This is the end

Well sort of.

I am no longer posting here. I have been trying to keep up this blog and my 365 one and it just did not work. So I am merging the two :)

From this moment on, my life musings and whatnot will be included in my 365 blog. So it will no longer simply be 365 days of pictures, it will be 365 days of ramblings.

Enjoy. I think I will :)

William's Thanksgiving Essay

So william came home a few weeks ago with a school assignment. He had to write an essay about Thanksgiving based on the idea that he could invite anyone in the world, dead or alive, past or present to eat with him and enjoy his company. Well William was livid about it. He claimed that there was no one he would EVER want to invite, the essay was dumb, the whole concept was foolish and what the hell would he talk about with a stranger anyway because he hates talkinv to people.

So I told him that he just had to pretend he was writing a story and to use his imagination. And write the way he thinks...easy right?

So he brought me the essay. All typed and ready to go. I took one read and told him that he could not pass it in, that it had to be re-written and that he had to do it completely differently. He was having none of it. So I told him to pass it in but to expect that he would be asked to re-write it.

He got it back yesterday. Not only was he not asked to write it over...but he got an A for creativity!

So without further ado...here is the essay. The essay written completely and 100% by my 13 year old son and passed in exactly as it is here. I'm keeping it for posterity.


Note: I apologize for this typed up rough draft. I didn't have the time to hand write seeing as it's currently 10:00 PM on Sunday and I didn't think of who to invite until basically five minutes ago. If it's REALLY that important then just take off however many marks the rough draft was worth. It is better for me to lose the marks than to try to write right now. Sorry.

Thinking up who I have to invite is pretty difficult for me. This paragraph took me awhile and I only really came up with one person who I MIGHT be a bit interested in talking to. I know I could have five or six people here who I might be interested in, and I'll probably lose marks for not doing so, but the only person I could come up with was Bill Gates. Even then, I wouldn't really be interested in talking to him, but I can't just write an essay about inviting no one, can I? Didn't think so. Anyway, the reason for 'wanting' to invite him would be his knowledge of computers and such.

Moving on, this is the paragraph where I tell you who I've decided on inviting and why, if I remember correctly. Obviously, I've decided on inviting Bill Gates. Honestly though, I would rather invite no one and just have a nice Thanksgiving dinner with my family, but that's not allowed and I have to invite him. I decided on inviting him to ask him questions about how he started his company, how he managed to basically turn DOS into a much easier to use system and the like. I would give some reasons for why I didn't invite some other people, but there wasn't really anyone else anyway so I didn't have much of a choice.

Anyway, as to what will be served for dinner, it would be served at roughly 7:00 - 7:30 PM and my grandmother (Dad's side) would be cooking it. The food will consist of one perfectly cooked turkey, baked potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli soaked in cheese (or at least, that's what it looked like), and... uhh... some other stuff. Even though granny doesn’t usually cook dessert, for this special occasion she has made upside down pear cake served with cream. Very nice.

Now, this should be a much easier subject. The people attending the dinner would be me, my sister, my father and my stepmother, my grandmother and grandfather, my aunt, uncle and their daughter, some of my dad's friends. All of those that are related to me that would be at that dinner are on my dad's side of the family. Anyway, we would talk about his job and how he managed to make windows, along with maybe asking him roughly how much money he has. I would hope the others at the dinner could carry on the conversation well, as I am really bad at talking, and we'd answer any questions Bill had. Eventually, we would have a 'concert' of sorts with a bunch of Newfoundland songs with my dad playing guitar / singing and my grandfather playing the... I don't know the name of it but it's some small guitar like thing that isn't a banjo. Oh a mandolin, yes, grandpa would be playing the mandolin and the harmonica.

Finally, the last paragraph, where I describe how the dinner... went..? I was supposed to be writing this entire thing in character? Bah. I'm not rewriting this entire thing. I'll just pretend that I did do so and go along with that. The dinner went well. Bill liked all the food and answered all our questions, along with asking a few of his own. As far as I'm aware, he seemed to enjoy the songs at the end of the night as well. I definitely feel better about this then before the supper, more relaxed and such. I'm glad that we had the dinner with Bill and I'd like to see him again, though that's likely never going to happen. I wouldn't do anything like this next year though. Just a nice, normal dinner with the family, none of this celebrity business. Too stressful. Okay, out of character again. Disregard anything I said before saying that I wouldn't do that again next year. I only said those things for the sake of the essay. I would rather not actually have anyone famous over to my house for Thanksgiving. It would be too much of a hassle. Anyway, essay over.

The bi-annual breakdown defined....

