Wanna See What We're Growin'?

It's not all about dead things around here ya know. We do like live things too :-)

In fact, over the past few weeks, Adam has been nurturing life, or lives actually, in our own back yard.

Can you guess what's in here?

A few weeks ago, while we were at the lake, Adam made a discovery.

"Tadpoles! Mom! There's tadpoles over here!"

That of course turned into "Can we bring some home?"

"How would you get them home?"

"The Ziploc bag that you brought the apples in."

Great!

"And what will you put them in when you get home?"

"I'll find something! I promise! PLEASE!!!!

Hence the tadpole villa above.

I honestly didn't think they'd survive. I know that's terrible to say. To take an animal, yes, even a tadpole, from it's 'natural habitat' and stick it in a bin to be 'raised'.

I wondered, "Can it grow? Does it need something 'special' to survive? Can't a tadpole pretty much live in a mud puddle?" Everyone had tadpoles in a jar when we were kids.

And surprisingly, many of them HAVE grown!

Look in the top right hand corner of the container, a little frog :-)

And a HUGE tadpole just below him.

There are a few frogs now, and the tadpoles who were tiny when they got here, are MUCH bigger. They must really like the little worm things living in their bin lol.

They're still REALLY small!

We do plan on releasing them into the wild again. Although they may start hopping out on their own soon. One jumped off Adam's finger the other day, so they're definitely getting ready to leave the 'nest'.

This was all Adam's deal. He checks them every day. Alec didn't really show any interest in it. Unless it was because of Adam yelling out "Mom! Alec! Come see! There's ANOTHER frog!" LOL

Now he can say he was another one of those kids who had tadpoles in a jar.

Sorta.

Nite all! Does anyone else hear that croaking?

K

HOLY! That Sh*t HURTS!!!!

It was a quiet week in the Korner this week. Not many adventures to share. Unusual. But I'll take the quiet over chaos every now and then :-) Since there wasn't much excitement, I thought I'd share a personal tid-bit about myself, and the pain that was inflicted on me yesterday.

Yesterday, I was The Rabbit. No, not the dead rabbit that Belle dragged out from under the hedge. I mean on the highway. I was a Highway Rabbit.

You've never heard of a highway rabbit?

You know, that person who's driving the fastest, the one that everyone else pulls out behind so THEY can speed, but hopefully won't be the one caught by the police since they're not at the 'head of the pack'. That's a highway rabbit :-)

You know ... 'chase the waaa-bit ... chase the waaaa-bit' she says in her best sing-song voice LOL. That's me. I'm the waaa-bit :-)

I drive fast. Period. I won't make excuses. I know it's against the law, I know it's dangerous, and I know it causes the vehicle to chew through the gas faster, but I'll be the first to admit, I drive fast. I like speed. I'm always the head of the pack.

Our speed limit on the highway is 110/kmph. I do highway driving EVERY day. If the boys are with me, I will usually go 120/kmph. If I'm alone ... it's 130 all the way baby!!! - That was the personal tid-bit part, now on to the pain ...

The boys are with their father this weekend, so I drove to Truro to see my best friend Cass. Just call me Bugs :-)

I did the road-trip because a few weeks ago I had gotten a horrible haircut. I needed it fixed! Remember the post about Cass taking me for a 'surprise' cut? Well, it wasn't that bad this time lol, but she was attending a wedding yesterday afternoon, so she suggested I come down and get mine done the same time she was getting hers done.

Then ... I could also get my eyebrows waxed ... FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!!!

That's right. I've never done the dirty deed. Never had the eyebrows waxed. I've never had ANYTHING waxed! I'm a faithful user of the Schick Intuition for Women for the legs, pits and ... other areas, but the eyebrows ... yeah ... don't do 'em.

I've never been a 'uni-brow' kinda gal, so I've never messed with the brows. I don't even pluck. I'm not a chicken. I'm a rabbit!!! ;-)

Yesterday, all that changed.

Have you ever had your eyebrows waxed? Or anything else?

HOLY! That Sh*t HURTS!!!!

Yeah. The chick that had two kids with no drugs, and made it through two lung surgeries without complaining too much about the pain, actually YELLED out in the hair salon yesterday when the stylist pulled that first strip off!!!!

She put the wax on. Which really isn't bad. Feels kind of nice actually. Warm. I told her it felt like 'gooey lipstick that had been left in the sun too long being slimed over your brows' LOL.

