Pajama Party!!!

Last night was my first annual potluck pajama party. I had invited nearly fifty people, with friends and coworkers. The turnout was about twenty-four and we all managed to fit in our little living room. Everyone brought an hors-d'oeuvre-type snack or a dessert. There was food EVERYWHERE. Oh, and booze too! :)

It was a wonderful evening, with partygoers arriving and departing throughout the evening. One even called at twelve-thirty and she still came over! By three the party population was down to four of us. One was my neighbour who walked home and Kelly's husband picked her up and gave a ride to the other remaining guest. I definitely want to do this again!

I made lootbags for everyone containing a little pack of Kleenex, a pad of post-it notes, a matching pen, a few Lifesavers and a mini air freshener spray, all in a pink bag with a nametag for each. I had hung balloons in two shades of pink, covered the tables in pink tablecloths and had pink cups, napkins and plates to match. After everyone left I was so tired and there was so much to clean up. Tons of leftover food, drink bottles and cups, napkins. Oy. I put away a bit of the food that would spoil and I went to lie down. And I CRASHED. I woke up at about seven-thirty with a gnarly headache. Dang rum coolers! Oh yeah, and the shots of liqueur too. I do believe a good time was had by all.

I filled a garbage bag with all the napkins and bottles and some of the leftover food and went back to bed. There was still much to do, and there still is, but it was all worth it. Today is Kelly's birthday (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KELLY!!!) and we have a date for Bingo tonight! Hopefully I'll be back on later with news of a big win.

Helen's Dream!

I did it! I zonked out with Cooper for awhile but managed to get up and scrap something! ''Cooper Exploring'' was inspired by a new kit by SabDesbois at NDISB called ''Helen's Dream'', a kit named after my favourite Aussie. Journaling reads,''Cooper exploring at Kinsmen Park 2007-05-03'' Font used is Hannibal Lecter.

Okay, now I think I'm going to bed! :)

That Groundhog is Full of It

You call this SPRING? As I fully expected, after all the crappy rain we had this week, which devoured the ice road and many snowbanks, leaving gross brown piles of snow lying about, baring some grass and turning streets into rivers, (longest sentence in the history of the world), we get a freaking BLIZZARD. Winter is back, and in full force. Spring? NOT.

Well, aside from the weather rant, my week did get progressively better after my painful Monday. My elbow never got any darker than a light blue streak. Absolutely no sympathy factor when one doesn't bruise easily. After a few days it will be a lovely light green colour. Anyway, my arm seems fine movement-wise; just still painful to the touch.

Each day this week has been similar to the last. Go to work, come home, want to collapse but need to feed family. Eat supper. Want to collapse. Work on projects, then collapse! It was Cindy's birthday yesterday. Since her family's return from Mexico on the weekend, I threw together a quick 8x8 scrapbook album of their wedding pictures. I tracked her down at lunchtime at the Chinese restaurant, bringing along a coworker for a quick lunch. Cindy loved the album. Mission accomplished!

Lunch was a mad dash as usual. A quick bite and bolting off to take Carter to school. I also squeezed in a quick trip to the gas station and a trip home to get my medicine I had forgotten to take. Kelly and I ran some errands after work. One to the liquor store to pick up our refreshments for the upcoming pajama party. We also made a dash for Wal-Mart where I found some 'chicken chips' that I figured the kids would go for. The movie Bolt was out on DVD so I grabbed that to make the kids' day. (Oh and it sure did!) For supper I quickly whipped up some linguine with alfredo sauce and served it with the chicken chips. They are thin breaded chicken strips that look about the size of French fries. The kids dug them.

We've had Chris's Dad over for supper a couple times. Once on Tuesday, where I was all set to have hamburgers cooked on the barbecue, since it was unearthed from all the snow (at the time, though it's probably invisible once again!) I ran to the store for hamburger buns and in the short time I was gone, Chris called to inform me that the barbecue is toast. Looks like we need a new burner. Well the heat shield is pretty much gone too so it looks like we need a whole new barbecue. Chris still wanted to have hamburgers, but I was hellbent on having barbecued ones so I was back to the drawing board. Chris's Dad suggested having chicken take-out, and since it was Tuesday, I suggested 'Toonie Tuesday' from KFC. All five of us could have eaten for under twenty bucks, but somehow the two of them came back with forty-five bucks' worth of chicken, fries, gravy, corn and two kinds of salad. Crazy!

