Random conversation while driving in the car yesterday:
Sam: Maman, in university, do you go outside and play?
Me: No.
Sam: Oh ... (pause) but you do get snack, right?
Me: No.
Sam: Oh dear...
Hot August Nights
5 years ago
Monday, November 29, 2010
Sunday, November 28, 2010
No time to be sick
Today I’m feeling crappy. I’m not going to die or anything – just a head cold and what I’d like to do is just curl up on the couch for the day. Not going to happen.
Kamryn had hockey practice at 7:00 am; Sam at 7:30 am, which is better than it sounds in that they were play/practicing in adjoining arenas so all the hockey “fun” was over with by 8:30 am and we weren’t driving all around the city. The bad part is is dragging one’s cold-weary butt out of bed at 6:00 to go and sit in a freezing cold arena. Kamryn has a birthday party to go to at 11:00 am (her Dad will drive her; my contribution has been making sure she’s dressed nicely and that the gift is bought and wrapped). I have to be a Shenkman Arts Centre at 12:00 pm in advance of a 2:00 pm performance. It’s our annual Christmas concert and I’m just not up for it. Nothing like honking on a clarinet when your throat feels like you’ve swallowed gravel. I’m so looking forward for 4 pm when we should be done.
After the concert I will need to help Kamryn bake cookies for school. Then I will be done. The Grey Cup is today. Traditionally you eat pizza and chili for the Grey Cup game. I know I have frozen chili in the freezer and I have some frozen pizzas – tada!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Feeling a little deflated
Yay - we met with a psychologist today. She seemed switched on, well qualified and old enough to automatically give her an air of efficacy. I liked her.
Yay - Sam was cooperative and pleasant but not so much that we looked like crazy people for suggesting something might be wrong with our child.
Boo - After only a half day of school he received a written warning from his teacher (an official form not the regular note in his agenda) for hitting another child (albeit on the hand) and being disrespectful.
Sigh ...
Friday, November 12, 2010
Tuesday, November 09, 2010
Life without a cell phone
I don’t have a cell phone. I haven’t had one for over a month now. When my empoyer no longer required me to have a blackberry and took the one they had given me I never got around to getting a new phone (I did half-heartedly shop for one). There have been a couple of times this month (no more than two or three) where it would have been nice to have to option of a phone but nothing critical. No need stronger than “nice to have.” Telling someone you don’t have a cell phone now-a-days generally invokes questionable glances. People are more likely not to have a home phone that to not have a cell phone. My 70-year-old mother has one.
I don’t need a phone. Never have. I think we’ve been conditioned to be available 24/7 and that’s really not all that necessary. I’m not that important. I plan my life a little – make a phone call, if I need to, before I leave my office or when I get home.
Here’s the thing. For security reasons I cannot use or even allow one to be on in my workplace. When I venture from my office during the day there is a better than 50 percent chance that I won’t remember to take a cell phone with me. There is a greater than 75 per cent chance that if I take it with me I won’t remember to turn it on. I’m completely reachable when I’m in my office I have this lovely black thin on my desk with buttons that occasionally rings. Can’t use a cell phone while driving – of course hand-free is allowed but I don’t really believe in that being any safer than holding a phone and yammering away into it. There aren’t very many places/times where I can actually use a cell phone. I’m worried that my husband (who is extremely attached to his cell phone) will think a cell phone would be a great Christmas present. I don’t want one.
The common arguement (and I've used it) is "what if the children need my help." Well the school has my work number, if they can't get a hold of me they have my parents phone number, if they can't get a hold of them then they can call my husband. Someone will get to the kids (probably in the end me!). Last winter Sam fell ill at school. It was 3:30 pm and the school bus left at 3:45 pm they were questioning whether to put him on the bus or not and called me. I had left work (to get home in time to meet the school bus) so they left a message on my voice mail at work. I had not yet made it home so I missed their second attempt to reach me. They left a message at home as well. Then they called my cell phone. I was driving home to meet the school bus and forced to ignore the ringing phone or break the law. They left a third message. Had I been able to answer the ringing cellphone it would not have changed the outcome in any way as I was too far away to provide a better option than sending him home on the bus. I was unreachable for 15 minutes. Sam did not die. They put him on the school bus (as I would have told them to do) and when he got off the bus I put him to bed. These are the extent of the foreseeable emergencies in my life.
Instead of buying a cell phone for a hundred dollars and then paying $40 a month (minimum) to not use it anyways, today I bought the family tickets to go and see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra perform. I wouldn’t be able to hear a cell-phone during that raucous show as it is.
I don’t need a phone. Never have. I think we’ve been conditioned to be available 24/7 and that’s really not all that necessary. I’m not that important. I plan my life a little – make a phone call, if I need to, before I leave my office or when I get home.
Here’s the thing. For security reasons I cannot use or even allow one to be on in my workplace. When I venture from my office during the day there is a better than 50 percent chance that I won’t remember to take a cell phone with me. There is a greater than 75 per cent chance that if I take it with me I won’t remember to turn it on. I’m completely reachable when I’m in my office I have this lovely black thin on my desk with buttons that occasionally rings. Can’t use a cell phone while driving – of course hand-free is allowed but I don’t really believe in that being any safer than holding a phone and yammering away into it. There aren’t very many places/times where I can actually use a cell phone. I’m worried that my husband (who is extremely attached to his cell phone) will think a cell phone would be a great Christmas present. I don’t want one.
