Oh yes, last week..

I am very glad that last week is over. Very glad indeed. I am certain that I couldn't have got much stupider. Yes, I think I completely bottomed out last week. I was kind of similar to a walking zombie, except that I came out during the day, and I still wore lipstick. Other than that... I was completely, profoundly and utterly stupid. I could barely form words, let alone string them together to make sentences. I. AM. NOT. KIDDING. But I am better now.... which is why I am back here... chatting up a storm... about nothing,.... which is something I am completely very good at....(smile, smile).

In other news about last week...

The Hamsterson's teacher took all of the grade 5's out on a 3 day camping trip. I like the Hamsterson's teacher, he's a good guy, and very big on building up kids to be the best that they can be. He inspires them to believe in themselves. Although I also have my reservations about him as well. I have not been able to figure out why the Hamsterson son is so lax in his ability to organize himself. Well, he has always been kinda like that anyways... but after watching "the great leader" last week.....even the husbandman commented on now he knows why the "Hamsterson doesn't quite know what is going on...".

This teacher had to orchestrate 55 kids, and 10 adults for three days. That's a load for one to carry. I stood back and watched the day to unveil.. and then it kind of hit me... what is it that makes a good leader... well, you need to be organized, and beyond that, you need to have the ability to deligate, plus the ability to have faith in the people that you deligate to. I think the teacher had it all going on with the thought process of organizing... but this fellow failed to delegate. I feel bad for the fellow, he had heaping amounts of parents that were capable of hands on help with little direction available to him for this camping trip, and he missed using his resources. Mind you, that was just the starting process of getting the camping going, and the completion of the camping trip.... this teacher had everyting nailed down to a tee during the whole 2 1/2 days they were there, with those 55 crazy grade fivers.

That poor teacher was so exhausted last week, he couldn't even speak when unloading the camping gear out of the back of his truck. I felt for the guy. He had to do this "camping" thing pretty much on his own, although there was another grade 5 teacher, who was about as useful as mud on a rock. Not that I am saying she is a bad person... she just doesn't "do" any of this sort of stuff... I am still wondering why this woman is actually a teacher... she might have made a good piano teacher mind you. Anyways.... after all was said and done, it looks like he recovered, as he was back in class with the mother of the son that fell of the cliff in his classroom after school. Things didn't look pretty there either...

In other things courageous....

The very brave and slightly unorganized teacher had left his truck at the site where the start of the hike was for the kids. (if that makes sense)... anyways, after he got the kids to the endpoint of the hike, he then had to turn around and run back along the trail, where all the cars were parked, and then drive to the gate of the lodge where they were going to be camping. The lodge guy was going to open the magic yellow gate. Makes good sense to me... but here's the clincher... the brave teacher had to run all the way back the hiking trail, to meet up with the gate keeper, when... a perfectly good teacher was available to meet the gate keeper, who just happened to be sitting with 3 of the 55 of crazy grade fivers wrapping potatoes. But that is the way he is.... BUT ... somewhere along the line he must have realized that he couldn't drive his truck back to the gatekeeper lodge man, because all the crazy parents parked behind his truck, so he took the student teachers car... to meet the gatekeeper man. All is good... until the "kind of useless grade 5 teacher" finally pipes up and says... "someone needs to drive Harold's truck".... The husbandman looked at me... "you can drive his truck"... he says to me. (this is the courageous part of the story... after all, it is all about me!) OK, I can drive the big blue ugly truck.. "I think I can I think I can I think I can"... I say to myself... frightened for my future as a truck driver, as I am a TOYOTA SUV driver... and barely at that! Then everybody drives off.. and leaves me, with the crazy and kind of unorganzied teachers beast of a vehicle... and that was only looking on the outside... I then had to make it to the great indoors. To my shock and horror... I see what I had not intended on seeing..... A STICK SHIFT. Oh great... this teachers truck is a standard... now luckily ... I drive a standard... but not this kind of a standard... where it's parked in the bushes, kind of on a hill... with no possibility for the clutch to engage anytime soon.... OH MY GOD... WHAT HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO.... I kind of had a little spaz, but since I was by myself... I looked on the inside of his vehicle, and pointed and laughed at myself throught the window.... Fortunately.. ((ok, a little secret here... I had to organize an extra eight kids back to the lodge... because the "kind of useless potatoe wrapper teacher drove off with her designated three kids"... and she never offered to come back...., so I had to ask a van mom to make two extra trips to collect all the left over hiking children... )) On the van moms last trip I had asked her to "hang on" while I tried to figure out driving this beast... no sooner was I in, with the door shut... did the black ball of the stick shift go flying... inside his CRAMMED WITH EVERYTHING vehicle. I can't drive without the magic black ball...NOPE, not me.. I need the magic black ball, even though I had already noticed that it was just there for decoration... but I needed it to drive. I eventually found it amidst his big bottles of Tylenol, and other assorted "things".... I couldn't help but howl at my predicament... I couldn't really go back to camp, minus his vehicle... what kind of complete dipshit queen would I look like!!!! Eventually I got the power rig running, and I managed down the dusty road in first gear, for as long as I could go... then... I had to eventually put it into second, but I didn't find second, I found fourth.... and so the truck chugged along for a while, even though it didn't really like being fourth, but I liked it being in forth... just as long as I didn't have to touch the clutch again...and besides, the black ball flew off again, so I couldn't change gears until I had successfully popped the ball back on... eventually we made it back to camp... I felt like there was a welcoming party... because everybody was standing and running around, watching the big blue beast pull into the campsite/lodge... with the crazy and disorganized teacher waiting patiently for his beloved beast. I think he had kind of a look of worry on his face... which he was correct about that one. I was happy to hand him his keys.

I dare not remember any more about last week... other than I was in complete brainwave failer.... except for the notations from above.....

Home sweet home...

Stuffing the space with pink stuff.
Hey... this is what things look like from the outside... minus the ants.
Working drywall man
Working drywall man's dog... resting in her favourite spot.

 

Build husbandman build!

It's a race against time. The husbandman is back to work on Wednesday, and therefore he must build and construct as much as he can in the laundryroom before that date. Well, he doesn't really have to.... I am just trying to keep him pointed in the right direction. My contribution to this endeavour has been all camera related, and a couple of shopping trips to collect things like cold meat, buns and water. Yes, only water. I'm also very stingy on what my contributions are. In the meantime... I am just happy that he is building away.... build husbandman build!!

As noted below... what's a laundryroom, without a pile of laundry to go with it... even when it's out of commission, it isn't out of commission.

Thank the Lord, again.

Once upon a time I was going to be a nurse. Fortunately for me, someone was guiding me in another direction, although I didn't realize it at the time. The signs were there... but I didn't think of them of signs at the time.... or perhaps I read too much into the instances that occured to help cement the decision to NOT continue with post secondary education, at least not in the nursing field.

There are a couple of instances that come to mind....

My art teacher asked me what art school I was going to, because I would have gotten some scholarship award. ( I wasn't going to art school, and besides I saw many great artists emerging from our class). Hmmmmm.

I took a bunch of "junk" courses (including algebra twice) and of course art in high school... so I had to go back to night school to get my pre-req's for the "nursing school" that I was planning on attending.....

Like the fact that I repeatedly enrolled myself into Algebra 11. I believe I was on my fifth kick of the cat of Algebra, when one night we were writing our final exam... and there was a massive snowstorm. WE had three hours to write the exam, and all I could think about was how was I going to make it home alive, and conquer all the hills in between the school and home. After about an hour into the exam, and another two inches of snow, I called it quits. I told him I didn't think I had had much success with this exam, so it's best to go home and cry now, before I crash, then I would really have to cry.

Then there was the occasion that the stalker sister-that-hadn't-turned-stalker-yet and I were completing our Biology 12 in the same night school class. Things were hustling along quite nicely. The lovely and crazy biology teacher separated everybody in the class, so that not one person could see another person's paper. He even double checked as he wondered through the class. To his satisfaction he gave us the exam, and off we went. The "not-yet-stalker" sister and I were the first out of the class. WE whipped through the exam in 45 minutes, she was out first, and I followed her moments behind. The trouble was we had 2 hours to write the exam. The stalker sister and I were both very perplexed. We thought we had missed pages, but we had gone through the exam twice, both of us. So then, we had to wait around for the rest of the people to finish, because we needed to ask if we had missed something. WE hadn't.. WHEW. But wait... I whewed too soon. The following week, we recieved our marks. I think I had two wrong, but what is this I see, but a line scratched through my mark, and a fail written on the exam. The sister got the same thing, she even got the same two wrong as I did. To our surprise the biology teacher thought the "not-yet-turned-stalker" sister and I had cheated. He told us just that "you cheated". We then had to recreate the events of the exam, and show the biology teacher the impossibilities of our non-cheating ways. He did point out the fact that we left at the exact same time, way to early to boot, and had the same two answers wrong. Well, call it what you will, we didn't cheat we told the guy, and we were offended that he thought we had. We had to spell out to him that we think alike, sound alike, although now adays... we don't act alike... (in stalker terms).

