this is Mirri.  She really is my cat, but she apparently prefers The Husband’s lap to mine and will even jump off mine to go sit on his if he walks in the room and toward a seat in the sitting room.

Its done.  The last of the application for The Husbands Permanent Residency is in.  There are admittedly a couple items missing, but at this time, those things can wait and no doubt by the time we have them in our hot little hands, Immigration will be requesting them.  Besides one of those things, the last time we made the same application, we were told to wait to have the medical exam that TH has to have until the Visa was about to be issued. 

The application?  Here it is:

yes it is that thick.  Really.

When I showed my supervisor how thick it was, she asked if I had to fill it out by hand.  Not this one.  The last one I did.  Thank God for the small miracle of Adobe fillable forms!

Okay so two of my children are driving me just a little bit nutty right now.  And I am at a loss because they don’t go to the child minder for another couple hours and I still have things I need to get done before they go there!  I know I am not the only person to think of this because I have heard other parents say the same things ~ about selling or giving away their children. 

I seem to recall having a t-shirt when I was a child, back in the stone age, that had “For Sale Cheap! FREE TO A GOOD HOME” displayed across the front.  It may have been a gift from one of my sisters, but still.  Why is it seen as such a …. horrific thing that a parent says something (in gest I assure you ~ okay there are times I really REALLY mean it!) along the lines of “here I’ll give you my children for free, better yet I’ll pay you to take them away!”  I realise things are diffierent now than they were 5, 10, 29  years ago, but I have to stop and say give your head a shake people, WE ARE KIDDING!  And sometimes the coping mechanism when your children are annoying you beyond all measure, is say, “Will some one please come and take away my children!” 

According to one of my sisters a few years ago, I don’t love my children enough, because almost daily, on either this space, or on Facebook, I was offering my children for sale in some way shape or form.  This coming from the lady who used to call me and ask if I could take her kids so she could get her house cleaned, or go do the grocery shopping in peace, or get her hair done.  Now at time I started trying to sell my own children, I was living in Ireland and did not have that go to person who would give me a few hours minutes peace without my children as The Husbnd was working long hours and that particular summer, it rained. And rained. And rained. AND RAINED.  And when it rains in Ireland it gets very muddy. VERY MUDDY!  So put three children who have always preferred to be outside, inside with no idea of when they will be let outside again and you tell me how long it will be before you are ready to sell them!

I love my children, but hey there are times as parents we really need some time away to be able to appreciate them more.  And right now,  I NEED TIME AWAY!

this converstion took place this morning as Wee Blonde Child was eating her Frosted Flakes.

WBC: Mammy, can we watch “channel”?

Insane Mother of Three: What channel?

WBC: Channel.

IMoT: (WBC) what channel?

WBC: CHANNEL! The one like on Waffel Day*.

IMoT: (through biten cheek trying not to laugh).  Like on Waffel Day.

WBC: Yes Waffle Day, Channel like with Scooby Do on it.

IMoT: (really trying hard not to laugh because WBC is being SOOOO serioius!)

WBC: Can we watch it?

IMoT: No, its not Waffel Day, so you can’t watch “Channel”

WBC: (disgruntled sounding) uhhhhhgggh.

*”Waffel Day” is Saturday because that is the first day of the weekend and also the morning I have the most time to make waffles in the morning.  And also the one day I can handle three monster children hopped up on maple syrup!

While I sit here and try to come up with the words to describe how I am feeling about the current state of the local weather, I am at a loss to come up with the right one.  I am pining for warner weather to come and stay  because when that happens, there are less cars on the road, because for some crazy reason when it snows everyone drives to work and then complains about the traffic.  No kidding. 

During a conversation with my supervisor yesterday she said that there was practically no one on transit on her way in to work, yet my commute driving was clogged with an over load of volume on the road ways.  What is with that?  Its not like it is any warmer whenthe sun is shining during the winter, infact it is down right colder!  Oh how I desire for the summer to come.  The Husband is more than done with snow.  In fact he is willing the clouds to drop rain and not snow.  I think I will wither and die if it starts raining.  I have had my fill of rain, I am done with rain.  I know snow means cold weather and I almost dispise cold weather as much as I dispise rain, but I hate rain more.  Really.  But I am digressing and having “popcorn thoughts” all over the place. 

