A new post for a new year

Its now January 2009.

Amazing. Since I've become an adult, I'm not sure where the time goes. It still feels like I just turned 20. In fact I am 32...and a housewife with 4 children. It totally blows my mind sometimes. I'm not sure when I became an adult....but surely I am. My drivers licesce say so.

I will say that being an adult is not the same as being a grown up. Because sometimes I still wonder what I will do when or what I want when I grow up. LOL....yah...I know...sound slike denial right? Well maybe it is. Whatever. I look around my house and I think about how I would like to decorate when I'm a grown up. I have all these ideas about nice ornaments, nice wall hangings, nice furniture.....right now my house is decorated in the style of: exploded toy box. Just as a nice added touch we've also decorated with a touch of: never-ending laundry & dishes.

Martha Stewart would walk in my house & have a heart attack.

Anywhoo......I'm not really sure what I'm talking about...I just like to rabble. Which is nice for this because I'm sure I'm the only one who reads this....so I can be as lame as I want to be right? Oh speaking of lame....I only just figured out the spell check. Doesn't mean I'll use it. But I found it.

I guess I should reflect on the past year...what I've learned, the good-the bad-the ugly...and as per usual...I'll do a list!



Here is my list of what I've learned this past year:

• No matter how much you beg, they will not put an epidural in your neck.


• There comes a time when your breasts hit the bed before you do when you lay down


• Just because the lady at the green house assures you that the bedding plants you just bought are hardy & will survive..does not mean they will


• Your neighbours will not say anything if you have tons of dead big potted flowers all over your yard & landing..and you leave them there all summer & fall


• People will tell you how huge you are when pregnant


• People will ask if you are done having kids when you reach a certain number


• A wrap around skirt WILL blow away on you


• No one appreciates that you took on a moth & won


• Your children can & will amaze you all the time with their sheer genuis


• These same children will lick a spoon clean & place it back in the drawer
• No matter how conservative you dress, there will be some parent out there who considers you the hussy


• There is such thing as a One Horse Town


• No matter how you spin it or how desperate you get, A & W coffee still tastes like crap
• You can walk around all day in town with a dryer sheet stuck to your butt & no one will say anything to you
• An orange that has rolled under the TV stand will not get moldy & mushy...it actually shrivels & turns into the Crypt Keeper.
• If a dog shreds a towel & eats it....it will not digest & comes out whole...with some help from hubby (barf & LOL)
• It is possible for your husband to slip & slide right UNDER the van
• A husband will get mad if you laugh hysterically at him being under the van
• My daughter does NOT find it funny if you tell her there's a suprise out back waiting for her....and its a doggy poo picker upper
• This same daughter is a genuis in school & yet at home can't remember why she was sent to the storage room (6 times) for a can of soup
• It is possible to get beaned in the head 3 times in a row at a youth volleyball game (by the same kid)
• It is IMPOSSIBLE to try to sneak Toffifee out of the box without being heard
• My BFD does NOT stand for My Big Fat Dyke
• In the series 'Buffy'....Angel is (wait for it.....) a VAMPIRE!! OMG...this totally blew me away
• Sour cream does in fact get sour...and it doesn't taste good
• Labour & delivery STILL hurts...they haven't cured this yet
• No matter how many times I offer, my husband is not interested in tasting my milk...yet will drink milk from a COW

This is all I got so far. I'm sure I've learned much more...but I'm having a brain fart. I'm starting to wander....and my baby is waking up for his 8 millionth feeding tonite.

Good night everyone & hope this year brings you happiness & joy.

Dr Deb

I used to see the midwife here in my town, but she tranferred my care to an OB/GYN because of some health issues. *shrugs* I've seen this OB before, she was my care provider when I was pregnant with our last daughter, so no biggie. I'm used to her. I knwo what to expect & what not to expect.

I've been taking my youngest daughter, Fiorella, with me to my appointments...mainly because there's no reason to hire a sitter for her...when she can just come with me.

At the last appointment, Fiorella was asking a million questions & talking a mile-a-minute. Now Dr Deb doesn't have any children & her place (ironically) is not child friendly. There are no toys or kids books in the waiting room, nor in the exam rooms. She's not very....child friendly herself. But whatev........she's just there to give me the proper care...she's not a pediatrician...so I don't really care.

Anyways, this is the conversation from our last apt:
F: What's your name?
Dr: Dr Deb, whats your name?
F: Fiorella. Whats this?
Dr: Its a stethescope.
F: What does it do?
Dr: I use it for checking on your mom.
F: Is that my mom?
Dr: Uh..yes.
F: I'm a girl. Are you a boy?
Dr: No. I'm a girl too.
F: I'm a big girl.
Dr: Me too.
F: Your breath stinks. Are those your shoes?
Dr: Uhm. Yes.
F: These are my shoes.
Dr: I like the lights.
F: Your breath stinks. I like Dora.
Dr: I don't know Dora.
F: How come?
Dr: I don't know who she is.
F: Oh. Your breath stinks. Do you know Boots?
Dr: No.
F: (singing) D-d-d-dd-d-d Dora.....I like Dora. Your...
Dr: (cuts her off) Do you want to listen to the baby's heartbeat?

