I'm a Swaggernaut

I love Swagbucks! 
For those of you who are unsure of  what Swagbucks is. Here's a brief explanation. 


It's basically a search box/web site that I use to do my online searches. Sometimes I win "swagbucks" which I redeem for amazon.ca gift cards. There are many other things you can cash your swag bucks in on. Amazon is just my preference because of their variety of merchandise.
I'm not a die hard swaggernaut though. There are people out there who hunt and search for swag codes all day, getting more of these online bucks and getting more prizes. 
To date the only tangible merchandise I have cashed in for is the new Eclipse movie from the Twilight saga. It should be arriving any day now. 
Not too shabby for doing nothing. 

She's a smart cookie

Rianne is either VERY smart or I'm just a push over. 
Yesterday I spent the whole day cleaning and tidying up. I decided to move the Christmas Tree out of the corner and out it in the front window where it was last year. That meant spreading the ornaments around to the back side since it would be visible from outside. Not a big deal really. 
Rianne was bugging me ALL DAY about finding "Funshine" (a little molded plastic Care Bear from the vending machine @ Walmart). She got a new one the evening before ("Love A Lot") and she wanted to gather up the 3 other ones. Well low and behold the yellow one was missing and she had me tearing everything apart in search of it. 
I emptied every toy bin, bucket and bag in her room. Sorted everything so the Barbies were in one place, ponies in another, Polly Pockets in another .. well you get the picture. 
I could not find Funshine anywhere. It was like he fell into a black hole or something. 
After I get all her toys sorted and put in their places and her room was in pristine condition she says to me "mommy did you look in my closet?" and my reply was "yes dear I went through every bucket in your closet and didn't find it".
She then proceeds to enter her closet and comes out with none other than the little yellow bear .. telling me she "forgot" that she put it on the shelf. 
Okay, no. I think she just wanted her room cleaned and organized and she KNEW it was there the whole time. It was just a little too coincidental for my liking. 


Now, I wonder if that will work for me. If I tell my husband that I can't find my broom and mop, will he take pity on me and clean the house for me?
 

Christmas is for kids ...

Rianne - Dec 07-2010

When asked what I'd like for Christmas I always reply "Christmas is for children, I don't need anything" .. which is very true. 
I decided to attempt to take some Holiday themed pictures this evening and The one posted above is one of them. Seeing the excitement and wonderment in Rianne's eyes makes all the lights, decorations and chaos worth it. 

I am looking forward to the 24th. We'll go out looking at Christmas lights when it gets dark and then come home, get Rianne ready for bed and then by about 10 or 11 PM we will start the fun and then wait until she wakes in the morning to begin the excitement! 

The older she gets the more fun it gets BUT it also means you have to be more sneaky too. You can't pull the wool over the eyes of a 4-year old as easily as you can when they're younger. I'm starting to think she could very well be one step ahead of me most times. 

Kenworth Christmas Party

It's so funny to be attending Kenworth Christmas parties again. I have to say they are VERY informal here compared to the ones I have attended in Toronto .. which is perfect because I love wearing my jeans instead of wasting money on some fancy dinner party attire. I'm not a formal 5-course meal type of person at all. 
This year the party was held at the Linacy Fire Hall. That's way out in the boondocks of Pictou County. A small little venue about the size of our house but it was the perfect size for the number of people who attended. 
The meal was BBQ steak and a baked potato and mixed veggies. Dessert was an apple crumble. It was all delicious! The music was a DJ who seemed to really enjoy himself and played whatever people requested. I danced most of the night and my legs are still somewhat sore today ... THREE days later! I'd dearly love to know what contortions I was getting myself into :)


We took a cab home around 2 AM. Yes that's right .. we closed the party. There were only 6 of us left but we were having more  fun than we did when the hall had more people. Weird! Maybe it was because we were more intoxicated ;) Those extra spicy Caesars are pretty good but the sodium might kill you eventually. 


I am actually looking forward to next year.

