Time Warp!

Holy moly it's been a fast week. Each day has been almost a clone of the last. I'll recap the little details that I can remember. There are big changes happening at work, plus it's been very busy.

I've done a little more scrapping this week, trying to make the most of the great kits I already have from NDISB to fulfill my creative team obligations while promoting the designers and using some pictures I've been needing to scrap. It's been a great month for me creatively!

I didn't do two things I intended to. I didn't make pancakes for supper on Shrove ''Pancake'' Tuesday. We had meatloaf. I also intended to go to church for Ash Wednesday, but didn't. I was feeling crappy for one, with a side dish of too lazy to dress myself and the kids to go out again after we were settled in for the evening. A nice plus was Chris actually had the Jeep down at the shop to give it a nice bath and vacuum. It even stayed clean all day today since it cooled off again, plus Kelly and I went for lunch and took her vehicle. We also went for lunch yesterday, which included a kickass hot fudge sundae. (my bad!)

Monday evening we had spaghetti for supper. I was surprised with the amount the kids ate. It might have been due in part to the cheese buns I sliced and converted into garlic toast! I just got up from trying to cuddle Cooper to sleep. I must have fallen asleep twenty times with his barely blinking an eye. I got up so I wouldn't stay sleeping and headed out to the living room to blog. He followed me, and actually finally just fell asleep on the couch beside me. I'm kind of contorted around his feet that he seems to keep stretching farther by the moment. I'm going to see if I have it in me to get one more page done tonight before I zonk out too.

Oscar Night

I managed to get through the whole Oscar show tonight. It was actually quite enjoyable. Plenty of pomp and circumstance. I have at least heard of most of the movies that were nominated this year.

Chris came home from his fishing trip today. He left Thursday evening for three nights. I'm trying to envision myself going on a 3-night trip somewhere. Highly unlikely, but totally deserved!

I had a great weekend with my boys, though we never left the house since we got home on Friday. I did a little more scrapping, which I posted without words last night.

It's pushing midnight and with Cooper asleep half on me I'm going to call it a night (early for me). He only went to sleep barely an hour ago.

Still at It

Today was kind of a crappy day. It started out with Cooper whining incessantly. First it was for a lollipop. Huh? We don't HAVE lollipops. BUTIWANTONE. Sheesh. I eventually managed to get through a whole seven-minute snooze with the snooze button. Carter wanted the TV on or something. Cooper wanted a movie. And milk. And breakfast. I'm the waitress and handmaid for these children. Sometimes that feels like all I am to them. Once in awhile though, there are those brief shining moments when they look up with all their lovingness and out of the blue say, ''Mom!'' and I say, ''Yes?'' and they say, ''I love you.'' Those moments put everything back into perspective. But alas this morning I was zero on perspective.

I sort of felt 'off' today. Kinda grumpy and like things just weren't going great. Especially after a good day like I had yesterday. Of course I got through it, partly due to a quick lunch out with Kelly. I had an eyebrow wax appointment then I raced over to pick her up. We had grilled chicken salads at Dairy Queen, took Carter to school then raced over to Safeway to grab a Starbucks. Those macchiattos, while pretty good, haven't been quite as good as the first one that threatened to fully addict me. It's getting closer to Lent so I can give up all the crap I have been avoiding so far this year for at least another 40 days. We'll see.

One of my minor annoyances was forgetting to bring Carter's skipants today. This meant I either needed to make a special trip back home and back to the sitter's house or just pick him up from school so he wouldn't have to walk without them. I opted for the latter, since I was able to capitalize on the visit to the school by REGISTERING COOPER FOR KINDERGARTEN this coming September. I filled out the necessary paperwork and they gave me an information package. I picked up Carter and went to tell the sitter's son his kid-walking services weren't required today.

With Chris away fishing today, I was decidedly not going to cook. I picked up the kids and we all had happy meals, myself included. My first Big Mac of the year. Again, easy to avoid but it was a good, easy treat. We came home and ate supper and we all watched movies together. The kids played their computer games...when either sees the other playing a cool game it is another duty of mine to find it so they can both play it. Cooper was a little nightowl again and finally zonked beside me on the couch not that long ago. Way back before nine o'clock I told the boys it was time to shut 'er down and go to bed. If they weren't tired they could watch a movie, but it was bedtime. That worked briefly. They both tried to fire up the computer and get at the games again but I persisted on shooing them away. Carter fell asleep shortly after (he's the EASY one!) but Cooper kept making appearances.

