Thursday February 27

I am just sitting waiting for T to be done in the bathroom and then we can go to get Julias from central and then go home. 

This is the book the grade 7 class made from all their stories they wrote last term. Published in Victoria and only $12.50 per book. It really is so cool what we can do ourselves now. You want to write a book? Then write one. You want to make a movie? Then make one yourself. We have all the technology. Now we just need something to say. 

I saw my first electric Smart car today. It went by at the intersection while I was crossing guard.  It was white with a lime green accent. I wish they took three people in a pinch with some folding seat or something. 

Friday February 28

We were advertising Pinky our oldest chicken in used victoria for free.  A bunch of different people emailed to say they were interested and nobody responded until about two weeks in and then the woman that came here was named Pinky. We didn't tell her that she and the chicken she was just about to take home and butcher, had the same name as her. What was confusing for me was the next morning I went out to let out the hens and only counted 10. I looked around a bit for Pinky before I went in and texted Jeff to ask him if someone had finally come to get her the evening before when I was at my dance class. Yes. Ok then. 

I imagine that the remaining 10 birds are a little more flocky that previously now that bully boss lady is gone. Golda is a much gentler leader/ fake rooster than Pinky. She doesn't seem to feel the need to stand on her subordinates backs from time to time in a pretense of mating. 

Today we went and had lunch with Jeff at work. We were over that way for Julias to get another chest X-ray to give him the all clear on the pneumonia and Tobin was home because his cough was making him throw up this morning. It didn't seem appropriate to send him to school. Part of lunch was chips, which is what the boys eating in the picture. 

Sunday February 16

It's raining mucho mucho. Et il fait beau coup du vent. The boys and Jeff are trying to watch The Croods on netflix. It's having issues. We had popcorn and hot chocolate for dinner so far tonight, although there is leftover soup still available and lots of salad makings since Wendy went to Costco today. 

And here is a gratuitous picture of me taken with the front camera on my phone. 

Bit grainy. 

J'ai decouvert qu'une poule welsummer a fait son nid dans le compost bin on the sticks side. Il y en avait 7 oeufs dedans. 

So I took them out and she was confused and kept going back there and clucking and, in the end, laid one more egg there. Which I cannot reach unless I climb into the bin and what with the rain and wind I decided to skip until tomorrow.

Here are her eggs. Tomorrow they are getting confined to their big run in order to make new habits. 

Monday February 24

I got my hair cut today. It has been at least a year since I had it cut last.

I look stunning now. Don't I?

Then I went to the paddling club agm which was super exciting. No it wasn't. 

And I practiced when I got home. With mute on. 

That is all.

Sunday February 23

Although you can't see it the picture, it snowed for almost all of yesterday. Pretty white flakes falling all day long and mostly all disappearing once they hit the ground. 

This is the ground

Or at least, the workshop roof and some ground. 

Nana was here for a visit in the middle of the day and we sat and did knitting things and talked about Hawaii plans and Jeff was mostly at his parents trying to reinstall their thunderbird for them, mostly to no avail in the end. When he got back home we talked about Hawaii some more and came to the decision that we can't afford to do it right now. So we have ditched our plans for going there. We will wait and see how the year goes and maybe pan something other kind of not so expensive holiday for over Christmas instead of Hawaii. Maybe involving house swapping or Mexico or something. So that feels better financially. 

I practiced violin today and it was one of those times where it feels as though no progress will ever be made towards sounding more tuneful and relaxed and musical. Ah well. It is still good for my brain regardless. 

Saturday February 22

This is dinner. Chicken, corn, carrots and creamed spinach with mushrooms. Julias doesn't like the creamed spinach and mushrooms and Tobin didn't try it. I like it. Jeff ate his. It was snowing this morning but wet soggy snow that didn't stick and is now rain. I skipped paddling because I am still coughing and I was tired. Exciting times at our house 

Jeff fixed our router wireless issues I think. I did knitting. J and T watched much Magic School Bus. 

Gratuitous picture of the kitchen floor. 

Friday February 21

Tobin's white board drawing after watching Star Trek Into Darkness for the second time in two days. 

These are the famous eggs that were laid in the back corner of the stick compost bin by the welsummer. 

A not so sharp picture of Jeffrey as a very sweet looking preschooler, probably three years old. 

All of the above states that today was pretty uneventful really. 

Thursday February 20

Another day at the crosswalk looking across the intersection to the bike shop. 

Tonight we watched Star Trek Into Darkness from Netflix on our lovely projector wall. T and J watched it too for their first time. T likes Spock the best. 

