Date weekend

This past weekend was wonderful. The kids were absent.

Not that we didn't miss them.

But we were having a lot of fun. Shopping. My husband is one of the few men on this planet who doesn't mind shopping. Don't hate me.

We hit the mall and Toys R Us and very nearly completed the Christmas shopping. And we got some new duds for the two of us. Jay's work clothes needed some updating and me, well, you see, I got rid of anything remotely warm on account fo the hot flashes.

Now, I am FREEZING cold all the time. Sweaters and long sleeved shirts were on the agenda.
Layering is so in right now, thank goodness!

There is no happy medium my thermostat. Only extremes.

Then we got all dolled up and headed out for a nice dinner.

We clean up okay, when we put some effort into it. And don't worry, I wore a jacket over the sleeveless shirt.

For dinner we tried an upscale place. Our tastes have gotten a bit more sophisticated than the A&W burgers we once dined on when out on dates. I had a pancetta wrapped tuna that was unbelievable. Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the sea, I do love me some tuna.

And call me crazy but a dinner out without colouring sheets and crayons is a nice treat every now and then.

It's so nice to have that time together and we really enjoy it because we don't get it that often.

And don't worry about the kids, they were hanging out with my parents and had lots of fun.

Thanks Grandma and Pop, we hope you enjoyed it as much as we all did!

Don't forget to enter my contest, it closes Thursday December 4.
Whoa, it's December already? Where did the time go?

Because its a first

My lovely friend, Elaine emailed me tonight to say, you know you are on there right? And by there she meant, The Canadian Blog Awards .

Um, that would be a no!

So I click here and what do I see?

Kami's Khlopchyk!!! Nomiated for Best Family Blog

Among people like:

Angella of DutchBlitz fame, a literal blogging celebrity and luckily enough for me also a personal friend.

and Don Mills Diva , who is pretty famous herself!

To say that I am beyond honoured to be in their and all the other nominees company, is a astronomic understatement.

I have no idea who might have nomiated me, but whoever you are, I really would love to know. Really. And then I will send you something really nice. I promise.

And also if you are so inclined, go ahead and vote for me, you will have my undying devotion!

To vote go here .

Men- o- WHAT?

First of all, thank you, thank you, and more thank you's for all the wonderful comments on my last post. I know it was whiney but I feel so much better for having gotten it off my chest. All your comments were like food for my soul and I can't thank you enough.

I have an inkling as to what some of the issue with my lack of inspiration to post.

You see, my body is going through a change right now and this change started about two years ago. I was in denial about it for a long time. I had all the symptoms but I was WAY too young.

Hot flashes, check
Irregular cycle, check
Mood swings, Hell to the yeah!

The hot flashes I chocked up to my new found love of coffee and the caffeine it contains. A simple switch to decaf should cover that. July and the sweat that poured off of me such that I frequently stuck my head in the freezer proved that little theory wrong. Just to clarify, I was the only one sweating, including my mother. No, she was laughing hysterically at me like I did at her when she was in the throes of menopausal hot flashes. We love each other like that.

Irregular cycles are nothing new to me, it took us much longer than planned to have Kamden due to 90 day plus cycles. And really, when not trying to get pregnant, you won't find me complaining about 90 days without Aunt Flo.

Recently, my doctor confirmed after several blood tests, my hormone levels are indeed that of a woman in menopause. Try to keep back tears when you are told that at age 34. I double dog dare you.

But in reality it was the initial shock and that has worn off. We are done having kids, so no concern there. I could have a bazzillion other things that would be much more severe. It just menopause.

Ha! Maybe that's an oxymoron.

Despite the diagnosis, I hadn't considered that I was suffering from moood swings until about 3 weeks ago. I had an emotional break down. Complete with headache inducing sobbing. Oh yeah, it was all kinds of glamourous.

I was talking to my mom when I started crying. I was talking about my oldest son and how he is way too much like me. Shy and too easily contented to sit on the sidelines not joining in with the other kids. It pretty much breaks my heart. The tears started.

Then the dam broke.....

All the stuff eating at me for the last little while spilled out, the least of which was Jack's shyness by the way.

It was liberating to let it out.

Not that I had been holding it in per se but I was holding back. Trying not to let stuff bother me, trying to pretend it didn't bother me as much as it really and honestly did.

But my mom, ever the wise one, suggested that maybe, just maybe, the sobbing mess that was her daughter at that moment could be because of the low hormone levels.

AHA moment, AHA moment (thanks for that Oprah).

So off I went to the doctor to discuss something I was previously adverse to. Hormone replacement therapy. Sounds fancy doesn't it?

It's not. It's the pill. That's right the same one millions of women use as birth control. At my age, that's all I need.

I am not overly keen on the pill for a few reasons, one being that Jay has gone through the procedure to make it impossible for us to have any more kids, the other being that I have heard the hormones are getting into our water supply and can't be removed. If that isn't frightening, I don't know what is.

But the lows, the valleys if you will. They were killing me slowly. It was time to do something. So had to put aside my reservations and go on the pill. It was for everyone's safety, trust me.

Alas, it's been three weeks and the sting of most of the stuff of my last post is lessening. And maybe, just maybe it is partly due to the balance that has been restored to my homone levels.

Either way, it's good to be me again.

Rut of magnificent proportions

I haven’t had the urge to write much lately…at least not that I could or would share here. I actually have a couple things that I would very much like to write about.

