Saturday, September 27, 2008

Busy Days!

Today we decided it was time to sort through all the crud and crap that we have been storing in the back room. You know the boxes of stuff you pack when you move and are not sure if you really want but never really decide on?

We sorted through some of the boxes - put 2 boxes of assorted stuff on the curb and loaded up the car and headed to the transfer station. Felt good to dump the crap!

We didn't complete the whole room but we are well on our way. During the week I cleaned out a closet and we have 3 bags of stuff to donate. Clothes that I dont want anymore - stuff Brian has outgrown - that sort of thing. They are off to the donation bin this week!

If we can keep at it this week we will have the room sorted and cleaned out by next weekend.

Oh yeah - we have a plumber coming this week to plumb for the washer. Now all we need is someone to do the electrical for the dryer and we will have our own laundry upstairs!

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Have you had a good weekend?

I hope you have! My weekend has been awesome!

Friday I had a Princess House Party- it was fun. The product is very nice and the consultant was great fun.

Saturday morning was a lazy, do nothing sort of morning. Around noon we headed out for lunch, and the butcher, the baker and the produce shop (no candlestick maker this weekend). A quick stop at the liquor store and we were ready to come home for an afternoon nap. Which we had!

Tanya, Andre and Warren came for dinner. Well, Warren didn't partake but he was here nonetheless. Dinner was a phenomenal roast beast dinner - prepared by Phil! It was soooooo good.

After dinner we played the Stockticker. And it was the worst game ever - for the stocks that is. The winner of the game after 1.5 hours was Andre with $575.00 in stock and cash. That is awful!!! I never did get a chance to make any money on the stocks I had. Even so, we had a great time playing a game together. Brian and his friend Adrian played with us. Family Game nights are such fun.

Today, we went to church, which was great. It was grandparents day and we had cake to celebrate! And this year we got to go get cake first with the other grandparents!!!

This afternoon has been spent on a Lord of the Rings marathon. Well to be honest, I have dozed and napped through a good portion of the movies but isnt that what Sunday afternoons are all about?

So what have you all been doing today?

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Further to the Guilt

Denise commented on my blog about my school guilt and she makes a very valid point - moms at home with other children can not help out often either. I had totally missed that part in my rant.

I do recall that, when I was a stay at home mom of many I found it almost as difficult to participate as I do now.

After writing my rant, I did feel much better. I was able to mark off "unable to assist" with not one iota of guilt.

I am still an active participant in my son's life, just not during school hours. And really at his age, he is probably glad. Mom is not there in the classroom to embarrass him!

Have a good one!!!

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Guilt?

I have been thinking lately- I know, a very, very dangerous thing to do!

With school starting, I have received the usual notices and entreaties - drive for school trips, attend meetings, help out in the classroom, help with hot lunch, and so on and so on.

The only problem with all of these requests, is that they require you be there during the school day - which coincides with my work day.

So how do I handle this - shall I feel guilty? Do I use my vacation days for these events? But if I use up my holiday days on these events what time will I have to take during summer vacation? And that would mean that Phil and Brian would go away with out me!

This is the dilemna of all working mothers. When you drop off the kid at the school, you feel like the mom's that are staying to help, are looking at you and talking trash because you never help out at the school. But if you dont got to work - there would not be any money to pay for the school trips, hot lunches, book fair books or any other things, like rent and food!

It is not like this is something new for me - I have been a working mom for a long time. It just that there seems to be more demands/requests than ever.

I have decided that I will not feel guilty for working, I will not feel guilty for not being at the school. I will continue to be an involved parent, assisting with homework if needed, helping find books for research, driving to music lessons, getting the child involved in other extra curricular activities as they present themselves.

I will continue to say "not available" when the school asks for parent drivers. I will offer to help with bus rentals when needed. I will continue to support the school fundraisers. I will feel good about being a working mom and contributing to the family.

And that is my rant for today!

Friday, September 12, 2008

We Made It!

Since my last blog - we have successfully made it out of the door in the morning with a lunch, properly packed and surprisingly nutritious. Turns out the whole sandwich thing is a bust. He would rather have something else. So this week has been yogurt and fruit, fresh and dried.



Next week we will be featuring a nice hot vegetable soup, with crackers. A pasta dish of some kind and a repeat on the yogurt and fruit.



Now if we can just get the homework in the backpack and all the notices signed on time - we will be making progress.



September is such a difficult month for all mothers of back to school kids! This year seems double difficult- I think it is the stress of the workplace together with the back to school!

Here's to next week! A week of better planning!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

You really want a lunch?

Ok - the usual morning here involves -
- convincing the child he really WANTS to take the shower I am directing him towards
- finding the lost permission slip
- inventing a breakfast that is both appetizing and nutritious for a 10 year old
- iron a shirt for the kid
- get myself dressed
- find the work I brought home to do the night before and need to take back this morning
- check my email
- confirm carpool
- get kid to brush teeth, wash face and brush hair (hopefully clean - seeing as he was supposed to wash it in the shower!)
- brush my teeth, do my hair, slap on some makeup (maybe!)
- and head out the door - "Come on.... let's get a move one.... let's not be late"

And then it just grinds to a screeching halt! "MOM ---- where is my lunch?"

CRUD! I knew I forgot something! Somewhere between "eat your breakfast" and "grab your backpack" I missed a crucial step. The one where I make a lunch for said kid!

Back to kitchen we head - quick - "one pb&j and make it snappy!" DRAT - there is no bread, how can we be out of bread??? Improvise - pb&j on a hotdog bun! add a juice box, some goldfish crackers, fruit to go and some cookies (for after school snack) and voila! a lunch!

And wonders of all wonders - even with the aforesaid missed lunch - we still made it to school on time! and I was only 5 minutes late for work.

Any chance we will master mornings? I certainly hope so!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Sunday - Lazy Sunday

I love Sunday afternoons. They follow a morning at church and lunch. Today we had lunch at church, went to Walmart to get gym strip for Brian and then home for a nap!

Something strange has happened however - and not one of us has fallen asleep and it is almost 7 pm. Not a nap was had! We watched a couple of movies and chatted with people on MSN.

I read a couple of blogs, read some email, agreed to be on stage for the upcoming Christmas production and snacked. Kind of wasted away the afternoon. Well I did do one load of laundry so that the sheets for the playyard would be clean for Warren.

And now - we are considering having some dinner - then it will be bath/shower time for Brian. And that will bring the weekend to an end! All in all - Sunday has been awesome! How was yours?

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

A Blog - Finally - an update!

It isnt that I haven't had anything to say, it isnt that I havent had time to blog --- and here is the embarrassing truth -- when I changed my blog setup and template, I lost the header bar - the blogger header where I would normally login and write my blog. So after much searching and seeking, I found it!

So here is the update ----

1. Phil's company has been sold. We are waiting to see what changes this will bring about. So far it looks good.

2. Our landlady is thinking of selling the house - not a happy thought for me -- anyone have a spare $500,000 to loan us?

3. The lady downstairs has given her notice - she is moving out at the end of the month - any one want to rent a 3 bedroom basement suite? We are nice neighbours!

4. School went back - Brian was happy to get back to it. Iam happy he likes school!

5. I booked my Princess House Party - Friday September 19 at my house - come and have a glass of wine and see the wonderful stuff!

6. I booked Scrapbook Camp for 4 days in October! Going to scrap more pictures of Warren! And get Brian's book caught up - I hope!

Well that about sums it up! Now that I have fiqured out how to get here I will try to blog more often and maybe next time I will have something worthwhile to say!
 
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