why my kid is the coolest

so, I was making some lunch, and I got to thinking, man, it's quiet in this house. I wonder what the boy is up to? I went up to his room, and he's passed out on his bed. All cuddled up with his monkey, sound asleep. Gotta love a kid who puts himself up for a nap.

I went and got a haircut today. I was going to leave the boy with my neighbour, she looks after her granddaughter who's about 6 months older than my guy, so they play all the time. I decided to bring him with me though, since his last haircut experience by someone other than me was a bit of a fiasco. His hair turned out fine, but he screamed bloody murder the whole time. Anyway, he didn't like me getting my hair cut either, but it involved less screaming. He played with the sketchy toys that they always have at places, and was really good until I was done. Didn't take a really long time. The cut is good, the style she did was slightly horrifying. It's just not necessary to use a round brush and blowdryer on short hair, especially my hair. It dries much more nicely on its own. Anyway. I washed the junk out and am letting it dry and it's better now. My hair always takes a day or 2 after it's cut to look quite right though, for some reason.

In other news, I broke my bird feeder the other day while mowing the lawn. I was trying to avoid having to weed whack, so I was ramming the shepherd's hook that holds the feeder, so I could get the grass growing around it. You understand. Anyway, I hit it too hard I guess, and the bottom of the feeder fell off. There's now a pretty respectable pile of seeds on the ground, but the birds haven't all figured that out. They still go to the feeder and act all confused. The chipmunks are lovin it though. It also makes it more entertaining for the cats, since the food (birds and chipmunks) is all on ground level now.

The boy and I were just out playing in the semi-rain, jumping in puddles and stuff. Well, he was jumping, I was saying "ooh, good splash buddy!" and that kind of thing. He fell right on his bum, and then he just sits there until I get over there to pick him up. It took me a second, cause I was taking pictures. But then my battery died anyway, so I helped him up. Trying to foster independence, of course, don't want him to always need me to help him up. Rainy days aren't much fun while it's actually raining. If it doesn't stop soon, we might just have to get all our gear on and play in the rain. There are worse things, we are mostly waterproof I guess. The rain also means the cats are in, which means they're using the litter, which is gross. I'm LOVING them going outside, for that reason. The constant in-out-in-out is pretty annoying, and the "sleeping" rodents / birds is gross, but the not having to change the litter for weeks at a time is freaking great. If any of you are looking to buy me something, one of those sliding door pet doors would be great.

Back to work on Monday, 8am. Sad, I know. Your pity is palpable. New school, but I do know the secretary, she worked at the school I was at last year for a few months, and the computer guru is the same guy at both schools, so that'll be nice. It pays to get in good with those guys, let me tell you. Them, and the custodial staff. Treat everybody well, and those annoying things that can make work less fun have a way of getting fixed. Long weekend after that too, which will do everyone good. There was talk of going away somewhere for a much belated honeymoon / 1st anniversary getaway, but we'll see. The farthest we usually get is Tatamagouche. Nice, but not like, the most exciting / romantic place in the world. And we usually end up there with the boy and my parents.

Anyway. That's enough for now I suppose. I would promise to be back more since we have highspeed at home, but I hate to break a promise, so I won't. Much like when Homer said, "I'm not gonna lie to you Marge." and then walked out the door without another word. I believe it was the beer baron episode.

I thought that since I'd been away so long, I should have some useful information when I came back

So, courtesy of my dear seester, here you go. The fall season premiere schedule. Some of them premiere in 2008, so I guess we can't technically call them "fall". And as my sister so helpfully pointed out, all times are American.

Monday, September 17
8pm Prison Break (Fox)

Wednesday, September 19
8pm Kid Nation (CBS) (Might be interesting, but can't see getting hooked)

Thursday, September 20
8pm Survivor: China (CBS) (the 15th one!)

Sunday, September 23
8pm The Simpsons (FOX) (early this year, weird)
8:30 King of the Hill (FOX)
9pm Family Guy (FOX)

Monday, September 24
8pm Chuck (NBC)
8:30pm The Big Bang Theory (CBS) (2 geek comedies, I love it)
9pm Heroes (NBC)
10pm CSI: Miami (CBS)
10pm Journeyman (NBC) - new, looks a bit Quantum Leap-y to me, which is a good thing.

Tuesday, September 25
8pm NCIS (CBS)
9pm House (Fox)

Wednesday, September 26 (my birthday!!)
9pm Private Practice (ABC) (Grey's spinoff with Addison)
9pm Criminal Minds (CBS)
9pm Bionic Woman (NBC)
10pm Dirty Sexy Money (ABC)
10pm CSI: NY (CBS)

Thursday, September 27
8pm Ugly Betty (ABC)
8:00 - 9:00 pm My Name Is Earl (NBC)
9pm Grey's Anatomy (ABC)
9pm CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (CBS)
9:00 - 10:00 pm The Office (NBC)
10pm Big Shots (Michael Vartan of Alias, 'nuf said)
10pm ER (NBC)

Friday, September 28
9pm Las Vegas 2-Hour Premiere (NBC)
10pm Numb3rs (CBS)

Sunday, September 30
9pm Desperate Housewives (ABC)
10pm Brothers & Sisters (ABC)

Tuesday, October 4
8pm Cavemen (ABC)

Thursday, October 4
8:30pm 30 Rock (NBC)

Friday, October 5
8pm Friday Night Lights (NBC) (never watched it, but my Grannie loves it!)

