Officially Winter

It's wintertime, officially it started today. And we've even got some snow on the ground to make it actually feel like winter. Not sure if it will stick around for Christmas or not, but we can hope for that Norman Rockwell type winter scene on the 25th. Not going to hold my breath as we've had our fair share of rain this year, but maybe.

Winter is kind of a confusing season for me. I love it and hate it all at the same time. Split personality disorder for a season is that possible?

On the good side, there's skiing, tobogganing, snowball fights and walks with the family in the gently falling snow looking at the Christmas lights.

On the oh geez I hate this time of year, there's the ice, the cold, the awful driving conditions, the cold, the slush and dirt everywhere in your house, and oh did I mention the cold?

As you may have guessed I hate being cold. No amount of flannel sheets/blankets, -200 degree winter wear, mukluks, warm snuggly animals or people will make it better. Somehow, some way, I am always going to end up being cold.

Not that it stops me from going outside or participating in all the fun stuff winter has to offer. I remember being a kid and going inside for like 2 minutes, long enough to change into dry mitts and then head back out to build a fort or tunnel in the snow, toboggan, what have you. I still to this day have frostbite markings on my cheeks from the hours and hours spent outside.

It's just I hate the cold. It seeps in somehow, no matter how hard you try to stop it. I know some people are the same way with the heat, they just can't hack it, but for me its the cold.

My frame is slight at best and that is part of the problem I'm sure, lack of insulation, but that chill you get, the frost on your scarf that is wrapped up to your eyes, the numb feeling in your toes after too long a time in your ski boots. That's what I would like to get rid of.

I know it's not going to happen, that the chill will last no matter how long I leave the car to warm up. (Though I am back in our garage, so that should be better). Fingers that are burning red when you come inside from being too cold. Eyelids that feel like they're going to freeze open when the mercury really plummets. That's the part of winter that I would like to leave behind.

But unless I want to leave this beautiful country that I call home, that isn't going to happen. I just have to be thankful that I live where I do, in about one of the warmest parts of the country and that its winter only about 4 months of the year, not 7 or 8 like in other parts.

So, get out there, enjoy the snow, make snow angels, build a fort, try skiing or snowboarding and really really savour the fire, blankets and hot chocolate when you come in

Til next time…keep warm!

Bad Bookends

Just finished a 3 day weekend with the family. Was nice to have that extra day off ahead of the Christmas break. 

We headed off on Saturday for our annual stay over visit with our friends who live about 150km away. My husband's godson is our daughter's godfather, so it makes for some nice almost "family" time. The godson/godfather's parents are close family friends of my husband, and over the years have become friends of mine as well.

One of those places that you go, where you hug one another, take off your shoes, put what you need in their fridge and kick your feet up on the couch and make yourself at home. No formalities, no should I say or not say this, what do I need to bring blah, blah, blah. Just good old fashioned, down to earth people who welcome you wholeheartedly to their home with no strings or pretence attached.

It was nice, a pain in the ass to get everything caught up at home prior to being away, but like a mini vacation. No meals to plan, no laundry/cleaning, just kicking back and getting caught up with one another. 

Miss K is 2 and a half and her godfather is 16, she's a little wary of him, but they seem to have fun together despite the age difference. Lots of food was eaten and a few bottles of wine finished, a nice way to spend your time.

We left there on the Sunday, so that my husband could get his infant fix. Infant fix you ask? Yes, my hubby, the big C, loves and I mean loves infants. 3 months or less and he's all over it. 

A little odd perhaps, but he thinks they're the greatest, all snuggly and helpless, he glows all over when he's got a little one in his arms.

A good friend of mine had her second child just a month ago, so we took the opportunity Sunday to visit. 

Big C in his glory, Miss K a little apprehensive of the little fellow. Took some getting used to for her. Me, well, I'm first to admit I don't care for the infant stage. Yes, I miss that baby smell and the downy soft hair, but I wouldn't trade that for 2 and a half year old any day of the week.

