Goodbye Prince Albert!

Today was a very busy day. I am sitting in the camper typing this. I have no internet connection, which is weird, because I had one yesterday in this same spot. As a result, I don’t know if I will get this posted tonight or not. I suppose that I could run into the house and connect, but I am totally pooped and don’t know if I will be able to summon the energy.

Everything is now out of the house. In one hour and sixteen minutes, we will no longer own a home that cannot be connected to a truck and driven away. We have a list of things a mile long to do in the morning, but thankfully, packing is not one of them! After going to the dollar store, city hall, the lawyers, SaskTel and Tim Horton’s, we will be on the road to Tisdale. The van has still not sold, so I will be driving it and Michael will be driving the truck. We will both be towing and it has been a long, long time since I have towed anything so I am a little nervous. Dad will come into Tisdale with us and get us set up for the first time with water and a working toilet. Maybe tomorrow will be the day that something other than coffee gets cooked in here!

So, this afternoon we went over to Andrea’s house. We promised her AGES ago that before we left town, Michael would put baseboards in her salon. While Michael and Lanny cut and pasted…I mean nailed, Andrea and I played in the yard with the kids. There were two pools and a big sprinkler going and we all had a lot of fun. Then, as we were sitting around on the deck in walk the Stenske’s…and then the Banman’s and Charity, and Jeri, Bethany, Kate and Sam, and Rosie, and Dave! They totally put one over on us and had a wonderful going away barbeque for us! It was so nice! Perfect weather, great friends, wonderful food…all in all a wonderful surprise and a very touching end to our time in Prince Albert! Almost makes us want to stay! Almost…but we are so very excited to start on this new chapter in our life!

Last night Laura and Paul Bunyan came up to visit and say goodbye to the house. OK…so it was hello for Ryan since he had never been before, but goodbye for Laura. She and I transferred our growth chart that we had on the wall onto a 1X2 that I had sanded and stained earlier. I think that is going to be my new baby shower gift. I love to have a nice growth chart on the wall, but paper gets ripped, so I always mark right on the wall. The unfortunate thing is that we end up moving and it gets left behind. So now, I am going to have one that I can take everywhere. I made it the same height as a door frame, so it will blend in. It was truly the one thing that was bothering me to leave behind. (Paul Bunyan is Laura’s new squeeze. His real name is Ryan, but he is a powerhouse, so I have dubbed him Paul Bunyan. For some reason, although I HATE shortening people’s names, I occasionally really like a person directly on meeting them and they get a nickname that sticks in my mind. We really like Ryan!)

I think the kids are finally starting to understand that we are leaving here and not coming back. The boys were getting it before, but it really sunk in for Abby in the last two days. She cried a lot of the way home tonight because she wasn’t going to get to see Hanna for a long time. My poor babies. I wanted so badly to move from my hometown when I was a kid, and now I am scared that my kids will resent being moved around so much. Maybe the next town will be the last for a good long while. We’ll see.

Sorry to disappoint on the entertainment end of things tonight. I am feeling rather melancholy and just wanted to chat, not entertain. The next blog will be fun…I promise!

Last days, Spaghetti Cat and Defeatist Fire Pits

Today, we had a birthday party for Matthew. We met out at the park and had a wiener roast, played games, and just fooled around really. Matt got some great gifts and had a wonderful time. I stink like campfire. That is what happens when you end up roasting 12 hotdogs all at the same time while the smoke clogs around your head! We remembered AFTER we started trying to make fire that this particular type of fire pit (the round deep ones) hates to have fire made in it and will violently protest any attempts. It spewed smoke with great passion and I think maybe even had underground sprinklers imbedded in it to thwart our efforts. Eventually, we just wadded up a bunch of paper and roasted hot dogs over it. As soon as we were done with the roasting portion of the party, the fire caught nicely and was still going along when we left. We had, of course, not brought any water, so we were unable to douse it. None of the boys would pee on it for me, and I learned the hard way last time I tried, that it does not work for girls to pee on fires. Just kidding, but it does make the story much funnier to say that. My Grandpa always said you can tell a story a hundred different ways before you ever tell a lie.

