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.

We were out and about. GO MT GO!

So to explain… we were away at a reunion. Had fun in the sun which apparently didn’t make it to Alberta, thus making the vacation a little sweeter. I got rid of most of the Farmer tan on one side but alas the other side not so much, making me just that much weirder.

We spent our time at a campground just outside of Bozeman MT and then half a day enjoying the sites of Yellowstone National Park.

Things I noticed:

1. The Pop in MT is sweeter and when in bottled form fizzier. I don’t like it, but then I don’t like change. I suppose if I lived there I would get used to it and then think Alberta’s pop is flat.

2. The size of there combos are much bigger in the MT. i was going to say states but as we only stopped in one restaurant the whole trip I thought I would refrain from huge generalizations. When Mr. Wonderful ordered his pop he went back to say “sorry but I think I got the wrong cup. I ordered the medium” to which the friendly girl said “sir that is our medium.”

3. About 70-80 % of the prices are cheaper than Canada. Not everything is cheaper. We only shopped in two places (Bozeman and Helena) but comparing prices with family members at the reunion leads me to believe should I live where they live my money would go further. For one thing gas is just over half the price. Today I filled up and it cost me about $4.00/ gallon.

4. People in Helena are supper friendly and hard working. Maybe its the economy and people want to keep their jobs so they are working extra hard or… they are just plain friendly. Every store we went in to there was someone there to help. I even went into a fabric/ craft store and didn’t get the “stink eye” for bringing a toddler in. One lady got down to his level and showed him all the Cars patches and proceeded to let him play with them. Then she talked to him about other Disney characters. I can guarantee that would never happen here in Calgary. The Target and Shopko were so clean and people were actually working instead of holding up a rack with their bodies whilst discussing the latest co-worker gossip. I can’t remember the last time I had seen that in one of our local department stores. Good on ya Helena

5. People from the states don’t know how to drive. Again sorry for painting you with one large brush. Notice I didn’t say Montana as my only experience with the poor driving was the west gate of Yellowstone National Park where representatives from almost all of the contiguous United States decided to congregate. A dude from North Carolina blocked three lanes with his van because he realized that he had already prepaid and wasn’t in the express lane. Then he got frustrated and was gesturing at a dude from South Carolina because he wasn’t making room. Yet S. Carolina couldn’t move forward to make the room because California was in front of him. Mr. Wonderful said it probably was a rival thing between the states but I don’t think so. Meanwhile a van from Washington next to us was all “The Nerve of some people.” and shrugging their shoulders at N. Carolina’s display. Other examples:

a: Not knowing what a four way stop means
b: Passing on a double solid.
c: Not knowing your car has signal lights
d: U-turning in the middle of the road
e: driving 20 miles/ hour under the speed limit
f: driving down a wrong way

I don’t know which representatives committed theses violations so you are all on the hook.

5. Roads in MT are hard to drive on. This may not be your fault as Alberta is more flat and has wide open spaces. I’m just not used to having Non-existent shoulders on a two lane highway. Then there the “road narrowing sign” we called it the skinny lady ahead sign and wondered how could it possible narrow anymore. But it did. They aren’t even wide enough for two motor-homes to pass each other going opposite directions. We saw it happen. Both had to slightly go off the road to do so. Crazy! The pilot car thing is cool though. I didn’t mind waiting the 10 min. for a guide ca to take me through the construction, but I have a feeling thats just me.

All in all MT is great and thanks for you Hospitality and warm hotel breakfast. You ROCK!

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.

Day Late and a Dollar Giant Short

I like people visiting my site. I really do. but now this has just gotten out of hand. My dollar giant post from a while back has taken on a life of its own. For some reason Kevin has taken it over as his own soapbox upon which to express his misery and woe as being the only employee (former) at his particular store with a honest bone in his body. Although I sympathize with his plight for honesty in the workplace…I think you have missed the point of my post.

