Boxing Day

Its Boxing Day and I am feeling that annual post feasting dismay. Not over Christmas dinner, that was amazing and I was "good" for the most part but over the two helpings of desert that I didn't need and then the 9pm pepperoni, cheese and honey mustard dip that I wasn't really feeling anyway but indulged in and then the third helping of desert that I wasn't even hungry for (t was still good)

Dismay over my loss of my old favourite routine of wakening early, coffee, some internet time and then walking the dog. I used to love it. Now I get up early, spend waaay too much time in cyber space and don't walk the dog. I am missing out on the joy of the early morning walk.
Half the issue is that we now have two dogs and I cant take them together, its not enjoyable.

I am feeling the pinch of regaining most of this weight, for not wanting to exersize, for eating badly too often. I want to take the control back and go back to my  fun routines that I used to live for.

So this years New Years resolution list will be going something like this: get in shape, take control back, begin the next decade of my life the way I want it to continue and stop spending.....

Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas, here are some photos,before I go out and walk the dog - its early and the light is amazing.

December 2014

Its almost Christmas, the trees are up in the house, the garlands are draped and lit around the door and up the staircase - pinterest style.  Presents are wrapped, eggnog in coffee has been discovered, Christmas work parties have been attended and enjoyed, food is in the fridge for the BIG DAY and weight is slowly being gained.

I am doing my usual recap of the year to see if we managed to attain all that was planned, I listed it all here:
New Years Resolutions 2014

• Commit to Combat Timetable - massive fail BUT I do know 50% of the program and its my happy go to in times of exercise planning
• Running - fail again,. I am so out of running. I need to get back into it, I think it helped me enormously in more ways than one.
• Enter races - nope
• Drive to Maine - well we did manage that kind of, we didn't do a long weekend in Maine but we sure did one in New York City which was awesome!
• call my Grandparents - check - I call them a lot, they are not in such good health so I know I only have so long with them to chat to.
• Buy another pair of reefs - nope
• Purchase a pool heater - a nice environmentally friendly solar powered one is in our possession, sadly its not yet connected to the pool
• Volunteer - I have failed here too, finding a new job and then learning that new job has exhausted me this year.
• Project Build a House or Buy a new one - not got much further on that one it seems except we know now that we are not planning on building right now, we may buy but it would have to tick every box as well as have "that feeling"
• Florida Pad - yep we are going back to recheck out Florida
• UK Visit - major check - I was back there in February for sad reasons but got to be there too, so that was a definite upside.

So I need to come up with some resolutions for next year. Next year is a BIG year for me. But I also realize that I need to spend some time reflecting and refinding whats important to me. What brings me to my knees so to speak, that I am actually passionate about.
Last night, whilst watching a remarkably good film called a Big Miracle about saving some Alaskan Whales, I came to realize that I am so very fortunate to be working in a history making project, in an amazing team, for renewable energy... and most days all I think about are the politics and finding my way.
Once upon a time I would have been acutely aware all the time of my part in something great, of my role, of THE PROJECT, and I would have been passionate, driven and excited on the end result and being part of time. I need that back for me. I need to be mindful of this again.

life in the travelling lane

I feel like I have become a pro at travelling to St Johns. I am starting to know the available flight times off by heart. I know that I like the wine on Porter and if I feel like an early 90's era evening flight experience then they are indeed the way to go with dark cozy ambience, never ending flow of free wine in real glasses etched with Porter, little snacks and old days British Airways uniform.  But beware seats 7 and 8 which are right next to the engines and this is a turbo prop plane with no entertainment which is probably just as well as you wouldnt be able to hear it - especially not in those seats!
So -good with a decent book.

Air Canada is still my favourite as its fast and comfortable, has entertainment but alas no free wine. But it has movies, not that you can watch a whole one as the flight is too short... but it has real engines and decent flight times so a good one to sleep on. But I dont want a seat with a higher number than 18 on it because it takes an age to get off the plane.

Westjet - love love love. Theres something just nice about being on a Westjet flight.

Last Friday I found myself up in the Maple Leaf lounge before travelling home on Air Canada, in one of those leather swivelling chairs with a glass of rather delicious crisp white wine in my hand. There were nachos and olives and salad and it was all rather agreeable, I watched the sunset over the runway through the panoramic glass.

I have learnt that I can get winter tires through Enterprise for a small fee (any fee is a disgrace frankly) and I do. That I like driving the Chevy Cruise although not sure if its enough to convince me to buy one and the Yaris uses so little gas that I dont need to refill the tank at all in my week there.