After we got home, I got a call from Bonnie saying that she was just about ready to come and pick up Nessee. So, we gathered her up, took our last photos, and said our goodbyes and tried to get her into the cat carrier. I think this was her third ride in it, so picture trying to put cooked spaghetti into a straw and that’s about how it went. Maybe add squirming to the mix…yup…squirming cooked spaghetti pretty much sums it up. Oh! And biting and scratching and hissing. So think squirming, biting, scratching, hissing cooked spaghetti being pushed through a bendy juice box straw. It was interesting. It would have been funnier if not for the melting down children. Matt cried and cried and cried! He thinks he will have nightmares now because he can’t sleep without Ness. Poor baby. He seems ok now…chewing gum and playing the laptop.

On the upside, I got my new ring this weekend! It is sooooo pretty! They gave it to me along with a three year protection plan. Michael says I should take a pic and post it. We will see. I don’t know if I’m ready to take this blog to the photo level yet.

Obviously, I have decided that I am ready!

I had my busiest day ever at my salon on Friday, which was my last day. It was Carleton’s grad, so there were a few updo’s, which I love love love doing. It was a good last day. The whole starting at 7:15 am thing I could have done without, but it was ok. It was also Michael’s last day, so we took the boys out for supper to Zorba’s. Abby was at Stacey’s much anticipated slumber party. This party had been in the works since March or April. She had a blast.

Our panic inducing news for the week is that we might not be able to get a U-Haul truck. Michael tells me to stop thinking about it, but that is easier said than done. He might as well tell me to stop growing hair or producing saliva. It seems to just come naturally for me. Please pray that we get a truck. We can do it with trucks and trailers, but what a lot of trips that will have to be. I REALLY do not want to move the whole house with trailers.

We are off to the Stenske’s for supper tonight. MMM…stir-fry!

Glitter Part Deux, Pocket Knives, and the Magic of KFC

On Thursday night I got a call from Ben Moss saying that my unfixable ring was back in the store and that I could come and pick it up anytime. I was not terribly excited about this because I was choked that no-one would even try to fix the ring. Worst case scenario I figured was that it would break and I would be out a ring. Not really an issue since I can’t wear it the way it is anyway.

On Friday, Abby and I went into the store to pick it up and they handed me a crushed and mangled tangle of white gold and diamonds. My immediate response was “What the @$%% happened to my ring?!” The brainwave behind the counter had the poor sense to say “Oh, it wasn’t like this when you brought it in?” Since I hadn’t taken it out to the farm and run over it with the harrow bars, no, indeed it wasn’t. But, since you can’t fix stupid and it is rarely worth the effort to try, I gritted my teeth and said “No, it was fine when I dropped it off.” She called in the manager and his jaw literally dropped. He claims to have never seen anything come back from shipping looking like that.

He pulled out his loupe and started examining the ring and came to the same conclusion that I had already reached: the ring is irreparably compromised. He said “I just don’t know what we are going to do, but suffice it to say that you are not getting the ring back today.”

So I said to him, “You could just trade me for the blue and green one that I was admiring.”

He said he would make a call.

Later that afternoon, he called me back and informed me that the ring is now mine along with a free sizing and three year protection plan. YAY!! You remember this is the white gold with marquis blue topaz and peridot stones that I started my love affair with last week? So now, instead of a beautiful but un-wearable and un-sizable ring that was totally bumming me out, I have a pretty, sparkly, new bit of bling! Double yay!

This year’s street fair was great! It made me sad to be leaving though, when I realized how many people in PA that I actually know now. When we first got there it seemed like I couldn’t go two steps without hugging someone. Same kind of thing happened last night when we went to ask Ray across the street a question and he dragged us inside and we sat and had a great visit with him and Shirley. Why were we not out visiting with our neighbours years ago? Dang cable! I think it is the downfall of society. There is something wrong when you spend more time looking at the face of Horatio Cane that you do at that of your neighbours!

The boys went with Paula out to Living Waters camp for their GAT (God’s Agents in Training) program windup today. For some reason, they were given pocket knives. Now, I’m not casting any blame here, just mentioning that given MY track record with knives it MAY not have been the best idea to give my kids knives of their own. Matthew promptly cut up his thumb. Who’s surprised? Anyone? And his concern was not that he had cut himself. Nope, he just didn’t want anybody to tell ME that he had cut himself because he thought I would take the knife away. I didn’t. I was sorely tempted, but he still has it. He would really like to make some marshmallow roasting sticks, so keep him in your prayers and be ready for an update including stitches!

