Wilsonworld

Krispie Kritters

My name is Kim..and I have a problem.....I am addicted to Rice Krispies and all of the things you can do with them...... Keri wanted a pic of the several dozen spiders that i made for Munch's class..So here are the mutants! They are supposed to be rolled in coconut, which after soaking is supposed to be black...That did not happen, as PURPLE spiders are just not cool! They are in several shades of black and grey...and i never want to see another Rice Krispie again! If i had felt a little more creative, i could have made webs out of licorice, but...i think NOT! Ok..back to the kitchen...and yes, it is 1:28 am!!

Krispie Kritters Originally uploaded by rileymom.

So i too bit the

So i too bit the bullet...jumped on the band wagon...use any cliche you wish..but i have joined BLOG EXPLOSION...... So now, like i don't have enough things to fill my time...i have 100's of new blogs at my disposal....sure am glad the coffee pot is on!

Its a small world.... it

Its a small world.... it really is! Last night i went to a dinner with 2 guest speakers...one being Ann Douglas, the other Barbara Coloroso. What a great night filled with information and laughter. But it was the sight of an old school friend that really made my night. For those of you who went away to school, you know how important friends can be. I lived in an all girl dorm, and shared my floor with 35 other women...some over time i have forgotten..some are still here in my heart...and while i was sitting at the table last night a woman came and sat down with us..."I know her" I said to Shelley....we ran the gamut of where i might know her from, but i was sure that i knew her from school...Sure 17 yrs had passed since we lived in thse tiny little rooms, but this woman was unforgettable. She was/is stuningly beautiful...and has a contagious laugh..the kind that makes you feel all good inside. So as we sat at the table i listened to her talk, about her family..and about Mom type stuff....and i finally went over and asked her...."Did you go to the U here in Windsor? Did you live in Laurier Hall..on the 9th or 10th floor"? A big smile crept across her face, which led to much hugging and catching up...she knew that she knew me, but as with me, couldn't figure out from where..I have changed a lot in 17 years...and i was introduced to her as Kim...no one called me Kim in Universtiy...i was known as KIMBY......We exchanged numbers and promised that we would get together...many people do this sort of thing..but i think we were both sincere (i know i am).....It's nice to find a piece of your past..

Its also nice to be able to meet bloggers in person and i am glad to add Ann to the list....It makes the words feel different after you have talked with the writer. There are several blogs that i read that seem different..in a better sort of way....since i have met their creators. Some are excatly what i thought they would be..and some were a pleasant surprise....
Have you met any of the bloggers you read in person? Were they what you imagined them to be?

SHARE A STORY Tuesday is

SHARE A STORY

Tuesday is share a story here in Wilsonworld....If you want to share (and you KNOW you do) just leave it in the comments, or share your link.....
Today's Story topic...."As a teenager, did you rebel"?

I was a good kid. I really was. I wasn't the type of kid that a parent had to worry about..I knew my curfew, I didn't go to wild parties or drink...and I loved to learn. But there was one thing that drove my parents nuts..And that was my personal choice of clothes and hair. When I was around 15 I decided that I didn't like my hair in its original colour, so I set out to change it...several times. I originally chose a light blonde, which to me was close to my original colour, but just a bit different. It wasn't the colour that drove my mom nuts, it was the style. I shaved my head, but only on one side. Cyndi Lauper style. Buzz cut ton the right, Lady Godiva flowing on the right. I can remember my Father screaming at me one night after I had added some red ( ok it was more like purple) for dramatic effect......"I gave you that hair and I can take it back"! Now add the odd choice in hair to the fact that was almost never seen without my Grandfathers black and white trenches...It made adults nervous. My mother got a phone call one day from one of my friends mothers..informing her that she didn't want me to be around her daughter any more as I was a bad influence on her.....I was an almost straight A student, in the school band, drama club, year book editor (copy only), an executive member of a political youth group....I attended church, sang and did volunteer work........AND I WAS A BAD INFLUENCE?????
My days were filled during my teenage years with band practice and extra practice.....There was a time when I was at my high school at 7am practicing, or working on the year books...often I was not home until 6pm.......I still found time to have a part-time job.....yet I was a BAD INFLUENCE??
And my mother agreed with her.
The fact that I was a "good kid" didn't matter to my mother...But what did matter was the opinion of a woman who lived the life of Betty Cleaver...I still wore my hair and my clothes the way I wanted to, but I think at that point I did it more to piss her off than for my own pleasure......
Years later my mother and I are friends...We have worked hard to forge a relationship that works for us....Part mom, part friend.... She still refers to that time as "When you went through your bad phase"...... I think that phrase captures that time for both of us......

