This past weekend, the kids cashed in their birthday present coupons from friend Giggles: a sleepover for Mustang, and an afternoon at the movies for ButtonBoy.
So there I was, back down to one kid at a time for a whole 20 hours!
It was a calm and quiet evening, just me and ButtonBoy, while Mustang enjoyed her sleepover. We watched a movie - with a bit of puppy-snuggling beforehand. We read some stories, then went to bed and fell asleep in short order. The next morning also passed in relative tranquility, with an orderly visit to the grocery store and library. Nothing out of the ordinary, right?
Well, except that it was calm and quiet and orderly.
The usual grocery store trip with both kids goes like this:
They take one cart, I take another. At the beginning of the rounds, I tell them they can each pick one treat and it has to be a healthy treat – no candy or junk food. I then send them off to fetch 3 jugs of Mustang’s milk and 1 bag of ButtonBoy’s. They come back with 1 jug of Mustang’s milk, 1 bag of Buttonboy’s, and 3 kinds of chips they love and absolutely must have and after all, Mommy, they’re off price and we need chips, don’t we?
I send the chips back (unless I want them and they’re on the list), then send the kids off to get the two missing cartons of Mustang’s milk and also some eggs and butter. They come back with a dozen eggs, margarine, and 4 cartons of juice that they absolutely must have because they want juice in their lunches and juice is good for you and this is off price, too, Mommy, and can’t we have some please?
I likely accept the juice because by now I’ve trained them in which varieties I will accept, and then send them off to replace the margarine with butter, find a bag of sugar, and don’t forget the two missing cartons of Mustang’s milk! They come back with butter and four boxes of cookies that are the best kind in the world and so yummy and Mommy we don’t have any cookies at home and please Mommy just this one thing?!
I tell Mustang we can keep one of the boxes of cookies as it’s relatively healthy and that will be her treat, right? She looks at the boxes, changes her mind – not quite the treat she was thinking of – and takes the cookies back, along with instructions not to forget the sugar and Mustang’s milk!!!
They come back with sugar, three boxes of crackers that are off price, and a ring of shrimp which is the best thing in the world Mommy and we can have it for movie tonight and we all love shrimp don’t we?
I tell Mustang we can keep the shrimp as her treat (and because it’s the small ring that’s not too expensive and yes, we do all like shrimp and it’s healthy) and she figures that’s an okay treat so we keep it. I tell her to return the crackers as we have lots of crackers at home, but she says nope, we’re keeping them and pops them into the cart. By then I’m at the milk counter so I pick up Mustang’s missing milk myself, and send the kids off to fetch a cucumber that I forgot back in the veggie section. While they’re fetching, I return the crackers to the shelf. Kids come back with a cucumber, a quarter watermelon, and a package of cow cheese because it’s very yummy, and watermelon is healthy, right Mommy and we love watermelon don’t we? I ask Button which he prefers to be his treat – the watermelon or the cow cheese? He rejects both as he wants a more treaty treat, but then he can’t think of what to pick so I suggest the watermelon as it will go well with the shrimp for movie snack. He ends up agreeing as he can’t think of anything else.
Compare that to this grocery store visit with just Button:
He takes one cart, I take another. I send him to pick three of his favourite kinds of fruit. He loads up with apples, oranges, and grapes. I then send him off to find 2 cartons of Mustang’s milk and one bag of his, as well as a dozen eggs. He comes back with 2 cartons of Mustang’s milk, one bag of his, and a dozen eggs. I ask him to go find 2 cartons of zoo juice and he comes back with two cartons of zoo juice. I take him to the fish counter and ask which kind of fish we should get and he suggests one that at first seems a bit expensive, but when I do the calculations to convert the price I’m given (per kg) to price per pound (the way everything else is posted) it’s not that much more than the other fish on offer, so I agree and we get one big fillet (I mean big – almost a kg!). He needs to go pee but the bathroom is out of order so I take him outside and we find some bushes with a bit of privacy and he does his business there (the advantage of being a boy!). The last thing on the list is some tea, so we head to the tea aisle together and as we go he notices that the cookies are on sale and asks if we can have some, but I say we still have lots of home-baked cookies at home, so he accepts that and doesn’t push back. We head to the check-out and are done – he’s never asked if he could pick a treat, and I never mentioned it.
If I had two kids like ButtonBoy, life would be easy.
Not nearly as interesting or exciting...
Mind you, there are days I’d pass on exciting for a little bit more easy.
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parenting. Show all posts
21 September 2010
20 April 2010
March 2010
The beginning of the month we welcomed Laolao & Laoye back from Costa Rica and other parts in Central America. They brought colourful t-shirts for the kids and some chocolate-covered macadamia nuts for all. By the time they arrived on March 2nd we had virtually no snow left in town. There was still enough on the ski slopes for the final skiing lesson on Saturday March 6th, and it wasn’t even too bad for walking. A friend came along and the kids spent the afternoon skiing with her. It was even nice enough to eat lunch outside on the ski chalet’s deck.
On Sunday 14 March we celebrated Mustang’s fifth Family Day – the time has flown! – with a turkey dinner with friends at home. The following day was the beginning of March break. Laolao and Laoye took the kids out on a walk through a woodland-march area east of the city, and to McDonald’s for a treat. The next day, Tuesday morning, we took Laolao & Laoye to the airport for their flight home. They’ll be back in May for a month or so.
During March break the kids enjoyed daily outings with Nanny. They went to the Farm, on a hike in the wilderness park across the river, a long bike ride, to the local playground, skating (at an indoor rink), swimming at the wave pool, and did a fun craft every day. Evenings I would take them for a forest walk or down by the pond. On Friday we made a birthday cake for friend L and took it to her place for dessert & tea.
Since skiing ended, I’ve been taking some time for cooking and sewing “lessons” with the kids on Saturday mornings (or other times). They each made a small patchwork quilt for one of their stuffies and I’d like to get them started on some other projects for presents for next Christmas. As for cooking, we’ve done chilli, scrambled eggs, and spaghetti sauce. These aren’t really formal lessons, but I hope they’re picking up some knowledge and practical skills!
This is the only time in recorded history that the city has had no snowfall in March. We’ve had rain, but no snow – and by the end of the month the only snow to be found was in piles where it had built up from shovelling/plowing.
March 31st we hit a high of about 20 degrees, and in the evening we were down by the pond in shorts & t-shirts. As I watch the kids run around I’m thinking “Is this really March 31st? Incredible!”
Unfortunately, I have no pictures for March. Early in the month my camera disappeared. The last I remembered seeing it was on top of the microwave - its normal home when not in use - and Button asking if he could take pictures. I was convined he'd misplaced it somewhere after taking a few pix, though he insisted he returned it to me. But just a few days ago, when I was trying to put a CD book into the pocket opening under the dashboard of my car, I put in my hand to remove something blocking it and - voila! my camera!!! I likely put it there on the last ski lesson day, as I also remember having it there - it just seemed like my memory of it on the microwave was more recent. I was very very VERY happy to have found it. I could have gone back to using my film camera, but after becoming accustomed to the digital one that would have been hard.
So there will be pix in April! (At least for the latter half of the month.)
Sorry, Button, for not believing you...
On Sunday 14 March we celebrated Mustang’s fifth Family Day – the time has flown! – with a turkey dinner with friends at home. The following day was the beginning of March break. Laolao and Laoye took the kids out on a walk through a woodland-march area east of the city, and to McDonald’s for a treat. The next day, Tuesday morning, we took Laolao & Laoye to the airport for their flight home. They’ll be back in May for a month or so.
