Cabin Fever

My hair is almost in dreadlocks. My face could stop a train. Ugh. I need to have a shower, put on my face and get out of here! Three more days of this quarantine and I'll be sprung.

Thursday I'm traveling with my sister to Winnipeg - Mom has her results appointment with the hematologist so I'm still praying for some good news - if you get a minute, can you say one for her too, please?

Over the past few days/nights between naps and sleeps and drug-induced comas (haha) I managed to make this page of Cooper. A more serious tone than I usually do but I really loved this picture of him. And since he had his little grey jacket and toque on, I decided to play on the simple colours of the page and use monochromatic stuff.

Click on the image to enlarge and see credits:

So I've pretty much been holding down the couch. My itching has subsided considerably but I'm still being bad and scratching when it flares up once in awhile. My spots and rash are disappearing (Thank God) and the meds must be working their magic.

Last night we went to Mom & Dad's house for supper. Mom made a gorgeous roast beef with gravy and mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. AWESOME. We stayed to visit awhile and watched the movie "Eragon". It was alright. I spent much of it chasing children and cleaning up their poop, but I think it was a good movie!

Tonight I actually cooked supper. I made an odd yet tasty concoction. Instead of spaghetti or meatloaf as I would normally do with the ground beef I took out this morning to defrost, I just started browning the ground beef and seasoning it. I tossed in a couple cups of frozen mixed vegetables and I cooked up two packages of Uncle Ben's long grain and wild rice with mushrooms and tossed that into the mixture too. Both kids ate it up. Awesome. Chris and I both enjoyed it too. It was a bit of a late supper since Chris and Carter played outside for quite awhile after Chris came home.

The snow has melted enough that our driveway is bare again and Chris got out the hose and rinsed it off. A nice sign that spring is just around the corner! With the snow melting though, we are left with heaps of dirty, sandy snow from the roads being sanded and salted all winter, so wherever there were snowbanks there are either blackened piles of snow, or just brown grass with a ton of sand all over it. Not pretty. Speaking of not pretty, there are also 823746589256 soggy cigarette butts all over the place too. Grosssss! Thanks Chris. Well, at least he smokes outside. And he was doing some raking.

Chris's Grandpa stopped by for a visit and brought us some cookies. Yummmmmm. That reminds me, I'm getting hungry, so I'm going to go get some more of them. Christy's site is down these days - she's switching to a better, more economical server, but in the meantime she is going to hell and back trying to get everything up and running again. I sent an email to the CT group to say that Christy's chat program was still working, so a bunch of us went on and had an impromptu chat - that's always fun!

Well, that's about it - I'm gonna take off and find those cookies before all the boys get them. Then I'm going to bed since I didn't sleep enough today. HA!

Two Reasons It Sucks To Be Me Today

1) We didn't win Bingo tonight.

2) Apparently I have Shingles.

All week I've had some itchy spots on my back. I've tried not to scratch but I'm the biggest freaking itching freak ever. It has turned into a blazing ring of fire around to the front of me on my right side.

Doc gave me three different prescriptions and a note for work to be off for the week since I could be contagious to little ones who haven't had the chicken pox yet. (i.e. my own children...OY)

I just took my first meds including some sort of antihistamine that will help me sleep. Yum.

Painted Teeth and a Double-Whammy

Okay, cut back to yesterday...both boys woke up with runny noses and coughs. Oy. Everything went pretty normally and I made it to work without any major issues. It's been a very busy, hectic week but the days are flying by. I picked up the boys about an hour early from the babysitter, since Cooper had an appointment for his 15-month immunizations. He barely made a sound...just a generally disgruntled yelp and he was fine. And it was a double too. Left arm Varicella, right leg Prevnar.

I took him back to my desk and got some more work done. Carter was tired and a bit grumpy, but I talked him into asking one of the dental girls to "paint his teeth". Surprisingly, he went with her and was a good little patient. Next it was Cooper's turn and he got the fluoride varnish on all eight of his teeth too with very little resistance from him. So it was one-stop shopping for all my health needs for the kids right at my office. Excellent! I managed to get all the rest of my work done for the day and surprisingly made it to closing time without any meltdowns.

