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August 4, 2002
A little over fourteen months...
School started back and traffic became a nightmare. It seemed there was no alternative but for me to go back to taking the train, which meant Remo and I had to rework our morning schedule. Somehow we, what am I saying we, I, would have to convince or beg Annabelle to take Brandan fifteen minutes earlier, my boss to let me stay on a 7:30-3:30 schedule and Remo would have to do both drop offs. Annabelle was great about it, my boss I'm still too nervous to ask and Remo reluctantly accepted the added pressure.
Monday was day one and in the morning things went smooth, till I got to the office and had to dig in my bag for my security pass. My hand was like a magnet and smooshed right through a long lost plum. A little plum goes a long way. My purse was no better since the scone I had in a supposedly sealed ziploc bag had turned to powder. I vowed to never lose track of food again while I unloaded everything on my desk and went to the bathroom to wash out both bags. I left them to dry in the window all day and then at 3:30, grabbed the bags, threw everything in and took off in a mad dash for the train. In the walk from the train to the van I discovered the one thing I'd forgotten to put back in: keys. It's incredibly frustrating to stand in front of your locked car while 100 people get into their own and drive off, leaving the place completely deserted. I called Remo and insisted he had to come right away to save me. I was miserable and somehow wanted him to admit it was all his fault. It took him almost an hour, trains came and went and it's not like I learned my lesson, the very next morning I did it again.
We have two kids, five car seats. Dee Dee and I each have a complete set, Remo has one for Kaillan that he takes out for Andree in case she has to go somewhere, I pick it up at night. Tuesday morning I took off for the train with literally two minutes to spare. I passed Dr. Bray, made it to the train station, landed the BEST parking and sauntered to the train. My phone rang just as my train was pulling in and I was pulling out my newspaper. It was Remo letting me know I had ALL the car seats. Groan. I headed back home. There's a fine line when you pull a stupid stunt because as frustrated as you are with yourself, you really want it to be someone else's fault. I wrote it off as a lesson in being prepared and I've been driving into the office ever since.
What have we, less than four months till Christmas? I'm getting close to being half done my shopping and we have a list with more than thirty people on it. Brandan has given the issue of presents big time thought, everyday on the drive home he discusses the matter in depth. He decided he wants Santa Clause to bring him a real dump truck with numbers written on it and a stop sign. I sent him back to the drawing board.
On the subject of smooching, what a family we are. Kaillan used to have a bellowing "Ma" kiss. It was loud and physical. Since then she must have seen someone pucker up because her kiss evolved into fish lips. It's so hard not to laugh your head off when she comes after you because it looks so funny. Brandan has a new kiss reserved exclusively for me. It's a long hard smooch right on my mouth and he turns his head side to side. I nearly died. He told me he saw it on Nina's Batman movie. I asked if he kisses Papa like that, he shyly but clearly said NO and has since trying it out, decided it's not really his style. Thank GAWD.
Hey I'm wondering if I look any different since Claudia and Karim asked us to be baby Gabriel's God parents. It was September 2, 2002, to say we were humbled and honoured would be putting it mildly. I took the little sweetheart in the other room to have a talk with him about the special place he had in our lives and I swear he focussed right on me. Two minutes later he fell apart and cried till I handed him off to his mother. Three week olds are a tough sell.
Earlier that day Kaillan had her first haircut. The back was long, the rest wasn't and Remo wanted us to leave it be, he swore she'd look like a boy otherwise. Daphne was over doing all of us so I asked her to clean up Kaillan's, and even Remo admits it looks better now. I carefully chose the best curl and put it in a ziploc bag so I could put it in her scrap book. For Remo's birthday a few years ago he asked for one of those hair cutting kits, with scizzors and the clipper and a video so he could do Brandan's and much to my shock he does a great job, Brandan LOVES having Papa do his hair. Because we were all getting beautiful, Brandan wanted his done too so Remo gave him a quick fix. I found one side of his bangs were a little longer so I told him to go tell Papa. Remo said it was fine but Brandan was too on a mission to let it go. So my little working man got the scizzors, evened it out without a mirror and went back to whatever he was doing. Only when Remo found the hair on the floor did Brandan mention what he had done. Thank God it was reasonably fixable. What took more fixing was the part where Remo threw a bagel in the ziploc bag he found on the counter. He went to eat it later that day and discovered Kaillan's hair all over it. Men. Now I have to set all those hairs back in a little curl.
