Of course...

...things are never as bad as you might think they are, or they will be. As was the case with spending Christmas with the in-law family. I stressed and freaked the whole week prior, but it honestly wasn't that bad. I wish I had something juicy to report, like pie smashing in faces, gifts being torn to shreds, turkeys being ripped apart at the table with pieces flying all over the kitchen, but nothing like that happened. There was the usual bickering between couples (the kind where you never know if they're joking or seriously out to slit eachother's throats) and the annoying "is this it?" in regards to the amount of presents, but that was about it. Even one of the crazy uncles couldn't mess things up. It was actually nice.

And that was it. Callah went for a horseback ride. Matthias drove his first quad (look out world!!). The kids got towed behind a quad, that Steve was driving, in a sled which they completely loved. And I watched it all, just glad that I could be a part of it, altho' that quad was calling my name pretty loud, I thought I'd better not chance it.

We got back around 5:30 pm on Tuesday and hit Canadian Tire (which had some boxing day deals) where we surprisingly still got our "toys" we wanted, drove thru BK and came home to unpack the mounds of stuff and find homes for the stuff left behind.

Simple. Boring, yet good. Enjoyable.

I wonder what New Year's will bring?

12:58 am and counting...

I think tonite is going to be one of those nights. I can't sleep. Steve is snoring like a banshee and I've already been to the bathroom 3x. So after my last trip to the loo I thought I'd take this opportunity to write my 5 things. He's done it, he's done it and so have they. It's always nice to learn something new about someone so here are my 5 things you (probably) don't know about me.

1. I'm Metis. I only know this 'cos a year ago my cousin went for her Metis card using the same line on my father's side. I think it's like my great-(great?) grandfather married a young Metis woman.

2. When I was 15 I had a reaction to an immunization that caused temporary amnesia for about 24 hours over Christmas. I can remember not remembering. It was both frightening and kinda cool. For weeks afterward I thought I was psychic.

3. This ones kinda lame. I was a vegetarian for over a week the summer of '97. One of the reasons it never lasted was b'cos the smell of BBQ burgers in the air as I biked by was too overpowering. I'm a sucker for a good burger!

4. I also have a fetish for men in kilts and/or a man cycling with shaved legs and spandex. Whenever I see a guy in a kilt or cycling by my pulse quickens and I'm instantly interested in their whereabouts. I have numerous art renderings of Lance Armstrong, before he became famous (back in '94) tucked away in my closet. I knew Steve was the one for me when I asked if he'd shave his legs for the fun of it and he did. Well one of them anyway. There now you also know something new about him too!

5. I'm terrified of ticks, leeches and on occasion mosquitoes. I will go out of my way to stay out of their way. If there's a mosquito in the room, I can not rest until it's dead.

There. Now hopefully I can put my mind to rest and get some sleep. Good night and God speed.

Merry Christmas!

I'm slowly winding down. After spending nearly 30 mins. navigating the Wal-Mart parking lot today I'm glad Christmas is almost here.

So on behalf of my little rugrats, Steve and myself, we'd like to wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas filled with warmth and love and a safe and joyful New Year!

Merry Christmas!

'Happy' Holidays

It's funny how you always worry about something and usually, after the event, it was never as bad as you thought it would be. For a few weeks now I've been worrying about everything that had to be done this past weekend. Steve was coaching a hockey tournament, we had 3 Christmas parties, 2 birthday parties (one out of town) and only 1 vehicle. All in all, it turned out pretty good. We did almost everything, completely rushed in some cases, but everything was hit at one point or another.

Then last night Steve and I were talking about our weekend and somehow we both wound up feeling like crap. For a few weeks now Steve's been struggling with something. A combo of stress related stuff dealing with his Mom, work and home life. I'm sure I haven't exactly been helping him go through it. Something I know I need to work on.

And I've been struggling with baby weight. It doesn't help when all around you you here people complaining about their weight and how they want to be a 'certain weight' and you remember that you were that 'certain weight' back when you were in Grade 8. Now that's depressing. You go to a Christmas party, already feeling like a whale and it turns out that you indeed are the biggest (in all sense of the word: tallest, widest and heaviest) woman there. Yeah. Then you go for your monthly check-up and the doctor (who is a stand-in) tells you everything is going nicely including your weight which is "oooh a little too nicely" coming along. Gee thanks.

Bring on the holiday cheer.

And as we talked we thought about friendships and for numerous reasons that got us even more down. We thought about how pointless it is to buy "presents" this year when everyone we're buying for just wants either $$ or gift certificates. So really, you're just doing a big money exchange, why not just keep the money yourself and buy whatever it is that you wanted in the first place? It's so dumb and I'm so annoyed with it this year.

So now I'm completely depressed, tired, "fat", annoyed and unmotivated to do even the slightest thing like turn on the TV and lay on the couch and watch it.

Happy Holidays.

Somedays

I wish I could do this to my kids.

