Pictures

Abby and Papa after her baptism. A very happy day! (Dad's suits apparantly have not been returned from the cleaners).
This was over Easter, I think. We had a fun dinner, and Anders came later to pick up mom. An Anders sighting! That was memorable.
This is how Abby and Mina slept for the first 2 weeks in our new house. They took a while to get used to sleeping alone. Pretty sweet, they really do love eachother.
Here is one of the many diarama's Mina leaves all over the house. They are very precise and orderly, and hard to clean up. But deadly to step on.

home! part 2

Here is part 2 of my home tour! Probably I should have cleaned up the house first, but, too bad. Here you see the actual real house, messes and all. (and more than a few unpacked boxes.) Just a side note, it takes forever and a day to upload a video! sheesh.

Home! part 1

argh.

I know, still no house pictures, if anyone cares. I have not forgot, one day they shall appear, perhaps.

And I have to say I am a little disenchanted with the blog world these days, kind of annoyed with bloggers in general. I don't really want to be a "blogger", like they are. But since I am writing this on my blog, it is obvious how confused about it I am. Because blogging can be a fun thing. Except when it is not, and everybody's perfect everything just gets irritating, and even their stories of imperfection have a silver lining. gag me.

But that is just how I am feeling today, and I am sure that once I get my house inorder, and finish my projects and stop feeling annoyed with everyone and their dog, (or should I say blog, ha ha) I will be a happy blogger again.

photos

http://www.ctv.ca/gallery/html/slave_lake_wildfire_110516/index_.html

Here is a good photo link of the devastation.

sad

I am sad. Much of my hometown is burning to the ground. But now that I have eaten a box of oreo cookies, I feel ready to share some favourite SL memories.

If I could blog the smell of being in the middle of the boreal forest, where the trees come up to the edge of the highway and go on as far as you can see. That is a good clean smell. The air is fresher there than anywhere I have ever been, (although now it is probably hard to breathe right now with all the acrid smoke.) Breathing felt better there. Also, I can't blog the sound (although if I looked hard enough, the internets might offer up a sound byte) of the poplar trees in the breeze as I am falling asleep. Only to be crowded out by the frogs and crickets in the yard. They also made a sound before it started to rain. Really, they did. And there are so many stars to see. It gets so dark, I swear you can see them all. SO Bright, so many. And it gets dark there. Actual, pitch dark. Like it never gets in the city. I love those things. They are what make me me.

Quadding through the forest with my friend. Once we stopped in a hay field and climbed up some of the bales. Although I had to do this on the sly because Dad forbid ATV fun because he was so familiar with the injuries they can cause. (but at the time as a mad teenager I just thought he was the fun police.) Snowmobiling was also fun, (and also banned,) especially at the old golf course, or towing us up the tobogganing hill - it was a steep long walk otherwise! There would usually be a bonfire at the bottom, and huge innertubes salvaged from industrial equipment to slide down on. Much safer than the red toboggan, right Betina?

Cruising main street. For hours. (sometimes resulting in complaints to your parents because the muffler on the car was not working!) Stopping at Sev for slurpees and meeting up with people there, because that is where you went to find out what was going on. Everyone showed up sooner or later. Then eventually finding your way to the arena to watch the Wolves play hockey. Holdie's mom was the biggest hockey fan in town! Getting to play keyboard for the hockey band a few times was a blast.

The REX theatre! Did it burn down? It would be irreplaceable. Another box of oreos may have to be sacrificed. Would they rebuild it the same way? With the shag on the walls, the sticky floors, the mismatched seats, and old benches from the highschool up in front? With the best orange slushies know to mankind? Where someone always announced what movie was playing "next Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 8"? the "upstairs" where many sorts of unapproved behaviour went on? (I never sat there!!). The old cash register the guy in the booth had? Only $5.50 to get a ticket.

