Kitty

This little cutie was found on my front steps yesterday morning. He ran from my stairs to the street and a local lawn care guy almost ran him over with his truck. He rang my bell (I was still home before work) to see if he belonged to me. We tried looking around for the mom, with no luck. I thought it was only 2-3 weeks old. He has a bit of an eye infection, but hopefully with meds, that could be cleared. I took a diaper box with a towel in it, and I brought him over to the cat vet in my shopping center where my shop is. The vet tech who took the cat in said he is probably around 3-4 weeks old, could probably eat on his own and that he is so cute that she'll probably take him home for her mother. I was so happy that he will get a good home. I can't even imagine what could have happened to him had he been left on the street.
I tried to keep him but Quentin was petrified, and the final answer was no! Maybe in a few years once the kids are older…

ETA: The vet emailed me to tell me that he's doing well, and they named him Grizzly. Grizzly is a local company that does lawn care and they felt that name suited him because of whom found him! 

Double Rainbow

I have seen a lot of rainbows this week. The first one was on Thursday after some rain. Then last night, on the way to dinner at my in-laws, we saw the most beautiful thing ever. A double rainbow, where one of the rainbows (the clearer one) was a full arc. Unfortunately I couldn’t capture the full rainbow on my iPhone fast enough, from the passenger seat of the car). It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a rainbow like that. I just had to share it. Happy Saturday!

Flight Tracker

My in-laws just returned from their trip, and we were able to track their flight with this very cool app. It was very neat to be able to track their flight and see where they were at any given point, the kids enjoyed that. It also allowed us to see if they were arriving late or early or on time, to be able to leave at the right time to go to the airport. And I didn’t even need to use the app on my iPhone, I was tracking it right on my computer, so someone who doesn't have an iPhone can track a flight as well with the link. Very cool! (Click on the image to open it up to see it in better detail).

Craigslist Funnies

I saw this on Craigslist. I hope it’s still listed when you get to read it, if not, I have it saved, so just ask & I’ll share.

The 1st Day of Winter

Google thought of us knitters on the 1st day of winter this year. Awesome homepage google!

Demolition Derby

This past weekend we took the kids to visit family about 4 hours away from home. We had beautiful weather on Sunday so we took the kids to a demolition derby about 30 minutes from where we were staying. We had never been to one before, and it was pretty neat. It was a little loud for Mackenzie so he wore earplugs, but the rest of us didn’t mind the noise.

At one point, this blue car (above) backed itself up onto the car behind it. It was pretty crazy what these cars were able to do! And the damage they caused!

One car had us ducking for cover (from dirt!) – check it out!
(Luckily I didn’t have my knitting out yet).

Writing Workshops

 

Yesterday I had the pleasure of seeing author Catherine McKenzie at two of her workshops in downtown Montreal. She is the author of 3 novels (Spin, Forgotten & Arranged), with a 4th book (Hidden) coming out this June. I have read all her novels, and loved them. Catherine was giving 2 workshops yesterday, one called How to Write Dialogue and the other called How to Find Your Voice. I took Dialogue Writing last year which Catherine hosted with author Shawn Klomparens, and enjoyed it. This year, it was the same outline, but with new faces in the crowd for the workshop, new things were talked about and it was extremely interesting. I have always loved writing, and possibly have some ideas in my head that I might just start to put on paper. The 2nd workshop, on finding your voice was very interesting as well. I learned a bit about the tense that books are written in (first person, third person, present, past tense, etc). According to Catherine, I have to just “DO IT”! I took some notes, I have some ideas, now I just need to get started. Above, Catherine was reading an excerpt from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl to then ask us about the tense that it was written in.

Bloglovin’

For those of you who use Google Reader to stay up to date with the blogs you read, Google Reader is shutting down in a few months. Thanks to one of my readers/friends in my knitting group, she pointed me in the direction of Bloglovin’ which imports your Google Reader links and is an iPhone app too and I wanted to share it with you – my readers. I’m excited that there’s something out there that will take over so I can stay up to date with the blogs I read. So thank you Monica!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

The Mum Song

To all my mom friends out there. This is hysterical!

One Year Later

I have a Kenmore (from Sears) front loader. I had a Kenmore repair guy here for routine servicing under warranty last year. He told me I was using too much soap when doing my loads. You are not supposed to use the cup liquid soap comes with. (I use HE soap for front loading). You are only supposed to use 1 tablespoon. so I bought a set of measuring spoons from the dollar store and use the 1 tbs for measuring my soap for each load. I wanted to see how long this container of soap would last, so I marked the date on it when I started it. It says 185 loads on the bottle. I started it Feb 20, 2012 - Almost a year ago!!! I am almost down to the end of the bottle now, probably 500-600 loads later. I can't believe it & my clothes come out clean with that little soap each use! Thank you Kenmore service guy!

I QUIT!

