My first award!!

Thank you so much Craft Junkie for giving me my very first award. My level of excitedness ranks up there with the time I found the Brenda Walsh Barbie doll (wish I would have kept that doll cuz apparently it's worth $70 bucks now!)at Woolworth's way back in 1990 something (seriously...that was the most exciting moment I could think of other than the birth of my child right now!).

So in order to accept this award I must answer the following questions (and I am going to be brutally honest because...well that's just how I roll!) and pass it along to some other lovely blogs...so here I go!

1. Where is your cell phone? About 5 minutes ago it was on the floor at the top of the stairs because Mason brought it to me outside saying I needed it...now it's hooked up and synching to iTunes.

2. Where is your significant other? The melodramatic part of me would say he died. However I guess seeing as he died we are no longer significant others SO...I don't have one.

3. Your hair color? Brown...and blonde...with a dash of grey mixed in there.

4. Your mother? Is crazy. I hope she doesn't get arrested again today if she's out driving...

5. Your father? May as well be dead....haven't seen him in about 5 years now. Before that I hadn't seen him in 22 years...I guess I just don't really care about him!

6. Your favorite thing? Oh come on!!! Thing??? As in one thing??? I guess it would be my iPhone right now. I can't survive a day without it...I actually think it is officially a part of my brain now. If I want to know something or I can't remember something it's so handy to have Google at the touch of a finger. Love Google. Maybe that's my favourite thing because iPhone can get a little obnoxious at times...

7. Your dream last night? I'm pretty sure I didn't have a dream last night. I was just happy my head was on my pillow after a long day.

8. Your dream/goal? Short-term or long-term? Short-term: To run into Ryan Adams when he's in town next week *tee-hee* Long-term: To be happy.

9. The room you're in? My office...aka kickass room with a computer, a desk, a bookshelf and lots of friggin animals. It's a zoo in here I swear.

10. Your hobby? Photography. I may even be able to make a career of it someday if I can pick up some anger management lessons somewhere along the way.

11. Your fear? Spiders, bees (what's with the crazy bees the past couple days?? I actually went inside because they were so bad today!), losing stuff, doing something embarassing not on purpose.

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Comfortable somewhere....maybe retired??? Ha!!

13. Where were you last night? At the hospital seeing my friend's baby in the NICU a couple hours after she was born...it was so crazy! She looked absolutely perfect though. I honestly think she will be going home very soon. I had just gone up for a visit because she was in the hospital with pre-term labour and next thing you know I'm looking at a 33 weeker in an incubator...crazy day!

14. What you're not? Insane...a criminal...much of a people person.

15. One of your wish-list items? A laptop. Craziest thing too...I don't know where this desire comes from. I just want to be one of those people who sit in Starbucks (even though I'm not much of a coffee drinker) with a laptop looking all smart and rich and stuff.

16. Where you grew up? Let's see...I started growing up in Gormley, Ontario (which officially takes up 1/4 of a Wikipedia page...nice!) where I lived with my Gramma and Pa (Grandpa...some may call him Spud or Per(vert) even). I used to frolick in the meadows past the lawn mower motors and discarded tires...in our yard...and make frogs jump through hoops. True story. I eventually ended up in London, then Aurora and a few other places and back to London.

17. The last thing you did? Ate some Reese's Pieces from the bulk barn where they then proceeded to reflux back up into my mouth...it was interesting. Before that I was outside being chased by a swarm of bees and before that I was trying to teach Mason how to ride a two-wheeler...while being chased by bees.

18. What are you wearing? Wrinkled clothes from the foot of my bed because I'm too lazy to find some real clothes. Plus all those Reese's Pieces I ate made me feel fat so now I'm too depressed to get dressed.

19. Your TV? Is a mutha****er to move. I vow that if I move anytime soon I will not be bringing that huge piece of crap with me because it's too big and heavy. Same goes for the sectional couch. It's not going back out that doorway...it most definitely is not because I'm still scratching my head wondering how it actually got IN.

20. Your pet? Pet(s). They are actually all in this room. Not one pet is in any other room of the house. There are the fish (about 15 horny guppies who keep reproducing), Izzy the chameleon, Calypso the crazy-deranged turtle and our newest friend Herman the crab....oh and as of 2 minutes ago we now have a caterpillar....which Mason says he will name tomorrow..which is quite sad because I have a feeling it will be hairless by tomorrow with him mauling it the way he is. Oh nature...why do you come into our yard??

