trying to play catch up!

December 1, 2011 by mama lola

fa-la-la-la-laa, la-la-la-laa…

it’s december third and i already feel as though i am playing catch up with the holidays. the boys’ advent calendar is late (gosh darn) and i am behind on my other christmas sewing as well. but, the calendar is getting close to being done. my goal is to have the kids receive their first toys on tuesday morning, but that’s assuming i don’t feel super exhausted each evening when i am supposed to be sewing!

a sneak peek of the advent calendar.

the fury which has been this terrible sickness in our home, furies on. tonight marks the one week mark of when all of this started. both kids have been in bed and asleep by 6pm most of the week. we went to the doctor on friday morning and discovered lion had an ear infection in his right ear. i am scared, as i was a chronic ear ache sufferer as a child, and know the kind of future which may lay ahead of him. bear, well, he was sent to get a chest x-ray as our family doc didn’t really like the sound of his lower right lung. we did not receive a call back, so he does not have pneumonia! finally, some good news.

but, we have been able to start spreading some christmas cheer around in small sprinkles here and there. we purchased this for bear online on wednesday and it arrived friday morning. it’s a door way swing set, with rings and a trapeze bar. bear is always looking for new ways to challenge himself physically and he is starting to do some dangerous stunts on the banisters, so we thought this was a safe way he can focus that energy and see results. (to get into his top bunk, he climbs the least direct way up like a little monkey! it’s amazing to watch and he has never fallen, not even close). anyhow, the rings and things are from the same company that made the sweet hammock lion used all those months ago.

we also purchased our christmas tree. i felt like we all needed some air in our congested lungs so we went for a quick visit to a local nursery and perused their tree selection. it was fun for a few minutes, but then the cranky, grumpy little boys showed their faces and it was time to head home. today we decorated our tree and that didn’t go over as well as i had wanted. bear started off happy and delighted with the task at hand, but then he faded quickly bringing out unpleasant behaviour. so it goes i suppose.

mothering sick children is tough, but it’s even harder when you yourself are sick. now, dear hubby is losing his health and giving into the sickness that has ravaged our home. let’s hope it doesn’t debilitate him like it did the rest of us, so that he and i can get our christmas groove on and get going on our gifts, baking and so on and so on.

lion is never too sick to care for vaava.

‘tis the season to be jolly…

a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

November 27, 2011 by mama lola

i think my last entry about sharing really ruffled some feathers; my intention was not to offend or upset anyone, but at the time i was feeling really irritated after reading a terrible book to the kids about sharing. that being said, i do still question the way we teach and encourage sharing to our kids, but i question everything involved in mainstream parenting!
******
moving on…
so, sometimes i just want to give life the finger, ya know? i survived two rounds of strep each with different kinds of antibiotics and then sunday night the kids and i were smacked in the face with the flu. both kids have been lethargic and only today have picked up some more momentum. myself, i broke my fever last night alone in bed with my flannel lined hot water bottle (thanks sun). i’m still tired, but at least the ravaging fever is gone, but now the kids and i are hacking up our lungs with a painful dry cough. fingers crossed dear hubby doesn’t get sick as he is the last man standing… i asked dear hubby to come home stocked with new toothbrushes for all of us, he bought like a million; good man!

tomorrow brings day 6 of spending every waking minute together with the kids and it’s starting to show. but, i don’t think bear is well enough to go to preschool in the AM or ballet in the PM, so fingers crossed we survive.
friday is supposed to be date night, but i think we’re going to cancel. we’re all exhausted and the house is toxic with sickness. i just threw in a load of laundry, but almost burst into tears as i scanned the mountain growing in the basement.

painting mummo’s birthday card.

tomorrow is december 1st and the advent calendar i dreamed to have ready for the kids is not done. all this sickness has zapped me of my energies and i am overflowing with guilt. my new goal is to have it done soon, but as many kind people have reminded me, my kids don’t know it’s coming and have no idea it’s supposed to happen for a specific number of days. whew….

oh, one final vent… my laptop is STILL being repaired. it’s been just over a month now and according to future shop they can have it for up to 60 days. that takes me to x-mas. what a pain in the butt ya know? computers are great, until they aren’t.

MERRY HUMP DAY!

i have a beef with the "S" word.

