Turning our Downtown into Doo-Doo Ville

I address this letter to all citizens of New Tecumseth:

Recently I have been completely outraged by the state of our downtown sidewalks. Being a committed member of our community, I take pride in the appeal of our downtown core. It's what makes our town unique. In the past few weeks, however, I have observed more and more dog droppings being abandoned along our sidewalks. It's disgusting! Along with living a block away from downtown Alliston, I also work on the main street. Each day I see students on their lunch break hustling back and forth to class, stepping in these mounds of filth. Not only that but mothers with strollers driving through it unaware. It's simply appalling. The bottom line is this: if you take pride in your small town, take care of it!  Period. And do your fellow neighbours a favor and pick up after your pet. Just stoop and scoop! It's really quite simple and a common courtesy to all. It would be a shame if our town council had to begin fining residents for not picking up after their pooches. Come on people, don't turn our downtown into Doo-Doo ville!

Respectfully,

Christine Walton  

Breaking a Bone: What Every Mom Should Know

This past weekend I broke my wrist. There's no glamour story behind how I did it, I simple fell down my stairs. I had never broken a bone before this little incident. Never! So as a highly active Mom I had no idea what I was in for. In the past 5 days I have discovered a whole lot about what it takes to deal with a busted arm and baby. I thought I'd share my frustrations...? Obstacles...? Overall revelations!

1. When you break a bone, you know it! It's not like "Ouch! My wrist is sore. Oh I think I'll take an aspirin; that should fix it." No! It's more along the lines of..."Oh $#!%, My wrist is on fire, I heard a crunch, cry for your Mommy" type of experience... okay well maybe it's not that dramatic but mine was.  I think the last time I cried that hard was when I was 12. I forced to sell Barbie collection at a family yard sale. It was a tragic day.

2. Typing with one hand is brutal. It is painfully slow. If you even think about adding punctuation it takes you twice as long...so I am now resorting to a one handed, lower-case slopfest. Wait for it...

3. when they tell you casts get itchy they mean it/ they also may start to spell funny/like stinky duds fresh from the gym/it's gross/

4. taking care of a baby with a broken wrist is next to impossible for the first few days/ you can't pull the little diaper tab with a busted thumb/ zippers are impossible and forget buckles/ giving your kid a bottle is agonizing not to mention lying them in their crib/ trying to pick them up for the first time is so awkward/ imagine a baby colt trying to walk for the first time/ not pretty/

5. showering with a plastic bag on your hand is in no way like showering with a shower cap on/

6. helpful advice/ if in the event you might break your wrist or fingers, take off your rings/ they will swell and cutting them off sucks/

7. milkshakes help deal with the pain/and booze/

8. ask for help/ i have had to stay with my in-laws for the week and it had made a world of difference/ if i had to deal with my daughter and a broken arm on my own I would probably spend the week crying/

9. HGTV is also a great healing regiment/

10. if you are married people will ask you what your husband looks like after your break/ this is a joke and is not meant to be taken seriously/

11. i never did understand why we use slag such as a busted flipper or broken wing/ it wakes me feel like I'm one fracture away from being inducted into the animal kingdom/

12. if you live in a house without a railing/ insist your landlord/ no matter how moronic he may seem/ install it asap/

13. it's amazing what an elbow can accomplish/ i recommend you thank your elbows for being so awesome today/ go ahead/

14. having people write on your cast is hugely overrated/ unless the person has some mad graffiti or haiku skills/ in that case/ bring it on/

15. bottom line/ 4-6 weeks is a long time/ boo/

hope this has been informative/humorous/overall not a royal waste of your time/

Part 3 of The gDiaperies: The Toilet and "Clean" Zone

Lesson #3: Dealing with poo does not need to be a dirty job. Truly! Well, poo is dirty and you will need to clean it but what I mean is, you don't need to get all up in it. When Steve and I signed up for cloth diapering the first thing we both thought was "there is no way I am touching poo". When I sought out the council of my friend Katie she informed me of a magical diaper tool that would make all messed go away. You want to know what it is? A diaper sprayer. It's heavenly. I never thought I could get so excited about a glorified shower head sprayer but hey...I've never touched poo!