That I dont like a suite at the Marriot, I am happy with a plain old room, and that the Ramada there has great food.

I have learnt to never ever take an early morning flight again but rather to travel out the night before and leave to come home on the Air Canada 4.40pm flight so I am home through the door at 6pm in time for dinner... its all rather nice.

I am not quite a bona fide jetsetter yet but with these Marriot and aeroplan points racking up at speed - I may be there soon....

back from St Johns

Its a Friday night, its finally stopped raining and I am home alone booted off of Netflix as we have only two users on our monthly fee and have lost both ipads. The girls are upstairs, one in each room, with an ipad each watching Netflix. Why cant they watch something together?

I was away for three nights for work in St Johns, although last night was hardly a night as I didn't get to sleep until midnight, it was party central in that hotel, and I had to be up at 4.50am for my flight home. Of course I woke up at 4am, because lets face it, that extra 50 mins of sleep at that point wasn't precious at all.

Got to the airport, through a seemingly endless line at security where I now seem to need three trays for all my stuff -  laptop out of its bag, ipad (essential Netflix whilst away), my phone, my handbag with all its charging cables (which likely alarms the scanner person although maybe (s)hes seen it all before), my clear bag full of lip balm, mascara etc, my coat, scarf, my boots, my belt..... it takes about half an hour to get this lot in all these trays and I am prepared mentally for it all before I even have my turn. (Many people are not prepared and they are they ones wearing all the lace up boots and with three laptops)
God only knows what it will be like when it gets really cold and I move onto my serious winter outdoor wear. I think I might faint with fatigue dragging it all through a heated airport......

So even with the threat of turbulence from the pilot  as I was snuggled into my scarf, covered by my coat, no legroom due to my laptop and bag shoved under the seat in front (got to make space for those people that WILL NOT check in anything) and with my new pillow thing, I was asleep as we took off.
I even missed the drinks round which was a shame because I was majorly thirsty.

This of course resulted in having to buy a Starbucks crème brulee, which I am not technically allowed due to its ridiculous calorie and fat laden count, while I waited for my little checked in bag to make an appearance.
I drank half and threw the rest out... took some willpower that did!

So here I am, nothing to watch, this is after all N America - there is nothing on normal TV, even though we pay an arm and a leg for it each month, hubby out having a beer with his mates, and no Netflix availability to binge watching The Killing (REALLY good)

I mean, I should be in the hot tub, its stopped raining.......

October in one post

An update is required before winter is full on, so here is October in one post:

Dogs
Alpine arrived at our back door trailing blood from a really deep cut on his leg, it was a mysterious one and we still have no idea as to the cause but he ended up at the emergency vets (naturally!) on a Sunday and we ended up with a $600 bill! Awesome!
Poor thing had a splint for a week following where he was like bambi on ice and we had to source him some baby socks with sucky bits on the soles to enable him some traction on the floors in the house.
He was a mess for two days and then quickly healed. Pity for him prevailed for a while and he now believes hes allowed on the bed, hmmmmmmm.

Dukie seems to be regressing to being the puppy that he never really was which is a blessing. Its plainly apparent that getting Alpine was possibly the best thing we ever did for him (and Paul)

Horses and riding
Appear to have made a comeback into my life, the girls are enjoying riding lessons and I am enjoying back in the company of horses. I am thinking I may ride again next year - maybe...

Pauls Birthday
Came and went and his present from Amazon has still not arrived and its now November.... we decided to hit Montanas for a family dinner which was all decked out for Halloween and had one of the best meals ever there. For once I bypassed the fish, we all bypassed an apertizer and in true North American style went for steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, skillet mushrooms, corn and southern beans. Delish!

New hair
Got a new haircut, I may just attempt to not cut it short for a while and see where this goes.

Halloween
Rocked as always. Girls went with Paul who was dressed aptly as superman and came back with garbage bag worth of stuff. There is some serious chocolate in the house which is not good.
I wish I could say that I dont care for it but thats simply not true. Too much is finding its way into my hands.
The neighbourhood, by the way, surpassed itself with the decor. I can see why this is Chloes second favourite holiday - after Christmas of course.

Rain and weather
Halloweens lovely cool but mild and dry evening was swiftly followed by a weekend of rain, and lots of it. It feels like it never ended, went on and on, rain rain rain. (Its raining as I type this! Where are we? Seattle?)

