Overalls!!

I’ve owned several pairs as both as a child & grown up, but my last pair was about 20 years ago. I have always loved them even though they are unflattering in a kind of cute way. While out doing some shopping I saw a pair in the window of a well-known trendy store, the modern day version of which is full of man made rips & holes, I totally had to have them!

My husband rolled his eyes when I told him, but then when he had a fashion show he was sold declaring that they were very me. It wasn’t until the following day at school pick up that the boys saw their mum looking like an overgrown toddler. My younger son was the first to clap eyes on me outside his classroom, he just looked wide eyed & said ‘Mum, why are you wearing those?’ Then refused to walk with me. After some persuading he rode the elevator with me (I can’t do stairs anymore), when the doors slid open on the ground floor – where 500 parents wait for their kids – my elder son was waiting for me…

However, he wasn’t the first person to acknowledge my attire. Across the lobby was my class parent partner waving furiously at me because what was she wearing – OVERALLS TOO! Quite a few parents acknowledged that we looked quite cool, but where was my elder son at this point… almost hiding the washroom, mortified that not only was his mum parading around looking like a lost farmer, but his best friend’s mum was too.

It didn’t end there, the glorious weather & early summer temperatures allowed a long play in the playground, but when we had to leave, would they walk with me – not in a million years. This called for some serious action; my children were embarrassed, so of course I’ve worn them every day since!

Have book will travel!

My book has been spotted on a beach in Maui 😃

Inpatient insomnia…

My knee kept me awake for 3 hours last night, throbbing like toothache so I was unable to find a comfortable position. I still have another week to wait before I see the surgeon & I just hope for the sake of those who have to live with me – or just pass me in the street! – that she will just go in there & have a look. I know that surgery is always the last thing any of us want, but this has been going on for 6 months now & I’m at breaking point with it. It’s getting worse again, swelling, protruding, & nagging away at me all the time.

Today was back to school after Spring break, I could see people looking at my leg to see if the brace was still there. I think many have given up asking, they see how much it’s worn me down. When they do ask I don’t have anything different to say. I hope in a week’s time I do…

Heart of glass…

It doesn’t matter how down I get about my own situation there is always something that comes along, slaps me in the face & wakes me up. Then I suddenly realize that really my own situation is not at all that bad. That happened today when my lovely cleaner announced what was troubling her. I knew there was something on her mind the moment she walked in the door. We’ve gotten to know each other quite well over the last three years & I now consider her a friend not just an employee. She is so reliable & good at what she does she now works for two of my friends. She is the hard working, salt of the earth type who would do anything for you, & on occasion I have called on her kindness. Her sadness today began last summer when her husband had a heart attack…

A hard working man & father of two boys, he was devastated when he learned he required surgery after his infarction. He recovered well but mentally struggled with not being active & going out to work. This finally returned not long ago, but both he, & my cleaner, noticed that he was more tired than usual, & his general health, & more noticeably his appetite, had deteriorated. This led to further investigations & time off work.

When she told me today what they’d found, my first thought was not of who will clean my bathrooms and muddy floors – far from it. I immediately asked her if she needed to go home, she should be with her family. But no, she needed some normality in her life because she had no idea what the future held & working kept her mind occupied; all of which I totally understood, but I only deal with chronic pain & not the prospect of my husband having a heart transplant!

My closest friend is a cardiac nurse, & another good friend who was a transplant coordinator & now also a cardiac nurse, so hopefully I can help by making sure that they get the support & information that they need. I have to confess it is something very alien to me, in all my intensive care nursing experience I never had to deal with this kind of condition. Of course, I have said that if there is anything we can do for her family all she has to do is ask. Her younger son is friendly with my boys, often spending school holidays at my house while she is working. Even if this is all I continue to do, it is something. I may be about to have surgery on my knee; she knew that before her world fell apart. She was quick to say that if there is anything she can do for me all I have to do is ask. She is the sort of person who will still go out of her way to help me even if her own life is in tatters – & she’ll be mad if I don’t ask her. How can I ever bring myself to ask for her help, my problems are NOTHING compared to hers.

The forgotten Egg…

It is a sign of a true friendship when you don’t really speak to friends for almost 12 years, you have 5000 miles between you & four kids, but they become comfortable around your dinner table & it was like we only saw each other 12 months ago. The kids, of which they have one of each, are of similar age to ours & they just gel, even the 12 year old girl who is at that awkward ‘I’m not a kid anymore, but some days I still want to be’ stage joins in with some of the games the boys play. They have more in common than we realize, despite the distance & the fact they have never met before, Harry Potter is common ground for conversation, & Lego is has bonded the boys. Then for us grown ups, it’s a good old fashioned G&T while we compare notes & put the world to rights.

