Ah, contentment :)

Hello all! My tummy is full of baked potato skins and salad. I chased it with a hot chocolate on this -20C day. Life is good now :) .

Jake wore his tuxedo shirt to school today, I have to remember to take a picture. There are freezer-stencilling tutes all over the web so I'm not about to do another one. Google it or head to YouTube. It was really fun to do and I can see more in my future. Not that I have much time to craft...I need to make time, don't I?

My Christmas houses are up! No tree yet, that will come in the next couple of weeks. I love putting it up with the kids, and the kids getting all excited about Christmas...and then 2 weeks later I want to tear the whole mess down and get my living room back.

Scott was able to come home on Saturday night instead of the following Tuesday, so we were very happy. We snuggled him all evening long, and then the next morning we took him to McDonald's for breakfast. There were some girls there that wouldn't let Sam play with them, in fact they said "You can't play with us!!" and ran away. I don't think she really realized what was happening (she's too young) but man, was Jacob mad. Such a protective big brother.

I made a duvet for Jacob's bed yesterday, to hold his Spiderman quilt and the ratty corduroy sleeping bag that he's been sleeping under. It looks like hell, but my mom made it 30 years ago and it's the warmest blanket you ever met. So now Jake has a grey and black camouflage duvet to hold it all and it's super cozy :) . Next are some curtains for his room and I'm not sure what I want to do. Maybe this:

...but the grommets are stupid expensive and I can't find the flat sheet I bought months ago to make curtains with. Drat. Maybe I have to go back to Marshall's to buy some more camouflage fabric? Possibly...

Anyway, Scott should be home any minute so I should skedaddle. As soon as he comes home I'll serve him (ha, I mistakenly typed 'service him' just now) supper and then go for a run on the treadmill. Sam is yelling, "I want that!" to every fartin' thing on the tv lately, it's getting sort of old. It's only another month until Christmas, and then there won't be so many stupid toy commercials, right?

Later.

A craptacular day!

Shall I itemize, just to keep my bitching neat and tidy? Shall do.

• worked today. I don't normally work during the week but someone needed the day off...and what the heck, why not? Took me 50 minutes to drive what usually takes me 15 minutes. It snowed last night and the roads are CRAAAAP.




• Drug seekers galore in our downtown office today. T4s, percocet, oxycontin, you name it! They're not shy about asking and they don't take no for an answer. Even though the dr has explained to them many times that they will not refill their prescriptions anymore...day after day, it's the same thing.




• One of these drug seekers stole another patient's boots. It's snowing and mucky, so we ask the patients to remove their boots at the door...no way would I leave my $250 Uggs sitting in a doorway of a downtown clinic, but some people are trusting I guess. That patient had to go home in Dollarama flip-flops from our slipper box while the drug seeker went home in $250 Uggs. The doctor had me call the pharmacy to block her antibiotic prescription until she returned the boots, but it was too late. Man, I'd be pissed if I was that patient!




• Scott is stuck in Medicine Hat because (a) the highway is in super-crappy driving condition and (b) the ass-hats at the Chevy dealership have not fixed the truck, and he brought it to them on Tuesday because something in the transmission is messed up. They didn't even look at it until today, knowing full well that he had to leave to go home tomorrow. Now they won't have the part to fix it until Monday. Oh, did I mention that Scott has been gone for nearly a week on business? Yeah. Sucks.
  I miss my guy :( .




• The brightest part of my day: getting to my mom's to pick up Sam and her running to me...throwing her arms around my neck and saying, "Let's go home now!". I'm so grateful that I don't have to work every day...man, so grateful indeed.

Well, I'm going to bed now. Pizza day at school tomorrow, selling lollipops after school...compiling sausage orders over the weekend. Oh, I started Jake's freezer-paper-stencil shirt, wanna see?

...took more paint than I thought, but it will look good once the red bow tie and buttons go on. It's a tuxedo shirt (remember those?) but with a modern edge. Fancy.

Later, taters.

Pics.

Scott, wearing Sam's sock monkey hat from a previous year's costume. Darnit, I hope I didn't misplace that costume...it took me forever to put together!

Sammy Sunshine as a pink princess for Halloween, made from a Disney Cinderella pattern. I hate those stupid Big 3 patterns, they never fit right. Honestly, I had to cut about 6 inches off the bottom...what a waste.

Jake's 9th birthday cake. He told me how to put the icing on, what colours to use, etc., and then he added the army men. I think he did a pretty good job :) .

I haven't added pictures in a while...quite honestly, Facebook is so much easier. But I like the record that this blog gives me. Whatevs.

I think we are stuck at home today. I wish a certain someone would call and invite us out, but I doubt that's going to happen...and I'm tired of inviting myself. So today's activities consist of laundry, floors, and maybe a trip to the library. I really need to book myself a night off to work on those freezer-paper stencils but even then...not something I can work on in the bedroom or the basement so I'm not sure that will ever happen. God I'm negative today lol!