21. Your computer? As much as I hate to admit it...my computer was my best investment ever! After having so many hand-me-down computers I got sick of fans breaking, hard drives crashing and the yelowish cases so I went and bought a HP Pavillion Media Centre thingy and it's been working well for almost 2 years now (knocking on my wooden desk). Other than that mysterious virus it got a little while back...things have been going pretty well with it. I would get a new one in a heartbeat if I could afford it though because it gives me a lot of heck when I wanna play The Sims....*waves fist* HP you are the devil sometimes you know!! Oh and it's name is Gloria....just because.

22. Your mood? Watch out...the bears are restless today.

23. Missing someone? Of course.

24. Your car? Has awesome air conditioning...sometimes I even get too cold! Takes no gas, only a little piece of paper that I shove into a big machine, has a chauffer and seats about 50-60 people...sometimes more. Yeah I take the bus! BUT I am getting a car soon...and I'm probably going to worship it for about 3 months and then wonder why the heck I bought a car because gas prices are so high I probably will be too cheap to fill the tank!!

25. Something you're not wearing? Socks...shoes...my ring.

26. Favorite store? Wal-Mart....I'm cheap!! I like cheap things...don't be hatin!

27. Your summer? Went by too quickly...just glad it wasn't too hot out.

28. Love someone? Well wouldn't you like to know??? Yes I do love someone. He's so cute and has this little speech impediment....you know, where he will say "Bidge" instead of fridge. He's got the best sense of fashion of anybody I know. Yesterday he wore Airwalk slide-ons with halloween socks and today he's wearing a neon green shirt with a little blue car on it. He went swimming today in shorts that were probably 3 sizes too small for his cute little bum...I love him so much!

29. Your favorite color? This one.

30. When is the last time you laughed? Probably on Friday night. Martini night....good times, good times...I don't think I laughed at all since then! (see above (Mood).

31. Last time you cried? I don't even know!! That's a huge accomplishment from someone who was once crying up to 10 times a day. I love happy pills...happy pills and me la la laa....ok that's a lie...I haven't taken the happy pills in almost a week now...I keep forgetting!!

....and the Oscar award goes to:

1. Barefood Foodie

2. Karensugarpants

3. Bottles, Barbies & Boys

4. Rhinonymous

5. Finding Yourself Despite Yourself

6. No Reason Needed

7. Sarcomical

The horny dog....

One of the lessons I am trying to teach Mason right now is not to run up to strange dogs. Dogs absolutely love him though...and I think it's because he gets this look on his face that could light up a billion rooms when he sees a dog.

So yesterday we're walking down the street and we see an English Bulldog (you know those stocky, wrinkly ones?). So of course Mason goes running over...I go chasing behind yelling at him not to talk to strange dogs and yet again the owner is telling him....ohhh it's okay, he's friendly (aka don't listen to your loonatic mother...what does she know about dogs/rabies/strangers??).

After I gave him the death glare (you know, the one where laser beams shoot from my eyes and are cursing the person who tries to overrule the mama...), he explained to me how his dog (oh how I wish I remember its name right now...) loves kids.

Just as he's rounding the third time of mentioning that ____ (darn I wish I remembered his name!) loves kids SOOO much I witnessed this dog push my child down with one stocky little arm and go to town on him.....*ahem* The dog molested my child!!!! He was humping all over him. You would think that my first reaction would be to help my kid up and run like mad...NOPE I started laughing!!! (maybe nervous laughter?) Then I scooped him up and ran away without even saying as much as bye to ____ (let's call him humpy McGee...).

Mason then looks up at me and says when we get way down the street....

"That dog loved me".


He surrreeeee did.

"Bitches Booze"

Only can my child turn an innocent Crayola marker name into Bitches Booze....

Meet the world's stinkiest marker Witch's Brew (aka Bitch's Booze)

Happy 2nd Birthday Xander!

....best cake fight...EVAH....and my new favourite picture of people who don't have the name of Mason!

A little sad...

Tomorrow is Mason's last day at daycare. He's been going to the same daycare centre since he was 12 months old (I even remember the date - January 31, 2005). I'm not even really sure why we put him in daycare. At the time his father was very ill and we had nurses coming in and out of the house all day. I really think daycare was suggested just so he could have some sense of a normal life. Not that everything was horrible, because it wasn't all the time, but there were times when our home wasn't the greatest place to be emotionally.