Skiing at grizzly ridge. (although that has been gone for a while now.) Kevin's attempt to teach me moguls. Come to think of it, his attempt to teach me how to drive ended up just as badly! Driving adventures in the winter. meeting the ditch many times on the Mitsue road, and getting the neighbour to tow us out.

The beach. So many beach memories. In the winter that time laying in the snow in the dark watching the Northern Lights dance around the lake. Words cannot even describe how that feels. That was my favourite. My next favourite is bringing my own kids there. My mom being the only one brave enough to go all the way under before the water warms up (not until August!). Swimming all the way out to the raft and diving off of it. Riding bikes to the beach. Running there as part of Mr. C's torturous phys ed. class.

Jumping into the river from the bridge. One particular time, hey Michelle? Then having to sit through math class wet and stinky. The time Randy was getting pulled into the weir on the biology class field trip. That place where the road stops where the river joins in to the lake. Parking there and watching all of the big birds. Laying in the sad close to the airport runway and watching the water bombers fill up. (but for somebbody else's fire, far away.)

$1.99 breakfasts at Acropolois. The Beachway cafe and it's jukebox. Driving around in Nick's mini-jeep with the top down. That time, with the frog. Or was it a toad?

The demo derby!

The moose. That time when we were driving up to the cemetary, and there was the biggest moose we had ever seen and we sat there for half an hour before it decided to move. In hunting season driving through a neighbourhood and seeing a deer draining in every garage. (doors open of course, to show off!) The bear traps by the creek. The time the elk were brought in to help with overpopulation in the Jasper townsite and they all (the elk) found their way to 7-11.

Those are a few of my favourite Slave Lake things. Writing one makes me think of another after another. At 17 years old I could not think of anything better than getting far far away from there, but I think that was just the 17 year old who wanted to be on her own, away from parents... Every time I have gone back I start to think, if only I could stay for a while longer. Breathe the clean northern air, hear the poplars, listen to the waves crashing. And see one more movie at the Rex. Just for the sake of being there.

Phew

Well, the great moving weekend is OVER! Thank goodness. Moving is not a lot of fun, as most of you know. But it is fun to unpack, find new homes for things, make a fresh start. I know that the only thing you want to see is pictures, I'll post some soon. We still have to put together a bed or two, hang window coverings, unpack a few boxes and so on. Then, I'll take some. I did however bake bread and cookies, so it smells like home now! Here are some bullet thoughts about my new house.

• Perfect size. More space, yet I still know where my children are.
• The kitchen layout is far superior to my old house! It is very much the layout of Betina's kitchen, but a bit smaller. I love having the table separated from the workspace by a counter.
• The girls have their own rooms now. For the first 2 nights, Mina slept in Abby's room. Since then Mina has been fine on her own, but Abby has been getting worried at night and crawling in to a camping bed in our room. A little unexpected for sure! But I'm sure things will settle in. Mina's room is actually staying very clean. Because she is hauling all of her collections out and creating her little diorama's all over the house, leaving nothing in the bedroom.
  
• The upstairs toilet is higher than the downstairs toilet. Which causes an unexpected drop when using the one you are not used to yet.
  
• I am not sure I love ceramic stove-top's yet. It takes forever to heat up, and then the surface stays hot a long time afterward.
  
• The vegetable garden I have been dreaming about will not happen this year. The last person had the plot filled with tuberous perennials for about a million years. I need to get some advice about how to deal with this, (help internets!) but I am envisioning a summer filled with digging and roto-tilling to try and make it plantable for next spring. But I do have 4 apple trees, a raspberry patch (I think), and a place where I am going to try strawberries. Plus beds around the house for flowers, and I can always do a few containers. In fact the people left 2 half-barrel planters for me. And I can get a years start on some awesome compost.
  
• I have met 3 neighbours who are all nice, friendly, normal people. Now that I have the oven figured out, cookies and bread will flow to them.

So. Pictures soon. really.

A Story about a Camel and some straws.