Tonight by the time I picked up Chris's Dad and came home to get supper on it was after six. I stuffed a pork tenderloin with StoveTop stuffing, cooked carrots and made mashed potatoes. Even the kids ate more than I expected. I had made them wrap sandwiches just in case, which they ate about half of in addition to supper. I did a little laundry and tidying while everyone visited and watched TV. Both boys had a bath and I got them into pajamas without any effort. Sweet. Now if I could just get Cooper to sleep. I'm going to go cuddle him to sleep and hopefull come back to do some scrapping!

Not Humerus at All

Today? SUCKED. It's been raining. And freezing. And raining some more. (Yeah, totally not grammatically proper but I'm trying to be emphatic here.) So this morning Chris phoned from work to warn me it was particularly icy on our doorstep. I always heed his warnings. I was running a little late and the kids were being slightly pesky. Correction...they were being AWFUL, mostly to each other. Once their jackets and stuff were on, I let them go outside. I gathered my stuff and put on my coat and shoes and headed out.

Chris wasn't kidding...the doorstep was a sheet of ice. I very cautiously walked out and could hear Cooper calling to me, saying ''Moooooooooooommmmmm, I peed in my gotchies!'' Okay, another delay, I thought. I walked around the corner of the garage to where Cooper was standing with totally wet pants. I needed to put my laptop, purse, Carter's backpack and my coffee cup in the Jeep before trekking in to deal with Cooper. I took ONE MORE STEP and it was my last. I was flat on my face. My elbow actually, and I was somewhat on my laptop. The blinding pain and shock of falling so quickly had me a little dazed. I kind of turned on my side and got up on all fours and eventually standing in the garage. I collected my things and Cooper and I maneuvered back in the house, all the while I was coming undone.

I got in the house and felt kind of woozy. At some point I started bawling. The pain was alarming. I kept moving my arm to reassure myself that it wasn't broken even though it felt like it. Sobbing, I was trying to call someone at work to say I'd be late. I reached Chris at worked and asked him to come home and help me. I sobbed and sobbed and tried to help Cooper change his clothes, but my arm was killing me (my right arm, of course). Chris understood my despair and urgency in my voice and came home quickly. He helped Cooper get redressed. Cooper was quite concerned for me and asked me a couple times if I was okay. How adorable. He also offered me his banana. I laughed a little.

I was still shaken and upset and had asked Chris to take the kids to the sitter so I could collect myself and go to work. He would have had to install a carseat in his truck, so I just got him to drive me to work and take the kids in the Jeep. I would come home for the Jeep later on. When I got to work everyone was so sweet and helpful and understanding. I still had little moments of tears. After about an hour, I started to notice some other aches and pains, presumably from tensing up in the fall. My elbow felt like there was a dagger dangling out of it. I couldn't get in to see a doctor at the clinic so I took some Tylenol and got through the morning, intending to get my elbow checked at the hospital later.

Being a typically busy Monday, the morning flew by. Kelly and I got together for lunch then she dropped me off at home to pick up the Jeep. The afternoon went by almost as quickly as the morning did. I picked up the boys. I came home and started to prepare supper. When Chris came home and showered, I let him take over supper preparation and headed up to the hospital. Surprisingly it didn't take overly long to get in to see the doctor. He moved my arm this way and that, without it hurting. He opted not to take an x-ray since it didn't hurt to move it, and he deemed it bruised, advising me to return if it gave me additional problems after a couple days. Dr. Uys (pronounced ice) advised me to use lots of uh...ICE and take Advil.

I came home and ate supper. I printed out some birthday invitations for a coworker and started working on a couple scrapbook pages. It's quarter to eleven and Cooper is wide awake. I'm ready to go to bed. It's just been a crappy, draining day. I'm already looking forward to the weekend!

Unheard of Behaviour

I can't believe I did that. I left the house at eight-thirty this evening. Y'know, smack dab in the MIDDLE of my one and only must-see TV show? And to do a good deed, of all things? On a night where one of the principal characters gets killed off!!!

