Working Title

I have another dream for you!  Well, it's only a snippet, but I think it would have been a gooder if I could have dreamt to completion.  I don't have a name for this sequence, hence the title, "Working Title". 

Anyway, back to the dream.  I have a feeling I was a part of the dream, but not as myself.  I don't know who I was.  The main character (well, maybe not even the main, just the oldest) was played by Donald Sutherland.  He was driving a pickup truck with two children in it (I THINK I was one of those children).  There was artwork in the back of the truck, and we were going to a warehouse.  The windows were very grimy and when we got there, we were supposed to use the artwork as a key to get into the warehouse, where really expensive artwork was housed.  However, there was something wrong with the "keys" and we couldn't get in to the building.  How do I know there was something wrong?  The alarm went off!  Annika took a nap in our bed yesterday afternoon and was playing with Clark's alarm clock. It went off at 4:45 this morning. NOT good for my beauty sleep! 

If I was a writer, I think I would turn this dream into a fantastic short story.  Oh well, maybe once my blog gets 1 million hits, I'll be able to publish a book of my dreams because people will want to read them!  Ha ha ha ha ha.  I crack myself up sometimes.  Have a good Tuesday everybody!

Tyler Update

So, it's been two weeks since we've had an update on the little man.  This morning we went to the lab to get his follow up bloodwork done.  His little veins weren't as cooperative this time around, and they had to poke both arms, but he was still a trooper!  No crying again.  Annika was nervous for him, it was so cute.  She was concerned that the blood was leaving his arms! 

I took the kids for lunch today at Boston Pizza.  It was a celebratory lunch for Miss Annika.  She has been dry for the last 5 nights, and last night she went to bed by herself so she couldn't get a diaper down from the shelf.  She wore underwear to bed last night, and stayed dry!!!!!  We pulled up to the restaurant, and she said,
"Mommy, I love you." 
"Why?"
"Because I always say that when we go to this restaurant."

After lunch, we headed next door to the health unit for our final weigh-in until the doctor's appointment.  I had been doing a couple of new things the past couple of weeks, and I could tell that Tyler was turning into a chunky monkey.  We weighed him and he is now.........15 pounds!!!!!!!!  What a load off of my mind.  The health nurse wasn't too impressed with me.  She asked me what I was doing differently, and I mentioned that I had pretty much weaned him and he was now on formula.  The look I got from her, it probably would have severely injured me if that was possible.  However, he HAD been a great sleeper, then all of a sudden we were getting up every 2 hours during the night, and I knew for my sanity and the safety of my children, we needed to get sleep.  Tyler has now been sleeping 7-8 hours at a time, and I am a much happier mommy.

Later this week we go to the doctor to get the results from Tyler's bloodwork.  Hopefully his iron levels are up and his liver levels are down.  We shall see!

Sentimental much?

I'm a bit of a sentimental person.  I have clothes that my most favorite auntie made me.  They don't fit me anymore, but she passed away several years ago, and so I keep them to remember her.  I have a sweater that my grandmother used to own.  She passed it down to my mother, now I have it.  It also doesn't fit me, but again, it used to belong to someone important to my past.  I actually don't remember my Grandma, but I wish I did. 

I have this jar thing in my kitchen that used to belong to my mother.

She actually has two.  Growing up, they would sit by our kitchen sink and hold some sort of poky thing that comes in a nutcracker set you buy in the store.  I think they're used to get the nuts out of the shell.  I'm not sure, since they've always sat in these jars in case we needed to use them while washing dishes.  Last year, my Mom gave me one of them when I asked her if I could have one after she was dead.  I want my girls to have memories of it as well.  I've also told my mother several times that once she and my dad are gone, two new things are going into my bathroom medicine cabinet.  A jar of Noxzema, and a bottle of Brut.  These are smells that I associate with my parents.  What can I say?  I'm a sentimental fool!  I know that Clark just shakes his head at me and some of the stuff I accumulate and the reasoning behind it.  However, he's one to talk.  He owns a kitchen table and two chairs he inherited from his grandmother.  My stuff doesn't take up as much space as his!

My sister is down this weekend visiting, and we bundled up our 6 children and rode the bus downtown this morning.  We stopped by the Post, a very cheap and wonderful second hand store.  They have a whole bunch of stuff down there.  I picked up some beautiful glasses that will find a new home in my soon to be new bathroom.  Then I found these little gems.

