Mini-Vacay!!

I'm taking Mason on a mini-trip for the long weekend! We're going to Canada's Wonderland on Saturday and a few other things planned with family...should be good times. I plan on updating my Twitter for the whole trip...I'll be on the rollercoasters updating my twitter...cuz I'm like that you know! For real, I might do that...I think it would be pretty cool!

Remember the rinse cup??

It is remarkable!! I have few words to describe a cup with a floppy side so the water/soap doesn't go in the kids words but I can sum it up to brilliant!!

I bought this item thinking it was just another gimmick out there but I was desperate to try anything because lately bath time in our house has become a war...a long, drawn out war with screaming and crying (from me mostly) and a little boy who did not like to get his face wet.

Let me tell you, this thing works perfectly...I don't know the scientifics behind it since it is just a cup with a floppy side to it and inside it is separated into two compartments...maybe that is part of the trick? I don't know...I don't ask when it works!

Bath time is no longer a struggle for us! I found this product on Amazon and added it to my favourite things if you are interested in taking a closer look and reading some more reviews. Best 8 bucks I have spent in a long time....I mean that!

Check out the happy model (who I did not wake up to take this picture...he was still awake!!)

He passed?

Can you believe it??? After 5 repeats of this class he finally passed...just when I was about to take him out of swimming for the summer he goes and passes. I have to admit, I was really shocked...from what I saw he didn't really follow much of those guidelines but he did give them a try with a little coaxing. I think his teacher saw that this time.

Tuesday Toot!!

I love Tuesday toots!! Not only does the title make me chuckle a little...it also gives me a chance to talk about me and the things I do (which I love to do....haha I kid!!).

So today I think I am going to touch on my last blog post a little. Today I accomplished laughing out loud in a crowded movie theatre when nobody else laughed and actually started to feel good about it. I thought the movie was funny, so the people around me may not have thought so at those particular parts...but it really made the movie experience a whole lot better for me.

I'm sure my friend was dying of embarassment and watching the exit door waiting to make a hasty exit when the lights came on so nobody could see the crazy laughing hyena lady...but I had a good time. Happy Birthday Trish!! Hope you enjoyed the movie!! Sorry if I embarassed you, but it felt soo good to laugh like that!

I (heart) Guru Pitka!!

What is with people lately? Is it so wrong to laugh your butt off in a movie theatre?? Tonight a friend and I went to see The Love Guru and I never ever laughed so hard in a movie theatre before...the first couple times when I laughed and nobody else did I blushed a little because it was awkward...but the movie was so funny I really didn't care after a while.

Definitely my favourite Mike Myers movie yet...well next to Wayne's World!! I can't believe I even liked it better than Austin Powers!

I needed a good laugh today too. If your thinking about going to see it I would definitely recommend it!

End of my pool saga....

For those of you who remember my pool saga you all will be very glad to know that the pool saga is now over. The offensive pool (which was even more of a pain in the rear to get back in the box) is now sitting in my garage waiting for my next trip to Canadian Tire to return it and get the thing to set up my clothesline.

Yes, I bought a pool! Thanks to my friend Trish who so generously took me to Toys R Us in her van where I proceeded to spend way too much on a kiddie pool...all because I was sick of looking for a pool.

I think he's happy with the pool...and I am glad I can stop looking for pools everytime I go to the store.

It's Summertime!

Summer is always super-busy. It seems there is never any downtime lately. Everyday is swimming, jumping, t-balling etc...it gets to be pretty hectic. Makes for some pretty good picture opportunities though.

I've tried numerous times to nail the "jumping in the air" shot. I have also had numerous fails (all indoors) and some that were okay and I have shared on here.

The kids just got a new trampoline, what a perfect opportunity to practice jumping pictures! I still think I could get better at these action shots, but they still are much better than the ones I took previously!

Photographer syndrome?

I do not call myself a photographer by any means but I do admit that I have been doing a lot of research on photography lately via books, manuals and online forums. One thing I have noticed is that I am so critical of pictures now.

I just caught myself browsing through a mommy message board with an area set out for "snapshots" and here I was tearing apart each picture in my head. I mean a lot of them were so blurry and yucky and were apparently the parent's "favourite pics" and it made me sad! I throw out so many pictures that I absolutely love of Mason because they are blurry or the shadows around his eyes are too bad. I could learn more photoshop or I could just move on to the next picture. I think I should stop processing my images so much and let them be the way they were taken and try to not be so critical of "snapshots".

