A Winter day in pictures

Posted on December 13, 2009 by Sherry

On Friday when Hayley got home from school both kids wanted to go outside. It was blowing snow like nobody’s business out there but I did what a mom has to do and bundled them – and myself – up as much as possible and ventured out. We only lasted about half an hour because the wind was brutal, dropping the temps down to -16 C (3F). Also, I need new boots because the ones I have are great for grip when it’s icy out but they only come above the ankles so when I’m in deep snow it all packs in there and my feet freeze.

Canada is fun in the winter, yes indeed!

Still, the kids had fun and I had fun watching them make snow angels and try to slide down the wee hill on the complex (next time we’ll take their sleds). And when I came back inside and got the dog, she had fun out in the snow too. Now that she’s over her, “wait, I don’t remember what this cold white stuff is” shock she goes completely crazy the second I open the door and take her out.

I’m trying not to count down to spring. Luckily the weekend saw an end to the wind so it’s not quite so bad.

Some photos from Friday:

I’d still rather be on a hot, sunny beach while I cool my feet in the Atlantic. How many more days until our next summer visit to Halifax?

Canadian pride

Posted on December 10, 2009 by Sherry

Normally I’m a quasi-Olympics fan. I like to watch them but won’t go out of my way to do it. I keep track of how Canada is doing, and if there are athletes competing that I particularly like then I check up on how they’re doing as well.

However, with the 2010 Winter Olympics being held in my own country (albeit at the complete opposite end!), there’s a certain level of excitement that I can’t ignore and I’m really looking forward to watching – and hoping that we don’t end up an embarrassed nation. There’s nothing more sad than the host country doing poorly!

In particular I enjoy watching the aerial skiing, alpine skiing, luge, and figure skating. Hockey is always fun too and seriously, Canada should totally win at that one so here’s hoping.

Today the Olympic Torch was coming to an area that allowed me to go and see it. I didn’t follow the torch route (though I might have for part of it if the kids were older) but the four of us went together to the end of the relay route to wait for its arrival. Yes, we kept Hayley out of school; I felt like it was a historic event that was really important for her to see and we wanted to see it as a family.

It was REALLY cold. It wasn’t technically that bad, but with the wind it was nuts, especially just standing around. Luckily the kids were well bundled up.

They also had a stage set up with some entertainment, including these guys who played drums and got the crowd all hyped up.

And then finally, after a lot of shivering, and after Hayley got to the point where she was just really cold, the Olympic Torch showed up. With it came a huge surprise for me. I had looked up the path and the destination and the schedule for the torch but I never looked to see who was going to be carrying it. It was mostly because I had figured it would be a local person I had never heard of. I was so excited when I found out it was being brought in by Josee Chouinard who is one of my favorite Canadian athletes.

I wish I could have gotten closer to take a picture without all the chains and stuff, but it was really packed. Still, it was really exciting to see the torch and to see her. I shouldn’t have been surprised since I tend to cry at the drop of a hat, but I was actually a bit unprepared for how emotional the whole thing was. It was so amazing to be there and I’m glad we got to go.

Next on my list of things I want to do to show my support – I desperately want the official red Olympic torch bearer mitts!

I know that today was probably not quite as exciting for Hayley (Breanna didn’t care, she was just happily playing in the snow the whole time) because of her age, but I think she’ll be happy to look back on it when she gets older and knows that she got to take part in a historical Canadian event.

I guess we were due by now

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Sherry

Our November was amazing by Eastern Canadian terms. The temperatures weren’t unbearable and we didn’t even get any snow (at least not any that stuck to the ground) until the very last day.

So I guess that we were finally due to get a big kick-your-ass blizzard. Which we did. The big disappointment was that while we were all hoping for a snow day (hello, sleeping in!) the snow didn’t actually start until almost 8 am so they remained open.

The thing is, although it got a late start, it didn’t stop all day. In fact, just over 12 hours later, it’s still coming down and hard. These two photos were taken about four hours apart. The first one was about two hours into the snowfall (the table had been bare prior to today) and the second one was four hours after that. Which was about four hours ago from this very moment that I’m typing at 8 pm.

(It’s higher now and the wind has blown up so high against the sliding doors that I can no longer see out unless I stand up.)

The worst part is the wind. Just plain old snow wouldn’t be the end of the world but the wind is blowing it every which way. In these photos of the streets, that’s not blur or overexposure or what have you, that’s snow being blasted straight across the street. Yep.

