The Cutest Pic!

A friend of my sisters dropped by while we were visiting with this little cutie. Abby fell in love! She kissed him numerous times and bawled her little eyes out when he had to go home. I love this pic.....ignore the dirt on my kid. She's normally clean, honest.

Ducktopia

Abby is still nuts about ducks, or quack quacks as she calls them. We found this cute little river in Brigus yesterday and were amazed at how friendly the ducks are. They were eating out of our hands and didnt seem to mind when we picked up the babies. Em got the runt of the bunch and wanted to take it home...and I was ok with it as long as she ducknapped a friend for him but Jerry, the party pooper, said no ducks in the new van. Whatever.

Me, the no longer housebound

I am the proud owner of a vehicle!!! No idea what it is though. lol. I was seriously fed up with being housebound....and really not looking foward to travelling to work in the oil truck again, so I told hubby to go ahead and pick it out himself. My only stipulations....must be a 7 seater van and it cannot be turquoise or green. Turquoise is just ugly and mom had a dream 25 years ago that there was a bad accident and a green car was involved...we are not allowed to own green vehicles...'cause she said so.
I'm also going to cave and buy a lawn mower tomorrow. I need one badly. Things might get better. =o)

Kids

I have very little to talk about today. Nothing has changed since yesterday so a real entry would just be a repeat of the last. I'll post some pictures instead.
Not sure what order they'll be in. Check out my super intelligent toddler fending for herself. What a survivor. She can find water! She pulls the plug from her water table and drinks what falls out..then sucks up the rest. That child will never go thirsty. She is also quite fearless. I have to retrieve her from the neighbors house the other day...I didnt let her go off on her own...I followed her to see how far she would really go...she got to their living room (through the open garage door) turned on the tv and sat on the couch. They consider my kids their honorary grandchildren because they have none and actually thought this was cute. I would not be impressed if strange little toddlers broke into MY house. lol. Anyway, she likes to try and get into the pool too...this freaks me out a bit because she is not afraid of anything!
And finally, I had hoped to capture the elusive nocturnal creature known as the teenager on film and I got lucky! This one was spotted coming up for air and was not pleased at being photographed without its perfect hair and makeup.

*Oh yeah, cant forget the boy child...he's in there too.*

*ok, so the pics dont show in the order I thought. You can figure it out. I didnt actually take any of these either...Denise did...I'm still too poor to own a digital camera worth using and if I had one, it would probably be broken anyway. lol*

Life is crap

Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong. On Monday, hubby got ready to go to work...his oil truck wouldnt start. No biggie, he hopped in the car to go get the other oil truck, no reverse...the transmission crapped out. I decided to mow the lawn after lunch, nope, the mower decided to crap out on me too. A few weeks ago he was 'laid off'. He'll collect EI but will still make the same because his employer/father will pay the difference. He only works a few hours a day this time a year so no biggie..except being laid off is a big biggie when one is trying to get financing for a new vehicle. Ugh!!!! I thought we could just pay the $1000 or so and get the car fixed but NOOOO, life cannot be this simple, it's a freakin' hyundai so it'll actually cost more like $4000. The car is a '97! It isnt worth that much. I'm ready to sell some kids to get a new car...anyone interested? They're going cheap.
Which brings me to the other crappy side of my life. The kids are driving me insane. The older 2 are fighting constantly and the youngest has decided to try out the 'terrible two's' because, hey, why not? I started a book last week and am not even halfway through it because I have had too many days off. How sad that I get more reading done at work than at home.
And finally, the rest of the crap....my house. It is a disaster area. I have no floor in my kitchen and the cabinets are piled up in the porch! I have to walk through this several times a day and it is really starting to get to me. I spend so much time cleaning but it makes no difference at all because at the end of the day, this place is still a shithole. Is shithole one word or two? I'd love to just take off somewhere for a while, alone, with my half finished book and a case of Piat D'or but I have no freakin' way to do that!!! Anyone wanna give me a lift?

A long distance marriage?

