Moments in Time

New Blog

2011-01-27T08:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Faithful Follower,

I have a new blog called Post-It's and Purple Staples, so let's head on over there together, shall we?

http://post-itsandpurplestaples.blogspot.com/

HELP!!

2010-04-02T17:51:00.001-07:00

Wow, what a day. Shaggy has two friends spending the night...actually two nights...so this morning while they were out scavenging in the woods for things to make a paint-ball course with, Tigger and Thumbelina were playing on the playground, and Zoomer and I were cleaning up the yard. The two guests, along with Shaggy & Tigger, had a 4-H meeting this afternoon. I decided to do some shopping in the Port of Dover, and when it was time to pick them up, my front tire was flat. Flatter than flat. Extremely flat. A tow-truck was called and the tire was changed.

This evening I have had the pleasure of calling 911 for the first time ever. Zoomer, who has spent the last 5 hours with his "Just a Friend" quadding and such, was unhooking the trailer from the truck, when a crazy van drove through our back laneway, almost hitting him in the process, and proceeded through the field. Through the field. At night, when it's pitch black out. A farmer's field. Zoomer came in all shakey, Husband jumped in his truck and followed where we think she went. He has indeed found her van in the creek, but he didn't want to go searching for said suspect. (Said Suspect sounds much more mysterious than Crazy Lady). The police are here; the four-wheel vehicle and at least two other cars; my neighbour just called to see what's up because he has police going through his driveway as well.

So much excitement in Jajville tonight.

Oh, and we had Chinese for supper tonight. You know, in case you were wondering.

Phone Calls

2010-03-15T08:24:00.001-07:00

Funny how one little phone call can change your world, or your day, or your mood. I received one such phone call this morning, and while it only changed my mood there are others of whom it will have changed their world. A neighbour of mine from when I was a child has passed away and I have been asked to sing at her funeral. My Dad's favourite song no less. The song makes me emotional and after after 11 years, I still have not been able to sing it as a solo in church. The song is How Great Thou Art. I have very fond memories of this neighbour, and while she lived a long life here on earth, her last few years were spent in a nursing home in much pain from arthritis. Nonetheless she always maintained a positive attitude and spirit. Just because I have pain doesn't mean I have to be one. That is a good mantra to have. Peace to you.

Addictions

2010-03-11T17:50:00.001-08:00

I am addicted to coffee. Or at least the caffeine in the coffee. And I'm not trying to be cute or clever, I'm griping to you, dear readership, because I have a pounding headache. Because I missed my 4:00pm coffee and had it at 7:00pm instead. And tomorrow morning I will awake with a headache, too.

Addictions suck.

My Kid is a Nerd

2010-03-03T05:11:00.000-08:00

At least he looks like a nerd. Today is the day of the week where the boys have to wear a tie to school. His tail, or whatever you call it...I'm not really sure...but the skinny part that sits underneath the actual tie, is about 6 inches longer than the part you're supposed to see. Plus it's pulled so tightly around his neck that his collar is all gathered. He makes me proud.

Is There An Echo In Here?

2010-03-01T06:49:00.000-08:00

So this afternoon I have to go have an echocardiogram. To see if I have a heart. Heh. No, not really. Really about the echo, but I am pretty sure I do have a heart. Anyway, the reason for the echo is because my family has switched dentists to one that is closer to our home. And because some random doctor years ago said to me, "Oh, by the way, did you know you have a heart murmer?" my new dentist will not take my word for it that said heart murmer is no biggy. My doctor concurs with my diagnosis, but since "no biggy" is not to be found in my medical charts...either volume...an echo is in order. I hadn't even thought anything about it until my girlfriend said to me yesterday, "I hope you get a woman tech." insert nervous laugh So now I'm realizing where exactly my heart is located and I'm guessing it isn't just probes they will be sticking on my chest?

Day 2 of Winter PhoBlo Days

2010-02-27T18:05:00.001-08:00

Today began with me sleeping in. Until 9:00 am. That almost NEVER happens. I began my day with coffee in bed and my Bible. I love Saturday mornings:

I helped Mr. Happy in the office for the rest of the morning; we are working on getting the church books ready to present to the congregation:

I spent time at both his desk and my desk...which is considerably messier than yesterday:

Thumbelina and I shared last night's rice bowl for lunch...the rest of the family fended for themselves:

Then we snuck downstairs and did some ironing:

Zoomer has run wires throughout the basement and hooked up a TV for me so that I will have something to watch while I iron...I'm not planning on the TV remaining on top of the freezer:

Thumbelina watched the clothes inside the washing machine while I did the folding:

She's such a good helper:

This is what happens to your kitchen when your family is left to fend for themselves:

After a quick clean-up, Thumbelina and I headed out to get some groceries. I'd like to say that I have a menu planned for this coming week, but I don't. But we DO need to eat chicken this week...more than once...my children will be thrilled...

Today's commute looked pretty much like yesterday's:

Hello, Real Canadian Super Store:

Ruht-roh...somebody fell asleep:

RCSS (Real Canadian Super Store) was crazy busy...but what do you expect for a Saturday afternoon. Thumbelina enjoys grocery shopping, although she usually does it with Mr. Happy on Saturday mornings, and despite falling asleep on the way there, she was happy and helpful. I, on the other hand, despise buying groceries. There has got to be a better way to load up the groceries than the double converyor belt. My groceries and bins were piled way high at the end, ready to topple over if anybody were to make a loud noise, and the poor fellow who was after me in line had to walk around me to reach his groceries on the other side...and then come BACK around me to pay for them. And when both of our conveyors were full and the check-out girl had nothing to do but wait for us, she just stood there watching. I miss the days when people would come and help you bag your groceries. Now everything is crowded and congested and stressful. Anyway, here are 2 of our 5 bins of groceries...nachos and pop and flakies:

My beautiful princess on her way outside to play with Shaggy:

My beautiful princess hamming it up for the camera...apparently 'nobody' knew how she got the scratch under her eye this morning, but now it appears that she and Tigger were playing with a stick...uhuh:

I did some Farmville while the children were outside, but I'm too lazy to add the picture in. It doesn't look a whole lot different from yesterday's picture. It was 5:00 by the time I got home from grocery shopping, and since Mr. Happy had to run into town to pick up Zoomer from his sports thing, they brought home supper. We are all about eating healthy at the Funny Farm:

And since I have Celiac Disease and can't eat anything with gluten, take-out is not what is usually on my menu. So I had eggs over-easy and gluten-free toast. Except one of my eggs broke when I flipped it and it turned out hard:

After supper, Thumbelina and I did more laundry...actually Thumbelina abandoned me and played Wii Sports Resort while I did more laundry:

And because I wasn't in the mood to clean up the kitchen after the boys cleaned up the kitchen, I did some more practicing. The piano looks the same as it did yesterday, so I didn't bother to take a picture of it. And now I am enjoying a cup of tea and soon I will join Mr. Happy downstairs where he is diligently working on his laptop while watching the Olympics:

Possibly with Zoomer:

Or I may even walk on the wild-side and do some scrapbooking. It's hard to believe that anybody can survive such an exciting day, isn't it.

Take 2 - PhoBlo Days, Day 1

2010-02-26T19:53:00.001-08:00

The pictures have worked today, so without further ado, we join our day already in progress:

I had forgotten that Friday was Day 1 of the Winter Edition of PhoBlo Days until the boys were leaving for school:

The Princess was crushed that they were leaving:

She enjoys making silly faces for the camera:

Buh-bye boys, we'll miss you:

Because I was SO sure that Friday was going to be a snow day, what with the 'snowicane' they were predicting and all, I stayed up until midnight doing bookwork. And since there was no snowday in sight, I could barely drag my butt out of bed at 7:00 am. Hence the shower after the children were gone:

Ahhhhh, a little bit of Heaven on earth:

9:00 am and it's time to start my workday:

The commute was only the length of a hallway, but there was traffic stopped in odd places:

Princess Thumbelina was upset at me because I had to work...and because I kept taking her picture...so she drew pictures. The angry picture is of a little girl who was mad because her mom put milk in her cereal...it's a self-portrait of sorts:

Mr. Happy was remote-desk-topping me to the church computer so that I could do the T-4's for the staff. Nuthin like waiting until the last day to get it done:

Princess Thumbelina was busy with her office work as well:

Then it was time to go to the church and hand out the T-4's...this was my commute into town:

Our destination:

And a quick stop to mail some letters:

And another quick stop at my favourite store to buy some cute push-pins:

Home again:

With my office assistant ready and willing to do all he can to help:

But first, an afternoon coffee is top priority:

Both of my helpers busily doing their things:

4:00 pm and the boys are home from school:

And it suddenly occurs to me that I forgot to eat lunch:

Shaggy & Thumbelina go out to enjoy the snow:

While I check on my farm at Farmville:

A healthy supper from Little Ceasar's that Mr. Happy brought home for the children (he brought us home some rice bowls from Boston Pizza):

After supper, I practiced singing...mostly because I was procrastinating about cleaning up the kitchen from supper...

Because I am old (no, really, I am), and I can no longer handle staying up until midnight, I collapsed on the couch to watch some TV:

Thumbelina insisted that we watch one of her shows...this particular show is called In The Night Garden and it put both Mr. Happy and I to sleep. As a result, Thumbelina got to stay up an extra half hour:

After the children went to bed, we watched the Canadian women's curling team get silver and the Canadian men's hockey team win against somebody...Slovakia? Yes, Slovakia, and now they are in the finals for the gold. Against the US. It will be like watching Saturday night hockey on a Sunday afternoon:

Oh, and I stayed up until midnight for the second night in a row. Mostly because of blogger not cooperating. Stay tuned for Day 2 of even more exciting times!!

A Day in the Life

2010-02-26T19:18:00.001-08:00

It's been so long since I've blogged that I'm not sure if I even remember how to do it. It is the winter edition of PhoBlo days, so I thought I'd let you take a peak into my life...or rather peak at a day of my life. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

And to be honest with you, blogger is being as much a poo-poo head as I remember. It is not navigating to the 'add pictures' page and then it keeps losing it's connection with the dashboard.

You know what frustrates me, other than blogger? People. Shocking, isn't it. In our local Superstore, they have changed the check-outs. After your food is scanned, the conveyor belt divides into two lanes...so that two people can be bagging their groceries at the same time. But if the lady in front of you has her groceries on the farther belt and continues to stand in the middle of the check-out aisle so that there is no room for you...or your cart...then it's a waste of space and energy to have two conveyor belts.

And then when you leave the store with your cart and there's a car parked where it is clearly a no-stopping zone and only a walk-through for grocery carts and the people pushing them, what is one to do? Ram into the said car with your grocery cart? Or telepathically send mean messages to the driver?

Frustrating.

As is blogger. No pictures today.

Do They Do It On Purpose?

2009-08-28T10:31:00.000-07:00

Do people irritate me on purpose? Are they trying to make their point that I am demanding and a perfectionist? Is it too much to ask to do your job decently and in order? Are you wondering what on earth I'm talking about??

A couple of weeks ago, I let my 3rd office helper go. Actually, Mr. Happy fired her for me...I'm not sure I would have been entirely pleasant during the process. She told Mr. Happy that she enjoyed working for him...notice she didn't say "Jaj" or "You and Jaj"... anyway, she wasn't very bright. Not very bright at all. When I interviewed her, she assured me that if I needed anything from a file, she could find it. Um, no, she couldn't. And now I can't find anything she's filed either. I let our bookkeeper go in May because she wasn't doing things how we needed them done, plus she charged $26.00/hour. We weren't getting our money's worth. So I tried to train the other assistant in all things bookkeeping. It just wasn't working out. She would put the Invoice Number in the Amount Due spot...use commas instead of decimals...little things that have a big impact. Whenever I pointed out her mistakes to her, she would giggle and say, "Oh! Not as many mistakes as last week!" I was wasting my time going through all of her entries and pulling out ones that were wrong and it was making me very frustrated and angry towards her.

Now that I'm back to doing everything myself, I am no longer frustrated. I still have the occasional bouts of anger...like today...when she was still working for me I had to ask her not to file things upsidedown. One wouldn't think that one would have to be told something so simplistic as to lay papers on top of each other facing the same direction, but apparently one does.

It takes a special kind of stupid to consistently file papers upsidedown and to be so inconsistent in office procedures. Or else she just did it to irritate the snot out of me. Which definitely worked. Because I am now snotless.

What Is It?

2009-08-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

So I'm sitting here, reading Catherine's wonderful news, when Thumbelina comes running into my office yelling, "Mom! I made something for you!" She is playing with PlayDoh. As she thrusts a yellow gob of doh into my hand she asks me, "What is it?" What is it indeed. To a three-year-old it could be anything.

I tentatively answered, "A candy?"

Disgustedly, she looked at me, took the shape of Play Doh back, and said, "I go make you a diamond." Aha, it was a square!

The next thing I know, Thumbelina is back, giving me a diamond-shaped piece of Play Doh and asks, "What is it?"

Smiling, I answered, "A diamond!"

I can almost see her rolling her eyes as she answers, "No!" And then she rolls it into a ball and says, "It's a circle."

Well of course it is. Next time I'm just going to say, "It's a quadrilateral."

Happy Spring Break!

2009-03-16T06:14:00.000-07:00

It's Spring Break here at the Funny Farm, which means I don't have to make lunches this week. Or make sure the kids are wearing matching clothing. Wahoo! The weather was so nice yesterday that the boys were outside in shorts and t-shirts. SO nice.

And I actually thought of something to blog about, but that was before I got out of bed. Now I've been up for a couple of hours and life has taken over and my blogging mind is empty again. Maybe it will come to me later on today.

In the meantime, we are all doing well. Last week we celebrated our 2nd Thumbelina Day. It has been an amazing two years. She is actually starting to kiss us on the cheek!! We get so giddy when she does. She is still very good at bossing around her brothers and for the most part they do what she says. Which I find hilarious.

I guess it's a good thing that I have nothing of interest to blog about, right? It means life is good. Right?? Or am I just excrutiatingly boring??? Don't answer that.

What Really Bugs Me

2009-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

You know what really bugs me? At least today? Because there are way too many things to mention in just one little post...but what really bugs me is when parents blame your kids for their own kid's irresponsibility.

Case in point - yesterday morning as I was dropping off the kids at school, a fellow mom came up to my window and asked me if Shaggy had her kid's shoes. I'm thinking to myself, "Why would Shaggy have Auhsoj's shoes?" I was a little confused, so she explained that Auhsoj can't seem to find his shoes (the classrooms and hallways at school are carpeted, so each kid is required to have indoor and outdoor shoes). She went looking for the missing shoes and saw a pair on Shaggy's chair at his desk and she thought they belonged to her son. I said, "But the boys aren't even in the same classroom." We called Shaggy over to the van and asked him if he had Auhsoj's shoes. He just looked at me like I was a little wobbly on the brain and said no, he had his own shoes. So Auhsoj's mom wanted to know what size shoe Shaggy wore - turns out it's the same size as her kid - but Shaggy's shoes are brand new - we bought them during Christmas break - and he told Auhsoj's mom that his shoes are brand new and still clean whereas Auhsoj's are older and dirty. And her response? "Well, what's Auhsoj supposed to do?" What is Auhsoj supposed to do?? Find his own stupid shoes. That's what he's supposed to do. I told Auhsoj's mom that I'd look around at home, but I didn't think we had any extra shoes lying around.

So this morning, I overheard two teachers talking, and they said that Auhsoj found his shoes in the boot rack where the boots are kept. And where shoes are not to be kept. Grrrr.

You know what else really bugs me? Other people's kids. Other people's kids who are rude and mean. Not just to my kids, but to every single kid at school. For the past two days I have had the privilege of driving home other people's kids. Other people's kids who are rude and mean. This kid will say things like, "You're nothing but a pile of dirt. You're mud. You eat mud." This is hurtful to other children. When other people's kids are in my care, they adhere to the same rules that my kids adhere to, so I reminded the Mean Kid that, "We only use nice words." And then he tries to twist what he has said, "I didn't mean it like that...you know...Adam was made from dirt, so we're all just dirt." And the things he says to his sister. Goodness. There is sibling bickery and then there is no regard or respect for the opposite sex. This kid scares and worries me.

And I hate having to tell my kids to stay away from certain kids, but I do tell them to stay away from the Mean Kid. Life is hard enough without some little creap trying to knock you down with words.

Pictures

2009-01-18T11:51:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Alfred's Mom asked for updated pictures of Thumbelina, and who am I to say no to such a request??

Just before Christmas, Thumbelina got her first ever haircut...first ever since being home in the Great White North and part of the Funny Farm Clan. I kept putting it off because I think long hair is adorable on little girls...except Thumbelina's hair wasn't looking adorable, it was looking messy and scraggly. She had at least 2 haircuts while at the orphange, and I use the term loosely...her first one was pretty much a shave-job and her second one was more of a hack job. But I have since learned that the reason Chinese people shave their babies heads (boys and girls) is because they believe this will help their hair to grow in thicker. Thumbelina has pretty thick hair, so maybe it's true.

Anyway, here she is looking very uncertain:

Some parts of her hair had 3" cut off...other parts had 1/2 - 1" taken off:

Isn't she just beautiful?? I had my hairdresser trim up her bangs, because that bunch of hair always falls down on her forehead and looks messy:

And then she got some curlies put in as well:
I think Mr. Happy better dust off his gun pretty soon:

New Year's Quiz

2009-01-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

It's already the end of the 2nd week of this New Year, but this quiz looked fun.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
My girlfriend and I were trapped on an airplane with irrate and drunken passengers, we were diverted to a couple of different airports and had to spend the night in New Jersey before we were able to get home, due to inclement weather on the eastern seaboard.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't usually make resolutions because I don't usually keep them.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My cousin had a surprise baby in August.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
My girlfriend's Mother passed away in October. I wasn't close with her Mother, but I'm close with my girlfriend; another friend's baby died after bravely living for 16 days.

5. What countries did you visit?
USA

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Extra money, completely organized home, more patience

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
March 12 was our one-year Family-versary when Thumbelina joined our family

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Figuring out that I'm allergic to gluten and that maintaining a gluten-free diet cures me of all arthritis pain

9. What was your biggest failure?
Eating gluten at Christmas...like a moth to the flame...

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Yes...nearly breaking my butt when I fell down the stairs...but after that I was much more careful

11. What was the best thing you bought?
Washer & Dryer - it holds 3x the amount of clothes that my old set could handle, and my landry is all caught up. All of it. All.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Zoomer - he's always been a good kid, but after the mission's trip he went on last summer, things changed in a positive way with him

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Somebody's

14. Where did most of your money go?
We were able to pay off quite a chunk of our bank loan from when we bought our new-to-us vehicle and from our trip to China...we should have the balance paid off by June

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Thumbelina taking an interest in potty-training

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
I don't know

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder?b) thinner or fatter? c) richer or poorer?

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Taken the time to just have fun

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worrying

20. How did you spend Christmas?
Home. With sick kids.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
Well, I'm already in love...and I didn't fall out of love...

