A very quick update.

1. Al lost his job. Out of the blue. No warning. They decided to downsize instead of upsize the company. Al and 4 mechanics were let go.

2. We had Mason's birthday party last Sunday. He didn't eat any cake. He still won't try many new things. But the bubble theme was a hit!!

3. My BABY turned ONE! on Wednesday!!! And he's walking WAY more than crawling now :)

4. My parents are the victims of a debit card scam. They've lost $800. No idea when they'll get it back. I feel awful that I can't help them.

5. We were in Timmins visiting Al's family from Friday-today. We are thinking of moving there. Maybe. Just for a couple years. maybe. We had a really good visit. Al's Mom turned 60 on Thursday so we took Al's sister Heather, her son Joe and us up to surprise her with a visit :) She looked like a deer in headlights when she walked in!!

6. After busting my ass to get the house spotless, we probably can't buy it. I'm rather depressed.

Off to bed. I'm so exhausted.

~Lisa~

ACK! I am sooo freaking out.

My landlord has been here for a week. Stupid Stinky Stan moved out. His apartment was Trashed!!! Literally. So much more grossness than the internet is allowed to endure.

So, the landlord comes by. Says he's going to do some cleaning. And is also going to paint around our windows(Yay!) Next thing I know, they're patching and painting the apartment downstairs. After that, they're ripping up the carpet and underlay. Talking about new windows. Trimming trees, whacking weeds.

And then, my landlord and his wife are knocking on my door. They are selling the house.

SELLING...THE...HOUSE!!

DUDE!!

They want to sell the house to US!!! ME!! And AL!! OH...MY...FREAKING GOODNESS!! oh My HELL!!

How!? I mean, How!?

And When!? (Hint:I still don't know)

And HOW?!

Our savings consists of about $3.27 in change in a can on the counter. We are not that great with money(I am literally in much pain from admitting that out loud).

I WANT the house. But I am afraid of it. I want to join that millions of people who can check off OWN on surveys asking about their home ownership. I want to complain about my mortgage. But I am so afraid. Afraid of the responsibility. Afraid of the what-ifs. Afraid of the largeness of it all.

And then there's the flip side. If we don't get the house, we're homeless. HOME-LESS. We have Very affordable rent. Rent that we will Never duplicate in a million years for 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, laundry, parking, utilities and a garage.

DUDE! I am so freaking out.

I don't know the next step!! Who do I call? What do I say to convince whoever it is that I call that we are good people, who LOVE the house, and will work really hard to make it lovely, and will be able to make the payments, because, hello? there's an apartment! That we will rent! That will help pay back all the money we need you to lend us! And we have Jobs! That give us some money. That we can give some of to pay back all the money we need to buy this house which we want to make so lovely!

Crap.

~Lisa~

Look at Mason!!!!

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She's Home!

We went and picked up Al's new car yesterday. I am so insanely Jealous :) While he's driving around in this sexy beotch...

I get to chug around town in this beast :)

Now, don't get my wrong. I LOVE the freedom having my own vehicle brings. I just had hoped it would be a sexier, sleeker more ME kind of vehicle.

Like this for instance :)Pretty :) I Heart the Nissan Murano!

But, anyway, it's only a dream. The real point of this is that we are looking for a name for the Malibu. Our last Malibu was Barbie. The Van is Vinnie. Our Dynasty was Margaret, the Hyundai Accent was Otto. Nothing is coming to me for the Malibu though.

I'm trying to get my camera software on this computer. Al took a bunch of pictures of the Malibu, so maybe that will help :)

Peace out Dudes!

~Lisa~

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!

