Geez...is it spring yet?

With only a few days of winter left, I can honestly say that I am so done. Not interested anymore. I don’t want to be freezing cold to the bone all the time anymore. I don’t want to wear 8 layers of clothing just to go outside. My hair is full of static, my skin is dry, and I feel like crying every time it starts snowing again. Coming from a family that enjoys skiing, believe me, these feeling give me a lot of guilt. I am definitely the fair weather skier in our house. 

We can’t say it hasn’t been exciting, I mean frost quakes, polar vortex, extreme cold alerts, snow fall warnings…what more could we ask for! I loved driving white-knuckled all the way up north in white-out conditions.  It was so fun staying up all night with my shaking child explaining repeatedly that the loud bangs were frost quakes, not our house being robbed. I am not sure if working from home has made dealing with winter better or worse? It has given me the opportunity to hide in my basement office, staying warm, drinking tea in my cozy slippers all day. Can’t complain about that, right?

Other than those drives back and forth to school and the kid’s activities, it feels like I haven’t been out of the house or seen anyone in my neighbourhood forever. Do I even have the same neighbours? Did they move? Someone does live there because they keep shoveling my driveway (thanks by the way). I definitely owe them a bottle of wine…whoever they are.  And fashion? Forget about it. Besides realizing that my winter jacket and boots did not deliver what they promised, with respect to keeping me warm in minus 30 weather, I gave up trying to look good. Covered from head to toe, and who cares if it all matches? No one knows it me anyway. And they certainly can’t tell I haven’t had my highlights done in months, or that I haven’t been going to those boot camps I promised myself I would attend.  

So here we are. Days away from the official beginning of spring.  My hair appointment is booked and I am exuding positive energy! I think everyone is ready. We all deserve these upcoming sunny, warm days. Even a little rain will be ok. People are still happy in the rain, they even made a song about singing in the rain. And spring fashions…love it! Great jackets and skirts, beautiful colours and patterns. I even get to bust out my wide leg jeans again! Yes, they are back! Spring means new beginnings. Hang on everyone. It’s almost here! 

Julie

Working From Home VS Not

Has your partner ever said to you “you’re lucky that I ________”? As in, “You’re lucky that I cook ya know, most husbands don’t”. Really? That day, my husband came home (and as always I was sitting at my computer, with nothing made for dinner, or even prepped) and said that, to me. For a brief moment, I admit, I did feel bad. I mean, I work from home, couldn’t I have started something? At least pulled out a cutting board and a knife to create an air…an intention…something? For the brief time our eyes were locked, the last 10 years of my life flashed before me. Side note: Our whole marriage, before and after kids, he has cooked. He is a great cook, even went to George Brown for culinary. He owns a butcher shop in Muskoka for the love of God…I mean, this guy LOVES to cook and eat. So it has just evolved over time that he is the family chef. So why say this to me now? With our eyes locked, him looking tired from working all day and having to come home to make dinner; me, looking tired from working (albeit at the kitchen table) all day, and having no culinary talent whatsoever…we were locked in a dead zone. Each thinking the other had it good. Then it hit me. He has no idea what he’s talking about! Then the last 10 years started to bubble up from my chest to my throat, out my mouth. As his eyes look away, I started. Here’s how the rest of the convo went:

I realize you cook, and I love that. You wouldn’t last a day if I did the cooking. And what if you didn’t do the cooking, would you just come home from work and sit on the couch and watch TV? Do you even realize the things that YOU are lucky that I do? For instance, ever notice how there’s always toilet paper on the roll? Or toothpaste in your drawer? Or how there’s food in the fridge for you to make dinner? Crazy how the girls (our daughters) got a dental checkup, physical and their eyes checked this year. Who made those appointments? Ever fill out a school form? Volunteer on that school visit to the mayor’s office? Have you ever bought one, ONE! birthday present, Easter egg, Valentines gift, stocking stuffer? Do you ever change the kitchen hand towel, or the espresso machine filter? Do you even know baseboards need to be dusted? Or that the fish’s water needs to be changed? Have you ever waited 1.5 hours for your eldest to finish gymnastics, or wake up at 6am to register for the coveted swim lesson times? Do you even know when the kids need new underwear, knapsacks, even a haircut? DO YOU KNOW SHEETS NEED TO BE WASHED???

God. I could go on and on and on. It’s actually cathartic to write about it. If you have been nodding your head this whole time, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Working from home somehow makes it seem that you can fit in all the regular house/family stuff “in between” working. It’s sooo not the case. At this point, I’m ready to go work in the shed, ya know, so I’m not technically “working from home”. Sigh. 


Andrea

The Sochi Winter games are OVER…Boo!

It’s always a little sad when the Olympics are over. Those 2 weeks they’re on is like having your favourite show on, 24/7. No matter when you get home, what time you wake up, if you can’t sleep…it don’t matta! Even if you don’t like tobogganing, or is it luge? Wait, skeleton…er…bobsledding? Whatever they call it, you still watch. Just on the off chance that someone splits their skin tight suit open. Oh my, did you see it? People thought it happened at Sochi but it was actually the World Championships in Switzerland, 2010. British bobsleigh rider, Gillian Cooke, was stretching before she pushed off and split her pants, in the rear, wide open. Like, not a small split, but her full buttocks were there for the world to see. I was going to put a youtube link but thought against it. Your first inclination is to laugh (come on, how can you not?), but then the embarrassment, for her, settles in. Oh my god, if that was me, I would die. But I haven’t been working out every day, for more than half my life. At least her butt looked good, right? Could have been worse. Could have been me.

The other moments you watch for is all the cute, in shape athletes…geez, they are all mostly cute, right? Why is that? Could it be all that exercise and fresh air just makes the infrastructure of your face fall into place? Or does it go against the law of nature to have such a hard body without a face to match? Who knows. But think of the monkey business going on in that Olympic village where they all stay. They are all so disciplined, but come on, I’m sure they fall off the wagon at some point. Even if they don’t, it’s nice to think they do…having killer parties with their killer bodies…all without inhibition as they probably won’t see these people again (not until another 4 years and by then the monkey business shame will have worn off). A girl can dream.

But my fondest memory of the whole games was skier Hubertus von Hohenloche. First off, he represents Mexico (he was born in Mexico city). With a name like that who would suspect he WASN’T from Mexico? Whatever. Second, they call him Prince. But the outfit. Did you see the OUTFIT? It’s designed to look like a matador outfit (or is that mariachi?)! I call them “outfits”, heh heh. Like my neighbour’s a cop and I call his uniform an “outfit”…makes me chuckle every time. Can you imagine THAT meeting of the minds? Where him and his coaches are sitting around the table, debating the suit…do we put lightning bolts, bold colours, stripes? Cut to “Prince” where he says “No. Matador. Yes, definitely matador”. God love him.  

Andrea