Time.

WHERE do all of you get the time to blog? So frequently and efficiently. You are all so brilliant, thoughtful, interestling, funny, witty, creative and intelligent. You are all SUCH good writers and not pissy-ass piece-meal crap like me.

I love reading and commenting on all of them, but now I find there are too many to keep up. Then I think I have something to blog about, after I sit down at the 'pute and finish reading all the other blogs first, there is no time left for me.

Holy shit people - you are SAHPs (parents); WAHP; WOHP; homeschooling (ACK!) yet you seem to always have the time. When do you clean? Eat? Sleep? Pee?

Wondering if I should focus more on being a reader or a writer? Having trouble being both.

Random Thoughts

Gimme a break. It's Friday and it's been a looooong couple of weeks.
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Hubby is home!! Aaaaahhhhh (yes, in every way, shut up)
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Thanx to a book recommendation from thethinkingsquare I decided to put down my current trends of mindless chick-lit and pop (NON?) fiction and grab Gifts from the Sea by Anne Morrow Londbergh. It is an extremely quick read, every mother/woman should read. It was written in 1975. It does have more mention to the 'housewife' than I'm used to and absolutely no mention of working mothers, but just keep in mind the date it was written. Put that aside and it is SUCH a good read. I can't recall many books that are 30+ years old that have made such an impact on me other than the Bible and Judy Blume.
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Oh, speaking of - this is kinda humourous. I don't have a real true position/opinion on him, just got a kick out of it. Can't even remember how I found it. It's a BOOK people, get over it.
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Gush Gush alert
I volunteer the boys at McGill University for psychology / development / educational studies. Heck, I was a psych. student for years and was always looking for 'subjects' after quickly running out of using profs' kids. So, today was about vocabulary and language development for 2-4 year olds in bilingual environments. It is a voluntary and anonymous study, but the researcher did find it in her to mention that my boys have a vocabulary rating of 6-7 year olds. Hurrah! The pride, the satsfaction...until Twin A referred to her as a he. More than once. I laughed OUT LOUD and asked her if she would like to change her opinion. I was quickly reminded that it was vocabulary and not grammatical skills. LMAO!
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How do you deny a child a request for water when he says he is thirsty? We are working on Mr. B making it through the night - not necessarily dry - but without exploding his pull-up. I have heard the 'reduce fluids after supper' rule but it breaks my heart and somehow I think it is wrong to say "No" when a little boy says "I am thirsty, can I please have some water?" I do take him to pee before I go to bed around 11-midnight, and it does help some nights, but not all. Just having a hard time saying no. To that. Have an easy time saying no to many other things though, heh heh.
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And finally....Drum roll....it's DATE NIGHT with the LADIES!!!
Myself and two other twin moms are headed to a new local Italian eatery. Mandatory rules for the evening:
- make-up (Blistex does not count)
- no crayons at the table
- no booster seats
- no free toy with meal
- no balloons
- lots of seafood, spices, garlic, etc etc etc
- lots of chocolate
- lots of wine
Can't wait! (2 hours and counting...)

HAPPY WEEKEND EVERYONE!!

18 months

How long is 18 months - a long time? a short time? enough time? not enough? Let's see...

- in the average human life span, it really isn't very long at all
- to parents of a child who doesn't sleep thru the night? forever
- some kids don't even walk till they are 18 months
- that's actually less that 2 full 40 week term pregnancies (not including overdue babies)
- some children are talking at 18 months, some aren't
- some can be toilet trained that early, others take more than twice as long - either way, not really all that long when you think about it
- how FUN is it to play with an 18 month old and get them giggling uncontrollably till they get the hiccups

Really, 18 months is nothing. Right?

What do you think about this 18 months....

CanWest News Service; CP Published:
Tuesday, February 21, 2006 A man was sentenced yesterday to 18 months in jail,
followed by three years of probation. Matthew D. Bergeron, 35, admitted sexually
assaulting two 13-year-olds in 2004. He asked his daughter to invite the two
girls over, then offered them drugs and alcohol and made advances. They spurned
him, but one awoke in the middle of the night to find him naked, having sex with
her.
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2006

I think it's bullshit, that's what I think.

