Fish

Corey bought Amelie some fish.

There were some guidelines of course, he had to use his poker money because I (being incredibly smart and knowing that Amelie is WAY too young for fish) want nothing to do with the fish and I object to having another animal to take care of.

So, on Tuesday, Corey and Amélie had a daddy/daughter date and went and got supplies, just a couple things since we already had the tank and lid, and some fish. Now ... the absolute excitement and pride in Amélie's little eyes was really hard to ignore. She immediately pulled the bags that contained her fish out of the bag holding them all together, sifted through until she found 'HER' fish and held it up to my eyes (literally right up to my eyes).

Interesting fact : I'm not blind.

She announced that this was 'HER fish'. It is a pinkish betta with tons of attitude. Spends most of his time fighting his reflection. Seriously the slightest amount of light makes a reflection and he goes coocoo. Also among the 'lucky' fish were two angel fish, 3 tetra somethings and my staple ... the tank cleaner dude. His name is tank cleaner dude.

Now, Amélie and Corey spent an hour getting it all set up with fresh water, getting it the right temperature, getting the fish used to the water ... blah, blah, blah. Then Amélie spent the next hour watching them float in their bags while Corey plowed the yard (to try to prevent a swimming pool in the basement).

Then they were free in the tank. Thus began the great ... Amélie vs the fish. She's already put various items in the tank, accidentally dropped the lid (including the part with the lights) and there are fingerprints everywhere.

But ... she sleeps on the side of her bed closest to the tank.
She curls up with her Scentsy Frog on the very foot of her bed, laying not lengthwise but widthwise the way only a 'little girl' can do and pulls her covers tight and watches those fish swim around.

Tomorrow I'll yell at her again for sticking Barbie and Ken into 'shark infested waters'. I'll relocate whatever she's using as a stool to reach the top of her dresser. But ... sigh ... at least she's enthusiastic about them. Very enthusiastic.

Seriously though ... I'm not cleaning that stupid fish tank.

Screening emails? Customer Service? Netflix?

I think my emails are being screened.

Oh you laugh now, but I think it's happening. Okay, it's hard to screen emails because the curiosity gets to most people, but it happens.

I was having this amazing conversation through email about education and the educational system and it abruptly ended. It's been a while now and I'm not sure if I should be all 'Heeeeyyyy .... what's up?', or just consider the conversation done because obviously, I have offended that person in a way that they can not email talk with me ... ever ... again.

I was also having this other amazing conversation where I went all off topic for a minute, but then apologized and have been since waiting for a reply. In fact, I sent another email not that long ago about something completely unrelated and totally cool ... still no response.

Of course, the first thing we think of is 'oh they just haven't read it yet', but when you see that person on facebook, it's only fair to assume they read the messages. I know they know how because we were talking before.... so ... what to do?

Calling the first person is out of the question, don't know each other that well. That doesn't make the ignoring of the inbox message any better ... just saying. Especially since this person is starting to come off as a self-righteous 'Never does anything wrong' type person? WHOA. I know that's not completely fair, is it? But it's the truth. That's the vibe I'm getting. This person is probably NOT like that. I'm pretty positive this person is not, just so you know. I won't even go into the vibes I give off through my emails ;)

The 2nd one might warrant a phone call. We'll see.

That's my thing. I love when people reply immediately or as soon as they can. It's like customer service ....

Speaking of customer service .... I recently downgraded our Shaw Direct package. Customer service was amazing. Seriously, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to be down to .... TSN and CNN, but Corey wanted a few others. I haven't watched 'TV' since we got Netflix.

I love Netflix.

I can watch a whole TV series without commercials ... it's awesome.

Sidenote : Heroes gives me nightmares and I wish I had a cool super power. I also can't stop watching. I suspect they added caffeine into their tv show.

That is all for now. You have been informed of my paranoia that everyone is out to ignore my email messages. I should watch less Heroes. Probably won't happen.

Double sidenote : I'm really excited for my Launch Party at Jacqueline's house!! Trying to decide what to do a draw for, some cool prizes and samples. EEEEEEEE.

101 things in 1001 days

Update

Day 48

GAH! Agonizing whine ... shame on me!!! How dare I make a list and ignore it for the better part of this 2nd month. I have to admit, I think I need to re-edit it. Some of the weekly tasks are just piling up. They aren't impossible, maybe I just need more motivation ....