I think not! Hubby wants to take off to Alberta to work on the oil rigs. There is big money to be made there and after seeing his buddies do so well with it, he wants to try too. He has a good job but until his father retires, it will always be the same...same hours, same money, same shit. I'd love to make enough to allow him to go back to school to retrain but sadly, I dont. If he goes, it will be for a few months, then home for a few weeks, then off again. We can pay off all of our debt in less than a year and he'll be able to say he went...and hopefully be content to come back to his old job. BUT...I'll be here, alone, with 3 kids. I enjoy working, mostly because I know the kids are at home with dad when I work....but I'll have to get a sitter...which will make my working, less enjoyable. There is nothing worse than worrying about whats going on at home when you are unable to do anything about it. And what about MY time? Curves? Sunday morning yard sales, alone? Sleeping in?
Part of me is excited at the possibility of being debt free in such a short period but the other part can already envision the burned out, crabby mom that I will become. I didnt sign up for single parenthood! Am I just being selfish? Oh well, this is just a vent...we'll see what happens.

Ketchup is a vegetable

If it isnt, it damn well should be! Abby has always been a good eater, that is, until she discovered ketchup. She wont eat anything, even her old favorites, unless she has a dollop of ketchup on her plate for dipping. Most of the time, she just dips her fork in the ketchup and ignores the food. I'm hoping this will be a short lived phase.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to...

And cry she did. Poor little girl has pink eye in both eyes and what sounds like croup. She's been running a low grade fever for a few days and is just plain miserable. The weather this morning was crappy so I considered phoning the few people I had invited to her party and cancelling....but I dont have another day off for quite a while so I went ahead with it. The kids had to play inside because it rained overnight and everything was drenched. They had fun but poor Abby spent most of her party in mine or daddy's arms. She didnt even get excited about her presents...of which there were many! Eric and I made a cake last night that turned out pretty good. It was one of those betty crocker bake and fill dome cakes. Chocolate cake with chocolate mousse filling. Mmmm. The icing was green (grassy hill) and Dora and the gang were on it. I might have taken a pic, not sure.
Now for the vent. You thought there wouldnt be one, huh? I invited my father in law to the party last week. I told him it was at 1pm. He showed up at 5 and insisted I said it was at 5. Who has a party at 5? Anyway, that didnt bother me as much as the crappy ass gift he gave her. He stopped at a convenience store along the way and spent about $5....maybe 6 if I include the cost of the gift bag. Its not the cost that counts...I know...but there was no thought put into it either, and the gift is crap! Its a cheap crappy (how many times can I say crap?) stuffed animal that makes noise when you squeeze it. I almost bought some for prizes yesterday but they were too crappy! Said it again. He also threw in a bag of candy (those marshmallow bananas that I love) and ate more than half while he sat and told us how stupid we are for buying this money pit of a house. I managed to not kill him but it took every ounce of self control I could muster. He is why I never changed my name when I married. Ugh!

I am an idiot

Why on earth did I agree to take an extra shift today? Because I am a complete idiot! Went to bed last night at midnight, got a call to reset the fax servers at 2:30am, got back to bed by 3 but didnt fall asleep right away. Woke up at 6 and got to work by 7. I had planned on getting home from work at 3 and having a nap but hubby had to work so all I got was a 20 min. power nap before leaving for work at 11. Here I sit, it's 3am, and my eyes are sticking together. I dont think I can make it til 7am. Need. coffee. now. I just discovered that typing does not keep me awake. Oh well, time to put my head down on my desk and see what happens.

The week in review

Finally, I am blonde. I messed up after trying to do it myself, several times and called a professional today. She quoted me an astronomical price and the time that would be involved just wasnt feasible, so I went back to the drugstore one last time. I bought 2 ash blonde dyes and am a little more pleased with the result than I was with the previous dye jobs. The orange is gone now but I'm not as blonde as I wanted to be. Being blonde requires more maintenance so after a few touch ups I should have the color I want. Phew. Glad thats over with.
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My boss asked me to do something for him last week as he will be out of the country and may not be able to do it himself from there. I am NOT a technical kinda gal but I learned how to reset the fax and email servers at work from home and it isnt that hard! I was delighted to be trusted with this task and just assumed that I was doing him a favor. Turns out I get paid, and paid well, to do it. Sweeeeeeeeet!
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My poor little princess is sick. She has pinkeye, a nasty cold and jaw teeth coming in. She is miserable! Her birthday is on Sunday and its just not right for little people to be sick on their birthday! I spent hours at Toys R Us today looking for the perfect gift for her. She has everything a child could possibly want so she ended up with this cute little desk...and some other small junk that I just couldnt resist.