Anyway we took advantage of the damp yet mild temps to cook up new recipes from Pinterest, all healthy to try and counter the candy overdosing somehow, and they have all been successes, we now have found new food to add to the usual suspects.
I also have found a new Netflix show and bingewatched three episodes last night whilst listening to the wind and rain through the open window at 9pm which was a little odd for this time of year but very very nice.

PS: Its been gorgeous, when its not been raining

PPS: It snowed this morning, it was only a flurry but it was noticeable, it existed and it contained snow. #wintertiresareon!

St John's

I am behind and I know it! I seemed to spend most of September in St John's NL, which was beautiful. I am working hard in my new job too which sucks up a lot of energy, but hey I have a new job! Thats a good thing.

When I was first in St Johns I went for a walk on Signal Hill and scared myself. There I was clinging to the cliffedge and climbing down steep stairs and fit and healthy seniors trotted past barely perspiring. It was a real eye-opener to how unfit and nervous I was and to how many fit Newfoundlanders were there doing this walk like it was a stroll around Grand Central Park!

 This was a brutal hill, I went down it with shaking legs and then back up it when I lost my nerve on the narrow path. The climb back up was intense!

 look how narrow that path is! I nearly sat down and hugged the ground at that point!

Back at home, its been lovely weather and the trees here in NS are bursting with colour. Its also been pretty cool at night and so we have been lighting the fire which makes the front room very cosy indeed.

Loving Halifax

Its a hot August week with cooler nights so it feels a little like Fall in the morning but its unmistakably summer by 10am. I had the chance of a stroll (actaully it was a route march) along the Halifax harbour front this morning in my haste to get to the Virgin Store before an 11am meeting... It was so tranquil and pretty on the harbour front with The Bycicle Thief putting out its tables and decor (MUST check that place out) and very very very very warm indeed.

And I just got my lunch from the Wired Monk which I can see from my office window, a very delicious, much anticipated bowl of Thai chicken curry soup with dipping wholewheat baguet rounds as a nice surprise. It is incredibly good!

I can so recommend this place for lunch, waiting in line I also ordered in a coconut chai tea latte (scrumptious) and rather felt like I was on the coffee shop set of Being Erica.

Loving Halifax!

PEI week

So last week was spent in a cottage shared with a friend and her family in PEI.
It was overcast, although not cold, all week which got my NB born friend down a lot, but being British I am extremely well trained for rubbish summertime weather and so wasnt phased too much by the sky.
Having said all that, we have been here over three years now and I am not so used to it anymore so I was a touch put out.
Still we managed to have a good week. The dogs came and immediately got the vacation groove on by getting on all the beds (they are not allowed at home) and the couch. Smart puppies.... still not a fan of this behaviour though... hairy couches and beds are not on my "must have" list.

We had a trip to the beach where it was evident that TS Arthur had had some imput judging by the shoreline errosion that wasnt there last year.
Having recently read all the reports about the Great White sharks that tend to wander around in these waters, I declined my usual swimming in the sea sport and took to paddling instead which worked well as the water was decidedly cool (must be that grey sky!!) and there were about a million hermit crabs doing their thang everywhere. We are not sure what their thang was but it entailed bigger crabs hanging onto the smaller ones, I am thinking that they were busy getting jiggy with it, but so far Google has failed to confirm this notion.

We went bowling, we ate late breakfasts, we gazed into the distances and I got in two runs, the first of which filled me with joy and motivation, the second did the exact opposite and was really hard work. It was a horrid run of only 2.6km

I managed to get some school supplies and woo Chloe with a new pink leopard print school bag, shes happy so thats good.

But my word was it good to get home. Home to my bed, our life, our pool and hot tub and the new roof that had conveniently been done whilst we were away.

I think we are done with PEI trips now, we have been three times and I am keen to check out someplace else, maybe Maine. Thats reasonably close.

Today I am back in work, near my window and the sun is shining hotly. Loving this NS life.

bleugh!

Today I discovered why the cafe downstairs is so dissed by my colleagues. I have been wondering what the problem was until today when I had the most disgusting tuna melt.
The staff down there are kind of offputting, todays staff more than normal, and then I bit into the said melt.

The tuna is prob the no name brand and with no name brand mayo. It sucked!
I tipped it all in the bin and ate the bread, I wont be going there NO MORE

Its raining buckets today and whilst thats all very pleasant to listen to through the glass (Yes I have a WINDOW again! I am so happy) it doesnt allow for a trip to the Wired Monk to get the Thai chicken soup that I had pencilled in for today. Its coming in at a slant and I have bare legs and flipflops, so I am not just being a complete wimp here.

