A Corner Table in My World

So here's an update on the whole oven/stove issue. Allow me to briefly describe the conversation I had with my mom... Me: It worked before and now it doesn't. It's broken. (somewhat paraphrased) Mom: Check the fuses. Me: I will, but I'd rather have a new one. Mom: And if that's not it then replace the elements. Me: I will. But I'd really prefer a new one. Mom: Dad will be home on the weekend I'm sure he'd could look at it for you, if you need him too. (that one's somewhat paraphrased too but that's the gist of what she said) Me: He can. But I'd REALLY rather have a new one. For Christmas and all. (and I smiled sweetly even though she couldn't actually see it since we were on the phone!) Mom: It can probably be fixed. Me: Probably. Though I'd REALLY just like to get a NEW ONE! Mom: If it can't be fixed, we'll see. Me: (and I'm smiling really big now) Since it's Christmas and all? Mom: Yeah, Christmas. Somehow, ...

Oh! How quickly a day can change from happy to, uh, NOT so happy. So there I was, blissfully minding my own business and getting ready to make myself (and the Daddy) some lunch, when I twisted the dial on the stove to turn on the oven. I'd decided to make some chicken wings, since we've had them in the freezer for what seems like forever, and they have to bake in the oven for 15 minutes or so. But what happens when I turn the dial????? I'll tell you..... ABSOLUTELY FREAKING NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The light doesn't turn on. I'm thinking maybe it's just burned out. So I give the oven a couple of minutes to heat up but when I open the door the air inside feels suspiciously cooler then the air in my kitchen. Not a good thing when the oven is supposed to be warmed to 400 degrees. Still not sure if it's completely broken or if it's just not warm yet, I do something that under normal circumstances would be a very stupid move, I put my hand ...

I've been so... bored with most of what I've been finding on the net for the last month or so that I actually didn't mind not being able to access the net for almost a week. It was like a vacation from my vices and while I've been back online, connected, and without any more kinks for 4days now, it's only to reassure those people who have noticed my absence and have e-mailed me to make sure that I was still alive that I'm writing. Yes, I am still here. I'm still cruising through sites. Reading a variety of blogs and other online boards, fan fiction sites, news and gossip pages, random factoid websites and a never ending list of other possible distractions and nothing that is really intriguing. It is sad, isn't it, when most of us devote countless minutes or hours each day to the net and very often get little satisfaction from the process. It's hard too during these dry spells to justify the time we're spending online when even as we do it,...

So I wrote last weekend that I'd cleaned up and sorted through the kids toys and that we were making it Arora's job to pick them up every night. Since then, I've made a few observations about those toys. 1) The old saying "Out of sight, out of mind" really is true. Since I got everything cleaned up and it's all neatly and conveniently held in toy bins the kids seem to have forgotten that they have those toys that they can't immediately see. So for the past week we've played only with the Mega blocks Lego and with Zack's dump trucks and trains. All the balls and noise makers, the dolls, stuffed animals, puzzles and Care Bears are simply and, apparently, easily forgotten. But do I dare to get rid of them, either to charity or one of our friends with kids? Somehow I don't think that would go over well and personally I can't quite force myself to do it. 2) When an abundance of toys is missing the kids use more 'ordinary' items to p...

I haven't written about this and I'm not entirely sure why. No I suppose that's not entirely true, I do know why, I'm just not really proud of the reasons. What am I talking about? The changes in my life that are happening all around me. All of them beyond my control. None of them overtly, significantly or even directly, affecting the occurrences of my every day life. And yet all of them affecting how I'm looking at my life. What I'm doing, where I want to go, what I want to do.... Still, I haven't really explained, have I? Meagz is gone to Europe. For a month. I've always wanted to go but there was always one thing or another that kept me home. Now I've got the kids and despite any, and likely all, dreams of travel that I have, I guess part of me doesn't believe that I'll ever actually get my chance to do a "grand tour." Sad isn't it? I've always had everything I've ever wanted; I've never really been d...

I cleaned the entire upstairs of my house yesterday, going through toys and clothes and everything while I went. Now I've got the toys separated: stuffed animals, Legos, trucks (and other assorted boy toys) and all other toys. 4 bins. Beyond those I filled a big garbage bag with other stuffed animals, big, small and medium. I filled another bin with toys that are for small babies. Soft toys, chew toys. Those kind of things. And last but not least, I filled a big box with toys that I'm giving away, with fond hopes that I will NEVER see them again. Yes, it was an industrious day. You should have seen Obie's face when he got home and came upstairs and you could see the living room without it's ever growing carpet of forgotten toys. It really was priceless . At least to me. He even knew I was doing it too. I'd called him when his older sister called to say she was coming down for the weekend, which meant I absolutely had to clean it. I'd never live it do...

OH A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!! She was Piglet at 5 months. A devil the next year. Last year Arora was a 'Butterfly Princess Fairy' (she couldn't narrow it down to just one), and this year we settled on being a witch. The decision making bit for the costume, of course, was that it had bright pink in it. But mommy (obviously that's me) was able to find a pair of tights and a sweater in the same shade of bright pink, so on the whole the Witch was a winner!!! Being only three weeks old last year on Halloween Zack didn't actually dress up. In a sense he was just 'a new-born' and we didn't actually take him around at all. This year though we (and I suppose that should really just be 'I') wanted his costume to be something really cute, but cool too. When I was shopping in Calgary a couple weeks ago I was able to find the PERFECT costume, at Old Navy of all places, and though mom and I worried that it might be a bit too big, we were wrong, it ...