26 Days to Go . . .

Happy Monday!

Twenty-six days until Christmas and I'm officially allowing myself to get excited about it. There is little to be excited about here in Thompson, so I think I have to grab on to whatever's available and really run with it.

I think it started for me a week or two ago. Walking through the mall, and watching the drunks sway to Burl Ives' Holly Jolly Christmas, really put me in the Thompson Christmas mood. So much more festive than the drunks swaying to the regular musak.

So . . . must locate and pull out the Christmas decorations from the basement. Oohh, and that reminds me, the advent calendar my sister gave me a few years back. Must get to the store and find little things to put in there today. December 1 is tomorrow!

And, Sonwun's birthday is on December 6. Must get cake stuff to make birthday cake. Must also get presents for birthday and Christmas. So much fun stuff to do!

Neomom and I will not be getting presents for each other this year, again. It has become a bit of a tradition to get something for the house instead.

This year, maybe it will be a new cooktop, as the one we have now is crapping out. Or, it may be a new clothes dryer, as the the one we have now is crapping out . . . oh the fun we'll have Christmas morning drying clothes! Third option is couch and TV for the rec room. We'll just have to wait and see what becomes most urgent.

Anyway, in spite of the Christmas tasks, a regular new week begins today. Neomom's got the afternoon shift (1-9) so she'll be here in the mornings this week, which is nice. But she's got a crap load of studying to do, so she'll be downstairs in her little office the whole time, which is not nice. Oh well, only another 10 months of this and then things will, hopefully, settle down to a normally hectic pace.

Slept in a little this morning, so I must keep it short today and, sorry, I didn't do my photo of the day.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Twitterpated

"Dad, can my girlfriend come over to my house to visit me."

Ummm . . .

Observing the social development of an almost-4-year-old is wonderful, scary, interesting and hilarious. Some of it I'm prepared for and some of it catches me completely off guard.

"Don't stick the knife in the electrical outlet." I was ready for that one. "Eat your vegetables." Again, ready and willing. Even "The cat doesn't like it when you sit on his head and pull his whiskers." I knew it was coming.

But a girlfriend? A few weeks back, Sonwun had his first little crush at playgroup. She was a redhead and he was twitterpated (see Bambi). He followed her all over the gym for two hours, but, ultimately, was rejected.

He apparently recovered quickly from his first little heart-break. At playgroup yesterday, he had moved on to a new girl and she apparently found him equally charming. I watched as the two of them spent most of the two hours together, playing the in bouncy house, playing hide and seek, playing tag and, yes, even holding hands at one point. Wasn't ready for that.

I mean, we haven't even had "the talk" yet. You know, about girls having cooties and whatnot.

But, to be honest, it was adorable to watch. And when, near the end of playgroup, he asked if she could come over to his house, I was truly taken aback and mumbled something like "if her mommy says it's okay." Apparently she never asked mommy, because they left a short time later with no playdate set.

A second incident, which may or may not have been related to the twitterpation, also caught me off guard Friday. And to understand this one, you have to have watched preschoolers at play for some time.

I've seen this a couple of times and assume it is part of the "reindeer games" that little boys play; butting heads and, in their own little way, trying to earn the alpha male title. Although I'm pretty sure they have no idea what they're doing or why.

It goes like this: One little boy will walk or crawl slowly toward another. Sometimes he's growling and sometimes he just has a mean look on his face. The goal is, apparently, intimidation. And if the second boy shows fear, it only emboldens the growler who will repeat the process at every opportunity for his own amusement.

Well, I was watching Sonwun and some of the older boys playing in the bouncy house yesterday when this little rite played out. I watched as one boy, who was bigger and apparently older than Sonwun, started the slow walk toward another child about the same age. I could see the fear in the second boy's face. Sonwun was watching as well and he didn't like it. So he threw a flying tackle at the aggressor and took him out and into the wall of the bouncy house. The bigger kid backed off.

