Yes, I'm That Mother - (Yes I just stayed up until 1:30 a.m. making Piggie Hoods)

This was Riley and Rowan's versions of "Pig faces".

    Yes, I'm that Mom.  The Mom that you roll your eyes at and think "That woman has wayyyyy too much time on her hands."  

    Thursday night Riley came home from school and announced to me that she had told the kids in her drama group at school that I would make them all pig ears and a wolf ears.  "Well Mom, we're doing the three little pigs play." she looked up at me exasperated.  She was right, I would make them all pig ears and wolf ears.  I'm pretty sure that there is something wrong with me.
    Friday we were without hydro, then Saturday I played catch up with all the things that hadn't been done on Friday.  Sunday was spent, that left Sunday night.  In my typical brilliance I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. sewing piggy hoods.  My eyes stung by the time I was done, but I was done.

    At first I thought that maybe I could buy headbands at the dollar store and some how affix ears to it.  That just seemed tricky.  I then decided that maybe I would make them hoods.  At first it sounds like making hoods would be a lot more work than just sticking ears on a headband, but I know how to make hoods, and I have no idea how I would affix ears to a headband.

    I took the hood off of one of Riley's jackets and used it as my template.  I used old Christmas wrap to create my pattern.  I used three pieces in all, the above piece, and then a longer straight bit for the top of the hood. I then cut my material.  In all I made 4 pig hoods and 1 wolf hood.  I added a sparkley bow for the two girl pigs.  They turned out pretty good.  Most of the time when I operate without a store bought patteren, it's a crap shoot.  Sometimes the results are good, often they are not. This time they turned out O.K. 

    Riley and Rowan are very pleased with their hoods.  It took a couple of hours of my time, but really it's worth it to be creative and to make 5 little kids happy.  Yes, I am an over the top mother, I've never denied that. I made some little people happy, and I had fun doing it.

Ice Storm 2013- The Next Day

    Growing up, superstition was ingrained into us.  You NEVER put new shoes on the table... that will surely bring bad luck!  If you spill salt, always throw some behind you.  The worst thing that you could ever do was to temp fate... YOU NEVER TEMPT FATE!    IF you tempt fate, then you are begging for misfortune (unless you can find wood quickly enough to knock on, and even that is not a guarantee that you have not blown it).  I would like to tell you that it is all nonsense, but unfortunately after the ice storm, I don't think that I can.

    I went to bed Friday night feeling all was right with the world.  We had no hydro, but we had managed.  We had put in a nice quiet evening.  I was going to have us all sleep in the basement to keep warm (we have a natural gas fireplace), but the heat had only gone down a few degrees in the entire day.  The three youngest slept in the living room, all cuddled in sleeping bags and blankets on the living room floor (Grace opted for the comfort of her own bed).  Christopher and I snuggled into our cozy bed and drifted off feeling peaceful.  In the middle of the night Elly climbed into our bed, it was cold.  She snuggled in, taking up more than her fair share of the space.

    I woke up frozen with a little blonde girl's arm in my face, lying on the very edge of the mattress, with the dog snuggled into my legs.  The heat had plummeted to 16 degrees.  I instantly regretted not sleeping down in the basement.  I had tempted fate.  Elly and Fergus and I snuggled in, trying to keep the warmth, but poor Christopher had to go to work that morning.  

    I had nicely dozed back into sleep when I heard my husband shouting "OH NO... NO... NO... NO!!!!"  He staggered into our bedroom.  "The battery stopped last night.  The basement is flooded.  Why did we spend all that money on the battery?"  We had been smug.  Since we had the basement waterproofed we had been bone dry.  I even had the gall to look smugly at the neighbour's dry sump pump hose.  Our sump pump kept pumping out the water, even though we saw no evidence of water in the basement.  We kept congratulating ourselves on money well spent.  We had gone to bed the night before contemplating sleeping in the basement.  If I thought I was cold now, at least I wasn't wet. 

    We had spent a lot of money waterproofing that basement.  We had spent a lot of money on a battery back up.  I had been assured that battery would last up to five days... and yet it had not yet been 24 hours.  Christopher just kept running his hands through his hair, making him look a little crazy.  The water was getting dangerously close to our furnace.  All of the building supplies had been left on the floor.  We had tempted fate, thinking that we had a dry basement.