I enjoyed chatting with Jill this evening while still feeling creative, and I did this page while I was talking to her. This is for Christy's new kit coming out next week. This is a picture of Cooper and me in the hospital the day he was born. That's about it for today I think...I'm starting to get verrrrrry sleeeeeeeeeeepy...



Edited to add: Okay, so I did one more before I actually went to bed... :)

Confessions of a Scrapaholic

Man it feels good to get back into some real scrapping again. Today was a pretty good day at work. I took some Tylenol this morning to get past the achiness and coughing. It was also a very busy day so that kept me going too. Oh, not to mention I had one of those caramel macchiatto thingies. At about three this afternoon...which is quite likely why I'm still up and scrapping at this zany hour.

After work I went out to the Jeep to leave work, but I couldn't find my ignition key for the Jeep. CRAP. I started digging in my purse but didn't see it. I looked back in the office in and around my desk. Nope. I called the sitter to tell her that was why I was running late. And I felt stuuuuuuuuupid. I kept tearing my purse apart and I dumped the whole works of it out on the floor and sifted through the rubble to no avail.

I retraced my steps and realized that perhaps when we walked to Starbucks it could have fallen out of my pocket. I had called Chris to come and bail me but he didn't show up before I walked down the alley and FOUND the key. Thank God. I couldn't help but wonder what that little delay could possibly have saved me from encountering if I'd left work when I'd intended to. I raced over to pick up the kids and we came home.

We had sandwiches for supper, which the kids had placed their orders for before we even got home. These kids are seemingly getting an appetite these days, and I'm happy to oblige them even if it's just for a peanut butter sandwich as opposed to whatever else is on the table.

I spent the evening alone with the boys as Chris went to hang out with his fishing buddies. Carter has really been enjoying colouring lately, more than ever, and seemingly quite suddenly begun to colour inside the lines. We've got a few real keepers that he's done lately. Cooper on the other hand is a bit of an 'angry colourer' and he just attacks the paper with the crayons. Likely just to get my attention, which of course works for him.

Cooper was up late, almost until eleven. Carter zonked hours ago. Now it's my turn. Here's my new stuff:

Notes from the Toxic Waste Dump

Well, things seem to be settling down finally, at least gastrointestinally. These past couple days I definitely learned never to trust a fart. Now I'm left with my original hacking cough, which seems to wax and wane at will.

We took the kids to the sitter today and stayed home again. Chris and I haven't been this sick in approximately ten years. I remember we were living in our apartment long before we had kids and we were knocked flat by a similar illness.

It was a much more restful day without having the kids here. I dozed for most of the morning. Chris took Carter to school and I picked him up, despite not wanting to leave the house. I took a shower and washed, dried and ironed my hair before picking Carter up. I didn't bother putting my face on since we were just coming straight home. I haven't applied makeup in days; it will be interesting to see if I remember how when I return to work tomorrow!

After I picked up Carter, I picked up the laptop and did some much-needed scrapping. A few of these pages I did before today, but I'm finally posting all of them. Now I'm off to bed to get some sleep so I can face my first day at work for the week!

Icky and the Sickersons

That's us. Carter's bout ended after four nights of clockwork vomiting, just in time for Cooper to commence his bout. Cooper threw up a few times over a couple days (almost entirely contained in the bathtub...yay!) then his turned into the runs. He is very well potty-trained, but I had to keep a pull-up on him for those little emergencies, AKA the sharts. Last night we couldn't believe the noises coming out of the bathroom from the poor little dude. We were all laughing, Cooper included, since it sounded just like the bathroom scene in Dumb and Dumber. Yep, seriously.

We stuck pretty close to home thankfully. Chris has had some GI distress too. I managed to avoid the tummy troubles, but my cold blossomed into a hacking cough with sinus congestion and headache. Hopefully tomorrow will be better so I don't have to stay home.