She pulled the first strip. I yelled. She apparently looked mortified that she'd hurt me, and Cass came running over from the other side of the salon yelling "It's OK, I expected this ... she's fine ... keep going!" and to me "YA BIG BABY!!!!" LMAO!!!!

I told the girl doing the yanking, 'just WARN me the next time!!"

She did, and the next pull wasn't as bad, but I still couldn't resist a comment - 'Fire ants!!!" I said. 'There's fire ants on my eyebrows!!!"

She'd never heard that analogy before and thought that was really funny for some reason. My eyebrows didn't. Did I happen to mention HOLY! That Sh*t HURTS!!!! During the ordeal, Cass volunteered to go next door and get me a coffee ... I needed comfort food.

The pain doesn't last long though. By the time the haircut was done, the burning had subsided. The ants had gone back to their nests.

I'll probably do it again. It does make the eye area look alot more 'open'. I like it :-) It's one of those things that nobody else will even notice but me, but I notice, and I'll put myself through it again for the end result.

Probably.

Maybe.

I'm drawing the line at the brows though.

The person who attempts to wax my bikini line, will have to beat me into submission, or unconsciousness first!!!

Cause ya know what? That Sh*t HURTS!!!

Have a great week all!
K

Dead Things On My Doorstep

You can't tell me it isn't instinct.

Animals have it 'in them' to hunt. Whether they're surviving in the wild, or playing around the barn, I believe it's instinct in the animal to stalk, hunt, play with and ultimately kill it's prey.

Enter Puss. Our cat.

She is three and has always been a house cat. I can count on one hand how many times she's escaped, been gone a few hours, and always returned. She's ALWAYS been an indoor cat.

Until a couple of weeks ago.

Every time the door was opened over the last three years, the cat was there, ready to squeeze through the tiniest crack. Finally one day, I said GO! A few hours later, she came back.

This went on for a couple of days. She'd go out for a few hours, hang out under the deck, under the hedge along our yard and the neighbours, and play in the woods behind the garage. Then she'd come home and sit on the deck at the back door. Belle will usually let me know if she's at the door and I haven't seen her lol.

Last Friday night, the boys are gone with their father, I'm on the phone with my best friend Cass. After about 15 min, the conversation went something like this ...

"Hang on, Belle's at the back door. I let Puss out earlier so she might be looking to come in"

Opens back door.

"Hey girl, comin' in?'

Cat walks away.

Kim walks outside after cat. Closes door behind her so Belle won't get out and chase the cat. Still on phone. Looks over at the cat, turns around and let's out an ...

"OMIGOD!!' There's a dead mouse on the deck! AAAHHHHH"

Screams, jumps over the mouse and flies through the back door.

"EWWW! There's a dead mouse on my deck! Why is there a dead mouse on my deck?!?!'

Cass laughs hysterically on the other end.

"She brought you a present LOL"

"Yeah, I know that ... a couple of days 'on the outside' and those natural instincts are already kicking in!!!. I don't want a present though! I don't want a dead mouse on my deck! Is she going to come back and get it? Do I have to go get rid of it? Cause now I can't let the dog out until the mouse is gone cause I don't want the dog eating the mouse? She'll come back and get it won't she????? Won't she?"

Cass laughs uncontrollably on the other end, perhaps at the rising note of hysteria in my voice.

"OK. YOU'RE going to have to get rid of the mouse, and you can't hang up until you do so cause this is just too funny!!! LOL Are you SURE it's dead?"

"Well, it's on it's back, but no, I guess it's not dead. It's breathing really fast, and it's eyes are closed. It's close to dead."

EWWW!!

Ah Crap! I was really hoping Cass was going to say the cat was coming back for it.

Sigh.

"Ok, I'd better get this overwith. What the heck do you pick up a dead mouse with?"

We said it at the same time ... 'Dustpan'

I had walked into the living room after discovering the mouse and running back into the house. I now went into the kitchen, grabbed the dustpan, returned to the back door and let out a "AAAHHHH!!! The mouse flipped himself! He's OK! And ... wait ... he's running in circles? OK, he's alive, but a little stunned ..."

"LOL, OK, just scoot him off the deck before the cat comes back"

"Do I have to? Don't you think he'll just find his way off the deck all by himself? Hang on, I've got to get this on video. He's STILL running in circles LOL"

I ran back to the kitchen to grab the camera then back to the door again ... "Oh ... no ... wait ... he's on his back again. Back into that rapid breathing thing."
Damn. Looks like it's going to have to be a rescue mission after all.

