Blogtober 1th

Okay, it's October 1. Time to give in to the peer pressure from Keener Mom, and participate in the joy that is Blogtoberfest. 

I don't think it's a real thing. (Sound of googling) Okay, it's a real thing.

So yay, woohoo, let's begin.

It's 4:43 in the blessed a.m. and I've been up for about two hours. And I'm not happy about it. Been sleeping on the couch for a week and a half, as my mom's been visiting. Not complaining about that, mind you. It's been nice and it's over today. She's heading home.

I won't pretend I'm not happy to be getting my bed back, but I will miss mom. Sonwun and Sontoo like having her around and it's just been nice catching up, playing cribbage and just kinda hanging out. It's tough living so far from family, so it's nice to get together once in a while.

We capped off her visit last night with Christmas in September. Why? Why not? In the 12 years or so that we've been removed from family, Grammas and Grampas have faithfully sent gifts, but they rarely get to see the kids open them. Not fair. Part of the joy of giving, after all, is seeing the little faces light up when they tear through the paper and find "just what I always wanted."

While Gramma was out for her visit, she and Neomom took a trip to Winnipeg to do a little shopping and, rather than pay for shipping later, Gramma picked out Christmas presents for the boys. Then we decided she should see them open them. Thus, Christmas in September.

We cooked up a turkey, with all the trimmings and we feasted. I stuffed myself. Which is probably contributing to the insomnia.

Anyoo, gonna work my way into this Blogtoberfest slowly. So that's it's for today. Don't want to let all the magic happen on Day 1. 

Merry Boxing Day. And have a great Tuesday.

Playing with the new toy . . .

And so, first full day with the KitchenAid Pro 5 Plus. Loving it.

First recipe: Banana bread. Had a couple of over-ripe bananas kicking around, so what else can you do?

As has become my practice when cooking and baking, the first stop was allrecipes.com. Borrowed "Cathy's Banana Bread" recipe, as it had a 4.5-star rating. I never make anything with fewer than 4.5 stars. And I've never been disappointed with this site.

Now then, I did alter the recipe, just a touch, as is my custom. First off, I didn't measure the bananas. I just guessed and went with two. Should have been about right.

Second, I baked in a standard 9X5 loaf pan, rather than the two 7X3 pans in the recipe. I also used butter instead of margarine (everything's better with butter) and I cut the sugar down to one cup. I think I could have cut it even more, but we'll wait for next time.

Oh yeah, and as a result of the larger pan, the cook time went from 50 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. No problems.

But most importantly, I used a Sous Chef: Sonwun. This increased prep time just a little, but it was well worth it. I made him say "YES CHEF!" in response to every order given. I felt like Ramsay!

Anyhoo, long story short, banana bread was a success. The KitchenAid Pro 5 Plus was awesome, and I can't wait to make regular ol' bread. Sonwun, fetch my hat.

"YES CHEF!"

Christmas is coming . . .

**DISCLAIMER**
Not sure what font or type size will appear on this one. Blogger seems to have changed the way it does things since my last posting. We'll see.**

Well, another day begun. This at 4:30 a.m., with the loud proclamation from upstairs: "Daddy, I'm done peeing and pooping!"

And even though it is the sweet little voice of my three-year-old and it's a cute little sing-song sound that floats down the stairs, at this time, it hits my ears like a smoke detector on steroids.

But I am daddy, and I now must take care of the paperwork. And then I must utilize my best gentle daddy voice to try to soothe Sontoo back toward sleep. And I fail.

As I type this, I am listening to a discussion between Sonwun and Sontoo. Seems Sonwun wants to sleep and Sontoo, now fully awake, would like to offer up a personal opinion on his recent viewing of Thomas the Train: Steamies versus Diesels.

Diesels are bad! Just in case you were wondering.

Well, Christmas countdown is on. Seven days until Christmas Eve. Seven days of Sontoo asking if he can open the presents under the tree. Seven more days of Sonwun repeating, "I wish I had that," with every salvo from the myriad marketing departments fired down from satellites to our television set.

Six days to get a turkey, wrap up the shopping and settle in for a few days of rest and relaxation.