We came home and I prepared an odd concoction that turned out quite delicious. Now, small disclaimer here...I've never cooked a lasagne before in my life, but I made a chicken lasagne-type-thing with oven ready lasagne noodles, hollandaise sauce, cheese and veggies. Everyone ate it. Next time I won't use those oven-ready noodles though; they weren't as tender as I'd hoped since they're so rigid when you put them in, and they don't get immersed in the sauce enough. Anyway, I'm sure I'll be making that again soon.

Last night the boys went to sleep at a fairly decent time, but did they stay sleeping? Nooooooooo. Fussy, whiny and cry-y. I mean, they had good reason, especially since Cooper had gotten two needles, but Carter just wasn't feeling well from his cold. It was rough. But everyone was a bit better this morning and I actually left the house a little earlier than the usual lately.

Today was pretty busy again, but good. I had lunch with a few of the girls...Kathy's birthday is coming up on the weekend so we celebrated today. After work I picked up the boys and went to see Chris at work (at his request since he locked himself out of his truck...heehee...so glad I'm not the only one that does that!) Then we came home. As soon as Chris got home from work I took off to Wal-Mart for baby wipes and milk. I added pizza pops and blueberry baby food to the list and still managed to come out of there UNDER twenty bucks! I was so proud of me!

I came home and Chris was at the dinner table feeding the boys. I relaxed for a bit; I'm soooo tired. I spent some more time scrapbooking. It took me forever to decide on how to finish this page but it's done and it turned out to be worth the extra effort including a couple computer crashes. You can click on the image to enlarge it and see details and credits.

I chatted with Angie while I scrapped, and we both caught up with Vicky and chatted for a bit. Angie's computer went wonky twice. I tried to ask her if it was having a stroke...a key stroke...but she was gone. My late night exhausted attempt at humour went unseen.

So that's it; I'm outta here. Tomorrow is Friday. Yay!

Do the 'Do!

Oh my God was I busy at work today. The day flew by and I got tons of stuff done, plus I covered for Donna who was off today. It was an awesome day.

I picked up the boys and came home and whipped up a deeeelicious meatloaf for supper with green beans and baked potatoes. I only had four little potatoes left, that shriveled up to almost invisibility, but it was enough to feed all of us.

After supper Chris took the Jeep down to the shop to give it a MUCH-needed bath. If I can't keep it clean, then I try to get it nice'n'dirty. I did a good job. It's been splashed many a time with all the puddles I zoomed through during last week's thaw. Now we're back to snow days again and it's been colder so hopefully it will stay clean. Then again, it's supposed to go up to 9ºC tomorrow with rain, but hopefully I'll be home with the Jeep in the garage by then.

I did some chatting with Angie and some scrapping on the computer. I did my first two-page layout using Christy's new "Tropical Sorbet" kit, available at Butternug Squash Designs tomorrow. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

It's nearly midnight and I feel like my eyeballs are turning into pumpkins...more tomorrow.

Cheerios, Church and Chilly!

First a BIG Happy Birthday to Auntie Josie!

Yesterday morning I sort of slept in but managed to get Cooper and myself ready on time (almost) to go to church. He was very good and spent most of the time shoveling in Cheerios. Kelly went too and he took turns visiting with each of us and my parents too.

After church we all went out for breakfast with Auntie Lurdes and Uncle Cliff, Uncle Bob and Auntie Josie. Cooper was good at the restaurant too. Auntie Josie gave him a piece of French toast and he was mildly interested in it. Then I dipped it in syrup and he was all over it. At first he mostly just sucked the syrup off it and kept dipping it in the saucer of syrup I gave him but he ended up eating most of it. Very cute. He managed to pop in another tooth over the weekend. Another bottom one and now that's eight of them. His look is changing with all those chompers filling in.

I squeezed in a long nap while the boys both slept in the afternoon. That was awesome. I actually woke up before they did and sneaked in a little time on the computer with nobody trying to take the mouse or pull the keyboard off my lap. Then we started getting a crrrrrrapload of snow. Any possible signs of spring have been obliterated once again. But driving got way funner again! hee.

For supper I tried something quasi-new. Pork tenderloin, but this time instead of cutting it into medallions and pan-frying them with seasoning, I left it whole and used the Victorian Epicure beef & steak rub and rubbed it all over then seared it in a frying pan and roasted it in the oven. It was very good. I made long grain & wild rice with mushrooms and peaches'n'cream corn. Yummmm.

