Warning - Job Rant

I love my job, I really do.  I love the chosen children that come into my life every morning.  I love the extended "family" that I get every day...

BUT...

I really wish that parents would respect my rules.  I only have 3 daycare families right now - 2 of whom are fabulous and the other one just doesn't seem to get it.  I don't have many rules for parents...really...how hard are these to follow??

1.  Please don't bring outside food in -- it's brought anyhow.  I'm not talking the tail end of a piece of toast or whatever was eaten in the car on the way here -- I'm talking a full out bag full of snacky things.  I mean, I have more than enough food to feed these little munchkins all day long.  When you bring in food from home, guess what -- it causes Tiny Toddler War.  Your child may not be the toddler, no -- but the fruit loops that she brings are akin to dropping an atom bomb in my play room.  I work hard to ensure that the children get tasty, nutritious food.  Stop sending your kid here with CRAP.

2.  Please don't bring toys from home -- yes, your little doodle-shnuckums loves her teddy bears and barbies with 1000s of pieces.  I don't.  I also don't enjoy the search for said toys at the end of the day.  Nor do I enjoy the fighting over said toys during the day.  Nor do I like the "Look at my new toy, isn't it beautiful? DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH IT" that comes out of your princess' mouth.  Nope.  Don't like it.  Do you realize that I have an entire basement that is devoted solely to daycare?  Do you realize that I have teddy bears, dolls, barbies, kitchen areas, books, cars, blocks, puzzles, crayons, paper, glue....and thousands more things here that are more than enough for your kid to play with.  Please tell me why you need to bring another thing in here?  And don't get mad at me when I can't find the stupid toy and refuse to look for it at pick up time, because, you know what?  I told you not to bring the damn thing in the first place.

That is all.

A book I want to read...

I came across this the other day...looks to be quite interesting.  A book to answer the questions that many in America/Canada/UK have about Muslims..too bad I can't read anything enjoyable until Mid-December (stupid school!)  But, I thought that maybe some of my readers (Tina, Meaghan, Erin, etc) might enjoy it, so I'm putting the link here.
←  Americans, click here


                            Canadians, click here →

my mini me

I'm sure that you all have seen by now that I have a fairly dry sense of humor.  How I write is generally how I talk.  I may not always be on the ball in real life (meaning, I can't go back and edit) but I try to keep things interesting.  Apparently, my toddler has picked up on this.

We're in a difficult stage right now -- he's asserting his independence stronger than any other child that I've ever seen, and I'm slowly coming to the realization that I have lost my last bit of control.  It's not an easy combination.  For example, on the weekend, I wanted to go shopping.  I have all three kids with me because Hubby was at work...do you think I was able to get what I needed?   Nope -- First, Adam freaked out because we went down the escalator, but not back up -- you see, that's his favourite part of any mall.  If I were to ever lose my child, I would start the search for him at an escalator.  So, after having his little mini meltdown about the escalator, he realizes that he's not sitting in the stroller, he's buckled in.  This was offense number 2.  He screamed bloody murder.
Beet red and completely embarrassed, I unbuckle him and whisper sweet nothings in his ear to soothe him (that is, I bribed him)  "mommy will just look at this and then we'll go buy some gum, okay?  Or how about a doughnut?  No??  Okay, how about a new car?!?  Yes, mommy will buy you a new corvette if you'll just sit back and be good."  Yeah...I'm mom #1 right here.

The shopping trip ended before it even began.

Yesterday, I had him and my chosen child here.  They're nearly the same age.  They get along really well some days, and like oil and water on others.  Both children had suffered an extreme lack of sleep the night before, and thus, we were having an oil and water kinda day.  When chosen child went home, and I'd sufficiently fed and bathed my own, I announced it was bed time.  He fought and whined and pouted, but still carried that blankie of his down the hallway towards his room.  When it comes time to turn into his bedroom, he makes a dash for my bed.  Exhausted myself, I think "whatever, as long as he sleeps" -- I crawl into bed and try to get him to come along...nope, he turns around and starts heading back out to the living room to sit with daddy.  "Where are you going?" I call..."I dunno where I'm going," he replies, "but it's not to bed."

Seriously??  Where the hell did this kid learn this stuff??