(sadly, there are no premieres on my sister's birthday, October 8, because it's Thanksgiving, maybe? anyway. she gets the day off, so that's good too.)

Monday, October 15
9:30pm Samantha Who? (ABC) Christina Applegate - supposed to be pretty funny!

Thursday, October 25
9:30pm Scrubs (NBC)

LOST - February 2008
24 - January 2008

If you think I've missed something, go check for yourself.

it's just that, you know...

Man. I don't want to give up the ghost on this site (thanks to Tiresa for the lovely saying, though applied differently here than in our previous conversation), but I just am ... busy. I am off now, for 2 months, so that should help. My time between today and August 27th will be spent firstly praying that my EI claim is accepted, and then..not doing much else. The fam is all going to be at the cottage for this lovely long Canada day weekend, where we will likely get blown around a bit, and drink a bit, and make ice cream in the old-school type crank ice cream maker. Jury's still out on what flavour we'll do, but the boys chose last time, so I think my sister and I get to pick this time. And mom, I suppose. I'm thinking teddy bear. Do you remember teddy bear? It was just chocolate ice cream with chunks of peanut butter in it. No nuts, no chocolate swirls or crunchy bits, just chocolate and peanut butter. So good. It was around in high school, but has disappeared in the (ten, holy shit) years since then.

I do have a reunion this summer, which I am currently planning to attend, but if something better comes up, I'll probably go to it. Most of the people I liked in high school I still know, so I don't really need to see them. Might be fun to see if anyone has gotten fat or anything though. For sure nobody will have a cuter kid.

We're going to Maine to see my uncle and eat at his restaurant. It's super delish, and if you're ever in the Boothbay area, and need some breakfast or lunch or anything in between, you should totally stop in. Also, I designed the website, and thanks to some tweaking, it's now coming up in top spots when you search "blue moon boothbay" or "blue moon maine". Better hits with boothbay. There are a LOT of things called the Blue Moon out there. They (my uncle and his wife, technically my aunt, yes?) took over from someone else and kept the name. Anyway, so yes, plans are to eat lots there and not spend too much at the Carter's / Children's Place / North Face outlets. Mmm, Freeport.

I am, as mentioned, on vacation. Paid or not, we'll soon see. I will be returning to work, at a new school, but to a very similar position. Resource & Methods. Used to be Methods & Resource, but MR also stands for mentally retarded, and apparently people were getting confused. Regardless. I'll be doing that, which I do enjoy, so that's good. Bigger school, hopefully the staff is as super as the one I'll be leaving. I will know a couple of people, and my tech guy will be the same, which is oddly comforting. I can still talk to my old cronies on MSN (the inter-office / district version) so that should be fun too. I found out about my new position in an odd way though. I had gone to interview, on relatively short notice, for a job that I had indeed applied for, as a 2nd choice, at this school. The interview was at 5:45 on a Friday, and ended up being at 6:10, and it was so hot, and I had some kind of cold / flu, and thought I might die before I made it through the interview. Anyway, that was for a French position, and while my language skills are good, I had never actually taught French, and the person they hired has, so that's fair. Anway. The following Monday I got a call, and it was the HR guy from District office. He said, so, you had mentioned during your French interview that you had applied for the resource postion at the same school. I said, yes indeed. (that was actually my first choice). He said, would you still be interested in it? I said yes (thinking, sweet, I get another interview). He said, ok then, that will be your position next year. Well ok then!

So that was cool. There was no need to interview me really, since it would have just been all the same people, and since I was so clearly awesome.

The man is doing another course towards his masters, so is pretty busy. The boy and I will likely be spending some quality time at the cottage this summer to avoid being a distraction and to work on our tans. WITH SUNSCREEN, of course. The man's birthday is next weekend. For almost 2 months, we'll be the same age. Then I get to be older, wiser, etc, again, at the end of Sept.

The boy is of course wonderful. He's very clever, though refuses to express this verbally in any significant way. He will though use enough words to get his point across. The other night he wanted to get out of bed after having been put to bed about half an hour previously. He's like, "poop." Baby, you need to poop? (we're trying to encourage but not force the potty thing, he's SO NOT interested). He's like, 'yes.' Ok, let's go. No, he's just joking. No poop. Smart boy, got himself some more out of bed time.