Okay, rant NOT over, but I really have to recap things since Wednesday night. Thursday was my ''Friday'' at work. It was the last day for our babysitting 'temp'. Things seemed to have gone well, though I got very little information from her or the kids. Everyone seemed happy and well and fed, and the house was still standing, so that sure was good enough for me! The doctor was in that day, and she gave me a prescription for my sinus infection. I left work a few minutes early to go pick up my prescription and money to pay the sitter.

Friday I stayed home with the boys. Neither sitter was available so I took the day off. I put on my running shoes and started cleaning and moving furniture. I moved the computer cabinet, a couch, the dining set, a two-drawer filing cabinet, all while feeding and entertaining two very active boys! I did plenty of vacuuming and washing, and hand-washed the dining room floor. I also moved ALL of the toys out of the living room. Now there's an empty corner in here, and it looks good. I vacuumed and the boys quickly 'unvacuumed' for me. They didn't make a mess, but they ran all over those nice triangular vacuum lines that I in my obsessive nature like to make and take pride in that I actually vacuumed! So I 'revacuumed' and tried to keep the boys out so things would still look nice when Chris got home. He ended up staying late anyway, to change the oil in his truck.

Saturday Chris took Carter out fishing. I had a shower and did the requisite drying and ironing of my hair. I took Cooper to Wal-Mart for a marathon shopping spree, including plenty of non-list items such as a book for Cooper and a Bakugan case for Carter. Both boys were thrilled with their 'happy Saturday' presents. Nearly three hundred bucks later, we were off. Just as I put Cooper back in the Jeep he told me he really had to pee. I asked if he could wait 'til we got home but I was worried he might not. I drove over to Tim Horton's and as I was taking him out of the Jeep, I went to hike him up in my arms and whacked his head on the top corner of the door. Poor kid. He had a little scrapey dent above his forehead. I cuddled him close and took him in the store to pee. He barely cried but it definitely hurt him. He must be a tough kid because he never complained a bit. His pain warranted a donut of course, and I ordered a bunch of Timbits.

We drove out to Mom and Dad's house where Chris had taken Carter fishing. I went in and phoned Chris, since he and Carter had gone out on the snowmobile. Since they weren't nearby, I left Chris's coffee for him and Cooper and I came home after one more stop at the video store. I rented seven older kids' movies (rent four, get three free for the whole week) and I rented Twilight and Open Season 2. I put away our Wal-Mart haul. Once Chris and Carter got back we had snacks for supper and started watching movies. The kids have been itching to watch Monster House again. I'm not sure why but this really is one of their favourites. Oddly they aren't scared of the creepy, angry house that eats people. (Yeah, it's a kids' animated movie.)

Today Chris was supposed to go fishing but his plans fell through. I did a bit more tinkering around, moving things around a little more. Cindy stopped by and showed us all her beautiful pictures from their wedding trip. They had a beautiful and fantastic week in Mexico.

After Cindy left I got ready and went shopping AGAIN. This time it was for food; even with the expensive trip to Wal-Mart yesterday, much of it was items such as paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies etc. that eat up the total. The food items were things such as butter and side dish items. Today I picked up meats and meal items, enough for at least a week of meals. It's nice to plan ahead. So just one more hundred (yikes) bucks later, we actually had some more food in the house. On the way home I picked up Chris's Dad to join us for supper. I made chicken drumsticks (shaken and baked), long grain and wild rice, and broccoli and cheese sauce. I made a coleslaw too, which I devoured plenty of.

The kids were hilarious during supper. Cooper held up a chicken leg and said, ''Is this chicken?'' We replied yes, and he proceeded, ''It's Chicken Little.'' The banter between Carter and Cooper was so funny as they described that they were eating Chicken Little and his feet. I was amuse and oddly pleased that it didn't freak them out with the association of an adorable little cartoon character and eating it.

After supper we visited and watched America's Funniest Home Videos and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I liked Extreme Makeover tonight, though I normally have a slight loathing for the program since I totally want them to come HERE and bulldoze our house and build us a new one. But tonight the family was of course as usual deserving but I liked how they really campaigned for blood donations. Makes me want to challenge everyone in town the next time there's a blood donor clinic here.

