Got Junk?

It is a rainy, cool day today, and while I have to get the boys outside later to burn off energy (let's face it, that's a necessity with children!) for now we are organizing.  It doesn't take long for clutter to appear in day-to-day life, unless you are one of those excessively tidy people.  (I have dropped in on a friend or two to return an item, only to find a SPOTLESS home behind their front door - that is NOT me!)  In our household clutter gathers at a speedy rate and grows, finding a comfortable habitat.  So we are organizing. 


       As I am organizing I realize that what I am organizing is... junk.  Yup, junk that we do not use, or no longer use at least.  Coats that no longer fit the boys which they love to free from the closet and fling around the room.  Blankets used primarily for tents and forts, which have holes and/or are so old they haven't been used in the capacity they were made for for quite some time.  Baby toys which I have confiscated, but not given/thrown away, have been found repeatedly and strewn around the house.  Trinkets.  Old suitcases. Flyers I save for Jon to read, which he doesn't get around to, and even though they are now out-of-date I still save for him to read...   you get the idea. 


     So this is my fall project.  Get rid of the junk!  And it's not garage-sale material, even the baby toys which I will give to good will instead.  It's mainly junk!  Toys and coats will be given to good will or the annual Coats for Kids drive.  Everything else?  TO THE DUMP!!!!   I look around and speculate on how much nicer our house will feel, how much more like a HOME it will feel, once the junk is not spread around like pixie dust.  I could breathe again.... 

Newsreel

***This just in:  I am so proud of my boys!  Today was a very successful potty day!  I have been pulling teeth to get my boys to use the potty, which isn't good because the more you push the less they want to try.  All it took was a bag of bite-size chocolate bars for incentive (my husband is a genius!) - one bar for doing the deed and an extra bar if they go in totally on their own without me telling them.  It worked!  The candy is even long gone yet they still are excited about being big boys who use the potty, and continue to try their best. 


***Funny comments I hear:  Our computer is in the basement, along with Daddy's tools and boxes and things.  The boys always want play down in the basement and get into everything!  JD has started telling me "you have to check your email!" whenever he wants to come down.  Today he tried that one over and over, to no avail, when finally he said in his most persuasive voice "Mommy, you have to check your blog!!"   I laughed so hard!  I had only mentioned my blog one time, a long time ago, when he asked what I was doing and I replied "just posting on my blog".  


***Deed of the day:  I mowed the lawn today.  Yup, couldn't stand it anymore and said to myself TOO BAD JONNY (he loves to take care of his lawn), and I went and mowed it.  Looks so much better now!  He's working for another 6 days and it would've been a jungle by then.  Oh, and I killed two gigantic spiders.


***Oops I did it again:  yes, I tried a new recipe today and it bombed.  I have this potato cook book packed full of yummy recipes but whenever I try one it mysteriously doesn't work out.  Tonight it was potato & ground beef meatballs.  They looked good in the pan, my perfect meatballs, until I swirled the pan like I do to turn regular meatballs and they just MUSHED.  I can't even describe it, other than saying they just mushed.  I was sad.  Again. 

To Serve or Not To Serve

I have this friend, a wonderful friend, the kind of friend who is always there when I need someone to talk to or laugh with.  She is amazing, helping any one of her friends or family members who need it, very giving and understanding.  We have children close in age and our husbands work together, so we have much in common, and get together often. 

The other night my friend and I got our families together for dinner as we do sometimes.  When dinner was ready I did what I always do, which was load up a plate for Jonny.  My friend looked at me and said "What are you doing? You aren't serving your husband, are you?!?!"  

She has on other such occasions seen me serve Jon and always has the same outburst.  Also at her birthday party she was talking with her work friends about how they never serve their husbands, how their husbands have 2 hands  and can dish themselves...  their words weren't as nice as that though.  I stayed silent.  Every time the subject is brought up I stay silent because ladies with that opinion just do not understand ladies with my opinion. 

Anyway on this night I decided I wasn't going to just be the butt of the joke anymore.  I replied, "Yes, I always serve my husband."  To which she said "Why?  It's not like they deserve being waited on hand and foot." 

My answer?  I said that I feel it's a token of love and respect to serve my husband dinner.  Can he get his own plate?  Of course.  Does it debase me to get his dinner for him?  No.  I do it out of love and respect, and I don't feel it makes me a slave, or demoralized.  I actually think it shows strength in a woman, to lovingly serve her husband.  By the way, he doesn't demand it of me either, even after being served his dinner for so many years.  He accepts my caring gesture just as graciously as it is offered. 

My friend stared at me like I was an alien.  Then stated that she doesn't, and will never, serve her husband.  My heart-felt explanations fell on deaf ears. 

I ask you, whoever might read this rambling blog, what is your opinion on the subject?  Leave a comment, let me know. 

McWonderful

An amazing thing happened yesterday.  Jon decided to shake up routine for the boys and take us all to McDonalds for supper, so the boys could play in the playplace.  When I say shake up routine, I mean actually go inside the restaurant.  We don't eat near as much fast food anymore, but when we do it's the drive-thru for us. 

         This is the amazing part: the playplace was EMPTY.  That's right, empty!  I couldn't believe it.  David and JD had only been there once before, and they were too little to climb the shelves inside the tubes, not to mention overwhelmed by the swarm of children rushing over them.  This visit they were tall enough to climb, and had the whole place to themselves.  Jon and I ate our supper to the excited cries of "Look at me Mom, Dad, I'm way up here!"  

