Michele’s Musings

Woke up to this….

Look how much is on the shed and deck box now!

And there is another 5-10 cm forecasted today *sigh*  So I had to start my day off shovelling AGAIN.  The boys will have to do it after school as well.  I need to think of a comfort food to cook for supper tonight, perhaps a beef roast…..

We watched Juno last night, a friend of ours rented it and let us borrow it.  It was pretty funny.  I like watching movies like this with our 14 y/o son, he doesn’t like sitting close to me though, as whenever I think of a teaching moment I smack his arm and say stuff like “see ONE time and she got pregnant!” LOL 

I started reading Devil May Cry last night…. I’ve read it before…. don’t you hate that?  At least I didn’t already own it and buy it again, I must have borrowed it from the library lol  But I’ll finish reading it, I don’t completely remember the storyline.

I feel like the Little Engine That Could today *sigh*  Here is my lame attempt at positive thinking…

 Now if only they were growing in my garden…..

It is STILL snowing in Edmonton, compare yesterday’s snow in our yard….

With today’s view…

And to top it off MIL told me that SIL in Ontario got a sunburn this weekend working in her garden…. cry me a river!  LOL

This morning Keely had an apointment with our family dr for a check up.  We had to drive to St Albert in this mess.  Luckily the roads weren’t too bad, it was just the side streets close to where I live that are bad, and my parking lot at work!  Lots of cars were getting stuck in deep snow ruts.  I left really early to make sure we got there on time, I ended up 1/2 hour early!  Then her appointment ended up 1/2 hour late… figures.  She is in good shape my girl.  She is now a whopping 4′2″ tall and 76 lbs with cast on.  She was only 74 lbs last Wed night at the ER before the cast.  So she is just right, no longer itty bitty.  Had a good talk with the dr about puberty, and stuff.  So she’s good for at least another year. 

Here are a couple shots of her with cast on.  The first is with her “friends” Bob, Billy (that came in her flowers) and Crash who has been renamed Bubbles for some reason?  I like Crash better personally.  The 2nd is of her after school today with her cast signed by all her friends.

James is off to ANOTHER community meeting tonight, I was supposed to be at a PAC meeting at the school tonight but they postponed it till next week.  So I am home baking GIANT cookies!  After the short people go to bed I’ll sit and cross stitch while I watch TV, I am working on a Teresa Wentzler pattern called The Traveller, it is very big!  But i’m chugging along, 2/3 of the cross stitching done, then the back stitching and seed beads to add, that’s the most fun part.

I just finished reading Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dream Chaser, it was ok…. not as good as her other books though, I think it’s my least favourite so far.  I still have to read Upon the Midnight Clear, which I leant my boss, and I picked up Devil May Cry at London Drugs after work, so I guess that will be what I pick up before bed.

Happy New Year everyone!  We had a very fun New Year’s Eve, we had our friends Stacey and Sheldon and their girls over for the night, stayed up till 4 am playing cards!  Stacey collects wooden board games that she buys at the Butterdome Craft Sale in Edmonton every Christmas so she brought two with her.  We played Rummoli until midnight, I had never played it before but it was fun.  Then we switched to Sequence, the guys were all psyched to beat us (we play girls against guys) but after Stacey and I won 7 games in a row James said “I don’t want to play this anymore”  LOL  So we switched back to Rummoli and played until I was too exhausted to continue.  The kids played games, played online with Webkins and watched movies all night.

In the morning the guys made brunch and we hung out all day, playing more games, then I made a big turkey dinner.  YUMMY!  Then I had leftovers for a turkey pot pie……

turkey sandwiches and a yummy turkey soup that Stacey whipped up for us on Friday.  That’s what I missed from having Christmas dinner at my SIL’s, leftovers!

On the renovation front, James and I went to Ikea the weekend before NY’s to buy another cabinet for the kitchen, as well as the trim we were short on.  We have decided to forego the desk area and put in the extra drawers!  Now that we have decided that, I am looking forward to it.  I need more drawers to put away tea towels and Tupperware!   While we were there…… we bought a new bedroom!  Frame, mattresses, night stands, bedding and curtains.  We also picked up an area rug and some Markor pieces for the livingroom, a new TV stand, bookshelves, side tables and coffee table.  We brought some home with us, but the majoity we had delivered, it arrived yesterday so we spent the day building our bed, hanging curtains etc.  Once we get the room straightened out we’ll deside on a dresser.  It was SO comfy to sleep on last night!  And high off the ground!  Our last bed was only knee high, this one is at my hip!  James says we need a bench for the foot of the bed so he can sit to put on his socks in the morning lol  We will work on building the rest of the livingroom pieces in the evenings this week, so far we have the TV stand, one side table and the coffee table built. It’s a nice big square one that we can play board games on with the kids, which was our main criteria.  We found the coffee table and decided to do the rest of the livingroom to match!

