First and foremost, I want to apologize for my last post. I wrote it out first thing in the morning. It was very well thought out and thorough, and after I published it, it disappeared. I went back into the inner workings of  wordpress to find a draft or emergency retrieval somethingorother and found nothing. I had to rewrite the whole stupid thing and just published it without proofreading, wit, or thought. This was not my finest moment. After rereading it, I have learned that I will never do that again! Not so good. But thanks for not nitpicking.

On a completely different note, today was a wonderful day! I was up late into the night with the thunder but slept late into the morning which made up for it.  I got an email from my mom that she was going into the city and was available to run errands with me. I had asked her the night before and she wasn’t positive what her plans were for the day. But they worked out! We met at Costco and picked up diapers and formula, plus a few sleepers. They just got in a good haul of new sleepers, some of the fuzzy ones for winter, and (get this) winter coats. Insane. I know. From there we hit Circle Mall for a few things, and then to Preston Crossing for almost everything! Walmart, Old Navy, Michaels, and Old Navy. Success all around, minus picking up some more Munchkin spoons. My favorite part dancing with Dekker through Sobey’s singing the old “Audio Warehouse” theme song. He just threw his head back and belly laughed while I bounced him around to such a lame song. But he loved it! Meanwhile, I purchased 6 nectarines, 6 peaches, and 6 plums for less than $5. Only good until Thursday everyone!

I had such a nice day in the sun with my mom and my son. We had no deadlines, no reason to rush, we just moseyed. And loved it. Now to figure out what to do with what I think is heat rash on my little boy. Poor little dude.

Our meeting yesterday evening was a sigh of relief. Not a “yes” but not a “no” either. I’ll explain.

We had my parents and cousin over for supper and then a show, which was really nice. We hid out in my chilly basement and ate some pretty awesome honey chicken. I know, I shamelessly compliment myself, but its yummy, I’m not going to pretend its not.

After our show ended at 8:00, Brady and I got all spruced up and walked downtown to the town office for our chance to appeal our deck permit before the town council. We prayed while we walked, which sometimes feels like it doesn’t help all that much to be honest, but it did. We went into the office and sat on a hard wooden bench, and waited for our turn. It felt like we were waiting for a principal of sorts. But we weren’t. Thankfully.

Here’s how I pictured our meeting going. I thought there would be a long table with the town council on one side, with us standing on the other side by ourselves, presenting our “case.” Like court. I thought they would argue with us, not in an angry way, but questions us a lot. I was scared of it, because we really didn’t have tons of information.

We were called into the meeting after waiting for about ten minutes. There were about seven or eight people seated around a round table, with two extra chairs for us. They al introduced themselves and we introduced ourselves, even the new town administrator. She has pink hair. So I felt like maybe they wouldn’t be too quick to judge us. After the welcome had died down the head guy said “So you wanted to talk to us about something.” I’m pretty sure they knew why we were there but they gave us the opportunity to go from the beginning, which I liked.

I started off by saying that we applied for a deck permit it May and received it a few weeks later, stipulating that we require 12′ piled. No response from the table. I hesitated a little and said “We thought that was kind of unreasonable…” and everyone around the table totally agreed! Out loud!!! It was a lot more relaxed from there on out. We passed around some letters we’ve gotten from builders saying that our inspector was asking something quite ridiculous of us. I couldn’t get too much back up from other RM inspectors because no one wanted to tangle with other small towns, but luckily the builders letters and emails seemed to be enough. I mentioned that I called the concrete guy in a nearby town to get a price on the piles and he didn’t even have a drill that deep! They all laughed. They started making jokes about drilling wells and drilling for things and making money and who knows what. But they were completely on our side. I finally just said that the piles would cost more than the deck itself and it just doesn’t seem fair. They were completely on board 😀 Apparently the building code has changed in the last year but we weren’t sure how much and had researched as best as we could. Then, our of the blue, the head guy says “I’ll make some calls on your behalf, because this is very unreasonable. I can’t promise anything, but I really want to help you.” I was so floored. It wasn’t just a yes or a no. They really DID want to help! I thought they’d just say no if we didn’t have enough info, but they completely sided with us. I felt feeling totally relieved. We walked home the long way and regrouped. I’ve needed to regroup for a while. Even though I’m still here, not somewhere hot, or just somewhere else in general, this helped.

So now we wait. I don’t know what or when the answer will be, but I know the town is on our side. I know they weren’t annoyed by us, or didn’t view us as trouble makers. Maybe they will view the town inspector as one, but not us!

I feel lighter today.

