I rock!!

I have finished all three sacks for Santa to leave presents in for my girls! They don't know Santa is going to do this - Ryan heard the idea on the radio and, knowing I've been looking for simple sewing projects, suggested it to me. So, if you're someone who might possibly be talking to my kids, don't mention the sacks! And after Christmas, once they know they have the sacks, they still aren't supposed to know who made them. Anyway, they're all done, and I've taken pictures, but as I said, I don't know where the cord is to hook the camera up to the computer, so posting the photos will have to wait until my resident IT guy comes home. I guess I don't totally rock, but in almost every case, almost every time, I do, and that's good enough, right Daph?

I'm very pleased with myself, and am now going to tackle one of two projects:
1) Stockings - when I bought the stuff to make the Santa sacks, I also bought material to make stockings. However, i want to have a sort of template to cut the material, and I'm not sure I'm up to the task of drawing that. I did one on paper, and Ryan mocked me, so maybe I'll just let him do it for me (he's the artist anyway!)
2) The driveway - it really needs to be shoveled, especially the pile at the end left by the snowplow. However, I seem to have done something bad to my back when I first tackled the driveway this morning, so I'm not sure this is a good idea. And IT'S STILL FREAKIN' SNOWING!!!

My one consolation is that maybe the continuing snow will keep the plows busy in town, and they won't get to the rural areas, and the buses will be cancelled again tomorrow. A girl can dream, right?

Walkin in a winter wonderland

So, 25 cm and the snow is still falling (for Daph, Ismail and any other Americans reading this, that's about 2 ft) I know we hardly got anything compared to my friends in Ottawa (can you open your front door yet, Jodi?) but it's quite a bit. Enough that the buses in the rural areas aren't running, which means my rural school is closed for the third time this winter, but Sammie still has school and they're all at the sitter's right now. I walked them over there this morning, because it was pretty and not too cold and they like to walk, and anyway, I didn't want to drive on the driveway before I shoveled it and even if I wanted to, I don't think I could have gotten past the snowbank at the end of the driveway that the plow left there. SO, I walked them over, and then walked back on a completely snow covered path and through knee-deep snow in my backyard. It looked so inviting that I had to drop down into it, whereupon I laughed hysterically, then made a snow angel. And that was so much fun I jumped in it some more and threw it around a bit. Finally I headed back toward the house, making sure to walk through the deepest part of the drift between our house and the house next door. It was good for my soul, I think.

I decided to shovel the driveway next, which may not have been a good idea, as my back now hurts. We'll see if ibuprofen helps. Next up is my Christmas sewing, which may get put off as the sitter just called with Rylee screaming in the background. Poor little thing is, um backed up, to put it delicately, and the sitter wanted to know if I had some prunes or something. I don't. I may need to go get her to spare the sitter listening to the screams of pain. I think I have suppositories but I don't want to go that route :(

Okay, more to come later, I'm sure, hopefully with pictures of my craft space and crafts!

edited to add: The first sack is done! And the sitter called back and said the plumbing has been cleared, so to speak, and the wee one is no longer howling in pain. Unfortunately, I can't find the cord that attaches the camera to the computer, so I can't post the photos I've taken. Maybe later.

I'm so excited!

I was going to say that I was too excited to even think of a song lyric for the title, but then realized that IS a song lyric - thank you Pointer Sisters. I guess I'm too excited to recognize the lyrics!

Anyway, I am excited because I have my very own craft space! Not a whole craft room or anything, but tonight we cleared a spot in the office and dragged up a big ol' table that was always intended to be a craft table but has been sitting mostly unused in the basement. And then Ryan brought up a chair, and I brought up my sewing machine, and some sewing and scrapbooking stuff from the basement, and I'm so excited! Yesterday I bought material to make stockings for all of us, and some to make Santa sacks, in which Santa will leave the kids' presents (shh! they don't know about the sacks!) I was going to set up my sewing machine on the table in the basement, even though I didn't want to be way down there by myself crafting, and Ryan said he was planning to bring the table up as soon as we cleared some boxes from the office. So I cleared them, and now I have a craft space, and I'm so excited about it I'm rambling incoherently. Yay me.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We decorated the tree and the house last night, and it looks pretty good. We kept all the decorations high so as not to tempt the wee one, and cut back on glass ornaments on the tree out of safety concerns as well. We made a trip to IKEA yesterday (yay!) and while we didn't buy much, I am once more inspired to look at my house and figure out what it needs to make it ours, and to make it a home. Fortunately IKEA is not far away and we weren't late getting back, because we got a LOT of snow last night. Ryan went out to "do a quick shovel" this morning and was out for about an hour! We all ended up outside - Rylee loved the snow, and Sammie and Hailey played with the little boy from next door quite happily.