Desperate Housewives was a rerun...a good one, but I can't wait 'til they put the new stuff back on. So we watched it and I chatted with Angie. I have no new scrap pages, but I did get on to a new scrap site...and it's Canadian! So it was fun to meet some new gals that live practically in my back yard! It's called Canadian Digital Scrappers Unite! I posted a couple new layouts there and made a new blinkie for the scrap sites I go to and a new blinkie for my blog:




Today I almost slept in. Luckily Chris was taking the day off and made sure I got up. A little later than I would have liked, but I got everything and everyone ready to go. It was bloody cold out and of course I wasn't dressed for it. But the boys were and I took them to the sitter. We were having a perfect morning behaviour-wise until we arrived at the sitter. And Carter changed his mind about which door he wanted to exit the Jeep from and proceeded to get a bit huffy. I left him there in all his crankiness and went to work.

Mondays always seem to be the busiest. The highways were closed because of the weather and a number of vehicle collisions. It reopened some time in the afternoon. I picked up the boys from work and came home. Chris had taken some walleye out of the freezer and I lightly breaded it and pan-fried it in butter. I made homemade French fries (again...but they are soooooo good) and we had peaches'n'cream corn again. Delicious. And plenty left for Chris's lunch tomorrow. The boys did a fairly good job of eating their supper.

After supper we figured nothing good would be on TV so we watched one of Carter's movies in the living room. He hasn't been watching any movies in his room for about a week. That seems to be a good thing. I did some chatting with my scrapping buddies and participated a little bit on a scrapbooking chat. Somewhere in there I dyed my roots (OMG they grow so quickly) and fed Cooper some cereal before bed. He and Carter both zonked out in the living room on the floor. I carried Cooper to bed and Carter got up on his own and retired to his tent. Now I'm fading fast and I'm going to bed so I don't sleep in again tomorrow.

And silly me, I didn't blow-dry my hair so I'll have extra work to do to it in the morning. I'm just scared to take the towel off my head in case I did a hideous job of colouring it. I had to buy a different brand since they didn't have my Nice'n'Easy #117. I'm outta here.

S-NOOOOOOOO-W!!!

The Days Are Getting Longer

Friday was a good'n'busy day at work. I finished a huge project I've been wanting to take on, and over a couple days I managed to type about thirty pages of text amid my other regular duties. I'd have thought my typing would get a little more accurate but my little bad habits and shortcuts are still there. Anyway, it made for a good day at the office.

Kelly and I had planned to go to Bingo last night, but at the last minute Chris called to tell me he had to go out on a service call and wouldn't be home for a couple hours. Nooooooo! He actually managed to get it done and get home in time for us to do a quick Tim Horton's run, a McDonald's run for Chris for supper, (I had already fed the boys supper) and we still made it to Bingo on time.

I actually won something...It was a hundred dollar game but there was another winner along with me. So Kelly and I got to share fifty bucks. Not as good a return on our investment as a couple weeks ago, but it was still fun. We were very close on many other games too.

Today was a quiet one. When Chris got home from work I was napping with the boys. They both got up and I tried to stay napping but that was futile. Mom and Dad stopped in and I did Mom's hair for her while Dad went out for his usual coffee run. Uncle Bob & Auntie Josie stopped in to see Mom. Cooper has had the runs a few times today and I had to give him a bath. After everyone left I put on my face and fixed my hair and took Carter shopping. First was Wal-Mart for most of it. I hate running out of all the toiletry items at the same time. Kleenex, toilet paper, paper towel, diapers, pull-ups, dish soap, shampoo, milk and bread and some frozen veggies and pizza pops. That was pretty much it for a hundred and thirty-four bucks.

Next was Safeway for a couple more food items and then home. I was too tired/lazy by the time we got home that the pork tenderloin I took out for supper got refrigerated and we had the pizza pops for supper. Cooper ate a whole one! Carter only nibbled on his. I'll cook the pork tomorrow. I'm hoping to get my butt in gear in the morning and go to church.

Chris is gone out to a social for his buddy's brother-in-law. I tried watching the rest of "Stranger Than Fiction". I liked it but I had many interruptions from the boys so I might just try watching it one more time, but not tonight. It's not even eleven and I'm almost falling asleep already. Good thing I rented it for the week and it doesn't have to go back 'til Tuesday.

