Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween my pretties!

Because Stephen doesn't get home until Friday, I got to take the boys Trick or Treating by myself. Nathan was a burgundy dragon with a purple tummy and yellow/gold wings. Nicholas was a green dinosaur. Because the costumes were fun fur and padded, they only needed to wear long sleeved shirts and pants under them. I went as the frazzled and sleep deprived Mother of three. I used our old Snugglie and my old Cabbage Patch Doll. I wore my flannel pj pants, a t-shirt and my housecoat. I thought it was funny! Some of the neighbours thought it was cute too.

I fully expected to just do our street and be done with it. We could have stopped because the bags were pretty full after just our street.

People were handing out HANDFULS of candy this year and full size chocolate bars. Holy MAN! We stopped at home to dump the bags and the boys decided that it would be fun to go to another neighbourhood. Nicholas was starting to peter out so I put him on his tricycle that I can push and we headed to the "adult oriented" neighbourhood up the street.

Even here they got a decent haul. Nicholas was up and down on whether he wanted to get candy or not. I think that he wanted to get more but he just didn't have the strength. Nathan was very hard to contain. He wanted to run to each house so that no one would run out before he got there. Typical 6 year old. LOL

I swear, after dumping the bags, we filled a Blue Recycling Box. Now the treats have been sorted and inspected and I'm sure there will be candy until next Halloween. At least there will be LOTS for Stephen to pick through when he gets home. LOL I think I'll send some up north with him when he heads back. I love good ideas!

I hope everyone has had a spooktacular Halloween and that no one got egged or had property damage. Little yahoo delinquents. (No, no bitterness here! LOL)

Clearing the air

I've been thinking lately (scary, I know) and I've decided that I need to clear something up to myself and to my Dad (who might be reading this).

A ways back, I posted the lyrics to a song and said that I was thinking about my Dad's girlfriend. It came off pretty sour and hurtful. So that is what I'm trying to clear up.

To make myself clear, I don't dislike Karen. I've never met the woman. That is what I think is part of the problem. Because I've never met her, I only have what my Dad says about her (which is pretty limited) and what thoughts go racing through my mind. I don't have anything to base my opinions on. I can't tell what her intentions are or what kind of person she is.

My fears are what drive me insane. I'm afraid that she's going to try and replace my Mom. I have no basis for this fear but it is mine none the less. I have a lot of pessimistic thoughts about this because I've heard, seen and been a part of several messy family events. My Dad is the only family that talks to me on a regular basis. He's my only remaining parent and he's got a life that I'm not part of. Sometimes I feel like I don't know him anymore and that he's only calling me because he feels obligated to. In my mind, I know that this isn't true but sometimes my heart breaks to think about what we've both lost.

It definitely doesn't help that we live in 2 different provinces. If we lived closer, I'm sure there would be less fear on my part. I would have had the opportunity to meet Karen and maybe start a relationship/friendship/mutual acceptance or whatever.

So ultimately, it looks like my fear is driving my obsession with my Dad's relationship. This is the first long term, fairly serious relationship he's had (or at least told me about, LOL) since my Mom died. I'm just scared that I'm going to lose my last parent. Again, there is no basis for this and it is totally irrational but it is the way I feel.

Maybe next year there will be an opportunity for us to meet and I can put my fears to rest.

What the teacher WISHES she could write

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Mrs. Kenney's class trip to the fire station is [why Mrs. Kenney is dreading] Tuesday morning. The children will walk there [and/or hop, skip, and lie on the sidewalk, sobbing that it wasn't Sienna's turn to be Door Holder]. If you'd like to chaperone, please [for the LOVE of God!] tell Mrs. Kenney.

At the station, Fire Captain Joe [or whoever draws the short straw] will teach the class fire-safety basics. [Prepare to hear your child bellow, "Stop, drop and roll!" 36 times a day, as well as wake you regularly at 2 A.M. convinced he smells smoke even though absolutely nothing is burning except your own exhausted eyeballs.] The captain will also hand out Smokey Bear posters, pamphlets, and colouring books [that, ironically, will make your home even more flammable].

