We've taken on a lot, and somehow managed to stay in tact. Living life now as a family of 4!

Ok, so I fell off the blogging bandwagon for a while, but I didn't mean for it to go on THIS long without a post. In fact, I have a half-written one waiting to be finished and published, with pictures and everything!, but it will have to wait. Jake and I have both been struck down in our prime with a nasty little bug that likes to weaken you, then let you think you're better, then move in for the kill. We're going on 2 weeks now of one or both of us feeling anywhere from 'under the weather' to 'surely death would be less painful'. I won't go into too many gory details, but I will say this: given the choice, I'd choose durchfall over upchucking any day of the week. I haven't been sick like this in a long time, and to be honest, I'm a little surprised that it took this long to hit - I thought after the year of insanity we had I'd get crazy-sick a lot earlier. It has also been (although not so much today) CRAZY-COLD here. -40 with wind...

It's hard to characterize a trip to summer in the middle of winter without falling back on worn-out phrases and descriptions: 'It was hot', 'It was nice', 'It was summer'. I've been thinking about what to write about this trip - probably the only one like it we will ever take  - and been having a having a hard time with how to present it. It was fun, extravagant, relaxing, sometimes ridiculous, entertaining, quiet, an adventure-but-a-tame-one. I think, though, all of the food and booze and nice accoutrements aside, the biggest thing about a warm vacation in the middle of winter is the feeling of air and water on skin. It feels so luxurious to walk out of your room into the warmth, miles of skin exposed to the air a mere 6 hours after you left -30 degrees where ALL your skin was cloaked in multiple layers of natural and synthetic fabrics to prevent it from freezing. Never has it been clearer to me that what is hard about winter isn't necessarily t...

I feel like I can taste this upcoming vacation. It tastes like hot apple cider, sleep, pepper nuts and delicious food in Mexico that I haven't tasted yet. These days I feel a strange combination of energy and exhaustion. On the weekend and in the evenings I move from one task to the next (candles! cookies! Wrapping and shipping! Choosing! Shopping! Planning! Laundry!) with enthusiasm that has Jake exhausted, unbelievably. Usually it's the other way around. At work during the day, however, I'm just barely hanging on. I need a break from the kids, from the drama, from the constant problem solving and crisis management. Example: Yesterday, Grade-8-Girl-A came into my room very upset and wanting to talk. Considering she usually just acts out, this is a big deal. She proceeds to tell me that she is being bullied by Grade-8-Girls B,C, and D, who are in the same class. She feels lonely, she's cutting herself again, she's throwing up her food, she's so desperately u...

Jake is already sick of hearing me talk about this, and I am (obviously) soo excited about it, I have to bring it to you, my internet friends. Plus, I took more pictures than necessary. I'm making candles! Beeswax ones! I love love love beeswax candles, but they are so expensive! You know what's cheaper? Buying beeswax and then making them yourself. Plus, it's fun. However, beyond the rolled beeswax candles we made for the wedding, I haven't really ever made candles. However, I have watched a youtube video or two, so I figured I could trouble shoot whatever I needed to. Very first, I had to figure out how to get the huge hunk of wax (not pictured) into smaller, melt-a-ble chunks. A hammer and old chisel did the trick on that score. Then, I gave a chipped measuring cup new life as my wax cup. Perfect! I knew that wax should be melted in a double-boiler-kind-of-way, and that in theory, the method of putting a glass measuring cup in boiling water should work (I don...

On Saturday I went to one of my favourite places in the world. I always find what I want, or they custom-tailor something that is almost right to fit. It's amazing, especially considering that I normally feel that pants shopping is the worst of all the kinds of shopping. Let's just say that my body does not conform to the North American ideal of size and shape. Except at Sargent Avenue Blue Jeans . Shopping there is like nothing I have ever experienced anywhere. First of all, if you look at that link, you'll notice that it isn't anything special from the outside. In fact, the first time I went there I thought I might be walking into a mafia den (which, let's be honest, it may still well be) - there are no windows, bars on all doors and (covered) windows, and it's in a bit of a dodgy area. When you get inside, you are greeted with pile upon pile of every imaginable make and model of blue jeans. (Full disclosure: I snapped these pictures surreptitiously with m...

So November is over! And I did not write every day. I did come close, though. In my defence, I ran out of creative juices. On Friday I sent a text to a coworker that said 'That payed off!' and although I knew that it was not quite correct, I could not for the life of me identify what I had spelled wrong. Yup. THAT tired. Yesterday was a very exciting day. We went to Southern MB to pick up our new dishes! They were a gift from a whole host of people and they are GORGEOUS. If you want a beautiful handmade set of dishes, this is the way to go. I'll have to blog more about that another time. With pictures. We also hung out with L's mom, and I was able to talk myself into getting a bag of her poppy-cock (caramel covered popcorn with nuts), which is quite frankly the very best version of this I have ever had. It's all in the caramel. In the evening people came over and we had tea and talked and laughed and it was delightful. LOVE LOVE LOVE the house even more on the...

That's pretty much all I wanted to say. And also that today after work I sat in front of the fire again - for a while with Jake and for a while with Kerry, and it was glorious. All the more so because Kerry and I ate vanilla ice cream with roasted, salted peanuts which is my new favourite snack and is also the reason that after this ice cream is gone, we can not buy any more. Vaguely related question: where do you think we could find men's summery, light-in-colour-and-material pants for Jakerella? He's gonna need some for our vacay because we are going to a place that is about 4 stars above our personal swank-level. I wore sweats and an old t-shirt from value village to work today, for reference. In my defense, I did teach gym. FRIDAY!!!!  I LOVE YOU!!!