Goal Complete #7 Buy a PS3!! BOOYAH! Actually, it fits nicely into our life. I love it because it brings me Netflix. Corey loves it because he can play NHL 11 and COD with his friends and he doesn't even have to leave the house.


#19. Give Corey a massage once a week (2/143) (owe 5$ charity). This one just ... doesn't happen. It's too hard to keep track of ... wait. I just got a new agenda, maybe I will keep the challenge. I might have an easier time keeping track.

22. Cuddle with Corey on the couch, with a blanket/popcorn/pop/iced tea watch a movie/tv/play a game once a week (7/143) This one is easy actually.

26. Update my wardrobe (at least 2 new pants, 3-4 new shirts, a skirt, panties, sweater, 1 pair of shoes) I'm actually doing good. Updated 2 new shirts, and a new sweater! Which is good because my old one was starting to get holey.

31. Make a habit of folding one basket of laundry and doing one hour of cleaning before going on the computer. Not that tough, now that it's a habit. I will admit it's not always BEFORE going on the computer but ... I'm still calling it a success.

35. Complete at least 4 scrapbook pages per month. (0/33) Crap. I have the 4 pages almost done, but still have 4 more to do for this month. I better pitter patter, just a little over a week left in this month.

43. Do yoga at least 2 times per week. For 15 minutes.(0/286) (owe 14$ to charity) Wow. I'm majorly sucking at this one.
46. Go for a walk. Once a week.(0/143) (owe charity 7$) This one also less successful.

86. No computer for a full 24 hours. Once a month. (0/33) Failed last month. Kind of just forgot about it. I won't fail this month. I'm determined. How. Hard. Can it be? (is preparing to go into full out withdrawal)

88. Blog about each goal completed/failed
89. Post at least once a week on the new blog and once a month on the old (www.thelinfitts.blogspot.com) (7/143) (1/33) Pretty easy to keep up on these two.

96. Read 52 books in 52 weeks. (5/52)  Golem in the Gears (Piers Anthony)

There. All updated. :)

Netflix my Hero

Recently, we got Netflix. I suppose before that ... we finally bought a PS3 and THEN we got Netflix. It was one of the first things Corey wanted to get set-up actually. At first, I thought, meh ... just some dumb ol' tv shows/movies. But then ...

We were able to watch Blue's Clues on a pretty much never ending cycle. And when the kids got tired of that, it was Diego ... or Dora ...or some show called Horseland where all the horses have streaked manes and tails.

More importantly though ... I stumbled upon a show called HEROES (Don't give me ANY SPOILERS OR ELSE HORRIBLE things will happen to you. That's how Karma works.) I'd only heard about it, but I settled in to watch the first episode. I couldn't stop. It was unstoppable (not really, just a matter of turning it off of course.) I had nightmares. Horrible, unrealistic nightmares. Involving Spock (YOU KNOW WHY!) and Sulu (I love Star Trek).

In case you don't know : Spock (From the new movie Star Trek) and Sulu (from the old TV show Star Trek) are both on the show Heroes.

I'm actually moved on to season 2, with a few less nightmares ... right up until ANOTHER crazy bunch of dramatic things happened. I don't know how I will ever sleep during Corey's nightshifts. I probably won't ... I'll watch Heroes. Or  Blue's Clues. Or ... Horseland. I actually think I saw Babysitter's Club there somewhere ....

Interesting fact : Netflix is amazing. I also cut down our satellite bill by 40$/month.
Interesting fact 2 : My new coconut lemongrass Scentsy bar is seriously making me crave a pina colada - I don't even know what a Pina Colada is!

Scentsy Consultant?

Okay, I literally debated this for such a long while, and then finally decided to take the 'plunge'. Now that I have, I'm really excited! It's a product I'm really into and enjoy and it'll bring in a little tiny bit of income. :)

I've already got my own Scentsy Webpage : Corinne's Scentsy Page

I'd like to also thank everyone for coming to my Scentsy party! It was a lot of fun and I hope you all enjoyed the product! I'm hoping there's someone out there who will be cool enough to host my launch party ... any takers? I've ordered 1 of everything (I think) which means I'll be able to demonstrate everything! I'm looking forward to this new idea :)

Either leave a comment or email me : corinnelinfitt@yahoo.ca if you want more info.

Okay, now that the boring 'presentation' is done I can tell you how I really feel.

omgi'msoexcitedireallylovethisstuff!

