Author: sox

finishing up

Continuing with the blogging thread from yesterday (I’m trying to have some continuity in these daily posts, but it’s hopeless…), one thing I always have trouble with is ending my posts. I usually can type something up pretty quickly, but when I proofread it, it always seems as if it’s missing an ending. One final statement that brings everything to a close. I don’t know why I worry about it, what with my vast and judgemental readership and all, but I do.

Maybe that’s why people put those stupid questions at the end of their posts — so they can tie things up.

comments, anyone?

This NaBloPoMo thing would have been easier if I’d decided to do it on our family blog. Every day something funny, interesting or frustrating (read: blog-worthy) happens with the kids. It also would be easier if I was living in Austria like my friend Hillary and visiting castles every day. Okay, so I see she’s sick today so maybe that’s not a fair comparison (hope you feel better soon, Hillary!).

Nope, I decided to do this on my blog, and now I’m stuck with it. So while I was thinking about this today, I was also thinking about blogging in general, and I’ve decided to officially register a blog pet peeve I have. It drives me nuts when people end their blog posts with a question that basically asks for comments. To me, by just writing the blog post and having comments available, you’ve achieved your goal. Don’t insult your readers by asking an obvious question at the end. The blogs on Today’s Parent are particularly bad for this.

Here’s a good example of what I mean, in keeping with the general gist of this post:

Anyone out there have any blog pet peeves they want to share?

to nap or not to nap

Both kids are asleep (or quiet, anyway) as of ten minutes ago. The question I always ask myself at this point is, do I nap? Usually the answer is yes. I love napping, and have my whole adult life. But now that I have much less time to myself, I have started to question whether I’d get more enjoyment out of being awake without kids for a little while. And often when I nap when the kids are napping, I’m wakened by Amy since she usually only sleeps for 30 to 45 minutes. That sucks, because part of a really good nap is to wake up on MY time, not someone else’s.

Yes, I’m a bit tired, but I’m not sleep-deprived. Amy wakes up anywhere from two to four times a night, but she’s back to sleep within ten minutes, and I can usually fall back asleep quickly as well. And my wonderful husband gets up with her almost every day, so I get to sleep at least until 7:00, usually later.

So today when I was on my way upstairs to have a nap, I turned around at the top of the stairs and decided against it. I will probably use the time to clean up the kitchen, but even that is enjoyable, as I feel like I’m accomplishing something. Maybe this is the start of a new trend.

And, for the record, in regards to my post yesterday, I AM still in my pajamas. Elliot is sort of in his pj’s (comfy pants and a shirt), and the only reason Amy’s out of hers is she was wet this morning. I did brush my teeth, though.

not ready for tomorrow

Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means I have both kids at home. I have to admit I’m not looking forward to the day. I think it’s because we don’t have plans. Amy was feeling pretty sick today with a cold, so I thought it would be better if we just lay low tomorrow. But I find the day drags when we stay home the whole day.

There’s also laundry to put away, a house to tidy, meals to prepare and more laundry to do. But I think my day will be easier if I just ignore that stuff (except maybe the meal part of things) and focus on the kids. When I try to get household chores done I often end up frustrated because I get pulled in different directions.

Maybe we won’t even get out of our pajamas…

T minus 25 days

I’ve officially started packing. I think Greg started a few days ago. We move in 25 days. Scary!

I packed 2.5 boxes tonight before Amy woke up. That girl’s been waking up about two or three hours after she goes to bed and I have to say it’s a bit annoying! She’s going to cut into packing time if she keeps this up.

Tonight we also wrote down a more detailed list of things we have to do in each room, which, if nothing else, made me realize the amount of work we have ahead of us.

It’s going to be FUN!

saying goodbye

I dropped my sister and her family off at the airport this afternoon, after a 24-hour visit with them. They are on their way to New Zealand for six months. Thankfully we’ll be seeing them again in three months, in NZ, but I always find it hard to say goodbye to her. I really wish she lived in the same city as me. There’s been many a day where I’ve wanted to just drop by and say hi.

Elliot and his cousin Hugh got along well, as usual. They seem to really enjoy each other’s company. I hope they continue to have a strong connection as they get older.

So I’m feeling a bit blue right now. Greg is on his way back to the island and I’m staying over on the mainland one more night so I can visit with some friends tomorrow morning. The kids and I will head back to the island tomorrow afternoon. It’s been nice to be away, but it’ll also be good to get back home.

he’s no longer in the will

Last night Greg and I lay in bed for a bit discussing this blogging project of mine, and how I would go about posting something worthwhile (notice I didn’t say worth reading) every day in November. We talked a bit about various themes which might make coming up with content easier, but in the end I decided that my first post would be about figuring out what my goals were for this project, and then hopefully that would help give me some direction.