I quit Facebook last night & it feels great. Those friends I was missing their contact info (email/phone numbers), I messaged and told them how to keep in touch. I’ve been weaning myself slowly off Facebook for a while, and last night I finally made the move and deleted my account. Let me tell you, I slept well last night! Now I know why my friends whom aren’t on Facebook, aren’t on Facebook. Are you on Facebook? Are you not on Facebook? Just like anything, it was a phase for me while I was on there, and it allowed me to reconnect with some old friends, but to be honest, while reconnecting was nice, as a mom of 3 kids, I don’t have the time or the energy to waste time on Facebook or the drama that Facebook creates.

Goodbye to the Penny

This Might Start A Debate...

Standing at the bus stop this morning, I was talking with a dad that stands at the bus stop with his daughter (who happens to be in Sean’s kindergarten class). I mentioned I was going apple picking today with Mackenzie’s class and I hope it didn’t rain since we were standing in a cloud of fog. So he asked Siri (on his iPhone) and this is how the conversation went:
Dad: “Siri, is it going to rain today?”
Siri: “Yes, it looks like it is going to rain today.”
Me: “Oh, that’s no fun.”
Dad: “Siri, are we going to have fog today?” 

Siri: “Doesn’t look like fog in Toronto today.”
All of us laugh out loud, since we’re in Montreal, not Toronto. Canada is new to Siri on the latest iOs update and she’s apparently still confused. But he then asked: "Is there fog in Montreal today?"
Siri: "It doesn't look like it's going to fog in Montreal today."
Hmm... Siri... you're wrong....!
Then Sean’s classmate’s dad asks if any of the kids want to ask Siri a question. Sean’s friend asks about what movie she should watch, and Sean asks about Star Wars. So the dad then asks, “Is Star Wars a good movie?”

And Siri replies: “This might start a debate….”
And I had a good hard laugh, much needed! 
Next upgrade, I want Siri!

Comic Con Montreal 2012

Yesterday Jamie & I took the kids to this year’s Comic Con festival here in Montreal. I surprised the heck out of Jamie and dressed up as Wonder Woman. He totally didn’t think that I’d do it (after borrowing the costume from a friend of my brothers). Even though the costume was slightly too big, I made it work with some safety pins and a bustier. I got asked plenty if people could take my photos (which I obliged) and got a lot of “you’re a really cool mom” and “you look fantastic”! Last year, 40/50 lbs heavier than I am today, I would NEVER have dressed up, but now that I have lost a lot of weight, I have more confidence to pull stuff like this off. And you know what? I’m only young once, so why not! I had an awesome time. The only requests I turned down, was to those who asked for the kids to be in the photo, since they thought it was awesome that Wonder Woman was pushing a stroller. I rejected the kids being the photos floating around. It’s one thing for me to blog or put photos of my kids up on Facebook, (I shrink the images to web size so they’re not enlargeable) but for them to have full resolution photos of my children, I wasn’t cool with that.

I got to meet Adam Baldwin, who played General John Casey on Chuck. He wasn’t there for Chuck though, but had some Chuck images along with other images and I got him to autograph a photo (of him on Chuck, since that’s where I know him from). I was extremely disappointed that he was a tad cold and refused any pictures. When he wasn’t signing autographs, he was glued to his cell phone, which made him look disinterested in even being there. Jamie got to meet Malcolm McDowell, and got a Clockwork Orange picture signed. Malcolm on the other hand was super cool and Jamie got to sit down with him for a photo.

The kids had a fantastic time too, and even Quentin was a super trooper especially since he skipped his afternoon nap. What an awesome time we had as a family, and I cannot wait for next year’s Comic Con already. Next year though, I’m hoping we find a theme and we all dress up together. I was the only one from us 5 that dressed up, the boys refused to dress up (and I didn’t have anything that Quentin would have fit into, otherwise he would not have complained in a costume, he’s still too young). The boys did wear superhero tshirts though, so they had some spirit. There’s always next year!

Target Practice

Over the weekend, I decided that we should try this activity, which I linked yesterday. I ran out to get water balloons as soon as I had finished preparing my link love post (those are prepared in advance!) So during Quentin's nap time (one day he'll get to participate in fun activities like this too), we headed outside and the boys were surprised with this activity.

The boys had a fabulous time throwing the balloons at the target. They even tried to get me. They weren't too successful. Though, I managed to get Sean once. Mackenzie kept running & screaming, so I stopped trying to get him, since I was afraid Quentin would wake up from the screaming. That kid's got lungs!

I wasn't too impressed with these cheap (dollar store) water balloons, they took forever to fill with the cheap (crappy) filler tool that was provided. When we do this activity again, which I'm sure we will, I'll definitely invest in a better quality kit. They boys had such a good time, I would absolutely consider doing this activity again & soon.

ps - I'm afraid of balloon, but regular balloons with just air in them, popping. I had one popped in my face as a child and have been afraid of them since. I scream like a little school girl when balloons are popped too closely. However, these little water balloons, filled with water, don't make the same popping sound when popped, so I was totally okay with them. Maybe it's one step closer to getting over my fear of balloons?

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day dear readers!

I have a long overdue post to work on, I had out of town guests for a week until this past Friday, and I have a lot to share with you. (That’s why I was MIA all week! Time flies when you’re having fun).