It snowed Tusday, and yesterday morning.  They are calling for more snow this weekend.  Its almost May.  I would like to know who swapped out Mother Nature’s Hormone Replacement Therapy Pills.  Not so I can thank them, so I can give ‘em a swift kick up the butt!  I am ready for Summer!  Bring it on. 

This post actually came from my friend Feather’s blog, and I immediately thought I have to share this too.  Then I stopped, because how original is that?  But my point here is that Rachel’s story needs to be heard and darn it Internet we need to find a way to irradicate this horrible disease.  And the post moved me so much I had to share it with you.

“The following is written by my friend Rachel who is approaching the final stretch of a hard battle with breast cancer. She is just 37, a wife and mother of two little ones. She shares:


Dying is hard.

I’m not sure what I thought it would be like but I think I hoped it would be easier than this. But, admittedly, I’m not that tough.

First of all, I’ve never done it before and there’s no one around who’s done it before to ask how to do it well. You have to prioritize and plan your days, weeks, months, without knowing how much time you actually have. You have to find the balance between complaining so that you can get relief and not complaining so that you don’t annoy all the nice people who are trying to help you. All this, I am learning, I am not that good at.

I went to bed the other night feeling ok but woke up an hour later with searing pain in my head. If it didn’t sound so odd, I’d say that I can feel the cancer growing. My face went more numb and I had crazy pain in my jaw and head. The cancer has spread to my shoulders too so those ache often as well. I took some pain medication and it’s
subsided somewhat but was then wide awake and couldn’t stop thinking about how this is all going to go down. Will it be fast? Slow? More painful than it is now? I ask but there are, of course, no answers.

The last couple of weeks have been a bit more rough. More bad days. Fewer good days. I’ve had some more radiation on my other hip and my sternum where the cancer has spread and was causing discomfort. I usually get a little “bounce” a few days after the radiation when the nausea and fatigue from the treatment have worn off. Today was one of those days – kind of. I got to to go out for lunch with a friend. I got to take the kids to their art class. I got to get the groceries for supper. And then I came home and spent the rest of the day in bed…and my head started hurting. It’s like that. Ups and downs. And it can vary by the hour. Which I’m sure, if it is frustrating for me,
must be maddening to those around me who have to deal with me. One moment I am insisting that I am perfectly fine to do something and the next am asking for help to get a sip of water.

Dying is hard. And now I better understand some of the things people struggle with as they near death.

I remember my grandmother who, at the end of her life could not move, see or hear very well and wondered what Jesus was waiting for – why wouldn’t he take her home now? I understand how she felt. I remember my grandfather, who died just last year, as he patiently endured our entreaties to eat, our constant asking of “How are you feeling?” or our efforts to make him more comfortable. I understand how he felt. And then there are the moments where the kids ask, “Mom, how come you got cancer?” Those questions, of course, are the hardest.

Although I do very little these days, the one thing I do is pray more. I’ve never been a great person of prayer, to my shame. But when I’m lying awake at night or trying not to throw up or just alone in bed – I pray. I pray because it is the only useful thing I can do. And, that said, it is a very good investment of the time I do have. I pray for Neil. A lot. How grateful I am for him and for strength to endure what is being asked of him. I pray for Quinn and Kate – while I still can. And I pray for the many people that God brings to my mind in the midst of my darkness.

So all that to say, I’m not very good at this. I am trying though. And when I think of the end, of how hard dying already is, and of how hard it will be for those I love when I’m gone, these are the verses that come to mind:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you.”
Isaiah 43:1-2

Dying is hard. But not as hard as it could be.

with love,
rb  ”

So after many frustrating attempts to get Flashplayer to work, my IT Controller Brother happened to ring last night and after informing me of other happenings in our family, I asked him about our home computer.

So about 30 minutes later we sort out, well I sorted it really but will give credit to him because if I hadn’t been on the phone with him trying to figure out why Flashplayer stopped working in the first place I wouldn’t have sorted out the work around to get it reinstalled.  If you should be having such issues yourself, what you need to do is not click on the big yellow button that says “Agree and Install Now”  you need to click the link  that says “System Requirements” and follow the instructions from there.  Now this is if  you’re having issues with IE 8.  As it happens our O/S is Vista (don’t got  here it was on the computer when we bought it!).  So if it has to do with that combination, who knows.  But that Internet is how I fixed it.

