School Trip

Friday.

Brianna and I were invited to join her former class on a school trip to Shubenacadie Wildlife Park, and to travel on Via Rail from Truro back to Halifax, where the school buses would pick us up. Her teacher asked me to keep it a secret, and boy oh boy was she excited, not to mention surprised when I spilled the beans the night before the trip. It is a very cool and educational excursion. I went with Colin's class when he was in grade two, couple years previous. We lucked out with the same guide, Tracy. Unlike my first trip, when I wore a sun dress and sandals, this year I was thankful for my layered clothing but still wishing for a hat and mittens. Few animals never came out to see us at all, and the black bears had just woken up barely a week earlier. The Canada geese had arrived to nest and the gander was overly aggressive, in full protection mode. That's Tracy trying to keep him off the path and away from the students. He wasn't afraid of her at all, hissing and snapping at her boot!

And what would my blog be without a picture of a sheep or two? In this case, it's Dall Sheep. Check out the amazing horns!

I will have to make a point to go there during summer vacation, with the whole family. I'll have to remember to arm myself with bug spray.

Knitting Withdrawals

This is something I found at No-Blog-Rachel's place.

What Barbara Means

You are full of energy. You are spirited and boisterous. You are bold and daring. You are willing to do some pretty outrageous things. Your high energy sometimes gets you in trouble. You can have a pretty bad temper at times. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

Hi. I've been experiencing knitting withdrawals.

It's true I've knit at least 2.5 pairs of socks while we were in the motel, but I haven't knit a single stitch since we've moved into the house. Creepy. And just for the record, crochet does not count. I did work on Colin's blanket (it's one big granny square made of Briggs and Little Atlantic), but I discovered that I don't have enough of the right colours to make it big enough for his bed. In light of that little fact, (I mean, really: me not having enough of a particular yarn in my stash?) and not really wanting to go on a shopping spree, I will stop working on it when I run out of yarn and call it a day. It will still be quite large and warm and cuddly... it is wool we're talking about here, after all. I know he will be happy. And even happier because it will be all his, made especially for him. Eventually, I might buy more of that yarn and add another granny square to it, but not for a while. I have a need for knitting.

I need to knit. Something big. Something complex. Something involving charts and big brag potential. Something that will come from my stash that will keep me away from yarn stores for the next while (notice I am not specifying long or short while?? Clever, eh?) Majority of my pattern books and magazines are unpacked, so I should be able to come up with something soon.

In the mean time here are some photos I took while wasting time/trying to make time pass faster when we were homeless.

Actually, this picture is one that my hubby took in the motel. Yeah, that's me, coffee in hand, surrounded by cats. See that? Keeping that duvet out of storage was the most brilliant idea I had of the whole experience. It kept me believing that one day, soon, I would once again be able to put it on my own bed. It was quite the experience: a two-room motel suite with three adults, 2 kids, 4 cats, a dog, and many plants. Thank goodness it's over.

Bridgetown, NS

Driving over North Mountain to the ocean, only 10 minutes from Middleton.

Port George, NS

We've Arrived

Our furniture is out of storage, majority of the boxes are unpacked, and yesterday we received a delivery of new living room furniture. We've even met some of our neighbours. I think I will like it here. There are all sorts of things to like about our new home and location. It doesn't feel quite like home yet, though. I can't seem to put my finger on the reason for why not. I am content, for the most part. I don't feel stressed out about the whole unpacking and organizing business. I just don't know what it is, the not-quite-right thing.

I miss the farm, I think. The animals... At this time of year, I was starting to get the garden ready and ordering chicks and rejoicing over the new-born lambs. Making butter from milk I got from my cow. Nothing like that now. Just the "fragrant" scent of "natural" fertilizer on the wind from near-by farms... Yes, maybe that's it. I miss my farm.

Help Me

Today marks one week in the motel. There are times that I feel like I can't breathe. That the walls are closing in on me. That I want hubby and kids to simply disappear and leave me blissfully alone. What a time to learn how much I love, and need, my private space.

The good news is that the kids started at their new school yesterday. I think they will like it. The school is relatively new, approximately 20 years old, and much bigger than their previous one. There are 545 students at this school compared to only 176 or so at their old one. The halls are wide and airy, the classrooms are spacious, and the playgrounds actually have equipment. After only one day the kids reported making friends. And came home (to the motel, that is) with LOTS of homework.