    Our hydro came on at 10:00 a.m.  The house slowly began to warm up.  The silence of the day before was quickly replaced with the sounds of the television, and the computer, outside was the loiud buzzing of chainsaws.  I began to look around, the vacation was over, it was time to play catch up on all the work I could not do the day before.

    Christopher came home for his lunch, but instead of eating, he vacuumed up water.  He laboriously carried up 20 large shop vacs full of water, and there was even more still left.  He had a wild look in his eyes that scared me a little.  I wondered if he had reached his breaking point.

"Honey... honey... why don't you stop and have some lunch?" I asked nervously.

"Can't.  Can't waste the time.  I'm not even making any headway." He grunted, that crazy look still shadowed across his face.



    After Crazy Man had gone back to work, and the kids had been fed, I put on my shoes and went out to survey the damage.  I honestly wanted to cry.  The big birch in the front yard had lost two big branches, and several smaller ones.  I'm not that big of a fan of our birch.  It creates shade, but I'm not really a birch lover.  I opened the back-gate now free of ice.  I carefully dodged the dog poop, and made my way back.  The neighbour's lilac tree had been hit, and fallen over the fence into our yard.  I then walked back farther and wanted to cry.  My TREE, my beautiful Manitoba Maple. 

     I am not a nature lover, I mean I don't dislike nature, it's just not my thing.  I could never really see the attraction if I were being honest.  I have however a real attachment to the big Manitoba Maple that grows in my backyard.  It's not really "an attachment", I LOVE it.  I love it the way I would love a family pet.  I looked at my beautiful tree.  Huge, great limbs had crashed down.  The raw looking wood under the bark brutally showing, like raw flesh.  The limbs looked as if they had been torn off in a brutal attack.  I could not help myself.  I walked over and caressed the bark, the way that you would comfort some who had been in a very bad accident.  "I'm so sorry." I told him (yes, my tree is a him, and I have now proven what you already suspected, I am indeed a crazy lady).  I turned away quickly almost running for the house.

    I know that we were not hit as badly as some in that storm.  Right now there are people who are still without hydro.  I'm sure that there are people who have lost more than just tree branches off of their beloved tree.  Saturday evening I went to Mom and Dad's and saw the level of destruction that they had.  Our yard looked like nothing compared to their's.  It honestly looked like a tornado had ripped thought their yard.  Trees that were there when we moved there 38 years ago, were toppled.  A huge branch was dangling dangerously off of their hydro line.  It was like a clip you would see on television showing victims of huge scale natural disasters.  Honestly in comparison we got off easy.

    Our basement is now almost dry, there are still little wet patches. I learned that although we were semi-prepared for a power outage, we still have a long ways to go.  Christopher's talking about investing in a generator.  We had felt so prepared with our expensive battery powered sump pump, but we had tempted fate, and fate taught us who the boss was.

Ice Storm 2013

    Friday I awoke to a world that looked like it had been dipped in glass.  It looked beautiful.  The kids were delighted because this meant a day off of school, something that is almost as good as Christmas.  The kids were giddy with excitement.  They had so many great plans for their unexpected day off.  Almost immediately there was a bidding war for use of the computer.

    It was around 10:00 a.m. when the hydro went out.  It was amazing how quiet the house was without the noise of the television, the computer, the everything that sucks electricity.  The kids were lost for the first half hour or so.  They just walked around wondering what to do with themselves.  They were so used to being amused by electronics that they were literally lost.  I suggested that they could read, you would have thought that I had suggested that they play with a bag of maggots.  The funny thing is that my kids love to read.  When I told them this Grace told me "I like to read at night."

    After an hour without hydro I began to think that maybe this wasn't a temporary thing.  I began to think about what needed to put into place if this was to be a long term outage.  I went downstairs and turned on the fireplace.  My plan was for us all to camp out in the basement where there was a non-electric heat source.  I began to make a list in my head as to what needed to be put into place.