There was another sordid affair with the chemistry teacher. Things were going well in that class, we were making our attempts at chemistry, and even passing the exams that they passed around without any finger pointing episodes.... then one day.... I didn't feel well. I thought it was all in my head, and I was just being lazy. "Buck up little camper, things will get better". (Silly fool was I!). I ended up contracting the chicken pocks. FOREVER. ... well it seemed to me that is. But I missed many many days of chemistry nightschool class, and many assignments that (you needed to be in class to complete them, curse that attendance factor!!). I had just made it back to class, still sporting some of my spots, when something began to go awry in my mouth. ( Little did I know that was the beginning of a very long road living in the denstists chair... to this very day). For days and weeks this carried on, ... I would be fine, then my jaw would hurt, then my tongue would hurt, then the roof of my mouth would hurt, then nothing would hurt, and then I would be fine again. I not only missed many chemistry classes, I also missed many days from work. I was actually did visit the dentist and the doctor... neither of them could find an immediate cure to my predicament. (OK, later it became apparent that it was actually my tooth that needed a root canal...but the symptoms didn't present themselves in the normal way, hence the "dentist-on-call" tapping my very NOW sorry tooth with her upside down mirror). OK... holy super f_______ screaming hell did that hurt.. but I didn't say that....I only wished I did.... ( and I can say that because I have given birth without drugs...., .... not that I didn't want drugs... they refused to give them to me......) anyways.... between the chicken pocks and the axe caving through my face that I was now going through, the husbandman and I were also in the process of buying our very first house. Somehow in the midst of everything, the chemistry class was way beyond my grasp of recouping, and I cut my losses.

I actually cut my losses on the whole nursing profession and said "POOF" begone! ( My sister carried on to become a nurse, and she is an excellent nurse... beyond excellent.. in fact just today I remarked to her that she is ultimately the best "death nurse" I have ever heard of.... seriously really folks... yes, I called her a "death nurse".... because she makes it so freaking easy to die, and honestly welcomes people into the afterlife, and frees them from burden, despair and any pain that they have, and sets their spirits free to roam in peace and tranquility, and holds 90 year olds mothers hands, when a freaking high maintenance family all get up and leave, when mom is just about to make the grand exit, she tells people that their job is done now, and it's time for them to go, she washes and shaves lovely old gentlemen so they can meet their loved ones at the pearly gates all smelling lovely, brisk and clean... I kid you not... she does all that)..... which brings me to the very point of the title of this post......

Last night, I had a really crappy sleep, really crappy... I wasn't awake enough to get up and wander around the semi-renovation home zone, and yet I wasn't asleep enough to stay asleep.... and my eyes kept popping open. So by this morning... I was just so glad that it was morning, and even happier that I wasn't a nurse, that wayI am not continually juggling my days and nights. I can't do this "sleeping" on a regular day. Oh, and another afterthought... I am even more thankful that didn't become a nurse... because there is nothing I enjoy more, than sitting around a circle of older folks discussing hamburgers, and a debate about whether or not onions should be served raw or cooked, on the inside of the bun, or on the side.....

Yes, I thank the lord again....

Note to self:

These are the reasons why I need to stop being a parade junkie:

1. I attract the freak shows.
2. Number one is the absolute truth.
3. All the freaks make it my way, and when one moves one, another shows up.
4. Freak show people amuse me, so it's kind of hard to concentrate on a parade.
5. No sooner did we pick a space along the street that was actually kind of a bus stop bench, but wasn't a bus stop - then a lady and her backet of "trinkets" asked to join us.
6. She was interesting. I liked the way she spoke and only her lips moved. Quite fascinating, and I was intrigued with her for the many hours that it took to watch the parade, and her.
7. Trinket ladies always have friends. ALWAYS.
8. I had the big target on my back when the bobbling headed "eight dollar an hour moving to Mission lady" showed up, and started chatting. Lucky me. She was also interested in the Vancouver Drill Team... except that she didn't take my word for it, and stepped out onto the road, and watched from the centre... then she decided that I needed to know from the centre of the road, and proceeded to yell over the crowds of people that were beginning to amass. Once again, lucky me.
9. Trinket lady and the bobbling headed "eight dollar an hour moving to Mission lady" began to exchange words. I thought trinkets and bobbly earrings were going to be tossed, but it was taken down a notch, when Trinket lady offered up a seat to the bobbling headed "eight dollar an hour moving to Mission lady". Which is the reason I know that fact about the "almost" Mission lady.
10. Benches are for sitting only. The Pip decided that she wanted to stand next to me at the parade. I was leaning on the "maybe a bus stop" bench, and then Pip stood behind and leaned to. There was a towel that was wrapped in a plastic bag which was left in the very location, where Pip was going to sit, when she made it back there. The bench had been soaked in wetness due to the pre-parade downpour. BUT.. as luck would have it... I came prepared with bags and towels. (horray!) But then... to ruin our fun......
11. Be watchful of bench seat thieves. First of all, I have to say, we got to the parade a tad bit early. Like an hour early. The parade didn't start until 11:00 (minus the exeption of the freak show happening all around me). But of course I had to be early to watch the Vancouver Drill Team... so we arrived nice and early.. at 10:00. Which is howcome we managed to scoop the "bench" seats. Along comes this girl... with an older woman. She decided that she would like Pip's spot on the bench. The Bench Thief Woman asked me for the spot... then I had to say that the Pip was sitting there, but for the moment, she was standing next to me. The next thing I know, the woman has got her leg up on the bench, and is leaning next to the Pip, crowding her into me. We are standing so smushed together, that the Pip can't make it back to her spot. Then the Bench Thief Woman leans sideways to grab at her 97 year old counterpart, and I "very gently" shove the Pip back to her bench location. I immediately turn my head to the right... as if I know nothing about what has just taken place. The woman scowled and scowled at me. My thoughts: save the scowl you idiot... if you knew you were coming to a parade, how about a little insight into the fact that the 97 year old counterpart might not want to stand and watch the entire gala event, and maybe bring along a chair... or how about... better yet... arrive early, like we did. JESUS! Eventually she moved on. (( Now before you go all nuts that I am a human hater.. I am not... I assessed the situation of the OK-maybe-she-isn't-97-years-old little lady... and if she really couldn't have been able to hold her own... I would have been able to tell... it's just the assuming of other's that really pisses me off... and by this point in the parade, there wasn't any more room to find a spot to watch the parade.. as we were now surrounded with people... so come on....!))
12. OH... then there was the Toonie Ticket Lady. I liked this part about her.. all sweet and smiles, and "would you like to buy a toonie ticket???"... to the crowd of us... and she didn't have any takers... BUT THEN.... she finds a friend to talk to. ... and in what other language does she decide to speak.. but "SUPER TRUCKER". OK, I know that I am the queen of the language arts department.. but I do not spew as this lady spewed... and when passer bys came her way... she oozed sweetness. Almost like soda pop with an extra three spoons of sugar added.
13. Of course I can not forgot the guy from "the shaver shop". He wins the award for every mother's nightmare of a "slimeball boyfriend tragedy". I pointed to him, and said to Pip, don't ever bring anyone like that around our house, K? I didn't tell her why, she just said, "K". Hopefully we are in full agreement on this level. he was creepy and slimey, and then to boot, he spit. Nice.
14. Aaahhh... lucky number 14... I should have written this paragraph on thirteen... and then forwardsd evil eyebrow karma thoughts to the sushi store owner ... she kicked the PIP out of the doorway of her "establishment", as it was only for customers. Of course on the way out the sushi store owner lady was confronted by the crazy mother of the PIP, and got an earful about being hugely unkind, and not letting a frightened girl wait for a lousy three minutes so the VERY LOUD canon to pass along on the parade route. And..... "shame on you for being so unkind". And then... Oh look, the restaurant is empty......."
15. And then of course, what's a parade without some very young teenage mom to have to watch her parent her little child. I was interested in her particulars, but I stayed silent. Which amazed me, as she proceeded to stand in front of us. All three of us that is... but we all stayed silent. Life must be hard enough for her. Now that I can tell.
16. The best is saved for last: this all could have been averted had I waited to watch it on the cable channel... this very evening, at 6:30. Silly me... I hope I remember this for next year.

Another parade...

I was looking on one of the neighbouring cities websites at their schedule of events... I found out that the Vancouver Police Drill team will be performing at 10:15.

NOW THIS IS AN EXCUSE FOR A PARADE!!

Who cares that it might be raining....!!

Off I go... with the chicklets in tow.
The Boy ripped from his "gaming", and a girl now called BANGSY!

Canopy of green

 

Things were going along smoothly..

The Pip was busy being a nine year old yesterday evening. Doing things that nine year old girls do, like dance in their bedrooms with slippers on, in celebration of finding the hardwood floor. Or, sitting at her desk, now that she could see it, and contemplate all of her billions of trinkets that were littered all over it, but still celebrating the fact that she wasn't forced to yell 'AVALANCHE' every time she drifted past it. Things were going so smoothly... up to and including her hair combing adventure. The Pip decided that she wanted to comb her hair, in her room, sitting at her desk.. while daydreaming. Things were good, she had a lovely PIPish smile on her face, and when I inquired what she was up to..."Oh, I'm just putting the comb through my hair..." She had a small strip of hair from the front of her forhead that she was busy enjoying pulling the comb through. She was quite proud of this fact, and showed me of her great talents. I let her be and carried on doing "evening things"... Not two minutes later she walks out into the kitchen. "How do I get this comb to uncurl the front of my hair?" she says. My eyes become riveted to her forhead, where now that beautiful clomp of hair is wrapped tightly around the comb, and has taken up permanent residency, like a bow on a birthday present.

