...hop to it

We're finally getting more sunshine than cloud and rain. Great timing, Spring! We want our house to look at good as possible, since it turns out we have to sell it, and everyone feels more like making large purchases when it's warm outside don't they? I won't go into the details here but it's not under the best circumstances and we've got less than three weeks now to get the house ready to list. I'm sure that it will all work out but keeping the waves of anxiety under control can be difficult at times for us.

On we go though. Yesterday was Easter and the Big Bunny brought some treats for the kids. Jackson was pretty wired by 8:00 am and stayed that way for about 12 hours with a steady intake of Swiss chocolates and Jelly Belly beans. We met my in-laws for dinner later and ate some more sugar after that.







"I'm ready for my next sugar injection, nurse!"

His preschool class has been learning about how plants grow and each kid did their own seed planting project last week. Jackson planted beans, sweet peas, and sunflowers. I can't believe how quickly they're growing! I had planned to put them in our garden area here but now that we're moving I'm going to have to put them in pots and take them with us wherever we end up. The beans grow about an inch a day so I'll have to do it soon!


Canada pretty much shuts down on the weekend and includes Monday as part of Easter so we can't start looking at houses until tomorrow. There's one that I really like from the outside and I've already driven by it every day to make sure there's not a SOLD sign on it. Anyway, lots to do and I've got to get busy to get it done in time so there might not be anymore posts here for a while unless I've got something really exciting to say.

...overheard in my bedroom

S: Dude, check her out! She seriously looks like she'd have massive whiskers growing out of her chin.

D: Haha, oh totally! Great big ones.

S: She'd need big pliers to pull those things out.

D: And it'd leave a huge hole. She'd have to trowel over it.

S: She'd take the pliers and grab hold, stick her foot up on something and just yank until it plopped out.

D: Patch it up with putty.

S: There'd be this giant sucking sound, like a boot stuck in the mud.

D: Hahaha... totally, dude.

...personal style

We went to buy Darren a new pair of shoes yesterday. The salesman was really good at his job, but as far as personal style goes he left a lot to be desired. He was a very overweight guy, shirt coming untucked all over the place, with too much gel combed through his very sparse hair.

He smelled a mint on Darren's breath and asked him if he could buy one off him for a quarter. Darren sold him one and as the salesman slumped down on the little fitting bench they sit on he said, "Thanks! I feel so much more confident now. I had a lot of coffee at lunch."

He brought Darren six or seven different shoes to try on based on what he perceived to be Darren's taste - clean and conservative. Just as Darren was deciding between the two final pairs a young man walked in that the salesman recognized.

This guy was pretty cool looking - he reminded me of a blond Eugene Hutz. If you don't know who that is please see Everything Is Illuminated with Elijah Wood (2005). Eugene Hutz plays Alex, a Ukrainian man who sees himself as a real lady's man. It's one of the best movies I've ever seen. Anyway, this guy who walked into the shoe store had that same kind of gangster hip-hop track suit style.

The salesman asked him if he wasn't So-and-So from Such-and-Such highschool back in Winnipeg and it turns out he was. Winnipeg is way over in Manitoba, about 1500 miles away so it was a real "small world" moment for them. The whole time the salesman was talking to us I thought he was Russian, and before I head them say Winnipeg, I thought Blond Eugene Hutz was Russian as well. Later Darren told me that Winnipeg is full of people from Russian and Ukrainian descent so the current local accent retains that flavour. Very interesting!

Anyway, I could tell that Blond Eugene Hutz wasn't really interested in catching up with the overweight, balding, bad-breath shoe salesman. After politely exchanging a few words he left the store. As soon as he was on the sidewalk the salesman turned to me and said, "Wow! He looks awful!" I lauged at him and said, "What?" He said, "He's aged really badly!"

So I spent the rest of the afternoon wondering if that meant the shoe salesman had looked even worse in high school than he does now. What a schlub.

