Winter Festival Fun, part 1

Short blog post today. We had a lazy Saturday morning where I got a chance to finish up the hat I was working on. I wore it out tonight and it was awesome! It kept my head and ears nice and warm. The true test will be tomorrow - we'll be at an outdoor festival tomorrow morning and it's going to be cold!

This weekend in town they are having the Jack Frost winter festival. The outdoor stuff includes slides and tubing and freezing. There is also an indoor component to the winter festival that includes bounce houses and a concert by the band The Imagination Movers. The bounce houses were fun. The kids did one that was an obstacle course and another that was a big slide that looked like a saber-toothed tiger. S's favourite animal is the tiger, so she thought that one was the best.

There was also a petting zoo with llamas, goats, sheep, a donkey, some ponies, chickens, piglets, and emus. S fed the pony and she seemed okay with it until the donkey next to the pony snorted at her and sprayed her with donkey snot. Eeewww. Then she was done. J wanted to feed the emu and was doing okay until the emu tried to peck his hand instead of the food. To his credit he didn't yelp or cry but I think he's added emus to the list of bad petting zoo animal encounters. (He got knocked around by a llama while we lived in VA and it scared him. I don't blame him, they are big animals.)

After the bouncing and petting, we found our seats for the Imagination Movers concert. Those who aren't familiar with the Movers, they play kids music and have a TV show on Disney Jr. My kids aren't super big into the show but the weekend passes for the festival included tickets to the concert so we went - and had a great time. They played some songs the kids knew, some songs they didn't, and some popular songs like Happy and Shake It Off. There was also a 5 minute drum solo that rocked.

The guys in the band came down off the stage and wandered through the seats. Our seats were in the center on the floor so we were able to see them up close, which was cool. They interacted with the audience and Smitty (one of the band members) even found a lost child in the aisle and helped get her back to her parents. They really seemed to enjoy performing and interacting with the crowd. What we expected to be an okay time turned out to be a lot of fun.

Now the kids are tucked into bed, dreaming of the fun we'll have tomorrow morning. I'm sure if they had their way we'd stay at the outdoor stuff all day tomorrow but J has a hockey game in the afternoon. We'll have fun while we can. I'm looking forward to trying a Canadian Beaver Tail. I've only seen them but never had one and they look good. Details to come tomorrow!

Fridays are for knitting!

Fridays will be for knitting, at least until this mystery knit-along (MKAL) is done. The theme of the MKAL is the Snow Queen and it will turn out to be a hexagonal shawl. With the amount of snow we've had lately, I feel like I'm the Snow Queen. Just last week S said to me that it looks like we live in Arendelle and that she was Elsa. I told her to put her gloves back on and stop freezing us. She laughed.

Today Clue 2 for the MKAL was released. I've really been enjoying working on the shawl - so far my love/hate relationship with lace has been love only. I've been trying very hard to pay attention to my knitting and not make mistakes. I've made a few but it has been easy enough to fix them so far. Knowing how many stitches should be in each section helps. It also helps that the pattern is very well written so far, even including directions for when to change from one colour to the next. The pattern is written for gradiance yarn, which is yarn that goes from light to dark over six skeins (or as I'm doing it, dark to light). Switching colours involves knitting a few rows with one colour and then switching to the other for a few rows, then switching back again. Today's clue included the first transition. I seem to have done it correctly!

Here are some pictures of what I've done so far:

This is the gauge swatch that we did to make sure we would have enough yarn. According to the designer, my gauge is fine and I will have plenty of yarn.

This is what it looked like at the end of clues 1 (top) and 2 (bottom).

It's going to be hard to wait until next Friday for the next clue. I do have other projects to keep me busy - two hats and an ongoing scarf. I always think it would be cool to make a scarf and then when I start doing it I can't help thinking WTF was I thinking, making a scarf? Scarves and probably one of the most tedious things to make. The scarf I'm making is an 8 row repeat on size 4 needles (knitters out there, I feel you cringing with me). Non-knitters - this means that it is going to take me a LONG time to make it the correct length, with lots of repetitive knitting. At least I have the pattern memorized and don't have to give it too much attention.

I am still waiting for the yarn for the Hobbit-themed scarf I am going to make. Yes, another scarf but this one should either keep me very interested or make me cry. It's knit using the double-knit method, which I have never done before. For non-knitters, that means both sides will be the 'finished' side and will look exactly the same, just opposite colours. I am looking forward to starting it. This MKAL shawl made me realize that I like complicated things that require a lot of my attention to avoid screwing them up. We'll see if I still feel that way after I start the Hobbit scarf.

I'm going to go try to finish the hat I'm making for myself now. Tomorrow we will probably be going to the winter snow festival they are having this weekend and I'd love to have a new, warm hat to wear. And for those wanting more of my Kilynn story, you'll get another installment soon. I have more sitting in the document waiting to be shared. I just need to give it another once-over to make sure it's ready to be shared. Maybe tomorrow, maybe Sunday but then again, maybe not until Monday!

Kilynn, part 11

It is amazing how a day away from writing can clear my head. I sat down at the computer with the goal of writing for an hour and ended up for writing for well over two. Maybe it was the second cup of tea that got me going. I feel good about what I wrote and I have a lot more I want to write but it will have to wait until tomorrow. You just get a part of what I wrote today. Tomorrow I will put up more of today's writing. Now it's time to start gathering up hockey things for practice this afternoon.

To recap - Kilynn and her brothers were planning on meeting with the Grandmother to find out how they are going to rescue their mother from the island.

Kilynn, Part 11:

Shortly before midday, Kilynn and her brothers tied their horses in the clearing by the pond, making sure each horse had plenty of grass nearby. As Kilynn had expected, Grandmother was already there, spreading out food on a large blanket on the ground. Herry and Ryl, with the appetites of eighteen year olds, quickly greeted their grandmother with hugs and kisses then dug into the food. Kilynn managed to grab a few things to eat for herself and her grandmother, then settled down in the soft grass next to the pond. For a while, the only sounds around the pond were the sounds of nature and eating.

Finally Ryl flopped back, stretching out on the grass in the sun. “Grandmother, thank you for the food. It was delicious!” He smiled happily at his grandmother and she returned the smile. Herry murmured his thanks, still busy eating. Kilynn had finished a while before her brothers and was snuggled close to her grandmother, tucked under her arm as she had done long ago as a child.

“You’re welcome, child,” Helene responded. “Rest for a few minutes and then we shall talk.”  With that, Herry flopped back on the ground next to his brother, and the two promptly closed their eyes and fell asleep, Ryl snoring gently.

Kilynn shook her head at her brothers. “I've never understood how those two could fall asleep that fast. I have always been jealous of their ability to do that.”

“It is good they are sleeping, little cat, for they will face many challenges in the days to come and it will take a great deal of energy to face them,” her grandmother replied. “And their sleeping gives you and me the chance to talk without their interruptions.” Kilynn started to move away from her grandmother but Helene gave her a quick squeeze, keeping Kilynn in place. “Stay close to me, child. You haven’t snuggled with me like this since you were a wee child.” Kilynn scooted closer, wrapping her arm around her grandmother’s waist.

“Your brothers are not the only ones who will face challenges in the days ahead, Kilynn,” Helene began. “The path to the island is not an easy one, and once you are there, you will be in grave danger until you return to our land. I will do my best to prepare you for what is ahead. But tell me child, how are you doing?”

Kilynn hesitated before answering her grandmother. Part of her wanted to lie and say she was fine, that she felt brave and was ready to face a hundred monsters to rescue her mother. But the other part of her longed to confess her fears to her grandmother. Looking up into her grandmother’s soft, caring eyes, Kilynn decided she needed to tell the truth.

“I’m so scared, Grandmother.” She spoke softly so she wouldn't wake her brothers. “I am so afraid that I will fail, that I won’t be able to rescue Mother and that she will be stuck there forever. I feel I am being selfish, asking my brothers to put themselves in danger. I fear that I will disappoint Father and my other brothers if I fail. What if I’m not strong enough to do this? What is happening to Mother? How do I know I’m doing the right thing?” The words poured out of Kilynn. She suddenly stopped herself, afraid she would break down crying yet again.

“Do you hear your mother’s voice, little cat? Is she speaking to you?”

Kilynn nodded. “Yes, Grandmother. I do hear here. But then, I have always had her voice in my head, telling me when I was doing something right or something stupid or reminding me when I forgot something. I always thought it was just my brain trying to keep me out of trouble. But then this morning Herry and Ryl told me they could hear Mother too. How is that possible?”

“Ah Vanyssa, you have left your children so unprepared,” Kilynn barely heard her grandmother’s whisper. She sat silently, waiting for her grandmother to answer. When she began to speak she sounded weary. “Your mother should have told you about this but your father was against the idea. He wanted you children to grow up with as normal lives as possible and so he convinced your mother to keep quiet about so many things. I wasted many a breath arguing with your father about what you children needed to know, but he refused to listen. And your mother was, no is, so in love with that stubborn man that she agreed to his requests. I shall do my best to tell you what I can.

