-up-and-poke site for some of the coop's products. She's also got some one of a kind drawings and prints that she's made for sale.

I called it, didn't I?

And I quote:

"From this day, CU-1 and CU-2 will no longer attend after school care while in our care. XXX and XXX have been advised of this change."

I figure I've got six more years.

Just makes me sad.

Oh, and on top of that CU-1 spent an hour crying about a Social Studies test he's going to have Thursday. He told himself over and over and over again that he was going to fail. How do you beat that logic?

I know other's have it hard. Days like this make me want to push the easy button and say "Dear X, you want him to badly. Here you go."

The Huz's comments to my sentiments? "You think long and hard about that one." It seems like the fight has gone out of him too.

Funk

I finally got a chance to do my rounds after a stupidly nutty week of getting stuff together for an photography exhibition, getting CU-3 and 4's room ready for habitation (a LOT of late nights), and then all the kids are home this weekend.

We've also been checking in on Grandma Tim who took a tumble last week and broke her femur.

The tour was distraction 'cause now I'm having a Church of Latter Day Saints moment (remember those commercials about changing the crappy into something different/better?). Meg started it by sharing her list. Josie's mood has prompted me to go nostalgic with



And now I'm play it continually until I've got three kids rolling their eyes and dancing around with me. So Josie, I invite you to play the funk for what it's worth.

Oh, and happy Mother's Day!

Come on rain

So tonight is supposed to rain. I say bring it on. ANYTHING to drive me in doors to startfinish my chores.

For the last week I've been working outside to move the fence out to the property line, to clean up the yard of winter detritus, to think of planting, and to walk around putting flyers up about the many many initiatives I have going. I'm hoping things clear up so that I can post flyers about a weekend show I'm having at a gallery, just in time for Mother's Day.

Then there is the painting. OMG how I hate painting. But, it's the last of the last of things to do for CU-3 and 4. Then I can clear out the crap from the older CU-s rooms and life can resemble some sort of normalcy. Yahoo.

Dora

Ok - so we made it through the Super Dora party that CU-3 ordered.

I pushed the easy button (or so I thought at the time) and had the party organized through one of those give-me-your-credit-card-number-and-I'll-
give-you-a-supervised-and-coordinated-
party-for-a-zillion-dollars.

Well, CU-3 and nine of her closest daycare buddies met at the community centre that was hosting the event for us. THAT was a good idea, because half of the invitees were boys. And boy where they BOYS! (Picture trying to bath cats. Six of them.) There was swimming, with a supervisor and almost every kid with their parent in the water. (Only the father of the "Group of seven" and I left The Huz to guard over the masses (remember - there was a coordinator there too, and seven other adults in the water, PLUS three life guards!).)

The swimming just wasn't enough to poop out anyone, especially CU-3's love interest since they were both 1 year old. (This is a romance that's been going on for three years now.)

The hand-off to the next activity coordinator happened after the kids were dried off. The poor girl had the right idea, but the wrong kids. We'd all have been better off taking them outside to the playground for an hour. Her games were about as successful as trying to catch wild rabbits.

Thankfully we made it to the cake part of things and the kids accepted my version of Super Dora.

Thank goodness for four year olds. They certainly don't care about aesthetics.

Oh, and seeing that her real birthday isn't for another week, I get to make cupcakes to mark that date too!

Another meme

Many thanks to Speak into the Mike for continuing the tag and to Houdini for opening the invite. (I don't get around much, so this is fun stuff when I stumble across it!)

This is a familiar one that goes like this:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Let your tagger know when your entry is up.

Six random things about me
1. I owe Speak into the Mike thanks for leading the way on discussing his photography course. It got me going to find something local.
2. I can freehand a kick-ass Scooby Doo cake, but Dora comes out looking a bit odd.
3. I thought my hair was auburn. I found out the color is actually Amber Shimmer (according to Ms Clairol).
4. I've lost .25 of an inch since having four children (I guess my spin has compressed).
5. Despite making my living as a writer for the last 13 odd years, I struggled with grammar and parts of speech all my life. I attribute part of my success to Mrs. Spinney who was my home room and English teacher in Grade 7. Without her, her 3:15 club, and her belief in me, I would probably would have become a plumber after university.
6. I wanted to become a plumber but was such a home body that the idea of leaving home for trade school (a whole TWO HOURS) away scared me. So instead, I applied and made it into graduate school two provinces away. Go figure.

