BPOH - Yards

So I kinda forgot about the yard thing. Oops. It's been crazy busy at work and when there has been a lull, it's been raining. Which is what it's doing right now. But I've put together some older pictures so you can get an idea of our yard area.

This first picture is taken from the grain elevators, looking at the back of the house before we tore down the old office and rebuilt the new one:


This is a picture of what our house looked like last year around November with the new office added on:


An aerial view that Zoomer took when he had his airplane ride:


Lots of space to play in the winter:


Doesn't it look cold?! I'm not really looking forward to winter; I'm more of a beach girl:

I just finished eating a Skinny Cow. Have you tried them yet? You've go to! They are unbelievably good. It's my treat for doing homework all day. Husband helped. With homework, not with eating the Skinny Cow. We are trying to get the boys ahead in their school work so when they miss school next week, we won't have to take their work with us and they won't have a bunch of stuff to catch up on. Good in theory and it actually went better than I was expecting. We'll be doing more of the same tomorrow, as well as the laundry that I didn't get to today.

So thanks for stopping by my yard. Next time, stay longer!

They're Off

To school that is. The Boys. Husband was good enough to take them in for me. It's nice to sit in the quiet for a few minutes with my coffee and computer. The boys were extra tired this morning from AWANA last night and us galavanting the night before, but at least we only had one bloody nose. That's good...right?

Tigger has this thing where he's giving Husband and I points for being nice to him. I don't even remember how it all started but it's quite comical:

Me: Tigger, here's your coat.

Tigger: Oooo, thanks Mom! You're in the lead by 1 point.

Husband: Tigger, if you don't put me in the lead, I won't let you come to Florida next week.

Tigger: Oh, okay, Dad. You're in the lead by 100 points.

Me: Tigger, if you put me in the lead I'll pack you in my suitcase and you can still come to Florida!

Tigger: Oh, great Mom! You're in the lead by 500 points.

Quite intriguing, isn't it. So this morning I'm getting Tigger dressed and he was being smart-allecky, so I said to him, Do you need an early bed tonight? And Tigger said to me, I think you just lost points Mom. What a kid.

Apparently I Have Issues

But you already knew that, didn't you. I, on the other hand, am just figuring it out. Courier service guy was just here and dropped off a package. Molly was in the house with me, and she started barking when she heard his truck - she's getting to be a big dog, so now her bark is big as well. Buddy was safely in the other part of the house - he's the one you have to watch out for. So I put Molly's leash on her and thought how perfect it would be to have a lesson in not jumping on humans, wherein I would be standing on her leash and she would be unable to jump. But the guy refused to come in the house or even have Molly outside with me. I think he was afraid. But I have issues with him telling me what to do. It made me feel imbecilic. Consequently I don't like people who make me feel bad about myself. Especially when I was trying to tell him that she's just a puppy, loves people, and I'm trying to teach her not to jump. Not at my expense you don't, he said as he walked down the steps, parcel in hand. Put the dog in the house and I'll do the package out here, he said. I felt like a little child being reprimanded. And I tried to be understanding; he must have a deep-rooted fear of dogs, but really, Molly is just a giant sweet-heart. So now that I've reprimanded myself, I'm feeling contrite. And now I want to cry because of the day. But I hate crying so I want to eat chocolate. Or go shopping. Or scrapbooking. Or something. Boy, I'm just an emotional slurp aren't I. We'll both be glad when this day is over, won't we.

Just Stuff

Today is my Dad's birthday. He would have been 68 years old. So today I'm missing him and my thoughts keep drifting back to him. He loved the boys and I know they would have had a close relationship if he was still alive. I used to call him up and tell him anything cute that the boys said or did. Sometimes Zoomer would call him up to see if he could come over and play, and Dad would stop what he was doing and come over and play. He was my right hand, especially at church. Dad would come out to the van as soon as I pulled into the parking lot and take whichever boy was the smallest and carry him in to the nursery for me. When Dad died, Zoomer was 5, Shaggy was 2 and Tigger was 9 months. I know that Thumbelina would have held a special place in his heart. Anyway, I'm starting to get teary eyed and I don't like crying so I'm going to talk about other things now.

