Kaycie Sez...

Kaycie has been sharing all sorts of bizarre thoughts on anything and everything lately, but I haven't been remembering to jot them down.  Here are some I have managed to remember:

Sang this to me to the tune of some kind of lullaby with a whacked out ending:  "Today is a great day....  We will all use paint cans...  And laugh and skip...  YOU'RE FIRED!!!"

On our way to swimming lessons from the back seat of the car:  "Mom, if you loved me you would get this giant meteorite off my lap."

On my way out the door to work one morning:  "I love you Mom!  Have fun at your workshop!  And never ever forget to come home!  And don't forger to buy me a purple drink!"

After I told her I loved her:  "Well.... I like you, Mom."

Happy Friday to you all!

An Update and a New Blog Post: Mothra vs. Kenny!!!

Happy Friday!!! First of all, an update for those of you who have been wondering if my train story has come full circle yet.  Well, it has, and I was tickled pink yesterday to discover that Annabelle's mom had left us all a message of her own in the comments section of the original blog post!  Thank you again for all of your messages.  There is so much good in this world, and you can all rest assured that you've made a difference for at least one person.  Yay for you!! Also, my blog statistics are showing a huge spike in readers from Ireland, so welcome to Annabelle's mom (and yes, I also hope we'll run into each other again!!  I'll keep my eye out for you on the train.) and to those I can only assume are her friends and family back home!  And now, after all that excitement and positivity... back to blogging!  :-) We had the most wonderful day yesterday visiting with my best friend Marlaine and her husband and kids at my parents' house yesterday - they were visiting from out of province - and it was capped off by us all going to a fishing derby organized by my parents' church.  We met up with my brother and sister and their families at the derby and we all had a great little get together.  The weather was awesome, the hot dogs were plentiful, and thanks to her new fishing rod from Kenny, our daughter did not 'hook' anyone with her aggressive casting style.  Really, watching her fish is a pretty spectacular thing! I am also a proud auntie when I say that the only fish that was caught yesterday was kindly caught and thoughtfully released by my niece Janaya.  She not only is a promising angler, but she was one of the best dressed attendees!  (she was very proud of her outfit yesterday, which featured a necklace she had made "all by herself".  love!) So, you would think that after we had long hugs and bid our family and good friends good-bye that we would have milked all the fun out of one day that we could. Oh no... we like to finish our days off with pizzazz around here! Kenny and I drove home separately because he could only join us halfway through the afternoon and therefore had his own car with him.  So, he got home before me and the kids, as I had to stop for gas on the way home.  By the time we arrived home, he was already upstairs, jammied up and in bed with the laptop. I quietly brought the sleepy kids and our bags inside, had Knolan on my hip and had shut the front door when I turned around and saw our cat Chloe acting kind of like she was short circuiting.  Then I looked up to see what she was looking at just in time to see a giant, really huge, gross looking moth land on our front hall wall. Ewww!!  I am not good with bugs.  I really should blog about the time a spider dropped down on a web right in front of my face while I was driving.  That had drama written all over it!  But have no fear, this moth definitely delivered in the drama department! There I was with a spazzing cat, Kaycie, who started squealing and running around looking for a cup and some construction paper (she's clearly been watching my no-fail bug relocation technique!), and Knolan, who has likely never seen a moth before, and who was practically stepping on my face trying to get at the moth with his arms flailing like a zombie.  All the while, I am trying to be super smart about this, and I am - with my one free arm - running around the downstairs turning on and off a bizarre sequence of lights trying to lure the moth to the front door. No such luck.  Probably only entertained the neighbours with my seizure inducing light show. I asked Kaycie to go get her dad to come and help us with the moth since our house is such a mess right now that I didn't want to set Knolan down for fear of the many, many choking hazards strewn around our main floor - remnants of my crazed and frantic efforts to leave the house on time yesterday for our visit.  I am a messy lunatic when I am trying to leave the house with the kids! So, off she went to find her dad while I tried to keep track of the moth.  I am kind of shocked at the reaction that bugs and other critters bring out in me.  I was so freaked out by this thing that I was clearly not thinking straight - as evidenced by my use of Knolan as a human shield.  That's right... I am pathetic... every time the moth took flight, I ducked and hid behind my 13 month old's head for protection. How embarrassing. Anyway, Kenny, arrived on scene and I showed him where the moth was hiding in the kitchen.  I have to say, I was particularly pleased to see Kenny suddenly recoil when he poked his head into the kitchen and found himself face to face with the moth.  It really was grody.  (sorry lil' moth!) The series of events that took place next are kind of hard to explain in a blog.  Not the actual events themselves, but the overall feelings of hysteria, frustration, giddiness, feline instinct, wonder, disgust, panic, relief, rage, testosterone surge, anger, and then comic relief that we all experienced as Kenny tried to best Mothra.  Here's my best stab at it: He tries to 'shoo' the moth out.  He tries chasing it through our main floor.  He almost has it near the front door and then Chloe attacks it.  Chloe starts gnawing on moth, I freak, Kaycie screams, Knolan stares, Kenny tries to rescue the moth, Chloe retreats.  Moth flies free... at my head.  I release blood curdling scream and duck behind infant.  Ken bellows, "Are you serious?!"  I commence passionate speech about my life long fear of bugs. Kaycie laughs hysterically. Moth flies toward front door as Kenny lunges and swats it to the ground. Moth is probably praying for mercy. Kenny tries about 5 zillion times to pick up the moth. Kenny finally gets the moth in his hand, whips the front door open and releases  Mothra into the wild while slamming the door behind him. We all breathe a sigh of relief. We all freak as we see Mothra fly up towards the ceiling.  What?! Wait!  It's a new Mothra! Kenny tries to swat Mothra the Second, resulting in moth excursion to the upstairs. Kenny implodes. Chloe takes chase. Mothra the Second comes back downstairs.  In cat's mouth. Kenny rescues Mothra the Second. Mothra the Second flies free and Chloe attacks. Kenny rescues Mothra the Second again, manages to scoop him and runs for the front door. And then the most crazy part of all... Kenny swings the front door open, throws Mothra the Second into the dark night, and then rips my wreath off the front door, hurls it into our garden and slams the door shut. He looks at me and says, "Those moths love that stupid wreath!" I burst out laughing while Kaycie peers out the window into the night to see where the wreath landed. I totally wish that life had a "re-play" button.  I would have loved to have watched that all transpire. So... that was the epic battle of Kenny vs. Mothra(s).  And it was the perfect ending to a perfect day. Via