We went for his first real haircut a couple of weeks ago. It was horrifying. He screamed and tried to get away the whole time, she did a great job considering but cut it shorter than I would have liked. His hair grows quickly though, so it's pretty much perfect now. It's actually longer than it should be just for heat's sake, but damn, it's so cute. He has the little curly wings and stuff, I can't just give him the like, 'boy' haircut. You know what I mean. We went to the carnival and went on some small child rides (spinning teacup, merry go round etc) and that was very fun. He threw darts at balloons and actually hit 2 of the 3, and won a prize, but didn't want the prize, wanted to throw more darts. That was not, by the way, my idea. The carnie guy suggested it and I was like, sure, let my 2 year old throw darts near you. This should be entertaining!

I've been on the computer a long time now. I should get off. I promise I will be back sooner than a month this time. In the meantime, plan something nice for our first wedding anniversary for me. It's August 5th. You can go look at some pictures to inspire you. The man will be busy with school still, so it can't be like, a romantic weekend or anything. One evening, probably.

wedding pics (sorry to be cryptic, but I don't need creepy strangers going there)
www.(myname)and(man's name).com/wedding
boy pics
www.(myname)and(man's name).com/(boy's name)

later skaters.

Oh, I'm SO excited for the Transformers movie!!! That will likely be the man's bday date. I'm curious who will go see it. Us, clearly, our generation, but what of the younger set? They have no idea who transformers are, but the movie looks awesome, and has Shia LeBoeuf in it, so hey.

stuff

S'been a while. Story of my life. Or at least my site.

In Halifax for the long weekend with my mom and sister. Dad has gone to the cottage, even though it's like, plus 2 and raining all weekend. Hubby and the boy have gone to visit his parents, so it's a weekend off for me. Lovely. We went for a bit of shopping yesterday, but the power went out at Costco while we were there. Very strange. They then kicked us all out, but did let us buy what we had already picked up. I got a book, Wiped, by Rebecca Eckler. She wrote Knocked Up also, which was basically a journal of her finding out she was pregnant right through having the baby. Very, very funny stuff. This one is about life with, you guessed it, the kid. You'd think I wouldn't necessarily want to read about basically my own life, but she puts it in a much funnier way than I do, so it's good.

What else. Not sure what the plans are for today, heading back home tomorrow. Might go visit my cousin, haven't seen her for months and months.

The school year is rapidly winding down. I still have NO IDEA what I'll be doing next year. I had already notified my old district, from which I am technically on leave, that I would not be returning. The guy who I emailed actually called me a couple of days ago to let me know that he needed to know if I was coming back or not. Pretty annoying. So, now I have to call him again, and try not to make him feel like an idiot, even though he is.

I have to go get dressed and stuff. I'll be back.

I'm walking, baby look at me

I have started to wear a pedometer. I check it more than I check facebook. I'm very excited when I pass the 10000 steps mark in the afternoon. It's really amazing how much you walk in the run of the day. If you're me, anyway. If your job doesn't involve running around doing and getting and finding things for everybody, you may not walk so much.

41 days left until students are done, and then 2 more days for us. Still no word on what's to happen next year. My principal has recommended me for a permanent contract, which is fantastic, but who knows where that will be! I've decided though that I will apply for jobs in Woodstock and closer, but no farther afield. I can do that for a year, and then hopefully something will open up. I've also come to realise that although I really like this school, there are going to have to be some big changes in the next few years, which will involve fewer staff memebers, and since I'm last man in, I'd be first out. Not really a comforting thought. The high school is a little better, but all these small towns are going to either have to figure something out or they'll be closed down. Better for sure if they can stay open, but the numbers are declining really alarmingly, so something new has to come up.

Anyway. Fredericton also posted a call for R&M teachers, hopefully there are really some jobs, and they'll really hire someone who's not FROM there already. So silly how some of these places work. They legitimately expect you to give up whatever job you may have already to go supply teach there for anywhere from a few months to a few years, at which point they'll probably give you a job an hour away from home, which you can work for a few more years, at which point you may get your permanent contract, and THEN you can maybe transfer into town. Really fun. We'll see what happens here I guess.

Had the boy's birthday party on the 15th, it went well. He didn't need to nap in the middle this time, which I think his guests appreciated. He did wake up really early, but that worked out because I had to make the cake.



Hilarious, I thought. Worked out pretty well though. I had other plans, one from Martha that involved baking it in a bowl, but I think mine worked out just as well. There were no shaped pans that were monkeys. Some of the bears probably would have worked, but whatev.

Back to work!

wheeeeee e i!

So, it looks like as of right now, I will be able to get EI benefits this summer. This is a pretty huge relief. Although it will be a *slight* cut in pay, it is a whole lot better than nothing coming in for 2 months. I'll look for work, really, tutoring or something. The other possibility is that I'll somehow wind up with a B contract at the end of this year, and get roughly $7 a pay for the summer. Sweet.

