Anatomy of a Happy Day

We celebrated Mothers Day early.....it was thoroughly lovely in every way......

My amazing Mom - I was undeservingly lucky to get her as a Mom

The gift of these two - beyond measure

I was supposed to be shopping but I was snapping photos - such fun colours!

The peas are loving the sunshine (and the rain)

Who knew I would love this mutt so much 

He has H.A.D. (Human attachment disorder) he must touch a human when possible

Pink toes, blue jeans, green, freshly cut grass

Warm sunshine on my skin

A very sweet gardener

The final item - I now have the full set - this makes me VERY happy

Teenagers card choices 

Heart and love..... maybe some tears

Yummy addition to the pantry

Delightful addition and colour pop to my new cabinet

View from my hour on the couch

My very own Martha with a recipe for chocolate pudding

 

Martha at work

Appy hour during which a dance party broke out

Backyard grilling and dining

YUM

Double yum (and an epic photo bomb that left us in stitches)

David said "the sunset will be amazing"  I said "Lets go"

Such a sweet companion - an a budding photog

A beautiful end to a beautiful day

Blessed beyond.....loved....happy....lucky!

Wordless Wednesday....... Harbour

The Buck

The buck stopped on my desk big time today.

Today I stood in front of 30 families at Cook Road Children's Centre and told them we have to close the centre.

By the end of tomorrow.

By some very good fortune we have a space to move them too.

It's 5 minutes away.

It's a lovely space.

Full of light and new furniture.

They really didn't care.

They were shocked and surprised.

As was I when an unannounced work crew walked in 10 days ago to look at some water damage and pretty much dismantled large sections of the centre.

And found mold.

So we were ordered out late Friday and tomorrow we go.

Not without monumental efforts from my staff and I to ready the new space, do all the paperwork, speak to many officials and contractors and movers etc.....

But for the single Mom with no car and two kids and an early shift job..... it flat out stinks.

And I couldn't make it better.

And that stinks too.

Sometimes the buck is a very heavy thing.

This week

this week did not play ball.

it did not deliver.

it failed to meet expectations.

in any way.

but as i sit here mere minutes from putting on the soft pj's and crawling into bed with a book and a glass of wine at 747 pm  (don't judge me)......... i present just 10 of the craptastic ways this week blew

1) the shift key on my dear old dell is working only intermittently  - if there is a sentence that should have a capital call dell.......

20 this also affects the bracket key.......this is 2 not 20  ......

2.1) The Government lost one of my child care centres - so it won't fund it....... don't worry the kids are all fine, all there, so are the staff, the equipment........just need the folks in Victoria to BELIEVE and send $$$..... should happen soon.......surely...... it must......

3) two printers failed at the conference registration desk i was running.  Two.  

4) I arrived to teach after running a conference all day to find the entire contents of my class written on the white board.  For a moment i thought i was in the twilight zone until i realised the teacher from the previous night had covered my entire subject.  with the same class.  So i erased the white board before they arrived and taught as planned.  except for

5) when i wrote on the white board with a flip chart marker.  Sometimes teachers say bad words in front of students.

6)  i wore capri pants to work on a nice hot day.  Forgetting I was doing a construction site visit.  A new construction inspection fashion trend is now breaking out in east Richmond - you saw it here first.  You are welcome.

7)  There is mold growing in places is should not be.  A lot of it.  i cannot say more on this emerging mold issue right now but next week if you read in the media about a Richmond woman who lost her mind and did something odd.....it will be me.  Stand by.

8) I dropped my phone 3 times this week......without its otter box on.......thankfully the fashion cover survived with only a few dings.  the phone appears to also be fine although my score in 2048 is still terrible.

9)  we said goodbye to our sweet French student - he was a pleasure to have, he kept his room so neat and tidy.....and he looked dashing in a scarf..... le sigh.... he was so sad to leave.

\

10) I had to teach all day today 9Saturday0 - I was sorely tempted to cancel as i was right out of emotional and physical resources after the week.....but i didn't.... I went in at the crack of dawn to be ready....as the week didn't leave much time for this......so at 8:45am i was setting up when I heard a loud POP and the lamp on my 5 year old LCD projector blew......gonzo......and with it my day.......no power point, no dvd......despite my Dad running all over town trying to get me one. 

I have spent most of the day trying not to cry.

So here I am...... D O N E....... and so is the week..... perfect.

Goodnight.

Classified (S)ad

We have a little cabin in the woods beyond Hope.

Hope BC.

"We" being my parents with occasional sweat equity from "us" by which I mean Allan. (Read Here and Here and Especially here  for evidence)

I have mostly contributed with ideas and project management with some minor roles in fire maintenance, food prep, cleaning and couch warming.

Also napping and drinking wine.

We have a journal at the cabin in which 20 years of visits and visitors have recorded story upon story of adventures both good and ..... less good.

We headed up there this weekend to offer our home stay student from France a quintessential Canadian experience.  Added to the log cabin in the forest we found an old fashioned diner with huge burgers and bigger milkshakes, a lake with backdrop of snow capped mountains, a mighty river..... We even found him a moose - a blue moose cookie...... best we could do.

He wrote in the journal as did our previous home stay from the same school two years ago.  They wrote in french but I am assured they were charmed by the cabin.

Most people are.

Us most of all.  Our children have had the blessing of having a place to escape to, to snuggle into, to connect with one another and nature...... oh the stories.....the many, many stories.......

So when I opened the journal today and read the last entry I couldn't stop the tears.

My parents , with Lindsay in tow, headed up last weekend.... to meet a Realtor.

Our little log cabin is officially for sale.

It is the right time.  For my parents. For all of us.

We use it too little.  It's time to realise the investment.

It's time to enjoy the time we have, hold on to the memories and hand over our little log cabin to another family to love and enjoy and make their own memories.......

We called it "Jabulani"  - Place of Joy.

And so it has been.

Old Yeller

There are some parents who stand on the sidelines of their child's chosen sport and watch.

Quietly.

Clap politely.

Sigh and shake heads on dubious calls.

I truly admire these people.

For I am not like them.

I am a yeller.

I yell at everything, good, bad, slow, fast, sometimes for nothing at all....... I get pretty caught up in the emotion. 

For David and soccer I have mostly solved the problem by not going.  Allan is the coach after all - no need to have the screaming banshee mother along too.

For Lindsay and rugby I often am at work when the games are played and only catch a few minutes - not long enough for more than a yelp or two.

But today I was in for the long haul........ several games........on my own ..... no one to muzzle me......

I gave it some thought.

I took the big camera.

And voila....that 4 inches of lens gave me just enough distance and focus to keep my mouth shut.

Totally shut.......ok ok I cheered a couple of times and I may have huffed once or twice but by my usual standards I was mute!

And here are the fruits of my silence......