Tuesday.

It's so beautiful outside...I can hardly believe it's November! It's 10C right now. Sam and I are definitely going for a long walk this afternoon before we pick up Jake, then we'll play at the playground.

I'm listening to an electronic hamster (Zhu Zhu Pet?) making the weirdest noises at my feet. It crows like a rooster lol. Sam has a brown one, and Jake has 2: a black/blue one and a white/black one. You can get body armor for the boy's ones...darnit, I can't remember what they call them. It's different from the girl ones. Whatever, doesn't matter and now I'm babbling.

Tonight we are going to a meeting at the school because Kylie has signed up to be part of an exchange program to Quebec. She will go for a week in February and a child will come and stay with us in May. That could be sort of cool...although I'm not sure how I feel about Kylie being so far away from me :( . But I won't let on...if she feels mature enough to do this then I will do everything in my power to help her get there. There's some fundraising to do, and probably a butt load of paperwork. I guess we'll see tonight.

Stupid phone is ringing, and I'm not going to answer it.

Got my hair cut this morning, and I think she cut it shorter than she ever has before. I needed a new cut, but I'm not sure that I like it so far...I guess I need to wash it and junk before I make up my mind. Not like she can put the hair back on, right?

Alright, off to put groceries away and organize the pantry a bit. I'm hoping to do some freezer-paper stenciling today. Really need to do a good workout tonight, I'm starting to get lazy on that.

Later, taters.

Ha.

That moustache on a stick on this new background makes me laugh lol.

So today we were stuck at home all day, which sucks, as I just discovered that there is a second-hand clothing store around that is selling everything at $1...and I need to make some leg warmers for Kylie's Halloween costume so I need a cruddy sweater to cut up. Besides, if I stay home then it is generally expected that I should clean something. Frowny face.

It's not that cold today and thank goodness, because the sensor in our furnace crapped out on us. Sam and I waited all day for the repairman to get here. He was super nice, though, and gave me some hints over the phone to squeeze some heat out of that thing while we were waiting. I'm also thankful that we have that little electric fireplace in the living room, because it kept us warm today. And then the repairman came and charged me $100 for the 5 minutes it took him to install an $18 part. Oh well.

My library hold of Mad Men Season 1 finally came in, so Scott and I have been watching that after the kids go to bed. I love that Don Draper can say things like:
"I won't be talked to like that by a woman" to one of his agency's biggest clients and "wouldn't you be happier as a wife and mother?" to the same woman...and not at all in a snarky way, he was honestly curious as to why this woman wasn't married lol. I laughed out loud when he said that. And oh my God, everyone has a cigarette hanging out of their mouth!! In every scene!!

I swear that for next Halloween I am going to make a 1950's housewife day dress, and walk around with bright red lipstick and a mop in my hand. I swear. I've been coveting this dress all week:

...which is absolutely gorgeous, and completely pointless for me all rolled into one. I would have no place to wear it, and since I feel like a clown when I wear a dress it would be a giant waste of money. But isn't it gorgeous?? I think Rowena is my favourite store. I haven't been there yet, mind you...one day.

Kylie should be home soon, and I'm going to get her to watch Sam while I run to that thrift store. I can't believe the mess that Sam has made in the time that it took me to make this post, little bugger.

Later, taters :) .

Friday.

I know, I've been neglecting my blog. Too many projects on the go, and not enough hours in a day. My mom says I should try to get by on less sleep...and then she laughs. Nice lol.

So what's been happening??

Pirate Party at Auntie's house. Awesome, so much fun. Some day I'll post pictures.

Santa's Anonymous Toy Run. Again, awesome. Love seeing all those burly bikers riding into the Wal Mart parking lot early on a chilly Sunday morning, with dollies and Lego strapped to the back of their bikes. A lot of people donate money, which is cool, too. Pictures someday (possibly).

I hate Jacob's teacher. I know hate is a strong word, and I'm really trying to convince Jacob that she's nice and he should give her a chance...but in my head I think she's a bitch who should go back to teaching junior high. Maybe yelling at little kids, and belittling them works in junior high. In elementary it just makes little kids hate going to school. You can give me that junk about how 'teaching is hard' and 'maybe she just had a bad day'...blah blah blah, she's mean. Yesterday we were having a conversation and she interrupted me so that she could yell at a little boy who was taking too long to tie his shoes. He's 7, lady...those people take FOREVER to tie their shoes. At least pretend to be a caring educator in front of parents. Bitch.