We had our free pizza on Friday with the credit we had from their last mistake. Cindy stopped by to visit since she was taxiing a few of the kids around. We watched her favourite show, Ghost Whisperer and visited until she needed to go round up the kids.

Saturday night Chris and I went with Cindy and Bob and his boys to see a high school production. It was called 'Back to the 80s' and was a fun trip down memory lane. Mom and Dad were coming over to sit with the kids while we went out, but Dad opted to come along to see if he could get a last minute ticket. Cindy even had a spare chair at the end of the row she was sitting in, not even knowing we'd need it. Synchronicity.

Just before we left for the concert I ran to the grocery store with Cooper to grab a couple snacks and drinks for the kids. I found some new winter boots for both boys for a whopping eight dollars for both pairs combined! I grabbed a new pair of mittens for Cooper too and bolted home after waiting in the ONE checkout lineup that was open.

Today was our new national holiday called Family Day. Unfortunately not all workplaces are mandated to consider it a statutory holiday yet, but Chris's workplace was closed so I took a floater so I could be off too. Chris took Carter fishing this morning with Bob and Josh. I felt horrible and stayed home with Cooper.

Chris's Dad called at suppertime to see what we were up to for supper. I was hoping Chris would go to the grocery store to pick up some ground beef so I could make spaghetti. He picked up his Dad and they discovered all the grocery stores were closed. I could have sworn Cindy mentioned they were open. Perhaps they were but already closed. They opted for McDonald's. I had a Junior Chicken and shared a few fries with the boys.

As far as my recent no-junk decision, I've been treating myself a bit lately but I'm not completely relapsed. I've had a couple occasional coffees from Tim Horton's but I've never gone there to get one for myself. I'm still mostly drinking green tea or water and at home I have iced tea. I have had one latté from Starbucks and then I made the horrible mistake of trying a caramel macchiatto on Friday. Lordy was that ever good! It was ten squillion times better than a French Vanilla Cappuccino from Tim Horton's (and it's been mentioned many a time here on the blog how much I used to love those!), and about 2.5 times the price. I will definitely have one again, but it's going to be a rare treat. That one sweet sweet treat probably annihilated all my decent behaviour for the whole year so far!

Well, I have done a little bit of scrapbooking lately and hope to get some more done, but I'll post the pages next time I blog, which I hope won't be four days again! Sorry to my three faithful readers! ;)

Puke-a-Palooza!

What started on Sunday night has turned into a five-day pukefest. Carter spontaneously vomited four nights in a row. At one-thirty twice, then twelve-thirty then last night at eleven-thirty.

Chris took Carter to school today, and took the afternoon off to go fishing. He also picked the kids up from the sitter, which gave me the opportunity to run a couple errands after work. I went to the bank, the movie store and the grocery store. I rented ''Madagascar 2'' and ''The Rocker''. I put Madagascar on right away for the kids. Cooper wasn't quite himself. He got that all-too-familiar look and kind of gagged so I scooped him up and got him to the bathroom. After all the repeated failures of trying to get Carter to aim for the toilet during his episodes, I pointed Cooper toward the tub. Success! It's soooooooooo much easier to clean the tub than to clean in, around, on, and under the toilet and all its moving parts, not to mention the floor and any body parts or clothing wherever the backsplash lands. Yeah, I know that's gross. I lived it.

He seemed fine after, and Chris gave him a bath while I went to Wal-Mart to get some gripe water. I still give it to the kids when they have upset tummies, and we had run out long before this sick little week happened. I gave both kids a shot of gripe water when I got home. I made a soft taco bake for supper and Carter seemed to like it. Cooper apparently didn't nap today and fell asleep before supper. I tried to wake him but he was zombified so I let him sleep awhile longer.

I worked on printing Carter's Valentine cards. I put each one in an envelope marked Happy Valentine's Day with two foil-wrapped chocolate hearts stuck to each. Here is the Valentine I decided on using, out of the handful I attempted:

I missed much of the rocker movie so I put it on again once Chris and Carter zonked in the living room. Cooper wanted to watch a movie in his room and zonked out heavily as well. It's eleven now but still feels early. I'm hoping to tackle a couple more Valentine's Day projects while I'm still up without anyone to look after at the moment!

