Saturday, October 29, 2005

Paul's Pocket

I only have a minute in between patients again. The long and the short of it is, I still have no internet service, Paul had his pocket picked (we think) at the Ballet and all our credit cards have been cancelled so we have no account number for out internet service to bill for new service until we get new credit cards.

Chaos, I will share the whole story when I have more time.

The quote of the week is brought to you by Sebastian: "Mom, why do grown ups sleep naked?"

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Internet Connection-NOT!

I have had no internet connection at work and that is why there is a lack of blogging going on. I have been keeping lists of all that needs to be blogged. I promise I will get right on it as soon as Paul gets me up and running again.

Speaking of running I ran a person best last night on a 5K run...24:22. I was very happy with that, it takes a minute and 5 seconds of my last one. I am not even sore today, very unusual for such hard running.

I only have a few minutes to update you on what I can, I am at the office and I am blogging in between patients.

We went to a great party on Saturday night, it was at the Vikes house, it was a running party, complete with a car rally all over Kamloops. Don't worry the car rally (read scavenger hunt)was in the first hour of the party before anyone had a chance to drink. The party was in celebration of the people who ran the Kelowna and Victoria half and full marathons a few weeks ago.

Let me tell you runner's apparently are good drinkers. There was drunkeness at the party that would have done a sailor proud. It is funny to see a group of people you only see at 6:00 am, when they just roll out of bed and put on their running gear all cleaned up for party. It is a great group of people and they clean up nicely. Paul had a wonderful time meeting all the people I run with and being my designated driver.

There was some bad news. Some idiot hit the van while we were having a wonderful time. I was parked on a street between two driveways and someone (not a party goer, but a resident in the neighbor the party was in) pulled out of their driveway and scraped up the front of the van, ripped off my license plate and scratched the front bumper. Whoever did it, did not leave a note or anything. Paul went by the next morning and there is broken glass on the street, whoever did it did far more damage to their car than to the van. I think it is awful that they did not take any responsibility for what they did. I will post a photo for you when I (read Paul) gets the internet up and running at the house.

I am sorry for the hasty un-edited blogging, I have a patient waiting and I have to go!

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Running

I am trying to pick some dates to come to California with kids. Paul will stay home to work, and I promise I will leave him a very long honey do list to keep him out of trouble. I was thinking of arriving in CA on Saturday April 29th and coming home on May 6th or 7th. How does that sound to everyone? If those dates are good then I will call the travel agent and have the dates on the tickets changed. I am feeling a little homesick and getting those tickets straightened out will help me to feel better.

I have been feeling a little down for the past few months. I need to pull up my boot straps and do something about it. Here is my plan: (nothing like a plan to make you feel better)

1. More exercise: I have only been running 2-3 times a week and I think I will feel better if I can find the energy to get running 4-5 times a week. I always feel better when I exercise.

2. Better diet: I eat pretty good, but I do go on sugar kicks every once in a while. I feel tired if I eat to much sugar. I don't have much appetite so I will try to pay better attention to the food I am putting in my body.

3. Attitude: I am striving to have a good attitude, I think if you act like you are feeling wonderful you eventually begin to believe it and then the next thing you know you are feeling wonderful.

4. (Don't laugh at number 4) More sex: Did you all just hear Paul whoop for joy? No? That is because he does not read my blog. Sex just makes you feel better, releases endorphins and all that good stuff.

5. I am out of ideas...Do you have any suggestions? What makes you feel better when are feeling down?

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Quotes and Dates and Bears, Oh My!

Today's Quote is brought to you by Paul, I think it went something like this (he may kill me for this one)

"Sebastian keep your floaties on the top of the toy box, I don't think the neighbors will appreciate seeing me bent over your toy box digging around for your floaties with my bare bum hanging out." Said in preparation for a trip to the hot tub with the kids.

Dates: Stupid tickets.

It sounds like we can not change the destination of tickets in question. I was thinking I would come with the kids in May or in July. Does anyone have any special requests. Please let me know in today's comments so I can pay the big bucks and have this whole thing settled.

