Day 323 - 19 and stormy?

So this morning I wasn't feeling particularly healthy or motivated - woke up exhausted with a sore throat and headache. But I thought in the name of being a fun mom I better ask the kiddo if she wants to go shopping. I asked and she dove off the bed backwards at an alarming speed yelling "GO shopping - GO SHOPPING" and ran to the top of the stairs and back to me to figure out why the heck I wasn't right there with her! So yes - the decision had been made!

We soon had shoes on and set of for the Michaels Arts and Crafts store where we grabbed some foam Christmas puppet goodies to build together. The little Diva had fun finding things to look at in the store. We found ducks and a squishy Christmas tree - she was also thrilled with the Christmas Trees and giant garden - light up - snow man!

Once we were done there we popped in at the pet store to grab refills for our kitty's litter locker. The little Diva and I saw rats, guinea pigs, lots and lots of fishes, frogs, a crab, lizards, birds and kitties! The crab I think was the highlight of the trip - she assured me he was sleeping (although I'm pretty sure he was eating) and she also told me that the fish wanted cookies! So there you have it! Also on the drive there she told me that she liked aeroplanes and that they like juice and cookies :) I'm just wondering if someone else just wanted juice and cookies!!

Anywho the Diva is up and I have some entertaining to do, Until tomorrow - Happy Tuesday folks :)

Day 322 - Frog Legs!

I freaking tasted a frog leg today. No, no I didn't grab one from the swamp and take a chomp out of it's hindquarters - My dad tested out his birthday present from us and my mommers today! We got him a Bradley smoker and he whipped up some chicken, ribs and frogs legs. I didn't try the ribs but the chicken was moist and tasty and oh so freaking good!! The frogs legs were surprisingly not repulsive they were an odd mix of chicken and fish. Oh and smokey flavour - yumm!

Anywho it's getting late here and I'm sleepy so I'm going to head to bed to relax - night night all and I hope you have a FAN-FRICKEN-TASTIC week ahead!!

Day 321 - Bedtime con-artist!

To my Darling daughter - the bedtime con-artist,

Mommy knew full well when you asked for the milk 30minutes after you'd supposedly "gone to sleep" that you didn't really want or need milk. Nope - you were just stalling. You wanted a little more company before you finally decide to go to sleep. So I brought you your milk and as you pretended to drink it I got in another cuddle.

Your sleepy, happy little grin clearly said that you thought you'd won but I think I did.
 
You were snugly and smelt like bath-time, love and more cuddles. You pointed to your bedtime entourage one by one and got me to rearrange a few of them. It took some explaining on your part to make sure I had Binoo exactly where you wanted him - but we got it sorted out.

I finally convinced you that it was time to put the milk away so that mommy could tuck you in for bed. You complied and I got to tuck you in once again - snugly and warm in your blanket. I wasn't surprised to find that you'd hardly drank any of the milk in your sippy cup despite having nursed it the entire time I was in your room with you.

I think you're sleeping now - I will wait a few more minutes and then go in and check on you. I'll quietly remove most of your entourage so that you're not rolling over hard plastic toys in the middle of the night and waking up unhappy. I'll lean down for a quick kiss and I'll be happy that I'm the lucky one who gets to be your mommy.

Sweet dreams my little pumpkin, mommy loves you more than you could ever know and she wants to make the most of these snuggles while you'll still let her.

Love Mommy

Day 319 & 320 Technical difficilties

So yesterday..... right.... I didn't type because A: I was super tired and B: The router was being a douche and my laptop had no Internet connection. I'm seriously wondering if there is an iPhone blogger app? Actually wait, scrap that - I like my nights off thanks to the router! hehe I guess I shouldn't actually admit that right? But yes every so often it is amazing to have an excuse to go to sleep early.

Anywho yesterday morning was spent playing at the center with the Little Diva's friends and it was super fun. For whatever reason though she seems to have decided that nap and bedtime are negotiable again, and so we are weathering the storm that comes with that. It hasn't been too bad though and really as long as we tire her out before - the struggle is lessened!

