grumble...snow....grumble...

I don't like the winter...there I said it. Even though pretty much everybody in my family owns a snowmobile (even the kids!) I am so anti-snow it's not even funny. Anything to do with the snow makes me want to run to some place where they freakishly do not allow it to snow (any suggestions??).

So of course Mother Nature hates my guts and I just know it's because I raked up the mums in the garden by accident (I said I was sorry!), so she decided to dump a crap load of snow on us overnight.

...and then on the way to school Mason threw a snowball at me and it went down my neck and it was cold. Since when did he learn how to throw?

My poor baby...

This is the result you get of running a race with your hands in your pockets...

(This is 2 days later)

He's never had a face injury before..it's so sad...and scary! Apparently we were having a race. I don't actually remember initiating a race, but he insists we were racing. Regardless, he made it to the destination before I did...and his face hit the ground. Could have been that his shoes were ridiculous for running a race, it may also have been the fact that he was running with his hands shoved deep in his pockets, either way he ended up in a puddle of blood. It didn't even look like his face hit the ground (I was behind him though) but when I saw the blood on the sidewalk I knew we were in trouble. My heart started racing even faster when I couldn't see his teeth in his mouth...but luckily they were just covered in all the blood...they were all still there and intact.

Poor little guy got inside and washed up and as I gave him some ice to put on his lip, he looked up at me and said "I won the race". Nice one buddy. I hope his face heals quickly with no scars!

evilflu's Halloween Countdown: Costume Recycling

Something we do each year I never really named, but from this point on I will refer to it as "costume recycling"....

If you send your child to daycare/school and their clothes come home ruined everyday raise your hand (okay not really, you may look silly doing that at your computer all by yourself!)...seriously though, Mason comes home constantly with markers, glue, sparkles and holes in his clothing. It's not the daycare's fault...he's just rough on his clothes.

Now imagine Halloween and your horror of having to send your child to daycare/school in his/her costume knowing that it could possibly be ruined before they even get to wear it out on the big night! This was always a big fear of mine so I usually just made up a silly little costume (like a hood with ears he already owned or something) to send him in for the daycare Halloween party.

Generally the daycare knows costumes are easily ruined and do not allow the child to wear them that long, but if you look around that classroom it is a jackpot of things that could potentially ruin the costume.

I came up with this plan a few years ago...buy large (but not too large) and wear the next year. I'm not saying to buy a costume that is 5 sizes too big, try 1-2 sizes, but make sure it is easy to walk in and pin up hems (or staple like I do -haha) if a potential tripping hazard is there. Now I know you probably buy large anyway to fit over the jacket etc...but I'm talking next-year large.

You may think it's crazy, but it actually works very well for us. Mason wears his good costume Halloween night...next year he wears it to the daycare party! He is always excited to bring out his old costume (this year it's a skunk) and it saves his good costume from being ruined. After that, if the costume is still in good condition you can always put it up on ebay or kijiji for someone else to use...hence costume recyling is born!

This year is going to be a little difficult though. We always buy our costume at Old Navy. Their costumes are not only adorable, they are also sooo warm and comfy PLUS if you buy them the week of their annual baby sale (20% off) you can walk out of there with a $20 high-quality costume. Unfortunately, Mason is in their biggest size this year (he's a bat) so next year we will probably move on to the "superhero" stage.

Anybody else have any good costume tips?

Kiddy Yoga...

I walked in this morning to Mason doing some funky stretching movies (I will have to take a video to demonstrate someday). When I asked him what he was doing...

"I'm doing my Yoga exercises Mom!"

...sorry for interrupting.

So you're having a crappy day??

OMG I can't beleive I am posting this...I can't believe I recorded this and I can't believe I am actually going to wait the 5 billion hours this takes to upload without hitting cancel...we'll see how long it stays up...

Winner is...

So as this was a very difficult dicision, It was a good thing there were three of us that didnt agree. SO we've decided after much deliberation .... the post of "mummies making yummies" was the winner.

Congratulations, Please contact us with you information so we can mail you your prize.


-Jackie (Judge #3)

Contest closing today!!!

