Help!!

Book club tonight… The shame – I haven’t read the book. Not only have I not read the book, I couldn’t even tell you the author or the title. I’ve missed the last two months because of vacation & surgery so I really should go with a vague idea if what it’s about. Truth be known… I’m still reading the one from last month. I don’t understand how the other mums have time to read so many books, they either work or have babies – I have/do neither!

So how do I get through the evening? I am a terrible liar so pretending I know what they are talking about during the discussion is completely out of the question. Maybe I at least find out what it’s about & who wrote it, and then I don’t look so lazy & if it’s no too deep I might be able to bluff my way through. Sadly, I fear that the only true answer to this problem is that I come clean & face the consequences. There is no other way really… is there?

What a nerve…

Remember my issues with Telus?

Well, a knock at the door at 9.15 this morning…

‘Good morning, I’m from Telus & I’m here to install fibre optic cables so I’ll be in & out of your yard!’

I’m speechless…

‘I haven’t arranged to have any cables installed, I don’t use Telus & I don’t want to use them.’

‘You didn’t have somebody call at the house a couple of weeks ago explaining why we are installing them?’

‘Not to my knowledge.’

‘Oh, well I have a requisition here for this property.’

He repeats my address correctly…

‘Yes that’s correct but I have no idea who has agreed to this. We have no interest in switching to Telus, now or ever to be honest.’

‘Ok. Well, I’m sorry to bother you’

… & off he went.

I text hubby & have the mother of all rants about the nerve of these people. Who the hell do they think they are organizing fake requisitions so they can worm there way onto our property. I thought the popcorn trick was pretty low, but this has gone beyond low. The cheek of it!

10 minutes later…

Hubby texts back, he agreed to the installation because apparently, in the future, Shaw might possibly also use the cables.

OOPS!!!

 

Angry days…

We all have them. You know when you bite everyone’s head off for no apparent reason, get cranky at trivial little things, nothing feels like its going right etc. etc. Well I haven’t been quite that bad today because I’ve spent most of it at home on my own, but I think if I’d had a job to go to they might have put a ‘do not disturb’ sign up on my door. I get this way by something triggering a chain of thoughts that lead me back to the times I’ve felt like I’m about to fall into a deep dark hole.

There has been something chipping away at me recently that hadn’t really got to me the way it did today. Maybe yesterday when reality hit me at the climbing wall it was the beginning of the chain. Today I sat in my craft room & hand wrote in my journal – something I haven’t done in a long time because writing this blog has taken over. I mostly give you the ‘unedited’ me, in which, more often than not, I will drone on about anything & everything that goes on in my life. However, there are some things that need to be aired but not to the world. Some things are too personal & sometimes too painful to share, & most of it wouldn’t make sense unless I wrote a War & Peace sized explanation first.

After some therapeutic crafting & guitar practice I put my best foot forward & dealt with the madness of Tuesday field hockey. For a couple of hours I did my best to push all my anger aside & pretend life is good. Then, when all the kids were gone & mine were tucked up in bed I finally broke down & let out some of that anger. It’s nothing that anyone can fix, I just have to work through it myself – again – & hope that one day the anger will be put in a box along with it’s reason’s & stop messing with my head.

Friday Fun Night…

If I EVER volunteer to run the prize table at another one of these events…

(Currently sitting with my very achy feet up, drinking a very LARGE G&T, eating a very LARGE bar of chocolate!)

Manic Monday!

07.40 – Boot camp was brutal this morning, both kids had that Monday morning feeling which made us late leaving.

07.55 – I’m supposed to be at the donation table, all set up, at 8am. Thankfully my office boy had already beaten me to it. Today we introduced another one of our gigantic toxic critters – an ugly green toad!

08.30 – After a sociable start to the day we carry the toxic toad down the street (well I just followed a safe distance behind), I even managed to get the principal to carry a couple of bags – well he was going that way so I made use of him.

08.50 – I sorted out that mornings prize donations so as to keep on top of it.

09.15 – Quick walk around the block with the dog, my cleaner arrives as I’m leaving (love that because I don’t have to carry keys then).

09.35 – I jump in the car to make an overdue trip to Costco. Pull into a sweet spot right outside the entrance & get some very put out looks from a couple of people. I don’t like my disabled label but there are some situations in which I need it, & not pushing a very heavy shopping cart to the other side of the parking lot is the main one. I saw those people again in store, not so quick to judge when they saw me struggling to push the cart, wearing a leg brace.

Once I had finished my shopping I join the extra long line up, then realized I had forgotten something in the isle next to me. I scoot off down there & appear at the other end – tiny line ups ahead of me, & all those people were still queuing at the other side & hadn’t moved. Oh well, I have better things to do than stand around at a check out so I just went ahead.

11.00 – I HATE putting everything away.

