New Year's Resolutions

It's that time of year again when people make New Year's resolutions (that most will not uphold for longer than a couple of weeks). I like to make resolutions but at the same time I also like to keep it real.

I should be resolving to lose 10-15 pounds or giving up my (several) daily Iced Cappuccinos bbbuuuuttt I won't because the chances of me following through are about the same as me marrying an Arabian Prince and sailing away on a magic carpet -not going to happen.

In the past I have resolved to things like stop biting my nails, a disgusting little habit that I picked up at a young age and I associated with stress. Imagine the coincidence that the year I resolved to quit that habit I also got rid of a major source of stress -my ex-husband and successful stuck to my resolution. Last year I resolved to do more for charity. I'm pleased to report that this year along side the Crazy Mamas we collected $1000 in donations to the MS Society of Canada and participated in their MS Walk not to mention the bags and bags of clothes and toys that (finally) left my house and went to the Salvation Army.

This year I plan to make a resolution as well and am narrowing down the list of attainable goals:

1. Lose 5 pounds? Sure I can do that...I think.

2. Keep the Magic Pumpkin clean (on the inside, the outside is a lost cause on a dirt road)? Let's be real, I'm not likely going to be able to keep that one for more than a couple of months. I have 3 kids.

3. Get my family back on a night time routine that includes baths for the boys...every night -one should not have to smell their child to determine whether or not they are due for a bath (it's not that bad but close)?

4. De-clutter my house! Needs to be done in a serious way.


I think it will be number 3 or 4...or both. Either way I plan to stick to my New Year's resolution unlike those people resolving to get into shape or quit smoking or lose 25 pounds or whatever other less attainable thing only a small percentage of them will actually succeed at.

Happy New Year and good luck in 2010!



*Post your New Year's resolutions in the comment section. I'm dying to hear what you plan to resolve this year :).

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

I love snow. Maybe my northern blood runs deep, I don't know but I truly love the fluffy stuff. Mind you I live on a farm and we don't shovel snow, we plow it, that helps. I don't work outside in it so that isn't an issue for me. In fact snow actually helps business at the Donut Shack. There is nothing like a hot cup of coffee or hot chocolate on a snowy day.

I love just about everything about snow. I like the way it looks, the way it feels, the way it crunches, the way it covers all the yucky leaves in my flowerbeds left over from the fall, the way it blows in little swirls, the way it drifts, and if my memory serves me right I do remember from my younger years I like the way it tastes (now I know that there is a good chance of ingesting dog urine or something else nasty with a mouth full of chilly snow, a chance I'm not willing to take with 2 dogs in the yard).

I don't even mind driving in the snow as long as it isn't white out conditions. I would rather drive in snow than rain actually. I'm not afraid to take my time when needed. I have an auto start on my magic pumpkin so I rarely have to sweep snow from my windshield and my vehicle is not to bad to drive on the slippery roads.

The only things I don't like about snow are that is slows down the school bus that picks up Little Bear in the morning which in turn slows me down to drop Fuzzy off at daycare and makes it a close call for me to get to work on time and the dirty mess the salt on the roads makes of my magic pumpkin (not really the snow that does that so I guess that isn't really something I don't like about snow).

I would much rather have months of snowy weather than a week of super hot summery weather. I love snow so all you anti-snow bellyachers suck it up and let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Laugh It Up

Lately I have found myself wanting to blog but not having anything to write that other people will want to read about. At first I thought maybe I was suffering from "Creativity Constipation" again but that wasn't it. I had lots I wanted to say but most of it would have been gloomy and depressing and that is NOT what this blog is about.

I have now realized that with all kinds of stupid serious stuff going on around me I have forgotten to laugh at life. A long time ago I decided that when life gets complicated a person can either laugh about it or cry about it. I choose laugh. Laugh till my sides hurt. Laugh until I forget that I was close to crying.

What fun is life if you can't take a crappy situation and find the humor in it? So far in my life I have found the humor in unplanned pregnancy (unplanned but never unwanted), having a "Monster in Law", job stress, child rearing woes, divorce, single parenting, having to sell my home, and so many other life experiences that could have broken me if I let them.

I'm not the only one that benefits from being able to laugh at the crappy stuff. When I look for and find the humor in situations and then share it with my friends, family and readers it can help them to find humor in their serious stuff.

A favourite saying is: when life hands you lemons there are 2 kinds of people -those that make lemonade and those that cry about having lemons. Time to build a new stand because I'm going to make a whole lot of lemonade.

Time to get back where I want to be. From here on out I, SlightlyInsaneStacey vow to climb back on the wagon and laugh it up.

Pretty as a Picture

Like most proud Mamas I enjoy dressing my 4 men up in their fancy digs for Christmas pictures. This year I decided just to skip it. Not because I wanted to by any means but because my family looks like they have survived a car accident after a plane crash.

It's not unusual for one of my kids to bang their head or something the day before pictures but usually a little touch up of the photos or a Santa hat are easy fixes. This year there is no easy fix.