Hi everyone... The judges will be ready and should pick a winner by 7pm Eastern time.

The entries are absolutely amazing so far! The task was to create a verse but the full blown poems submitted are amazing too so either or is fine!

That being said.. Contest will close at 7pm Eastern, there is still time to enter!

Good luck everyone and thank you for participating!!

Countdown To Halloween: Giveaway!!

***Bumping up for the late readers! Only a few more days to enter!!***

Win a copy of Who Said Boo from evilflu.com!

Moving right along with our Halloween theme...one lucky winner will win a copy of Who Said Boo by Phyllis Root! Who Said Boo is hands down, our favourite Halloween book this year! Mason just loves lifting the flaps (and I gotta admit, each one made me laugh). It's a great little board book, great for kids of all ages (and adults with a good sense of humour too!).


In the book the cute little Dracula on the front cover is trying to figure out who said BOO. I won't give away the ending, but he ends up going into each room and finds a halloween character doing some household activity (example: Witches doing stitches, Skeletons eating gelatin).

How to win:
All you have to do is come up with your own "scary character" rhyme. The winner will be chosen by three judges and the winner will receive the board book...it's that easy! Add a comment to this post with your e-mail or a link to your blog so I know who you are ;)

You could write about mummies, spiders, bats, Frankenstein....use your imagination!
The winner will be chosen on October 21, 2008.

....or you can always check out Who Said Boo at Amazon.com!
Who Said Boo?: A Lift-the-Flap Book

Stay off the sidewalks...

Okay you don't have to just yet, but coming up soon I will be driving...in a car. Isn't that so weird??

To say I am terrified would be an understatement...I have some serious driving anxiety and I have no idea why *ahem* (mom). I remember my dad trying to teach me how to drive a boat...I think it started there...I remember the whole experience vaguely...it was something like "okay now pull in OMG WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOP ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?". I remember coming home stamping up the stairs all huffy...I didn't even want to drive that stupid boat. Each time I saw it at the bottom of the lake I smiled a little inside.

Face it, I hate vehicles...but seeing as my little guy is getting too big to get on the bus for free anymore, winter sucks around here and I'm sick of wading to daycare in hip-high snow and we would like to visit our family a little more, I think the time has come.

So I am taking driver's ed. Yes. I am 27 years old in a class of 16 years old. Let me tell you it's been an experience so far. Think back to high school...the passing notes in class, that high-pitched giggle and goofing off...yes I have sat and will be sitting beside those kind of people Saturday and Sunday from 9am -3:45pm...and they used to think I was cool..until I stopped giggling with them...now I'm not cool....or maybe it's because I didn't shower today...who knows.

Oh yeah so there's me and them and then this guy who keeps talking about his 87 Lincoln (with my luck he will go home and google his pride and joy and come across my blog!). Everything out of his mouth ends with "my 87 Lincoln". You know that kind of person? Oh and he blasts "Low Rider" on his cellphone during breaks...I don't think any of these kids even know that song...actually I think he might be a kid...a really weird kid with an uber-old car.

I mean this is a class with finals and mid-terms and everything...it's insane!!

Worst date...ever.

Karen over at KarenSugarPants.com has shared her hilarious worst date story so I thought I would share mine.

I don't date many people, actually I hate dating. It's just so awkward and annoying and I'm pathetically shy so it's always the worst thing in the world for me to go on a date with somebody. In fact, I didn't go on one single date in high school (I'm not sure if it was because I was shy or awkwardly ugly...either way, I didn't date anybody!).

But there was this one time in college...there was this really nerdy guy, let's call him Dork (I'm not creative...too tired!). So dork liked me for a long time, but dork was a big old dork and was really dorky and came on very strongly...as a matter of fact, I hated dork. I don't even know why I agreed to go out with dork to see a movie, I think it was because I wanted to see that particular movie (and if I remember correctly it was Tomb Raider or something dorky like that).

So I met dork at the theatre. I paid for myself to get in... (nothing wrong with that...) but I also ended up having to pay for dork to get in with him saying some excuse about him buying popcorn or something.

