Monday Musings

What a weekend!  Friday, Mr. Twingle and I took Pickle to the walk-in clinic because she'd had a fever for three days and a cough that was keeping her up at night.  Turns out the poor little lamb has strep throat and a respiratory infection.  She's now on anti-biotics and two puffers.
Thankfully, Pickle is a very easy going little girl; and there's not much that gets her down.  Despite her obviously feeling like crap; she's been in pretty good spirits.  She's only had the odd moment of crankiness; BUT, that odd moment is enough to drive mommy batty since it seems she tries to make up for not being crabby all day.  Oh well...I guess she's entitled to that.  Strep is NASTY and I feel sorry for my poor little Pickle.

The rest of the weekend was fairly quiet, spent at home.  Yesterday, we got outside while it was snowing.  The first real big snowfall of the season, about 5cm!  The twins couldn't wait to get outside and play in the fluffy white stuff.  Of course, Pickle wanted to go too.  So I bundled up the three kids and the dog and we went outside.  Pretty showed Pickle how to do snow angel's while Boo got to work rolling a ball for a snowman.  Here are some photos of our snow fun!

No, the dog isn't going pee, she's eating snow!

Why I Write

It's been a while since I've thought about this question and so I thought I'd blog about it.

I started blogging because it seemed like the "cool" thing to do; yes, I followed the popular kids.  But I never really stayed with it for long.  I dabbled with the odd blog post on different platforms; but, never really became a "blogger".

In June of 2010, I made the heartbreaking decision to close my five year old cloth diaper business.  I had put many long hours, blood, sweat and tears into the business; but with the economic decline it wasn't feasible to keep it going.  I needed something to do with my time.  Yes, not running a business gave me more time to spend with the kids and I loved it; but you can only go so long without adult interaction before you start going insane.  That's when I decided I would give it a go at blogging, routinely.

Originally, I thought I'd just write about my days with the kids.  A way to keep family up-to-date with what I'm doing at home every day.  But I quickly realized I needed and wanted to write more than that.  You'll see that my post count year to year has grown since I started in June 2010.  Some months I do really well, writing almost every day.  Other months I can go weeks without anything to say...but that's life isn't it?  We don't always have something exciting or challenging going on that we need to share.  Sometimes what I write is just fluff.  There's no real indepth thought process to what I type.  Other days, it can take hours, broken up over the course of the day, to write one post.

I love the interaction I get when new people find and follow my blog or leave comments.  While Blogger doesn't allow me to interact well with my commenters, I do try to respond and hope they'll come back to see what I've written.  Maybe one day, I'll move to the Wordpress platform; but, for now Blogger meets my needs and it doesn't take a lot of thought to design and manage.  I enjoy finding new blogs to follow and reading them when I have a spare moment; which I admit is far and few between.

For me blogging is like keeping a journal, which I did all through adolescence and even into early adulthood. While I may not write as many personal things on the blog that I would have shared in a journal that was for my eyes only, I do get to express myself in the same way; it's just censored!

So I guess in a nutshell, I write for me.  Even if no one else ever reads what I write, I've put it out there for me to see and read.  Someday, the three kids may come across my blog and read my silly anecdotes or rants about their behaviour and thank me for writing about it all...at least that's what I hope.

So tell me, why do you write?

{this moment}

Inspiration taken from SouleMama {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see. 

Wishing you a beautiful weekend!

Old Wives Tales

A friend of mine is pregnant with her second baby.  Before she was able to get in for an ultrasound and gender screening, we decided to put an old wives tale to the test.  It had been right for all three of my kids, yes, even the twins.

We used her necklace and I held it over her belly.  It immediately started swing in a circular motion...a girl! We tried several more times over the weeks before her ultrasound and always got the same result, without hesitation.

Well, it turns out the necklace was wrong.  According to her physician, the ultrasound shows the baby is a boy.  Of course, we all know that ultrasounds can be wrong and so she is taking it with a grain of salt.
I, however, am skeptical.  I mean, how is it that this wives tale could be right for boy/girl twins; but, not for this baby?  Am I buying into the myth?

I remember when my mom put my wedding ring on a chain and hung it over my belly.  I thought "what a crock".  Especially when the chain started to move back & forth, then change to circling; and back to swinging back & forth.  Little did I know at the time that I was expecting twins, let alone one of each!  Turns out the chain was right to act as it had.  With Pickle, there was never any doubt.  The same chain circled each and every time I held it over my belly.  An ultrasound confirmed that the baby was indeed a girl.


