I have pulled out the Christmas tree and all my other festive ‘decor’.  I have designated today to be decorating day and I am not going to rest until this house looks Christmas – y.  I have this vision in my head of what I want the house to look like.  I see an ice blue & silver wonderland with lots of twinkle lights and snowman accents.

This vision requires me to pack away all the toys in the living room, move a couch and move Milhouse’s home theater seating.  It’s a lot of work leading up to the actual decorating part but I have convinced myself its possible and gosh danggit I am going to try my hardest to get it done. 

Wish me luck!!

According to the always reliable weatherman, we are going to have a big snowstorm tonight.  There’s going to be lots of snow, freezing rain and ice.  The drive in to work is going to be hell and they are already talking about school buses not running. 

I have never hidden the fact that I hate winter, and this weather has got me looking into Caribbean cruises and vacation ideas.  I have to get away from this weather but alas, funds are pretty much non – existent and I am stuck here until Spring. 

Today Beanz, Stinky, Maks & I went to an indoor playground.  What can I say, we live in Canada and once November rolls around it’s not really fun to go running around outside.  So the place was jammed.  Everybody else had the same idea that we had.  Even the baby section that Maks hangs out in was jammed today.

And that is what ticked me off.

The baby section, more specifically the baby ball pit, was jammed up with kids over 4 and over the height limit.  So this group of rowdy 7 year old had taken over the ball pit and were making really hard for the younger kids to get it.  But Maks being Maks, was drawn to the ball pit and threw a fit everytime I tried to move him away.  So against my better judgement I put him in it.  Big mistake on my part.

The older kids got rowdy and after a few close calls, and yells by some parents, Maks got buried in balls.  I freaked out and dove in.  Yep, all 155 pounds of me leaped into a ball pit designed for 2 year olds like my big toe was on fire, squeezed through the tube and yanked out my son by his arm pits.

Lucky for those 7 year olds that took over the baby ball pit that Stinky was there, or else I would have clotheslined one of them.  But I didn’t want to set a bad example.

I don’t know what is wrong with me.  I just got my car paid off and I’m already looking at ads for new cars.  My Lancer has been through a lot, and it’s still going.  I still love my car, and I don’t really want to get rid of it, it’s just that the new car look so pretty.  I mean I have even gone so far as to look into cheap auto insurance but I really have to get my head in check.  It took me 5 long years to pay off my last loan and I should be lovin’ living somewhat debt free.  Instead, I am drooling at pictures of Honda Pilots. 

I confess, I have a car porn addiction.

Of a 2003 Lancer!! 

I have been driving it for the past 5 years, but it is finally mine!  The bank no longer owns my car, I do!  I am not going to go crazy and run out and get any security systems for it or anything but I am going to frame the letter from the bank saying that my loan is now all paid off.   

I feel like such an adult.  I have a home, family, some sort of career, and now I have my car.  Wow, I am not sure when all this happened but it seems like life came at me fast.  I am still running to catch up but I think that this means I am doing pretty good.

Apparently Twilight is the most amazing thing ever, so I have caved and I am going out to get the book.  I am not going to get all the books.  I want to read this one first and see what I think.  Back in the day when Beanz had time to read, she was obsessed with vampires and all things vampire related, so because of her I am a vampire expert and that makes me very critical of vampire novels.  She was so obsessed, at one point, that I was seriously looking into term life insurance quote just in case. 

I know that a lot of people love the books / movie but I am still critical.  I am really not a fan of teenage angst or romance and this book is all about that.  My teenage angst days ended when Joey and Pacey got together.  I am not into Gossip Girl or anything of that sort.  I tried to get into 90210 2.0 but after I found out that Dylan was Kelly’s baby daddy, I lost interest.  And don’t even get me started on those romance dealies.  I mean come on – “I pulled him toward my heaving bosom as the water gently caressed our legs”.  Please!! 

