all things are possible

At the end of August last year, I decided to purchase a digital camera for Kathryn's birthday(the 22 of September). She loves to take pictures, and I was tired of purchasing film to put in her little camera and then paying the price to develop pictures, a third of which would have a thumb or finger in the way. So I looked on line and found an $85 camera for $20(including shipping). It was a 4.1 megapixel camera, that looked pretty basic and easy to use. I figured this would be just right for a 6 year old. So I bought it. With in a week it had arrived. I was thrilled. I then had the thought that I should probably open it up and learn how to use it before I gave it to her for her birthday. All worked OK and it took decent pictures. But then I tried putting the memory card in it, and the camera would not recognize it. I called the customer service number to see if they could help...silly me for thinking that they would be any help. We finally came to the conclusion that it was defective and I should send it back for a replacement. I wasn't too worried because I thought I had plenty of time. After all, it was only the beginning of September, Kathryn's birthday wasn't until the 22. It had only taken 3 days for it to get to me the first time, so I kept my fingers crossed that it would get back to me in time.........apparently crossing your fingers doesn't work.

As November rolled in and Christmas began to approach I continued calling every week, just as I had been doing since September, to find out where my camera was. I always got the same response "your camera is ready to be shipped, you should have it in about a week." After a handful of these kind of conversations I finally requested to talk to somebody that had more authority than the useless folks I had been talking with. The new lady I talked to, promised me that she would make sure that the camera was shipped, that she understood my frustration, and she would be sure that I would get the camera within a week. So I held my breath and hoped that it would be so. When the week was up, I still did not have a camera, so I called back and said simply that I needed to talk to this lady. I told her that I didn't have my camera yet and I wanted to know where it was. She told me that "my camera was ready to be shipped and I should have it within a week". I reminded her that she had promised me that I would have it with in the week last time. She told me that she understood my frustration, to which I interrupted and told her that she didn't because if she did I would have had a camera a long time ago and would not be calling AGAIN. She promised me that it would be sent and I would have it before Christmas(it was now into the first week of December). I demanded a tracking number but she told me that she couldn't give one to me. I thought to myself "of course you can't because you can't provide a tracking number for something you aren't going to ship". Again another week went by. I called one more time. What's-her-face wasn't working that day and they couldn't tell me what the status of my camera because they were having technical difficulties. Five more days, another call, and a promise that it would be shipped priorty with a promise that it would arrive before Christmas. The next day I was in Lethbridge to do some Christmas shopping. I decided that I was going to learn from this experience, thankfully it was only $20. I resinged myself to the fact that I was never going to see the camera again. So I headed over to XS cargo to see what they had for inexpensive cameras. I was able to find one for $50 that was a 6.1 megapixel Kodak camera. I decided that I would rather spend the $50 on a decent camera than on a childrens camera with less than 1 megapixels. So that is what Kathryn got for Christmas.

I have forgotten all about calling to find out where the other camera was. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, I decided that I would call just to see if there story had changed at all. I got the same line from the little peons that answer the phone. I told them again, that that wasn't good enough. Explained again that this camera was supposed to be a birthday present for my daughter back in September. Demanded again that I get my camera or something equivalent and that I get it now. The man I was talking to, said that he understood my frustration, and if I would kindly wait another week he was sure that I would receive my camera. I told him that I would not kindly wait any longer. I had been waiting for 6 months. I told him that I wanted to talk to someone with more power and authority that he had that might be able to solve my problem. I was transferred to Kevin. Who did some "looking into" the problem while I once again was put on hold to listen to that awful torturous music. When he came back on the line, he told me that he would be sure to send out the camera and that he would call me within the next two days with a tracking number.

I never heard from Kevin. And I haven't bothered to call back to yell at anyone again. Then last week, my friend who lives just across the border where I have all of my stuff shipped to, so I can save on shipping, let me know that she had a package for me, I thought it was something else that I had ordered recently. But when she brought it to me at church yesterday(our ward boundaries extend into the US, making us a multinational ward), I was totally floored to see that it was my camera...nearly 8 months later. In fact, it is a nicer better camera than the one I had originally purchased. It is a 7.1 megapixel camera, basic, simple and takes decent pictures. But then it had better have been a better camera, 8 months is enough time for two itty bitty microscopic cells to develop into a full fledged human baby(less a month), the same principle should apply to replacement camers...don't you think?