Next was Desperate Housewives. I got through exactly half of it before I needed to go out. I drove Chris's Dad home but on the way I needed to stop at a coworker's house to pick up her laptop bag she forgot to take on a business trip. I'm going to try to get all the information to her first thing in the morning. Since I knew I was already missing some crucial storyline material, I stayed away from home until the show was over. I went to get Chris a chocolate bar and went for coffee at Tim Horton's. I rolled in the driveway and peeked in the living room window to see a glimpse of the fateful scene I was anticipating. I came in the house and stayed out of the living room until the show was completely over. I'll need to start over at eleven. I forbade Chris to tell me any details of what happened. I'll find out in an hour.

I've barely taken any pictures lately, and also haven't done any scrapping in awhile. I plan to change that soon. Stay tuned!

Oops I Did It Again

Occasionally at work it's noticeable that more than just a few people seem to have a similar clothing colour scheme on. It's always a coincidence. Until yesterday. I remarked that it seemed a bunch of our ladies were wearing green. This is where I was reminded it was St. Patrick's Day. Duh. I wore grey and blue. In order to avoid being pinched, I hastily printed a green clover and pinned it on my shirt. Obviously I had forgotten about all those cookies I had made for Carter last week. Y'know, the clover-shaped ones with the green sugar decorations? Duh.

Yesterday Kelly and I had lunch at Subway. It was nice to sit and chat again without having to bolt off to go take Carter to school. I can't help but glance at the clock thinking I need to go. I've still been feeling wonky in the sinuses. I'm trying to keep my sinuses clear but I can still feel the pounding in my head with each step I take. This has got to go away. I'll be calling the clinic tomorrow to see if I can get myself in and hopefully Carter too for a better look at his ears. I hope they will flush his ears. This isn't just something simple we can pop in for; it requires a doctor's order, which is a real PITA.

Today at lunch I did some errands and ran home to grab a sandwich. All seemed well with the kids and the sitter. I went back to the office and ate my sandwich before it was time to get back to it. Chris's Dad phoned after we got home from work. Ooooooooops rewind just a little...when I got home there was government mail...our income tax assessments. And yay! We didn't have to pay this year! Woohoo! Once Chris showered I went out to run a couple errands and pick up Chris's Dad. I ran out to Mom and Dad's (the long way) but I had gone down to look at the ice road landing first. There was nobody in sight so I opted to go the long way. After I turned away from the ice road, I started meeting other people from their neighbourhood, presumably heading for the ice road. Upon my return I decided to head toward the ice road, at the same time calling a coworker who I figured had just crossed. She said it was pretty good; it was much colder today and much of the water from the other day froze, leaving big slushy/watery ruts to navigate through.

As I was talking to her I was beginning to cross the ice road. When it got to the dicey part, we had finished talking but she stuck with me on the phone. It was no biggie to get through but I would have been all queasy if there was no one around to talk me through it! Seriously, this never used to bother me before I had kids. We're talking about a fifteen minute shortcut here, and by this time I was tired and thankful for it.

I picked up Chris's Dad and came home. He wanted to have burgers for supper so he and Chris went to A&W. We had supper and watched a little TV. We watched Scrubs and there's a new show on called Better Off Ted. I liked it. I'll watch it again if I can remember to.

I fell asleep for about an hour at eight-thirty and was awakened for a phone call. I didn't even realize Cooper had fallen asleep on me. Carter was curled around my feet at the other end of the couch. Chris and I put the kids to bed and I stayed up to work on a project for work. One of our coworkers is retiring so I made some tickets for her retirement luncheon. Now I've gone and stayed up late again. Good thing I had that little nap!

Kelly, Don't Read This One...

Today was an okay day. I'm still congested in the deep recesses of my sinus cavities, with occasional tooth pain which waxes and wanes. I'm on the verge of going to the doctor, but first I'm trying to keep the sinuses clear to avoid the infection. I'm just hoping it's not already here.

We had a new babysitter today since ours wasn't available for the March Break. It was kinda nice having a whole lunch hour without having to take Carter to school, though I do still love taking him! I was treated to lunch by my friend Silvia. We opted for Pizza Hut; I've been dying to have the Greek pizza I had a sample of from Mom and Dad's leftovers one night.