November 25, 2011 by mama lola

that darn “S” word has been on mind: SHARING. because of the ages of my kids and the activities we involve ourselves in outside the home, we hear that word a lot. in my expert, mama opinion, we have taken the word “share” and twisted it into something meaningless. adults are constantly telling their kids “to share their toys” without ever actually talking about what it means to share.

wikipedia defines the act of sharing as “the joint use of a resource or space”.

sharing, therefore is not the same as taking turns, but that’s what adults in our society have made it into. the whole idea “oh, sweetie you have wait until ken is done playing with that dolly and then it’s your turn. good sharing barbie”. what on earth does that statement mean? i interpret that as “ken, you only have so much time until your turn is done and then it’s barbie’s turn”, which is technically not sharing, but forcing and intimidating ken to give up the toy he is playing with. what if ken wants to play with the dolly for an indefinite amount of time? what if ken is inside his imaginary world, but because of greedy barbie his game is forcibly interrupted and hence, devalued? that is not sharing. that is bullying. sounds harsh, but i truly believe that.

sharing, i think, is suggesting to barbie to go and find another dolly and play with ken and share in his experience. (obviously checking with ken that he’s ok with barbie joining the game). or staring her own game and leaving ken the hell alone. the joint use of space and resources- bam!

why is it assumed that when kids visit their friends, that all of those toys are to be shared. what if ken doesn’t want barbie playing with his surf board, why as adults do we force ken to share the toy? why are there no limitations or boundaries and why is it not ok for kids to say no to their friends? for myself and my things, there certainly are items that are mine and just mine. not everything in my home is for the other members of my family to touch or use, i ask for privacy and i think that’s ok.

our society has removed itself from the idea of sharing resources; for example back in the day several families might invest in tools or a car or something together and reap the benefits of reduced spending and shared maintenance. nowadays it is rare to borrow or lend out items to people in the neighbourhood who are not close friends or family.

adults yimmer on at kids about sharing, but there is little discussion about what that word actually means. it’s not just about toys, but about sharing time, space, ideas, feelings, being with each other.

i desperately try not to use that word at home. i can be heard saying out there in the world, because i feel as though i will judged if i do not insist bear gives up his bucket at the park to a friend. bear has brought that word home, and i have tried to explain to him in other ways how to share and what it means to share with his friends.

the pictures are of bella. a kitty who is shared between our household and my folks’. she was once more my responsibility and now she lives with my parents.

share the love people!

lion is roaring!

November 17, 2011 by mama lola

*pictures with our point-n-shoot as my lens on my nikon is busted; my computer is still being fixed… therefore grainy, blurry, unedited pictures for the time being.

many of my posts revolve around my three year old, bear.

today’s post is going to be an exception, as this post is all about my sweet little lion. now at 16 months he is a busy little guy always trying to keep up with his older brother’s shenanigans and doing a darn good job at it too.
my littlest is very different from his brother. he is the most impatient person i have ever met; if his demands are not met immediately he will scream and cry as if the world is ending. he arches his little back dramatically and throws a fit that stops as soon you have provided him with what he wants. these wee tantrums are typically food related!

in the summer for his 1 year well baby check up he was weighing in a whopping 16lbs, which technically wasn’t even on the charts! we were pretty surprised he was so tiny. i mean, just looking at him you could see he was small, but not on the charts? now that’s small. our family doctor didn’t seem too worried as he was meeting all of the other milestones and she explained to me that those growth charts are actually based on formula fed babies and meat eaters. we are vegetarian and i am an avid breastfeeder.

but, i still worried and so i started offering food all day every day and it worked. lots of cheeses, hummus, avocado, eggs, salmon, all prepared at home by me. in hindsight, i think the major problem contributing to his slow weight gain was his inability to chew properly. he had a few teeth, but it was action of chewing and then swallowing which confused him. he’s still a bit forgetful and will spit food out into his wee hand and offer it to me. thanks dude!

but, it’s one of those tricky points in mothering that people tend to judge you on. in our society we tend to think bigger is better; think of choosing fruits or veggies at the market, the bigger tomatoes are chosen faster! the same goes for babes, bigger means healthier (within a certain bracket) and if you have smaller baby people question if you are feeding your child enough. it’s been a tough road for me, as his mama, to have to justify his size and exclusively breastfeeding him for the first six months of his life.