Lesson learned...don't buy anything made by Sakar(I would put a link here so that you would all know what not to buy, but I think it is safer to just not even look, don't even give them the hit on their website), unless you have 8 months to spare if something goes wrong. But I do have a camera stored away to give to Tansley some day in the future or something.

Dining out

   2 moms
+ 7 kids(age 6 and younger)
+ 1 restaurant
-----------------------
1 rockin' good time.
Normally that equation would not be correct. But tonight it was. Nothing like having a great friend to hang out with when you are both with out a husband for the evening. Suddenly a boring night with out daddy becomes a fun time out on the town! Lets do it again...but with out the kids.

Please, Spring, come so I can play in the dirt!

But until then, I guess I will have to settle with doing things to get ready for those warm days in May(assuming they really will come). Last year we had troubles with little creatures in the dirt eating my cucumber seeds. As a result, my already late cucumbers were really late because I had to replant them once or twice. This year I have decided to start them indoors, and though I have a west facing window that gets a fair amount of sun, I don't really have a great place to put seed pots. So one night while I was laying in bed, not sleeping because my brain hadn't yet decided to follow the rest of my body and shut down, I came up with this idea. I have this aquarium(with everything I need to set it up) that my brother gave me when me moved. I have yet to set it up. I love fish, I think they are very relaxing to watch and I get a kick out of our cats trying to get at them. But I haven't yet put "buying fish" on the top of my things to spend money on, and when it gets close to the top, often other necessities come up and gets bumped back down. SO, I thought that it would be smart to use that aquarium as a little green house, I could set it on the little side table that we would set the fish on if we had them, and place it right in the middle of our large west facing bay window. That way they get to enjoy the warm sun and will be protected from my 20 month old who would love to just play in the dirt. I bought those little expanding peat pots the other day, and I have a tonne of little planting pots to put them in. So now I just need to put the little seeds in and off we go, on our way to wonderful cucumbers!!
 I also came across this blog that showed me how to make my own seed tapes. That might just be our next Family Home Evening project. Simple and easy and will make planting with the girls so much easier when warm weather decides to come our way and stay.

Today, I stepped out of my comfort zone.