Dear Internet,

I need your help. Please. Please find someone who has either already invented, or can invent and patent so I can BUY a gizmo that will enable me to reach the skin lotion to that one 3 inch area in the middle of my back. My skin is so dry and the kids no longer wanna get that 'stuff' on their hands. That one spot that is oh, so close, yet so disheartingly far away and impossible to reach. It is truly the bane of my existence these days. (wel, that and the fact that the Canadian Men's hockey team can't score a freaking goal) You think I need a life? Or what?

Don't suggest a husband with a normal schedule or no traveling cause that's not gonna happen.

Send me links!! Ebay?? Anything! Or hire your sister-in-laws cuzzin Vinny to invent something for me.

Pul-eeze. I am not afraid to beg, and that may not be pretty.

Discipline, Dynamics, Disco

This morning we hosted a playdate. There were six kids. Three sets of twins. The age difference in fascinating, my boys are the oldest, the girls are exactly one year younger, and the boy/girl duo is within days one more year younger. Oh the noise, the noise noise noise (à la Grinch) except for that I loved every moment of it.

Dynamics were as such :

Mom to 20 month olds, "I can't wait cause I watch the girls and think that'll be my two in one year."
Mom to the one year old than that girls, "I look at the boys and can't believe that'll be my girls in another year, I can't wait."
Moi, "I sometimes wish my guys were 20 months old again..."

They look at me like I am insane. But what fun to wrestle with a 20 pound 20 month old who is all squishy and snotty and giggly, and how easy!! Don't misquote me, cause I would NEVER trade my preschooler bear hugs with anything, but they are double the weight, not so easy to throw over my shoulder. (without ending up in traction that is)

Disciplining was as such:

Oldest boy grabs toy from youngest boy. I mean grabs. The look of bewilderment on the little one's face is etched into my memory. He was borderline scared and dumbfounded. I was devastated and head over to 'chat' with the big boy on the issues of grabbing (which we do at least thrice daily anyway) but especially this time since the other kid is two years younger than him.

As I am about to do that, mother to littlest boy is quite pleased. Huh? WTF? Yes, she is literally happy that someone else grabbed the toy from him and she starts chatting with him about "now how does that feel?" Her reasoning is that he bullies his sister and always grabs things from her and she is so easy-going, never fights back so he has yet to learn that it is a 'bad' thing and hard for the Mommy to indicate it is wrong if it doesn't phase the sister.

So we end up giggling over how both us wanna use that one example for completely different reasons, well, sorta.

After jacking all the kiddies up with Valentine sugar cookies and raspberry muffins, and the mothers on too much caffeine...

The Disco went as such:

Five little monkeys jumping on a bed...one fell off and bumped his head...

Envision this : 6 children and 3 adults all blurtin this out at the top of our lungs while jumping around my kitchen like we were at the disco. It was almost too much fun. Too. Much. Fun.

I needed that.

Happy V.D.

The children are fighting and seem destined to have me committed.

My Beloved is in another continent, but I did shave my legs the night before he left (wink).

My Dad's cleaning lady had an extra day so I hired her for today.

Happy Valentine's to me.

And you.

Olympic Bug

I have not forgotten, in fact I currently have two other posts halfway written (even on the 'pute and not only in my head) about my last post, and current dilemma. But....

THE OLYMPICS ARE HERE!

I am more than a freak when it comes to the Olympics. I love them. I love just about everything about them (except maybe boring biathlon) and try to watch and soak up every moment I can. I love when they are hosted in European countries, time zones permit daytime coverage for current/live action, then slow-poke NBC shows it again in the evening and if you can't sleep in the middle of the night, you can often find it being shown somewhere on some channel in some language. And if ever (we can hope) a Canadian wins that gold and the anthem in played, you'll find me sobbing alongside my box of tissues (and over 7 over at every replay).

My Olympic fettish started when I was 9 years old. The 1976 Montreal Olympics. I was there. In fact, I was there in person when Nadia Comaneci received her very first perfect 10. I was there! There was a small commotion in the crowd, I said to my Mom, "That girl only got a 1.0" and the man in front of us turn around to correct me "Actually, she got a 10, but the scoreboards can't show it." I will never forget that. We also spectated at diving, soccer, athletics and men's gymnastic finals. OMG I remember the thrill of actually seeing a real Olympic medal awarded, even from our beyond nosebleed high level seats.

Then I was able to attend some events in Lake Placid for the 1980 winter Olympics. I was with my father at the outdoor speed skating oval watching a training session. A coach from one of the European countries leaned over to me, pointed some guy out and said "You watch that guy." So I did. I have always since been thrilled to brag that I saw Eric Heiden in one of his pre-medal haul Games training sessions.