During March break the kids enjoyed daily outings with Nanny. They went to the Farm, on a hike in the wilderness park across the river, a long bike ride, to the local playground, skating (at an indoor rink), swimming at the wave pool, and did a fun craft every day. Evenings I would take them for a forest walk or down by the pond. On Friday we made a birthday cake for friend L and took it to her place for dessert & tea.
Since skiing ended, I’ve been taking some time for cooking and sewing “lessons” with the kids on Saturday mornings (or other times). They each made a small patchwork quilt for one of their stuffies and I’d like to get them started on some other projects for presents for next Christmas. As for cooking, we’ve done chilli, scrambled eggs, and spaghetti sauce. These aren’t really formal lessons, but I hope they’re picking up some knowledge and practical skills!
This is the only time in recorded history that the city has had no snowfall in March. We’ve had rain, but no snow – and by the end of the month the only snow to be found was in piles where it had built up from shovelling/plowing.
March 31st we hit a high of about 20 degrees, and in the evening we were down by the pond in shorts & t-shirts. As I watch the kids run around I’m thinking “Is this really March 31st? Incredible!”
Unfortunately, I have no pictures for March. Early in the month my camera disappeared. The last I remembered seeing it was on top of the microwave - its normal home when not in use - and Button asking if he could take pictures. I was convined he'd misplaced it somewhere after taking a few pix, though he insisted he returned it to me. But just a few days ago, when I was trying to put a CD book into the pocket opening under the dashboard of my car, I put in my hand to remove something blocking it and - voila! my camera!!! I likely put it there on the last ski lesson day, as I also remember having it there - it just seemed like my memory of it on the microwave was more recent. I was very very VERY happy to have found it. I could have gone back to using my film camera, but after becoming accustomed to the digital one that would have been hard.
So there will be pix in April! (At least for the latter half of the month.)
Sorry, Button, for not believing you...
12 April 2010
January 2010
Fri 1 Jan: Happy New Year! (Yeah, okay, I’m 3 ½ months late…)
Hard to believe that it’s been ten years since the whole world was scared the millennium computer bug was going to bring the world to a screeching halt – or at least cause some major glitches.
Sun 3 Jan: We have a tea party after church to celebrate:
- Button’s second Family Day
- Mustang’s “half-life” – as of the 5th she will have lived in Canada for exactly half her life!
- my birthday, and
- Lovely’s 22 ½ monthiversary (the kids insisted we had to include a reason to celebrate her, too).
Much of the baking over the past week has been to prepare treats for this occasion. There are plenty of desserts and some nice hors-d’oeuvres, too. We play card games, chat, and munch.
Mon 4 Jan: Back to school for the kids, back to work for me. In the evening, Button desperately does not want to go to music. I let him skip this one class, but tell him he has to go without complaining next week, and keep going until his birthday. (The classes end right after his birthday, but I’m not telling him that! Let him think he gets to stop early…) He agrees.
Tue 5 Jan: Twelfth Night. We bake a Twelfth Night-cum-birthday cake, with coins in it. Whoever gets the coin has to host next year’s Twelfth Night party. Since there’s only us, it’s not hard to guess where the party will be!
Wed 6 Jan: Epiphany. Mustang starts another round of art lessons.
Thu 7 Jan: My birthday & Ethiopian New Year! Ask Nanny to cook some Ethiopian-style food for our supper, and I buy some injera. Friend Chuckles joins us for a lovely evening. We finish off the cake.
Sat 9 Jan: First skiing lesson of the season. I walk Lovely around the ski hill. At noon, friend with the acreage home joins us and skis with the kids while I read and Lovely naps in the car. Was a bit worried that Lovely might find it cold sitting in the car so we’d brought blankets and heated some bean bags to try to keep it warm. But it’s a fairly sunny day and not too cold, so the sun through the windows actually keeps the car a relatively pleasant temperature. After skiing we drive to friend’s home on the lake and enjoy a pleasant supper and some playtime there. My birthday present to myself is a weekend away from home, being a little bit pampered.
Sun 10 Jan: Spend the day in the country, playing outside, enjoying games and colouring inside, getting some reading done. Had meant to head home in mid-aft, but some other friends from church are coming for supper, so we stay and enjoy conversation and games with them. By then it’s dark and I don’t like driving in the dark. Friend says no problem to stay an extra night, so we do, with plans to get up early to drive back in time for school.
Mon 11 Jan: Get up and going in pretty good time, but it’s still about 8:30 or so by the time we reach the school. Then I take Lovely home & unload a few things from the car before heading to work. In the evening Button goes to music without complaining. Good for him!
Sat 16 Jan: Friend Chuckles’ birthday. We invite her over for dinner and games.
Sat 23 Jan: After skiing we attend an afternoon family concert with a sports theme. Senator Nancy Greene pays a visit, some Olympic athletes are there, and a team of rhythmic gymnastics dancers is also part of the performance.
Not too much else to report. Homework, skiing, art, music, walking dog… Life’s pretty ordinary.
09 April 2010
December 2009
Tue 1 Dec: Kids start their Advent calendar. Every morning they open one of the little pockets to find a clue telling them where to look for their surprise, or a coupon for a special activity that day. They will be doing lots of activities – like going to see Christmas lights, taking a moonlight walk, getting a Christmas tree or shopping for Mommy’s present – as well as lots of baking & cooking – making shortbread cookies, rocky road bars, lemon tarts, mini quiches, layered jello desserts, etc – to make this more about fun and less about gimme.
Fri 4 Dec: Another PD Day. I go in for my surgery. There by 9, in the OR by about 10:30. Done by 11:20. Home by about 1pm. Because they’ve frozen my optic nerve I can’t see a thing. Once home, rest in the story chair while kids wait on me. (Nice!!) Gradually vision returns as the freezing wears off. But everything is veeeeery blurry (and will stay so for some time, I am told to expect.) In the evening, I try reading a few pages of my book. With three pairs of my strongest reading glasses, one on top of the other, I can manage to puzzle out the words, but it’s very slow going. After 5 minutes and about ¼ page, I give up.
Sat 5 Dec: Laolao and I take the kids shopping to buy each others’ and my Christmas present (or did we do this next Saturday? Not quite sure.) Of course, they want to give it to me right away, but we say it has to wait until last Advent, at least. At bedtime I try to read again. Slightly improved, but not much.
Sun 6 Dec: Second Advent. This year I’m giving the kids each books and a little something else for each Advent Sunday. All my gifts will be given by the time Christmas day rolls around (except for the little goodies from Santa); they get enough stuff from Laolao & Laoye and a few friends to have plenty on Christmas Day. By spreading out the gifts (from me at least), there is not such a huge pile of stuff on the Day, which can get so overwhelming that things get lost (or inadvertently thrown in the trash, as happened a few years ago to us). And I like to think that it helps to keep some of the focus on Christ, not just on “what am I getting?”
7-16 Dec: While the kids are at school (and I’m off work ‘cause I can’t read worth beans), I spend my time organizing. Put some order in the toy shelf. Put some order in the sewing room. Put some order in my office. Basement. Kids’ rooms. Loft – go through my bookshelves and pull out at least half the books to take to the second-hand store. Move some of the kids; books upstairs.
Meanwhile, Laolao is putting up the border in the kids’ rooms and rearranging furniture. In October I’d moved back into the master bedroom, but left the double bed upstairs as it’s too big for me to handle. Now Laolao & Laoye move it upstairs, move the upper bunkbed into Button’s new room, put the single bed from downstairs under the upper bunk, rearrange Mustang’s bed & bookcase.