In fact, I did do a whole post on one of the events of late, one that really made me angry. However, the post is ranty and could be very hurtful should the person involved in the event read it. Since the whole blowup was about hurtful words and taking responsibility for your own words and how they might be interpreted, I best not be a hypocrite. However, writing about it helped me a great deal as it is want to do.

The other is an issue I would like to write about because it is one of those gut wrenching things, things that are not supposed to happen to anyone let alone a friend. But it is not my story to tell therefore I have no business writing about it here.

So I come to the rut that I am in. The one where I just can’t seem to find the time, let alone the passion to write about anything. And really, this shouldn’t surprise me because I am not a writer, I have never been a writer. Frankly stringing four words together in a coherent sentence was a feat for me not so long ago. I think I string them okay now but the coherent part might be up for debate.

When I started this site I had barely written anything beyond the bazillion or so accounting exams to obtain my accounting designation and, those frankly don’t count. Not too much feeling or passion in a business case response.

But in the first year or two I was a posting machine, posts up the ying yang, almost daily. Lately I seem to be lucky if I can pull together one post a week.

I think I might know why and I might even write about it because writing is good therapy and that topic will hopefully not offend anyone.

I also started worrying endlessly that my words here might be offending to some. And after being offended by someone’s words, that really hit home. I am always surprised at who reads this and who doesn’t. Some of my closest friends do and some of them don’t. Why I wonder?

I wonder if my posts offend people. I guess some of them must. I am very opinionated, I’ll be the first to admit it and it’s almost impossible not to offend someone when you express your opinion.

I have some super awesome friends in the flesh, and without them (and my family both immediate and extended), life would be fairly dull and lonely. They are supportive, even when I might be wrong, and for that, and about 1,000 other things, I love them dearly.

Life is about the relationships that you forge, not the stuff you accumulate. However, lately, some of those relationships seem to be accumulating baggage. And not the good kind, no fancy clothes or yummy treats but rather emotional baggage.

I tried to work one of those out by expressing my issues. It got me nowhere fast. And by nowhere I actually mean spitting mad. Nothing like being told your opinion doesn’t really matter to stoke a fire. I gave up. The relationship will survive, because we are family. But is it broken? Most definitely. At least civility will reign but beyond that only time will tell.

The other one, I haven’t even touched yet. With everything that’s be going on, I am not in the mood to tackle it. But I will because that relationship is VERY important to me and it will be saved. I know it will. All friendships have rocky periods and this is just one of them.

So there it is. My heart on my sleeve as always. Bear with me my friends, I will climb out of this rut if it’s the last thing I do.

Either that or I will grow thicker skin and get over myself. That would be a good thing I am certain.

Mini he

I know this kid! I mean, I think I know him but the problem is, this picture is circa 1970 something...

But he looks so much like someone who is around that age now....

The kid on the left, cheeseball smile...

Looks familiar doesn't it?

The platnum blondie there, repeating the same cheesy smile, hmmm.....

Maybe it's just because I know them both so well, the 1970's boy is Jay as a kid but when I saw these pictures all I could see was the resemblance between Jay and Kamden.

Either way, they are both stinkin' cute, no?

Parenting 101

Parenting is learned, but it isn't taught.

What?

That's right you have to learn the hard way. The school of "experience".

Is it fun?

Ill be honest, not usually.

I am I fast learner?

Let's just say I have some bruises. Does the term the school of hard knocks mean anything to you?

Kamden also likes to run head on into my legs when I am sitting on the couch. My physical bruises stem directly from those incidents. The other bruises are earned through blood, sweat and tears in this "job" called parenting.

Like many women, I had ideals before I became a parent. I never thought I would yell at my children. Or get frustrated and loose my patience. Or nag. No especially not that. I mean, my kids will listen the first time I ask them to do something.

*stops to shine halo and halos of future children*

I'll be honest. I do all of those things. Daily. Daily might be an exaggeration but I am being real here.

A guy I worked with once told me he had NEVER yelled at his kids. He also told me he made all his baby food from scratch. He also told me that once I had kids I would no longer recycle since it is so much work. Hmmm, I am I the only one who sees the irony there?

Well I do yell at my kids. I did not make all my baby food from scratch (I did make some, Jack spit it out and Kamden loved it - you win some, you lose some). And I do recycle.

*tries unsuccessfully to unbend and polish tarnished halo*

I have reached another milestone on this journey called parenting. Bribery.

That's right. One of the oldest tricks in the books. And one that I am certain very few parenting professionals would advocate.

But I did it. And guess what? It worked.

You see my Jack has an issue with pants. Well the issue is actually his lack of waist. The pants, well some them don't really stay up. To alleviate this problem in the past, I would roll the waist band up.

It had become a habit. He was rolling ALL of his pants even those that fit him properly. He had come to determine that his "waist" was somewhere near his armpits, so not only would he roll them but he would pull them up to kingdom come.

This resulted in it looking like he regulary walked around in flooded basements or he was channelling Steve Urkel.

Either way, it was more than this Type A could bear.

So after much haggling and *gasp* nagging (did I just type that?) with zero success, I struck a deal. If he could get through one day without rolling his pants he earned a whole full size chocolate bar that he could consume in one sitting (almost unheard of around here if Mom is around, Dad, well that's another story). If he could do it for a week? A whole $20 to spend on whatever he wanted.

After one week and two days I am happy to report that one seven year old has $20 to his name.

Habit broken = success!

Now if I could just "fix" this damn halo.

Oh hell what's the use, I'll just get a new one.