Well, it seems the winter spell has (temporarily, because there is always the Easter snowstorm, and then a bit more on May long) broken. Today we awoke to "drip drip dripping" from the For Sale sign that is posted in the front yard. Yes, we are for sale. Actually, pending. we are currently quibbling over details, but will very likely be sold (and then owners of a new house) by Tuesday! Many thing have been happening here! B and N are having a great laugh about the story. I shall share.
"The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back".

Let's see. Where to begin. We live in a "bad" neighbourhood. There is a lot of crime, a lot of people who are on social assistance, a lot of group homes for people who are being rehabilitated from some deviant behaviour or another. Had we known these details, we probably would never have bought this house. But, in blissful ignorance, we did. (Now we know about a fabulous statistic page available that lists all of these things, by neighbourhood!) So we have been here for 5 + years. Only a few bad things happened directly to us. We had car windows broken a couple of times, dog poo all over the lawn, loud kids keeping us up all night because their parents don't care that it is 2 in the AM... Lots of bad things happened around us though. Like the scary night when the 2 rival aborginal gangs armed with garden hoes and shovels met at the intersection in front, the famous motorcycle club that moved in down the block with their mean pit bulls, Police at the drug house several times a week, many a domestic dispute spilling into the alley behind us. Condoms littering the street, likely leftovers from the rub n tug in the apartment building behind us. The local school closed down, and just last week there was an article in the paper about the drug deals and prostitution that go on the the park now. Still, we stayed. Even when a woman's battered, beaten body was left at my daughters bus stop, we stayed. The woman died later that day. I found a short length of rebar on my front lawn. And we stayed. because it was not happening to us, just around us. And we had a wonderfully tiny mortgage, and we found many other reasons to close our eyes, try to ignore it.

But then, the straw. Yes, something finally happened TO us that changed everything. We had some bags of milk jugs in the back yard. We save them up to bring in for a refund, which goes into the girl's savings accounts. Yes, that's horse camp money! And some one just waltzed right into our backyard and took it! Stole from a 7 year old! Well! Keith was furious and announced that he had had enough! So before he could change his mind, I jumped on that wagon, and we listed our house for sale. That was on a Tuesday. We had an offer an Friday, and found a new house Saturday. Whirlwind! Now, we are pending, waiting in limbo for our fates to change. How dramatic. Hopefully I will have an update soon!

Three Very Good Days

Here is a tale of 3 very good days. Which one do you think was the best?

Day #1: Christmas Day. A day of matching jammies made with love, wonderful mystery packages brought by the (cute) Fed Ex delivery man, sleeping late, eating junk, with nothing better to do than hanging out with the people you love best. Always a very good day.

Day #2: The day we ate these cinnamon buns. Lets try a link. That was my first time, I hope it worked. These rolls were the absolute best cinnamon buns I have ever made or eaten. I did not add the nuts or raisins, but I'm sure they would be good that way too. The recipe only makes 8, but they are so incredibly rich that 8 is plenty.

Day#3: The day the snowplow was dispatched to our street. Oh glorious day. The ice ruts were so big, the poor little toyota was bottoming out trying to slide into our parking spot. The ruts were so lumpy that I had to carry Mina across the street because her little legs were not long enough to clear the bumps. Before entering the street you had to say a little prayer that there would not be any oncoming traffic because if there was, there would most certainly be a collision. Some nights, people would get stuck and just abandon their cars. Resulting in a church holiday as there was no way past or around. Sigh. Maybe my defecting sisters have the meterological advantage here. Needless to say, the day the snowplow came to 79 street was quite an event. All the neighbourhood children, and men, were watching. Shovels in hand, waiting to clear the pathways of ice chunks. Glory be. Now there is (almost flat) pavement. This might be my favourite day.

Danger, danger is lurking...