“This ability to hear your mother’s voice in your head is one of the few that stayed with my mother after she left the island. I could always hear her voice in my head. When I asked my brothers about it they thought I was joking with them. From a young age I could tell your mother heard me in her head – she would answer questions I hadn't asked aloud. And yet her brothers have never heard me in that way.

“Before my mother died, I asked her about it. She said on the island it was common for both male and female children to hear both parents’ voices in this manner. We discussed possible reasons for it only manifesting in the female children of our family. Our best guess is that it is because my father was not from the island and all the male children of our family greatly resemble him. The women of our family have always resembled the people of the island. As to why this ability didn’t fade with the others? Again, we can only guess but perhaps it was because it is not directly tied to any elemental abilities. We don’t know.”

“Can Mother hear me, Grandmother? Or is it only a one-way thing? And if it is only works for mother to daughter, why can Ryl and Herry hear her now? From the way they were talking, it sounds like it just began this morning.”

“It did just start this morning.” Kilynn jumped at the sound of Herry’s voice. She had assumed both her brothers were still asleep but to her surprise they were both sitting up and listening intently to their grandmother.

Helene smiled at her grandsons. “Awake now, are we? That was a short nap.”

Ryl smiled back. “It was enough. Besides, how can anyone sleep around here with you two chattering non-stop? Now, Grandmother, tell us more.”

“At your request, young master Teryl.” Kilynn giggled at her grandmother’s very formal tone. Helene hugged her granddaughter tight at the sound of her giggle. “Now let’s see, to answer your question, Kilynn, yes it is only one way. You can hear your mother but she cannot hear you. But she can hear me, and I have been trying my best to send her messages letting her to hold on, that help is coming.

“Now, as to why you two rapscallions can hear your mother’s voice, I honestly do not know. Perhaps it is because your mother is in danger and she is calling out to whoever will listen. Perhaps it is because of the bond that exists between triplets. Or perhaps she has been speaking to you all along and only now, when she is gone, that you can hear her. For whatever reason, you can hear her and that is good because it means she is still alive.”

Unexpected Snow Day

Today was a first for us - the kids had an early dismissal from school. I went out for a bit this morning and when I got home I just happened to check the school's website. Lo and behold they had decided to let the kids out of school early because snow was in the forecast for the afternoon. The kids came home at noon instead of their usual 3:00. For a while this afternoon I questioned the school board's decision because it wasn't snowing. But by 2:30 it was snowing hard. I am glad they sent the kids home early because I wouldn't have wanted them on the bus in that heavy snow. It was near white-out conditions around the time they would have been on the bus.

Because the kids came home early I didn't have my usual quiet writing time. I usually try to write in the afternoons between lunch and the time the kids come home. I did get a few minutes to glance at the next part of the story and I'm still not sure how it's going to work out. I'll ponder it some more tonight and see if I can work it out for tomorrow.

As I said, I was out this morning. I went out looking for a specific size knitting needle. I can hear C's voice in my head asking me if I don't already have all the needles and the answer is no. I broke my no yarn buying resolution to buy some yarn for a cool Hobbit-themed scarf for C. I did buy the yarn for a specific reason, rather than just because it was pretty so it won't just sit around in my stash for a long time, waiting for a project.

Here on the island, there are really only a few places to buy knitting supplies. I went to the one that I thought would have the size I needed but they didn't. I was good and resisted buying any of the very pretty yarn they had in their store. That took a lot of willpower but I reminded myself I bought yarn online yesterday so that helped. 

Not finding what I needed did remind me that we live in what would definitely be a small town when compared to where I used to live. The entire population of the island is about the same as the number of students in the school system where I used to live. Living in a small town has its perks - we actually know people well, and we run into people we know when we're out. But there are times when it has its drawbacks - when I'm looking for a certain size needle and can't find it. Granted it is an unusual size (size 0 circular for knitters out there), but I am pretty sure I would be able to find it back in the DC area. And if I couldn't, I could order it online and it would arrive in a few days. Now if I order something, especially from the US, I have to worry about long shipping times and possible duties for shipping across the border. But all in all, I really do enjoy living in a small town rather than the rat race of DC.

At this point, I'll just make do with the needles I have. When the yarn arrives I'll give it a try with the needles I have and see how it looks. If I need to I will order the needles I need. Or possibly make a trip off-island and explore the yarn shops in the next two closest cities. And I will do my best to not buy more yarn. I've been good about knitting down my stash...for now.

Kilynn, part 10

I tried to get some writing done today but life kept getting in the way. First the radiators weren't working (and it's frigid out there today!) so I had to deal with that. Thankfully they are fixed now and I know how to fix them if this should happen again.

And then I got working on planning not one, but two birthday parties. One is now unofficially scheduled - just have to go pay my deposit and it will official. The other one, well I'm waiting to hear back about it and now there's potential hockey games getting in the way. Maybe J will get the party he wants, maybe not.

With all this stuff going on I was a bit distracted while I was trying to write and because I was distracted, I'm not happy with what I wrote today. I will leave it sit for the rest of today and come back to it tomorrow and see if I can sort it out. But for today, you get a small section of what I wrote yesterday and am happy with.

Quick recap - Kilynn just finished talking with her father. He confirmed that she's the heir to the island's throne and that while he's not happy about it, he believes that Kilynn can rescue her mother.

Part 10:

Kilynn was not surprised to find Herry and Ryl waiting for her just down the hallway from the kitchen door. She didn't have a chance to speak before Ryl grabbed her arm and pulled her into his room, Herry right behind her. Herry closed the door then leaned on it to stop anyone from coming in.

“Well?” Ryl asked as Kilynn settled herself on Ryl’s bed. “What did Father want to talk to you about?”

“As if you don’t know already,” Kilynn responded. “I know the two of you were listening at the kitchen door. And don’t try to pretend you weren't,” Kilynn added as Ryl and Herry both started to splutter in protest. She just stared at her brothers until they both smiled sheepishly at her.

“Okay, we were eavesdropping,” Herry confessed, Ryl nodding beside him. “How could we not? You’re our sister and it’s our job to protect you.”

“Plus, if we weren't eavesdropping, we would have never learned that you…are…a…princess,” Ryl said, gasping as he doubled over laughing. Herry was trying hard not to laugh but was failing miserably. Kilynn glared at her brothers for a minute before grabbing a pillow from the bed and throwing it at Ryl. He caught the pillow and threw it back at her, hitting her in the face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Your Highness! Please forgive me!” Ryl bowed low then tumbled over, landing in a heap at Kilynn’s feet. He grinned up at her and winked. Kilynn couldn't hold her laughter back any longer. She was grateful to her brothers for making her laugh. Their lives had been turned upside down by the crazy events of the night before, but laughing with her brothers was something normal, something every day, something that reminded her she wasn't along.

As the laughter finally died down, Herry came over and flopped down on the bed next to her while Ryl grabbed the pillow back from Kilynn and made himself comfortable on the floor. The triplets enjoyed a comfortable silence for a bit, listening to the distant sounds of customers in the store downstairs. Finally, Herry sighed, drawing his siblings’ attention.

“Okay, Kilee, Ryl and I both heard Father. Apparently you’re the heir to the throne of this island that our ancestors are from. And it seems that whoever is ruling it now wants to get rid of you as well as the rest of our bloodline. Do you really think it’s a good idea to travel into the lion’s den, so to speak? Do you really think you can rescue Mother?” Herry asked, sounding more serious than he ever had. “From what it sounds like, no one has ever come back from this mysterious island.”

Kilynn looked at her brother and nodded. “I know it sounds crazy, Herry, but I believe I can. I can hear Mother’s voice in my head, telling me I can do this, that she needs me to do this. And I have this feeling here,” Kilynn put her hand on her heart. “Here, that tells me that I will succeed but only with your help,” she finished, reaching her hands out to both of her brothers. “And I need you to believe that too.”

Ryl squeezed Kilynn’s hand. “I believe it, Kilee. I have been hearing Mother’s voice in my head since I woke up this morning. I thought it was just my imagination, but now, I believe it is her voice. She keeps telling me that I have to help you. And I will, baby sister. I will do whatever I can to rescue Mother.”

At this, Herry squeezed her other hand. “I hear her too, Kilee. And I believe we can save her. Where do we start?”

Kilynn smiled at her brothers. She knew they wouldn't let her down. She just hoped she was up for this challenge. She would do her best not to let her brothers know how terribly frightened she was of waited for her on the island. She closed her eyes for a second and listened to the voice in her head. She heard her mother’s voice whispering how brave Kilynn was. A warmth filled Kilynn as she felt, more than saw, her mother smile at her. She opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

“We start with Grandmother. She sent Father a message, asking us to meet her at the pond at midday. Hopefully she will have some answers for us. And if we’re lucky, she will have some lunch for us. If we have to keep eating Herry’s cooking, we’re going to starve before we even make it out of town,” Kilynn teased her brother. He stuck his tongue out at Kilynn while Ryl grinned at them. “Until then, let’s help downstairs. Maybe that will help keep our minds from worrying about Mother.”

