The big, bad, die cutter company

How do you deal with bad customer service? Not just bad service, but horrible, terrible, awful customer service. Almost 3 weeks, several emails, 7 calls to California (including a 20 minute conversation JUST YESTERDAY) and still it's not resolved. I'm spitting nails, how can a huge multinational company stay in business with only 1 single employee dedicated to international customers, especially when that 1 employee appears to have no power, and no clue? I've heard 5 different stories, 5 different promises, and yet...

I feel like I should just give up. You know, once I get my money back that is.

Going to see the baybaaaay

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Originally uploaded by xerxia.

With apologies to Jerry Seinfeld.

Katie is quite besotted with her new cousin, though she didn't ask to keep him or to have a new baby of our own. He is a little doll, two perfect dimples, and he slept our whole visit. How I miss the snuggly newborn stage.

Jonah didn't seem to care much about the quiet lump everyone else was fussing over, nor was he jealous when I held the baby.

Fountain of Youth

While waiting for Katie to finish her ballet class Wookie tries out a water fountain for the first time.

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Originally uploaded by xerxia.

Sisterhood of the fat pants

I gave up and bought the fat pants.

After 2 1/2 years it isn't baby fat anymore, it's fat, and it's here to stay. Sure, a change in medication, occupation and motivation would likely help but none of those things are happening anytime in the near future. And I was sick of coming home from work with tummy welts from too-tight waistbands.

They look good, fit well, drape nicely, but it's still a kick in the gut everytime I see the 13 staring up at me from the tag.

Anyway, I'm feeling much better these days, the antibiotics are doing their job and I can breathe and sleep and function. C on the other hand has just started antibiotics and is still in the 'kill me' stage of the illness. To top it off, Katie has impetigo and is also on the same antibiotics (and a $50 per tube cream as well). I swear we're keeping the pharmacy in business!

Oh, and 7 days 'til I'm in Florida :)

Wee new nephew

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Originally uploaded by xerxia.

Isn't he darling? He was born early Sunday morning, but I haven't been able to visit him because Mr Jonah has had gastroenteritis.

Nothing like a new baby to make my ovaries ache.

Days of our Lives?

Feeling better, kicking myself for not going to the doctor sooner since the meds are helping so much. My dad and uncle are (hopefully) coming up tonight, so we can skate on the canal and do some Winterlude activities, though the weather here is so weird I have no idea if the ice surface will be skateable or not :(

Speaking of words that aren't words I actually heard an interviewee on the CBC yesterday say "aggressivity". Aggressivity?? Do you mean AGGRESSION? I hate it when people try to "use big words that make them seem smarter" since they nearly always fail.

Jonah went to spend yesterday with his grandparents since the sitter had an appointment. What a difference in his behaviour last night: he wasn't climbing the walls, he could actually sit still to eat his dinner (and he wasn't absolutely famished either), then he was clearly exhausted in the bath so I tucked him into bed at 7:05 and didn't hear a peep all night. When I took him back to the sitters this morning he cried and said "no I go grandmaman house". Poor wookie. Our sitter is a nice enough lady, and the price is right, but it's just not a good fit for Jonah. She doesn't let him play outside, the only outdoor time he gets is sitting in a wagon when she walks to pick her son up from school. That's not enough for a high energy two and a half year old boy.

I have had in the back of my mind that we would put him in the preschool program at the same centre where Katie has aftercare once he was ready (they have to be 30 months old and potty trained, so we're 50% there) but I strongly dislike one of the women in the preschool room - she just seems so rough and angry with the kids. True, there's a language barrier there and I suppose she could be yelling lullabies, but my gut tells me she's not. It's much more expensive too, but the kids play outside every day, have crafts and activities, are read to and played with and there's no TV. Katie is thriving in the 4 and 5 year old room, I suspect Jonah would too. However, he doesn't speak French, and isn't as quick a learner as Katie (at least linguistically), and he tends to be much more shy and serious than his sister. Plus the extra money would be very difficult to find. So many decisions.

trippin' on the good drugs

A trip to the clinic confirmed that it is indeed a sinus infection. 10 days worth of antibiotics and I should be good as new. I'm just grateful that I'm not a raging hypochondriac ;)

words to describe me

Totally stolen from Maricar and Ambuh

Click me

Pick 5 or 6 works to describe me, then enter your name.

If you make one for yourself leave a link in the comments!

I talked myself out of seeing the doctor earlier today, I didn't think I was sick enough to bother him. I am kicking myself now. It's 2:45am here but I can't sleep, the pain in my sinuses, face and head is unbelievable. It's entirely localised on the left side too, so the hypochondriac in me keeps thinking I'm having a stroke.

I'm not having a stroke.

But damn it hurts! And I'm sweating like crazy despite the fact that it's 17C in the house.