    I went outside, camera in hand wanting to capture the ice-storm..  It was then that the beauty of the ice began to fade, to be replaced with fear.  I walked out front to take a picture of our birch tree.  All around me was a deep "Cr- rrrrr - ACK" and moaning as all around me the trees threatened to break under the strain of the heavy ice.  It was unnerving.   Everywhere I looked was carnage.  The forested area behind the school looked like someone had carelessly taken a chain-saw to the entire area, severing limbs.  I tried to open my back gate, only to discover that it was so heavily covered in ice that there was no way I could get in.  As I stood there looking into the backyard I heard that ominous deep groan and then crash and what sounded like shattering glass.  A huge branch had torn from my favourite tree in the backyard.

The view from my side window

    I came back into the house, a little shaken.  I began to think about our trees, our trees that beautify the yards, that keep us cool in the summer.  I have only ever thought about them as beautiful ornaments, I was now looking at the big birch in the front yard.  I began to think about the ramifications if it ever fell towards the house, through the picture window.  I gave a little shudder.

    I tried to put the thoughts of impending doom out of my mind and see this for what it was, an opportunity.  By this point the kids had found ways to entertain themselves.  They all had their hand held electronics, and were happily playing.  I wasn't sure it I liked this or not.  We are too dependent on technology.  When we go camping they just all play together.  

This is my screen door

    An hour and a half after the hydro went out, Gracie was still playing her DS, but Rowan, Riley and Elly were playing Go Fish.  They then found the Bop It, which pulled Gracie away from the DS.  The living room was filled with laughter.  It was during this time that Christopher and I snuck downstairs to the basement and sat in front of the fireplace with a glass of wine.



    The power-outage was funny because only some of the houses and businesses were affected.  This was perplexing, but worked to our benefit.  Christopher ran out to the grocery store and grabbed a barbecued chicken, salads and bread.  After dinner he got us coffees.  I sat eating dinner, enjoying my family.  I kept thinking that we got off easy, almost too easy.  The house temperature only fell a few degrees, and we were all still comfortable.

    

    Around 7:00 p.m. the power was still out.  I went around setting up candles so that all I had to do was light them when the darkness fell.   The kids were still enjoying each other, so Christopher and I went into the kitchen and played backgammon.  I felt at peace.  There was not that hum the hydro makes, normally I don't even notice it with all of the other noise.  There was no sounds of the television, no computer, just the kids talking to each other.

    As the darkness fell, I went around lighting candles that had been placed out of reach of children.  I placed mirrors in behind them to reflect the light.  The house glowed with that light that only candle light can produce, that soft, warm glow.  I kept telling Christopher "I keep waiting for things to go wrong but this is so nice."  

    Around 8:00 I set up my laptop (I know.  I was slightly conflicted about introducing technology, but I also didn't want them to get bored and go for each other's throats).  I pulled out the bowl of chips, and passed around Kool Aid Jammers.  They sat, covered in blankets, enjoying the movie.  Once the kids were all settled, Christopher went into the kitchen to talk by candle light (it sounds more romantic that it was).  It was around this time that the alarm began to go off on the sump pump battery.

    We had invested a small fortune to get the basement waterproofed this fall.  We thought that it would be a really smart move to invest in a battery incase there was a hydro outage.  It was not inexpensive, but it gave us peace of mind.  Up until this point we have been feeling really good about our investment.  All day the pump kept pumping out water, even though the hydro was out.  We kept congratulating ourselves on our brilliance. 

    We had thought about moving the kids down to the basement where the fireplace was to keep them warm.  We decided against it because in 10 hours the heat had only fallen 2 degrees.  We decided to set the little kids up in the living room in sleeping bags.  We put extra blankets on top of them just incase, turns out that was a pretty smart move.

    That night Christopher and I snuggled into our bed.  We congratulated ourselves on getting though the day.  I sighed deeply thinking about how nice it had been to just be with each other.  Little did I know that fate would bite me in the butt........      to be continued tomorrow.

Tulips and My Husband's Love

    My husband is not romantic by nature, he would insist that he is... but he is not.  He is an amazing father, a wonderful husband, but a hopeless romantic, he is not.  The truth is that my husband and I take each other for granted.  We are very happily married, but sometimes we forget show each other just how much we love and appreciate each other.  Each of us knows that we are desperately loved, but sometimes we forget to show and tell.  I would really like to throw Christopher under the bus and say that it was only him who took me for granted, but that would make me a liar, liar, pants on fire, and I'm o.k. with the "liar, liar", but I take objection to the "pants on fire".   We have four children and a busy life, we put each other on the left over list (if there's energy left we will share it with our partner). 