Wednesday February 19

Today Julias had a chest X-ray and it showed that he has pneumonia so he is now on antibiotics. I hope he improves rapidly now. He says he is so tired of being sick. He is missing the science fair days at school so Julian is having to man their project on his own. 

But the score of the day is Diplomacy. I happened to looked on Used Victoria and saw there was one person offering a second hand Diplomacy game and the address was just down the hill and around the corner from us. So, at 4pm today, I walked down the hill and turned left and right at the corner is the house. So Julias got his birthday gift, Eva. It's now waiting for you to come back so we can play it. We might try it once to just get an idea of how to play. 

Then I went to my dance class today. We had a sub because our regular teacher is in the midst of launching a new dance piece. It's called Argon and is on this Friday and Saturday at the Metro theatre. I would like to go I think. 

Oh and here is my vest completed but it was too big so I have taken it apart and I am reknitting in a smaller size. 

Monday February 17

Today is the day that Eva ought to be able to withdraw money from her bank account while in France. I hope that works without a hitch. I am very tired today and wonder when I will feel all full of zing and energy. It's been doing a bunch of rain and sun in sequence which made me take along my rain pants to wear while I dido the crosswalk. 

I need to practice violin now but feel like I want to just nap. However. T has Nicholas over for a play date so I don't know if it's appropriate for me to nap. 

So far I have no picture for the day. I know, my vest with the button band on and the buttons laid out that I am going to install on it. I only need six of them and they are all different because they are samples. I need to choose. 

Saturday Feb 15

Julian was over today to put together the display for science fair with Julias and Todd emailed two pictures of Isobel for this blog. So it wasn't stuff we did. The cave is the one at Mt. Doug. 

Granny and Grandpa came over in the evening for some dinner and Wendy has been researching flights and condo rentals for Hawaii. We didn't have an organized dinner at all, just leftovers really. And Julias has spent most of the night in another room on his iPod and also coughing. 

Friday February 14

Happy valentines day tout Le monde. It is a bright and sunny

day and Tobin is at school today yay. And J has almost no fever. Yay. And I am also getting better. Yay. 

And this picture is Dallas rd by clover point. Lots of kite board sailers today.  And it's windy. 

Thursday Feb 13

Still sick. But getting better. Saw some little flowers this morning in a front yard and SJD got a new flag! The last one was looking pretty frayed. 

Wednesday, Feb 12

Almost the minute decide to get rid of Pinky, the bossy bully hen, we get two eggs in four days that look like they might be from her.  They are either from her, Golda or Tweedle. But her comb looks the reddest of the three of them. Funny. 

Both boys home from school. And I got a sub for the crosswalk because I felt so yucky with this cold.  And now tonight Tobin has a fever back and he says his ear hurts. 

It's a bit tense for Julias missing more school because the science fair is coming up and he is partners with Julian and they are supposed to present their oral report for their project tomorrow. But I don't think Julias will be completely fever free by then. 

Tuesday Feb 11

A day of almost nothing today. I have a sinus cold. Julias was home from school with a fever and sore throat and cough and he looks a little chipmunk cheeked. Tobin was also home today because his cough still doesn't sound very good, tight and croupy. And so he had to miss his skating field trip. And I was home just watching Downton, really,  and having a nap and now I am going to do some more on knitting my vest. Julias was supposed to go to the orthodontist today to see about his braces thing but it's postponed till next week. 

I have nothing planned for dinner except leftover soup of two kinds, leek and potato and lentil carrot. And maybe going down to the fish and chip place for just chips to along with it. Now that Wendy asked about them being gluten free and found out the chips have their own deep fryer and never have floury batter go in them, I can eat their chips. Which is cool. 

My knitting. I am making up the pattern as I go along considering that I am using up a bunch of leftover balls of yarn. 

My other occupation today. 

Monday Feb 10, 2014

It's Family Day today so we are all at home. Tobin is over his fever now but Julias now caught it. 

Tobin is playing Minecraft on the Pavilion and they have the projector going and have it up on the wall so Julias is watching while he sits on the couch not feeling very well. 

And it's raining outside. 

Feb 9, 2014

We have the Glovers over for dinner tonight. 

We had ham for dinner. 

And roast potatoes and yams and onions and carrots. 

And they brought a coconut oil almond butter kind of fudge which was good. 

And we watched The movie. Again. 

Friday February 7

We had just the slightest amount of snow his morning. As someone said, it snowed just enough to say that it was snowing. More at our house than down the hill at SJD where there was basically none at all. 

That is the chickies out in drifts of snow in the yard. It was a gorgeous sunny day though for the rest of the day. 

My task for violin this week is to place my third finger on the inside edge of the finger pad instead of the outside edge. The hopeful result is playing than is more in tune and a left hand that is relaxed instead of clenched a bit like a claw.