It's not too late for any of you organization wannabee's to join the club. There's a few of you who are already blowing me out of the water. I'm going to start reading Julie's book tomorrow. On Monday, I pulled out all of the kids new fall clothes (four loads) and hauled it over to the laundry mat so I could get it all done in an hour. Last night I started ironing it all, by tonight I should have that scene under control. Next time Daphne comes we're (Dee Dee included) going to throw in another field trip to the laundry mat with all our comforters and get-ready-for-winter laundry. I think I read somewhere a trick for putting your drapes in the dryer, you toss something else in and save yourself the wear and tear and chemicals of dry cleaning. Alisa (of my TTM board) really motivated me to get my systems going. Everything must have a home, and slowly, slowly we will have freedom.
Last week, for the first time since we moved, Remo made it home before me. It was the perfect chance to role reverse, Remo, you be me and I'll be you. I walked in and he tossed me Kaillan, "go give her a bath". I felt bad because it's true, most days I do turn Kaillan over as soon as he walks in. I asked what was for supper and Brandan did a scrambled egg dance which saved Remo's life, breakfast for supper is a breeze! Remo headed into the kitchen to figure it all out. Kaillan filled my heart with pure glee because it's at about that time every day that she clings, whines and wants up NOW and when you're not used to it it'll draw out a sweat. With the baby in his arms, the fridge door open and Brandan eating a pack of gum, I said I'd go up and clean the bathrooms. I wanted both kids down there with him so he'd get a good serving of chaos. Remo was concentrating so hard Brandan was talking to himself.
The phone rang and Remo was toast. He falls short of multi-tasking skills so he was chatting up a storm with Claudia in the middle of a meal that needed constant flipping. I took the phone and leaned back as far as I could so I could keep an eye on them. Remo put every pot in the house on the island "hey Al, it looks like you're in here", very funny, Remo. In the end, we ate breakfast for supper and Remo had managed to make it so greasy both of us needed Tums. The place looked like it had been ransacked and Remo officially admitted my suppers are the best.
I love food and I'm lucky I have a good metabolism or I'd be paying a price for it. It's such a preoccupation, sometimes I think I should be keeping a recipe diary instead of this one. I'm always looking for variances to the same old, same old and I was thinking maybe some of you are in the same boat. Got any easy, nutritious but delicious meals you can recommend? I was thinking maybe I'd mention what's on the menu in our restaurant for September (I'll put it at the end for those who are/aren't interested). At the very least, it'll jog my memory if ever I go back and read my diary and at best maybe it'll give some of you ideas. I'm big on good, healthy food and I really try to avoid processed things. I figure there's so much the kids eat that's out of my control, I work at what I can. Keep in mind, I have help. I plan supper ahead of time and almost every night Dee Dee comes over and gets it going. My plan (the one I'm concocting as I type) is to really be honest about what we're eating and not to start tossing in fancy pants meals just to make me look good. By the end of the month we'll see what I'm REALLY made of.
Duty calls and it seems they pay me to answer so till next time,
Allisun
~Menu Du Jour ~
Wednesday: Leftover barbequed chicken breasts, a nice, fresh salad and corn on the cob
Thursday: Barbequed pork chops, mashed potatoes and peas
Friday: Pasta with tomato and basil sauce and chick peas (I never knew real Italian sauce was so easy! I make a big batch and then freeze it in smaller portions) with broccoli on the side. Did you know - if you ate 1/3 cup of beans or lentil everyday, without modifying your diet or exercise in any other way, at the end of a year you'd lose 10-15 pounds?
Saturday: (we had people over) Oven roasted sweet potatoes (which are huge in vitamins), barbequed steak and chicken breast (I buy an amazing already marinated honey dijon one from the store), asparagus, corn and carrots for the kids
Sunday: Driving back from our friend's cottage we stopped for McDonald's and man, was it ever a good batch.
Monday: (we had people over) White cod baked in the oven (with tomatoes, onion, garlic, olive oil, lemon and parsley on top), mashed turnip with brown sugar, new potatoes with parsley and margarine and green beans. Admittedly, the kids are a tough sell with the turnip but they're getting used to it.
Tuesday: Leftovers
For tonight, I've drawn a blank. Even looking back on the week, we did an awful lot of barbequing. I'll have to give this a little more thought.
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