it's the little things...

We spent the majority of the holidays in the country with family.

And a dial-up connection.

All those distant screams you heard were me and husband cursing over our information / blog withdrawal. I'm pretty darn sure that web surfing will become a reason to be admitted to Betty Ford sometimes soon. Sweet cripes, maybe it already is on the admission list.

I almost had the shakes by the time we got back to civilization and as not to overdose, I've slowly immersed myself back into the blogging world, one click at a time. Today I am finally ready to post again. I'm not sure it this post will be coherent but then, when have my posts been coherent? Can't start now.

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Connection issues aside, we had peaceful holidays. We had snow (after Christmas day of course) and Bumper had a grand time walking around like a drunken fool in her snow suit.

She was spoiled rotten and now it looks like a toy bomb exploded in our apartment. I must pack up some of this stuff and start a rotation of things so I don't go bonkers she doesn't get bored.

My In-laws gave Bumper a play tent with a front door that she loves to open and close. While cute and entertaining, it also takes up about 50% of the space in our apartment. Ahhhh - fun times.

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Bumper has become phone-obsessed (who thought it would start this early?). Anyhow, any object will do as a phone - a remote, a piece of plastic, a banana, you get the idea - and she pretends to have these long, involved conversations with her callers. By far my favourite call to date took place yesterday. She walked up to the cat who was sleeping on the couch, picked up his tail and started chatting away.

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Well I just wanted to exercise my rusty blogging skills and put something out there. Tonight husband and I will gorge ourselves on Thai food and drink bubbly. I just hope we make it to midnight. I'm turning into such an old fuddy duddy.

Happy New Year to you all and see you in 2007!

happy trails y'all

Not my family but close enough

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night.

Talk to you in a few days folks and hug your family for me.

Would you like to rub my belly?

Because I won not one, not two but THREE glorious prizes in Her Bad Auction.

Wait, don't leave... don't hate me... I never win anything, honest.

You see, I bought multiple tickets on the prizes I coveted and lone behold I won.

I got this wicked Fussy T that I've been dreaming of for I don't know how long (I read you everyday Mrs. Kennedy, I really do), this supercalfragilistic sock puppet by Andi (a new blog to me that I'm checking out and liking) and a custom blog banner et all by the fantabulous Izzy (another person who I can't live without reading daily).

You probably hate me now if you didn't before.

To see how far I can push my luck I'm buying lottery tickets galore, entering every contest I can find, eating street meat for lunch, parking without putting money in the meter, letting Bumper run around the mall with abandon and drinking milk without sniffing it first.

Don't get the last one? Well that is one weird thing about me and I was tagged about 50 years ago by the wonderful Soleclaw for a meme involving six weird things about me. I'll get that up sometime soon (translation: when Bumper lets me) but right now I've got some luck pushing to do.

Go check out the Magi post over at HBM and don't forget to check out MommyBlogToronto, Jana has another thought provoking post up today.

too cool for blog school

Did you hear? We are going to peak next year just in case you were wondering which way we were heading. Apparently 200 million people have already stopped posting on their blogs. So I guess it's not cool to blog anymore.

Screw that noise, I need this outlet and if it ain't cool well... well that's too bad (I never said I wasn't lame).

does this mean I have to stop wearing the tiara?

Shopoholic? Why yes I am!

Her Bad Auction is the sort of thing I love: gambling combined with shopping and money going to a worthy cause (raffling counts as gambling, doesn't it?).

I tell you that's the perfect combination, all it lacks is a reason to get dressed up in fancy clothes. Mind you, I do blog wearing a tiara so I guess I was already half-way there.

The draws are this weekend and if I win something from here, here or here (just to name a few of the glorious places who have donated goods, such amazing "I want that now" kind of goods), well if I win something, I'll be one happy motherbumper.

The fund raising is for a great reason: Tanner who is an amazing boy (and nephew of Her Bad Mother) has Muscular Dystrophy. You can read more about this fund raiser here and a really cool letter writing idea here.

So if you have a few bucks go check out the items - tickets are either $1 or $5 and it's a fantastic cause.

Rinse, blather and repeat

Just post something would ya?

Wait... did I type that out loud? Whoops... I've been having a bit of writers block lately combined with newly sick child who didn't appear sick until today because her mom is unable to read the signs properly. And everything that I have tried to write over the past few days has been too tedious and difficult to wrap up. Because if anyone can babble on too much, it's me.

And to add to the lack of posting, we also bought the latest season of this and whenever we start watching a season of that we end up watching and savouring an episode a night until we sadly run out. That has definitely been cutting into posting time.

But alas I crave posting and commenting so here I am just glad to be getting out there and talking.

Anyhow, as I said, Bumper is feeling under the weather again. Hello Winter.

She has been restless and a poor sleeper for a couple of days yet she has been eating well. Today she felt warm so I recorded her temperature a few hundred times before going to playgroup and all appeared normal. I decided she didn't seem sick, just tired from not sleeping so great last night and that we would head on over to get some needed social time. I always tell myself it's only one block away so I can leave if something happens.

She looked fine when we headed out the door but I felt bad for the little lady when we first arrived in the church hall. She seemed all tuckered out and indecisive which never makes a good combination. Yet as soon as she got her hands on the coveted Hello Kitty push-around thingy (I have no idea what the toy industry name is but it's like a shopping cart for wee ones) Bumper perked right up and proceeded to walk the entire circumference of the room. ding. ding ding ding. ding. ding ding ding. How I didn't go insane from the noise is beyond me. (btw - her cart look nothing like the photo but I had to show you this HK product I found while searching for a picture of the pushcart. How's that for a car?)

