Plants VS Abels

I love Halloween. Have I ever mentioned this? Every year it is my free-play at being completely silly and ridiculous. Of late we have tried to dress as a family or go with a theme. This year was based on our favourite family game on the ipad: Plants VS Zombies. (Don't judge me. It teaches planning and...gardening ... and... and... brain protection.)

You can see here in our 2011 Christmas card shot that we are: Balloon Zombie, Pylon Zombie, Newspaper Zombie, Crazy Dave and Zombie. (Would have been Flag Zombie if some one's mother had remembered to make him a flag at any point before we left the house.) Whew! nearly got my brains ate over that one!

Invading your neighbourhood soon!

...Eating the trees and plants protecting the house...

And, of course, Crazy Dave asking for bacon while giving sage advice on how to protect your home from the zombie hordes. (Are those my good pots?!)

We invited our friends Bonnie and Kevin and their sons Colten and Carson to join us for dinner and some trick or treating this evening. Colten and Finn are the same age and get along really well. Carson is only a few years younger. So we all gobbled our dinner and then all started getting into our costumes. I started putting make up on the kids and they were extra eager to show their friends their very scary make up.

I guess Olivia came downstairs and genuinely scared Carson. The shrill scream that filled the basement had the cats running for cover and Carson quivering, in tears, behind his father. It took some convincing but he finally came out of the basement to join the fun. But I will note that he walked behind the rest of us all evening.

I am soooo sorry that we scared you.

n

And last, but certainly not least, is the Wizard Bonnie!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL. I hope you had a few (minor) frights and many good treats!

Golden Boy! It's Finished!

IT'S DONE! Golden Boy is finally complete. It fits and he likes it. (Damn straight he likes it!) It only took me 10 months to knit and I have to say that I am pretty darn pleased with the results.

He's a view of two good looking boys and all of our pumpkins for the season.

Guess what I crossed off my "Someday list" today?

I have maintained a "Someday List" for a long time. This is a long list of things that I would like to do, see or achieve in my life time. These items range from simple to grandiose dreams.

Here are some examples of things on the list that I have been able to check off as done.

• Travel to France and see my pen pal's family home. DONE!


• Have a baby or three. DONE!


• Completed a full marathon. DONE!


• Take Scott to Comic-Con. DONE!

I have many more items to complete but I am very excited to report that I got to check off a new one today:

Ride in a helicopter!

DONE!

Normality Confirmed!

My gynecologist told me yesterday that I am "normal". I accepted his assessment as good news but mentioned that although his scope of investigation was rather narrow that I will still quote him directly when someone calls me weird.

I have a bulky what?! Did he just call me fat? Yo Momma...

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Shared photo book from jennifer

Click here to view this photo book larger

Singing in the Shower

Finn was singing in the shower this morning. (To the tune of Katy Perry's "I kissed a girl".)

"I kissed a girl and I liked it.
Taste just like cherry chop sticks."

(Image source: www.geeky-gadgets.com/lightsaber-chop-sticks-15-07-09/)

I wonder what cherry chop sticks taste like and who he has been kissing.

Sisterly Advice- A Vaguely Serious Post

My most recent example of excellent big sisterly advice... via text messaging.

Her: When you went off birth control did you have any noticeable side effects after having been on the pill for years?

Me: Yes. Pregnancy. Every time.

(Insert Sister rolling her eyes heavenwards and deeply regretting having asked me the question in the first place.)
____

BEFORE ANYONE ASKS: NO, this is NOT me telling everyone my sister is pregnant. Because to my knowledge she is not. Quite the opposite, in fact.
____

She thought I was joking but she knows my (and her own) history... we are fertile girls after all!

That, of course, wasn't what she meant at all. She actually wanted to discuss side effects of going cold turkey off the pill and what it would do to her. She had been reading internet "medical" data and chat room horror stories and had successfully freaked herself out. She'd had some symptoms and wanted to know if this was "normal". So, she came to me, her big sister, for some advice. (Mom was probably busy.)

I told her, reasonably I thought, that she should consult her doctor and that some of the things she had read about where possible but it was unlikely that she would get ALL of the symptoms at the same time. She knew all of that.

But I also told her something that she didn't know yet... "normal" changes after the age of 35- menustrually speaking. But that she knows her body best and she has to pay attention to what it is saying. She also has to share that information with the doctor to get the best information.

I illustrated this with a personal story, with a point, from a couple years ago. SPOILER ALERT: this story is about my period so if that sets off your T.M.I. alarm scan right down to the bottom for the point of the story.

I went to see my personal doctor because I was concerned that my cycle had been doing some wonky things. Until that time I had always been regular like precision Swiss clockwork, both on and off the pill. Now I was +8 days one month and -2 the next. It was very odd. So, of course, I did some internet research and had convinced myself that I had early stages of ovarian cancer. (Yeah, I'm an idiot. Not the point. Keep reading.)

So I go to my doctor and I describe my lack of normal cycle. He listens and then asks me my age. I tell him. He said that this change in my cycle could be that I was now over 35. That things change at about this age for women.

I emphasized how regular I had been, like, forever and was he very certain that there might not be anything else at play here. Seeing that I was not going to let this go he dug around on the inside of his desk for a little bit until he procured a little pad of paper. This was a menustral tracking chart. He then advised that the only way we would know if this was normal was if we tracked my menstrual cycle for 6 months or more. (Insert smug doctor face of knowing I would go away for at least 6 months and let him deal with patients who had real issues.)

So I dug around in my purse for a moment and handed him a piece of paper. I told him that I had already charted this information on my own over the previous +12 months and I still saw no pattern. (Bazinga!)

