A day in the life

Posted on October 26, 2010 by Sherry

It had been ages since I had done a photo day in the life post so I thought I would do one on Sunday. I had intended to post them all on Monday but Hayley stayed home from school because she wasn’t feeling well (fever and sniffles, etc) so I put it off until today.

Here’s how my Sunday went.

As much as I’d like to say I slept in until this time on a Sunday, well, no. I had been awake for awhile but I managed to stay in bed by tossing some books to Breanna while I laid there and…

Checked my mail on my iPod Touch. It’s a bit of a compulsion, I have a habit of doing this first thing in the morning before getting out of bed.

Once I finally got up it was time to let Winnie out of her crate and take her out for a potty break, as well as a trot around the (big) block to stretch out her legs.

Reward for stumbling around the block with my eyes at half-mast? Coffee!

Breakfast time! I made waffles for the kids, and that’s my toast you see in the toaster. George took care of his own breakfast, he rarely eats first thing upon waking.

Once we’re all done eating, it’s Winnie’s turn. I rarely need to feed the dog since both kids love to do it, especially Breanna.

I made a quick call to my mom; we were going to see my parents in the early afternoon so I just wanted to let her know when to expect us.

Okie dokie, time for me to hop in the shower and get all cleaned up.

I am so low-maintenance with my hair. It’s a bit of a miracle that I use gel at all, and I almost never dry it all the way because my patience levels for fiddling with my hair are way down there. This is why I get the cut I normally do, because it’s very wash and wear.

Bed, all made. It was getting cold at night and I don’t like to leave the heat up overnight, so I threw this sleeping bag over the comforter and it keeps me toasty while I sleep.

Once I was done with everything else, it was time for some primping. This probably looks like a lot but in reality it takes me all of five minutes to put my contacts in, throw on some eye shadow and liner, curl my eyelashes, and slap on a coat of mascara. Again, pretty low-maintenance. More than five minutes of prep time requires a special occasion.

(Alas, the picture I took post-primping was SUPER blurry so I didn’t bother.)

The girl who gave me Winnie said that she loved driving around so we took her for her first drive with us when we went to see my parents. They were very excited to meet her and she was pretty good. She was a bit agitated on the way out but then I realized it was because she wanted to lie down more towards the back, so the drive home later on ended up being much better.

It wasn’t a particularly great day but at least it wasn’t raining. It was pretty chilly though!

One of the reasons we were going to visit my parents was because they still had Hayley’d birthday present waiting for her; it’s just gotten too hard for my dad to manage the four flights of stairs at our place so they weren’t able to come for her party. They got her some plush toys from Club Penguin – both the kids LOVE to play Club Penguin. Hayley was very excited and based on Breanna’s interest, my mom knows what to get her for her birthday next month!

We had a nice visit for a few hours. Then on the way home we stopped for some groceries.

George and Breanna went in the store while Hayley and I waited in the car with Winnie. Winnie was not pleased that two of “her people” went in the store, she seemed very nervous as to where they were. She was very happy when they finally came back out.

Putting stuff away.

Clearly visiting people is EXHAUSTING because as soon as Winnie got upstairs she did this for quite some time.

I threw some vegetables into a pot and got some water boiling to make rice so I could get supper going.

Nom nom nom! General Tao Chicken on basmati rice with some vegetables on the side.

After supper I took Winnie for a good walk and when I came back I found that Hayley had borrowed George’s guitar to practice what she had learned at her guitar lesson last week. I think she’s really going to enjoy this course.

Meanwhile, George and Breanna played with the new foosball game my parents gave us. They had bought it a couple of years ago and only played it once so my mom thought we’d enjoy it more. I love that Breanna’s right up on the table to play!

And while everyone else amused themselves I … well, I washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Whoopee, talk about exciting!

Once the kitchen was cleaned up it was time for Hayley to hop in the bath and have her hair washed (they get a bath on alternating days because putting both of them in the tub at once usually means more water on the floor than in the actual tub). Then I dried her hair, gave them each a snack, and sent them off to use the bathroom and brush teeth. THEN it was time for them to get into bed.