Today was spent with Granny! We all had a blast. I planned to get a chunk of the Christmas shopping done and I got a few things so I was happy about that. The Little Diva loved shopping and loved lunch from A&W! We went to Toys R Us and Walmart and then spent the day with Granny and Misty.

There were attempts at potty training which were entertaining. This kid has staying power the likes of which you have never seen. I'm hoping we get her trained soon but here's hoping she just decides its time soon!!

Sweet dreams to all - happy Weekend!!

Day 318 - Too tired to type!

“It's in the morning, for most of us. It's that time, those few seconds when we're coming out of sleep but we're not really awake yet. For those few seconds we're something more primitive than what we are about to become. We have just slept the sleep of our most distant ancestors, and something of them and their world still clings to us. For those few moments we are unformed, uncivilized. We are not the people we know as ourselves, but creatures more in tune with a tree than a keyboard. We are untitled, unnamed, natural, suspended between was and will be, the tadpole before the frog, the worm before the butterfly. We are for a few brief moments, anything and everything we could be. And then...and then -- ah -- we open our eyes and the day is before us and ... we become ourselves.”

- Jerry Spinelli, Stargirl

Day 317 - gotta LOVE parcels in the mail!

So I got an awesome parcel in the mail today! My sister is the bestest sister ever! It was a really lovely early birthday present. I missed the postman delivering it yesterday so I had to go pick it up at the post office today. The little Diva threw a humongous tantrum in the line up at the post office so I left my place in line to find a quite isle to reason with her in. She finally calmed down and accepted my iPhone to watch Thomas. So we went back to the line and now had to wait for 5 other people to do their transactions before we got to the front. The wait was well worth it though - The box was humongous and full of lovely goodies - mostly candy from South Africa that I have been missing - YUMM YUMM YUMMY!!!

I'm going to try not to eat it all at once - I don't want to look like a house! Plus it's nice to know there's a little something yummy tucked away for when the craving strikes :)

Happy Wednesday folks! Until tomorrow cheerio :)

Day 316 - Zombies

So our PVR acted up last night and didn't record The Walking Dead. It came on again later but by that time I had fallen asleep. You would think that the lack of zombie viewing would pave the way for relaxed sleep, but alas no. I freaking dreamed our cat was a zombie and he could turn you by just licking you! For whatever freaking reason we were not able to open the front door to kick him out and instead of ending his wretched existence we just played a horrible game of "keep away" and THEN to make matters worse the damn thing had kitten, which on account of him having had balls at one point and never having had a uterus was IMPOSSIBLE. These kittens were adorable and just as terrifying. Ugh trying to keep your toddler away from zombie kittens in your dreams while simultaneously trying to avoid being licked yourself was freaking stressful. No wonder I was wide awake when I woke up.

So on that delightful note - happy dreaming folks! Happy Tuesday too :)

Day 315 - Why no nap!

Oh my goodness have we just had the nap battle of the century or what! The little Diva has been a superstar with nap time for the last couple of weeks. She watches a few minutes of her show and then she happily skips off to her room when I ask her if she's ready to be tucked in.

Today she was having NONE of that. I adjusted the time for the time change so the sleep attempt happened at the same time but all she kept saying was NO TUCK, NO SLEEP!! I even read her two books but then the little punk went flying out of her room back into ours and tried to get away with watching more tv.... All I had to say to that was HECK NO! It took some serious convincing but she FINALLY slept.

It is now 8:54pm and this kid is STILL awake in her room. I don't know what has her super charged but I think I will be chasing her around a park tomorrow to make sure she's TIRED!! It's EXHAUSTING trying to convince a kid to sleep.. lol Entertaining too though because she has a number of new tactics to delay bedtime. The latest one goes like this: You hear her knocking on her door saying "Hug a mommy, hug a daddy" and when you go in there you discover she's misplaced her pajama pants and you now have to retrieve them where they are stuck under the door and put them back on. This has happened enough times that when you enter her room she now says, "Why you take a off?!... why you take a off?!!" Sigh. If I could teach her to say "I seem to have misplaced my pants" we would all be in hysterics and no one would ever get to bed!