My mother has these exact forks in her house.   Growing up, I think we used them for pickles.  I can't quite remember.  I do feel nostalgic when I look at them though.  They were $1.00.  Rose Blythe and I are going to split them in half, since she was also feeling sentimental about them.  It just so happens that I like to share.  However, my good luck didn't stop there.  There were matching spoons and knives!!!!

This just thrills my soul that I have a matching set.  I will most likely never use them, but I'm going to put them in my cutlery drawer anyway.  I know that I'll always remember my Mom when I see them.

School

Annika is going to school next year.  I find this very hard to wrap my head around.  Not so much that she's old enough, but more the fact that I'M old enough to have a child old enough to go to school.  Sometimes I feel like I'm 12 playing dress-up in someone else's house, babysitting their children.  Anyway, today Annie and I went to the school she will be attending to look around, meet the teacher, stuff like that.  She really enjoyed herself.  I kept asking her if she wanted to go, and she kept saying no.  She even got on a bus when school was done.  Good thing I was watching her, or I probably could have lost her!
Annika will be going to the private Christian school in our city.  There are a number of schools nearby that we could have chosen for Annika.  However, my number one reason for choosing this particular school is: I went there.  That probably sounds silly, but it's true.  There has never been another school that I wanted to send my children.  After Annika was born, I started worrying about where we would send her to school, since we weren't living in the Hat at the time.  I joked today that the school was one of the reasons that Clark moved us back to the city.  Maybe subconciously it was though.  Hmmm, a thought to ponder. 
My very friendly aquaintance (fine, friend) Jaylene had a couple of good posts on her blog about why she and her husband chose the school they did for their children.  It's a good read.  I would highly suggest you click on the links here and here. 


They cut themselves out of paper for science class this afternoon.

I think the hardest part now for Annika is going to be the waiting until September to actually go to school. 


The Cow on the Grass

Have you ever had a dream that made you laugh or cry and while you were dreaming, you were thinking (outside your dream, like you're watching a movie) "Wow, what a great dream."  I have.  Then I wake up and forget what I've dreamed except for snippets.  Last night was not a night like that.  I think I remember most of my dream, and as it was rather odd, I'm writing it down for posterity.

Source

I was talking to our neighbors across the street, Fred and Ginger.  It was spring.  We were talking about something, when Fred told me he had to go and take delivery of a cow.  It was a Holstein, but a special kind of Holstein.  It was HUGE!  A semi truck delivered it by "walking" it down the street to Fred's house.  The truck had to walk it because the cow was as tall as the truck.  It was an angry cow, so you couldn't get too near it or it would run you down and bite you.  Fred was going to keep it in his front yard.  There is no fence in his front yard, but because of some weird anomoly in this cow, it didn't like sidewalks.  Little sidewalks are ok, big sidewalks are not.  So, because there is a big sidewalk on two sides of Fred's property, and a huge drivewawy on the third side, this would effectively keep the cow on his grass. 

All of a sudden, Fred's house was MY house, and I was in charge of the cow.  I felt like a prisoner in my house, since you couldn't leave without someone causing a diversion, or the cow would charge at you.  I had to go outside and stir a casserole of rice and tomato sauce (the cow's supper) and I had to watch a YouTube video on the proper handling of this cow.  I remember being nervous because Clark was still at work and wouldn't be home until later.  I kept asking them how he was supposed to get into the house. 

My friend Chantal popped up into my living room and told me that she and her husband would be willing to provide the distraction, but that they needed new cell phones and I wouldn't be able to get a hold of them.  I told her she could take my cell phone and return it when she came back, she agreed and then disappeared.  This is rather odd, because they live in Edmonton.  Maybe she had transporter capability.

After she had left, I watched my video on how to handle the cow.  All I remember about it is on the side bar, it said "Follow these directions very carefully.  Disregard direction #23."

Well, there you have it.  Hopefully no brain cells died during the reading of this story!  Have a great day!

Decorating on a budget - Main bath

I hate our main floor bathroom.  Before we bought our house, we looked at so many houses, that they all kind of meshed together into one memory.  I couldn't remember what color the different bathrooms, or kitchens, or bedrooms were.  So, before we moved in, I was convinced that our bathroom had pink tiles for the tub surround.  Since we weren't going to be renovating the bathroom in the foreseeable future, I decided instead of working against the pink, I would work with it.  I went out and bought a grey/pink bathroom set.  It has the shower curtain, a toothbrush holder, garbage can and until last week, a soap dispenser.  I'm not really in love with the pieces, but I thought they would be workable.  Then we moved in.  This is the real color of the tile in the shower.