My Diaper Cleaning Zone

My diaper "cleaning" zone is a place of organization and assembly. The last thing you want is a nasty diaper with no place to go. My husband and I have come up with a systematic method of dealing with our diapers that have made the cleaning process smooth sailing.

Step #1: Lift up the toilet lid (sounds good so far?)

Step #2: Remove diaper sprayer from holder and turn on

The *Magical* Toilet Sprayer

Step #3: Hold your poopy diaper over the toilet and spray poo into toilet (I find it easiest to remove the pant from the snap in liner and just hold the liner over the toilet).

Step #4: Flush!

Step #5: Turn sprayer off and return to holder. Be sure to clear the line for water build-up.

Step #6: Throw pant into pant basket and liner/cloth into diaper pail lined with glaundry bag.

Add a sprinkle of baking soda to absorb the odor, if you so desire.

Step #7: Close all lids and leave.

It's that simple! Isn't that just lovely? You bet it is. So don't fear fiddling with poo any longer, cleaning cloth can be a simple spray away.

Confessions of a Dyslexic Librarian

I am Dyslexic! Believe it or not. And some might find in ironic that I am also a Librarian. Go figure. It is a complete contradiction, don't you think? I mean who is their right mind would voluntarily aspire to duke it out with a well of words each day when they struggles with processing phonics? Who? Me!

I have not "officially" been diagnosed with this learning disability but I am confident that I have it. I have always struggled with words as far back as I can recall. Reading, writing, and although you might not believe it, verbalizing. I remember being called on to read out loud in elementary school and being terrified. "Christine, could you read page 96?" It caused me major anxiety; I would freeze. It was embarrasing when I could not sound out a word. My mouth would say it but my brain would not process it. Lib-er-a-tion...? I would hear it but I could not spit it out. Or I would sound it out totally wrong. It has been a silent struggle in my life but I have come to grips with it.

In university, two things got to me to graduation: spell check and Steve. I am so thankful for both of them. On my own I would scan through my thesis papers and not see the mistakes. I would not hear the incorrect usage of sentences or misspelled words. It was a cure! It was a massive frustration! I am certain that if it were not for these two things assisting me in those four years, I may have failed school.

Even now, as a well educated adult I still get my words all turned around. I will be thinking about what I will say next while I am still writing in the now. I will often go back to what I wrote and go "WTH?" What was I trying to say here? It makes no sense. I read diaries from my high school days and am convinced that if an outsider got a hold of them, they would think I was a crackhead. Seriously!

So I write this as an encouragement to anyone out there who might be struggling with the same obstacle. You can walk with it. Don't let it bring you down. One tip I have embraced that has helped me so much is to SLOW DOWN! When you read... when you write... when you talk (I am still working on the talking). If you adopt this I promise you can accomplish anything!

Your Friendly Neighbourhood Dyslecix (that was a joke) Librarian,

Christine

 

What Have I Been Reading Lately?

I was reading through some of my old posts and realized I have diverged away from my original focus and that was to blog about my bookworm alter ego. I am not sure what that means exactly, but I am pretty sure it has something to do with my love of reading. So I figured I should smart'n up and write about what I have been reading lately.

1. "Seriously, I'm Kidding" by Ellen Degenesis

I found that like anything written by Jenny McCarthy, this book was entertaining. It's humor is undeniable and expected as it was written by a former comedian. Although I found myself oddly annoyed in particular chapters. I felt preached at on topics like American Idol or the values of meditation. I was bored. However I did appreciated other sessions emphasising the importance of the human experience; underlying topics like kindness and basic courtesy. It got me thinking and laughing, I love that. So I give this book a solid 3 1/2 bookmarks out of 5.

