The Kidlet Chronicles

Finally, a warm day

Get this - I didn't have to wear my winter coat when I dropped the kidlet off at preschool this morning.

I know!  It was cloudy but warm-ish and by noon, the sun was out in full force and it was warm and aaaahhhhhhhh.

It's about freaking time.  And it's supposed to be hot all weekend.  ALL WEEKEND.  And it's a long weekend.  Awesome.

The kidlet and I played outside for a bit this afternoon where I tried to take some pictures of her because it has been FOREVER, but she was determined to not allow me one focused shot.

Well, okay, ONE:

After dinner, we walked to the elementary school playground and hung out for almost an hour (so. warm).  At one point when the kidlet was nimbly climbing the monkey bars (when did she start doing THAT?), she reached the top and said she was 'apprehensive'.  She told me it meant a little scared.  Then she stepped down a rung and proudly exclaimed that she was no longer apprehensive.

Alrighty then.

Another girl from her school was there so the two of them raced around while the Mom and I chatted politely (I've run into her three times in the last month and it's starting to freak me out).  Her daughter is six months older than the kidlet and was riding an awesome bike that I'm going to have to find.  I have checked out Toys R Us but I didn't want princess, Dora, tassle-overkill, etc. and I found that when the kidlet tested them, they seemed kinda rickety.  So off to Caps we'll go soon to spend a small fortune I'm sure but at least I know now what I'm looking for.

I went to the kidlet's observation day at preschool on Tuesday where the teacher said she was 'advanced for her age' and as stubborn as they come.  So nothing has changed in the 'attitude' department, I'm afraid.  The teacher said that the kidlet will sometimes get mad at her, run into the kitchen and hide for twenty minutes before finally emerging and making up.  Regardless, it seems like the teacher gets a kick out of her (thank goodness) and they seem to be able to manage their way through yet another of the kidlet's phases.  She now loves to say "I don't like girls" or "I don't like boys", depending on who has ticked her off (usually me).  When she gets mad at me and says she doesn't like girls (guess that's better than the 'I don't love you' of months past), I say that she's a girl and she clarifies by saying she doesn't like BIG girls.  So I say okay, leave, and within a minute she starts to blubber that she does love me.  So that part hasn't changed.  Emotions are so tough, aren't they?

Earlier today, she came up to me out of the blue and said:  "When I'm 10 like you are, we won't have to hold hands when we're on the street anymore."  After laughing at the thought of being 10 again, I said that I wanted to always hold her hand no matter how old we were and she said, "But Mom, only when I'm 4 and 5.  I wish I was 5."  She can't wait to be 5 for some reason and here I am thinking she's growing up too fast already. 

Happy Friday!

What a gorgeous day today.  The sun was out and it was actually (dare I say it?) WARM.  Alas, it's supposed to rain tomorrow but today was fantastic.  Love the sunshine and long overdue.

The kidlet did awesome at gymnastics, which is making me second guess not putting her in the for the summer program.  But I think she could use some branching out - try some different things in the summer, then maybe back in gymnastics in the Fall.  There are so many activities to choose from though.  Swimming is a given, but then what?  Dance?  Music?  Sports?  Aiyee.  I don't want to overschedule her so I'm going to have to decide on one more.  Still, not easy.

After gymnastics today, I took the kidlet to A&W for lunch, and since there was a Mexx store conveniently located in the same complex (ahem), I went shopping for ME.  I wasn't sure what I'd find - it varies in that place - but I found about a dozen things or so to try on, of which I bought half - a few tops, a dress skirt and a casual skirt.  I wanted to try on more but the kidlet was getting tired and whiny after spending nearly an hour in there (because I'm one of those shoppers that has to go through each section, each rack of the store in order to see everything before even trying anything on) so I had to call it a day.  I may just have to make a trip back though - I need some more bottoms to go with the new tops.  And I was so happy to find so many things I liked in one place - that happens, like, never.

I'm in desperate need of new clothes so any time I find anything that looks nice and fits (not always easy to find both with my body type - a tall pear), I buy it.  At least now I have some nice shirts to replace all those crappy old t-shirts I've been wearing.  It was money well spent.  Yes it was.

I've been meaning to start a workout routine again but as soon as I decided to start it, I got sick with this dang cold, so hopefully next week.  Time to tone up for summer (yes, had all winter, but I'm like a bear - don't do much in the winter).  It's almost bathing suit season.  Groan....

And now, on my rocking Friday night, I think I'm going to call it an early night and go to bed and read.

I am not getting sick. I am not getting sick.

My throat is sore.  I'm hot then cold and a little bit clammy.  Time to pop the Cold F/X again and hope for the best.  It worked like a charm the last two times.

