IT'S GONE ... all gone ...

Evening all,

This morning when I got up, my hair was half way down my back (all one length) and today I got it all cut off! It's not a Buzz/Brittney cut or anything ;-p But it's not even shoulder length! I can't remember the last time I had my hair cut, few years maybe, but I agreed to let my best friend take me to a hair dresser of her choice, pick out a hair style without my knowledge, she informed the stylist, and I had to keep my eyes closed through the whole thing.

At one point, I had my head down. I felt her lift the hair over my head, I felt the snip, and I felt the hair drop onto the front of the cape. I opened my eyes for a peek and saw 8-10in of hair laying there. I let out a small gasp or an involuntary noise of some sort lol and quickly closed my eyes again.

They won't find my best friend's body for a very loooooooonnngggg time ;-) I'm sure gonna miss her ... and my hair!!! ;-p

K.

When GOOD kids do STUPID things!!!

Hi all, here's my rant for the day...

Usually, I have smart, conscientious, 'good' kids. Usually. Last night however, they did something I'd consider pretty STUPID!!!! I never call my kids stupid, I don't even tell them that things they do are sometimes stupid. I usually try and use another description, even if it has the same meaning lol... but last night ... my kids did something that was just plain STUPID!!!!

After supper/homework, they were outside playing with the little girl from down the street, and the next thing I know, Adam and Haley are running in the house saying "Someone's coming Mom !!!" Just as I get to the front door asking, "What do you mean someone's coming?" "And where's Alec?!?!?!" I open the door and there's Alec standing there with a man next to him. The man was pretty shaken up and said "just wanted to let you know your kids were playing in the middle of the road and I almost hit them".

First thing I did was lose it on all three of them (yes, Haley included, she was involved, she gets the mom tirade ... even if it's not from her own mom lol). Verbally of course, not physically. Then I made the boys immediately walk Haley home and come right back cause their playtime was now OVER!!!

When they returned a few minutes later, after I had calmed down a bit, I let Alec tell 'his side' of it because he was adamant that they weren't on the road. According to him, they were next to the road. He said they were shoveling snow from the sidewalk into the ditch, and were making a fort, and he had gone around the school bus that had been parked on the side of the road, which meant he was actually ON the road. Absolutely NO excuses to be on the road. They know the rules!!!!

I told him if someone felt they had to stop, get out of their car and come up to the house, they were obviously closer to the road than they should have been. I told them that playing chicken with cars (as the man had implied) was just plain STUPID!!!! Yes. I actually used that word! And to use their heads, and they KNOW how dangerous our road specifically and cars in general are!!!! Told them to use the brains they were given for good ... not evil ... not trying to figure out if they can play chicken with a car on a dark winter night!

I was just floored. These kids know better!!!! They know the rules of playing outside. They know what that road is like!!! I really don't know if Buddy over reacted, or if they were actually on the road like he said ... but it's so frustrating that you can teach your kids right from wrong, and KNOW that they know the difference, but yet they'll still take stupid chances and make stupid mistakes when they're out of sight.

Originally they WERE grounded for a very long time. Right after the man left, Alec kept saying "But mom, we were just ....." and I kept cutting him off saying "I don't care!!!! I don't care WHAT you were doing .... YOU WERE ON THE ROAD!!!!!!" Then I realized I couldn't do that. If I ever want him to talk to me about the BIG stuff ... I guess I have to listen when he's trying to talk ..... so after my own little time-out while they walked Haley home, I told him I was ready to listen to what he had to say. Even today, he's still adamant they weren't playing chicken, but that they were shoveling snow. And that Adam and Haley weren't even on the road, but on the SIDE of the road near the ditch.

I would love to believe Alec. And I really want to because I know lying to me isn't something he usually makes a habit of doing. But ..... why would someone stop if the kids hadn't scared the sh*t out of him? So ... I have to go on the premise that *SOMETHING* happened .... Regardless ... they were closer than they should have been. And they shouldn't have even been where they were ... they were SUPPOSED to be playing in Haley's back yard. Not in the ditch out front.

Since I didn't see it happen, and couldn't verify what had actually happened .... I still grounded them, but not *forever* as I originally told them :-) But we had a VERY long talk about safety, our road in particular, the fact that kids were killed in a car accident there last year because it's a dangerous road, people go WAY to fast on it, and I told them that that's been my biggest fear since they started playing outside, on their own this past year ... is that one of these times, someone is going to come to our door and tell me something happened to one of them (that they don't come home at all is the other fear!). I told them that when they go out to play, I turn off the tv, radio, stero, everything, and keep the house silent so I can hear ... just in case ... if there's any trouble outside. I hope I got through to them ....

I think / hope from my reaction last night that they realize they had REALLY done wrong ... and hopefully ... I won't have to worry about it happening again. I WILL worry about it of course ... and keep checking the windows while they're gone ... even if it's only a few houses down the street .... but I'm hoping that from now on, they'll make better choices about WHERE they're going to play. Where they've already been told countless times .... absolutely NOWHERE near the road!!! ;-)

Sigh ... I don't think I'm going to make it to their teens!!!!! Where's that bottle of Vodka?!?!??!???!?!? KIDDING!!! ;-P

Have a great night all!