These recent chain of events have had me wondering about other old wives tales and their accuracy.  Does anyone have any experience with other tales; and were they right?  I know there are MANY old wives tales regarding pregnancy, the swinging chain is just one of those.  Some say you can tell the gender of the baby based on how the woman carries the child. Others say you can tell by what the mother craves.

What about old wives tales that don't involve pregnancy?  My favourite is "feed a cold, starve a fever".  Really?  Both colds and fevers can cause dehydration and make you sicker.  Drinking lots of clear liquids, including broths, when you're sick is key.

So are there any old wives tales out there that you dislike or find annoying?  I'd love to hear about them or your experiences with any old wives tale!

Happy Thursday!

To Grandmother's House We Go

It amazes me sometimes how often the twins ask to go to their grandparents' houses.  They get super excited about going for a visit, especially when there's a sleepover involved.

Growing up, I hated going to visit my grandparents.  I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that my mom's parents were chain smokers and lived in a tiny apartment.  Get the two of them and my parents, also smokers at the time, in that little room and I could barely breathe.  I also wasn't allowed to touch anything, they didn't have any toys or activities to keep me busy and they watched football all day long.  

Gotta say, not much fun for an eight year old kid.  I'm also the oldest of all my cousins, with an 18 year gap between me and the youngest.  I often got stuck entertaining the little ones.  

As I got older, visiting them got more tolerable.  I could take books or my walk-man (disc-man) and lose myself in my music.  But I never had the enthusiasm that the twins have about going to see Grandma & Grandpa or Nana & Papa.

Do your kids like to go to their Grandparents?  Did you, as a child, enjoy visiting your Grandparents?  Why do you think that is?  I can't wait to hear your comments and thoughts.

Update on the #50BookPledge

So I recently finished books 4, 5 and 6 on my #50BookPlege!

Book number four, was Destined by PC Cast & Kristen Cast.  It is the latest in the House of Night series.  Yes, another vampire book.  But there is something about the House of Night series that I really like.  They are so different from anything else I've read.  I can't wait for the next book to come out...and you know there will be another one because they can't finish the series with how the ended Destined.

Number five, The Perfect Christmas, by Debbie Macomber.  I didn't quite finish my Christmas reading before the holidays so once I'd finished book 4, I returned to reading my holiday books.  There's nothing better than a feel good story to warm your heart.

In sticking with the theme of book 5, number six was also Christmas themed.  Angels at Christmas also by Debbie Macomber, was excellent!  There were two stories in this book and both brought me to tears of joy.  I would definitely recommend this feel-good holiday book top your holiday reading lists in 2012.

This afternoon, I'm "hopefully" off the library to pick up book number 7 How the Girl Guides Won the War.  Being a Guider and bleeding blue, as they say, I can't wait to see what author Janine Hampton has to say about the wonderful Sisterhood world wide!

How are you doing on your #50BookPlege?  Don't forget to link up your blog posts below!

My Eyes, My Eyes!

The other day, I decided to sort through some old photos we had stored in the basement.  These are random pictures that Mr. Twingle or I have taken over the years; before digital cameras became available.  Of course, the only way to see your pictures was to have your film developed and so we have two "photo boxes" of these random pictures.
My goal is to eventually get them scrapbooked and preserved properly; I just have to figure out what these photos are and when they take place.

So I'm going through one of the boxes of photos and come across some that Mr. Twingle has taken of his fishing excursions...one in particular; his "bachelor" weekend.  His buddies had rented a houseboat and taken Mr. Twingle fishing for Muskee.  Little did I know, that I would encounter photos of some of the guys, in their birthday suits, jumping into the lake!  UGH.  Seriously, why would anyone take photos of their friends naked...that's just gross.  Turns out the naked party lost a bet and this was his punishment.  I don't know if it would have been easier to take if I didn't know the person in the photo.  But, he was in our wedding party...that's not an image I'm going to soon forget.

My eyes are never going to recover.  My retinas have been tainted.  I really never should have seen those photos.

I suppose on a positive note, it was me and not the kids that found the pictures.  Needless to say, those images will NOT be put in a scrapbook...at least not one I make.  Maybe I should offer the photos to his wife?

Have you ever seen something you shouldn't have?  I'd love to hear about it.