I then begin the jigsaw adventure of trying to untangle her thick blond locks from the combs tight grip. Fortunately I was able to unravel some of the hair, and save her from "razoring" the comb free. Eventually I had to cut the comb out. I just didn't have the "comb unravelling talents" that all mothers should possess.

The important thing is ... the PIP looks cute in her new bangs.

It's all about being shallow you know....

There's a hole in my bucket.

Actually there are two holes in the bucket. I am referring to the lovely and silly catdog currently bucketheaddog. We have renamed our furry princess "bucket"... she even comes when she is called .... "Come on in bucket....!" we say to her, and she wags her tail. She really is bored of her bucket, although she still has a keen interest in licking away her worries, on her hind end. The bucket is helping to cure her of her ailments...

Princess Buckethead still has not gotten it all together with the bucketwearing mind you. She is still slamming into things, and getting stuck underneath the table and between the chairs. Poor Buckethead doesn't realize that she has a bucket on her head. We have been taking the bucket off her head... to give her a break, as well as us, and the walls a break too.

In other things that are less interesting....

We brushed the Pip's hair today. She doesn't brush her hair very often, if ever... she said in a sweetly mannered voice that "it's not her thing". Now I know how dread locks are made... I guess all these people claimed it wasn't "their thing" either. When I finally was able to drag a brush through it, and pop a lovely side slant french braid on it... the "do" was magnificent.. it looked raidiantly blond against her navy blue sweater. Then I had to dump tea tree oil in it... just so the lovely "licey" bugs that travel by the trillions in their classroom.... stay away from her crowning glory.

I am a sucker...

I am a Sudoku sucker that is. Apparently it is good for your brain. I am not sure if it is good for my brain... I am finding it quite painful to accomplish.. But I will keep plucking away at it. Not that I don't have other things to do.. But maintaining the brain is on the "other things" list. I think I have to get the hang of factoring out numbers. Good grief!

In other things "sucking".....

I cleaned out underneath the bathroom sink earlier. It's a good thing it was garbage day... holy smokes did I ever manage to fill up the newly emptied garbage can.

The weather is a LARGE bit to be desired... if it's not raining, it's POURING!

Back to my puzzle... not that I want to... I am sucked in....

Ooops, the wall fell down

The Husbandman/demolisher has been every so cautiously removing parts of our living space. He effortlessly removed the hollow and crooked laundryroom wall on Sunday. The demolisher man also ripped up the floor. Interestingly we now have a "sunken laundryroom". Quite a nice feature to any modern home.... if you like broken ankles from falling sideways with the over stuffed laundry baskets... The demolisherman will fix that certain feature to the homestead, although he was quite amazed at the previous home builders idiocy in the home building process. There is nothing like digging up a floor to a laundry room, and finding strips of wood to make up the height difference in the floor. We now only have one backdoor again, and not the "two side by side" backdoors as we had last week. I think we are the reality show of "extreme home makeover", except for the fact that we are the one's that are paying for this.

Chasing the last few remnants of Spring
The Pipness of trouble!

 

Ceasar Salad Sadness

Last night, in a great attempt to appear all chefly & cookingish like... I threw together some form of exciting dinner. It really was. The family were very much in love with the mother that can throw dinner about... and the thrown about dinner even got eaten too. It's a highly regarded skill... I believe, at least I think it is.

So last night while I was busy throwing, I paused for the momentary forgiveness of salad dressing. Yes, salad dressing forgiveness is the foremost in my mind when I am going to "splash" the salad with a little "dressing".... I put my hand over the label with "the amounts of badness" that were going to enter into the wonderful salad. I threw caution to the wind... and dumped away. I was complimented heavily on the wonderful tasting salad... Yes, people, yes it is wonderful... with all that "bad salad dressing". Now, you may wonder why I don't just buy the low fat stuff. Well, I have done that many times... and dumped out a multitude of salad dressing containers and let many "heads" of romaine go untasted... see it's all bad. If you "go low", then nothing gets eaten, and if you "go bad"... it's rad... and more get's eaten.

This evening I put together another Ceasar Salad.. with just one tablespoon of the "bad" stuff... there were no compliments, or yearnings for more... it was all for me, myself, and I.

Yes, all in a day of the Ceasar Salad Sadness.

Things you can accomplish on a Saturday

It's just lovely not going to work on a Saturday... OH, I should say... ABSOLUTELY lovely. I think maybe I might find a real job... where you actually work... during the week...it's a novel idea. Yes, I am thinking that 8 1/2 years of 11.5 hour Saturdays is enough.... now I have to plan my escape....

In other Saturday accomplishments....

The girl and I crafted up some paper clothing fashion thing at 0800 this morning. I think this sort of thing is for card making and such... except that the girl just wants to craft up clothes with the fashionable paper... I was working with all my might not to SUGGEST that fur and summer dresses do not go together... OK... I think I may have let that one slip...

My hands have finally quit aching from yesterdays weedfest pulling non-event that occured in our backyard. Well, they have kind of quit aching... now the ache is just a constant dull "feeling" roaming through them. Although... it helps with the piano practicing... I certainly can't feel them "ping & sting" when I plop my way through the music... did I just say plop.. I mean plunk... I pick at the piano keys, then plunk for good measure....

I cleaned out my closet today... OK, so I'm a liar... I attempted to clean out my closet today... which I did accomplish that, sort of kind of.. but I wasn't able to part with a number of my boxes... especially "Clark's" boxes.. they are just so freaking durable... and you just never know when you need a durable box at the ready. If our house ever burns down... the flames will sprint to the closet... because there will be lots of "kindling" available for the blazing ball of fire...

I made a list of "things" that I needed from the store. This concept worked quite well... including the fact that I remembered to take the list with me. I will have to try and remember this again sometime.... with the clincher being.. if I remember.

Wow... I talked to the neighbours.... a most bizarre experience... only because I talked to the neighbour guy for an hour and a half in the driveway... I think it's a relaxed Saturday thing... plus he was finished "polishing" his mid life crisis car. The husbandman even called twice looking for me... too bad I couldn't tell him to hurry home from work.. so he could BBQ up the groceries that I had just brought home...

While in the middle of cleaning out the bathroom I decided that it was time for the Pipster and I to go shopping. I think I am in love with the randomness of a Saturday. OH!... and a most startling experience.. coming from me.. I decided to make pancakes out of the blue... I never even think about "creating" pancakes on a non busy occasion... due to the technical nature of the "dishes"... post pancake eating...(this acknowledgement once again keeps me out of the running for the mother of year award.. that is always so far out of my reach anyways.. I am certain now, I am down another rung on the ladder).

AND.. finally .... I just so happened to steal a glance at our friends kitchen.... I have been slowly sliding down the steep & deep dark path of BLACK appliances.... and once again... I may have been swayed.... I am comforted and scared in the knowledge that BLACk hides the grime... oh what to do... what to do... I think in the meantime.. I will hope for a completed laundry room.... which I may add.. that the dryer has finally stopped squeaking now that it's hit a new corner... maybe all it really wanted was a window view to the great outdoors... so for now it's silent...and I'm happy....

The next Mr. Blue Eyes

 

Ellie-May Clampet

 

The real reason to watch a parade..

 

What does five minutes a day get you?

A very happy piano teacher.

I have harped, harped and harped some more with the lovely Hamsterson to keep up with his piano practicing. I am quite proud to point out that I myself remembered to tell him to practice everyday. That in itself took some wizardly actions.OK, it isn't that great of a feat, given the size of our house, and the fact that a large black object takes up one wall that we continuoly pass by during different of the evening. Yes, in actuality it was more like under five minutes a day. The Hamsterson would play his two pieces once over, flick the switch off the digital piano, and say he was done. If that's as much as he will do, then that's as good as it gets. The Hamsterson had a friend over last week and just as we were leaving, I tricked the Hamsterson into playing for his friend, hence the everyday practicing approach. He was very happy to oblige.

In under five minutes a day... there is a large amount of happiness...

I just don't DO those words

I have never coughed up a lung, had some lung chunks, lost a lung coughing, or exhaled a lung while coughing.

I find the whole visual on those last thoughts a bit oogey. Very oogey. I have had three people today tell me about their lung ailments... all of which have left me with very bad afterthoughts of the actual descriptions they have given me... PLEASE... save the poor tortured visual souls from any further lung torture treasure stories...! I don't mind long stories, but I can't do lung stories.

In other things yucky....

I have parked about 30 bamboo sticks in my front garden... to keep both of the neighbours shitting cats away. This is when I wish I had my dear-but-dead dog Evil Queen Cicely still... there wouldn't be any cats coming visiting any day soon.

