Permission to purchase

Right before Christmas Liam got really into Pokemon cards. I will admit that I was pretty surprised since I thought that it was for much younger kids (of course have kept that sentiment to myself). He was gifted some cards over Christmas and went and purchased some with his own money a week ago.  Today he and I had to go to Walmart to pick up a gift for one of his freinds’ birthdays and he asked to get more Pokemon cards and I said no. He wished to look at the and I said that was fine. He pawed through all of the different packages and told me all sorts of stuff about “Fairy types” and “Evolution” of this, that, and the other. I left him to his devices for a bit and when we reunited he wanted to show me what he had found. It was a box of Pokemon cards which had all of the evolutions of one of the characters that he REALLY wanted.  Let me say that that is NOT like Liam at all – once he is told No, he always just drops it and can walk away from whatever it was. I persisted that, he had just bought cards last week and that collections take time to collect. I added that things that you have to wait for are always better. Then he says, “I’ll make you a deal” which is TOTALLY something I would say. He says that if I let him buy the cards today that he won’t buy any more cards for two months! Hmmm, interesting I think to myself.  Since Liam is a “rule-follower” I know that a deal with him is as good as gold – his word really his bond.  I’m thinking this is actually a pretty good deal….I don’t have to buy anything (he is) plus I won’t be pestered to go to Walmart for two months, plus he’ll learn that things that you truly want are worth waiting for.  I relent to his deal and am immediately and emphatically embraced and showered with gratitude and flattery about being the best Mom ever.

I am reflecting that this was a pretty good “parent” moment., and here’s why: I feel pleased that I took the time to hear him out, that we both felt comfortable sharing our differing views with one another, and that we could compromise on a solution that we were both happy with.  A small parenting success.

#twpp – House Number

This weekend photo project left little to the imagination….which was just what I needed 🙂

Funnily enough I almost bought new house numbers to stuff into my hubby’s Christmas stocking.  We erected a new portable carport this winter to keep the snow off of my car and it totally blocks our house number. Maybe we don’t want company this year 😉  Taking this photo made me recall, that l have to move those numbers.

#twpp – New

The first weekend photo project of the year fits well, the prompt is “New.”

 

I must admit that this one had me baffled for a LONG time, and for a couple of reasons.  One was that it felt like there has been so much Newness that I couldn’t figure out what to take a photo of. And the second was that so much that was New were things that were intangible and therefore extremely difficult to take a photo of. For example, I have realized since the new year began just how much more rested and happy I am feeling (clearly I was stressed out and depressed as hell before the holidays), but how to take a photo of my new more optimistic feeling about life?

So, I have settled on a photo of my “new” and I must admit that I am a bit embarrassed, but it is a screen. I mentioned that my tablet has the new role of “ruling my life” and getting me organized and underwhelmed. I’ll say that so far it is working like a charm 🙂 I love having a list to check off and it keeps all my thoughts and pieces of my life contained in one place.  So far, so good.

Lofty goals & Tech Help

Mentioned that I’ve got some goals for this year….got some goals and some plans and some projects and some ideas, and I want to put them all in motion NOW.

One of my goals is to “get organized” some of my projects that will support that goal is to organize all my digital photos, real photos, get all of my and the boys’ “papers” together, sorted and stored appropriately. None of these is a small project, I think to do these “right” may take me all year. But, you know what? It would be SO worth it in the end. And while I’m working on these I will inevitably be sorting through other things and getting rid of stuff we don’t need….which is always the ultimate goal.

We go through spurts where we do well at “being organized” on a daily basis, like our meals are planned, and the groceries and bought, the chores are kept up, and we have a schedule, we are motivated to finish things…..and then something happens. It might be a lazy day or a busy week, but somehow we fall off the organized wagon and back into family chaos which is ruled by the Satan and overwhelmingly impossible to dig back out of.

To start my year off right I thought to myself, “self, all the technology you have in your life should be able to save you some time and support you in your goals.” So, I have updated my tablet home page to be my “thing that keeps me organized and on-track” Here is what it looks like:

 

I’ve got my calendar widget, followed by my chore widget, a place for random notes, and below that my meal planning widget. The widgets are meant so that at a glance I can see what needs to be happening and what’s missing. So, now that I have spent time organizing getting organized I need to go get some “actual” stuff done. Wish me luck!

#decdaily Dec 31 – Movies

For new years eve we had solid plans – we were going downtown Kelowna to Stewart Park for the New York New Years Family Event…skating, games, fun in the snow, music, hot chocolate, etc.

Liam spent the day sledding and then with friends. My back was no better today (in fact it was maybe slightly worse after I made my bed and cleaned up in my room this morning).

