Blogging famine

It is a sad fact that with grown-up busy schedules, and everyone awake and working at different hours of the day and night, I have come to depend on my dear friend's blogs.

When my darling friends do not post I feel cut off. (sob - sniff). I know you all must be busy, so I take a chance, and I call them.... will I interrupt their dinner, will I call at a bad time, will they even be there? 95% of the time I get to leave a message. And you don't know when you can call back either do you?!!!! After all, I always seem to be eating dinner, or in the middle of something with the kids or going to bed at a horrendously early hour.... (9:00pm is the cut-off on weekdays).

THANK you for getting through sometimes, and I am so sorry if I cut you short.... (Kimber, the movie ended kind of lamely by the way so wait for it to show up on TV).

So how is everyone?

Tai: How was you birthday? Have you resolved the moving idea? Seen your mommy lately?

Kimber: How is the novel? The job(s)? Dear Darling Zoe? Hubby's new music venture? Home ownership? How are your folks?

Spider: I did talk to you recently and it was marvelous, I'd like to hear more about your plans for India, what you hope to see and experience!

Tee: There is one burning question I have for you..... what ever happened to your tyrannical MIL?

Either post here or update you blogs, I will be happy to read them.

crazy busy day

It was one of those days today.

Get up, pack boys' lunches, feed them breakfast, sign field trip notices, herd them out the door (in the knick of time), walk up to the school, kiss them goodbye, walk home.

Do 2 x ready-for-print chocolate bar wrapper designs, 1 x bus bench design revision, 2 x placement ads final revisions (cut-off date today), 1 x press-ready file for a flyer.

Shower and SHAVE.

Get T to drive me to the hospital and admit me for day surgery..... I will spare you the gory details of what it was for, lets just say I had to shave more than usual.....

WAIT for the nurse to let me in the pre-op. Answer a million questions, swear over a stack of charts that I have neither ate nor drank anything since midnight last night. Then I get to change into a very stylish hospital gown, and close all my belongings (including the book I brought) in a locker. I very nice nurse gets me onto a gurney and gives me a delightfully warm blanket and I head off to O.R. only to be left in the hallway "for a minute". Another nurse comes by and asks me the same questions.... then the anesthesiologist comes and asks MORE of the same questions and we hunt for a vein that he can put my I.V. into..... good lord I have shy veins! We eventually settled on my hand, and 3 jabs later I was left with the gentle drip, drip, drip of saline.

More waiting out in the hall..... I have no clue what time it is since I fell asleep twice! A nice nurse gives me a fresh warm blanket and some warm stockings too. My doctor comes around and says that the laser they were planning to use isn't focusing accurately enough, so they will have to use the good old fashioned HOT WIRE technique!!!! But she assures me it won't take any longer and I should be out of there by 4:30.

Next I am wheeled into the O.R. put on a cold table, hooked up to sensors of all sorts, oxygen, etc. A cold stinging sensation flows up my arm to tell me I will be going to sleep...... next thing I know I am waking up 40 minutes later in the recovery room. I wake up bright and fast. WOW that was a great nap! I feel perfectly fine! Starving hungry and ready to go! I make small talk with another nurse a few blood pressure checks and they wheel into the post-op room. There I get a crappy cup of coffee, cookies and a muffin. I still feel good and the nurses are very pleased!At 4:45 they tell me I am ready to go.

When I get home I check to make sure all my jobs were approved and delivered, all is well.

MEANWHILE: Poor T had to drive from the hospital back to the school to get the boys, then get Cam ready for a birthday party at WAY to other end of town for 4PM then run back to the hospital to get me then WAY the other end of town to get Cam again by 6PM, then home. AND NOW HE IS MAKING ME DINNER!

Busy day, even though there was sleeping and waiting galore....and it's only 7 pm.

My baby is Seven

It seems only yesterday that I was cuddling him close, a tiny little, pink baby making all the adorable little happy noises in his sleep. ..... awww......

Anyways, I am getting sidetracked.

We celebrated his 7th birthday on Friday the 6th! He invited friends and family up to the school for a party on wheels!

The BEST part was that as luck would have it, Cam got a new bike for his birthday so the bike party was perfect for him to give it a good run. He rides it like it was made for him!

We rented the multipurpose room (though we didn't really use it) and set up some tables and chairs outside to have the kids bomb around and around and around the school! Oh it was NOISY and it was CHAOTIC and there was no structure except the rule that everyone went in one direction. We had party crashers (public school grounds after all), but all in all it was great fun.

I lost count at 15 kids... you would really think I should know how many are coming! THANKFULLY a few parents stayed, so I wasn't completely in over my head! There were crashes, but nothing serious, and we almost ran out of icecream cake, gatorade and pizza.

The saddest part was that we ran out of time before presents were opened, so we had to send thank you cards out after the fact.... and the 12 party favours ran out way before we ran out of kids.... maybe I should have had a race to determine who got them? Oh well.

Happy Birthday Cami!

