My weekend in review

Well da man went out of town on Friday afternoon for a hunting show. That left da kid and I on our own for the night. We walked to and from dance class (da kid takes a hip hop class) in the cold - man when is it going to warm up?

I hate trying to sleep when da man isn't home. I know it isn't logical but I can't sleep well when he isn't there. Every noise wakes me. Even though I know, if he had been home and 26 ninjas broke down the door and stampeeded though the house, he probably wouldn't wake up - I feel safer when he is there.

So Saturday my sister, my friend, da kid and I went to a Psychic Fair - or so we thought - it was crap - not even worth the $3 we paid to get in. Teeny tiny and they were selling crap and ridiculus prices. The psychics were charging $60 and were telling fortunes with coloured popsickle sticks - I kid you not! We spent all of 15 minutes there. Then we went to the Courtice Flea market - at least we knew what to expect there.

Da man came home at around 4pm on Saturday - I got to sleep that night :)

On Sunday I did the usual - 4 loads of laundry, made bran muffins (from a mix but still), made granola bars (from scratch), prepped salads and fixins for two days lunches, ran the dishwasher (which means I had to unload then reload it) and watched 7 of 8 hours (I missed the first hour) of the mini series The Stand (did all my other stuff while watching it) - it's based on the Stephen King book by the same name - I am huge Stephen King fan.

I was supposed to finish mine and da man's taxes - but didn't will try to get to that tonight.

Why do weekends go by so fast - yet Mondays can last a week?

Works for Me Wednesday - Lunch prep

I make my son's lunch each day and try to be organized enough to bring my own as well. Sometimes I succeed. Usually when I plan ahead and do as much lunch prep as possible on the weekend right after doing my grocery shopping.

These are some of the things I do to make evening (or morning if I am really lazy) lunch prep that much easier:

DS's lunch

• Put all dry snacks into a basket in my pantry - remove all outer packaging. Cracker/cheese packs, granola bars, etc..
• Put things like chips or crackers from larger packages into little snack sized snack bags - prep enough for the week - add to dry snack basket.
• Take yogurt tubes, cheese sticks, etc...out of their outer packaging and place in basket in fridge.
• We have 3 plastic juice boxes that I send juice in for him (he gets one a day) - prefill them all - wash as they get used and refill and store in fridge.
• Wash all the apples I will need for the week so that I can just grab and add to lunchbox.
• If using yogurt from large container or jello - put into small tupperware type container and store in fridge snack basket.
• My son doesn't like sanwiches - he takes deli meat plain in a bag - I prepackage snack bags with 3 pcs deli meat in each.
• Muffins get put into baggies and stored in the fridge basket.

So I just have to grab any of the prepped snacks and food and pop them into his lunchbox with an icepack and we are off!

My lunch - salad:

• Boil eggs on the weekend.
• Wash, cut up and bag celery and baby carrots.
• Put salad dressing into little tupperware type containers.
• Put cottage cheese in little tupperwares.
• Put bacon bits & croutons in snack bags.
• Cut up cheese and olives and put into snack bags.
• Wash and dry lettuce - bag in 2 cup portions - enough for week.
• Wash apples.

Then I grab one of each that I have just prepped and place all into a large ziplock bag and store in the fridge. Each morning I just need to grab the bag and put it into my lunchbox with an icepack.

Works for me (when I do it!). For more great tips, pop over to Rocks in My Dryer.

Spring Reading Thing 2007

I have joined the Spring Reading Thing 2007 over at Katrina's. You can join too!

My list so far:

• At least 4 more In Death series books by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) there are about 26 books, of which I have read about 12.
  
  ETA: (That's "Edited to add", not "Estimated time of arrival" :))
  The In Death series is all about a homocide detective Eve Dallas - it takes place in 2058ish - each book is about a different homocide investigation. Of course there is always a healthy dose of romance included (she has a gorgeous Irish billionaire previous-badboy husband; Roarke). Note: These are better read in order, as there is continuety in them. But I haven't been able to get them from the libray that way, so I have read them all out of order. I just finished the 17th and am now starting the 3rd - go figure!
  
