Because New Year's Eve should be full of fun and silly things, I give you...

(Before hitting play, put down what ever festive beverage you may be consuming. Your screen/keyboard will thank me.)

The Taco Bell Canon.

And have a wonderful New Year's Eve!

(Hey, I didn't promise Giller Prize-worthy writing, just a post a day...)

So I'm not one for New Year's resolutions, but I decided today that I need to give myself a kick in the rear to get some writing done. So, I am challenging myself to blog every day. Please bear with me. I may subject my loyal readers (all 5 of you...) to rants and raves, some creative or not so creative writing as I tune up a few things I wrote in my class last year, along with the usual day-to-day musings of a mom to a nearly 2 1/2 year old.


Because one should write about what they know, I'll start with Miss Lily's Christmas.

She had a wonderful Christmas, and received some amazing presents. Her Uncle Craig found some really cool books about monsters and Polka Bats, her great Aunties contributed to her education fund and gifted her with some really pretty dresses. She received a Fisher Price Circus set that has been a great hit, althought it did take some convincing that it didn't need batteries. It takes batteries, but like her FP Castle set, we opted not to put them in. That was for our sanity sake, and she's got a decent enough imagination that she doesn't need the toy to make sound effects for her. Bryan and I bought her a wooden stove set, complete with a wooden pot and pan.

How creative is my kid? Pretty creative. When we put her to bed on Christmas Day evening, she had the stove set up on her bed. I asked her what she was doing. She said "I'm frying pirates." And she was. She lifted the lid to the wooden frying pan, and inside were the FP Little People pirates that Santa had left for her that morning. Argh!

More to come...

Have a safe New Year's Eve - see you in 2009!

Merry Christmas!




Wishing everyone a safe and joyful Christmas Season.



Bryan, Carrie and Lily

Where to start?

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. A while back we all caught a tummy bug at the pool. Lily and Bryan were both sick with it, and I just felt dragged out and yucky. Then Lily and I caught a sneezy cold. We both got over that, and then I caught the tummy bug from H-E-Double-hockey-sticks. I was sick on Tuesday (didn't go in to work), fine on Wednesday after a good nights sleep - until I was driving home from some errands. I spent Wednesday night sick again, and was fine on Thursday while the furnace was installed. Friday I was fine, until just before the furnace guys were done and was sick again. This involved my mom making an emergency run to get supplies - ginger ale, gravol, Imodium, pedialyte - you name it. Bryan made me some jello and some pudding and I lived on soup and toast all week. I HATE being sick to my stomach. Not that anyone likes it, but I really really dislike it. I called in sick for that Saturday as well. On Monday Bryan is sent home from work as they didn't have a crew to send him out with. That was the day our fridge stopped working. Ack! I called a repair crew in for Tuesday (see previous post) and that ended up being an easy fix.

And then...

Bryan comes home and tells me that he has been laid off from work. Until January. At Christmas time.

That was all I could say through the tears. "But it's Christmas!"

We have been very lucky. He has missed the December layoffs the past two years. His company has always been honest and fair with him. They treat their staff really well, he gets regular raises in keeping with the industry, and has great hours that allow me to work evenings and weekends so I can stay home with Lily during the day.

I'm sure that Bryan can get into more detail if he wants, but the gist of it is that he can call back the second week of January for some hours. They usually shut down for 2 weeks at Christmas, so in reality we are only out about 2 weeks of pay, and he can get unemployment benefits for the time he isn't working. Just not sure when we will see the money for that. In the meantime I have picked up additional daytime shifts at work. It's not ideal, as I really don't want to be there full time, but at least I have the option to work and help in a couple of departments that are desperate for staff right now.

Last week was a tense one, but we're going to be OK.

I did have a bit of fun with my dad, installing hardwood in Lily's room over the weekend. I spent Friday night repainting Lily's room, and on Saturday we finished up about 2/3 of the room in hardwood. Somehow we miscalculated how much wood we would need and I had to scramble to find some more. We used the same maple flooring that Mom and Dad put in at the lake. Dad had almost 2 boxes left from his project, and I picked up 2 more at the store. I should have bought 3! With most of the flooring done, we were able to set up Lily's new big girl bed as a surprise. We brought her home from daycare on Monday to her new bedroom. She spent most of the weekend with my mom, having 2 sleepover nights at Lala and Buppa's house. She was officially the cleanest toddler on the block, having at least 3 baths in 3 days.

When I came over on Sunday to pick Lily up so we could go to the kid's Christmas party at work, my mom told me that Wayne, one of our close family friends had had a heart attack the night before. Wayne and Sherry live two doors down from my parent's old home in Millwoods. As kids, we hung out at Sherry's after school on nights my mom was working, Sherry would take all of us to Queen E pool in the summers, Wayne would tease my dad mercilessly (still does), and I babysat all their kids when I was in junior high. They have been fantastic neighbors and friends to our family for the past 32 years - they ARE family. To hear that Wayne was in the hospital after a heart attack was shocking. Yes, he smokes and enjoys his beer. But like your parents, family friends are not supposed to age, get sick or change in any way. And really, Wayne has not changed at all. Well, maybe he has mellowed a bit, but he was and still is a pretty mellow guy. When I asked my parents for details as to what happened, my dad said he thought Wayne was out playing guitar with his buddies, felt short of breath and unwell and ended up at the hospital. (Whether this was actually playing guitar, or Guitar Hero I'm not sure. You never know with Wayne.)

