Sunday, June 28, 2009

Waiting For The Other Shoe

On Thursday, at work, an email awaited me. Asking if I'd like to go to Merritt to wave the flag for the Navy. The exact-ish wording was, "for the Merritt Mountain Music Festival scheduled for 9-12 Jul. Minimum of two Navy personnel are required. Optimally it would be two personnel with a country music interest and who are comfortable in public. Individuals should be confident and well spoken. They will be required to interact with the public throughout the day and will be on stage periodically during the national anthem, raising of the flag and during airing of the CF "Fight with Us" videos."

It took me but minutes to cry that I couldn't go because of a lack of sitter for the girls. At the end of the day I was driving home and decided to call my friend A, who lives on the mainland and is also a big Merritt person and have her commiserate with me. She then volunteered to come over and stay with the girls while I go!!

I called my friend back (who had sent me the original email) and said, "Sign me up!!" I then tried to get a hold of my VPMC because he'd be PERFECT for it too! Couldn't find his home number... did later, but that has no bearing really.

At any rate, Sailor kinda gave me the hinky eye when I told him that A would come over (either with or without her daughter who is Greta's age!) and watch the girls while I go to the Fest, but he agrees it's a great opportunity for me, both professionally and musically.

Upon talking to the girl sending out the email on Friday (at a super successful Boss's Afternoon! YAY), I told her that the VPMC was cleared to go too. Then she told me of another girl has put her name forward. I know T, and she's a great person, so I said that either person would do great. With my luck, those two will go (VPMC and T) and I'd end up staying behind.

Anyway, until I'm actually on the road to Merritt, with TD $$ in hand and an RV (we hope) to stay in... I'm not counting on anything. But once I'm there... hooo BOY I'm gonna have fun! I love my job, so that'll be the fun and easy part. Then I'm bringing my guitar and a song book and gonna hit a few sing-alongs I hope!

The rest of the week went pretty much as planned - Sailor put up the swing set/play thingy, and did a great job. He's fixed the front hose and planned the front patio/garden area. He is gone, and has told me of his craptastic flight back to Oz (two delays, one hard port/hard starboard landing, and one bouncy landing). They're now at sea, on their way easterly.

This week's flex is:
Mon: pick up stuff from Canadian Rona Depot Mart for us (my money), the mess and a mess member (club money). Mary Kay product launch night so the babysitter will be called in for a while.
Tues: taking the truck into town to pick up some second hand glass panels for the deck after the chiro. Then coming home, switching the car seats into the car and getting the girls.
Wed: HAPPY CANADA DAY!! It's going to be a busy one - I have to make some more spaghetti sauce and jar it.
Thurs: Normal work day.
Fri: Working, then Mary Kay awards night at the Club. Again, the future richest 12 year-old in the area will be watching the girls and having supper here with them.
Sat: Groceries, then we see the Lippizzanner horses right on the floor!
Sun: Church and then our friend's annual country party for the afternoon.

Monday, June 22, 2009

And Now , The Seven SHORTEST Days Ever

Sailor is home on Home Leave Travel Assistance... HLT-YAY! However, he arrived at 9am on Thursday and is leaving at 9pm this Thursday. 7 days, 12 hours. Yuck-o.

We've been hanging out, having dinner in nice places, getting stuff for the girls, hanging with the girls together... it's lovely. Absence really DOES make the heart grow fonder. It's nice to reconnect again too. It was getting to the point where one of us HAD to go back to sea.

The money has come in handy, I must say. The girls are getting a new play set (I'll be putting up the old slide/climber thingy for sale) and the old rickety swing set is going to be a thing of the past. As is their play house. It's served its purpose, but it's time to put something safer in its place.

The bills that needed paying off are paid off, and there'll be enough left over to finish the deck (which is tax credit-able!) with a coating of something and some rails.

He's doing all that today, and his mum, sister and mum's boyfriend are up visiting and staying for supper. I'm at work, then gonna get the girls. BBQ for supper tonight!

