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Grief times three.

2 weeks ago I got a sad e-mail from an Italian friend.  I have not seen him face to face for over 15 years but we have kept in touch.  I met him as his first marriage came to an end - his wife left him telling him she simply didn't want to be married anymore.  It took him a long time to get over this but he learned to trust again and had a serious girlfriend - they moved in together.  She then discovered she had breast cancer and didn't know if she wanted to be with him.  This was 5 years ago.  They eventually married but this year they found that despite her vailant efforts, the cancer was back, had spread and she died aged 36. 

Last week I got a phonecall from an American friend's sister in law.  To tell me my friend had had a death in her family.  My friend's mother, who, apart  from diabetes was in quite good health, had collapsed on her driveway from a suspected heart attack.  She would have been 59 today.  My friend just lost the plot on hearing the news.  Became hysterical and her eldest son (6) called his aunt who drove over expecting to find a severed limb giving the wailing in the background (her words not mine) and got the details.  My friend has had to fly out of state leaving her 3 young boys with family - to arrange for her mother's body to be flown to another state, to be buried with the father.

Yesterday I spoke to an American friend who I have known since my Uni days.  Her British sister in law was due with her first baby this week so I thought she was calling to tell me what they had had.  Unfortunately it was bad news.  The woman had been measuring large.. so at 39 weeks had been sent for just her 2nd scan. All was not well.  A genetic condition?  The lungs are only 50% formed, the chest cavity is distended (?) but limbs very small.  They doubt that the baby will survive the birth, if it does the outcome is less than favourable.  She will be induced this week.

3 very different cases of people I know through the ones left grieving. A sympathy card just cannot suffice.  What can you say?

7.8.07 05:55


Names

We are on vacation in whacky California USA.  Sppke to a friend here who just welcomed a little boy into their family last week. I knew he was going to have an 'unusual' name when she started with 'Oh God, I don;t even want to tell you - he's called BECKHAM; and yes, I did then say 'What as in David Beckham?'  But that is his first name - Beckham

Mmmmm.  Many of those in his class?  You know, over here, there could well be.  Oh and this guy has a sister - Charlize (as in the South African actress)

11.8.07 15:21


Hollywood

So we are still in California - just about recovered from the 2 day road trip to actually get here.  We used to live here - in the house opposite to the one we are renting for the week so we know the lay of the land quite well.  Over the years we have really done all the touristy things; Disneyland, Legoland, Wild Animal Park, the Zoo, Sea World etc and we have found that they cost an absolute fortune and always one of the children manages to sulk or have an off day and it ends up being a bit of a waste.  My lot enjoy a day at the beach far more it must be said.

But yesterday (Sunday) we decided to head up to LA and see Hollywood etc.  The older two understand the movies a little and we thought it might be fun (plus the traffic shouldn't have been so bad as it was Sunday).

Once again, despite a walk through Rodeo Drive and the Pretty Woman hotel at Wiltshire Blvd, the children were quite unimpressed.  Here are their main reasons:

1.  There were not enough limos on the road

2.  There were no red carpets or movie stars walking around and hence no photographers and flashbulbs

3.  There were no movies being made right there around 10am on a Sunday.

4. NOBODY stopped their car to actually ask Bee if she wanted to be famous and in the movies.

5.  The famous HOLLYWOOD letters really weren't straight and they didn't look white enough.

In fact the biggest thrill for the older two was a building size advertisement for Disneys 'High School Musical 2'  Yes, an advert was the biggest hit.

Off to the beach today then I think.

13.8.07 16:24


Back to school

The oldest two went back to school today!!!! It was quite something getting us all in the car by 7.20 again for the school run I can tell you.  Bee was quite excited to go back even though she only found out yesterday one of her good friends won't be returning to class.  Paddy is now in 1st Grade which requires uniforms.  Belts are part of the uniform and he is still having to really concentrate (fine motor skills) to get the buckle in the right position.  He was so excited to be getting the uniform this morning  that he forgot his underwear and we had to start all over again!!

The younger two and I then went grocery  shopping and maybe it is just the peacefulness of not having Bee and Paddy squabbling all the time but it was so easy.  Yes, Mac and Rory are 3 and 1 but they don't make as much noise.. or don't require as many answers....Mac suddenly seems more grown up - is he suddenly taking on the role of eldest child with the others at school or is it all in my mind?

Oh and Halloween stuff is everywhere already it seems.  Yes, August 20th and we're planning over 2 months ahead over here it seems. 

Better go - mountains of laundry awaits after the California trip - more on that later.

20.8.07 17:04


Book swap

A Canadian mum of 4 whose blog I read quite often, is organising a book swap which I thought sounded like fun.