Productive Monday!

So far, today has been a good day. It started out with a giggle because I, like many other parents I'm sure, checked the school board's webpage to confirm school was open. The school board kindly posted a message saying that yes, school was open. It just made me giggle that they actually did that.

Once I managed to pry the kids out of bed, they started getting ready for school. S was a little nervous about going back to school after being off for a week but as soon as she saw her buddies at the bus stop things got better. I then enjoyed a quiet breakfast by myself! It was very nice and quiet.

I could have just sat around the house enjoying the peace and quiet but I had things I needed to do. With the weather looking iffy for later this week, I wanted to make today as productive as possible. And I think I've succeeded so far. I found a pair of warm boots since my snow boots just weren't getting the job done. They were more expensive than I wanted, but when I tried on the cheaper boots I could tell they just weren't going to be good for my feet. I have trouble with plantar fasciitis so I have to make sure anything that goes on my feet is supportive or has room for insoles to provide support.

After buying boots, I had a good trip to the grocery store. I managed to get there early enough that it wasn't crowded but late enough that they had finished stocked the shelves so the aisles were nice and clear. We have food for the week, which is always a good thing.

When I got home I got supper started since tonight is hockey and soccer night which makes dinner time crazy. We're having beef vegetable soup made in the slow-cooker. I love my slow-cooker, especially on Monday nights. And the soup recipe is so simple - I'll stick the recipe down at the bottom if you are looking for a good, easy meal. After I started the soup I decided to use up the older bananas by making a loaf of banana-chocolate chip bread. I don't like bananas and won't eat the bread, but everyone else in the house will. I like to make special treats for them from time to time.

Once I got some laundry going and the dishwasher loaded and running I sat down and did some writing. I got a good solid hour of writing done and it felt good! I have more I want to write before I share it but time is growing short today. The bus will be here soon and then it's off to our Monday activities. I don't have anything on the schedule for Tuesday, so I plan on spending more time writing tomorrow while I finish up the laundry.

All in all it has been a productive Monday so far. It feels really good to be back to our regularly scheduled days. I'm afraid to look at the weather because I don't really want to know when we'll have another interruption in our days. Let's hope it's later rather than sooner!

Beef Vegetable Soup for the Slow-cooker:

1 lb of ground beef

2 14 oz cans of mixed veggies, undrained

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce

1 can of whole potatoes*

1 carton of beef broth (about 4 cups).**

Season ground beef with salt and pepper; brown, drain and dump into slow-cooker.

Add undrained veggies, tomato sauce, and potatoes, cut into small pieces. Stir to combine.

Cover with entire carton of beef broth.

Cover slow-cooker and cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5.

*You can use fresh potatoes but parboil them first. I have a hard time getting potatoes cooked properly in my slow-cooker, so I tried using the canned ones this time. We'll see what happens!

**Use more beef broth if necessary to cover everything and have enough broth. 

Back to Normal Sunday!

The kids have school tomorrow! And there was much rejoicing! The weather today wasn't nearly as bad as expected - a little rain, a little snow, some melting, but nothing that will stop them from going to school tomorrow. And honestly, the kids are ready to be back in school. Both went to birthday parties today and saw kids from their schools. I think it made them realize they missed their school friends. It will be good for things to get back to normal. I don't know how long we'll be back to normal given the weather around here, but I will take each normal day I can get.

I was on bedtime duty for J, which means I have a bit of free time while he reads before bed. I pulled up my Kilynn story and realized I hadn't worked on it since Feb 9. Yikes! So I did get a tiny bit of writing done tonight and I will get more done tomorrow after I do normal things like the grocery store run and buying warmer boots. Yes, it will feel good to get out and do normal things. I realized tonight as I was writing how much I have missed working on my story. I am sure we will have more snow days coming so I'll have to try to find a better balance between being mommy and writing when my kids are home.

Also, I am finally feeling better - this cold is finally going away. It is so much easier to be creative when your head doesn't feel like it's stuffed with cotton. I will enjoy feeling better until the next cold comes home with one of the kids. Let's hope they give me a few weeks before that happens again!

As it is Sunday night, that means it is Walking Dead night. Yay for zombies! Now to choose a knitting project to work on while I'm watching it. I can't work on complicated things like my Snow Queen mystery shawl (I finished clue 1 today!) while watching TV because I will screw them up. Tonight will be a simple project that I can do without having to keep checking the pattern. I'm working on a cowl made with baby alpaca yarn that feels so soft and warm. I should probably finish that up tonight so I have it to wear for the extreme cold (-35C) wind chill we are suppose to get on Tuesday. Yeah, that cold may upset our normal week, but I'm going to keep thinking positive and hope this turns out to be just a normal week!

An Exciting Saturday Night

It is Saturday night and I'm sitting at my computer. Yes, my life is that exciting. :-) Well, it could have been an exciting Saturday night but I decided helping to keep track of J's hockey team at a professional hockey game was a bit more than I was up to tonight. C got that job while I got to hang out with S. I just put her to bed, so the house is quiet for the moment. I shall enjoy it.

Normally I am up for watching a hockey game, but tonight I am glad to be home. It was a usual busy day. S was supposed to go to swimming but she seems to have lost interest in it and as I was having some bad vertigo spells this morning, I decided not to press the issue. Instead we all went to J's hockey practice. His practice was originally scheduled for 6 AM Sunday but it was rescheduled to today, not at 6 AM. Some of the local professional hockey players came out on the ice with J's team during practice, which I thought was really cool. The kids seemed excited to have the pros with them. I should clarify that these pros are in the major junior level - they are between 16 and 20 years of age (I think). But to 9 and 10 year olds who dream of being in the NHL one day, it is exciting to be on the ice with these guys.

After hockey we went out to lunch. I think it was the first time I went out to eat all week with the weather the way it has been and my lack of car most days. We went to one of our usual spots and had a good meal. S made a great picture of a tiger on the back of her kid's menu and wrote 'Thank you' on it for the server, which I thought was cute. The kids love to bring home their menus and then we end up with a big pile of them which then just gets tossed out. We decided writing a thank you note on them is a better way to use them. Hopefully our server enjoyed the picture.

Once we were home, we got to work on clearing snow. There is a chance of rain tomorrow and with all the snow we have, it's going to be a big wet sloppy mess. We have some drainage issues on the north side of the house, so we did our best to clear away a bunch of snow and then C put out sandbags to try to keep water out of the garage. We did the best we could so now we just need to wait and hope the sandbags work.

I probably shouldn't have been out shoveling with the way I've been feeling but I'm tired of feeling helpless because of being sick. I did what I could to help shovel - not as much as I could if I was healthy, but hey, every bit helps, right? After that I hung out with the neighbours while the kids played. I was outside for a long time and apparently my snow boots are not as insulated as I thought. By the time I came back in my toes felt frozen, even with toe warmers in them. I guess I'll be heading out for some new boots on Monday while the kids are in school. (I keep saying that because positive thinking!). 

Although it took forever, I have finally warmed up. My toes feel like toes again and I don't shiver every time I crawl out from under my blanket. S is tucked into bed and finally asleep and the boys aren't home yet. I think I will see what's on TV and work on my knitting and possibly jot down some notes for Monday's story writing session. Yes, I am planning on working on my story because the kids WILL be in school. Please, send positive thoughts this way that my kids WILL be in school Monday. Because if they aren't, the men in the nice white coats may be coming to take me away...

That's my exciting Saturday night. Hope yours is fun too. :-)

Friday night TV time

Once again I find myself sitting down to blog at S's bedtime. It was actually my night to put her to bed (C and I alternate nights) but he's taking J to a hockey game tomorrow night so I'll have bedtime duty tomorrow. And since I'm still snuffling and coughing, it is nice not to have to try to read a fairy book. In theory, S and I could go to the hockey game with the boys, but the last two times we've taken S to a hockey game the next morning she's woken up sick. C says it's just coincidence, but I don't know. She's just about better from being sick and I'd rather her not get sick again.

Today was a pretty boring day around here. The wind chill was crazy cold, and the snow we got last night was blowing all over creating white-out situations. The college and the university on the island closed early and the RCMP were closing roads all over because of white-out conditions. I'm glad I didn't have my car today. If I had, I would have been tempted to go out and getting caught in a white-out situation doesn't sound like fun.

The wind is still kicking up pretty bad. It keeps rattling the screen on our sliding door making me think someone is out there banging on the door. Part of me is afraid to peek out of the curtains because what if it isn't the wind...no, I haven't actually been watching horror movies lately. Maybe I should. :-)

What have I been watching lately? Today I was watching Heroes on Netflix. I realized a few months ago that I never finished watching that series, so I decided to go back and see what I missed. Not much so far. We have a bunch of stuff on the DVR to watch but most of the shows are things that C and I watch together so I didn't want to watch them during the day.

I just got J into bed so now it's time for grown-up TV - Vikings. Season 3 started last night. But since we're on Atlantic time it comes on late here. That happens with a lot of shows - we end up watching it the next night because staying up to midnight when I have to get up at 6:15 (usually) the next morning is hard for me. I'm not as young as I used to be. So I am off to work on my Snow Queen shawl - the first clue came out today! - and watch me some Vikings.

