Magic Moments

Magic 99 has become the radio station of choice in our household. Since Nicholas lives here, he spends a lot of time hearing the songs they play. As a result, the following "magic moments" have taken place:

- He has taken the tune of "Good People" by Jack Johnson and changed the words. The result has been the song "Where have all the Lilys gone?", which he sings over and over again.

- He can accurately name the artist when Sarah McLachlan, Dido, Jann Arden, Michael Buble, or Diana Krall are singing. When it's Diana Krall, he always says "My Dad is in love with her". I may or may not have anything to do with him knowing that.

- He sings along with Enya's new song. There's nothing more amusing that a 5-year-old boy singing along with Enya.

- He yelled at the radio "They stole that song from Sarah McLachlan!!". It was the Beatles singing Blackbird.

I'm so very all alone

Well, except for the two kids, the dog, and the cat, I'm all alone.

Liam and Krista (and Tash??) are gone to Woodbadge Training this weekend and I've been left to fend for myself. Really, this isn't any different than a regular weekday except that Nicholas isn't going to school, but I'm bitter about it because weekends are supposed to be my Liam time.

Maybe I'll go downstairs and get some love from Rob. If I close my eyes and make sure not to feel the top of his head I might not notice the difference.

Pirate-y goodness

You know you might be married to a pirate when:

1. He goes around saying "Yarr" all the time.

2. He shaves his head.

3. His cat likes to perch on his shoulder.

4. He's got sexy legs.

5. He takes pictures like this:

Mmm-mmm good

Here's my thought of the day for everyone:

If you think that getting soap in your eye is where it's at, you haven't lived until you get St. Ives Apricot Scrub in your eye.

There's nothing quite like feeling the little chunks of grit under your eyelid to make you want to yell out "Oh yeah, world! I'm ready for another fun day!!".

Screw you St. Ives. That hurt like a %#$@. Put a frickin warning on the bottle or something. "Warning: Keep product out of eyes unless you are planning to have them removed anyhow. Idiot."

Goals a la Kim

Since Helen and Liam have posted their goals, I feel the need to share mine.

My goals deal are more along the weight-loss line of things, rather than cleaning or reading. I've got baby weight and then some to lose, so I've got my work cut out for me.

Since beginning to weigh myslef (something like two months ago) I decided that I want to lose 55 lbs total. No, I'm not going to say what the actual weight is, but suffice to say that it's doable since I was 10 lbs lighter than that only 3 years ago.

So far, I'm down 11 lbs. By April first, I want to have lost another 14 lbs. That will leave me with another 30 lbs. Yikes.

I'm going the route of FlyLady's Body Clutter book. Along with that I'm doing her Body Clutter Investigator (a daily sheet where I record my weight, water and food intake, etc.) and walking. Sometime around March I'll get back into running as well.

Go me!

Happy birthday to me!

For my birthday, the federal government has given me $508. Yee-haw!

It's actually Nicholas' money, but the cheque is written to me. Since we were late doing our income taxes (only by 7 months or so), we were cut off from the Child Tax Benefits. This is apparantly back-pay, minus the over-payment they made when they thought I was still single.

This makes me think...in theory Lillian is owed something like $600 for back-payments. We haven't done the paperwork to apply for her yet and the only thing that's stopping me is that her birth certificate is lost somewhere in the mess that is our computer room. I hate the mess in here with a passion, but I think that I could manage to get it cleaned up for $600.

Yay free money. Now I just need that gas bonus and the other $500 we've each been promised by Klein.

It really does explain a lot

Sometimes I wonder why I feel like I'm going looney. Then I look around my house and notice things like:

- Fingers eating empty gelatine capsules. How good could those possibly taste?!

- Jack running around outside barking at snowflakes.

- Nicholas coming up with phrases like "That's why they say 'Never play with a fool's peanut!'" and "Your boobs are Lily treasure-boxes,".

- Dumb people calling me and getting the wrong number giving me attitude. No, my name is not Joy and if you repeat the name followed by a last name and some guy's name our house will not magically transform into said household.

Uh huh.

Oh

So that's what a meltdown feels like. Nifty.

Yesterday I reached my limit. I didn't know what it was, but I found it.

Maybe it was the fact that I didn't finish a single meal that I started to eat, and didn't have time to sit down at all for supper.

Maybe it was because those damn little fishcakes refused to look like little fish the way they did in the kid's cookbook.

Maybe it was the mad-dash $200 grocery-shopping trip that included the baby who had to be fed half-way through.