Of course it wasn’t enough to stop me at 7:30 tonight when I realized that a) I desperately wanted chips and b) we had exactly zero chips anywhere. My salt addiction is such that, after about four days without any, I had to have some tonight and so I bundled up, leashed Pearl, and walked to the store. In a blizzard. Out on the street because we have no sidewalks right now. And I did it willingly.

That’s dedication.

Here’s hoping that it stops sometime overnight but the forecast says otherwise. Ah well. It IS December and this IS Eastern Canada. At least we’re faring better than the prairies at -30C and worse. See? It really can always be worse (stay warm if that’s where you are right now!).

How’s your weather right now?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Sherry

So, although it all melted by today, it snowed yesterday. This didn’t thrill me too much, especially since it required me to haul snowsuits and winter boots out of the cupboard at 6:30 in the morning. However, there was one very excited person in this family.

For a good month Breanna has been waiting only semi-patiently for the snow to arrive. She was so ecstatic that I ended up taking outside before 10 am just so she could go and play. It wasn’t a ton of snow but it was enough for her to make snow angels, build a snow creature (it wasn’t quite enough for a snowman!), and generally have a ball.

I have to admit it wasn’t all bad. I suppose. At least it was pretty.

Okay fine, I lived. Just ask me how I feel about it by March.

*******

All this snow is a good way to get me to participate in the Best of 2009 Blog Challenge today. Every day there’s a theme and since I’ll be doing Holidailies like I generally do every December it will come in handy from time to time.

Today’s theme is “Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?” Well. Let me think about that. Ummm. Hmmm. Oh right. Duh, that would be our three week trip to Halifax.

I mean really. I got to attend my sister’s wedding, hang out with George’s cousin, and spent a lot of time looking at the ocean. The seafood was pretty good too.

Yes, I would definitely say that my trip to Halifax was by far the best trip I’ve taken in YEARS, let alone in 2009.

How about you?

(It should be stated for the record that looking at all of my photos of Halifax make my heart ache.)

Families make the quiet woods louder

Posted on November 8, 2009 by Sherry

When I walk the dog in the woods with no one but me, her, and whomever is singing on my iPod, the woods are a quiet place. When I walk in the woods with just Breanna, it’s mostly quiet with the silence peppered with questions here and there. Breanna is a little version of me in that sense, she loves to be in the woods.

When I walk in the woods with Breanna, Hayley, and George… well, then the woods aren’t very quiet at all. Still, it’s a nice way to pass a Sunday afternoon. The weather today was ridiculous. At one point I debated taking off my coat but decided against it since I didn’t want to have to carry it. It was sunny and warm and just beautiful. It’s November and I’m in Canada. I know very well that it’s not going to last so it was great to enjoy it.

I also got to prove to the kids that I wasn’t lying when I said I found an old rusted-out car in the woods last Spring.

The bonus of course, is that Breanna crashed at bedtime, taking no more than five minutes to fall asleep. Hayley… well, Hayley is still awake at just past 9 pm, but at least she’s reading quietly in bed. I’m hoping she’ll drift off soon since she has to be up early tomorrow.

I don’t think it will take me long to fall asleep either. I think I’ll kick back with a glass of wine and some television and call it a night. Let’s see if I can start my week off without being completely exhausted!

Low-key weekend

Posted on November 7, 2009 by Sherry

Our weekend really started yesterday. I finished my work up early and took Breanna and the dog for a long walk in the woods. That’s a pretty nice way to end the week – a little communing with nature and all that. We won’t be able to do it much longer so we made the most of it.

Then we had the movie night that I mentioned. Once the kids were in bed, George and I decided to unwind with some Shiraz and a movie together. I always equate movies with the weekend because during the week there’s always something on television that one of us (usually it’s me) wants to watch.

This morning I actually slept in until 10 which was awesome. I had spent the entire week in a state of Perpetual Tired ™ so I really needed that. Hayley ended up being invited over to visit with a friend for the entire day including lunch and supper so Breanna played with some toys and had a long bath all by herself (or well, almost all by herself if you don’t count the 16 dinosaurs that joined her) after I spent some time trying to tame the mess in the bedroom.

George was going to a friend’s birthday party for dinner and the evening; I was supposed to go too but it was adult-only and his parents were busy so I couldn’t make it. Breanna and I ended up ordering Chinese food which we ate by candlelight. She thought that was pretty fancy.

Usually Breanna is depressed when Hayley goes out without her (other than to school) but she had a lot of fun. Aside from her bath and candlelight dinner she also played Wii with me for awhile, then two rounds of Candyland. She didn’t mind too much, though she did mention missing Hayley.

