oscars

I must be getting better - two posts in two days... amazing :)

So I watched some of the Oscars tonight and I thought Ellen was fabulous! I miss the day when Billy Crystal came on stage to sing and dance, but Ellen was equally funny and charming. Jerry Seinfeld was also quite amusing!

The only highlight for me was that I now want to watch ABC tomorrow night for the Oprah special. Alright, actual Oscar moments - I liked the Dreamgirls songs - man can those women sing! Made me want to see the movie. I can't say I caught much else - I was busy with sick Michael. He is still trying to get over whatever it is he has. He is sleeping now and I hope he will make it through the night... but I'm not going to hold my breath.

So any favorite oscar moments? Did I miss something fabulous?

the road to recovery...

so I'm a million times better (HOORAY), however, I'm super tired. I can't seem to get enough sleep right now. I nearly nodded off at work and at night I'm ready for bed before the kids. I know that I like my sleep, but this is a little excessive. Hopefully my body will get over this and I'll be able to stay up late again.

Carmen mentioned going to the card shop this weekend and I was wondering if it was the one downtown. I went there the last time I was up and was locked in the store. I walked in with some other people and they left. I had stuff in my hands and I hear the door click shut. So I say - oh are you closing? and she's all - yes and then walks to the back of the store. Now I had a cold and maybe I sounded like someone else who was in the back... but come on... so what do I do - I drop everything and unlock the door and leave.

Homefront - Michael had something and it seems to be leaving - might be teething, could be a little sore throat... Kyle still has a bit of a cough but he is on the mend and Andy - didn't get sick at all... bugger... he is leaving us for Kelowna and school in a few weeks... he starts on Apr 2 so we will probably make at least one trip down between now and then to try and find a place.

So what is there to do in Kelowna? Wineries? anything else? Anyone been and love something about it - I would love to hear more about the best of Kelowna.

Well, lame me, I'm going to retire... nightie night friends

still sick

so I'm going to bed in twice minus two minutes but thought i would let everyone know that I'm still sick - this cold just won't give in - it was a chest cold for a couple of days and then i thought that was it but NOOOOO now it is a full ear, sinus, jaw bone cold/achy/pain.... it is terrible... I don't even know if I'll be back to work on monday... and I've already had two and half days off... TERRIBLE!

no upside tonight - i just want the ear ache to stop - it would also be nice to eat and not feel like 'ralph' :) alright i'm going to rest my head - i hope all of you are a hundred times better than me - xxooxx

so sick

So Kyle got worse - he ended up waking up with a nose bleed... so he temp was super high... and I was getting sick... the beginning - I knew it was coming on Tuesday morning and it kept getting worse and worse - when my work day finally ended - 10pm... I was beat. Of course I couldn't get to sleep and then the moment that I did Kyle had the nose bleed - he slept with me, but at 5am Michael decided he wanted to get up and hang out.... AAHHHHH! I had to go to work this morning to get a couple things done - assigned as immediate - and it was just painful - every breathe hurts - it feels like I've gone for a really long hard run... at a point my lungs will start burning and I know it is time to stop and take a break - that is how it feels for every breathe - all day... not to mention if I get cold air in my lungs - holy crap that hurts and then the coughing fits really take off...- so why am I writing - well I tried to go to sleep and my lungs just don't want to let me... aching pain... I just hope this isn't what Kyle had because this is terrible... well I'm going to try and sleep again... what really sucks is that I have to go back into work again tomorrow to finish some stuff and then I've got my other work board meeting tomorrow night - I don't know how I'm going to survive it... hopefully it will have eased up a bit over night... night night - Paula - sorry I missed your call tonight my voice is pretty much gone and I was trying to get Michael to sleep - I hope we can hook up for our date tomorrow night. :)

olympics

what looked to be a wall of 25 or 30 ft blocked the view of the new olympic countdown clock - cameramen took their positions and vancouver bubbled with the excitement of viewing a clock for the first time.. WOW... (yes, I do sell sarcasm, $9 a bucket) the crowd was ready and down came the cloth showing a small digital clock in stone with a wood pole sticking out from it. I wonder how much that little beauty cost... I guess nothing - OMEGA probably paid for all of it... don't get me wrong it... no actually I don't like it - it's a clock and if they wanted something that really said vancouver/whistler it would have had the ocean in it moving back and forth, carved into a mountain scape... they can call them BC and Canada's olympics because we are all going to pay for them but the true beneficiaries are vancouver and whistler, but I digress.

