The great outdoors (finally!)

Posted on April 11, 2009 by Sherry

While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that the weather so far this weekend has been WARM, it’s certainly been warmER. Especially when you consider the fact that it snowed halfway through the week. But I refuse to talk about that any further, and since it melted by lunch time, I’ve decided not to hold it against Mother Nature, though there will be WORDS if it happens again. Ahem.

Anyway, with the weather being pleasantly sunny on Friday (more overcast today) and of a decent temperature both days Hayley, Breanna, and I spent many hours (hours!) outside. It was so nice. We decided to hit up the park both days for awhile for some playing on the swings and the slides.

After doing that for awhile, we decided to take a nice hike through the woods. Breanna demonstrated her utterly fearless leader behavior (as long as you don’t turn out the lights!) by leading the way the whole time.

Can you TELL how happy I was to finally be able to enjoy the great outdoors again, instead of just trying to survive it? It was so nice!

When we finished our hike we stopped by the park again for a little while since some kids had shown up. Neither Hayley nor Breanna were very keen on coming home, but I finally managed to convince them – plus we were hungry! We had eaten a really early supper after Hayley’s eye appointment on Friday, so by the time we were done running around outside, we all needed a little something else to fill us up.

(Hayley’s eye exam was inconclusive. It’s been determined that she will most likely need glasses but because of the scope of the issues with Hayley’s eyes and her history with strabismus, he said he’d feel more comfortable referring us back to the hospital, so we’ll know more then. At least I still have an appointment for May!)

Today wasn’t quite as beautiful as yesterday but it was pleasant enough. The kids were both all wound up and high strung because they were excited about Easter being tomorrow, so I figured the best thing for my sanity was to take them back out again to kill some of the afternoon. Another two hours passed in a blur as we spent time at the park and in the woods again. We took a different trail this time but it was cold enough that I didn’t want to go too far; I figured it would be better to go back to the park instead and let them run around to keep warm.

That photo of Breanna makes me laugh because after all the playing she sighed and said she was tired, so she ran over to sit on the bench at the newly installed picnic table. She said, “Oh, I never sat here before!” Then all of ten seconds later, she hopped back down, announced, “I feel better now!” and ran off full tilt to play some more.

We also took Pearl this time which was an exercise in patience (I failed) because she still pretty much sucks at understanding not to pull on the leash. She knows not to, but she doesn’t care. I don’t understand how she can enjoy walking for long periods while constantly gasping for breath since she essentially strangles herself, but I guess that’s part of what they were talking about when the SPCA folks told us Beagles are stubborn. STUBBORN IS PUTTING IT MILDLY.

She enjoyed it too, though, and is currently passed out asleep by my feet. I love this picture of her sitting on the park bench (attached, naturally), because you can tell how utterly unamused she was.

I know it’s cliche for a mother to say that her kids are gorgeous, but you know, duh. Of course my girls are beautiful. But even knowing that, every once in awhile I take a picture that takes even MY breath away. This would be one of them:

I think that happy smile sums it all up, you know?

I hope you’ve all had a great weekend so far too!

Sunny day, dark night

Posted on March 30, 2009 by Sherry

Saturday ended up being a rather nice day. It was warm enough that I went out with the kids and the dog, and we immediately came back upstairs to dump our coats because we were going to end up too hot with them on. Pearl was pulling on her leash again and I just don’t have time to deal with that when I also need to keep an eye on my kids, so we left her behind with George when we dropped our coats off, and the three of us went back outside, enjoying the great, fresh spring air for almost an hour and a half.

Somehow, they managed to find one of the last – and also the dirtiest – piles of snow left behind and they played on it for a few minutes. Breanna is pretty disappointed that it’s all disappearing. Me? I’ll live.

After walking a little further, they decided that a lack of snow wasn’t a big deal after they used their imagination and creativity to turn a fallen piece of a tree into a see-saw.

We definitely had a good time outside, and it was good for getting all that excess energy out.