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School is out!!! The kids finished up today and are now, officially, on their summer break. I am so proud of them both! Their report cards were great. I am super proud of Emma for getting through her first year of intensive french with an 85% average overall! I'll probably use the extra money from work to treat them to some kind of kickass reward. =o)

Do blondes have more fun?

My natural haircolor is a light sandy brown. I havent seen it in many years. As a teen, I had black, blonde, purple, green, funky red and a million combination haircolors. I finally settled on blonde and stayed that way for several years. After I got married, I dyed my blonde locks brown and they have stayed pretty much the same (except for the occasional bottle of auburn dye) ever since. Some people say it looks nicer brown, most prefer blonde. Sooooo, yesterday, partly because of the aforementioned comments, and partly because of a desperate need to make my grey less noticable, I gave myself blonde highlights. This was just to lighten a little without a drastic change. The highlights were orange...a ghastly orange, but only on the top of my head...the bottom half needed more processing time or something because I had rust colored clumps of hair there. I wore a ball cap to work (I can do that on evening and weekend shifts) and ran to the drugstore on my lunch for more dye. Champagne Fizz...I figured to hell with subtle, I'd go all over blonde in one shot. Again, the top half is lovely, the bottom is still dark. I have to work this evening!!! Mom is coming up later so she's going to pick me up one more Champagne Fizz. If this doesnt work, I'm going dark brown and leaving it like that.
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I also wanted to point out that I am a freaking moron! I like my job, so much that I picked up a bunch of extra shifts this week. Ok, so it was more for the money but since the job is great, working a lot doesnt bother me as it would for most people. I go in tonight at 7pm-1am, then again at 6am-3pm. I will be tired tomorrow. On Friday, I work from 6am-3pm and then again...later on Friday...11pm-7am. There wont be time in between shifts for a nap since I have to get things ready for Abby's birthday party. Oh well, I shouldnt complain since I brought this upon myself...but I know how tired I'll be and am not looking forward to it. I should start drinking coffee again.

Ahhh, a nice relaxing day off

No work today! I picked up a bunch of extra shifts but left today free because I figured I'd need the break. I got to sleep in until 9! Had breakfast, got myself and Abby dressed and went grocery shopping. Left her with my sis in law while I did my 30 mins. at curves and then came home to put away the food. We are going to start demolishing our kitchen soon, so I had to move everything into the smaller kitchen next to it. Fitting food, dishes, pots/pans etc etc into 5 cupboards is NOT POSSIBLE! I did my best and will have to have a yard sale at some point as this process showed me what I really cant live without, and the rest is junk. I mowed the lawn, washed/dried and put away 4 loads of laundry and vacuumed everything....plus tidied while I was vacuuming. Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for supper (I had a lean cuisine) and then headed out to Home Depot to look at cabinets. I really wanted the middle of the line ones but I think we're going to go cheaper as we're selling the house eventually and I just cant bear to put too much into it. I think I picked some decent ones....now we need to measure and order. Then to Walmart for sandals...Abby is growing too fast! Finally got home and had to make lunches, get the kids bathed and into bed, did one more load of laundry (I'm waiting for it to dry now so I can get my clothes ready for work tomorrow) and then I'm off to bed. 5am comes too soon. It's so good to get a day off every now and then to just relax, take things easy and recharge. Ahhh, life is good.

A love of reading

I feel truly sorry for people who dont read for pleasure. I was having a discussion the other day with a group of people about The DaVinci Code. I tried to include one woman in the conversation by asking her if she had read it...she looked at me like reading is gross and said "I dont like to read.". Ummm, you dont know what you're missing, weirdo.
I remember sitting in my room as a child reading anything and everything I could get my hands on. One of the best days of my life was when I walked, by myself! to City Hall (where one of the city's libraries is located) and got myself a library card. They had to call my mom for permission and I got in big trouble for going there alone, but I had a library card, woo hoo! and my punishment was being grounded...with books! LMAO! Real smart Mom. I think I fell in love with Judy Blume first but it wasnt until I was around 12 or 13, and discovered V.C Andrews that I became obsessed with reading.
Discovering an unread book, or finding free time to read, is one of those things that just makes me happy. Seeing my kids curled up with a good book, or having them ask for a ride to the library is equal to a lottery win to me...well, almost. Think of the books I could buy if I won the lottery!

