I felt like a kid again!!

So Wednesday night I got together with a friend of mine,T, and we went to the YMCA and had a mini-spa evening :) Basically we were supposed to get together for a no kids evening back on Monday but she had to bow out because Monday ended up being a super busy day for her. So I took the kids to the mall to do the shopping I had been thinking of doing with T.

Life being what it is she called me up on Wednesday and checked with me if it was okay if she was going to be quite late(like closer to 9pm than 8pm) at that point I had an idea; Why not go hang out at the YMCA then? I could shave and have a nice soak in the hot tub and she could get a better feel for what the Y is like since she is planning on getting a membership. She loved the idea so that's what we did. The main reason I was particularly interested in shaving was because I had managed to rip the hair out of one leg but couldn't face doing the other one ... yeah my mustache was no trouble but I forgot one thing. My mustache has been waxed before ... my legs haven't!! My son thought it was very funny because I made horrid faces after each time I ripped. I have cruel children! /hehe/. It was really funny that night because I had made the mistake of telling the kids I was going out after the had gone to sleep ... so then they wouldn't fall asleep. Finally I told them I wasn't going after all, 10 minutes later they were both asleep. In fact, when T got here at about 9:15pm everyone in the house was asleep but me. She came to my computer room window and whispered "Quick! Lets make a run for it!" and away we went. Of course, being slimmer than I am she insisted we walk the track for 20 minutes before we went back to the change room to shower and soak. Happily my YMCA is open until 11pm on weeknights and the Plus Change room was empty except for us.

It was so nice to get out away from the kids and the house! I told T we have got to plan on doing this twice a month for sure - I love getting together with my friends one friend at a time! The biggest thing for me was to be out after dark ... I rarely am so it's always a treat for me.

Thanks again T!

Cass :)

KaChing! Whoever said having kids was expensive ...

... was right on the money! I will now tell the tale of the last few weeks, where lots of money has been spent on the kids as well as on other things.

I have receipts here for back to school clothes shopping. Now I know I could have went second hand for A's clothes but I prefer hand-me-downs for my kids(hey they're free!) but we don't know any boys that are in the size up from A(who now takes a 10/12) that live locally. M got a huge bag of hand-me-downs from a good friend of mine(Thanks S and sorry for nagging!) as well as some from another pal of mine, T. So I bought him all new stuff and some new stuff for M as well(they both really needed underwear and socks).

The first $122 I spent got me:
2 pairs of heavy track pants
4 t-shirts
6 pairs of boxer shorts
6 pairs of boy socks
6 pairs of girl socks
6 pairs of panties
1 pair of indoor shoes for M

I knew that wasn't enough so I ventured out again(this time with my Mom who wanted to buy some new stuff for M). Not counting everything we bought(Mom had to return a pair of pants so I don't think her total is accurate). I spent another $136 and that got me:
6 pairs of girl socks
6 pairs of panties
6 pairs of boy socks
4 t-shirts
2 pairs of heavy track pants
1 hooded sweatshirt sweater
1 pair of new shoes for A
2 sets of headphones for home computers.

Mom dropped $75 on her return trip to the store to return a pair of pants that looked all wrong once we put them on M. Once I added the hand me downs to that both A & M are ready for school, all except school supplies which they will be sending a list home for after the kids start school /sigh/. M has a huge amount of clothes now, I could barely fit them all into her dresser! A has enough that I'll have to keep on top of the laundry but not be super concerned about it. Total for back to school shopping out of my wallet? $258. Not great but not horrid. It would be more again if I didn't have my Mom and hand-me-downs for M and K's grandparents buy all her clothes as well. Thank goodness for friends and family!! Now I have several bags of clothes that I can hand down and once I sort them and get some idea of how much and what sexes and sizes I'll be all set to share as well!

Now on with the show! I told this story to my dear sister-in-law in IM last night and she was amused by it so I figured I would share here as well since it is partially money related but mostly about going places with children and how ... interesting ... it can be.