          I don't know if I don't plan enough new, exciting experiences for the boys or not... probably not.  But this simple meal out was so wonderful in that we were able to see pure joy on our boys' faces.  I haven't seen them that excited about something in a long, long time.  JD even overcame his fear of tunnel slides;  he avoided the slide over and over, then finally very bravely went down the slide.  He found it wasn't as bad as he thought and then frequented the slide until we left. 

           It made me so happy, and I'm sure Jonny too, to hear and see our boys so elated and joyful.  Now I have a goal to create more new, exciting adventures for the boys, instead of letting the rut of routine rule our lives.

I Love the 'Landing'

We live on the edge of town in a new(er) development, only 3 years old, with a small shopping area. You know those ones with names like (insert name of neighborhood here) Point, or (again, name of neighborhood) Crossing. Ours is called the Landing. How trendy!

It has one of everything important - a drugstore (Shoppers, my fave), a gas station (Petro, which is Jonny's fave), a Tim Hortons (of course!) and our bank. Actually, it has 3 banks, luckily one of which is ours. I didn't say grocery store, because there wasn't one, but the Shoppers is the one with the food essentials area, so we did ok. I wonder why they call it Food Essentials when they don't have any fresh vegetables or fruits? Regardless, it worked for us in a pinch.

Then they started building a Sobey's! I waited, and waited, and waited for this store to open because it would then mean we have everything we need within walking distance to our house. With only one vehicle which goes to work with Jonny, this was pretty exciting news. Then it opened. Just when I didn't think my excitement could possibly grow any fuller, I saw the sign. Sobey's. Open 24 Hours.

WOOO HOOOOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you kidding me??? Forget milk? No problem. Sick kids need medicine? No worries. No need to drive into the city to areas of questionable safety at 3:30 AM, just a 2 minute drive down the street. I LOVE IT !!!!!!!!!!!

One Great Summer

I have to say this is the best summer of my life to date. Better than the summer of '94, which was one of the greatest; that bridge-jumping, movie-going, pre-grade 12 carefree summer with a close gang of buddies was certainly one of the most memorable. This summer was even better than the great summer of '04, in which I planned and enjoyed my wedding and honeymoon! This summer has been the summer I watched my boys grow from babyish toddlers into little guys.

I look at their bodies which are taller, less pudgy, running, jumping, fun-finding machines, and wonder where the cuddly little babies went. These guys go, go, GO constantly and their motor-mouths never stop moving. What imaginations they have, too! At any given point in the day they are putting out fires, driving race cars to Grandma's house, talking on the (imaginary) phone to a loved one, or going to 'work'. They put gas in a car, hook up a tow truck, or escape from crocodiles just in time. Any item I need can be found in David's 'packpack', and should I wish for a treat they will zoom off to the store to get one.

I pretty much have to hold them down to give hugs and kisses, at which point I long for my cuddly little babies who would snuggle right up for as long as I wanted. Other than missing that closeness I totally love the stage David and JD are at. It is so much fun! I have been 'Firefighter Mommy', a ghost hunter, a pirate fighter, a race car driver (though I have yet to win a race), a shark catcher, and of course a tickle monster. The games they come up with are endless and amusing. For example, I walked upstairs the other day to find them quickly jumping into a foxhole to find treasure.

My little guys didn't get into preschool this fall, since the only affordable one for us had a long waiting list. I wonder if that will set them back, since every other child we know of the same age will be going to preschool, but instead I will focus on the extra year I get to have my sweetie-pies at home with me. I'll enjoy every minute of firefighting, exploring, hunting and driving, another wonderful summer, and when they are four I will share them with the world of public education.

Here She Goes Again

Summer is almost over, and I must say I can't wait. Sure, I enjoy hot weather and endless summer days, when I am on vacation. Day to day real life, however, is not enjoyable in suffocating heat, humidity plastering me with a slimy second skin. I do not like hauling laundry up stairs and needing a shower after. Laying in bed at night tossing and turning, trying to sleep, needing to sleep, but its too damn hot to sleep. Bugs? No thank you. I wasn't made for summer heat.

I was made for autumn! I have posted before on my love for that season, so I shall spare you this time. But I will say that yesterday I saw the first yellow leaves and my heartbeat quickened. It's coming! With this autumn my boys will turn 3. With this autumn we hope to make another trip over the mountains to visit family, and I won't even get started on the beauty of that fall drive! With this coming autumn we will be greeting the 3rd baby into our family. HA - that is so not true, I just wanted to make sure you were awake. I do tend to ramble on about my favorite time of year.

This autumn I will have a car! Yes, as soon as we get the out-of-province inspection done I will have my own vehicle. Woo Hoo!! I am so excited. After years of sharing my husbands car, waiting until he was off work, asking to borrow it.... well no more. I have my own! The first plan I have is to head south to visit my brothers, and some friends I haven't seen for years and years. I am really looking forward to this trip.

As I bake in the heat and marinade in the humidity, I think of this coming autumn and all the fun and beauty that lie in store. For all of you who worship summer, heat and everything that goes with it, I understand your point of view... when I am on holidays. :)

(I hope this will post; I haven't been able to post on my blog for almost two months ... this computer just keeps asking me to save it first and I don't know how to fix this! but I'll try again anyway... )