I remember the day after his dad died we had to rush around to do things people do when people die...or so I guess, I didn't know what people do when people die but I do remember we had to pick out flowers and buy something for him to wear....but I remember most of all trying not to cry when I brought him in because I didn't want these daycare people to see me lose it. It was so hard leaving him that day. There was a sheet you had to fill out each morning and under special notes I wrote "Mason's dad died last night". Maybe it was stupid...but I just couldn't say it in person without losing it...and that was what I was afraid of - people seeing me cry. I wanted everybody to thnk I could handle everything that was happening and I didn't want to give anybody any kind of indication that I was depressed, shocked, angry...you name it. I think I did pretty well too...until daycare called.

My mom was staying at our house and she answered the phone. She told me it was the daycare teacher and I started bawling. I knew why they were calling and I didn't want to talk. My mom is pretty tough though, she made me and I remember crying and boogering all over the phone to his daycare teacher, Shelly. She's still there too...in the baby room. When I went to pick him up that afternoon they had bought me a plant arrangement and a card. It was my first sympathy gift and those plants actually stayed alive for the longest time.

As with any daycare, there were ups and downs...there were a few times when I wanted to call and say he wouldn't be coming back for one reason or another. It was usually snippy teachers but the snippiest one had left not too long after that and things were good.

I think this whole process would have been a lot harder if he was going to school, but he's not, just to another daycare down the street, a little closer to our house and we won't have to cross the busy road anymore. That's going to be the best part of tomorrow....crossing that road knowing it will be our last time having to "play Frogger" since the nearest crosswalk is super-far away.

So on to new things...I'm just hoping I made the right decision...

T-ball award

Mason got his T-ball award this Saturday. It says champions but they really didn't win any games, actually if one were to keep score, the season would have been pretty grim for the "Red Sox".

Who says it's about winning anyway? All I know is Mason got his first trophy. Yes, his very first creepy bobble head child trophy that now looms over him up on the shelf in his room while he sleeps. Oh I'm in for some rude awakenings I bet...

Criminal Activity?

I had made arrangements to buy one Ryan Adams/Oasis ticket from somebody on http://www.kijiji.ca/ and today was the date we set to pick it up. So an hour before I was to meet this person, I was in the shower and my mind started wandering...


What if this person is actually an undercover police officer and what if buying a concert ticket is illegal and he takes me to jail and keeps all my money and my concert ticket? That thought quickly left my mind though. If it were illegal to buy a concert ticket online from somebody, why do people do it so openly on classified ads? It was going to be fine...


Then I thought what if this seller poses as an undercover police officer when really he is not and he then takes my money and the concert ticket and stalks away into a dark alley somewhere. I even went as far as to practicing my dialogue and what I would say in this case. I thik I was going to ask him to call for back-up (I'm strange!).


I finally just faced my fear and went ahead with the arrangement. We were to meet in front of the venue and I was so worried I wouldn't recognize the seller. We had failed to mention what we would be wearing etc. So I decided rather than look awkward I would just take pictures of Mason in front of the ghetto fountain with empty $1.27 Listerine bottles floating in it...





I started to get more and more paranoid with each police car that passed by...at this point I'm still not even sure if it is illegal to buy a concert ticket from an online classified ad (that's how I roll....law abiding!). So as we are taking pictures and ducking from the police, I see him.


He was walking towards us quickly with ticket waving out in the open. I was getting more and more nervous, especially with that ticket waving out in the open. The transaction happened so quickly and I didn't want to make chit chat, but I did want to know why he was selling one ticket only! Turns out he just had an extra ticket and he is going to the show too...see we're not criminals!! Phew.


But the best part of the story is.... I GET TO SEE RYAN ADAMS and I will only be 7 rows away! Gee...I hope there's no mosh pit...I think I'm getting a little too old for that stuff!!






***Disclaimer: If buying a ticket online is in fact illegal...I am very sorry and I will never do it again but I was desperate!

My little squirrel...

As I was cleaning out some of Mason's old things today I came across a couple disturbing finds in his room. I found a half-eaten bun and a nectarine with a bite out of it. It seems as though Mason is hiding these little goodies for later. I can't help but laugh...but I'm also a little worried. These were pretty "newish" things...what if he finds some better hiding spots and I find food a year later with maggots and flies all over it??

