I feel like chocolate

It's a completely insane feeling when you have this intense desire for chocolatey anything and you don't have any in the house.

I feel like I could rip something apart. Like Hulk getting mad over looking for chocolate.

Tomorrow is the final day to pay for or buy a ticket to the Women's Journey of Faith in S'toon. At least thru Mom's Morning Out. I have mine, do you have yours? Tomorrow is also the third installment of Carolyn's Sexual Intimacy talk. Should be a gooder.

I just got back from getting my hair cut and styled. I got it straightened, it seems like a long time since it's been completely straight. Steve's reaction was "lets have sex" so I think he likes it and even Matthias noticed altho' his comment was alot tamer, "wow Mom, nice hair". I was glad to hear them both. Whenever we take the chance to change anything it's nice to know that it payed off, however small the payback. So thank you Renita!

Some photos

Here are some photos from the retreat we went to at Kingsfold.

This is the staircase leading up to one of the fasting cabins. I thought it was really cool 'cos it's made entirely of trees and rock.








This is the chapel. Alot of wood and stained glass. Simply beautiful.







The view from the greenhouse towards the mountains. You can see a little winding path that leads down to the river. A nice easy walk.







A rock statue that I made. I've always wanted to make one of these.






And Callah...

so much potential, so little time

I swear I meant to update this thing sooner. I really did. In fact I can remember having some really good stuff to say earlier on in the week (of course for the life of me I can't remember now). But let's see...Monday just slipped by, Tuesday I was unusually tired, Wednesday was jam packed, Thursday the Mother-in-law was here and now it's Friday. I finally finished the little bit of baking I wanted to do for the bake sale tomorrow (Gateway Covenant Church, corner of 15th and 15th E, 9:30-3 pm) even tho' they were supposed to be delivered to the church by tonite (it's almost 10:30 pm now). Yeah, not going to happen. So you can see, it's just been one of those weeks.

Now to progressively recap...

Monday I had my post-ultrasound doctors appointment. I've been feeling the baby kick quite a bit lately, which has been nice. Sometimes at night I still lay down tho' and the little bump that's 'im is lost in the "jello" that's my belly. So I'm glad I can feel some proof even tho' I can't really see much yet. You still can't feel the kicks on the outside. Steve and I have both tried. Can't wait for that as well. When it gets really bad and keeps me from sleeping I love cuddling up to Steve so he can get kicked in the back as well! :) Anyway, was surprised to find that the ultrasound dated me 2 weeks ahead of schedule, making the duedate around March 10th instead of the previous 24th. Exciting.
Matthias also started level 2 swim. Half his class didn't show up Monday so there were only 2 boys, and the other little boy was either frightened of Matthias or the water, so he didn't even go in. Leaving Matthias the whole 1/2 hour with just the instructor. Turned out pretty good 'cos he really got to work on putting his head in the water and blowing bubbles. I'm amazed at how well he's doing. All that practice in the tub really does work!

Tuesday was Mom's and I thought it went really well. Was disappointed there wasn't a big turnout, but I'm quite confident that the ones who showed up had a good time. It was fun to get up and move around instead of just sitting down in chairs or at a table. Also informative in learning easy, no equipment, exercises that you can do in your living room infront of the TV. My kind of stuff.
Then let's see, I came home, had a spazz attack and the rest of the day pretty much blew chunks.

Wednesday was my "soccer Mom" day. Prepared all the ingredients for a stew and threw it in the croc pot, took Matthias to story time at the library, then we went to my Grandma's (which will have to be a whole other post some other sad time) followed by a quick pb & jam lunch, naptime, took Matthias to swim lessons, stopped for slurpees on the way to the final Carlton and St. Mary football game, picked up Steve from said game, came home for stew (previously made earlier that day) went to bible study, came home to mother-in-law and sister-in-law, talked for a few hours then went to bed.

Thursday was the day. I suppose in hindsight it went fairly well. Steve and his Mom only got in one heated argument, and that was about music, which really, they should just agree to disagree instead of arguing about it almost every time we get together.

I don't actually feel like talking about it much more than that. Perhaps I'm turning over a new leaf.