Cancellations

Yesterday and today have been filled with cancellations. It's been unseasonably mild, therefore melting. And raining. Therefore melting more, and turning everything into a skating rink with puddles of water and ice on top of the existing snow and ice. I find it funny (not as in funny haha, but as in funny odd) that they cancel all the school buses but kids who walk or get a ride to school still have to go. And walking right now on the sidewalks is just as hazardous as driving on the icy roads. I saw pictures today of kids actually playing hockey with ice skates on the local streets. Cr-zazy! I picked up a high school teacher who was walking and drove her the remaining block to the school for fear of her falling. She mused that it would have taken her another hour to shuffle the rest of the way.

Carter had a mini pukefest again last night. He still hasn't had any fever but wasn't quite himself at the sitter today. She called to let me know he was feeling punky so I called the school to say he wouldn't be going. I picked up the kids and drove Kelly home from work. She had a slip and fall on the way to work so I didn't want her to reinjure herself! I ran a couple errands with the boys then picked up Toonie Tuesdays at Kentucky Fried Chicken for Chris and the boys and headed home. I was still full from a big lunch so I didn't have any. I did however, munch on a leftover piece of chicken a little later.

I've still been monitoring the progress of one of the comforters I had to wash the other night. There was a pillow, a fitted sheet and the comforter in the washer that has made a few cycles. The pillow unfortunately self-destructed (I have no clue how many times Chris ran the washer to get the puke out of the said items.) and there were bits of foam every-freaking-where. I took the comforter out of the washer and put it aside. I scooped out all the foam that I could with my hands into a shopping bag. There was still plenty stuck to the damp items but I emptied the washer. I threw the sheet in the dryer and shook the hell out of the comforter, which appeared to be finally puke-free. I also put it in the dryer for a little while to get the fluff off it. Then I grabbed the vacuum to get the rest of the little foam pieces. And it wasn't working. Seems the hose was blocked. This just kept getting worse by the minute! I tried to push a broom through the hose to push out the blockage but it wasn't long enough. I also tried a curtain rod, which also failed. My last resort was to blow on one end of the hose to try to reverse the blockage. It took a couple tries but worked. Gross. After that the vacuum was back to full suction and I cleaned up the remaining mess, aside from the damn bits of foam that ended up sprinkled throughout the laundry piles that are still awaiting their turn in the washer. ::sigh::

I put the next comforter in and I need to go grab it and hang it up. Aside from a couple loads of blankets and towels, I only have two loads of laundry to do in total. If it weren't for the bedding these past couple days, I'd have it completely beat! It's almost ten o'clock and both kids are still going strong. Instead of going to school, Carter had a nap at some point today so he's still like his Energizer-bunny of a brother. I have a print project to finish cutting but I'm hoping to tackle it after the boys are down for the count.

Re: 100th Day of School Shirt

To Heather,
In reply to your blog comment about the 100th day of school shirt, I printed the pictures about 1" x 1" and fastened each with a two-sided foam pop-dot. If you would like me to email more information, please let me know and I'd be glad to help out!
Cheers!
Link to original post is here.

Beavers and Lynxes and Bears, Oh My!

I was still feeling out of sorts on Saturday. I got up with the boys, sort of, and went through the motions of feeding and dressing them, while taking long breaks to lie down and occasionally doze off. Chris came home after work. I got myself together and ready and picked up our new babysitter. We'd never even met her before, but she came on high recommendation from a babysitter we already like, so we arranged to have her come over.

I picked her up at three-thirty and brought her over. Both kids were sound asleep. Chris got a ride with Cindy and the girls and I hung out to show the babysitter where to find things. We knew it wasn't going to be a late night so everything was pretty straightforward with no bedtime routine in the picture. On my way to meet up with everyone, I stopped to order a pizza for the sitter and the kids.

I met up with Chris and Cindy's family at the trapper's council dinner. My parents arrived shortly after we all did. It was a huge event, with auction items and draw prizes and a massive dinner for the throngs in attendance. I went with an open mind, eager to try some new things I'd never had before. I'm quite familiar with venison and moose (which I affectionately call 'meef'), but there were some menu items I'd never had the opportunity to try.