Abby also had her year end Dance recital today. Wow! When I look at how far she has come in a year, I am totally amazed. She is tickled pink that she got her first bouquet of flowers too! Thanks Andrea and family! We went out with Grandma T and Aunty Barb for supper after. KFC, so you know what that means! I don’t know how Exlax stays in business. Given t the choice of a chalky chocolate-like substance and the crispy goodness of 11 herbs and spices, I always let the Colonel work his magic!

Dumping Friends and Finally Passing Grade Five (at 32!)

Apparently, just talking about the Street Fair put me back in klutz mode! Andrea came out with her oh so cute girlies this morning bearing coffee and other essential gifts. (Thanks so much!) We made plans to go to the Street Fair on Saturday, which prompted me to show her my first ever Facebook album called “Klutz Goes to the Street Fair”, an informative photo documentary of me punching Abby in the face. (I won’t say anymore, because it is just way better to view it for yourself!)

We hung around the house for awhile trying in vain to figure out how to hang the bunk bed curtains in the camper and then I remembered that I was supposed to have Andrew’s school project at Red Wing by 9am. It was now 10:30, so we all piled in the truck and headed out. We thought we would do the good Mommy thing and let the kids play in the school playground for awhile before lunch.

I will now offer up some of my sage 32 year old wisdom.

***When trying to load one Mommy and a baby on one end of a teeter totter and a six year old and an almost three year old on the other end, communication between the Mommies is key. ****

It also makes sense to load the kiddie end of the apparatus first! Andrea had her leg looped over the teeter totter and I had my back to her while holding Hanna on the seat and trying to get Abby on as well. To me (or Olga, my bush woman alter ego who tends to come out when physical strength is required in any situation) it seemed like a good idea to push my end down to the ground and hold Andrea and Sadie up in the air while Abby climbed on. For some reason Andrea was unable to read my mind and she thought that she would try to keep her leg just hooked over while I got Abby on. So, Olga was pushing down with all of her strength and I hear from behind, “Tina, just wait!”

As I turned around I saw Andrea’s fancy dismount from the teeter totter and then her tumbling “ass over tea-kettle” with an impressive twist at the end so that Sadie landed on top and all Andrea hit was the aforementioned body part. Needless to say, I felt horrible! (Sorry again!)

Now I will use this blog to say the things that I am too chicken to say in person. Andrea, I am sorry, not only for dumping you on your hiney, but for everything that went on at that unmentionable place where we used to be slaves. Your friendship in the last year has been invaluable to me and has gotten me through a lot of tough times. Just in case you don’t realize, you mean a lot to me and I will miss you. This is the hardest part about moving; saying goodbye to good friends. I will miss you all (you know who you are) sooooo much, and for those that I am already separated from by the miles, I miss you too! Sniff. Now let us never speak of this again!

Back to Andrew’s school project now. If any of you out there are teachers, maybe you could explain this to me. He has had four dioramas to do this year. FOUR! And my question is WHY! You know that the kids aren’t doing them! Assigning this means that PARENTS are doing four dioramas. At least send us home a reading list at the beginning of the year so that we can read the stinking books and get our ideas together!

It never fails that Andrew comes home and says “Mom…I have a project due tomorrow and I was wondering if you could help me with it?” (READ: Mom’s gonna be up late cutting and gluing tonite, so better get out the coffee pot!) So far this year I have glued sand down to make a beach, constructed a forest, burned out the inside of a construction paper tree, and rocked an ocean and a stream. (I passed the buck to Michael last night with the castle and went to the movies instead! HeeHee!)

When I walked into Andrew’s classroom this morning I was truly impressed with what quality dioramas the over 30 set had come up with this time. There were some very impressive castles with windows and turrets. The one that really blew my skirt up was entirely constructed of rice krispy cake and candy! I guess that when I was a kid my parents were “helping” me with my projects too, so now when my kids do them it’s like I am finally truly passing grade five. My 1985 dioramas fulfilled Doug and Diane’s grade five requirements, and the 2008 ones now fulfill mine. In my estimation Andrew will get to pass grade five sometime around 2030. Tina logic!

By the way, shoeboxes will NOT be a part of the curriculum at “School of the Big Rolling Turd”. (Watch the movie RV and think of me if you don’t get that last part!)

