It started out with me needing to find my headshot for an audition this Thursday. Suddenly, I’d been down in my office for almost an hour, immersed in summers from the past 10 years. I was 22 years old again, and my how I’ve changed!!
My 22nd birthday…oh my!
I realized that 10 years ago this summer, I had just gotten back from my first summer of ADAPT dance teacher training with Miss Krista, signed a lease on my Thorsby dance studio, and was busily renovating it with my parents in time for the season to start!
It’s hard to believe it’s 10 years since these photos were taken! I was just a baby, only 22 years old!! My sister will be 25 this September. Carrie is finishing her M.Sc., and Kayla is a teacher who’s engaged. Where has the time gone?
And here I am, still living my dream despite many bumps in the road and more setbacks than I expected to overcome.
I’ve always been such a dreamer…it’s nice to know some things will never change.
Until years of pet stains and children’s accidents (past and present) left an odour that permeated every nook and cranny, wafting up the stairs to greet anyone who walked through the front door.
Until Thursday, when my darling children concocted some psychotic version of Cinderella that basically left our TV room looking like a set from the Titanic.
Until I finally screamed, “Enough!!!!!” and started ripping up the 1970s orange carpet with all the hatred of a woman whose nostrils have been scorned by the faint odour of cat urine for the last time.
I ripped, I swore, I tore. I dug and scraped at 30-year old disintegrated underlay. I scoured the internet for quick fixes (there are none) and prodded the Rona associates for solutions (they had none).
I calculated square footage and flooring costs. I calculated the number of months before I could begin to fathom affording said costs.
I hauled hunks of orange travesty upstairs, heaving them into a pile of orange hatred on my lawn.
Hillbilly retro is what they call this landscaping style…
And after three whole hours, I was nowhere near done. Nope. I had half the carpet torn up and about a tenth of the underlay scraped. I had blisters on my fingertips, feral children running wild on the main floor, and visions of ice cold beer served by this guy:
Alas, no ridiculously photogenic fireman. Just a whole lot of work left, and a suddenly better-smelling home.
I am STRESSED RIGHT NOW!! Holy cow. Our empty duplex has been for sale for 4 weeks, and I am freaking out a little. Since I like to make lists to soothe my stress, I thought I’d spend the morning catching up on my listography! I’ve skipped one of the lists in the past couple of months, since I don’t have a son, and then just ended up distracted and not blogging! So here goes:
List #10: In my dream home:
Truth be told, I love our house. I’d love it more with a few upgrades, and maybe some baseboards. But if I was going to go all-out, here’s what I’d be sure to add:
First and foremost, a housekeeper. Someone to cook and clean, shop for groceries, do my laundry (and actually put it away), tidy up, file my paperwork…and rub my feet. They do that, right?
A laundry chute. This was THE SELLING FEATURE at The Acreage, and I can’t imagine another house without one. Even if the laundry is on the same floor, I want a magic transportation tube for it.
Central vac with the baseboard suction hole thingies for sweeping. Magic. Pure magic.
A garbage disposal. I miss scraping plates into the sink.
A master ensuite with a big bathtub and walk-in shower, and (more importantly) water that smells really nice.
A bigger closet. Not a walk-in closet…just a bigger closet in every room with built-in shelves and drawers.
Floor-to-ceiling windows in my living room. We already kind of have that…but I want MOAR!!!
A walk-out patio from my master bedroom 🙂
A new deck, with a hot tub that is sheltered but open. Like a pergola, but no spiders living in the corners.
A slightly bigger kitchen with a gas range/big hood vent, and room for an island. If we could transpose my mom’s kitchen layout into my house, it would be perfect. I love my current kitchen style though.
Equal-sized bedrooms for my girls.
A finished basement that walks out to our fire pit, doesn’t smell like cat pee, and has a guest bedroom suite PLUS an office (rather than crammed into the same room…)
A broom closet. A cleaning closet. Some kind of storage space on the main floor for the vacuum that isn’t just my hallway.
A non-cave-like laundry room. Something with sunlight.
List #11: Best Blog Posts I’ve Written
This is really hard. I have to give up a little modesty and admit that some of my posts were pretty decent, whether from my own feelings, conversations generated, or traffic.
I love spring. This year, it would appear we are skipping spring. So, this is more or less a list of what I can vaguely remember about this mythical “spring” season:
Longer days!! Coming out of class at 9pm to daylight! Wheee!!