So what does a sinus infection feel like? I haven't had one in years, and I don't really remember. Are you feverish, does it make half your face hurt like you've been beaten up, make your soft palate ache, make your head feel heavy, make you produce copious amount of dayglow green mucous... but all of this on one side only, like you drew a line through my head right down the centre of the nose? If so, how does one treat it? The tea, ibu*profen, suda*fed, and more tea that I've been taking doesn't seem to cut it. And why is it so much worse in the evening and at night?

I'm seriously dragging my sorry butt into the doctor's tomorrow, even if I feel better in the morning (which is so hard to imagine right now).

blecch

Dude what's going on with my health? I have caught every bug that's wandered by this winter. I went to bed at freakin' 4:45 last night! And I still feel like shit. I know, with Katie in school we're all going to be exposed to more viruses but the kids don't seem any sicker than any other winter, nor does C. It's all me. Hoover Dam I'm tired of it!

So, yeah, happy V day. Hope your days is less snotty and cranky than mine.

Who watches the watchers?

Wow, taking a stroll through my sitemeter stats was really, really eye-opening!

Hello lurking family and family-in-law! You really should have commented during Delurking Week! Hi Maggi, I know, I owe you a letter...

And the person who found me by searching for "scorched cheese" all I can say is BAHAHAHAHA!

A meme

Maria tagged me, and since I'm home sick today I have time to tackle it ;)

What were you doing 10 years ago? 1996 - I had just met C, just enrolled in college, and was raising an adorable junior kindergartener.

What were you doing one year ago? Same thing I do every day Pinky, trying to take over the world! OK, really I was working for the government and dragging through my life in a sleep-deprived haze.

5 Favorite Snacks: Lays Sea Salt and Pepper potato chips... Tim Horton's French cruller doughnuts... Humpty Dumpty party mix... does booze count? I could name 5 favourite boozy snacks!

5 Songs to which I know all the lyrics: Harder to name 5 songs I *don't* know all of the lyrics to.

5 Bad Habits: Chronic lateness (honestly this comes from having zero ability to estimate time or distance), potty mouth, messiness, procrastination

5 Things You Like Doing: Scrapbooking, cardmaking/stamping, reading, hanging out in my favourite forum and playing with the babes.

5 Things You Would Never Wear, Get or Buy Again. Gah, where do I start? I'll never wear anything "day-glo" again, BTDT. I'll never wear foot-warping shoes to be a fashion slave again. I'll never buy KFC again (OK I've said this a dozen times before, and you know in 6 months I'll have forgotten how shitty it makes me feel). I'll never get talked into doing something that doesn't feel right again

5 Favorite Toys My camera, my scrapbooking stuff, my stamps, my computer... man this list should have been 4s, I always get stuck after number 4.

Far from transcendent

Will this week never end? We haven't slept a whole night yet, one or both of the babes has been awake at least once. Last night was completely weird: somewhere around 1:30am C suddenly sat right up in bed listening intently, then he jumps out of bed, I ask what's going on, he says he can hear Jonah crying. I'm hearing impaired but we have a baby monitor in the kids' room and I couldn't hear him through it. Turns out Jonah was crying - from the hallway closet downstairs. He was awake, and very confused! We think he might have sleepwalked and then woken up in the closet. None of my kids have ever walked in their sleep before so this is new territory for us. Guess the baby gates are going to have to go back up!

Over the past few days I've had conversations with 3 different people about active parenting, about why people chose to have kids if they're only going to sit idly by, watching Oprah or surfing the net, intervening only to settle a sibling dispute or make snacks. But I can't judge: while I normally love playing with the kids lately I haven't been. Lately I've been coming home from work, throwing some crap together for dinner and vegging. And it really shows, Jonah has been bordering on hyperactive, Katie has been super cranky, they're begging for my attention. I can use exhaustion, bad weather and work stresses as excuses, but none of that changes the obligation I have to these little people to actively parent them. Yesterday Katie wanted to paint, I said no though my only reason was I was reluctant to drag out the paints and easel, then deal with the inevitable clean up. How do you motivate yourself to get down on the floor and push cars around, or have endless Barbie weddings, when what you really want to do is curl up in bed with a trashy magazine, drink wine and lock the door?

My world is full of drips

Nothing says Spring like a leaky basement.


Thankfully it's in the laundry room, not the rec room or pantry. I should be upset I guess but, meh, I'm not. I'm sure a tube of silicone sealant will make it go away for now.

Life here is crawling along, quiet and rather boring. I found out that I didn't get the job that I had been competing for since last May. I was the top finisher, but I'm not bilingual enough for the position (if they had mentioned they wanted a bilingual person at the outset I wouldn't have wasted my time). However they created an "eligibility list", so if they have an English only position come up in the next 6 months they can hire me without competition. Wow, thanks, 8 months of my life I can't get back in exchange for a piece of paper and a pat on the head. Could have at least bought me a consolation doughnut.