Things got darker at 8:30 that night. In order to participate in Earth Hour 2009, we turned off all the lights, the computers, and the television and lit candles instead.

We had done it last year, but I added a chocolate fondue this time, and let me tell you – THAT went over very well. It took awhile for the chocolate to melt with just a tea light burning below it, but after about 20 minutes we had a nice pot half-full of melted goodness. I had sliced up some bananas, and we also had some fresh fruit salad that included strawberries, grapes, and melon slices so we speared all of those up and dipped them in. It was the first time the kids had ever had fondue, and they loved it.

I know that some people are ambivalent about Earth Hour and how much good it does, but I don’t think that the one hour of darkness is meant to fix anything. I don’t believe any of the participants thought they were making an actual tangible difference. However, what I feel is that Earth Hour is about educating and drawing attention. It gets people talking about climate change and helping the planet by reducing energy use. One hour won’t change anything, but what if people sat around in the dark for an hour and then realized that it’s not so bad? What if those people then decided to light candles every night or at least used one lone lamp instead of three or four? THAT is what makes the difference.

It’s also good for the kids. Hayley is terrible about leaving a stream of lights blazing in her path. She’ll turn on her bedroom light and then walk back out with it still on, only to go into the bathroom and do the exact same thing. George is forever turning the hall light off and telling her it doesn’t need to be on during the day. Earth Hour was a good way to reinforce the concept of saving energy and not using what we don’t actually need.

That education can come at any time, of course. And it should be a lesson that is brought up regularly. But having a specific time when you know everyone in the world is able to participate makes it special. Besides, Earth DAY doesn’t do anything more to help the planet either, but I still like to do something for the occasion then too.

The kids went to bed quickly and easily and then George and I did power up the television and the Wii to play a few games together, but we kept the dark theme going. We turned on the tiny night light in the hall in case one of the kids woke up, but we kept the candles lit in the living room and only turned the kitchen light on when we needed to get something to drink or eat.

Small steps.

I’m glad Saturday was a good day because Sunday was damp and rainy so we didn’t go out at all. It was still raining this morning but it’s stopped for now. I’m trying not to let the rain get me down since I know it will help get rid of the last of the snow (sorry, Breanna), and it will get the grass to be green again instead of that post-winter yellow straw stuff we have now. As long as we don’t get too much rain in one fell swoop, it should be okay!

One on one time

Posted on March 23, 2009 by Sherry

On Saturday, life started out disappointing for Breanna. George had to leave fairly early in the morning for work and wasn’t expecting to be back until late afternoon. On top of that, Hayley had gone over to her grandparents’ house. Thus it was just the two of us. However, we made the best of it!

We played some Wii bowling, tennis, and golf together (she totally kicked my ass at golf, by the way, and I wasn’t even *trying* to let her win. She came in at 3 over par. I came in at 10 over par. I am ashamed.), then we ate some lunch together. I made tuna salad, turned it into a sandwich for her, and I ate the rest with crackers. What made it special for her was that I threw a sheet down on the floor and we had a picnic in the living room while she chattered my ears off.

When lunch was done, we were both restless and the weather was too beautiful to ignore. Those of you who are further south or perhaps out west may have found it chilly at 5 or 6C but it was positively balmy here. We got our coats and grabbed Pearl and went for a long walk – we were gone for about an hour and a half! Pearl certainly enjoyed that (and slept well that evening).

We walked through a wooded area for awhile, found good “walking sticks” to help us on our way, and strolled along a few streets. We crossed through a church lot that she loves and she spent some time showing me that it’s a shame we’re Anglican/Protestant since she would make such an excellent Catholic girl, what with her massive love of the Virgin Mary.

Of course there was one thing at the church that was even more fun that the statue – a puddle!

It amazes me that we have toys, really, because she was just so overjoyed with nothing more than a puddle full of muddy water, a stick to stir it with, and a few pebbles to occasionally throw into the mix. She spent a good 15 minutes just playing there – and she didn’t even get wet other than her hands, which is amazing.

