Freaking Taxes

I hate tax time, I really do. Not only do I realize just how poor I am but it also calls into play my very poor organizational skills. Most of my tax stuff arrived in January, however I waited until the beginning of March for my T-4 from the hospital. By the time that arrived, where was everything else?

It was not in the handy wee file folder entitled "Taxes" was it? No, of course not. That would be considered convienent.

I found two in the little metal tin where I keep months worth of bills, but I could not find the T-4 from my 5 week job in retail hell. I did eventually find it, in the yellow pages, only to discover that they only took $6.47 for income tax on $1600 earned. So any chances of getting anything back are now kaput.

I sent everything off to my mum who was going to get a friend to do my taxes. She was doing them online and required my pin number as well as my total from last year. Last year? That should be in a handy wee folder entitled "Prior Taxes" but was it? This is me, people, so of course it wasn't. I did find my pin number, which I placed on the kitchen table to give to my mother when I next saw her.

I never saw it again. I have no idea where it disappeared to.

So now someone else is going to do my taxes because I am not together enough to have everything I need and instead of being free it is now going to cost me to have this other person do my taxes.

And on the off chance I do get something back, it is all going to go to my student loan. That's $2700 in the last 3 years. And I still have $2800 to pay. Will it never end?

Tell me why....

Tell me why it is that a 10 year old boy can spend the entire evening with you and not say a word about what he needs for school and then when the bus is at the door suddenly says "Do you know where my recorder is?"

Why? Why couldn't he have said this last night when I specifically asked if everything was in his knapsack?

Children frustrate me. Have I said that before?

Tomorrow will bring me peace.

Don't get me wrong here. I love my kids. It's just that sometimes I need to get away from them before madness descends and my head explodes.

I am going away, as I wrote 8 days ago now.

I'm not leaving forever, though the way I have been feeling lately, sometimes forever would not be long enough. Liam is currently in my bad books for losing his new coat yesterday, a coat I spent a fortune on. Taylor is in my bad books for throwing a fit at her friends and then for getting mad at me because of it. Liam is currently earning his way out of disgrace by offering to clean the garage. He's a good boy, that one. Mind you, he will expect payment. Taylor is out looking for our neighbour's dog. She's a good one too, though I rarely say it. So maybe they aren't it my bad books anymore, but I still need this weekend away.

My stamping stuff arrived today, so I will be doing the birth announcements, plus I am going to do a scrapbook layout of Saoirse at the zoo.

Or I might do bugger all, an option that is looking exceedingly more appealing by the moment. The thing is I don't have a single book that I haven't read, though I did see yesterday that Marian Keyes has a new one out. Do I really want to spend $35 on a hardcover though? I'm hesitant. There's a Cathy Kelly I haven't read yet, perhaps I'll get her. Looks like there's a trip to Chapters in my near future.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend, I will be back on Sunday possibly with some crafts done, a book read, and in a slighty saner frame of mind.

***UPDATE: The bloody Marian Keyes book isn't available here until May. In the good news department however, it will only be $22.99. Now it's been a long time since I worked in book retail hell, but are hardcovers getting cheaper? Paperbacks surely aren't. $12.99 these days, that's what you paid for a trade paperback in 1991. Feck, I'm old.

How do you assure the safety of 331 children?

Yesterday, a Grade 2 girl was sexually assaulted in the bathroom of her downtown school. (For those of you outside of North America, that would make her 7, possibly 8.)

It is believed that a man entered the school while the doors were briefly left open during recess, hid in a bathroom and assaulted the girl when she went, alone, to the washroom.

This has made national news, which is somewhat unusual. The same thing happened in a Toronto school in 2002 and now there is a province wide initative in Ontario to provide funding funding for all schools that want extra security. I do not know that this would happen in Alberta.

Today I received a letter home from Taylor's school, but not Liam's, in regard to this matter and how the Catholic School Board will be handling it. Will that be different than the Public board, which is what the school involved is? I very much doubt it.

