Seriously, where is my time going?

All spring we waited for the warm weather to arrive - next week, summer will be here, we kept saying to each other. Now that it's the end of July, we're asking ourselves where did the summer go? Always waiting for the next thing to happen, never enjoying what we currently have. :)

We had a flood at the end of June, which has meant most weekends being wrapped up in house renovations and demolition. We decided to take over the upstairs, which originally was going to be a slow process - a set of stairs here, new gyproc there, flooring another time. However, with the flood it has sped up the process. Now we're doing new insulation, walls, electrical, flooring, stairs. All at once. Needless to say, the summer is disappearing not because of all the fun plans we could have made camping, barbecuing and visiting friends - it's all about demolition, baby. At least taking down walls with a wrecking bar is strangely soothing and I've had the satisfaction of knowing that I can figure out how to insulate a house. The kids are so excited - finally rooms to themselves and a rec room. Our youngest is devastated - he can't imagine not sharing a room with someone.

I met with a new instructor today and I was a bit nervous about it. She's incredibly experienced in her field, has done training for years, is in senior management and I was going to hire her for a little course we're offering in the fall. On my trip back home from my meeting, I realized that, even at the ripe old age of 34, I'm still afraid of rejection and that was the basis of my nervousness. My kids, although outgoing and social, are afraid of rejection, and we tell them it's ok, brush it off and keep on going. And yet, at my age, it still bothers me. It's funny to think that , deep down, we all just want to be liked for who and what we are and it all could be as simple as that.

Home alone

Hubby is off on a camping trip with our eldest son and his class tonight. Isn't he a lucky guy? LOL I can just imagine what it's like camping with 25 grade 4 and 5 students at the end of June. He'll be lucky to get any sleep tonight.

I've been working from home today and have managed to get a lot done. My youngest spent the day with me and he's been great. Playing lego next to me, watching tv, doing crafts. I always find it funny how it can be so quiet in the house with only one child but when the others come home, all hell breaks loose. Little Miss Drama Queen just came home and the fighting has already started. It only took 3 minutes to get going. Guess I should see what it's all about!

We're having a summer solstice barbeque on Saturday. I've been wanting to have one for years - finally I have my plans together enough to have one! It's going to be great... :)

Creating my own entertainment

What's sadder than getting drunk on a Friday night while living your life through other people's blogs? Not sure, but that's my form of entertainment on a Friday night. The kids are watching a movie (not sure what it's called but there's no nudity or swearing, so I'm safe) while I'm trying to find some form of entertainment while I have no life for a Friday night. I'm trying to convince my sister to come visit me but supper is her priority at the moment. By the time she gets here, I just might be comatose. Or, have enough energy to head out for another drink or two.

The daily grind

We're back from holidays and back into the full swing of things. Disneyland was amazing and the kids had so much time. I have to admit that I was worried about the trip - what would the flight be like with 3 small kids, what will it be like with my parents for the week, going through customs (why does US Customs stress me out?), are they going to be brats while waiting in the lineups, are they going to be able to handle the crowds and walking all day. Most of my worrying was for nothing (they fought all the time!) and it was a great family trip.

The only thing is before leaving I was dealing with a broken transmission in my van and a broken brand new washing machine. Three kids and no washing machine for 10 days does not make me a happy camper. The van will be fixed and back in my hands tomorrow at the low cost of $5600. I love my van so the cost is worth it but it still hurts the same. At least the washing machine was replaced for free.

Another difficult part about vacations is the work that goes in before leaving and work that occurs once you get home. It's programming time right now and I'm trying to think up of new ideas that would get people interested in taking a course through us. I have a few but have the pressure to create more. Any ideas? The nice thing about having work that piles up is I get to go to the office at night to catch up - the silence is wonderful. It's worth working late if I don't have to deal with the cranky bedtime thing (the witching hour!).

Anyways, my gym workouts fell to the sidelines while on holidays so I'm trying to get back into them. It's late so if I don't go now...

And if anyone is still visiting my blogs for knitting content, as you can tell, there's none. Too busy! :)

Just say no to crack

After, what seems to be, an impossibly long winter, it's been hot enough this long weekend to head to the beach. I took the kids to the beach on Friday afternoon where we played in the sand and the kids braved the water. They spent most of their time jumping into the water, screaming that it was cold and then jumping out. Considering we had snow only a few weeks ago, it's pretty much a given that the water is still cold! As usual, my youngest had issues with keeping his pants on. That poor kid - his bum issues will never allow him to keep up a pair of pants.

It's been a great long weekend so far. We went to a friends' place on Saturday night and drank and played poker into the wee hours of the morning. The kids stayed there and played with the other kids and crashed with the kids. Just a big giant sleepover for them! We had friends over last night for a bbq and relaxed in front of the new outdoor fire pit that hubby bought for me for Mother's Day. I forgot how nice it was to have friends over, relax and enjoy company. We really have to do it more often.

I ran 10 km Saturday morning in 70 minutes Saturday morning. Finally - I did it! I was quite impressed...next step half marathon?

