We flew into SeaTac. And we stopped here in Bellevue, WA, to eat on the drive up to Vancouver. The food was not that good, kind of pricey, and very small portions compared to what we’re used to in the Twin Cities. A major disappointment to me, but you gotta admit the name is funny.
From B.C.! Canada!
After a seemingly never-ending flight (17 hours from our house door to the hotel door, but who’s counting), we’re safe and sound here in Vancouver, Canada. It’s 3a.m. in the morning and I’m up (I did get a 4-hr sleep so far, and will go back to sleep soon). It’s noisy outside. I’m not used to it. It takes some used to after living in the suburbs for so long.
We’re going to be here for another 6 days.
And then to Washington State for another 6.
And then to Northern California for 5 to see family.
It’s been great so far. I’m looking forward to making many many fond memories of our first vacation as a family of four (it’s been almost 2 years since our last vacation).
I haven’t seen it for 11 months. It is inevitable it will show up sooner or later, given that Fiona is nearly night weaned. Today was that inevitable day.
Ah well. It was good while it lasted.
I’ve been tagged by the awesome Jennifer who just lost 11 lbs in 8 days!
Five things in my freezer:
1. chicken
2. cranberries
3. Eggos
4. ginko seeds
5. expressed breastmilk
Five things in my closet:
1. daily clothes
2. at least 8 or 10 cheongsams of various cut and color that I’ve worn no more than once
3. belts that I haven’t used in ages
4. lingerie that are too tight after giving birth twice
5. huge chair cushion
Five things in my car:
1. baby wipes
2. diapers
3. big case of bottled water
4. a container of toys
5. crumbs
Five things in my purse:
1. coupon filer with lots of coupons
2. old college ID (Did you know you can get various discounts for being a student?? Unethical? Probably. Sue me for wanting to put a few extra bucks into the kids’ college funds)
3. old receipts
4. 3 thousand credit cards and hardly any cash
5. sunglasses
Five people I tag:
1. Amie
2. Suz
3. the person visiting from Ontario, Canada but never comments
4. random people who visit this blog about once every 2 weeks
5.
I’m officially over the hill today people. Yep. I’m 30. As in 30 years old.
Yikes.
On a lighter note, I had one of the best nights of sleep last night. Did the kids just knew it was my birthday and both slept all night?! Love you! Lots!
We bought the house a little over 6 years ago. Exactly a week after we moved in, I got the hodgkin’s diagnosis. Needless to say, things were pretty grim and neither my husband or me had the energy or desire to unpack anything, aside from the essential daily stuff. Boxes upon boxes, rows upon rows of stuff sat in the basement. Sealed away, waiting to be rescued and maybe see the light of day again someday.
We said we were going to unpack after my treatments were done. After I felt better physically. That was the plan. Somehow, after treatments were completed 10 months later, we still didn’t get to it. We were both still living it one day at a time. We didn’t dare to plan too much ahead. It took over a year to somewhat recover from it emotionally. I felt paralyzed with the whole spectrum of feelings and emotions. The anger, the resentment, the happiness and joy, the bitterness, the woe is me, the elation. You name it, I felt it. I just didn’t know what to do with it or how to handle it.
Fast forward: a pregnancy, taking care of a newborn, working full-time on graveyard shift, then miscarriage, then pregnancy again, and another baby and so on and so forth taking up all of our time.
To make a long story short, our basement needs to be cleaned up. If and when we can find the energy or the desire or the time to do it. Lately I’ve been feeling very fed up with the state of our basement so I started to sort things out slowly but surely. Hence the project - a garage sale project. My first garage sale undertaking efforts. Hopefully it will get done before summer is gone.
Have you got any hints / tips on how to organize a successful garage sale?
Today marks exactly 1.5 years since I got laid off. Eighteen months is not a long time, but it’s not short either. It’s especially true when you change thousands of diapers, wipe snotty noses a million times and more, repeat simple commands to your toddler over and over until the cows come home. I’ve been blessed, in a disguise, to be able to stay home to care for the children. It’s not a job for everyone or anyone. It takes love and care and a whole lot of patience, and it takes your vocabulary (away) too.
When I was growing up, I didn’t like children younger than me. I didn’t want to play with them. I thought they were a nuisance, and a huge bother to keep them clean and fed and happy. Thankfully I’m the youngest. Things slowly changed as I grew older. And before I realized what was happening, I decided I want to be a mom someday, but I couldn’t picture myself as a stay at home mom. My mom wasn’t one, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to be one. Mothers worked, and grandmothers took care of the children. Growing up in the Far East, I learned that’s how roles are played.
As luck would have it, I found my perfect mate. Thanks in large part to the internet. And the weather. And I had a promising engineering career. Everything is working out - wait, we are missing a couple of grandmothers somewhere in the picture. No matter. We will just have to use daycare like everyone else. Sure it won’t be what I grew up with, but times have changed and also there usually aren’t four generations living under one roof on this side of the globe.
Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how one looks at it, I was part of a mass lay-off after almost five years of service. I took the opportunity as a sign and have stayed home since. I can’t say I love every single day and every single moment of it, but I am glad that I haven’t looked back. There are so many times when I think to myself: I would not have been able to see or hear this for the first time if I was at work. Then I smile, and try to remember that the volcanic tantrums will be just a blink in history compared to the rest.