She refers to it in her entry for August 21st.

 

Here is her link:

http://emmamcdon.blogspot.com/

22.8.07 18:48


E-bay funny one

I GOT THIS FORWARDED TO ME FROM A FRIEND.  IT IS A REAL E-BAY DESCRIPTION THAT WENT OUT.  THE WOMAN SOLD THESE FOR 40 DOLLARS IN THE END IT SEEMS (20 QUID).  APPARENTLY OTHER SELLERS HAVE TAKEN HER LISTING WORD FOR WORD TO SELL THEIR SIMILAR PRODUCT. 

I CAN S O O O O O RELATE TO HER SHOPPING DESCRIPTION----SEE IF YOU CAN TOO:

I'm selling a bunch of Pokemon cards.  Why?  Because my kids sneaked them into my shopping cart while at the grocery store and I ended up buying them because I didn't notice they were there until we got home.  How could I have possibly not noticed they were in my cart, you ask?  Let me explain.

You haven’t lived until you’ve gone grocery shopping with six kids in tow. I would rather swim, covered in bait, through the English Channel, be a contestant on Fear Factor when they’re having pig brains for lunch, or do fourth grade math than to take my six kids to the grocery store. Because I absolutely detest grocery shopping, I tend to put it off as long as possible. There comes a time, however, when you’re peering into your fridge and thinking, ‘Hmmm, what can I make with ketchup, Italian dressing, and half an onion,’ that you decide you cannot avoid going to the grocery store any longer. Before beginning this most treacherous mission, I gather all the kids together and give them “The Lecture“.
“The Lecture“ goes like this…
MOM: “We have to go to the grocery store.”
KIDS: “Whine whine whine whine whine.“
MOM: “Hey, I don’t want to go either, but it’s either that or we’re eating cream of onion-ketchup soup and drinking Italian dressing for dinner tonight.”
KIDS: “Whine whine whine whine whine.“
MOM: “Now here are the rules: do not ask me for anything, do not poke the packages of meat in the butcher section, do not test the laws of physics and try to take out the bottom can in the pyramid shaped display, do not play baseball with oranges in the produce section, and most importantly, do not try to leave your brother at the store. Again.”
OK, the kids have been briefed. Time to go.
Once at the store, we grab not one, but two shopping carts. I wear the baby in a sling and the two little children sit in the carts while I push one cart and my oldest son pushes the other one. My oldest daughter is not allowed to push a cart. Ever. Why? Because the last time I let her push the cart, she smashed into my ankles so many times, my feet had to be amputated by the end of our shopping trip. This is not a good thing. You try running after a toddler with no feet sometime.
At this point, a woman looks at our two carts and asks me, “Are they all yours?” I answer good naturedly, “Yep!
“Oh my, you have your hands full.”
“Yes, I do, but it‘s fun!” I say smiling. I’ve heard all this before. In fact, I hear it every time I go anywhere with my brood.
We begin in the produce section where all these wonderfully, artistically arranged pyramids of fruit stand. There is something so irresistibly appealing about the apple on the bottom of the pile, that a child cannot help but try to touch it. Much like a bug to a zapper, the child is drawn to this piece of fruit. I turn around to the sounds of apples cascading down the display and onto the floor. Like Indiana Jones, there stands my son holding the all-consuming treasure that he just HAD to get and gazing at me with this dumbfounded look as if to say, “Did you see that??? Wow! I never thought that would happen!”
I give the offending child an exasperated sigh and say, “Didn’t I tell you, before we left, that I didn’t want you taking stuff from the bottom of the pile???”
“No. You said that you didn’t want us to take a can from the bottom of the pile. You didn’t say anything about apples.”
With superhuman effort, I resist the urge to send my child to the moon and instead focus on the positive - my child actually listened to me and remembered what I said!!! I make a mental note to be a little more specific the next time I give the kids The Grocery Store Lecture.
A little old man looks at all of us and says, “Are all of those your kids?”
Thinking about the apple incident, I reply, “Nope. They just started following me. I’ve never seen them before in my life.”
OK, now onto the bakery section where everything smells so good, I’m tempted to fill my cart with cookies and call it a day. Being on a perpetual diet, I try to hurry past the assortment of pies, cakes, breads, and pastries that have my children drooling. At this point the chorus of “Can we gets” begins.
“Can we get donuts?”
“No.”
“Can we get cupcakes?”
“No.”
“Can we get muffins?”
“No.”
“Can we get pie?”
“No.”
You’d think they’d catch on by this point, but no, they’re just getting started.
In the bakery, they’re giving away free samples of coffee cake and of course, my kids all take one. The toddler decides he doesn’t like it and proceeds to spit it out in my hand. (That’s what moms do. We put our hands in front of our children’s mouths so they can spit stuff into them. We’d rather carry around a handful of chewed up coffee cake, than to have the child spit it out onto the floor. I’m not sure why this is, but ask any mom and she’ll tell you the same.) Of course, there’s no garbage can around, so I continue shopping one-handed while searching for someplace to dispose of the regurgitated mess in my hand.