22. What was your favorite TV program?
Divine Design, Moving Up

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is a useless emotion

24. What was the best book you read?
The Good Earth

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?
That Tigger truly is really awful on the recorder

26. What did you want and get?
A day at the spa

27. What did you want and not get?
A vacation

28. What was your favorite film of this year?
I'm so behind I have no idea what films were new...I did watch The Notebook and loved it

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
Oooo, my birthday was fun - Husband took me to the city and I spent my day at the spa with my girlfriend. I was 39. There, I said it. 39. And then we went out to a fabulous steak place.

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If my kids could understand the concept of doing homework and not complaining

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Same as 2007

32. What kept you sane?
God

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I only fancy Husband

34. What political issue stirred you the most?
All politicians are crooks and only have their own agenda in mind...the downfall of the economy was something I didn't see coming

35. Who did you miss?
I wish I could see more of my girlfriend in the city

36. Who was the best new person you met?
I'm not sure I met anybody new this year

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Don't let the immaturity of other's bring you down. Life is too short to try to make everybody happy, and you can only do what you can do.

Irritations

2009-01-07T06:12:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few things that irritate me. And it is mostly people and what they do or do not do.

Today is a snow day (yay) and our school has decided to implement a new system, in that most people are given the names of 2 families that they must call if there is ever a cancellation. It starts with the principal who calls two assistants, who call two teachers, who call two families, and it trickles on down the line.

I am not a morning person by any definition of the word, but I do get up by 6:30 every morning. And by get up, I mean sit up in bed and try to read my Bible for 15 minutes with only one eye open. And then I get up and do laundry until it's time to start waking the children. Everybody is up and eating breakfast by 7:20 and we try to start leaving the house for school by 8:10.

So this morning, at 6:30 am, there were no school cancellations reported on the radio. I modified my morning and did some extra reading and lounging, and by 7:00, all the schools were cancelled. Which I'm not sure of the purpose of calling all the families because it's always been the rule that if the public schools are cancelled, our school will be cancelled too, but it is what it is.
I got up and enjoyed my morning coffee in quiet while I e-mailed my girlfriend, and I received my phone call at 7:22 am. So I called the two families on my list. Except the first family didn't answer the phone and there was no answering machine picking up so that I could at least leave a message. I called every 15 minutes for the next hour, and I think I got the mom out of bed. At 8:30 in the morning.

People, if you know it's a snow day, and you know you're going to be getting a phone call about it, PLEASE don't go back to bed until you've at least received your phone call. It's irritating for the caller and makes them feel strapped to the phone.

That's all for today...stay tuned because I'm sure I will have more irritations to share with you.

A Pointless Post

2008-10-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well I didn't actually have time to eat any fudge yesterday, and I'm in a much better mood today. MUCH better. Which is very bizarre, because the more that I think about it, maybe it was the fudge that caused my mood to crash so drastically. Shaggy has the same reaction when he eats chocolate or eggs or anything with preservatives. Which is really a bummer because I still have fudge leftover.

I just had some gluten-free pizza for lunch and it's leaving a weird aftertaste in my mouth. Hard to describe, other than it's not very pleasant. I bet some fudge would wash the taste away.

So. As you've noticed, I've got nothing of substance to talk about.

The Princess is awesome. Even when she's hard to get along with, she's still awesome. She's funny. Once she hits her point of extreme tiredness, she is soooooo difficult to get along with. We struggled through lunch today because nothing was good enough. Thumbelina is a picky eater, so I offer her a variety of foods and hope for the best. Today's entree was a yogurt tube. Except I gave her the blue one, and she wailed because it wasn't the colour she wanted. She was tired, so I gave in and gave her the pink one. And then she wailed because it made a mess on the floor. Next on the menu was a cheese string. And she wailed because the first one broke. Again, because of her tiredness, I gave in and gave her a new one. And then she wailed because she threw it on the floor. Dessert was pudding. She wailed because I put the spoon into the pudding before I brought it to her. So I took the spoon out and gave her a new spoon so that she could put it in herself. And then she wailed because she spilled pudding on her shirt. But she was happy happy to go down for her nap and she is quiet now, so all is well in our world. I find her behavior amusing.

Alright, so I've bored myself to tears with all of this jarble, so I am signing off for today.

What Happened to September?

2008-10-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Readership, how are you? What's up? What's new? Lookin' great, milkshake!

Have you ever been extremely crabby, with no apparent reason for your crabbiness? That's the state I'm in today. And it's Thanksgiving, no less. So, I'm thankful that I have children with which to be crabby at. Oh, is that not how giving thanks is supposed to work?

Okay, then. I am thankful that my homework-induced stress headaches are gone. We still have quite enough homework coming home, some of the children are not doing the best in their classes, but the 4:00 -bedtime headaches are gone. Funny, that.

So, yes. School is going okay. And I find myself in shock that 6 weeks have already gone by and our first 4 day weekend is now at an end. Which reminds me, I need to make lunches for tomorrow and pack up backpacks, and do all the fun stuff that is my life.

I am thankful for gluten-free fudge. I've been recently 'diagnosed' with having celiac disease. 'Diagnosed' meaning the doctors I have been to said, "Well, it sounds like celiac to me." It's a hard disease to diagnose if you are not consuming gluten in your diet. Which I am not. And I am not willing to eat gluten just to get a positive test result.

I am thankful for the new girl who is working in my office, who takes instruction without huffing and getting all snotty, and who really knows her stuff.

There are a lot more things I am thankful for - such as the both of yous who take the time to stop by and read my ramblings - but now I need to bathe my two-year-old beauty. And eat my gluten-free fudge.

Barnyard Ramblings

2008-08-28T15:34:00.000-07:00

So I have this coffee mug. With my name on it. And I thought I would take it to the barn because whenever I go to make myself a cup of coffee, there are never any clean mugs available. And me, being all innocent and naive-like, honestly thought that the people at the barn wouldn't touch a coffee mug that says JAJ, especially since I'm the only JAJ that works there. At the barn.

Oh how wrong I was, dear readership.

Today when I went to the barn, I was really in the mood for a cup of coffee. And so I went in search of my JAJ mug. And it was nowhere to be found. Suspicious. Maybe there is a coffee mug thief, I thought. So when a bunch of the crew came up to the kitchen for their break, I went and asked, to no one in particular, "Has anybody seen a mug with JAJ on it?"

Says the guy who is bi-polar: Oh, yeah, it broke about two weeks.

Me: It broke?? My mug broke??

BPG (Bi-Polar Guy): Yeah, like two weeks ago. But it wasn't me.

Me: And when was somebody going to tell me it broke?

BPG: When you asked about it.

Meanwhile in the background, the guy who two weeks ago told me I look much more beautiful in the barn, kept saying, It broke? Such a shame. For today's story, let's refer to him as Guy Who Needs Glasses, or GWNG for short.

BPG: It was that Hershey's one right? I guess I'll have to get you a new one.

Me: You'll have to get it from Pennsylvania because it came from Hershey's Chocolate World.

Such a shame it broke, mumbles GWNG.

GWNG: How long have you had it?

Me: I got it when I was 12 years old.

GWNG: 12 years old! Such a shame.

Me: I dog-sat a family's dog, and they brought me back the mug.

GWNG: Such a shame. 12 years old.

BPG: 12 years old, that must have been what - 8 years ago?

GWNG: 12 years old. Such a shame.

Me: You're right! It was 8 years ago.

GWNG: Such a shame.

How can I stay mad at BPG when he so sensitively guessed my age? So I guess that only means one thing - ROAD TRIP - to get a new coffee mug, of course.

And yah, by the GWNG kept mumbling such a shame, I'm guessing he knows who broke my mug and was trying to guilt the guilty party into buying me a new one, or else he's the guilty party and was just trying to throw suspicion off of himself.

Camping, Jaj Style

2008-08-25T11:40:00.000-07:00

So last week was my birthday, and in honor of me turning one year older...but feeling slightly less mature...Mr. Happy decided that the two of us should go on a little camping trip together.

Keeping our campsite a surprise, I was delighted to find out that we would be pitching our tent here. Mere feet away - FEET, I tell you - from this magnificent wonder of God's beautiful creation. I truly appreciate the small pleasures in life. Some good friends of ours, who make their abode not too far from where our tent was, treated us to dinner. They sure know how to make the most of a campfire!

The next day, being the anniversary of my birth and all, Mr. Happy sent me on a little adventure of my own. Thrilling and exciting does not even begin to describe my day, made even better because my good friend was able to join me. Again, it's about appreciating the little things in life. Because we had been roughing it for the past 24+ hours, Mr. Happy decided to take me out to dinner. It was not busy. In fact, I think we were the only patrons in the whole establishment, therefore our maitre d', who also served as our waiter, hung around our table...just out of eyeshot but definitely within earshot...and listened to our dinner conversation. And every time he left the room, Mr. Happy or I would sneak over to his station and help ourselves to the candy that was set out in his giant candy jar. What?! It was going to go stale if we didn't eat it! Anyway, after dinner, I enjoyed walking through the magnficent wonder that was mere feet from our campsite, and I just appreciated the beauty for all it is.

So the following day was when we had to pack up and head back home. I wanted to share the awesomeness with Mr. Happy of the magnificent wonder that was mere feet from our campsite, so that is how we spent our morning. On our way home, we stopped here, because really, it was still my birthday week. Why do the celebrations have to end just because the day has ended? Anyway, all I can say is that it's a good thing we had the pick-up truck with us.

There you have it, camping Jaj style. And I can't wait for our next trip!

They All Look the Same

2008-08-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

Today I was working at the barn. In my job, I don't have a lot of opportunity to interact with the other staff...except for Lola of course...because Lola and I are mostly in the office while the rest of them are out in the barn. But parts of my job do require me to head out into the barn, and there I see my co-workers.

I should mention that the pigs in our barn are extremely healthy, and it's because we are required to shower at the barn...before we are allowed to enter...and to shower when we leave. And healthy pigs are what our customers want. There are 4 showers (one for the ladies), so up to 4 people can shower at a time. On the inside of the barn, we are given generic t-shirts and shorts to wear; there are a couple of washers and dryers there as well, so barn clothes stay inside our securely healthy facility. Just bear with me, you needed to know this.

At the barn we have a cultural mix of people working. Three are from the Caribbean, 1 is from Mexico, 1 is from Denmark, and I'm pretty sure the rest of us are from the local area.

So.

As I was leaving this afternoon, there were 3 of us in the shower (3 separate showers, people! Get your mind out of the gutter!), and I could tell the other two were some of our Caribbean Crew (they call themselves the Caribbean Connection) because of their singing. They have the rhythm and it's really fun to watch them just break out in song wherever and whenever they feel like.

As I'm leaving the change room, I saw the other two guys in the entryway, getting ready to leave as well. The one guy looked at me and said, "Were you just in there?" I was a little confused because I've had at least 3 separate conversations with this particular fellow just this afternoon. And so I asked, "In the shower?" And he, looking confused said, "No, were you just in the barn?" And I said, "Yes."

The other guy who was with him said something, but all I caught was "Lola." Maybe they thought I was Lola??? The other guy has a very thick accent and I have a hard time understanding what he says, so I usually just laugh and nod. Mr. Happy says that he smiles and says yep, and then bangs fists with him...not really knowing what they just talked about...

So back to the first guy. He said to me,"That was you in the barn? You're much more beautiful in there."

O-kaay. Um. So have I just been complemented or insulted? I can't imagine I'm very attractive in the barn...wearing the same t-shirt and shorts that everybody else wears...with my hair flat and straight and my bangs hanging in my eyes, because unlike some former employees, I don't feel the need to blowdry and curl my hair and apply make-up before I start my shift. Anyway, it was just an odd conversation.

I guess white people do all look the same.

Always Wear Clean Underwear

2008-08-12T15:53:00.001-07:00

You know how when you were a teenager and you were just about to leave the house to go out with friends, and your mom would say to you, "Are you wearing clean underwear?" and you'd roll your eyes...much like you're doing now...and sigh and say, "Y-es!" And then your mother would say, "Because if you're in an accident you should be wearing clean underwear." And again you'd roll your eyes...(I'll let you finish)...as you left the house.

Well.

To the lady who was at Shopper's Drugmart holding up the line because she kept buying lotto tickets, PLEASE! For the love of all things chocolate! Wear some underwear!

I jest not.

She was a little large and was wearing a pair of shorts that were jogging pants material, and when she bent over and leaned against the counter, her cheek was exposed. And not the cheek attached to her face, either. I didn't know whether to laugh or throw up. A lady who was in line a few people behind me, said to her husband, "And here I thought I looked a mess coming into the store wearing this!" There was no mistaking who the comment was intended for. But the Lotto Lady was too intent on buying more tickets.

So, dear readers, if you're not going to wear clean underwear, at least wear underwear. Please. For the rest of humanity. And for those stuck behind you in line at Shoppers Drugmart.

How To Really Tick Off Your Teenager - 101

2008-08-11T12:08:00.001-07:00

Lesson 1 - Send him to camp. But make sure it is an over-night, week-long camp with all his buddies, filled with energetic activities where your teenager is guaranteed a maximum of 6 hours sleep each night. Give or take.

Lesson 2 - Don't make him take a nap on Sunday afternoon to catch up on his sleep.

Lesson 3 - Give him chores to do.

Lesson 4 - Give his leftover pizza pockets, which have been sitting out on the kitchen counter for 2 1/2 hours, to his little brother.

Lesson 5 - Give the easy chores that your teenager is grumbling about to his little brother, and appoint harder chores to your teenager to do. This one was his grandfather's suggestion...to give said little brother a turn to cut the grass. I didn't want you all to think that we were giving the teenager harder chores to do...such as using the push mower...because he was grumbling about cutting the grass. But now that I think about ....

Lesson 6 - Sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

Close Only Counts in Grenades

2008-08-11T05:11:00.000-07:00

So last week, Thumbelina and Shaggy were standing at the dining room window watching the lightening as a storm was moving into our area. And somehow, Thumbelina managed to knock down the curtains. And bend the rod. They were so outdated - lacy balloons with a valence. They've been in my window for 13 years. It was definitely time for a change.

And then Thumbelina said to me, "Uh-oh, what Shaggy do?" Heh. My girl already knows who to blame.

So this weekend, I patched the holes from the old curtain rod, because the new curtains I bought are not the same style, hence there is a new rod with different holes. And the white from the patching looked terrible with my green walls. I managed to find the old can of paint from when the room was painted 4 years ago...and it was solid as a rock. Rock solid. Very solid. Solid. So then I had had this brilliant plan to go through my craft paint and mix colours together to come up with the shade of green currently on my walls. I came close. Zoomer said to me, "Close only counts in grenades. And horsehoes." I wish he would have said something before I painted it.

It is hideous.

It is true - close only counts in grenades.

This Child Needs More Supervision

2008-08-08T09:15:00.001-07:00

Hey Mom! I was colouring!
Ooooh, I wonder how it got on my foot?
You have your camera? Sure, I'll say Cheese!
Hey, take a picture of my Fish Face!
I just find it all so shocking.

There's a Squash in My Purse

2008-07-31T18:54:00.000-07:00

This was the scene in my driveway at 7:00 this morning when I got up. Makes you go Hmmmm, doesn't it. Yes, dear readership, we had another break-in. The thieves were smarter this time than they were the last time. So the quad was stolen, as were 3 chainsaws, many tools, a laptop, possibly Shaggy's bike...he said he put it away beside Zoomer's bike and now it's gone...Zoomer's bike is still here...at least they didn't take Thumbelina's bike:
Shaggy fixed it up and painted it for her. She loves it. Forensics was even called. And then Shaggy went out with his CSI kit after they left looking for footprints and fingerprints. He found lots.

Meanwhile, our Pal left his truck at a dining establishment in town over night because he went home with his girlfriend. This morning his truck was out of gas. Empty. As in not a drop left. And he didn't leave it that way.

Wednesday night at church, our pastor was giving away produce from his garden, so I took home a squash. And put it in my purse. And then Zoomer and I went to the grocery store...with a squash in my purse...I was actually quite nervous that a grocery store employee would notice it and report me. Could you just picture the headlines? Local Woman Arrested for Pursing Produce Oy. Zoomer thought I was over-reacting. We didn't get caught. And the next time I go to the store, I'll try to remember to leave the squash in the truck.

So You Know It's Not Always About Me...

2008-07-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

Melvinette seems to be having some issues, as is a bit obvious by her comment left on yesterday's post. You need some stronger meds, girl! Or a straight-jacket. So Melvinette, this is for you, so you know the blog isn't always about me...although it is my blog...

This is why we only use Colour Wonder markers:

Where Has the Summer Gone

2008-07-29T05:41:00.000-07:00

It's the last week of July and the boys start back to school in 5 weeks. Their break is officially half over. I apologize that I've been absent lately, I really intended to do better and post more regularly.

But then we had The Great Crash of 2008. Yup, our server. I didn't even have e-mail for about 10 days. I'm still sorting through the bookkeeping information that was lost and trying to restore it. The worst thing was that all my pictures from the last 4 years were stored on our server. Mr. Happy assured me that it was the safest place for them to be. It wasn't. Some have been found, but not very many. I'm very thankful that our pictures from China are safe, but now I've got a couple hundred pictures on my camera from the last month and I'm afraid to download them in case they disappear. A part of me is still hopeful that they will be found, but I think I'm slowly realizing that they're gone. I do have a lot of prints awaiting to be scrapbooked, so it isn't like I have no pictorial record of our lives over the last 4 years. But I can't think about it too much because it does bring me to tears.

So Tigger fell on Sunday while he was playing outside and had to get 3 stitches in his knee. He didn't even cry until I told him I was taking him to the hospital. And you know the weird thing? I didn't even get excited...no adrenaline coursed through my veins...and then I realized that this was the 7th episode of stitches/staples between the 3 boys. I guess it's become somewhat of the norm for us. Tigger is fine; he's back to his bouncy little self again. This morning he was even kneeling on his knee, which made my stomach flip, so I settled him on some pillows with the PS3 remote and told him to stay there for the day. Shouldn't be a problem.

Thumbelina is now sleeping in her own bedroom...without a TV and Anderson Cooper. Since I've been working at the barn 2 days a week, the grandmothers have been taking turns babysitting for me. When she is over at Millie's, she sleeps soundly in a dark room with the fan on. When she was home with my Muther, she wouldn't fall asleep until about 4:00 in the afternoon, which makes everybody grumpy. So then I started moving her playpen into my bedroom (I couldn't fold the stupid thing up and my bedroom is on the main floor), which worked really well for her. We'd take the playpen into our bedroom for afternoon naps, and then it would go back out to the living room for bedtime. And then one Sunday afternoon, Mr. Happy wanted to have a nap in our room, so he was able to wrestle with the playpen and get it folded enough to go up the stairs. Where she's been ever since. I feel like we're starting to approach a state of normal-ish-ness!