Jo's Nature Park

Over the past few days my backyard has been a wildlife haven. The rabbits must have had a good breeding year because there are oodles of them in my yard and sadly, squashed on the street in front of my house. I caught a bat in a flowerpot on my deck yesterday. It was the first time I had seen a bat and didnt even realize that we have them here in Newfoundland. I have squirrels that are around daily for the treats I put out (and a rat who comes out at night to get what the squirrels left behind) and all kinds of cool birds. My favorite visitor would have to be the moose that stroll through my yard quite regularly. I got a pic of this one a few days ago. There were 2 but one went on across the street and this guy turned around...I chased him trying to get a closeup but those buggers are fast.













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I'm at work right now and I am NOT having fun~! I'm suffering from allergies and the sudafed that I took made me drowsy, and a tad nauseous. The new clients that we have are annoying. Ok, so maybe they wouldnt be if I had a clue about what I need to do when they call. My training lasted a whopping 10 minutes, no calls were taken during this training...all I got was a few sheets of paper 'telling' me what to do. Anyone who works with computers knows that this is NOT how it works. Nothing is going right and I'm frustrated. Ugh! I have tomorrow off so I hope the glitches are worked out when I get back in on Monday.

The Treasure Hunter

A few days ago we took Eric to a nearby swimming hole (empty this time of year) to search for treasure. He 'needed' a metal detector for Christmas after seeing a show about a guy who found old coins that were worth a fortune. He now thinks that he doesnt need a job when he grows up as he will be rich from his finds. Ahhh, to be young and have dreams. He found several hair clips, a few dinkies (hot wheels to you 'mericans lol) and some coins. The coins were older silver ones (50's and 60's) but the best was a 1906 dime. It's too worn to be worth anything but finding it has made Eric even more convinced that his fortune awaits him, somewhere out there, under the dirt.

Do I really need a title?

I'm almost at the one week mark. I'm such a bad dieter/exerciser. I promise myself that I WILL exercise this time and I WILL watch what I eat but by day 2, I'm pigging out on KFC and feeling like a failure. I havent had any junk for a few days and have been walking and doing my crunches daily. Ok, so 4 days is no big accomplishment but I really feel like I'll do it this time. I bought some minutes at the tanning salon and am poking away a few bucks for a new hairdo (I'm thinking I need to be a blonde again). Doing stuff for myself makes me want to lose weight more. I even bought some new makeup! I'm still a member of curves but finding the time to go there...kidfree...isnt easy, especially since I'm working almost every day. I'll try and find a way now that the kids are finished with their lessons and some evenings are freed up. I WILL be thin again! I hope. lol
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My darling husband cannot finish a project. He will start it and be 90% done, then forget about it. The master bedroom finally got done after a year of nagging. The walls were plastered and painted, new flooring etc etc. Looks great, but I still have no baseboard moldings and the room looks unfinished. I did Eric's room last week...I might post a pic if it ever gets done. Same thing in that room. Paint, furniture, bedding, accessories...no baseboard molding. It looks ugly! Now he wants to rip out my kitchen! We have another small kitchen so he wants to use that while he works on the main one. He works full time so the project will undoubtedly take a while, but he doesnt realize that we dont have the money to put a kitchen back. lol. Men, cant live with 'em, cant kill 'em.

The Lazy Moms Playdate

I really needed to do laundry and Abby was having a clingy morning soooooo, I let her play with computer baby. =o) She does a double take whenever she sees a picture of a baby but Leif is special, she really likes him and waves to the computer when I'm reading his moms posts or blog. I put her in front of the computer and got at my laundry but of course I had to peek at her a few times. She kissed him, gave him loves, tried to give him some juice from her sippy cup and even went and got her Ernie to share with him. It was priceless. This is why I need a new digital camera.

Stay at home dad, my ass!

I have worked the 5pm-1am shift all week. I get to bed around 2am and am up in the morning with the kids so hubby can go to work and he comes home in time for me to leave again. Today, I had to work the 3pm-11pm shift. I woke up at 10, had breakfast and fed the kids, got Abby dressed, did yesterdays dishes, a few loads of laundry, picked up the toys that were scattered throughout the house, vaccumed, made all the beds, cleaned the filthy bathroom, hunted down a bunch of outdoor toys that blew around the garden last night, gave the kids lunch, did the dishes again, got a shower and sat down to have a cup of tea before I left for work. Phew! I'm tired reading that. Anyway, hubby came home and sat with me for a few minutes and actually said...I'm still amazed at this..."Staying home with the kids isnt so hard, I'd love to do the stay at home dad thing." Honest to God! He actually said this!!! He's still alive but only because the dishes were washed and I didnt want to dirt up a knife.