And one more gruesome tail... how about this neighbourly gesture.... I flipped the dead bird that I found lying in my driveway to the neighbours driveway... they have a cat, plus they have a birds nest in the eaves of their house... I am full of evil forces today.

What's this I see...

Nothing says a Stalker Sister like when the "Stalker" arrives at my house first, sits in the driveway in her wonderful air conditioned Pathfinder. As I walk up to the driver side window, she is waiting impatiently with her shades down low on her nose and says ...."get in".... Yes, she's a stalker alright.

But things can't happen that quickly around these parts... as I had to figure out what to do with the silly catdog, now turned buckethead. She chewed her hind end something beyond silly yesterday... and went for a stat visit to the vet. Upon her return, she had a bucket on her head. She isn't fairing too well with it yet... as everywhere she goes and turns, she rams herself into people, places and things. Although the bucket has proven to be usefull so far, as it catches the antibiotics that she spits out quite nicely at me. So it is helpful in that sense.

Back to stalker issues... with the silly catdog buckethead safely tucked in on the leather couch... I immediately took up my regular shot gun seat inside the Stalker Sister's vehicle.Although I was a bit disappointed in the "open window" concept, as it was already heating up pretty quickly for being this early into the day. She already had our day planned out for us. Which is interesting.. because I already had my day planned out for me... and it didn't include anything to do with Stalker Sisters.. but I fear her you know... plus I like her... because she makes me laugh... and she keeps me away from yicky houseworky things...so I can be easily swayed...

the rest of the day goes like this: the London Fog's that we were going to purchase ended up being a breakfast blip at Whitespot, and they tried to serve the Stalker Sister burnt toast... where she turned her head and looked around and said.. "it's not busy in here, I want toast that isn't burnt please"... then we made it to the big box place where the store only opens at 10:00, and the tills have a ten deep line-up at 10:10. We dashed over to the Home Depot to collect more dirt and mushroom manure.. because we like to do that sort of thing. Of course we had to look at more pesticide stuff to rid our world of the ant population. I used this opportunity to show the Stalker Sister the nasty sticky traps that catch mice.. which grossed her out, as much as they did to me last week, when I saw them for the first time. She helped me haul my dirt, manure and water out of her vehicle.. then we both decided that we needed to go grocery shopping. But that also meant that we needed to unload her vehicle of her bags and flats of items.. so we headed back to her house... then off we went grocerying together... we got separate carts this time.. because we didn't do that last time.. and I learned that the Stalker sister needs her own cart, otherwise she get's all nasty like. Sometimes I can be a quick study.. it helps in these sticky stalker sister situations. I am very happy to report... that I managed to collect 325 airmiles on my purchase today... and that wasn't a simple task... it involved staring into coupon books, and matching up items that didn't make sense to me... but it paid off. Well, I think it paid off.. I am not sure what I am going to do with all these airmiles... I was once upon a time going to go to Disneyland.. but I think I would only get to take me, myself and I... so I am not really sure if "them and they" are going to be able to come with me... but in them meantime I will continue to collect... When all was said and done, and the groceries were put away at the Stalker Sisters house.. it was 2:30 when I returned home.. and I was welcomed with a lovely and WET wagging tail...it was miss buckethead herself, WADING for me at the front door.... and it was at this point that I forgotten one teency weency schmeency detail to the day..... Miss buckethead was given a shot of a steroid yesterday that puts her kidneys into overdrive... which is the reason that she was busy being "Miss buckethead pee everywhere", as we came through the door. Nothing says welcome home like a pee ridden bucket headed silly catdog. It was at this point that I turned around and the Sister Stalker had scooted back to her Pathfinder, windows rolled up tight.. and a big smile on her borrowed lipstick lips.. and she waved, as she backed out of the driveway.... her stalking was done for the day.

Whamlilzuckled.

It's the word that I just came up with.

It represents the number of thoughts that are blazing through the brain at this moment.

In other things even less important...

Aras won on Survivor. Interesting. Although I think that Terry should have won. But that's just me.

It is freakingfriday hot here today. And I mean FREAKING.

I only did the 6 lap rainbow challenge tonight... the PIP kind of ran along next to me with her kite. There was no wind... only in the PIP's mind. We also have lots of lines and cables and things that dangle from poles around here. Yes, it was a very safe experience... it really is all about the PIP having fun.... who cares that the mother was freaking out with her kite runner abilities.... although we kept the string at a very safe distance.... the PIP only managed to almost run into a front of a new TOYOTA Forerunner, so there was minimal damage.

Must go rest the whamlilzuckled mind...

 
  

I am so!

The Stalker Sister accused me of not being a real gardener today. This didn't just happen once, but numerous times. I am not totally convinced of the reason why:

1. So what if I like to wear gloves, is it too much to ask that they should start out dry in the first place.
2. Big deal if I wont immerse my hands into her sludged out oak barrels.
3. Whatever if I don't like her soil composition, and it's too dry, then makes me sneeze.
4. OK, so I like to garden in the sunshine, and not iceberg conditions.
5. Ooops if I just wont stand in the wind and mix dirt.
6. Does it really matter that I do not like to get my nails dirty anyways?
7. I don't do bags of blooms.
8. So I stop and take pictures for a while... is there anything wrong with that?
9. I take no offense to wearing two DRY gloves for the left hand, I am adaptable sometimes.
10. It's nice to stand back, and enjoy the real gardener happy with her own self.

That Stalker sister... she certainly had a lot to complain about... but she eventually got the job done, especially with my helping hands....

Coffee maker tea

There are days sometimes when you just need an abundance of tea. Tea calms the soul, and cures runny allergy ridden noses. It's all tea, all the time..... for now that is.

In other kind of boring except for me news:

We saw our first bear the other night.... it was very exciting! Pip and I drove up... and I recognized the intense toothpick girl from last year who was busy fighting with her boyfriend. She hadn't changed much... still a toothpick, drinking pop, and smoking. I get the feeling that she thrives on this amount of conflict. Then there was the family of people that recognized me being the bear watcher lady. The mother of that family knew if I was out cruising around with my camera there was a bear "out there". There are some people that just aren't bear watcher material. I had to walk her through looking for the bear out in the field. (In my most politess of ways.... follow my arm, and locate the large black dot amongst the greenery)....after three attempts she finally spotted it.

I got my orange dashboard "check-engine" light fixed yesterday. That was for a bargain basement price of $700.00, amongst other trivial things that make a 16 year old SUV run a bit smoother, and with less gas consumption.

Survivor had a bit of a twist at the end... and now myself and the rest of the survivor watchers are left hanging until Sunday... not knowing who has been "kicked" off. This amount of suspense is almost too much.

AND.... there will be more colour coming my way.... the Stalker Sister and I went out flower hunting again yesterday... and I have more flowers to start all over again... to do something with.

And exciting news for me ten times over.....The lovely and wonderful piano teacher will be coming to my Stroke Group.... yes she will!.... So now, all the pressure is off of me to perform, or how about simply to play. I have to love that! Now, she wont be teaching piano... BUT... in a combined effort... I am going to incorporate her music skills, with speech and memory drills for the lovely group that meets each week. Oh yae for me... yae for me... the pressure is off me....!!!

The tea cup is empty, must make my way to the coffee maker tea.

Rescue the Fescu

using your best radio talk show host voice:

More... on gardening with Deanna...

Back to yesterday, and gardening with the Stalker Sister and creating that premiere garden, that catches the eyes of beholders and wins prizes for the prettiest garden contest. (None of which I will accomplish.. but it's good to think big about this kind of stuff).

Yesterday was all about difficult plant placement, and dealing with that certain person that was having difficulty with the plant placement. I, being the hostess of the gross garden, refused to give the Stalker sister helper a shovel. I knew it wouldn't be in my best interest. I knew that plants would go flying, and somehow grow legs, and take up new locations.

I eventually had to cave, and go collect the shovel as I managed to rip off all of the leaves on my Day Lily that I was trying to move. OOOPS. The only way that piece of furniture was going to be relocated was with a shovels helping hand. It brought a sparkle to the stalker sisters eye. (You would have thought she was stalking twins with that amount of shine).

While I was busy removing 30 pound rocks from the side garden, I saw the shovel come to life.. in the stalker sisters hands. The next thing I saw was dirt and plants traveling at a high rate of speed, and her nattering about some movie where some "thing" goes wild in a movie, where they were once good. She gave me the name...but I can't remember it.

She had moved things about, very much to her liking, of course not realizing that it was my garden festival that she was actually invited into. But, she seemed to be having so much fun.. (that whole barefoot and snails thing... which was totally freaking me out the whole time)...then she reached for the blue fescue. It had started out great last year, when I first planted it. But now that it had been through the winter season, seemed a little under the weather... as well as was lacking in the many blue fescue "blades" of grass... although there was still a hint that it was indeed a blue fescue grass....

WAIT!.... we must rescue the blue fescu I told her... we have to. I didn't tell her the real reason... other than it has a place in the premiere garden... But really when you pause a moment... it's a catchy group of words, and if you really think about it... are there many words that rhyme with rescue....?

The life of me... somedays it's painful, catchy... but painful.

yesterday....

