If it's Thursday it must be off to the New To You store

I have spent the last few days going through closets and cupboards. My Goodness we have way, way too much stuff! I do this several times a year. I open up a make up drawer/ linen cupboard/ (whatever) and see too much of pretty much of everything and I freak out. A cleaning/ culling streak comes next.

I brought 7 bags of clothes/shoes to New to You Store here in Virden today. I have several coats put aside for the girls' school and I have a good pile of kids shoes, boots and Easter dresses for a friend. We were really fortunate to of had neighbours who shared their hand-me-downs with us and I try to do the same when I can. Giving the stuff away to either someone I know will use it or to a Thrift shop makes me feel a little less guilty about having accumulated it in the first place. By actually going through the stuff it makes me feel a lot less likely to find the host of TLC's Hoarders without Borders- Virden Edition waiting to ambush me in the driveway.

I always feel better after a large culling of the house but it makes me very aware of my roll in how the house got like this in the first place. Scott may be a collector but I am a magpie and, honestly, I think I am likely worse than him. His collection is limited to one room- so far. I've managed to fill the rest of the house.

I'm not a big believer in New Years Resolutions usually because I find myself trying to honour ridiculous ideas like "I'm going to only eat green and yellow foods while exercising a minimum of 40 minutes a day, 6 days a week." And in the same manner as the above mentioned freak out by January 6th I am concocting elaborate ideas of how to turn a KitKat green.

But this year I am going to try something different. (An attempt at being reasonable for a change?!) Having just been quite disgusted with the volume of stuff I just gave away I am going to try to watch my shopping (for all things- not just clothes) and I resolve to think twice about something before buying it. I think this is a reasonable resolution and one that I can do- with effort. It's worth a try.

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And on a very weird side note- Scott and I stayed up until midnight last night watching "Hot Tub Time Machine". Usually I would rate that as a sure sign of the Apocalypse but it was actually very funny; especially if you are a child of the 80's. Maybe I just liked John Cusak. Or maybe I was just very tired.

That's Totally Inappropriate!

A new year and a new start and all I wanted to do today was absolutely nothing. We'd had a busy holiday season and it had all been great but I needed a day to just sit. I received the movie "Eclipse- the Twilight Saga" for Christmas and hadn't had a moment to sit and watch it. (Yes, I did see it in the theaters with my girlfriends and no they aren't 12 years old. FYI: I am so Team Edward.) So that was my agenda for today. A simple plan really... watch a movie. It seems like a simple thing until you remember that I have 3 kids who like movies too.

I started to watch my movie and didn't even blink when all three kids joined me and started to watch along. Now there are certainly worse things for the kids to have watched than a chaste vampire-werewolf-human love triangle aimed for the teen-set. But I wondered, later, why I had covered their eyes when Bella and Edward set to smooching but didn't bother when some one had their head ripped off. It made me think that perhaps I am not the best judge of what is appropriate for kids.

Now this might be a good time to pause and to explain that as a kid I was always drawn to completely inappropriate material. Or maybe the more apt explanation is that I did not come hard wired with the intrinsic knowledge of what is appropriate material for a certain age group. I'm not saying that the kids watched the Hellraiser series when they should have been watching Baby Einstein. But I do believe that my mother-in-law did threaten me with dire consequences if Olivia's first words were vampire or blood for me having read aloud several of the Interview with a Vampire series as I breast fed.

In junior high my own movie and book interests certainly would have been labeled as "Mature Content". I liked the PG-13 stuff just fine but I much preferred the R or, even better and when available, the NC-17 books. I discovered the horror genre early and it has stuck hard as I am still drawn to any and all horror or supernatural related materials.


And with this in mind I have tried to compiled a list of THINGS THAT ARE QUITE INAPPROPRIATE TO WATCH WITH YOUR YOUNG CHILDREN. This list isn't meant to be exhaustive but certainly documents my lessons learnt so far:

• Musicals. Unless the movie is stamped by either Disney or Pixar, and even then proceed with caution. I can safely say that not all musicals are kid friendly. I grew up watching Grease and Grease 2 and thought nothing of it. I allowed the kids to watch the first third of The Rocky Horror Picture Show before I suddenly remembered where the rest of the movie was heading. (We turned it off right after Sweet Transvestite and before they get to the lab.) In my defense I have drawn the line at allowing them to watch Sweeney Todd.


• Anything originally aired on HBO or Showtime. Dexter and True Blood. Enough said.


• The Movie Jaws. Not if I ever want my kids to swim at Clear Lake or Grand Beach ever again. Although I would like to note for the record that Scott saw this movie- with his parents- when he was 5. Maybe I'm not the only one with impaired judgment.