    I say that my husband is not by nature a hopeless romantic, but he does have his moments.  He has those moments that make my heart melt and my eyes tear up with joy.  Today is one of those days.  I can't remember when it started, but my husband one year brought me a bouquet of tulips.  They were bright and colourful and beautiful.  Tulips are my favourite flower, and I was so very touched that Christopher had remembered that.  From that day on, every year around this time, my husband brings me home a bouquet of brightly coloured tulips. 
    This year I was beginning to think that Christopher had forgotten our tradtion.  I waited patiently wondering when I should begin to drop hints.  What if he had forgotten?  I honestly think it might break my heart if he ever forgot.  I was beginning to get worried.  This past Tuesday I took my Dad to a doctors appointment in Kingston.  While we were in Kingston we did a little shopping.  We went into the beautiful new grocery store there.  At the front were buckets of beautiful tulips.  I pointed them out to my Mom.  "Look at those beautiful tulips.  I'd buy them, but Christopher always buys me my tulips.  I think that he may have forgotten this year."  She shook her head a little and gave me an exhasperated look.  "He hasn't forgotten."
    This week has been an especially busy week.  I have had meetings every week night , and appointments every day.  I came home this afternoon, tired but having put in a really nice morning and afternoon out.  I came home to an excited puppy and an empty house.  Shortly after I came in, Christopher came home.  He said hello, and we chatted.  He was home for a while before I went into the kitchen.  There on the table was a pretty paper covered bunch.  The same paper covered bunch that often comes from a florist shop.  "Are these for me?"  I asked.  He nodded.  There wrapped in pretty paper were my tulips.  I took them out, the smile on my face so big that it hurt.  "I thought that you had forgotten." I told him, close to tears.  "I would never forget your tulips, NEVER."  It was at that point that I threw myself into his arms.
    Our lives get busy, and we forget to show each other just how much we love them.  My husband has started a beautiful tradition.  It seems fitting that it is in the spring, a time of rebirth and renewal.  It is as if our love sometimes needs that little kick start.  Today my husband reminded me just how special I am to him.  He made me feel like the most special and loved woman in the world.  I am a lucky woman, and I need to remember that more often.

Internet Safety

    We teach our children almost as soon as they can walk and talk, DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS!  We tell them that it doesn't matter if they offer you candy or offer to show you their puppy, never ever talk to strangers.  We want to keep our babies safe from harm.  We have told them NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS, but not too many of us think to tell them that this includes the computer.  The computer is a life line, it keeps us connected with people around the world.  It seems so very harmless, until you really begin to think about it.
    I thought that I had protected my children from internet predators.  I have our family computer in the living room.  I limit their computer time.  I have told them NEVER give out any personal information on the computer, NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS on the internet, no matter how nice they seem, even if they say that they are your age!  I thought I was so savvy, so smart, and I was so very wrong.  I tried to protect them from predators, but I forgot to consider that in time I might need to save them from themselves.
    Last night I had the pants scared off me!  Myself and a group of my friends attended a seminar that was provided by Madoc Public School and our school.  It is a seminar that I as our school's School Council chair had really been pushing for.  I thought that we would have a packed house because everyone would want to do what they could to protect their children.  The price was right for parents to attend... free.  It was presented by a renowned expert, Steve Chapelle.  Snacks and beverages were provided, once again free of charge.  There was information that we could taken home with us, and this included a handbook that covered the information provided in the presentation by Mr. Chapelle.  As my group of friends and I drove from Tweed to Madoc, I kept hoping that we would be able to find a seat.  We arrived at the school to see the school parking area practically deserted.  We walked into the gym only to discover that there was an abundance of chairs.  There may have been 20 people in attendance, and that included newspaper reporters.  I was shocked, and slightly bewildered.  Why would parents not want to take advantage of this free information?  Information that could ultimately someday save their child's life!  It was well advertised, and yet there was a poor turn out... it made no sense!
    Many parents really missed out on an incredible opportunity.  I had my eyes opened, in a very scary way.  I discovered just how very little that I knew about the internet, all of us in attendance did.  Last night Mr. Chapelle covered how to set parental controls, and why it is such a good idea.  He talked about ways to monitor what your children are looking at on the internet, and what should be setting off red flags.  As I mentioned above, it has been my goal to protect my children from predators, but it never occurred to me that I may have to protect them from themselves.  What do I mean by this?  If I use the monitoring programs I can see if my children look up drugs, pornography, I can see what they repeatedly come back to, things that I would not otherwise know about.
    The computer seems like such a passive thing.  Technology is always growing and changing, and some of us dinosaurs are left far off in the dust.  Our children are not afraid of the new technology the way some of us are, it doesn't ever occur to them that they should be afraid of it.  They have grown up never knowing anything but having a home computer (unlike those of us who felt like our families had really made it with our Vic20).  Add our children's comfort with technology to the fact that most children and young adults feel like they are invincible.  Nothing bad could ever happen to them.  That is a dangerous combination of elements.  How many of us have young adults and teens on as our Facebook friends?  I see these kids posting suggestive pictures of themselves, or pictures of themselves partying.  It does not occur to them that these pictures could ever have dire consequences.  The thing that Steve Chapelle said last night that most terrified me, was that with the exception of Facebook, when kids, or you post a picture on the internet, anyone can find your coordinates.  That means that when you post that fun picture of your children in their bathing suits playing in the backyard sprinkler, a pedophile can access them and use GPS to find your child!  That scares the HELL out of me!
    So now I have all of this information.  I know that I am woefully ignorant.  I know that I need to take steps to better educate myself about technology.  I know that I was too smug for too long.  If you have the opportunity to attend an internet safety seminar, GO!  If you have the opportunity to book Steve Chapelle to speak to your parents group, do so.  stevechapelle.ca .  The car ride home from Madoc was not quiet.  We were all chatting, full of anxiety, vowing to learn more.  I am so glad that I went.
  