AH! Seriously. I can't wait to get my new scents and warmers! I know my party goers are looking forward to it too! I got a LOT of scents and hope to get more soon. If anyone wants to be on my mailing list just email me, I'm hoping to always have some samples of some of the scents. I can let you know what I have and you can let me know if you want to try it out :) Super. Excited.

Phew! Also a bit nervous, these kinds of 'jobs' aren't always the best, but I'm not really in it to make money so I suppose that's good for me :)

I would really love to have a party in the next two weeks, but it kind of depends when my supplies get here ... I guess we'll see :) Let me know! I'd love to have a party with you!

Tsumani

Everybody loves drama.

I am as shocked as everyone else at the suddenness of Japan being hit by an Earthquake and then a Tsunami, and as I sit watching the news (which I never do) I'm trying to grasp the meaning of it all. Last night, after 3 glasses of Pepsi and a cup of Tim Horton's Mocha, I had horrible nightmares. That my kids weren't safe in this world and it still makes me upset this morning. Is this some sort of warning? Is this some sort of planetary population control? I even found my fingers googling Nostradamus predictions and worrying about 'the end of the world'.

On the other hand, I'm amazed at the efficiency of the world. Evacuations and plans for recovery and disaster control already in motion. Nuclear Plants shut down and all precautionary measures being taken. In fact, Japan is suffering 'minor' casualties. Yes, any death is sad and horrible! but to think of how bad it would have been anywhere else? And how bad it could have been in Japan with the high population? It's amazing.

Yet ... is it bad that I wonder how we can rush to the aid of the Japanese but can't even help ourselves? Yes, we should always help our neighbor ... but like in the airplane ... always put your air mask on first. I'm not saying we should not be helping them, but ... I'm just questioning I suppose. If it was me, I'd want someone to help me too. Sigh.

Interesting fact : Tsunamis are an AMAZING force of nature, but yet they are simply the 'side effect' of an earthquake. Our planet unnerves me with its power.

Parties

I'm not a big fan of 'parties' You know like : Tupperware, Scentsy, Discovery toys, Mary Kay ... Epicure ... you know those KINDS of things, but seriously, all the ones I just named are alright as long as they aren't all at the same time/at the same person's house stuff like that. Sometimes I go because I need/want something, other times I just really want to visit. Sometimes I have a party but really feel all self conscious that no one will come, which is why I usually don't have parties.Or then you get the impression someone wants to buy but can't come so you are practically harassing them? Yeesh. Hopefully I don't harass. We'll soon find out. ;)

Let's be honest, it's everyone's worst nightmare : host a party and have no one show up. GAH. I am lucky my sisters will drag their asses out and show up anyways. And my mom probably ... because curling is on at the same time ... I'm always surprised when people show up. Okay but honestly I've only ever had 1 party and it was Discovery Toys and I LOVE the toys, so hopefully someone else has a party soon! I have a wish list ;)

But, I will make some snacks, clean my house and hope for the best :) And seriously if you don't want to watch curling, Scentsy IS going to be here.

Indecision, Return to work, Online shopping and bargains

Indecision. I can not make my mind up about anything. Seriously. Between what to make for supper to what to buy at the store, to what shirt to get from Gap Canada during their stock up sale. (I did manage to decide : I finally got myself a new 'Grandma' sweater. Pretty excited for such a good deal! Plus I needed one, mine has too many holes in it.)

I will be going back to work next month (booo), but only part-time ... I would love to 'top up' my hours somewhere but I'll have to keep my eyes open for a job as flexible as the one I'm returning too. One lame thing about living out of town is that it's harder to find a good paying job that you can work a few hours at a time. As it stands, it sort of has to be worth my gas to drive 30-40 minutes into town (and then back again) Know what I mean? Also, if I lived in town, it would be easier for me to babysit, so I could do that.

Lately, I've also discovered some online shops : Babysteals.com, Kidsteals.com, Babyheist.com and some other ones but since I didn't order from them I won't mention them. Come to think of it, I  haven't ordered from Babyheist but mostly because I haven't seen anything I can justify yet. I will order though because they are Canadian and it means I won't have to wait long to get whatever I order. :) Also, ebay is bringing me babylegs leg warmers! (yay)

I also browsed a Please Mum website and got a FANTASTIC deal, then I went back to see what was new and discovered 'Greenbacks' so I went through Amélie's clothes, even her baby clothes and took out things that I was okay with parting with (not so many lol) and that were in great condition. I earned 71$! worth of store credit. I will be going back because I only used 25$ (came home with around 90$retail worth of clothes). Since you can only use the greenbacks for 50% of your purchase ... I paid 27$ for my stuff. Rubber boots, fairy wings/tiara/wand, 2 shirts and a pair of pants. Amelie picked it all out herself. :)

Also, I stumbled on Old Navy Canada and they had a deal/blow out but ... I couldn't really justify buying Amelie more clothes since I still have the store credit at Please Mum, so I bought myself a new sweater and a shirt, and bought Will some pants and Amelie some sandals.