Bears:
The bears are trying to fatten up for the winter here in the Loops. This time of year we are careful to keep our garbage in the garage and all the stinky stuff locked up safely. Last Friday one of our neighbors must of left their garbage out.

Paul and I were out on a date and about 8:30 in the evening my cell phone rings. It is the babysitter. I can hear the kids crying in the background. I ask her what is going on, she calmly states: "There is a bear on your front lawn rolling in someone's garbage, and he is very big." A little stunned, I reply with "Are the doors locked?" (Because we all know bears can open doors, right?) She said, "Yes, I already went down and locked the front door." She was cool as a cucumber. I asked if I could talk to Sebastian, (I can hear him freaking out in the background). Sebastian gets on the phone and tells me about the bear.

I told Sebastian I wish I was there to watch the bear with him and that he should just sit in the upstairs window and watch. He calms down and I tell him that there is nothing to be afraid of the bear can't come in the locked house and he is safe. I ask him if wants me to come home. He said he would be all right.

From what I understand not long after I got off the phone with the kids a car drove by and honked it's horn at the bear at the bear chasing it off. I am not surprised by the bear, we have seen them in the neighborhood before. I was surprised that he was out at 8:30 in the evening, when people are still out and about walking their dogs, going to get their mail and that sort of thing. I would not want to walk up and see bear like that.

The bears seem more aggressive this year. I have heard several stories about bear attacks, not in Kamloops but in other areas. I have been a little nervous about my early morning running. I have not been in the trails in about 3 weeks and I am sticking to the roads, or sleeping in until 7:30 and skipping my morning run. When it gets a little colder all the bears will go to bed and I can breathe a little easier on my morning runs. I am sure I am safe, but they do make nervous.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Lackadaisical


lackadaisical, that is how I am feeling today, it also happens to be the word of the day on my favorite dictionary web site. How fitting.

This wonderful rainbow was hanging out across the street this afternoon. There were two of them, one sitting on top of the other and we could see both rainbows from end to end. They were bright and beautiful in an otherwise grey weather day.

The rest of the photos I am posting today are of the field trip the kids took on Wednesday. We took them to Thistle farms, it is a local organic farm. The kids had a great time but I can't say as they learned much. The people running the place did not really know how to talk to kids and they did not even tell the kids that the farm was organic, let alone teach them what organic means. The teachers hopefully did that before the field trip.

This photo is of Debbles enjoying the farm, she on the phone more often than not. She runs her own business and much of it is done over the phone.


Here are the kids enjoying a fire they had going. It was a fun day, nice Fall weather not to cold but fresh and crisp out. No rain. Notice PJ's hat? That is the one I finished for her sometime last week. I love it and so does she.



This next one is of PJ helping Quentin husk his corn so he can eat it.



I love this one of the tree, welcome to fall in Kamloops.



tramping through the corn fields, that is Sebastian leading the pack and eating corn.



Quentin giving us his best snarl smile.



And one more of a scarecrow and some pumpkins. You can see how much fun we all had. The kids picked out their pumpkins for Halloween while we were there. You can see that we all had a wonderful time. They had hot coffee for the moms and dads and snacks and apple juice for the kids, it was a wonderful way to spend a fall morning.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Quote of the Week

This weeks quote is brought to you a day late because I was I was sucked into a good book yesterday and I just could not put it down and make it to the computer. I know you all understand.

This weeks quote is brought to you by PJ:

"Mom, girls are better than boys, aren't they?"

I thought of so many answers for her:

"PJ, it is so astute of you to realize this so early in life."
"Of course they are!"
"Do you really need to ask?"
"Duh"

But of course I said none of those things, or the 10 others that came to mind. I told her, "No honey, girls are not any better than boys nor are boys better than girls, we are just different."


APL: Turkey is the main course for a traditional Canadian Thanksgiving, but then it's served with things like cabbage rolls, brussel sprouts are a very common side dish as well, these two are not 'traditional' dishes to me, but seem to be around here.