Light a Candle

Well not much has been going on the past couple days, therefore I haven't blogged. Yesterday was fairly ordinary with a fairly ordinary supper. I made homemade chicken fingers and homemade French fries. I deep-fried the fries. Everything is better deep-fried.

Had an ordinary evening. Haven't been watching TV at all this week. I'm going to take the TV out of Carter's room; he seems to always want to go in his room to watch movies. I'd rather see what he's watching and have us all in one room together. So that's what we've tried this week. And I didn't miss American Idol at all...

Today it got freaking cold out again. Freaking. Seriously. -25º. That hurt compared to the mild stuff we've been having. I feel like such a wimp after things thaw for a day or two then it blasts us again and it seems colder than the whole winter did. Everything is frozen solid again and anywhere there was still snow on the roads turned into deep frozen ruts. More melting, please.

Today was an emotional one. I'm hoping you can all help me pray for my Mom. She found out today that she does not in fact have Lupus as she was diagnosed last year, (and she never agreed with the diagnosis...this woman knows her body, I tell you.) However, they are now testing her for lymphoma. God please help my Mom.

I haven't been able to think of much else today so this is just a short blog post. I'm hoping for a warm and happy weekend with my family.

Me. With Glasses

Wow it's a "balmy" 37ºF here today, 3ºC, which means everything is MELTING!!! And just when I think it's a beeeeeyooooteeeeful day, I read Angie's blog only to find it's 77ºF there. Oy.

So here's a picture of me with the glasses. One of the girls at work took the picture for me. Don't I look ridiculous!?

For supper we went to Cindy's place. We had an awesome fish fry with fresh walleye and northern, homemade french fries and coleslaw. Fresh fruit and dip, chocolate cream pie and cheesecake for dessert.

After supper we watched "Borat". OMG how hideously inappropriate yet hysterical at times. There were quite a few laughs out loud. Carter fell asleep while we were there and awakened briefly when we dressed him to go. Cooper only dozed briefly on the way home then was up to party for quite awhile. He's sleeping near my feet on the floor where he finally crashed. I'm pretty sure he's down for the count so it should be okay to move him to his bed without waking him.

So last night I really did myself in finishing this page of Cooper. I couldn't decide what else it needed and had a hard time deciding when to quit. Now I like it. But I stayed up really late and pressed snooze about 10 too many times this morning. I made it to work on time though and had a good day. I skipped American Idol again and didn't miss it one bit. Now it's just after eleven and I'm heading for bed.

Beth Brought Bread!!!

Here is a layout I did of Beth's and my visit the other day. I've gotten a few comments on it at some of the various galleries I post at, but this one stood right out from Thena at Digishoptalk:

How was I to know
When I signed online
That I would meet you
And you would be
Such a great friend of mine?
How did it happen
That when we finally
Met face to face
It was a long time friend
That I was to embrace?

That's been my favourite comment to date...it really sums it up! And today, while I was gone for lunch, Beth stopped in at my office and brought me a fresh, soft, wonderful loaf of homemade bread! I can't believe I wasn't there! Thank you Beth! It was great and my hubby went nuts over it!

Yesterday Chris took Carter fishing again, but not at my parents' house this time. He went with a bunch of people and Carter had a BLAST! They stayed out all afternoon and part of the evening. Chris brought him home soaking wet and asleep. He didn't even wake when we peeled off his wet boots, socks and snowpants. I slipped a pull-up on him and chucked him in his tent with a warm fluffy duvet. He was damp and cold, but only moments later was all toasty and warm. If that were me I'd still be shivering! My kids are both warm sleepers!

Some time in the afternoon I (finally) heard from Angie and she had discovered the blog post with the Beth visit. I got just the reaction from her that I had hoped for..."Hey, that looks like Beth holding Cooper....HEY THAT'S BETH AND MELANY!!!" Seems as though Angie would have loved to be there with us, but not as much as we wanted her to be with us. Can't wait to have a full-on Butternug Squash reunion. If it ever happens there will be no shortage of squishy hugs and tears and screaming and, well, complete and utter silliness. I can't wait.

Another noteworthy item of yesterday was Cooper's addition of not one, but TWO NEW TEETH!!! There was a top one that was visible through his gums but not cutting through for quite some time, but it was a sneaky little one on the bottom that made it through first. Then later in the day the top one peeked out too. So now he has SEVEN teeth! Wow!