Today I had an update from my folks. Wayne is now at home, and expected to recover. He had a major blockage in 1 artery that was able to be repaired without surgery. Some medication and lifestyle changes should help with the rest. Thank goodness. Oh, and he wasn't playing guitar. Dad had to correct the previous version of events. He was playing road hockey with a bunch of other fools the same age! 16 or not-yet-60, boys will be boys. Hopefully Wayne's youthful outlook will keep him healthy and around for many more years. I need someone to help tease my dad.

So folks, we need some really positive thoughts and prayers sent out to our family - close and extended.

Just for my dad...

I'm pretty sure this is what he would like for Christmas.

OK, no more toasty thoughts. I need cold ones. **UPDATED**

Thank you everyone for the warm thoughts. The new furnace is great. The overload of warmth has resulted in my fridge pooping out. It's only 4 years old, and should be fine but it isn't. The fan isn't running, so the coolness is more like lukewarm. Right now we have ice packs in the fridge part in an attempt to keep things cold while we wait on a repair man. If I have to, the milk will be sitting outside tomorrow!

Hopefully we will have this fixed by tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, think icy and be cool.

***

The repair company called this morning at 8am, to let me know they had someone on the way this morning. I was fully expecting to wait ALL day for this. At 9 am the repair man called me. He was at the house within 10 minutes of his call, diagnosed the problem, replaced the part and put the fridge back together by 9:45. It cost me $200 - well worth it considering a new fridge would set us back $1800 or so. I still had the day to look forward to, and I didn't have to store the milk on the back porch! Oh, the problem? The freezer fan wasn't working. The repair man said that when these burn out they usually make noise or smell funny. Ours was the exception - it just stopped. But now it's happy and fixed, and now I can go grocery shopping. One advantage of my late night Tuesday shopping is that we didn't have a lot of things in there to spoil.

Yay for on time repair men!

Warm and toasty!

And still sick. Ugh. I have one nasty persistent bug. Every time I start to feel better, it comes back with a vengance. Nothing like having your 2 year old tell you "Mumma's sick. Mumma was barfing. Mumma's sad." Yep, all of the above. Thank goodness for my folks living so close - my mom made an emergency run to Rexall for ginger ale, pedialyte and Imodium. I slept most of the day, and have managed to keep everything down since last night. Bryan was a sweetie and made me some Jello today, and kept Lily amused while I rested. At time of posting, I am feeling OK. It's Lily's last swim lesson tomorrow, and we promised her a special waffle brunch for finishing them! I don't want to miss it.

Back to the warm and toasty part - the furnace install is 90% done. There are 2 heat runs for the basement that need to be installed. I'll call them on Monday to make arrangements for that. The crew had forgotten their paperwork, so they missed that part of the work order. And because they didn't have paperwork for us to sign, they didn't take our cheque. The crew was great, right on time, really polite and cleaned up their work area. And didn't use any technical language. Even when it took them at least 2 hours to drill through the concrete wall for the venting required for the high efficiency furnace.

Overall, I am really happy with the new system. The furnace is super quiet, and has a great recirculating fan that keeps the house at a nice even temperature. The tankless water heater works a bit differently than a regular tank, but it's fine. The hot takes a bit longer to get going, but once it's there, it doesn't run out. I had a blissfully warm bath last night before bed! After reading the manual, I've found that I can program the tankless unit to recirculate from 6-9pm so that the hot water is instant during that time. Most tankless units work on a demand system. Turning on the tap triggers the heating unit to fire up, and once the water has travelled through, you have hot. That means that the first water you turn on isn't hot because it hasn't travelled through the heating unit. In addition to the on-demand supply, this system has a small (2 gallon) holding tank that will recirculate the hot to eliminate the lag in hot water supply.

I can't wait to see the gas savings this winter. In the cold months, we were paying between $300-400 a month on the old no-efficiency furnace. I'm hoping for $80.

There is so much more space in the basement! Now that this is done, the real work will start. Next is some hardwood upstairs for Miss Lily, and then our electrical upgrades. After that, demo demo demo. Stay tuned!

Think warm thoughts for me tomorrow...

Our new furnace is being installed and we won't have a lot of heat from 9am until 1pm. After that it should be smooth sailing!

On Friday our tankless water heater is installed. We decided to change from a tank system to an on-demand tankless to save some space. They are also very energy efficient and have way fewer emissions than a traditional tank that is heating water all the time. I love that it won't take up any space and that by removing the old tank, we gain a lot of space in the middle of our basement. Yes, the middle. When the house was built, the tank was placed exactly where a hallway should be. With it gone, that's where the hall to our downstairs bathroom will be. The new furnace will be a bit smaller than the old, but the placement doesn't change.

I have some floor plan ideas, but nothing concrete so far. Once the furnace and heater are done, I can plot out some walls. I'll be sure to post more about the layout when we have it finalized.

Off to find my warmest woolliest socks to wear tomorrow...

The List

The lists have been requested, and here they are. (Links included where possible.) Please note, that while it would be really generous of the gift givers to do so, these are not all-inclusive lists! They are suggestions, ideas and things we would love to find under the tree. Please feel free to spin off from the lists, or even surprise us with something not on the list. (But not a pony or a puppy. We don't have the room.)

