Monday 31 October 2011

Happy Halloween!

Good morning and welcome back. I hope everyone survived their 'pre-Halloween' weekend. Decorating...pumpkin carving...last minute costumes...Wow! Its amazing how much time and organization a few hours of dress up require!

As we drove around running errands this past weekend I was amazed at the decorations on the houses. What was once a very simple night out is now quite the affair. Rarely does one see a home made costume or cut out ghosts in the windows. Now there are fancy costumes of cartoon characters or super heroes I have never heard of before. Flashing lights on yards, expertly carved and crafted pumpkins, realistic ghoulish cemeteries on front yards. Good grief! When did Halloween become so 'fancy'?

Don't get me wrong....I am a HUGE Halloween fan!! I LOVE having the kids coming to the door...I love getting my kids all ghouled up and scary. I think the yards look awesome! And I am sure there are lots of excited little ghosts and goblins anxious to trick or treat tonight! But I guess I just long for when things were simpler. When there wasn't such pressure to have the perfect costume or the scariest yard. It was just fun to throw on a sheet and pretend you were a ghost and get a pillow case full of candy and peanuts. (My dad used to get our peanuts...ha!)

Then the best part of the night was coming home with our loot and pouring it out on the floor. My mom had us pool it all together so the more we each got the better for all of us! After she would inspect it, she would divide it into bowls ( chip bowl...chocolate bowl...peanut bowl...) Ohhh...the beauty of bowls and bowls of 'free' candy! Sometimes you even got lucky and got a full sized chocolate bar or pop!

Ahhh...Halloween! The magical night of giggles and screams! Enjoy your evening little goblins, ghouls, princesses and superheroes! And good luck moms and dads with the sugar highs tonight. I don't know who to feel worse for...the parents tonight or the teachers tomorrow! Ha!!

Happy Halloween Everyone!!


Friday 28 October 2011

Weekend!

Happy weekend everyone! Hope this Friday finds everyone well and ready for a bit of r&r. Well...some r&r...because I'm sure like every wife out there, the 'Honey Do List' is getting another quick once over before Saturday morning. Since I was gone for most of the month, my guys seemed to have escaped the 'List'. I can tell because as I was checking some stuff in my back yard I realized nothing has been put away for winter yet.

I noticed all the yard chairs still out. Planters need emptying, the hose needs to be put away. Leaves are everywhere!. I kind of shook my head and looked at all the work ahead of us this weekend. "Good Gravy!", I thought to myself, " don't these guys see any of this??" Resigning myself to a clean up weekend, I kind of shrugged to myself and headed in.

Through out the day I just kept thinking to myself what do these guys think when they see all these things all over? All these leaves? The leaves cover everything! How could they miss them? The deck, the yard, the picnic table. Don't they see that they need to be cleaned up? Then I walked by the front window....

I got my answer very quickly. The boys had seen the leaves all right. Apparently when boys see lots of leaves they envision a huge pile. In fact from the size on my front yard I think its safe to say it took several front yards to gather all the leaves. I had to chuckle to myself.

 When did I lose that vision? At what age do we lose the ability to see a huge amount of leaves as a great opportunity for an afternoon of fun instead of an afternoon of chores? Now when I look at the back yard and see all the leaves scattered all over, I see an afternoon of family fun. Even though life is filled with 'Honey Do' lists, there is no reason that these moments can't be enjoyed.

I hope you all stop and see the fun in your moments this weekend. Enjoy the crisp Fall air and your pile of leaves!

Wednesday 26 October 2011

One Of My Favourite Things

Good morning everyone and hope you all have your favorite warm beverage of choice and a comfy chair at the table. I'm feeling a little rough around the edges so forgive me but I think I'll be joining you from a comfy spot on my couch. One of the definate perks of Internet visiting. Ha!

Speaking of visiting, I have just returned from my annual trek out East. Normally my yearly visits are a flurry of visiting and site seeing crammed into 6 days, but this year I decided to see if a longer visit might be less harried. I have 2 sisters and thier families and my mom in Ontario and 6 days just never seems to be long enough. So after some pondering an schedule rearranging I was able to extend my visit to 3 weeks.

Ok...I know! 3 weeks sounds crazy. Especially when it's visiting house fulls of young children! Throw in Thanksgiving weekend, couple of birthday parties (even had Batman show up to one of them!) and I wonder just how less harried it was! And yet I treasured each crazy moment and found it very difficult to leave when the trip ended.

