I Miss my Mind the Most

Today is the last day before we leave on our summer holidays!  I've spent the day doing laundry, packing bags, buying snacks for the road and cleaning the house.  Now, I really need a vacation!  We will be spending our days at my parent's place in Leduc, Alberta.  On the weekend we are attending my cousin's wedding in Red Deer which is going to be so much fun. It will be the first wedding I've been to since my own, nearly 5 years ago!!  Paige picked out fancy shoes to go with one of her MANY dresses and she absolutely can't wait to cut a rug while wearing them.  There will be many pictures taken, I'm sure of that.
It's going to be exciting for everyone because no one in my family has met Nolan yet, besides my mom and that was the week after he was born!  So it'll be a family reunion of sorts.

Yesterday I had one of those 'scares' that only Mom's (or pet owners) get.  Paige had a bandaid on her leg that has been there for a week.  She loves bandaids and would cover ever square inch of her flesh if she could have her way.  I put the bandaid over an old blemish of a mosquito bite that she was calling her 'big booboo' and didn't give it a second thought.  Not helping matters was the fact that the bandaid was waterproof and didn't fall off in the tub.  So the old mosquito blemish turned into a large festering wound after 7 days of being nurtured under the bandaid.  When I discovered it, I freaked out.  Nothing good ever happens the day before you are about to leave the province on holidays. We stopped in at the drop-in clinic but The doctor didn't tell me much other than the wound needs some 'TLC'.   Paige was excited to get her new and larger gauze bandage.  Silly kid.

Anyhow, I should get running and finish up the last few things before we go.  I need to drop of the house key to Suz, water my plants, and pack up my toiletries.  Then it's off to my in laws to visit with more in laws before we head out...
I'm getting tired just thinking about it.
Hugs and cute little wedding shoes,

~jen

Have you ever started a day that just felt like the twilight zone and as each minute progressed the feeling got worse and worse??? 
That is what I'm experiencing today. 
It's creeping me out, really, really bad.

I regularly take Paige to the park so she can burn off energy.  All too often, it's me that's burning the energy and she's sitting back in the swing soaking up the sunshine.  On Sunday the island family went to Transfer beach in a the neighboring town of Ladysmith.  It is gorgeous, and has two large play areas for children that are built large enough for parents to walk on and take part with the kids.  Paige and I were having a blast walking across the rope bridges, sliding down the 'curly slide' and climbing the tire ladder.  Then we came across a green tube slide.  It looked harmless enough and I talked Paige into going down.  I followed right behind her.  This slide needs to have a warning sign on it.  As i started sliding down I quickly reached terminal velocity.  I raised my legs in an effort to slow myself down, my hands also clawing at the tubes sides in vain.  I was propelled out of the opening with the force of a cannon and landed directly on my rear end with my legs still in the air.  As my body came to a sudden rest my head whipped back and smashed into the end of the slide.  WOW.  I'm not a small woman and this was quite the ordeal to recouperate from in less than 30 to 60 seconds. 
To add insult to injury, there were a group of dads standing off to the side that burst into laughter at the site of me at the foot of the slide.  I must have been quite the sight and couldn't help but laugh myself.

I did eventually manage to put my shoes back on, stand up and dust myself off but I took my sweet time doing it.

My head still hurts.  Paige didn't notice a thing.

~jen

Hello again,  I've been meaning to sit down and blog for several days but was sidelined by a migraine, intense heat and sunshine as well as My busy children.  Today is not much different but I'm making some blog time... so important!

Nolan is doing great, he had a baby milestone on Thursday.  I put him on the table to change him, turned around to grab a diaper and when I looked back, he had rolled on his side!  Excited, I grabbed the camera off the mantle, turned around only to find him on his back once again (the picture to the left).  This left me wondering if I was in fact halucinating the entire thing.
 He is getting mobile, that's scary.
Also, He has also developed a really high pitched squeal that he likes to use for everyday conversation with himself.  It makes everyone think he's in distress when he's actually happy as a clam.  I think he enjoys watching everyone scramble to his aid when he does it.  I haven't decided which it sounds more like- a bird, a bunch of dogs with their toes caught in a door or Mariah Carey on crack.
Paige has been doing great too.  She's terribly bored on a daily basis because of the lack of friends.  You are probably saying "What's the matter with her LOADS of toys??".  Well she's at the stage where she really likes the imaginary role play games (ie: 'you be the mommy and I'll be the baby... ) and playing with her toys just isn't cutting it at the moment.  She did have her very first 'tea party' with two of her stuffed animals the other day and yes, I forgot to get it on camera.  I'll capture the next one for the scrap book.  Paige and Elizabeth have been playing every day and getting along most of the time.  Paige has to wait until Elizabeth gets home from daycare first and it's TORTURE to have to wait that long.  Mostly torturous for me because I have to be on my toes with entertainment ideas but I guess that's my job as a mom right?? So far so good.