Our DAMN DOG trumped that idea. Our DAMN DOG and the brutal night we just had. Either Langley doesn’t have a ban on firecrackers or Langleyites just don’t follow the rules as well as Victorians. For those of you who don’t know, our DAMN DOG hates firecrackers. His reaction is to get as close to you as possible as he trembles and pants in fear.

The firecrackers started up before we went to bed, so we decided to take Yoshi into our room with us. We would have had to deal with him trying his best to get to us anyway — scratching down doors, pushing down baby gates, scrambling over furniture — so this seemed like the best option.

He was okay for a bit, but the noise started to get worse and he alternated between Greg’s side of the bed (which is less than a foot away from the wall) and mine (which is by the closet door that would bang loudly when he tried to turn around) and generally was a huge pain-in-the-ass. He’d press his wet nose against us, try to climb on the bed, and pant. We both tried lying on the floor with him, but that didn’t work.

I could go on and on about that DAMN DOG and the hours of sleeplessness he just caused us, but that’d be a really long post. Suffice it to say that at 2:30 AM the firecrackers were still going off.

And Amy? She was up every two hours last night. The icing on the cake.

the material girl screwed up my travel plans

My sister is going to be at my Mum’s for a very brief visit on her way to NZ, so we planned a trip to the mainland this coming weekend to see her. Elliot, Amy and I took the ferry over today, and Greg’s going to join us tomorrow evening. So take note: there’s a two-to-one child-to-parent ratio happening here.

We went to preschool this morning, then left Oak Bay at about 11:30 for the 1:00 ferry. As I approached the highway sign that displays the ferry information, I barely scanned it, confident in the fact that we’d have no trouble getting on the 1:00 ferry.

Wait (squints her eyes), does that say “1 Sailing Wait”?? Not possible. Yes, possible. And underneath that, additional information saying that the 3:00 was already 58% full. Cheepers! There goes my Macdonald’s stop. And OMG, what am I going to do at the ferry terminal with two kids, in the rain, for almost three freakin’ hours?

I briefly wondered why it was so busy, but then remembered tonight’s Madonna concert at BC Place. If I hadn’t remembered, I would have realized some concert was happening once I got on the ferry, based on the fact that 95% of the ferry passengers were dressed to go clubbing.

So, what does one do for three hours at a ferry terminal in the rain with two kids? We went to the bathroom (with three of us, that took a bit of time), we got hot dogs and chocolate milk (with the amount of people there, that also took a bit of time), and we played with the touch screen TV and learned a bit about British Columbia. But most of the time was spent sitting in the waiting room watching the big trucks drive into the ferry terminal. Thankfully Elliot loves trucks and Amy doesn’t care what she does at this point in her life, as long as she’s fed.

It really wasn’t that bad. And the actual ferry ride was fine. There weren’t a lot of two and three-year-olds going to see Madonna, which meant there weren’t a lot of kids in the play area, which is always a better situation for Elliot. He actually played with one little girl, Emma, for quite a while, and Amy enjoyed watching all the movement.

We arrived safe and sound (but tired) at Mum’s, had the ultimate comfort food for dinner — homemade mac and cheese and homemade bread — and the kids were in bed before 8:00.

And I’ll be in bed before too long!

i am nuts

I’ve decided to unofficially participate in National Blog Posting Month. Because I’m going to have so much time, what with all the purging, packing and parenting I also have to do in the upcoming month.

My only rule for myself, other than blogging every day in November, is that I have to say something of note. It doesn’t have to be anything eloquent, or anything lengthy, but it does have to be actual content.

I was also thinking of giving up chai lattes for the month of November, but that would be going overboard.

it does have a happy ending

The saga of the washing machine continues. It turns out the new washing machine drains a LOT faster than the old washing machine, and water was spewing out because the drain pipe was plugged. This wasn’t apparent until the new machine was installed.

I had Roto-Rooter come this afternoon to snake the pipe. He couldn’t snake it, so he ended up replacing it. All seemed fine, and he filled up the machine to test it. I opened the lid while he was still here, and the machine was filled with brown water. He insisted it wasn’t anything he did, which seems plausible as he wasn’t messing with water coming into the house, just out of it.

I called the city, and they had me run the tub for 20 minutes. I did that, and it’s now mostly clear. Clear enough to wash clothes, anyway. I’m not sure I want to drink it yet.

I guess it was just a weird coincidence. Makes me realize that I sure take clean running water for granted.