The other day, I had asked the kids to clean up.  Adam's usually fairly competitive, so I can say something like "ooh, I see Sally has picked up three Lego's, but Adam only has one" and he'll go nuts and pick up the whole mess.  Not any more.  I tried that trick on Friday and he says "My name is not Adam.  I'm not picking up anything anymore!" and crossed his little arms and stuck up his chin!

Oh Lord, what am I in for??

Homework and Tantrums

I love my son.  He's the "good" one.  I know, I know, we're not supposed to label our children or call them our favorites - but each of my children are excellent at different things, and each have their own special place in my heart...Isaac is my smart, quiet one -- the one who reminds me so much of me when I was a child.

So, yesterday when he came home from school, he was in a bit of a tiff.  He turned on his gameboy and life went on.  I dig in his backpack and discover that he had homework.  Isaac never has homework.  It was math too, his easiest subject.

So I call him out of his room and tell him he needs to finish his homework before he can continue playing.

This, apparently, was a huge mistake.

He cried, he screamed, he ripped his bed apart.  Sheets all over the place, pillow tossed across the room, everything was everywhere.  He came out and I said "what's going on, is there something you want to talk about?" and he threw another fit all the way down the hallway.  He cried and sobbed till his eyes were swollen and he had those crying hiccups.

More than an hour later, he comes out and I go over the homework that he had to do...this was the most basic of basic.  Patterns.  He's been doing patterns since kindergarten. In less than 10 minutes, he was done.  He grinned sheepishly and asked for his gameboy back.

I still don't understand what all the fuss was about.

a week with my toddler - Update

Just some of the things that I go through in a week with my lovely, spirited, wild child.

Monday, after a really tough day, he came up to me saying "mommy help, boogie" which as you may have figured out -- he needed a Kleenex.  So, I sigh, grab one and tell him to blow.  He gives it a couple good shots and then I see it.  It's not a boogie in his nose...it was a wadded up gum wrapper.  He'd balled it up and, for some reason that I cannot begin to fathom, shoved it up his nose to live there for a while.  I know it's been a while, considering that the last time that we'd had any gum was on the Friday before.  Nice.

Tuesday, I was still in a bit of a funk, but Adam didn't seem to care.  Rather, he'd discovered a tear in my couch (along the top, behind where the back rest cushion is) -- apparently, this was fantastic, because he proceeded to dump his bin of dinky cars in there.  One by one.  I thought that he was lining them up on the back there...it wasn't until he said "Oh...Crash!" that I was alerted to his game.  Out of a bin of 200 dinky cars (yes, I know there are 200 there, possibly more), I didn't find out his dastardly scheme until there were only about 50 left.  I was left with the decision to leave my couch full of cars, or cut the bottom dust cover thing off to rescue them.  I still haven't decided what to do - the cars are in a "mom limbo" at the moment.

Wednesday we had an invite to the school.  They were doing a Welcome Back BBQ.  We went for burgers and cake -- and of course, got to tour the class rooms and meet the teachers.  While I was busy chatting up the teachers, Adam ran along from desk to desk, filing his pockets with crayons and erasers from the children in my son's classroom.  Sweet.  I get to send Isaac to school the next day with other people's possessions and a shameful note of explanation.

Thursday I realized that I wasn't down in the dumps because I'd been in a funk, nope, it was my body prepping me for the inevitable - the first cold of winter (and yes, I can sadly say that winter has arrived.  It snowed here.  Not in my city, but so close to it that you may as well say it was here...and it didn't stay, but still - we don't usually get those snows until mid-late October, and the snow doesn't usually start staying around until mid-November or so)  Anyhow - I was feeling sick, and because I'm a great mom when I'm sick, I wasn't about to cook my kids a meal.  It was an "eat your left over lunch, pick a cereal or starve" kinda deal.  My daughter figures that she'll be a great help and make popcorn for supper.  I lay on the couch in misery while they munched away downstairs.  Adam spilled his bowl, and rather than pick it up, he stepped on it, crushed it to bits and then pushed it under the couch.  My wonderful daughter decided to vacuum it up for me.  She's sweet that way.

Friday has just started, but he's already into a very "toddler" mood of Everything-That-I-See-Is-Mine.  I'm praying to make it to nap time - by which time, Grandma should be here to save the day.






Update 1  (yes, I'm leaving this open...I've still got a good 2 or 3 hours left before bedtime)- today (Friday), my sons' newly painted bedroom got a bit of a face lift by a graffiti artist who goes by the name of Little Adam.  And by "a bit", I mean, the entire length of a single bed from as low as he could reach to as high as he could.  He also did it in about 1.3 minutes flat.  With three adults in the home and only two children here for me to watch (including the artist himself), I'm still not sure how that happened.

