Thursday, November 30, 2006

Today is a Better Day

All right, I've had my pity party. Sorry to put you through that emotional blubberish yesterday. I tell you, it's just a good thing I work at home by myself, because I was crying all day. Every few minutes a fresh batch of tears would come. But today I'm okay. Today is a new day. Even though I still really, really, really dislike homework.

So. The CCAA has changed their website and they've matched babies with families until September 8. Which is 5 days before our LID. And I'm oddly calm about the whole thing. I've been thinking about this, and if we were to have gotten our referral this month, can you imagine how crazy it would have been trying to pack and get everything organized and ready during the Christmas holidays? It's better this way. Plus, I've heard that everything will be closed in China from February 11 - 23 for Chinese New Year, which is February 18. So the people who are getting their referrals this month (Congratulations to you all!) probably won't be able to travel until after Chinese New Year. At least that's what one person's agency told her. So, another month we wait.

I feel like I'm living in a parrallel universe or something at the moment. All last week, I was on edge, my stomach was fluttery, and right now? Nothing. So unlike me.

So let's do a Countdown to Thumbelina - and since today is maybe probably 30 days away from her referral, let's do a Top Thirty Pet-Peeves:

1. When Molly chews my garbage
2. Thus getting little itty bitty bits of paper all over the floor under my desk
3. And then people walk in the office and wonder what's going on
4. Leaving with the impression that I never clean
5. Empty boxes in the cupboard
6. Empty milk jug in the fridge
7. Cupboard doors left open
8. Closet doors left open
9. Lightbulbs burning out after 3 months of use
10. Telemarketers
11. People on 4-wheelers who think that farmers fields are their own personal play space
12. Thus causing thousands of dollars of damage to the farmer's crops
13. By making trails through the corn
14. And the police are powerless to do anything about it
15. People who give unsolicited advice
16. Toys with batteries
17. The cost of batteries
18. Toys that break within 5 minutes of taking them out of their box
19. Paper cuts
20. Paper cuts from file folders
21. The cost of greeting cards
22. People who refuse to find the humor in situations
23. People who are constantly in a bad mood
24. People who have drastic mood swings
25. People who always have to be right
26. People who argue with you until you want to choke them
27. People who constantly complain (much like I'm doing right now)
28. The sound of the alarm clock in the morning
29. When the people at Tim's don't stir the sugar in my coffee
30. People who drive just under the speed limit

Well. That was pretty easy to come up with. I must have a lot of pent-up peeve issues. So please share your pet peeves, and tomorrow we'll do another Countdown to Thumbelina with 29 things. And please send your ideas of what we should countdown together.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Don't Feel Like Blogging

It's true. I don't feel like blogging today. I'm just feeling extremely sad. And I'm really tired so of course that makes everything seem worse than it is. And no, I don't want to talk about it. And no, it isn't adoption related. And no, I won't stop using and. Oh, I don't know, maybe I should just release it.

Okay, you talked me into it.

Report cards have come out. We had some good reports and some not so good reports, but nothing we weren't expecting. Except one of the teachers has a requested a meeting with us. Which has me feeling nausious. It never occured to me until I was talking with Lola last night as we were busy little beavers that the remarks on the back of the report card about each student should have a positive, a negative and a positive. Ours is just negative, negative, negative. Not even an I'm glad he's in my class. Or He has such a creative spirit. And it just makes me extremely sad because now I'm wondering if his teacher even likes him. And it's breaking my heart. I know that the teacher's aid in the room does not like him because she never has anything nice to say about him and she always rolls her eyes when she talks about him. So I avoid talking to her as much as I can. When he missed school a week or two ago because he was sick, he was absolutely devastated that his teacher didn't write him a note with his homework saying she missed him and hoped he felt better. Devastated. As in ran from the room crying devastated.

At times it just seems too much to bear. And it just makes me so sad to know that he isn't having good days and doesn't want to be at school. And then I get angry. And my defenses get up. And I'm waiting for a fight that never comes. I'm worn out and I am so tired of our lives revolving around one child's school issues.

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

A Blither of Miscellany

On Saturday, my helpers and I spent the morning making cookies:


A close-up of my helper:


Oooo, look at them all:


A weird shot of the finished product (notice the two missing? Husband):



I made 6 batches of the recipe and ended up with almost 10 dozen cookies. Good thing, because Muther actually invited 8 people and forgot about herself. So yesterday, I took all 8 dozen of my cookies for the exchange, just in case we were going to sample everybody's cookies right then and there. And everybody else brought 7 dozen, so Muther didn't get any cookies. I told her I'd share mine with her but she thought the other ladies would be bringing her an extra dozen. So the lesson is If you host a cookie exchange, don't forget to count yourself! The cookies I came home with look really tasty. AND, one lady doesn't like making cookies, so she made butter tarts. Her butter tarts are the best in the world (really) so I was super excited about that.

