What I really, really want. 

That was my homage to the Spice Girls.  I loved them when they first came out but I was also a teenager so there was no accounting for my taste. 

Don’t stop reading though; this post is not about the Spice girls.  It is about something that I really, really want.  And no it’s not about diamond rings, cars or material things like that. 

What I really want is a flattering bathing suit.

Is that too much to ask for?  Maks started swimming this past weekend and in the past it was a daddy / baby bonding activity.  But there were times when I would go into the pool with him.  When I used to go I would wear my maternity swim suits and justify it with the fact that I had just given birth (8 months ago).  Now that excuse doesn’t fly anymore but I still can’t wear my pre-baby swimwear.  I have been looking for a flattering swimsuit but thus far have been unsuccessful.  So it looks like Maks and Millhouse will be the only ones in the pool this year. 

Yesterday Millhouse was hanging up a curtain in Maks’ bedroom.  Now somewhere in the man handbook it says that when hanging up a curtain that it is quite safe to use a rocking chair to stand on.  I didn’t think that a rocking chair was the safest thing to use but Millhouse assured me that he was fine and climbed on up.  Maks and I stood watching (a good distance away) because Millhouse balancing on a moving rocking chair hanging up a curtain would be quite entertaining.

About three seconds into the curtain hanging, in which Millhouse was blabbering on about how he didn’t understand why curtains had to be hung and why could I just leave the curtains as they were and blah blah blah, he fell.  Now he didn’t fall far or anything.  It’s not like he was twenty feet in the air.  I would say he fell about 1.5 to 2 feet, nothing too bad.  Now as he was falling from this great height he decided to grab onto curtain rod.  Somewhere he figured that by grabbing on to the curtain rod, the 5 pound bar would stop all 200lbs of him from falling.  Go figure, that logic was probably in the man handbook also.  It didn’t, and we now have a bent curtain rod.

All the while Maks and I were silent spectators.  When Millhouse landed and realized a) he fell and b) I was right, he swore.  He let out a loud “oh, f*ck”.  Now Millhouse swearing is nothing new.  He swears like a sailor so after 8 years I am used to it.  Maks on the other hand isn’t.  So upon hearing his daddy utter this famous words he looked up and me and said “mommy, oh fut!”.

Now a good mommy would just look and him and move on but as the daycare has established I am not a good mommy.  So when Maks said that I burst out laughing, as did Millhouse and a very confused Maks.  Since he thought that he had said something very funny, he kept saying it over and over.  He seems to have forgotten his very funny word this morning but with my luck when the lady at the daycare asks him how his weekend was he is going to say:  oh fut!

I admit that I am a pack rat ESPECIALLY when it comes to Maks.  I have kept every single thing that he has ever had.  I have them all boxed up in the basement.  I have 10+ boxes of clothes, toys, books, games, ornaments, religious things, stuff from the hospital and other knick knacks.  I don’t want to get rid of it.  But every time I pass by the Salvation Army drop box I can’t help thinking about all those things in my basement. 

I have never been a big garage sale person, mostly because having people paw through my stuff and criticize just doesn’t appeal to me.  But I do think that I am going to go through Maks old stuff and get a couple bags together to donate.  I may even have him help me.  I want him to learn from an early age that some people don’t always have what we have and if you have extra then it is a good thing to share.

And I am still cleaning.  I am a huge nerd, so that means that I have a lot of books.  And by a lot I mean I have in my house right now 100+ books.  That is not counting the two boxes of books that I have at my parents house that I didn’t move when I got married or the books that are on my wish list at Chapters and Amazon.  My obsession with books has gotten so bad that I have actually looked into getting a custom rubber stamp made so that I can stamp all my books with my name.  I hate sharing / lending my books to anyone because in my head they secretly love books as much as I do and they will never give the books I lend them back.  I know I need help.

Now that I have explained my obsession with the written word, here’s my issue.  I have to clean out my house.  One of the obvious ways that I can keep the house clean is the maybe, possibly, get rid of some of the books.  But I don’t want to.

The spin cycle over at Sprite’s Keeper this week is all about quirks and quirkiness.  When I saw that I figured that I was screwed.  I’m not quirky.  I have no quirky traits, habits or mannerisms.  I mean other people other there have those quirks that make them unique and dare I say it a teeny bit odd, but not me.  I am boring, plain and totally unquirky.  So this spin was definitely, totally, 100% not applicable to me.

But I do like to read anthropology textbooks for fun, but that is not quirky, right?  Right, it’s geeky not quirky.

But I do shake all the bubbles out of all things carbonated because I don’t like the way the bubbles feel in my mouth.  I mean I know that they have non – carbonated water but it doesn’t taste as good as the carbonated ones.  And who wants to buy flat pop?  I just can’t drink carbonated pop, it hurts my throat.  But that doesn’t make me quirky.  I know that I’m not the only one that does that.  I bet that in this whole wide world there are tons of other people that do the same thing.

But I do have to deconstruct a sub and eat the inside first, then the bread and cheese.  But come on now this isn’t quirky!  It is sensible eating and portion control, besides by taking it apart you can enjoy all the flavours of your sandwich.  That is so not quirky.

