Life getting in the way

I had big plans for November. I was going to do NaBloPoMo - actually write a post every day and really get my blogging mojo back.

Hi! It's November 24th. I SUCK.

It's life dude. It's getting in the way. (insert whiny voice) In. The. Waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!

Without sounding like an autobot of every other person out there, I just can't seem to figure out a way to fit in everything I want to do. The house is never as tidy as it should be. Laundry is always a load or two (or eight) behind. I really need to finish paying those bills and file the papers away so I can see my dining room table again. The dog should've been walked today, maybe that's why he's being so annoying. The magazines and catalogues and borrowed books that sit upon my bedside table are at desperate risk of falling off and maiming my toddler.

I have a TODDLER. WTF? Last time I think I gave you any kind of update about Katie I was wondering when her first teeth were going to arrive and waxing poetically about my little one year old.

She is 17 months old now. Have I written any short little anecotodal notes about her daily cuteness and all the adorable happenings? No... I fail as a blogger. FAIL.

For the record, she is awesome. She is FULL of sass and grump, piss and vinegar, smiles and scowls. She is the epitome of what will soon become "a handful" soon I believe. She's SO awesome and SO sassy that she really does deserve her own post and therefore I'm not going to write any more about her gorgeousness, except to promise that I WILL write about her soon. I PROMISE.

Aside from the daily clutter and household drudgery things getting in the way I also keep starting (and not finishing) about a TRILLION diy projects around the house. I am maniacal in creating lists of what I want to "accomplish" each week, when in the end, all I end up accomplishing are little piles of unfinished projects in each and every room of the house.

It's a good thing the Hubs doesn't notice much during football season...

And add to all of that, I continue to search for a job. I'm unemployed and needing employment. And it sucks. Large, sucky, crap-balls. It's no fun to spend the wee hours of your nights drafting cover letters and applying for jobs that you don't really want, but will apply for anyways, because you never know, maybe it'd be OKAY. I've had a few exciting interviews for exciting jobs at exciting companies that I would be very excited about working for. But it's also the holiday season and things start to move verrrrry slowly. It can be disheartening  I am disenchanted with it all. And yet, one must trudge forward.

I'd say that's probably a reason I've been quiet too - because even when you have lofty goals of focusing on the positive, it's easy to get deflated and choked up with the negative. And I KNOW you're not here for that.

So here it is - a promise to be better. To do what I came here to do - which is (our little inside joke) document our lives dammit. And I will. I promise.

K: WTF are we doing here?
M: It's a pile of leaves and it's fall and it's FUN!
K: This is BS, let's go wreck some shit.

xxoo.S

Remember last Monday?

Remember when I was an actual blogger and posted things in some type of coherent order? And actually within a reasonable amount of time, so as to make my posts kind of timely and in context of actual life?

Yeah. Me neither.

So HALLOWEEN! It was on Monday. Like 5 days ago... So? What are you gonna do about it? That's right, I'm just getting around to posting about it now. AFTER my rant about Blockbuster closing down and the obliteration of an entire era of movie renting for a generation (me) and the subsequent art of living life unplanned + at the last minute (us) and the beauty of purchasing bad-for-you-food in an impulse, yet justifiable setting (REESE BITES).

I had priorities, okay?

So back to the offspring. And their Halloween stuff...

We carved our pumpkins during the chaos of Sunday afternoon football transition (aka just before the 4 o'clock games started). It was all before dinner, but after nap-time convenient like, and featured: 1) a distracted Daddy wielding a sharp knife, 2) a grumpy baby who could have TOTALLY slept for another half hour if it wasn't for her stompy, loud-as-an-elephant-in-high-heels sister, and 3) a 4 year old who was about as INTO pumpkin carving as she has been in the prior 2 years we've been foisting this tradition onto her. Which is to say, NOT AT ALL INTO IT.

Yo - this is gross, y'all.

Monday morning I got Maddie dressed up for school, only to walk back home, guzzle 2 cups of tea, get my darling Kates also dressed up (completely against her will and better judgement) and trek back to the school 15 minutes later for the Kindergarten parade. Which turned out to be possibly my favourite moment thus far in unemployment - and now I know, for the future, take Halloween day off. Because being able to attend shit like that? Is THE Awesome.

Hey Mom! Look! I'm in a parade!

