Janine's Crazy World

I have a binder full of my favourite recipes that started with some given to me by my mom.  Over the years, I've updated that book -- the bonus is that I have a hard copy, and an e-copy so I can access them from my computer, phone, ipad ... anywhere really.  And sharing the recipes is really easy too thanks to the ecopy.   (side note:  These aren't just magazine/internet/hand-me-down recipes, these are my faves from books that I own, so that I don't need to pull out those books anymore, just the one binder).

I also have a drawer full of recipes that are either torn out of a magazine, printed off the internet, or (most likely) scribbled on a tiny piece of scrap paper. 

Anyway, my resolution was to finally combine the two.  So I spent some time last week writing out all of the binder recipes on random pieces of paper and shoving them in the drawer, never to be seen again.

Just kidding of course.  But I did get rid of all those lose papers and updated the binder/e-file!

How's that --- resolution accomplished by the 3rd week of January.

Oh wait, let me just check my calendar....hold on....actually that resolution was from Jan 1 2012, so let me revise that finished by date....

2 years and 3 weeks!! 

The silly thing, it only took a couple of hours...

...at this rate, maybe this year I'll start working on those 10 pounds I gained in 2011, and then next year the 10 from 2012....so by 2018 -- I'll look fantastic!

I just threw in almost a week's worth of coloured laundry (that almost sounds racist).  This is laundry just for James, Will and I.  It was a bit --- I don't want to say disturbing, that's too strong -- but thought provoking would be about right.

Almost all of my items were work-out clothes.  And I mean legit work-out clothes.  The ones I actually worked out in, not the nice Lululemon "work out wear" that I use as regular clothes. 

That caused me to mentally review my week -- did I not actually wear real clothes all week??  And, the answer is pretty much -- yes.  For the most part, I've worked out in the morning, stayed in my stinky state all day, showered and gone to bed. 

I have no comment on this. 

(Also titled why I'm really the Mother of the Year)
(Also titled What Goes Around, Comes Around)

To recap -- I gave away those precious Pearl Jam tickets.

But, thanks to the blizzard and the bad roads, my brother couldn't make the trip down to Calgary, so he gave his PJ tickets to ME!!!

So I took my 2 boys -- thus, the mother of the year!! Hmm...Mother of the Year because they got to experience a fantastic concert, or MotY because of the great teaching moments I had concerning drugs, alcohol, and swearing???


On a side note, at dinner last night, all I could think was "oh man, oh man, I'm gonna be out so late tonight.  We won't be home until 12:30 or 1 and then I have to be up to teach seminary at 6:30.  WHAT HAVE I DONE!!!!"

It was an old lady moment --

---and seminary was tough this morning

---but the concert was so worth it.

oh decisions....sometimes I make good ones and sometimes I make bad ones.  And I'm not talking life changing, character forming decisions.  I'm talking the mundane "what should I do today" decisions that can be so hard -- I think they're hard because I'm always trying to figure out what would be "the best" thing to do...when really, sometimes there is no best.

Here's what I'm talking about:

1.  BAD --  last month, I had to pick up Coleman from the SAT and take Will to a birthday party at the same time.  Which to do first?  I chose wrong -- Coleman was later than I thought, so I didn't have time to stop and get some lunch for Will en route to the party -- so while we were waiting for Coleman, Will had a fantastic lunch from the vending machine at the high school -- and then showed up 30 min late for the party.

2.  GOOD -- Coleman and Olivia both had basketball games across town, but they were a few hours apart.  Should I go to Coleman's, drive him home, get Olivia, check in on the other kids, and retrace my steps to hers?  Or should we all go to Coleman's, have him get a ride home (so he could do homework and chores), hang out with Olivia at a nearby mall, and then get to her game -- fun times, but then Sam and Will are left alone for the whole day almost.  I chose the latter -- and with the snow storm that happened that day, it was the right choice!  I would never have made it back to Olivia's game in time otherwise.

