I don't feel like writing tonight but I wanted to share pictures. Here's the haunted gingerbread house that Joey and I made yesterday.

And here's the flower in a flowerpot that Jason made me at work...

I love it! I can't even remember the last time he gave me flowers. This makes up for it :)

Told you I didn't want to write tonight - now I'm done!

I completely forgot to tell you about something that happened on Saturday that was quite, um, embarrassing.... can't believe that I'm telling you this, but I don't really have anything else to write about :)

So on Saturday, the kids and I went to the mall. I decided to go into Payless to see what kind of shoes I needed (!) but didn't find anything. We came out of that store and Joey wanted to go into HMV. While we were in HMV, Chris starts pulling at something in the basket under his stroller... I don't usually put stuff in that basket as Chris loves to pull it out, play with it, then leave it wherever. Don't want to lose my purse or anything! So I wondered what this kid was trying to get. I knelt down to help him and pulled out....... A BOOT!!! One black, high heeled, boot. What a little thief! I had to go back to Payless and explain what happened and return the boot. The woman said that it was ok and not to worry about it, so off we went, red-faced & embarrased!

You've got to wonder why she wasn't concerned about it. I mean, they can't really sell a single boot, can they? I don't imagine that they have a lot of one-legged women (or men!) coming in looking for a left black leather, high heeled boot. But, in this day & age, you just never know. And think about the space that you'd save in the closet, or on a shoe rack... that would be awesome.

Work has been good this week. Staying caught up, for the most part, and not stressing about things that I used to. I'm learning that I have to speak up for myself, 'cause if I don't, nobody else will. I'm not a doormat to be walked all over, and I'm enjoying this newfound me! I'll put my 2 cents in when necessary, sometimes even when its not :)

Joey has his very first school trip tomorrow and he gets to go on the school bus! I don't know if he's excited or not, because he hasn't said too much about it. They've been studying art, so tomorrow they are going to the art gallery. I really hope that he enjoys it, because he definetly enjoys art - do you know how many drawings he does each day?!

Joey has been quite entertaining since he started grade 1. He is in a catholic school, and you can really tell that he's learning about religion. Here's an example - on Saturday, I was driving on Bishop Street when the driver in front of me decided to turn into McDonald's without signalling. I said "you stupid moron" like any other good driver would have done (right?!), and went around him. A little voice piped up from the back seat "Mommy, you shouldn't say that, you need to say sorry to God." So I said that I was sorry, then Joey said "You need to ask for one more chance."! So I asked for one more chance, and I hope that I got it! I haven't been hit by lightening yet, so I think I'm ok.

He's also looking for the image of Jesus in people. Apparently he saw the image of Jesus in me when I bought him a test-tube alien. He saw the image of Jesus in Jason when he made dinner. I won't tell you what image he see's in Chris :)

I hope I've entertained you for at least a minute! I'm going to try to write more often from now on, especially since Joey has been "educating" us! And I think that maybe its time to start the Christmas countdown... 61 days to go ;p

It's 10:15 Saturday night and I was planning on being in bed over an hour ago. I've lost my voice, my head, throat & ears hurt, and I really need sleep. The kids actually went to bed early for once, and Jason is out with Kevin taking pictures. So what happens when I decide to go to bed - I realize that the hamster is missing. Yep, gone. Not in her cage, which is all closed up and everything. Somehow, Slinky just disappeared.

I really didn't want to have to wake Joey up tomorrow and tell him that his pet was gone, so what did I do??? I panicked! But I found her! I had to contort myself to try to get behind the couch, only to have this little thing run away from me. Didn't she know I was only trying to help her?! Anyways, it took about an hour, but I finally got her. Now she's back in her cage, and Joey never has to know what happened - his little Slinky is safe & sound :) I'm just surprised (and oh so glad) that the kitty didn't get her! I figure that Chris must have been playing with the cage before we went out today and it was left open. Guess I better start duct taping it closed!