After work when Chris got home I took a drive to Mom and Dad's house. I got to the ice road and looked at it with hesitation. There was a big truck ahead of me that went ahead and drove on it. I followed in its path, only because I watched him drive through that hyuuuge puddle and make it. I know there is still a ton of ice but I'd prefer if I could see it. That was my last trip on the lake for the winter. On the way home I drove the long way. Here's what I drove on...note that there were squillions of people out there in vehicles, still lodging out at their ice shacks, congregating in large groups everywhere.

I never used to be afraid of the puddles, but now that I have kids I'm scared of that stuff, even when I'm by myself. There's no way I would have driven with the kids across that. When I got back from Mom and Dad's I picked up Chris's Dad and we went to pick up pizza for supper. I enjoyed the pizza at lunch enough to have the same kind for supper. We also had a meat lover's and one with pepperoni and black olives for the kids. I did a quick Wal-Mart run for some more lunch and snack foods for the kids. I came home and we watched Dancing With The Stars (I missed much of it), Castle, and House. I worked on a print project and I'm still in love with my latest printer, a Kodak all-in-one. And that brings me to three minutes before midnight. I think I just might head for bed before this day ends!

A Little Burst

...of energy. Tonight is the best I've felt in ages. Chris and his Dad picked up Chinese food for supper. I could sorta taste it, but everything still didn't taste quite right. I've still been taking the Buckley's daytime meds and it helps, but a few times in the day I felt like my jaw was going to fall off, similar to the time I had the sinus infection. I did what I could to try clearing my sinuses to avoid it.

Just before supper I had a hot bath and shaved my legs, ridding them of their winter coat, since apparently it was a nice weekend out. I haven't left the house all weekend. I had a shower too and scrubbed my hair, which amazingly lasted ten days since my haircut! We had a visit with Chris's Dad after supper and all had a few laughs watching America's Funniest Home Videos. Then we watched Extreme Home Makeover. Then of course it was time for MY SHOW. Chris gave his Dad a ride home and I zoned in on the TV to watch Desperate Housewives. I made it through the hour with little interruption; just a few requests from Cooper, which I mostly delayed until commercial time without too much whining.

After the show, I got Chris to help me haul out all the laundry baskets (AGAIN). And FINALLY. I sorted about six baskets of clean laundry. One each for Cooper, Carter and me, and two for Chris. That dude has a lot of clothing. I did, however enjoy folding all his shirts like they could go on a store shelf. I hate going to get the clothes but I do love folding. Yeah, I'm a freak. That's how I roll.

Yesterday after work Chris took Cooper out fishing for the afternoon. Apparently the weather was amazing and Cooper amused himself playing with (and subsequently killing) minnows for at least an hour. Carter and I spent much of the time working on a sticker activity book. We finished the whole book. It's one of the ones I picked up at Chapter's when I went to Winnipeg. I saved a couple more books for the sitter this week.

Today Chris took Carter out for awhile this afternoon. Thankfully Cooper took a nap so I didn't have to worry about my current seemingly narcoleptic condition. Now I'm oddly wide awake and feeling pretty good. I hope I feel this good tomorrow!

I Baked

See? I baked cookies. For the number of cookies you get, they’re very labour-intensive, but oh-so-worth-it!!! And yes, they’re completely made from scratch. Oh except for the ones on the plate on the right. I used storebought icing on those ones; they’re for Carter’s class. The ones in the tin are made with a homemade creamy vanilla frosting that is to. die. for.

Tomorrow Carter’s class is celebrating St. Patrick’s Day since they’ll be on March Break next week for the actual day. They’re supposed to wear green and bring a green snack. So that’s why I opted to make the cookies.

I was heavily stuffed up and achey today. The Tylenol helped with the achiness but there is nothing that is able to penetrate this big ball of ick inside my head. I’m trying really hard to focus on watching Jimmy Fallon’s show but I’m toast. I’m barely focusing on the laptop, letalone the TV across the room. Hopefully I’ll be back and a little more with it tomorrow ‘cause I’m not quite done with reporting on today. The highlights are at least covered (i.e. cookies!) G’nite.