K.

The Power in Music! (aka My sappy message for the day lol)

Hey everyone!

A few weeks ago, I was driving home from work and noticed a new country tune on the radio. "Alyssa Lies". By the second verse, I was almost bawling and having trouble seeing the oncoming traffic through the tears. Although I don't bawl EVERY time I hear it now, it still never fails to bring tears to my eyes and that quivering lip and it takes everything in me not to cry any time I've heard it since.

Ok, we all know country songs are sappy. This one is no exception ;-) Difference being ... it's actually helping people. A teacher played this song for her class just recently and asked them to write about what they thought the song meant, and what it meant to them. At the end of the exercise/day it was discovered 7 children were living in abusive situations and 2 were actually removed from the home.

Yes, it's a sad song, it hurts the heart to really listen to the words, but he's singing about something that isn't going away, and if it can help some of these kids, then more power to Jason Michael Carroll for singing about it!!!! I had never heard of JMC before this song, but there's obviously a reason why this song has touched and affected so many people, from all walks of life.

http://www.myspace.com/jasonmichaelcarroll This is Jason's home on MySpace. Once the page loads, the song will start playing automatically. If for some reason it doesn't, just click the link "Alyssa Lies"under the player. Listen closely to the words, it's worth taking a few minutes for.

The boys know this song upsets me, but it's also opened the door for discussion about child abuse, and how there are ALOT of kids out there who live in entirely different households than we do, parents who handle discipline differently, and not every kid is as lucky as they are (or as I was) to have parents who love and don't hurt them.

Play this for yourselves, and for anyone you know who you think might benefit from hearing it.

I don't advise listenting to this while driving though!!!! It's far too dangerous!!! ;-)

Enjoy!!! Even if you're not a country fan, it's still worth listening to ... and if it doesn't tug at your heart at least a little bit .... you've got a heart of stone Man!!!! ;-)

K

Check your profiles ... I was hacked :-(

Hi all,

The lesson I've learned today is .... check your Profile page!!! (on MySpace). I generally don't look at my Profile page. I created it, I know what it says, I know I'm out there in MySpace, I don't need to check out my own page. Or so I thought ....

For whatever reason, (can't even remember why now!) I checked out my own profile today and discovered I'd been hacked. Thankfully it wasn't too bad ... but god knows how long I've had a Headline, proclaiming for all the internet world to see, that I'm "Raul's B*tch".

Do people REALLY have nothing better to do with their time than hack into people's MySpace accounts?!?!?! Are they really that desperate for attention that they need to piss people off just to get someone to notice them? I have to wonder how old this Raul person is, who is spending his/her time hacking into people's accounts ... seems to me he's/she's taken a few tips from my 6 year old on how to get attention.

But guess what Raul ... it backfired ... you really haven't gotten anyone's attention, because after today, after we fix our pages, we will forget all about you and your sad existance. You're sitting in your little room, all by yourself, giggling to yourself over how you've hacked into hundreds (thousands?) of people's MySpace accounts ... and... in reality, you may have gotten our attention for mere minutes (long enough to fix the page and write this blog!) ... but you're simply an annoyance ... like that one small piece of birthday streamer that's still hanging in the corner of the ceiling, that I've just been too lazy to pull down yet. We're all laughing out here in cyberspace at you ... and the fact you have have no friends, no life, and feel the need to bother people just to make yourself feel better.

They have drugs for people like you Raul ......

Have a great day all! And check your sites .... nobody was more surprised than I was to find out I'd been labelled as "Raul's B*tch"!!!! I may be a b*tch at times ... but certainly not RAUL's!!! ;-p

K

Puberty, Sex and STD’s ….. OH MY! (I think I liked Lions, Tigers and Bears better!)

The first week of school, my 10 yr old came home full of excitement, "Mom! This year, we're gonna have 'The Talk' at school!!!!!!!"
Oh Boy!!! Here we go!

Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem discussing 'the birds and the bees' with my boys, but up until now, they've been pretty light hearted conversations (keep in mind, my kids are 10 & 6). Boy meets girl, fall in love, get married, have kids …. WHOA …. Hold up Mom … 'but HOW do they have the kids' … ok, so we delved into that one a little further. Then, when Adam purchased his first condom in a bathroom last month, that rekindled the whole 'sex' conversation, and introduced the 'safety' aspect of the whole thing.

Well, a couple of nights ago, he brought home a notice from school. In the next few weeks, they're going to be discussing 'puberty' . among other things in this section of their 'Health' program/classes. What other things will they be discussing with our 10 yr olds? Changes in their bodies of course, sex … but … not just sex … STD's, HIV, AIDS …. All the scary stuff that's enough to keep them from having sex until their early 40's ;-) Yeah …. RIGHT!!! LOL
Sigh … you know your kids are growing up when your conversation starts "Mom …what's an STD"

Time to take a deep breath … and jump into the Tweens I guess!!! Wish me luck! Hmmmm …. Wonder where I can find an updated copy of that old book "Am I Normal?!?!??!" LMAO!!!
Have a great weekend all!