A small group of Olympic haters jumped on stage (Bret on Bif Naked style) and tried to disrupt the excitement over... a clock... regardless of the clock a man with a mask had something he felt he needed to share with the crowd - that the rest of us should be paying for his housing... right - and then a man in blue carried him off stage.... fine... what was the bigger issue - where were the RCMP/police... this is exactly the kind of thing the committee should have expected and no one was prepared - no barricades in front of the speakers, no immediate protection for the speaker - underestimated security budget - my kids and maybe even my grandkids are going to be paying for that underestimated bill... the committee... (if I write the committee name will I get a lawsuit... wait I also wrote olympic in this blog - they may come after me for that...) should seriously evaluate the security thing and admit to the underestimated budget before the games - hearing that we've got a billion dollar bill afterwards will not sit well with anyone - that could a government ending decision... maybe that's what they want anyway... maybe the legacy the olympic planners should be leaving is a province/country without a massive debt at the close of the games... that would be a far greater legacy than the stuff currently planned

what else? well passion won - I'm staying put for now.
Michael is saying - look (-ook) and hi, he waves, claps and understands that high fives involve your hands - he just isn't sure what he is supposed to do - he likes music... he dances a little like quasi modo might have... it is quite odd - one arm bent like he's a little teapot and the rest of his body workin' it...

Kyle is sick - boo - some kind of flu/cold thing - he isn't too bad... we will see how he is feeling tomorrow - he is camping tonight (grandma and grandpa bought him a one man tent that sits up off the ground - it is pretty cool and he's been sleeping in it on and off again for a week or more...) he says that his bed makes him hot... he is getting much better at writing - he can write his name, and mom and can do letters and numbers as long as there are examples above or nearby -


Fun with Michael - he was making faces at me...


This looks like he is laughing - and he was - but this is also his new face - he still does sniffy face - but this one is starting to show up more often - I don't know where it comes from...


Here is Kyle in his tent doing one of things I wish I hadn't taught him - the tongue roll... it was funny for a while... and all the parents know how that ends...


The boys being super cute


I'll give you one guess as to who this hair belongs to... belongs to the cancer society now...

a little political

So poor Bill Bennett quit with the province during this past week over an email that had some fairly negative comments in it. A constituent riled Bill up and off the top of the volcano came, in the form of a written and permanent email. I have a temper like Mr Bennett. I admit to sending out emails that were TERRIBLE in the past. Ones that will likely haunt me some day.

The point of all this is a simple one. Bill sent a simple email - he didn't punch this guy in the head or set his house on fire or run him down with his car and yet our premier, who rides on high, was charged as a drunk driver and NOTHING happened! It was like - come on - everyone does it so I thought I would just join the crowd. I'm above the law.

I don't think our premier should have said anything about disappointment - Bill might have barked off but it wasn't illegal - we all have our opinions... people voted for Bill because he has always been like this. I'm not defending Bill's actions I think some kind of disciplinary action should have occurred. If we look at the scale of things with the premier just carrying on his merry way after the DUI charge, I think Bill might have actually been up for a promotion.

four points

never mind I changed my mind

completion

so my bedroom is no longer stinky and we re-arranged the bed - amazing! now we have a wall that looks weird, but maybe we will put in some shelves or something... the last bit of the room I finished tonight - didn't take as long but it had some dirt - holy! I can't believe how much dirt and gunk it picked up... glad that I did it now - that is for sure!

So on the wishy-washy job front - the partner of the company asked to fly me to vancouver for a meeting - i declined because with the kids it just won't work - plus I don't think it is fair to my current position... they are flying in to see me next week - well - they might be - I'm not completely sure about the career move - I'm all for more money but my current job is rewarding - I love talking with people and getting them excited about Quesnel - I know I probably sound like a lame-o but I'm passionate about - regardless of the politics and general shit... my new position wouldn't have that... so what to do... what is the best decision...
weigh in on my life - please - even just to help me mush it through my strainer of a brain...

So what do you do - do what you are passionate about regardless of politics and money or do you leave, start fresh, take more money, potentially burn bridges (???? not sure), learn to be passionate about something else... if that is possible.

