The good and the bad kinda day…

Ya’ll remember how I renewed my expired (for over a year) drivers license yesterday???

Well today I got pulled over for speeding in a school zone in one of those fancy ‘meet the quota’ check stops.  The good part??  I was also not wearing my seatbelt!!  Why is that good you ask??  Because the cop gave me an ‘option’ of which ticket to pay… of course the seat belt ticket is 100$ less than the speeding ticket.  If I had been wearing my seatbelt He would have been forced to give me the speeding ticket!!  The best part of it all??  I renewed my license yesterday which prevented me from being fined an exorbitant amount and having my car towed while I got a taxi ride home from a friendly police officer. 

Sometimes the world works in mysterious ways no??

Oh well… off to enjoy the rest of this sunny day.

What exactly is going on in my hood??

let’s see, since I last blogged we’ve been busy! We’ve had a play date, the first one with a new school friend. The mom was great, she made fresh cinnimon buns, cheese pizza, veggie trays for the kids and coffee for her and I. All that AND she has a 2 month old baby along with a 2 year old and her older sister. Amazing.  I plan on inviting them over for an afternoon, but If I plan on keeping up with her, I better start planning now.

Nolan got his first shiner.  Paige dropped a large plastic ‘Kermit the frog’ piggy bank on his face and it landed on his cheekbone right underneath his eye.  Over the last week we’ve watched it turn all the colours of the rainbow.  The looks from other parents has also been interesting, looks that are begging for an explanation.   Of course, I always provide one… but one of these times I’m going to say something like, “I told him to stop making so much racket while CSI was on…”
Every night when I have to put the kids to bed for the sake of expediency I lay down with the kids in my bed.  The lights are turned off and we sing a couple songs and then go to sleep.  Before we actually close our eyes I always say “Goodnight, Sleep tight, don’t let the Bed Bugs bite!” and paige will reply the same to me.  Then one night Nolan said “Good night Mom, don’t get Bug bites!”  and he stuttered and stammered and said it over a few times because he knew it wasn’t coming out quite right but I thought it was the cutest thing ever.  He also told me ‘Don’t come get me, Stay at home Mom.’ as we were walking him to preschool.  He absolutely loves it there and fits in like a pea in a pod.  It’s wonderful to watch.  We’ve also finally got him to leave the building without having to be slung over my shoulder kicking and screaming which is also nice.   Now we just need to get that whole potty thing out of the way… any tips?

Paige has started what while probably be her last level of early swimming.  Called Water Whales, she will now learn to swim laps!  She loves it, first of all because she loves swimming, second of all she loves the new bathing suit I had to buy her (long story) and Nolan can’t see why she gets to go in the pool and he can’t so next time we all will go in the water.  Oh yippee.
Kindergarten is going well.  This week was parent/teacher conference week so Kinder classes have only been an hour and a half long.  It’s ridiculous!  Today, after returning from walking Paige to school,  I chatted with my neighbor for a while, climbed into the truck and drove for a coffee with Nolan.  We then parked in the school parking lot for 30 minutes and waiting for our time to pick up Paige.  I had a chuckle when i saw a couple other moms ALSO sitting in their cars with coffee.  After going for my one hour to see what Paige’s learning at school I was quite impressed with her skills.  I did see a little bit of her having a hard time focusing at first but soon she was showing off with pride.   During our playdate, I noticed Paige and her friend playing using most of the french words they learned at school (colours and numbers)- I was impressed!

Anyway- enough of this brag book- but I wanted to blog about this stuff for my own recollection if nothing else.

In my own personal business, I just did a mini photo session with my neighbors.  I wasn’t too impressed with the results so I’m not going to charge her anything and offer to do it again at a later date.  What are friends for right?  Also I was flagged down at my Gym by a woman whom I did photos for LAST year at this time!  I don’t know how she recognized me, but she did stare at me for about 10 minutes while I was on the recumbent bike.  She got me paranoid that I had a nasty case of body odor!!  I’m excited about this shoot, because the woman has a BEAUTIFUL home and she wants to do it in her home, her kids will be another year older and easier to corral, not to mention this year I’m using my new camera that can handle low light and not my ultra zoom point and shoot.   It’s going to be good, I’m excited.  Now I definitely need to get my but in gear and design my new business cards tonight.  No more fooling around!