Right?

Right?

OK maybe I can participate in this weeks spin, I am a little bit quirky.

*Yes another post about Maks and the potty.  Forgive me but potty issues have consumed my life.*

This morning Maks and I ran out of the house in our usual flustered way.  We both slept in and we left the house way later than we should have.  But we still had enough time to get to where we were supposed to be but not enough time to make any unscheduled stops.

And then it happened.

When I was far enough away from the house that I couldn’t turn back and nowhere near the daycare something I had never experienced before happened.  From the backseat I heard a very shrill – “Mommy!  Toilet!”.  Maks had to go potty.  Now to and from the daycare he wears diapers because the traffic is as unpredictable as my good hair days, I figure it is better to have a wet diaper than a wet car seat.  So this morning when Maks was screaming that he had to go to the toilet I wasn’t worried.  I told him it was OK and he could go in his diaper.

But he wouldn’t go.

I guess my whole big boys use the toilet not the diaper talk really worked with him because he was refusing to use his diaper.  He was squirming in his car seat doing some kind of awkward potty dance.  He kept pulled on his straps and trying to get out to get to the potty.  He would not go in his diaper.  So after about ten minutes of trying to convince him to go in his diaper, I pulled into a gas station.

When the car stopped and I turned to get him out, he informed me that the “pee pee done”.  He had gone in his diaper.   

AAARGGGHHH!!! 

I was late for work.

Dear Mr. Premier

I am not sure what families, those living on or below the poverty line and those of us that have lost our jobs have done to anger you but I beseech you to please end your attack.

Tomorrow you are going to announce your plan to harmonize the sales tax in Ontario . You have bent to the whims of big business, again, and have decided to sacrifice us in order to satisfy them. The merger of the PST and the GST will increase our cost of living, pushing some of us so far below the poverty line that we will drown. We will not be able to afford to feed or clothe our children anymore. Instead of being participants in society we will become dependant on society.

The recession has delivered blows that we were not ready for. Some of us have lost or are losing our jobs. But it doesn’t end there. With the loss of our livelihood, we are also losing our homes, cars, security, self esteem, and self worth. Please stop pushing us further down because the more you do the harder it is for us to get back to where we were. The further you bury us the less our struggles are heard.

Please hear us because we don’t want to be here.

Kindest Regards,
Families; Single Parents; the poor, the suffering, the hungry, and the cold

I tend to keep my political opinions to myself.  Most of the time I save my political rants for Beanz and Millhouse but this time I can’t.  So if you don’t like politics then this post isn’t for you.  But if you live in Ontario and you have kids, maybe you should read this.

***************************

The provincial government announced that they intend to merge the PST with the GST tomorrow during their provincial budget.  The Premier has admitted that this decision is based on the urgings of business owners.  Big business has stated that this is an attempt at stimulating the economy.  Businesses say that a harmonized tax would allow them to get a refund for the provincial portion of the tax that they pay on equipment and materials used to make their products, thereby reducing production costs. Also, a merged tax would also cut down on the time business spends calculating sales tax.  Thereby, making them more competitive and furthermore stimulating spending. 

Now I see some serious holes in that logic but that is not what concerns me, right now. 

Right now I see a harmonized tax as detrimental to families and those that are already struggling in this recession.  There are many items that are PST exempt, thereby making them more affordable that family’s purchase.  I am not talking about luxury items, I talking about diapers, clothing and food.  With a harmonized tax the cost of these things will increase.  There is no possibility of an increase, they will go up.  There will be a $1.76 increase for diapers, $1.04 increase for girls’ shoes, and a 72-cent increase for children’s vitamins.  Even though these numbers seem small they are not.  If you have one or more children in diapers your cost of living has just gone up.  If you have one or more child that wears clothes your cost of living has just gone up.  If you have one or more child that eats your cost of living has just gone up.  For a family that is struggling as is with the cost of housing, transportation, childcare and healthcare increasing the cost of living for them is only crippling them more.

I am extremely disappointed with the Liberal government.  During this time when people are barely making enough to get by, they have chosen to attack families, single parents, those living below or on the poverty line further.  I am hoping that the opposition steps up and stops this from going through but given the track record of the PC and the practical nonexistence of the NDP I see harmonized sales tax as being passed.  And a lot of people suffering because of it.      

And you know what that means – clean up!!! 

I’ve already started with my closet and now I have no clothes.  I was actually honest with myself and donated all my old stuff that I was wistfully hoping to fit into again….at some point in my life.  Because of that 3 /4 of my closet is now empty.  So I am going to go shopping for some clothes that I actually like and maybe even turn over a new life this spring but I make no promises.

Now it’s time for Millhouse to clean up his stuff.  He has no issues cleaning up his closet.  He’s had the same clothes for the past ten years but unlike me they all still fit him and he wears them all.  So he really has nothing to throw / give away.  He has to clean out the shed in the backyard.  I bought him a mig welder a couple of years ago that is buried in the shed that he has to find and he has to get rid of all kinds of knick knicks and trash stuff that he has back there.

If he doesn’t get it cleaned out soon, I am going to clean it out and he will end up with just a hammer and a bolt.