After I finally pried her away from the puddle, she then moved on to the one thing that’s even more fun than the Virgin Mary statue AND a muddy puddle combined – jumping off the big rock in the church yard.

(Even better viewed larger!)

It was no wonder she fell asleep so quickly and painlessly that night, what with all the walking and then the jumping.

She wasn’t very interested in going back home but I had to get supper started and we were both hungry. Once we got back in, she was pretty happy to be handed a big cup of juice and some cheese and crackers while I got the oven going. She kept telling me the rest of the afternoon and evening that she had had so much fun, and it got even better when she got to clean off after supper with a big bubble bath and bath paints all by herself.

Before Breanna was born, I spent a ton of time with just Hayley – going for walks, letting her take a bath until the water turned cold, and just hanging out. Breanna didn’t get that as often. Now that Hayley’s in school, we do have mornings and the first two hours of the afternoon, but I’m also working at that time, so it’s not quite the same. Dropping all ideas of working on Saturday and spending the entire day just playing with her and seeing her enjoying herself was such a great thing to do and I’m glad Hayley and George were busy with their own fun (George WAS having fun, it was work, but it was music work, so at least he enjoyed it!) so that I could get some of that quiet alone time with Breanna.

We’ll have to make a date to do it again soon!

Could it really almost be here?

Posted on March 15, 2009 by Sherry

This time last year we still had quite a lot of snow, and had even gotten a rather heavy snow storm, the kind that makes you want to just give up on your will to live.

Or maybe that’s just me being dramatic. But really, we got so much snow last year that it was ridiculous and I figured either I may as well move up north and enjoy the tundra because what difference would it make, or I’d better move south. Like Ecuador or something.

This year has been a really good winter in comparison. We had that crazy cold snap where it all but hurt to breathe outside and my hair turned white because it was just that cold, but we didn’t get as much heavy and constant snow. And now, here we are on the Ides of March (beware!) and dare I admit this out loud (so to speak)? It almost looks like SPRING is just around the corner.

Granted, yes, spring really IS just around the corner. On the calendar. But please, I live in Montreal. We don’t necessarily follow the calendar when it comes to our seasons. However, today George and I played the “Divide and Conquer” game where he took Hayley with him, and I took Breanna with me. For Breanna, that meant accompanying me on a nice long walk with Pearl.

Breanna was confused. “Where’s the snow?!” she asked as she plopped her snow-suit-free self down in a tiny remaining pile of snow of questionable cleanliness.

Hey, sorry kid. You’re asking the wrong person for sympathy. Begone, snow! Shoo!

She got over her mourning pretty quickly. As we got closer to home, she noticed some puddle and started picking up random tiny rocks and bits of gravel to throw in the puddles, one of her favorite pastimes. Then she spotted a fairly large puddle. Her eyes got a bit big, and she slowly tiptoed towards it, worried that I might stop her.

You know… So often I have to tell my kids not to splash in the puddles – usually it’s Hayley because she’s on her way to school. Today Breanna had nowhere to go but back home.

So I let her splash to her heart’s content for five minutes.

Let me tell you, it’s good for your soul.

What is good for the soul, too, is feeling like maybe, just maybe this winter stuff is done. Tuesday’s forecast is for 11C and that’s just crazy talk for the middle of March. It will be so nice to not have to bitch about the winter anymore.

(Please stay tuned for plenty of bitching about the ridiculous Montreal high humidity!)

56 hours of my life in photos

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Sherry

On Friday morning, Hayley’s last official day of March break, my alarm went off with a vengeance at 6:30 am. By 10 am I was sitting with George, Hayley, and Breanna on a train heading to Toronto.

