Sign me up for some of that baby!

The best thing about feeling like something the cat hocked up when you are not pregnant or breastfeeding? DRUGS. I am going to pump me so full of cold and sinus medication that I am going to sleep for days.

How to piss me off.

Come into work. SICK. When you have about a bizillion sick days banked.

Stay at home, watch tv all day, get PAID to do it. Just don't come into work hacking and wheezing into my cubicle and spreading your sick bug all over me. Argh.

On a happier note, preschool is back in next week. And because I got really pissed off at this meeting last night and opened my big ol mouth (in an angry kinda nice way), I am now on the new executive. At least preschool will be in again, and hopefully this foray into the whole education experience called PRESCHOOL will be what it should be. Flying paint, messy crafts and screaming kids having a blast. I can't wait.

Shit....fan....splat.

This past week has been a bit of a roller coaster. Work is nuts. Kids are nuts. Online courses with assignments and tests are not getting done. Oh, and Ethan's preschool teacher has left. So he has no more preschool for now, until they find someone else.

I have mentioned in past posts that Ethan is in a parent participation preschool. And along with all the good touchy feely holding hands singing kumbaya stuff comes the nasty awful side of parents too. I had struggles with Ethan's teacher - I wasn't overly impressed, but having said that, he really liked her and he loved pre-school. I thought about changing schools at one point, but a very good friend of mine who is a teacher told me that in his school life I will come across many teachers who I will not like, and am I going to set a precident by pulling him out of preschool just because I don't think the teacher is awesome? Good point. Very good point.

So I just sucked it up, and kept quiet (except of course to my non-preschool friends who I am sure wished I would shut up about it!). Until last week when I was chatting with another mom and found out that lo and behold, I am in fact NOT the only one who is not impressed. The preschool Ethan is in has two classes - 3 year olds and 4 year olds. The mom's of the three year olds for the most part weren't overly impressed, but we chatted about the situation and pretty much thought, as a group, that the thing to do would be just work it out for the rest of the year (till June), and then re-evaluate what to do over the summer. The kids were having fun, and getting pretty much all they needed. The four year old class was a whole different ball game - and just today I found out that a number of those families have pulled their kids out. And now those of us who have made the comittment to finish out the year are left holding the bag, and the keys to a school we can't open until we form a whole new executive and hire a new teacher. Over the Christmas holidays. Good freaking luck.

What the hell happened to playing nice in the sandbox? I am cringing at the next 18 years of school if I have to put up with all this stuff hitting the fan now....

Thanks a bunch!

I have been nominated in two categories - best new blog & best personal blog in the Canadian Blog Awards. What a very nice thing for someone to do....I am flattered as hell.

Voting has started, you can vote once/day.

What a long long week....

This past week has been LONG. Work has been a gong show (part-time MY ASS!!!) and the boys have been acting like they are on fast forward ALL DAY LONG. I don't know what the hell I was thinking when I signed up for a parent participation preschool and online courses at the same time, all the while working, ferrying kiddos to and fro, and trying to squeeze in some time for photography and making cards. "Me" time consists of a weekly date with Donald Trump, and the odd time I can get into the bathroom BY MYSELF.

This past week Vancouver was sopped in with fog. For days. I don't ever remember fog lasting so long. For the first few days it was really cool - the kids loved playing in the fields and wandering away just far enough that I could barely see them (except for the light up laser spiderman shoes they recently got as gifts from China...I suspect that they will obliterate their retinas if they ever look diretly at the flashing lights!). After a few days of fog though it got a bit depressing. Not as bad as a month of rain, but I just wanted some sunshine. I can't believe that I didn't take any pictures. Damned stress.

Who reads this stuff anyways?

When I first started this blogging thing, it was an "outlet" for me to gripe, whine and bitch about bits and pieces of my life so that I wouldn't drive my friends or co-workers nuts (hell, I already do that, why add fuel to the fire?). I still haven't told alot of people about it - my family knows, a few close friends, maybe two co-workers, and a group of moms that I regularly chat with online (hi AM'ers!) and that is about it. I have to laugh when friends tell me that they know be better now (and maybe a bit more than they ever wanted to) since reading this blog. I know that the few blogs that I read of people I actually know in "real life" are quite entertaining, and give a great perspective into someone you thought you knew quite well. I really do look forward to reading the blogs I regularly keep up with on a daily basis - even those of people I don't know at all.