Our Bubble Experiment

    Today Christopher took Grace and Elly to the Wellness Centre for a swim.  The two girls were so excited.  Gracie has been a few times with her friend, but we have never been.  The whole morning she was excitedly telling her Dad things about the pool.  The three of them set off, towels in bag.  About half an hour after they had left I received a dejected phone call from my husband.  "They canceled public swimming because they are having a swim meet.  I guess I'll take the girls to Pirate Park."

    Back at home I decided to make this a special time for Rowan and Riley also.  Rowan rented "The Tooth Fairy 2" (I can't believe that it was overlooked by the Oscar selection committee).  The two of them sat happy as little clams eating potato chips and drinking ginger-ale.  I enjoyed listening to their back and forth banter as the movie played.

    After the movie we did a bubble experiment.  A bunch of my friends have been posting the above picture on facebook.  Every time I see it I thought some day I should try that.  Today was someday.  I do not have any "Joy", so I substituted Palmolive Dish Detergent instead.  I made a half batch mainly because I didn't want to waste 2 cups of expensive dish soap and a cup of corn syrup.  Riley and Rowan excitedly helped me mix together our batch.

    We decided to not only experiment with bubble solution, but also with wand shapes.  I pulled out some craft wire and started shaping.  Rowan wanted a square, and Riley wanted a triangle.  She announced that it was her favourite shape.  I personally have never really thought about shapes long enough to decide if I had a favourite.  It turns out that I should not go into the bubble wand making business, because I stink at it.

    Typical our luck, the day that we decide to do a bubble solution experiment is the day that it is hurricane force winds (o.k. I might be exaggerating just a teensy tiny little bit, but it was pretty windy).

The bubble solution blew out of the wands before the kids even had a chance to raise them out of the bowls.  To compare our solution we also brought out store bought bubbles.

    The shape of the wand did not really seem to effect the shape of the bubble, although the triangle one came close.  I say this, but it was so windy that we can't really tell what shape worked the best.

    Shortly into our bubble experiment Riley spied the first caterpillar of the year.  She talked baby talk to it for while.  After a few minutes of telling the caterpillar that he was adorable, yes so adorable she became bored with him and put him back where she had found him. 