This week has been nuts for me. I've been sick since Monday pretty much, with a cold/flu/sinus thing. I thought that I was getting over it yesterday but ended up not being able to talk at all by the time I went to bed last night. I woke up this morning feeling awful, and sorry for myself, but dragged my butt out of bed anyways. I was supposed to be going to bed early to recuperate, but life had other plans for me. Now I sit here waiting for this adreneline rush to end so that I can sleep :)

Yesterday was my mommy's birthday. She's 31.... again ;) Joey wanted to pick her gift, so I took him to the mall and said go nuts. He went into the jewellery store and decided that he wanted to get her a #1 Grandma necklace. I have no idea where he got the idea, but I liked it. So the salesman showed Joey the different charms and he picked it out. Personally, I liked the locket, but it was Joey's decision. I hope grandma liked it - happy birthday mom!

Yesterday was also the Remax administrators meeting - my very first one! It was so much fun and I loved it! The day started off with a speaker named Cheryl Cran who was wonderful. She was funny, motivating, and really made you look at things in a different way. She taught us how to deal with the different "personalities" that we come across in the day to day running of the office, as well as how to adapt our own personality to different situations. We also had a comedienne named Megan Something-or-other (not her real last name, but I don't have it here!). She was the funniest person I've ever had the chance to see! She didn't only make us laugh, but also taught us that humour can be used in the workplace to make life a little better. I can't wait to try some of the stuff that she taught us.... ;)

Oh yeah, we also learned stuff there too!

Not much else this week. Its been quiet as I've not been feeling too well. Tomorrow is another day, and I just hope that I feel better. And that I have my voice back. I've been told that I have "happy husbands disease"... Jason's happy because I can't talk!!! Can't have that last too long or he'll get used to it :)

I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who emailed/im'd/mailed me about the last post about my nana. I appreciate your thoughts and love. Thank you so much.

So enjoy what's left of the weekend. And maybe I'll write again soon :)

I've been putting off writing for the last few days but now its time. Last Friday, my grandmother passed away. She lived in Scotland, and we didn't get to see or talk to her often. In fact, the last time I saw her was in May 2004. I thought that with the 3000 mile distance between us that this would have been easier, but it's not.

I've been thinking about her a lot this weekend. All the little things from when I was little and growing up... I remember the weekends when we'd sleepover there and I'd be terrified watching the old horror movies. You know the ones with Bela Lugosi as Dracula? My grandparents would have to convince me each and every time that it wasn't blood, that it was just ketchup! I remember going to her friends place, walking all the way there with my brother and having tea & cookies. I can't remember her name, I just remember going there. I remember when my nana's friends would call her ... they'd stand at the fence at the front of her house and call "Sadie" till she went out to talk to them! I remember Lottie, William Stuart, and other friends who would stop by to talk, have some tea or some of her soup. I never liked her soup. I don't like any soup, but she always had soup available for those who liked it. I remember when the tv would just stop working and we'd have to put money in the meter! I remember Mac, the little dog who just couldn't stop biting me because I must be tasty :) I remember that she was always wearing her hat - and we'd call it a tea cozy! I remember playing under the stairs with the pots & pans. I remember sliding down the big roll of carpet on the stairs when the upstairs carpet was being replaced. I remember playing with the gas masks and ration cards from the second world war, playing in the bomb shelter at Maw's house. I remember sneaking through the fence in the back yard into the back lane. I remember the ice cream van and how it would stop right in front of the house, I loved that! I remember ice cream floats. I remember when she talked to mannequins when we were at Edinburgh! I remember your cards with your handwritten notes "love you hen, xxxxxxxxxxxx"... I'll miss those.

When Jason and I were getting married, my nana came over for the wedding. The guys were having fun at the stag & doe and they got a bit carried away and there was a bit of a mosh pit going on. My nana walked right into the middle of this group of big guys and started yelling at them to stop because she didn't want Jason to have a black eye for the wedding pictures! You have to picture it - these big huge guys and this little 5 ft nothing lady shaking her little fist and yelling at them with a Scottish accent... priceless.

Joey was born just before Christmas of 2001 and ended up in hospital just 6 weeks later with RSV and pneumonia. Nana & Margo came over to meet him, and didn't care at all that he was in isolation at the hospital. She just wanted to see her first great-greatson. I'm glad that she got to meet Joey a few times, that she spoke with him and got to hear him sing and dance on tape. She never got to meet Chris, but Chris grunted into the phone a few times for her, I think he cried and screamed for her too! I hope she knows that he's a good kid and he wasn't crying over anything she said :)

Most of all, I remember her cookie jar. It wasn't fancy by any means, just a big green tupperware container. It was always filled with cookies, good cookies, but they were all broken. I think that they must have beaten each pack of cookies with a baseball bat or something before they put them in the cookie jar. Each time we went to visit, we were always told to get a cookie before we left. They'd help us to go through the cookie jar looking for one cookie that was whole, but since we could never find any, we had to take a whole bunch of broken cookies!

