Cinderelly, cinderelly....

The past few weeks for me have been all about work work work. This is the hardest and the most that I've worked since the summer before we moved up here in 2005. (Hmmm...that is coincidentally also the last time I worked in theatre...what are we learning here????) But it's not just the theatre. I've been busting my arse left right and centre and wondering how other Moms manage to hold down a full time job, raise kids, and manage to feed themselves and shower every 4 or 5 days, until it hit me that I'm actually working one full time job, and 2, count em TWO part time jobs! It's not a wonder that this house is a pit, and the washing machine hasn't seen any action since last weekend when the laundry fairy was here...and why the good works of the laundry fairy are still right where you last saw them...folded pretty, in the laundry room!

I had a little mini breakdown the other day, something along the lines of "whats the point in working so hard to pay for a damn house when I hardly live there, and whats the point of having a kid when I never see him, and ohmygod will February just f*ck off already and will the snow just go the hell away ??!!!???!!! " Luckily I had this mini breakdown in my head, while driving the 15 minute drive from job A to home, and by the time I got home I was over it and no one needed to deal with my drama. A shower and a hug and some pasta alfredo fixed any lingering mania, and all was calm....then off I jetted to job B for the night...people, I am TIRED!

All my boys have been superstars through all this. It sure does suck working a 12 hour day, but coming home to dinner on the stove and a cute blond smiling and yelling "Mama!!" sure does make it all OK again. I love you, my boys!!

Tomorrow and Tuesday mark my first 2 days off in...well...I'm not sure how long. It's certainly been a while. At least 3 weeks I'm thinking. I'm going underground for a few days, literally - I'm heading to the basement to catch up on the laundry, and some serious sewing that has been at a standstill for too long. Time to get the old stuff done and off the table, just in time for the new stuff coming down the pipe. AND I'm shutting the computer cabinet. I'm putting my to do list on the outside door of the computer cabinet, and aside from the morning coffee and email check, I won't open the door until at least 5 things on the list are crossed off. There's 20 on the list right now, and counting.

I will still, however, be accepting distracting phone calls especially if you're a) calling to offer me money, or b) calling to talk about playing hookey and doing a day at the spa with me on the 4th of March (hint, hint GMO...) or c) the laundry fairy.

And now, because I'm sure you missed us, a little photo love. Here, Griffin's first self portrait:And some crazy Mama love:
And some lovely Mama love!See y'all on the other side of Mt. Laundry!!

A good reason to move to the country

We've been looking into day care as I slowly gear up at work, and we are pretty happy with the people we've met so far. In a conversation with Gretel the other day, she mentioned the $70 to $80 a day facility that they had just got into. My jaw nearly hit the floor!!! Eighty bucks a day???? You've GOT to be KIDDING me!!

Out here in the country, day care seems to run between $25 and $30 for a full day. That's something we can handle!! I guess what we spend in gas, we save in day care! Chalk up yet another reason why we love it out here.

Lifestyles of the Pretending to be Rich, and Moderately Famous in Selected Circles.

We spent a lovely family day today, with a bit of shopping (See below...errghh) including some Xbox 360 games, and then a drive to Palm Beach, where we pretended we could afford to be somewhere like here.

We went and had a shi shi drink at one of the most shi shi places around, where, if you can believe it, I'd actually been before. We sat in the shi shi restaurant and had drinks (me 1, Steve 2) and an appetizer, and 60 bucks later we left feeling satiated and walking a little bit taller. There is something about being in a place like that, and having someone pass you a towel to dry your hands with in the loo that makes you stand a bit straighter. We then went into the shi shi children's shop attached to the shi shi hotel, and although we were tempted by the $60 dollar Ralph Lauren Polo shirts for infants, and the $120 teeny tiny sweaters, we felt like we had splurged enough for one day.

It was a lovely time, and we feel privileged to be able to take advantage of such opportunities when we can. Next month we'll likely be eating Kraft Dinner and rolling change for gas again, but hell, you only live once!

Easy Come....

So for the past month or so we have been in the process of refinancing our mortgage to deal with some debt and make it go away...or make it go elsewhere, however you want to see it. Today Steve discovered that there had been a small communication error between him and the bank and we are receiving a little chunk of change that we weren't planning on, that he apparently approved with out really hearing himself do so. Enough to pay the required debt and a bunch more, all without making a terribly large impact on our monthly mortgage payments.

So it's felt a little like Christmas around here today, or like we suddenly discovered a money tree in our backyard. We have a cushion of financial comfort suddenly, a luxury we have not been afforded in some time. Smart people in our situation would look upon this as an opportunity to invest, save a bit, stop living cheque to cheque. But a cushion is a very adult thing to have, and we're much more childish at heart, so immediately upon receiving the news, we made a list (which quickly morphed into an Excel Spreadsheet) of all the things we wanted to do with this new-found "wealth." It included some very responsible (ie: boring) adult things like pay taxes, pay bills, and make RRSP contributions. It also included one or two more enjoyable things, one of which may finally be a shiny NEW machine to deal with our grass and snow removal woes!! How exciting is that! We'll never be able to afford a Lawnmower Dave mower, but now we think we may be able to get something shiny and new, that will (mostly) adequately deal with our needs!

Happy Day!!