Bits

• Reading the paper this morning, there was an article about the Canadian woman who is marrying a Royal this weekend. She claims not to have known that he was the Queen’s grandson. After dating for 6 weeks, he finally tells her, “Oh by the way honey, I am a Royal. The Queen - you know, of England - is my Gramma.”  What would you do if your boyfriend told you that?  Yeah right buddy! Have another drink.  Talk about shock. Actually, I don’t think the word shock would even cover that emotion.
• Our 70ft monstrosity of a spruce tree is coming down!  WOOHOO!  The damn thing is so big, and so old. It drops the stupid needles all over the front walk, the kids can’t go within 3 feet of it without getting covered in sap, and this year, to boot, some CROWS nested there.  Now usually we have cardinals, or doves, sometimes blue jays. But this year…. crows. So I have no quams about cutting it down. It willbe a glorious day when they come take it away. Yes, it will be strange. There will be a gaping hole at the front of our house, you know… where the tree was. People will be able to see our house now. Not that it is spectacular to look at by any means, but the house number might be a little more visible.  Which, you know, might help when people try to find our house. Just a thought.
• So the house in Orlando is booked, but we still haven;t booked flights. We were trying to get a deal through my dad, who is retired from Air Canada, but it hasn’t worked out for us. So now we have to find some good prices, for 6 of us to travel. Together.  I figure if Jon and Kate (plus Eight) can fly their family to Utah for a ski trip, we can take our 4 to FLA.  You think?  Just wish it was paid for, like Jon and Kate’s trip was.
• Ball has officially started. We played last week, won our game 21-12 or something like that. Yeah, I know….ridiculous score. I actually hit a triple - woot!, AND… I actually won the 50/50 draw.  I have been in the league for 8 years, and this is the first time I have ever won. It was only $38, but hey… better than nothing right? We play tonight, not sure against who, but I am geared up and ready to play.
• Off to see the in-laws this weekend. MIL’s bday is Sunday. And with it being the long weekend, we figured why not go. That, and the girls have been whining to go to Nanny’s for months now. Anything to make them stop.
• Anyone want to buy a wedding dress?  My first one, for $100. That’s what it cost to have it cleaned.  It’s yours if you want it.  Really.  REALLY. I have pictures.
• The treadmill is great! Love it! I am actually back into my size TEN’s!!!  Yeah me!!  No idea what the weight is, but hey, the 10’s fit again!!!

Not much else to report. My life, as exciting as it is, is pretty mundane. The same things all the time.  Throw in a dinner party here and there, a night out w/ friends… and that is pretty much it. Though it seems I am often quite busy???  Haven’t quite figured that out.  And I don;’t have time to think about it, cause I have 4 loads of laundry, duty at the preschool this afternoon, and ball tonight. So I’ll get to that problem another day.

