Too Long!!

I keep writing blog entries that just state that I will be back and that I have entries planned for the future, but life has gotten so out of hand I haven't made any ground on any of them. I am super tired today, so I am just going to post a [relatively] short explanation and then go back to neglecting my blog for a while. I still plan to come back! But it may be a while.

Our summer was really busy, as most summers are. We were up at the lake a few times, and we were out in BC and Alberta for a couple weeks and the end of July and beginning of August (blog post pending). I really wanted to make a point of making the best of our summers because before long the kids will be grown and we will only have these memories. Brayden just turned 15 (birthday blog post pending) at the beginning of September, so I don't know how much longer we will have him for family trips before hanging out with his family becomes too lame.

I have also taken up knitting which has cut into my reading time. I haven't read nearly as much as I normally do lately, but I have a couple completed projects to show off and I am working on more (blog post pending).

We've had a bit of a hospital centred summer as well for a couple reasons. The predictable one is that many of Dominic's follow-up appointments happened around the time he turned 2 (birthday blog post pending), many doctors want to see how he is doing and 2 years old is a pretty good time to predict how the future is going to go just because he now has a decent amout of living under his belt and we can predict the future from his past. When he was brand new he was a blank slate and no one knew what path he was on. Now, that's a little more predictable (blog post pending).

The other reason that we have spent so much time at the hospital is because Brayden had an Open Heart Surgery (OHS) in June. He has been followed by the same cardiology doctors as Dominic but started seeing them WAY before Dominic was born. Brayden was born with a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which is basically a hole in his heart. It has been monitored ever since we got custody of him (it was supposed to be monitored since he was born,... but... we had no control over his doctors appointments before he came to live with us.... so....yeah....) and it was never a big concern. It was stable and not effecting Brayden at all. This summer things changed and he needed surgery to close the hold and repair some other damage caused by the hole. That happened at the beginning of June and went swimmingly. He then had a followup in July that was also fine. But then his followup in August showed some complications. Brayden was hospitalized even though he felt 100% and had several tests run on him. All of them came back negative or inconclusive, and then the doctors considered Brayden a man of mystery. He was put on antibiotics that were given through an IV at home 3 times a day. We adjusted his school schedule to accommodate this and he was discharged from hospital after about a week. He had another cardiology followup in September that showed no change in the complications, the antibiotics didn't get rid of it, but it also wasn't getting worse, so he remained on the antibiotics. Last night at about midnight he had some serious gut pain that got out of control and Roland took him into the Emergency Room. After a bunch more tests, it was determined that the antibiotics were giving him gallstones, and he was admitted to the hospital again. And that's where we are at now. We don't know a course of action yet, but we have been told he will be there a minimum of 5 days.

So blah.

That's why I have no time to blog or read.

So excuse a further hiatus that is going to happen. I may try to update on Brayden, but I make no promises. But I will try to check back (I read other's blogs) so if you are interested, post a comment and I will hopefully get it and be reminded to make time to post.

Until next time! Cheers!

Not On Purpose...

I have been on a very unintentional hiatus where my blog is concerned, and all I can do to excuse my absence is to blame summertime. This has been an extremely busy summer and we haven't been home too much, and when we have been home in Saskatoon, I try not to spend too much time at home. I am very much a home body and if left to my own devices I might just sit at home and do nothing all summer, but I would never do that to my kids. So I have been filling our mornings with activities, then naps happen in the afternoon (including mine), evenings often get filled with household chores, and then I am too pooped at night to be bothered to make coherent sentences.

If it is any consolation, I have been filling my "me time" with lots of books and new skills, so I am having a good time while neglecting the internet world. And I am also behind in much of my book blog posts and also have new things to talk about... ya know... when I have time :/

So stay tuned! Lots coming up when I have time to breathe!

The Walking Dead

How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television?

When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something we wanted?

How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?

The world we knew is gone.

The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.

In a matter of months society has crumbled.
no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living.