Misunderstandings

So the other day, a great family member and I had a bit of an online misunderstanding.  Our thoughts and opinions and feelings shared right out there for the public to see.  It wasn't really resolved until we sent private messages to one another.  I think our mutual misunderstandings surprised us both.

You see, not so much on my blog, but definitely on my fanpage, twitter and personal facebook page, I have been posting links and making comments about the issues surrounding Park51 (aka, the Ground Zero Mosque).  To me, it's not so much the issue of the building, or where it is, or even why it is.  What I want people to see is that just because a person is a Muslim, they are not a terrorist.

This family member, however, felt that I was attacking.  She felt accused and beaten up.  This was NOT my intention and I apologize to her and to any of you who may have felt the same.

I am a huge supporter of peace and love and understanding.  I don't think that you have to be like me, or believe like me or do like me.  I am proud to say that I have friends and family from different ethnicities and religions and backgrounds.  How horrible would our world be if we were all the same?

 So, I thought that I would take a moment to say why I think it's important to get my message out.  I often feel that when I go out, I am seen as an outsider.  I am viewed as an "other."  I worry that people see me as a traitor, or that I'm assumed to be a terrorist.  The fact is, I am a Muslim. I am a Canadian. I am a mother, sister, daughter and friend.  All I ever want is for other people to see that too.

I wanna give up

I had a rough day -- it was hard.  It was a really, really, bad mom day.

It kinda went like this:

• wake up before I'm really ready to, but get up and face the world anyway.
• do 2 loads of laundry, make 3 lunches, and prepare my daycare before the clock strikes 7.
• wake up my children.  One doesn't want to get up and I end up arguing with him.  I feel bad for doing so.
• get my chosen child ready for school; dressed, fed, washed up.
• attempt to wake my own child again, this time with threats.  I feel worse.
• send children off to school, I'm angry and feel bad for being angry.  What if it's the last time I see them and I"m angry?  I feel even worse.
• Toddler is up and being a toddler.  Chosen child toddler arrives and is also being a toddler.
• The two toddlers fight about everything.
• They kick each other, they pull each other's hair, they scream, they push, they knock over.  I lose my patience and shout.  I feel bad.
• Repeat the above scenario in your head until you're ready to pull out all your hair.
• I send the kids for nap and allow myself to sit here and cry rather than study.  Now, I feel guilty for giving in to tears (I'm not a crying type of gal).  Homework is left untouched.
• The boys wake up from their naps with just slightly smaller horns than they went down with.  I'm an emotional mess.
• My kids get home from school - and I warn them that I'm very grumpy - which makes me feel even worse because they're my kids and I shouldn't make them feel like they need to walk on egg shells.
• The chosen children go home and my mood doesn't change.

I need an emotional outlet but cannot find one.  

This is the reason that so many women are unhappy mothers!!  Everyone thinks they have to be happy go lucky all the time.  Reality is, sometimes, being a mom SUCKS.  I love my kids to death, but I really, really, REALLY need a "me" day.

That is all.

Oh how you frustrate me, let me count the ways...

So, school's back in.  I have 2 more chapters to read, 2 assignments to do and 1 quiz to finish -- which evidently brings out the crazy in my family! So, instead of logging onto my school's website, I am here -- sipping a cup of hot coffee and preparing to write about *insert suspenseful music here* my teen.

Apparently, I can't call him a teen for much longer...he's a whopping 6 weeks away from his 18th birthday, which in the province that I'm living in, magically turns him into an adult.

Here's the deal though -- he's frustrating, stubborn, foolish, inept, blind to reality and ... well...pretty much a normal teen.

Let me tell you the story -- He's always been....likable.  He's always found others to like.  When we lived overseas, this wasn't a problem as there was a boys school and a girls school (not to mention the fact that he was just 12...not a big deal)....then we come back to Canada and he goes to a school that's mixed *gasp* and he falls in love with every girl who bats her pretty little eyes at him.

No joke.  He LOVES them.  He doesn't think about anything else but them.

But -- I digress -- we make it (barely) through his junior high years and slip and slide through the high school years.  There have been arguments, there have been explosive arguments, there have been bags packed, there has been animosity and hurt and fear and emotional pain on all sides.  Whatever, it is what it is.

