Amberism

So. Tired.

I'm heading into the last stretch of this pregnancy and had planned to slow it all down considerably and yet somehow February is shaping up to be the busiest month I've had in a long, long time. With birthing classes, the symphany, playdates and a list of volunteer tasks that just won't end I'm not entirely sure when I plan to sleep. Or when I plan to provide my daughter with a room of her own. The mattress for Callum's toddler bed (Hi Michelle! ~hugs~~) is still sitting at the front door, while my craft supplies are strewn all over the spare bedroom in complete and utter disarray. I'm organizing. Really. So don't touch anything.

Except Steve's brother is coming down this weekend to look after Callum while Steve and I go out for dinner for my birthday (which, as birthday presents go, that's a pretty sweet one!) so my crafts will have to be organized by tomorrow. Riiiiiight.

Last Friday I went for lunch at a cute little teahouse and had a quick 10 minutes fortune told and my tea leaves read. During this reading the lady said that my husband was having difficulties with his truck and it would cost some money, but no worries, it'll be ok. I'm thinking that the woman is crazy because the truck is completely fine mechanically. Steve is working on cleaning up the interior but that's about it. It snowed Sunday, so Steve drove the truck into work on Monday morning. Monday evening he couldn't get it started to come home, ended up having it towed to the nearest shop and yeah, it'll cost us. Now I'm officially creeped out. She also told me to watch the step out of the house (the only step is off back deck) because its slippery and I don't need that. I haven't set foot in the backyard since!

And some people just suck

There are days where I think the world is chalk full of awesome people.

My sister? Awesome. She sent The Sequel (literally, the box was actually adressed to The Sequel! hee!)the cutest damn little sweater you ever did see and for me she sent socks with teddy bears! Socks! With Teddy Bears! And no-slip grips!

My sister-in-law? Awesome. She sent Callum a box of clothes that my nephew has grown out of.

My grandma? Awesome. She always manages to squeeze in a little Callum love whenever I have one of my rather frequent last minute meetings.

The dude that snooped through my trunk? YOU SUCK.

I'm walking out of the grocery store last night* and notice my trunk is open. I had a prime parking spot right at the door and said out loud "What the HELL?". The guy walking in front of me stops at my car and literally puts his head in my trunk and does this look-see like he's determining if there is anything worth taking. I kid you not. So I said in an annoyed tone "Really?". He looks at me, then keeps walking. Doesn't shut the trunk or even make any attempt to apologize. Who the hell wouldn't SHUT THE TRUNK at the very least in case I wasn't said owner of the car?! And how many other people walked by and didn't shut the trunk?

Thankfully nothing was taken, there must not be a market for playpens and umbrella strollers. I think in my haste to find my coupons at the til I must have accidently hit the button to open the trunk. But damn.

A little more of the awesome, I hired a cleaning service. heh.

*with a cart full of case-lot sales, dog food, and a bottle of water for our water cooler and not once did anyone offer to help the pregnant woman lift any of these huge-ass items either into my cart, out to my car, or into my trunk.

How I know the world is ending...

Yet another beautiful sunny day at my house. Yesterday to take advantage of the sun, which seems to have had some sort of argument with the clouds so the clouds are just staying home, we walked down to the creek behind our house. In January. This is unheard of.

And last night I ironed 10 shirts. Toddler shirts. I do not iron, nevermind iron a shirt for a 1 year old.

The Lazy Man's Way

Some time ago I mentioned that Callum had a facial rash. Since that time he's had several, they never get worse, he never stops breathing, his tongue never swells. They almost always happen when he's eating some sort of dip or dressing. Since he's 15 mths old, there's a lot of dipping going on.

We've kinda just gotten used to them, but I did take a couple of photos to show the doctor at his 18 mth check up (because, like any good parent, I just wait til the next well-baby check to do anything about anything). Yesterday I said to Steve that I don't think its the food he's consuming but the food that he gets on his face so we did a skin test and dabbed his face salad dressing.

oh, its not like we held him down and strapped him to a table, just dabbed on some salad dressing. Creamy Ranch, if you're curious.

Nothing happened, initially, then about half an hour later behold! Spots!

Because I'm too lazy and too tired to actually do any research I'm just going to ask you, my panel of non-experts, what the verdict is. Are we just talking about very specific sensitive skin? Or is this the sign of an intolerence? I suspect its just sensitive baby skin, and since most people don't wash in Kraft Creamy Ranch, I don't think I have anything to worry about. Then again, why doesn't he react to say, soap? Or the fruit puree pictured below? Or pudding? Or, say, Kraft Italian?

Michael Buble and hob-nobbing with Canadian celebrities

On Saturday night me and some friends took the ferry to Vancouver to see Michael Buble in concert. We had a nice dinner in downtown Vancouver, and then headed to GM Place for the concert.

It was fantastic. He can really sing, and he's entertaining! Surprisingly entertaining. I had expected him to basically sing for the entire time and not really have that much to say, but he was funny and quirky and the show was worth every penny I spent on it.

He was also incredibly gracious. He jumped off the stage to have his picture taken with a little 8 year old girl in the second row, and when another fan rushed the stage and security went to stop her, he said "no, no, let her take the picture - wait! I'll pose!". When he jumped off the stage I said to my friend that it was amazing to me that no one was mobbing him - that's Canadians for you!