George had gone to the store and if no one is around to supervise while I put the kids to bed I always put Winnie into her crate (just like I do when we go out or overnight). This saves our shoes, the garbage bag, and the kids’ toys. It’s just a better way to set her up for success – she can’t get into trouble this way. She doesn’t mind the crate and all, and I let her out as soon as I come back out to the living room. Where I get the Crazy Face.

I hate putting school lunches together in the morning so I do as much as I can the night before. I got her drink, snack, and dessert all ready and put them in one spot in the fridge. Her actual lunch was going to be leftovers in her thermos, so I left that for the morning (and then she ended up being sick on Monday so it didn’t matter anyway).

With everything tidied up, the kids in bed, and George back home working on some music down the hall, I decided it was time for me to relax with some refreshments, some television, and some blog reading.

Winnie snoozed a bit longer (still worn out from visiting!) but then she rolled around and gave me this face and she was too cute to resist so I played with her for awhile.

Fluff explosion! I went to the kitchen for a minute and in that time she managed to completely un-stuff her brand new toy that my parents gave her. What a goofball.

After one last trip outside to do her business, I put Winnie to bed for the night. Then I headed to the bathroom to take out my contacts, remove my makeup, wash my face, and brush my teeth. Sometimes I wait until I’m so tired that it feels like a huge chore.

I should have gone to bed a little earlier than this since it was a Sunday night but c’est la vie.

Good night!

Memories captured on video

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Sherry

As you’re probably already aware, I took a TON of photos in Halifax this summer. This is not surprising at all considering I can easily snap away without realizing it. Just the other day when I was at the nature park, it was just a three hour afternoon and yet I completely filled up my card, taking over 250 pictures – and that’s a place I go to semi-regularly!

Anyway, on top of the photos both George and I shot some video as well. We both have some up on YouTube and we had many just sitting on our hard drives.

While we were there George’s cousin had a deck party which ended up being a “hooray for surviving Hurricane Earl” party. There was a lot of music all night long courtesy of an iPod being set to shuffle but one song in particular stuck out. “I’m So Paid” by Akon came on and it sparked some dancing and singing and the video became a hit among our group over the next few days. Somehow that one song became associated with being in Halifax.

Earlier this week I was walking the dog and had my own iPod set to shuffle and that same song popped up. I stopped right there on the sidewalk, thought for a second, and immediately knew what I wanted to do as a little personal, fun project.

I’ve used Windows Live Movie Maker in the past to add some music and credits to my yoga videos but I’ve never really played around with it and there’s a lot you can do. With a bit of poking around I took some of my favorite pictures from Halifax, cut out a few clips from our videos, and spliced them all together with “I’m So Paid” as the soundtrack. I fiddled a bit, moved things around, got the timing I wanted, and in the end I had a video that serves as a great reminder of all the fun we had during those last three weeks of summer vacation.

Here it is:

I can’t believe I didn’t put in anything from the video I took during Hurricane Earl, but that’s okay. I got some of the best stuff in there anyway and I had a hell of a lot of fun doing it. I have to say, if you ever want to revisit some good memories, putting together a video like this one is a great way to do that.

Enjoy!

(If you’re curious, my video channel is over here and you can feel free to subscribe. I have a feeling I’ll be using it more and more often.)

On dogs and damp weather

Posted on October 21, 2010 by Sherry

Life with a new dog has been working out quite well. We’re getting used to each other and have settled into a fairly predictable routine. I really couldn’t imagine a better dog for our family. She’s still a puppy so we do have a few bad habits to break, but nothing that is really major.

For one thing, she loves shoes. I’ve never seen her actually chew them, mind you. She just goes over to our shoe rack by the door and she’ll pick one up (she’s particularly fond of a slip-on pair that Hayley wore in the summer and which need to be tossed since they’re too beaten up to save or donate), carry it into the living room, and lie down to lick it. I don’t want her to keep that habit though because I’m sure eventually licking would turn to chewing. Besides, I don’t want to be running around early in the morning with one shoe on while frantically searching for the other one. Luckily she’s pretty good when I say, “No!” and she drops it.