So, technically this /\ is just the description for the first volume, but I figured it works best this way. For the record I have no intention of reviewing further volumes in the series, but I do plan on reading them all. It's one of those things where I feel like I'm cheating. As much as I appreciate Graphic Novels and Comic Books I don't really feel like I've accomplished as much as when I read a novel. Generally (depending on how much time I have) I can polish one of these volumes off in a day. If I didn't have children and could read from cover to cover without breaks (like I used to) I would probably be done in an hour. 

I have battled with the idea of reading these graphic novels ever since I really started to enjoy the Walking Dead TV series. However, one thing kept me saying "why bother?" and that was the lack of Daryl Dixon in the comic books. I LOVE Daryl. To the point that it seemed unnecessary to read any Walking Dead material without him in it. I even often complain about episodes that don't have enough Daryl in them. I also think that part of me didn't think there would be a point if the books were so different because some characters were in them and not the TV show (and vice versa) that was a glaringly obvious difference that was promoted by Daryl. If they were going to be so different, what was the point of reading the graphic novels? Perhaps I should just accept the TV show as it is and ignore everything the comics have to offer. To be honest, the books are quite different, but this last season, with the arrival of Negan (who was highly anticipated and quite the media draw), I felt I couldn't ignore them anymore. 

I am still, to a point, taking what they have to offer with a grain of salt. MANY things about the original story have been changed, so what's to say anything "predicted" won't also be changed in the future? 

They are pretty great though. I have enjoyed them to this point, even if the storylines are a bit different. If you're a fan of the show (or just Zombie stories in general) you should give them a go. I find them still entertaining after watching the show, just maybe treat them as source material for a show that is "loosely based" on them. ;)

The Nest

On a wintry afternoon in New York City, Melody, Beatrice and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, who has just been released from rehab. Leo’s bad behavior before entering rehab, culminating in a car crash while under the influence—a nineteen-year-old waitress beside him—has left the Plumbs’ joint trust fund—“The Nest,” as they’ve taken to calling it—endangered. All four siblings, at very different places in their lives, believe that this money will solve a host of self-inflicted problems and their consequences. And until Leo’s accident, they’d been mere months away from receiving it.

Can Leo get the Plumbs out of this mess, as he’s always been able to do for himself before? Or will the Plumb siblings have to do without the money and the future lives they’ve envisioned? As the siblings grapple with family tensions, old histories, and the significant emotional and financial cost of the accident, Sweeney introduces an unforgettable cast of supporting characters: Leo’s stalwart ex-girlfriend who now thinks that maybe, just maybe, he is capable of change; the waitress whose life was shattered in the accident; the Iraqi war veteran who falls in love with her; and a retired, grieving firefighter with a very big secret.

Tender, funny and deftly written, The Nest explores what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of our lives, and the fraught but unbreakable ties we have with our families. 

I'm going to chalk this one up to the fact that the marketing for this book really worked well on me. I follow a couple different publishers on Facebook, and I get their emails and stuff because I have purchased a few ebooks in the past, and this is a book was one that sounded good and I put it on my "to-read" list when I was first notified of it's pending release, and then I was continued to notified about it for the next few months. THEN I found it at Costco... so having been constantly reminded of it for months, I just picked it up and gave it a go.

This is one of those books that there really isn't anything wrong with, but it just isn't really going to be all that memorable. I didn't really like or dislike any of the characters, the plot was paced fine, but nothing really big happened to make it a real page turner... it was just "fine".

One of the issues may have been the sheer number of characters that narrated chapters in the book. If Sweeney had stuck to just the 4 siblings perhaps it wouldn't have seemed so disjointed, but once you get offspring and spouses and tenants and acquaintances  involved it all gets a bit convoluted. Having more than one narrator can sometimes be frustrating,  but having about 10 is a bit ridiculous. That being said, A Song of Ice and Fire has way more than that and somehow pulls it off for me, (maybe it seems more justified because of the great distances between characters?) so maybe Sweeney just needs to refine her technique a bit more.