I am a mother trying to raise three honest boys and would just like a little help when they come to apologize for stealing. Anyway there is bit of a discussion between EhV8R and Kevin and although I appreciate the visits and the hits, I would think the better forum for your discussion might be um… your own blog. That way you can get the message out to the people in your own words instead of the comment section of mine. Move it to the front page instead of hiding in my comment section.

I am not discouraging you from visiting or commenting on my site, quite the contrary. Just thought that since this discussion is SUCH a big deal you might want to bring more light to it. Thats all.

Have a nice day and don’t forget to stop bye the wonderland. Who knows I might post something more controversial than wether I made my kids B-day cake or bought it.

Sun Swallower

I don’t think in all of my life I have ever seen a total Solar Eclipse. I know I have seen Partials but not a total Eclipse where the sky goes dark as if it is night.

The next Total Eclipse to be seen by North America (aside from Hawaii) will be August 21, 2017 in Montana, Idaho area at around 5:00/5:30pm. I think I might have to make a trip in 8 years. It would be fun to celebrate Tweedle E’s Birthday with an Eclipse viewing. He will be 16 then. Crazy!

Phase 10

My oldest tweedle is 10. He has officially entered the double digits and tweenhood. He is more opinionated and independent, just like any 10 year old should be, but sometimes he still likes to cuddle his mom. You didn’t hear that from me.

For his birthday I took four boys to Calaway Park, again. We spent 4 hours there and everyone was so well behaved. I would’ve posted pictures but I forgot my camera and my phone doesn’t upload to a mac. We went mini golfing and he won. We went on a lot of rides and enjoyed the mist in the amazing maze. It was hot out.

We went out for lunch and ate burgers a la Wendy’s. This gave me a bit of rock gut, but whatever. Might explain why my energy level was in the toilet so low.

Everyone was so generous. I even had a running friend donate a bike to the cause. He enjoys riding it so much. He also asked for pit stick deodorant. We spent 15 minutes smelling different ones and got him a not so cologne smelling one. He doesn’t stink yet, but, he had his maturation unit a month ago and was so excited for his body to change. I thought why not. That way I avoid the awkward “Son when you get older, your sweat gland start to produce and odor…like they are right now.” conversation. No one likes to be told they stink. However, if I DO please tell me I’d rather know.

All in all good birthday, good friends, good times and good cupcakes.

More 2

24=2

Tweedle 3 is 2. The day did not pass without a celebration of sorts. There were balloons (all be it the wrong age ones) there was a present and a cake. Unfortunately for this little Tweedle his day falls at one of the busiest times of the year for me. Even though I tried a month in advance to plan what to do for my little guy, we ended up playing it by ear.

This year we went to Calaway Park and only went on rides my babe could go on. Then we hit the Dairy Queen for a lunch and cake.

There is something to be said for keeping it simple. I know the Tweedle didn’t mind. He just loved us singing happy birthday over and over again. He still plays with his Lightning McQueen Shake and Go car which was half the price at a well know department store, all the time. Sometimes at night we have to pry it from his tiny fingers before he goes to bed.

Of course it wasn’t a party without balloons and rip roaring game of balloon volleyball (or something like unto it). Did you know you can play baseball with a balloon, and tennis. All you need is a hanger someone who is willing, a balloon or several, and at least an hour. Thats right folks my little Tweedle will focus about an hour on hitting balloons. Looks like nothing has changed much in that department over the last year.

Debunking De-junking

I have heard of the benefits of a cleanse. I have also heard they are a load of bunk. The thing is I have only seen two cleanses and both aren’t healthy for you as far as I can tell (lemon cayenne pepper, and cabbage soup diet.) I have heard of other healthy ways to cleanse, where you still get to eat, but in a less refined way. And by less refined, I mean less processed. I still plan on using my utensils and manners thank you very much. But those people who have taken the mystery cleanses never share the one they are on. Is there a reason for that?

Is it possible to have a clean colon just by increasing your fiber through vegetables, legumes and whole grains? Please share your wisdom O interneters. Have you gone on a cleans? How did you feel while doing it? How did you feel after? What were the benefits? Did you maintain the benefits a week, a month, or even a year later? What was the reason for your cleanse? Please be truthful.