Sat 12 Dec: Dress rehearsal for the pageant. At church from 9:00 to noon. In the afternoon we join good friends P, M & A (D is down south at university, believe it or not!) to get our Christmas tree at a local cut-your-own place. Take Lovely as we’ve seen dogs there before and friends have in the past taken their dog (and do so again), but when we get there we are told “no dogs” so Lovely has to stay in the car. Guess we’re not likely to go there again. Post-tree, go to friends’ house for Christmas fellowship and exchange gifts.
Sun 13 Dec: Third Advent. Some beading supplies for Mustang, some wooden puzzles for Button, and a homemade calendar for each. Pageant show in the evening. Kids all excited. Goes well.
Sat 19 Dec: Take Mustang to see a matinee performance of A Christmas Carol. It’s a very sombre, darkly lit staging, very effective. Mustang loves it – not too scary; helps that she knows the story. Laoye drops us off and we catch the bus home.
Sun 20 Dec: Fourth Advent. Kids get their big prezzies from me – not that huge, some scrapbooking supplies for Mustang and some K’Nex for Button, as well as a computer game for each. Along with the obligatory book.
Mon 21 Dec: Start of school break. With tons of time off, and not much homework, I get the kids to start working hard on their knitting. Gotta get those scarves done! Or at least significantly advanced. For every row they knit, I knit one too.
Wed 23 Dec: Advent treat of the day is a skiing trip with Nanny (she comes early). They spend the day on the hill where they take lessons. Not many runs are open, but enough to make it a fun day! By now my vision is much improved. I can read quite well and driving shouldn’t be an issue either. But I’m booked off for one more week. Seeing as it’s Christmas, I’ll take it; any other time I might head back and save on sick leave.
Thu 24 Dec: Christmas Eve!!! Evening service at church, followed by fellowship around the fireplace at home. Neighbours come over with gifts for the kids, we invite them to join us for some snacking & games. After kids are to bed, Santa arrives and fills the stockings – even brings treats for Lovely & our guinea pig (who each have their own stocking). In our house, Santa has very strict guidelines: he has to put into each stocking (a) something to eat, (b) something to wear, and (c) something to do.
Fri 25 Dec: Christmas!!!! Kids are eager to get up (though actually manage to sleep until 6 or so) to look in stockings. Santa has brought Mustang a book all about dog breeds, which is one of the things she was asking for. Button got a doggie cookbook (as in making treats for your dog, not cooking the dog!) and I got a book about training your dog to do tricks. That fills the “something to do” category. Also chocolate and socks all around (eat, wear). After a late breakfast of hash brown casserole (the traditional Christmas breakfast meal), we open the remaining presents. Kids each get a bunch of Lego from Laolao & Laoye, and LL/LY admire their scarves that the kids have almost finished knitting. We just didn’t quite have the energy to get them done, but they’ve done yeoman’s work this past week, adding bout 50cm to the length. It’s almost long enough – another 3 bands of colour (20 rows each) and that should do it.
In the early afternoon our friends arrive for Christmas dinner: a refugee couple from Colombia with their 6-month-old son (the grown 20-year-old son has other things going on so he doesn’t come); a couple from church; a friend who lives on a small acreage north of the city; and our good friends L&W, who were going to bring two teenage Sudanese boys but the latter learned of a Sudanese gathering and preferred to go there. We chat and play until dinner is served around 4pm – Laolao has prepared us a turkey feast, with all the trimmings! After supper there is more chatting, some games, and finally the guests go home. All in all, a fine day.
Sat 26 Dec: Kids start their “Twelve Days of Christmas” calendar. Much like the Advent calendar, but this one has little bags with treats or clues in them. I initiated it to provide a “ramping down” of the Christmas celebrations rather than an abrupt post-Christmas blah, and also – primarily – as a way to keep the festivities going until (a) Ethiopian Christmas and (b) my birthday, both on January 7.
Mon 28 Dec: Go out to our favourite Ethiopian restaurant for supper, to celebrate Button’s second Family Day.
Tue 29 Dec: Say goodbye to Laolao & Laoye, who are flying out to parts south. Starting in Cancun, then working their way down through Central America. Wish I could go too.
Thu 31 Dec: Twelve Days calendar treat is a treasure hunt to party snacks and new movie, which we enjoy in the evening. Kids stay up until about 10:30, then zonk out.
Bye-bye, 2009!
Fri 4 Dec: Another PD Day. I go in for my surgery. There by 9, in the OR by about 10:30. Done by 11:20. Home by about 1pm. Because they’ve frozen my optic nerve I can’t see a thing. Once home, rest in the story chair while kids wait on me. (Nice!!) Gradually vision returns as the freezing wears off. But everything is veeeeery blurry (and will stay so for some time, I am told to expect.) In the evening, I try reading a few pages of my book. With three pairs of my strongest reading glasses, one on top of the other, I can manage to puzzle out the words, but it’s very slow going. After 5 minutes and about ¼ page, I give up.
Sat 5 Dec: Laolao and I take the kids shopping to buy each others’ and my Christmas present (or did we do this next Saturday? Not quite sure.) Of course, they want to give it to me right away, but we say it has to wait until last Advent, at least. At bedtime I try to read again. Slightly improved, but not much.
Sun 6 Dec: Second Advent. This year I’m giving the kids each books and a little something else for each Advent Sunday. All my gifts will be given by the time Christmas day rolls around (except for the little goodies from Santa); they get enough stuff from Laolao & Laoye and a few friends to have plenty on Christmas Day. By spreading out the gifts (from me at least), there is not such a huge pile of stuff on the Day, which can get so overwhelming that things get lost (or inadvertently thrown in the trash, as happened a few years ago to us). And I like to think that it helps to keep some of the focus on Christ, not just on “what am I getting?”
7-16 Dec: While the kids are at school (and I’m off work ‘cause I can’t read worth beans), I spend my time organizing. Put some order in the toy shelf. Put some order in the sewing room. Put some order in my office. Basement. Kids’ rooms. Loft – go through my bookshelves and pull out at least half the books to take to the second-hand store. Move some of the kids; books upstairs.
Meanwhile, Laolao is putting up the border in the kids’ rooms and rearranging furniture. In October I’d moved back into the master bedroom, but left the double bed upstairs as it’s too big for me to handle. Now Laolao & Laoye move it upstairs, move the upper bunkbed into Button’s new room, put the single bed from downstairs under the upper bunk, rearrange Mustang’s bed & bookcase.
Sat 12 Dec: Dress rehearsal for the pageant. At church from 9:00 to noon. In the afternoon we join good friends P, M & A (D is down south at university, believe it or not!) to get our Christmas tree at a local cut-your-own place. Take Lovely as we’ve seen dogs there before and friends have in the past taken their dog (and do so again), but when we get there we are told “no dogs” so Lovely has to stay in the car. Guess we’re not likely to go there again. Post-tree, go to friends’ house for Christmas fellowship and exchange gifts.
Sun 13 Dec: Third Advent. Some beading supplies for Mustang, some wooden puzzles for Button, and a homemade calendar for each. Pageant show in the evening. Kids all excited. Goes well.
Sat 19 Dec: Take Mustang to see a matinee performance of A Christmas Carol. It’s a very sombre, darkly lit staging, very effective. Mustang loves it – not too scary; helps that she knows the story. Laoye drops us off and we catch the bus home.
Sun 20 Dec: Fourth Advent. Kids get their big prezzies from me – not that huge, some scrapbooking supplies for Mustang and some K’Nex for Button, as well as a computer game for each. Along with the obligatory book.