Tonight, Lola and another friend, Trixie, are coming over to help me with my Christmas gifts for my nursery workers. They came last Tuesday as well:




Arent' they purty?


We ran out of supplies last week, so yesterday, Trixie and Sylive (my sil) and I went and bought some more. Except the store we went to didn't have the same kinds of things we had been using, so Sylvie was trying to explain how we need to do it with these new supplies. And it made sense in the store, but now going over it in my head again, I'm lost. So I hope Trixie has a better memory than I.

My son is mad at me because I'm trying to teach him responsibility. And I feel bad for him, but sometimes you have to learn things the hard way. I am always telling him not to give me memos from school as he's leaving to go to school the next day. He needs to show them to me the day he gets them. So this morning he's giving me memos and his report card and I wouldn't look at any of it because I didn't have time. So he was upset that Husband and I read his brothers' report cards and not his. And he will be missing out on pizza this Wednesday because I didn't get the memo until this morning. Which means I have to make a lunch for him, but he needs to learn this lesson.

His teacher said to me a few weeks ago, It's too bad we can't just lock them in a cage and then let them out when they're human again. I like his teacher.

Friday, November 24, 2006

Christmas Cookies

Interesting conversations happening on my last post...so let's just change the subject, shall we? But first some advice - AB, go buy JB a breakfast sandwich.

So tomorrow I will be spending the day making cookies. Not my favourite thing to do, especially with the boys around. Because they like to 'help'. And by 'help' I mean dump everything into the mixing bowl, and sneeze into the bowl while stirring. Doesn't happen every time, but it has happened before. Luckily it was just a pie for our own little family, and I didn't throw it out because I figured we're already breathing in the snot-covered germs, so why be wasteful. Anyway. Why do I have to make cookies? For a cookie exchange, silly! Muther is having one on Monday. It's kind of like a tea party with cookies. The plan is to make 8 dozen cookies because there will be 8 ladies there, and everybody exchanges one dozen cookies with each other so you end up with 8 dozen different cookies. And then you get to take them to your in-laws for Christmas. So the cookies I will be making are called Lemon Delights. I made them last year for the same thing and they were a big hit. Especially with Husband who got to eat all the broken ones. We both gained 5 pounds before Christmas even arrived. Nothing like eating lemon-flavoured butter and sugar!

I'm having a hard time thinking of Christmas gift ideas for some family members, so please, please share you Christmas gift ideas with me. What do you want? What do you hate? What do you need? I'm having trouble with Muther's Husband...as well as a few others...I never know what to get him and I never know if he likes my gifts or not. One year for Father's Day I made him a pumpkin pie. He only ate one piece of it. And the rest got thrown away. And no, it hadn't been sneezed in. So gifts stress me out. Last year I got him a portable snow shovel to keep in the trunk in case you're ever stuck in the snow. Looked neat in the store. Kinda sounds stupid now. Anyway, ideas are greatly appreciated. So share, share, share. Pretty please?

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Happy Turkey Day...and other stuff

Happy Turkey Day to all those who are celebrating it today! And happy shopping tomorrow!!!

My van is back. I really don't know if the bird got out or not...I'll guess we'll find out in the next week or so...shudder. {{shudder}}

This morning the boys were all ready to eat breakfast, and I reminded them that they needed to say grace before they started. And of course they looked at me like I was crazy because we don't usually remember to say grace at breakfast, what with us being positively chirpy in the morning and all. That was sarcasm. Our goal is just to survive. So I said, Tigger, please say grace. He just kind of looked at me, bowed his head, and said very quietly, Grace. I know, I know, but I just wasn't expecting it.

Keep your fingers crossed - Husband is interviewing a potential employee right as I'm typing this. I have a good feeling about this guy. Maybe it's just hopeful desperation, but a good feeling nonetheless.

I've just finished eating the new breakfast sandwich from Tim's, and I must say it is really quite yummy. Have you tried it yet? No? You really must.

So The Office is on tonight. I'm enjoying the tension between Dwight and the new guy (can't remember his name). I lead such a pathetic life. Looking forward to a show that is nothing but a waste of time. Anyway. Have a good one.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Don't Know What to Talk About

So I haven't blogged yet today. Because I don't know what to talk about.

Husband was out of town for meetings all day, and that left me home alone.

The van is still at the shop because Husband hasn't taken me to pick it up yet. So I don't know if the bird escaped or not.