Jobs should be coming out soon. District 18 actually has a call out for R&M teachers. I'll apply, but I won't hold my breath until they call me. They're not known for hiring outside the long-term supply list.

I'm supposed to be working, I just wanted to share with you that if you're a teacher, and your contract ends, you CAN still get EI. Good fricking thing.

I have a 2-year old

How frigging crazy is that? As of two hours and...21 minutes ago (6:24pm), my dear boy is two. And terrible! Ha! No, not really. No moreso than he has been for the last little while anyway. He's big into things being his, and getting what he wants when he wants it, regardless of logical or nutritional barriers to that end. We had a nice day today. We've had a crazy long long weekend, we (the boy and I) had a snowday Thursday, then Friday to Monday off for Easter. Tomorrow we're back to the regular routine, but no students at school, parent-teacher meetings and PD. 2 days of regular school, then I'm off Friday again for the annual NB Learning Disabilities Association conference. I'm going to be so frigging trained up by the end of this that anyone would be FOOLISH not to hire me. Which should come in handy. Anyway. Today was nice, we went to McDonald's for lunch, because that's fun. He had nuggets, apples, and chocolate milk. Relatively healthy, as far as McD's goes. Then we went and got some groceries, and had his picture taken. It was his first non-mom photo session, and it was a bit of a fiasco. He was wailing when we went in, which is never a good sign. I tried to put a nice shirt on him, but no go. He then would absolutely not sit or stand anywhere near where he had to in order to have his picture taken. But then...he found the sports gear props. We had 2 basketballs, one small and one regular size, a mini football, and a mini hockey stick. The 3 pictures I ended up ordering were all with the hockey stick, which wasn't really what i was going for, but whatever. He looks like ME in one of the pictures too, which is really the reason I got it. The good smiles were elicited by him hitting the basketball with the hockey stick, and then me and the photographer lady clapping and cheering madly for his great shot. I was like, his dad will be so proud. We had a little cake and candles (which he knew exactly what to do with, cute enough) but we'll have the big shindig next weekend. We didn't want to interfere with anybody's Easter weekend plans.

What else. Easter bunny brought the man and I a truly ridiculous amount of sugary stuff, despite our repeated requests for that not to happen. We trade amongst ourselves and his brother for the stuff we each like most (eggs - mini, caramilk, creme, whatever, for me), and then the two of us end up bringing most of it to work, where our co-workers curse us while stuffing themselves silly. Good times. He also got new tires, which is sweet, and I got a new complete outfit. I'm debating whether I should wear it tomorrow for PT / PD day, when I will surely impress my co-workers and the 3 parents who come to see me, or the next day, to impress my 11 & 12 year olds. And co-workers.

Alright. Enough dialuppage for me. I'm going to upload some new pics to the boy's site in the next day or so. His birthday party is next Sunday afternoon. Stop in if you're in the neighbourhood!

Pet Food Recall

I know, I'm a bit late, but better now than someone not hearing about it at all. Menu foods, who make just about every kind of pet food imaginable, has issued a large recall on (just the wet, I think) dog and cat food. You can check their website, http://www.menufoods.com/recall , to see if yours is affected. I had a couple of cans I turfed rather than risk it.

anyway, go check that out.

Also, 3 months and one day of teaching left. Pretty sweet.

and a funny to leave you with, since I have to get back to work. Email me lots tomorrow, I'm in meetings and will have wireless.


A woman was shopping at her local supermarket where she selected
A half-gallon of 2% milk,
A carton of eggs,
A quart of orange juice,
A head of romaine lettuce,
A 2 lb. bag of coffee,
And 1 lb. package of bacon.

As she was unloading her items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind her watched as she placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up her purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single."

The woman was a bit startled by this proclamation, but she was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since she was indeed single.
She looked at her six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about her selections that could have tipped off the drunk to her marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she said: "Well, you know what, you're absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?"

The drunk replied, "'Cause you're ugly."

linking fun

how do people find my site? apart from the usual suspects over there on the right, if you'll take a gander (and not too many other people click links over to here in the meantime...) you'll see a search - "whee can i find porn at".

makes my heart smile to think I'm helping people, you know?

I'm not dead, it appears

Just busy. With limited readership, and limited exciting things going on, it's hard to find much to talk about!

In semi-important news, my 10 year high school reunion is coming up, apparently. It's looking like the last weekend in July will be the date. So, if you, like me, graduated in 1997 from HTHS, there's a group on Yahoo, and Facebook, to join. On a sidenote, how fun is Facebook! I registered on there this week...I can't access it at school, damn firewall security bastards...but I got a fair bit done and connected with lots of people I haven't seen in years. So, if you know me at all, poke me. Remember, I'm married now, so if you get a poke from a Sarah R. and you're like, who the hell? It's me! I was thinking too, there are people I haven't seen since before the baby was born, who I was really good friends with. How / why does that happen? We just get busy, I guess. And then it's like, hmm, it's been 2 years. Do I just say, hey! How's it goin? Sorry I haven't spoken to you in 2 years, nothing personal. Sorry I didn't invite you to the wedding, but that was just a fiasco, and I don't want to talk about it. Ha! Hmm.

