Saturday 8 February 2014

When we have a car...

We'll be able to:

  • buy that enormous bag of bread flour that they sell in Walmart.  I think it is 13kg, not sure, but I want one
  • go to the Science Museum (yawn!) which is husband and small persons favorite place
  • go the ice rink or the library with small person and not dread the moany walk back
  • go to the swimming pool or a yoga class and stretccccch and be taller
  • drive to a wool store and drool over all of the yarn
  • visit places on a weekend
  • go for weekend walks that don't see little legs aching by the time we reach the boundary with nature
  • go north for spring break and watch small person have a ski and snowboard lesson
  • drive to our allotment that is a promise for spring
  • drive to the drop in Art Club every other Saturday, and see about arranging an exhibition
  • go to Snoopyland in the summer, but not on the ghost ride
  • buy a huge picture in the ReStore shop for $5
  • drive north, east or maybe west for our summer holiday
I can't wait.  It's been fun walking around since October; seeing places you miss in a car;  feeling the weather rather than just seeing it from behind a window but i can speak for all of us when I say enough now.  Yes we will live on beans in order to pay for it, whilst husband is jobless, but that is okay.  A new chapter awaits in our Canadian adventure...just as soon as the car gets delivered...counting the days.

Sunday 2 February 2014

Winter Activities

Apparently it's Ground Hog Day today.  I've seen the Bill Murray movie so I know it is something to do with a Goaffer type creature popping out of a hole in a golf course, and that means it will get warmer or stay colder for six week.  I may be blurring Bill's films there.  Our neighbour was explaining it to small person earlier, to which small person pointed out that we don't speak ground hog, so how will it tell us about the weather? Neighbour and I had no answer - so he went back to shovelling the snow off of his driveway, and I returned to digging a snow tunnel that sees me shovelling snow onto our driveway.  Is there any limit to the fun that can be had with snow?

Small person announched later that he had seen a film about winter activities, and that we can make snow lollies with maple syrup.  Worth a try.  Unfortuneately he could not remember anything more than "syrup, snow, lolly" so trial and error were needed.  He and I, on our knees in the back garden, in the pristine snow with a quart or syrup and some lolly sticks...what were those crazy brits doing out there?   Not sure if we did it right but we worked out that if you pour a line of maple syrip along the snow it freezes to a toffee like consistency straight away, and then you can roll it up around the lolly stick.  Small Person declared it to be "belicious" before we escaped back in side as our hands were throbbing in pain, burning with cold.

This week saw us get one step closer to getting a car.  We put down a deposit on a 2007 Landrover and are just waiting to hear if we can get finance for it.  We are good for the money, but with no local credit history (overseas stuff doesn't count) and a visa dated to expire in 2015 it seems we are a high risk.  We are rolling with it, nothing more we can do.  Fingers crossed. 

Small person seems to be settling in at school - he came home with a sticker for good work.  He announced that we had done all of the tasks that the teacher had set him.  That made me smile as when I was at school not doing what you were asked never seems like an option.   He has skating this week, in PE  (gym).  He is very nervous but I hope he loves it.  He is fearless on the pavement (sidewalk) ice, and instinctively puts one arm behind his back like a speed skater.  I am hoping the Olympics will inspire him too.  We have been watching the ski jumping trials and the snowboarding.  Apparently I should try Curling as I am a good sweeper!  His new treat of eating crisps (chips) and popcorn whist watching a dvd gives me ample sweeping practice.

With a new year of adventure ahead of us I'll be exercising, stretching and eating better starting today.  In one year I have shrunk an inch (2.5cm) in height and put on a stone (14lbs).  I do walk a mile or so everyday, but with all of my muscles in the wrong place I am not sure the benefits outweigh the stress on my bones.  I turned on my Yogalates dvd the other day.  (husband describes it as "as new" although I have had it for 7 years).  I did the warm up stretches - they hurt!  Then I skipped to the relaxation session at the end before getting myself a coffee and some buttered toast, and sitting at a desk, on the phone, for 8 hours straight.  Here's to a taller, thinner and more energetic 2014.