Last year our school brought in a policy where all doors except for the front door are locked. This pissed off many parents who questioned how little kids would make it to the front door if they needed the bathroom. The doors were then left open during recess and lunch, which appears to be exactly what the school in question was doing.

So how do you guarantee safety for over 300 children? The reason they started locking doors last year was because there was an elderly man on the school fields approaching students, my son included. A few parents demanded fences around the perimeter of the field, with locked gates. This was an impossiblity as the majority of our grounds actually belong to the city and with soccer posts and baseballs diamonds, you can not deny the community access. As a parent, I was opposed to the idea of chain link fences. I felt more supervision was the way to go, it does seem to lack at times but I suppose teachers are entitled to breaks!

The letter that was sent home today states that "in response to this incident, all doors at our school, including the front door, will remain locked during the day until further notice." It goes on to say that we will be informed of any new details or additional security measures.

I am glad they sent the letter home so quickly, their response last year was slow at best. I am sad though to see that we live in a world where a school can not have an open door policy.

Much Music's VJ Search

Sadly, my plea for bloggers to vote for Nathalie seems to have fallen on deaf ears and only a few people actually did so. At least only a few of you told me you did. I also asked people I know and apparently I just don't know enough people. Most just said "What? What's a VJ?" Hmmm...maybe the people I know are just too old.

Tim, who was the last person eliminated, was the one that fans voted back on. It is now up to the fans to chose the winner.

So who do I vote for? Here's a rundown of the final four.


Nikki. The only female who remains, she certainly knows her music. But does she know anyone else's music?

Tim. The one who was voted back in. He's alright, but comes across as somewhat dense. How many times can one say 'like' in a sentence. He's not a 15 year old girl. Has an extensive knowledge of music.

Sean. He's a riot. I am not sure that I could listen to him throughout a show, as I am a voice person and his grates on me, but then so does Tim with his likes and Erik with his loudness. If he wins he would be Much's first openly gay VJ.

Erik. He's not half bad to look at, which is a plus on TV. But he looks an awful lot like someone I had a brief relationship with that ended very badly. Lesson learned- one should never sleep with their best friend. I can not vote for him for purely superficial reasons. Oh, and he's a cocky wee fuck.


I think I am probably going to vote for Sean, he makes me laugh and he does a great interview. So if you feel like adding to Sean's fortunes, vote for him here. Or vote for someone else, whatever works for you.

The coming of spring

I do realize that spring has already officially been here for 2 weeks. It's just that we had such a lovely winter and then at the end of February we were hit by snow and cold temperatures. There was a snowstorm the weekend before spring arrived, which made it very unspring like. However, the snow is almost all melted which has led to flooded sidewalks behind Taylor's school, which is the path I use to get most everywhere including the mall, work and my mum's house. That is the story every spring and I just can't get used to it. Nor do I enjoy the soaking wet shoes and socks.

There are a few other things about spring that I am not fond of including, but not limited too, the following:
-a messy entry way. No matter what, dead grass and dirt find their way in so that I am constanly sweeping and mopping. Thank God for the Swifter Wet Jet, which does a quick, if not very thorough, job.
-wet shoes. Due to the aforementioned flooded sidewalks plus kids that are drawn to every puddle they see, and are apparently too old and much too cool for rubber boots.
-dirty clothes. With wet sidewalks and patches of grass comes dirty cuffs on pants and along with my very uncoordinated daughter comes alot of wet arses. Does she sit in puddles? In the spring my budget for Spray'n'Wash increases threefold.
-dog shite. My most hated feature of spring. Due to the fact that people seem unwilling to walk in 3 feet of snow through the field they walk their dogs on the sidewalk, which I am quite alright with. What I am not alright with is not pooper- scoopering. Come spring that shite that has been long dry melts along with the snow into a diarrhea-like mess in the middle of the sidewalk. Yuck.

