Valentines, consumerism and unproductive days

WEll, I will be glad when the second semester starts in school...I don't know about anyone else, but having teenagers at home during the day leads to the most unproductive days, well almost, hired them to clean the rec room, but inspection proved that the job was only half done which lead to a 2 hour disruption in my day...then did laundry, took them out shopping for a bit, had to get a new antenna for the satellite radio, and various other things we really didn't need..

the consumerism around every "holiday" is just sickening, even though we do take part in in, and yes, even my 1 year old will give out valentines to his daycare friends and educators, it doesn't make me fall any better about it. Everything from the chocolates and stuffed animals, to grandious gifts of jewlery etc. when and where did this all come from...there are gifts to buy for class mates for school age children, and even for my little guys at daycare, you can buy 20 packs of playdoh with stickers that say to and from.

the teenagers lead me on a youtube search and watched some kid do major freak outs..interesting, but a total wast of my day,,,,unproductivity was the theme of the day...

School...

Well, Davidson is going to be going to school this fall, already! Can you believe it? Again , I say, where has the time gone? Now the decision to make...where does he go to school? Well, we obviously will put him into the Catholic Board, but do we go to our home school, or do we send him to French immersion? Of course, JK will be english anyway, and then french immersion begins in SK. I really do think having French will be an advantage in his future, but is he cut out for it? I don't know. And if he isnt, then what do we do? It is a huge decision to make, and means he would be in school further away from home, meaning busing is longer etc. Leads to all sorts of possibilities, and then in the future, will Zacchaeus be suited for the French program as well, and what if he isn't. Oh the places you'll go in your own head when you have to make theses decisions.
Anyway, that is the big topic of the day. And I am exhausted. No news on the house yet, still we wait. I don't know what else to say.
Good night, and welcome Debby to my blog!

Stress

Well, rain, snow, leaky basement, still trying to obtain financing for our dream house...and trying to stay focused and calm on everything not easy.

A good point of the weekend, Zacchaeus is walking more and more, enough that I feel comfortable saying he is walking...has lead to some fun.

Davidson is showing some allergic reactions t othe cat, but apparently vitamin E in the cat food can help to combat the dander allergens...so we'll see

So, back to the house, in order to get the house, we need a co-signer, and apparently, non of my family will do it, so my best friend has stepped up and has agreed to co -sign, so now we wait to see if she qualifies...man the stress, and the frustration, of knowing that we have more than enough money to put a downpayment and to pay montly on this house...

so hopefully by the end of tomorrow we will know if we have this house or not...I will let you...whoever reads this, know.

HOUSE HUNTING

Not for the faint of heart, this house hunting thing. We spent Saturday and sunday afternoon looking at different houses in all sorts of price ranges and in all different areas of town, and it still comes back to one house...the same house we looked at last summer. Unfortunately, there is already an offer, however conditional, on the house, and they must sell their house before they can buy this one....this leaves all sorts of room for other possibilities..so we hurridly put together an offer yesterday, which won't be presented until tonight at 9:00! urrggg, the waiting and suspense are killers, and the whole dynamics of the realtor. So we sit and wait, and hope and pray.
Work has picked up and I have found myself off to work most days this past three weeks, always good, but no time at home to work on assignments, there are going to have to be a few late nights behind the computer and surrounded by papers, books and hot coffee. wish me luck.
Davidson, the 3 year old has had a few wheezy days, he hadn't had his puffers most of the winter, and the past couple days has asked for it. The struggle we used to have giving it to him and now he likes to hold it himself, they really do grow up and things do get easier.
Anyway, we anxiously wait word on the offer on the house, I'll post when there is news.

Where do the days go?