New Glasgow Christmas Parade

Yesterday we went to see the first Christmas parade of the season. It was in New Glasgow. We missed it last year because we didn't know it was happening until it was over. 
It was snowing and cold yesterday which made it festive but I could have done without the windchill. 
Rianne scored some candy which was a nice treat. I had to laugh though because at one point a girl in the parade was handing out candy canes to the kids along the route. When she got to Rianne she stood directly in front of her with two candy  canes and instead of handing them to her (yes, she was that close) she dropped them into the snow at her feet. I don't know what that was all about. Just one of those things in life that make you go "hmm". 
There were pipe bands, horses and fire trucks so Rianne was in her glory. She doesn't like the sirens though. She has issues with loud noises except for the noise she makes herself .. and she can get pretty rowdy! 

So there's the big fella on his float. Take note of the deer. How morbid is it to have dead, stuffed deer parading in front of small children? Oh but it gets better. The lead deer actually moves up and down as if it were flying. We saw it for the first time last year in the Westville parade and I thought it was morbid then and after seeing it yesterday I still think it's nasty. I can't say I'm looking forward to seeing it again on December 11th for the Westville parade of lights. 


After the parade we went to Sobey's for a few things then went for a drive through the country. I like seeing where the back roads come out and get ourselves back to town. Then we played out in the snow for a bit before coming inside for supper. 
It was a good day in spite of the snowy cold temperatures but that's going to be the normal thing over the next several months. I'd love to be a kid again so I can be excited about the snow.

The Neighbourhood Creeper

The title seems rather peculiar for this quiet town.
I mean we went away all Summer without incident to the property. Nobody stole anything, nothing was damaged. Everything was quiet so it appears we live in a decent neighbourhood. 
We're starting to know who lives on the street and they all seems like good people who look out for one another. 

That being said ... I was in the kitchen the other night and looked out the window to see a silhouette on the front porch of the house across the street. I thought nothing of it and continued prepping the coffee maker to come on in the morning. After all there's nothing like having coffee ready and waiting for you first thing. 

I keep looking out the window and I still see the figure standing there motionless so I mention it to Jon .. telling him how I've been noticing it for the last 5 minutes and the person is just standing there, not moving. 

What a creeper!! 

We go to bed and I am creeped out thinking about the dude across the street possibly getting a glimpse of us between the slats of the mini blinds. Weird feeling .. being watched like that.

So in the morning I pour my cup of coffee and look across the street to where the person was standing the night before and I was shocked to see them still standing there. Yes, STILL there .. looking over at our house with little beady eyes was none other than Frosty The Snowman. 

How dare them put out Christmas decorations without my knowledge!! 

Crisis averted and I am thanking my stars that I didn't phone the police to report a "peeping tom". I'd be the laughing stock of the police station.

'Tis the Season

Now that Remembrance Day is over it's full speed ahead with the Christmas fiasco. 
This morning I pt the tree up and got it all decorated with Rianne's help. Got the banister of the stairs decorated as well as the front window in the living room. I was in the mood to get the lights up outside this afternoon but I can't find them. I don't have a clue what Jon did with them. Everything else was in the basement or under the sun porch but no sign of the icicle lights we have for outside. I looked is every tote we own and no luck! Jon will have to look for them when he gets home I suppose and I can only hope there will be more nice days like today for me to work outside on the decorations. 
I don't know what vortex they could have been sucked into. It's going to be interesting to see if Jon finds them. I hope he didn't take them to the dump if they happened to be packed in a garbage bag or something. HUGE loss is that was the case. I remember my dad throwing out a big bag of shoes because they were packed in a garbage bag in the back porch when I was growing up so I know things like that can happen. 

The neighbours across the street took their Halloween decorations down on November 12th and put their Christmas stuff up. Last night they turned their lights on and Rianne got so excited before going to bed that I told her we can start decorating in the morning. I held true to my word and she is in love with the tree. She may not retain that love by the time Christmas gets here. I've never decorated this early! It's usually something I do during the Christmas Daddies Telethon which is the first weekend of December. Here's hoping the Holiday Season goes fast!