Zoomer will be 14 years old next week. Some days he is full of attitude and it's all I can do to restrain from strangling him, and other days I don't know how I get along without him. Which is why he hasn't been strangled yet. Of course you know I jest. Mostly. He and Fil will soon be travelling south of the border to witness in person a NASCAR race. It's a joint birthday present for the two of them, even though Fil's birthday is in January. It's just belated.

Shaggy got his hair all buzzed off the other day. Millie took the boys in for a haircut and Shaggy wanted a buzz cut. Millie said no, but the hairdresser said yes. Millie was furious. I'm thinking I should call up the place and just complain, because a hairdresser should have enough respect for the adult in charge of the child, to comply with the adult's wishes...not stand there arguing with the child against the adult and then doing it anyway when the adult's back is turned in conversation with somebody else. I know it's just hair and it will grow, but it's the principle of it all.

The office and the barn are keeping me very busy. I'm a little panicky over the start of school, because I don't know how I will keep up with work, work, housework, homework, and 4 kids. But that's tomorrow's problem. Mr. Happy keeps saying to me, "I fail to see how I'm supposed to hire somebody to come in to the barn and work full-time, when you're doing the work in a day and a half. I can't even hire somebody part-time." Sometimes I'm just too good at what I do. Heh.

I've missed you all - I don't even know what's happening in your lives! I'm still trying to manage my time more efficiently, and as a result, I'm only allowing myself 30 minutes of free-computer time a day. I know. I know. Impossible. But I'm really trying hard. So please forgive me for my absentness in the blog-world; maybe someday things will get back to how they once were.

Twofer

2008-06-20T12:43:00.000-07:00

Wow, you guys are lucky today! Two posts in one day!

So I've been busy working in the office, and my little assistant was too grumpy to assist me, so she busied herself in the kitchen:

Apparently she was wanting to snack on some goldfishes:
And pancake mix:
But she did help me clean it up:
Pre-bath self portrait:

Long Time No Read!

2008-06-20T05:24:00.001-07:00

I've started receiving complaints that I haven't posted on my blog in eons, so an update is in order to keep the peanuts in their gallery content. What has been going on in the world of Jaj, you ask? Well, let me share.

About a month or so ago, one of the girls at the barn quit. So I've taken over her duties and now I work at the barn on Wednesdays and Thursday mornings. And then last week-ish, my assistant quit as well. We had a nasty argument. Don't worry, I called about an hour later and left an apology on her answering machine, but I think she was the most upset when she told me she wouldn't be coming back and I didn't say anything. Lola wanted me to post our argument (I had e-mailed her and told her the whole sordid story), but it's so embarrassingly immature - on both our ends - that I can't bring myself to do it. I really do wish her well, I'm just relieved I don't have to work with her anymore. And it wasn't a personality thing...although she hasn't liked me for quite some time and has made that obviously clear...and now that I've fully taken over everything in my office again, I've come to realize that the girl didn't know her alphabet. At all. There's a right way to file and a wrong way to file...I like things done the right way. Needless to say I'm doing a lot of grumbling and muttering under my breath as everything gets rearranged and back to working order. No wonder she couldn't find anything I asked for.

Enough about that.

So now I'm working full-time at the office, part-time at the barn, and full-time at home as mom and housekeeper because the boys are finished school for the summer. I am just hugely relieved that we don't have to worry about homework or matching clothes or socks. Tigger tends to wear t-shirts and shorts as his jammies, so I never know if he's dressed for daytime or bedtime.

Thumbelina is a hoot and is growing like a bad weed. She is very bossy with her brothers (all of us really) and flips out if she runs into the living room and the TV is not turned to Blue's Clues or Elmo's World.

Zoomer just had his Grade 8 graduation last weekend. I guess he's officially a pain-in-the-butt now. Isn't that what all teenagers are??? Heh. He's a big help with Thumbelina but he does have his moments of pain-in-the-buttedness. But we all do, right?

That's what's been happening with us in a nutshell.

Thumbelina is calling me, "Mommy, are you!" and it sounds like she is getting into something she shouldn't be...I promise I will try harder to post more regularly from now on...I have all these wonderful stories floating around in my head...

Tragedy

2008-05-22T09:53:00.001-07:00

Please keep the Steven Curtis Chapman family in your prayers. Their little girl, Maria, died yesterday when she was struck in the family driveway. My heart is breaking for them.

Dentists and Dentalatia

2008-05-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

So I had to go to the dentist this afternoon to get a filling repaired. It's the second time this particular filling has needed to be fixed. Because when you're a kid and need to wear retainers, you tend to get more cavities than your non-retainer-wearing peers. At least that's what I tell myself so that I'll feel better. So my fillings are all very old, and because I grind my teeth at night, the fillings are not as sturdy as they used to be. And I'm getting a night splint as well...to help with the grinding...because I'm wearing away my teeth. I had a night splint a few years ago, but when I woke up in the night because I was choking on it, I decided to stop wearing it.

And getting impressions for said splint. How fun is that. Do I hear any cheers out there? If you've never had the experience of getting impressions done, let me just tell you that it really isn't that bad...until the goo from the metal plate that's plastered to your teeth starts to drip down into your throat...all the while fighting the urge to gag...and after what seems like an eternally long time, the impression technician can't get the tray unstuck from your teeth because the suction is so strong. Seriously. But other than that, it's not bad. Until it's time to do it all over again...because since there is nothing more that can physically fit into your mouth other than one tray, the top and bottom impressions are done separately.

It's a joy.

It's been awhile since I've had cavities filled, and all these new-fangled tools and contraptions are just quite futuristic-looking to me. What with that little white thingy that looks like an ear thermometer, except it has an orange light and shield on the end of it. What exactly is that for? Does that little one-inch shield protect the hygenist from radiation or something? And is it normal for the freezing to last 5 hours? My freezing was very bizarre because I had feeling on the inside of my lip; it only felt like my tooth was frozen and not any other places in my mouth. Until, of course, I had to rinse. And then I made a mess of my bib because everything dribbled down my chin. Sexy. I couldn't even drink my protein smoothie at supper without dribbling...even using a straw. And by the time I went to church tonight, the freezing was gone except the right half of my top lip was paralized. I couldn't move it, and when I smiled the right half of my lip went over to the left side. At least that's what it felt like. Lola got a kick out of it. I was the highlight of her day. I was starting to get worried that it was going to be a permanent thing, but now my lip is normal and I'm just left with a toothache.

You so wish you were me.

Telemarketers

2008-05-20T16:27:00.000-07:00

Telemarketers are not my favourite people. For one thing, they always call when you're busy - I think they do that on purpose because they know you're mind is elsewhere...like rescuing the baby as she's climbing onto the counter...or trying to stop the boys from beating each other up...your mind just isn't into the conversation at hand and you'll pretty much agree to anything just to get off the phone and extinguish the small fire now burning on the stove. And they think they're so clever when the first time they call you're eating supper and you ask them to call back another time...all the while secretly hoping they forget...and they make little notes about you to try to impress you. Except sometimes, if they write down the wrong information, their devious little plan backfires on them. Heh.

This was tonight's conversation with a charity who is hosting a laser lightshow or some such deal. Now bear in mind that there are charities that I do donate to, but there are so many around, I just can't give to everybody.

TM (Telemarketer): Hello, is Mrs. Jaj there?

Me (Me): Speaking.

TM: Oh hello, Mrs. Jaj. I'm with a really good charity - you remember I was talking with you, oh when was it...last Thursday or Friday and you were about to go out for supper and shopping or something? And you asked me to call you back?

Me: We were eating supper.

TM: Oh. That's right. Well, anyways, the show is really great and blah blah blah. Can we count on your support again this year?

This is a charity that I've never heard of before, therefore I have not supported them in the past. I don't like it that they're assuming I won't remember which charities I support.

Me: We're not financially able to help out this year.

TM: That's too bad. Not even to sponser anybody?

Me: No.

TM: Well, I hope you had a good time shopping. I don't know what you were shopping for, maybe groceries, or...

Me: We were eating supper.

TM: Um...Mumble Mumble...click...

Hopefully I won't be hearing from them anytime soon.

And speaking of charities, if you are able to help out the China earthquake victims in any way, Half the Sky Foundation, Love Without Boundaries, and Canada Helps have all set up special funds to take your donations.

Happy First Long Weekend of Summer!

2008-05-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

Here in the Great White North we are just wrapping up the first long weekend of summer - the Victoria Day Weekend - where typically barbeques are had and pools are opened for swimming. This weekend? Winter coats. And rain. So how did the Jaj's spend the holiday weekend? Mostly catching up on the homework that Tigger missed when he was off school last week. And I made up a chore schedule for the whole family, and so far everybody is excited about it. And willingly doing their chores.

Remember how I told you about this allergy test I had to take last week? With the 96 different foods I had to eat? Yah well, I postponed it because it just wasn't happening. Except now my test is tomorrow, and I'm still only a little half-ways through the list. But I do know that a filbert is a nut. A hazelnut, to be precise. And I don't like them. And almonds and sunflowers? Don't taste very good when they're not coated with the smokie saltie coating. And I still have 4-5 different varieties of fish to eat. Blech. And mushrooms. Blech. And goats milk. Blech. I wouldn't make a very good hippie.

And I've been invited to share pictures of our trip to China with the seniors at church tomorrow. So that's where I'll be at lunchtime. And even though I've had a month to prepare, Mr. Happy is helping me with a power point presentation right this very minute...or rather, Mr. Happy is doing the power point for me and I'm sitting here blogging. While eating Honey Comb (without the milk)...to get the taste of the filberts out of my mouth.

Wish me luck!

Chicken Spots

2008-05-15T14:31:00.001-07:00

Yesterday:

Today:

Sunday:
She looks thrilled, doesn't she.

So. Is it possible for your brain to become infected with the chicken spots? Because I swear Tigger's is being eaten alive by the pox. We've been working on Math, to try and stay caught up with his classmates, and the poor boy couldn't even remember how to make a $ sign let alone add.

We're both taking a break.

It's Finally Happened

2008-05-14T05:20:00.000-07:00

The measles and the mumps and the chicken bumps...

Have you ever heard that song? That's the only phrase I know and it's running through my head at the moment. How long has Tigger been wishing for chicken pox? It's been about 6 weeks now that he's been diligently checking for spots each day, right? Well. Wish no more, my friend, wish no more. He officially has the chicken spots, as he calls it. Is he excited? Heh. He was last night, but this morning he was in tears because, "I didn't the chicken spots would look like this! I thought they'd be the same colour as my skin!" Poor guy; and he only has about 2 spots that are starting to look gross. You know the kind...you can't help but get wide-eyed at the sight of them...and it's only the beginning...

I haven't taken his picture yet, but I will. Because I'm mean like that. I took Zoomer and Shaggy's pictures when they had the chicken spots, too, so it's tradition. I'll have to dig those pictures out and scan them for you. Shaggy was quite a mess.

So. I get to make jello today to make my spotted little friend feel better.

At least he can stop wishing now.

Happy Mother's Day and Other Stuff

2008-05-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well, dear readership, I guess it's about time I turn off Scrabulous and Facebook and start paying more attention to YOU. Although, Scrabulous. It is addictive. I've been limiting my fun time spent on the computer because my office work is piling up. Because when mistakes are being made - not by me, mind you, but I'm the one who needs to fix them - it's just easier to take the job over and do it myself properly to begin with.

So. What have I been up to, you ask? I've started seeing a Naturopath again and on Thursday I will be taking an allergy test. And I have a list of 96 foods to eat by then. That gives me 2 days, people. And I've only eaten 18 foods off of the list and I started on Saturday. And it isn't like it's good food like cake and pie, it's all yuppy food like fish and lentils and filberts. Seriously, what is a filbert?

In the meantime, we've celebrated Thumbelina's 2nd birthday and Mother's Day. A belated very happy Mother's Day to everybody out there. I'm sure there was something else I was going to talk about, but now I can't remember.

There was a rumor that Melvin was going to guest-post. Believe me, that's one post you won't want to read. Oh, I totally meant to say miss.

The chicken pox are still making the rounds throughout the school, and Tigger is home today (and yesterday) with a fever. No spots, though, so I'm not sure what's up with him. And Thumbelina is beyond grumpy this morning. She's downright PMS-y. With a runny nose to boot.
So I'm sure you're bored to tears by now and just really only want to see pictures. I aim to please, to here you go:

I saw a similar shirt at Rubber Duckies blog, and of course since it was Elmo and Thumbelina is in love with Elmo, I knew I had to get me one. I mean her one. It came from here.
Her birthday cake came from a local grocer; I took in one of her storybooks and they scanned the cover and made an edible image. How cool is that!
She was very excited about presents!
And she LOVES her aquadoodle.
Tigger is having a great time playing with Thumbelina's new toys!

Boys

2008-05-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Wow - we're starting May off with multiple postings! Is it just me, or does it seem like Christmas wasn't all that long ago? And here the year is almost half over. Two hundred and forty-four days left.

So back to the subject at hand - boys. Is it just me, or are they not very bright? Or is it just my offspring that aren't very bright... Awhile back, some relatives were over to make sure the kids got to bed on time and didn't burn the house down while we were out- I'd like to say they babysat, but a certain 13-year-old wouldn't appreciate me saying he had babysitters, so I will just say that Mr. Happy and I had a previous engagement on the same day that various relatives came to our house. So after our said engagement was over and we were once again home, it was brought to our attention that the 13-year-old did not, in fact, go to bed at the appointed time, but stayed up and watched TV with the relatives. And rather than just run off to bed like said relatives were hoping he would, he made an appearance and let Mr. Happy and I know that he had not yet been sent off to bed. I really thought he was just being honest, but now I'm thinking he's just not very bright because he's a boy.

And to fully support my suppositions, I would like to present to you Exhibit A:

Let's take a closer, shall we?
Yes, that is ink, on a leather office chair. Thumbelina actually did the long stripes, but Tigger was the one who wrote Tigger's Chair. With pen. On an office chair. Not very bright. Because now he's not going to look very believable when we confront him with this transgression. I mean, he wrote his name on the chair; it will be hard for him to say he didn't do it. Unless of course he didn't do it and one of his brother's did it to try to get Tigger into trouble. But then that's just plain dumb because they're older and should know better. At least better than Tigger. And I'm pretty sure it wasn't Thumbelina...other than the stripes...even though she is a very bright toddler and can draw circles quite well, she just hasn't mastered her ABC's yet.
How does one get ink out of leather anyway?

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

2008-05-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

I stole this from Sunshine & Rubber Duckies, but since that blog is password protected, you don't even know that I stole it, do you. Except that I just told you.

Anyhoo, I found this to be rather creepily accurate. Corn Flakes. Huh.

You Are Corn Flakes

You are traditional and easy going.

If something is high quality, you're satisfied with it.

You don't need much variety or novelty in your life.

You're happy with what you have. You're quite loyal.

You're the type of person who eats the same breakfast every day...

And likely at the exact same time each day!

What Kind of Cereal Are You?

Word

2008-04-18T05:40:00.000-07:00

It seems that we have an explosion of language happening here in Jajville. Every day Thumbelina has a new word that she'll say all day long. The other day, it was toilet. Don't ask me why. She would just say toilet. And then she'd yell, 'Mommy! Toyet!' And then she'd run to flush the toilet, all the while saying toilet. We've also had sauye (sorry), cheek, cayon (crayon), and I don't remember what all else this week.

AND last night she said her first 3-word sentence - 'Juice fall down'. How cute is that! I'm not sure if the juice was a legitimate drop or if she threw it on the floor. This morning she yelled at Tigger, 'ME do!' She hasn't figured out the pronoun I yet (not the part about it being a pronoun, just that it's a word to refer to oneself instead of me), because every time she hears the word I in a sentence, she goes around and touches everybody's eyes, while saying 'Eye!' Again, very cute.

So yesterday our social worker was over for her last visit. It was kind of sad, in a way, that this was our last visit because it's been a really positive experience for us in every way. Our social worker (SW thusly hereafter) was quite impressed with all the tricks of our Little Miss, and our Little Miss put on a fine show for her, despite only sleeping maybe 45 minutes for her happy nappy. She sang, she coloured, she bossed her brothers, she hung off the edge of the peninsula and swung while saying 'Weeee'... she bossed her brothers, she counted and played Seek! Hide!, she bossed her brothers ... it was a fun time. Really.

Her first recommendation was to slowly adjust Thumbelina to sleeping in her own bedroom instead of the living room (which is on the agenda soonish rather than laterish), and to get a 42" plasma TV to mount on her wall so that she'll have the noise throughout the night ... do we have an awesome SW or what! Actually she only said that for Zoomer's benefit. He just looked at her with one eyebrow raised and couldn't quite figure out if she was serious or not. I'm going to start looking for a TV/VCR combo to put in her bedroom. I know. I know! I've always been against TV's in kids bedrooms, and I was horrifed when I saw pink TV's and VCR's in the toy section of Wal Mart a few years back. Now I'm thinking it was a desperate adoptive parent who came up with that brilliant idea.

And her second recommendation was to put Thumbelina into some sort of program or activity with other children where she can learn that she's not Queen Bee and she can't go around bossing everybody. Because she is a smidge bossy. And on more than one occassion, our SW said, 'Boy, she just rules the house, doesn't she.' Not that we give in to all her demands ... but she's a girl who knows what she wants and doesn't mind telling you in no uncertain terms.

Word.

New Help

2008-04-17T10:50:00.001-07:00

My assistant called in sick today, so the temp agency that we use sent over someone new for today. I think we'll keep her.

She's been doing a fine job, even if her work attire isn't 'professional'...

I think she likes her new job, too!
So Shaggy mentioned to me on Tuesday - 2 days ago Tuesday - that he needed to do a demonstration speech for today. Today. And he didn't know what he wanted to do, other than something 'Scientific'. I scoured the internet and came up with 3 options for him - dancing raisins, fake blood, or slime. He thought the dancing raisins were cool, but didn't think he'd be able to talk for 3-5 minutes about it. He really wanted to do the fake blood, but ours was a hideous mess that looked nothing like blood, so then he was pretty excited about the slime.

Our first experiment with the slime turned out pretty well, except it used up the glue that I had, so Thumbelina and I had to go shopping yesterday to buy more glue. When Shaggy came home from school yesterday, he immediately made another batch of slime...without my knowledge...with what little of the old glue was left. This batch turned out better than the first batch. So after supper, he wanted me to sit and watch him so he could practice in front of an audience. It was disastrous. It didn't turn out at all and was just a hard clump of solidified glue in a bowl of green liquid. I bought a different brand of glue, so I promised Shaggy that I'd buy him more glue before today. He was okay with that and told Mr. Happy that it was a pretty good speech until it all went horribly wrong at the end.

So back to Wal Mart I went in search of glue. I found the same brand as the first bottle he used, so hopefully his speech went okay today without his experiment going horribly wrong.

Tigger's speech about how to make a banana split went very well, thank you for asking. But we all knew it would, right? Nobody quite has the gift of gab like Tigger.