Off to dinner out afterwards, the highlight of which was my kid seeing Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus and 2 helpers eating at the same restaurant as her. She honestly hasn't really caught on to the whole Santa thing just yet, but she did know that it was cool that he was eating at the same restaurant as her.

Then off to stay in a hotel. Some will think oh how nice, others who know me would wonder why we're staying in a hotel when we live about 35 minutes away.

Well, Miss K. has an obsession for hotels. Loves 'em. We got a one night stay at a silent auction we were at in the summer for a very reasonable price. We briefly contemplated an adults only, nice dinner, some drinks etc… but when you see the look on her face you don't even think about date night.

Being a Sunday night it was not that busy and we were lucky enough to get a room that had a view of the city's Christmas display, and a giant king bed for her to watch TV in. Not that we watched tv, we looked at the lights, did colours, had snacks etc…

The room was a suite, so we stashed her bed in the living area of the room, she was a little miffed that she couldn't see the TV from her bed (we'd never let her watch TV b4 bed anyway) and was asleep in about 30 seconds from all the activity.

Bless her little heart, after we picked up the dog from my mom's on Monday she asked if we were going back to the room. Lord, she'll put us in the poor house if this addiction to  staying away from home continues.

So, good weekend you say, on a scale of one to 10, yes, I'd give it a 9 or better. And you ask where the bookends come in. Well that's the not so nice part.

Of course Friday was that horrific shooting in Connecticut. Really nothing I can say on that. Everyone has probably already said it, just so horribly horribly sad. Could not watch or read much on it, or look at any school age kids for too long, just hurt too much.

So that was the first bad bookend to an otherwise fantastic weekend. The second was our dog's seizure Monday night.

She's been prone to them in the last few years. The best we can figure is it's somehow stress related. Not obvious stress, like thunderstorms or loud noises etc… but rather something more intangible. Some little things seem to kick her into an unstoppable chain of events resulting in a seizure. 

Fortunately or unfortunately my hubby was home last night. Fortunately, because it meant i didn't have to deal with her alone for those agonizing couple of minutes. Unfortunately, because she's his hunting buddy and he's got such a big heart it hurts to see her that way. (as if the 5 year anniversary of his mother's death wasn't enough to deal with yesterday).

It will take her a day or 2 to be fully back to her old self. Perhaps we'll get another 2 or 3 months before the next one, perhaps not. 

So it was 3 days of mostly awesomeness, started and finished with reality checks that not everything can be sunshine and buttercups. 

Life is hard, enjoy the moment as you never know what is around the corner I guess is the lesson learned

Til next time...

Tis the Mom Season

Oh boy it's sneaking up fast, Christmas is 11 days away. The time of year when everything goes crazy and when time seems to stand still all at the same time. When you're rushing to get everything done and also having moments that are so great that you wish you could stop the clock and bottle that time up to preserve it forever.

Weird how it goes, I'm not a big Christmas nut. Sure we decorate, do the tree thing, presents and such. I enjoy the visiting, family times, moments in the snow with all the twinkling lights (c'mon white Christmas), that's fun. You try to keep perspective and remember that this is really a religious holiday and not all about Santa and reindeer. I can do without the commercialism being rammed down your throat for 2 months, and everyone being all happy crappy telling you how to feel and such. Invite everyone over, love everyone, be happy and so on.

That's great but not everyone can be happy over the holidays, so I don't know why we push it so much. Job loss, sickness, death, these all happen year round, Christmas is no exception, so I don't think we should really be telling anyone how they should feel.

A bit off topic, but a segue into how Christmas time really makes me feel like a mom. Not sure why but it just drives motherhood home.

Perhaps its the baking with Miss K, her all excited to stir and make a mess in the kitchen with me. Using our cookie shooter was like play-doh on steroids for her, so much fun, a lot of mess and you got to eat the end result.

