lest we forgot

Lest we forget ...
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields the poppies blowBetween the crosses, row on row,That mark our place; and in the skyThe larks, still bravely singing, flyScarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days agoWe lived, felt dawn, saw sunset grow,Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:To you from failing hands we throwThe torch; be yours to hold it high.If ye break faith with us who dieWe shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
Dec 8, 1915 John McCrae

taken from

http://www.mun.ca/marcomm/remember/

craftin' crazyness!

My little guy was off sick with me for 2 days. Friday afternoon I knew he was really sick as the moment we got in the car to go grocery shopping he fell fast asleep. I drive to Timmy's and got myself a coffee before taking him home to bed. That day I really didn't mind that he watched about 4 hours of TV. He really had no energy to do anything else.

Over the weekend he seemed fine. He did have a snotty, runny nose and a slight cough but we were certain he was on the mend. No more fever and a lot more energy. Monday morning his cough seemed to have gotten worse and he didn't want to get out of bed in the morning (although he rarely gets up on his own these days- our 5 am riser has now taken to sleeping in till 7 or 8 if we let him- this type of behaivour isn't supposed to happen till teenage years-or so i thought!!) We decided to play it safe and keep him home again. I took him to the doctor- who said it's just a cold and he's fine.

So what does one do with a 3 year old all day? I didn't want him watching too much TV (a couple of hours was the limit). So off to Walmart we went in search of activity ideas, I got paint and popcicle sticks, construction paper and activity books galore... i am hoping to build up my "rainy/sick day" box so that we never have to spend hours bored in front of the TV again!
I used to silently make fun of the moms I knew who had "craft chests" and piles of "activities" around the house...I thought they were overly "keen" and thought the kids did enough of that stuff at school...so who needed it at home too. Boy do I owe them apologies!! Having crafting stuff at home can be a real saviour. We were able to spend about 2 hours sitting at the table painting popcicle stick and making picture frames for daddy! Another decent chunk of time was spent making pictures with paint and markers. phew...thank goodness for Walmart being close by (although i'm pretty sure I could have bought some of the stuff at the dollar store too-for a lot cheaper!!)

The final pictures! Notice the circles which look just like a guitar...well that is what they are supposed to be!! I was pretty impressed!


Some of the goods!

another angle.

my new best friends..

since the washing machine we inhertited with this house died only 3 short months after moved it, we needed to buy a new washer quick. I did a little research and decided that since we'll likely be in this house for the next 20-30 years a high efficiency set would probably suit our needs best.

We tossed out the old maytag, which looked something like this (well not quite THIS old but you get the point)

and we got these beauties...so what if now we have nothing left to take a vacation for the next few years...we can do loads of laundry in 1/2 the time!!

i'm in love (although it's only been 1 day and i'm just catching up on the last 3 weeks worth of laundry...anything would be great at this point)

trend or foe

I love looking at what people are wearing. I especially like to see how some people pull off certain trends and how some people shouldn't attempt them.

There are a few trends out there now that I'm not sure about.

1. The over the knee boot. Sometimes really cool, funky and classy-most times really trashy and hookerish. Kate Moss is super skinny and they just look like sticks on her legs-ugh! (image is not mine Obviously)

2. The long cardigan. I love sweaters. LOVE THEM. but i'm not sure they are really that flattering. They really have to worn with caution as they could cause one to look really bulky and kind of larger than they really are. The super long ones don't really flatter the shorter woman and at 5'4" I would consider myself on the short end of the spectrum. This one is super pretty but i imagine that combining the length with the ruffles would be real overkill and really unflattering! Too bad!

3. The kerchief tie sweater. They can be pretty but they can't be worn that easily. If they are tied up they look silly, but it they are hanging wrong they can look even sillier. AND they have started showing up in every store out there, so young girls, old women and teenagers alike have been wearing them.I think it's overkill and next year they are going to be "so last year

Like OMG...

tonight's gonna be a good night, tonight's gonna be a good good night...i have this song in my head and have been singing it all day...now if only today was a good good day!!
Today was most definitely one of those days where I should have stayed home and stayed in bed. It all started about 4 this morning when my little man started calling me to come quickly to his room...of course I jumped out of bed and ran to him worried he might be sick or that he'd had a bad dream..nope he says "mommy I'm HUNGRY" I said "honey it's still night time you can't eat breakfast now" "BUT MOMMM I HUNGRY" Thus went the trekk of him, blanky, teddy and dolly all to our bed. We all squished into the small queen sized bed, along with daddy of course. Sleep from that point forward wasn't really in cards, except we all managed to sleep till 7am (which NEVER happens on weekends BTW). I managed to scramble, get dressed and put on a tiny bit of makeup (which didn't really help!) and out the door by 7:35...unfortunately in the process of trying to leave I poured myself a big bowl of cereal and gulped down a spoonful of sour milk, lost my cell phone and got my pristine white winter coat really dirty! (what was i thinking!)
Luckily I did manage to remember to send the spare clothes both kids daycares needed as everything in their cubbies were still summer stuff.
Once I finally made it to work I thought things might calm down...but no such luck! My computer was super slow and taking forever to load up (which appeared to be an office wide issue so noone is really out to get me!) I tripped on my headset cord, not just once but TWICE!! and i decided to eat samosas for lunch which were so spicy my mouth is still on fire 4 hours later!! I think i better drive slowly on my way home, tell hubby to make dinner (what a joke) and crawl into be until tomorrow...unless Tonight is the night..to live it up.

finally

after using the same bedroom set my parents bought me for the my 13th birthday for YEARS...we finally decided it was time to invest in new furniture. It was a hard choice and we looked at tonnes and tonnes of sets. We finally decided on a traditional set that will last us forever and will never go out of style-and even if it does OH WELL!!
I also decided that I was going to get proper bedding to go along with our new "adult" set...i loved it in the store but am not so sure I love it anymore...it is kind of shiny and hot, plus i'm finding that little things snag on it UGH!!

"Car-Free day"

Today is supposed to be Car-Free-Day. I don't think that many people observed this attempt at being environmental. I didn't. I would have, i really would have BUT Toronto, being the "world-class" city that it is does not have a transit system that allows for people living the burbs, working in other burbs to take transit in a reasonable amount of time. For me to get to work by transit it requires taking 2 busses, 2 subways and then another bus...a route that would probably take me 90 minutes, to drive it takes me 40-50 minutes (in traffic-20-30 with none)
If the higher-ups really want people to observe things like car-free days and take public transit days than they have to get with the program and start building better, more widespread subway lines. Sure these things cost money but so does paying the city-counsellors and other government officials 6 figure incomes when really they deserve IMO 1/2 of what they are paid!

What can we do to make those in charge aware of our serious discontent with the system??? Any suggestions???
(this post was started days and days ago but I am only just getting around to finishing it today Oct 1)