K.

The Christmas Surprise that Backfired on Me!

Hey all!

Being that it's Christmas (for me it is, otherwise, insert holiday of your choice here) I thought it was a good time to share my Dad/Guy LaFleur story J. I originally sent this out as part of an email to family & friends shortly after dad died. Hard to believe it was already over 3 yrs ago!


Shortly after finding out dad was sick, I started to plan a Christmas surprise. I wanted to do something really "special" for him. I'm the type of person who tries to put some thought into what someone might actually LIKE to receive, so not knowing what the next year might bring, I wanted to give him something extra special, something unique that Christmas.

So, I got it in my head to give him a phone call from Guy LaFleur. Those of you who knew my dad, you know exactly what that would have meant to him. For those of you who didn't know him, I could say, "just imagine you're all time favourite sports hero', and you would have what that icon on ice meant to my father. But let me also give you a bit of background ... all my life dad was a Habs fan, and Guy LaFleur was definitely "the man". I was told many times that the night I took my first steps, he was here in Halifax watching Guy play at the Metro Centre. Later that night, he managed to get his autograph at the hotel. I'm still not quite sure of which event he was most proud my first steps, or that autograph lol. I can remember he used to have these habs team pictures, torn off from hockey calendars over the years, hanging in the basement...

Anyway, when my wonderful father in law heard of my 'operation xmas call' mission, he provided me with the name of the PR Rep for the Canadians, so I gave her a call and explained that I wanted to give my dad a phone call from Guy LaFleur for Christmas. She said she couldn't make any promises, but that she'd pass the message along to him.

I told my mother about this surprise, and asked her not to mention anything to dad. BIG mistake!

The day we arrived home for Christmas vacation, dad had a surprise for me. That afternoon, mom had run out to the store for maybe 20 min, and while she was gone, the phone rang. Dad didn't recognize the number, and because he was quite sick at the time, didn't really want to be getting on the phone anyway, but he it picked up to find someone who was "supposedly" Guy LaFleur on the other end. Knowing that Montreal hadn't played very well their last few games, dad thought it was just someone in the family or one of his friends who was playing a joke on him. So, dad chatted politely for a couple of minutes, then said abruptly, "Well, I've gotta go".

He only found out later, much to his surprise and absolute DISMAY, it really was Guy LaFleur on the phone! When mom got home he told her about the phone call and she said "Uh...Jim... that really WAS Guy LaFleur. Kimberly arranged that phone call as a surprise present for you". Poor Dad! It's not often I've seen him REALLY disappointed, but that was definitely one of those times. I tried to get in touch with the PR lady again, to explain what happened, but being Christmas and all, I didn't have any luck.

Even though the surprise sort of backfired on me, I know he was still proud to have received that phone call ... despite the fact that he didn't realize at the time that he really was talking to his longtime idol. It was always his first reply when asked that year "so what did you get for xmas? lol But more importantly, I know that he was proud of me, for making the extra effort to try give him something memorable, and for making what turned out to be his last Christmas, a pretty cool one.

Happy Holidays Everyone! And careful how you answer the phone this season, it could be someone you least expect on the other end of the line ;-) (in a good way ... not in an overdue bill collector way!) ;-)

Kim

The surprise 'gift' I received @ the kids xmas party

Another 'tale' I just had to share

On Saturday I took the boys to the kids xmas party being put on by my work. It was held at the Fleet Club , a facility that caters to all types of social/corporate events. They had a great time! Food, drinks, games, Santa, presents, all the good stuff.

About 10 min before we left, Adam went into the bathroom. He came out a few mins later, and handed me something saying, "What's this Mom?"

"Where did you get that?"

"I bought it in the bathroom" ........................

Yup, my 6yr old son came out of the bathroom with his first package of condoms!!!! YIKES!!!!!

I took them from him, explained they weren't for him but "for GROWNUP'S only!!!" and he was quite distressed that he had wasted his loonie on something he couldn't keep. I'm sure to him, the dispenser in the bathroom looked like one of those blasted candy/toy dispensers (money grabbers) that are usually at the entrances to and throughout the malls. I can just hear his brain now as he looked up at the box on the wall .... "Ohhhhh .... I wonder what you get out of THIS one!" LOL

I stuffed the package into my back pocket, and told him not to worry .... I'd replace the loonie!!!!! and thanked him for bringing it to me, but I was confiscating this one lol.

On the way out, I told a couple of co-workers what had just happened, and shopped around the free condom, but no takers.

Never a boning day when I'm out with the kids huh? Man .... go to a xmas party ... come out having to give a readers digest version of "The Talk" .... on the way home. Sheesh!!!!!

I suppose it could have been worse ... he could have just opened it on the spot, blown it up and announced as he walked back into the party room "Hey Mom! Look at the cool balloon I bought in the bathroom!!!" as he loses it and it bounces into a Sr Mgr.'s lap ........ can ALWAYS be worse right

Have a great night all!!!

K