Colin's teacher is very strict and I think I love her already. She believes in educating the students. I know he will learn on her watch! He is woefully behind in language arts especially and it just reinforces my belief that their previous school was not providing my kids with top-notch education.

I haven't met Brianna's teacher yet, but I am looking forward to it.

We're in Bridgewater today for hubby's doctor appointment. She graciously agreed to let us keep her as family doctor since there is such a huge shortage of doctors in all parts of the province. I didn't want to give up a doctor if I didn't have to.

Homeless

The house is officially sold. That makes us officially homeless. We are living in a motel until April 15, at which time I will either be able to move into our new house or will be forces to start building a treehouse. Or something.

Middleton is beautiful. With sidewalks. It's a pretty major concept for me.

I'll try to keep you posted.

A Good Sign

We did it. We found another house. By the time we got to it night had fallen and it was difficult to assess the outside, however, the inside showed beautifully. Lots of room, high ceilings, good sized level lot, within walking distance to schools for the kids, fireplace...

This was the first time driving over the mountain that we had good weather. In my book that equaled to a good sign. We joined the 21st century by investing in a cell phone (!), rented a storage locker, and found a house that we put an offer in on. It was accepted after a couple rounds of negotiating. Wow.

Tomorrow will be hectic with the actual emptying of this house and putting stuff in storage until the (new to us) house is available. Must get sleep.

Pay Attention to the Signs

Every single time we drove to the Valley to look for houses, or later to inspect our selected "dream home", it snowed. Heavily. It stormed with a certain ferocity during each trip across the South Mountain that it should have made us reconsider moving there. We should have been paying attention to the signs Mother Nature was posting in our way, all but spelling out "stay away from the Annapolis Valley, it's bad news". Did we? Of course not. We, okay, okay, me, I was surrounded by that rosy glow you normally get from wearing those rose-coloured glasses, happy in the knowledge that I had finally come upon the perfect house for our family to grow up in, and maybe for me to even open a business in. Never mind all the deals having gone south, the deposits lost, the bitter feelings. All signs.

Well. I drove to inspect the "dream house" for the last time yesterday, in yet another snow storm. We're talking complete white-out conditions at times. I should have turned around and said to heck with it. Nope. I must be a sucker for punishment. Well. I walked into the house; the writing on the walls was clear. Literally. Okay, maybe not actual writing but the cracks in the plaster spoke volumes. They screamed! Oh my! It turned out the vendor hadn't filled the oil tank enough to keep the house relatively warm, which was part of the deal. Instead, he plugged in three small space heaters set on low, to heat a 2300 sq ft home.

A couple weeks ago NS was practically swimming after the rain storms it received. Of course the house would be damp. And naturally as it dried, the plaster split and cracked in every single room. But wait! That's not the worst. The real estate agent and I walked up the stairs to inspect further and found that the roof had leaked, cracking and staining the ceilings in four out of six bedrooms, and around one of the chimneys, plus cracked the wall plaster in all the rooms. We crept further to the attic and saw daylight in spots in the roof. At this point I still had hope. Seriously. I figured we'd get the vendor to give us cash back to put new shingles on the roof and repair the worst damage. HA HA HA I mean, he had only painted the walls and ceilings to hide the fact that the roof had serious problems, and ta da, after all that rain, the stains were revealed, above all the new damage.

About getting cash back for the new roof? Forget. It. He offered $500. He might as well have said "stick it in your pipe and smoke it". My brain kept racing, trying to figure out ways to make him reconsider. My husband said forget it. Let's walk away. There is probably more hiding under that "perfect" exterior. Eventually, near tears, I finally accepted it.

We will be homeless come Thursday. We're trying to find a new home.

We need luck.

OMG, Our House is Shaking!!

The wind out there feels like it's putting every effort into blowing this century-old house right off its rock foundation. I'm surprised the truck hasn't been seen rolling around the fields like a giant red tumbleweed!

It's shocking to actually feel this power of wind. I am in awe of it. I wish we had a windmill or two, to harness this power and use it for good. Whatever, I feel safe in this old house, knowing that it has survived and kept safe all the families before mine. So for the short time that I have remaining in this house (I am quite confident now that we will be moving within about a week!), I will stare out its drafty windows and enjoy the sight of the towering poplars whipping back and forth in their rather uncoordinated dance.

