Headed to NASA..just like mom.

Back when I was in high school....I was a bit...well...spinny. Not intentially. Not sure why...but sometimes...it took me awhile to 'get' things. But in my defense....I come from a long line of 'spinnies'. Namely...my mom.
Here's some examples of typical 'my mom' stories:
-My mom could be on the phone talking to one of her sisters and she would suddenly say "Oh, I have to go I think the phone is ringing."
-My mom called a dry cleaning service to come pick up her dry cleaning. This dry cleaning company was named "Arthur Rose". They showed up the next day for the pick up and the guy rang the door bell, my mom answered and the guy said "Arthur Rose" my mom looked at him in confusion and said "Sorry, you must have the wrong house, the Thomas' live here."
-She is notorious for wrong pronunciation. We asked her one year from INXS tapes..and she went around asking for 'inks' tapes and insisting the staff look for them.
I could go on and on....but the point is...clearly this is where I get it from. I mean...got it from. As in past tense.

Back in high school.....someone had taped the words "Space Cadet" on my binder. I was pleased and left it there all year. I thought someone thought I was bound for NASA. Little did I know....at least...ignorance is bliss.
My cousins had nicknamed me "Dopelynn" it wasn't until I was older that I finally 'got' what they meant and insisted they quit. Uhhh....some of my cousins still call me that.

I think I passed this down to my eldest daughter. Guliano and refer to her as Chrissy. As in Chrissy Snow. Trust me. She fits the name.

She is always getting things mixed up, not 'getting' things, totally off the level as everyone else....and...hahahaa...it can be quite funny. Ahem...I mean...of course we don't laugh at her...well...not in front of her anyways...okay...not usually.

Sometimes I just look at her in amazement and wonder how she gets through the day. Like last night. I was tossing together a quick casserole for supper and asked her to run down to the storage room and grab me two cans of cream of mushroom soup. She was gone for a few minutes and came up with a can of pie filling and proceeded to set it in front of me at the counter. I looked at it...and said "Sierra....I asked for TWO cans of soup..not pie filling" She looks up from her book and says "Well...I couldn't see any soup cans so I grabbed that...can't you substitute?"

Uhhh....substitute Pie filling for cream of mushroom soup?? Remind me to never let her cook unsupervised.

I tell her "You can't substitute pie filling into this recipe, can you go see what we have down there?" So she drags herself downstairs and I can hear her mumbling "I love pie filling...it would taste great in there".

All I could think was...OMG...what a lunatic. hahahah...can you imagine? Tossing pie filling into a casserole? ewwww.....we had swedish meatball & noodle casserole. Can you imagine it tossed with pie filling??

There was the time when I asked her to wash the pots as I left to go check the mail...and I came back and the pots were still sitting there. So I said "I thought I asked you to wash the pots for me?" She says "Ohhhhh....(laugh) you said wash the POTS?? I thought you said to wash the PADS..." I didn't even ask what she did.

There are tons of family conversations that have gone on where everyone is talking about a certain subject and she is WAYYYYY of course and we usually end up asking her what she is talking about...and she in turn asks us what we were talking about. 99.9% of the time....its not even close. At least she can laugh about it.

Sooo....my lil Chrissy is going to be heading blissfully into her teen years....just like her mom...and her grandma before her...perhaps someone will also make her believe too thats she's headed for NASA.

You can't handle the truth!

Everyone knows that line. "You can't handle the truth!!" Its Jack Nicholson yelling at Tom Cruise. This was pre-freaky Tom Cruise.

Anyways, thats whats on my mind today...no....not jumping up and down on my or Oprah's couch proclaiming my love for Guliano...or Katie. Hahhaha. On my couch I'd probably slip on a hidden pencil crayon and fall off the couch and lay there yelling "I've fallen and I can't get up" for hours before anyone even noticed. *rolls eyes*

Its the truth about Staying at home full time. If you don't stay at home....your preconcieved notions of what goes on is totally off. Well...probably anyways.