By the time Hayley got home at 7:30 she was pretty tired, but she insisted she could stay up a bit longer to join Breanna for another movie. She managed, but she’s going to bed in 15 minutes and I think she’ll crash fast and hard.

Once they’re out for the night I can relax with some inappropriate-for-kids TV. I think tonight will be perfect for catching up on Vampire Diaries with some wine. The show rips off a lot of Twilight and it’s pretty cheesy so naturally I love it.

Hope you’re having a great weekend too – what are you up to?

Quiet weekends are pretty good

Posted on October 27, 2009 by Sherry

I ended up having a fairly peaceful weekend, something that doesn’t happen often what with having two kids and all. George’s sister was in town after not being able to get out this way for awhile and the kids were both so excited. We went over to see George’s parents on Friday because his dad was celebrating his birthday. Although George had to go out I went with the girls and we had cake and tea, and Hayley got her belated birthday gifts from her aunt and uncle.

The crown that Breanna is wearing is from a craft kit that Hayley got as a gift. And isn’t it a shame that the kids obviously don’t like their uncle at all? I mean really. Can’t you just see how much they can’t stand him? (Yeah right. As you can see, they LOVE him.)

On Saturday they spent some time just doing the craft crowns and hanging around the apartment, followed by a quick trip to the Dollar Store with George. I had about an hour or so of peace and quiet during which I actually took a shower without having to worry about what anyone else was doing. Let me tell you, that’s a total luxury for me.

I was just about to start preparing supper when the phone rang and George’s sister invited the kids over to eat with them. That was fine with me! After they left I made supper for just the two of us (though Breanna requested that I save some stew for her – good thing I did, that’s what she ended up having for her snack!) and I actually ate an entire plate of food without having to get up to refill someone’s cup, break up an argument, or anything. Another fine luxury, eating a meal in peace.

George went to buy some red wine and to drop something off for a friend and I spent a couple of hours surrounded by practically no noise. There was no TV, no music, no computer games, no sibling bickering, nothing other than the usual neighborhood sounds of cars driving by and the occasional set of footsteps out in the hall.

After the kids came home and went to bed, George and I tried to watch Drag Me to Hell but we only got halfway through it before Breanna started coughing in her sleep so we stopped it there and finished it on Sunday night. (For the record, it’s seriously not worth the 90+ minutes of your life unless you enjoy horror movies that aren’t actually scary, are utterly predictable, and have cheap special effects. Seriously, I said that it looked like they only had a $1000 effects budget and George added that half of that must have been blown on pizza and beer. Really bad in this day and age.)

Sunday was another relaxing day and the kids went out with their aunt and uncle one more time for a couple of hours to wander around the mall and to get ice cream. I love my kids, but I must admit that it’s kind of nice to have occasional pockets of quiet time to myself here and there!

The weekend went by so fast. And unfortunately so far the week is dragging by. I could have sworn it was Wednesday today but it’s only Tuesday. Booooo.

*******

I’ve been suffering from a complete and total lack of creative inspiration. I had to force myself to sit down and write this just to try to break through it. I’ve also been neglecting my camera. I took a few photos while over at George’s parents’ house but I’ve been going days without taking a single picture, and even when I do they seem to sit on my card for days before I finally dump them to my computer and actually do something with them.

I don’t know what’s going on. I think I need to make myself carry my camera with me even if I don’t feel like taking any pictures, and just try to take a few shots a day until this block goes away.

A propos of nothing in particular, here’s at least one other photo that I took over the past week.

Breanna wanted to print out a blue superhero mask that she found online but I need a new ink cartridge so I couldn’t. She was disappointed so I drew one by hand, colored it in, cut it out, and gave it to her. She was thrilled! Other than the fact that it’s not green, she reminds me of Super Why.

It’s so incredibly frustrating to be a creative person by nature and to find myself completely unable to do anything. Let’s hope this passes quickly.

The weekend already

Posted on October 16, 2009 by Sherry

A propos of nothing, these are the two photo poses sent home from the school for us to choose from for our Grade Two photo of Hayley this year.

I love them both – I’m so glad she really smiled big this year! – but we eventually decided to order a package of the photo on the right.

I woke up feeling a little bit surprised that it was Friday this morning and that the weekend was just around the corner. I guess I was a little thrown off by a couple of things, one being that it had been a four-day weekend so the week started on Tuesday. The other thing is that Hayley came down with some sort of bug and missed school on Thursday and Friday, so the whole week was just a big mess, logistically speaking.

