To Vaccinate or Not To Vacciante

After much consideration, listening to both sides, the wonderland household has decided to vaccinate. Now the decision has been made I feel better.

I have talked with friends who went through this months ago in NZ. At least one of them was vaccinated. I cannot confirm if all five were. They did not have side effects and costed rather smoothly through it, but that may have been because one is a bit of an agoraphobe When germs are around

I have read articles and watched and listened to reports. All which are biased either way. I’m not sure it helped. May have just brought my anxiety about it up. But this is what I do know:

1. Yes there is Hg in the vaccine ethyl not methyl (big difference). I would prefer if there wasn’t any, but no Minamata here.

2. That it is a “fairly new” vaccine, but they are using the same methods for previous vaccines that I have had.

3. You cannot get the flu from a dead virus. If you get the flu after getting the shot, you were probably exposed to it days before or with in the two week period before full immunity is reached. In Canada we’re recieving the dead virus.

4. There is adjuvant in the vaccine to boost its efficacy and make it go further so more can get the vaccination if they want too.

5. The risk for my children having a bad side effect from the vaccine are lower than the risk of them getting the flu.

6. We are in the vulnerable group

7. People who are not vaccinated and get the flu and have an “easy” time of it, can pass the flu on to others who cannot be vaccinated. I don’t want that on my conscience.

8. I still believe that washing hands, eating right and exercise are the best way to stay healthy and prevent transmission of disease, but have you seen the nation lately. I will do my best but I cannot trust that others are.

Now I post these reasons just to explain why we are vaccinating and not to change anyones mind. I understand the struggle to decide. We all love our families and wants what is best for them. You do what you gotta do and I will do what I gotta do and hopefully neither of us will suffer.

The Boy In the Box

Cardboard, the basic building block of life. Ok thats carbon but you know what I mean. Its everywhere. Your puzzles come in it. your shoes come in it. You move in it. Well you don’t move IN it per say but your stuff is moved in it. Your appliances arrive in it.

I personally think appliance cardboard is the best cardboard. We got a freezer once and that box became my sons fort for at least a month maybe longer. We coloured and cut that box, to have a door and a window. They slept in there (they were very little). Then came the time when the poor box could no longer be a house. What do you do with it then, well you make it in to a knights breast plate, helmet, sword and shield. All you need is a copy of A Knights Tale (you know to pass the time) duct tape, a box cutter, brads and a little imagination.

I have a friend who is the ultimate creative lady and her kids are too. One day they took their boxes, set up bases (protective places) in the back yard, built body armor and had an elastic band fight. Hours killed, minimal fighting and No T.V. during the process. I tell you its genius. I suppose if your one who is against such things you could use it as an obstacle course or make your own “Wipe Out” set. Water balloons might work too, but then the cardboard gets soggy.

My sister was once with a Primary home preschool. The parents would rotate during the week and cover one lesson/ activity for about two hours. One of their activities was a “Drive-in Movie”. The kids decorated their box cars, had pop corn and watched a short movie.

There are so many things you can do with cardboard. What would you do… you know…before you recycle it?

Once Upon a Mattress

Once upon a time there were three boys. A big boy, a middle boy and a not so wee baby boy. The boys were happy and mostly got along but their world was about to change and they don’t seem to like change.

The not so wee baby boy slept in a playpen since the day he was born and now being two sun cycles old he was out growing his “bed”.

The Middle boy slept on a the bottom of a shiny silver bunk bed. He loved this bunk because he could make forts and hide flashlights. He could stay up very late without getting in trouble.

The big boy was a top dweller and desperately wanted his own room with his own bed. Alas his parent could not accommodate his request, for the extra rooms were already occupied.

One day their wicked and selfish mother realized she wasn’t sleeping at night because the not so wee baby boy needed a new place to sleep. So out of her own need for restful zzzzs she went in pursuit of a mattress and a box spring.

The big boy seeing this as an opportunity to further his cause, restated his request with a slight modification. He wanted the new bed. After much discussion a bargain was struck. Only upon excellent condition of the mattress, would he be able to have a new bed. Chances were very low as she was purchasing used goods.

The day of the exchange came and the playpen was packed away and the room organized for the arrival of said mattress. The goods were picked up and in excellent condition. The Big boy won…or did he?

Bed made, pajamas on, the boys made ready to rest. Then suddenly…. Tears! The not so wee baby wished to sleep where is former bed was and yet was not used to wide open spaces. The middle boy, reveling in his new found grown-up-ness earlier was now lamenting the loss of, and I quote, “The only bed I have ever known.” The oldest boy was sad as he was not in his new bed enjoying the luxury of a well maintained mattress. Oh the horror.