The Good:

We've had some good days lately. Saturday was fun...eventually. We went to 'the city' (Toronto) to look at cars for Al. He has a Pontiac Pursuit through his work, but it's just not big enough for all of us to fit in, and with gas prices what they are, it's too expensive to take my van (A Safari) travelling. So, he's looking at a Malibu. Why we traded in our old Malibu, I'll never know :( Anyway, after that we met up with Al's sister Heather. And had a Great time!! Normally I dread visits with them, as her husband is such an arse sometimes. But it was great this time :) We went to Swiss Chalet for dinner and had the Slowest waitress known to man. Al had heather and I in Tears from laughing by the time we were ready to order dessert! She forgot to ask us, and then everytime she walked near, Al would gesture with the dessert menu, and say "Cheesecake!". This went on for about 5 minutes until she finally turned and said "Oh! Did someone want cheesecake?" I damn near lost it for good. I couldn't even see I was laughing and crying so hard! Good times :)

We bought my brother a car seat for his baby. Damion's been riding around in his infant seat for about a month too long now. My brother kept saying they could get him one in July...and it just kept on not happening. So, I talked to Al, and we agreed that we couldn't have it on our conscience any longer to have him riding like that. Off to Wal-Mart we went. Lucky for us there was one on sale for $79!! My Mom offered to pay for half, but we declined, and told her to apply it to the money we had to borrow from them last year. It's so nice to be comfortable enough to be able to do that! And i feel sooo much better knowing Damion is safe again. Man, am I annoyed with my brother though!! ugh. Oh well.

The Bad:
I am so friggin hot. Like, can't breathe, don't come near me/touch me/look at me hot.

My periods have been Awful this month and last :( So very painful, and way heavier tahn I have Ever experienced. I'm thinking of talking to my doctor to see if going on the pill will help any of that, but haven't quite decided yet. I hate taking the pill.

Also under the bad...I bought new bras last week. I think they are too big. They're only 36B! Oh yes people. I think I may need an A Cup!! Sooo annoyed!!!!!!!!! This time last year, I was a 38C-D!!! I have nothing left! When I lay on my back, my ribs stick up higher than my boob! It's awful! Of course, in defence of my body, Jenna(My 9lb-er!) camped out under my ribs for a good part of my pregnancy, so they really stretched and spread in order to accomodate her...and then 2 babies after that, they just gave up :) But still!! Did my boobs have to give up on me!?

The Ugly:

I had an Awful day with Henry today. I was feeling pretty rough, headache, nausea, blah. I guess he could sense it. He was really aggressive. And I broke down. I couldn't do it anymore, so I carried him to his room, and then went in the bathroom for a cry. I hate crying. I hate it even more in front of other people. I get all read and spotchy. bah. I thought I had myself calmed down, and went back downstairs to pack up my stuff. Jenny looked at me and asked what was wrong, and of course, I lost it again. I'm so embarrassed. I just couldn't get through to Henry today. No reinforcer or consequence would make him work again. And he hates being touched, so that doesn't help at times like this, when the rule is to do a physical prompt. Where I take his hand and perform the task with him. Every time I did that, he lost it. I don't know what to do...and I hate that. I felt sooo unqualified to be there today. So lost.

So that's that. Tomorrow is another day. Here's hoping for a good one.

~Lisa~

Pulling weeds is better than pulling hair.

WHAT was in the air tonight!? My kids were being such Hooligans!! They couldn't even Look at each other without screeching and bawling. It was awful. I tried every tactic known to mother to get them to "GET THE HELMAIHDWHWI ALONG For GOODNESS Sakes!!" Oh yes. I did.

Eventually I had had enough. I turned on the TV. Oh yes. I did. And then I left the house. At first I just stood outside the front door. Just breathing. Just enjoying the quiet air inside my head. About 2.8 seconds later the kids were at the door, looking like pathetic lost orphans. I scared them away. The neighbours probably are scared of me now too. HA! So THERE!

And then, out of desperation, out of a need to just do SOMETHING for myself, Anything to just take me away from the stress that had consumed me, I pulled weeds. and pulled and pulled and pulled.

And after awhile, I was calmed enough for the kids to come outside again. And they did just fine. Played like angels. I almost got my front walkway completely clear of weeds. Winners all around.

And really, pulling out weeds is much more legal than pulling out their hair.

~Lisa~

Water fascinates me.

I was thinking about water this morning while in the shower. And it really does fascinate me.
Cases in point:

- I find it amazing that I can fill a dirty bowl with water, return to it a few hours later, and be able to wipe it clean.

- I find it amazing that water is powerful enough(when the right tool is used) to take paint from a fence, yet gentle enough to take dirt from my babies.

- I find it amazing that the same water that I use to nourish my body, can also be used to nourish my house plants.