Maybe its the presents under the tree that all say "To: Mom" even the ones from my hubby. 

Or the countless extra things to do that seem to fall in a mom's lap for the holidays. Not super huge chores, just things like making sure the rugrat has her Christmas dress and the tights I only just remembered she needs as she's grown so much this year.  Getting our sitter a card and something extra for treating our daughter like one of her own kids. Watering the tree regularly so it doesn't drop anymore needles, thus adding another chore of sweeping/sucking them up. And as I'm writing this, maybe some cards for our good neighbours should be delivered?

Lots of mom things going on, even checking with your own mom and making sure things are good with her. Thinking about your mother in law who passed away 5 years ago at this time of year. It's a lot of "momness" following you around.

I still struggle from time to time with my role as mom/mommy/m-o-o-o-om. It's great,  don't get me wrong, but I still miss the old me, the carefree single, or the double income no kids or fur kids couple. Some days its hard to let all that go, not that I want it back, I love where we are right now, but just the understanding that sometimes you long for that other place in your life.

I read somewhere not too long ago that becoming a parent is like jumping off a cliff into the ocean. You end up on a different beach after coming out of the water, different people, different activities etc… It's not that you can't go back and visit the folks at the top of the cliff, its just that you're in a different place that they don't understand and you will never be one of them again. Some people take the plunge repeatedly and increase the distance away from that original cliff by having multiple children. 

Both places are still there, you just have to "be" in the one you are meant to be in. 

So, embrace the "momness" or "dadness" of the season, enjoy what traditions/activities are special to you. Give an extra hug to everyone, thank them for supporting you, or not harassing you too much however you want to look at it.

Til next time…have a shortbread cookie for me

My Kitchen Floor

It's been longer than I would like since I last wrote here, but I've been mulling over some design improvements to the blog view already and that kind of tied up my thoughts and time. I'm not any closer to upgrading the look, just exploring some ideas. We'll keep plain and simple for now, pictures and fun stuff can come later.

I think from time to time I will use this space to rant a little about something. Probably not anything too deep or political, that's just not my style. But some topics may be thought provoking and insightful, others not so much. I think I will start with the more trivial side of life and discuss my kitchen floor.

Yes, I know, not a really riveting read right? Well, think again, I don't want to replace it, I just want it to be less dirty all the time.

Now, before you get to thinking that its a filth encrusted expanse that would qualify for the reality series "Looking for my Linoleum", we're not really at that stage. It's just that even if I completely clear out the room, scrub every inch on my hands and knees it's dirty again in about 2 hours. Drives me nuts, I'm not super mom or super clean freak, it just really gets on my nerves. Admit it, we all have something around the house that we just can't stand to see dirty/cluttered/messy.

Mine is my kitchen floor. Yes, its light in colour so the dirt shows more readily, but can the cleaning fairies or elves just make the dirt disappear?

Admittedly, Big C does his part to keep things on the tidy side, I've been known to see him with a broom or one of those static cloths trying to control the chaos.

And honestly, Miss K. really isn't a huge contributing factor to the mess either. For someone who it 2 she is pretty darn awesome at not spilling or otherwise having food on the floor. (Her magnetic letters and the clothespins are another story altogether).

I think my number one problem is the dog. I love her to death, but as the title of this blog suggests, she's a mud puppy. She's a black lab, so there's no danger of any type of food being on the floor for any longer than about 2.3 seconds. Her water is a  different story. The dog drinks like some sort of animal that has been deprived of water in the desert for days. Dainty she is not, water is everywhere and typically there is some sort of small body of water near her bowl. We've got a large bath towel under her food and water dish but there are always small ponds in the vicinity.

Then, there is the hair. Winter, spring, summer or fall, all you have to do is look around y'all and there is dog hair somewhere. I think she invites dog friends over when we're away and they just shed all over. She's a short haired dog, & the shedding is worse in the spring of course, but my god, we could have made ourselves 3 or 4 more puppies out the hair we've collected.

