What goes around, comes around

Last month the kids got together, pooled their meager resourses and gave Wally and I a box of cash for Christmas. What a great surprise!

They had really thought this through and it was so fun to have some money in the bedside table that we could spend on anything! We have a few fun trips coming up and I thought the best thing to do would be to use the $$$$ for fun money. I was excited to not have to save up for the fun I wanted to enjoy later on. I thought it was a great idea.

After Christmas, we got busy getting ready for "the wedding" so I sort of forgot about the cash and got busy with the festivities.

The night of celebration arrived. Everything went smoothly and we were winding down the family dinner with a few speeches when I got ANOTHER huge surprise! Wally gave his little "tribute to the bride" and was just heading back to his seat when he said, "O my gosh, I almost forgot-all my girls got diamonds this year except for my favorite girl." and then he pulled a little white box out of his jacket and offered me a

DIAMOND RING!!!!!

So while I'd been busy making pies and getting ready for the party, Wally had taken the cash and bought me a ring. (Angela had alerted him to the 10 diamond band the day she saw it.) What a guy! And what a great bunch of kids. I'm so lucky!

that explains a lot

I love useless information!

Some of the funniest things I've heard over the last little while have been derived from perfectly useless facts. For instance, this morning in my email I got a forward (which by the way, I generally ignore) that absolutely cracked me up. Its title was something about truths and I was intrigued so I opened it up and started to scroll through the list. This little diddy caught my eye and then smacked me right in the funny bone.

"The first testicular guard, "the cup" was used in hockey in 1874. The helmet was first used in hockey in 1974."

It only took the guys 100 years to figure out that the brain was important too!

And who knows? It was probably somebody's mother who insisted on the helmet. Just sayin'

huh?

In the early morning hours when I can't sleep, I often get out of bed and fire up the little macbook pro and "surf" the web. That's about all the surfing I can handle these days. I look up recipes and books I'd like to read. I research movies and musicals I'd like to see. I also check out seat sales to places that are WARM!

This morning when I opened my email, I was thrilled to see "air canada seat sale" in the subject line. I opened it up immediately and was thrilled to see lower one way fares to a number of destinations. I clicked the box for one way from Calgary (YYC).

Here's what I found:

Calgary to Cranbrook $209

Calgary to Honolulu $209

Duuhhh?!?!? You choose......

The Slip up!

So the Christmas season has moved along tickedy-boo! Santa Claus arrived on schedule. The wedding plans and preparations remained remarkably sane. Everyone was having a good little break from our hectic schedules. Then the inevitable happened, derailing most of the Christmas cheer we'd acumulated over the last few days!

Something went missing...Katie came out of the master bedroom and asked me what I'd done with the outfit she'd left in my room a week ago. She had put her new dress and cardigan on the chair in my room so it would be here for the day of Sara's wedding. And when she went to find it, it was GONE.

Wally was just sitting in the kitchen minding his own business-reading one of his new Christmas books when all eyes turned on him! "I never touched the dress. I never even saw it!"

"Sure Dad, it was on the chair by your bed. Where did you put it?"

Well, we all know how this story ends.

I really thought he'd moved the dress or even tossed it with the old bag of shoes I had set aside. There really was no other explanation-except maybe:

So I slipped up. And Wally's record is still clear.

But we all know that won't last

Redemption!!!

So Wally has felt like he's been "picked on" as I've blogged about some of the funny things that happen around our house. What he doesn't realize is just how much funnier things are when we make him the joke.

But in all fairness, he has had his day of REDEMPTION just recently. There are some things that are so poetic, they're funny.

We all agree that Dad is a good guy. He's even up there with the great guys of the world. And he really did know that the chocolate chips were in the bin marked POISON. He was just respecting my wishes for everyone to quit eating the chocolate chips!

And the other day as we were busy at work, Katie sent a text message from the home front: "Good news!! I found the computer games!" Apparently, when we'd thrown out the computer desk in the summer, someone stashed the computer games down with the games for the Wii. What a remarkably sensible idea. Games with the games....

As I showed Wally the text, he broke into a broad grin. "I knew I was innocent."

So we may poke fun at our Dad regularly and he takes the heat for a lot of stuff that he really does do: (he really does clean up; he doesn't throw things away as much as he used to)

BUT occasionally he comes through a crisis innocent and unscathed.

Christmas Tradition?

I realize some families have awesome Christmas traditions. I also know that at our house, we do the best we can. As the kids were filtering in to the family home this past week there was a lot of excited twitter about the COMPUTER GAMES!