- I am Blown AWAY by water's ability to turn soap, in any form, bar, liquid powder, you name it, into LATHER!! Just the addition of water and there's a million little bubbles!

- I love that it can hold a hot or cold temperature for long periods of time.

- I love that we can swim in it.

- I love that we can rely on it to keep our gardens and grass green and lush.

-And I really love it, not too cold, with a little bit of Lemon.

I know. I'm a little strange. :)

~Lisa~

Fear Not Dear Internet! I have not forgotten you. I have not died. My Hard-drive however, is a whole other story. My advice? Get the extended warranty. Bah. Luckily my awesomer than awesome husband hooked up our old jelopy of a computer(Which we LOVE! Yes we do!!)

I had such a day from Hell yesterday. Started out at 3:30AM. When Karen’s Baby woke up Mason with his screaming. Their cribs are against the same wall. And apparently the builder decided NOT to use the concrete blocks necessary for code here in Canada between our semis. Karen apparently is either deaf or believes in CIO, because OMG the screaming from that baby. Ugh. This happened when Aidan and Logan were back to back in these rooms too. I moved Aidan’s crib, even though I hated where I had to move it to. I keep trying to figure out a way to convince Karen to move Evan’s crib, but I doubt it’s going to happen. She's one of those smart responsible mothers that bolts everything to the walls.

Carry on to the morning. Mason is still sick. He’s been running a fever since last Friday, and soon after developed a barking cough. Then came the runny nose. And the crankies. I hemmed and hawed all morning about whether I should stay home with him or go to work. I didn't figure I would be able to get an appointment with my doctor in the morning so I went to work.

Mistake!!! Henry had an AWFUL day!! There was A LOT of activity at his house that morning before I got there, which got him way over-stimulated. So out came the aggression I haven't seen in a couple months. Ugh. I was so exhausted. My brain just did NOT want to deal with that at all :( But I got through it. and we both left smiling.

Get to Mason's afternoon(told ya) appointment. Oh boy. Lay on the guilt!! He has a sinus and throat infection :( I feel so awful for letting him try to fight it off for a week before taking him in.
But he's got his antibiotics now, and seems better already. He Finally had a good nap this morning!.

My housework has been forgotten for most of the week. It's really hard, and annoying trying to get the dishes and vacuuming done while there's a sick baby screaming up at you, while permanently attached to your leg. The kids and I worked together this morning. Who knew a bottle of Windex could be so exciting to a 5 year old and a 2.5 year old. Now if only the dish washing fairy would work her magic in my kitchen. Ugh. I hate living like this. But my motivation is gone.

And now, here it is, after 5:00. Nothing made for dinner. Dishes not done. in my defense though, Karen has Mastitis, and I watched her boys fr most of the afternoon. Here's to hoping the energy fairy comes and lights a match under my ass. What I wouldn't give for a working dishwasher right now...Any requests?

~Lisa~

Warning! Extreme Cuteness Ahead!!

First, Mason started sticking his tongue out today!! BIG news for him, as he's a bit tongue tied, and has NEVER stuck his tongue out past his teeth. It took a few shots to get it though. He's become a total Ham in front of the camera lately :) Sorry about the blurriness. I needed to charge the batteries :)

This is Mason saying "La La La" :)He does have a top to his head, honest!! He was holding onto my leg while I was trying to get his picture, so it was hard to get him in the shot LOL.

And now!! Gone Beachin'!

Who said she could get so freakin' beautiful??? I mean, those EYES!(In case you didn't notice LOL)

And this one :) Despite the silly look on his face, he LOVED the water :)

Blinded by the Light... LOL Get that boy some SUN!!
Whether he wanted to or not, Daddy went swimming too. (He totally wanted to :))

I couldn't resist. This is CUTE :) hehehe...cheeky.

~Lisa~

The Party :)

My Mom LOVED her teapot cake. I wasn't thrilled with it. The bowl I used wasn't quite round enough, and then when Al was taking the second cake out, it broke :'( But, I improvised. Also, if you ever want to use Marzipan...keep in mind that HAS to dry over-night. Yeah. But, here it is...ignore the icing on the plate, I forgot to clean it off before taking the picture :)

We just had a low-key BBQ. Really great burgers from the Food service company(I'll do a post on it later! Promise!!) and Salad. And cake of course :)

I gave Jenna a haircut on Friday. I'm still deciding if I like it this length. But, her friend got a haircut, so of course, Jenna HAD to have one too. She likes it. I guess that's what matters most.