When friends arrive on a holiday that involves some creativity & fun for the kids when you don’t know how jetlagged your guests will be is always going to be a challenge. I haven’t done anything at Easter for a couple of years because we’ve been on vacation in Arizona, so with extra kids to accommodate it was only right that I do something. So, at midnight last night there I was trying to find homes for about 70 chocolate eggs wrapped in bright tinfoil. We still have Java so every egg had to be out of sniffing reach – the last thing I needed on the day before she goes home was a trip to the vet to have her stomach pumped! I then left 4 Lululemon bags (of course what else would you collect Easter eggs in, in Vancouver?) at the bottom of the stairs for the hunt to begin…

It took them all of about 8 minutes to find, or so we thought, every egg. They were really fair about it despite having only just met they all agreed that the collection should be shared evenly, which they did. We then allowed the consumption of one of two until I made brunch. High on chocolate they all disappeared off to watch Minions. With eggs & bacon on board we headed off for a mini city tour & a walk in the forest with the dogs, then returning home for a G&T before our roast dinner. While chatting in the newly renovated dining room, we notice some green paper shimmering on the bottom of a wall sconce – a forgotten egg!!

The kids reappear at some point soon after that & we announce that they might just want to check around in case they missed anything this morning. Our friend’s daughter appears a couple of minutes later having found an egg in the lounge – nope not the egg you’re looking for – then their son appeared with ‘the forgotten egg’, very proud of himself. I asked where he found it, just to clarify it was the one we’d seen earlier, to which he replied in a very familiar, but soft, Scouse (Liverpool) accent ‘it was on that curly thing on the wall in there!’

Even if I hadn’t seen where the egg was lurking I would have known exactly where he’d found it from his excellent & amusing description. Then, bless them, they donated both eggs to the grown ups 🙂

Productive Pyjamas!

It has taken us all week to sort out the house after the renovations were completed. We have friends from the UK about to land at any moment, people we haven’t seen since we moved to Canada 12 years ago. By the time we got to this morning we still had quite a lot to do, & neither of us has stopped all day. However, the fact that we need to accommodate a family of 4 spurred us on to just get stuff done. I don’t think there has ever been an occasion when the kids have gotten dressed before we have, but it was just the way it worked out. I think I said three times that I was going for a shower & then got caught up with something else. You’ll be pleased to hear that I did eventually go at 2pm!

I finished making up the last bed about half an hour ago, & now I need two painkillers & a glass wine so I can be vaguely sociable to our friends & their two children – the eldest of which is now twelve & I can remember her being born only a couple of years ago! They are only with us until Monday then they are off up to Whistler where we’ll join them next weekend. Everyone leaves on Monday, the guests, the dog, last day before the kids go back to school, & the husband goes back to work. I won’t know myself next week, no workman to chat to & make coffee for, no kids fighting, & only Tessy my little walking throw rug to exercise, & let’s not forget a whole new craft room to play in all day if I want to.

Now then, where’s that glass of wine so I can wash down my Tramadol?

 

 

Totally geeking out!!

Yes, I will admit it to the world that I have been a dedicated Henry Cavill fan for over a decade now. I can still remember the first episode of ‘The Tudors’ he appeared in (as I’ve watched it many times, the sad individual that I am), it had me completely hooked on the man you now all now know as ‘Superman’. I was there for the opening of ‘Man of Steel’, & today I subjected my whole family to my sad obsession & took them to see ‘Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice’. My husband, god bless him, has even been known to feed my habit by taking me to see ‘The Man From Uncle’ on my birthday last year, even though we were both jetlagged having just arrived back from France the night before – now that’s love!

Today did not disappoint, it was just as complicated & spectacular as you would expect, & after my husband walked through the cinema & sat watching ‘The Force Awakens’ in full Yoda costume, my younger son & I totally geeked out too by wearing appropriate attire. He totally owned the miniature version of Henry’s costume, cape & all, while I proudly wore my MOS t-shirt. Had the temperature been in double figures I might have stepped out in my fabulous Wonder Woman costume, but sadly it was still a little chilly for me. We had the full on heart stopping, Lycra clad IMAX experience; I swear I could almost touch him… now there’s a thought.

Anyway if I don’t stop now I will continue to bore you all even more with my middle age crush because if the truth be known I am probably Mr. C’s No.1 fan, in fact there’s no probably about it!!

Warning: Woman using man tools!

Yesterday we bought; today we built!