Now, again, I wasn't ready for this. Officially, I suppose, I was required to step in and have a little talk with Sonwun about aggressive behaviour and so forth. But I didn't. And I didn't because I was proud of him. I think he did the right thing.

If he'd done this to a smaller kid, I probably would have talked to him about it. But the kid was bigger, and was being a bully. If Sonwun had gone in throwing punches, kicking or biting I probably would have talked to him. But he didn't. If he'd followed the tackle with his own brand of bullying, intimidation or an extra shot, he would have required a talk. But he didn't. I think he played it just about perfectly.

To my credit, I didn't high-five him either. I just let it go and said nothing.

And although, in the back of my mind I have to wonder, just a little, if he was out to impress "the girlfriend," I just don't believe that to be the case. The look on his face and the action just seemed to indicate he didn't like what was happening and wanted to put a stop to it. And he did, and that was the end of it. All three boys resumed play, no one got hurt and Sonwun's street cred went up a few notches.

This type of thing is one I have struggled with. I want my boys to be kind and gentle (within reason for boys) but at the same time, I don't want them to think they can't defend themselves or, in this case, step in when they believe someone else is in trouble.

It's a fine line and it's one that I know Sonwun is not yet capable of negotiating. So, for now, I'll keep watching and make my decisions incident by incident.

This time, I think he, and I, made the right call.

Get Up, Dress Up, Show Up

I feel like crap today.

I've been fighting some kind of cold thing for about a week and it feels like I'm now losing the battle.

Yesterday was a busy one. Second flu shot for Sontoo at 8 a.m. And I don't mean to complain (or maybe I do) but if you advertise a flu shot clinic beginning at 8 a.m., I think all of your people should be there by 7:30 setting up. That way, when your clients arrive at 8 a.m., you're ready. You're not trying to figure out the damn computer program or how to fill out the paperwork. Those giving the shots are seated and ready to go, not sitting there, filling syringes while the line of crusty toddlers gets longer and longer.

This clinic was for the second dose of the H1N1 vaccine. And that means all of the clients were between the ages of six months and three years. These are not patient patients. And odds are they brought along a parent and at least one sibling who was not old enough for school. That's a lot of impatient children and frustrated parents in a very small room, all anxious to get this over and done with.

I'm not saying anyone had to come in early, or that the Health System had to pay any overtime. I'm just saying, be ready. If that means starting at 8:30 instead of 8, so be it.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much, as we were out of there within an hour and 10 minutes. I know elsewhere in the country, people were waiting hours and hours for their shots. But I'm just saying that, with a little better organization and pre-planning, it could have gone a lot smoother.

Oh, and a quick note to some of the parents. Remember that little card they gave you at the first dose clinic? The one they told you to bring to the second clinic? The one with the date of the first dose, the child's birthdate and Manitoba Health number? BRING IT TO THE SECOND CLINIC YOU MORONS. That way I don't have to stand there for 10 minutes while you figure out when, exactly, your kids got their first shot and if that is at least 21 days ago. And I won't have to stand there for another 10 while you dig through your frickin' purse for the Manitoba Health cards.

There, that one's for the clinic workers who, I'm sure, had to put up with more than their share of impatient parents and screaming children. Must have been a rough day. But if you'd prepared a little better . . . just saying.

Anyway, after a quick stop at Tim Horton's for Daddy's cup of joy, we were off to playgroup. That went well. I'm getting to know more of the moms and am actually getting in on some of the non-breast-related conversations. Picked up a few Christmas shopping tips from those that have lived on this isolated iceberg for a few years. It was nice.

So, with my head clogged to capacity, we headed home for lunch and nap time. That's when I found the email from Neomom. She'd been called north to a crime scene and would not be home for lunch, and probably supper, possibly bed time. Ugh.

Oh well, got the boys fed and off to bed for their naps. I needed to sleep, but was afraid to. Sonwun's swimming lessons were at 4 and I had to be sure I wouldn't sleep through. So I stayed up.

