Creating Kris

Father’s Day (pics + card)

Has it only been 1 week since Father’s Day?

I think this must’ve been one of the longest weeks of my life, especially with the living-between-2-houses part! Glad that it’s over for the most part and we should be able to be here full-time. For at least the summer and hopefully for about 30 years or so as planned.

Here are some cute pics from our day last weekend… I really tried to give Paul a nice day, even though the kids were really not on board with that idea…

Sunday morning: I think the little bag one says “Avery”, along with some of the letters from Happy Father’s Day… He’d made Paul a pencil holder at daycare.

My gift was frames with some favourite photos of Paul, as well as (of course!) a handmade card.

Here are the words of the poem I wrote on the inside:
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Subject: Online banking

I find reading these funny (when they are happening to other people), so I thought I would share my nightmare experience of trying to advise a bank about it’s own technical problem… it’s a classic example of Customer Service Reps who don’t take the time to read messages completely…

May 27th 2009
The “add a new bill” feature in the Online banking is not working. This is the 3rd day in a row I’ve been trying to add a new bill to my list and I get an error message every time. Please advise of ETA of having this fixed, if possible; I need to know if I should find another alternative to pay this bill (due next week).
Thanks,
Kris ——–

Their reply:
Dear Kris ——–,
Thank you for taking the time to write ——–.
I apologize for the inconvenience you experienced while trying to register your bill.
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Transition point

I actually like all those times of the year (and of life) where things change and you have a chance at a new routine. I guess I’m optimistic in the long-term and feel like maybe, just maybe, someday, eventually things will “settle”.

Theory: Perhaps parents shouldn’t make too great of an effort to make everything “easy” and “happy” for your children, as they may forever crave a level of stability that doesn’t really exist.

Another recent thought: Maybe my children will actually end up being really strong people and really determined individuals because of the challenges we’ve faced as a family. Even though my daughter is very self-centered right now, she has started to realize things aren’t so easy all the time. As we are making some changes to our lives out of necessity, she realizes a little piece of what she has taken for granted all her life. Even if we get to go back to the life & lifestyle we used to be able to enjoy (2 able-bodied parents working full-time, with enough time and money left over for lots of “extras” like music lessons and activities), maybe she will be more aware of the fact that a lot of what she enjoys are privileges.

I know that being a teen mom for a couple of years and living with just the “basics” (by Western society’s standards anyways) helped me to appreciate the comforts I was able to have down the road. Buying my first little car when Harmony was 9 months old was an exciting experience. It gave me a good starting place to exercise that classic human drive of wanting to always be improving and moving upwards and onwards.

As we finish moving everything from this house into our new house, it is a transition point in many ways. This our very first home that we will actually own ourselves, and we’ve been involved in every step of the process. We’ve been waiting forever for such perks as an actual garage and having our own walls (not being attached to anyone else… or their music or pets, etc!!).

With so many things still uncertain (will I ever find relief from the pain? will we be able to go back to being a double-income family somehow? will we able to cope with the difficulties that have come from being a blended family?), I don’t think I’m going to be able to find my “stable place” quite yet.

But I’m hoping that maybe someday I’ll have a year or two where I can just be in a routine with the family and kids without having too many negative and/or stressful life events coming crashing in at me from all directions!!!

there’s a spider…

Every time I come down to the basement office , I can now almost guarantee that this spider will be waiting for me!

He hangs out in this little hiding spot under some flipped-up linoleum right beside the door. And as I approach the door and turn on the light switch on that side, he skitters backwards into his little crevice.

It’s become routine which is so not cool because a) ew gross, I hate spiders and b) he’s developing a bit of a personality. This is very bad because it’s much harder to kill something if anthropomorphism is involved. And as much as I loved Charlotte’s Web as a child, I’m sorry but no. My rule is that if we’re outside, bugs can have their space but in my own house they risk their own demise if there’s no easy (and sanity-preserving) way for me to catch them and release them outdoors.

If I find I’m unable to suck him up with a vacuum (my current spider elimination method of choice, as I discovered last week when a huge cousin of the office lurker scared me), then I guess I will just have to suck it up and deal with the creepy crawlies until I’ll no longer be down in this office. About a week to go really, before everything gets all packed up, including my computer!

It’s a toss-up, really. What’s more shudder-worthy: purposefully setting about to destroy a little creature who seems to show enough intelligence to hang out in a certain spot regularly and then vacate it when there is movement or light OR dealing with the phantom sensations of bugs crawling on me while down here?

I think I may go with option C, which is avoiding the basement office as much as possible until the moving transition is complete. Which means trusting my hubby to pack the remaining items in my craft area… Although scary in it’s own way, the sorting through of items that I didn’t pack might not be totally confusing. I’m sure I’ll be able to separate the cross-stitch patterns from the Today’s Parent magazines and spare page protectors.

And hopefully the only “bug” I will unpack in my new (non-basement!) home office will be my Cuttlebug.