Wonderings from the Wack

What a fun evening! We went to Twin Rinks for Family Skate with my sister, BIL and nephew and LB and her family. I hadn't been on skates for nearly 10 years, but after a somewhat shaky start I remembered how to do it. Not that I was graceful or anything, but at least I didn't fall down. Kyra is doing really well with her skating. Going with the Grade Ones once a month is doing wonders for her. Tonight was her 4th time on skates and she was skating slowly around without the bar. Kyle was a bit leary at first but he hung onto our hands for a while and used the bar for part of the time. In the end he had a blast and wants us to buy him skates!

Afterwards we went to Timmy's for hot chocolate and doughnuts. The kids still went to bed as soon as we got home and actually fell asleep in spite of the sugar!

I got this via email from my mom's cousin. Some of these are just too cute. There was a large list so I just picked my favorites.

Why Did God make Mothers?
1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

Why Did Your Mom Marry Your Dad ?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.

Who's The Boss At Your House?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goofball
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad.

What Does Your Mom Do In Her Spare Time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long

Another deep thought from bed last night!

Since there seems to be more turmoil in the world than usual, and heated debates about almost everything, I have actually been paying even less attention to the news than I normally do, and I have never been anything approaching a news junkie. I am also somewhat selfish and self-absorbed, so most of the time I could care less what is happening outside of my life. I concluded that I have several circles of "personal radar". As the circles move outward from me in the middle, the people in each circle get less and less of my time, energy and attention. Since my brain wouldn't shut off once it got started, I partially categorized each circle. The things I do to fall asleep!

Inner circle - Toni and the kids. My primary concern is my relationship with my husband, followed very closely by the health and well-being of our children.

Next circle out - Immediate family and close friends. The people we love and care about. I worry if someone is having a hard time. I give advice if it is asked for and I actually have something helpful to say. Most of the time I have sounding board status.

Third circle - extended family, friends we don't see as much, people I know from school, Toni's work, etc. These people are screen blips until I see them in person. If something terrible were to happen to any one of them, I would feel sad and very sorry that it happened, but it would not personally devestate me. If that sounds cold, maybe it is. I know the limits of my compassion I guess.

Fourth circle - my bulletin board and blog friends, people from the Angel Quilt Project. Even though I interact with most of you on a daily basis you still have to be in the fourth circle, unless I happen to know you personally. Following the crisis scenario above, I would be concerned when something goes wrong ( ie. when Stacey's son disappeared ) and will definitely send good thoughts your way.

Fifth circle - perfect strangers. No blips for you. Unless I do catch the news and notice something. Some of my fellow British Columbians have been forced to evacuate their homes due to ice jams in rivers causing flooding. My response to the story, "Oh dear, I hope those poor people don't loose their houses." Maybe a 5 second blip actually. For the most part this circle also falls under the category of minding my own business. I do not care how they live, where they work, how they vote, who they sleep with or marry, etc. My brain would over load if I tried to care about that stuff.


So if something I say to you or post about comes off as callous or cold, or shallow, or self-centered, you have been warned.

Kyra was eating soup at dinner and Toni asked her to go let the dog back in. I said that she should finish her soup first. He was hovering over the stove making grilled cheese and didn't see how much was left in her bowl. He left the stove and came and said that yes she should finish her soup. The rest of the conversation follows:

Kyra - "if you are so worried about it, you go let the dog in."
(me trying to not to laugh)
Toni is kind of staring her down now - "Who is the king of the castle around here?"
Kyra - "Mommy!"


That's my girl.........

I was thinking about this last night before I fell asleep. I often think of great blog topics at that time of day, but by morning I am in "get Kyra to school mode" and I forget all about it. Gotta start writing stuff down!

Last evening, after dinner and before the kids went to bed, we were all doing our own thing. Kyle was on the kids' computer playing "Bailey's bookhouse" (CD that teaches kids alphabet, 3-letter words, etc. ), Kyra was playing in her room, I was sitting in the living room stitching, and Toni was on the main computer installing something that we probably don't actually need. I realized that this is a fairly common occurance in our house. Even right now, Kyle is on the other computer doing Bailey's bookhouse again. He is obsessed with it and now knows how to spell "tub". We got a book from the school library today and read that when we got home. The kids are pretty good at being left to their own devices, something Toni and I have encouraged. If you have imagination and can amuse yourself you are never bored or lonely. I think since Toni and I have that kind of personality though, the kids are like that as well.