Can you believe it, it is already Jan. 17? What happened to the beginning of the year, here and gone. It is Sunday morning, only Zacchaeus and I are up, it is 8:30, he is sitting in his highchair eating breakfast and much to my chagrin...playing with the ipod..but it is an educational game. Ok, so now the ipod is away from him, because he has decided to eat his cereal with both fists, instead of his spoon, whatever works and gets the job done. Zacchaeus is almost 16 months old, finally taking his first steps, albeit not many. He is enjoying the kitty cat, whose name is now Sunshine, in case I didn't mention that before. He has learned to be gentle and has also learned that the kitty cat loves to eat his cereal with him, so now there seems to be a purpose to throwing food over the edge of his tray!

As I sit here typing this, in the quiet of Sunday morning, I am thinking how fast the days go by, and where did the time go. Everyday goes by so quickly before you know it another week has come and gone and month and year. When did Michaela grow up and become a teenager? Just yesterday I came home from a walk at Centennial with the little boys, to find a strange car in my driveway, and it was her friend, with a drivers license and a car! When did that happen? how scary is that.

So the big news is we are most likely going to be able to finally secure a mortgage, and so therefore have spent a few days looking at what is available in Thunder Bay, which, is lots and not lots at the same time. Today we should be both doing homework, but will probably take some time to go and look at houses and see what is out there. we have looked at two so far, one house was down to the studs, an old house with a new addition and not very well done and then they walked away..very scary. Then an old character home, which is in need of an Extreme Makeover and a new location as there is no yard. This could take a while, maybe it will be the focus of my blog, most likely not!

Then at the same time as we live in our safe and stable environment here, even without a full time job we live well...how can you not stop and think about the people in Haiti who have lost family, homes and everything! Watching news casts last night was very disturbing, to see babies the same age as Zacchaeus suffering, without anyone to hug and kiss them, with no food and hardly any water, what will come of these babies? It takes me back to the day I had Zacchaeus and the doctor asked me if I was sure I wanted the tubal ligation, and I told him " there are babies in Africa to adopt should I want another one", Now there are babies in Haiti in need of homes and families. The devestation is hug and makes one ponder, how will they ever recover, but they do, humans are remarkable beings.

As I finish this post, I welcome the follower, who ever you are, to my disconnected world and hope youfind some enjoyment in reading.
Until the next time!

New member of our family

Well, we have a new member to our family...a kitten. No real name yet, Michaela was begging and finally got her way..she promises to get a real job and help pay for these things, that, I will believe when I see it! So, when we were out buying things for the cat we bought a fish for Davidson. We had a beta just before christmas which died, Davidson thinks he/she has risen from the dead, as he said at first sight..." Memo, there you are!" So Memo is ressurected, hopefully survives the cat, hopefully the cat survives the house and we survive the cat! Craziness added to craziness...but all good...every child needs a pet to grow up with and learn empathy for the animal kingdom.

ok, no work again on assignments, but got really close...books open computer on..notes open and ready to type..then 3 phone calls, cat arriving, going out for cat supplies..and home, dinner, cranky babies, babies playing with cat, watching cat doesnt get squished...and finally..babies in bed, cat settled in, and now sitting down doing work..but not the work I should be...tomorrow night..Feb. 8th extension is looming..need to get done...

and still no real focus for this blog...kind of feels like a journa..

oh yeah,big news got my ladybug scarf and bracelets in today...so excited, I love them...I can't wait to show them to my girl guides next week, they will all want one!

ok that is it for today, tomorrow gr 7/8 supply, should be fun.

The Ladybug Foundation

ok, so I haven't been here for a few days, seems I am keeping my resolution just as well as all the others...but here I am now, and here it goes.

So late the other night, lying in bed ,couldn't sleep decided to watch some films on the ipod from the national film board and came across one about homelessness, called Hannah's STory...and since that day, I have not stopped thinking about it. you can read all about Hannah Taylor and her fight against homelessness since she was age 6, she is now age 13 and travelling nation wide and internationally spreading awareness about homelessness and ways we can all help. Her foundation, The Ladybug Foundation has raised over $1 million and has helped various homeless shelters and food banks across Canada.