Now I leave the randomness to fate. (I'm lousy with chain letters too.)

Let me know if any of you pick up the stick and run with it!

One word answers

Here's a meme from Wrecking Crew. I thought it was a great challenge.

One word answers please!

1.Where is your mobile phone? purse
2.Your significant other? couch
3.Your hair? frizzy
4.Your mother? cottage
5.Your father? far
6.Your favorite thing? laughter
7.Your dream last night? dream?
8.Your favorite drink? dunno
9.Your dream/goal? success
10.The room you’re in? dark
11.Your ex? close :(
12.Your fear? broken
13.Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
14.Where were you last night? here
15.What you’re not? thin
16.Muffins? two
17.One of your wish list items? physical
18.Where you grew up? Maritimes
19.The last thing you did? lunches
20.What are you wearing? jammies
21.Your TV? large
22.Your pets? many
23.Your computer? mediocre
24.Your life? happy
25.Your mood? crispy
26.Missing someone? yes
27.Your car? car?
28.Something you’re not wearing? parka
29.Favorite Store? neighborhood
30.Your summer? aaaaahhhhh
31.Like someone? yes
32.Your favorite color? blue
33.When is the last time you laughed? morning
34.Last time you cried? recently

The clean and the dirty of it

Ok. It's time for a poop story. I don't think I've posted one here before. If I have, this is the updated version.

A long time ago, oh, about three years now, when CU-3 could start taking shared bathes with CU-2, things went well. It was a good form of water conservation. All went well until CU-3 started making deposits in the bathwater. Eventually, she was banned for co-sharing tub water.

Speed forward three years. CU-4 has graduated to co-sharing the bathtub with CU-3, with CU-2 being an observer and supervisor now. All is well ... until ...

"Daddy! Daddy! CU-4 has pooped in the tub!"

Papa goes to the first aid kit and hauls out the latex gloves which CU-2 volunteers to wear. "I liked picking up the dog poop when we had a dog" she exclaims.

While she pulls and snaps the gloves onto her hands and fingers, she glances over to the offending matter in the tub "That's not really from CU-4 is it? It's really got to be CU-3's right?"

"No CU-2, it's CU-4s", I replied with awe mixed with disgust.

"No way Mom! That's to big too come out of such a little guy."

And there you have it. Your late Sunday night/welcome Monday morning! poo story.

Muffins and a coffee

Gotta love my neighborhood. It's one of those up-and-coming ones. It was actually written about in one of those in-flight magazines that they pass around on Air Canada.

We're slowly getting known for more then a beaten-up community. We still have more then our share, but that's what makes it interesting.

Like the phone call I got earlier today from The Huz.

He's taken to calling me after he's dropped off the kids, and enjoys the little bit of contact about the eventful or uneventful drop-off he may have had.

The Huz: "How handsome am I?"

Me: "Huh?"

The Huz: "How handsome do you think I am?"

Me: "What are we talking about? ... Well, there is the picture I call "Lord Have Mercy". That one show's you in a particularly good way."

The Huz: "I think I got propositioned."

Me: "Huh?"

The Huz: "It was in front of XYZ. A lady asked me if I wanted to go out for a coffee and a muffin."

Me: "HUH? Was this before or after you dropped off CU-3 and 4?"

The Huz: "Oh before. They were with me."

Me having a WTF moment. "What'd you say?"

The Huz: "Ohhhh, no thank you."

Oh he's sooooo Canadian.

The meme

Beyond stolen ... from Guider and Jen and now Josie and on it goes.

• Where is your cell phone? in my purse, which is in my locker (aka individual closets - it doesn't help get us organized, really)
  
• Your significant other? chasing kids in and out of the house
• Your hair? it's humid, so that'd mean my hair big (think white chick with an afro)
  
• Your mother? at her summer home in Québec
  
• Your father? Washington State
  
• Your favorite thing? candied cherries, kids (sometimes not my own!), Spring time, warm rain, subtle success, good health, my special some some
  
• Your dream last night? that I'd got to sleep earlier
• Your favorite drink? summer time, Cervesa, all other times, room temperature tap water
  
• Your dream/goal? short term (3 years) that the Mirigo Cooperative goes some where (preferably not down the shitter), medium term goal (6 years), to see child unit #1 actually graduate from high school (it's going to be a stretch), long term goal, retire to just two jobs when I'm 65.
  