• Music videos and very specifically ...Lady Gaga music videos. I downloaded the Lady Gaga video "Telephone" and forgot to screen it BEFORE letting Finn watch it. I then spent the next 60 minutes watching the same 9 minute video over and over and hearing myself answer his questions with answers like "no honey, I don't know why she is only wearing tape and high heels in prison." Yes, I could, and probably should, have said no to him watching it again but he seemed so entertained and enthralled with the dancing felon/ fashion victim/ artiste. He still asks to watch "the bad Gaga video". And I still let him.

Okay- this one is the worst- and I have appologized many times to both Colton and to his mother for

• My role in Colton's viewing of the original Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This one is 100% on me. I read the books. I knew what was going to happen. Very bad judgement here. I had a 12 year old boy watch a 2.5 hour movie in Swedish as thanks for looking after my kids all day. (Hey, fun times at Aunty Jennie's!) I had managed to forget about the two extremely violent rape scenes until they were just about to happen on screen. I managed to cover Colton's head with a blanket and sit on him just in time to muffle the sound, catching him unawares as he was trying to read English subtitles fast enough to follow the plot. Thankfully he grew frustrated with having to read the movie and I didn't have to tackle him again for the murderous finish.

Tomorrow my goal will to be watch as much icarly and SpongeBob as I can stomach with the kids. It may not be violent Swedish cinema but at least it is something I can watch with the kids without feeling like I am spoiling their childhood and making them grown up way too fast. They can figure out that stuff all on their own. Let's just say that when they start borrowing books off my bookshelf I will know what they are up to.

A New Look

The new look is for a reason. I am, in effect, trying to start over.

My New Year's resolution (shouldn't we call these things revolutions) is to maintain the blog this year. I am going to post, at minimum, once weekly but will try to do this more frequently.

I still have a minor computer issue to resolve but shy of that I will be back up and running in the New Year.

Happy New Year my friends, family and random passers by!

September already

I'm not quite sure where the summer went but it must have been fun for it to have gone by so quickly! The kids did camp, swimming lessons and visits with granparents. We rented a cabin at Clear Lake as a family and has a week of awsome weather and playing in the pool. Scott and I each did a separate trip: me to Penticton for my cousin Lisa's wedding and him to Niagara Falls for a Bar Association conference. Both of us had awesome trips. At the end of August we had a family function out at our place. Awesomer!

Summer was great. The sun was warm, the pool was wet and life was good. Now we are trying to figure out our routine for the fall. No complaints- just good things to come.

#2 dance recital- check! Happy Birthday Scott!

The girls finished their year at dance class last night with their second dance recital this week. We are now done dance for the year. Both girls are completely wiped but did very well in their respective performances. Julie came to watch Monday's performance and we had 3 grandparents on hand for last night's show.We are all very proud of both of our tiny dancers. I have class pictures to post later today.

It is Scott's birthday today! His parents were out last night for the dance recital so they got to share the day, albeit briefly, before we left for work. His parents bought him the Cleveland 4 hybrid gold club that he liked so much in Palm Springs.

Norma also brought Scott a box of old pictures. These are fabulous! I will scan some of these and post them for general amusement.

It's wonderful to be a parent...

Scott took all of the kids to the doctor this morning. They have all nasty coughs and sore throats. The doctor lines them all up and asks them, in turn, what was wrong.

Olivia- (barking cough, squeaky voice and honking while breathing): Bad cough. Sore throat.
Georgia- (whispering because of sore throat.)- Bad cough. Sore throat.
Finn- (hanging his head and looking very sad): Sore leg and not enough milk.

Um… okay.

Olivia has croup. Georgia has a cold. And Finn is a perverse little 3 year old with a cold and an odd sense of humour. All that is missing is our typical series of ear infections and a rash and we’d be ready for a normal Abel family holiday.

I thought I’d share this parenting moment with you…hope you are well. Happy week before spring break.

March Madness

I kind of feel like this at work sometimes. I could just be cranky because I am working on regulations these days.

...

No, we are not missing in action. We're still here in Virden but tucked firmly into the routine of work and school and play when we get the chance. All is well.

February was insane for court work and trial for Scott. The girls are busy with school, piano, dance and Girl Guides. Finn has been busy with pre-school. And me, well, nothing new in my world. But all is good.

Everyone in our house is looking forward to the snow melting and all of us being able to spend more time outside. We have lost a lot of snow already but we still have a quite a way to go. The only snow we seem to have lost is that on top of the mud!

I have volunteered to help with the local 10K race to be held in Virden on May15th. I am excited about this and looking forward to the event. I won't likely participate in the event but I am happy to help plan it.

