Disconnected

I’m not much of a people person. I’m okay with that. I could spend days upon days alone, not speaking to or seeing anyone and be perfectly content. I live inside my head a lot. I think more than I speak. I don’t do small talk. I would rather phone than visit. I would rather email than phone. I would rather stay home than go out. I would rather sit in my backyard than go on vacation. It’s a wonder I have a husband and friends. But, I have a blog, so I can’t be a total social dud.

There are just so many ways to be connected. The students around here are in constant contact with each other and, for many, with their parents. I had to make a “no cell phones” rule to keep them from chatting on the phone/texting while I was paying them to work. MSN messenger is not allowed on the office computers. I think it’s crazy that I have to explain to them why this is inappropriate. Why do they need to be so connected?

I’m sure I’m just showing my age, but here are some things I could definitely live without:

Cell phone: I now have one because my husband insisted. Two people have my number: my husband and my assistant at work. I don’t even know the number (I have to look it up on the phone, if I can remember how). Right now, it’s sitting on the kitchen counter. I am sitting at my desk at work. When I get home, there will no doubt be a message from Homer saying, “WHY DO YOU HAVE A CELL PHONE IF YOU NEVER HAVE IT WITH YOU?” Why, indeed.

Facebook: Even though I swore I would never have an account, I do. I mostly signed up because I was missing invitations to events, etc. because everyone (including MY PARENTS) is on Facebook. I used my maiden name and set my privacy settings so no one at work (i.e. students) would find me, but hadn’t counted on gooby guy that I rarely talked to in high school wanting me to be his friend. Many of my cousins are friends, which is fine, but I find I don’t really care that they “had a great time at Sherry’s party”. So, now I rarely look at it and I’m still missing the invitations.

Twitter: I guess it’s the “I don’t do small talk” thing, but I still don’t get Twitter. I’m on it, but don’t post anything, rarely respond to anyone who has posted and… yeah, I just don’t get it.


What about you? Do you like to be super-connected to the world, or are you content to unplug and miss some of the chatter?

Sore losers

Lisa has a couple of girls in her soccer league that are real brats. They gloat when their team wins; they scowl, kick things and blame team-mates with their team loses. Their parents sometimes try to reign in their behaviour, but more often than not, these kids’ attitudes are chalked up to “intense personalities” or “fiercely competitive”. You probably know how I would cure these brats, but I’ll tell you anyway: I would not let them play. It would start with pulling them from one game, but if they kept it up, they would be pulled from the season.

I think all kids want to win. Each of my kids has cried because they have not won a board game or a round of checkers. The first time it happens, they get a talk about being a sore loser. The second time it happens, we stop including that kid in the game. It doesn’t take much to train them to be good sports.

It’s a valuable life lesson that not everyone learns. I’ve had encounters with the following grown-up sore losers just in the last year:

*A medical professional in his mid-40’s vying for retail space on campus who low-balled his rent offer and was not granted the space. He thought it was unfair that I didn’t inform him that his offer was lower than the winning bid so he could adjust his offer. There was yelling involved (by him – I’m not a yeller).

*A job candidate in his mid-20’s who was turned down for the position. I spent about 10 minutes with him by phone talking about his interview and offering tips and advice for future interviews. That night (when he knew I wouldn’t be in the office to answer the phone) he left me a voicemail message telling me that I had made a misinformed decision, one that I would surely regret. He added that I shouldn’t come begging him to take the job when my candidate of choice failed to pan out. No problem.

*A furniture salesperson in her early 50’s who has been given over $200,000 of business from me in the past 3 years, but missed the mark and was not awarded a recent contract worth about $45,000. She criticized the competition’s product, questioned my ability to recognize quality merchandise and implied that I owed her something because of all of the work she had done for me in the past.

Not surprisingly, I treat these adult poor sports the same way I treat the kids: they don’t get to play anymore. The next time there is available retail space, medical guy will not be invited to bid. Job candidate guy will never work anywhere near me. And the furniture lady? I called the company’s owner and asked for a different rep… she will not get another cent of commission from me. Their parents really should have beat them at checkers more often.

July in pictures

Isn't this getting pathetic, this once-a-month blogging deal? I do most of my blog writing/reading in quick breaks at work, but my schedule just hasn't allowed for much downtime lately, so it is what it is.