13.30 – Finally finished putting everything away. I have an hour before I have to leave for school again, just enough time to grab something to eat & practice my guitar. I deserve a sticker, played The Eagles ‘Peaceful Easy feeling’ almost all the way through for the first time – it’s only taken about 2 months of practicing.

14.50 – Back at school for the first humiliation of my day… My office boy is busy so I have to carry the toxic toad up the street myself. Thankfully I managed to persuade another mum friend & her two sons to carry it back for me. Not a good donation yield, but sold about 30 tickets!

15.40 – Hubby texts me, he’s sick. Fever, chills, coughing etc. etc. Can I go to the drug store. So off I go to London Drugs where I also purchase 2 super size bars of Lindt chocolate (because they were on offer), a bottle of fabric bleach (to remove the brown paint that has still not come out of elder child’s polo shirt), a can of hairspray (again I’m running out & it was on offer), & 4 packets of tick tacks because they were by the till & you always need tick tacks!

15.50 – Back at school I check in with teacher mom about hockey tomorrow & inform the kindergarten teacher that her paint is not as washable as she’d advertised.

16.00 – Pick up younger child from his active games class & we go to the playground to wait for elder child to come out of drama. I chat to another mum who is waiting for her child who’s doing track & field (elder child is supposed to do this but can’t until after the school play!). I make a mental note that we need to leave before the athletes arrive back from the field, why? Well I tell her that it’s because it’s chaotic, but really it’s because I have a ridiculous high school girl crush on my elder sons gym teacher so I need to leave before he arrives.

16.30 – We finally leave the playground. Hot teacher has not returned with the T&F kids, so we make our exit, into the senior school to catch the elevator down to the parking lot & who do I walk into going around the corner? He’s about a foot & a half taller than me so my face meets the lower part of his chest – humiliation no.2!! I think my cheeks are still burning just because he smiled (I swear it was so hot he was a fire hazard) & placed his hand on my shoulder to make sure I was ok (of course I’m not, I’ve just buried my face in your pecs!)

17.00 – Home to sick hubby for dinner (his appetite isn’t poorly that’s for sure!), homework & one last practice for younger child’s talent show trial tomorrow before he packs up his guitar…

Watch this space to find out if he’s picked to perform!

 

 

Confessions of the coat of shame…

I always thought that dogs shouldn’t wear clothes or cost more than me to have their hair done. I believed I would not entertain owning a breed that required either. Clearly you should never say never because what did we get – a wheaten terrier!

Even if I have my hair cut & coloured it STILL costs less than the dog. Just taking her for a bath costs 4 times as much as one shampoo and cut for me. The reason why she is so high maintenance is the fact she’s non-shedding. Now don’t get me wrong, that part is fabulous, I know people who have to vacuum twice a day because of all the shedding. However, those people can towel dry their dog & that’s that. Not me, everything clings to a wheaten’s coat, it takes hours to dry, then dirt falls off all over the house.

So as you can imagine I strive to avoid dragging half of Pacific Spirit Regional Park into my house everyday, but short of wrapping her up in plastic bags there is very little I can do, or is there…

A raincoat!

So just forget what I said earlier about dogs wearing clothes, in this situation it is absolutely necessary believe me. Tess owns one in nice red, a very nice red with a removable fleece lining. It also has a reflective trim, and is really easy to put on, one Velcro fastening around her chest, and the other one goes around her belly. It definitely keeps dryer so I only have her legs to deal with, but there is one major problem – SHE HATES IT!!

She’s never been one of those dogs that jump’s for joy when she sees you reach for her leash, but reach for the coat too & she is off under the table. At this time of year we get a lot of rain so I have to put it on most days, & when I do the most bizarre thing happens. Now that she spends most of her walks off leash, she likes to explore the forest. I spend most of the time calling for her & standing around waiting. But, when I put her coat on she will walk right beside me. Even if she goes ahead she stops & turns around (without looking at me of course because she’s mad with me), & waits for me to catch up, then carries on walking. She doesn’t disappear into the forest, she doesn’t run around with all her friends that we pass everyday day, she doesn’t stop to pee up every tree (yes my female dog lifts her leg to pee), she just keeps walking. It’s as if she’s utterly ashamed & she doesn’t want anyone to see her in the coat, so she walks around the route as quickly as possible to just get the job done. I think she stays with me so everyone we do see will know who she’s with, & therefore will know that is was me that made her wear it. She will even walk past people with a low head, seemingly embarrassed – it’s quite hilarious.

As soon as we are back at the car & she is relieved of the offending article, she leaps into the car, shaking herself & bouncing around. Then, it’s doesn’t matter whether I put it on the floor, or on the seat, or hang it on the back of the front seat headrest to dry, the stupid mutt starts to wash it!! What the heck is that all about?

As you can imagine we go through this ritual regularly. However, I also have a confession to make… When I’m in a hurry because I have an appointment, or lots to do that day, I put her coat on the make the walk quicker.

Now I’m the one who should be ashamed.