That leads to today. Which has been pretty good. Callah and I took Matthias out this morning for a brisk bike ride. I'm amazed at how well he's doing. We should easily be able to take the training wheels off next year. Followed by a game of tag with Gus in the back yard. Lunch and the start of my bakesale baking. Matthias informed me that today was Callah's dinosaurs birthday, so I decided to make gummi worm chocolate cupcakes. *As a side note don't put the gummi's in until AFTER you bake them. Lesson learned the hard way.* The kids loved them. Matthias' swim lesson went well, if you forget the fact that Callah spilled her water twice on the bleachers. Then after the lesson she ran into the street while I was unlocking the door. Then while making a quick shopping stop for more icing sugar to ice their cupcakes, she stuck her tongue out and refused to listen while at the check outs. Maybe I'm just super strict, but she is not allowed to do that to her dad and me. On the upside we got home too late to make supper so Domino's was called and they delivered. I got to watch my Men in Trees, finish baking pumpkin cookies and read the kid's a book before Matthias threw up in his bed. Ahh... I should've guessed the nites not over yet.

Steve just got home and that's my cue to finish up. This wasn't nearly as exciting as it should've been on Monday, but it's my life.

Chow.

2 legs, 2 arms...

Well we had our first ultrasound the other day and it was great. I mean you never seem to tire of seeing this image of a little baby move and shake inside you and you can't feel a thing. It was great. It really was. There was a head, 2 arms and hands, 2 legs and feet and a beating heart. That's all that really matters isn't it? I loved it. Of course this woman is showing us all these cool picture possibilities and the one she settles on to copy and give us is this obscure circular grey thing in a pool of blackness (the head). Gee thanks. I guess for them it's just a job. Not nearly exciting as it was for us (or any other couple who come along). Sad, you'd think you'd go into a certain profession like that, and actually want to and enjoy doing it. Or maybe it was just a bad day. We all know there's been plenty of those going around lately (or is it just at my house?).

The boy has mastered his peeing technique. Once again we are pee puddle free now for 2 days! Yeah!!

The pants are getting tighter and tighter. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm glad. Once again reminding myself of how excited I am to have this baby. Even at night, after I've made my 5th bathroom break, I remind myself how much I wanted this one. Or as I'm tossing and turning trying to find a comfortable sleeping position when all I'm craving for is to lay on my belly Steve rolls over and reminds me how much we want another one.

Really, I do want this one and I am looking forward to it, even tho' another person told me today how much of a "joy" having 3 children can be.

Really, I swear I do.

ultra...

Mom's Morning Out this morning was pretty good. Putting aside all personal, toturous (is that even a word?) feelings, the video itself went well.

That's all I feel like saying about that.

In a few hours Steve and I go for our first ultrasound of Baby 3. I always get excited when this time rolls around. This time especially I'm completely stoked b'cos I get to see that there really is something living inside me and that it looks (somewhat) human. This whole pregnancy has been different than the previous 2. So much so that I don't even feel like I'm pregnant. Being almost 4 1/2 months now I'm still wearing normal clothes (and I've come to a decision that I must be "larger" than I really think I am to be buying "larger" clothes than perhaps I should be therefore allowing me to still be able to wear them when technically if I were skinnier I really don't think I would be able to...just my thinking) altho' I will wear maternity once in awhile for a change or I just feel bloated and gross.

Right, what was I talking about?

Yeah, I don't even feel pregnant. And I think that the more I hear about friends and other women having miscarriages the more that thought is nagging in the back of my mind. So I can't wait to get a large belly and I can't wait to start feeling movement and kicking. That way I'll be reminded that yes, there is a baby human in my stomache and I'll get excited all over again.

I honestly can't wait.

potty peeing 101

I'm beginning to think that they should make a class for kids on how to pee on the potty. I'm not talking about potty training either. I'm talking about how to sit, or hold 'wee willy' down or how to aim or something. Lately Matthias has been having all sorts of peeing accidents, and he's fully potty trained. It's just that (and I finally realized this today) amazingly enough when he sits on the potty to pee, he somehow manages to unconsciously aim 'willy' directly between the seat and the bowl and therefore allowing pee to be "spewed" all over the wall, tub and floor of the bathroom. Or the other problem is that when pully down his pants, he gets them caught in the same place (between seat and bowl) and pees all over them. There has to be an easier way. Is it easier to have him stand and take his chances aiming the silly thing into the bowl? Or do we just continue to let him "miss-aim" and hope he'll grow a bit to fix that problem? I don't know. All I know is that I'm sick of cleaning up pee every morning.