The selfish mother needing a good nights rest struck another deal. Tonight everyone will sleep where they are, and on the morrow all will change and all will like it.

And they did. Sort of.

The End

The Neighbourhood Writer’s Block.

There is a post here somewhere. I promise. I put it down and now its not where I left it. Things like this always happen to me. Usually its my Keys.

In the mean time, while I declutter, enjoy some pictures.

This was my childhood home until I was six. I don’t remember at what age I move in. This was the home I decided to test my birthday candle night lights that were tied to the wooden bunk bed.

Not a whole lot has changed. The Garage used to be a carport and the driveway was gravel. My parents would be happy to know that the garden plot is still there in the back yard. It looks like the original sheers are still on the window, but I doubt it as they would have to be 30+ years old and should have shredded and died. The colour is still the same. Ahh The memories.

This house, I assume, has changed many hands since Mr. Wonderful’s parents sold it about 3 years ago. The structure and colour remain the same but changes were made to the front door. Originally, at least while Mr. W and I were dating, the house was more blue and had blue doors with a busy white mod pattern. That was changed a bit after we were married. The playhouse is still there in the back and we are greatful that someone has finally moved in. The grass was getting high. It was bothering my husband. He kept saying “Dad would never let it get this high.”

Here is a picture of Mr. Wonderful’s Elementary School. It no longer goes by the same name and has changed since he went there. He still laments the loss of the big orange doors. I don’t think he does well with change.

Cana-we-do it? Yes we can!

As some of you know I have taken up running as a form of weight loss therapy exercise. I’ve been doing it since the end of september ‘08. I have seen some progress and now when I go on walks with my husband I can keep up with him. Years of walking with little Tweedles had slowed my pace some and I never could keep up with him. Now I can. Weird thing is we just discovered the my inseam and consequently my legs are longer than his, so whats up with that? My stride is shorter and faster. Anyway….

The catalyst to all this training was my sisters and I were unhappy with our bods (at least three of us were) so we made a fitness goal to run 5k at the Raymond family fun run on Canada Day. Just our luck Raymond moved it to the saturday before and well none of us could make it the 27th of June.

Don’t think that we let that stop us, NO WAY. We were all meeting Canada day anyway so why not do our own fun run. So we did. It was/ is called the “I Cana-Do-it L____ Family fun Run.” My sister Carrie wanted it to be “Carrie’s run for a better tomorrow”, but none of us wanted a better tomorrow. Just kidding.

We gave my Dad the assignment of planning the route.

My mom put herself in charge of a water station.

Everyone who wanted to participate did and we even made T-shirts. They were designed by my loverly niece Lady Em.

We have decided to make this an annual event and each year a different grandchild will design the awesome Tees.

The funny thing was when we reached half way we had only ran 750m. Apparently nobody had decided to drive the loop. Ooops. Our 5k turned in to a 1.5k. Oh well we did it anyway and we had fun.

So here is to better health, happiness and tomorrow. I guess Carrie got her wish after all.

Fan Fest, Good Clean Family Fun

Growing up in a house full of girls, I wasn’t much into watching football. It was something on the TV that my dad or my grandfather watched when I wanted to watch something else.

Now I live in a house full of boys, all of them sports enthusiasts, and if we had cable I still wouldn’t get to watch what I want to watch, but we don’t and CBC lost the rights so whatever. There really isn’t anything on TV now, it being the summer, but that is another post.

So as I said I live in a house full of boys who are lovin the sports. They will watch Hockey, Golf, Soccer, if we had it Basketball, and of course Football.

Right now we are at the beginning of the CFL season and every year the Calgary Stampeders have a fan fest. They serve a pancake breakfast, open the field up the the fans, run some drills and stations, give away prizes, and introduce the public to the players. You actually get to touch them. (that came out wrong). Anyways it all free.
This is Tweedle 3 going deep.
Tweedle E is reading the situation and getting ready to pass.
This is the boys with the Stamps mascot the runs up and down the field when they score a touchdown.

The coach giving some pointers.

We had fun and GO STAMPS GO!

The Approach

We are entering the last phase of school. The boys have a week left and projects are winding down. Although I would like to take D’s car project and make him do some adjustments, I am leaving it up to him. He needs to learn to do the work without me pushing him, and he needs the grade he deserves, not the one I deserve.
*****

I am officially into the second half of my thirties. I find I am no closer to some of my goals than I was 10 years ago. Obviously those goals are not much of priority maybe I should look at them again and make revisions. I don’t want to be 40 and have a midlife crisis.
*****

I am presently training for the Melissa’s half marathon even though I am only registered for the 10. I’m not sure I can be committed to the training schedule so we will see what happens. I’m doing this mostly to lose weight and secondly to prove to myself that I am strong. I have until the end of september. That seems far away but it really isn’t.
*****

Method

Just had interview #1 for a piano teacher today. He was very professional, and highly qualified. He recieved a music degree in London Ontario, taught a kingston and has taught at mount royal for 15 years. Now he does private lessons.

