A Small Update...

Well it has been a long time since I posted on here! I dutifully took lot's of pictures over the summer... all of them blurry and out of focus.

The summer went by far too quickly.
We had an illness in the family which, took up quite a bit of our summer. Finally, in the last few weeks, I had time for my kids but.. we really did very little. I found myself wishing that we could have just a couple of more weeks together before school began.

As usual, a lot of our time was spent at soccer and baseball. I was glad when it was all over. I LOVE watching my kids.. but the crap that comes along with Seb coaching two teams takes its toll on our family. Literally, from May to September he is either at work or soccer. So, I'm happy that is done for another year.

Since our oldest son Joe turned 20 this year (WHAAAA???)...he is now playing in a Men's league. Which, is a whole other ball game from Youth. The second week, he had his big toe broken.. then over the course of the summer, he had both ankles taken out. (by the same asshole team that should be ashamed of themselves!). But like I said.. it's an adult men's team and Mummy running out onto the field to yell at the big a-hole jerk that hurt her kid is generally frowned upon. (by the son).  :)

He also did his first "ride along". You may remember that Joe would like to be a police officer. A friend of ours is a cop and just recently started back on the road so he offered to take Joe along with him one Friday night this past summer. Of course Joe loved it and had a great time. We've lived in the same town for his whole life-it's not a very big town.. but he said.. "Mum, I was on streets I've never been on and saw people I've never seen before".   Let's just say I think he realizes how sheltered we've kept him. (he'd like to believe he's street smart).
Anyhow.. he's now in his second year of college and still loving it.
Unfortunately, one of his close friends was killed at the end of the summer. Joe had known and gone to school with Andy since he was 2 years old. They started pre-school together all the way up to grade 12. About a week before he died, Joe met up with him. Andy said that he wanted to get together before they all went back to school and that he'd be in touch. The next Monday, Andy was riding an ATV at work and was found dead beside it. Sadly, the big get together ended up being his "Celebration of Life". We went to pay our respects to the Mother and brother (Andy's father had died earlier this year as well). Joe was in line watching a slideshow. Some pictures of him and Andy together came up and I think it really hit home that his friend was gone for good. He had to leave. Of course I was a big old blubbering mess by the time I got up to the Mother.

Tony got a job working at a gas station. He also started University and is majoring in business. So far he seems to be like it a lot. He mostly just spent the summer working and fighting with his brothers and sister. :)  And playing house league soccer.


Gabby played rep soccer for the first year. Her team did really well! They ended up first in their league. She also did 6 weeks of Drama camp. Loved it!

Massimo played house league soccer as well. He spent the summer being "Massimo" His catch phrase went from.. "NOT on my Watch!!!" to " Oh HELLLLLL NO!!".. He also became addicted to the show " Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura"..  

What can I say that would possibly top that???
I'm sure that I'll remember more.. and hopefully will be able to come up with some pictures!!!

Puking Up The Body of Christ, A Graduation and a Day Trip...

Well, it's been awhile! We've been busy, busy. I never seem to have the time to devote to sitting down and putting a blog post together anymore. I've decided to bite the bullet today. (Canada Day so we don't have tons to do).

School has officially ended for all the kids. Last Wednesday, at Massimo and Gabby's school, they had their final Mass of the year - they attend Catholic school. As you may recall.. Mass has a "problem" with eating the wafer that is supposed to represent the body of Christ. He's hidden it in his pocket, chewed it and spit it into a kleenex etc to avoid injecting it. I guess his teacher was watching him last week and noticed him trying to just receive a blessing instead of accepting communion. He was forced to eat it. He puked it up. The Priest had to scoop up the Jesus puke and dispose of him in a dignified manner.
I'm sorry. I laughed.
The teacher has assured me that his teacher next fall will receive a full disclosure of his "problem".
Never a dull moment with the Mass-Man around. ;)

Tony had his high school graduation on Thursday night. I was feeling bad because when Joe graduated, we had tons of great pictures. (this year I was running around.. picking up Gabs from a party and then delivering her to her baseball game *where she performed a triple play!)
An hour and a half into the TWO AND A HALF HOUR ceremony, this was the only picture that I had.
Tony accepting an award- (200 dollars from a law firm!).  Somehow, I couldn't get my crap together enough to take a picture of him getting his diploma handed to him...