Onto cheerier news, Mom's tomorrow we're watching a video by Lisa Bevere called Beautiful. It was taped at a live conference somewhere. I was watching it again last night and making notes (I felt like I was in high school again. This is my first video I've had to do myself, so naturally I left it till the last moment to make notes and am now getting more and more nervous by the hour to see if I can actually pull of a video and discussion by myself) and Steve was in the bedroom reading when he called out "what kind of video are you watching??" Lisa can be (and her and I are on first name basis' here....ha ha) kinda ...I'll say loud. She's very "power to the women" and "freedom of women" in a Christian way. If you don't know her or what I mean, you'll just have to come tomorrow to find out. I like her, I like the way she's real and honest about her life.

And speaking of that I should really get my butt in gear and start typing up my notes. The kids are "sleeping" Callah is actually quite miffed that I just separated her and Matthias. How foolish was I to think that they would actually get any sleep in the same room? But it's quiet upstairs now, so there's hope, for a while.

gone, but slowly returning

I spent the past week at a pastor/spouse conference in Canmore, Alberta. Or I should say I spent the first 3 days there then travelled to Kingsfold Retreat Centre just outside Cochrane. If I could pick just one word, altho' most unlikely, to describe such a place it would definately be...well really beautiful is too "undescriptive" a word. It was an extraordinary place. I'll put pictures up sometime.

Not only was the scenery nice, the food that was served was amazing. The company was always entertaining and I had plenty of time to chill and relax (in other words sleep). I wasn't feeling the greatest in Canmore, but luckily that cleared up (except for this unending headache) in time for Kingsfold.

I'm also not the best traveller, so the 8 hours drives there and back were not my cup o' tea, but somehow it was worth it. It was also totally worth returning to find our little rugrats sleeping peacefully at their Grandma and Grandad's. Not so much worth it on the car ride back to PA, in freezing cold and rain, with so called "peacefull" rugrats matching screaming pitches at incredibly high octaves. But then again...

Anyway, it's good to be home.

overheard...

...while hiking up a small mountain in Canmore, Alberta.

"Ugh...I feel like I weigh 400 pounds!"
"Naw...you're more like 300."

Sexual Intimacy

The funny thing about sexual intimacy is that it doesn't necessarily have anything to do with sex. Something I keep wishing it did. And alot of it (info that is). At our committee meeting after Mom's today we said it would've been funny to ask all the Mom's to raise a hand and see just who was all there to learn about "better" sex. We were guessing over half. So we're realizing there is a want to know, and we are trying to find something suitable. So "hang" in there. It shouldn't be "long" now. And if you have any ideas, drop us a line and let us know. We'd love the input.

So this morning was the first of 6 (yes six, I suck as a co-ordinator) session on sexual intimacy with Carolyn. I thought it was pretty good (again, even tho' I knew what she was talking about I was still hoping for sex...info that is) and I did learn some new stuff. So that's always a bonus. If you weren't able to be there in person, you can still check out what she said and what we're doing at Mom's here. Okay the link isn't completely done yet, so keep checking in and it should be up and running soon.

One of the things she mentioned and hearing her speak before, I know she's a fan of, is journalling. Carolyn refers to it as "journey"ing, which I think is pretty cool. I've always dappled (I'll say that 'cos I've tried to many times in the past, only to loose interest after a few months and gradually write in my journal less and less frequently) in journalling and this past weekend my Mom brought me a journal I had had in 1990 that I had left behind when I got married and moved out. After reading it I can see why, I was such a geek.

Here are a few of my favourite excerpts:
APRIL 14, 1990 Dear Diary: Today Kris, Amy, Jenny, Karen, Megan and me went to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie. It was awesome, totally narly.