Rage Against the Histamine Machine

I'm stuffed. Bad. Chris too. Carter is much better today. I last gave him Tylenol at lunchtime before I dropped him off at school. Perhaps the oil worked. I still filled the prescription from the doctor just in case. That was one of my lunchtime errands. I also got my eyebrows done, took Carter to school and grabbed a super quick sandwich before bolting back to work. The workday was over in a flash. One of Cindy's girls walked to my office to hitch a ride home with me since she had basketball after school and Cindy had parent-teacher interviews after school.

I took her with me to do my housesitting job and to pick up Carter's prescription. We came home and Chris had left work a little early today and offered to pick up the boys. I opened up the freezer and started hauling out a bunch of stuff to make for supper. A few part bags of french fries, two types of chicken wings and two types of fish sticks. Carter ate EVERYTHING on his plate and I think Cooper came close too. The spicy buffalo wings made my nose run a little, but not enough to get rid of all my congestion.

Chris must be feeling crappy, because he actually resorted to trying Buckley's for the first time. It didn't phase him at all. He said he couldn't even taste it, which blew me away. I swear I could taste that stuff through a brick wall. But I didn't take any. I opted for an anti-histamine and gave some to Chris too. He dozed on the couch and remarked when he awoke how he could breathe through two nostrils.

I did some creating and printing tonight. I printed forty birth announcements and started designing some new ones. If I get permission from the parents I'll post them here. I also started whipping up some tickets for a coworker's retirement party. And now I'm toast. My head feels like it's going to explode. It's feasible that would be a better option than this annoying slow leak from my nose. ::sigh::

Sneezy Sneezerson

Sneezing and stuffed up. Ick. And poor Carter started to complain of an earache last night. But he's not much of a complainer so I waited it out. When we got home he mentioned it again, then after supper he said it was really hurting. So I took him up to the ER. This cute little teeny tiny doctor looked in Carter's ear and there was too much wax in the way to see his eardrum. She picked some out with a curette, and I kept asking him if he was okay. He lay perfectly still and didn't make a peep. At one point he said the lights were bright and he put his hand over his eyes until she was done. She didn't determine anything, but advised me to put some oil in his ear every few hours and give him Tylenol and Advil for the pain. Since there was no fever to accompany his symptoms, she wrote a prescription for antibiotics in case the pain doesn't subside until tomorrow night. Then we can start them if we need them. I'll be picking them up tomorrow just in case.

As soon as we left the hospital he finally admitted how much his ear was hurting when the doctor was looking in it. Poor guy cried all the way home. I gave him Tylenol as soon as we got home and put some oil in his ear. I warmed one of those flaxseed pillow thingies and he lay on that for a bit. Now the Tylenol seems to be working and he's feeling much better. I was amazed to find that Cooper was sleeping when we got home from the hospital and it was only eight-thirty! I was also amazed that we were up to the hospital and back in under forty-five minutes!

I probably sneezed about fifty times today. I took a decongestant that helped for about the first six hours of the day. I'm going to take some more and head for bed. Carter is still up so I'll keep him company until he's ready to go to sleep. I actually finished a scrapbook page but I'm so not posting it tonight.

Hide and No Seek!

Last night we played an awesome round of hide and go seek. It started out with the kids and me, taking turns hiding. Cooper doesn't quite have a grasp on things...he still calls out to say ''here we are'' or he just incessantly giggles and gives away their location. Carter is getting pretty good at it, despite his brother's blowing his cover.

Next I started hiding Carter and having Chris and Cooper look for him. We got really creative with our hiding spots in our little house. Once I got Carter to stand on a low shelf in front of the coat rack facing the wall, and I hung his coat on his head. Chris and Cooper walked past him about five times before Chris noticed the little feet at the bottom. Cooper really delighted in spotting the feet once we helped point them out.

The best spot was on the shelf above the boys' closet. Of course I had to hoist him up there but he loved it and it took awhile for Chris to spot him this time. Later when we were finished playing I went to the basement to switch over some laundry and the boys, still in hiding mode, took turns hiding in the cupboards in the laundry area. I was pleased that they even wanted to close the doors, meaning they weren't afraid. They had a blast. If either boy ever disappears on me, I'll be sure to look there first.