Not much else is going on around here. All the shows are reruns now until May sweeps so I might just get a little more scrapping done. I need to scan in some old pictures and get busy.

I was very excited to find I've had over TWO THOUSAND hits on my blog this week, only of course because of the new scrapbooking graphics freebie I posted. It's always cool to see people from so many countries from all over the world coming to my blog anyway! And there have been almost six hundred downloads of my new freebies. How fun.

The time change really screwed up bedtime around here. I just got Cooper down about fifteen minutes ago and in the morning I just want to sleep in 'cause it seems like six-thirty gets here way faster now. Well I'm still feeling pretty awake, so I'm gonna try to do some scrapping.

Surprise!

Yep, that's Beth, and that's me. No photo alterations. You can see good ol' Tim Horton's in the background. Beth came to town today and we got to meet! We met at Timmy's and her hubby Tony took this picture of us.

We had an awesome visit and I kept saying I felt like we'd done this a hundred times. Cooper came along and was a very good boy, enjoying a small box of Timbits. Of course I helped him but he did a good job of polishing them off.

Tony had dropped her off so once we were ready to go...(I'm sure we could still be there talking!) I took her for a drive around and showed her where I live and where I work. I dropped her off at Tony's sister's place and came home to post the pictures.

I took Cooper to Mom & Dad's where Cindy and her family, Chris and Carter, my Dad, Bob's brother's family and some of their friends were all ice fishing. Dad built this awesome igloo; I was holding Cooper so it was hard to take more pictures, but here is a good one of Dominic & Noah in it. Carter was asleep in Chris's truck when I arrived; I'd love to take some pictures of him in the igloo too. Maybe tomorrow. Very cool.

We came home and unloaded the boys. I had to run to the grocery store for milk and I really stocked up. I picked up four two-litres of 2% and four two-litres of soy milk. I'm hoping that lasts us the week. And I just remembered this very second that we're out of toilet paper. Dang it! Oh well. Kleenex is softer anyway; I'll go to Wal-Mart tomorrow.

It's still early but I think I might go crash. Carter was watching a movie - I'll go see if he's still awake and finish watching the movie with him. I sure wish Angie were here. I'm DYING to see her reaction to this blog post. Beth and I sure wished Angie could have been here too!

Baby Elements FREEBIE!

Ahhhhhhhh. At long last. I'm creating things again. Must be settling into my routine.

Here are some brand new freebies for y'all. I made these baby elements to go with Christy Sturm's gorgeous new kit called "Baby Prep". Perfect for so many things and no matter the gender.

Here is a preview of Christy's kit...you can click on the image to go check it out at her store...go check it out; she's gone TONNNNNNNNS of awesome new stuff.



Here is a preview of the element shapes I made that were inspired by Christy's kit. There are four download links; one for each style of elements. Below the main preview is a closeup preview to show detail.



**Edited to add: Unfortunately I ran out of bandwidth due to the number of downloads and files at my box.net But I should get a new 'batch' of bandwidth next week!**

Download #1 - Mellykat Baby Elements - Brown Chipboard

Download #2 - Mellykat Baby Elements - Denim

Download #3 - Mellykat Baby Elements - Pink Fabric

Download #4 - Mellykat Baby Elements - Yellow Painted Wood

Please see the enclosed terms of use and...enjoy!

Gettin' Springy Widdit

Today things actually started melting. That doesn't mean the temperature went above freezing, but it actually "warmed up" enough for the salt on the roads to actually work! Therefore the Jeep is a mucky filthy mess but if it means it's a slight sign of Spring, I'll take it! Speaking of Spring, can you believe we "spring forward" our clocks this weekend!?

It's been a busy week at work with Donna away but manageable. The girl who covered my maternity leave came in for a couple days to help out and it helps tons to have her there.

On Tuesday, Chris came home late from work. I started supper shortly before he came home and it was quick and easy. I did a quickie-defrost of a pork tenderloin...a little too quickie 'cause the edges started to cook in the microwave. I hate that! Microwaved meat = gross. But it wasn't too bad. I seasoned the meat and whipped up a batch of twice-baked potatoes with cheese and onions and real bacon bits and covered with cheese. Mmmmmmmmmm. I nuked some broccoli and cauliflower.

