From Halloween's Past

Here are some photos from prior year's Halloween costumes.

Last year (2008) Patrick was an ape and wanted to try on my hat.

Patrick was an ape in 2007 and had a great time at his group Halloween party.

This was Patrick's 1st Halloween - a cute little cow. He also got to attend his 1st Halloween Party - aren't his little friends cute?!

Now for some older ones.

This year was hilarious. After we gave out the goodies to the kids (and there were maybe 20 kids that year since the neighbourhood didn't have alot of houses...and it was chilly), we drove to my parents to show GJA's costume to them. We didn't park in front of the house so we could 'trick or treat' at their house for fun. GJA went up by himself to the door and I hid back holding his coat. He came walking back saying that my father had come to the door and gave him candy...ha ha. Dad opened the door and said...you're a big one...GJA responded with...I'm also a cold one...Dad laughed and that was that. HA HA!
So we both went back and I started screaming from the end of the walk way...HALLOWEEN APPLES. Dad didn't look at our faces and started giving us candy...I started laughing and said...hello. What a hoot!


I think he has more costumes hidden in the basement...I don't ask.

Here's some really old ones. The Raggedy Anne one is from Jr High. The Spanish one was in the mid 90's when I worked at Price Waterhouse. Everyone thought that I had a wig on...but I didn't, it was all my hair....I was under 100 lbs and I thought I was fat....those were the days.

This last costume reminds me about that particular Halloween hall party they had a limbo dance. I was standing near where they were going under the stick. Several of my friends were standing facing where they were coming under the stick. One lady there was dressed as a mermaid (not someone who should have been squeezed into that costume...whatever) and she started under the stick. Part way through, I'm looking at my friends and at the very same time, they all looked confused and then said "eewww" as they turned their faces away. Apparently this woman was commando and they had a flash-back to the "Basic Instinct" scene (except, of course, she wasn't Sharon Stone). Every Halloween since that night, I remember their faces...ha ha ha!

There are probably more photos at my parent's place - my brother had great costumes....I should look for them.

Just say ... NO !

Back before we had PJ, I remember a lady at work telling me that if I ever had kids, that I should never volunteer for coordinating the class scrapbook (assemble a school year's worth of photos into albums for each kid) OR for coordinating the Book Fair.


I went one day to purchase some books for PJ for Christmas. One of the Moms in PJ's class organized the Book Fair this year and she was there when I went to get books. She was angry because none of the people on the parent advisory committee volunteered (she's a member) AND alot of the moms were cancelling from coming to volunteer because their kids had the flu - so she'd been there working for 2 days straight. Thankfully, I had already signed up to volunteer, so I wasn't getting any of her anger - just got to hear about it.

Apparently the president of the parent group found out about how long she'd worked, so they all ended up taking some shifts so she wouldn't have to be there again until they had to clean up.

So...if you are ever thinking of volunteering to organize the book-fair for your kid's school - say NO ... unless you know alot of people at the school you can trust to come and help you out.

Playing at McDonald's Play Place

My parents have taken PJ to McDonald's Play Place alot when they baby sat him when we were in Toronto. For quite a long time, he wasn't interested in the play place itself because he wasn't very good at climbing. He had a great time escaping the place and running into the washrooms or trying to get into the cooking area and laughing as my parents chase him around.

Now he will actually play on the apparatus. Lately we've been taking him on Mondays (he has no school on Monday) and he has a great time in there. He finally found the steeper (longer) slide, with the help of some slightly bigger girls that gave him a boost up to the top level. This week, however, there wasn't anyone to help him out. There were a ton of kids, but none of them understood what he wanted...and he would sit there waiting for someone to help him (although, I guess there was one boy that understood and helped him twice before he left). As kids would approach him, he'd get all excited and point to where he wanted to go...but they didn't know what he wanted and they just wanted to play. He sat there quite a long time, often trying to heave himself up to the top, with no luck...poor thing...breaks your heart that he can't communicate with the other kids and he wants to play, but can't.

Once a bunch of kids cleared out (or started eating), I climbed up and showed him where to put his foot so that he could heave himself up. It took about 3 trips, and he knew how to do it on his own - then he was having a great time joining in with the other kids having fun on the big slide!

I've been in the McDonald's play place apparatus - have you?

Flu Shots

I was always against flu shots because I had heard that once you start taking them, you have to continue because your body can't manage through flu season on its own without the shot. I was (and am) annoyed that they usually guess the wrong strain to put in the dosage, so you end up with whatever is going around anyway.

I had my 1st flu shot once PJ arrived, mainly because I don't want him to get sick because there's nothing more annoying than a sick kid. They are helpless and you are dealing with all the bodily secretions and lack of sleep etc...so best to just have them avoid being sick. PJ, however, is severely allergic to eggs, so he can't have any of these flu shot things. That makes it more important for us to have them so that we limit the chances of bringing home the flu to him to catch since he can't have anything to help him not get it.

I had my normal flu shot on Monday and my arm is still sore today. My mother's arm started aching within 5 minutes of having it...my aching didn't start until later that day. We are still currently waiting for the Swine Flu shot. This H1N1 thing is worrisome too...mainly because PJ can't get the immunization for it and it seems to be attacking kids.

Christmas cards

I'm in the middle of making Christmas cards and noticed that I had some photos of cards I made a few years ago. Fairly basic - but that's about all the imagination this accountant can muster.

They lasted since summer 1998

My glasses, that I loved so much, are finally toast. I kind of wish they toasted over a year ago when I spent $1500 to get new lens (since PJ BROKE the lens), but what are you to do.

These glasses have been to Australia, Phoenix, Disneyland, Mexico, Hawaii, Toronto, Vancouver, Kelowna, and Victoria.

Since my lenses are so expensive, I didn't want to just use the prescription from last year, so I had to wait until Tuesday to get into my opthamologist. I had a surprise - my eyesight got a little better. After all these years of my eyes getting progressively worse (I think one eye is -9 and the other is like -11), I'm not sure I believe that they are getting better. Apparently when you get OLDER your eyes relax and it makes you see better....then...I'm supposed to be excited when I can have cataracts removed because then my eyesight will be much better - something to look forward to when I'm 70?

I found some frames too - so that's good. I hope I didn't just settle on the 1st glasses I liked (I did try on about 5 pairs). They should be ready in a couple of weeks. Famous last words ha ha...read on....Dare I believe they are here post

Hibernation

Why is it that as soon as there is snow, I want to hibernate? All I want is to get the fireplace going, drink lots of hot chocolate & lounge around knitting...that's about it.

Its crazy this year because, although we went from +34C to -10C in a couple of days, its really not that cold yet...in fact, the couple of inches of snow we do have, should melt when (IF) we hit +20 on the weekend...but I still want to hibernate.

Every year, I ask the same thing...how will I survive another winter.

Battle of the Blades - week 2

Darn - one of my favorites got knocked out already... the charity he was skating for was is in Edmonton, so its too bad he didn't get further along in the competition.




I hope everyone had a chance to watch the show.