  I have finished Immortal In Death (Mar 30/07) & Ceremony In Death (Apr 2/07) - I enjoyed both. Finished Vengence In Death (Apr 2/07), Holiday In Death (Apr 6/07), Midnight In Death (Apr 7/07), Naked In Death (1st book in series Apr 14/07)
  
• Teacher Man by Frank McCourt - bought via my book club but haven't yet read. I liked all his other books though.
  Finished Jun 6/07 - I didn't think it was his best work.
  
• The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury - again a book club purchase that I have yet to read. Supposed to be along the lines of The Da Vinci Code - so I should like it.
• Coming To Our Senses by Jon Kabat-Zinn - again from the book club - a somewhat new age/spiritual book.
• The Secret by Rhonda Byrne - I'm about half way done this book - not quite what I expected it to be. Finished this Mar 28th - you can read the review here.
• Ask and it is Given by Esther & Jerry Hicks - I have read most of it except for the practical info in the last couple chapters.
• Stress Free for Good by Dr. Fred Luskin & Dr. Kenneth R. Pelletier - started this book but couldn't get into it.
• Not originally on my list....High Tide by Jude Deveraux (Apr 9/07), Heart of the Sea (read the 1st two of this trilogy years ago) Nora Roberts (Apr 8/07).
  

I am sure there are several more but I have to check my bookcase at home (currently at work).

Kim

About a boy

10 years ago today, I gave birth to an 8 pound, 8 ounce baby boy.

It was 4 months before my 30th birthday. I had wanted to have a child before I turned 30 – well I just made it.

Da boy was a good baby right from the start, he hardly ever cried without an easily solvable reason, and he smiled constantly.

And of course he was SO smart!

He didn’t walk until after his first birthday and while at the time I thought he spoke late, he hasn’t stopped since he did start.

And I guess I wasn’t the most conventional Mommy, I used to sing songs to him that I knew the words to. Could be the reason he knew all the words to American Pie at age 2 instead of Twinkle Twinkle little star.

His baby sitter requested I stop this trend when he wouldn’t stop singing a Carpenters song.

“Why do birds suddenly appear, every time you walk near? Just like me, they long to be, close to YOU! LA! La la la laaaaaa! Close to YOU!”

I was giving her construction-working husband “ear worms” that he was then passing on to all of his co-corkers LOL.

Then there is the time at around age 4 when he asked me where babies came from. I thought I would have a lot more time to figure out how to handle this situation but figured I could wing it.

I explained that the Daddy planted a seed in the Mommy’s tummy and God made it grow into a baby and then the Doctor took it out. He seemed to be grasping the concept well until he asked who got to keep the flower……

"Um…what flower Honey?” I asked, already mentally calculating how much I should start saving towards the therapy he will surely need. “The flower the seed grew into that the baby came out of” he answered, rolling his eyes and giving me the "well weren't YOU even listening" look! Too much gardening with Mom methinks!

He has always been very outgoing and started talking to everyone as soon as he could speak, and I mean everyone, the cashier at the store, the people in line with us, anyone who came into his school or daycare. While walking down the street, he was often greeted by people, people I didn’t know. Everyone knew Da boy's name – this eventually became an issue at school though. While he may have be one of five boys doing something they shouldn’t have been doing, his was the name that got remembered the most. But that is a topic for a different post.

He loves to read, and is very good at it and writing stories too – which I am so thankful for. This is probably due to the fact that I read to him since the day he was born and have explained the importance of grammar and punctuation from the day he could understand me. Da man and I take turns tucking him in at night and when it is Mommy’s night to cuddle, we read books and talk about how our day was and giggle like crazy. When it is Daddy’s night to cuddle, they do math problems in their heads – did I mention that he is also very good in math?

He wants to be Harry Potter. He has been asking for a baby sister for years - something that is not going to happen unless the Baby Fairy leaves one on our doorstep.

He loves the dramatic and would love to be an actor. He starred in a few plays at summer camp last year and was instantly hooked. He is one of only two boys (and about 20 girls) enrolled in the local hip hop dance troupe, and loves that as well.