I wasn’t able to send her to school because not only was she feeling under the weather, she also had a fever. I would be mildly concerned about H1N1 but she isn’t exhibiting any of the other common symptoms of the flu – besides, my kids get a fever with every illness. Still, fevers are not tolerated in schools at all right now because of concerns so there was no point. They just would have sent her back home as soon as it came back. Breanna’s been sniffly the past couple of days as well, so it’s just that season again.

The bummer about it is that friends of ours are having a birthday party for their daughter and son on Saturday but it’s looking like we won’t be able to make it. I don’t want to make anyone else sick, I don’t want the kids to be out if they’re feeling icky, and I don’t want them to get worse – especially Hayley since she’s missed two days of school for it. It’s too bad, I was really looking forward to it because it’s always a lot of fun, but hopefully we’ll see them soon. We’ll see how the kids are tomorrow and make a decision then.

On the other hand, it’s also George’s birthday on Saturday (old man!) so if the kids are still too sick to go, we’ll put them to bed and watch a movie together instead. I’m a little bit ticked off because we ordered a mic for George for his birthday (it’s not much of a surprise, he found it and asked me to order it since I have a PayPal account, but hey at least he gets exactly what he wants that way!) on September 30th and it still isn’t here. That’s totally ridiculous. I know it’s shipping from California but come on. It’s not like it was being brought here on foot.

According to the tracking info it only left the U.S. on the 7th, I don’t know why that took so long. And now it’s sitting in Montreal since the 13th but for some strange reason it hasn’t budged any closer to us. I know George is a big boy, it’s not quite the same as ordering something for a kid but still, it sucks to not have your birthday present ON YOUR BIRTHDAY, you know? From now on I’m only shopping from online retailers that use couriers because this postal service from the U.S. to Canada sucks.

(I was interested to learn that the tracking number doesn’t change after crossing the border so I was able to easily find the package on the Canada Post site too. That’s at least helpful. Having it sit there for three days, not so much.)

He looks pretty good for a ~~senior citizen~~ ~~old guy~~ birthday boy, doesn’t he?

Hayley’s school was supposed to have a movie night tonight but it was postponed until another to-be-determined date and she couldn’t have gone anyway, what with missing two days of school and all. To make up for it, I offered to do a movie night at home. I made popcorn and put it in the little popcorn containers that we have (they’re so cute), spread out a blanket on the floor, and put on a movie. Hayley chose some Star Trek for the evening’s entertainment. Clearly the ~~geek~~ apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

It’s not quite the same as hanging out in the school gym with all your friends while only barely paying attention to a movie, but it went over well anyway.

In the meantime, here’s hoping I can keep the germs at bay. I have two meetings next week and no time for being sick! Please pass the Lysol!

What's been up around here

Posted on September 29, 2009 by Sherry

Wow, remember when I used to update here daily or almost daily? With all the other blogging I do for work I often find myself comatose in front of the TV at night instead of being able to concentrate on anything else. Let’s see, what have I missed?

Last week I went to my first PPO meeting. I had a good laugh when it was over because I had told George that this year I was just going to be a member, volunteer for things at the school (stuff like movie night, carnival, etc), and that I was not going to run for any of the executive positions.

So naturally I came home having become the secretary. Of course. It’s not a problem though, all I have to do is take notes, then type up the minutes and email them to everyone else. I tend to take notes for my own purposes anyway so it’s really an easy and natural extension for me to do it for the others too.

Things got pretty busy on Friday straight through the rest of the weekend, but it was all the good kind of busy. On Friday morning George’s dad came by and Breanna and I went with him to the school’s Terry Fox Run. They do it at the high school because they have a seriously beautiful field, and they have a big sound system so they can play music to keep the kids motivated (though they still need occasional rests since the field is HUGE).

On the other hand, we were all pretty motivated to keep moving because it was so chilly that morning! Just like the last two times, Breanna was very eager to take part and she actually ended up running and walking more than Hayley did. As for Hayley, she had a fantastic sleep later that night because between walking to the high school, doing the run, walking back to her school, playing outside at lunch, and then having gym for final period (plus the exhaustion of school in general), she was completely wiped out.

Saturday found me packing up my camera bag with all my lenses and my flash for my very first professional photo session. That was exciting! The gospel singer that George worked with over the past couple of years needed pictures taken for his album cover, the back photo, and the CD face so I went to his church and shot a ton of different pictures. Although there were many to choose from, we immediately found the front and back cover photos and will use a black and white version of the back photo for the CD face.

