Staying Warm

(Trying to Get) Back to Normal

Last week was a hard one, but I think you already know that. Travelling, late nights, early mornings, lack of caffeine and a motel room that I'm pretty sure I was allergic to. On top of that, grief so thick that my tears started to hurt my cheeks. A sense of relief that confused and made me feel guilty.

And through it all, Izzie was a trooper. With everythingt she went though and saw last week, we expected her to have more than one well deserved melt down. But she only started to get upset when she knew we were heading home....because she wanted HOME NOW!

We were all happy and sad when we arrived home. We all missed my stepmother (who Izzie took a great loving to, and for whom she still asks about) and my brother R. and his girlfriend K. I enjoyed hearing stories about my dad from his friends, old and new. I hated leaving so soon, but life doesn't wait for you to get over things.

(And boy oh boy did we pick a crappy time to come back! It's frigging cold out there! So cold that Izzie and I didn't leave the house for two days. Phil didn't even bike to work, he took the bus. And he biked almost all winter last year, except for one week.)

So now we are home, and getting back into our routine. Early nights, early mornings, cups of tea, tea parties, puzzles, colouring, more veggies than chicken strips, less giving in to crying and temper tantrums and more standing firm, dancing and Christmas songs playing all day. Breathing and allowing myself to cry when I need to.

...and stopping little kitties who have developed bad habits in our absence. Bad kitties!

Trooper

He's a trooper.

It's -12 degrees Celsius (9 Fahrenheit) but -20 (-4 Fahrenheit) with the wind chill.

And he loves it.

Bike safely my dear.

Our Weekend

Filled with....pulling the snowsuit out of storage,

And taking a picture.
First snow = first snowman
Time to pose!

There we go.
And then I raced back inside from the unholy sight of snow on the ground. That and I had a turkey to cook.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all!

October and I are no longer on speaking terms

Front of house. Not opening the door, so sorry for the flash!
Back of house.

Yarg

Early Morning Walks Part 2

Our technical difficulties are over! Well, they were over a few days ago. but we were so busy enjoying each others company and downloading all of our files to the new hard drive that there was no time to post.

So we're back, and it's the middle of August! Last week we had temps in the humid 40's and sunshine and night time thunderstorms. All of Winnipeg was breathing a sigh and shouting that summer had arrived.

And then the last two days....it rained. And rained. And the temperature dropped like a brick.

She is not over dressed.

But she sure thought she was! Outside stripping? Better get it out of her system before the snow flies.
Our previous walks were very kitty centric, (and by that I mean that I could only get Izzie to walk by saying, "Lets go find the kitties!") but now Izzie has learned about squirrels.

Sorry kitties, but squirrels can fight and chase in circles on trees. You just can't beat that!
The only picture of a squirrel that I could get before the camera died. (Looks like the city is fixing the sidewalk that's been torn up since we moved into our house. Well, they've made the hole bigger and cleaned out the litter. I guess that could be considered fixing it....)

That's it for our walk, I shall now leave you with a picture of the chocolate cake I made yesterday....

..because every dreary day should have a chocolate cake! (Is my oven dirty or is it just me? Oh well.)

Fun with Water

I'd like to thank Green Mamma for giving me this idea.

It's been pretty miserable, weather-wise, for the last few days. We've been going out as much as we can, but the wind has been too strong for Izzie to walk easily. So I've been racking my brains on ways to keep Izzie from getting bored while we mostly stay inside. After I read Green Mamma's blog, I realized it was high time that I teach Izzie how to pour water.


I grabbed her recycled tea pot, cup, spoon and one of my old cookie sheets. And then the fun began.

She's not crying, she's squealing in delight...

...see?
This was at the "put the spoon in the water and taste it." Lots of nom, nom, nom sounds made.

Then the vigorous "hitting of the water with whatever I'm holding" phase began. And then more sqealing in delight.

Pouring the water on the cookie sheet and into the cup lost it's lusture. So she poured the water on herself. I tried to get a picture of her wet butt, but she wasn't having any of that.

This was a big hit, one we'll hopefully be able to do outside. Hmmm, maybe in the pool.....

Happy Canada Day!

To all here and abroad. We have three possible festivities in biking distance today and I'm very excited. We can go to the Forks, Assiniboine Park or the Osborne Street Festival. Excited! So excited I dressed Izzie in her Canada Day outfit first thing!

Of course once the picture taking was done I put her in a turtle neck and pants. It's only 10 degrees Celsius outside! But it's going to warm up....and the weather network is never wrong....

Now the penultimate question....Do we take Izzie to the fireworks which start 3 hours after her bedtime, or is she too young for that?

"You're not taking me to the fireworks?"

Vest Love

Izzie is in love. She discovered this love not too long ago. She plays with the love, wears the love and tosses the love around. Her love is a hand-me down red vest.

First time meeting the vest

Once she discovered that she could put the vest on herself, all bets were off. Now the vest rarely leaves her side.
It's over her head while she plays peek-a-boo, it's on her shoulders at dinner, last night she tried to wear it to bed. I nixed that, mean mommy that I am. I don't appreciate choking hazards very much.

Right now as I type, she has the vest over her head and is walking around. Thankfully I'm able to catch her before she walks into any walls.


This is very entertaining.

Hey June!

Hey June! It's nice to see you again. June 2009, huh? Wow, it's been a full year since we saw you last, what have you been up to? Really? I don't care.

You want to know why I don't care June? I don't care because you are not doing your job. I had to turn the heat up today (sh, don't tell Phil!) and it's all because of you. The temperature is at least 8 degrees Celsius below what it should be. It's windy. And last night, your first night back, it hailed. I have gorgeous herbs sitting in my daughters bedroom with no place to go because of you. Oh, and the cats want them....they want them bad.

waiting, waiting, waiting.......

I have a 17 month old in a turtleneck, lined pants and smartwool socks because of you!
This isn't cool, June. You better shape up or I'm going to tell Mother Nature. And she is one mean Mother.

So June? What's it gonna be?

Oh, and you can pass this conversation on to July. Both of you can consider yourself warned.

Wordless Wednesday: Rainy Day

Blerg, it's pouring.

Overcast and windy as hell.

The look I receive after telling Argyle
he can go outside

Maybe tomorrow, bike.

Time to break out the rainy day bible

Wonderful Winnipeg

Phil and Izzie out for a walking in "warmer" times

It's -50 degrees Celsius with the windchill today, which is -52 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a balmy -34 degrees without the windchill.

I love Winnipeg, I really do, but this is crazy! So cold that the cats water dish, which is in the kitchen close to a door leading outside, froze last night. Yikes! We were all snuggled in bed together. Daddy, Izzie, cats and me. Co-sleeping wins again!