Oh, it's Thursday again...

It is S's bedtime and I realized that I hadn't had a chance to sit down at the computer today. Looking back at today, I realized that it was actually a rather busy day. And all in all, for a Thursday it wasn't that bad.

We started out the day by taking C to work since his car and deep snow don't really go together. I will admit I was grumpy doing it (I already apologized) because I am still sick and even though I have to get up at the crack of dawn when the kids have school, I'm not really a morning person. But we got him to work on time and I didn't get stuck in a snow drift, which would have made the day not fun.

I then got to ship J off to his friend's house for the whole morning. It was nice - almost like he was back in school. While he was gone S and I made a delivery of brownies to the hockey rink. There's a tournament this weekend and they asked parents to provide food for the hospitality room. There were some other brownies already there when we dropped ours off and I have to say, mine looked better. They were big (2"x 2") and had chocolate chunks in them. You'd choose those over tiny 1"x 1"brownies, wouldn't you? And the road to and from the rink wasn't bad, so driving wasn't as stressful as it could have been.

After the rink S and I headed to the library. She was really excited to go to the public library. Because the kids haven't been in school for a week, she's missed her library day. And when they do go to the library, they can only check out one book at a time. At the public library, I usually let her check out a whole bag of books. I hadn't taken a bag with me today because I thought we'd just be picking up the two books she wanted but she talked me into a few more (which isn't hard to do).

I love public libraries. Right now, S has been enjoying the Rainbow Fairy books by Daisy Meadows (if that's her real name, then I am Ms. America!). I read a few chapters to her each night I put her to bed. I have been borrowing the books from the library instead of buying them. I'm sure S would love to have her own set of them, but at $5 a book times 7 books, that's a lot of money, especially when we can get them from the library for free. When she's older and can read the books by herself, then maybe I'll get them but for now, the library is the way to go.

After the library we came home and S worked on building her Elsa Lego castle. She is building the whole thing by herself. I basically just sit there and help her snap the occasional stubborn piece together. I'll check every now and then to make sure that she's got things in the right place and she usually does. At almost 6 years old, she's got a fantastic eye when it comes to building things. I think this is the biggest set she's built, so it's taking her a while. We should finish it tomorrow.

After Lego time, J came home. They played video games for a bit while I kind of snoozed on the sofa. I'm still sick so any rest time I can get helps me be a better mommy. When they started bickering too much it was outside time. Today was actually sunny and almost warm (compared to what it's been). The kids had fun playing with their friends, both outside for a while and then inside. J was awesome and helped my friend by cleaning her kids' playroom. I had a good time hanging out with my friend, helping to save her sanity since her husband has been away all week.

Then it was time to go back downtown to pick up C from work and also pick up a Starbucks for my friend. She wanted Starbucks badly but getting two young kids downtown when there's a parking ban is tough and C works near there so he picked one up for her. That's what friends are for, right?

And now? Now it's snowing. Again. And school has already been canceled for tomorrow. Again. J is suppose to have hockey tomorrow morning at 6:15 am. We shall see if that still happens. We're only expecting 5-15 cm, which is nothing when you compare it to the 80 cm we got earlier this week. But still, it may be enough to cancel practice. At least I don't have to take him, which is good because as I said, I'm not a morning person. :-)

Social Lives

Yay, another snow day? I thought for sure that the kids would be back in school today but nope, the roads still aren't clear enough for the buses to get through. And they've already called school off for tomorrow. And my prediction is that there won't be school on Friday either.

I hadn't planned on doing my blog today. I was sick yesterday and then didn't sleep well last night so I felt even worse today. Thankfully C was able to come home and take the kids for a while so I could sleep. I'm slowly feeling better but still not feeling back to normal. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

C was awesome today. He came home from work because I felt so out of it to take care of the kids. He took the kids out to lunch and then over to the toy store to pick out birthday presents for the parties they are going to Sunday. I swear my kids have more of a social life than I do, especially J.

Yesterday he spent the day hanging out with his friend L. They spent half the day over at L's house and then the rest of the day at our house. They had planned to spend today together but L had to go to daycare. That didn't stop J's social schedule though. Another neighbor, also named J, invited him to come over for outdoor skating. While he was there he got another invitation for tomorrow from another friend. Right now J is at L's house, sledding. S was busy yesterday and today hanging out with her friends from across the street.

I'm glad my kids have friends. It's good for them to have friends. But holy moly, they are busier than I am some days! I'll just be glad when they finally get back to school. Sunday is looking nasty weather-wise, but I'm hopeful that they will be back in school on Monday. For my sanity, I hope they are back in school. :-)

5 Year Olds Like to Share

Well, our snow total was 80 cm which is 31 inches for all you non-metric people. It's a hell of a lot of snow. It was more snow than fell with the storm dubbed "White Juan" back in 2004. But our street has been plowed, the driveway has been cleared thanks to our awesome snow removal people, and C was able to get out to the grocery store to restock us for Thursday's storm. Oh yeah, more snow to close the island after it just reopened. Yay?

I'm thankful C was home today because S decided it was only polite to share her sickness with me. Saturday and Sunday she was running a fever and had a nasty cough. She's better now but yesterday evening I started feeling bad with a sore throat, cough, and general fatigue but no fever thankfully. Today I'm still feeling craptastic. C worked from home, J was at a friend's house, and S was happy to sit and draw pictures next to her daddy so I was able to get some sleep. It helped me sore throat feel better but I still feel like someone sucked all the energy out of me. The sofa and I have become good friends this afternoon.

The kids and C are outside sledding down the monster hill that is our backyard. Traffic is moving on the main road behind our fence so no cannonballs off the fence today. We want everyone to be safe! It's a beautiful sunny but cold day. I just wish I didn't feel like someone ran me over with a snowplow.

I'm hoping that a good night's sleep will help me feel a whole lot better. I hate being sick. Mommies aren't suppose to get sick but we do occasionally. And in case I don't feel better tomorrow it's looking like the kids will be back in school tomorrow (or at least I think they should be) so I should be able to get a lot of good rest. I've been sorting out the next part of my story in my head while I've been resting so I should be able to get it down on paper tomorrow. At least that's the plan. This cold/virus/general ickiness may change those plans. For now, I'm off to rest.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

So it has finally stopped snowing. It snowed for well over 24 hours. They just let the plows back out on the roads about an hour or so ago. They pulled them off last night because the winds were crazy strong (gusts up to 120 km/hr or 75 mph). Now the winds have died down enough that people are starting the long process of digging out.

I've counted at least 4 snowmobiles going up and down the street because right now, besides a frontloader-type snow plow or a tractor, they are the only way to get around. I tried to get a picture of one going down the street but they are zipping around and it just comes out a blur.

This is my backyard:

Yes, that is a 6 foot high fence and the kids are sitting on it like it's a park bench. A road grader type plow just came down the road and they all sat there and watched it go down the street. Last night J was jumping off the fence into the snowbank on the other side.

Amazingly they have already canceled school for tomorrow so I don't have to get up at 6:15 and find out. So, it will be a challenge to get writing time tomorrow. I didn't even try today because I knew it would be tough to write with everyone home. Maybe Wednesday the kids will be back in school so I can write because Thursday it's looking like we're getting MORE snow. At least I have lots of yarn to keep me busy while the kids are home.

Snowy Sunday

I just looked at the clock and realized it was almost 4:30 and I hadn't done my blog entry. I was going to skip it today but I don't want to break my streak. So, here I am.

Today has been a lazy day. S is still sick and woke us up at 4:30ish because her fever was back up and she needed some medicine. She couldn't get back to sleep so C stayed up with her while I slept. Once I woke up he went back to sleep for a while. Now somewhere between 4:30 and 7:30 (when I woke up), the snow started. And it hasn't stopped. And because of this we've had a rather lazy day.

I did bake some blueberry muffins (from scratch) for breakfast because it was one of the only things S would agree to eat today. I know when you have a fever it's hard to want to eat, so I was willing to make them for her. Okay, I wanted them too. Since then we've haven't been doing much. C and J have both spent a lot of time playing MineCraft, S vegged out on the sofa watching Peppa Pig until I thought her eyes would fall out, and I've just about finished C's scarf. I should be able to get it finished tonight while we watch the Walking Dead. Yay for zombies!

I am on my third cup of tea for the day and still feel like I could curl up and sleep. I think it's the snow that's making me sleepy. Maybe I'll go grab a quick nap while the chicken for tonight's soup simmers on the stove. I will leave you with this picture of my backyard.

The fence is a 6 ft tall fence. Before today's storm there was some space between the top of the fence and the snow and it was only really high in that one corner. This is what it looks like now:

Somehow I don't think the foxes will have any trouble getting over the fence. It was already high enough before on both sides (the main road is behind us and it gets piled up from the plows) that they could jump over the fence easily. Now they will be able to walk over it. There is so much snow in our backyard it is crazy. If it stops tomorrow like they say it will, I will try to get some pictures of the other drifts around the house. Some of them have to be close to 8 feet high now. Sorry, GoT, winter isn't coming - it's here!