A lesson in strangers...

Mason was offered a half eaten bag of chips on the bus tonight. Of course he excitedly accepted and was just about to eat them when I stopped him and told him to wait until after dinner (aka - NEVER!).

First of all I was a little pissed that some random person would just offer a kid food like that?? I mean he didn't even bother to ask me! It totally just gave me a bad vibe. Not only that, what if Mason was allergic to chips?

So after the stranger weirdo got off the bus I started the lecture on strangers. After warning Mason about strangers and that they will steal you and shove bamboo under your fingernails because they are bad I felt a little better and thought he understood.

Later at the bus stop on the way home Mason saw a man coming towards us and yelled out "LOOK MOM A STRANGER!!" He then says hi to the stranger and turns to me and says "see, he's a happy stranger!". Oh boy...he just doesn't get it.

*Grumble* Build-A-Bear

Because of Build-A-Bear, not only am I tripping over Mason's shoes, I now get the luxury of tripping over "Teddy" the vanilla bear's Sketchers. *waves fist*

Tuesday Toot...

So I wanted to have this Tuesday Toot as something major....something like:

• Today I learned how to knit
• Today I cleaned the entire house and managed to declutter everything
• Today I taught Mason how to speak a new language
• Today I finally found someone to watch Mason before/after daycare (keep dreamin!)

When really all I did today was made arrangements for a new daycare for Mason. So it's not official as of yet, but we do have the information and we are going on a tour. So it doesn't sound like a huge thing right? I'm so terrified though! Mason has been in the same centre since he was just over 12 months old. He started on January 31, 2005 (don't ask me how I remember that!).

The headphone incident...

Not to brag or anything, but Mason has always been a good kid. You know how some kids constantly get into things and just like to break them or like to make a mess, Mason has never really been *that* kid.

I mean he has had little incidents, but they are rare and far between. Every kid has incidents right? These incidents tend to not be as cute anymore though when they happen to be the headphones for your brand new iPhone. The same headphones that cost $40 to replace.

It is also not cute when you realize that your child has actually chewed the headphones like some sort of hungry, rabid animal. My first reaction was OMG what is that? Then I thought what did my brother do to his iPhone headphones. After I looked over and saw his headphones I then thought that they might be my old iPod headphones...nope. There they were.....................

Left right out in the open as to say....look what I did, what are you gonna do about it?

Wanna know what mama did about it? Mama decided this was unacceptable. Totally unacceptable behaviour and Mama didn't want this sort of thing to happen again so do you wanna know what Mama did? Mama gave him a stern talking to about respecting other people's belongings. When Mama realized son still didn't get it...even after the stern talk, Mama asked him what he liked (which totally reminded me of this scene!!!)and when he didn't answer Mama broke his mp3 player.



So maybe I didn't handle it the best way because now I am out $40 for the headphones plus the $10 for his mp3 player. I meant to replace his mp3 player anyway because it wasn't working right. I gotta say though I don't think he will be chewing up anything else anytime soon.

Strange weather!!

We've had strange weather all weekend. Sunny, then raining, then storming then sunny again. Makes for some great photo opportunities! Kids love it when you say "Go jump in that puddle over there, okay?"

We had a pretty fun weekend though, even though the weather was wacky! Saturday we went to the Aylmer fair. I forgot sunblock (I know...I'm EVIL!) so I got a mega-burn which I didn't think was so bad until I got home. Mason didn't burn (so lucky!) but he was pretty well covered anyway so he was okay. I will never ever forget sunblock again...I swear!

We left the fair and the rain started coming down like crazy and it seemed to follow us all the way back to London where it then rained for the whole rest of the day. My mom came that night to visit and the next morning we went out to the flea market and for McDonald's breakfast and to get groceries etc. She brought Mason so many toys though and after the headphone incident (oops which I forgot to blog about!) I was a little annoyed with all the new toys but when I saw he got the old 80's-style weeble people and playmobil people I couldn't contain my excitement...I love those things!! She also brought him a Spiderman scooter and a 2-wheeler bike.