We had a late night last night and when we all gathered at the dinner table and looked around at each other it was clear that plans just changed. Liam could barely hold his head up off the table, Chae was tired and having a fit about something insignificant, I was hunched over, and Scott was “with us” on whatever we wanted to do.  We considered playing a family game and then realized that since everyone was so tired it was probably going to disintegrate into tears and fists and yelling ( and we didn’t want to lose any chips – for an explanation visit December 22). So, we decided to pop some popcorn and watch some family movies on the new TV.  Scott had seen a preview for The Odd Life of Timothy Green and I suggested Planes.  By the time they were over Chae had had enough, so he hopped into bed and fell fast asleep around 10:30 or so.  Liam wanted to make it until midnight, so Scott and I stayed up to keep him company.  We counted down the last three minutes on his new iPod and rang in the new year on the couch.  We hugged and kissed and then he stood up and said, “well, goodnight” and headed to bed. such a funny kid.

#decdaily Dec 30 – Games

Another chilled out day at home. We made plans to go to friends for dinner, but didn’t even want to leave the house when the time came for that.  My back was better today (thank goodness!) I am now nearly able to stand erect….unlike yesterday. But it is I think more painful to walk…..putting pressure on my left leg in particular is painful, as is going up or down the stairs. I got a good razzing from our friend Kelly about getting old. Yah yah. Spent the evening playing their “new” game Cranium (apparently they’ve had it for a LONG time, but had never even removed the plastic). Super funny times, which was where todays daily photo came from.  Kelly and I drew a card where one person has to draw and the other person guesses (like Pictionary).  The phrase was Bar Fly.  Kelly got bar right away, but I couldn’t get him to say fly. He said, “bee” but would NOT stretch his imagination to other flying insects.  At one point he said, “Bar Flllllllower” I had already started celebrating when I realized that he hadn’t got it. I nearly strangled him! LOL.

#decdaily & #twpp – Dec 29 – Ouch

OK. Christmas is over. Time to clean it all up.  The kids and I got the decorations around the house put away and the tree down this morning, which actually took almost no time at all since I didn’t bring much in this year. I snapped a photo of one of my favourite Christmas “dust collectors” it’s a colour changing LED christmas tree that looks like it is made of ice for the #twpp prompt this week, which was texture.

I was just stretching out to sweep up the needles and, “um, what was that painful sensation? Humph, there it is again. OMG! MY BACK! OWWIIIIEE!”  My lower back is in quite a bit of pain and I am unable to straighten up…at all.  Sadly, there isn’t even a precipitating incident that went with all the pain that followed 😦  I was even motivated to get a bunch done today. Scott diagnosed it as a pulled muscle and told me to just take it easy and told me it would be several weeks before it was healed. WAAAHHH!!

While I was out flat Scott took the opportunity to go back to the mall today to pick up the Boxing Week TV we were scoping out yesterday….only that isn’t what he came home with. Of course. He upgraded us to the 55″ Samsung!  With my back I couldn’t even help him get it in the house…good thing new TVs are way lighter than the old ones…Liam helped get it into the play room. I did help with a big of the set up.  Scott and I are stoked to watch more movies and even download our favourite shows and watch the on the “Big Screen” too! We all played some Mario Kart and checked out the High Definition with the Wii U.  Awesome! We are spoiled!

 

#decdaily Dec 28 – Ducks

The ducks in the neighbourhood like it on the street in front of our house.  They like to land their and waddle around…seems like we see them more there in the winter…does that make sense?  Anyways, caught them all crossing the road for my photo this morning.  That was before our busy day…we actually all got down to Stewart Park for a bit of skating, then headed to the mall for a couple of quick returns (ran into friends there of course), scoped out the Boxing Day/Week sales (I guess I couldn’t help myself) and then got together with a long-time friend that I haven’t seen in ages and got all caught up all evening.

I think the kids have enjoyed doing a whole lot of whatever they want with few rules and no schedule….may be interesting to see how we ALL transition back to “reality”.  Bah…that’s another week away.

#decdaily Dec 27 – Quiet

Another quiet day.  Desiree and the kids came by for a visit and while we were sitting sipping tea it just started snowing like the blazes! They were huge fat wet flakes!  Tonight just the two of us headed to dinner with Ed and Sue (the kids hung with Granny and Grandma). Great visit and gourmet food!

#decdaily Dec 26 – Home

Spent a quiet day at home. Enjoyed the time with our family.. We did not leave the house. It was wonderful!

I will admit that I have been a Boxing Day shopper in the past. But this year, I am just not up for the hub-bub and bustle and people and traffic (am I getting old?)

I caught a quiet Chae in a quiet moment working on a word search in his new activity calendar (good thing they have something to keep him occupied before January).