So this is where I come in, the wheels are turning, how can we spread the news about this young women, who apparently many people know about and yet still there are thousands of homeless people? Well, being a Girl Guide of Canada leader with a unit of 20 girls and access to many more is where I start. Being a teacher with two school boards is where I continue and talking to the mayor of our city is where I keep going.

Hannah is booked until late June, but we will try to get her here to speak to people to start the ladybug movement here, and hope that it will spread city wide. I admire Hannah Taylor and her family for putting so much time and effort into helping others.
If you read this blog, please go to her website www.ladybugfoundation.com and please buy a red lady bug scarf to wear on January 31st to raise awareness of homelessness.

Other than that, life is busy, assignments not done, got an extension on my deadline to February 8th., Been supply teaching, in my favourite gr. 2 class today, good to be back and see all my students from last year and fellow colleagues.

Day 2

Well, decided today that i am going to start a diet, but not...see if i dont call it a diet I won't feel like I am depriving myself of anything, so I will call it a healthy lifestyle, yes, that sounds good. So we will eat healthier in the house, and excercise more and just all around try to get ourselves into better shape.
why do I say "we" or "our", well, because, since watching the biggest loser last season, and now the season starting tonight, we have decided, unlike last season, we will walk on the treadmill, do some eliptical time or just do crunches or weights while we watch, instead of eating. Let's face it, the last season of watching, I put on about 10 pounds with ice-cream, popcorn and chips. Not good. So we will try this and see what happens.

What else is happening today, got a few calls for work, so have a few dates booked, not alot, but some, always good. Did homework get done, not yet! I bought groceries, got the van cleaned, went to Chapters, had my last latte for a while (healthy living and all) bought a few really good books for ridiculously low prices! Bought more groceries and came home. Had lunch with Michaela, she went off to school. Put away all the groceries, took another call for work, 1/2 day this time...and then had coffee with Kathleen. I had bought Astra a little gift so packaged it and got it ready to send off...while wrapping it nicely and adding a few extra touches came across some pictures, man I looked good in 2005,,,,that was only 5 years ago, so lets see if I can loose the baby fat of the last 2 and get back to that.

Anything else, nope...going to start dinner, kids home from school soon and then, craziness begins in the house again. i work tomorrow, JK class, should be fun..sure there will be something interesting to comment on. Other than that, hope to get work done tonight, but promised Erin that I would take her to see the Chipmunk movie, the Squekuel...I have not idea how to spell that.

Ok, off I go, no followers yet, maybe no one reads this..or do they, who knows.

Procrastination

Well, since October 14th I've been taking an AQ course, ok, to be perfectly honest, I am signed up, paid and have read the first module notes, have writte part of the first assignment and haven't done a thing since then. With kids back in school, trying to get some work done, have found many other things to occupy my time. I noticed Michaela didn't wear boots to her co-op so I decided I better go pick her up, too cold to walk in shoes...then decided today, even though 5 months late, would be a good day to go get her health card renewed...check another thing off the procrastination list. Started laundry, only to discover that the dryer is not working...maybe I will go to the laundry mat later to dry the clothes..then..made phone calls to try to book some excursions for my girl guide group, then.....talked to Becky about the phone calls, and then of course, about the daycare situation and the fact that after 5 years of supply teaching I still cannot get a job! then lets see, oh yes the turkey carcass demanded to be made into soup, so started looking for recipes online, seems my cookbooks don't have any wild rice turkey soup recipes, then found a blog...and here I am. Yes, I saw Julie and Julia, this blog I was reading was about cooking with a crockpot for year, my blog...well, it goes back to my days in teachers college, when things didn't go my way, and I made them, it was Yvonnics ...and my friend James, he coined the phrase, Yvonnics101. What will my blog be about...nothing and everything, and most of all, my procrastination. So here it is, my very first one, maybe someone will find it, maybe not. I guess we'll see.