Plus he could make fun of himself. He commented on the fact that he knew that there were many men there that night who didn't want to be there but he assured them that it would be worth their while considering they were all going to get lucky that night :).

We were feeling a little sheepish about seeing Michael Buble to begin with. A lot of folks would mock us (to my surprise, actually, because I think he's a fantastic singer and who doesn't like a little old school crooning from time to time?!) but in the end, I think they missed out!

On the ferry ride home we were hob-nobbing with Elvis Costello, Diana Krall and their twin boys (they have a home on Vancouver Island). Again, to give credit to Canadians, no one was bothering them while they dealt with their twins and just did child minding stuff that has to be done. We were a little surprised they were on the ferry but figured its easier than taking twins on a plane... hey! Maybe they were at the Michael Buble concert too?!

Complaining!

One good thing about complaining about something Callum related on my blog is that within a couple of days whatever I was waxing poetic on seems to rectify itself magically without any real effort on my part. This is a good thing because I am lazy and prefer not to put in all that much effort if I can help it :). We're back to the Callum I knew before Christmas and its very enjoyable for me. He spent the day with my Grandma and Uncle Rick while I was on a volunteer retreat and was, apparently, really good all day. He cried for 5 minutes when I left and quickly got over it. yay! Of course, he was very needy when I got back, but that's ok, a little snuggling was most certainly in order.

I gotta say that woman who work and also take care of their kids? Whoa. You're way better women than I am because I'm WIPED. The thought of cooking dinner tonight was completely out of the question, we ordered pizza and just putting the dishes in the dishwasher seemed like a momentous task. And all I did was sit around a table and talk all day, its not like I was talking to clients or clearing tables!

Toddlerhood

We are entering toddlerhood in my little abode and its ...loud. There is much yattering, much walking, and a whole lot of complaining. When Sir Callum doesn't get what he wants, when he wants it, he launches into a crying fit where there is little you can do to console him and make the noise stop.

I'm not entirely sure how much of this is a result of him being sick over Christmas and carried around for a week, and how much of it is simply because he's 15 months, knows what he wants but doesn't yet know how to properly express himself. I understand how frustrating this must be for a little guy, but I also know that I'm in no position to carry him around like a prince and I also don't think that will help him to develop a well-rounded and pleasant personality either.

In the last couple of days his moods have started to improve and there appear to be fewer temper tantrums. Or maybe I'm just getting used to them and better at ignoring them.

Then again, he sat screaming and attached to my leg for 15 minutes already this morning. Thankfully nature had the foresight to make 'em cute, that way, you don't kill 'em.

I'm making him sound like a devil-child, and he's really not. He's just a toddler. A toddler getting over a nasty cold, dealing with one-year molars moving, and cutting other teeth too. He's not himself, and I'm 7 months pregnant and not myself. We're going grocery shopping today (which he loves, all the colors and people) and then Grandma's house so that he starts to feel good about being there on his own without me again because come Thursday, that's exactly what is going to happen. I was also toying with a walk on the beach just to get out and about and keep him entertained.

Websites

The group that I volunteer for has an opportunity to (finally) get our website updated. As a result, I'm trying to put together a list of requirements so that I get out of this new website what I want. Mostly because its me thats been bitching about the quality of our website. We have a lot of great information at our fingertips that we're not putting out there very well. It needs a lot of improvement. (if you're curious about the group, send me an email and I'll send you the link - I don't want this site and that site linked since this site is, well, not professional in the least :) ).

So, I come to you for a little advice. Do you have any examples of websites that you love? Nothing fancy, nothing flashy, nothing too colorful. We're an environmental group and our main objective is to put information out there. I live in an older community, so the website examples need to be clean, concise, and SIMPLE, yet modern and aesthetically pleasing to all demographics. Also am interested in things you'd like to see in an environmental website. Would a community be interested in seeing the best places to shop for say, fair-trade coffee? Or where to buy a product that uses recycable materials for packaging? Who to contact if you notice/suspect environmentally damaging practices?

Or just throw out some of your favorite websites and why, or ideas on what you expect from environmental groups that we're failing at.

Welcome 2008

I was trying to decide that if you wake up in a bad mood on the first day of the year if that will dictate what the year will bring. I sure hope not.

My mood, however, has improved as the day wore on, so there's hope yet. Of course, this might be in direct relation to Callum's mood improving. I think we're finally recovering from our colds. I've learned that Callum is not a trooper when he's sick. Nope. This kid does not enjoy being sick and lets you know it. Constantly. I kept trying to reason with him (its a runny nose, kid, count your blessings) but reasoning got me no where. At least now he'll play on his own, and has begun to eat again. It might have been pureed fruit for dinner but its a step up from milk and I'll take it.

The start of 2008 is all about clutter reduction and spring cleaning. Since I'll be dealing with a newborn baby girl in March, spring cleaning has to happen now or it isn't going to happen. Considering the state of my house, it has to happen. Unfortunately we're beyond broke, so I don't get to purchase any fancy organization do-dads so I'm all ears for ideas that are free, functional, and cool. Especially for my living room which houses all the toys, tv, and office. The thought of spring cleaning is a little overwhelming for me, but I'm just going to take it on drawer/corner at a time while Callum naps. Maybe I'll actually be done by spring...

Wishing you all a fantastic (and clean!) 2008!