So what does it mean when you are asked personally to attend the "teaching - no greater calling" series at church, and then later that very day the ward music person asks me "so how is your calling going? Are you still enjoying it?" and so forth. I am afraid to answer the phone or the doorbell, or make eye contact with the Bishop. There, I said it. I am a chicken. Maybe it was just a coincidence. We shall see.

Wednesday

Hello. I was just online, complaining because the blogs I like to read have not been updated! So I thought perhaps I should update mine, even though no one really reads it. And also not much has been going on here. Lets see. Mina is sick, she has been puking for 3 days. But her breakfast of water and green jello has not yet made a reappearance, so there is a light at the end of the tunnel. The tunnel of laundry that a mother must to after a pukey week. And now of course I am feeling ill... great. Abby and Mina have been real troopers - we have been waking them up at 5:45 on my work days, so that Keith and I can get to school/work on time. It is a terrible thing to have to do to your kids, but happily it is temporary only 5 1/2 more weeks of it. Then Keith will be done school and officially a Journeyman. Then we can begin the next big life plan, whatever that will be. Also I will have a car again for my days off.. Being a one car family is certainly a learning experience. I am house bound on my days off, and because it has been so cold, I am going more then a little bit crazy. So, that's it. My update. Now to do some more laundry.

Holiday Mash Up

Christmas is so much fun. We are having a lovely time here on the veranda this year. I am quite enjoying my week off from work. I am not even wearing my watch, just timing the day on the kids and the activities we are doing. Today was swimming at the fun pool with friends. The other day Keith built a maze/fort in the backyard for the girls. Although now that it is butt cold again, we haven't used it since... Tomorrow is library/pet shop day. Books for Abby and I, viewing of puppies she will never get for Mina. (sounds kind of sad, but she still can dream...) It was quite a sad moment when I had to inform dear Mina that Santa does not bring live animals for Christmas. Only toys, and sometimes clothes and underwear. Yes, even though he is magic. Poor girl. I heard her little heart break a little bit. We did, however, compensate by visiting a friend's house on Christmas Eve where there were 3 very excited and happy dogs who Mina could run around with and let lick her all night long.

The JW's came to my door again. They visit every few weeks, and are very nice. I like to share words of wisdom from the golden plates with them. Well, today they were telling me all about the myths of Christmas. Usually, when we chat, I do not get offended, and we usually agree some if not all of the things they decide to talk about that week. Well, I finally found out why they do not recognize Christmas. Yes, they do believe in Jesus Christ, and that he was born in a manger and so forth, but, do not celebrate this because "no where in the bible does it say to celebrate this event." My goodness! HF sent an incredibly huge star! It was so big you could not tell day from night! Angels were sent and sang beautiful songs! Shepherds and wise men alike came from near and far! They even brought gifts. Sounds like a celebration to me. I wish I had thought to say this when they were still in my doorway, and not 10 minutes later, which is usually the case with me when it comes to important discussions, arguments, petty disagreements etc. I can never think clearly enough during the conversation and only come back when it is too late. Anyhow.. Here are some of the things we do to celebrate Christmas:

• Make cookies! Stay up late decorating them. Share them with friends, and make sure to have enough to eat at least a dozen of them yourself.
  
• Have a gingerbread house decorating party with the neighbours kids. FUN!
  
• Turkey dinner. 3 this year! I over booked our social schedule in an attempt to keep so busy that I would not notice that my sista's and the cousins were far far away. It did not help. I noticed.
• Have a mini-tree in the girls room so that they can play with and decorate it all season long.
  
• New jammies for Christmas Eve! This year they were homemade princess style.
  
• Tobogganing: still to come, weather dependent.
• Cinnamon buns for breakfast - this will be a New Years day thing this year, I hope to be more organized next time around. I found a recipe where you fold cream cheese into the dough, like the way you add butter and fold/roll when making puff pastry. It looks delish and a bit complicated, and I cannot wait to try it.
• Little presents tucked into the tree. This is something they do in England that Keith's mom did for her kids. So we are carrying on this tradition and it is very fun.
• Online shopping! Three cheers! A friendly, sometimes foreign, fed ex/UPS/Canada Post driver brings parcels right to the door. How wonderful! I really liked this part.
  