After punch and candy provided [with remarkably poor timing] by the station, the children will get to aim a running fire hose [at Mrs. Kenney], meet the firehouse dog [and pull his tail], and try on a real firefighter hat [that they'll refuse to take off without howls and tears]. Then Mrs. Kenney will take [two extra-strength Excedrin and] a group picture beside the hook and ladder. Prints will be sent home [assuming that, unlike last year, five boys don't drop their pants just as the shutter clicks, eager to demonstrate how they would put out the fire by peeing on it].

Sincerely,

Patty [rhymes with "Batty"] Kenney

-----------------------------------------------------------

My child, ___________________, has my permission to go on the fire station field trip.

OR

My child, ___________________, will be unable to go on the fire station field trip. [YES!!!!!]

Date:______________
Parent's/Guardian's signature_______________________

Please enclose $2 to help cover the cost of post-field trip refreshments *

*[for Mrs. Kenney, who will be doing Jell-O shots the moment school lets out]

OK, I'm excited again

Nathan has his FIRST loose tooth! It is the left front tooth on the bottom. He was eating a string cheese and came running to me asking if his mouth was bleeding. He had bitten the cheese and it came away with some blood on it. I took a look and THERE it was! He'll probably keep it still for a couple of days but it is definitely coming out.

I wonder if he's gonna freak out when he sees the blood and the open space when it finally comes out. How much does the Tooth Fairy give a kid for the first lost tooth? And then how much for the rest of them?

Boring General Update

I'm back, again. LOL Stephen was just home for his week off so I try to leave the computer alone when he's home. Now, for a general update...boring though it will be.

I'm amazed but we got samples from Nicholas in record time. He was in the ER on a Tuesday and provided the first sample the same day. Then I had to put him on a restricted diet for 3 days and for the days to get 3 samples from him. The last sample was provided on the Sunday and taken to the lab. Now I wait for results. Because the hospital hasn't called yet (5 days later) I have to assume that there was nothing to find. I put in a request for the results to go to Nic's doctor but I haven't heard anything from them either.

In the meantime, Nic is acting fine. He's doing everything he normally does. However, he looks like he's been run over. He's chronically pale with dark or purple circles under his eyes. He looks like he doesn't sleep even though he'll usually nap for a bit in the afternoon or evening then still get (or try to get) 10 hours at night.

Nathan has been acting out at home. He's fine at school apparently but at home he's a bloody maniac! Because Nathan is a whirling dervish, Nicholas feels the need to keep up and that leads to damage. I have to go around the house now and fill all the wall dings, sand, prime and paint. Stephen and I took away the offending toys (weapons of the thrown variety) and I'm making the boys earn them back.

I'm feeling not too bad. Very little on the MS symptom list which is nice. So I'm either in a remission of sorts or I don't have MS. Let's just keep our fingers crossed on that one.

With the weather change, I'm feeling achy. The walk down the stairs in the morning is already getting torturous. I feel like I'm walking on bare bone in my feet. I'm kind of glad that I'm on a low dose aspirin at the moment. It kind of takes the edge off.

On the positive side, I've now lost my first 10% of weight. From my heaviest (I was pregnant with Nicholas) I have lost 55 pounds. Since I've actually started trying to lose weight, I have lost 25 pounds (that where the 10% comes in). I got a membership to the local rec centre and while Stephen was home, I was able to go have my workouts and not be worried about time limits. Now that he's gone, I have to put the monkeys in childcare. I didn't feel like the workouts were really doing anything but I took my measurements this morning and I've lost a couple of inches already. Half an inch here, half an inch there...it all adds up folks!

I promised myself a reward after my first 10% lost so now I have to find time to go and do it. I'm going to have my nails done. Pretty hands always seem to make me feel good.