And, right now to top it all off, we're having a unusually mild late fall, early winter season. Lots of rain, not much snow and cold. So what does rain make…you guessed it, mud.

Some background here, we originally got our fur kid for both companionship and to do what she is born to do and that is retrieve waterfowl for my husband. I love the labrador breed, social, smart, easygoing and so on, nobody mentioned they are mud lovers. Or at least ours is. The dirtier, the better in her books.

I'm not saying that she goes out deliberately and looks to roll in the mud, its more like a little kid with the temptation of a puddle or fresh cookies before them. Before long they've just taken the plunge and gone for it.

The last 2 duck hunting adventures have resulted in a bath before she's even allowed to step foot on the porch, let alone in the house. The sad part is she looks so dejected when we clean her up that you'd think we were stripping her of some mud trophy she earned in battle.

And, if you've ever owned a lab, you know that you cannot possibly wash, towel off, dry or remove every last piece of dirt/mud on them. It hides, waiting till they are on your clean floor or beige carpet before ejecting itself from their body onto your belongings/floor coverings. I had caked mud on the bottom of my jeans after the last hunting day, and I didn't even go hunting??!

So, I digress a little, but all this goes to create the perfect storm on the kitchen floor. No matter how dutifully we wipe the dog's feet when she comes inside, the dirt, combined with the hair and the aforementioned bodies of water residing near the water bowl, result in the bane of my existence, a kitchen floor that no one would want to eat off of.

I try to keep it presentable, but have learned in the past few years to just get as much of the surface dirt as I can and deal with whatever else happens when I can.

Anything around your place that just drives you nuts but you've learned to live with it?

Well, here goes nothing, or something, not really sure. My first blog post ever. Take the leap and the net will appear is what they say…whatever people, this is a bit frightening. What if everybody reads it, what if nobody does? No matter, it's been something I've been thinking about for awhile, so here goes. (A big thanks to all those who've taken the leap before me and inspired me to do this)

Next question, where do I begin? Start at the beginning with gory details of my birth and childhood, or just pick a moment in time and start there?

No idea, just feeling the urge to write or type as it were. Not about anything in particular, maybe a rant here and there, probably just daily musings of my life.

So, who am I you ask? Nothing spectacular, just a married mother of one 2 legged kid and one fur kid. I turned 40 earlier this year, maybe its some midlife crisis creeping in that compels me to share my thoughts so the 8 billion people in the world can see it? Maybe it's because I just like to write and this seems a good outlet, even if I'm the only one to read it. I still have my Grade 8 creative writing note book as evidence of my love for the written word. Should share some of those literary gems later on this blog…I was a weird kid.

OK, more about me…I live in Canada, the Southern Ontario part for those of you familiar with the country. So maybe some perspective on things uniquely Canadian coming your way in the next bit. I've been married to my best friend for 5+ years and we have a cool daughter who will shortly be 2 and a half years old. We'll call them Big C and Miss K in the future. We also have a black lab that is my constant shadow, unless it involves hunting or training for retriever trials, in which case she diligently follows my husband around. 

My husband and I both work full time, which leads to a crazy around the house schedule and clutter and dust and dirt that drive me insane, but I'm learning to let some of that go. We golf and ski, though notably less of that goes on since our daughter was born. Big C is an outdoorsman through and through, loves the hunting and fishing thing, and though I love the outdoors convincing me to get up at ungodly hours to go shoot something has not yet happened. I can be convinced to fish on occasion, but reading a book in the boat would be time better spent I think.

Life is chaotic and fun, miserable and hard. Just life really, we have it better than most and for that I'm grateful. Every single day, just grateful, to have what we do, to be in a country that is peaceful, with enough to eat, a home and people around us to care and support what we do.

This is a good spot to leave off for today…with the thought of being grateful and appreciating what you have, not what you don't

Til next time...