One moment that stands out to me was one evening after the kids were all bathed and in pj's and we were all sitting on my bed. My nephew started to make faces and be silly for his little sister. She was watching him and then burst out laughing. Of course that got her brother laughing. What a beautiful sound! When children laugh it is such a genuine pure sound. They laugh from their big toes to the top of their heads. They aren't worried about how they look or sound. It is just the sound of pure happiness and joy.

My wish for everyone is that genuine happy moment where you just bubble up and laugh from every fibre of your being. When the laugh just lights up your heart and puts that special twinkle in your eyes. That contagious laughter that draws everyone in. This is one of my favourite things.

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
Charlie Chaplin





Tuesday 25 October 2011

Time Savers?

I have to admit it. I love my electronics! Shiny new laptops, crack free iPods, dent free cell phones....ohhh!! The pure joy!

But it never stops at just the gadget. Your new toy needs accessories. Covers to protect, screen protectors to prevent those scratches. And maybe an extra battery? Or! How bout a stylish case to carry it in?

Our latest acquisition was a new printer. Our old one needed ink and this new one was on sale and cheaper then the ink refill. It faxes and scans. Works wirelessly and best of all! It actually prints!

My husband ran out and picked up the new toy. This new time saver looked splendid in the box! We plugged it in and admired all the lights and options that showed up on the screen. Ohhh! Ahhhhhhh!

Then we looked at the installation novel. Holy crap. This was not going to be a plug and play device. No way. But we would save time with this machine. It was going to be great! Just to get set up now.

Day 1 I left the magical printing device in my husband's capable hands. He was bored that day and figured he could get it set up quickly. I checked in on his progress periodically. The novel laid out, wires hanging, and the fancy new printer not printing. Hmm...little more challenging then anticipated. But it will be awesome!!

30 days later, hours and hours spent with tech support, new holes in walls,and a new spot in the house for the printer, I am happy to announce we have a fabulous new printer that oohhhs and ahhhhs us now.

Yes, it prints from anything ( even our cell phones!!) it flashes and whirs and is a cool new addition to our electronic family. But honestly...a time saver?

I did get lots of cupboards cleaned out and rearranged while I was on hold with tech support. Thank goodness for speaker phone. Ha! And I learned alot about wireless devices and how tech support really doesn't listen to you.

But in the end, we have a new printer. It is fast and efficient. But like all of our new fancy electronics, do they really save us time? Once we factor in set up time and any down time when they get a virus or updates or need new software.

I guess in the end doesn't really matter. They are here to stay. I love them! I love the apps and ingenious things they do. They store my pictures and my music. I can play games, access the Internet. But best of all my family and friends 'live' in them.


Sunday 23 October 2011

Welcome!

Hi! And welcome everyone to my first post! Hope you have your warm tea and your favorite spot at the table. I'm very excited to have you join me as we start this new journey in my life.

 I've been pondering with myself how best to start this. What topics to chew over? What stories to share? How much 'advice' to dole out? (Ha!) And after much deliberation I came to the grand conclusion that we don't usually 'plan' a chit chat around friends, they just happen. Questions are posed, debates spring up,advice is shared. There is usually lots of laughter, sometimes tears, but at the foundation of it all is a friendship bond that connects us all.

Its always exciting to begin something new! I find it ironic to begin something new this time of year. Its not Spring where we anxiously anticipate new leaves and flowers to peek through the snow. Its not September when kids (and yes adults too!) are squirming in new classrooms with freshly sharpened pencils and brand new notebooks.(ok..who am I kidding..new laptops and cell phones!! Ha!) And its not Jan 1 of a new year. That time of year of  resolutions and lofty goals.  Nope, I jumped into this at the end of October. Most of the leaves are gone, the air is definitely crispy and the kids are settled into a school routine. Yes, very definitely not a 'start something new' time of year. But then I thought, what the heck!

My house is usually a very busy bustling place to be. A husband, 3 teen boys, their girlfriends, and all their friends. Add 3 dogs to the mix, a few great neighbors dropping in and you kind of get an idea of the organized chaos I call my life. I've had the privilege of being a stay at home mom, and for a few crazy years even home schooled my boys. 

So there you go! My first post! That was actually fun and painless...heehee! I'm very excited to have started this journey and  I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I am looking forward to having you all join me at my kitchen table. Now I think I need another mug of tea.