And yet, I'm still on the search for a diaper bag ... but I've been looking on ebags.com because they show you the inside of bags so it's making it easier to narrow down some brands :)

Also ... we bought a PS3. WE went to Walmart and hemmed and scratched our heads but ... they didn't have the 299$ one in stock and the 399$ came with the move bundle and TONS of space, more than what we wanted ... THEN Corey wanted to go to Future shop and we came out with a PS3 with 320GB, 3 games, 1 movie, all the cords (of course) and one remote ... for ... 343$ WHAT?! I know. THEN I went to amazon for funs ... and found BOTH Corey's games on sale. FML. Spoiled. He rewarded me by fixing the furnace AND the Septic pump. We are both happy. Also we got Netflix. I love it so far. :)

My SIL had a Tupperware party and I bought some sippy cups/lids because I'm SICK of cleaning the shitty Walmart ones. BOO TO THEM. Then there's an Epicure party tomorrow (just stocking up on Corey's dip) then my Scentsy Party on Saturday! 

I can't wait!

Diaper bag search update

UPDATE (March 3rd/2011) : So ... I've been to the Oi Oi site and the Petunia Pickle Bottom site and neither of those sites show the inside of their bags. So far, I'm really leaning towards a Ju Ju Be. But ... I'm still open to suggestions ... I suppose even backpack suggestions ;)

All about Amélie ~ 2 years 10 months

'See you later, Happy Balentine's Day'. She says this all the time. If she's leaving the room. Bam. Going to bed. Yup. Playing a game. Also then. I have no idea where she got this from. Oh well. It's nice that it's always Valentine's day in our house.

She plays with her Barbies a lot, often re-enacting things she's seen, some things I'm wondering where she's seen it. She's going to be so excited when she finally gets her Barbie house!And poor Ken ... always in the dog house ;) but he gets to sleep with 3 women!!

Interesting fact : Her barbies are almost always naked. And they wear facecloths as dresses and blankets, and they all have Princess names like 'Cinderella, Snow White etc' even if they don't look anything like the character. Except for Ken ... his name is Ken.

She can count to ten if she wants to, she sings the ABC song but doesn't know all the letters yet. She could if I taught it to her, but obviously I haven't taught it to her yet haha.

Napping on her little couch.

'Posing?' She does weird poses lol.

Amélie is a dancer! LOVES dancing. She loves singing too, but ... she just does a medley of every Disney song she knows so you get something like 'I know you, Beauty and the Beast, I danced with you once upon a dreammmmmm ..... I know you A whole new WORLD!!!! I think this fall I will inquire about dance classes.

Amélie adores her Matante Madison - Maddie trumps everyone in the known universe. Her mémère will come over but if she has Tante Madison ... sorry Madison comes first.

I can't believe in a couple months she's going to be 3. It seems like yesterday I was cleaning her little umbilical cord :)

William - 10 months!

Feb. 15th took first steps
Feb 22nd got steps on video. Decided he liked being naked to walk. Very proud of himself
March 2nd walked across living room.

He plays peek-a-boo or *cache-cache* ... well ... he (caches) with his hands up over his head (He doesn't want to cover his eyes because then he can't see you.) but he forgets to lower his hands so we can say *TROUVEZ* ... so ... it's awkward, or he does it so fast you've barely said 'cache- and you have to say trouvez!

He's starting to say mamamamam when he wants me (or milk) and I noticed when he's getting tired. He's said 'uh oh' and 'wow' to mom. Two sentences we use a lot with her ;) Just kiddin' mom, but generally all he says are mom, dad and something that sounds like what?

He eats basically whatever we eat, with the exception of milk, eggs and most dairy products. He's had tiny pieces of cheese and a bite or two of yogurt, but nothing else. I do have baby cereal that I mix up once in a while if what we are eating has lots of cheese or isn't really baby tummy friendly, but really I just go with how he reacts to what I give him. If he spends more time playing with it then eating it, I offer him something else.
He also drinks water from a sippy cup during the day as well as breastfeeding. He still breastfeeds too. Yay for us!