What else? It's been a long difficult week, with Ryan putting in a lot of overtime. This results in me putting in a lot of overtime as a mommy, and not nearly enough time for me. It's also report card season, and holiday season, of course, both of which require time, effort and action on my part. I'm doing my best. Ryan took Sammie to hockey today and took Hailey with him so I'd get a break, but of course Rylee is waking up now! I still have much to do - laundry will not put itself away, no matter how hard I wish for it, and there is marking and planning to do, and lesson prep, and...I'm getting worn out just thinking about it. Must go get started, and get the bug from her bed before she starts wailing.

Sick sick sick

I'm too tired and feeling too crappy to even try to come up with a song lyric for the title. I took the afternoon off, partly so I could take Rylee to the doctor but also because I felt like crap. Got Rylee in to see the doctor on call (our family doctor doesn't see patients Wed afternoons, but is part of a family health care group so there is a doctor on call outside of normal office hours) Turns out she not only has croup, she also has an ear infection. So we're both hacking and coughing and she's in pain in her poor little ears on top of it all. Sammie is also coughing quite a bit. Hailey was but seems to be better. Ryan also had it, but seems to be mostly over it, and just felt nauseated tonight. We're a sad little bunch in my house. I'm going to bed now. Here's hoping I actually get to sleep through the night tonight.

Pump up the volume

My life needs a soundtrack.

This thought occured to me the other day. I was getting Rylee's dinner ready, and Ryan had the iPod going, and I think it was even Pump Up the Volume that was playing. I started dancing around the kitchen as I got Rylee's food, and realized that a) it would be great exercise if I danced around like that more often, and 2) it's alot more fun when you dance to cheesy tunes. I'm not sure what the soundtrack of my life should sound like (although I could definitely soundtrack certain eras/events - my Finland trip is mostly Queen with a bit of U2, some Euro techno-pop and Mrs. Robinson in Finnish, for example) but I definitely think I would enjoy the mundane stuff more with music that gets me moving playing in the background.

What's the soundtrack to your life?

Lest We Forget

I had all kinds of thoughts on things I would blog about a couple of days ago, but I forget most of them now. And I'm tired, and should be working on my report cards, and a million other things, and Rylee will be up from her nap any minute. So just a short post about today.

My grandmother served in the Canadian Women's Army Corps in World War 2. She was very proud of her service, and remained involved with the CWAC throughout her life. This is my first Remembrance Day without her, the first one where I'm remembering her. It's been tough. At school on Friday, I fell spectaculary apart during the Remembrance Day assembly. Fortunately, it was while a video was on (it was the sight of the veterans marching in the video that caused me to finally lose it) and the gym was dark, so few if any students witnessed it. However, I went back to class afterward and a student asked a question about poppies, and I started crying again. Fortunately (again), this was with my homeroom class, who are a wonderful group of gr 7 and 8 students. I did my best to explain why I was so upset, and they did their best to cope with the fact that their teacher, who is normally quite in control of herself and the class, was having a mini-breakdown. I doubt any of them are reading this, but if you are, you handled it beautifully.

We took the girls to the cenotaph after Mass today for the service there. We've actually managed to do this quite a few times in their short lives, what with one or the other of us being on parental leave and Remembrance Day falling on weekends. They were awesome, and the ceremony was as moving as always. As we were leaving, we saw a veteran sitting in his wheelchair, and almost everyone who went by him was shaking his hand and thanking him. It was beautiful.

My sister-in-law married an Army man this summer. He's leaving for Afghanistan in January. My friend Janet married an RMC grad five years ago. He's leaving for Afghanistan in January too. Remembrance Day has a whole new meaning for me this year. I just hope next year I'm not remembering Jeff or John, and the sacrifice made by Jan (and Hailey and Emma) or Rosalie.