At least I know it...

Something that I have learned about myself over the past long time is that I have an addictive personality. There's a reason that I have never tried smoking people...I know I'd become addicted. Well, there's another reason and that is that the thought of inhaling smoke into my lungs for fun is not my idea of fun. There's also a reason I don't drink or gamble. I'd become addicted. Drinking doesn't really entice me anyways, but being truthful here - sometimes the thought of winning the 40 million dollars that the lottery companies magically have to give away seems pretty exciting. I know that the reason the amount is 40 million dollars is because millions and millions and millions of people have all bought tickets and not won, but that doesn't matter to me because hey...someone has to win, it might as well be me! Hence, the reason that I don't gamble. I would be lining up at every lottery centre around town trying to muster all my luck into one measly ticket and the real problem would be that I wouldn't think twice about buying another ticket if somehow my luck didn't transfer into the first ticket.

A good example of how I have come to know this about myself? Coffee. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Hortons coffee (sorry TH's lovers...). BUT when they have roll up the rim to win I suddenly forget about my loyalty and love for a good strong brew from Starbucks and spend irrational amounts of money on coffee from TH's so that I can get that silly little rim that is so difficult to roll up anyways. Not only do I pretty much never win, I'm shaking from the amount of coffee that I have poured into my system. Lose. Lose.

Since I have been given this gift of wisdom about myself I have decided that there would be even more wisdom in using this personality trait to my advantage. I'd like to think that my addictive personality will one day transfer into a lot of my day to day struggles...like cleaning...and healthy food...and exercise...oddly enough...it hasn't yet...still troubleshooting on that. BUT! One area it has definately leaked into is saving money!

I was recently graced with some knowledge on how to shop effectively. Lots of stuff with not a lot, or no money spent. Use flyers, hoard coupons and some other sneaky tricks have landed me in a pretty awesome position. I have concluded that at least I have acknowledged that I have a tendency to addictive behaviour and that using this tendency to save my family money is a pretty good outlet.

So if you'll excuse me...I have to go stand by the door and wait for my friday flyers to come. They usually come between 8am and 8pm, so I don't want to miss it.

LAURA
ps - if you live in BC and want to know what magical tricks and schemes I have come upon to save loads and loads of cash... my source for this wealth of information is MrsSmith - Extreme shopper...look her up on facebook under that name!! She even does skype classes if you live elsewhere in Canada*

A Mother's Day Poem

I once had a mom who changed my diapers
What rhymes with diapers?
Nothing rhymes with diapers.

I once had a mom who taught me to clean up
everybody clean up
everybody clean up.

She taught me to love and to be a good friend
She always made me dinner
And told me I'm a winner

Now I have a mom who is my friend
We chat and we giggle
And we both hate our feet being tickled

Now I have a mom who helps me with my kids
She still makes me dinner
But she doesn't change my diaper

You wonder how it's possible for one mom to do all this?
That's what so amazing
She really is amazing

I'd never ever switch my mom for another
She's the one that I needa
Her name is Carina.


I love you mom. Thank you for being my friend, you truly are wonderful. Happy Mother's Day.

Laura

Tunnel Vision.

To say that this past week was fun would be a completely obsurd lie. There were parts of it that were fun. My mom came for a visit, that was fun! The week has ended, that is also fun. Let me break down my week for you.

Last Friday my one year old Jackson woke up from his nap with a fever of 102. He was super fussy for the next two days. That's fine, we can make it through that. Sunday he broke out in a rash. Monday when I brought him in to the doctor -he was pulling out his hair, literally, he was so itchy - he had to get 3 tests done including blood work, a urine sample and a throat swab - all are awesome tests to run on a one year old - because they thought it could be the measles. Both my boys were now quarantined at home for the rest of the week until we got the results. (I recognize that the sentance before the last was a majorly long sentance)

When Linden turned one there were all those rallies against immunizations because of a possible relation to autism. We opted to wait a bit and do more research before getting his 12 month and 18 month shots. So Linden hadn't been immunized either. So....Tuesday morning Mike and I brought the boys in to have their shots. I now understand why they give the shots at one year old and not three years old. A three year old is very aware of everything.

By Tuesday afternoon Jackson was almost better. The rash was almost gone and I really didn't think that it was the measles, he didn't have some of the very obvious symptoms that come with measles and he was recovering very quickly. But I still had to keep them home until we found out for sure. Thursday I called my doctor's office three times to find out, they were so patient with me. (smile) I just explained, kindly of course, that I have two children at home who can't leave and we're going crazy, and if I don't find out before the weekend I'll have to cancel all my plans including Mother's day stuff because of a possibility that it could be measles. The front end gal was very understanding and I got the test results first thing friday morning. NO measles. Praise the Lord!!! Now my boys are immune from the shots and I don't have to worry about them getting it. If the rash that Jackson had was that bad (it actually was just a common cold virus that showed itself in the form of a rash instead of the normal symptoms) and it wasn't the measles, I NEVER want my kids to go through actually having it.

........sigh..........

I think that sometimes I can get tunnel vision when I'm having a rough week. I'm sure my husband has known this about me for a long time because I'm also sure that he takes the brunt of my frustration and worry. When I look back on it now I can see that there were good things to my week. I got to get my hair cut and I'm soooooo happy with the result! My momma was here and I also got to have some girls over last night for a fun night of learning, laughing and of course, eating! Mike and I also got to go on a date to a new restaurant in town. Tonight we have a banquet, and tomorrow I get to be celebrated for all my greatness (Mike, I hope you're reading:). If I could only remember the good when the bad seems to take over I'm sure the bad wouldn't seem as bad.

Anyways, I'm hoping that Jackson wakes up sooon from his nap because my street is buzzing with people and cars, I think there's a huge garage sale near by. So....I might go encourage Linden to stomp like a dinosaur and bang some pots together to see if we can get him up and go check out what all this craziness is.

Have a great day and may your tunnel be bright with light today. Mine is.
Laura
p.s - I'm not actually going to try to sabotage Jackson's nap. That'd just be mean.

p.p.s - I'm a mom. I'm a good mom. I'm a loving mom. But I'm not a perfect mom. So when I say 'celebrated for all of my greatness' I'm just being cheeky and trying to get nice presents from my man.

p.p.p.s - I don't know if ppps is right, but it'll work for now. I also would like to add that when I said at the beginning of this post that 'to say that this week was fun would be a completey obsurd lie' I was still seeing through my tunnel of negativity and perhaps a bit of self pity. I have now stepped out of that tunnel and can see the brighter sides of the week too. Thank you. That is all.