What in the world happened yesterday?... somedays it takes a while for me to remember what I did an hour ago, let alone 24 hrs ago. Many things happened yesterday.. but none of which will be transribed here...it's just not that exciting...

But in things that were exciting: ( in my world )

Myself and the Hamsterson went on a historical walk of our city. I didn't come up with this idea, it was some elses idea, and they included me into that idea.... and then I brought the lovely son... for good measure. So it was me, the Hamsterson and three older ladies. My Hamsterson got to chat with all of them... being his mature 11 1/2 year self.

Anyways.. it was all good, which is the real reason that I let myself be pushed into attending. It was a nice evening, and the boy and myself had an opportunity to wander about the city, staring at houses. Although, the boy already had taken that opportunity, and wandered about the city with his friends... after school, while I waited for him to return... which he kind of didn't... and then eventually made it home. My silly Hamsterson... he has a wandering instinct.. and I am not sure who he get's it from.... (tsk tsk)

It turned out to be a good thing that I brought the Hamsterson with me... he loved it. We even got to tour through two houses.. one that was built in 1898, and one that was built in 1913. You have to love being a looky-lou.... it is just the right thing to do. Actually I have driven past the house built in 1898 for years and years and years.... and wondered what it looked like inside... I am glad I waited... as the people have being slowly renovating it back to it's original state... with modern wiring of course.

and that was yesterday....

Finding help....

all the way in your front yard!

There are certain days when the karma thing is working, and I just know that the stalker sister will swing by. She doesn't call, she just arrives.... in her lovely silver Pathfinder with heated seats. The karma was in full sinc today, as I exited my 16 year old failing SUV, she arrived in her roaming spitfire. This is where I have to add... I love shotgunning with the stalker sister.

Today was a bit different.. the stalker sister usually arrives, and gives off her agenda of the day.... so before she even had a chance to breathe... I filled her in on my agenda... and she was totally part of it. As luck would have it... she was happy to oblige all the whims I had conjured up inside my busy brain.

It involved gardening. I knew she would be all for it.. before I got the words out.

The stalker sister had some issues with me, and my kind of bad but whimsicle style of gardening, however she did recover from her fright, and forged ahead with great anticipation of becoming one with the soil. I have to say though, she is a weird gardener.... she doesn't like gloves, and even likes going barefoot. Well, she did like going barefoot until she had had it up to her eyeballs with the enormous amount of snails that inhabit my gardening space. Actually, she was down right pissed with the snails, and me... for not fending off the evil shelled little suckers. She had other issues with me as well.... things like I wouldn't give her a shovel. I just knew if I gave her a shovel, she would have dug up my whole freaking front yard. She had great issues with my plant placement, hell! I had issues with my plant placement, but I wasn't about to start agreeing with her... who knows what the stalker sister would have talked me into.

But it all ends well, my front yard is planted, the twenty thousand weeds have been unearthed, and the stalker sister has taken a walk on the wild side of gardening life. I will be volunteering my garden works with her on Thursday mind you.. it will be a very controlled event.. and include things like planting pots, and creating curvy lines of non stop begonias. I will add the extra comment, that her front yard does look like a "premiere garden"... or something that you find on the front pages of "gardening" magazines... which would be the reason that she laughed HYSTERICALLY at me, when I referred to my "plot" as the premiere garden space.

Good bye to our spring colours....

I was out and about last week, snapping up shots of the city. I was able to catch just some of the cascades of colour that happen all around us, for only a short period of time. But, now I am happy to report.. that all my blooming tulips are just bare stems... so that means only one thing... let the summer colours begin!

 

The rainbow challenge.

Earlier this evening I went out for the circular walk, because really, why walk anywhere at all, when you can keep reliving the same scenery over and over again. I came up with a new way of counting the number of times that I rounded the crescent, because last time between the Pip and I, we couldn't remember if we had done three or four laps. I told the Pip that it only felt like three, but the Pip insisted that it was four.

As luck would have it... we have many colours for colouring in this little messy and dusty currently kind of being renovated homestead. So I plucked out 8 colours, and headed out the front door, with the Pipster attached to my right side. I told her of my great plan of moving one pencil crayon at a time to the other hand in an effort to decrease the confusion of our numbering the laps. This worked great.... we walked the rainbow laps first, then filled in the rest of the laps with the boring blacks and browns.

In other colourful events:

The husbandman has been busy crawling on the other two levels of our homestead... the levels that are not occupied, unless of course you are a spider.. or are a current live-but-not-for-long member of an ant colony. The contractorman has put new plumbing in place, which involved crawling in crawl spaces, and along rafters. Not my cup of tea... any day... ever!

I spent one whole day at work today... it was the most pleasant of experiences. I am more than thankful that I have dumped my Saturdays for the month of May... I used to like Saturdays... now I clearly despise them.... except for this month of course.

oh...and the most exciting of news..... if the weather behaves itself this week... I am going to throw down many bags of mushroom manure, and maybe... only maybe ... plant some of my annuals... now this is a colour challenge!... and I can't wait.

Run Hamsterson Run!!

Yesterday was a bit of a busy day. It was the PIP's birthday party... and I had to be all good and organized to run the birthday party on my lonesome.. although the stalker sister took the day off to help me... (so all good stalker sisters should I think).

Anyways... in an attempt to calm the little lady Pipster into a state of smiles and pleasantness we walked home from school. It isn't really a long walk, except for when it's raining... and then I do not walk, the walk is far too long on rainy days. I am sure the greatest fear is the fact I might melt while walking in the rain. I just know it. (In my mind this equates to: rain water=bad, hot showers = good.... I do not melt in hot showers, except for days when I am having a melt down in the shower, but that is purely only the days that I have drank way way way too much coffee, and I am synapsing a rate of 395 cajillion). We were just coming up on the home stretch yesterday, and about to pop out of the trail and onto our crescent.. when I saw it....

The FED-EX truck... parked along side of our driveway, and then a form jumping inside the truck. AAAAAhhhhhh! I yelled... (being the non regular of Fedex users.. I don't know that they DO deliver... even when you DO NOT open the front door....) so in a panicked state I told the Hamsterson to run... run down the other side of the street... run till you can't run anymore.. I quickly say to the non-panicked and withering from the early spring heat boy... RUN!!!!! Now that Hamsterson of mine... you can't rush him, he can't be rushed, he is unrushable. He pauses to pull off his "hobo" jacket (it's a blue fleecy.. that he wore last year, and I can't get him to discard the item.. so I figured if I started calling him a HOBO, he might want to give it up...to a hobo....), then after he has slowly pulled off his HOBO jacket, he then pauses to tie his shoelace, or wait, I have just been informed that he was doing a quick stretch before his "truck crescent challenge"... meanwhile the FedEx truck is now picking up speed on the other side of the street.... so now I "hiss" (OK.. I start to pray*) at the unrushable Hamsterson....."Jesus, just run Hamsterson... run.... catch up with the FedEx truck, hisssssssssssssss!" Then like a flash... he began to move, ok, almost like a flash, although I think the flash was window glare from the sun... but I could be mistaken. But, before we knew it Hamsterson was at the end of the crescent, and I can swear the Fed-Ex boys were now driving out the drive through at McDonalds.

Meanwhile... back on the homefront on the front steps... little lady Pipster had picked up a big brown package.... she began to yell. (Pip always yells)... which I try to ignore her... but it was at this point I spotted Pip yelling and carrying the package. I then called off the mad dart slash dash slash hustle slash spotted turtle race to a halt. I reeled in the Hamsterson. "CLEAR! I yelled, we've got the goods, come on home now son.. your job is done here....." Poor Hamsterson, he may be unreasonably unmissionable next time.

life can be colourful... except when it's in black and white

 

You have to love the magic of photography...

 

The bad birthday party parent

That will be the title of me... later today. The little lady Pipster is a mighty nine years old... well, as of tomorrow actually.. but nine she is!... and she can still not successfully put socks on her feet. It is a proud moment as a parent.. to realize that at nine years old, she still refuses to put socks on her feet. I thought that this unsockable child would blow over.... and I am still waiting.

Hopefully the birthday party bling will be successful, I have (a fancy) cake, pop, hotdogs, chips, pizza, camera batteries charged and bowling allies reserved... fingers crossed that everyone comes out alive. All I know.. is that I am glad that I am not doing it at home this year.

The breakneck turtle.

I think I have decided that the little (big) reno that we have embarked upon will be the fastest race to the finish line ever.... if you are a turtle. The husbandman turned contractorman slash bulging discman is having some issues. I have seen him work with a level, and he is very good at leveling things out, but he is rather crooked, very crooked in fact. I did inquire as to how he thinks that this whole reno-thing is going to go down. I wondered if I would be the only person left standing in the new kitchen.... and what's a new kitchen without someone willing to use it. I want a new kitchen.. just so I can practice cleaning things that are new, unscuffed, and kind of fresh looking. I don't want a kitchen that I can cook in, that would be plain silly, especially since the current-broken-contractor-discman likes to cook himself.