This week's flex is:
Mon: work - Sailor picks up swing set and gets back yard ready for construction
Tue: work: luncheon then Greta has an ENT appointment at 4:30. Sailor starts on swing set construction.
Wed: work - Sailor finishes his 'honey do' list with special emphasis on the front hose *sigh*
Thurs: work: off early to take girls to the dentist. Sailor puts Greta to bed, then we leave for airport while babysitter watches the girls.
Fri: work: Boss's Afternoon at the club.
Sat: pay house insurance off, groceries, and Formation Family Fun Day in town (pony rides!!!!)
Sun: Church and then church picnic.

Our summer is heating up (har har) with things to do. I'm hoping that if we keep busy enough, the next 8 weeks will FLY by and we won't notice the time. At least it's 2 months, not 4 1/2 this time around.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The Four Longest Days EVER

I hate it when payday's on a Monday. Being broke bites. Mind you, it means we need to be more creative when it comes to doing stuff. So yesterday after groceries, I packed our pic-i-nic basket up and a diaper bag, and we took off around the lake to the provincial park. I'd never been there, but we'll go again for sure.

The path down to the water is nice and wide (next time, stroller) and there's a large grassy meadow once you come out of the woods. We chose a shaded spot under a huge maple tree and set up our blanket and stuff. We stripped down to our suits, Greta got into her swim suit and top, and off we went. Ray wore her sandals, I wore mine, and because I forgot Greta's, she was carried. The lake was cold, but eventually it got warm and it was really nice. It's quite rocky where we were, so Ray held my hand. She nearly toppled over, but had a great time splashing. I was swinging Greta through the water.

Ray took a step back from me (so she was in water about waist high on her) and lost her balance. Then she couldn't stand up. Her eyes were wide, she went under three times, and then grasped my hand. She quickly regained her balance... and took off for the towels. She's now scarred apparently. Refuses to go into the lake any more. Pools - yes. Ocean even (?), but not the lake. Next time, I'll take Sailor and we can deal with this properly - one child per parent.

Greta, on the other hand, didn't want to leave the water, but we did. And warmed up in a towel, we ate our chicken cheese buns and water wa-wa-men (melon). With Bear Paws for dessert... it was splendid. We watched the motor boats, water skiiers and the sea-do go back and forth to.

Less than an hour after arriving, we left and got home in time for Greta to get changed and a decent nap! There were two other groups of two/three just arriving as we left. Perfect timing.

We had church today, and one of our friends and her son from the preschool came for a visit and supper, along with Gramma and SIL. We had a feast of baked spaghetti, corn on the cob, and ciabbatta buns. With carrot cake for dessert. It was nice to have a full table again.

Greta has come down with a cold - hoarse voice, bit of a sniffle, feeling warm. Still happy and all, but more clingy than usual. At least her appetite hasn't diminished at all. Ray's sniffly, but I think she wants the Motrin just like her sister so she's playing it up a little.

This is the exciting week! The flex reads:

Mon: payday - bills, etc. Mary Kay product night - babysitter gets rich.
Tues: insure the truck for tomorrow.
Wed: OFF - car goes to detailer, hand in recycling, clean out the truck (and put gas in it), wash all the linens and sofa cover, along with emptying compost bucket, and maybe getting brows waxed. Bachman/Cummings concert - babysitter gets richer.
Thurs: OFF - Pick up Sailor at the airport. He lands at about 9:30, so we're going to have breakfast at the airport as a treat before he arrives.
Fri: Back to work.
Sat: MFRC thing at a local Park/Campground in the afternoon. We'll see how Sailor feels about going to it.
Sun: Church then my club's St-Jean-Baptiste party for families. We're going. There'll be poutine.

Four more sleeps, then Sailor's home for a visit. We can do the 8 weeks after that easily.

I'm going to call it HLT-YAY!

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Wild, Wild Life

Well, Sailor's out of the 'box' today. Which, on the plus side, means that they're not officially chasing pirates anymore. On the minus side, that's the end to the extra pay incentives (over $2K a month). Oh well, the money we do get will help us finish the deck in style (glass panels!), get a new swingset for the girls, and pay our house taxes off easily.