So after she left today (and during one of the sunny patches) Mason decided he wanted to ride his new bike. I don't think he realized what he was in for because when he took off he had NO FEAR at all. I really don't know how to teach a kid to ride a 2 wheeler though. I'm pretty sure that holding on to him under his arms and yanking him off the bike when he loses control really wasn't that effective...in fact I think I pulled my elbow out doing that because it hurts a lot now. We gave up on the two-wheeler for today until my elbow heals and I get some tips on teaching a kid to ride a two-wheeler.

Now I've gotta go find a place to put all these new toys :/

Poop detective...

THAT'S IT!! I'm on the case now...the case of the mysterious pooper in my backyard.

Remember I kneeled in it a few weeks ago? Yeah so I STEPPED in it today when I was weeding pulling random plants that are ugly and I thought could possibly be weeds in the garden. I don't get it!! Where is this shit coming from? I don't even know how to catch the culprit...all I know is I'm going to find out who is crapping in my yard somehow and hang them up by their toes and rub it in their face and see how they like it. Okay so maybe they didn't rub crap on my face but I'm getting fed up of stepping in it!!

T-ball pictures...

Mason's t-ball pictures turned out horrible. I just knew they would though, who was I kidding and what was I thinking by ordering $42 worth of pictures without seeing as much as a proof first.

The photographer they sent was very inexperienced (not that there was anything wrong with that) but she really didn't seem too interested in getting *that* shot that someone is going to want to buy. I figure they knew they already had the money so it was more of a you paid, now I do my part sort of deal.

Not only that, I noticed she only took one shot of each kid. Now I understand you have to get through a whole team of little leaguers BUT taking one shot of my kid and having it actually turn out (you know, without a finger up the nose, a booger hanging out, a tongue sticking out, flipping the bird etc etc...) on the first try just ain't happening! I could have told her that, and I should have!

So after taking 161 shots, and having my brother assist by holding the reflector while telling Mason to pose 5 billion different ways...I came up with this (finally!). I'm not completely satisfied with the picture, I mean it's 100 times better than the package I ended up getting from the "professional". This will be the one though. I can't believe I did it on my own! It only took 161 shots...but still ON MY OWN!!!

So, how was YOUR day?

Captain Obvious Makes His Appearance...

Hot muscular man runs down the bike path while we are walking. Mason says hi to this very muscular stranger. Then he says (and I just knew this was going to be embarassing...) HEY, YOU'RE NOT WEARING A SHIRT!!!!

Customer service on holidays...

My take on this is I guess they let all the people who are any good at dealing with people take the day off on holidays. I had a very strange customer service experience today that I am still confused about! I have all my services on one bill (cell phone, home phone, internet, cable)with a major company and I called today to possibly get rid of my home phone and possibly sign up for a service called home zone where your cell phone will actually act as your home phone when you are home through a wireless router. Pretty cool huh? It also turns out to be way cheaper. My problem was I didn't know much about the technicalities of it though so I had a few questions as to how it worked....well actually I didn't know anything about it until I read up on it myself after this strange customer service situation....

Me: Hi, I would just like to know about your home zone service.
Rep: Uhhhh....Ok.
Me: Yeah, I'm thinking of getting rid of my home phone so I just wanted to know a bit more about the service and how it works and if it works with the iPhone...
Rep: Yeah...so....what did you want to know?
[this is where a normal rep possibly would have read off their little cue cards to try and sell me on this...call me old fashioned but sometimes I just like to be sold on things]
Me: Well I just want to know how it works and what it is really.
Rep: So you want to sign up for it?
Me: [steaming by this point. Usually I'm pleasant as pie on the phone to reps because my sister is one and I know the crap she puts up with from crazies people like me] No, I just need a little more information first.
Rep: So what then?
Me: [here it comes...] FORGET IT. I'LL *BEEP* CALL BACK LATER THEN.



I'm sure the guy was just in a bad mood that he had to work today, possibly he had just smoked a big fat joint...I really don't know what his problem was but the tone in his voice really irritated me the way he kept saying UHHHH like I was the stupid one. I lost it on the guy. I absolutely lost it and swore at him like I used to do to the Bell Sympatico Internet people on a weekly basis. I bet they have a red flag and a note in my file now saying I'm a crazy beast and not to say UHHH around me. Part of me hopes someone was listening and that guy gets in trouble for being so dumb. Worst part of it...I didn't save any money and I still don't really know how the friggin service works!

At the ribfest

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Going on a double-decker bus trip!

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