So, in an attempt to keep the husbandman slash bulging discman slash trying to be contractorman on the up and up... I will ask him to go ask him to go at breakneck turtle speed, just to be sure that he gets everything accomplished, plus is left standing at the end of it... just so he can cook in his new found space. And, just to be a good and kind wife, I might go shopping for some groceries so he can prepare feast after feast after feast.

Drop on by....

I need to have children drop by in the a.m. all the time.... during the week that is. It helps to get the two chicklets that I own remove themselves from their cuddly locations, and start the morning routine rather briskly, and with purpose. Of course yesterday there was the exception to that ... especially when the lovely "Bonk-star" girl from across the street knocked on the front door at eight oclock sharp.. and the Hamsterson was still busy sleeping in his bed. But, with a stunned wake up call, a stat shower, and a quick change, the Hamsterson was ready to go. They were supposed to be at the school at 08:15. WE were late by 3 minutes at the arrival gates... then I watched them walk SLOWLY towards the back of the school. Oh well, how many times can you throw a " shot put" in 35 minutes?

Now today... it's8:29... the lunches are done, the chicklets actually sat and ate breakfast... and we are ready to walk....plus, it's busy being sunny out. I don't have to paint a smile on my face for this one.

The secret life of me

It's good to have secrets... it keeps people guessing about what is actually going on inside that bad head of hair. Although... the past couple of weeks, I have been successful in prooving to the rest of the street that I am truly on the edge of reason... I have taken up walking around our crescent, and then back along the other street, which essentially forms an extra large track.

I think this circling is merely a representation of the life that I lead on the whole. I just keep going and going, but it never leads to anywhere... I always end up in the exact same spot as I did when I started. Not that this is really a bad thing, but I wonder about the opportunities that would open up if I jumped off my beaten track. I enjoy circling the block, it's comfortable and welcoming. I always know which direction I am headed, I know the special spots along the way to walk on, and the spots to avoid. I even know the people that reside in almost every home. Why avoid familiarity, when adventuring has nothing to gain?

I have in the past ventured forth, and have beaten a new path, but even that didn't last for a great length of time. Then it all becomes an issue that the "grass is greener on the otherside"... which means that if I am willing to walk for endless steps for great periods of time... then surely I must be willing to drive to a desired location and march about with determination. Granted, I do very much enjoy walking the circular path of a rubberized track, but it's the effort to find the time to drive to the location then walk for the desired amount of time, and then carry on for the next scheduled event of the day.. and I must say.. at that point my hair is even more worse for wear, and I am crazy with thoughts that have been travelling through my mind at break neck speed while I circulated the track. Of course at this point I am either too jovial to be in public, or just a bit too crazed. At any rate, it has gotten way too complicated and out of control with the "grass is greener" route.

So, in an effort to simplify, I now walk around our crescent for endless amounts of time.... and meet up with friends and neighbours and dogs and their owners and enjoy the scenery and breathe in the fresh air, and wave at the people staring out at me from their livingroom windows, or their porches and patios.

I wont let on that I just keep singing.... "just put one foot in front of the other....". Yes, it's the secret life for me.... it's just better that way.

Hamsterson's Friday board-break.

The Hamsterson tested for his black stripe tonight. Here he is breaking boards with his hand, and a back kick. I often wonder why I keep this boy at this Tae Kwon Do place... sometimes the instruction is a little (VERY!) lax... and then the Master said to me yesterday. "The only person I watch in this room is "the hamsterson" while he is testing, it does not matter how well he does compared to the rest of the Tae Kwon Do students, and it doesn't matter if he ever goes anywhere with his TKD, but what does matter is.. that he has a goal for himself, and for his future, and not just sitting at home on the couch accomplishing nothing, that is the most important thing...."

It's a beautiful day when:

1. BOTH the chicklets are up, dressed, washed, brushed and fed at 07:11 in the morning.

OK, the list stops here.... there is nothing more beautiful than that. Well, one other miniscule thing, like finishing up the load of dishes on the counter, and doing two loads of laundry before 0830. That can be added only as a sidebar to the amazing first featured number one & only above this. More amazing things later.....

The real reason you have to love the internet...

So the idiotic-and-lucky-to-be-alive-but-none-the-less-lovely-catdog was more than helpful yesterday morning. (((NOT))) Little Miss Ellpee brought out the real reason why people have computers.

They are only to shop with. That's all. The real reason would be for this:

The other day we had a pot luck lunch at our Stroke Group. One of the fellows always brings chicken wings. He happily puts them into a pyrex dish, with a nice snap on blue cover, and then inserts the dish into a beautiful sea-green zippered carry bag that has a heating cushion on the bottom of it. It's a very lovely device, I have thought ... the many times I have seen it. It also adds to the loveliness of it... the fact that he just raves about how much he loves it. So we are all in love with his pyrex dish, and his pyrex dish holder. Although the other day our favourite pyrex dish owner was not feeling well, and left me with his beloved hot wings, inside of his hot dish, which were inside of the sea-green carrier. I told him I would take good care of it. Which I did. After the pot-luck I fed the husbandman turned contractor a big plate of lovely tasting chicken wings. Not soon after that I then had to clean out the pyrex dish, and the lid, and the sea-green carrier, and inside of the heating pocket, the heating pad... I had to clean and clean and clean and clean and clean..... and clean. I kid you not I had to clean... I just kept cleaning, and it didn't seem to want to lose the juices left over from the chicken wings. I think the pyrex dish itself was in love with those chicken wings. Anyways.. after a great amount of time.. I finally was satisfied with the clean factor of the sea-green carrier. I was planning on giving the sea-green's carriers owner a hard time this next Monday for being very enthusiastic with the chicken wing sauce... as it was everywhere....!!! I placed it on the counter, and put a towel beneath, and let the whole contraption air dry. Things were going fine......

until.......

the very next morning, just before I was going to put the chicken carrying contraption back together... a certain little catdog took an interest in the whole affair... and I might add, just enough interest to pull the lid and the sea-green container to her house. And that was it... she isn't a chewer or a wrecker... well only kind of. I inspect the lid for bite marks... and there was a very slight indentation on the rim, and it still did it's job of fitting perfectly over the 9 x 13 pyrex dish. I gave it another good wash.. and set it on the counter. Then I picked up the sea-green container, and upon initial inspection it seemed to have come out unscathed... like I said, she's not a chewer.. she just investigates. It wasn't until way way way later... that I started to put the dish back in it's carrier.. and just zip it up. Very simple.. except for the wee bit of a snag on the zipper...first words out of my mouth..... WHAT THE FUCK!............. Yes, I try and keep it clean when I can... but when things go bad.. so does the language. So after about 20 rounds of FUCKNESS, which didn't serve any real purpose, because it didn't help to get the zipper put back on the BELOVED SEA-GREEN CARRIER....I turned to the silly catdog.... and gave her a good hissing.

Which now leads me to the whole internet thing.... I looked up pyrex, and eventually found all kinds of things that you can order right from the screen.... all kinds of stuff. Except for the carrier. Once again... FUCK hit the fan. I blew off an email, in a desperate attempt to see if I could order it... and then had to sit and wait and cross my fingers that this was a possible deal. I headed out to the mall first thing this morning.. to find this great sea-green carrier.... and after many rounds of the mall, I came up empty handed. Well, kind of empty handed... I did have to purchase the lovely Hamsterson some boxers... because the regular undies/briefs had turned into white-tighties... so I did have some luck in the undies department....

After all that.... I received an email from the pyrex people.. and ended talking to some guy from Greenfield, Pennsylvania... and ordered me one WATER BLUE 3L pyrex dish carrier. I might even love my Mastercard more. I am not sure how much I am in love with my silly catdog.... for the moment.

Love the hot lunch

Hands down, without a doubt... you have to love hot lunch day. It just makes that part of the morning just a bit more perkier... just knowing that you (meaning me) do not have to put lunches together. It is just that special to me.

In other things that are special....

I quite like getting up at the 0700 hour... it makes getting to school a little bit easier... other than the 0835 mistaken hour.. that we woke up to yesterday. Oooops.

I like the internet. It makes shopping for obscure items just that much easier.

I like Costco... they have cheap bedding plants available... so being their at just the right time is a bit helpful as well.

The dryers constant "eeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee" is a very special noise to me. It is what helps to keep me OVER THE EDGE whenever I am at home, and inside... like now. I especially like the special way I turned it on for the husbandman-turned-contractor the other day when he was busily working to rebuild our laundryroom... I let him listen to it for a number of hours... and he is the one insisting that we do not need a new dryer... so I just let him whistle away to the "EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEEING" for a couple of hours.

I know I am very helpful, in a special kind of way.

But not as special as hot lunch.

Tra la la la

That is the song that you sing when you wake up in the morning... A TAD BIT LATE.... AGAIN. I think I had a scarey dream at 0345 this morning... which woke me up, then I decided that I better get up... because I couldn't listen to the husbandmans snoring... so I went and shared the couch with the crazy little tail wagging catdog. While sharing the couch and watching television at four in the morning with the catdog, I did however manage to learn how "box springs and beds" were made, how come people snore, and Black Tuesday, the dirty thirties & the stock exchange. With that amount of knowledge set in my head, I believe I sleep walked back to bed.

Anyways... everybody made it to their posts before the 0900 bell blew.. so all is good.