Swimming lessons went well and, after phoning home and finding no one there yet, the boys and I stopped at McDonalds to pick up a couple of Happy Meals, as Daddy did not feel like cooking a damn thing. I did, this time, opt for the apples over the french fries and milk over coke. I know, it ain't Father of the Year material, but it's slightly better than the alternatives.

I managed to get them fed and to bed before taking my Tylenol night time sinus medication and passing out on the couch. Neomom woke me up and some point, there was some conversation and then I went to bed. I don't remember much of it as I was half asleep and in a well-medicated daze.

As I mentioned earlier, I still feel like crap today. But the refrigerator is empty and that means I must go shopping with the boys this morning. My challenge is to find a way to make it appealing, somehow, for Sonwun. He hates grocery shopping and the feeling, if left unattended, can be contagious.

Yesterday I received an email from my mother-in-law listing 44 life lessons, compiled by an 80-something-year-old woman. Some smarmy, but most really good stuff. Today, I must remember #36: "Your children get only one childhood," and #42: "No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up."

Have a great day!

This morning, a self-portait. Getting the blog done is step one

in the get up, dress up and show up plan.

One Day at a Time

You know, sometimes, like this morning, I am blown away by the world in which my boys will grow up.

As I sit down with my 5 a.m. coffee, I see that a guy in my Grade 3 class, about 35 years ago, is a big fan of Bob Dylan, the Romantics and music in general. I see that a girl I went to school with in Grade 3 recently celebrated her 20th wedding anniversary.

My sister in British Columbia is home from Vancouver where she enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Dockside Brewery on Granville Island. My brother and his wife in the Niagara Region apparently have a new dog.

Two friends from our last RCMP posting, in Gimli, Manitoba are enjoying a trip to Disney Land, and another from the same posting now lives in Fort Providence, Northwest Territories, but wishes he was in Regina celebrating the Stampeders' win.

A friend from high school also recently celebrated his 20th wedding anniversary, another is living in the Grand Caymans and still another is suffering from pet allergies.

My sister-in-law, in Toronto, loves to sing karaoke, and I can listen to her sing in my kitchen in Thompson.

My nephew from Kansas has moved to Colorado and my niece in Niagara celebrated her 19th birthday at "The Pepper."

I'm not sure if that's the same Red Hot Chili Pepper where my friends and I, about 20 years ago, used to hang out in downtown St. Catharines, Ontario.

I don't know, because I haven't spoken to any of them. I'm just checking Facebook to find out what's going on in their lives.

About 25 years ago, when I was graduating high school, none of this existed. The internet was in its infancy, accessible by only a knowledgeable few. The latest video technology was the amazing VHS tape. And cell phones did not exist, at least not on the same scale. Apparently, today, they are a mandatory accessory for everyone over the age of 10.

Neomom is not a fan of computers. They are a necessary evil in her world, but she'd prefer to study in a library and write by hand.

I like computers and the internet. To me, it's an amazing tool, but at the same time, an amazing danger. It has opened up the world to my living room— the entire world; the good, the bad and, yes, the ugly.

My challenge, one of many in raising two boys, is to stay on top of this technology because, to them, it will simply be a fact of life. And, given that I started my family a little later in life, I know that I'm behind the eight ball right off the hop.

I own a cell phone but rarely use it. I don't know what, exactly 3G means or how useful it is. I own a DVD player, but not a Blue Ray. I don't own a plasma or LCD TV. And I don't understand texting. Why not just call?

But I must do my best to understand it all, so that I can introduce my boys to this world in an intelligent, positive, tempered way. It's good stuff, but it's not all good stuff. So much of it seems designed to part the fool and his money. So much of the stuff that was free when I was a child— television and radio to name two— can or must be paid for monthly, along with a cell phone and access to a video gaming network.

I don't know where the world will be in eight to 10 years when my boys will really start to "need" the technology. But I know that I must do my best to keep up and work to instill basic life lessons that I hope will guide them into whatever lies ahead.