I figured the kids would go to sleep really late because of the time change, but surprisingly they were asleep at a decent hour. This morning though, I had to wake up Cooper just moments before we left the house. The cinnamon toast breakfast was 'to go' and I was dressing Cooper in his sleep at first. I delivered the boys and went off to work.

The morning flew by, as most Monday mornings do. At lunchtime I came home and tried out the butternut squash soup I picked up the other day at the Safeway deli. It wasn't too great. Kind of sweet, with bits of red pepper in it, which didn't seem to jive with the flavour of the soup. I had about a cup or so of it and bolted off to pick up Carter for school. I delivered Carter to school and went to Tim Horton's to pick up a box of green tea bags since I had just run out this morning. I also picked up a coffee for about the third time this year that I've gone there to get one for myself.

After work I picked up the kids and went to do my housesitting job. I picked up Chris's Dad, since he had called earlier to see what we were up to for supper. I'd planned to make either meatloaf or spaghetti, and decided on spaghetti. We stopped at the grocery store and he picked up salad and some buns so I could make garlic toast. The boys ate all their spaghetti and sauce...largely due to the fact that Chris's Dad had also brought some big cookies with M&Ms in them. Regardless, I was thrilled they ate supper, a noticeable amount!

Cindy stopped by to visit while one of her girls went to volleyball. I haven't seen her in ages, and she and her family are going on their wedding vacation next week! I'm very excited, even though I'll be missing out on all the fun and festivities! Mom and Dad have been thinking about going along.

We watched the first episode of Dancing With the Stars. I've watched bits and pieces over the years but had no idea they were already on season eight! Now we're watching the premiere of Castle. I liked Nathan Fillion on Desperate Housewives, and the previews for this new show look good, so hopefully it will be a good one. I'm off to watch it now, hopefully to return later to post the scrapbook pages I completed last night.

Just Chillin'

Ahhhhhhhh. The fevers have gone. The meds have been discontinued. I haven't given either of the kids any Tylenol or Advil in over twenty-four hours. Yay! I had a great day with the boys today. Chris worked until noon then his plan was to go fishing for the afternoon. He kindly did a mini Wal-Mart run for me since we've been lacking peanut butter for ages now. He also picked up milk and cereal.

For breakfast I made the kids oatmeal. I don't think I've ever done that before. I sprinkled it with the same cinnamon sugar I use to make their usual daily cinnamon toast. It was well received. Cooper barely touched his so I didn't have to make another bowl for myself. We played games and I did a few loads of laundry. Then I came across a book Mom lent me ages ago and with my recently rekindled thirst for reading, delved into it. It was a Diane Mott Davidson book, titled, The Grilling Season. I murder mystery-slash-cookbook! The heroine is a caterer, and as she described the dishes she was preparing for her catering clients, she included all the recipes. I seriously might just try a few of them since they sounded so good!

I did little else after I started reading. I tended to the needs of the kids and read as much as possible, finishing the book just after supper. I've barely touched the computer lately, since I made a late decision to give up Facebook for Lent, along with a couple of my previously abandoned habits from the new year. I have, however, made a few forays toward Starbucks, with the help of Kelly, and have decided my new signature Starbucks favourite is a caramel vanilla latté. I'm trying to vow to myself to make it only a special treat, though I've had a few these past couple weeks.

I heaved about four baskets of clean laundry from the basement before my little reading escapade, and they are still staring at me from the middle of the living room floor. That will be my project to tackle tomorrow, along with more laundry. I did a little vacuuming in the basement and have plans to rearrange more stuff and chuck some out. I'm envisioning filling the back of our truck with oodles of junk to take to the dump.

Last night, I had a very last minute date with Kelly and a couple girls from her office. I know them well from our shared coffee breaks. We went to a quarter auction in a nearby town. I was envisioning winning a cool prize like I did last time we went to a quarter auction. When we walked in, in all honesty it looked like a handful of people did a closet roundup of items around the house, from wooden clocks to homebaked (very gorgeous) cakes and a very purple, very coffin-lining-loooking satiny dress, complete with a gaudy purple necklace, all adorned with the original price tag of one hundred seventy-five dollars. We made a pact that, if we won that item, I promised to wear it to the office on Monday. I was afraid, very afraid. I had to lay out a couple rules, one being that there had to be at least ten bids before we four were allowed to bid, and that we could each only bid once. When they called the winning number, I was mortified because it was only two digits from my number. I fearfully glanced around at my cohorts' notes to see the numbers they were assigned by the auctioneer. We just missed it by one number. Whew! Much laughter all around, and relief from me, since I would have surely kept my promise!

