3 weeks until Christmas?!?!

Yikes! Only 3 weeks until Christmas!

I got one present early! I got my engagement ring! woohooo! She's beautiful too! 11 stones. 1 big one in the middle, then 2 medium sized ones on either side, then 4 small ones down each side. I love it! We booked a venue and I am starting to gather ideas for bouquets, center pieces, etc.

I sure hope we get more snow soon. The company sleigh ride (for J's company) is on the 13th and so far we don't have enough snow! It might be a wagon ride, and that is not nearly as much fun!

Christmas and weddings have pretty much been occupying my mind lately... so that's all I got!

Cheers!

I am a bad blogger!

So, I have been a little self absorbed lately. You know how things just kind of all happen at once in life? That's where I am right now. And just when you think everything is up right, you whole life flips over again!

Long story short... the bf and I had kind of split up and the kids and I moved back to my townhouse (in which the bathroom is still not done). Then of course, because I am so fabulous, J decided he cannot live without me and we have decided to get married! The ring is coming, (I gave him a Christmas deadline), we set a date (August 8th) and have started the planning!

So, the reason for me being a bad blogger is that I have been planning my wedding which is less than 9 months away!!!! So far I have ordered my dress (soooo pretty), and we decided on a venue. Then... with all the wedding stuff that was clogging my brain, I suddenly remembered that Christmas is in like 5 weeks! And I hadn't started my shopping! Crap.... Maybe I can tell the kids that Santa took this year off? Ok, maybe not. So, yes, bad blogger and a bad mommy! I need an assistant.

My Bucket List

1. See a Ballet
2. Go to New York and see a broadway production
3. Have a picnic in Central Park
4. Go canoeing/rafting in a river that runs through the mountains
5. Visit the Mayan temple ruins
6. See a real castle
7. Go on a safari
8. Ride the biggest roller coaster in the world
9. Go to a Thanksgiving parade in New York
10. Find my soul mate and get married
11. Vacation in Hawaii
12. Go on a cruise in the Mediterranean
13. Visit the Egyptian ruins
14. Ride the London Eye
15. Write a book and get it published
16. Sleep in a teepee
17. Get a tattoo
18. Drive a Shelby Mustang (oh Eleanor!)
19. Visit the Louvre
20. Kiss the love of my life a top the Eiffel tower
21. Visit the Toronto Zoo
22. Learn how to swim and go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reefs
23. Learn how to play the piano (properly)
24. Visit Quebec during the winter carnival
25. Go to PEI and tour Green Gables
26. Skate on the St. Lawrence Sea way
27. Ride a sail boat on the ocean
28. Spend a night (or a week) on a massive yacht
29. Go on a horseback ride in the mountains
30. Learn more about astrology and spend more time stargazing and pointing out the constellations to my kids
31. Take a helicopter ride over something amazing
32. Take a wine tour
33. Stay in a theme room
34. See Stone Henge
35. Walk along the Great Wall of China
36. Visit Easter Island (Is that where the Easter bunny is from?)
37. Learn a Martial Art
38. Have my portrait painted
39. Go skinny dipping in a lake with a water fall
40. Take a train ride across the mountains
41. Take an ice explorer bus over the Colombian Ice Fields
42. Learn to ballroom dance
43. Learn to belly dance
44. Buy something ridiculously expensive just because I can. (Like Manola Blahnik shoes)
45. Set foot in each of the seven continents
46. Attend high tea at a posh hotel.
47. Go whale watching
48. Swim with dolpins or seals in the ocean
49. Sleep outdoors under the stars with no tent
50. Go shopping in an evening gown
51. Build a giant sand castle on a big beach
52. Get my fortune told by a real gypsy
53. Make love on a beach
54. Watch the sun set over the ocean while on a boat in the middle of nowhere
55. Mud wrestle
56. Take an evening class to learn a new skill, like pottery, or cooking, or something like that
57. Find a job I love
58. Swim in the dead sea
59. Ride in a gondola in Venice
60. Go to a viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture show where they actually throw rice
61. Get a cooking lesson from a celebrity chef (like Gordon Ramsey!)
62. Visit Legoland
63. Join the mile high club
64. Go to a Drive in Movie
65. Spend a night in a tree house
66. Buy a round of drinks for everyone in a pub
67. Read a novel like Moby Dick or the Odyssey
68. Shop on Rodeo drive
69. Make love on a bed of rose petals
70. Have a proper spa mud bath.
71. Have my handwriting analyzed
72. Own a rather large diamond
73. Have a caricature done
74. Be proposed to in the most romantic possible way. And say yes of course.
75. Visit a wax museum
76. Climb a mountain, from the bottom to the top. No trams.
77. Put my hand in the mouth of truth
78. Ride a tandem bike
79. Fly first class
80. Go to the opera all dressed up
81. Bathe in hot springs
82. Get a hot stone massage
83. Float down the Grand Canyon
84. See Machu Picchu (Incan Ruins)
85. Ride a camel into the desert
86. Tell my kids I love them everyday
87. Make a random strangers day. Maybe by buying coffee for the person behind me in a drive through line up. And do this often.
88. Go to France and learn how to cook French food
89. Go to Ireland to see Sheep with dots painted on them.
90. Drink in a real Irish Pub
91. See Big Ben
92. Visit Pompeii
93. Read all the Harry Potter books (I am behind the times on this one!)
94. Vacation in Bora Bora
95. Have lunch with someone that has made a difference in the world
96. See tulips and windmills in Holland
97. Join an archeological dig
98. Have something named after me.
99. Live my life for me and no longer compromise who I am.
100. Kill my friend Kari for daring me to get to 100

