Happenings

Sunday was the day that we walked into a car dealership to buy a car. We had started looking about 6 months ago and decided to walk away at that time. But with my current car just about to die, and the number of repairs needed on that thing...for my peace of mind, it was time to get another vehicle. With my husband's car out of commission for a little bit, it gave us extra incentive.

With the research and driving tests that we did 6 months ago, we decided between 2 cars. We had 2 others we were thinking about...but basically 2 contenders. Unlike our young selves last time we bought a car, we went in with a plan. We knew what our bargaining chips were and what we'd be willing to walk away from. I'm happy with the car that we got and it finally gives us the storage and leg room that we all need.

After the deal was done, we drove home in our current car as our new one wasn't ready. When we got home, we heard beeping sounds. And we couldn't figure out where it was coming from. We discovered it was our carbon monoxide monitor. However, it was just giving beeps, not an alarm. We went searching the house to see if it was some electronic thing burning because the last time that happened, the monitor went off too. After a while, the thing kept beeping every 2 minutes. Couldn't ignore that. If you can believe it, we found the instructions and read it over and decided that we were at the point to call Terasen to help out. As my husband is talking to Terasen reps, the carbon monoxide monitor alarm goes full on. The Terasen rep told us to get out of the house.

So, all the doors and windows were open. The kids and I were outside for a while. Yep, chalk...drawing...collecting rocks. I finally pulled out the beach chairs and we played charades. Thank goodness it was a beautiful day yesterday. It's funny what neighbours will do when they see a Terasen truck outside your door. For the folks that came by, they invited us in to watch movies. One neighbour brought us a ton of cake to eat while waiting outside. Basically I wanted to stay outside because if there was carbon monoxide in the house, I wanted the family to have a ton of fresh air through us before going back in.

The Terasen guy picked up something, but a minute amount...however, it wasn't deemed as nothing. But it wasn't enough to say, "oh...there's your source and your problem." After conversations with the senior tech guys, he came in saying that the best course of action was to get a new monitor. Apparently, a ton of fire halls and Terasen calls have been put in lately because any monitor over 2 years old may not actually work. Interesting. So consider that a Public Service Announcement.

But a new monitor was bought. Everybody is safe and sound. Don't need to go through that again.

So, an interesting day indeed.

Advice

Today I went to French class. And there are times that I'm totally wiped after class because it's a lot to take in. Today was one of those days.

But I think it wasn't the actual class itself. We had the opportunity to learn some new stuff. It's just that we, as the class, spent a ton of time talking to our teacher about his new baby! Very exciting indeed. But I must admit, we were willing this baby to come out because we knew we'd have a one week break from French. So bad, so bad. But I digress.....

Imagine that half of our class are parents. We're all in our early 3os. The teacher is approximately 45 years old. And this baby was his first baby. It was so cute hearing him talk about the experience, how tired he was, learning how to deal with a new baby...and again, how tired he was. Then the class jumped in and tried to provide "helpful" advice to a new parent. He was such a good sport...he took it in, he wrote down notes. I gave a whole bunch of websites that gave away free baby stuff that was helpful to me, coupons, etc. Then it was whether to swaddle, what do you when the kid doesn't stop crying, how to hold him, what foods to provide his wife to help her recover. If we did this all in French, that would have been impressive, but we're not that good.

Funny how happy news can make you tired too. I like that kind of tired though.

Clicks

Most folks are pretty web savvy these days. People can figure out where to click without being asked to click on a certain link. So, I was somewhat surprised when I saw a link that asked me to click here for colon cleanse.

Hmmm...if I press it, will it happen right there and then? Because those instructions make it sound like it. And if that is the case, I should wait it out. Wouldn't want my family to see it. I should be close to a toilet too. How does it work through the monitor?

I know what it really meant. But it just seemed odd. I was so weirded out about the what ifs that I didn't bother clicking.

Discounts

I love discounts and sales. Honestly, who doesn't? And sales of course are also on the internet. Type in anything with the word discount and you'll see how many sales are going on. Discount books, discount door hardware, discount computers...you get the idea.

But I'm always thinking that they just hike up the prices and then slash so the company actually gets the price that they want. However, with the economy going down the toilet and almost making a come back, I guess everybody is having a sale to get at least some money coming their way.