What I love about spring.
-Capris, capris, capris. What will I do when these pants go out of style? Taylor and I wear them all spring long. I wear them all summer too, because I hate my legs in shorts. Saoirse has a few pairs in Australia with her, and I bought her the cutest denim pair at Old Navy for when she gets home.
-the fact that the kids are outdoors. Although both Taylor and Liam are very slim, I do worry that one day they may not be. It is good to have them outside everyday rollerblading, riding bikes and playing road hockey. They hardly watch any T.V. come spring.
-shoes. Are the shoes not a thousand times better in the spring and summer than they are in the winter? I have a small shoe obsession and will be sure to buy a few pairs for the girls and myself. Liam could care less and William could care even less. I do however have an issue with men in sandals. It just does not work for me at all. Have I said before that I have a thing against feet. I really do. To the point that I can not buy a magazine if it has someone's bare feet on it. Exception to babies who have the cutest feet.

Although it looks as though there are more cons on my list, once we get past the first few wet weeks I absolutely love spring. I am even inspired to clean out my garage tomorrow because it is going to be a beautiful sunny day. Plus my friend Candy needs to use my freezer and I have to give her walking space. I can't expect her to jump over all the piles of crap I have thrown in there through the winter months can I? What sort of friend would I be? She could break her leg and sue me.

Two international bands play the Junos, both win record of the year...Conspiracy? I'm thinking so.

I missed the first hour of the Junos yesterday, and in doing so I missed the good hour of it. The second hour was pretty boring, with the exception of Michael Buble winning his fourth award of the weekend.

Yes, the weekend. I don't get that about the Junos...some of the biggest awards are given the night before. I understand having an event for stuff like best designed album cover, or sound engineering because what does your average fan care about those? But to give Group of the Year at a non-televised event makes absolutely no sense to me.

Things I Missed:
Bedouin Soundclash performing "When the Night Feels My Song", which I absolutely love.
Coldplay playing a Canadian awards show. Just what is this world coming to?
Nickelback. Not a big fan, but I do love "Photograph" and I bet that's what they played.

I did catch Hedley, with former Canadian Idol contestent Jakob making an absolute ass out of himself. And what did he do to his hand?
I also saw Michael Buble sing Home. He's a sexy wee bugger.
I had the misfortune of watching Black Eyed Peas, when I would have much prefered Coldplay.
Taylor was thrilled to see Simple Plan win the fans choice award but mighty disappointed that Pierre was not there to accept it. I would have loved Simple Plan when I was a teenager, I would have said that their lyrics pretty well described average teenage angst and parental misunderstanding.
If I were a man without a sex life I probably would have been quite thrilled at the sight of Pam Anderson's nipple. I am not a man, though, and I wasn't.

Coldplay and Black Eyed Peas both won for International Album of the Year. They say it's based on record sales and it very well may be but do you really think either band would have performed if they hadn't already known they were going to win an award? Maybe Black Eyed Peas would have, since they did play the Grey Cup but I doubt that Coldplay would have. They can go on about loving Canada all they want, but I don't buy it for a moment. If they loved Canada they would have played more than just three Canadian cities on their North American tour. Bitter? I am.

I also had a phone call immediately after Bryan Adams was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, asking me if he was gay. I only caught the tail end of his speech, so I don't know what made this person think that. And honestly, I have never thought about Bryan Adams sexuality. Maybe he is. Either way, he has managed to keep his personal life personal and I admire that.

This was also the first year that the Junos were broadcast around the world on MTV and VH1, so if you happened to catch it, you might be suprised to know that the lead singer from Heldley is straight. Never would have guessed it would ya have?

2 months down, less than one to go

2 months ago today Saoirse and William left for Australia. It has been the longest 2 months of my life. They will be home in a little under a month, on the 30th.

I worry that she will be shy with me. She won't talk to me on the phone, she always starts crying. Which breaks my heart, yet her father insists on giving it a go. I am prepared for the fact that she might not want me to hold her, and I know that once we have her home all will be fine. Well, back to normal anyway, where she cried if she was left with me. Oh yes, Saoirse is the ultimate Daddy's girl. The last picture of her and I together, taken the day she left, is one where she is sitting on my lap, but she is crying and has her arms held out to the picture taker, who just happens to be her dad.

