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!

Jack, eight is enough

Today, my Jack turned eight. To say where did the last eight years go is cliché but also very true. I am amazed at the transformation this little person has undergone before our eyes. He went from eating, sleeping and you know, I don’t need to say it, to this person we get to share our lives with. His maturity has grown leaps and bounds in the last couple of years. Gone are the tantrums he used to be prone to when his routine was upset. In their place is the ability to deal with these even though it still upsets him.

This year, for the boys’ birthdays we decided, after I read this post by by Zoe’s Dad’s Wife(Confused yet? Good, that’s how I like it.) about their birthday tradition with their kids, that we would do the same. Instead of buying them more toys, that which they really do not need, nor overly desire, we would spend an entire day with each of them, just Mommy and Daddy, doing whatever they wanted, within reason of course. Naturally we asked them first, to see if they would be okay with it. When we asked Jack we had to pick his jaw up off the floor. At first I thought, oh no, he is NOT okay with this….then he smiled the biggest smile I have ever seen him smile. He was more than okay with it, he was over the moon.

That day was this Saturday. Unfortunately, plans for Kamden fell through, his buddy, whom he was going to spend the day with, was sick. Jack was understandably a little upset at first. I explained that we could still have our day but that Kamden would have to tag along. He didn’t like that at first but after a few minutes he came to me quietly and said, “Mommy, Kamden should come with us today.”

Well if my heart didn’t swell.

To say it was a great day would be an understatement. Family days are always great. Jack chose to go to Pizza Hut for lunch and then swimming. Before we left I told him I would make him whatever he wanted for supper. He chose spaghetti and meatballs (easy peasy!).

We spent the morning with Hot Wheels Racetrack Central (see what I mean about not needing more toys, trust me, he ain’t deprived in the least), then headed off lunch and swimming. He had fun, we all did. Upon arriving home, he was pooped out from all the activity. I made supper while the boys hit the couch with Daddy and the pile of library books we also picked up while we were out. When supper was ready, Jack was first into the kitchen and was flabbergasted.

“Mommy, THANK you. This is the best.”

Do you know what it was that got this super reaction? It wasn’t the fact that he got to pick whatever he wanted to do. It wasn’t the pizza out for lunch. It wasn’t the swimming. It certainly wasn’t the unplanned trip to the library to kill time before the pool opened.

No.

It was the candles and wine glasses that I set out for dinner.


It’s the simple things, our time and a little extra touch just to let him know how special he really is.

I think maybe this boy of mine is teaching me more than I could ever teach him and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Happy 8th Birthday my sweet Jack!

Bestest Buddies

*my too much stuff rant is on hold, dead camera battery aborted scheduled post (does it count if it was mentally scheduled? Stay tuned*

This boy of mine, the one full of P&V, if you know what I mean....


He has a best friend. A buddy that he has literally grown up. They have had their diapers changed side by side. They have learned to walk and talk together (maybe not at the same time though, right Candace?). They have spent that last two years in preschool together and at least on other day a week playing together at the other's house.

Their interests are almost identical, currently, all things superhero.

Together, they have nothing but fun. Not once while playing will they ever come to complain that there is nothing to do. To ask for a snack, well...., that's another story.

Together, they can be silly, goofy and just plain boys.

Next year, they will each go to different schools for Kindergarten but if their mommies have anything to do with it, their friendship will last forever.

Marketing Smarketing

Sometimes I wish television didn’t have commercials. Lately I have been finding some of them insulting to my intelligence. Is it just me?

There is a particular grocery store commercial on one of the US channels that claims you will be happier if you shop at their store.

REALLY?

What do I look like? A complete moron?

My happiness is not directly tied to where I grocery shop and it behooves me that someone felt the need to insinuate that it does.

If we had that store here in Canada, I would refuse to shop there based solely on that line of reasoning.

I also want to make mention of everyone’s favourite, love them or hate them, they have taken over North America. That’s right, Wal-Mart. Their commercials lately have been a huge insult to my intelligence too (I am so evolved you know – HA!). Their mantra lately is “Save Money. Live better.”

That in itself is fine but it’s what’s behind it that irks me. What it means, in general, is that in order to live better and be happy, I better buy more. And I am pretty sure that when they say save they don’t mean for me to keep the money, oh no, what they mean is that I can buy more for the same amount of money. And of course I will be much happier because I bought more stuff.

Actually I think what they mean is that they will be happier because they will have more money but that’s a whole other post. I don’t tend to shop at Wal-Mart and these commercials are not whooing me.

You see, I have strong opinions about this sort of thing. Things do not make us happy. In fact, I could argue with you that more things, do the exact opposite. They are a detriment to our happiness.

Don't believe me? Stay tuned, I will prove it or that I am completely nuts either way, I win. (Wha?)