    So here is my final verdict on our bubble experiment.  You are cheaper to just go to the dollar store and buy a bottle of bubbles.  Having said that, the kids loved the build up.  They loved "making" bubble solution.  They were really excited to go outside and try it out.  They were over the moon when they saw that their bubble solution worked, and actually produced better bubbles than the store bought stuff (although they are not as the picture claims 'unbreakable').  I spent quality time engaging with my kids.  They won't remember blowing bubbles as an isolated memory, but I think that they will remember "making" their own solution.  I hope that by doing silly little things like this it makes their little minds work, and enjoy the simple scientific process.  It was only an hour of my time, but that hour was completely "their" time and I completely devoted it to them.  More than anything else we had a fun Sunday afternoon.

Monthly Resolutions

    My life revolves around my children.  I generally put myself last on the list, many of us do this.  I spend my time making sure that my kids spend time with their friends, but I forget that it's just as important for me to spend time with friends too.  Lately I have been making better effort at this one.  The last few months I have been really enjoying coffee dates with my friends.  It is the time where I stop being Grace's, Rowan's, Riley's or Elly's Mom, and morph back into Tristan.  It is where I enjoy intelligent conversation with grown ups, and often a good laugh.  It's really important.
    It was at one of these coffee dates a few weeks ago that an amazing idea was planted.  I was out on a coffee date with this really smart woman I know. She is an inspiration.  Against all odds she has made an amazing life for her and her family.  I look at her and feel like I should be taking notes.  On this particular coffee date we sat at the local coffee shop for three hours.  Neither of us could believe how long we had sat.  It was such a nice time that I just lost track of the time.  She was telling me about how she had gone gluten free for a month.  She did not suffer from any gluten allergies, she just thought that she would like to try it.  It was one of her "monthly resolutions".  Back the train up.... MONTHLY RESOLUTIONS!
    Every January many of us make these lofty resolutions.  We have looked at our lives and decided that it's time for a change.  We approach January 1 as a sacred day.  On that sacred day we are going to change our lives for the better... forever.  Some of us do better, some of us never get beyond the making a resolution stage.  Honestly the resolution in and of itself is a great thing.  I think that we need to take a look at our lives every so often and really analyze them.  How can I be a better me?  What would make my life better?  All too often when we cannot achieve our resolutions we view ourselves as failures, instead of brave for wanting to make a change. But what if you don't need to look at a resolution as forever?  It's more like a test drive.
    Can you imagine the personal growth that you could achieve if once a month you gave your life a once over?  A month is just a little period of time, an achievable length of time.  Imagine further if you set weekly resolutions for yourself?  If you told yourself that for one week you would swear off sugar, or caffeine, or some other thing that you really want to kick.  One week is something that I can commit to.
    I am going to attempt to commit myself to weekly resolutions.  They don't need to be change the world worthy.  Maybe I will vow that for one week I will commit to 7 hours of exercise.  Yes, this week I will commit myself to 7 hours of exercise... wish me luck.
 

The 70's

    No this is not a circa 1970's picture, I just took it this morning with my digital camera (back then Polaroid cameras were cutting edge, and you had to shake the hell out of that picture.  They were always too bright or too dark, and heaven forbid if you accidentally touched the picture before it was dry).  Today is 70's day at Grace's school.

    Yesterday afternoon I trudged off to the local Salvation Army in search of 70's clothes.  I can't believe that no had already snapped up that little beauty!  I will be honest, I can't believe that they had it for sale.  Who would pay money for that (other than me of course)?  As I put my treasures up on the counter I asked the man who runs our Salvation Army if they had had a run on their grossest clothes today.  He gave me a blank, but polite stare.  I then told him that it was 70's day at the school.  "That explains it then." he said.

    When I showed Grace what I had found she looked horrified.  "They wore clothes like that?" she said, her face full of revulsion.  "They did, and they thought that they looked nice!", I said barely able to suppress a giggle.  I then explained to her the hard earned lesson that my own childhood had taught me.  "Right now you think that your clothes are amazing.  You look at the clothes that I wore in the 80's and think that they looked funny.  I did the same thing.  I remember looking at my Mother's pictures from the 60's and laughing and laughing.  "Did you know that you looked stupid back then?" I would ask her.  She would smile and tell me to just wait.  Turns out that she was right.  The 80's had amazing music, but looking back the clothes were pretty funny."  

