Where Has The Time Gone?

There we go....just changed the blog name, as I feel the last one was a tad on the negative side. We'll try this one on for size and see if it fits.

The March Break sped by us and I am ashamed to admit that we did not have the chance to do all that I had hoped. My ear is still troubling me; the doctor said that it is viral and all I can do is wait for the fluid that is behind my ear drum to drain. Fun times. Regardless, it put a damper on my mood and my energy levels. I am trying to be possitive about it though. I now have the oppurtunity to have THREE coffee tins to paint instead of two. I think that I will do the base coat and perhaps have the children help paint on some added touches. I also found a bunch of seeds for planting, so we can always plant seeds instead of putting full grown plants in the painted containers.

The boys got their room back on Friday and since then I have been fixing it up for them. It now looks like a proper little boys' room, though I seem to have misplaced the red mirrors that used to hang in there. I will have to keep looking. Miss Hollywood likes the room so much that she is insisting on sleeping in there. If we do manage to get our Dream Home, I may be able to convince her to share the third floor with the boys. It would be practical, as they always like to end up in the same room anyway. The closet is certainly big enough and the adjoining bathroom is an added bonus. If we wind up doing the addition later on, she can then move to her own room. She will be older by that point and want her own room. We shall see.


Speaking of moving, I painted the kitchen yesterday. I really love the colour and can't understand why I haven't updated this room earlier. It is such an easy and brilliant change. Yay for me! I still have to do the trim. Terry says that the job is so good that he can't understand why I want to hire out the staircase. I informed him that I don't enjoy it at all and I REALLY don't want to do the staircase again. Once in a lifetime was fine for me. It is nice to hear him appreciate my work though.

We visited Terry's mom on Sunday to celebrate her 86th birthday. She is such an awesome lady. She still seems so young. I swear she is going to live to be 100....at least! It was a hoot visiting with her and Terry's sister Shelagh. It is refreshing to see Terry with his family. He actually CAN be funny! I wish we could get together with his family more often. It always makes me feel differently toward him. It kind of reminded me why I fell in love with him in the first place.

Ah! The sound of the boys' fighting is everywhere. Time for Referee Mom to step in.

(*update on court case for Christmas Day noise violation...met with prosecutor today and trial is set for the morning of June 25th. 6 months to the day from Christmas. How ironic! Ulcer is growing, despite the fact that everyone keeps telling me it's a good thing.)

CHEERS TO BIRTHDAY GIRL JULIE "J-BUCK" BUCHANAN!!!!!! I am so going to lift a pint in honour of you tonight!

Confessions of a Former Social Butterfly

Perhaps I should rename my blog that. It seems quite fitting.

Well, I am happy to report that Project March Break Living Room Tent is a go! Boy2 and I spent the morning tidying, vacuuming, rearranging furniture and setting up the tent. Boy1 was thrilled to see it when he came home from school. It was a good Mommy Moment. Later this aft, we are going to attempt JMom's mac n' cheese again. It wasn't saucy enough last time. Well, I liked it, but the kiddies weren't overly thrilled. The boys are looking forward to cooking with Mommy again. They will make fine husbands some day!



I wonder if we will be in this house next year to set up the tent. I have mixed feelings about the whole thing. I do love my house, and know that it would be even better with a finished basement. But when I look out my front window and see pavement, it is kind of depressing. I know that once the flowers start to bloom, things will look better, but for some reason, this year, the proximity of all of my neighbours and the winter trouble with one set in particular, is making me almost claustrophobic.

I never wanted to raise my family in a townhome (not that there is anything wrong with that), but with housing prices so astronomical, I am truly grateful to own a home at all. I always pictured myself being a stay-at-home mom. I spent my childhood in daycare and always admired those children with moms at home. With a one salary income, I don't see us being able to move for a couple of years to a single family home in the neighbourhood.

I have obviously been mulling over the possibility of moving out of town! I have to admit that it is causing anxiety. I know that Kiki really wants to move now, but I worry that she is simply going through a phase and that after the move, she will regret being so far from the only friends she has ever known. There is something to be said for living in the same neighbourhood your whole childhood. Perhaps this is another reflection on my childhood. I had quite a few major moves. I envied those that had known each other forever. If we move away, I will be robbing my children of that opportunity. It is not a huge deal for Boys1 & 2, as Boy1 is only in Junior Kindergarten. Miss Hollywood will be more difficult, since she is so shy and at the end of this school year will have been with these friends for 3 years. That's half of her life!!! Miss A is such an outgoing child that she will make new friends and I have no doubt will keep the old ones too. Plus there is still the possibility that she would travel into the city with Terry and continue at the same school.