I have this issue, and that issue is that I really enjoy blogging and I will at times be doing something and will think of something really blog worthy.  Later when I am sitting at the computer and I have opened my blog and will go to make an entry, I have forgotten what it was I was going to blog about.  I HATE THAT!  Now really I’m not so mindless, because sometimes I will think of it again, only to forget again, but really when you stop to think about my life (and I’m not saying I am the only person like this in the world!), I am a mother of three children, a wife, a housekeeper, a launderess, a taxi driver, a grocery shopper, an Avon Lady, a neighbour, a friend, oh and I have a full time job too.

Now when I come up with something I want to blog about I then have to run it through the “blog etiquette” to censor it, because lets be real, what it is the point in making your family mad at you because you publically aired the dirty laundry.  Because you know when it comes to my family (or The Husband’s fam), I could post some really juicy gossip at times.  And really who would care?  We aren’t famous and we aren;t related or linked to anyone famous by any stretch.  The Husbands family might be “notorious” in their neck of the woods but that is just a given for where they are.  And when it comes to pissing co-workers off, well hmmmm lets be real, is it REALLY worth it to lose your source of income?  You see, I was taught to learn from others mistakes and well lesson learned from Dooce.  Besides I love my job and I enjoy it so much because the people I work with are enjoyable to work with.  And no I do not believe they read here, even though they all know this site exists.

So now, what makes the internet tick?

Lately there have been a host of television shows, news articles, and emails going about how when we were young children we played outside more, were left unattended for longer periods of time, could be trusted to walk all the way to school and home again.  All of those things and many many more are what our children do not do these days.  I admit that I am one of those parents that doesn’t let my children go to the park unless I am with them.  Am I being over protective?  Over bearing?  Ridiculous?  You tell me.

Recently a young girl went missing in Ontario (if you’ve not heard of this you can read about it here), and according to all the news reports, it looks like the girl knew her abductor.  The Husband and I have had many conversations about this and how are we going to stop this from happening to any of our children with out taking away their already limited freedoms.  And as sick as it is that family’s loss is our teaching tool.  We have come up with a code word for Oldest Large Child if the event ever comes up where she has to go with someone, even someone she knows, without prior arrangement with The Husband or me.  The Husband thought I was being a bit over the top when I said it does not matter WHO approaches OLC and tells her she needs to go with them and I started listing family members and close friends.  If that person does not give her the code word Oldest Large Child is not to go with them, even if its my mother or Father.  There are too many horror stories in the news, on the internet, nearly everywhere about children being abducted by people they knew, their whole family knew!  People they have known for years and suddenly this person they have trusted for so long does this horrible thing that they could never have predicted would happen and one of the most precious things in their lives is gone and either never seen again, or never the same again.

We can’t live in a bubble of “that will never happen here” because we can’t predict where, when or to whom it will happen.  Parenting today is far harder than it was even 5 years ago.  There is more out there and as the world population grows, unfortunately so do the amount of twisted people.  The ones we can’t trust with our children.  And as the world of communication grows, not so long ago the internet was a black screen and was limited to very simple tasks, and we grow in our desires to know more, hear more, see more, so does the reality of the horror of a missing child.

So am I being too paranoid?

Just because YOU can afford to drive an expensive car, does not mean I can afford for you to drive like an ASS!

This happened yesterday when I was out running errands with my son in the car and yes I am still hoppin about it!  Twice, I was nearly hit while I was in the SAME CAR PARK by two different well older than me drivers driving very expensive cars, driving like Asses.  Now I realize that is why I pay insurance, but I can not afford for my insurance to go up nor can I afford to fork out for a new car as I was driving the cheap one that does not have replacement value because we only paid $500 for it when we first arrived in Calgary and HAD TO GET A CAR!  yes we have gotten our value out of it, but with our current economic state we need to get more value out of it before we move on to another vehicular structure.

Mind you, I think what made me more mad was that I had my son in the car.  Now if you know me at all, I am wildly protective of my children.  Yes they do wrong at times and they are justly punished for it, but DON’ EVER CAUSE HARM OR UNJUSTLY TALK ABOUT THEM! At least not with out incurring the wrath of this Gargoyle scorned!  And not once, but twice was the side of the car that Healthy Weighty Wee Man was sitting on almost impacted by someone not paying attention to what was going on around them.  Yes, I alluded to their age, but both drivers were not so old my initial thought was that they should no longer be driving, but they were well older than me, and I’m not young anymore!  I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I personally think that being re-tested both the theory and road tests should be mandatory when re-newing your driving licence ~ for everyone, including me! (not that I am in the practice of driving like an Ass!)