Childless

The past few days our kids have been up staying with my folks while Aven and I bask in quietness and refill our energy stores.

It has been so...quiet in our house.  Well apart from the gun shots and other sounds of battle that are coming from the basement as Aven plays hour after hour of uninterrupted video game time.

Everything is where we left it.  There are no toys, jackets, shoes, papers, miscellaneous kid stuff that materializes out of thin are when kids are around.  We've had leisurely breakfasts after sleeping in.  It was desperately needed - a few days with no plans - time to bask in nothingness.  Trips to the movie theater, going out for dinner, get stuff done in a liesurely fashion because there's time to do it that way....  wonderful.

But man I miss those kids.  I miss them.  Little M reaching up his arms saying "Uppy Mommy" while I'm in the middle of stirring dinner with one hand, clearing the table with the other hand and unloading the dishwasher with one foot.  I miss it.  I do.

Miss H presenting me with craft after craft, picture after picture made with her own little hands.  I miss her.

But tomorrow I will see them again when we drive up to get them.  And I will hug them and kiss them and hug them and kiss them and hug them some more and kiss them some more....'cause I've been saving up a lot of hugs and kisses with their names on them. 

And it feels wonderful to have patience restored.  And humor restored.  A fresh start for a fresh year.

Merry Chistmas!

...how's that for an obvious Post Title, eh!?

It's Christmas Day evening; one little one has been asleep for an hour or so, the next one will be in bed in the next 20 minutes...the day has wound done and I'm kinda looking around me thinking, HUH?  Where did Christmas go?  It was here a day ago....a month ago...and suddenly it's just sorta....over.  Well, not really because we do have one more family dinner tomorrow with more presents and all, but that feels a bit auxillary already now, too.

Not that this wasn't an amazing Christmas - don't get me wrong!  Between the Stanley Park Miniature Train, Granville Island and the German Christmas Market ... Christmas Eve with extended family and Christmas Day just the four of us...well, it's just been plain fantastic.

This morning H was bouncing around in our bed at 6:00am trying to be still and trying to be quiet - both quite unsuccessfully.  We managed to stay in our beds until 6:45am because we made her wait until the little boy was awake, too, before we all went downstairs. 

"Merry Chrisssmass  Everyboboby"  little M kept saying.  When he was opening every gift he would give his big dramatic gasp....it was wonderful.

Last night on Christmas Eve Miss H was in our church's kids program - she landed the gig of head angel.  And she nailed her lines, she really did.  Our star.  **sniff**

The thing I love about the church I go to is it's total unprententiousness.  For the children's play, it was the homemade costumes...the random kids on the stage...I loved every little bit of un-perfected-ness about it.  It was fabulous. 

Afterwards it was back to our house for dessert and presents.  And oh was there presents!

Not sure why, but no one seems super happy here....

My niece: "Auntie, no this doesn't feel right"

"Ahh, that's better!" 

Ahahaha...this girl kills me.  Well, I'm off to read a chapter of "On the Banks of Plum Creek" to Miss H and then I will continue reading "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" on my NEW KOBO that my awesome, awesome, super duper awesome, did I mention AWESOME! husband gave me for Christmas (among other very wonderful things!  Thank you, honey!!! xoxox) 

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas also....my very best, best wishes go out to you on this very Special Day.

Christmas Vacation - Day Two

Ahhh...now we're really into the swing of the whole vacation thing....sleeping in til, like, 7:00am!  Napping....  yup, life is good! 

In the afternoon after nap time we packed up and headed downtown - we wanted to do a little shopping, have some dinner and then head to Bright Nights at Stanley Park since we had bought tickets for the Miniature Train Ride.

We got downtown around 4:00pm but by the time we had found a parking spot in the South Granville area, all we had time for was one stop and the most crowded Pier One shop I have ever been in.  Not with people but with stuff.   Specifically Christmas Stuff!   Floor to ceiling Christmas stuff!!  We left with a few little toys to entertain the kids during dinner and then we went to Earls, which is Miss H's favourite restaurant because of their Fettucine Alfredo.  It's to die for, according to her.

We left for Stanley Park straight after dinner and then's when the real fun started!  The weather was just perfect, there was (get this!)  FREE parking!!!  And we found a good spot quite quickly to boot! 

We had an awesome time and were sorry to have to leave but M's bedtime called and things go bad quickly when that call is ignored.

M was sad to leave too, but quickly cheered up when we told him we would be back downtown again the next day - Granville Island and the Van Dusen display of lights are up next!

Over and out...

