The 2007 Farewell

I never go out New Years Eve, ever. Every year I bring in the New Year at home with family or friends, a quiet dinner and bottle of wine. I have no interest in sharing the final day of the year with drunk strangers. I prefer to celebrate a little more intimately. This year its really intimate -Laughs- Scott is working nights and Jess is out with friends. The little girls and I are on our own and I'm excited. I could have invited my extended family but the more I thought about it, the more I'm happy its just the 3 of us. Dinner is cooking so I had time to write. I decided on a small buffet of the girls favourite food. Just a little sample of everything. They have ribs, homemade pizza, BBQ meatballs, chicken souvlaki, spicy rice, french fries and hot soft pretzels.
Dessert is Expresso bean and chocolate ice cream . I went out today and bought some Stuff for our party. We have matching slippers , movies, chips, the game of Clue, noisemakers and a felt board for keeping score with the wii games. We have ourselves a party!

2007 was a very good year. Alot of challenges, alot of triumps and alot of lessons learned.

I'll talk about that soon but for now, Happy New Year Everyone.

In 2008 strive to be a better spouse/son/daughter/mother/father /sister/brother/friend. Know that you are a small but very relevant cog in the wheel. Continue to evolve . Continue to forgive and continue to love.

Synopsis and Something Grinworthy

Christmas in a few words...

Joyous, Nostalgic, Chaos, Laughter, Irritability, Sharing, Stomach bloating, Romantic, Ever Expanding Ass, Exhausting, Intoxication, Peaceful, Expensive, Gluttony, Charity, Love, Divorce, Commercial, Beautiful

Finally Fucking OVER!

Scott has this beloved Nativity scene he puts up every Christmas. Made by his Mother, its very special to him and there is an unspoken understanding in our house that no one touches Daddy's nativity scene. Okay, it's no longer unspoken. A couple years back, a hockey puck collided with the Wise Men and The Nativity scene disapeared for awhile only to emerge this year with some specific instructions. I was lighting some candles around the livingroom Christmas Eve with a house full of guests. I was preoccupied so I laid the lighter down NEAR the nativity scene. Big Mistake! Jaden comes screaming down the Hallway.... "Someome protect Jebus! Someone Protect Jebus! "

Ok, who the hell is Jebus and why does he need protecting?

Jaden explains to me that Baby 'Jebus' in the Manger need protection because I left the lighter near the Nativity scene and if Baby Jebus catches fire, Daddy is gonna be REAL mad! I tucked
the lighter away on top of the Stove cupboard. Baby Jesus survives and Christmas can carry on. All is well with the world again.

My 91 year old grandmother was introduced to the wii . My sister videotaped it and wants to put it on Utube. I'm not exploiting my Grandma but I will say that at 4 foot 10 with only one eye and one leg she has one hell of an upper cut in boxing .

One of Drews friends from hockey gets some cologne for Christmas. This in itself is funny. What does an 8 year old boy do with a $125 bottle of Abercrombie & Fitch ??? He bathes in it of course thinking he's gonna impress my daughter. Another big mistake. We had
a hockey tournament today and were invited over to one of the players homes after for a glass of wine and the afternoon together. He's the goalie and a great little kid. Very skilled, very cute and very arrogant. He adores Drew and was thrilled that she was coming over to hang out today. Within seconds of our arrival, the boy comes racing down the stairs with this cloud of overpowering scent folllowing him. I stared at the mother with a grin, my eyes questioning. She laughs and explains that its his new cologne. The first cologne he's ever received. We were there about 5 hours, drank wine, ate lunch, played a game ..all while Drew and this boy played X box, hockey, watched the game on tv etc. Every time he broke even the slightest sweat he would spray himself down with this cologne. Finally, Drew says ' What is that stink??? Stop spraying that crap. Its making me sneeze and it smells worse than my dogs bum"

Nothing like a reality check at the tender age of 8. She likes you for you dude. She likes you because she can kick your ass at X box and you don't cry about it. She likes you because you aren't afraid to push her back on the ice. She likes you because whoever has the cash at the time always buys the other one hockey cards. Thats way cool. The cologne.. not cool.