I got quite a bit of work done today.

We are having fish for supper tonight.

Someone googled Funny excuses to tell your teacher why your homework is not done and found my blog. On like the 10th page.

I've been trying to stay away from the RQ but today's rumor is just too juicy and keeps pulling me back for more. More! I need more!

So.

What's new with you?

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Panic

Today I am full of panic. I feel ill-prepared for travelling half-way around the world to receive one small infant. Even though we won't be travelling yet for a few more months. Still, I have panic. I've been looking at packing lists. I think we'll need to take the maximum number of suitcases allowed just so we can evenly distribute everything and not be over the weight limits. I feel like the little sparrow that was trapped in my van earlier today. Wanting to take flight but not knowing where to go.

Yes, there was/is a bird in my van. Tigger forgot his backpack this morning, so I took it in to the school for him. And then I stopped for a few groceries. When I got home, I had the trunk open, because of unloading the groceries and all, and I left it open for awhile, hoping Husand would come home in the meantime and see the case of orange juice and bring it in to the house for me. Because I'm lazy like that. But he didn't come, and I got tired of looking at my van with the trunk open so I finally went out and closed it. And left the orange juice in the van because I was too lazy to carry it into the house.

So I had to take the van to the mechanics for it's quarterly tune-up and there's a bird in the front seat, desparately trying to break through the glass of the passengers window, but just banging its poor little body in desparation. So I left the driver's side open and went to the passengers side and opened it. But no bird. So I closed that door and opened the back door and the trunk, but still no bird. So I closed the doors and got in. Luckily I have a package of wipes in the van and I was able to wipe off all of the doo-doo. Poor bird must have been in the van for awhile.

I was really hoping the bird had escaped when I wasn't looking, so off I drove to the mechanics. All the while envisioning this tiny sparrow dive-bombing me and forcing me off the road or into on-coming traffic, thus resulting in an accident with hideous injuries and dismemberment of various body-parts. And if that happens, you just know we'll have to put the adoption on hold. But I experienced no attacks by any birds. Although once I got to the mechanics, I did hear some shuffling somewhere in the area of the backseat/trunk, so I opened the back windows in hope that the bird will escape. Husband thinks the bird will end up giving the mechanics a heart-attack.

I just hope it's gone by the time I have to go get the van.

So ya, I'm feeling panicky today. I need to be released out into the wild to do some retail therapy. Much retail therapy.

Monday, November 20, 2006

Tigger-isms

Kids crack me up with their sense of humor. They can find the hilarious in the silliest of things. Last night, Tigger, Shaggy and I were coming home from church - Zoomer was at an afterglow and Husband was at work. Normally he doesn't work on a Sunday - just in the afternoon - but since the Bad Seed got fired, Husband has to cover all of his shifts. And Husband was going to have Roy and Mason cover the Bad Seeds shifts, but Roy didn't show up for his first day of work (Husband called Roy's wife at 7:10 because Roy was supposed to start at 7 am and his wife said that Roy left home at 6:30. Two days later Husband finally got ahold of Roy - Husband used a cell phone that didn't display his name so Roy, being nosy, called the number that showed up on his phone. I don't think he was expecting it to be Husband. So Roy said he didn't show up for work because he had another interview. Right. At 7:00 in the morning.) And Mason called yesterday and said he couldn't come to work today (today would have been his first day) because he got called back to work. But at least he called. So all that to explain why Husband wasn't in church with us yesterday. So Tigger. All the way home he was saying, "Hello, this is Tigger Jaj and I'm calling on the telescope. I was wondering if you could bring me a telephone so that I could look at the stars." And he could barely get it out because of all the giggles. And then he'd say, "Hey mom, you get it? I'm saying everything backwards!" All the way home.

A week ago Sunday night, at church, Tigger lost his shoe. Lost. his. shoe. Off of his foot. I'm still trying to figure that one out. And we still haven't found it yet. The boys and I were all looking for it in the area where he said it fell off, but nothing. I told the Secretary and she was going to ask the Custodian to keep an eye out for it. And I mentioned it to one other guy who happened to see us looking and he was going to keep an eye out for it as well too. But you know, I didn't look in any of the potted plants. I wouldn't put it past one of the kids who were there to hide it on Tigger. So it's just a really good thing we have an over-abundance of shoes over here at the Funny Farm.

I had to buy some more lights for the Christmas tree because we had a couple of strands that quit working. Did you know that you can only get the LED lights now? At least in our sleepy, little town. Which is fine, but they come in strands of 70 instead of 100. And I use 100 lights for every foot of tree. Which means my tree is looking a little sparse for lights by the time we get to the top. And there aren't any green lights on the LED strands. I miss the green. I also bought 4 nine-foot lighted garlands that I want to hange from the roof part of our front porch. Except I haven't been able to figure out how to secure it. Ideas???