SEPTEMBER 10, 1990 Dear Diary: Today I met my first enemy...Tea* (name has been changed). She's a mean, mean, mean old booby!! I found MY ROCK!!! (now this "rock" is referred to a few times more and I have no idea what'soever what I was talking about)

I know not really exciting. There isn't even a mention of a boy anywhere in there. But there are a few moody, depressing, really low-self-esteem entries and it's interesting to see how that progressed as the years went by to the point somewhere in 1994 where I would sit in a dark room listening to early Tea Party cd's and hating life. Sometimes when I re-read my journals it's like a bolt to the system to wake up and never let myself get like that again and try to help other teen girls from hitting those same depths.

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see where Carolyn goes from here. And maybe, just maybe we'll learn something about sex too.

Crap Von Crappen

This past weekend, my hubby was away at a youth camp retreat (I'm going to go on a little rant here about "retreats". In my past retreat experiences, I can honestly say that I have only been on 1 actual retreat "retreat" where you can sleep if you want to and eat if you want to. There really wasn't much of a schedule to it. It was nice. You left the retreat actually feeling refreshed and not more tired and "snappy" than when you left. True not all retreats have psycho schedules attached with them, but most do. I mean honestly, think back to the past couple of retreats you've been on. I can remember some of mine with 7 am wake-ups and breakfast at 8 or 8:30 am. That's not a retreat! I don't like eating breakfast earlier than I do at home! Anyway, that's my retreat rant.) and like usual, he arrived home tired and a bit grumpy. Not to blame the kids or the actual retreat, but he was having trouble with the rental vehicle and had to drive the 6-7 hours home on only 6 hours or so of sleep the whole weekend. This is why I'm a firm believer in having a "driver" go along on youth trips simply b'cos the youth leader shouldn't have to do both, especially for longer trips. Anyway...
So he arrived home kinda pissy, making us kinda pissy, 'cos we were excited to see him. He stank of gasoline (rental problem) and "camp" and didn't want to "talk" about anything really. So...we left him.
After the kids went to bed, and to his benefit, he did get off the couch and read them a book, we watched the Lord of the Rings, Fellowship of the Ring, extended version Tape 2. I tried talking to him about Matthias' birthday party this weekend, but all he noticed was that I wasn't "moving my lips when I talk" which according to him (and him only 'cos no one else has ever mentioned it to me, so if you have noticed that I do this, please let me know) I do often and it ticks him off, so we began our "ticked off" time once again. He was mimicking me and I was fuming mad. To the point where he went to bed, I said something about wishing he had never come home, and he snored annoyingly loud once I did get to bed. Jerk. It was kinda funny tho'. At one point, I think it was between 3 and 4 (I didn't get much sleep last night) I noticed the huge gaping space between us. It was like he had his pillow on the nightstand, it was that far over and I was as much IN the wall as I could get. We could've easily fit both the kids in there with us.
So anyway, having little sleep really didn't get things off to a peachy start again this morning. Somehow during the past few hours we've managed to get on a civil level with each other. Despite having one vehicle break down on us in the Peavey Mart parking lot, having to call CAA and getting it towed back home, and the other vehicle in the shop right now getting the tires looked at and hopefully finding the source of a strange (but very loud) banging noise coming from the back end, without raking up too much of a cash total.
I had hoped to possibly go out for supper one night with just him, but I don't know if we'd be able to survive. Let alone the pastor/spouse retreat we're going on next week. Thankfully we'll be in a vehicle with another couple, so that should keep the shouting and name calling to a minimum.

Tomorrow at Mom's we start the sexual intimacy 8 (I'm pretty sure it's an 8 parter) session special with Carolyn Carlton. Should be interesting so I hope to see you there! This friday we're also having our first Mom's Nite Out. We're going for a walk out at the Lil' Red and then heading to Shananigans for dessert/coffee afterward. Meet at the Cosmo Lodge at 6 pm.

cold noses, peanuts and other stuff

It is completely freezing in my basement. The little kids Batman sleeping bag on the couch is looking really tempting right about now.