Regardless, I still puttered around cleaning today and this afternoon I took the kidlet to Deer Lake Park for a walk.  It had stopped raining but it was still overcast so I knew the trails would be relatively empty.  I just needed to get out and spend some time with nature - it's been a while.  We used to go for hikes all the time but it's been years now.  A walk is a good place to start.

The kidlet was a bit disappointed that the only forest animals we saw were ducks, Canadian geese, various birds, and slugs.  Still, she pretended to take a picture of every slug we saw (and there were many) and I think she enjoyed just being out as much as I did.  It's so peaceful, quiet, green.  All I could hear were the birds singing or chirping, or the Canadian geese honking as they flew past, hovering just over the lake.  We stopped and watched a man flyfishing off a little dock, then once he left, the kidlet and I pretended to fish.  We caught clownfish and sharks and tuna and zebra danios.  I'm sure the odd person who walked by wondered what the heck we were doing but we didn't care.

We watched people paddling their canoes in the lake and I told the kidlet we would take her canoeing one day.  She was pretty excited about that.  I haven't canoed in years either but loved to as a kid.

There were a couple houses nestled in the park with huge lots (some of it must be park land) and a view of the lake and I imagined living in one of the large old houses where it seemed that you were so far away from it all, surrounded by tall trees and long green grass and all kinds of birds.  And yet, you're only a minute from a main highway.  I'm sure the houses cost millions but it's always nice to dream.

So I'll be taking it easy tomorrow as Monday is my first day in a temporary position on the Corporate level (helping out until they hire someone to replace the woman who just left) and I'll need to have my wits about me.  But for now, it's to the couch I go.

Relocating the fish tank

So I've been obsessing over the state of the fish tank lately for some reason and over the last few days, considered getting a smaller tank, taking the fish back to the store and dismantling the whole thing, or prettifying the one we've got.  I also wanted to move it.  Just because it was bugging me where it was.

Why do I do this to myself?

Yesterday at the fish store, I picked up a 10g for $14 to use to transfer my fishies into while I cleaned out our 29g tank.  So this afternoon, after we got back from gymnastics, that's what I set out to do. 

I had no idea it was going to take me three hours.  Ugh.  My muscles are all owie now and I'm tired and the kidlet is SUPER WHINEY tonight and I'm trying to find my happy place.  La la la laaaaa!!

So first, I siphoned out enough water (without getting near the gooey gravel) to fill the 10g gallon that I set up on the kitchen counter by using our 5g bucket.  (So two trips for those that are as bad at math as I am.)  I moved the heater over to the 10g, then took the biowheel filter and raced across the living room, through the den and to the kitchen to get it going in the 10g as well.  I managed to make it to the kitchen without spilling any of the icky water inside but somehow when I got to the counter, it kinda slipped from my hands and covered a third of the counter in stinky fishy water.  And then I realized that it was too tall to fit on the 10g, so I had to set it on a plastic container to lift it up a bit.  Precarious, but it worked.

I siphoned out another bucket of water, then took out all the algae-covered plants and the bridge (much to our pleco's chagrin), then got the net and started to hunt for the fish.  It wasn't too hard but man, that pleco is fast.  Got them all, plopped them into the 10g, then it was just a matter of getting the rest of the water out of the 29g so that I could clean it out.

Got most of the water then got most of the gravel out and yet it was still FREAKING HEAVY to carry to the bathtub.  Hence the sore muscles.  Gave it a good rinse (nice green icky water - ew ew ew), then relocated the stand to the other side of the living room and placed the now-clean tank on top.  I put the rinsed gravel back in and noticed that now that I had removed the undergravel filter (haven't used it in ages), there was only about an inch of gravel in there (recommended 2-3 inches).  I hunted around the house/shed/garage for extra and we had none.  So I packed the kidlet up and drove to the nearest aquarium store where I picked up another 30lbs of gravel.  Again, rather heavy.

After putting in the new gravel, it was time to fill up the tank.  29g is a lot of water - did you know that?  I don't know why it always amazes me.  Anyways, between putting back the old water (so as not to shock the fish with brand new water throughout) and adding new water, it took a heckuva long time and many trips to and from the kitchen with drippy buckets.  I set up the heater and the filter again, then moved the fish (much easier to catch in a 10g tank with only a few inches of water left in it).  I put in a couple new plants and taped a background on the back (much nicer than looking through to the wall although it's REALLY tough to cut those backgrounds straight, so I have a little overhang on one side that's all choppy and hideous-looking (Dean will have to help me fix it with a razor or something).

