Garden woes, this heat must go!

For the first time ever, we planted a little vegetable garden. We had the wettest spring I can remember. Took us until the end of May to actually be able to go outside long enough to dig the garden and plant it.

Things were growing along nicely when suddenly all the rain just disappeared. We woke up the other morning to a bit of dampness on the patio table so I imagine it rained, but I can't confirm it.

My zucchini are shrivelling and turning yellow. My pumpkins are wilty, carrots are not even growing anymore, and my potatoes, poor potatoes, they have the longest skinniest tops on them ever from the early extended rains when they struggled toward the sunlight. I don't even know if they will grow potatoes on them! My beans are finally creeping up the bean tower,but my peppers are stunted and suffering a bit now. My eggplants basically died under the jungle like cover that is my potatoes. My herbs aren't faring much better. The truly hearty lemon verbena and mint are gigantic, thanks to the rain earlier on, but the stuff we planted later is not growing. They look exactly as they did when my husband planted them after his birthday. Maybe not exactly the same, they were way healthier looking at the greenhouse!

Now, I'm all for summer and warm weather, but it's getting ridiculous! By the time it creeps to 48 on Thursday with the humidex, I won't need to cook, I'll just be able to go out and butter my sad shrivelling veggies on the vine and serve them for supper!

Summer thrills...

School's out, and I say hooray! And for me the countdown begins. Not the excited counting the days for the kids to return to school, more like the bummed countdown of how fast the summer is flying by.
It's all bittersweet to me these days. Each passing day, every moment of growth and discovery the kids make is another day closer to their own adulthood. Next September marks the start of SK for my youngest girl, and grade 10 for my oldest son. When their feet spring out the door that day, I will hear their steps echoing away into adulthood, and I am excited for them as well as filled with wrenching sorrow that their steps must necessarily carry them away from me.
However, that day is approximately 52 days away, and I will try to remain carefree and enjoy summer with them while I can.
So far the youngest ones have been enrolled in some classes at the early years, and we've been busy with dental appointments and Drs and all that thrilling stuff. We took a trip to visit my husband's family in the bustling metropolis of Cornwall, On.
The younger kids had good time, it was their first time camping, although we did that in my FIL's motorhome so I am not entirely sure it counted as camping. We got to go for a boat ride, visit a cottage, hike, visit 2 sets of their grandparents,stopped at the Big Apple in Coburg, took a trip to Prehistoric world, and BBQ'd it up with family.
All the kids got to see fireflies for the first time. There were so many it was really lovely.
The first morning we woke up after not really sleeping,and Zans was in a foul mood so we drove to a local Tim Horton's for coffees and a treat for the kids. We were going to take the ramp to the 401 to Cornwall, but then I spotted the East Montreal one...and off toward Montreal we went!
We didn't go all the way there though, just as far as Dorion. Bailey really had to pee of course, so we just popped into the golden arches. She thought it was cool to be peeing in Quebec, though she was disappointed in the lack of French flags. I guess we've done most of our travelling through the States, where flags are in abundance.
Now Zander keeps saying he wants to go back to "The Bus" as he called the motorhome, and the beach. Poor guy, doesn't realize how FAR it was, in traffic....
Bailey was excited to get to class the day after we came back. I naively thought she couldn't wait to tell her friends about the dinosaur exhibit or the boat ride/swimming in the St Lawrence. What does she say as she bolts from the car in excitement? "I can't wait to tell Lainey that I peed in Quebec! "
Of course that was the highlight of the trip. I guess when we drive to Maine in August I should find a lot of special bathrooms for her to stop in and impress her friends!

Drs make mistakes too apparently.