So this morning at Mom's we had a Life Coach some. She said she wouldn't really call herself a Life Planner, but more a coach. I'm not really sure what she meant, but I'm sure she knows more about the differences than I do. It would be interseting to hear what other Mom's thought about it (so if you read this, and you heard her speak, let me know what you thought!) I know a few who said that they liked the way she spoke. Really down to earth and lots of personal stories. Maybe that's why I wasn't really fond of her, I think she could've covered more in the time she had if she didn't go off a tangent with every point. But that's just me, and odd for me 'cos usually I love it when people tell personal stories. I guess I was just having a bad morning. My nose was cold.

Next week is our first of 6 sessions on Sexual Intimacy (or maybe 8, how bad is that? To be the program co-ordinator and have no idea how many sessions your doing...ugh). You won't want to miss it!

When we got home Matthias wanted to go for a bike ride. That was good. Get some more energy out of them. Then they wanted peanut butter and jam sandwiches for lunch. So I made them pb & jam. As I'm scooping up some peanut butter Matthias comes up and looks in the jar. "Peanut butter..." he says thoughtfully, "pea..nut butter."
"Yes, "I say. "peanut butter and jam." Totally not cluing in to his "point".
"Is there pee in there?"
"No, "I say, "just peanuts." Can you guess where this is going?
"Penis?"
"No. Pea-NUTS."
"Peanus?"
"Yeah, just nuts."
I hope we both forget this conversation and can move on with our lives.

Onto another topic I sponsor a child thru Compassion. I'm partial to them 'cos I've been on a mission trip with them, and I've seen firsthand what sponsorship can do in the lives of a child and their family. Anyways, once in awhile we get a little Compassion magazine with stories and testimonials of workers, sponsors, etc. Usually I just flip thru them, read the odd article and recycle. But today this one article caught my eye. It was titled "Compassion Works - In a country you've never known." The story is about the country of Burkina Faso in West Africa. It's just a small 3 page article, but enough to pull my heart strings. More children die there from Malaria (from infected mosquitoes) than HIV/AIDS and a mosquito net costs $3.30 or a vaccination costs a mere $0.25 and families can't afford that. Men usually have 2 or more wives with as many as 20 children to help work the fields. Or they sell them for money. A child can bring in as much as $50. For cultural and religious reasons, 3 year old females experience genital mutilation. "It is believed that a mutilated woman is not likely to seek relations outside of marriage." That's terrible! The article goes on to say that a woman will not be viewed as a "complete" woman without the procedure. That's sick! I just can't imagine a place.

I don't often push something, but I'm going to push this. For $35 a month you can get a child off the streets and into a Christian school with proper food and medication. Please check it out. You could save a child's life.

Men In Trees

There's this new show on TV that I find amusing. It's called Men In Trees and stars Anne Heche. I'm not a big fan of hers, but I gave it a shot last week and watched it again tonite. I find it funny. But I think I really enjoy it for all the bug, bushy, "wild" men in it. To briefly summarize Anne's character is a famous relationship coach/author however she failed to see her own fiance cheating on her. So she leaves for a speaking arrangement in Alaska and arrives in this town completely inhabited with men. There are 3 other women, but mainly the town is full of men. Wild, lumberjack type men. And so she decides to move on with her life and learn about herself and men (more so why they act the way they do) and stay in the little "man" village. It's actually filmed in Vancouver, so you could say you have to watch it to support our Canadian economy. Or you could just watch it for the men. The wild, scruffy, lumberjack type men. Anyway, Friday's ABC 7pm (check local listings).

Speaking of wild, scruffy men...I'd like to take this opportunity to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my hubby Steve. I never thought I'd love a hairy man, but he's definately made me fall in love with him.

Thinking

One of our youth, Cory, was rushed to the hospital Tuesday night with a collapsed lung. Steve told me later that he didn't even say good-bye to the kid fully expecting to see him the next day (he's still in I.C.U. and we're praying that he'll fully recover) . Of course we never thought this would happen. You never do. I think sometimes we take for granted the safety of ourselves and those we love, even tho' we never know what's going to happen. I always tell Steve that we can drive as safe as possible on the road, but all it takes is some idiot driver to hit you and it's over. I read somewhere once about this guy who refused to say "good-bye" to anyone, like it was a sort of final farewell. So instead he would say "see you later" or "so long for now". I thought that was pretty cool and for awhile took it up. I've also read that we should always say "i love you" to those we leave b'cos you just never know what might happen. On the flip side, it can get repetitive and be taken for slack, but how would you feel if you didn't and something happened?