...that's my name

So picking up Jackson from preschool today I was approached by a mom that I've exchanged smiles with over the past few weeks. Her son is in the same class as Jackson and so we see each other in the parking lot and at the door waiting for the stampede of kids to come out at 11:30.

She said they just moved here and her son is missing all his old friends and wants to make some new ones. Jackson's name came up as a potential sandbox pal so she asked if we'd like to have a play date. I'm always up for making a new friend so I said "sure!"

She told me her name, and I did a full on triple-spit-take. "SERENA?! But that's my name!" I've never been friends with a Serena before (well I have but she didn't pronounce it the same way - I was always getting in trouble for her overdue library books in elementary school). Spelled the same way and everything. Maybe it's a good sign - maybe this woman won't end up being a total weirdo like other moms I have befriended in the past.

Having kids is not enough to have in common with somebody. It does not automatically mean that you'll be great companions, or even that their children will be as kind to yours as you expect yours to be to theirs. This seems obvious, right? Then why do so many people end up hanging out just so that their children can chase each other around the playground? I'll tell you why - because it's HARD to find people as cool as you think you are who also decided to have kids when you did. The odds just aren't that great - not around here anyway.

I'm not saying I'm cool, I'm saying I think I'm cool. Anyway, this other Serena might already think I'm questionable for the way I reacted when she told me her name but I'm hoping that we'll find it easy to be around each other and maybe we'll have somebody new to add to the "who wants to come to the beach with us?" roster this summer.

Once Kindergarten starts we'll have a new batch of families to choose from and since it's private school we might find that at least a couple of them have some things in common with us. Speaking of which, we'll be meeting the whole new Kindergarten class next month! All the kids and their families are invited to a tea party to be hosted by their soon-to-be teacher.

On the same topic - who the hell is this?

...sweet

Last night Jackson and I made cupcakes. He'd been bugging me all day about them so we finally dragged our butts over to the store and I got a box. I normally don't bake, and when I do I bake from scratch but I just didn't feel like it. I didn't totally cheap out though, I used Dr. Oetker's organic mix. It calls for cooking oil, like I guess most box mixes do. But am I the only person who thinks that cooking oil makes baked goods smell and taste fishy? I almost can't stand to eat them. Almost.



It's fun to bake with Jackson. He's really good at doing just about every part of the process with just a little help from me. His favorite job is decorating with sprinkles.



He seems really content when we're doing things together like that, but then he has these moments ... moments that can stretch out for days at a time ... where he's so dissatisfied with everything. Like just a few minutes ago he came up to me and said, "Mommy. I don't like my name." and then put his chin on my arm, sighing heavily, and declared that he was soooo hungry. I know what he's up to. He wants me to take great pity on him and give him another cupcake. Maybe after dinner, kid.

...for a good cause

When NPR and PBS ask for your money they really make a point of telling you why it's important for you to contribute. I feel that I owe you the same.

Look how hungry she is!



I'm kidding. In fact it's been really fun and different having a baby who loves to eat. If she had her molars in she'd probably eat more than Jackson, who is 4 1/2! I might be worried about him if he didn't have so much energy but he never slows down. He must absorb nutrients out of the air like a tropical fern.

Frances will cruise the kitchen looking for crumbs.



Actually, a more realistic cause would be "Help me buy a bigger fridge!" Do you have adsense on your website? Send me the link. If you click mine, I'll click yours.

...finally

Um, ok so letting you know that I finally have a blog is like calling you up to say I finally got a telephone. You probably are under whelmed to say the least. And yes, I'm a little behind the times but I always associated blogs with teens who have nothing but free time for posting and lots of teen friends with nothing but free time for reading posts.

But now I'm like the last person I know to have one. Besides, I just don't have time to email you all individually anymore. Haha, as if I haven't been copying and pasting the same information to everybody already. Oh, did it feel personal? Well all that's about to change.

Welcome to my blog. I am an extremely busy person. Can't you tell? And eventually there will be pictures to prove it.