The girls were remarkably good considering it’s five and a half hours sitting in seats. Breanna started to fuss about an hour out of Toronto but it was because she was tired; she finally fell asleep and got a half hour in which made a big difference for her. Overall they really enjoyed the train and we kept them busy with lots of coloring books, notepads, books, impromptu games (I taught Hayley to play Boxes, she did great!), and snacks.

We had gone to Toronto for George’s sister Elsa’s wedding, so we went to her condo first, where we were staying for the weekend, had a bite to eat since we were STARVING, and then we went to a hotel to visit with some family from out of town. It was tiring but fun to see everyone. We were all wiped out, but still hungry, so we stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken to pick up some food, ate a piece each, then we all crashed by 10 pm.

I don’t sleep well away from home the first couple of days so I was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night, and then we were all jolted awake by a blaring siren coming from the ceiling. George called his sister to ask what the hell it was and she said if there was any problem we’d hear a voice telling us what to do from the speakers in the ceiling, and that’s exactly what happened – like the voice of God or something. It was weird. A security guard from the lobby announced there was a fire in one of the parking levels and to stay tuned for further instruction. We immediately got everyone dressed and waited by the door; fire trucks came and then within five minutes they announced it was a false alarm. Alas, it was 7:15 am and we were all groggy but far too awake to go back to sleep then.

Luckily, the building has a big pool and spa room so after breakfast I took the girls downstairs and we alternated between swimming in the smaller pool and relaxing in the spa for an hour. It was really nice and I would have stayed longer if we hadn’t had things to do. We had to hurry to get ready because Hayley and Breanna were flower girls in the wedding, so we had to get them over to the wedding site to get them dressed and to have photos done.

Continue reading →

Little miss model

Posted on February 8, 2009 by Sherry

A little while ago someone we know called and asked if Breanna could be involved in a photoshoot; she sells baby products through Costco, things like legwarmers, terry cloth robes, little outfits, etc. We said sure, that it would probably be fun. Everything was finally ready to go on Saturday, so I took Breanna to an awesome photo studio where she joined a few other kids.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect once we got there because with Breanna you just never know. She’s a lot of fun and laughs a lot, but when she’s ticked off you really know it, so it could have gone either way. In the end, she loved it and she did an amazing job. She wore all the things they wanted, she listened to everyone as far as where to sit, where to look, everything.

Naturally I loved being there too because, hello, shooting in a real studio with real lighting (as opposed to my ghetto lighting, “let me just take the shade off this lamp, hang on”!). And luckily for me, the photographer didn’t seem to mind that I was shooting behind him. I just stayed well out of his way and didn’t speak to Breanna while he was working so I wouldn’t distract her.

I think she had an excellent time.

I think we may have created a monster though. Afterwards, we stopped by George’s parents’ house so she could try on her dress for my sister-in-law’s wedding and as soon as she had it on, she started twirling and posing.

Also, while we were at the studio, they would alternate between her and a little boy every five minutes so neither one got too tired, and she looked up and said, “I want my picture taken again!”

What a lot of fun! There may be another day that we’ll need to go back for some retakes, because one of the bathrobes they wanted to feature was too short for her, but I think she’ll be happy to do it again.

She was also really excited because she got to keep the little shirt, pink skirt, and polka-dot pink legwarmers. Last night she insisted on wearing the legwarmers to bed.

As long as she doesn’t go all Naomi Campbell, screaming at people and throwing cell phones at anyone’s head, it will be okay.

You can see more of the photos I took over here!

House of Aches and Pains

Posted on January 11, 2009 by Sherry

Yesterday morning I woke up and felt fine, if a little tired. At lunch time I took the dog for a walk and realized I had a bit of a headache. That’s not much of an observation for me. I have a headache pretty much every day, I just ignore them because they aren’t all that bad. I think it’s hereditary because my grandmother on my dad’s side was the same way.

It was a beautiful day with clear blue skies in that shade of blue that you only see in winter, and the temperatures weren’t awful. When I came back, the girls and George were just finishing lunch so I told them that I would give Breanna a nap and then we would go outside to play in the snow.