I don't know. I hate to live my life always afraid of what might happen. I know I'm ready for it, whatever it is. But at the same time, I want to be able to see my children and their children and hopefully even their children. A good long life of happiness and laughter. I'm sure that's what everyone wants. We just don't all get it.

Or do we?

One down, 12 more to go

Today was the first Mom's Morning Out and I shouldn't really say that. It went well this morning despite some forgetfulness, nervousness and lack of preparedness (if that's even a word) and really it was all on my part. I was wondering why I wasn't that nervous last night. Well I know that I should've been a bit more organized, but mental note, get more organized for next week. And next week...Yikes...it's suppossed to be a life planner, but I've been trying to get ahold of her for a few days now, to make sure we're still good for next Tuesday and I haven't been able to get ahold of her. So hopefully, we get in contact soon and things are still a go for next week.

Callah is another story. Apparently she's up to her old tricks of crying like a madwoman when left alone. Good thing Steve was there for this morning. I don't know what I'll do if she does that again next week. I remember it took months for to get comfortable last year. She's so different from Matthias.

I love this time of year. I love the coolness in the air, the change of colours, the sound of leaves under your feet as you walk (either a "swish" as you sweep them aside or a "crunch/crackle" as you step on them), the fact that there are fewer and fewer bugs to annoy and bite you (altho' last night as I was painting our door, these pesky little flies kept biting my ankles!). I look forward to it every year. Steve always tells me to take advantage of these sunny days, 'cos come winter we'll be stuck inside, but I like winter too. So long as it doesn't get to far below 20 C the kids can still play outside for a bit, get some fresh air, so I'm not too worried yet, but I do try to take advantage of the weather we have, while we still have it.

Matthias will be starting swim lessons soon, and after reading a friends blog about their daughters first swim lesson, I'm not too sure. It will be a different pool tho' so here's hoping it'll be better first experience. He also can't wait for his birthday. Soon he'll be 4. I told him when he's 5 he can start school, so I think he has it in his mind that he'll just skip the age of 4 and go right to being 5. He's so looking forward to starting school, maybe just maybe he can start during the winter. I know he'd love it, but we all have our reasons for if he should go or not.

Callah is still Callah. Eating and getting into everything in sight. A few weeks ago she dropped a 5 lb weight on her toe. Something my kids seem to think is a type of initiation or something as they've both done it, however with Matthias it was a 10 lb-er. Anyway it's still quite swollen and purple, I'll give it a bit longer then maybe get it checked on.

And I've reached the 3 months milestone. Yeah...forgive my lack of exuberance, but I'm already sick of being pregnant and I'm just getting started. Steve is going crazy with everything he should be doing and stuff he wants to do. This time of year always brings about tonnes of furnace jobs and things that have to be done before the snow falls.

And so our life settles back into a routine, the routine of church, work, fun and bits of rest inbetween.

But I still look forward to it all!

NBC and Big Idea

During my afternoon rounds I came across this and wanted to get the word out. Saturday morning cartoons need a good pick me up. So check it out and look for it on Saturday!

not that I'm bragging....

but when I got ready for my shower yesterday after I whacked my back, I noticed something stuck to the inside of my shirt. It was skin from my back where the edges of the drawer had dug into my skin! Sick!!

and yet...kinda cool. Maybe I will take that picture for Steve.