3.  GOOD -- I drove to Edmonton on the weekend for a family funeral.  Choosing what to wear was stressful because I wasn't sure of the dress code at the funeral or the weather in Edmonton -- nevermind the 6 hours in the car.  I decided on stretchy (read: comfy) dress pants, top, cardy, and scarf.  Right choice -- did fine on the drive, appropriate for the setting, and I looked fabulous, of course.

BUT NOW TO THE WORST DECISION OF THE YEAR!!!!

4.  In July we bought tickets to Pearl Jam here in Calgary.  Their last concert was one of my all-time favorite concerts.  We had 3 tickets -- Coleman, James, and I.  And then, in mid-September I realized that the PJ concert was on the same night as the high school band/choir concert -- disaster!!  What to do??  There are 3 bands and 1 choir performing -- Coleman is in the choir and Sam is in 2 of the bands.  My first reaction was to still go to PJ, and send James, Coleman and Sam to the school concert.  But, really, the guilt ate at me ... seriously, Eddie over my own children (YES!) --- no mother of the year award for that choice.  So I just ignored the whole thing...

I think I was secretly hoping that the band concert date was a typo. 

Anyway, I procrastinated doing anything about my PJ tickets -- again, mother of the year?  NO  Master of Denial?  YES!  Finally, just on Friday night I gave them to one of our staff who loves PJ too -- it was like giving away a family pet -- free to a good home.

AND THEN...

THE HIGH SCHOOL CONCERT WAS JUST CANCELLED BECAUSE OF THE BLIZZARD!!!!

Never once, in all the 6 years we've been with this music program, has a concert been cancelled.

Oh, the irony

and the sadness

I really don't like being late to things.  And by "things", I mean appointments/meetings/church.  Other things like parties, work, visits -- I'm a lot more carefree and loose with my time. 

So this post is all about scheduled appointments. 

And I think I'm in the majority when I say, yet again, that I don't like to be late.  In fact, it can make me pretty stressed and uptight when I'm late --

--but I realized last week that I feel even more upset when I'm EARLY!  I hate to use the word hate, so instead, I really, really, really, really dislike being early to appointments.  When I get somewhere early, or I know I'm going to be early, all I can think is "WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!!  I actually had time for  (insert necessary chore, extra errand, or mindless entertainment here) !"

And then I realized that this mentality is actually what causes the lateness that causes the aforementioned stress.

Here's what goes on in my mind:

Okay, we have to be at the dentist at 1, so that means that we have to leave the kids' school at 12:45, which means that I have to pull up to the school at 12:42, so I need to be in the truck at 12:32 at the latest.  Which means, given that I'll be home from aerobics at 10:25 and then I need to shower and get ready (10:50 if I don't linger or do my hair), so then I can still vacuum, write a report, start dinner, and run one errand...

...see I like to plan it to the minute, but things always take longer, or I add an extra thing (oh - facebook!  or an email!  or 10 emails!  or start some laundry!), so then it's 1:10 and I'm frantically pulling into the dentist's parking lot and making the kids jump out of the slow moving truck!!  (jk to that last statement)

BUT -- if being 10 minutes late meant that I was able to fit in that one last thing -- it's still better than being early.

A conversation the other day:

Coleman:  We're doing dancing in PE.  We're learning the tango.

Olivia (shocked and incredulous):  You DON'T know how to tango???

The rest of us:  None of us know how to tango -- do you?

Olivia:  Duh, no, but I can salsa

(Or what she really means, her grade 4 teacher knows how to salsa and showed them once)

(This post contains 2 seemingly unrelated items that come together in a chilling and unexpected conclusion!)

(Part 1) Today, Will got a letter in the mail from his friend Ben -- it was a drawing that Ben did just for him.  He loved that he had a letter, so I thought I would send a quick "Will loves his drawing from Ben and loved getting a letter" text to Ben's mom.

(Part 2)  Afterschool, the little kids have to put away their lunch kits, shoes, coats, and backpacks (I know, slave driver, right??).  Like usual today, Will was being really slow at obeying and I was having to tell him over and over to do his chores.

(The near-disaster)  I looked down at the text I was typing, ready to hit send, when I saw that the text read like this:

"Will -- put your stuff away"