What to do with a week of vacation

Normally Hubs has two weeks off during either July or August form work. They are paid days off (YAY) and back to back. During this time - called summer shut down - the plant does all the maintenance and deep cleaning for the year.

I love Summer shut down, becuase two weeks - to me - is just the right length, we use one week to go on vacation and the other week to lounge around the house and maybe do a few do-it-yourself projects around the house.

This summer though, there is just too much work that needs to be done at the plant and since production is so far behind the bug guys on top decided that the summer shiut down will only be one week. :o(

We don't have very many at home things we need to do, so we are struggling to figure out what we can do during our week off. Keep in mind that Smokey is horribly car sick so she cannot accompany us and if we kennel her, that takes up all of our vacation money and then there is no point on going on vacation!

so, I have been working on a list ;

• We can take the boys into the city and spend some time at the water park, maybe find some cheap hotels and stay the night.
• We can ask the vet for a prescription to knock Smokey out and take her camping with us, or knock her out and drive her out to my dads while we go camping.
• We can just stay home (boo)

and..thats it, thats all I can come up with.

Summer shut down is the first week of August, so time is running out. What would YOU do?

Babies EVERYWHERE

A surge of new Blogger babies have been - or are about to be born. Her Bad Mother had a harrowing almost born in the car birth experience the other day, Amalah and Girls Gone Child are both expecting, it seems like everywhere I turn I read a new pregnancy post! Even my brothers girl friend is expecting!

It makes me remember when I was expecting and how sweet and fragile babies are. I can remember with my first baby having to pack all the billion things a baby needs AND jugs of water - we formula fed- for a trip to my dads. His water was horrible. By the time I had my Third baby, dad had gotten one of those water purifiers, so we were able to take H2o off the list! Now, I pack a change of pants and underwear for the youngest, a few sweaters or coats and am free to head down for the day. No bottles diapers or sippy cups for us!

Often, when a new pregnancy close to home is announced, people imply that I must want another baby too. But truthfully? There is nothing on earth that would make me go back to midnight feedings and stinky diapers!

Why are all the good foods fattening?

If any of you saw my post on my main blog, Bluepaintred, from the other night, you can make a pretty educated guess at how my diet is going. Or, as the case may be, NOT going!

I just love good, sugary, high carb foods TOO much! I wonder if you can still buy corsets? I keep saying to myself, today, self, you will go for a walk. Or Today self, you shall have a yummy salad for lunch instead of your carb filled sandwich! And yet, I never do.

I want to be skinny, I want to be healthy, but not as much, it seems, as I want that last square of brownie.

:o(

more old movies

Every Friday one of the stations our cable offers us plays what they call the Friday Frightmares. I like a good scary movie in a way that means I enjoy watching them but the moment they actually get scary, I get scared, and then stay scared. It worries me to have my back to anything, and I would love to keep a light on when we go to bed, but Hubs cannot sleep in light.

Int he past, I only had to watch scary movies, once, whine they come out, but now, with the Friday Frightmare, I no longer have that option.

Tonight we have Darkness Falls on the television. I can honestly say that this is a VERY well done movie, the plot is great and the acting, for a scary movie, is surprisingly good. The premise is that you are not allowed to "peek" when the toothfairy comes for your teeth, because if you see her, you die. A small boy, upon the loss of his last tooth decided the story is just that, a story, and peeks. His mother ends up dead and he is on the run. He must stay in the light, for the toothfairy fears the light.

As much as I try not to watch the Friday Frightmares, I often end up watching them. And then? Yea, I end up scared.

Yay me. I'm such a dork.

Bad! BAD DOG

My dog ate another pot of my flowers. You know, the ones I planted just last weekend. The ones I spent a zillion dollars on? yea, those ones.

It REALLY ticks me off. Mostly because I refuse to buy more plants for her to eat, but that I had warmedn my son as he put the dog out to potty that he HAD TO WATCH THE PLANTS.

Instead, he flipped on the TV and promptly forgot we even HAVE a dog.

If she wasn't so damn cute, I swear her head would be hanging above my fireplace as we speak!

Pens; Mightier that a sword

Above :Papermate pens

I love nice pens. And by nice I don't mean expensive pens, but ones that feel right in my hands, or, I will suffer discomfort if the color of the pen is unique or the flow of the ink is wonderful. Lately I have been on the look out for a special kind of pen. I got them two years ago, Christmas time, and they are all just about out of ink.

The pens were tiny, about half, or maybe a bit smaller than a "regular" sized pen, and they were gel inks. There was a neon yellow, orange, green and pink, as well as a bright red, two different shades of blue, an awesome shade of deep green and a black.

Not only did I love the colors, but the ink flowed out better than most pens I have found, and they were the perfect size for throwing in my purse - two years and not a single one leaked!. In a pinch, I would let the kids use them to color - you know, when we had to wait for an appointment or an order to be filled.

My mom only ever used one kind of pen, a Papermate, I could not find a picture of the exact pen she used, but she has been dead for 11 years now, so that particular pen might have gone out of stock.

My father in law will only buy pens that have a clip so he can carry them in his shirt pocket.

What about you? do you have a pen fetish? Will you write with anything, or must your pen be a certain kind?

Tell Me Your Plans

Summer, I think, is the best time to go on a trip, especially for people with school age kids becuase they are out of school. Last day here is the 25th of June and report card pick up is the 27th.

Normally we go camping during the summer thanks to the two weeks paid vacation hubs gets in either July or August (they keep changing the month) but this year, Hubs will only have one week off, there is too much work to be done for the plant to have the normal two week shut down :o(

We are struggling with what to do with our one measly week. We could lay in travel supplies and go camping - IF we knew what to do with Smokey! Smokey gets horribly car sick, and by horribly car sick, I mean HORRIBKY NASTY DISGUSTINGLY carsick.

