Earth Hour 2008: Monopoly, Candle Wax Burns And Buzz Cuts Oh My!

So Earth Hour 2008 was rather eventful. We turned off the lights, the four computers, the two televisions and lit lots of candles around the dining room table with the plan for a game of Monopoly.

Just before the lights went out, my inlaws presented the Wee Boy (4) with a new Nintendo DS. I'm a bit embarrassed to say that he's rather addicted to video games. The Boy (12) wasn't allowed anything that wasn't educational until he was almost 8. He didn't have his first game boy until he was 9 but 'tis not as easy with a younger child when the older brother is an avid gamer. I'll have to establish usage rules.

Wee Boy knows he's only allowed games Rated E for Everyone and funnily wouldn't even watch a G rated movie with his grandparents until I stopped in to say that it was ok that it wasn't rated E. Good boy :) Bad Mommy that he's learning to read his ABC's by way of video game rating system. We do educational mostly and lots of fitness on the Wii, honest :)

Anyway, tonight we sat down and Darling Husband, The Boy and I started on Monopoly. Wee Boy sat with us with his new Nintendo DS.

We're playing for what seems like forever and I really don't love Monopoly beause DH is a ruthless player who crushes us every time but oh well.

First, DH starts to complain that the scented candle on the table is giving him a headache. It wasn't scented but his parents are downstairs in the basement during the winters and I know my mother in law loves scented candles so I assume it's her but decide to move the nearest candle away from Hubby's spot. The tea light isn't self contained in one of those tin thingies (that's the technical term. Uh huh) so the hot wax starts oozing all over me. I screech and drop it and there's purple hot wax all over me and the carpet. I get to the sink and run the water and start scraping the burning wax off my hands and my wedding rings. "It has to be 9:00 by now. " DH bellows. I turn the light on and inspect the purple wax and my purply looking sore fingers. "Oops, 8:52". Dh shouts from the bedroom. I turn the light off. Sorry Planet Earth.

I slather Aloe Vera all over my hands and we get back to being destroyed by Mr. Trump the Second who's ready to wipe the floor with us.

After a few minutes we decide to turn the lights on as it's about 9:10 and DH starts blowing out the candles with some quick jerk kung fu wrist action. We're all impressed so we bring him all the candles one by one to see his mad moves and the last candle was a large pillar one that was filled with a pool of wax. DH miscalculates his Kung Fu and the candle flies up in the air and wax lands all over Wee Boy. His hair was covered. How he didn't get burnt, I'll never know because when the teensy weensy tea light landed on me it really smarted.

I put him in the tub and tried to wash it out but it looked like an immovable severe case of cradle cap. I headed downstairs and my mother in law pulled out her haircutting kit and sweet Wee Boy's cornsilk curls ended up all over the floor. Sigh.

It's now 10:43 pm. The candle wax incident got me out of Monopoly though although DH and The Boy are still at it (The Boy just got hotels on Park Place and Boardwalk though. I hope he kicks Daddy's butt!) and Wee Boy with his new buzz cut has traded the Nintendo DS for a large bowl of popcorn. An eventful Earth Hour at my house!

Praise The Lord, A Dandelion!

This winter started in early November. We've been dumped on and dumped on. The Boy has had more snow days than you can shake a stick at and I'm fed up. It's the end of March and we have 12 foot snowbanks on some corners and our back yard has what I call a snow wall because the snow blows in off the lake and creates a massive snow wall behind the house. Last year the snow wall wasn't gone until spring had been in full bloom for several weeks because it was so big. This year I'm afraid it'll be here until August!

But I'm starting to see dirt patches. I'm starting to hear the geese return and hallelujah my husband saw a dandelion yesterday!

No one loves dandelions on their grass; except kids. People poison their lawns to get rid of those durn things and when your kid gives you a bouquet of them of course you have to be polite and say they're beautiful. When they go to seed you have to pretend with your toddler that you're blowing wishes when really you wince knowing you're increasing your dandelion problem next year by spreading the seeds around.

As a side note I had to do a project last year on the health benefits of dandelions and was astounded at how good they are for your liver; but I digress. Yesterday darling husband was at school and was walking innocently outside when he heard shrieks and screams of blissful happiness. Two women were huddled over a tiny patch of grass that was amid dirty old snow, marveling at the beauty of the little yellow weed. It may still look a lot like winter around here but hallelujah, Spring is near!

Protecting The Easter Bunny From Daddy

We're gearing up for Easter and this writing wahm is trying to keep the real reason for the holiday in mind. It can be tricky when your kids see chocolate bunnies dancing in their dreams.

Yesterday, Wee Boy (just turned four) says something about chocolate and I tell him, "We do celebrate Easter with chocolate and bunnies but we need to remember that the real reason for Easter is that Jesus died for us so he could save us and we could go to Heaven."

He looks at me and says, "But who's gonna save the Easter Bunny from Daddy?"
Daddy is a hunter and frequently talks about hunting for bunnies at Easter and reindeer at Christmas.

A few years ago when The Boy(now 12) was smaller, he was really concerned about Daddy catching the Easter bunny on Easter Sunday but Daddy slept late. Funnily, when we woke up to hunt for Easter eggs,he realised that the Easter bunny played a trick on Daddy. He put Daddy's shoes up on top of the chandelier. What a sight! The Boy was in his ether.

Happy Easter everyone. And, if you're gonna indulge in the kid's chocolate treats, go for the good stuff and make it worth while! We chose to buy the really good chocolate this year :)

Links: WAHM Fun

Three ways to have fun :

1) Get connected with other work at home moms. My favourite time waster is wahm.com. It's a great forum and I've connected with many online friends and colleagues there as well as gotten some great writing gigs.


2) Here is some fun for your kids while you're working: Funbrain. It's a new thing for my little one to work while mommy works so I have his art easel set up near my desk so he an work while Mommy works and Daddy's computer recently got put near mine so he can keep busy helping me keep busy too.


3) Here's a fun way to get help getting organized too...join Flylady