    This morning Grace came out of the bedroom dressed in her dress.  I laughed and laughed.  She had this look on her face like she might throw up. "You know Aunt Cheri, Aunt Shannon and Aunt Shelley probably had dresses that looked just like that."  She looked at me like I was crazy.  Christopher's older sisters are always so nicely dressed, it seemed like such a stretch to Grace.  

This one is Christopher's Family Photo from the 70's

     "Let me just give you some Farrah Fawcett hair to finish the look." "Who's Farrah Fawcett?" Grace asked.  I was taken aback, and then I remembered, no one of her age would know.  "She was a t.v. star in the 1970's and everyone wanted to make their hair look like hers."  I then set to work trying my best to do the Farrah Fawcett curls.

Miss Farrah herself.

    Trying to give Grace that iconic 70's do took me back to my childhood.  It was the 80's that I really was aware, but I do remember the 70's.  Back then I looked up to my much older, much cooler cousins Fiona, Sandy and Heather.  They were teenagers, and lived in Toronto (that magic place of my childhood dreams). I remember visiting them and begging Sandy to give me Farah Fawcett hair.  I will give her credit, Sandy was always very patient with me.  I did not realize that to have true "Farrah" hair, I needed a Farrah cut.  I emerged from that bathroom walking like I was floating on air.  I felt very beautiful and very grown up.

    Down in Aunt Jean's basement was the real place to be a kid in the 70's.  Michael Jackson's Off The Wall album was blaring.  The other frequently played group were the Bay City Rollers (who are by the way coming to the Empire Theatre in Belleville).  http://www.theempiretheatre.com/event/les-mckeown/  Fiona was CRAZY for the Bay City Rollers.  S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT, S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!  Fiona had Bay City Roller t-shirts, pants trimmed with plaid, she even had Bay City Roller socks.  I remember wishing that I could get in on that trend.  I did however have an Andy Gibb T-shirt and puzzle with all of his extremely hairy chested handsomeness.

 I am curious to find out from Grace how she made out today, and how many other kids were brave enough to wear that polyester goodness.

Accepting Help

    I live in a small rural community.  I say "community" instead of "area" because "community" to me means a group working together.  When I walk down the street I know most of the people that I encounter.  I know them by name, and stop to talk to them.  I like where I live, I choose to live here.  I have lived in other places, but this is my home.

    A few years ago we took a family trip into Toronto.  I think it's important for my kids to see the city. We were taking them on the subway, when the subway doors began to close on the baby's stroller.  Riley and Rowan would have been three or so, and Grace would have been 7ish.  Christopher and I frantically tried to get the stroller through, all the while onlookers either pretended they saw nothing, or they just sat and watched us.  After the two us working we had the stroller, and the baby in it freed from the doors.  We sat down shaken and tired.  I looked at Christopher and said "If we were at home, there would have been people lined up to help." He nodded in aggreement.  At home we look out for each other.

    When we had our car accident, our neighbours took up a collection for us to help with our expenses traveling back and forth to Kingston.  Our bulk store even had a donation jar.  When we lost Gabriel there was a stream of people at our door with meals for almost a month.  Many of those people were complete strangers.  This kindness in no way removed our grief, but it was like a big warm hug.  When you loose a child it is easy to look at the world and only see darkness, but because of the kindness of the people in our community our hearts ached, but we could see the light.

    I do not pretend that my community is the only one to show this kindness.  It happens in "communities".  On the week-end I was speaking to an amazing woman.  I was telling her about a family that I know that is going through a hearbreakingly difficult time.  I so want to help them in any way that I can.  I have to think however about what I do.  I have have this idea that I can save the world.  If I just do the right thing, I can fix just about anything.  I often need to step back and realize that not everyone likes me to barrel in and try to help.  She then shared her story with me.  When her husband was 35 he had a heart attack.  Her children were just little.  It was shortly after that she found out that she had cancer.  I cannot imagine the grief that house was filled with.  Being a mother she would have probably tried to shield her children from the pain, and she and her husband probably put on brave faces in front of them, only to sob behind closed doors.  She told me that her friends banded together and organized meals for her.  Complete strangers were providing dinners for her family.  Because of their kindness she had one less thing to worry about.  She could focus some energy on herself to heal because she knew that people were helping her.  She knew that at least her children had a nice dinner to eat that night.