Some of the items were so awfully knick-knacky that Kelly and I were bidding with the intention to give it to each other for the other's birthday. She actually won a glass plate and stand, with a friendship poem etched into the glass. Guess what I'll be getting for my birthday? Oy. Well, she'll get it right back next year, I can tell you right now! Either that or it will pop up where she least expects it. One of the other girls won a little porcelain-faced doll sitting in a rocking chair. I have a feeling I'll be seeing that somewhere again too.

I arrived home to find Carter was asleep but Cooper was still up, feeling even better than when I'd left. I've had much interrupted sleep lately, with the boys taking turns at least hourly to get me up for some reason. I'm looking forward to a feverless sleep all around. Chris fell asleep on the bottom bunk with Carter while they watched Flubber. Cooper just fell asleep beside me only a few moments ago. I'm hoping to stay awake long enough to watch SNL. We'll see. I started a scrapbook page days and days ago, and it still sits open in PhotoShop waiting for me to come back and finish it. I might just tackle that too. Oh and I must remember to change a few clocks tonight too...I'm in agreement with Angie's dismay over the spring forward thing...this just means my kids will be up another hour later. ::sigh:: I just have to concentrate on looking forward to spring, and eventually summer. (Our doorstep is currently a skating rink. Yikes.)

Fever Pitch

It's been a feverish week around our house this week. The kids were coming down with a cough. A fever has accompanied both their colds. Carter hasn't missed any school; presumably since he seemed to have every possible ailment when he was littler, it's now Cooper's turn to be a walking inferno. For the past couple days I've been alternating the Tylenol and Advil to keep the fevers under control. Cooper likes to drink water, so he seems to be keeping up his fluids. The ibuprofen I picked up tonight worked like magic on Cooper. He said he's not sick anymore and he's being a little goof playing on the computer. Carter went to sleep awhile ago.

Now let's see. It's been way too long since I blogged again. On the weekend Chris and I went to a Queen tribute band with Kelly and Doug and Ben. They were really good! We had a good time. We had taken the kids to Mom and Dad's house while we were at the concert.

On Sunday Kelly and I took a drive to bring some friends to Winnipeg to catch a flight. It was just a quick day trip but we did stop at Chapters to spend the gift cards we each had. I picked up a few gifts and books for the kids. We picked up drinks at Starbucks and headed out to pick up our next passenger, a daughter of one of my coworkers who needed a ride back home.

The weather was cold all day but the highway was bare and dry all the way there and back, which made for smooth sailing! We were gone exactly eleven hours. Kelly bought me a book at Chapters, called Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes. I started reading it that evening and got in a hundred pages before I was falling asleep. The next evening when we came home I picked up the book again and didn't put it down until I had read the remaining five hundred or so pages. It's so rare I read, particularly because once I get into a book I don't want to stop reading.

On Tuesday evening, Chris's Dad offered to treat us to supper. We tried the new pasta dishes they have at Pizza Hut. I've always loved their chicken pasta alfredo, so that was the one I had. It came with cheesy breadsticks and we ordered a Caesar salad. Good stuff. I actually came home for lunch yesterday to eat some of the leftovers!

I went to the hairdresser today. It was supposed to be for a cut and colour, but my nasty grey roots were getting so out of hand on the weekend I coloured them, thinking my appointment was still at least a couple weeks away. I changed the appointment to just a haircut. Chris picked up the boys and came home. Cooper was looking pretty rough when I got home. It wasn't time for more medicine yet so I gave him a warm bath. Once he had the Advil it took awhile but he's back to his old self for the time being.

This post title also reminded me of Jimmy Fallon. I love all things Jimmy Fallon and saw a little of his show last night. I'll be watching it more if I can manage to stay up late more often!