but, as you can see by just looking at him he drips of cuteness and charms the pants off of his da-da every day. he still struggles with some stranger anxiety, but is slowly getting better with other people. he loves animals and has been delighted to have my parents’ cat, bella, stay with us these past few weeks. he has now transitioned to one nap a day and loves a good cuddle in the mornings with his daddy. he is full of life and passion and wit. he is clumsy, always falling off of various pieces of furniture or bashing his head into tables or tripping over his own feet. he loves to colour with markers and just to annoy me leaves the lids off intentionally. he wants so desperately to be big like his brother, as i am so desperately trying to hold onto my baby.

although lion’s arrival into our family was a surprise, we are thrilled to have him and couldn’t imagine our family without him. my heart is bursting with pride and love for him. my sweet little lion.

g’night moon.

on the roof tops and shouting hurrah!

November 16, 2011 by mama lola

*pictures with our point-n-shoot as my lens on my nikon is busted; my computer is still being fixed… therefore grainy, blurry, unedited pictures for the time being.

i am standing on the roof tops and shouting hurrah!
today was the first day in a long time that my bear and i did not fight. i made big (and i mean BIG) efforts not fall for his antics and i succeeded. there were a few close calls, but i would close my eyes, count to ten and ask for “serenity now”. i’ve said it before and i will say it again, i am the adult in this relationship and it is my responsibility to model the behaviour i want him to present. three has been a super difficult age for us and most parents out there tend to agree. whoever came up with the “terrible twos” notion, obviously moved out before the kid turned three.

there is something very fundamentally different about three and two and three and four. a two year old is still very much a baby in so many ways, especially compared to a three year old. after speaking with the experts, mamas and papas like me, i think at three they get scared of growing up. at our house it seems as though bear is aware of his advances in learning and the gains he has made in his independence and that recently he has regressed to a baby. for example, when trying to get out the door bear says he doesn’t know how to put his shoes on, which i know is ridiculous, because he was eagerly velcroing his runners at two. my frustration comes from knowing he knows how to do things, but him choosing not to do them.

so today was my experiment day, i knelt down to his level and helped him get dressed in way and with a tone i haven’t in a long time. he is so very capable of getting dressed on his own, except for those darn socks and tricky buttons and has even been choosing his own clothes to wear each day. but today, instead of insisting that he do it and him refusing vehemently, i gave him the opportunity to it on his own, but when things were not progressing instead of getting frustrated, i sat on the floor and gently asked if he wanted help. i probably sound like a cow and a terrible mother, for A) caving in B) usually getting frustrated with getting dressed. but, i think parents of three year olds will agree and i hope you are nodding as you read this, because you have perhaps struggled the way i have, and still do.

i don’t feel as tired as i usually do on a weekday evening. the positive turn of events i think have recharged my mama-batteries and turned a light on at the end of this long parenting tunnel.

fingers crossed tomorrow is a calm and joy filled day as well.

ho! ho! ho! i’m already thinking about the holidays!

November 13, 2011 by mama lola

click on the red tab on the right and join me on pinterest! —————–>
******
i am looking forward to the holidays this year. the magic of christmas, especially with the kids is so great. bear and i have had some serious conversations about santa or joulupukki, as he’s called at our house. you know, where he lives, the logistics of his job and the always curious idea of what he does in the summer. i am a bit of a sucker for this particular holiday. i have lovely memories of christmases past from growing up in finland and am trying to create some wonderful memories for my kids to cherish.

this year, i really want to make the boys an advent calendar. there are some super cute ideas out there, but i am going to keep it simple, i think.

source.

in my fabric stash i found tons of the burlap that’s left over from our wedding. i can’t decide what to do with it… possibilities below include:
A) is to make 24 burlap pockets and sew them to a background fabric, like in the picture below.

[source]

B) or sew 24 little bags from the burlap and then hang them from a branch or something. i have no picture of this, as it’s my own idea.

either way, i want the calendar to fit a surprise for each kid on each day. i also want it to grow with the boys as they get older, instead of being too childish or babyish. i have some felt that i will use to decorate the pockets or bags, as i think the calendar above is a tad too plain for my liking.

i would love some input and suggestions! time is a ticking and i gotta get sewing!

happy monday!

it’s friday night and that means date night!