Well, if a store ever wants me to visit it or a website wanting me to browse, just sale something's on sale or it's been discounted. I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff.

Car

My husband called me tonight while he was heading home from work. He basically told me to be on standby to pick him up because his car did not sound good nor was it performing properly. He kept giving options and I just told him to call me to pick him up wherever and whenever. I get weirded out with people driving and talking on the phone.

When he got home, I heard the garage door open. I opened the door to the garage and saw him sitting in his car and turning off his engine. He didn't actually drive into the garage. He opens the car door and says "Get the fire extinguisher." Don't have to tell me twice. I rush the kids in just in case and I grab the extinguisher. By the time I get out, he's opened the hood of the car and there was massive steam coming out. Yeesh. Not good. Right off the bat, I thought radiator.

Well, based on his assessment and conversations with his brother, it's the coolant that leaked into the engine. Something like that. Don't even quote me on car talk. Apparently that's like $4,000 to repair. Wow. That bites. At least on the bright side, he'll get a ton of Airmiles.

Glasses

Ah...it's that time again. Yes, time for me to get some new glasses. I recently got my eyes checked and my prescription had changed. Pretty soon I really will be blind as a bat!! Dang.

Anyway, the family braved the mall yesterday in the hopes of finding some glasses for me. I lost my other pair in Ottawa so I've been left with a REALLY old pair of glasses at home. I'm concerned that if I lose my contacts, I'll have to wear these ancient, broken down glasses. Won't I look good....

Well, 3 stores later and nothing. Part of the problem is a fat ass head! OMG. It's really wide! And all these glasses are teeny, tiny things. The last time I said it was wide, the store clerk didn't believe me. They took out their little measurement thing...she ketp widening it, widening it...oh look, it's just about at the edge! She tried to hide her surprise. And I gave her that "I told you so look."

So, I'm still glassless and hope to find something soon. Maybe a line of plus sized head glasses will come out soon.

Languages

My eldest daughter is in mandarin school and I honestly am amazed at how much the teacher expects her to learn each week. I'm just teaching my youngest the mandarin alphabet and she's doing well. But teaching and maintaining a second language with kids is difficult. And there are days where I'd rather just speak to them in English.

Though, I must admit, I have a good laugh when kids mix English and Mandarin rules together. For example, I had the following conversation with my kid one day:

"Look mama! Fai ji!!! (It's supposed to mean airplane in mandarin)

"Oh yes! It is! Nice job and good for using mandarin!

"Mama! It's two fai jis!!"

"Pardon me?"

"It's two fai jis!"

This is where I'm trying to contain myself. You see, she has said the word for airplane correctly in mandarin. However, because there are two airplanes...in mandarin, you literally say, two air plane without an s. There are no Ss in mandarin. Yet she took the English rule and added it on there.

For a chinese person, this is pretty darn funny.

You Tube

Everytime I go to You Tube, I never find anything good. But somehow, my husband always finds good links for me to view. I really liked this one. The last part was my favourite...try not to smile!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2FX9rviEhw

Mickey Mouse

Well, we're not going to Disneyland quite yet. However, my one kid decided to invite all her friends to go to Disneyland with us. No wonder they were all so nice to me.

Anyways, whenever we do, seeing Mickey do this would be kind of fun!

http://www.fark.com/cgi/vidplayer.pl?IDLink=4254594

Quotes

I'm all about getting quotes. Recently, I've been getting quotes for lawn care. As much as I love my backyard, it's pretty hard to maintain properly when you have 2 kids. Life is busy already. And honestly, when I do it, it can take me a good 3 hours as I do it all by myself. Doing this twice a month on top of everything else is a lot. I am doing quotes this time around because I feel that I paid way too much for lawn service last time. If the same work can be done for less and can bill properly, then getting another quote was worth it.

Then I thought that free insurance quotes will be the next thing if we turn into anything like the states. Of course, pros and cons. I don't know if I could honestly do comparison shopping for insurance...knowing me, I'd miss something big and it would end up costing me big time down the road. However, for those that are savvy enough to read the details of insurance comparison...then good on them.

Maybe I'll have a decent lawn this year...I can hope.