Snow melting into puddles, splashing in those puddles
Walking to the mailbox each day
The first backyard fire of the year
The smell of sunshine in my girls’ hair at bedtime
Walking the chiweenie, without having to carry her because she’s cold
Planning my garden, and turning up the soil once it’s thawed
The dance season wrap-up, complete with dance festivals and fun days 🙂
Opening up the windows, and sleeping with fresh air in the room!
The first rain showers, and the first thunderstorms of the year!
That first hint of green washing through the trees
Pussy willows
Running outside
Now, with that taken care of, it’s time for me to go and do my duplex-selling dance with C-boo so that we can get rid of all this stress! Wish us luck!!
It was inevitable. Twins are a whole different parenting game, and the trials and stresses that come with them are sorely lacking in resources. There’s a few books on twin pregnancy and twin infancy. After that? God help you, but you’re on your own.
It’s no secret that our bugz are driving us crazy, slowly, a little more every day. They were wonderful babies…and I would almost reverse it if I could! And due to our family work commitments, they are together nearly 24/7. I can’t really separate them during the day, and nor can Leith or our babysitter separate them in the evenings. We want to spend time together as a family on the weekends, thus they are rarely separated then, either.
And they share a bedroom. They were womb-mates, then crib-mates, and still are roommates. They are always together.
Now we have a wicked case of scheming, sneaking, and worst of all: lying. Two small, frighteningly smart, brave little individuals, left to their own devices. And no matter what, they are always together, working together, thinking together. On the same wavelength, the same milestone, the same growth pattern and maturity.
It’s terrifying and fascinating, but also stressful and defeating as a parent. And these parents can only take so much.
Thus, the only solution left to us is a trial separation.
This week, I will begin the slow (painful, tedious) process of packing up my office and moving it piece by piece to its new home in our basement guest room. Next weekend, we will move C-boo’s bed into my empty office. We will install a closet system for her (as it is an empty cupboard right now), and separate her clothing and toys from Kit-Kat’s. We will tuck them into separate rooms, close a newly-installed door, and walk away.
And my heart will break a million times, because although they are near, they will be alone for the first time in their lives. And although they will always have each other, I am instigating the first real separation of their twinness. They are excited and agreeable to the move, but it wasn’t their suggestion.
And even if their behaviour improves…I still feel like a jerk 😦
I’ve watched Crystal, Heather, and Melinda write their weekly lists for 2-ish years now, and I love every post. I hope they don’t mind, but I’d like to use their prompts each week on my own blog – I love the self-exploration and discovery, the reminiscing, the gratitude, the appreciation, the wonderment of it all. So, without further ado:
List #1: Things I’m Looking Forward to in 2013
Mexico. Always Mexico…I think it’s what gets me through these short, cold days!
Two sweet little bugz turning 5 years old
Festival/performance season as The Boss, for the first time in 8 years. Eeks!
Summer projects, like putting baseboards in our house, building new gardening beds, and more
Two months off this summer
Those little bugz climbing the steps to the big yellow school bus this September…although I’m equally scared about letting my babeez go off into the world!
(having two to three full days to myself this fall…)
More skiing this winter
Teaching the bugz to ride big-girl bikes, and surprising them with new bikes for their birthday this year
I’m still alive. Honestly. My mind has just been consumed with dance class wear orders and canning carrots and making pickles. And more class wear orders. And more pickles. And house-breaking the chiweenie. And parenting. And working.
And stuff.
So, what’s new? I’m on quite the motivation kick this week, and feeling great! Monday was sheer chaos, as I had to cancel $6000 worth of dance wear orders, resize them for a different company, and reorder them on a rush.
Yesterday, I canned EIGHT LITRES of dill carrots. All of the were from my garden. Yes, my garden grows carrots, zucchini, and potatoes. Nothing else. All my onions, peas, beets, radishes…nothing but greens. And truthfully, I only got one bowl of potatoes from twelve hills of potatoes, and only 5 small and 2 monster zucchini from six plants.
Yes, that is PURPLE cauliflower, from the St Albert Farmers’ Market!
But I have carrots!
Today is all about getting back on a health kick. I haven’t been running since my 30k at the end of July. I’ve been eating horribly, and if I get a litre of water a day, it’s a miracle. Ugh. I’m back on My Fitness Pal (add me: magzd), tracking and logging my food and activity. I may even start running again!