Yesterday Husband had some office supplies to buy, as did I, so after school we took the boys to T'burg and did some shopping. And then we had supper. And then we came home. The end. Actually we had to do homework when we got home. Yes, we. Because it's just easier if I sit right beside Shaggy and watch as he does everything and to make sure he gets things correct. So it was a late night. Which means a grumpy morning, but it wasn't near as bad as I thought it would be. And it was kind of fun to just go somewhere on a school night. At the check-out there was a display of Easy Buttons and Shaggy pressed every single one of them. And I'm looking around pretending he wasn't my child, but when he kept calling me Mom, so it kind of gave it away. He reminds me so much of my brother.

That's all I got.

Communication

Communication is a wonderful thing. Lack of communication not so much. This morning at the Jaj household, we've been lack. You remember a little while ago when Kid A and Kid B spent the night, and Kid A couldn't find his game-boy game when it was time to go home, so we gave him Tigger's to take home until we found his. We found his a couple hours after he went home and Zoomer gave it to him the next day in church. Tigger asked for his game back and Kid A said he couldn't have it back until he got his game-cover back. I wasn't very impressed but I let it slide. So finally this morning I mentioned to Husband that I needed to go shopping for a game-cover thingy but I didn't know what it looked liked and I told him about Kid A not giving our game back until he got his cover. And I've been looking throughout the house for it, but when you don't know what you're looking for, it's kind of hard. Then Husband's eyes got big and he said, I've got the game. Kid A's parents gave it to me. And then Zoomer's eyes got big and he said I know where the cover is - it's downstairs. So Husband went and got the game and Zoomer went and got the cover. Communication. Or lack thereof.


Morning's are always a bit rushed as we're shuffling the kids out the door to go to school. This morning was no exception. I tied my hair in a pony tail and brushed my teeth as the boys were heading out the door. As I was leaving, I said to Husband Are the boys in the van? And he said, Yes, they're in the van. I was a little annoyed that Tigger wasn't buckled in his carseat yet because Husband always makes sure he's buckled in, but whatever. So off we go to school. I let Tigger play his Larry-Boy game all the way to school, because he hasn't had it in about 10 days because Kid A/Husband had possession of it, and it was probably not the right game to send home with Kid A because Tigger had only had it for 4 days as it was his birthday present and it was still brand new to him. But I digress. When we got to school, Tigger had a fit (yes, he really did) because he had to turn the game off. So the tears flew freely and I grounded him from the game after school. And then I said Get your backpack and off you go. Except there's no backpack. No backpack. And he had homework in every subject last night so now all his books are at home. I was annoyed at Husband for not mentioning to me that Tigger didn't have his backpack - but now it made sense why Tigger wasn't buckled in yet - Husband just sent them out and didn't actually take them to the van. And I was annoyed at myself for not noticing that the backpack was in the house as I walked past it. Communication. Or lack thereof.

But I'm just glad I'm not a mouse today. We've caught 3 in the oven. Yes, we are having crockpot dinners until my oven is replaced. But the trap we've set in the oven has been tripped twice. So obviously the little mice who have escaped it have not communicated with the others to stay away from it. Which is good for us, not so good for the mice.

*****

So looking back through my posts, I see that I didn't mention the whole story of the missing game boy game. I am just the Queen of Communication, aren't I. When Husband told Tigger that Kid A was going to take his Larry Boy game home until we found the Narnia game, Tigger looked at Husband and said I'm not interested in your opinion. He's quite the character.

A Little of This...A Little of That

First of all, congrats to all the families who will be receiving their referrals in the next few days! So very exciting! The CCAA has updated their website and has referred up to August 9, 2005. Only 35 more days until it's our turn! Yipee!!! And you've gotta know that I'm nowhere near perky enough to be shouting Yipee!!! at this time of the day...more like Yip if the truth be told. Sad, isn't it. It's approaching 9 am and I've been up since 6:30 am; I still have my morning voice and I feel...I don't know...definitely not perky. But I'm still only on my second cup of coffee, so brighter things are in store for me.