So... July! The weather here has just sucked. We have a pool. A big, expensive, hazardous, kidney-shape pool. Guess how many times we have used it in the summer of '09? ZERO! It's been so cool and rainy that it hasn't warmed up enough to even take a quick dip (or even want to). We also have yet to turn on the air conditioning. Boo.

July started out with Canada Day (Happy 142nd birthday to my home and native land!) I usually try to do something special for the day and had thought about just getting some strawberries and whipped cream (red & white theme). All the strawberries in the store were from California. Nothing against California, but there should have been some great local strawberries available. Alas, too much rain, not enough sun made for a small crop this year. Instead, I made these fancy rice krispie treats.

Now that's talent. Hee.

Homer and I also celebrate our wedding anniversary in July. It's been twelve years since the big day (vintage photo here).

He still looks pretty good, no?

We finally hit on a really nice day and headed out to the Toronto Zoo. It was a really great day. The kids are all asking to go back soon.

We also hit the water park. Maggie was a little afraid of all the sprayers, so Bart walked her through to make sure she had a good time.

Homer calls them Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum. These two are the best of friends.

Lots of crappy weather meant the kids had to find ways to entertain themselves indoors. Maggie loves to make up songs and perform for us. The other two have become very good at all the Wii games.

We got rained out of a couple of barbeque events, but did manage to make it to one with some of my oldest and dearest friends. I've been friends with L. (in the middle) since we were 4 years old and with J. (on the right) since we were 14. That's a loooong time.

I need a haircut - suggestions?

To cap off the month, we decided to go camping. Here is the weather forecast for our trip:

But we went anyway! It was a little soggy at times, but it was still a great trip.

We couldn't have fit in one more thing in the car. The kids and I had sleeping bags, pillows and other miscellaneous items on our laps. I almost wished we had a minivan. Hahahahaha. Not.

Maggie was thrilled about the nature walks. Here she is, refusing to take even one more step.

She wasn't kidding. She was done. Homer carried her back to the campsite and the rest of us continued our walk - 4.2km!

Looking for the frog that hopped by.

Despite the wet weather, we still managed to make it to the beach a few times. The beach itself was a little muddy, but the water was warm and not at all crowded (go figure).

Despite the weather, July 2009 holds some good memories. Now, let's see what August can do about bringing some summer weather. I could totally go for a heatwave right now.

Family Scrapbook - June

Although it wasn't my intention, I've become a once-a-month blogger who only manages to post content that's interesting only to me (and Homer) (and Grandma). The one thing I love about blogging is that I have this journal of my life (part of it, anyway) that allows me to go back and reminisce about the little things we did, places we visited and things the kids said. So, until I can find more time to get back to some writing, I present our June scrapbook:

June started out with the winter activities (Brownies, dance, school, etc.) ending while the summer activities were shifting into high gear.

Here are the kids in their soccer uniforms on Super Soccer Saturday. The faces were entirely their idea:

June also brought school picnics and fun fairs. Of course the fairs for the big guys and Maggie were on the same night, which meant we were flying, as usual.

Yes, it is mid-June here and we're still wearing jackets and tights.

Lisa won the grand prize at the fun fair: a new bike! It's too big for her, but it will likely be perfect for her next year. She was kind of hilarious; not one for much attention, she couldn't get away from that fun fair fast enough! All those people offering their congratulations was making her skin crawl.

Fathers Day also falls in June. Homer was invited to Bart's school for a pool party and pizza. On Mothers day we got tea. Hmph. Do you like the tie Bart made for dad? That brings Homer's tie count to 3.

We also had a Fathers Day bbq at my parents' house, where my cousin pointed out that my mom had pictures of all the grandchildren in her bay window, except Maggie(!). Because she didn't have room for another picture frame, she requested that we try to get a good picture with Maggie and Baby S. together.

Just down from Maggie's daycare centre is a frozen yogurt place with umbrella tables outside. Maggie asks every day if we can go there, so on the first sunny day when we didn't have to rush to soccer, a fun fair or some other obligation, we went. I let her pick whatever she wanted and she was thrilled. She ate that whole cone!

To celebrate the last day of school/the first day of summer vacation, we picked up a bucket of chicken for a picnic at the lakefront park last Friday night. When we got there, we discovered a small fair was set up. After the picnic, we ventured over, bought some tickets and let the kids ride whatever they wanted.

I haven't seen one of these potato sack slides since I was a little kid.

We ended the evening with a treat from the ice cream truck by the lake.