He loves playing soccer and this summer will be his 4th year on a league. He got 4 goals last season.

He still allows hugs in public, kisses in private and still likes to cuddle with Mom, I’m not sure how much longer that will last, but I am enjoying it while it does.

He is my one and only and makes my life a constant adventure of surprises and love.

Happy birthday Pookie Bum, Peanut, Mommy's Sunshine, Munchie Face, Smoochie Face!

Things you should not do on the GO train

For those of you who do not know, the GO train is a high speed commuter train that I take into Toronto (and back) to work each day. It's a 50 minute train ride.

1. Do not, EVER, get on the 4:10 pm train home, and sit right in front of me (we are so close that our shoes touch) and eat McDonalds! I don't even really like McDs but - come on! at that time of day, I am famished and McDs just smells SO good. There should be a law. I did my best not to drool on this guys shoes.
   
2. Get up 10 mins early and do your makeup AT HOME! I mean really - do you know how attractive you look making THE face as you put on your mascara in a car full of strangers?
   
3. If you must bring little ones on the morning train, please read to them quietly and explain that all the nice people on the train would really like to nap.
   
4. Please turn your cell phone volume down from "rock the house" to very very low and get rid of the obnoxious ringtones people! When you answer you phone, speak quietly, we do not all want to hear you ask your teen if he scooped the poop in the backyard! Like I mentioned in point 3, people would just really want to nap!
   
5. Do not bring your hairdryer on the train (oh yes she did!), there are not many outlets and even if you did find one, do you really think we want to watch you flip your hair dry?
   
6. To the same hairdryer lady (term used loosely), do not hog the teeny tiny bathroom to do your makeup the entire ride home. Other people may have to go. She also changed her clothes, I know this because she took off her shirt, came out of the teeny tiny bathroom, IN HER BRA, grabbed a new shirt from her bag and then went back it.
   
7. If you know you snore loudly, do NOT go to sleep! (on the train that is :))
   
   I am sure there are more, but I am done my rant for today.

Have a nice Easter weekend all :)

My son’s thing

I don’t know how to approach this story – except to jump right in.

A couple of years ago, when my son was 7 or 8, he called me into the bathroom one day. He told me his penis hurt. I asked if I could have a look.

Ok I have to get a little graphic to explain this, please bear with me – on the head of his penis, was a small (couple millimetres) triangular shaped slightly raised bump. He said it hurt to touch. I called my husband in for a look – hey he has more experience with these things then I do LOL.

My husband looked and said he had never seen anything like it before. He had a strange look on his face (probably assuming it was some type of tumour on a very important piece of the male anatomy).

We decided to take my son to the walk in clinic since it was a weekend. We waited the usual 2 hours before we got in to see the Dr. I asked my son to show the Dr. He was a little shy but did as we asked.

She said it might be a fungal infection and carefully (very carefully as my son began to freak out) took a swab of around the spot. She prescribed a cream of some type to put on it as well as a fungal cream that we should get if she called with positive results from the fungal swab.

We filled the regular cream prescription and went home. I showed my son how to apply the cream – twice a day – with a cotton swab.

On the second day, as he is applying the cream, he calls from the bathroom “Mom! It came off!”

“WHAT CAME OFF?” I screamed back as I ran to the bathroom expecting – geeze I really don’t know what I expected!

He is standing in the bathroom in front of the toilet with his pants down, starring at the cotton swab in his hand. A quick glance down tells me what didn’t fall off. He shows me the swab – there on it is the small triangular shaped slightly raised bump. Gross I know – but I had to check it out – I picked it off the swab head and discovered it was a ………


Piece of popcorn kernel!

Man I laughed so hard! It wasn’t cancer or anything that would threaten his manhood – it was just him eating popcorn in his underwear and somehow….well and popcorn kernels can be very sharp and hurt if digging into you in just the right place.

My husband was very relieved! I’m sure the person who called to tell me it wasn’t a fungal infection thought I was nuts as I laughed at her too.

So all was fine and good and I have a great story to hang over his head as he gets older - and he has learned not to eat popcorn in his underwear! LOL.