Kylie has a dr's appointment this morning, then we are going to meet Scott for lunch. She doesn't want to go back for the afternoon and to be honest, I don't think I'm going to make her. It's Olympic Day today, or some junk like that. I think she would learn more by going grocery shopping with me so that's what we're going to do. And then I have to come home and clean the basement. Yay.

I sewed this week...making a pink princess dress for Sam to wear on Halloween. I can't remember the last time I sewed something, other than mending. Next, I need to make Jacob the grey camouflage bedding that I bought fabric for last year. Yes, an entire year ago lol.

Gotta go haul Kylie out of the shower and throw some pants on Sam. Later, taters :) .

Dear Celebrity Chef;

Your children are not toys, they are people. Please show them that you respect them as individuals by giving them real names...not naming them like cartoon characters. I understand that you feel the need to give your kids 'different' names...but it is hard to retain your dignity when your middle name is Boo.

Read here:

dlisted

Tuesday.

I made carrot cake today! Healthy, whole wheat, low-fat carrot cake. With great big globs of cream cheese icing on top to counter act the healthy goodness. Yum. Kylie ate 6 mini-cupcakes as soon as she came home from school.

Scott is on holidays this week, and we have lofty goals. Today, we went to ReStore to buy some cabinets for the garage and then we went to Home Depot to find a laundry sink. We found the cabinets... but left Home Depot empty handed. In place of the laundry sink, Scott moved the cutest little 4-drawer dresser to my laundry room and he's going to install an old bathroom sink that we have kicking around the garage. The dresser came from the Bissell Centre years ago...I think we paid $10 for it. It's solid wood, not that particle crap that's everywhere now.

Another goal for this week is to paint a dresser for Sam, but the dresser in question is really really old and in cruddy shape. But again, solid wood. Pam has picked a colour called "Sleeping Beauty Pink" but it's more like Pepto-Bismol Pink. Ew, it's awful.

Speaking of dressers, Kylie and I painted her dresser a really pretty shade of purple this summer. I have pictures somewhere...dunno where. It turned out really well, and Kylie did most of the work herself (with guidance, of course).

Jake was home sick today. He was the oddest shade of green and just sat like a lump on the couch for most of the morning. By the time he went to bed tonight he was feeling much better...now Scott is looking sort of beige. I think it's time for bed :) .

Later, taters :)

My anal approach to grocery shopping.

When we moved into this house, we bought a large bulletin/white board from Goodwill...or maybe it was Restore, I forget. Anyway, we got the big idea to use a Sharpie to section off permanent columns and then use the wipe-off markers to write our ongoing lists. This is what our board looks like:

There are lists for Wal Mart, Superstore and Home Depot. There is also a space to keep track of how much allowance I owe the kids and I can erase those amounts when I pay them out. There is also a list for Dollarama, but not this week. Anyway, when it comes time for a trip to Superstore I transfer everything that I need to this list:

Scott made it for me in Excel, which I have absolutely no idea how to use (and no desire to learn, either). The list used to be in pretty good order until Superstore renovated, so I should really move around a few sections on this list. When I get home from shopping, I erase all of the items on the white board (leaving the items that Superstore was sold out of, so I can pick them up on the next trip). The list is formatted to print 2 to a page, and I use the back side of newsletters and junk that the kids bring home from school.

I find this stuff absolutely thrilling lol...

Pics Number 1.

This kitty wanted to come in so I let him. Sam followed him around, and he sniffed everything...then he wanted to go home so I let him out. I had to take an allergy pill after he left, but it was worth it because Sam had lots of fun showing him her room. "Dis is my toy box...and dis is my floor...and dat is my closet!"


My fairy princess.


What happened to summer?? I wonder if it will come back before fall comes...


The coolest fabric ever, purchased at Wal Mart in Maui at $5 a yard. One of the blue ones will be a scrub top for work (the one with the surfing ninjas!), and I think the other blue one will be a dress for Sam. The grey one is Kylie's, and I'm not sure what she's going to do with it yet. The idea of a tote bag is being tossed around.

I did a bunch of work around the house today, cleaning Jake's awful room and doing lots of laundry. Scott took Kylie for a ride on the bike and then he got called to an accident near Lloyd...a young lady turned in front of a semi on the Yellowhead. How awful. No matter how bad you think your life is...life has to be absolutely awful for that poor girl's family this evening.

Pics Number 2

New basement bathroom. Still, even though it's been done for a little while, it feels weird that the first room in this house to get a total reno is the basement bathroom.


Jake's sink: zombie theme. Images from: vector4free , printed onto stainless steel-esque Mac Tac from Dollarama.


"Brains!!!"


Kylie's sink is, of course, Hello Kitty. She picked chocolate brown towels and Jacob picked a dark grey. First time I've bought bathroom towels since...actually, I've never bought them before. We got some really great quality ones when we got married 15 years ago and they're still in great shape. Thank goodness for bridal showers.

