Just a Little Vent

My daughter told me on Monday she thought I was cranky. All of the time. I have two daughters, so in case you're trying to figure out which one said that to me, I'll give you a few hints.

She's the one that currently has four pairs of flip flops, two pairs of running shoes, a gym bag, a pair of work shoes and her roller blades dropped conveniently (for her) at the front door. If she's going to be out (with my car) and I need something, say like milk (because she drinks it all) and I ask her to pick it up, she will ask me for money for the milk, even though she is working full time and not paying any rent. She will also return my car and thoughtfully remind me that I need more gas, because it's on empty, even though it had a half of tank of gas when she left with it. Did I mention she is working full time and not paying any rent? In my cranky state I truly can't remember. She also doesn't like the yogurt I just bought, a 16 pack on sale for $5.49. She likes the eight pack, the one that's not on sale, with a retail of $5.99. How inconsiderate of me.

To quote what my best male friend said to me recently, "you know, for someone who spent four years at university, she's really not that bright". Amen to that my friend and thanks for listening.

Word of the Day

Addiction: the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.

The computer game, Sims 3, comes out today. This morning in fact. And just because it is now 9:42am and I am headed out the door to Best Buy, which opens at 10am, to purchase a copy of the game has nothing to do with an addiction, it has to do with proper parking lot etiquette that is extended to shoppers early on a Tuesday morning. And just because I might be too busy to update this blog for, I don't know, several months, has nothing to do with me playing countless of hours of this game, nonstop, it has more to do with, say, summer, that's right, I plan on being outside, in the nice weather, keeping a close eye on things, such as the laptop, that might need constant supervision, due to the installation of a new game. See, absolutely no need for me to worry about a thing.

Parenting

My son, who is 17, applied for college last fall, actually, he applied to five colleges. He got into three of them right away and was wait listed for his first choice. He found out a month ago that he didn't get into his first choice, so he opted for his second choice, the only problem is, because he waited to accept the spot, he got wait listed for residence.

We were notified today that in all probability, he is not going to get into residence and we should start looking for something off campus. He will be attending a school a little more than an hour from our home, it's in a town that we are not familiar with and he doesn't know anyone else going to that school. I can't imagine trying to find him a room either by himself or with a group of students (probably not first year students) that met each other while attending school in residence. It means no meal plan, relying on public transportation to get to class, things that I know he is going to struggle with. He's a great son, but he's very quiet and would be lost in this environment. And he's been stressing about it. Every day for the past month he checks his e-mail, hoping to see that his residence request has been approved and he's becoming more and more anxious.

My husband and I made a decision for him. He will not be going away to school in the fall, we both know he's not ready for it. I thought today was going to be a hard day, to try and explain to him that he'll have to apply again, either go back to secondary school for another term or maybe find some classes he can attend at a college here on a part-time basis. But it wasn't hard to explain to him once we started, he's actually happy he's not going, he's feeling relieved. I just wish I could recover from this as fast as he did, but I guess all of this only confirms that we did make the right decision. I hope.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

This is a picture of my dog Bailey, she's such an angel. She sat patiently while I fiddled with my camera to take her picture, even though we were outside and she was distracted by a bumblebee buzzing around. There was also a plate of cheese (one of her favorite foods) and crackers on the table right beside her, but she's such a good girl, she just sat there and posed for me. What more can I say, she's one in a million. And immediately after I commented to my husband on what a great dog she is, she snagged a mouthful of cheese and ran off the deck so she could eat it in peace before I scolded her for doing just that. Oh well, maybe she's two in a million.

If It's Good Enough for My Dog...

I love my dog. I know I've said it before and I'll say it again, but it's true, I absolutely love her. I've given my dog a special shelf in the kitchen, it contains her cookies and treats. Her treats are in an actual cookie jar, it's one I got for Christmas years ago but never used, because when I bake, my cookie jar is a cooling rack, there are normally not enough cookies left to warrant even putting into a jar, they just go on a plate and are eaten by the end of the night.

My dog has the usual treats, the Milkbone cookies and snacks in different sizes and flavours, tartar bones, tartar cookies and I'm always on the lookout for something different, something new. I recently bought her Beneful Snackin' Slices by Purina, they are bite size snacks in the shapes of carrots and snow peas, there is a picture of a cute little dog on the package as well as the ingredients that go into the snack.

My son complained to me the other day that he didn't like the new protein snacks I bought. He thinks they are too crunchy and taste a little "off". Hmmm, that's strange, I don't recall buying any protein snacks for him, but if he ate some, I must have.

I guess I'm going to have to start paying a little more attention to what I'm buying him. And I'll have to remember to buy my dog some more of those Beneful Snackin' Slices, she must really like them, because the package is almost empty, even though I don't recall giving her that many.

I'm going to put this whole thing down to me becoming more forgetful, yeah, that's got to be what this is all about.

Trying to do the Math

My in-laws celebrated their wedding anniversary last Thursday, sixty years. I normally do a Mother's Day bbq at my house but this year I thought I would surprise them with an anniversary party as well. The house was decorated, guests were invited, we toasted their anniversary and had them cut a cake, it was alot of work (especially considering it was Mother's Day), but how often does an anniversary like that come up, I'm glad we did something special for them.

