Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween is just around the corner.  Today at school the children are permitted to wear their costumes, bring a treat and participate in a school-wide parade.  The costumes have been carefully calculated (after all, we’ve had them in theory since late August) and assembled with school approved snacks packed ready to go.  The kids are pumped, they look adorable in their ensembles matched with giggles and ghostly roars! 

Like any mother, I love to see them so happy! Yet, I am all too aware of the chaos that is coming.  School Halloween parties should be called, “a sugar filled trick-or-treating test run”.  A brilliant idea!      Kids on any given day may stupefy us parents with hyperactivity and absurd behaviour; leaving us shaking our heads bewildered - and sometimes frightened!  

Nonetheless, we willingly participate in a tradition that dresses them in costumes (appropriate or not)  and supports door to door soliciting of treats, often by threatening minor pranks! Treats, that in the end will produce chocolate crazed children, belly aches – and if you’re lucky...an 11pm vomit spree of sweetie goodness! Oh we know better! To deprive them of a school function promising games and sweet goodies would be cruel. 

I’m sure the teachers have a chuckle to themselves while candidly handing out lollipops.  The classroom chaos cannot last longer than three o’clock.  Then the little Ghouls and Gremlins are booted through the door into the hands of their unsuspecting parents.  Later that evening it’s time to take inventory.  The once sugar-spiked euphoria is now a crash n’ burn, cranky filled mess!  The candy consumption level  must be carefully calculated to avoid a do-over.  If nothing else...we’ll try.

and............their off!!  As I deposit my little darlings back to class, even I can’t help feel excitement! I spot Witches, Cowboys, Vampires, Ninjas, an Angel with shorty shorts!  Yes, Halloween and it’s trimmings are to embraced and delighted in.  When else is it appropriate to dress like a Zombie and tell your kids they look delicious!  “You, little one, are on the menu tonight!”

 

Have a safe and Happy Halloween...”Trick or Treat”!!!!!

A List and A Chocolate!

Like many mothers I make an effort to be on top of upcoming events.  Birthdays, Anniversaries and other special occasions are marked on the calendar.  At times, I might even color code such events.    Not just to emphasize their importance, but also to acknowledge the great lengths I am willing to embrace in order to triumph over chaos.  I shall not hand over another tardy birthday card, accompanied with an “I’m so sorry it’s late! I just can’t seem to get on the ball”!

You know what? I am on the ball! I have the ever popular Mommy calendar. I tape school newsletters to my cupboards so I don’t lose them – sometimes I even read them!  I have multiple alarms on my phone, reminding me to “get this”, “pick up that”, “birthday party is tomorrow”; I've synced Google Calendars with my iphone on two different applications; and even put little boxes in front of each line of my to-do lists.  No, really! I do!  Mock me if you will! When you are surrounded by lists and lists, there is a great sense of accomplishment when you have checked off every little box.  That list is completed, it has been laid to rest with the symbol you love not only in adulthood, but did as a child in Elementary School.  “The Checkmark” 

By now you might be saying to yourself, “this girl has issues”.  Perhaps I do.  I have been mocked for my color-coded excel Christmas Lists, taunted for my ring-tone reminders, remaining undeterred in my undertaking.  Don’t knock it til you’ve tried it.  You’ll catch yourself thinking, “that’s not a bad idea”. Then, you too will have color-coded post-it-notes!

Everyday there’s always something new to add to the list. Is there any need to be writing down “Halloween costume ideas?” in August?  Christmas trees in the stores by mid-September? I barely get my head around one event when there’s two more thrown in my face.  The great minds behind retail marketing have us list-loving mother’s all figured out.  They appeal for our need to be organized and reel us in to more ball-juggling chaos.  After all, back to school isn’t bad enough with clothes, numerous registrations, supplies, and so on.  Why not throw a few Aero and O’Henry Halloween bars in there.  One look at the Halloween candy (in late August that is) got me thinking I should stock up now.  Costumes and Halloween parties tend to overshadow the trick-o-treaters coming to my door. Why not have ample supply on hand? Buy now, check off list, one less thing to do!

Oh yeah! That was a great idea!  Those tiny little mini-bars taunt me from within their cellophane packages!  I’ve hid them, moved them, lost them and found them with great delight!  After all it would only be one; I’d have just one, single, tastebud tantalizing treat, containing a fraction of the calories of their full-sized chocolaty counterparts. Yes, just one.... 

In theory, it all made sense.  Yet, like any hypothesized experiment the assumption was incorrect.  For seven weeks now I have been snacking on these evil, addictive little gremlins. So much, they’re all gone!! Countless chocolate pieces and crinkled wrappers! Naughty Mommy!  What have I done?