As for us, the adults, we have no social life here. I'm not sure when it happened..probably around the time that I started my pregnancy marathon, but we lost all semblance of a social life a long time ago. I LOVED my birthday party this year and vowed to keep having parties, but alas, that didn't happen. Quite frankly, I am afraid to make a peep with the Wicked Witch of the West living next door. Not to mention how anxiety/depression can make a gal not feel much like party planning.

For some reason the thought of moving away gives me hope that we will have that social life once again. Of course, Terry would be gone all of the time....hmmmm...

The real estate dude was super friendly and lives 2 doors down from the Dream Home. He seems like he would be a hoot to live beside. When my friend Liz lived in Rockland, east of Ottawa, it would take us an hour to visit her from our home in the West End, so I'm sure that we wouldn't seriously be leaving our true friends behind. It's not like we see them often anyway.
Also, the house has enough space that we could actually entertain. I get giddy thinking of the size of the house and the yard and the NO ATTACHED NEIGHBOUR thing.

I am slightly afraid of having to make new school friends. I have been associated with the younger ones' school for 10 years now. I would be the newbie mom if we moved out of town. What if people don't like me??!!

Moving would get rid of the stigma that has been thrust upon us since the wicked ones moved in next door. Those that know us, know that they are insane, but what about the other neighbours that don't know us that well, what must they think of us? I am embarrassed to think about it. I definitely like the idea of a fresh start.

On the phone this morning, my mom didn't seem too keen on us moving an hour away. She kept going on about how an hour drive each way is way too long for Terry, "escpecially at his age". The man is almost 49, not 80! Good Lord, what does that woman think? I'm not sure how much of this is concern for Terry and how much is disappointment because when I sent her the link, she automatically wanted to sell her house and move into MY Dream Home. The nerve!

This is all just speculation at this point. I am so excited to see the inside of the house on Sunday, that I can hardly concentrate on anything else. I suppose after the viewing, we will have some serious decisions to make.

Until then, I will continue to fantasize about what life could be like living in a small town.

I Love My Little Chefs

I have come to the realisation that I need to engage in more fun activities with my boys while they are home during the day. My friend, Julie, recently went from being a work-outside-the-home mom to being a stay at home mom. She has been dreaming of this forever and circumstances with her job enabled her to finally do this and she is taking full advantage of this precious time with her daughter.

I've had it easier in a way, when the older girls were young, I worked part-time (about 20 hours a week) and still was able to spend most days with them. Then about 10 years ago, a work induced chronic tendonitis forced me to quit my job of 9 years and I stayed home full time. At this point, I volunteered regularly at the school and enjoyed a nice life despite my unhappiness with their father. I was happy as a mom and proud of myself for being a good mom.

When the older girls and I moved into our own home, I treasured my time with them and we had fun. I missed them terribly on the weekends when they visited their dad, but treasured the rest of the time.

Then came Terry and our whirlwind romance. Everything happened very fast and we were so happy. After a year together we decided to try and have a baby. A month later I was pregnant. Within 3 years and 2 months of Miss Hollywood's birth, I had not only had her, but her 2 younger brothers. I worked it out to over 6 years of the 8 years that Terry and I have been together, I was either pregnant or breastfeeding. It really did take its toll. Talk about feeling constantly drained!

I suppose it doesn't help that I have always gotten easily exhausted..my whole life I have been this way. I just don't seem to have the same amount of energy as most other people. I have no idea why. Regardless of the reason for my exhaustion, it has left me at times feeling like less of a mother, because I don't have the energy to do the things that I want to do with my children.

Add to that one crazy ass neighbour that makes me feel like a prisoner in my own home and my life certainly is not what I want it to be. I only have a year and a half until my O-Bear goes to school and I need to start treasuring that time a bit more.

Back to Julie........her blog shows her fascination and pure happiness at being able to share this time with her daughter. She keeps giving me ideas of ways that I can enjoy my children a bit more. Today, Screamy helped me to get supper prepped and into the crockpot. He just loves helping in the kitchen and I really don't know why we don't cook together more often. O-Bear joined in as soon as he saw what we were up to. I really hope that they like it, so that they can feel pride in the great meal that they helped make. I think we will try baking tomorrow.