In other news that is good....

The husbandman/contractorman has secured the new back door with a lock and key, and ordered two of the three new windows for the laundryroom. Now that the ant party festival of wood eating fun has come to an end, hopefully the new lumber will remain sturdy for another 50 years. Just as the contactorman was cleaning up for the night.. I looked up, waaaaay up.. and spotted a rather frightening sight... I think it was the queen of all queens of ants cruising across the currently ugly wall. This called for an intervention... of the human kind. Good night my queen......

Back to the circus..

I must type quickly... I have just noticed the scheduled outage in 15 minutes. I wonder if I will go into complete system failure at that point as well.

My life of living in a shambles has started. The most amazing and brilliant Mr. Husbandman has framed in the new doorway entrance to our laundryroom. He has also cured us of our ant chomping sawdust building nonfriends. Our laundryroom is currently boarded up, due to the lack of windows and doorknobs we presently do not possess.

I am the package up woman... I just keep finding things that I need to package up.... that is my contribution, other than keeping the cupboards full of food to keep the Mr. Husbandman a full and happy workman.

Must disappear... before this system does it for me.

That little eeek turned into a shriek!

Today I failed, yes, failed miserably. It's a simple tale of fail....

Earlier today the husbandman made his way to the lumber store and bought himself a new back door. He MISTAKENLY thought that he would be framing in the new back door, and patching up the little section where the ants had entered.

(This is the failure part......) My little digital sat silent in my black bag... I refused to take it out... I refused to keep an image record of the damage that the ants really did to the back portion of our house. The husbandman ripped off the siding, and the plywood, and the support beams (well, they were really just chewed bits of tunnels and piles of sawdust actually)... and now, many many hours later... we have all new pressure treated support beams, and replacement parts all supporting the back part of the house... I am wondering what day it would have been to see our house collapse around us..... and the door that he was going to frame in and install today.. is still sitting at the side of the house. That's a project for another day... I hope. I am thankful for the fact that at least when the husbandman gets to doing the actual kitchen renovation... we may have a frame of a home to install it in. Ants are bad... very bad.

I found this title on one of the many "need to read" lists that circulate... I know I never read it in highschool. It is one of those titles that have always stuck with me... for some unknown reason.

The Queen of Action...

I have been patiently waiting for the grasscutter man to come and pop holes in the lawn, and grind up all the weeds that somehow afflict it on a yearly basis. It's been two weeks. I did call him the other day and ask if he would be coming before Friday.... last night ((during Survivor!!)) the call came in... that he would definitely be here between 0930 - 1000 today, being Friday. Yae oh yae....

The one slight trick is.... I want the grasscutter man to mulch, hole up and deweed a back portion of my lawn... as it is extremely afflicted with weeds, and always is for some reason. I came clean and told the husbandman that I had a grasscutterman coming in to do a job, that the husbandman could probably do... except he doesn't have the time for. I could do the job as well, but I don't seem to have the time for it... so I am willing to pay the grasscutterman that brings himself, and a crew of two, to do the job.... they have the time for it! Although the husbandman already has his day planned with his new fangled reno job he is doing... now he is out back cutting the lawn... for the grasscutterman.. which is the very reason that I didn't want to tell the husbandman that a grasscutterman was coming... which is the very reason that I wanted the grasscutterman to come before today (Friday), as I knew it was the husbandmans day off.

OH well.... it's action of some sort...

There can't be a day without some PIPNESS

The Pipster and her pink egg... the great find from the Easter Egg hunt...

 

OK....eeeeeeeekkkk.

The husbandman ripped off part of the drywall in the laundry room. It's a small wall, with a very big job... he found an ant colony happily residing/eating away part of the wall. How very exciting... that's just ewe, plus an extra shriek of eeeekkkkk! The husbandman kingman said in his steady quiet and controlled self... " I thought I would see something like this".... Now he gets to replace the plywood, plus the siding on our house. It's all good.

In other things that are good......

I have been up since 06:45. Plus, I am drinking a homemade version of a "London Fog" (Which BTW is Earl Grey Tea, steamed milk and a shot of vanilla....it's very tasty....) It's way better than yesterdays mistaken sleep-in after the almost offing event, and then wake-up time of 8:33. Although ... it all worked out... at least the Hamsterson was able to get his haircut...

And now today....

Here's the boys new haircut....

 

A Little OLD

This pic has seen this space before... but I will capture a new shot of him today... in black and white... I know one thing.. he has more teeth in that lovely smile of his. 

One job down

And about 37 more to go. I managed to clean out the laundry room, and chuck out about thirteen dozen something or others into recycling and the garbage. I even went through scraps of material and crafty items... and discarded some. How huge for me...!

In other crafty events:

The boy is getting some award today at school. The volvo-driving-chicken-farmers wife gave me the heads up, that the lovely hamsterson is getting some award. I can only figure that his teacher will dream something up and write it down for Mr. Ratburn, OH, I mean the principal to read. It should be a splendid event. Luckily, I have friends in the right places... the volvo-driving chicken-farmers wife saved me from the year long "Pride" awards.. at the end of the year, and added Hamstersons to the list. SO, with the grand picture taking even being done that goes with the award... the boy needs his haircut. His hair is kinda long, and yicky looking. I think he looks like an ever so handsome Hamsterson with the hair cut short. AND, because WE were all late waking up this morning... I didn't make lunches... so I told the chicklets that I would pick them up at lunch, and take them to sandwhich store.... right next to the hair cutter place.... just in time for the pride assembly this afternoon.

Also... IF I was a tad bit motivated I would dump some hair colouring on my badly coloured locks and show up as a normal person. Although I do not think that I have my friends fooled...

OH... I believe I tried to off myself last night. I woke up around 1:30 in the am... and was having a hard time breathing.... like something sitting inside my esophagus/trachea.... AH yes, an undissolved vitamin C... I can taste that citrussy flavour the second it enters the mouth. ... and I can still taste it now... many many many hours later... but on that whole suffocation thought.. I am glad I am able to taste it... even though it is rather annoying, plus it kept me awake for a great many hours last night...

Well, I have many tasks calling to me.... clean and colour, colour and clean.

Let the races begin...

The husbandman has begun the transformation of the little homestead. He has moved the dogs cage from the laundry room to the den. It's really beginning to freak me out. All this enormous change... OK, just kidding here.... I am now embracing that bubble language in my head where I asked silently for less talking from the husbandman, and more action... I believe I am finally getting what I wanted...

In other questionable adventures...

The lovely Hamsterson was up at 0700 the previous four mornings. Of course there were important things like PLAYSTATIONS 2 to behold. This very morning, since it was the first day back to school and all, he was barely out of bed at 0820. Me, being the kind and lovely mother that I tend to be.... kept hissing that we were walking to school WE ARE WALKING!!! I started the countdown at 0821.... "We will be leaving at 0840"..... Of course we didn't leave until 0845, but that still got us the school on time. Yae for us.

My "cool" job for the day is emptying out the rest of the laundry room, with the exception of the washer and dryer. The husbandman has left me the huge shelf, and other assorted items to paw through, and decide if I really need to keep them... or not!.. Since I am having great difficulty parting with many of my things... I decided that I would come here and write it all down first... although I may be drawn to the great outdoors, as the sun has come out, and I know I will be distracted by it. At least I think I will.... of course I will try anything not have to clean....

When is it the right time for wine???

I seem to have issues with the correct time to drink wine. The same correctness issues that people have with drinking the right wine with the meal. I am managing to have a great amount of time issues, let alone wine issues. It has taken me three days to come up with the correct red wine time. I don't seem to have these issues when I go scrapbooking with the Debbies.... the second I walk through the "right sided Debbies" door is the best time... but when I am at home... it just isn't the same... it has to be after a certain time of the day, and before another time of the day... and those exact times, I am not quite sure about.... I think that I should scrapbook with the Debbie's all the time... that way I could accomplish double duty, scrapbooking and the appropriate amount of red wine input time. That's it!!! I must go make the call to the "right sided Debbie"... she is going to have a new nightly basement dweller on her hands....

My list is growing taller, not smaller

I made a very small dent, in a very large pile. I couldn't remember if I had read this... but I believe I did many moons ago. I saw the film.... as sad as it was.

What is this....

The stalker has prooved to be a very useful young woman.... she has introduced me to something that I have bypassed for quite some time.. and I didn't even realize that I was bypassing it.

" London Fog "

.... we headed out the other evening for some useless tasks.. and on our way out we stopped at Starbucks (coffee place)... "to get a great cup of tea," the stalker sister said. I ended up having three of them within twenty four hours yesterday... they were just so delicious.... The Starbucks girl told me that name "London Fog" belongs to some other company, so the starbuck peoples don't actually call it that... but they know the term if someone orders it. ((( I feel so on the inside now ))). The recipe is so simple that it is painful, but it is so delicious it is unforgettable.

No really, rain harder

I am sure I am going to win mother of year... I believe that I am truly the one and only that should bring home the one big award...

I just took the chicklets to school. It is absolutely pouring out right now, I only remember one of the chicklets wearing a jacket.... OOOPS.