ANYWAY it sounds like maybe she's winding down now... I'm hoping so because I think it's time for some popcorn, "Once Upon a Time" and "The Walking Dead" - quite the contrast I know :)

Sweet dreams all and I hope your Monday flows smoothly, quickly and painlessly! Here's to a stellar week!

Day 313 & 314!

Yesterday passed in a blur. I had an appointment so Dadoos came to watch the little Diva for me. She, the little Diva, ate 8 of the 10 timbits Dadoos brought for her!! It probably would have been 10 but I snuck two while she wasn't looking. I did ask if I could have one but she grabbed the box and yelled "No Mommy eat it a timbit!!!" She's not a fan of sharing her timbits... She and Dadoos had a blast - there was lots of playing with play dough and it sounds like Dadoos got really good at making orange, blue and purple dough cats! I have to mention that later in the day she asked me for MORE timbits... lol I figured 8 was a pretty good daily quota for a little Diva.

Once I got home we had some tea and then Dadoos set off for home. I got the little Munchkin down for her nap and after wrapping Grandpa's present I took a little break myself and finally finished reading Game of Thrones (the first book).

The little Diva woke up from her nap and while she was enjoying her lunch/playing/watching tv I quickly whipped up a batch of Hertzog cookies for Grandpa's party. We set off for Granny and Grandpa's as soon as the hubby got home and spent a wonderful evening with family and friends celebrating Grandpa/Dad's 50th birthday! My dad is awesome - when I was a kid I always likened him to Bruce Willis' character in the Die Hard movies. If I'm honest I still do - my dad is my kickass hero and he could totally kill a helicopter with a car! :) The family wouldn't be what it is without him and without his determination and strength we wouldn't all have ended up in Canada. We owe you big dad!!

That brings us to today - We had a pretty late start to the morning. We got a lot done today though. The hubby has become quite the "laundry ninja" and I think he has almost all of it done. We got it folded too and now it's time to relax a little before bed. The little Diva is fast asleep and I'm ready to unwind a little.

I hope that those of you who have to change clocks tonight remember to do so! Sweet dreams everyone and Happy Sunday!!

Day 312 - Change of Plans!

So I sat down to start my new NaNoWriMo novel this afternoon while the little Diva was napping and I couldn't do it. I wrote three or four lines - thought about what I wanted to say further and realized that I had some serious reservations. In part I don't know if it is jut that I'm just not ready to write that particular book, or something else but there was definite resistance. I also questioned whether or not I wanted people to read what I had to write. I planned to write about the Little Diva's early entry into the world, but for now I think I'll wait a little while longer.

I Also have my unfinished book from last year quietly yelling at me so I have decided that I'm going to finish that one first. I started reading through my 37000-ish words this afternoon and though it starts off rough - it definitely has something going for it. I am confident that this is a book I can get published. My characters are begging me to end off this first installment of their journey and I think it is about time I do that for them.

So for me at least, NaNoWriMo is going to be about writing the end of last years book and then going back and fixing the start. Then I guess it needs to sit for a while until I do the serious editing.

So I do apologize for quitting before I even started - but this seems to be the better plan for now.

Sweet dreams all and Happy Friday!!!

Day 311 - Halloween!

When witches go riding,
and black cats are seen,
the moon laughs and whispers,
‘tis near Halloween.
~Author Unknown

We had a wonderful Halloween evening. The little Diva collected candy in her bucket and was super happy with it! I don't think she even realizes that everything is edible - but she knows there are smarties in there, and she knows that those are yummy! She grabbed them herself from our candy bowl before heading out :)

I'm exhausted though and way too full so I'll wish you sweet dreams and hope that your Halloween was equally fun! 

Day 310 - We didn't blow away!!

So I was all set last night for the "Frankenstorm" that the news anchors were telling us about! There was a lot of wind - but for some reason I was envisioning being woken up by loud cracks of thunder and lightening - that didn't happen. I was up at 4am though and it was incredibly windy - our door must have some kind of wind leak happening cause it HOWLS like it's no one business. Very fitting for Halloween week though!

That being said - I am glad we didn't blow away or lose power and I hope that those in worst hit areas get the help they need.

I do need to go watch Sons of Anarchy so I bid you an awesome night - Happy Wednesday everyone!!!