I stayed up way past my bedtime and suffered the consequences yesterday. I was sleepy but made it through the day just fine. Yesterday's supper was from Subway. I was so tired that I got Chris to pick it up. Last night I didn't do ANYthing on the computer. I was camping out in the tent with Carter by 9:00. I actually watched "Idol" and was totally ready for sleep after it, but humoured the new show "Wedding Bells" and passed out shortly after.

This morning my coffee angel Kelly brought me my French vanilla cappuccino and a bagel. Sweeeeeet. There was some sort of mixup with a meeting at our office and at lunchtime the caterers brought lunch for five people that was supposed to be cancelled. So a few of us stayed and had a nice little lunch. Soup and sandwiches, salad and dainties. It was great. I was treated to another FVC during afternoon coffee break, so that's probably why I'm still up. heehee. I stayed up scrapbooking and chatting with Angie, who, by the way, is the latest newest creative team member at Butternug Squash Designs! She's been promoting the site longer than I've been on the creative team but now that she's a more avid and confident digital scrapbooker, she went for it, and got on the team. Woohoo! I also stayed up to give her blog and my blog facelifts. I used Miss Mint's latest kit on mine, and Christy's Fruity Garden kit on Angie's. Fun stuff.

Tonight Chris came home and played outside with Carter for quite awhile since it was so mild out. He suggested barbecuing and I actually remembered to take some chicken breasts out of the freezer this morning! I found some marinade I had already made from before in the fridge, and did a quick marinade for the chicken. While Chris barbecued, I (again at Chris's request) made twice-baked potatoes again. The chicken was moist and delicious with great flavour from the marinade. Chris did a wonderful job at the barbecue; especially since he ran out of propane about half-way through and had to use one of the tanks from the camper!

The boys did a great job eating supper. I took a few pictures of Cooper (yes, it's been AGES since I posted any pics of the boys on here)...enjoying his mashed potatoes:




Little goofball...and look at all those little teeth he's showing off. He's still at five teeth but number six is just barely hiding in his gums. It should make it through any day. So obviously Mr. Potato Head needed a bath. Carter dove in for a swim too, and once I got Cooper all clean, I took him out so Carter could swim around a bit longer. He was being pretty funny, and actually let me take some pictures of him, but of course not without making an insanely crazy face. Then he let me take a nice one; I wish he'd smile like the latter one for pictures all the time!



So once I got both boys off to bed, I managed to actually get a scrapbook page done! Thanks to Angie for her encouragement; I've been in such a scrapbooking slump lately. It just seems like by the time the boys go to bed, I'm toast and even if I stay up I can't focus on a page long enough to get the details worked out enough to like it. I managed to finish this page that I started on the weekend. You can click on the image to enlarge it and see credits.


Well, it's suuuuuuuuuuper late. It's so late it's getting early. Yikes. I'm off to bed. Just gonna check email one more time...

Blustery Be Gone!

It has been freaking cold and windy here for far too long. I could handle winter much more easily without the wind.

So today was a good one. No major conflicts, no head injuries. Gotta love it.

I got up this morning and seemed to have plenty of time to get everything done, even though I pressed snooze about three too many times. I got ready and made breakfast for the boys. Carter ate breakfast while Cooper was still asleep. Carter took a bath while Cooper ate breakfast. I got both of them dressed and ready and off to the sitter without any major hitches.

Carter is still trying to flex his attitude muscles, but I squelched any outbursts early before anything escalated into something hissy. Calm and quiet. It's working. Weird. Now Cooper is starting to act like a little monkey. He gets in Carter's face and goes after toys that Carter is playing with. I guess he's trying to get in some payback. So I'm trying to teach him a thing or two, and I think Carter likes that he's not the only one getting a talking-to!

Work went well, and very quickly. Kelly worked twelve hours last night but we talked this morning right after she got home and she still wanted to do lunch. I'd have dropped hours before that, but we decided instead of going out somewhere for lunch that I'd bring her Subway. We had a nice visit and ate our lunch.

I went back to work and had an equally quick afternoon. With Donna off this week, things will fly by because I have extra stuff to do.

I picked up the boys after work and we came home. Chris came home shortly after, and we had leftovers from Cindy's house from last night. That was easy, especially since I neglected (totally forgot) to take anything out of the freezer.

Tomorrow we'll have chicken I think, if I remember to take some out before bed or before work. This evening, I popped over to Kelly's to help her install some new computer software and she gave me a book to lend my Mom so I stopped in there too. Chris actually let me out of the house with no kids for a whole hour! haha.