 Okay, off i go but Check the blog out this friday for this weeks Haiku, I just love doing it.

Take care all,
~jen

Blogged with Flock

Haiku Friday is a good thing.

children’s televisionis enough to drive you madbut kids are happy

a tongue in need is a pain indeed.

How many more times can I burn my tongue on food and beverages before it actually shrivels up and I accidentally swallow it???  No wonder my dinner tasted like it needed more salt, my tongue has been damaged and can no longer taste!  I’m just saying that I’m frustrated, that’s all.

In other news, I have to give a shout out to my neighbor Laurie (aka Mama Lee) who gave so generously of her time and elbow grease this morning to help me sort, purge and clean my livingroom/ dining room area.  Who am I kidding- she did it all while I managed kids and did the kitchen cleaning routine.  She was a machine, a small, feisty and ever so efficient machine.  I actually felt like I was in the way as soon as I walked into the room.  Thanks to her I have claimed my living room back as an ADULT place- where toys shall not linger. All I have left to do is keep it tidy and hang some picture frames.
Words can not express my gratitude. Seriously. Thank you. 

It’s been a long week without hubs here.  We miss him.  He’ll be feeling so extra loved too when he sees my list of ‘things to do around the house’ hanging on the fridge.  Welcome home.

I handed off the photos from my first two photo shoots and they were met with rave reviews!  The Mom of the 2 year old told me that all the ladies at her office can’t wait to see the photos because they May want to use my services!  Yipee!  ‘Tis the season for photos!  I have a shoot in the wings for my neighbor’s family, hopefully the weather will hold out for a day or two this week… ::fingers crossed:: 

Nolan has started using more bigs words (in appropriate context too!).  Words like, "Serious", "Hostible" (hospital), and ‘restaurant’.  All very important words- hopefully not used together in a sentence… put the kid in nursery school for a couple days and he comes home with a new vocabulary.  Nolan is LOV’IN the preschool too by the way- he has a complete hissy fit everytime we go to pick him up.  Hopefully that stops soon…

Paige has experienced a few firsts too- first picture day at school, and I had a mom of one of her friends arrange a play date with me!  Her first play date with a friend from her class, here we go, I’m now in the world of bake sales, fund raisers and apres-class playdates.

Well I should hobble on to bed now- I like to get up and enjoy a few minutes of quiet time while the kids sleep- but lately i’ve been absolutely exhausted at the end of the day and sleep is all I can think about.

Blog at ya soon,

~jen

Haiku Friday

kindergarten fun
does it need to end so soon?
mom loves her time out

I’ve been told.

I have been instructed by Suz to BLOG while I’m in ALberta on vacation.  I promise to try my best peeps!  I’ve just finished loading up the Santa fe, Nolan is sitting in it watching a DVD (those car DVD things are AWESOME) and I thought I’d take a moment to burn some music and write a little bloggy before i head out to pick up Paige from school.

Update for you all, I don’t have an ulcer.  What I do have is reflux.  One more thing I inherited from my loving dad.  Yes, so I may have to be on acid reducers for an extended period of time, perhaps my life, considering that I have experienced this pain on and off since high school.  I’m happy that it’s all under control now.

Anyway I should get hustling…

Will blog again soon!!

~jen

Once a week habit…

It looks like blogging has been demoted to a once a week habit these days.  I’m not going to apologize because sometimes it just works out like that. 

So here’s the scoop on what I’ve been up to. 
I’ve been spending a lot of time with my beloved doctor- we’ve been assessing my health lately which has involved a lot of trips to the lab and blood draws.  It turns out that not only am I carrying extra weight but the consequences have been High cholesterol and possibly even type 2 diabetes (verdict is still out on this one).  Which, if left untreated for any longer could turn me into (my docs words) A ‘ticking time bomb’ at risk of a heart attack.  Yes, I have been freaking out a little.  So I’ve been doing research, trying to eat better and get my body moving.  How did I let myself get this bad… I don’t know.