bad day

well. This morning I woke up with a headache. I thought a quick run to the gym would help, but our van was making funny noises so I had to bike. Not that bad I guess. I cut the gym short 'cos I knew Steve had a lot of work to do. Well ok. So the morning wasn't that bad. Callah was super grumpy (looks like all those 6 am wake-up times are finally starting to get to her!) so she went back to bed at 10 am. Of course you probably know what that means. When it came time for her to nap after lunch she was wide awake. This annoyed me incredibly as I was hit with a VERY BAD nauseous feeling right after lunch. Having to clean Callah's poopy diaper (we use cloth and on this particular occasion the liner slid to the front leaving all her poop to squish into the back of the diaper...needing a whole lot of cleaning to get off!) didn't help the vomitous feeling, nor did having to wipe Matthias' bumb after he dropped a load. Finally I was able to lie down and rub my belly. That's when Callah's sleeplessness hit. So fine. I layed there trying to get her to sleep for awhile until I felt better. Finally feeling a bit better I got up to do dishes and some work on the computer. When I returned upstairs I found my lovely daughter playing in playdoh IN MY BED. She had emptied all but one of the 10 containers and was making "shapes" with them IN MY BED. I won't say what happened next. Steve came home shortly after and asked me where his jogging shorts were. I said I had no idea, but helped him look on the floor while he was looking in his dresser. Without thinking I started to get up, not finding his shorts and slammed right into the corner of his open drawers. Nice. I broke down and started to cry. I asked Steve if my back was bleeding, 'cos it sure bloody well hurts and the first thing he said when he saw it was "wow! That's nice! You got the two edges of the dresser cut into your back! Let me grab the camera and take a picture!" I said, "no thank you." (or something like that) and poured myself a drink (of Pepsi...I only wish I could add some rum).

So that's been my last 4 hours really. I hope the rest of the evening goes well. At least I get to go for a dinner meeting and get out for awhile. Excuse me while I go ice my "cool" back.

golf

What is it about golf that make men forget everything and enable them to spend hours walking (when "normal" walking isn't good enough) swinging a club and hitting a little ball as far as they can? I don't get it.

Back into the swing of things

Well our holidays are basically done. We spent last weekend gorging (I'll use that word altho' I'm sure I'm misspelling it) ourselves in Saskatoon once again at McGuire's Irish Pub before heading to Davidson to pick stuff up for my brother who was moving back home (to Regina). The next day we (and I mean Steve and Kris - my brother) moved a bunch of my sister's stuff to her new apartment. Sunday, Steve watched the Labour Day classic, while Amy (my sister) and I watched the timeless classic Clueless (which is based on the Jane Austen classic "Emma"). We fed the ducks and geese while continually avoiding the swarms of wasps (or hornets...I can't tell the difference) that have inhabited the area and made our "routine" trip to Starbucks for coffee and my favourite, a double chocolate chip frappuccino. (Ewww...I just googled it and the nutritional information came up. I won't tell you how much calories are in a grande. Just remember...they sure do taste good!!) Yum!

But as we started our journey (back in S'toon) I heard stories (from the in-law camp trip) that I hadn't heard previously and it got me thinking about how different siblings can be even tho' they were raised the same in the same household. What makes them so different? I've often wondered about that. Growing up I never wanted to drink to get drunk or try smoking or any other drug for that matter. It took me forever to get interested in boys, whereas my sister was interested in makeup and boys in her teens and now has quite a few "wasted" stories to share. I look at Steve and his brother Adam. Complete opposites in EVERY way. One chose the path of alcohol, drugs and sex, while the other had no interest and instead chose youth groups, church camps and friends. Yet they were raised in the same household, by the same mother. And now I see more of Steve's Dad in Adam, even tho' growing up Adam rarely had anything to do with his Dad. So is there something genetic to it? Do we pass on more than our looks to our children? Or is it purely chance and some kids "just get into the wrong crowd"? Sometimes that thought scares me. It's like, I can do all the teaching/preaching I can to my children and they can still choose to turn away from everything I taught them and hope for them. It's almost infuriating.

And so I pray for them, my kids, every night. Pray that God will keep them close and help us, as parents to do our best for them. That's really all we can do. And quite honestly that bugs me. I want to be able to do more.

Sigh.

Mom's Morning Out starts in one week. Did I mention that I'm excited about this fall session? I totally am. You can check out the line-up here. And I will see you at the Registration next week!!

The Lighter Side

Boys will be boys.

During a visit to the mental asylum, a visitor asked the director what the criterion was which defined whether or not a patient should be institutionalized.

"Well," said the director, "We fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub."

"Oh, I understand," said the visitor. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup."

"No" said the director, "A normal person would pull the plug ...Do you want a room with or without a view?"

For the record Callah has done this (to herself)...

and this....

and this.