Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pumpkin Carving

The kids carved huge pumpkins tonight.

Myself, I would have chosen wee, small pumpkins 'cause I hate the pumpkin guts. 
Big pumpkins = lots of guts = big mess.
But I left the pumpkin and candy shopping to DH and Girl.  Hence, the huge (read messy) pumpkins.

(No, I don't know why Boy is wearing his pook toque in the house.  That child has his own sense of style....)


Girl loves carving pumpkins.  She's not squeemish at all.












Rocky was pretty curious about the whole process.













Turns out Rocky likes pumpkin....















and pumpkin seeds.














So Girl and Boy had company at their pumpkin gutting party

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Why I check the dryer before I turn it on....


Somebody likes to jump in

Why I stand way back after I open the dryer door




This is the "evil eye."

Apparently it is not funny to the feline, to have the dryer door shut.   Also, it's not funny to have your picture taken in this state.
(No, I didn't turn it on.  Just closed the door and shook it up a bit.)

I thought it was funny.

Then I slept with one eye open....

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Mom, there's no cookies in the cookie jar

No cookies?  No cookies, you say?
I wonder why on earth there aren't any homemade cookies in the jar.?
I wasn't doing anything between 11:30pm and 6am all week.

What I was doing (Sunday to Saturday)
-I attended: 4 meetings for school issues
                 -3 hockey games
                 -1 hockey practice
                 -1 figure skating practice
                 -1 riding lesson
-I made: 8 boxed lunches
              -6 dinners (got to go out for supper last night, yeah!)
              -about 8 phone calls
              -about 500 emails (exaggerating, but one does lose track)
-Completed:
              -about 500 loads of laundry (again exaggerating, but they all blurr together -- see emails, above)
              -reading 3 professional articles (boring, boring, boring)
              -tidying, housecleaning the playroom (yet, I can't really say "completed" because it doesn't look like I've ever entered the room today)
              -cleaning 2 bathrooms, one kitchen and cleaned out the frig
              -stripped and remade 3 beds
-Also checked 10 sets of report cards  
          -took one cat to the vet

Nope there's no home made cookies in the cookie jar.
 
I'll get to that this afternoon between report card sets and laundry.

How is it that an empty cookie jar brings on such guilt? 
It's a sign of inadequacy. 
After all, I haven't been doing anything of importance between 11:30pm and 6am....    

Friday, October 22, 2010

This just in...

Apparently Apple has a new app for the iphone...
Through the new app you can download directions to any payphone in the world...

pause

Yep.
From your cell phone you can find a payphone anywhere.

Brilliant.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

It's a Book.

Boy showed me this YouTube clip.  It's called "It's a Book" based on a book by Lane Smith.  In this techno-googly-twittery world, this is a good message.
Enjoy

Sunday, October 17, 2010

fall in rural Ontario


Reminds me:
-that winter is coming
-that we are so lucky to live in a land that grows food so abundantly
-to buy more cornmeal (I forgot last time I was at the store)
-I love fall colours -- why don't I wear more orange?
-I need to get the mitts and hats out
-I should stop to take in my surroundings more often....
-that if I'm going to stop and take such pictures I should leave home a little earlier in the morning!













Wednesday, October 13, 2010

conversation with Boy -- realities of life

So I was leaving Boy to babysit Girl.  To Girl I said "listen to your brother.  Do not give him a hard time."
To Boy I said "Be kind to your sister.  Not be bossy."

Thus opened the following insightful discussion:

Boy:  Why can't I boss her.  I'm in charge of her so I'm the boss."
Me:  You are not the boss.  I am the boss and I am telling you to be kind and patient.
Boy:  When can I be boss?
Me:  When you are all grown up and in your own house with your own kids you can be boss.
Boy:  No fair.  I'll never be boss.
Me:  I just told you, someday you will be in charge.
Boy:  No I won't.  My wife will.  The woman is always the boss.

Amen.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Skunk

When I got home from my School Council tonight I smelled THAT smell.  Pretty strong.  Like, right close by strong....

When I got in the house Girl greeted me with the story.