It also means that I cant go to the Virgin store to get a new phone, which apparently I cant book online either for some reason (what century are we in!???)

Today I also have the pleasure of parting with over $800 to get my car back from the Hyundai dealership now they have replaced the apparently non existent brakes and still continued with the fuel injection system service that I asked them to postpone as I have no brakes.... frig!
Now I am broke, I will be bringing in leftovers to work again, no more Wired Monk anyway!

Happy Friday!

running again

Today has been a turning point.
This morning I got up and took Mr Duke and together we went for a run. It was warm, the crickets were singing and the sun was rising pink and beautiful and I loved it.
I had lost my running mojo, it disappeared all summer and last night I decided to make a real effort to find it again and rebond.
Its not so easy to run before work right now. We have guests in our home and once I take Dukie out without Alpine the nut, he tends to make a racket.
I cant take Alpine as he tends to criss cross in front and trip you up, hes also incredibly strong and a bit of a doofus.
I cant go without Dukie, its our thing together and I couldnt leave him out.
So, I just wasnt going.

So this morning, hubby took the Alpine reins and Dukie and I set out. I was a little apprehensive, pretty sure I would find it just too hard. But it wasnt, it was bliss. Yes it was short, a 2km run so no biggie but there was a time that just running to the top of the road was a major achievement.

So I came home, full of the joys of refound running love and a little cross with myself about effectively wasting two thirds of summer when I could have enjoyed this more.

Now, in work, I have just found myself joining the Halifax team to participate in the 5km Run for the Cure. I am stoked, I am excited, I will be back at running 5km comfortably before October 5th.
I have a goal!

Now I just need to raise my $150!

Monday musing

Its my second week at my new job and so far, I love it.
I have a big window next to me that allows me to look out over Halifax. Its great to have access to so much sunlight again.
I am in downtown Halifax too, so right near the water.... therefore all is right in my world.
Its overcast today, I dont know why, it seems that this August has almost Fall like days and evenings mixed in with the heat. We had a good weekend with much pool time but the evenings are already too cool for my liking.

I bought a beautiful cover for the bed in the Keys last October from the aptly named Island Dreams store in Big Pine Key. Its, of course, white to allow for my indulgence in white and fresh bed linen. Its meant that we have packed away the duvet and slept under a sheet and this light cover and its made the nights more comfortable but right now I am wondering if the getting out of the duvet from its storage is coming sooner than I planned it would. Its chilly at night already.

So hand in hand with this change in weather (TOO Soon) I am already almost anticpating Fall. With this access to a window at work and a view I am looking forward to seeing the leaves change, watching rain fall, almost almost watching the snow fall. That, I know, will become old pretty quickly for me.

I love Halifax, so being down here for work each day is bliss.
Its also nice to live outside of Halifax, in a space where we have trees that sound wonderful in the breeze and enjoy such low key peace in our tranquil spot.

The hot tub arrives

This little goodie arrived 2 days ago

Sadly we can't use it until Monday when the water has been tested so for now it's nice to look at.

So we hung out around the pool all Saturday, it was a great day for chilling out.

I decided to dye my white ikea sofa grey this weekend. It's survived two small children and one dog as a white sofa but two dogs have been it's undoing. So I tested the cushions on the two seater as I have spares and they were a success so armed with new confidence I dyed the lot. It's not looking so good, think tie-dyed 1970s chambray colour and you are near. Today I am going to try to dye it all a little darker. I am calm currently about the whole thing but frankly I am remarkably close to a complete panic. 

I mean really, this is not who I am! I don't dye fabric, I buy it already done by someone who knows what they are doing!

July, where it went.....

Where did July go? Its been a busy, hot month.
First of all we lost both of our trees outside in Arthur. That was pretty depressing but I know that unlike many other people, two trees and a power outage that only lasted for the day was lucky.
Half of one came down by 8am and had to have the remained taken down by our neighbour and his chainsaw. The other had a slow split down the middle but was too tall for us to remove as it would have taken out the power lines, so we bandaged it up for two days until someone could deal with it for us.

We have had many pool days:

and a beach day (just one, I cant believe I have only had one)

We went to a wedding in the Valley:

 and Chloe got her hair cut, shes donating her hair to locks of love, so that children that dont have hair due to illness can have hers:

Right now its Natal Day weekend so we have three days off which is great as we have lots planned, mostly including doing very little.
On Tuesday I start a new job, I am tres happy!

well hello summer!

