Thinking Outloud

Yesterday my youngest son got off the school bus complaining of an ear ache.  He claimed that he had the ear ache for most of the day at school.  And honestly, he didn’t look real good.  Now this did concern me quite a bit as when this child is sick or in pain, he never mentions it.  For him to complain of a sore ear,  I can almost bet that he has another ear infection.  So this morning I kept him home from school and I will be making him a doctor’s appointment for later on in the day.  I think when we are in there I am going to mention to the doctor about him seeing a specialist as he gets ear infections a lot.

The good thing about all this (if you can find the good) is that today was his last day of school before March break.  So he will only lose one day of school and not a whole week like he normally does.  The bad thing about this is the kid is probably going to be sick for most of his  March break.  But if I can catch this sooner rather than later, maybe his whole week off won’t be a complete bust.

I know it’s not even spring yet, but I am getting so anxious for the camping season to begin. Last year we didn’t start camping until the end of June, but this year I’m pretty sure that we are going to start in May. That’s only a little over two months away! So I have been thinking of things that we will need to help us out with our camping experience. One of the things that I absolutely can’t forget this year (I did last year) is our pillows. Obviously I won’t pack them now, but they are definitely on my list of camping supplies that we will need to take with us. Like I said it is a little early for these types of thoughts, but just thinking about camping is one of the things that is keeping me going during these cold winter months.

My daughter loves to learn. She loves watching shows on TV about animals, travel and how things work. She would rather watch these types of shows instead of any cartoons. Well yesterday was a day home from school (snow day) and she spent the better part of the morning watching the discovery channel. One show in particular that she was watching that caught my eye was a show completely dedicated to Las Vegas. They were discussing all the different things you can do in Las Vegas and the associated costs to these activities. They also showed some of the different types of hotels that are available in this area. I’d love to be able to stay at one of these hotels in Las Vegas. They look so classy. And I was actually surprised that most of these hotels are quite affordable for any family on a trip. I wonder what I will learn today after school??

After over two years, yesterday I took the plunge and headed down to my local hairdressers.  I got my hair cut!!  If you knew me, you would know that this was a huge deal for me.  I absolutely despise going the hairdressers and getting my hair cut.  I dislike any stranger touching my head and I’m pretty sure that this  is why I don’t go as often as I should.  But, even I could see that I was beginning to look a little straggly.

When the hairdresser asked how much I would like taken off, I told her “A lot”.  Then (kind of joking, but not really) I told her this way, I won’t have to come back for two more years.  But I have to say that I did very well.  It didn’t bother me like it normally does and I really do love the job she did.  So I actually took her card and told her that I would be back (I still can’t believe I said that).  But for the first time in almost 40 years I was very pleased with my hairdressing experience.

Many of you may not know this, but I really don’t enjoy driving.  Oh don’t get me wrong, I don’t know what I would ever do without my licence now that I have it, but there is certain aspects of driving that I don’t enjoy.  One of these aspects that I seriously hate, is driving in the city traffic.  I’m pretty good when it comes to driving around our town, but send me into the city and I have serious issues.

This is why I am happy to report that tomorrow I will be stepping out of my comfort zone.  My daughter has a chance to go to a basketball camp at the University tomorrow and she really wants to go.  The drawback is, I need to drive her there and back.  And yes, the University is in the city.  But because she wants to participate so badly, I have agreed to take her.  So tomorrow will be the day that I will start to get over my fear of city driving and hopefully I will feel more comfortable in the future to take a few more trips like this again.

Now I’m not a real big Oscar fan, but I did watch as the events unfolded last night. The main reason why I took an interest in these awards last night was because there was so many Canadians nominated this year, that I wanted to see if we had a chance. Unfortunately we didn’t win any Oscars this year, but I sure did have a lot of fun watching the show. I couldn’t believe some of the sexy costumes that some of the women were wearing. I guess you need to be a movie star to pull off outfits like these. I wouldn’t have the nerve to wear most of these, let alone go on national TV with some of these garments on. But, I did enjoy watching the show, so I will probably tune in again next year.

I have so much stuff that it has started taking over my home. So I decided that I really need to declutter. Honestly a four bedroom home should be big enough for four people, but it seems like our home is getting smaller and smaller each month. I know this is because I have a tendency to keep everything. Yesterday I started to go through the boxes in the spare room to see if I could start getting rid of stuff and I was very surprised at some of the things I saw that I have kept. Although my “baby” is almost eight, I still have all my maternity clothes from when I was pregnant for him. Since there will be no more babies in this house, these were the first items that I got rid of. Slowly I will sort through everything and hopefully in the end I will find my house again.

Both of the kids came home from school yesterday quite excited.  Yesterday was the day that the school took all the yearbook photos for all the kids that are involved in extracurricular activities.  My daughter, the social butterfly that she is, had her picture taken four times.  She is involved in choir, violin, fluoride and running club.  She is quite proud that she will have her picture four different times in the events pages.

My son, who is just finding himself, got his picture taken once.  He is involved with the chess club.  But as he is in grade 2, quite shy and hasn’t joined a group in the past, having his picture taken for the chess club tickled him pink.  He hasn’t quite caught up to his sister, but I’m quite confident that he will soon.  So now when the yearbook comes in I will have to buy two copies.  One for each child.

It honestly amazes me on how much energy my youngest son has.  I have seen kids with an enormous amount of energy, but not to the degree that my son has.  He can go and go for hours without ever stopping and most days I just get tired while looking at him.  But along with this energy he also has a huge amount of patience.

The other day my husband gave him a mechano set.  This set is a building set that you can make cars, bikes, airplanes or any type of machine that you want to.  It comes with a lot of small metal parts and you have to screw in bolts and nuts to hold it in place.  The day my husband handed this kid this set, he worked on it from 6:30 am until 6:30 pm with only a half an hour break for supper.  This was the only day in his little life that he wasn’t bouncing off the walls all day.  I was quite amazed at all the patience that he displayed that day and it really made me wonder where my son went for the day.  This was not the same child that I was used to seeing.

But, don’t worry the next day he was back to his good old self and climbing the walls once again.

Ever since my husband heard stories about the TV industry going completely high def in the next couple of years, he has been talking about purchasing a new TV for the bedroom. Well I would love to surprise him with one of these TVs. But they cost so much money that it will probably take me forever just to save up the money to buy the television that he wants. I don’t want to go out and purchase this type of product without having the extra money to be able to afford any accessories that may come with it such as popup tv lifts. So what I’m planning on doing is saving up all the money that I’m going to need and then go out and purchase the TV and ALL the accessories that we may need. This way, when it’s time to watch the unit he will get the very best experience that money can buy.