I came home and we watched "Heroes"...still interesting but the plot has become so convoluted. And they aren't showing any new episodes until April 23rd. Saving the good stuff for May Sweeps I guess.

That's about it for now. It's just after ten but I'm ready to fold. Tomorrow is our team meeting at work - that always makes the morning fly by so it should be another quick day.

The Bad With The Good

First of all, a BIG Happy 40th Birthday to BOB!!!

Oy. Thursday was a doozy.

It started out AWESOME. The supply order I did on Wednesday arrived, and with being the hyuuuuuge geek that I am, to me it was just like Christmas. I had a BLAST putting everything away and organizing everything in the new little shelf organizers I picked up. It looks like Martha Stewart was in our supply cupboard. heehee.

I went to a funeral in the afternoon for the mother of some near and dear friends to me. Back when Marsha came to visit at the end of August, the two of us went to visit JoAnn, the mom of the people we both worked for at the tourist camp we used to work at. JoAnn had suffered a stroke quite some time before our visit (before this visit I had last seen her in the hospital when she had her stroke)...so that visit with Marsha was the last time I saw her. I'm so glad we had that visit.

Seeing everyone again after such a long time, many memories came flooding back to me and I was overwhelmed. One of her daughters gave a lovely eulogy about their mom and made mention of everyone in their family and how great the connection was to each one.

After the processional, I had a brief moment with each one of them, giving them a long squeezy hug and telling them I'm so glad I got to be a part of her life. I'm tellin' ya, the lady was somethin' else.

I went back to work a big wad of snot and tears (to coin a phrase from my friend Christy) but I managed to get through the rest of the workday. It was better for me to keep busy at work than to sit somewhere by myself and focus on my sadness. I had no idea how hard it would hit me. I'm so glad I went.

So I was an emotional wastebasket by the time I picked up the boys. We stopped by Chris's shop on the way home. When we got home, Carter wanted to come out of the Jeep on Cooper's side. But the night before Chris had taken out Carter's car seat so I could take the Jeep to Bingo. He had moved all the extra snowpants and blankets etc. to the floor in front of Cooper's seat and I didn't want him stepping on everything. So when I tried to get him out his own side, all hell broke loose. He started a hissy fit that would rival any other hissy fit in history. I got him out of the Jeep then he wouldn't follow me to the house so I left him in the garage screaming and went to unlock the house.

I weighed my options...it was too much time to take Cooper in the house and either put him in the playpen or put up the baby gate. So I just unlocked the door and went back for him. I had to coax him toward the house and when we got to the door I hadn't opened it enough and had to let go of him and he took off on me again. I did not have the strength or will to deal with defiance. I got him again and we were going into the house when all of a sudden we all went down. I do not know if he slipped or tripped me, but I fell. Hard. I thought I fell on both of them. All I could imagine was landing on Cooper's head on the steps. OMG the scariest thing EVER. I managed to get us all vertical again, terrified to look at the boys. Everything was fine, except Carter was still hissy.

We got inside and I looked over the boys and they didn't have a scratch on them. Thank GOD. But I was another story. I bumped my head (presumably on the steps inside), bruised my knee and elbow and rapped and skinned my knuckle. I'm telling you my guardian angel was really watching out for us and I somehow turned in such a way that the boys were okay. So anyway, that really SUCKED for me.

Chris came home and helped me get the boys settled in then he went back to work to work on his truck. Kelly stopped by to drop off some movies for us to borrow, and she did a fabulous drive-by. She checked if we were okay (had talked to her on the phone) and brought me a 4-pack of Mott's Clamato Cocktails. She also was on her way to Wal-Mart and picked up both kinds of milk for me (regular and soy) so I wouldn't' have to go out. Chris picked up takeout on the way home so that helped too.

On Thursday night we watched Earl then ditched ER and Chris watched "The Departed". Holy explicit language, Batman! I didn't really get into the story and didn't even stay up late enough to watch the ending. I chatted with Kelly a bit and then I went and camped out with Carter and slept like a log.