And in spite of the fact that Sears' Christmas Wish Book arrived in September, and we've been bombarded by Christmas movies, commercials and specials since late October, we have managed to save one or two things for Christmas Eve, and maybe Christmas Eve Eve.

The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, for example. And no, I'm not talking about the creepy, crappy 2000 version. I'm talking about the 1966 classic, that my brothers and sisters and I used to gather to watch the ONE OR TWO times it was on in maybe the week or so before Christmas. (Not 45 times starting in mid-November). So we're saving that one for Dec. 23 or 24.

I admit that, in the last week, we have watched Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman and Elf. Unfortunately my copy of Scrooged was on VHS. Must buy DVD, or Blu-ray.

We are also holding off on our trip to Island Park, here in Portage La Prairie. It's a new tradition, started last year when we loaded our pajama-clad crew into the mini-van and drove through a pretty impressive Christmas light display. The boys loved it and have been pushing for it for the last week or two.

Why wait?

Well, the weather's just not cooperating. We're experiencing and unusually snow-less December here. And to fully enjoy the Island Park experience, I need a blanket of the white stuff. Cross your fingers.

Anyhoo, that's all I've got this morning. Enjoy the season. And don't let anyone take the Happy out of your Happy Holidays.

It continues . . .

23 Days to Go . . .

It's amazing how much Christmas changes when you have kids. And it's amazing how it changes year to year as these kids grow.

I mean, when you first have the kids, they have no concept beyond staring at the pretty lights and loving the sound wrapping paper makes when they smack it. And yeah, that's kinda cool.

But before long, you're making supper and all you can hear from the living room is "Holy Cow Daddy, you have to see this." And then the inevitable follow-up, "I need that."

Yeah, the marketing is well underway. And it's aimed squarely at my kids and my Visa card.

So we'll do our best to ignore that for a while.

Sonwun has also received his annual video message from Santa. And he was very excited about that. This, again, is something that was not available when I was a kid. Hell, it wasn't even available five years ago, to the best of my knowledge. But clever marketing folks have once again enlisted the Jolly Old Elf to sell product and increase website traffic.

But, to be fair, it's pretty cool. Click here to see Santa's message to Sonwun. WAIT! I just tested this and apparently it takes you away from the blog. So . . . finish reading, and then go back and click there. Thanks!

Neomom has been busy decorating the new house and, as usual, has done a fantastic job. We just await the tree. And I'm not allowed to get it until about two weeks before the big day. Why? Because they only last about two weeks before they start throwing needles faster than a Vancouver methadone clinic. So I'll wait.

And yeah, Neomom has fed her Christmas addiction, once again, with the purchase of one or two of those battery-powered goofy, gimmicky season-based toys. Don't know how else to describe them.

But every year, while we're out Christmas shopping, we inevitably separate. But from a few aisles over, I'll hear a tinny, computer generated voice, or music and then I'll hear Neomom laughing her head off.

No exception this year. Kissing penguins. Cute the first few times, but quickly loses its charm on the 4 or 500th time you hear it, as the kids just can't leave it alone. But check it out and, if you'd like to see what I mean, play it 500 times.



And when you add this one to the 8 or so others, all making their noises, well . . .

Have a great Thursday.

It begins

Well, good morning. And a happy Last Day of November to ya!

The silly season is well under way. Black Friday, Cyber Monday . . . marketing madness and suckers lining up to take advantage of the "deals." Merry Christmas.

Here in Portage, it's cold and it's snowy. That's more my kinda Christmas vision. And last night after supper we loaded pajama-clad Sonwun and Sontoo into the mini van of joy and headed for Island Park to see the lights.

As this is our first Christmas here, we were anxious to see this spectacle, touted as "Manitoba's longest running drive through light show," and "a winner of numerous provincial and national tourism awards."

Well who could turn that down?

Now we made one mistake here. En route to the longest running drive-through light show, Neomom's attention was captured by a giant candycane. "Turn here," she ordered. And, against my better judgment, I did.