At the end of last school year (grade 11 for him) he was once again, IN LOVE.   This time, he was going to marry her.  All we heard about was her...and we just rolled our eyes and nodded our heads.  (I should note here that Islamically, we are not supposed to have boyfriends/girlfriends - rather if someone is interested they should make their intentions known and the couple can meet together within acceptable boundaries and move on from there if it seems to be a good match -- not going into that here, but needless to say, we tried to convince him that what he was doing wasn't "kosher" with us, so to speak)  Anyhow -- as we suspected the relationship fell apart -- but dear teenager was so upset that he punched a stop sign in frustration.

That's right -- she called it off, he punched a stop sign...and to be a little more accurate, the pole of the stop sign.

This brilliant move resulted in a broken hand.  He and his brilliant friends see the knuckles of his hands in places where they shouldn't be and decide to pull on his fingers to "put them back".

Picture from http://sivers.org/high-school which also has an interesting article

Yeah...you read that right.

So -- I get a call from him in the hospital explaining the whole situation.  *let's just insert a le sigh right here, please*

We get over it, he gets a cast (and a booking for impending surgery) and life goes on.  In his case, it goes on quickly - because he's now engaged to another girl.

That's right folks -- you read that right too...the plaster of his cast was barely dried (okay -- a little exaggeration there, but not my much) and he's ENGAGED to another girl...as in not the girl he got upset about and punched a sign over.  As in, a different girl entirely.  As in...WHAT???

But -- he loves her, and they're going to get married as soon as they've graduated high school (so about 9 more months now)....and get this "he's a man now and I need to face that fact." Yikes.

Any parents of teens out there??  Am I the only one who thinks this is just a little whacko??

Have a question? Read this??

If this doesn't answer it -- ask me -- but I think his message is fairly clear!  Thanks to Keahn for forwarding this on to me (the authors last name and place of work have been removed as I don't think he'd appreciate it being spread all over the net!)

Dear Campus Community,

Some campus members, understanding that I am a Muslim, out of their curiosity, are asking me some interesting questions such as: Are you a US Citizen? Do Muslims believe in Jesus? Does Allah mean God? What do you think about the Terrorists? Why Muslim Scholars living in the United States don’t denounce the terrorists publicly? What is your viewpoint on building the Mosque at Ground Zero?

Since this is an educational institution, I thought it would be good to share my answers with the campus community, not as a debate but as information.

Are you a US Citizen?
Yes, I am a US Citizen. I love this country and I am proud to be a US Citizen. I am grateful that I can call myself an American and still practice my religion freely and peacefully as I want. It is the genius of the founders and the brilliant words of the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution that have helped our country prosper. I have been in several countries in the past and believe this country is the best country to live in on Earth in terms of civility, values, and development. I always tell this to my children, who were born here, and tell them to appreciate the core American values.

Do Muslims believe in Jesus?
Yes, Muslims believe in Jesus as a great prophet and messenger of God, but not as the son of God. Christians and Muslims have more in common than most people think. The only two sources that talk about Jesus are the Bible followed by the Quran. Jesus is quoted more times than Muhammad in the Quran. According to the Islamic articles of faith, you are not a Muslim if you do not believe in Jesus and the Gospel. Muslims also believe that Jesus was born from a virgin birth by the Virgin Mary. Mary is mentioned several times in the Quran and is one of the highest and most respected women in Islam. Muslims believe in all the Old Testament and New Testament prophets. We believe in Adam, Abraham, Moses, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Jesus, etc. We also share much of the same stories of the Biblical tradition.

Does Allah mean God?
Yes, Allah is simply the Arabic word for God (the Only God). Allah is not God of the Muslims only. He is the God of all the creations and universe. He is the God of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, and all of his other prophets. There are many Christians that live in the Arab world and they also refer to God as Allah. If you open a Bible written in Arabic, you will see that the word for God is written as Allah. Christian priests in the Arab world always use the term Jesus son of Allah.

What do you think about the Terrorists?
I condemn terrorism and those who commit terror in the name of my religion! Islam is not connected to terrorism. Terrorists are not Muslims because their acts contradict the Quran’s foundational principles. The Quran emphasizes the hierarchy of sins. For example, in the eyes of God, murder is a greater sin then adultery. The terrorists commit the highest ranking sins that the Quran warns against. They kill innocent people and are involved in suicide attacks. The Quran states, for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity (5:32). It also states, And do not kill yourselves (nor kill one another). Surely, Allah is Most Merciful to you (4:29).