Tidbits

• Here in hockey land, it’s playoff time. So our Senators are out, after a very disappointing second half of the regular season, and a complete sweep in round 1. (Booooooo!)  However, there is still a Canadian team in the running! Not just any team though, it’s the Montreal Canadians! Woot! That is the team I was raised with. I sat with my Dad, watched the games on t.v. while eating popcorn (the old fashioned kind) and cheering for our Habs. Only when Ottawa decided they needed to get into the game, and gave us the Senators, did I have a delimma in which team to cheer for. It was especially hard when they played each other.  But alas, there is only one left standing, and I am behind them all the way! I’ll even get out my Habs ball cap I think! 
• I am in need of a new cell phone. My contract is up in May, and therefore, I am eligible to upgrade my phone at that time.  The last one I had, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was small, it was pretty, but it was simple. Just a white flip phone, with a not-so-good camera. It met its demise a couple of months back. I reached for it, as it perched on top of the coffee maker, and somehow or another, I manage to knock it, instead of grabbing it, right into a casserole dish full of water, that was sitting in the sink.  As you can guess, it failed to work after that. Despite my retrieving it immediately from it’s fatal bath.  Now, I am not going to change my plan at all, but I do like the red Blackberry Pearl.  Is it worth it to have a phone that is fully internet/email capable and ready?  Even though, as I said, I will not be getting a data package?  Or do I stay with the more basic phones? All of which, I might add, are currently very disappointing. I don’t like the keypads on the new phones. They are flat, hard to distinguish one key from the next if you are not looking at it, and frankly, they just aren’t pretty.  And, as I said to my husband, I want functionality first, a comfortable phone second - but, I am, I told him, still a girl, and want it to be pretty as well.  He just laughed.  The other phone I am considering is the new Ericsson slider phone.  I am leary of the locking function though.  I am currently using hubby’s old Ericsson Rocker (??) phone, and the stupid buttons on the exterior of it get hit all the time - despite it being “locked” - and then the ‘walkman’ starts playing music.  Loud.  Or it launches the internet!  Like I want to pay for browsing when I am not even touching the damn phone!  But those are the two I am considering.  Any thoughts?  Let me know.
• Summer is coming, and we are reviewing camps for the kids. The older two are easy. It’s just a matter of choosing the activity they want most.  It’s the girls we are having issues with. They will only be 4 1/2 this summer. Do we send them to all day camp?  Or do we go with the half day camps?  I think they are ready for full day.  They are active enough, they enjoy being with other kids and trying new activities, and they do well at school with the teachers.  When I ask them, they say full day. But I am not sure they realize they will be without us (me) for the whole day, for the whole week.  I guess we’ll have to ponder this one a little while longer.
• We have - I think - decided to do Disney World this fall. Hubby got his commission cheque, finally, and that will cover it.  A trip for 6, to Disney, for a week, is no laughing matter when it comes to the wallet!  We watched the “Vacation Planning” dvd the other night. They really cover all the bases don’t they?  And they make it sound like you can actually afford it!  From Canada!  That’s the laughable part.  So we are on the fence as to whether or not we stay on-site, or go off-site and rent a house.  I am hoping to have at least one set of grandparents with us.  I am just not sure that they could keep up with the kids for a whole week.  ;)  We obviously have not told the kids yet. That would be cruel and unusual punishment.  For us.  Although, Oldest Daughter did see that we were watching the video. We just told her that we are researching the possibility of maybe going sometime in the future.  Think it will throw her off the scent?  We also requested of her that she NOT share this tidbit with the ‘kids’, and she, of course, agreed.  Mind you, she has probably completely forgotten about it already.  Wishful thinking, right?

 

 

Change of season, new things.

Amazingly enough, our snow is gone!  Snowbanks over my head a mere month ago, are a distant memory. We have had gorgeous summer weather here for the last week. The kids bikes have been out, sunscreen and hats, and lots and lots of fresh air.  We also got a new patio set, and have been thoroughly enjoying it. You can really tell the season’s have changed when you start to see neighbours out in the yards again. We found out one of our new-ish neighbours are expecting their first child this summer. So it should be fun on our corner.  Parties are now being planned. I am planning two parties for a friend of ours, one is a summer kick-off at the end of June, and the other a 40th birthday in August. They have a great new backyard, and I have an open budget - at the moment. :)  I am also starting to mentally organize for our annual Canada Day bash. It looks like this year will be our biggest yet, with an invite list of about 14 families (70-75 people), and I just pray to  God that the weather cooperates!!  And I have NO plans of twisting anything, or breaking any bones this year.

As a parent, a stay-at-home-Mom, it’s not always easy to make new friends. I mean you see the same group of parents at the parks, or on the street, you already have an existing group of ‘friends’. But to make a new one is pretty exciting.  My girls are at preschool, and most of the class has stayed the same since last year. And there is one little boy who the girls adore, and he adores them right back. To the point that he has proclaimed his love for them and that he plans to marry them. Yes, THEM. As in BOTH of them. Fortunately, he is aware that it will be expensive and has forewarned his parents to date.  Now, the three of them were friends last year, but not like this year. This year we want playdates, and lots of them. He was at the girls’ birthday, and they were at his. So his Mom and I have met, talked and had general aquaintance type conversations over the last two years. About a month ago, we went over to his house for a playdate that lasted the entire day. And because of pictures taken at school, and at the parties, his Mom and I are FB friends. Recently, her and I went out for coffee while the kids were at school, and I think we had a great time - at least I did!  Then the same week, we had them over here for a playdate, and it was another nice afternoon - for everyone. Although he was not too impressed with the insane amount of Barbies and Polly Pockets in my house, he did love the Spiderman and the dress up capes, and the video games.  So we tentatively made plans for another playdate this week. This family has also been invited to our Canada Day party this year.  As Moms know, once school is done, ‘friendships’ can wane.  At our first playdate this was mentioned ever so slightly, and we agreed that is was sad when that happened. Especially when you have kids that love to be together. But at this age it’s hard. They attend the same preschool, but that, in no way, guarantees they will attend the same school. Often times, they are in a different ‘home school’ area altogether, or they go to a different board, or they move.  This little boy, however, does live in our area, but will attend a different school than the girls. The good thing is, the two schools back onto each other! And we will have another current school-mate (our neighbour) attending the same school as the ‘boyfriend’. So I hope that our friendship continues past the summer. Because Mom seems like a really good friend to have. I don’t know the Dad too well, but from what I gather, he and Hubby should get along quite well also. We’ll just have to see how this pans out for everyone. But for now, I have made a new Mom friend. And that is always fun!