So today will start great. I slept pretty well, Dekker is waking up, just chatting a little on and off, and I don’t have tons to do. Tidy up a bit, make a few phone calls, and think about putting supper in the crock pot in the afternoon. I will make my honey chicken recipe. Its the one foolproof recipe I’ve found that I’m comfortable serving to company. My cousin is coming over for supper and the evening to watch the Bachelorette, and I’m not even nervous to make it for her! Not long ago, I would be panicking about having to serve a meal to a guest, but this one recipe calms my nerves. And its super yummy! Because I don’t know how to make a link where you can click “here” and it will send you to the website with the recipe, just go to this website ok? http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/04/crock-pot-honey-sesame-chicken/

It is whats after supper that is a little scary today. We are trying to rebuild our deck and it seems thats not such an easy task anymore! No, I dont mean the actual labor part of it. I mean the stinking inspector! Brady and I were trying to be thorough, so we called the town office and asked if we needed a permit and they said they would check with the inspector that our RM uses. He said yes, we didn’t even really think about it, we paid $200, and the permit was emailed to us, should be the ok to start building right? Wrong. Unbelievably wrong. The guy is demanding that we pour 12′ piles into the ground, 12″ across. Unbelievable!!! We thought maybe it was a mistake so we called him back to talk to him about it and he was a little stink pot (right mom?) and would only say “Its a structure, it needs a foundation” over and over again. We have been researching our butts off since that day, and this evening we will present our “case” in front of our town council so appeal this stinking permit and either get rid of it altogether, get them to change it, or learn that we need to find a way around it. Which we have already. We can build the deck completely detached from our house, and then and only then does it not require huge piles. For those who don’t know, piles that depth would cost more than the deck itself. Plus, with all the rain we’ve had, we would definitely hit water, which makes it take way longer, we would require much more equipment, and would just be waaay too expensive. The town office has asked us to gather information from other RM inspectors on the way that they would do it. Expect no small town RM wants to tangle with another. Literally, no one will help us. So we will go into tonight with a couple letters and emails from builders saying that this inspector is a little off his rocker. Because we don’t have what they asked for, I feel very ill-prepared, and a little sick to my stomach. To me, its clear our inspector is being unreasonable. Shouldn’t that be enough? Because its obvious! Everywhere else (from what I’ve found) required piles for a deck that is a) six feet up, b) has walls, or c) has a roof. We are looking to rebuild the exact deck we had  before, which is about 40″ up with no outer anything. Just a deck.

No matter what happens, we’ll have a deck. It may have to built separate from the house and at this point I dont even care. This has just been held up too long. We’re going to get our answer and order the stupid deck the next day. I don’t know how the whole thing will work now. Will they agree or disagree with us on the spot? Will we have to wait several days for a decision? I hope not! We bought our house knowing we had a weak deck to rebuild, and that it completely fine. But the first summer we had just moved in, second summer it was still sitonable, third we had Dekker and no time for anything else (except tearing it down) and now I just want one!!!!!

I have a lot of calls to make to put all our info together and get every fact in place. Prayers and thoughts would really be appreciated! I hope I can tell you our answer by tomorrow.

This will be a bit of a grab bag post I think. If you read the one I wrote at stupid o’clock this morning, you’ll understand that I’m running at about half power here, so don’t expect quick wit or creative segues. Deal? Deal.

So I realized that my previous post was my 10th! So that alone counts as a milestone right? Plus, this is post 11, and 11 is my favorite number so this post is something to celebrate too! Yay eleven!!! To show my appreciation for eleven, I will share with you eleven random observations, facts, or thoughts. Ready?

1. I caught up with a friend from about eight years ago today on Facebook. She remembers doing hip hop with me in the middle of the night at camp. Clearly, my wicked dancing skills left an impression.

2. When Brady gives me a back rub before bed, he uses this nice massage bar thing from Lush instead of yucky oil or lotion, and when he rubs it on my back, I always picture it being a mini zamboni. I know I mentioned this in a previous post, but since I mentioned it to him, he drives that thing so meticulously! It turns corners correctly, covers the whole rink, and even drives off in the same spot 🙂 Who says you lose your imagination as you grow up?!

3. Coffee makes you poop. At least, coffee makes me poop. I won’t probably elaborate on that one.

4. Since I worked in an office, I can’t type my name right the first time. Haiely. Ridiculous.

5. When I’m driving, I car dance, and sing into my iPod. Yup, just like little girls do with their hairbrushes. My way is just cooler because it has the cord and everything. The only person who I let witness this is Dekker, because he is not quick to judge.

6. My son sleeps 16-18 hours per day, on average. I bring that up here because I can. Its my blog.

7. On that note, I HATE the word “blog.” I think I’ll change it to something else. Suggestions are welcomed! Brady suggested “memoirs” but that sounds too formal. Does the newspaper that they wrap fish in have a special name?