The greatest highlight of this book is that I realized the only think I like almost as much as a birth story is a coming out story. I believe that homosexual relationships are very underrepresented in fiction so I LOVED reading about a gay couple's relationship. It was honestly the only thing I can really say I loved about this book. And it only lasted one chapter... not exactly enough to give it an all around high praise.

In conclusion, I wouldn't disuade or encourage anyone to read this book unless they were already interested. If it was on your "to-read" list already, maybe give it a shot. You might like it more than I did for different reasons. But I wouldn't recommend it just off the cuff to whomever was looking for a good next book to read. This is really a take it or leave it kind of book. 

Plant Babies...

I am still very much an amateur gardener, but over the last year or two I've learned a few things and gradually I feel like I am getting better at it.

My biggest struggle has been with tomatoes. As much as I would LOVE to be able to grow a crap tonne of them and just eat tomatoes all summer, until this year I had not been at all successful. The first year I grew them, I started out with them in an egg carton, and put WAY too many seeds in per cup. Then I tried to thin them out by plucking the weaker ones, then I dropped the carton one day and that was the end of my tomato attempt that year. Then last year I put fewer seeds per cup, and I got them to sprout, but then they wilted shortly after sprouting and I couldn't get them to come back. This year, after reading a blog from a friend of mine that is an AMAZING gardener (seriously, he has written books, is a regular expert on CBC radio, lectures at the University on occassion, he gets commissioned for landscaping and garden design all the time... the guy is a gardening genius) I determined that my issue was that my tomato plants weren't getting enough sun. I don't have any spot in my house that gets sun all day that is easily accessable and safe from little hands, that first year I tried moving the carton every hour, but that's why the drop happened. So I got a grow lamp. Best call I have ever made.

And these are just the ones that made it!

These babies are the ones I kept for myself to plant in the garden. I am so proud of these little buggers. I only kept room in my outdoor planter for a few plants thinking that I wouldn't get as many as I did, so, these guys are the winners!

However, when you compare them to greenhouse grown plants, mine pale a bit in comparison.

This is why I don't get paid to garden. The bigger plants I bought from a fundraiser to support a couple of little boys that need international surgeries. (Just a note: this picture is of one of my "winners" about a week before the other picture was taken, so he still looks pretty small in this one. But. Still. Comparison wise, it makes a good point)

Regardless, they are all healthy and happy little plants and they have now been adopted out to their new homes. Given that there were 30 (THIRTY!) extra plants that I did not need, I asked my mom if one of her classes at school might want them for a Father's day project or something. So the Grade 4/5s at my mom's school will now be their plant mammas and pappas.

I am getting more and more into this whole gardening thing! :)

A Child Called It

This book chronicles the unforgettable account of one of the most severe child abuse cases in California history. It is the story of Dave Pelzer, who was brutally beaten and starved by his emotionally unstable, alcoholic mother: a mother who played tortuous, unpredictable games--games that left him nearly dead. He had to learn how to play his mother's games in order to survive because she no longer considered him a son, but a slave; and no longer a boy, but an "it." Dave's bed was an old army cot in the basement, and his clothes were torn and raunchy. When his mother allowed him the luxury of food, it was nothing more than spoiled scraps that even the dogs refused to eat. The outside world knew nothing of his living nightmare. He had nothing or no one to turn to, but his dreams kept him alive--dreams of someone taking care of him, loving him and calling him their son.


This is one of those books that would just not go away. I hadn't heard of it until I started working at Coles in the fall of 2000, but it was already hugely popular by then. If I am not mistaken, my manager at the time had read it and raved about it. But I don't read popular books because I'm a book snob, so I left it. Every so often it would pop up in conversation, and so many people I know loved it and talk about it to this day. So after 15 and a half years, and yet another person telling me it was their favourite book, I figured I would give it a go. Something that has been popular for so long, at very least, I figured was worth my time.

