Thursday, November 27, 2008

Voice

Please can I have my voice back now? Still better than last week but not all back yet. Very frustrating.

Also, this sinus rinse and nose spray stuff makes me gag and cough like I have never coughed and gagged before. Yeesh.

Wesley, you're a little bugger.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Summary

Been wondering how I survived last week? Me too.

Trip to Windsor on Thursday was uneventful. No delays, arrived just in time for dinner. Friday we got the schedule for the coming week and did a run to the bus stop to figure out how it all worked. Friday night Nick & Sue left just after putting the kids to bed. Sue was suspiciously quiet ... think she was missing them before even leaving the house. Funny though, that afternoon Darcy told Sue, "You can go now, Mom." Guess someone was ready to get the party started.

Despite all warnings that Wesley would cry every night for 20-30 minutes after putting him to bed, he only did that the first night. The rest of the week he would chat or sing to himself a little and then drift off after about 10 minutes. He did cry a little at nap time in the afternoon but that was kinda all over the place.

Saturday morning we headed to the mall. It was cold and rainy and there really wasn't much else to do. Never had I seen so much of a mall floor and so little of the shops. That's what happens when you let the 1-year old out of his stroller. Wesley managed to fall asleep in the car as we were on our way home ...

Sunday my parents took the kids to church and I fed my OCD by taking the Magic Eraser to the dishwasher (sorry, couldn't help myself). At breakfast though, I was feeding Wesley his cereal and he sneezed out the longest snot I had ever seen in my entire life. It must've been 6 inches long. It was gross. Pretty sure I gagged a little. Darcy, my Dad (aka Papa to Darcy) and I made crafts in the afternoon - paper crowns and snowflakes.

Monday I took my Dad to the airport bright and early and later took Darcy to swimming. Mom stayed home with Wesley. Darcy's a great little swimmer! She was fearless in the water. Looks like she'll be swimming laps in no time. Got her off to school without any problem. Wesley was apparently pretty cranky without Darcy around. Heh. Found Darcy a little cranky by dinner time. Heh. Realised just how much Wesley likes to climb on stuff. Stairs, boxes, chairs, sofas, anything really. Wesley kissed me for the first time, unasked no less. Just suddenly turned to me and start smooching his lips at me. No cheeks for him either. He kisses on the mouth.

Tuesday ... ummm ... think Mom's OCD started to hit her. She started cleaning the fridge. Oh yeah and then Darcy's little friend Quinn from across the street, who also takes the school bus with her, came over after school. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes when he yelled "PEE!" I just pointed him in the direction of the stairs. A minute later he was yelling again and I realised the gate was locked. Unlocked it for him and asked if everything was ok and did he need any help. Quinn didn't answer, just ran up the stairs. A minute or so after that I could hear what sounded like crying (over the sound of Wesley screeching to climb up on my lap - his chosen favourite of the day). Turned out Quinn hadn't been able to get his pants undone fast enough and ended up peeing down his leg. So then Mom got him ready to go home, with much crying and carrying on by Quinn. No sooner did Quinn leave but Darcy burst into tears of dismay that her friend had gone.

Wednesday - Mom's OCD hit in full and mine too. She finished cleaning the fridge and freezer, while I cleaned the microwave and cabinet, inside and out. In the morning, while I was helping Darcy get dressed, Mom was trying to dress Wesley but she didn't have his clothes ready and he was so wiggly that she decided to let him walk around naked for a little. Of course he came into Darcy's room, where all the action was. But I didn't see him come in. All I heard was Darcy suddenly screaming with hilarity "Wesley's peeing on my carpet!" I turned to look and sure enough, there he was stood still, peeing, not a care in the world. All our racket must've scared it back up because he stopped and then ran around laughing and beating his chest (good Monkey Boy!). Seconds later he was climbing up Darcy's chair (still naked!), sat down and started really peeing. Like, there was a puddle of pee. Well, Darcy and I were practically peeing ourselves from laughing so hard and then Mom was there too doubled over laughing. She explained what she'd done and we explained what he'd done. Finally we did manage to get everyone suitably dressed (and took the blanket off the chair and straight down to the laundry). Nick and Sue called later that morning. Darcy probably told them 3 times that Wesley peed on her chair. Good stories never get old, right?

After Wesley's power nap that afternoon, we headed out to the mall. Better success this time as we took the little stroller and Monkey Boy was happy to sit in that and look around. I managed to get Sue's birthday present (lovely loose teas) and we ran a couple of little errands. Darcy had a bit of a meltdown before dinner. You know, not listening, didn't want to clean up, little whiny, etc. Then at dinner nothing was pleasing her and so it all kinda fell apart. Mom took care of that pretty fast and pretty soon there were more laughs than tears. They went out to Kids Club and I stayed with Wesley.