I was having some interesting conversations this morning with Shaggy and Tigger as I was helping Tigger get dressed. It's just easier if I help him ~ you know how Tigger's are...always bouncing around being happy. So he was telling me that when he's an adult he's going to have all of Daddy's property. And he sounds like Elmer Fudd when he talks, so it comes out as pwopewty. And then he asked if I would still be alive when he's an adult. When Tigger asked me how old I was in years Shaggy piped up and said She's 21! And then gave me a knowing look. I've trained him well. So then Tigger said when he's an adult he's going to live here, in the house he lives in now. I asked where I would live and he said next door...where Matthias lives (Matthias is his friend who's a year younger). I asked where Matthias would live, and Tigger changed his mind and said I could live in Grampa's house because Grampa would be dead by that time, and it would be great because I could choose any room I wanted! And then Tigger said he thinks when he's an adult that his pals will be embarrassed because he's going to have a wife and kids. His pals are all his teddy bears and stuffed animals. And he's still going to be sleeping with all his pals. I told him that it would be his wife who's embarrassed, not all his pals.

We are making arrangements to go to Florida over the Great White North Thanksgiving weekend. Courtesy of Casa de In-Laws. This is our summer vacation a few months late. I was really hoping to have our referral by the time we went, which obviously didn't happen, because I wanted to buy baby clothes. And I don't want to go all-out crazy until I have a better idea of what size Thumbelina is...but then I'm not sure if Florida is the right place to be buying a winter wardrobe for a little one who will be living in the Great White North. I guess I'll just have to make another excursion over to Buffalo. And I'm hoping to find a Tar*get store. I've ever only visited their website and I think I would really like it there and could easily make myself at home. Tar*get doesn't ship to the Great White North so if I find a store, I might have to rent a whole airplane just to bring all my loot home...so maybe I shouldn't look too hard for one, huh.

I'm out of coffee and need a re-fill and actually out of things to type. Have a good one.

Slackers Are We

Surprised, aren't you. We are finally getting around to getting our Twin*rix vaccines taken care of. We started the process last fall - had our first shot in November, forgot about Decembers, thought about it in February and wondered if it was too late for the second shot, thought about it again in April and realized it probably was too late, lived with guilt about being slackers, went to the doctor the other day and started the process all over again. So what's supposed to happen is you get your first shot (Twin*rix is a vaccine against Hep A & B), then a month later you get your second shot, and 5 months later you get your last shot and you're good to go. My pharmacist informed me that you can get a rapid dosing of the vaccine, and it would be in our best interest to go that route. So we had our first shot today, next Thursday we get our second shot, two Thursday's after that we get our third shot, and in a year we get a booster. And since Zoomer has asked to accompany us on our impending trip to China, the pharmacist recommended that he get the Twin*rix Junior, rapid dosing. Except this past Monday, Zoomer had to get a Hep B shot at school. But the pharmacist said that wouldn't be enough protection for him and that you can't overdose a vaccine. I'm not too sure about that, but I guess I'll give my doctor a call and see what he thinks. So the other pharmacist asked where we were going and why and when I told her, she said I gave her goosebumps. In a good way. So, even though my arm is starting to hurt from the shot, I'm in a great mood because I gave somebody goosebumps. In a good way.

Thank You, Oh Great Internets

I must send my thanks to whoever sent me the one about the rat crap in the glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet towel with every envelope that needs sealing. Also, now I have to scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason. I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl (Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the 1,387,258th time. I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending to me for participating in their special e-mail program. I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish. I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers. I can't enjoy a good Latte from Starbucks anymore because they WOULD NOT send any coffee to that poor Army Sgt who requested it. I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day. Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains. I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a friend along to watch the car so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas. I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans. I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer. And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup of water in the microwave anymore because it will blow up in my face disfiguring me for life. I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me. I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our American troops or the Salvation Army. I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan. I no longer worry about sudden cardiac arrest, since I can now cough myself back to life instead of wasting time calling 911. I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike. I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe. I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it bites my butt. I can't even pick up the $5.00 I dropped in the parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting underneath my car to grab my leg. If you don't copy and paste this post and send it to at least 144,000 people in the next 70 minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM this afternoon and the fleas from 12 camels will infest your back, causing you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's cousin's beautician, who is a lawyer.

See What I Made

It's a bookmark:


See?


Now can you see?


This was my first attempt at beading, so not really having a clue what I'm doing, I'd say it turned out pretty well. I'm making bookmarks as Christmas gifts for my nursery workers. Lola, when you get yours, act surprised, K? One down, 35 left to go. But who's counting.