Anyways, the tank now looks brand new and pretty and colourful and it's in a much better location in the living room.  But the tank is much too nice for our ugly fish.  Guess we'll see if the move kills any of them, see if the tank adjust itself again and maybe, just maybe, I'll invest in some prettier fish.  And try to maintain the dang thing a little better.

One thing though - the heater's suction cups aren't working and it keeps slanting and it's making me crazy - I've adjusted it a hundred times already.  They were clean, the glass is clean, it sticks and then it doesn't.  Argh... always something, isn't there?

Afternoon out and about

I desperately needed to get my grays coloured PROPERLY instead of cheaping out on the drugstore box stuff that continually adds coppery-red highlights to my hair (and not nice ones - I don't look good with red hair).  I know, I know, if you lighten brown, out comes the red.  But at least at the salon, they can counteract the reds by doing their magic.  So I sucked it up and made an appointment for early this afternoon, once the kidlet was finished preschool.

Yes, I took the kidlet with me for an hour and a half appointment at the hair salon.  When I got my hair cut there a week or so ago, they said it would be fine as long as she wasn't running around trying to stab people with scissors.  They also mentioned that she could watch cartoons on the television in the waiting area.  So, I took a leap of faith that the kidlet would be well-behaved enough to tolerate waiting for me.

I went prepared, of course.  I let her bring a colouring kit that her aunt had bought her.  We stopped off at McDonalds en route where I picked her up a Happy Meal that she could eat as soon as we arrived.  I made my appointment for 12:30 - the kidlet is home from preschool at noon = perfect timing for lunch which I knew would kill some time for her.  So on arrival, I set her up in the waiting area, clicked on YTV (there was no one else waiting), pulled the small table over to a chair and laid out all her food and toy.  Noticing that the kidlet's bangs were now so long that they completely covered her eyes, I went up to the counter to see if they could squeeze her in while I was getting my colour done.  No problem.  I set it up for after she finished eating, then I went to sit down to get my hair done.

She sat in the waiting area, ate her chicken nuggets, watched YTV, and amused everyone that could hear her (the kidlet, she is no longer shy whatsoever).  Soon she was done and came to tell me that she was ready to get her hair cut.  I was still getting my hair painted, so I left her to it.  The stylist set her up, put her in the chair, asked what I wanted, and started cutting away.  The kidlet told her that she knew how to be very still and continued to talk to the stylist (though I couldn't hear everything).  Once the goop was on my roots, I was able to go over and watch.  She started getting wiggly about twenty minutes in so it made it difficult to cut her bangs, but this was the best hair cut she's gotten yet and it was a few dollars cheaper than the kid's place I took her to last time.  Afterwards, I went to sit with her in the waiting area until my 30 minutes were up.  With her colouring kit, the kidlet drew a picture of her stylist and printed her name (I told her the letters of the stylist's name), ripped out the page and gave it to her.  I think she liked her!

A couple young girls with spiky, purple-streaked hair sat across from us and it wasn't long before the kidlet got up and sat beside them, grinning like a crazy person.  They offered her a magazine and she took it and pretended to read like they were.  When it was time for me to get rinsed, I coaxed her back to the chair closest to the TV and that's where she stayed until I was done. 

An hour and a half and the kidlet was fantastic.  At least now I know for next time, about two months from now when the gray starts creeping back.  I'm sticking to it this time.  No, I mean it!  I love the colour!  It's not as light as I usually do it but it's a nice rich brown instead of orangey brown.  I'll take it.

After our day at the salon, we went to Ikea so I could pick up a new cushion for Dean's chair as it was horribly stained (clean, but stained).  I let the kidlet play in Smaland for the first time.  I had to sign some stuff, then they put her shoes and coat in a bin, put a numbered thingie on her, a sticker with her name on it on her arm, gave me a pager and off I went.  Ah, shopping without the kidlet in tow.  I wasn't sure how she'd do but she went right on in without looking back.  Sweet! 

Forty-five minutes later (man, that place is hard to navigate - I get so turned around) I went back to get her.  Red-faced and sweaty, she left without screaming and the women running it mentioned that she hadn't needed an introduction to anything - just bolted right in there and amused herself with everything.

From there, we went to the aquarium store because I've been obsessing about our pathetic fish tank again and I want to make it prettier and move it.  Um, not in the order.  I don't like it in the corner it's in and it needs a good cleaning, so that will be tomorrow afternoon's project.  So I bought some tank stuff - new silk plants, a 10 gallon tank to hold them when I'm cleaning out the big one, new filter media, stuff like that.  So we'll see how it goes.  There are only five fish left so it shouldn't be too hard to move them. Heh.

And now, I'm pooped.  Time to get the kidlet off to bed, do some yoga/meditation, and find the energy to do some writing.  Or just fall asleep on the couch watching TV.  Who's to say?