Neighbours

I think I am a pretty easy person to get along with, in fact I think I am pretty good at being non-offensive the majority of the time. A smile and a wave are always returned, and I love my neighbourhood as a general rule.

Alas there are always a few "difficult" people. It seems to be a rule too.

The grow-op babysitter next door: a real slimeball, but at least he would smile and wave. He moved and really great people took his place.

The recluses that moved into Mary's place: they pretend they don't see you when you smile and wave, but they really keep to themselves, so it's like the place it vacant.

The crazy lady that is in the new, ugly, blue house: Like the house she moved into, she is unfriendly and awkward. I TRIED to be friendly.... I mean tried HARD!!!!
I assumed she was just lacking in social graces, but she has crossed to line, she has become HOSTILE when I smile and wave. It started when I asked her name.
"Andree" she says
"Like Andrea only 2 'e's" I reply, in an attempt to remember the unusual spelling
"If you call me Andrea I'll hit you" she says venomously
(ALRIGHTY THEN)
Next, we get our puppy. I find out very quickly back in January that she is terrified of dogs when Max jumps on her at the garbage can. So I make a real effort to keep Max under control when she is outside. In March or so Max is out playing with the boys and she comes outside and Max barks and runs at her (doggy greetings, nothing hostile) And she SWEARS and YELLS at my kids!!!!!
Fast forward to today.
I see her in her yard as I am loading up the truck.
"Hey Andree, how is it going?" I ask jovially.
"It would be better if people would keep their dogs on leashes" She seethes at me.
"We have been working hard on it" I cheerily return. "It hasn't been a problem lately?"trying to point out the bright side here.
"He has jumped on me 3 times, you know that perfectly well, You have a short term memory" she mumbles.
"When was this?"
"January"
"That's when we started keeping him from you!"
"And twice since then!"
"You know you are the only one with a complaint?"
"Lots of people don't like it, I am the only one that is totally honest" she says.
(Holy CRAP! Since every other single person on our street has a dog, I find that very unlikely!)
Now I am just furious, and hurt. Why is she being so unreasonable?
"Since we are being so honest, I don't appreciate you SWEARING at my kids"
"I don't swear"
"You swore at the kids when Max was out one day"
"I don't swear! If he uses those words he learned them from YOU!"
"He came in terribly upset because you swore at him, not because I swore at him. I see we are not going to see eye to eye on this. "
"I don't swear"
"Next time Max is off the leash, call the pound, okay?"
"We aren't that kind of people."
"That's nice."

I left completely upset, drained from all energy and beside myself as I always do after a confrontation that no one can win.

I want MAX to go pee on that smoking old bag's petunias.

At it again

My darling hubby and oldest sone came back from the field trip to Barkerville last night.

Travel weary and beyond "done" I dragged them to look at a house.

"I just wanna go home" he murmered, then added sarcastically "unless this is our home now".

"Not yet" I answered meakly.

Yes, I am at it again. You see there are very very few acreages in this neighbourhood, and they are NEVER for sale, and when they are, they ask a premium because of where they are.

So I put in an offer naturally. I thought I lowballed it a bit, but low and behold they accepted! (HEART POUNDING MADLY)

Good thing I put in a subject to my husband's approval!!!!

We went and looked at it today. I will give my husband credit, he was very very thorough before he said no. He agreed that it was EXCELLENT value, and we could certainly flip it for a quick 20G in todays market. HOWEVER we would have to live at the very end of our financial tether for the time in which it would take to clean up the yard, maybe replace the roof and dress her up for resale.

Meanwhile we would have to sell our home, and where do we move after that?

Everything he said made sense. My gut says it would all work out and we would be richer for it. My senses say, I am crazy for risking my family's comfort and security for a quick buck. And my heart says it is a lovely chunk of land and could easily be a "forever" home.

BUT it has no garage. And the basement is a catacombe of weird rooms ( As 70's style homes tend to be). I think knocking out some walls down there would make it terrific.... alas my husband is no carpenter!

An acreage!!!! Within our means (however slimly) Total privacy, and fantastic pond, lake views and mature gardens!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gasp, Sigh, (breathe breathe) Not worth losing our shirts on, even though I know it would be hard to lose..... ugh.

Anyways it is all academic on this point. The man of the house says it isnt something he wants to risk without some more education (and woodworking skills), so we need to drop the offer as of tonight.

One side of me is releived and giving me a pat on the back for being sensible, the other side is smacking me upside the head for a major missed opportunity.

I need a drink.

PS It`s Cameron`s birthday today, I have to run off to set up his party now.....

There's a spider in my garden

I am such a lucky girl...

Who else can say that their friend is willing to come over and weed your garden just to keep busy?

Oh the miracles she is unearthing out there!

All the while her darling hubby slaves away trying to decypher my books for my small business. (Whoah is he who tries to do that!!!!) I do feel for the man... he has picked a profession that has to test the patience of GANDHI! He is a man that deserves a medal at least twice a year.

Back to the garden, it looks good.