I'm committing to do the real estate stuff though - I want that - I want to sell businesses and houses - so I'm looking into it - I've done some research before but it was more for housing and the business side interests me... well I'm off to look - any commercial real estate agents visiting - do you love your job - how did you get started - would you recommend this career path.

Ok my cat just through a container of fake flowers on the floor - she saw a cat outside and scared the crap out of me - i jumped up and slipped on my track pants.. (yes, I'm wearing track pants... and yes they have zippers) then I see her puffed up and panting at the window - I thought someone was breaking in... nope just the fat cat from next door makin' an appearance - Jasmine hissed and well like a bull blew out her nose to tell the other cat to buzz off... then she kept puffing up like the chinese guy in big trouble in little china - her release works better than his though. :) She is better now - the cat is movin' on.... night night all -

carpets

we bought a carpet cleaner tonight because one of our cats is having accidents - last night i couldn't sleep in our bedroom because the smell was making me heev.. it was brutal - we figure it isn't going to get better with our cats so we bought a carpet cleaner and I put it to use in our bedroom - one half of bedroom is smelly great... the other - well it will tomorrow - not enough time tonight to do both sides before the kids went to bed and it is super loud. I'm not sure that it is the cat actually having accidents or not - I've had one cat for nine years and we've never had a problem with her - she had been the dream cat - no illnesses - the other cat has had stomach problems her entire life - so I don't know who has the problem - I'm also wondering about cat spray - is that only boy cats? Anyway we are cleaning and trying to make our house fresh and clean.... I couldn't believe the cat hair the cleaner picked up - we could have given a kitten new hair...

well i'm going to watch hell's kitchen - man ramseys brutal - ok I'm off

Learn it by teaching it

So I've been reading Stephen Covey and his 8th step for months - going back over the same sections and getting frustrated... I think mostly because I understood that I need to teach what I was learning but not applying it. So after a long walk tonight while reading the book in my basement I thought I would teach here... take it or leave it - share your ideas - teach back - I just want to use this book to be a better person and right now I can see the changes that need to be made but am not instituting the changes...

The idea behind the 8th step is all about being the best human beings we can be, excelling in all aspects of our life. I'm struggling with how it will all come together at the end, but I'm trying to have a little faith.

Ok - before I go on - one of Kyle's fish died... he has had six little gold fish for months. I've got pictures of him and them together. It was a little sad but I didn't think much of it. I think he believes they are going on some kind of vacation when they head for the toilet. He says it is dead, but dead must be better than the aquarium because he sends them off with a see you later and wishes them the best... maybe that is death... anyway this morning we are getting ready for school and the rest of the fish are dead - all five of them... I wanted to cry - tonight I did - more about it just being plain shitty and about me still just being a pus about all death stuff since my grandma passed away. Anyway like the complete champ that he is he wished them well and flushed them. I shed a small tear in his room and he got pretty choked up at that but then just moved on with things. I must be overly emotional right now. Everything is upsetting me - tomorrow is also three months since my grandma died and I'm hurting over that... - ok - enough on that - back to teaching.

So the book suggests that I teach someone - anyone - chapter by chapter and take my time - work through the ideas presented in each chapter over the course of a month - complete 12 chapters and in a year be a better person. No magic pills did not come with this book.

So this first session is on finding our voices. The idea is that we are all born as genuises and so much shit weighs us down in life, on purpose or indirectly, taking our potential away. Covey suggests that the thing that makes us different from robots and the animals is that we can make choices. We choose to gossip, we choose to eat another cookie, we choose to drive fast, we choose to lead, we choose to control ourselves, we choose to take our time, we choose. Based on our choices we can change our future. We have the freedom to choose and we forget that we have that option. We are not our pasts, we are not the product of only genetics, we are not what other people tell us we are.

Covey uses a great quote in his book from psychiatrist RD Laing - "The range of what we think and do is limited by what we fail to notice. And because we fail to notice that we fail to notice, there is little we can do to change: until we notice how failing to notice shapes our thoughts and deeds." Yes, this reads like mud the first time through - try again and see if it gets clearer. It makes me think of a time when I heard that I should learn the names of people around me and take the time to know them. I choose not to notice them by not learning their name and something about them - does that make me a less caring person - am I just saving time... I think its probably making me a less caring person and saving a minute - well its only a minute.