She's being buried on Wednesday. I can't be there at the funeral, so this is my little tribute to her. I hope that you know how much you were loved and how much you will be missed. RIP Sadie, nana. We love you.

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since I last wrote here. And to tell the truth, I'm forcing myself to sit here and type. I should be in bed right now, I'm tired and grumpy. But that's ok, I'm going to catch you up on what's been happening over the last little bit.

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope you all had tons of turkey and lots of quality time with loved ones. We had 2 turkey dinners, and we're still eating it! Can't have enough turkey, and the leftovers are the best part of the festivities :)

Second of all, kids are good. Joey is enjoying school... I think. He gets quite a bit of homework, and its sometimes a chore to get him to sit down and concentrate on it. He does it, but doesn't like to do it. I still wonder if maybe this class is too much for him. He's probably the youngest of the grade 1's and he's in a grade 1/2 split class (only 6 grade 1's in it). The teacher says that he gets along with the kids and that he's not having any problem with the work, but I don't know. Maybe its just the "mother" thing and I worry too much.

He's also had some issues with pushing on the playground. Since its a zero tolerance school (more like 3 strikes!), he has been warned that if it happens once more he'll get a detention. Maybe that's what he needed to hear, because we haven't had any problems for a week now! Woohoo Joey!

Chris is still happy little Chris. Still eating LOTS and learning more things - he likes to sing the giggle song that is on tvo kids, and you can make it out really clear! Its so cute to see him dance and wiggle while singing "giggle, giggle, giggle"! He also does "Wheels on the Bus", so we've found the karaoke version on the bbc kids website (thanks to auntie Laney!) and he gets to watch that occasionally. Its funny to watch a little one with headphones on dancing to something you can't hear! You should try it :)

We're heading to the pumpkin farm this weekend, the 3rd annual group visit! We can't wait - Joey is really excited. I'm hoping that we get lots of people out and that the weather is decent. As long as it doesn't rain, we'll be ok. So next week, sometime, I'll actually have pictures to post (if I remember the camera!).

We got a great gift today - a beautiful framed picture of the kids! We have never met the man who sent us this picture, but both Jason & Kevin have contact with him on a regular basis through their photoblogs. His comments keep the guys going, competing against each other all the time. I love that the picture he chose to frame and send is one that I took! Sorry boys, I ROCK!!! And Ken, you ROCK too!!! I LOVE THE PICTURE!!!

So what's next that I can tell you about??? Work. Work, work, work. Its been quite eventful. Eventful enough that the police were called! Guess I should explain this one...

Most of you know what I do for a living - commission payroll for a real estate company. And you also know that I normally don't talk about work on here, or use my blog as a forum to bash people either. But tonight I'm going to break both rules. I hope that by doing this, other people will find out what this person is really like.

Long story short... A few weeks ago an agent from another office came to our office to pick up a commission cheque. He yelled at me - nothing new! But he kept yelling, swearing, just being a complete ass. Anyways, RECO don't want to get involved as he wasn't "practicing real estate" at the time. Ummm.... getting paid for selling a house is still part of doing real estate. Guess RECO don't know their ass from their elbow either. So I called the cops. I could take this guy to court and get a restraining order against him, but its time consuming and I'll probably never see him again, so why waste my time? I figure that if I let people know what happened, then this guy may lose a little business because of it. So if you found this when you googled Joe Camastra real estate agent to find out what he's like and you want to use him as an agent - DON'T!!!!! Even if he loses one deal because of me, its WORTH IT! And if you read this, Joe, you're a jackass, moron, frickin idiot, incompetent piece of crap... may sound familiar to you, but my version is cleaner.

Ummm... there's been so much more but I just can't think right now. Anyways, what's the lesson learned for today - don't mess with me. I will get my own back, in my own time, in my own way. (Its good to finally get that out! I hope people will tell me if it helps!)