always quick on the draw

ok - after another terrible night Mags has now gone down for 2 naps and seemingly to bed tonight without screaming. fingers crossed.

Sundays are always bittersweet, signalling the end of the weekend of course, and currently, Jay heading back to Kingston. Nate didn't nap until after he left today but that was ok.

sadly, we didn't seem to get to spend much time together this weekend between my dentist appointment and various other errands.

nothing too major planned for this week. no contractors, no appointments, no playdates just a family bbq at Aunt Judie's on Thurs and Penster staying over and then heading to Deacon on Saturday.

wait one cotton pickin moment

another bad night - ended up brining Mags into bed with us a couple of times which worked for her but not really us. plus co-sleeping is something i am personally dead against and i don't want to start now.

she actually napped this morning after i put Nate's cd player in her room. she is down again now using the same method but i bought her her own this aft. fingers crossed for tonight. an internet search has revealed that this anti-sleep stage is fairly common around 7 - 9 months and i think for her it is a combination of teething, hitting a milestone (close to crawling) and separation anxiety. I think we went through this briefly with Nate too.

in other news - i no longer have hair, well i do but not nearly as much. i got pixied today at - wait for it - First Choice Haircutters. I must say my lovely stylist Heather did a fine job. i love it - not sorry at all. I do need to go buy some product though - mousse just isn't quite doing it for me.

well, time for a cup of tea.

and then ransack the rations

there are days that test your limit as not only a parent but a person. days where you have to lock yourself in the bathroom for 5 minutes so you don't do something you regret. today was one of those days.

after two good nights Mags was up at 10, 11, 11:30, 12:58, 1:40 and 4:48. today she napped for 20 minutes, despite being so obviously tired and cranky she screamed every time i put her down. this evening she pretty much screamed herself to sleep (just 10 min). awful.

Nate who usually loves his books decided to rip one to pieces.

Nate has not pooped in 8 days again.

thankfully, Jay is home again. thankfully i have a dentist appointment tomorrow so i can have some alone time. how sad is that, i have to go to the dentist to get me time!

i'm also going back and forth about cutting my hair off again. i came across a pic recently and i remembered how much i loved it and right now my hair is always in a semi-greasy pony tail or otherwise falling out all over anything and everything.

deep breath.

blame it on the rain

must be the rain - kids schedules are all off today - Nate didn't go down for his nap until 2:00 (usually its noonish) and Mags is down for her third nap of the day. hopefully i'm not in for a bad/late night...

so, i was denied my 4 day week request yesterday. this has prompted a lot of soul searching in a very short amount of time but i think i know what i want to do. i'm going to go back for my year (partly to avoid paying back my top up) and then re-evaluate. this will give Jay and i an opportunity to try and bank some money, see how i feel about working vs being at home etc.

i am also going to start taking some part time courses from Algonquin in residential design/decor. this is something i've always thought of doing but the practical side of me has always held me back i.e. taking management courses instead. i think its time to do something just for me. i've missed the deadline for the spring/summer semester but will get on the road in the fall.

i'm also starting to think that i'm not done having kids. bizzare, i know, coming from the women who has taken a long long time to warm up to the idea of being a mom. look out jon and kate (i'm totally kidding i think 3 is tops and no, i don't actually watch that show).

well, i'm going to go see if my branches are dry. i was watching a design show yesterday where they attached twigs to a chandelier and sprayed the whole thing white - so cool. i'm not doing that...yet...but i did spray a bunch of twigs from our maple (that fell during windy days - i'm no tree wrecker) black (left over from my re-purposed lamps) and i'm going to put them in a white vase and put it in our bedroom.

out of all of my new years endeavours being more creative is definitely winning. being fiscally responsible - not so much if we go ahead with our planned renos but i also consider house stuff an investment and i know that on the bathroom we'll make our money back.

oh - i also did some do it yourself art with the left over coffee table paint and some canvases (sp?) i bought ages ago. jackson pollock inspired because i'm not very talented. once i hang them tonight i'll take pics of the room.