Mon 21 Dec: Start of school break. With tons of time off, and not much homework, I get the kids to start working hard on their knitting. Gotta get those scarves done! Or at least significantly advanced. For every row they knit, I knit one too.
Wed 23 Dec: Advent treat of the day is a skiing trip with Nanny (she comes early). They spend the day on the hill where they take lessons. Not many runs are open, but enough to make it a fun day! By now my vision is much improved. I can read quite well and driving shouldn’t be an issue either. But I’m booked off for one more week. Seeing as it’s Christmas, I’ll take it; any other time I might head back and save on sick leave.
Thu 24 Dec: Christmas Eve!!! Evening service at church, followed by fellowship around the fireplace at home. Neighbours come over with gifts for the kids, we invite them to join us for some snacking & games. After kids are to bed, Santa arrives and fills the stockings – even brings treats for Lovely & our guinea pig (who each have their own stocking). In our house, Santa has very strict guidelines: he has to put into each stocking (a) something to eat, (b) something to wear, and (c) something to do.
Fri 25 Dec: Christmas!!!! Kids are eager to get up (though actually manage to sleep until 6 or so) to look in stockings. Santa has brought Mustang a book all about dog breeds, which is one of the things she was asking for. Button got a doggie cookbook (as in making treats for your dog, not cooking the dog!) and I got a book about training your dog to do tricks. That fills the “something to do” category. Also chocolate and socks all around (eat, wear). After a late breakfast of hash brown casserole (the traditional Christmas breakfast meal), we open the remaining presents. Kids each get a bunch of Lego from Laolao & Laoye, and LL/LY admire their scarves that the kids have almost finished knitting. We just didn’t quite have the energy to get them done, but they’ve done yeoman’s work this past week, adding bout 50cm to the length. It’s almost long enough – another 3 bands of colour (20 rows each) and that should do it.
In the early afternoon our friends arrive for Christmas dinner: a refugee couple from Colombia with their 6-month-old son (the grown 20-year-old son has other things going on so he doesn’t come); a couple from church; a friend who lives on a small acreage north of the city; and our good friends L&W, who were going to bring two teenage Sudanese boys but the latter learned of a Sudanese gathering and preferred to go there. We chat and play until dinner is served around 4pm – Laolao has prepared us a turkey feast, with all the trimmings! After supper there is more chatting, some games, and finally the guests go home. All in all, a fine day.
Sat 26 Dec: Kids start their “Twelve Days of Christmas” calendar. Much like the Advent calendar, but this one has little bags with treats or clues in them. I initiated it to provide a “ramping down” of the Christmas celebrations rather than an abrupt post-Christmas blah, and also – primarily – as a way to keep the festivities going until (a) Ethiopian Christmas and (b) my birthday, both on January 7.
Mon 28 Dec: Go out to our favourite Ethiopian restaurant for supper, to celebrate Button’s second Family Day.
Tue 29 Dec: Say goodbye to Laolao & Laoye, who are flying out to parts south. Starting in Cancun, then working their way down through Central America. Wish I could go too.
Thu 31 Dec: Twelve Days calendar treat is a treasure hunt to party snacks and new movie, which we enjoy in the evening. Kids stay up until about 10:30, then zonk out.
Bye-bye, 2009!
06 April 2010
November 2009
Sun 1 Nov: Kids & I attend the first of the season’s kids’ concerts. This series is targeted at young kids, ages 4-8, but Mustang (9 ½) still enjoys them.
Wed 4 Nov: Get a call from a fellow in the next province over; do we still have Diamond available? YES!!! He seems like a serious and very interested buyer. Call back, send over my questionnaire for prospective purchasers. Another visit to ophthalmologist; surgery booked for Dec 4th.
Fri 6 Nov: Review the completed questionnaire, call back & talk to the fellow. He’s actually buying as a gift for his girlfriend; yes she knows (or will) and wants a dog; she’s had her heart set on a Labradoodle but could only find breeders way out west. He came across my website from the ALAA links page and was very excited to see a breeder so close by (well, a four-hour drive, but that’s better than a five-hour flight!) with a puppy available. Can he come tomorrow to pick Diamond up? YES!!!
Volunteer at Villages in the evening. Laolao & Laoye and kids have been there since after school, preparing for the evening volunteer supper and helping out with whatever needs doing. It’s a bit too bad that Chuckles isn’t a coordinator anymore, in the sense that she had a good way of getting the young kids involved – she’d always find little jobs for them to do. This year, rather than cash I’m working at the Living Gifts table (where I can sit). The kids sometimes sit with me and work on their Christmas gifts for Laolao and Laoye. They’re knitting scarves (I can say this because Christmas is long past!!!), and it’s been going pretty slowly. Last fall we spent an hour or two every Saturday morning on our Christmas gift craft project, but this year there’s art on Saturday mornings so that doesn’t work. Other times just don’t seem to suit. So I’m hoping they can make some progress here at Villages sales. As they find the progress slow I get them to do four rows, then I do four (or six). That way they can see it growing faster and they each get a break. (After all, fingers can get sore.)
Sat 7 Nov: Head over to Villages after art to do some shopping and enjoy a borscht lunch. (Since we’re not working today we have to buy our lunch. That’s find; all tea room proceeds go to the Food Bank or another local charity.) In the afternoon we say goodbye to Diamond. It’s sad, but also a bit of a relief. Now just Garnet is left with us, and she has a home arranged with our friends, though she’ll be with us another few weeks.
Sun 8 Nov: I’m starting to work with the SS kids on the Christmas pageant. For the past few years I’ve been the assistant rather than director/organizer, which suits me fine. For this year, the director has chosen to do the sequel to the play we put on last year, which makes it easy. Generally I work on the script & staging with the kids while she rehearses the songs and does the overall coordination. Roles that suit us both.
Wed 11 Nov: Remembrance Day. I get the day off (so Nanny does too) but the kids have to go to school. Poor things. Laolao, Laoye & I go to the school for the morning assembly. Then home. Can’t remember what I spent the day doing.
Sat 14 Nov: Villages in the aft.
Fri 20 Nov: Villages in the evening.
Sun 22 Nov: Attend a dramatic reading of Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang. I had expected a staged reading, but it was just a lady sitting in a chair reading. Well, not “just.” She had all the voices, drama and suspense. Very nicely done.
Wed 25 Nov: Say goodbye to Garnet at suppertime. The family’s birthdays are approaching so they come to pick her up, with son in tow. He is surprised, appears pleased. We are happy and sad at the same time. No more puppies. Wah. (No more pee and poop. Yay!) Garnet is close enough, we’ll be able to visit her from time to time.
Sat 28 Nov: Villages in the aft, and stay for pack-up. Then set up for a supper catered by WH – a fancy alternative to the pizza chow-down we have most years, or the restaurant visit or days gone by. Very yummy, very nice to sit & chat about the success of this year’s sales and the upcoming Christmas season. Kids & I leave early so’s to get to bed not too late. We miss the awards ceremony, at which they get an award for the youngest volunteers (or something like that).
Sun 29 Nov: First Advent (already!). Kids are keen to decorate; we haul out the boxes of Christmas supplies and go to town. No tree yet, but all the other trimmings.
Wed 4 Nov: Get a call from a fellow in the next province over; do we still have Diamond available? YES!!! He seems like a serious and very interested buyer. Call back, send over my questionnaire for prospective purchasers. Another visit to ophthalmologist; surgery booked for Dec 4th.