It never happened. By the time Breanna went to sleep my head hurt so badly that I felt like the back of my skull was going to shoot straight off my head. I tried to sleep with her but I could only close my eyes – there was actually too much pain for sleeping. After she got up, I went back to bed until I finally picked up the phone and used the intercom to call George in the living room – because I couldn’t even will myself out of bed – to ask him if he could please go get some Advil at the store since I had taken the last two a few days earlier (for carpal tunnel syndrome symptoms – getting older totally rocks).

He did and I took two of them, then passed out for a couple of hours. Miraculously, the pain had dwindled down and thank GOD for that because I honestly started to wonder if there was something wrong what with the amount of pain. Have you ever had a headache that is so bad that you start to wonder what it might be like if it just never goes away, and how long you could last before you’d throw yourself in front of a bus? That was me on Saturday afternoon.

I took another dose every four hours until bedtime and managed to feel much better by evening. I took the dog out after supper and was shocked by the brilliant full moon in a cloudless sky. I actually felt well enough that I ran back upstairs to grab my camera, the monster lens (70-300mm), and my tripod. I’m pretty thrilled with the results.

Since I was already outside anyway, I walked down to the corner and played with long exposures to capture light trails.

And I had some fun with the traffic light, making it an impossible light altogether.

After the kids went to bed, I managed to stay up to watch “Ghost Town” with George. I had never even heard of it before but what a great feel-good movie! I highly recommend it.

*******

Tonight I am grateful to not have a headache because in between writing this up, I’m also watching the Golden Globe Awards, which is cool because I really enjoy awards shows but it’s also for work so I can feel like I have a good reason to be watching celebrities.

Having to stay up though to watch this and manipulate images to put up on PittWatch with a headache like yesterday would have been impossible.

*******

Last Monday, the last day we had before Hayley went back to school, I made a joke with George about how we had all been healthy for two weeks, but once she went back to “that petri dish of germs” someone would be sick within a week.

Ha. Ha ha ha.

Hayley spent most of today on the couch, lying down and moaning because her stomach hurt her terribly. A couple of times she even spiked a low fever. She ate a bagel for breakfast, but almost nothing after that until a bowl of applesauce before bedtime.

She was so worried about having to go to school sick tomorrow. I put her to bed and said not to even think about it. I will call the school before bed and leave a message to say she won’t be in because she’s sick and I’ll let her sleep in a bit so she can feel better. At least we got her homework completed today so she won’t have too much to catch up on.

Poor kid though. Seriously, what the hell do you have to do to keep your kids from getting sick at school all the time? It’s insane. We’ve all been sick since she started in September, one after the other, over and over with only the two-week holiday for a reprieve. I’m going to start sending her to school with a can of Lysol and instruct her to spray it around herself every five minutes.

And on that note, it’s time for me to make some tea and dig out the ridiculously delicious maple cookies we have in the cupboard – I hope your weekend didn’t involve headaches or tummy aches!

Time for normal again

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Sherry

I can’t decide how I feel about the holidays coming to an end. On the one hand, I am really looking forward to getting back to a routine of some sort. I’ll be taking down the decorations soon, up earlier in the morning, and it will be so nice to have the kids falling asleep earlier (Breanna was awake until 9 pm and Hayley didn’t crash until almost 11!).

On the other hand, I don’t look forward to getting up at 6:20 every weekday morning again to take the dog out before dragging a surly six-year-old from her blankets to get her ready for school. Although the sleeping in has been the primary cause of the later bedtimes, it has been very nice to not be woken up until 9 am or later these past two weeks (with the exception of Christmas day of course). Even Pearl has gotten used to the later mornings since she’s been taken out later at night herself.

At least I don’t have to worry until Tuesday. The teachers took one of the floating ped days on Monday so that they can have a day to come in without the kids and get organized for the new year. Still, I’ll have to get Hayley up no later than 8 am, possibly even 7:30 am, just to make sure that she’ll fall asleep at a reasonable-ish hour on Monday night.