I am not a writer (shhh....don't tell my boss - I have lots of reports that I have to get written in the next while, and I don't want my mantra of "baffle with bullshit" figured out quite yet). I do enjoy this blog thing though.

And for the person in Switzerland who came across it by googling "manure inspector pictures", I hope the elephant shit shots helped.

If I get an lazier, they'll have to call this a photoblog.

We had a couple of guys from out of town in our office today (one from Atlantic Canada and the other from Ontario). Neither had been to the west coast before, and as luck would have it, RAIN wasn't in the forcast for today. It was beautiful & sunny....

Lazy blog...

I just had a quick look into the bowels of the "my pictures" folder....holy crap if I don't do a CD burn soon I am hooped if I crash the computer....just some random shots....

If you think your job's bad....

I was reading the editorial section of our local paper yesterday, and I think I missed the boat on the whole job opportunity thing. Who knew many moons ago when I got my biology degree that I could of had one of these jobs:

Orangutan Pee Collector
Job description: Attach a plastic bag to a pole and chase the apes through the rainforest to gather samples of their urine.

My qualifications - Aside from my degree...I have boys. That love to run around naked. One of who isn't toilet trained. No plastic bags or poles needed in this house. Just some super absorbent paper towel.

Semen Washer
Job description: Lab technicians who are engaged by sperm banks to prepare sperm for long-term storage.

My qualifications: Ummmm....none. Although I have washed out my fair share of test tubes, but somehow it just isn't the same thing.

Volcanologist
Job description: being able to run to the site of a rumbling volcano when everyone else is running in the opposite direction.

My qualifications: I have had my fair share of eruptions to clean up in this house. Enough said.

Manure inspector
Job description: Wade through mountains of animal shit to find ways to eliminate e-coli, campylobacter and salmonella from the food chain.

My qualifications: I have two boys. Both of who have swallowed things in the past that I had to patiently wait for at the other end. While it isn't mountains of poop, it is enough to have to pick through to find that small piece of plastic train wheel that looked awfully appetizing to the second born who hates real food.

Somehow my usual "I'm from the government and I am here to help you" doesn't sound quite so bad...

Sleep, sugar and coffee...

Oh it has been a long week. Nicholas has been going back to his usual "I am not going to sleep through the night" routine - which he bloody well should be out of by this point. When he does wake up (at about 2 a.m., just as I am in the middle of a deep, deep sleep) it is to let me know that he is not pleased to be confined to his crib at such an hour. In fact, he is usually so pissed, that he wakes up his brother while yelling and screaming for someone to just PAY ATTENTION to him. One morning last week he stayed awake until about 7:30 am. After five hours of early morning play, he FINALLY figured out that sleep was a good thing. He glanced over at me, ignoring my caffeine induced state of consciousness with a look as if to say "keep the noise to a dull roar, I need a nap".

So by this time, I am walking around like a zombie, and Ethan is getting all excited about preschool. Oh yes, preschool. I decided that I wanted to be an integral part of my child's learning experience, so I signed "us" up at a parent participation preschool. In involves helping out in the class about two times/month, and wouldn't you know it, this month with all the Halloween activities and leftover candy, I have been scheduled to help out a few times. Imaging sixteen three year olds in a permanent state of SUGAR OVERLOAD, and me in a permanent state of sleep deprivation and caffeine shock. What a combination.

Speaking of participation, part of this whole preschool thing involves going to monthly meetings. They are held on Monday nights, which is probably the worst night of the week. In fact, tonight I didn't go. Apparently the guest speaker was a librarian who was speaking on the importance of reading to your kids. I wonder what her reaction would be if she knew my kids current favourites were these....

Conversation at snack time...

"mama, what's that"

"That's a wagon wheel"

"I got it trick-or-treating mama? I eat it now?"

"Yes honey, you can eat it"

10 seconds later....

"That was a yummy volkswagon mama!!!"

Ah, his uncle would be proud.

I was so impressed with myself until my friend sent me this:

My pumpkins are so pansy-assed compared to these. My girlfriend did these for her kids after they specifically requested them. Um. Yeah. Wow.