Happy Birthday To You

Happy to my stepdaughter, AD, who turns 19 today.

A has gone from a cute little girl, to a moody and selfish pre-teen to a beautiful young lady, who makes me smile and often laugh out loud.

It’s an exciting year, for A, who is waiting to hear if she is accepted to York U’s Glendon College and is waiting to apply for residence. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I left the shelter of my parents’ place to go to college. It was one of the best times of my life.

I am so excited for A as she starts a new path and am looking forward to hearing the adventures she has along the way.

Happy Birthday, A.

Chocolate Anyone?

Hello.

My name is Lisa Day. I am 35 years old and I have been battling my addiction for more than two decades.

I am a chocoholic. Yes, I can’t stop eating the good stuff. And by that I mean any milk chocolate product - nuts, no nuts, raisins, caramel, cookie, mint. If it’s milk chocolate, I not only want to eat it, I have to eat it until not a trace of it remains in my house, even if that means 400 grams of chocolate in a couple of days.

I can, and have, eaten chocolate before I have brushed my teeth in the morning. I can eat it after breakfast, in between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner, for dinner, after dinner and before bed. There is no such thing as too early for chocolate or too late for chocolate. In fact, any time is a good time to eat chocolate.

When I worked at a convenience store in my teens, I had a craving for chocolate that came with shakes and sweats. What was a girl to do? Eat chocolate of course.

I bought a 400-gram chocolate bar on Tuesday and it will be gone today. My husband and stepdaughter each only consumed one row. I have eaten the rest. But I am not a closet chocolate eater. I confess my chocolate-eating ways.

In fact, I am making a confession to you all. There are four squares left of that chocolate bar. By the time this blog entry is posted, that too will be gone.
My name is Lisa Day and I love chocolate.

Toilet Paper Dos and Don'ts

I once heard on the radio “news” that Jennifer Aniston of the Friends fame only liked her toilet paper roll to be placed one way and would have a fit if it was placed on the holder wrong.

At that time I thought 1) It must be a slow news day if that is what they are talking about on the radio and 2) who really cares.

Well I do apparently.

It really irks me when the toilet paper is place the “wrong” way on the roll. This is particularly irksome at night when I am half asleep and I can’t unroll the toilet paper. The toilet paper should come out at the bottom.

See below for the right and wrong way to hang toilet paper.

Weekend From Hell

What a weekend.

This past weekend was supposed to be the big date. Instead, my son and I went off to my parents’ house by ourselves, while my husband stayed home and tried to fix our water crisis.

That is to say, we didn’t have any.

We are on the well and thought the pressure tank finally had its last click but turns out not only was the presssure tank done, but the well’s pump also had to be replaced. So almost $1,000 later, we still have no pressure and the water still smells like sulphur and has a lovely brown tinge, but we do have it and that’s a good thing.

So with my husband at home, my son played with Nana while Papa and I went off to see Harry Potter. Poor Dad, he not only hasn’t read any of the books, but he has only seen the first one, and he thought Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince was the last movie. Despite all that, and a lot of teenaged snogging, Dad said he liked the movie.

I, too, liked it for what it was - a Harry Potter movie that is setting the scene for the final book/movie.

While it wasn’t my favourite movie - Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix has that honour - it was an enjoyable two and a half hours. Many of my favourite scenes in the book were in it (and quite humourous), there were some added scenes and many parts had been taken out. As expected, I am extremely excited for the last movie, or two.

Calming Moments

It has been a long, stressful day. Here is a picture to brighten the day.

Unneighbourly Conduct

I was quite disgusted about a recent event on my street.

Our street is private. Each homeowner pays dues for the upkeep of the boat launches, grass cutting in the parks and access to an outdoor tennis court. According to the property association, you must pay these dues in order to use the lake access, the park and, where this story is going, the playground equipment.

There are not a lot of children on our street any more. Most of the “kids” are now heading off to university and there are only a couple of younger children on the street. Our poor little guy will have to drive into town to meet friends.

I meet these wonderful couple, O and VB, and their 10-month-old son P, who have rented a cottage on the street behind us. It was OB who told me that my son is old enough to use the baby swing, and he loves it. The B family often bike or walk to the swings so P can enjoy the swinging sensation.

Apparently someone on our street has a problem with that.

On the weekend, an older woman came up to the B family and told them they can’t come onto our street and use the swings. Apparently, she said she pays for these services and as the B family does not, they are not welcome.

What!

First off, she alone does not pay for these services, everyone has paid his share. Perhaps, and only perhaps, if there was a lineup of children looking to use the swing, then maybe then this horrible woman could tell a baby he wasn’t allowed on. OB told me the woman sat there and waited for them to leave. As you can imagine, OB felt dreadful for her little guy.

