Amberism

Things we conveniently forget to tell Papa...

It's coming, it's coming!!

Halloween that is! oh, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Halloween. I'm a little bummed that Steve and I don't get to throw the Halloween party in these parts (I'm a decorating maniac and no one out here really does it up quite like I do) but that isn't going to stop me from decorating my own house and living it up anyway.

This year I think my costume idea rocks, too. Callum is going as a spider, me as Spiderella and Steve? A Pest Exterminator.

hee! I crack myself up, people.

Today was going to be my big trip into town to get all the necessary supplies (I'm crazy, I'll scrimp and budget down to the penny but when it comes to Halloween? Budget-smudget) unfortunately there was a crisis on the volunteer front and my afternoon was spent going through old files. meh. Tomorrow, though, I'm in there.

I have a million things to do in about 3 days. Since I've felt so unbelievably crappy for the last couple of weeks I haven't done anything beyond the basic housekeeping. To be honest, I'm surprised I've managed to keep up with that. I think the thought of it piling up outweighs the feeling of crap. I really don't see how its all going to come together, either. Here's hoping a few hours magically appear or I suddenly become super-woman.

Do you think a 1-year old needs a big birthday party? I was going to forgo it but it seems like all the other 1-year olds are getting parties and I'm starting to feel guilt. Its just, well, Callum doesn't really have any friends. And the thought of getting a whole pile of plastic toys makes me a little quesy. well, more quesy than I already feel. How the hell do you spell quesy?!

Mission: Operation Callum's Sibling

Task 1: Create Sibling
Task Completed Successfully.
Estimated Arrival Date: March 29, 2008

Task 2: Wait Mandatory 12 Weeks
Task Completed Successfully

Task 3: Tell World
Task Completed Successfully

I hesitate telling the world since I don't get an ultrasound until 18 weeks (middle of October) and am a little sketchy about the health of this pregnancy. Or maybe just paranoid. But this pregnancy, not so nice compared to the last

Another Interview. Why? Because they are FUN.

This time the questions are from Suzy. What? I like talking about myself. Why do you think I have a blog?!

Interview rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with a post containing your answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

And now, my questions

1. What was the most surprising or unexpected thing about becoming a mother?

oh, how can I say this without causing a stir... the one thing you hear over and over again is that being a Mom is the most important and hardest job in the world, right? It hasn't been that hard for me with Callum. I can't speak for the raising of more than one seeing as I only have one (and two cats and a dog), but I can speak for being a Mother of One in her first year. There are some seriously amazing moments but mostly its a boring job, and that in itself is a challenge I suppose. As an established lady of leisure I have already mastered the ways of boredom with many activities I enjoy. Callum knows all the plots on General Hospital and is quickly learning to knit.

I will say that I am always impressed with how remarkable Steve is at being a father. I think I can be so casual about motherhood because when Steve walks in the door after work, he's full-time Papa. After the dishes are done, and I've made Steve's lunch, my night is my own. Steve runs the dog, plays with Callum, baths him and puts him to bed. All I have to do is make the bedtime bottle. Someone told me that when your child is born you fall in love with your partner all over again. For me this came true.

2. How did you and Steve meet?

ah, a long and sordid tale it is. It involved a meeting through mutual friends in Las Vegas, The Luxor, copiuos amounts of alcohol and much chemistry. It does nothing for my reputation, but hey, we're married now! So I am once again a Good Girl.

3. I know you moved a couple of years ago. How do you feel about your new hometown (and your old one)?

I love this island and moving into our new lifestyle. I am still finding my place here and stumbling along trying to figure out the next step, what we want to be as people, how we want to live. I desperately miss my family and friends (and all that free babysitting I'd have) but I don't miss Calgary-the-City at all. If you take the love of family and friends out of the equation, I hate going back to Calgary, it makes me angry and edgy.