Stuff I Know (in no particular order)

Oh my God, I won tickets to see the movie 'Flip', which looked really cute and would have been a fun night out with Kylie...and then we got the flu, and I forgot to pick up the tickets, and completely forgot about the movie. I *never* win anything. Ever. Like Kylie would say..."FAIL!"

I am #74 in line at the library for season one of Mad Men on DVD. I actually don't really care if I ever get it...because it could take an entire year and I'm not a big TV fan anyway...but I need something to watch while I'm on the treadmill. I just find it interesting that there are so many people waiting to see this DVD...and yet there is no one waiting on season two. Wonder why that is?

Sam did so awesome on the first day of potty training! And then the next day she held it in until she finally just peed all over the floor, after making a trip to the potty every 20 minutes for nearly 4 hours. Ah...part of me is laughing and the other part of me is wondering what on earth it will take for this kid to catch on. Maybe she's smarter than me? Maybe she realizes that it's much easier to just pee in a diaper and have someone else deal with it? Hmm...

One of my jobs is moving to the west end, and I think there may be the possibility of getting some more hours if the doctor can find another doctor who wants to work evenings. I really love the work, I mean I really really love it, so that could be cool.

It has been raining off and on for the last few days, and raining hard! Scott is inundated with tons of water-loss claims for flooded basements. And yesterday morning he woke up with my flu...

Scott's birthday is coming up and we've decided to invite a few friends over for an adult get-together. Part of me is looking forward to it, but as usual...I like the first 2 hours and then I lose all interest and want everyone to go home lol! Woohoo, I'm a party animal! Hey, here's some good reading: Self-Promotion for Introverts . This article is really directed at the corporate go-getter (which you all know I am, ha ha) but it also explains how my mind works when I'm faced with a get-together...be it a company Christmas party or a staff-meeting.

One last thing...would it be crappy parenting to insist that Kylie watches an episode of Jersey Shore with me, so that I can instill in her the fact that I never want to see her act like those kids, ever?? Because I'm seriously thinking about it.

Ahhhhhh!

She peed in the potty, she peed in the potty!!! OMG, I thought this day would never, ever come...

She is really digging the Dora chart and stickers that I printed off from somewhere...I'll post a link later, we have to hit the potty again.

Yay!!!

Monday.

Oh my gosh, I can't believe there is only *3 weeks left* until the kids go back to school. Just unreal...honestly, every year the summer gets shorter. As a kid, I remember finishing school on June 23 and not going back until after the September long weekend...now kids are done on June 29th and go back on September 1st. Summer is getting shorter and shorter :( .

My kitchen is finally painted! I really wasn't crazy about the colour until I got the pictures back up, and now I love it. Tonight we will get the shelves put up and then it is done...until 2 years from now when we tear the whole entire thing down lol. Holy crap, that's going to be expensive.

Jacob is on the couch reading a book on WWI given to us by the beautiful Princesstepher . Did I ever tell you how much Jacob hates reading? I mean, he doesn't just dislike it, he haaaates it. So it is very cool to see him with a book, willingly. Today we're off to the Chinese Garden for a picnic lunch. I have to make a trip to Home Depot today, and do some touch-up paint on those kitchen shelves. I should really get outside and pick some peas...dreading doing that, because the mosquitoes are awful lately.

I'm sort of half-assed watching 'Man on the Moon' on TV right now. Was Andy Kaufman funny? Hmm...I don't get it lol.

Later, taters.

ETA: ok, I get Andy Kaufman now. I don't know his work other than Taxi, but it seems from this movie that he was more of a performance artist. Not trying to get a laugh, but a lot of people found him funny nonetheless.

OK...better now :)

So I'm better now lol. Felt good to get that bitchy post out. I didn't mean it to sound like I don't have a heart and don't want to encourage friendship skills amongst everyone, I just don't see why someone wouldn't let their kids have alone time with their friends without forcing another kid in. Well, I see why...they want a break. But every. single. time?? Ah, forget it. Not worth getting my panties all twisted over.

I've been to Value Village 3x in as many days. Scott and I had a date night on Saturday evening, so of course we went thrift shopping. The only other choice was to head to Home Depot but that sounded really boring. Anyway, I didn't buy much that night but decided there were a few things that I should have bought so I had to go back for: a set of 3 nesting Pyrex bowls in a great shade of Harvest Gold for my sister and a really cute West 49 hoodie for Kylie with teeny tiny robots all over it. I also got some Hurley skinnies for Jake and 4 pairs of excellent-shape skinnies for Kylie for school. Now all that is left on her school-shopping list is a pair of long yoga pants. Score.