Missing three months of a toddler's life means you have missed out on a lot. So many new things that she can do. She now says a host of new words, which will all be new to me. She walks backwards, and when her diaper is changed she flips over onto her tummy so William can give her bum a wee smack (!). She likes to be chased and at the park she climbs up the slide so she can slide down, by herself, she wants no help. Her fringe is now going into her eyes, and her hair curls over her ears. William asked me if I wanted him to take her for a haircut or wait until they are back. I asked him to wait for to reasons, one that I want to be there and two, that he will not take the right pictures of this momentous event. I have some lovely first haircut stickers for a scrapbooking page.

I look forward to having them home, to getting ready to move house, and having this new baby. It'll be a busy few months.

Good God, it was spotless for a moment

My daughter's bedroom is clean. Mummy clean. Because Mummy cleaned it. For 2 solid days. I cleaned and I threw away 3 of those big black garbage bags of, well, garbage plus a huge recycling bag of paper and cardboard and other junk that my daughter manages to squirrel away into corners. I moved her bed away from the wall as there was a tiny hole which is now gigantic due to her kicking it during her sleep. I moved her dresser into the corner and took out a desk with a bookcase on it.

And it's clean! At least it was. I went in there tonight and there were a few stuffed animals on the floor, plus a few more in the ceiling. Apparently she is decorating. So we'll see what happens tomorrow after school when she is due to give her room its daily 10 minute cleaning. If she can manage that, it might actually stay clean.

*I say the room is Mummy clean because that is a healthy spot right in the middle between Taylor clean (a demolition area) and Nanny clean (not only spotlessly clean, but with no personal effects either.)

I'm happy with it anyway. I may even take a few pictures to catch this moment in time.

Apparently I will never leave Canada

I have a slightly small problem. I have to renew my passport, as it well past expired but I cannot find my birth certificate. I am pretty sure it is somewhere in my garage, but finding it could take years as my garage is a catch all place for every piece of junk (and probably a few important documents) I own. I suppose I should just phone and order a new one, but you know what will happen then don't you? The moment that $22 or so is put on to the Visa, I will find the original.

Because I carry a British passport I also need to order a new Canadian citizenship card, which is highway robbery at $75. $75 for a piece of laminated paper. Insane. If I do not have this card, it is entirely possible that Immigration Canada may not let me back into the country. Which I said is fine with me, as long as they pay for my flight back to where ever I came from.

I had thought that maybe I would just order a Canadian passport instead, as it is slightly cheaper than ordering a British one, but it turns out that I still need that fecking card to prove I am actually a citizen.

So it looks like I will be staying put as actually doing anything to get a passport requires effort on my part. Here's hoping William and I don't have to move because I would really have to get my shit together.

I wonder what I would have been like had I not been late?

Your Birthdate: December 16

You're incredibly introverted and introspective. You live inside your head. You spend a lot of alone time meditating and thinking. People see you as withdrawn, and at times they are right. You are caring and deep, but it may be difficult for you to show this side of yourself. Your strength: Your original approach to thinking Your weakness: You tend to shy away from others Your power color: Pale blue Your power symbol: Wavy line Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Authentic? Somehow I doubt it

I suppose it's a good thing I am not native as my authentic Indian name is Eileen Quirky Buffalo. Now I am not opposed to the name Eileen, but it is not a name I would choose for myself. Quirky's quite alright, nothing against quirky whatsoever. No my problem is with the Buffalo. A great big, ungainly, ugly animal.

Thanks to Joe over at Assorted Nonsense for adding some amusement to my day, I had a great laugh at Taylor's name and the soon to be baby's.

9 Days and Counting

Is it just a tad pathetic to be excited about a weekend away? It might be, but I could care less at the moment because I AM GOING AWAY!!!!!!!!!! No children fighting, no housework for 3 solid days, no telephone that is contantly ringing.

A break, a complete and total break. I might even get some stuff done. I am trying to decide what I should do. Should I sort pictures, scrapbook Saoirse's holiday to Australia or make my birth announcement cards? I am probably leaning towards making cards, as I placed an order with Stampin'Up for all the things I need and it should arrive the day before we leave. If it fails to show, I will scrap Saoirse's holiday.