I've been keeping pretty busy with work and the boy. The man and I had our 6 month anniversary last month, and we both forgot about it. Not that it's the most important thing in the world, but it's kind of funny. Hopefully we'll do better with the one year.

I saw some really good movies over the break. Music and Lyrics, with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore (every time I see her, I want to totally change my style and grow my hair. I've decided I should start wearing scarves.), was a little predictable but very entertaining. Stranger than Fiction was really really good, and even those of you who harbour a dislike for Will Ferrell based on his Talladega Nights type movies, would love it. Bon Cop, Bad Cop was also much better than I had expected. My one complaint was that while the French was subtitled, beneficial for those of us not fluent in Quebec French, many times the white print was on a light or white background, and literally impossible to read. My French is good, so I got most of it, but it was pretty quick, and there were parts where even the characters admitted to not understanding everything a person said. Employee of the Month was decent, funny, but not worth writing home about, as one would expect from a Jessica Simpson movie. I want to see The Number 23, and the man wants to see 300, so maybe we'll go on a non-date and see different movies at the same time.

I have so much work to do. Which is why, clearly, I'm writing this. I have only 2 full weeks of school before Easter weekend and the boy's birthday. One week I have a day off for R&M meetings (it's called R&M now, not M&R, because MR stands for mentally retarded, and apparently people were getting confused...) so not really a day off, but a day away from school. Another week I have a 2-day training course on how to implement PRIME math teaching at my school, and how to train others to do so. Pretty exciting stuff. Then Easter, 4 day weekend for we government types, then a short week, then a full week, then another R&M meeting for end of term. Lovely. Then, hell, it'll be May, which is almost June, which will fly by and then it will be summer. But then it will be fall, as always happens, and lather, rinse, repeat, and so on.

I really should do some work. In summary, check out the boy's new pictures on his website. Also, if you're from HTHS class of 97, or know someone who is, go sign up at Yahoo or Facebook so you can be kept apprised of new developments on the reunion front.

Basically, never give out any personal information via email. That's just silly!

E-mail Fraud Alert. Seriously. If you get an email from your bank, or from eBay, or whatever, call them to make sure it's legit. And call the number on the official website, or in the phonebook, or whatever. Email scams look really legitimate now, people are clever, so don't get fooled!

In other news, I'm hoping for snow day number 2 tomorrow, but will not be holding my breath as it's only about 10cm overnight. Teaching is great, I love that I can legitimately hope for a day off for weather. I think though, that nobody should have to go to work if it's that treacherous out. Other businesses should have the option to tell their employees to stay home. Some do, malls have been known to close early. I found out also though, that while teachers and students get to stay home, custodial staff, secretaries, and TAs are expected to make it in to put in their hours. Lame!

Back to work.

first day back? I think not!

You've just got to love it when you wake up at 6:30 to get ready for school, and you catch the weather news, and it's saying 15cm of snow followed by 15cm of freezing rain. And there's no school in pretty much all the districts.

lovely.

If you're a teacher, of course. Otherwise, it's pretty terrible news really, since you still have to get up and make it to work despite the horrible weather. The man is on his way home though, because it's getting worse rather than better. Most of the snow has fallen off our roof, and the cats are having a wonderful time trying to catch it as it falls. It's raining and terrible out now.

The boy and I enjoyed our bonus day together, we went outside and played for a bit, but he was wearing his new, heavier boots, and that combined with the heavy snow to make it un-fun for him to walk around. He wanted me to carry him around outside. He'd point to some random thing, we'd go check it out. Good times. It didn't last very long though. I tried building a snowman, but the destructive little man was having none of that. He'd wait until I got a good base snowball rolled, and then attack it with ferocity, diminishing it to a pile of useless snow chunks. Then he'd say "oh!" and laugh. When the snow turned more to crap rain, we came inside and watched Baby Einstein, the Wiggles, and Little People movies. His favourite is the Einstein one about animals. I'm trying to get it cheap on dvd, because we have it on vhs, and it's not going to last long. He laughs at all the animals, and sometimes calls out to them on the tv with whatever noise they make. His favourite noises are monkey and lion. Good to know that while his comprehension is truly excellent, and he chooses not to speak much English, that his speaking of animal languages is coming along nicely.

I get to start carpooling tomorrow. I'm doing all the driving, but will be getting some gas money, which is nice. Also, it'll give me an excuse to leave at a reasonable hour each day. People stay late there, and I'm not sure why. I get my work done, I usually work through breaks and lunch if I'm not on duty, and then I want to get the hell out of dodge come end of day. Reasonable, I think.