I turn around and put the camera down on the dining room table. I don't want to take a pic of a sick little mouse. A stunned and running in circles mouse sure lol, but not a suffering one.

"OK", I tell Cass, "I'm ready!" I have the dustpan in one hand, and the little broom to 'shoo' him onto the dustpan if needed in the other ... I'm ready for my mission!

I turn back to the door ... and he's back on his feet!

I'm getting a pic of this before he flips again!

Even at this point, I didn't realize WHAT he was.

No, I didn't discover it wasn't a little mouse after all, but a little MOLE, until I was hovering over him with the dustpan in one hand, broom in the other, and phone balancing between my ear and shoulder and Cass ready to coach me through this adventure on the other end.

I was just hoping my neighbours weren't out watching this, and video taping ME! LOL

Little sucker was stubborn! Continued to run in circles, and no amount of shooing with the broom would get him into that dustpan! As soon as he felt the edge of it, he'd just circle off in another direction.

A couple of times, he circled just a little too close to my toes, and poor Cass got an earful of "AAARRRRRRAAAHHHHH" So did the neighbours.

Finally, with Cass gasping for breath in my ear, I gave him a hard shove onto that dustpan, ran a few steps and didn't that little sucker run right off of it and land back onto the deck again! That brought about a new round of screams from me of course, and new howls of laughter from my coach on the other end of the phone!

I bent down, almost lost the phone, managed to scoop the little sucker onto the pan again, ran two steps and the bugger JUMPED off again! Determined little sucker!

This time, we were close enough to the edge of the deck that I gave him one final scoop with the dustpan and away he went, the little dude was airborn for a minute, and then landed in the grass.

He didn't move right away. But I checked the spot later where he'd landed and either he managed to circle his way home, or Puss came back to play with him some more.

I'm not sure I want to know.

I do know, that you can keep a cat indoors, as a 'house cat', but that instinct to hunt that they keep buried while roaming the halls of home, very quickly becomes unlocked and unleashed when roaming the wilds of the backyard.

I don't necessarily LIKE dead things on my doorstep, but I am glad to see Puss is adjusting to 'outdoor life' and showing me her appreciation at being able to do so.

Oh ... but there's more.

That was last weekend. This weekend, there were MORE dead things.

Belle got herself tangled up around the hedge first thing this morning. I unsnapped her rope and she started to run up to the deck, backtracked, grabbed something under the hedge, and headed back to the deck.

'What do you have in your mouth girl?' I didn't have my glasses on, or contacts in, so all I could see was something that looked black, smallish, and ... just ewwww.

"Drop it Belle!!' She dropped. As I walked by, I glanced at it. Ewwww dead rat!!! It was far too big to be a mouse. Dead rat! Eewwwww!!!!

I got dressed right away, put in the contacts, and headed outside to grab a shovel.

I tried not to look at the rat as I scooped it up. With one scoop, it flipped up into the shovel. It wasn't a rat. It was a baby bunny :-( A small baby bunny :-( I didn't take a pic of that one.

Not sure how it ended up under the hedge. I know we have wild rabbits in our back yard. I've seen them. But they don't usually come around when Belle is out. And it looked too big for the cat to have been able to hurt it.

Regardless. It ended up under our hedge and almost on my deck courtesy of Belle. No thanks! I took it back to the woods at the edge of the property, and tossed it back there.

Glad I caught her before I ended up with another dead thing on my doorstep!

There have been a few LIVE animals find their way into my backyard also, and some onto my doorstep lol.

I've had ducks ...

The occasional raccoon ...

A weird, giant moth thing hanging over my back door ...

And this little guy was hanging out in my garage

Yeah. Live and dead things. Gotta love country-just-outside-the-city-livin' ;-)

Nite all! Watch that first step on the doorstep ;-)

K.

Batista Encouraging Summer Reading! And Haircuts?

Well, in our house he is anyway :-)

The last day of school was a WWE day for the boys. Each year, they receive 'grading presents' if they have a good report card. I was happy with both of theirs. And since they've been obsessed with Wrestling lately, it was easy to pull together their end-of-year presents :-)

Alec got the DVD box set of Wrestlemania XXIV. I remember Wrestlemania I. LOL

Adam, the DVD set of The Rock.

Both got a new poster (John Cena for Alec and DX for Adam).

Adam got another belt that he'd been eyeing lol, like he needed another one of those!!!