Today, we are sanding and painting a Nerf gun for Sam. Jake gave her one of his old guns and she wants it to be pink...I thought that would be a good project for Jake. We haven't had a good Nerf war in a while: the kind where assorted aunties, uncles and cousins come over and we pile lawn chairs all over the yard for hiding behind and then we have to spend an hour looking for darts in the neighbour's yard lol. I don't play...I watch from the kitchen window and make coffee lol. I think we might go to a cheapo movie today, and I have a bunch of laundry to fold. Jacob did the socks, towels and cloth napkins last night. Kylie will help me with the rest of the folding today.

I still haven't finished painting my kitchen...although I have cemented a theme :) . It was between "Zombies in Springtime" and "Zombies in Paris"...but as my SIL pointed in out, why limit myself? It could be "Zombies in Springtime in Paris" and could be AWESOME. Now...how to carry that out? I need a zombie calendar...hmm. Need to Google that.

*Yawn*...gotta get breakfast. Have a great day, everyone :)

Long weekend, baby!

Well...semi-long weekend. I still had to work Saturday and Monday evening, but we had all of Sunday together as a family (except for Kylie, who doesn't get out of bed until 2) and we got tons of crap done! I mended, organized, cleaned, and rag-dolled Scott all over the house to do the menial stuff lol.

I'm on a little bit of an anger streak right now...I'm not sure how some parents expect my kids to occupy their friend's siblings as well?? Can someone please explain that to me?? I remember the first summer we moved into this house, Kylie met a great little girl across the alley and they played together every available second. There were no little boys around for Jake to play with so *I* played with him when he had no one to play with. I took him to the park so he could play with other kids at the Greenshack program, I took him on walks around the block and I even pretended to play video games with him (just pressing random buttons on the control) on rainy days when he couldn't occupy himself for one second longer. Jacob was *my* responsibility, no one else's. I can't see the day when I would force Kylie to occupy Jake because he had no one else to play with. That seems greatly retarded to me. And no, just because Jake invites one of his BFF's over, that does not mean the invitation is also extended to his 5 year old sister!! Play with your own damn kid!!

And that also goes for non-paying babysitting gigs disguised as playdates that are never, ever reciprocated. Even if you say you'll do the same for me...it hasn't happened once in the 5 years I've lived in this house so, no. Cough up the bucks for adequate care for your kids. There are lots of wonderful, wonderful caregivers out there...just admit that you don't want to pay what it takes for reasonable care for your kids.

Wow! I'm a bitch. Too bad lol.


Carry on. I'm going to sit on the stoop with my husband and my crazy toddler, who has been running around like her bum is on fire for the last hour.

Later, taters!

Free Cute Tute

Mostly just book-marking this for me...but I'm sure you don't have nearly enough stuff on your to-do list, right?

MAKE A TAKOCHU

Pics

Ugh...I discovered a hidden workout on my favourite Leslie Sansone DVD and I was very excited...it does a quick cardio workout, broken up with some lunges and arm curls. Now it is the next morning and my arms and legs are all jittery lol. Guess that goes to show that I need to work on toning.


No, don't cut my hair!!! Poor kid. I love those long curly locks, but holy moly I do not enjoy combing that mess out. Finally, I had enough and decided to cut a few inches off while she watched Lilo and Stitch for the kajillionth time.


Before...




...and after. Just below the shoulders and layered a tiny bit at the ends. Soooo much easier to comb this morning!!

Lazier Than All Get Out.

So...yeah. I love summer, I don't have to do squat if I don't feel like it, other than maintain the cleanliness of our castle. Even that suffers most days lol.

The kids are getting along better than they did last summer, so I am not a frazzled mess most days. Tomorrow is Scott's first day back at work, so we are going to bring him a picnic lunch. His building has a really great rooftop terrace.

Anyway, here is the link to see our Maui pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=255869&id=697888101 . It's so much easier to post to FB than Blogger, and it's set for 'friends of friends' so I believe acquaintances should be able to see it as well. I'm not sure how long I'll keep those settings.

Sam is napping on the couch while the big kids are watching tv and I'm off to work in a few minutes. Have a great Sunday :) .

Pics

Making toast. Two out of four of my kitchen walls are now Apple Green...not so sure I'm in love with the colour, but Scott likes it. When we come back from Maui I'll decide if I want to paint the other 2 walls green or buy a whole new colour. It only took me 4 months to do 2 walls...wonder how long it will take to do the other 2?


Another year of Family Friendly Soccer has come and gone. Orange won 3rd place. Yay!


Guess which one of these kids barfed all over me. Just guess. Okay, it was Sam...I gave her a bath and then Kylie read her a story while I cleaned up Sam's bed. Blech.


Napping in the chair on a lazy Sunday.

Cooking with Princess Kagoli

Gawd, I am a very irresponsible blogger lately. But I don't have time to scratch, let alone blog!! And no pictures to share, because I haven't uploaded anything from the camera in forever...anyway, today you get a gest post from Kylie...err, I mean Princess Kagoli.