Decemeber 26th was filled with turmoil. At 10 pm last night there is a loud knock at our door. We open it to discovered our neighbor, crying hysterically, holding her 1 year old baby daughter in her arms, her other 6 and 9 year old daughter crying along beside her. We usher them inside knowing full well whats happened. He's an asshole. He abuses them. I've been trying to help her since the summer. I couldn't force her to leave him but always told her I would be there when she was ready to leave. Finally, after he destoys the house, tears the phone from the wall and threatens to kill the 5 year old, she's had enough. I'm so relieved. This is step one. We called the police. They found her a shelter. We kept them with us for the evening until the Police arrives.
I comforted her girls while mom was with the police officers. She is afraid. She is afraid for herself, afraid for her daughters, afraid for her future and afraid for me. She tells the officer that the asshole knew she would run to my house for help and threatened us. Bring it on I said.
I'm not afraid of him. He's just a weak little man that will bleed to death just like every other slaughtered pig should he try and harm me. I hate males like this. They taint the gene pool. They deserve to be hunted down and slaughtered by other real men.

Scott made me proud.

We were saying goodbye as the police were about to take them to the shelter. One of the little girls says to Scott. Thank you, you saved us. He got down, looked at her and corrected her. No he said. I didn't save you. Your Mommy saved you. Your Mommy protected you tonight and did what she was supposed to do. This was HUGE for these little girls to hear. I'm praying for them
Please pray for them too

The Eve of Christmas Eve

It's 2 am and I'm done! I just finished all the baking for the party tomorrow night. Scott does all the cooking and I do all the baking. I figured I'd finish it up tonight while everyone is sleeping so I could set the pace a little slower tomorrow. I had the Ipod going and baking up a storm. A snowflake cake ( white cake, white icing, silver snowballs and covered in sweet coconut) Skor toffee bars, macaroons, m&m cookies and shortbread. I just made some licorice tea and wanted to blog a little before I head to bed.





Every year on Christmas Eve we have a tradition. After the kids have gone to bed and the rest of my family has crashed somewhere in my house, Scott and I find some time to lay under the tree for an hour . We share thoughts on the past year. The good, the not so good, the lessons we've learned, what we want to work towards in the coming year. I was reflecting tonight. I'll share a few observations and lessons I've learned.





I underestimated Jaden, my baby. I always assumed Drew was the tough one, and she is but Jaden is so much the same. She started hockey this year and her intensity blows me away. She caught the bug her sister has. The are both so intense, so determined. Its an amazing quality.

I strongly suggest everyone fear death at least once. It will absolutely change the way you live your life. It changed mine. I had never valued life so much as I did this year. 2007 came the shocking revelation that life is not infinate . The minute I realized that, I wanted to live forever. I gave up all bad habits, pushed myself past my own limits and created new challenges. 2008 will be an extention of that

I spent my life wanting to be on the inside but never fitting in. In 2007, I fit it and I learned that I wasn't missing anything afterall. Popularity is highly overrated and I don't care what anyone says, yes it does change you. I don't want to ever change who I am so I gave back the popularity with a nice thank you note. Thanks.. but no thanks.

Never assume your teenager isn't listening. Sometimes we don't give them near enough credit for deductive thinking and reasoning. Just because they don't admit it, they actually do pick up a few life lessons along the way.


God chose Scott for me. He chose him because he knew anyone else would run away. If I pushed hard enough they would all run. Not Scott. He knows my guts. He has to reach inside that bloody mess to find my heart. I hate that I punish him for sticking it out. I love that he is strong enough to endure my wraith. He is teaching me. I am learning

I got my first wrinkle and I wasn't upset. In fact, it made me smile. Suddenly, I felt wiser than everyone. Like that wrinkle was a deserved rite of passage. I wonder if I'll feel the same way when my ass starts to expand.

I've finally accepted being a metaphoric orphan. My father is too scared and my mother is too selfish to have an intimate relationship with me. I am loved. It need not come from the people that gave you life.. it comes from the people that celebrate and value your life.

