you know your getting up there when...

I was listening to a local radio station. They were interviewing woman who worked for a local recruiting company about how to "recession proof your job". At the end of the interview they must have had a few seconds to kill cause they decided to ask the woman one last question. And the only good question the brillers radio host could come up with was "What was your first computer?". Her answer was "Oh, it was a 486". The host was pretty stumped. You could tell she was totally going for the "Commodore 64" answer. Instead of just dropping the line of questioning she persisted and asked "Did you like, play Pong on it?" LOL. The interviewee responded "Well it was Windows..." I laughed out loud and then totally screamed at my radio. YOUR FIRST COMPUTER WAS A 486!?!?!?!

not my day

I am tired today. Very tired. I had a hard time motivating myself to get through the day. When the end finally came and it was time to get the kids I did what any self respecting, exhausted parent, would do. I told them I would take them to a fast food joint.

On Mondays and Wednesdays I am on my own with the kids till 8pm. Kev works late and after work he goes to a Martial Arts studio to study Muay Thai.

I picked up D and asked him where he wanted to go. His first choice was McD's. This was how he tried to persuade me to take him there:

Mom I have to tell you that the hamburgers at McD's are so tasty and they are soooooo good for you. They are Mom! They are so tasty. But that good for you thing. I just made that up.

LOL
Of course I took them there.

I am not much in the mood for writing today. But I had to drop by and say this:

Today, I saw a man, wearing UGGS!!! WTF?!?!?!

Bowling fun

Last Sunday my family attended a bowling fundraiser for the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation. A friend from our hometown organized this event. Her 1 year old son almost died when he went into heart failure at 9 days old. He was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy and with the help of medication his condition is now stable. Many experts did not expect him to see his 1st birthday.

Cardiomyopathy is a disease of the heart muscle. I got this little blurb from the web site "CCF is dedicated to accelerating the search for cures while improving diagnosis, treatment, and quality of life for children affected by cardiomyopathy. CCF actively works with federal agencies, medical societies, voluntary health organizations, and hospitals nationwide to increase awareness, accelerate research, and advance education on pediatric cardiomyopathy. The hope is that one day every affected child can be cured to live a full and active life."

The event was an absolute blast. The kids loved the bowling. They kicked our butts at bowling.
Ignore the last column (M was jabbing at the touch screen and managed to give himself a handicap...) D is the first line, 140, M is the second, 126, I am the 3rd with 103 and Kev scored 104. And you know what, KEVIN AND I WERE TRYING!!! I swear!!! They kicked our butts. In the second game M lost interest so I let Kevin and D duke it our for bowling supremacy. I didn't get a photo but D's final score was 154 and Kevin's was 150. I think D might have a future in bowling. Is there a future in bowling?

There was a woman painting kids faces. She was amazing. D wanted a bat and she came up with this on the fly.M was a tiger. After his face was painted he refused to talk. He only growled and chased people.
This woman had never done face painting before and she said she studied it be searching it out on the net.

I have been thinking about having someone come and do balloon animals for M's Birthday party. Now I think I will google/youtube it and see if I can teach myself! I will let you know how it goes.

By the way, thanks so so much for all the supportive comments regarding my job hunting. I know I was fishing for them big time but I truly appreciate every one!

Edited to add: We were 5 pin bowling (with the small balls - get your minds out of the gutter!).

Calling all Celiacs

I am reposting this for Kelly at Don Mills Diva. If any of you have any information that could help her, please send her an e-mail. Thank You.

I believe in the power of the blogosphere.

I believe it has the power to bring together people and ideas and advice.

And knowledge.

Here's the deal:

Rob's mom had her first chemotherapy treatment last week and it did not go well. She suffered mightily from every possible damn side effect, was re-admitted to the hospital twice and has resided there since Monday.

What is complicating her ability to tolerate the chemo treatments is apparently her body's inability to retain potassium. She can take it in, has been taking it in, under medical supervision even, but her body will not retain it. She and her doctors know this inability to retain potassium is related to her celiac disease, but no one is quite sure how to get around it.

She feels, we feel, that what is lacking is someone fully versed in the effects of celiac disease on the body and specifically how a celiac sufferer might counteract his or her body's inability to retain potassium.

Any bloggy angels out there with any thoughts on this? Please e-mail me directly at donmillsdiva@hotmail.com.

Big Ice

My D's hockey team had the opportunity to play a game on the Sens ice at the Scotia Bank Place on Friday. For those of you who don't follow hockey (aka: not Canadian ;) ) the Sens are Ottawa's NHL team and SBP is their home ice.

It was lots of fun. Arriving at the arena, dressing in the nice dressing room. Which surprisingly wasn't all that huge but it had an awesome bathroom in it. I find hockey dressing room bathrooms particularly revolting as far as public bathrooms go. So that compliment means a lot coming from me.

The boys played a great game and they won. This is a shot of my boy on the ice. He is in the centre of the photo (35). We are very proud of him. He loves the game and enjoys to play.