And one turn later, we found ourselves on a street apparently inhabited by distant Griswold relatives. Four or five houses, it seemed, were competing for the highest electric bill in Manitoba, perhaps beyond. But WOW! The displays were truly awesome and I regret not having my camera and tripod at hand. Maybe I'll sneak back one night this week when the wind is down.

Anyhoo, after that, the "winner of numerous provincial and national tourism awards" was nice, but it paled a little by comparison. Don't get me wrong, it was well done. But it was apparent that many of the light displays were from years gone by. Many were also new and spectacular and overall it was a good time for the boys.

One criticism for the operators of the Island of Lights . . . don't tell me to tune my radio to a certain station, in order to get the maximum effect, if that radio station doesn't come in worth a crap while I drive around the island. I mean, I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas loses a little of its charm when it keeps cutting out and being replaced by a radio station playing Highway to Hell. Just sayin'

That being said, if you've got young 'uns and you're in the neighbourhood, it's worth the five bucks. It took us about 20 minutes to drive through the Island of Lights and see all there was to see. And most of it was pretty good. But while you're here in Portage, you should also check out the Griswolds. They're in the Koko Platz neighbourhood. Can't remember the name of the street, but just drive around a while, follow the bright lights in the sky and you'll find them. And they're free!

Happy Tuesday everyone, and welcome to the Christmas season!

#119

Happy Hump Day!

Celebrate as you see fit.

So, I've been to Moo Moo Meadows and I've seen the Coconut Mall. Yes, we got a Wii and I've been racing my Mario Kart in to the wee hours. I don't sleep well when Neomom's away and this isn't helping.

She left Monday, and I was up until 2 a.m. Tuesday racing fellow Miis from around the globe. Kinda cool that I can play against people from Japan who, at 2 a.m., were probably playing at around 2 p.m. Must look that up.

Okay, so it's 5:41 a.m. here in Thompson right now, and it's 8:41 p.m. in Tokyo. So, let's see, at 2 a.m. here it would have been about 5 p.m. there. I was close.

Anyhoo, in Neomom's absence, I've removed the eyesore that was our Christmas tree. It was dropping needles at an alarming rate - literally a small pile overnight, every night. It had fulfilled its Christmas destiny and was ready for the bonfire.

I left the rest of the decorations in place, as I'm not quite ready for the Christmas season to end. Purolator arrived yesterday with the final gift for the boys - a little table with two chairs. It's kinda cool and I hope against hope the boys can enjoy it without battling over space. I doubt it, but you never know.

Neomom and I also received a gift membership to Zip.ca, a DVD-by-mail rental outfit that I didn't even know existed.

I've already created my zip list of movies I want to see and, apparently, the first two are in the mail. I'm told they come with postage-paid envelopes and, when I've seen them, I just mail them back and zip sends out the next two on my list, as available. It's kind of nice to have access to so many movies when you live in a place like Thompson. Yeah, we have a Blockbuster and a Rogers Plus, but they don't necessarily have all the movies I'm looking for. I'll let you know how this Zip.ca thing goes.

As for New Years, no plans as yet, beyond watching the Canada-U.S. World Junior hockey game and maybe racing through Koopa Cape on my Wii. I expect Neomom will be home by then, but there are not guarantees. She was hoping to be home last night, but I woke up alone, so I guess something came up.

Anyway, have a great Hump Day and, in case I don't blog in the next day or two, have a great New Year's Eve.

Celebrate as you see fit.

New Year ahead

Well, it's over.

The presents are all unwrapped, the tree is fading fast and there's a mountain of leftover turkey and trimmings in the refrigerator. Christmas 2009 is a memory.

Sonwun and Sontoo seem happy with their haul - and why not. They got more stuff than seems right. Sonwun was awake bright and early Christmas morning and stumbled down the stairs wide-eyed at the Christmas booty. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh," he kept repeating. I'm not even sure where he came up with that expression, as it's not one Neomom or I use. Maybe preschool.

At four years old, Sonwun is at the peak (I hope) of the unabashed greed phase of his existence. He is not yet able to filter or stifle his verbal expressions of desire for everything he sees on television commercials or everything he sees under a Christmas tree. "Is that mine?" "I wanted that." "Can I open that one?"

