Review Time - Wall Stickers

One of the things that I’ve always wanted to blog about is product/service reviews. I spent a lot of years working in the customer service industry and I firmly believe that if you love something, you’ll tell your close friends and family. If you hate something, you will tell the world!

Today is a good review… and I’m going to break the rules and share it with the world! Or the small handful of y’all that read my blog!

Day one of vaycay to dos includes some shopping in beautiful Sidney By The Sea. I hit quite a few places for quite a few reason, but one shop in particular that I was looking forward to was Cameron Rose. This isn’t a place that I can go with KEW… for many many years anyways. There are way too many things for her to touch and potentially break… and her curious nature just makes it way too dangerous! Although I have to admit that the store kinda let me down this time around as there seems to be more and more jewelry, less one of a kind unusual gifts and NONE of the purses appealed to me. There was a time that I couldn’t walk through that place without wanting pretty much anything. Maybe the store has changed… maybe it’s me.

Anyhow, I did find something that I had wanted for a great while – peel and stick wall decorations. I had been looking online at Room Mates, but once you add in the shipping… they are kinda pricy. The ones I found at Cameron Rose are great – a huge package for $10!!! They work well in the play room area and will be some nice colour and life as we move towards the “indoor” seasons! There was no brand name on the packaging… so I can’t make a recommendation that way… but I can say that I LOVE the concept and the results!

It's not easy being green...

No, this isn’t a post about frogs or lizards or alligators… it is about poop. Yup, this is what mothers talk about for the early years. How many times has your kid pooped, what consistency is the poop and of course, what color is the poop. Hey, what goes in must come out… and when your little one can’t tell you how they are feeling, poop often does it for them. Go ahead, run screaming from the building – do whatever you need to do.

So the home story from when I went on the wonderful weekend getaway to Vancouver is an interesting one. When I picked up KEW on Sunday, my mom asked “What has she being eating lately? Lots of broccoli or something?” To which I answered the silly question of “No, why?” That is when I learned about the green poop. I know, some of you mothers are thinking about the greenish hue that can come when there are a lot of blueberries or broccoli or spinach in the diet. Noooooo… not that kind of green… grass green – I mean REALLY REALLY green!

Once I saw the green later that day, my first instinct was playdoh. I checked the container we have here at home, but it was all full, so I assumed that there must have been green playdoh at Gingerbread on Friday.

On Monday morning I asked about the playdoh while we were doing the drop off routine. Nope, not green… yellow. Hmmmm… things are not fitting. So I warned them that KEW’s poop was pretty darn green, so not to be surprised when they are changing diapers.

On about my day doing the best I can to work while also trying to figure out where the heck the green was coming from! I so did not want to go to the Doctor as I didn’t even want to imagine the possible remedies for this problem. Oy, my girl was testing me with this one!

When I arrived at Gingerbread for the end of day pick up, I was greeted with some interesting news. During one of the diaper changes, they discovered the source of the green – a pastel. A fully intact green pastel had come out!!! Did you hear that – a FULLY INTACT pastel?!?!?!?! Holy crap (pun intended)! I don’t know about you, but I think that would be a little uncomfortable. There are a lot of twists and turns once you get past the stomach… how the heck does a pastel make it all the way through those little pipes with nary a complaint to be heard?

We still don’t know WHERE the pastel came from… but my guess is that wherever it is from, KEW was doing something she wasn’t supposed to and nearly got caught. Rather than reveal the evidence, my girl SWALLOWED it!

Excellent.
I’m so not looking forward to finding out what she swallows next time!

Things I love and things I hate…

Amazing friends.
Awesome parents.
Concerts.
Ikea
The River Rock Casino
London Fogs

Today, these are some of the things that I love the most.

Aside from KEW that is!!!

Lack of sleep.
Wolf spiders.
Not having shoes on when running in to wolf spiders.

These are things I hate… I mean I REALLY REALLY dislike these things!

This past weekend was the getaway with my BFFs R and C. Because I have the most awesome parents ever, I was able to go away for the weekend and do so worries free knowing my girl was probably having an awesome weekend as well. We headed over to Vancouver on the first boat Friday morning… which meant for an early wake up call. This is when I ran in to Spider #1. After sneaking to get some shoes to stomp him, I was up and going and ready for the weekend to begin!

