Cruising down I-90. Kids. Snacks. Tunes. Vacation has begun!
The month started with Mercury moving out of retrograde and a pretty quiet house: Claire went to Windsor for baseball provincials, Cole was in Poland and Caden was in cottage country. Chloé and I were in a nice quiet groove. On the 2nd, Chloé started her Grade 10 math course to prepare for her to attend prep school in Massachusetts - we've learned that they're a bit ahead in math in the States so best be prepared! Lots of work was done around the house: locks were changed and I hired my friend Lynne's son and friend to fix up the gardens at the new house and a painter to fix up the old house and some new windows were installed. Caden arrived home with a broken iPhone which we replaced and then upgraded our family plan. My kids use too much data! I switched our online calendar to Cozi and it's working so well for all of us. A few of the ladies from the Desire Map Book Club met up for a quick catch-up - it's tough to get everyone together in the summer! My creative writing class started and it is a big leap, but a good one. It has dovetailed nicely with The Conscious Booksmith course I'm taking online. Along with Helen, I joined a writers Meet Up group and I don't think it's what I want - it doesn't seem to appeal to Helen either. Maybe we can have a writers group of just the two of us :) I'm looking for a photographer to take photos of me and the kids in the fall - it'll be my 50th birthday gift to myself. I (reluctantly) fired my cleaning service but it had to be done - you never want to come home and feel ripped off regularly. Claire got her full G license, I am so proud of her. My sister came out to the new house with her family to check it out and I'm happy she likes it! Both Chloé and Caden got their new computers for school. Not sure what is going on, but I'm constantly seeing 1:11 or 1:23 or 11:11 on the clock - to the point where I'm noticing it, all the time, every day. Caden went up to OELC just outside Orillia - all 4 of my kids have participated in the Intermediate Athletics leadership program in a row. I'm so proud of their collective accomplishment! I'm making an effort to get in front of the camera instead of always behind. Grampy and Nanna use their fax machine which is frustrating because we do not have a fax - so I signed up for eFax and I'm so glad I did! Another sister - Andrea - came over to check things out and I got another stamp of approval. I'm participating in #100happydays over on twitter and I'm happy to be still going strong! Chloé is still enjoying her softball and is making it to practice and games as often as her studies allow. Living on the cemetery is very quiet, every day except Friday where all you hear is the sound of lawn mowers by 8AM and continue for hours. I watched four seasons of "The Good Wife" in about 10 days. Holy binge watching! Claire and I waited at the walk-in clinic only for her to be told not to worry about the bump on the inside of her throat - she worries anyway :) On the 22nd I celebrated what I thought (last year) was the end of my marriage - at 2 years, 2 months and 2 days of the "official" process. Little did I know then that I'd actually have to wait for two more judges approval and it really being final in December! Live and learn. That's okay, the Veuve Cliquot was just as enjoyable the second time! Cole arrived home from Europe - he frequently got in touch while he was gone via Skype and FaceTime but it was nice to have him home in the flesh! Caden was finally around to play in a baseball game with his team. Chloé wrote her final math exam and we patiently await the results. The wait at the Queenston/Lewiston Bridge was over 90 minutes, but we did manage to make it to Cape Cod in good time. I agreed to not list our townhouse until the one next to us sold, with a deadline which arrived the exact day 157 finally sold. Up went our "for sale" sign at 155. Fingers crossed! It was A LOT of work, but the townhouse looks spectacular with everything cleared out. Many meals were enjoyed at the Oakville Club through the course of the month, every time we go I'm happy we joined. Claire stayed in Oakville to work and play baseball. Cole taught Caden the fine skill of "beer pong" - with ginger ale, though maybe root beer would be more appropriate? My kids, all of them, are finally eating seafood. It is wonderful for them to spend time with their Grampy and Nanna - and for their grandparents to get to know us all better.