• I also really like the "marathons" on TV. Even though I don't get to veg out watching TV long enough for a marathon, I love them, and look forward to a day when I can watch all the Harry Potters back to back.
  

Those are some Christmas things that I like to do with my family. I realize that the bible does not say to specifically do any of those things, but we do it anyway. I love Christmas hymns and carols especially, and nativity sets, and watching my girls act of the Christmas story. I love doing secret giving, and hearing Abby and Mina sing "away in a manger" in their bunk bed, not knowing that I am listening from the hallway. I love knowing that Christ was born, and lived and taught and showed us the way. I am thankful. I will celebrate.

And Then There Was Light!

Yes, and then there was light. Created by my former Christmas (almost) grinch, Disney suspicious, husband. Now he has not only been to the happiest place on earth no less than 3 times, but has also, with no prodding, pleading, nagging or asking by his Christmas fanatic wife, purchased and installed Christmas lights on our humble abode! I must say, I am very thrilled. We have only ever had them over the door before, because that was all I could reach with the small ladder. But, lo and behold, this year we are the brightest house on the block! One of the best things about living here, when it is dark by the crack of 4:47 PM, is that we get to enjoy the Christmas lights that much longer. I have always loved Christmas lights, and now I have some too. Best Christmas gift ever. Thanks Keith. You are the best.

and so the seasons turn.

...for the worse, Keith would say. And there are some things I agree with him about. Such as:

• Driving the short distance from the grocery store to your home causes all of your fresh produce to freeze and it is ruined. We will die of scurvy! I imagine having to crawl back to the store on my rickety legs, and eating raw potato's from the shelf.
  
• Blinking while outdoors is hazardous. Every time you do, your eyelashes freeze together, and when your eyes open, at least a few of them have ripped out. But you don't feel it, because your skin is frozen. Soon, we will all look like we have alopecia.
  
• Having to really consider whether or not to adjust the rear view mirror in the car. Choosing not to, because if you do, the plastic will very likely break (just like that time the door handle snapped off) and then you won't have a mirror at all. So you drive like Quasimoto attempting to see out the back window when having to change lanes.

These things, and others, make winter awful. But there are also some very great things, and I was trying to convince Keith of this the other day.

• In the morning, early, walking to the train. No one else is around, and yours are the only footprints. It is dark, the sky is clear and there are more stars then you remember, and it is so quiet because of the new snow which is crunchy and sparkling.
  
• The sharp intake of excited breath from the kids, who on seeing the new snow want to go outside immediately, even with jammies on under their snowpants to go and play in it.
  
• Christmas lights. Although those inflatables really annoy me.
  
• My birthday.
• Tobogganing down very dangerous hills. Hot chocolate in a thermos.
  
• The sound of shovels scraping all around your neighborhood. It echo's at night and everyone sounds so industrious.
• Having an unspoken contest with your neighbour to see who can shovel each other's sidewalk the most.
  
• Seeing the city lights when driving at night, well, anytime after 4:30 when it is dark, always reminds me of driving to Calgary at Christmas time and we would be sleepy and excited, and we would drive over that last hill and there would be this sea of city lights in front of us and we knew we were there.
  

And those are a few of my favourite things.

In Lieu of Halloween

Here is Georgia, who I am smitten with. She wanted to play with ME, not her mom! I think I now qualify as a fun favourite Auntie!
And here, Big and Little Red have a fun game of peek-a-boo. Again, very cute.
Ah, the Hogwart's express, with Oakley wandering off to do his own thing. Oh Oakley, we should implant you with a GPS microchip.
Eden and Abby together. They were so nice to eachother the whole time! I expected some girlie disagreements, but nope, they were both very happy and sharing the whole time! I am one proud mamma!
Ah, the Butterbeer. That alone is reason to go back again. Butter beer is like a rootbeer float, but with a butterscotch/caramel flavour. Very good!