Switching gears, let's talk about chicken pox once again. Remember how I said that Thumbelina's little friend didn't actually have the chicken pox and it was just a false alarm? Well, it still is a false alarm. However, a second kid in Tigger's class is off school with the pox. And the two siblings of the first kid who contracted the virus are now both off school with the pox as well. And because I'm being all paranoid about missing our playdate on Saturday, I noticed a red spot on Thumbelina's belly when I was changing her diaper for happy nappy time (which she is rebelling against).

And because my daughter is rebelling at the moment, I have not been able to dust or wash the kitchen floor...because she still sleeps in the living room and the living room is right off of the dining room, which is right off of the kitchen. Not a big deal, except that our social worker is coming over this afternoon for our 12 months post-placement visit. Do you think she'll notice the dried ketchup on the floor??

Out of the Loop

2008-04-15T07:17:00.001-07:00

So my much younger cousin, who turns 19 this summer, has recently acquired a tattoo. He has pictures of it posted on his Facebook page and one of his friends left a comment. And I quote, "Sick Tat". What on earth does that mean??? When I was a kid, we called things righteous, and rad. And we thought we were uber-cool when we said, "no guff" (see, look at me being all hip with the uber talk). But sick tat? I don't get it.

I think I'll go put some moisturizer on my old lady hands now.

Tids & Bits

2008-04-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

I have nothing of substance to say. Be warned.

My hands look old. It's true. I'm starting to get the old-lady bumpy vein look.
The other day, somebody asked me if I was 40. Forty. 40. No, I'm not. I'm younger, in case you were wondering. I guess my old-lady hands are telling a different story.
Mr. Happy won 2 tickets to see a Toronto Raptors game (it was a door prize at a dinner meeting he went to). Zoomer was going to go with him but has since gotten himself grounded, so then I thought it would be a nice father/son thing for Mr. Happy to do with Shaggy.
Is it selfish of me to want to go on a date with Mr. Happy, even though I'm not interested in basketball, instead of Shaggy doing the father/son thing?
But then we'd need to find a babysitter for the kids.
Tigger broke his glasses. Again.
I don't trust people who smile at me. I think they have a hidden agenda. Or that they're laughing at me.
My basement is mostly cleaned out, except for a somewhat large desk. Next on the agenda is stripping. Wallpaper. Get your mind out of the gutter.
Whoever inveted wallpaper should be hung by their toenails and publicly flogged.
Except for the modern stuff, because that's pretty cool.
It's a pain where the sun doesn't shine to take off the walls.
Yesterday Mr. Happy asked me how come we have so much laundry. We have 4 kids (I just typed in 34 and had to change it - some days it feels like 34, especially when I'm doing laundry).
I think it's safe to say that Thumbelina is now starting the Terrible Two's. They're not all that terrible, especially compared to Shaggy's Terrible Two's...but she sure can be disagreeable by times. And bossy. And whiney. But she's still cute.
There are no chicken pox on our horizon. Thumbelina's little friend that she plays with in the nursery didn't actually have them, it was a false alarm.
Unless, of course, Thumbelina or Tigger break out this week with them, but then I'll be really bummed because we are going to a playdate with our travel group on Saturday.
Zoomer graduates from Grade 8 this year. Grade 8. Soon he'll be able to drive legally.

I can't really think of anything else to say, so I will end my post now.

Yay For Sweater Weather!

2008-04-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

And new swings!

Just Junk

2008-04-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

So it's Friday. The boys have just left for school and my goal is to make it through the day with my sanity intact. Why, you ask? Because it's raining, I'm tired, and we've been living with Miss Crabby Von Crabberstein for the last week. In all fairness to her, she has been exposed to chicken pox - her little friend that she plays with in the church nursery broke out with the spots yesterday. So maybe she already has the virus working it's magic inside her little body, making her miserable.

And I think it's probably time to retire the highchair. Our beloved highchair is now a hated contraption of belts and trays. The wailing and the thrashing that took place yesterday at lunch as I tried to strap Miss Von Crabberstein into it...I tell you it just wasn't worth the effort. I did get a big hug as she was gasping for breath once she realized she would not be subjugated to that form of torture.

Tigger has to give a speech in his class next week. A demonstration speech, no less. Tigger has no talents when it comes to anything involving manual dexterity...I'm not being mean, I'm just stating the obvious. He was born at 24 weeks and weighed a whopping total of 734 grams (which is 1 lb 10 oz).

I'll have to scan the pictures we have of him wearing Mr. Happy's wedding ring on his little foot. So as a result of Tigger's prematurity, his fine motor skills are somewhat lacking. And I've been trying to think of an easy enough demonstration for him to give his speech on, and then as I was looking at the bananas on my counter turning all brown and gross, it hit me. A banana split! Guess what we're having for dessert tonight...and Saturday...and Sunday! Tigger's got the whole weekend to practice.

And speaking of Tigger. There's a kid in his class who has the chicken pox - it's an epidemic, I tell you - and since Tigger has not yet had them, he is convinced he is sick to the point where he is even trying to force himself to puke. My poor little hypochondriac. There are no spots yet and no fevers yet, so he's off to school today.

And I'm in the mood to get rid of all the junk in my basement. I'm in the mood to have a giant dumpster come to my house so that I can shovel everything into a heap and toss it all in.

I'm also in the mood to go back to bed.

Untitled

2008-04-01T18:59:00.000-07:00

I seem to be in a bit of a blogging slump. Not to worry, I'll get my groove back soon enough and then you'll all be wishing I'd just shut-up for a bit. It's okay, I'm not offended. So I'll just leave you with some pictures of the Princess.

China must be so proud!

Pictures as Promised

2008-03-25T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's Thumbelina Day!!!

Last year:

This year:

Last year (notice how her pants are pulled up to her armpits??)

This year (they fit a lot better):

Last year:

This year:

Love those split pants!

Thumbelina has grown so much in the past year; we've had a blast!

Today is a Special Day

2008-03-12T10:11:00.001-07:00

Today is Thumbelina Day. Our First Anniversary as a Family of 6. aka Gotcha Day. So far, Thumbelina has had a bath, has had her picture taken in the clothing she wore last March 12 when we first met her, has had lunch, and is now supposed to be sleeping. She is fighting it with all her might. She has fought the whole concept of sleep ever since I've gotten home. I'm tired.

I'm not sure what the rest of the day has in store for us. I'm hoping that we can go out to supper when Mr. Happy gets home from work, and I know there is going to be cake. With icing.

And the missing luggage arrived today! I know you've all been worried about that, but it arrived safely this morning. Which is partly why we couldn't just take off and do anything special (like shop) - we had to wait for the luggage.

Stay tuned for pictures.

Life is An Adventure

2008-03-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

The Weekend That Would Not End

Travels With Lola

Flight 477 - To H-E-Double Hockey Sticks and Back

I Just Want To Go Home

These were all possible blog titles that were mulling around in my head to describe our weekend...intrigued, aren't you.

As you will recall, I had to take Shaggy and Tigger to Florida on Thursday to spend March break at the compound with the in-laws, Fil & Millie. Lola came with me. And if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you will know that when it comes to air travel...or really just any type of travel, the Jaj Family seems to have a curse. You can read about past adventures here, here and here and let's not forget that I left our plane tickets at home last year when we were headed to China. So this past weekend really should have been no surprise to any of us.

We made it to the airport on Thursday without any glitches...other than having to walk eleventy-seven miles from the parking garage to the actual terminal...and was it Lola who said, 'There's our bad luck for the trip'... ? Cursed us, she did.

Had an uneventful flight and made it to the compound safely.

As promised, Fil & Millie pulled out the maps as soon as we got there to show Lola where everything was, and Millie drew me a map on how to get to the shopping. I'm a mall magnet - they have a pull on me that is indescribable...plus this is my third trip to the compound and shopping...but we all would have been disappointed if no maps had been drawn at all.

On Friday we took off for shopping and really gave the Floridian economy a boost. 8 hours and 4 stores later, we were tuckered. That is not a typo, we really only made it to 4 stores.

We spent the evening organizing our luggage and trying to get everything to fit. The orginal plan was to pack a smaller suitcase inside a larger suitcase (for me anyway...I think Lola was just going to bring an empty large suitcase), but Millie called before we left and said we should try to come with just carry-on luggage, and we could use their big suitcases to come home...ahem...by big suitcases, she meant one average size suitcase and 3 carry-ons. So I ended up leaving half of my purchases in Florida for the in-laws to bring home with them by car in April. But that also meant I only had to claim half of my purchases, so it was a good thing after all.
Plus there were tornado watches all night for our area. My fear of tornadoes is second only to spiders, so I didn't get a whole lotta sleep as I listened to the wind and rain and sleet, waiting for our impending demise.

Do you like Lola's airport issued make-up bag? She was quite proud of it and showed it to everybody wherever we went. It was free.

Friday morning, Millie got us to the airport on time and once there, we discovered that there was a major winter storm happening in the northeast. 'Member when I said that I'd be laughing at yous all if you got snow while we were in Florida? Can I take that back? I really didn't mean it, honest. We were told that our flight to Cleveland was canceled - we could go the next day, or we could fly to Houston and then to the Great White North, arriving at 8:something that night (the current time was 7:30 am), or fly to Newark and then to the Great White North, arriving at 6:something that night. We opted for Newark. We should have just gone to the beach. So we sat around and waited for 3 hours until our flight was scheduled to leave.
We had a bit of trouble landing in Newark, so we were re-routed to Dulles in Washington and sat on the tarmac for 3 1/2 hours. This is the Dulles airport from our view of the window.
This is the giant cloud that passed by overhead, bringing wind at 39 knots with it. I have no idea how strong 39 knots is, but it is enough to shake a plane full of people.
This is Lola and me being bored and goofy. It's a self-portrait. Our seat-mate asked us if we had gone to school together because she could see us getting into trouble...
I have to say that being stuck on an airplane for 3 1/2 hours with complete strangers, you get a glimpse of their true personalities. And some of the people on our flight were not very nice. They complained about everything there was to complain about and got other passengers riled up, they had nothing good to say about the pilot who was only doing his job and had no control over the weather; we were very fortunate that our seat mate was a very sweet lady who incidently shares the same name as Millie. Plus she has a daughter-in-law with my name. Go figure. We were finally given to okay to fly onwards to Newark...these clouds were pretty.
These were the Clouds of Doom. I have seriously never been in so much turbulance in all of my life. I had to concentrate and do lamaze breathing to keep from getting airsick and using the barf bag...literally half the plane was airsick. Every time I peeked through my eyelids and looked out the window, I could see lights below and I thought for sure we'd be able to land...it seemed like we circled the airport for an eternity, and it was probably a good 45 minutes of flying through that same stupid cloud. The wind was 60 miles an hour. And we were in a tin can. At one point, the flight attendant asked everyone to reach up and open the air thingies to get the air circulating and help those passengers who needed it...I honestly thought she was going to ask us to reach up and get the oxygen mask thingies to put over our faces.
We finally landed at Stewart Airport in Newburgh, part of the airport is a military base, and the other part is for commercial flights. But since we were on a Continental airplane, and Continental does not have a gate at this particular airport, we had to get special permission from one of the other airlines to board at their gate. It was 8:30pm when we landed and after 10:30pm when we were finally able to leave the plane. In the meantime, there was a group of university girls and their coaches who were on a softball team travelling with us. One of the girls had an anxiety attack (she was a nervous flyer to begin with) and went into shock. Luckily this all happened once we were safely on the ground and the EMT's were called and were able to take her to the hospital. The other girls fed off the frenzy and the flight attendants used all but one tank of oxygen on the girls. We were out of food and water and pop and juice, so the alcohol was brought out. Lola and I just looked at each other...the difficult passengers became irrate. And irrational. One woman called her husband, who called the State Troopers, who sent an officer over to our plane to talk to us. The officer told everybody to sit down, and in true New York fashion a bunch of the idiots, who were teetering on the brink of drunkeness, stood up and yelled, "NO! We're not sitting down until you let us off this plane!" Now really, how much sense does that sentence make. The officer told us that there were 5 major airports in the area closed due to the storm so we just had to sit and be patient. I don't know about you, but when somebody who carries a gun for a living tells me to do something, I'm going to do what he tells me to do.

Lola and I made up names for some of the passengers around us - Doorknob had a giant doorknob on her finger, pretending to be a ring...she was a huge complainer and got everybody around her worked up; Buttcrack - needs no further explanation; Mark - looked like a guy we know named Mark; The Lushes - let their 18 month old drink their empty beer cans...thank God Lola and I are normal.

Oh, and there was a rumor going around that 3 passengers from 1st class were let off the plane because somebody came to pick them up - Phil Donahue. Who knows if it was him or not. So that got Doorknob all worked up and she called her daughter to come pick her up. We were relieved when she left the plane. This is what a military airport looks like. We finally had some supper at 11:00pm. Lola had white cheddar popcorn. I had a banana and skittles.
Our seat mate was sensible and bought a sandwich (the store/restaurant at the airport stayed open just for us - not the 3 of us, the whole plane of passengers).
Before we got off the plane, the pilot told us that there were rooms available at Quality Suites and Homewood Suites and all we needed to do was catch the shuttle. But we still didn't know what was happening the next morning so those of us who didn't live nearby and couldn't rent a car just stood around waiting to hear what was going to happen. Somebody said that the plane we just disembarked was going to take us to Newark at 8:30 the next morning...somebody else said 10:30...we decided to crash at a room and be at the airport by 7:30 the next morning to be on the safe side.
Our room was awesome and quiet.
This was what was left of our group the next morning. 31 passengers our of 112 (the university softball team took a bus to their final destination).
Because it was only going to be a 17 minute flight from Stewart to Newark, we were told to help ourselves to drinks and snacks.
And because we didn't want to sit in Newark airport for how many days without sustenance, I think between the two of us, Lola and I came away with 2 cans of coke, 2 cans of sprite, a 1.5 litre bottle of water and about 15 mini-packets of peanuts.

Boarding our flight to Newark...we were told that there needed to be 15 people in the front half of the plane and 15 people in the back half to distribute the weight...
Military planes:
Coming in to Newark (it was a bumpity flight):
Once at Newark, we were told that we needed to go to the Continental Service desk to find out how to get home. When it was our turn, we were told that our flight on Saturday from Newark to the Great White North had been cancelled, so I had been put on the 11:15am flight, and Lola on the 3:00pm flight (this was now Sunday)....we didn't leave Stewart until almost 11:30, so I missed my flight...not that I knew anything about it, but I still missed it. Plus Lola's flight was booked and I was told I would have to fly stand-by. Lola told the rep she was not going without me, and we told her that we had come in on Flight 477. Apparently the reps had all heard about Flight 477. We were given a knowing nod. Somehow, she was able to work her magic and found me a seat on that flight. We were really quite fortunate to have been able to get home on Sunday. Some people were told they wouldn't be getting home until Monday or even Tuesday.
And I must say that that was the smoothest flight I've ever been on. It was a joy, really. Except that our luggage did not come with us. We had to fill out a form at the continental desk in TO and shuffle through suitcases sitting around...so our purchases have not made it home yet. Hopefully they will soon.
While all this was happening at home, Mr. Happy was being a single-parent to Zoomer and Thumbelina. Thumbelina was not excited to see me; I think she was upset with me for leaving her for 4 days and 3 nights...but last night she would not go to sleep unless I was laying on the couch where she could see me...11:40 is when she finally dozed off...

And my dear dear friends who live in the city, who had planned on picking Lola and I up from the airport on Saturday and bringing up home and spending the weekend in the country, were forced to abandon their plans and sit by the phone all weekend and make numerous calls keeping everybody at home apprised of new situations.

And and Zoomer was supposed to fly out Sunday night from Detriot, but due to the storm of the century the day before, Mr. Happy did not even get close to the border before Zoomer's flight was supposed to leave. They were forced to turn around and come home. Mr. Happy said that was the quietest ride he's ever had with Zoomer, poor kid. We were able to get him a flight with a different airline close to home yesterday, so that we wouldn't have to run the risk of getting stuck at the border again, and now Zoomer is safely in the compound with the in-laws. He's even e-mailed me already this morning.

Thus begins spring break 2008. With still 2 feet of snow still on the ground.

The Winter That Will Not End

2008-03-04T09:17:00.001-08:00

Do you see this? Do you see the white white clouds? That's the next storm heading our way. Ice. We haven't had our annual ice storm yet, but it's March, people. March. The month of spring.

Lucky for me, I'm heading to Florida this weekend. Unlucky for me, I'll only be gone for 2 nights. Just enough time to get some serious shopping in. And Lola is coming with me. Next week is Spring Break (that's an oxymoron, isn't it), so the boys are heading down to the Compound to visit with the Grandparents.

Except I messed up on the tickets...shocked, aren't you...it was just after New Year's and Fil kept hounding me to book the tickets for the boys. Hounding me. Every conversation started with, "Have you looked at tickets yet..." There is no way I'm letting my 3 boys fly alone...they are boys...they are siblings...it's not a good combination. So I decided to fly with them, stay to do some shopping and fly home. Thumbelina is not a citizen of the Great White North yet (she almost is), so she will be staying home with Mr. Happy. Which is partially why I'm only going to be gone for 2 nights.

So I booked 4 round-trip tickets, thinking I'd just give my return ticket to Fil; Mr. Happy was able to find me a direct flight landing closer to home on Saturday...except after I booked them, the confirmation said that the tickets were not transferrable. I'm not sure why that little juicy tidbit didn't pop up on the screen before I booked them...so I had to book another ticket for Fil. And cancel my return ticket. But I do have a credit with the airline which is good until next January.

And then I realized that Zoomer can't possibly leave this Thursday with the rest of us, because he will be away with his school competing in the annual school convention. Mr. Happy and I decided that Zoomer would be fine travelling as an unaccompanied minor, so I called the airline...again...and had Zoomer's ticket changed to Sunday.

In the meantime, Lola half-jokingly asked if she could come along. It worked out that there were seats available on the same flights, so she's coming!

But I still need to call the airline because they sent out an e-mail saying the time of our flights has been changed, and I accepted the new time, but then they sent out a second notice. It would be our luck that they don't have any tickets for us and we'll end up having to walk to Florida or something.

Regardless, I will be escaping winter for 36 hours. And if it is cold and snowy anywhere but Florida, I will be laughing at you.

Cute Piccies of the Princess

2008-02-27T11:34:00.001-08:00

Uber-stylish. Last night Princess Thumbelina wanted to wear her sunglasses as she coloured.

Kids!

2008-02-26T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sunday night on the way in to church, Thumbelina fell asleep in the truck. Because she didn't nappy in the afternoon. Mr. Happy was working in the barn, Zoomer had spent the afternoon taking a test to get his gun license, and Shaggy and Tigger took off running, leaving me in their dust. As a result, I didn't have enough hands to carry all the paraphernalia that comes along with being me, so I left my music binder in the truck.