Thursday - Mom and I did more cleaning (not to say that the place was dirty - it's just that we're the type of people that need to be doing stuff like that, even if it's not our house - we just can't help it). Wesley obviously has Swiss blood in him. He climbed on everything in the basement, including Darcy's dollhouse even though he's bigger. Darcy went over to Quinn's after school and came home a little cranky again. Huh. Maybe it's just a long day for her? I dunno. Bath time after dinner sure gave us plenty of laughs. Think the kids went to bed happy and tired that night.

Friday - last bit of kitchen cleaning (heh!) and last day of school for the week. All Darcy could talk about was that her Papa was coming back that night. Never mind that her Auntie and Grandmaman had taken care of her all week ... all she was interested in was her Papa. Hmph. Anyway, Quinn came over again after school. No pee accidents this time (phew) but Wesley managed to bite him and boy, did that make Quinn cry! We played Dora the Explorer bingo (can you see how far I've fallen?) and I lost my voice. My mom took Darcy to pick up my Dad from the airport. Darcy was so excited! And still pretty excited when they got back to the house. Papa even had to put her to bed and read her stories.

Saturday - Mom baked Sue's birthday cake in the morning (strawberry cheesecake) and I baked chocolate chip cookies with Darcy as my helper in the afternoon. Bit more cleaning (what are we like?!) At dinner, in stage whisper, Darcy told us she thought she was losing her voice. Kid is quite a drama queen. Also very argumentative - career in law? Sue's parents dropped by for a quick visit in the evening and the kids were thrilled to see them. Big kisses and hugs for everybody. Wesley didn't play shy at all - it was very sweet. Nick & Sue were knocking on the door by about 9:45pm. After a quick check of the kids, they sat down and were happy to tell us about their cruise. Sounds like they had a great time.

Sunday - we were on the road by 9am and dropping me off at home just after 6pm.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Happy 40th!

Happy Birthday to Yvette! My best friend turns 40 today. Phew - where the heck have the last 20+ years gone?

Just think, Why - imagine if we hadn't been in the same Grade 7 music class? You would've never seen lunatic me singing "Good Night Ladies" into my clarinet (really, I am certifiable) and we wouldn't have laughed ourselves silly ever since. Crazy.

Have a great birthday! And take notes on being 40. I'll be turning to you for advice sooner than I like to think (or can manage to calculate in my head).

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Back home safe and sound. Pictures are up here. Details about the experience soon.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Much reduced

After Sunday's fiasco of an open house, my agent suggested I drop the listing price for my condo. I was fully prepared to agree. What I wasn't prepared for was a $20,000 drop. But after his research, my research and a long string of emails back and forth, I had to agree that he was right. If I want to sell my place, it will never sell at its current price. Papers have been signed and updates will follow shortly on the various real estate web sites. Hopefully this means things will move quickly now. At any rate, my agent is very positive and encouraging.

What pisses me off more than anything is that I trusted real estate agent #1 (back in March) to list my place appropriately, given it's location and the type of unit it is. It is very obvious to me now that she never had any intention of selling my place. I'm well shot of her and look forward to moving ... soon!

Sunday, November 09, 2008

Open House

Anybody wanna buy a condo?

Open house from 2-4pm at my place today. Stop on by. BUY MY HOUSE! PLEASE!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Update 4:20pm

ONE visit. That's it. That's all. One damn visit.

My agent wants to lower the asking price to get people in here and I'm more than ready to agree. We'll meet later this week to iron out the details.

Argh!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Honours!

So much for 4-6 weeks for the results. Two weeks later and ...

The Board of Directors of Oxford Seminars certifies that Stephanie Titcombe [me!] has successfully completed all programme requirements of the "Advanced 100-Hour Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages/Teaching English as a Second Language Certificate Program with a specialization in Teaching Business English (Honours)"

Thank you very much!

Sunday, November 02, 2008

Happy Anniversary

Did you know that it was five years yesterday since I moved into my condo? Well, it was. My original plan was to live here for five years then sell and move up a rung on the property ladder.

Hasn't quite turned out that way. My place has been on the market for over 7 months now and there have been 10 visits in all that time. My new real estate agent will be doing an open house for me next Sunday and I very much hope that will bring in some new interest. I have about had it living in a place that I no longer feel is my own, without my most precious objects around me, that must constantly be kept so clean, so tidy that I can't even cook the foods I want because of the odours that may linger.

What I hate more than anything is that I have no control over any of this. I have discovered that I have control issues and a lot of the time feel that nothing gets done (or done right) unless I do it myself. Bit frustrating to realise this and still be unable to do much about it.

Happy 5th Anniversary to me. Keep your fingers crossed that I won't be celebrating six years here.