Before the dinner began they offered trays of hors d'oeuvres, consisting of varying dishes of moose, deer, and bear. Corned moose and deer were very tasty. The tongue and heart items I'm not usually too fond of texture-wise.

Each table was adorned with a sign bearing the name of an animal. Ours was the raccoon table. This was the method used to randomly choose tables to begin forming a line at the buffet tables. Ours was first. For the main course, I loaded up on a couple salads, along with some fish, moose, deer, bear, lynx, and beaver. The lynx was prepared in a delicious-looking and smelling sauce. But when I tried it, it was one of those things you want to get out of your mouth quickly. I washed it down with a drink of pop and left the remaining pieces on the plate. Interestingly, the lynx was Chris's favourite. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed the beaver and bear. They were like a nice, lean, perfectly cooked roast of beef. Delicious!

Our good fortune in being chosen first to eat was our only one. With all the draw tickets we purchased for the auction items, we didn't win anything. But we had a great time out with our family, and it was cool to try something new and unusual.

We came home and I took the babysitter home. Apparently things went well, aside from Carter and Cooper's usual rambunctiousness, which led to Carter clanking his teeth together and chipping a couple bottom teeth. Thank God for baby teeth, since both boys have had tooth mishaps this past month. The pizza that arrived wasn't what I had ordered. There was one piece left to show for it. I decided to call and complain, which was to my benefit since they offered us a replacement pizza. We were completely stuffed from the big dinner, so we opted for a credit for next time.

This morning I slept in a little too late to get ready for church. I could probably have pulled it off, but not if I was bringing anyone with me. I had intended to bring both boys, since they had both agreed to go last night when I asked them. I lazed in bed as long as possible, until I could hear Chris's growong impatience with the kids. I got up to lend a parenting hand. Chris took Carter to Mom and Dad's to meet up with Bob and Josh to go fishing. Cooper stayed home with me. I got us ready and we drove out to meet up with everyone for supper at Mom and Dad's.

We had a huge supper as usual. There was ham, chicken, lasagne (Good Lord I ate many a species this weekend!) salad, scalloped potatoes, fresh buns, and fish. (I feel like I'm forgetting something.) We had a great visit with our family, Cindy's, Mom and Dad, aunts, uncles, and friends of the family.

We came home just in time for me to tune into a new episode of Desperate Housewives. For the first time all weekend I felt like my energy level is returning to me. I did a few loads of laundry and started sorting clothes in my room. The boys finally settled after a lengthy tantrum from Cooper, who wanted some toy downstairs while I was doing laundry. I didn't agree to help him go find it, mainly because there are already 8763458273465 toys upstairs, but he was terribly disappointed in my decision, and made a point of showing me so for the next while. He eventually caved, which surprised me, and curled up on my lap. I set the boys up with a movie and continued my quest to make a dent in the laundry. I was well on my way...

I took a break between loads and curled up with my sudoku game. Chris came in to crash. I dozed briefly and woke to the sounds of Cooper talking in his sleep. Turns out he had peed the bed. The Houdini-Weenie strikes again. This still happens with either kid occasionally, even with a pull-up on. I was disgruntled at having more laundry to do. Two blankets and a comforter were involved in the scene. But I could also smell barf, which was eluding me. I stripped that whole bed and found nothing. I stood on tiptoes and looked up at Carter on the top bunk. He was sleeping peacefully. I got Cooper settled on a makeshift bed on the floor with some cuddly blankets and pillows and turned the light on again to check on Carter. It seems he power-puked in his sleep, since I hadn't heard a peep out of him. I had to wake him to get him out of bed so I could get him cleaned up. I hoisted him off the top bunk by an arm and a leg, so as not to get any of the offending mess on myself or anything else.

I took him straight to the tub. I stripped the bed. Another comforter, a blanket and a pillow to add to my laundry pile. ::sigh:: I got Carter all washed up and back to bed beside his brother and headed down to wash some of the toxic mess. The foul smell had me retching but I managed to squeeze the comforter into the washer with the pillow and fitted sheet. I've had to wash those comforters a few times already, but I'm hoping the washer isn't too full to get all the barf off it this time. Ugh. I wish there were an all-night laundromat nearby; I'd have made a beeline for it with all that bedding!