Death by Dog Food

Sounds like some sort of bizarro recipe, doesn't it. It's actually how one of our little mousies has met his demise. Very timely, but a demise nonetheless. I found his lifeless, little body in the bottom of a near-empty bag of dog food and promptly asked Husband to dispose of it. The bag of dogfood as well. Just.too.gross. So I did notice last night that our nightly visitor hasn't been dashing from the fireplace, up the bricks, to the mantle, to hide behind the pictures to mock us. So hopefully that's the last of the Mouse Family that we'll be seeing. But I'm still not cooking, even though I cleaned out the oven. At least not oven cooking.

Invisible No More

It was the Jaj Show at church yesterday...or at least it felt like it. I knew my Ladie's Trio was scheduled to sing in the morning service and when I got to choir practice, I realized that we were doing the choir song in which I had a solo as well. And then in the evening service I was part of a flute ensemble. Don't cringe - we actually sounded pretty good. At least that's what one of the older, half-deaf women of the church told me last night - When you were all playing the same part, it sounded like one flute. As soon as the evening choir practice was finished, Mrs. Choir Director came up to me and said Can I ask you a favour? Sure, I said. I thought she was going to ask me to tone down the last note of the choir song and not sing so loud, but instead she asked if I could sing a solo. For the evening service. Fortunately I had my new solo book with me because I wanted to show my voice student a song from it. So I sang a song I did a few weeks ago, and hopefully nobody noticed. The frog in my throat kept me company for the first verse and chorus, but after that he got bored with me and left. I think I'd rather go back to being invisible now.

*****

I must tell you that being asked to perform 1/2 hour before the service starts is not the norm at our church. Two girls were scheduled to sing a duet but one was sick, so then Mrs. Choir Director and her husband were going to sing a duet but at the last minute her husband had to go to a villa a few minutes out of town and pick up a teeny-bopper who wanted to go to the teen afterglow after church and they didn't have time to practice. So she asked me. And I don't mind because there are times when I have to call up Mrs. Choir Director on a Sunday morning and cancel because of a sick kid. Okay, I'll stop typing now.

Invisible

I felt invisible when I picked up the boys after school. And then I felt sad. I needed to talk to somebody after school but she was busy talking to other people, and I was patiently waiting my turn; I'm not going to jump in and start talking to her when she's conversing with other people. Girl A (with whom I needed to talk) and Girl B were having a conversation 1/4 way down the hill, I was standing on the top of the hill. Different parents were scattered around and kids were running around playing. I was waiting for my boys to come when Girl A and Girl B starting walking up the hill. Right in my direction. I thought Great, I can catch Girl A when she gets up here but Girl B was walking up the hill kind of sideways as she's talking and almost walked right into me. I got out of the way just in time as Girl B barely missed stepping on my foot, and then she just kind of looked at me like I was a nutjob to have been standing where she was walking. Anyway, my boys were being slow, plus CJ and TJ are each having a friend sleep-over tonight for their birthdays earlier this week (luckily our guests are brothers so hopefully everybody will get along famously) and I never did get a chance to talk to Girl A. Not that it's her fault, but I just feel like such a loser waiting in the shadows. And yes, I will have some cheese with my whine.

BPOH - Bonus Room

This week on BPOH we are featuring a bonus room or a room we didn't get posted. Since I still don't have my bathrooms looking presentable enough (come to find out I need wood screws to put up the towel bars, shelf and mirror, and I just don't get to TSC that often) I will be showcasing my Scrapbooking Room. In all it's messy glory.

The view from the doorway:


Standing in the door:
Why yes, that is chalk scribbled on the cork board.

Inside the closet:
I'm not sure if I remember what all is in there...

Scrapbooking Central:


Some more of my supplies sloppily on the floor within easy reach:


What I like best about this room is that it is Mine. All Mine. Which means I can leave my supplies sitting out on the table and not have to put them away right away (or ever) while I work on layouts. Looking at the pictures my room likes really sad and boring...I'm thinking I should move that knee-wall somewhere else where it will be more useful, and maybe I should get cupboards or shelving installed on the wall above my table. But I like it and I don't notice the drabness of it all while I'm in there working so I guess I don't need to worry about it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Maturity

OK, I am just way to immature to be a parent. The boys are working on their homework - spelling lists - one of TJ's words was pack and he wrote puke. You know that made me giggle. And then CJ tooted. And then I said, Oh stop! You make me want to puke! Yes, folks, I am a fine example of maturity for my children.

Happy Birthday CJ!

