Bread Crumbs In The Butter

Kids, Tweens & Social Media

Are you on Facebook?

Silly question, right?

I am. You are. Most of us are. Not only has it been a great way to reconnect with old friends (I think our next high school reunion might actually have more than ten people attend!), but it's my main source for information about my local friends as well.  I read the highlight through their status updates, we organize playdates and parties and gossip by sending messages. Besides Gmail, it's the one site I have to check every morning before I leave for work.

Recently, two of my friends children added me as friends. These kids are tweens, between the ages of 9 and 13.  A category two of my own kids fall into.  I was surprised to see them there and even more surprised when I perused their friends lists and saw many other girls that I know from the area.

I didn't even consider Kristyn and Erin joining Facebook as a possibility.

Not that I judge - it just never entered my mind. When I poked around it all seemed quite harmless and cute. There were few photos and their parents were all on their friends lists, so I know they're watching what's going on.  When I consider how I use Facebook, I can see why it would be an attractive tool for my girls as they get older.  Both girls have email accounts, which have helped them stay in touch with friends over the summer.  They both know that I get first dibs on reading and can log in at any time. Still, I doubt it would ever occur to them that they could use email as anything sneaky or weird.

I've heard of some social networking sites for kids, such as Club Penguin and Webkinz, and really like the idea. We actually talked about letting them a Club Penguin account, but you do have to pay for certain things on the site and that's just not somewhere I want to spend my money. 

I'm curious to hear what others think about this. I can tell you all kinds of stuff about giving birth and diapering or why I don't think you should spank your kid, but when as my kids get older, I'm pretty much feeling the wall in the dark looking for the switch.  My girls are getting to an age where not screwing them up is getting really, really important.

Break it down for me, folks.

A list of things that are "Totally Tits"

When we saw the episode of Southpark where Cartman coins the phrase "totally tits", John ran away with it. He isn't yet at the point where he says it constantly, but when he finds out that it's circling the internet, he'll make it his new mission.

I wandered over to Ali's and saw that she had produced a very detailed (and fabulous) list of things she currently thinks are "tits".  And while I know I'm late in supplying a recap of the adventure race I did last weekend, complete with the story of running into two bears, I figured it would be a nice distraction to post my own list.

Here's what totally tits here in Almonte (to me anyway!):

- The La Senza Spirit Sports Bra.  Let's just say my tits go nowhere in this thing when I run or play hockey. Or fall off my bike.

- Miller Genuine Draft beer, poured into my favourite glass, with a lime. Freaking awesome.

- My kids kicky new LL Bean backpacks, complete with their names monogrammed into them.

- The Twilight Series of books. Holy shit. I've been staying up way too late to finish them and I'm almost there.  I'm in agreement with Ali about the movie though. I'm not completely thrilled with their choice of actors. I think it's a testament to Stephanie Meyer's skills as a writer though. She did such an amazing job describing the Cullens that you'd pretty much have to start new people from scratch to cast them perfectly.

- Crunchy peanut butter. I had forgotten what a treat this stuff is. 

- Sleeping in while it's raining outside.

- My beaten and battered body. This might confuse you. I've gotten stung by bees, bruised my arse from falling off my bike, hockey sticks to the shins, buts of hockey sticks to the ribs and a whole whack of scratches from various greenery along the way.  Why is it tits? Cause it makes me feel badass. Bad. Ass. At 33. 

Tell me now. What's on your list?

After The Show

I experienced Wicked last night.

You know how everyone, well most people, okay people who like theatre, have that one show that gives them a wistful look on their faces?  It's the one show they remember when they saw it for the time, what city, who the cast was and how many times they've seen it since then.

Wicked is officially mine.

It was amazing. I was told several times that it is completely different from the book and that is true, but it's equally magical. It just tells a slightly different story.

The characters of Elphaba and Galinda were perfectly played. The actress who played Galinda did a phenomenal job. Her slightly dorky and jerky movements were totally endearing and had me in stitches. Elphaba's sarcastic wit and self deprecating humour was perfectly timed and very smart.

All in all, I adored it.

I can't wait to see it again!

Bullety, Edition 36; Twilight

• We're two days away from seeing Wicked at the NAC. I finally finished the book and I have to say, as hard as it was to get through, I really enjoyed it. It took me a month to get through The Hobbit (which I found very similar) and it's one of my favourite books of all time. I guess I just didn't want to miss anything, so I read every word, which I rarely do!

• On the subject of books - Twilight. Holy effing shit. I was last on the train for Harry Potter and late to the part for the Travelling Pants books and I kicked myself for not giving in sooner. This time, I'm really mad at myself. I was up until 3am reading and I kept looking over at John really pissed off that he is not a one hundred year old teenage vampire. Asshole. 

• I'm on vacation this week, with no particular plan. I woke up at 9:30am this morning, which is a bit different than my usual 5:45am to get to work for 7am.  I want to say that I'm one of those people who just wakes up at her usual time and greets the day, but I'm not. I can sleep like no one's business. It's a substansial gift!

The Laundry Hurdle

I'm a grown up. Did you know that?

Not only am I in my mid-thirties, but I have lots of grown up responsibilities. I have a marriage. I have a truck that's actually in my name! I have a mortgage (trust me, I have a big mortgage!).  I have four children whom I've not only managed not to lose, but I feed them healthy meals and everything.

I keep a relatively clean house. I even vacuum and dust it - or I get the kids to do it, but I used to do it all the time when they were babies. I think I have finally started to decorate it to my taste and it looks nice. Meaning, if you surprised me on a Sunday morning with a visit, I'd be pissed at you for waking me up, but I would fear not you experiencing the state of our house.

There's just one thing I don't handle in a very grown up way. One little hurdle that I just can't get over.