Day 309 - Windy and MORE windy!

Whew - it sounds like our house is going to blow away! Apparently we have hurricane Sandy to thank for this crazy wind. I'm wondering if the little Diva will sleep through the worst of it which is supposed to hit between midnight and 4am. There was a storm probably more than a year ago and the little Diva came to sleep in our bed when the thunder got too loud. I am hoping though that it doesn't get too crazy. I'm also keeping my fingers tightly crossed that we don't end up with a power outage - sounds like MANY of the surrounding areas are already without power.

On that note though I think I want to go fill up a water bottle and make some tea while we still have power.

Keep warm and safe everyone - Happy Tuesday!

Day 308 - My little Ponies

The little Diva loves to watch videos on the iPad. The only complaint I have is that she loves to restart videos and by "restart"- I mean she doesn't let it run all the way to the end. She gets to a point where she figures, "hey why don't we see the beginning again?" There is this one particular episode of My Little Ponies that is haunting me - I have seen the start of this thing a billion times and actually think I HAVE to grab the iPad and WATCH it when the Little Diva is napping! It's driving me nuts that I don't know how it ends!!

On that note I trust that everyone had an AMAZING weekend. If you haven't already bought your Halloween candy - you are running out of day to go grab some and rumour has it things are going to be wet and rainy!!

Sweet dreams to all! Happy Monday :)

Day 306 & 307 - Sleep...

is very definitely NOT overrated! There was a time not too too long ago where I was convinced that sleep was overrated and that it wasn't really something I needed to be too concerned about. I may have been a student and I may too have been ingesting COPIOUS amounts of coffee.. so perhaps therein lies my problem.... apparently my coffee meter is running on empty? Oh well - too much makes me jittery and anxious anyway :P

So I was all set to blog last night - I fired up the laptop and the poor thing was unable to connect to our wifi network. I could have marched downstairs and reset the router but instead I decided to take it as a sign that I was being given permission to sleep and that is just what I did. So I do apologize!

We had family over today for a little Halloween gathering. I made a slow cooker stew and bat cupcakes! They weren't perfect but I had fun making them and really that was the point! My mom bought delicious garlic bread and my sis-in-law bought the yummiest ketchup chips I have ever eaten - there was a second flavour but I will ignore it because these were just so awesome!

On that note I think I need to scoot here too - the hubby needs help folding the mountain of laundry that is gracing our bed.

Sweet dreams all, happy Sunday!!

Day 305 - So tired!

There seems to be some weird weather/night time issue happening in my neck of the woods. No one seems to be getting a good night of sleep. Perhaps out subconscious-es have figured out that winter and darker days are coming and they are trying to make us enjoy the last few warms days while we still can by keeping us up?

Yeah I doubt that is it either. Whatever is is thought it's making for whiny toddlers, grouchy parents and zombie-fied people in general. That being said though - I do hope that tonight finds us all enjoying a lovely night of sleep so that we can wake refreshed and ready to kick Friday's ass!

Oh and just before I go - we had a wonderful Thursday, the Little Diva and I went to her play group. The activity today was a nature walk! The kiddies were armed with a brown paper bag to collect fall leaves. The little Diva had a blast - she held my hand for practically the entire walk and commented on all the things she saw along the way. She is such a fun little person to chat with. It was priceless. She stopped every now and then to pick up a leaf amidst telling me repeatedly that the walk was "So FUN!! So FUN!!".

Sweet dreams to all and Happy FRIDAY!!

Day 304 - Reading!

I received the first four "Game of Thrones" books as a Birthday gift last year and it ABSOLUTELY pains me that I have yet to make it through the first book. I am close though. It's not that I'm not enjoying the book - heck I am loving it. I just cant find/make the time to read and that is scary! I used to devour books in a day. I guess when you get all older and mature and responsible and stuff - things have to fall by the wayside. Here's to squeezing in time to relax.

I had a lovely morning; my sis-in-law and one of her kiddies, B, came to visit. We had a great time chatting and the kids played really well together. It was so nice to see the little Diva sharing her toys. It seems that the bigger the group is, the more likely we are to have little squabbles etc.

