BABY JUNK

Yesterday we went to Courtenay on the Island to see Kevin and family.  We had the most awesome wonderful time.  They are growing so fast and its always too short a visit.  Tandy was pleased with the twenty meals we delivered!  It was so interesting to see the differences in the kids as they get older.

On the way back on the ferry I noticed something I just have to blog about.  I apologize in advance if this is offensive to the new moms out there that are bogged down with baby paraphernalia.  I mean no judgement, just sympathy.

Bill and I got onto the ferry at dinner time.  We bought our dinner and proceeded to the seating area.  It was obviously summer time as the boat was full of families, lots of little kids (whom I still maintain are  the most miserable unhappy group of humans on the planet earth).  As we sat there, I started to remember travelling with my own babies over the years on these same ferries, but with a huge difference.

It was so simple back then.  You had one bag with a bottle, soother, diaper or two, change of clothes and a toy.  Your baby was plunked into a simple slim umbrella stroller...25 bucks at the local store.  Sometimes, if the baby were really small, you strapped a simple baby seat called a "cuddle seat" into the stroller with a small roll of a receiving blanket to support its head.  And that was it.  Simple.  Easy. Containable.

But now.....holy hannah!  I can see why you may need an SUV to go anywhere!!!  Keep in mind, you are on the ferry for maybe 1 1/2 hours at most.  This is what I saw everywhere with various aged babies....

Giant, oversized, cushioned, sprung with shocks, racks and hanging attached colour co-ordinated bags everywhere, removable seats, strollers.....the size of  small volkswagon beetles.  One, or sometimes two, overstuffed diaper bags, baby coolers with snacks and drinks, blankets, at least ten different educational toys, small suitcases full of clean clothes, standing racks for toddlers on the back of the strollers, puzzles and books for the toddlers, booster seats, and on and on and on.  Jesus Murphy People!!!  Its an hour and a half!!!!  You can't hold your kid and entertain them without the visual aids for that long?  (okay, I admit it, that was judgemental)  Its just sad that this generation of moms feel they can't go anywhere without all that .......stuff.

It got me remembering how we used to travel...before all that crap was invented and then marketed to moms....basically making them think they are less than perfect if they don't have it all.   We used to carry our babies upstairs, put them on our lap, play with them, give them a spoon to bang on the table, feed them tid bits from our own dinners, let them crawl around on the floor, chase the toddlers down the long aisles, other people would catch a runaway for us, very hands on and easy easy easy!  Babies were passed around...literally....old folks, teenage girls, all perfect strangers that love babies would get a turn.  People would offer a tired busy mom to chase an active running toddler around and around the ferry.  Things have changed so much.  Simplicity, community.....not there anymore.

  And the saddest thing of all?  They will never know what it was like to get on a ferry, carry your baby upstairs, and let all the people interact and help you with your kids.  You made friends, picked up tips on all sorts of things to do with kids, heard stories, learned new little entertaining games to distract and before you knew it you were arriving and in about two minutes you were back in your vehicle all settled in.  Simple and easy and fun.  And do you know who really pays the price?  The kids.  They will never know just how much fun the ferry can be and how much fun people are.  Its too bad.

ELISE.....20 MONTHS

FENTON.....4 1/2

Now it is really time to get packing for the trip.  I have to wade through so many clothes, narrow it down and iron!!!  TTYL

KAMLOOPS COURTENAY SANDWICH

We just walked in the door at home here about half an hour ago.  I have unpacked and got the spuds on the boil to make potato salad to take to Kevin's tomorrow.  We had a lovely time up in Kamloops.  Cousin Mark was there and it has been many years since I saw him last.  I had forgotten how funny and intelligent he is.  We had the best visits I have had in a long long time, with Stan and Bill too.  K &K were on a weekend bike trip and didn't get home til Sun. aft.

We had the dogs in the back of the truck.  Stupid Parker smashed one of the side windows, cut his foot and he and Molly escaped sometime in the night.  Its a good thing they didn't take off or Molly get eaten by a coyote.  Needless to say I am not happy with either of them right now!  And they know it.  Both of them are lying...over there, staying very still, like little oil patches.  Dumb dogs.  After these ones THATS IT!!!  There will be NO MORE dogs.  Between their antics, the vet bills and the flipping dog hair I have had it.