The color is not pink.  So, I decided that I would still work with the shower curtain, since I had bought it on clearance and didn't have my receipt anymore.  I painted the walls a silvery grey to match. 

The walls don't look to bad with the shower curtain, and you don't even notice the tiles if you keep the curtain closed at all times.  But, still.  I hate my main floor bathroom.  Since we are a single income household, I have decided that I'm going to try and make the bathroom better by spending as little as possible.  I've given myself a budget of $100.  There are certain things I can work with in the bathroom that we won't be replacing to keep costs down. 

The vanity ~ Before we moved in, the previous owners replaced the countertop and backsplash, so they're only 3 years old.  When we moved in, I changed the hardware on the vanity, so we'll be keeping those, but I'm going to paint the vanity black.  I also bought wood filler this week, so I'm going to be moving the handles up to the top of the doors instead of keeping them in the middle.

The light fixture ~ This was also put in before we moved, and I actually don't mind it.  It gives lots of light while still looking pretty.

The floor ~ If I could replace this, I would.  We have the ugliest lino in the bathroom.  It's so ugly, I didn't even take a picture.  However, I bought some bathmats to put down, so hopefully no one will notice the ugly tile underneath.

All in all, I think the work will be minimal.  Other than the painting of the vanity, I will be painting the ceiling white to brighten it up and the walls will be going from grey to a mushroom color.  The wood around the mirror will be painted black to match the vanity.  I've decided to work with my tile!  The rest of the color scheme is going to be browns, greys, and green.  Hopefully it won't look too masculine when I'm done.

One of the other areas I am going to work on is storage in the shower.  There is none, so I had to buy this ugly thing that stands in the corner.  I hate it.  I've found some inexpensive plastic baskets that I'm thinking about using creatively in this space to make it look less cluttered and more put together.  I'm sure when I'm done my bathroom won't make any magazine spread, but I think I'll be a lot happier with it.  Once I've done the makeover, I'll post pictures and a breakdown of my expenses.  We'll see if I come in under budget!

My name is Kendra, but you can call me Schemer

I have a new nickname.  Schemer.  Is it still cool if I'm the one that's named myself?  Maybe it's dorky, but I don't care.  I expect everyone to call me Schemer from now on.  I like to scheme.  I think of it as spreading a little diabolical joy into the world.  At least, I feel diabolical because I'm going behind someones back to make their day a little brighter, but I'm not evil about it.  I don't even like to lie while I'm scheming.  Truthful scheming is what I do! 

Rose Blythe with her favourite Noel nephew!

Tyler looks a little evil here...but really cute!

This past month, a friend of my sister and I (we aren't really friends, just very friendly acquaintances) got together and schemed to get my sister out for a day of female bonding.  It was a little bit tough, and took some brilliant scheming.  I live in Medicine Hat.  Jaylene lives in Lethbridge.  Rose Blythe lives in Olds.  We wanted to meet her in Calgary and take her to the Olive Garden for lunch.  Without her knowing about it.  You can see how there might be a little bit of head scratching going on, right?  Well, what would you do if you needed to get something done that seemed a little bit impossible?  I know what you're thinking, because it was exactly what we did.  We rhymed.  The good thing about having a young child that wakes up in the middle of the night is there are more hours in the day to think about things.  So, at 3 AM one morning, I composed some poems.  The first one was very well written, the second one, not so much in my opinion.  It got the job done though.  Rose Blythe's husband gave me the phone number of a friend of hers that was very willing to help us out and made the clues look really pretty.  I was going to add pictures right here of these nice poems, but I haven't done it yet, so I'm just going to publish this post as is.  Maybe some day you'll see some of my work.  It is quite nice stuff...most of it!

This past Friday, I bundled up the kids and we took a road trip to Cardston.  The girls stayed with Grandma, and Tyler and I picked up Jaylene and her daughter Sally, and we headed to Calgary.  I wasn't sure we would make it on time, since Tyler was rather grumpy and I had to feed him before we even made it out of Lethbridge, but we managed to get to the Olive Garden with time to spare.  Good thing too, as there was a 40 minute wait to get in!  Jaylene and I got a table, told everyone that would listen the purpose of our visit, and I dropped off a present and clue #3 with the hostesses so Rose Blythe could get the present before they sat her at our table.  It worked PERFECTLY!  There were tears by 2/3 of the company (we must be sisters) which I predicted.  We were even close to a celebrity.  I guess some guy from Jersey Shore was having lunch at the same time as us.  Our waitress told us about him, and we all gave her a very blank look.  Pauly D, ever heard of him?