• The room you’re in? computer room at home
  
• Your ex? What about him?
  
• Your fear? Jail, heights, school principals, stuffed grape leaves
  
• Where do you want to be in 6 years? Still here, with great experiences behind me, loving life with gusto.
  
• Where were you last night? Home. Panicking about silly stuff.
  
• What you’re not? Not sleeping. Not eating smaller meals. Not being patient when it really would be the best thing to do.
  
• Muffins? Oh yes please. I do love my carbs.
  
• One of your wish list items? Success for my kids (particularly CU-1), a car (maybe, someday, peace between the two households. Oh. You said one ... oops.
  
• Where you grew up? Fredericton, New Brunswick was the longest stint in any one ville (16 years)
  
• The last thing you did? Snapped at CU-3 for putting her hands in front of my face (continually) while I'm trying to update my meme
  
• What are you wearing? green t-shirt, capris
  
• Your TV? is in the front room
  
• Your pets? too many - André the harp seal (17 lb cat - his choice, not mine), Papa Le Chat, Purr (another cat that we're fostering), Steve the hamster
  
• Your computer? it's a PC. I'd LOVE a Mac
  
• Your life? not so good that it couldn't be better
  
• Your mood? mixed. Feeling brittle and impatient.
  
• Missing someone? yes ... absent CUs
  
• Your car? in my dreams
  
• Something you’re not wearing? a barrette
  
• Favorite store? Giant Tiger, Old Navy
  
• Your summer? Planned
  
• Like someone? As I get older, I look more like my sister
  
• Your favorite color? 1950s blue
  
• When is the last time you laughed? Maybe yesterday
  
• Last time you cried? A couple of days I let some leak out.
  
• Who will repost this? I dunno.
  

Ratz

So I missed getting a table at Arts Park by two weeks. (The cut off was the end of March.) Ratz.

There are other cultural festivals going on across the city, but they may require more work then I can muster (with a 16 month old probably in tow, it's kind of hard to staff a table, let alone flog wearables).

But, on the other hand, the cooperative and the shop and are just coming to being a week old. Oh I have so many expectations of my offspring! ;-)

On the other most talked about subject - the weather - boy have we got some nice stuff, and in spades. +++ 20 degrees and it's taking people by surprise. So much so that it's becoming a bit of a problem. People don't have their AC up and running and certainly have been slower to put away the winter gear (though not abandon it quite yet).

Today, while visiting a friend for breakfast, she lamented that she enjoys the slower transition from Spring to Summer and that she'd just bought new close toed shoes that she'll get to wear twice now before fall! (I have to secretly agree with here - I just bought myself new sneakers that I want to wear and I don't want to go fishing for my summer sandals just quite yet.)

Sometimes divorce isn't such a bad idea

No really, it has it's good sides.

I've been on a roller coaster this week. Delivered a MONDO project that felt like giving birth or defending a thesis. It was that big. Now I get to coast a bit. Well, at work. At home things are firing off in all directions like the freaking fourth of July.

Today I was approached by the director of the after school program three of my kids go to. She told me that there have been some issues regarding the comportment of the eldest and that they've been escalating. We talked for a while and she reassured me she'd be talking to the kids father (she stressed the father, not the partner ... apparently she too has had his special deflection treatment).

What's stressing me out about this is that I think there's a good likelihood history will repeat itself and he'll make an all encompassing decision to jack the two eldest out of the program and make other arrangements (that being his partner's parents will swoop in and start caring for the children after school as the septuagenarians are moving in with them all).

This is great for the children's father - one more level of people carrying for his children so he doesn't have to deal with them. Possibly lousy for me. School ends at 2:45. Core office hours run at least to 3 and then the fastest I can get from the office to them is 30 minutes ...

So, I've had my panic attack about this already, and have laid out three plausible options of what to do. (One being the kids IS 12 years old and could stay at home alone ... however, he has issues which are the reason we may be having to attend to his premature removal.)

Plans are a good thing. Now it's to sit and wait to see what the father does.