This young family is looking at buying a house in the neighbourhood. We are small area of only a few streets. Regardless of which street one calls home, we are all neighbours and this is not how we treat our neighbours. This woman should be ashamed of herself.

I am disgusted by her behaviour and horrified for the B family.
As a resident of this street, I welcome the B family to keep on swinging.

Harry Potter, here I come ....

My stepdaughter saw the new Harry Potter movie. She said it was dreadful.

It doesn’t matter. I am still going to see it. My husband and I are going on a date Saturday and that is the movie I choose. My husband was actually quite excited we were going to the movies, a first since our son was born, but was disappointed when he heard what we are actually going to see.

But since he chose Meet the Spartans for his birthday movie several years ago, he has been banned from getting full rein in the movie-choosing department.

As far as Harry Potter is concerned, my stepdaughter said the important part that was at the end of the book (no not THAT important part) wasn’t in the movie.

I am not overly concerned.

I don’t go to Harry Potter movies because the books are great, I go because I enjoy the movies. I am not often disappointed because I go in with the thought that the movie is a completely different entity than the book.

If you go in with that attitude, you have no expectations and the movies are good in their own right.

In my opinion there has only ever been two book-turned-movies that were better than the original: Misery by Stephen King and starring Kathy Bates and James Caan, and Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and starring Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

I remember someone once said they were disappointed that Interview with the Vampire was so different from the book. The response was of course the movie was different, otherwise it would have been 13 hours long. It was an incredibly long and boring book. Watch the movie.

Joys of Nudity

It seems like every time I leave our son for a few moments, he is naked.

I think it has much to do with his sister. She believes her baby brother looks best with only a diaper.

She would likely think he looks best with nothing on, but I think she has heard too many stories of being peed on and it’s not a chance she is likely willing to take.

Being naked would save money on laundry, hydro and clothing purchases. It would be awfully chilly in the winter.

Reading Recommendation

If you are looking for an easy summertime read, look no further than Robert B. Parker.

I have been reading Parker for years. The books, about a tough private detective from Boston and his friends, are easy reads, great for the beach or an afternoon of pleasure reading.

I have read almost everything Parker has written, even a book about baseball, which is not my favourite sport. (I thought I read everything but a quick search on his website shows the library is missing three of his latest books and he has a new one coming out in October.)

The 1980s TV show Spenser For Hire was based on Parker’s series.

Parker also has two other series, one about a female PI and the other about a small-town police chief.

While Spenser and his friend Hawk are my favourite characters, what I enjoy about Parker’s other series is that many of the secondary characters show up in his two other series.

Visit Parker's website at http://www.robertbparker.net/

Complaining about PC credit card

I have a President’s Choice Mastercard.

I signed up for the credit card because we do most of our shopping at No Frills and I like the idea of getting points and eventually free groceries. Plus, the man said we would get $20 in free groceries when we signed up.

So I read the contract, signed it and asked for my free grocery coupon. It was to come when I got the credit card, he said. OK. Only it didn’t. It ended up coming with my first statement instead. And it wasn’t $20 in free groceries either.

OK, technically it was.

But I so annoyed by what we actually received that I was going to cancel the card. I received four $5-off coupons, which I could use when I spent more than $50.

Although still $20 in free groceries, it was not what was implied when we signed up for the card. I was expecting a coupon for $20 in free groceries so I could stock up on items we needed or buy something frivolous and fun - like an expensive steak.

I am actually unimpressed with the entire President’s Choice points system.

I am sure I am not the only one who dislikes the idea of a credit card. It makes me nervous, particularly since the interest rate is crazy - almost 20 per cent.

I like Sobey’s loyalty card better. With the Sobey’s card, you simply swipe it each time you make a purchase, collect points to earn free groceries. I only shop at Sobey’s when things are on sale and I already have $5 off a future purchase.

If the Westons’ want more people to shop at their grocery stores, they may want to ditch the credit card idea and jump on board with a loyalty card.

Sleep Is For The Weak

I may have created a sleeping monster.

For the past week, my son has been up every hour. By about 3 a.m. he starts a pattern of waking as soon as I put him down. By 5 a.m. or 6 a.m., I am exhausted and started the bad habit of bringing him into bed with me to side nurse (we finally figured this out on our recent camping trip and it’s wonderful) and sleep for a couple of hours.

I haven’t been overly concerned about this hourly waking pattern as our little guy was cutting four teeth last week and if he needed extra attention, I figured he deserved it.

However, it has continued into this week.

So last night, I decided to let him cry it out for a bit.

It broke my heart. Our little guy is a tad stubborn (he gets this naturally I am afraid. Both my husband and I can be pig headed) and I gave up before he did but not before he screamed for what felt like a hour (I have noticed that in the middle of the night, what is a half a hour, feels like it’s at least a hour), cried with real tears and grabbed my neck to pull him up into my arms.