Of course Thumbelina woke up once we took her coat off, and my ladies' trio wanted to practice, so I sent Shaggy out to the truck...with my keys...to get my binder.

Fast forward to after church; it was fellowship night so most everybody was already in the fellowship hall fellowshipping. I was talking with a girlfriend and making her feel better that my kids are worse than hers (that's a whole nuther post of it's own) - I told her that's why I was put on this earth...so that other people could feel better about themselves...hey, at least I can laugh at myself. And other people can too. Anyhoo, back to the topic at hand...Thumbelina and I were almost the last people in the church building, so I went to get my keys out of my purse so that I could stick my assorted paraphernalia into the truck before heading over to the fellowship hall. Except they weren't there.

Mild panic.

We went to the nursery to look for my keys, because Shaggy took Thumbelina to the nursery to play after he brought me my music book. They weren't there.

Still mild panic. Maybe Shags left them in the truck and maybe the truck was unlocked.

Thumbelina and I headed out to the truck but it was locked, and it was too dark to see if there were any keys there. So then we headed into the fellowship hall to find Shaggy and ask him what he did with them. Remember, this is the kid with dyslexia...the kid who can't remember to bring his homework home and who is famous for losing everything...and yes, I was kicking myself for giving him my keys...on our way to find Shaggy, Thumbelina and I passed by my friend whose kids are not as bad as mine and I told her my predicament...as she stood there trying not to laugh at me...it was a concerned laugh...

Found Shaggy as he was being lectured by the Preacher not to push other kids (this story just keeps getting better, doesn't it). Asked Shaggy where my keys were and he said he put them on the piano. Preacher lent me his keys to get back into the church building because it was locked. I left Thumbelina in Shaggy's care...pretty certain he wasn't going to loose her...and headed back to the room where my ladies' trio had been practicing.

No keys.

Panic.

Back to the nursery I went to look a bit more thoroughly, all the while my mind is racing and going to all the places my keys could potentially be...

No keys.

Panic.

Headed back to the fellowship hall and passed Zoomer on my way in who said, "There you are!" And I replied hurriedly, "I can't find my keys!"

Gave Preacher's keys back to his wife and made a bee-line to Shaggy to check his coat pockets. No keys, but I did find wads and wads of candy wrappers. You're all shocked, I can tell.

My friend asked me if I found my keys yet and I told her no, and said I thought it was probably time to call Mr. Happy to come and get us. Her husband offered to drive us home...and I was contemplating which children were going to walk home and which children were going to spend the night...when Zoomer pops up beside me dangling my keys. My keys!!!

Apparently he had taken them out of my purse to unlock the truck so that he could put his stuff in the truck before he went over to the fellowship hall.

Disbelief. Relief. And I wanted to strangle him. I think he gave me a few new gray hairs, too!

So the moral of this story is...just give in and let the kids rule the world. They're going to anyway.

Moronic

2008-02-25T06:37:00.001-08:00

I am such a moron. No, really, I am.

Thumbelina has been having diaper issues for the last few weeks. They've been leaking, especially at night, so in the morning her jammies are usually wet as well. And while they're still fitting okay, the diapers are not as easy to put on and not as roomy as they were a few weeks ago. I was thinking that maybe I should move her up to the next size of diapers, but I just did that in November. And I was having a hard time believing that she would need the next size of diapers so soon after going into size 4. Size 4. And then I looked at the bag of diapers, and I've been buying size 3.

Moron.

Have a Laugh

2008-02-23T09:45:00.000-08:00

It's quiet in bloggerville today. What - everybody has a life or something? I have a Mr. Happy who's working at the barn, a son who is at a firearms/hunting course, another one typing something on a computer, the third is supposedly cleaning his room, and the princess is asleep. And I just finished vacuuming and now my back is sore, so I need a rest. Not that you're interested in all that, I just thought I'd throw that in for free.

So the laugh. We have a fancy-shmancy phone system that gives us multiples extensions for multiple locations. It's great. The phone calls come in at the house and I can send the caller to wherever the person is they're looking for. Except the phone in our basement has an echo and it drives me crazy. Mr. Happy downloaded an upgrade and installed it, so the other night when we were watching TV, he asked me to call the 2nd line and talk to Zoomer upstairs to see if the echo was still there. Zoomer knew this was going to happen.

So I called the number...mind you I was half lying on the couch and the phone was on the table up near my head, so I could only partially see the numbers as I was dialing. Our conversation went something like this:

Zoomer: Hullo (in a whispery, bored, monotone sounding voice)

Me: It's me.

Zoomer: Uhuh

Me: Watcha doin?

Zoomer: Nuthin

Me: Hey, there's no echo.

Zoomer: Uhuh

Me: Why is your voice like that?

Zoomer: What do you mean?

Me: Why are you disguising your voice? You sound like an old man!

Zoomer: What?

Me: Your voice - you're starting to freak me out!

Zoomer: Who is this?

Me: Oh Zoomer!

And I hung up. And then Zoomer came downstairs wondering why I hadn't called him yet...

I have no idea who I called...but the conversation was exactly like one I'd have with Zoomer, that's why I thought it was him...except I was starting to get freaked out because his voice never changed from the whispery, bored, monotone, and I was surprised that Zoomer could pull that off for so long.

Mr. Happy said I probably insulted a very nice old man.

And Thumbelina was a stinker going to bed that night. She was just running circles in her playpen and falling and giggling. When we went to bed, she was nekkid. Totally nekkid and asleep. And her bed was wet. I sure hope she grows out of this clothing aversion thing before she gets too much older!

Frustration

2008-02-20T14:07:00.000-08:00

I am frustrated today. All day long I've been frustrated, in fact. It started when I couldn't get the carseat buckled into the truck properly this morning (I was babysitting assorted nieces and nephews yesterday and the extra space was needed in the truck, hence why the carseat was taken out in the first place). And then later on in the morning, my assistant was experiencing computer difficulties. I couldn't even go pee in peace.

Get on with the story, already Jaj, jeesh!

Okay. Okay. So Shaggy came home from school today with what is obviously pink-eye. Or some other such affliction, which is causing his eye to ooze goop and tears and is red and itchy. I called our doctors office a full half-hour before they closed never expecting to get an appointment for this afternoon, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Me: Hi, I'd like to make an appointment for my son to see my doctor this afternoon.

GTTMOBOHI (Girl That Ticked Me Off Because Of Her Indifference): What is your son's name?

Me: Shaggy Jaj

GTTMOBOHI: I'm sorry but your doctor has stopped seeing patience for the day as of 4:00. What seems to be the problem?

Me: He came home from school with pink eye.

GTTMOBOHI: Ewe. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Thank you for holding.

Me: Well what about tonight?

GTTMOBOHI: He's not taking any patients tonight and I'm pretty sure the family doctor on call is all booked up for tonight. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Sorry about that.

Me: Well, can my doctor just call in a prescription for me?

GTTMOBOHI: I'm not even sure he's still here. I can leave him the message but he won't get it if he's not here. And it will cost you $5.00. Can you please hold?

GTTMOBOHI: Has he ever done this for you before?

Me: For me he has, but not for my son. He used to get conjunctivitis all the time when he was little, and we just need some gentamicin drops.

GTTMOBOHI: Can you hold?

I have no idea why I was put on hold so many times...there were no phones ringing in the background and all was quiet...it was getting annoying...

GTTMOBOHI: What pharmacy?

Me: The new pharmacy on the corner that is open until midnight. Can I make an appointment with my doctor tomorrow in case he doesn't get your message?

GTTMOBOHI: No. You'll have to call back tomorrow.

Me: insert crickets chirping

GTTMOBOHI: You'll have to call back tomorrow to see if there's a cancellation.

Me: So can I make an appointment for him to see the doctor on call?

GTTMOBOHI: No. The on-call doctor only works on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

Me: Wanting to bang my head on the wall because I can't see my own doctor and I can't see the on-call doctor, even though when we signed up with the family of physicians it was supposed to guarantee an appointment with a doctor. You know what, just forget about it. I'll just take him to the walk-in tonight.

GTTMOBOHI: Okay.

Grrrrrr.

I'm all growly now. It has been months and months since I've been able to see my own doctor. I like my doctor. And it wouldn't be so bad if we could actually see the doctor on call, but we usually can't see that doctor either. I just want to get the drops to minimize the spread of the pink eye to the other members of the household.

You know what the worst part of this family group of physicians is? If it's my doctor on call, the girls who answer the phone won't even book his own patients to see him because he has to be open for the other doctor's patients.

Grrrrrr.

This Post Is Brought To You By the Number 16

2008-02-16T17:13:00.000-08:00

Oh sorry, I was channeling Kermit the Frog there for a minute.

So guess what Valentine's Day was! Go on, guess!

Good guess. Now guess how many years (there's a hint for you in the title of this post)...Aren't my roses beautiful??? Mr. Happy's tradition is to buy me one rose for each year we've been married. This year, he threw in 3 extra roses (the yellow, white and pink) because he thought they looked pretty...and because at times it's been a challenging year:
We celebrated with take-out from Boston Pizza. Look! They even made the pizza in the shape of a heart:
The children each received non-candy gifts - Thumbelina's was a heart shaped pillow that she immediately threw on the floor and laid her head upon:
I don't think Tigger could grin any wider if he tried:
So that was Valentine's Day. Today is not Valentine's Day. Today is a day for children to decide to get fevers and other ailments. Three of the four children are sick. Only one is pathetic, although the littlest one was up for a couple of hours last night. She has a stuffy nose, so I think she just had a sore throat from breathing through her mouth (at least I did)...but today...ooooh today she has the kind of ailment where it takes 2 adults to change her diaper, with the help of many many wipies, and then a bath.

The pathetic one is Shaggy and he even skipped out on supper - that's how sick he is. Poor guy. Although he only has a fever, and not a high one at that. But still...for Shaggy not to even want to eat...

Tigger has a fever and has had it since yesterday. He isn't as hot today as he was yesterday.

And yes, now I have a stomachache. Not because I'm getting sick, but because I am paranoid about getting the stomach flu and if someone even hints that they're not feeling well, I automatically get a stomachache.

Family Day should be loads of fun.

One of Those Days

2008-02-13T17:03:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days. A double Joe Louis kind of day.

Shaggy and I had a rough morning. It was the kind of morning where you just want to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over head as you find your happy place. Shaggy was up at 6:25 because he thought it was a snow day. And when I told him it wasn't...he went nuclear. He only gets up that early on his days off from school.

And later on, while Thumbelina was having her quiet time, I was cleaning bedrooms. When I peaked in on her, she was little miss nekkid again. Except this time there was poop. She looked at me all innocent like and asked, "Ba?" Meaning, "Bath?" After her bath I stuck her in the highchair whilst I cleaned up the mess. It wasn't squishy, so it wasn't too hard to clean, but I did end up throwing a lite saber out because there was some poop squished in the grooves of the handle...it was just too gross to even think about.

Plus I'm getting annoyed with my assistant. I always say that the only stupid questions are the ones that aren't asked, but today I found out that there really can be stupid questions asked.

And now there's a third Joe Louis calling out to me...and I'm finding it ever so hard to resist his calls.

When I'm A Old Lady

2008-02-12T09:24:00.000-08:00

...and live with my kids

When I'm an old lady, I'll live with each kid,
And bring so much happiness...just as they did.
I want to pay back all the joy they've provided.
Returning each deed! Oh, they'll be so excited!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll write on the wall with reds, whites and blues,
And I'll bounce on the furniture...wearing my shoes.
I'll drink from the carton and then leave it out.
I'll stuff all the toilets and oh, how they'll shout!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they're on the phone and just out of reach,
I'll get into things like sugar and bleach.
Oh, they'll snap their fingers and then shake their head,
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

When they cook dinner and call me to eat,
I'll not eat my green beans or salad or meat,
I'll gag on my okra, spill milk on the table,
And when they get angry...I'll run...if I'm able!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

I'll sit close to the TV, through the channels I'll click,
I'll cross both eyes just to see if they stick.
I'll take off my socks and throw one away,
And play in the mud 'til the end of the day!
(When I'm an old lady and live with my kids)

And later in bed, I'll lay back and sigh,
I'll thank God in prayer and then close my eyes.
My kids will look down with a smile slowly creeping,
And say with a groan, "She's so sweet when she's sleeping!"

PBD - Day 2 - Saturday

2008-02-10T11:30:00.000-08:00

Saturday was Day 2 of Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days. Just bear with me and try not to let the excitement that is my life overwhelm you.

I tried to sleep in. My goal was 8:00, but I only made it to 7:15...Mr. Happy had already fed Thumbelina her breakfast and Shaggy was playing with her, so I went to my computer and posted Day 1 of Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days.

Dolores asked if that was a typical day, and yes it was. Minus the battle of homework after school (the boys need a break so I don't make them do homework on Friday nights) and on regular nights, I usually try to go to bed by 10:00...but since I had planned on sleeping in, I stayed up until midnight...next time I'll have to let Thumbelina in on my plans too.

Of course Thumblina soon got bored with her brother and wasn't happy that she was stuck on the other side of the gate:

I needed to get to work planning this week's menu so that Mr. Happy could go to the store for me and buy the groceries:

Thumbelina kept herself busy by reading:

And getting into the garbage:

And just being adorable:

So I decided she needed another snack:

Mmmmm, applesauce:

The aftermath of Hurricane Thumbelina:

Next came quiet time so that I could finish my meal planning:

There, that's better:

And because I am a freak, I type out my grocery list and arrange things as they are laid out in the store...Mr. Happy used to make fun of me for doing this until he discovered that my organizational skillz are quite convenient:

10:30 and time for homework:

Somebody wasn't too happy:

11:00 and time to practice...with my helper, of course:

And also time to clean up the kitchen:

And let the boys finally eat breakfast - I wouldn't let them eat before homework, because they had already been up for 3 hours....they were just using hunger as a stall tactic:

My Tray of Togetherness:

I tried a candy from it...it was sort of like a buttercream candy but with a different sort of aftertaste:

11:30 and time to dust:

12:00 and Thumbelina needed her lunch:

While I worked at getting the spilled wax off of the entertainment centre (I won't tell you that it's been there since Christmas):

Zoomer making himself a grilled cheese:

My lunch (leftover fried rice):

Shaggy talking to the in-laws at the compound:

Sometime in the afternoon while Thumbelina was napping, I decided to go through the toys and start organizing them; Mr. Happy had taken Shaggy and Tigger with him to the grocery store...he was actually going to take them sledding, but they wasted time getting their chores done and by the time they were ready to go, it was raining...

Plus I managed to throw out a couple of bags of old and broken toys:

Time for laundry (I have no idea what time it is now...4:00 ish maybe):

While watching my all important decorating shows:

With the Little Miss' help, of course:

And what a good helper she is:

5:00 ish and time to put the groceries away and make supper:

Easy Meatball Panini:

The finished product (basically a meatball sub):

With pudding for dessert:

Such a happy child:

Um, yeah:

He's related to his relatives:

This was Thumbelina's expression when she heard the water running in the bathtub...she loves her bath:

All clean and ready for bed:

I didn't take any more pictures of my day, but after cleaning up the kitchen, and tucking the littler boys into bed, I sat on the couch and started dozing off as Zoomer and Mr. Happy were watching NASCAR. But then I decided I needed to iron to get the church clothes ready for this morning. I was still late, even with having everything ready to go - like really late - like so late that I didn't have time to practice my solo with my piano player so when I sang in the service this morning, that was my practice...that's how late I was...not that you needed to know that, I just threw that in for good measure.

PBD - Day 1 - Friday

2008-02-08T20:19:00.000-08:00

So today is Day 1 of Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days. And I actually forgot until I logged on this morning to check the weather and saw her reminder e-mail, so you don't get my day from 6:30 am on when I got up, but rather from 8:00 am on, which is what my truck looked like this morning:

Finishing up breakfast:
Little Miss Banana Face:
Packing up the school lunches:
Packing up the kids:
8:15 am and we're on our way to school:
Goodbye Offspring! Have a lovely day!
Oh look! It's my brother:
Thumbelina and I stopped at the newest store in town:
Because we had to get a Valentine:
9:30 and time for a re-fill:
Our order:
What greeted us on our arrival home:
And how it looks now (and I won't tell you that it took all day to finally get to this state):
This was the site that greeted me when I came home from a ladies meeting last night...and I left it until today:
Time for quiet time so that I can clean up without my 'helper':
But first I need to check e-mail. The e-mail open on my screen was sent to me from Melvin - characatures of movie stars that he made in 'art class' at the 'institute' no doubt:
Little Miss Thing was quiet for too long, so when I went to check on her, this was how she greeted me...clothes are overrated anyway...at least she peed before she took off her diaper or else you'd all be saying GROSS right about now:
Yep, totally nekkid:
After a new diaper and clothes reapplied, Thumbelina decided to help me clean the floor:
11:00 and time for colouring:
While helping unload the dishwasher:
12:00 lunch:
And time for our Happy Nappy:
While I clean the bathroom:
Ahhh, much better now:
Time to fold laundry:
While I watch TV:
That was quick:
Time for lunch while I do some office work:
My lunch (it's a salad):
My screen background - from our photoshoot a few weeks ago - I could stare at it forever:
But while I eat, I need to catch up on some blog-reading before I do my work:
3:15 and time to get the boys from school - looks like we had another wardrobe malfunction:
Taking our picture in the mirror (Thumbelina is trying to look through the view finder with me):
Somebody still looks sleepy:
We've been waiting and waiting for those boys:
Finally, here comes Shaggy:
And Tigger (Zoomer had a practice after school and stayed until 5:00 when Mr. Happy picked him up):
4:15 - Afterschool snack:
While I go through the day's mail:
Time for Elmo:
And Gameboy:
5:30 and I need to practice:
But not without my helper:
6:00 - Supper! It was so cute when Mr. Happy walked in the kitchen with our supper - Thumbelina jumped off the piano and yelled 'Fe Fy! Hi Cha!' which translates to 'French Fries! High Chair!":
But before we eat we need to pray:
7:00 - Shaggy decides to practice his sax while I clean up the kitchen:
But not without his helper (she was singing her little heart out):
7:45 - Mr. Happy set up a stand for Thumbelina to sing all by herself:
Stalling before bedtime by looking cute:
I played a quick game with Tigger that came with his kids meal while Thumbelina was stalling:
8:00 and all is not well in our world - we do not want to go to bed (I guess I should buy Mr. Happy a new shirt, huh):
Shaggy found the Teletoon Retro Channel, so we all watched the Flintstones before bedtime:
After the boys went to bed, Mr. Happy and I stayed downstairs and watched The Number 23. I thought it was bizarre, Mr. Happy thought it was odd. And my day officially ended at midnight, when I went to bed.

Stay tuned for Saturday's excitement!

GUNG HAY FAT CHOY!

2008-02-07T08:30:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Since this is the Year of the Rat, I tried to get a picture of Thumbelina with her little stuffed mouse:

Um, yeah.