Yesterday I decided to take the kids to the mall. Now anyone who knows me knows I highly dislike leaving the house, and I like leaving the house and taking the kids with me even more! Now, K is away until the weekend so it was just almost 7 year old A and 3 1/2 year old M and I. I had ulterior motives; I wanted to buy a book I had been waiting to buy. So I told the kids we were going to the mall for lunch, they've both been nagging to do "something" and were very excited about getting out the door. I looked over the bus routes that I wanted and wrote down times and the list of stuff I wanted to get while I was out. My third shopping trip of the month started badly with A complaining about how thirsty he was while we were waiting for the bus. For some reason my children seem to feel that they should guzzle water the entire time they are away from home or at least have water available at all times. Since we were traveling on the bus I decided to take the umbrella stroller and my backpack for kid and shopping transport so I had not brought our usual cargo of water. At one point his whining forced me to threaten to just go home and forget about the whole thing and with me that's not an empty threat. My kids know I would just go home, that, in fact, I would much rather be home.

So we got on the bus(running total: $5 for bus fare) and headed for the mall. Well actually we headed for another bus after that because you need to take two buses to get to the mall if you grab the bus closest to my house. The second bus I wanted to take was taking too long so I grabbed a different one and we ended up having to walk two very long blocks to my bank(stop #1) for money. The walk to the bank was interesting; A can't read but he sure knows his company logos from watching TV, which is kinda scary, he also knows the jingles and can quote parts of the commercials easily. He knew the Pizza Hut sign even though we have never eaten there. He also knew the Red Lobster sign. All he manged to dredge up out of his amazing head for the Wendy's sign was "Bacon!!" from their latest commercial. He went wild when he saw the Burger King sign and sang "Always fresh at Tim Horton's!" when I pointed the Timmie's sign out to him. It was very interesting to say the least.

Nearer the bank we had to walk by a machine boring a hole into the sidewalk that was very loud ... my kids covered their ears. A especially hates loud noises. The mutters of thirstiness were still coming from A but he wasn't being too loud about it. After the bank I walked a 1/2 a block only to have to turn around and go back up to the lights I had crossed at before I went to the bank because the next set of lights were too far down the mall from where I wanted to be.

We had left the house at 10:10am and it was now 11:15am so I had to change my plans and took the kids to the McDonald's for lunch(stop #2) before we did any other shopping.Running total about $27 - for bus and McDonald's. Of course the kids didn't finish their food, well A did but M and I didn't so the leftovers went into my backpack.

Our next stop(#3) was Sears where I spent $14(running total $41 - bus, McDonald's, Sears) on two waterproof vinyl mattress covers that are like a giant pillow case cover that zipper shut at one end. A has one on his bed but it's starting to get holes in it and I wanted to grab a second one because it's always a good idea to have a backup. While we were at the Sears A was sad because the escalators were shut down for servicing and M was sad because she doesn't like the elevator(it scares her and you have to hold her when you're on one to keep her calm). I really can't win with these two.

We made it thru the Sears stop just fine and moved on to Pharma Plus where I got myself a hair removal kit and bought two bottles of water for A & M because "I'm thirsty Mommy!"& "I'm thirsty too Mommy!". Total at stop #4 $14, running total $55 bus, lunch, Sears, and PharmaPlus.

Our next stop was Office Depot(Stop #5) for some index cards, an index card box and dividers for inside the index card box. This purchase was for my Sim note taking and other stuff. The small index card box is easier to keep on my desk than the big binder I have been using in the past. Silly I know and they came to a total of $15, running total $70 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, and Office Depot.

After Office Depot I bought the kids ice cream at Laura Secord(Stop #6) to the tune of about $4, running total $74 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, Office Depot and ice cream. At this point my wallet was getting very slim and I counted my money and change. After setting aside another $5 for bus fare I had about $27 ... I wasn't sure that would be enough for the book I wanted to buy at Chapters but we went there anyway.

On the way to Chapters we got to go on an escalator ... I thought A would be happy but once we got there he locked up and refused to get on. By the time I realized he wasn't going to be able to do it M and I were already on and on our way down. I kept encouraging him to get on but he was too scared to do it. So there we were; M and I at the bottom and A at the top in tears. I was going to have to go back up(the up escalator was right there) and get him when a nice lady helped him on and brought him to me. Poor A was almost in a panic from the whole deal. I must remember in future that A doesn't do escalators well at all ... better to go on the elevator and hug M the whole time!

