Things I don't miss

I just realized it's been a month since I blogged. And to consider I once thought of starting up a reviews and giveaway blog. No way. It's funny how easily you can give up something that used to just suck you in.

Things that I have given up recently that I don't really miss:

1. tv. We're not watching much tv these days. Oh, we PVR for a later date, but even a lot of the stuff we're recording we're just not interested in watching right now. I think Castle and the Mentalist are the ones we're really watching every week right now, and everything else can wait.
2. More specifically - American Idol. I admit that the new judges threw me off, although Mom assures me that they are doing an excellent job. But I really didn't want the 2-3 night a week committment to watch this show this year, so I'm not. I kind of miss it, but at the same time and not really.
3. Facebook. I am spending nil time on facebook. I am not actively playing any games - although I started a Cityville so my friends can get an extra neighbour, but I have not even gone so far as to see how it works. I imagine a lot like Farmville, which I once loved. I don't miss that either. 
4. My blogs. I still follow a bunch of stuff as I still like to try and win things. Most recently (last week) at $25 gift card from Chapters. I already have some credit on Chapters and am seriously considering ordering the Cities and Knights expansion for Settlers of Catan. 
5. My weight. ha ha ha... Yeah so it's been 5 weeks I've been on WW and it is going well! I had one week where I went up .4, but over all I am down 8.6 and am really thrilled with how I am doing. I am not finding it hard at all to follow the new Points Plus program and don't really feel like I am missing out much on food stuff. Okay tonight I super wanted a nice big hamburger and home made deep fried french fries. But I didn't. We had macos like we planned (tacos made with veggie ground round). Duncan ate 3 tacos!! Growing much?

Things I am enjoying as I am no longer doing those things:

1. Time with Bill and the kids. Duh. Evenings are fun. Last night we moved the art desk that Chris and Ronnie gave us a while back into my craft room. I taped some paper down, pulled out the paints and both kids had a blast! Was it messy? Yep. Did they need baths after? Yep. But what's the point in having a craft room if it isn't going to get messy?
2. Swimming. This kind of goes with the spending more time with the kids theme. Duncan has swimming 2x/week and for $2 each we get to go while he has lessons, so we've all been going together. Cordie loves it. Duncan loves it. I swam a few laps the other day. I am out of shape!! But you know, I'm doing something about it, so not beating myself up there. 
3. Quilting. As most evenings we don't feel like watching tv, I wander into my lovely craft room and, well, craft. Sunday I finished the top to Cordie's quilt I've been meaning to get to for some time now. I love it! It's all blocks given by my quilty friends online, and I just love it. I need some backing fabric for it. I'll post pictures when it's done. And I also started a quilt for Nikki who is due in one month now.

Oh, one thing I miss that I can't seem to get enough of: sleep. It's bed time. Good night!

What a weird day

It's been a good day for getting stuff done. Got Duncan off to Nikki's, went grocery shopping, sorted through Duncan's clothes to see what's too small and make more room for a bunch more of stuff we just rec'd. I picked up some stuff from a freecycler, had lunch, unloaded the dishwasher - and don't worry there was a certain amount of vegging in there too.

But it's so odd b/c I'm doing all this every day stuff and it's like "tomorrow I'll just go have a baby'. Like it's a normal week. Like we do this all the time.

But it's all good. Of course we're really excited to welcome Bean tomorrow, and although it's going to change our family all over, we both agree it's an awesome change. Like we could be any more awesome. :)

I had doctor's appointment today - my last one! We discussed the plan for tomorrow, and it's no where near as daunting as I thought it was going to be. See with Duncan when they induced I basically had to lay down for 7 hours and wait it out - I wasn't allowed to walk around or anything. Today the doctor says I'll be going home about an hour after they induce - for 3 hours or so, before going back to see how things are progressing. This is nice b/c it will be easier if I can move around, and while Mom is totally ready for us all day, she can go to her Pro-D day thing for at least a bit - she's only about 5 minutes away. Also, my doctor needs to leave at 3, but then the doctor taking over, if Bean is not there yet, is the other doctor who has done all my prenatal care - so two people I know and am familiar with.

I don't expect I'm going to sleep too well tonight. Going to be pondering tomorrow too much.

Other than baby stuff, I was just watching last night's Idol results show. I knew who had been booted, but I like to watch it anyhow. You can tell I'm hormonal b/c there is one point where Kris Allen's Dad is hugging him and telling him how proud he is of him, and here I am getting all teary eyed from it. I'm thrilled with the top two. I love them both. Adam by far is the consumate performer. I would rather listen to a CD with Kris singing on it, but I've loved Adam from the start. So I'm happy with this year's show!