The last time I went to this place, Goldeye, was when I was 3 weeks pregnant with Saoirse. The next one was scheduled for the week before Saoirse's arrival, and I did not go to it because a)William had only just arrived and b) my friend Shelley said she could not handle it if I went into labour. Even though she is an ICN nurse and attends all deliveries. Wimp.

So it's been over 2 years and in that 2 years I have done very little, only a handful of scrapbook pages. Disgraceful really, judging by the amount of money I spend on materials. It will be nice to actually do something.

Or will I? The last time I managed to do a fair bit of organizing, with alot of chatting in between. There are 23 of us going, 2 of whom I know very well and about 6 or 7 I am aquainted with, mostly through Shelley. I invited my friend Nancy from school, who is worried she will know no one (except for Shelley, who she knows through hockey.) Nancy though could talk to a wall and get conversation from it, so she will do fine. It is me that always has a sense of dread, as I am not a talker and really am quite uncomfortable around people I don't know. It always works out though, and I always have a great time.

And I may actually get things done and be able to justify the thousand or so dollars spent on stamps and accessories in the last year.

VOTE FOR NATHALIE

I have been watching a show I vowed not to watch, Much Music's VJ Search. I got suckered in however, because I know one of the contestants. She is a mother of one Liam's classmates, a girl who was at his previous school from Grade 2 and is now in this Academic Support program with him. She was also one of my Brownies last year (the girl of course, not the mother.)

Nathalie is the same person on TV as she is in reality, very nice and friendly and always with a huge smile on her face.

She was however the second one of the final 10 to be voted off, and has since been hanging out in the Loser Loft. It was down to the final three yesterday, and not one was eliminated and they brought 6 of the 7 that had been kicked off back for one of them to be voted back on to the show.

So I am asking a bunch of people who will never ever have watched this show, not have a fig of an interest, to vote for Nathalie. (I mean, really, Toronto vs, Edmonton...where would you rather live?) You have until midnight Eastern Time on Thursday.

Get voting.

****Cannae believe I forgot to put in the link. Vote for Nathalie!***

The top 100 books for kids

Chapters has put out a list of the top books for kids as chosen by irewards members. In our house we have 79 of the top 100, some that belonged to me as a child and most that have been purchased since Taylor was a baby. Working in a book store definitely had its benefits, the shite pay not being one of them.

Included in this list are only 12 books by Canadian authors. At number 4 is Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. This book freaks me out, frankly. Rocking a teenage boy in your arms? Weird. Rocking your elderly mother in your arms, almost as weird. I suppose I should look past that and just appreciate the meaning of the book, but sorry I can't.

My all time favourite Canadian book is on this list, Pierre Berton's The Secret World of Og. I don't know why this book is not in this house, but it isn't. Who knows what ever happened to my childhood copy. Taylor took it out of the library yesterday, though I suppose she is probably a bit too old for it now. Did anyone ever watch the cartoon as a child? It used to be on as a Saturday morning special on ABC. I watched it everytime and never grew tired of it. It wasn't until years later that I found out that og meant young. Sneaky of old Pierre there, using Irish to trick all us North Americans.

What I don't like about this list is that some picks are given over to series, such as the number one choice, the Chronicles of Narnia and number 41 The Baby-sitters Club, which is probably over 100 books by now. Yet Laura Ingalls Wilder is on there for both Little House on the Prairie and Little House in the Big Woods, which is essentially a series. So why not do one or the other? Surely not everyone thinks Claudia and the Phantom Phone Calls is in the top 100. I don't think a single Baby sitters club book should be in there, it's much like putting in Sweet Valley High, books that I read but certainly wouldn't consider worthwhile literature.

Anyway, it's an interesting list, there's a suprising amount of poetry on it. Take a gander at it, if you happen to be bored senseless. If you're smarter than I am you may be able to pull up the actual list, all I could get was what they have in stock so it looks as though Kristy's Great Idea is the number one book.Those babysitters would take over the world if they could.