(from: allrecipes.com)


Princess Kagoli's Royal Apple-Cinnamon Crepes

Prepare one recipe of crepes, as follows:

1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Prepare one recipe of filling (don't remember where this recipe came from):

Ingredients:
two apples, peeled, cored and chopped into little pieces
2 tbsp butter
1 large sprinkle of cinnamon
2 tbsp icing sugar

Melt the butter in a non-stick pan, and throw in the rest of the ingredients. Stir until the apples have softened.

Roll some of the apple mixture in a crepe, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

**You can make everything ahead of time, and then reheat the apples/crepes separately before rolling together. You can also try and talk Mom into letting you have leftovers for breakfast the next morning.

Nickelback!!

WOOHOO!!!! There seems to be two factions of music fans in the world: those that think Nickelback is awesome and those who think Nickelback sucks. I can assure you, they do not suck, they rule!!!! Woohoo!!!!

...and in case anyone ever asks you, it is my God-given right as a middle-aged, middle-class mother of small children living in Alberta to enjoy a bottle of Mike's Hard 100-calorie Lemonade in my backyard as I pull dandelions with my Canadian Tire Dandelion-er...and when 'Burn It To The Ground' comes on the radio , I may throw down said Dandelion-er, throw my arms up above my head and scream "Woohoo!!!" for all my neighbours to hear. So what if it embarrasses my children...and my husband...I'm gonna do it anyway :) .


Jacob at his first major concert. He figured that he would let his friends sniff his shirt for 25c a pop, so that they could smell what a real concert smells like lol.


After the first opening act (there was 3) Jacob wanted to go take pictures of the tour buses. Lots of ladies, both young and old, would comment on how handsome he was and how cool his hair was on our little walk. He even got a few high 5's on our walk around Rexall.


My boyfriends.





It was a great show, and now I wish I would have gone to see AC/DC when they were here last year. Think they'll come back?

30.

Thirty! Thirty fat, gross pounds gone forever!! Well, maybe. I hope it's gone forever, anyway.

I have come to terms with the fact that there are some foods that I pretty well need to avoid for all eternity...like fast-food burgers and yummy potato chips. That's ok, there are plenty of yummy substitutions for those things. So in my quest for healthy substitutions for the foods I love, I found this:

HUNGRY GIRL MIRACLE MASHED POTATOES from Hungry Girl

Ingredients:
1 large (about 13-oz.) potato
3 cups cauliflower florets
3 tbsp. fat-free half & half
1 tbsp. light whipped butter or light buttery spread
1/4 tsp. salt pepper and additional salt, to taste
Optional: 1/2 tsp. crushed garlic

Directions: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the water to boil, peel and cube the potato. Once water is boiling, add peeled potato cubes and cauliflower. Wait for the water to return to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes (until potatoes and cauliflower are very tender). Remove the pot from heat and strain out all of the water. Transfer contents to a large bowl, and add half & half, butter/buttery spread, salt, and (if you like) crushed garlic. Mash it all together with a potato masher, until completely blended. Season to taste with pepper and additional salt. Enjoy! Makes 5 servings.

***I used skim milk in place of the half and half, and fat-free sour cream in place of the butter.

My super-picky pre-teen didn't know she was eating cauliflower...I wouldn't have known there was cauliflower in there if I hadn't have cooked it myself. The only thing that sort of gave it away was the smell of the cauliflower as it cooked...sort of cabbage-y. Scott, being the mashed potato lover that he is, said he could eat it at every meal and be a very happy man :) .

Anyway, next recipe on my list to try is this:
Dr. Oz's Fettuccine Alfredo . It has something like 450 calories per serving...perfect for a special-occasion dinner.

That's it.

The girl I work with is Filipino and has 4 of the cutest boys I've ever seen in the entire world (other than my Jacob, of course). They're all under 5 years old, the latest baby being all of 6 weeks old. He has the chubbiest, wubbiest cheeks you've ever seen and I could kiss them all the live long day.

I've decided that my next baby will be Filipino. I don't plan on adopting, and Naomi says that it's only sometimes that she feels like giving me one of her older boys (can you imagine...4, 3, and 2 year old boys all in the same house??). They're so cute, I can't imagine them getting into trouble (lol) .

Scott has decided that now is the time to put his foot down.

Someone fix this situation for me.

Yes, I'm still here.

Going a little crazy right now...

This month's projects include:

• turning over the garden
• planting seeds and pumpkin plants
• finally finishing the rock garden before the weeds take it over
• finish painting the kitchen
• shop for next month's Maui trip
• where in the f* are the drywallers???
• finish the school yearbook
• do a bunch of overdue PAC reports

...so you won't see me much this month. Bah!! Lucky you!!