I realize it's just part of being his age. But still, it's a little disconcerting on Christmas morning to watch him rip open one present with his eye on three others under the tree. We like to take our time opening gifts and he was having none of it. As soon as he was done shredding paper and identifying one gift, he was rabidly seeking the next, or seeking what his younger brother was holding.

I know, I know. He's just being a four-year-old.

Sontoo, on the other hand, at almost-two, is still happy to play with the wrapping paper; still happy to get one thing and go sit in a corner and play with it for an hour. He'd have been happy just with the colourful boxes cast off by his older brother. That's a little easier to watch.

Anyway, we survived and the big dinner on Boxing Day went off without any major hitches. No turkey disasters (in fact, compliments received on juiciness of bird - yay!) no drunken stupidity, children were well behaved. It was pretty good. Special thanks to Mom to J & J for the mashed potato suggestion. Worked very well and made the big day a little less stressful.

The New Year is approaching fast and I will admit it's always been one of the tougher times in my life. I think I spend too much time pondering the year gone by and, maybe, not enough looking ahead.

I guess I figure at the beginning of a new year, I should be able to look back at the last 52 weeks and be able to say I've discovered something deep and meaningful about life. I should have a better handle on happiness; how to achieve it, maintain it and pass it on to my children.

I guess that's a lot to ask of a couple of days of soul-searching. But here's what I've come up with for this year.

Make friends. Be a friend. Work to maintain friendships. Friends are important, as Sonwun reminds me on a regular basis. He is starving for friends, for people his age to come to his house and play with him.

And I realize, so am I. One good friend, I think, is worth his or her weight in gold.

And good friends are not easy to come by when you're changing your address every few years; when you're changing your lifestyle. Over the last four years, I have entered the married with children phase and have moved about 800 kilometres. I need a friend, or friends, who understand. I'm a stay-at-home dad and, as such, I need a friend, or friends, who understand this. These are not easy people to find.

On the plus side, I have many "virtual friends," most of whom were once real-life friends. But time and geography has changed that. We'll talk on the phone once in a while, swap emails a few times a year. But we can't sit down together and watch a football game. We can't go out and grab a beer and play pool. We can't smack each other upside the head when it's needed. Only a true friend will tell you when you're being an asshole and I think we all need to hear that once in a while.

Anyway, I have now officially entered the second phase of my annual New Year review. I'm ready to smack myself upside the head and tell myself to stop wallowing in the negative. Find the positive, reinforce it and forge into the year ahead.

I guess I have something to learn from both of my boys. From Sontoo, relax and enjoy the pretty paper. It's all yours and it makes cool noises when you squeeze it. It can be a plane, a ball or a hat. Life is what you make it.

And from Sonwun, if you want something, ask for it, chase it, earn it, go get it. Don't whine about it. Life is full of new and interesting experiences, people and potential friends. Yeah, enjoy what you have, but never stop looking under the tree.

Happy Monday!

No pressure . . .

Okay, I admit it. I'm a little worried about our little Boxing Day Christmas party.

I have never cooked for this many people before. And I've certainly never cooked Christmas dinner for this many people. And I've most definitely never cooked Christmas dinner for this many people who are, to me, acquaintances.

This, my friends, is another part of the RCMP lifestyle. You get moved around to new and exciting places (like Thompson) and you get to meet new and exciting people. And, based on shared experiences and separation from family and friends, you tend to bond with the other RCMP folk.

Most of the RCMP families in Thompson are well separated from their families. It can feel a little lonely, especially around the holidays. So we get together. When we first arrived in Thompson, there was a party. At Thanksgiving, we had a great turkey dinner with some of the Ident families in Neomom's unit.

And now, at Christmas, it's our turn.

I've met everyone who's coming Saturday. Some of them once, some of them twice and a few as many as 10 times. They are all great people, but the added pressure comes from the fact that we've only known them for a few months. I mean, how will they react if the turkey explodes in the oven or I forget a major ingredient in the stuffing? Do we have enough chairs and table space? Can I get this all done while, at the same time, playing the gregarious host? Do we have enough ice, pop, food, booze, entertainment?