Earlier this week I was busy sewing(no surprise there) when there was a knock at my back door. I went up the stairs and found a man of about my age wearing a orange jump suit with reflective strips, carrying a small tool box and a electronic thingy. He was driving a town truck. I had seen him come out of one house and go to the neighbouring house earlier. He said to me "I need to do some work on your water meter." I must have given him somewhat of a blank look because he then said "it's down stairs." I responded with "if you say so". As I let him in and he walks down the stairs I think to myself how this is so classic "Criminal Minds". Some guy dressed up in official clothes(not that an orange jump suit is "official" but it does say "City employee") and driving a truck or van that backs up his clothes, comes to your door claiming to need to do some official business, but really he is just there to kill you. Anyways...I also head down stairs because I figure I am supposed to show him where the water meter is(which I wasn't exactly sure, I know I have lived in this house for a year. But seriously, I have never had need to look at my water meter). After we figured that out he said to me "so are you new to town?" What do you think was his first clue? "Yeah, we moved here about a year ago from Lethbridge." I get back to work sewing. Tansley comes downstairs and wants to know who this guy is and what he is doing. She goes into the laundry room, where I discovered the water meter is located, and watches him. He starts asking her questions, How old are you, what is your name, etc. I can tell by the way he is talking to her and answering all of her questions that he has kids of his own. So we all get to chatting about family and stuff. We discovered that we knew some of the same people, that he plays hockey and noticed that we had a hockey net out back and he had seen our rink when it was at it's prime, so he inquired if my husband played and if so he could get him into playing with his group of guys out in Warner. It also turns out he has a little boy that is Tansley's age, having a birthday party on Saturday(today). He tells Tansley that if it is OK with her mom that we could all come down to the Civic Center for the party.
 Now for all of you living in a real City, I am sure you are thinking how very bizzarre this all is. You likely would never even think about going to the birthday party of the son of the man who is doing some work on your water meter(that is if he even had a son...again the whole "Criminal Minds" thing comes into play here). But you must remember that I live in a town with the population of(one moment I need to go look this up) according to wikipedia, about 816(that's less than I would have thought). I have made a goal this year that I wanted to get to know more people in the community. I am at quite a disadvantage. I often meet people at the grocery store, the hardware store, the fabric store or just on the street that know who I am because of the family that I belong to(or married into). For those of you that don't know, Daniels mom grew up here in Milk River and most of her family is still in and around the area and have been since about the time her parents emigrated from Germany. I've got used to it now, I am no longer surprised when someone says, "oh yes, you bought Scott so and so's old house." or "Oh, you are Kaye's daughter in law", or "you must be Mandy", "yes, you belong to the Reese clan". After all there are only 816 people in town, how hard is it to miss someone new in town?
OK, so back to what I was talking about. Jeremy(the water meter guy) tells me that our common friends will also be at the party and that I really should come, since our kids will be going to school together. As he is leaving I thank him for the invite because I really would like to get to know more people in the community. As the week as gone on, I wasn't sure if I really wanted to go. I am a complete chicken when it comes to meeting new people in an enviroment that I don't have any control over, or where I may not know anybody at all. I didn't tell Kathryn about the party, and thankfully Tansley had forgotten all about it. I didn't bring it up this morning, because I wasn't ready to commit. So, I could have been in the clear. But it nagged at me all morning today. The party started at 2pm, I had lots of time to find a reason not to go. I went about my day doing this and that. I told myself that I wouldn't beable to go because Kymberly would be napping. But I sewed up a doodle bag(a little bag that carries a colouring book and crayons), just in case. I had a shower and did my hair and make up, just incase I changed my mind. Kymberly woke up from her nap right at 2 and since I was already, I told the girls to get some decent clothes on because we were going to go to a birthday party. Off we went and I just hoped that the people that I knew were really going to be there. This is so not like me.
Well the people I knew were there, and I met some new people and the girls had a blast. It was nice to get out of the house and to let the girls run around wild for 2 hours. I was glad I went.
I don't recommend anyone doing such a thing if you live in a City of any variety, but when you live in a town the size of Milk River, it doesn't seem so strange. Infact I did not think about how others living in other places would react to this situation until I started thinking about blogging about it.

My child, the Rock Star

After bath today Kymberly refused to let me get her dressed. I had to pin her down with all I had just to get a diaper on her to prevent unwanted watering of the carpet. I figured it wasn't worth the battle to get her PJ's on...yet. I discovered it was just because I had interrupted her singing. She had her favorite blanket wrapped around her(sans diaper) and was using a timer from a board game as a microphone when I snatched her to put her diaper on her. The whole time I was trying to put her diaper on her she was screaming "NO! MOM! NO!" and as soon as I let her go, she went right back to singing.
Here is my first attempt at getting her on video,

silly Kym singing

Complete silliness! I am pretty sure that comes through her dad. So we tried again, and although the lighting isn't great, we got a glimpse of her Rock Star potential. Have I mentioned that this kid is always singing?

Kymberly the RockStar

It's beautiful, even if it is cold again

It was a gorgeous day on Saturday. We spent most of the day outside playing and doing yard work. Saturday night it started pouring rain. It was supposed to freeze that night. We woke up Sunday morning to the rain frozen on the trees, in small little icicles. I couldn't take a picture because Daniel had the camera with him. This morning I woke up to see that some of that incredible ice was still hanging around.

Once muddy boots, now frozen to the deck

Old Couch, looking kinda neat with an ice glaze

mini icicles hanging from our deck

mini icicles

The Google Translator is terrible

I just came across this fabulous french site that has some really really great kids games and crafts. My favorite so far are the travel games. I can't wait to go on a road trip so that I can put these to use. But what is making me laugh, and at times to the point of nearly peeing my pants is the google translation to English.
Here is one of my favorites. The french sentence is this "Un mobile à réaliser par un adulte, avec des animaux à
colorier et à découper par les enfants". The google traslation to English is this "A mobile to be made by an adult, with animal coloring and cutting children."
How about this one... French "Fleurs à imprimer Une série de fleurs à monter et à piquer dans vos pots de terre ou vos vases pour les décorer. English "Flowers to print a series of flowers up and bite you in pots of soil or your vases to decorate."
Anyways, if you are in need of a new idea, or maybe just a laugh, you should check out this site.