21 Months Going on 16

2008-02-05T09:34:00.000-08:00

Do these pictures not give you a glimpse into the future or what?! Thumbelina was gifted some new-to-us clothing, and when I put this outfit on her this morning, she all of a sudden looked so grown up (the hat came from H&M during our last shopping excursion)

CNY Celebration

2008-02-05T07:09:00.000-08:00

So we were able to to go the Chinese New Year Celebration in the city after all. With 500 of our closest...strangers...needless to say Mr. Happy was a bit overwhelmed.

Shaggy gave Thumbelina a little toy camera while we were journeying along, so she and I took each other's picture:
We stopped at our friend's place before going on to the restaurant. Thumbelina's BFF was still waking up from her nap when we arrived:
Princesses in training:
All dressed up in our finery (we left Zoomer and Tigger at home to fend for themselves):
Thumbelina didn't want her picture taken, so I was holding her down while trying to look calm and serene:
We sat at the same table as our other little friend:
Shaggy doesn't usually cooperate for cameras either:
Doesn't Mr. Happy look happy? This really is his happy face:
Our table:
Chopsticks can poke your eye out if you're not careful:
We had a great time, although I must tell you that a 10 course dinner is about 5 courses too many. Seriously. I didn't eat anything after the 5th course. And the plates were not normal dinner plate size, they were very small dessert plate size. Which makes it hard to put enough food on your plate even though they do only serve one course at a time, especially when your little toddler-type child gets very upset if there is any food on her plate, and because you're the Mom, you graciously let her spit all the food out of her mouth onto your plate, and when you're trying to separate the pre-chewed food from the food you are planning on consuming, suddenly the plate is very small. Because that's what Mom's do, while the Dad's try to find their happy place.

But it was very well organized and we had a great time.

Despite the sound system sounding like it came straight out of a Charlie Brown special. Remember the teacher on Charlie Brown? That's exactly how everybody who spoke into the microphone sounded. Mr. Happy, my sound guru, said they had the treble too high.

And great news about Thumbelina's orphange! This note from Jenny Bowen was in my inbox this morning:

I wanted to tell you that a relief org has reached Chenzhou and visited the orphanage, among other places. The babies are fine. They brought supplies. We're bringing in more, maybe by tonight, so you all can rest easy. Sweetdreams in the US and Canada. Thank you for all your help and love. More news soon! http://obrelief.spaces.live.com/default.aspx

So thank you to everybody who kept these precious children in your thoughts and prayers.

Wintertime Bullets

2008-02-02T07:19:00.000-08:00

Bullet Time because I've got too much to talk about but nothing substantial to say:

Early spring...or six more weeks of winter? The little rodents are all in disagreement. Either way, spring is still a good six weeks away. Which brings me to say Happy Groundhog Day! Are you doing anything to celebrate? Do we even celebrate Groundhog day?
You've all heard about the wintery weather that has been harrassing China? It's a disaster over there. What you probably haven't heard on the news is the conditions of the orphanages. Thumbelina's orphanage isn't doing very well at the moment...this report was sent out from Jenny Bowen at Half the Sky:

Chenzhou, Hunan - still facing the most difficulties of the orphanages we've reached. They've had no electricity or running water for 8 days and there is almost no possibility that power will be restored before New Year's Eve(the 6th of February.) Because of the blackout, the hospital is closed. 20 children are ill and being cared for by institution staff as well as they can. The banks are closed so staff is contributing personal funds to buy food, coal and diapers. Prices are skyrocketing as all roads to Chenzhou remain impassable.

What can we do to help? Half the Sky has set up a special fund - the Little Mouse Emergency Fund - where you can send donations of money. If you are not able to help out in this way, please keep them all in your prayers. It breaks my heart to think of Thumbelina's Chinese brothers and sisters suffering in any way.
I haven't given you a Hailey Update in quite some time. Her last report was a good one - the leukemia is in remission and she has about 3 months left of her in-hospital chemo treatments. If all goes well, after these 3 months, she will be able to go home and continue with her treatments as an out-patient for 18 months.
Tomorrow is our local FCC Chinese New Year dinner but we might not be able to go. Our Pal, who is the barn manager, fell and broke a bone in his foot on Thursday night and had surgery yesterday to put in a metal plate and some screws. So now Mr. Happy is working extra extra hours at the barn to cover for Our Pal. Mr. Happy was already working extra hours at the barn because one of the fellows has left us for a factory job in town...and now the pregnant chick is off work for a couple of weeks with a note from her doctor.
I'm still trying to work out different scenarios of how I can go without Mr. Happy. We'll have to see.
My butt is doing better, thank you for asking. Happy pills are my friend.
The boys have had 2 snow days and 1 PD day this week, leaving 2 days of school.
I like PD days.
I like snow days better.

Lessons

2008-01-29T10:53:00.000-08:00

Whatever lesson it is that I'm supposed to be learning, I'm waving the white flag over here. I seem to be an accident waiting to happen these days. This morning, I fell down the stairs. And I think I broke my butt. Seriously, I now have dimples in the wrong cheeks. Plus my elbow is bruised and swollen and I jarred my back on my left side.

I had Mr. Toad take the kids in to school for me, I canceled my voice students for this afternoon and I've kept Zoomer home from school to look after Thumbelina. And I can't get comfortable. And I'm hungry.

So I think I'll finish off this bag of Doritos and have Zoomer get me a bottle of water while I slowly make my way back to my comfy couch.

I feel like such a dork.

Progress

2008-01-28T06:23:00.000-08:00

I could tell you about the burn that Thumbelina has on her hand and fingers...and the fact that certain siblings were assigned to play with her but instead were playing the Wii thusly resulting in the poor princess burning her hand on the fireplace...but I won't because although she has bitten off one of the blisters and freaks out whenever her bandaid falls off, her hand and fingers are doing okay.

And I could tell you about yesterday morning before Sunday School when Thumbelina fell off of her chair...or possibly was pushed, the teachers aren't exactly sure...thusly resulting in blood coming forth from Thumbelina's mouth and we not knowing exactly where said blood was coming from...even getting a second opinion from a nurse at church...but I won't. Because although we initially thought she knocked her two front teeth loose, and then determining it wasn't her teeth but possibly a gum injury, and then actually seeing a cut on the inside of her lip later in the day, her mouth is doing fine.

But I will tell you about what happened in Sunday School yesterday morning after the chair incident. About an hour and half after the mishap, Thumbelina's teacher told me that her mouth was still bleeding, so I went and talked to Mr. Happy and asked if we should call the dentist. Just to see what he thought about it all. Mr. Happy and I both went in to Thumbelina's class and took a peak at her mouth and decided it wasn't, in fact, her teeth that were injured. Of course I couldn't leave Thumbelina after that, so I stayed in her class with her.

During singing time, my girl was sitting on my lap and she turned around and kissed my arm. She.kissed.my.arm. You cannot even begin to imagine what a big deal this is. This is HUGE people. HUGE. My girl is not one to lavish her affections on anybody...only inanimate objects...or her toes...not the boys, or Mr. Happy or me. We waited 7 whole months for her just to kiss us on the lips, and it was well worth the wait, but it only lasted for those few precious hours and she was back to giving us the top of her head whenever we asked for a kiss.

It is taking a lot of time for Thumbelina to feel secure enough and comfortable enough to show affection on her own, so for her to just turn around and kiss my arm...Wow. Seriously, Wow. She has now officially been with us longer than she was in the orphanage, and I've always heard that internationally adopted children seem to 'relax' after 6 months and again after a year. We are approaching our one year anniversary, so I'm hopeful that my girl will be able to show her feelings uninhibited. Except the displeasure. She's really good at showing displeasure.

Giant Brand Named Stores...Coming Soon to a Town Near You

2008-01-24T15:21:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was the grand opening of Wal Mart in my tiny little town. And you would have thought it was the day after Christmas by the way the parking lot was filled. On the way to school the boys saw a bus there, and Shaggy wondered if some kids were on their way for a field trip. That's how much excitement the opening has stirred within us. Husband told Shaggy it was most likely extra workers being bussed in from other stores to help out.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, such as disobedient children, we were not able to go yesterday after school. We did, however, go today. And I've gotta say, I'm a smidge disappointed. It has very much a warehouse feel to it, with concret floors and moveable isles. No bright cheery flooring that I'm used to seeing in the other stores. And the clientele looked a bit...skuzzy...shall we say. Although I shouldn't stereo-type people, because I'm sure they thought the same of me...what with my mom-jeans, no make-up, untidy hair, and bevy of hoodlums following me along and all...but the experience didn't really make me eager to go back. And if it weren't for the fact that I drive past it twice a day, I probably wouldn't be frequenting this particular store very often.

But I did score a $35.00 cabbage patch kid for 10 bucks! Asian no less. Although she does have a weird bright pink stripe down her bangs...

Maybe I'm just in a tired mood and shopping with 4 kids in tow is never an exciting experience for me. But it's good therapy for my back (which is feeling pretty good actually), so Thumbelina and I just might have to go back tomorrow sans hoodlums.

Can I Get a Collective "Awe" Here?

2008-01-23T09:43:00.000-08:00

Those of you that know me in real life know that I love to sing and sing solos and take part in other special music in church on a regular basis. Which means I practice almost daily for each performance. Except I can only practice at the piano when Thumbelina is safely strapped into her highchair because she flips out if I start to play the piano and sing without her. It started out that she needed to be sitting on my lap and playing right along with me. And then she graduated to sitting on the bench beside me. Now, I'm not even allowed near her...so if I start practicing, she comes running along and tries to pull me off so that she can 'practice'. Heh. No, it isn't a behavior I give in to, but suffuce it to say it's just easier on the both of us if I wait until she's in her highchair.

You needed to know all that for what I'm about to tell you.

This morning, Thumbelina was sitting on the bench in front of the Roland and was playing it, and figured out how to turn on the pre-recorded selections. So I peaked in on her, and she's sitting on the bench holding one of my voice exercise books, singing her little hear out. It was just mind-blowingly cute. And then she looked my way, so I clapped for her and told her I loved her singing. She grinned and continued with her practicing.

Ready? On the count of three: 1 - 2 - 3 - AWWEEE!!!

It really was on the cutest things I've ever seen.

How To Get Your Teenager To Cook

2008-01-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Re-injure your back that you injured exactly 8 weeks ago. And which has taken exactly 6 weeks to get back to feeling completely normal.

Step 2: Sit in the big comfy chair all afternoon watching your favourite shows on the new HD 46" TV that airmiles bought.

Step 3: Wait until the children get hungry and ask, "What's for supper?" (Oh, sorry Lisa, I mean Dinner) ;-)

Step 4: Suggest cereal.

Step 5: Sit back while the teenager pooh-poohs that idea and gets out the cookbook to make Skillet Ravioli.

I bought me a new cookbook shortly after Christmas, it's from Better Homes and Gardens, and I have to say I am absolutely in love with it. So much so, that I have been cooking every single night. And I am making meal plans each week. With actual groceries in the house with which to make said meals. And we've only had take out twice in the last 21 days. Twice. This is huge, people. Huge.

So how did I hurt my back again, you ask? I bent over to pick up a bottle that Thumbelina had thrown on the floor. Seriously. That's all I did. And although it isn't as sore as it was the first time I hurt it, it is limiting my normal daily activities to a great degree. I'm hoping the children are telling me the truth about their homework status, because I'm not really able to check on them. Oh sure, I can blog, but blogging is different. Blogging doesn't require actual movement.

Why?

2008-01-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

My journey into womanhood was roughly 26 years ago. But who's counting.

So why, today, does my face look like that of one just entering the pubescent stage of life?

Seriously, why?

Woops!

2008-01-16T13:13:00.000-08:00

Just pass the Bad Mother Award over my way, please.

This morning as the boys were getting ready for school, Zoomer said to me, "Aren't there any lunches?"

I answered him, "It's sub day today." I love pizza day and sub day, because I don't have to make lunches the night before.

Fast forward to this afternoon as we're driving home from school when Tigger said to me, "Why didn't you pack us a sandwich? Sub day isn't until tomorrow."

Seriously??

So now out of guilt I'm letting them eat chips for their after-school snack. And a peanut butter sandwich.

On the bright side, I don't have to make lunches for tomorrow either!

You Know You're Tired When...

2008-01-10T16:42:00.000-08:00

You know you're tired when, as you're making lunches for school the next day, you ask your son if he wants boots on his chicken sandwich. As in purple rubber boots, not Boots from Dora.

And then you call him Thumbelina instead of Zoomer.

And then as you're studying with another offspring of your husbands...just bear with me - the children are all the fruit of Mr. Happy's looms, I'm taking no responsibility for them tonight...you begin to slur your words and see double.

Is it wrong of me to be counting the seconds before the children are in bed?

My mind has gone blank, but I know there's a good word out there for how I feel. Blank.

So this morning, I took Thumbelina for a photo shoot and I'm very excited to see what the pictures will look like. Alas, I'm not going to post the photographer's website because it names my hometown, and I'm not wanting all the crazies out there to know where I live. True, I'm related to most of them, but they still don't need to know where I live. I will be sure to post pictures for you when I get them.

My little princess is turning into quite the spitfire. I was in the nursery with her last night, and I have a rule of no children on the table. It's a kid-sized table and they love to lay on their bellies on it. Well, the little miss was climbing on it - at one point she crawled from one end to the other on it, so I started putting her in the corner for time out. Which she thought was pretty spectacular. And it even got to the point where once she started to climb on the table and I stood up, she'd run laughing and put herself in the corner.

I know.

We're in big trouble.

Back to the Grind

2008-01-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas is over. All signs of things celebratory have been boxed away for another year. Except for the stray ornaments found underneath furniture...

And we're back to the everyday of school, homework, laundry, cooking...the joys of life. So exciting I have to stifle a yawn. Wait, nope, I actually yawned.

With the everyday comes mundane blog posts.

So we'll do pictures instead.

Last Wednesday was the one year anniversary of our referral, and being the terrible mother that I am, I forgot to take Thumbelina's picture with her referral photo until yesterday. But I'm justifying the oversight by mentioning that our one year anniversary of actually seeing her referral photo isn't until tomorrow. So all is well.

In hindsight, it wasn't a good idea to have Elmo on TV while trying to get the Miss to focus on the camera...
But I do think this one is really cute:

The other day, Thumbelina and Mr. Happy were making faces at each other:

BTW, that's a stamp on her hand from visiting the lovely people at the bank...not a bruise...

Miss Thumbelina got into my post-its. I know!!! It's a good thing I love her so much, or else she'd be in big trouble...

She tried to eat them:
Apparently they're not very tasty:
The other offspring are just like their relatives...
Oh yeah, you know who you are...

Question For You

2008-01-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

Why is it that a certain teenager, who shall remain nameless, cannot get out of bed before 7:30 on a school morning, yet after staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve suddenly has enough gumption to get out of bed by 6:30 every morning thereafter to go to work?

And then this morning when we had to leave the house by 8:00 for a dentist appointment, he's dragging his sorry behind and doesn't have time for breakfast, thus getting really hungry after his tooth is filled but he's unable to eat or drink. Well, technically he can drink, but it's pretty funny to watch the chocolate milk pour out the side of his face because everything is still frozen. You all know I'm talking about Zoomer, right?

He fills me with such pride...

Um...

We had our own version of Christmas Olympics. It was special.

I'm not sure if any further explanation is needed...

Suffice it to say it wasn't just our Olympics that was so special...

Happy 2008

2008-01-02T10:59:00.001-08:00

It's a new year. Anybody do anything exciting to ring it in? We had a small intimate party - just the 6 of us. We ate snacks and played the Wii. And then we put the Princess to bed, picked up toys and sent Shaggy and Tigger off to bed as well. We let Zoomer stay up with us to watch the big ball drop in New York at midnight, and then we were off to bed as well. Oh, and we watched Jon & Kate Plus 8 all night, because the movies that Mr. Happy and I usually watch aren't suitable for a 13-year-old. Not that we watch anything x-rated, but the other night we watched The Zodiac, which I'm sure would give any teeny-bopper bad dreams for awhile.

So this morning, Princess Thumbelina was limping a little bit on her foot...I thought maybe her jammies were too tight on her toes, but when I took them off she still kept limping around. And then later, she would limp, grap her leg above her ankle and cry. And it's a lot worse now than this morning. I do see some swelling - not a lot - but she has a doctor's appointment in about 40 minutes. And with one of the doctors in town who scored very low on Rate Your MD. But he hasn't done anything to upset me, so I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. But I'd still rather be seeing my own doctor.

*****

It's now Thursday morning; we saw the doctor in question and he said that Thumbelina's foot felt and moved normally, although her heel was quite swollen, and despite giving him multiple dirty looks (he asked if she was shy...I said no, she just likes to give looks), she played normally on the floor except for when she tried to walk. I should clarify that it was Thumbelina giving the dirty looks, not me. And then it was obvious that she was in pain. He gave her the diagnosis of plantar fasciitis, even though it isn't common in children. Which is basically a sprained heel that just took a few days to become problematic. Because she climbed out of her playpen. Twice. The stinker.

And this morning? She's running around like nothing ever happened. Except my back is sore from carrying her around yesterday. She weighs 22 lbs 14 oz.

Interesting start to the New Year.

And today is the anniversary of our referral. Such an emotional day last year. I was in total shock, and strangely enough, that night was the first night I slept all the way through in about 9 or 10 months.

But enough about me; there is a jar of pickles that needs to be opened for Shaggy. His post-breakfast snack.

Kind of makes me want to gag as I finish up my coffee.

Uh-Oh

2007-12-31T10:23:00.000-08:00

Guess who just climbed out of her playpen for the second time in 10 minutes? I'll give you a hint - it wasn't me...and seeing as how there are only 2 of us she's living in the Jaj household, well, I'm sure you've guessed right as to who it was. Some cute little toddler is sure proud of herself, let me tell you.

Anybody out there have a Plan B I can use for happy nappy's and bedtimes?

Highlights of 2007 Part Duex

2007-12-30T11:17:00.001-08:00

K, it turns out I didn't use up all my alotted space for one blog post, I just had too many windows open and couldn't figure out why the add picture window thingy wasn't popping up...

Back to our previously scheduled programming:

September

September saw the passing on of loved ones:

The beginning of another school year:
Birthdays:
And parties:
And The Look finally captured on film!

October

October had our annual fall fair:
Playing in the leaves:
Another party our agency had:

And shopping with our BFF! Sadly, I didn't get the two chicklets in a picture together...unbelievable, isn't it.
November

November is a blur due to the back injury from Haides, but we did go to another playdate with our travel group before the impending doom. We had an unbelievable amount of fun:

December

Stairs were practiced in December:

Company was entertained:
The Cantata was sung (can you see me???):
Chocolate bars were eaten:
Jewelry was worn in moderation:
Christmas was celebrated:
With jammies on:
And with our new kitchen playset:
And with our brother:
And everybody was spoiled:
This year has been one full of blessings and I thank you for sharing in the everyday with me.