Mom, what a great idea, I think it would be great if you could come and join us in Las Vegas like Judy and George made the trip to your house last year. I am not sure if we are able to change the tickets yet, Paul is still looking into that. Maybe Dad would be interested in coming too.

Friday, October 07, 2005

Insanity



The picture is a little washed out, I took it last night and lighting was poor, but I think you get the idea. I am insane, this needs to be a baby blanket by February.

I finished PJ's hat and my sweater still needs to be seamed. I will get there.

We are heading out of town this weekend. Off to Kewlona for Thanksgiving weekend. Thanksgiving is on Monday and in October. This is one thing I can't get used to in Canada, it was to early.

We are going to go visit with Paul's family and I may run a race while we are there. I have not decided yet. I hope to blog from there for you but if I don't get to chance over the next few days then you know where I am. I am eating turkey and playing with the kids, and knitting.

I am going to bring a couple of small projects to work on, the baby blanket is not very travel friendly so I will bring Sebastian's hat and a little something else to keep me busy.

Speaking of traveling, Paul has come up with a way to deal with those pesky tickets, but we are still not sure what to do yet. He has suggested that we change the tickets to Christmas and move the destination to Las Vegas and we go and spend Christmas there. We spent last Christmas in California and I think it would fair to spend one in Vegas too. His sister Jodie might go to Vegas for Christmas and it has been well over a year, closer to two since we have seen Jodie.

I told Paul this would be okay with me under the condition that we plan something cool with my family this summer. What I would like to do is rent a cabin on a lake somewhere on Oregon and everyone can meet us there. I have been doing a little research, check out this web site www.culuslakeresort.com (Mom please note that owners are Harley people). I am thinking that we could pick the dates fairly soon and book the trip. Mom and Darryl could ride the bike up and Shannon, Will and the kids drive. I think it would great fun. Paul is really excited about the idea and so am I. Let me know what you all think, APL you of course will join us if we get this thing together?

I think we should invite the George, Judy and Jodie to Oregon and we should be sure to extend the invite to Diana and Roy, Dad and Corinne and anyone else you think would like to join us. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time. If we love it we could make it an annual summer trip.

Paul is being quite the planner these days (be forewarned) he is also thinking that we could all vacation together in Disneyland in 2007, we are thinking October when it is a little slower there but still warm. I will start feeding the children growth hormone now, so they will be tall enough for all the rides.

What do you all think?

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Knitting Time!

Every once in a while I like to surprise you all with a knitting post on this knitting blog.

PJ's hat is two rows from being done, I just picked up the stitches for the trim and now I have to knit two rows and bind off. I will post of photo of it on PJ when I am done. Shannon this is the same hat you knit for Taylor, in the same colors. PJ picked the pink, is it genetic?

My sweater is all done but the seaming. It blocked out beautifully, even after being walked on by Quentin and rolled over by toy trucks. I will seam it when I need a break from the Baby Blanket I am working on.

I need lots of breaks from the baby blanket, it is color work and takes a bit of brain power. I have to pay attention to what I am doing. Bleh, I need some mindless knitting.

I have not taken any knitting pictures lately but I will see if I can find something for you to look at, I don't want to bore with just words.



Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Quote of the Week

This week's quote is brought to you by Sebastian. Let me take a moment to set this up for you.

It has been raining for the past few days here in Kamloops. This morning dawned bright and cold and beautiful with the sun shining down on the Loops, it is crisp and clean and lovely out today.

After picking the kids up a school I did what any mother would do, I kicked them all out to the backyard and told them they could not come in until lunch was ready. There was much whining and complaining, but I explained to them in no uncertain terms that there would be soon be snow outside and they needed to go out and get some fresh air before winter gets here and it is to cold. They grudgingly went out.

I watched them playing in the rock pit while I did the dishes and got ready to make lunch. I see Sebastian and Layne playing swords with the umbrellas. I put a stop to this before someone loses and eye or breaks an umbrella. More whining and complaining from Sebastian and Layne. But they did give me the umbrellas.