To be honest, I'm not even sure I can get a big enough turkey in our small oven, although I do have a labour-intensive back-up plan should the turkey conundrum present itself. We never sold the old oven from Gimli. It's in the garage and, if I run into trouble, I can always wrestle that bad boy down the basement stairs and plug it into the dryer outlet, right?

To top this off, Neomom is working evenings right now and will be working right up to Christmas Eve. Then she's on call Christmas Day. If she gets called out to something major . . . I could be doing this alone. And not just alone . . . alone with two kids.

Maybe I'll feel better after I go shopping today and get Mr. Turkey and the trimmings. Maybe not. There's still the cleaning to do, sometime in the next 48 hours, while taking care of the kids, getting Sonwun to swim class . . . and the house is a bit of a wreck right now. And if these were "old friends" I wouldn't worry so much about the house. With those people, if they dared bitch, I'd show them the vacuum and tell 'em to knock themselves out.

And I'm sure no one will bitch. I'm sure that everyone coming Saturday is as nice and relaxed as our old friends. It's just that we haven't had the time to really get to know each other yet, so that level of comfort has yet to develop.

Bah . . . in spite of the pressure, it will be nice to share the time with people in the same shoes we wear. My experience with the RCMP folk is that, for the most part, they are easy-going, fun-loving and not too judgmental when it comes to each other's homes and lifestyles. We all move around a lot. We all have to make new friends every few years. Most of us have been separated from old friends and family for a long time and are grateful to have someone with which to share holidays.

Wish me luck. I think I'm gonna need it.

Space Ranger discovered hiding in Basement

This Santa stuff isn't as easy as I thought it would be.

I'm not sure if Sonwun is actively seeking and snooping or if he just got lucky . . . twice. The little bugger located a stash (presents people, stay with me) in daddy's closet last week. All wrapped or boxed, so no major damage done. We moved the booty to a more secure undisclosed location.

But last night he discovered the unwrapped, but bagged, stash in the basement. That was the stuff that was supposed to go under the tree. And it was that discovery that makes me believe he was looking.

I mean, as he tells it, he just wandered into the laundry room, in the basement, into the furthest, darkest corner and innocently started poking at a green garbage bag. And lo and behold, Buzz Lightyear started talking to him. Coulda happened to anyone, right?

He went running straight upstairs to Sontoo's bedroom, where Neomom was putting the little one to bed, and told her Buzz was in the basement. She yelled from upstairs and I worked damage control. Told him he was dreaming, accused him of being drunk and offered him chocolate.

I didn't say I was good at damage control.

We kept him out of the basement for the rest of the night and, this morning, I moved the stash once again, to a more secure and undisclosed location. I then filled a new green garbage bag with, well, garbage, and put it in the basement for him to discover this morning. And if I catch him, we'll open it together just so he can see that Daddy was right - he was dreaming, or drunk, or high on chocolate.

Anyway, three more sleeps until the big day. And Neomom was right. We should not have put the tree up so early. I was wrong, she was right, I was wrong, she was right.

Every time someone walks near it now, you can hear the sound of an ever-increasing spruce needle avalanche falling on the presents below. I vacuum twice a day and still can't keep up. I'm pretty sure that by Boxing Day, when we're hosting the big dinner, that tree is gonna be a big stick with lights on it.

Oh well, if that's my biggest problem at Christmas, I'm doing okay. Neomom has to work evenings on Christmas Eve and is on call Christmas Day. Join me in knocking on a big ol' piece of wood and pray for peace on Earth so that we can enjoy the big day (and the cooking chores) together.

Happy Tuesday!

Date Night II

So, in spite of several roadblocks thrown into our path, Neomom and I made it out last night for our second date night since we arrived in Thompson.

Roadblocks seem to be a date night theme.

Anyway, yesterday morning, we were set. Babysitter was booked and we had tentative plans to call another couple to join us for a night out. Doing what? We weren't sure as there is not exactly an active nightlife in Thompson for those that aren't gang members.

Must look into membership.

So, at noon, we had planned to take the boys to the swimming pool here in town, to get them all nice and tired for the babysitter. And, as we were putting the boys jackets and mitts on, the phone rang. I foolishly answered it. It was Neomom's boss. There'd apparently been an assault on a reserve about an hour from here and she was needed. Ugh.