When shopping for a new house, I start in the basement. If it has a solid foundation, I will overlook minor imperfections elsewhere. And I think the same applies to kids. I need to provide the tools for them to build a solid foundation upon which to base their life decisions. There will be mistakes— minor imperfections— but as long as they have the foundation to fall back on, I must trust that they'll be okay.

Wow, now my head is really swimming. Time to step back, take a deep breath. Sure, I have to keep an eye on the future, but live in the present. There's so much good stuff to enjoy with the boys right now and plenty of life lessons to be taught, each one a brick in what I hope will one day be a very solid foundation.

As Abraham Lincoln said, "The best thing about the future is that it comes only one day at a time."

Or, from Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, "Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present."

(And yes, I found those on the internet.)

Some things seem timeless. Sontoo and his truck. I had a truck when I was young too.

His has lights and sound. Mine did not.

Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

Happy Tuesday!

A light snow fell last night, leaving about an inch on the ground and giving my world a nice, clean look. It's refreshing and it makes the Christmas lights on the house seem that much brighter.

This post, according to my stats keeper, is my 100th since I started keeping track on August 16th. Woohoo!

And in honour of this achievement, I thought I'd share the latest stats with you. I've mentioned before that watching the statistics has become a bit of an addiction. I'm fascinated to see where my readers are located, how often they visit, how they found me and how long they stay. I'd be even more fascinated to know why they read this, but my stats program can't tell me that one.

In any case . . . In my 3+ months of blogging, the site has had 1,129 visits. The average visitor read 1.94 pages and spent two minutes and 18 seconds doing it.

I've had visitors from 5 continents, 16 countries and 153 cities around the world. That blows my mind just a little bit. I will attempt to insert a map below. Hopefully it works. Each dot represents a city in which one of my visitors (or their internet service provider) lives. It also shows the top 10 cities from which my visitors come.

The most exotic, and surprising, visits came from India, Libya, Greece, Singapore, Sweden, Pakistan, Belgium, Iceland, Ireland, Finland, Brazil and Vietnam.

But, I must be honest. Most of those visits were, I believe, in error. These folks were looking for something else on the Internet and stumbled upon my site. Most bounced out without reading anything. However, my friend from Ireland hung out for a minute and read two pages. My friend from Brazil came back 9 times, but didn't read much, my friend from Greece read two pages and even left a comment and, finally, the one in Sweden hung out for eight and a half minutes and read four pages. Cool!

Another one of my favourite stats is the "keywords" used in google searches that found my site. Among my favourite searches are:

Trophy Husband costume

Tickling His Feet

Baby in Bathroom Blogspot

Liberal Morons

No Vaccines, Just Body Bags

Characteristics of a Trophy Husband

Crazy Swim Parents

How's Your Tummy

J Cloth

Kiwi and Diaper Rash

Wife Control Issues

and, finally, my all-time favourite . . .

Husband Not Putting Out

I have no idea how or why that last one led to my blog. I always put out.

Anyway, my clan is waking up and needs attention. So I must get to it.

Thank you all for visiting my blog. As I've said before, I write to keep myself amused and to keep my writing skills alive. And I am honoured that you all find it amusing enough to visit now and again.

Have a great day!

De-Clutter Day

Happy Monday!

Well, yesterday was de-clutter day in the Robinson home. With mom at work and the kids in a relatively good mood, I planned to pick up all that crap that gets misplaced around the house and put it in its proper place.

It's things like the extension cord on the kitchen counter. It was taken out of the basement for a very good reason, but it never made it back.

It's the socks and underwear (clean) on the buffet in the dining room. That's where I fold laundry, and these items are always the last to make it to the drawers, as I'm waiting for the next load of laundry in the dryer before I take them upstairs.

It's the paid bills on the desk that need to go in the filing cabinet and the mittens and hats that have been dumped by the back door instead of in the little drawers provided for that purpose. All that and so much more.