I will stop there for tonight - maybe you have learned nothing - that's ok - share your thoughts and stories - it will help us all grow smarter and maybe some of us will become genuises again.

Night.

recipe hunt

Anyone (jen...) make lemon curd? I've been looking on line and seem to have found some good recipes but I wasn't sure - I would like to can them and save them... so preserving informaton would be excellent as well.

Thank you.

easin' the saturday night boredom one user at a time

well thank you mel for the m&m link - definitely worth the visit... I left with this beauty below. Follow the link (www.becomeanmm.com) and make your own cool M&M... I actually had some M&M today... mmmm - they are sooo much better than smarties...

ER

yup - it was good - hooray!

So I was looking at the stats... and see that I've got some quesnelly visitors - welcome - and welcome to all the visitors stopping by after visiting carmen :)

30 rock was also very good tonight - and Scrubs which I don't usually watch was also entertaining... thursday nights might actually be good again.... speaking of tv - does anyone know where i can get heroes - i watched the first... well at least five episodes and then - well kids happen and bedtimes get missed and heroes takes the back seat... I would love to watch all the episodes and try and catch up - so if anyone knows where I go for that... or if I'm too late then - well I'd like to know that too...

Well I'm going to go and read my environmental book (thank you wendy for lending it) - it is a very good read - I'm surprised at how interested I am in it... I'm also re-reading the 8th habit and truly trying to learn it... my listening skills are improving but I have a long way to go. Nightie night.

what a day can do

today i had a job offer - well a - april you should take my job because i'm leaving and me and the owner have already talked and he wants your resume right away - oh and by the way my job starting wage is more than you make now and the cap out point is more than you will ever make in the job you are in now - oh and you wouldn't have to do a million things - you just have to manage this one thing - with some sub things - but way less than what you do now... and likely for more enjoyment - what do think...

then I get - april you know you should start turning businesses - we all need help and no one else is doing it - charge us a small percentage on a sale and make money that way - so no less than three people told me to get a new job today... i guess if i was looking for a sign - i got one...

now what....????? well i don't really know what to think now - yesterday i would have just left everything - but i know that staying home will not pay for my house and everything else we need... - ok - ER is on - lord are they gonna kill luka tonight - holy - what the heck I haven't watched it since christmas and now they are killing luka - MY FAVORITE HOT MAN ON TV.... WHAT! Ok - off to watch

before i go to bed...

So I was looking for a little pick me up and I found this - check it out if you have a minute

http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~geoffo/humour/flattery.html

And for any quesnelles that read here there is a stroller protest on February 13 to support the child care and resource centres - the province is closing the doors to these great facilities across the province and in quesnel we will be showing our support with a stroller walk... write a letter to your MLA and get the word out that these resource facilities are important

coupons

I don't know if any of you use this service already but you can get coupons mailed to you for things like cleaning supplies and diapers and new product items. Check out www.save.ca for this service. I use to get the coupons all the time and had forgotten about it until tonight when I started just surfing. Tonight I got some OLAY, TIDE, pampers and wipes and a couple of other coupons... happy surfin'

motherhood/work

What is important in life?

I went to a women in business workshop this morning - some women turned it into a bitch session - while others had some serious and interesting concerns that they wanted to address with a larger group.

As we sat there talking (well me listening) I heard an older generation talk about the time they got to spend at home and others talking about the importance of a childs first years. It made me upset all day because if I could be at home I would be. It makes me sad that I have to work and hear Kyle tell me how much he misses me. I know twenty years from now he won't remember that - he will maybe remember that mom worked - but that might even be part of the haze. I remember my mom being home, and I remember spending lots of time with my dad on weekends. My dad work nights so we didn't really see him that much - we used to go hunting in the mornings so that was time together. Does that make me a worse person? I don't know I'm just struggling tonight.