March Break is coming up next week and I haven't even made my usual plan for the week. I have to set the tent up tomorrow, as they always sleep in the tent in the living room on the first night (then I argue with them about taking it down for the next 8 days!). I have some can/vases to paint and some seeds to start inside, but I am really very unprepared compared to years past.

Given my boys' love of cooking, I really want to get them each an apron as well. Forever, I have been wanting to get them personalised ones that I saw on etsy. Plus I just found this new etsy store today called Bloom Woosie .

Here are some of the personalised ones:

The first two are from an etsy store called firefly63.

The black one with the rocket is from an etsy store called tinygreenapples. I am undecided on which apron to go for. If I go with the rocket one (there are also dinosaur ones), I will have to have one of my American friends order it for me as tinygreenapples does not ship to Canada. Mind you firefly63 does ship here, but it is $10.95 PER item. Hmmmmmm......

**Update** I searched around the tinygreenapples shop a bit more and discovered that they do offer shipping to Canada. WOOT! The shipping is less expensive and they offer discounts on shipping other items. Looking like tinygreenapples is winning this competition!

Here is a picture of a Mommy/Son Set that I'm sure would be a hit around here:

O Canada....why doesn't everyone ship to you?!

I am a proud Canadian. I am proud of our uniqueness and proud of our kick-ass athletes ;) (still recovering from Olympic fever).

I am not happy, however, with our online shopping choices at times. How many times have I found the perfect something that I just can't have because I'm not American. I suppose it has saved me all sorts of money over the years, so maybe I should just shut up and be grateful for that!

One of my favourite sites is Land of Nod . It makes me crazy how absolutely adorable everything is on that site. If I had a million dollars.......Now, L o'N does ship to Canada, but I would have to send them my list each time to have them give me a quote. That could get embarrassing, since I really like to know the shipping cost when I am web-window shopping.

A while ago, I found this cool site Bed Bath & Beyond. It has such nice things. I wanted to share what I want to get the boys:

This set comes with SO much. It has the comforter, of course, and not one, but two sheets sets, two throw pillows, bedskirt and two 70"W x 16"L window valances. All for $129.99 for a twin. Whoa. Needless to say, this bedding is on my wishlist.

Wowsers, Time Sure Does Fly!

My stepson turned 18 today. How did that happen?! He can vote! And legally drink in his home province - la belle province - of Quebec. According to the articles following the women's hockey team's gold medal celebrations (this world is so very sexist when a man can win gold and walk down the streets drinking out of a pitcher of beer and women are frowned upon for smoking cigars and drinking beer in private), I now know that the drinking age in Alberta (where the women's team trains) is also 18.

I still remember him as that skinny little dude, all into hockey and not yet into girls. Now he is officially a man, an adult. Whoa. It's amazing how regardless of our wishes, time keeps ticking by at such an alarming rate.

I didn't sleep well last night. My ear was killing me....it is making my eye and cheekbone hurt too, which is what I think kept me up. I am currently waiting for the ibuprofen & acetaminophen to kick in. Yes, I have to do the combo to take the edge off. Sorry to complain again. I'm just so tired of feeling pain. I think this is good news - my ear has been doing little popping things all morning. I think it is fluid draining. You know it's a good day when fluid is draining from your ears ;)

During my hours of inability to sleep, I tried to concentrate on happy thoughts, like the house. My fear is that my preocupation with it is causing me to ignore reality. In another 2 weeks, I get to meet with the prosecutor over the noise complaint again. The more I think of moving, the more I feel like just paying the fine and getting it over with. I hate the anxiety. It has a tendency to consume me. I wish that I had been considering moving a few months ago. Then the path to preparing the house for sale wouldn't be so intimidating. I swear Miss A's room looks like something from the tv show Hoarders. I am afraid of that room!!!

Baby steps.

That being said, time to do some work around here. My life is so glamorous.

The More I Try to Change Things, The More They Stay The Same

I think that one of my problems in life is that my expectations of others are at the same level as my expectations for myself. Like when I ask for something to be done, I expect the other person to do it with the same perfection that I would expect from myself. When someone says something of importance to me, I expect it to be with the same honesty & with the same conviction as I would have if I had said the same thing.