And lastly, for Alec, I wanted him to READ over the summer so I got him the Batista auto biography, Batista Unleashed!

He loves it! We've been reading it together. Yes, there are more curse words in it than I realized, and think a 12 yr old should be reading, but I'm also not naive enough to think he doesn't use half those words already with his buddies.


And on MY nights to read, I take generous liberties at altering those words anyway lol. I'll change it to something like 'kicked his butt'. He always knows though, and will ask;


"Did it really say butt Mom ... or did it really say ass?"

"Did it REALLY say flippin' Mom?"

"I don't think it said 'not a nice lady' Mom!" LOL


But overall, he's enjoying the story, and wanting to read (it), so that's a good thing :-)

As for the haircuts, we went to see their Dad last Saturday afternoon for those. Usually I'll hear 'No Mom, I'm letting my hair GROW!' or 'No, I don't want my hair cut!!!!' or 'Do I really have to?'

This time, both boys said immediately and eagerly, "I want my hair cut like Batista!!!!'

They've since been buzzed :-)

So thanks Batista! For having a book out there that is encouraging my kid to do some summer reading, and for having a hairstyle that makes them WANT to get their hair cut!!!! LOL


K.

Cover Those Balls Before They Burn!

Eyeballs people! Eyeballs!

When I was a kid we weren't as careful about the sun as we are today. I spent many a scorching afternoon lazing on my deck, (during my high school yrs) covered in either baby or cooking oil. Yeah. No coconut Tropicana for me Baby. I was goin' for EXTRA CRISPY!

Side note - Stay away from the 'baby oil and vinegar' concoction! That one can cause 2nd degree burns within a couple of hours of being under the natural fryer :-) I STILL have one little burn spot on my leg after that one... 10yrs later!

Now, we know better. We slather ourselves and our kids in SPF 1,000,000, wear shades, big floppy hats, park ourselves under wide umbrellas at the beach.

OK, well the SMART ones do. Others, like myself, are still spreading our blankets directly under that radiating god, getting comfortable, tilting our heads back and letting that little 'ahhhhhh' escape blissfully :-) Minus the baby oil of course ;-)

There is one place however it's hard to keep covered and protected.

In the water.

Sure the SPF is waterproof, but it's hard to keep shades on a diving, back flipping, cannon balling off a floating dock child.

Unfortunately, we've since found out that spending time in the water, and having the sun reflecting off of that water, can burn your EYEBALLS.

Sunday evening, we were on our way home after being out all afternoon. First the lake for a couple of hours, then to their father's where they worked on their treehouse.

We were at the the lake for awhile the day before as well. I'm still fighting this freakin' summer cold, so I wasn't swimming, but the boys spent alot of the weekend in the water.

I was saying something to Adam, turned around to look at him for a second and noticed his eyes.

Notice the red on the outside corners of both eyes.

"WHOA! Someone looks tired!" I thought he was just exhausted from the weekend.

On Tuesday, when I picked him up from day camp, the counselors commented on his eyes. They were still red. They suggested it was either pinkeye or sunburned eyeballs. Sunburned eyeballs?

I knew it wasn't pink eye, because he didn't have that goopy stuff in them. But I had him looked at that night anyway, had it confirmed the balls were slightly burned and got drops for them.

Sunburned eyeballs! Yes, it does happen.

More info on sunburned eyes HERE.

Keeping the balls covered so they don't burn again in the water is going to be a continuous challenge all summer, considering they're at the lake every day for day camp.

Hmmmm ... I wonder if anyone's invented tinted swimming goggles yet? Like the eyeglasses that darken when you go outside. Goggles that darken when you come out of the water :-) Consider this my patent registration if nobody's done so yet! lol Until I find some, I'll have to make sure he at least has his 'regular' swimming goggles packed, every day!

Cover those balls before they burn people! And all the rest of your parts too ;-)

K

Missin' My Dad

James Weldon Donohue - My Dad
May 21st, 1944 - July 6th, 2002

Six years ago tomorrow (Sunday), my Dad died. I'm an only child. I love my Mother dearly, she's a Mom and a friend and she knows how important she is to me. I was also Daddy's Girl, and was until the day he died.

One of the boys asked me the other day if "Grampy wished he'd had a boy." Damn, I hope not, cause he got me :-)

He seemed to make the best of it though, cause I can remember many an hour spent with him at a ballgame, curling rink, bowling alley lol. I was bat kid, cheerleader, or simply off playing with the other kids who were there with their Dads, and out from under their Mom's feet for awhile ;-)

I miss my Dad.