Lily's List (because Christmas is for the kids anyway!)

In light of the recent recalls of a lot of children's toys, we have been looking at more creative, classic toys for Lily. Wooden puzzles, blocks and play food. Paper and crayons. Dress up items. Imaginative play is our theme!

Crayola Crayons the basic everyday crayons, not the fancy twisty or Color Wonders stuff. You will probably have a hard time finding the old 64 box, but it's still out there.

Paper The big plain floor pads are what work best. Or, the Mala easel and paper roll from IKEA. Paper roll = endless drawing!

Play kitchen items We have it on good authority that Santa is bringing her some wooden play food, so she'll need something to cook with! The IKEA Duktig line is great. Mumma and dad found her a wooden play kitchen and a few accessories already, feel free to add more. Home Sense has some really neat wooden accessory sets right now.

Books She loves to read - right now her favorites are books with pop ups or flaps. She loves Sesame Street, Curious George, and anything with monsters. Evan brought over The Gruffalo the last time he came to play and it was a hit.

DVDs - Pixar Animation Shorts, Madagascar, Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Wallace and Gromit Three Amazing Adventures, Ruby Gloom, Elmo Says Boo, and the Sesame Street Old School Vol 1 DVD set. Even adding one of these to her list of 'mooshies' would be fun. I do love Monsters Inc, but 457 viewings later, I can recite all the lines.

A monster She already has the small Big Toe doll and three Cookie Monsters. But...another ugly monster would thrill her to bits! Anything monster related is a hit here. She was quite disappointed to learn that Halloween was all done. If you can find a Doom Kitty stuffed animal from Ruby Gloom, she will give you extra hugs and kisses.

Practical items she needs some warm long sleeved 2 piece pyjamas. Her 1 piece ones from last winter still fit, but are not great now that we are potty training!

Bubble Bath Kiss My Face makes a new kid's line of bath products. We have the bubble bath and the hand soap already, and it's yummy! You can find this at Planet Organic, and a lot of health food stores.

Bryan's List

Because he knows how, he is free to edit this post to include any other items. These are just a few things that he has mentioned.

Helly Hansen work socks The ones from last year are much loved, but worn out. And smelly.

Books etc The Watchmen graphic novel. (This is available at Chapters - I made him promise not to get it so it could go on this list!) All 6 of the original Dune series of books. Apparently he will only read a series if he has ALL the books at once.

Movies Hellboy II, Ironman, Incredible Hulk (not the Eric Bana version), Children of Dune (obscure and hard to find...)

BBQ Tools Some long handled stainless steel bbq tools. Especially a grill brush. I think Jumpy Squirrel took off with the current one. (Stupid squirrel hides peanuts in our bbq!)

He had no other ideas to share, but I can tell you that he could use some nice dressy casual clothes. Not that we go out a lot, but something to wear on a night out. It needs to come with free babysitting!

Carrie's List

You can't go wrong with something for the garden or the kitchen. Lily has stolen all my oven mitts, and I would love some new whisks.

Le Creuset Multipan I am smitten with anything Le Creuset makes! The 3-in-1 22cm multipan in red would be a lovely addition to my kitchen, and would allow me to get rid of my non-stick pans. I'm not fond of bits of Teflon flaking off in my food...

Plant Markers Bryan wasn't too impressed when I used his lunch spoons to mark the lilies in the garden. And I wasn't impressed when Lily found them in the flower beds, pulled them out and gave them back! So some real flower and plant markers would be great. These are neat (selection A or B, or both!)

Wireless Weather Station My dad has a wireless indoor/outdoor thermometer that is pretty neat. I have no idea why I thought it would be a good idea to mount my outdoor thermometer to the full sun, south facing wall of my garage. I must have put it up in the winter, where a warmer temperature there makes you feel better about yet another day of minus 20 in February. Something a little more accurate would be better.

Sharpening Stick This would be nice to have, as I tend to leave my garden shears out in the rain, or use them to trim stuff they are not designed to trim.

Pampering items

• Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Shampoo, Conditioner and Defining Creme. I love love love this stuff! You can get it at Beauty Junkie in WEM and LUX Beauty on 124th street.
• Lemony Flutter Cuticle Cream. This is from Lush. Smells like pie and keeps my nails strong.
• Philosophy Makeup Optional box. Bry - this was a hit, please feel free to copy your own gift idea from last year!

Murphy's Law is a cruel thing.

(From Wikipedia)

Murphy's law is an adage in Western culture that broadly states, "if anything can go wrong, it will." It is also cited as: "If there's more than one possible outcome of a job or task, and one of those outcomes will result in disaster or an undesirable consequence, then somebody will do it that way"; "Anything that can go wrong, will," the similar "Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong," or, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time, in the worst possible way." In a less dramatic fashion, the law can be expressed as "Anything that has a probability of happening greater than 0 can and will happen. No exceptions." The saying is sometimes referred to as Sod's law or Finagle's law.

In my case, it means that the night you put the toddler to bed early so she can get up early for her first day of daycare, she will wake up every two hours. And refuse to get up at 7am, the time you really need her out of bed.

It was an equal opportunity night of wake up calls - I was up 3 times and Bryan was up 3 times before 5 am.

During one of the middle of the night wake up calls, when I was wondering if anyone would be willing to buy her for a quarter, she looked at me and said in the sweetest voice:

"But I want to hold you Mumma."

