Katied1d

Why, why in god's green earth would he do it?  The quiz has a fricking "skip" option, which meant he could have skipped any and all questions about me.  But instead, he has to respond to a question about my salary - which IS NONE OF HIS BUSINESS TODAY, TOMORROW, OR AT ANY POINT IN THE FUTURE, and proclaim to all that he does not find me cute.   Now, at my age in life, the latter is not so shocking.....and  he is my brother-in-law for christ's sake so it would be a bit sick if he did find me... Read Full Story

I seem to cry at the drop of a hat these days....t.v commercials, newspaper articles, personal worries and concerns all seem to reduce me to quiet tears.  I'm not sure why  - although I have some ideas. Still, tonight what I feel most of all is frustration and anger.  Who actually knows, maybe H1N1 will turn out to be, please, please, please, much ado about nothing - except for those poor, grieving families who have lost love ones to date because of this flu strain.  I do know that the first... Read Full Story

There is no way around it but to simply admit that I fall short on many fronts.  Take Hallowe'en for example.  No home-made costumes for my kids.  Nope.  I consider it victory that a) I remembered in time to find and purchase a dinosaur costume for Topher, and b) that I could actually put my hands on a hand-me-down costume of Topher's for Winston.  Ah yes, and that 48 hours before the actual event I remembered to pick up the necessary Hallowe'en candy for the neighborhood children (who will... Read Full Story

I have often been "advised" to take some time to myself, aka take better care of myself and to better attend to my own needs.  I have bristled and objected to these suggestions - who has time to be selfish with two small boys, a marriage, a household to manage and a career? However, I am back home after 3 days away on a leadership retreat....3 days without diapers, tantrums, dinners to plan and prepare, work to attend to....no real, personal and pressing demands on my time, my moods, my... Read Full Story

...have my undying admiration.  I am often a temporary single parent as my spouse travels frequently.  This latest jaunt is for over one week.  Faced with the reality of the unquenchable needs of two small boys, the demands of a career and the minutia of making a household run even relatively smoothly, I am exhausted, depleated and undone. My list of academy award nominees for the mother of a lifetime award include ( in no particular order): - single parent women who manage breakfast, school... Read Full Story

So, it has finally happened and I am bereft at some points and yet oddly vacant at others.  Yes, the first of many fissures in the mother-child bond has occured...Winston is in his own room, in his own bed.  No longer is my baby boy sleeping next to me.   In fact, for the first time in over two years he is neither inside me nor beside me all night long.  No longer can I either feel or hear his rustling sleepy movements.  No longer can I listen to his breathing when sleep eludes me.  No longer... Read Full Story

On the off chance that some major Canadian corporation is trolling the internet and blog sites looking for information, here's a little tidbit for you... Happily married professional woman, earning more than $100k a year.  Two children under the age of four. Outsources most of her family's life - nanny, cleaning lady, people to clear snow in winter etc.  Tries to compensate by preparing home-cooked, healthy meals for family.  This includes preparing most meals "from scratch". Add to this... Read Full Story

Families are complex things. I know this - my own family is a mess of complexity and I have had enough therapy over the years, at different times in my life, to begin to become somewhat accomodating to the messiness that is my family. For the last seven months I have also had my spouse's family living in - well, my living room. And complex is the least of the adjectives I can find to describe this situation. Tonight, after seven months, they are gone - back to Africa. And I miss his parents... Read Full Story

I am at a loss. Wait, no I am not. Just had a brilliant idea. Will deal with brilliance in a moment... Spouse is doing his neuroscience thing in California this week while in-laws and I keep the home fires burning...the boys are shattered with missing their father, I am in sore need of his calm, rational, normal view of life, and the Fan the dog, well, suffice to say we hit an emergency tonight when we realized she was out of food - and trust me, with a hungry labrador that constitutes an... Read Full Story

I live in a house obsessed by garbage. Or, more accurately, I live in a house with people obsessed by garbage. Spouse's obsession is expressed by expending an unbelievable amount of energy in avoiding taking out the garbage. MIL on the other hand can’t wait for the night before garbage day - she begins before dinner to scratch through the recycle bins, eyeing the neighbours ‘curb-sides for evidence of blue or black boxes, and packing up every stray bit of tissue, newspaper and flotsam into... Read Full Story