Trick or Treat

Now, I know that the origins of Halloween have to do with saints and ghosts of the dead returning to earth and blah blah blah. But you know what ?

I am all about the Candy !

I know this sounds sad, but I am finally able to savour the spoils of Halloween once again. I mean c'mon we have kids for a reason right ?

Don't we all anticipate when our children come of age to go trick or treating because we have passed our years of being able to get by as a "very tall 11 year old". We miss those old days. And not just Halloween, but Easter, Christmas, Valentines Day. Frankly any occasion that warrants our children getting junk - mainly chocolate of course !

Waiting for just that right moment when you can hear them soundly sleeping in their bed, slip into their room, crawling on your hands and knees, feeling for that bag of candy that they thought they stashed so safely under their bed. Little did they know that when you were a child you thought that was the best place to hide your treats.

Now this is no joke, I have been caught before, a couple of Christmases back, raiding my daughters stocking of her m&m's. C'mon - they were M&M's for heavens sake, who can resist.

So, now that I have been "found out" I am marked. Forever a target and carefully watched at every treat giving occasion and for a short time after.

I now must practice extreme caution in these missions. Extreme situations call for extreme measures, I may even have to break out my sons spy vision goggles for my next attempt.

This, for all those parents who pillage and plunder. You know who you are. Please exercise caution, because someday, those little smarty pants figure us out, and it will be all over.

Nothingness

For those of you who remember, this picture is of "Falcor" a luck dragon. He was a part of the movie "The Never Ending Story"

This movie has stayed with me from childhood. They fought against the Great Nothing that was absorbing the world.

I shall see if I can write an entry about "nothing"

Nothing can fill our very souls,or chill us to our bones.

Nothing surrounds us every day, begging us to look its way. It can seize your heart, mind, and body. Taking over your very life. Once nothing begins its hold, it is a fight for your survival.

I believe that children are the only ones brave and pure enough to fight against the angst of a "nothing" as they dare to believe, to see, without skepticism with out anything but pure innocent eyes. They are not blind to hurt, but fight it head on.

Adults let too many things stand in there way. Choose to view from too many points, analyze when none is necessary.

If we were all free of mind enough to believe in our own luck dragon, maybe we would not feel that "nothing" is eating away at our very existance.

Try to see as a child does - full of color and shades.

Try to hear as a child does - all the world is a song.

Try to feel as a child does - without pre-judgement

When we do we will find that "nothing" will begin to shrink. And that our world will begin to fill, with love, understanding, acceptance.

Nothing, will have lost.

Hook Line & Sinker

Finally, I got to go fishing again this year. I love to go !
Only this time, there were a couple of, "glitches" I guess you would call them.

Pictured above is "Streak Lake" where the adventure began.

The morning started early, after donning multiple layers of fleece and my prized Nickleback touque (which by the way I am too old to be wearing as I do not look cool in it one bit - but what the hay ! )

Once we hit the road I have a sip of my hot chocolate and carolina's - now don't be getting the wrong idea here.... I only had one - although strong, it was ONE. After all I had a kids halloween party to brace myself for.

Anyways, after an hour and a bit drive ( as read map wrong couple of times ) the boat is about to be lauched. This is where the REAL story begins.

I do not get to drive the boat because apparently that is a "man thing" so as the passenger, I get in last, and push us off as I do such. YEAH RIGHT.

As I contemplate for about 5 full minutes on which leg I am best going to accomplish this with, I am told "Just get in already !" So I go for broke.

Needless to say, I got soaked to mid calf and we did not "push off" at all. So, some guy had to come and push us out. Now for all you fisher people out there please listen up.... PLEASE SAVE US "FLUFFIER" PEOPLE EMBARASSMENT AND DON'T PUT US AT THAT END. Because... as the poor guy was struggling to push us in from my end the boat of course is scraping the rocks on bottom because my BUTT is weighing down that end of the boat !

Finally, out on the lake, I take a deep breath and get the guts up to tell Dean, who is already shaking his head at me, that in all of this goings on, I kinda sorta SAT ON THE FRIGGIN' WORMS !!!.

Both containers are crushed - Boy That Hot Chocolate Is Sure Tasting Good Right Now !

Well now, phewwff. After all that is done, lets get some fishing in. After all that is why we came. So after my spectacular catch of a couple of lunkers it is time to go.

That means time to load up the boat - dun dun daaaaaaa....

I get out of the boat while only soaking myself up to the ankles this time, and put things away in the truck. Dean flips the boat upside down and we each grab a side. LIFT.

Now, I am not in the best shape of my life so I try to make these kinds of things as easy and quick as possible. So what do I do !?