So that's all for now. Tigger tried to tell me last night that he wasn't feeling well and he didn't think he'd be able to go to school today. Shaggy missed two days of school last week due to illness and Tigger didn't think it was very fair that Shaggy got to stay home and he didn't. Tigger is very much a Momma's Boy.

Oh, one other Tigger-ism and then I'll let you get back to work. This morning, Zoomer was ironing his shirt for school (I'm trying to train him to be more independant) and as I was making lunches (yes, I'm a slacker and didn't do them last night) I asked Zoomer if Tigger was getting dressed (Tigger and Shaggy get dressed in the living room so that I can keep an eye on them and help them if need be) and Zoomer said, "No, he's just sitting there being cute." So I said, "Tigger, stop being cute." And Tigger said in a very sad (put-on) voice, "You don't want me to be cute anymore?" And I said, "Just stop being cute long enough to get dressed and then you can be cute again."

Tiggers.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Check This Out!

Yay! Yay! Yay! Tina from The Story of You has our homepage up!!! I started to cry when I saw the proof this morning. Yes, I'm a big sap. So make sure you bookmark it and follow along, although nothing will be happening until we actually go to China, but still. And the picture of us at the bottom is from 2 years ago. It was the nicest one I could find of the 5 of us.

The Office and Dreams

Did you all watch The Office last night? I only saw the first half-hour because last night was Husband's and mine Thursday Night Date Night where we always watch CSI together. So I have the rest of The Office recorded and I'll watch it later. So my favourite scene last night (as I'm thinking about all the laundry and ironing I should be doing) was when Jim was talking to Dwight but kept looking above his eyes. Funny. I have a brother-in-law who used to work at a grocery store and one night he decided whenever a customer talked to him or asked him a question, he was going to look to the left of their eyes (or to the right, I can't remember). And I remember this because I happened to be in said grocery store the night he was doing this. It really is frustrating when someone doesn't look you in the eye when you're talking to them.

I had the weirdest dream last night and woke up with a kink in my neck and now I have a headache. Plus Tigger was up too many times to count. So my dream. Was so weird. There were a bunch of us there, I know that Lola was one of the people there, and "there" was a clothing store. But is was very small and crowded, almost like a walk-in closet. And there were baby clothes as well. But I wanted a new outfit and they were horribly disgusting. Like 80's disgusting. You remember the 80's with the huge shoulder pads, wild coloured geometric shapes and different textures. ALL these outfits were like this. And I remember thinking to myself, Oh please no! No! Not the 80's again! But the funny thing is when I was a teenager, I LOVED the 80's and the styles. Remember balloon pants? And the big hair?

So in my dream, after I decided there was no way on earth I could bring myself to buy one of those outfits, someone walked in with referrals. REFERRALS! But all we got was a picture - very small and hard to make out what exactly our babies looked like - and piece of paper with the babies' Chinese name and weight. And then they were going to bring the babies in! Except I was panicking because I didn't know how to pronounce her Chinese name and what if they didn't give me my baby because I couldn't pronounce her Chinese name! So I don't really remember what happened after that; I know Lola went home with a puppy. Beyond Bizarre.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Let's Talk Christmas

Christmas is in 40 days. Are you ready for it?

I love Christmas. I love the Christmas story and the Reason for the Season. I love Christmas commercials on TV. I love the Christmas specials - Frosty, Rudolph, Olive the Other Reindeer - I love the nostalgia of it all. I love the decorations and the twinkling lights. I love getting together with family (no, really!) and laughing and laughing. Husband's side of the family gets a little goofy when everyone is together. They like to laugh. As in egg nog coming out of your nose laugh.

I had an idea for our group picture this year. Husband thinks it's the stupidest thing he's ever heard of, but the boys are all for it. I thought it would be fun to buy everybody a set of ugly teeth and we could all pose for the picture wearing our ugly teeth. Except not the ones at this link because they're too expensive. But I did pick up a few pairs during the Halloween season. And I did find someone selling them on e-bay, except it was a box of 100 and what am I going to do with 100 ugly teeth that are all identical? So. Stupid idea like Husband thinks, or fun like the boys and I think?

Do you have any Christmas traditions that you enjoy? I'm always looking for new ideas. One thing that we started a few years ago, is instead of an advent calendar, I wrap up 24 Christmas books. Starting December 1, the boys take turns picking a book and unwrapping it and we all read it together.