Now that I am home from bringing the chickets to school I noticed that someone forgot their lunch. I will not be rushing back to give them their lunch, which includes the recess snack... that chicklet will just have to wait until lunch time...

I couldn't get a brush through the Pipsters hair this morning, I think it's from not brushing it since Friday morning..... so I put it in a beautifully coiffed bun that should hold tight until approxiametly 3:00 PM... when school is out. I have to quit working weekends, I am not around for all of the day on Saturdays, and a greater portion of the day on Sundays... the husbandman doesn't really do long blond hair styles for almost nine year olds... I have to conserve his energy for CLEANING OUT bedroom closets of nine year olds.. which believe it or not.. makes me quite happier than a head of brushed long blond hair. It really is OK, since it is the Pipsters swimming day today... and I am hoping that I will be successful in getting some shampoo on those long locks to give it a semi-good rinse out. I actually do not really like the Pip to have freshly washed hair on a regular basis... because ever since she set foot into the school system, we have received notices of little BUG INFESTATIONS on a regular basis. Although... I do not fear the little things... it's nothing that my bottle of Tea Tree Oil hasn't kept under bay since her very first, and very last episode of head bugs.

I am waiting for the guys who come and "DE-everything-in-your-lawn" to show up. I am not sure if they are willing to come and demoss, deweed, poke holes and cutlawn.... when the weather is between streaming rain, and teeming rain... if there is a difference.

I will go... and get ready for the Monday group... while my dryer continues to squeal at me... and I turn psychotic by the noise, with the added help of some caffiene on board.... I should be in fine form in a couple of hours.

Finding the Macro in my Life.

 

Puddle jumper...

The other day I had to take the scaredy catdog to the vet. She was a mess. Well, kind of a mess, or maybe... a mess that was about to get messier. Her fur was sticking up all over the place, and she was busy scratching, and being itchy for what seemed "flealess" reasons. She really did look like she was a dog having a bad hair day... and the look of bewilderement on her face was the real clincher.... when the lovely and evil Prance the sable german shepherd was still alive, both the furry creatures had interchangable knicknames like "Hissy & Licky"... we never really knew which name belonged to who... other than both the furry beasts had to be called something when they stood next to one another because one was always hissing, and the other was licking at the hissers face.... anyways... the lovely Elpster had turned into SUPERLICKY, and it was really getting most annoying listening to the tiny slurping sounds in the middle of the night when I was already being cold and trying to sleep on the couch in the den, because the husbandman had snored one too many times for me to stay in the same room with him. Now I was being tortured by the SUPERLICKY silly catdog. Enough was enough.. something had to be done. I took the SUPERLICKY silly catdog to the vet.... where the messy furred licky catdog hid behind me the whole while she was at the vets office. I had to keep turning in circles so the vetman could find her.... by the end of the visit she was the one with all the drugs on board... and I was the one that ended up with all the bad hair.... by flinging around in circles after her. Now... she has turned into the non licky sleek haired super puddle pee-er.... from the medication. It's a good thing that we have really ugly linoleum that she gets to pee on.... I'd be PISSED if she was peeing all over the new kitchen floor... when it eventually arrives.

15 piles of what....

The husbandman and the Pipster are busily folding thirteen billion articles of clothing. I am scared by what I know, and do not want to see... it's a whole new world down there at the other end of the house. With the recent invention of "floors that are made for walking on"... this opens up a new concept of floors that are made for creating piles on... it scares me to think about it.

In other things that scare me:

It is 8:30... and I am exhausted.... not that it has anything to do with the fact that me and the husbandman had a nice evening chatting away with one another last night... and forgot about the time..... until 2:40 in the morning.. and then I had to be up at 6:00 for work. Just another reason that weekend working gets in the way of regular living...

This is scarey....That therapeutic touch really works.... REALLY. I had a wickedly wicked headache yesterday.. and my friend Laurie the physio performed her magic voodoo therapeutic touch all around me.. and I eventually started to feel better.... although my head still had that "dull boring afterthud" still permeating through me... but the actual ache was gone...

I have a billion and two things to do for my stroke group tomorrow... and none of which I am going to accomplish this evening. My brain waves have gone flat (after effects of the headache)... and I am having trouble just mentating on the notion that I want to be up VERY EARLY again tomorrow.. just to get a head start on the day.... but I can not leave this post as the husbandman and the pipster are still tidying her piles of stuff... which has now been transported into OUR bedroom.

I have added a a bunch of books to the library list... and I barely opened the books that got from them two weeks ago, and will be returning tomorrow anyways. I believe that they were going to be really great books. Oh well, I am now into purchasing books....just to save on the LATE fees!

I watched Memiors of a Geisha the other night... and I would not have gotten that movie AT ALL if I had not read the book. That just scares me.. a lot. How did anybody know what was going on....??? I also watched Good Night and Good Luck... on the computer monitor... now that black and white feature scared me.. immensley.

I still haven't coloured my hair. OK, that is just freakishly frightening.... must stop now... I am very scared...

The gorgeous floor

The husbandman found the Pip's bedroom floor today... I am ever so glad that I had nothing to do with it. WE seem to lose her bedroom quite often.... and I am not sure how we are to remedy this situation.... although we could perhaps start with getting rid of some of her beloved items from her bedroom. We have never been able to give ANYTHING of hers away.... except for her clothes... she's always willing to lose a couple of extra pile of clothes... because that makes way for many more bits and pieces of stuff. Pip likes her stuff.. and anything stuffed, or overstuffed, stuffed and fluffed, understuffed, stuffed-full, plum stuffed, fluffed-puffed-and-stuffed, huge stuff, small stuff, iffy stuff, old stuff, boy stuff, better yet... girl stuff, paper stuff, book stuff, craft stuff, she even likes her garbage stuffed. Pips all about her stuff, and now she has a floor once again, where she can gather her stuff in clear view for that fresh stuffed look. Her floor should be missing by the end of the week.... I even have brought home boxes.. for all her excess stuff.

The Bad Internet

How can the internet shut down? What happy people are busy fixing the places where you can go to find all kinds of information? Should this be cause for concern.... who knows...

In other causes for concern......

1. The hair needs to be coloured badly... as in not bad colour... but STAT like colour. It is too late now to start all the washing and waiting nonsense.
2. I came to my senses and cancelled the appt with the quack dermatologist doctor that I went to last week. Whew.
3. It seems to be rather dusty in this little homestead... but that job will not be accomplished until tomorrow... at the earliest. I wish the magic maid would make her appearance... well, that is if I had one.
4. My library books are due back on the 11th of next week... and I have only finished scouring through the first five pages.. of one book. They are unrenewable. Yes, unbelievable!
5. Where are the bears.. I haven't seen any yet...
6. The dryer really needs to stop it's squealing... it's like I have my very own torture chamber.. in my very own home. The husbandman has baby powdered, but to no avail it continues screaming at me... for as long as the drum rotates around.
7. I have lost the girls bedroom floor again... and we had just made some headway with vacuuming her hardwood floor ... my friend gave me a bag of clothing... which the girl adores.. if she could fit into half of it.
8. I am now going to attempt to go and style the badly quad coloured hair don't into something that looks... not like a horror movie.... and I will apply my lipstick.. just so people recognize me... I need some luck, and some earplugs...

Chop chop

The skies were great big and blue today. I hauled out my Edward Scissorhand Scissors and chopped up some branches. I am quite happy. QUITE. HAPPY.

Well, I am happy for that.. although I am not happy that the lovely lady Pipster is refusing to do her HANDWRITING homework. I will be sending it back to school not done, except for the scribbles on the lines where the practising didn't go so well.

Time change

I feel like I live in warped time zone. I drove up to my sisters palace on the hill... and her tulips are BLOOMING. I had to go out last week and buy up some primulas, just to add some colour to the homesteads fascade.

In other things that make no difference to anyones elses lives but mine:

I think it's time to get the "check engine" light dealt with. I have been driving around with this blazing orange light staring back at me from the dashboard of the 16 year old SUV for a number of weeks, I think I am done with it.

I saw 10 deer down at Minnekhada. It's quite the family they have growing down there. I would love to know where they hide during the winter months. I love the peaceful energy that radiates from them.

The girl was presented with a big huge bag of clothing by a friend of mine. This is lovely... except for the fact that I do not have the space for the clothes that the girl has that I bought her. This poses a BIG problem for the middle of her bedroom floor, which is usually scarce at the best of times.

I now have plans drawn for the new kitchen, and laundryroom, and new family room. The husbandman spent 7 hours milling about last week producing drawings for this next adventure. Of course like a picture, they are pretty to look at, but expensive to embark upon.

Now that the time change has happened... it has created a time warp for the girls personality. My Pip was Pipless this morning. I am hoping she is more "pip pip horray" by the end of the day. I have decided that she is going to need some severe happy pills by the time 4:45 rolls around... as she has told me that she WILL NOT be joining her friends in the pool for her new-fangled swimming. I think the husbandman bought some KING DONGS (the first time ever such chemical explosions wrapped in celophane have ever made it in the house)... this might cure her "nonswimitis" she hs this morning.

Well must go do things that people do.. like go to work. HA!