In the end, I have resolved myself to this.  My proactive Halloween shopping, once a glorious completed checkmark, is now back with vengeance.  Only now, it has a few other friends there with it:                       1. Spin class at 7:30pm  2.  Drink more water  3.Call Weight Watchers. 

4. This year, forget the trick-o-treaters!!

Hockey begins!!!!

The 2010-2011 hockey season has officially begun!  Kicked off with an hour session of two-line, I hold on and brace myself for a chilly and exciting season.  To celebrate, I treat myself to the awesome Cafe-Mocha at Star B**ks!  Its blended chocolate espresso sweetness heated to perfection, topped with a fluffy cloud of whipped cream.   I savour the taste as the forwards surge down the ice in a symphony of intensity!  Sweet mother, 260 calories never tasted so good!!! A fitting cocoa blend to begin the journey of sub-zero temperatures, parkas and heated socks, but if nothing else...some good ole hockey!!!  Go boys!

 Power skating tomorrow will be accompanied with some general blended, home percolated goodness.   Along with the heated socks I’m pretty sure don’t work anymore. But for tonight....it was good!

The best part of back to school.

Oh my,  where to begin.  One minute it’s the first day back to school and the next October 1^st! How did that happen!  Well, I’ll tell you how.

First full week back to school our house became a safe haven for all and any flu/cold bug that came along.  I was the first to get sick and it was terrible!  I do not remember the last time I felt so awful and it only got worse.  Like flicking on a light-switch I went from feeling great to miserable in a snap.  Though I do have vague memories of a similar feeling,  I believe said feeling was the result of vodka cranberries during an afternoon at the campus bar.   I was in my kitchen talking to my mother, looking at her thinking, I don’t know if I’m just uninterested or truly unable to focus on a word she’s saying.  My head was getting heavier by the second.  I just wanted to go to bed and stay there...forever.

The next morning my husband had left for work at 5:30am.  I was semi-conscious and unimpressed.  Did he not believe me when I said I was sick?  Honestly, I can’t get up!  How was I going to take care of three kiddies, let alone get them out the door for school.  How could he leave me in this state? A sluggish glance by the mirror truly brought to life the severity of my demise.  My hair, matted and dishevelled,   mascara cascading down my flushed and blotchy cheeks. I shuffled down the hall like a decrepit creature.  My clammy hands bracing my way as I fight the spinning hallway finally making it to the kitchen.

My first born would come to my rescue.  Like a preview of my days to come in an Old Age Home he sat me in a chair,  got breakfast, helped get lunches together and even called my  neighbour to arrange getting to school;  all this while his mother now clenched the countertop, clinging on for dear life.  My body was shaking, my head was spinning.  Any efforts to stand up were futile. 

In the end, my friend took my brood and hers aboard our mini-van and deposited each at the appropriate drop-off.  Last stop, this mama was back home and going back to bed.

From there I got sicker and like clock-work the children followed soon after.  Our house was a sniffling, booger–filled disaster!  I had come down with pneumonia and the kids had varying symptoms of god only knows what.  “Mom, my cheek hurts!”, “Mom my feet hurt”, “Mom I can’t eat because my tongue hurts”, “Mom, I can’t stop coughing”, "Mom, there's a rash on my feet".....SWEET MOTHER OF JINGLES!  ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!

I was finally starting to feel human again. Yet, my kids, like all others at school  were riddled with ailment after ailment.  "Back to School" was also known as back to the festering cesspool of boogers, uncovered coughs, soppy tissues, grubby hands ...you get the idea.  Missed swimming, taekwon-do, and I think a math test, all part our accomplishments in the first three weeks of school.  Did I mention that in the middle of all this, Igor, the Category 1 Hurricane paid us a visit.  Massive flooding, and torrential winds cause great devestation and chaos.  For us personally, no damage and no flooding. Our only inconvience was no power for three days.  Three generators later (I love Honda), lots of Monopoly and some Advil Cold & Sinus...power was restored and I had the second best shower of my life!

So once again, my plans of regularly visiting the gym , timely laundry, clean bathrooms and cooked family dinners are foiled by a microscopic evil little virus. In the blink of an eye three weeks have glazed by and I’ve nothing to show for it.  Then again, there is the lingering smell of vomit and these black circles under my eyes are going to require a bit of effort.  Still, this mama is smiling and getting back in the saddle!  Next subject? I’m thinking flannel pyjamas and why people wear them out in public. You managed to do your hair and put on a coat, yet left on the flannel pyjama pants?