Fri 6 Nov: Review the completed questionnaire, call back & talk to the fellow. He’s actually buying as a gift for his girlfriend; yes she knows (or will) and wants a dog; she’s had her heart set on a Labradoodle but could only find breeders way out west. He came across my website from the ALAA links page and was very excited to see a breeder so close by (well, a four-hour drive, but that’s better than a five-hour flight!) with a puppy available. Can he come tomorrow to pick Diamond up? YES!!!
Volunteer at Villages in the evening. Laolao & Laoye and kids have been there since after school, preparing for the evening volunteer supper and helping out with whatever needs doing. It’s a bit too bad that Chuckles isn’t a coordinator anymore, in the sense that she had a good way of getting the young kids involved – she’d always find little jobs for them to do. This year, rather than cash I’m working at the Living Gifts table (where I can sit). The kids sometimes sit with me and work on their Christmas gifts for Laolao and Laoye. They’re knitting scarves (I can say this because Christmas is long past!!!), and it’s been going pretty slowly. Last fall we spent an hour or two every Saturday morning on our Christmas gift craft project, but this year there’s art on Saturday mornings so that doesn’t work. Other times just don’t seem to suit. So I’m hoping they can make some progress here at Villages sales. As they find the progress slow I get them to do four rows, then I do four (or six). That way they can see it growing faster and they each get a break. (After all, fingers can get sore.)
Sat 7 Nov: Head over to Villages after art to do some shopping and enjoy a borscht lunch. (Since we’re not working today we have to buy our lunch. That’s find; all tea room proceeds go to the Food Bank or another local charity.) In the afternoon we say goodbye to Diamond. It’s sad, but also a bit of a relief. Now just Garnet is left with us, and she has a home arranged with our friends, though she’ll be with us another few weeks.
Sun 8 Nov: I’m starting to work with the SS kids on the Christmas pageant. For the past few years I’ve been the assistant rather than director/organizer, which suits me fine. For this year, the director has chosen to do the sequel to the play we put on last year, which makes it easy. Generally I work on the script & staging with the kids while she rehearses the songs and does the overall coordination. Roles that suit us both.
Wed 11 Nov: Remembrance Day. I get the day off (so Nanny does too) but the kids have to go to school. Poor things. Laolao, Laoye & I go to the school for the morning assembly. Then home. Can’t remember what I spent the day doing.
Sat 14 Nov: Villages in the aft.
Fri 20 Nov: Villages in the evening.
Sun 22 Nov: Attend a dramatic reading of Jacob Two-Two and the Hooded Fang. I had expected a staged reading, but it was just a lady sitting in a chair reading. Well, not “just.” She had all the voices, drama and suspense. Very nicely done.
Wed 25 Nov: Say goodbye to Garnet at suppertime. The family’s birthdays are approaching so they come to pick her up, with son in tow. He is surprised, appears pleased. We are happy and sad at the same time. No more puppies. Wah. (No more pee and poop. Yay!) Garnet is close enough, we’ll be able to visit her from time to time.
Sat 28 Nov: Villages in the aft, and stay for pack-up. Then set up for a supper catered by WH – a fancy alternative to the pizza chow-down we have most years, or the restaurant visit or days gone by. Very yummy, very nice to sit & chat about the success of this year’s sales and the upcoming Christmas season. Kids & I leave early so’s to get to bed not too late. We miss the awards ceremony, at which they get an award for the youngest volunteers (or something like that).
Sun 29 Nov: First Advent (already!). Kids are keen to decorate; we haul out the boxes of Christmas supplies and go to town. No tree yet, but all the other trimmings.
03 April 2010
October 2009
Thu 1st Oct: Take Diamond to vet’s for snip-snip. Opal’s purchasers have arranged to do neutering at a later date (I’m only allowing it because she used to work in a vet clinic so isn’t likely to be non-compliant). And Garnet & Peridot both breeding prospects. So Diamond it is. Take him in first thing in the morning, pick up at the end of the day. His voice has gone all squeaky! (Not from the snip-snip, just because of the tube down the throat.)
1st week of October: Music, gymnastics, art, soccer continue.
Fri 8 Oct: PD Day; Nanny comes early. In the evening we take Opal to the airport to send him off to new owners. Still looking for purchasers for Garnet & Diamond. Had a few serious prospects but nothing firm yet.
Mon 12 Oct: Thanksgiving! We take puppies and Lovely for a romp in the woods. Take a rake, pile up leaves and jump in. Toss puppies in. Bury kids & puppies. Puppies jump in. Tons of fun. Supper at a friend's house. Yum!
Wed 14 Oct: Kids were to have started skating lessons today, but I cancelled. Lots of other lessons on the go and there’s homework, too. Start Mustang on a computer math program to try to get her to internalize her basic math facts. Very systematic and repetitive, which is what she needs.
Sat 17 Oct: Take Peridot to airport to ship her to breeder out west. She is such a little sweetie, I wish we could keep her. Think I’ve got someone to take Garnet, but they don’t want her until late November. I can make that work. Now just Diamond boy.
Sat 24 Oct: Go to ski show/swap. Find equipment for kids – mostly second-hand but have to buy new boots for Mustang as they don’t have any 2nd-hand in her size. Figure it will be worth it rather than renting, as then if we want to ski besides lesson days we’ll save a bundle on rent, and they will probably be able to use the skis/poles for a couple of years, if not the boots, and when Mustang outgrows her skis they might suit Button. Also go to Value Village to buy Hallowe’en costumes. (About time, says Mustang.)
Sun 25 Oct: Youth serve chilli lunch after church, then we stay to set up shelving for Ten Thousand Villages sales.
Tue 27 Oct: Go for gymnastics but building is closed & locked. Nothing on door to say why. Check phone at home but no messages. Mysterious.
Wed 28 Oct: Laolao & Laoye fly in. They’ll be here for Villages season and through Christmas. Visit the ophthalmologist – I’ve been having high pressure in my eye that’s not responding to drops, so he’s booked me with the specialist (as in, high-pressure specialist; he’s just a cornea specialist…). This guy takes a quick look and recommends a surgical procedure to create new drainage channels. Had a similar, but slightly less invasive, procedure 18 months ago but it appears to no longer be working. We all head to church after school/work to help unload the Villages delivery truck, which is quite late. Enjoy pizza after it’s all unloaded.
Thu 29 Oct: Laolao immediately sets about cooking up borscht for the Saturday unpacking session and the first Villages weekend. They’re coordinating the volunteer suppers on Friday.
Sat 31 Oct: After art class, we spend the morning unpacking at Villages. Afternoon free time. Finally it’s Hallowe’en night! Mustang is a devil; Button a fluffy cat (not black).
1-31 Oct: Still hunting for puppy purchaser. By now Diamond is 12 weeks old. Fun having him, but getting tired of puppy pee & poop in house. Starting to enforce “no puppy house-roaming” rules more strictly.
1st week of October: Music, gymnastics, art, soccer continue.
Fri 8 Oct: PD Day; Nanny comes early. In the evening we take Opal to the airport to send him off to new owners. Still looking for purchasers for Garnet & Diamond. Had a few serious prospects but nothing firm yet.
Mon 12 Oct: Thanksgiving! We take puppies and Lovely for a romp in the woods. Take a rake, pile up leaves and jump in. Toss puppies in. Bury kids & puppies. Puppies jump in. Tons of fun. Supper at a friend's house. Yum!
Wed 14 Oct: Kids were to have started skating lessons today, but I cancelled. Lots of other lessons on the go and there’s homework, too. Start Mustang on a computer math program to try to get her to internalize her basic math facts. Very systematic and repetitive, which is what she needs.