November 11, 2011 by mama lola

it’s friday night and dear hubby and i are going to try and hit the movies. “j. edgar” is playing and if dear hubby’s bus comes in from the big city on time we will make it, just. i am actually super excited, even only at the thought of going to a movie; the adult content, the adult sized popcorn and the lack of children. i need a break from them and it’s beginning to show. my patience is practically non-existant and every cry of theirs makes me want to scream! I can’t wait to get back and maybe even have to Click now to explore porn7 xxx to get my hubby going some…

i feel very fortunate to have found our baby-sitter. her and the boys have discovered a groove that works for them and although lion cries when we leave he seems comfortable enough in her arms. the boys play, eat bedtime snacks and go to bed with relative ease most nights when she’s here. it’s a break for us, especially me and right now i am counting down the hours to walking out that door…. T-minus 2 hours.

we’re cat sitting my parents wee kitty, bella. the boys are delighted to have her here, although she only comes out of hiding a few times a day. the screaming and carrying on the boys get up to scares the socks off of her. she loves a tasty treat and warm snuggle at night.

have a wonderful weekend everyone!

they grow up too fast!

November 10, 2011 by mama lola

**my computer is still getting repaired, so my pics are unedited and look pretty rough around the edges.

i’ve been sick this week, feeling sorry for myself as this darn strep throat has invaded my body.

my slow energy has not slowed the boys down however. with growing up comes unwanted behaviours and attitudes. our bear has in fact turned into a bit of a liar. he lies about big things and about little things and although i understand that it is a part of development, it doesn’t mean i have to like it.

working on a birthday treat for a special friend.

the latest lie that we caught him in was when he denied cutting lion’s hair! at some point in the afternoon he had taken a pair of scissors and randomly cut around lions’s crown. he said that lion had pulled his own hair out. hmph…. the clumps of blonde hair dear hubby found were shocking and i have since saved them in a ziplock bag and labeled the bag with a description of what had happened!

so it’s not the cutting that bothers me, it’s the blatant lying. although, yes scissors can be dangerous, but the lying… man o’ man that kid is good. when i tried my cop skills on him hoping to get him to trip on his story, he didn’t. he stuck to his original script and didn’t trip once. his face lost all of its sweetness and looked hard as he spun his malicious and manipulative story. i am slightly lost as to what to do.

pasta a la face! you can kind of see that one side of lions hair is wispier than the other.

and lion. with his new funky hair-do he really is such a passionate little guy. my littlest little chicken wing, as i fondly call him, is experiencing a tremendous growth spurt physically and cognitively. he is sleeping so much, eating more than his big brother at times and just watching the world that much closer. his comprehension has been blowing us away lately and i think it’s because we have always thought of lion as our baby, but he is really not a baby anymore, but instead a thriving toddler. he works hard to keep up with bear and catches on to the rules of a game quickly. if things don’t go his way he screams and squeals until dear hubby or i come and resolve the situation. his energy is high spirited and he is determined to get things to go his way. he fearlessly climbs onto furniture and gets stuck up top and screams as he does not know how to make his way down.
what a lion!

as i sit and type i am surrounded by my silent house, i am again reminded of the bittersweet role i hold as their mother. the boys are tucked in their bunk-beds and another day has come to an end.

i am so proud of my children.
i love them so.

new york, NEW YORK! [part 3}

November 8, 2011 by mama lola

*my computer is still being repaired and i am desperately trying to complete my entries on an ancient macbook that is lacking any basic photo editing software. i have attached a few rough pics, but once my computer is back with me, i will edit and post more pictures.
*****
we left canada on a roadtrip to the USA to visit family and attend a joyous wedding. details can be seen here PART 1.
our limits were tested on saturday during the noreaster storm. here is what happened in all of that snow PART 2.
*****
when we woke up on sunday morning and peeked through the curtains to see blue skies and sunshine, i will admit i felt like crying. i was just so relieved! no snow, no storm, no weather issues to be seen anywhere. so, quickly we packed up our room, checked out and hit the streets of new york for our last day there. It’s fair to say that we have been feeling romantic whilst we’ve been here and I just can’t believe its our last day. There is just so much more that I wanted to do and see but time has gone so quickly. Hopefully we will have the opportunity to come back again soon. I can’t stop thinking about that day already! I should probably stop that and focus on our last day instead.

times square.