Our final stop before heading home, #7, was Chapters where, thanks to my iRewards card, my book only cost me $21 so I got to get it after all! :) Running total $95 - bus, McDonald's, Sears, PharmaPlus, Office Depot, Laura Secord, and Chapters. Almost out of money we needed to head home ... so we went to the bus area at our mall. Now the mall is a large one so there is a large area set aside for the city buses, it's all landscaped and everything. The bus we wanted pulled out as we were headed to the stops but I figured we would just snag another on and transfer again like we did on the way in. So while we were waiting for a bus I figured would get there anytime M says "Mommy, I have to pee!" of course I should have thought of this before we had come outside because she had sucked back a bunch of water. I didn't want to dash back into the mall because I didn't know when the bus was coming and I really wanted to go home. So instead I sent her behind some bushes to go ... good thing too; our bus pulled up just as she was pulling up her panties and we got on. Add another $5 to my running total and that brings us right up to $100, which was exactly the amount of money I took out of the bank.

Of course the story isn't over until we get home ... while we were waiting for our second bus I got "Mommy I have to pee!" & "I have to pee too Mommy!" luckily there was a little donut shop right there so I just took them to their bathrooms(hoping that someone would give me a song and dance about customers only so I could yell at someone - no such luck) and went back out to wait for the bus. We got home fine, broke, but fine. I have $6.50 in my wallet in change and a coffee date with a girlfriend tomorrow night.

Whew! That trip wore me out ... I slept very well last night :)

Cass :)

Ugh! Me Good Brush Piler! :)

All done finally!! Here are A, M & I striking a pose in front of the brush I have spent the last almost two weeks bundling and spent yesterday hauling out to the street. I'm very proud, even if I do look awful in pictures :)

The Brush pile continues to grow...

I've got to hand it to me ... I've kept to my word and done at least an hour of yard work everyday for the last 5 days and the yard is looking better all the time. I've even manged to get into our years old brush pile enough to decide that yard waste bags will work better there ... all the stuff in the bottom of that pile is so dry all I have to do is stomp around on it and it will all be itty bitty twigs :)

I've also started moving some of the small logs(too big for my loppers) to the back of the yard and decided that I will place all the logs where the old brush pile was once I get it cleaned out. Today I have to move more small logs and trim the brush around the kids' play area and clean out the 'pit'.

The 'pit' is an area next to my small back deck where things get tossed so I have to bag up the stuff that's junk and clear out the brush and logs that got left there. I probably won't get to that until Monday but I'll hope for today.

Tuesday will be more brush work hopefully in the driveway(the last of it) and then the next couple days will be moving logs. The big job will be Thursday when I move all the brush bundles to the front of the house. I've kept them in the back because I was worried that some drunk rowdy might come along and be tempted by a mountain of flammable stuff ... so no brush out front until Thursday.

I worked hard enough yesterday to have sore muscles when I came into the house but my arms feel okay so far today so I guess I didn't hurt myself. Yesterday was also our last Family Day for a while, with the pool closed and our van broken down as well(on Friday just as J got to work) we'll just wait until the pool re-opens to go to the Y on Saturdays again. Once school starts I will be heading to the Y every day that the kids go to school ... at first just for the walk there and home but eventually I hope to pick up some of the classes I used to take like Muscle Works and Aquafit, and maybe swim some laps.

Hopefully my next Blog will have a picture of a mountain of brush bundles outside my house and the pile of logs back by the shed!

Cass :)

A busy Visit ...

I've been slacking a bit on this Blog entry because it's about a visit from my father. The last time I saw my father in person was about 6 years ago. A was just a baby and M hadn't even been thought of. Now, I have an odd relationship with my father; things happened a long time ago that I feel can be placed at his feet but there is no point in getting into that now because the few times we have touched on the subject I saw that we would never agree so there was no point in getting into a fight over it. My compromise is that I keep in touch badly partly through choice partly because I never know when it's a good time to call and often forget when I mean to e-mail him. I should be famous for my awful memory, although I feel mostly I forget things because I'm too lazy to remember them /sigh/. I do try to keep in some contact when I remember; my Mom has always been very clear that I have a certain duty to him as my father and that what happened in the past is the past. If my Mom is willing to let it go than so am I but she will always be number 1 to me, of course it helps that she lives right in the same city as me too :)