My Favorite Books

I had some downtime at work today and decided to make a list of my favorite books of all time. They arent necessarily great books, but each of them had something about them that had me glued to the pages OR made me think, long after I was finished. Here they are, in no particular order:

The Davinci Code- Dan Brown
Angels and Demons-Dan Brown
Angela's Ashes- Frank McCourt
'Tis- Frank McCourt
As the Crow Flies- Jeffrey Archer
Kane and Abel- Jeffrey Archer
She's come undone- Wally Lamb
I know this much is true-Wally Lamb
Fall on your knees- Ann Marie McDonald
The Birth House- Ami McKay
The Shipping News- Annie Proulx
Life of Pi- Yan Martel
The Lovely Bones- Alice Sebold
The Mammy, The Chisellers, The Young Wan and The Granny..all by Brendan O'Carroll
The Tin Flute- Gabrielle Roy
And..almost every one of Sidney Sheldon's books. A few sucked.

I think that's it.

It's been a while but I remembered a few that I didnt put on the list. I can understand the ones I read ages ago but I read one of them recently. My mind is going.

The Time Traveller's Wife- Audrey Niffenegger
The Last Canadian- no idea, maybe I should look it up.

These are a few of my favorite things...

In no particular order.

10. curling up with a good book.
9. scrapbooking.
8. warm rain...love that smell.
7. relaxin' on my deck...I LOVE my deck.
6. my computer.
5. a day with my kids, with no fighting.
4. those rare dates with my hubby.
3. fitting into, and looking good in, anything that never fit before.
2. watching the birds/squirrels in my feeder.
1. really good episodes of my favorite shows.
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Lists...perfect for when I cant really think of anything to write about.

The banana/cookie debate

Abby eating a cookie.

Abby: Mmmmmm...manna (banana)
Mom: No, cookie, say cookie.
Abby: manna
Mom: Cookie!
Abby: manna *giggle*
Mom: Ok, fine, banana.
Abby: *giggle* cookie.

Some days I have to stop and wonder why I'm not an alcoholic. lol

Shhhhhh!

I've been found out. Obviously, someone, somewhere, at some point, was going to read my blog...why else would I write things here? Do I have to be careful now who and what I write about? Thats no fun! I have this fear of whining about my marriage only to have hubby read everything I write about him when I'm angry and can only be negative. Well, since the secret is out, you have to promise not to breathe a word to my husband, or my mom, or my sisters...might as well throw in my in laws too. Mums the word, k?
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***And Denise! If at some point, I come here and bitch about my boss....you know nothing! LMAO***

To Do

I have a horrible memory. I have to make a to-do list every single day or I'll forget even the obvious things. Today, I need to go to the bank...I have needed to do this for 2 weeks but kept forgetting to add it to the list...see what I mean? I have a pile of laundry to do, a room to paint, groceries to buy and I need to take a short nap at some point or I wont make it through my shift...5pm-1am. I put little things on my to-do list, like make beds, which is something I do before I even come downstairs in the morning, or eat dinner, just so I can cross things off and have that feeling of accomplishment. Yeah, I'm a loser.
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I managed to check a few things off of my to do list today. The sun was shining so I added a few things to the list before heading outside, like, Lie in the sun for an hour, and Play with squirt guns. I didnt get to the laundry, or do any painting, or get any groceries...but I played with the kids and got a bit of a suntan. Some things are just more important than chores. I just offered to stay at work til 4am...sure wish I had checked 'take a nap' off the list today. Oh well, I'll just put it on tomorrows list and hope for rain.

Quack Quacks

This is new to me so I'm going to see how easy, or hard, it is to post a picture. This is my youngest, taken 2 weeks ago at a nearby beach. If it has a beak, its a duck...thats just how it is.

The Beginning

It's the end of a very long day so how do I relax? I start a blog....I need a place to whine about my very long day, even if I'm just whining to myself... it's therapeutic. I probably need lots of therapy, lol, but this is the best I can do.