It’s going to hurt.

But I think Breanna will be happy with the return to routines as well. Because of the later bedtimes, she’s been sleeping in. Because of the sleeping in, she hasn’t needed her usual noon-time hour-long nap. She’s been occasionally cranky without the naps but not too often. However, on Friday it finally got the best of her. On Thursday night, George camped out in the living room with the two girls. It was Breanna’s first time doing it and we didn’t think it would really work. She finally fell asleep at about 11:05 pm, right at the end of Horton Hears a Who so I whispered good night and went to bed.

At 4 am George brought her in because she wanted to make sure I was still here. She then informed me “I want to go camp again” and left. She didn’t fall back to sleep but laid out there very quietly until 6 am. Again, she came to find me, stayed with me for about five minutes, then ran back to the living room and fell asleep for another two or three hours. We were pretty proud of her.

But the late night, plus the two hours of being awake in the middle of the night AND the lack of nap? Too much. At about 5 pm the kids were watching a movie (I think it was Horton again, he’s pretty popular around here) and she got cranky, laid on the couch, asked for her favorite blanket, and next thing I knew she was asleep.

Day 2: When the holidays get to be too much

Alas, I had to wake her after 20 minutes or she would have been up until all hours.

Yes, it’s definitely time to get back to normal. Whatever that is!

A toy store exploded in my living room

Posted on December 27, 2008 by Sherry

Christmas, oh Christmas. Another year come and gone but for some reason I didn’t get the post-holiday letdown like I usually do. Often, after it’s all over I feel a bit deflated – you prep for so long for this great day and it’s over so fast. Maybe this year it’s because it’s spread out more. We started being festive by the 24th. On the 25th we did our Christmas morning, then went to George’s parents’ house to celebrate with them. My own family came on the 26th. Today we took it easy at home, and tomorrow, on the 28th, we’re going to see some family that I haven’t seen in over a decade.

I figure that spreading it out so much is what made it feel like it wasn’t over too quickly and while it’s tiring it is so much more enjoyable than just doing everything in one fell swoop on one day.

Christmas morning dawned early with Hayley waking George up at 5:30 am. We had decided to divide and conquer with George and Hayley in one room and Breanna and I in the other – we figured it would lessen the odds of anyone sneaking out before the rest of us. He managed to keep her contained until 6:30 at which point he turned on the Christmas lights, turned up the heat, and woke Breanna and I up at 6:40 to get started.

They knew they were getting their Fur Real kittens from Santa but everything else was a surprise. I think we did really well. Hayley loved her keyboard and Breanna was thrilled with her camera. Then the Barbie Diamond castle just about blew their heads right off. Look at Breanna’s face when they realized what was in the giant box for both of them to play with:

A little happy!

We didn’t get a chance to put it together until after lunch today but it sure is beautiful!

We left Hayley with her grandparents after opening presents over there so we could bring Breanna home for a brief nap, but then we were right back again for a delicious turkey dinner. We didn’t stay too late because the kids were wiped out, so we got them home and into bed pretty easily and George and I did our own tradition of watching a movie on Christmas night. And speaking of tradition, we did our yearly family photo on the stairs of his parents’ house before leaving.

We slept in a bit on the 26th but then we were up and moving. I tidied up while George set about cooking up two delicious pork roasts for supper and my family arrived right at 3 pm for more festivities. Once again the kids made out like bandits, and so did I to be honest. My mom surprised me with one of those massage pads that attaches to the back of your chair. Now when I work at my computer I can have a little back massage at the same time – it is SO awesome. And my dad got me a nice kitchen block with a bunch of great knives; I particularly loved that the tag said “to one cook from another”.

My family hung out until 11 pm and can I say I was VERY happy to have my sister home again after two whole years of not seeing her? VERY VERY HAPPY.