Our vet said we can stop in and have her weighed for a dog size dose of graval, but do we really want to add that expense on top of food, gas and camping fees?

What do you have planned for this summer?

Feelin' HOT HOT HOT

Experiencing my first sun burn of the year, I am a bit shocked at how uncomfortable it is. By any means, this is not a bad burn, maybe 12 inches of my arms is red, and for the most part, my main source of discomfort is a "tightening" feeling in the skin.

Last night however, I was wishing I had a set of silk bedding. Something cool and smooth, instead of the cotton blend sheets I was on.

I think, in a red, or a deep forest green. I should forward this link to hubs, my birthday IS coming up soon, you know!

...not that i plan of getting burned again, of course!

Playing Photoshop

I am SO addicted to photoshop. It's gotten to the point that almost every photo I publish online has been tweeked in some way or another with Photoshop. I even started a photoshop album on facebook to showcase the mored dramatic changes!

Example(s)? Sure :

Gah! Bad Weather!

We had a garage sale goin gon the past couple of days. Quite frankly it sucked.

The highest point of it was having our oldest advertise his sale stuff at school and see him walking home on Thursday afternoon with a gaggle of kids behind him. He sold all of his things in under ten minutes.

I made six bucks, but lost it after walking through the rest of the blocks sales!

Seems like a few items are the In thing this year, patio furniture and kid's summer toys, like wee plastic tables and slides for the back yard. Nothing I was looking for, really.

One place had a bunch of new books on three for a dollar so I spent a bit there, and another place was selling fresh baked goodies and I spent there as well, and OMG was it good!

It was SO cold and windy though, that it was hard to sit outside and watch for garagesalers. It seems like every year we have crappy weather for our sale, next year, I will talk everyone into waiting for at least JUNE!

Guess what!!

It's HERE:

I can't wait - and yet I am terrified, to put it up!

Ok, NOW it's an obsession

Every morning for the last.. two years... the first thing I do when I get online is check my email for blog comments that came in while I was sleeping. But this morning, after the computer had finished loading the first thing I checked was this :
Please note, since my last track and confirm update, my package has cleared customs and will be arriving any minute. Please also note that I still have not checked my email, preferring instead to run over here and tell you all my package has moved from its previous spot.

I have a direct book mark to this page on my toolbar, so it is very easy for me to click it every few minutes just in case. And yes I have read the last line where it says it is updated int eh evenings only! I don't care! tracking this package is like a drug! If it does not get here soon I will need to look into a drug treatment center that specializes in postal addictions!

And trust me, when it does get here? there will be pictures!!

now i'm off to go check one more time ( just to be sure) the location of my package and then I am off to check my email!

Arrived at Canada Customs!

Remember this post? I just got this notification in my email!!





As nervous as I am about the actual putting up of the wallpaper, Im super excited to finally see it! I found it almost six months ago, and it took until last week for me to be able to order it, and now its almost here!


Squeeeeee!

Interesting finds

I have been searching the interwebs half heartedly looking for a family ring. With our tax returns coming in any day now, i still have my fingers crossed that I will get one. (Hubs said no, and I understand why, what with the rising costs of fuel and food, but a girl cannot help but dream!)

One site I found was JewelElegance.com, which by the way, has a coupon for 10 percent off ( Use this code THTM10P801321 )

People say that you learn something everyday and I guess that is true becuase I had no idea that there was such a things a military jewelry - I guess that considering there are rings for dating, graduation, marriage, even rings to give your daughter on her sweet sixteen, this should not have come as a surprise to me. maybe becuase I live in Canada and do not know anyone in the Canadian military, thats why this came as a surprise!

Anyway - I 'm off to continue searching for the perfect ring...

Sweeeeeet

On Wednesday the 29th of April, I went to the bank to get a money order and then paid almost 13 bucks to have it mailed "fast". Fast, according to the post office was 3 - 6 business days. (that means the earliest the money order should reach it's destination was this past Thursday, and the latest would be the fifth of May.)

For what might be the first time in the entire history of the Canadian Postal Service, my money order actually got to its destination ON TIME! I got my tracking number email from the company on Friday morning!


Now all I have to do is click my tracking link over and over and over and over (in rather an obsessive manner to tell the truth) until the package makes it to my door!

(The inset undersea photo is what I am waiting for - a wallpaper mural for Stupermans room)

A few things

First of all - I am the worst daughter EVER. I got off the phone with my dad at lunch time today and not five minutes later my sister called to say "Don't for get to call dad" I said " Oh? I just got off the phone with him" She replied with did you wish him a happy birthday?

Oh Shit. No. No I did not.

We are going down to his house tomorrow so that the boys, him and I can mash together some scrap wood into something resembling a dog house - crossed fingers that i do not cut off anything important would be nice - and I will tell him happy birthday then. Maybe I should bake him a cake and bring it along. What do you think? maybe I could tell him my eyesight is so bad I need Lasik and that I had not seen his birthday sticker on the calendar.

Or maybe I should man up and just tell him I forgot and that I am sorry.


Sigh.

The other thing is waiting.

I hate waiting. Two weeks ago we got our taxes done and opted to wait for the government to send our rebate to us as opposed to getting it cashed right then. The accountant charges and arm, a leg and your left ear to do instant cash back, so at the time, since we had no pressing need for the money, we chose to wait. it seemed like the smart thing to do!

I guess I had forgotten how much I hate waiting. And now? Of course we need the money! My in - laws are having a garage sale next weekend and I want to sell Blue Boys bed and mattress. I cannot do that unless our refund comes in so we can buy his new bed.

Le sigh x 2