dashing through the snow

ok not quite but brrr it is cold here this morning - i actually had to turn the heat on. we had a frost warning last night (looks like my flowers are ok) and its only about 4 out right now.

good day yesterday, had our new realtor come over to assess current market value and give us some guidance on our reno wish list. we're totally on track which is always good to hear and because we got the house for such a good deal we're probably already looking at a 20-30k profit and if we do our renos potentially 40-50k. of course, the longer we wait to sell the better and hopefully we won't have to for at least 5 years.

got the last coat of paint on my coffee table - just have to do the poly-urathane (sp??) today so its finish is more durable. looks fantastic. as i was watching the Monaco GP and they showed shots of the Medditeranian (sp?) i thought to myself hey - the water is the same colour as the new table.

today we're having our first post eco/energy audit inspection where they come and check out the upgrades we've done thus far (furnace and water tank) which will allow us to apply for our rebates. once we get that money back we'll do some more upgrades and have another inspection to apply for further rebates. you're not making your money back but it is a great incentive if you have to have stuff like the furnace done anyway. we'll be getting back just under 2k for what we've done so far.

well - kids will be up soon so i better get busy.

its a beautiful day

its Sunday am 8:30ish i think. i'm on the deck with Mags watching the Monaco GP through the open patio door. Jay is digging out weeds with his new toy, i mean "tool" the Fiskars weeder (it really works) and Nate is playing in his new sandbox.

Mags is trying so hard to crawl - she gets on all forurs and moves forward and backward without actually moving anywhere. it won't be long.

yesterday was good but very busy. i went to Lee Valley Tools to get new hinges and knobs for my newly finished cabinet (just have to hang the doors now) and also went to IKEA to get new shades for my re-purposed bedroom lamps (sprayed glossy black with simple white shades). while at IKEA i could not help myself so i also got a couple new pillows for the bedroom and our new dresser. to be fair, we needed a new once since our old one - a hand me down that got lots of use - recently went out to the curb.

Jay's mom and aunt also came by for a visit yesterday afternoon - was nice. I really like Jay's aunt. had some pizza for dinner - good times.

today we're hoping to go to Church (if Mags cooperates nap wise) and then i'm having a long over-due visit with Lynne this aft.

she had a messy bedroom on the edge of town

sometimes i take on too much and burn myself out. i may have mentioned this before but i have a problem relaxing - especially during the day.

so my week pretty much went like this get up with Mags at 5:45ish and put her back to bed, make coffee, get a coat on the coffee table, get a coat on the cabinet, Mags is back up so get her breakfast then Nate is up so get him breakfast then get everyone dressed etc. if we're going somewhere.

Tuesday it was a playdate, Wed it was Home Depot, Thurs was playgroup and today was groceries, Toys R Us and Homesense.

today i also had 2 contractors come by to check things out.

no wonder i'm exhausted.

speaking of Homesense, i don't know what posessed me to go. after picking up Nate's sandbox at Toys R Us i thought we would give it a try. First of all, worst possible place to take a 2.5 year old which i knew going in but was totally prepared to leave. i think we lasted 5 minutes but he was way too touchy feely. but of course, while we were in there i saw so many beautiful shiny things i needed to have so when Jay got back from Kingston tonight i basically said see ya, i'm off to Homesense.

so, i went back and bought nothing because i really didn't need anything and the beautiful lamps i saw were not so beautiful up close and had they been $20 each i would have picked them up but they were still $70 and there is no point shopping for "accessories" until i'm done painting etc.