The Best Laid Plans...

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from my friend. We're expecting a blizzard here Sunday, or at least a winter storm (I expect it will get kicked up to a blizzard once it starts) and her husband was scheduled to fly out to a conference on Sunday. But because of the impending bad weather, his flight got changed to Saturday at 9 am. She had hair and nail appointments set up for today for a party tonight and it was too late for her to cancel the appointments without a penalty. So she asked me if I could watch her daughters for a while so she could keep her afternoon appointment.

I said yes because I figured S would have more fun playing with her friend instead of running wild at the hockey rink. Oh yes, J has a hockey game on Valentine's Day. And we have games on Easter and Mother's Day AGAIN this year. Yeah, we had them then last year too. S was very excited when I told her about the play date and kept saying this morning she was going to help "babysit" her friend (who is only a year younger than her). Ah, the best laid plans...

I had to run out to the store for a few minutes. I was gone maybe 15 minutes and I came back home to find that S was running a fever and her head hurt. C had given her some Advil and I was able to talk her into bed because she was shivering. Next thing I knew she was asleep. Yup, she is definitely sick because the only time she takes naps is when she's not feeling well. This was at noon.

I immediately let my friend know what was going on. C had to take J to hockey at the same time I was supposed to be watching the kids so I couldn't leave S with him - she was too sick to take to the rink (and she was asleep at the time). And I was worried about taking her to her friend's house because the last thing I want to do is get my friend's kids sick when her husband is going to be out of town for the week. Our backup plan was for her to leave her youngest, who was napping, with me and S at her house while she took her oldest with her to her appointment. But thankfully she was able to get another neighbour to watch her kids.

This doesn't change the fact that I feel really bad about not being able to help her out. I know we can't control when our kids get sick. And I hope my friend isn't too mad at me - she has kids of her own and knows they get sick without warning. But I don't like letting people down when I agree to do something. I let her know I will make it up to her by coming and watching her kids one day later this week when S is better. And I'll make her some more hats because who doesn't like hats? :-)

Anyway, that's my exciting Valentine's Day - at home with a sick 5 year old while the other half of the family is out at the hockey rink. At least she's stopped shivering so yay for Advil. And there are cupcakes for the kids for later and a chocolate cream pie for me and C. I'm looking forward to it. But then maybe I shouldn't make any plans for eating it with the way my plans have been going today. Happy Valentine's Day!

Going back to Kindergarten

Today S had a Valentine's Day party in kindergarten. I was asked to bring juice boxes for the kids, which was easy enough to do. I went into the classroom today to help with the party. It was kind of strange being back in a kindergarten classroom again after so long.

Long ago, I used to teach kindergarten. My first few years were spent teaching in a private kindergarten and then I moved to teaching in the public school for a few years. For the most part, I enjoyed teaching and working with the kids. What caused the most headaches for me was the administration. They often made a teacher's job much harder than it already is. Anyone who sticks it out teaching for more than a few years deserves a medal. Actually, teachers who make it through their first year of teaching deserve a medal too. And my medal I mean a really huge pay raise because teachers don't get paid anywhere near enough for the jobs they do.

Anyway, it was fun being back in a kindergarten classroom today. S's class has a good size classroom, with a tiered book/reading corner, a block area (because blocks!), a dramatic play area which is currently a restaurant, an art area, a computer area, as well as a big open area for circle time. Yup, they still do circle time. I think there will always be a circle time in kindergarten.

When I arrived the teacher was reading the kids a story about love because it is the day before Valentine's Day. Then the kids moved to their special seats to wait their turn for handing out their Valentines. I helped kids read names because names can be tricky when you have the handwriting of a 5 or 6 year old. Of course every child that needed help would come up to me and wave the card around while asking me whose name was on it. I guess they wanted to test my vision today!

I have a lot of respect for S's teacher. Her class is made up of 5 girls and 12 boys, and most of those boys are your typical active 5 and 6 year old boys. But she has great control over the class without being bossy or too strict. She kept saying how wound up the kids were but honestly, they were the calmest group of kindergartners I've ever seen at a Valentine's party. Anytime they started getting too out of control she would redirect them to something else that would help them to refocus and be calm again. Although she did admit to me that yesterday she threatened to take away their party because the whole class was being wild. I can't blame her for that - when I was teaching I would often use that tactic myself.

So I helped the kids pass out the Valentines and helped them pass out the treats they brought in (all peanut free, of course). More importantly, I got to see how S is in her class and how she acts with her classmates (she's less whiny at school). I also got to spend some time with her classmates, getting to know them. It was nice to be able to put faces and personalities with the names she talks about at home, especially CG, who she says is her boyfriend. Yup, that started on the first day of school. Apparently my daughter is the queen bee of the classroom - the teacher said that all the kids argue over who gets to sit next to her. I must teach her with great popularity comes great responsibility.

All in all it was fun to be back in, helping out a fellow teacher. I did let S's teacher know that if she needs an extra set of hands I'm around during the day and wouldn't mind coming in to help. She was very pleased to hear that, so I may be spending more time in kindergarten in the future. Who knew after all this time I'd possibly be going back to kindergarten? :-)

This was my Thursday

Ah, it's Thursday again. I had a very hard time getting up this morning. The snow plow woke me up at like 5:15. It had been flurrying when we went to bed last night and I guess there was enough snow to require a snow plow. Thanks! I was able to get back to sleep but that made getting up at 6:15 even harder. But I did manage to drag myself out of bed and get the kids ready for school. Once they were out the door I settled down on the sofa with my tea and the TV remote. Yup, I had already decided that it was going to be a lazy morning.

I located Les Mis on one of the movie channels and pulled out my knitting. I got the gauge information for my mystery shawl and had begun working on the swatch yesterday. I had planned to finish it last night but I was tired and tired me + lace = disaster. So, I set it aside until this morning. I finished it and it's now blocking. I can't wait until the first clue comes out on Feb 20 so I can get started. The yarn is a blend of merino wool and silk and it's lovely to work with.

After I was finished being lazy I did some errands around town and then met the hubby downtown for lunch. I somehow managed to score a parking meter down on the main strip. Someone must have just left when I got there. And there were 55 minutes left on the meter, so that was nice! With all the snow we've had lately parking was a disaster for quite a while, so getting a meter space that was fairly free of snow was like hitting the parking space lottery.

We went to a restaurant that specializes in cooking with local ingredients and supporting local farmers. We like going here for lunch because it's a place we don't get to go very often. S is a picky eater and they really don't have anything on the menu she would eat. Example - they had wild rabbit stew on the menu. I will admit, I was tempted to order it because I have never tried rabbit before. But it was a dinner entree and I was afraid it would be too much for lunch. Maybe I'll have to try to arrange for a babysitter so we can go for a dinner date.

I ended up having a grilled cheese sandwich. And this wasn't just any old grilled cheese made with plain white bread and American cheese slices. This was made with fresh baked multi-grain bread, cheddar and mozzarella cheese, cherry tomatoes, and a smoked pork product that they didn't call bacon but it tasted like bacon. It was delicious! The restaurant serves salads with their sandwiches instead of fries, which made lunch the perfect size. The hubby got potato and leek soup and then a PLT - panchetta, lettuce, and cheese. He said his was really good too.

I just have to add that as I was driving home from lunch I saw about 10 seals just chillaxing on the ice by the bridge that goes over the river/harbour. There's a section of the river that hasn't frozen this year and the seals had obviously popped up in that area and decided to take a break on the ice. I will admit I squealed like a little kid when I saw them because seals are cool and we don't see them there very often. It's sunny and warmer today than it has been (-7C instead of like -15C) so I guess they wanted to enjoy the nice weather too.

Now I'm back home, enjoying the quiet of the house before the kids get home from school. Thursdays are actually nice in the afternoons because we usually don't have anything on the schedule. We can just finish up any unfinished homework and then the kids can go play with friends until suppertime. I'm sure J will be asking to play video games and S will be asking to go play at her friend's house. So I may actually get some afternoon writing time. I should be able to get some writing done tomorrow because the potential snow storm has been downgraded to 2 cms of snow, so the kids will be going to school. Sunday is another story - they are saying blizzard. Joy! We'll see how that turns out. Welcome to February in Canada!

Bankrupting the Tooth Fairymo

Today featured not one, but two trips to the dentist. I called yesterday to get appointments for the kids to see the dentist because they were way overdue. To my surprise, they were able to get J in at 8:00 this morning and S at 1:00. Both kids were nervous because it had been too long since they went to the dentist. S almost broke down in tears when the hygienist called her name, but the hygienist could tell S was nervous and did a great job putting her at ease.

In fact, both hygienists we saw today were fantastic. They were patient with the kids and took the time to explain what was happening so they would be at ease. The dentist said both of them are doing well with their oral hygiene - no cavities and very little plaque. At the end they each got to pick out a toy from a treasure chest-type box. J chose a hockey card while S chose a seal that grows when you put it in water.