Nine years ago today, my second son, my first preemie, was born. I was so upset when my water broke - I was watching Princess Diana's funeral on TV - and I remember thinking I don't want a September baby - he's supposed to be an October baby! But CJ arrived 4 weeks early, sick with jaundice and remained in the hospital for 10 days. This picture was taken just a few days after he came home:


And this picture was taken this morning:


He loves his present:


How bizzarro is it that Britney Spears' kids have the same birthdates that my kids have?

So yesterday CJ came home with no homework. No.Homework. How awesome is that! AND, he's determined to get all his work done in school again today so that he can enjoy his birthday this evening. Yay!!! His teacher and I are so happy!!!

Thus today concludes our 6-week-long parade of birthdays. I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I'm all caked-out. Bring on Christmas!

12 Twelve 12 Twelve 12

Well this is just sucky. I've just spent the last half hour on my post about 12's and blogger lost it somewhere in cyberspace when I went to publish it. So now my bad mood is slightly badder (is it badder or more bad?). I will try to recreate it the best I can.

Interesting fact about the number Twelve such as:

• The duodecimal system (1210 [twelve] = 1012), which is the use of 12 as a division factor for many ancient and medieval weights and measures, including hours, probably originates from Mesopotamia. As Schoolhouse Rock explains in its song "Little Twelvetoes", if humankind had been born with twelve fingers, they would have counted and multiplied using the duodecimal system. (There is no need to have twelve fingers though, since one will easily arrive at the duodecimal system by simply counting the phalanx bones of fingers with the same hand's thumb, a practice in use with some people until the present day.) What would we do without Schoolhouse Rock?
• The duodenum (from Latin duodecim, twelve) is the first part of the intestine that is about twelve inches long. Something we all needed to know, I'm sure.
• The Chinese use a 12 year cycle for time-reckoning called Earthly Branches.
• Twelve is the number of pitch classes in an octave, not counting the duplicated (octave) pitch. Also, the total number of major keys, (not counting enharmonic equivalents) and the total number of minor keys (also not counting equivalents). This applies only to twelve tone equal temperament, the most common tuning used today in western influenced music. Maybe I should mention now that there will be a test later...
• Twelve men have walked on the Earth's moon.
• And most importantly, 12 is the number of months that our file has been logged in at the CCAA.

So without further ado, I present to you my own duodenum of movies I don't ever want to watch again. Keep in mind that I'm a big wimp and do not enjoy getting scared and having to run past dark windows at night because there might be something out there wanting to eat my flesh. Just so you know.

1. Butterfly Effect - creeped me out in a big way

2. Child's Play - I saw part of it on the dish and I have no desire to watch the movie in it's entirety

3. Halloween - isn't this every person's nightmare? Having someone jump out from behind a closed door and stab you to death?

4. The Abyss - fear of the unknown; I'd like to know if it's a crazed doll or mental patient that is trying to kill me...I need to know

5. Carrie - I was a young teen when I saw this movie and although I'm sure I'd be fine watching it now, I'd rather not

6. Silence of the Lambs - I was genuinely scared during this whole movie because the story line is very plausible

7. Ghost - I was infinitely sad and bawled my eyes out the whole time. I can't watch it again

8. The Royal Tenenbaums - well there's 109 minutes of my life I'll never get back again

9. Open Water - this movie came on the dish and we didn't know what it was about before we starting watching it - gave me the shivers

10. The Cable Guy - this movie was too weird for me and I turned it off after about 20 minutes

11. Phone Booth - I don't like Colin Farrell and this movie did nothing to endear him to me; plus I just didn't like it

12. The Million Dollar Hotel - the lighting was too bluey and the plot was too hard to follow

There. My list that you didn't know you couldn't live without.

I'm in a bad mood today (before blogger went all stupid on me) because I was supposed to go scrapbooking but last night Husband broached the subject of hiring someone to help me out in the office. I don't work well with others. Shocking, I know. I have a hard time with people being in my personal space. So I'm staying home to work so that Husband will see that I can do it all myself. Boy that sounds awfully childish, doesn't it. Me do it. Anyway, I'd rather be scrapbooking.

Happy Birthday TJ!

Today is TJ's birthday. His seventh. I can't believe my baby is 7 already. I get very emotional thinking about his birth and everything that happened afterwards; it's too much. So instead I will think about today and what a blessed little sweetheart he is. To know him is to love him.