Well it kind of landed on us overnight, here and loud.

I cant move in the house without feeling like I am wrapped in a warm damp blanket the humidity is so high.
Yesterday it took three attempts, with FB and a cold drink interspersed, just to put all the laundry away upstairs. Granted, there was a lot. Just about every garment we all owned required hanging or being placed in drawers and it was just SO hot.

I am not complaining of course, far from it. I get to lie by the pool and listen to the sweet sound of childrens laughter as they spend all day in it. Thank God for it.
Honestly, for 9 months of the year there is absolutely no point at all in having a pool. I look at it through slanty eyes thinking about how silly it is to have it and then bam, summer is here and its insanely hot and energy sapping humid and suddenly our home is THE place to be as all our friends come round to hang out in it.

And then its worth it, its a centre point in our lives, its the place to hang and chill and its worth every cent of chemicals in it to have.

Its super warm today as we have the first Hurricane of the 2014 Hurricane season advancing up the Eastern seaboard. Hurricane Arthur is expected to make an appearance tomorrow as a tropical storm.

We have made plans for a wet and windy weekend that involves all the essentials - beer, wine and propane for the BBQ and in addition we have decorating of the hallway planned out and some cushion making and pinterest activity. I see some rather scrumptious soft furnishings in my future.

some rejuvenation

I just had the BEST 5 days off, it was  a little hectic as we had more guests arrive on top of our resident guest, and with a service dog - 3 year old huge and a little overwhelming Dexter.... but it was great. It was hanging with best friends time, it was family time and condo planning time and dog hair time. There was an overflow of dog hair in the house.

We bbq'd, we hung out on the day of torrential rain that sounded so loud outside, we blew away the cobwebs on the following hot days, we drank too much wine, we swam in the pool. It rocked....

It was 5 days of rejuvenation with the important people in my life, in the most important place called HOME and I even finished my first ever painting furniture project... It turned out very well and I require photos to post on here.

We also made these little apples for the teaches for the girls last day of school. Its messages in their handwriting stitched on:

Happiness is home time in a NS summer.....

in summary

Its the first really hot hot hot day of the year and the girls are in the pool for the first time this season and it struck me that my children are going to grow up in a completely different world to the one I grew up in, in the 1980's in the UK. Some things are similiar, some far from it.

Very different:

• They have a pool, for them its normal to be able to go and hang out in the pool in the summer.
• They ski in the winter, theres a ski resort up the road, granted its no Whistler but it has runs and chair lifts and snow and its an all singing, all dancing ski resort.
• They have a basement that everyone watches warily when theres a monsoon outside and theres often someone in the subdivision that fell victim to basement flooding.
• They live in a subdivision in a community. We had villages, towns and cities.
• They swim in beautiful lakes off of lifeguard watched beaches with jetskis and speedboats destroying the peace from time to time.
• They live in a large detached house with a separate family room. Only my richest of rich friends as a child has a separate family room and they ended up going to Roedean School for Girls.
• They have Z's where we had S's - eg: finalize
• Z is spelt Zee and not Zed, water is warder, not warter
• They travel to school on a yellow school bus wearing non school uniform every day.
• They can travel to the US of A in a car, watching movies on an Ipad and stopping for a drivethrough slushie.
• Walmart is a normal part of life.....
• BBQs are an everyday feature, even in the winter.
• Ticks are a part of summer, as are mosquitos, blackfly and the wham bam of the screen door.
• White Christmas is a given, along with the cutting down of the perfect family Christmas tree from the Christmas tree lot. 

Somewhat similiar:

• There is also a local outdoor summer pool where they have swimming lessons in the community. When I was 8 I swam in an unheated outdoor pool at school and got changed, shivering, in a little wooden changing hut. Bingo on the outdoor pool, the hut and the  unheated pool bit.
• We have dogs, I had dogs as a child, dog hair is a fact of life in this house.
• They swim in the sea and the water is clear and the ambience peaceful, as children we would sometimes have to brave the brown cold water off of Brighton with its pebble beach, or if we were lucky Devon or some such beautiful spot.
• They live in a world where rust exists on cars. That was perfectly normal on a 1982 Ford escort.
• They play outside until the street lights come on. We did that too, even in Brighton

In summary they seem to have the best of my childhood in the best of today (sans ticks!). I couldnt have wished for more, for them.

June? what really? so wheres the heat?