Now, on a good note. I'd been involved in an organization that I believe translates to Parent-Partners in Education. It's an Ontario wide initiative to support families who have one parent who is primarily an English speaker and another parent that is primarily a French speaker and who ultimately decide to school their kids in French. This group has a two-fold aim. Support the English parent who may feel at a disadvantage placing their child in a school where they may not be able to comprehend what's what.

I'd participated in launching the initiative and then the group presentation. Over the summer they changed direction and decided to put together video clips of families with this type of make-up and build a CD and web presence to get the message out broader.

Tonight we were treated like movie stars (on a very small budget). Two camera guys came over and set up in our scratch of a back yard while the kids did tricks for them and we talked about what it's like to be in a "mixed" marriage (the irony being that that was my first marriage, my second is with another Anglophone and *I*'m serving as the French representative!)

So, at some point this fall, we'll be notified that the video (bilingual - the huz in mostly English. Me in my version of French.)

It was a fun experience, something I would never have thought of to do while behind the iron curtain of the first marriage (it was very controlled).

A cute moment of the interview? When I was asked what the children would say if they were asked what their language status was (Francophone, Anglophone, or something else). I suggested she ask that question of CU-2 who replied "I was born a Francophone, but now I'm bilingual.) CU-1 said he was a Franco-anglophone. My goofie boy brings tears of pride to my eyes!

Back to arg

Holy moly, how many times do I turn to the web to whine?

Let's borrow one from Meg and write up a list ...

Things I'd like to do this week:

. sell my children to the circus
. sell my project manager to the circus
. open my window at work (I'm on the 11th floor) and pitch my desk top computer out (it's a construction site next door, the guys are wearing hard hats, so no one would be harmed in the process)
. clone myself

My kids have been bad. Very very bad this week. Cats and dogs get along more harmoniously.
The older two have been concocting science experiments in their lockers at school. And, lucky Mom! I get to clean out their lockers there, as well as pick up after them at home. Oh joy. Don't I feel fulfilled now?

My project manager at work. In his defense, he did go away to a warm, sunny spot for a week during a major snow dump, and right before that happened, the project I'm working on was transferred to his domain, but that was a freaking five weeks ago! Wake up and smell the mangos man! Today, while in a status meeting, he asks for a run down of where we were as there's a client meeting tomorrow. Besides my sharp retort "Um, the board room?", I was able to confidently identify that I'm good to go. Afterwards, in order to line up ducks for this meeting, I talked to him about details of the project, only to find out that 1. he's looking at version 5 of the document (I released that back in February and we're on version 13 now!), and 2. he's never read the thing. Ok. It is 135 pages, but over 1/2 are freaking pictures!!

Which segways nicely into my next point - my desktop computer. The actual punting of this computer out the window wouldn't do much good as it's the archaic software applications that are running on the computer. Microsoft Word 2000 - ring any bells any one? I hear we're supposed to be getting an update. My guess is it'll be Microsoft Word 2003 and that will come through in, oh, about 3 years.

Regarding cloning myself. I think I need an inside me and an outside me. The outside me wants to poke around a bit in the garden, do some general tidying and some subversive trash dissemination. The inside me wants to clean.

Geeze. It must be Spring!

I did it! I did it!

A full two weeks + before my self-imposed deadline, I've taken the plung and have set up shop with mirigo.etsy.com and mirigo.esty.com! (Sorry! You'll have to cut and paste these addresses into your browser address. There seems to be a problem linking at this time.)

I'm very excited about working in the cooperative model. The other artists and artisans will add their wares to the sites as they are created, so there will be new things coming on board regularly.

May I cordially invite you to take a peak and offer comments please. I'd like to hear the good, the bad and the ugly. ;-)

We are not a day care

This morning, while trying to herd cats, a young lady tried to come into our house. When I opened the door she said she was here to get Malcolm from the kinder program.

When I told her she wanted the day care across the street, she started to argue with me that SHE was in the right place.

Sigh. I know I have a lot of kids, and, now that the snow is melting, the yard is littered with plastic that never did get picked up last winter, that doesn't make me a day care though!

Burning the candle towards the middle

Ok, so I've got 21 days to get my act together to get things loaded to what's going to be a cooperative of artists and artisans who need an outlet to sell their wares, but aren't necessarily technologically connected to do so or lack the drive for self-promotion - all fairly common to the creatives of this world.