Cereal - an analogy for Life

I was chatting with Bill this morning that I was having a very healthy breakfast (among other conversation topics, I didn't call him to tell him what I was having for breakfast) - multigrain Life with a handful of Fruit Loops sprinkled on top. Duncan didn't finish the ones he'd had, so I just threw them on top of my cereal. So Bill says it's a good analogy for life - kind of plain and wholesome underneath (multigrain Life) with some more of the fun stuff (Fruit Loops) sprinkled on top to keep it exciting. Ain't that the truth? :) Later on I said I should go, my cereal is getting soggy, and he says, that's the truth too - let it sit and life gets soggy. LOL. That's my English degree husband at work :)

Oh boy Duncan didn't want to go this morning. Poor Roo. If I didn't have a doctor's appointment today I would have kept him home, but it's easier for him to go the full day than drop him off later for a short bit. But he was clinging to my legs and just sobbing. Oh my poor boy. He'll stay home tomorrow. And I know he enjoys playing with the other boys.

Girls night out - short version - I'd like to start getting together with my girl friends for dinner or something once a while.

Girls night out - long version - Bill and his buddies have been getting together about once a month to hang out. It's mostly been LAN parties, but they've decided they want to expand it beyond video games - watching playoffs together, going for dinner etc... Now, as I have no problem with him going out with the guys (why do I care - good people, I know who they are, the type of people they are, and know they aren't going to be doing rude and crude stuff), Bill also has no problem with me going out and doing pretty much the same thing with the girls.

Now, right now, not so much - I wouldn't mind going out one more time before Bean arrives, but don't want to venture too far from home b/c the last time I had a kid, my water broke, and I don't want to be an hour away from home or our hospital if that were to happen again. And I'm pretty sure people don't feel like coming out this way (it's okay, I know we're still technically the boonies). But after Bean is here, and we're kind of settled in (ie, the kid will take a bottle - so at least after the 1st 6 weeks - ah heck, I won't have the mental capacity to do much socializing the 1st 6 weeks anyhow until that fog lifts), I think we should start aiming for this. Doesn't need to be big and fancy, planned crazy in advance or detail (as we tend to do, let's be honest)... but it could be "hey let's all meet at this place for supper" or something like that. I think it's harder for women b/c we're thinking about who is going to watch the kids etc... but really, most of our husbands are really good about doing their bit of parenting and not giving grief over it.

And plus, soon I look forward to being able to have wine now and then again :)

That was far more wordy than it should have been.

Idol - We're not surprised that the judges WASTED their save on Matt, but we do think it was a waste. Oh well. We'll see next week what's up.

American Idol and other stuff

1st of all - last night's American Idol. Needless to say Adam is just so many miles ahead of everyone else in that competition. I've been a fan from the start, and last night was no exception. He reminds me of David Cook from last year - just putting his own amazing spins on songs. Good job Adam.

That having been said... how's everyone? We're good. Day 3 of being on "vacation" before mat leave. Ronnie and I were discussing "amazing how you get all this stuff done when you work full time, when it takes up your whole day when you're at home". Shopping, laundry, sorting, cleaning... I think I am going to take a nap today though b/c I've been pretty pooped mid-afternoon. Duncan is still going to Nikki's this month, and then part time come May to keep his spot. Watching him (secretly) play outside with the other kids I know he is having so much more fun with them, so it's all good. And all the fresh air with the weather being better he is sleeping so hard at night. This morning it took me 20 minutes to convince him that he needed pants to go out today, and no, he could not wear his sleepers... but he came around :)

We're trying to book flights for Bill's Dad and brother to come out in July. My Dad called to say there is a seat sale on Air Canada... I don't like AC, but when they are cheaper, how can you not? So I looked it up, and yeah, it's literally $100 cheaper each way, per person (yes $400 total) than it was last week, so I think we'll be getting those tickets soon. They'll be out July 16-25th (or thereabouts), and we'll plan Bean's Baptism at that time too.

Alright.... if I am going to nap, I should do it now! Night night!

Beautiful Sunrise

I don't know about where you are, but we had just the most glorious sun rise today. I'm glad I can take a minute to stop, look and enjoy the Lord's glory on a morning like today. You can tell spring is in the air. Did any of the other local people notice that smell in the air yesterday? And we drove home entirely in the day light - that was a treat. Looks like soon the ride in will be in the light too. That seems to lift the spirits quite a bit.