Our washer woes have began again with a new washer. We have bad appliance karma - doesn't matter what we buy, what kind of research we do, we always get a lemon. We bought a new front load washer and dryer in February. This morning the washer gave us an error code, which, according to my research, is a circuit board issue. I called Sears repair and we have a repair date for 4 days from now between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. I don't think the lady on the other end appreciated the fact I killed myself laughing over that one.

If April Showers bring May flowers...

what do May flowers bring?

Pilgrims! Ha...I do love that joke. Still like it, even after all these years. I think I heard that one when I was in grade four.

May has finally arrived and brought spring with it. Thank god. If it threatened to snow another day I was going to freak. I even thought about cross country skiing this weekend as it's supposed to be amazing on the hill but it was 22 degrees on Sunday - why give that up for snow?

I started working part time as of last week and it's different. I got into the routine of working full time quite easily - the family goes crazy busy for the week and then we play all weekend. Now I have spare time back on my hands again and I have to admit...it's kind of boring. Either that or I was so addicted to the frenzy we were living that actually living something of a normal life feels too slow. I'm starting to look for things to do in the evening just to fill up my time again. Given I've been working part-time only for 3 days, I should probably give myself a break.

The family has been hit with the stomach flu and so far only one of the kids have been hit hard. I'm trying to dodge the puke bullet - I hate the stomach flu with a passion. I'll change crappy diapers in a heartbeat over cleaning puke up. I don't think that will win me the mother of the year award but I really don't care! :)

I went for another long run this weekend and attempted to increase my distance but thankfully ran out of time. I ran the same distance as the weekend before (5.8 miles!) and want to run 6.2 miles but will when I think I'm ready.

Oh, and the big news for me? I got my belly button pierced on Friday. :) Took me many years to get the courage but here it is!

Blah...

I'm in a blah mood today. It started off by having a disturbing dream (not scary, just thought provoking) and instead of getting an opportunity to have peace and quiet first thing in the morning, the house decided to wake up at the same time as me. No chance to think about my dream.

Then, work was boring and uneventful, and I can honestly say that the highlight of the day was being able to go to the gym at lunch. How's that for exciting?

The great thing is I don't have to cook tonight. It's the wrap up dinner for the judo club so at least I get to eat other people's potluck meals and sushi.

So, not that I have a day to complain about, it just wasn't a great day. Just blah.

What? Sun??

It's been a gloriously warm day today - I think spring has truly arrived. I went for a long run this morning and it was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, no wind and it was warm. It's been such a long winter! My long run was the best run I've ever done - 5.8 miles in 60 minutes. 9.33 km! I have to admit I was hoping for 10 km but I wasn't too sure how long the route I was running was. I've mapped out an additional bit so that the next time I go for a long run (next weekend!) I'll run 10 km. Maybe in less than an hour?

Today was soccer mom hell - soccer for Monkey Boy this morning, soccer pictures for Drama Queen at 1 and then soccer game for Mr. Bossy Pants at 3 p.m. We tagged teamed it today - I was done with soccer by the time pictures were done today.

Heading out for a surprise party tonight - looking forward to it. Haven't been out in ages!

As for knitting - which is one of the main reasons why I post...haven't done it. Haven't picked it up in ages. But, I'm moving down to part time work next month, so maybe I'll have time then?

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

This is the image we woke up to yesterday morning. Yes...to snow. Forget that it was April 19th yesterday and it's been officially spring for almost a month. For some crazy reason, it decided to snow almost 3" yesterday. Thankfully it didn't stick but it sure was disappointing.

So, due to the snow, I had to make new plans with the kids. Soccer and snow don't seem to go hand in hand. We ended up going to the rec centre for the public swim. Oh, how I love the public swim. Not. Hordes of people, mass quantities of little children peeing in the pool...fun. Although, I do have to admit my favourite part is watching the teeny boppers do their parade around the pool. Little Johnny is checking out Little Suzy, while Little Suzy is giggling to her friends about Little Bobby across the pool. Young love...so cute but I'm so glad to have that have been long gone in my life! LOL

Thankfully today is a sunny day and there's only remnants of snow left on the ground. Even though it's cold, I'm going to take the kids for a hike. There is only so much time I can spend cooped up in the house listening to the fights before I go crazy!

Yawn...

It's 5;30 in the morning...woke up after having a dream about spiders in my bed. Who can sleep after thinking you're sleeping with big, fat spiders? *shudder*

It's been crazy busy lately and haven't done much, if any, knitting. Then again, if I keep waking up at 5:10 then I'll have much more time to myself to be doing those kind of things! Between soccer, judo, work and the kids, I'm pretty much collapsing in bed at the end of the night.

Work has changed, again, and my role is evolving into something different. I'm quite excited about the whole prospect. I'm moving away from managing the day to day programs and strictly doing new program development. A part of me is a bit sad - I love dealing with students (even the hard ones) but I'm very excited at the prospect that I get to develop programs and that it's my only focus. It's like being able to start up a new business, everyday. Hopefully I'll have enough creativity to think up new things on a regular basis!

I'm going to test for my orange belt next week. I have to laugh to think that I have to study for it (what's left in Japanese?). I'll be all anxious and over study for it.