So all that wet and barfed bedding all at once afforded me the opportunity to catch up on my blog. I'm hoping tomorrow night isn't this eventful, at least in the laundry department!

P.S. The plural of lynx is either lynx or lynxes! I opted for lynxes before looking it up for the purpose of coining that somewhat-familiar phrase! :)

Fantastic Friday - 100th Day of School 2009!!!

Yeah, looks like I missed a day. I couldn't think of an adjective for yesterday for how I was feeling. Very yucky. I've been sort of fighting a cold this week. A bit of a sore throat and some icky sinus activity. It was worse in the evenings but oddly I felt better each morning. By yesterday I was just beat when I got home. I just wanted to go to sleep. I had a headache that felt like someone was driving an ice pick down through the top of my head through my frontal lobe and my right eye. Chris sent me to my room and I rested for a bit while he made Kraft Dinner for himself and the kids. I got up and felt half human and stayed up for a little while until the kids were ready to go to sleep.

I went back to bed and stayed there. This morning my headache was luckily gone but I was still a bit achy. I managed to get us all fed and dressed and out of here. I brought Carter's 100th day of school t-shirt with me to the office as I planned to just have him put it on when we got to school. I set it on my desk and noticed one of the eyeballs had fallen off! A couple of the nursing students at our office grabbed a glue gun and re-stuck every one of those eyeballs. That was sweet.

I had a good and busy morning at work. I had arranged to take the afternoon off and have lunch with my friend Tracy. We haven't been in touch in AGES upon AGES. We bumped into each other on Facebook earlier this week and decided to meet up. I took Carter to school and he was pleased to put on his shirt. Here is a picture of him in his classroom...
Tracy and I opted for the East Indian buffet and had a great visit. I hope we do that again soon since we ran out of time so quickly. After lunch I came home to tidy up a little since we were having Deidre & Greg over for supper. We tried for Tuesday but her little guy was sick so today was the rescheduled date. I set the table and prepared a couple things for supper then it was already time to pick up Carter from school. I decided to pick Cooper up early and just bring the boys home. We came home and I relaxed for a bit before getting everything ready for supper.

We had the identical meal we would have had on Tuesday, the one we had with Mom and Dad. Nice and simple, and hopefully palatable to the four little boys. They came over by six and we ate shortly after. The boys played together nicely. I was impressed that my boys didn't cause any injuries to each other or our company!

We visited for awhile after supper and eventually managed to squeeze in some ice cream for dessert. After they went home Carter and Cooper played some long-awaited games on the computer before going to bed. They're seemingly starting to get the concept of bedtime, which is making life easier around here at nighttime. Speaking of bedtime, it's mine now.

Weary Wednesday

I had a hard time dragging my butt out of bed this morning, but I made it. I got us all ready with only a couple minutes to spare to make it to work. It was a busy day where I felt pulled in many directions. One of my coworkers brought me my first coffee in over a month. It was good but I don't feel like I'm readdicted. I went to Tim Horton's yesterday morning actually, but not to get anything for myself. We were out of bread so I made a pitstop there to get the boys a muffin as a treat.

Today at lunch I had an eyebrow wax appointment then I took Carter to school. I went to Wal-Mart to pick up supplies to do a 100th day of school project with Carter. We completed it this evening, but I won't 'unveil' it until Friday. The afternoon was much like the morning and was over before I knew it. Despite how quickly it went, it didn't feel like it went fast.

I picked up the boys and came home. Chris had a quiet day at the shop so he and a couple guys left early and went icefishing. I was please to have great leftovers for supper and put them in the oven to warm while Chris showered. We had the leftover chicken and twice-baked potatoes. Well, I guess this time they were thrice-baked! Regardless, it was leftovers I didn't mind eating.

I need to finish up my baby announcement project for Marsha. I just have a few more envelopes to print now that she sent me the rest of the addresses. Tomorrow is a coworker's birthday so I might just try to whip up a card before I crash too.

Oh...and here's a picture I took of the boys the other day...

