My girlfriend that came to visit from Halifax had a very busy couple of days planned, with almost every minute accounted for.  Friday night after she arrived at my house, we left her children and mine with my sainted husband and went out for dinner with friends.

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We had dinner at a lovely restaurant, where I had the most delicious meal I think I have ever had.  We had a lot of lively conversation and a lot of laughs, and fortunately my hubby didn’t call in a panic and need us to come home and rescue him.

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My only complaint is with who I was sitting beside, and therefore beside in every single photograph that was taken.  Our Swedish, blonde friend.  Now this on its own is bad enough, but the fact that she is a fitness studio owner, avid runner and yoga teacher, makes it even worse, you know what I’m saying?  She is training for yet another marathon, the Boston Marathon no less, and ran a 28 kilometre ‘training run’ that morning before lunch.

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Before lunch, I think I had gone up and down the stairs a few times with a couple baskets of laundry, and then ate a big bowl of cereal and had a cup of tea.

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In preparation for my girlfriend coming, I had made a cheesecake and a banana cake to serve at she and Jack’s birthday party on Saturday.  It was so yummy that we ate almost all of it ourselves over the course of the weekend, along with downing several bottles of Jackson Triggs Cabernet Sauvignon.

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Now that the weekend is over, some serious detoxing needs to happen.  Soon.  Like tomorrow.

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Is there anything better than a weekend with good friends, good food and good wine?

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Actually, the answer is yes…stretchy pants… and a handful of Tums…

About two years ago or so when my hubby and I made one of our two trips to our favourite couples only resort in the Pocono mountains, we met a wonderful couple named Diane and Don.  We sat together for dinner and then again for breakfast the next day.   We got along very well and had a lively, fun conversation. As breakfast came to an end I said to my husband ‘why don’t you give them some money and they can send you some Steelers stuff’ (they were from Pennsylvania, home of my hubby’s favourite team, the  Pittsburgh Steelers).  We can, of course, buy Steelers souvenirs where we live, but selection is limited and much more costly than buying at a local Walmart in PA, which is what Diane said she would gladly do.  So hubby handed her some money, I can’t recall the amount, maybe $40 US. And we exchanged addresses and they left.

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Of course, I had to torture my husband for the rest of the trip by telling him he could say goodbye to his money, that we would never hear from them again.  Who gives money to strangers and expects them to do what they said they would do?  Well, actually we do.  Did. While I did continue to joke with my husband, I somehow knew that this couple wouldn’t disappoint us.

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Sure enough, within a couple of weeks, a box arrived from Pennsylvania.  It was filled with Steelers loot-hats, a t-shirt, calendar, even a bag of black and yellow tortilla chips with the Steelers logo on the bag.  There was more, but I can’t remember what.  The boys were thrilled, and so were we.  A few weeks later another box arrived and I know for a fact that our $40 didn’t go that far!

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Diane and I have stayed in touch via email, and now that I am blogging, she can keep up

with my life that way.  But what is really amazing to me, is the fact that her mother, whom I have never met, also reads my stories-as soon as Diane prints them out for her.  Her mother’s name is Ev and she even sent me a birthday card last year when I turned 40.

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For Christmas, they couriered us a box, which contained a gift for me, a gift for hubby and a gift for the kids.  I was with my girlfriends the day the box arrived and they all commented with a laugh that they didn’t buy me anything, and yet these people that I met a couple of years ago and haven’t seen since had sent my whole family gifts!  Of course I had to reply that I know who my real friends are- I am easily bought.

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So this post is a personal shout out to Diane and her mother Ev, (you too Don).  A special thank you for continuing to think about my family and to take the time to stay connected with us.  And thank you for the Christmas gifts and the birthday card.  I don’t even know when your birthdays are, and even if I did it wouldn’t be a guarantee that I would remember-I can barely recall my kids birthdays and once I even forgot my mother’s, but that’s another story…

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In answer to your emailed questions, I have these answers (if I missed any, let me know, I can’t access my email from this computer):

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We did find the tv remote, and we did not need to unpack the Christmas decorations.  I offered the kids’ a reward of a couple of dollars and one of them found it somewhere in their toys.  Money works every time, although I haven’t paid anyone yet!

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I love the pin cushion, it’s beautiful-can’t believe you made it!

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And I really love the game you sent.  We laughed a lot when we saw it.  We had just heard about it on TV.  And you might think that ‘hide the pickle’ is a game meant for children, but my hubby really likes the sound of it too…

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Honestly though, I can’t wait to hide it next year, and will definitely buy something as a special gift for the child who finds it as tradition calls for, maybe I’ll make it Steeler’s related to remind us of you.