After the grad we took a few pictures. Here he is with one of his favourite teachers...

And with Big Daddy Seb...

Here is a picture of him and a couple of friends , Jeff and Bikram.
I actually have a picture of Tony and Jeff on my front lawn 14 years ago, getting ready for their first day of J-Kindergarten. If I could find it.. that would have been awesome to include.

Anyhow.. we are very proud of Tony. Not only did he win that award (something about being "Most Deserving") he also graduated an Ontario Scholar and received a partial scholarship to the University he is going to attend. Not too shabby for something that sprang from my less than scholarly loins!

So anyhoo....
We went on our first official day trip of the summer yesterday. We decided to go over to Sainte-Marie Among The Hurons. 
This is a recreated settlement that was founded by French Jesuites in 1639. I think that it only lasted about 10 years before the village was attacked and burned down.
Here is some of the original stonework that was excavated in 1941.

The blacksmith! He was a cutie but didn't seem to know very much about life in 16whateves...

So anyhow... I said that I had started this on Canada Day and it's now the DAY AFTER so... I'll just continue on I guess..

We went into the Chapel thingy (now someone has move my information sheet that I had so I don't know what in the hell I'm writing about!!!!!)

Seb went into confession and ....

Came out a Priest!!!

FEAR HIM all ye sinners!

Gabby did some writing with a quill (a duck feather in this case)

Apparently it's harder than it looks... (I wouldn't want to have to write anyone a long letter this way!)

The Priest's boudoir!

Some random crap... (no info sheet remember!!!)

I ordered some "Three Sister Soup" at the restaurant. It had beans, squash and corn. It was REALLY good!

Gabby found an ancient screwdriver thingy type... thing...
(it would be sooooo awesome to have THAT INFO SHEET!!!)

Now, I loved this building. It was where all of the meals were prepared. Apparently, the cook at the settlement had consumption! He slept right beside the big old fireplace so that he could sweat out his illness. Of course he died.
Blah!!! (he probably took a whole slew of people with him)

The young lady here had a great wealth of knowledge. She knew her stuff! I asked her a lot of questions, it was great.

Some views from the lookout tower (to look out for approaching visitors)

Some (gulp) skins and furs..

Gabby dressed up as a young native chick. (the native ladies didn't cover their boobies back in the day)

Some dead priests (that were later declared Saints... this is their actual grave)

(their names)

Mass and Gabby "in the hospital!"

The doctor's things...

Massimo took the camera to take a couple of pictures of the animals.. (you'll be able to tell it was Massimo's handywork in a second...

Mmmm  Hmmmm.....

We had a great time here! I was surprised at how much the kids enjoyed it all. I had not been there since I was in school. I recommend it to anyone!

Let's Talk About Sex Baby.... Or Actually... Let's Not!

Well guess what time of the year it is again. (and these are not all of them)

Nowhere NEARLY all of them.

Anyhow.. when I'm not being run ragged by driving people here there and EVERYWHERE, I'm complaining about my shoulder. It's still very sore but Steve (physio guy), says that my mobility has improved so that is good news. However, I'm sleeping very little because it's so uncomfortable. Only a few hours a night which for me.. is not enough. I am exhausted. I have an appointment with my family Dr next Tuesday so I'm hoping he'll give me some hard core drugs to keep this pain at bay. I can't take the Motrin, Advil etc, etc anymore because I was getting the burning of the stomach. It was worse than the shoulder pain so.... :(

I got a bit of a surprise the other day when I picked up Gabby and Mass at school. Mass came up and started holding onto my arm ..he kept looking up at me.. then hugging me. Once we started walking he announced, "I know where babies come from!". Up until now he really hadn't asked much about it. I'm a big believer in just answering these types of questions as they come up and not giving out tons of information that may not be age appropriate. However.. I guess the school figured it was time he knew. I'm not sure exactly how much he knows because I didn't really feel like talking about it on the sidewalk but it seems he knows enough. Here is a snippet of the conversation...