I've come up with what I think is a pretty clever invention idea. I even came up with a catchy name for it. I now have to make this clever invention, and then apply for a patent. It's quite an involved process, many steps. I think I'll also have to trademark the name if I don't want people to steal it. Obviously, I can't tell you what the idea is, or the name, but once I get the process going, I'll fill you in. It is, however, one of those things that if I saw in the store, I would think, man, good idea! Simple! Why didn't I think of that? Then I would buy it. Anyway, assuming this all goes well, I guess I have to then figure out whether to try to make them myself, or who and how to try to sell the idea (or part of the rights, or something) to. Exciting times! I have many projects on the go. I did, briefly, consider opening a daycare, but I kiboshed that idea pretty quickly, because I don't actually want to take care of a bunch of kids, I just want to stay home and take care of mine. Maybe like, 1 or 2 others. Depending on how many I end up with on my own! haha. No, I'm not pregnant. And neither is my sister. So stop asking! Someone I know is. 2 people, actually. But not me. I'll let you know if / when that happens. And revive the preggo blog. Have to move it though, since someone took over the preggoblog.blogspot space, and then linked it to porn. Assholes. But, again, no need to do that any time soon.

Alright. This is respectably long. It's really not nice out. It's nice in my livingroom though, because our new tv is all hooked up, and I hung all my glass balls, and they're right purty. I'm going to lie on the couch and wait for the man to get home. It's quiet, the boy is sleeping. Going to enjoy.

A belated Merry Christmas

and all that jazz. And, I guess, a slightly early Happy New Year! Santa found us, we got a bit spoiled as usual. Mostly he found the boy. I think his favourite presents this year are the tent / tunnel combo that my sister got him, and the A-Z learning zoo animals that my parents got him. He would hang out in the tent all day. Overall I think we did well picking out presents. A little easier this year, since he has interests and can do more than crawl and sit.

We got a new tv, that I think we'll try to hang on the wall to keep tiny, curious, pointy fingers away from it. It's an LCD, I'm not sure if those come with some kind of protective shield type thing on the front, or if it's soft like a computer screen. We'll see! We also have to find out how to get it home, since there's definitely no room in the SX. I got the Joy of Cooking and a really pretty glass pitcher, so I can cook somebody a nice meal and then get them loaded on margaritas or something. A pair of knee-high heeled black boots, veddy nice. Some money, always a very appreciated gift. A food processor, so we can find a great pizza recipe in the Joy and then I can make dough and chop my veggies and maybe even shred cheese?

The man did some post-Christmas shopping yesterday, and then we went to dinner and a movie. Half price apps at Don Cherry's, the new one in Dieppe, that has a tv and an X-BOX in each booth. We sat at a table, thankfully. We went to see Night at the Museum, and it was really ... entertaining. Cute, funny. Safe for the under 18 crowd for sure. Probably was PG. I don't think there was any swearing, but it wasn't like, damn, we're at a kids' movie. There was a whole row of small children in front of us, which was cute, but it was the 9:25 show, which seems a bit late for a bunch of 3-7 year olds. All in their jammies with popcorn from home. It was much better than I thought it would be, definitely worth a cheap night outing or a rental.

Tonight holds no big plans. We were in Hali from the 22nd to the 27th, when we came to Rexton. We'll be here until NY Day. The man has to work on the 2nd, so we'll head home. I think NY Eve is an evening in Moncton with friends, food, games, and drinking. The usual. We have the game Scene It, the Friends edition, so that should be fun.

I have a bit of shopping to do, but have all next week to do it, so will likely postpone. Heading to Shoppers today for 20x my points. That's the only time I shop there. It's also a decent 1-day sale on tampons and advil and diapers. Very exciting stuff, I tell ya!

If any of you are around next week, give me a shout. We'll hang out and stuff.

ho ho ho

as is expected, I had a lovely big post typed up, and then my computer froze. I hadn't selected all and copied like I normally do, because it usually only freezes when you hit publish, not just on random occasions. Sigh. And it didn't save a draft.

I've been busy, basically. Work, the boy, the time of year. I'm all done my shopping. We were on a budget this year, as most years I suppose, but I think I did alright. My sister and I went in together on a gift for Mom, and I figured something out for Dad. It's tricky without wish lists. I have one, but it's not very practical for the most part. I bought my sister something she already has, so I'll have to think of something else, so I guess technically I'm not done. But I was, for like an evening.

The boy is busy busy. He still isn't saying much, but does say "no" in response to almost all questions. Do you want a snack? Nnnnno. He really sounds like he's thinking about it. Do you want to watch a video? Nnnnnno. When he really means it, he says "nonononononono!" He'll sometimes specifically request juice, and he points to the field where there have been cows all year but there aren't anymore, and says very excitedly "cow!". All the important stuff. He now wants very much to cuddle the cats, but his methods aren't really all that gentle. He tries any way he can think of, sometimes good, others not so much, to pick them up, and they lies down with them and laughs because he's so excited. Silly boy.