When my sister and I were kids, my mom never sent me to my room as punishment because it never worked. I would be like "see ya!" and disappear for 2 hours to colour, or read, or play Lite-Brite, or whatever. Kristi, social creature that she is, couldn't stand it if she was sent to her room. She would last 5 minutes and then be asking Mom if she could come out now. Her 16-month-old son seems to be following in her footsteps. Part of it is just his age, but he has always squawked if you happened to be talking to someone else and not looking at him! Now he cries if she leaves the room. Again, partly age, but also personality.

Last evening, I thought if a stranger was suddenly dropped in our midst 45 minutes or so after dinner, what would that person think? Maybe, "These people are ignoring one another!" Yes we were all in our own area of the house, but we were still all in the house together. And we weren't totally separate the whole time either. Kyra came by to see my Winter Queen progress before going downstairs to watch TV. I took a stitching break to see what Toni was up too, and to hug him and kiss the back of his neck while he sat at the computer.

Sometimes I think parents can get too concerned with "DOING THINGS WITH THE CHILDREN" and a) don't give kids their own space or b)don't give themselves any space. We did things as a family all the time when I was kid. But also if my mom was reading a book and wanted peace and quiet Kristi and I were fully expected to go away and leave her alone for a while. Sometimes we were allowed to "help" Dad build something. Sometimes we asked him 25 questions too many and were told to "go find something to do" or "go bug your mother".

Toni has always been happy with his own company too. But when you are born when one sister is almost 15, your brother is 13 1/2 and your other sister just turned 10, you kind of don't have any choice. So I guess that is another area where we agree and get along. We love each other but are not joined at the hip. The kids seem to be figuring it out now too.

Got these from Laura's blog.

Thanks everyone for their germs! Kyle came home from Bertha's on Thursday afternoon complaining of a sore stomach. He lasted until 4:30 and proceeded to throw up for basically the next hour. He was fine after that and all day Friday. Yesterday he was tired and whiny and then Kyra started complaining of a sore stomach.

Kyle was in bed for maybe half an hour before he barfed all over his pillow and his pj's. Poor little guy had to jump in the shower so I could clean it out of his hair. Back to bed for him, then it was Kyra's turn to hunch over the toilet off and on. Kyle did it again around 10:00 ( smart us put 2 towels in his bed ) and Kyra was up twice in the night.

This morning I Lysoled the whole house, Toni opened all the windows for some fresh air, and I bleached the kids bathroom. So quiet time today, and I hope Kyra makes it to school tomorrow.

Today marks the 3rd anniversary of my mother-in-law’s death. I just kind of realized that today was the 20th. Day-to-day matters like Kyra’s hot lunch day at school have been on my mind. Funny how a date in one year is mundane and in another year is momentous.

Sunday, January 20th, 2002 was a beautiful sunny day. Mom died in the morning, unfortunately shortly before we made it to Richmond. We still got to see her and say goodbye though. In hindsight I am kind of sorry I did that. It’s a bit morbid.

The following Saturday we had a memorial service, followed by a fairly typical family dinner/party. We gave Mom a great send-off. I am sure she was tsk-tsking us the whole time, while being secretly amused at her crazy, fun-loving offspring.

Here’s to you Mom, we miss you. Prosit!

Actually it was 2 teas and a hot chocolate, but whatever. I just spent some time at TH with my 2 best friends. Much better than talking to my kids or hubby ( who almost shoved me out the door and thought he was being funny by turning off the outside lights ). He knows that I am happier with some non-mommy time, smart man!

Thanks for the chat ladies, illuminating as always. And those overalls of Mike Holmes' are sexy!

I am just glad that it warmed up or we would be having a helluva dump of snow. Thank goodness for 4C! I love "regular" winter in SW BC!