And it's the six boxes of Christmas lights on the kitchen counter. We bought them Friday and they'd been sitting there ever since. So that's where I started.

Putting them away didn't make much sense. Putting them up, while a pain in the butt, made more sense. And so I did.

It's a particularly large pain in the butt in a new home. When you've lived somewhere for a while, you've put them up before. You know where they go, you know how to hang them, you know of some minor improvements you wanted to make over last year's display.

The new house is a blank canvas, with no hooks, no wires left over from last year. And so I gathered my tools and all of the ladders, screws, wires, hooks and nails I thought I might need for the hanging and I set to work.

Between running inside to the basement for this, or that, and running inside to break up toy disputes between the boys, and running to Canadian Tire for more lights, the job took about four hours- my entire allotment of "extra" time.

But I think it looks nice. The photos I provided don't do them justice, as I am discovering I'm more than a little rusty in my night photography.

In any case, it's Monday - de-clutter the house day in the Robinson home. And now, in addition to the stuff listed above, I must include the work gloves on the kitchen counter, the light hangers on the kitchen island, two more extension cords in the living room and a great big mess in the basement, where I was digging to find some of the tools, cords, nails and wire that had been buried since we moved in.

Happy Monday!

Oh, and the picture at the top was kind of boring. Didn't do my work justice.

So I embellished, just a little below. Enjoy!

Five Things that Make me Smile

Breakfast with the boys (almost) always makes me smile . . .

Okay, in honour of the weekend, such as it is, I've decided to try to keep track of things that make me smile during the week, and things that make me, well, smile less and post them on Saturday or Sunday.

So, with just the right amount of adieu,

Things that make me Smile:

1. Wake-up time with Sontoo. No matter how much he's squawking, I can count on a smile the moment I open his door and turn on the light. He's just so happy to start the day. And I just love his morning routine. If he's standing in his crib when I open the door, he'll smile and then he'll do a bum drop, which is to say he jumps up, puts his legs straight out in front of him and lands on his little tushy. He then gathers his three gramma blankets, and hugs them while I take him from the crib to the change table. I'll miss that when it ends.

2. In a similar vein, my morning hug from Sonwun. When he wakes up, usually at about 6 a.m., I am downstairs either writing my blog entry or checking up on my other on-line activities. He, without fail, thumps down the stairs, enters the kitchen, says "Good Morning Daddy," and gives me my hug. Great way to start the day!

3. The smell of fresh ground coffee. Once you get a grinder, you'll never go back to the pre-ground stuff. The smell, the taste, the kick - oh joy!

4. Trying something new and succeeding. This week it was home-made bread. I always thought that this was one of those things that was extremely difficult and best left to seasoned stay-at-home moms and dads. It was so much easier than I thought and it tasted soooo good. Sonwun loved it and even ate the crust!

5. The sound of my boys playing together. It's not something I hear often, as they are usually fighting over a toy or blanket. But when they are doing something downstairs that is making them both laugh, I can't help but smile.

Things that make me smile a little less . . .

1. People who think the drug store is a casino. I don't know why, but they always seem to end up in front of me at the check-out. I am buying one thing and, with two kids in tow, am anxious to complete my transaction before one or both of them are arrested for shoplifting. The senior in front of me, however, must have their 50 weekly lottery tickets and scratch tickets individually checked. Then they must get their cash and then they must pore over their options for new tickets this week. Drives me up a freakin' wall, especially here in Thompson where there is rarely more than one clerk at the check-out.

2. The big purple dinosaur and his minions. I can't stand this show and have banned it from my home. The combination of the dopey-sounding dinosaur and his ever-smiling Stepford children co-stars just leaves me cold. And hey, a note to the writers, when you want the big purple goof to give an example of "rhyming," maybe "fiddle and diddle" are not your best options. Seriously, give your head a shake. The show creeps me out enough without adding that to the mix.

