Without the sticky...

I'm back again for another dose of who the hell cares.

Today I woke up, could hardly move, my body was so sore. Tom bought one of those memory foam mattress covers, because, you know, he has a bad back.

If you LOVE LOVE LOVE a soft, sink till you smother yourself bed, then memory foam is for you. If, however, you are like me and you LOVE LOVE LOVE a firmer 'terrafirma' on which to lay your weary head then DO NOT I repeat DO NOT buy the memory foam mattress topper thingy.

Ever see a beached whale try to flip itself over? No? Well, close your eyes and imagine; Soft brown sand, wavy ocean, struggling fat ass whale grunting and swearing in the futile effort to roll over.... There, see it? Ya, well, put my face on it and you've got the whole sordid picture now.

I really can't express how *$&p;Q#@* frustrating it is to move into any *$@$@#&; position while laying on that damn thing.

It was like being stuck in a huge wad of gum without the sticky and just trying to get my arm under myself to push up...in-freekin-possible. To roll over I had to put my hands under my well endowed ass, hold my breath, count to 3 or 5 or 10...and shove with all that I could muster at Damn o'clock in the morning.

Sitting up now, I have to swing my ass left/right, but each ass cheek is firmly molded to the freekin mattress and every time I move I just "WEDGE" (that's right, I said it!) my ass into the memory foam further. Seriously, WHO the HELL needs an imprint of their ass wedged into MEMORY foam? EVER! I'd like to forget my ass, thank you very much.

Anyway, so now I'm on the other side (of hell) and my PJ's are all twisted around me and I'm thinking, "Is it really worth all the aggravation of getting up and settling myself again?" Sure, I'll give it a go, cuz I REALLY HATE my clothes twisted all up.

Swear, push, grunt, up. Twist, twist, climb, lay down.....swear, send evil glare towards snoring husband, look up at the ceiling, remember that I wanted to be on MY RIGHT SIDE!!!!! a n d swear a whole lot more.

Throw minor silent temper tantrum and eventually fall asleep. Just in time to be woken up by the kid. Excellent. Now I have to move over... ya right...foot push one of the dogs for some space, give the kid pillow room, make sure kid is not jamming her size 12's into hubby's back, watch said kid swiftly fall into blissful REM sleep and contemplate the pro's and con's of climbing up into her loft bed....ya, um, n e v e r going to happen.



So I lay there, and lay there, listening to the sounds of night time delight....did you know that a pug can snore so bloody loud that that bed will actually vibrate? In tandem. With the snoring. Incessantly. It'll go on and on and on and on and on. You can't wake a pug either. No way. I've tried EVERY thing-short of smothering her with a pillow......that's reserved for someone special...you know who you are.

Right now I am trying to decide if I should go to bed, or stay up all night to avoid the inevitable struggle with that damn mattress thing.

What to do, what to do.......

Looked at this web site mom emailed me today, thepioneerwomancooks.com. I think that tomorrow I'm going to make this chicks apple dumplings. Never had those before. Not to keen on the Mountain dew part tho...

I'll let you all know how they turned out. It's got mountain dew in the recipe, so I don't think I could screw them up...much...

OK, here goes....off to freekin never never land....

Who the hell has the time???

Spend the entire day baking? Right. I read the blog of a past friend, we don't really keep in touch anymore, but I really enjoyed the friendship we had.

Anyway, she has a tribe full of children and a full time life yet still manages to spend the day baking with her kids. Does she have a maid? A secret little army of genies that give her more hours than I have?

Grrr. I am not bitter, I am amazed. There must be a sacrifice in there somewhere...her looks? No, she's gorgeous, her hair? Nope, Looks good to me. Her sex life? Ermmm, still popping out kids, so I'm thinking, no.

How does she do it? Not only does she bake and cook but the recipes are not of a 'normal' nature. Some of her kids have allergies and the family is very health conscience so they eat a lot of vegan and organic stuff.

I used to think I wasn't a great mom because I would compare myself to her and all that she does, but then I decided to assess my situation in relation to hers.

1) Her kids are older and can do more on their own.
2) Her husband doesn't have a full time disability.
3) She doesn't work graveyard shift.
4) She has lots of family near that can come by and lend a hand.
5) Her life is completely different than mine, and not at all comparable.

So this was my conclusion.

I am a great mom, a great wife, and a great employee. I have time enough to spend with my kid, take the dogs for a walk, hang with the hubby, throw something together for dinner, get some laundry done and run the vacuum over the floor. If the shirts don't get hung up, well, they don't get hung up. If dinner involves the phone and a menu, then so what, more time for the family. If having a date with my husband involves an old movie, bowl of pop corn and the remote, then all the better for me, I don't have to get out of my PJ's.

My life isn't ever going to be that of a stay home mom. Our circumstances dictate that I will be the one 'bringing home the paycheck'. As a result, our daughter has been very blessed in that she has grown up with Dad around, more than the average kid. Yes, it sucks that Tom has a bad back, but in the same respect, it doesn't suck that he is home all the time.

So, all the moms out there that get to stay home and bake umpteen loaves of bread and trays upon trays of cookies, I salute you on equal ground. My island has different paths, but it's still in the middle of the ocean.