Mags is being a terror - she has been up at least 3 times a night all week and 5 times last night.

tomorrow i have a few more groceries to do and Jay's mom and aunt are coming for dinner - i think we're doing take out thankfully because i forgot all about it and don't want to make anything.

i'd like to be under the sea

busy day again - Mags was up early (just before 6) but i put her back to bed so i could have a shower and she slept until 9:00. Nate slept until about 7:30 so i had a bit of a break this am. actually finished the first coat of primer on the coffee table. think i'll do one more.

we went on a mini-adventure to Home Depot to buy paint for the coffee table. a very brilliant turquoise colour called lagoon. also got some minwax stain for my cabinet that i bought at a junk shop when i was pregnant with Nate and then left at my parents because the car wasn't big enough to bring it home and, well, then i forgot about it.

fortunately, it was stored safely in the old chicken coop so i hauled it out and home. i have to do a couple repairs to it too so i finally got to use my new hand saw (just the manual kind) today.

when i'm done i'm hoping to put it in the upstairs hall but it may be a tad too big - we'll see - because i really don't have any other place for it and i do love it.

had the first contractor come by today. can i just hire him? i won't (well, not before interviewing a few others at least) but this whole thing is exhausting - i can see why people just sort of give up and hire the first guy they meet. will hopefully have a couple meetings set up next week.

i also sort of wonder what i'm getting us into as these things tend to snowball and we will have to put any major renos on the LOC. i'm sort of thinking about getting an appraisal done so we don't over-improve for the length of time we intend to be here especially considering the current economy. Ottawa at least still seems to have a very stable real estate market.

oh...decisions, decisions

life goes easy on me, most of the time

i had my (well, the kids) play-date today with the woman from playgroup. we went over to her house and then a local park.

it was a nice time but with six kids in total, there isn't much time to actually carry on a conversation. sure did tire Nate and Mags out though!

i have started a contractor search to help with some projects around the house. i know that we could do a couple ourselves i.e. the fireplace surround but we don't have the time to do it and it is beginning to be a hazard with Mags rolling around.

i want to find someone good, obviously, but for something like the surround i don't care if it is just a mr. handyman looking to make a little extra cash so long as he knows what he's doing but for the bigger stuff i think i want someone "legit" so to speak. i've watched too many Holmes on Home episodes.

got my checklist ready to go so hopefully i can find someone. checking references will be key.

i semi-officially asked my work to consider a 4 day work week. i haven't even begun to consider what it would mean financially yet because i didn't want to get my hopes up too much in the event they turn me down. childcare will be the big money suck for sure. we could probably live on Jay's salary alone come October but if i don't go back to work it would mean i have to pay back my top up which is somewhere in the $8k neighbourhood. But, more importantly, i still want to work. i like my job, its not just a job its a career but i do want more time with my kids - at least for a couple of years.

so, i guess all i can do right now is pray about it. fingers crossed so to speak.

well, i think i might start priming the coffee table - got three furniture projects on the go...

and so it is, just like you said it should be

busy weekend - was up early on Friday and on the road to Deacon by 10:30am. weather was beautiful and Nate played outside with the hose all day.

got a surprise when Jay showed up around 2:00 (wasn't expecting him until much later). unfortunately, the kids did not sleep well all weekend. actually thats not the truth - they had fantastic naps but seemed to tag team for night wakings.

on Saturday (what was supposed to be yard sale day) it poured and poured and poured. we didn't bother going ahead with it but Angie came down and bought all Nate's winter stuff and Amy (Derek's wife) bought what was left of Nate's baby stuff (sleepers etc.) so i still made $50. i didn't really care about making money, the main priority was to purge. i packed up what was left and to send to the missionary's in Angola that our chapel supports.

we went out for Chinese food and Nate threw a tantrum in the restaurant - he was so freaking cranky from the million bug bites and lack of sleep. fun times.

came home pretty much first thing this am so i could get groceries done and Jay could have a night at home too.

i just read this post back and realized how boring it was - sorry for wasting 3 minutes of your life!

you asked the cleanest boy you found

ugh - both kids were up at 5:56am. and, i had stayed up until 11 watching Lost and was so wired after watching (that show just keeps on amazing me) that i didn't fall asleep until closer to 12 and then Mags was up at 12:43 and 4:08.

oh well, coffee to the rescue yet again. today i've decided no projects, no major cleaning etc. i will relax during their naps.