Highlights of 2007

2007-12-29T05:56:00.000-08:00

Remember last December? Well, maybe it's not seared into your memory as it is mine...so I'll just hit the refresh button on your memory, mkay? So last December, Thumbelina's BFF's Mom and I were crazy with anticipation - Crazy - over our impending referrals. We were e-mailing each other 30 times a day and checking Rumor Queen like mad women. It seemed that we parked out in front of the computer and the rest of the world around us ceased to exist. At least that's how it was for me. Which bring us to:

January

We received The Call at 10:00 pm on Wednesday, January 3, 2007 and it was an excrutiatingly long week before we could see the picture of the baby who had stolen our hearts. Because our agency director was away on holidays (the nerve) and she insists on going over all the files before anybody else and won't even e-mail pictures, no matter how much you beg and plead. But I'm over that. No more bitterness here. No-sirree. Heh.

We also made a little jaunt over to Banff for the annual Pork Congress:

February

We celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary:
I got my hair chopped off (13") and donated it to Locks of Love:
I spent my spare time shopping for important things, such as fancy dresses for Thumbelina:
March

March was such a memorable month in that we met Princess Thumbelina for the very first time:

You can read our story here. And let me reassure everyone who is waiting - don't lose hope. All those months of anguish and frustrations and tears will melt away the instant you hold your baby for the first time. Your turn will come! It is sooooooo worth it!

April
Training started so that Thumbelina can help me in the office:
The art of crawling was mastered:
Family was met:
And an open house was thrown for us. Or at us. Anyway it was in Thumbelina's honor:
May

The month of May was filled with school plays:

Sick kids:
Birthdays:
And a playdate with our travel group:

June

Thumbelina was introduced to the Backyard Beach in June...she doesn't look very impressed with it, does she: We also had a wicked nasty storm that knocked our power out for 29 hours, leaving me with no choice but to brave driving in the city for the very first time without husband by my side:
Because I had to meet up with our travel group at a big bash our agency had:

Princess Thumbelina was annointed by pool water and officially loves swimming:
More happened in the month of June, and you can read about a somewhat typical day here and here.

July
In July, Thumbelina spent her time looking pretty:

Standing independently:
Meeting the relations who live south of the border:
Picnicing with the crazier side of the family:
And vacationing in the same small town where a triple murderer was hiding out:
Quite the adventures so far, huh.

August

August was the last month where the boys were at the Princess' beck-and-call, so she took advantage of that and enjoyed their undivided attention immensely:
It was also the start of birthday season and teenagers:
And walking!
We hosted a playdate for our travel group:
Fun! Fun! Fun!

Stay tuned for Part II...I think I've used up all my alloted space for one blog post...

Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T20:04:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Jaj's! We hope your day was as magical as ours was.

My Favourite State - Denial

2007-12-22T09:45:00.000-08:00

So I've made a list, I've checked it twice, I know who's naughty and who's nice...and I also know there's a whole lotta cleanin' that needs to be finished by Monday morning...and not one word from the Crazies about coming to help with said cleaning. Maybe if I stopped calling them The Crazies, they'd be more apt to help me out...you all know that I use that term in the most endearing of ways. Mostly.

And yah, I think I've officially moved to the State of Denial. Why else would I be blogging when there's a list 2 pages long of stuff that needs to done?

You know, Mr. Happy really does really love me. He offered to go grocery shopping for me this morning...the Saturday before Christmas even...so that I could clean. Blog, clean, that's neither here nor there. So he came home awhile ago with his purchases grumping about old people "...blocking the aisles talking to one another with their Merry Christmas this and Happy Holidays that..." Poor Mr. Happy. So I asked him where his Christmas cheer was, and he pulled out his angry eyes and said, "This is my Christmas cheer." Alrighty then.

At lunch, Shaggy and Zoomer and I were talking about Zoomer's teen Christmas banquet that he went to last night and Shaggy said, "Did you know that Uncle AB wasn't allowed to go to gym night if there were girls there?" And I said, "I'm sure that's not right, Shag; he went to gym night." And Shaggy said, "No, he wasn't allowed to go cuz there'd be hot chicks there!" Your eyes just popped a whole lot wider, didn't they! I asked him where he heard such language and he told me that that's how people talk these days. These days. Makes me feel ancient. I didn't have the heart to tell him that that's how people talked in the olden days as well.

And on that note, one of the boys just woke up Princess Thumbelina and she's wailing. Wailing, I tell you. Oh wait, she stopped. Maybe she's going back to sleep. Don't make any loud noises and we'll be okay.

Shhhhh, I said.

Okay okay okay, I'll stop wasting time and get back to my list.

Sheesh, I think Mr. Happy has been spreading his Christmas cheer a little too much this year.

Holiday Stress

2007-12-18T05:31:00.000-08:00

It's crunch time. I'm trying not to feel anything except peace and joy and love, yet the stress is creeping in with icy cold fingers gripping me. Subtly at first, and then when I least expect it the stress will put a strangle hold on me, choking out the air. No, not really.

Why the ever so subtle stress? Grab a cup of coffee and I'll tell you all about it.

A few weeks ago as we were discussing Christmas With the Crazies, as Mr. Happy and I affectionately refer to my side of the family, Muther mentioned that they all were wondering if Christmas could be at my house on Christmas Eve. They all being my brother and his wife and Muther. And since I am still not 100% with my back (I fell out of a chair rather ungracefully last night and my hip is feeling twingie this morning) Muther promised that they would come and help me clean and I wouldn't have to do any of the cooking. Bonus! So I said okie-dokie. I can handle a muther, step-dad, sibling, sibling-in-law and their 4 kidlets. Eazy-peazy. Except now? There are 4 more adults coming, possibly with another 2 or 3 more adults coming. So what was a week ago Eazy-peazy is today not so much.

So please help me, O Great Internets. I need a menu. Muther already decided for me that we're not doing turkey. Great. I'll do pull-a-part-pork in the crock pot (so delish!). Muther suggested potato salad. Gross. For Christmas? No. I can't have potato salad at Christmas. At family picnics yes. I still shudder at the thought - crazy, isn't it. So then I told Muther I'd make scalloped potatoes. And I love me a sweet potatoe casserole with the carmelized brown sugar on top, so I will make that as well to satisfy my craving. But what else should we have? Please tell me.

I didn't get any baking done yesterday because my desk took me from 7:30 in the morning to supper time last night to go through. And a large garbage bag is full of papers and envelopes and such that once lived on my desk.

I'm hoping to go the Mart of Wal today, but a nice one in the city...not the crappy ones nearby, to finish up last minute gift buying. What are you all giving your kids' teachers?

Miss Thumbelina is in a mood this morning. I'm not sure she's feeling entirely well. Tigger is still sick, but we sent him to school anyway, even though he has a low-grade fever and looks extremely pale.

This morning, Thumbelina wanted a clementine for breakfast (she's great at nodding and shaking her head). So as I was about to give it to her, I told her to say please. (She can say peeze but we will also let her have things if she uses the sign for please, which is your open hand making a circle on your chest.) She looked at me and slowly shook her head no. Little stinker. So I told her that she couldn't have the orange until she said please. And she just looked at me. So I turned to put the orange away and she half-heartedly swiped at her jammies with her thumb for please. Goodness. And I'm sure, if she knew how to do it, she would have been rolling her eyes at me too. This child has attitude.

Her new most favourite thing is Elmo. And her new word is Emmo. I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet...maybe Elmo is responsible for sending subliminal messages to my daughter telling her to roll her eyes at her parents. Who knows.

Anyway, the stress. It is slowly coming to get me.

SNOW DAY!

2007-12-17T07:11:00.000-08:00

Yahooo!!!! Is it wrong of me to be happy that today is a snow day?? Is it wrong for me to be happy that since today is a snow day my assistant is staying home with her kids?? Because if it is, then I'm a terrible, terrible person. I love snow days! Zoomer is looking after Thumbelina and I am getting so much office work done. You can actually see parts of my desk! AND! I might even do some baking later on this afternoon. It can't get much better than that.

So Tigger has been illish for the last few days and didn't go to school on Friday. He's better now - not 100%, but better. He's not very happy that he'll be doing schoolwork today to catch up from missing Friday.

Shaggy was in tears this morning when I told him school was cancelled. They were going to go skating. And since it was after 7:00 am and our school still hadn't made the cancellation list on the radio, the principal was calling all the families...skating is still on! So he's a happy camper after all. Our school policy is that if the public schools are closed, then our school will be closed as well...so once I heard about the other cancellations, I let out a huge sigh of relief.

What else is there to tell you. Thumbelina really likes snow, and she really likes being pulled around on the toboggan by her brothers. They've just come inside with their cheeks all rosy-red.

Life is grand.

Pictures to follow once Mr. Happy gets home from his errand and tells me what I'm doing wrong with the camera. My computer is back, but now I can't get my camera to download the pictures and I don't know what to do.

But life is still grand.

My Kids Have Been Elfed!

2007-12-16T19:42:00.000-08:00

Seriously, check this out - http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1366827218 - it does have music, so make sure you turn it down if you are at work. You will laugh until you snort egg nog out your nose!

Christmas Traditions

2007-12-11T05:59:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start a new Christmas tradition this year - Christmas Jammies that we get to open on Christmas Eve and wear Christmas morning. I've shamelessly stolen the idea from a friend of mine - I hope you don't mind.

I've bought Tigger's and Thumbelina's already; Tigger's top is green with a train on it and it has red and green striped bottoms. Thumbelina's is red and white striped feet pajammies with a gingerbread boy on it.

So I've been surfing the net looking for more cutesie-type jammies and I happened upon this site. Go look at and make sure you scroll down to the family in the matching snowflake footed pajamas. Did you take a peek? Did it creep you out? I'm sorry, but there is just something wrong with a man wearing foot-pajamas (if your man wears these, I'm not trying to offend you, but I'd rather not know about it).

Couldn't you just picture Mr. Happy wearing something like this?

Concert Time!

2007-12-10T12:07:00.001-08:00

Guess what time of year it is! Yes, it's the annual Christmas Cantata - good for you!

Christmas is such a wonderful time of the year...

Christmas is the season of good cheer...

So how do most normal people recovering from back injuries spend their spare time? I spend mine standing in a 30' Christmas tree made from scaffolding for an hour. I presume that's what you'd all do too. Tonight is our last performace - 7:00 pm, so if you live near my sleepy, little town, consider yourself invited.

Friday night was our taping for airing it over our local TV station during the Christmas season; Saturday night was our first performance and the music stopped halfway through the last song...so we kept singing acapella. It was quite nice. And then last night the same thing happened again; we're wondering what's going to happen tonight. And the sound personnel are at a loss as to why it is happening. But it's the last night and we get to pig-out on snacks and junk food afterwards so it's all good.

My back is holding up pretty well. My happy pills are making me happy. And what's really good is that I can blame a lousy solo and altered words on my sore back. It wasn't lousy, but my last note is a high A and it's supposed to be held out forever, and I just can't get enough breath to hold it out for very long at all. And it bothers me that I don't know what to do to hold that note out longer. And last night I had a frog in my throat and the note almost didn't come out, which made me nervous, so there goes my breath. I was doing fine in the car on the way to church, with the help of Tigger and Thumbelina (Thumbelina just screams and then laughs). Saturday night my mind was completely blank when it came to my words; I just basically repeat the same phrase over and over...troubing indeed. Zoomer noticed that I changed the words. So last night I wrote out the 4 main sentence beginning on the inside of my four fingers...I think I'll do it again tonight because it did seem to help. You are just so fascinate by all of this, aren't you.

One more night, one more night, one more night.

Last night I was even feeling ill. Nerves. Because after my solo, the illishness went away.

We had a fabulous weekend with Thumbelina's BFF and her parents. Such great people. Although our time together seemed to be over in the blink of an eye. And Thumbelina was absolutely giddy when she saw her friend. Giddy. I'm sure I have some great pictures, but they are still on my camera...which Mr. Happy took to church last night and forgot to bring home...

The nerves are kicking in a little early today, so I'm going to go make myself a relaxing tea.

If you're good, I might even post pictures of the tree for your viewing pleasure. Of course that won't be until my camera comes home and I download them off my card. You'll just have to be patient.

Did I Win???

2007-12-05T16:37:00.000-08:00

You know, the award for having the most boringest blog evah??? What did I have, all of two posts for the whole month of November? How pathetic is that!

So what has been happening here at the Funny Farm you ask? Well, I told you about my back injury in my last post and it has just been taking it's sweet old time to heal. I really mucked it up. X-rays showed nothing, so I am on anti-inflammatories and I'm still getting regular massages. Millie's masseuse (she told him about me) thinks that I have a bulge between two discs; there are specific exercises to help. Millie is pushing for an ultra-sound to look for muscle and tissue damage. The pain isn't there like it was (I couldn't even dress myself, people) but now if I sit for any length of time or stand for too long, I can feel my muscle tighten and twist into a burning spasm. Interestingly enough, shopping seems to be okay - it's the movement. Exercise is a good thing in any form.

So I'm back to doing almost all of my normal activities. I haven't really done any office work, and sadly, my assistant has not risen to the occasion and taken on any extra work off of my plate. My desk is depressingly full of papers and whatnot that needed to be looked after yesterday.

On the other hand, Thumbelina is quite enjoying all the extra time that I'm spending with her instead of at my desk. She can now jump - both feet off the floor, as well as do a forward somersault, and well as cross her arms over her chest and shout out 'Mine!' Thanks to Zoomer of course, who taught her to say mine. This evening, our most volatile child was having a tantrum and shouting and crying (his parents remained calm), Thumbelina ran up to him and started shouting "Bad!" at him. Holy cow was that ever funny! Here's this little squirt of a toddler yelling at her brother. Of course we laughed. Don't judge us - you would have too.

What else is there to tell you. Oh, yes, we bought a new Christmas tree - a pre-lit one. Since I'm always the one who deals with putting the lights on the tree, and since I like a tree with lots and lots of lights (100 lights for every foot of tree), and since my back is in no shape to be bending and twisting, we splurged and took the easy way out. It really is pretty. It is 7 1/2' with 800 lights. Love the lights.

This weekend is our annual Living Christmas Tree. If I didn't have a solo, I wouldn't be participating this year. As it is, I might even have to leave the tree after my solo (see paragraph 2 above). There is a back-up singer for my solo, but Husband told me I was singing my solo even if he had to wheel me in a wheelchair to church. We have friends coming on Saturday to watch and I'm nervous but also earily calm. I guess I'm just too excited about seeing them again (it's Thumbelina's BFF and her parents - yay!)

My computer stopped working a couple of weeks ago for some reason and since I'm not really back working yet, it hasn't been a priority it get it looked after. Although my assistant has asked me when I'll be getting it fixed...I think she's annoyed that I use hers to check my e-mail when she's not here. So I have like 100 pictures on my camera that I haven't downloaded yet, plus I really did take part in Shanny's Photo Bloggy Days...although that was when I was couch-ridden and all the pictures are of the different TV shows that I watched, plus what food I ate...the anticipation is too much for you, I can tell.

I've got my Christmas cards signed...actually I just typed a little greeting and printed it out on computer labels...cheating, I know...but if you'd like one from the Jaj's, let me know I'll send you one. It's a picture of the offspring - some are smiling, some not so much. But it's cute anyway.

My recliner is calling to me, and who am I to say no.

Be Careful What You Wish For

2007-11-17T11:05:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday of this past week, as I was doing the millionth load of laundry for the week, I found myself wishing that I could have just one day off to do nothing but lay on the couch. And then I thought, No, not one day - two days! Heh.

Wednesday morning, I bent down to pick up Thumbelina to stick her in the bathtub and threw my back out. And I've been couchridden ever since. Yes - this is day four of being able to do nothing but lay on the couch.

About 10 days ago or so, I had a fall. I didn't feel it was blogworthy - just stupid - so I didn't bother to tell you about it. We were on our way to church for the Anniversary meetings, it was dark and raining, the porch light was burnt out and I had just watched Tigger stumble on the bottom step. I was carrying Thumbelina and was soooo careful not to do the same thing, and I honestly thought we were at the bottom...except there really was one more step. So down I went right on my hip. I sat there for a few minutes and assessed everything - Thumbelina landed on top of me and was just mildly disgruntled - so the 3 of us proceeded on our way to church to meet up with the rest of the family that had already left.

So I was pretty bruised and sore, and then on Tuesday I decided to move a roll of carpet that's been sitting in our basement to make room for our new couch. That night I felt a twinge in my shoulders, but the next day I felt fine and had forgotten all about it...until I bent over to pick up Thumbelina to stick her in the tub. The pain sucked all my breath out and I could not move...so I hollered to my assisstant and asked her to put a diaper and some clothes on the nekkid little chicklet and I ever so slowly made my way to the phone to call anybody to come over to look after her. I finally got a hold of Muther, who was very sick with bronchitis, but she came over anyway (most likely because I was in tears) and stayed until Mr. Happy was able to come home from the barn.

Mr. Happy took me for a massage on Thursday and I am finding it easier to get up off of the couch (meaning I'm not crying out in pain...I can hold the cries in now). I have another appointment for a massage on Monday. Mr. Happy has been home for the last 3 days looking after me, and Millie, his Mom, has been looking after Thumbelina and the boys in the afternoons and evenings.

I have a tremendous amount of pressure in my lower back when I stand, and it is waaayyy to painful to sit upright. Today is the first day that I can sit in the new recliner instead of being flat on my back, so progress! Yay!

I'm worried about how I'm going to be able to get my Christmas shopping done...I don't see being able to walk around a mall for a few weeks...which is really cutting it close in my opinion...my priorities are in the right spot. There will always be laundry and cleaning to do, so I'm just going to my happy place instead of thinking about those chores. But the with the amount of television I've been subject to the last 4 days, and with all the Christmas commercials there are, I'm running out of time!

So. Just be careful what you wish for! I should have wished for a day off to go to the beach or a spa.

Pictures As Promised

2007-11-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

A little late, but here you go...

With our guide from China at a party our adoption agency had:
And this is us with her last March...see how much Thumbelina has grown?!
Thumbelina has a thing for balloons - similar to me and my post-it notes:
She was spinning around in circles with her balloon and bumping into peoples legs as they walked by:
So much cuteness - the juice boxes were a big hit:
Thumbelina and her BFF were giving each other "five":

We bought them matching dresses...Thumbelina is wearing a shirt underneath hers because we had just come from getting outdoor pictures taken and she had a wardrobe change in the truck...which was a tad chilly:
But they would only stay still for so long:
What a sweetheart:
Back home now - Where'd Thumbelina go? Peek-a-boo!
I just really liked this picture...it should go up before the peek-a-boo ones but I'm too lazy to move it:
These boys are always in my face:
Sometimes a girl just needs to eat with two spoons:
Sack of Potatoes for the Harvest Party:

Self-explanatory:
Admittedly, this year's Harvest Party was not my best work...but I just didn't have the time to put much effort into it. The boys were just happy that they got candy. Of course, it's all been confiscated now...but you weren't really expecting anything else, were you.