He was a little dumbstruck as he looked at it for a moment but evetually concluded that it was well in the range of normal but that normal, for me, had obviously changed since I had turned 35. He also added that I'd had regular PAP test which showed normal results so we had no reason to suspect anything odd was at play here. He also added that he thought I was a very peculiar woman for having had that charted already.

My answer to that was that how was: of course I had it charted. I noticed a difference and how was I supposed to prove a trend if I didn't have any data?

Any I bring it around to my points and I have a few:

1. Being aware of YOUR body is what is relevant. You should know your normal and know when your body is deviating from it.


2. Stay away from the internet for self diagnosis.


3. Charting and graphing- all the cool kids are doing it! You should too.

All of this sisterly advice in 140 characters or less. Not bad but I'm not going to quit my day job.

We'll be careful... I promise!!!

"Mom, can we do our nails ourselves?"

"I'm busy right now, Honey. Can this wait, please, until I am done cleaning the pool?"

"No! We want to do it now."

"Okay. Please do it in your bathroom and be really careful."

"Thank you Mom. We will. I promise!"

Exhibit A

Take one tiny bottle (10-15 ml) of Essie "a list" nail polish. Add two little girls and a curious kitten inside the boundaries of a bathroom. What could happen?

Yeah, well we all know what came next... an accidental spill...panic... a panicked attempt at clean up before your little brother can tattle ... dabbing the spill marks with nail polish remover hoping to make a clean spot... dumping the nail polish remover on the floor/counter/sink and scrubbing like mad with the bathroom towels...kicking the cat out of the room again before he can drink more nail polish remover... figuring out that you have stepped in the nail polish and you are leaving more marks on the floor with every step you take (including on the white bath mat)... and finally... sending the child whose arms and hands are 60% covered in red nail polish to tell your mom.

This is another one of those moments where I should have had the presence of mind to have taken a picture. But I didn't. I have not yet reached the Zen enlightenment stage in parenting where I can laugh before I yell. I'm working on it- I seem to be getting lots of opportunity to practice.

There was nail polish on the wall, the floor, in the sink, on the counter, on the door, on the mirror, on Georgia's arms and hands, on Olivia's sock, in the cat's fur, on the bath mat and covering 4 separate face cloths or towels.

Important lessons the girls learned from this:

1. 
   
   It might have been better to have confessed sooner.


2. 
   
   Cats are never helpful in stress inducing nail polish incidents- no matter what anyone says.


3. 
   
   It is a lot of work to clean this stuff up! But it is easier when mom helps.

Important lessons I learned from this:

1. 
   
   Holy F***! 10-15 ml of nail polish can go a LONG way! (Did they drop it from the frickin' ceiling?!)


2. 
   
   I have pledged my love and eternal gratitude to the makers (obviously a parent) of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I will NEVER be without these in my house.


3. 
   
   Initial reaction aside (yeah, I yelled, but HOLY CRAP you would have too!) I was calm enough to realise that each of the girls felt really bad about the incident and that they were punishing themselves worse than I ever would have. Accidents happen.


4. I really need to buy some new face cloths and towels for the kids' bathroom. I'm thinking black ones would be good.


5. 
   
   
   

   AND I'm putting a live squirrel in the car of the next person who buys my kids nail polish. I'm just saying.

Friday

Well, we are nearing the end of our time at the Lake. We leave tomorrow evening. We are full to the top of cinnamon buns, ice cream and candy. The kids and I have eaten so much cheddar popcorn our fingers might be permanently orange. Yes, I do know none of those are actual food groups but hey, we're at the lake. Give us a break.

The girls have done 3 days of art camp at the Art Gallery here in the park and have made some really good art. We did a lot of swimming. We've gone on adventure walks. We've played at the parks and walked along the main strip. We have shopped. We have visited the wishing well, Deep Bay and the pier several times. All major bases covered. The kids and Scott rented a 4 person bike with Scott's sister Tammy.

Scott and the kids have enjoyed watching the Retro Teletoon channel. Such quality shows as The Smurfs, Spiderman (1983), Thundercats and The Smoggies. I didn't like any of those shows when they were on the first time and lets's just say that they haven't aged well with time. The one exception is Bugs Bunny and the Road Runner. Quoting one of Finn's favourite animated characters, Mater, "Well, I don't care who you are. That there is funny."

Scott has been watching the Game Show network too. I may scream if he makes me watch one more episode of Match Game or $25,000 Pyramid. I can actually feel myself getting stupider. I remember, at times like these, why I realy dislike most of what is on TV. Reading is much less frustrating.

I am making excellent progress on Scott's sweater "Golden Boy". I have (nearly) 3 of the 4 pieces complete. I'll add a picture a little later.

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Scott is getting VERY excited for what comes next week. Comic-Con in San Diego. He is spending his time reading about Comic-con exclusives and artists etc. If you don't know what Comic-Con is you should check out this article or just goto http://www.comic-con.org/ .

New Camera - Out and About

I bought a new camera for our holidays. (For those who are interested: a Samsung ST700.) It is a little handheld thing that has many more features than I am currently able to figure out but it does have a few interesting settings. It helps me take much better... or at least much more interesting pictures.

Here are a few from this morning.

This was in Vingette setting. perhaps not the best example but I like what it did with the light.

We briefly got stuck in "olden times". And, as is apt to happen in Oldy Timey type photos, I have captured photgraphic evidence of Olivia's darker side.

This is a picture of Georgia and her monkey ZigZag monkinating. (Definition: to sit quietly while contemplating your inner monkey.) Her word not mine.