BIGGEST STRAWBERRY EVER

I HAVE A THING FOR CHEESE SAUCE

I COULD LIVE HERE...SEEMS SO SIMPLE

I STOOD ON THE TRCKS IN FRONT OF THIS TRAIN COMING TO GET THIS SHOT  (NOT REALLY)

WATER THE DOGS TIME

SUCH A PRETTY DRIVE UP 

MY BROTHER IN LAW KERRY

MY COUSIN MARK

MY BROTHER

MY AWESOME SISTER

TAKEN OFF THEIR DECK

FOR ME???

Well now its evening and I am all done.  I have made plain potato salad, hot and spicy potato salad, rice krispie squares, both plain and hot and spicy too.  I need to clean the kitchen, find some clothes for tomorrow to put on this overly large crappy body and go to bed.  I don't know why I am so tired these days.  I have no reason or excuse!  I will post a couple pictures taken the last couple days.  Sorry to the people out there who've already seen them on facebook!!  TTYL

KAMLOOPS, COURTENAY AND LONDON

Well we are winding up for the next trip.  We leave in a week, on Sunday the first of July.  So.....lots of last minute visiting with people, packing, cleaning, banking, property tax paying and on and on and on.

Back in April I made a ton of potato salad for April's birthday party.  A week later I was in the middle of scraping the last of it into the toilet when the phone rang.  It was Kevin.  So I put the lid down on the loo, grabbed the bathroom phone and took a seat.

At some point in the convo I told him what I was in the middle of doing.  He exclaimed, "No! don't tell me that.  (he loves my potato salad)  You are talking to someone that never gets good food."  What???
So he told me that Tandy is not the greatest cook (she will tell you that herself) and he doesn't have time and they don't have the money to go out.  So he never gets good food.

I felt so bad for them both.  That just isn't right.  You gotta have some good food now and then!  It is his birthday this month, (like most my family) and we are visiting them next Tuesday.  Over the last two days I have made and frozen 20 meals!  This is what I made:  keep in mind they are vegetarian and it was a challenge to make the stuff taste good without my old oxo standbys!
2 sweet and sour tofu,  2 greek mac and cheese and bbq veggie grind casseroles, 4 mushroom/tofu stroganoff, 2 mexican casseroles, 4 carrot/cauliflower/zucchini subjit,  4 dahl, 2 shepherd's pies.  And when I get back from Kamloops on Monday I am going to bake him a birthday cake and make potato salad to take with us the next day.  I feel like such a mother/grandmother!

The funniest thing happened, but really frigging annoying.  I lost my one and only pair of black pants.  When you are the size I am you simply don't put on skirts, or at least you shouldn't.  So you buy a good pair of black pants and cool looking "cover your rolls" tops and your good to go...pretty much anywhere.  And....I could try on 3,000 pairs of pants and none of them would fit.  Seriously.  I just don't have the right body for them.  If the waist band is at my waist, where it belongs, the crotch is just above my knees (a little like those goofy gangsta wannabe boys out there), and if the crotch is at my, well, crotch, the waistband is up under my chests where my bra is, (just like those old ugly pot bellied scary teachers we used to get now and then, only they would actually tuck their shirts in and thats how I knew how high their pants were).

One day I was in my fave fat lady store and I looked around at black pants yet again.  One can always hope.  And....I found a pair!!!  The waist could go where it was supposed to, the crotch was where it was supposed to be, and they were pretty tight legged, right to the ankle, which I prefer.  Yay!!!and they have saved my ass at two weddings, two formal evenings elsewhere and the occasional social obligation where jeans wouldn't do.  And, I lost them.  I know where I saw them last, in purple room,  in the last few weeks, but they weren't there when I needed them last week.

Well, since last week I have literally taken all three bedrooms apart, gone through every cupboard, every drawer,  every laundry hamper, (we have one for darks and one for whites)  oh  (we don't have enough coloured clothes to have a hamper for colours), everyone else's clothes in the house and they simply were nowhere to be found.