I am looking forward to having the family over again on Saturday for Halloween - I'm planning to make Bat cupcakes so stay tuned for photo's of those if they turn out well :)

Until tomorrow - night night all. Happy Thursday!

Day 303 - Exhausted!

YAWNERS and YAWNERS again. I am WIPED! It seems the little Diva didn't sleep at all last night. Ok, she must have done some sleeping, but from about 4am I was pretty darn wide awake. She kept whimpering in her sleep and either the hubby or I would get up to tuck her back in. I don't think that she was cold, she was wearing socks and her room wasn't chilly. I even went so far as to feed her a drinkable yogurt at around 5:30 in hopes that she was just hungry and it would settle her. I think it might have helped a weee little bit but the hubby still got up 2 or 3 more times before the little snuggle monster came running into our room to hop in bed with us and give mommy a snuggle at around 7:45am.

As can be imagined, hubby and I were not exactly bouncing out of bed with grins on our faces after the sleepless morning and the little goober was SUPER whiny! It made for a pretty bleary, eyed, bleak looking, grumpy, whiny collection of family members at breakfast time. The little Diva has dark circles under her eyes and I'm hoping they're better by tomorrow - after she has a fitful night of sleep of course!

I did take her to play at the center today and she had a blast. The sandbox was filled with a bale of hay, spiders, bats and orange coloured gems for Halloween and the Little Diva and her friend E had a BLAST! At one point the little Diva discovered a basket and collected 4 little pumpkins. One of the other bigger boys bought her a fifth one. She took it with a huge grin and said "Thank you, thank you thank you MUCH!! It was priceless to see this boys WHOLE face light up with his smile. He was so happy that he'd made the little goober happy!

The kids also played in the gym and had fun running around, climbing through a tunnel, rolling, kicking and dunking balls. It was great to watch the kids being kids! It really does make my heart burst with love and happiness to see my little girl happy and having fun.

Then it was time to head back home. Uncle M visited and bought my cookies from my mommy which made me super happy too they are SUPER yummy, and yes I managed not to eat them all in one sitting!! Thank you for not eating them boet!!

I am going to scoot here though so I can go watch a couple of my shows - Tuesday is a busy PVR night; Sons of Anarchy, Raising Hope and New Girl!

Day 302 - Christmas is in the air?

Am I the only one who gets a little traumatized when witnessing Christmas decorations EVERYWHERE before Halloween has even come and gone? I could be, I mean I'm pretty easy to traumatize... well ok not really but silly things can and do irk me to proportions quite easily approaching traumatize-ation!

It just seems that as soon as September hits there's this mad dash to wind up the rest of the year.. Let's cram in Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas, and round it all off with New Years Eve. Whew - I'm exhausted just thinking about the next couple of months. I know it will be a blast, it always is - I just sometimes wish it didn't have to feel so crazy. I guess that is what happens when you trade in your "child-like wonder" for "adult responsibilities" - for some reason the world hits fast-forward and you better hang on for dear life. My birthday fits in there amongst the insanity of the year end, as does my dad's and I would like to slow down and enjoy both of those too!!

My goal (wish me luck) for the next couple of months is to take things a little easier - you know - not sweating the small stuff, or the big stuff. Life is going to unwind as it will and what's the point in worrying about things before they happen or just overreacting in general. It seems that people who are less highly strung have an easier time of it but here's to working and improving on an area I know I don't exactly earn gold in. Wish me luck and relaxation!

Happy relaxing people and happy Tuesday!!

Day 301 - Fall :)

“But then fall comes, kicking summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does one day sometime after the midpoint of September, it stays awhile like an old friend that you have missed. It settles in the way an old friend will settle into your favorite chair and take out his pipe and light it and then fill the afternoon with stories of places he has been and things he has done since last he saw you.”
 - Stephen King, Salem's Lot 

Fall is definitely my favourite time of year. The leaves are gorgeous, the days are still pretty decent, not too hot but not too cold either. I haven't baked an apple pie or a pumpkin pie yet and I think I REALLY need to before the pre-Christmas celebrations take off in earnest.

I hope that everyone has a super duper week! Happy Monday folks :)