The dentist himself was great. He was friendly and took the time to chat with them. It turns out that the dentist has a daughter who is J's age. They are both in the same school and in fact were in the same Grade 3 class last year. It truly is a small world here on the island. And even though the dentist is great, I'm still grumpy with him. Why you ask? Because what he told me is going to bankrupt the Tooth Fairy. He told me that J has 2 wiggly teeth, with at least 2 more on the way within the next three months. His first molars are all getting wiggly and probably within the next 6 months the second molars will start loosening up. And S already has one very wiggly tooth on top. But he noticed that her other top tooth is starting to loosen up and that two teeth on the bottom would be joining the party soon. My kids are going to be toothless wonders soon. Time to start serving them oatmeal and soup.

So, that's at least 7 loose teeth coming in the next few months. And the Tooth Fairy set a very bad precedence by giving the kids $5 a tooth, so that's at least $35 she's going to have to pay out in the upcoming months, if not more depending on how many teeth J ends up losing. See, she's going to go bankrupt!

The kids will be happy though. Both of them are trying to save up money to buy new iPods. Yes, even S wants an iPod (she doesn't have one yet). They both saved most of their Christmas money and I'm pretty sure there is money for them in their Valentine cards from their Nana. Add to that the potential Tooth Fairy money they will get and I think they will have a good deal of money soon. We told the kids that if they could save up half the money we would put up the other half. I haven't looked at the price yet but I bet he's going to come close.

I'm just glad I can check off going to the dentist for the kids. I was a good mommy and made myself an appointment when I made the kids. Mine is in a few weeks - joy! My appointment will be much longer than the kids since they do a comprehensive exam of adults that apparently lasts 2 hours. At least they have TVs in the exam rooms to watch. Still, I'm not looking forward to going to the dentist but I will follow my kids' example and go with a smile. At least I will try. :-)

Knitting Tuesday

Today ended up being a laundry and knitting day. I probably should have worked on my story since it's looking like the kids will be home again on Friday. I made the mistake of turning on the TV while I was folding laundry and got sucked into watching reality shows. So out came the knitting to work on while I was waiting for the dryer to stop. I typically don't watch reality shows but every now and then I need to just watch something mindless.

Most times I've got two knitting projects going - one is usually a short term project while the other is long term. My short term project is a simple ribbed scarf with some stripes at each end that I'm making for C. I made him a hat using the same colours and he asked for a matching scarf so I pulled the yarn back out of the cabinet and started it. I just finished the stripes at one end so now I have 46 inches of ribbing to do before I get to the other end. That doesn't sound very short term, does it? It's actually going faster than I expect so I'm putting it into short term category. My long term project is also a scarf but it's a much wider, much longer scarf and it has a section of cabling running down one side of it. I've gotten to the point where I've memorized the pattern so in a way it's become non-thinking knitting, which is good for watching TV.

But next week this project will get put on a back burner for a bit. I'm starting a mystery knit-along (KAL) for a shawl. I'm a bit nervous about this KAL because I've seen some of this company's shawls and they are amazingly intricate lace shawls. I have a love/hate relationship with lace. I love how it looks when it's done but at times I hate doing it. It requires me to pay close attention to what I'm doing as opposed to the two scarves I'm working on now. I will get a clue a week for the shawl. I hope I can get each clue done before the next one comes out.

I really do love knitting. I taught myself to knit shortly after J was born and I've been knitting for almost 10 years now. I taught myself to crochet when I was a teenager, possibly before that, so I've been working with yarn for along time. But once I learned to knit I ended up liking it better than crocheting. I will still crochet but I'd rather knit instead. I have made many different things. If you're a knitter and on www.Ravelry.com, feel free to stop by my page and check things out. My name there is Jennilynn.

I've been good about my resolution of knitting from my yarn stash. I have been slowly knocking down the amount of yarn I have by knitting lots of hats and now some scarves. The yarn for the mystery shawl was purchased before my resolution kicked in. I'll keep knitting from my stash as long as I can. I'm starting to get down to the point where I have more sock yarn than yarn I use for making hats so I guess it might be time to start making socks again. Or else I'll have to pull out my one-skein sock yarn book out and see what things I can make. But the good news is that I am making progress on using my stash. Maybe soon I'll get to go buy some new yarn. :-)

Kilynn, part 9

Today has been a good writing day. I scrapped just about everything I had written since I posted part 8. What I had written just didn't feel right. Every time I read it I felt cranky, which made me realize it just wasn't what I wanted to say. Yesterday I came up with a new idea but it wasn't until today that I was able to get time to write it down. I've read through it a few times now and made some minor changes, All in all, I'm happy with the way it turned out. So, here you go. Sorry it's long, but I don't feel like there's a good place to cut it into two posts. Enjoy!

Kilynn climbed out of bed shortly before the sun came up. After her father had left the room, she had crawled into bed still fully clothed. She had slept fitfully, dreams of the potentially horrible things being done to her mother flitting through her head. She eventually gave up trying to sleep and lay there thinking of her mother and wondering how in the world she would reach an island halfway around the world. She hoped her grandmother had an idea.

With her head aching from lack of sleep, Kilynn got up and tiptoed downstairs. She wanted to get out of the house before anyone else was awake so she could slip back out into the woods and search for her grandmother. When she entered the kitchen she was surprised to see Herry standing at the stove, attempting to cook eggs and bacon. She stood in the doorway for a few minutes, watching him rush about, cursing under his breath. When he threw the spatula into the sink with a loud curse, she couldn't keep her laughter in any longer.

Surprised, Herry spun quickly about to glare at his sister. Then he glanced around the room and broke into a sheepish grin. “Give me a hand here, sis?” he asked. Kilynn laughed as she walked over to the stove and took over cooking breakfast. Laughing with her brother seemed to soothe the ache in her head.

“Mother always did say you were hopeless in the kitchen, Herry,” Kilynn told him as she flipped the bacon out of the pan and onto the plate. “You were always too busy reading her cookbook to actually learn how to cook.”

“I know,” Herry replied. “I just thought I could figure it out this morning. With Mother gone someone had to feed this hungry crew.” Kilynn heard the catch in his voice when he mentioned their mother. He was trying very hard to be brave. Kilynn gave him a smile and turned back to the stove, hiding the tears that had formed in her eyes. She felt a hand touch her shoulder and looked up into her brother’s bright green eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Kilynn. We’ll get her back. I believe Grandmother.”

“So do I, Herry. It’s just hard to believe that she’s actually gone.” Kilynn planned to say more but her older brothers clomped into the room. Kilynn put the eggs and bacon on the table while Herry, who had managed to correctly brew the coffee, placed the carafe on the table. Her brothers dug into the food, ignoring their youngest sibling. Kilynn could feel the hostility coming off them and she couldn’t blame them. No matter what anyone said, Kilynn knew she was reason their mother had been outside at the wrong time. Kilynn grabbed a bit of food and then went to sit quietly in the corner, away from her brothers.

The room was silent except for the sound of everyone eating until Robbert walked into the room. Everyone stopped eating to look up at him except for Kilynn. She looked down at the floor, refusing to look at her father and see the hurt in his eyes. Robbert picked up a plate and filled it from the various dishes on the table then sat down and began to eat, listing out the things that needed to be done in the store today. His sons resumed eating but Kilynn had suddenly lost her appetite. She slid down from the stool in the corner and attempted to slip out of the room when her father’s voice stopped her.

“Kilynn, please stay here. I’d like to speak with you.” Kilynn gulped nervously while her brothers quickly stuffed the rest of their food into their mouths. One by one they dropped their plates in the sink and then headed downstairs to the family store. Ryl was the last to leave the room, stopping to give Kilynn a look of sympathy before he left the kitchen and closed the door behind him.

When the door was closed, Robbert patted the chair next to him. “Come sit, little cat.” She walked over and cautiously sat down next to her father. She did smile a tiny smile at his nickname for her. He had called her his little cat since she was young because she would hiss and spit like a little cat when angered. It felt good to have him call her that but she was still nervous about what he was going to say. She glanced at the door and wished Herry and Ryl had stayed. She often felt stronger when her brothers were close by and she knew she would need a great deal of strength for the conversation that was about to start.

Even though they had both apologized last night, Kilynn still expected her father to be angry. But instead of scolding her, Robbert said, “Your grandmother sent me a message this morning. She said she talked with you and your brothers in the woods last night. Is that correct?”

Kilynn looked up at her father and nodded. He sighed and took a bite of eggs. Kilynn, unsure of what to say, just waited for her father to speak again. “So now you know. Your mother always wanted to tell you, and all your brothers, about her family history but I asked her not to. I wanted you and your brothers to have as normal a life as possible. But my reluctance to acknowledge your mother’s ancestors has put us in this situation. I was wrong to blame you, little cat. It isn't your fault your mother was taken; the fault is mine.”

Kilynn stared at her father in surprise. This was not what she was expecting. She expected him to yell at her, or at least give her a good lecture for her stupidity of running away after their argument the day before but instead he was taking the blame on himself. Her father ignored her shocked expression and continued speaking.