Also there is my constant companion,"the pain".  My doc sent me for an upper gastro intestinal xray last week.  This has got to be one of the world’s grossest tests.  They make you drink a thick chalky fluid and do an xray of your stomach as the stuff goes down.  I’m telling you it was all I could do to muscle past the gag reflex.  The doctor kept telling me, drink it steady and quickly until it’s gone!  He couldn’t possibly understand how gross that stuff was.  It was cool to sip the gross stuff through a straw and watch my oesophagus and stomach on a screen hanging on the wall- it helped distract me from the gagging.  Anyway, the results came into the doctors office today and they called me to arrange and appointment.  They only call if there is something to discuss… so I’m hoping that the news is good, and I do have an ulcer.  Sounds funny to say but at least there will be some medication she can give me and I will see and end to all of this pain.  I have compassion for any of you people out there who have had or currently have an ulcer- the pain is all encompassing at times.  Also, the ulcer was probably brought about by my over use of Ibuprofen.  So keep that in mind next time you’ve got an ache or pain… I know Tylenol blows but it’s gentle on the stomach.  Take it easy on the Advil!

Damn the facebook!

I know what your thinking… Where the hell have you been???  Well, I have only got one wordto say, well two words that are smushed together… Facebook.  What a great little thing but a realy time sucker at the same time.  It’s allowed me to touch base with relatives and friends I haven’t seen or spoken to in years.  What is facebook you ask?  Go and check it out for yourself because it’s too hard to explain in one sentence. or even two.  Sign yourself up, search for some friends and try not to stay up too late.

In the meantime, I’m going to upload more photos to my flickr site. 

Between now and then I’ll also try to write a post about all the clever stuff my kids have been saying… I need to get it in type before I completely forget.

Until then,

~jen

Clarification on the update

Okay I forgot to give details on the bumper bump I had with the Santa Fe.  I simply rolled into a smaller Honda while at an intersection (many thanks to the fact that I’m now driving a standard).  My rear bumper has some scuffing that you have to look hard to see and the Honda had some gouges and scuffs thanks to a silly plastic plate holder mounted high on the front bumper.  I have been without any type of accident for a long time and am sending many thanks out to the universe that this was small.  When I’m driving with good company I become a little distracted (right Tanya, Jess???)… I’ve definitely got my "listening ears" and "Looking eyes" on these days.

My new wide angle zoom lens arrived today, and it’s sure nice.  I previously had a 50mm ‘prime’ or ‘fixed’ lens before so all the zooming had to be done with my feet by walking closer or farther away.  It’s cool for portraits but if I wanted to get an entire body in a shot with background it involved me being about 3/4 of a mile away.  This lens is mucho better in that respect.  I’ve got soooooo many photos to upload to flickr it makes me light headed to think about it.  I will be sure to let you know as I go along, I’ve been adding new stuff just about everyday.  I wish i could be that disciplined with this here blog!

Well I should run along- the kids are enjoying the HOT day outside and I think I’ll join them.

Take it easy folks,

~jen

Updates from the Island

Now all my guests have come and gone and it’s time to get back to the daily routine (really tried hard not to say ‘grind’ right there).  I had an unreal amount of energy yesterday and used it to run a few errands and catch up on a few household chores that had fallen behind.  Today it’s all about entertaining the troops.  Thank goodness for a stack of poker chips left on the kitchen window sill, the kids have been playing ‘Store’ out on the grass and I’ve had a break.  It’s nice and much needed at the moment. 

Summer has definitely arrived, it’s been nice and sunny and toasty warm outside.  I’m glad it was here in time for my sister (and Tanya) to enjoy while they visited.  Paige got a new bathing suit with her birthday money from her great Grandma Jeannie and Grandpa Joe (see the photo above) I haven’t been able to throw it in the wash yet because she’s still wearing it.  Also, thanks Grandma Jo for the ‘credit card’ (gift card) to Toys r us, Paige can’t wait to spend it.