Neomom headed to get dressed while I undressed the boys and tried to explain to a very disappointed Sonwun that we were not going swimming. I then called and cancelled the babysitter, as odds were good Neomom would not be home until very late.

I then put the boys down for their naps.

An hour later, Neomom called from the office here in Thompson. Seems her services would not be required after all. Soo . . . we rebooked the babysitter and, after nap time, headed out to the swimming pool, where a good time was had by all.

And, to make a long story short, after supper (and after getting a very uncooperative Sontoo to sleep) Neomom and I headed out with no particular destination in mind. We grabbed ourselves a couple of Tim Horton's coffees and drove around to check out the Christmas lights. And there were some really nice displays on some of the houses here in town. Yeah, I should have taken the camera.

We finished the evening off at Boston Pizza watching football and hockey with a cold beer.

Upon arrival home, however, I made the mistake of sitting down to watch the Survivor finale - all three hours. We've been fans of the show since the first episode - sorry if that bothers you. Seems folks either love the show or think it's the dumbest waste of time on the planet.

Anyway, I won't waste too much of your time on the finale, other than to say that the majority of folks this particular jury were the most self-righteous, sore loser types I've ever seen.

Russell should have won. That coat-tailing, did-nothing-but-ride-the-wave blond did not deserve the million. But the wusses on the jury just couldn't get over themselves and the fact that they'd been outplayed, outwitted and outlasted by one of the best players in the history of the game. End of story.

Anyway, big week ahead. We've invited a bunch of Neomom's colleagues over for Boxing Day dinner. Shopping, cooking, cleaning ahead.

And if any of you have suggestions for things I can cook ahead of time, feel free to leave a recipe. I need to cook a big turkey and I have a small oven, which ain't gonna leave any room for side dishes in there. So, recipes for side dishes that can be cooked on the stove, or cooked in advance and nuked on the big day, would be appreciated.

Have a great Monday!

Christmas, Cold, Green Poop

I'll admit I'm suffering from a little writer's block, which is why I didn't fulfill my pledge to blog daily last week. And so, this morning, I decided to just sit down and write. I'm told that writer's write. We'll see where this goes.

It's Saturday and I find myself somewhat stumped yet again. It seems there's only one thing going on right now, and that's Christmas prep. We seem to have everything in order and the Christmas tree went up Thursday night without anything hilarious happening.

Sure, it's the ugliest little lopsided Charlie Brown Christmas tree we've ever had. But remember, it was free and I didn't have to order it six weeks in advance. And hey, with the lights and ornaments on it now . . . it looks like an ugly little lopsided tree with lights and ornaments.

In other news, three out of four of the occupants of this house seem to be fighting some sort of digestive bug. Things are not as solid as they usually are. That is causing some concern, but these things usually clear up on their own. Sonwun, however, after announcing his morning poop plans, headed upstairs and deposited something very green in the bowl. I'm talking cartoon green, bright green, electric lime green.

Experience has taught me to think back to what he ate in the last 24 hours. Blue icing on a birthday cake, for example, will often produce this kind of thing. But he didn't have any cake last night (I checked the fridge) and I have never seen this particular shade of green. It's practically glowing.

But he did have some grape pedialite (stuff for kids with diarrhea to restore electrolytic balance) and I suspect this is the result.

But this stuff was soooo green I was actually tempted to photograph it and make it today's picture. I don't think I'd even need a flash in the dark. But I'll spare you.

And finally, water's wet, the sky is blue and it's cold in Thompson, Manitoba in December. We're at a crisp -40C this morning, which, you might be interested to know, is where the Celsius and Fahrenheit scales meet. So it's also -40F. There is a windchill warning in effect as well, and we're currently sitting at -52C (-61.6F) with the windchill. So I think this will be an indoor kind of day for me and the boys.

So that's all I've got this morning. Have yourselves a great weekend!

17 Days to Go

Okay, been here in Thompson for about 4 months now and I'm still learning. And every now and again, I still get blown away by something . . .

