Wits and Whats*

This week we had a Star Wars party for Kamden. I have to give a shout out to Amy at Muddy Boots for the idea to make light sabres out of pool noodles. It was gold.

As you can see they were a hit. Also? The roof of our deck is made of green plastic (yes, it's as ugly as it sounds). Here is where using manual settings, for me, who is an camera idiot, is not a good idea. I am making a mental note.

Kamiken Skywalker is becoming one with the force.

I highly recommend these for b-day parties. The kids played with them for a long time. This means there was no need for pin the arm back on Darth Vader or musical gunships, not that there is anything wrong with these (I'm lazy).

I will give credit to Amy for the light sabre idea, however, I will not saddle her with any responsibility for this debacle:

Yeah, so not my best work. AT ALL. (see my better work) But Kamden liked it so really what else matters?

In other news, I had the pleasure of lunching, in real life, with Jen the other day. Jen has joined a relay team we have put together for a September marathon. To put it simply, she is lovely. I do hope to get the chance to to visit with her again and maybe next time I won't grill her with 1,001 questions! Sorry Jen, I do that a) when I am nervous and b) when I am genuinely interested. I do realize that I also come across as crazy. Unfortunately it's only after the fact that this realization comes to me. I am slow like that.

And are you wondering how the first few days of summer vacation are going? I have a post up at Canada Moms Blog that will tell you exactly how flip flapping craptapulous it's been thus far. Send vodka.

Lastly, if you can guess what the cake is supposed to be, you get my undying love. Seriously. M'Wah!

*don't ask. I. have. no. idea.

Two Wheelin'

Independence

Pride

Joy

Summer

Two wheeling

A Canadian rite of passage

A Penny for my Thoughts

Things that are making my heart sing of late:

- Waking up to the cool, fresh summer breeze drifting in through the open window

- taking my eight year old son into my lap to comfort him while he's sick, I can't help but wonder how much longer I will have the privilege

- the flowers blooming in the yard, there is nothing more soothing to than flowers I planted and nurtured myself

- waking inexplicably in the night, sensing the need to check on my almost five year old's fever, pulling him into my arms and feeling the searing heat coming from his body, knowing I can make it all okay

- crawling back into bed on the fourth day Jack is home sick with the flu, knowing that my boys will safely amuse themselves while I rest in the hopes that the migraine that is just below the surface will retreat

- the pride at how Jack is handling the fact that he has missed play day, ice cream day, a trip to the pool and bowling/pizza/movie day with his class because he is sick

- spending an hour with a good cup of coffee, a good book and a comfy chair on our screened in (NO BUGS!) deck

- disovering not one but two methods by which I can create keepsakes of my photos and blog posts, thanks ladies! Shutterfly which allows you to copy in your photos and the text if you wish to creat a beautiful bound book or Blog2Print which does all the work for you and compiles the posts (by the dates of your choice) into a bound book or a downlowdable electronic version

May you all take the time to enjoy the simple things this weekend and enjoy time with your favourite Daddy (yours or your kids or better yet, both) this weekend.

And what is making your heart sing this fine summer (or winter if you're Southern hemisphere) day?

Help! what do I do?

I just sat down to do something that I have put off for a long, long, long time. I was going to print out all the posts about each of my sons to put into a binder as a keepsake.

As I scrolled, and scrolled and scrolled some more, I realized, holy cow it will kill a forest.

Here's where you come in. What do you do about saving your posts as keepsakes? Are you keeping something tangible for your kids?

And while we are at it, what about your digital photos? Do you print them off regularly?

I used to but then the sheer volume was getting ridiculous to store so I stopped about 2 years ago. The thought of going back and sorting through them is about as appealing as sticking a fork in my eye repeatedly. But will I be able to access them in say, 20 years with the rate that technology is changing?

Any and all thoughts on either of these topics is welcome and encouraged!

Preschool, it's all over but the crying

Kamden fiercely graduated preschool last week. And on the same day, attended his Kindergarten open house. Mommy needed copious amounts of vodka (1 oz) to cope.

Too Much Stuff Syndrome

Today, over at Canada Moms Blog I am pondering a new philosophy. I am continuing (click here for CMB post) my thoughts about the consequences of the idea that more stuff equals happiness. I also talk about vodka (shocking, I know). Hmm, got you thinking didn't I?

Take a look at this picture and tell me, if this was in your house, how happy would you be?


This is the result of having too much stuff. Yes, I could purge it into the garbage but that's the easy way out. I think you know me too well by now to know that I don't take the easy way on things like this. Instead, this all needs to be reused where possible or given to someone/someplace to be reused or recyled. That takes work. I am human, I don't particulary jump up and down with excitement at the prospect.

And this is just the stuff that we are deeming no longer necessary (except my excercise ball, that is staying). In the storage space, closets and drawers is a whole lot of other stuff. It makes me dizzy just thinking about it.

The new philosophy, should be, buy LESS stuff. Because if I can avoid the need to sort, haul and disperse my crap for others to resuse, won't I be a little bit happier?

I would like to think so.

Don't get me wrong, I think giving to those less fortunate is essential however, does someone less fortunate than a cheap radio that lasted 1 year and no longer works. Probably not. Maybe it not just about not buying stuff but also if you do need to buy something, let it be something that isn't totally useless in 5.2 months. Have you driven by your local landfill lately? Personally, the mountain of trash I see when I do is morbidly depressing.

But then again I do hit the vodka every now and then (and by "hit" I mean I have one drink and I am dancing on the table with a lampshade). So tell me, what do you think? Not of me (that would be opening a whole can of worms - I don't have thick enough skin) but of this whole idea.

Let's get talking about this!

500th in 500 or 52, whatever

So here it is, the big 500th post. I started this thing way back in March 2006, over three years ago. I am amazed at where it's gone. It's been great. It's been weird. Not everyone gets it. But it is what it is. Me, spewing my thoughts and opinions here on this little corner of the internet. To all of you who read this, whether you comment or not, I loves ya!

To commerate this grand(ish) occasion, I am going to write about words. In 500 words or less. (Yeah, so I couldn't come up with any spectacular way to celebrate, no need to rub it in)

Words. They can lift us up till our hearts soar. They can sucker punch us right in the gut and cause no end of hurt. The power they hold is astounding. It’s frightening really. With a few letters, you can either make someone’s day or you can make someone’s day complete crapola.

**********************************************************************************

Um, yeah. That was 52 words.

Turns out I wasn't inspired.

Sue me! Or pat me on the back 'cause this is a short post and you can read it 5.2 seconds. I am nice like that.

Happy 500th post to me!