we felt optimistic and hopeful of our day and upcoming visit with dear hubby’s sister and her mister. we tromped up 7th street and headed for times square. once there, i was a bit confused why this obscene show of advertising and flashing lights was a tourist attraction, but there we were snapping away with the camera. bear was immediately over stimulated by the whole place and hid in the stroller with the sunshade pulled all the way down, while lion slept in the ergo. our mission was to see the zoo at central park, as promised to the kids. we were also meeting up with dear hubby’s sister for some quality time.

we arrived at the park to open gates and streams of people walking in. we had grabbed a lunch to go and were looking for a spot for a picnic. as we walked along the paths, the reality of the trauma the trees in the park had suffered from the previous day’s storm was devastating. If there had been any houses around they’d need to contact someone like Round Rock roof repair contractors for sure. Thankfully, it seemed that no one was hurt in the park from the damage.

fallen branches.

we were all shocked at the amount of damage to individual trees, but also to the park as a whole. bear and lion walked and ran freely as we explored the wonder that is central park. once dear hubby’s sister joined us we ate lunch on some rocks and then headed to the zoo.

a hilarious picnic in central park.

we got a bit lost on the paths and asked a park employee for directions, who surprisingly told us the park was officially closed, therefore the zoo was closed as well. we looked around at the hundreds of people walking, jogging, biking through the park, confused as there were no signs that the park was closed. so, we decided to just walk and go see the alice in wonderland statue.

guggenheim.

from there we walked up to the guggenheim, across to lexington and there we hopped on the subway. i was a bit uncertain of getting on with our stroller, but dear hubby forced his way on!

by dinner time it was time to bid farewell to the city that never sleeps and head an hour north to dear hubby’s sister’s place. we took one last look at grand central station and its beauty and glory and then boarded our train north. the kids were tired, we were tired and we just wanted to get to the apartment.

train ride home.

well, as the train rolled into our station around 7pm the conductor warned people getting off the train to be careful as the town was still out of power. it was pitch black, slippery and cold. they had lost power saturday afternoon and there was still no sign of it returning. the town was eerie as we made our way up main street, guided only by passing car lights. the local pizza joint was open for business as they had an emergency generator. Quite often, in storms of this severity, businesses will sustain damage to their property which makes getting insurance quotes via Lending Expert all the more important if businesses don’t wish to lose out. up in the apartment, there were candles lit and the ambiance was cozy, even though we were all frustrated with the situation.

cozy night.

apparently many of the surrounding communities were all out power and there was talk that it may take until wednesday to have it all up and running again!!! we hunkered down for the night and slept under many blankets, in toques and the kids wore their finnish woolly suits. i had bear to snuggle close with, while dear hubby and lion kept warm in the other room together as the outside temperatures kept dropping to close to -10c.

oh, lou!

homesteader L crushing coffee beans with his handy mortar and pestal.

on monday morning we still electricity free, so dear hubby’s sister’s mister the ingenious homesteader crushed coffee beans with his mortar and pestle for a hot cuppa coffee in the morning! Luckily they had a gas stove so we were also able to make warm porridge and boil water. Who’d have thought that Grinding Coffee Beans for the best morning coffee could be done with a mortar and pestle; not something I would recommend to do daily though!
We visited a farm dear hubby’s sister worked at in the summer, which bear was so happy to experience.

walking through the farm.

it gave him the opportunity to run and play in the snow, which he has been waiting for since, well, forever. we saw pigs, sheep, goats and cows and a donkey. some beautiful chickens and horses. driving to and fro from the glynnwood farm we were again witness to the devastation from the storm; trees down everywhere.

that afternoon it was time to say our good byes and start driving back home to canada. we drove over half way and stopped in the town of bath for a sleep.

a sleepy lion with muumi mamma.

studious bear working on his activity book.

all in all our trip was an adventure that could only happen once in a lifetime. sure, NYC will be there, but the combinations of weather, no power and the wonderful joys we shared with our friends and family were unforgettable.

new york, NEW YORK! [part 2]

November 5, 2011 by mama lola

*my computer is still being repaired and i am desperately trying to complete my entries on an ancient macbook that is lacking any basic photo editing software. i have attached a few rough pics, but once my computer is back with me, i will edit and post more pictures.
*****
here’s PART 1 of our trip.
*****
as i remember back to last saturday, our experiences of that day seem completely surreal and unreal, as it was all so extreme. new york city and parts of the eastern seaboard were hit with a storm called a noreaster. it brought much devastation to the area with thousands of fallen trees and power outtages that lasted for days in some areas.