“Yesterday you came to us, asking about attending the Academy like your older brothers had. Your mother and I had discussed this not long ago, when Ryl and Herry began thinking about going to the Academy. We should have told you then about your ancestors and The Hunt. If you had known the truth then you probably wouldn't have run away. Your brothers did follow you, by the way. They made sure you were safe in the woods then came back to wait at the town walls for your return. They had sent word to us that they would be there. When the second to last bell sounded, your mother left to go to the wall to retrieve you all. But for some reason, she didn't make it to the safety of the wall and was taken by The Hunt.

“Your mother wasn't happy with me for my decision yesterday. She has always wanted you to have and do whatever your brothers did, regardless of the fact that it may not be ‘proper’ for you. She saw nothing wrong with you going provided we talked with you first about The Hunt and the island before you went. But I didn't want to tell you. I wanted to keep you here, where I could keep you safe. If I let you go away to the Academy, there would be no way for me to ensure that you would be safe. I know it was hard for you to hear my decision yesterday. I’m sorry I made the wrong one but I did it for the best of reasons, truly.

Robbert took a sip of coffee then continued speaking. “Currently, you are the last female of your mother’s line. The island people are a matriarchal society, so you are the heir to the throne.  Technically, little cat, you are a princess.”

At that statement, that she was a princess, Kilynn couldn't help but giggle. She had slopped eggs on her pants, coffee on her shirt, her hands were rough and banged up, and she had forgotten to brush her hair that morning. She felt like the complete opposite of a princess. At her giggle, Robbert smiled. Kilynn stood up and attempted a curtsey but promptly tripped over her own feet and flopped back down into the chair. Robbert let out a chuckle and Kilynn smiled at him.

“Ah, little cat, you can always put a smile on my face.” He reached over and attempted to smooth her hair down. “But seriously, Kilynn, do you understand now why we had to say no to you? It wasn’t because we didn't think you could handle it as you so politely told us.” Kilynn had the decency to blush at that. She had not been very polite to her parents when she was told no. “On the contrary I think you would be an exceptional student at the Academy. We had to say no to protect you and others. If The Hunt discovered your ‘scent’ as it were, they would stop at nothing to track you down. You and those attending the Academy would be in grave danger.”

Kilynn sighed and nodded. “Yes, Father, I understand. But going to the Academy is moot at this point. I cannot even begin to think about going away to school when Mother is missing. I have things to do here.” Kilynn stopped suddenly, thinking it might not be a good idea to tell her father about their planning to rescue Vanyssa.

“Ah yes,” her father replied. “Your grandmother included an interesting tidbit in her message to me. Something about going to rescue your mother. Do you really think you can do this, Kilynn? So many people before you have tried to rescue loved ones and only ended up getting taken by The Hunt in the process. I don’t know if I can allow you to do this, little cat.”

Kilynn looked at her father. She wished her grandmother hadn't told her father about the rescue attempt. Kilynn herself wasn't sure she could do this, but she had to convince her father that she could.

“Yes, Father, I think I can do this. You said it yourself – I am my mother’s heir. If anyone has a chance at rescuing Mother, it is me. Grandmother said they are probably doing horrible things to Mother, and they will probably do the same to me if they catch me. But I can’t let that stop me. I cannot sit back, wishing and hoping that Mother will magically be returned. Grandmother believes that I am the one to save Mother and I believe her.” Kilynn hoped she sounded confident when she said that because she was truly feeling scared.

Her father leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table then buried his face in his hands. Kilynn sat patiently, waiting to see what he would say. She was planning on doing this with or without his blessing, but with would be better. She saw his shoulders shake for a bit but when he finally looked up his face was calm and composed even if his eyes were a bit red.

“I don’t know if I can do this, Kilynn. I've just lost your mother and now I face the possibility of losing you, and your brothers. Oh, I know that they won’t let you go without them so don’t even try to convince me otherwise. Your grandmother seems to believe you can do this. I have known her a very long time and she doesn't put her trust in people easily, even family. But she seems to trust you. So go, Kilynn. Go to your grandmother. She will be waiting for you, and your brothers, at the pond at midday. I just hope I am not sending you three to your deaths.”

Kilynn jumped up and hugged her father tightly. He returned the hug as he whispered, “I love you, my brave daughter.” Then he let her go and returned his face to his hands. Kilynn quietly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Like a good neighbour...

I had only visited Canada once before we moved up here. We came up for a few days while the hubby interviewed for his job. I immediately loved the city and the surrounding towns and countryside. The hubby asked people where were some good places to live if you have kids and he was told a couple of different towns. We drove around and checked them out but of course we didn't choose where we were going to live because we weren't completely sure we were moving here.

Once we decided that yes, he would take the job and we'd uproot ourselves from the only area that the kids (and ourselves) had ever really known, we had to figure out where we were going to live. C (the hubby) came up for a week at the beginning of June to start working. I had to trust him to pick out a place for us to live since the kids and I weren't coming along.

The company provided him with a real estate agent who took him around to some places. He showed him a house in a nice little neighbourhood. At the time the house was for sale but the owner was willing to rent it for a year in hopes of the renters buying it. C emailed me pictures of the house and gave me his opinion. From the pictures it looked like a nice house - a real house as opposed to the townhouse we were living in at the time. It had a huge backyard, four bedrooms, and a nice size basement for the kids to use as a playroom. It was an actual house unlike the townhouse we lived in in Virginia. So, I told him to go ahead and sign the papers and rent the house. 

To this day, I cannot believe how lucky we were in getting this house. The location is nice - yes, we back up to a busy road but we put in a fence and it makes it a much safer place to play. The house has it's pros and cons - it has lots of windows and gets a lot of natural light but it's a split level so the sound travels easily from floor to floor. I'm thinking some carpets will help with that if we ever get around to buying them.

But the best thing about this house is our neighbours. They are awesome. We have a lot of families around us with kids about the same age as ours which makes our kids happy. They do a lot of yard hopping to visit with each other and we keep an eye on each others kids when they are playing together. 

And the parents of the kids are wonderful too. They are so friendly and welcoming and will help you without thinking twice. An example of this - I was having a problem with our air exchanger (it circulates the air since we don't have central air vents) and my neighbour came over and showed me how to open it up. He managed to get it working again which saved me a service call.

The sense of community on our street made us want to stay here when our lease was up. It is nice to have friends just across the street and know that if there's an emergency they will be there to help out. And it's nice to know that if they need help with something we're there for them. And we're not the only ones to notice it. A new family moved it just before the start of the school year and everyone made them feel welcome. They have a daughter that's the same age as S (and even has the same name) and the two girls are good friends. When they finally sold their old house they decided that they would continue to rent the house they are in rather than start looking for one to buy because they want to stay on our street.

 

Back in Virginia we knew a few of the people on our street but there were so many people we didn't know. And it was just kind of hanging out at the bus stop type of thing.But here we get together with our friends and have skating parties and pizza parties and swim parties. The sense of community here is wonderful. I feel very lucky that we live where we live. Oh Canada! :-)

Get Out of the House Day aka Saturday

Today was a get out of the house kind of day, especially after all the storms we've been having lately. I think everyone was feeling a little cabin fever. We actually started the get out of the house day Friday evening with a hockey game. J's team tied with the older AA team, so we were happy with that. He got some good compliments from his coaches, which made him feel good about the way he played. He's definitely improving his skills this year. It was nice to get back to the rink and see all the parents. We hadn't really seen anyone since getting back from the tournament last weekend because of the storms. It was a late night for the kids but it was fun.

Today started out with getting S out the door to her swimming lesson. She didn't want to go but I made her (yeah, I'm a mean mommy). She hadn't been to her lesson in 3 weeks - the pool canceled what would have been her second lesson and rescheduled it for the end of the session, she didn't want to go the next week because she was 'tired' (we had been up pretty late the night before), and last Saturday we were away for a hockey tournament. So she had forgotten how much fun she actually has when she goes.

We were almost late getting to the pool because of snow removal taking place on the bridge that connects our town to the main city. I think it was actually good we were running late because it didn't give her much time to stand there and cry before hand. She met up with another girl who was in swimming with her last session and they held hands while they walked over to the teacher, mainly because neither one of them could remember who their teacher was. S cried some but the swim instructors at the pool are awesome and they got her calmed down, into her life jacket, and into the pool. She had a great time flipping off the side of the pool and practicing swimming the length of the competition pool. When she got out of the water she had a big smile on her face, as I knew she would. She just needed to remember how much fun swimming actually it.

After we got home from swimming we took a short break then headed down into our little city for lunch. We went to one of our favourite restaurants because they have the best curry I've ever had. (To my friend I used to work with - this place blows away that Indian restaurant we used to go to near the old office). I ordered my usual Chicken Korma while the boys had Butter Chicken. IMO, you can't go wrong with any of the curries they offer. S, not being adventurous, got a tasty grilled cheese.