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Your family is a constant reminder of the good people in this world.  Thanks Diane!  Thanks Ev!   xo

There I said it.  If you are on Facebook you already know, but now I’m saying it again.  40. Wow!! How did I get here?

I got lucky and was surprised with a birthday party at my brother and sister-in-laws home on Saturday afternoon.  They did a lot of work to make it happen and I soooo love them for it.  My sister in law, Maria, invited over 40 people.  She got so into it, that she even invited people I don’t know, and that’s ok, because I love to meet new people, although apparently these people wondered why they had been invited since they had never met me. Hummph, go figure?!

Apparently the planning and scheming behind my back began in April.  My mother was the one who provided names and phone numbers, stolen from my phone book while she was babysitting.  If she had run the names past my hubby he would have told her that I don’t have a friend named Brenda, and then Brenda, who is a actually a dog walking  acquaintance of my parents, would not have been invited to celebrate my birthday with me!

I’m glad there was a party in the works, because the only other reason for my hubby to be hiding in the laundry room with his blackberry at all hours was not one I could accept.  I was starting to wonder, what the hell is he doing in there? Who is he emailing?  Is he EATING CANDY????  Seems he learned how to text, when my sister in law’s questions and comments kept popping up on his Blackberry, and required answers.

I really didn’t have any idea that this was being planned, although looking back, there were signs I should have picked up on.  Like when I called my mom to chat and we did, briefly, and she made some comment about needing to go and talk to my hubby, and I said, he wasn’t home and she said ‘oh’ and that was it.  Apparently, he was standing in her front hall, looking at her, wondering why she had said that.  Then in the days leading up to the party, afraid she’d spill the beans, she avoided calling me.  And when I complained she didn’t love me anymore because she hadn’t called me, she lied and said she had called me, but didn’t leave me a message.  Well, HELLO, we have call display at my technologically advanced house, and I KNEW she hadn’t call me!!! 

I kept joking to my hubby and kids that I would act surprised when we got there, and I would show them my fake surprised expression and laugh, trying to tease them about NOT having a big party for me, and wow, they actually did have one!  I really don’t like surprises, and would have been stressed if I’d known it was happening.  It was a good thing I decided at the last minute to take a shower and wash my hair before what was supposed to be my family birthday dinner, and for a while there Paulina even tried her darnedest to have us all wear our PAJAMAS so we would be comfortable. 

There is one thing I am looking forward to and can say with certainty about my forties.  There will be NO more pregnancies.

NONE.

(My camera did not have charged batteries and so I am relying on my family and friends to email all the pics they took at the party.  I hate this because I am a photo addict and download my pics every single time I take some.  Now I am at the mercy of people who are not photo addicts and will likely not send me my pics until my next birthday, if I’m lucky.  Will post some when they arrive).

Since I have been out of commission this week, it has thrown a wrench into our plans for summer fun.  For one thing, the kids were all signed up for day camp, and I can’t drive.  I asked two friends whose kids are also attending the camp, if they could drive my gang back and forth.  One person isn’t enough, because they each have two kids and my five won’t all fit in one van along with their kids.

So we split them up, Paulina and Jeremy go with one mom and the three younger ones go with another mom, Antonette.

So now Antonette is experiencing having 5 children as she picks them up in the morning, buckles them, drops them off and gathers them up after camp, along with all their craft items for the day.

She mentioned that a few people have looked at her funny, and she is thinking that she needs a t-shirt that would read the opposite of the one I mentioned in my post, ‘I am not Angelina Jolie’.  It would read ‘No, they are NOT all mine!’

You know, if my house wasn’t already full enough, with 5 kids, 6 hamsters and two fish tanks, it’s full now.  My friend called and asked if we would fish-sit their two aquariums and one water filled bowl housing a Siamese fighting fish for two weeks.  No, you didn’t read me wrong, I did write fish-sit.  And no, we had never heard of fish-sitting either. We’ve babysat and hamster sat, but that’s the extent of it.

So anyway, now the two fish tanks are set up in the laundry room on the counter, plugged in and looking quite pretty.  They give me another reason to spend time in there that doesn’t involve laundry, eating the kids candy, or whispering on the phone.

Now, the friend I am fish-sitting for, is the same friend who just yesterday told another mom with twins that when she and another gal in the neighbourhood (one has twins, the other triplets) were having bad days and felt unable to cope, they would think of ‘poor Kelly’ and instantly feel better.  Well, I’m certainly glad I could be of assistance!  My goal is to make people with 2 and 3 children feel better able to manage by thinking of what I go through with 5.  And if that isn’t enough for you, there is some counter space available in my home that will be perfect if you need me to fish-sit for you too!