After her first lap she headed out the door to the stairwell so I had to head her off before Hello Kitty became Goodbye Kitty. She didn't mind me heading her off and parked pushcart-Kitty then proceeded to climb up the stairs. I got a kick out of the fact that when she arrived on the third step she turned to me and grunted while pointing at pushcart-Kitty as if to say “Sherpa! Bring me Kitty. NOW”. I gave her a look that said that she was lucky she was allowed to climb the stairs.

After a while she just started doing a routine of climb up, climb down, take Kitty for a short in-out of playroom, rinse, lather and repeat. At that point I rested and just waited near the stairs so she couldn’t try to go down instead of the semi-safe up route.

I found myself playing the catcher in the rye with the odd tot that wandered out of the room. What a pain because they seemed to be staggered just so but I reminded myself that I have always appreciated someone catching Bumper the times I've been distracted. And let me tell you that it is so freakin’ easy to do in this place. Sometimes I haven’t spoken to anyone except husband in a couple of days and I just drink up the opportunities I get.

Anyhow, Bumper worked up a sweat doing her routine and by the time we got home I thought she felt a bit warm. I took her temp and it was up but still not considered a fever. She hit the hay early for the second night in a row and I fully expect another night of up and down for me. Sigh.

Good thing she cute.

Speaking of, I can hear her now and I can tell it's one of those cries that is going to escalate so I'm signing off now.

I've just got to say a few things* before I run:

Check out this great auction, the items are fantastic and so is the cause. Please read all about and check out the info about writing a letter to Tanner. That will be a great thing to do to get in the holiday spirit.

And don't forget a new post goes up at Mommy Blogs Toronto every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, there are some fantastic festive themed reads up by some great bloggers.

* I actually wrote these two up before I started this post - how's that for organized in my PSAs.

Burn the toys... I said BURN THEM!

We went out for a quick trip to the grocery store this afternoon after I took my shower. On the way home I had to use the ladies room and I was jumping from foot to foot* like a little kid as I was struggling with the door keys.

I ran to the washroom as soon as I had Bumper's stroller parked and flipped up the lid. I stopped in mid-turn around and ceased undoing my jeans in mid-zip because something bright caught my eye.

This is what I saw:


Obviously this is what she was doing while I was in the shower earlier in the afternoon. I know that when she's quiet during my shower time it usually means she is doing something diabolical. Today I kept peeking around the curtain and saw nothing, nada, being perpetrated. I'll assume because the lid was down during shower time that she must have been sliding the foam numbers and letters through the back "slot" between the hinges.

Damn our friend who taught her how to use this piggy-bank.

Do foam numbers and letters burn easily?

* why do I think this will help? I look foolish and everyone knows I have to pee.

MeMe, SheShe: The Monday Edition

...that didn't get posted until Tuesday because I've been in a blogging coma.

Yes folks, I've barely thought about posting while I catch up on reading some of my favourite blogs, wildly making comments and writing a few emails (though not as many as I'd like or should be doing).

Bumper and I are feeling 100% better (thanks for all your well wishes) and we have banished yucky sickness for at least today. We went back to playgroup yesterday and I only doused Bumper in germ-killer gel sixty-thousand times as opposed to the million I expected myself to do. We left a little sticky but as far as I can tell, not sick.

Anyhow - the fabulous Rebecca over at (This) Girl's Gone Child tagged me for a meme.

I can't tell you how special it makes me feel that someone way over near Hollywoodland would tag me and Bumper for a meme. I'm overwhelmed. But not too overwhelmed to give it a try. So here it goes:

Five Facts You May or May Not Know About Mother Bumper:

1. I'm petite and I've got freckles. I like to wear my hair in braids which apparently make me look like Pippi Longstockings. A thirtysomething Pippi Longstockings.
   
2. I think I look more like Molly Ringwald than Pippi but that is a matter of debate between me and my parents.
   
3. I am a tactile person. I love the feel of flannel in the winter and gossamer silk in the summer. This trait has drawn me to some horrid clothing choices and furniture purchases but who cares how ugly a shirt is when it feels that damn good on your skin?
4. I love airports and 24 hour shopping stores. I like to be in either place late at night when empty of crowds. If I can, I like to run, skip and cartwheel in the large open spaces. Cartwheeling has recently been banned by my health plan. Not enough cash in the physiotherapy allotment apparently.
   
5. I'm really shy. In fact I'm so painfully shy that many think I'm a bitch when they first meet me because I don't say much and I'm not a natural smiler. Little do they know that I'm dying inside, trying to think of something witty to say. But I'm really nice once you get to know me. Though on the flip-side, I'm really great in bars and clubs because if there is one thing I've learned in my life, always - ALWAYS - walk into a room like you own it baby because if you don't they will eat you alive.
   

Five Facts You May or May Not Know About Bumper:

1. I love to eat bubbles especially in the bathtub. But bubbles from the sink taste great also (see photo).
   
2. I've got a mean serious stare that sometimes makes adults squirm. People ask me "why so serious?" and I ignore those fools.
3. I like to collect dust-bunnies off the floor and present them to mom. She loves to get reminders about our untidy home.
4. My middle name is from the title of a book that mom and dad love. So what if it's a book about a grisly murder, my name is beautiful.
5. Bumper is what my mom called me before I was born. My parents and grandparents referred to me by that name until I introduced myself in person.

whatcha staring at fool?

So now you've learned a little about us and I'm feeling back in the swing of posting folks.

That was fun. Now I'm going to tag Metro Mama and Cakes. Let's see what we can learn about those fun gals.