You can't compete with that. She's never said that before, and it hit me right in the heart. So we sat down for cuddle-in-chair number 452 of the evening (or was it morning?)

Today is her first day at the Daycare Co-op program. This morning, Lily was so excited to go, and told me in the car that she wanted to "Listen to the teachers." We have been talking up the daycare for her, so she knows what she should expect. She has a new lunch bag, backpack and shoes, and we got her a warm coat for playing outside. I've been working hard at raising a polite child, and most of the time she remembers to say please and thank you. Yesterday she sneezed and said "Bless you" to herself. Like any kid, she thinks it's hilarious when she toots, but she is learning to say "Excuse me" when she does it. I have been reminding her that she needs to use these manners when she is at daycare, and that she has to listen to the teachers. Thus our conversation in the car.

We got there early and met Gidgett (yes, her name is Gidgett, and it is perfect!) and the other teachers.

When we arrived, Lily was eager to explore and check out all the toys as Gidgett gave me the tour and let me know about the routine for the day. Lily jumped right in and played with blocks and the water table, and was painting on tinfoil when I left.

I didn't cry. I wanted to - I've never left her with anyone other than family. (Auntie Keltie counts as extended family!) I know she is in good hands, but it is a huge leap of faith to trust your kid to strangers. She will learn so much and have so much fun today, and every week. She needs this, and I need this. The time alone will be so good for me, and seeing her at the end of the day when she yells out "Mumma!" will be so worth it.

I'm hoping that she plays hard, and sleeps well tonight.

The Christmas lists are coming...

Really.

Sandwiched

So now that Lily is going to daycare on Mondays, I have to pack a lunch once a week. Miss Lily is in the throes of I'm two and I don't like anything.

"I want to push a button"

has been replaced with:

"I won't like it"

and

"I won't like it more".

Translation, "I really don't like it". Argh.

Well, there are some things she'll eat. Ranch dip. Jam. Ketchup. Applesauce. Yogurt. So we serve everything else with one of the above sauces in hopes that some of the food coated actually hits her tummy. Yesterday she surprised me by eating a lot of ham. You never know. Then again, she did put most of the chopped ham into the strawberry yogurt before eating it. Sigh.

Back to the lunches - what will I pack for her? I have to abide by the no nuts policy that is in place in most care centres. That's easy enough to look after.

Sandwiches are easy when you know what your kid will eat. Not so easy when she HAS to eat it as there is no other option. Maybe that's the trick. Hopefully she'll play so much that she'll be starving, and the peer pressure of 17 other kids will cause her to eat every morsel.

So, blog friends, what is your favorite sandwich? I have an ulterior motive here, as I am trying to win a contest, and get an extra entry if I post this in my blog as well.

My favorite guilty pleasure sandwich: cream cheese and bacon on toasted brown bread.

My favorite comfort sandwich: tuna salad on light rye, made my my Auntie Eleanor.

My favorite fancy sandwich: grilled ham and cheese on cinnamon raisin bread.

My favorite hot sandwich: tuna melts made by my Grandma P.

Sandwich I would never eat: a Reuben. Just can't do the sauerkraut!

Sandwich I have been craving: one of Christine's Cuban sandwiches, or her other amazing creation, the Chicken Caesar Po'Boy.


And the contest? Pop on over to a peek inside the fishbowl to see what's up.

I am so excited!

I actually jumped up and down and squealed today.

Why, you ask?

A while ago I wrote about a daycare co-op program that I really wanted Lily to get into. On a gamble, I sent them and email asking if any spaces were available. I really didn't expect to hear back, but I did, and they told me the wait list for Lily's age group was 'not too terribly long'. I didn't ask what the definition of that was, preferring to be surprised. I expected to get a call after Christmas. Everything I have heard about their space and program has been amazing, and it's a tough one to get into. But, once you are in...

I was wrong - the call came today. She can start next Monday! We're going to start her on the 17 th, not the 10 th as we have to get a few things together and this week is super busy. After I spoke to the coordinator, I put the phone back on the cradle and jumped up and down and told Lily that she's going to school!

The program is a once a week, Mom's Day Out co-operative daycare. It's designed for parents that stay at home or work part time but still want a break without having to rely on family and friends to take the kids. The fees are super reasonable (Under $100 a month...I know...) Parents have to volunteer a day of their time, and do other duties related to running the program. It's going to be so much fun for her! She will be going on Mondays for now - if another day comes available, then I will try for that. I wasn't picky about the day that I wanted, on the hopes that it would get her into the program sooner and it worked. It's a learn by play based centre. The activities coordinator used to work for Disney Cruise lines - I have heard amazing things about her!

She'll be there from 9:30 to 3-ish. The only bad thing about Mondays is that many statutory holidays fall on Mondays - I'll have to ask how the fees work for those days.

While Lily is going to have so much fun playing with other kids, the one that will benefit the most from this is me. Yes, I am putting her in the program for mostly selfish reasons.

I need the 'Me' time. Even if it's for a few hours a week, it will make a huge difference. I am going to use this time to recharge. I promise not to use this time to pick up extra hours at work, to grocery shop, do laundry or clean my house. I have 6 other days to work on that. I hope to use the time to do fun things, like window shop on Whyte Avenue, or wander through the Art Gallery when it opens, or sit in a coffee shop and get back my writing. I will continue my search for a decent pedicure that doesn't cost $200. I may even treat myself to a massage. Yes, my mind will wander to what my girl may be doing, and my cell phone will be right beside me. I'm sure I will be checking the clock to see how close it is to pick-up time. But that's ok - she'll be in good hands.