1 Month Soda Free Challenge

 

I hadn't had any soda in one month. Last night I was out for dinner and I treated myself to a diet pepsi. (My soda drink of choice). I only drink diet to begin with, but I wanted to see if it made any difference in my life without having any. Besides the fact that it costs next to nothing to drink water instead (besides the occasional water bottle and the filter in our water cooler that we change every 6 months), I wonder if any of the 13 lbs I've lost so far has to do with cutting out soda in my life. I will never know, but it was a nice challenge to do for a month. I am not going to cut out soda 100% out of my life, but I am cutting back 80% of the amount that I used to consume. I'm thinking a nice treat on the weekend will not be the end of the world. Are you addicted to soda? What's your drink of choice?

Thrifting Finds

I have been doing some thrifting lately, and have been finding some good items in very good condition. I wanted to share with you a few of my favorite, and best finds.

The best find, was this Ergo baby carrier, in MINT condition! I washed it in my washing machine, and it's all sanitized (because who knows where it's been). I got this for beyond inexpensive at a whole whopping 6.99$. This carrier starts at 129.99$ retail. I cannot believe someone donated it to the thrift store...! I have been wanting an ergo for a while (discovered them I think after Mack was born, but could never justify spending 130$+ on a baby carrier. When I saw this one, for 6.99$, I didn't care what color it was! (My first pick would have been black, since it goes with everything, but for 6.99$ I wasn't complaining and at least with green, it is neutral. I don't think I would have purchased it if it were pink... not for carrying a boy!)

It also came with this piece. I'm going to assume it's the "newborn" insert. However, upon inspecting the Ergo website, the newborn insert looks different, so maybe they've revamped the shape of it recently? Does any of you know if this is indeed for newborn support, or what it's actual purpose is? I'm keeping the piece, for when Quentin outgrows the carrier (which is good until 40 lbs, and he's only about 23 lbs or so, now, so I've got quite the usage time left in this new find).

Through a garage sale, I scored an entire box full of Habs stuff for the boys, and they've decorated their room with the items, and were in Habs haven. Since they already have a Habs clock in their room the NHL clock that was in this lot, is now hung in our playroom. Perfect spot for it, we actually needed a clock in there. It was good timing. I got the entire lot for 10$. (The clock alone is worth about 30$!)

Besides finding a few hotwheel cases like these at the thrift store, I also found this awesome one in the shape of a wheel, which was quite neat. The boys cars were all over the house, so we've managed to get them all stored in these cases and we don't trip over any more cars anymore. That makes me one happy mama! I found all the cases for around 2.99 each, except this smaller wheel one, which I think was a bit less, (did not find them all at the same time, it was upon different trips to the thrift store), when they retail 15$ each in the store. I was quite happy with these savings!

'

One time at the thrift store, I found this new in box beading loom. Since I've been interested in weaving, I thought maybe I'd try my hand at beading too! Now, just to find more hours in the day, would be nice (to accomplish all these creative ideas I have in my head!) I got this baby for 2$ and was quite pleased.

I found this beautiful wooden menorah (the feathers of the peacock where the candles go in, actually swivel, it's quite neat), for 2$ at the Salvation Army.

Next up is this lovely spinning wheel! It's really tiny, and I love it. I just need to find the perfect spot to display it in my office. I can't believe that I found this for 2.99$. It's just the cutest thing ever. And perfect for my office! Any knitter would appreciate this.

And lastly, ever since Sean watched a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie while we were at the hospital back in January after his allergic reaction, he's been asking me about them. And since my mother could only find figurines with missing limbs from my brother's childhood in her storage space, I was so happy to have found a bunch of Ninja Turtles as well at the thrift store. I think I paid maybe 5$ in total for all these (plus a few that are not pictured in this photo, as the kids ran off with them before I got a chance to snap the photo). I think Sean's fave turtle is the one in the right hand side of the back row, decked out with a hockey jersey & skates! It's just missing the hockey stick that was not with it in the thrift store.

Do you thrift shop? If so, what were your best/fave finds? Do share!

The Mother of Boys

The Mother of Boys

Handprints on cupboards and shoes in the hall.
Toilet seat's up and there's mud on the wall.

Every sport channel to them will appeal,
And the front room doubles as a football field.

The shelves in the kitchen are continuously bare.
There's toys on the couch and jeans on the chair.

Wrestling and mud and cars and noise;
I'm sure you can guess, I'm the MOTHER of BOYS!

- Patsy Gaut

:::::

Here's to all those moms of all boys out there!
Are you a mom of all boys!? Do let me know!

Canadian Family

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday. No, unfortunately you cannot get your own copy of this, it was a special treat just for me. You see, I renewed my subscription, and they let me make my own cover for the December issue. (Just the cover, the rest of the magazine is as it is on stands). I had completely forgotten about this too - until it arrived in the mail yesterday! I plan on getting the cover put on a plaque or something to hang up in my office. It's just so cute not to! (And the titles they had on the cover for options, totally suited my kids!)