Reid Tree Hunt 2006

Today we went on our annual Christmas Tree Hunt. I can still remember our first hunt, just Steve and I and the 2 dogs. Then came Matthias (who slept thru it in the car) and the 2 dogs, and I think the next year we had Callah and we were trying to get rid of a dog. The following year we went with Steve's brother (that was fun!), wife and son and our 2 kids and 1 dog. Which brings us to this year. Usually we trudge around the forest FOREVER looking for the perfect tree. But this year, it was pretty quick. Matthias kinda wandered off the path, so Steve followed. They hollered that they had found a "specimen" so Callah and I went to videotape their findings. It was okay, but it seemed to quick a find. So we kept going a little bit and viola! There it was covered in snow surrounded by tens of large pines and angels were singing (well no, not really...I think it was Callah crying 'cos she was stuck in the snow up to her armpits). Steve the mighty bushwacker, cut it down in 2 strokes and we were done. I think the whole adventure took about 1 1/2 hrs (travel time included). We found our way back to the van to celebrate with cheezies and leftover deer guts for Gus (which she found on her own).

After stopping at Peavey Mart to pick up a tree bag, we headed home to start the decorating. This year Steve and I just kinda stood back and watched as the kids decorated. If you come to see our tree you'll notice there's a nice line of ornaments around the 2-3 ft level. It's really cute and special "in it's own way". I think we'll move some around a bit after they go to bed tonite.
Finally to finish our festive day we ordered pizza. Another Reid family tradition to go with the tree hunt.

And so that was our day. I know it will be remembered and bring warm fuzzies to our hearts in later months as we look back. For now, I'll take the sparkle in the kids' eyes as they look at their colourful tree and a smile comes to their faces. There is nothing greater.

oh yeah....and I wanted to mention this or rather ask for opinions. Heartburn. IT'S KILLING ME!! It burns like crazy and I get it 2 or 3x a day and if I have to deal with this for the next 3 months I'm going to rip my throat out of my...well...throat! Help?

interesting

I heard a new metaphor for labour tonite on Scrubs that I thought was interesting. Elliot tells Carla to think of her vagina as a big tube of toothpaste and she's trying to push out the minty gel from inside.

I never thought of that before.

why me?

This afternoon I thought it would be nice to go outside and let the kids play in the snow for awhile. Well, not 5 minutes after we got out there, I was throwing some stuff we had "dug up" in our basement into the shed when I heard glass crack under my feet.

You can guess what words creeped out of my mouth.

For some reason we had kept our old outer door out by the shed and the wind must've knocked it over onto the ground and covered it in snow, so that some schmuck (me in this case) would come along and step on the glass window sending shards of glass into the snow.

Perfect.

But wait, while cleaning the glass up, I gouged (and I don't say "gouged" lightly, there was quite a bit of blood streaming out and it's actually bruising now) a crevasse in my finger. Nice.

I think I got all the glass by shovelling almost all of the snow around that spot into the dumpster. What little shards there are left will have to wait till spring. Good thing it's not a favourite spot for the kids to play anyway.

back on track....hopefully

This past week has been a long one.

Monday and Tuesday were the usual, bible studies and Mom's Morning Out and then Steve's work at the church. So nothing really out of the ordinary.

Then came Wednesday. It was Matthias' last story time at the library and they were having a "party". Right after that we were loading the car and heading down to Regina for some time away at my folks. Well we arrived at the library and as I'm putting the quarter in the parking thingy, I hear Callah start screaming. I'm thinking she slipped on the snow, so I don't rush it, I look around the van and there she is...with her tongue and bottom lip COMPLETELY frozen to a metal parking post. I freak out. I drop all of my bags and run into the library, where they tell me they don't have any cups of any sort, I mean why would they? It is after all a library. So I soak some paper towel and run back out into the parking lot. The first thing I see is Matthias, who is now crying too. Then there's Callah again. Her lip/tongue came off easily once I put some water on it, but was sure a bloody mess. So I grabbed our bags, picked Callah up and called Matthias into the library, where the librarians had finally found something to put water in. They did let us use their "office" bathroom to clean up in and Matthias headed to his "party", a little traumatized, but otherwise good. Callah walked around for the next 1/2 hr with a wad of wet paper towel hanging out of her mouth. By the end of storytime she was back to herself and running all over the library (yes, my kids are the ones running wild all over the library). It swelled up pretty nice and the next day was kindof pussy and yellow, so I took her to a clinic in Regina where they gave me an ointment to put on. She's pretty much back to normal now.

That was the lip incident.

Regina was okay. Not the relaxing, peaceful time I was looking for. By the end of our 3 day stay I was ready to leave, which is odd for me usually. I've also been EXTREMELY emotional lately. Crying and freaking out numerous times the last few days.

Or perhaps it's just been the stressful situations I've put myself in. Like driving in near blizzard conditions twice, completely re-arranging our house while being 6+ months pregnant and dealing with 2 kids with colds while still peeing my pants every time I cough.

And all I can think about is how I'm gone doing something, somewhere every weekend 'till Christmas.

(I've now lost all train of thought and am going to just end this abruptly. sorry.)