I'll admit....even I have these horrible stereo-type images of a stay-at-home-mom...and I am one!!

Tell me if I'm wrong...but most people think one of these things:
-SAHMs are uneducated & totally dependant on thier husbands.
-SAHMs have it easy, they just play all day long & watch TV.
-SAHMs have never left the 50's.

The truth is...is that it is REALLY hard. You give up a lot when you stay home full time. And you also feel like you can't complain because...people say: you could leave the home & go to work....but....why do people who have an actual paying job get to complain..why don't people tell them: well...why not quit work and go stay at home with your kids?

One of the things you give up is Alone Time. If you work in an office and you need some downtime, you can close your office door and have a minute or two alone. Not at home. If you close ANY door, your lil boss will be there within seconds crying and/or banging on the door. Have you ever tried to get yourself together with that going on? Same goes with bathroom time. Anyother work environment, you can go to the bathroom in peace. But at home....its hard to try to try to use the bathroom with someone crying outside the door, or...crying at your feet or trying to sit on your lap. There is no such thing as Alone Time when you are a SAHM. We've heard of it.....but we think its an urban legend.

There's also the Sense of Accomplishment. Its hard to feel productive when you stay at home. You clean up, and 10 seconds later it looks the same. There are days when 5pm comes rolling around and you still have yet to find 10 minutes to jump in the shower...not to mention thinking about what to make for supper...all the while, the lil boss has dumped out the cat food...for the 10th time that day. When your husband comes home and tells you about his meetings all day & how things are really moving along on his side-project....then he asks you: What did you do today? It feels really....lame to say: Well.....I played Polly-Pockets for an hour this morning and this afternoon I discussed 'Growing up in the 80's' with someone from PEI in a parent-chat-forum....I also picked play-dough out of the cats hair again during lunch. You don't quite feel like you are doing anything productive.

There's also no such thing as "Sick Leave" or "Earned Day Off". If you are sick, no one cares. Doesn't matter how sick you are.....you still have to get up, get kids off to school, take care of the ones at home, clean up, cook lunch, do laundry, play with the lil bosses....all the while having stomach flu...coming at you from both ends. You're lucky if you get a bless you when you sneeze. Plus all the good OTC medicines make you drowsy...so you pretty much have to suck it up. As for EDO's.....no one cares if your job is 24/7...365 days of the year. No one is keeping track and giving you an earned day off. Your earned day off is when your kids get invited for a play-date for an hour, and you are not required to come help supervise they playdate.

Gone too is Adult Time. I mean real adult time. In the office, you get adult time all day long. You converse with other adults, you talk about work related subjects, you go for coffee and get to drink a hot coffee uninterupted...you get to talk about adult topics. When you are at home and your main company is a 3 yr old.....your conversation skills tend to revolve around the same topics. You start to forget how to converse with other adutls....you start talking in statements....you become the statement talker. Just like your 3yr old. Only...you are 32. And just try to find another adult outside of the playground who can talk & laugh for an hour about Dora the Explorer....and forget about world political events...the hot topic of the day is: What do you think about CBC kids removing all the other hosts and only having Patty & Sid????

Anyways, thats just some of the truths of SAHMs.....

Jamie, Elton & Mr Clean

On Tuesday we are going to our concert!!

(Wa-hoooo!!!)

*singing* I hope you don't mind, I hope you don't mind that I put down in words....

I've been listening on Youtube to all of Elton John's tunes so I can be all prepared to belt out all my fav songs. I love Elton...I hope I can convince Guliano to dress up in Elton's 70's glory days.

Anyways, since the concert is on a weekday, we needed to find a non-teen babysitter to come keep our kids from 4pm - 12am. Or...around that time. Its quite a long time we'll be gone...we have to drive to Regina early enough that we can get decent parking...and I have to waddle myself to the concert building..than the concert itself & the craziness of leaving the grounds after wards & trying to get out of congested traffic & drive back to our small town. So....its a bit too long for our regular 14 yr old babysitters.