The rest of the afternoon was spent with me trying to convince Maddie that, no, it wasn't time to go trick or treating yet, and no, she didn't need to wear her costume for the ENTIRE day. It wouldn't, like, negate her ability to earn candy later on or anything, if she just took off her princess dress for 5 seconds to eat her pizza. I also tried to get a cute, non-costumed-pic of the girls wearing their Halloween shirts.

It didn't work out so well... 

By the time it was late enough that the girls could actually GO trick or treating, Katie was ready to pass out. She didn't nap so well - still sick from the weekend (teeth + cankers on her tongue (eww) = horrid weekend for her + us) - so she was a bit of a zombie before and during. But zombies are in, right? And yes (because I know you're wondering), Cinderella DID come by our house and THREW UP PRINCESS CRAP ALL OVER our Maddie. If it was plastic and sparkly or light blue, she wore it.

Zombie Butterfly FTW! We are so current.

In the end, we collected enough candy that Maddie actually had to come home and trade in her swanky McDonald's happy meal bucket for another - and since I have her on a strict 2-3 treats per day ration, I expect the candy should last us right until I get the Christmas baking started.

Which means she'll be on a sugar high for approximately 7 weeks.

Saaaa-weeet.

xxoo.S

I miss my Blockbuster

Last weekend I had the brainwave that the Hubs should get a get of jail free card for the evening, while I got to be "good Mommy" and let Madds stay up late and watch a movie. Awesome plan, yes? Here's the kicker...

There's no effing video stores anymore. Not sure if you've heard (I hadn't),  but Blockbuster went out of business and they have no more stores in Canada. So..... yeah. Include the various mom + pop stores that have gone bust locally, and I was starting to wrack my brain on where we were actually going to rent a movie from.

Sure there's Rogers On Demand - which I'm guessing, is one of the main reasons Blockbuster died its slow, corporate death - but have you checked out their children (sorry, FAMILY) selection? It's pitiful. I ended up finding a local Rogers Video and we checked out a few titles there - but it just wasn't the same. Selection was sparse and THEY DIDN'T HAVE REESE BITES. First Rule of Video Rental - have my effing candy. I want to impulse buy all sorts of unhealthy treats while I'm in line to rent my movies, and Reese Bites are at the TOP OF THAT LIST. (We settled for King size Reese PB cups - but they're just.not.the.same.)


But can we digress for a moment... because DUDES. Video stores are dying. And it's making me sad. Doesn't it feel like the end of an era? Does anyone else remember walking into a Jumbo Video as a teenager on a Friday night, helping yourself to a mini bag of popcorn and munching away as you browsed around? Because that memory for me is so vivid, such a REAL MOMENT that it makes me sad and a bit incredulous that my children won't ever have that same kind of experience.

Instead we all get to sit in our homes. Order whatever current movies our cable provider decides they're going to feature - and get to pay inflated prices for that one-time viewing (which, for a movie for me is no big deal - but for kid movies? They get watched over and over and overandoverandoverandover again - am I right?). I call bullshit.

Are we that digitalized (yes, I realize it's not a word - but it is now - it means all LawnmowerMan'd up - and if you get that reference then, YOU WIN) that we can't even support the economy of video rental? Wherein we have to leave our home and go somewhere and borrow a movie for a fee and bring said movie back when we say we will, so others can also borrow it and watch it? You want me to rely on NETFLIX for my entertainment? (Yes, that was said with as much of a sneer as you may have read there - the concept of paying $8 a month to watch shitastic movies like Point Break and The Wedding Singer makes me seriously question the sanity of people.)

I know there's some other kind of video rental where they mailed the vids to you - where you pick them online and they send them to you when they're available. S'cool. I've done it in the past, way back when. Cheap too. But it's still not the same...

C'mon, seriously... Is anyone else as sad as me about this turn of events? Or am I the old dinosaur resisting change and technology while you guys are all, Yay! Let's all curl up and watch shit on our laptops and beep-boop-bop-bop-biddity-bop (this is my fancy computer sound-effect), perhaps I shouldn't laugh at that funny part there, instead I'll just tweet it: "LOL - I love Jason Bateman movies! " and someone you don't know can reply back "ROFLMAO - I know!!! He's teh funnyy!"...

...AND UNLESS YOU'RE GOING TO TEXT ME SOME REESE BITES, I DON'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU.

xxoo.S