Life has gone on. I've lived in the same community, worked for the same company, made the 'big' decisions without calling for his opinion first, became a single Mom, continued to raise my kids, took vacations, celebrated birthdays and milestones, paid bills, made friends, lost friends ... life goes on.

I still miss my Dad though. And there's still a big part of me that is angry that my boys are missing out on having an awesome grandfather who adored them. He had his BOYS!!! LOL He completely doted on Alec for the first four years. But with Adam, it was bittersweet because he knew from almost the beginning that he didn't have much time with him. Adam was two when he died. He doesn't remember him. That makes me sad.

Alec was 6. He remembers him. Remembers how much he loved him. Remembers the things they did together on their frequent visits LOL. That makes me sad too.

Shortly after his death, I added a special page for him on our personal website. I thought I'd share some of it here with you tonight.

**********************************************

Let me just start out by saying that no matter what I write or include on this page, it will never begin to describe how I viewed my father as a "dad", husband, man, or individual. Geeze, the man was a HUGE influence on my life, still is! There's no way I could capture everything on a website. It's simply a few highlights I wanted to share and will continue to add to.

Thanksgiving weekend 2000 my life changed with a phone call.

Dad had been admitted to the hospital for pains in his stomach and mom was calling with the test results... "It's cancer".

For almost two years I watched my dad fight a horrible disease and not once (after the initial shock) did he ever let me see it get him down.

The weekend before he died, I was home with them and he was still making plans for weeks, months and even yrs in advance. Knowing full well that he was fighting a losing battle, but always going along as if he wasn't.

Honest, strong, stubborn, proud, caring, giving, respected, funny, protective of his family, firm/stern at times, but loving, and always a gentleman. That was my dad to those who knew him best.

He was the youngest in a family of 6. Three boys and three girls, and lived in Blackville, NB. It's been said that as a child, dad's feet never touched the ground because there was always a sibling carrying him somewhere like a little doll :-)

The doll grew up to first become a teacher, who was know for having the best disciplined class in the school. (Yup... I can see that) but who would also have those same boys at his desk before class discussing the previous night's hockey game, either one he had watched or participated in.

Then he moved to Bathurst, changed careers and worked as a lab technician at the Beldune Smelter for 30some years. It was there (in Bathurst) that he met my mom at a dance, at the Vista Bay. THE hotspot in Bathurst in the 60's. I guess mom gave poor dad a hard time that night. For some reason she thought he was married so when he started hitting on her, she pretty much told him to get lost. Obviously they cleared up that misunderstanding, started dating, got married and had me.

Sometime in the early 80's

See that wooden key holder on the wall in the background? I made that in 'shop class' in middle school, and god love him, he hung it on the wall and that's where it stayed for years to come LOL

My Dad had his favourites. He loved the HABS, Jays and Alpine :-) Shortly after I found out Dad was sick, I started to plan his Christmas surprise. I got it in my head I was giving him a phone call from his all time hockey hero ... Guy LaFleur.
Yeah. That didn't go over so well.

Read all about it ... HERE.

Dad and the boys

If Heaven has an expression ... I think THIS is it ...

Alec was brand new home from the hospital

Dad & Alec 1996

Dad & Adam 2001

Thanks to my mom, a piece of my dad will always be with me. The ring on my middle finger is dad's wedding band. It's significance for me? He wore it for over 30yrs, every day. 30 yrs of marriage is one thing ... 30yrs of marriage to someone you still thought of as your best friend, is another thing entirely!

Granted nothing is perfect, but if I can do that AND give my kids the proverbial "normal" childhood, like I consider myself lucky enough to have had, than perfect or not, I'll take it.

If you're a believer in "whatever", you'll understand that it's comforting to know how something that was so much a part of him, for so long, is now with me and when I look at it, I can actually hear him in my head... although I'm not always sure that's a good thing ;-)

Mom & Dad were married on Sept 26th, 1970

and celebrated 32 yrs together.

*******************************************

I'd like to leave you with one more thing tonight. It's a song that reminds me of my Dad. It's by a new artist called Crystal Shawanda. I heard it for the first time a few months ago on the drive home from work. It's a very dangerous song to drive to if you're a Daddy's Girl, who's lived every verse in the song, and is still missin' her Dad.

Nite all. And this one's for you Daddy :-)

K.