I know I have seemed negative lately, and maybe it is mostly due to this undying cold/ear infection, but always being the only one putting forth the effort is starting to have its toll. I am currently talking about the house issue, though this can relate to the children, the pets, neighbour issues, etc.

Say we do decide to sell our house, and I am honest with the fact that I honestly don't know if I want to move. Though it is interesting that my current misgivings are due to the fact that our house is nowhere near ready to sell right now, not the fact that I am considering moving 100km away. Back to my point....I'm not sure that I can single handedly get this house in order, well, not in the amount of time needed to get my dream home. Afterall, let's face it, I had not considered Renfrew (or any other town) seriously, until finding my dream home. Though, that house in Perth last year had me thinking about moving out of town - at the time Kiki out right refused to leave Ottawa (now she wants to move).

Kiki and I worked like dogs yesterday on the kitchen. We got rid of one garbage bag full of junk, tons of recycling (mismatched plastic containers) and have one garbage bag of stuff to donate. And that was just after doing a couple of cupboards. This is going to be a long process. I did a little cupboard today and had been wanting to do the pantry, but my ear hurts so much that I decided to take a break. It also really helps to have a helper - the team effort made things zoom along. Plus my need to gain control of my laundry on the dining room table takes priority today. It's so very difficult to prepare a house to sell when the mundane daily chores keep getting in the way.

It doesn't help that Terry is still suffering from his PMS (Persistent Male Sydrome) and has been throwing his share of Mantrums, which makes for an unhappy co-conspirator in our battle to reclaim our house.

I wish that I could enlist the help of my mother, but for now it is best to keep her at bay. An appeal for help would cement our decision to move and put undue pressure on us. I think for now I would prefer to continue prepping, but not necessarily commit to anything publicly. Not to mention that I wouldn't let my mom upstairs at the moment, even if you paid me.

We see the dream home on Sunday...yay!!!! If the inside looks as good as the outside & the pictures, it will be hard not to go house-selling crazy!

I suppose when all is said and done, I will at least have done a major spring cleaning this year, even if it takes until the fall ;)

Pretty Things Make Me Happy

Giving a big shout out to my friends at BusyBs (http://www.2busybs.blogspot.com/) for inspiring me to web-window shop new websites. I simply love finding new sites over which to drool!

After the painful night that Boy 1 and I managed to survive, I needed something pretty to lift my spirits, so I decided to check out the Anthropologie website (http://www.anthropologie.com/). I found the most gorgeous things there.

Miss Hollywood and I NEED to get these:

Wouldn't my little princess look perfect in this????


I'm not sure how my body would look in this one, but I need a new apron and she would be thrilled if we had matching ones.

And the set wouldn't be complete without the pot holder!

I think I have an obsession with pretty things...take that dream home of mine. Imagine me in that dream home, baking cookies with Miss Hollywood, both in our matching aprons. Ahhhhh.....what a nice fantasy. I should throw a Kitchen-Aid Mixer into that fantasy, perhaps make it green apple coloured (though I am also partial to the ice blue, tangerine and buttercup):

[Sigh] I'm in love with all of these beautiful things. Maybe I will take a nap and dream of clean houses with funky little pretty things strewn about.

This all reaffirms my belief in the need for a playroom in the basement for the wee ones...well, it would also be a rec room for the older ones too.

Part of me simply wants to fix this house up to maximize the space and get rid of oodles of things. Regardless of whether we stay or move, we still have to do the purging. If planning a move, I wouldn't finish the basement, but things definitely must go. Sometimes I think that Terry is right [GASP] and that we have outgrown our house.

My friend Val doesn't keep anything she doesn't use. I love that philosophy, but unfortunately that concept is somewhat lost on the children.

I will need one of those Junk-it bins, if we ever try to prepare to move. I will also most likely need the services of either PODS or PUPS to store some things as a 4 bedroom townhome does not offer a lot of space for a family of seven.

As of the 20th of March, the boys will have their room back. I am soooo looking forward to that! Owen will finally have a dresser of his own and I can remove their clothing from the wardrobe in the foyer. I need to get to IKEA to pick up a duvet cover for Owen to match Liam's and deep clean their carpet, hang up their canvasses and YAY they have their room all set up. Let us not forget that their closet is big enough to store some of those toys in my dining room . Woot!
C'mon 20th!!!

Time to make a pot of tea for me and my darlings. We're all so sick of being sick! Think I will web-window shop while waiting for the water to boil :)