There was a mouse in my house!

She was the cutest mouse...she alternated between calling herself a mouse and Ratatouille. Especially when it was naptime and time to take off the costume.

"Nonoooononoonoooo! MoremousemoremouseonononononNoooooo! MoreRattatouillerightnowrightthere! NOoooooooo! "

Mumma won.

Heading out to Lala and Buppa's for dinner and to show off the costume.

That's my cheesy girl!

Ready to go.

She had a ton of fun, and didn't take long to figure out that if she knocked on the door, someone would give her candy. She was really polite and said thank you to just about everyone, and even said the ocassional "Trick or Treat" in a teeny tiny voice. And she only said "More" a couple of times, much to my embarassment! One lady was so taken with her that she gave Lily all the colors of Playdough. I haven't introduced her to Playdough yet, but upon opening it, I was transported back to my own childhood. That's what Halloween does to you when you are grown up. As Bryan and I walked from door to door, we recounted our favorite costumes. Any guesses? Bryan's was Batman, and mine was Bug Bunny. But I think that my favorite Halloween memory was when my Mom and Dad switched costumes to go to a Halloween party. My Mom went as Sylvester to complement our neighbor's Tweety Bird. What was my dad, you ask? He borrowed my Mom's Raggedy Ann costume, complete with yarn wig. I don't think he wore striped tights, and he certainly didn't shave his moustache off for the party, so the effect was more Klinger from M*A*S*H* than Raggedy Ann.

Ahhh, childhood memories.

I am all for guerrilla gardening.

I have guerrilla gardened. I will guerrilla garden again and encourage others to do so. Make the world a beautiful place please!

But guerrilla composting?

This weekend, my compost bin went missing.

Who steals a compost bin?

I can understand (but not condone!) stealing a garbage can. I would rather someone steal my garbage can and USE it, than see bags of trash casually tossed over the fence. But composting requires a certain degree of commitment. What strikes someone to suddenly take up composting?

Compost is known as black gold to gardeners, but to make your own requires time and patience. You have to put the right things into the bin, and make sure it isn't too dry or too wet. You have to stir it up from time to time. My bin happened to be empty, as I had moved it for the Atco guys when they were moving my gas meter earlier this year. I dumped it all into a new flower bed, and left the bin empty in it's new location. I have always kept it just outside my garage, where it was easy to dump in grass clippings or other yard waste, so it's not like it was a new addition to the yard. I've had it for 8 years. It didn't cost a lot, maybe $40 when I bought it, so I really don't care about the expense. I'm just baffled as to why someone thought to take it.

So to whomever stole my composter - I hope you are a gardener, and that the black gold that will eventually come out will make your plants happy.

Signed and sealed!

We officially have the means to start this project. Finally! I took the final papers into the bank today.

Gulp.

I don't know if this means more or less sleep for me now, but at least we can go ahead. Hopefully by this time next fall we will have this completely done. A year? Well, we plan on doing a lot of the work ourselves, so I think a year is realistic.

First project - new furnace. Right now I don't even have a mid-efficiency furnace. It's no efficiency! I think there are some grants available from the government that mean we may get some money back - always a good thing!

Look for before and after pics!

This is going to be a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.

To sleep, perchance to dream...

OK, it's a quote from Hamlet that really isn't talking about sleep or dreaming, but man, I could use a decent night's sleep!

There is nothing more annoying than a neighbor with a car alarm. Oh wait, there is. How about a neighbor with a car alarm that not only has a siren, but flashing lights that shine into your bedroom? Even more annoying was that the alarm went off not once, but twice last night, and each time it took the turkey 15 minutes to come outside and shut the darn thing off.

Did I mention I have been having trouble sleeping? No? Well I am. Just call me Sleepless and longing for Seattle.

I honestly wish there was a way for me to remove my brain before going to bed, because I can't stop my mind from racing as I am trying to fall asleep.

The problem - all the stuff I have to do.

1- Try and get both of us to the bank to finally sign off on the loan papers so we can begin the chaos at home.

2- Begin the chaos at home!

3- Make list after list and try to cross a few things off these lists.

What kind of stuff is on the lists? Well, a little bit of everything. I need to sort through our laundry and storage room to make room for the things that need to live there while we gut and reno the basement. The laundry area will be the last spot we redo, so it's the holding area for things like bins of baby clothes, Bryan's comic collection (why he still needs these is beyond me, but it's a guy thing...) Christmas decorations, tools and renovations things, and of course, the washer and dryer.

After this is done, then I need to arrange to get some items into the garage to donate to charity, install some temporary track lighting so we can actually see what we are doing while renovating (with the intent of moving the track lighting into the furnace or laundry rooms once we are done), demo a wall so that I can show the furnace guys where I want an additional heating duct (in what will be our master bedroom), call said furnace guys to get an estimate on replacing our ancient furnace and water heater with something that doesn't require owning my own natural gas well, call electrician to replace main electrical panel in the house and so on and so on.

