tiffany's spot

Steven's working on my dining room. Not even sure if it's a dining "room." Dining skeleton. Because that's what it is. All I wanted was linoleum. And then he was all: well the room is sinking. It's slanting. We need to level it. if we are going to do stuff in there we should probably worry about the windows. there's no insulation. It's cold. We should probably insulate.  the paneling is ridiculous. Let's gyp-rock.  I hate smacking my giant head on the light fixtures. and on and on and on. So my "Hey, let's put new linoleum in the dining room to replace the carpet that somebody thought would actually be a good idea to put under the dining room table" has now become a completely gutted room. It's frightening. Here's hoping it's done before it snows. Because right now we have no south wall. I kind of like south walls.

You'd think after a month of relentless pressure to blog daily, that I'd take the next few days off. Instead, this is my second post today. This month is National Novel Writing Month. I've decided to give it a go again this year. Last year I started, but didn't finish. I may have started late even. This year I've decided to give it a go again. Today on the way to Winnipeg and back I thought about what the heck I was going to write about. I've got it. It's going to be a Gothic-style novel. I've got some of my plot figured out, a few characters decided on, my narrator, etc. I was actually driving home when I started working it out, and much to Steven's dismay I pulled over and made him drive so I could write some stuff down before I forgot it. Do I want to share it? I don't know. It's probably going to be pretty dumb. I think I'll have more luck actually writing with it without worrying what people are thinking. I may share it in chunks aft...

Today is the day I'm going to start making the kids clean the basement before they get to come up for dinner. I'm going to be fair about it. Supper is usually 5:20 or so, sometimes as late as 6:00, so I think I'll start going down there at 4:30 and telling them it's time to clean up. They can go back down after supper if they want and pull toys out again, it's not like they're not allowed to play with them, but this way they'll all be cleaned up once a day and the basement won't get so messy anymore. *** My friend Candice has suggested a month of blogging each and every day. I'm up for it. I suggested October. I'm hoping that the odd picture post counts! Anyone else in?

The pantry closet has been the bane of my kitchen existence for some time now. It kind of turned into junk drawer meets catch all meets black hole meets confiscated items meets " we have nowhere else to store this crap so let's cram it in here and shut the door really fast so nothing falls out " closet. Why didn't I just tidy it up sooner? Well, I don't know. Probably because it seemed like a big job, and I was pregnant and tired for the last five years and was proud of myself some days for just making it through lunch. I'm going to use this pregnancy forever, so get used to it. Anyway, this is the before shot: And this is the after shot: Hallelujah. *** By the way, did you notice all our games? I love playing games. If anyone ever wants to play one and I haven't invited you yet and you're not offended by my lack of invitations just invite yourself over!!

I've been reading this book by Peter Walsh called Does this Clutter Make my Butt Look Fat? and it's fantastic. It's a weight loss book - sort of. His approach is very different. He talks a lot about organizing your kitchen and your life, and taking control of your menu and what you want to eat. He doesn't give recipe ideas, tell you what to eat and what not to, or map out a workout routine. It's more about organizing your kitchen and making it the kitchen you want it to be, and organizing your life. I may not be describing it that well. Click on the link to check it out. In chapter 5, he talks about the kitchen. He highly suggests organizing it in a big way and more importantly, decluttering . The first step is to quickly go through your cupboards and do an initial purge. Get rid of anything you don't actually use - goofy gizmos , anything you bought off TV after 8pm, anything you haven't used in the last year. If pieces are missing or something doesn...

I painted the girls' room over the weekend. Alright, to be honest, I decided we were going to paint, and then I painted a bit, and then I sort of let Steven take over. I'm pooped by the afternoon. I made sure to make jokes about how lazy he was when he asked me to pour him some more paint or move out of his way. I'm sure it was much appreciated. The room rocks, by the way. I'll have to put some pictures on here soon. It's very pink, but still rocks. I am having rotten bouts of heart burn today. I'm sure the 600ml coke I just drank had nothing to do with it. I'm blaming the baby - and more importantly, Steven, for putting it in there. Jordan and Tennyson had their first baseball game tonight. They've had some practices, but not a game yet. I shouldn't say game, I should say "game". It was interesting. Imagine trying to get a bunch of preschoolers to pay attention between batters. Good thing they're all so dang cute. It wouldn't have...