The album is titled “Dear God” so we went with the concept of him writing a letter to God. He’s ecstatic with the results, which makes ME happy too. I can now officially add “photographer” to my resume… Yay!

On Sunday we went to the Shriner’s Circus which was a lot of fun even though it was completely insane trying to find seats inside the tent. We ended up with George and Hayley sitting on one side of the aisle and I sat on the other side with Breanna on my knee because there was no way we were going to find four seats together. Next time we’ll know to show up at least an hour early!

We had a good time though. I have mixed feelings about the circus because of the animals, but the elephants seem to be very well taken care of. I love watching the acrobatics as well, it’s so exciting to see people do all these wild flips and jumps when they make it look so easy.

(Do you see that guy in the second photo? He’s sitting on a thick rope and he freaked me out so badly that I thought I might throw up just from watching him. He swung around so high, right up to the top of the tent, and even hung by his knees and one time he dangled by one foot which was when I nearly passed out. Seriously, I’m freaking out just thinking about it. It was amazing but I’m glad it didn’t go on too long because I would have needed an EMT.)

Hayley seemed to enjoy it and I know that Breanna was very excited. She loved everything she saw, but I think the cutest moment was when three women were doing an act hanging from circles up near the top of the tent. At the end of their act, they all started spinning and glitter fell to the ground; Breanna looked at me with big eyes and an even bigger smile and shouted, “they’re fairies Mommy! They’re real fairies!”

And now it’s back to the grind. I’m sort of surprised to find out that it’s already Tuesday since it somehow still feels like it’s only Monday. That’s always a good thing, I love when the week goes by faster than normal.

Now if only I could make myself go to bed earlier, then I wouldn’t be so tired, plus the week would zoom by even more. I’ll have to work on that, but I don’t think I’ll hold my breath. It’s hard to win the fight against my night owl self – after all, it’s been winning for 35 years and counting!

Maybe I’ll just have another coffee instead.

Birthday lunch and turning seven

Posted on September 24, 2009 by Sherry

Before we left for Halifax (sigh, Halifax), we had figured that we’d have Hayley’s birthday party on September 19th since it was Saturday and the day before Hayley’s actual birthday. Then we realized that after a three-week trip we might be sort of short on funds for such an event. We ended up postponing the party until October 10th which will work much better. Also, since it’s Thanksgiving weekend one of our friends has offered to roast a turkey and we’re basically going to have a big turkey dinner for the party which should be awesome.

However, I didn’t want to just let the weekend of Hayley’s birthday slip past unnoticed so we decided to invite her two best school friends over for a birthday lunch on the Saturday. These two kids aren’t even in her class this year, but they still all play together at recess and lunch so it made sense to have them over.

We had some lunch and birthday cake and we played a few games like Freeze Dance; it was also Talk Like a Pirate Day so I made them walk the plank, arrrr. That went over so well, they begged to keep playing it long after I expected them to get bored with it.

On Sunday we got up and went to one of those traveling fairs that set up in shopping mall parking lots. The kids went on a few rides and had a lot of fun. Breanna’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie apparently, and she was walking around with that crazed “NOW WHAT?!” look for much of the morning. She was royally pissed that she wasn’t big enough to be allowed on the ferris wheel, let me tell you. She also really wanted to go on the roller coaster by herself but we had run out of tickets by that time and had to go to a birthday party, so she’ll have to try it next year.

That afternoon we had a birthday party for our friend’s daughter. I wondered if Hayley would be upset about going to someone else’s party on her real birthday but she wasn’t bothered at all. As far as she was concerned that just meant more friends, more cake, and more games.

After the party wrapped up we gave Hayley her gifts from us. We’ll still get her an extra gift for her party, but her main gifts were a CD player (she has a stereo but the CD player has become temperamental lately and doesn’t always work so now she can either listen to this one with headphones or hook it up to the stereo) and a microphone. She was especially excited about the microphone. We hooked it up to the kids’ computer which then plays through our sound system. Now she can load up a video on YouTube (especially fun are the ones that have the lyrics on the screen) and she can sing along. Once she gets used to it I can try her on some karaoke videos too.

All in all I think it was a pretty good weekend! Unfortunately Hayley had caught a cold last week (right on schedule, first week back at school for her, happens every year) and while she was over it by Saturday, it hit my like a freight train on Sunday. By now I’m mostly better, thanks to putting vapor rub all over my forehead to ease the pain in my sinuses but I’m still pretty tired. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be starting back on the illness cycle that comes with school, yippee!

I can’t believe my first baby is seven years old now – that’s just crazy!

Chaos Theory

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