So I was at the hospital Monday getting a mole removed. I've waited over a year to get one on my face done.I'm tired of kids asking me if I'm a witch. I tell them I am, but I don't usually eat kids for dinner.
Sadly the dr couldn't do it. She wants me to see a plastic surgeon because she couldn't remove it without leaving a big hole. I did get her to remove one on my arm that suddenly turned black. I'm not worried about it, but my sister was pestering me about it so I got it removed. Everything was fine. At first. All through the check in, the waiting, the choppity chopping, here was the conversation, repeated several times, with several staff ending with the surgeon and her nurse "so, you have a latex allergy?" Me "yes". She whips the mole out and I'm done and voila I get stitched up leave the hospital. I come home for a bit, not feeling really awesome. Kind of feeling dizzy and weird, and no idea why. My arm is turning a really weird shade under the bandage wrap. I go back out after 20 minutes at home to pick up the younger kids then off to get my oldest up at the highschool. As I'm waiting in the car for him, the freezing is starting to wear off. It's been almost an hour since they finished me up.
I still feel strangely like I got high or something. My arm is mottled purple around the bandaid. I'm thinking weird, she didn't say purple, she said it will be white for a while.
I sit there looking at the see through bandaid. Super slow wheels turn in my head as I'm feeling weirder by the minute. My 4 year old daughter who I just picked up from school pipes up from the backseat, "Mom, how come your band aid doesn't look like my special safe (latex free) band aid? it looks like the old ones we had" And Ding ding ding, I finally know why I feel totally bizarre and why my skin feels on fire around the frozen zone.
Ripping off the bandaid, I see my skin is beginning to rash and look ugly under there.
No harm no foul overall, but what on earth is the point in telling them that you are sensitive to something, if they aren't really listening?
It is worth mentioning that the surgeon actually called me on my cell shortly after that, having attempted to reach me at home, upset because she had realized her error, and wanting me to come in and switch it. She had called my house, my drs office, (where my dr wasn't actually sure because it didn't say on my chart I was allergic, but she felt like she remembered something)to when she finally reached me, and I was able to say, everything was fine and I already taken care of it.
But seriously, what if my daughter hadn't said something? The weird way I was feeling, I don't think I would have put two and two together on my own, cause that has not happened before.
I do know that I can't use cheap toilet paper, or some mascaras, or cheap nasty elastic underwear or socks...Certain fruits cause me grief and I recently learned it was because they are often a problem for latex sensitive people.
Latex, definitely not my friend, and I clearly have to be more vigilant on my own behalf from now on!

Hey Neighbours!-You cutting your grass is a pain in my ...

My neighbours are the type to mow their lawn twice a week. It is annoying, not good for the environment, not great for your grass, and most importantly to me, not good for my son.
He has "sensitve lungs" (AKA Asthma, though they won't call it that until he is older).
The latest round of grass mowings occured on Sunday. I gave him claritin, with no noticeable improvement. I estimate 8 or 9 people on my section of the street mowed their lawns. By Monday morning our little guy couldn't breathe very well. We dosed him with his inhalers , repeatedly.
Took him to the park, because I figured it's a plain park, lots of rocks, not too many plants.
Luckily for us there was a parks and rec dude there mowing the lawn, while smoking a cigarette and driving a smelly diesel tractor. We left and came home, he was getting worse quickly. He fell asleep (not normal) at lunch time. He woke up after an hour, with very laboured breathing, and he couldn't even climb the stairs without crying and having to stand there and catch his breath. Only 6 steps!
I took him to the ER. They kept us a while locally and gave him oxygen, and pulmicort, prednisone and ventolin. By 7 at night, he was a bit better, but still had low levels of oxygen, and everytime they took away the oxygen his levels dropped immediately too low.
They rustled up an ambulance and we were whisked off to another hospital that had a pediatrics unit.
More treatments, overnight observation etc...
Anyway, he was better until we went outside, and he started breathing in some freshly cut grass.
Laboured breathing again instantly. I will continue to monitor him, and hope he isn't that severe again. The specialist said it was likely a combination of his allergies and a virus attacking his system a the same time.
And now I'm the jerk with the A/C running though it is only 27 out-, trying to minimize the allergens in my home. So, next time you are mowing your lawn..again...please think about some of the people out there who could use a week off from your noxious fumes or freshly cut grass!
The dr said it likely combined with a virus at the same time. Yay, what luck for us! It was a horrible feeling seeing him getting into the ambulance. I hate sickess.
I'm crossing my fingers that he never have to go to back.

Rapture...or not.

Well, the rapture came and went, and I'm still here. Bugger. And I was so counting on not having to do the dishes or anything after dinner. What a shocking disappointment this must be to the crazies, I mean people, who left jobs and homes and families during this recession, to trek across country to meet up for their rapture event!
I'm sorry, but really, did you think it was going to be that easy? Voila, poof, you are saved from this existence, so enjoy?
Well, in any event, I am glad that I err'd on the side of caution, planting my garden, paying my bills,and returning my movies to the video store on time! Maybe they meant 6pm PST.
Wait, I hear some kind of explosions, and I see lights in the sky!
Oops sorry, it's actually just my neighbours letting off fireworks, because it's Victoria day weekend.