When we were walking back to the car, Bart asked, "Was that Marineland?" Yes, son, it was.

Family scrapbook - May

Taking in some major league action at a Toronto Blue Jays game. We like the cheap seats... less chance of getting hit by a foul ball.

Entertaining the baby cousin. It's nice to borrow a baby for a couple of hours. It's also nice to give that baby back, knowing changing that next diaper is not your problem.

Maggie likes soccer. She comes running for a hug every single time she even touches the ball.

Homer will love that I added this picture. He has some surgery on his sinuses. Despite taking 4 hours to wake up from the anesthetic (it should have taken 1 hour), everything seems to have gone well. He's still in a lot of pain/discomfort, but hopefully he'll suffer from fewer sinus infections. He may even get his sense of smell back.

Bart turned 6! This year I went the easy route and planned a bowling party. Soooo much less work than last year's superhero party, but they still had a blast. He wanted a cake with "Spiderman having a fight with Batman" and I actually considered giving it a shot. In the end I got lazy and just made this one. I also made some basketball and baseball cookies for him to take to share with his class on his actual birthday, but failed to get photo evidence.

May was fun, but a crazy, busy month. I'm hoping June lays off a bit.

Well hey there...

As I write this, I am sitting in a big, comfy chair beside Homer. My kids are amongst the 30 or so screaming children enjoying the giant indoor playground (a relatively small crowd for such a large place). My kids are getting exercise and having a great time doing so. I'm (finally) able to get on here to do some writing thanks to the WiFi these clever business owners thought to include. Homer is listening to his audio book about String Theory(!) And the coffee is free. Best.family.outing.ever!

Hoo boy I've been busy. Work is always kind of nuts with meetings and things, but I'm on a couple of new and interesting committees that have been taking away from my precious blog time. I'm also working on a renovation project that is at the same time fun and exasperating. I might write more on that sometime later.

My trip to NYC was just perfect. I was with my four oldest and dearest friends. We spent the whole weekend laughing and shopping and touring and eating. We saw a show, toured Central Park, stayed in a great hotel and spent more than we should have on merchandise sold from under a tarp. We're already planning the next trip, probably something less commerce-driven and more relaxation-driven.

Next week we start a new soccer season. Maggie will be playing for the first time. Of course, she's all about the uniform. We don't know yet what colour she'll be, but God help them if they give her something ugly or boyish. Anyway, Lisa's playing Mondays and Wednesdays, Maggie is on Tuesdays and Bart is on Wednesdays (same time, but a different field than Lisa). Meanwhile, the winter activities haven't quite wound down yet, which means we still have other Tuesday night obligations, as well as dance on Saturday mornings. So yeah, busy.

I suppose I should get back to watching my little monkeys (or playing on Pogo, which I also never have time for anymore). I'd hate to let this great family time pass me by...

Brother Slobber

This morning as I was getting ready for work, I heard Maggie wailing from the kitchen. Thinking she had been somehow wounded, I flew down the stairs to tend to her. She was perched on her chair, just where I left her, her cheese and banana breakfast laid out before her. She was crying too hard for me to understand what the problem was, so I asked Bart what happened. He told me he blew a raspberry in her direction and she just started crying. With a nod of her head and outstretched arms looking for a hug, Maggie confirmed that this was indeed the reason for the tears.

When she had calmed down enough to speak, she revealed that she was covered in “brother slobber”. Poor thing.


I’m going to NYC for a girls weekend this week. I’m really looking forward to spending time with my best friends (my high school friends!) and taking a bite out of the Big Apple!

There’s so much work involved in making sure the house will run for 4 days without me; a sampling:

- make an detailed itinerary so the kids make it to their lessons/social engagements/school on time
- lay out kids’ clothes for specific events (dance clothes for dance lessons, appropriate birthday party clothes, school clothes for Monday); neither the kids nor Homer show good judgment in this area
- buy and wrap birthday presents for parties
- teach Homer how to do the girls’ hair (he is overwhelmed by this task)
- catch up on all the laundry so that I won’t have such a massive pile when I get home
- leave out coupons for pizza, food delivery. Remind Lisa to remind Homer to make sure they are getting enough fruits and vegetables

I don’t mean to make Homer sound incompetent, because he’s not. The kids’ schedules/home organization have just always been my domain (and I like it that way), so we all panic a bit when the leader of the pack takes a little break. They’ll be fine... maybe a little hopped up on junk food and too much TV, but otherwise fine.