So let's see. We're loving our new Mazda. Very comfortable with our decision to buy this vehicle (it's a cross over, but I feel funny referring to it as the cross over, but minivan isn't accurate, nor is car, so we're just going to call it Blue). Duncan and I went out to Oma and Opa's yesterday afternoon to show it off to them. My brother "Un-cole Jeff!" as Duncan calls him, was just heading there when we were leaving, so he saw it too. He was showing Shelley online what we bought and he noticed it's wired for Sirius Radio and offered to let us piggy back on his account, which is way cheaper than paying for the service on our own (we hadn't even thought of it) so we might do that.

I have the cutest little boy! I'll post some video on Facebook tonight of him playing Duncan bowling. That's where he's the bowling ball :)

Hell Week on American Idol. Next week the real competition starts. I know a lot of people bash the show, but I still enjoy it. It's the one reality tv show I watch.

Alright, I should get some work done. I told Sheryll I'm giving in. We have this constant fight in the kitchen - you know the people who leave their dirty dishes in the sink for someone else to clean? Uhg it just annoys me. Anyhow, before I went on mat leave with Duncan I used to load and run the dishwasher every day. I'm going to take it up again. It seems no matter how much we say it, people keep doing it, and they were going to start throwing out those dishes. Well that's a complete waste. So until I leave, I'll run the dishwasher again.

Misc. on a Tuesday night

Freecycle:
JOIN YOUR LOCAL FREECYCLE GROUP! FREECYCLE ROCKS!

Reasons I love Freecycle.
Today the following posting:
OFFER 1. Kenmore dishwasher (white)--purchased new in March 2007. Needs
macerator (available from Reliable Parts in Coquitlam) and need
pumpkins seeds removed from spray arms (long story).

Also someone offered a little kid's guitar, I emailed for it, but it was gone, but then the lady emails me and says she has a learner sized guitar which she will put aside for me instead of listing if I would like. Now, how kind is that?! (very!) So we're picking that up on Saturday, will put it aside, and perhaps Duncan or Bean will use it some day?

American Idol:
We are back on this air! I love this show. No, it is not all about bad singers and the judges being mean. Sure the beginning makes you laugh b/c there are some pretty bad singers out there (which is okay, not everyone can sing, but that they are trying out for this show is funny), but get past that, you get down to the talented singers, and you have a few months of some really good live entertainment.

Duncan:
He's such an awesome kid and I love him. I love Bean too. I look forward to two to love.

Health:
Getting better! Ears improving every day, cough continues to diminish, energy levels slowly back on the rise. It's all good! I am grateful for modern medicine.

Ronnie:
I like Ronnie. She makes me laugh. She doesn't read my blog, but I love you Ronnie.

Bill:
I also love Bill. I mean if we're talking about people we love here, really, he's rather right at the top of the list there (with Duncan and Bean, really I'm equal opportunity).

Decluttering:
Sooooo... since our place is off the market we need to get our stuff out of storage, sort, declutter even more, and figure out what the heck we're going to do with the stuff we just can't bear to part with. We are buying a shed for the backyard to help out, and Oma and Opa have said we can keep some stuff there, but the above mentioned freecycle might be winning out in this case.

Red the Fire Engine:
Okay, really kicking myself here. Duncan has a bunch of the Cars from the Pixar movie Cars. I saw Red the Fire engine once, didn't pick it up, and now you think I can find it anywhere? Nope! Turns out it's rare. Arg. If someone sees the Die Cast Red and Stanley set (not the Mini version) and if it is a normal price (ie, I am not paying $30-$60 for a red fire engine my 2 year old is only going to crash around anyhow), would you either pick it up and I'll pay you back, or let me know so I can get it some how? Thanks. Duncan loves Red.

America Got It Right!

David Cook won American Idol! I was actually surprised, but super thrilled. David really is a talented guy, has an amazing voice and he is going to go on to have an excellent career. Congratulations!

In other news, Bill is going to be off work at least through Monday due to his eye. I nagged him (yes, I admit it! I nagged him!) into going to see our GP Wednesday, and he in turn got Bill in to see the specialist right away. The appointment was supposed to be for today, but I'm glad they got him in. Now the really, really icky part... they had to stick a needle in his eye! EWW! Actually he said it wasn't near as bad as you'd think it would be (I imagine it being quite bad). I think it was a cortisone shot, so kind of an uber-dose, vs. the drops Bill has been taking. So the doctor says it should respond quite quickly now. Follow up appointment on Monday. Please pray for Bill because it is a. rather painful b. really frustrating! He hates being stuck at home and having to miss work - although his work is being awesome about it. Not that we're surprised at that, but it makes it easier.

Duncan, as always, it a sweet heart. I love my boy. I got greeted yesterday afternoon with lots of kisses, hugs and snuggles. :D He really is a sweet, sweet boy.