All week we had a mini heat wave - temps hovering around 30+ from Monday til Thursday. The house was sweltering in the bedrooms - even with the fans going, the girls' rooms were 30 degrees at their coolest. I finally managed to get our air conditioner working in our bedroom and it was heaven... while it was going. Made for LOUD tv at night, so I'd turn it off. And then the heat would creep up again. Even with the shades drawn to avoid the afternoon sun, it was so very hot in our rooms.

Of course, now that the weekend is here, it's overcast ,windy and down to 18. So much for a picnic on the beach.

I managed, finally, to pick up three floor tickets "Golden Circle" to the Lipizzaner Stallions coming to the big city in July. It's coming to the small city the week prior, but it's a 7:30 show on a Tuesday night, so instead, we'll catch the weekend matinee. I can hardly wait! Last time, Ray was enthralled and spent the whole show with big eyes and a big grin.

On Sunday night, our cat showed his devotion to his new family by bringing home dinner - a mouse he caught and killed outside. It was about 10pm and just as I was dozing off, I heard him yowling a little and thumping on the floor. Turns out he was playing with his food. I grabbed tongs and a paper towel and put it out on the deck and then washed the blood spots off the floor. 15 minutes later, he was at it again. This time, I took it outside and closed the cat door after him. He was very happy to come in the house the next morning.

Monday afternoon, as I was taking the diapers off the drying rack on the deck, our neighbour from across the way came over asking if I'd seen the bear! I had heard quite a rustling in the back 40 but it never dawned on me that it was a bear back there!! Apparently an adolescent (no mama following, thankfully) had traveled from one side of the subdivision to our side, heading for more bush (towards the private school on the other side of the complex). Neighbour was worried that we were outside in the back yard with the girls.

Now, I don't usually let them hang out without me in eye-shot - we have tons of stinging nettles and rocks, and now...bears too.

This week's flex:
Today: groceries and playdate in afternoon
Sun: church, laundry
Mon - Fri: work. nothing exciting on the agenda

Just killin' time til Sailor comes home for his visit. I've arranged it with the cleaners to come clean again the day he arrives so he'll have a nice clean house to come home to. I just need to remember to write the cheque this time!

Sunday, May 31, 2009

In The Good Old Summer Time

Another week down, thank goodness. Sailor's been sick - shakes, fever, chest cold. It's settled into his chest apparently. I hope it's not bronchitis. I'm coming down with a stuffy nose thing myself now. Sympathy sick?

The girls are fine. Ray had her last dance class of the year yesterday. She's determined to go into Primary Modern next year. No shoes, just body suit and bike shorts. Sweet. I'm waiting for my tax return to come in so I can pay for the whole thing in one shot and save 10% (whoop-de-do).

Greta's good, despite falling off her sister's bed (which is on the floor) and clonking her head. I'm seriously thinking of taking her to get an MRI just in case there's a bruise inside there somewhere. She had her hearing test the other day - passed it with flying colours. I'm so glad. She sees the ENT at the end of the month, and then both girls see the dentist two days after that.

Sailor's trying to come home again, this time for around Father's Day. I sure hope it works this time. Until he's actually landed though, I'm not going to hold my breath.

Ray and I were weeding under our cherry tree last week and the front of the house hose popped off its connector. It was a jerry-rigged kind of thing, where the hose is clamped onto a copper tube, which is again clamped onto the hose that goes into the tap. This is not working now, so I can't use one of the hoses. The other hose is attached to a sprinkler, and beginning tomorrow, we're on water restrictions - odd days between 07 and 0900, and 19-2100. Good thing we're an odd # house, as we get two days in a row for those months ending in 31.

At any rate, it just adds one more thing to Sailor's "Honey-Do" list when he gets home for a visit. Poor guy - he's going to need to go back to sea for a rest.

I took the tarps off the deck today. They're disgusting (another thing for Sailor to work on when he's home), and are drying out on the back lawn. I swept the deck off, watered some plants, hung some laundry to dry, swept the driveway and front steps, and broke down the boxes for recycling all before I had breakfast. No wonder I was grumpy!