Once we got to Vancouver we decided to try our hotel with the off chance that our room would be ready. The River Rock Casino Resort is incredible. The place is beautiful and the staff are truly first class. I really mean it – I am totally impressed with this place – and not just because I won $125 on the slots in the first half hour that we were there.

Once we cashed in my winnings, we headed over to one of the greatest places on earth... IKEA! I hadn’t been there in a long while… and since I just moved, there were some things that we needed around the house. My winnings also allowed me to get some things I wanted too! R, C and I did our usual routine at Ikea – walk around up top checking everything out and getting ideas, stop for lunch and then shop down below in the marketplace. Since we got to Vancouver early it allowed us to really take our time… about 4 hours. Needless to say, I had to use my side mirrors to drive as there was no way I was seeing out the back. And it’s a good thing Cindy is little… as it was a wee bit cozy back there!

We finally made it back to the hotel after picking up some munchies in Richmond (thanks to the iPhone GPS app finding us a grocery store!). The suite was great and the living room was the perfect setting for some appies, some martinis and some laughs. Then it was off to Michael Buble!

I’ve been to quite a few concerts now, and I have to say that he will definitely stay up at the top for most memorable. He is an amazing entertainer, a talented performer and dang funny. Not to mention generous – donating Friday’s show to the Children’s Hospital was a great way for him to come home! His opening act, Naturally 7, was pretty amazing as well. I had never even heard of them before, but I am definitely a fan now.

Saturday was The Beach Boys and Bryan Adams at the PNE. I have to admit that The Beach Boys (or what is left of them) were actually pretty good. They played way longer than I anticipated and they got the crowd all warmed up for Bryan. As usual, BA did not disappoint. It was my 4th time seeing him live and he definitely customized the set list this time to let the hometown crowd know that he was happy to be back.

The only thing that I would have done differently this weekend was to book Monday off as well – I am SO TIRED!!! Thank goodness for the Soy Milk London Fog this morning that has gotten me through the day!

Things I haven't done in a while...

I’m in a really good mood about a few things that I haven’t done in a while.

One of them happened this morning… I made cinnamon toast. I was trying yet another breakfast food for my KEW. She has a lot of her Mama in her, including being a bit of a picky eater. I admit to not having the best eating habits, but I’m working at changing them. One that has taken me a while is actually eating breakfast. That, along with a whack of vitamins per Dr. Bovee (the best NP ever!), is really making a difference on my energy levels through the day. So I am trying to make sure the kid gets some food in her in the morning – she is a goer, so she needs the energy! Anyhow, back to the cinnamon toast. P-Dub did a post a few months back about the right way to make cinnamon toast (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/?s=cinnamon+toast)… and man my mouth was watering after reading it! I didn’t follow her method this morning, but boy oh boy did it ever taste G to the O and O to the D!!! I may just need to have another piece or two as a bedtime snack!!!

The other thing that I haven’t done in a while is a girl’s getaway... and part of that means a ferry ride. I honestly think the last time I took a ferry was when KEW was a couple of months old and the ladies (R and C) and I went to the big city to see our boys - Duran Duran! To not take the ferry for over a couple of years feels strange… us Islanders need to get off the rock on a regular basis in order to appreciate it! Maybe I did take the ferry between now and then, but I sure can’t remember it… which could be more of the impact of Mama brain!

So let’s get back to that girl’s get away – it is going to be a HUGE treat! My parents (the bestest people EVER) are taking KEW for the weekend to allow me and the chicks to get our concert on. Not just one show… TWO shows! Michael Buble is on Friday night and Bryan Adams is on Saturday afternoon. I honestly could not ask for a better line up – R, C, Michael and Bryan – I am the luckiest girl ever. Oh ya, and we are hitting up Ikea on Friday morning… one of my happiest places on earth! My wallet will be tight this time, but I’ll still have an awesome time!

Oh… I can hardly wait!

Some things go well together - others, not so much.

Strawberries and cream.
Vodka and cranberry.
Mashed potatoes and butter.
Apples and cinnamon.