8. I know almost nothing about my delivery experience with Dekker. I don’t know how long I labored, how many stitches I got, or even who caught my baby. I really wish I did, it bothers me more than it should I think.

9. DId you ever notice that once you graduate, you expect time to stand still for everyone except for you? I was looking through pictures of the high school graduates this year and found my “care buddy” from elementary school. You’d have to be from Dalmeny to understand this fully, but I was in grade six and hung out with this particular kindergartener once in a while. And she just graduated. I feel old all of a sudden. I will be 24 at the end of the month. Mid-twenties?!?!

10. Fingers. Toes. Commandments. Lords a Leaping. Digits in a phone number. Years in a decade. 

11. I watched “Kids Say the Darndest Things” once. Its a show hosted by Bill Cosby, where he basically just has three cute kids up on stage and just talks to them and they say silly things. He was talking about math on this particular episode, and he told one of the kids that his favorite number was eleven. He said it was because eleven multiplied by anything was just that number twice. So he asks the kid what 1 x 11 was and the kid answered “Eleven.” True. Then Bill asks “Whats 2 x 11?” The kid confidently answers “Twelve.” Awesome. I love eleven. 

Thank you Bill Cosby for putting a bright light into my day!

Sleepless night #3. This is starting to get really frustrating. The stupid part is that tonight, I was genuinely tired! But as soon as the light went off, I knew I had to sleep, and since it hasn’t been working well for me recently, anxiety built almost immediately and now here I am, on my couch, in my living room, wrapped in my green blanket, wondering how long this crappy battery in my laptop will live before it shuts itself off without warning and I try sleep again. 

I definitely need to get out of here. I’m finding myself a little jealous of those around me. It seems everyone is going on a trip, and we are not. I’ve looked up trips to the dominican, or just somewhere hot in general, but its the wrong time of year. Plus none of us have valid passports so thats out. I’ve thought Banff since Brady would love the snowboarding, but again, wrong time of year. Plus I’d be stuck in a room with Dekker all day, which would be ok but not a super vacay. I know we could just find a cabin at Waskesiu but we’ve probably left that too long and Deks is too young for tenting. My top option at the moment is just going to BC, finding a hotel near the beach, and tanning for a few days. I don’t need beautiful greenery or nature. I’ll take the city, complete with pollution and road noise! But again, too far to drive just for a beach, and flights wouldn’t be worth it. I’m feeling a little stuck out here and I’m not sure where to go.I just need to regroup. Any ideas would be welcomed. Also sleep, i welcome you too.

I don’t know what has happened to me. When I was a teenager I was a terrible sleeper. Then I got married and slept so much better having someone nearby. Then I had Dekker and started sleeping awesome just with the extra energy used throughout the day. But for some reason, I am not sleeping well these days. And I try everything! I’ll have a snack, or just some milk. We’ll watch Netflix, or Brady will even read to me. I sometimes even go as far to take a gravol in hopes that it will make me drowsy. But I almost always get a back rub. We use these nice massage bars from Lush instead of oil or lotion. My favorite part of the back massage is when the little bar drives around my back like a zamboni. I mentioned it to Brady yesterday without even thinking, and I guess I had never mentioned it to him before! But its what I think of every single time . It was funny 🙂 (Side note: spell check doesn’t recognize “Zamboni!”)

So last night nothing worked! I decided to let Brady sleep and to just got play on the computer in the living room. I”m so lucky I didn’t have to 🙂 I know lots of couples go to bed at separate times, but we never do. It feels sooo strange to fall asleep alone for both of us! So instead of sulking in the living room, we got up and went downstairs to play Super Mario Brothers! It was so fun, even though I’m sooo bad at that game. A half hour later, we had demolished a world, and decided to try sleeping again. And it worked! It was successful and fun. While I hope to be able to sleep better in the future, the occasional midnight date wouldn’t hurt either. I felt 18 again.

So different, but the same 🙂

I had a pretty rough night for some reason. I was wide awake well after 1:00am. Luckily, I have a wonderful husband who happily got up with me, chatted a little, then gave me a back rub and watched a little Netflix with me until I fell asleep. It helped so much, and I was asleep in no time. Thanks honey!

That aside, I’ve started to enjoy my mornings a little bit more these days. Granted, it helps that Dekker lets me sleep in so late. This morning Dekker let me sleep until about 10:30am. When I went to his room, he was completely out of his blankets, just all smiles. We had a diaper change and a bottle and now he’s playing away on the floor next to me. He’s very good at playing all by himself and I think that has helped me a lot, being a new mom. But even if he doesn’t need a playmate, I like to be right there, just in case I can add to the fun. I know he adds to my fun a lot!