Her other bad habit was begging and it was pretty intense so I think she was used to sharing snacks and getting scraps from the table. What’s good is that she’s smart and pretty eager to please so she’s gotten a lot better. We’ve taught her to stay out of the dining area when we sit down to eat which is much better.

When we first got her, the girl told me that she was used to sleeping in a crate at night and being in there when she was left alone but I was warned that she would usually bark for a couple of minutes to voice her protest and then she would settle down. That’s why the girl wanted to make sure we were allowed dogs in our apartment because people would hear her now and then.

It did indeed happen for the first two or three days but I managed to make her more accepting of the cage. I can tell she still doesn’t love going in there, especially during the day when she’s wide awake – it’s always easier at night when she’s tired anyway. However, I stuffed some cushions in there for her to lie on so it’s very cozy and I took a cue from something I read recently and started casually tossing dry kibble in there from time to time. Eventually she would walk by and smell it, and when she’d walk in to investigate she’d find food so she made a positive association with the cage. When it’s time for her to go in, either because we’re heading out or because it’s time for bed I just throw a bacon treat in there and tell her “go get your cookie!” She always gives me a LOOK, almost like she’s saying, “listen, I know what you’re making me do and you kind of suck but FINE, those are tasty so I’ll go.” Then she wags her tail and heads in. The barking has stopped; she doesn’t make a peep once she’s in, so that’s amazing progress considering she had been doing it daily for months and I got her to stop in only a few days.

It seems as though she’s learning her name. Before I could call out “Winnie!” and she wouldn’t really react. Then again, I could also call her by her old name and it had the same (lack of) effect. Now I find that she responds about 80% of the time, so that’s better. I think it’s entirely possible that she does know her name now and when she ignores me it’s because there’s something much more interesting going on.

The best thing is watching her with Breanna. Breanna was the biggest target when we had Pearl and it was almost impossible for her to play with her at all. Now that we have Winnie, Breanna has a furry best friend. They play tug of war, she’s been teaching Winnie to “find it” with rawhide sticks (it’s amazing to see my not-quite-five-year-old training a dog!), and they chase each other around. Our living room, kitchen, and dining area all open onto each other so you can essentially travel in a circle from one room to the next; Breanna will run one way and Winnie will run the other way, then they turn and race back the other way. Other times they just run around and around in circles, Breanna laughing hysterically. When they’re both tired, Winnie will crash out on the rug in the living room and Breanna will lie down with her head on the dog’s belly. It is ADORABLE and exactly the way it should be with kids and their dogs.

Hayley is enjoying having a kid-friendly dog too. Winnie doesn’t jump when you walk in the door but she does run right over to greet Hayley when she gets home from school and she likes to play lap dog with her. Hayley is also thrilled with the run-around-chasing game so that gets picked up again.

Between both the kids playing with her and the walks with me, Winnie is the laziest energetic dog I’ve ever seen. Yes, when we’re outside she’s raring to go (though after one particularly long walk in the woods she actually sat down on a lawn on the way back home and stared at me like she thought maybe I could carry her the rest of the way) and when she plays with the kids she’s ecstatic but then in between those times I frequently find myself looking around for her, only to find her passed out cold on the floor, sound asleep. It’s a good mix.

As for me, that dog follows me everywhere I go. I actually tiptoe past her when she’s asleep just so she won’t wake up and jump up. Even if I’m just going around the corner to another room for a second, she comes too. If I have the baby gate up to block the bedrooms (at night when the kids are sleeping) and I climb over to get something, she’ll sit and wait until I come back. She loves me and that’s fine by me.

She’s also quite protective. While she’s extremely gentle and even the kids can feed her because she’s not prone to trying to grab the dish, apparently she is very On Guard when it comes to her home and her people. We’d only had her for less than a week when she was lying in the hall by the front door. Somehow none of us locked it when Hayley got in from school so when the door at the top of the stairs opened, the draft blew our door open just a crack. All Winnie knew was that her four people were inside with her, the door was open, and she could hear someone out in the hall. Despite her short time with us, she immediately jumped to her feet and started barking and growling, putting herself in between us and the door. No one was getting inside without our okay, let me tell you! That made me rather happy.

So yeah. Great dog. We all love her.