What's on your bucket list?

Even Fly Lady Can't Help Me Now!

Anybody know an arsonist? Just kidding... but seriously, the kids and I moved on the weekend. Back to our townhouse. The kitchen cabinets look magnificent. My little brother did a really good job. A coat of fresh paint really made the living room look a lot nicer too. Now, if only I could see the living room and kitchen. There are so many half unpacked boxes piled around my house right now that I feel hopeless! It's never ending!

Oh, and did I mention that my bathroom isn't done yet? Tonight we are visiting my mom's house. She is feeding us dinner (because I can't cook in that mess) and letting us borrow the shower. I sure hope it will be done soon. Sigh...

On a positive note, the kids are so glad to be back at their old school and daycare with their old friends. They had such a good day yesterday.

And another thing! Shaw hires a bunch of dougheads! I called for reconnection of services yesterday and supposedly everything was good to go... so last night I expect to have phone, cable, and internet. Nothing worked. The technical support dude got the internet working but after an hour and a half on the phone with me could not figure out why the phone and cable did not work. They he clued in that they only put the reconnection order in for the internet. sigh... so he had to put in a new order and I should have phone and cable today. An hour and a half wasted on the phone when I could have been unpacking because they are dough heads.

I know it will all come together... I just wish I could wave my magic wand and be done with it though!

The fool that I am

My friend is raising money for the entry fee for a fashion show she has been invited to show her line at. It's a huge deal and I am so proud of her. The exposure is priceless! So, being the BFF that I am, I volunteered to host a make up lesson party where people pay her (she is a professional) to show them how to apply make up and go from day to night. Great idea! Right? Yes, for her! I just had this panic attack as I realized this is only about 3 weeks away, I am just moving back to my townhouse this weekend, the bathroom is not yet done, and now I have to host a party? Eeek! I hope my guests are blind! I better sign up for fly lady!

Oh, and I realized, while reading another blog today, that Christmas is only 10 weeks away!!!!! Where did this year go? What the heck? Who do I call to postpone Christmas by about.... 6 months?

I forgot my funny story!

My children have apparently decided I am already an old spinster. (At 27? hardly!) My son (for whatever reason) decided that he was going to share the following information with me on the way to daycare this morning. "Mom, I am going to live with you until I am 23" I honestly don't remember his reasonings as, once again, his sister stole the show. "Yah, well I am going to live with you forever!" I asked her "don't you want to get married one day and live on your own?" She says, "Yes, but we will live with you still. I don't want you to be all alone, so I will live with you forever." Awwwww... what a sweetie... but seriously!!! Is it really so bad that even my kids think I will be alone forever?!?! All I said was "Hopefully by the time you are old enough to get married I will have found a husband and you won't have to worry about me, ok?"

I am not an old spinster! I just wanted to clarify that. In case, you know, it was starting to show. LOL

WFMW - It's good to know people

On Tuesday!

I am writing this post on Tuesday, if you would like to know why, please read last week's WFMW posted Here.