We watched the dorky movie and the whole time...THE WHOLE TIME...I was trying to think of a way to get out of there. Unfortunately I wasn't so crafty back then so I did end up staying. Dork asked me if I would like a ride home. Nice enough, it was cold out, so I agreed. So we got in his mini van (with a garter belt hanging on the rearview mirror - probably his mom's) and he drove me home...and he decided to invite himself in.

I was tired and cranky and frankly I was just tired of seeing his face. I was really rude, I remember totally ignoring him and acting like he wasn't sitting on my couch, when all of a sudden he bolts up off the couch, throws on my slippers and runs out of my house. I had the urge to lock the door and turn off the lights, but I liked those damn slippers. I could only imagine the look on my face at that point.

He came back saying he thought someone was trying to steal his van. Yeah... *blink* Maybe they wanted the garter belt? *blink*

I think he sat around for an hour after that. Unfortunately I did not have the balls to tell him to leave. Finally he got the hint to leave and I never spoke to him again. I think he was part of the reason I dropped out of my computer programming course...thanks so much DORK.

Those who know me...

Will probably know a) Why I'm posting this....


...and b) What my reaction was...


No really, I do feel bad for them...they will get back together....you just watch.

evilflu's Halloween Countdown 2008...

Halloween is always an exciting time of year around here for us. The whole autumn season just makes me happy less bitchy. The leaves, the cooler temperatures (but no snow!), the pumpkins, trips to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin pie, costumes, trick or treaters...it's just all very exciting and always has been for our family.

Stay tuned in the days leading up to Halloween for some pretty cool things I have planned. I hope to do a couple Halloween book reviews (we just read a couple awesome ones recently and I would love to share them with you guys!). I have to post about our trip to the pumpkin patch recently, I am hoping to share some cute halloween recipes I found, costume ideas, scary movies...it's going to be fun (and it gives me something to blog about!!). So let's get this started...

SCARY MOVIES
Let's talk scary movies. I just love the Scream network around Halloween. All the best scary movies get played. I am a big fan of Freddy Krueger (A Nightmare on Elm Street) movies and I'm sure you are dying to know why (no, not because Johnny Depp was in it - Jackie!). You see, I used to absolutely hate these movies. Freddy was a mean bully who killed people when they fell asleep...helpless!! I mean, people have to sleep? Kind of a cowardly thing to do, attacking people in their dreams really (sorry Freddy...don't kill me!). One night when I was sleeping on the floor at the end of my grandma's bed (yeah..I know) I swear I saw Freddy's shadow under her bed. I stayed up ALL NIGHT. I couldn't even shut my eyes. I remember watching the sun rise out her window because I was so scared...and I was probably 6 or 7 8 or 9 years old!! Watching those movies just scared the crap outta me!

To prove myself to my peers and sit through all 8500 of these Freddy movies, I came up with a game plan - be on Freddy's side. When Freddy is chasing somebody...I cheer him on! Go Freddy...that way if he ever did end up being real he wouldn't kill me because I was on his side...and I actually still use this strategy to get through many scary movies. I still have a hard time with Jason movies though...that guy is totally heartless.

So now that I'm older and I have a strategy when it comes to watching scary movies (which I still never do alone) they are easier to take. One thing I will not do after watching a scary movie is go right to bed because I definitely will dream of the scary monster people (or Freddy) and have a horrible sleep. I usually follow a scary movie with a comedy so I can get to sleep with no worries of Freddy coming to get me. Another thing I will never do after watching a scary movie is go outside. Nope, not gonna happen....EVERYTHING is scary outside at night. I got scared taking my garbage out last night because there was a full moon.

Movies that scare the pants off me still at my age are zombie movies. Usually these movies involve some sort of experiment gone completely wrong or some putrid gas floating through the air and infecting people. Anyways these movies are usually very gory and always have that "spook factor" where some kind of zombie will crash through a wall and eat an unsuspecting victim (usually one of the annoying ones in the group hiding out from the zombies). Recently I saw one of these zombie movies where birds were eating the zombies and zombie birds were created. Could you imagine??? Zombie movies scare my pants off and I will never ever watch them alone...ever. I hate zombies. I hate the music video for Thriller....I absolutely hate zombie movies...but I still watch them when I want to scare my pants off.