We went to print off some pictures for his "real" album and some to give out for Christmas yesterday. I nearly broke my elbow on the car door frame, but ended up with an incredibly sore, yet incredibly tiny, bruise instead. The boy was a champ at Superstore, I bribed him with raisins and milk in a carton (much more exciting than milk in a cup, apparently) to sit in the cart while I picked up a few things and then chose and edited the pictures to print.

I locked my keys in my car the day before yesterday. Brilliant, I know. And you'd think there'd be some kid who would know how to break into a car, but without the power lock option, they're useless. I had to call the garage that's just up the hill here, and they only charged me $10, so not too bad. I think I'll have an extra key made for just such an emergency and keep it in my purse.

I've given thought (again) to abandoning this site, but every now and then I get inspired to share with strangers and not so strangers, so I figure I'll just post whenever, and whoever checks checks. Christmas break should be pretty postable. All the parents have highspeed, which is nice.

I'm going to post this before I get kicked off again. Christmas break is fast approaching, and we have our Christmas concert / play today. Rehearsal all morning, early lunch (since we'll have to start getting ready for the real play this afternoon early too), and then real play this afternoon with parents and stuff. Tomorrow is a real day, as far as the day before the last (half) day of school can be. Friday is a half day, with class parties and a dance. Sweet.

later skaters.

Buy me stuff

Please.

The wishlist is back. The baby has a wishlist too, on his site.

all about me

This is one of those things that you're supposed to send to all your friends, and they send it back, and so on. I'm going to post it here, because I figure if any of you wants to tell me this stuff, you can copy it and send it to me, or post it on your own site.
Enjoy.


1. FIRST NAME?
Jallapenno

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
Nope

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY?
Can't remember, probably at a commercial. The whole baby thing has made me more emotional.

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
I do, it's sort of a writing / printing hybrid

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?
Ham

6. CHILDREN?
Yes, one son.

7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I hope so.

8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL?
Sort of...

9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?
I try not to, because it can easily offend in my profession, but I definitely do with my friends / family.

10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?
yes, never had problems with them

11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I think so, but I'm not going to sign up anytime soon.

12. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL?
Quaker Harvest Crunch. It used to be Cruncheroos, my Grannie would always buy them for me.

13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I don't have laces, but when I do have laced shoes, I do untie them.

14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?
Pretty strong, (I'm assuming this is speaking emotionally, not physically), but I've never (thank God) had to go through anything really terrible.

15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM?
Teddy Bear. Doesn't exist anymore, but it was just chocolate ice cream with chunks of PB.

16. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT A PERSON?
Their ass. Just kidding. Probably smile?

17. RED OR PINK?
Pink

18. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I procrastinate. I'm getting better though, I have to be organised doing R&M

19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
my family. I don't have any family or friends I can get to in like, 5 minutes.

20. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU?
ideally, sure

21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES YOU ARE WEARING?
Khaki / beige pants, no shoes....beige socks. how boring. at least I match though!

22. THE LAST THING YOU ATE?
peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW
"dragon's den", a reality show, and the dogs barking

24. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?
hmm. Orange? I'd be one with a cool name.

25. FAVORITE SMELL?
clean laundry. None of that unscented stuff.

26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
my hubby

27. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Yes. I have to, she's my mother in law.

28. FAVORITE DRINK?
chocolate milk or hot chocolate or iced tea. Depends.

29. FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH?
Not a huge sports fan, but probably hockey because I now know the most about it.

30. HAIR COLOR?
blonde (natural even!)

31. EYE COLOR?
brown-green hazel

32. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?
nope

33. FAVORITE FOOD?
tough one, there's very little I don't like. Movie popcorn would be up there.

34. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING?
I hate scary movies, so happy ending.

35. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?
"A Good Year" with Russel Crowe. It was really good.

36. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
black. why are you so interested in my clothes? my underoos are blue, if you were wondering.

37. SUMMER OR WINTER?
summer

38. HUGS OR KISSES?
if I have to pick, probably hugs

39. FAVORITE DESSERT?
um, chocolate something. Like, chocolate lava cakes, or fudge brownie sundae, mmmm.

40. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
maybe Jenn? Tough to say. This is a lot of questions.

42. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?
"Comprehensive Literacy Resource for grades 3-6". Riveting.

43. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
I don't have one, but I'm at my parents' house and they have labs. Shocking.

44. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST ON TV?
I purposefully watched a CSI repeat last night, and have been not really watching cartoons most of the day.

45. FAVORITE SOUNDS?
rain, the baby laughing. he laughs so hard, it sounds like he's faking.

46. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Beatles

47. FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
Florida / Edmonton

48. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Too many to mention.