Best $7.99??

I bought this while I was out at Toys R Us. Bath time is horrid in my house. Sure it's fun splashing around in banana-scented bubbles but when it comes to get down to business and wash hair it turns to hell.

So I saw this and just had to have it! I can't wait to test it out on the little gremlin tonight. I will give my review as soon as we give it a try.

"Wooshi" party

My brother is having his 17th birthday party at the moment (well I'm not exactly sure if he's had 17 parties...he is the third child afterall!). He decided to order a Sushi platter for the party guests.

I don't mind the odd piece of sushi but I just cannot get over the whole "raw fish" thing. Mason decided he loves sushi...or "wooshi" and that he needs to use "sosticks" like all the big kids.

I was a little worried that some of these 17 year old kids wouldn't want to eat sushi and offered to buy a pizza and they all looked at me like I was from Saturn or something...so I guess pizza is a no-go.

Lawnmower wins by a landslide...and a broken nail.

Lawnmower - 1, Me - 0

The good news...I started the lawn mower and cut a strip of grass...

The bad news it stopped working and I broke my nail off trying to re-start it.

I'm going to find a kid I can pay to do this...lawnmowers are so for boys.

Everybody loves Hello Kitty!

Mason made me this for mother's day/my birthday....it was a little late but that is my fault. I was just too lazy to take him to Build a Bear sooner. I really didn't even care for a present...until I saw they had discontinued Hello Kitty and there were only two left!! *panick* So I guess you could say I picked out my present...is that so bad?

Talk to the hand

This is what happens when you play in the sprinkler too long (or it could even possibly be a little boy telling his crazy mom to stop taking pictures!)

Watch your step...

My super-awesome (though sometimes very annoying) little bro is helping me make my blog seem not so....dim. You may notice a few little bumps along the way, should be cleaned up soon :D

An "Instant Fun" FYI

Storing your inflatable pool under the lawnmower all winter is in fact, not a good idea. I would love to be able to say, oh my son has a really awesome inflatable pool. I got it on the clearance rack in the middle of last summer for $5 and it is awesome...but I can't. So now we are pool-less, which really isn't cool at all.





I guess it all started when I came on here bragging about how I blew up the pool and we filled it up, the next morning half the pool was on the ground and the water was pouring over like a watefall. To make matters worse, I can't find the hole anywhere! There is a bulging part on it though and a patch can't fix that so unfortunately the pool has to go. I am definitely going to try to freecycle it to see if anybody wants to attempt to fix it, but it is pretty doubtful at this point.





So then I decided Mason needs a new pool...a non-inflatable pool. I went to Canadian Tire and got this little beauty...



Now the web site (CanadianTire.com) says "Just unfold and fill for instant fun". Now I don't know what their idea of instant fun is but to me instant fun is not:

• Unfolding the smelly plastic pool and then fighting the smelly pool as it wraps around you like a boa constrictor (only a big plastic smelly one)
• Finding the instructions that say "you will need the assistance of 3 people to fill the pool" when it is just Mason and I available
• Trying to fill a pool where the sides keep collapsing
• Cursing many curse words, many of which had not been used in years (all under my breath of course-- okay once out loud)
• Giving up not once but twice trying to fill the pool wasting water thus watching the water bill in my mind go up - makes mama even angrier
• Throwing the now crumpled up pool across the patio all the while mud flings all over my face and neck
• Kicking the pool and then lovingly setting it upside down so it can dry and mama can roll it back up to bring to the store.
• Trying to figure out how mama is gonna fold this pool small enough to go back in the box we bought it in

This is not instant fun. Just an FYI...

Anybody got any good pool suggestions? At this point I'm about ready to fill up the rubbermaid bucket in the garage and let him go to town in that ;)

Boys will be boys...

So I decided to get out the pool that I had neglected crumpled in a ball and shoved under the lawnmower in the garage all winter. Luckily there were no holes in it so tonight I did the fun task of scrubbing the grungies off the bottom of the pool. I was right in there...dead bugs and all...scrubbing the grime off the bottom.

All of a sudden I hear a little voice behind me..."Moooooommmmmmmm...I'm going to spray your bum!!"...and he wasn't kidding either.

Of course he wasn't too happy when I returned the favor...

I miss you...now leave.

