"Just do a summary of the day"

My husband has decided that I should do a blog post every day like Natalie and I have been neglecting my blog of late, so I'm going to try.  So my to-do list will now include:

editing my book
querying that book to agents and/or publishers
outlining the next book
looking after the offspring
doing some minor household chores (only enough to ensure that everyone is fed and clothed)
and...wait for it...writing a blog post every day

So a summary of the day:

First the furnace guy (whose name is Terry) came over and crunched some numbers and got us to sign stuff.  Highly exciting.

Next we decided to see a movie with the kids.  Rango was out, and it isn't every day that there's a flick appropriate for the kids is in theatres.  Not that I'd say that Rango was completely appropriate, but they weren't bored.  You've probably seen the preview, Johnny Depp is a chameleon who winds up in the desert in a western town populated by various desert creatures, lots of gun fighting and stuff you'd expect from a western along with some stuff you'd never expect like a lizard with breasts and hair.  It was a good movie, with spectacularly detailed animation.  William says his favourite part was "all the guns."  My favourite part was the rattlesnake who had a gun built into his tail.

I lost the battle for popcorn soon after we arrived at the theatre, we had just had lunch and I thought snacks weren't necessary, but it became immediately obvious that both kids were going to freak out otherwise.  William also whined that the movie wasn't 3D. Who are these spoiled children?

Anyway, when we got home Morty the Jackapoo went crazy as usual and I felt sort of guilty that I hadn't walked him for a few days.  William screamed halfway to the park.  First because he didn't want to go and then because I wouldn't put his mittens on him (he fought me when I tried).  I can never get him to do any anger-coping deep-breathing techniques they teach us at the Early Years, but they help me all right.  When we finally got to the playground, both kids had fun playing on the swings and stomping around in the icy muck.  Although poor Jadzia fell in the frigid water at least three times.  Finally her pants were so soaked we had to go home.

Then Adam organized the crawlspace in preparation for the upcoming furnacing, while I made a dinner consisting of shrimp, green beans, and leftover spaghetti.  The kids went to bed early, it being daylight savings time and all, and I read the end of the book I was reading, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, which I'm going to go ahead and recommend.  It's a steam punk, which I'm normally not that into, but it has strong characters, particularly female characters, and it has zombies (but not cheesey zombies) and is generally a fun read.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have just enough time before bed to watch an episode or two of the Big Bang Theory.

I've been a shut-in the last little while

a) I didn't have a car because my hubby's car had a broken wheel or something and making money is apparently more important than going on outtings with the kids and doing my own grocery shopping.
b) I was waiting for the good snow to come back so I could go tobogganing or build a snowman.  Or whatever.

The snow hasn't returned and has instead transformed into various piles of slush, and sheets of ice, and pits of mud.  Still the sun, and my furry houseguest (my parents' jackapoo Morty), motivated me to go outside this afternoon. 

It was too warm for snowpants, but the kids wore all their other winter paraphernalia.  Although Jadzia opted to wear William's old alligator galoshes instead of her pink winter boots.  When we arrived at the park near our house, we discovered that the playground structure was now standing in an iced-over muddy sink hole.  This did not stop my children from climbing and sliding.  Jadzia can now navigate that curved ladder without much hesitation. William was delighted at his new super power of breaking ice, and splashing in the frigid water. Of course I had to join in, just to show him that I was better at it, because I'm bigger.  

After pushing my offspring on the swings (William is too big for the baby swings *tear*) for a tediously long time, I suggested we explore the forest near the park.  Favourite quote of the day from William: "That's not a forest, it's just a bunch of trees."  Okay, so it's not algonquin park, not even enough cover for teenagers to smoke pot without getting caught, but I didn't expect my son to become so jaded so soon.  When we were in the trees, though, he decided that it was a forest after all.  He found a long stick and sword-fought the bushes in a distinctly boyish way, while Jadzia examined the different consistancies of mud.  We found squirrel tracks.  I lured them out of the mini-forest with the promise of a snack.

I did have a car today, but I didn't end up going anywhere until after my hubby came home and we went out for dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday (Happy Birthday Mark!).  On the way, the wheel made a funny noise.  It sounded like a drunken Nascar car and was so loud that we actually pulled over, but ultimately ignored until after dinner.  Now it's my car's turn for the shop.  Oh reliable transportation, if only I'd appreciated you when you were here.

Rattray Marsh

Recently Adam started a local photography meet-up group, because there wasn't one in Burlington, and because he was jealous that I meet with a writer's group every three weeks. So far the group has had two meetings, one at the Royal Botanical Gardens before sunrise on a Saturday, and another today at Rattray Marsh in Mississauga at a more reasonable hour. I joined the group of course, despite my lack of a single lens reflex or desire to spend a grand or two on accessories.  William recently got into his kiddie camera, which he brought with him (his isn't an SLR either, but it shoots video aswell).

Rattray Marsh is a beautiful boardwalk trail on the shore of Lake Ontario. I ended up spending most of the meet-up today with William and Jadzia, divided between two awesome 80s-retro playgrounds near the trail, both with sand (Jadzia's current favourite food).  William must be growth spurting because he downed two peanut butter and jam sandwiches, an applesauce snack, and nearly half a pint of strawberries.  We brought Morty the jackapoo, who happily ran up and down the play equipment after I "accidentally" let go of his leash.

I finally convinced the kids to find Daddy, and we miraculously tracked him and his new photography buddies down, even though we stopped to throw rocks in the water, and paused every few steps to have yet another strawberry.  The photographers were on a part of the boardwalk overlooking the swamp, taking pictures of egrets and swans.  I later asked Adam how he thought the group went and he pronounced it "Okay" and said he was "glad somebody showed up."  I think he had a fabulous time.

*I should note that all the photos in this post were taken by me, and not a real amateur photo enthusiast with a suped up SLR.

If we had a million dollars...we'd be rich

Every time money gets a little tight it inevitably leads to a budget discussion. As in, what would we do if we had millions of dollars in our budget. Adam and I were having such a conversation last night. I'd decided that I wanted live a modest suburban life, while using most of my money to travel. But where to go first?

To engage him in our conversation, I asked William: "Where would you go?"

He replied, "Zoe's house."

I thought he'd misunderstood my question. We'd just gone to his friend Zoe's house that day and sometimes I ask him to recap recent events. So I clarified. "No, I mean if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?"

"Um, I know, the park!"

So this morning we went to the park. This is where you'd expect something shmultzy about the best things in life being free, except we had to cut William's dream gettaway short because he refused to stop throwing rocks at me. Turns out he did this because he was thirsty (a logical response for a two and a half year old). So we went home and had some water. And he threw his cup across the room. Now I'm not sure what the moral of this story is.

Park Days

Recently all the snow melted to be replaced by the beautiful sunny-but-not-too-hot weather of spring. So William and I have been spending a lot of time in the park near our house. William could care less about the playground itself (although he does enjoy an occasional slide, and sometimes a swing). Mostly he loves running in the field, and playing in the dirt.

By "playing" I of course mean, eating, digging, poking with sticks, and lying on his stomach doing the breaststroke. I've tried to prevent at least the eating, to no avail. Anyway he has such a good time, who am I to be a killjoy?