So I am going into this book with a semi – open mind and I am hoping for the best.  For those of you that have read the books, what do you think?   

Maks has fallen in love.  No, it’s not another whirlwind daycare romance.  This time he has fallen in love with our bed.  Yep, that’s right Destructo has now taken over our bed and he is not giving it up without a fight.  He’s decided that our bed is way more fun than his crib and because of that he is never going to sleep in his crib again.  I can’t say I blame him though; our bed is way more fun.  It doesn’t have bars, it has lots of pillows, and he can bounce a lot higher on our mattress than he can bounce on his.  It is a kids dream.

At night he crawls into our bed and goes to sleep and then (when we are sure he is asleep) Millhouse has to move him over to his crib.  I hate having to move him though.  He looks all sweet cuddled into the pillows, snoring away.  I wish I could just leave him in the bed with us.  But he really is a bed hog.  For such a little person, he manages to take up the entire bed and pushes Millhouse and I to the very edge, clinging to whatever covers we can grab onto. 

But the transferring from our bed to his crib isn’t the only hard part about this new arrangement.  When he gets up for his bottle at night, he gives us heck because he realizes that he’s not in our bed and we are going to put him back into the crib.  He cries for a bit because he wants to come into our bed but because he is so tired, he usually falls back asleep.  I do move him into our bed at around 5:30am when I am supposed to start getting ready for work.  But when I see him all cuddled in the bed, I can’t resist going back to sleep, so I crawl back into bed with him.  But I think that is giving him the wrong idea.

I think that we are going to have to convert his crib into a toddler bed this weekend.  Hopefully that will fulfill his need for a bed and I won’t feel so bad about having to move him around in the middle of the night.  I am not too keen on changing to crib to a bed because then I would have to admit that Maks’ isn’t a baby anymore, and that is really hard for me to admit.  But I guess it was bound to happen, I was just hoping it wouldn’t happen this fast. 

In the wake of the attacks in Mumbai, I am deeply saddened. I am feel great pain for the families of all those that were killed or injured. Their loss is tragic. This was a savage attack perpetrated by heartless cowards.

That being said, I am not going to make this a political post. There is so much pain and anger out there right now; I do not want to trivialize the loss of innocent lives by getting up on my soap box.

Instead I just have this to say – terrorism has nothing to do with religion.

I have read many comments on this tragedy and I am sickened by the amount of people that are advocating killing innocent Muslims as a means of retaliation. These terrorists are not adhering to the words of the Qu’ran, they cowards that need something to hide behind. Islam is a religion of peace but fanatical Muslim groups and non – Muslims alike are obscuring the message and making it political.

I can almost guarantee than in the days to come – a political message will rise from these attacks. The group responsible will present their grievances and those complaints will be rooted in economics and politics. Religion will have nothing to do with their anger; they just used it to get the world’s attention. They are feeding on our need for buzz words like terror and Islam. And they have manipulated the media and gotten a forum for a voice.

Religions, all religions, are based on the same fundamental values – love, peace, understanding and acceptance. In this time of great tragedy, please remember that.

That’s Maks’ new hobby. 

I am working on potty training him and he has decided that the bathtub is the new ‘potty’.  When he is ready to potty, he runs over to the potty and sits down with his diaper on but when I get the diaper off, is when the fun begins.  He scrambles into the bathtub and pees.  But wait there’s more.  Once the peeing starts he decides that he must try and grab hold of the stream of tinkle.  So there is a 18 month old peeing in the bathtub trying to grab his urine and laughing hysterically on a regular basis.   

Gosh I love  potty training!! 

I think that means I’ve been a pretty good girl.  So I am entitled to whatever I want this year.  I sent Millhouse & Beanz my Christmas  wish list and got the weirdest reaction.  They didn’t believe me!!  I mean I didn’t ask for diamond rings or anything.  It was a pretty random list.  This is what I asked for, what do you think?  Am I weird?