Seriously, for 1 year short of a half-century(See, I never said her age, did I!?) my mom looks pretty damn good!

Mason was practising for his birthday next month(ACK!!!) He kept trying to stick his hands in the cake LOL

Can't Wait for this afternoon, we're FINALLY getting to see Julie(Bo-Bolie)!!!!!

Have a good one!

~Lisa~

Happy Birthday to my MOM!!!

I'm so proud of myself...I didn't mess it up this year! Last year was just awful...I talked to her a few times on her birthday last year. And then called her the NEXT DAY to wish her a happy birthday. That's right...I got my own Mother's birthday wrong last year. Oh Yes. Awful.

I did much better today. I called. Today. The right day :) Go me. LOL

And she's coming for lunch on Saturday. Complete with a (Dear God I hope!) Teapot cake :) My mom collects teapots...she has close to 150!!! Crazy. I know. But I love her :)

Happy birthday mom!!



~Lisa~

Where have I BEEN!?

No where really...just busy.

We had a pretty good weekend. low key. Al had an ear infection, and Mason had a cold, so unfortunately, the camping trip we had planned was canceled. Hopefully we'll be able to go later in the summer :(

We Tried to do the Canada Day fireworks downtown...but about 2 minutes into the shower it started to rain a bit. Then about 4 minutes into the show it started to POUR! So, not much of a show was seen. But, the kids had a great time with their sparklers and light-up fans in the hour Before the show :)

We took the kids to the sprinklers/water park on Monday. I walked Mason over, to see what he would do. I swear, I have never heard him laugh so much in all his 10 months!! He walked right in to one of the fountains!!! Stuck his whole face in! And came out laughing and sputtering :) I love my water-baby boys :) Jenna's doing sooo much better too! Looks like she overcame her fear of water this summer :) Thank goodness!

I made the kids' day today. Took them to the library for the first time since Before Aidan was born!! Infact, the nicest lady ever to work at a library showed me the list of the over-due fines for Jenna's card(which we have since lost)...it came to $82.00!!! I swear, I had no idea. She canceled every single charge!!!! I was looking at the list...a bunch of the books were about babies....so I know that they were borrowed before Aidan :) It was so nice to go back!! The kids LOVED it, and I am sooo looking forward to new books to read. Next time I may even attempt to convince them to let Me look for a book or two :) It was so silly to stop going...and I don't even remember why we stopped!!

Looking forward to tomorrow. We're getting a grocery delivery. Hopefully we have room for everything!! There's so much food coming! LOL! I'm pretty sure they're saving us money though, which is awesome. We usually spend around $120/week on groceries(Which is mostly made up of no name/store brand items). With this company we'll be spending $82!! And it's all name brand stuff!! I'm really excited about the Heinz Ketchup and French's mustard! LOL! And the MEAT!! A freezer full of select grade, cut how WE wanted, packaged to avoid freezer burn, MEAT!! Yay!!

Mason is a cruising fool now!! Looks like he may walk before 1, just like his sister and brother! Hard to believe that 2 months ago he was a lump on a log:) LOL

Well, I think that was all..hmm.... OH!!!

Al bought me a present! For no reason other than to show me that he appreciates me!! A Tinkerbell Necklace!! YAY!! I LOVE IT!!! Hmm...Blogger isn't posting the picture...but trust me, it's COOL. Here's a link :) http://www.jewelryswan.com/green-fairy-necklace.html Jenna was so in love with mine, that I ordered her this one http://www.jewelryswan.com/small-rainbow-fairy.html as a passing gift. She's going to be so excited :)

Hugs to all!!!

~Lisa~

1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 (EDITED TO ADD 3!!!)

Jenna at age 1!
Jenna at Age 2!
Jenna at age 3! (Thank You SOOO much Julie!!!)Jenna at Age 4!
Jenna at age 5!


~Lisa~

Party Pictures!!!