Anyway, my father was in the area for the funeral of his father ... I could have gone but have decided after seeing Old Dog dead and gone that I cannot handle having that be the last memory of a person that I cared about. So I have a new found resolve to never go to a funeral. But I better get back on track here :)

He got here by bus on Friday August 10th and kept us busy his whole four night stay with us. J & I are not people that are used to being busy but my father certainly is and we did stuff everyday(Who does stuff everyday?!?!). Friday afternoon we walked over to a local department store and he bought each of the kids something. K picked out a new style ant farm that actually is made of gel so you don't have to feed or water the ants while they tunnel. The ants are non-breeding so they will only live a couple months before they die ... we're waiting for the ants to be delivered now :) Friday night J & Dad went to Toys'R'Us and bought a remote control truck for us all to play with. Saturday was family day as usual and we all went to the Y for the morning, Saturday evening we went to a nearby park that had just had all it's playground equipment changed, Sunday we went to a small Zoo and even that trip went well(although J & I are usually very reluctant to go anywhere) and the kids had great fun at the splash pad at the zoo. Monday J had to go back to work(he had been off the previous week) and Dad and I hatched a plan to finally get rid of the trees that have been messing up my satellite TV all summer. He really wanted to help J & I with a house project and is comfortable with a chainsaw so after leaving a note on my neighbour's door(technically they were his trees although he had told me back in June that he was going to cut them down it hadn't happened - Thanks to my good friend FF in Florida for the note's wording) we started in on the trees. When J got home he and dad went and rented a chainsaw and Dad took the rest of the trees down with it.

You should have seen it ... I thought of taking pictures but was too busy cutting up brush to run into the house for the camera ... my 60 year old Dad climbing in the trees taking off the limbs with a handsaw. He dropped every limb without hurting any of the phone or cable lines that run into mine and my neighbour's house: it was very impressive.

I have to say I am truly blessed to have such good parents: Mom, of course, for always loving me no matter what and for always helping me(so many times!) when I needed it and so recently sharing her good fortunate with me as well. My father was a huge help to me getting those trees down and I'll admit is was nice(though tiring) to have such a busy 4 days. The kids weren't bored even once. So I'll say it now: Thank you both for coming together and having me ... because without you both there would be no me.

Of course I will only mention in passing how much work I have left to do. My city takes yard waste so I have been bundling up all the stuff I can cut up from the trees. I have 40 bundles done now and am getting close to being done with brushing(Brushing: the act of cutting up branches and smallish limbs while trimming brush on your property, also the act of bundling said branches. - now it's a word) in the back yard ... I'm currently working on our years old brush pile at the back of the yard having already conquered the two mountains of brush nearer the house from the freshly cut trees. After that I will cut back anything that needs cutting in the back yard and move to the brush in the driveway. Then I get to move all the logs and bigger wood to one place in the yard, we may someday use it as firewood for camping. I figured when I started I may have up to 100 bundles of brush done by August 23rd ... yard waste pick up is the next day after that so I'll have the chore of hauling all those bundles out to the front of the house ... I will take a picture because this may possibly be the most work I have ever done in my life.

That's it for me, Blog more another day,

Cass :)

Kitty tries things out ... sort-of.

So I lured the steps by putting a bit of meat on each one and Kitty was nice enough to test things out for me ... reluctantly and with a little help.


He wouldn't stay on the platforms ...



He does use the steps a little now but only because I put his food on the ceiling platform :) He'd rather hang out with M.


Well that's all for now. We had a heat wave this past week but it's cooled off again, thank goodness! The kids and I haven't missed any Early Swims mostly thanks to the fact my Mom(have we established how wonderful she is yet?) drives us home one of the two days :) The YMCA pool will be closing for repairs/cleaning on August 20 till October 2nd :( but happily the Plus Change Room that I use is open again today! /does a happy dance/. We pay extra so Jim and I have towel service, access to a hot tub and steam room, and free stuff to use like blades, shaving cream, shampoo, conditioner, and body soap. With the swim lessons for the kids free with our membership and lots of other classes and stuff for all of us included as well I really love our YMCA. If you have one near you you should check it out!

Well that's enough from me for now ... I'll update more another day!

Cass :)