So share, share, share all your ideas.

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Ironic

What American accent do you have?
Your Result: North Central

"North Central" is what professional linguists call the Minnesota accent. If you saw "Fargo" you probably didn't think the characters sounded very out of the ordinary. Outsiders probably mistake you for a Canadian a lot.

The West
The Midland
Boston
The Inland North
The South
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have?
Take More Quizzes


As a matter of fact, I DO get mistaken for a Canadian. Whatever.

***Okay, so beta-blogger said that my html codes were wrong...which is why the link isn't working for this quiz. So if you'd like to take the quiz, I found it over at Ragus Pug.

The Great One

So there's this older gentleman at church - retired professor who is very knowledgable in geology and has become Shaggy's 'Best Friend' since Shaggy is into rocks. 'Doc' has given Shaggy fossils and rocks that he's gotten from the North Country and is always giving me photocopies on the technical aspects of said rocks; half the words I can't even pronounce so I haven't passed the info on to Shaggy yet.

So one day Doc said to me, You know Wayne Gretzky? I can get his autograph for you if you'd like. I was a bit suprised, but who's going to turn down an autograph of the Great One, right? So I said, Sure, that'd be great! Apparently whenever The Great One is in the area, Doc goes to somebody's house who is a relative and leaves a list of people's names who would like autographs. If you knew Doc, you wouldn't be surprised at all.

A week ago, after the choir finished performing and we're all walking to our seats, I walked behind the back row of pews in church and there's Doc holding a manilla envelope out to me. So I took it. In it were more photocopies on rocks, of course, and 5 autographed pictures of The Great One. How cool is that?!?! So Husband and I have one, as do each of the boys and Millie & Fil. So totally awesome.



Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Just Stuff

So we haven't talked very much about Office/Employee Drama as of late. Let's re-cap, shall we?

1. First there was Rick, whose Father was dying. So he was unable to show up to work and is not on our payroll.
2. Then there was That Guy. Who was super-excited about coming to work except he didn't show up for his first day. And his wife was supposed to call us to tell us that his Mother had passed away during the night but she didn't. And we haven't heard from him since.
3. Then there was The New Guy. Whose wife wouldn't let him come to work.
4. And there's some girl that Husband has been in contact with but her mother is in the hospital and not doing very well. So she's coming out tomorrow for an interview.
5. Then there's the Bad Seed. I haven't told you about him yet - but he was fired on Friday. He had been in our employ for about 2 months - exactly 2 months too long. He was really angry that he got fired (he was stealing towels - we think it was him - and not following protocol - actually jeopardizing our whole operation by not following the rules - and getting everybody in a tizzy) so he threw E!'s shoes in the dumpster when he left. And yes, I giggled over that when I heard it.
*Edited to add #6 - how could I forget!
6. A guy started yesterday - Jeric. He didn't show up for work today. So I guess he quit. Or maybe he's fired. Who knows. I don't understand why people can't just call and say, Hey, I had an interesting first day, but I don't think it's for me. Instead, they just don't show up and they let everybody down because people are counting on them. It's frustrating.

So yesterday I got a phone call from the Employment Office in town. We haven't advertised at the Employment Office so I was a little surprised when their number showed up on the phone display. It was a guy, let's call him Roy, who wondering if we had any job openings. Well, as a matter of fact we do, especially since the Bad Seed is gone. Turns out Roy, and his friend Mason, who is also looking for employment, are friends of the Bad Seed and they were told last week, by the Bad Seed, that there might be jobs available. Desperate times call for desparate measures, right? So Roy is coming this afternoon for an interview and Mason is coming tomorrow. The first thing out of Mason's mouth was, Did you call Roy? So my hopes aren't set very high that these two will work out.

Drama, drama, drama.

I may have done a not very wise thing yesterday. The boys were frustrating me, so I said, Oh for the love of all things chocolate, just do your homework! The boys thought that was hilarious and it definitely lightened the mood, and now Shaggy is going around saying it. Can't you just see him saying it to his teacher today? Oh for the love of all things chocolate, I can't find my book! Yeah, I'm a bit worried too.

Yesterday was our Municipal elections. Our current mayor is retiring, so there were 4 candidates for mayor. It was a very surprising election. Didn't turn out at all how I thought it would. But even more surprising was that only 39% of eligible voters actually voted. And Even more surprising than that is that percentage is up. Four years ago, only 35% of eligible voters voted. Very sad, isn't it. And there had been advanced polls out for the last 2 weeks, so I really don't think people had too much of an excuse not to vote. And in my mind, that should mean that only 39% of the electorate should be allowed to complain. If you don't bother to vote, don't bother to complain. But life isn't always that simple, is it.