Today I decided to do the laundry.  Started with the whites and the faintly coloured stuff we have and then got the darks ready.  It was a really big load so I started to turn stuff inside right, straighten out socks, check pockets etc...I picked up Bill's jogging comfy black pants, shook them out and.....wtf??my black pants were inside his black pants.  And then I remembered!!  I was cold one night and pulled his comfies on over my black pants.  When I took them off I just threw the whole works into the hamper.  Duh!!!!  Do you know how much time I spent looking for those suckers!?  JEEZ!!!

Random goofy shots today.  Most I have posted before.  Sorry.

THE GOOGY SHORTS BILL BOUGHT AT WALMART....IN THE GARBAGE NOW!

HAD TO BE THE BEER...THIS IS WHERE I LEFT MY WALLET THAT DAY

THEY MUST PRACTISE POSING IN FRONT OF THE MIRROR

BLOWING THE RED FEATHER!

STACKING THE RED CUP

HUNTING FOR THE LITTLE YELLOW BALLS

COLLECTING THOSE LITTLE YELLOW BALLS

MMMMMM......SHOTS...THE FUN WAY

Off to Kamloops tomorrow see my mommy!!!   TTYL

UPDATES

So much has happened since I left off.  I shall briefly recap.

The concert was amazing.  Downtown Vancouver is a happening place on a Friday night.  And people were all so eclectically dressed and happy and busy.  We waited in line outside for 45 minutes and it was so cool to people watch.  The concert was truly awesome.  You can't beat the Dandy Warhols.

We didn't get home and into bed until about 3 am.  The next morning I was up around 8:30.  The kitchen was a wreck.  The dishwasher was broken and the dirty dishes were piled to the ceiling.  I saw April and Andrew off to Keats and went up to make coffee...and ...surprise!!  April had cleaned the kitchen.  When?????She went to bed at 3 am too!!  What a wonderful gift.  I had such a busy day ahead and this just gave me the extra time I desperately needed.

Bill and I cleaned the house (we were having company the next day, thank God, or this house would never get cleaned up).  We left about one in the afternoon to shop at Costco on the way to Brian's retirement/birthday party at Cookie's.  So we shopped and headed out to Surrey.

We had the BEST time.  It was so wonderful to see everybody again, catch up on all the news and have delicious food.  We didn't stay too late.  It was just a perfect time.

The next morning I got up and cooked roast beef, bbq chicken and pulled pork.  Set the table (which I love doing) and got all ready.  Bill's son Bill and wife Cheryl and grandkids, Lana, Tanisha, Billy and Chris all arrived.  Wow it was so good to see them all again.  I just don't know why we don't do this all the time.  We had the best time.  I just love Cheryl.  She is so funny and so easy to visit with.  I don't have to worry about talking too much or too long or too loud with her.  I can just be me and I can't say that about very many people in this world.  And she is never ever boring so needless to say I had a great time.  And Bill was soooo happy to see them all again.  Even after they left we just felt good all day.!

That evening we had April, Andrew, Al, and Katey for leftover dinner.  And as usual we had a great visit with Al.  He is such an interesting and genuinely nice guy.

I got a call back from the Doctor yesterday to come in and see him today.  So in I went to be told that all my lab tests came back........PERFECT!!!  All my D and B levels were way up where they were supposed to be, my red/white cell count was perfect,  all was totally healthy.  Yay!!!! Except..my blood pressure was 180/90.  Not so good.  Losing 100 pounds would help with that.  No sign of kidney infection whatsoever.  He thinks it is some kind of muscle anomaly.  I will take that!

THE FAMILY

SO CUTE

REALLY GOOD LOOKING KIDS

THE TOKEN GINGER KID AT THE TABLE!!!!!!

DANDY WARHOL GUY!!

TOKEN SPECIAL CHILD

STREET ENTERTAINMENT WHILE WE LINE UP

ACTUALLY THEY WERE REALLY GOOD

WE DID LOTS OF DRINKING BUT JUDGING HOW SOBER WE STAYED METHINKS THEY WERE NOT TOO STRONG

CELL PHONE BEEEOTCHES

SHAZZAM!!!!

My doctor smokes.  I told him that quitting smoking, as hard as it was, was easier than losing this damned weight.  Oh well........TTYL