We had a productive weekend, Rowan played his first soccer game of the year Saturday morning, James and I got our portrait’s taken Saturday afternoon by Tammy of Smiley Eyes Photography it was a lot of fun.  James and I haven’t had a portrait of US taken since we got married almost 17 year ago!  I’ll post the link to the proofs webpage when it’s ready.  Keely has decided she doesn’t want to play soccer anymore, so we pulled her out of it.  She is smaller than all the other kids and hasn’t played in a couple years, so she was finding it frustrating to keep up, so it stopped bing fun for her.  I will probably sign her up for swimming lessons for something else to do. 

Kids are back to school today!  Ye haw!  They were suffering from too much togetherness, they are excited about seeing their friends again.  And James and I are back to the usual work week…..  No more holiday’s.  He went back Jan 2nd, but was taking one of the kids to work with him each day last week.  My work will start new extended hours in a few weeks so I will eventually have to work a late Thurs/Fri and Saturday *sigh*  I’m told it will only be every 7th week….. that I can live with I guess.

Busy busy reading….. I finished 3 of the 4 books I got for Christmas already!  Bones to Ashes by Kathy Riechs, really enjoyed it   Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts, first in a new trilogy, it’s about demons  now I have to wait till May for the next installment!  And A Highlander For Christmas by Sandy Blair, I will give it a  because the story was fun to read, but the editing left a bit to be desired, there were parts I wasn’t sure what was going on.  I am now reading High Noon by Nora Roberts, so far so good, but I’m only just started.

So tonight, while I sit here with sore fingers and a need for a cold beer, I thought I’d share some thoughts on what life is really like for us right now.  Weekdays are chaotic.  The morning starts off with James trying to get the kids up and at em so they can get their breakfast out of the way, so that they are out of the way, so that I can make lunches for them, all this takes place at the kitchen table in the corner of the livingroom, I would say please excuse the Saturday night mess, but this is actually how we are living right now

Inevitably they do not get downstairs in time and are therefore trying to get their breakfast made while I make lunches, when there really is not room for everyone in that small space behind the chairs. 

I remind them to feed their cats and fish….  get their bags packed and their stuff together….. My friend’s daughter gets dropped off around 8 and they all walk  to school after I yell for about 5 mintues to get all their stuff and GO!!!!!!  James leaves around the same time for work.  After they leave I get the only hour or so of peace in my day, which I spend online or reading (although Friday morning I put a coat of primer on the walls).  Then I am off to work….. 

After work I try to figure out what to cook in the microwave for supper (this is getting very old btw, I don’t think I’ll use the new microwave after the kitchen is finished for at least a good month!)  Then I have to actually cook it…. then round up the children who are off playing with friends.  After we eat there is homework and home reading and getting the kids ready for bed, around 9 James and I are sanding or mudding or painting or cleaning up the mess we made.  By 9:30 I am so ready to be done…..  But we usually go till 10 or so.  Then I get to read in bed for a few minutes until my eyes are so tired I can’t remember the last few pages I read.  Unless James bugs me for some “attention” which I’m being very begrudging about lately, I mean, haven’t I worked enough already?????  I’m FREAKING exhausted!

Weekends are spent trying to fit in as much work as humanly possible.  This weekend is a long one so there is one extra day to get stuff done!  Painting and hopefully some cabinets built and installed, they are still sitting in boxes on the other side of the livingroom…  yes that’s my last cross stitched project stacked haphazardly on top.  I haven’t touched it in 5 weeks and it’s probably covered in drywall dust *sigh*

Being the weekend I should also try to find time to do regular chores like bathrooms, laundry, vacuuming…. but they usually end up forgotten or set aside till “later”.  This is weekend three I haven’t cleaned bathrooms, I REALLY need to do that tomorrow, I think there is stuff growing under the rim of the toilet seats by now *shudder*  I told myself I’d do them Saturday, but it’s now 11 pm and there is no way it’s happening today.  Hopefully tomorrow, or a least by Monday right?  Last week Keely had to wear a pair of my socks to school because of the laundry procrastination…..  I am doing absolutely no dusting, what would be the point????  Weekend meals are haphazard at best, frozen Eggos or cereal for the kids for breakfast, last night’s left over pizza for lunch, pizza or bbq’d burgers for supper.

Sunday night James and I collapse exhaused dreading having to get up for work the next morning because we really didn’t get any rest.  But onward and upward right? 

We got the first coat of GREEN on the kitchen walls tonight!  We are working together really well and there doesn’t seem to be any strain on the marriage yet, except for the whole Michele is too tired for sex part  We are really proud of the quality of our work, our drywall job rocks!

…….so I have convinced James to reach over and open the fridge from his seat right next to it and grab me a beer, kind of a bonus of the reno, having a fridge in the livingroom  I am off to drink it now. 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I’ll have more pictures Monday!