...about growing up in a large family.

I am the oldest of 5 kids. I have 3 sisters (Natasha, whom we all call Ting, Rachel and Erika) and a brother (Darren), who is the youngest. We had a lot of fun as kids and we are all really close now that we are "grown up". No matter what is going on in our lives, we can count on our siblings to be there to support us. I know that whatever happens, that my sisters and brothers will be there by my side, helping out in any way they can. I try to tell my own two girls about this "blood- is-stronger-than water" thing, and I try to explain that a sibling is better than any friend in the world. I love, LOVE, lurve, looooooooove, lu-hove my siblings!

I was also thinking that I wanted to share some funny stories about growing up in a large family.

There is one that comes to mind immediately...

I will call this story, "That'll show her!"

This is my youngest sister, Erika.

She is a lovely girl.

Anyways...Erika is 9 year younger than me. When I was in grade 10 or so I had a few friends over. I was 15 and feeling all important and I wanted to impress my friends, I think there were a couple boys over, and I didn't want to have to deal with a nosy, bratty 6 year old sister. I convinced my Mom that Erika needed to take a nap. My Mom agreed!

Well, I guess Erika was kinda pissed at me. She really didn't want to take a nap and miss all the excitement. She spent her entire naptime planning a nefarious, dastardly, convoluted, payback scheme that was sure to prove to her oldest sister - me - that she was not a 6 year old to be messed with.

After her nap, Erika came out of her bedroom, and very calmly came and sat at the table to eat dinner with everyone else. She sat directly across from me and stared at me. I didn't notice at first, but eventually her fixed stare started to disconcert me. Her plan was starting to unfold. We continued to eat for about 20 mins and I kept glancing back at Erika and tried to avoid her unnatural gaze.

And then....


And then....


And then.....


She sprung her trap!

This is Erika springing her trap.

"ERIKA!" I screamed, "what the hell?!?"

"What have you done?!?"

"Where are your.....

"Eyebrows?"

Yup, she sure showed me. That was her devious "get-her-back" plan. Erika, my 6 year old sister, pissed at me for making her leave and take a nap while my friends were over...

CUT HER EYEBROWS OFF

with scissors

Think of the evil genius of that...the shear...(he he...did you get the pun?) audacity of pulling that off.

She's just as cheeky now as she was then.

I love that girl!

I have many more where this one came from. Stay tuned.

...the morning after

Hello Friends. I made it through the night. I got some much needed rest. I didn't actually end up falling asleep that early, but the sleeping in to 10am really made a difference. I LOVE the weekends!

We ended up heading out to Stanley Park this afternoon. The kids rode their bikes and Frank, Tuck and I ran. It was pretty cool and despite some muscle cramps this evening and having to take a recovery nap when we got back we are all doing pretty good.

Good looking family, huh?

So now, I'm recharged for another week. However, I think I'll be looking forward to the coming weekend yet again as Frank is heading out of town for work for 4 days.

That's all for now.

...seeking a little solitude

Hello Friends. We've all been there...those weeks in which we feel we've been stretched too thin. The tank is on empty and the nearest gas station is 150 km away. The well is dry. I'm scrapping the bottom of the barrel. I've fired both barrels. I've burned the candle at both ends for too long...whatever the saying...all I know is that I want to crawl into bed and sleep for 20 hours.

It's 8:38pm on a Friday night and what I would really like is to find a good book and read until I fall asleep. Is that lame? Does that make me old? Do I care right now?

I'll let you know in the morning.

'til later....

...off the wagon

So...I lasted just 1 day shy of two weeks. The no-carb wagon has since rolled on leaving me stranded. Actually...Frank said I wouldn't last one day. Nothing like spousal support to back you up and cheer you on! I was doing really well. And then we took a trip to visit family on Vancouver Island and there was a little bit of cheating going on. It would have been rude not to eat those roasted potatoes, or the homemade pancakes!

Anyways, due to the lack of groceries in the house, we had pizza the other night. And ice-cream another night. That is a major no-no. So, I've officially tumbled off the wagon.

To be truthful...it wasn't that bad. I didn't even go through any major withdrawals like I did before. No nastiness, just a little bad mood here and there. All in all, not bad. And even though I didn't really weigh myself just before I clambered onto the wagon, I think I lost a pound or two. My pants are fitting a bit less snug. Its good to know I can do it if I want to.

I'm going to concentrate on exercising more now. Because we do eat fairly low carb as a whole, going no-carb was pretty easy this time. I'll have my piece of toast with my eggs in the morning and I'll eat my occasional bowl of pasta (whole wheat please!) when I want to. Maybe, if I've exercised especially hard that week, I can have a bowl of white rice!

the forgotten brother...

He complains...a lot. He says that he is always excluded when his older sisters get together. He says he feels left out because Ting and I don't include him in our scrapbook pages. Well...suck it up, Princess!

Quit complaining.

...a tidbit...

Last weekend, the SuperBowl was on. I celebrated by hanging out with some friends and scrapbooking. We didn't even watch the game. We missed all the commercials and the touchdowns and if there was another "Nipplegate"...we didn't see it. It was a good way to spend SuperBowl Sunday.

Here are a few of my results:


This was a fun day on my way home from school last year. Everyone loves the Zoo.


Oh, and one day, it was raining and my mascara started running...


And this was last year at Mackendra's school awards ceremony. That is one proud kid.

I usually don't do scrapbooking get togethers, but one of my friends wanted to learn how to digiscrap. I'm looking forward to seeing her results.

Thanks for looking everyone.

Oh...and I'm on my second week of no carbs. And I'm going strong. Woot! Woot!

All for the sake of vanity...

Grrrr....family....gird your loins! 'Cause it ain't gonna be pretty.

I am mentally preparing my family for the following mayhem and turmoil and chaos and overall bitchiness that will be February.

Because....

February is NO CARB MONTH!!!!! (simple carbs)

Also known as THE MONTH THAT MIGHT RESULT IN A DIVORCE!!!!

or I WILL KILL YOU FOR THAT COOKIE MONTH!!!!

sometimes called GET YOUR OWN DAMNED FORK! WHAT AM I? YOUR SERVANT? MONTH!!!!!

Yes, they have been warned and Frank knows that we will be throwing dirty looks at each other and swearing under our breaths at the other's seemingly unending stupidity and selfishness.

A coworker and I have vowed to go on this journey together, and support each other throughout the month. I think Frank is going to be joining in. He hasn't said so officially, but he seems kinda excited by it.

Frank and I did this about a year and a half ago, and it was tough for the first 4 days. Really tough. It takes every ounce of willpower to not eat a noodle, and you literally dream about bread. But it is worth it! It is a great way to jump start our metabolism and we saw great results the last time.

Mackendra asked us what was "no carbs". Frank told her that we wouldn't be eating bread, or pasta, or rice, or potatoes, or sugar or flour (pancakes, crepes etc.)

Her response....



"That sucks!"



She's a pretty smart kid, that one.

I'll try to let people know my progress.

'Til later.

Tanya