LOL....OMG...I had a hard time not laughing each time Fiorella just casually slipped in how the Dr's breath...wasn't fresh. I mean....to give Fiorella credit....the Dr did have stinky breath. It was like.....teacher breath......remember when teachers used to drink coffee all day & smoke at every break....so they had this awful....'pea-soup' smelling breath?? Well....thats what was going on. All I could do was pretend that Fiorella hadn't said it. Dr Deb did the same.

On the way home I told her it wasn't nice to tell someone they had stinky breath.

On the plus side......the next apt we went to.....Dr Deb had minty fresh breath & a jar of mints on the counter.

OH. MY.GAWD. Bwa-hahahahaaa

Okay, today my youngest & I watched Peter Pan.
It was quite the eye opener. I was emabrassed. I was horrified. I laughed my ass off.

There are some scenes that had my jaw just hanging open....and I had no words. (OMG...I have no words. Thats never happened to me before *Josie Grossie*) All I could do was stare at the screen. I wasn't sure if I should laugh....sing along....turn it off...I mean really....as a parent and you come across some absurdly racist material in a kids movie....what do you do? Do I take the time and explain to my three year old what was inappropriate? Do I leave it and bring it up again when she's older and more able to understand what was wrong?

Sooo....I laughed and then just said that it was just a movie and that real Natives don't act like this.



So after my brief horror at the movie.....I was able to sit and laugh at how crazy & absurd it was. I mean come on!! LOL......the best was the song that explained how the red man became red. It was all because of how one guy was blushing. So of course....that explains how Natives changed from "Normal" white skin to "Different" red skin. *rolls eyes*
And....what is with Tiger Lily's hussy dance??? I've never seen any native girl dance like that at a pow-wow....maybe at some bar....LOL....and I've never in my life...ever heard a native woman refer to herself as a Squaw.....I've heard some refer to other women they don't like as a Squaw...LOL!
*sigh*
Its just crazy.
I bet if I watched more of our older Disney films, I'll find racial over-tures as well.

Priorities

You know what bugs me? Being a grown up. Okay....not all the time...but there are times when I just hate having to be responsible.

I can't buy a fabulous handbag or a fabulous pair of boots because that money should be spent on groceries to feed my ever-growing family. **in case you were unaware this is a rant** I mean, not that I was ever the type of woman to be able to drop a couple thousand dollars on a purse.....but you know....it would be fun to be frivolous once in awhile.

I have a bad shopping problem. I love to shop. I shop whenever I can....I buy whatever & where-ever. Its a bad thing. Its like a disease. I even spend a good portion of my evening browsing online and making up lists of what I'd buy. Of course......this is probably the reason my Hubby took away my credit card and we only have the one....which is now under his name only. *rolls eyes* So since my credit card is gone.....my shopping has become limited. But I will admit, I would have had that baby racked up in 3 days. No problem. Well....to me it would have been no problem...but for US it would have been a big problem.

See.....I'm married to an accountant and economist. Not 2 different men...the same guy. He's very money savy. He's very responsible.....if it wasn't for him, we probably wouldn't have a savings account, over-draft, credit cards, line of credit, money in our chequing account....or have our bills paid on time. Needless to say we have very different views on money handling....which...probably works out best this way, as he manages the money. I'd probably spend half on the way home. But whatev....at least I can admit my faults. I'd have us in the poorhouse in a month.

But back to this priorities thing......I hate having to prioritize things we need. We need to save money to renovate our basement as our family is growing and our basement is undeveloped. We plan on adding a big full bathroom, a family room & 2 bedrooms...as well as a storage & laundry area. We also need to budget in money to redo our shingles sometime in the next 3 years....and we need to put in new windows in the next 3 years as well.....not to mention we plan on redoing our kitchen next spring/summer & tearing down the fugly deck & put in brick patio. Our fugly bathroom could use a bit of botox as well.

I just spent the last 2 hours putting together a 7-day family cruise on a Disney Cruise line and I even went as far as budgetting out how much we need to save each month so we could go. As an alternate plan, I also put together a plan complete with meals, hotels, flights, daily spending & shopping to Orlando for 10 days. I was gleaming with pleasure at my brilliance and took the computer to show my Hubs my plan. What was he doing? Budgetting out our renovations and putting together a plan for the next 5 years so we could save each month and get everything done within our planned time frame. Guess which plan we're going with? I'll give you a clue....the only water we'll be playing in, will be in a brand new tub.

I know, I know.....I should be happy we're renovating....and I am....I really want our place to be renovated....the problem is....I would like my fairy godmother to show up and do it for us, so we can go on vacation. I'm a dreamer & Guliano is a realist. I have all these ideas of places I want us to go & I like to push the reality of paying for these ideas on the back burner. Juliano does it the other way.....its amazing that our marriage actually works....we're so very different.

But anyways.....since I like shopping so much....we're going on Sunday to RONA to go look at kitchen cupboards, counter tops, tubs, showers & toilets. Yay!