Will's favorite toys - Amélie's princess flashlight, stackable cups (also Amélie's), and likes to carry a bright builder's plus block thingie, around, usually in his mouth, like a dog.

Future mechanic? Let's hope so ....

Peek a boo!!!

Tired of the photoshoot @ 10 months old
Giraffe from Sweet Baby K

Bags, bags, and more?

I've been recently debating the purchase of a good quality, designer diaper bag. I was immediately drawn to Ju Ju Be, mostly because it's got a cool name and neat prints, but then ... I wondered if I wanted something less 'kid oriented' and more adult ... like maybe an Oi Oi diaper bag, but THEN I wondered if maybe I wanted a diaper bag and a purse separate, because I mean I'll be going back to work soon and I've never owned a cool purse.

What is a cool purse anyways? I haven't a clue, but I don't own it that's for sure. I want something functional, that makes lots of sense. I like cramming a lot of things in my purse like agendas and DVD's and water bottles. I practically need my own diaper bag sometimes. So what should I do? Diaper bag/purse or ... Diaper bag AND purse ...

I think I already decided I need one of each. Plus a beach bag. Everybody should have a beach bag and not just a tote, because seriously, while at the lake I had to pretty much dump out my beach tote to get everything. Granted ... it was a grocery bag (reusable one) but you do what you gotta do. Maybe if I bought a REAL tote it would work better.

A backpack has been suggested. Been there done that, it sucks and isn't even remotely cool (sorry if you think it is ;) It's not even functional at all because stuff still gets lost at the bottom. No organization to it at all and the pockets on the outside only make it so I lose things more easily, when they get hooked on stuff because the pockets aren't made for baby things. Anyhoot. Back to perusing I go.

My faves so far :

Ju Ju Be's Be Prepared
Ju Ju Be's Be All

I'll post more as I pick them out.

Update 101 in 1001

I am 4 weeks, 2 days into my 101 in 1001 days.

I watched 2001: A space Odyssey. I would rather have watched a Star Wars marathon. Or paint dry. What the hell?! I will be forever haunted by the weird scary movie soundtrack and my eyes are scarred for life with the pointless footage of the slowest moving space objects EVER. Why show me some guy running in a circle in a space station? oooh fancy he can run upside down. I can't believe this made the 100 movies list. Seriously I can't stop wondering how this made the list. I thought it would be cool. Nope. Nopers. Noperoony. Not a keeper. Not at all. Never. Burn it. 

I also watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite enjoyable! Even though the ending was lame. It had Paul Newman and Robert Redford in it and I actually liked it! WAY better than 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Date night : I'm counting one of our movie nights as a date night because I'm still breastfeeding and have no inclination to leave my babies at home yet ... so ... there.

Man I really need to make a spreadsheet to keep track of books/movies and other whatnot stuff ... or a calendar yah ... a calendar would work too. Better yet, a daily agenda! YES! But for now ... a notebook.

I'm seriously trying to finish Godfather Part II. I really like watching it, but it's a tad difficult with babies yelling, playing ... watching ... probably not a very good idea.

Turns out I only have 1350$ left owing on my student loan!! BOO YAH! That's pretty awesome! As soon as I can, I'm going to get rid of that sucker, make a few extra payments.

# 74 - Curling in a bonspiel might not happen/probably won't happen right now, but I don't know if there are bonspiels at the beginning of the season. If not, then I will owe charity ... or I might decide it's okay as long as I curl in TWO next year. We'll see how that plays out.

# 86 - No computer for 24 hours ... okay this one got away from me somehow, I kept overlooking it. I'll try and do it twice during the next month, if not, then I'll pay the charity fund. But I might die. So ... (deep breath) I know I can do it. I think I can! I know ... I'll get Godfather III and some other ridiculously long movies to watch.

I'm not doing so awesome on some of these tasks haha.

# 96 - Crewel Lye by Piers Anthony - I so love his books.

# 98 - Bacon/Beef soup - I didn't take a picture and I edited the recipe and used what I had, but totally counts AND it was awesome!
        - Herbed Fan potatoes - Seriously, just potatoes sliced not quite through and microwaved with some oil dressing thing. Easy.
        - I made something else ... but I can't remember .... I'll come back to this.

This update was LESS than spectacular, but ... it is what it is. Besides, I really want to write about how my blender almost died.