All that Glitters is not Returnable

Who knew that jewellery could be such a pain in the butt? I took three of my rings into a jewellery store that shall remain nameless (Ben Moss) the other day. Ok….maybe not so nameless. I had been wearing my wedding rings on my right hand because it is bigger and they kept sliding off so I decided that it was time to have them sized. Also, my white gold right hand rings were too big and since I just got them in September and I love love love them, they needed fixing too! REWIND….

For my birthday I decided that I really wanted a white gold Right Hand ring. Since Michael had just started working at Sears and we get a big discount there, I thought I would check them out. The Cheapy Charley in me loves the reduced section so I headed there first, where I fell in love. It was that instant kind of love where my eyes met multiple diamonds and the rest of the world softened and muted and I could picture me and the rings taking long walks on the beach, laying in bed staring at one another, laughing at the same crazy things…you know. What can I say; my Mama raised me to appreciate da bling. Things escalated and soon there were two of them and they totally ganged up on me. Take us both home…I can be for your ring finger and Mr. Butterflies Leaves, Filigree and Diamonds would inhabit your thumb! Who am I to argue with talking rings, right? So I bought them both and told Michael that he had found me the perfect birthday and anniversary gifts but that he didn’t want to wait the two weeks till my b’day or three months till our anniversary but that he was giving them to me as soon as they got back from being sized. He didn’t realize that he had put that much thought into it, but quickly came to see how wise and right a decision he had made.

Soon however, as in all relationships, things took a turn. One of the diamonds on the shank fell out and when I took it to Trent, master of all jewellers, he said it had a crack in the side as well. Everyone changes, right. The diamond could not be replaced, but no one else could see it. Sears flat out refused to do anything about it either. They would not pay for the break to be repaired because it was a clearance item and clearance apparently means “We washed our hands of it like an unwed pregnant daughter in the 1940’s. You kids are on your own!” My powers of persuasion were wasted on them, they would not be moved! Then came the weight loss and they languished in my drawer. Alone, but not forgotten.

At Christmas time I was at Wal-Mart where I was romanced by a pair of crystal encrusted gold hoop earrings. It was Sears all over again…drool on the counter, gazing at the twinkling stones…. Swipers Wrist or no, out came the card. I took them home, wrapped them up with shiny paper and ribbons, wrote a beautiful card and took it to Michael to sign. He has really great taste! (He picked me out all by himself!) Christmas morning I was basically vibrating in anticipation! Then, they were resting in my lobes and we have rarely been apart since then. Until….last week I took them out to clean them and noticed that they looked like gap toothed old hags! There were green spots where the Swarkovski’s had inhabited! One frantic call to Wal-Mart and my hopes were puddle around my ankles like the gap toothed hags hosiery. They would do NOTHING about it! Pierced earrings, 30 day full and 90 day limited return were all terms that were bandied about. They now are on the shelf under my Gilmore Girls Season 6. I can’t bear to look at them.

The dude that was supposed to be sizing my Right Hand ring won’t do it. In addition to the one missing diamond and cracked shank, it apparently has a chipped diamond and several loose baguettes. (You’ve heard what they say about the French…loose, every one of them.) So now it will make the walk of shame back to me where I will take it to Last Chanceville, aka Trent the Amazing and we will see if he can work something out.

Things Tina Has Learned:

-jewellery is meant to be bought at Jewellery stores…they stand behind their product

-when the jeweller says it costs $30 to size rings, soldered together wedding rings do not count as one ring. It costs $90 when there are three. (or $30 if you burst into tears because they did not tell you that at the get go.)

-when dealing with reduced merchandise, find out if it is “as is”

So now what do I do? I doubt that there will be time for Trent to get it fixed in the two weeks that we will be in Tisdale, and who knows if he will even be able to? The white gold butterfly ring is lonely without its friend, and my ears are naked.

I did share a moment with a white gold ring in Ben Moss the other day though. Peridot and blue topaz...diamond shaped stones...stairway style…birthday coming up...on sale...hmmm. Oh Miicchhaaeell....hhuunneeyyy...all you need to do is sign the card! Ben Moss giftwraps!

Mildly Stinky, Middle Child Syndrome and Form 2

Canadian Tire did not disappoint! We got there and they were like “Where’s form two….we need form two. Can’t do anything without form two!” Well I lost it! Not so much on the outside, but inside I sure did. I “calmly” explained to them that the idiot I had spoken to said that what I had with me was enough and that I had already paid the twenty bucks to get a stupid piece of paper that said it was OK to have the camper on the road for 24 hours. (By calmly I mean I raised my voice just a little and refrained from going over the counter.) Still my fave place to be. Maybe not so much. Anyway, they managed to do the inspection without form two (imagine that) and we just have to take it in when we get it. I really hope Michael gets on that soon!