Haircuts, pumpkin pies & lattes

The time has come for another hair cut.....for most people its an easy decision....they decide its time and they go in, get the cut & its done. But for me.....I'm a bit of a.....weirdo I guess. I've been thinking of getting a hair cut now or a trim since August. Yup....thats right...its now middle of October and I'm still thinking of it. Don't get me wrong....its not like I'm contemplating a major change. I'll probably just get my usual..some sort of variation on a layered cut. I usually keep it around my shoulders. Long enough to slap into a pony-tail if needed. Only issue is....I've had this same type of variation of hair cut since 2002. I'm worried I'm going to end up having the same style of hair for the next 20 years.
Neurotic thinking?? Possibly. But in my defence......my mom has had the same style since the '80's. Its just been some type of variation of the same cut. Different lengths perhaps varying in inches.....but basically the same style. Its a bit of family joke....not a cruel joke...but a joke non-the-less. I have a fear of the same thing happening to me. YET....when I do go in for my cut.....I just know I'll come out with a layered cut. So I worry about turning into my own mom.....and yet...I'll still go down that same path & cut my hair the same way again. What makes it worse is that I know it and I seem to still follow that path. Crazy right?? I KNOW!!
Anywhoo....back to the haircut dilema.....there are limited places in my small own where I could go for a cut. I could go the same place my hubby & kids go....Cheryl is good.....but....I feel rushed when I am there...she doesn't wash your hair, she just wets it and cuts and sends you home. Then there is the other Cheryl....I've been to her once before....and she cut it a bit crooked. There is also Bertha......maybe I'm just judgmental.....but I can't imagine anyone named Bertha has a good grasp on the latest cutting & style techniques. Plus....she's right on mainstreet with big windows....and I don't really feel like having the town talk about when I went for a haircut. LOL.....not that I'm a celebrity here....but its small town and people LOVE to talk here. About anything.
So.....I'll think about this haircut for another few weeks before I finally get it done. I drive myself crazy. I should just get it done next time I'm in the city and get it over with. My only goal...is to have it done forsure by the time we have the baby. Our due date is Dec 4th....so I have another 6 weeks to contemplate getting the same cut.

Speaking of cuts......we had our late Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. I LOVE thanksgiving. Its my favorite. I made turkey, stuffing, gravy, the whole works. Yummers. Hubs hacked into the pie while I was playing stuffed turkey on the couch. I am grateful he took it upon himself to serve up the pie to the kids....but seriously...he hacked this poor pie. I have a large knife & pie/cake server......and he used a small steak knife as both the cutter & server. Of course the pie fell apart and didn't come out as piece and being the A-type (only food situations) I am, this irked me. Why? I don't know. But it took all my strength & will power not to freak out about the proper way to cut & serve pie. I just had to get that out. There's no real story there.

What I wanted to mention was my addiction to pumpkin spice lattes. OMG. These are heavenly. I can't get enough. If gas wasn't so grotesque....I would drive to the city every day to get one. I know I'm pregnant and probably shouldn't be drinking that much anyways......but still. They are a taste of pure heaven. Especially with extra whip. *drool* Have you had one yet? If not, I highly suggest you go out and try one. You won't regret it. If you do.....send it to me. I'll drink it.

Good bye to you...

This is Joe. Or..was. He was our family cat for about 9 months. Not a very flattering pic of him....but its the best I have. Sierra wanted a picture of him & her and when she tried to hold him, he started fighting her hair. So its actually a very 'Joe' type picture.

We had to put Joe down. Meaning.....we killed him. Euthanized is a very soft term to killing your pet. It sounds nice...but it is not. Not in any terms. I know it was the best thing to do, but it doesn't ease the guilt I feel for making the choice. Its not an easy thing to decide to do. Saddly, the Humane Society told us they would have a hard time placing him because he was vicious with kids...and that the majority of people who come in looking to adopt a pet, are looking for a family pet. They said Joe would have sat in a cage for a few months and than would have been put down anyways. I couldn't let him spend the last of his days in a cage. It was too cruel. So we made an appointment for him & told the kids he was adopted by an older couple who had no grandchildren he could hurt. A lie....yes....but better then telling them he died.

Even though I know he attacked & hurt our kids and the neighbourhood kids.....I still miss him. He helped me kill moths, bees, spiders and other bugs. He kept me company in the middle of the night when I was kept up from pregnancy related pains. He had attitude that I admired....he didn't automatically like anyone. He had little quirks about him that I found comical. He dragged clothes & stuff into his litter box when he was upset...he was afraid of the dark and would cry in the basement if there were no lights on for him, we had to invite him to come eat his own food, he opened cupboards and once in them...he could close them as well. He was afraid of the hair dryer and vacuum......but would attack them anyways. He was a very.......different type of cat.

I won't go into his bad side. That doesn't do any good now. He's gone. Its hard enough trying to accept the fact that we did the best we could for him & everyone else.

On Friday, October 3 at 11:30am.....he died.

Rest in peace Joe.

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.