Terrific Tuesday

Today was a good day for getting things done. I worked half a day today since I have some comp. time and we were having company for supper. I needed to do some heavy-duty cleaning and wanted to have everything prepared by the time I needed to pick up the kids. I got a call that they had to cancel due to a sick baby last night but I still took the time off since I already had booked it.

I had a quick lunch with Chris then took Carter to school. I went to the grocery store to grab a couple things for supper. I had tried to call Mom and Dad to invite them but I couldn't reach them. First person I saw in the grocery store? Dad! I gave the invitation in person and did my shopping. I came home and swept and mopped the kitchen and dining room, vacuumed the living room and kids' room. I tidied the kids room and now it actually looks like a bedroom again. It's pretty cute in there when it's clean with the cute new curtains my friend Kathy made for us.

I scrubbed and Windexed everything in the kitchen and bathroom. I dusted the living room, using the best duster I've ever used. My mittens. Yes, my winter mittens. They are made of that soft, pokey-looking yarn and I just put one on and my TV screen was perfectly dusted. I did the rest of the TV stand and cable box and stereo etc. I did the computer screens too. It still amazes me how quickly electronics gather dust. I put away all the toys and cleared off the junk-collecting kitchen table and counter. I set the table and emptied the sink and filled the dishwasher. I flew around the house like a fly lady for the rest of the afternoon until it was time to pick up the kids. I left early so I could do a mad dash to Wal-Mart for some shake'n'bake. And milk. And a few other things on my little list. I made it out of there in under forty dollars. Yay me.

I picked up the kids and came home. I got them to actually stop and wait for me to get their boots off on the mat so there would be no icky salty sandy snow all over my nice clean floor. It was so nice to walk on the floor of the landing without feeling sand under my feet or getting my socks soaked. I prepared supper and put the chicken in the oven. I started to cook potatoes so I could make twice-baked potatoes. Chris came home and showered and Mom and Dad arrived shortly after. I halved and scooped out the potatoes. I combined the scoopings from the potatoes, grated cheese, onion flakes, milk and butter and whipped them with the mixer. I scooped the mixture back into the potato shells and sprinkled them all with more grated cheese. I added them to the oven with the chicken and got the veggies ready.

Supper was yummy and everyone liked it, though my two little chickadees barely touched theirs as usual. We had a great visit, complete with Carter reading a couple stories to his Grandma. I love seeing and hearing him read. I need to make reading more routine than the computer for the kids. And me. After Mom and Dad left I got the boys in their jammies and into their room to watch a movie before bed. Carter zonked almost immediately but Cooper almost outlasted me. Just a couple more minutes and I'd have been out for sure. They're both snug in their beds. ::sigh:: Sweeeeeeeeeeeet.

Mundane Monday

Oh how I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I felt fine, although I was oddly hoping my throat would still be sore and maybe I would have lost my voice so I could have called in sick and crawled back into bed. But my sore throat had magically disappeared and I was doomed to face the day feeling fine.

I got washed up and ready and did the usual drill for the boys. Carter slept almost until it was time to go. It was getting down to crunch time so I had to take the boys' breakfast 'to go'. It was a frosty morning and Chris had plugged the Jeep in for me before he left for work. I was pleased that I remembered to unplug it before I left.

Work was much of the usual and before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I grabbed subs and had a quick lunch with Chris. I took Carter to school and headed back to the office. It turned out to be a pretty nice day out. I forgot to take anything out for supper, so I quickly thawed some ground beef and whipped up a meatloaf. I wanted to have mashed potatoes and gravy with it but we were out of potatoes so I cooked some rice and corn. While supper was cooking Chris's Grandpa stopped by to visit.

After supper I was doing some Facebooking and I started chatting with my friend Tracy. We really had some serious catching up to do and we're planning to get together soon. It was great to touch base after so long. Cindy stopped by for a bit and Carter read a book with Chris. Cooper is probably still awake watching a movie. I won't be surprised if he is when I go peek in there again.

Now I'm off to check in with my favourite scrapbooking group and maybe get some scrapping done again.

Back in the Scrap of Things

I've been hoping to do some more scrapping, so I elected to make today the day. I have a page that I did awhile back that I haven't posted yet, and a new one I did today. I'm still playing around in PhotoShop while I chat with my friend Jill, so I'll see if I come up with anything else before I finally collapse. (It's quarter to one and my throat is very scratchy. Hopefully I'll get to sleep soon.)