A lot of things don't work for me, but one thing that does is having friends I can call on when I need help. As a single mom, I don't have a handy husband to fix everything. In comes my friends. One friend (you know who you are) is a handy dandy furnace and hot water installer and had the necessary skills to hook up my new bathtub! While he was at it he also installed shut off valves for the sink and tub. What does it cost me? Free babysitting. It kind of reminds me of the olden days when you would trade a chicken for a check up at the Doctor's. I am going to babysit his lovely daughter for a few evenings in trade for labor. Another friend came and installed my drywall and did the mudding and taping. I might babysit for him too, but he has 3 rambunctious boys and I am not sure I have the patience for that! Then, yet another friend came and helped me move all my furniture on Saturday. I owe him pizza and beer. Maybe I am lucky I don't have a husband. He surely would have gotten irritated at his honey-do list by now. OH! And of course I wouldn't be anywhere without my Daddy. He runs me around to hardware stores in his truck when something won't fit in my little car. What would a girl do without her Daddy? So, in summary, what works for me is having friends work for me!!!

P.S. Remind me not to "gut" any rooms in my house in the near future or those friends might become "people I used to know". ;0)

WFMW Doesn't WFM!

Ok, so I get excited about Wednesday's because that's when it is Works For Me Wednesday at http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ I get tips on child care, cooking, cleaning, and everything else! Reading this blog and following the links to other blogs is actually what inspired me to start my own blog. So! Every Wednesday I decided I would join and post my own links there. Only I suck at it. Last week I didn't post my link properly, so it got deleted. This week, I didn't write my post quickly enough so I didn't get to join again! Argh!!! Why can't she cut it off at 10:00 CST instead of 7:00? Then I could write my blog and post it in time! Or... I could start writing it on Tuesday's so I can post on Wednesday... hrmmmm... interesting. I need to find a way for WFMW to WFM!!! sigh...

For posts from people who have their lives together and remember to post on time, please visit http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/2008/10/works-for-me--1.html

OH! The bathtub installation worked!!!! Wooohooo! Drywall is going up on Friday night, furniture is getting moved on Saturday, and the rest will be done between now and next weekend! I see the light!!! I can't wait to move into my pretty new (Ok, reallly old but renovated) townhouse! It's mine! All mine! Mwahahahahahhaahah!

Tuesday Ramblings

I finally have a comical story about my son, T. I arrived to pick the kids up at daycare last night and E was quick to tell me she had already done her homework so that she could ride her bike while I made dinner. I asked T if he had done his as well. He said no, but he didn't have homework because he forgot to exchange his home reading book. I looked at him and said that J was probably going to make him read something else and write in his journal and that he needs to remember to exchange his book. We get home and as we are walking into the house J was coming out, T looked at J and told him he had done his homework at daycare! I called him on his lie and he got sent to his room. But, if I hadn't been there, it was kind of ingenious. Should I admit that? My kids are creative if anything else!

I am going to the townhouse to install the bathtub tonight. It better freaking work this time! LOL. I am planning to move the furniture on Saturday, then all that will be left is clothes and "stuff". Moving day is coming! And so is thanksgiving! mmmm turkey.... I can't wait until Sunday.

I am trying to decide what to write about for tomorrow's works for me wednesday.....

Oh, so... speaking of daycares, the owner of the kids daycare was a total cow to me yesterday! I couldn't believe it! I understand fees are due on the 1st, so on October 1st I went into the daycare and asked how much I owed, because they were supposed to pro-rate my fees for a half month. The one daycare lady said she would talk to the owner and have her put a note on the kids locker for me the next day. So Thursday I go to pick them up and the note has the full fees on it. So on Friday I went in to talk to the owner/director lady and she said she would re-calculate them because she forgot to pro-rate them. Monday comes along and she calls me at work and informs me I owe $480 (which is fine) but that since I waited so long to pay that I can no longer pay by cheque, I have to pay by cash and I have to bring it to her that night when I pick up the kids. I explained I work in the boonies with no bank machine around me, and would try my hardest to have time to detour to a bank machine on the way home from work. She tells me that I need to guarantee I will. So, I gave in and was like "alright, fine, whatever you want" and she goes, "well is that going to be ok?" and I said "I guess it's going to have to be, isn't it?" GRRRRR.... I was ready to pay on the 1st and this is the flack I get because she hadn't done the calculations yet? Anyway, that was my vent about stupid people for the day. :0)

