Time to Get Lost

For the first time since I started Chris's challenge, I really don't feel like writing today. Maybe it's because it's a beautiful day and I'd rather get out for a walk. Maybe it's because I know I have a pile of forgotten mail to go through, so I can find out which bills I'm unintentionally ignoring. Perhaps it's because I know that I need to get to the store today to get ready to play "Easter Bunny" on the weekend. Or it could be because of my strong desire to get back to those last few unopened boxes (Ha -- no one said the blog couldn't be funny!)

All good reasons. But not the right ones.

I love books. Anyone who knows me knows this. One of my very favourite things in life is to curl up in a corner and get lost in a good book. For the past two months I haven't had time. Sure, I've done some reading before I fall asleep at night, or even a couple of times in my new jacuzzi. I even finished a book the other day. But I haven't had the "I love this book so much I can't put it down, and I am going to just sit here and do nothing but read for a couple of hours" experience. Since we've moved here, I haven't let myself have that experience. There is WAY too much to do to settle in with a book, and I didn't want Chris or the kids to come home and say "So what exactly did you do today anyway?"

Writing, however, is allowed. Because of the challenge. I feel obligated to add to this blog daily, no matter how much time it steals from other worthy tasks. So I have poured myself into it. But not today. Today, the blog gets 10 minutes. That's it.

Why? Because I started a new book yesterday, and I think it's one I could get lost in. So I will do all the things that I mentioned above, that really need to be done today. But for the next 45 minutes I am heading back in time several hundred years. I'll set a timer to make sure I find my way back to the 21st century.

But meanwhile, don't call. They didn't have phones back then, so I won't answer.

Our First Toronto Weekend

I figured it out on my own! I was determined not to let the technology beat me, and not to rely completely on Chris for all my computer needs, and I figured it out! I was so proud of myself. So I could have written this blog yesterday, but after already completing the one about my technology woes, I decided my time would be better served digging into the boxes in the spare room. The Toronto blog would have to wait until tomorrow. Today!

I was so looking forward to this little getaway! Our original purpose for the trip was for Chris and Connor to go to a Raptors game. Chris had told me back in January that this is what he wanted for his 40th birthday. He had never been to an NBA game before, and this was the perfect opportunity. Even though his birthday is still 2 weeks away, we decided this was the best game for them, ie. not on a school night. I got three tickets, so they could take Uncle Ben, too. The boys were both very excited, and I was, too. I needed a break from the mundane life of unpacking and organizing, and to be in a house without boxes everywhere for a few days. We picked the kids up at school and arrived at Lori and Ben's just in time for Janelle and I to switch places with Ben and send the boys on their way.

Lori and Janelle and I had a lovely little "girls night in". We chatted a bit while Janelle watched cartoons. Then we pulled out the games we had brought: Whoonu and Sequence, two of Janelle's favourites. By the end of the game of Sequence I could tell that Janelle was ready to call it a night, so we started the bedtime routine. After we got her snugly tucked in, Lori and I played some XBox Trivial Pursuit. It was really fun, especially for a trivia nerd like me. We had just finished our second game when the boys arrived home.

Connor was energized! The Raptors had lost by a buzzer-beater. Chris loved it! That's what makes a good game, right? But Connor was devastated! He had bonded with "his team", and (a little like his Papa) he's only happy when they're winning. He couldn't believe that they could be winning one second, and lose the whole game the next. Suffice it to say, there were tears before bed. But I knew the tears were as much from the late hour as the loss. In the morning he was still talking about how much fun they'd had. Unfortunately, the boys didn't take the camera into the Air Canada Centre, so I have nothing to show for that game except Connor's new Raptors hat.

In the morning we got up to a lovely breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs and fruit prepared by Lori. She hadn't been planning on making a big breakfast until Janelle mentioned the night before "I sure hope there are pancakes in the morning!" It's amazing the power a 6-year-old can wield! It was great though, because we left the house with full tummies, on our way to discover the big city. The kids had been talking about the CN Tower for days, and it did not disappoint. They were in awe! We bought the tickets for the "Total Experience", which included a motion simulator ride, and Connor just kept saying "I want to go up the tower NOW!" They were pretty amazed by it all, and they were extremely patient despite LOTS of waiting in line. We were there on a clear day, so the view was incredible.

We spent several hours there, making sure we really did have the "Total Experience". By the time we came out and grabbed a bite to eat, it was time to head back to Burlington for the big birthday party. Lori had planned a party for all the March and April birthdays in their circle of friends: Chris, Ben and his twin brother Pat, and herself included. By the time we got home, people were already arriving. It was a lovely evening. I had met many of the people before, but there were some new faces, and everyone was very welcoming to us. Connor and Janelle got to blow out the candles on the cake (despite the fact that neither of their birthdays fall in March or April), and learned a new game: Rock Band. That was a huge hit! I think we all got a turn with that one, and Connor has decided that we need an XBox (which is not going to happen anytime soon!) We all stayed up WAY too late, but most of us slept late in the morning (not Connor and Janelle, of course).