Had to slog to school in slush though. The drains are mostly plugged so huge puddles everywhere. Our neighbours are away and they have the drain at the end of their driveway. This morning on the way home from dropping off Weezer I dug around at it and made sure it was clear. It was fine all day until about 1:30 when several idiot drivers went through the slushy bits on the road and sprayed it all back in again. Then it was far too heavy for me to shovel so poor Toni had to go and dig it out again at 5:00 when he got home.

Okay, I promise no more weather posts for a while!

So far my screaming rotation is working great. I did several hours on Summer Queen and now she actually looks like something instead of a weird alien. I finished her neck, did some of her left shoulder and leaves and flowers there, and I finished the back-stitching on her face and neck.

I will load the pictures off of the camera card soon and do a few updates to my web page. Then I can post some pictures here on my blog and on various appropriate stitching bulletin boards.

Now onto some of the Wisper on Autumn's cloak and a few little things that will eventually be magnets and Christmas ornies.

at least according to one of the other PAC moms! This morning Kyle and I spent the entire time in the parents room. He was happily playing with the toys with another little boy and I was counting hot lunch money with 2 other moms. Normally there are more of us but the other ladies where doing lice checks all over the school. Sherry, Marina and I were quite happy to sit and count mostly coins. We all drank seveal cups of coffee and at one point Marina did make the comment about the money smelling like coffee. It was true to, sort of mixed with that metallic-y money smell. Thank you to the person who paid for their kids lunch with a $1.50 in nickels.

The school fundraiser was also today. Each class did extra excercise in the gym and they all collected pledges this week. The school raised $2150 to donate to the Red Cross for the tsunami relief effort. Yay Watson!

I dragged my butt around today big time. I think I am frantically fighting off everyone else's cold, plus I have my period this week. Fun! I was reading to the kids around 3:30 and felt really tired. I asked them if they would go and have quiet time while Mommy layed down. Kyra said she would put a movie on downstairs. (Six years old and can work the DVD player better than me.)

Next thing I know it's 6:00 and the garage door is going up because Toni is home. Yikes! Thank goodness my kids are good and don't destroy the house. Kyra is pretty good at keeping her brother in line. The doors are always locked so I don't feel bad that they would be in danger or anything, mostly since they are pretty responsible. I did have things I kind of had to do though. Oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Since I will be 36 in March, IT WOULD APPEAR NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You Are 23 Years Old

23 Under 12: You are a kid at heart. You still have an optimistic life view - and you look at the world with awe. 13-19: You are a teenager at heart. You question authority and are still trying to find your place in this world. 20-29: You are a twentysomething at heart. You feel excited about what's to come... love, work, and new experiences. 30-39: You are a thirtysomething at heart. You've had a taste of success and true love, but you want more! 40+: You are a mature adult. You've been through most of the ups and downs of life already. Now you get to sit back and relax.

Your Famous Blogger Twin is Wil Wheaton

You're a friendly, funny guy (or girl) next doorWith more than a touch of geekiness

What's that gagging noise? Oh it's Lisa from all the way down Cumberland!

I have been thinking about this over the last week, but I couldn't really make up my mind about what I wanted to do. So I thought about writing it down to make myself think about it. Here goes:

-Definitely get my current scrapbook finished. I have about another 2-3 evenings of work to get it done. I need to buy some zoo stickers from Lisa first.
-Clear together enough money on VISA to order newspaper articles from Sept. 2000. I want to do a page of "current events" from the month my daughter turned two. Since 2000 was one of those interesting years in history, I thought this would be a good idea. I will pick some from our local paper and some from a web site I found with newpaper archives on it. I've already checked out the site and found some articles about the Olympics in Sydney and former Prime Minisiter Pierre Trudeau's funeral. One I get this double page "news" spread done, my 2000-2001 scrapbook will be completely finished.
-As far as stitching goes I will just continue to rotate as I have previously. I am going to change the slots around though and put more small stuff in the rotation. Since I do 50 hours ( 25 total for the round on Angel of the Sea, and 5 hours each for 5 other projects ) and I have 9 projects on the go, not all will fit in each round.
-Finish the Sheltie pillow. I need to take my fabric to Lisa's and borrow her rotary cutter to do 4 sashing strips. Then it's a simple matter of dragging out the sewing machine one weekend.


