Okay, so I get it.

There are any number of close friends and family members who delight in pointing out that I am getting on in years.  I usually accredit that to jealousy or ignorance.  However, life does have a way of smacking you in the face with the fact that one is not as young as one once was!

When I truly take stock of myself, I find I am seriously wearing out.  I have one knee replaced and the other will have to be sooner or later.  I have arthritis in a variety of joints.  The twinges and muscle spasms and general aches and pains ping and pong throughout my body - somedays worse - somedays better - never gone. My blood pressure is high, and it has NOTHING to do with all the salt and animal fat that make up the base of my food pyramid. I can no longer remember a 7 digit phone number long enough to go from the phone book to dial it so that when I make a call I look like I am watching the final at Wimbledon - phone book - dial - phone book - dial - phone book - dial.  No wonder I am so annoyed with the person who answers the phone when I misdial - its a lot of work to redial!!! (Another sign of aging is referring to the number pad as a dial)

But, the worst insult of all is the failing eyesight.  A lot of it is working with computer so much.  I am squinting at it 7.5 hours a workday and when not at work I surf and blog way more than is healthy for me. But, my optometrist, a man who is annoying beyond measure - please see previous blog regarding getting new lenses in my glasses in downtown Regina - kindly pointed out that the ability to focus diminishes with aging.  Focus you buddy, I am not aging.

Alas, circumstance forces me to recognize the sorry truth.  The big element on my ceramic cooktop stove burned out.  I am big on solving my problems over the Internet so I googled "ceramic cooktop burner burned out" and literally hundreds of thousands of websites popped up to help me.  And each and every one of them required a Model Number or a Serial Number before they could help me.  I knew I was in trouble, but forged ahead anyway.  "Need help finding your model number" the red link asked.  I clicked on it to find a picture of a stove with a number of places where the model number may be located.  Was mine located inside the oven door, behind the stove near the top, or on the side of the stove?  No, sadly not.  Mine was located on the "lower left leg behind the utility drawer". 

With my knee replacement, crouching down is a strict no-no.  Kneeling on it is pretty painful.  Getting down onto the floor can be negotiated, but getting back up is so close to impossible I avoid getting down.  I overcame this, though, only to find once I was down there, the Model number blurred and swam before me.  I took my glasses off.  No help.  Was that a C or a G, that could be a B or maybe an 8? Could there really be that many numbers and letters in one Model?  I needed a magnifying glass.  I got up, I won't go into the details but it was far from pretty.  I hunted and searched and cursed and found the magnifying glass at last.  Now, I was so traumatized by getting up the first time, there was no way I could get down on the floor again.  So I bent over and put the glass to the Model number.  Yes, yes it did help.  However, now I had to bend my head at a 90 degree angle.  This made my eyes blur.  But, that was a B not an 8.  But, now I am getting kind of sick and dizzy from staring through this magnifying glass so long.  WTF, I would simply call an appliance repairman. 

So, I called an excellent repairman, highly recommended, who returned my call quickly.  He would be happy to fix it.  I just needed to give him the Model number.

/bye

A dress for Princess Kaida

Our little Kaida turned three in May, but she is 3 going on 13, or maybe even 33.  She comes from a family of very casual, sport sock, sweat pants, t-shirt people - on both sides.  Now we all have our moments of looking divine, but with Kaida, it is her mission in life.  She is a DIVA.  And, she needed a BEEEOUUTIFUL dress for Christmas.

Kaida's interpretation of beeouutiful is generally tempered by her Mother and Dad's common sense, but she only lets them go so far until she is stepping it up a notch in the glam department.  And there are some battles that are more worth fighting than others.  So, it was with this attitude that Holly, Kaida and I went in search of THE dress for Christmas.

Holly's first stop, without Kaida and I, was a complete bust.  Nothing at WalMart. Off to Zeller's then. To Kaida's credit her first choice was a really sweet little red velveteen dress, with sleeves and a collar.  None in her size.  She begged and pleaded and bargained with her Mom, but Holly had no choice but to drag Kaida away from that little dress because it was too small.

Next stop, the Cornwall centre.  The Children's Place.  The heat cranked to tropical, the aisles crammed with teetering piles of clothes and packed to the rafters with adults and kids all on the same mission as we were.  To find nice duds for Christmas.  We found a few prospects and a dressing room. But, alas, size was but one of the issues.  Too big, too small, not enough bling, had long sleeves, wasn't a dress, made out of material that didn't meet Kaida's standards, and on and on.  Remember, she's THREE.  However, if she didn't like it in the store, her mother was going to hate it more as it hung unworn in the closet.  She did find pink leggings with glitter in them, but Holly refused to buy them without getting the dress first.

Okay, so now we are tired and weak.  Across the mall from the Children's Place is BABY GAP.  We ventured over there.  There was enough tulle and sequins and glitter and feathers and spandex on hangers to rival the wardrobe of a Las Vegas Showgirl.  And the rest of the Lineup too.  Kaida was in heaven and raced to the racks of clothes to embrace every bit of sleaziness loveliness.  She picked a spaghetti strapped number, with a narrow satin bodice and rows and rows of tulle ruffles.  I found a satin dress with sleeves of the same style and colour, but no, it had sleeves.  Holly found one that had just a collar, still satin, but not the right colour.  Kaida LOVED this dress.  We begged and pleaded and bargained with her, but she was having none of it.  I promised to buy her a necklace if she bought the dress with cap sleeves and a collar.  Her mother pointed out that she would be cold with bare shoulders.  Kaida was unmoved by these and any number of other ploys we tried.  She LOVED this dress.  Her mother reluctantly dragged herself to the counter to pay for the dress.  Kaida insisted that she actually SEE the dress in the bag in her mother's hands as we left the store - obviously some kind of trust issues there.  Holly looked a bit pale and shaky and mumbled something about how she didn't like what went down here.  We went over to Michelle's where she dropped Kaida and I off and went shopping by herself. 

Personally, I suspect she went to a support group for parents of Divas.  Or a bar.

/bye

Owen and Declan updates

Michelle brought the boys down on Sat. for a sleepover.  I had plenty of Declan time - not nearly enough - but still it was a good visit.










Owen likes to hold him, for about 5 seconds.  He is really good around the little guy - very careful and gentle and patient.  Just wait until Declan starts getting into his stuff???

Check it out, HE'S SMILING.  He smiles mostly at Grampa, I think it is because they share a hairline.

He is trying to tell a story in this one - he will talk your ear off if you let him.













Such a little sweetheart.  Especially when it is his mom that has to get up at 11:30, and 3:00 and 5:00 and....

Hope you have a good sleep tonight little man.

/bye