In the lives of the kids:
Claire | is learning a ton about the daily grind of an 8:30AM - 5PM job: making lunches, time spent to commute, logistics of making it through traffic after work, exhaustion, time management. I'm hoping this experience will encourage her to stay in school (where she just chose her courses for next year) and learn as much as she can so she has more flexibility in her life. No settling!
Cole | returned from Europe with a ton of experiences and stories to share. He spent time in Warsaw (depressing), Krakow (nice but with an unsettling visit to Auschwitz), Prague (stunning), Dresden (meh), Berlin (where they watched the FIFA final game!), St. Petersburg (rude people but the Hermitage was amazing) and Helsinki (beautiful) while earning his Grade 12 World History credit.
Chloé | got word that she had been accepted to the prep school in Massachusetts but there aren't enough beds! She's on the wait list with her fingers tightly crossed! In the meantime, she prepared for her acceptance by completing her Grade 10 math course: trigonometry, quadratics, linear systems and analytical geometry. Every day for the month she woke at 6:30 and got to class for 8AM. I love her determination and drive!
Caden | enjoyed a couple of weeks up north with a buddy and has definitely been bitten by the Muskoka-cottage-bug. He loves boating and fishing (yay!). He was home for a few days then reluctantly off to OELC and equally reluctant to come home as he met some great people and enjoyed himself. He's growing like mad and eating us out of house and home.
Life in general:
Weather | lots of humidity, then rain, then cool, then hot. I've quite enjoyed the moodiness of it all. Though, I do prefer cooler and less humid moodiness.
News | There is some scary stuff happening in the world. Cole being in Russia at the same time the Malaysian airline was shot down was far too close to home! The events in the Middle East are becoming more tense. As a child of the Cold War I thought I'd be more relaxed about it all, but at this age and stage, with more understanding of what is actually happening I am gripped with dread.
Sports | We started the month watching Wimbledon and celebrating the great accomplishments of the Canadians (the surprise was Vasek Pospisil who WON the Gentlemen's Doubles with his American partner Jack Sock; media darling, Eugenie Bouchard who made it into the finals where Kvitova won; and, Milos Raonic who lost to the great Roger Federer in the Semi-Finals). I enjoyed watching Rory McIlroy win the British Open and watched the Canadian Open while in Cape Cod - weird!
Discovery | I have really good instincts and I have to listen to (and act on) them more!
Looking forward, goals I want to keep at the forefront include:
Work | Its time to take a deep breath, sit down and figure it all out.
Health | I'm making good, consistent choices. I love nuts and seeds and grains so I've finally bought myself a cookbook so I can enjoy them at home in my own kitchen.
Home | Wow! The Honey-Do Boys are amazing. Talk about curb appeal! I love the way the new house looks like a cottage with all of the river rock and that we gained about 15 feet in the back yard clearing out all of the overgrowth. The perennial gardens shine and now we have a starting place for improvement :) Tony from Fel-Con Painting got all of the rooms painted and done while we were away and we will return to a new, new house - one that feels exactly like home. The old house is on the market and it was a ton of work - with everyone pitching in - to get it all done in time for the listing date!
Fun | I love people watching. The new "hot spot" in town is Harper's Landing. I'm not a fan of the food, but I'm a big fan of the clientele! Sometimes I go with the kids, other times I go with girlfriends. It is always entertaining.
Me | My life is full and I am rarely idle. Every day I am doing something - one project or another is often on the go or in the planning stages. Lately it's been dealing with the pressure of creating something "brilliant" for my creative writing class. The last couple of months had a lot of moving parts and I often felt as though things were running away from me. They weren't but when I look back I realize that within a matter of weeks I bought a house with no planning, no purcolating and no list. Talk about out of my comfort zone! I hit the ground running and have finally taken a chance to slow down. Now that I am idle(ish) I wonder: what's next?
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A couple of years ago I consistently wrote up posts summing up the month that had just past. Then life got both complicated and overwhelming, so much so I was just going from day-to-day in complete survival mode. With this new year I'm getting back into the practices of my past that I have missed.
