You Don’t See This Much Anymore

Yesterday I was dusting my knick-knacks and books in my library when I pulled out my husband’s shoes from when he was a toddler.

The shoes, more than 40 years old, still look good and if I didn’t know that those hard-soled shoes were actually bad for children’s feet, I would still use them.
I flipped them over when I discovered this:



Yes, these beautiful shoes were made in Canada. It’s rare to find items made in Canada these days. And that is kind of sad.

Pee, Pee, Everywhere Pee

We started potty training our guy Sunday. We bought Kushies training pants, the reusable variety of Pull-ups.

Past readers of this blog knows my guy drinks a lot so therefore he pees a lot, too. For us, this means we spent a lot of time asking and taking him to the potty. For the record, he goes each time he sits down.

So far he hasn’t had any accidents but that may be because I take him every 15 minutes or so and I can only assume the daycare provider does so as well.

The daycare provider must have one of those freestanding potties. Prior to real potty training, my guy would prefer (thankfully) to go on the one that fits on our toilet.

But since Sunday, he requests the freestanding variety.

After he finishes peeing, he loves to empty the contents into the big toilet and flush.

Before heading off to the library yesterday afternoon, I asked my guy if he had to go. He said no, so I suggested we go together – E on the freestanding potty and me on the normal one. He finished first.

I think you know where this is heading because I saw it coming but didn’t react fast enough.

My guy stood up, grabbed the potty and dumped the contents all over me. I was covered in pee – a lot of pee.

‘Sorry, Mommy,’ he told me. ‘I clean you.’ And he did. He took toilet paper and wiped it off my wet jeans. I cleaned up the rest and changed before we went out.

The Pickup

We live on a street that dead-ends into a lake. The closest town to us – about a 15-minute drive away – is a small place of about 6,000 people. I have lived on this street for 10 years in May. Despite the length of time we have lived here, we do not know a lot of people, although I do recognize people I have met at the grocery store or the library, for example.

Yesterday, the Focus needed some work so after picking up my son at daycare, we drove to the garage, located about five minutes outside of town. My son and I decided we wanted to go to the library to ‘pick books.’

My guy almost made it until the end of the garage’s driveway when he said ‘Mommy carry E’ so I did.

It was cold yesterday, below seasonal. My guy, who doesn’t like mittens, tucked his hands into my shirt and put his head on my shoulder. And we walked, mommy carrying the almost 30-pound babe, a purse and the diaper bag.

We got almost to town, when a wonderful woman, driving a recognizable reading program van, pulled over and asked if we wanted a ride.

I was grateful but taken back and unsure what to do. Part of me thought a ride would be lovely. The other part questioned if I was crazy excepting a stranger’s ride.

The part of me who apparently is more trusting then I thought said yes and I began to put my guy in the car seat. My guy decided he didn’t want to go in and hung on tight. The smart me took the escape. I said thank you so much but would just walk.

A hour later, we made it to the library and my son picked books, played with the computers and rearranged the chairs.

We also met up with the lady who I again thanked.

I do thank this kind woman who saw someone in need and offered her a ride. But I must remember to always listen to that inner voice when it says ‘Don’t accept rides from strangers’ particularly when it will soon be time to teach my son the same lesson.

Colours of My Dreams

For as long as I can remember, my favourite colours have been blue and yellow.

I have always loved the magazine Victoria and for years saved each copy I purchased so I could flip through its pages and dream of my perfect house.

At least once a year, the editorial staff would dedicate their issue to blue and my eyes would feast on the possibilities.

We have lived in our house by the lake for almost 10 years.

For the first eight years, the only room that was painted was my stepdaughter’s room, which eventually became our son’s room.

This year for Mother’s Day my husband gave me one of the best presents ever – he was going to paint our bedroom in the colour of my choice.

The pick was easy. I have been carrying around a paint chip for years and I simply had to pull it out of my wallet and give it to my husband.

The bedroom is lovely. I never tire of the colour.

My husband recently painted our living room, which holds my library, the same colour, and on the Saturday before Father’s Day painted our hallway muse, which is a yellow colour.

Slowly, my house is becoming a place of my dreams.

Beautiful Library

Christina from Write-Brained mentioned in a recent post about her desire to have a library to showcase her books.

My dream was to have a Disney’s Beauty and the Beast library.

The library in that Disney classic was two stories with shelves and shelves of books and a ladder that slid the perimeter of the room so you could get to those classics on the upper shelves.

I don’t have a ladder, but I do have a library designed by me and built by my talented husband.

To clarify, I found a picture of a library I wanted and my husband did the rest.

The end result is a library that covers the entire wall of our living room with shelves and shelves of my favourite books, knick-knacks and picture frames, and cupboards that hold scrapbooking and craft materials, my son’s toys, cookbooks, vases and gadgets.

There are three beautiful glass shelves and pot lighting to accent some of my favourite things – Classic Pooh book ends that are keeping my Lucy Maud Montgomery books together; my Lisa collectable doll, figurines and tins; flowers from the party after our Caribbean wedding.

Originally, some of the shelves held my Disney VHS collection and other DVDs. But when we moved the TV downstairs, it made sense the movies should follow.

I also wanted to bring out and display my journals.

So my husband moved a few shelves and I recently reorganized the library’s contents. I now find myself sitting on the couch and staring at I my beautiful library, my wonderful books, my good-looking family and my precious ‘stuff.’