When DH and the kids were driving home from the arena the headlights caught a skunk on the sidewalk by my back door.  Yep, right by the back door.  According to Girl, Boy thought it was a cat.  So did she.  But DH "sped right up.  Floored it, mom.  Floored it in the driveway to try to run over the skunk."

The skunk was too wily.  He wandered over to our pool area.  DH had the kids stay in the truck and keep an eye on it.  He got the gun and tracked it to behind the pool house.  Then "bang, he got it, mom.  One shot.  Got it.  But he took a couple of more shots to make sure it was really dead." 

Apparently it did not smell at the time of death, but an hour later it surely does.

So this week:
I shot a deer (with the camera) and missed.
Then I shot a squirrel three times (with the camera).  Lovely shots.
Then DH shot a skunk. Great shot.  Stinky remains.

Stinky remains.

So I wonder who buries Pepi tomorrow?

Monday, October 11, 2010

Girl's Joke

(She can tell this one, because she is a blonde.  If blonde jokes are offensive to you, substitute something else....)
Why did the blonde get fired from the M & M factory?

Because she kept throwing out all the Ws.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I shot a squirrel

I shot a squirrel, 3 times (same squirrel).

After my failed attempt to photograph the deer that brightened my morning the other day I made an attempt to capture different wildlife this afternoon....

Resting squirrel.
I actually thought he was sleeping on the fence until I got the camera out and saw that his eyes were open.  Then I thought he was dead....











Startled squirrel
This is how I new he wasn't dead..












1 squirrel.  3 shots.
Hey Boy, I ain't no Elmer Fudd.

Friday, October 8, 2010

the photo I missed

I missed the best shot this week.
I wanted to tell my son, the Elmer-Fudd-wanna-be-hunter that I shot a deer.

I was driving to work on a back road when a deer popped out of the ditch and stopped on the road.  I slowed right down, then had to stop on account of Jeep-Jeep not scaring it away.  The deer very slowly meandered off to the edge of a cornfield.

Then I  remembered my camera on the passenger seat.  I jumped out of Jeep, and deer stood and looked at me.  When I set up the shot, the sound of the shutter spooked it and I totally missed the shot.

Then I was ticked at myself that I'd wasted my moment communing with nature...

So I shot at a deer and missed.

Boy says there is no evidence to prove I was that close to the deer.

Elmer Fudd.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

This is the view that greeted me from the throne in our bathroom last night.













So, I know what you are thinking.  You are asking yourself "does she really take the camera everywhere, even there???

Yep, I took the camera to the bathroom with me, but not in the hopes of some great unexpected photo op.

This was the photo I was planning to take.  This is the view I have every night as I sit upon the pot. 
This is where Rocky hides, so he can jump out at me when I reach for my toothbrush.  This is part of our nightly routine.

Nothing creepy about this photographer.  Nothing at all...


Maybe something slightly twisted about the subject though.....

Monday, October 4, 2010

wavering

Look at those eyes.  Look at them.  How can I?  How can I?

Next week Rocky is booked into the vet for surgery to have his "man parts" removed.

I fear it will hurt too much.  I fear he won't forgive me.  I fear it will change him ....

But I also recognize that I will be upset if it doesn't change him.  I'm hoping the "big chop" will tame the savage beast.....

'Course he'd likely also need a brain transplant and I can't afford that!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Hockey

Boy started back to hockey this morning.  I'm an "Arena Mom" again....

But
Sniff, sniff.
I was going through Boy's old equipment from his first forays to the arena for Mite hockey.  He was four.
This is what I found:
Old skates. 


















For perspective.  These are his current skates.  They fit me.

Rocky is not in the photo for perspective.  Rocky is in the photo, 'cause I couldn't get him out of the way.  It seems, he loves freshly-stunk-up hockey equipment. 











Mite-size chest protector.
















Four-year old's chest protector.   Twelve-year old's chest protector.
4 month old kitten.












I actually got weepy when I found these teeny-tiny reminders of his first days on the ice.  It's hard to believe I put him on the ice so small.  Sigh.  My baby's growing up.

(Boy is looking over my shoulder.  He says "and now I get to hit people.")
Sigh.  Now I can't believe I put him on the ice at all.