This is this morning before school:


We let him open up one of his presents:


I bought cupcakes this morning (like I'm going to make them with a mouse living in my oven - didn't I tell you? The mouse moved to my oven) and bought a cake. Again, the oven thing. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. TJ has requested pizza as our entree for tonight's dinner, and while I'm not a big fan of pizza, I'm a big fan of not cooking. So last night was the Parent-Teacher orientation at the boys' school and directly over TJ's desk in his classroom is a giant gold star hanging from the ceiling. For his birthday. And on his desk was sitting a white top-hat with Happy Birthday written on it. All too cute. I need to remember to take my camera to school when I pick the boys up this afternoon. Would make a great scrapbook layout.

So back to the PTO (the meeting last night at school). Two good reports and one not-so-good report. Oy. I'm not surprised, but school has only been in session for a week and already a teacher is at a loss with what to do with one of my kids. If there are any teachers out there, please offer suggestions. CJ is a middle child who has great difficulty in concentrating. I keep him on a strict diet - no sugar, nothing with preservatives or chemicals - and it does help. But he's having such a hard time getting back into the school thing again. Giving excuses like he doesn't know how to copy things from the blackboard into his notebook, laughing at inappropriate times thus disrupting the rest of the class, not doing his work and having to bring it home as homework just to finish the day's assignments that everyone else did in classtime - he's in Grade 4. Homework is a chore and I get a tension headache every night. And it's things that shouldn't take any time at all like writing out a spelling list, yet CJ can stretch it out over an hour. I don't know. I just don't know. We need to change something, I just don't know what. And neither does his teacher.

So that's today's problem.

How crazy is it that when the gas price drops to 87 cents/litre, people get excited? At least me. I'm a crazily excited person. Or maybe just crazy. Excitedly crazy.

So I'm thinking of changing the boys' names on the blog. I'm thinking Zoomer for AJ, Shaggy for CJ, and I haven't thought of a good one for TJ just yet. Husband will remain Husband. That's all I can think of to blog about for now. I'm sure if I stayed here words would flow from my fingers, but then I'd bore everybody to tears. Okay, I'll stop now. Please pass the kleenex. For the tears. Because we're bored. Yes, it just isn't you. I've bored myself. That's an oxy-moron isn't it - crazily excited but boring. Yes, I'm done. I mean it for real.

Remembering

Remembering the horrific events of September 11, 2001, and all those who lost their lives. Husband and I were watching The Path to 9/11 last night. Wow. To all those who work so hard behind the scenes to keep our countries safe (Great White North included), and to all the service men and women who are around the world fighting the war on terror, Thank You and God Bless You.

BPOH - Bedrooms

This week in Bloggy Parade of Homes we are showcasing our bedrooms. Hence the view from the doorway:

From the closet:
The picture above our bed is an Anne Geddes; it's of a preemie baby girl held in the palm of a man's hand. My girlfriend gave it to me after TJ was born, and yes, he really was that small once.

From the corner:
The mirrorred door is our closet door - it's a pocket door. When we renovated 7 years ago, we re-used the mirror from the bathroom and had it cut to size to fit the door. Did you see the Tim's cup on my dresser? There's usually a new one there every day...

A very small view of the closet:
Notice all of Thumbelina's pretty dresses. The closet is actually a very large walk-in, but my shoes are messy all over the floor so you're not going to get to see anymore of it than this. Our old bedroom closet was lined with cedar wood, so we re-used that as well in our new bedroom closet.

I love everything about our bedroom; it's very relaxing and quite often my refuge.

CJ & TJ's room:
Their room was built last fall in what was (hopefully) our last renovation. Since they've never shared a room before we thought it would be best to put their beds in the dormer and that would discourage them from talking at night...out of sight out of mind...they both have double-sized beds and there is tons of room for them to play and get in trouble.

AJ is in his room at the moment as a punishment, so I haven't taken a picture of it yet. His colour pallet is black and white and one wall is large diagonal checks - sort of to imitate the winning flag at a NASCAR race. I still have ideas for his room but they don't do anybody any good staying in head, do they.

Thumbelina's room has not changed since I painted it. So thanks for stopping by!