Mass~ I know where babies come from.
Me~ Oh ya?
Mass~ It's not just YOU, you know Mum. Dad had something to do with it too.
Me~ Mmmm hmmm...
Mass~ Yeah. The man has something called a "smerm" and the Mummy has ... ummm.. ummm (he can't remember egg)... something else.
Me~ An egg?
Mass~ No. Something else.

I almost didn't correct him on "smerm" but then figured I probably should.

So, apparently the cats out of the bag at our house!

Tony and his date had their prom~

Aren't they just the cutest kids ever? (She was wearing about 3 inch heels here by the way-she is just a peanut!)

TRYING to fix his boutonnier! Those things should be outlawed!

Tony and his "crew"..

I'm so glad that he went. He is incredibly shy and I wasn't sure that he would. (he'd kill me if he knew I had shared pictures of him on here so .. shhhhhhh!)
Graduation is in less than 2 weeks. I can't believe he is done!

Before I go.. I just have to show you the candle holders I found at Goodwill a few weeks back. I've always wanted a Circle of Friends candle holder and I actually found 3 of them! One large and two small. I got all 3 for $11 which I thought was great!
LOVE THEM!!!

Ciao for Niao everyone!

Fairy Doors

I have always loved Fairies. There is something so delicate and beautiful about them that I find appealing on many levels.
As a child growing up on a farm (hobby farm-don't get too excited), my siblings were WAY older than myself (I wrote WAY in capitals because I know they will be reading this-tee hee!) and were, for the most part, gone making lives for themselves. As a result, I spent a lot of time outside playing by myself.

We had a lot of great spots to play in. Long grass to hide in, trees to climb, fields to explore. Many times I would imagine fairies coming out to join me in my fun!

As I grew older I began to collect a few figurines and have always been intrigued by fairy lore and legend. A couple of years ago, online (probably Etsy), I noticed "Fairy Doors" being sold. Of course I wanted one. I briefly flirted with the notion of making one myself but if you know me then you know that's too much work. :)  So my fairy door dream remained just that.. a dream. I knew that someday I would come across them and that would be the right time to grab it!

This morning I was on Facebook when my favourite store in my downtown area announced that they would be carrying Fairy Doors starting today! They are made by local artists (makes them even BETTER in my opinion) and I cannot believe that I didn't know they existed until this morning.
Needless to say ... I hoofed it downtown ASAP!

I was in heaven! There was about a dozen doors displayed and I wanted all of them. I limited myself to two. One for outside and one for Gabby's room. (I mean come on... of course a little girl needs a Fairy Door!!! Right?? *which means I will need to go back soon and grab one for my bedroom as well!! *)

They are so beautiful and I fear that my pictures will not capture the workmanship and beauty of them that comes across in "real life".

The first one is in Gabby's room...

I figured that placed right beside the "Fairy Mothership" was the best idea

The second one was destined to be outside. We have an old tree that I knew it would be perfect for!

If you are interested, they sell online..just click on that and it will take you to their Etsy page. They also have a Facebook page. 

I will leave you with my favourite "Fairy song"...

Graduation, Prom and a Budding Film Maker

Lot's going on around here.
As the school year is coming to a close, we find that our second oldest Tony, is graduating high school in a few short weeks.
Next week is his senior prom. I'm so glad that he is going. Tony is VERY shy and I was afraid that he wouldn't ask anyone-thus missing a wonderful opportunity. But yesterday when I picked him up he announced.."I'll need a (whatever colour, can't remember now), shirt and tie. I'm going to prom". I immediately got myself into a huge flap about corsages etc! He was sorry he told me.. I could see it in his face.

As well as being shy, he's very tight lipped. He told me the name of his date ( I looked her up in the yearbook when we got home-she's very cute!) but told me to keep my trap shut to Joe and Daddy. Of course when Seb got home I showed her picture to him. (Joe had already heard the news via text messages from friends).. Seb acted like he didn't know and kept bugging Tony to tell him her name. Tony kept saying "No!".. then Seb completely THREW ME UNDER THE BUS by saying.. "Your Mum already told me. I know her Father. They are a good family (*good family means she's half Italian).. lot's of money.

Anyhow..........