Baking with Sammy Sunshine.

We've had a few days of cruddy weather, which is keeping us inside...which makes for a bored toddler...which makes for a mischievous toddler. Yes, she wore her pyjamas all day long. It was one of those days. We organized the pantry and found a cake mix, yay! That'll kill 10 minutes...






Oh my God, this was her favourite part. Putting big sloppy globs of batter in the paper liners...what a mess lol. But no way would she lick the spoon! She told me "dat's gwoss, ma!"


I have no sprinkles in the house...I didn't think that was possible. I guess Jacob used them up making donuts. Anyway, I gave Sam a pouch of gummies for decorating her cupcake...and she couldn't shovel them in her mouth fast enough lol.


And now I'm going to lick the icing off and then squish the cupcake in my hands...because it feels so squishy between my fingers. And my mom will clean it up. Awesome, hey??

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

ps...today was an awesome day. We got to watch part of a horror movie being filmed, and Jacob can't stop talking about it. I got some wicked dirt stains out of a pair of white nylon leggings using dish soap and lemon juice. Could it have been a better Sunday??

Sunday

Oh my God, I think yesterday was the worst shift since I started working. I don't know why people think it's ok to waltz into their doctor's office 45 minutes late for an appointment and expect to get in...and I don't know why people expect that, just because they're friends with the doctor, that they should not have to wait 2 hours as a walk-in patient just like everyone else. I swear, the doctor has told his entire community that they are welcome to see him at any time of the day or night, just because they share the same country of origin. Which is fine...as long as they aren't yelling at me because I won't accommodate them when it's 4:45 and we're closing in 15 minutes!!! And we still have patients in every room!!

My Scotty took me to a Blue Goose gala on Saturday night. The Blue Goose is a fraternal insurance organization, which translates into "Come and drink with us...all proceeds go to charity". Last night's charity was Casa . Dinner was served over two and a half hours!!! The best part was dessert, which was strawberry mousse. But my bum was sore by 9pm from sitting for so long lol.

Scott has gone to work today because he's a bit behind...lots of house fires these past few weeks, and he's been travelling a lot. He needed one full day at his desk without the phone ringing to catch up on his paperwork. It sucks when Sunday is usually our only day of the week together...but it has to be done.

I really need to do some cleaning and laundry today...and then I'm off to job #2 tonight after supper. Some weeks I like that job much better, as the shop is closed and it's just me and one of the big kids lol. No customers/patients to yell at me :) .

Video Favourites

Haven't done this in a while!! I'm working on the school yearbook right now...taxes are organized, just waiting for my Scotty to get a few seconds to organize his stack of papers...tomorrow I'm at the school compiling pizza lunch orders and counting stacks and stacks of loonies. Yippee.


First off, 7 Nation Army by The White Stripes. Jacob is learning this song right now in guitar, it has one of those riffs that just goes on and on forever...sort of like "This is the song that never ends...yes it goes on and on my friend!" because he has to play the first rif 8 times, then move on to the next section, then play that same rif 8 times again. Except he doesn't count, he just keeps playing and playing and playing...


Baby by Justin Bieber for Kylie...I actually don't absolutely hate this song, it's sorta cute. I really like Ludacris, though...I'm not sure how he ended up on this song. My husband thinks it's a sure sign that he's washed up lol.


Butterfly by Smile.dk for Sam. We have to listen to this one over and over again in the truck...she makes the big kids dance in their seats beside her and then yells "AGAIN!" when it's over lol.


Ojos Asi (Eyes Like Yours) by Shakira. This is the Spanish version...there is an English version as well, but no actual video for it.

*Yawn* . Well, off to bed. Night all :)

It's Sunday night...

It's 11:30.

I'm sitting in front of a stack of school invoices.

In the corporate world, you wouldn't submit $60,000 worth of invoices for reimbursement without first checking that the whole mess is reconciled...but heck, I have nothing better to do, right?

I want to go to bed.

I hate this crap. I *so* want to quit...

Busy week....

Waiting for the drywall guy to come. He's actually one of Scott's very-good friends...the kind of guy who's good at EVERYTHING, including cooking, so I'm now very aware that my cooking skills suck and that he will be here for dinner tonight...

My baby :) . It's always, "Take my picture, mum!"

First ride of the year. The other day I was sort of mad because of something Kylie did and I turned to speak to her in a stern manner (ok, I was going to yell) and then I realized as I looked at her right beside me: she's nearly as tall as I am!!! How in the hell did that happen?? She's 11 years old and 5'4" . She's going to be ten feet tall by the time she's 16.