3. Whining. Especially whining for an extended period of time. Daddy has things to do during the day and can not, and will not, carry you around while I'm doing them. Sorry, not logistically possible. I love my boys with all my heart, but the sound of them whining when I'm tired and folding laundry, or making supper, is like nails on a chalkboard.

4. The moron who thought it was funny to attack our snowman. You know, that was a fun, family project. It was placed outside of the living room window so that we could look at it all winter long. You ruined that and you pissed me off. Here's hoping we get the chance to build another before the real cold sets in. Oh, and I know that temperatures that hovered around zero in the days leading up to your attack made the snowman into a pretty solid chunk of ice. I hope it hurt, you little shit.

5. Discipline. I hate it. No matter what method we choose, it's just no fun. Something as simple as "no dessert if you don't clean your plate," sucks. This week, Sonwun and I worked together to make a carrot cake - his favourite. At supper, however, he refused to finish, or even make a real effort at his taco salad. As such, the cake remained in the fridge, untouched. I hate that. The fact that we made the cake together, with supper last night in mind, made it that much worse. I was really looking forward to seeing him enjoy the fruits of our labour. I know it's a necessary and critical part of parenting. But it's never fun.

But hey, let's end with a smile . . .

Random Thoughts

Well Happy Friday.

Unfortunately, today is more like Monday for me. After one day off, Neomom starts a seven-day stretch at work today. Ugh.

On the plus side, it would appear Sonwun, Sontoo and I are all just about fully recovered from the sinus festivities that have plagued the house for the last week. A humidifier seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back. We put it in Sontoo's room Wednesday night and have kept it going full bore since. And, in that time, Sontoo has not had a 3 a.m. wake-up call, I have not had a sore throat in the morning and Sonwun is coughing less.

Blah, blah, blah . . . boooring.

Truth is, nothing is pissing me off this morning and nothing particularly amusing happened yesterday. I'm a little stuck for a topic. As such, I offer the following random thoughts and information.

1. In Thompson, Manitoba today, right now, (6 a.m.) the temperature is -3C (26.6F) and we're headed for a high of +3C (37.4F). It's probably a good day to tackle the outdoor Christmas lights, before it gets too cold. I write this to make all of you "down south" feel better about your weather.

2. Sontoo, at just over 21 months of age, is starting to put together two-word sentences. He came up with the first one I recognized on Wednesday. "Kowa peas."

To those not familiar with his language skills, this means "Dear Father, provider of meatloaf and changer of dirty diapers, I am feeling artistic and would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to place me in my high chair and provide me with paper and a marker so that I may express myself."

The short version, of course, is "Colour please."

3. The children's television network Nickelodeon was recently added to the Bell channel lineup. It's kind of like Treehouse, but it has commercials. Not a fan. When Sonwun watches Dora, Diego or Magic School bus, he is bombarded with Christmas toy commercials and, every five minutes or so, I have to hear "Daddy, you have to see this. It's soooo cool! I need that."

Back to Treehouse for us. Or better still, time to turn off the boob tube. It's on too much anyway.

4. Neomom and I watched the new Star Trek movie last night. I'm no movie critic, so I'll just say we both enjoyed it. She wanted to see Zachary Quinto in the role of Spock, as she's a big fan of the television show Heroes. To be honest, I thought he was a little "mushy" in comparison to the actors that played Bones, Scotty and Kirk. They were excellent. Overall though, I loved the movie and recommend it, even if you're not a Trekky.

5. Next week should be interesting as Sonwun's full winter schedule kicks in. Monday is swimming lessons, Tuesday is preschool, Wednesday is playgroup and swimming lessons, Thursday is preschool and Friday is playgroup. Sontoo just likes to get out of the house and ride around in the van, so it's all good.

6. And finally, as I am offering up a rather boring post today, I'll redirect you to something more interesting. This site is written by a guy who answers internet classified ads and then messes with the advertiser's mind. I thought it was kinda funny and kinda twisted. Great way to start the weekend. Anyway, you can find the site by clicking here. Enjoy and have yourselves a great weekend!