A Rare Moment
Credits: African Sunrise kit by Gurlonthesun Designs at NDISB.
Fall felt leaves by Mellykat. Font is Hockey is Life.

Cooper at Gordon Lake
Credits: Our Summer Home kit by Christy
Sturm at NDISB. Font is Honey Script.

Nostricles

It's been a cold weekend and we got some more snow. Chris's birthday was excellent. He went to work the next morning and I got up to go pick up the kids just after eight. I got to Mom and Dad's house and they were all just finishing eating pancakes for breakfast. I wasn't ready for breakfast yet, but after visiting for awhile and collecting all the luggage and stuff to get the boys ready to go home, I warmed and syrupped up a plate to take to Chris.

The boys were apparently well-behaved for their grandparents (Mom is always entertaining them non-stop so they are having too much fun to be bad!) Dad took them out for a couple hours to his friend's house and I'm told they had a great time playing with the other kids and playing Wii.

We came home and I just wanted to completely vegitate. I was definitely not hungover, since I barely had any drinks Friday night, but I sure was tired! I put movies on for the kids and Carter, bless his soul, entertained himself on the computer. Chris came home from work and was going to take Carter fishing, with his nice new ice auger he got for his birthday. Carter weaseled out of going, so Cooper went instead. I dozed a little then when Carter took a nap I zonked out again. When Chris came home he made us all sandwiches for supper. We had a quiet evening watching movies and all four of us fell asleep in the living room.

Cooper woke me up crying because he had peed his pants. I totally thought he had a pull-up on but no. So I took his wet pants and my duvet he had been sleeping on, and put them in the wash. I could save myself heaps of laundry if I were a little more vigilant in the pull-up department. a friend of mine actually walks her little guy to the toilet even if he's already fallen asleep and she doesn't even need pull-ups for him. There's my next idea! Usually if the kids are asleep I just chuck them in bed and put a pull-up on. From now on I'll sleep-walk them to go for a pee before I get them all settled in!

This morning Chris was going to go fishing with his Dad and Carter. Carter was more eager to go today. I got ready and took Cooper to church with me. Mom and Dad weren't there and neither were any of my aunts and uncles. Cooper was very good today. So since there were no relatives to go out for breakfast with, I decided to go check in on Mom and Dad since I knew they both weren't feeling well. For the first time this year, I drove through the drive-thru at Tim Horton's. I brought Dad a coffee and Mom and ice-capp and didn't get anything for myself, since I didn't want to break my good streak! I've gone a whole month now without going there and I don't miss it one bit.

I knew Chris wasn't too far from Mom and Dad's place, so I asked Dad where to go to get to the other ice road to find him. Dad offered to come along, thank God, because the secondary ice road was all drifted in. We were still moving along okay even though there wasn't much of a track to follow. I had it in 4HI but we went down to a crawl. I decided to stop to put it in 4-Lo. I finally got it locked in and tried to go again but we were stuck in the deep snow. Yeah, without a shovel. And I was still dressed in my dress coat and high-heeled shoes from church. I could actually see Chris not too far away and luckily this time he answered his cell phone. He drove over to us and dug out around all the wheels. He and Dad gave the Jeep a push and I managed to go forward a little. Chris had to back up all the way to the main road so I waited for him to move so I could get going and stay going.

I backed up a little to get a run at it and once we got moving we got out just fine. Thanks to Chris and Dad! When Chris was shoveling I noticed his nose was running. I was about to comment that if he didn't wipe it it would freeze there, when Dad called it a nostricle and I had a good laugh. Once we got off the drifted road, we went on the next road over, where Chris was fishing and had a visit for a minute with Carter, Chris and Chris's Dad, like I'd originally intended to! We left and did NOT go back the same way we came. We took the road more-travelled and I dropped Dad off at home.

I came back to town and stopped to get gas and by the time I went in to pay, Cooper had fallen asleep. I did a loop around town and came home. I set him on the couch to sleep, changed over the laundry, and grabbed the laptop to do all this catching up.