Hailey Update

2007-10-29T13:28:00.001-07:00

Thank you for your kind thoughts and words and for praying for Hailey and her family.

I talked with my sister-in-law after school today; Hailey had a blood transfusion yesterday and responded well to it. There are 2 acute types of leukemia (AML and ALL); Hailey has both but moreso the ALL, so they will be giving her the treatment for ALL, which is a 2 year treatment. She will be having a port put in tomorrow and at some point in the near future, they will be checking her bone marrow.

I asked Sylvie (my sister-in-law) how Brian & Becky knew that Hailey was sick, and she had asked them the same thing. Last Sunday, their sister visited with Brian & Becky and mentioned that Hailey looked pale...but she does have blonde & blue-eyed parents...and then the sister noticed a bruise on Haileys head and asked how she got it. Brian & Becky didn't know how she got it, and then that night there was a bruise on her bottom. They took her in to emerg...emerg tried to take blood but had trouble due to all the baby chub, but managed to get some through her jugular and said it was thick. They said that if she wasn't better by Friday, then she needed to see her Family Doctor. So on Friday, her family doctor sent her to the Children's Hospital for tests, and came in at 10:00 that night with a box of kleenex.

How your life can change in a matter of hours. But we know that God hears and answers prayer - just look at Tigger.

On the homefront, we had a busy weekend which was a lot of fun, so you can look forward to pictures tomorrow. Trust me, the pictures are cute. Cute cute cute.

Urgent Prayer Request

2007-10-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

I received an e-mail from my sister-in-law this morning, that her neice who is 7 months old, has just been diagnosed with accute leukemia. It is aggressive and is in her liver and spleen and the doctors will be doing more tests to determine the best way to treat her. At this time, she has been given a 50-50 chance. Please pray for Brian, Becky, and baby Hailey; I know they would appreciate it.

Baby Hailey is in a children's hospital in the same city where Tigger was born, so I know medically speaking, she is in very good hands. And I can relate somewhat to how Becky must be feeling, since Hailey is their 3rd child...when she is at the hospital with Hailey, she will have tremendous guilt for not being home with her other two children, and if she is home with her other two children, she will feel tremendous guilt for not being at the hospital with Hailey.

Thank you.

Angst and Oy

2007-10-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

It's school picture day. Need I say more?

You'd think having 3 boys in school, we wouldn't have angst and oy over picture day, but we surely did this morning. Zoomer is old enough to look after his own clothing, and he chose the silk shirt we bought in China. Pure silk. Made from the silk worm. For a teenager. I don't know what I was thinking at the time I bought it - it's a beautiful shirt - I must have been whacked out on something...too much pizza topped with corn and peas maybe...don't laugh, it actually tasted good. I'm not happy with his choice of t-shirts he chose to wear underneath his silk, but I didn't bother to mention it because it was just a battle I would not have won.

I asked Shaggy what he wanted to wear today - a suit. I said no. We agreed on a church shirt and tie. Yesterday I found some old ties of my Dad's in the basement - Recycle Matters stopped by and took away many many bags of clothing that we no longer need, so in the midst of packing up clothing to give away, I found the ties - and of course, smack-dab in the middle of the tie that Shaggy chose to wear today was a stain. So we went to tie #2. Same thing. And tie #3 as well. And he doesn't like the 4th tie, but it is free of stains so he's stuck with it. Apparently my Dad was not the neatest of eaters when wearing ties.

I asked Tigger what he wanted to wear today - his chicken costume for the Harvest Party. Need I bother to tell you what my answer was? He's stuck wearing what I gave him to wear. Except last night when I was doing laundry, there were no school pants to be found for him. In the clean laundry nor the dirty laundry. I finally did find a pair that worked. I think when I had him clean his room the other day, he must have just shoved all his clothes under his bed. And I did lift the blanket to look under his bed, but I didn't get on my hands and knees to make sure nothing was shoved way back there.

Thumbelina and I are going to go shopping today. We need to buy some props for Shaggy's Harvest Party costume - he's going to be a sack of potatoes. The theme this year is Farming/Harvest. Tigger is a chicken. Let me rephrase that - Tigger's costume is a chicken. Here, this will help:

Chicken Little?:

No, it's just a bogus chicken farmer:

My brothers are so embarrassing:

Liberace's got nuthin' on me:

Like my trippin' piggie tails?

I've Irritated My Son

2007-10-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

There's this card game that we used to play waaayyyy back when we were teens, and all I remember is mass chaos as people are trying to trade cards and yelling out 2 - 2 - 2 or 3 - 3 - 3 or how many cards they want to trade.

So Zoomer was telling me he was playing Dutch Blitz. And I asked him if that was the game where you yell out 2 - 2 - 2 to trade cards. And he said, No, you asked me that the last time I played Dutch Blitz. And I said, Well what's that game where you yell out 2 - 2 - 2? And he said, I don't know.

So he's continuing to tell me about the game and in the middle of his sentence, I said, Rook! Is it Rook where you shout out 2 - 2 - 2? And he said, I don't know. I've never played Rook.

And he's still trying to tell me about the game and again I interrupted him and said, Maybe we played it with Dutch Blitz cards. I just remember shouting out 2 - 2 - 2 and trying to trade.

He left the room.

Seriously - what game am I thinking of???

Friday Night Date Night

2007-10-20T05:36:00.000-07:00

You know the romance is gone when there's nothing left to do but spend your
date night at the Super Store.

That quote is from Mr. Happy. About our date last night.

Yesterday afternoon Mr. Happy told me that if I could find a babysitter, he could take me out to dinner. So I did and he did. Except he had to work late, so our date didn't actually start until 7:00 pm, when we dropped Zoomer off for his activity (he went through a corn maze with the kids from church). Since we are nearing the end of our fourth decade, we decided it was better to stay in town and dine at one of the fine establishments offered to us. Because we didn't want to stay out late and drive to another town. Because we are turning into old fogies. I told him no McDonald's, no Wendy's, no Arby's. That left little else. Seriously. We live in Small Town, No-where-ville, Great White North.

So out of the 3 restaurants left to choose from, we decided on the one at the mall. And I say mall very loosely. I just personally find it sad when the 2 main stores at the mall are Giant Tiger and Food Basics. With little else in between. I promise you, I could not make this up if I tried. But at least they have those handy-dandy You Are Here signs at each entrance...wouldn't want to get lost in the mall, you know.

After our meal, which was good - thank you for asking, we attempted to walk through the mall. And saw 3 of our employees. Talked to them for a few minutes and then decided to go to Zellers to buy Zoomer some new jeans.

Drove to Zellers - at the other end of town - took all of 3 minutes to do - and the parking lot was dark. At 8:00 on a Friday night. Very weird, especially since Friday night is a big shopping night here in No-where-ville. I think they must have had some sort of system malfunction or something. I asked Mr. Happy if I should go knock on the door to see if anybody could let us in...anyway, we decided to go to the Super Store, which was beside it. Because the Super Store is not just a grocery store. It is so much more.

We bought Tigger a chicken costume for the Harvest Party - this year's theme is farming/harvest and I just don't have the time or energy to be creative. So a chicken he will be. And we bought a case of halloween chips for the harvest party and a container of jujubes. That were old a chewy. And we forgot to buy milk, so somebody will have to go back today and get some milk.

And this is when Mr. Happy said that you know the romance is dead when you spend your date at the Super Store. Personally, I think the romance isn't dead, but rather that's how we know we are living in No-where-ville...when there's nothing left to do but go to the Super Store.

But our town is starting to grow. Wal Mart is being built, Home Depot is coming to town, as is Staples, and another restaurant. Apparently.

You are so jealous. I can tell.

TGIF

2007-10-19T05:24:00.001-07:00

It's been a very long week here in Jaj-ville. Each day I awoke thinking it was the next day; imagine my disappointement when I realized there were still 4 more days left of the week. Last night I did not sleep well. There was a smell keeping me awake, and I can't put my finger on what it was. Mr. Happy was slumbering blissfully. The smell was unpleasant, hence why I kept waking up smelling it...I was even beginning to wonder if a mouse had died somewhere in a wall. Despite the outdoor traps, the mice are finding their way back into the house; I haven't seen any evidence of them yet, but I have heard them running about.

This morning one of the child's woke up very grumpy. Extremely grumpy. Actually, I woke up grumpy when I should have let him sleep. Haha. Good one, Jaj! I feel bad for his teacher. He seems to be having a rough week and just loses it for no reason. Really, when your little brother leans against the wall and accidentally turns the light off, that isn't a good reason to scream. At least Thumbelina wakes up with a smile every day.

Thumbelina is enjoying her breakfast at the moment - mandarin oranges, grapes, toddler o's, cookie...actually the cookie made it's way to the floor. She's not a cookie person. Last week, when we were on our shopping expedition, she ate a goodly portion of her BFF's watermelon. I was finally able to procure some yesterday. It isn't as easy to find now that it's not in season. Mr. Happy bought the wrong kind of fruit last week because of the watermelon shortage - mixed fruit - with pineapple, peaches, pears...Miss Thumbelina was not at all happy with it and ate everything except the pineapple. Oh, and she likes bananas too. So why am I telling you all this? I really don't know. My brain seems to be all mushy due to the lack of sleep, and for some bizarro reason, I thought you might find it interesting. But I'm bored to tears so you must be too. And since I've already spent the last few minutes typing this out, it's staying.

Today I might start making the Christmas gifts for my nursery workers. Which means I get to do some scrapbooking! I am making a little booklet type thingy, that they can fill up with 10 pictures or so. That's the plan, anyway.

Thumbelina is finished with her breakie and needs me to clean her up now. Happy Friday.

This Is For You, Uncle Lewis

2007-10-16T16:10:00.000-07:00

So Tigger has a Music test tomorrow - Grade 3, and the new thing he's learned are slurs, ties and staccato.

Me: Tigger, notes that are joined in counting are called what?

Tigger: Ties!

Me: Good! And notes played smoothly together are called what?

Tigger: Slurs!

Me: And notes played like raindrops are called what?

Tigger: Tobacco!

Pictures!

2007-10-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

Since this was Thumbelina's first time tromping through the leaves, she wasn't too sure what to think about it all:

But the more noise they made, the more she liked it:
This is fun!
If I walk fast, I make even more noise!
I tried to bury her legs in the leaves, but she was a little hesitant about being up close and personal with it all:

This is my favourite picture...I think I'm going to frame it:
So much more to do:
Like sitting in the leaves over by the plants:
Oh look!
It's Lola:
Thumbelina was so cute:
She was chasing her shadow!
And it kept moving away from her:

Thanks for stopping by:

Fall Fun

2007-10-16T05:50:00.001-07:00

I took Thumbelina to our Pal's house yesterday to play in the leaves. Because the leaves at our house are still mostly green and on the trees. Alas, blogger is unable to upload pictures at this time, so you'll just have to take my word for it that Thumbelina had fun. At one point, she even looked up into the tree and signed more. How cute is that!

So this morning, one of the childs woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I don't know why he was so grumpy. And it wasn't even the teenager, so we can't blame raging hormones. At least he was spared the dreaded bed-head...one less thing to have to battle about...he really, really wanted to take his brother's basketball to school today. I told him he couldn't. Not until he starts doing better in spelling. Spelling is his worst subject, so he just gives up and doesn't even try. I want him to try. He's not too keen on the trying part. We'll see how his test goes today.

Mr. Happy has a supper meeting tonight in another city, so he has my truck, because he's taking some of the guys from the barn. He can fit more people in my truck than his truck, despite his truck being a four-door. Anyway, I keep looking outside and not seeing my truck, so then I start to think I'm not home...

Did I tell you that Thumbelina and her BFF had a play-date on Friday? At the Mall! There's no better place to meet up with friends! The girlies were so cute, being pushed through the mall in their strollers, side-by-side. Our adoption agency is having a party in a few weeks for the kidlets, and it was requested that they wear their Chinese outfits. H&M just happend to have little silk outfits, so we bought them matching dresses. AND our guide that we had in China will be there. So we're all pretty excited about seeing her again and showing off the girlies.

That's about all that's happening here. It's quiet at the moment, which means we should be in for a super-duper day. Hopefully blogger will get the picture problem fixed and I'll be able to post some later on.

Jokes, Jokes and More Jokes

2007-10-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Zoomer told me a blonde joke the other day:

How did the blonde die raking leaves? She fell out of the tree.

So I told him a blonde joke:

Three blondes are sitting in a bar chanting “51 days”. After a while the bartender says to them, “Ladies, for the past 3 hours you have been sitting here chanting 51 days. Why?” The blondes stop chanting and lookup. “Well,” says one of the blondes, “we just finished a puzzle.” “So, what does that have to do with anything?” the bartender asked. “Well the box says 3 to 5 years. We finished it in 51 days!”

Of course I changed 'the bar' to 'a restaurant'...you know...just in case he decides to tell that joke at church or something.

So now my boys are constantly bugging me to tell them blonde jokes, since I mentioned that I save all the ones that come my way.

Tonight the boys were telling jokes at bedtime tonight.

Shaggy's:

Hey Mom - What time is it if there's 5 bears chasing you? Five after one!

Tigger's:

Hey Mom - how is Winnie the Pooh like Smokey the Bear? They both like honey!

Shaggy's:

Hey Mom - There was this guy and he was riding a horse. They were riding along the road, and in the middle of the road was this dog. The dog said, "Hi." The man said, "I didn't know a dog could talk." And the horse said, "Neither did I!"

That Shaggy is quite risible, isn't he...despite being a bit maladroit at times. But then, aren't we all?

Carpe Diem

2007-10-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went back to the Fair. And we actually had a good time, despite the near triple digit temperatures and the crowds of people. I can honestly say that yesterday was the first time I've ever in my life come home from the County Fair with a suntan. We're usually wearing our long-johns and parkas. I kid you not. And the poeople! What's wrong with today's society when everybody goes to the Fair instead of staying home enjoying their turkey dinner?

So yes, we lived for the moment, enjoying the sun, the rides, the games, candy apples (only Tigger - Shaggy got himself grounded from anything remotely resembling candy) and pogo sticks. Life can't get much better than that. We even saw old friends that we haven't seen since I think our wedding. He was known as Pond Scum in high school. Terrible, isn't it? And to this day the nickname Pond Scum always comes to mind when I think of him.

One other thing before I let you get back to work - why do the gaming people at the fair insist on wearing freaky costumes? Seriously, my heart skips a beat when I see someone walking down the midway all decked out in black, with a black flowing cape and a ghoulish mask on. What are they trying to hide? Not to mention it scares the little kids as well. I guess mostly me, though, because my kids never mentioned anything about them.

Anyoo, enjoy your day!

Happy Turkey Day!

2007-10-08T06:32:00.001-07:00

Happy Turkey Day to all my fellow Canucks! Awesome weather, isn't it. I think we're going to be in for a shock when Fall actually arrives. Until then, my clan is content to wear t-shirts and shorts.

So last night we were at church. And as Shaggy and I were walking out of the auditorium, he decides to swing from the door post - there are 3 doors separating the auditorium from the foyer, with a post in between each door - the doors are all open before and after the service. As he did it, I thought to myself, At least he didn't do a cannonball when he got baptized...{a side note here - Shaggy & Tigger were baptized 2 weeks ago and we have it on film...it will make you laugh, but I don't know yet how to shorten it down from 5 minutes to 2-3 minutes...but it will make you laugh...not as much as the cannonball baptism, so maybe you'll just chuckle instead} so where were we. Oh yes, Shaggy swung from the door post from the inside of the auditorium to the foyer. And then as I'm walking, I heard this huge bang; it sounded like a bomb or a gun shot...but having never really heard a bomb or a gun shot in real life I couldn't be sure. So I looked across the foyer at the family with their 2 month old baby, hoping it wasn't the car seat that got dropped...so then I looked down at my flute that I was carrying, hoping that the case hadn't opened, spilling my flute everywhere...and then I looked behind me. And I saw the door post on the ground. And there's Shaggy standing there with a sheepish look on his face. Metal on ceramic tile makes a huge booming sound. Oy. At least at church, people have to be forgiving, right? You don't suppose they actually know that my child can be fiendish at times, do you?

Friday afternoon our social worker came for our 6 month post-placement visit. It's a requirement from China. I was very happy to show off Thumbelina, so I was looking forward to the visit. China also requires pictures to be sent, showing Thumbelina's life here in the Great White North and with her family, and of course I don't have a picture of the 6 of us together. We had our family portrait taken 3 weeks ago, but we don't have any pictures back from that yet. And we're getting more pictures taken the end of this month. My girlfriend had warned me about the pictures - her social worker was very fussy about which ones needed to be sent to China, and the ones that she thought should have been sent, didn't get chosen by the social worker. So I was nervous and had about 80 pictures ready for our social worker to go through...I didn't think 80 pictures was too bad out of the thousands that have been taken since March. Anyhoo, during the visit, as we're looking through pictures, Miss Thumbelina decided that right at that moment would be the perfect time to try to climb up onto the piano bench...the piano bench comes up to about her chest. She got her foot up there quite easily...and then fell smack onto her side...onto the hardwood floor...with our social worker watching. And I was trying to stop Thumbelina from climbing up onto it, but I wasn't fast enough. Oy. In front of the social worker.

So this past week was our local fair. It actually ends today. Yes, we will be spending our Thanksgiving at the Fair instead of with family. Remember last year when we boycotted the Fair and went to Florida instead? Well, we couldn't do that this year because Thumbelina isn't officially a Canuck yet. And we boycotted the Fair because it's too expensive...I know, I know, that doesn't even make sense to go to Florida because the Fair is expensive. Whatever. Anyhoo, we went to the Fair on Thursday after school, because Shaggy really wanted to see the Monster Trucks, and because the boys had Friday off of school, so it was okay to have a late night during the week. The school gives the kids the Friday off to go to the Fair so then everybody can have a 4-day-weekend for Turkey Day. So while the boys were watching the Monster trucks, Thumbelina and I walked through the buildings. A couple of times. And I've seen everything I need to see at the Fair and I'm all Fair'd out. But we still have to go this afternoon. And Mr. Happy is just thrilled beyond thrilled that we get to go back again, because he's such a people person. Yes, that was sarcasm.

Being that today is Turkey Day, I'd just like to share with you all that I'm Thankful that I wasn't alive during the 16th Century. Mr. Happy and I watched Elizabeth last night (stayed up waaaayyyy too late, too) and really enjoyed the movie. Mr. Happy said I wouldn't have done well living in the Medieval Time. I told him I'd have had to have been royalty to even just survive it. So I'm Thankful that I'm living in the 21st Century instead of the 16th.

Have yourself a wonderful day!

Shaggy on the Cannonball - I love the expression on his face:

Way up at the top ready to be dropped:

My beautiful girl:

Shaggy & Tigger on the kite thingy ride:

The Fair at night: