Project Completion

 

There is something about finishing a big big project that feels so darn good. Recently in my new role at work as Head of Talent Management I just completed one and that felt darn good I tell you…especially as when I took it on I was very uncertain if we would meet the deadline and we did.

And home projects too……I just today (early morning) finished a HUGE one. Every year I print 400 pictures and put them in albums-that is standard. I also write on the back of the kid’s school pictures and put them in a big album. I develop pictures for frames at my office and hubby’s office of the kids, and us. That is standard.

But every three years I do a big framing project for the offices, home and the cottage. And I mean Big. Usually frame about 20-30 pics for Trent……about 50-60 for home and then do a few framing projects for my Mom etc. for Xmas gifts.

This truly truly takes forever. Which are vertical vs horizontal? What fits in what frame? Where will the frame go? What should be in friend frames vs family frames?  Running after friends and family to send me this picture or that picture from this event. Complicated and lots of work. Also never perfect either. I still have holes in it all as never got some pics I wanted, but did my best!

(PS remember I have a career (aka known as this is all done late nights and early mornings)

We have many very specific framing clusters in house. We have the basement stairs section which is every trip we have been on since married. We have the living room which is extended family pictures. Then we have our own kids and immediate family pictures. Then new to this years we have a Friend wall and a Foundation wall (very symbolic for me).

At the cottager we already had the Friend wall and also History wall of all our old memories from old cottage. Plus many vacation pictures from family trips-the ones we consider the best ones.

If there is one thing in life that I am obsessed with from a domestic point of view it is framing pictures (the only thing actually at home that I would consider). It has to be just so. Last night I woke up at 3am and changed two pictures in the frames as they did not have enough meaning for me. I derive great great pleasure from seeing important moments captured and displayed. Often I walk in my house picture to picture just gazing. I love the love captured in them.

 

PS-I am truly driving my family crazy. Especially my Husband.

And one day when I am retired (aka 80 yrs old) I will get totally totally into photography. I have never taken a course in my life beyond high school and am already pretty good. The framing around my house though are mainly taken my tripods or kids as often I am in them!

But I have an eye for photos that is certain.

And then the whole X-mas and wrapping thing. I finished that too now!!! And I put a lot of energy into it all. All 4 bdays are around X-mas too. And stockings are huge and plentiful and full of goodies. Xmas pjs for everyone on dec 24. This year I did 10 stockings as my brother and family coming too. And then 10 pair of Pj’s besides all the Xmas gifts.

People may ask why in hell I would take on this picture project so close to Xmas?. And my answer is because I stick to my goals. My goal was by end of 2013 to have my framing project complete. And since I started only in November 2013 that made the probability of doing this close to X-mas pretty certain.

But none of this could be possible. None of it at all without my little elvesJ))))

Beauty has been madly helping me for weeks now every night. Wrapping. Sorting. Labelling. Framing. Cutting pics. Etc… Beauty is the craftiest person ever. I am so glad she lives with usJ

Bear has been doing massive massive amounts of laundry and folding to compensate for Beauty helping me. And dishes.

And Chase helped me cut apart a bunch of school pictures last night and does the kitchen and has been busy getting 80's-90’s at school (I forgive him though plus he does not get as much allowance as the two others)

Anyways I feel proud and accomplished and busy. It’s wierd how this year with the least help I have ever had around the house I have been the most productive. And so have my kids. And part of it annoys me to no end and exhausts –but part of it is kind of fun tooJ

Measuring My Progress of 2013

We started a wonderful  tradition last year  (one of the rare ones that I actaully invented myself!) which we will repeat this year. Bear buys be me a beautiful candle to burn each year and we burn it in our solarium at the cottage in front of the fire and discuss the year past and the year ahead. It really started off the year well.

We looked at our high and low moments of 2013 individually and as a family and set some goals for the New Year. And wrote them all down in a book that we will bring out and look at again in 2014 Jan 1.

I chose a word (or a letter actually) that encompassed all of my goals for this year. And it was “V” It stands for “Vanessa” one of my dearest friends (aka Soul keeper on this blog. I wanted to become more like her..mainly more peaceful..more serene..more accepting..less judgmental….so so so many things that they could not be listed here as there is not enough space.

And don’t get me wrong it is rare for me to want to be like anyone else ever. I am pretty happy with who I am. I am sure you have noticed that I don’t lack self-confidence! But she has many qualities which I know she worked darn hard to have. And I wanted them too.

To be honest when I choose that goal I did not have very much hope I would be too close to being V by the end of the year. It was more of a wish but I didn’t really think it is possible But….. Like any other wish or hope or prayer that you consciously ritualize and tie actions to…they come true.

I can happily say I am a whole lot more V by the end of this year than I was at the beginning. To the point that I bet many people might have “T” as a goal!!!

Awww..it feels good. So good.

And trust me-things have not been easy for me lately. If anything they are the hardest they have ever been in so many ways. But the thing about V is that it is there no matter what is happening. It is an attitude. A way of life….it stays.

Last night I surprised myself and was super V when Chase whose 16^th birthday party is Friday and has been planned for 4 months surprised  me with an announcement. Dad and I booked off work for Friday and taking 7 boys to ski in Bromont and then big dinner at resto they were being dropped off (you know the party that I planned as surprise and he found out and then wanted to cancel but then decided to keep it on?)

Well he decided to cancel it again and told me last night. Food bought. Time off work taken. 4 parents already called for final arrangements and ski drop off..blah..blah ..blah…We were even attending a party in Bromont that night during his party and arranged to have other two kids sleep at friend’s houses. Lots and lots of organization went into this party.

And did I scream? No! Did I act disappointed! (a tiny bit!) Did I give him a lecture about responsibility and making your mind up!? No! Did I lose faith in my son? No! Did I respect him? Totally!

I sought to understand and then accepted his decision and the mixed feelings he had about this. I complimented him on his articulation and directness in his feelings.

And that was it. Fini.

(I deserve to move up to “W” after this).

And the best part was I have not given it another thought since. I believe in him and I believe he knows what is right for his life

“V” is a beautiful thing (just like the actual  BFF) this girl has offered me so much this year. Mainly unconditional love and the understanding that no matter what in life she will be there. That the thing that I can expect from her is always is honestly, love, support, tough love and devotion. And that anything on my mind I can share with her at any time whether it be about my life..her life or our lives together. And she can do the same. No matter what. It feels actually like a gift from God. She has been such an incredible teacher for me over the years of grace, walking the talk, never hiding from the hard parts of life, authentic expression and unconditional love.

I don’t know what my word will be exactly for 2014..but one thing I do know? V feels awfully good. I am actually not quite sure how I lived my life before it.

 And as I enter some very personal and challenging times in early 2014…..Peace will be with me. I can feel it already. Something that before last year was not necessarily part of my suitcase in the same way, but that now I could never ever leave home without.

Little Girls

 

They are so not little anymore …but in my mind they still are.

I have 5 of them at Trent this weekend for Beauty’s all weekend skiing bday party (plus our two boys of course). It is wonderful.

I remember wanting a girl more than anything in this world since I was a little girl myself. I did everything possible to make sure that happened .I got the girl. Then I realized for many years that having a girl is very very similar than having a boy (very different too-but so so so similar in the closeness and love you feel for them). I would say in some ways I am a better boys mom even than a girls mom. This was weird for me for years having yearned for a girl for so long and then having her and seeing her almost like a boy? Not much difference?

But I seem to work backwards than the world around me with my kids. Whereas most cherish, adore the baby and young child stage ….and then find the teen’s tween stage turbulent and difficult: I am the opposite. I love love love the baby stage but then age 18 months to about 7….like but not adore…7-12 easy peasy for me…and tween and teens (so far anyways) adore although admit very difficult. So far newborn and this stage are my faves.

And the whole girl thing follows suit..it it NOW that I see the whole why I needed a daughter so badly thing. It is so fun to see Beauty get gifts we can share! We go to Target together and shop! I love staying up late in bed with her friends and making each other laugh! I love that she is growing little boobies!!! (In a total normal way..just so cute!) I love talking to her about being in love with boys! I love that we share shoes! I love that . I love it all.

And most of all I love watching her friends and her grow. It has been one of my deepest pleasures in my life. I love these 5 girls from the bottom of my heart.

They are all here this weekend “the girls” who I have talked about so often. Since grade 1 they have been a clique that is indestructible despite its many ups and downs. Beauty has many many other friendd but when it comes down to it it is always always the 5 girls. It still is. And I adore them. They are the kindest sweetest, most self-confident, most beautiful, adorable, sarcastic group I have ever seen. These girls have some serials talent and some serous balls and they all have their unique roles in the groups. I feel so honoured to watch them flourish so closely over the years.

This weekend is no exception. All total ski bums and many competitive skiers and après ski experts in the Jacuzzi. Rolling in the snow in their bikinis with hot chocolate afterwards by the fire. Making video starts after video stars. Movies. Zebra themed decorations and dinner. Cupcake decorating after dinner and the colors they made! Turquoise form the ocean, lilac of flowers, sunshine petal yellows….the decorations on these things OMG. And they take their time and effort to do it perfectly ctly and well. I love girls.
Chase who missed many days o school because of his eye injury got them all to do his art project while he studied for 4 exams. It was hilarious and he was so impressed with their amazing work. Four years younger but all so artistic. I allowed this:)

 

Then I hid the elf which was the hit of the night. Treats Balz held and little notes of love for each of them with what I love most about each girl. They treasured this. Then we all got in my bed at night and I made each of them laugh and we had a contest who could hold out the longest. Pretty much all I have to say is “pee poo or bra” and they lose right away! Or my fave””don’t mess with me Cassie!  Or “Wanna take this outside Charlotte????” And I pretend I am mad at them and make my face all mean. They all lose it right away!

And then this morning they are up and doing skits (did this all my life) and are pretending they’re brides and grooms. Snowbalz the elf proposed. This goes on for hours and hours and hours. The plays, the dances, the music, the; laughing. These girls are my definition of true true BFF’s. . I don’t think you could get better than this or closer if you tried.

And then I feel sad in my heart as I always do when I feel joy. When I feel such closeness. When I see it and experience. It was no different last night….I loved every ounce of those girls..and then in my heart I know it will change …I know it will take a different form. I almost left my bed because it saddned me so….I almost didn’t want to invite them back because I knew that one day they would not be as close as they are today. And for some reason that feeling wants to make me run far far far away.

But I don’t. and I allow the joy to wash over me and my life because it is here right now. In the present. And it is my daughter’s joy to hold and to change if it needs to.

Maybe it will change in highschool. It probably will and it probably needs to as a clique has many advantages but some disadvantages too and can limit them growing with others .Change is always going to happen isn’t it? It’s one thing in life that hurts me when I love what is already there.

Anyways I am so desperately happy that I have a girl. I see what it brings to my life and it is something I need for whatever reason that is and something I always needed. I am glad I knew this about myself.

Last night the girls played a game and included me where they talked about in what ways they were similar to their Moms and in what way they were different. It was so funny to hear it all from their perspectives as I know all their Moms very well. Going to bed that night Hubby and I also played the same game and talked about the similarities and differences we see in them with their Moms both in looks and in characters.

And then we talked about Beauty. We are very very different. We also out of all my kids have the hardest time emotionally together in some ways. But at the core..and the core gets stronger every year..This is totally my girl and we have so much in common.

The top three:

1-we know what we want in life and go for it and nothing (literally nothing) will stand in our way

2-We are both very “natural” girls. We will choose skiing over nail polish. Our hair will be our pride but can be stuck up in a messy ponytail most of the time. We can wear mismatched clothes at the cottage as well as we can wear a fancy dress that we slip on and walk out the door in. My daughter and I are two pees in a pod for this style thing. We either have a lot of it..or we have none of it at all (and seem to be able to pull it off!)

3-Deep friendships are the music of our lives. Friendships take front seats alongside many other important things in our lives. We both have a ton of love to give and to receive.It was always like that for me (and still is) and it has always been like that for Beauty (and I imagine always will be)

 

 

 

 

Pomegranates, Greek Yogurt and Elves

This last week as I am in the process of personally feeling that the earth has been pulled from beneath me…my kids are a whole other story.

My kids are superstars.

Yes I am pulling out my bragging rights (it won’t last so don’t worry). These kids seriously impress me these last few weeks. For one in school. OMG. All of them are just so dedicated and organized. We give no help to anyone of them ever….and two out of three are doing harder work in high school than I did in University. They run the show –all of them when it comes to their academics. Occasionally they ask us here and there to test them on the 400 concepts they have to memorize for science but they are totally autonomous and doing really well. And this is something that they created for themselves (and with our training and training for yrs. on the skill of autonomy). It did not always come naturally to them. They all rock.

Pomegranates. Ya the fruit. We buy about 10-12 a week now. Ya the fruit that takes 20 minutes to prepare before you eat it. My daughter sets her alarm 15 mins early every single morning and eats one. She declines social events afterschool to come home and eat another one. The boys are picking up this habit too now. Pomegranate is a popular nickname in our home.

Which brings me to Greek yogurt. Especially lime and pomegranate flavor. Ok I am almost poor at 1 dollar a little container of yogurt. I kid you not Chase eats five per day every day. The other two eat two a day. They love Greek yogurt. I am poor.

Which brings me to Elves. Yes we hide him most days before X-mas like the rest of the world leading up to Dec 25, but it is my elves that make the biggest difference. Earlier this year we went from housekeeper 1.5 days per week to a cleaning service that comes in only once every two weeks now. There’s a gap there of a whole lot of laundry, a lot of tidying, dishes, toilets to be cleaned and gifts to be wrapped. Especially that we have two homes and go back and forth weekly. There is a huge pleasure of having four season cottage but also a big sacrifice of time and energy that goes into maintaining it.

My family has stepped up to the plate and I feel my heart full of pride. I told you it is a bragging post! I don’t care if I come off today arrogant…I need to be uplifted right now and I will be in writing this.

The girl wraps I tell you! And folds! Beauty!! OMG! The other day I came home and she had cleaned the entire kitchen (dishes unstacked, stacked, fridge cleaned out, all Tupperware’s sorted and put way) without being reminded. Last night she offered to wrap Xmas gits and they look like Martha Stewart has wrapped them. Her folding is getting better daily..the girl handles loads and loads of laundry by herself and folds dancing happily to music.

And Bear….well he started with owning two zones and now he just owns them all. Bear is a power machine. Everyone should have a Bear.

And Chase well he studies. A lot. And does his little 3 chores. But then on weekends and holidays we put him to work and his favorite are cleaning toilets surprisingly with rubber gloves on (who has this as their fave?). And he loves vacuuming.

All that to say losing the extra help was one of the hardest logistical things we have done in a while. It changed the way we run the family and homes completely. But like anything else difficult it has been an amazing thing too..to see my kids access the elves in themselves and give those parts and skills in them the space to flourish. I find domesticity very creative in many ways..very artistic…my daughter makes it all like a dance in many ways-I love watching this (and don’t get any ideas that she does not whine and complain..She does) but when she realised she has not choice she does it very artistically.  And although I am no domestic goddess by far…I have “a domestic flow” going that I have never had in my life. And I quite like it too-shockingly. There is nothing that can keep your mind off of problems better than working your ass off at work and then coming home and working your ass off at home. And then sleeping.

 I love seeing the seeds we planted so carefully for so long growing. Becoming. Being. It’s like everything I had hoped for my kids is happening…in the school work, the housework, the autonomy, the confidence and especially in the pomegranates.

If you want that yummy fruit-you must put the effort and put up with the mess. You need to work at it if you want it.

Live on Pomegranates!

PS-thank you to all close to me who lovingly wrote me about my post “Falling from Grace” Very subtle of course to protect confidentiality, but very real. Your tenderness makes the difference and your confidence in me too. I will come around soon and bring you in. For now the falling is the place where I need to be. Landing is next.

Falling from Grace

We all fall from something at some point don’t we?

It’s just life that works like that. We all climb and we all fall at some point form something big. And hopefully we recover.

But it’s how we fall that defines us fully.

And how we choose to fall from the graces.

It’s our turn now.

Let’s hope everything I have learnt along this crazy thing called life…… I remember and put into place the very best I know how.

 

 

Au Noir

We have wanted to try out this restaurant for years now. A few things prevented us: very pricey, too far, and one of our kids is claustrophobic (almost) .

We did it last night for Beauty’s family b-day celebration. Since losing our housekeeper this year we made the big decision that all b-days for the next few years would be celebrated at restaurants (we hardly eat out at restos as a family-very occasionally or very cheap restaurants). Now on their birthdays, each kid gets their pick of nice places (rule: has to be something new)

And Beauty chose Au Noir!!! A restaurent run for the blind for us seeing people which assimilates what life is like for a blind person. Man oh man was this an experience. It was truly amazing. And stressful too at first. Two out of three kids (including the bday girl were so stressed it was crazy and babyish!!! They were all fighting and bickering in car out of pure stress.

Chase considers himself claustrophobic in many ways (which he can tend to be), but in our family stuff like that is not really tolerated. “Get over it” is a common expression to be heard in our home. Chase actually asked the waiter what to do if an emergency in the dark and told him he felt claustrophobic and might have to leave. Good assertiveness at least!!!!!

It was a crazy and wonderful experience walking into a resto and eating in complete pitch dark. Certainly heightened the others senses. We had a few mishaps...my Mom ate the plastic container of butter in her breadbun….most of the time we ate with our hands….we all worried about choking and how they would possibly help us ..And on the way out we had a group of prostitutes ask us what we would bring out children to a restaurant with a bunch of perverts in it and asked if it is a sex center. What??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? I guess the name of the resto and the dark blinds freaked her out a bit?

Other than that Chase overcame his fear and said he wants to go back for his birthday with all his friends (not! No more money)...Beauty had a flintstone sized rib as her meal…..Bear loved the dark as he could make all his eccentric faces with no one chastising him at the table…..I nearly feel asleep in my plate…my Mom for once was not the slowest eater (she was actually the fastest)..And my husband seemed to like this a lot and would make a great blind person I think.

The best part of the evening was when Beauty softly joked that what she loved about eating in the dark was that she could pick her nose (a joke of course!!!) and she had no idea the waiter was standing right beside her listening until she heard him burst out laughing. LOL!!! Beauty cried she was so embarrassed poor girl.

The food was delicious...the waiter adorable and the company wonderful. The concept creative, inspiring and  part of the money goes towards a good cause. I realised that seeing food is very important for me (as I want to know what I am eating). If ever I become blind I will lose weight pretty darn easily!!!

And all over really really nice evening after an especially stressful week.

 

 

Happy 12th Birthday Crumpet!!!

 

Never ever suspected I would have a competitive skiier in our family!!!!!

 

Beachy Girl..Trouble….Renesmee.. Beauty..Cocotte…

 

It’s your special dayJ))

Woken up early by us all in her bed, birthday basket with sparkly X-mas tree, not surprise book, lots of fun gifts, cards from brothers, candy poster with loonies, shopping spree to target on Monday night, evening tonight with Didi and all of us at “Au Noir” restaurant for the blind and run by the blind!!! Big birthday bash next weekend with all “the girls”  Saturday and Sunday skiing at the cottage.

 

Beauty spells out all her name in pankakes..one letter at a time...one name at a time..thankfully has a middle name:)

 

 

 

A new fish last night and aquarium (not for bday but for all the work it took over 6 months to study for high school exams!!)

 

Our first pet!!! Welcome Cotton Eye Joe!

 

 

We love you darling girl

 

Top three moments this year that I experienced with you:

 

1-Your newfound independence..walking home with a huge gang..stopping at Dad’s office all the time..biking to pool..etc

 

2-Your face when you found out you got into your schoolJ))

 

3-Boys! Boys! Boy Crazy!!!!