The Terrorists, killing innocent people, are evil individuals who should not be associated to any religion. Sometimes they are associating themselves to a religion but their actions totally contradict the principles for that religion. For example, Hitler with his horrible actions was associating himself to a religion and we all know that his evil actions totally contradicted the principles of that religion. Some of the Terrorists in Islamic countries, who are associating themselves with Muslims, misinterpret Quran or take texts out of the contents to achieve their objectives. You can find bad individuals in every religion, country, race, or ethnicity. It wouldn’t be correct to generalize the entire group for the actions of a few.

Associating the terrorists with 1.2 billion Muslims in reality is empowering the terrorists. It increases the resentments; boosts the morale of the terrorists; assists the terrorists’ propaganda; and makes the recruitment easier for the terrorists. As I have noticed, some politicians, a few radical religious leaders, and most of the media are associating the two more frequently who may have political objectives/agendas or short/long term gains/profits regardless of what harm their actions are causing to American people. They also are misinterpreting Quran and taking texts out of content to achieve their objectives. As we have noticed, they increase the fear and hatred among American people. According to some psychologist, fear takes away peoples’ enjoyment in life and hatred leads to violence or self destruction. Violence could be in the form of physical aggression, protests, discrimination, etc., and self destruction could be in the form of suicide, depression, and other psychological disorders.

Why Muslim Scholars living in the United States don’t denounce the Terrorists publicly?
The Muslim Scholars who I know do denounce terrorists and they should do more. As I have realized, most of the Muslim Scholars travel to their homeland countries making them more vulnerable to the terrorists. They don’t want to put their own lives and the lives of their relatives in danger. Terrorists are ruthless individuals with evil political objectives willing to kill anyone. Even I am careful in not crossing the line to put the lives of my relatives in danger who are currently in Afghanistan.

What is your viewpoint on building the Mosque at Ground Zero?
The Terrorists’ attack of 9-11 was an attack to all Americans including Muslim Americans. The protests and resistance against building a Mosque there is empowering the terrorists because their action is associating the terrorists to 1.2 billion Muslims. It seems that some of those politicians/religious leaders/ and media have achieved their objectives (as indicated earlier) in associating the two and in creating that level of hatred.

If I were in charge of the Muslim Community in New York, I would have changed the location of the mosque to prevent further conflicts. I also would have changed the location out of respect for the 9-11 victims who have been the victims of the terrorists and the victims of those other indicated groups.

In conclusion, I believe, the following will lead to the defeat of the terrorists in Islamic countries: segregating the terrorists from the Muslims and empowering the Islamic countries to denounce the terrorists themselves; understanding of Islam and building bridges with different faiths; and achieving a peaceful resolution between Israel and Palestine which will embrace peace and will stop terrorists’ propaganda as a recruitment tool.
Regards
Hamid XXXXX

I only have one bone of contention -- I don't think that moving the ground zero mosque will appease anyone. I don't think there'd be the same uproar if a church, temple or shrine were built there. I'm not going into a big political debate about it -- it's just my opinion.

Also -- one comment -- I think that the Muslim Scholars do denounce terrorism -- but it's not as newsworthy as the fear mongering that the media salivates over.

Spread Love, not hate

Sorry for the lack of recent updates lately -- first week of school and I'm barely keeping my head above water with all the reading and such that goes along with that -- more to come in a later post (as the topics I'm covering are very interesting)

Anyhow - just wanted to post a little video that I think is something important to watch (especially considering recent "news events")  I don't think there is any more to be said, so watch and ponder....and let me know what you think.

More thoughts on Dangerous Drivers

The other day , Edmonton Oiler's goalie Khabibulin was found guilty of DUI.  His sentence a mere 30 days in jail -- but like the many famous people before him, he's going to appeal and somehow get away with it.  My question is Why?  Why do we let the people that we "idolize" or are "great role-models" get away with crap like this.  The guy was DRUNK and decided to get behind the wheel and drive.  I say - Suck it up and suffer the consequences of your idiotic actions!  It's not as if the guy didn't have enough money, or someone who wasn't wasted out of their mind to drive.  Nope, he chose that path, let him accept the consequences along with it.