Sat 17 Oct: Take Peridot to airport to ship her to breeder out west. She is such a little sweetie, I wish we could keep her. Think I’ve got someone to take Garnet, but they don’t want her until late November. I can make that work. Now just Diamond boy.
Sat 24 Oct: Go to ski show/swap. Find equipment for kids – mostly second-hand but have to buy new boots for Mustang as they don’t have any 2nd-hand in her size. Figure it will be worth it rather than renting, as then if we want to ski besides lesson days we’ll save a bundle on rent, and they will probably be able to use the skis/poles for a couple of years, if not the boots, and when Mustang outgrows her skis they might suit Button. Also go to Value Village to buy Hallowe’en costumes. (About time, says Mustang.)
Sun 25 Oct: Youth serve chilli lunch after church, then we stay to set up shelving for Ten Thousand Villages sales.
Tue 27 Oct: Go for gymnastics but building is closed & locked. Nothing on door to say why. Check phone at home but no messages. Mysterious.
Wed 28 Oct: Laolao & Laoye fly in. They’ll be here for Villages season and through Christmas. Visit the ophthalmologist – I’ve been having high pressure in my eye that’s not responding to drops, so he’s booked me with the specialist (as in, high-pressure specialist; he’s just a cornea specialist…). This guy takes a quick look and recommends a surgical procedure to create new drainage channels. Had a similar, but slightly less invasive, procedure 18 months ago but it appears to no longer be working. We all head to church after school/work to help unload the Villages delivery truck, which is quite late. Enjoy pizza after it’s all unloaded.
Thu 29 Oct: Laolao immediately sets about cooking up borscht for the Saturday unpacking session and the first Villages weekend. They’re coordinating the volunteer suppers on Friday.
Sat 31 Oct: After art class, we spend the morning unpacking at Villages. Afternoon free time. Finally it’s Hallowe’en night! Mustang is a devil; Button a fluffy cat (not black).
1-31 Oct: Still hunting for puppy purchaser. By now Diamond is 12 weeks old. Fun having him, but getting tired of puppy pee & poop in house. Starting to enforce “no puppy house-roaming” rules more strictly.
01 April 2010
About that wedding...
(This post is specifically addressed to GH - the elder and the younger…)
You may have wondered why we didn’t accept the wedding invitation last fall. Well, it all comes down to a busy mom with a leaky memory.
On that fateful September morning, as we headed off to art and soccer lessons with pups in tow, I reminded the kids that we would be attending G’s wedding after the lessons. Mustang was all keen, as she’s not attended a wedding before and wanted to see what it was all about (and admire the fancy dresses!). After the ceremony and the receiving line, the kids both asked me why we couldn’t stay for the reception.
“Because we didn’t get an invitation,” I responded (wondering why that might have been, as I had done for the past couple of weeks).
“Yes we did, Mommy!” they exclaimed. “Don’t you remember?”
And suddenly it clicked. Yes, we had! It had been in our church mailbox back in early September (or was it late August?), and I’d opened it at home and commented to the kids, “Good, we’ve received an invitation to G’s wedding; we have to be sure to respond to it.” And set it aside. But had I responded to it or not?!?!?
As everyone was chatting in the foyer, the kids and I went into fellowship hall to see the pretty tables. I noticed a seating plan/list. I surreptitiously rifled through it – maybe I had responded to the invitation and had just forgotten I’d done so… But, alas, our names were not listed, so I resigned myself to not staying for the festivities, much as we would all have loved to. (Well, maybe not the puppies. They would have gotten tired of being stuck in their crate.)
Back at home, I searched through all the likely places for the invitation – the church bag, the fridge (outside on the door, not inside!), the corner of the kitchen counter where things “to be dealt with” are placed.
Nothing.
It must have gotten tossed in the recycle bin by some inattentive soul. (Surely not me?!?) And forgotten.
Sorry about that. And no, it’s not because we don’t love you guys. (Did I mention that it had been a busy summer/fall and I’d had a lot on my mind?) Usually I’m good at keeping track of things, but every once in a while there’s just not enough head-space to go around. Even for me. (I was too embarrassed to tell you before. About forgetting, not about not having enough head-space.)
(I can hear SH laughing. Quiet, you!)
At least we made it to the shower…
You may have wondered why we didn’t accept the wedding invitation last fall. Well, it all comes down to a busy mom with a leaky memory.
On that fateful September morning, as we headed off to art and soccer lessons with pups in tow, I reminded the kids that we would be attending G’s wedding after the lessons. Mustang was all keen, as she’s not attended a wedding before and wanted to see what it was all about (and admire the fancy dresses!). After the ceremony and the receiving line, the kids both asked me why we couldn’t stay for the reception.
“Because we didn’t get an invitation,” I responded (wondering why that might have been, as I had done for the past couple of weeks).
“Yes we did, Mommy!” they exclaimed. “Don’t you remember?”
And suddenly it clicked. Yes, we had! It had been in our church mailbox back in early September (or was it late August?), and I’d opened it at home and commented to the kids, “Good, we’ve received an invitation to G’s wedding; we have to be sure to respond to it.” And set it aside. But had I responded to it or not?!?!?
As everyone was chatting in the foyer, the kids and I went into fellowship hall to see the pretty tables. I noticed a seating plan/list. I surreptitiously rifled through it – maybe I had responded to the invitation and had just forgotten I’d done so… But, alas, our names were not listed, so I resigned myself to not staying for the festivities, much as we would all have loved to. (Well, maybe not the puppies. They would have gotten tired of being stuck in their crate.)
Back at home, I searched through all the likely places for the invitation – the church bag, the fridge (outside on the door, not inside!), the corner of the kitchen counter where things “to be dealt with” are placed.
Nothing.
It must have gotten tossed in the recycle bin by some inattentive soul. (Surely not me?!?) And forgotten.
Sorry about that. And no, it’s not because we don’t love you guys. (Did I mention that it had been a busy summer/fall and I’d had a lot on my mind?) Usually I’m good at keeping track of things, but every once in a while there’s just not enough head-space to go around. Even for me. (I was too embarrassed to tell you before. About forgetting, not about not having enough head-space.)
(I can hear SH laughing. Quiet, you!)
At least we made it to the shower…
31 March 2010
September 2009
Tue, 1 Sep: Back to school.
Fri 4 Sep: Beginning of long weekend. After school we head out on a camping trip to a provincial park a couple hours drive away. Chuckles will be staying with Lovely & the puppies again – now at a month old their eyes are open and they are getting mobile. Cute as all get out!
Fri 11 Sep: Ethiopian New Year. Don’t do anything particularly special. Meant to go to our fave Ethio resto, but no go.
Sat 12 Sep: Mustang starts the fall session of art lessons.
Sun 13 Sep: Button has a soccer tournament – last of the season. We miss the first game owing to church, but get there in time for the second. Lovely warm day.
Fri 4 Sep: Beginning of long weekend. After school we head out on a camping trip to a provincial park a couple hours drive away. Chuckles will be staying with Lovely & the puppies again – now at a month old their eyes are open and they are getting mobile. Cute as all get out!
Fri 11 Sep: Ethiopian New Year. Don’t do anything particularly special. Meant to go to our fave Ethio resto, but no go.
Sat 12 Sep: Mustang starts the fall session of art lessons.
Sun 13 Sep: Button has a soccer tournament – last of the season. We miss the first game owing to church, but get there in time for the second. Lovely warm day.