The co-op that will be at mirigo.etsy.com (there! I've finally said it!) will provide access to double the options for payment then the sister site I've developed, over at mirigo.weebly.com.

Mirigo.weebly.com is allowing me a bit more flexibility to posts information that really doesn't have a place on mirigo.etsy.com.

Mirigo.weebly.com is now up now, and content (read products) are being added as the artists create. The What's new page provides you with the quickest overview of what's been added to the site in recent days.

I'm hoping to run the two sites in tandem, with mirigo.weebly.com providing a depth of service that's a bit deeper then the shop site.

Enjoy.

It's 10 o'clock and alllllllssss wellllll

It's only Wednesday night and I've been fighting the good fight with flu/allergies/what-ever-the-hell-is-going around. Oh well.

Meanwhile, DH has been banging his way to building CU-3 and 4 a better bedroom. This means I've been left to my own devices, and laundry, and child rearing.

Most of the time it's not an issue. Being sick for a couple of weeks has put me behind on house keeping (those of you who have seen my house will be asking yourselves "and the difference is ...?").

CU-1 and 2 come home tomorrow night - a whole day early because of the blasted PD days that come like sprinklings of sugar throughout the year. So, that just kind of compounds to the chaos as there is their laundry (that still hasn't been processed). My laundry, his laundry and other people's laundry. That's a whole lot of laundry.

Which causes me to panic a bit. Just a teeny, tiney bit. 'Cause I feel like I'm stealing time if I bother to work on my Etsy shop. Though, it is coming ... May 1 people!

Oh, and then there's Spring. Who thought that Spring was a good time to start things, like gardens, and cleaning, and being outside? I mean really - those distractions are distracting me from getting my business started! And from doing laundry. I mean really people. After such a crappy winter, why couldn't we get a few good rainy days (I said rain - no more white stuff) so that I could catch up on the laundry, and vacuuming, and maybe, just maybe start on the clothing rotation for six people.

Alas, it's 10 o'clock and all is pretty good at this end. Nothing a good bout of delegation wouldn't solve. (If only there was some one who I could delegate too! ;-)

Home based what???!!

Ok, so panic is setting in. (I'm thinking about the comments of encouragement you readers have left.)

I've got ideas that are crammed in my head and they just won't get out. I've got technology issues to attend to, and an absentee spouse who has been holded up in CU-3 and 4's bedroom making it super nice for them but at a loss to me for the last three weeks. (He works slowly v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y). Doesn't help that upon the heels of that nasty flu, I've now got an allergic reaction.

Complain, complain, whine, whine, whine, this too shall pass.

I just need to cram a few more hours in the day, or give up bathing ... ;-)

My goal is to have the virtual shop up by May 1. It's coming! I promised myself!

Time for a real post

It's just after midnight Thursday. I'm not having an attack of insomnia like I did this morning (I've been up since 4ish).

Last night as I tossed and turned and turned and tossed, I was thinking about all the things I could be doing differently. March was a bad/watershed month. I wrestled with a bit of seasonal depression - there really is just so much snow a girl can take. Now April is upon us and, even though the weather really hasn't changed that much, something inside of me is undergoing a tremendous shift. I am compelled to feel joyful.

Yah yah, how long can this last before I go back on a complaint jag, I ask myself. I'm trying to not be so pessimistic about it all. I'm trying to use the insomniac energy for good. I'm trying to get off my laurels and do something about lots of things that have been like a burr under the saddle. Like many bloggers reporting right now, weight is a weighty issue. So, I'm kind of trying to be more present about consumption, and do so in a more meaningful manner. Can't hurt.

I'm trying to be more present on several areas of my life. One is to build a side-income source. I've got the idea. I've got some motivation. I don't have the where-with-all to cover come technology issues, though I may be able to hobble something together between www.etsy.com and my limited knowledge of HTML. What I'm hoping to do is to move on the creative bent I have and flower my entrepreneurial spirit. This is where living four days away from my mother-in-law is a bad, bad thing.

Anyway - stay tuned readers (all three of you). I may ask a favor of you to borrow your email network for a "grand opening" announcement. (Staying up for almost 24 hours straight has to be good for something!)

Miracle of evolution