Monday, November 13, 2006

14 Fourteen 14

Fourteen - The number after 13 and before 15. The number of months our dossier has been logged in with the CCAA. I know I say this every month, but I think I will celebrate with chocolate. Or something. So without further ado, I present to you my list of 14 Actors That Irritate Me So Much I Can't Usually Stand to Watch Any of Their Movies: (In no particular order):

1. Jason Priestly - the 80's are over dude!
2. Pierce Brosnan - thinks too much of himself...at least that's what comes across to me through the screen
3. Kevin Costner - ugh. I only liked him in Dances With Wolves.
4. David Caruso - sorry Pauline!
5. Kevin Federline - grow up! I know technically he's not an actor, but he did have a guest spot on CSI a few weeks ago.
6. Will Ferrell - grow up! Although I did chuckle through Elf.
7. Henry Winkler - I grew up thinking you were The Fonz. And then to see you out of that role and as an ordinary person...I'm sorry but it just shattered my image of you and I can't look at you any other way.
8. Gary Sinease - please stop talking through your nose. It bugs me. And get some rest - the bags under your eyes look really bad.
9. Little Richard - you frighten me.
10. David Hasselhoff - you're middle-aged - please stop trying to act like The Fonz.
11. Stephen Seagal - is it just me, or does his voice really sound girly?
12. Samuel L. Jackson - again with the frightening. Although I did like him in Star Wars I or was it II? Or was it both?
13. Colin Farrell - I can't put my finger on what it is...I just don't like him.
14. Brandon Beemer - the new Shaun on DOOL. How could they change Shaun's like that? This new guy isn't even cute!

So.

Just so you don't all think I'm all about the negative, may I present to you my list of actors that I think are just positively yummy: (Again, in no particular order)

1. Matthew McConaughey
2. Harrison Ford
3. Mario Lopez
4. Denzel Washington
5. George Clooney
6. Anderson Cooper - I know he's not an actor, but this is my list and I can put whomover I want on it.
7. Tom Selleck
8. Curtis Stone
9. Dermot Mulroney
*10. Sean Connery

And that's all I got. Of course there are other actors out there that are nice looking, but if I see that these particular actors are in a movie, I will watch that movie just because they're in it. And normally Mel Gibson would be in my list, but I haven't decided if I can watch anymore of his movies, what with his anti-Semitic remarks and all.

So this is just my personal list. And maybe the people on my yucky list are really, really nice and just play lousy parts in movies, and maybe the people on my yummy list are actually creeps, but it is what it is. And please share your lists with me!

*Updated to add Sean Connery. Thanks Priscilla!

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Remember



IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

~John McCrae

Friday, November 10, 2006

O Happy Day

So this morning, a trucking company called and said they were going to come and get a load of beans. Good. And then the guy asked me, Is Mr. Jaj your Dad? I think if we were face-to-face I would have hugged him. I said, No, he's my Husband. And the guy kind of embarrassedly chuckled as I said, I just have a young sounding voice. So I'm in a good mood and nothing can spoil it.

Not so much with Shaggy. He's off his sugar high. Oh boy. This morning, Zoomer was doing some work and was erasing something...Shaggy leaned in to see what he was doing and the pencil poked him in the face. Shaggy lost it and got so angry with Zoomer. And started shaking and growling and chasing him. I tried explaining to Shaggy that Zoomer didn't do anything wrong - he just got too close to the pencil as Zoomer was erasing, but you can't explain things to Shaggy when he's like that. And that, my friends, is why I limit, as much as humanly possible, the amount of sugar, additives and preservatives that enter Shaggy's body.

Anybody watch The Office last night? It's going to be interesting now with the new girl coming back to Scranton with Jim. You know what's really pathetic? Everytime I watch that show I feel like I've just wasted 30 minutes of my life that I'll never get back, yet I can't stop watching it. Sad, isn't it.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Blasted!

The annual chocolate-sale for school has started today. I hate the chocolate sale. As in hate it. Because the school wants all the children to sell at least 3 cases of chocolate. 3. Times 3 boys is 9. 9 cases of chocolate. Which we have to keep away from Shaggy. Who is walking a very thin line at the moment because for the past few nights, he's been sneaking downstairs and getting into his Harvest Party candy and eating it in bed. And hiding the evidence under his bed. I knew there was a reason why he was miserable. So if he's caught with any chocolate, he's done selling.