On the work front, Stephen probably only has 2 or 3 more rotations left in his contract. Right now, it looks like he'll be done in the middle of December. I'm hoping that during this rotation, he is able to talk to the "powers that be" up there and that they have an offer for him. A job closer to home would be fine too, but I'd hate to see him backtrack on his abilities strictly to be closer to home. I know what Stephen's capable of and I hope that businesses start to recognize his abilities too.

OK, so if you made it this far without falling asleep, I applaud you. I've got to get back to the wall repairs or I'll never get them done.

Oh, Son Of A BEEEEEEP!

OK, now I'm SURE that I've pissed off the Karma Gods or the Gods of Fate.

Nicholas has been sick again for 3 weeks or so. Nathan caught something at school and infected Nic. Nic's cough has been going from bad to worse then a little better (just to play tricks on my hopefulness) and now he's worse again.

I think I've had maybe 3 or 4 hours of very interrupted sleep a night for the past few days because Nic wakes up coughing and spewing. I was simply going to call his Dr and get an appointment until he started with the BLACK FLECKED POOPS AGAIN!!! It was only a month ago that he pulled this one me.

So, after taking Nathan to school and getting my new debit card from the bank, I took Nic to the local hospital. I spent a good portion of the day there and nothing has really been figured out. Chest x-rays look clear and belly x-rays just showed a lot of gas in his intestines (probably the reason he was tooting up a stink storm in the ER, LOL).

I now have to privilege of getting stool samples again! Oh Joy! Oh Joy! This time around, he has to be on a restricted diet for 3 days before taking samples and then for the 3 days I'm collecting samples. No red meat, no bananas, no grapes, no melons, and no alcohol. Poor kid can't get a beer! LOL

Because of these restrictions, I have to just keep all his favourite stuff out of the house. Man oh man, I hope he will poop on a regular schedule. Yeah right...my kid do ANYTHING normally? Not on your life! LOL

Tell me when I can freak out

Why me? I'm generally a good person. Most of the time any way. LOL

I got an automated phone call this morning from my bank saying that I may have shopped at a store that is under investigation for debit card copying. As a precaution, the bank would reduce my withdrawal amounts until I could come in to get a new card and PIN. No one answered at the Loss Prevention area so I figured I'd just talk to the people at the branch tomorrow.

Because of the idea my card may have been compromised, I ran to the computer to check my on-line banking records. Everything was checking out nicely until I saw a transaction dated for tomorrow (the first business day after the long weekend). $102 was withdrawn and I know I didn't do it. I figured it couldn't have been Stephen either because there is no reason for him to take out cash while he's on site. I've since checked with him and he verified that he hasn't taken out any money.

I called the phone banking and let them know that I didn't make that transaction and I wanted my money back. The lady could see on my file that there was a possible compromise of my card and immediately "statused" my card so no more transactions could go through. She then opened an investigation for me so that I could try and get my money back.

I haven't been out of the house since the 5th because Nathan, Nicholas and I have all been sick. I asked if the lady on the phone could tell me which store the compromise happened at and she didn't have that info. She said it was probably at one of the last couple places I shopped at.

In any case, I have to wait for 14 business days to see if the bank will return my money. Because there is the possible card copying note on my file and I immediately called about the fraudulent transaction, the lady on the phone said it sounds pretty open and shut. We'll have to see since I don't have much faith in "the man".

To top this off, I had forgotten about another issue from a couple of months ago. I received a letter from the health group that runs the hospitals in Edmonton. Apparently, last May, 3 or 4 laptops were stolen from one of their offices and some of the files had my info on them. They reassured me that the risk was low because there are 2 levels of password protections on the laptops. They did warn me though to keep an eye out for suspicious mail, credit applications, etc to guard against identity theft.

So, am I just unlucky or have I really pissed off the Karma Gods again? LOL