49. LEAST LIKELY TO SEND THIS BACK?
pretty much everyone.

a funny, and some urban myths busted.

It's that time of year, so here are some tips to make your holiday shopping a little more fun.

- Take boxes of condoms and randomly put them in people's carts when they aren't looking.


- Set all the alarm clocks in Housewares to go off at 5-minute intervals.


- Leave a trail of tomato juice on the floor leading to the restrooms.


- Walk up to an employee and told her in an official tone, 'Code 3' in housewares... and watch what happens.


- Go to the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on layaway.


- Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.


- Set up a tent in the camping department and tell other shoppers they're invited in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.


- When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, 'Why can't you people just leave me alone?'


- Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, and pick your nose.


- While handling guns in the hunting department, ask the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.


- Dart around the store suspiciously loudly humming the "Mission Impossible" theme.


- In the auto department, practice your "Madonna" look using different size funnels.


- Hide in a clothing rack and when people browse through, yell "PICK ME!" "PICK ME!"


- When an announcement came over the loud speaker, assume the fetal position and scream "NO! NO! It's those voices again!!!!"


And last, but not least ....


- Go into a fitting room, shut the door, wait awhile, then yell very loudly, "There is no toilet paper in here!"


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


I love snopes.com.

All those email forwards you get, extolling the hidden dangers of everything from Swiffer Wetjet (see here) to Mr Clean Magic Eraser (here), to, my personal favourite so far, horse sterilisation pills being used as the new date rape drug (seriously, yikes!).

By the way, if you're really lazy and don't want to click the links, neither of the first 2 things are dangerous, and there's no such thing as a horse sterilizer pill.

Good to know.

Zaky Infant Pillow

Zaky Infant Pillow – Simulates a Mother’s Hand. The funniest part of this is that I had totally thought about making something like this when the boy was tiny and not so much about the sleeping at night. I had envisioned more of a full torso thing for babes to sleep on, but this, I think, would work.

There's also a 'determine the sex of your baby' test available. It's 99.9% accurate. I'm so going to get it next time!

Thanks to Jenn for the link.

There are new boy pictures on his site.

it is halloween, after all

Might as well carve yourselves a pumpkin! Courtesy of Ma.

5 days until the big event! Have you got your costumes picked out? I don't. The wee lad hasn't got his either, and we have a hot date Halloween party this weekend. With a bunch of other babies / toddlers, of course. Competition will be fierce. I'm thinking about skipping out and just meeting up with my friend and her little one, who's almost exactly the same age as my dear boy. We haven't seen eachother for an embarrassingly long time, so it makes sense that we might try to get together.

In other news, I got my sweaters out of summer storage yesterday. I had them in a bin in an upstairs closet, since they were taking up much-needed shelf space in my closet. "Our" closet, technically. I decided it was about that time of year that one could reasonably expect to wear a sweater every day. For some people, like my sister, it's always that time of year. For most though, it's around now. I've also got to go through my clothes, as I seem to have a lot of them, and I know I don't wear all of them. Some are too big, some are just ugly or impractical. Whatever.

I should be working right now. Stop distracting me.

Oh, also, I think the Vue has been taken out of the equation, but it's possible that a used Honda crv has been added. They're rated really well as used cars, esp for families and stuff. So, input is still appreciated.

just in case you don't have enough time wasters...

M&M'S Dark Chocolate. It's a painting of 50 "dark" movies. It's all 'visual riddles', and it's fun, and good luck! DH and I got 43, and then got stuck. My mom sent me the link, and got a few more afterward that she passed along, but we still can't get 2 - the guy with the lantern, and the reaper in the fence thing.

have fun!

also, due to some recent coming issues with my car, it looks like I'll be looking to trade sooner than later. I think I've got it narrowed down to 2 cars. I'm looking for a wagon type, something bigger than my little dodge, but not a van. God, not a van. Needs to have room for 2 carseats (no, no news or plans of news that way, thanks), and room in the trunk for one of those big stroller system things, a set of golf clubs, and maybe a playpen. So, my 2 choices are the Pontiac Vibe / Toyota Matrix (they're basically the same car, made in the same factory, even.) and the Mazda5. The only downs I can find about either are that all the reviews say about the Vibe / Matrix is that it's fun and stuff, but no real negatives, so I guess that's good. The only negatives about the Mazda are the 3rd row of seats is super tight, no room for big people or even normal sized adults, and it's lacking in kick / horsepower. The seats thing isn't really an issue though, because you have seating for 4 without the back row, and if you have that back row folded down, you get a super sweet trunk space for the aforementioned stuff.

so, opinions would be appreciated. I'd love to get like, a Passat wagon, but that's not going to happen. We're talking mid-range. I was thinking Saturn Vue / hybrid, but it hasn't gotten great reviews on any front, so I'm thinking no.

thanks! I'm off to try to finish this evil m&ms game.