I don't know exactly when it happened but it can probably be traced back to my "video games will rot your brain" phase. Back in the day when I was mother to a house full of pliable young brains, I was convinced that leisure time was best spent reading the classics or creating art.

Nintendo, X-Box, Wii and the like were all evil and created to destroy the rising generation.

Consequently, my kids spent what little free time I allowed them enriching their minds with educational computer games; games that required them to think and use their brains.

They spent hours creating cities, zoos, amusement parks and incredible, complicated social systems

And because I was not entirely heartless, I remember quite clearly making the rule that Christmas vacation was the one time that everyone could play computer games. There was no school and it was time to party!

So it came to pass that the most anticipated Christmas tradition in our home became the "Computer Games Marathon!" Apparently, while I was upstairs locked in my room wrapping presents or in the kitchen stuffing that turkey, the kids were down in the computer room, in the office or on a laptop in the family room playing Zoo Tycoon, Roller Coaster Tycoon, SIM City, Tomb Raider, etc. etc. I've learned that these games often went into the night; sometimes 24 hours a day as individuals relieved one another around the clock.

Apparently, as sons-in-law joined the family, they also adopted the "Christmas Computer Game Marathon" as the most beloved of family traditions.

So last week when Katie and her husband were finished exams, they headed home to help me get ready for Christmas. There was vacuuming to compltete, a tree to trim, some baking to finish and the games had to get set up!

We were having a pretty good day when about midway through the afternoon Katie started to wonder aloud where the packet that held the discs had been removed to when Wally and I discarded our ancient computer desk last summer. "Where do you think that package of computer games is, Mom?" "I don't see them here on the CD shelf." "Do you think they're in with the photo discs?" "Where do you think you put those discs Mom?"

Now you all remember that I'm married to a tidy man! It was just a matter of time before someone said outloud what everyone in the room was thinking. "I think Dad (choose one:) threw away, recycled, sent to Goodwill, the computer games."

Immediately, EVERYONE jumped on the Bandwagon! Of course, Wally's obsessive cleaning would be the only reason the computer games would go missing.

At first, he maintained his innocence with a vengance but as the afternoon wore on and the computer games were no where to be found, he finally admitted that, Yes, he probably had disposed of the sacred package, even though he couldn't remember just exactly what he'd done with it.

Katie told the story of how in grade three she had told the teacher that her dad had thrown out her homework because it was left on the kitchen counter and the teacher had said, " Now Katie, we all know that a dad wouldn't do that. Why don't you just admit you lost it? ...and stay in for recess to get your homework done."

Friends and neighbors soon heard about the missing computer games and started to rummage through their own stashes to see if this Christmas could be saved. Of course, a number of people called or facebooked to say that the Smart's could borrow any old computer games that would work.

A relieved calm fell over the entire household as it looked like the Marathon could happen.

As the kids began to arrive last week from their various destinations, Dad was once again forgiven, the PC was fired up and it was GAME ON!

The SIMS live, the Zoo has vistors and all is right in the world. Merry Christmas!

.....to be continued.....

one what?

I am old enough to remember when the phrase, "Have a nice day!" was coined and people started using the greeting in every day conversation and especially in business interactions. I initially thought the greeting was a bit lame but over the years, I've gotten used to it and even found myself saying those words to people with whom I have casual interactions. It's harmless and virtually meaningless so "whatever..."

Lately, however, I'm increasingly BUGGED by something I've heard a few too many times while out and about in the world running errands and doing business.

Yesterday was the last straw! I went to the Bulk Barn to buy some Christmas treats and was loading my $$$47 worth of candy corn (seriously, it doesn't seem like that much when the sign says 3 cents per piece...) in to my reusable shopping bag when the girl at the till mumbled, "ya, have a good one."

My mind was still trying to compute the outrageous cost of colored sugar when it was assaulted with that meaningless phrase! The guy at Mr. Lube had said it to me earlier in the week and I'd smiled. The adolescent at Five Guys Burgers and Fries had cheerily waved good bye with the same phrase the night before but this Bulk Barn Barista put me over the edge.

I looked her squarely in the eye and said in the calmest voice I could muster, "A good one of what? a good seizure? a good sleep? a good laugh, lunch? a good bowel movement?! What should I have a good one of?!!!?"

Clearly confused, she stared at me for a moment and then cast her eyes down and said, "sorry" TRANSLATION: "What the heck is your problem, Lady? I'm just pushing buttons here."

Yes, I confess my buttons were pushed. But my work for the Language Police was done so I took my candy and continued on my way to have a "good drive" home and a "nice day".