Laundry.

The very word sends me into a shame spiral and makes me want to eat cookie dough out of the bowl.

I don't know what it is, but I just can't seem to get this one right. I constantly forget to start loads and when I do, I forget them in the machine and they stink so badly we have to dry them and wash them over again. Or, they sit in the dryer forever, getting wrinkled, and trust me I have more issues with ironing than I do laundry!  Even when I do remember to start the loads and then actually finish them, our clothes never smells April Fresh like the box says they should - or like our friends clothes do.

All that said, it also seems like all I do is laundry. On days where I'm really on the ball and get load after load done, it takes forever for me to clue in that it needs to be folded and actually put away. If I get my kids to do it, it doesn't seem to end because they're as slow as molasses. At least I'm not doing it though, right?

What in the world is wrong with me that I can't get this right?  For chrissake, I have a gorgeous laundry room that is larger than our first apartment!  I even have, yes it's true, two washers and two dryers! (When we sold our house in Stittsville, the new buyers renegged on wanting our brand new front loader set and we had already bought new ones for this house.)

I guess there are worse things to be an underachiever at when it comes to household chores. I can cook a mean meal, our bed is always made and godamnit, I have a very organized kitchen. Still, it would be nice to be able to answer "Do you have any facecloths?" with something other than "Are those the small square towels we got as a wedding gift? I think there are some mildewy ones in the laundry room sink."

Tell me you have a household thing like this too. Please!

Maybe I take it too far?

I just announced to Alex and Meghan that they should play in the family room for a bit because I was going to be cleaning the house. (I really know how to rock my afternoons off, eh?)

Alex freaked and started to cry.

"What's wrong, Buddy?" I asked him.

"Are you going to throw out all my stuff again?" He yelled.

I guess I take Cleaning Up, Mommy Style a bit too far sometimes?

Or maybe my kids are just that messy?

Meme time! Six (Just six?) Quirky Things

It's been forever since someone tagged me in a meme!  Okay, well maybe not that long, but it's probably been a whole whack of time since I actually completed one I was tagged in.

Cristina over at Homeslice tagged me in this one and I'm happy to oblige.

The Rules
* Link to the person who tagged you.
* Mention the rules.
* Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
* Tag six other bloggers by linking to them.
* Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment to let them know that they’ve been tagged.

So, here we go:

1. Please don't try to load my dishwasher.  What will happen is I will hover over you, rub my hands together, turn my feet in and bite my tongue. After you're done, I will wait 43 seconds before I do it again, the way I like to have it done.
2. I have a very serious, never mess with, shower routine. I check to be sure my supplies are stocked and then I shower my parts in a very strict order. If I screw it up, I will start over. Surprisingly though, I'm an extremely fast showerer.
3. I'm not crazy about my food touching. If everything is sort of "autonomous" (meaning solid and not runny), it can all go on the same plate and even touch a little bit. But, I will never, ever eat salad on my dinner plate and have the dressing get everywhere. Baked beans with my breakfast? Yeah, in their own bowl!
4. I have cereal every night before bed, but I rarely have cereal for breakfast.  Multi-Grain Cheerios and Mini Wheats (just regular, not that strawberry crap, yuck!) are my nightly faves, but I'll eat Sugar Crisp or Honey Bunches Of Oats too. 
5. I always, always have an elastic around my wrist. I have lots of hair and as much as I try to wear it down, it inevitably ends up on top of my head at some point. Oh, and the elastics are always black, or maybe brown. Pink and purple elastics just won't do.
6. Everything has to be just right for me to go to bed. The bed has to be properly made, there has to be a fan on and I have to read or watch TV before I can doze off. I'm very jealous of John who just hops in to bed and is asleep 13 seconds later.

So there we have it.  Blog fodder and more boring things than you really wanted to know I bet.  I have to tag five people now, which I probably don't have a right to do because I haven't read or commented on any blogs recently, so if you feel like letting me know how crazy you are, have at it!

Bullety, Edition 35; All sports all the time!

• The second annual Redneck Racing Series race is coming up in a few weeks and I'm totally pumped! Circumstances have kept us from doing any adventure races so far this year so I am really excited about this.  My partner, Alison and I have been braving dogs and rough roads to train and we can't wait!

• This was my first year playing ball hockey and our regular season is almost over. Our team had a slow start, lots of rookies and well, I basically had no idea what I was doing. Soccer is my sport, but the idea is the same, so it didn't take long for me to catch on. Can I now say how much my team rocks! We're finishing up our regular season without a loss in 6 games! I'd say I'd like to venture out and try ice hockey, but I'm already a menace with that stick, can you imagine me on skates? 

• Two and a half weeks until Moyra and I go see Wicked, our mutual birthday presents to each other.  We're gonna spend the night, have dinner and do yoga in the morning.  I'm extremely excited for this very girlie break!  Having said that, I'm trying to make my way through the book and please, help me. Tell me it gets better. I'm halfway through and it's just now piqueing my interest.  I'm really, really, really trying to like this book because I heard that musical is amazing.  

• One last thing ... school starts FOUR WEEKS from tomorrow. Working only until noon everyday and coaching the kids has made for an amazingly balanced summer for me, but we're all setting our eyes on getting back to routine.  This our last year with a kindergartener. Next year, they're all in school all day, every day. We've almost made it!

It does a body good!

Last night, while sitting on the deck, we had Meg and Alex stand back to back.

Meg is 7 years old.

Alex is 5.5 years old.

Alex is now taller than Meghan.

He was hooting and hollering at his new found stature while Meg ran away into the house.

"Oh, Meggie! It's okay, honey!" I yelled out. "You're not small, Alex is just really really big. Where are you going?"

She turned back and smiled at us.

"I'm going to drink some milk!"