Then we went to the MFRC for the ship's family network meeting. I got a delicious 15 minute massage in a chair while the girls ate their body weight in chocolate covered fruit. I knew I had given them enough when Greta took a bite of her third strawberry, then refused the rest of it. Then they blew off steam in the childcare area while we listened to the CO's briefing. Very informative, as usual, and this time Sailor's picture was up on the slideshow (along the the rest of the guys in his section). Cool to see, for sure.

A little thing that bothered me was that when I got the girls afterward, they were outside in the play yard, but neither had been sunscreened (after I had pointed it out to the care givers), and Greta didn't have her ball cap on. It was cloudy, but nonetheless, I was a little peeved (not quite pissed off, but not lackadaisical about it either) that something so basic was not done. Especially as I had specifically told both rooms' adults where the sunscreen was, and Greta's hat was right on top of her bag, which they were nice enough to keep in the room with them.

In the grand scheme of things, probably not a HUGE thing to get cranky about, but the perfectionist in me, especially the 'mamma bear' perfectionist, just wonders, what else would they have not done? I know that Ray made a sailboat picture for her dad, but is it going to get to him? They didn't ask me for his name when I picked Ray up, and she just calls him Daddy, so how would they know who to send it to on the boat?

Aaaaaanyway, not a big deal I guess. I do have other things to concentrate on:

Mon: Mary Kay trg night, so the girls get a sitter!
Tue: Getting tickets to the Lipizzaner's show in July - floor seats!
Wed: the girls go to the beach for the forenoon, and I have a meeting about the Homecoming statue project.
Thur: hmmm... homework I bet. Darned marketing course!
Fri: nothing so far, but it could change
Sat: thinking of going to see the Pacific Northwest Raptors.

We have a couple things planned for the months ahead too:
June: Goldstream Park, St Jean Baptiste party, Church picnic, Formation Fun Day, I'm going to the Bachman/Cummings concert!, the pre-school's year-end picnic.

July: Lipizzaner horses, afternoon party at friend's place full of music and fun, a viist to Saltspring Island, maybe a ride on the Dayliner (if I can convince Ray it'll be fun).

August: Church camp for a week!!!!, the RCMP Musical Ride, my cousin's bbq, and of course, the arrival of Sailor! Not to mention a kick-ass concert my club is putting on the day after he gets home... and then, of course, my weekend at Tigh-Na-Mara Resort & Spa with some friends.

I still have to find a way to get the car detailed (an 8 hour job) without a second vehicle - or a second driver to get the second vehicle to meet me!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Dancing Queen

The dance madness is over for another year. I hate to admit it, but Ray handled the late night well, just as they said she would. She danced, and did very well, and actually was comfortable enough to have me in the audience as opposed to in the wings and out back.

Her Auntie B and grandma were so happy she danced - they loved the show. I was happy she danced too - the threat of "if she doesn't do what the other kids do, we can't have her on stage" was moot - especially since different kids all raised their heads when they were supposed to be sleeping. HA!

I found that she's a visual learner, and though she practices elsewhere, until there's no more new things to learn, she'll just watch. And then she'll get it perfect!

Sailor called Friday and it was great talking to him. He actually chatted with Greta, but the satellite delay hampers a fast conversation. Ray tried, but she spoke very softly and he didn't hear her.

He has another request to come home in through the chain. We'll see if he gets approved, gets a ticket, and gets on a plane. Maybe for Father's Day.

I tackled the weeds under the cherry tree today. Took me about 3 hours. The first hour was spent mostly trying to keep Greta and Ray from racing around the street. They stayed mostly close. We had some friends over for a play date, and after about an hour we went in for lunch. Greta went down for her nap after they left, and Ray and I went back outside to finish the weeding. She was sometimes a help, but spent her time running around and filling a bucket with water then dipping her feet.

She planted her marigolds that she had planted as seeds. Actually, she dug a hole, ripped the poor plants out of their container and placed them on the dirt. I think I managed to save them. We have to weed out that flower bed next weekend.

