Saturday, February 19, 2011

The top ten reasons why I am glad my daughter came home for reading week.

Baby girl is home for reading week and here is why I like it:

10. The estrogen to testosterone level in the house is more balanced.
9. She likes to drink stinky (or fruity as my husband calls it) tea.
8. The laundry is no longer overwhelmingly black jeans and t-shirts. It also has frilly underwear and cute little socks.
7. She answers with more than a "Huh?" when I ask a question.
6. She doesn't trade fisticuffs with her brother - just for fun. (She doesn't trade fisticuffs period.)
5. She wipes down the kitchen counter.
4. She WANTS to go to the market with me - and not just because I will buy her something.
3. She never looks into the fridge and asks if we have any food in this house.
2. She will watch Glee and Grey's Anatomy with me and not tease me.

And the number one reason why I am glad she came home for reading week?

1. She's right under my nose and I get to see her - every day!!(Until she goes away again in a week!!)

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Jan? It's about your family.....

It all started Christmas of 1990 when my family came to visit. I have 4 siblings and in 1990, my dad was still alive, so they all came for Christmas. In addition to the two of us, we were 11 in number.

We live in a large house, built in the early 1900s. (You have to know Calgary to appreciate that this is an ANCIENT house - we tend to tear everything older than 50 years down). It is large enough to absorb 11 people and not feel too squished. However, the dishwater backed up Christmas night (let me repeat - the dishwasher, Christmas, 11 people in the house).

Two years later, my brother and his boys came to visit - and the toilet got clogged. Turns out a loonie got stuck (had fallen out of someone's pants pocket into the toilet) and things wouldn't ....clear, if you catch my drift. However, my husband and brother took the toilet off and into the backyard and got the loonie out.

The next time, my family came to visit, one of the children turned the hot water on in the bidet and left it running. (Yeah, I know, a bidet. We didn't put it in and it has since been torn out, but at the time, it was a great diaper rinser.) The hot water tanks both drained - not a big deal, because they do fill up and heat up again (not quickly), but a lot of water went..... down the drain in the process.

The next time? The toilet(s) plugged again - not a loonie, not sure what it was, but not pretty.
The next time? The dishwasher broke (the main seal) so we bought a new one.
The next time? The laundry drain got blocked.
The next time? The washing machine stopped spinning.
The next time? Another new dishwasher.

And on it goes. It gets so that if there is any plumbing problem, my husband turns to me and asks which one of my family is coming to visit.

So I have booked a plumber for this weekend. My brother is coming for a visit and I want to be prepared.

P.S. I know - still nothing about the knitting. Going swimmingly - will report next time - when I find my camera card.....

Sunday, February 6, 2011

In which I talk of vomit and the voice in my head (not for the squeamish)

The stomach flu went through our house this past weekend. Actually, strictly speaking, it likely has not finished going through the house, since my husband and I have not been hit.

Okay - I started this post and then felt a wee bit nauseous. Hoping against hope, I walked away from the screen, thinking it might be the power of suggestion.

If it was, it was pretty powerful. At about 3:00 a.m. Monday morning, I found myself hugging the toilet bowl. Enough said.

Sometimes I wish I would get sick - you know, not alot. Not a week's worth and not the flu - maybe just a small cold. Enough to keep me at home resting and not working, running, buying groceries, doing laundry, driving children everywhere. Sick enough to stay home, but not too sick to read and knit and listen to CBC or my Ipod. For maybe three or four days....

But no, instead, when I get sick, I get the stomach flu and feel absolutely wretched for 24 hours. But then I get back up and go back off to work Tuesday - because I am no longer throwing up, although I am not eating anything and so, you know, I owe it to the world to go back out and do my best to save it (or my part of it).

I did, out of respect for that message that Mother Nature might be trying to pass on, forego my run on Wednesday. You think I would, oh I don't know, forego the flipping laundry or something. Not me - I go back to work and forego my run.

It's the guilt complex I think - the little person who sits in my head (we all have one - mine speaks in a tone reminiscent of my Grade 4 teacher who happened to be our neighbour, commenting on the fact that my older brother was late for school AGAIN - like it was my fault).)The little voice said "Come on Jan, you can get up and go to work. Yes, your head is achy, but you aren't throwing up and you KNOW they are short-handed at work and someone will have to cover your late shift because it is YOUR DAY TO WORK UNTIL 6:00. (Yes, my voice speaks in capital letters - doesn't yours? Especially when it is ANNOYED with me).

Of course, if I did get a little cold, I would not even stay home - I would drag myself off to work (where everyone would PRETEND to be glad that I came in, but really wished I had stayed home - which of course I wouldn't have because it is only a little cold).

And of course, if I did get a little cold, no-one at home would be at all sympathetic, because I am Mom and Mom doesn't get sick - and even if she does, she will still make dinner \take me to music \pick me up from practice \empty the dishwasher \nag me to tidy the kitchen until I go stomping off upstairs, muttering about how Mom NEVER made Alessandra tidy the kitchen when she was home etc., etc. Stop me if this sounds familiar.

Really - I've decided it is just easier not to get sick......