kim's pumpkin 2004

Just one more for tonight.... This is my pumpkin...we each do one, and then one also as a family for the schools pumpkin patch. Those who are familiar with the wilson ears will be pleased to see that "Pumpy" has been given honourary ears......I had to find something to do with the gourds i had bought!

kim's pumpkin 2004 Originally uploaded by rileymom.

darkness comes across the land

A look at the house when darkness has fallen......You can just start to notice the red glow from the flood lights....

darkness comes across the land Originally uploaded by rileymom.

hallowe'en 2004

Yes, i know what you are thinking...I don't work anymore so why aren't i posting something everyday? Well it seems that i need to find a job so that i can go back to work and rest...I have had a super busy week, between stuff at the school and volunteering for some of the charity groups that i have gotten to know through my old job. I got to go back to my old hall this week and work on the other side of the counter , and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things that we never get to see on the management side....I do know that i enjoy being on the other side of the wall so to speak! I enjoy getting to say...."You'll have to go see the manager on duty"! The front of the house is ready for Hallowe'en...although i still don't know what i am dressing up as.....i may just be a mish-mash of old costumes thrown together... We did our pumpkins tonight...they turned out great ( although i have a biased opinion) Tomorrow night i am going to a dinner and guest lecture featuring Ann Douglas. I'm really looking forward to hearing her talk, since i read her on a daily basis. Hope the week went by as fast for you..... The pic is of the front of the house ready for the little trick-or-treaters.....we have nicknamed the spider over the walkway BORIS! There is 500 ft of string involved in those webs...wish there was a way to take them down and use them next year....

hallowe'en 2004 Originally uploaded by rileymom.

SHARE YOUR STORY! This week's

SHARE YOUR STORY! This week's question, from "a Mother's Legacy"........ Share a bad weather story, getting caught in a hailstorm, being snowed in...etc...

I grew up in a tiny little town in Southwestern Ontario. It wa a great place to grow up as a kid, with fresh air, lots of green grass in the summer and lots of snow in the winter. There was one winter however that even we weren't prepared for the amount of snow that old Mother Nature was going to send!
It was a normal school day for me, my little brother was not going to school that day. So i trudged off alone down the highway to the bus stop. It was snowing, but nothing out of the ordinary. I didn't know then, but i would not see my family again for almost 3 days.
The storm hit so quickly with all of the rain and snow AND freezing rain, the school never had a chance to send us Bus Kids home safely. When it became evident that the storm was only going to get worse and they would have to shut down the schools...they had to figure out what they were going to do with us. Keep in mind that at the school i attended, over 1/2 of the students were country kids...we ALL took buses...and now the buses weren't running. It wouldn't have mattered anyways...the highways were being shut down.
The school began the task of finding homes for us to stay in. Being a Catholic school, they relied on the Church members to take in students that were stranded. We were picked up and taken home by people we really didn't know..except from Sundays..and the occasional school function.
I don't remember the name of the family that i stayed with, although i remember the kids. Tom was in high school and his sister Kim still went to my school. I remember them being pretty cool about having an obviously scared kid borrowing their clothes and using their beds,
I stayed with them for 3 days. It was without a doubt the longest 3 days of my life. On the first day i talked to my Mom for a few minutes before the phones went dead. She told me my Father was also stranded...in London..at work.
I wanted to go home. I was in a strange place, with people i had never met ( their goodwill was lost on that 10 yr old...i just want to go home).
On that 3rd day my Father came for me. He had told the OPP who had barricaded the highway that he had been out getting formula for his baby. They escorted him right to our door!
My parents had taken all of our dogs ( they ran a kennel when we were younger) up to the Donker's farm to keep them warm. They had slept in shifts so that one of them could bail out the basement....NO POWER=NO SUMP PUMP.
I was out of school all week because of the storm. I remember going sledding off of our garage roof...that's how high the snow and drifts were....and we had a great time.
I was home. And even if we had no heat or power i had never felt safer or happier in my life.

if you want to SHARE YOUR STORY..leave me a link in the comments to your blog.....Go ahead...you know you want to....