I think you get my drift – some things go together perfectly. In fact, they can make you wonder why they aren’t a part of one another to begin with! Other things, well, let’s just say that together, they can make things challenging.

We know that kids and lack of sleep isn’t good. Nor is kids and lack of substantial food (e.g. protein). Well, the last few days have really proven to me that a preschooler/three-nager and really hot weather… they don’t do well together. I think it is because you get the combination of the lack of sleep and the lack of protein rolled in to one… and then it’s just hot and sticky. Not to mention that the Mama is hot and sticky and cranky too. It has made for a VERY long, hard day - one that I’m not really proud of or looking to repeat.

Born Again Breather

I don’t know if it is the born again breather (aka reformed smoker) coming to the surface again… or the mother of a child thing… but dang, I’ve been super frustrated by smokers lately!

The last few days I have had to follow smokers on the walk to the parking lot. With the breeze coming off the lagoon, you can’t help but smell the smoke even being back 20-30 feet. It made me mad that I had to walk through their stinky air… but made me madder that they were smoking in such a beautiful spot! I am so sick and tired of seeing the pathway and stairs on campus – a freaking National Historic Site – littered with cigarette butts. GROSS!

Today I watched a couple of young-ish gals taking a few smoke breaks in the area across from my office window. It was a quiet day, not a lot of people about, so they caught my attention a few times. I couldn’t help but think that these attractive young ladies looked so trashy and dirty while smoking. I’m guessing some thirty-something woman out there thought that about me at some time or another when I was smoking in my early twenties (which did not make me feel better)!

Then I had the conversation with myself of how to I make sure KEW doesn’t fall in to the smoking trap. I don’t have the answer to that one yet, but hopefully I have a few years yet!

My Kid ROCKS!

So let’s start this off by admitting that I’m a little hormonal. I’m just that kind of girl… sometimes I laugh, sometimes I cry, sometimes I do both and I don’t know why. Thank you for the words to describe my disorder Terri Clark.

It is the performance finale of So You Think You Can Dance tonight… and they did the retrospective of some of the memorable moments. There were a few dances this season that got to me and brought me to tears (I love it when art does that – {sigh})… and seeing even the few clips made me a little teary. KEW was allowed a few minutes of TV before bed time as part of our deal (AKA she was stalling and I caved as a parent as I wanted to see SYTYCD), and she was sitting on my lap during the clips.

She looked up at me, saw the weepy eyes and said “Mama, you sad?” along with a hugely concerned face and a big hug. So this of course made me full on cry. As I tried to explain that the dance was really special but it made me kind of sad… I then told her that my tears were happy tears now and thank you for the hug.

Ok, so she’s really confused… but I’m super proud and happy and all smiles. I have a compassionate daughter whom I love to the moon and back.

And she loves me too.

Tasty

It’s been said before in my life… and will likely be said again – I taste good. No, I don’t mean in a sparkly vampire kind of way (at least for now, until I meet a sparkly vampire)… but to insects. Or bugs. Or spiders. However the crawling and/or flying creature that bit me is classified. I woke up to an itchy sore leg yesterday morning and it has only gotten worse. I generally try not to think about what actually caused such pain as I really don’t want to know what was on my leg – big or small. It generally starts out with a small scratchy area… and within hours I have a red hot scratchy area with a blister like thing in the middle (or thereabouts).

So how does a bite like this get worse one might wonder? Well let me tell you. It starts with the idea of going to Michaels to run in and run out with a stepping stone project. That part went off without a hitch. The beginning of the challenge came when I decided that I would pop over to Shopper’s in the new Uptown Centre to pick up some antihistamines to help soothe the leg. So trying to find a path to the upper level of Uptown was not as easy as I would have thought as there is only one entrance and it is only accessible from the one way section of Blanshard. So around and around I go and finally get there.