Here they are!! Party pics!!! We had SOOO much fun!! I missed a couple pictures, I'm hoping that my Mom has some :( Oh well...there's lots here :)

The girls started out with musical chairs, then they practiced their posture by balancing a book on their heads. After that they painted wooden jewlery boxes...

After that it was lunch. My Mom and Grandma taught the girls the "Proper" way to set a table for tea. LOL... Mmm...Lunch!! I made cucumber/cream cheese, PB&J, Ham& Cheese, Bologna, and Jam/cream cheese sandwiches!! SOOO Yummy :) And my Mom made a really great fruit tray.
And Now, my FAVOURITE part...the cakes :) I have one left over to take a better picture of, it'll come later. :) If you look at the teacup cake at the back/right, you can see the handle, I made them using melted white chocolate and a #5 shaped cookie cutter. :) A true labour of love. Of course, then I ran out of white chocolate and had to use pink...and LOST the cookie cutter! UGH!! I just freehanded teacup handles. I made the 'saucers' out of sugar cookies :)
Jenna with her 'best friend' (du'jour) Peyton.
My Birthday girl :)
After lunch and cake the girls played 'Pin the Spout on the Teapot'. It was SOOO Much fun :)
Jenna got a Skip-it!! And soooo many other presents. Man...good gift givers around these parts! lol
After some Simon Says, Freeze dancing and running around like hooligans...the party was over. And a huge success. Jenna and I were Both exhausted after the party :) About 7 seconds after I snapped this picture I was curled up in a very similar manner :)

Thanks for looking!!!

~Lisa~

Things to do while on hold with Bell Expressvu

1. Clean grubby hand prints off of giant windows.

2. Rescue baby from imminent strangulation by digital camera cable.

3. Get HUNG UP ON! BASTARDS!!!

4. Call back.

5. Tell "Emily" to bite me.

6. Eat an entire row of chewy chips ahoy cookies. BAD BAD BAD!!!

7. Blog.

8. Clean grubby hand prints off of TV.

9. Make a chocolate #5.

10. Drink a bottle of lemon water.

11. Check BZ.

12. Have the TV scare the CRAP out of you when it starts working again all on it's own.

13. Hang up.

~Lisa~

Counting down the days!!

First of all, this is a record setting SECOND post in One Day! WOOT! So, please read my earlier entry too...it's a Great one!!

So, on to This post!

Only 6 days until my little girl turns 5! Wow. I don't really know how this happened!! She's Very excited!

I'm really excited about her party this year. The invitations were a HIT! :) One of the mom's mentions them everytime I see her :) YAY ME!! Here's a picture...

Pretty cool eh :) That's right...hand drawn. Oh yes. Shameless bragging abounds today!

I got the custard cups I needed to make the tea cup cakes today. I realized late last night, OMG, I still didn't have them!! There's still lots to do, but it's coming together. I still need to decide if I am going to use chocolate icing for the "tea" on the the cupcakes, or if the brown gel will be more authentic...looking at it from a 5 year old perspective, I'm guessing the icing will be preferred. this is my inspiration:

The 'saucer' is a cookie :) Neat eh?

I'm still not sure about games. I'll maybe google victorian party games. Or I may stick to traditional games like musical chairs...pin the spout on the teapot...I probably need more though...

I think I'll get some small wooden boxes for the girls to paint. I'll probably set that up for when the arrive, then they have time to dry...hopefully :)

Jenna wants cut out sandwiches. Shaped like butterflies and hearts and flowers. I'm not sold on that yet :) I was just going to do finger sandwiches. Cut into small rectangles. I'll probably be the loser on this battle!! Maybe I can convince Al to do that part HAHA.

Anyway, best get some housework done. Too much party planning makes me sleepy :)

~Lisa~

YAHOO!!!!!!!

Oh Heavens. What a little sleep will do for everyone!!

Mason had mostly bottles all weekend. And was thrilled with it. Last night he was in bed by about 8:30 and not a peep was heard from him until 4:20! When he adamantly refused the breast, but gobbled up a bottle (Making me think I did the right thing weaning him). And! HE WENT BACK TO SLEEP!!!!!! Oh yes. sleep, glorious sleep!! Mind you, Jenna woke me up at 6:00AM. But still! YAY! Progress!!