Or maybe it was the 6 hours of sleep I'd had the night before, or the part where Lillian woke up 3 times during those 6 short hours.

Then again, it could have been those 15 minutes I had to unload the groceries from the car, get myself and Lillian dressed to go out, and walk to Nicholas' school to pick him up.

It wouldn't surprise me either if it had something to do with those nasty postpartum hormones kicking my butt just for the fun of it.

I think the part where I arrived at Nicholas' Tae Kwon Do hoping for a chance to sit only to find out it was parents night was a part of it. Trying to participate while jiggling a baby on one hip and holding up a pad for Nicholas to kick was a bit much.

All I know is that I've never been happier to see Liam than I was last night when he showed up to rescue me at Tae Kwon Do. He took over and Lillian and I headed for the sidelines for a quick snack before heading home. I cried the whole way and my legs were wonky when I walked up to the house.

Liam, my knight in shining armor, sent me to bed at 8 and washed the mountain of dishes that had taken over the entire kitchen.

Life is better today. I've had enough food, sleep, and quiet moments that I don't feel like running away from home.

For your viewing pleasure

Gee, that wasn't too weird at all

This morning when I woke up, I found it to be incredibly warm in our bedroom. After kicking off all the blankets and moving as far away from any warm bodies as possible, I silently begged the furnace to stop pumping hot air into our bedroom. I watched the clock for ten minutes, the whole while the furnace churning away. At this point, I seriously started to consider the possibility that the furnace was broken and would never turn off again.

I went downstairs to check what temperature it was set to and was very surprised to see that our front door was wide open. It had obviously been this way for quite some time judging by the frostiness of the air downstairs and the non-stop action of the little furnace that could.

I closed and locked the door then went up to the bathroom where Liam was having a shower to ask him why the door was open. He had no idea either. The last time either of us had paid attention to the door was when he locked it before he went to bed and I checked it a few minutes later on my way to bed.

Weird.

In the half hour or so since this incident I have come up with the following possibilities as to how our front door became unlocked and opened while everyone was still in bed:

1) Liam was sleep-walking and opened it himself.
2) Fingers was really bored and spent all night working on it.
3) Lillian knows a lot more than she's telling us.
4) Someone broke into our house without leaving any footprints in the snow then decided not to steal anything.
5) The Leddys somehow ended up with a working key to our house and thought it would be funny.
6) Some not-so-funny ghost has taken up residence in our house and wanted some fresh air.

Seriously, people, somehow our door ended up open and none of us has a clue. I'm open to suggestions here. As for now, I've got both the handle and the deadbolt locked and I'll be more than happy when the sun comes up this morning. Creepy.

Trying not to scream

I just want to smack someone. Or swear really loudly. Or down about 6 shots of anything alcoholic.

Today has been one of those days.

Nicholas spent the entire afternoon being a whining grump because my parents were over. This then escalated to full-out screaming by suppertime. He insisted at one point that he couldn't pick up a carrot stick with his right hand because the cat scratch on his left hand hurt too much. Uh huh. (The cat scratch, by the way, was the result of him trying a little too hard to help Fingers go down the stairs.)

Lillian has been joining in the mayhem. She's had three naps today, all of which have been less than one hour. When she doesn't get at least one good nap (2 or more hours straight) she turns into a screechy angry baby by the evening. Oh, and her final attempt at an evening nap was ruined by Nicholas' latest meltdown/outburst. Yes, Rob, that was the screaming you heard while you and Liam were on the phone. Sorry about the timing.

So, both kids are currently in the tub and Liam is supervising. I'm seriously considering drinking and/or running away. I already ran away once, but it was only down to the parking lot and I came back when I'd supressed the urge to smack Nicholas.

(Just to keep things clear, no I do not smack my children nor do I drink copious amounts of alcohol while breastfeeding a small baby. I just happen to be seriously questioning my judgement right now.)

Taking it to a whole new level

Jack and Fingers play. A lot. Jack can rarely walk through a room without Fingers launching herself from whatever piece of furniture she's sitting on, onto Jack's back. It's actually quite a lot of fun to watch since Jack usually ends up putting Fingers' entire head in his mouth at some point, and Fingers defends herself by clawing at his eyeballs with her hind legs. Lots of laughs for everyone.

As I type, both the cat and the dog are INSIDE of a sleeping bag rolling around and beating each other up. It looks like the sleeping bag is alive and slowly unzipping itself.

The Johnstone animals are weird and I'm home alone with them.