yesterday afternoon we were at the park and there were a few caregivers there with kids and parents started to come by and pick them up and it sort of dawned on me that in 5 short months that will be me - picking my kids up at someone elses house. For the first time ever it sort of struck a chord with me (maybe its the Zoloft)

i like my job and i don't want to give it up but i am seriously considering dropping to 4 days if they'll allow me and if we can swing it financially.

in other big news (big for me because i, of course, generally dislike people) i have set up a playdate with one of the other moms from playgroup. the one with 4 kids who wants more. i think we might actually have some things in common. kind of excited plus it is great to get out.

well we're heading up to Deacon tomorrow so i'll be off the net for a few days. been spending much less time on here anyway since i have to come into the basement and use the unbearably slow desktop (Jay took the laptop with him).

and after all that we've been through

two days in a row i've ventured out and about with the kids in tow.

today we went to the bank (super exciting i know but i had $67 in change to cash in) and then to the mall so i could buy my mom a charm for her bracelet (belated mother's day gift) and i wanted to check out bedding at Zellers (had nothing).

Nate was super good so i got him a Tonka bulldozer. he hasn't let go of it since and he's even sleeping with it.

tomorrow is playgroup - thankfully an activity that won't cost money.

things are good but i find i'm beyond exhausted once Nate is down. i don't really rest during their naps because thats when i can get a little house work done etc. i have to say it is easier to keep the house clean without Jay here dropping his bags in the living room, leaving yogurt containers in the family room and dirty socks well, everywhere.

well, i have to put new sheets on the bed, get my coffee ready to go in the am and turn on the dishwasher and then just maybe i'll relax for a bit.

time, baby to pull it together, turn yourself back around

today was a first, the first time i took both Nate and Mags out of the house (other than the park) by myself - Mags is 7 months old, how crazy is that?

i just found the thought of it daunting and avoided it at all costs but since Jay is gone i no longer have the luxury. i don't know what i was so worried about.

you know what got me out of the house with the both of them? why shopping of course. Jay will probably want to kill me. i had some gift cards and certficates for Rona and i wanted to get some painting supplies. well, i got the painting supplies but i also bought new curtains for the bedroom...

we had deep purple ones as we were sort of going for a dark and dramatic look but i could never pull it together. now i have a vision and its more light and airy than dark and dramatic and the curtains are awesome.

when i'm all done everything i'll post some pics but i need more money before i can continue with my plans - so, it may be a little while!

i'm so happy cause today i found my friends, they're in my head

day two sans Jay.

things are good, a little mundane but good.

Jay left at 10:00am yesterday so there wasn't much of a mother's day celebration but i did get two lovely cards, one from Jay and one from "Nate & Mags". Nate scratched out Mags name on it - too funny and i hope completely unintentional.

i went out to Alta Vista yesterday to pick up the chairs i found online. they are perfect. they are now in the living room which is starting to finally look like the picture in my head.

the Sears tech came today to inspect the fireplace. everything is ok as it was only the outer box and not the firebox iteself that was damaged and there are no carbon monoxide leaks. happy to put the whole mess behind us and move forward with the renos.

well, i should go be productive. i must say the house is already staying tidier without him and i definitely sleep better but i do miss the laptop and having a shower. think i can go the whole week? just kidding, i will have one tonight but only because i want to hit IKEA and possibly RONA tomorrow and my inlaws are possibly coming over.

Nate and Mags sort of have great grandparents they have yet to meet. i say sort of because they are Jay's mom's common-law husband's parents and therefore not actually related to any of us. i have actually never met them either. so, that is the potential plan for tomorrow afternoon since they are in town.

ok - i already said i should go be productive so now i'm going to do that.

but i can guarantee

last Jay day...

had the yard sale this morning - didn't get near the amount of traffic i was expecting but i still made $85 for stuff i neither want nor need anymore so i guess that's ok. i'm carting the left-overs up to Deacon next weekend to try my luck again.

didn't do much after lunch. tried to get a bit of cleaning done etc. because i function much better in a clean, organized house and i know i won't have the opportunity to do it as well when Jay isn't around. on the other hand i also won't have to worry about his messy ways!

tomorrow after Jay leaves i'm heading out to pick up some chairs i found online. they aren't Eames but they are from the same period and they are a fraction of the cost and they are going to look fabulous in the living room. it is inspiring me to get my coffee table painted.

now I'm on the hunt for a sunburst mirror or clock.