On the rare occasion that I have any free time to myself, I am usually here, on the computer. I'm not really into 'spa days' and all that self pampering stuff. If I want pink toes, Kendra and I will get out the 'toebox' and rummage around for the colors we want and spend some time watching Harry and his bucket full of Dinosaurs and painting each others toes. Much more rewarding than spending $80.00 in a salon all by myself...but of course, if Tom gets me a gift certificate, then I'll use it...

I hear people talk all the time about 'me time', "mommy time', 'take care of yourself first'...blah, blah, blah. I would much rather be with my family than all by myself staring at the ceiling in the tub till the water gets cold. I really like my husband. So, for me, 'mommy time', 'me time' taking care of myself time', its all in surrounding myself with my family.

I think that as much as I complain about 3 dogs and a cat being on the bed with us during a family movie night, I don't think I'd change it. (OK, maybe not the dog hair part...) Being surrounded by love is the best 'me time' there is.

So, tomorrow, I think I'll pull a box of pre-fab cookies out of the freezer and Kendra can put them on the tray. While she's doing that, I'll go kiss my husband, feed the pug, and hang up the jacket on the exercise bike, all in time to toss the tray into the oven and hang with the kid.

Stay tuned for more riveting updates in the never ending saga of the life of Jennifer. Will she bring out the bread maker? or will she make a mad dash for the nearest bakery?

I'll tell you what, THE 2 OF YOU THAT ARE ACTUALLY reading this, YOU decide and get your friends in on this too. If I get 20 people to tell me if they want me to bake a loaf of bread or buy it, then I'll do the majority, and I'll blog about it and even post pictures. I know, I know, I need more 'mommy time'....
Hey, It's something to do right? Next time it might be more interesting, maybe even more daring......
C'mon, aren't you even just a little bit curious??????

Olympics: Good or Bad?

Politics, propaganda, payload, party. The 2010 Vancouver Olympics has it all.

If you are an avid sports fan, like my husband, then you are most likely going to be tuned into every possible Olympic sport your fat little thumb can enter on the remote. If you're one of the "lucky" ones that bought a ticket and can still attend the event, well good for you. Seriously

I have been a non vocal, quiet protester of the Olympics from the moment the bid was put in. I could see that there wasn't a deep well of financial support for all the venues, buildings, shows, glitches and foreign employees. Not to mention the art (cost) of conjuring snow.

OK, so, we'll bring in a little revenue for a couple of weeks.....or will we? Already Whistler is citing a 40% loss in buisiness, VANOC and the IOC have somehow managed to 'block' 500 or so seats to main Hockey events that remain emtpy. Um...why?

Newspapers and newscasts all over the globe are calling the 2010 Olympics a fiasco. Not only did they start out with a dreadful tragedy, (my condolences to the family), but it now seems as though every time there is a news report, something has gone amiss. Mud in the standing area, buses breaking down, Zambonies pock marking the ice, snow melting and turning to slush.

Sure, we can't dictate ordinances to Mother Nature, we can't control freak accidents, mud and rain, but surely, we can control the hiring of Americans to do Canadian jobs right? Can we fill up those 500 empty seats? Sure! I know 3 people right here who would snap those tickets up in a second!

But here in lies the rub, we, the tax payer, THE OLYMPIC FUNDERS, have absolutely NO say in what VANOC or the IOC decides to do during these Olympic games.

A thought just occurred to me, will I be fined, jailed, pursecuted, repremanded and branded an infidel for using the word 'Olympic(s)' without written, paid for permission from the IOC?
oooh tremble, tremble...

Democracy? What's that? Oh yes, I remember, isnt that when you let forgeiners into your country and then thank them for changing everything including our national anthem, hiring outside the confines of our legislated boundaries, and then give them MORE money to do so?

Ya, I don't recall learning that in school....

When all is said and done, my 6 year old will have the rest of her life to pay for irresponsible decisions, hopefully many of them will not be her own.

Up until last Sunday night, I had Boo'd and Poo Poo'd the Olympics, then on our way home from my parents place, we took a detour through Richmond and drove past the Richmond O Zone. There were at least 2000 people there that I could see, waving little paper Canadian flags, wearing temporary tatoo's on their cheeks and garbed in all sorts of red and white Olympic apparel.

As I listened to my little girl ooh and ahh over what she thought were the Olympic games, I realized that amid all my bitching and whining, I was depriving her of a once in a lifetime experience. She reminded me that we are hosting a great big huge party to the world.

Today, I went out and bought a couple of those Canadian flags that attach to the windows of the car. Not because of the Olympics, (well, maybe a smidge) but because I am a Canadian and I am proud to be one, moreover, i am lucky to be one. I am not defined by my politeness, I am not defined by my country of birth. I am defined by the choices I make, the beliefs I have and the way in which I express them. I have chosen to be a proud Canadian, and I decided to show it.

I still have concerns about our financial future and the ramifications of it, but today, I am going to enjoy the party, Wanna Come?

Why not make the most of it? take the kid to the O Zone and have some over priced lukewarm greasy food and some fun. Isn't that what we do every year at the PNE?

Who knows, maybe, she'll have a gold metal memory to tell her grand-kids. What a lifetime that would be, Eh?