And in a way, there are some perks to not being in the same town as family and long-time friends because there are no obligations. We don't have to attend birthday parties, thanksgiving gatherings, Sunday dinners or any other event. Our time is always all our own and that is incredibly freeing. You do miss out on the closeness of family and the festivities, and don't get me wrong I really do miss that, but for everything you give up, you gain something else.

4. What inspired you start blogging and what keeps you inspired?

You and Candi inspired me to start blogging. Years ago we used to chat on Candi's board, then the blogging craze started and everyone started to move away from that to their blogs. I was religiously reading, and then found myself wanting to say more in the comments than was really appropriate... so Candi created me my first blog. And second blog. And third blog. Then Fearthainn did this one for me because I was beginning to think that there was a lot of giving from Candi and a lot of taking from me. Best to spread out the taking from people so they don't start to resent you ;).

Lately staying inspired is a serious struggle. Even though I am actively volunteering in my community, still crafting, staying on top of current events, and raising Sir Callum, I am constantly struggling to find something new to put here. I don't want this to be all Callum all the time, but I don't seem to have the inspiration to put much more out there right now.

5. What would your perfect day be like?

To sleep in, slowly greet the day, enjoy a cup of coffee and a doughnut that magically just appears, and then head out to explore a new park or beach or drop the boat in the lake and just float, all the while soaking up the scenery. Home to dinner already prepared (anything, as long as I didn't have to cook it) and then to sit on the deck with Steve* after Callum's in bed, or cuddle on the couch.

In this day, Callum never whines or cries, the dog is remarkably well-behaved, and the cats just sit and purr.

*Steve is going to read this and exclaim "WHAT?" because all summer he's been like "Come sit on the deck with me" and I'm all "nah, I think I'll just veg on the couch and watch TV". He's threatened to take the TV away. But we're assuming that on this perfect day I'll have the motivation to remove ass from couch.

The Woes of Being a Dog

I love you, puppy.

Now get out of my way, dog.

I got the itches...

So, since today is my day to myself I decided to clean out the greenhouse. This probably seems like a weird thing to do with a day off from parenting, but the idea of starting a job and getting it done in a couple of hours was very appealing to me. And I was in a productive mood.

I empty the entire greenhouse, got a bucket with bleach and cleaned every plant container I had, all the tools, and then the shelves. Once that was done, I got into the greenhouse, hosed it down, then got to work washing down the walls with bleach and water. I'm just turning the corner to do the last wall (I'm making this sound like a huge building, in reality its about 4 feet by 6 feet :) ) slop the sponge into the corner and HIT A WASP NEST.

~insert appropriate girly freak out which involved dropping the bucket and sponge and running full tilt for the house~

ooooo-k. Now I need to regroup because I have the entire contents of the greenhouse now on the lawn, including the damn shelves. They can't really stay there indefinitely. Well, they could, but I'm not really prepared to be that white trashy and it would drive me insane to have all that stuff just lying around willy-nilly.

Then I started to wonder why the wasps didn't let me know they were there? I mean, I literally banged into their nest before I noticed it. That's pretty weird. The wasps I'm used to would have chased me out of the greenhouse the minute I showed up and these guys didn't.

So, if I've got lazy-ass wasps, I figure I'll just hose them out of my greenhouse. And I did. I felt a little cruel watching the nest come down and all the larvae get washed away. But only a little.

Then I saw the biggest damn spider I have ever seen. It was verging on tarantulan. It died, obviously, because spiders that big don't need to reproduce in my greenhouse but by this point I've got the weebie-jeebies pretty bad and I head indoors where the spiders are managable and far less scary and wasps don't venture.

A little internet search sheds some light on the wasps - they're umbrella wasp and aren't an aggressive bunch. They build small nests (of maybe 100 wasps) and are an invasive species in B.C. from Europe.

Still. They're wasps and they're in MY greenhouse. When Steve comes home he can go out there and kill them properly (they're invasive so I feel ok about that). In the meantime they're busily rebuilding out there and I'm trying to get together enough courage to go out there and finish putting everything back into the greenhouse.

Damn bugs.