The common arguement (and I've used it) is "what if the children need my help." Well the school has my work number, if they can't get a hold of me they have my parents phone number, if they can't get a hold of them then they can call my husband. Someone will get to the kids (probably in the end me!). Last winter Sam fell ill at school. It was 3:30 pm and the school bus left at 3:45 pm they were questioning whether to put him on the bus or not and called me. I had left work (to get home in time to meet the school bus) so they left a message on my voice mail at work. I had not yet made it home so I missed their second attempt to reach me. They left a message at home as well. Then they called my cell phone. I was driving home to meet the school bus and forced to ignore the ringing phone or break the law. They left a third message. Had I been able to answer the ringing cellphone it would not have changed the outcome in any way as I was too far away to provide a better option than sending him home on the bus. I was unreachable for 15 minutes. Sam did not die. They put him on the school bus (as I would have told them to do) and when he got off the bus I put him to bed. These are the extent of the foreseeable emergencies in my life.
Instead of buying a cell phone for a hundred dollars and then paying $40 a month (minimum) to not use it anyways, today I bought the family tickets to go and see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra perform. I wouldn’t be able to hear a cell-phone during that raucous show as it is.
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
HIs first real suit
Yesterday I bought Sam a suit, at his request. My 6-year-old is dying to wear a suit. A wee (completely hyper and totally out-of-control) Alex Keaton perhaps? We were watching Battle of the Blades the other night and one of the hosts was wearing a suit. Sam asked me if he could dress like “that man.” Then a skater came on the screen and he got all excited “No! He exclaimed not like him. Like the other man.”
“The man in the suit?” I asked.
“Yes, he replied” and calmed down a little.
“Ummm… why?”
“I just like it.” he said.
I did a private dance of joy – no “Pants on the Ground” for my kid. My kid has style.
Last week he asked to wear a tie to school. It didn’t survive the day intact (easily fixed though) so the suit may not have been the best idea his Mom has ever had. Anyway it was on sale and I kind of liked it and he asked for it. My 6-year-old asked for a suit. How could I resist. The only problem was the smallest size they had was an 8. I was sceptical but figured at the very worse it would hang in his closet and he’d wear it next year. It was a good price for a nice suit. I was hoping it would need a little tailoring and he could wear it for the next two years (first communion suit – done! Bonus!). Ummm…. He swims in the pants (because he has no discernible waist) but aside from that no tailoring needed – doesn’t even need a hem. Daniel is doubtful that he’ll still fit into it come Easter. It’s a size 8 for pete’s sake! I’m not buying a size 10 for my first grader. Ah well. Maybe his cousin will have a nice suit for his first communion (the two are only months apart but I have to keep reminding the children this, as Sam is about a head taller and a gazillion years more mature).
“The man in the suit?” I asked.
“Yes, he replied” and calmed down a little.
“Ummm… why?”
“I just like it.” he said.
I did a private dance of joy – no “Pants on the Ground” for my kid. My kid has style.
Last week he asked to wear a tie to school. It didn’t survive the day intact (easily fixed though) so the suit may not have been the best idea his Mom has ever had. Anyway it was on sale and I kind of liked it and he asked for it. My 6-year-old asked for a suit. How could I resist. The only problem was the smallest size they had was an 8. I was sceptical but figured at the very worse it would hang in his closet and he’d wear it next year. It was a good price for a nice suit. I was hoping it would need a little tailoring and he could wear it for the next two years (first communion suit – done! Bonus!). Ummm…. He swims in the pants (because he has no discernible waist) but aside from that no tailoring needed – doesn’t even need a hem. Daniel is doubtful that he’ll still fit into it come Easter. It’s a size 8 for pete’s sake! I’m not buying a size 10 for my first grader. Ah well. Maybe his cousin will have a nice suit for his first communion (the two are only months apart but I have to keep reminding the children this, as Sam is about a head taller and a gazillion years more mature).
I Rule!
I’m feeling a little superior. It’s hard to feel superior without sharing.
I brought my lunch to work today: butternut squash soup, a red pepper cut into strips, an apple and a diet ginger ale. Substitute cherry tomatoes for the red pepper and its exactly the same lunch I had yesterday. The soup is good; I made it myself but I was a little bored with said lunch so I figured I would pop down to the cafeteria and grab a slice of pizza. I literally hitched up the pants I bought just last month (happy to be losing wieght; a little frustrated that nothing I have fits - no pleasing me) and headed out. I got down to the cafeteria and there was an enormous man in front of me. I watched him grab two bags of chips, a buttertart, a bottle of coke and a sandwich. I looked at him. I adjusted my pants (again!). I then bought a small whole wheat roll to eat with my soup and came back upstairs to eat my boring lunch.
But I do feel superior even though I didn’t really do anything and don’t know this man (or his situation) from Adam. I can’t tell anybody in real life this because it would be petty. Tomorrow though I may have the pizza and leave someone else feeling superior.
I brought my lunch to work today: butternut squash soup, a red pepper cut into strips, an apple and a diet ginger ale. Substitute cherry tomatoes for the red pepper and its exactly the same lunch I had yesterday. The soup is good; I made it myself but I was a little bored with said lunch so I figured I would pop down to the cafeteria and grab a slice of pizza. I literally hitched up the pants I bought just last month (happy to be losing wieght; a little frustrated that nothing I have fits - no pleasing me) and headed out. I got down to the cafeteria and there was an enormous man in front of me. I watched him grab two bags of chips, a buttertart, a bottle of coke and a sandwich. I looked at him. I adjusted my pants (again!). I then bought a small whole wheat roll to eat with my soup and came back upstairs to eat my boring lunch.
But I do feel superior even though I didn’t really do anything and don’t know this man (or his situation) from Adam. I can’t tell anybody in real life this because it would be petty. Tomorrow though I may have the pizza and leave someone else feeling superior.
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