This doesn't include the fun I need to have in arranging for a car tune up, windshield replacement and detailing before we do the car swap with my folks. Oh yeah, must call insurance company to ask about rates for the Tribute, and to see what (if any) additional coverage I will need as we do the work on the basement.

So this, and about a million other things have me anxious and worried and unable to sleep.

And if that car alarm goes off again tonight, I may have to consider how well I can swing a rubber mallet. Just kidding. I think.

I want to push a button.

Enjoy!

Fashion Don't

(Click on picture to view the outfit in it's full glory. Please excuse the linty carpet.)

Lily was helping sort through her clothes yesterday, and created this lovely ensemble. For the record, the socks (on her feet), pants and shirt are a matching outfit. The monster socks (as mitts) and purple skirt were her additions. At one point there were bunny ears involved, but Lily thought they were a bit much.

Happy Anniversary Honey!

Three years ago today, we walked down the aisle and shared a special day with our family and friends.

I love you more than you know.

Carrie

Special Treat! Special Treat!

Lily doesn't get candy very often. When she does, we call it a 'special treat' and give her one (yes, only one) jelly bean or jujube. She's thrilled, and Mom and Dad get to have the rest. It's a good deal for all.

Tonight, at my mom and dad's, Lily slid off the bed after a diaper change. Usually she wants to do one of the following:

1 - steal the remote for the ceiling fan.
2 - steal the remote for the TV
3 - steal the cordless phone

So she can "Push a button"

Her favorite sentence right now is "I want to push a button" And does she ever! Mom's buttons? Nope. She's a good kid, but she really can't resist a button. The dishwasher, the microwave, elevators, handicapped power-assist doors, the dashboard of my dad's new car, my computer, the TV, phones - you name it, if it has a button, she HAS to push it.

So when she slid off the bed, I just figured that she was stealing some kind of device with buttons. I headed out to the hall, and called after her to follow me. She streaked out of the room yelling "Special treat! Special treat!"

My mom asked what she had, at which point both of us started chasing her as neither of us had given her a "Special treat" Lily thought this was really funny, and ran faster. After we tackled her, I pried open her sticky fingers to find her so-called special treat. The turkey had stolen Tums from my dad's bedside table. Berry flavored, pink Tums. Actually they do taste pretty good - they helped me through the nasty heartburn stage of pregnancy. That aside, they were definitely NOT a special treat. Luckily, she only ate one, and since they are only calcium carbonate, they won't do her any harm. My dad has a habit of leaving the Tums in a tidy little pile on his nightstand. (Any other medication is up and out of reach - none of us even thought to make sure these were out of reach because the big bottle is locked in a cupboard.) Indy, our last dog, acquired a taste for them, and would regularly help himself to the 'special treats' that dad left out. Not sure if the Molly-dog does the same. Yet another thing to teach Lily - that she can't help herself to things, and that only Mom & Dad or Buppa & Lala can give her things to eat. Impulse control is such a hard thing to teach and must be so hard for her to learn right now.

She was fine, and we all learned a lesson. Oh, and the button? She didn't steal the phone or the remotes. Perhaps she is learning some impulse control after all.

That's my girl!

I just wanted to post a quick thank you to my family for the most wonderful birthday.

I can't remember a year when the weather on my birthday was crummy. Imagine my disappointment this morning when I woke to grey skies and rain. Lily looked out the window and said "Oh, the rain. It's raining." And it was. After taking Lily to Buppa's, I went for my pedicure. It was a nice relaxing couple of hours, but the best part was walking out of the salon to pure blue sky and sunshine.

I spent the afternoon shopping, and then headed home to Mom and Dad's for dinner. Just as I arrived in the front, my mom arrived in the back. We had a simple family dinner, no dessert. (I get ice cream cake with the in-laws on Sunday.) I kinda knew what my gifts were beforehand, but there were some great surprises. My sweet hubby showed up with 2 dozen roses, and a handful of scratch tickets. In true Carbol fashion, I only won on one ticket - a dollar. Whoopee! My brother always manages to find the neatest gifts. He found me a lovely bag that will be the purse I use for outings with Lily. It has 4 pockets on the outside (for snacks, according to Lily) and will hold all sorts of guess-what-mommy-has-in-her-purse gear without screaming "I have a sippy cup, raisins, 4 broken crayons, 2 diapers and a change of clothes in here!" He also included a pair of moss green mittens on a string. But the best part is they have appliques of Frankenstein on them. I will take a picture and post later, because if you google "picture of mittens with Frankenstein", you get this.






The rest of my gifts included 2 new shovels (thanks Bryan!), a tree that still needs to be picked out and planted, a day or 2 of labor to build my new lattice panels, a cast iron chameleon to attach to said fence panels, and a beautiful glass pendant that my mom had my aunt bring back from Italy.

As we wound down the day, I remarked to Bryan that in my 36 years I have yet to spend a birthday without my family. And that's the greatest gift of all.

Another year, another birthday blog.



Lily is off to her Buppa's today, so I can go to the spa for some much needed pampering.


Lily was over at my parent's place earlier this week. I don't usually work during the day, but Dad was available and the Despot needed me to help sort out some orders that were 3 weeks behind in follow up.


It was sweet - Dad had the basement set up like a classroom (missing school Mr Carbol?) with stations for reading, coloring, hiding, Fisher Price animals. They had a great day playing and eating and playing and going for coffee and more playing and eating. Toddlers and the retired really do have a great life.