So today was supposed to be a very mild day. In the teens (celcius) mild. And it somewhat is and somewhat isn't. And the kids have gone out selling their chocolate this afternoon with Tigger dressed only in his spring coat. Tigger - the child who has no meat on his bones. So I called the school and as luck would have it, his group was going selling in the next town and they had to drive right by our house. So I asked if they could stop in and I'd give Tigger his warmer coat. So they did. And I bought 2 boxes of candy for their trouble. And now I'm eating mine. And I can feel it collecting on my hips. And I'm starting to get that chocolate headache from eating too much not-very-good chocolate. Hey, all chocolate is not-very-good after you've had chocolate from Europe. Sigh.

My box of chocolate's that Husband bought for me when he went to Europe last March: Doesn't it make your mouth water??? You have no idea how delectable it was!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Well?

How much of an idiot are YOU? To be honest, I had to take the test 4 times, so yah, I'm not too bright. I found this test at Little Maple's blog.

So how are things today? I feel like chips right now but we don't have any in the house, so I might have to borrow some of the boys Harvest Party Candy. Bwahahahahaha.

I still haven't decided which picture to use. These are from our photo-shoot we had to do for our dossier, but the boys look so different to me now - especially Zoomer. Whaddaya think? They were taken July 2005.


I love this one:


That's all for now.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Busy Day

Today the girl from the accountant's office came over to work with me and hold my hand whilst I gathered up the mounds of information she needs to finish off our companies year ends. Which were in June. And August. 3 companies ended June 30, and then 2 ended August 31. It's been a very long day.

So JB asked about our Christmas tree. Sadly, it did not get put up. Husband wouldn't let me and I was in no shape to argue. Friday was a painful day and my leg was swollen, as well as my foot, to the point where I couldn't fit a shoe on. At one point I was seriously thinking maybe there was a fracture, but I decided to quit work early and sit with my leg up and on Saturday it was feeling so much better. But I had pies and a salad to make. And Sundays are too busy to do anything other than last minute homework, which brings us to today. There is church tonight and tomorrow night for our anniversary services, but I haven't decided if we're going tonight or not. I really should, but it's been a long day and I haven't showered yet or thought of supper and it really depends on how much homework the boys have. Excuses, I know. And then the guilt follows. But I'd still love to put the tree up this week. I've been really tempted to buy a pre-lit tree, but then what would I do with the one we already have. Lights are the bain of my existance.

Shaggy just had a major meltdown, so I guess that answers the question about us going tonight. I think he'll be going to bed right after supper. Anyway, I need coffee or something to get rid of my headache.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Decisions

I've decided to have our China Journey to Thumbelina web-hosted by Tina at The Story of You. Because I don't want people who know me in my real life to know that I have a blog, because I don't want them to read it. Not that I have anything to hide, but I just would rather not everyone I know read it (except for you, of course). And if I have our journey web-hosted, then I can invite all our church family to follow along with us. Does this make any sense??? So I've got the background picked out and the poems I'd like on our homepage but I'm having trouble with the pictures.

I had a little photo shoot with the boys last week which resulted in this:


And then I noticed all the fingerprints on the fireplace surround and the filth on Tigger's shirt. I can't get that boy to use a napkin - he uses his sleeve.


So this is from today:


So really all I have to work with are these two pictures:



Which one should I use???

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Interesting

Shaggy, Tigger and I were watching a bit of Star Wars this afternoon...again...one of these days I'll actually see the whole thing through...and Tigger said to me,

In Episode I, Obewan doesn't have a beard, but in Episode II he does. How come?

So I said to him that when men don't shave they grow a beard. And then Shaggy looked at me, as only he can look, and said,

Remember Mom - Long, Long ago in a galaxy far away. Long, long ago. They didn't have shavers back then.

And I'm trying not to laugh at shavers. And then Shaggy said,

They must've just used their light sabers to shave.

So funny my boys are.

So my salad is made and so are my pies. One is for us. The nicer one is going to the church for the banquet. So here is a before shot of the pies:



And a close-up:


The finished product:


And a close-up:


Anybody know why my crust always goes so dark? It happens every time I bake a pie. And my oven is 25 degrees too hot, so anytime I do bake, the oven is 25 degrees less than what the recipe says. I just hope they taste okay. It's one thing for your family to have to put up with your cooking, but other people? Too much pressure.

Friday, November 03, 2006

Busy Weekend

I'm almost embarrassed to tell you all this, but I'm pretty sure we'll be putting the Christmas tree up this weekend. I know - it's a little early. But last year we had Christmas photo cards made through Shutterfly, and this year I'd like to do the same thing. Except I thought it would be neat if I took the boys picture in front of the Christmas tree. Which means I have to do that sooner rather than later. Because if you order by November 7 (Tuesday) you get 20% off. But don't worry, I'm not going to go all out crazy just yet with the Christmas decorations. I don't think.