so, last saturday morning we woke up to precipitation falling from the sky. i had fretted about the weather and had packed lots of warm layers for us. i also packed waterproof, warm fall suits for the kids as a just in case measure, and thank goodness i did!

bus driver at the children’s museum.

we went to the children’s museum first thing. it was a bit of a disappointment as it lacked any real information or participatory displays relevant to kids. to our shagrin it was a museum, like so many others, obviously low on funding, as the displays were blatantly sponsored by various companies. one floor was covered with dora and diego characters thanks to nickelodian. anyhow, the kids had fun as they played with their NYC peers, whose parents all had their iphones out and were busy texting, instead of interacting with their kids! must be a big city thing.

that’s when the snow started to fall.

leaving the children’s museum around noon.

when we got outside there was already a significant accumulation of wet snow on the ground. the snow was unreal, heavy and wet. it was shocking to walk through the city in this weather in october, even before hallowe’en!

dear hubby and i felt a bit overwhelmed by the weather and decided we needed to find a place for lunch and come up with a plan. it wasn’t even noon, so there was no way we could return to our tiny hotel room, so we had to get creative. after our yummy NY style pizzas we decided to accept the messy and wet weather with open arms and walk through central park to FAO schwartz, the huge toy store on 5th avenue. with smiles on our faces and palms up trying to catch the sloppy falling snow we headed to the park. there was no-way-jose we were going to let a noreaster storm get in the way of us and new york. at the 72nd street gates we were told to our absolute shock and dismay that the park was closed to all visitors. the reason: falling trees and branches.

my hands are naked as my leather gloves were soaked. lion is under cover in the stroller.

making wet and sloppy snow balls next to a closed central park.

fallen tree branches inside central park.

the weight of the wet snow on the still leafy trees was too much for them to bear, so there were massive branches breaking all over the park. apparently during a similar storm last year several people had actually died. as we walked next to the famous park, sad we couldn’t enjoy its true glory, we heard the shocking sound of snapping branches in the park. then a local pedestrian warned us about frolicking next to the park as many of the trees grew over the stone wall and creating a lovely canopy for us to walk under, but also were potential dangers as the branches could have fallen on us. so just as we were about to cross the street, sure enough, a huge branch fell off of an oak tree about 30 metres ahead of us.

fallen branches on the sidewalk.

that’s when the wet snow turned into ice pellets and our moods changed rapidly. we felt soggy and defeated and raced along central park south past fancy hotels with their fancy patrons to our destination. dear hubby carried bear in the ergo on his front, while i huffed and puffed with lion in the stroller.

59th street columbus circle around 2pm- what a mess!

phew! what a day. from FAO schwartz we cabbed it back to our hotel and headed straight to room 409. once we all in our dry jammies, our room looked as though our luggage had exploded as there were wet, dripping clothes hanging off of various pieces of furniture, doors, even hinges trying to dry for our sunday adventure in the city!

dry and toasty in our hotel room around 6pm.

that night bear had a heck of a time falling asleep and stayed up way late! all of the large tv’s on our trip proved to be tricky to deal with. we don’t have a tv at home, but do let bear watch various shows on DVD’s we borrow from the library. the new tv shows were all way too stimulating, instead of putting him to sleep, they re-energized him all over again. as bear got sucked in the world of nickelodeon jr. and the strange yabba-cardigan-umizoo characters they presented, these kid channels brought with them advertising, which bear didn’t know how to navigate. he would get mad and shout “i want the kids show back” with tears welling in his eyes! how do you describe advertising and commercials to a three year old? and, how as adults can and do we allow corporations to blatantly abuse our children so freely, in fact people with cable pay companies to do this. astounding….

anyhow, after our shockingly soggy saturday, we were looking forward to a marvelous sunday with the promise of sunshine and warming temperatures. little did we know of the adventures that loomed ahead in the upcoming cold, dark sunday evening for us.
*****
i will have one final installment of our adventures in NYC.
not having my own computer to do this is a pain in the butt, and this darn mac is making me very angry. the buttons don’t do what i expect them and the lack of a right button on the touch pad is still confusing me. sigh. i am the non-techie in this household and only know the bare minimum about computers and how to use them. fingers crossed i get my computer back by next wednesday!

happy friday to everyone!