It was a team effort, my husband & eldest son built my knew shelves under the guidance of our youngest – which I thought was a bit risky but to be fair to him he did ok. I decided among all of this to build the drawer inserts. How difficult can it be, 4 sides, a bottom with a couple of runners down the sides…

Building the drawers I thought was pretty straight forward, they actually looked like drawers when I’d finished. Meanwhile, there was a lot of huffing & puffing coming from the shelves after my husband had omitted to follow our 7 year-olds instructions, resulting in the dismantling of the last part to fix it. As the slow cooker beeped to announce dinner was ready I thought I would just quickly pop one of the inserts in to see how it looked – the bloody drawer wouldn’t fit! I checked the picture again & again before finally giving up until after dinner. Hubby had sorted out his problem & my new shelves were moved into place. He promised to have a look at the drawers after dinner…

It took him all of about 30 seconds to discover what the problem was. I had attached the drawer runners to the top of the drawer instead of the bottom. If it matters so much then why do they drill holes in both places? Why not just drill holes where you need them? Better still make it more explicit in the stupid pictures & make them so they can only go on one way. Clearly I should just stick to cardstock & glue!!

 

Note to self…

Today I finally ventured out after living in a viral fog for almost a week. We had a number of places to go, including Ikea & Costco, thankfully all in the same area. When we arrive at any of these places, my younger son has an irritating habit of getting into the store & then declaring, after we’ve passed the bathrooms, that he needs to go. Of course he’s bursting which he most have known when we passed them. So hubby took him while my elder son helped me write out the isle & bin number for my new craft room furniture. We were done very quickly & there was no sign of the other two so we slowly carried on around the store. I hadn’t picked up a cart so I ended up carrying some items, which were awkward. When we got to the elevator there was still no sign of them so I asked my son if he could text his dad using my phone, as I had my hands full. Why did I not put the items down & do myself?

It’s not very often I let my kids use my phone, it’s usually to chose music in the car or if I’m driving to see who’s texting me. He simply wrote ‘where are you?’ & pressed send. We waited a few minutes, no reply, but then we saw them & that was that, I mentioned the text & didn’t think anything more about it. It wasn’t until some time later when we were heading to are last store – Costco – that I checked my phone…

There was a panicked text from my BFF asking if I was ok, she was worried about me. I was, of course, quite confused about this, wondering why she was asking. When I went into the phone to reply there was the answer on the same thread. My son had texted her & not my husband, probably because she was the last person that I’d texted the night before. I quickly declared that this was the result of allowing your 9 year old to send a text on your behalf – note to self! I reassured her that all was well & she need not worry, to which she was relieved to hear.

No wonder my husband didn’t answer my text!!

I am Yoshi!

We don’t do it very often, to be honest it’s only recently that the boys have gotten the hang of it, but when we do it’s always a lot of fun. I’m talking Wii games & in particular Mario karting. We’re all pretty bad at it, which I think is what makes it even more entertaining. I’m sure everyone who plays this game has their own character & a vehicle they prefer. Since the very first circuit hubby & I played, way back when are boys were just still babies, I have been the Yoshi on a Sugarscoot. Hubby has always been Donkey Kong, which if you ask me is a male ego thing, & his vehicle changes depending on whether the day of the week has a Y in it. At present the boys are Koopa Troopa & Toad.

We had promised last weekend we would play as a family, but unfortunately sick people, renovations & life in general got in the way. We finally sat down this evening to fulfill our promise. Believe it or not we have several levels that are still not unlocked – yes we are that bad – but oh how we laugh. I know that, like everything else in life, when you practice you get better, well not us. There was one circuit I passed someone going the opposite way which is definitely not right – turned out to be Donkey Kong & poor hubby had no idea how to turn himself around. All we could hear from the Poang behind us was ‘it’s just making me spin!’

It always seems to be the kids who know what to do, & believe me they don’t play on it that often. We pride ourselves in having brought our kids up not to have become TV or gaming addicts. In fact they watch very little TV compared to most kids, & playing on iPads or the Wii is heavily restricted & policed. I can see how easy it would be to automatically allow them to waste away their days in front of the screen, I have only done it when I’ve needed to get stuff done or if I’ve been unwell or suffering more pain than usual. Luckily I have kids that love things like Lego, books, & playing whatever imaginary game they’ve come up with that day. Of course they will often ask if they can watch TV or play on the Wii, that’s the best part, they know how to work it all & yet they still respect the privilege by not just going ahead & doing it.

This evening it was hubby’s idea to Mario Kart, the boys hadn’t actually asked, which made it even more fun because it was an unexpected treat for them – & I hope it continues to be that way for a long time yet.