Simmerin' Summer - August 8, 2012

With August now begun, we are already starting  the last month of summer vacation and I will have both girls at home with me until  school starts in late August (my next post will focus on sibling rivalry!).

It has been the hottest and driest summer I have ever known. Perhaps one good rainstorm over the last two or more months. Our grass is fried brown, many of the trees have turned color and dropped their leaves. It looks like October. We are worried about our water supply - with no rain to recharge the well we are conscious of every drop we use. The  girls so want to use their slippy slide mat but that  requires a running hose and we just can 't waste the water like that.

Grandma is coming to visit next week for Breeze's third birthday. We are going to rent a pontoon boat for the day on a big lake a few hours south of here. I hope Mother Nature keeps her humor in check and doesn't decide to finally send rain on that one particular day!

June 30 2012 Summer Vacation Begins

I feel like a school girl again! Summer vacation has officially begun  for both Storm and myself - I took the summer off!! This is a first....and it hasn't really sunk in yet. We're in another transition period though so it won't be a typical restful summer. My husband has been laid-off and we may be relocating so there could end up being a lot of things to accomplish....but there is still time to read:

Currently, it is Diana Gabaldon's Scottish Prisoner - one of the Lord John Gray novels but with Jamie Fraser having a central role. I miss Claire though who only surfaces through Jamie's memories of her.
Still, with the Jamie and Claire series having come to an end, I am delighted to find Jamie once again. I have been reading these novels since at least the early 90s - now that's hard to believe!!

February 4, 2012

It has been far too long since I last made a blog entry. Lots has happened over the last year - new jobs for both my husband and I. Our oldest started Kindergarten and the youngest daycare. We still have our two cats and two dogs although one has been quite sick lately. Up every night to let him out, at least once usually more, it is like having a baby in the house again.

I am still searching for that perfect job - rewarding, enjoyable, and one that makes a difference. I dabbled with trying to start my own bookstore last year and it was close but it did not happen. It wasn't meant to be I guess, at least not right now. Do you watch the Cupcake Girls on the Oprah Network? It's my new favorite show and everytime I watch it, my entrepeneurial fire flares up. Not to mention it is filmed on the west coast - I so want us to live there - next to the ocean, mild winter, majestic mountains. What's not to like? Well okay the housing prices are outrageous but you have to think of it as an investment. Buy now and the kids will inherit something substantial. Until then, I have to tolerate the cold, the snow, and the icky winter - icy roads, darkness, and being stuck inside until spring. Blah.

July 19, 2011 A quiet day at home

A head cold has given me a day at home alone. Ahhhhh. The first few hours were nice, synced my iphone, found my BB, sent out an "update email" and some photos of the kids to friends and family (long overdue!), caught up on a few blogs, read some old emails - who said computers would make less work?

The thing is there are so many more things I could do but as I contemplate which to do first the day wears away....swim, read, clean, eat, write, cook, bake, get outside...what I should be doing is absolutely nothing - just resting which is all I want to do when the whole family is home. Now that I have the time I feel I need to make better use of it than resting......

March 19 2011 - It is coming!

I spied tiny spikes of bright green today where the snow had melted away in the garden! Yes, it is coming - spring, summer, warmth, sunshine, bees, hummingbirds, wild raspberries and blackberries!!

With this warmth comes another change - a new job - starting Monday. I am excited but hope I am not jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. It comes with a longer commute but a nicer builder and a bigger paycheque. Hunter is starting a new job in a week and Storm starts kindergarden this fall, so lots of changes afoot - but good positive changes.

December 5, 2010 - Passion

Watched Julie and Julia last night. Neat movie. Big fan of Meryl Streep, I think she did a good job as Julia Childs, not so easy to pull that persona off. Never really knew Julia through her cooking shows, I imagine you either loved her or hated her. Have to admire the relationship she had with her husband. Inspiring life too - finding your passion at nearly 40 (I'm nearly 40). I can empathize with Julie too, stuck in a cubicle to pay the bills when you know what your passion is, but you are unable to kindle it. So close, you can visualize the life you want to live, know you'd be happy living it, but unable to get it started. Frustrating - spinning your tires on ice when all you want to do is GO!

Puss (2004-2010) - October 18, 2010

I lost a good friend this weekend. We buried him down the road under some coniferous trees in a spot touched by the morning sun. He loved to lay in the sun. His friend Max watched our procession down the hill. Did he know his friend lay curled up in the plain brown box my  husband carried?  My little girl cried, I cried, I think even my husband was sad. We didn't say any words as we lay him in a deep hole my husband dug. No words were needed, our tears said it all. We tossed in his favorite treats and his red ball and two purple flowers. My  little girl wanted to know if he needed water to drink too.

We shovelled the dirt back over him - to keep him warm and safe we told her. After a few silent moments we turned and made our way sadly back up the road toward home.

You were a good cat Puss. I'll miss your evening visits and your attempts for attention while I lay reading in bed; the way you'd thrust your head under my book looking for that chin rub and how you'd purr so loudly in contentment when I finally gave in.

I'll miss everything about you, I already do.

Puss tolerating his friend Max