My tooth is feeling great for those of you who are keeping track.  I'd do it again in a New York minute (drugged up of course).  Most of the pain I felt afterward was from the keg of novacaine he pumped into my jaw muscle and not the actual root canal.  But it's all good.  My doctor has put me on some different drugs and we were experimenting to see if they would cause my migraines to return.  Right on Cue, I got a migraine the other day- UGH!  After suffering most of the day I ran to the pharmacy and filled a perscription for 'AMERGE' which is a special drug for migraines.  WOW.  It was worth every cent of the 160$ for 8 pills that I paid.  Seriously, the stuff is magic and I'm naming my next pet 'Amerge' (because I'm not having anymore children).

Yesterday was Suzanne's 29th birthday!  We went over for a barbeque and get together, and eventually some poker- it was really fun.  I couldn't drink any wobbly pops because of the migraines BUT I still had a good time and I KNOW Suzanne did too.  She'll be continuing with her good time tonight- I hope she has a BLAST.   Keep out of the DILL girlfriend :0)  Love ya Suz, you're the very best.

Now I'm going to catch up on several hours sleep and then be on with my day.  I've posted a few new pictures to flickr if you haven't been there in awhile- check it out.

Hugs and birthday cake,
~jen

I've just awoke from the drunken stupor i put myself into prior to my dentist appointment.  My jaw hurts like a SOB but my tooth isn't aching!!  Yahoo!  They were unable to freeze the tooth in the traditional ways so they hand to drill a small hole next to the tooth and insert some novacaine there.  Once the toothe was opened it had more tender spots so they insterted freezing right inside.  Talk about stubborn!!  The dentist was wonderful and very calming throughout the entire thing.  He said that the dose of ativan I gave myself before the appointment helped me relax and kept me calm through a bit oc a complicated procedure (all the extra freezings).  I go back in 4 to 6 weeks for the permanent filling or crown.  He advised a crown but I prefer not to spend my money on ONE stupid tooth.  He'll have to find something cheaper, I'll have to win the lottery, Or maybe the tooth will just fall out before then.  Either way, I'm okay with it.

Anyway, I'm off to relax a little more-

~jen

Today is the day of the big root canal.  Please send as many calming vibes as you can spare because I'm freaking out.  I will be aided by the 'calming' meds that the doctor gave me but I'm freaking out anyway.  The last time I had this filling replaced they were unable to freeze the tooth so I'm praying that it freezes today without a problem.  It's been causing me so much agony that I'm just about looking forward to this but still aprehensive at the same time.   

Breath in, breath out. 

I'll talk to ya'll later on and let you know how it went.

~jen 

This morning I discovered my daughter drawing out a hopscotch on my laminate floor with a bright blue crayola crayon.  How lovely.  When I gave her heck, she snuck around the corner and was just about to draw on the wall when I caught her red handed. 
WOW, she's gotta be so bored. 

Thank the heavens my in laws took her to the park today with her cousins or I would be in real trouble.

I've got stuff do in my few hours off, steam clean carpets, finish two large commision paintings, catch up on 5 hours sleep, wash crayola off the laminate floor and blog.
I've got one thing checked off the list-

Catch up with ya'll later.

~jen

Can someone explain to me why Tylenol PMS is the only thing that will get rid of my TOOTHACHE???  You know, it works really darn good too.

Countdown to the root canal is on 4 more days to go.

~jen

Finally after much procrastination I decided to help my little sister out with a new blog header.  I tried, tried and tried again and finally we came upon something she likes!!  I have recently discovered digital scrapbooking and went trolling around the 'internets' for freebie scraping components.  What better way to get through a learning curve than to make blog headers??? So that's what I spent the meat of my day doing yesterday.

This is attempt Number one, which I think looked pretty cool. Upon seeing it for the first time Jessica said "It's too kiddy, and please leave out the cheerios next time."  Those are supposed to be grommets.

Anyway, undetered I attempted Number two which I thought would fill her request to be a little edgier than the first. She hated it.