After lunch we headed to the mall and did some window shopping.  Pottery Barn is a very expensive store.  After Yogun Fruz, we drove over to Ikea.  Sally took our picture.  She's 4.  I think she did a really good job!  The first picture she took before her Mom could get back to the Dala horse.

L to R:  Rose Blythe, Me, Jaylene

My sister was surprised, so I guess the scheme worked!  I'm glad, we had a lot of fun.  Our waitress at the Olive Garden remarked that she wished she had friends like us that would surprise her.  So, if you have a friend that probably feels that way, go scheme and make their day, it just might make yours as well.

I now leave you with something to hopefully give you a chuckle.

• Sally asked me if I had a stroller at my house. I told her that I had four of them so she asked me why I had so many. I replied that it was probably because I liked to buy things. She thought about that for a second, then said excitedly, "You should buy chickens!"
• Sunday morning, Annika came into the bedroom and told me that she had missed me on Saturday. "Mommy, I waited and waited and waited and waited. Then I turned into an iceberg." I love that kid!

Tyler Update

I love his smile here, even though I cut his chin out of the picture!

I took Tyler to the health unit today to get weighed.  He is now 13 pounds, 12 ounces!  I'm so glad that he's gaining weight, it's definitely less stressful around here!  Yesterday our little man turned 6 months old.  Time sure has been FLYING.  Here are a couple of pictures I took of him yesterday.  Isn't he cute?

5 o'clock shadow (or blueberries)

Cute Things Annika says (Part 2)

Annika was eating apple sauce tonight when she spilled on her t-shirt.  She looked down and said, "Oh man, I just got this dry cleaned!"  I was then asked why I was laughing so hard.

Pay it Forward 2012 ~ Received from Colleen

This past Sunday, I received my first gift from the Pay it Forward Challenge.  Colleen made these beautiful pot holders.  They're quilted, have a heart applique on them, and it looks like she crocheted/knitted flowers to go on top of the hearts.  I think the black one is my favorite, but just because I like the pink flower best!  Thanks Colleen, I will definitely be putting these to good use.

Tyler Update

So, this past week, we've been shovelling food into Tyler's mouth in the hopes that he would convert some of it into poundage!  Now that he is over his cold, I think he is realizing that food is his friend.  (He must take after his father).  He has had rice cereal (loves it), bananas (loves it), and sweet potatoes (loves it).  I think on Tuesday or Wednesday we'll add a meat into his diet, probably chicken.  I took him to the health unit this afternoon to get weighed, and he has gained 6 ounces since last Wednesday!!!!!  I guess all he needed was food.  We're going to keep going every week for the rest of the month just to monitor his weight and make sure he continues to gain, but the health nurse seemed really happy with his progress, as is his mommy!

Pay it Forward 2012

If you're a Facebook user, you might have seen this status popping up on your friend's walls at the beginning of this year.

Pay It Forward 2012 ... I promise to make something homemade/handmade for the first 5 people who comment on my post. You must then re-post this on your status and make something for the first 5 people who comment on your status. *The rules are it HAS to be handmade by YOU and they must receive it before 2012 ends. It can be as simple as making a friend a cup of coffee ... Who's in?

As a *kind of* crafty person, I jumped at the chance to comment on my friend's statuses, and in turn see who the lucky people were that would comment on my status! 
It turns out that I am making things for 7 people ~ Flo, Melissa, Ruth, Colleen, Janice, Chantal and Pam. 
I am going to be getting things from 6 people ~ Flo, Melissa, Ruth, Colleen, Chantal and Aoi.  If it turns out that I commented on your status, but I didn't name you here, could you let me know?  If would like to know so that on December 31 I can call people up and ask where my present is! :) 

I'm pretty excited to see what kind of things I am going to be getting, who doesn't like getting presents?  I have most of my projects planned out, it's just the execution of them all that I will be working on.  Good thing I have 11 more months to finish them! 

Stay tuned here for pictures of what I'll be receiving and giving!  Hopefully it will give you some inspiration, and maybe next year you'll jump onto the bandwagon and join in the fun!

Bakery goodies

We like food in our family.  Well, Clark likes food, and he's in our family.  Before we go to a restaurant, Clark will go online and check out the menu so he knows exactly what he's going to order.  I now do the same thing.  I guess that's what happens when you've been married multiple years.  You become a little bit alike. 