In other news, this damp weather is sucking. Rain is supposed to be a regular feature in the spring, not the fall. And yet we’ve been getting quite a bit of it lately and even on the days that it doesn’t rain I find it pretty damp, at least early in the day.

Today was my first day back up at the breakfast club at the school and it was pouring when I got up. Let me tell you, nothing makes you want to crawl back under the comforter for the rest of the day quite like that. My alarm blared at 5:30 am and it was still pitch black outside which was bad enough. Add in the rain and it was just UGH. Once I got up and got to the school it was fine. I wondered if I’d forget all the things I had to do but it wasn’t too hard to get back into the swing of things and I really do love doing it.

On that note, between my early morning and the chill in the air I think it’s time for a nice hot cup of coffee.

Thankful

Posted on October 13, 2010 by Sherry

This past weekend was Thanksgiving up here in Canada* and with Hayley being off school for the Friday and the Monday we had a wonderful long weekend and there was a lot to be thankful for by the time it was over.

We basically spent Friday getting to know our new dog, and we took her for her first walk in the woods. On Saturday our friend was the unknowing guest of honor at her surprise birthday party and that was a lot of fun. I went over early to help decorate and get everything ready, and we didn’t leave until midnight. I had such a good time that I may have to re-think my stance on surprise parties. I’ve always said I wouldn’t want to have one, even though I enjoy attending them for other people, but maybe it would be fun for someone to throw one for me too after all.

Even though Monday was technically Thanksgiving day, a lot of people celebrate with the big dinner on Sunday since many people have Monday off (and can thus recuperate from all the turkey, stuffing, and pie!). We went over to George’s parents’ house and visited with them, as well as his sister and her husband. We had a great time and enjoyed a huge meal.

George’s sister suggested that after saying grace we should go around the table and have each person share something they’re grateful for. When it was my turn I said that I spent my whole life having big family meals for holidays up north at my grandmother’s house but since she passed away several years ago, I don’t have that now. I said I was grateful that I still had the good luck to be a part of that with George’s family.

The kids both fell asleep pretty easily that night, which was a good thing since I got a phone call from one of my friends on Monday morning. She said she was going with our other friend to a big nature park with the kids and they wanted to know if we’d like to join them. I’m so glad I was able to say yes. It was a beautiful day – possibly one of the last before winter hits – and we spent a wonderful three and a half hours walking around, looking at the trees, petting goats, checking out farm animals, having pony rides, and eating a picnic lunch.

By Monday night everyone was pretty much wiped out. There’s something wonderful about being completely tired because you had so much fun over the past four days.

You can see the full Thanksgiving set over here and all the photos from the nature center over here.

*I mentioned it being our long holiday weekend over on JoliePittWatch and thanked my readers for their kind wishes. Hilariously I had someone email me about how I’m an idiot for thinking it was Thanksgiving because DUH, that’s in November. I had a fun time replying that although the Internet is very US-centric, many of us actually live in other countries, and thus have different holidays. I included a link explaining Canadian Thanksgiving and implied that perhaps it takes a bigger kind of idiot to have no clue about the world outside their own little dot on the map.

Expanding the family

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Sherry

Five years before I was born (and ten years before my sister was born), my parents got a cat. He was a big black cat named Satan and he lived to a ripe old age of 18 years. My mother always likes to joke that she was so glad that neither of her kids had allergies because she would have hated to have to give us up for adoption.

Although we had a cat and later some fish (and I brought two hamsters and a dwarf rabbit on the scene when I was older and capable of taking care of them myself, including buying their food and other necessities), we never did have a dog. Both my mother and father had grown up with a family dog but they chose to not have that responsibility once they were on their own, though they do both love dogs.

I love dogs too. I love animals, period. Not including the cats that my parents had I have owned and loved a couple of cats of my own, the aforementioned hamsters and rabbit, an iguana, a gecko, two more hamsters, two rats, and two dogs.

Whew.

