Rant of the week

I have a HUGE pet peeve. Literally. When I see people doing it I can't control myself. I have to say something, OK, if I'm being honest, I yell at perfect strangers. I try to be polite as I call the people to repentance but it always end with me being angry and yelling at random people.

So what is this issue that turns me into a crazed maniac you ask? Well, I hate, hate, hate dog owners that walk their dogs off leash.

There is a sports field that separates my house from the school that my kids attend and several times a week I see dog owners walking their dogs off leash. Me and my kids have been chased down several times by strange dogs and the lovely dog owners will yell from across the field as my daughter is screaming and crying in fear "Don't worry, he's very friendly". Yeah, that's going to dry her tears in an instant. Then they call the dog, but almost always, the dog is not well trained enough to actually listen. When I try to politely remind the dog owner that this is not an off leash area and could they please keep their dog on a leash. These awesome people either blow me off with a "Oh, he wouldn't hurt a fly." comment or they get very angry with me for censoring their behavior in the first place.

I don't want my kids to be afraid of dogs and if there is a friendly responsible dog owner with a dog safely on a leash, I will let my kids play with the dog. I want to know how to keep them from being afraid when almost every week they are being chased down by strange dogs that don't obey commands to sit or heel.

The city bylaw states that the dogs should not even be in the sports fields at all. Probably to keep the poop to a minimum (which by the way there is massive amounts of). But no one follows this rule and the city certainly doesn't enforce it so I am left to either police the park myself or ignore the dangers of the untrained dogs making my daughter cry as they invade her personal space.

I hope you all enjoyed my rant.

Potpourri

It seems like I have a lot to say today, so here it goes.

First of all, I am finally loving the weather. We have hit double digits for the first time this year that I can remember. The sun is shining, the snow is melting and I sent Dallin to school without snow pants!!

Now, the question becomes, do I pack away the snow suits, hats mitts and scarves or am I jinxing it? My entry way is clogged with all of the winter stuff and some of the spring stuff creeping in. Just the kids have 4 different pairs of shoes/boots depending on activity and destination. Add to that the snow suits, rain coats, hoodies and such. and I am being over run with stuff. Dallin has been begging to start ridding his bike now that the sidewalks are clear but the last thing I want to do is add helmets and roller blades and soccer balls to the mix.

Suggestions are welcome.

Next, the long weekend. We are traveling to southern Alberta this weekend and we are not excited about it. Kenyon and I have come to the conclusion that traveling 7 hours away for a long weekend is just not worth it. You may be asking yourselves why are they going then? We are biting the bullet due to family pressure from our kids as well as from everyone else.

The most annoying thing about it is My Husbands Family! (sorry Harris') I love them but they don't listen. We have told them repeatedly that we don't like to do big family functions(by big family functions I mean all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins 2nd and 3rd) when we are only there for 1 or 2 days.

I understand why they want to have these parties 1) We're awesome everyone wants to spend time with us. 2)They all live within an hour of each other. It just doesn't occur to anyone that not everyone has to come to everything. And 3) They have this fantasy about our kids playing together with the kids of Kenyon's cousins in peace and harmony. A Harris family Utopia. What they don't realize is that my kids don't know those kids. My kids just spent the day before traveling for 7-8hrs and sleeping in a strange place. And in the case of Megan she is painfully shy and doesn't like large groups of people. So to make a long story short we make a huge effort for the soul purpose of having a bad time.

We have asked them to keep thing low key and casual and they agree. Then one thing is added, and then another family wants to come, and then we get the phone call "We haven't seen you for a year can't you just stop by for an hour?" And by the end of the weekend we have visited 6 different houses, 3different towns and about 50 people.

The worst part is that since my parents moved to the same town as some of Kenyon's Aunts and Uncles, they don't respect the time we want to spend with my family. Last year we had set aside a day for my family. We let everyone know ahead of time but still by about 1:00 they started to phone my parents house and kept phoning until Kenyon caved and went to go visit them. Kenyon and I were so angry and frustrated that we really haven't wanted to go back. I also get the distinct impression that I am being blamed for the lack of visits since last summer.

Now it's already started, plans have already been changed and visits already added.

Once again suggestions are welcome.

Last but not least it's looking like I will be going back to work shortly. I have accepted the reality that if I want to shop like I want to shop, I need to make some moola. Looking forward to my first paycheck. I should probably call my old boss and see if there is even a spot for me.

I Have a Confession

I want you all to know that I love my children. I need to say that straight off because although I love my children I have a secret shame. I HATE playing with them. I love to talk to them, I love to read with them, go on outings with them, but when Dallin comes and asks "Mom will you play with me?" every fiber of my being screams "NO!!!"

I hate everything about playing with toys. Pretending to be a barbie or a car with a silly voice and have a ridiculous conversation with another toy, tries my patience. It seems like play time lasts forever and I apparently do it wrong. Dallin is always correcting me "No mommy, put Lightning here!" "No, Say it in the funny voice." "Mommy, I need all the cars."

I almost always try to get out of it. " Honey, I need to work on the computer right now." " I just need to finish the dishes. " "Do you want to watch a movie?" And if I do finally say yes I do everything I can to end it fast. I will often initiate a wrestling match or a tickle fight to end a session with the toys. I really hope they haven't realized my true feelings.

I expect the Parent of the Year people to be calling any day now. Maybe they lost my phone number.