Works For Me Wednesday - Organizing for quicker lunch making

There is a blog I follow called Rocks in my dryer that hosts a blog carnival called Works for Me Wednesdays. Bloggers post links to their own blog and tell about tips that work for them! Today's is a themed WFMW about kitchen organization. One of the things that I find tedious in the kitchen is making the kid's lunches every night. I am a working single mom, so unfortunately my kids get a lot of pre-packaged foods in their lunches like granola bars, apple sauce, pudding, fruit snacks, etc. One of the things I noticed was that my pantry was filling up with all these boxes of lunch snacks that only contained 6-10 items in them! So, my solution was that I bought a rubbermaid bin that fits on one of the shelves, and when I get home from grocery shopping I empty all the boxes into the bin. Then when I am making lunches, I just grab the bin and put it on the counter and grab what I need out of it. It sure cuts down on the time I spend searching for that box of granola bars that I thought I bought last week! Now everything is in one place. This is one organizational solution that WORKS FOR ME!

For more great tips, visit: http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/

Monday Mayhem

So, you know how some days you start out your day with a list of things you are planning on accomplishing and within 5 minutes of getting started you realize that your day is about to be one of those crazy ones where you might as well throw all your plans out the window? That was today for me. I don't think I actually crossed a single thing off my to do list today! But you know what they say about the best laid plans! There is always tomorrow... LOL. Luckily I changed my receptionist from P/T to F/T starting on Oct. 1st so I do believe that will help somewhat!

One of my friends has been scuba diving off of Vancouver island and posting amazing underwater pics on Facebook for us all to see, and I have to tell you... after a day like today, I could sure use a vacation like that! I haven't really taken time for myself since May, and even then it was only 2 days. Talk about jealous!

Speaking of the best laid plans... I didn't get the bathroom renovated this weekend as planned. The $%&*#% bath tub didn't line up with the $%&*#% drain. So, next weekend we start all over. It delays my move a bit, but to be honest, I don't want to move anyhow so I am really not that devastated by the whole catastrophy.

Speaking of catastrophies... have I mentioned my darling 6 year old daughter yet? LOL. Today the drama queen played sick and spent the morning in the nurses office at school. The school called me by lunch time and let me know that although she hadn't thrown up yet, she keeps threatening to. J to the rescue, again. He took the afternoon off and went to pick up "sick" E from the nurses office. She got home and wanted potato chips. Then she wanted to go outside and play with her friends that don't go to school yet. J said no and that if she was sick she had to stay in. She wanted a second opinion so J let her call me at work. I was having my day from you know where so I wouldn't even let her whine or try to convince me. I told her flat out that if she was too sick to go to school she was too sick to play outside. Yep, I had that moment. That one where you open your mouth and hear your mother speak from inside your head. I think I was channelling my own mother. What have I become?! Oh, well, I turned out all right, right? (**disclaimer: I love you Mommy!**)

On a side note: Has anyone ever bought one of those microwavable roasts before? I made one for dinner tonight (please read the part above about the day I had before you judge me!) and I read the back when I bought it and the nutritional information per serving had a serving size as 1/6th of the package. That to me would mean it should serve six. So surely it should serve us 4 considering the kids hardly eat that much meat at all. Lets just say that J supplemented his meal with cheese because he hadn't had enough protein. Ooops. LOL. I think it would serve 2 all right, but no way its more than that!

Is it the weekend yet? This is going to be a looooong week, I can tell!

TGIF! Kind of...

I would like to start this post with a little story about my drama queen daughter, E. I am trying to get my townhouse put back together so the kids and I can move out of J's and back into my place. So, last night Mom came with me to do some work in it and J picked the kids up from daycare and fed them for me. On the way home from daycare all J, T, and E were in the car discussing what they should have for dinner. (J can't cook, boy is he going to miss me!) J suggested Pizza 73. E went on to state that on the way home from school her tummy still hurt from the LAST time we had pizza 73! That was weeks ago! What a kid... I don't know where she gets it from.

Anyways... my townhouse is really coming along. A few hundred more dollars at home depot and bribing some of my friends and it should be ready by Canadian Thanksgiving! (October 13th) The cabinets in the kitchen that my little bigger brother D re-did for me look amazing. I might give him a tip. Tonight is tub installation and spending another fortune at Home Depot, and tomorrow is drywalling the bathroom.