    This conversation got me thinking.  Sometimes people don't want to accept the help that is offered to them because it feels like "charity".  No one wants to accept "charity", because "charity" makes you feel like you are less than.  If only they could see the help for what it is.  It is an act of kindness.  By accepting the help, you not only ease your own burden, you allow the person who is helping to feel good.  It feels so good to help someone else.  The act of making a simple casserole is easy, it makes you feel like you are doing something.  If only people could step back and see the circle.  I personally recieved great kindness, and in turn I help others where I can.  It's like an insurance policy.

Our Barfy Easter.... Literally

    Having 4 children who attend school has taught me that holiday's and special events are a crap shoot.  There are pretty good odds that one of them will pick something up at school, and be kind enough to share it with everyone else.  School is pretty much a breeding ground for the world's nastiest germs.  I think that if Korea really wants to be effective in world terror, they would abandon the nuclear weapons, and instead focus in on germ warfare.  They would have to look no farther than their local school. 

    As I have already shared with you, last Wednesday night I stayed up until the wee hours of the night making fancy cupcakes for the big kids to take for their classes.  In the early hours of Thursday morning Gracie began to throw up.  She then proceeded to sleep for almost 24 hours.  I kept trying to fool myself into thinking that she was an isolated case... the other kid's would not catch this bug.  Those were the famous last words.  Very early Saturday morning (it felt more like Friday night), Rowan started to throw up.  In the later early morning hours Elly got hit with the vomits.  I am pretty sure that the town water really likes it when my kids get sick, because our water bill goes wayyyyy up.  The hum of the washing machine can be heard humming almost around the clock (my kids are not good at their aim).

    Saturday morning Moira Place, our local nursing home had organized an Easter Egg hunt for all of the local children.  They had hidden thousands of eggs.  The child that found "a golden egg" would win a brand new bike.  Grace needed a bike.  The kids had been really excited about the egg hunt.  Rowan and Elly were so sick that they just lay on the couch, buckets close by, dozing in and out of sleep.  Christopher took Riley and Grace to Moira Place, and Rowan and Elly and I stayed home.  Grace and Riley came home with buckets full of chocolate eggs, but no bikes.

    While Christopher was away with the girls, I began to feel rough.  I felt cold and clammy, and I felt really queazy.  This was not good.  An hour or so later when Christopher and the girls got home I listened to their stories, and then made my way into the bed.  I lay incapacitated for the day, making frantic trips to the bathroom... it was not good.  Around 2:00 Christopher came into the bedroom holding our spiral ham.  "So honey when do you want to get up and start dinner?"  It's good that I was so weak, well it was really good for him.  "I have what the kid's have" I forced out through gritted teeth.  Christopher looked confused.  I'm not sure if he thought that I often said I felt nauseous and wanted to lie down just for fun.  I'm not sure what they ate that night, or really for that matter if they ate.  When Christopher stumbled into bed that night in the wee hours of the morning he had an exhausted and pained look on his face.  "Honey I'm sorry.  I did not know how hard it was to organize our holidays."  He had decorated eggs with the kids, and helped them with their best dressed eggs, in other words he had been me for the day.  I think that he may have fallen asleep with his clothes on that night.

    Sunday morning was Easter morning, and I felt MUCH better.  The kids all ran around looking for their Easter treats hidden by the Easter Bunny.  They were so excited, tearing around the house like they had never been sick.  All of the kids except Elly.  Poor little Elly just lay curled up in a chair.  At one point she sat up and threw up like The Exorcist.  It was decided that Christopher would stay home with Elly and I would take the oldest three to my extended family's Easter Egg Roll.  As I was getting the big kids ready to go, Riley turned the colour of a ghost and doubled over with stomach cramps.  She was not very happy when I shared with her she would not be coming.

    Rowan and Grace and I had a great time at my family's Easter Egg Roll.  We caught up with the extended family, the kids hunted for eggs, and had fun.  When we got home Riley was out of commission, but Elly was feeling better.  Shortly after we got home the bug hit Christopher.  He went and lay down.  I was tempted to go in the bedroom and ask him to lift and move things, but then I thought I would be nice.

    This nasty bug has made it through the house.  We have all been hit, and made it through.  It actually wasn't the worst stomach virus that we have ever had.  If there is an upside (which I struggle to find), we will never forget the Easter of 2013!