In other news, I am officially unemployed. As Hays and I hugged and said our goodbyes on Friday, the only telling signs of our true emotions were our overly shiny eyes. So we tried to keep it short with promises to visit. After all, these kinds of friendships don't come along everyday.

This one is for you, AliP:

Sam has sure grown! Still as cuddly as ever.

And now that the March Sweater Madness sweater is done, back to the regularly scheduled knitting.

These are both cotton/wool blend socks. Two different brands of yarn, and truly I can't decide which I like better. The red sock is in Cotton Fantasy and the lighter one is Clown. I love both colourways equally, as well. Please ignore the wine stain on the lighter sock. I have high hopes that it will come out in the wash. LOL

I was supposed to start packing today, but haven't felt inspired. Instead I poured over an old copy of Canadian Gardening magazine, making lists and dreaming of new gardens at the dream house. Not long now.

Did you wear something green today??

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Back At It

It would appear that I have been on strike from the blogging. When I signed up for Blog 365, I thought it would encourage me to post more regularly (doh: everyday is as regular as it gets!), and practice more creative writing. That's not how it worked out. The pressure to post as the midnight hour approached was wearing me down. I posted more and more pictures instead of taking time to skillfully combine words into thought provoking sentences. So that's when I had a little chat with my self and self and I came to the conclusion that free will gives us the right to post crap everyday at the last moment, or not. I/we chose not to. Hence the strike. I am back now. I am not promising that I will post everyday, but I will make an effort to post a bit more quality for those of you wasting your time reading this blog. About three weeks ago, I had an interesting project present itself to me at work. A woman brought in a sheepskin jacket (men's) and wanted it altered to fit her. This jacket was the real thing. Take the guts and head off the sheep, and voila, that was the jacket. Turns out the real thing is much heavier than the fakes. (And much more beautiful.) I took the sleeves off and apart, and separated other parts of the main body needing alteration. It was so thick to sew, I actually sheared the edges that needed stitching so the presser foot would not catch on the fleece. The above photo shows me wrestling with the lifeless sheep as I attempt to sew the sleeves back on. It made me realize that I should definitely work out more, at least to build up some upper body strength. I was totally exhausted after only one sleeve! And see how close my fingers got to that needle? The jacket was so heavy and awkward I had to practically push with one hand and pull with the other to move the part I was stitching. At one point as I felt I was making a bit of progress, I suddenly felt the needle snag the finger nail of my middle finger and when I yanked my hand back, I saw that the needle had gone right through my nail and just barely nick the tip of the finger under it, enough to leave a mark but not to draw blood. I took a moment to thank my luck and finished sewing the second sleeve on. Later, I contemplated my good luck for not drawing blood, because how on earth would I manage to get that off the jacket!

This is what Sunday looked like a week ago. We got over a foot of snow. It was wet packing snow, and heavy. The kids took advantage and the photo below showcases their handiwork.

While they put the finishing touches on it Sunday evening, hubby had a genius idea for removing the snow of our very long drive way. So we got bundled up (it was still snowing heavily!) and we started rolling snowballs down the driveway. When the snowballs got so big we needed both of us to move them, we rolled them off the driveway and admired the cleared path. It was exhausting work but a lot more fun than shovelling. We had a blast. When we could roll no more and were too soaked from the snow and sweat, we finally went inside. The next day it turned extremely cold and windy and more snow had falled overnight, and I regretted not making just one more snowball to remove more of that snow. The remaining snow froze, not only making it difficult to shovel but made it impossible to drive up the driveway. (My next truck will definitely have four-wheel drive!)

What a week that was! School was cancelled on Monday, Tuesday was beautifully sunny but cold and extremely windy, and school was cancelled again on Wednesday because of the morning snow storm, followed in the afternoon by torrential rain and a flooded basement. I stayed home from work. Thank goodness there wasn't any significant power outage in our area, unlike PEI.

Well. Enough for now. Time to get ready for work.

And Another

We're on a roll now. Another showing tomorrow at noon.

I'll post a more worthy update after the showing. I am so tired tonight. Another work week is over. That in itself is reason to celebrate. And of course the effects of the early morning have caught up with me. I can barely keep my eyes open.

Toodles.