The hose came apart between the tap and the hose extension. Yet one more thing for Sailor to do once he's home. There's quite a list growing.

This week's flex:
Mon: Greta has a hearing test in the morning, so I drop Ray off at preschool, take Greta an hour away to the test, do the test, come back and drop her off, and maybe get to work for a couple hours.
Tues: Staff meeting of the bar tenders and custodians.
Wed: Normal working day!
Thurs: Normal working day!
Fri: Meet The Exec party til 3.
Sat: last dance class of the year. Ray wants to take Primary Modern next year, so I'll be registering her for that. The church has their open house tea which we'll attend directly afterward, then nap time, THEN groceries.
Sun: no church (later service), so we'll do some laundry then go to the MFRC for the Family Network day where I can get a 15 minute massage while the girls play and then we hear from the CO. And I owe an appology to the gang for standing them up last weekend too.

Work's going great so far. Little things aren't getting done, but with any luck I can work on those this week. As well as getting some homework done for this marketing course!

I'm sore from gardening and going to the Apple Pie Fair yesterday. I'm going to take my text book into a warm bath with me directly.

I just can't get over how WELL Ray danced! And how un-afraid of the stage she ended up being. So cool.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Long Weekend Too Long

It's strange. I love my kids, love the idea of my kids, and love spending time with my kids. But I don't love spending every second of our waking moments together. This is why I would suck as a SAHM (stay at home mum). I was ready to drink a case of beer by 3pm yesterday, and I had no beer.

I also had no babysitter, thanks to her forgetting that I was to go to the 1/2 Way Through the Deployment Party last night. She called at 9:25pm apologizing and saying how she totally forgot. Bah. I ate chocolate cake and caught up on my shows I'd taped through the week. I was pretty choked for an hour though.

I hope everyone had fun. I'm sure they did.

I managed to get some homework done today while Greta was napping. That's always a plus.

Church was great and one of the boys from Preschool showed up with his Mum, so they're coming over tomorrow for a play date with the girls. Maybe we can get Ray's best friend over here too for a while.

I found out the Musical Ride is coming into town in August, so I'm going to pick up a ticket. The girls will get in free and I think they'll love it!

Heard from Sailor today via phone. He called right when I was muckin' out Greta's diaper and putting her down for a nap. Ray, of course, didn't say a word to her Dad, but then proceeded to cry off and on for an hour that she misses her Dad.

He's doing well and they're pulling into a port for two or three days tomorrow. He's duty, then going on a half day tour, then duty again. That's okay though - at least they're not STILL at sea.

There's one snowflake left in hell, but nothing's written in mud yet. Father's Day might be a good holiday for the girls after all. Then again, it might not be. Either way, we're going to the St Jean Baptiste party the mess is throwing that afternoon. The day before is a visit to a local park.

This week's flex:
Mon: holiday! Play date with a friend or two. Laundry.
Tue: I sign my PER (assessment), and off at noon. I'm going to go to town to get the Musical Ride ticket and if I have time, pick something up from the consignment store for the girls, then Greta goes to N's house while Ray goes to rehearsal at 3pm. Late night.
Wed: I meet the Admiral, then an executive committee meeting. Normal night for the girls. I'll try to run some laundry through just in case I don't have time on the weekend.
Thurs: Lunch date with the Base Commander and others on the Centennial Statue Committee. Then I'm bookin' it back here to get Ray for her dress rehearsal. Greta has dinner with N again. Another late night.
Fri: FINALLY a normal work day. Ray's first performance tonight. Neighbour is to sit Greta while we're at the theatre. VERY late night for Ray.
Sat: Step-Mum is coming, along with one of Greta's Godmothers and my best friend to watch Ray dance. First though, Step-Mum, me and the girls are going to the Apple Pie Fair. Then the 2:30 performance. Then a 7:30 performance where neighbour is going to watch Greta again.
Sun: Church. Then laundry. I'll try to get some done throughout the week to keep the need down.

Busy busy busy days ahead.