Nate has been pretty awesome the past few days. Jay brought chips home (a curse on him!) and Nate wanted some so I got him a little bowl. Then he looked at me and said "share with mommy" it totally made me melt.

Mags is doing great too - she's sitting up on her own fairly well now and she keeps getting up on all fours so i have a feeling the crawling is going to happen sooner than later. i sort of feel like i'm neglecting her at times because Nate seems to need so much attention. though, i think this is true of most second siblings.

maybe i'll start her scrapbook (baby book) soon. Jess was always upset that i had a baby book and she didn't and made me promise to do one for Mags.

ok - its only 8:30 but i'm wicked tired and i need a good night's sleep.

the rules of engagement are hard to endorse

The chimney saga continues. Company B phoned Company A who basically told Company B to go to heck. And while Company B is sympathetic to our situation, they still believe it is Company A's fault. As you can see this gets us nowhere...

I have actually sought legal advice (thank goodness I work for the most awesome law firm on the planet) in the event we can't resolve this.

Company A is actually coming on Monday to inspect the FP and if it is still safe to operate I will forget about the entire ordeal so, please pray for that.

Busy day again yesterday. Did some more landscaping out front. Jay pulled all of the dandelions and we put down some more grass seed. We just need flowers to finish it off now. I got some pricing done on my yard sale items. I picked up a piece of furniture (a server that's going in the kitchen where the microwave cart is) from my Aunt Judie's friends.

Today we have to take our old hot water tank back, go grocery shopping, pick up Jay's DU's from the drycleaner, take the van into the shop to finally get the winter tires off.

No time for fun these days. What is fun again?

I'll shoot, you run

I'm starting to feel as though all I do is complain on here...

Yesterday the chimney repair people came to replace the chase cap on the chimney enclosure (basically just a piece of flashing over the top). The old one was damaged and leaking.

As they were fixing it, the actual chimney pipe came crashing down onto our brand new gas fireplace. There is now a huge dent - or rather, the top of the FP is caved in.

What followed was much swearing, multiple phone calls and a he said/she said game between the FP installalers and the chimney repair company. The latter complaining that the former should have supported the remaining chimney when they installed the FP and the former complaining that the latter should have checked before messing around.

I don't care who is at fault. All I care about is whether my fireplace still works and if not who is going to replace it because I can tell you I sure as heck am not going to.

It was a very stressful day. Hopefully things will get resolved today. The chimney company manager is coming over.

However, the day was not a total loss. I went to Walmart and purchased various bags of top-soil, mulch and river rock and our front yard is now looking a little more polished. Was going to go to Richmond Nursery today for some flowers and shrubs but its raining so we'll see. Maybe tomorrow...

don't you remember you told me you loved me baby

icky day - Mags was up a few times last night and i woke up with a headache and all over crappy feeling.

that is the one thing that really sucks when you have kids - you can't just veg on the couch or in bed when you're sick. i really miss that on days like this.

day went smoothly enough though - Nate is back to napping thank goodness.