Then Sebastian strikes gold, "Hey Layne, we could this as a weapon!" The excitement in his voice enough to arouse any mom's suspicion. I look outside just in time to see Sebastian waving a rusty child's snow shovel in the air.

I did what any mother would do, I went calmly outside and said, "Hey what a great idea Sebastian, who wants to go to the hospital for stitches and a tetanus shot?" (for the record Quentin was the only one who raised his hand to volunteer for the job) the other kids laughed and put the shovel away where it belongs.

Note to self: See if I can find plastic snow shovels for the children this year.

Monday, October 03, 2005

Say Cheese!

Today was picture day. I should know better by now, I should know how to handle picture day. This is Sebastian's third picture day and PJ's second. I should have learned something along the way.

Sebastian is not a problem for picture day. I asked him if he knew what to wear, he said, "Yes mom." I said, "What have you picked out?" He said, "Jeans and a t-shirt and a shirt that buttons." I said, "Perfect Sebastian, will you go get yourself dressed?" And he did, all was right with the world.

Then PJ finished breakfast. I have been preparing PJ for picture day for a week now. I thought we had it under control. I was wrong.

We have been practicing. I have been putting PJ up on a stool and having her smile for the stranger behind the camera. We have talked about what she would like to wear for her pictures. I thought we had it all together.

Last year she was so shy for her pictures she would not even look at the photographer. She made sour faces and hid her face in her shoulder. She had to have re-takes because the first ones were pictures of the side of her head, her face buried in her hair and shoulder. I had to go with her and hold her hand for re-takes.

This year she even had her wardrobe all picked out. PJ likes to wear what she wants when she wants. I normally respect this. She is a princess with a splash of diva thrown in for good measure. She insists on wearing a dress everyday, and "pretty shoes to match" Never mind that it is -10C and the matching shoes are pink flip-flops, she can be convinced to wear a pair of green socks with them, but not to wear "sensible shoes" She rarely matches, but she is always happy and that is what counts.

Today she first picked out a dress that had stains on the front of it. It is one of her favorites, that's why it is stained. When I told her we should wash it first she willingly picked another dress. Her second choice was a lovely (read ratty) spaghetti strap little number, washed a hundred times with the flowers printed on the cotton so worn you can't even tell what they are. A dress I have tried to get rid of, but I just can't because PJ "loves it and wants to keep it forever and ever." Great for wearing around the house, for going bike riding in, but not for school pictures.

This veto, of the second dress, does PJ in. She is crying her eyes out, screaming and just generally being difficult. To the point that I send Paul to school with Sebastian for picture day and figure I will I drop PJ off in a bit when she has cooled off.

Finally bribed by a ride in the mini and told that she would be wearing a "beautiful princess dress just like Laynes." I sent PJ to school in her Sleeping Beauty dress up dress with her crown and magic wand, in the mini (thank you Debbles) This by the way was the original plan, the dress I had been preparing her to wear all week. The dress we had agreed on for quite sometime.

I know where I went wrong. Next year I will wait until the night before photos, and after PJ has fallen asleep I will go into her closet and remove all the play dresses and leave her with only the good dresses hanging in the closet. Then she wont have any paint covered, chocolate dipped dresses to choose from.

For the record she did sit on the stool and smile at the photographer. So I did get something right. I do respect that the girl knows her mind and what she wants, she is miles ahead of many I know and she is only 3. I don't know how she go t so stubborn.

Stuff I did not want to forget:

APL- PJ has decided she would like to starting growing her hair out around Christmas time, and tells me it will take "a very very very very very very very very long time" The girl is wise beyond her years.

Word Up- I really don't want to apply work verification on my blog. I think it is a pain in the bootie, it may be that it is a necessary evil. I am still debating.

I think I am going to have to eat $800.00 on those stupid tickets. As long as I am spending the $$ I can choose anytime I want to go. I was wondering if you all thought I should come in May or if I should wait until the kids are out of school for the summer. I could not decide and I am open to any help from your end.