He said he only uses the sizuki method of piano as it trains the students to read music better. He also says that it is faster than most methods. He tells me that at the end of 3 books of sizuki, the children will enter conservatory music at grade 4. I started out in sizuki, but switched when we switched piano teachers when I was young.

His preference is to have the parent beside the child at the piano lesson so they know what is going on, and so they will ask the questions most children don’t. He also says that all his students have about an hour long lesson. He charges a flat rate of $120/ month for each student. Some months they get 4 lessons some months they get 5. Still have a few more to go but I am very impressed. I think he is out of our price range. No wonder he can afford such a nice place.

Beware of the evil pants.

Seems that I am on a textile theme today. The title may lead you to believe that this post is about “what not to wear”, but I assure you it is not. It is of a more serious nature. Yah right!

Whilst the Scotts and Our family were camping, Mr. Wonderful and Mr. Scott came upon a log of wood that looked like an anatomically* correct male pair of pants. The rareness of such a find led us to save the “pants” for a ceremonial burning on Saturday night.

After Dinner and after smores we built the fire high and hot. We shared ghost stories. In between the ghost stories one of us was to tell a story of how the pants came to be.

There was a story of the demise of one Obi-wan-pinoccio. He wasn’t a real boy after all but he had the force. He became a jedi and fought battle droids but alas young Obi-wan-pinoccio went out in a blaze of glory and all that is left of him were his pants. He was to burned as some Jedi are.

There was a story of a magical pair of pants, that if worn could make one invisible. These pants had more than just invisibility powers for the person who donned said pants. The wear had an inexplicable ability to control anyone else who was wearing pants. Because of this great and disturbing power, the One pair to rule them all had to be burned in the fires of Mordor I mean Crandall.

Finally the story of an unhappy man who liked to scare little children, came into some knowledge of some old magic that made him more powerful. Because of this power he was able to make young Tweedle E fall from the truck and caused many of the hurtful things that happened while we were camping. He was able to do this because he had turned the wood elves and fairies to his power. Luckily an old wise wizard knew more and was able to trap him in a tree. Then he was cut into pieces. Each piece was hidden far from the other so as not to be reunited. For should the pieces be reunited and the spell said, there would be a resurrection of sorts and he continue doing evil. The old wise wizard would have burned him, himself but he was being hunted by the turned wood elves and imps. He only had time to hide the pieces so that later he could return to give them a proper burning. Unfortunately the old wizard died and was therefore unable to complete his task. It is now our responsibility to complete his mission.

And with that being said we placed the pants on the fire and chanted “BURN HIM! BURN HIM!” I’m sure the other campers were wondering what was going on as it was 10:30 at night. The strange thing though was the pants took a long time to catch fire and when they finally did a huge flame burt forth. Crazy!

*anatomical was more like a Ken doll than elephant pajamas.

“Check your pockets please.”

It is inevitable. No matter how hard I try to be organized, when camping I always forget something. I plan. I make lists. Then I start early. Alas there is only so much a person can do ahead of time. Then like last year its crunch time, packing is interrupted and now I’m without toilet paper for the weekend. Really I don’t know how I survived.

I really should give myself more credit. It’s not every woman that enjoys camping and can get a family of five out to the mountains with minimal luxury. Some have tried and failed. My secret… bring another family with you. More times than not they have remembered what you haven’t and vice versa. (thats latin for “other way around”)

This year we were joined again by a family of Scottish decent, or so their name implies. For the purpose of the next few posts they will be referred to as the Scotts.

We had an awesome time partaking in the pleasures of one National Park called Waterton Lakes. Again, we stayed at the Crandall Mountain campground. No sooner had we put up the tent, the boys started asking, “Wheres this?”, ” I can’t find that.”, “Maaawwm. Where is my…?” This is to be expected as I packed most everything and checked and rechecked the clothing bags etc. (How I forgot the hot chocolate and smore stuff I’ll never know, but at least they were clothed.) It was later in the day when they had misplaced things after touching them that I was starting to get frustrated. Its harder than I thought raising “good lookers.”

After sometime I came to a realization. Boys like to put things in their pockets. “Check your pockets please.” became the new theme. Thanks to this little phrase my response time was reduced to 5 sec. So if you have boys about the age of 3 and older and they like to carry things small enough to fit in their hand, I suggest checking the pockets first.