Christmas Vacation - Day One

The day started out early, as usual, with two small bodies cramming into our bed, or should I more specifically state, my side of the bed.  It must look a sight - Aven on his side of the king size bed with all the room in the world and then me and the two kidlets all shoved together on my side of the bed.  Quite unfairly distributed, I think.  We have the Perfect Serta Sleeper which has this memory foam that basically keeps your body shape indented into the bed, so what happens is a little nest forms which is sooo comfy.  If you're by yourself, that is.  If there's more than one of you what happens is that everyone rolls into the middle of this little nest and only the person in the middle is comfy because everyone else is on a slope.  Excluding Aven of course because he is all alone in his nest on his side of the bed. 

But I digress.

We (that is me and the kids) were up and downstairs by 6:30am and I made pancakes and sausages for breakfast as a little "yay we're on vacation" sort of breakfast. 

Then we washed and dressed and headed out the door to bring Miss H to her favourite Auntie Katie's house where she would be spending the day (and possibly night).  Miss H loves to spend the day with Auntie Katie because they do fun stuff like fishing with marshmallows.  Who wouldn't love that?

Then it was home for the rest of us 'cause I had a mountain - well, truthfully, several mountains of laundry to do and other un-fun things of that nature...

Aven went out to wash his truck and after finishing that decided to stop in at his personal ATM, as he calls it.  Actually I think the real name is the Casino...and with his fabulous luck came home with a wad of cash to spend!  Woot!

So off to Fort Langley we went to see what we could spend it on but all we came home with was a few Christmas Ornaments and some new knobs for Miss H's dresser. 

Now here we are - M's in bed, Aven's watching Monday Night Football and I am chandelier shopping.  We have a chandelier, but Lord is it ugly.  And not just ugly put completely unmemorable.  And it hangs off-center in our dining room.   It's silver with frosted glass shades and has spokes like a wagon wheel.  It's modern in feel and I'm not modern at all.  It suits me not the least little bit.  And sadly, all the lights in our entire house are in the same family as this chandelier.  We've lived here almost five years at this house now with these lights that were the builder's choice.  And while we've disliked them the entire time, it's really hard to just change one light, because then the other won't match.  And not only that it's hard to spend money on something that really we could just live with it.  It's not like their broken and don't work (unfortunately). 
But now that we have this bit of extra money and we're hosting Christmas Dinner this year...maybe it's time to finally give the dining room chandelier and the pendant lights above the kitchen island the heave-ho. 

Hence the chandelier shopping.  This is what I've been doing while Aven alternately cheers and groans to his football game...I think he's cheering for the 49ers but who knows if their winning or not.   And apparently the lights keep going out at the stadium.  Wierd. 

So I've looked at 3461 chandeliers at design lighting and I have found two that I like.  Well, more, but only two that we can afford that I like.  I want something big because we have a big dining table and I want a light that will balance it.  But I don't want a big heavy, fussy thing.  I want some sparkle but not overdone.  I want it to look like it cost $2,000 but I don't really want to pay more than $500.00.  Is this so much to ask?  Apparently.  I really do like this one chandelier from Chintz....

...but Aven's not big on the birds.  You know the birds are the reason I love this chandelier, right? 

And I love the antique-y look of this one...

But it's missing the bling factor for me.

I love the unexpectedness of this one...but maybe it's a little dark for me.  We don't have a big house so I need to keep it open and bright.

What do you think?  Do any of these chandeliers grab you?  I actually found a chandelier at Design Lighting that I quite like, but for some reason the site doesn't allow me to download pictures.  So here's the link...
http://designlightingca.xolights.com/Lighting_Fixtures?itemNumVal=6Y1U&accordionPane=0

I think we'll try to go look at a few of these in person tomorrow.  If and when we do purchase and install one, I'll be sure to take photos to get your opinions!

So Tired ....and Happy

Pretty much the only thing that got me out of bed this morning was the thought that this was the last time I would have to drag my sorry self out of bed this early for the rest of the year.

Granted the ‘rest of the year’ consists of only two weeks, but baby, that is more than enough time. 

I get up at a ridiculous time – 4:10am to be exact.  Yech, just looking at that makes me want to heave.  But, nonetheless, that’s my wake up time.  I’m out the door by 4:50am (most days) and at my desk by 5:30am (mostly).  Haha – I have to add those mostly’s in there because there are some days – at least one a week – where I just can’t make it out the door or to my desk by those times…

Why do I start so early?  That’s a really good question – one that I answer to myself frequently to remind me of WHY I do this to myself. 

Reason #1 – By starting at 5:30am, I can be back out of the office by 2:00pm which gives me enough time to whip over to my daughter’s school to pick her up.  I love picking her up from school…her big hug, her excitement of what happened that day, what ‘Devon’ (her alternately mortal enemy/true love) did that day, what she played at recess, etc.  Love. It. 

Reason #2 – It shortens the amount of time our kids are with the nanny and lengthens the time they are in either mine or my husbands care. 