So I had a bit of a breakdown on Saturday morning. I generally try to limit that three hour period of tears, panic and all around hysteria to about twice a year. Usually it is preceded by James being an idiot (sorry honey), Jacob being out of control (which happens often) or me spreading my time and energy much to thin until I snap (I plead the fifth on how often I skirt the edges of that).

Anyway, so Saturday morning I just lost it. Like completely lost it. James was all set to clean the garden and I literally fell into his arms just sobbing and wailing about God knows what, I don't even remember now...I think it had something to do with the realization that I give and give and give and very often it is unreciprocated. Therefore in my warped and complete manic mind I interpreted this tidbit of information as "Nobody loves me, I am all alone in this cruel harsh world, what have I done with my life?"

Obviously I was insensible with emotion.

So I cried and cried and cried some more. James didn't quite know what to do with me...I do remember seeing the blind panic in his eyes when I started to gasp out insensible words of doom and gloom. And then Mom called and needed me to go up to Corey's pharmacy to get her prescription with her and the waterworks stopped just like someone had flicked a switch in my brain. BOOM. Gone. Just like that. I head upstairs, wash my face and came out with the hint of a sheepish smile on my face.

And really, if I think about it...that's the way it always happens. A few hours of absolute craziness and then it is all over. Never to be seen again for about six months or so. I suppose it is a release of some sort, some defense mechanism that I have perfected to enable me to continue on with this roller coaster of a life I have. Either way, it is done and over and we are none the worse for it all. Thankfully, James is used to it by now...otherwise I presume he would have run for the hills a long time ago. So it is now T-minus 6 months until the next bout...I hope he is ready for it.

What a Month!

Wow...a whole month without posting...what have I been doing??

Well see school started on September 3...and that means a huge adjustment for the boys...and me. Especially me. I grow used to the lazy days of summer, the mornings of getting up and getting showered and drinking coffee and just moseying on in to work. No children to wake, no homework to do, no lunches to make, no fights about not wanting to go to school, no push for bedtimes, no incomprehensible school projects....ahhh...summer. How I miss you.

And so back to school takes a bit of getting used to. I think the children adjust faster than I do. Funny that.

And so with a month in our routines are getting set, the evenings are more frantic but we have a system and so far it seems to be working. The mornings are running smoother than last year this time so that's a good thing...and of course Christmas is around the corner now.

No. No. Stop that. It is too soon to talk about Christmas. TOO SOON.




I wonder what I can get for Jacob this year...oh and James saw something nice at Costco that he said Corey and Amanda would like...I'd better get Jenn to start looking at online stores. And a snowblower for James....that's a definite.....

So my best friend has a girlfriend...

Anyone who knows me knows that my best friend is a guy named Dave. We worked out last night that we have been friends for 25 years now. Which is insane when you think about, I don't feel 25 years OLD let alone old enough to have a friend for that long...but yeah, thats what it is...I was in Grade 9 and he was in Grade 10 at a different school and it was literally friendship at first sight. Funnily enough I met him the same year I met James...man I hang on to people for a long time don't I?

Trying to define our relationship is awkward. It's more than friendship...its that unmistakeable contentment of being with a person you can trust implicitly and tell all of your secrets too. Someone who is not a lover, nor has ever been...but yet there is an intimacy in our relationship that I have only felt with my husband ('s - sheesh). I can talk to Dave about anything and he does the same with me, even the miles from St. John's to Halifax which separate us now mean nothing. It is incredibly special and I wish everyone could have a friend like him - but not with him...because you know, that guy is mine.

And now a girl has entered his life. No, not just a girl...a girl with POTENTIAL. A girl whose name brings a smile to his voice and a catch in his breath. A girl that makes his voice go soft and happy when he talks about her. And it is not me. It is not me and oh my goodness it is SO sweet. So sweet and I am so happy for him...and her. Because if she is smart (and I think she might be) she will realize what she has and hang on for dear life. And it is just the beginning of this relationship for him and truth be told, like many relationships it may not work out. There have been women in his life before, women he loved and loved him but this is the first time...the FIRST time I have ever seen him positively giddy. And even if it doesn't work out and she ends up breaking his heart (or him hers) I just want to thank her for these moments of absolute joy that I see in him.

So my best friend has a girlfriend. And I am so happy about it that I could squeal. Which I won't do of course but you know what I mean....

Let's compare....

I have to laugh. I found this older picture on my computer today...it is Jennifer and William in London a few years ago...Jennifer must be 16 or so and William is 10:

Jennifer stopped growing...she was done. Will however, was not. IS not....this is them at the wedding in June - Will is 13 and Jennifer is 19:

I wonder how tall he is going to end up being?? LOL!!