Mon 14 Sep: Button starts Music for Young Children. We’ve talked about it and he’s been fine with it, but when the time comes to go he is insistent: he doesn’t want to. Refuses to come to the car. Goes into my office room and cries. (At least he hasn’t “run away,” like he is wont to do.) No amount of coaxing, bribery, threats, works. Finally I get Laoye to pick him up & put him in the car. He cries all the way over. At the studio he refuses to exit the car. I go up and explain to the teachers, one comes down and manages to coax him out and up to the lesson. He seems to enjoy it and by the time we head home he’s, if not happy, at least not crying or sulking. I’ve told him he has to go at least 3 times and then if he hates it he can stop.
1-11 Sep: Scrambling to find childcare/Nanny. I want someone to come to our home, in large part because of Lovely (& puppies) but also I just prefer that to out-care or institutional type daycare. Tried using an agency to find a live-in-caregiver already in Canada. The only available ones weren’t interested. Got onto a couple of nanny-matching websites. Found several local young people with relevant training & experience. A bit challenging because I’m only offering part-time (after-school plus some dog/puppy care and housework, meal prep). But find and interview two likely candidates. Offer job to one, who accepts. Yay! Just in time. It's been kind of stressing me - taking up a lot of head space - but it's worked out okay. The Lord provides.
Mon/Tue 14-15 Sep: New Nanny comes for “training” with Laolao & to have some time with kids before LL/LY leave. Seems like a good match.
Wed 16 Sep: Laolao & Laoye fly back out west. As they have doctor’s appts tomorrow and we holidaying until the 7th, they didn’t relish having to hurry back in the bus (slow and noisy) but decided to store it over winter, come back next spring and spend the summer travelling first east to the coast and then all the way west, taking their time and making it an enjoyable holiday.
Sat 19 Sep: Button starts six-week soccer lessons. We take two puppies to the practice; they run around the big field next to the soccer practice. Too cute! After soccer, we head to church to attend the wedding of a good friend. Put puppies in their crate in the basement. Following the service, puppies join us going through the receiving line. We don’t stay for the reception because… well, just because.
Tue 22 Sep: Kids start gymnastics.
Mon 28 Sep: The third Music for Young Children lesson. I don’t remind Button that it’s the third time; he doesn’t bring it up. Seems to be enjoying himself. Doesn’t even complain too much about practicing. I think we’re good.
1-30 Sep: Busy placing internet ads for puppies and responding to a million people who want to buy a dog for next to nothing and a handful of potentially serious purchasers. Find a home for Opal. One down, two to go! (Peridot will go to Lovely’s breeder as stud fee.) Now that the Nanny issue is solved, I can put a bit more energy/attention into this.
29 March 2010
I'm back!
Hi, folks, I’m back – after a hiatus of over seven months… Hopefully I’ll maintain consistency again (at least for several months!). Initially I didn’t blog because life was just rather hectic. Then, the longer I didn’t blog, the more there was to “catch up” on, and the feeling of needing to put an increased effort into doing so grew in tandem.
So now I figure I’ll just give you a brief review of the highlights of the past six months, and if I get around to filling in the blanks, great. If not, so be it.
Last August, when the hiatus effectively began (I know I posted once or twice about puppies after that, but that was just “filler”!), there was a lot going on.
Tuesday Aug 4 to Friday Aug 7: Kids spend the week at Farm Camp (daycamp). Laolao & Laoye get a break.
Tuesday Aug 4: Smash up the car. It happened on the way to Mustang’s horse riding lesson,. No one was injured, but the car wouldn’t go. We missed horse lessons, sat around for an hour or two waiting for police and tow truck etc. About the only lucky thing in the whole matter was that it happened within several blocks of home, so we could walk home after all was said & done.
For the next three weeks we used a rental car and most of our spare time was spent looking at replacement cars. Actually, Laolao & Laoye did most of the car hunting, occasionally with kids in tow, (yay for parents!) and just took me to view the ones they thought most promising.
Thursday Aug 6: Lovely’s puppies are born!! You can read about it on my Puppies!!! post from last August. Suffice it to say, it was an eventful day.
Aug 10-20: Kids have swimming lessons every weekday morning. Button passed his Swimmer 2 last session, so both are in Swimmer 3. Mustang passes at the end of this round, so next session –likely next spring – she’ll start Swimmer 4 while Button will still be in Swimmer 3. Frankly, watching them in the pool, I would have said Button was doing a bit better than Mustang, but I guess the instructor thought otherwise. Good for Mustang! She did Swimmer 2 about 7 times before passing, so to pass Swimmer 3 in just two gos is great.
Wed 12 Aug: Laolao & Laoye fly back to Edmonton for a long weekend, to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of some very close & special friends. I’ve rounded up kid/dog sitter for those few days.
Sun 16 Aug: We have 10-day old puppies on lawn to enjoy sun & grass. Lovely is leashed nearby, with the end of the leash draped over the hose holder on the fence, so she doesn’t get too anxious. A cyclist comes zooming around the corner at a pretty good clip, heading – as it were – straight toward her puppies, though in reality just heading to go down the alley. Lovely takes off like a bullet after him and bites him in the leg. Not a severe bite, as bites go, but she still punctures the skin. Neighbour is not willing to accept that she was just “defending” her puppies, and calls in a complaint, so now I have to deal with the bylaw officer & fine. Bother. I should have made sure she was securely tied.
Tue 18 Aug: Laolao & Laoye return. Mustang has her final horse lesson.
Thu 20 Aug: After swimming lesson, we take off for a long weekend camping trip in the bus. Good friend Chuckles comes after work & spends the weekend with Lovely & puppies. Chuckles is almost family, & Lovely loves her, so I know Lovely will be fine with her & not get too nervous.
Sun 23 Aug: Home again. Chuckles says Lovely was a bit anxious while we were gone, and definitely happy to see us home again!
Thu 27 Aug: Buy a new car. Well, a new second-hand car. Though it’s only a year old, and driven by an elderly couple who decided they should stop driving, so it only has (had) 16,000km on it. Very nice condition. It’s a Kia Spectra, hatchback (my preferred style of car), ice-blue in colour. It’ll be ready for pick-up next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Sat 29 Aug: Shop for school supplies for Mustang. As she’s now in Junior division (Grade 4) we have to buy them ourselves. Button starting Grade 1 still can get his from the school for a mere $10, so even though I anticipate it might cause a bit of a stir when Mustang gets all this new stuff and Button doesn’t, I’m too much of a skinflint (okay, I’ll be nice to myself and say frugal) to buy all his stuff too. We do get a couple of things for Button, but not nearly what Mustang got. (I’m right, it did. But we survived.)
Sun 30 Aug: Take the kids to the Fair.
Mon 31 Aug: Take the day off. Last day before school starts up again. We all head 100km down the road to a living Pioneer Village. A lovely day, a bit cool and windy but sunny. Kids love throwing bread or what have you to the carp that live in the canal. We tour the historic flour mill, lumber mill, gardens, school house, barns, hotel, etc. See the horses, cows, piggies, ducks… Buy a loaf of fresh-baked stone-ground bread from the gift shop and have that with fixings for our lunch. I’d found a book in the library that is set in part at this Village – a time-travel book, in which a modern-day girl is transported back in time to a date when the village is about to be attacked, and she helps save the day. We read it in the car on the way down & back again. Kind of cool to get a sense of the people who once lived here and some of the events that occurred over a hundred and fifty years ago.
6 – 31 Aug: working on finding puppy purchasers. No takers yet. Also working on finding fall child care. In Feb lined up a young Chinese woman to bring over as a Nanny (live-in caregiver). Thought I’d covered all the bases, but it seems her education isn’t suitable (she’s almost finished a university degree, but because it isn’t focused on child care and she doesn’t have enough full-time related work experience, she’d likely not qualify for a visa). She’s found a job at a school in China and plans to work there for fall & likely winter/spring, then try for the visa. Means I need to find someone for fall asap. Potential Ethio lady living in our city (friend of a friend) doesn’t work out; she’s studying. Okay, by end Aug things are getting sticky… school starts tomorrow & Laolao & Laoye are leaving in two weeks…
And that, dear friends, is why blogging didn’t get done in August.