Oh, and here is a picture of Sontoo, playing with Mr. Potato Head's glasses:

Over the Counter or Under Lock and Key

Found a new thing to be irritated about. It's okay, I write better when I'm irritated.

So, woke up yesterday morning and, according to my get-the-head-straight regimen, managed a shower and a shave. Left the nose hairs alone. I like the shaggy, one-day's-growth look.

Managed to get the boys fed and the kitchen cleaned by 9 a.m. Yay me!

Now I should point out that the three of us are feeling a little like crap. It's a sinus thing and it really hits at night. During the day, when we're all vertical, the sinuses drain a little better. But at night, when we're horizontal, they fill up and we all end up breathing the dry air through our mouths, giving us sore throats. And thus, we are all a tad crusty.

Nevertheless, we were short on milk and fruit yesterday, necessitating a trip to the grocery store. These voyages, at the best of times, test my patience. Sontoo's generally okay, as he gets to ride the cart. Sonwun, the elder, must walk.

Now then, the carts at Safeway require a 25-cent deposit to separate the one you want from the chain-bound herd. And, once separated, the connection chain hangs down from the handle about 5 inches. This chain is, apparently, the best, most coveted toy in the world.

And I say this based solely upon Sonwun and Sontoo's constant fight for it. Sontoo plays with it from his perch and Sonwun wants to hold on to it while we walk through the aisles. And they both can't get what they want. Thus, I must weigh the irritation value of Sonwun's whining against Sontoo's wailing.

And yes, this was going on yesterday. But that's not what really ticked me off.

Part of the reason for the trip, in addition to bread, milk and all that, was some much needed Extra Strength Tylenol Sinus for Daddy. I get the Day and Night pack because I want that extra kick to help me sleep at night. And I don't need the kick during the day when I need to chase the boys.

Anyway, it wasn't in the regular aisles, so I headed for the pharmacy aisles.

Now before we go any further, I've got to tell you something about Manitoba. It may be just a northern Manitoba thing, but in Thompson I've found that, at Safeway and at Walmart, a lot of the over-the-counter stuff is locked up, or behind the pharmacist's counter. Anything from Listerine and sleep aids to electric razors and cough medicine.

Now I always assumed this was an anti-theft thing. But I was wrong, at least when it came to the Extra Strength Tylenol sinus medication.

It was 9:45 when I arrived at the Safeway pharmacy aisle. I could see the Tylenol in the locked cabinet. I could see the pharmacist behind the glass getting ready to start her day. So I walked over and asked, can I get some of this sinus medication?

"No," she replied. "Sorry, but we can't open the cabinets until 10 a.m.

"Seriously??" I asked.

"Yes, it's the law," she replied. "We could lose our licence."

I have never been denied access to over-the-counter medication in my life. Over-the-counter, in my mind, and in my dictionary, means "by ordinary retail purchase, with no need for a prescription or licence."

Apparently, at Safeway in Thompson, Manitoba, there is a different meaning.

"Is this a Manitoba thing," I asked.

"Yes, it is," she replied. "You'll have to wait until 10."

Well, with two snotty, irritated children competing vigorously for a five-inch piece of chain, I wasn't about to stand around for 15 minutes. That is a very long time for sick and sleep-deprived children to do anything. And an equally long time for a stuffed-up and irritated father to put up with it.

So I didn't get my medication until last night, after mommy got home and I could make the trip to the drug store alone.

But the good news is that I slept fairly well last night. And I suppose the reason, in addition to my sinus medication, is the fact that Sontoo made it through the night without waking as well. So hopefully, that is a sign he is feeling better. Either way, we have a doctor's appointment for both boys today, just to make sure there's nothing to worry about. And I could go on about the health care system in Thompson, Manitoba, but that's a rant for another day.

Happy Thursday.

And here's today's photo: Boy Meets World Wide Web.