Another new addition to our house, is the new treadmill. I have been trying to talk hubby into getting one for about a year now, but it was always a cost issue, not to mention a space issue. But we finally brroke down. Thanks to a Wellness program at hubby’s work, we get half back on the cost of the machine.  So we went to Costco and brought the monster home. Only to realize that there was no way in hell that the two of us would be able to get it OUT of the van, and INTO our basement!! The thing must weigh about 500 lbs!! Thankfully it was a Sunday afternoon, and our neighbours were home.  It took 4 of us to get it in the house, but we did it. (This is how we found out about the pregnancy!)  So now, hubby and I can run to our hearts content!  Unfortunately, the kids are as excited about it as we are. So they like to have ‘turns’ on it as well. Supervised, of course, and for very short intervals.  But it’s good, right?  The kids will develop an interest in keeping fit, that they will carry with them into their adult years.  Right?

And finally, BALL SEASON is almost upon us!!  The diamonds are clear of snow, the teams are decided, and practices are being scheduled!  My league had their ‘Meet the Team Night’ last week, and as always, had a good turn out. It was scheduled for 7-9, and I came home at about 1130pm.  I am on the same team as last year, more or less, except for a couple of new faces.  So I am excited and looking forward to a summer of good ball, and good ball parties. The first of which, is our May tournament. It falls on my birthday weekend this year. Which is also my captains bday, as well as 4 other teammates, and about 5 others in our league.  So it’s ALWAYS a good party weekend.  With a few ball games thrown in. ;)  Should be a good summer.

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Anyone have any good reading suggestions for me?  I am finished my book (The Gathering) and am in search of a new novel. I am not a thriller-type reader, or mystery per say. Definitely fictional, but more of the everyday-life kind of book. So if you have a fabulous book you’ve read recently, let me know about it!  If you live near me, maybe I can borrow it from you. :)  If not, I guess I’ll have to splurge on it.  Though I do have a Chapter’s gift card in the cupboard…. hhmmmmm.

Calling all skiers and boarders…..

For anyone who has skied Blackcomb-Whistler but has not heard the latest a.m.a.z.i.n.g. news……  you HAVE to see this!!!   Just click on the “Let’s Go”.

 A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

So worth it

We had a pretty awesome weekend here. The sun was out, it was warm, what more can you ask for? How about a great night out with some really good friends? Sure!!  How about a day of fabulous skiing with some other really good friends? Why not!!!

Saturday I worked all day, nothing new. But that night we went to dinner with Chantal and her hubby. I think the last time we saw them was Alex’s 5th bday in February. So it was somewhat overdue. We had a blast. Good food, some wine, conversations, and music. The best part was - no one had to clean up after!! ;)  Gotta love going OUT! 

Then Sunday morning, we got up, slightly hungover and extra tired…. but whatever. We were going skiing. For what was possibly the last ski weekend of 08. It was GORGEOUS! And we all have sun burns ski tans to prove it. We hit the slopes with the Bascurs, and had an amazing day. Though the kids had their extremely whiny  rather miserable not-so-amazing moments, we persevered through it. Thanks in part to hot chocolate, french fries and pizza (and NOT all the healthy-type snacks I brought from home, but were eaten none the less.) We even ate our lunch outside. 5 straight hours of fresh air and sunshine!!  I have to say that I have l.o.v.e.d skiing this year.  Being able to bring my whole family up, and all do something together and enjoy it, has been great. And we got the Bascurs going to, except they became snow-boarders and not skiers. And after a season of learning to stand on the boards and not break limbs, our friend finally mastered the exiting from the chairlift, on the LAST day. And I have to say, that she finally ‘got it’ when I went up the chair with her. Your welcome!

But I just checked the website at the hill we go to, and it says - for now anyway - that they are open this weekend. Maybe we can squeeze in one more day!!

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Report cards came home last week, and we had the parent-teacher/student-lead interviews. And I am very proud to say that BOTH kids received glowing reports from their teachers! Both on paper, and verbally! And Oldest Daughter should be receiving an award to day at school, for ‘most improved’ this term!!  Very.proud.

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Anything good going on with you?