Starting our seedlings. I love these little boxes, they hold 24 peat pellets and I just figured out that I can stack them on my kitchen window sill, so I can buy 2 more! Woohoo! We planted 2 kinds of pumpkins, some petunias and some black violas. Kylie was supposed to save room in hers for some impatiens for the front yard, but she went a little crazy with the black violas instead. My house is not a raging mess right now, all of that stuff piled behind Kylie is going into the basement bathroom eventually...getting a bit tired of the giant shower stall box in my tiny dining room!

Two bikinis for Sam. Top piece is from a made-by-me pattern: Moda sock monkeys is finished with fold-over elastic and the other top is the very last scraps of the beautiful fat quarter that my bloggy friend Spacestitch sent me last year. I even had to piece it together, if you look closely you'll see a little seam running down the very front lol. The bottoms are both store-bought swim diapers...I can't be bothered to sew that stuff from scratch anymore. The red one was $3 at a consignment store and the blue one was Jake's when he was a toddler :) . I was going to add a ruffle, but figured that Sam needed one diaper that would fit under her one piece suits. Oh, side note: we've started swimming lessons one morning a week and Sam *hates* it. Not that she hates being in the pool, she's just two and those people like doing their own thing lol. Listen to the teacher, are you kidding me???

Later, taters :)

**photobucket is being funky today, hopefully that giant red swim diaper will be resized when I look at this tomorrow!!

Happy Easter!!

Sam could not get enough of the egg dyes this year. Forget doodling on the egg first, gimme that dye! It is an annual tradition for me to forget to buy a vinyl tablecloth for egg decorating, so I was lucky that the contractors left a big roll of vapour barrier in my basement. Not pretty, but it passed for a tablecloth :) .

My God, what a good meal today. I peeled and mashed 10lbs of potatoes, thinking that it was way too much...nope! It all went...along with the ham, roasted carrots and other yummy dishes. My sister's husband, Amir, took us on a long windy walk after supper to burn off some of those calories. Still...I think I'll be working extra hard at my workouts this week. But it was *so* worth it :) .

The kids are home for one more day, then it's back to the grind. Does anyone else in the world get tomorrow off *except* for school teachers? Even the bank is open tomorrow. There's so much on the to-do list for this week. The bathroom drywall should be started this week...so that means next month in Contractor Time, right? Poopie.

Pics.

No thoughts or crafty projects to share this week. The construction on the basement bathroom is at a standstill right now, and I've used my Word of the Year about 50 times already today because of it. Anyway, onwards...


My Jacob bought me flowers! I had a cruddy day last week, and so Jake asked Scott to take him to buy me flowers :) . I love that little man :) .


This scene started out by Sam taking Jake by the hand and leading him into her room...I could hear her saying, "I be da mom...you be da girl" lol. So he had to sit and play DSi beside her while she pretended to wash dishes in her kitchen.


This is a scene from Jacob's latest stop-motion movie: Darth Vader is getting revenge against Obi Wan on the lava planet. Someone out there probably knows the correct name for that planet, but I don't lol. Jacob is learning how to modify the Lego characters he already has, using plasticine and sharpies...sometimes he asks for fabric scraps to create costume elements. The background in this lava planet scene is his bean bag chair. There are almost 500 Lego pictures on my camera right now...


Sam has discovered painting and could do it all the live long day. But the best part for her is where you sprinkle glitter all over the wet paint!! She yells, "Glitter! GLITTER!!!" if I don't get it fast enough for her lol.


My awesome sister bought this for me. You still have to spray it with Pam and sprinkle it with flour...which seems silly for a non-stick pan, but it's pretty cool! From the picture, you can see that if you bake brownies in this pan, it will make you a better wife and a better mother :) . I love this junk.


These are the Hungry Girl pumpkin brownies my niece and I made, and they take 2 ingredients: a box of chocolate cake mix and a can of pure pumpkin. I'm not kidding, that's the only 2 ingredients. Mix it all up (it will seem really thick and you'll be tempted to throw in a splash of milk, but don't!) and throw it in the pan or cupcake liners. I really liked them, but Jacob and Kylie say that they have a bit of an odd aftertaste if you eat more than a couple of them in a row. Still, it didn't stop them from eating 6 brownies each lol...


Kylie's library stash for the week. It's spring break, so we've gone to the City Centre library and our local library. Lots of manga books, lots of Hayao Miyazaki DVD's, an Alice in Wonderland book on CD and the original Hairspray movie featuring Divine. Oh, and a Wii game. Honestly, we're always disappointed in those so I don't even know why we bother anymore. Library Wii games are usually so scratched up that we can't play them anyway :( .

iPhone Pics.

Making pizza at Gramma's...


We were bored on a Saturday night, so we drove to Sherwood Park for coffee...






Kylie on Scott's bike at the Santa's Anonymous 2009 Toy Run at Capilano Mall...


My babies :D