Onto other even Bigger news!!

MASON CRAWLED TODAY!!! On Hands and Knees!!! He's been trying real hard lately, but finally mastered it today!

He's also sitting himslef up ALL THE TIME, climbing the stairs, and pulling himself to standing on Everything!! I hate this age as much as I love it! LOL!

Now I can't Wait to go for Mason's follow-up assessment to brag and gloat about all of Mason's new accomplishments :)

Thanks to everyone who offered support. I appreciated every word.

~Lisa~

The End. Almost.

I've decided to wean Mason. I think. Mostly.

We were doing pretty good. But then her got 4 gigantic teeth within 2 weeks. And he became a biter. Then he decided to be the boss of Me (as IF!), and went on a 36 hour nursing strike. Every since then it hasn't been the same for us. He's been disinterested. Not that I ever really shared the same nursing bond with Mason as I had with Aidan though. We were great in the beginning, but it's never been real 'special'.

I'm hoping, rather selfishly - go ahead, blast and berate, I can take it - that more formula during the day will help him make it through the night easier. I'm tired. I'm yelling too much. I'm fuzzy in my head. I'm done. I told my 9 1/2 month old to F-off this morning. Through tears so thick I could barely see him. This is NOT the kind of mommy my baby needs. The only excuse I had was that I was tired. Sounds pretty lame doesn't it.

So, on to a new era. Not a long one though. Mason will be 10 months old next Friday (Wait? WHAT??). So only a couple months of formula and then it's on to milk in a sippy for him :)

I'll probably still nurse him in the night(Who likes making bottles at 3AM anyway?) and I will probably keep his first morning nursing session too. But other than that, My boobies will be my own again.

I guess the up side to all this is new bras for me. woo...hoo **said with very little enthusiasm** I know I have shrunk. Which is totally unfair. But, whatever, I'll have an easier time finding my new size I'm sure...whatever that may be.

I am saddened by this decision. I mean...never again will I hold a newborn to my breast and pray so Hard for him to drink baby, drink. Never again will I have the satisfaction of knowing that my baby got to be so big, and so healthy because I nourished him with my own body. Mason is our last. My Baby forever. It's weird.

I dont know if I'm weepy tonight because I am sad to be moving on, or because I'm so sleepy. :)

~Lisa~

I don't get it. I don't know what I am doing wrong. For a week now Mason has been back to his old 'get-up-at-the-effing-crack-of-dawn' tricks. I feel like my head is going to explode. Today he's been awake since 4:40. I tried everything to get him to go back to sleep. Including bringing him to bed with me, which I know is his favourite place to sleep. but no. He didn't want to sleep. He wanted to kick and jab and pinch and be a general PITA!

Al's no help. Whenever Mason gets near him in bed he gets all pissy and moves over. Granted, he is a heavy sleeper, but still. Wake the hell up and give ME a friggin break would ya!

I did get to go back to bed once this past week. for an extra hour. until Al woke me up to ask where the effing Wipes were. OMG.

See?!? I am totally losing my mind.

Lisa

Is the Devil wearing a snowsuit!?

Because seriously!!

Yesterday, Mason did all of the following...

1. Pulled himself to standing using Jenna's dollhouse. Not real sturdy standing, but he was up on his feet!!

2. Climbed the stairs. Only up two, but I am quite sure that if we had let him, he would have tackled the entire flight!

3. Sat himself up. Or down perhaps...he gets himself onto his knees, and then can sit from that position.

4. Not yesterday, but he is getting really good at getting himself back onto his belly from a sitting position.

YAY!! What a monkey. I knew, as soon as I said anything about him being delayed, he'd advance leaps and bounds. Now he's really giving us a run for our money!

AND!!

Jenna and Aidan had popcorn for a snack yesterday. They made a mess on the floor (as usual). BUT!! Jenna came into the kitchen while I as doing dishes, and said to me:

"Mom, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour?"
"Can you show me how to work the vacuum? I need to clean up the popcorn mess."

Oh yes. She did. I know. I had to pick up my jaw from the floor too!!

Things are looking up around here :)

~Lisa~