It's also our church's 74th Anniversary this weekend and Saturday night is our banquet. I've signed up to make a pie and a salad. Not really sure why I did that as I'm not really a professional pie maker, not really any kind of pie maker if the truth be told. But I was feeling guilty about not doing anything. So I think I'll do a pumpkin pie and then I won't have to worry about a top crust. My flute ensemble is scheduled to play - can't you just see little bits of food and pie spewing forth out of our flutes??? Gross.

So Husband and I were just arguing over the Christmas tree thing. Last night a board fell on my leg and now I'm pretty sure my bone is bruised. I didn't sleep very well last night and I'm not walking too well today, and it hurts just to have my pant leg brush up against my leg. So he's saying I'm broken and I can't put up a tree and decorate it. He's busy in the fields with harvest so he's unable to help me. You know the sad thing, in a weird, funny sort of way, this is our 15th Christmas together and he's never once helped decorate the tree. Our first Christmas together, he sat on the couch watching the hockey game and I decorated the tree, with the help of my brother...or was it AB...I'm not really sure who it was now that helped (I can't believe my memory is failing me). And Husband was telling us to move out of his way...we were standing in his way to bugg him. But now it's a joke in our house about Husband not helping.

So this post has ended kind of weird. Happy Friday!

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Thank You CCAA

The CCAA has changed their website - The CCAA has finished the placement of children for the families whose adoption application documents were registered with our office before August 25, 2005. If you'll remember, our LID is September 13, 2005 which means WE COULD BE NEXT!!! YAAAAYYYYY!!! Did you hear that? I'm sure if you listened again you'd hear me screaming. I've been praying for this for so long and now it's almost here. Wow! There's still so much to do. Wow!

The boys and I were talking at supper last night about how much they hate baby shows like Blues Clues. And I told them they'd better get used to watching them again. AND they'd have to get used to girly toys. AND Barbies. So Zoomer yelled out Gross!, Shaggy fell to the floor screaming, and Tigger ran to the bathroom, did the loudest wretching sound I've ever heard and flushed the toilet. He doesn't flush when he actually goes pee, but he flushes for fake vomit. Poor poor Thumbelina.

Inside I'm a mass of quivering giggliness. Oooo boy, this is going to be a long month.

Oh, and if you've caught my blog and couldn't make sense of any of it (moreso than usual), blogger only published one part of a paragraph and I had to edit it and re-type most of my post for today. So weird.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Party Drama

So last night was our Harvest Party. The boys had a great time, got lots of candy, but I was ready to call it quits before we even left the house. The Drama. I finished Shaggy's costume yesterday and when he got home from school he burst into tears and said it was dorky. Dorky. And he wasn't going to wear it. I tried reasoning with him but he would have none of it. I was feeling really rushed because I had taught a voice lesson after school until 4:00, so we got McD's for supper on the way home. It's really hard to eat supper at 4:30 in the afternoon. And then we rushed through homework and got to the church by 5:50. Shaggy was crying from embarrassment all the way into town about his costume. I told him we were taking the costume in case he changed his mind. When we got to the church, the parking lot was empty. I happened to have a bulletin in the van with me, so I checked and the party didn't start until 7. We were an hour early (just so you know, the party has been at 6:00 for the last 6 years). And then more tears because the boys thought they had missed the party. They wanted to sit and wait in the van for an hour til everyone else got there. So we went to Gramma's house. I didn't want to go home in case trick-or-treaters saw lights on and stopped in. And I had no candy for them because we're never home to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. And no one ever comes trick-or-treating to the country anyway. So we visited with Gramma for a half hour and then headed back into the church. And in the back of my mind I was hoping I read the bulletin right. I did. We were there in enough time to do last minute costume adjustments. When we got to the church everyone loved Shaggy's costume (Tigger is always cute) so then Shaggy decided he liked his costume after all. Especially when the other kids wanted to wear it. Tigger came up to me and said You know that lady? She said 'Hi Tigger-boo' to me and I said to her Please don't call me boo, only Tigger. And that was our coversation, so I still don't know who he politely told off. So pictures:

Tigger as the burning bush (sans glasses because they melted from heat):



Shaggy as the Plague of Flies:


Shaggy and his cousin the frog:


And Zoomer was too old to participate so he had to go to Gramma's and study for exams. He was a bit put out with me that I wouldn't let him stay home alone on Halloween night. By himself.

Oh, and Husband made it safely home from Montreal, so all is well in my world. And it will be even better when he gets back here with a Tim's!