The next day we had another leisurely breakfast, this time of cereal and toast, much more managable, and played some more "Rock Band". We headed out around 2 p.m. and made a stop at one of the great shopping institutions of the world: IKEA. Chris had never been there before and was predictably underwhelmed. He did admit that many of the housewares are pretty good deals, but as a lover of fine furnishings, was not at all impressed with the furniture that IKEA had to offer. Still, we were able to spend a couple of hours there, and a tidy sum of money, before we began the journey back to London.

Just under an hour and a half later we were home. Ready to begin another week in our new abode. And I was re-energized about my new purpose in life: unpacking boxes!

Technical Difficulties

I am not particularly computer savvy. I generally can navigate my way around the computer and get things done, but if a problem arises, I am nothing without my hubby. He is the computer genius in the family. That's why I find it so frustrating when things don't work when he isn't around! Today is one of those days.

I am not writing in the morning today. Usually I drop the kids off at school, come home and sit write down at the computer to compose my morning post. But today I needed to upload pictures of our weekend trip to Toronto before I could start writing. This is where I encountered my first issue. The computer did not recognize the SD card reader, so no matter how many times I slid the card into the reader, the computer insisted there was nothing on it. This is not a new problem. In fact, it has happened countless times and drives me crazy. But because it is not a new problem, I was able to solve the issue on my own. Restart the computer, and try again. I set the computer to restart and went upstairs to open some boxes.

After getting lost in the spare room for a while, I found my way out and came back down to try again. Success! I got some really great pics of the kids with/in the CN Tower that I could not wait to upload. Unfortunately, something is screwy with Blogger's uploader today. It is telling me that my pictures were successfully uploaded, but they are not appearing on my post. I have tried over and over and over and over again. No pictures. For that reason, I am delaying my post documenting our weekend adventures in Toronto. I just can't do it without pictures. Sometimes I really hate computers. They just aren't easy enough for people like me.

However, since I had to write a post today to meet the challenge, you got to read about my technical difficulties. Definitely not my favourite post. Pretty boring actually. But the challenge stated only that I write something, not that it be profound or brilliant. So there you are.

"We apologize. We are experiencing technical difficulties. We will resume our regularly scheduled program when it becomes available." Hopefully tomorrow.

First Week Down!

We survived! I spent so much time worrying about how the kids would manage at school, how I'd manage at home without them, how Chris would settle into his new office, and how we'd all settle into our new routine, and here we are at the end of the first week. We all did great! Surprisingly, Chris has probably had the most painful transition, primarily due to a project deadline at the end of March that he is dealing with, leftover from back in NB. My kids act as if they've always attended their new school, aside from Connor's comment about the fact that they don't have Phys. Ed. specialists here ("Regular teachers don't do fun stuff in gym" -- As a "regular teacher" who used to have to teach Phys. Ed. to my class, I completely agree with him!). And I have filled my days with some settling in, some exploring, and lots of blogging.

Yes, it's official! I blogged every school day this week! And it doesn't seem that hard at all. I look forward to it. I still don't think I have anything profound to say, and I really feel sorry for my readers who have committed to reading every post. Please feel free to skip the boring ones! But it is an outlet, a release, and I don't think I'll have any problem meeting Chris's challenge. I remember when Denise suggested that I "aim for two posts a week", and I thought that would be nigh to impossible. I may have trouble scaling back to two posts a week someday!

So we have all survived this week, and now we all get a treat. A weekend away! This afternoon we will pick up the kids at school and head to Burlington, where Chris and Connor will pick up Uncle Ben and head into Toronto to the Air Canada Centre for a Raptors Game. It is Chris's big 40th birthday present, but I think Connor is more excited than he is! Well, they're both pretty excited. Janelle and I are going to spend a "girls evening" with Aunt Lori. Tomorrow, we're going to Toronto to do some "touristy stuff". If it is a clear day, which it looks like it will be, we'll go up the CN Tower. We may also take in the Hockey Hall of Fame or the Ontario Science Centre. Tomorrow night, Lori is hosting a birthday party for various people with March or April birthdays, including Chris, Ben and his twin brother Pat, and herself. Connor and Janelle will be the only kids there, but I'm sure they'll be happy to entertain the adults until bedtime. Sunday morning we'll get up and have breakfast and head back home.

I am so looking forward to a weekend away from the cluttered disarray that is my house! Hopefully when I get back home I'll be energized and ready to tackle the rest of it. I need to dig out my spare room and get a bed set up so I can have company. I'm starting to feel like it's time for friends and family to start showing up at our doorstep. Any takers?

A Step Back in Time

I did get lots done yesterday, and I did some exploring, too. I went back to the house we almost bought and discovered that, as expected, the owners had taken it off the market. Then I came home and got to work on Janelle's room. I got all the boxes unpacked, but did not get it all organized. My goodness, how does one little girl end up with so much STUFF! Today I'm going back in armed with garbage bags! I will finish before noon!