You know, I was thinking about this the other day and I seriously think movie writers should consider bringing back the old cheesy movie types. It just seems that all the scary movies these days are too "real". They are very gory, they are usually about psycho killers (which we all know could really happen - which makes them scarier) and they usually star characters who are just like you and I and crimes that sound all too familiar. I want Freddy back!

So what's your favourite scary movie? What scary movie do you think is the scariest? Which scary movie is the worst you have ever seen?

Cashier from hell...

Have you ever bought something from the pharmacy and have been SO embarassed? I mean the kind of item that makes your palms sweat, your heart race? You walk past this item three or more times catching a glimpse and reading the box each time you pass. You pretend to look at the items beside it (something safe, usually Kleenex)all the while you are actually reading the box of this embarassing item to make sure it is actually what you need. After standing there looking like a nerd for a few minutes, you realize you have been standing at that item for far too long, someone probably saw so you decide to make another aisle round.

You come back around to the item and do a "desperation grab". You throw the item into your cart and cover it with boxes of Kleenex (remember, they're safe). You tear away towards the cashier. You wait in line reading about Angelina and her 10,000 kids, not making any sort of eye contact because that is embarassing. This would be the worst time to start a conversation with somebody because they may be buying something embarassing too.

Finally, you get to the cash. You pay, not with debit because that means awkward standing at the cash waiting for it to approve, no - never use debit on these items. You pay quickly, grab the bag (without making eye contact) and leave the store....

BUT....

What if this one time the cashier decides to strike up a conversation. Imagine you are me and you are buying a big old box of GAS-X because your insides are literally making noise and feel like they are imploding. Now this wasn't just any conversation. I had bag in hand, turned to leave (without making eye contact- remember that, it's important!) and the cashier decided to yell after me...

"I hope this helps with your problem"

Mortified. Dumbfounded. Gassy. I was all of the above that day. I politely said thank you and bolted. In fact, I thought about it for days...I couldn't go back, but this is a major pharmacy chain and it just happens to be at my bus stop in the morning, so I decided eventually I would need to go back (you know, when I felt gassy again).

I went back many times (no...not just for GAS-X!!) and I didn't see Satan cashier from hell....until today.

I went in to buy contact solution (and got a really good sale). Lucky for me contact solution isn't nearly as embarassing as Gas-X (or as some pointed out, not as embarassing as something as Hemi cream or Pepto....). Still, I remembered the experience. My palms started to sweat. I looked for another cashier and then, like an answer from above, I noticed the girl behind me was buying Pepto Bismal. BINGO!!

I know this next part is going to be mean, but I was just experimenting...plus I needed a good laugh. I stepped out of the line and mumbled something about forgetting to look at something. I let the girl go ahead! So I started "browsing the gift cards", the whole time listening to the cashier and this poor Pepto girl. Then it happened...

"Oh, are you sick??"

Tee hee...I knew it!! My experiment worked...this really is a cashier from hell. Srsly...are you allowed to comment on embarassing purchases in a pharmacy?? Oh is that a blow-up hemi cushion you are buying...I hope it's comfortable. WTH!! I'm sure she's just trying to be nice and have a conversation but there are certain situations where you just don't try to make friends...like in a public washroom!

The big race...

Learning with Leapfrog!

Here's Mason getting a kick out of a new word on his Word Whammer.

Photoshoot gone wrong...

If you have noticed on my Tuesday Toot list, one of the items was to do a photoshoot. Well today was as nice as any other day so off to my favourite little "photo park". Even though it is pretty heavily graffiti'd and there are some questionable items/people around, the lighting in this park just makes things a whole lot easier for me, especially in the early evening.

