A hour of Priming one Friday

Well, the potluck did go well. We had loads of food this week, so the chilli didn't get finished. We'll be eating that tonight.

This morning I had an hour off before I have to head in for my class, so I was a busy primer. All the new doors are now primed and I have 'spot primed' the necessary places in the doorways. James is quite excited about all the painting. He has plans to paint everything!

I learned today that Tootsie Rolls have trans fat. I am completely shocked- I thought they were a low fat snack like licorice but now. Not. Low. Fat. and Not. Trans. Fat. Free. Bye-bye Tootsie rolls from my diet!

Break

I thought I'd take a quick break from work and write something here.

I got up at 6am, listened to the news (which I promptly forgot), took my shower, made a chilli for our pot luck tonight (hopefully I plugged it in and turned it on too!), checked my email. Then James got up (7am), we had a cuddle and got ready for the day. I dropped him off at 8am and as he walked into the playroom, he said to me 'Bye- see you when you come back'. Yes, indeed you will. Got into work about 10 minutes later and started my crazy organization of the lab-I have to make sure all the students are in the right stations, pick up reports from TAs, record marks, hand reports back, answer questions, run up and down stairs numerous times- hey at least my fitness is worked into my work!
Now I'm working in my office for an hour making a list of all the problems I'm supposed to be keeping an eye on. At the end of the hour, I head upstairs and it will all start again, except because of scheduled back to back labs, I have to try to clean up the lab and get the morning lab students out. Plus, for this lab I get a bonus of having to give a 'talk' to one of our TAs whom we've been having a bit of a problem with.

Primer

I got a coat of primer on 2 of my doors today as I finished work a bit early.

It's very, very rainy here and our roof is a bit leaky.

James has a new phonics table which he loves.

And yesterday James brought something blue and something yellow to daycare- he thought of this himself because a little boy a few months younger than he seems to be having some difficultly telling the difference between blue and yellow, James wanted to help out:)

Movie, moving and a new fever

For the movie portion of this post I think the subheading should be 'Why I don't watch action movies'. It was an interesting movie, indeed, and fun to go out but during the fight scenes I couldn't figure out who was fighing who, and during WWIII as they called it, I was totally lost. The president of the U.S. was a main character and was played by Lou Gossett Jr., so it was nice to see a non-traditional looking president but he was made out to be a hero at the end, however, it looked to me at the end he was performing as a suicide bomber, which I am not sure in light of events from 2001+ would be considered heroic. But as I said it was interesting.

Kim and I went shopping at Walmart and other than regular supplies that I needed I found a Leap Pad Phonics Table for $20. I was very pleased at the find as I know James is over the moon about his letters. It is listed as Age 4+ so some of the parts are too advanced for him. (it also teaches writing letters and making words with letters) But I gave it to him the morning and he really likes the letter quiz part!

After the movie, Kim and I went back to her old house (the one she's working on selling- she moved to Gananoque on Wednesday) and loaded up her car with some more stuff to take to Gananoque- mainly shelving.

We had a really rough night though. James was tossing and turning a lot but I didn't think much of it, but at 6am he was up with a fever. He felt pretty miserable. But at 8am he was his regular perky self and the fever was down a bit- kind of a low fever now, but I'm a bit worried because he isn't over the cold that he got when he had the last fever so I'm not sure if this is the same thing or something new. I'll call the doctor tomorrow and see if he needs an appointment. I'm hoping his fever will be better by tomorrow.

Myron and I were supposed to go to a meeting at the Church tonight, but I am not sure how James having this fever affects these plans.

Painting

Last night was a difficult evening with James. I don't know if it was him or me, but he was not very cooperative and it made for an annoying evening. I think he was tired and I was tired which compounded the problem. We're doing much better today. Phew :)

Last night, I dreamt that I was painting my house- according to my online dream dictionary (http://www.sleeps.com/dictionary/) this means :If you are doing the painting you will soon secure a good position of employment. I am quite excited about this as my current job situation I do not consider a 'good position'. I would like Queen's to give me full time work doing what I'm doing, but I'm pretty doubtful about that. Of course the dream might also mean that I should paint my house! (I really AM planning on it)

And in a move that will likely cause James to hate my blog in the future, I will tell the following funny story: Our neighbours give us lots of used clothing because they have 3 boys and they are done with having children. Their youngest is one year older than James.
In this last batch, they handed down some white underwear. These were a bit tight on James so I jokingly called them 'tighty whiteys'. He likes to prance around the house now to show off his 'tighty whiteys' and asks for them by name when he gets dressed in the morning. I think it's pretty funny :)

This morning I made Peach Raspberry Upside down French Toast and I will make the second half tomorrow morning. James wasn't too impressed- he wanted 'real toast'. But I thought the breakfast was excellent and very useful because I didn't have a scheduled lunch today, so good to eat a big breakfast and then dinner in the evening.