Last night I had an interesting experience. I went to a breastfeeding class with my friend, Jocelyn (my only friend in London), who is expecting her first baby next month. Her husband really didn't want to go, and I was happy to get out of the house and be her support person. It was fascinating to sit in a room full of pregnant women, most for the first time, and see them learning all they can about this mysterious art. It was hard, too. Because I LOVED breastfeeding, and I miss it! It is one of the things I miss most about having a baby. We watched a movie full of precious newborns learning to feed, and it took me back in time. Yes, it was painful at first, but it was soooooo worth it! What a precious bonding experience! I just wanted to stand up and shout to all these expectant mothers "You are so blessed! You are about to experience the most beautiful thing you can imagine! Treasure it because it WILL NOT LAST!" Time with our new babies is so fleeting.

It was hard keeping my mouth closed. There were so many things I wanted to remind the instructors to say: Tell them they may not feel their milk come in. Tell them not to give up for at least two weeks, because no matter how hard it is, it will get better and it is the best feeling in the world. Tell them what thrush is, and how to recognize it, and not to let it ruin their nursing experience. I found myself nodding along with them most of the time, and sometimes finding that things I did on a regular basis are frowned upon nowadays.
I kind of wish I had taken a breastfeeding class before I had my babies. Oh, we did the prenatal classes, of course. And I read everything about nursing that I could get my hands on. And I had many experienced friends who were full of advice. But there is something about learning with others in the same situation that make those silly questions in the back of your mind seem not so silly. Maybe I would have known that Connor's bright orange bowel movements when he was four days old were not something to worry about. Maybe I wouldn't have let Janelle's thrush steal some of my joy from her first precious weeks. There is something to be said about being prepared.

Still, when it comes to anything about motherhood, I don't think we can be 100% prepared. We learn far more from experience than anything we could have learned from a class. I felt like I could have stood up and taught most of that class last night, but I wouldn't have shared anything that I learned from a book. It would have all come from what Connor and Janelle have taught me. The answers to so many of the questions the women had last night were "It depends on your baby". And now that my babies are 10 and 6, it still very often depends on them.

So where do I sign up for the class on surviving the teenage years?

The Urge to Explore

It is a gorgeous, sunny day in Southwestern Ontario, and I have the urge to explore. Connor's room is completely finished, and he is thrilled with it. I promised Janelle I would do hers today. But I'm antsy today! There are a million things I want to do! I want to drive around London and see the parts I haven't seen yet. I want to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies. I want to fill up my bookcase with all the beloved books that are waiting in boxes. I want to find a bookstore and wander the aisles. I want to walk to the school to meet the kids when it is time to come home. I want to finish clearing the clutter out of my kitchen. I want to find a garden centre and start thinking about what shrubs I'm going to plant in the front yard. And I want to keep my promise to Janelle and make her room beautiful. Will I do all these things today? I don't think so. But if I'm going to do any of them, I better get started.

No time for writing today. Time for a shower so I can let my day begin!

Day 2 and All is Well!

Day 2 -- Not bad! How long do they say it takes to create a habit? Two weeks? I think I can manage that. As it is, I couldn't wait to sit down at the computer this morning and start rambling. The problem is, like yesterday, I get sucked in to the computer and I find it hard to leave. I have so many things to do that spending the whole morning at the computer really isn't an option. My kids need to be able to get up to go to the bathroom in the night without tripping over boxes! That needs to be my priority, not my blog. So today I'll just right a short blog, and then head out to do battle with the boxes.

Yesterday dragged on slowly while I waited, filled with worry, for 3:30 to arrive. When it finally did I wondered what I wasted my day concerned about. Both of my kids had big smiles on their faces when I picked them up at school. They had a great day! Connor made a new friend (whose mother just happens to work with Chris), and Janelle loves her teacher. I asked if she made any friends and she said "Yes, but I don't know any of their names". She did mention that there is an Avery in this class too, refering to her "favourite friend" in her class in Fredericton. Neither of them showed any hesitation in jumping out of the van when we arrived at the school this morning, so I can proceed with my day without any of the concerns of yesterday.

Which brings me back to my day. I think my problem is that I'm overwhelmed. There is so much to do in every room of the house that I don't know where to start. And if I realize that there might be some reason for me to run out to the store, I'll grab onto it for dear life -- ESCAPE. For example, "Oh, I think we might need granola bars. I'll have to make a special trip to the store to stock up on granola bars." I must resist this urge! I must position myself in ONE ROOM (Connor's room first), and stay until it's done. Then at least I'll be able to see that I've done something. I have no need to leave the house before 3:30. The mail will wait. I have all I need to make dinner. Those returns to Home Depot and Walmart can happen another day. It's time to get down to business and get this thing done. The boxes will not win!!!

I apologize to anyone who may be reading this post. You really didn't need to be part of my little "self pep-talk". To be honest, I think I'm only still writing now to delay the inevitable. I'm stopping now. I really am. See you tomorrow!