At one point in my life about 25 years ago I was even on track to go to the Olympics, as an athlete. I went to the 1984 trials. Got as close as an alternate to the alternate list of alternates, but loved every moment of having that dream to reach for. I went home and watched my close friends and teammates win gold medals, break world records, and never once felt sorry for myself.

I have even since traveled to Lausanne, Switzerland in September 2000 and spent hours (OK, days) in the Olympic Museum.

2 years ago, our schedule was rather conducive to watching the 2004 Games from Athens, with two 2 year old boys with 2 hour naps every afternoon. No more. It will be a bit of a challenge having the TV on and not listening to someone beg for Dora or Toy Story or Magic School Bus or Bob the Builder etc. I have been preparing for this. I have been chatting up the Olympic spirit in hopes of bring my boys on board. We have been talking about the sports we will watch, from hockey, to figure skating, skiing and as twin A calls is 'tobogganing' (?). We will have to wait and see how this all pans out. This morning on the news they were showing the Olympic torch being carried in the streets of Italy somewhere.

"Mommy! Mommy! Fire!! That man is running away from the fire and he is scared! Oh no Mommy, he will be so sad! Help him Mommy! Turn it off, there is FIRE and he is scared!"

Sigh. I may be watching a lot of replays in the evenings.

How did our Moms do it? (Part 1)

I have often thought of this before during various times, but what really got me thinking was when my father came over and found the boys watching TV (Gasp! The horrors!) and I was running around washing floor, folding laundry, checking email, making supper all while talking on the phone. He said, "I don't know how your mother did it without TV."

TV? Forget that, HOW on earth did she get anything done without a cordless/walk-about phone? Heck, I can make and serve lunch, go downstairs to the basement to switch the laundry, take meat out of freezer for supper, go back upstairs, pour myself a coffee and let the dog back in the house all while on the phone. Back in the 'old days' our phone was attached to the wall. I remember, it was pink. I asked my aunt this question, she answered that they all had 12 feel of that expandable cord (ALERT! major choking hazard!) but they all did. OMG (thank you Google images) it looked just like THIS!


How did she get all of her banking done having to go in person, stand in line, to the teller just to get cash or pay a bill. No 24 hour cash machines (drive thru no less!), or internet banking (fess up, you've done it, paid your bills while in your jammies or lack thereof, I know you have). I remember going to the bank with her, and she HAD to do it between the hours of 10 am - 3 pm. None of those extended hours on Thursday evenings.

Another example. The magic buttons. The other night I went out to pick up sushi from our favourite place. I was able to do the following by pushing a button. I started the car. I unlocked the car. Then I stopped to get beer at the corner store, opened the trunk with a button. Got in the driveway, pushed yet another button and the garage door opened. Oh, then pushed another one to close it. My mom would open and close her car windows by cranking the handle. She had to lean WAAAAY over to unlock all the doors manually. She would get out of the car to open the garage, get back in to park it and then close it, herself.

Everything in life is so automated, so easy, right? Then where the hell is my contraption/button cordless/wireless thingy that makes this job as a parent just so. Easy? I think not.

Here I am. Well, sorta.

We have a new TV. We also now have new fancy-ass cable. This means we now have a really big (to me) screen to watch endless hours upon hours of videos on my new favourite channel Much More Retro. Really, can anything be better than a constant stream of music videos from the 80's?? Oh.My.Gawd. It's like watching every single episode of Friday Night Videos over & over & over. It's a good life.

Can I please just add that the post Superbowl episode of Grey's Anatomy was the BEST ever. Tonight was Vegas (more yummy Josh Duhamel) on a BIG (to me) screen and then tomorrow & Wednesday is American Idol, Thursday OC, CSI, ER. I may never leave the house again.

I will very likely need help soon. Lots of it. No surprise. Anyone have an extra life with a purpose, send it along. Then when I get the DVD of the Muppet Show, I am doomed. Thanx a lot Dani.

I'll be back...one day.

T.G.I.A.P.O.F.

Thank God It's A Party On Friday!!

I had a really brilliant, creative and throught provoking post to write today, but I have decided to put it on the side cause Dani's having a party!! Therefore I am far too busy. Drop by and say hi, there is tons of food and drinks and the trigendered stripping firemen are due to arrive around noon.