In Massimo news...
He has temporarily set aside his wrestling career to work on his second love... making movies. (Ok so.. he just began this..)
This is Massimo's First "Stop Motion" film entitled... "Newspaper" or "Newspaper Stealer" I'm not sure which. ( It stars his Lego Starwars characters)...






I smell an Oscar for "Best Short Film" somewhere in his future!!

People Can Be Cruel.

People are really on my last nerve.
In the last couple of days, I've witnessed a couple of "incidents" that have kind of ticked me off and I'm left thinking that people really need to chill out.

On Monday morning, I went to Target. I parked my van and started walking into the store. In the parking lot an older lady had stopped and was waiting for a parking spot. In the car behind her, a younger woman (in her 30's), jumped out of the car and ran up to the older woman.. tapping on her window.

The older lady put her window down and the younger one started SCREAMING at her.
"Do you know that you went through a red light back there?"
(obviously young woman had followed old lady into the parking lot)
I couldn't hear what the older lady was saying but she looked upset.
Younger woman kept it up...
"I had my daughter in the car and we were going to make a left turn. If we had, you would have smashed right into us!"..
I kept walking (I had parked far away from the front door in a feeble attempt to walk my fat ass off)... but looked back as I got to the store. The younger woman had her arms flailing and was yelling, yelling, yelling!

Today I was at Tim Horton's getting a soup. I was waiting in a loooong line up when something going on at one of the cash registers caught my attention. A woman was berating the cashier because she didn't know how to make the correct change off the top of her head. (I'm guessing that the customer had added something in to make the change even after the cashier had already punched in the cash). On and on she went... I'm not talking about a few seconds.. it was a good 10 minutes. In the end, she was fighting about 10 cents.
Is it really worth making someone feel STUPID over 10 lousy cents???

Anyhow my point is this. We are a bunch of MEAN people.
Sure, the older lady shouldn't have gone through the light. It's very dangerous. But come on... I'm willing to bet that almost everyone has accidently gone through a red light at least once in their driving career! I know I have. I'd be surprised if the screamer hadn't done it herself. She could have waited for the older lady to park and then approached her.. telling her what had happened and ask her to be more careful.
I actually regret not getting myself involved in that one. I should have gone over and told her that she'd made her point now .. move the frig on!!!!!

At the doughnut shop I just rolled my eyes at the cashier to let her know that as a fellow math challenged sistah, I felt her pain.
The more that woman ragged on her.. the more upset she got... the less she was able to think clearly. I get that.

I guess my point is.. think about how you'd want someone to treat and speak to YOUR mother or grandmother or your daughter. (or father/son).  How would you feel if someone you loved made a mistake and were made a fool out of over it .. in front of a lot of people?
Not very good I'm guessing.... :(

Happy Be-lated Mother's Day and a Shoulder Update...

I hope that everyone had a nice Mother's Day.
I'm not really a big fan of the day myself. I find that my kids (probably from the effort of being nice, quiet and considerate all morning), act worse on Mother's Day. There is always some sort of big fight and the day ends with me more worn out than any other day.

Mostly, it's these two that fight the most...

Anyhow.. I did receive some very lovely gifts...

LOVE THESE ROSES!!!!

Massimo made me this at school...

In case you can't read it, it says...

            Mom
The important thing about mom is that she loves cooking and baking. Mom's favourite food is spaghetti. Mom's favourite movie is Star Trek. Mom loves the colour yellow. Mom is careful. Mom is fun. Mom is happy. Mom is helpful. Mom is fantastic. But the important thing about Mom is that she loves cooking and baking..

That just cracked  me up all over again. :)

Gabby made me a clutch purse made out of duct tape...

Don't be jealous. I'm sure she'd make one for you as well.... FOR a PRICE!!!


I started physio last week. The therapist confirmed "frozen shoulder" and has started me on exercises. He says it's going to be a "long and painful process". I'm looking at 4-9 months of physio. He will get me to 90% well and then the rest should come on it's own.
I told him that I had been hoping for the "massage/hot tub therapy"... no such luck.
I have my second appointment today. I also need to go back to my family doctor because he wanted to see me once I had begun physio.

Fun times!
Thanks so much to everyone for all of the well wishes. I REALLY appreciate them. :)