We eventually came to some idea of what she liked from the two and what she hated and came up with the one she has right now.  Look HERE.  I'll fix it up when I learn to use these digital scrapbooking components better. 
It's difficult to use the limited amount of space that a header gives you to do the scrap elements justice but I think it looks pretty charming.

What do you think?

~jen

Is there anything more hilarious than watching a person fall down the stairs, in what seems like slow motion- right in front of you?? 
I can't count the amount of times I've fallen down the stairs in front of an audience and upon hitting the bottom, was horribly torn between laughing my ass off at the sight of myself or crying out of humiliation LOL. 

When you  are the witness, you rush to help but have to choke down giggles at the same time- I know you do it- I've heard the giggles.

It's such a strange feeling.  Of course if you are flying headlong down the stairs (which I have also been unfortunate enough to try) then it's simply looks of HORROR all around. 
These memories are stashed in the same place as my memory of going arse over tea kettle (a few times) while running to first base during a slow pitch game, and the time I hit the bike jump the wrong way and landed horribly wrong in front of all the neighbors (a la Napoleon dynamite.). Not to mention the time I was rollerblading too fast and a kid rode his bike out in front of me... oh the sweet memories.
DO you have any of those funny but terribly embarrasing memories that you wish you could forget but they pop up whenever you trip on an area rug in the grocery store???  I for one would love to hear about it.
Take it easy y'all,

~jen

I'd like to take this opportunity to give a shout out to my Grandma Jeannie.  She called to talk to me the other day and referred to this as my 'Glob'.  I had a good chuckle.

Whatever you want to call it, it's nice to know someone is reading it!!

Love ya Grandma,

~jen

My sister and I had a long discussion on the phone yesterday.  We ended up talking about how we both have loud voices that we can't seem to control.  There have been many occassions where I have been told by people to 'talk quieter' or 'a few decibles lower please' or my personal fave, "SSSHHHH!" with a finger held to the lips.  Same goes for my sister.  I'm not sure if it's in the genes or if it's more of a fact that we came from a large household where we had to talk loud to get heard.  Whatever the reason, we find our voices rising whenever we excited about something.  I know that I do it and I've repeatedly told myself to try and keep my voice down or just shut up but it doesn't help.  No matter how politely a person asks me to 'keep it down' I still get terribly insulted.  There is absolutely no way a person could tell me to talk quieter without me getting insulted, I realize this so it takes a little of the bite out of the comments.  At the same time I feel like the comments are unwarranted because I absolutely can't stop myself, as my sister put it so perfectly, "It's like asking a handicapped person to STOP being handicapped."
That's exactly how I feel, handicapped, because my voice gets too loud on occasion.  The repeated comments from people don't help, they just make me feel horrible.  Perhaps it's a type of turrets syndrome (LOL!) minus the cuss words. 
On a happy note, one time my mother in law made a comment to me about how loud I was being and Mr. Island defended me by saying,  "Mom, she's loud, that is just the way she is- get used to it!!"  I always think of that when I feel like I'm being picked on and it makes me feel better.  Gotta love that husband of mine.
I also find that I gravitate to people who are also loud.  Perhaps not as loud as me but they aren't put off by my excessive volume either.  Suz and I regularly talk loudly while shopping and afterward chuckle at the thought of the entire store knowing what we are thinking.  I like it because I can be relaxed and MYSELF.  My best friend Tanya is also a loud person- it's part of her charm I think. 

So that's my story,  so if you hear someone who's being loud and it's annoying you try to be extra gentle when asking them to shut their pie hole.  It won't help, but it will make you feel better.

~jen

Once again I find my daughter is in possession of knowledge beyond her three years.  We find ourselves bursting into laughter at her comments on nearly a daily basis now, I should write a book. 
For example, the other day we decided to visit the local tourist trap for a day out.  We went with my in laws but in seperate vehicles.  While waiting for them to get fuel, Mr. Island pulled into a parking lot, turned around and waited at the opening of the lot so we could quickly pull into traffic when the time was right.  After we had stopped and started to sip our coffees, Paige looked out both windows of the van- sat up in her chair and after a few more moments hollered out in frustration,
"Is there a Red light or something????"

Mr. Island and I burst out laughing and she sat back with a sheepish look on her face.  I didn't realize that she was so attentive of traffic and our driving skills.... Sheesh!! 
That's all I need, a THREE YEAR OLD back seat driver.

~jen