Back in June we had to find a new home for our dog, Pearl. She was a beautiful animal and she had her good moments but she was incredibly aggressive and would often snarl and snap at the kids, even when they weren’t doing anything in particular. It got to a point where I couldn’t let them play together and it was unfair for everyone, including Pearl. Luckily I found someone through a woman I know up at the school so I know that Pearl is doing well – in a home without kids – and I get regular updates on her.

I was happy to no longer have to be afraid that my dog was going to go after my kids, but it wasn’t long before I was really missing having a dog around. As much as I love animals in general, in the end I’m a dog person (well, truth be told I’m a horse person but alas, they don’t tend to do well in suburban apartments). I wanted a dog and I knew the kids wanted a dog.

There are different levels of people when it comes to dogs. There are people who don’t like them at all and don’t wish to own them. There are people like my parents who love dogs very much but just don’t want to own one. There are people like George who also very much like dogs but are ambivalent in the sense that he can live with a dog or live just as happily without one. Then there are people like me who just feel a need to have a dog in their life. I could have lived without one if my kids were allergic of course, but for me a dog fills up that last space in the family.

Basically I spent months looking for the right addition. I discovered long ago that I have my own type of obsessive-compulsive disorder; once I have my mind set on something I will spend a ridiculous amount of time compulsively looking for it. I would check out Petfinder, Craigslist, and Kijiji on a near daily basis, usually more than once per day. I found a lot of dogs that looked good but either the owners would tell me that they had never been around kids, or worse, that they had seemed agitated or unnerved by children. I had one who wasn’t sure how his dog would be with kids but said that he had been abused in the past and was scared of sudden movements. Considering kids routinely make sudden movements I said a hasty no thanks to that one. The few that I found who seemed perfect were always snatched up before I could get a chance to meet them.

Hell, I even contacted the Dartmouth SPCA when we were in Halifax because I had seen what looked like a great dog on their site. They would have considered doing an out-of-province adoption on a case by case basis, but alas, she was adopted mere hours before I called.

About a week ago I found an ad on Kijiji for a dog; the owner lived with her parents and since she was so busy with full-time work and school they were the ones who ended up taking care of the dog most often and they didn’t want that responsibility. We emailed back and forth and finally set up a meeting here at our place for last night. I spoke to her on the phone the night before and got nothing but good vibes from her. She sounded like she loved her dog very much and only wanted to find the most loving home she could.

In the hour leading up to our meeting time I was so nervous it was ridiculous. I worried that maybe she wouldn’t be a good dog for us. I worried more that she would be great but that her owner wouldn’t get a good feeling from us and would refuse to let us keep her.

We met the dog. She was fabulous and gorgeous and just what we wanted. The girl thought we were great, loved the kids, and asked us if we would take the dog. I said absolutely. She cried and so did I, partly because I was so happy and partly because it was so heartbreaking to see a girl who loved her pet so much having to give it up. I promised her we would take good care of our new dog and give it all the love in the world.

We have a dog. I can’t believe we finally have a dog again. She’s not perfect, she needs some work of course. But she’s amazing and I’m in love.

Her name was originally Lola but Breanna had chosen the name Winnie even before we met her. Winnie fits her very well so we’re working on getting her to learn her new name (I was relieved she picked a normal name since her usual names for stuffed toys and Club Penguin characters are things like “Sparkle Rainbow” and “Pink Butterfly Unicorn” and whatnot).

She did really well last night. I had fully expected her to whine and fuss at bedtime but aside from a few barks when we put her in her cage for the night at about 11:30, she settled right down and slept quietly until I got up at 8 am. After breakfast the girls and I took Winnie for a nice long walk, including a stroll through the woods. Between the walk and all the playtime, Winnie is exhausted and has been snoozing on and off all afternoon.

I’m also impressed with her bathroom habits so far. The girl who had her before said she was housebroken but I still braced myself for some accidents just because of a change in routine and environment. It could still happen but so far she’s doing a great job of letting me know when she needs to go out. She either goes and nudges her leash that hangs by the door or she barks once at the door. Each time she’s peed right away when we get outside so I know that she knows what she’s doing.

I’m so happy. The kids are ecstatic. Life is good.

Chaos Theory

Monthly Archives: October 2010

A day in the life

Memories captured on video

On dogs and damp weather

Thankful

Expanding the family