TRIP IN A HOLE IN FRONT OF EVERYBODY AND THE BOAT FALLS ON ME TRAPPING ME UNDER IT... squirming like a bug. gawd.

I get up as fast as humanly possible and avert my eyes from all who witnessed this spectacle. While finally pushing the boat as far back into the truck as we can, I let go of the heavy sucker...... right onto my fingers !!!! $#%@.

Yes, now we all know why I am not a delicate prima ballerina I guess.
Maybe I am better suited to the Circus ?? :)

Boo !

The evening was a success ! I was kind of dreading having nine dressed up kids running amok in the house, jacked up on sugar. But it was FUN !

My house was decorated : cobwebs, spiders, skelatons, black lights, ghosts, red lights, spooky music. The whole shebang !

I ( sooo not a baker ) even made cool halloween goodies. I made slime jellow with gummy worms, punch with floating hands in it, fruit and veggie tray shaped into a skelaton, ghost cookies, and bug crackers.

And I even got a touch of ol' Martha in me. Have no idea what came over me. I made tassled bookmarks and had the kids decorated them with halloween stickers and glitter glue. Then after we played stick the wart on the witch's nose, we made handprint spider pictures complete with googly eyes. I had the tell spooky stories, played freeze dance, tried to see who could last the longest with out laughing, all sorts of things.

The kids looked great, and even I dressed up !

The kids went home with their little goodie bag tired, having had fun. My children were happy, the party was a success !

Today I think I will take them to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins !

I Admit It

Tonight I made a mistake. It feels awful. But I cannot take it back. All I can hope for is the same understanding that I had when mistakes were being made upon me.

Life is not perfect, it is made up of our success, of our failure, of our interpretation, and of our mistakes.

I do not judge, and nor will I ever. We all came to be, because of the circumstances we were subjected to.

How one can be angered all of the time, for one's choices is beyond me. We all have a choice in life and it is made because we think it is the best at the time. Whether that be true or not remains to be seen. Whether we made a mistake or not, we made it for a specific reason.

Please listen to that reason.

My Wit's End

Well, I am plum out of ideas and the Teachers have only been on strike since October 7th. It already feels longer than summer break !

Maybe that is because it has been raining for what seems like a year strait !

How many things can you do inside before brother and sister inevitably start "play" wrestling which eventually escalates into a test to see who can make the other cry first, while using the bedrooms as the as the "Main Event" ring utilizing the bed pillows, blankets and whatever else they can get their grubby little hands on.

I have already covered : coloring, reading, puzzles, baking cookies, molding clay, painting, computer time, tv time, card games, board games, army men, barbies, giving them an extra bath just to kill time........ any other suggestions.....

Finally, after a zillion days inside, I said out you go, you are not going to melt out there. I guess I got what I deserved....

When called in for dinner I received..... A muddy, sopping, puddle that used to resemble my son. Boys will be boys.

In the boot room, removing every piece of clothing and carrying him at arms length to the tub, he happily chatted about how he "took air" on his bike, and that it was fun to skid through the mud. I could have guessed that part from the back tire spray marks up the back of his coat

Then he and the neighbourhood boys played "army" which of course included belly crawls through the "jungle" and diving into "fox holes"

After that it was the plain ol rainy day pastime of finding all of the worms out on the wet road and seeing how far they can stretch before they snap, and do they really grow a new rest of their body?

My daughter on the other hand graced me with the sound of pre-teen pop music blaring from the karoke machine in her room accompanied by none other than herself. When I give up knocking on her door to tell her dinner is ready I barge in to find a mass of lip gloss, blush, bracelets, eyeshadow, 85 pounds of perfume, and each fingernail a different color.

After 1/2 hr. of washing it all off, we settled down to dinner.

This was 1 day, I wonder what we will do tomorrow ?

A New Calling

You Guessed It !

I am going to be a Potterer ! ( is that even a word ? )
In other words I have discoverd that I have an inate ability at the pottery wheel. NOT.

First of all, I have to say I Love Wal-Mart ! Without them and having kids as an excuse for trying out all their stuff, I don't know where I would be today.

My big idea for today was to get the "kids" ( yeah right - I think I wanted it more ) A pottery wheel craft set. It is very cool, except one thing. Apparently things marked 8+ yrs means that you are SUPPOSED to be a Master Crafstman !!!

Gone are the days of kids bringing their parents the traditional first ever clay creation of an ashtray. ( you all know you did - even if you knew they did not smoke ) Nowadays kids are getting right to the nitty gritty.

So, I told the kids that mommy had to test it out first in order to figure it out and be able to help them later if they needed it.

Well I soon discovered that I was the one that could have used the help. After about 500 attempts, and clay flying around my kitchen at the speed of light as my pottery wheel ever so delicately transformed my ball of clay into the masterpiece it has become....