The Honeymoon is Over

That was short-lived, wasn't it. The Happy to be On Our Way to School Honeymoon is no more. I had to wake up all the boys this morning - they do better if they wake up on their own - and two of them were bugging each other. A bowl of cereal and milk ended up on the kitchen floor which made everyone grumpy. Except the happy kid. He's always happy. AJ had to finish up some homework this morning - Grade 7 is a big change from Grade 6. Now they have lockers and have to remember to bring books to class and to bring the right books to class. I didn't pack up his backpack last night for him - it's his responsibility - but I did cover four of his textbooks...and three of CJ's textbooks. So I'm not all heartless. AJ has a Literature book that was Uncle AB's 20 years ago. CJ has a Science book that was Aunt Alison's 20 years ago too. So they both think that's pretty neat.

At church AJ is now in the teen department. Big deal. Really, it is. He now has a social calendar that puts mine to shame. But you're not really surprised by that, are you. On Wednesday's after school he has Teens in Action. This week they will be painting stuff for an upcoming activity so they're supposed to have clothes that can get paint splattered. I reminded him last night of this and again this morning, but apparently I'll be bringing the clothes with me after school when I pick up the other two. And I'll need to give him money for supper. Last week they had pizza. On Friday nights they have gym night. Once a month they have an afterglow after Sunday evening church at someone's house and every once in a while there are activities thrown in for the fun of it. So now that I'm a parent of a pre-teen, I'm beginning to wonder if all these activities really are for the kids...or if they're actually for the parents to give them a break from all the hormone-induced belligerence that spews forth from them. I tell you there's a switch somewhere on that boy that makes him happy and fun one minute and the next he's in a fowl fowl mood and nobody is spared. How many more years of this do I have??

I leave you with a picture of AJ and the Happy Kid. This says it all!

Tuesdays are Terrific

Or maybe just the FIRST DAY BACK TO SCHOOL is Terrific. Our morning was pretty smooth; minimal whipping of clothing - the boys not me. They get a kick out of snapping their clothes at each other. Irritates me because I'm the Mom and it's supposed to irritate me, I guess. Everyone was ready to walk out the door by 8:00 am - early even! Everyone was full of nervous excitement...well, I guess I was just full of excitement.

So you've probably been dying to hear about our mini-weekend! Well, since most of yous heard about it last night, I'll tell you. We went to the Science Centre as did every other person with a school-aged child within a 300 miles radius. We waited for 45 minutes in line just to buy tickets, and then another 5 minutes or so to actually get in to see everything. But the boys had a great time. We went and saw the Grossology Exhibit and learned all about flies and tapeworms and various other types of animal dung. Did you know that a fly vomits on its food before it sucks it up? It can't digest it's food and therefore the vomit breaks it down for the fly. Who studies this kind of stuff??? Can you believe the exhibit wasn't gross enough for the boys? Is this a boy thing or is it because they're my offspring? Don't answer that, I don't want to know. Unless it's a boy thing.

So yesterday was Husband's birthday and his parents threw him a surprise birthday party...where my other two readers happened to show up and hear about our mini-weekend away.


Husband hates to be the centre of attention and wasn't too happy that there was a party for him. We had told him that it was just an employee corn roast because it was Labour Day, otherwise he wouldn't have shown up. Most of our neighbours were there as well. The neighbours we like anyway. Two neighbours were not invited - one we haven't really met yet; they've recently moved in...recently like a year ago or so, and the other neighbour is just plain odd. I think the rest had a fun. There was a lot of laughter. Good times. Good times.

I thought I'd include this picture of Husband and me:
Not at all what you were expecting, huh.

So I hope your Tuesday is as Terrific as mine is.

Happy Friday

Since we've done diddly-squat with the boys all summer, we've decided to take them away for the long weekend before school starts. Except instead of being a long weekend, we have to cut it short. As in we'll be away tonight and tomorrow because Husband has to work on Sunday and Monday (and Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday....you get the idea). Part of me is saying what's the point but I don't want to be a downer. We were originally thinking of going to The Ex but with Ernesto on his way, we're thinking anything outdoors won't be too much fun. We could go here or here or even here...we just haven't really thought about it enough yet. And we haven't thought about what to do with the dogs either...

But today I need to get the bills paid, the employees paid, do laundry, pack, make sure everything is ready for school on Tuesday because I'm sure there will be nothing open on Monday...which means I should start thinking about what to send for their lunches...so I'm sorry to say the BPOH Bathroom edition will have to wait until Monday; I have a mirror to put up, 4 towel bars and a picture to hang still. And I don't know how to use power tools.

Enjoy your day my dears!