Holy Mackerel

My son, on being offered his sister's princess costume to wear for Hallowe'en: "OH YEAH!!! I get to wear MAKE-UP!!! I'm gonna look sexy!"

I mistakenly dial the phone with my enormous butt.

It was exactly 10 years ago today that my son had his second surgery to attempt removal of his malignant abdominal tumour. He was 8 months old. Every Hallowe'en, I am reminded of this most horrid of all Hallowe'ens. Dennis (not his real name, but he is so much like Dennis the Menace that I thought the alias was appropriate) was born on a cold February afternoon, a chubby, almost-10 lb. angry little baby, whose cry was more like a banshee than a newborn. He was the picture of health. Almost from the start, we (the family) made fun of his extremely bulbous, large, basketball-like belly. We thought it was hilarious -- so big and wide. It was so large, in fact, that although he was small enough to fit into newborn-sized clothing, his belly needed 12-month-or-older clothing. It was quite the dilemma, believe you me. Two months old, and I begin noticing little Dennis -- who is no longer ugly and screeching like a banshee, but really really cute and fuzzy, and warm smelling like fresh...

The body and mind could be entirely separated. Pain is not fun.

So, I've been going to physio now for probably 4 months...4 looong and excruciatingly painful months, for something called a FROZEN SHOULDER. What is a frozen shoulder, you ask? No, it didn't just get cold and stayed that way, although that might be preferable to what I've been going through. Frozen shoulder is a term used by the medical profession to state, "We don't know what's wrong with you, but we know it apparently hurts a lot, and you lose the ability to move your arm (hence the term "frozen"). All I know is, it has something to do with a shoulder capsule that shrinks. No one seems to know why this happens, but it does, and to me, it's happening again. I actually had a frozen shoulder 4 years ago in my right shoulder, and endured a few months of physio and some cortisone shots. It all got better relatively quickly, with the wonderful help of my physiotherapist, Allen. I knew something not-so-great was going on with my left shoulder early th...

I could be part of a travelling banjo band.

As I thought, it was all about nothing much but having to deal with a newborn, and all the normal, regular frustrations that come with having a little wee baby in the house, and not being able to do as you please any longer because now the baby is the boss, too bad for mom. Baby Oscar is precious, makes me want to have another one (don't think that will be happening as perimenopause has raised its ugly head quite fiercely), and really, a baby crying is part of the package. He cries because he's hungry (when aren't they), or tired, or has some tummy pain. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing at all. And yet, things have fallen apart. Mr. Handsome's sister, Sally, can't handle it. She isn't getting enough sleep, hasn't had time to have a full bath in days, can't get online for any length of time, let alone answer the phone when it rings, and how dare this tiny little innocent baby play havoc with all that she once had??? And here she sits, with her amazing...

So exciting! Off to the big city of Toronto tomorrow morning to finally see the newest addition to the family!!! Little baby Oscar was born in September, and is our first nephew! He's the child of my hubby (Mr. Handsome's) sister. Mixed feelings about this trip, really. Although I am extremely excited to be meeting the little bugger, I feel the whole giving-birth-and-having-a newborn-at-home routine has been blown totally out of proportion in this instance, and it is driving Mr. Handsome and me absolutely, positively CRAAAAAZY!!!!!! First babies are a difficult adjustment. I'll be the first to admit it. Our first little bundle of joy took quite the toll on both Mr. Handsome and I, to say the least. Little M (aka Yoda in these early days) took over 30 hours to come into this world, and that's just the labour. Another 8 hours of pushing, and nothing doing. She finally arrived, coming extremely close to an emergency C-Section. Of course, I hemmorhaged afterward, and they c...

Trivia of the Day According to an age old custom, carrying a dead shrew in your pocket can ward off rheumatism. Who knew?!

Well, here it is, my very first attempt ever at blogging. I have decided to enter the World of Blog since, not only does it seem to be "the thing to do", but my friend (who shall be known as 'Pickerel' -- you know who you are) urged me, saying in no uncertain terms that blogging was FOR ME!!!! I was born to blog, apparently. So, here I am! Bear with me as I try to figure all of this out. And be prepared for the Blog of Your Life!