A BALL OF CLAY WITH AN OPENING.

We will see how the kids fair tomorow - maybe they will be able to teach me something.
Because Demi Moore in Ghost I am not.

Nature's Game

The sand beneath my feet crumbles,
I stumble,
and fall.

The wind blows at my body ragingly,
I'm thrown,
and fall.

The sea crashes against me; suffocating,
I choke,
and fall.

The fire licks at the logs; ever reaching closer to me,
I burn,
and fall.

The snow beats at me; stinging my eyes,
I freeze and fall.

To my knees,
To my death.

The forces of life; so symbolic in the hand we are dealt and forced to play. Until somebody wins or loses, Nature's Game

What A Day

It began like this.... I woke up with a headache.

So I knew I was in for it. I was kind of excited still because my new bed is being delivered today.... well, little did I know that today was going to test my already short patience.

First, I am sure that I have done about 5000 loads of laundry. It is crazy, I have come to the conclusion that I am going to limit the children to two outfits each. That's it. Also I think that I am going to make a rule that we start using paper towel to dry off after a shower, because at the rate I am washing towels, they are going to become mere threads in a weeks time.

Now, onto the kitchen. Has anyone tried to clean oatmeal off a kitchen table when it has sat just long enough to take the kids to the bus stop ? I might as well have gotten a chisel or sandpaper and gave my table a whole new look. I might have to anyway as I discovered (while I was chipping away at oatmeal globs) that someone (kids) had decided that they wanted to use permanent black marker to draw their picture with. Now, when the package says permanent they MEAN permanent.

Let's seee... what did I discover next ? Oh yes ! The Microwave...... I wish my head could turn completly upside down so that when I was scraping the exploded spaghetti sauce that wasn't wiped up right away off the inside top, I could actually see what I was doing.

Then I decided I would relax by vaccuming the bedrooms. WELL, as I was going from one room to the next without bothering to wrap up the cord. I stepped on it. This resulted in the vaccum handle coming crashing down and hitting me in the unmentionables.

Also, have you ever sucked up a marble ....... it isn't pretty.

Then I thought, well I had better unload the dishwasher. Have you ever cleaned that trap thingy out ? How much grosser does it get, besides maybe a hairball in the bathtub drain. I cannot stress enough SCRAPE THE PLATES BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN. The poor thing is not a garborator.

Well, I had better go and scour the bathroom. If there is not a post from me in 48 hrs, please have someone send a plumber !

Polson Park

Well, today's the day that my children learned a different side of me...
While on a stroll with my kids at Polson Park, we were at the exact place that the picture shows, these are our japanese gardens. My daughter, curious about nature, saw a water skimmer in the pond, as she bent down to see she slipped and fell into the pond AND split her pants in the backend.

I could not even breathe I was laughing so hard, and here my poor daughter is in wet, now ventilated, jeans !!!

Have you ever tried to explain to a child that it IS indeed funny when someone falls down. This has been a shortcoming in me that I believe I was born with ( as my mother takes great joy in others physical mishaps as well)

Now when a kid trips, falls down, bonks themselves or skins something their immediate reaction is to cry because they scared themselves and are worried that they are hurt, and are kind of embarrased if anyone saw. So while I am keeled over with laughter my poor daughter is on the verge of tears, glancing around to see if anyone saw, and with anger in her voice and all the venom she can muster yells "It's Not Funny !!!" That only seems to promote more laughter in me, and I am about to pass out from lack of air.

Finally, my gales of laughter subside, and I now have to explain that I knew she was not hurt, and that I was not making fun of her. Yeah Right - that went over well. But as things mellowed out and it almost seem to be forgotten, I could not help but murmer "Well, it was funny" I could not just leave things be.

Even to this day I can remember various situations in which I could be of no use to anyone for laughing at someone falling, tripping, or something of the like. This does not mean that I am not concerned, or empathetic, but I mean c'mon IT IS FUNNY.

I can replay those events in my mind and catch every detail of the suprised bunging eyes, the contorted face, the body flailing about. How could you not laugh ??

Do I have issues ??? I blame my mother for this trait !!!! - LOL

Tracks of Life

Sometimes we may not know, just where our path will lead.
Or if it might crossover, change direction, or what speed.

However uncertain, our path may seem to be, If we hadn't taken step, ourselves we would not be.

No one knows for certain, what lies around the bend.
As we cannot see around the corners or to our journey's end.

Although the travel, might at times, seem too extreme,
Where would we be right now, if we never dared to dream.

So walk the tracks each day, and enjoy the scenery.
Take one step at a time, never looking back, and living life you'll be.