Mommy Look!

Mommy look!

Almost every minute or so , this is what my soon-to-be two year old says.
"Mommy look- i hop like a bunny!"
Mommy look-i crawl like a turtle!"
"mommy look- I play with puzzle." and on ..
A few hours into the day, I'm not always listening 100percent, like when I was making lunch Friday. A colossally bad day of bad days, involving no hot water, no hot water heater appointments available...and many more fun things.(but luckily for you, that rant isn't the subject of this post!)
Then in a vague way, I hear him say...
"Mommy look, abs' swim"
I'm in the kitchen cutting food up. I respond, "oh yeah? ok, good for the abc's, glad they like it".
Then my brain clicks into gear. Abs's (what he calls abc's for some reason) swimming? where? the only open water would be...the toilet. Of course. Where my 4 year old just was. Using the toilet. Awesome.
I ask, "are you in the toilet?"
He says
"Yes mommy, look abs's swim in toilet!
To which my dd pipes up from her bedroom, "well it's a good thing I remembered to flush this time isn't it mom?"
thank goodness for hand sanny. Because I had no boiled water ready, and cold water just didn't seem sanitary enough.
A lesson to be scrubbing that toilet on a daily basis i think. And a lesson to be listening a little more closely, no matter how many times a day I hear that phrase
"Mommy look..."

You'd never see Obama stealing a necklace....

So, every once in a while, a bit of celebrity gossip oozes it's way into my unfortunate ear canals, or dances at the corners of my vision when I'm trying to look up something serious on the 'net.
This morning Lindsay Lohan's name caught my eye.
She is apparently fighting a charge of theft, over a 2500 dollar necklace she stole.
I'm sorry, but isn't she stinking rich? Aren't the majority of these spoiled, self centered, boo hoo, I'm famous so I have to steal/lie/cheat/drink/do drugs/ etc, rich, and so similar you could exchange them, and their petulant behaviours, without noticing? And aren't they a waste of good space and resources here on the earth?
Maybe I'm just jaded, because I'm struggling to get by, and have no time to go steal a necklace worth as much as my car, nor the Chanel wardrobe to wear to court...
It seems to me,as though a large portion of the people drawn to the spotlight are so addicted to the attention, that they will do anything to stay there, self destructive behaviour included. And don't give me the sob story that they have such tough lives, their jobs are hard, they have no privacy, etc...THEY CHOSE IT
And yes, guess what? a lot of people are in the limelight for various reasons, but they don't need to dress like they're hooking on hollywood blvd, do drugs or drink until they can't say their lines, or be insured by anyone in the business.
I'm sorry, but you are acting. ACTING. Not curing cancer, or dealing with dying kids. It's not the end of the world if you flub a line! Get some perspective.
And then go get a real job, if you hate being an insanely rich celebrity and icon for the masses.
Then you can see what a real life, with real problems, is like.You don't see Oprah tooting a little coke in the backroom of the studio. She keeps herself together, and acts the good role model 24/7 I think. Of course, I don't know, because I don't really follow celebrities, so maybe Oprah goes on closet benders or something, but if she does, that closet door seems firmly shut.
If Lohan can't afford a 2500 dollar necklace after all her successes, then her money manager is an idiot. I'm sure she can afford it, so maybe she just has such poor impulse control, that she couldn't resist? It's disgusting either way, the way celebrities just do whatever they want, whenever they want. Diplomatic immunity for celebrities is an accepted way of life, and it's not reasonable. They don't belong in a cushy hotel type jail. Stick them in with the regular people who commit the same crimes. Do the crime, be treated like the criminal you are, not a celebrity, because that's a status that is undeserved when this immature behaviour occurs.
And L.L is by no means the first, or the worst celebrity to do stupid things.
I heard on the radio this morning that David Arquette has battled alcoholism since age 4 when he had his first beer. And by 12 he had a full on addiction. Seriously?! WTF was wrong with his parents?
You know, being a household name doesn't have to go hand in with poor judgment, bad behaviour and drugs. And I see you shaking your head,because most people just accept it as the norm, but it's not.
I bet you'd never see President Obama out there stealing a necklace. And he is under tremendous pressure and the constant scrutiny of the entire American population (and a lot of the rest of the world too), so if he can do it, without making the millions these spoiled stars and starlets are making, then really, they can do it too.