Then there is the house! I’ve finally narrowed down paint colours for my living room and I am getting rid of my red wall. It’s just too aggressive. I’ll keep my red accents, but it’s getting toned down. I’m also buying us an early Christmas gift as well:
And thanks to my dear Sku, my office is functional and tidy again!! We spent Sunday purging and organizing everything! I finished up on Monday, and it is SO nice to walk past the door without feeling massive anxiety… Yes, there is still a couple of boxes to put away, but as of yesterday, the desk clutter was completely gone!
And I took my long-neglected SCOBY, separated the layers, made a SCOBY hotel, and started brewing kombucha tea again, much to the horror of most of Facebook and Twitter 🙂
You can see that, while I’ve been absent from my blog, I haven’t been absent from life! I hope to be posting much more regularly now that dance is in full-swing and life has calmed down. I miss you all – and I have the winner from my 1000th post contest to post too!!
And along the way, I’ve developed some fabulous friendship through the ether. I’ve cultivated relationships and poured my heart to my readers, who have loved me and accepted me with open arms for the most part.
So, to thank you for this, I’m having a little giveaway:
Leave me a comment on this milestone post about your favourite MagzD post in the past 4.5 years.
Let me know what your favourite charity is as well, and in one week, I will draw a random comment. I will give $100 to that commenter’s charity, and $100 to the Canadian Cancer Society as well.
You know, just to say thanks for putting up with me. Xoxo.
***
This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge (and I’m still down by two!!). Join the rest of us:
I have horrible taste in music. I love everything, but my goodness! My iPod is stuffed with nothing but country music and bubblegum pop lately. I think I’m secretly harbouring a 13-year old somewhere… One Direction, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato…oh, my!
This is my desktop in the living room right now. I can’t even bare my office to you. It’s terrifying. I’m past the point of even helping myself. I think I just need to light everything on fire and walk away…
I really want one of these. It’s a bluetooth speaker from Bose. I have a sick love of all things Bose. The problem is, I just spent $500 on a SoundDock for the dance studio. This one though? It would mean having my iPhone/iPod in my pocket; not tearing back and forth to the speaker = smooth class transitions. It’s also SO small – about the size of a hardcover book – which would be amazing during festivals and competitions! I could have bought a refurbished one in Vegas for about $80 less…but I’m tempted to just shell out the $330. Ahhh, decisions….!
Can you picture me in this?? Hahahahaha…but seriously, I’m ordering it for dance parties. And maybe for Wee Dance classes. And Fridays, in general…
Where does one buy fabric in Edmonton? I remember there being many fabric stores once upon a time. I really want to get my sew-on, but where do I go? There’s a Fabricland in the west end…there’s Davey’s wholesale. Ikea? Where do my crafty friends go??
I am SO EXCITED to take my bugz to Calgary and Drumheller this weekend! We got an incredible deal on a hotel for Saturday night – free penguin slippers AND zoo passes!!! Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE PENGUINS??
Leith and I decided last night that our 1990 sofa bed in the basement has officially met its end of days and should be put out of its misery. Time to go couch shopping for a sectional that fits more than two people…laying down!
I took the girls to Cafe o Play yesterday for the first time in 5 months. I think it’s safe to say that we’ve outgrown the screaming hoards of toddlers, despite my always-tasty Yummy Mummy latte. Oh my. We were only there for an hour before I had to high-tail it or start drinking… But with the long winter looming, we decided to buy a family pass to Telus World of Science. It’s only $150/year for a family, which means that it pays for itself after only 4 visits. Done and DONE!
I am very excited about a couple of opportunities to promote KeyLime clothing in the near future! Suffice to say that I am a huge fan of their locally produced active wear, and cannot WAIT to share more…but I have to hash out the details first 😉 Patience, my friends!
This is the lamest post ever. I’m trying to find some redeeming quality…really, it’s just a time-waster and a post-filler. Sorry. Let me make it up to you: blueberries and chocolate almond milk. Thank me later…
***
This post is a part of the Summer Blog Challenge! Join the rest of us 🙂
I intended to write this post a year ago. I was so full of pizazz over turning 30…and then I got distracted by something shiny.