Friday morning was okay. I was a little stiff and sore from the fall, but not bad. The goose-egg on my head was still there and despite the pain from my bruised parts, I had no bruises to show for it. No sympathy bruising, but at least that means my blood must be doing its job properly. Everyone seemed to be cooperating and we all got ready with enough time to do our Third-Or-Fourth-So-Far-Weekly-Friday-Morning-Tim-Horton's-Run. I picked up an FVC and bagel for myself, and a bagel for the boys and an FVC for Carter and the babysitter and went to work. As a last minute plan, four of us girls from the office went for lunch. We had a lovely lunch and went back to work.

After work and after Chris came home, I took off for the grocery store on a quest for steak for supper. Do you think I could find beef tenderloin at any of THREE grocery stores that are at almost the farthest proximities they could possibly be in this city? NO. I settled for some lovely rib-eye steaks. I'm not a steak-snob by any means but once in awhile I love to go get the really good stuff. It's our favourite!

I came home and sautéed some sliced mushrooms in butter, steamed some asparagus, made some hollandaise sauce (from a package even though I have a recipe somewhere I'm too lazy to try), prepared the steaks with an awesome spice rub (no time to marinate!) and I sent Chris out into the cold to barbecue the steaks. It was a very quick supper preparation-wise. Shopping took way longer than preparing and eating combined.

Carter actually ate a bunch of asparagus. Cooper threw most of his supper on the floor. This is a fun new trick he loves to do. Carter won the kids' prize for eating supper. That never happens. By the time all this happened, it was getting late and I must have called it a night early again, since I don't remember even watching anything on TV.

Saturday morning Chris went to work as usual and the boys and I got up as usual. All was well and they even took a late-morning nap. Chris came home and gathered up his fishing stuff. He took Carter out to my parents' house to go fishing with one of his buddies from work. I got a little tiny nap in while Cooper was still sleeping. We had a super sudsy bath and had macaroni and cheese for supper since Chris and Carter were still gone.

Another early evening for me; I couldn't even stay up for MAD TV. And it starts at ten. I was hoping to get up for church in the morning, so I got an early start to my sleeping.

So that brings me to this morning. I had washed my hair yesterday, well, with a lot of help from Cooper since he splashes like a tidal wave. But I hadn't dried my hair or styled it in any way; just put it in a pony tail while it was still damp. Fortunately I woke up with time to shower, wash my hair, blow it dry, iron it, put on my face and get dressed. I really wanted to take Carter on a date since we had a rough couple days, so I conned him into thinking we were going to Wal-Mart. He didn't seem to mind that I tricked him into going to church so that was cool. My Mom was there, and Auntie Lurdes and Uncle Cliff. He was a little hyper and fidgety and a little noisy and "yelly" at times, but not overly disturbing. We survived the hour. Next stop was going out with the family for breakfast.

Hell broke loose again when I tried to give him a booster seat. He didn't want it. He didn't want anything after that. He launched into the hugest screaming fit. I really felt like the best candidate for one of those Super Nanny 911 shows. Fortunately we hadn't ordered yet, and I attempted to get his jacket on and get the heck out of there. I calmly picked him up, kicking and screaming and took him to the Jeep, half wrapped in his jacket. I put him in his car seat, though he was stiffened out like a board. I got his seatbelt on and he gave me the hugest smack in the face. It took a lot of inner soul searching not to give him one back, and I just closed the door and started to drive home. Carter started apologizing and saying he wanted a hug. Does he know how to work me or what!!!

I called Chris on the way home and told him to come out and get Carter. He did, though it took a few minutes. Unfortunately I had awakened Chris and Cooper when I phoned, so I scooped up Cooper and took him in my room to try to get him sleeping again while Chris dealt with squirrely-Carter.

I never got any sleep since Cooper was so squirmy, but I got some quiet time anyway. Carter was still apologetic to me but he was still being a little rebel all day. We got ready and went to Cindy's for the birthday supper. She made awesome spaghetti with awesome sauce with moose sausage. Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert along with a great hunting-theme cake. I'm still stuffed. Carter was a bit rambunctious with the other kids and I gave him a couple time-outs making him sit with me. He complied more quickly each time. I've found that yelling doesn't work as well as calm and silence. We'll see how the next few days go.

When we came home I missed the first few minutes of Desperate Housewives. I chatted with Angie for awhile as I worked on some cool new elements that will match Christy's latest kit coming out later this week. Now I'm watching Desperate Housewives and catching up on the few parts I missed. Then I'm off to bed so I can be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed to face the new week ahead.