We had a great time in Orlando, and accomplished some excellent cousin bonding. Thank you Dad for a wonderful fun trip! Everyone had a blast, and many great memories were made.

The Great Wind

Here is a funny story about my dear husband. He works very hard, and does many different things during the day. Yesterday, he found himself on top of an industrial building's roof, and a great wind came up. The great wind blew down his ladder and he was stranded on the top of the roof. Luckily, he was rescued not too long after the great wind. The End.

My day at work was not nearly as interesting. However I did sneeze really hard, and got a bloody nose. So I had so sit in the back and wait for it to stop. Very embarrassing and inconvenient. I like to think that perhaps Keith was stranded on the roof, and I was sitting in the staff room bleeding at the same time. Ahh, bonding.

The Cute Little Old Lady in the Mall

You know how strangers will observe you and your children, and find that they really must go up to you, even though they don't know you from Adam!, and deliver some obviously much needed advice? When my girls were babies and toddlers (sigh), I very often got: "you know, you should really out some mittens on your poor child". Because I am such a dummy that I obviously want my kids to loose their fingers to frostbite. But really I had just put mittens on them 8 times walking down one block and had finally given up. Often people would comment, or raise their eyebrows about how and what I fed my kids. Usually it was something related to nursing my babies. Even then, I did not react emotionally, I am pretty levelheaded about these things. Even when strangers are stupid, they usually do not mean any harm.

Today Mina and I went to the mall with a friend (Yay! I have a friend!!) and her girls. Mina had a knock-down drag-out tantrum. I had finally caught up to her and brought her to a bench and was holding on to her while she finished her outburst. A little old lady comes over. I think she had been at the mall to get her hair blued. She stoops down to us and hisses to Mina (with perio breath, I might add. NuNu will understand the horrors.)

"YOU MUST BE NICE TO YOUR MOMMY OR I WILL BRING YOU TO THE BAD MEN!!"

Holy crappola! Who says that to their kids? Who says that to other peoples kids? What an awful awful thing to say to a sad and angry little girl and her flustered mother! I could not believe it! Now poor little Mina has another reason to cry. I did not even know what to respond to this wicked witch, so I picked Mina off the bench and carried her to the car assuring her that she could be as bad as she wanted and I would never ever ever take her to a bad man. And that the little old lady was really the wicked witch from Hansel and Gretel. (well, I did not actually say that part..)

So. Watch out for cute little old ladies. Especially the ones with blue hair. There is something unnatural about them.

In Which I Finally Post Some Photos

So that my readers will not be so bored! I have been v. lazy about that. So here we go, although I seem to be impaired as far as labelling and downloading them in order goes. So, bare with me.

see- look! Now the text is below all of the pictures! Sheesh. So, first off is Keith and the girls, on the happy happy celebration of his birth. Which was quite lovely, especially as I finally have my own fenton milk glass cake salver. Why yes, after many tries, I became an ebay winner, and no longer have to covet my sister's cake stand. The solution to covetousness, is to just get your own, (whether it be a cake stand, or your neighbours wife... ha ha...)

And then, Abigael on her first day of grade 2. She has requested that her teacher call her Abigael this year. My, how grown up of her.

And lastly, a sister grouping. We had a fun weekend here before the departure of Bunny to Halifax, and P's imminent departure to DC. She looks happy here, but I think we did not quite fill the void left by her absent husband... If you look closely in the background, you can see my other milk glass aquisition, a 2 tiered desert plate found in an antique mall.

Later I will post some pictures of the parents, yes dad and mom are here this weekend to enjoy the corn fest at my church!. How fun. Taber corn for all, and a display of peoples talents - I am going to display my wedding dress. Now I must be off to make sure that mom does not eat all of the sugar I have in the house.