In which we try to get home... intact

I know it has been a while and I kind of left you all in lurch about what happened on the return trip home.

December 30th was a quiet day around the condo and the pool. Tam's friend Kathy and her daughter Emma (5) arrived to stay with Norma and Dave for a few days. The girls got on like a house on fire and stayed in the pool practically all day. We all went to ihop for breakfast much to Finn and Norma's delight. Everywhere we went over those 10 days away Finn asked for pancakes. And the little sweetheart won an even bigger spot in my heart when none of the ones found measured up to my pancakes. Scott and I started gathering and packing all that we had accumulated over the trip and all of Santa's gifts. Thank goodness I had packed another bag to bring stuff home. It was also a good thing that the Abels had their van to bring home our excess.

December 31- Time to leave. Wow the time went quickly. It was time to go home already. Hugs and kisses all around. Tam and her friends waved us goodbye and Norma and Dave took us to the airport for the last time. Between all of our coming and goings, car rentals etc Dave had been to the airport 8 times in about 10 days. The man, I am sure, now qualifies for specialty parking so something. Frequent parking miles at the least.

We all bundled up in our Manitoba most comfortable to make the trip home. I think Scott and I nearly passed out from the heat getting into the Palm Spring airport and through security. We were carrying a lot of stuff.

Finn saw take off but slept the rest of the flight and the girls played quietly and showed themselves to be very good little travellers. We were sure that we were back in Minnesota though when we got off the plane and could see our breath getting off the plane. Yep, we are getting closer to home.

Scott and I had tried to manage several plans of action on what we would do with our 5 hour layover between our flight and the train that would take us back to Minot. Ultimately, being New Years Eve, most of those plans fell through or were re-evaluated as bad plans. We needed something where the kids could roam but where we wouldn't have to deal too much with our massive load of luggage. So we got ourselves a hotel room for a couple of hours... yes, we brought the kids too.

We arrived at the train station in lots of time to check our luggage and for Finn to pee every five minutes out of boredom. Scott was grudgingly impressed how each time he managed to squeeze out a few drops of pee just to make the claim legit. Our train arrived and left on time. We got seats all together on the train this time and the kids fell asleep quickly. Scott and I each saw midnight. I am pretty sure that was our first midnight kiss for New Years in a few years. Yeah, I know, we are old and boring. Tammy reminded us frequently.

It was a really cold night. And we got back to Minot to see that it had snowed 25 inches in the time we had been away. No joke. That is a LOT of snow! and FYI it does not take long to get used to warm weather when you have it. I know, few of you have any sympathy but it was bugger cold!

to be continued...

December 29- in which we are lazy by the pool and Jen gets to eat Mexican

It was a gorgeous day yesterday. It was warm and sunny and a perfect day to just sit by the pool and soak up the sun.

So that is what we did. The kids played. Scott and I lounged. Norma and Dave bought me a birthday cake so we all enjoyed some sugary goodness at the side of the pool.

At about 3pm Scott, Tam and I went shopping for a short while. Norma offered for Scott and I to have an evening to ourselves to celebrate my birthday so went drove out to The Cheesecake Factory but found that it was too busy. So we got some cheesecake to go and headed out for some Mexican!

You know you have a good place in the world when you have a cold margarita in hand, hot salsa and a piece of cheesecake.

One more full day and then we start our trip home. So far the plan is to go to ihop for breakfast and sit by the pool if it warm.

December 28- in which we visit the ocean, Sears and the zoo

Today's plan was to drive to San Diego. We had a planned stop at La Jolla to see the ocean and pick some shells and then we were going to the San Diego Zoo for the day.

Well, we did all of those things but we had a bit of a side trip.

La Jolla is a beautiful seaside town just outside of San Diego and right on the ocean. We watched surfers, chased seagulls and collected seashells. When it was time to leave we discovered that Dave's back tire was flat.

Dave called CAA and the kids were off to play on a play structure while we waited. The spare tire was stuck under the van so a quick tow to the nearest tire service station was required. This brought us to Sears and a short stop over at a mall for lunch while we waited.

The tire was fixed and then we were off to the zoo. It was the Diego Zoo as far as Finn was concerned. We saw snakes, birds, a tiger, two hippos, many warthogs, 5 elephants, gazelles, a few giraffes and various other animals. It is a really cool zoo and a place that you could spend many days discovering instead of just a few hours. It was dark through most of our tour so I didn't get many pictures but it is a very neat place.

Again, it was a very quiet ride home as it was our second very busy day in three days. We enjoyed the freeways and the ease of transportation in getting from one place to another.

And, oh yeah, it was my birthday today too. I had a good day.