Christmas trees. We are surrounded by them. For hundreds of miles in every direction there are spruce and pine trees of every flavour, shape and size. So, one would think that a Christmas tree is pretty easy to come by. I'd expect every parking lot and each mall would have a local service club hawking trees. Not so.

On Sunday, at the RCMP kids' Christmas party, I started asking when I would start to see trees for sale. The answer? Are you ready for it?

"Oh, you had to order one six weeks ago."

ORDER ONE?? Six weeks ago??? Are you freakin' kidding me? Where the hell do they come from?? Who is shipping them in, from where and, most importantly, WHY??? (One guy actually told me they are shipped in from Nova Scotia. While I have nothing against Nova Scotia trees . . . SERIOUSLY??? I think someone's yanking my chain on that one. But I do know that many, many folks ordered trees and that delivery does apparently take six weeks for them to arrive. Must find out more.)

I have so much to learn. Did I mention we are surrounded by hundreds of miles of bush in every direction?

I asked the obvious question, "Why don't people just head off to the bush and cut their own?"

Didn't get a reasonable answer beyond, "Well, if you do, just remember the shotgun and load slugs." Something about wolves and bears, blah, blah, blah.

So yesterday, shotgun and swede saw in hand, a buddy and I headed off into the bush.

Sure, it's a little Griswold, but I didn't load up the family in the Wagonqueen Family Truckster for the adventure. It was a little too cold for that. And I was warned about the local animal population and didn't want my kids to end up as hors d'oeuvres.

Apparently didn't have to worry about that last one. We saw some wolf tracks, but no wildlife dropped in to check out what we were up to.

Took us about 15 minutes to pick out two from the thousands and thousands and thousands of trees we saw in the first mile outside of town, cut 'em down, load 'em up and head home. And we weren't the only ones. I did see about six other shoppers out there searching for their free-range trees.

Now, free-range trees are not like the farm trees. They are not perfect. But they've lived a full, wonderful life, free from cages and constant trimming. They have not been force-fed Yuletide growth hormones (YGH) and they don't cost between $65 and $100. They are ready to fulfill their Christmas destiny and the relative sparseness of their branches makes it much easier to hang the ornaments and lights.

Yes, when it's -27, the trees are a little hard to cut, as they are frozen. But a little exercise ain't gonna kill me. At least it didn't yesterday.

And they are fresh. They haven't spent two weeks on a truck or in a lot somewhere, so they tend to last longer. In addition, this year's has some lovely, tiny, unopened pine cones which I know will start to make little popping sounds, and smell wonderful, once they begin to warm up in the house.

Anywhoo, that was yesterday. Today I must cut the eight-foot tree down to size and bring him inside. And then I must look into ordering snow for tobogganing. I hear it takes six weeks and is trucked in from BC. Apparently, what with the Olympics and all, there is a shortage in Canada this year. Order early.

17 days to go.

Happy Tuesday!

Oh, and here's Sonwun talking to Santa. He was very, very excited when the big guy arrived, but is still a little leery about face-to-face conversation. It was cute.

Weekend Update

Well Happy Monday!

It's a fresh -27C here this morning in the paradise that is Thompson, Manitoba. That, for my friends in the south (meaning almost everyone I know, but I'm referring to those in the U.S.) is -16.6F.

Oh, and when you factor in the wind, it feel like -35C (-31F).

Oh Timmy . . . it looks like we'll have a white Christmas after all! (Insert picture of smarmy, squeaky clean, pajama-clad children staring and smiling vacantly out the window, circa 1950-something.)

Anywhoo . . .

It's been a busy few days. And I'd like to blame that for the blog shortage . . . so I will. I will also blame it for the disjointed post this morning. Too many thoughts, too little time.

This weekend, we finally picked up some stuff for the rec room. Two couches, a chair and ottoman and a new TV. The TV we got on Thursday (LCD=WOW) and the furniture arrived Saturday. That meant a Friday night and Saturday morning of rushed cleaning, dusting and decorating to prepare for the new arrivals. It ain't exactly top of the line stuff, but it's soft and it's a place to sit.

And, it didn't fit down the stairs to the rec room.