2. "What to Expect The First Year" by Heidi Murkoff

LOVE THIS! That sums it up. This book has been such an awesome help in navigating developmental milestones for my baby's first year. It's well laid out and easy to surf through. Simply awesome!

3. The Original "Calvin and Hobbes" by Bill Watterson

This imaginative, childlike cartoon is a classic. It is so cleaver that humor just pours out of it. When I first met my husband he was a big cartoon fan. He read Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, anything that was culturally relevant and funny. I thought they were lame and childish. I stayed uninterested in comic for years. Then a while back, I started to wonder what the big deal was so I cracked one open and the rest is history. I laughed so hard I nearly peed my pants. I found myself being taken on a journey through each cell that I could not put down. To this day I still enjoy picking one up just for a laugh.

4. "Today's Parent" Magazine

I love Today's Parent. I have been reading it over a year and would sum it up as mindless reading. However it has a tonne of helpful articles on parenting, cooking, vacationing, etc. I love that I can pick it up anytime during the day and read something completely new. At the end of every month, I wait around for it to arrive in my mailbox like a kid a Christmas. It's nice to have light material hanging around to browse whenever you feel up to it.

5. The Bible

My Bible is my daily bread. I have read many self help books in my time and none have compared to the power of God' Holy Word! It is so instructional and relevant to our present day. I encourage anyone who is even remotely interested to peruse it's pages and find comfort in them.

So these are some titles I have been juggling recently. I'll try to keep you posted!

Things I Do Repeatedly in a Day that Keeps me Humble

I've noticed recently that I have adapted to a bizarre domestic routine that is so repetitive, I wonder where my days go. I seriously loss count on how often I do these things. Some I dread, some I detest, some I quite enjoy. But I find that doing these simple tasks over and over each day keeps me strangely humble.

1. Feed my family a meal that is as balanced as I can swing
2. Pick up the balance meal off the floor
3. Sweep the balance meal I could not pick up off the floor
4. Take a deep breath and say a little prayer
5. Rinse off my daughter food tray, sanitize, and store away
6. Listen to my newly tattering daughter whack her head off the floor again
7. Cuddle and kisses to stop the tears and away she goes
8. Smell something funky? Diaper Change!
9. Turn on Veggie Tales Worship CD just to see my daughter bop around
10. Daughter tries to dance standing up and whack
11. Cuddle and kisses to stop the tears and away she goes again
12. Eye rub and a fuss...nap time?
13. Make bottle
14. Feed little one the bottle
15. Take another deep breath and say a prayer
16. Pick up the toy bomb and put it away in assigned bins
17. Do some chores
18. Baby cries...
19. Deep breath and a prayer
20. Start at 1 again

This is my new life! Sometime I get to go for walks, outings, and playgroups. It makes me feel like a rebel to my schedule. BWAHAHAHA! Take that routine! But who am I kidding? I am a sucker for order so this is typically my life. And so long as you can keep a secret I will tell you this, I do get tired, I do get bored, but I would not change a second of my life as a Mom for anything in the world.

A Brief Intermission to The gDiaperies: "I Had a Dream!"

So I had a dream last night that I attended a "magical" gconference. It started like this: I walk into this beautiful building blinded by light bursting from every angle. As I enter, I am greeted at the door by a friendly woman who hangs me a gtot. After a little chat, she tells me to make my way around the building to the many stations set up. As I travel from booth to booth, I am approached by a helpful gExpert and given free "samples". gPants, gCloths, and get this hand knit gLegwarmers? By the end of my dream, my tot was literally overflowing with gTreasures. The best part? There was no ravenous mommy mod trampling me to get the "goods" before I could. I woke up unbelievably calm, wishing it has been real. Because of this dream I was "awakened" to an entirely new level of my cloth diapering addiction. I think I might need a shrink...?