Tonight, Myron is playing his game all night, but tomorrow night I am going to get to go out with my friend Kim for hours and hours. I am so excited to get away and do fun things. We are going shopping at Walmart. I haven't been shopping in ages and I need everything! Then we are going to her Church and watching a movie. It is called 'Left behind: world at war' and seems to be about WWIII BUT it's a movie and it's free! Who cares? I'm so excited to be going out with no responsibilities for hours! Fun! Have a good weekend y'all. Have a good time in England Lorna!

The trees are gone!

Yay! The men came and took both trees and left no logs for me! They asked if I wanted the stumps so I could have used them to make a stump walk like Oma, but that would really be too much for me, so I said no. We have our backyard back!

The tree con't.

Despite my pessimistic attitute that the rain would keep the tree people from my tree, they have arrived and the tree is now mostly cut up. James will be sad to have missed all the excitement.

The tree

Well, I had phone call from Rick, the son of the lady whose tree is in our backyard, I think because of a note I left for her saying that my insurance will go after your insurance if you don't get the tree cleared away. The note at least got me a phone call from Rick who said that the contractor had been called, but that the contractor thought he had done the job or something bogus like that. Anyway, Rick assured me that the contractor would be here today (ya right- it's raining, so I don't believe that either) and would cut down the tree. Now, you would say this is great. Indeed. However, for some reason the 'contractor' won't actually take the wood away, Rick will do that himself at some point. But at least I should be able to walk in my backyard again, which will be nice, if the contractor does show up, anyway.

Insurance

Well, I finally had a good long talk with my insurance and they say that the neighbours' tree is her property no matter the location. They say if we want to make a claim, they want to come and look see first so they can go after her insurance company. So, I'll tell her that tomorrow as she hasn't been wanting to call her insurance, things might get a move on if she finds someone else is planning on it!

Dubious achievements

James has mastered the fine art of the stapler. (I left the stapler on the floor after stapling some of my students' work, and now I find the pages of my lab manual that I had given James to draw on while i was working also stapled together- in many places!)

Also, he has mastered the art of opening the deadbolt lock on our back door. Now, he can let himself out of the house!

The Phone

Yes, James has discovered how the phone really works. And he loves it!

An aside to telemarketers:
Yes, that is my 3 year old on the phone.
No, he won't give me the phone, but he's very happy to talk to you :)

Thanksgiving and The Streak

Today after the morning Church service was done, James and Tara were playing at the back of the church. James made a pretend bath out of 2 booster seats and then decided it needed to be more realistic so he stripped out of all his clothes. My son, the Streak. After he finished his 'bath' he decided to run all around the church, until I finally corraled him in the bathroom. It really was an amusing sight to see(the bystanders got a good laugh)!

Beeping up

James seems to understand that when trucks reverse they make a beeping sound (a warning noise not to get behind them!). So when he reverses his trucks he says they are 'beeping up'.

I have a pretty nasty cold right now with a pretty raw throat. It is hard to eat 'sharp' things like rice cakes or crackers. James and I were having some crackers and cheese and I was choking a bit and he said to me 'Just eat one bite at a time, ok?'

His new favorite phrase is 'of course'

James and the trouble with trees

Well, it's hard to know where to start.
We have phone service now, though only temporary until they can construct a new 'real' line. The tree will have to move first though!
I have no idea when the tree is moving, but likely on the weekend.
Apparently, the woman had been having work done on the tree before the Rita winds blew it down, so you would think it would be her responsibilty, right? But, no, because it landed in our yard it technically is our problem and our responsibility to move.
James was quite distraught about the laundry line being down as it was something that he and momma did together.
I have pictures and a dubious internet connection so if anyone wants pics, just email me. (I'd post them, but have not that skill yet!)