Where is this going? I don't know. I just wanted to chat tonight and didn't really know where to go with it. I'm in no financial position to just walk away from work and I don't know that I would for sure. I will tell you what really makes me think though is that in a few short months I'm going to have to give half of my full time jobs monthly income to a daycare provider that I don't think is providing anything fabulous. And I'll tell you that I'm expected to do some pretty fantastic work for that money. My home based business doesn't make enough money for me to do that alone but maybe if I did it and forgot about the office I could make a run at it... that and farmers market... we will see

Well I'm going to sit here and list to "the beat" my favorite radio station and enjoy some JT - oh yes, you brought sexy back... (am I too old to enjoy him and his music... - alright I have to share this - I had a meeting today and felt old - I'm 30 - I don't think 30 is old... well not now that I am this age... but I didn't agonize over turning 30 - this wasn't that big a deal to me - but today a little newbie grad made me want to freak out - she insulted everyone in the room with her comments and then couldn't say more than four words without saying 'like' - I used to say like all the time and then one day (when I was 14) my dad said - April you sound like a retard - stop saying like, like, like... and I gradually got over it - unless I wanted to raz him and then I could pour it on - ahhh - I feel better now - that has been bugging me for hours)

caddy shack

i don't know if everyone has seen caddy shack or not but there is a pretty famous scene when 'poo' is found in a pool well it happened to us last night. We took Michael for his first adventure in the pool. We had a good time - Kyle went on the slide and Michael just took it all in. We were just splashing around when this girl is all - um, is that poo - I think that is poo - then she is over with her friends to the lifeguard - I think there is poo in the pool - I'm making my way out already but the lifeguard comes over and asks us all to get out.... like we'd stay. We never saw said poo and I'm glad we didn't...

So G-R-O-S-S... I kind of think the little boy who was playing near us did it and his parents didn't notice. When we were in the family change room together it sounded like he was trying to say it was his... and that he was sad he couldn't play anymore because of what happened... but I'm not sure. I know it wasn't one of ours..

When we were leaving the lifeguard gave us a family pass for another visit in the future - hopefully when there is less poo in the pool... (you can't spell pool without poo) I asked if we should be worried about the kids or us getting sick and it was like the lifeguard wasn't listening - she's all - well you won't get sick from chlorine - people drink that all the time and kids pee in that pool all the time... all the time - GREAT! Not like I didn't know that - like those swimmers retain anything but poo... none of us are sick tonight - well I guess andy was a little sick - hopefully unrelated. She went on and on about us having to get out of the water because they super chlorinate the water and it can cause rashes on some people - meantime I'm thinking like I wanted to stay in the water with a poo floating around... ok - so there is a little bedtime story for you...

olay

In a lame attempt to make my pasty northern bc skin look more southern i'm testing out another moisturizing product that claims to make my skin look tanned. The product is called Touch of Sun and when you apply it you have to wash your hands thoroughly after to avoid getting orange hands - which I've had before and it SUCKS! I actually applied this with gloves because I'm so nervous about getting orange hands again.

I applied it and for being a moisturizer and tanning product it dried relatively quickly. I applied while Kyle was having a swim session in our tub. I smell kind of tan lotion-y right now but I don't mind that.

Olay has free stuff for us Canadians on there website. I've had them ship me stuff before and I've actually gone on to purchase with them as a result. Check out www.olayoffers.ca for some free stuff.

I will let you know how it looks tomorrow. The bottle suggests that I will see more dramatic results after multiple applications and minor results after tonight. We will see.

wireless

Thank you Aman at Telus. I had given up all hope of getting my wireless internet working. We bought a wireless router yesterday and tired to set it up more than 5 times and it kept calfing out when I got to the connect to the internet stage... ARG! I gave up... but I couldn't really give up and tried again tonight - 4 more times and then I thought - it can't be me - I'm doing everything this damn thing says to do - I'm not doing anything extra... so I finally give up using the CD for installation and try it my way - I plug it all back in like it has been part of my network all along and - BLAM - it works - well it starts to work. Then I keep getting a telus page - over and over and over and over and over.. you get the idea. I finally cave and call telus for help. I can tell that I was a simple call for Aman - but she did have to think a little bit to help me - turns out my MAC (this is the piece of information that lets telus know that you are loading something new up to transfer data - be it a new computer or a new router) wasn't installed - at all - the software that came with the router was bogus and did NOTHING! Aman, the telus angel, walked me through the final steps of this process and go sing it on the mountain - I've got wireless... so I come to you live from living room - why wireless... I know - right now I could be just as easily downstairs typing - it is more for andy during the day when there is no chance of being near a connection and it gives him another point of entertainment for himself and for Kyle who quite likes Elmos world.

Well - seeing as it is Saturday night and I have the night to myself now I think I will have a good dose of indigestion - as I typically get it when I have time to myself - freakin' fabulous! Night night - I'm off to get my tums and then browse around some sites...