In the meat department, a mother with one small baby asks me, “Wow! Are all six yours?”
I answer her, “Yes, but I’m thinking of selling a couple of them.”
(Still searching for a garbage can at this point.)
Ok, after the meat department, my kids’ attention spans are spent. They’re done shopping at this point, but we aren’t even halfway through the store. This is about the time they like to start having shopping cart races. And who may I thank for teaching them this fun pastime? My seventh “child”, also known as my husband. While I’m picking out loaves of bread, the kids are running down the aisle behind the carts in an effort to get us kicked out of the store. I put to stop to that just as my son is about to crash head on into a giant cardboard cut-out of a Keebler elf stacked with packages of cookies.
Ah! Yes! I find a small trash can by the coffee machine in the cereal aisle and finally dump out the squishy contents of my hand. After standing in the cereal aisle for an hour and a half while the kids perused the various cereals, comparing the marshmallow and cheap, plastic toy content of each box, I broke down and let them each pick out a box. At any given time, we have twenty open boxes of cereal in my house.
As this is going on, my toddler is playing Houdini and maneuvering his little body out of the seat belt in an attempt to stand up in the cart. I’m amazed the kid made it to his second birthday without suffering a brain damaging head injury. In between trying to flip himself out of the cart, he sucks on the metal bars of the shopping cart. Mmmm, can you say “influenza”?
The shopping trip continues much like this. I break up fights between the kids now and then and stoop down to pick up items that the toddler has flung out of the cart. I desperately try to get everything on my list without adding too many other goodies to the carts.
Somehow I manage to complete my shopping in under four hours and head for the check-outs where my kids start in on a chorus of, “Can we have candy?” What evil minded person decided it would be a good idea to put a display of candy in the check-out lanes, right at a child’s eye level? Obviously someone who has never been shopping with children.
As I unload the carts, I notice many extra items that my kids have sneaked in the carts unbeknownst to me. I remove a box of Twinkies, a package of cupcakes, a bag of candy, and a can of cat food (we don’t even have a cat!). I somehow missed the box of Pokemon cards however and ended up purchasing them unbeknownst to me.  As I pay for my purchases, the clerk looks at me, indicates my kids, and asks, “Are they all yours?”
Frustrated, exhausted from my trip, sick to my stomach from writing out a check for $289.53, dreading unloading all the groceries and putting them away and tired of hearing that question, I look at the clerk and answer her in my most sarcastic voice, “No. They’re not mine. I just go around the neighborhood gathering up kids to take to the grocery store because it’s so much more fun that way.”
So, up for auction is an opened (they ripped open the box on the way home from the store) package of Pokemon cards.  There are 44 cards total.  They're in perfect condition, as I took them away from the kiddos as soon as we got home from the store.  Many of them say "Energy".  I tried carrying them around with me, but they didn't work.  I definitely didn't have any more energy than usual.  One of them is shiny.  There are a few creature-like things on many of them.  One is called Pupitar.  Hee hee hee Pupitar!  (Oh no!  My kids' sense of humor is rubbing off on me!)  Anyway, I don't there's anything special about any of these cards, but I'm very much not an authority on Pokemon cards.  I just know that I'm not letting my kids keep these as a reward for their sneakiness.  
Shipping is FREE on this item.  Insurance is optional, but once I drop the package at the post office, it is no longer my responsibility.  For example, if my son decides to pour a bottle of glue into the envelope, or my daughter spills a glass of juice on the package, that’s my responsibility and I will fully refund your money.  If, however, I take the envelope to the post office and a disgruntled mail carrier sets fire to it, a pack of wild dogs rip into it, or a mail sorting machine shreds it, it’s out of my hands, so you may want to add insurance.  I will leave feedback for you as soon as I’ve received your payment.  I will be happy to combine shipping on multiple items won within three days.  This comes from a smoke-free, pet-free, child-filled home.  Please ask me any questions before placing your bid.  Happy bidding!

APPARENTLY SHE HAS A BLOG WHICH LOOKS PRETTY FUNNY TOO:

www.mom2my6pack.blogspot.com

25.8.07 06:01


Back to school

29.8.07 22:54


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