I feel like I am treading on broken glass when it comes to criticizing this book, because how can I give credit to the topic of abuse without praising (possibly) the most popular book shedding light of the topic? So, as much as I didn't like this book as much as many others, keep in mind that I do appreciate the subject of child abuse and I don't think it doesn't happen. I am just completely judging this book on itself, not the topic of abuse.

I think the problem starts with autobiographies in general. In my opinion, almost all autobiographies and memoirs have some element of fiction to them. Frankly, they are based on the author's own opinions of themselves and I don't think many people see themselves as clearly as they see others or others see them. In comparison, the author of a biography has to base their writing on hard facts, so they are generally far more accurate. The other problem is that often people that are not famous that pen memoirs or autobiographies have to answer to an editor before their book gets published. In 2006, there was a big controversy surrounding the book A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (haven't read it, sorry no link ;) ), because it was chosen as an Oprah book club pick, and then it was discovered that there were many aspects of the book that were falsified. When I heard about this, all I could think, when I heard what had been changed or made up was like it sounded like an editor went to town to the point that his story wasn't true anymore. In the case of A Child Called It, I am sure there are some parts that are over edited by an editor. There are some instances where the story is embellished to make it more "entertaining". The best example I can have about this takes place in the first chapter of the book. This part actually is in reference to his escape from the abusive household David was in, but was so cheezy and hollywoodized it was almost unbelievable. As a result I ended up questioning the validity and honesty of almost everything that happens in the book.

As one can see from the book description, this book is not for the faint of heart. The level of abuse that happens is absolutely appalling. I feel compelled to state that I know levels of abuse to this severity happen. There is no doubt about it, however I do question whether it happened to Peltzer. Some family members have gone on record stating that it didn't happen to the levels described in the book. Although one brother did back up Peltzer's account, he also published a book and gained profits off of this alleged abuse. Which is another thing that makes me doubt Peltzer's legitimacy.

This brings us back to the writing style and validity of the story. For such a serious topic the writing style is extremely unpolished. There is a waiver at the beginning stating that it was on purpose to show the perspective of a 4-12 year old, but it wasn't done very well. I feel like the writing needed to be better to give this issue the attention it deserves. I feel it should have been edited more for grammar and style and less for content.

The best thing I can say for this book is that it draws attention to an issue that everyone needs to be aware of. Abuse happens and we cannot remain complacent with hoping that someone else will deal with it. If you want to read a book that will create an urge to become an activist for child rights, then this may be the book for you.

However, overall, if you want to read a book about horrible abuse that happen to children and may give you nightmares (which is what I believe the intended reaction to A Child Called It was), then I would suggest reading Push by Sapphire. Although Push is classified as fiction where A Child Called It is non, I think that the same shock value is there. Sapphire was a counselor that combined attributes of several of her cases to create Precious, so in the same context we KNOW that these abuses happen to children, but she doesn't have to compromise her integrity to tell her story.


P.S. I am not sure why my blog does not like having the text all blue, but it often refuses and I am not sure how to fix it. So just so you know, I'm not unaware it's happening, I just am at a loss of how to correct it :/

Mini Update...

... because there is really not much to report.

Brayden's surgery went well. He was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, after only 5 days (we were expecting 7-10 days), he and Roland stayed in Edmonton for another couple nights just to be on the safe side, and then they traveled home today!

Brayden is still very sore and on Sternotomy Precautions (which are very different from the ones Dominic were on back when he was an itty bitty!) meaning he can't lift more than 5 pounds or push himself up on his arms to get out of bed or anything. No contact sports. No lifting his arms above shoulder height. He also is still on regular tylenol and advil. And he still seems pretty tired (it's before 10pm and my 14 year old is already in bed) He's got a few other restrictions, but nothing major by any means.

But all is on the mend! And he's doing great!

Thanks for all the well wishes and positive thoughts!