I have myself booked in for a 2 hour pedicure. Yes, 2 hours. I can't wait - a summer of gardening, flip flops and rubber boots have left my feet in quite the state.


This birthday puts me on the other side of 35...I'm not sure how I feel about it, but then again, there is nothing I can do to change it, so right now I'm just going to comtemplate and reflect.


Here are some of the things floating around in my mind right now:


I'm nervous about the upcoming house projects. To get started, we have to do some fairly major mechanical stuff like replace the main electrical panel and arrange for a new furnace and water heater. Once this is done, we can get a bit further into the planning stage.


I have my fingers crossed that I will get a call about Lily's co-op Daycare program, soon. I have her on a (short!) waiting list to get into a FANTASTIC once a week daycare co-op. This will give me a blissfully child and worry-free day once a week to do whatever I want. It will probably be after Christmas, but sooner would be such a treat. I love the time that I get to spend with Lily, but in all honesty, I have forgotten what it is like to spend time with myself.

When I was single and completely oblivious to the demands a family puts on one's self, I used to spend my days off baking at home, (I can still do this, but it's hard to get cookies out of the oven with a suddenly clingy toddler that yells "Hugging!" at the exact moment the oven timer goes off.) or going to a movie by myself, or sitting in a coffee shop with one of the following a trashy magazine or a good book. It will be nice to go out and relax, knowing she's in good hands, and not worrying that I'm putting my mom or dad out. (Even though I know they love having her over - I still feel like I'm imposing sometimes.) Oh, and Lily will have a blast with the other kids. I will be the first to admit that my reasoning for putting her into the program was selfish on my part - I'm doing it for me first, and her second. We will both benefit, so it's a good kind of selfish.

My birthday list this year consists of 2 new shovels and a tree. That's it. I am happiest when I am outside in my garden with my girl. I am sad that I won't be able to play in the garden much longer. I am babying some new shrubs, and looking at what needs to be moved, but other than that, my garden is done for the season. I can't wait until spring to see how the new plantings look - dad and I eliminated half of my front lawn earlier this summer, and the transplanting is almost done. I scored amazing deals at the store - we're talking rosebushes for $1.75 and other shrubs for $.75. Yes, 75 cents. All guaranteed for a year. I love the end-of-season 75% off sale!

So Happy Birthday to me! I plan to have a lovely, relaxing day.

A maze-ing!

Lily and I joined Keltie and Evan on a trip out to the Bon Accord Corn Maze. It was so much fun!

The weather was gorgeous; a perfect sunny fall day. The kids ran around and Keltie and I got to gab all day. Keltie was awesome and offered to drive, so for a rare treat, I was able to be a passenger. This post is pretty picture heavy, so I'll keep the writing to a minimum. Enjoy! (Click on pics to make bigger.)

Watching ducks.

At this point in the kid-sized mini maze, Lily decided she was a cat, and was on the path on all fours.

I love this one of the two of them.

Lily was happy just to watch them eat. They were pretty tame, and didn't bother her at all. To me, well, they just smelled sheepy.

This little goat was so sweet. It stood there for me for about 5 minutes, and let me scratch his horns.

An alpaca. Apparently they spit. We didn't get to find out. I was OK with that.

They had a giant playpen made of hay. It had a tunnel to get in, and was full of large balls for the kids to toss around. One way in, one way out. Ingenious! Keltie and I wondered how many bales of hay would fit on top of her tiny car.

Lily being silly.

Keltie on the tractor ride to the big maze.

Snacks on the way.

Messy girl.

For perspective: Lily is 35" high. It was a BIG corn maze.

I asked Lily what she was doing. "Pooping" was the answer. Ah, the honesty of a toddler. She wasn't pooping, just tooting. I know, thanks for sharing. Actually, once we arrived at the farm,I realized that I had tempted fate by not remembering extra clothes, diapers or wipes. Between Keltie and I we had a single size 3 diaper and brand new newborn clothes (a present for baby O), but nothing else. Well, we had snacks.

Note to self: green t shirt on toddler in corn maze = camouflage. Camouflage on toddler in corn maze = visible kid. Who knew?

View from the top of the maze.

Evan running about. He's two, but in this picture he seems older. You can see the boy he will become.

Thanks Keltie, for suggesting this outing. It was a perfect day!

New coat!

Since our little miss has grown a ton, most of her winter gear from last year won't fit. I found the cutest coat for her yesterday. It seems silly to buy winter gear in September, but you have to or there is nothing left but sparkly princess Disney stuff. We don't do sparkly princess here. Lily loves to have pretty things in her hair, and has fun dressing up, but isn't really girly-girl. Her favorite things for dress up? Her dad's stinky work ball cap, oven mitts and what ever shoes she can steal. Occasionally she grabs things from the clean laundry basket to add to her ensemble..

That's when we see outfits like this. Yes, she is wearing 2 hats, and has another 2 shirts around her neck.

I can't wait to see what she dresses herself in, once she is able to do it all herself. If we leave her to her own devices, she still puts pant legs on her arms and socks on her hands. She gets her own shoes on, on the correct feet, most of the time.

When her dad dresses her, well, that's always another story.

I need a magic wand.