So now I figure I’ll just give you a brief review of the highlights of the past six months, and if I get around to filling in the blanks, great. If not, so be it.
Last August, when the hiatus effectively began (I know I posted once or twice about puppies after that, but that was just “filler”!), there was a lot going on.
Tuesday Aug 4 to Friday Aug 7: Kids spend the week at Farm Camp (daycamp). Laolao & Laoye get a break.
Tuesday Aug 4: Smash up the car. It happened on the way to Mustang’s horse riding lesson,. No one was injured, but the car wouldn’t go. We missed horse lessons, sat around for an hour or two waiting for police and tow truck etc. About the only lucky thing in the whole matter was that it happened within several blocks of home, so we could walk home after all was said & done.
For the next three weeks we used a rental car and most of our spare time was spent looking at replacement cars. Actually, Laolao & Laoye did most of the car hunting, occasionally with kids in tow, (yay for parents!) and just took me to view the ones they thought most promising.
Thursday Aug 6: Lovely’s puppies are born!! You can read about it on my Puppies!!! post from last August. Suffice it to say, it was an eventful day.
Aug 10-20: Kids have swimming lessons every weekday morning. Button passed his Swimmer 2 last session, so both are in Swimmer 3. Mustang passes at the end of this round, so next session –likely next spring – she’ll start Swimmer 4 while Button will still be in Swimmer 3. Frankly, watching them in the pool, I would have said Button was doing a bit better than Mustang, but I guess the instructor thought otherwise. Good for Mustang! She did Swimmer 2 about 7 times before passing, so to pass Swimmer 3 in just two gos is great.
Wed 12 Aug: Laolao & Laoye fly back to Edmonton for a long weekend, to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of some very close & special friends. I’ve rounded up kid/dog sitter for those few days.
Sun 16 Aug: We have 10-day old puppies on lawn to enjoy sun & grass. Lovely is leashed nearby, with the end of the leash draped over the hose holder on the fence, so she doesn’t get too anxious. A cyclist comes zooming around the corner at a pretty good clip, heading – as it were – straight toward her puppies, though in reality just heading to go down the alley. Lovely takes off like a bullet after him and bites him in the leg. Not a severe bite, as bites go, but she still punctures the skin. Neighbour is not willing to accept that she was just “defending” her puppies, and calls in a complaint, so now I have to deal with the bylaw officer & fine. Bother. I should have made sure she was securely tied.
Tue 18 Aug: Laolao & Laoye return. Mustang has her final horse lesson.
Thu 20 Aug: After swimming lesson, we take off for a long weekend camping trip in the bus. Good friend Chuckles comes after work & spends the weekend with Lovely & puppies. Chuckles is almost family, & Lovely loves her, so I know Lovely will be fine with her & not get too nervous.
Sun 23 Aug: Home again. Chuckles says Lovely was a bit anxious while we were gone, and definitely happy to see us home again!
Thu 27 Aug: Buy a new car. Well, a new second-hand car. Though it’s only a year old, and driven by an elderly couple who decided they should stop driving, so it only has (had) 16,000km on it. Very nice condition. It’s a Kia Spectra, hatchback (my preferred style of car), ice-blue in colour. It’ll be ready for pick-up next Tuesday or Wednesday.
Sat 29 Aug: Shop for school supplies for Mustang. As she’s now in Junior division (Grade 4) we have to buy them ourselves. Button starting Grade 1 still can get his from the school for a mere $10, so even though I anticipate it might cause a bit of a stir when Mustang gets all this new stuff and Button doesn’t, I’m too much of a skinflint (okay, I’ll be nice to myself and say frugal) to buy all his stuff too. We do get a couple of things for Button, but not nearly what Mustang got. (I’m right, it did. But we survived.)
Sun 30 Aug: Take the kids to the Fair.
Mon 31 Aug: Take the day off. Last day before school starts up again. We all head 100km down the road to a living Pioneer Village. A lovely day, a bit cool and windy but sunny. Kids love throwing bread or what have you to the carp that live in the canal. We tour the historic flour mill, lumber mill, gardens, school house, barns, hotel, etc. See the horses, cows, piggies, ducks… Buy a loaf of fresh-baked stone-ground bread from the gift shop and have that with fixings for our lunch. I’d found a book in the library that is set in part at this Village – a time-travel book, in which a modern-day girl is transported back in time to a date when the village is about to be attacked, and she helps save the day. We read it in the car on the way down & back again. Kind of cool to get a sense of the people who once lived here and some of the events that occurred over a hundred and fifty years ago.
6 – 31 Aug: working on finding puppy purchasers. No takers yet. Also working on finding fall child care. In Feb lined up a young Chinese woman to bring over as a Nanny (live-in caregiver). Thought I’d covered all the bases, but it seems her education isn’t suitable (she’s almost finished a university degree, but because it isn’t focused on child care and she doesn’t have enough full-time related work experience, she’d likely not qualify for a visa). She’s found a job at a school in China and plans to work there for fall & likely winter/spring, then try for the visa. Means I need to find someone for fall asap. Potential Ethio lady living in our city (friend of a friend) doesn’t work out; she’s studying. Okay, by end Aug things are getting sticky… school starts tomorrow & Laolao & Laoye are leaving in two weeks…
And that, dear friends, is why blogging didn’t get done in August.
04 April 2009
A horrible, terrible, lousy, rotten, yucky no-good day
Yesterday was a dull, cloudy, rainy day. It was also a PD Day, so the kids were home from school with Nanny. In the hope that it would provide some small thing to look forward to, I gave Nanny a few dollars and told children that in the afternoon they could bike or scooter to Timmy’s for a treat, and check out the playground across the road. (Button: “But it’s full of snow!” Me: “The snow is probably almost all gone by now. It’ll be a bit wet and messy, but you can still have fun.”) I also left a list of “jobs” – reading and typing for Mustang, some Kindergarten workbook pages and “reading” for Button. Even so, I left the house at 8:40 with a heavy heart, fearing the day might not go well.
It went far worse than I might have imagined. Over the course of the morning I got several phone calls from the kids, indicating that things were not going at all well. Nanny was not in control.
After supper, I took Nanny aside for a talk.I suggested that it would be best if she tried to find another employer – Mustang needs a strong personality to handle her, I need someone with a strong personality to deal with Mustang. (Nanny is very quiet and does not convey authority.) I told Nanny I do appreciate the housework and cooking she does, but that what really matters is being able to handle the children. It would be best for all concerned if she were to find another employer and I find another Nanny. I suggested to her that if she is going to work with children, it would be best to care for infants, or find someone with quiet, compliant kids. Or else see if she can find a position caring for an elderly person.
So why has it come to this head? In my opinion, it boils down to the fact that Nanny has been unable to establish any kind of a real relationship with Mustang. (She gets along well enough with Button, but Mustang is a horse of a different colour. (Pun intended!)) Failing that, Mustang feels no need to obey Nanny, and Nanny can't seem to find any way to get through to Mustang that she should.I have long felt that, while Nanny might be okay with the kids during the school year, when Mustang just has a couple of hours with her, I could never leave her in charge during the summer holidays, when she'd have to keep them entertained and in line for the whole day, five days a week. This has now been conclusively proven.
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