So those are my priorities. Maybe I will revise them in June or July depending on what I get done in the next 6 months. Now that I have put this in writing maybe I will actually accomplish some of it!

1) What color (or colors) is your home painted on the interior?
Mostly boring white, with sanitorium green moulding, window sills, and doors. We have lived here for 6 months and I am getting sick of the walls!
2) What color (or colors) is your home painted on the exterior?
Beige vinyl siding with burgundy trim that needs repainting.
3) If you could paint your car any color with no loss in value,what color would it be?
Not my car, it's DH's and I don't think he cares that the truck it white or not.
4) Do you paint your fingernails and toenails? What is yourfavorite color for each if you do?
Used to paint fingers various colours. Now I have fallen back into my bad nibbling habit.
5) Have you ever played paintball? Have you ever wanted to?
Not my idea of a good time.

Well not according to School District 33 anyway. The superintendant must have been raised on the prairies or something and doesn't get how SW BCers can't drive in the snow. Bunch of districts closed today but not Chilliwack! Fortunately Daddy stayed home due to Sumas being totally ugly ( Greyhound bus in the ditch ugly ) so he dropped Kyra off and then went to Superstore. He said he had a leisurely stroll around since the store was virtually empty. For those of who have not experienced Superstore, it's NEVER empty.

So since Toni is home, the dog has a walking path through the backyard, Kyle got a little play time and I took some pictures. Updated web site link coming up as soon as I get the Dreamweaver book back from Nerissa.


PS- glad to see that -2C is finally cold enough for my pixie to be wearing a coat.

Yes my old man is 61 today. I was chatting on MSN with him a while ago and his big plans for the day are to take down his Christmas lights and get a haircut. I guess when you turn 61 it's not such a big deal any more! He and Mom are going out for dinner when she gets home from work. We will be going there on Sunday ( barring Mother Nature getting even worse and dumping some snow to go with our -15 windchill ).

Colour scheme in honour of Dad. For family board games he always says, "I want to be green or I am not playing!"

Oh I cannot wait! My 2 have been at each other's throats for the last few days. I think they need space from one another. Kyle accused Kyra of making the TV screen go black this morning. Actually she had just taken out a DVD and forgot to turn off the the DVD player. He was acting like she did it on purpose just to piss him off. So he got told off and sent to his room.
She has a had a nasty cold for the last few days and is cranky because of it, so she gets snippy back to him and gets sent to her room too.

Oh I am such a bad mother for not cutting her some slack. Riiight. She's had plenty of slack almost all of the Christmas holidays. Sickness is no excuse for rudeness. So I do my best to try to teach my kids some stuff about manners, respect, etc. Some days I feel like that Greek guy rolling the ball up the hill. Sisyphus? Can't remember his name. Most days my ball rolls right back down again......

Bav does your mom want to see my well-behaved children now?

Here's to 2005 everyone!

This year should be busy and interesting. We have several family birthday milestones to celebrate and it's our 10th anniversary. We were planning on going to Vegas but we just had to go and buy a house so that likely isn't financially feasible. We could always try Harrison again and hope we don't have the flu like 5 years ago.

I am hoping to get a good amount of stitching done this year too. 2004 saw a lot of progress on various projects but no big finishes. I have made a vow to myself to work on some little stuff more this year. Like things that can be turned into fridge magnets, Christmas ornaments etc.

I also hope to finish my current scrapbook by getting the rest of 1993 done. This one I am working backwards chronologically. At some point ( maybe birthday present? ) I need to get a new album from Lisa and start going forwards chronologically from 2002. I will be giving Camp Stillwood a miss this year. Partly for financial reasons and partly due to the somewhat busy February that I can see looming. Lisa get that CM stuff ready, I'm coming over! ( we also gotta corrupt LH too )


See you all over the course of the next year. Should be fun!