Doing Something Wonderful: The Back-up Plan

First of all, I must say a huge, gigantic 'thank you!' to all of you for leaving your messages of support for the woman I met on the train last week.  I read them all and got teary-eyed every time I heard that little 'ping' on my phone alerting me that another message had come through. 

I was honestly hoping for 20 messages.  I thought that if we could get about 20, that we would have accomplished something kind of special.

Well, we currently have 111 messages!!!  Wow!  They are all uplifting, they are all touching, and many of them even made me giggle a bit.  Who could ask for more?!

So, as it turns out, I had to work late yesterday, and so I couldn't take my usual train.  Not good for my random act of kindness campaign!  But, I decided I could use my afternoon break to zip down to the train station to see if I could find my Irish mom and her little cutie patooties.

So, I trundled off to the station when the time came - my packet of messages in hand to give her.  I was getting nervous the closer I got.  Do you ever have self-doubt?  Even though you all inspired me with your outpouring of support, I still found myself worried that I might not know what to say when I found her, or that this whole project might embarrass her in some way. 

Despite my anxiety, I waited on the platform, looking for her. 

And she never arrived. 

Maybe my sister is right.  She could have taken an earlier train.  Maybe one of her girls was sick and she couldn't go yesterday.  My gut tells me that she purposely wasn't on that train because of that man's thoughtless actions.
And the kicker is that I watched him sitting in that accessibility car the whole time I waited on the platform.  Clearly he is no more worse for wear after last week, but yet my Irish mom has likely been scared off this train for good.  Not fair.

So, I have a back up plan.  I want to repect her privacy, so I won't detail it here, but I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

And if it doesn't work, I may just have to count on fate to reunite us!

Wish me luck, and thank you again for your unbridled care and compassion for a complete stranger.  That alone is pretty powerful stuff.