So instead of having a dry, dull 31st birthday tomorrow, I decided to kick off my original 30’s plan with a list of 31 things to accomplish this year! Some are borrowed from my list of 101 in 1001, and others are new interests and goals that don’t fall into that 🙂
Learn to use my sewing machine
Set up a sewing area in my house
Sew kitchen curtains
Create a new garden plot for vegetables behind the shed
Build 2 or 3 raised perennial beds
Plant our hydrangea and night bark trees
Make dill pickles and carrots
Give homemade Christmas gifts
Take the bugz berry picking at Happy Acres U-pick
Take the whole family back to the Calgary Zoo and Heritage park this summer
Spend a month actually following my girls celiac diet, instead of cheating 😉
Having my wedding rings soldered now that the set is complete
Go to the whisky bar with Leith
Buy an acoustic guitar and keep learning
Finish the Okanagan marathon this fall
Bring home lots of Okanagan wine from the marathon trip 🙂
Spend a blissful week in Mexico this winter!
Go scuba diving
Build a sand castle on the beach
Spent an exorbitant amount of money on a bottle of funky wine. Drink it NOW.
Have Leith show me how to change the oil in a vehicle and change a tire on my car
Have an acreage party tweet up
Learn to ride a motorcycle…in a very controlled setting 😉
Have a “YES” day
Find a really, really, REALLY good gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe. For real.
Send a handwritten letter
Use the rest of my Bikram 20-pass before it expires!
Buy houseplants…possibly keep alive
Buy myself something extravagant without guilt
Eat a freaky flavour of ice cream, like dill pickle
Go to the roller derby…hell, maybe even go roller skating!!!
30 was the year of growth, and healing. It was the biggest roller coaster of my life, and I wouldn’t trade my experiences for the world. The past year shaped me into the woman I am today: strong, confidant, beautiful, healthy, happy, loved, loving, and damn proud of myself.
It’s a pretty good platform from which to leap into 31.
Except instead of “cleaning”, I want to throw everything in the garbage.
I was reading the comments on a completely unrelated post last night and stumbled across this quote:
“We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. Not wanting something is as good as possessing it.” –Donald Horban
I realized that there was only a handful of things that I would truly miss if our house burned down tomorrow, and that even those things wouldn’t make or break my life. A couple of pieces of family jewellery passed down to me. That’s it – the grand sum of the objects in this home that would truly make me sad to lose.
It hit me square between the eyes. It’s something I’ve believed in for sometime, and something we definitely practice in our house…to a degree. Leith and I both decided awhile ago that we’d rather spend our immediate extra money on experiences like family swimming, or annual holidays. We didn’t want to spend our immediate money on things. Things are great, but they don’t last. Memories last forever.
We’ve been putting it into practice over Christmas and birthdays. We try to tell people not to get the bugz much, and our personal requests are limited to things that are immediately useful. Case in point: my mom gave me a label maker for Christmas this year, and I’ve used it almost every week since then!
BUT.
There are years of STUFF piled up in our house. Years of clothes that still fit, and are still in good shape, but are never worn. Closets of jackets and hoodies in the basement. Boxes of miscellaneous junk that was never unpacked when we moved TWO AND A HALF YEARS AGO. Obviously, not important in our lives.
There are boxes of papers. Soooooo many papers. Manuals from gadgets we no longer own. Bank statements from 4 years ago. Notes from school. Just in case.
There are board books and toddler toys that get played with and looked at, but that we’ve actually outgrown and DON’T need. There are stuffed animals that need to be corralled…
CDs that might get listened to again. VHS tapes. V-freaking-HS tapes. We don’t have a VCR. Do you even know what a VCR is?? Do they even still make them??
There is so. much. junk.
It’s not hoarded. It’s just there. Hiding behind closet doors and in cardboard boxes. And it has to go.
So this weekend, when the bugz are visiting their grandparents and Leith is working, I am going to DECLUTTER ALL THE THINGS.
Ruthlessly. I have a one-ton truck that we use for garbage dump runs, and I hope that it’s full. I hope that my trunk is full of to-donate bags and boxes of clothes and toys, CDs and VHS tapes.
I want it all gone.
I don’t want to open a drawer and see 30 pairs of pyjamas for two 4-year olds.
I don’t want to fold clothes for 6 hours because we can last 2 weeks without doing laundry.
I don’t want to hide from my office.
I don’t want to feel suffocated by THINGS anymore. I want less so that I can feel more.
So while I prepare, I ask you this: What are your favourite organization/de-cluttering tips and tricks? What do you absolutely keep versus absolutely toss? Do you have too much STUFF?
MagzD Life 