Parking up there is great and I am right near the door, which should make for an easy trip in and out. Nope – I was wrong. Kaia was instructed that since we were going to be quick she would need to hold my hand as we wandered the aisles. While I was reading the overhead signs trying to locate the allergies section, she zipped out of my hand and starts a running down a long aisle. I tell her to stop, which she does, and then ask her to come back, which she doesn’t. She gets “that look” in her eyes – the one every mother knows to mean potential chaos. Luckily were in the baby aisle so I was easily able to distract her with a “look at this” and she came back. We then had another discussion about holding hands or having to go back to the car. She said she didn’t want to go back and yes, would hold my hand. That lasted about 30 second as we walked by a couple more aisles and I wondered to myself where the frack is the allergy medication. She darted again. I warned her again and told her it was the last time. She held my hand again and I found a small display of allergy medication. Really… this huge Shopper’s only has 2 brands of allergy medication? There must be more around here somewhere. As I am turning trying to find more, someone decides that she needs to touch every box. I ask her to stop. She said no and proceeds to melt down mode. Excellent. Not only can I not find what I’m looking for (really people, let’s get some better signage), I now have to manage the screams and fits of my child. So I did what I said I wouldn’t do… I left. I made a threat that I had to keep and thus had to sacrifice what I came there for to take my child out to the car and go home. Not until I first got stared at by numerous customers, staff and the dude in the parking lot sweeping up garbage.

So three is supposed to be worse than two huh? No wonder so many mothers drink the cheap wine… they need the volume discount.

Gingerbread

Ever have so much on your mind you don’t know where to start? I’m sure many a woman out there can relate to the multi-tasking brain and sentences jumbling over each other in your mind as you try to pull the various subjects together in to something that makes sense. I’ve heard that men don’t do the multi-tasking thing well and can really only tackle one train of thought at a time. So I’m just saying that anyone with a bit more testosterone in their system might not get where I’m coming from. Anyhoo… where to go with all this? I’m thinking I’m going to steal from my favorite blogger, P-Dub, and just do a bulleted mind dump!

• Blogging… I haven’t done much (ok, any) lately. I do miss it… but just haven’t made time for it. My resolution is to do more. The online journaling and putting my “stuff” out there to the world… I think it’s a good thing. Plus a few of the blogs I read regularly have been talking about the Blogher conference in New York this week… so it got me to the site and it looks like a really interesting conference. Not that I can afford a trip to NYC… or the conference… but the concept keeps resonating with me to do something else with my life. R and I have talked about online businesses many a time… but just haven’t done it yet.
  


• Gingerbread. Gingerbread. Gingerbread. {sigh} Never before did I think that word would bring such a smile to my face! KEW started at Gingerbread Daycare this week and the first three days have been AWE-SOME! KEW is happy, routine is back in our life, Mama is happy – we SO needed this!!!
  


• Hot. Holy crap batman… it is so hot and muggy today! I am extremely thankful that my office is on the cool side of the building – I was even wearing a sweater until after lunch. But walking down to my car after work… the air is HOT! And the air quality… not so good. We have the tangerine sun and haze in the air that shows way too many fires burning in this region. I can feel it… my body doesn’t like this. I can’t even imagine what folks closer to the fires are going through. The mainland had an air quality warning on today – telling people not to do any strenuous exercise outside, especially if they have bad lungs. That’s not good. Smoke and smog don’t mix well. I hate to say it, but dang we could use some rain to help clear the air and stop some fires!
  


• Home is such a good place for us now. I only have a few more pictures to put on the wall, and then a few organizational and decorating touches to finish off… and then we are officially settled. I LOVE it here… really LOVE it! Everything happens for a reason and when it is supposed to… I’ve believed that for a long time, and I continue to do so now.
  Today my boss told me that my hair looked good and I looked years younger. I decided to encourage the curl instead of the blow out. It’s faster and hides the grey better. I like it… a little more playful… and heck, if people are going to tell me it makes me look younger, I’ll take it!
  


• Geez… 10 minutes until So You Think You Can Dance. Geez I love that show… it so feels like summer! And there is always at least a dance or two that bring me to tears. I love it when art expresses emotion.
  


• Art… dang, I so haven’t done any art for myself in years. Unless you count my doodling. I doodle a lot. It helps me in meetings when I need to keep my mouth shut. I really do need to invest in a nice doodle book to carry around… to capture that new form of art. Excellent… another thing on my to do list!

Alright, that is it for now. I need to get myself organized for the day tomorrow and get that TV turned on for my show!