I borrowed a baby wrap from a friend of mine at playgroup. I always thought it would be neat to have one, but they're a little pricey, and anytime that I've gone online to see if I could make one myself I've discovered that I'd have to find metal rings and stuff to hold the thing on. Not this one. It's about 16 feet long and not quite two feet wide. There are no pleats or curves. It's just one long length of material with an extra square of material sewn onto the center for extra support where the baby sleeps. Basically, I have to hem a rectangle . Even I can handle that. Or Steven. I bought material for my sling this past weekend. I haven't actually made it yet, but I did cut it to length. I'm quite excited. Today I decided to try out my friends sling, so I wrapped it all around myself according to friend and Internet instruction and used Mitchie as my test baby. I was sure he'd cry or whine to get out once he felt all constricted and trapped agai...

Writing a novel is kind of hard. Especially since I don't really have an outline and I don't really know what's going to happen next. You've probably all noticed by now that I stick a whole bunch of dialogue in there just to use up some words (and make fun of Steven, just a little). Then there's the writer's block. Then there's writing about my husband. I was trucking along until we had a little tiff the other day and then I felt all grumpy towards him. You know how hard it is to write cute, funny, not-to-mean stuff about your husband when you're a little grumpy at him? It's tough. Maybe tonight he'll bring me flowers and the novel will be back on track. Just a friendly reminder: The novel is supposed to be bad. That's its job. It's not about being good. So as you're reading it, don't think "gee, good thing this isn't her profession," because if I was writing a real novel, which I'm not it would (hopefully) not...

Well, I cleaned up. That's really all I can say. I managed to get one garbage bag of junk out of that big old room, but there is still SO much in there! I'm really kind of overwhelmed and depressed about it now. I really don't know how to make it more organized. I will definitely have to choose a few things from the pile to bring to our parents' houses. That will help. I just don't know what to pick. I need Steven to do it with me, he may feel slightly less guilt. Guilt, you ask? About what? Lots of guilt. I feel guilty that I'm deciding the fate of toys that aren't mine. There I said it. I know that Jordan and Tennyson probably won't notice that I scurry some of it away. Then there's the fact that most of these toys were gifts from people who are not us. Aunties, Grandmas and Grandpas gave these things to our kids. I know that making boxes of stuff to leave elsewhere is not the same as taking it to a thrift store or tossing it out, but I feel bad ab...

You guys totally owe me. I have been blogging quite a bit lately, and spilling some pretty good stuff if I do say so myself. I think there aught to be a quota. I've added the label "confessions" to this blog. I have so many things to confess, and so few that I actually will! Today's confession is about the mess in my basement. I'll admit it, it's a bit of a disaster. Our basement is broken into multiple "areas." Half the basement is a wide open, carpeted rec-room. It's perfect for the kids. We put plug-in guards in the outlets and a lock on the door leading to the less savory half of the basement where the laundry room and storage areas are. Now, I'm going to scatter the blame a little. Our kids are the only grand kids, niece and nephews of both sides of our family. This means that they end up getting really really spoiled when birthdays and Christmas and other holidays (or non-holidays) come around. All these toys have to go somewhere right?...

It's funny how we see ourselves in a totally different light than others do. Thanks to everyone who apparently doesn't think I'm sumo-wrestler material. Not that I don't still want to skinny-up a little! Totally unrelated: Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month ? Me neither. Steven knew, but he apparently always forgets until the middle of the month. It's not about getting published, or writing anything that anyone would want to read more than a few lines of. The entire point is just to let the words flow and try and beat the clock, and write 50,000 words in the month of November. Since there are only 17 days left in November, we decided to do our own competition. If either of us actually finishes a 50,000 word story in the next 25 days or so (we started a few days ago), the winner gets to pick a movie and a restaurant of her choice (i'm assuming the win already) and gets an entire 3 day weekend with no diaper changing. Dinner and a movie? Pe...

Anybody who has ever been pregnant knows that the worst part of it is the clothes. The clothes are TERRIBLE! The shirts aren't so bad really, but those pants are nasty. Maternity clothing manufacturers try to make newer and better things, and there are a few different options - pants worn under the belly, pants with the huge elastic bands that wrap around your midsection and torso, the adjustable inside strap, etc. But when you really get thinking about it, these all SUCK! Do you want to know why? Because no matter what style you have, or how loose or tight you buy them, they fall down. Watch any pregnant woman for a short while, and note how often she's tugging her pants back up. If I could find myself a pair of denim short overalls I'd buy them, current style be darned. I got to thinking that a nice maternity sundress would really be the way to go. Being that I am thrifty (or cheap) I really don't want to spend a fortune on a maternity summer wardrobe, especially sinc...