In the end, I picked him up and nursed him back to sleep and brought him back into bed with me this morning.

Before I got back to work, I have three options:

1.Understand sleep is for the weak.
I can continue this pattern and hope our son eventually gets a hang of this sleeping thing. In fairness to our to our little guy, he learned to sleep in his bed at nights and for naps.

2. Ferber.
I really hate this method. I know it works, but the thought of allowing my son to cry himself to sleep makes me physically sick. It brings back horrible memories of when he was sick, crying and struggling to live while I couldn’t pick him up, hold him or comfort him in any way. The thought of letting him cry it out so he learns to self-soothe just seems cruel.

3. Co-sleeping.
I enjoy cuddling with my husband in bed, chatting as we fall asleep and wake up. That’s hard to do when our son is in the middle taking up what little time we have for just the two of us.

So the end result is that I know our son will eventually need to be sleep trained but I am not at the stage where I think he has to give up night nursing. He is not even nine months old so I don’t think he really understands what milk is, never mind that he can’t have any more of it.

I am happy with our sleeping monster. And that is all that matters.

Catchy New Songs For You

While camping last week, my niece taught me some new songs.

Bumblebee song
I am squishing up my baby bumblebee
Won’t my Mommy be so proud of me?
I am squishing up my baby bumblebee.
Eww. Yuck. It’s all over me.

This one is courtesy of Franklin:
All’s I want,
Is a brother or a sister,
Then I will be as happy as can be.
All’s I want
Is a brother or a sister,
Then we’ll be a happy family.

She also sang me a song about Mr. Sun, but I could never remember the words so I looked it up online:

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Please shine down on me

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,
Hiding behind a tree...

These little children
Are asking you
To please come out
So we can play with you

Oh Mister Sun, Sun,
Mister Golden Sun,Please shine down on...
Please shine down on...
Please shine down on me!

My niece also taught me a song about jelly beans, a tummy ache and not eating the green ones, but I can’t seem to find that song online. She also sang Dora the Explorer songs, but luckily those songs did not get stuck in my head.

Teething Baby

My son is teething.
The poor guy is getting four teeth - two front and two eye - at the same time. It's been a tiring last few days. Only 14 more to go.

Photographic Opportunities

Before our son was born, I spent a great deal of time taking nature photos and having them developed.

Now I see a lot of photo opportunities, but don’t grab them. And why would I develop a picture of a flower when I can develop a picture of my adorable son?

But on our camping trip, my parents were quite happy to take the stroller reins so I was able to take a number of great pictures. And I thought I would share some of them with you.

Fun Times at Provincial Park

I’m back.
My son and I had a wonderful time camping with my parents, sister-in-law and niece at Sibbald Point Provincial Park.
It rained - torrentially at many times - most of the week, giving us only a couple of days sunshine and warmth. But we made the best of it.

We walked, swam, walked, threw rocks in the water, walked, climbed, watched Dora (she is really annoying), walked, played at the park, walked, coloured, played games, walked, sang, had campfires, ate, walked, watched Franklin, cooked smores (SK, I am really developing a taste for these things. I had the best one Saturday night) and walked. My niece and I played in the rain, with me encouraging puddle jumping (now she can point out and enjoy the best puddles herself).

We saw a mother deer and her fawn, complete with spots, twice, and had a raccoon play in the woods behind our campsite. Otherwise, we didn’t see much in the way of wildlife.
We did, however, had many experiences with pigs.
We were disgusted about the amount of litter we found on the trails, left behind on campsites, at the beach and in the woods.
Note to the many weekend, first-time and city campers who go to Sibbald Park because it’s close to Toronto and not in the middle of nowhere:
* Park staff are not there to clean up after you. If you want maid service, go to a hotel. We saw one man ordering a park worker to clean up the litter in his campsite. While you do expect your site to be clean, if there is litter to be had, pick it up yourself.
* There is no curb-side garbage pick up at provincial parks. While it’s lovely that you have bagged your garbage, if you leave it at the edge of the campsite, raccoons, skunks and other wildlife will get into it.
* The only thing you should take out of the park are pictures. Leave the wildflowers, the berries, the driftwood where you found it.
* If you take it in, you should be taking it out. Plastic bags do not belong in the water, bottles do not belong on the trails and cookie wrappers shouldn’t be on the road. Aren’t people teaching their children not to litter?
* Radio-free zones are just that. Keep the music off.
* If you aren’t in a radio-free zone, your music shouldn’t be so loud I can hear it at my campsite. If you want to party, stay home.
* Don’t cut through my campsite even if it is quicker.
* The beach is not an ashtray.
* You are camping, expect wildlife.
* And just a question. Why patio lanterns and Christmas lights? When you go camping, wouldn’t you rather see the stars than create light pollution?