Slowly losing control.

Those of you with kids should appreciate today's subject.

Yesterday I was noticing something about my house. Slowly but surely, we are losing control of our home. It came to light as I stood in the kitchen looking at our dining room table. Like most people, Aubs and I have our clutter. The dining room table was our spot to drop just about anything and everything when we walked in the door. There were times that the table was so full you could not even see the table beneath all of the junk. I could not help but notice that now, we only have about a 6 inch strip of property in the center of the table that all of our stuff has migrated to. This is, of course, due to our growing boy.

I think back to last summer while I was off. (off being a relative term as caring for a 6 month old is pretty steady work.) Bennett was still pretty sedentary, but that was about to change. As he became mobile and started to explore his home the game was on. It wasn't so bad the first few months. I just had to remember to pick up all the dog toys and make sure my shoes were put away. No biggie. But as he progressed, the stakes became a little higher. I recall being able to actually have things on the coffee table. (other than duplo blocks) We had candles, coasters and pictures. Alas, no more. The table is devoid of any decor. Which brings me back to the dining room table. There used to be a time that the dining table was the safe haven from little hands. Without even really noticing it though, the little boogers grown so much he's invaded our "safe haven". Hence the 6 inches of usuable space on the table. I like to humor him though and leave things tantalizingly close to the edge of the table. That way, when his little hands latch onto something, I've given him the illusion that he's getting something he should not have. It's funny to watch his eyes light up when he grabs my phone holder or my lunch bag.

So, for now, the new safe zone is the sideboard in the kitchen. I think we've bought enough time with that one to allow him to grow up enough to truly understand what he should and should not have. That's my HOPE at least.

One other thing worth mentioning today. There has been a vocabulary explosion going on at the Passmore's. Seems as though I'm hearing new words out of that boy everyday. What I find humorous though is the pure randomness of his expanded vocabulary. We hear the usual stuff that one would expect. Please (peeese), kitty, dog, mama, dada, cheese (eeese) and of course NO! The one that gets me everytime is apple sauce. Yes. Apple sauce. I'm thinking to myself, the boy won't even vocalize thank you, even though he's got the sign down for it. But he'll blurt out "applesauce" in a heartbeat. I figure it's due to the fact that when he says it.. more often than not, he gets it. So, it's a motivational thing.

I'm looking forward to a weekend alone with my little buddy. Aubree and her sister are taking our nieces up to the hideaway for a night. So, it'll just be me, B and lilly holding down the fort. I'm thinking a trip to Toys R Us is in order. I really haven't spoiled him since Easter so I think a shopping trip and maybe some ice cream afterwards will be a great outing.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Try to stay cool as they say it's going to heat up! Drive fast and take chances.

trying to beat the system

This is my first foray into blogging my thoughts. Not sure what has prompted me to try it Maybe reading my wife's blog and checking on my friend Chris' page led me to it. I dunno.

I am a fairly easy going guy. You have to work pretty hard to get under my skin, but there are just certain things that people, in general, do that really raise my cockles. Case in point today. I'm chilling in the smoking area at work. Just zoning out contemplating my weekend away with my wife. Well, I can see the parking lot and in pulls this Geo Metro. Parks in one of the available handicapped spots. Amazingly enough, out of this tiny, tiny car rolls this 'hutt' of a woman. She gathers up her belongings an starts making her way into the building. Now, I can clearly see the placard on her rearview for handicapped parking. I wonder to myself though, why is it that people with no other underlying conditions other than morbid obesity should qualify for handicapped parking? I mean, if your only excuse is sloth wouldn't you imagine that walking that extra 500 feet to get into the building from a normal parking spot would really do you that much harm? I think what bothered me the most is that this person was obviously not physically challenged. There was no doubt in my mind that she was perfectly capable at getting around. I'll freely admit it, I'm a big guy. Not Hugo from Lost huge but no speedo model. For some reason it just irritates me that undeserving people will do just about anything to get something meant for the truely needy and exploit it. I guess that's the way our country is headed now a days.

Everyone is looking for that something for nothing deal. Guess that's why there are so many foreclosures in this country. I tell people that despite the fact that my wife and I bought our house shortly before the bubble popped on the market. We knew what we could afford and stuck to it. The mortgage broker was all set to give us up to $400,000 for a house. Needless to say, we are grounded people and bought what we needed. Well, needed at the time. We liked our house for it's close proximity to my wife's family. About 2 years ago they all packed up and moved to the coast. Well thanks ALOT! lol. (I still love em though) So, now we're kind of stuck in our place until the market can recover to the point we can sell it and make the profit we need to relocate.

The current consensus is that in a couple of years, market willing, we'll put the house on the market and move back up to Vancouver. I'm giddy at the very prospect of moving back to the ol' stomping grounds. Born and raised in the 'couve. Orchards to be exact (Oposse! ya heard?!) I really don't want my son growing up having to attend PPS. I'd also like to be closer to my family. I want Bennett to have the same opportunity to grow up with his Aunts/Uncles as I had. We always had a tight family growing up. Even into adulthood we would see each other at least twice a week.

I've probably rambled on long enough for today. Kind of jumped all over but that's the way things are when work is slow and you spend your day surfin the web.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Drive fast and take chances.