Saturday feb 8

I have very stiff shoulders and upper back today. It feels as though I have been weight lifting and I have this dull headache from it most of the day. By now, bedtime, Tobin's fever seems to be mostly going away which is nice. 

Today I went to Kerry's for mending circle and managed to hem 2 and a half pairs of T's pants which is good cause then he has more to wear. And he didn't like them when they were too long. 

This evening me, J and J went to see catching fire at the IMAX. It was well done. Js found it scary in parts and shut his eyes and blocked his ears for some of it. Some of it was shot in Hawaii which was interesting. It was poignant when you get to the end of the film and realize that Plutarch Heavensbee was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman who is now dead. I felt quite somber. And that I had a sick kid at home with auntie that I had left behind to go off and see a film. 

Anyways we came home to super yummy stew and apple crisp made by the same auntie. 

These is the poached eggs she made for Jf for brekkie. A good solution to the puzzle of having something like a hard boiled egg without the struggle to peel such fresh eggs. 

Us busy at mending circle. 

Thursday Feb 6, 2014

Yesterday T stayed home from school with a cough and today he has a fever and a cough so he is again at home.  They had Musical Desserts night at Central last night and J was in that in junior jazz band, advanced strings and his strings trio with J and S. It is again a bright sunny day and again cold out.  Minus 5 this morning.  Everybody has their puffy jackets on when they are heading to school this morning.
J has decided to stay home from school with T which is handy for me since I can then still go to my violin lesson. They are doing FSA testing part 5 at school today which he is excused from so I figured it would be ok if he wanted to stay home. He also has a cough so it's not completely out of left field to have him stay home. I feel slightly wrong about letting him stay home.
There is this video on youtube of a preschool age boy who is crying because of a song on radio but still wants the song to stay on even though it makes him sad.  And I watched it and it made me cry to see the boy cry which made me realize I miss my kid.  Even though it's all fine here at home, there is a piece missing to the picture, which is Eva, and it makes me more brittle.  So I am very happy that she is blogging lots about what she is doing.  I then have a picture in my head that I can place her into instead of it being like she has just gone to the moon or something.  And I realize I can let go of the little reminders in my head that go on regarding my kids.  "Don't forget to take ...." "You need your .... today, is it in your bag?" "Homework all done?" etc.  Well, I can shut that section off for Eva because she is not at home right now.
I have started knitting something new. A long vest for me out of the same wool that I used for the two girls sweaters.  I have a bunch of partial balls and some full ones so I am winging it as far as colour pattern goes.  It will have pockets though, the linings of which will be red.  The main thing is starting out brown.
 And I had a weird dream the other night where I was helping T's teacher have her baby even though it isn't actually due until June sometime.  And I was at her house which was very tidy.

Wed February 5

Tonight for dinner we had tostadas. Mine were oyster ones nobody else wanted that kind. Micro greens aka sprouts from the root cellar, grown on Mayne Island. Homemade salsa. 

Another chilly day. Minus 4 outside. I am skipping my dance class and Julias has to be at school tonight for musical desserts night. Tobin is very excited because he got the game Spore on the Vaio.  He borrowed the cd from his friend and was able to install it here. 

Feb 4 Tuesday

So I cooked dinner today. See following picture 

But no dessert. Tobin went to Nicholas house and computer time is being glitchy so Julias is playing somewhat endless terraria upstairs. So it's very quiet downstairs here right now. 

Feb 3 it's Monday

It's a super sunny day today but cold. Only 1 degree Celsius. 

I do have something to say after all. This morning Jeff woke up to his alarm and got up and shaved and then realized it was still too dark outside. The alarm was still set to 4am from Saturday morning. Oops. The buzzy noise of the shaver woke me up too. 

News from home

 The movie is done done done, credits, title and all. I am waiting while it exports to mp4 format now then I will start the posting of it on YouTube I think. 

We haven't really noticed too much that Eva is not here yet because it's the weekend still and Tobin had a big play date today with Avner and Atticus and Julias had Julian over for homework and hanging out time. Harriet really didn't want to come inside when the boys were dropped off. Shy and standing out of sight behind Mommy's leg. But they did come in for a visit later and she looked at some toys and went in the backyard. 

Last night we used the leftover pork roast to make a sweet and sour pork with rice and veg thing. I looked up the sauce recipe and found one that is super simple using ketchup and it was ok. Julias said it was good. He and Tobin got the rice and corn cooking and mixed up the sauce and used that for their kitchen cleanup time. 

It didn't rain today. I haven't practiced yet. 

Oh, and yesterday was the first brown egg from the Welsummers. Quite dark brown and a little speckled. Neat. And we got another today!