Dish Gremlins

I swear that there are gremlins hiding in the shadows here whose only purpose in life is to put dishes in my sink.  I have washed dishes five times today and yet, every time I walk through the kitchen, there are a few more in the sink.

I have dishpan hands!

I've gotten over being embarrassed when someone walks into the apartment and sees dirty dishes in my sink.  I just distract them with my tumbleweed dust bunnies (hee hee).  Those who know me well, know that I will never win any good housekeeping awards and are cool with it.  They're here to see me not my clean sink...... thank goodness!

I suppose the fact that I've got a teen and pre-teen in the place who are constantly eating or drinking something could explain a lot.  They inhale the current refreshment and, plunk, there goes something else into the sink.  Maybe these two also explain what I, until now, took to be the work of the cousin of the dish-gremlin.....the grocery gremlin whose purpose in life is to empty my fridge (and wallet).

Now, the kids don't mind helping with the groceries or carrying them up the stairs because that means that their bottomless pits will continue to have fuel but getting them to deal with the aftermath is something else.  I practically have to twist their arms to get them in front of that sink and even then they often do a half-assed job of it.

I made a great breakfast and a super supper as well as doing dishes multiple times today so you'd think that when I asked Drama Queen to wash the desert dishes, she'd do so without a fuss, right?  Wrong!!!  You wouldn't believe the eye rolling and groaning..... I actually had to yell at her after calling her to the kitchen THREE times.  I had to remind her of all that I'd done for her today.  I almost had to pull out the I-carried-you-for-nine-months-and-gave-you-life card.

I suppose that most parents of 11 and 13 year olds go through the same kind of thing so I guess that I'm not alone.  I'll get these two trained yet!

Until then, somebody please pass me the hand moisturizer....

Kat

It's been quite a while since I put up a post.  I've had a lot of ups and downs since last summer when I last posted and I suppose that those "downs" are the reason for not blogging.  I just haven't had the inspiration or desire to write.  Thankfully I seem to have landed in a better place now - an "up" - so the itch to write seems to have reappeared.

Over the past year, my job has been trying and tiring not to mention stressful.  It has had an effect on every aspect of my life.  I was coming home exhausted, my mind drained, which left me depressed and moody.  These are not the qualifications of a good mother or fun person.  Add to this the fact that money was very tight for quite a long while - more stress, thank you.  Then, of course, the cold weather came with its grey skies which eventually takes me into a funk no matter how good I started out feeling - in this case, not very good.

I guess that I kind of went into hibernation mode.  I wasn't going out, wasn't doing anything creative, just existing.  I'm not sure that I would have been diagnosed as "clinically depressed" but I think that I was as closed to it as you can get.  With this mood, any attempt at meeting people or dating would have been laughable so it has also been lonely.  My children are wonderful and thank goodness I've had them to keep me from going completely under but sometimes an adult needs another adult to confide in late in the evening when the day is winding down.

Speaking of my children, they are thriving in spite of my floundering.  Scout Boy is now taller than me (at 13!) so I'll probably have to think of a new nickname for him soon (Stretch, maybe?).  He's intelligent and questions everything, not happy to just follow the status quo.  Sometimes he stretches my patience when it's me he's challenging but I'd rather put up with that than have him be a sheep.

Drama Queen (yes, that nickname still fits) is quickly turning into a lovely young lady.  Puberty has hit, much to her father's chagrin, and her personality, sense of style and view of the world around her are rushing to keep up with her changing body.  For the most part, she is doing wonderfully at it although the emotions are always bubbling under the surface.  She is sometimes caught between being an eleven year old (still a kid really) and being a young woman.

The reason that I'm "up" lately?  Well, raise time at work has just passed and my boss showed just how much he recognizes and appreciates the hard work that I've been putting in with a decent raise and an extra bonus.  To be honest, we all got a bonus in my department because we've all been really rising to the challenge this past year and it shows.  Also, the workload has come down a bit and the stress has eased, thank goodness.  I'm not sure how I would have handled it if things had continued the way they were.  On top of that, I also got in some nice tax refunds which have left me debt free and bought a few things that I've really needed/wanted.  Work-wise and financially, I'm in better shape than I have been in a while and a great weight has been lifted.

The fact that the sun and green grass have come back is also a thing to cheer for and has done a lot to lift my soul.  I open my window in the morning, breathe in the fresh air and don't mind stepping out my door to start the day.

The love life still leaves something to be desired but even that had a bit of a lift recently.  A very nice man that I had a couple of dates with last summer got back in touch recently and we got together.   It was really nice and we are still in touch.  Of course every silver lining has its cloud.  He's had to transfer back home to the UK because his mother is in bad health (couple of strokes) and needs help.  He's hoping to come back to Montreal but it's not going to happen any time soon.  We'll stay in touch but I'm not going to let myself get too hopeful.

All in all, I'm feeling better than I have in a long time and am hoping to continue that way.  Maybe you'll even hear from me a little more often.  I promise to attempt more entertainment and less complaining :)

Kat

Cottage Life

The kids and I spent a couple of days last weekend with my aunt, uncle and cousin at a cottage that they rented in the Eastern Townships (about nintety minutes from Montreal).  It was a lovely place with all the modern amenities you could want but still only accessed by dirt road and within sight of a lake.  I was so lazy that I barely took any pictures but I did get a few.

Much fishing and crawfish hunting was done by my Drama Queen and cousin (almost 16)

Also much lounging with books and newspapers

There was even a bonfire with s'mores.....mmmmmm

There was plenty of bickering between Scout Boy and Drama Queen - sorry no pics of that; not a pretty thing - and three lost passports for my family who were flying out to Trinidad for their next posting this weekend.  Guess what they had to run around doing this week? 

It was a beautiful, if hot, weekend and certainly a nice break from the ordinary

Kat

Haiku

Between the heat/humidity we've been having and how insanely busy I've been with work, my brain has been in constant melt-down lately.  Because of the gooey state of my brain, I haven't been spending a lot of time online and (as you know) no time on my blog. 

I did discover something recently, though, that has caught my attention.  I was reading a book recently and the subject of haiku came up.  I Googled it and learned that haiku is a Japanese form of poetry that has some reference to one of the four seasons and seventeen syllables (three lines - 5, 7, 5).  When it is done in English, it tends to be far more flexible as far as content and can be humourous, sad, thoughtful, etc.

I've been doing a bit of experementing with it.  Okay, I'm a total amateur so please don't be too harsh.

First, with a season, just to be traditional:

Grass so green and long;
  Your scent surrounds my senses
like a summer dream.

I was watching a program about sharks on National Geographic channel when this one came along (I'll take inspiration whereever I can get it!!)

Oh mighty sun shark,
  with teeth so sharp and fatal;
King of his domain.

Both of the following are quite true depending on my mood.

Facebook and Twitter,
   always hungry and greedy;
suck away my time.

Facebook and Twitter,
   fascinating and social;
I give you my time.

My cousin's cat is staying with us for a while and my cat is definitely NOT appreciating this intruder.  I think that story will definitely be another blog post.

Two cats in my home
   circle each other, unsure.
Who is this stranger?

I continued that theme when I met someone online recently.

Who is this stranger?
    I know him only slightly;
will there be a spark?

We seem to have attracted some fruit flies here that have been making me bonkers! (another post?)

Fruit flies so tiny,
   buzzing around my poor head;
such a busy bug!

Okay ladies and gentlemen, if you think I'm lame try not to hurt my feelings.  If you think that this could be fun, show me what you've got.......haiku-wise, of course.  Anything else would be kind of wierd, you know.

Kat