Until yesterday when I finally just took Little Bear to Walmart for a haircut he was walking around looking like Benji the Shaggy Dog. Our hairdresser broke her arm before his last regular haircut but tried her best. -Her best is not HIS best look. No big deal, had I followed through on family pictures I would have taken him for his expensive discount haircut sooner.

When I picked Fuzzy up from daycare the week before last he was sporting carpet burn from the end of his nose, between his eyes, to his hairline. (Due to the fact that I have never had a problem with my daycare and they have always been really great I did not feel the need to have a melt down about them not providing the safest care for my child. Things happen, this happened. He will live). The carpet burn went from a bright red group of patches to a lovely dark scar between his eyes. Just as the carpet burn marks were beginning to fade another facial blemish took it's place. Little Bear tells the story like this: "I was reading a book (one of Wee Ones board books) and I got so excited that I 'accidentally' threw the book and it hit Fuzzy in the eye". Now Fuzzy has a black eye...


I have never had a cold sore in my whole entire life, ever. Last week my face was completely taken over by one. Not only did I get an ugly little sore but I looked like I lost a heavy weight bout and sported a fat lip that extended up into my right cheek. Gross and not very picturesque. My eyebrows are also in serious need of a waxing.

The scariest of all these issues is the reason Wee One will not be getting his Christmas pictures taken this year. I got a call on Sunday at work from Papa Bear saying only that I needed to meet him at the hospital, that Wee One had hit his head and he had called an ambulance. -Not really enough information to stop a Mama from losing it. Not knowing what the situation was or if Wee One was even conscious I headed to the hospital to wait for the ambulance...which took forever and provided me with lots of time to imagine the worst. When my little peanut was finally unloaded from an ambulance laying strapped to a backboard and wearing a neck brace it was easy to see why we were there. Between Wee One's eyes was a gaping hole. He had been running around and fell and hit his face on one of the only two stairs in our house. The amount of blood that resulted was what prompted Papa Bear to call the ambulance. Only three stitches and some glue to repair the wound but still not something I want to repeat. Though with three crazy boys I'm sure this was not our last experience with stitches.

Over all our family portrait was likely to look more like the cast from The Night of the Living Dead. I think I will wait until we are all looking as pretty as a picture and then just stick some Santa hats on everyone and no one will be the wiser.

Wordless Wednesday 5

Yeah I know I missed one...

H1N1ing The Bear Family

After much debate, reading and information gathering I made the decision that the Bear family should get the H1N1 vaccine.

I had to decide how we would go about all 5 of us getting our vaccine. Should I take the 2 youngest by myself during the day and then go back with Papa Bear and Little Bear after school or should I just brave it and load the Magic Pumpkin with all 5 of us and get it done in 1 trip. The thoughts of the long lines and 3 small kids resulted in all 5 of us going together.

The line waiting started out not too bad...and then my kids got ants in their pants... Wee One wanted nothing more than to free himself from Papa Bear's arms and run. Fuzzy felt the need to touch EVERYTHING in the church that held the clinic. Nativity scenes, Christmas trees and a wall of pamphlets. Nothing was off limits to him. It's a good thing we got vaccinated against H1N1 because I'm sure he picked something else up by touching all available germ coated surfaces and then doing what he spends half his day doing - picking his nose. Little Bear was just happy to have an audience and insisted on asking a string of difficult to answer questions at the top of his lungs to see me squirm trying to come up with answers that the room full of people were waiting for.

Thankfully the line moved fairly quickly. The next step was to fill out paperwork for each of us while the kids waited "patiently". After completing the papers we got into another line that also moved pretty well. Little Bear was pretty worried about getting a shot and was beginning to show it. When asked who was going to go first Little Bear was quick to say not him. Fuzzy hopped up on the chair like a champ and announced that he wanted to go first. Poor little booger had no idea what he was first for.

None of my children are really any problem when they get their shots but it still surprised me how well Fuzzy took his. Not a sound or a flinch. Nothing. Fuzzy is my new hero. I HATE needles but I had my brave face on for my boys. No way was I going to get Little Bear in that chair if I didn't pretend it was no big deal. After Fuzzy and I were done Little Bear decided it didn't look so bad and he was ready for his turn. He let out a little scream and a tear came to his eye and then he was fine. I think Wee One was more pissed off with being held still when he wanted to go rather than upset about the shot. Papa Bear looked a little pale and apparently was more worked up about the shot than he was letting on too because the nurse had to tell him to relax or it was going to hurt more.

All in all the 15 minutes they make you wait before leaving after your shot was far worse than the actual vaccine. The kids just wanted to leave or eat the manhandled snacks that were available to everyone and their uncle. 15 minutes has rarely seemed so long. Finally we were released. All in all not too bad.

Other than some pretty freaking noticeable pain in both Papa Bear and my own arm everyone did well and it seems we have escaped any serious reactions. The Bear family has successfully been H1N1ed