Lum Lum Lum

This morning I tried to get in touch with Liam via his office phone for over an hour an a half. I found out later that he was in a safety meeting, but for whatever reason I had myself convinced that he was in the hospital after crashing his car on the way to work. Yeah.

Anyhow, in light of Liam not being dead I decided to write this so he knows how much we like him in his not-dead state.

An Ode to Lum

We love Lum
Because he's great.
He puts food
Upon our plate.
The kids don't call
Him Pops or Dad,
But Poppa John
Ain't so bad.
We like to gaze
At his bald head.
But mostly we like
That he's not dead.

Ah, sweet sweet justice

Fingers was at my bedroom door this morning scratching and meowing because Liam had gone to work and left her oh-so-alone. Three times I got up and sprayed her with the water bottle, though in hindsight it should have been on spray not mist. I finally got up and put her in the laundry room, by which point both kids were awake. Lillian went back to sleep but Nicholas (and therefore I) have been awake since. So very frustrating.

Nicholas is now playing with Fingers and delivering payback without even realizing it. Every few seconds he calls out "Look Mom, Fingers is a basset hound" (pushing her ears down flat against her skull) or "Look Mom, Fingers is praying" (holding her paws together in kitty prayer stance).

Take that kitten. You may have woken me up early but my kid is going to play with you all day. Muwahaha!!

It's official

My brother and Mina have confirmed their wedding date as February 18th and I've got my plane ticket booked!

Nicholas, Lillian, and I will be flying out with my parents on Thursday the 16th and returning on Tuesday the 21st. Liam will be staying home partly to keep costs down and partly to take care of all the animals.

I'm so excited! My excitement has many factors including but not limited to the following:

1) I haven't travelled in an airplane since June of 2001 and I love to fly.

2) I haven't been to Vancouver since I was a kid.

3) I can finally visit my brother, and Mina, and the Jahnses.

4) I get to be out of the house for more than a few hours!!!

5) My brother is getting married to a wonderful woman.

6) Nicholas gets to go on an airplane, which he's done before but doesn't remember since he was only a baby at the time.

I'm kind of bummed that I'll be away from Liam for so many nights, especially since he'll be gone for 2 nights the weekend before when he and Nicholas go off to Beaver camp. I don't think we've ever spent more than one night at a time apart so this is going to be odd. I'll have to post a sign-up sheet for people to take shifts keeping him company throughout the weekend.

Merry Christmas!!

We received a belated Christmas present from Telus today...a $1000 credit to my cell phone account!

Back in the day, something like 3 1/2 years ago, I got this phone and had to pay a $1000 security deposit (the reason why involves a long story but can be summed up by the phrase "my ex is an ass"). I was to receive the security deposit back if I made all of my payments on time for the length of the contract (one year).

Me being me, I messed up and was late on one or two payments and lost the deposit. Or so I thought.

Apparantly Telus has suddenly decided that I'm worthy of the full $1000 and has credited it to my account. Yee-freaking-haw!

I phoned Liam and told him I wanted to buy a new phone, then promptly told him not to let me buy a new phone.

In a strange twist of fate, he took the stance of being the money miser and suggested we put my monthly phone money towards my student loan.

So, I've just now made a payment onto my student loan of the $34.19 plus our leftover money from last month. It feels oddly satisfying to be paying money to the government.

For all the Napoleon Dynamite fans out there

This made me happy. Be happy too!!

Linky link

Hip Hop Happy New Year!!

First off, my apologies to my blog. I've been neglecting you this past week. Liam has been home so I've been kept entertained.

Secondly, happy New Year everyone!! It's scary to think that at almost exactly this time three years ago I had a multi-hour drunken conversation with some bald guy and ended up with his phone number the next morning. He had this really cool friend named Cliff, but I never did get his number.

Tonight Liam and I acted like the boring old couple that we are and we celbrated the changing of the year over snacks and Monopoly. We did take in the fireworks in Sherwood Park at 8, but that was late enough for us to be out.

During tonight's game, I learned a number of things.

1. Monopoly is still as fun as it was when I was a kid.
2. Monopoly has a lot more rules than I was aware of when I was a kid.
3. Lillian enjoys board games enough to sleep through them. (She slept through the fireworks too, so I'm kind of sensing a theme here)
4. The offer of sexual favours can be very useful when bargaining for property and/or money. (During Monopoly only of course)
5. Drinking Coke out of wine glasses makes pop-drinking seem sophisticated.
6. Liam cuts broccoli into pieces to fit his bite size, not that of a normal human.