Next, I'll look ahead to 2008

For now, Happy Holidays . I wish all of you clarity, peace and that umistakable feeling of being loved.

I found these on my camera

Pictures of Drew and Jade this past Sept on the first day of school. Look at these faces. You just know they're trouble.

Don't mess with my midget chicks

I loved these picture. My bad ass little women. I love you guys deep to my bones

Lies, deceit and WWF

I had to work a little late last night so I met up with Scott, and Jade at the rink while Drew had a practice . I walk in and Scott says 'Watch this" and points to the bleachers inside the rink.
Jade is charging at two boys ( who were actually Drews friends that came to watch her play) and trying to throw one over the side of the bleachers.. I screamed.. " Jade, WHAT are you doing???" Scott says 'Watch closer" and I do. Oh Good God, she is play wrestling! The boys are pretending to be flung around like rag dolls by my 5 year old daughter. I burst out laughing , as did the father of the boys . I turned to him and said " Geesh , your sons already corrupted one of my daughters, now they are starting on the other.

Today, I took half a day off to volunteer at the girls school for the Jingle Bell Bizarre. I do it every year. Its a day at school filled with Christmas shopping, present wrapping, great food and a visit from Santa. Every year I do the 'Thank You' lunch. Thats a lunch provided to the teachers for their great work with our kids. I organize the event, set up and decorate all the tables, ensure all the donated food is heat up or cut up or poured or whatever it needs.

I have a confession.

I do it for the food.

There. I said it.

I love the teachers and they really do a great job but the food is amazing. At least 30-40 dishes
are donated from parents and its all homemade delicious food. Everything from pastas to meatballs to chicken in peanut sauce to cesear salad to scalloped potatoes ...The dessert table is 15 feet long! Think of the most amazing homemade buffet on the planet and thats this luncheon
I run around for 4 hours like a chicken with my head cut off but when I get to sit down and sample these dishes, it's worth it all. Of course, lunch with the gossip loving teaching staff is always a bonus too.

Christmas Miracles

Its been a week of bright sunshine; literally and metaphorically.

Jesse came home for good last Thursday after a month. We have a long climb ahead of us and she'll be going to therapy and clinic weekly for quite some time, but there is so much hope now. The Doctors were so inspired by her. She was orginally to be admitted for 12-16 weeks but showed so much progress that she was released after almost 5 weeks. Physically and mentally she pushed over mountains, yet emotionally she was so fragile. She was very sad being away from home . Jesse, much like the little girls has always been very connected to the family unit. Traditions and memories and time spent together is so precious to her. Being isolated was very painful and frustrating to her and in the end the Dr's agreed that being home would be more beneficial. Its been a whirlwind ever since.

On the drive home , my cell phone rings. Its the dog breeder. Olliver aka Ollie was just born and doing wonderfully. Olliver is a male chocolate lab who also happens to be my black lab
Maggie's baby brother. When we got Maggie 18 months ago, we were so impressed with the breeder and the health/demeanor of the puppies that we knew we'd be coming back for a sibling. He's HERE! We can come visit in 2 weeks to spend some time with him and we'll be able to take Ollie home in Late January. Jesse was So excited. It was a wonderful welcome home present!

We've been so busy preparing for Christmas. We got into the Clark Griswald mode this past weekend and decorated like crazy. Saturday, we went to this amazing place in North Gore for the tree. They actually take you out in a horse drawn sleigh to pick and cut down your own tree then take you back to the lodge for cookies and hot chocolate around the fire while they prepare your tree for the roof top trip home. We had a wonderful time.

I have a houseful Christmas Eve again this year and can't wait. Christmas really does have an extra special meaning this year and I've been maximizing my emotional touchy/ feely crap.
I've been playing around with various homemade pizza doughs this past week. One of the foods I want to serve up Christmas Eve is fresh, handmade pizza. I actually pulled it off! The yeast worked, the dough rised and it was tasty! I'll probably never be able to achieve that again, but I'll be optimistic