The thing is, I think that we are much too weak on drivers.  Remember a while back when I'd posted about the young man that was killed behind my house in a horrific accident.  I wasn't sure whether the driver had been texting when I first wrote that post, but it was later found not to be true according to her cell phone records.  I wonder what it was that she was so distracted by though.  There were NO brake marks.  The truck, with a big arrow on top of it warning drivers to change lanes, surrounded by pylons that the poor kid was picking up -- and there was no evidence that the driver attempted to stop.  How sad is that?

Wait, it gets worse -- she was sentenced a few months ago.  Wanna know the horrible penalty that she received?  A $2,000 fine and a 3 month driving suspension.   She killed a person because she was too distracted and that's her penalty? 

It just bothers me so much that things like this are seen as accidents.  That's horrible.  To me, and accident implies something that was destined...fate.  This, in my opinion, is not that type of situation.  Khabibulin, Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson, Lindsay Lohan -- these and many more famous people go around portraying this dangerous behaviour as something that's acceptable -- which it shouldn't be.  They all made a choice -- as much as that woman who hit that poor kid -- they made a choice to get into their cars rather than call for a cab, or, in the case of the "distracted" driver, pay attention.  You are driving a 3000 pound machine - YOU CAN KILL PEOPLE.

When will the rest of the world pay attention?  I can't be the only one who sees this!

It's time for an Eye Twitch post

It's been a long time since I've needed to do an Eye Twitch post -- I thought for sure I'd get at least one this summer, but I don't think I have.  Needless to say, the time has come.

It's the first day of school for my lovelies -- they were up at the crack of dawn (okay, at the buzzing of their alarms, but close enough) -- dressed and washed and combed and fed.  They were just a little excited to be getting back to school.  I'd gone and prepared all their stuff (labeling every pencil and such), helped them to lay out their clothes, went over the lunch menu, refreshed my memory for school-leaving-time -- but forgot to remind my daycare parents that I'd be leaving to the school.  Doh!

So, since my kids have gone into the school (at 830) right up until nap time (noon), I have been asked numerous questions...here are a few of my answers (if I can remember them all!)

• no, you can't go to school, you're only 2.
• no, you cannot play your DS, it's beautiful outside.
• no, you should not eat worms.
• no, that's not puke, it's a yogurt parfait! (thanks a lot)
• Yes, that will happen when you use too much toilet paper. (ugh)
• Yes, your brown dress is beautiful.
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, your glow-in-the-dark pants are beautiful.
• Yes, your brown dress is beautiful.
• no, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, I can read a book....once you put away the little people.
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, your brown dress is beautiful.
• No, I cannot read the book yet because you still didn't clean up the little people.
• Yes, that is a big booger!
• Yes, I wear panties.
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, your brown dress is beautiful.
• No, you cannot throw the toy drill across the room!
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, The Cat in the Hat is my favourite book!
• Hmm....I'm not sure if the Cat in the Hat is a good guy or a bad guy.  What do you think?
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• Yes, I think I'd let the Cat in the Hat come over to play, but only if he asked first.
• Yes, I can see your feet, but please take them off of the dinner table.
• No, you cannot play your DS.
• No, you cannot play your DS after lunch.
• No, you cannot play your DS at nap time, either.
• Sorry, you cannot have the toys with you on your nap cots.
• No, you cannot play your DS. (and I'm getting a little sick of answering this question)
• I know you don't "yuv" naps, but you're so tired, you're taking one anyhow.
• No...you ....cannot...ply...your...DS!!

It's now 12:43, the kids are all sleeping...time enough for me to do some deep breathing and prepare for the afternoon!

Hello Hollywood!

Well, okay, not Hollywood -- but I am going to be on TV!  I talked about it a while back, well, as much as I was allowed to -- but since the commercials are now airing, I think it's safe for me to talk about this whole thing.

My neighbor, and very good friend was a hoarder.  At first I thought she was just a busy mom with not much time on her hands and thus, her house wasn't perfect.  However, after a while, the Hoarding was obvious.  We (the large group of friends that she has) would try to help, but we soon realized that there is more to haording than just cleaning.  So, I went the distance and with her permission, I contacted A&E's Hoarders. Would you believe they contacted me?  They came up to Canada to help her out?

So -- it looks like Carolyn's Show is going to be airing on September 13th...Are you going to watch with me?