That is how I feel lately. I miss everyone sooo much but then when I get around people (any people, I hope nobody takes offence to this...) I just want to go to bed and be alone. For instance, right now Mason is sleeping but I so want to wake him up and play hide and seek or something because we didn't spend much time together this weekend and now it's Sunday night and it feels like I won't see him again until next weekend.

Decisions...
Decisions have been driving me crazy lately. Should I do this? Should I do that? Where should we be? Where should we go? Who do I associate with? Who do I stay away from? Do I miss this person? Does this person miss us? Being indecisive drives me crazy...especially because I never end up with what I really want. I vow now to be more decisive in life. Do what you think is right...right? I guess all I can do is just make sure this little guy grows up to be a really cool dude. I still don't even know how I am going to pull this off all on my own, but I'm sure we'll be okay.

We had a major storm here today. It knocked out our power for about 2 hours which was real fun when I had to answer Mason's questions such as "Why doesn't this light work?" and the oh so popular "Why doesn't this light work either?" I think he was scared...I was brave. I had my plans all worked out in case a tornado came...oh actually I just thought of a better one...better go write that down.

The day I met Batman and Catwoman...

Today I met Batman (Adam West) and Catwoman (Julie Newmar). There I stood in the hot blaring sun for 2 hours to meet Batman. My intentions were to have pictures taken with Batman "punching" me in the face so I could add one of those "POW" bubbles onto it in Photoshop...alas Mr. West was a little grumpy...no pics. I got 2 photos autographed for Mason though.


Catwoman was really charming though. Figures eh...the bad guys are always open for conversation...or maybe that's just my personality! ;)


Since I wasn't able to get my "POW" picture...I decided to use my paparazzi moves and sneak in a few little pics while they were in their cars

This is what I call relax time...

Kid in bed, brother at movies with friends and I'm in the dark listening to the sound of rain pouring down and Elton John, Ryan Adams and Queen's greatest hits (don't laugh). Love it. Just wish the thought of housework wasn't lingering in my mind.

Blinders = off

A person who is someone I really look up to and love dearly told me she was mad at me tonight. She then asked if I had even noticed....and I didn't. I honestly thought she was just too busy to worry about what I was doing.

I feel like a total piece of crap. Truthfully it's not that I wanted to isolate myself so much from the people I love the most, but I feel like I have to because I feel as though nobody would want to be around me. I've made myself into this horrible, negative troll-lady that nobody would want to be around and I know it. I'm horrible to EVERYBODY.

I'm getting help now but I almost feel as though it's too late and I sometimes wonder if I am permanently damaged. Don't let yourself get so caught up in yourself...it can get ugly.

Now I must go reply to that e-mail that my best friend wrote to me on my birthday...2 weeks ago. I'm such a jerk.

The terrorist geese...

Today was a pretty dull day. I kept putting off the grocery shopping until we were ridiculously low on food so today was the day I had to go. I was so happy to get it all done within an hour and a half. I came home, watched some Roseanne re-runs and took an afternoon nap.

After that we decided to go down to the river to stalk some baby geese I saw the night before. As we walked by we realized they were gone so we went and got some ice cream and sat on a park bench enjoying our treat.

I decided we should go down to the river to feed the ducks. So we went down there (which was really scary). I was nervous to go down there 1) because of the scary creepers that go down there all the time to drink and fall into the river on a monthly basis and 2) because I got caught sneaking down by the river at that very spot when I was a kid and I got in big trouble!

So we went to a little cement block thingy and started throwing crackers at the ducks. We just sat around laughing and had a good time when all of a sudden I looked over my shoulder and was greeted by this...

Mama Goose definitely was not happy...but where the heck did they come from?? They snuck up behind us and just started hissing. Luckily we still had some crackers that we threw to them..but I gotta admit, I was a little scared. These geese were acting like terrorist geese or something! They just kept hissing. Everytime they didn't have a cracker in their mouth they would hiss. We ended up sitting on that big old cement block trying to avoid looking directly at the geese but also keeping our heads on a swivel to make sure they didn't attack when we weren't looking.

I wanted to go home so badly at that point but they were blocking the only way out...damn you terrorist geese!!! Mason was oblivious to the whole thing.

I wanted to take a baby goose home but I doubt that evil terrorist mama goose would even consider it. Lesson of the day...do not mess with the terrorist geese...they will scare your pants off!!