So, back to the subject of the post... TGIF, cuz this has been a long week with working full time and working on the townhouse in the evenings... but really, it just means the start to a weekend full of renovations when I really just want to relax and watch the season premier of Grey's Anatomy that J recorded for me last night.

Oh, and friends with trucks: Mark the calendar please! Moving day is set for the 11th so that I can be unpacked in time for Turkey! mmmm... turkey.

Hump Day is Here!

Wednesday's are one of my favorite days of the week. Here are my reasons why:

One of my favorite sites http://rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/shannon/it_works_for_me/index.html
has a blog carnival (I think that's what its called) and a whole ton of people post the things they have discovered that work for them. I have learnt a ton of tricks about discipline, school snacks, cleaning, etc. Go check it out if you have time. But I warn you, it can take all day to follow all those links! Great time waster if you have the time to waste. LOL. One day in the near future I am going to start posting my own Works for Me Wednesday Links.

Another reason is that I know there are only 2 more days left of the work week after today! You can almost see the weekend! Today is the day I start planning what I am going to do this weekend and checking with other people to see what they are doing. This weekend is going to be super busy! Friday night I have a good friend coming to install my new bathtub at the townhouse. Saturday I have different friends coming to drywall it. Sunday I have to take my grandpa grocery shopping and will probably start getting the kitchen in the townhouse reorganized. Moving day is coming!!!

Wednesday's are also the day I have the least amount to do at work and feel like I can relax. I usually sleep good on Wednesdays because work isn't very stressful. And when I get home at night, I am more productive because work doesn't mentally stress me out, so I get laundry done, and want to cook, and I clean a bit.

What's your favorite day of the week?

TGIF

Am I the only one that thinks this has been a very long feeling week? I was ready to call it quits by Wednesday, personally.

This weekend I am going to attempt to spend organizing my townhouse. It is currently undergoing some renovations but they are **crossing fingers** nearly done and I am hoping to move back into it in the near future. However, it's a disaster! I cannot believe how much crap I have collected in a year and a half! Tomorrow I am going to start with the bedrooms I think. Also, I have been reading this website called flylady and I think I can do that! http://flylady.net/index.asp Each week of the month you are in a different "zone" of your house, but there are also daily tasks to do in the general area to keep you going. They email you a new task everyday that won't take longer than 15 minutes or so to do that are in your zone. It sounds quite reasonable and I really need to learn some new habits. So, once we move back into the townhouse, I am going to sign up and see how I do! If I fail, it will still probably be cleaner than it was before I started!

Last night was meet the creature night at school. E doesn't like her new teacher. I didn't get the warm fuzzies from her myself. However, the vice principal that has been keeping E company during lunch is very nice (see my first post) and he agrees with my disciplinary methods for the situation. I still think its funny though. Especially her trying to forge my signature at 6 years old. Oh, and T's teacher was pretty nice from what I figure.

So, anyone wanna help with my townhouse this weekend? Come on, you know you want to! :-p

Happy Friday!

My First Post

Whew! My first post! No one will likely read this anyhow...

I have been reading blogs for a long time now and always loved reading about how other parents dealt with kids, what antics occurred that day, how they get through tough situations etc. When I was a kid I wrote in my diary obsessively! Lately things have been occurring in my life that have made me wish I still had that outlet, only I hate writing. But I can type! So... along came the idea that I needed a blog. An outlet for my frustrations. A place for me to connect with the rest of the world. A journal for me to read back to my children when I am explaining all the grey hairs and wrinkles they caused. And maybe even a way to meet new friends.

My children are 6 & 7. We will call them "E" and "T" or if I am talking about both of them ET! They are really well behaved children that sometimes do things without thinking. Yesterday for instance, I came home to find a note in my daughter's (E) agenda book that told me all about the food fight she got in during lunch yesterday and how she was eating in the vice principals office for the rest of the week. Sigh... It couldn't have been her idea, she isn't that creative! But she is great at following and, like me, will do anything for a laugh. Oh wait, she is creative afterall! Her teacher told her I had to sign her book so that she knew I saw the note and knew about the incident. E decided that if she wrote "Leslie" in her book that her teacher would think I signed it. There, in a 6 year old's writing, was clearly "Leslie" at the bottom of the note. It's hard not to laugh at her pitiful try. She isn't getting treats in her lunch this week. Only fruit and sandwiches! What would you have done?