So we're walking around, taking pictures yatta yatta and I decide to swtich lenses. Earlier this year I had bought a 50mm lens from Kijiji. I don't use it much, in fact it has been sitting on my night stand for a few months now (don't ask!). So I decided to throw this little baby on and take some pictures. It was going well, I was actually liking the lens (whereas before I wasn't too fond of it). Then I got the bright idea to have Mason pose on a log. He got all settled down, I went to focus...funny the camera won't focus with him on the log. I tried a few times, nothing. Then I tried focusing on something else...nope. Then I get the bright idea to look at the lens to see if it is jammed or something and the whole front was gone!!

I have no idea how it happened. Looking back through my pictures, I see they ended when I got a picture of him trying to climb a tree (which was horribly out of focus and "faded"). It was actually a strange fading over the picture, almost like a haze. I guess I should have noticed because the last few pictures were like that too.

I mean the whole entire glass is GONE. Luckily (or maybe not so luckily) I had taken the UV filter off because I thought it was the reason for the haziness in the pictures. Ooops guessed wrong, I guess it was the lens actually falling off. I went back through the grass but couldn't find it...but I did get some pretty cute pictures!

Walk to school this morning....

And yes I let him wear that hat in public.... I like it!!

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Tuesday Toot...

Already Tuesday again? Well this week I'm going to switch things up a little bit. I am going to do today's Toot as a "to-do" list, if you will. You see, I have accomplished so many things on this week's to-do list and I'm pretty proud of what I have accomplished on this list so far, so here I am "tooting my own horn".

Without further ado...or adieu for those who like to debate (tomato/tomato - that doesn't spell out as well as I thought it!):

-Apply for passports (1/2 done...ran into trouble with M's passport...grrr).
-Animal food
-Pick up prescription
-Take Mason to see a movie 2 hours of Beverly Hills Chihuahua that I will never get back...grumble grumble
-1 photo shoot
-Make some sort of Thanksgiving plans
-Sign M. up for swimming lessons
-Arrange daycare switch
-Bring out fall/winter clothes oops I guess I should be doing this now.
-Update blog layout
-Buy new dish cloths They're lovely!
-Take "before" weight loss pic
-Hand out Avon booklets to neighbours with a pretty note
-Match up socks from the "sock bag"

Three cheers for...

VEST SEASON!!!

Vest season is now upon us. I (heart) vest season! Vests are so forgiving and yet so comfy. I love vests. I'm wearing a sweater vest right now...not so comfy, actually it's kind of ugly because I can see the shirt I'm wearing underneath it through the material and I don't like that.

Anyway back to vest season...this (and Spring) is my favourite time of year. Not too hot and no snow. I love being cozy in my bed (but hate getting out of bed when it's too cold in the morning). I love pumpkins and blue skies and how the pumpkins look in contrast to the blue skys (that was an awesome day). I love scarecrows...and my new Thanksgiving wreath. I love seeing my breath in the morning and explaining to Mason every morning that the frost on the ground is not snow...much to his dismay.

So three cheers for vest season. I (heart) you vest season.

Torn...

Everytime I go back to visit my family I leave not knowing what I should do with my life. I moved out here 8 years ago because I love London so much. I just feel comfortable here and I was happy here before, it's where I want to be. Sometimes when I visit my family though I just feel defeated. I feel like I'm not strong enough to do this on my own and I need them. I go there feeling so big and proud and leave feeling like I've lost a battle because I'm sad to leave.

It's nothing anybody does or says, really not anybody's fault or anything, I just watch them and see how everybody interacts and soemtimes I feel so isolated and I feel as though I have nothing in common. I always have a lot of fun, but these little surges of feeling different just makes me question what I have going on here.

I am hoping this feeling goes away once I start driving and can visit more often, but until then I really have to think about what is best for us.

His newest word...

Is pervert. It's been a fun end to the weekend to hear that word used...in context...about 8 times in the past hour...once in a public washroom even.

Cute Story...

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Cute story about Mason this morning. Try to ignore my slurring "S" or yucky congested morning voice. Oh and listen for Mason laughing in the background...too cute.

Lensday...

Autumn...

(an oldie but a goodie...)

My bus is late...

Which means I could have gotten that over-priced but very yummy chai latte just over there :(

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