This is D with one of his hockey hero's Chris Neil. We have been lucky to meet him twice and he seems to be a genuinely nice man. Relates really well to kids which is why I like him. D is also a fan of Dany Heatley (D's jersey is a Heatley jersey). We have yet to get his autograph but I am sure we will eventually.

As I sit

listening to this song (Ne-Yo Closer), I work on my resume. I hate working on my resume. It is such an important piece of paper. It has to work so hard on your behalf. I really want this job. It is in my industry. For a company that is in my end of town, which would cut my commute by 40 minutes a day. I have two friends, one of which is a former co-worker, who already work there. One of them is going to personally hand my resume to the boss. I want to get this right. And I only have once chance. Exhale, you can do this Chantal

I have worked for the same company for 13 years. It is a great thing. I weathered the tech bust without a scratch. I actually got raises and promotions during that time. I was lucky. I am lucky. But working for the same company for that long has taken away my confidence. I worry that I have limited myself. That my experience isn't relevant to any other company. I know this isn't entirely true but I can't stop that voice in my mind the tells me not to get my hopes up.

Cross your fingers for me. I'll take all the good vibes I can get.

Oh no you didn't

Oh Yes I did. It was about 3 weeks ago when I stupidly commented to a co-worker about how healthy my family had been. For so long. We hadn't really been sick since the summer. It was mid January and we were still looking good. WHAT WAS WRONG WITH ME. Why do I tempt fate so.

3 weeks ago the kids came down with fevers. 2 weeks ago, I did. This weekend, the early morning of the Friday PD day, D wakes up by throwing up in his bed. He is sick a few more times over the next 12 hours. After that he seems fine. Then Sunday night, M throws up, in D's bed. Sigh. He seemed fine for the next 30 or so hours. Monday was a holiday here, Family Day, and he managed to get through the day, eat a bit, drink quite a lot. I thought for sure we were in the clear. Early this morning, at 4 am, he throws up, in my bed. Double Sigh.

Thankfully D is still Okay. M I am not so sure. Again he has gone the whole day without being sick to his stomach, but he is very tired and has napped a lot, which means he isn't up to par. So he will be staying home again tomorrow.

The thing I hate the most about being a working mom is the pull of work when your kids are sick. You want to be home with them, but work responsibilities are always in the back of your mind. I have already taken 2 days off work (Friday and Tuesday) so it will be Kevin's turn tomorrow. Hopefully M will be good to go back to day care on Thursday.

New Music

I heard one of their songs on CBC on my way home the other day. I have been stalking their myspace page listening to their tunes since.

They are Olenka and the Autumn Lovers and I am particularly in love with Warsaw Girl. I just wish it was the full track on their page. I guess I need to buy the album now don't I!

They are from London, Ontario! Practically local (well not really, 700 km's away) but I have a very close friend who lives in London so I will adopt them as my own. :)

On the way to day care this morning

M said this to me:

I am tired of snow Mom. I want the snow gone.

I asked him: Why do you want the snow gone honey?

He said: Mom, snow is boring!

Oh my. It can be, it really can be. Especially the snow we have now which is more like a giant block of ice. My poor child. He will like winter some day! I hope.

Tales from the sickbed

Actually I am back at work today. Feeling somewhat sluggish and stuffy but overall I am fine. Thanks for all the well wishes. I do have one funny story to tell about my 4 days at home.

M figured out I was sick at home and didn't want to go to day care. I kept him home with me on Monday. I actually sent him to day care on Tuesday morning so I could rest. They called me at 10:30am to tell me that he was upset and just wasn't himself and that I needed to come pick him up. Me, I had to pick him up. I was all feverish and sick and smelly. It wasn't pretty. I picked him up, and I kept him home with me on Wednesday as well. My sick must have been pretty noticeable because he never bugged me to play or anything. He just sat beside me while I napped in bed and played on his own and watched television ALL DAY LONG.

On Wednesday we were watching TV as usual and he asked me for lunch. So I headed downstairs to make soup. We ate our soup, him dipping his fishy crackers one by one. It would have been cute if I hadn't been falling asleep in my bowl. After lunch I figured it was the perfect time for a nap. And lo and behold he agreed, so we went up to bed and settled in. He wasn't as tired as I was so I turned on the TV. I was surprised to see Sesame Street on. Sesame Street doesn't play at lunch, it plays at 10am. I lugged my lazy head off the pillow to look at my clock and holy shit if it isn't 10:30. I had already fed my kid lunch and was settling down for afternoon nap at 10:30. I had stood at the stove making the soup and not once noticed the time. And really, I didn't care. I put my head down, went to sleep and so did he. We slept from 10:30 till 2pm. And it was awesome!

I is sick

Home, been home for 4 days. Sick sick sick. Today I am just starting to feel like myself again. So nothing much is new. Have spent most of the last 4 days in bed. Will be back soon.