2 random thoughts, and one confession.

• Sometimes I think it would be funny if we (we meaning people with weird names) changed our names to the words that spell check thinks that we mean. My top two alternative spell check names are: serene and veranda. I rather like to think of myself as Serene Veranda when I am blogging, or sending e mails, or signing my name to anything that has spell check enabled. When I google my name, I end up with stories about a racehorse, and pictures of a porno model, who uses my name as a stage/print name, or Axel Rose's ex wife. Which is a bit funny because in high school, I could do a great Axel impersonation.
• A recent Mina conversation: M: mom, what are these holes in my nose called? S.V.: "nostrils" M: "Look mom, I can put my tongue inside my nostrils!" That little girl is so flexible she can pick her nose with her tongue. What a time saver...
  
• Sometimes, instead of making dinner, I make peanut butter cookies, or apple pie. And, I don't really feel bad about it. (I have found a great sour cream pastry recipe that was wonderful and easy! I normally have trouble with pastry, but this recipe is great. Maybe I'll post it later.)

Serene Veranda

First half of Summer re-cap

Summer is half over! We have had rain and thunder all summer long here, so it has not really seemed summer-y. Although truth be told, I hate the heat, and love electrical storms. We have had a fun summer so far though.

• We had a visit to SL, and put in some good beach time with the family.
  
• We have gone swimming at the wave pool, where I had some great bonding time with Abby. I have been thinking about her attitude problems, and perhaps she just needs more quality mom time. Her happiness factor jumped by nearly a million that day, when she and I hung out at the pool and I did not have to say "no" all day. I think that I need to treat her more like the 7 year old she is, rather than the grown up she seems to be.
  
• Abby has attended horse camp, and plans to go again next year. So if anyone wants to contribute cans, bottles, and milk jugs, they are welcome for the cause! She even went on the overnight sleepover. I think it was hard for her, as she forgot her special blanket, and had a nose bleed that night. Also there was an incredible lightning storm that night. But she did it!
• We have been to the zoo, and the girls are going again with their babysitter. Much fun was had, especially seeing Uncle Dan fold himself into the child sized train compartment.
• Fort Edmonton has been conquered, by 6 cousins! That was a very fun day, except for the grumpy conductor who does not like children to have any fun. He needs a new job - he takes trains way to seriously!
• Keith, my most excellent husband, who not only can fix anything, but can also make anything better, even when you did not know it was in need of betterment, installed a hot tap for the hose outside! So now, the kids can fill the wading pool with water that is not ice cold! Yay!
  
• Also earning him the best husband ever award, is when he set up a ladder and brought Abby and I up to the roof of the garage to watch the fireworks. The yearly exhibition happens merely blocks away from home. Usually this only serves to bother me, as the outdoor stage is really loud when I am trying to go to sleep. But getting to see fireworks 10 nights in a row is a pretty cool perk. If we ever move, we should list that on the feature sheet.
  
• Canada Day was celebrated at our church's pancake breakfast. We have a super activities lady now, and she throws the best parties. There was a jumpy castle, more than enough food, a bike parade, singing the whole national anthem by the flag. Very fun. I love my country. And also my church.
• We are renewing our mortgage. It is all very grown up. I met with the bank lady and she was very impressed with the state of our finances! It was quite a compliment to hear that we are doing a few things right! It made me feel like staying in this house, rather than taking on the debt of a bigger/better place. We can pay off our mortgage within 10 years! This thought made me feel much happier about my home. Although now rather than dreaming of building a new house, I am consumed with thoughts of building an addition... I think in another life I would like to be an architect/designer/engineer of houses and develop floor plans and blueprints all day.

I am sure there is more, and there is still another snow-less month to enjoy. But, today, I must go and get my tire fixed. As is exploded yesterday. (Well, that is how it felt. Really, I just ran over a nail. A nice stranger named Frank helped my change it. Thanks Frank!)