For the record....

I know it's been a dog's age since I've posted anything. But I'm past caring.

I've been sick for what feels like months but is more likely close to 4 weeks. The kids have been sick even longer. I think we're finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel but I've been fooled before.

There's nothing new really.

-My sisters were here for an early Christmas celebration.
-I'm going to be (gasp!) 37 shortly.
-I made the leap and got Mirena. Not because we need it for birth control but because I'm so sick of menstruating. It seems so pointless now.
-I'm done my Christmas shopping and my cards are ready for the mail. This makes me feel good.
-What doesn't make me feel good is the large amounts of wrapping I have to do.
-We Frenchie bought a ridiculously huge TV. So we're now in deeper debt.
-I have to go back to work soon. I don't have the stomach to even think about it but I must let them know my return to work date.

God I miss having stuff to write about. What the hell happened to me?

My baby is walking.

At 9.5 months my baby has started to walk. This is a short video compilation that my Dad made.

My meetings with beautiful people.

Yesterday something very cool happened. I met MyReality!!! In the grand scheme of things we don't really live too far apart. Maybe 4 hours or thereabouts so we finally managed to pick a date to meet half way.

She's very pregnant and due on ..... my birthday!! How cool is that? I've got my fingers crossed for a timely delivery and then I figure the least she could do is give that child the middle name Sky. Or even my real name. :)

Anyway, we had a wonderful time and she graciously gave me permission to post a photo of us taken before we headed home in opposite directions.
We've been blogging friends for a long time now and I'm pleased to tell you that she's just as wonderful in person. We have batted around the idea of meeting up again next summer with kidlets and husbands in tow. That would be much fun.

And since I'm posting pictures, I finally got around to getting permission from kgrrl and Kristin to post pics of our meeting of the minds when I was in Vancouver.

Here we are in a slightly off centre and purposely crooked shot. The picture taker may or may not have had a few shots. Please note how put together the 2 of them look compared to small town me.

Kgrrl was very gracious and let me sister-in-law do silly things to her hair.
My sister and I get cozy.
Kristin and the cute as heck Corey.
You're welcome. :)

Alright already!

For some reason I stuck my tongue out for many pics that night. Here I am touching tongues with Frenchie. It's not a very flattering photo but it gives you a pretty good idea how the night went.

BTW, you can't fully see what is written on Frenchie's face but if anyone watches The Office, they'll get it right away. :)
The "B" is hidden from view. He's Facebook. :)

I was a devil. Imagine!

Frenchie and I went out with friends to celebrate Halloween. I haven't been out to party on Halloween for 7 years and let's just say, I can't remember the last time the two of us went out with friends to party.

What a blast.

I may have danced all night. I may have done shooters. I may have kissed a girl. I may have been chatted up by a guy. I may have been felt up by a stranger.

And it made me feel like a million bucks in spite of the next tired morning with a slight hangover.

So worth it.

at peace with my decision

After I posted about my confusion about whether or not to get my kids and myself vaccinated with the H1N1 shots, I had come very close to concluding that we wouldn't be getting it.

I did some reading, some advice soliciting, some thinking and decided that we would opt out. My plan was to just be careful through the flu season, hope for the best and count on the fact that we're pretty healthy people overall.

Then, a local-to-the-greater-area girl died. An otherwise healthy girl died.

*gulp*

Nothing quite puts things in perspective like the real possibility of my kids dying. I kept thinking of that girls' poor parents. About a young life cut short. My view quickly shifted.

So, needless to say, I decided that the risk of the shot was better than the risk of the shot.

Then all hell broke loose.

Clinics opened around the city and outlying areas. (I'm in an outlying area) People crowded to them, sometimes lining up for hours and getting turned away (shortly after opening) because the clinics had reached capacity for the day. The newspapers and new shows have been showing overwhelming scenes of people with babies and small children lining up for hours in the cold.

WTH?

How the hell am I supposed to line up for hours in the cold with a 2.5 yo that won't stay still and a 9 month old??? How???

I'm peeved at the process. I know that we're not the only area dealing with this sort of problem and I'm sure you'll agree with me that there's got to be a better way. I mean really! Talk about creating panic.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that my parents (who would go to hell and back for my kids) got up at 5am, bundled up, grabbed a thermos of coffee and parked themselves outside the clinic doors this morning. They were not the first there but they weren't far behind. As a result of their investment of time, my kids were among the first vaccinated.

I feel good about my decision but not too happy about having to go through it again for Round 2 of their shots and then again for myself.

As I said, there has GOT to be a better way.

special cookies

During my recent trip to Van to visit my sister, my hosts revealed that they had a pot cookie or two in their freezer. Suggestions were put forth that perhaps we should have one.

Well, let me just tell you that the last time I got stoned was years ago. So long ago that I don't even remember when exactly it was. The truth is that while I have done my share of experimenting (mostly in my teens and early 20s) booze is my drug of choice.

When I drink I rarely do it to excess and always feel in control of myself and what I'm doing. When I get stoned, it's the opposite. While it's still an enjoyable feeling and laughing at the colour of the carpet certainly does have it's humour, I don't feel in control at all and I don't like that feeling.

In the past, I've been silly enough to get high around people that were either a)strangers or b)not close enough for me to be comfortable with. Because I say some pretty silly shit when I'm stoned, I tend to clam up altogether if I'm not around a select few friends.

But since these were two that I'm most comfortable around, I thought What the hell? And boy was it funny. I've never eaten a pot cookie or brownie before having always gone the harsher route of inhaling it. Well, let me tell you this was the way to go.

Everything was so funny. Unfunny stuff was funny. I was having conversations in my head and then blurting part of it out to my sisters and then laughing uproariously. It really was the best kind of high.

When I came clean to my blogger buddies that I had eaten a pot cookie the night previous, both were flummoxed that I'd never had one before. Honestly though, I have never had the opportunity. Is pot baking just a thing on the West Coast?

Have you ever had a pot cookie?