I am here at work, making my way through a homemade Greek salad and contemplating my very sore muscles from Saturday mornings combat 30 workout and listening to chilled out "driving though the Keys" music. Its cool outside, way too cool for my June liking actually. Its been rather blissful but its gone back to shit today weather wise and its put me in a rather bad mood.

In fact its been two rainy Saturdays in a row which lined up reasonably well with plans to go to the cinema. We haven't been to the cinema this much in the three years we have been here but there is an abundance of good childrens, adults can cope with , movies out this summer.

Last weekend we went to see Maleficent and it was all of the Disney magic that I love. It was also an excellent way to spend a rainy afternoon. This weekend we went, again on Saturday, again in the rain (pppfffttt!) and watched How to Train your Dragon 2 - uber sweet and now we all want a glow in the dark real Night Fury called Toothless for Christmas.

Trailers showed previews of A Dolphin Tale 2 which is coming out in September ( a must see!!!!) and Planes - Fire and Rescue, due out on July 10th, its on the list cant wait etc etc

SO..... now we are officially enjoying spending vast sums at Empire Theatres and STILL waiting for the real heat to show up. I am tempted to move South, like now. I am starting to think that this summer will not show up and before we know it we will have slide straight into November without realizing that the waiting is now in vain.

I am wanting to get back to the beach, feel the sand on my toes, dip in and out of the warm ocean and watch the shadows change across the sand as we waste the day away breathing in the sea air and listening to the sound of water lapping..........

what I have been up to

I am feeling really behind on my blog life. I have logged in and read others but not posted but heres a little snippet into my life lately:

1. Bootcamp
I joined a bootcamp and tonight will be my 4th session. I am really hugely loving this. I am not sure if its because actually I am fit enough to cope and so I can actually enjoy pushing myself instead of it being torture or if its because I have finally found my thang. Its like being back in pony club minus the unco-operative, highly excitable crazy ponies.
Its a team spirit and its personal too. When we are running shuttle runs I can be in my own world whilst being aware of my "team mates" around me. I love the fact that its variable impact, so those bursts of high impact are an adrenalin buzz and easier than pushing through a long run.

The other night we were running through the trails and I could just see myself in the silence of the lambs and about to be stopped by an FBI guy, coming to give me the message to come and see some highbrow investigator who wants me for his team.....

2. Mothers Day
Yesterday was Canadian Mothers Day and it was rather lovely. It was conveniently part of a weekend of late nights and quiet relaxed early mornings. I am also rather fortunate that my two adorable girls are older now and less demanding, so they do what they want to (play with Monster high or make up some world with safari animals, or log on and feed their moshi monster, or go next door to their little friend, or tear up the neighbourhood on their bikes) and so it was a quiet peaceful couple of mornings, with me and Love it or List it Vancouver and a coffee.

So I decided to go to visit Peggys Cove with a couple of my friends who are mothers but we went sans children. This is because whilst I so very much love it there, in my mind its so much more enjoyable when you aren't having to watch your small adventurer like a hawk as they insist on going into the black rocks "death zone"

We got there about 1.30pm and lay on the rocks for a couple of hours and watch the waves crash and pound and the sunlight sparkle on the water. It went from warm yet misty to warm and sunny and the sound of the waves was sublime. We also whiled away the time watching some numpties climb around in the areas clearly marked as highly dangerous...  idiots. I wasn't terribly keen on being witness to their demise as they were dragged out by the undertow, should they be caught out.

We got back around 5pm to a hearty meal and a new log pile where Paul and pals had dragged the 4 cord that had been residing on the drive since the mid week into a tidy and effective log pile, all next winters heat stacked and waiting.

Had a bit of a result at the weekend too, was walking the dogs past a neighbours house just as they were taking down their pool and in short, we are now the proud owners of their solar heating system - I see potentially 6 weeks more pool time this year!

girls birthday weekend

The girls had their birthday sleepovers this weekend. Their birthdays are not actually on the same weekend but we decided to go through this particular pain on the same weekend due to Easter. We are coming to the end of the second sleepover and in exactly 2 hours and 8 minutes our final overnight guests will have gone safely home and hopefully peace will descend on this party house.

From the point of view of effort involved, this has been low maintenance. Pizza, chicken nuggets (homemade of course) and fries and a cupcake cake and a movie for both on both nights followed by hot cinammon rolls for breakfast and some PJs and thats all that was required.

Its been fun.
Weather update - I think mother nature is having some sort of emotional crisis, and its still cold and it snowed in the week - WTH!