Jay has 4 days off and then he's gone...

look at the stars, look how they shine for you

so tired...was up at 5:30 this am because I couldn't get back to sleep after Jay's alarm and I wanted to have a shower too.

weird day - Nate napped again but this morning from 10:30 until 1:30. our trip to the park in the am must have worn him out.

speaking of which when we got to the park this morning it was graffitied with the words "white power" down the side and sliding surface of the slide. No one else was around (it was 7:45am after all) so I called the city to report it. partly because i don't want graffiti where Nate plays and the racially charged slogan was a little unsettling.

the police came about 20 minutes later and asked me a few questions i.e. was it there yesterday etc. apparently some kids went on quite a spree last night, there was also a swastika painted on the school, two other parks were vandelized and a car had a can of paint dumped on it.

i know some of the parks in the newer sections of Bridlewood have been problem areas for kids partying etc. but our area of the hood is more mature and established and we usually don't have any problems with broken bottles, graffiti etc. in park. hopefully it was a one-off situation.

it also makes me think about the kids growing up. i'm not so naive to think that my kids will never get in any kind of trouble but i hope i can raise them better than the kind of kid who sprays "white power" down a pre-school play structure.

while Nate and Mags were down for naps today I tackled my closet (for the second time - i was ruthless), my dresser and my night-stand junk drawer. I had to ask myself how many ripped and stained tank tops does one really need. I find it so funny how i can so easily get rid of some things yet have a hard time throwing out ratty tank tops - cause you know i might need them for painting shirts - all freakin 8 of them.

my underwear and sock drawers were also in a sorry state. i'll spare you the details.

i finally, finally think i'm finished my purge. i've gone through every closet, storage bin, cupboard and drawer twice.

the one thing i can't bring myself to chuck is a box full of movie ticket stubs. i have a stub for 95% of the movies i've seen in the theatre from high-school until now. every now and then i go through it and remanice/remanisce. I actually used to write on the backs who i saw the movie with though even without it i could still probably tell you most of them. of course, there is also the odd one that i seriously don't remember seeing. I also have tickets from every football,and hockey game and concert i have ever been too. At least they don't take up too much space!

we were at the in-laws for dinner tonight. nice visit but Mags missed her afternoon nap so she was very tired and a bit cranky. i much prefer when they come here just because it's easier and she doesn't have a place to nap there. i suppose we could have taken the pack n play - maybe next time.

wondering if i'll make it until 10 to watch Breaking Bad - if not can catch it on Demand later so not a big deal. such a good show.

ok - i'm getting tired of typing.

is someone getting the best of you

this morning while playing downstairs with the kids i discovered that i forgot to purge the two dressers that act as our tv unit.

they mostly act as junk drawers but a couple held boxes of cds and dvds. i miss buying cds, downloading and burning a generic disc is just not the same as peeling off the cellophane and reading the lyrics and liner notes. however i don't miss the space they take up.

had a good trip down memory lane and discovered some oldies but goodies (i.e. the Hip's Road Apples) i have yet to download/upload/import (whatever you call it) to iTunes.

its funny, i know that cally-ally is looking to move into a bigger space because they are running out of room and while more space can be important (especially when you have kids) it just seems that the more room you have the more stuff you accumulate and the cycle continues.

i think that once the yard sale is done and we acquire the rest of the essentials (i.e. we still need some furniture) we are going to have to adopt the if you want something new you have to get rid of something old first moto.

i also find that its staying organized, not getting organized that's the hard part.

both kids are down for a nap (yay nate!) so i'm going to take advantage of it and finally get my teeth brushed.

don't need you, i want you

what a fabulous day. started off rainy (and at 6:30am) but the sun came out and it warmed up and Nate actually napped!

he's been so good today, so cute, so awesome - remind me of this day when I say I am contemplating a third child.

I got lots of work done today. I totally cleaned, swept out and finishing reorganizing the garage in prep for the sale next weekend (yep, its here not Deacon) in the event it is raining and we can't be out on the driveway.

unfortunately, in doing so i discovered that some of the concrete is deteriorating. i did a little research online and it doesn't seem like it is a huge problem but one that needs to be fixed before it escalates for sure. the joys of home ownership! while i think it is important to maintain your home i am sad that all of this "infrastructure" work is taking away from the flooring/ensuite/eames chair fund.

well, i should go and start prepping dinner - Island Pork with Mango and jerk seasoning. A little less jerk than last time though because whoa that stuff is spi-cy.