We found Jamie to babysit. She's the pharmasist at the drug store here. She volunteered. Thats one of the few joys of living in a small town....you just need to put the word out & you can usually find what/who you need. So Jamie is coming to sit for us. Jamie has never been to our house.....we don't really know her....but she was in weight watchers with me about 2 years ago...and her husband works with my husband....and of course....she fills our prescriptions. So we know her...in that small town kind of way.

Sooo...the key words above were: Never been to our house.

We have a SMALL house....with 5 people living in it...3 of which are kids...and 3 pets. You know that saying "Cleaning your house while your children are still growing, is like shovelling the walk while its still snowing"? Well.....who ever said that quote...obviously was at my house at some time.
If you are here between 4pm & 4:30pm, you will see my house nice & clean. Thats right after chore time....if you're not here...you're gonna miss it. Usually our house is a bit....well....crazy.

The living room doubles as a family room & play room so it usually looks like a crate of polly pockets & a crate of barbies blew up around us. We're expecting a new baby soon, and his change table is in the living room as well..because we havent' figured out where we are going to put him yet. Sooo...his change table is in the living room...and all his clothes & diapers are stacked on the shelves under the change table. Our TV stand doubles as a DVD/VHS holder & a book/magazine shelf.

Our kitchen is tiny....and our table multi-tasks as a computer table, sewing table, & temporary storage place for my canning supplies. Since we don't have enough cupboard space our counters hold all our big appliances: microwave, stand mixer, bread maker, slow cooker, toaster oven....and...well.....it doesn't take long for our place to be messy.

Since its fall, I have been going through all the kids fall/winter clothes & I have half filled garbage bags of too small clothing in the hallway waiting to be filled & donated & baskets of shoes/socks to be donated to the school.

So this worries me.....Jamie has no kids & I imagine a spotless house. I've been a little panicky about having her come over and be alone with the craziness of our household.

Enter Mr Clean.

I plan to douse the house with Mr Clean & set everything on fire & start fresh.

Just kidding....sort of. I do plan on having everyone & everything sterilized before she comes & dousing down everything with Mr Clean & spraying everyone & everything with Lysol spray...that way....if it doesn't look clean...at least it will smell clean.

Tomorrow (Sunday) I'm forcing everyone to help hide, I mean clean, the majority of the mess & hopefully come Tuesday, we can do a "10 second tidy" and have it look/smell half decent for when Jamie arrives. Pray for me people.

Signs you live in a small town

There is a big difference in people's version of 'small town'. Some people think North Battleford, Sk is a 'small town'. But really...its a city hanging on for dear life.

If you live in a small town....you know it. If you have to think about whether the town you live in is 'small town', than most likely it isn't.

So I've comprised a list of things that should clue you in as to whether or not your town is small or not.

The list:

1) You refer to things as: THE high school, THE elementary school, THE park, THE drug store, THE grocery store....as there is only ONE of each.

2) You're at the post office and you see Jason the plumber across the street & you call over to him and ask him to come repair your toilet. He shows up 20 mins later at your house...without having to ask where you live.

3) Jason the Plumber is also known as Jason the electrician, Jason the handyman, Jason the (fill in the blank).

4) You don't even have to give your Co-op member number to the girls at the grocery store, because they know it by memory.

5) The ladies at the post office call you at home to let you know a parcel has arrived.

6) If you become pregnant...everyone in town knows about it within 3 days.

7) If you get married, everyone in town assumes they are invited & show up...and your wedding is at THE church & your reception is at THE rec centre....just like everyone else's wedding.

8)If your kid skips school, you can rely on the people around town to call you & inform you.

9) If you move to a small town, you are like a celebrity. EVERYONE talks about you for months.

10)You know who a kids parents are just by how the kid looks.