He will go down for a nap in less than an hour I bet, and then I will have coffee. I’ve never been a regular coffee drinker who needed it to get through the day. I still don’t require it, but it tastes so yummy! Plus, big creamers were on sale at Superstore this week! So I can choose between my usual hazelnut, or the new and exciting vanilla caramel! Caramel it is 🙂 I think I’ll have a muffin beside my coffee. With cheese. Yes, that sounds perfect.

From there, I will have a shower. A hot shower. I never have a shower. I know that sounds dirty, so to clarify, I have a soak every night and wash my hair in the sink the next day. Being completely clean in one setting almost never happens to me. Should be exciting!

A couple of hours after Dekker goes for a nap, he will wake up and eat a yogurt and…something else. I haven’t decided yet. He’s getting a lot better at eating solid foods. I know he’s already ten months and it seems like he’s quite behind, but he’s always struggled with his gag reflex. Even a thicker puree would cause him to gag and gag until he threw up all his milk. I’ve spoken to nurses and nutritionists about it and apparently this is something one can acquire from a parent. Me. I can barely swallow an Advil. Let me tell you, prenatal vitamins were the worst! However, we’ve been a lot more persistent with the solid foods and he’s very slowly improving. He hasn’t thrown up in a few days, so that is a pretty huge accomplishment. YAY DEKKER!

This evening we’ll go to Dalmeny for supper with my parents, and then to practice music for Sunday. An evening with my mom and dad is always nice. We look forward to seeing our parents (who have become our very good friends) and Dekker loooves them! Plus a change of scenery is always nice for him. He does well away from home as long as he’s rested, and he loves music, so he should be good during practice at the church. Lots of new toys, and of course, music.

Hopefully this evening will be nice and tiring, and we’ll sleep better. I find that the weather can also influence my sleep or lack there of. Usually being out in the wind really wipes me out, so hopefully that happens tonight!

All things considered, it should be a good day! Good, good life…

Not so much today, actually.

If you know me, you know I love the rain. I will always stand up for rain. Getting caught in the rain somehow makes me feel more free actually. In the rain, I don’t have to look perfect! If the forecast calls for rain, I dont even touch my hair, knowing any time I spend on it would just be a waste of time. I don’t think I own an umbrella. I know for sure that I don’t own a raincoat. Not for years! I’ve even become more comfortable in waterlogged jeans from running through puddles. I can’t wait for my son to play in the rain with me!

My love for the rain has really been challenged this year. There have been spells in the past where I haven’t been super impressed with the rain, like when it leaked into my basement a couple years ago. But this season, I feel like the rain is really betraying our friendship. As lots of you know, I’m settling into my housewifeyhood slowly, but I’m excited about it. Last year we put in a garden with my parents and it was sooo successful! We have this crazy-grow soil that turned our cherry tomatoes into full sized tomatoes! I don’t know how it happened but it was awesome! This year we knew way more going into it and spent lots of time planning our garden out and what would go where. We planted the whole thing in a few hours one evening and very soon after, things started sprouting! Behold my first bean! 

And then it started raining. I have not been able to step into my garden since then. It flooded a couple of times, and then as soon as the standing water was gone, it would pour down and flood the thing again. An example: 

This photo is before it got weed-covered and all the plants turned yellow. My mom and I kept saying things like “We’ll replant once everything dries out” or “A late garden will be great too” but how late is too late? I’ll be honest, I don’t have a picture of what my garden looks like right now, because I find it so discouraging. Everything is lost. Potatoes, corn, carrots, cucumbers, pickles, tomatoes, green beans, and sugar snap peas. My strawberries and raspberries never came back after winter so there was no hope for those. I’m just so disappointed. I was really looking forward to making pickles and tomato juice! I wanted to can and preserve like crazy! I wanted to pick carrots and eat them after after a quick rinse with the hose! I wanted to make stir fry with all my yummy fresh things! And now I have nothing to show for my excitement and efforts. Currently, I can hear it raining, with quiet rumbles of thunder in the distance, and my blood is boiling. Rain, what are you thinking?!! Don’t you love me anymore?

But really, who am I to complain about the rain? For one thing, my livelihood doesn’t depend on the weather. I don’t know how farmers do it. I am not a strong enough person to be in that profession. Also, no matter how much I mope, the weather will do its thing, and I’ll get over it, life will go on. As usual, its sooo much more important to just roll with the punches and try to see the positives! So here they are.

Rain brings rubber boots! Rain brings fresh smells! Rain brings childrens songs! Rain brings mud squabble! (although hoses work too) Rain sounds pretty! Rain brings freedom! Rain brings imperfect make up and fuzzy hair!

I can even have a laugh when rain brings birds to swim in my garden 🙂