Reason #3 – I’m home before my son wakes up from his nap and I get the ‘Mommy!  Mommy!’ excitement from him!  Ech – apparently I’m an excitement junkie.  But I can’t help it.  So we’ll have to let that one go.

Reason #4 – There is like, zero traffic at 5:00am.  It takes me a little under half an hour to get to work at 5:00am.  It takes a little over an hour to get to work anytime past 6:30am.  Nuff said.  Ok.  Not enough – I really have to add that sitting in traffic is right up there as one of the biggest time wasters, life drainers of all time.  I will do pretty much anything to avoid sitting in traffic.

Reason #5 - Any shift that starts before 6:00am is designated a ‘premium shift’ and receives an extra $1.65 per hour in pay.  Ummm…..ok.  That’s a no-brainer!

Reason # 6 – The milk industry is all about the early start so it really works for me to be in early and allows me to get a jump on payroll, etc, plus we’re open 24 hours and being in early allows me to connect with the guys who work the night shift because I can see them before they go home plus I see all the day shift guys, too.  So it really works for my job – which, if you were wondering is the office manager – but payroll and HR also fall within my job description.

With all that said, it still means I have to drag myself out of bed REALLY Early.  And usually its fine – I mean, by Friday I’m usually really tired because to get 8 hours of sleep (and I’m one of those people that needs 8 hours) I should really be in bed and asleep by 8:00pm.  AHAHAHAHAHA…….right.  Sorry….I’ll get hold of myself.  It’s just the thought of that actually happening….well, it’s almost ridiculous.  I mean, after dinner is made and cleaned up, kids bathed, lunches packed, bags packed, tomorrow prepped….well… it’s rarely before 8:00pm.  There is the off evening when my eye bags are dragging on the floor my wonderful husband will kindly offer to take care of the kids for the evening and suggests I get to bed early.  Which I with no hesitation take him up on. 

So that’s how things are when I’m sleeping straight through from say 9:00pm-ish to 4:00am-ish.  A solid 7 hours a night. 

But lately things have been different because M (our little son) is now in a toddler bed.  When we first put him in the bed that was fine because we closed his door all the way and he would just stay in his bed and everyone was good.

However, since he’s been potty training – like the last 4 weeks – we’ve had to leave his door open so that if he needs to go to the washroom in the night he can come and get me because he still needs help getting his clothes off and getting on the toilet.

This is good and needed, but M is no dummy and he has discovered how cozy Mommy and Daddy’s bed is…so now I will wake up because there’s this little body squashed in beside me.  I’ll bring him back to his bed and snuggle him back in and then 2 hours later, surprise, surprise, he’s back!  That’s when I tell Aven it’s his turn. J  After that M usually stays in his bed ‘til morning but I never really fall back to sleep after that last interruption.  Cause really, I have to get up in one and a half hours! 

All this to say….I’m really tired.  And that’s why it was just so hard to get out of bed this morning.  It hurts behind my eyes.  But I will suck it up and act like I got energy baby, ‘cause I need energy.  And tonight is Aven’s Work Christmas Party, so not only do I have to get through the day, I gotta get dolled up tonight and schmooze.  And try not to snooze.  Haha.  Schmooze not snooze.  That’s my theme for tonight.  Wish me luck!

For The Love of Blogging

You know, I had discontinued my old blog a few months back because I just did not have the time nor inclination to post and it bothered me to have this blog sitting there, waiting.  Waiting for thoughts that there was just no time to post.  And then I felt guilty.  Oh the guilt.  Imagining all you people out there checking the blog and seeing the post that they've seen ten thousand times still as the latest post.  And imagining your disgust at my lack of post.  Ack.  It was just too much for me to bear and the easiest thing for me to do was delete the blog.

And the relief I felt was absolutely lovely. 

But the problem is, I have become used to to sharing my thoughts with the world at large.  And when I see something funny, or scarey, or disgusting, or just plain wierd, I immediately start writing a post in my head.   Now the only thing worse than having guilt about not posting is wanting to share a thought and not having a venue to post it.  So it rattles around in my brain and then I feel bad that I'm holding out these fabulous thoughts from you all - haha.  I hope you could all see the tongue firmly in my cheek there.

But seriously...

I have stuff I need to share! 

Like...today I told my boss he was chintzy for handing out  $20 gift cards as our Christmas Bonus this year.... haha - how does one recover from something like this??? 

And yesterday was the retiree's Christmas Lunch and Horrible Office Girl returned with a special snub for us, even though she's been retired for two years....like she must have been staying up nights to dream this up....

And last week I saw a prim and proper middle age man driving a Honda Civic with a Taylor Swift Fan Club lisence plate frame - what do you make of that???

And our dishwasher repair guy issues....to much detail to go into right now but lawd have mercy I need to share...

So right, back on track here....I hope to post more frequently and sometimes it might even be interesting!