The owner of the restaurant lives just around the corner from us. One day I may have to break into her house and search for her recipes. We went to this restaurant shortly after we moved here and met the owner a few days later at a neighbourhood party. She brought the Korma sauce and everyone was asking her for the recipe but she wouldn't share it. Meanie. Ah well, it gives us an excuse to go downtown for lunch on Saturdays.

After lunch we strolled down the street to the new location of the hubby's favourite coffee shop. They just moved from what could be considered a side street to a prime location on the main street that runs through the historic part of downtown. I have a feeling the hubby is going to be spending a lot of money there since the new location is directly under his office. The new place is nice but it does lack the historic charm of the old location. And S was sad because there was a carved red fox that hung outside the old building that hasn't come to the new building since it wasn't actually owned by the coffee shop. We split some massive cookies (they were delicious) and the hubby had coffee and I had my usual chai latte.

We came home then, skipping our usual post-lunch trip to the comic book and used book stores because the sidewalks downtown are awful. We've gotten over 5 feet of snow on the island since January 24 and the snow removal crews are having a hard time keeping up. Hopefully tomorrow or next weekend we can get to the book stores downtown. J loves picking up new comics and S loves the book store. And being a reader myself, I find it very hard to say no to buying books.

Now the kids are outside playing with their friends and the hubby went out with them. This is the first time I've had total quiet in the house. I should be working on my story but it's been so long since I've looked at it that I probably won't get back to it until Monday when the kids will be in school. I checked the weather and they WILL be in school or the school board will answer to me.

I think I've hit a plateau in my story writing, kind of like people hit plateaus in dieting. I need to find something new in my story to get me over that hump and continue the story. I think I'll be able to find that on Monday when I will get a good long time without any distractions. Until then I will think about my story, attempt to get the hat I'm knitting done, and enjoy the quiet of the house.

Dirty Garden Tools

Today is a teacher work day so the kids are home YET AGAIN. Lately they've been home more than they've been in school. I'm not sure how they are going to handle a full week of school next week - so far the weather is looking storm-free but that can surely change.

When they have a scheduled day off from school, I give them some time to watch movies on Netflix. The kids setting is turned on, so I trust that the movies they pick are acceptable for them to watch. Usually they choose AFV (S's choice) or Clone Wars (J's choice). Sometimes they pick movies. Recently they chose the Mike Myers' version of The Cat in the Hat. Now I will admit I haven't seen the movie (I don't particularly care for most of Mike Myers' work) but I saw it had a PG rating. I figure it was okay for them to watch.

Well...I figured wrong. Today S (who is just shy of 6 years old) plopped down in her seat for lunch, looked at me, and proudly announced, " Dirty hoe!" I about dropped the glass I was holding and asked her what she had just said. She could tell by my tone that I was not happy with what she said so she said it much quieter the second time. I asked her where she had heard that and she gave me the classic, "I don't know" which is total BS. She knew, she just didn't want to tell me.

J jumped in at that point and explained that it was in the Cat in the Hat movie and that The Cat was holding a dirty garden hoe when he said it. In that context it makes sense. But out of context, whoa. I then had to scramble to come up with a way to explain to my kids why they shouldn't say this without explaining the double meaning to that phrase. An almost 6 year old doesn't need to know the other meaning (nor does the almost 10 year old). The best I could come up with was that it sounded very similar to a word that isn't a nice word to say so please stop saying it. Both kids seemed okay with that explanation and didn't ask any questions.

After that I looked up the parent guide for the movie on IMDB and decided that perhaps this movie should be rated PG-13 instead of PG. Now, I don't have a problem with my kids watching PG-13 movies. Both kids have seen The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, among other movies and they've been fine with them. They've heard the "bad" words in those movies and they don't go running around the house repeating them because we've taught them what's appropriate for them to say at their ages.

I guess what bothers me the most about The Cat in the Hat movie is that it's based on a kids book - a book I read to S at bedtime. In the book there aren't any double-entendres - why the need to add them to the movie? The book is awesome. The original, animated version is awesome. Why the need to take something for kids and sexualize it (and after reading the parent's guide, the dirty hoe thing isn't the only sexual thing)? My kids see the Cat as a fun cartoon-type character. They think if he says something, it's okay for them. It reminds me of the old cigarette company that used a cartoon camel to sell their cigarettes. The cartoon characters says to kids "hey, this is for you!" even if it's not. 

Maybe I'm old-fashioned or uptight for not wanting my almost 6 year old running around yelling ''dirty hoe!". Maybe I want to avoid the phone call from her kindergarten teacher when she says it at school. Maybe I want to preserve her innocence as long as I can and avoid explaining what certain words mean. She's in public school so she'll learn them soon enough. But for now I will be banning the Mike Myers' version of The Cat in the Hat in our house. Sorry, Mike, but I just don't think your "kids" movie is for my kids.

Lego Day

Today marks one month of my daily blog! I started on January 5 and now it is February 5. I'm hoping I can keep going to make it to March 5. Go me!

Today is a storm day, although I'm still trying to figure out why. It was snowing some this morning but the roads have been worse and it stopped snowing for quite a while. It rained for a bit which caused garage flooding (an on-going problem) and now it's snowing again but it's big wet flakes. The kids would be getting home from school about now normally and the roads are fine. Considering they've only been to school 4 days in the past two weeks I think they should have gone today.

But since I don't make that decision, I had the kids home with me. They were leaving each other alone for a change so I decided to work on the Lego set J got me for Christmas. I thought about writing but I knew as soon as I started they would start fighting and the Lego set has been sitting there awhile. It is The Hobbit Lake-town Chase set. This made J want to put together his MineCraft set from Christmas so I took one side of the dining room table and he took the other. S wanted to put something together too but she had already done all her sets from Christmas. J found a monster truck set in his room that had most of its parts so she put that together.

Here's my finished set:

It is a cool set. It was complicated enough to keep me interested but not so complicated that I couldn't finish it in a few hours (I had to take breaks to feed the kids, help S with her set, etc). I have a feeling we'll have more Lego days if I can make it it to Target tomorrow (the hubby took my car today because it's 4WD) since Target has started it's liquidation sale and Lego sets are on sale. Excuse me while I am sad for a bit about Target closing here in Canada. :-(

Anyway, Lego time was fun. J actually built is set all by himself. He likes the Lego sets better than the MegaBloks sets because of the way Lego sorts things out into numbered bags for you. This also worked out well for me because it gave me a natural stopping point to do other things. I have a few sets still in bags from the move up here that need to be put back together. Maybe tomorrow I'll let S work on one - she loves building things and has a good eye for detecting what's different from one picture to another. Or maybe, if the weather cooperates, we'll hit up Target and see what they have left. I did buy some sets on clearance a few weeks ago but I want to save those for birthday presents for the kids.

After my set was done, I did spy J eyeing the figures that came with my set. He loves playing with the mini-figs and is always joking about stealing some of mine. I'll have to keep an eye on my sets to make sure none of my mini-figs disappear. :-)

So far it's been a good day. And now I shall go make it better by getting myself a cup of tea and reading through what I wrote yesterday. S went outside and J is playing video games so I might actually get some writing/revising done. Or maybe I'll just curl up with my tea and knit for a bit. Either way, there will be tea involved!

A good day to write

Today is a bright sunny day and everyone is out of the house but me - the kids are at school and the hubby is at work. There is a lot of snow outside but the roads were clear enough for the kids to get to school. The hubby said the roads down in our tiny city were terrible but at least he was able to make it into work. So I had the house to myself which allowed me to actually think and write without interruptions.

I got quite a bit of writing done today on my Kilynn story. I had been struggling with what was going to happen when Kilynn woke up the next morning. Yesterday I wrote some but didn't like it so I deleted it all and started again. I left that sit and came back to it today and didn't like that either. With all the quiet I was able to get my thoughts straight and write down something that I like. I'll leave it for tonight and come back to it tomorrow and see what I think. If I still like it then I will continue on with the story. Until I'm happy with it I won't publish it here on the blog.

At some point I should probably sit down and outline what is going to happen in the rest of the story. So far my writing process has been to make it up as I go along and that's a bit different than what I used to do. It's fun to just sit and write and see where the story goes but then there are times like yesterday when I don't know where the story is going. Lately it feels like the story is moving away from where I want it to go. I need to figure out how to get my story back on track. That will be tomorrow's goal unless the kids are home from school again which is a possibility since we have yet another snow storm on the horizon. If they are home, writing is always a bit more challenging. We'll see how things go.

For now I'll continue to ponder my story and maybe make some notes tonight about where I want it to go and how to get it there. That is, if my arms will work tonight. I had to do some shoveling this morning when the stupid street plow shoved a bunch of snow into our driveway. Nothing like a 2 ft high, 2 ft deep, 2-car driveway-wide wall of snow at the end of your driveway to work those arm muscles. I got enough dug out that I could have gotten my car out if needed. Then of course the snow removal people came by. It took them less than 5 minutes to clear the rest of the driveway. It took me about 2 hours to clear barely 6 feet of snow. I'm just glad they came and finished the job for me. Now, I'm off to get the kids from the bus stop and have a cup of tea. Until tomorrow!