I have been in my house for 7 1/2 years, and now that I have the outside looking close to what I would like it to look, it's time to move to working on the inside. I did some cosmetic work when I moved in; painting and replacing some closet doors and hardware. This past fall I replaced the kitchen and entrance floors with tile, eliminating some of the ugliest vinyl floors I've seen in a while. I'm still baffled as to why anyone would install cream vinyl in a vintage BLACK & WHITE bathroom. I hate that floor. Did I mention that the bathroom has blue fixtures? Would a piece of white vinyl been so hard to find? Sigh.

We were just approved for a home equity line of credit that will allow us to do some work around the house without costing us an arm and a leg. It'll still cost us, but maybe only a foot. The LOC will also allow us to get a new (to us) vehicle. We're trading in the Focus for a Mazda Tribute. My dad just bought a fancy new Accord that does everything except make a latte. Now he has a car, an SUV and a gas guzzling truck. It's pretty much a law in Alberta that you need to have a truck of some kind, so he offered us the Tribute. This leaves my mom with a truck that she doesn't like to drive, one that costs $42 dollars in gas just to drive around the block. (I don't understand why gas is $1.30/litre in Alberta) So, in a strange trade that I think will work, we are 'selling' dad the Focus when he sells us the Tribute. Let's just call the Focus a $3000 off coupon on wheels.

The truck will live at the lake unless someone needs dirt or lumber hauled. Wait, the truck needs to live in the city...

About that magic wand...


We want to, make that need to, renovate the basement. That was the main reason we applied for the LOC. If we want to expand the family any time in the next few years, then we need to add rooms. (Before anyone gets excited, focus on the 'in the next few years' part of the last sentence. Sorry, you'll have to wait a while longer.) We can't afford to go up, so we will go down. Our plans are to add one bedroom downstairs for Bryan and myself - one with a master suite and walk in/through closet. Further plans include a family room with a kid's corner (library/toy storage), a big kid's corner for Bryan's computer and Lego, and redoing the laundry area to include a craft/sewing/silversmithing spot for me to play in. Gotta do something in the winter if I can't play in the garden.

But, to start, we have to do some demo work. Since it's only partially finished right now, it won't take a lot of time to demo. I think. That's where the wand would come in.Wave wand, say the magic word and poof! Basement stripped back to stud walls. Wave it again and poof! New furnace installed. Once more and poof! New electrical panel.

I need the truck to get stuff to my house from Home Depot. Yes, the Depot delivers. But I don't want all the stuff at once, and even if I did, where would I put it? I'll bring in what I need when I need it, and have the big stuff delivered as needed.

So here is the beginning of the list:

Step One: Demo
Step Two: Furnace and tankless water heater
Step Three: New electrical panel
Step Four: Apply large rolls of masking tape to floor to decide where walls will go, and hope that the Framing Fairy takes the hint and surprises us with walls while we sleep.

Summer colds are the worst.

I came down with one in the days leading up to Lily's birthday. Of course, Lily came down with it too. Let's just say that it has been a trying 2 weeks.

Lily is usually a great eater, listens well (as well as a 2 year old can) and is generally a happy-go-lucky child. I'm not sure where she went, but that girl has been missing for the last 14 days. I like to call the replacement my Tiger Lily. Along with the congested head, sneezing and snotty nose, we had temper tantrums, hitting, biting, throwing of food and drink, no napping and pretty much no eating. Not the 'terrible twos', just one very cranky child. Only mumma would do, and every action required a lot of hugging. If she felt a little bit off, she would yell "hugging!" at me until I hugged her. Sounds sweet? Well, only sometimes. She yelled for hugging while I was driving. She yelled for hugging when we were at the mall. She yelled for hugging during supper. She yelled for hugging while in her car swing in the yard. She yelled for hugging while in the bath. And was inconsolable until she was hugged. But only by me. If someone else hugged her, she still wanted me. I shouldn't have been frustrated by it, but I was. She's always been an independent child, and while she is affectionate, she has never been a clingy kid. The only time she gets this way is when she's sick, but usually it means she just wants to sit on your lap and cuddle. She's taken it to a whole new level with the hug-on-demand.

I think that the Tiger Lily is slowly being replaced with my sweet Lily. The one that asks to be tickled, that tells me there are monsters hiding in the lights at Safeway and that we need to be quiet because they are sleeping, that yells "Clifford, where are you?" in the back yard, the one that makes nonsense noises as she plays, that says "I running!" when we are out for a walk, that holds her watermelon rind to her ear like a phone and tells me that her Buppa is calling and that he's messy and fixing things. That's my girl. I have missed her, but I think she's back.

The cold is almost gone(hers and mine), she's eating and sleeping again, and she's a happier kid.

But now her dad has the cold, and you all know how men are when they are sick...

Round three?

For lack of a better idea for a post...here is some cake.

Enjoy!

(thanks for the link Allie)

Happy Birthday Lily!

Two years ago, on this very date; my lovely wife and I headed to the hospital. We arrived at 8am, and a scant 15 hours and 47 minutes later; our daughter arrived into this world.
I was the first person to hold her, I remember being overwhelmed, and I still am when I think about it; this tiny person in my arms brought me a joy such as I had never felt before. Joy of course is the only word for it, I lack a more descriptive word for it; hmm perhaps elation, hmm.
But, again, I digress, the long and short of it is, two years ago, to this very date, I welcomed my daughter into my life, and today I was glad to have others here to share the day, so they too, could feel a tiny part of the joy that is my daughter Lily.