I buy our bread from a local bakery.  It is comparable in price to the bread you can get at a big box store, and I think it tastes better.  Fresh is the word I want to use to describe my bread.  The only problem with going to a bakery every week is my weakness for sweets I don't have to bake myself.  The months of October and November had me buying almond tarts every week, they are yummy!  December was cream horns.  On Saturday when we went to the bakery, I noticed that they had something new.  Raspberry cream eclairs.  I have a soft spot for anything to do with raspberry, so I knew that I had to try them.  Then, as we were going up to pay, I saw them. 

Little Elvis.

Have you ever heard of them?  I hadn't.  Maybe I should do an online search and see if they even come up.  Maybe the name is something that my bakery gave to them.  The ladies that work in the bakery had never tried this particular donut.  I'm pretty sure that NOBODY in our city has tried this particular donut.  They thanked me when I told them I would take one home for my husband.  I assume that's because it's one less donut they have to try to sell.  I just figured that if anybody would like to eat a Little Elvis, it would be Clark.  Clark likes pretty much anything. 

Well, there it is.  This particular Elvis has a maple syrup glaze on it, topped with bacon.  *I did do a Google search while typing this up, and a true Elvis donut appears to be banana donut topped with a peanut butter glaze and a slice of bacon.  Either way, this does not make me drool.*  Clark just informed me that he didn't think this donut was correct.  I don't know why I'm surprised that he even knew that such things existed in the world.  I am not surprised however, to find out that he liked it.  He says that it tastes like breakfast.  Hmmm...I think I'll stick to bacon and eggs.

Cute things Annika says (Part 1)

This week at Awana, Annika learned about the story of Jesus in the boat, and how he told the wind and the waves to be still, and they were.  We were talking about it, and I asked her, "If I told the wind to stop blowing, would it?"  She said "No, you're not Jesus."  Smart kid.  I think she got the gist of the whole story! 

Fast forward to this morning, when she put on a pair of pants she got for Christmas.  They are getting too short on her. ALREADY.  I told her she needed to stop growing.  She then said "But Mom, you're not Jesus, so my body isn't going to obey you."  I'm glad she realizes that!

The Trouble with Tyler

For those of you that don't know...Tyler has been losing weight.  He's gone down a size in his diapers and his pants.  Last Monday we went to the doctor because he had a nasty cough, and so I  weighed him while there just to see if my instincts were right and he hadn't been gaining any weight.  Well, since his 4 month check-up in December, he had lost one ounce.  The doctor sent us for some blood work to see what was going on inside his body, and today we went back for the results.  I weighed him again while there, and he had lost 4 ounces.  The results from his blood work are as follows:  his iron levels are low and his liver levels are high.  They aren't SO high that there is immediate cause for concern, but they are high enough to keep an eye on them.  The doctor gave us iron drops to take twice a day, and strict orders to start feeding him iron fortified cereal three times a day.  We go back at the beginning of March after another round of blood work to see if there is any change.

Later this afternoon, we headed over to the health unit for his 6 month shot.  I have to admit that it's pretty nice (for me anyway) that because he had so many shots 2 months ago (three) he only had to have one needle today!  He did AWESOME!  There was no crying whatsoever.  He sat there, sucked on a soother, and then giggled.  That boy is so brave!  Anyway, we weighed him again while there, and compared today's results with his 4 month results.  He was weighed naked both times, and in the past two months, Tyler has lost 1 pound.  The health nurse shuffled me over to the breastfeeding nurse who tried to see if maybe he and I were having latching problems and so he wasn't getting enough to eat.  That does not seem to be the case.  She suggested I start feeding Tyler meat instead of cereal and cluster feeding, and we'll go from there.  I now have to go every Monday afternoon this month for a weigh-in to see if he's gaining anything. 

*On a side note, there was an interning doctor at the breastfeeding clinic today.  I have to admit that it kind of embarrassed me to have to feed Tyler in front of them, and have him ask the nurse questions about latching while watching what Tyler was doing.  I think Tyler had a bit of performance anxiety as well!*

Anyway, that's all I have for an update at this time.  No answers.  I have been told by the doctor and several nurses not to panic, since that seems to be part of my nature, but I find it rather hard to do.  I have to keep remembering that verse in Matthew:

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  Matthew 6:27

I know that my worrying isn't going to make Tyler start gaining weight, but I wish that it would, that kid would be huge by now!