So, with the help of The Brick delivery guys (thanks, really!), we moved all the living room stuff into the rec room and put the new rec room stuff in the living room. It all works out in the end and I will get to watch the Olympics next year in high definition - cool!

Yesterday, we celebrated Sonwun's fourth birthday. I can't believe it's been four years already.

Unfortunately, I think it was a little disappointing for him. We did our best, decorating the rec room Saturday night with about 25 balloons, streamers and stuff. But he was under the impression (not sure why) that all of his friends would be coming to celebrate with him. And by all his friends, he means people back in Gimli as well as family members who live some 2000+ kilometers away. He misses them and talks about all of them every now and again.

But we worked with what we had and he seemed to enjoy himself.

We had the added bonus of the RCMP kids' Christmas party yesterday. I wanted to tell him that it was his "real" birthday party and that even Santa came to celebrate it with him. But I didn't.

Following that, we headed out to Boston Pizza for his birthday dinner and then home to watch The Santa Clause and The Grinch before bed. Pretty good day all around.

Neomom has a few days off this week, but will be hitting the books downstairs in the office. With furniture in the rec room, we'll be closer and she'll feel a little less isolated as the boys can now play nearby.

Anyway, that's the weekend update. I once again pledge to try to keep this a daily thing, not only to keep my writing (or make my writing) sharp, but because it will keep my from getting nasty emails from my sister-in-law, who likes reading this first thing in the a.m.

Enjoy Cupcake!

Tried a flash-free shot and it almost worked. But got some nasty lens flare. Thought I'd post it anyway. Happy Birthday Sonwun!!

Suckered

Well, they got me. I got suckered into playing along with an internet scam. And yeah, I'm embarrassed.

Received an email a few days ago from a family member (who also got suckered apparently) about a missing boy from Ontario. Looked to be about 16 or so and the email included a plea from his mother for help to find the lost lad. It was a little sparse in the detail department, lacking info as to where he went missing, what he was doing at the time and what he was last seen wearing.

Nevertheless, the line that made me send it to a bunch of people in my address book was "If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get!!"

Yes, yes I would. I would want everyone to send it out in hopes of finding my lost boy.

And so I sent the damn thing off to 23 people all over North America, hoping to help out. For the record, I rarely forward things unless they are really freakin' funny or have really cool pictures. If I get one that threatens my good fortune or threatens my religious eternal destination, it goes straight in the trash.

It didn't take long for the responses to come back, most directing me to the Snopes web site that showed it to be a hoax. You can find it here.

I was embarrassed. I think the fact that I used to work in newspapers, as a reporter, made it worse for me. I didn't check facts, I didn't read it close enough to realize that next to no details were offered. Just a plea. A quick google of the name, Evan Tremblay, would have revealed the truth. But I didn't do it. I just forwarded the damn thing and perpetuated the scam.

Who does this crap and why? What possible pleasure is there in it?

Think positive, think positive . . .

Well, at least I got in touch with a couple of friends that I haven't heard from in a while. Several sent back emails to let me know I'd been scammed. They were kind enough not to include the words "dumb ass" in their replies, as this particular scam is already more than 2 years old. And, they asked how I was doing. I was able to update them on my life and get the same from them. Which is kinda cool.

A buddy from the Niagara area, who I haven't swapped emails with in probably at least a year, wrote back. He's got a new job he loves and things are going well. It was nice to hear from him. A friend of Neomom's in BC also wrote back to let me know of the hoax, and she hadn't swapped emails with him in a while.

So at least my public ignorance had some positive results. Oh, and if any of you reading this got an email from me about it, don't forward it . . . and sorry.

Anyway, it's Tuesday and it's December 1. YAHOO! Christmas month is here and I can officially switch my computer music over to the Christmas stuff. Actually, I did it yesterday and had a great time listening to my favourites. Everything from Frank Sinatra's Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and Burl Ives' Have a Holly Jolly Christmas to Ozzy's Winter Wonderland and The Ramones' Merry Christmas.

Love it all. And I love this season.

And this morning, I broke out the Christmas hats. Sonwun is thrilled!

Have a great day!