And you know, my mother would totally kill me if she knew I was posting this online, so please don’t tell her. She hates posing for pictures. If you point a camera at her she usually either pretends it’s not there and looks away or else she makes a face at you. I plopped down beside her with my camera and for some reason she smiled and let me take the picture. And because of that I think that this is one of my favorite pictures in a long time, not because it’s technically a fantastic shot but because it’s my MOM and I love it.

Today was nice and low-key. We slept in again since it was after 11 when the kids went to bed. I could get used to sleeping until after 9 am every day, let me tell you. We had a leisurely breakfast, a late lunch, set up the diamond castle and let the kids play, and not much else. It’s so nice. I had a bit of work to do but since it was Saturday I didn’t have a ton of stuff to worry about and I was done in about half an hour. I could get used to this life of leisure!

Tomorrow will be another big, fun day and I’m so excited about seeing some of my family after far too long. This is exactly what the holidays are supposed to be.

(You can see the full Christmas Flickr album here if you’d like!)

I think I can I think I can!

Posted on December 23, 2008 by Sherry

We are so close to being all done with our Christmas shopping, but alas, once more we’ll have to finish it off on the 24th. We just couldn’t get it all done. George, bless his merry heart (or something), went out to buy gifts for his family, two for mine, and two more gifts for the kids – and he did it while he was sick. We’ve all been sick the past few days except for Hayley, which means she is bordering on bored while the rest of us want to sleep or die. Breanna was probably the worst because she spiked a high fever on and off for two days straight. She seemed better this evening, though she hasn’t eaten much. She gulped down a full bowl of applesauce after watching “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” tonight, so hopefully she’ll be back to normal tomorrow.

Because Breanna was sick, we couldn’t take her shopping or drop her off with anyone, so I stayed home with the kids and alternated between taking care of them, working, and cleaning. George was pretty darn successful in his outing. The only gift proving to be tricky, shockingly enough, is my mother’s gift. She wanted some perfume (she doesn’t read this site, and I know my dad won’t tell her if he happens to read this before Christmas) and I figured that would be a fairly easy thing to find. I latched onto that idea so firmly that I can’t even remember any of the other things she had suggested. She doesn’t like heavy perfumes or anything overly floral. She’s not into the exotic scents that make liberal use of patchouli, and she doesn’t want to smell like an 80-year-old woman who bathed in perfume. She had suggested White Chantilly as one she loves. Do you think I can find it anywhere? NO. NO I CAN NOT. I found two tiny sample sized bottles but that was unacceptable.

Other than that, she just likes light scents. She always loved a Lily of the Valley perfume that she used to wear but it’s been discontinued. I’ll have to go to the perfume counter (gag!) tomorrow and see if I can find White Chantilly or something else acceptably light. It’s just hard to buy perfume for someone else based off the description “not too heavy”. I don’t want her to feel like she has to wear it if she hates it. This should have been the easiest present out of anyone in my family, but who knew White Chantilly was suddenly so hard to find?!

Aside from my mother, we still have to get stocking stuffers for the kids but I’m not worried about that at all. Last year I walked four (long, suburban) blocks in the snow, collected everything, stood in line, paid for them, stopped at the bathroom, bought myself a bottle of water and a snack, walked back, and did it all in just under an hour. The line up will likely be annoying, but that’s why God invented iPods.

I’m hoping to get it done early in the day so I can spend the afternoon making reindeer food with the kids (plain oatmeal mixed with glitter, which you then sprinkle outside in the snow so that the moonlight or streetlamps will light the way for Santa to your home!), baking cookies, and relaxing.

And speaking of relaxing, I pre-posted enough stuff to carry me on my work blogs from now until December 27th so I’m going to celebrate with a cup of green tea to beat back this Cold From Hell, a bunch of chocolate, and Christmas Vacation. Maybe I’ll even go bust a piece off the gingerbread house the kids and I put together the other day!

Chaos Theory

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