Playday today was awesome! I was able to vamp up my tan and have a lot of fun with some great kids! I overheard a kid on my team telling his own mom, who was also one of the leaders, that “that lady is a really good mom!” Totally proud (and unprecedented) moment! Maybe shouldn’t have kissed the kid, but hey…whatever! (JK!) And would someone tell me…why are boiled hotdogs so nasty at home but ambrosia when you are hanging with 5-10 year olds? Being in Matt’s class at lunchtime was really an eye-opener. Those kids really want someone to listen to them. I had never met about half of them but once I showed a little interest in their work and their lives, they were all so eager to show me EVERYTHING they had done in the classroom. Every kid got the pointer and told me which picture was theirs and several read me their stories. We even sat around and had a good talk about bullying and choosing friends wisely. It was a real incentive to pay more attention to my own kids. They have a lot to say if I am still and listen. Poor Matt though….I had sent him to Abby’s class so I could meet him in there and slick him up with sunscreen. Poor, ignored, forgotten, un-photographed middle child….when I finally remembered, he was just standing around waiting in the kindergarten class….what was that about being a good mom?? oh yeah....we got one first place and one second place ribbon! I think it was a direct result of the awesome cheering section...ME!

Andrew spent the day at Carleton for the regional track meet. He didn’t place but was OK with that. He placed first at his school and this was a day off for him. It was weird for me to go to pick him up and see that he had spent the whole day in a crowd of hundreds of kids. It would have freaked me out, but he was fine with it. Probably would have been more fine if he had remembered his water bottle. I swear, we need to get up about three hours early for school if we want everyone to be reasonably clean, fed and prepared. Umm….yeah…..I can deal with mildly stinky, slightly hungry and not quite Boy Scout approved if it means two more hours of shut eye.

Swiper's Wrist and Heebie Jeebies

My first blog…how very exciting. I have always tried to keep a journal, but never really succeeded. I have many pretty little books tucked away into drawers in which I have started to record my life, but after a few days, or occasionally a couple of weeks, they seem to fizzle. Maybe it will be different since it is an online thing this time. Or not. Time will tell.

We officially have 26 days left until we are living in a camper. I think it will be more like about three weeks though since we want to get the house cleaned out and cleaned up and not really have to rush it.

Things are starting to come together. We just went and took care of the whole phone thing, so we will still have the same cell numbers as always. I am wondering about the wisdom in that though, since I suspect there will be a lot of wrong numbers that way, or people looking for a haircut. I guess I could book them in. It may be a long way to travel for a cut, but the quality I’m sure is worth it! I also forgot to get message manager in the package, and I am thinking we will want that.

This afternoon we need to go and get a permit to move the trailer and take it up to my fave place in the world, (my fingers are actually dripping sarcasm as I write that) Canadian Tire and get the out of country inspection thing done. It is so far the only thing about this move that has not required the swipe of plastic through the machine. I am starting to develop swiper's wrist, a not so distant cousin to tennis elbow and carple tunnel! Oh, scratch that…we have to pay $20 to get the permit, so I guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch. Michael is trying to get out of taking it in today, but I will prevail! He does not want me to start packing the camper until after the inspection, and in order to stop the insane panic attacks I think I need to start doing some transferring out there.

I am averaging about 2-3 panic attacks per day now and one of the crazy lower back panic attacks about every 2-3 days. I am calling them Back Panic Attacks because they occur when I am super stressed and feel like intense heebie jeebies in my lower back. This can last up to 10 minutes and I have the creepy crawly wiggles the whole time. What fun! If only I could add stress induced nosebleeds into the mix I think my life would feel complete.

So my list of things to do in the next three weeks is a little long, but still manageable so far. I need to have a b’day party for the boys. Andrew’s b’day was in February, so I am a wee bit behind on that. Also, I am going to Play Day tomorrow and Matt really wants me to go on his field trip next Thursday, so I guess I will be spending a lot of time at school. And why not? It’s not as if I’m not practically oozing free time…why not spend 14 usable hours at school? Please someone give me a good reason why not!