So day one of really

So day one of really being a SAHM......and i cleaned...my computer. Shelley and I were talking about clutter and she made a really good point. We have changed the medium, but the clutter is still there....I opened up my files today and went...WHOA!!!!! What is all this junk? And i started to sort and organize, and get rid of stuff i didn't really need. Now if you know me, then you know how hard this really is for me. I keep everything. EVERYTHING!! If i think I ( or anyone within a 5 mile radius) might have a need for it sometime down the road, then i keep it. This is why we have such a big house... 'cause as George Carlin said, you gotta have a place to put your stuff. But today i decided to clean out some of the stuff...even if it was just on the computer.....and i am pleased to say that...it didn't really even make a dent..but it is the thought that counts!

Went to a City wide introduction to Parent Advisory Council tonight.....i really thought it would be boring but i was pleasantly surprised. I met a lot of really nice people and i did learn some things....and i got a chance to get out of the house, which i admit is always a nice thing. Regular PAC meeting tomorrow night....And i thought i would be home all the time??

I received a really nice gift on Friday, a journal for writing your life story.. I want to use it productively..and i would love to get to know more about all of you....SO I am proclaiming every Tuesday will now be......YOUR STORY DAY....here in Wilsonworld....I will pick a journal question and i will share my answers...in the hope that you all will share yours too......SHARING IS GOOD....... you really do use the things you learned in Kindergarten!

DSCF0237.JPG

It has been a really long week. On Friday I left a job that i really enjoyed doing, if you got past all of the bullshit. I could not. I also could not stand the thought of my children growing and me not being there for what really are the most important years of their lives. So at 1am Saturday morning I walked out the door for the last time. It was a really hard shift. I didn't think it would be. After all i had been preparing for it for the last three weeks. But something happened on Friday. I didn't count on the love from my staff. We have had people leave before, so i had an idea of what to expect...but i had no idea. I got phone calls from employees at other halls. I had visits from staff that weren't scheduled to work.....I got flowers from my husband, plants from the girls i work with, flowers from individual staff members..... I got a beautiful mantle clock which just screams out me! A wonderful mother's journal..... I got cards from charity members......and i realized just how much all of these people mean to me. And i didn't want to go. But i did. I picked up the box that i had been packing for the last week, put my kids pics in there as they were the last item i hadn't removed....and walked out the door. And i cried. I am not sure why i was crying, but once i started i couldn't stop. I was crying for the friends i had left behind in that building. I was crying for the unknown life that i was starting.....I don't do well with drastic change, and i had just made one of the most drastic changes i think i will ever make. And then i stopped. And i started my new life as a mom, a wife and a "freelance-jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none" If this weekend is any indication of my new life...i am going to be more busy than i was when i was working! But the time will be spent doing things that i love! Saturday we went to the Pumpkin Patch to pick out the family pumpkins...it was freezing cold and raining...and i loved every minute of it...no rushing to get back home because i had to work! Follow this by a 2 hour trip to MICHEALS and my day was complete. I have always been a crafty-type person, but have never had the time to do alot of that type of thing...well now i do...SO i finished my WILSONWORLD BUCKET that is now hanging on the front of my house....I will change the flowers to suit the season....its my first attempt but i am pretty proud of it. Sunday was Hallowe'en day here, and we worked on costumes..Munch is going as a mummy..complete with a King Tut burial mask....when we finish it i'll post pics. BUg is going to be a Fairy princess, looking cute as a button in pink from head to toe! I haven't decided yet what i am dressing up as...i like to dress up to hand out candy and i can't decided between a witch or an egyptian princess.... The Exhausted Family came down and we watched THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW....Not a bad movie...Popcorn and friends...great way to end a weekend! Ok that's my weekend in a nut shell....hope yours was just as fine...OH and we turned on the furnace..i didn't want to but it really was getting a little cold here.....kids were wearing sweaters and housecoats and curled up under blankets on the couch..so i had to break down and do it....Now they say it's going to warm back up this week? Figures...i even wore socks! I don't normally start doing that till snow hits! Gotta love Fall!

DSCF0237.JPG Originally uploaded by rileymom.