My youngest daughter and I were taking the last of the decorations down last night and I told her to be careful with some of them, I planned on keeping the "60" ones for my husband's birthday in two years. She looked at me kind of funny and asked if her dad was going to be 60 in two years, because she was only going to be in grade 11 and I said yes he was, that's just the way things happen sometimes. She told me she thinks that is really messed up.

"The Happy Way I Feel Inside"

I wondered the other day whatever happened to Neil Sedaka. I first heard of him in the 70's, he had recorded a song with Elton John that I loved. I had no idea he had a past recording career, I only knew him for his albums in the 70's, they were ones I played over and over.

I can't remember the last time I heard anything by him on the radio, I happened to hear something by him last week while I was grocery shopping and since then, I've had that song stuck in my head. I kind of wish now that I hadn't freecycled all of my plastic albums, but who am I kidding, it's not like I am about to pull any of them out and start listening to them on a regular basis, it's so much easier to just go on line and download what I want to hear on an i-pod.

I had to Google him just to see if he was still around, writing and recording. I sometimes wonder what happens to recording artists, how does someone who writes just stop writing or someone who performs, just stop performing? I usually assume they made their money and have retired to some beautiful location, living a life away from the public eye, especially in these times.

I was happy to learn he's still around. He's still writing, he's still recording, he's still touring. He'll be at the Niagara casino in July and with that song of his in my head that I can't seem to shake, I'm hoping to be able to go and catch his show.

Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka

Strolling along country roads with my baby
It starts to rain, it begins to pour
Without an umbrella we're soaked to the skin
I feel a shiver run up my spine
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine

Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside

After a while we run under a tree
I turn to her and she kisses me
There with the beat of the rain on the leaves
Softly she breathes and I close my eyes
Sharing our love under stormy skies

Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
I feel the warmth of her hand in mine

Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
Oo, I hear laughter in the rain
Walking hand in hand with the one I love
Oo, how I love the rainy days
And the happy way I feel inside
(repeat and fade)

Romancing the Squirrels

Anyone who knows me knows my favorite flower is a white calla lily, it's so simple and pure, but sometimes hard to find when looking for cut flowers. My favorite easy choice would be white tulips.

My girlfriend was over last week and noticed some of my bulbs were starting to bloom. She asked me why my tulips were yellow and my daffodils were white. I told her I don't really like daffodils, I only planted them because of the squirrel problem I have, so by planting white daffs it makes me feel like they aren't really daffodils after all and if I plant white daffodils, I don't want to have white tulips, so I planted yellow tulips instead. She then asked me to explain why I have one single pink tulip. I told her it was a gift from the squirrels, when they raided my garden a few years ago, they left me the pink tulip, it's kind of romantic, right?

She told me she's going to call my husband, she thinks he needs to give me more attention, I told her after the freezer thing, I'd rather keep the tulip from the squirrels.

Four Months Later, Just Like That

Sometimes when I'm talking to my husband, I wonder if he is listening. I can have an entire conversation with him, discussing future events, what needs to be done around the house, things happening with the kids and a few days later, when I give him an update, he gives me a blank look, like the information I am sharing with him is the first time he has heard it, even though we've had a thirty minute conversation days before in which I said this and he said that.

Last December I mentioned to my husband that I was going to have to defrost the chest freezer in the basement, it had frozen treats from the previous summer and meats that were at least a year old, let alone the frost buildup on the sides. I've been going through the freezer each week since Christmas, either trying to use what is in it or sending items to the green bin for recycling weekly. It's been a slow process but the freezer has been coming down, I'd say I am down to the last third of the freezer.

Last week my husband unplugged the freezer. I recently discovered it was unplugged. I spent several hours cleaning it, sending what was left to the green bin and basically cleaning up a sopping sticky mess.

I asked my husband why he would unplug the freezer, he said he remembered me mentioning I was planning on cleaning it out. I told him maybe he could have let me know he had unplugged it and he gave me a somewhat bewildered look, because wasn't it me that had mentioned how I wanted to clean out the freezer and he was only trying to help. Help, yeah, that's what he was doing. I don't know if I have enough time for any more of his help.

Milk and Cookies

I had planned on my next blog entry being a powerful thought provoking entry (hahahahaha) on how I was taking a challenge I read about in the Toronto Star to give up plastics for one week, but after finishing the article I knew I was doomed to failure, my downfall being milk. We consume roughly 16 litres of milk a week, at a cost of about $1.50/litre and to switch to those glass bottles of milk, if I can even find them, was going to cost me $3.69/litre and that is just too much money, but screw that idea completely, because this morning brings me great news.

I'm a "carefully selected group of bakers who are already familiar with Nestle Toll House." I received a care package from Nestle with a letter, fridge magnet, recipes, history on Toll House and a coupon for a free package of morsels, and three more savings coupons for future purchases. My initial reaction was to forgot about what I had planned for today and head out to redeem those coupons, pick up some milk and bake some cookies, and then I wondered how did Nestle get my address in the first place. It's true, I e-mailed them last fall asking them why I couldn't get those morsels here, but I never included my mailing address and the launch was last September, so I guess I'm so carefully selected that they have spent the last seven months trying to track me down.

None of it even matters, what's important is that I have my free morsels and cheap milk. I'll have to work on saving the Earth another day.